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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39376-8.txt b/39376-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8507b78 --- /dev/null +++ b/39376-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21062 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gipsy (Vols I & II), by +G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gipsy (Vols I & II) + A Tale + +Author: G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James + +Release Date: April 4, 2012 [EBook #39376] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIPSY (VOLS I & II) *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (Princeton University Library) + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: http://books.google.com/books?id=nqMuAAAAYAAJ + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + THE GIPSY; + + + A TALE. + + + + + BY THE AUTHOR OF + + + "RICHELIEU," "MARY OF BURGUNDY," &c. + + + + + "Ah! what a tangled web we weave, + When first we venture to deceive." + Sir Walter Scott. + + + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + + + + NEW YORK + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + 1855. + + + + + + + THE GIPSY. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +At that time in the world's history when watches, in their decline +from the fat comeliness of the turnip to the scanty meagerness of the +half-crown, had arrived at the intermediate form of a biffin--when the +last remnant of a chivalrous spirit instigated men to wear swords +every day, and to take purses on horseback--when quadrupeds were +preferred to steam, and sails were necessary to a ship--when Chatham +and Blackstone appeared in the senate and at the bar, and Goldsmith, +Johnson, and Burke, Cowper, Reynolds, Robertson Hume, and Smollett, +were just beginning to cumber the highways of arts and sciences--at +that period of the dark ages, the events which are about to be related +undoubtedly took place, in a county which shall be nameless. + +It may be that the reader would rather have the situation more +precisely defined, in order, as he goes along, to fix each particular +incident that this book may hereafter contain to the precise spot and +person for which it was intended. Nevertheless, such disclosures must +not be; in the first place, because the story, being totally and +entirely a domestic one, depends little upon locality; and, in the +next place, because greater liberties can be taken with people and +things when their identity is left in doubt, than when it is clearly +ascertained; for, although-- + + + "When caps into a crowd are thrown, + What each man fits he calls his own," + + +yet no one likes to have his name written upon his fool's cap, and +handed down for the benefit of posterity, attached to such an +ornament. + +It was, then, on an evening in the early autumn, at that particular +period of history which we have described, that two persons on +horseback were seen riding through a part of the country, the aspect +of which was one whereon we delight to dwell; that is to say, it was a +purely English aspect. Now, this character is different from all +others, yet subject to a thousand varieties; for although England, in +its extent, contains more, and more beautiful scenes, of different +kinds and sorts of the picturesque, than any other country under +heaven, nevertheless there is an aspect in them all that proclaims +them peculiarly English. It is not a sameness--far, far from it; but +it is a harmony; and whether the view be of a mountain or a valley, a +plain or a wood, a group of cottages by the side of a clear, still +trout stream, or a country town cheering the upland, there is still to +be seen in each a fresh green Englishness, which--like the peculiar +tone of a great composer's mind, pervading all his music, from his +requiem to his lightest air--gives character and identity to every +object, and mingles our country, and all its sweet associations, with +the individual scene. + +The spot through which the travellers were riding, and which was a +wide piece of forest ground, one might have supposed, from the nature +of the scenery, to be as common to all lands as possible; but no such +thing! and any one who gazed upon it required not to ask themselves in +what part of the world they were. The road, which, though sandy, was +smooth, neat, and well tended, came down the slope of a long hill, +exposing its course to the eye for near a mile. There was a gentle +rise on each side, covered with wood; but this rise, and its forest +burden, did not advance within a hundred yards of the road on either +hand, leaving between--except where it was interrupted by some old +sand-pits--a space of open ground covered with short green turf, with +here and there an ancient oak standing forward before the other trees, +and spreading its branches to the way-side. To the right was a little +rivulet gurgling along the deep bed it had worn for itself among the +short grass, in its way towards a considerable river that flowed +through the valley at about two miles' distance; and, on the left, the +eye might range far amid the tall, separate trees--now, perhaps, +lighting upon a stag at gaze, or a fallow deer tripping away over the +dewy ground as light and gracefully as a lady in a ballroom--till +sight became lost in the green shade and the dim wilderness of leaves +and branches. + +Amid the scattered oaks in advance of the wood, and nestled into +the dry nooks of the sand-pits, appeared about half a dozen dirty +brown shreds of canvass, none of which seemed larger than a dinner +napkin, yet which--spread over hoops, cross sticks, and other +contrivances--served as habitations to six or seven families of that +wild and dingy race, whose existence and history is a phenomenon, not +among the least strange of all the wonderful things that we pass by +daily without investigation or inquiry. At the mouths of one or two of +these little dwelling-places might be seen some gipsy women with their +peculiar straw bonnets, red cloaks, and silk handkerchiefs; some +withered, shrunk, and witch-like, bore evident the traces of long +years of wandering exposure and vicissitude; while others, with the +warm rose of health and youth glowing through the golden brown of +their skins, and their dark gem-like eyes flashing undimmed by sorrow +or infirmity, gave the beau idéal of a beautiful nation long passed +away from thrones and dignities, and left but as the fragments of a +wreck dashed to atoms by the waves of the past. + +At one point, amid white wood ashes, and many an unlawful feather from +the plundered cock and violated turkey, sparkled a fire and boiled a +caldron; and, round about the ancient beldam who presided over the pot +were placed in various easy attitudes several of the male members of +the tribe--mostly covered with long loose great-coats, which bespoke +the owners either changed or shrunk. A number of half-naked brats, +engaged in many a sport, filled up the scene, and promised a sturdy +and increasing race of rogues and vagabonds for after years. + +Over the whole--wood, and road, and streamlet, and gipsy +encampment--was pouring in full stream the purple light of evening, +with the long shadows stretching across, and marking the distances all +the way up the slope of the hill. Where an undulation of the ground, +about half-way up the ascent, gave a wider space of light than +ordinary, were seen, as we have before said, two strangers riding +slowly down the road, whose appearance soon called the eyes of the +gipsy fraternity upon their movements; for the laws in regard to +vagabondism[1] had lately been strained somewhat hard, especially in +that part of the country, and the natural consequence was, that the +gipsy and the beggar looked upon almost every human thing as an enemy. + +With their usual quick perception, however, they soon gathered that +the travellers were not of that cast from whom they had anything to +fear; and indeed there was nothing of the swaggering bailiff or +bullying constable in the aspect of either. The one was a man of +about six-and-twenty years of age, with fine features, a slight but +well-made person, and a brown but somewhat pale complexion. His eyes +were remarkably fine, and his mouth and chin beautifully cut; he rode +his horse, too, with skill and grace; and withal he had that air of +consequence which is at any time worth the riband of the Bath. His +companion was older, taller, stronger. In age he might be thirty-two +or three, in height he was fully six feet, and seldom was there ever a +form which excelled his in all those points where great strength is +afforded without any appearance of clumsiness. He rode his horse, +which was a powerful dark-brown gelding, as if half his life were +spent on horseback; and as he came down the hill with the peculiar +appearance of ease and power which great bodily strength and activity +usually give, one might well have concluded that he was as +fine-looking a man as one had ever beheld. But when he approached so +as to allow his features to be seen, all one's prepossessions were +dispelled, and one perceived that, notwithstanding this fine person, +he was in some respects as ugly a man as it was possible to conceive. + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 1: At various times very severe laws have been enacted in +all countries against gipsies. The very fact of being a gipsy, or +consorting with them for a certain length of time, was, at one period, +punishable by death in England. The greater part of these laws, +however, had been repealed before the epoch at which the events +recorded in this book occurred; and that wandering race were simply +subject to the regulations respecting rogues and vagabonds. The old +spirit of the penal statutes, however, was not forgotten, and the +gipsies were often visited with bitter persecution long after those +statutes had ceased to exist. It is not unworthy of remark, that in +Scotland they have been, at various times, not only treated with great +lenity, but that their leaders have been recognised by law as +sovereign princes, exercising capital jurisdiction over their own race.] + +--------------------- + + +Thanks to Jenner and vaccination, we (the English) are nowadays as +handsome a people as any, perhaps, in Europe, with smooth skins and +features as nature made them; but in the times I talk of, vaccination, +alas! was unknown; and whatever the traveller we speak of might have +been before he had been attacked by the smallpox, the traces which +that horrible malady had left upon his face had deprived it of every +vestige of beauty--if, indeed, we except his eyes and eyelashes, which +had been spared as if just to redeem his countenance from the +frightful. They--his eyes and eyelashes--were certainly fine, very +fine; but they were like the beauty of Tadmor in the wilderness, +for all was ugliness around them. However, his countenance had a +good-humoured expression, which made up for much; neither was it of +that vulgar ugliness which robes and ermine but serve to render more +low and unprepossessing. But still, when first you saw him, you could +not but feel that he was excessively plain; and yet there was always +something at the heart which made one--as the ravages of the disease +struck the eye--think, if not say, "What a pity!" + +The dress of the two strangers was alike, and it was military; but +although an officer of those days did not feel it at all scandalous or +wrong to show himself in his regimentals, yet such was not the case in +the present instance; and the habiliments of the two horsemen +consisted, as far as could be seen, of a blue riding-coat, bound round +the waist by a crimson scarf, with a pair of heavy boots, of that form +which afterward obtained the name of Pendragon. Swords were at their +sides, and--as was usual in those days, even for the most pacific +travellers--large fur-covered holsters were at their saddle-bows; so +that, although they had no servants with them, and were evidently of +that class of society upon which the more liberal-minded prey and have +preyed in all ages, there was about them "something dangerous," to +attack which would have implied great necessity or a very combative +disposition. + +As the travellers rode on, the gipsy men, without moving from the +places they had before occupied, eyed them from under their bent +brows, affecting withal hardly to see them; while the urchins ran like +young apes by the side of their horses, performing all sorts of +antics, and begging hard for halfpence; and at length a girl of +about fifteen or sixteen--notwithstanding some forcible injunctions +to forbear on the part of the old woman who was tending the +caldron--sprang up the bank, beseeching the gentlemen, in the usual +singsong of her tribe, to cross her hand with silver, and have their +fortunes told; promising them at the same time a golden future, and, +like Launcelot, "a pretty trifle of wives." + +In regard to her chiromantic science the gentlemen were obdurate, +though each of them gave her one of those flat polished pieces of +silver which were sixpences in our young days; and having done this, +they rode on, turning for a moment or two their conversation, which +had been flowing in a very different channel, to the subject of the +gipsies they had just passed, moralizing deeply on their strange +history and wayward fate, and wondering that no philanthropic +government had ever endeavoured to give them a "local habitation and a +name" among the sons and daughters of honest industry. + +"I am afraid that the attempt would be in vain," answered the younger +of the two to his companion. "And besides, it would be doing a notable +injustice to the profession of petty larceny to deprive it of its only +avowed and honourable professors, while we have too many of its +amateur practitioners in the very best society already." + +"Nay, nay! Society is not as bad as that would argue it," rejoined the +other. "Thank God, there are few thieves or pilferers within the +circle of my acquaintance, which is not small." + +"Indeed!" said his companion. "Think for a moment, my dear colonel, +how many of your dearly-beloved friends are there who, for but a small +gratification, would pilfer from you those things that you value most +highly! How many would steal from one the affection of one's mistress +or wife! How many, for some flimsy honour, some dignity of riband or +of place, would pocket the reputation of deeds they had never done! +How many, for some party interest or political rancour, would deprive +you of your rightful renown, strip you of your credit and your fame, +and 'filch from you your good name!' Good God! those gipsies are +princes of honesty compared with the great majority of our dear +friends and worldly companions." + +His fellow-traveller replied nothing for a moment or two, unless a +smile, partly gay, partly bitter, could pass for answer. The next +minute, however, he read his own comment upon it, saying, "I thought, +De Vaux, you were to forget your misanthropy when you returned to +England." + +"Oh, so I have," replied the other in a gayer tone; "it was only a +single seed of the wormwood sprouting up again. But, as you must have +seen throughout our journey, my heart is all expansion at coming back +again to my native land, and at the prospect of seeing so many beings +that I love: though God knows," he added, somewhat gloomily--"God +knows whether the love be as fully returned. However, imagination +serves me for Prince Ali's perspective glass; and I can see them all, +even now, at their wonted occupations, while my vanity dresses up +their faces in smiles when they think of my near approach." + +His companion sighed; and as he did not at all explain why he did +so, we must take the liberty of asking the worthy reader to walk into +the tabernacle of his bosom, and examine which of the mind's gods it +was that gave forth that oracular sigh, so that the officiating +priest may afford the clear interpretation thereof. But, to leave an +ill-conceived figure of speech, the simple fact was, that the picture +of home, and friends, and smiling welcome, and happy love, which his +companion's speech had displayed, had excited somewhat like envy in +the breast of Colonel Manners. Envy, indeed, properly so called, it +was not; for the breast of Colonel Manners was swept out and garnished +every day by a body of kindly spirits, who left not a stain of envy, +hatred, or malice in any corner thereof. The proper word would have +been _regret_; for regret it certainly was that he felt when he +reflected that, though he had many of what the world calls friends, +and a milky-way of acquaintances--though he was honoured and esteemed +wherever he came, and felt a proud consciousness that he deserved to +be so--yet that on all the wide surface of the earth there was no +sweet individual spot where dearer love, and brighter smiles, and +outstretched arms, glad voices, and sparkling eyes, waited to welcome +the wanderer home from battle, and danger, and privation, and fatigue. +He felt that there was a vacancy to him in all things; that the magic +chain of life's associations wanted a link; and he sighed--not with +_envy_, but with _regret_. That it was so was partly owing to events +over which he had no control. Left an orphan at an early age, the +father's mansion and the mother's bosom he had never known; and +neither brother nor sister had accompanied his pilgrimage through +life. His relations were all distant ones; and though (being the last +of a long line) great care had been bestowed upon his infancy and +youth, yet all the sweet ties and kindred fellowship which gather +thickly round us in a large family were wanting to him. + +So far his isolated situation depended upon circumstances which he +could neither alter nor avoid; but that he had not created for himself +a home, and ties as dear as those which fortune had at first denied +him, depended on himself; or rather what in vulgar parlance is called +a _crotchet_, which was quite sufficiently identified with his whole +nature, to be considered as part of himself, though it was mingled +intimately--woven in and out--with qualities of a very different +character. + +This crotchet--for that is the only term fitted for it, as it was +certainly neither a whim nor a caprice--this crotchet may be +considered as a matter of history--of his history, I mean; for it +depended upon foregone facts, which must be here explained. It is sad +to overturn all that imagination may have already done for the reader +on the very first news that Colonel Manners had a foregone history at +all. He had not been crossed in love, as may be supposed, nor had he +seen the object of his affections swept away by a torrent, burned in a +house on fire, killed by an unruly horse, or die by any of those means +usually employed for such a purpose. No; he had neither to bewail the +coldness nor the loss of her he loved, because, up to the moment when +we have set him before the reader, he had unfortunately never been in +love at all. + +The fact is, that during his youth Colonel Manners had possessed one +of the finest faces in the world, and every one of his judicious +friends had taken care to impress deeply upon his mind that it was the +best portion of all his present possessions or future expectations. By +nature he was quite the reverse of a vain man; but when he saw that +the great majority of those by whom he was surrounded admired the +beauties of his face far more than the beauties of his mind, and loved +him for the symmetry of his external person more than for the +qualities of his heart, of course the conviction that, however much +esteem and respect might be gained by mental perfections, affection +was only given to beauty, became an integral part of that fine texture +of memories and ideas which, though I do not think it, as some have +done, the mind itself, I yet look upon as the mind's innermost +garment. Such was the case when, at the age of about twenty, he was +attacked by the smallpox. For a length of time he was not allowed to +see a looking-glass, the physicians mildly telling him that his +appearance would improve; that they trusted no great traces would +remain: but when he did see a looking-glass, he certainly saw the +reflection of somebody he had never seen before. In the mean while his +relations had too much regard for their own persons to come near him; +and when, after having purified in the country, he went to visit an +antique female cousin, who had been a card-playing belle in the reign +of his majesty of blessed memory, King George the First, the old lady +first made him a profound courtesy, taking him for a stranger; and +when she discovered who he was, burst forth with, "Good God, Charles! +you are perfectly frightful!" + +To the same conclusion Charles Manners had by this time come himself; +and the very modesty of his original nature now leagued with one of +the deceptions of vanity, and made him believe that he could never, by +any circumstances, or events, obtain love. Nevertheless he made up his +mind to his fate entirely, and determined neither to seek for nor to +think of a good that could not be his. Indeed, at first, according to +the usual extravagance of man's nature, he flew to the very far +extreme, and believed that, putting woman's love out of the question, +even the more intimate friendship and affection of his fellow-men +might be influenced by his changed appearance, and that he would be +always more or less an object of that pity which touches upon scorn. +These ideas his commerce with the world soon showed him to be +fallacious; but in the mean time they had a certain effect upon his +conduct. Possessing a consciousness of great powers of mind and fine +qualities of the heart, he determined to cultivate and employ them to +the utmost, and compel esteem and respect, if love and affection were +not to be obtained. In his course through the army, too, the sort of +animosity which he felt against his own ugliness, which had cut him +off from happiness of a sort that he was well calculated to enjoy, +together with that mental and corporeal complexion which did not +suffer him to know what fear is, led him to be somewhat careless of +his own person; and during his earlier years of service he acquired +the name of rash Charles Manners. But it was soon found that wherever +the conduct of any enterprise was intrusted to his judgment, its +success was almost certain, and that skill and intrepidity with him +went hand-in-hand. + +Gradually he found that, with men at least, and with soldiers +especially, personal beauty formed no necessary ingredient in +friendship; and with a warm heart and noble feelings--guarded, +however, by wisdom and discretion--he soon rendered himself +universally liked and esteemed in the different corps with which +he served, and had an opportunity of selecting one or two of his +fellow-officers for more intimate regard. Unfortunately, however, he +saw no reason to change his opinion in respect to woman's love. +Indeed, he sought not to change it; for, as we have already said, the +belief that female affection could only be won by personal beauty was +one of those intimate convictions which were interwoven with all the +fabric of his ideas. He ceased to think of it; he devoted himself +entirely to his profession; he won honour and the highest renown; he +found himself liked and esteemed by his military companions, courted +and admired in general society, and he was content: at least, if he +was not content, the regrets which would not wholly be smothered--the +yearnings for nearer ties and dearer affections, which are principles, +not thoughts--only found vent occasionally in such a sigh as that +which we have just described. + +His companion, though he remarked it, made no comment on his sigh; +for, notwithstanding the most intimate relationships of friendship +which existed between himself and his fellow-traveller, and which had +arisen in mutual services that may hereafter be more fully mentioned, +he felt that the length of their acquaintance had not been such as to +warrant his inquiring more curiously into those private intricacies of +the bosom from which such signs of feeling issued forth. He saw, +however, that the proximate cause of the slight shadow that came over +his friend lay in something that he himself had said in picturing the +happy dreams that checkered his misanthropy; and putting his horse +into a quicker pace as they got upon the level ground, he changed the +subject while they rode on. + +The time, as we have said, was evening; and as the strangers passed by +the gipsy encampment, a flood of purple light, pouring from as +splendid a heaven as ever held out the promise of bright after-days, +was streaming over the road; but as the travellers reached the flat, +and turned the angle of the wood where the road wound round the bases +of the hills, the sky was already waxing gray, and a small twinkling +spot of gold here and there told that darkness was coming fast. At the +distance of about half a mile farther, the river was first seen +flowing broad and silvery through the valley; and a quarter of an hour +more brought the travellers to a spot where the water, taking an +abrupt turn round a salient promontory thrown out from the main body +of the hills, left hardly room for the road between the margin and the +wood. On the other side of the river, which might be a hundred yards +broad, was a narrow green meadow, backed by some young fir plantings, +and just beyond the first turn of the bank a deep sombre dell led away +to the right; while the shadows of the trees over the water, the +darkening hue of the sky, and the wild uninhabited aspect of the whole +scene, gave a sensation of gloom, which was not diminished by a large +raven flapping heavily up from the edge of the water, and hovering +with a hoarse croak over some carrion it had found among the reeds. + +"This is a murderous-looking spot enough!" said Colonel Manners, +turning slightly towards De Vaux, who had been silent for some +minutes; "this is a murderous-looking spot enough!" + +"Well may it be so!" answered his companion abruptly; "well may it be +so; for on this very spot my uncle was murdered twenty years ago." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed his fellow-traveller; "indeed--but on reflection," +he added, "I remember having heard something of it, though I was then +a boy, and have forgotten all the circumstances." + +He spoke as if he would willingly have heard them again detailed; but, +for a moment or two, De Vaux made no reply; and the next instant the +sound of a horse's feet at a quick trot suddenly broke upon the ear, +and called the attention of both. In a minute more, a horseman wrapped +in a large roquelaure passed them rapidly; and though he neither spoke +nor bowed, his sudden appearance was enough to break off the thread of +their discourse. When he was gone, Colonel Manners felt that, though +De Vaux might take it up again if he would, he himself could not in +propriety do so. De Vaux, however, was silent; for he was not one of +those men to whom the accidents and misfortunes of their friends and +relations furnished matter for pleasant discourse; and the topic of +course dropped there. Perhaps, indeed, the younger traveller showed +some inclination even to avoid the subject; for he led the +conversation almost immediately into another channel, pointing out to +his friend the various hills and landmarks which distinguished the +grounds of his father from those of his aunt, and dwelling with +enthusiasm upon the pleasures that his boyhood had there known, and +the hopes which his return had re-awakened in his bosom; and yet there +was mingled with the whole a touch of fastidiousness which contrasted +strangely enough with the warmth of feeling and expression to which he +gave way in other respects. He seemed to doubt the very love, the +happiness of which he pictured so brightly; he seemed to distrust the +joys to which he was so sensitively alive; he even seemed, in some +degree, to sneer at himself for giving the credence that he did to +those things which he most desired to believe true. + +But Edward de Vaux had been brought up in a fastidious school. He had +lived at the acmé of fortune and trod upon circumstances all his life, +and this we hold to be the true way of becoming misanthropical. It is +nonsense to suppose that a man turns misanthrope in consequence of +great misfortunes. No such thing! it is by being fortunate _ter et +amplius_. The spoiled children of the blind goddess are those that +kick at her wheel; and those on whom she showers nothing but +misfortunes cling tight to the tire, in hopes of a better turn, till +the next whirl casts them off into the wide hereafter. + +Edward de Vaux stood at the climax of fortune. Never in his life had +he known what a serious reverse or great misfortune is; and +consequently he had gathered together all the petty vexations and +minor disappointments that he had met with, and, to use the term of +Napoleon Bonaparte, had nearly stung himself to death with wasps. +Perhaps, too, he might be fastidious by inheritance, for his father +was so in a still higher degree than himself; though in the father it +showed itself in irritable impatience, and a sort of contempt both +tyrannical and insulting towards those whom he disliked; while in the +son, mingled with, if not springing from, finer feelings: passing, +too, through the purifying medium of a gentler heart, and corrected by +a high sense of what is gentlemanly, his fastidiousness seldom showed +itself except in a passing sneer at any thing that is false, affected, +or absurd, in an indignant sarcasm at that which is base or evil, or +in petulant irritability at that which is weak. + +As he now rode onward to rejoin those friends whom he had not seen for +nearly three years, accompanied by a companion who had never seen them +at all, the little world of his heart was in a strange commotion. All +the joy which an affectionate disposition can feel was rising up at +every point against the sway of cold propriety, and yet he tormented +himself with a thousand imaginary annoyances. Now he fancied that the +delight he felt and expressed was undignified, and might lower him in +the eyes of his companion; now he chose to doubt that his reception +from those he had left behind would be warm enough to justify the +exuberant pleasure that he himself experienced; while, keenly alive to +the slightest ridicule, he shrunk from the idea of exposing, even to +his dearest friend, one single spot in his heart to which the lash +could be applied. + +"I was foolish," he thought, "not to leave Manners in London for a +day, and get all the joyful absurdities of a first welcome over before +he came down. However, my aunt would have it so; and it cannot be +avoided now." + +As they proceeded, the purple of the evening died entirely away, and a +gray dimness fell over tree, and stream, and hill. Star by star looked +out, grew brighter and brighter, as the wandering ball on which we +travel through the inconceivable depth turned our hemisphere from the +superior light, and at length all was night. + +In the lapse of ten minutes more, the road--which, winding about +between the hills and the stream, was forced often out of its true +direction,--had conducted them to a steep bank overhanging a wider +part of the valley, and here Colonel Manners divined--for he could +scarcely be said to see--that a scattered but considerable village lay +before them. Up and down the sides of the hill, a hundred twinkling +lights in cottage windows were sprinkled like glow-worms among the +darker masses of orchard and copsewood; and now and then, as the +travellers advanced, a bright glare suddenly flashed forth from some +opening door; and then again was as speedily extinguished, when the +entrance or the exit of the visiter was accomplished. Some watchful +dog, too, caught the sound of horses' feet, and, after one or two +desultory barks, set up his tongue into a continual peal. His +neighbours of the canine race took the signal, and--not at all unlike +the human species--ever inclined to clamour, yelped forth in concert, +whether they had heard or not the noise that roused their comrade's +indignation, so that the village was soon one continued roar with the +efforts of various hairy throats. + +The salutation, however, was sweet to Edward de Vaux, for it spoke of +home--or at least of a dwelling that was dearer than any other home he +might possess; and, pausing a moment, he pointed onward to a spot, +where, on the edge of the hill beyond the village, might be seen, +cutting sharp upon the pale silvery gray of the western sky, the dark +outline of a large house, with a plentiful supply of chimneys, of an +architecture somewhat less light and fanciful than that of Palladio, +but very well suited to a dwelling in the land of peace and comfort. + +"That is my aunt's house," said De Vaux, "and, though it is nearly +three miles by the road from the spot where that horseman passed us, +it is not much more than three-quarters of a mile by the path over the +hill. But that path," he added, "is impracticable for horses, or I +should certainly have risked breaking your neck, Manners, rather than +take this long tedious round." + +Now, strange to say, the round that they had taken seemed longer and +more tedious to Edward de Vaux, when he came within sight of the +mansion which was to end his journey, than it had done at any other +moment of the ride. But so it was; and without inquiring into things +with which we have nothing to do, we may conclude that he felt some +of those vague, unreasonable doubts and apprehensions, which almost +every one experiences on the first view of one's home after a long +absence--those fears which are the very children of our hopes--that +anxiety which the uncertainty of human fate impresses upon our minds, +till we are sure that all is well. Who is there that has not gazed up +at his own dwelling-place as he returned from far, and asked himself, +with a sudden consciousness of the instability of all things, "Shall I +find nothing gone amiss? Has no misfortune trod that threshold? Has +disease or sorrow never visited it? Has death turned his steps aside?" + +Whatever it was that Edward de Vaux felt, although the round seemed a +long one, and the time tedious that it had consumed, he yet drew in +his rein, not so as to bring his horse quite up, but to check him into +a walk; while he pointed out the house to his companion, and gazed at +its dark and distant mass himself. At that very moment, a single ray +glimmered in one of the windows, passed on into another, and then +three windows suddenly streamed forth with light. It looked like a +beacon to say that all was well; and though no man in the present day +cares a straw for things that in other years, when skilfully applied, +have won battles and overthrown dynasties--I mean omens--yet every man +has a silent, unacknowledged, foolish little system of augury of his +own; and Edward de Vaux and his companion, at the sight of this dexter +omen, set spurs to their horses, and rode merrily on their way. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +The reader, who loves variety, will not be displeased, perhaps, to +find that this story, leaving the two horsemen whom we have conducted +a short stage on their way, now turns to another of our characters not +less important to our tale. + +In the same wood, which we have already described as clothing the +hills and skirting the road over which De Vaux and his companion were +travelling, but in a far more intricate part thereof than that into +which the reader's eye has hitherto penetrated, might be seen, at the +hour which we have chosen for the commencement of our tale, the figure +of a man creeping quietly, but quickly, along a path so covered by the +long branches of the underwood, that it could only be followed out by +one who knew well the deepest recesses of the forest. + +This personage was spare in form, and without being tall, as compared +with other men, he was certainly tall in reference to his other +proportions. His arms were long and sinewy, his feet small, his ankles +well turned, and his whole body giving the promise of great activity, +though at a time of life when the agile pliancy of youth is generally +past and gone. He was dressed in an old brown long coat, "a world too +wide" for his spare form, so that, as he crept along with a quiet, +serpentine turning of his body, he looked like an eel in a great coat, +if the reader's imagination be vivid enough to call up such an image. +A hat, which had seen other days, and many of them, covered his brows; +but under that hat was a countenance, which, however ordinary might be +the rest of his appearance, redeemed the whole from the common herd. +The complexion spoke his race: it was of a pale, greenish tint, +without any rosier hue in the cheeks to enliven the pure gipsy colour +of his skin. His nose was small, and slightly aquiline, though of a +peculiar bend, forming, from the forehead to the tip, what Hogarth +drew for the line of beauty. The eyebrows were small, and pencilled +like a Circassian's, and the eyes themselves, shining through their +long, thick, black eyelashes, were full of deep light, and--to use a +very anomalous crowd of words--of wild, dark, melancholy fire. His +forehead was broad and high; and the long, soft, glossy, black hair +that fell in untrimmed profusion round his face had hardly suffered +from the blanching hand of time, although his age could not be less +than fifty-five or fifty-six, and might be more. His teeth, too, were +unimpaired, and of as dazzling a whiteness as if beetle and recca had +all possessed the properties their venders assert, and had all been +tried on them in their turn. + +Such was his appearance, as, creeping along through the brushwood with +a stealthy motion, which would hardly have disturbed the deer from +their lair, he made his way towards the spot where we have seen that +his fellows were encamped. He was still far distant from it, however; +and although it was evident that he was, or had been, well acquainted +with the intricacies of the wood, yet it appeared that some leading +marks were necessary to guide him surely on his way; for, ever and +anon, when he could find a round knob of earth, raising itself above +the rest of the ground, he would climb it, and gaze for several +moments over the world of wood below him, rich in all the splendid +hues of autumn, and flooded by the purple light of the evening. + +Ever, as he thus looked out, there might be seen a column of +bluish-white smoke rising from a spot at a mile's distance; and, after +towering up solemnly in the still air for several hundred feet, +spreading into light rolling clouds, and drifting among the wood. +Thitherward, again, he always turned his course; and any one who has +remarked the fondness of gipsies for a fire, even when they have no +apparent necessity for it, will little doubt that the smoke, or the +flame, serves them, on many occasions, for a signal or a guide. + +As progression through thick bushes can never be very rapid, the +evening had faded nearly into twilight ere the gipsy reached the +encampment of his companions. The hearing of those whose safety often +depends upon the sharpness of their ears is, of course, sufficiently +acuminated by habit; and although his steps were, as we have shown, +stealthy enough, his approach did not escape the attention of the +party round the fire. We have seen that they had taken but little +apparent notice of the two travellers, who had passed them about a +quarter of an hour before; but the sound of quiet footsteps from the +side of the wood, the moving of the branches, and the slight rustle of +the autumn leaves, caused a far greater sensation. Two or three of the +stoutest started instantly on their feet, and watched the spot whence +those sounds proceeded, as if not quite sure what species of visiter +the trees might conceal. The moment after, however, the figure we have +described, emerging into the more open part of the wood, seemed to +satisfy his comrades that there was no cause for apprehension; and +those who had risen turned towards the others, saying, "It is +Pharold," in a tone which, without expressing much pleasure, at all +events announced no alarm. + +Several of the young gipsies sprang up, shaking their many-coloured +rags--for, like the goddess of the painted bow, their clothing was +somewhat motley--and ran on to meet the new comer; while the elder +members of the respectable assemblage congregated under the oaks, +though they did not show the same alacrity, perhaps, as the younger +and more volatile of the party, received him with an air in which +reverence was mingled with a slight touch of sullenness. + +"Who has passed since I left you, William?" was the first question of +the gipsy on his return, addressing one of the young men who had been +lying nearer than the others to the high-road, and by whose side +appeared, as he rose, a most portentous cudgel. + +"A woman with eggs from the market; three labourers from the fields; a +gamekeeper, who damned us all, and said, if he had his will, he would +rid the country of us: and two gentlemen on horseback, who gave Leena +a shilling," was the accurate reply of the young gipsy, whose face, we +must remark, assumed not the most amiable expression that ever face +put on, as he recorded the comments of the gamekeeper upon his race +and profession. The other, who has been called Pharold, at first paid +no attention to any part of the account, except the apparition of the +two gentlemen on horseback; but in regard to them, he asked many a +question--were they old or young--what was their appearance--their +size--their apparent profession? + +To all these inquiries he received such correct and minute replies, as +showed that the seeming indifference with which the gipsy had regarded +the two travellers was anything but real; and that every particular of +their dress and circumstances which eye could reach or inference +arrive at, had been carefully marked, and, as it were, written down on +memory. + +The language which the gipsies spoke among themselves was a barbarous +compound of some foreign tongue, the origin and structure of which +has, and most likely ever will, baffle inquiry, and of English, +mingled with many a choice phrase from the very expressive jargon +called slang. Thus, when the gipsy spoke of gentlemen he called them +_raye_, when he spoke of the peasant, he termed him _gazo_: but as the +gipsy tongue may, probably, be not very edifying to the reader, the +conversation of our characters shall continue to be carried on in a +language which is more generally intelligible. + +The account rendered by the young man, however, did not seem +satisfactory to the elder, who twice asked if that were all; and then +made some more particular inquiries concerning the gamekeeper who had +expressed such friendly sentiments towards his tribe. + +"Keep a good watch, my boys," he said, after musing for a moment or +two on the answers he received; "keep a good watch. There is danger +stirring abroad; and I fear that we shall be obliged to lift our +tents, and quit this pleasant nook." + +"The sooner we quit it the better, I say," cried the beldam who had +been tending the pot. "What the devil we do here at all, I don't know. +Why, we are wellnigh four miles from a farm yard, and five from the +village; and how you expect us to get food I don't understand." + +"Are there not plenty of rabbits and hares in the wood?" said the +other, in reply; "I saw at least a hundred run as I crossed just now." + +"But one cannot eat brown meat for ever," rejoined the dame; "and tiny +Dick was obliged to go five miles for the turkey in the pot; and then +had very near been caught in nimming it off the edge of the common." + +"Well, give me the brown meat for my share," answered Pharold; "I will +eat none of the white things that they have fattened and fed up with +their hoarded corn, and have watched early and late, like a sick +child. Give me the free beast that runs wild, and by nature's law +belongs to no one but him who catches it." + +"No, no, Pharold, you must have your share of turkey too," cried the +old lady; for although it may appear strange, yet as there is honour +among thieves, so there may be sometimes that sort of generosity among +gipsies which led the good dame who, on the present occasion, presided +over the pot--though, to judge by her size and proportions, and to +gauge her appetite by the Lavater standard of her mouth, she could +have eaten the whole turkey of which she spoke herself--which led her, +I say, to press Pharold to his food with hospitable care, declaring +that he was a "king of a fellow, though somewhat whimsical." + +The gipsies now drew round their fire, and scouts being thrown out +on either side to guard against interruption, the pot was unswung +from the cross bars that sustained it, trenchers and knives were +produced, and, with nature's green robe for a table-cloth, a plentiful +supper of manifold good things was spread before the race of +wanderers. Nor was the meal unjoyous, nor were their figures--at all +times picturesque--without an appearance of loftier beauty and more +symmetrical grace, as, reclining on triclinia of nature's providing, +with the fire and the evening twilight casting strange lights upon +them, they fell into those free and easy attitudes which none but the +children of wild activity can assume. The women of the party had all +come forth from their huts, and among them were two or three lovely +creatures as any race ever produced, from the chosen Hebrew to the +beauty-dreaming Greek. In truth, there seemed more women than men of +the tribe, and there certainly were more children than either; but due +subordination was not wanting; and the urchins who were ranged behind +the backs of the rest, though they wanted not sufficient food, +intruded not upon the circle of their elders. + +Scarcely, however, had the first mouthfuls been swallowed, and the cup +passed its round, when the farthest scout--a boy of about twelve years +of age--ran in, and whispered the mystical words, "A horse's feet!" + +"One--or more than one?" was the instant question of Pharold, while +his companions busied themselves in shovelling away the principal +portions of their supper, and leaving nothing but what might pass for +very frugal fare indeed. "Only one!" replied the boy, running back to +his post; and the next instant another report was made to the effect, +that a single horseman was coming up the road at full speed, together +with such personal marks and appearances as the dim obscurity of the +hour permitted the scouts to observe. All this, be it remarked, was +carried on with both speed and quietude. The motions of the scouts +were all as stealthy as those of a cat over a dewy green, and their +words were all whispered; but their steps were quick, and their words +were few and rapid. + +The motions of the horseman, however, were not less speedy; and ere +much counsel could be taken, he was upon the road, exactly abreast of +the spot where the gipsies' fire was lighted. There he drew in his +reins at once; and, springing to the ground, called aloud to one of +the boys, who was acting sentinel, bidding him hold his horse. + +"It is he!" said Pharold, "it is he!" and, rising from the turf, he +turned to meet the stranger, who, on his part, approached directly to +the fire, and at once held out his hand to the gipsy. Pharold took it, +and wrung it hard, and then stood gazing upon the countenance of the +stranger, as the fitful firelight flashed upon it, while his visiter +fixed his eyes with equal intensity upon the dark features of the +gipsy; and each might be supposed to contemplate the effect of time's +blighting touch upon the face of the other, and apply the chilling +tidings such an examination always yields to his own heart. + +It is probable, indeed, that such was really the case; for the first +words of the gipsy were, "Ay, we are both changed indeed!" + +"We are so, truly, Pharold," replied the stranger; "so many years +cannot pass without change. But did my last letter reach you?" + +"It did," replied the gipsy, "and I have done all that you required." + +"Did you obtain a sight of him?" demanded the other, eagerly. + +"I did," answered the gipsy, "in the park, as he walked alone--I +leaped the wall, and--" + +Hitherto, all those first hurried feelings which crowd upon us, when, +after a long lapse of years, we meet again with some one whom +circumstances have connected closely with us in the past, had +prevented the gipsy and his companion from remarking--or rather from +remembering--the presence of so many witnesses. In the midst of what +he was saying, however, the eye of Pharold glanced for a moment from +the face of his companion to the circle by the fire, and he suddenly +stopped. The other understood his motive at once, and replied, "True, +true; let us come away for a moment, for I must hear it all." + +"Of course," answered Pharold, "though you will hear much, perhaps, +that you would rather not hear. But come, let us go into the road; we +shall be farther there from human ears than anywhere else." + +As they walked towards the highway both were silent; for there is not +such a dumb thing on the face of the earth as deep emotion; and for +some reason, which may, or may not, be explained hereafter, both the +stranger and the gipsy were more moved by their meeting in that spot +than many less firm spirits have been on occasions of more apparent +importance. + +After thus walking on without a word for two or three hundred yards, +the gipsy abruptly resumed his speech. "Well, well," he said, "when we +are young we think of the future, and when we are old we think of the +past; and, by my fathers, there is no use of thinking of either! We +cannot change what is coming, nor mend what is gone; but, as I was +saying, I have seen him: I found that he walked every day in the park +by himself, and I watched his hour from behind the wall, and saw him +come up the long avenue that leads to the west gate--you remember it?" + +"Well, well," answered the other; "but how did he look?--Tell me, +Pharold, how did he look?" + +"Dark enough, and gloomy," answered the gipsy: "he came with his hands +behind his back, and his hat over his brows, and his eyes bent upon +the ground; and ever as he walked onward, his white teeth--for he has +fine teeth still--gnawed his under lip; and, for my part, if my +solitary walk were every day to be like that, I would not walk at all; +but would rather lie me down by the roadside and die at once. Well +then, often too as he came, he would stop and fix his eyes upon one +particular pebble in the gravel, and stare at it, as if it had been +enchanted; and then, with a great start, would look behind him to see +if there was anyone watching his gloomy ways; or would suddenly +whistle, as if for his dogs, though he had no dog with him." + +His companion drew a deep sigh, and then asked, "But how seemed he in +health, Pharold? Is he much changed? He was once as strong a man as +any one could see--does he still seem vigorous and well?" + +"You would not know him," replied the gipsy, and was going on, but the +other broke in vehemently. + +"Not know him? That I would!" he exclaimed, "though age might have +whitened his hair and dimmed his eye--though suffering might have +shrivelled his flesh and bowed his stature--though death itself, and +corruption in its train, might have wrought for days upon him, I would +know him so long as the dust held together.--What, Pharold, not know +him?--_I_ not know _him?_" + +"Well, well," answered the gipsy, "I meant that he was changed--far, +far more changed than you are--you were a young man when last we met, +at least in your prime of strength, and now you are an old one, that +is all. But he--he does not seem aged but blighted. It is not like a +flower that has blown, and bloomed, and withered, but one that with a +worm in its heart has shrunk, and shrivelled, and faded. He is +yellower than I am, though I gain my colour from a long race who +brought it centuries ago from a land of sunshine, and he has got it in +less than twenty years from the scorching of a heart on fire. He is +bent, too; and his features are as thin as a heron's bill." + +"Sad--sad--sad," said his companion; "but how could it be otherwise? +Well, what more? Tell me what happened when you met him? Did he know +you?" + +"At once," answered the gipsy; "no, no; I have seen one of my tribe +with a hot iron and an oaken board make painting of men's faces that +no water could wash out; and none should know better than you, that my +face has been burnt in upon his heart in such a way that it would take +a river of tears to sweep away the marks of it. But let me tell my +tale. When I saw that he was near, I sprang over the wall into the +walk, and stood before him at once. When first he saw me he started +back, as if it had been a snake that crossed him; but the moment +after, I could see him recollect himself; and I knew that he was +calculating whether to own he knew me, or to affect forgetfulness. He +chose the first, and asked mildly enough what I did there. 'I thought +you were out of the kingdom,' he said, 'and had promised Sir William +Ryder never to return.' I replied that he said true, and that I had +not returned till Sir William Ryder had told me to do so." + +"What said he then?" asked the other, eagerly; "what said he to that?" + +"He started," replied the gipsy, "and then muttered something about a +villain and betraying him; but the moment after, as you must have seen +him to do long ago, he gathered himself up, and looking as proud and +stern as if the lives of a whole world were at his disposal, he asked, +what was Sir William Ryder's motive in bidding me return. 'Some motive +of course, he has,' he added, looking at me bitterly. 'Does he intend +to play villain, or fool, or both,--for whatever folly his knavery may +tempt him to commit, he will only injure himself; for at this time of +day it is somewhat too late to try to injure _me_;' and as he spoke," +continued the gipsy, "he nodded his head gravely but meaningly, as if +he would have said, 'You know that I speak truth.'" + +The lip of the stranger curled as his companion related this part of a +conversation in which he seemed to take no slight interest; but as we +do not choose to know any thing of what was passing in his bosom, we +must leave that somewhat bitter smile to interpret itself. + +"I told him," continued the gipsy, "as you directed me, that his +friend stood in some need of five thousand pounds, and trusting to his +lordship's kindness and generosity, had directed me to come back and +apply to him for that sum. So when he heard that, his face grew very +dark; and after thinking for a minute of two, he looked up two of the +walks, for he stood in the crossing, to see if he could see any of the +park-keepers, to give me into their hands--I know that was what he +wanted. However there was no one there; and he answered, looking at me +as if he would have withered me into dust, 'Tell Sir William Ryder, +wherever he is, that he shall ring no more from me. I have sent him +his thousand a year regularly, and if any of the packets missed him, +he should have let me know; but I will be no sponge to be squeezed by +any man's pleasure; nor do I care,' he went on, 'who conspires to +bring any false accusation against me. I am prepared to meet every +charge boldly, and to prove my innocence before the whole world, if +any one dare to accuse me.' He spoke very firmly," added the gipsy; +"and as long as he continued speaking I kept my eyes upon the ground, +though I felt that his were bent upon me: but the moment he had done, +I raised mine and looked full upon his face, and his lip quivered and +his eye fell in a moment." + +"Did he hold his resolution of refusing?" demanded the other, over +whose countenance, as he listened, had been passing emotions as +various as those which the gipsy had depicted; "did he hold his +resolution to the end?" + +"Firmly!" replied Pharold, "though he softened his tone a great deal +towards me. He said he was only angry with Sir William Ryder, not with +me, and asked where I had been during so many years; and when I told +him in Ireland, he replied, that it was a poor country: I could not +have made much money there; and then he talked of other days, when the +old lord took me to the hall because I was a handsome boy, and kept me +for two years and more, and would have had me educated; and he vowed I +did mighty wrong to run away and join my own people again; and he took +out his purse and gave me all that it contained, and was sorry that it +was no more; but if I would tell him, he said, where we were lying, he +would send me more, for old acquaintance sake; and all the while he +talked to me he looked up the walks to see if he could see the +park-keepers, to have me taken up, and to accuse me of robbing him, or +of some such thing. I could see it all in his eye; and so I told him +that we were lying five miles to the east; and took leave of him +civily, and came away, laughing that he should think I was fool enough +to fancy he and I could ever do anything but hate each other to our +dying day." + +His companion mused for several minutes; and even when he did speak, +he took no notice either of the gipsy's suspicions or of the news he +gave him, but rather,--as one sometimes does when one wishes any thing +just heard to mature itself in the mind, ere further comment be made +upon it,--he linked on what he next said, to that part of Pharold's +speech which might have seemed the least interesting, namely, the +gipsy's own history; and yet, although he certainly did this, in order +to avoid, for the time, the most important parts of his narrative, he +did not do it with the commonplace tone of one who speaks of feelings +with which he has no sympathy: on the contrary, he spoke with warmth, +and kindness, and enthusiasm; and expressed profound regret that the +gipsy had, in his boyhood, thrown away advantages so seldom held out +to one of his tribe. + +"Why? why?" cried the gipsy, "why should you grieve? I did but what +you have done yourself. I quitted a life of sloth, effeminacy, and +bondage, for one of ease, freedom, and activity. I left false forms, +unnatural restraints, enfeebling habits--ay! and sickness too, for the +customs of my fathers, for man's native mode of life, for a continual +existence in the bosom of beautiful nature, and for blessed health. We +know no sickness but that which carries us to our grave; we feel no +vapours; we know no nerves. Go, ask the multitude of doctors,--a curse +which man's own luxurious habits have brought upon him,--go, ask your +doctor's whether a gipsy be not to be envied, for his exemption from +the plagues that punish other men's effeminate habits." + +"True, Pharold! true!" replied his companion; "but still, even the +short time that you lived in other scenes must have given your mind a +taste for very different enjoyments from those that you can now find. +You must have seen the beauty of law and order; you must have learned +to delight in mental pleasures; you must long for the society of those +of equal intellect and knowledge with yourself." + +"And do I not find them?" cried the gipsy, warming in defence of his +race; "to be sure I do. Think not that we have none among us as +learned and as thoughtful as yourselves, though in another way. But +you cannot understand us. You think that it is in our habits alone +that we are different; but, remember, that when you speak to a true +gipsy, who follows exactly the path of his fathers, you speak to one +different in race, and creed, and mind, and feeling, and law, and +philosophy, from you and yours. You think us all ignorant, and either +bound as drudges to some low rejected trade, or plundering others, +because we do not comprehend the excellence of laws. But let me tell +you again, that there are men among us deeply read in sciences which +you know not; speaking well a language, for a hundred words of which +your schools have laboured long years in vain. Have we not laws, too, +of our own? laws better observed than your boasted codes? But you +choose to doubt that we have them, because we put you beyond our code, +as you put us beyond yours. When was ever justice shown to a gipsy? +and therefore we look upon you as things to pillage. You speak, too, +of the pleasures of the mind. Do you think my mind finds no exercise +in scenes like these? I walk hand in hand with the seasons through the +world. Winter, your enemy, is my friend and companion. Gladly do I see +him come, with his white mantle, through the bare woods and over the +brown hills. I watch the budding forth of spring, too, and her light +airs and changing skies, as I would the sports of a beloved child. I +hail the majestic summer, as if the God of my own land had come to +visit our race, even here; and in the yellow autumn, too, with the +rich fruit and the fading leaf, I have a comrade full of calmer +thoughts. The sunrise, and the sunset, and the midday, to me, are all +eloquence. The storm, the stream, the clouds, the wind, for me have +each a voice. I talk with the bright stars as they wander through the +deep sky, and I listen to the sun and moon, as they sing along their +lonely pilgrimage. Is not this enough? What need I more than nature?" + +Perhaps his companion, whose mind was in no degree wanting in +acuteness, might imagine that in all the very enjoyments which the +gipsy enumerated, as well as in the tone he used, were to be traced +some remains of a better education than that of his race in general; +and might believe, that had that education been continued, every +pleasure that he felt would have been doubled by refinement. But all +this came upon his mind as impression rather than as thought; and the +reader will please to observe, that there is an immense difference +between the two. The truth was, that ever since the conversation had +turned to the gipsy himself, his companion had been doing what is +oftener done than the world imagines; that is to say, talking without +thinking, and listening without attending. In short, he was thinking +of other things; and yet, as we have said, he spoke with kindness, and +zeal, and real feeling; but the fact is, that the language he was +talking was memory. Years before, he had come to the same conclusions, +and held the same arguments in his own mind, regarding the very person +in whose company he was now once more; so that--having, in all the +news he had heard, greater calls upon present thought than he could +well satisfy,--as soon as the gipsy began to speak of gipsy-life, he +turned that topic over to memory, well knowing that she had a +plentiful stock of ideas prepared to supply any demand upon such a +subject; while intellect went on, quietly thinking of himself and of +the present. This plan, when skilfully executed, has a collateral +advantage, which, by-the-way, is often turned into a principal one; +namely, that while you let memory go on with the conversation--unless +she trips, or something of that kind--your companion does not perceive +that you are thinking at all; and thus the stranger, apparently +listened to, and took part in the gipsy's conversation about himself, +while his inner soul was busy, most busy, with the other tidings which +he had received. By the time that the enumeration of wild pleasures, +afforded by a wandering life was over, he had settled his plans in his +own mind; and, breaking off the subject there, demanded abruptly,-- + +"When, Pharold--tell me, when did you see him?" + +He mentioned no name; and the gipsy, at once dropping the high and +enthusiastic tone in which he had been speaking, answered, as to a +common question, "It was but to-day--not four hours ago, or you had +not found me here." + +"And why not?" demanded the other. "Whither would you go?" + +"Far away," answered the gipsy, "far away! I love not his +neighbourhood; nor is it safe for me and mine. He thinks evil against +us, and he will not be long ere he tries to bring his thoughts to +pass." + +"But he cannot injure you," replied the other; "in all the things +wherein you and he have borne a part, he has more cause to fear you +than you have to fear him." + +"True! true!" said the gipsy; "and yet I love not his neighbourhood. I +may have done things in this land in my youth, when passion and +revenge were strong, and wisdom and forbearance weak, that I should +little like to have investigated in my middle age. Not that I fear for +myself; for, from the dark leap that all men must take, I have never +shrunk through life. But I fear the sorrow of those that would weep +for me, and the unjust mingling of the innocent with the guilty, for +which your laws are infamous." + +His companion mused for a moment; and then, laying his hand upon the +arm of the gipsy, he replied, in a tone where kindness mingled with +authority: "Mark me, Pharold!" said he; "you know that I am not one +either to counsel you amiss, or to fall from you at a moment of need: +base, indeed, should I be, were I to do so, after all you have done +for me. But my resolutions are not yet fixed--my mind is not yet +made up; and I must hear more, and examine deeply, ere I execute my +half-formed purpose. Still you have no cause to fear; call upon me +whenever you need me; and, in the meantime, if you please, you can +remove from the spot where you now are, but not so far that I cannot +find you, for you must help me to the end of all this." + +"To the common, at the back of Mrs. Falkland's woods?" asked the +gipsy: "they will hardly seek us there." + +"As good a spot as any," replied his companion; "and in the case of +necessity, Pharold, here, I have written down where you may always +find me in this immediate neighbourhood; remembering, in the meantime, +all that you have promised." + +"I have promised--I have promised!" replied the gipsy; "and you never +knew me break my word. But what is this you give me with the paper? I +want not gold--and from you, William." + +"But your people may," replied the other; "take it, take it, Pharold; +it is never useless in such a life as yours." + +"I will take it," answered the gipsy, "because it may give me more +control over my people; for although among our nation there are men +whose minds you little dream of, yet these I have here are not, +perhaps, of the best,--not that they are evil either; but wild, and +headstrong, and rash--as I was myself, when I was young." + +They had already turned in their walk, and were now re-approaching the +fire, round which the gipsies were gathered. Their conversation had +not been without its share of interest to either, and each had much +matter for reflection: so that--as thought is not that which makes a +man speak, but that which keeps him silent--they advanced without +another word to the spot where the stranger's horse stood. It was a +fine powerful animal, of great bone and blood; but it was standing +like a lamb in the hands of a little boy, while the beautiful girl, +whom we have mentioned as accosting the other travellers, now stood +stroking his proud neck, and examining the accoutrements with a care +that some people might have thought suspicious. As Pharold and his +companion returned, however, she sprung away to the rest of her tribe +with a step as light as the moonshine on the sea. + +"She is very beautiful," said the stranger, whose eye had rested on +her for a moment; "who is she, Pharold?" + +"She is my wife!" replied the gipsy, abruptly. + +His companion shook his head with a sigh, and putting his foot in the +stirrup, mounted his horse, and rode away. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +While such events as have just been described were passing in the +wood, the two travellers whom we first brought before the reader, and +to whom we must now return, rode on; but begging leave to pass over +all their farther journey, as it did not consist of more than half a +mile, we may bring them safe to the gate of the very house, whose +lights and shadows they had seen from the slope above the village. + +By this time it was as dark as could well be desired. It was not +exactly Egyptian darkness, for there was nothing in it that could be +_felt_, but the sun was gone entirely; and the last fringe of his +golden robe had swept the sky some time. The moon was not yet up, so +that the stars had the sky all to themselves; but though they were +shining as brightly as they did many a thousand years ago, when they +were first sent glittering into the depths of space, they did very +little to show the travellers their way. + +Edward de Vaux, indeed, had taken it into his head to go to the back +entrance of his aunt's house. But the truth is, he had worked himself +up, as he came along, into a belief that there might be some fuss made +upon his return, and had conjured up before his imagination everything +that might or could possibly occur, in which there was the least smack +of ridicule; although all the time he knew perfectly well that his +companion was of too generous and feeling a disposition even to dream +that anything was ridiculous which sprung from the heart. He well +knew, also, that those he was about to meet were by education, and +habit, and natural character, the last persons in the world to do or +say anything that was not graceful and _bienséant_. But still, as his +imagination was not the most tractable imagination in the world, but +roved hither and thither, whether he liked it or not, on all +occasions, he could not get the better of her in the present instance; +and therefore, in order that everything in the way of reception might +pass as quietly and as quickly as possible, he rode up to the gate of +the back court, and after feeling about for the bell for some time, he +rang for admittance. + +After a little delay, a coachman with a powdered wig, and three rows +of curls round his ears, opened the gates with a lantern in his hand, +and demanded what the strangers wanted; but without other reply, De +Vaux rode into the yard with his companion, and springing to the +ground, exposed his well-known face to the glare of the lantern and +the wondering eyes of old Joseph, the immemorial coachman, who, +bursting forth into a loud exclamation, called vehemently to the +groom, and the helper, and the stable-boy. "The oaken doors returned a +brazen sound!" and not only those that the old curly-wigged official +of the hammercloth called to his aid appeared with ready promptitude, +but eke a footman emerged from the passage of the servants'-hall, and +two or three pippin-faced housemaids were seen "peeping from forth the +alleys green" beyond. + +Thus, as usual, De Vaux's precaution in regard to not making a bustle +had, in fact, the very contrary effect in the house itself. But this +was not all: his method of proceeding had the very contrary effect +with his companion, also, to that which he had purposed. Colonel +Manners certainly did think, in the first instance, that such an +entrance was a somewhat strange one for the house he saw before him; +and when he found that it was in truth the stable-yard into which he +had been taken, he thought the conduct of his friend still stranger. +But by this time Charles Manners had known Edward de Vaux too long not +to have some slight insight into his character and into the weaknesses +thereof; and as they had ridden along together upon that day's +journey, various little traits, which might have escaped any but a +very keen and a very friendly eye, had given him the key of his +friend's feelings on his return--a key which he did not fail to apply +on the present occasion. The result was, that he soon comprehended the +general motives of De Vaux, though perhaps not all the little ins and +outs of the business--ins and outs, by-the-way, which depended as much +upon the plan and architecture of the house, and upon the fact of the +first landing of the grand staircase leading at once into the little +ante-room of the drawing-room, so that the voice and step of any one +ascending could be recognised instantly, as upon anything else in the +world. + +A slight smile curled Colonel Manners's lip as he perceived what had +been passing in his friend's mind; but he would not have had that +smile seen for any recompense that could have been offered to him, +unless it had been that of curing his friend of a folly. But he knew +very well that De Vaux was not a man to be laughed out of anything on +earth; and that, with all his sensibility to ridicule, it was only so +long as the sneer was silent and suppressed that he cared anything +about it. The moment that the laugh was open, his pride took arms to +defend the position which he occupied, and every one knows that pride +would always rather blow up the place than capitulate. + +Colonel Manners did, indeed, wish that his friend could be taught, +with the same sort of bold determination which he displayed in +opposing the loud laugh, to despise the silent sneer, which is as +often excited in the minds of the worldlings by traits of a good and +noble nature as by folly or by awkwardness: but he knew that the only +lessons he would receive upon the subject would be gentle ones, spoken +by the voice of friendship, without a touch of sarcasm. + +"It is a pity, a great pity," thought he, "that De Vaux, who affects +to, and perhaps really does, despise the opinion of the general fool, +should thus, as it were, make himself a slave to the laugh of his own +fancy. I hope and trust that his fair future bride may have influence +enough to school him from these weaknesses." + +Such was all his comment; and by the time it was made their horses +were in safe hands, and a footman, as antique as the coachman, was +leading the way up the back stairs towards the drawing-room. + +De Vaux was somewhat uneasy at the back stairs, and at a distant +prospect of the kitchen, and the servants' hall, and the housekeeper's +room; but Manners, though he saw it all, appeared to see nothing, +rubbed his boot with his riding-whip, and talked of North America +with all the zeal and volubility of a Mohawk. His companion was +relieved; and following the fat legs and white stockings of the old +footman up the narrow staircase, they were soon in a small lobby which +led into the drawing-room. Soft Turkey carpets covered the floor of +the lobby; against each of the piers stood a small antique table of +tortoise-shell and brass; and in the deep recesses of the windows were +placed those immense and beautiful china jars which formed the glory +of our great-grandmothers. These again were filled with a composition +of all the sweet-scented leaves gathered from the garden during the +past year; and which, mingled with orris-root and many a fragrant +spice, diffused through the whole air a rich perfume of the eighteenth +century. + +But there was music upon the air of this bower as well as perfume. It +was the music, however, of a sweet, low-toned woman's voice, speaking +some sentences of which nothing could be distinguished but the melody. +Nevertheless, it made the fitful colour come up for a moment in the +cheek of Edward de Vaux; and whether his heart beat more quickly, or +whether it maintained its even pulse, is a problem which we shall +leave others to solve; for, the next moment, the door was thrown open, +and the visiters all silently and unannounced entered the room. + +It was a large handsome chamber, fitted up as unlike a modern +drawing-room as possible. There was nothing in it of the last +fashion, even of that day; but all was comfortable, and all bespoke +both taste and affluence. On the walls were a few cabinet pictures, +which at first appeared dark and dingy, but which, when any one +looked farther, turned out gems; and on the rich and massive marble +mantel-piece--which was itself nearly equal in size, and quite equal +in value, to a house in a modern square--were placed pagodas, and +feather fans, and screens, and many a little curiosity from different +parts of the world--bracelets that might have clasped the arm of +Cleopatra, and idols that had been acquainted with Captain Cook. The +room, like every clever room, had a great number of tables of all +sorts and sizes; and at two of these tables, not with hospitable cares +intent, but very busy with that sort of idleness which ladies call +work, sat two fair dames, who, in point of age, might divide between +them the apportioned years of man. The division of those seventy +years, however, was very unequal, as the one nearest the door had +monopolized at least forty-six of them to herself, and had left +her daughter--for such was the other lady--not much more than +twenty-three. They were both very handsome women nevertheless; the +mother feeling her years as light as a young king's crown, and the +daughter, in addition to a very beautiful person, and a face where all +that is fine was softened by all that is pleasing, having the advantage +of youth and all youth's graces. There was one peculiarity in her +countenance, which, as it had something to do with her mind, may +as well be noticed. It was one of those faces which love not +clouds--which smile where others frown; and as she sat with her eyes +bent upon a provoking knot in her work, which for the last ten minutes +had defied all her efforts to disentangle it, she was still +half-laughing at the perversity of the silk, which seemed to take a +pleasure in baffling her. + +There was a third person in the drawing-room, younger than either, and +very different from both. As she lay upon a sofa at the other side of +the room, with a book in her hand, and her eyes bent upon the pages, +the light of the lamp falling at the same time from above upon her +clear fair forehead, on her beautiful eyelids with their long dark +eyelashes, and on the marble white chiselling of her nose and upper +lip, she did not appear to be more than eighteen; but her real age, +which we are bound to give, was twenty years, eleven months, and a few +days, the exact number of which is forgotten. Her form was light and +beautiful, and though those who did not love her might contend that +she was certainly not equal to the Medicean Venus, yet she was a great +deal more graceful than many another goddess, and as fair a specimen +of the fairest of earth's creatures as the eye of man has ever seen +since Eve's ill-fated experiment in Eden. + +Her hair was of that glossy golden brown, which is so beautiful and so +seldom seen; and as the whole party had given up the expectation of +their visiters for that night, she had turned back the shining curls +which would have fallen into her eyes while reading; so that, with a +wavy line on either side, they left her fair forehead bare, and formed +a bunch of ringlets behind each ear, that might have defied the chisel +of a Chantry. + +As the door which admitted De Vaux and his companion was that which +led to the back staircase, the party in the drawing-room concluded, +naturally enough, that it was opened by one of the domestics on some +of the many motives or pretexts upon which a servant can visit the +drawing-room. No one took any notice, no one looked up; and the fair +girl upon the sofa went on commenting upon the book in her hand, +without knowing that any one was listening to her gentle criticism. + +Thus each of the two visiters had time to make their own observations, +if they chose it. A bright pleased smile lighted up the rough features +of Colonel Manners, as he was thus at once admitted, without the help +of an Asmodeous into the very heart of an English domestic circle, to +each member of which he was a stranger. To him it was a sight full of +pleasure and interest; it was a sight that he had seldom seen even +when in England, and which he had not seen at all for several years +while serving abroad: but it was one which fancy had often renewed for +him in his solitary wanderings, which had been painted to his eye in +the still night, and in the tented field on distant shores, which had +been to him a dream, whereunto imagination could cling without the +apprehension of disappointment; for he had ever thought of it as a +thing whereof he might be the spectator, but never a sharer in its +dearer ties. + +As for Edward de Vaux, he _did not_ choose to make any observations on +the scene at all, for more fastidious in anticipation than in reality, +the moment he was in the midst of his domestic circle a host of bright +warm feelings rose up at once in his heart, and trampled every cold +calculation of Chesterfieldism beneath their feet. Passing the old +servant, who was himself amused to see the unconsciousness of the +party in the drawing-room, De Vaux at once advanced towards the fair +girl on the sofa. But there was a sound in his step different from +that of any of the servants, which only let him pass half across the +room ere her eyes were raised from the book and fell upon him. The +sight instantly called into them a gleam as bright as sunshine after a +storm, and the warm, eloquent blood rose into her cheek and brow, +while with a voice of unquestionable icy, she exclaimed, "Edward! My +dear aunt, here is Edward!" + +The next moment, however, the light of her glance faded away, the +blood ebbed back from her cheek, and from that moment it was scarcely +perceivable that Edward de Vaux was anything more to her than an +intimate friend. It was all the work of an instant, and Colonel +Manners had only time to think, "This is all very odd!" ere the other +two ladies rose to welcome his companion and himself; while the one +who had spoken, gracefully but composedly drew her small foot from the +sofa to the ground, and advanced to meet her lover; contriving to +execute what is sometimes a difficult man[oe]uvre, without showing +half an inch of her ankle, though it might very well have borne the +display. + +The elder lady now of course took the lead, and expressed her joy at +the return of her nephew, in a manner which showed how compatible real +dignity and grace are with every zealous and kindly feeling. "And +this," she said the next moment, "is of course Colonel Manners; though +you have not introduced him to me, Edward; but Colonel Manners indeed +requires no introduction here; for allow me to say, my dear sir, that +even were it not that you had saved the life of my nephew, and +rendered him so many inestimable services, the son of your mother, who +was my dear and early friend, would always be the most welcome of +guests at my fire-side." + +Colonel Manners bowed, and replied, "I have been lucky enough to find +among my mother's papers, madam, the letters of the Honourable Mrs. +Falkland; and am aware how fortunate in a friend my parent was during +the greater part of her short life. Most proud shall I be if the son +may merit some portion of the same regard which you bestowed upon the +mother." + +"You already command it, Colonel Manners," she replied: +"Isadore,--Marian--Colonel Manners! My daughter--my niece, Miss De +Vaux." + +Now this introduction puzzled Colonel Manners a good deal, for reasons +which may as well be explained. He had heard long before, while +abroad, that his friend Edward de Vaux, the only son of Lord Dewry, +was affianced to his cousin, and that their marriage was to take place +as soon as the young heir of the barony could return to his native +country, provided that the lady were by that time of age. In the +course of their intimacy in other lands, De Vaux had often spoken of +his fair cousin Marian, and had indeed on their return besought +Colonel Manners to accompany him down to the house of his aunt, in +order to act the part of bridesman at his wedding, which was to take +place immediately. With this request we have seen that he complied; +but he had completely made up his mind to the belief that his friend +was about to be united to the daughter of Mrs. Falkland, and he was +now surprised to find a Miss De Vaux, towards whom the manner of +Edward de Vaux was not exactly that which men assume towards their +sisters. Besides, her name was Marian, that of his promised bride; and +although this discovery, leaping over the head of all his own +preconceptions, puzzled Colonel Manners for a moment, he soon set it +all to rights in his own mind, by supposing, what was in fact the +truth, that the fair girl we have described was the daughter of Lord +Dewry's brother. + +All the while he was settling this to his own satisfaction, he was +going through the manual of politeness, and doing De Vaux the favour +of talking to Mrs. Falkland and her daughter, while the lover spoke in +a lower tone to the other fair cousin. Whatever he said, however, +seemed to have no very great effect upon her. She smiled, and seemed +to answer him kindly and affectionately; but she displayed no further +sign of that agitation which a girl in her situation might be expected +to feel on the return of her lover from a long and dangerous +expedition. Once, indeed, she laid her hand upon the table near her, +and Colonel Manners saw that, notwithstanding the general composure +which she seemed to feel, that hand trembled so much, that, as if +conscious its tremour might be perceived, she instantly withdrew it, +and suffered her arm to fall gracefully by her side. + +Manners marked all this, for from their first acquaintance De Vaux had +interested him, as much perhaps by the contrast of the little foibles +of his character with the greater and nobler qualities it possessed, +as by any other circumstance: he had gradually suffered a deep regard +for him to rise up in his heart; he had permitted imagination to +indulge herself with bright pictures of his friend's domestic +happiness; and in every little trait connected therewith he had a sort +of personal feeling, which made him seek to discover all that he +wished might be. + +After standing booted and spurred in the middle of the room for about +ten minutes, and having learned that their servants had arrived with +their baggage early in the morning of the same day, the two gentlemen +retired to cast off their travelling costume, and attire themselves in +apparel more suited to the drawing-room. Colonel Manners proceeded to +the task systematically; and although he knew that nothing on earth +could ever make him handsome, yet he took every reasonable pains with +his dress, and was soon ready to descend again, with that neat, clean, +soldier-like appearance for which he was particularly distinguished. +De Vaux acted differently, as may well be supposed, and giving his man +the keys of the trunk-mails, he cast himself on a chair; and, with his +arms leaning on the dressing-table, remained for full ten minutes in +deep and somewhat melancholy thought, while the servant continued to +torment him every other minute, with--"Sir, do you want this?" or, +"Sir, shall I do that?" + +Into his private thoughts we shall not at present pry, although we +consider that we have a right to do so whenever the necessities of the +tale may demand it; but in this instance it is only requisite to give +the ending reflection of his revery, which may serve as a key to all +the rest. "How cold Manners must have thought her reception of me! and +yet her own lips, which never from her infancy spoke any thing but +truth, have given me the assurance of her love. Well, we cannot change +people's nature!--and yet she was very different as a child!" + +Such were the last dying words of his meditation and then, starting +up, he proceeded hastily to dress himself, addressing the servant with +as much impatience as if the man had been dreaming instead of himself. +"There, give me that coat," he exclaimed. "Set down the dressing-case +here. Put those shoes on the other side of the table; and throw the +stockings over the back of the chair. How slow you are, William! Here +now, pull off these great boots, and then go and see that old Joseph +does not poison the horses with any of his nostrums." These various +commands the man obeyed with as much promptitude as possible; and +after he was gone, De Vaux proceeded to dress himself with all the +haste of one who is afraid of being detected in loitering away his +time. He was half-way through the operation, and was just arranging +his hair, when Manners, whose rooms were on the opposite side of the +corridor, rejoined him; and they descended together, without having +made any comment on the subject which was certainly next to the heart +of Edward de Vaux. He felt that in common delicacy he could not begin +it, though he would have given worlds, by any curious process of +distillation, to have extracted Colonel Manners's first impression of +her he loved; and Manners was resolved to see more and judge more +clearly, ere he ventured even the common nothings which are usually +said upon such occasions. + +In the meanwhile, the ladies in the drawing-room had not, of course, +refrained from comment on the appearance and arrival of their +visiters. As the first object of all their affections was Edward de +Vaux, his appearance and health naturally occupied several moments ere +anything else was thought of. + +"How very well he looks!" said Mrs. Falkland; "his health seems +greatly improved." + +"I never saw him look so handsome," said Isadore Falkland, "though he +was wrapped in that horrid great coat." + +Marian de Vaux said nothing, but she repaid her cousin for her praises +of her lover's looks by a smile as bright as an angel's, which +fluttered away in a warm blush, though it had nearly been drowned in +some sparkling drops that rose into her eyes. So she turned away, and +began playing with the seals on the writing-table. + +"I am delighted that Edward has prevailed on Colonel Manners to come +down with him," said Mrs. Falkland; "for I have longed to see him on +his mother's account." + +"And I, because he saved Edward's life," said Marian de Vaux. + +"And I am delighted too," said Isadore Falkland, "because he seems a +very agreeable gentlemanly man, though certainly a very ugly one--I +think as ugly a man as I ever saw." + +"His face is certainly not handsome," replied her mother; "but his +figure seems remarkably fine. His mother was as beautiful a woman as +ever lived; and I have heard that till he was twenty he was equally +good looking." + +"Poor fellow!" cried Isadore; "he has been very unfortunate, then; for +it is better to be born ugly than to become so afterward." + +"I did not think him ugly at all," said Marian de Vaux. + +"That was because you only saw the man that saved Edward's life," +replied Isadore, laughing; "but he is not beautiful, I can assure you, +Marian." + +"Happy are they, my dear Isadore," replied her mother, "who can 'see +Othello's visage in his mind;' and I do not think you, my dear girl, +are one either, to value any one for their personal appearance." + +"No, no, no, mamma! I am not," answered Miss Falkland; "but still, +some sensible old gentleman has said that a good countenance is +the best letter of recommendation; and now, had it not been that you +had known Colonel Manners's mother, or that he had saved Edward's +life--yet, notwithstanding--" she added, breaking off her sentence +abruptly--"after all, perhaps, his face is just the one from which we +should expect a man to save people's lives, and do a great many brave +and noble things." + +"I think so, certainly," answered Mrs. Falkland. "However ugly it may +be, I have seldom seen a face through which a fine mind shone out so +distinctly." + +Such was the tenour of the conversation that went on in the +drawing-room till the two gentlemen returned, and by their presence +took themselves out of the range of topics. Other subjects were soon +started, and filled the hours till supper-time. Edward de Vaux +naturally took the place he loved best; and what passed between him +and his fair cousin was not always loud enough in its tone, or general +enough in its nature, to be very distinct to the rest of the party, or +very interesting to the reader. Manners, who knew as well as any one +how to effect a diversion in favour of a friend, placed himself near +the other ladies, and displayed such stores of varied information as +well occupied their attention. Those stores were somewhat desultory, +perhaps, but they were gained from every source. Man, and all the fine +and all the amusing traits of his character; countries, and all their +beauties and their disadvantages; the history of other times, the +varied events of the present; matters of taste and of science, the +light wit of a playful imagination, and the choice knowledge procured +by very extensive reading; all seemed to come within the scope of his +mind. All too, had been refined and ornamented by judgment and good +feeling, and his conversation had still the peculiar charm of +appearing far less profound than it really was. It was all light, and +playful, and gay; and yet, on rising from it, one felt improved and +instructed, without well knowing how or in what. His memory, too, was +excellent, and stored with a number of little anecdotes and beautiful +scraps of poetry; and, without ever seeming to intrude them, he knew +how to mingle them in the general current of what was passing, with +tact almost as skilful as that of the greatest writer and most amiable +man that centuries have witnessed upon earth--Sir Walter Scott. + +So extensive, indeed, seemed to have been the reading of their new +acquaintance, that Mrs. Falkland wondered thereat in silence; while +Isadore, well knowing that there is scarcely any question on the face +of the earth that a young and pretty woman may not ask of a man under +forty with perfect _bienséance_ and propriety, looked up with a smile, +and said--"Pray tell me, Colonel Manners, where you have found time, +while you have been defeating the king's enemies night and day, to +read everything of every kind that is worth reading." + +"Oh, madam," he replied, "I am afraid I have read but little as +compared with what I might have done. A soldier's life is the most +favourable of all others for general reading; though, perhaps, not for +pursuing steadily any particular study. He is for a few days full of +active employment, and then for many more has hardly anything to do; +and if he gives one half of his spare time to reading, he will, I +believe, read more than many a philosopher. The only difficulty is in +procuring books that are worth the trouble of poring over." + +In such conversation passed the hours till supper; for those were days +of supper,--that most pleasant and sociable of all ways of acquiring +the nightmare. When the meal was announced, it of course caused some +derangement in the local position of the parties; and Edward de Vaux +being brought for a moment nearer to his aunt than his other +occupations had hitherto permitted, she took the opportunity of +saying,--"I hope, Edward, your father will not be at all offended at +your coming here first. He is sometimes a little _ombrageux_, you +know; and I would advise you to ride over tomorrow as early as +possible." + +"Oh! no fear of his being offended, my dear aunt," he replied. "In the +first place, he wrote to give me that assurance. In the next place, as +we chose to ride our own two best horses down, rather than trust them +to two break-neck grooms, we could not have gone seventeen miles +farther to-night: and in the last place," he added, in a lower tone, +"you know that his lordship never likes visiters to take him by +surprise; and as the invitation to Manners was yours, not his, of +course I could not have brought him to the hall without writing, which +I had no time to do. There is nothing he hates so much as any one +taking him by surprise." + +Almost as he spoke, the old servant Peter, who had retired after +announcing supper, once more threw the door open with a portentous +swing, and proclaimed, in a loud voice, "Lord Dewry!" Something like a +smile glanced upon Mrs. Falkland's lip, as the sudden and unexpected +arrival of her brother contrasted somewhat strangely with what her +nephew had just been saying. She paused in her progress to the +supper-room, however; and, in a moment after, with a slow step, which +was languid without being feeble, Lord Dewry entered the ante-room, +and came forward towards them. + +While he is in the act of doing so, let us paint him to the reader--at +least, as far as the outward man is concerned. Of the inward man more +must be said hereafter. He was tall--perhaps six feet high, or very +near it--and well made, though not excessively thin. His frame was +broad, and had been very powerful; his shoulders wide, his chest +expansive, and his waist remarkably small. In feature, too, it could +be still discerned that he had once been a very handsome man; but his +face was now thin and sharp, and his complexion extremely sallow. His +eyes, however, were still fine, and his teeth of a dazzling whiteness. +He might have numbered sixty years, but he looked somewhat older, +although he had taken a good deal of pains with his dress, and lay +under considerable obligations to his valet-de-chambre. The first +impression produced on the mind of a stranger by the appearance of +Lord Dewry was imposing but not pleasing; and, unfortunately, the +unpleasant effect did not wear off. He looked very much the peer and +the man of consequence, but there was a gloomy cloud upon his brow +which was not melancholy, and a curl of the lip which was not a smile, +and both prepared the mind of all who approached him, for not the most +agreeable man in the world. His general expression, too, was cold, he +had a look like the easterly wind, at once chilling and piercing; and +though report said that he had been a very fascinating man in his +youth, and had not always made the best use of his powers of pleasing, +he did not seem at present to consider it at all necessary to use any +effort to render himself agreeable, farther than the common forms of +society and what was due to his own station required. + +"Well, my lord," said Mrs. Falkland, as he came forward, "I am happy +to see you come to welcome our wanderer back again." + +As she spoke, Edward advanced to his father, who grasped his hand +eagerly, while a smile of unfeigned pleasure for a single instant +spread a finer expression over the worn features of the baron. +"Welcome back, Edward!" he said; "welcome back! you look remarkably +well! I have to apologize, Maria," he added, turning to his sister +after this brief salutation bestowed upon his son, "I have to +apologize for coming thus, without notice; but I have some business +to-morrow, down at the park-house, of which I knew nothing till this +morning; and I also wished to see Edward, whose devoirs here," and he +turned towards Marian, "I knew must first be paid, according to all +the rules of gallantry. How are you, my fair niece? You look a little +pale. How are you, Isadore?" And the peer, without waiting to hear how +any one was, cast his eyes upon the ground, and fixing upon a spot in +the carpet, seemed calculating geometrically the precise measurement +of all its strange angles. + +"We were just going to supper, my lord," said Mrs. Falkland; "will you +come with us? But first let me introduce you to Colonel Manners." Lord +Dewry acknowledged the introduction by a cold bow, while Manners said +some words of course; and the question of supper being renewed, the +nobleman agreed to go down with the party to the table, though he +bestowed a word or two of heavy censure on the meal they were about to +take. + +"It is, nevertheless," said Colonel Manners, "from its very hour, the +most sociable one of the whole day; for by this time, in general, all +the cares, and annoyances, and labours of the busy daylight are over; +and, as is justly observed--I forget where--'nothing remains for us +but enjoyment and repose.'" + +"Eating and sleep!" muttered Lord Dewry; "the delights of a hog and a +squirrel;" but as what he said did not seem intended to be heard, +Colonel Manners made no reply, though he did hear it; and the party +seated themselves round the supper-table, in walking towards which +these few sentences had passed. For some time the presence of the peer +seemed destined to cast a gloom over the society in which he had so +suddenly appeared. His manner even here, in the midst of his nearest +relations, and by the side of his newly-returned son, was cold, stern, +and gloomy, only broken by some flash of cynical scorn for things that +other people valued, or by some biting sneer at the follies and +weaknesses of his fellow-creatures. + +To his niece Marian de Vaux, however, his conduct was very different. +At table he placed himself by her side; made an evident effort to +render himself agreeable to her; and whenever he spoke to her softened +his tone, and endeavoured to call up a smile. Such was his conduct on +the present evening; but it maybe necessary also to stretch our view +over the past, for his behaviour to his niece had always formed a +strange contrast to his conduct towards others. The first effect of +her presence, when he had not seen her for some time, was almost +always to throw him into a fit of deep gloom; and those who watched +him narrowly might have remarked his lip move, as if he were speaking +to himself, though no sound was heard. From this fit of abstraction he +generally roused himself soon, but it was evidently at the cost of +great efforts; and then he would speak to his niece with a degree of +tenderness which bordered on timidity, and treat her with attention +approaching to gallantry. Any one who saw him in conversation with her +might easily conceive him to have been the fascinating and courtly man +that report had represented him in his younger days; and there was a +kindness and gentleness in his whole demeanour towards her, which, +together with the family name that she bore, had often caused her to +be taken for his daughter. Nevertheless, even across the moments when +he seemed exerting himself to please her, would break occasionally the +same fits of gloom, called up by apparently the least calculated to +produce any such effect. They were then always brief, however; and a +seemed that the original exertion to conquer the dark feelings which +the first sight of his niece appeared to arouse, was sufficient to +hold all the rest in check. + +It was only to her, however, that he was thus gentle. Her presence +made no difference in his conduct towards others; and the moment his +attention or his speech was called from the conversation with his +niece, he seemed to become a different being,--dark, stern, and +overbearing. + +Such a demeanour, of course, was not calculated to promote any thing +like cheerful conversation; and the atmosphere of his gloom would have +affected all those by whom he was surrounded, and extinguished every +thing like pleasure for that night, had it not been for the +counteracting influence of Colonel Manners. He, without the slightest +touch of obtrusiveness or self-conceit, by a just estimation of +himself and others, was always in possession of his own powers of +mind; and never suffered the presence of any other individual--unless, +indeed, it was that of one whom he could at once admire and love--to +give a tone to his behaviour, to restrain him in what he chose to say, +or to frighten him from what he chose to do. + +He took the tone of his conversation from his own heart, and from its +feelings at the time; and, guarded by fine sensibilities, good taste, +knowledge of the world, and a refined education, there was not the +slightest fear that he would ever give pain to any one whose +approbation he valued. Of all this he was himself well aware; and, +after a few moments given to something like wonder at the character of +Lord Dewry, he proceeded in the same manner as if such a person had +not been in existence. + +Isadore Falkland, as soon as she found that such powerful support was +prepared for her, boldly resisted the influence of her uncle's +presence also. Mrs. Falkland, whose naturally strong mind was not +unfitted to cope with her brother, held on the even tenour of her way; +and Edward de Vaux joining in, the conversation soon became once more +general and cheerful. It had taken another turn, however; and the +subject had become the mutual adventures of Colonel Manners and Edward +de Vaux, in the war which was then raging between France and England +in North America. Many was the wild enterprise, many the curious +particular, that they had to speak of; "hair's breadth escapes and +perils imminent"--scenes and persons quite fresh and strange to +Europeans; a new world, and all that a new world contained, with a +system of warfare totally different from any thing that had ever been +seen on the older continents. At that time, neither a barbarous policy +nor a criminal negligence had produced any of those lamentable results +which are rapidly exterminating the Indian nations of America: but, at +the same time, a most barbarous policy had--instead of endeavouring to +civilize and soften the dusky natives of the woods, the real lords of +the land--had engaged them, with all their fierce and horrid modes of +warfare, in the contention between the two great bands of European +robbers, who were struggling for the country that really belonged to +the savage. Of these Indian nations, and of their wild habits, both +Manners and De Vaux spoke at large; and many a strange scene had they +witnessed together among the uncultivated woods and untamed people of +the transatlantic world. + +Often, too, Manners, with kind and friendly zeal, would make Edward de +Vaux the hero of his tale; and while he related, as if he were +speaking of ordinary events, some gallant exploit or some noble +action, would suffer his eye to glance for a single instant, +unperceived, to the countenance of Marian de Vaux; it was generally +calm and tranquil--beautiful, but still; yet occasionally, when the +moment of danger or of interest came, and when Edward extricated +himself gallantly from some difficult or dangerous situation, there +was a bright light beamed up in her eyes, a long-drawn breath, and a +flickering colour, which satisfied Manners that all was well. + +Nevertheless, Manners could not, of course, speak of his friend's +adventures without a little delicate man[oe]uvring, in order to make +the tale appear more a general than a personal one; nor could he +continue the subject long. Often, therefore, he returned to the +Indians, and often to the state of America in general, while Mrs. +Falkland and her daughter gave him, by manifold questions and +observations, full opportunity of varying the subject _ad libitum_. +They sought to know, among other facts, what link of connection could +possibly have sprung up between the Indians and the Europeans so +strong as to make the savage nations have any feeling of regard or +interest towards either of the countries which only struggled to +monopolize the means of plundering and destroying them. + +"Oh, you must not think, my dear madam," answered Colonel Manners, +"that all persons who visit America are actuated by one selfish +motive, or pursue one system of fraud and oppression towards the +Indians. On the contrary, there are many who go over there with the +philanthropic motive of civilizing and benefiting the savage tribes +themselves; and who, in the endeavour to effect this object, display a +degree of wisdom, perseverance, judgment, and courage, that is quite +astonishing. Nor are these qualities without the most immense effect +upon the wild aborigines of the land, who look up to such men almost +as they would to a god. De Vaux and I know a very remarkable instance +of the kind, in one of the most noble-spirited and excellent of human +beings, to whom we are both under no small obligations. He nursed me +through a long and severe fever, when my senses were quite gone; and +afterward enabled me, by his influence with the Indians, to render +your nephew some small service--which, however, was entirely +attributable to his exertions." + +"Nay, nay, Manners," replied De Vaux; "to yours as much as his, and +more; for had you not ventured, at the head of a party of Indians, two +hundred miles into a hostile country, not a step of which you knew--" + +"Well, well, De Vaux," answered his friend, "you must own that he went +with me, though he did not know you, and I did. You must not take away +from the merit of my hero, for such I intend to make him in these +ladies' eyes. I know not, however, how you will like a hero of sixty, +Miss Falkland; but such, I must confess, he is at least. He has now +lived for many years, upon the very borders of civilization, or rather +beyond it, for his house is surrounded by forests and Indian wigwams. +He has never taken any part in the contentions of the tribes, and +seems equally venerated by all, showering good and blessings upon the +heads of every one who approaches him. He is deeply versed in the laws +and the manners of the natives, too; and, though a finished and +elegant scholar and gentleman, conforms when necessary, to their +usages, in a manner that is at once amusing and admirable. He is, at +the same time, the most skilful and indefatigable hunter that the +world, perhaps, ever produced,--an accomplishment which renders him +still more venerable in the eyes of the Indians, who, on account of +all these qualities, have named him 'The White Father.'"[2] + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 2: We need hardly point out to the reader, that though the +name Has been changed, the character of a well-known individual is not +here overdrawn.] + +--------------------- + + +"Delightful creature!" exclaimed Miss Falkland, with her beautiful +eyes sparkling like diamonds; "but tell me, Colonel Manners, tell me, +what is he like? Mamma, if you have no objection, I will go out and +marry him." + +"None in the world, my love!" answered Mrs. Falkland; "but, perhaps, +it may be better, first, to send over and ask whether he will marry +you." + +"That he will of course," answered she: "but, Colonel Manners, you +have not told me what he is like--in person I mean." + +"Oh, he is fresh and hale as a life of exercise and a heart at rest +can make him," replied Manners. "Indeed, he is as handsome a man as +ever I saw." + +"Oh, that will do exactly!" cried Miss Falkland, laughing. Colonel +Manners smiled too; but there was a tinge of melancholy in his smile; +for, however much he might have made up his mind to the fact, that +personal beauty is an indispensable requisite to obtain woman's love, +yet every little trait which served to confirm that opinion touched a +gloomy chord in his bosom, which again called forth the tone of many a +harmonizing feeling, and made somewhat sad music within. + +"And pray, Colonel Manners," said Lord Dewry, with the cold, if not +supercilious tone which he generally employed, "what may be the name +of the wonderful person who does all these wonderful things?" + +"The name, my lord," replied Colonel Manners coolly, "the name of the +gentleman who went two hundred miles into the Indian country to save +your son, Captain de Vaux from the tomahawk, without ever having seen +him, is one known throughout the greater part of America,--Sir William +Ryder." + +Lord Dewry turned suddenly still paler than he was before; and then as +red as fire. Whether it was that some feelings had been excited by +that name with which he did not choose to trust his lips, or whether +his emotion proceeded from temporary illness, did not appear; but he +replied nothing; and Colonel Manners, by whom the peer's agitation had +not been totally unmarked, went on. "If I remember right," he said, "I +heard Sir William Ryder ask after your lordship's health from De Vaux, +and say that he had known you many years ago in England." + +"I once knew, sir," replied Lord Dewry, drawing himself up, "I once +knew an unworthy blackguard of that name, who is now I believe, in +America; but he has no right to claim acquaintance with me." + +De Vaux looked at his father with astonishment, and then turned his +eyes towards Manners, as if to pray him patience; but his friend was +perfectly calm, and replied:--"Your lordship must allude to some +different person, as the description does not at all correspond with +him of whom I speak." + +"No, no, sir," answered the baron, reddening, "I speak of the same +person,--there can be no doubt of it,--a gambling beggar!" + +"If you do speak of the same person, Lord Dewry," replied Colonel +Manners, quite calmly, "I must beg of you to remember, that you speak +of my friend; and in the presence of one who does not like to hear his +friend's character assailed." + +"Indeed, sir, indeed!" exclaimed Lord Dewry, rising; "do you kindly +wish to dictate to me, in my sister's house, what I am to say of a +person, who it seems, has formed an unfortunate intimacy with my own +son; and is, as I said, a gambling beggar?" + +Manners paused a moment. He and De Vaux were alike under deep +obligations to the man of whom Lord Dewry spoke; and he felt that the +language used by the peer was not only a gross personal insult to both +of them, but especially to himself, who had been the means of +introducing him to his companion, and who had the moment before +bestowed such high and unqualified praise on the very person whom he +now heard reviled. He remembered Lord Dewry's age and situation, +however, and his own particular position, and endeavoured to moderate +his reply as much as possible; though to pass the matter over in +silence, or to leave the charges of the peer without direct +contradiction, he felt to be impossible, as an officer, a man of +honour, or the friend of Sir William Ryder. + +"Your personal opinion, my lord," he answered, "you may, of course, +express to your own son, or your own family whenever you like, +provided it be not injurious to any friend of mine. In which last case +I shall, as before, beg your lordship to refrain in my presence, for I +am not a man to hear a friend calumniated in silence." + +"Calumniated, sir! calumniated!" exclaimed Lord Dewry. + +"Yes, sir, such was the word I made use of," replied Colonel Manners, +"because the expressions you applied to Sir William Ryder were +calumnious, if applied to my friend, whom a long life of noble actions +raises above suspicion; but I trust and believe we are speaking of +different persons." + +"'Tis well, sir; 'tis very well!" replied Lord Dewry, appearing to +grow somewhat cooler; "'tis extremely well!--I trust it is as you say. +Give me a glass of soda-water. Maria, I shall now retire to rest; +I am somewhat fatigued: my apartments are, I think, opposite the +drawing-room. Good-night!--Colonel Manners, I wish you good-night!" +And, bowing with low and bitter courtesy, he left the room. + +Colonel Manners, whatever might be his feelings, and whatever might be +his intentions, took no notice of what had passed after Lord Dewry +left the room, although he could not but feel that he had been +insulted by a man whose age protected him; but both Mrs. Falkland and +De Vaux spoke upon the subject, after a moment's painful pause. The +first apologized with dignified mildness for the occurrence, and +assuring her visiter that something strange and extraordinary must +have irritated her brother during the course of the day, or that he +would not so far have forgot his usual _bienséance_; and the latter +pressed his friend with kindly earnestness to forget what had +occurred, and not to suffer it to affect his conduct, or abridge his +stay. + +Colonel Manners smiled, and suffered himself to be overcome: "You +know, De Vaux, that I am not one to be driven from my position by the +first fire," he said; "and as I suppose that Lord Dewry and myself +will not meet very frequently after the present time, we shall have +but few opportunities of being as agreeable to each other as we have +been to-night." + +Thus ended the conversation, and soon after the party separated, each +grieving not a little that the harmony of the evening had been so +unfortunately interrupted, when there was no reason to expect such an +event. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +The mind of man is a curious thing, in some respects not at all unlike +an old Gothic castle, full of turnings and windings, long dark +passages, spiral staircases, and secret corners. Among all these +architectural involutions, too, the ideas go wandering about, +generally very much at random, often get astray, often go into a wrong +room and fancy it their own; and often, too, it happens that, when one +of them is tripping along quite quietly, thinking that all is right, +open flies a door; out comes another, and turns the first back +again--sometimes rudely, blowing her candle out, and leaving her in +the dark,--and sometimes taking her delicately by the tips of the +fingers, and leading her to the very spot whence she set out at first. + +Colonel Manners, retiring to his bedchamber, though he seldom, if +ever, indulged in reveries of happiness which were never to be +realized, could not help sitting down to think over the events +of the evening, and the circle to which he had been introduced. +In the first place, he took great care to turn the idea of Lord Dewry +and his rudeness out of the castle, being a great economizer of +pleasant thoughts; and then, with somewhat of a sigh (the sort of +semi-singultus which people give to something irremediable in their +own fate, while contemplating the state of another), he thought, "De +Vaux is a very happy man! and yet," he continued, "though she is very +beautiful, too, and evidently has deeper feelings beneath that calm +exterior, yet, had I had to choose between the two cousins, I would +have fixed upon the other." As he thus went on thinking, Colonel +Manners began to remember that his thoughts might be treading upon +dangerous ground: he did not know even that they might not be drawn +into an ambuscade of dreams and wishes which he had long, as he +fancied, defeated for ever; and, therefore, he hastily beat the +general, and marched the whole detachment off to join his own +regiment. What we mean is, that he turned his mind to military +affairs, and would very fain have thought no more either of Mrs. +Falkland's domestic circle, or of the future happiness of his friend; +or, at least, he would have schooled himself, if he did think of such +things at all, not to extract any personal feelings therefrom, but to +let them be to him as matters in which he had no further share than as +in a passing pageant of a pretty device, through which he was to move +as he would have done through a minuet, forgetting it all as soon as +the music ceased. Still, however, as he went on thinking, open flew +some of the doors of association, and ever and anon out started some +fresh idea, which brought him back to the happiness of his friend, and +the delight of seeing a family circle of one's own, and looks of +affection, and a joyful welcome after toil, and exertion, and danger +were over. + +As sleep, however, is a strong fortress against the attack of +dangerous thoughts, he resolved to take refuge there from a force that +was too powerful for him; and, going to bed, he was soon within the +gates of slumber. But fancy turned traitor within his fortress, and, +ere long, whole troops of dreams poured in, laying his heart prostrate +before imaginations which he had repelled with veteran courage for +more than fourteen years. There was, of course, no resisting under +such circumstances: the garrison threw down their arms, and he went on +dreaming of love and domestic happiness all night. It did him no harm, +however, for one of the most curious phenomena which take place in +regard to those wild visitants, dreams, occurred in this case. The +visions that had come to him had all been as vivid as reality: he had +felt more and more acutely than he had, perhaps, ever felt in life; +there had been pleasures and pains, intense and varying; events and +feelings which, had they occurred in waking existence, he would have +remembered till the last hour of his life; and yet, when he awoke, he +had forgotten the whole. It was as if some after-sleep, with a sponge +dipped in Lethe, had passed by, and wiped out from the tablet of +memory all but a few rough scratches, sufficient to show the dreams +had been there. + +The day was yet young when he awoke; but Manners was habitually an +early riser--a habit that generally springs from two causes--vigorous +health, a frame without languor, and easily refreshed; or from a +refined heart, at ease within itself. When he had prayed--for all +noble-minded beings pray; and the only truly great pride is the pride +with which one owns one's self the servant of God: it is the soldier +pointing to the colours under which he serves--when he had prayed, he +dressed himself, somewhat slowly, gazing from time to time out of the +window over the rich landscape sparkling with dew and morning; and +then, opening his door, went out with the purpose of breathing the +fresh air of the early day. The windows at either end of the corridor +were still closed, for it had scarcely struck six, but the skylight +over the staircase gave light enough; and Colonel Manners, descending, +found a housemaid, with unbought roses on her cheeks, and blue arms, +busily washing the marble hall and the steps that went out into the +garden, which, stretching away to the south-west, was separated from +the park in which the house stood, by a haw-haw and a light fence. + +Give me a flower-garden, in the early morning, with its dry +gravel-walks shining in the fresh sunbeams, and all the thousands of +flowers which man's care and God's bounty have raised to beautify our +dwellings, expanding their refreshed petals to the young light. The +garden into which Colonel Manners now went forth was an old-fashioned +one, with manifold beds, arranged in as many mathematical figures. +Each bed, fringed with its close-cut green border of box, was full of +as many flowers as it would hold, and as the season afforded; and +though of late many a foreign land has been ransacked to procure new +exotics for our grounds, yet even then the garden was not without its +rich assortment of flowering shrubs; some still bearing the blossom, +some fallen into the fruit. Between the beds--and, as the gardens were +of very great extent, the beds were not very close together--were +spaces of soft green turf, sometimes flanked with holly, or hedged +with yew, so as to make a sort of little bowling-green; sometimes wide +open to the gay sunshine, and full of innumerable thrushes and +blackbirds, hopping along, with their fine shanks sunk amid the blades +of grass. Here and there, too, was an arbour covered with clematis; +and hothouses and green-houses now and then peeped out from behind the +shrubberies, on the sunny side of the garden. + +Colonel Manners took his way along a walk that flanked the enclosure +to the east, and which, running by the side of the haw-haw, a little +elevated above the park and surrounding country, gave, on the one +side, an extensive prospect over a rich and smiling landscape, with +the deer bounding over the grass, and the cattle lowing along the +distant upland; and, on the other, showed the garden--somewhat formal, +perhaps, but neat, and beautiful, and sparkling. He was a soldier, and +a man of the world, and he loved books, and he did not dislike +society; but, perhaps, there never was a man upon earth who more +thoroughly enjoyed a solitary morning walk amid flowers and beautiful +scenery--scenery in which one can pause and fill one's eye with fair +sights, while the ideas springing from each particular blossom, or +from the whole general view, can ramble out into a world of indistinct +loveliness, wherein one can scarcely be said to think, but rather to +live in a sensation of happiness which approaches near to heaven. + +Although, as we have observed, one can scarcely be said to think, yet +there is no situation on the earth--or very few--in which a man so +little likes to have his thoughts interrupted, and his fine +imaginations forcibly called back to the dull ground. Colonel Manners, +therefore, was not very well pleased, when, after following the walk +which he had chosen to the end, he heard footsteps beyond the bushes, +round which the path now swept. + +Had these footsteps, indeed, possessed that light peculiar sound which +is produced by a small and pretty foot, Colonel Manners, who never +objected to see the beautiful things of nature enhanced by the +presence of the most beautiful, might not have thought his reveries +unworthily disturbed. In the present instance, however, the sound was +very different: it was the dull, heavy, determined step of a foot that +takes a firm hold of the ground; and, as he went on, he was not +surprised to meet with Lord Dewry at the turning of the walk. + +Colonel Manners, if he had not forgot all about their discussion of +the preceding evening, had remembered it as little as possible; and, +being one of those happy men who never suffer any annoyance of such a +nature to rankle at the heart, he had settled the matter in his own +mind by thinking that the old gentleman had the toothache, or +some of those corporal pangs and infirmities which cause and excuse +ill-temper, and sometimes even rudeness, at that period of life when +the passing away of those mighty blessings, vigour and health, is in +itself matter enough for irritation. As, however, he never liked to +subject himself to occasions for commanding his temper, he proposed, +in the present instance, merely to give the peer "Good-morning," and +pass on upon his walk. + +This purpose he was not permitted to execute; as no sooner did Lord +Dewry come opposite to him, than he stopped abruptly, and answered +Colonel Manners's salutation by a cold and haughty bow. "Colonel +Manners," he said, "I saw you come into the garden from the windows of +my room, and I have done myself the honour of seeking you." + +The peer spoke slowly and calmly; but Manners, who doubted not that +his intention was to apologize, was both somewhat surprised that so +proud a man should do so at all, and likewise somewhat puzzled by a +sneering curl of the nostril and a slight twinkling of the eyelid, +which seemed to betray a spirit not quite so tranquil as his tone +would have indicated. "Your lordship does me honour," he replied; +"what are your commands?" + +"Simply as follows, Colonel Manners," replied Lord Dewry: "I think you +last night made use of the term _calumny_, as applied to part of my +discourse; and as I am not in the habit of being insulted without +taking measures to redress myself, I have followed you hither for the +purpose of arranging the necessary result." + +Colonel Manners felt inclined to smile, but he refrained, and replied, +seriously, "My lord, I wish to heaven you would forget this business. +You thought fit to apply the strongest terms of injury to a gentleman +for whom I had expressed my friendship and gratitude; and I pronounced +such terms to be calumnious in regard to my friend, but expressed, at +the same time, my belief that we were speaking of different persons. +For Heaven's sake, let the matter rest where it does: I meant no +personal insult to you; I trust you meant none to me. I came down here +the friend of your son, on a joyful occasion, and it would pain me not +a little to go away the enemy of his father." + +The lip of Lord Dewry curled with a bitter and galling sneer. "Colonel +Manners," he said, "I believe that you wear a sword." + +"I do, sir," replied Manners, reddening; "but I should be unworthy to +wear one, did I draw it against a man old enough to be my father." + +Lord Dewry, too, reddened. "If, as I perceive, sir," he said, "you +intend to make my age your protection, I trust you have calculated the +consequences to your reputation, and will understand the light in +which I view you. When I am willing, sir, to waive all respect of age, +I do not see what you have to do with it." + +"Much, my lord," answered Colonel Manners; "much have my own +conscience and my own honour to do with it." + +"Do not let an officer who is refusing to fight talk of honour, sir," +replied Lord Dewry. + +"You cannot provoke me to forget myself, Lord Dewry," answered the +other; "I hold all duelling in abhorrence, and as any thing but a +proof of courage but when the encounter is to be between a young and +active man, and one of your lordship's age and probable habits, it is +murder outright. Your lordship will excuse me for saying that I think +the business a very foolish one, and that I must insist upon its being +dropped." + +"I shall drop it as far as regards the endeavour to make a man fight +who is not disposed to do so," replied Lord Dewry, with an angry and +disappointed, rather than a contemptuous, smile, for which he intended +it to be; "but, as a matter of course, I shall make generally known +the fact that you have refused to draw your sword when called upon." + +Colonel Manners laughed. "My lord," he answered, "I have drawn it in +eleven different battles in his majesty's service; I have been wounded +nine times, and I am quite satisfied with a certain degree of +reputation obtained in these affairs, without seeking to increase it +by the encounter to which your lordship would provoke me." + +Lord Dewry stood and gazed at him for a moment or two with a heavy +lowering brow, as if contemplating how he might lash his adversary to +the course he sought to bring him to pursue; but the calm and +confident courage and cool determination of Colonel Manners foiled him +even in his own thoughts; and, after glaring at him thus while one +might count twenty, he exclaimed, "You shall repent it, sir! you shall +repent it!" + +"I do not think it, my lord," replied Manners: "I wish you +good-morning;" and he turned calmly on his heel, retreading, with slow +steps, the path he had followed from the house. + +In the mean time, the pace of Lord Dewry was much more rapid; but for +a moment we must pause ourselves, and seize this opportunity of +looking into his bosom, and seeing some of the motives which, like +Cyclops in the cave of Vulcan, were busy forging all those hot +thunderbolts that he was dealing about so liberally--_some_, we only +say some; for were we to look at all, we should have a catalogue too +long for recapitulation here. The fact, then, was, that Lord Dewry had +been greatly irritated on the previous day, by a conversation of not +the most pleasant kind, concerning the very Sir William Ryder of whom +he was destined to hear such high praises the moment he set his foot +within his sister's doors. Now, for various reasons, unto himself best +known, the noble lord hated this Sir William Ryder with a most +reverent and solicitous hatred, and would willingly have given a +thousand pounds to any one who would have brought him proof positive +that he was dead and safely deposited in that earthy chancery, the +archives of which, though they contain many a treasured secret, can +never meet the searching eye of this inquisitive world. What, then, +were his feelings, when he heard that this very man, in regard to whom +his darkest passions had been stirred up that very day, and towards +whom he had nourished an evergreen animosity for many years--when he +heard that, through the instrumentality of Colonel Manners, this man +had been made intimate with his only son! + +This, then, was Manners's offence; but had it been likely to end +there, Lord Dewry might even have forgiven it. Such, however, was not +the case: Lord Dewry had some reason to believe that the object of his +hatred might visit England; and imagination instantly set up before +him the picture of his son, Colonel Manners, and Sir William Ryder +meeting, and discussing many things that would be better let alone. +Now he trusted and believed that, as far as his ancient enemy was +concerned, he could manage his son, and cause him to break off a +connection which had not been of long duration; but at the same time +he judged it necessary to place a barrier between him and Colonel +Manners himself, so as to cut off every link of communication between +Edward de Vaux and Sir William Ryder; and for this purpose he at once +determined to quarrel with his son's friend; which, in his own +irritable and irritated state of mind, he found it not at all +difficult to accomplish. On the preceding night he had begun, +therefore, with real good-will; and as he was a man totally devoid of +any thing like personal fear, and remembered that he had once been a +remarkably good swordsman, while he forgot that he was sixty, he was +really pleased when Manners made use of a term which promised to give +him an opportunity of bringing their dispute to such an issue as must +absolutely put an end to the intimacy between his son and Colonel +Manners forever. "Even should I receive a wound," he thought, "so much +the better;" and, strange as it is to say, had Lord Dewry even +contemplated being killed in the encounter he sought, he would have +looked upon it with less apprehension than might be supposed, when +thereunto was attached the certainty of his son being separated for +ever from Charles Manners and from Sir William Ryder; so much less +terrible does it often appear to our contradictory nature to meet the +eye of God than to encounter the scrutiny of beings like ourselves. + +Frustrated by the coolness and firmness of his opponent in the grand +object of his morning's walk, he now turned towards the house, +animated with a strong desire of accomplishing his purpose by other +means. The peer now determined, as it was impossible to make Colonel +Manners the aggressor, to induce his own family to take the +initiative, and break with the object of his dislike or of his +apprehension--for perhaps there might be a little of both at the +bottom of his heart; and, with a resolution which was the more +imperious and domineering from having seldom suffered contradiction, +he sought the apartment of his son. + +Edward de Vaux was just up, and was in the act of putting on, one +after another, the different parts of his apparel. As this act of +clothing one's person, however much pleasure people may take in it +habitually, is in itself a laborious and troublesome operation, De +Vaux's servant was helping him therein; but the appearance of Lord +Dewry, and a hint not to be mistaken, sent the man out of the room, +while the noble lord betook him to a chair; and his son, seeing that +there was not a little thunder in the dark cloud upon his father's +brow, sat, expectant and half-dressed, wondering what was to come +next. + +"Edward," said his father, in a tone which was intended at once to +express parental affection, some slight touch of sadness, and firm +relying confidence upon his son's good feelings, but which, in truth, +did not succeed in expressing much except a great deal of irritation +and heat--"Edward, I have come to speak with you upon last night's +unfortunate business, and to give you, in a few words, my opinion upon +the subject, in order that you may choose your part at once." + +Edward de Vaux, who knew his father well--though he knew not all his +motives in the present instance--prepared himself to resist; for he +divined, almost immediately from the beginning of Lord Dewry's +discourse, what would be the end; being well aware, though he did not +choose to put it exactly in such terms to his own heart, that a +certain combination of vanity, pride, selfishness, and remorselessness +in the bosom of his worthy parent, made him the exact person to resent +highly even a slight offence, and to treasure long hatred for a casual +word. But Edward de Vaux knew also that he himself stood in a position +towards his father different from that in which any other person +stood: he knew that the ties of nature, long habit, and irreproachable +conduct rendered him the only real object of Lord Dewry's love--the +only being who possessed any influence over a mind which never through +life, in any other case than his own, had yielded to either persuasion +or opposition. He himself, however, had found from experience, that he +could resist with success when the ground of resistance was such as +satisfied his own heart; and he now, therefore, prepared to practise, +upon an occasion of more importance, a behaviour he had sometimes +displayed in regard to trifles. He was aware, at the same time, from +his soldierly habits, that it was advantageous sometimes to be the +attacking party; and when his father paused, a little out of breath +with climbing the stairs faster than necessary, and with speaking more +vehemently than was becoming, he instantly replied, "Oh, my lord, if +you mean the business with Manners, do not think of it any more! +Manners is extremely good-humoured, and will forget it at once, I am +sure. No further apology is necessary." + +"Apology, sir!" exclaimed Lord Dewry; "what do you mean? I have made +no apology!" + +"No, my lord," replied De Vaux; "but, considering that Manners was my +friend, that he saved my life at the risk of his own, that he came +down here at my invitation, and that he was a guest in my aunt's +house, I thought it necessary to apologize for the manner in which my +father had treated him, saying that I was sure you were irritated by +some other cause;" and adding--"I felt sure you would--that you would +be sorry for having expressed yourself so bitterly, when you reflected +upon the circumstances." + +"You did, sir!" said Lord Dewry, "you did!--then I have only to tell +you that you said what was not the case;" De Vaux reddened; "that you +took a great and unwarrantable liberty with my name," continued Lord +Dewry, whose passion had quite overcome every restraint; "and that, +had you considered your father as much as this new friend, you would +have seen that _I_ was the insulted person--that _I_ had a right to +demand apology, and you would have broken off all connection with a +person who would show so little respect to your parent; and this, +sir,--this is what I command you now to do, or to take the +consequences of your disobedience." + +"My lord," answered De Vaux, cooling himself down as far as +possible,--"my lord, as you must already have seen, we view the matter +in a very different light. It grieves me bitterly that we should +disagree so severely on the very day after my return; but if you wish +me to break off my acquaintance with Colonel Manners, because you have +thought fit to treat him with some rudeness, I must tell you, at once, +such an idea could never be entertained by me for a moment. As to the +consequences which your lordship speaks of, I am at a loss to conceive +what you mean. A disagreement with your lordship is--" + +"The consequences, Captain De Vaux," interrupted his father, with a +small red spot glowing in the middle of his sallow cheek--"the +consequences may be more bitter than you think. You believe that the +estates of the barony, being entailed, must descend to you; but let me +tell you, young man--let me tell you," he repeated, approaching nearer +to his son, and lowering his voice in tone, but not in emphasis,--"let +me tell you, you could be deprived of them by a word. But no more of +that," he added, raising his head, and resuming his usual air of +dignity, which had been a good deal lost during that morning, "no more +of that; the consequences to which I alluded, and to which I now +allude, are the displeasure of your father, and the knowledge that you +remain the friend of a man who has insulted him." + +"Could I see, my dear sir," replied De Vaux, "that Manners had insulted +you--" + +"It is sufficient, sir, that I see it," interrupted his father, +hastily, "it is sufficient that I see it; and I hold myself aggrieved +that my son should see it otherwise. But do as you will, Edward de +Vaux--do as you will. If you are lost to a sense of filial duty, and +refuse to obey my positive injunction to break with this man, you may +act as you think fit." + +"I shall never, my lord, even dream of breaking with him," replied De +Vaux; "as it appears to me, that to do so would render me an +accomplice in an act of notable injustice." + +"You are dutiful, sir--you are respectful," said Lord Dewry, setting +his teeth hard; "but do as you please--do as you please: I wish you +good-morning;" and, turning on his heel, he quitted the apartment. + +"This is mighty disagreeable," thought De Vaux, as he rang the bell to +bring back his servant; "this is mighty disagreeable and mighty +absurd, it seems to me; but the worst part of all will be the meeting +at breakfast. However, all these things must be encountered as they +come, in this good pleasant world of ours;" and he returned to his +toilet. + +In the mean time the noble lord, his father, proceeded to his own +apartments, laid his hand upon the bell, and rang in such a manner as +to show that he was in a passion, not only to his own servant, but to +the whole house. His own servant, however, a thin, dark, saturnine +person, well calculated by constitutional frigidity to cope with an +irritable master, was not in the least alarmed by any sign of his +lord's angry mood, to which he was wont to oppose, on all occasions, a +dull, obtuse silence, that left him without any remedy but patience. +He accordingly proceeded slowly to Lord Dewry's apartment; received +the objurgation for his tardiness with profound and unmoved +taciturnity; listened to his lordship's orders to pack up all his +dressing things, and order the horses to the carriage directly, in the +same automatonical manner, and then went to take his breakfast, not at +all approving of his master's purpose of setting out without +refreshment. Lord Dewry, fondly fancying that he had gone to order the +horses to be put to, waited in his bedroom very patiently for five +minutes, then began to get angry during five minutes more, and then +rang the bell for at least the same space of time. At the end of that +period the man again made his appearance, and, with a face of dull +unconsciousness, asked if his lordship had rung, although he had heard +every succeeding stroke of the bell. + +Lord Dewry stamped with rage; but, finding that it had no effect, he +left the man alone to arrange his dressing things, while, for the +purpose of waiting till the carriage was ready, he went down to the +library, calculating, of course, upon its being, as usual, the most +solitary room in the whole house. If he expected to find it empty, +however, he was mistaken: for Mrs. Falkland was seated at the table, +writing a note; and, as there was no person, in or out of his own +family, for whom his lordship entertained so great a respect--which +would have been a little, perhaps, approaching to fear, if he could +have feared any thing--there was no one consequently whom he less +wished to meet, at a moment when he was acting in a manner which +needed the full excitement of passion and pride to appear, even in his +own opinion, either dignified or gentlemanly. He was drawing back, but +Mrs. Falkland raised her eyes; and his lordship, conscious that he had +been wishing to retreat, advanced, of course, with a greater degree of +boldness, and asked whether he interrupted her by his presence. + +"Not in the least--not in the least," replied Mrs. Falkland; "but you +seem prepared for travelling, my lord. You are not thinking of setting +out before breakfast?" + +"Most assuredly I shall, Maria," replied the peer. "You do not suppose +that I am going to subject myself to the pain of meeting again, in +your house, a person by whom I have been so grossly insulted as this +Colonel Manners?" + +"Whom you have so grossly insulted, I suppose, your lordship means," +replied Mrs. Falkland. "My lord, I am your sister, and consequently am +not disposed to see faults; but I tell you sincerely, that you equally +owe an apology to me and to Colonel Manners for your behaviour last +night. The one to myself I will, of course, dispense with; but, if you +do right, you will go to Colonel Manners, and tell him that something +had occurred in the course of yesterday to irritate and vex you, and +that you are extremely sorry that your irritation vented itself upon +him." Mrs. Falkland spoke with infinite calmness; and, when she had +done, wrote another sentence of her note, leaving her brother the +while to pause on the somewhat bitter matter of her discourse. + +His lordship employed the time in remembering that it was a lady and +his sister to whom he was opposed, and in subduing the wrath of his +heart into the quieter form of sneer; although he still continued to +gaze on her, while she wrote, with eyes in which his anger still +maintained its ground, like a solitary post left behind a retreating +army. + +"Do you know, Mrs. Falkland," he replied, with a curling lip, "in such +pleasant little discussions as these, we gentlemen have hardly fair +play when opposed to female antagonists; for, under shelter of your +sex, you women dare say things to us that it would be ungentlemanly to +retort, and which are very difficult to bear." + +"Truth, my lord, I am afraid, is often difficult to bear," replied +Mrs. Falkland; "and perhaps, on such occasions, you may hear it in a +more unqualified manner from a woman than from one of your own sex." + +"As the matter is a difference of opinion, Maria, between you and me," +said Lord Dewry, "it is rather like begging the question to assume +that it is truth that gives me offence. You have forgot your logic, my +good sister." + +"If I ever possessed any, my lord," rejoined Mrs. Falkland, "I +certainly should not be disposed to try it upon you, in order to +induce you either to make an apology, which is alike due to yourself +and to Colonel Manners, or to stay here without making it." + +"I understand you, my dear sister, I understand you!" exclaimed Lord +Dewry; "but do not be in a hurry. My carriage is ordered, and cannot +be many minutes ere it delivers you from my presence. In the mean +time, I will not interrupt you further.--Good-morning, Mrs. Falkland!" + +"Good-morning," she replied; and her brother walked towards the door. +As he laid his hand upon the lock, he turned for a single glance at +his sister; but Mrs. Falkland was writing on, with a rapid and easy +pen, in the clear and running movements of which there was evidently +not the slightest impediment from one extraneous thought in reference +to the conversation which had just passed between them. Anger, hatred, +malice, even active scorn itself, man can bear or retort; but utter +indifference is more galling still. So Lord Dewry found it; and +throwing open the door with a degree of force that made sundry of +the smaller articles of furniture dance about the room, he issued +forth in search of his carriage, with wounded pride and diminished +self-importance. + +Gliding gracefully down the corridor towards the breakfast-room was, +at that very moment, Marian de Vaux, his niece; and the sight of her +beautiful face and form, with its calm and easy movements, was well +calculated to tranquillize and sooth. But Lord Dewry had never been +famous for being easily soothed. Dr. Johnson is said to have liked a +"good hater;" and had he carried the predilection a little further, +the peer was just the man to merit that sort of approbation. He was +not only a good hater, but he was, and always had been, the man of all +others to nourish his anger, and render it both stout and permanent. +Now, during the early part of the preceding evening, before he found +"mettle more attractive" in his quarrel with Colonel Manners, the +noble lord had, as he always did, paid very great attention to Marian +de Vaux. He had sat by her, he had talked to her, he had exerted +himself to be agreeable to her, when it was very evident that he was +not much disposed to be agreeable to any one. But now, as Marian +approached, gave her hand, and wished him good-morning, he let her +hand drop as soon as he had taken it, and answered her salutation by +telling her he was in haste. + +Somewhat surprised at the cloud upon her uncle's brow, his flashing +eye, and abrupt manner, Marian drew back, in order to let him pass, +and Lord Dewry took two steps more along the passage. Then +recollecting himself, however, and remembering how strange his conduct +might appear, he turned, and made the whole seem stranger than ever, +as all people do when, with a heart very full of feelings which they +are afraid or ashamed to picture in their nakedness, they attempt to +explain the strange behaviour to which those feelings have prompted +them. + +"I am obliged to quit the house, Marian," he said, in a quick and +agitated manner; "disagreeable occurrences have taken place, which +compel me, in justice to myself, to withdraw: the whole business is an +unfortunate one, and I am afraid it may be some time before we meet +again; but I will write--I will write, and explain myself fully. +Good-by! I hear the carriage!" And with a rapid step he walked on, +leaving Marian de Vaux not a little confounded by all that had passed, +and entirely misconstruing the few abrupt and unsatisfactory sentences +which her uncle had pronounced. + +She heard his step sound along the passage, down the stairs, and +through the hall; listened to his voice giving some directions to his +servant, and then to the closing of the carriage-door, and the grating +roll of the wheels over the gravel before the house. Then mentally +exclaiming, "This is all very strange, and very unfortunate!" she went +on towards the breakfast-room, into which a servant had just carried +the urn, without closing the door behind him. The sound of her cousin +Isadore's voice, speaking gayly with Colonel Manners, issued forth as +she approached; but Marian de Vaux was agitated and alarmed; and +feeling that she must have time to think over her uncle's words, and +to compose her mind, ere she mingled with any society, she turned to +the music-room, and had entered it before she was aware that any one +was there. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +It was a beautiful idea of Plato, and not at all an unchristian idea, +that the sins which people have committed during life, and which in +this case were termed _manes_, had an existence after death, and were +the instruments for punishing those who had committed them--the worm +that dieth not, and the fire that cannot be quenched. But had Plato +seen into the bosom of Lord Dewry, he would have perceived that his +theory might be carried a little further; and that the sins and +passions do not wait till we are dead in order to torment their +authors, but punish them even in this world, not alone in their +consequences, but by their very existence. After having laboured +_manibus pedibusque_ to render every member of his sister's household +as uncomfortable as possible, the noble lord sunk back in his +carriage, with his frame exhausted and his whole heart on fire +with that flaming up of painful memories and violent passions +which the occurrences we have related had excited. Unfortunately, +however, it happens in the wonderful arrangement of this our earthly +dwelling-place, that here our evil qualities not only torment +ourselves, but others also; and the noble lord might have consoled +himself with the certainty that he had, for the time at least, +destroyed much tranquillity, and turned joy into bitterness. + +Of all who suffered on the occasion, Marian de Vaux perhaps suffered +most. Mrs. Falkland, for her part, had been very much offended, but +she respected her brother too little to permit his ill temper or +rudeness to produce any lasting effect upon her. Edward de Vaux +believed that his father's present mood would not be long ere it +yielded to circumstances; and Colonel Manners, though of course +considerably annoyed by what had taken place between Lord Dewry and +himself, was not aware of what had passed afterward; and consequently +did not enter, as he would otherwise have done most feelingly, into +the uncomforts of Mrs. Falkland and his friend De Vaux. But with +Marian the matter was different. She knew nothing of all the +occurrences of the morning: she had seen her uncle retire on the +preceding night, apparently dropping his dispute with Colonel Manners; +and she never, for a moment, connected his extraordinary conduct of +that day with the disagreement of the preceding evening. + +In almost all cases of apprehension and uncertainty, the human mind +has a natural tendency to connect the occurrence of the moment, +whatever it may be, with the principal object of our wishes and our +feelings at the time. It matters not whether the two things be as +distinct and distant as the sun is from the moon; association in an +instant spins a thousand gossamer threads between them, forming a +glistening sort of spider-like bridge, scarcely discernible to other +people's eyes, but fully strong enough for fancy to run backwards and +forwards upon for ever. + +Thus, then, was it with poor Marian de Vaux. It had been settled that +her marriage with her cousin was to take place on the day she became +of age--that is to say, in about three weeks. Now, whether she was +pleased with the arrangement or not, we do not at all intend to say; +but she had made up her mind to it completely; and the first thing +that Lord Dewry's broken sentences suggested to her mind was, that +some difficulty had occurred in regard to her union with Edward, and +that his father had withdrawn the consent he had been before so +willing to give. + +When Lord Dewry left her, she was as pale as death; and though before +she reached the breakfast-room the colour had come back into her +cheek, yet all her former ideas were so completely scattered to the +four winds of heaven, that she felt it would be absolutely necessary +to think what her own conduct, under such circumstances, ought to be, +before she met any of the party; and especially before she met her +cousin Edward, as towards him, of course, the regulation of her +behaviour was most important. She turned, then, as we have before +said, to the music-room, and entering it ere she perceived that any +one was in it, found herself there alone with no other than Edward de +Vaux. + +Whether he had gone there purposely or accidentally--from a habit +which some people have, of returning to take a look at places where +they have spent happy moments, or from a sort of presentiment that he +might find Marian there, we have no means of judging; but on her part +the meeting certainly was unexpected, and being such, it would hardly +be fair to look narrowly into her manner of receiving her lover's +first salutation, which salutation was sufficiently warm. + +As soon as she recollected herself, however, she turned at once to the +subject of her thoughts. "But, Edward," she said, "this is a most +unfortunate occurrence--in regard to your father, I mean." + +"Most unfortunate, indeed!" replied De Vaux, looking grave +immediately. + +"But tell me what it is all about, Edward," rejoined his cousin. "I do +not understand your father's conduct. Do explain it to me!" + +"I do not understand it either, my dear Marian," answered De Vaux; +"his conduct is quite inexplicable." + +The tears would fain have run away over Marian de Vaux's cheeks; but +she shut the gates in time, and only one straggler made its escape +into the court of her eyes, unable to get farther. Her cousin did not +see one-half of what was going on in the fair tabernacle of her bosom; +but he saw that she was much distressed, and endeavoured to sooth her +with the same assurances wherewith he made his own mind easy in regard +to his father's conduct. "Nay, nay, dearest Marian!" he said, "do not +distress yourself about this business, unfortunate as it is. The +principal part of my father's present heat in the affair will pass +away, for a great share is mere passion. I cannot however flatter +myself into believing that his dislike will ever entirely subside, +because, as you know, he is not a man who changes easily in such +matters; but all his violence and his threatenings will die away and +end in nothing." + +Marian, who had now recovered from her first emotion, paused, and +looked pensively upon the ground; but while her bosom seemed as calm +as monumental marble, there was a sad struggle going on within. +"Edward!" said she, at length, "we cannot tell what may be your +father's ultimate conduct; but, indeed, I think, that while his +present objection--or, as you call it, dislike--continues, we ought +certainly to delay our marriage." + +"Good God, Marian!" exclaimed Edward de Vaux, in utter astonishment: +"in the name of heaven, my beloved, what has my father's dislike to +Colonel Manners to do with our union?" + +"His dislike to Colonel Manners!" said Marian, blushing a good deal as +she began to perceive her mistake, and comprehended at a glance that +the clearing up of the matter might make an _exposé_ of her inmost +thoughts that for reasons of her own she did not desire. "His dislike +to Colonel Manners! Oh, is that all! His words and conduct towards me +just now, made me think that his dislike was to me, Edward, and to our +union." + +"And did the thought give you so much pain, Marian?" said De Vaux, +somewhat anxiously. + +But Marian de Vaux had by this time completely mastered her agitation, +and she answered in her usual quiet sweet tone: "Of course it gave me +great pain, Edward, to think that I had lost my uncle's regard, and +great pain to think that the consequences might pain you. But tell me, +was it really nothing more than his dispute with Colonel Manners which +made your father's conduct so very strange?" + +"Nothing more, I can assure you," answered her lover; "but you know +that my father, when he bursts forth into one of these fits of +passion, is like Don Quixote at the puppet-show, and deals his blows +to the right and left upon all things, whether they have offended him +or not." + +"Hush, hush, Edward!" cried Marian, "he is your father, remember." + +De Vaux coloured slightly, and indeed he had not got to the end of his +speech ere he had found that he had better have left it unsaid; for, +notwithstanding his general fastidiousness, and a certain degree of +bitter that mingled with his views of other people, he had too much +taste to find any pleasure in pointing out the faults or follies of +his near relations. He might feel them a little too sensitively, it is +true; but he seldom made them the subject of his conversation; and he +was now vexed, both that he had done so at all, and that Marian had +been the person to whom he had done it. + +Thus, Edward de Vaux was a little out of humour with himself, and, as +a matter of course, he soon found cause to be dissatisfied with +others; for the human mind--to which nothing is so burdensome as +self-reproach of any kind--is always glad to cast a part of its load +upon the shoulders of other people. The first thing, then, that, upon +reflecting rapidly over the moments just passed, Edward de Vaux found +to be discontented with, was the manner in which Marian had spoken of +delaying their union; and once having started this idea, he hunted it +up and down through all the chambers and passages of his mind, like a +boy after a mouse. "Their marriage seemed to her a matter of great +indifference," he thought; and then he went onto persuade himself that +her love for him was of a very calm and tranquil character compared +with his for her. Indeed, it seemed little more than indifference, he +fancied, or at best _sisterly affection_; and at the very thought of +such a thing as _sisterly affection_, the spirit of Edward de Vaux +sprang up as if a serpent had crossed his path, although his person +remained perfectly calm, with his arm resting on the harpsichord, and +his fingers twisting some of the strings of the harp. One of the +strings breaking, with a sharp twang, called the spirit suddenly back +again; and he found himself standing abstractedly before his fair +cousin; while she looked upon him with a smile, which seemed to say, +"I could triumph, if I would! but it is not in my nature." + +Now, Edward de Vaux, though he read the smile, and read it aright, +which is not always done in that difficult language of which it was +one of the hieroglyphics, was all the more puzzled when he had done. +But the fact is, that women's eyes, in matters of love, seem to be not +eyes but microscopes; and Marian had traced the whole fine progress of +Edward's thoughts and feelings, through every turning and winding, as +accurately as if he had laid them all open before her with his own +free will. Then, connecting the result with some foregone conclusions +in her own mind, the combination produced a smile, being, as we before +said, the equivalent sign, in the language mentioned, of the words, "I +could triumph, if I would! but it is not in my nature." There was, +however, a little mental reservation, perhaps, in regard to the +triumph, inasmuch as she reserved unto herself entire right and +privilege of triumphing hereafter, in case she should find it +necessary and expedient to do so. + +The time occupied in reading the smile, together with the beauty of +the smile itself, and the exceeding loveliness of the lips on which it +rested, all tended to get the better of the demon in the heart of De +Vaux, and to make him feel, that as he loved her beyond anything on +earth, he must try to content himself with obtaining her upon her own +terms. Having come to this conclusion, it was natural enough that he +should seek to linger out the time with her alone; but Marian felt +that if she did stay at that moment, she might be obliged to triumph +in the way she wished not to do, or to explain her smile without +triumphing at all, which was still more disagreeable. She therefore +determined to retreat to the breakfast-room, in which she was sure of +finding allies; and which--as her apprehensions in regard to Lord +Dewry's disapprobation, and the consequent emotion, had now been +dissipated--she was no longer afraid of entering. + +De Vaux would fain have detained her, pleading that he had had no +opportunity of conversing with her alone since his return, and urging +all those little arguments which we leave to imagination. Marian, +however, resisted with fortitude; and her lover, forced to content +himself with a promise to take a long ramble with him after breakfast, +as they had done in the days of their early youth, led her to the +breakfast-room, where they found the rest of the party assembled, and +conversing with as much ease and cheerfulness as if nothing had +occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the morning. + +"Well, Edward," said Mrs. Falkland, "your father would not stay +longer; and I forbore to press him," she added, with a little +pardonable hypocrisy, "as I know that he has a good deal of business +on his hands; and when he is determined on any point, it is vain to +try to move him." As she spoke, she looked for an instant towards +Colonel Manners, to give more meaning to her words in her nephew's +ears than the words themselves imported. + +"I saw my father myself, my dear aunt," replied De Vaux: "he was with +me in my room for half an hour, and explained the necessity of his +departure." + +Colonel Manners could have smiled; but he thought it best to follow +the lead that had been given, and to appear ignorant of anything else +having taken place, though, of course, he felt internally convinced +that his unfortunate dispute with De Vaux's father had been the cause +of that nobleman's sudden and abrupt departure. "I think your father +mentioned last night," he said, in pursuance of this plan, "that he +was going to Dimden, did he not, De Vaux? Does it belong to your +family?" + +"It always has done so," replied his friend: "it is here, very +near--but a few miles off; but it is not kept up as I think it should +be. My father always resides at the other house; and seems to have so +strong an aversion to Dimden, that, not contented with not living +there, he lets it fall somewhat to decay." + +"I must make you take me there some morning," answered Colonel +Manners; "I have heard that it contains a fine collection of +pictures." + +"Fine, I believe, but small," answered De Vaux, delighted to fancy +that his friend had totally forgotten the dispute of the night before, +and was ignorant of any fresh discomfort which had been produced by +that morning; "fine, I believe, but small--but I do not understand +anything about pictures." + +"Nay, nay, Edward, do not say that," exclaimed Miss Falkland. "Do you +not love everything that is beautiful and fine in nature? have you not +an eye to mark every shade and every line that is worth looking at in +a landscape? and do you call that not understanding pictures? I have +seen you and Marian find out a thousand beautiful little tints and +touches, and lights and shades, in a view that I had generalized most +vulgarly." + +Colonel Manners and Mrs. Falkland smiled; and perhaps both might have +said, had they spoken their thoughts, "It was because your two cousins +were in love, fair lady, and you were not!" They left the matter +unexplained, however, contenting themselves with thinking that Isadore +might, some time, learn the secret of finding out new beauties in a +view; and De Vaux answered in his own style, "Still, Isadore, I know +nothing about pictures, depend upon it. I cannot talk of _breadth_, +and _handling_ and _chiar' oscuro_, and _juice_, and _ordonnance_." + +"Except when you mean a park of artillery, De Vaux," said Colonel +Manners; "but, if I understand you rightly, you can see and feel the +beauties of a picture as well as any one, though you cannot talk the +jargon of a connoisseur about it." + +"Perhaps that is what I do mean," answered his friend; "but I believe +the truth is, Manners, that you and I are both far behind in the +elegant charlatanism of dilettanteship. Why, I have heard a man go on +by the hour with the _copia fandi_ of a Cicero about a picture, the +beauties of which he no more understood than the frame in which it was +placed. These men's minds are like a yard measure, a thing on which a +multitude of figures are written down, without the slightest use till +they are properly applied by some one else. When I am seeing anything +fine, heaven deliver me from the proximity of a walking dictionary of +technical terms!" + +"They are very useful things in their way, Edward," answered Isadore; +"and only think, if these men can be so eloquent about things that +they do not feel, solely upon the strength of their jargon, how much +more eloquent you, who do feel them, would be, if you had the jargon +too." + +She spoke jestingly; but De Vaux, whose spleen had been somewhat +excited, answered quickly, "I do not know, Isadore--I do not know. I +very often think that a great acquaintance with the jargon of art +tends to destroy the feeling for it. I have heard of a great critic, +who, on viewing the Apollo of Belvidere, declared that had the lip +been a hair's breadth longer, the god would have been lost. This was +all very connoisseurish and very true, no doubt; but, depend upon it, +that man felt the beauties of the immortal statue a thousand times +more, whose only exclamation on seeing it was, 'Good God!' I would +rather have the fresh feelings of even ignorance itself than the +tutored and mechanical taste that measures the cheek-bones of a Venus, +gauges the depth of colour in a Claude, or feels the edges of a book +instead of looking into the inside." + +"Yes, but consider, Edward," said Marian, who since she entered the +room had been sitting silent at the breakfast-table, "it surely does +not follow that because we understand a thing well, we lose our first +and natural taste for it. If I could paint like Claude or Poussin, I +surely should not take less pleasure in a beautiful landscape." + +"NO, Marian," exclaimed Miss Falkland, well knowing that De Vaux would +not support his sarcasms very vigorously against his cousin, "no; but, +depend upon it, no one who could paint like Claude or Poussin would +talk like a connoisseur." + +"Perhaps," said Colonel Manners, "knowledge of all kinds may be like +the fabled cup, whose influence entirely depended upon those who drank +from it--to some it was death, to others immortal life; wisdom to +some, and foolishness to others. And thus I should think a great +acquaintance with any art, in some instances--where the taste was good +and the mind was strong--would refine the taste and give humility to +the mind, by showing what an unfathomable mine of undiscovered things +every study presents; while in other cases--where the taste was null +and the mind weak--the result would be the vanity of ill-digested +knowledge, and an idle gabble of unmeaning terms." + +"And how often would the latter be the case when compared with the +former?" said De Vaux. "Answer me, my dear colonel." + +"I am afraid, indeed, nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a +thousand," replied Colonel Manners: "and what, I must confess, is +worse still, the proportion of those who would bow to the vanity of +ill-digested knowledge, and give implicit credit to the gabble of +unmeaning terms, would be still greater; while taste, and genius, and +mind would be forced to content themselves with the poor thousandth +part of those whom they addressed." + +"Then how is it, Colonel Manners," said Marian, "that we are told that +what is really good has always ultimate success, notwithstanding this +terrific array of folly against it?" + +"Because truth is permanent in its very essence; and falsehood--of +every kind, as well false tastes as false statements--is evanescent," +replied Colonel Manners. "Such is, I suppose, the broad reason; but, +to examine it more curiously, we shall find the progress of the thing +somewhat amusing: for even the ultimate establishment of truth and +wisdom is, in a great measure, owing to the voice of the false and +foolish. Here is a fine picture or a fine statue, of that chaste but +not attractive kind which ensures the admiration of those who can feel +beauty, but does not win the attention of the crowd. A man without +taste sees a man of taste gazing at it; hears him praise its beauties; +and, as there is nothing so servile or so vain as folly, instantly +affects to perceive the beauties which he never saw, and goes forth +to trumpet them as things of his own discovery. Others come to see, +and, as one fool will never be outdone by another, each sings its +praises in the same vociferous tone, each gains his little stock of +self-complacency from praising what others praise, and the reputation +of the thing is established." + +"Unless," said De Vaux, "one of the learned fools we were talking +of should step in; and as his vanity is always of the pugnacious +kind--the vanity that will lead, instead of being led--he of course +condemns what others have been praising; declares that the statue has +no contour--that the picture wants breadth, force, chiar' oscuro. All +the others cry out that it is evident it does so; wonder they could +have admired it; and poor patient merit is kicked back into the +shade." + +"But still, the same process takes place again," rejoined Colonel +Manners. "The learned fool and his generation die off; but still, the +merit of the thing remains till some one again rescues it from +oblivion, and its reputation is finally established." + +"Indeed, now, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland, "I think that you +have admitted Marian's maxim with too little limitation. That what is +really good may always have ultimate success, is true, undoubtedly, +when spoken of transcendent merit or of superexcellent qualities; but +this transcendent merit only appears once, perhaps, in a century; +and the world shows that, in the great mass of worldly things, the +every-day virtues, the every-day exertions, the every-day characters +which surround us in this busy existence, virtue and merit are not +always ultimately successful. The religious, the political, the +scientific charlatan often carries all before him; while the man of +modest talent and unassuming virtue plods on his way unnoticed, and +dies forgotten. So much, indeed, is this the case, that do not we +daily see that many a shrewd man of real talent feels obliged to mix a +little charlatanism with his other qualities for the sake of ensuring +success? If Marian had said that things which are intrinsically +immortal--which have in themselves inherent permanence--must have +ultimate success when they are really good, and condemnation when +they are bad, I would have granted it at once; but in all lesser +things--and the world is made up of them--I sincerely believe that +success depends upon accident or impudence." + +Colonel Manners smiled, and abandoned, or at least modified, his +theory, admitting that Mrs. Falkland was right; for he was one of +those men who, having generally reason on their side, can be candid +without fear. But there was also something more than this in his +candour: it sprung from his heart--it was a part of his character; and +though it may seem unnatural to the greater part of mankind, it is no +less a fact, that he was so great a lover of truth that, when once he +was convinced, he never dreamed of contending against his conviction. +He therefore gave up the position, that merit would always be +ultimately successful, limiting it according to Mrs. Falkland's +showing. + +Isadore added, that she thought it must be so, and would be sorry to +believe it otherwise, as the occasional separation of virtue and +success in this world afforded to her mind one of the strongest +corroborative assurances of a future state. De Vaux laughed at her, +and called her a little philosopher, and the conversation branched off +to other things. + +Breakfast is a meal at which one loves to linger. The daylight and the +wide world have all, more or less, an idea of labour attached to them; +and though that labour be of the lightest kind, there is still a +feeling in going forth after breakfast that we are about to take our +share of the original curse; which feeling inclines man naturally to +linger over the tea and coffee, and saunter to the window, or look +into the fire, or play with the knife and fork for a few minutes more +than is positively required. What between one oral occupation or +another, then, the party at Mrs. Falkland's breakfast-table contrived +to pass an hour very pleasantly. Colonel Manners, when all had risen, +bestowed five minutes more upon the long window--while Isadore and her +mother, De Vaux and Marian, held separate councils on the future +proceedings of the day--and then retired to his own room, to write a +note of business to some of his people in London. He had not long been +gone when the fat and venerable servant, whom we have called Peter, +entered the room, bearing a note, which, with much respectful +ceremony, he delivered over to the hands of Miss De Vaux. Marian +turned a little red and a little pale; and, had a jealous husband seen +her receive that billet, he might have begun to suspect one whose +every thought was pure; but the truth was, that poor Marian had +instantly recognised her uncle's hand; and as her last ideas in +respect to him had not been very pleasant, she was afraid that the new +ones about to be called up by his note might be still more +disagreeable. Without pausing to examine the scrawl upon the back, +which implied her name, she broke the seal, and read. As she did so, a +gentle smile and a softer suffusion stole over her face; but then she +became more grave, then looked vexed, and then handed the paper to +Mrs. Falkland, saying, "Do read it, my dear aunt; my uncle is both +very kind and very unkind; but, indeed, it concerns you and Edward a +great deal more than it does me." + +Mrs. Falkland took the letter and read it, the substance of which was +to the following effect:--In the first place, the noble lord began by +expressing more affection for Marian de Vaux than he had ever been +known to express for man, woman, or child before in his existence. He +next went on to say, that there was nothing on earth which had ever +given him so much pleasure as the prospect of his son's marriage with +her on whom he had been showering such praises: it was the solacing +idea of his old age, he said, and the compensating joy for many a past +sorrow. He then declared that he had hoped to be much with Edward and +Marian during the days that were to intervene ere their marriage could +be celebrated, and to have witnessed the ceremony as the most joyful +and satisfactory one that he could ever behold; and next came the real +object and substance-matter of the whole; for he concluded by +expressing his bitter disappointment at not being able to do so, from +the circumstance of a man who had so grossly insulted him as Colonel +Manners had done, continuing in his sister's house, as her honoured +guest and his son's bosom friend. Marian would understand, he said, +that it was impossible for him to present himself again at +Morley-house while Colonel Manners was there, without loss of dignity +and honour; but he nevertheless besought her to let every thing +proceed as if he were present; and he added a desire to see her as +soon after her marriage as possible. + +While Mrs. Falkland, and then Edward de Vaux, read the letter in turn, +Marian kept her eyes fixed on the ground. The fact is, however, that +there was much in her uncle's letter to pain her, as well as to +gratify her; and she would even willingly have sacrificed the +gratifying part, if by so doing she could have done away the painful. +It was very unpleasant, in the first place, to be pressed by +assurances of affection and kindness to commit a gross injustice for +the gratification of the person expressing that affection; and it was +not a little disagreeable to think of her marriage to Lord Dewry's son +taking place without his father's presence and countenance. Women of +the finest minds and the justest feelings will think of what the world +will say; and God forbid they ever should not. Marian de Vaux, +therefore, thought of what the world would say, in regard to Lord +Dewry being absent from her wedding; and she could not help feeling +that the comments of all her kind acquaintances would be painful, +both to her pride and her delicacy. All this was passing in her mind, +while her eyes were busy with a pair of nondescripts on the damask +table-cloth: but let it be clearly understood, that she never did +Colonel Manners the wrong to wish that he should go, on account of any +pain that she herself might suffer. She wished, indeed, that her uncle +would be more just, more placable, more generous; but she felt clearly +where the fault lay, and she never turned her eyes in the other +direction. Mrs. Falkland appreciated Marian's feelings in almost all +cases; but at present she estimated to the full all that would be +distressing to her niece in the conduct of her brother, and thought, +perhaps, that Marian might be more affected by it than she really +was. "My dear Marian," she said, "this is very disagreeable for us +all, and must be very painful to you, my sweet girl, in particular. +Nevertheless we must do justice to ourselves. Were it any thing like a +sacrifice of mere pleasure, we might and would willingly do a great +deal to satisfy your uncle, and remove the unpleasant load he casts +upon us; but this is a matter of right and wrong, in which he is +decidedly in the wrong; and to yield to him would not only be +dishonourable to ourselves, but seems to me quite impossible. The +demeanour of Colonel Manners to me and mine has been every thing +that I could desire, and is in every respect accordant with his +well-established character, as a most gallant soldier and accomplished +gentleman; and I can neither suffer the whims nor the ill-temper of +any person, however near the relationship, to alter my conduct in such +a case. What do you say, Edward? + +"I agree with you entirely, my dear aunt," he replied, "and so I told +my father this morning. Holding Manners, as I do, to be most nobly in +the right, I cannot suffer either my opinion of him, or my behaviour +towards him, to be changed by the sudden dislike of even my parent." + +"And let me say, Edward, a most capricious and Lord Dewry-ish dislike +it is--though he be your father and my uncle," added Miss Falkland. +"What can he find to dislike in Colonel Manners? He is not beautiful, +it is true: but he saved your life at the risk of his own; he nursed +you in sickness; he was your companion in danger, and your friend at +all times; so that if any one loved him, it should be your father. +Besides, could any one have made himself more agreeable than he has +done since he has been here? What pretence does Lord Dewry think mamma +could have for turning such a man out of her house, when she had so +lately invited him in the most pressing terms?" + +"Oh, of course, that is quite out of the question," said Mrs. +Falkland, smiling at her fair daughter's enthusiasm; "though I cannot +help thinking, Edward, that your father's design, in that letter, was +to make us do so, by rendering the contrary so disagreeable to us." + +"If it were so, he will alter his behaviour," replied De Vaux, "when +he finds that we cannot follow such a course; and I am sure you think +with me, my dear aunt, that the only plan we can pursue is, to do as +he bids us in his note, and proceed as if he were present." + +"Most certainly," replied Mrs. Falkland: "do you not think so too, +Marian?" + +"Oh yes, Marian does," cried Isadore Falkland; "I am sure she does." + +"I am afraid we must do so," answered Marian, smiling somewhat sadly; +"but, at all events, my dear aunt, I had better write to my uncle, and +I will try to persuade him to change his determination." + +"Do so, my dear girl," replied her aunt; "though I am afraid you will +find it in vain." + +Marian sat down and wrote, and put as much gentle sweetness into her +note as would have gone far to soften any other man upon earth. She +said not a word in regard to Colonel Manners, his quarrel with her +uncle, or her own feelings on the subject: but she expressed to Lord +Dewry how deeply gratified she was by his tenderness and affection; +how ardently she hoped to retain it when she should become the wife of +his son. She then went on to tell him, in language that came rushing +from her heart, how bitterly painful it would be to her, if he +continued the same determination of not being present at her marriage; +and she entreated, with persuasions that none but woman could have +written, that he would yield his resolution in this respect. In the +whole course of her letter--though it was as artless as any collection +of words that ever was penned--there was not one syllable that could +offend the pride, or the vanity, or the feelings of her uncle--not one +that could afford anger or irritation the least footing to rest upon. +Had it been calculated upon the most experienced view of all the +follies and passions of human nature, it could not have been better +constructed; and yet, as we have said, it was as artless a composition +as ever was penned: but the secret was, that it came from a fine, a +gentle, and a sensitive mind. + +And now, while she folds, seals, and addresses it, with neat and +careful hand, and gives it to the servant to be sent off immediately, +we shall take the liberty of turning to another part of the subject, +and treating of the person whose presence was the point of difficulty. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +When Lord Dewry quitted Colonel Manners at the end of the +flower-garden, as we have shown in a preceding chapter, the gallant +soldier had turned back towards the house, but with steps much less +rapid than those of the peer, from the simple fact of no violent +passion moving in his breast. In truth, it would seem, after all, that +man, notwithstanding his great pretensions, his reasonings about his +own existence, and his conceit in his painted jacket, is not at all +unlike one of those figures that children buy at fairs, with his arms +and legs, and even his head, hung on by wires; and with the passions +to pull the string at the back, not only without his volition, but +often against his will. Wrath pulls, and he kicks; revenge pulls, and +he strikes; jealousy pulls, and he writhes; fear pulls, and he runs; +love pulls, and he dances; and, as no one of these passions was behind +Colonel Manners at the time, he had walked on slowly and deliberately +towards the house, sometimes turning to look at the landscape, +sometimes trifling with a flower, but doing neither one nor the other, +perhaps, quite so often as when he set out that day upon his morning's +walk. + +Still, it is not to be supposed that, though no very violent affection +of the mind followed Lord Dewry's departure, Colonel Manners remained +perfectly indifferent to what had occurred: on the contrary, it threw +him into a fit of musing, if not of deep thought, and produced +reflections which ended in resolutions, such as Colonel Manners might +be expected to form. At the peer's wrath he laughed, and laughed at +his menaces equally, secure in that calm, self-confident courage, +which, not knowing what fear is, never dreams that it can be +attributed to us; but at the uncomfort that his dispute with De Vaux's +father might and would produce in the family he had come to visit, +Colonel Manners did not laugh. He had assented on the preceding night, +in words which, with him, amounted to a promise, to forget the baron's +rudeness, and not to suffer it to abridge his stay; but, at present, +new provocation had been given, and he had every reason to believe +that his visit could not be prolonged to the period he had at first +proposed, without material uncomfort to the family at Morley House, +however strongly their kindness or their politeness might urge his +stay. + +"Doubtless," thought Colonel Manners,--for we must put his +private cogitations into the form of that necessary folly, a +soliloquy,--"doubtless, the worthy peer will not go and expose himself +so much to his own family, as to tell them what has occurred between +us this morning; but equally, without doubt, he will contrive, by his +demeanour towards me, to render the house, not only very unpleasant to +me, but also to all its occupants; and, therefore, as this is a field +where honour is neither to be gained nor supported, I must even beat a +retreat. Yet De Vaux will, I know, feel very much mortified, if he +fancies that his father is the cause of my departure; and therefore I +suppose that the best plan be, to wait a day or two, and then, with +the first letters that arrive,--and I must receive some soon, to plead +important business, and set out. I suppose I must bear with this +ill-tempered old gentleman's behaviour as best I may for eight and +forty hours, though I am afraid it will be a struggle to avoid +retorting a little of his bitterness upon himself." + +Such had been the substance of Colonel Manners' thoughts upon this +subject, as he walked back, and such the determination he formed; but +as he did form them, there was something like a sigh escaped from his +bosom. The reception he had met with from Mrs. Falkland and her +family, on his first arrival, had been so warm and kind, that all the +best feelings of his heart had been enlisted on their side. He had +completely made up his mind to spend a happy three weeks with people +who seemed, in every respect, so amiable; and although he felt that it +might be a little dangerous,--by making him feel more acutely, from +comparison, the want of domestic ties and comforts,--although he felt +it might be a little dangerous, yet he had experienced a pleasure at +the idea of thus dwelling, even for a short space, in the midst of a +true old English family, that made him bitterly regret the necessity +of foregoing what he had set his heart upon. As he thought of going +forth again alone, it seemed as if it were the voice of fate that +forbade him to expose himself to the sight of feelings and enjoyments +that he was never to know personally, and sent him back imperiously to +the solitary state of existence which was to be his portion; and +although Colonel Manners was accustomed to the contemplation, and had +nerved his mind, not only to bear the uncomforts of his lot, but to +resist every thought that would teach him to repine, yet there were +times--and this was one--when he could not but feel the chill wind of +solitude blow from the dreary prospect of the future, and blight even +the enjoyment of the present. A dissertation on the moral and physical +nature of man might be given to prove to a demonstration, that +domestic ties are a necessity of his existence: and let any man gaze +forward into future years, and fancy that some cold barrier is placed +between him and domestic affection; that no kindred eye is to brighten +at his presence, no affectionate lip smile at his happiness, no tear +of sympathy to wash away one half of his griefs, no cheerful voice to +dispel the thoughts of care, no assiduous hand to smooth the pillow of +sickness, and close the eye of death,--let him picture his being +solitary, his joys unshared, his sorrows undivided, his misfortunes +unaided but by general compassion, his sickness tended by the slow +hand of mercenaries, and his eyes closed, while the light has scarce +departed, by the rude touch of some weary and indifferent menial,--let +him fancy all this, and then he will feel, indeed, that domestic ties +are a necessity of our existence; at least, if he be not either drunk +with licentious passions, or a mere calculating machine. + +We do not mean to say that all these ideas, or any one of them, +presented themselves to the mind of Colonel Manners. Far be it from us +to insinuate that he was foolish enough to give a vivid form and +painful minuteness to the evils of a state that he believed he could +not avoid. He struggled even against the general impression; but, as +we have said, there were moments in his life--and this was one--when, +notwithstanding reason and resolution, he would feel bitterly that it +is sad and sorrowful to pass through life alone, to spend one's days +in solitude, and to go down into the grave without a tie. The +impression was so strongly raised, and clung so firmly to his mind, at +the moment we speak of, that he took a turn of a hundred yards back +upon the walk, to give the thoughts full range. Then remembering +himself, he broke out into an involuntary exclamation of, "This is +folly!" and turned quickly back to the house. + +In the breakfast-room he found Miss Falkland alone, and was not sorry +so to find her; for there was in her conversation a pleasant and +good-humoured sparkling, a frank and fearless liveliness, which amused +and interested him. Besides, Colonel Manners was by no means a man to +object to the society of a very beautiful girl: on that score he was +quite fearless; for he had so guarded his heart by rampart, and +bastion, and half-moon, that he feared no attack, either by siege or +storm. The thing that he feared was, the sight of a state of happiness +which he coveted, but did not hope for; and therefore he could enjoy +the gay conversation and pleasing presence of Isadore Falkland without +alloy, though he might apprehend that a lengthened stay, in the midst +of a cheerful family circle, might deepen his regret at his own +loneliness. + +Now, although the house of Mrs. Falkland, like most other houses of +its date, had a certain ramblingness of construction, midway between +the Gothic of Henry the Seventh's and the anomalous architecture of +the nineteenth century, yet the rooms were sufficiently proximate to +allow Colonel Manners to hear every now and then, as the servant +opened and shut the door of the breakfast-room, the voice of Lord +Dewry, in tones more sharp than was becoming. Nor was he slack in +attributing the acerbity of the sounds he heard to their right cause; +so that, as we have before shown, when Mrs. Falkland and her nephew +spoke of the departure of the noble lord as a thing that had taken +place in the ordinary course of affairs, Manners had very nearly +smiled. + +However, having taken his determination in regard to his proceedings, +and, seeing no better plan that he could pursue, he suffered the +matter to pass quietly, well knowing that real delicacy never makes a +noise. To say the truth, he was not at all sorry to find that Lord +Dewry had taken his departure; for he had every inclination to make +himself both comfortable and agreeable while he did stay, neither of +which objects are very attainable in the same house with a man who +wants to fight a duel with you. After breakfast, as Manners was too +much of a general to leave any thing to chance, he retired to his own +apartments, in order to write such letters to London as would ensure +immediate replies of the kind that would afford him a fair excuse for +breaking through his engagement with De Vaux, without rendering the +matter painful to his friend by any direct reference to his father; +and, when this was accomplished, he returned to the rest of the party, +whom he found in the act of seeing the footman leave the room with +Marian's note to her uncle. + +"We propose to take a walk, Manners," said De Vaux, as he entered; "I +must show you the beauties of our county; and I think we will go upon +the path which leads across the hill, and brings us through the wood +to within a few hundred yards of the spot where we saw the gipsies. We +call it Marian's Walk, as she might always be found there when we were +but little boys and girls." + +"It might have been called Edward's Walk as well, then," answered +Isadore, gayly; "for I am sure she was never there without you, +Edward. At all events, if you did not go with her, you were not long +before you found her." + +"And can Miss de Vaux venture on so long a walk?" asked Colonel +Manners, "in the present day, when the extent of a lady's morning +promenade is twice round the room and once round the garden--when +shoemakers stare, I am told, at the name of walking shoes, and declare +that they never heard of such things?" + +Marian smiled. "You are severe upon us, Colonel Manners," she said; +"but this walk is not so far either--though it is a little steep." + +"It seemed to me nearly six miles," replied Colonel Manners; "six +miles, at least, from this spot to the place De Vaux mentions." + +"Oh, that was because you came by the road," replied Isadore: "if you +had come over the hill, you would have shortened the way by one +half--but I forgot; you would have met with some accident also, as it +was dark, and you were on horseback. It is not much more than two +miles to the place where the path again joins the high-road after +passing through Morley wood." + +"If you find it so short, I trust you are to be of the party, Miss +Falkland," said Colonel Manners. + +"Oh, most certainly," she replied. "It was all very well for Edward +and Marian to wander through the woods together when they were boys +and girls; but now propriety, you know, Colonel Manners, requires a +sedate and aged chaperon; and besides, I could not leave the party of +such an odd and unfortunate number as three: I should be afraid of +some accident happening to you by the way." + +"But three is a fortunate number, my gay cousin," replied De Vaux, +smiling, "not an unfortunate one, by every rule of cabalistic +science." + +"In figures, but not in love, Edward," answered his cousin, with a gay +laugh. "At least, I have read as much in your face, more than once, +when I happened to be the unfortunate third--" + +"Hush, hush, Isadore," cried Marian. "Come, let us dress ourselves to +go;" and taking her cousin's arm, she hurried her away. Now Marian de +Vaux, who knew her cousin well, was quite sure that Isadore would not +push her raillery of her lover one step too far; but still she was not +sorry to break off Isadore's discourse; for love is one of those +things that people may talk about a great deal when they feel it not, +but which they bury deep in the heart's innermost tabernacle as soon +as they know its value, and, like misers, tremble even when their +treasure is named. + +Every one was soon ready to set out; and strolling through the garden +separately, they proceeded to what was called the little gate, which +gave them exit upon the road of which they were in search. By +separately, I mean that neither of the gentlemen offered an arm to +their female companions so long as they were within rows of box-wood +bordering and upon gravel walks. There would have been something +ridiculous in it; although, perhaps, the quality of walking arm-in-arm +is to be looked upon as one of the peculiar privileges of humanity, +which as much distinguishes man from other animals, as any other +quality of his mind or body. He has been called, by those who strove +to define him, "a forked radish, fantastically cut," "a viviparous +biped, without feathers," "a cooking animal," and many another name. +But had they called him "the animal that walks arm-in-arm," +philosophers might have come nearer to his distinctive quality; for +not only is it a thing that no other animal does, but it also gives at +once the idea of many of the finer qualities of man's mind, and is, in +fact, a sort of living hieroglyphic of affection and sympathy, and +mutual assistance and support. + +Now Colonel Manners and Edward de Vaux, looking upon the privilege of +walking arm-in-arm in its true light, might consider it with too much +reverence to enter upon it lightly, and therefore not offer to +exercise it towards their fair companions, till the steepness of the +way and the openness of the country seemed to render it necessary for +their convenience and protection. There might, indeed, be another +reason, which was, that in issuing forth from the house, a little +derangement in the natural order of things had taken place--some stray +glove, or wandering stick, or something of the kind, had been +forgotten, so as to throw out the order of the march; and Colonel +Manners found himself walking beside Marian de Vaux, while De Vaux was +at the elbow of his cousin Isadore. Colonel Manners, in agreeing to go +out upon this expedition, had perfectly well understood the part he +was held to play; and De Vaux had the most firm and implicit reliance +upon his friend's tact in the business; so that by a tacit convention +it was arranged between them, that the long ramble which Marian had +promised to take with her lover was to be as completely solitary and +agreeable as if they had not a friend or relation upon the face of the +earth. But the derangement which had taken place in the position of +the forces of course rendered a counter movement on the part of De +Vaux and his friend necessary; and yet, as the walk they followed was +narrow, and did not admit of the advance of more than two abreast, the +desired evolution could not be performed without rendering the object +unpleasantly obvious, till some little accident came to their aid. +Colonel Manners, however, had been out in the morning, as we have +already seen, to reconnoitre the ground; and as soon as he saw the +difficulty, he instantly laid out the plan of the evolutions, and +fixed upon the exact position, walking on still by the side of Marian +de Vaux, and talking of _les mouches qui volent_. + +But to proceed. Colonel Manners and Marian reached the little gate +first, and unlocked it, and then Colonel Manners halted till Miss de +Vaux and Miss Falkland had passed. The two ladies immediately halted +on the bank of the little road facing the gate, with Marian on the +right hand and Isadore on the left. Colonel Manners then resigned the +command of the gate to Edward de Vaux; but, in marching out, while the +other locked the door and brought the key, Manners took up a position +upon the extreme left. De Vaux then advanced to the right of the line, +and, wheeling about, gave his arm to Marian; Colonel Manners offered +his to Miss Falkland, and led the way up the road to the left. This +detail is given as an exemplification of Manners' military skill,--a +quality which, unfortunately, we shall have no other opportunity of +displaying throughout this book. Nor was Isadore Falkland's knowledge +of strategy less marked, in taking up the position to the left, as it +entirely commanded the road up which they were about to proceed; and +as people in love in general walk a great deal slower than people not +in love, it was necessary that she and Colonel Manners should lead the +way, in order at once to give Edward and Marian de Vaux the protection +of their presence and the benefit of their absence. + +Colonel Manners and Miss Falkland did not lose much time in silence, +for they were both people who could talk very pleasantly; and, +whatever they might think in regard to themselves, they each felt that +it was so in regard to the other. They spoke of many things; and +Isadore's conversation, as she became better acquainted with her +companion, and discovered that there were stores of feeling and +kindness at his heart which would prevent him from laughing at her own +enthusiasms, poured forth more of the deeper stream of her character, +over which the rippling current of gay and sparkling jest that she +usually displayed, flowed as much to conceal the depth, as for any +other purpose. Besides, she was happy and young; and where was ever +the stream, however profound, that did not sparkle when the sun shone +full upon it? + +Their first topic, as perhaps might be expected, was De Vaux and +Marian; a topic which, under some circumstances, might have been +dangerous; but Manners and Miss Falkland felt themselves perfectly +secure. Still it was a delicate one: for however deep and true Colonel +Manners' friendship might be for De Vaux, and however warm and +enthusiastic might be the love of Isadore for her cousin Marian, there +were, of course, a thousand little circumstances and feelings, upon +which neither could enter, out of respect for the very friendship and +affection which they felt for the two lovers. Nevertheless, perhaps, +this very _retenue_, with the sort of faint and misty allusions which +they were obliged to make to their friends' love and their friends' +hopes and prospects, and the graceful circumlocutions and explicative +figures that it obliged them to seek, were not without charms in +themselves. Colonel Manners, for his part, felt very sure that, under +Marian de Vaux's calm and tranquil manners were very deep and powerful +feelings; but, at the same time, he wished--if consistently with +delicacy it were possible--to find out from Miss Falkland whether his +opinions were fully justified; and Isadore longed to know--with all a +woman's yearnings to prove to her own heart the substantial existence +of real, pure, permanent, unswerving love--whether her cousin had +retained, during his long absence, all that tender, devoted, undivided +attachment which he displayed towards Marian when present. Not at all +did she wish to know whether Edward de Vaux had made love to, or +flirted with, or talked sweet nonsense to any other woman. Do not let +it be misunderstood; she never suspected such a thing, nor would have +believed it had it been told her: but she would have given a great +deal to find out, whether in the bosom of her cousin, the one thought +of his affection had ever been paramount; whether the world, and +ambition, and other scenes, and absence, and danger, and excitement +had never banished the image of Marian from the bosom of Edward de +Vaux; and, in short, she would have willingly heard it proved, in his +instance, that love can exist in the bosom of man, under prolonged +absence and varying circumstances. In all this, she was as +disinterested as a woman ever can be in regard to an affair of love; +but, the truth is, no woman can be totally so. The whole of that +bright race are, in this respect, but a joint-stock company--to borrow +a figure from familiar things--and love is their capital, in which all +have an interest, and all a share. + +However, it will be easily conceived that, under these circumstances, +the conversation between Miss Falkland and Colonel Manners was as +nice, and delicate, and difficult an encounter of their wits as ever +was practised. Colonel Manners was soon satisfied; for, in answer to +some complimentary observation upon her cousin's manners and +appearance, which went to praise their tranquillity as well as their +elegance, Isadore answered frankly, and smiling as she did so, "Oh, +Marian is often more _commoto dentro_ than you think." Miss Falkland's +researches, however, were less easily pursued, and they led her, like +a child hunting a butterfly, through a world of flowers. One time, she +would put her problem generally, and wonder whether any man ever did +feel, and continue to feel, as she wished to believe Edward had done +towards Marian; and then she would put it particularly, and say, that +she thought such an attachment as his must have been a wonderful +solace and delight to him; an inexhaustible fund of sweet feelings and +hope, throughout all that he had been obliged to endure. But still +Colonel Manners, who very clearly understood what she meant, hung back +a little in his explanations; pleased, in truth, to watch the feelings +that prompted her and the path she pursued; pleased with all the +graces that the subject called up in her countenance and her manner; +the beaming smile, the sparkling eye, and sometimes the sudden stop +and passing blush, when she became uncertain of the next step and +dared not advance. + +After he had amused himself a little, and saw that she might +misconstrue his backwardness into something disadvantageous to his +friend, he caught at the next sentence, and replied, "Yes, indeed, I +look upon De Vaux's attachment, and his engagement to your fair +cousin, before he went to America, as one of the greatest blessings +that could have happened to him; especially for a man whose heart was +calculated to make it his happiness and his safeguard, and his leading +star wherever he went." + +Isadore blushed warmly; and perhaps there was a little mingling of +emotions in her blush; for, in the first place, the full confirmation +of what she had wished and hoped, made her cheek glow; and, in the +next place, Colonel Manners' words were so exactly a reply to the +questions which had been lurking unspoken in her heart, that she +almost suspected he had seen deeper into her thoughts than she had +anticipated. A slight smile that followed upon his lip she considered +as excessively malicious; but she was one who never suffered wrath to +rankle in her bosom, but, in her way, revenged herself always on the +spot. "You speak so feelingly, Colonel Manners," said she, just +suffering a single ray of laughing light to gleam out of her fine dark +eyes; "you speak so feelingly, that I doubt not you have been guarded +and led in the same manner." + +Let it be clearly kept in mind, that Isadore Falkland had only known +Colonel Charles Manners fourteen hours and a half, or she would not +have said what she did for the world. It may be thought that the case +ought to have been quite the contrary, and that she might have +ventured more had she been more intimate. But such would be an +erroneous view of the matter. Isadore Falkland well knew that fourteen +hours and a half was not a sufficient space of time for any rational +man either to feel or to affect love for the most enchanting being +that ever the world beheld, and, consequently, that she might say a +sportive thing in regard to Colonel Manners' heart, without any chance +of a retort which might have been disagreeable--unless he had been a +fool or a coxcomb, which she knew him not to be. Had she known him a +fortnight, he might have made the retort, as a jest, which would have +been disagreeable enough; or as a compliment, which would have been +still more disagreeable; or as a serious fact, which would have been +most disagreeable; and therefore, under such circumstances, she would +never have thought of talking about the heart of one of the company, +when there were but two in it. Had she known, too, that the subject +was a painful one to Colonel Manners, she would as little have thought +of touching upon it; and, indeed, a feeling that he was not handsome, +and a vague misty sort of consciousness that that fact might have +something to do with his remaining unmarried, did make her regret that +she had said such words, almost as soon as they were beyond recall. + +"No, indeed," said Colonel Manners, with a touch of melancholy in his +manner that could not wholly be banished; "no, indeed, I have not been +so fortunate as either to have guardian angel or leading star;" and he +smiled at the triteness of his own figures of speech, but with a smile +that did not counteract, to the mind of Miss Falkland, the sadness of +his tone. She was vexed with herself, and would have done anything on +earth, in a reasonable way, to efface whatever painful feelings she +might have awakened: but though she was generally skilful enough in +putting an end to a difficulty where others were concerned, she found +it not so easy to disentangle the affair when she herself was the +culprit. + +Whether Colonel Manners perceived that Miss Falkland felt she had +given pain, and was vexed with herself, or whether he likewise wished +to get rid of the subject, matters little; but he now changed the +topic somewhat abruptly; and looking round upon the woods, into the +very heart of which they were plunging, he said, "I wonder that you +fair ladies are not somewhat afraid of walking through these solitudes +by yourselves." + +"There is no danger," she replied; "we have none but very orderly, +peaceable people in our part of the world: though, in truth," she +added, after a moment's thought, "we are the last family that should +say there is no danger; but I have never heard of any very serious +offence being committed in our neighbourhood since the murder of my +poor uncle, which, as it is long ago, of course I do not recollect. + +"I remember having heard something of that event," replied Colonel +Manners, "but do not recollect the particulars. Was he killed by +highwaymen?" + +"I believe so," answered Miss Falkland, "though I know too little +about it to tell you exactly what happened. But--oh, yes!--he was +robbed and murdered, I remember; for it was proved that he had a large +sum of money upon his person when he went out--several thousand +pounds--and it was supposed that some one who knew the fact had either +waylaid him, or had informed the murderers of the booty they might +obtain." + +"He was, I think, your uncle by the side of Mrs. Falkland," said +Colonel Manners, who of course felt an interest in the matter in +proportion to the little difficulties of obtaining information. + +"Yes, my mother's brother," replied Isadore; "Marian's father. You may +easily imagine that such a story rendered her an object of double +interest to all her family--of redoubled tenderness, I believe I +should say, and even my uncle, who is not very scrupulous in regard to +what he says to any one, is more kind and considerate towards Marian +than towards any other human being. That great and horrible crime, +however--I mean the murder--seems to have frightened others from our +neighbourhood; and though we occasionally hear of a little poaching, +the people round us are uniformly well-behaved and peaceable." + +"Can you say as much for the gipsies towards whose encampment, if I +understood De Vaux right, we are bending our way?" asked Colonel +Manners. "They are, in general, very troublesome and unquiet +neighbours." + +"I had not heard of their being here," replied Miss Falkland: "we are +very seldom so honoured, I can assure you. I do not remember having +seen gipsies here more than once; and that was not in this wood, but +on a large common up yonder at the top of that hill, behind the house. +They are a strange race!" + +"They are, indeed," answered her companion; "and De Vaux and I, as we +passed their encampment, could not help marvelling that no government +had ever thought it worth its while to pay some attention to them, +either for the purpose of reclaiming them to civilized life, or, if +that were judged impossible, for the purpose of obtaining those traces +of knowledge which are waning from among them every day, but which +some of their better men are said still to retain." + +"Do you mean their astrological knowledge?" asked Miss Falkland, with +a look of no slight interest in the question. + +"O, no!" answered Colonel Manners, with a smile; "I mean the knowledge +of their real history, of their original country, of their former +laws, of their language in its purity, and of many facts of great +interest, which, though with them they are merely traditionary, yet +might be confirmed or invalidated by other testimony in our own +possession." + +"They are a strange people, indeed!" said Miss Falkland. "Do you know, +Colonel Manners, that the separate existence of these gipsies and of +the Jews--coming down, as it were, two distinct streams, amid all the +whirling confusion of an ocean of other nations--keeping their +identity among wars, and battles, and changes, and the overturning of +all things but themselves; retaining their habits, and their thoughts, +and their national character apart, in spite both of sudden and +violent revolutions in society, and of the slow, but even more +powerful efforts of gradual improvement and civilization. Do you know, +whenever I think of this, it gives me a strange feeling of mysterious +awe that I cannot describe? It seems as if I saw more distinctly than +in the common course of things the workings of the particular will of +the Almighty; for I cannot understand how these facts can be accounted +for by any of the common motives in existence; as, in both instances, +interest, ambition, policy, and pleasure, with almost every inducement +that could be enumerated, would have produced exactly the opposite +result." + +"I shall not attempt to reason against you, Miss Falkland," replied +Colonel Manners, with a smile; "and, indeed, I very much agree with +you in opinion, though perhaps not in your wonder; for being a +complete believer in a special providence, I only see the same hand in +this that I think is discernible throughout creation." + +"But tell me, Colonel Manners," said Isadore, "have you any belief in +the fortune-telling powers of the gipsies?" + +"None whatever," answered Colonel Manners. + +"Nor perhaps have I," said Isadore; "but at the same time it is +strange that in all ages and in all countries, as far as I can +understand, these gipsies have pretended to this particular science, +and have been very generally believed. At all events, it shows that +they have an immemorial tradition of such a power having been +possessed by their ancestors; and if it were possessed by their +ancestors, why not by themselves?" + +"But we have no reason to believe that it was possessed by their +ancestors," replied Colonel Manners, "except, indeed, their own +tradition, which, as you say, is evidently very ancient." + +"Nay, nay, but I think we have other proofs," replied Isadore, "and +very strong ones, it appears to me. It is evident from the historical +part of the Bible that the most ancient Egyptians had various means of +divination, and even a magical influence, the reality and power of +which is admitted by the sacred writers most distinctly; and +consequently, when these facts are joined to an immemorial tradition +of the descendants of the same nation, it seems that there is strong +reason for believing that these powers existed even after the period +to which the sacred volume refers." + +"I am inclined, indeed, to believe," replied Colonel Manners, +"that the gipsies are descendants from some Egyptian tribe, although +the fact has been contested strongly, and the French call them +Bohemians--unreasonably enough. In regard to the powers of divination +attributed to the ancient Egyptians, too, I believe them to have +existed, because I believe the Bible not only as an inspired record, +but as the best-authenticated history, without any exception, that +exists; and at the same time I cannot suppose that men who had so +grand, so comprehensive, and also so philosophical an idea of the +Divinity, that four thousand years have not been able to produce the +slightest enlargement of it, as displayed in many passages of Holy +Writ--I cannot suppose that such men would have recorded as facts +anything substantially inconsistent with the majesty of that Being +whom they alone knew in the age when they wrote. But you must remember +that these powers, though permitted then for reasons we know not, may +have ceased now, like the powers of prophecy, and many other things of +the same kind; and did the gipsies possess such powers at present, +depend upon it, we should find them clothed in purple in the closets +of kings, instead of wandering upon bare heaths, and stealing for a +livelihood." + +"You are right, I know," replied Miss Falkland, with a smile, at the +lingerings of credulity that still haunted her own bosom, "and I have +convinced myself, and been convinced by others over and over again, +that it is all nonsense; and yet,--" + +She paused, and Manners rejoined, "One of our old humorous poets says, + + + 'A man convinced against his will, + Is of the same opinion still.'" + + +"And perhaps you think the verses still more applicable to a woman, +Colonel Manners," replied Miss Falkland; "but that is not exactly the +case with me. My weakness extends no farther than this:--were a gipsy +to predict any great evil for my future life, it would make me very +uneasy, however much I might struggle against the impression; and, on +that account, I would not have my fortune told, as they call it, for +the world! Would you?" + +"Without the slightest apprehension," answered Colonel Manners, +laughing. "They may try their chiromancy on me, when they please, and +do me all the harm they can for half a crown, which is, I believe, the +stipulated sum." + +"That is, because you are a man and a hero," replied Miss Falkland, in +the same gay tone, "and you are bound by honour and profession to be +afraid of nothing; but remember, I look upon it as an agreement--you +are to have your fortune told this very day, and that will do for the +whole party; for I will not have mine told, and I am sure Marian shall +not, if I can prevent it." + +"Oh, I will be the scape-goat, with all my heart," he replied; "but I +suppose we cannot be far from their encampment, if your computation of +miles be correct." + +"We are close to the high-road," answered Miss Falkland; "but how far +up the hill they are, you best know. However, let us wait for Edward +and Marian. We must not make the babes in the wood of them; and of +course they are a good way behind. Now, I dare say, while you and +Edward were in America, you heard of Marian de Vaux till you were +tired--was it not so, Colonel Manners?" + +"No, indeed," he answered, smiling; "far from it, I can assure you. +Although I long ago found out by various infallible signs that De Vaux +was in love; yet, never till circumstances had produced esteem and +friendship, and friendship had become intimacy, did he ever mention +his engagement, or the object of his attachment." + +"And then he doubtless painted her in very glowing colours," added +Isadore, trying strenuously to while away the time till her cousins +came up, they having lingered behind farther than she had expected. + +"Oh, of course, all lovers are like the old painter Arellius," +answered Colonel Manners, "and always paint the objects of their love +as goddesses. But I will not gratify your malice, Miss Falkland; De +Vaux has too fine a sense of the ridiculous ever to render himself so +by exaggerating any feeling." + +"He has, indeed, too fine a sense of the ridiculous," answered +Isadore; "it is his worst fault, Colonel Manners; and I fear that, +like all the rest of our faults, it may some day prove his own bane; +but here they come! Now, Colonel Manners, prepare to hear your fate. +Edward, here is your friend going to have his fortune told." + +"You mean going to give half a crown to a gipsy," said De Vaux; "but if +you are serious, Manners, I will, of course, stand by you to the last, +as if you were going to fight a duel, or any other unreasonable thing. +Turn to the left and you will see the appointed place, as the +newspapers call it, before you." + +In this expectation, however, De Vaux was mistaken; for the gipsies +and their accompaniments, men, women, and children, pots, kettles, and +tents, had all disappeared. It must not be said, indeed, that they had +left no vestige of their abode behind them, for half a dozen black +spots burnt in the turf, and more than one pile of white wood ashes, +attested the extent of their encampment; but nothing else was to be +seen in the green wood, except the old oaks, and the yellow sunshine +streaming through the rugged boughs, with a squirrel balancing itself +on the branch of a fir, and two noisy jays screaming from tree to +tree. + +"This is a very Robin Hood like scene," said Colonel Manners, as he +looked around, "and less gloomy in the broad daylight than at +eventide. But here are no gipsies, Miss Falkland; and I am afraid that +you must put off hearing the future fate and fortunes of Charles +Manners till another time." + +"I am very much mortified, indeed," replied Isadore, "and I see that +you only laugh at me, Colonel Manners, without sympathizing in the +least with disappointed curiosity; which,--as no one believes more +fully than yourself,--is a very serious event in a woman's case. +However, I shall hold you bound by your promise, and look upon you +engaged as a man of honour to have your fortune told the very first +time you meet with a party of gipsies,--nay, more, to let me know the +result also." + +She spoke with playful seriousness; and Colonel Manners replied, "With +all my heart, Miss Falkland; and, indeed, you shall find that your +commands are so lightly borne by me, that I will take other +obligations upon myself, and even seek out your favourites, the +gipsies; for these protegées of yours seldom move far at a time, +unless, indeed, all the poultry in the neighbourhood happens to be +exhausted." + +"Oh, that is not the case here," answered Isadore; "there is plenty +yet remaining in every farm-yard, and I dare say you will find them on +the common." + +"I will go to-morrow, then, without fail," he answered, "for--" and he +had nearly added words which would have betrayed his meditated +departure; but he turned his speech another way; and all parties, well +satisfied with their ramble, returned by the same path to the house. + +Nothing occurred during the rest of the day to disturb the +tranquillity of the party. The evening passed away in conversation, +generally light enough, but of which we have given a specimen above, +fully sufficient to show its nature and quality. Sometimes it touched, +indeed, upon deeper feelings, without ever becoming grave; and +sometimes it ventured farther into the realms of learning, without +approaching pedantry. The annoyance of Lord Dewry's behaviour on the +preceding night had at the time reconciled Colonel Manners in some +degree to the idea of quitting a circle in which he found much to +please and interest him; but no such annoyance interrupted the course +of this evening, and he experienced more pain than he liked to +acknowledge, when he thought of leaving behind him for ever, a scene +in which the hours passed so pleasantly. He felt, however, that the +annoyance might soon be renewed, or that even if it were not, he had +no right by his presence to shut out De Vaux's father from Mrs. +Falkland's house; and he resolved still to adhere to his purpose, and +set out for London on the day after that which was just about to +follow. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The ordinary and too well-deserved lamentation over the fragility of +human resolutions was not in general applicable to the determinations +of Charles Manners, who was usually very rigid in his adherence to his +purposes, whether they were of great or small importance. But it must +not be supposed that this pertinacity, if it may so be called, in +pursuit of designs he had already formed, proceeded from what the +world calls obstinacy. Obstinacy maybe defined the act of persisting +in error; and the rectitude and precision of his judgment generally +kept him from being in error at first, so that he had rarely a +legitimate cause for breaking his resolution. Nor was he either of +such a hard and tenacious nature as to resist all persuasion, and, +like the cement of the Romans, only to grow the stiffer by the action +of external things. Far from it; he was always very willing to +sacrifice his purposes--where no moral sacrifice was implied--to the +wishes and solicitations of those he loved or esteemed. Nor is there +any contradiction in this statement, though it may be inquired, how, +then, did he break his resolutions less frequently than other people? +The secret was this, and it is worth while to burden memory with it: +he never formed his resolutions without thought, which saved at least +one-third from fracture; and though he broke them sometimes at the +entreaty of others, he never sacrificed them to any whim of his own, +which saved _very nearly_ two-thirds more; for we may depend upon it +that the determinations which we abandon, either from a change of +circumstances, or from the persuasions of our friends, form but a very +minute fraction, when compared with those that we give up, either from +original error or after caprice. + +It has seemed necessary to give this lecture upon resolutions, because +Colonel Manners very speedily found cause to abandon the determination +which he formed so vigorously on the day we spoke of in the last +chapter; and, that he might not be charged with inconsistency, it +became requisite to enter into all those strict definitions and +explanations that generally leave us as many loopholes for escape and +evasion, as a treaty of peace or a deed of settlement. + +One resolution, however, and one promise, Colonel Manners certainly +did keep, as soon as it was possible, which was, to inquire whether +the gipsies were still in the neighbourhood, and to seek them out, +with the full purpose of having his fortune told. Now, it may be +supposed that here was a little weakness on the part of Colonel +Manners--that he did give some credit to gipsy chiromancy; nay, the +reader may even push his conjectures farther, and imagine him dreaming +of Isadore Falkland's beautiful eyes, and all their varieties of +expression, from the deep and soft to the gayest sparkle that ever +twinkled through two rows of long silky eyelashes. But the simple fact +was, that he had promised to go, and that he went; and though he might +think Miss Falkland extremely beautiful and extremely pleasing, as +every man who had been two minutes in her company must have thought, +he no more dreamed of the possibility of so fair a creature, courted +and loved as he knew she must be, ever uniting herself to so ugly a +man as himself--and as he sat and shaved himself that morning he +thought himself uglier than ever--than Napoleon Bonaparte, in the +plenitude of power and the majesty of victory, thought of a low grave +beneath a willow on a rock in the Atlantic. + +In regard to any belief in the gipsies' fortune-telling, there were +little use of investigating closely, whether some thin fibre of the +root of superstition had or had not been left in the bosom of Charles +Manners. If any particle thereof did remain, it went no farther than +to excite, perhaps, a slight degree of curiosity in regard to what the +people would predict, more, perhaps, from feeling that it must be +absurd, than from expecting any point of coincidence with his real +fate; and certain it is that, whatever the gipsies might have told to +Colonel Manners, he would have thought no more of after the immediate +moment, except as a matter for jest, than he would of any other kind +of _sortes_, whether drawn from Virgil or Joe Miller. + +It was just a quarter to six on the morning after that which had seen +the walk in Morley Wood, when Manners, who was, as we have said, an +early riser, gave some orders to his servant concerning his horses, +and went out into the new wakened world. Having observed on the +preceding day, for the purpose of carrying on the jest, the exact +position of the hill on which Miss Falkland conjectured that the +gipsies might have quartered themselves, he took his way across the +park from that side which formed, in fact, the back of Morley House; +and, having assured himself beforehand that he could find means of +egress in that direction, he was soon beyond the walls, and winding up +a small cart-road towards the summit. + +The hill itself was somewhat singular in form; and as it is rather +characteristic of that particular county, we may as well endeavour to +give the reader some idea of its appearance. It formed a portion of +that steep range of upland which we have before described as +principally covered with fine wood; but this particular point, +projecting towards the river in the form of very nearly a right angle, +seemed to have cast behind it the mass of forest which still continued +over the ridge of the other hills. Vestiges of the wood, too, hung in +broken patches on the flanks of even this protuberance, but the summit +offered nothing but a bare, open plain, full of pits and ravines, and +only further diversified by a few stunted hawthorns, and one single +group of tall beeches, gathered together upon a tumulus, which covered +the bodies of some of those invading warriors to whom our island was +once a prey. The ascent to this plain from the small gate in the park +wall, by which Colonel Manners issued forth, was in length somewhat +more than a mile; but it consisted of two distinct grades, or steps, +the first of which was formed by a little peninsula, jutting out from +the salient angle of the main hill, and completely surrounded by the +river on all sides except the one which served to unite it, by a +narrow neck not above three hundred yards in breadth, to the high +ground we have mentioned. This small peninsula, which was itself +covered with wood, rose in a rocky bank to the height of about a +hundred and fifty yards above the stream; and over the narrow isthmus +was carried the road which passed the park; while the wall of the park +itself, just excluding the wooded banks from the grounds of Morley +House, was lowered in that part, so as to leave a full view of the +picturesque little promontory from the windows of the mansion. Let the +reader remember all this, for his memory may be taxed hereafter. + +Branching off from the right of the high-road lay the path up which +Colonel Manners took his way, and which passed over a track upon the +side of the hill, partly hedged in and cultivated, and partly left to +its own ungrateful sterility. It was steep also, but Manners was a +good climber; and, knowing that Mrs. Falkland's breakfast hour was +half-past nine, he did not linger by the way, but soon found himself +at the summit of the hill, and on the piece of waste ground which will +be found in the county map under the name of Morley Common, or Morley +Down. A good deal of dew had fallen in the night; and as the sun, who +had not yet pursued his bright course far up the arch of heaven, +poured the flood of his morning light upon the short blades of grass +covering the common, the whole would have seemed crisp with hoarfrost, +had not, every here and there, a tuft of longer leaves caught the rays +more fully, and twinkled as if sprinkled with living diamonds, as the +early air moved it gently in the beams. In different directions across +the common might be seen a hundred small foot-roads, winding in that +tortuous and unsteady manner which is sure to mark a path trodden out +by man's unguided feet, and which offers no bad comment on his +uncertain and roundabout way of arriving at his object; but, as the +ground comprised many hundred acres, Colonel Manners might have been +puzzled which way to take, had not his military habits at once sent +him to the small planted tumulus which we have mentioned, in order to +obtain a general view of the place. + +Climbing up the sides of the little mound, therefore, he gazed round +him; but neither gipsies nor tents were visible; and he might have +returned to Mrs. Falkland's, satisfied that they were not there, had +not a small column of faint blue smoke, rising from behind some +bushes, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, marked the +presence of human beings in that direction, and shown that the bushes, +though apparently not higher than a man's hat, masked some fall in the +ground where the fire was kindled. Thither, then, Manners turned his +steps, and soon perceived that another old sand-pit, with some bushes +climbing up one of the sides, had given shelter to those of whom he +was now in search. + +Before he could even discover so much, he became aware, by two low +whistles, that his own approach had been perceived; and, as he was +advancing directly towards the sand-pit, where a number of the gipsies +had paused in their various occupations to watch him, he saw a man +issue forth from one of the huts, put something hastily into the bosom +of his long wrapping coat, and then come forward to meet him. The +gipsy, as he came nearer, gazed at him from head to foot, with a clear +dark eye, which had in it nothing either of the dogged sullenness or +cunning stealthiness that sometimes marks the male part of the +race,--often the fruit both of their own vices and the world's +harshness. There was something in the air and manner of the man, that +to so accurate an observer as Manners, spoke a great difference +between him and the general class of his people; but, to save a +repetition of description, it may be as well to say at once, that the +gipsy who now appeared was the same whom we have designated Pharold. + +"Good-morning!" said Colonel Manners, as the other came near; "you +have hid your tents very completely here." + +"Good-morning!" replied the gipsy, slightly knitting his brow, as he +saw the soldier's eye running over every part of their encampment with +some degree of curiosity; "Good-morning! It seems you were seeking me +or mine." + +"I was so," replied Manners, still gazing with some interest upon the +old sand-pit and its picturesque tenants, with their blazing fire of +sticks, and its white smoke curling through the broken ground and amid +the scattered bushes. + +"And what did you want with us, then?" asked Pharold, somewhat +impatiently; "you wanted something, or you would not have come here." + +"I wish to have my fortune told," replied Manners with a smile, +excited equally by the impatience of the gipsy's tone, and by the +nature of his own errand. + +The gipsy looked at him steadily, and then shook his head. "No, no, +no," said he; "you did not come for that. Never tell me, that you +would get out of your bed by daybreak, and climb a high hill, and seek +a bare common, at this hour, to have your fortune told--never tell me +that, Colonel Manners." + +Manners started at hearing his own name pronounced familiarly by the +gipsy, though he knew the world, and all the tricks that accident and +confederacy can put upon us, too well to suppose that he who is +emphatically termed in Scripture "the prince of the power of the air" +had taken the trouble to send an account of his name and quality to a +gipsy on a common. Still, as it was unexpected, he was surprised, and +expressed it; but not in such a way as to make the gipsy believe more +fully than he had done at first, that he really gave credit to the +supernatural pretensions of his nation, and came there for the purpose +of consulting them upon his destiny. + +"Pray how did you become acquainted with my name?" demanded Colonel +Manners, calmly. "I do not know that I ever saw you before?" + +"Perhaps not," replied the gipsy; "but if you believe that I can tell +you what you will become hereafter, why should you be surprised that I +know what you are now?" + +"I never said that I would believe what you told me," answered +Manners; "but I know that, as I have been scarcely two days in this +country, you must have been very expeditious in gaining my name. +However, it is a matter of small consequence: I came, as I said, to +have my fortune told according to your method. Will you do it?" + +"It shall be done," said the gipsy, still gazing at him inquiringly. +"It shall de done, if you really desire it; but I know you men of the +world, and I cannot help thinking you came not on that errand alone. I +should think that Lord Dewry had sent you, did I not know that he went +away yesterday morning to Dimden, and then before midday back to the +hall." + +"You are a very singular person," said Colonel Manners, with a smile, +"not only because you know every thing that is going on in the place, +as well as a village gossip, but because you will not believe the +truth when it is told you. Once more, then, my good friend, let me +assure you, that nobody sent me; and that my sole purpose is to have +my fortune told: nor should I stay here any longer, even for that +purpose, had I not promised another person to submit to the +infliction. + +"So, so," said the gipsy; "so the fair lady you were walking with +yesterday in Morley Wood is more wise, or, as you would call it, more +credulous than you are. But do not look angry, gentleman. I will tell +you your fortune presently, and will tell it truly, if you will do me +a piece of service, of which I stand in need too--something that I +have promised to do, though not for a lady with dark eyes; and you +seem sent here on purpose to aid in it." + +Now Manners was half amused and half angry; but it is probable the +anger would have got the better of the other feeling, had not his +curiosity been excited also by the language, the manners, and the +request of the gipsy, whose whole demeanour was something quite new to +him. He replied, however, "I never undertake to do any thing without +knowing the precise nature thereof; but if you will tell me what you +desire, and I find it reasonable, I will not, of course, refuse." + +"Yes, yes! you shall hear what it is," answered the gipsy; "nor will +you find the request unreasonable. But come hither a little away from +the people, for they need not know it." Thus speaking, he led the way +towards the mound from which Manners had made his reconnoissance of +the common; and, as he went, he kept his right hand in his bosom, but +spoke not a word. At length, when they were fully out of earshot, +Manners himself stopped, thinking that he had humoured his companion's +caprices far enough. + +"Now, my good fellow," he said, "nobody can either see or hear, unless +they follow for the purpose. Pray what is it you wish me to do for +you?" + +"You are a friend of Mr. De Vaux, are you not?" said the gipsy +abruptly, stopping and turning round as Manners spoke. + +"As far as esteeming him highly, and desiring to serve him with all my +heart, can make me so," answered Manners, now more particularly +surprised, "I believe I may call myself his dear friend: but what if I +be so?" + +"If you be really a friend of Mr. Edward de Vaux," said the gipsy, +"you will not object to take a letter to him." + +"Why," answered Manners, "although I am not exactly either a private +courier or a postman, yet if your request stops there, I can have no +objection to do as you desire; reserving to myself, of course, the +right of telling him where I got the letter, and the circumstances +that attended my receiving it." + +"That you will do, if you please," replied the gipsy; "but the request +does not stop there. There are conditions in regard to the delivery of +the letter which you must observe, and that punctually." + +Manners smiled. "This is all very extraordinary," he said; "you speak +in somewhat of a dictatorial tone, my good friend; and it is not easy +for me to comprehend what business one of your class and nation can +have with my friend De Vaux, so soon after his return from other +lands." + +"Trouble not yourself with that, Colonel Manners," answered the gipsy; +and then added, seeing that something like a cloud was gathering on +his auditor's brow, "if I have offended you, sir, I am sorry: such was +not my purpose; and, believe me, I may know what is due both to you +and myself better than you think. You are the commander of one of the +King of England's regiments, and I am a poor gipsy; but you come to +make a request to me, for granting which--as every thing is barter or +robbery in this world--for granting which I require something of you. +So far we are as much equals as in the enjoyment of the free air, and +yonder bright sunshine, and this piece of common ground. Whether there +be any other difference between us, in point of higher or lower, God +knows, and he alone. Thus, then, hear me patiently, while I tell you +the conditions of my bargain; and afterward I will do your bidding +concerning your future fortunes--whether you esteem my skill or not, +being your business, and not mine, as you seek it without my offering +it." + +"I believe you are right," replied Colonel Manners, beginning more +fully to appreciate the character of him with whom he spoke; "go on, +and let me hear your conditions in regard to the delivery of this +letter, which is, I suppose, the object that you hold in your bosom." + +"It is not a pistol," said the gipsy, producing the letter. + +"I did not suppose that it was," replied Colonel Manners; "and had it +been so, it would have been a matter of much indifference to me: but +now for your conditions." + +"They are few and simple," answered the gipsy; "I require, or request, +you to give this into Mr. De Vaux's own hand, and to choose a moment +when he is not only alone, but when he is likely to have an +opportunity of reading it in private; and though you may tell him when +and how you received it, and add what comments you like, you must not +indulge in the same tattle to other people; but must keep silence on +all concerning it." + +"Your conditions are not very difficult," replied Colonel Manners; "I +will undertake them. Give me the letter. Upon my honour," he added, +seeing that Pharold hesitated, "I will do exactly as you have +desired." + +The man gave him the letter, which was cleaner, neater, and, as far as +the address went, better written than the hands from which it came +would have led one to anticipate. The moment he had done so, Pharold +uttered a long, loud whistle, which brought a little yellow urchin of +ten years old to their side, as fast as a pair of bare feet could +carry him. "Thou mayst go," said the gipsy; "and make haste." The boy +set off like lightning on the road which led to the river, and the +gipsy again turned to Colonel Manners. "Give me your hand, sir," he +said. + +Colonel Manners did as he desired, smiling while he did so at a +certain lurking feeling of the ridicule of his situation, which he +could not repress. "If any of my old fellow-soldiers were to see me +here," he thought, "taking counsel with a gipsy upon my future fate +and prospects, they would certainly think Charles Manners mad." The +gipsy, however, gazed seriously upon his hand, and then raised his +eyes to the other's face, without the slightest expression in his own +countenance which could raise a suspicion that he was seeking to play +upon credulity. + +"Colonel Manners," said Pharold, "before I tell you what I read here, +listen to me for one moment. Most people who come to us on such an +errand smile as they give us their hand; some because they believe us +thoroughly, and affect by a laugh to show they do not believe at all; +while some, who really do not believe, smile out of vain conceit in +their own superior strength of mind: but do you remember that this +that we practise is, when properly practised, a science in which we +have ourselves the most confident faith. We never inquire afterward +whether what we have predicted has proved true or not, for we are +always sure that it must do so: but, at all events, such confidence in +our own knowledge cannot spring from nothing." + +Manners could have easily found a reply in favour of his own side of +the question, but he did not think it worth while to argue logically +upon chiromancy with a gipsy, although that gipsy might be somewhat +superior to others of his tribe; and, therefore, without answering the +arguments of Pharold, he remained in silence, while the other again +turned a very steadfast glance upon his extended hand. + +"Colonel Manners," said the gipsy at length, "if I read right, you +have been a fortunate man." + +"And, in some respects, an unfortunate one," rejoined his auditor, +"though, in truth, I have no great reason to complain." + +"Far more fortunate than unfortunate," answered the gipsy. "Here are +but three crosses in all your life as yet; two so near the beginning, +that you could not have felt them; and one--a deep one--much more +lately." + +Colonel Manners smiled. "In the past you are certainly not far wrong: +but it is the future I wish to hear: what of it?" + +"You mock us, sir," said the gipsy, eying him. "However, you shall +hear your fate as it is. You shall be fortunate and unfortunate." + +"That is the common lot of human nature," rejoined Colonel Manners. + +"But herein does your fate differ from the common lot of human +nature," replied the gipsy: "you shall be no longer fortunate in those +things wherein you have hitherto found success; for you shall do all +that you think you will not do; and prosper where you neither hope nor +strive." + +"That is certainly a strange fate," answered Manners; "for I have ever +found that success is a coy goddess, who needs all our efforts to +obtain her smiles, and even then gives them but sparingly." + +"It _is_ a strange fate, and yet, in some sense, it is not," answered +the gipsy; "your painters rightly represent Fortune as a woman, though +they might as well have left her eyes unbandaged; for it is neither +new nor marvellous to see woman fly from those that pursue her, and +cast herself into the arms of those who care not for her smiles. And +yet the fate written on that hand is strange, too; for it speaks of +fortunes as fair without effort, for the future, as those of the past +have been rendered by toil and exertion. It is a strange fate; but, +nevertheless it shall be yours: and now, forget not my words, but, +when you find them verified, remember him that spoke them." + +"But are you going to tell me no more?" demanded Colonel Manners: "I +would fain have you come a little more to particulars, my good friend. +One can make but little of these broad generalities." + +"One can make nothing to laugh at," answered the gipsy, "and therefore +I shall keep to them, though, perhaps, I could tell you more. Remember +them, however, and, as you will soon find them true, lay them to your +heart, sir, and let them teach you to believe, that a thing is not +false because you do not understand it; that there may be truths +without the range either of your knowledge or of your faculties--some +that you cannot comprehend, because they have not been explained to +you; and some that, if they were explained to you a thousand times, +your mind is too narrow to conceive--and yet they are." + +"I wish, my good friend, that I could send you to converse with +Voltaire," said Colonel Manners. "Who is he?" demanded Pharold; "I do +not know him." + +"No," replied Manners; "I dare say not: but he is a famous wit, who +dabbles in philosophy, and seems inclined to teach the world, by his +example, if not by his precepts, that man should credit nothing that +he cannot understand." + +"And what should I do with him'?" demanded the gipsy, frowning: "I +think you are mocking me--is it not so?" + +"No, on my honour," replied Colonel Manners; "I am not mocking you. On +the contrary, I think you a very extraordinary person, and fitted for +a different station from that in which I find you. Whether you +yourself believe that which you have told me concerning my future +fortune, or not, I thank you for having gratified me; and, at all +events, I have derived from your conversation more that I shall +remember long, than I anticipated when I came here. Will you accept of +that?" + +Colonel Manners offered him one of those beautiful golden pieces which +are now, I fear me, lost to the world for ever, and which were then +called guineas. But the gipsy put it away. "No," he said; "you have +undertaken to fulfil my request, and I have complied with yours. We +owe each other nothing, then. Farewell!" and, turning on his heel, he +left Colonel Manners to descend the hill, thinking him more +extraordinary than ever, from the last very ungipsy-like act, by which +he had terminated their conversation. + +The sun was now much higher than when Manners had trod that path +before; for, according to his usual custom, the gracious luminary +seemed to have run more quickly at his first rising than he does after +having climbed the steep hill of heaven; and the wayfarer began to +think that he might be late at Mrs. Falkland's breakfast-table, where +cold eggs and lukewarm coffee were the just punishments of those who +linger long abed. As he had closed the park gate, however, and had not +the key, he was obliged to go round and enter by the other side of the +house; but this proceeding, at all events, tended to solve one mystery +connected with his late interview. In the hall the first object he +beheld was the little gipsy boy whom he had seen with Pharold on the +hill; and he now found him in conversation with Mrs. Falkland herself, +who appeared to be asking after some of the Egyptian fraternity who +were ill. Old Peter stood behind, keeping a wary eye upon the boy, +whom he justly considered a very promising élève in no inferior school +of petty larceny; and as Colonel Manners approached, Mrs. Falkland +terminated her inquiries, and made over her little companion to the +care of the footman, with orders to give him something and send him +away; an order, the latter part of which was complied with in a more +summary manner than she anticipated, as soon as her back was turned. + +"Good-morning, Colonel Manners," she said, as they walked towards the +breakfast-room; "you find me with a curious little companion: but the +fact is, that, while you were all out walking yesterday, a poor gipsy +woman accidentally fell down from the high bank close by the house, +and was brought in here, completely stunned. The village apothecary +was away; and, as I endeavour to enact my Lady Bountiful, I did what I +could for the poor creature, who soon recovered. We had half a dozen +of her tribe in the servant's hall, however; and, much to the butler's +and Peter's surprise--and, I must confess, to my own also--when they +went away, nothing was missing. According to a promise made by one of +them, they have sent me down that little boy this morning to tell me +that the poor woman is now quite well. I wished to have despatched the +apothecary to her, and offered to do so as soon as he returned; but +they seemed to have an invincible repugnance to all the professors of +the healing art." + +"All people, I believe, who enjoy very good health," replied Colonel +Manners, "feel the same towards the learned doctors--the very sight of +one reminds us of losing one of the best blessings of Heaven. However, +the meeting with that little gipsy gentleman here explains something +which I might have made a mystery of, had I not heard your account of +your yesterday's interview; for this morning I had a long conversation +with a gipsy on the hill--a very singular person--who addressed me at +once by name, and seemed perfectly well acquainted with my being at +your house." + +"Oh, your servant was present yesterday," replied Mrs. Falkland, "and, +with all the dexterity of an old soldier, gave us very great +assistance in bringing the poor woman to herself. I remarked, too, +that her gipsy companions did but little, and contented themselves +with standing round, asking irrelevant questions of the servants, +which, of course, in that temple of tittle-tattle, a servant's hall, +they found somebody willing to answer; so that I dare say there was +nothing supernatural in your name being known on the hill. But how +came you, Colonel Manners," she added, with a smile, "how came you in +such deep consultation with a gipsy at this hour of the morning? You +surely have not been having your fortune told?" + +"I must plead guilty, I am afraid," replied Colonel Manners; "but if +the fault be a very grievous one, I must lay the blame upon Miss +Falkland, as it was under her special injunctions that I went." + +"Indeed!" said Mrs. Falkland; "and to answer what object?" + +"Oh, if you mean Miss Falkland's object, I really cannot tell," he +replied; "and my object was certainly a very foolish one, but one that +leads many a man to do a still more foolish thing: I mean, it was to +prove that I was not afraid." + +"And pray, what was the result?" demanded Mrs. Falkland; but by this +time they were at the breakfast-room door, and Colonel Manners +declared that he would not communicate his fate to any one before he +revealed it to Miss Falkland in general consistory. This he had soon +an opportunity of doing: and the whole business was laughed at gayly +enough. It is wonderful how light a little merriment soon makes every +thing appear; and this is the reason why, in moments of mirth and +cheerfulness, so many secrets are revealed that one would often give +worlds to shut up again in the casket of one's own breast. Let wise +diplomatists keep far from merriment; for a light laugh or a gay +witticism, whose idle wings seemed hardly strong enough to flutter it +across the table, has often taken a weighty secret on its back, and +flown away with it, never to return. Now, the letter that the gipsy +had given Colonel Manners for his friend he had believed might be of +some importance, as long as he was alone; but every gay word that was +spoken on the subject of gipsies and fortune-telling took away +something from its weight in his estimation; and had he been only +restrained by a sense of its importance, he might have delivered the +letter before breakfast was over, and made a jest of it. It has never +been said that Colonel Manners was perfect; and though his mind was +strong, it certainly was not without a full share of human weaknesses. +Colonel Manners, however, was restrained by something besides a sense +of the letter's importance--he had given his word to deliver it in a +particular manner; and, whatever else he might do in the way of +frailties, he never forgot a promise, though, in the present instance, +it was long ere he found an opportunity of fulfilling the one he had +made the gipsy on the hill. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Any one who has tried to speak with another for five minutes in +private, without the pomp and circumstance of demanding an interview, +will know that it is almost impossible to find the opportunity, +unless the person be one's own wife. There is always something comes +in the way just at the very moment--something unforeseen and +unlikely,--especially if one be very anxious upon the subject. If the +matter be of no importance, the opportunity presents itself at every +turn; but if one be very, very desirous to unburden a full heart, or +tell a tale of love, or give a valuable hint, or plead the cause of +one's self, or any one else, without the freezing influence of a +formal conference, one may wait hours and days--nay, weeks and months, +sometimes--without finding five minutes open in the whole day. + +As soon as breakfast was over, Edward de Vaux followed Marian into the +music-room; and when Marian left him, he came to tell his friend and +Isadore that they proposed making a riding party to see something in +the neighbourhood. Manners went up in his room to prepare; and, as he +found himself on the stairs alone with De Vaux, he had his hand in his +pocket to produce the letter, when Miss Falkland's step sounded close +by them, and her voice invited her cousin to come with her, and see a +little present she had bought for Marian's birthday. As soon as +Manners was equipped for riding, he went to De Vaux's room, +calculating--as he usually dressed in half the time that his friend +expended on such exertions--that he would find him there: but no one +was in the apartment but a servant, who told him that Mr. De Vaux had +gone down. As he passed along one of the corridors, he saw De Vaux +sauntering across the lawn towards the gates of the stable-yard; but +ere he could catch him, his friend was surrounded by grooms and +servants, receiving his orders concerning the horses; and as they +turned again towards the house. Marian and Miss Falkland were standing +in their riding dresses on the steps. + +"Well, I must wait," thought Manners, reflecting sagely on the +difficulties of executing punctually even so simple a commission as +that which he had undertaken. "Well, I must wait till we go to dress +for dinner; then I am sure to find my opportunity." + +He was not destined, however, to remain burdened with his secret so +long. The ride was pleasant, but did not extend far; and on the return +of the party, while Manners and De Vaux stood looking at their boots +in the hall, Miss Falkland and her cousin retired to change their +dress, and the opportunity was not lost. + +"Now we are alone," said Manners, "let me execute a commission with +which I am charged towards you, De Vaux, and which has teased me all +the morning." + +"Not a challenge, I hope," replied the other; "for it seems a solemn +embassy." + +"No, no, nothing of the kind," answered his friend; "but the fact +is--" + +"Please, sir," said Colonel Manners' servant, opening the glass doors, +"I believe the young mare is throwing out a splint; and I did not like +to--" + +"Well, well," said Manners, somewhat impatiently, "I will come and see +her myself, presently--I am engaged just now." The man withdrew; and +resuming his discourse at the precise point where he had left off, +Manners continued, "The fact is, that gipsy, of whom I was speaking +this morning, charged me with a letter to you, which I promised to +deliver in private, and when you were likely to be able to read it +without interruption." + +"A gipsy!" said De Vaux, knitting his brows; "the circle of my +acquaintance has extended itself farther than I thought, and in a +class, also, equally beyond my wishes and anticipations: but are you +sure there is no mistake? does he really mean me?" + +"There is the letter," replied Manners, "with your titles, _nomen +and cognomen_, as clearly superscribed as ever I saw them +written:--Captain the Honourable Edward de Vaux, with many et +cæteras." + +"And in a good hand, and on tolerably clean paper," said De Vaux, +taking the letter, and gazing on the back. "Why, this gipsy of yours +must be a miracle, Manners." + +"He is a very extraordinary person, certainly," answered his +companion, "both in his ideas and his deportment, which are equally +above his class." + +"Nay, he must be a miracle--a complete miracle!" said De Vaux, +laughing, "if he can mend kettles and write such an address as that, +with the same good right hand. But this must be a begging letter." + +"I think not," replied Manners: "it would not surprise me to find that +he knows more of you than you imagine; but, at all events, read the +letter." + +De Vaux turned the letter, looked at the seal, which offered a very +good impression, though one with which he was not acquainted, and +then, tearing open the paper, read the contents. The very first words +made his eye strain eagerly upon the page; a few lines more rendered +him deadly pale; and though, as he went on, his agitation did not +increase, yet the intensity of his gaze upon the sheet before him was +not at all diminished; and when he had concluded it, after staring +vacantly in his companion's face for a moment, he again turned to the +letter, and read it attentively over once more. + +"I am afraid I have brought you evil tidings, De Vaux," said Colonel +Manners, who had watched with some anxiety the changes upon the +countenance of his friend: "if so, can I serve you? You know Charles +Manners; and I need scarcely say how much pleasure it will give me to +do any thing for you." + +"I must think, Manners--I must think," replied De Vaux: "these are +strange tidings indeed, and vouched boldly too; but I doubt whether I +have a right to communicate them to any one but the person they affect +next to myself. However, I must think ere I act at all. Forgive me for +not making you a sharer of them; and excuse me now, for I am much +agitated, and hardly well." + +"Let me be no restraint upon you, De Vaux," answered his friend. "If I +can serve you, tell me; if I can alleviate any thing you suffer by +sympathy, let me share in what you feel; but do not suppose for a +moment that I even desire to hear any thing that it may be proper to +keep to your own bosom. Leave me now, without ceremony: but take care +how you act, De Vaux; for I see there is matter of much importance in +your mind; and you are, sometimes at least, in military affairs, a +little hasty." + +"I will be as cool and thoughtful as yourself, my friend," replied De +Vaux; "but I am agitated, and the best place for me is my own room." + +Thus saying, he left his friend, not a little surprised, indeed, that +such a letter from such a person should have had the power to produce +on the mind of a man like De Vaux the extreme agitation which he had +just witnessed. De Vaux, he well knew, was not one to give credence to +any thing lightly, or to yield to any slight feeling which a first +impression might produce; but, in the present instance, it was evident +that his friend had received a shock from some tidings which had been +totally unexpected, but which must have been probable, as well as +unpleasant, to produce such an effect. The extraordinary fact, +however, that news of such importance should be left to the +transmission of such a man as the gipsy--so separated by station, and +state, and circumstances, from the person whom they concerned--was of +course a matter of much astonishment to Colonel Manners; and surprise +divided his bosom with anxiety and sympathy for his friend. + +It is a very disagreeable thing to have any two feelings thus making a +shuttlecock of our attention; or, when they are very eager, struggling +for it with mutual pertinacity; but the only way to act under such +circumstances is, to treat them like two quarrelsome boys; and, +shutting them up together, leave them to fight it out without +interruption. Such was the plan which Colonel Manners now proposed to +pursue; and, consequently, quitting the hall where his conversation +with De Vaux had taken place, he walked straight to the library, and +opened the door. + +What happened next was not without its importance; but as the mind may +be at this moment more anxious concerning De Vaux than concerning his +companion, we will follow him up the staircase as lightly as possible; +enter his chamber, lay our hand upon his bosom, draw the curtain, and +show the reader the scene within. But it may be as well first to look +at that letter upon the table before which he is sitting, with his +left hand upon his brow, and his right partly covering the sheet of +paper which had so disturbed him. If one can draw it gently out from +underneath his fingers, while his eyes are shut and his thoughts are +busy, one may read what follows:-- + +"To Captain Edward de Vaux." Here, be it remarked, that there was a +difference between the superscription and the address; the latter +having borne, "To Captain the Honourable Edward de Vaux," while in the +inside was merely written, "To Captain Edward de Vaux." + +The difference may appear insignificant; but, in the present instance, +and with the commentary of the epistle itself thereon, it signifies a +great deal. However, the letter went on:-- + + +"_To Captain Edward de Vaux_. + +"Sir: I shall make no excuse for addressing you, as I am fully +justified therein; and you yourself, however great the pain I may +inflict upon you, will eventually admit that I am so. You are about, I +understand, to unite your fate to a young lady of rank and fortune; +and it is more than possible that mutual affection and mutual good +feelings would render your union happy. Nevertheless, believing you to +be a man of honour, I feel sure that you would not like to lead any +one into such an alliance with expectations which are not alone +doubtful, but fallacious. It is therefore necessary that you should +know more precisely how you are situated; and I hesitate not to inform +you, that on the title and estates held by your father you have no +earthly right to calculate; that, should you marry Miss de Vaux, you +bring with you nothing but your commission as a captain in the army; +and that whatever you expect from your parent will most certainly go +to another person. Your first conclusion--as a world in which there +are so many villains is naturally suspicious--will be, that this +letter is written either by some one who intends to set up some unjust +claim to your rightful inheritance, by some disappointed suitor of +your bride, or by some malevolent envier of another's happiness. Such, +however, is not the fact. The person who writes this owes some +gratitude to your family; not so much for what was accomplished, as +for what your grandfather sought to accomplish in his favour. You may +have heard the story--in which case you will give more credence to the +present letter--or you may not have heard the story: but still, the +way to satisfy yourself is open before you. Either resolve to question +your father boldly concerning the points herein contained; or, if you +would have the facts proved so that you cannot doubt them, come alone +to the gipsies' tents, in the sand-pit on Morley Down, this evening or +early to-morrow morning, and inquire for + + "Pharold." + + +Now, under any ordinary circumstances, the only course which De Vaux +would have pursued might have been, to twist up the paper into any +strange and fanciful form that the whim of the moment suggested, and +put it into the first fire he met with, giving it hardly a second +thought. But there were circumstances totally distinct from, and +independent of, the letter itself, which gave it a degree of +importance far above that which it intrinsically possessed. Edward de +Vaux, though he had a slight recollection of a dark-eyed, beautiful +creature, whom in his infancy he had called mother, lost all +remembrance of her at a particular period of his life, and had never +since, that he knew of, heard her name mentioned. He passed, it is +true, for Lord Dewry's legitimate son, was received as such in +society, and admitted as such by his own family and relations. But, if +so, how was it he had never seen a picture of his mother among those +of his ancestors, and beside that of his father, which stood in the +gallery, and represented him as a man of about thirty-five years of +age?--How was it he had never heard his mother's jewels mentioned, +though those of the two baronesses who had preceded her were often +referred to? How was it that his aunt, Mrs. Falkland, as he inferred +from many facts, had never seen his mother? How was it that his father +had never spoken her name in his hearing? All this had often struck +him as something very extraordinary; and a thousand minor +circumstances, which cannot be here recapitulated, had shown him that +there was some mystery in regard to his family, which had frequently +given him pain. Since his return, however, something more had +occurred: two or three words had been spoken by his father, during +their dispute concerning Colonel Manners, which had startled him at +the time with a suspicion which he had instantly banished, but which +now came up again with fearful confirmation of the tidings he had just +received. Lord Dewry had declared that he could be deprived of the +entailed estates of the barony by a single word. At the time, that +expression had but slightly alarmed him; for, well knowing the +violence of his father's disposition, and the acts and words of almost +insane vehemence to which any opposition would drive him, he had +instantly concluded that it was a meaningless threat, spoken to punish +him for the spirit of resistance he had displayed. But now it came +back in its full force; and he asked himself, what could such words +mean, if he were a legitimate child? The estates were entailed on the +male heir; he himself was the only male heir in the present line; and +if by birth he were the lawful son of Lord Dewry, no earthly power +could deprive him of the lands of his forefathers. But his father, who +had been educated for the bar before he succeeded to the title, had +told him that a word would take them from him. A stranger now repeated +the same tale, and pointed more directly to the same conclusion; and +all his former recollections changed his bitter doubts into a terrible +certainty. + +Edward de Vaux bent down his head upon his hands, and covered his +eyes, with a feeling of shame and degradation that was hardly +supportable. It was not alone one well of bitterness that was opened +upon him; but, in whatever direction he turned his thoughts, new gall +and wormwood was poured into his cup. If there had been aught on earth +of which he had been proud--and, in that instance, his pride, though +bridled and restrained by better feelings, had been great;--if there +had been any thing on earth of which he had been proud, it had been of +his clear descent from thirteen generations of noble ancestors. He had +taken a delight, even from boyhood, in tracing the recorded history of +each, and in proving that there had not been one, from the founder of +the family to his own immediate parent, who had not been well +deserving of the rank and station that they held in their native land. +He had drawn from his noble birth the moral which noble birth should +always afford; and had determined that he, too, would deserve the +title that they had received for great deeds; that he, too, would +transmit the jewel of hereditary virtue to his children as an +heirloom, unimpaired in passing through his hands. He knew that, in +the words of a great natural poet,-- + + + "The rank is but the guinea's stamp-- + The man's the gold for a' that;" + + +and he felt that, to bear the name of noble, without being noble in +his heart, was but to carry the die of value upon inferior metal, and +pass upon society a base and worthless counterfeit. But all such +thoughts, such remembrances, and aspirations were now at an end. He +could no longer look back to mighty men amid his forefathers, for the +world's law cut the link between him and them. He had no longer a +proud name to keep up and adorn with noble actions, for he was an +illegitimate son, who had unrightfully usurped the name and station +which belonged not to him. His best support, his noblest designs, his +most generous purposes, were cast down, and his heart was laid +prostrate along with them. + +But this was not all: he was now a beggar! the estates were entailed, +and descended with the title; and though his father lived in somewhat +gloomy retirement, yet the state with which he had surrounded his +solitude De Vaux well knew could have left little accumulation from +the revenues of his property. Here, then, were new evils to be +encountered. Accustomed to luxury, and ease, and plenty, without one +thought of that sordid ore, the want of which cramps so many a noble +spirit, and stifles so many a great design, he had lived free from one +of the greatest burdens upon man. He had never been lavish or +extravagant, for such was not a part of his nature; but he had been +generous and liberal to others, as well as at ease himself; and now he +felt that every expense must be measured and gauged by considerations +of economy; that every guinea must be weighed and estimated before it +was parted with; that he must look upon money in a light that he had +never done before; that he must make it a continual object of thought; +that his mind, like the traveller in the land of the Lilliputians, +must be painfully pinioned down on every side by the irritating ties +of petty cares; that his ease must be at an end, and his generosity +cease. + +There was more, however, far more bitter kept mingling in the draught. +Round the idea of one's mother the mind of man clings with fond +affection. It is the first sweet, deep thought stamped upon our infant +hearts, when yet soft and capable of receiving the most profound +impressions, and all the after-feelings of the world are more or less +light in comparison. I do not know that even in our old age we do not +look back to that feeling as the sweetest we have known through life. +Our passions and our wilfulness may lead us far from the object of our +filial love; we learn even to pain her heart, to oppose her wishes, to +violate her commands; we may become wild, headstrong, and angry at her +counsels or her opposition; but when death has stilled her monitory +voice, and nothing but calm memory remains to recapitulate her virtues +and good deeds, affection, like a flower beaten to the ground by a +past storm, raises up her head and smiles among the tears. Round that +idea, as we have said, the mind clings with fond affection; and even +when the early period of our loss forces memory to be silent, fancy +takes the place of remembrance, and twines the image of our dead +parent with a garland of graces, and beauties, and virtues, which we +doubt not that she possessed. Thus had it been with De Vaux: he could +just call to mind a face that had appeared to him very beautiful, and +a few kind and tender words from the lips of her he had called mother; +but he had fancied her all that was good, and gentle, and virtuous; +and now that he was forced to look upon her as a fallen being, as one +who had not only forgotten virtue herself, but, in sin, had brought +him into the world, to degradation and shame, what could be his +feelings towards her? + +Horrid! horrid is it to say, that the world should take unto itself +that awful power claimed by Almighty Omniscience, of visiting the sins +of the fathers upon the children, and of making the guiltless +offspring more than share the punishment inflicted on the offending +parent! But so De Vaux felt that the world does, and that, in his +instance, it was not alone the usual contemptible sneer, or still more +contemptible neglect, that he was destined to meet; but that he must +expect all the venomous pity and malignant compassion which his fall, +more than his situation, would excite, and which the hard and +unfeeling beings of the earth affect to experience for those they wish +most powerfully to depress. + +Such accumulated feelings were all bitter enough; but there was one +more bitter still, more filled with agony and degradation. De Vaux, as +we have seen, was engaged to a being full of beauty, and grace, and +gentleness, by promises which united them to each other, not alone as +persons of high rank and fortune, having found a fitting alliance; but +as two people who had known each other from infancy, had grown up in +affection, and had for many a year looked forward to their marriage as +the means of securing to both the utmost degree of human happiness for +life; as the binding on of a talisman, that would shut out from their +domestic hearth all the evil things of earth. With De Vaux, these +feelings, these anticipations, were even stronger. He loved Marian +with the fullest, deepest, most passionate attachment. Towards her his +heart was all fire and thrilling energy; and, though there were times +when he somewhat doubted that her feelings were of as powerful a kind +towards him, yet he believed that she loved him as much as she could +love; and perhaps even her slight reserve made him love her the more +ardently. The day for their marriage was already fixed; the bridal +ornaments were all prepared; their future life had, in the +conversation of that very day, been laid out before them as on a map, +and Edward de Vaux had as much doubted, when he sprang from his horse, +that Marian, in all her beauty, was to be his bride within three short +weeks, as he doubted of his own existence. + +Now, however, what were his feelings?--now that his situation was +changed in every particular,--that in fortune, and in station, he had +fallen at once from the situation in which she had promised him her +hand; and when he felt that he had no right to claim from Marian de +Vaux the execution of a promise which she had made under different +circumstances, and to which he believed that all her friends would, of +course, be opposed, as soon as his real position became known? He felt +that he had no right either to ask or to expect it; and the darkest +image that presented itself to his mind was, the loss of her he loved, +for ever. Nor did this image come before him vague and undefined, as a +thing of remote possibility,--though even then the apprehension would +have been terrible enough,--but, in his present state of despondency, +it appeared as an undoubted and inevitable certainty--as a thing that +must and would take place. He felt as if Marian were _already_ lost to +him for ever, and the bright bubble of his happiness irreparably +broken. He fancied, also,--he could not help imagining, that something +like contempt would mingle in the pity that she felt for him. She was +herself so pure,--delicacy, modesty, and virtue so characterized her +every movement, and her every word,--that he tortured himself with +believing that a part of the reprobation and scorn with which she must +think of his mother, would fall upon himself. "She will look upon me +as the child of vice," he thought; "she will see in me the offspring +of guilt and shame, and will easily make up her mind to the +separation. She is always so reasonable, and so willing to do what she +considers right, at any sacrifice, that her mind will soon be tutored +to forget Edward de Vaux. Were she of that warm, ardent, deep-feeling +nature that casts fate and happiness upon one die, I might hope that +she would still cling to me: but it is in vain thinking of it--I have +no reason to hope it. She will follow the dictates of common sense and +prudence, and abandon an alliance which all her friends would now +oppose." + +Poor Marian! thus did her unhappy lover contrive to wring his own +heart even with her very virtues. After thinking for at least an hour +in gloomy silence, a faint hope crossed his mind, that he might have +mistaken the import of the letter--that his apprehensions might have +deceived him. Experience, gained from the consequences of our faults, +almost always, sooner or later, gives us a vague, unsatisfactory +consciousness that such things exist in our bosom; and Edward de Vaux +did know that he was given to torment himself needlessly. He therefore +read the letter over again, and read it carefully; but, on doing so, +his first impression was but the more confirmed. + +"Yet it might be false," he thought; "the whole tale might be false, +or might refer to something else, and be the mere blunder of some +ignorant and presumptuous person." But then the remembrance of his +father's words returned, and all that had before seemed strange +regarding his mother came up before his mind; and he once more gave +himself up to despair. + +What was to be done, became the next question. There was just a +sufficient portion of doubt mingled with his feelings to hold him +tortured in suspense, without being enough to approach the limit of +hope. This state, of course, he could have borne no longer under any +circumstances; but his situation in regard to Marian rendered it +absolutely necessary that he should put an end to all doubt upon the +business. And yet it was terrible, most terrible, to feel that it must +be his own hand which tore away the veil that concealed the obstacles +to his marriage--that it must be his own hand that cast away his +happiness for ever. The thought might cross his mind of letting things +take their course--of choosing to disbelieve the letter--of treating +it with contempt, and of proceeding with Marian to the altar, to +secure the blessing of her hand, at least, before the rest was +snatched from him. But if it did cross his mind, it was but as the +image of a thing that might be with some men, but could never be with +him. It occupied not a moment's consideration--it left no trace behind +it. To investigate the matter instantly, and to the bottom, became his +determination; and, having done so, to make the result known to those +interested, and at once place himself fearlessly in the situation +which he had alone a right to fill. He did get that there might be +circumstances in the story which he was about to hear which might +render it necessary to conceal it from the public ear, in +consideration for the feelings of his father, or of others. But to +Marian, at least, the facts must be told; she was too deeply +implicated in it all to be left in ignorance of what touched her whole +future happiness; and De Vaux resolved that not only should she be +told, but that no lips but his own should tell it, as he well knew how +a few explicative words, or a well-turned round of phrases, may +pervert a plain tale from its true meaning. "I will trust none," he +thought; "and, whatever the truth may be, from my lips alone shall she +first hear it." + +The course to be pursued in his investigation became the next +question. Two were pointed out in the letter itself; but from the +first, that of applying to his father, he shrank with irresistible +repugnance. It was not alone that De Vaux, as is common--we might +almost say universal--among men, possessed more physical than moral +courage; that he feared the fierce and angry mood of his father, +irritated as he had been by late opposition, and loved not to venture +upon a discussion with him, which would rouse every dark and stormy +passion into fiery activity; but he feared himself also: he feared +that anguish and anger, and the haughty irritation with which he was +sure to be encountered, might make him forget himself, and say words +that no after-sorrow could recall. There might still be a doubt, too, +upon even the very subject of his fears, and he felt that were those +fears unfounded, his father might justly look upon it as little better +than a gross personal insult, were he asked if he had passed his +illegitimate son upon the world as legitimate, and promoted his union +with the heiress of a large fortune, under the pretence of his being +heir to an honourable name and great possessions. + +De Vaux might believe that such conduct was not impossible; he might +also think that his father was not actuated in so doing by the mean +and sordid views which, at first sight, seem the only motives +assignable for such behaviour. Various circumstances might have +occurred, in earlier years, to make his father acknowledge an unreal +marriage with his mother; considerations for her feelings, or for his +own respectability, might be among the rest. Once having said so, and +spoken of himself as of a legitimate child, Edward de Vaux knew well +that his father's proud and reserved nature might have made him ever +after silent upon the subject, till explanation became almost +impossible; and the deceit he had practised or permitted might have +been rather the result of haughty reserve than of cunning artifice. + +De Vaux felt that, however, ere he presumed to insinuate to his father +a bare suspicion of his having committed such an act, he must have +much better information and clearer proof to justify the charge. When +such evidence was once obtained, he might communicate the discovery he +had made to Lord Dewry by letter, and thus avoid that painful +collision which a personal discussion of the matter must induce; or, +if he found that the evidence was faulty or inconclusive; that there +was motive for suspicion against the person who tendered it, or that +the whole was an interested calumny, he might lay it before his +father, as an affair which required him to investigate the assertions, +and punish the authors of them. + +The determination, therefore, was taken to visit the gipsy himself; +and the only consideration that remained was, whether to go alone, or +to ask Manners to accompany him. From the latter idea he shrank, as, +in that case, he must have exposed to his friend doubts and +apprehensions which were bitterly humiliating, and might even +compromise the secrets of others, to whom his friend was a stranger, +in a manner which he had no right to do. The letter, also, bade him +come alone; and, on reading it over once more, everything tended to +make him give credence both to the sincerity of the writer and the +accuracy of the facts. He had a faint remembrance, too, of having +heard the name of Pharold mentioned by his aunt, as connected with the +early days of her family; and the fact of the writer having referred +him, in the first instance, to his own father, tended to show that +there existed no design against himself personally. Besides, De Vaux +was not a man to entertain fears of any kind for his own safety; and, +as he clearly saw that Manners was totally ignorant of the contents of +the letter which he had brought him, he determined to go alone, and +investigate the matter thoroughly. + +His next question to his own heart was, "and, in the meantime, what +shall be my conduct towards Marian? How shall I behave while I expect +and believe that a few more hours will alter our situation towards +each other for ever, and render that conduct wrong which was perfectly +consistent with our engagement towards each other? If I change my +manner, she may think my affection cooled, and feel herself unkindly +treated. But then," he thought again, bitterly enough, "but then that +will but serve to smooth the way to the change which is ultimately to +take place; and perhaps it had better be reached by some such +intermediate step." The next moment, again, his wavering thoughts +turned to the other side, and he demanded whether he had any right +to give her one instant's pain more than necessary. The reply was +ready:--"No, no! that were cruel and unkind indeed; and should I do +so, and my fears prove false, my behaviour would necessarily, from all +the circumstances of the case, remain unexplained--a dark blot upon my +affection towards her. Yet, hereafter, if she should learn that such +tidings have been in my possession,--that such doubts have been justly +working in my mind,--will she not think it wrong, and even deceitful, +of me to treat her as my promised bride, when I know that she never +can be such?" + +What was to be done? De Vaux, according to the old scholastic term, +had got himself between the horns of a dilemma; and we must pause for +one moment, in order to inquire how far he was art and part in putting +himself into that situation. It is wonderful, most wonderful, how +people deceive themselves in this world, and how they go on arguing +with themselves on both sides of the question for an hour together, +affecting to be puzzled, and asking themselves what is to be done, +when, from the very first, they have determined, in secret counsel, +what to do; and all this logic and disquisition has solely been for +the purpose of bewildering _reason_, or _duty_, or _conscience_, or +any other of those personified qualities of the soul, which the great +parliament of man's passions choose to look upon as _the public_, _the +spectators_. + +Now, at that point of De Vaux's cogitations wherein he thought, and +rejected the idea, of admitting Manners to his confidence in the +matter before him, as is fully displayed three or four pages back, a +fancy struck him, which instantly changed into a secret resolution, +not to make Manners his confidant in the business, but to open his +whole heart to Marian de Vaux; and although it needed scarcely any +argument to prove that she, whose fate was the most strictly bound up +with his own, whose affection he certainly possessed, and whose good +sense he never doubted, was the person, of all others, in whom he +ought to confide; yet, some idle cant that he had read in some foolish +book, or heard from some foolish people, about the absurdity of +trusting a woman; some silly sneer or insignificant jest, magnified +into a bugbear through the mist of memory, had power enough to make +him hide his own determination from himself; and, in the first +instance, go the roundabout path we have traced, in order to prove +that he had no other resource but to tell her the whole affair, ere he +boldly admitted his resolution even to his own heart, and brought +forward the true and upright motives on which it was founded. So weak +is human nature! + +As soon as this was done, the matter was no longer difficult; all +embarrassment in regard to his conduct was removed, and he felt that +what was kindest and what was most affectionate, was also the most +just and the most reasonable. Whatever was the truth of the assertions +contained in the letter he had received, and to whatever facts it +alluded, it pointed principally at his union with Marian, and the +disparity of fortune and rank which the writer affirmed to exist +between them. She, therefore, was a person principally concerned; and +on her ultimate decision their fate must rest. De Vaux feared not that +any loss of fortune could affect Marian's regard: he could not have +loved her had he supposed it would; but he did fear that the stigma, +which he believed might rest upon his birth, and which he himself felt +as so deeply humiliating, might make a difference in her feelings; +and, when backed by the counsel and arguments of some of her maternal +relations, might make her resolves unfavourable to his hopes. But +still, in telling her all, from the beginning, in concealing nothing, +in acting at once affectionately and candidly, he felt that he was +establishing the best claim to continued affection and esteem: he +felt, too, that, if there had been deceit on any part, such conduct +would be the best proof to all that he was as free as day from any +participation in it, and that, whatever were the result, his honour +and his name would be clear. + +His determination, therefore, was backed by every motive, but still it +required great delicacy in executing it. It was necessary not to shock +or to pain her--he loved too much to do so--and yet to be perfectly +explicit. It was requisite to tell her all, and to leave her fully +convinced of his unalterable love; yet perfectly free to form her own +decision on her future conduct. The hour, too, and the manner, were +matters for consideration, and he resolved not to delay, but let the +communication be made immediately, and as a matter of importance. It +would require time, however; and, as it was already late, he was +obliged to make up his mind that the visit to the gipsy must take +place on the following morning: he only paused, then, to recover his +composure completely, and to think of the best method of telling +Marian the whole, in such a manner as to give her the least pain, yet +show his confidence and affection the most clearly. + +He accordingly sat still, and laid it out like the plan of a battle; +but in this he was very wrong; as, by so doing, he naturally presented +Marian to his fancy in the light of the enemy. The consequences were, +that his own private little demon instantly saw his advantage, and, +whispering in De Vaux's ear, made his irritable and irritated spirit +believe that Marian would act in a thousand different ways, which he +could not blame, yet did not like. The fiend, who well knows how to +seize probabilities, took hold of every particular point in Marian's +character which could give him any thing to cling to; and De Vaux saw, +in the glass of fancy, her beautiful countenance looking upon him as +calmly and as reasonably as ever, without a shade of agitation passing +over its placid sweetness during the whole time that he, with +difficulty, and hesitation, and agony of spirit, and humiliation of +heart, was telling her all his anxieties and apprehensions. He saw, in +the same magic glass, the very spot of the room where she would stand, +and the fine easy line of her figure, all displaying perfect composure +and graceful ease; and he heard the soft, sweet modulations of her +voice, calm, gentle, but unaltered; and at length he thought, "I know +perfectly what she will say when she hears it: she will declare that I +am too hasty in my conclusions; that I must see the gipsy, or whatever +he may be, and hear the whole of what he has to say; for that the +matter is too important to be judged of hastily, and that when we know +the whole, and have had time to consider, we can decide: or she will +speak of consulting my aunt, or her great uncle Lord Westerham, or any +other of those cold, disinterested people who can give proper advice +upon the subject: and yet I do my aunt injustice; for though of a +decided nature, she is not of a cold-hearted one." + +Thus, then, did he torment himself for some minutes, taking as much +pains to make himself miserable as if there were not quite enough pain +in this world without our seeking it. Nor did he stop here; but went +on in the same train till he had almost wrought himself out of the +determination of telling Marian at all, though he ultimately came back +to his first resolution. It is not to be concealed that all this +hesitation, and a great deal of this anguish, proceeded from his +having fallen into the common error of giving the reins over to +imagination, and believing that he had placed them safely in the hands +of reason. Had he acted wisely, he would not have sat down to fancy +any thing upon the subject at all, but he would have risen up, on the +contrary, as soon as his resolution was taken, and, seeking out her he +loved, would have told her all his doubts and fears, without thinking +at all previously either of what he would say or what she would say. +Nature, left alone to work her own way, in a thousand instances out +of a thousand and one does it gracefully; but if one calls in to +counsel her all the host of man's passions, prejudices, faults, and +foibles--though judgment may be present too--yet, nine times out +often, the multitude of counsellors, in this case, produces any thing +but safety. Neither is there ever any use of long consideration in +circumstances like those we have mentioned. What we will do always +requires thought; how we will do it, seldom, if ever. Trust to your +own heart, if you have a good one; and if it be bad, the sooner you +hurry it through the business the better. It is equally vain thinking +what we will say ourselves, for we are sure never to say it; and still +more fruitless to fancy what other people will say, for we know +nothing about it. + +De Vaux, however, was in some respects a curious compound of very +different principles. With all his errors and with all his faults, he +had a great deal of candour; and, however keen he might be in +investigating and lashing the motives of other people, he was not half +so strict an inquisitor into their failings as he was into his own. As +a consequence of this, though the knowledge often lay dormant, he did +know, as we have often before hinted, with extraordinary accuracy, all +the turnings and windings, the intricacies and the absurdities of his +own nature; and as soon as the rush of passions was over, his +conscience--like the power of the law restored after a popular +tumult--would mount the tribunal, and sit in judgment on his own +heart. Often, too--like the same power exerting itself to repress +anarchy--his better judgment would rise up against the crowd of wild +images presented by an irritable fancy, and after a short struggle +would regain its power. + +Thus, in the present instance he felt, after a while, that he was but +anticipating more misery when he had already sufficient to endure; +and, doing in the end what he ought to have done at first, he started +up, and went to seek Marian, in order to give her the opportunity of +letting her own conduct speak for itself. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +De Vaux had calmed himself as much as he possibly could; and as he was +not blessed with a face possessing that general expression of jocund +felicity which is usually denominated a smiling countenance, whatever +degree of gravity and care was left in his look at present excited no +particular notice in the drawing-room, whither his steps were first +directed. The party there assembled now consisted of Mrs. Falkland and +her daughter, with Colonel Manners; and the latter alone saw that the +agitation which he had beheld the gipsy's letter produce in his friend +had ended in permanent distress. + +"Where is Marian?" said De Vaux, as he entered, not very much +disappointed, perhaps, to find that she was not with the rest of the +family; "where is Marian?--do you know, Isadore?" + +"I left her drawing in the little saloon at the other end of the +house," replied Isadore; "but that was a full hour ago, Edward; and if +she expected a gay knight or wandering troubadour to come and sooth +her, either with his _gaie science_ or his _bien dire_, she may have +left her solitude by this time in disappointment." + +De Vaux smiled somewhat bitterly, as he felt how much more painfully +he had been employed than he would have been in the occupations to +which Isadore referred; and, again leaving the drawing-room, he sped +along the same passages which, with a light and bounding heart, he had +often trod in search of her upon some joyous errand whom he now sought +with feelings of care, anxiety, and sorrow. Marian was still where her +cousin Isadore had left her; and though, perhaps, she did think that +De Vaux might have found her out sooner, when he had no ostensible +motive for being absent from the side of her he loved, yet, like a +wise girl, she received him with as sweet a smile as if no such slight +reproach had ever crossed her fancy. The next moment she rejoiced that +she had done so; for the expression of anguish in her lover's eyes did +not escape her, and she felt at once that, for whatever other +occupation De Vaux had yielded the pleasure of her society, it was for +no agreeable one. + +"Look at this drawing, Edward," she said, as he came in: "do you not +think that I have made my hermit look very melancholy sitting on that +rock?" + +"Not so melancholy as my thoughts, dear Marian," replied De Vaux, +gazing over her shoulder, apparently at the drawing, but in truth +hardly seeing a line that the paper contained; "not so melancholy as +my thoughts." + +"And what has occurred to make them so, Edward?" she asked, turning +round to read the answer in his face before his lips could reply. +"Surely, I have a right to know, if any one has, what it is that makes +you unhappy." + +"You have, dear Marian, you have," he replied; "and I have sought you +out here to make you share in all I feel, though the task be a painful +one. But come here, and sit with me on the sofa by the window, and I +will tell you all." And, taking her by the hand, he led her on towards +one of the windows that looked out over the park; for, however strange +it may be, there are undoubtedly particular positions and particular +situations in which one can tell a disagreeable story more easily than +in others. + +Marian was alarmed, and she was agitated, too, within; for she +suffered not her agitation to appear upon the surface when she could +help it; and, as is very natural, she anxiously strove to arrive at +some leading fact as quick as possible. "Something must have occurred +very lately, Edward," she said, "for you were very gay and cheerful +during our ride this morning. Have you heard any thing from your +father to distress you?" + +"No, dearest girl," he answered, "I have heard nothing from him; but I +have heard from some one else much that distresses me: but I had +better show you what I have received, which will explain the matter +more briefly than I could do." + +So saying, he placed the gipsy's letter in her hand. Marian took it, +and read it through; but, as she knew none of the circumstances which +tended in the mind of De Vaux to corroborate the doubts insinuated by +the letter, she viewed its contents in a different light; and, +returning it with a smile, she asked, "And is that all that has made +you uneasy, Edward? But it is evidently all nonsense, my dear cousin. +If that foolish man, who teased me so much two years ago, were not out +of the country, I should think it was a plan of his to annoy you; but +depend upon it, that this is the trick of some one who wishes to +disturb our happiness. What have we to do with gipsies, Edward? and +how could gipsies know any thing about you and me, unless they were +instructed by somebody else? And if any person in our own rank had +real information, they would of course bring it forward themselves, +and not send it through a set of gipsies." + +"You argue well, Marian," answered De Vaux, "and I would fain believe +that you argue rightly; but I am sorry to tell you that several things +have previously occurred, which tend to confirm the assertions +contained in this." + +Marian turned a little pale from anxiety for him she loved. "Tell me +all, Edward," she said, "tell me all; I am sure you will conceal +nothing from me." + +"Nothing that I know, indeed, Marian," he answered: "I came with the +purpose of opening my whole thoughts to you; for you have every right, +that either true love or our mutual situation can give you, to know +every thing that I know. Well, then, my beloved, the fact which most +completely tends to corroborate the assertions in this letter, +occurred in a conversation between myself and my father yesterday +morning. It was when he was angry in regard to his unfortunate quarrel +with Manners and my opposition of the view he had taken: and he said +sternly, and bitterly enough, that though the estates were entailed, I +could be deprived of them by a word." + +"Indeed!" said Marian, thoughtfully, "indeed!" but the next moment she +added, "No, no, Edward, it must have been said in a moment of +passion, without reason, and without truth. Depend upon it, your +father and my uncle would never have spoken about our marriage to me, +and to all my mother's family, as he has often done, calling you +somewhat particularly the heir of his titles and estates, if you were +neither, as that letter says." + +"But yet the letter and his words confirm each other," said De Vaux: +"they both tell the same tale, dear Marian. Many a true word is spoken +in a moment of passion, that a man has concealed for years, and would +give worlds afterward to recall. Besides, I think I have heard the +name of this Pharold before: have you not heard my aunt speak of some +gipsy boy that my grandfather wished to educate?" + +"Oh, no, not my aunt," answered Marian. "All that happened when she +was very young, quite a child, I believe. It was poor Mrs. Dickinson, +the old housekeeper, who used to tell us stories about that gipsy when +we were children; and his name was Pharold, I think. She spoke of him +as of a fine creature, but very wild." + +"You see, dear Marian," said De Vaux, with a gloomy smile, "everything +tends to the same result. My father's words confirm the story of the +gipsy, and what we know of the gipsy would show that he had some +acquaintance with the history of our family." + +Marian mused: "It is very strange, Edward," she said at length, "and I +suppose there must, indeed, be some foundation for all this. But yet I +cannot understand it: if the estates are entailed, what is there on +earth that can prevent your inheriting them? If the title goes to the +sons, you must have it; and if it had gone to the daughters, I must +have had it, you know, which would have been all the same thing. If +you do believe this story, as I am afraid you do, tell me how it can +be." + +Edward de Vaux paused; for he had never calculated upon going further, +or being more explicit than he had been. He had thought it would be +enough to explain that he was likely to lose the lands and honours of +Dewry, and that Marian would naturally draw her own conclusion, and +perceive the only cause which could produce such a result. Her +question, therefore, embarrassed him, for he would willingly have +sealed his lips upon his mother's shame; and, though he had felt +himself bound to tell her all he was likely to lose, without +concealment, yet he hesitated at revealing the most painful part of +his own suspicions, till those suspicions had been rendered +certainties. + +Marian saw him hesitate, and raising her beautiful eyes to his face, +she said, "Edward, you have promised to tell me all, and you must make +it all you think, as well as all you know." + +It was not to be resisted. "Well, beloved, well!" he said, "I will, +though it is very, very terrible to do so; and, in truth, I hardly +know how to do it. Marian, did you ever see my mother?" + +"No, Edward, never that I know of," she replied: "why do you ask?" + +"Did you ever hear my aunt speak of her?" continued De Vaux, without +replying to her question. + +"Let me think," said Marian. "I believe I have: but no, I cannot +remember that I ever did, now I reflect upon it: no, I never did." + +"Nor my father either?" asked De Vaux. + +"No, never; certainly never," answered Marian. + +"Well, then--" said De Vaux, and he paused abruptly, fixing his eyes +upon her face. Instantly a colour of the deepest crimson rushed up +over the whole countenance of Marian de Vaux, dying cheek, and neck, +and forehead with the blush of generous shame--the shame that every +pure, virtuous, inexperienced woman feels when the idea of vice in her +own sex is suddenly brought before her. + +Edward de Vaux turned deadly pale, as he both perceived that Marian +had now caught his meaning, and comprehended most painfully the +feelings in which that bright blush arose. The shame that Marian felt +for the degradation of her sex touched the most agonized spot in De +Vaux's heart. All that hatred for vice, and scorn for the vicious, and +the pity which comes near contempt, could produce in a woman's bosom, +seemed to De Vaux expressed by that blush, and pointed, more or less +directly, towards himself; and, as I have said, he turned very pale. + +The deep emotion that he felt overpowered him for an instant; but then +he made a great exertion, and, rising from the sofa, "Marian," he +said, "I have now told you all, even to my innermost thoughts; and I +have but one word to add, my dear, dear cousin. Nearly three years +ago, you assured me of your love, and promised me your hand; and every +member of your family willingly consented to our ultimate union; but +then I was the Honourable Edward de Vaux, the heir to one of the most +ancient peerages in England, and to twenty thousand per annum. Things +have now changed; and, if the assertions in this letter, and my own +suspicions be correct, I am now a nameless, illegitimate beggar, +without a right to any thing on earth but my sword and my +reputation--with shame upon my mother's head--with nothing to claim +from my father, and without even a name that I can offer you. Under +these circumstances, though I shall love you to the last day of my +life, and think of you through every moment in the whole course of +time, I give you back your promise, I free you from all engagement, +and leave you totally untied to a connection from which your friends +will naturally be glad enough to separate you." + +He spoke calmly, slowly, and distinctly; but the deadly paleness of +his countenance showed how deeply he was moved at heart; and Marian +gazed upon him, with her long dark eyelashes raised high, her +beautiful eyes full upon his face, and her lip slightly trembling +while he went on. As soon as he had ceased, she rose from the sofa, +and, with agitation and ardour, all unlike her usual calmness, cast +herself at once upon his bosom, with her arms circling his neck, her +lips pressed upon his cheek, and her tears falling rapidly upon +him.--"Edward, Edward!" she cried, "I am yours--all yours! Could +you--could you do such injustice to your own Marian? You have given me +back my promise, and I here give it you again--so that, whatever +comes, I may never hear from any one a single word against our union. +Nay, nay, let me speak--it is seldom that I am vehement; but I must +speak now--you have my promise, most solemnly, most strictly; and I +consider myself as much bound to you as if I were your wife. Not only +shall no other person upon earth ever have my hand, but, whatever +happens, and whoever opposes it, you shall have it, when and where you +choose to ask it." + +Need I say how tenderly he pressed her to his heart? Need I say how +ardently, how sincerely he thanked her? But still there was some +slight hesitation in his mind. He almost doubted that she fully +appreciated his situation, and he felt that he could not receive such +a promise as she had made till she comprehended all. He bade her +think, then, of the whole; and conjured her to remember, that it was +not alone the loss of name and station, but that, if his anticipations +were correct, every thing like wealth, or even competence, would also +be lost to him. + +But all Marian's reserve was now gone, and the long-restrained +feelings of her heart flowed forth all together. "Nay, nay, Edward," +she said, again seating herself on the sofa, without, however, +withdrawing the small soft hand he held in his; "nay, nay, Edward, +have I not enough for us both? enough to give us every comfort? Nay, +every luxury that we ought to have we shall still possess; and why +need we wish for more? Do you think that the coach-and-six, and the +golden-coated coachman, and the three lackeys on the footboard ever +entered into my calculations of happiness?" + +"No; but, dearest Marian," he replied, "it is only painful to me to +think that I bring nothing to unite to your property. Your large +fortune renders it only the more necessary that I should have one +too--" + +"Hush, hush, hush!" cried Marian, eagerly: but still he went on: "I +have to owe you every thing, Marian; love, and happiness, and rank, +and station, and fortune too." + +"And will you, Edward, _you_ talk so proudly to Marian de Vaux?" she +exclaimed. "Will you be too haughty to enjoy all the blessings that we +possess, because it is Marian that gives them? Is not that which is +mine yours? Has it not been so since we were children? Do not distress +me, Edward, by one thought of such a kind. Indeed, I shall think you +do not love me--that you are going to refuse my offered hand." + +"Oh, Marian, Marian!" he cried, kissing it a thousand times, while +something very bright, and not unlike a tear, glittered in his eye. "I +would not lose it for a thousand worlds! Distress you! dearest girl! I +grieve to have distressed you for a moment; but I felt myself bound to +tell you all." + +"Oh, that does not distress me at all," replied Marian; "the only +thing that could distress me would be to see you grieve, or to think +that you should make a difference, even in thought, between what is +yours and what is mine. I declare, Edward, I never knew what it was to +feel glad of a large fortune before; but now I am thankful, not only +for what my mother left me, but for every shilling that my good old +granduncle and guardian has scraped together for me, by his economy +thereof. Three thousand a year, Edward--consider, we shall be as rich +as princes; and if it had not been for that, this misfortune might +have obliged us to wait on for many a year, till you had made a +fortune in India, and very likely have lost your health, which no +fortune could have compensated." + +Marian de Vaux spoke in a manner totally different from that which her +cousin had seen her display for many a year. Her beautiful eyes were +full of light and feeling; a smile, half-tender, half-playful, hovered +over her lip, and her voice was full of eager kindness and thrilling +affection. He had remembered her thus as a girl; but, as she had grown +up towards womanhood, either the feelings which had animated her bosom +with such a warm and enthusiastic glow had passed away, or the +expression of them had been gradually suppressed. Now, again, she was +all that he remembered her, and to see her so, plunged him into a +sweet vision of the past--connected, though by some fine golden +threads, with the present. He had seated himself on the sofa beside +her, and, still holding her right hand in his, he had glided his left +arm round her waist, and then, with his eyes fixed on a distant spot +of the floor, he remained in silence for two or three moments after +she had done speaking. Unless man were a cold unfeeling piece of +ticking mechanism, like a watch, our measures of time would always be +by our sensations: and as Marian had at that moment given way to all +the eagerness of her heart, the two moments that Edward de Vaux +remained in thought seemed to her an age. "What is the matter, +Edward?" she said. "Are you still unhappy?" + +"No, my beloved," he answered, looking up in her face with a glance +that fully confirmed his words,--"no, my beloved; I am most happy! so +happy, indeed, that, were I placed as I was before, I would almost +again undergo the pain which this discovery first caused me, to enjoy +the delight which my Marian's conduct has bestowed." + +"And did you doubt what that conduct would be, Edward?" she demanded, +half-reproachfully. Edward de Vaux coloured, and might have hesitated; +for conscience, that bitter smiter, who always finds his time to apply +the lash, now struck him severely for all those images which an +irritable fancy had suggested concerning Marian's conduct. But she +saved him the pain of a reply, which must either have been mortifying +or insincere. "And did you doubt what my conduct would be?" she asked; +and in the next moment she added, "But never mind, dear Edward; you +see what it is, and do never doubt it again." + +"I will never doubt, as long as I live, my own beloved girl," he +answered, ardently; "I will never doubt, as long as I live, that it +will on every occasion be all that is good, and noble, and generous: +but it was not that alone, my Marian, that made me so happy--so very, +very happy." + +"What was it, then, dear Edward," she asked, in some surprise; for +Marian, with all the quickness of a woman's perception, had noticed +the passing colour that came into De Vaux's cheek; and knowing him, +and all the little intricacies of his heart, better than he +thought--better, perhaps, than she thought herself--she had instantly +set down the blush to its right cause, and said, in her own heart, +"Edward has been tormenting himself with fancies." Now, however, his +words puzzled her, though a latent consciousness of having--in the +urgency of the moment, and in the desire to sooth and render Edward +patient under his misfortune--a latent consciousness of having given +free course to feelings and enthusiasms which she had long held close +prisoners in her bosom, made her now feel embarrassed in turn; and a +bright warm blush, partly from curiosity, partly from that +consciousness, mantled for a moment in her cheek. + +Edward de Vaux gazed upon her as she put her question with a smile, +full of deep fond affection--with a sort of triumphant happiness, too, +in his look that made her inclined, she knew not why, to hide her eyes +upon his bosom, as she had done long ago, when first she had +acknowledged to him the love that he had won, and witnessed the joy +that it called up in his countenance. "I will tell you what it is, +dearest," he answered, "that makes me now so happy, that I should have +considered anything but yourself a light sacrifice to obtain such joy. +It is, that the misfortune which has befallen me has called forth my +beloved Marian's true and natural character, and shown her to me +fully, as the same dear, excellent, feeling, enthusiastic girl that I +have always pictured her to my own imagination--such as her feelings +as a child gave promise that she would be--such as I remember her +appearing constantly, not many years ago." + +Marian blushed, and looked down; and there was a swimming moisture in +her eyes, which a little more might have caused to overflow in tears: +but they would not have been unhappy ones. She felt-- + +But it is difficult to say what she felt. It was not that she felt +detected, for that word would imply a shade of culpability which she +did not feel; but she felt that she had betrayed herself--that a veil +which she had cast over the true features of her mind, from many a +deep and complicated motive, had been raised--had been snatched away, +and could never be dropped effectually again. The effect which the +raising of that veil had produced was all glad and gratifying, it is +true; but still there was that fluttering emotion at her heart, which +the disclosure of long-hidden feelings must always produce: she felt +as if she had told her love for the first time over again; and she +knew, too, that she might be called upon to assign motives, and give +reasons, which would be difficult to explain, but which she determined +not to withhold, for many a good and sufficient cause. But all this +agitated her. She blushed, she almost trembled; and Edward de Vaux was +but the more convinced, from the agitation which he beheld, that the +concealment of her real character, and the repression of her finest +feelings, had been a conscious and voluntary act on the part of her he +loved. + +He became curious, as well he might be, to learn more; and, as Marian +still sat silently beside him, he tried the tacit persuasion of a +gentle kiss upon the blushing cheek, that almost touched his shoulder. +She turned round towards him with a thoughtful smile; but, as she did +not speak, he asked more boldly, "Why, Marian, why, dearest, after +having given me your love, and promised me your hand, have you let +that dear little heart play at hide and seek with me, till I have +sometimes almost doubted whether it was my own?" + +"You should not have doubted that, De Vaux," Marian answered; "but if +you really wish to know why I have somewhat changed my conduct since I +was a girl, and why I have, in some degree, repressed feelings that I +have not experienced the less warmly, I will let you into some of the +secrets of a woman's heart; but you must promise me, Edward, never to +abuse the trust," she added, smiling more gaily; "and you must +promise, too, not to be angry with any thing I shall say." + +"Angry! angry with you, Marian!" said De Vaux; "do not believe such a +thing possible." + +Marian smiled again, for there is often a sort of prophetic +presentiment in the breast of woman, which teaches her that, however +much she may rule and command the lover, the husband will not receive +the power in vain; and, perhaps, it is this knowledge of the shortness +of their reign which sometimes makes women abuse it a little while it +lasts. Marian smiled again at De Vaux's words, and then replied, +"Well, then, Edward, keep your part of the compact, and I will tell +you all. You say I have changed very much since I was a girl; and that +is but natural, Edward; for, depend upon it, every woman does change, +if she feels and thinks at all deeply. As a girl, her words and her +actions are all of but little importance in the eyes of those around +her, or in her own, unless she be nourished in conceit and affectation +from her cradle; and, during the first fifteen or sixteen years of her +life, though she may be taught to act like a lady, yet she sees no +reason for concealing anything she feels, or anything she thinks, if +it be not likely to hurt the feelings of others. As she goes on +towards womanhood, however, the world changes its conduct towards her, +and she finds it necessary to change towards it. She learns to look +upon trifles in her own conduct, and in the conduct of others towards +her, as matters of importance: the world and society assume a +different aspect she trembles lest she should say, or do, or feel what +is wrong; and very often she expresses too little of what she feels, +lest she should express too much. Then, too, Edward," continued +Marian, with the colour which had partly left her cheek while she +spoke coming richly up again, and spreading over her whole face, +"then, too, Edward, if she learns to love, all those fears and +apprehensions are a thousand-fold increased. She is terrified at her +own sensations, and almost thinks it wrong and sacrilegious to suffer +that one being by whom her affections are won to take that station in +her heart, above all the rest of the world, which she has hitherto +devoted solely to a being beyond the world. Perhaps before that time +she may have longed to love and be beloved; but the first moment she +feels that it is so--especially if it come upon her suddenly--depend +upon it, her feelings are more or less those of terror." + +De Vaux smiled, but his hand pressed tenderly upon Marian's as he did +so; and she felt it was as much a smile of thanks, as if he had +accompanied it with words of ever so much gratitude for the picture of +her feelings that she had given him. She paused, however, for she was +coming to matter which she feared might not please him so well; and +his thoughts turning, too, in the same direction, he said, after +waiting for a few moments to see if she would go on, "But, dear +Marian, this happens to every woman without producing such a change as +I have seen in you; and besides, what I have seen to-day, Marian, has +shown me fully that there has been some more distinct and individual +motive. Tell it me, Marian, tell it me, my beloved; and, believe me, I +will not abuse your confidence." + +"Nor be angry?" she said, smiling again. "Remember, that it is a +principal part of our agreement. Well, then, I will go on. When first +we were engaged to each other, Edward, my chief thought--as, indeed, +it ever has been since--was how to make the man I loved most +completely happy, as far as my own conduct was concerned; and I was +reading at that time a very clever book, which recommended women, on +their marriage, to study, not alone the general character of their +husband, but all his individual opinions and thoughts, in order to +make their own behaviour completely conformable thereto; it asserted, +also, that such was the surest way of winning happiness for both. I +believed it, and resolved to try to follow the advice even before +marriage. I listened to every thing you said, concerning the conduct +of other women that we knew, with a determination of trying to acquire +the qualities that you praised, and to avoid all that you blamed." + +"But, good God! my dearest Marian!" exclaimed Edward, warmly, "surely +I did not blame them for suffering the beauties or the excellences of +their natural characters to appear, nor praise them for assuming a +coldness that was the most opposed to the general warmth of their +nature?" + +"Not exactly, Edward," replied Marian; "but I will tell you what you +did, which came much to the same purpose. Though whatever I did seemed +to give you pleasure, yet, when you spoke of any of our acquaintance, +you were so severe upon what appeared to me very slight mistakes in +their demeanour; you were so rigid in your ideas of what was right in +general behaviour; you even once censured so heavily a display, rather +too open, of attachment to her husband, on the part of a lady whom we +both knew, that I began to find that your opinions on such subjects +were very nice indeed: and knowing," added Marian, with a smile, which +De Vaux felt fully, "and knowing that my lover, with these nice +opinions, was peculiarly sensitive to every thing that he thought +could draw the slightest degree of ridicule upon him or his, I +determined so to school my own conduct, and to repress the expression +of my own feelings, as to ensure his heart against the slightest +annoyance, concerning a word, or a movement, or a look of his wife." + +Marian paused, and Edward de Vaux, with his eyes bent upon the ground, +remained silent for two or three minutes, till she became alarmed. +"You promised me, Edward," she said, "not to be angry." + +"Not to be angry with you, my beloved girl," he said; "but I did not +promise not to be angry with myself; and well, well do I deserve it." + +"Nay, nor must you be angry with yourself either, Edward," replied +Marian; "if you are, I shall still think some of it lights upon me. +If, in seeking the means of rendering you happy, I have made you +unhappy, I shall meet with punishment instead of reward." + +"Dearest Marian," answered De Vaux, "it were vain to deny it. I have +been a fastidious fool hitherto; and, like the other sneerers of this +world, have been seeking the mote in my brother's eye, while I have +forgot the beam in my own. But henceforth I will take example by you, +dearest Marian, and so school my own heart as to get over that feeling +of the ridiculous in others, and terror for it in myself, which I now +find and believe to be a vice and not a quality." + +Marian shook her head with a doubtful smile, as if she would have +said, "It is in your nature, Edward." + +"I will, indeed, Marian," he continued; "and you shall see what a +strong resolution can do even with Edward de Vaux. But you must +promise me in return, dearest, to reward my efforts, by casting off +the reserve that my foolish fastidiousness has drawn over you. The +qualities of my Marian's heart and mind are too beautiful to be hidden +beneath such a veil." + +Marian smiled again, but looked a little thoughtful, for she felt that +the task her lover would impose was no easy one. "I will do my best, +Edward," she said; "but it must be by degrees. In the first place, all +the world would think me mad, if I were to change suddenly from the +quiet still-life demeanour of Marian de Vaux, and take up the gay, +lively, enthusiastic character of Isadore Falkland; and, in the next +place, it would be impossible, for I have now been training myself to +this behaviour so long, that it has become quite habitual to me; and, +whatever are the emotions that I feel at heart, my first effort--even +before I know I am making one--is to keep those emotions from +appearing. Sometimes, indeed," she added, laughing, "they break +through all restraint, as they have done today; but that is only on +great occasions. However, I will do my best to change back again; and, +perhaps, as I have overdone the quiet and composed, I may find the +happy medium, in returning to my old thoughtlessness. But, in the mean +time, Edward, never you be deceived in regard to what I feel. You have +seen the veil, as you call it, cast away; and you know entirely what +is beneath it." + +"A thousand, thousand thanks, for letting me see it, Marian," he +replied: "but I can never thank you enough, my beloved, for all that +you have done this day--for showing me your heart, and for giving me a +glimpse, too, of my own." + +"But I owe you thanks, too, Edward--deep and many thanks," replied +Marian, "for the generous candour of your conduct; and for not +shrinking, even for a moment, from making me a sharer in your thoughts +and feelings, however painful they might be to communicate. And oh, +Edward, let me entreat you ever to pursue the same course hereafter. +Let me be the sharer of all your thoughts; let me hear every thing +painful or to be feared, from your own lips, and the tale will loose +half its bitterness; and I promise you that, if I cannot assist you +with advice and support, I will not embarrass you by womanly fear, or +weak irresolution." + +"I will, Marian, I will!" replied De Vaux; "for I can contemplate no +case in which what I had to communicate would combine half so many +sources of pain and anxiety as that which is just past: and now, +dearest, then, give me your advice in regard to the course I ought to +pursue in investigating this very painful business." + +"Do you not think, Edward," said Marian, "that you had better not +investigate it at all? If, by letting it rest, and treating this +information with contempt, you were likely to injure any one, of +course I should say, sift it to the last grain. But it seems that +these people, whoever they are, that send you such disagreeable +tidings, hold out our approaching marriage as the only motive for your +enquiry farther; and, as you have told me the whole without reserve, +and I am perfectly satisfied, I see no reason why you should trouble +yourself further about it. If you are to lose the titles and estates +of your father on any pretext, let the gipsies send their information +to the person who is to benefit by your loss. I would think no more of +it." + +De Vaux shook his head, for his vivid imagination and excitable nature +did not fit him for sitting down quietly under such a load of +suspense. "No, no, Marian!" he said; "I could not bear such +uncertainty; I should not know an hour's peace, and whenever a letter +was put into my hand, whenever a stranger desired to speak with me, I +should dread some evil tidings. Investigate thoroughly I must. If I +find these insinuations false, my peace will be established on a surer +rock than ever; and my disposition may not be the worse for the ordeal +I have undergone, and the lessons I have received. If my fears prove +just, and these tidings true, I think, dear Marian--I think," and he +drew her nearer to his heart--"I think that, with the assurance of +such love as yours, I can see all the rest that was bright in my lot +pass away from me without a sigh." + +Marian's heart was relieved, for she had doubted how Edward de Vaux +would endure the certainty which might soon be forced upon him, of the +severe reverses which were yet unconfirmed. She had doubted, and, with +all the skilful tenderness of a woman's heart, she had at once +perceived that the most open assurances of her own love were the +surest antidotes that she could offer him against the evils of the +day. She had acted, it is true, by impulse; but there is always some +rapidly operating motive even at the bottom of impulse itself, which, +nine times out of ten, works with wonderful sagacity. There are many +moments in the life of man, when his boasted reason, which is but a +slow and considerate personage, has not time to act, and when, if +there were no power but this same reason to save us from drowning, we +might drown beyond redemption for anything that reason would do to +help us; but God, who gives their never-failing instinct to the +beasts, does not leave man without resource in those moments when +haste, and need, and apprehension render him little better than a +judgment-less animal, and has afforded him also a kind of instinct, a +power which only acts on sudden emergencies, when reason has not time; +which power we call impulse, but which is neither more nor less than +the instinct of a hurry. + +Marian de Vaux had, in the first instance, acted on impulse, but as +she went on, finding that impulse was quite right, and that the only +means to sooth and to strengthen her lover under his misfortunes, was +to let him see throughout the full extent of her love for him, she +cast away, as we have seen, every reserve, and showed Edward de Vaux +that he could but lose little, whatever he lost, compared with that +inestimable affection which was still his own. + +Marian's heart was relieved by perceiving that her conduct had been +successful, and that De Vaux was nerved against the worst; and, as she +had no particular taste for suspense herself, any more than he had, +she now recalled her words, and advised him, if his feelings were such +as he expressed, to pursue the investigation at once. + +"That, Marian, for all our sakes and on every account, I must do," +he replied; "but the only question with me is, in which way had I +better follow the inquiry. Here are two courses pointed out in this +letter,--to apply at once to my father; or, in the first place, to +visit this gipsy, and to ascertain precisely what information he +possesses. I have already considered, and believe that the latter +course would be the best; but my Marian has every right to guide me." + +"Oh! do not go to the gipsy," cried Marian on the first impulse; but +impulse was wrong in this instance, and Marian soon found that it was +so. Edward himself paused, and thought over the matter again; but, on +consideration, Marian remembered many an objection to the plan of +seeking information from Lord Dewry himself. She knew his haughtiness +and his violence, and she knew, too, that De Vaux, tingling under a +sense of degradation, and feeling that such degradation was +attributable to his father, was in no state of mind to submit to the +proud and insulting tone Lord Dewry too often employed, or to speak +calmly and dispassionately upon a subject, in regard to which his +whole heart was bleeding, and every better feeling deeply wounded. She +dreaded the collision which might ensue between the two, and she +thought it also very probable that Lord Dewry might refuse all +information on the subject. "I am afraid I am wrong, Edward," she said +at length; "I have a dread of those gipsies,--I do not know why; but +still, perhaps, you should be more sure that such insinuations as +these are not mere calumny, before you speak to your father about it." + +"That is true, my love," replied De Vaux; "and, besides, I have just +remembered that if I wish to have the gipsy's information at all, I +must have it before I see my father. He here in this letter tells me +to come either this evening or to-morrow early. Now, it is too late to +go to my father this evening, and before I could be back, if I went +over to-morrow, the time would be expired and the gipsy gone. I think +my best plan will be, to go early to the gipsy camp to-morrow morning, +hear all the man has to say, and then, if necessary, I can ride over +to the hall and speak with my father ere he goes out." + +"Yes, I doubt not that such is the best course," replied Marian; "but +for God's sake, Edward, take care of those gipsies. They are, I +believe, a terrible race of savages; and you told me that this was a +large encampment which you saw in the wood. They might murder you, +Edward, for your purse or your watch." + +"Oh, no fear, no fear, dearest!" replied De Vaux; "you see they never +attempted to murder Manners today, though he was there at five or six +in the morning, and his purse is likely to be much better filled than +mine; and as they knew him, and know me, they must know also that his +fortune is larger than mine ever will be." + +"But they may have some motive of revenge against you, Edward," +repeated Marian, contriving to increase her fears most wonderfully by +thinking over them: "they have evidently some greater knowledge of our +situation, and some deeper motive for their conduct, than is apparent; +and may they not wish to entrap you for some purpose of revenge?" + +"I never injured one of them by word or deed, Marian," replied De +Vaux; "and if you will consider for a moment, dearest, you will see +that they can have no evil intention, at least, towards my person. In +the first place, they sent the letter by Manners, and therefore must +feel assured that other people will know of my visiting their +encampment; and in the next place, this man, this Pharold, leaves the +matter open to me to come to him, or to speak with my father on the +subject. Had they any design against me, they would have contrived to +convey the letter to me secretly, and would have taken care to tell me +that I could get the information they offer nowhere but from +themselves. Besides, they cannot be sure that I may not make the whole +matter public, and come up with half a dozen companions." + +This reasoning calmed Marian de Vaux not a little; but still she was +fearful, and could not banish from her mind a kind of foreboding that +evil would come of Edward's visit to the gipsy. She knew, however, +what absurd things forebodings are; and she felt how natural it was to +be anxious and apprehensive for an object in which all her affections +centred, the moment that a situation of danger presented itself, +without seeking for any supernatural inspirations to justify her +fears. At every reported movement of the armies during her lover's +absence, she had too often felt the same alarm to give any great +weight now to the fear she experienced, against the voice of reason +and conviction; and seeing that De Vaux had every probability on his +side of the argument, she ceased to oppose him by a word. + +"At all events, Edward," she said, "for my sake, do not go unarmed: +that precaution cannot be very burdensome." + +"Certainly not," replied he, "and I will take my pistols with me, with +all my heart, as well as my sword, if it will give you the slightest +pleasure, Marian; though I am sure, my beloved, I shall have to use +neither." + +"Well, you shall do it for my sake, Edward," said Marian; "and I think +that to know it is so will lighten the weight upon you." + +De Vaux's answer was the precise one which any other man would have +made in the same situation; and some further conversation ensued of no +great import, in the course of which Marian proposed to her cousin to +make Colonel Manners the companion of his expedition. She understood +fully, however, the objections which, in reply, he urged against +imparting to any one but herself a suspicion which so materially +affected his station in society, his fortune, and even his happiness; +and those objections having been stated to the reader before, it may +be unnecessary to repeat them here. Suffice it to say, that their +conversation continued so long that Marian's toilet for the +dinner-table was far more hurried than her maid approved. Marian, +however, safe in beauty and secure in love, felt that she could go +down to dinner, even if a curl or two did stray from its right place; +and there was something in her heart that made her never regret the +moments given to Edward de Vaux. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +We left Colonel Charles Manners standing at the library door, with his +hand upon the great brazen ball, embossed with sundry figures, which +served as the handle to the lock. It may be remembered that Colonel +Manners, being somewhat troubled with the internal contention between +feeling for his friend's uneasiness and wonder for its cause, was +seeking an empty room to let those two emotions calm themselves; but +when he turned the above brazen ball, and the door opened to his will, +he found that he had been mistaken in looking for solitude there; for +the first things he saw were, a very beautiful face and a pair of +bright gay eyes looking up at him from the other side of the little +table on the left hand, with the hat and feathers, which it was then +customary for ladies to wear in riding, thrown somewhat back from the +forehead, so as to show the whole countenance of Isadore Falkland, +raising her face with a look of half-laughing vexation, as if asking, +"Who is about to disturb me now, when I came here in search of +solitude?" + +The interpretation of the expression was so self-evident that Colonel +Manners paused with a smile; and Isadore, finding that her face had +told the truth somewhat too plainly, laughed, and begged him to come +in. "Nay, Miss Falkland," said Manners, "I will not disturb you. Your +look, I can assure you, said, _Not at home!_ as plain as those words +ever were spoken." And he took a step back, as if to withdraw. + +"The servant made a mistake, then," replied Isadore; "I did not bid +him say, 'Not at home' to Colonel Manners. But the truth is, I am +endeavouring to compose my mind." + +"Indeed!" he exclaimed, in some surprise; "I am very sorry to hear +that any thing has occurred to agitate it." + +"And can you say so, Colonel Manners?" asked Isadore laughing, "when +you, yourself, were art and part in the deed?" + +Manners was still more surprised; but, as he saw that the agitation of +which Miss Falkland complained was of no very serious nature, it only +affected him so far as to bring him two steps farther into the room. + +"If I am one of the culprits," he said, approaching nearer the table, +where Isadore sat enjoying his astonishment,--for hers was one of +those light and happy hearts that can win a drop of honey from every +flower, however small,--"if I am one of the culprits, I claim the +right of an Englishman to hear the charge fairly read, Miss Falkland. +Otherwise I refuse to plead." + +"Well, then, Colonel Manners," she replied, "you stand arraigned of +having galloped as fast, when riding with two ladies, as if you had +been at the head of your regiment; and of being art and part with +Edward de Vaux in shaking the little brains possessed by one Isadore +Falkland out of their proper place. The truth is," she added more +seriously, "that after riding very fast, my ideas, which are never in +a very composed and tranquil state, get into such a whirl, that I am +always obliged to come and read some good book for a quarter of an +hour ere I dare venture into rational society. Do you feel the same, +Colonel Manners?" + +"Not exactly," answered Manners smiling, "but I rather fancy that I am +more accustomed to galloping than you are, Miss Falkland; and that had +you been as much used to that exercise as I have been, during eighteen +years' service, you would find your ideas quite as clear, after the +longest gallop that ever was ridden, as they were before you set out." + +By this time Colonel Manners had so far carried on his approaches that +he was in the midst of the library, the door shut behind him; and a +sofa in the window--not very far from Miss Falkland's left hand, with +two or three books upon a console hard by--within one step of his +position. What Isadore rejoined to his reply matters little. It was +just sufficient to seat him on the sofa, with a book in his hand, +which he had not the slightest intention of reading; and a +conversation began, which, though it had no particular tendency, and +was of no particular import, stretched itself over full three quarters +of an hour. It was, however, one of those conversations which are the +most pleasant that it is possible to imagine--one of those +conversations, when an intelligent man and an intelligent woman sit +down, without the intention of talking about any thing in particular, +and end by talking of every thing under the sun. They must, however, +feel convinced, like Isadore and Colonel Manners, that there is not +the slightest chance on earth of their falling in love with each +other; for the least drop of love, or any thing like it, changes the +whole essence of the thing, and it is no longer conversation. But +Isadore and Colonel Manners never dreamt of such a thing; and went on, +letting subject run into subject, and thought follow thought, as they +liked--not like a regiment of infantry, indeed, advancing in single +file, one behind the other, with measured step and stiff demeanour, +but like a bevy of rosy children rushing from a school-room door, +sometimes one at a time, sometimes two or three linked hand in hand +together, sometimes half a dozen in a crowd tumbling over one +another's shoulders. Thus ran on their ideas, gaily, lightly, of every +variety of face and complexion, without ceremony and without +restraint. It is true it required some activity to keep up the game +with spirit, for both were rapid; and Isadore, when she could not +easily express herself in one way, often took another, more fanciful +and flowery, so that had not Manners's wit been as agile as her own he +might often have been left behind. + +The moments flew rapidly till, as we have said, three quarters of an +hour had passed, as it were a minute; and neither Colonel Manners nor +Isadore Falkland would have known that it had passed at all, had not a +clock struck in the hall hard by, and Isadore suddenly thought that +_somebody_--that great bugbear _somebody_--might deem it strange that +she sat talking to Colonel Manners alone in the library, while the +rest of the family were probably in the drawing-room. She now +remembered, also, that she had still her riding-habit to change; and +having by this time quite forgotten that Colonel Manners was an ugly +man, she made the alteration of her dress an excuse to leave him, +though, to speak truth, she broke off their conversation with regret, +and felt inclined to look upon the moments she had thus spent as one +of the pleasantest things she had yet met with in the garland of +time--that garland which begins in buds and blossoms, and ends in +blighted flowers and withered leaves. + +Manners, for his part,--though he had from the first thought her a +very beautiful girl, and a very charming one, too,--had by this time +determined that she was possessed of many a more admirable quality of +mind and grace of person than he had even believed before; and an +involuntary sigh, which broke from his lips when she left him taught +him, to feel that it was as well, upon the whole, that he was so soon +to take his departure. It was a part of his policy never to encourage +regrets in regard to a state of life which he had made up his mind +could not be his; and he found that to live long in the same house +with Isadore Falkland might cultivate those regrets much more than was +desirable. + +When she was gone, he thought for a moment over what had just passed, +gave another moment to memories of the long gone, spent two or three +more in trifling with the book he held in his hand, and then, after +changing his boots in his own room, proceeded to the drawing-room. +Mrs. Falkland was now there alone, but it was not long before Isadore +again appeared; and, in a few minutes after, De Vaux, as we have +before shown, entered the room for a single instant to enquire for +Marian. Neither his aunt nor his cousin perceived that any thing had +occurred to disturb his equanimity; but the eyes of his friend, +quickened perhaps by what he already knew, discovered without +difficulty that the pain which had been given him by the letter he had +himself delivered was not at all diminished by reflection; and +although he felt that he could ask no questions, he was not a little +anxious for the result. + +Some time passed, ere it was necessary to dress for dinner, Without +any thing of importance, either in word or deed, occurring in the +drawing-room, except inasmuch as Mrs. Falkland informed Colonel +Manners that a lady was to dine with them on that day who had also +enjoyed the advantage of his mother's acquaintance in her youth. +Isadore pronounced her a foolish, tiresome woman; and Manners, on +hearing her name, said he had met her some years before, but did not +venture to dissent from Miss Falkland's opinion. + +Mrs. Falkland smiled, and tacitly acknowledged that her own judgment +of the good lady's qualities was not very different, by saying that +she had merely invited her because she knew that she would feel hurt +were she to hear that Colonel Manners had been long at Morley House +without her having seen him. "And I never wish to hurt people's +feelings, Colonel Manners," she added, "unless when it is very +necessary indeed." + +"It is never worth while, my dear madam," replied Manners; "and I +believe that, with a little sacrifice of our comfort, without any +sacrifice of sincerity, we can always avoid it, however disagreeable +people may be." + +Manners was in the drawing-room amongst the first after dressing, and +he looked with some degree of anxiety for the appearance of De Vaux, +in order to see whether the tidings he had received still continued to +affect him so strongly. But when De Vaux came in his manner had wholly +changed. His conversation with Marian had had the effect which such a +conversation might be expected to have. The recollection of it, too, +as a whole, while he had been dressing, had done as much as the +conversation itself. It had shown him a sweet and consoling result, +unmingled with any of the painful feelings, to which all he had +himself been called upon to communicate, had given rise in his own +breast. The gipsy's letter, and the suspicions which it called up, had +shaken and agitated him, had taken away the foundations from the hopes +and expectations of his whole life; but that which had past between +him and her he loved had re-established all, and fixed the hopes of +future happiness on a surer and a nobler basis than ever. He trod with +a firmer, ay, and with a prouder, step, than when he had fancied +himself the heir of broad lands and lordships; and when Marian herself +soon after entered the room, his face lighted up with a happy glow, +like the top of some high hill when it receives the first rays of the +morning sun. Marian herself, too, blushed as she appeared, for all the +display of her heart's inmost feelings, which she had that morning +made to her lover's eyes, had left a consciousness about her heart--a +slight but tremulous agitation, which brought the warm blood glowing +into her cheek. There was nothing like unhappiness, however, left in +the countenance of either; and Manners became satisfied, that whatever +had been the contents of the gipsy's letter, the evil effects thereof +were passing away. + +The Lady Barbara Simpson at length arrived with her husband in her +train, and was most tiresomely pleased to see Colonel Manners. She was +a worthy dame in the plenitude of ten lustres, in corporeal qualities +heavy, and in intellectual ones certainly not light. Vulgarity is, +unfortunately, to be found in every rank,--_unfortunately_, because, +where found in high rank, in which every means and appliance is at +hand to remedy it, its appearance argues vulgarity of mind, to which +the coarseness of the peasant is comparatively grace. Now Lady Barbara +Simpson was of the vulgar great; and, though the blood of all the +Howards might have flowed in her veins, the pure and honourable stream +would have been choked up by the mental mud of her nature. In her +youth, no sum or labour had been spared to ornament her mind with +those accomplishments and graces which are common in her class; and as +music and drawing, and a knowledge of languages, are things which, to +a certain degree, may be hung on like a necklace or a bracelet, the +mind of Lady Barbara was perfectly well dressed before her parents had +done with her education. But nothing could make the mind itself any +thing but what it was; and the load of accomplishments, which masters +of all kinds strove hard to bestow, rested upon it, like jewels on an +ugly person, fine things seen to a disadvantage. The want of +consideration for other people's feelings, or rather the want of that +peculiar delicacy of sensation called _tact_, which teaches rapidly to +understand what other people's feelings are, she fancied a positive, +instead of a negative, quality, and called it in her own mind ease and +good-humour; and thus, though she certainly was a good-tempered woman, +her coarseness of feeling and comprehension rendered her ten times +more annoying to every one near her than if she had been as malevolent +as Tisiphone. + +During dinner, Manners felt as if he were sitting next to somebody +clothed in hair-cloth, which caught his dress at every turn, and +scrubbed him whenever he touched it; and his comfort was not greatly +increased by finding himself an object of great attention and +patronage to Lady Barbara. Opposite to him sat Isadore Falkland; and, +though it was certainly a great relief to look in so fair a face, yet +there was in it an expression of amused pity for Lady Barbara's martyr +that was a little teasing. Her Ladyship first descanted +enthusiastically upon the beauty of Colonel Manners's mother and +called upon Mrs. Falkland to vouch how very lovely she was. Mrs. +Falkland assented as briefly as possible; and Lady Barbara then took +wine with Colonel Manners, and declared that there was not the +slightest resemblance between him and his mother, examining every +feature in his face as she did so to make herself sure of the fact. + +At this point of the proceedings Manners was more amused than annoyed; +for his own ugliness was no secret to himself, and he therefore knew +well that it could be no secret to others. He laughed then at her +Ladyship's scrutiny, and replied, "I was once considered very like my +mother, Lady Barbara; but whatever resemblance I did possess was +carried away by my enemy the small-pox." + +"Oh yes," she cried in return, "a dreadful disease that! Shocking the +ravages it sometimes makes! I see you must have had it very bad." + +"Very bad, indeed, Lady Barbara," replied Colonel Manners with a +laughing glance towards Miss Falkland; "and, what is worse, I had it +at that period of life when one has just learned to value good looks, +without having learned to despise them." + +"Oh, terrible!" exclaimed Lady Barbara, really commiserating him; "it +must have made a terrible change in you, indeed. Dear me, what a +pity!" + +Marian de Vaux was pained for Colonel Manners, and she now interposed +with a few words, endeavouring to change the subject; but Lady Barbara +was like a hollow square of infantry, and could _faire face partout_, +so that poor Marian only drew the fire on herself. Lady Barbara +answered her question, and then added, "And so I hear you are going to +be married in a fortnight, Miss De Vaux. Well, I wish you happy, with +all my heart; though marriage is always a great risk, God knows; is it +not, Mr. Simpson?" + +"It is, indeed, my dear," replied Mr. Simpson, a quiet little man with +much sterling good sense concealed under an insignificant exterior, +and with a certain degree of subacid fun in his nature, which was +habitually brought forth by the absurdities of his wife,--"it is, +indeed, my dear;" and he finished with an audible and perhaps not +unintentional sigh, which gave point to his reply. + +"But, for all that, it is a very good, and a very proper state, too," +rejoined Lady Barbara, "and a very happy one, after all." + +"I am glad you find it so, my dear," said Mr. Simpson; but Lady +Barbara went on, as usual, without attending to her husband. + +"I would advise all young people to marry," she said, "but not too +young though,"--she herself had married at thirty-five--"not too young +though, for then they only have such large families they do not know +what to do with them. But now at a proper age every one ought to +marry. Now, Colonel Manners, why are not you married? You ought to +have been married before this." + +The reader knows that she was upon dangerous ground: but Manners was +too good a politician to show that he was touched; and therefore he +determined in reply to put that as a jest which had a good deal of +serious earnest in it. "Oh, my dear madam," he answered, "you forget I +am too ugly; I should never find a wife now." + +"Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" she answered; "ugliness has nothing to do +with it; many a woman will marry the ugliest man in the world sooner +than not marry at all; and besides, you ought to have a good fortune, +Colonel Manners; and that is a great thing. But, I can tell you, you +will certainly never find a wife, as you say, unless you ask some +one." + +The draught was bitter enough; but Manners was indomitable, and +answered still gayly, "Nay, nay, Lady Barbara, I am so diffident of +my own merits, and so completely convinced that no one will ever fall +in love with my beautiful countenance, that I shall certainly never +marry till some lady asks me. It would require that proof, at least, +to convince me that I had any chance of being loved." + +"And if any lady were to ask you," continued the unmerciful Lady +Barbara, "would you really marry her after all, Colonel Manners?" + +"I believe I may answer that it would depend upon circumstances," +replied Colonel Manners, with a grave smile; "as, unfortunately for my +happiness, your ladyship's marriage has put you out of the question." + +"Oh, do not let me be in the way in the least degree," rejoined Mr. +Simpson from the other side of the table. + +De Vaux was fairly driven to a laugh; and Lady Barbara, beginning to +find out that there was an error somewhere, paused for a moment, and +went on with her dinner. + +However skilfully and courageously a man may struggle against his own +feelings on those points where they have intrenched themselves by long +habit and possession, yet, when forced by circumstance to treat as a +matter of common conversation subjects that are habitually painful to +him, there are slight traits--each almost imperceptible, but making +something in the aggregate--which will betray what is going on within; +sometimes to the eyes of another man, and almost always to those of a +woman. A degree of bitterness will mingle with his gaiety; a sigh will +sometimes tread upon the heels of a smile; and a deeper gravity will +follow the transient, superficial laugh, and distinguish the true from +the assumed. Women, by a more refined nature, by a necessity of +concealing their own feelings under various disguises, and by the +habit of judging others by slight indications, are rendered infinitely +more capable of penetrating the veil with which we are often obliged +to cover our deeper sentiments. Both Marian de Vaux and Isadore +Falkland were at once in Colonel Manners's secret, and comprehended, +without difficulty, how much was jest and how much was earnest in his +replies to Lady Barbara. Both felt for him, too, and both were sorry +for him; and as Marian, in consequence of her generous interposition +in his favour, already suffered somewhat too much by her Ladyship's +answers touching matrimony, to dare the field again, Isadore entered +upon the campaign with greater power, and did her best to effect a +diversion. In this she was tolerably successful, though Colonel +Manners did not entirely escape; and the ladies retired sooner than +usual, in consequence of Mrs. Falkland's desire to support her +daughter. + +De Vaux, anxious for the following morning, in order that all his +doubts might be brought to a conclusion, would willingly have followed +the ladies as soon as possible: but, alas! those were days of hard +drinking; and Mr. Simpson, though by no means given to excess any more +than Manners or De Vaux, had his own peculiar method of consoling +himself for his lady's tiresomeness during the day, by sitting long in +the evening, with the sparkling decanters and the social biscuits, by +which he was sure neither to be annoyed nor contradicted. He drank his +wine slowly, and with real enjoyment, pausing over every sip as a +miser over every guinea, playing with the stalk of his wineglass, +saying little smart things, if he had any one to hear him, and if he +had not, gazing in the fire and diversifying pleasant thoughts by +discovering landscapes and faces therein. + +De Vaux, without any want of charity, wished every glass his last, and +Colonel Manners wished himself in the drawing-room; but the _leges +conviviales_ of those days were far more strict than in these +degenerate times; and as the party was so small, both felt themselves +obliged to sit ceremoniously at table, till suddenly Mr. Simpson +perceived that neither of his companions had touched wine for half an +hour, and kindly took the hint. It was now near ten o'clock: Lady +Barbara had far to go, and was compassionate towards the four bright +bays that were ordered at that hour; and thus Colonel Manners was +spared the execution of all the man[oe]uvres he had planned to get out +of her way in the drawing-room. The carriage was announced: De Vaux +handed her down-stairs; and a glad sound it was when the wheels rolled +away from the door. + +There are many people whose disagreeableness is of that peculiar kind +that one can compensate the annoyance it occasions at the time by +laughing at it with one's friends when it is over: but, unfortunately, +Lady Barbara's was of so extensive and tenacious a quality that it +outlasted her presence; and Mrs. Falkland, Isadore, and Marian, all +found that they could not talk of it in Colonel Manners's presence +without being as disagreeable as herself. As Marian, too, had no +inclination to converse upon the risks of matrimony and large +families, she was cut off from mentioning her share in the annoyance; +and after a quarter of an hour spent in determining, in general terms, +that Lady Barbara Simpson was a very disagreeable person, the family +returned to its usual course. Marian was a little anxious about +Edward's proposed excursion of the next morning; De Vaux himself was +thoughtful in regard to the conduct he was to pursue towards the +gipsy; and, as if by mutual consent, the whole party separated sooner +than usual. + +We have not, however, done with the events of that night, and, +consequently, we shall follow De Vaux to his room, where he rang his +bell; and on the appearance of his servant, suffered him to give him +his dressing-gown and slippers. "You need not wait, William," he said, +when this operation was concluded; "I have something to write--give me +that desk." + +The man obeyed and retired, and De Vaux proceeded to put down some +notes in regard to what he was to demand of the gipsy, and what was to +be the exact course he was to pursue, in order--without admitting any +fact till it was proved, or committing himself in any way--to arrive +both at the most accurate knowledge of his real situation, and the +most incontestable proofs of whatever was affirmed by the man he went +to visit. + +When he had done this, he thought of going to bed; but his head ached +a good deal, with all the agitation he had gone through during the +day, crowned by the conversation of Lady Barbara Simpson during +dinner, and the tedium of Mr. Simpson after it; and approaching one of +the windows, he drew the curtain, opened the shutters, and looked out. +It was still moonlight, as when he had handed her ladyship to her +carriage; and throwing up the heavy sash, he leaned out, enjoying the +cool air. The moon was just at her highest noon, and the sky was +beautifully clear, except inasmuch as, every now and then, there +floated across a light white cloud, which the wind seemed playfully to +cast round the planet, like a veil, as she walked on in soft and +modest splendour, among the bright eyes of all the crowd of stars. The +river, gleaming like melted silver, appeared at the extremity of the +park, with the line of its banks, broken here and there by majestic +elms; and even beyond the grounds, glimpses of its windings might be +caught among the distant fields and plantations. The little wooded +promontory that flanked the park, with the higher hill, starting up +from the isthmus over which the road passed, rose grandly up, like two +towering steps, towards the glittering heavens; and beyond the sloping +fields and their hedgerow elms, with many an undulating line, lay soft +and obscure, in the sheeny moonlight, as far as a spot where, half-way +up the higher hill in front, the extreme horizontal line of the +distant country cut upon the sky. Scarce a sound was to be heard as De +Vaux gazed forth, but the whispering of the light breeze among the +tree tops, and the sweet plaintive belling of the deer in the park +below. + +"If I had known that these people would have gone so soon," he +thought, "I would have made my visit to the gipsies' encampment +to-night instead of to-morrow. The gipsies sit up, carousing by their +fires, I believe, for full one-half of the night; and I might have set +my mind at rest about this business without waiting so long." + +The thought of going even then now struck him; and he paused for a few +minutes to consider whether he ought to do so or not. "I shall not +sleep, even if I go to bed," he thought. "With all these things +weighing on my mind, slumber is not very likely to visit me. A couple +of hours will be enough to obtain all the information that I want; and +returning home, I may sleep in certainty to-night, and to-morrow have +to tell Marian that my apprehensions were groundless, or that our lot, +as far as station and fortune go, must be lower than we at one time +expected. I shall then have time, too, to sleep over my information, +and to lay out my plan of action for to-morrow deliberately. I wonder +if any of the servants are up yet?" + +The fears that Marian had expressed for his safety crossed his mind +for a moment; but they crossed it merely as apprehensions, which might +have given her some pain, if she knew that he was venturing to the +gipsies' encampment at midnight. No doubt of his own security ever +entered his thoughts; for, although De Vaux's imagination was a very +active one, it was not fertile in images of personal danger. In short, +he was constitutionally brave; and, like his father, did not know what +corporal fear is. "I shall only have to tell Marian," he again +thought, "that I have been, and that all she was alarmed about is +over." + +He gave one more look to the moonlight and then closed his window. His +boots were speedily drawn on; his dressing-gown exchanged for a +military coat; his sword buckled to his side; and, in conformity with +his promise to Marian, a brace of loaded pistols placed in his bosom. +Thus equipped, he opened his door and descended the staircase. All was +quiet; the lamp in the hall was still glimmering, though somewhat +faintly; the servants were all evidently in bed; and turning the key +in the glass door at the end of the lobby, De Vaux opened it +cautiously, and stepped out upon the lawn. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The moon was shining bright and clear upon Morley Down, covering every +rise on which its beams fell with soft and silvery light, and casting +every dell and opposite slope into dark broad shadow. From that height +a slight degree of mistiness appeared, hanging over the scene in the +valley; but above, all was clear; and the satellite of the earth was +so bountiful of her reflected rays, that our fellow-stars could +scarcely be seen in the sky, twinkling faintly, half eclipsed by her +excess of splendour. The scattered bushes and stunted hawthorns, and +the tumulus, with its clump of towering beeches, caught the rays; but, +with the peculiar effect of trees by moonlight, the latter seemed more +to absorb than to reflect the light, while their long deep shadows +cast upon the neighbouring ground, showed, at least, that they served +to intercept the beams. In many of the little pits and hollows of the +ground small pools of water had been formed; and so often did these +appear, glistening in the moonshine, in situations otherwise dark, +that it seemed as if the light sought out purposely the objects best +calculated to reflect it, and, like active benevolence in search of +humble merit, followed them into the dim and lowly abodes where they +had made their dwelling. + +From these pools, however, the sand-pit in which the gipsies had +pitched their tents was free; and the only water it contained was +afforded by a small clear spring, which the labourers had cut through +in digging for the produce of the pit; and, which, welling from the +bank, fell into a clear small basin of yellow sand that would, in all +probability, have absorbed it speedily, had it not found a sudden +channel among some smooth stones and gravel, and thence wound away, +forced into a thousand meanders by the irregularity of the ground, +till, issuing forth upon the common, it pursued its course down the +hill, and, joined by several other brooks, poured no inconsiderable +addition into the river in the valley below. It, too, caught the +moonbeams and glanced brightly in them; but that was not the only +light that shone upon it, as it trickled down the bank, and rested in +its little basin below. A redder and less pure gleam was reflected +from its waters, for at about twenty yards from the source, close +under shelter of the high bank and overhanging bushes, the gipsies had +pitched their tents; and now, though the hour was nearly midnight, +they were just in the midst of those revels that often rise up from +many a moor and many a planting throughout old England, while the rest +of her denizens are fast asleep. The evening was as warm as if it had +been far earlier in the year; and although the wind was high it +whistled sheer over the pit, without visiting with its rude search the +corner thereof in which the race of wanderers had nested their +encampment. The very sound, however, and the freshness of the night +air, rendered the idea of a fire any thing but unpleasant; and in +three different spots of the gipsy encampment the blaze rose up and +the sticks crackled, while the pots, now withdrawn from the flame, the +bottles of various shapes that lay round, and the cups, some of tin, +some of horn, some of silver,[3] that circulated somewhat rapidly, +told that the last and merriest meal of the day had commenced. + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 3: It is a peculiar trait in the character of the gipsies, +remarked, I believe, in every country where they are to be found, that +each individual strives to possess himself of something formed of one +of the precious metals, denying himself even necessaries to procure +it; and guarding it with a degree of care which the race extend to few +other things. By some writers it is asserted that these cups, or +ornaments, or other articles formed of gold or silver, descend from +generation to generation, and are never parted with except under +circumstances of the greatest necessity.] + +--------------------- + + +Three several groups had assembled round the three fires, and each had +its peculiar character. At that which burned in the middle of the +scene appeared Pharold, leaning upon the ground, with his elbow +supported by a projection of the bank, with a middle-aged woman on one +side, and the beautiful girl we have before mentioned on the other. +Two or three stout men, of from forty to fifty years, surrounded him; +and though joining boldly and freely in all that passed, it was +evident that they listened to him when he spoke with the respect due +to experience and command, and without any of that sullenness which we +have noticed in some of the younger members of the tribe who were with +him in the forest. Some more women completed that group; and, though +merry enough, it was evident, by their demeanour, that there sat the +eiders of the tribe. The next fire, at the door of a tent farther up +the pit, was surrounded by a different assemblage, though it was in +some degree mixed. At the entrance of the little hut itself appeared +the beldam whom we have seen acting as cook in the forest, and who on +that occasion, had shown some inclination towards a resistance of +Pharold's authority. Round about her were five or six sturdy young +men, from five-and-twenty to thirty, and five or six women; two of +whom did not appear to be more than eighteen or nineteen years of age, +while the rest were fine buxom brown dames of thirty-five or six. The +worthy lady of the hut, however, seemed now to have lost her acerbity; +and in a gay and jovial mood, with many a quip and many a jest, kept +all her younger auditors in a roar; though every now and then, with a +curl of the lip and a winking eye, she glanced towards the party at +the other fire, as if their graver conversation was the subject of her +merry sarcasm. + +At the third fire appeared the younger part of the tribe, the boys and +girls of all ages, except those, indeed, who rested sleeping in the +huts; and this circle, the loud laughter and broad jokes of which were +sometimes checkered by the sounds of contention and affray, occasioned +by an old pack of cards, was presided by a strong handsome youth of +about nineteen or twenty, whose proper place would have been, +apparently, at the second fire. He was here, however, placed much +nearer to the first group; and this proximity gave him, every now and +then, an opportunity, in the intervals of teasing his younger +comrades, of looking over his shoulder at the beautiful girl we have +called Lena, who, as we have said, was leaning beside Pharold, and +listening with seeming attention to his discourse. + +The whole three fires had assembled round them a much greater number +of the gipsy race than had been congregated in the wood where we first +saw them; and, in truth, a very formidable party was there gathered +together, who might have given not a little difficulty, and offered, +should their need have required it, no insignificant resistance, +either to game-keepers, constables, or police officers. Fourteen stout +men, in their prime of strength, with nine or ten boys capable of very +efficient service, were there met together, as well as a number of +women, whose arms were of no insignificant weight, and whose tongues +might have been more formidable still. + +As it may be necessary, for various reasons, to afford a sample of the +sort of conversation which was taking place amongst the gipsies on +that night, we shall begin, on many accounts, with the second fire, +round which it appeared that a liquor, which smelt very like rum, had +been circulating with no retarded movements. + +"Take it easy, take it easy, Dickon, my chick," said the old dame of +whom we have already spoken, addressing one of the sturdy young +vagabonds by whom she was surrounded: "never let's kick up a row among +ourselves, do you see. That's the right way to bring the beaks upon +us. He's a king of a fellow, too, that Pharold, though he do sometimes +look at one, when he's angry, as if the words were too big for his +throat--just as I've seen a fat cock turkey, when I've been nimming +him off the perch, and got him tight round the neck with both my hands +to stop his gabbling." The simile seemed to tickle the fancy of her +auditors, who interrupted her by a roar, which soon, however, died +away, and she proceeded. "He's a king of a fellow, though, and it +wouldn't do to make a split; besides, he knows more than common; and +the law's again it, too: so take it easy, Dickon, and I'll put you up +to a thing or two." + +"Ay, do, mother, there's a good soul!" replied the young man. "Do you +see, I don't want to split with Pharold; but damn me if I go out +shooting at rabbits, and hares, and little devils like that, if I am +to give my word that I won't touch a deer if it comes across me." + +"No, no, Dickie, never you meddle with nobody's dear," said the old +woman; "though Bill there, at the other fire," she added, dropping her +voice a little, and grinning significantly--"though Bill there, at the +other fire, seems to have a great fancy for Pharold's own dear." A low +laugh, whose suppressed tone argued that every one felt themselves on +dangerous ground, followed her jest, and she went on: "But, +howsomdever, Dick, never you meddle with nobody's deer, when you are +bid not--till the person that bade you is out of the way--do you see? +eh, Dicky, my boy?" + +"Ay, that's something like now, Mother Gray," replied Dickon. "Do you +see, to-morrow, it seems, we must troop, half one way and half +t'other; and then, if I be not sent to a distance, and can get some +good fellows to help me, I'll bet a bob that I bring home two or three +as fat bucks as ever laid their haunches on the king's table--and +that's a better night's work than ever Pharold will do." + +"Well, well, Dickon, you shall do it," replied the old dame: "you wait +quiet till to-morrow, and seem to think no more about it; and I will +get Lena to wheedle Pharold out of the way, if some of his own strange +jobs do not take him without; and you shall have free scope and fair +play for a night, my boy, anyhow--so the keepers may count their deer +the next morning, if they can." + +"But suppose I am sent away," said the young man; "I would rather have +gone to-night by half." + +"But you know you can't, Dickon," she replied; "and it would only make +a row to speak about it. We only go ten miles, any of us; and I will +take care of your ten miles, my chick. So keep snug; and, do you see, +there's no use of bringing up the deer to where we pitch. The shiners +are what we want; and Harry Saxon, who bags the pheasants and hares, +and who first gave me an inkling about the venison, will take the +beasts of us for so much a head, and send them up to the lord-mayor in +London. So to-morrow I'll be off early, and get the job arranged +proper, and have a cart and horse ready, do you see, Dickon." + +Dickon rubbed his hands with much glee; and as it would seem that some +people are born to deer-stealing, he felt that satisfaction which all +men must feel when a prospect opens before them of their talents at +length having a free course. At that moment, however, two shots were +heard at no very great distance, but in the direction of the little +wooded promontory near Morley House, and the sound called forth some +symptoms of emotion in more than one of the party. Pharold listened, +drew in his eyes, and knit his brows hard, while Dickon vowed, with an +oath, "That fellow Hallet has gone down into Mrs. Falkland's +preserves, and will blow us all with his cursed gun. He might have +waited an hour or two." + +Pharold listened still, but made no comment; and those by whom he was +surrounded seemed to suspend their own observations on the sound till +his were spoken. In the mean time, Dickon and the good dame, whom he +termed Mother Gray, proceeded with the edifying arrangements they had +been making, and had nearly completed their plan for getting Pharold +out of the way, stealing two or three deer from some of the +neighbouring grounds, and sending them up to the capital to supply his +majesty's burgher lieges in their necessity for fat venison. The exact +park which they were to plunder, and some other of the minor +considerations, were undergoing discussion, in which the whole party +round the fire took a friendly and zealous share; when one of Dickon's +comrades, who had been keeping an eye on Pharold's circle, touched him +on the shoulder, saying, "They are going to divide the money." + +"They will not have so much to divide as we shall get to-morrow," said +Dickon; "I will answer for that." + +"I don't know, I don't know, my chick," rejoined the worthy beldam; +"that Pharold is a knowing hand, and always gets more than any one +else, work for it how they will. How he gets it I am sure I don't +know; and I often think he must coin his skin into guineas, for my +part." + +Now the complexion of the old dame herself, and of every one round +her, was as yellow as any one could desire; but that did not prevent +them all from enjoying the joke highly, simply, perhaps, because +Pharold's countenance might be a little brighter in hue than their +own. Several of them, however, now rose and approached the other fire, +at which the proposed division of gains was about to take place; for +it seemed that the tribe in question had retained many of the original +habits of their people which have been lost among other hordes.[4] One +after another, till the turn came to Pharold, the several gipsies +poured forth their acquisitions into this general fund. Silver and +copper were the principal metals that appeared in the collection, +though a few pieces of gold, consisting in general of coins of the +value of seven shillings or half a guinea, sparkled between; the +numbers who contributed, however, and the copious contributions of +small coin that some of them poured forth, gave the whole sum an +imposing amount; but when Pharold at length received the hat in which +it was collected, and drawing forth an old purse added between thirty +and forty golden pieces to the store, a murmur of joy and satisfaction +ran through the assembled gipsies. + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 4: This habit is said still to exist among many of the gipsy +tribes; and some persons have not scrupled to assert, though +apparently without reason, that they carry their ideas of the +community of property to a somewhat licentious extent.] + +--------------------- + + +The partition next began; but it was not, as may be supposed, +perfectly equal. It was perfectly just, however; each received +according to the burdens upon him. The married man obtained a share +double in amount to that bestowed upon a single man: the mother +of a large family, even if her husband was no more, claimed in +proportion to the number of her offspring, and each orphan--of which +be it remarked, by one cause or another, there were several--- was +treated as a single man. The partition was made by Pharold himself +with rigorous equity; and though almost all the gipsies had gathered +round, and observed his proceedings with gleaming black eyes and eager +faces, none offered a word either of remonstrance or of information; +for all were not only convinced of his justice, but every one would +have felt shame to grumble at the award of one who, contributing more +than the whole together, only claimed the share of an individual. + +When he had done, and the whole was distributed, Pharold addressed a +few words to his companions, such as the division which had just taken +place suggested. He told them that in this custom, as in all the +others which they themselves observed, they followed exactly the +manners of their fathers: and he praised, not without eloquence, the +sort of patriarchal state in which they lived. He lamented grievously, +however, that many of their nation were abandoning their ancient +habits; that some had even established themselves in fixed +dwelling-places, had submitted themselves to the laws, and had adopted +the manners, of the people amongst whom they dwelt. He besought those +who surrounded him to live as all their race had lived, and promised +that thus they would continue to be as prosperous as the division of +that night showed them to be at present. + +"A curse upon our children," cried one middle-aged woman, "if they +quit the ways of their fathers, and go to live among the puny, +white-faced things of the lands: a curse upon them all! May their line +of life be crooked and broken off in the middle--full of crosses, and +ending in _Gehennel_!" + +A murmur of approbation followed this denunciation; and the rest of +the gipsies retiring to their several fires, their carousings were +renewed, while Pharold related to those who more particularly +surrounded him a variety of melancholy facts relative to the +degeneracy of various gipsy tribes, who had fallen into the iniquity +of fixed dwelling-places, and many other abominations. He spoke of +much that he had seen in his own wanderings, and much that he had +heard from others; and his story became so interesting that a good +many of the younger of the race crept round to listen. This, however, +did not seem to suit his purpose; for he speedily broke off his +discourse, and, looking round him, exclaimed, in a voice loud +enough to be heard at each of the neighbouring fires, "Come, my men, +we are sad to-night, and that must not be. Will," he added, speaking +to the young man who, as we have said, presided over the younger +circle,--"Will, you are a songster, let us hear your voice." + +William obeyed without hesitation; and while he went on with his song, +the old dame at the other fire continued conversing eagerly with her +favourite Dickon, in tones which were low in themselves, and which +were the better cut off from other ears by the rich fine voice of the +singer. + + + SONG. + + In the gray of the dawn, when the moon has gone down, + Ere the sun has got up over country and town, + 'Tis the time for the lover to steal to his dear, + In the heart-beating May of the incoming year. + _Chorus_.--In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, when the fox is asleep, + And the foxes of cities in slumber are deep, + 'Tis the time for the wise from his tent to walk out, + And to see what the rest of the world is about. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, ere the milkmaid trips by, + To bring home the milk from the bright-coated kye, + Some earlier hand may have taken the pain + To render her milking all labour in vain. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, if you'll meet me down by, + My own pretty maid with the dark gleaming eye, + We'll wander away far o'er mountain and plain, + And leave the old fools to look for us in vain. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, if you'll not come to me, + My own pretty maid, by the green hawthorn tree, + You may stumble by chance o'er the corpse of your love, + As you trip with some other along the dim grove. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + +"You have changed the song, Will," said Pharold, as the other ended; +"you have added and taken away." + +The young man reddened, but merely replied that he had forgot some +verses, and been obliged to put new ones; and Pharold, taking no +further notice, continued his conversation with his companions. In the +meantime, the consultation between the old lady and Dickon had gone on +throughout the song, and was still continued. + +"Well, well, Dickon, my boy," rejoined the old lady to something that +her companion had said under cover of the singing, "keep a good tongue +in your head for a while, and we'll see what we can make of it. It is +a shame, indeed, that he should have his own way of getting so much +stuff, no one knows how--from the _Spirit_, I think--and prevent you +from following your way of getting some too, specially when it's all +to go with the rest. And he's proud of his way of getting money, too. +Did you see with what an air he poured the shiners in?" + +"That I did, that I did," replied the other; "curse him! I'd get as +many as he, if he'd let me." + +"Ay, but you see the thing is, Dick," she answered, "he gets it, no +one knows how, without ever saying a word about it to any one. Now, +you follow the same plan, my chick; and if he asks you, you can then +tell him to mind his own business. But hush, he's looking at us. Bid +Bill give us another stave." + +"Bill," cried Dickon, "give us another touch of it, there's a good +'un. Sing us Old Dobbin, and then come here and take a swig of the +bingo with me and Mother Gray." + +Bill was not at all reluctant, and without the slightest appearance of +bashful hesitation again began to pour fourth his fine voice in song. +The air, however, was of a very different kind, as far as expression +went, from that which he had formerly chosen, which had been somewhat +more sentimental and solemn than the words in general required, or +than might have been expected from the personage by whom it was sung. +In the present case, his tones were all lively, and the song seemed +well known to all his companions. + + + SONG. + + 1. + + Lift your head, Robin! + Lift it and see, + Why shakes his bells, Dobbin, + Under the tree. + Why shakes his bells, Dobbin, + His old noddle bobbing, + As if there were strangers upon the green lea? + + 2. + + Lie quiet, lie quiet, + Though danger be near, + If we make not a riot + There's nothing to fear. + If you will but try it, + And only lie quiet, + There is no harm will happen my own little dear. + + 3. + + I have heard of the fairy + That walks in the night, + With a figure so airy + And fingers so light, + That though watch-dogs hairy + May sleep in the airy, + She will empty your hen-coops before morning light. + + 4. + + I have heard of the witches + That ride in the dark, + And despite hedge and ditches + Get into the park; + Nim hares from their niches, + Without any hitches, + And think man-traps and spring-guns a toothless dog's bark. + + 5. + + Then lift your head, Robin, + Lift it to find + Why the bells of old Dobbin + Sound on the night wind; + Then lift your head, Robin, + For my heart is throbbing, + About witches and fairies and things of the kind. + + 6. + + Lie still, 'tis no fairy + That trips the green sod; + To hen-coop or dairy + No witch takes her road. + No, no! 'tis no fairy, + Nor anything airy; + Lie still and be silent, the _beaks_ are abroad! + + +This very edifying composition seemed to give infinitely greater +satisfaction to the generality of the gipsies than the former song had +done; and especially in those places where the singer contrived to +modulate his voice, so as to change the tone from the male to the +female, or from the female to the male, as the words required, the +approbation of his hearers was loud and vehement. Pharold alone +appeared somewhat gloomy upon the occasion; and were one to look into +his breast, which we do not intend to do very deeply on this occasion, +one might see a strange and bitter contest between early feelings, +habits, and inclinations, and refinements and tastes acquired from the +most opposite sources--a state of things so discordant in all their +elements, that nothing but an originally wild and eccentric nature +could have endured its existence in the same bosom. Some one has said, +"_Malheureux celui qui est en avant de son siècle_;" and it certainly +might be said, in every class of society, "_Malheureux celui qui est +au-dessus de son état_." Pharold then became gloomy, and felt +disgusted at things which amused and interested his companions; nor, +perhaps, was his gloom decreased by seeing that the beautiful young +companion who leaned beside him was as much pleased and amused as the +rest. + +"I thought that I had taught you to despise such things, Lena," he +said in a low tone, and with somewhat of a frowning brow. + +"Yes, yes," she replied, colouring brightly; "and so I do, when I +think; but yet--" + +She was interrupted by the man named Dickon, who gave a low whistle, +and exclaimed at the same time, repeating apart of his companion's +song,-- + + + Lift your head, Robin, + Lift it and see, + Why shakes his bells, Dobbin, + Under the tree! + + +And almost at the same moment one of the horses, of which the gipsies +had several feeding upon the common just above, repeated a low neigh, +which had been heard in the first instance by Dickon, as he was +called, alone. All was instantly silent; and then the jumping sort of +noise which a horse with a clog upon his feet makes, when endeavouring +to go fast, was heard from the common; and Pharold's practised ear +could also distinguish, proceeding from the gravel of the road, the +sound of a man's footstep, the near approach of which had probably +frightened the horse. + +"Jump up, Will," he cried quickly, addressing the singer; "jump up, +and see who it is. Stop him up there! If he want me, whistle twice; if +you want help, whistle once!" + +The young man was up the bank in a moment; but the length of time that +elapsed before they heard any farther sound made them at first fancy +that they had been mistaken in thinking that any one approached, and +then showed them that in the clear silence of the night the sounds had +made themselves heard farther than they had at first imagined. All +kept a profound silence; but, after the lapse of about a minute, the +murmur of distant voices was distinguished, and then came a low long +whistle. Every one started on his feet, but the next moment a second +whistle was heard, and Pharold said calmly, "It is for me! I may be +absent, perhaps, for an hour or so: but as the young man has come +to-night instead of to-morrow, we will set off all the earlier in the +morning." + +He spoke to one of the elder men near him; but in a tone of voice loud +enough to be heard by those around. Dickon and Mother Gray gave each +other a look; and when Pharold slowly took his way up the bank she +stuck her tongue into her toothless cheek with very little of that +reverence in her looks which she sometimes professed for the leader of +the tribe. + +Soon after he was gone the young man called Will returned; and was +questioned by several of the gipsies regarding the stranger who had +intruded upon them at so late an hour. All that he could or would +reply was, that he was a young fellow with a sword by his side, and +that he had walked away with Pharold; with which tidings they were +forced to content themselves, and their revels went on and concluded +much as they had begun. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Let any one who is fond of sublime sensations take his hat and staff, +and climb a high hill by a moonlight midnight. There is apart of that +dust of earth, which gathers so sadly upon our spirit during our daily +commune with this sordid world, cast off at every step. The very act +of climbing has something ennobling in it, and the clearer air we +breathe, the elevation to which we rise, all gives the mind a +sensation of power and lightness, as if it had partly shaken off the +load of clay that weighs it down to the ground. But still more, when +with solitude--the deep solitude of night--we rise up high above the +sleeping world, with the bright stars for our only companions, and the +calm moon for our only light--when we look through the profound depth +of space, and see it peopled by never-ending orbs--when we gaze round +our extended horizon and see the power of God on every side,--then the +immortal triumphs over the mortal, and we feel our better being strong +within us. The cares, the sorrows, the anxieties of earth seem as dust +in the balance weighed with mightier things; and the grandest earthly +ambition that ever conquered worlds and wept for more, may feel itself +humiliated to the dust in the presence of silence, and solitude, and +space, and millions of eternal suns. + +The cool night air playing round his brow calmed the feverish headache +which anxiety and excitement had left upon Edward de Vaux; and as he +walked forth from the park, and climbed the high hill towards Morley +Down, with the stars looking at him from the clear heaven, and the +moon glistening on every pebble of his path, it is wonderful how much +his mind felt soothed and tranquilized, how small the cares of earth +became in his sight. So much so, indeed, was this the case, that +although, as he mounted the steep ascent, he heard distinctly two +several shots fired, apparently, a great deal too near his aunt's +preserves--a sound which, at any other time, might have roused his +indignation in a very superabundant degree--he now only paused for a +moment, and turned round to listen; and, hearing no more, walked on, +regarding the destruction of some hares or pheasants as a matter of +but small consequence. When he reached the common, the beauty of the +moonlight scene, with its broad lights and shadows, and the solemn +effect of silence, and solitude, and night, again made him halt in his +advance, to gaze upwards into the depth, and feel the mightiness of +the universe around him; and that, too, sunk all human cares so low by +comparison, that he began to think he could bear any disclosure with +calm tranquillity. + +He then walked on rapidly, regretting, perhaps, a little, that he had +not asked Manners the exact position of the gipsy encampment, as he +had become warm in climbing the hill, and the wind that blew over the +common felt chill, and made a slight shudder pass over him. The little +mound, however, was his resource, as it had been that of his friend +when engaged on a similar errand; and, walking on to the spot where it +stood, he climbed the side, and cast his eyes over the wide and broken +flat grounds below him. In the direction of the sand-pit, he almost +immediately beheld a light; and the next instant a fine mellow voice +singing showed him that the gipsies were not only there but awake, +though he was too far off to catch any thing but a few detached notes +of a merry air rising up from below. Turning his steps in that +direction, he had proceeded about a quarter of the way from the mound +to the encampment, when an old white horse, which had lain down after +feeding, started up at his approach, and hobbled away with its clogged +feet, as fast as it could, uttering, at the same time, one or two +short neighs, as if perfectly aware that its masters were of that +class which does not like to be interrupted without warning. The light +of the fire, now rising up above the abrupt edge of the sand-pit, and +showing the dark outline of the bank, with the few black bushes +cutting sharp upon the glare, pointed out to De Vaux the exact spot +where the gipsies were to be found, when suddenly a human figure was +seen rising rapidly across the light; and a minute or two after the +form of a stout youth planted itself directly in the way of the +wanderer. + +"Who do you want, and what?" demanded the young man, eyeing him from +head to foot with a look of no particular satisfaction. + +De Vaux, however, answered him at once in such a manner as to put a +stop to any farther enquiries, saying, "I want to see a person called +Pharold, who is with you here. Can you bring me to him?" + +"No," replied the youth, "but I can bring him to you;" and he uttered +a low, long whistle, succeeded by another, which was quickly followed +by the appearance of Pharold himself, who, as he approached, took care +to examine his visiter as accurately as the moonlight would permit. +When he came near, without addressing De Vaux, or waiting to hear his +errand, he turned to the young man, saying, "You may return, William;" +and seeing a slight inclination to linger, he added, in a more +authoritative tone, "Return!" + +The youth obeyed; and then turning to his visiter, the gipsy said, +"You are Captain de Vaux, I suppose--nay, I see you are." + +"You are right," replied De Vaux; "though I am not aware that you ever +saw me before; at least, I am certain that I never saw you." + +"I saw you on the day before yesterday," replied the gipsy, "though it +was but for a moment, and you did not see me. But it is not alone from +that I know you. You are very like your father, as I remember him; but +still more like your grandfather and your uncle, in the times when I +can recall as happy a set of faces in Dimden Hall as ever shone in the +palace or the cottage." + +The gipsy sighed as he spoke, and De Vaux sighed too, for he had never +seen such faces in his father's house; and there was also, in the +picture thus presented, a sad sample of how happy things and scenes of +joy can, in a few short years, pass away and be forgotten, which, +linking itself by the chain of association to the present, carried on +his mind to the time when he and his might be as those of whom the +gipsy spoke, and all the happiness which he now so fondly anticipated +with her he loved become a memory for some old remaining servant, or +poor dependant, to sigh over in their age. + +"Then I am to suppose," rejoined De Vaux, after pausing for a moment +on thoughts which, perhaps, might be called gloomy--"then I am to +suppose that I am speaking with the person signing himself Pharold; +and I may also conclude," he added, "that he is the same whom I have +heard of, as having been taken, when a boy, by my grandfather, in +order to educate him with my father and uncle; but who could not bear +the restraints of that kind of life, and at the end of two years fled +back to his own race and his native pursuits." + +"In less time, in less time than that," said the gipsy; "but I often +went back, and was ever kindly met, and used to please myself by +enacting one day the young gentleman at the hall, and the next the +gipsy on the common. But after a time," he continued, carried away by +his subject, "I strayed farther, and forgot what I might have been, to +give myself more up to what I was to be--but there is no use of +talking of such things now, it makes me sad! And so you have heard all +that. Yet who would tell you? Your father never did, I am sure; and +your aunt was then but a child of two or three years old; and your +uncle--but you remember not him." + +"No," replied De Vaux, "any knowledge of the facts that I do possess +was derived, I believe, from the tales of an excellent old +housekeeper, who died not many years ago, and who seemed to speak of +Pharold with no small regard." + +"And is she dead?" cried Pharold. "Poor good old Mrs. Dickinson--I +knew not that she was dead--she was ever kind to me, good soul: and +now she is dust and ashes! Well, well, the fairest, and the strongest, +and the best, go down to the sand with the leaves of the tree!--but +will the kindly affections, and the noble feelings, and the generous +nature, die too and rot? Can you tell me that, young gentleman?--I +think not." + +"Nor I either," answered De Vaux. "God forbid that we should think so! +But, as I said, it was from that good old person, as I now recollect, +that I heard all I know of your former history." + +De Vaux recurred to the subject of the old housekeeper purposely, for +he was not at all sorry that--instead of having to meet the gipsy as +an opponent, where every word was to be examined, and nothing admitted +without proof--their conversation had taken such a turn as to draw +forth the man's true character, and to show the deeper motives upon +which he acted. Anxious, as he might naturally be, to ascertain +whether there was any hidden passion which might tempt the other to +deceive him, or to seek to injure either himself or those connected +with him, De Vaux would fain have led the gipsy on to speak more fully +of the past; but Pharold's mind, following always its own particular +train, rested but for a moment longer upon the idea suggested, and +then returned abruptly to the cause of their meeting. + +"Since you know so much of me, Captain de Vaux," he said, "you must +also know that I possess knowledge in regard to your family which few +other persons now living do possess; and you must know, likewise, that +I am not one to say to you a word that is false, or to seek to wrong +you by even a thought. That you have given some credence to my letter +I see by your having come here, and that you put some confidence in me +I see by your having come alone, and at this hour. Both deserve that I +should be as explicit with you as possible; and, therefore, before you +quit me, I will leave not a doubt upon your mind in regard to the +truth of what I affirm." + +"By so doing," replied De Vaux, "you will at least entitle yourself to +my gratitude and thanks, though I conceal not from you that it is +difficult to feel grateful or to offer sincere thanks to one who, +willingly or unwillingly, overturns our hopes and our happiness for +ever." + +"It is difficult!" replied the gipsy; "I know it is difficult; but yet +you must believe me when I tell you that I feel deeply and bitterly +every pang that I inflict on you; that but for a duty and a promise +registered in my own heart and beyond the stars--but for your own +ultimate happiness--I would not pour upon you now all that I must bid +you bear. You must believe all this, Captain de Vaux, for it is true." + +And De Vaux did believe it, in part, if not entirely; for there was a +solemn earnestness about the man's manner, a sort of eager deprecation +in his tone, that would have been very difficult to assume unfelt. +Although his opinion of mankind in general, and of the gipsy race in +particular, was not very high, still the barrier of distrust was not +strong enough to shut out conviction when De Vaux heard the tones of +real sincerity; and he spake truly when he replied, "I will believe +that you do feel what you say, both because I have never, to my +knowledge, injured you or yours, so that it would be gratuitous +baseness to injure or afflict me; and because the little I have ever +heard of your character in youth, as well as your tone and manner at +present, convinces me that you are incapable of such a proceeding. +Nevertheless, you must remember, that before I can yield belief to any +part of a story which, in some way, must throw dark imputations upon +my family, I am bound to exact proof, and must be permitted to +question every assertion that is not supported by the fullest +evidence." + +"Proof and evidence you shall have," replied the gipsy; "and you shall +not only be permitted to question any thing that seems doubtful, but +to be angry and indignant till you are convinced. Only, for your own +sake, command yourself as much as possible. Remember that you have to +hear a tale that will give you great pain; and, in order to enable +yourself to judge rationally of its truth, you must govern your +passions, and, as far as may be, subdue your feelings. You must +promise, too, Captain de Vaux, to forgive him who inflicts the truth +upon you. Will you promise me," he asked, laying his hand solemnly on +De Vaux's arm, "to forgive whatever pain I may inflict, when you shall +be satisfied both that my tale is true, and that I have no motive of +earthly interest in relating it?" + +"Most certainly," replied De Vaux, "though you proved my illegitimacy +ever so clearly. Of course I must forgive you, if disinterestedly you +speak but the truth." + +"Worse, worse, far worse than that have I to tell," replied the gipsy; +"but I cannot tell it here. The wind blows cold, and I saw you +shudder, but your blood will run colder still before my tale is done. +Besides, my people have long hearing and cunning ways. They are too +near; and I would not that any other ear than yours in the whole world +should listen to the words I am going to speak. You have trusted +yourself so far to-night that you will not fear to trust yourself +alone with me still farther. Come, then, with me to the edge of the +wood that you see lying there about half a mile off. There we can +shelter ourselves from the wind beneath the part of the bank just +where it looks down upon the road. You are nearer home there, too." + +"I know I am," answered De Vaux, turning, and gazing somewhat fixedly +upon him; "but do you know that the road which it does overhang is +within a hundred yards of the spot where my uncle was murdered?" + +"I know it well," replied the gipsy; "but you will never be murdered +like him, Captain de Vaux." + +"And why not?" said De Vaux, quickly. "What happened to him may happen +to me." + +"My story must explain my words," rejoined Pharold; "I am unarmed--you +are armed. All my comrades are there behind us: I go farther from +them, and lead you nearer to your home. Were I willing to injure you, +here were the place." + +"Lead on, lead on!" said De Vaux; "I will trust you, and follow you!" + +"Without reply, the gipsy led the way across the common, with every +step of which he seemed so well acquainted as to be able to shape his +course amid all the breaks, and bushes, and irregularities of the +ground, without ever giving a glance to the right or the left. He said +not a word either, and De Vaux followed equally in silence, with his +interest and anxiety still more excited than they had been even by his +strange companion's letter. In less than a quarter of an hour they had +crossed that part of the common which lay between the sand-pit and the +edge of the wood, exactly at that point where the hill, of which +Morley Down formed the table land, joined on to the general chain of +hills, from which it appeared as a kind of offset or promontory, and +which, as we have said, were generally covered with forest. The neck +of the promontory here overhung the turn of the road and the river, at +about a couple of hundred yards nearer to Morley House than the spot +where De Vaux had told Manners, on their first arrival in the country, +that his uncle had been murdered some years before; and the track that +lay between the place where he now stood and the highway was a steep +precipitous bank of two or three hundred feet in height, covered with +loose stones, scattered bushes, and one or two larger trees, thrown +forward beyond the mass of wood on the left. The moon was shining +bright on the road and the river, and though she had passed her +meridian, promised yet several hours of light. + +"Come down this little path, sir," said the gipsy. "Under that bank, +with those bushes round us, about thirty yards down, we can find +shelter, and can see every thing around, so that there will be no fear +of interruption." + +De Vaux followed as he desired, and in a few minutes reached the spot +to which he had pointed. There, upon a felled oak, which only remained +to be rolled down the hill, he seated himself on a little piece of +level ground, where some one had endeavoured ineffectually to +establish a quarry, and whence he could behold the village near his +aunt's dwelling and the top of Morley House itself, though the view up +the valley on the other side was interrupted by the sweep of the woody +hill. The gipsy stood beside him, and De Vaux anxiously besought him +to produce at once the proofs of the very painful assertions which his +letter had contained. + +"I brought you not here without an object, Edward de Vaux," said the +gipsy, still standing; "for here I can relate my tale better than +anywhere else. Now, tell me what you remember of your early years, and +what you have heard of your father's history--of his history and that +of his family." + +"I did not seek you," answered De Vaux, "to tell you what I myself +know, but to learn from you facts with which I am unacquainted. You +have made assertions, and you must either support them by proof, or +let them fall to the ground." + +"Well, well," said the gipsy, "be as cautious as you will! If you +hesitate to tell the story you have heard, I will tell it for you, +Captain de Vaux, as I know you have heard it, and stop me if I speak a +word that is false. Your grandfather, the twelfth Lord Dewry, left two +sons and one daughter, then nearly seventeen. His eldest son, who was +about six-and-twenty, succeeded to his title; and his second son, +Edward, your father, who was then at college, went soon after to +London to study for the bar. They were both as handsome men as you +could look upon; and of your father's life and conduct in the great +capital, as I know nothing with much certainty, so shall I say but +little--" + +"But it appears to me," interrupted De Vaux, "that such is the very +matter on which you are called to speak. I was born in London; and if +you can tell me nothing certain of my father's conduct in London, you +can tell me nothing to the purpose." + +"Patience! patience, sir, I pray you!" replied the gipsy; "I can tell +you much, though on your father's conduct in London I will spare you +as far as may be. William Lord Dewry, your uncle, was one of those men +such as the world seldom sees; full of fine and generous feelings, +kind, forgiving, noble, with enthusiasm such as the cold call folly, +and humanity such as the unfeeling term weakness, though the rectitude +of his own conduct was as unbending as yonder oak, and his enthusiasm +never led him to aught but what was just and good. For some years +after he succeeded to the title, he remained unmarried, and it was +generally supposed that he would continue to live as a single man. +Those who knew him better, however, felt sure that if ever chance +should throw in his way a woman who deserved his love, whose heart was +full of such feelings as his own, and whose mind was stored with +thoughts and wishes as high and noble as those which filled his own +bosom, he would not only offer to join his fate to hers, but would +love her as woman has seldom been loved on earth; that such a woman, +so loved, would become the great object of his being and his life, and +would concentrate on herself all those deep and ardent affections +which from his boyhood he had shown that his heart possessed. He did +at length, as you well know, find such a woman--full of all those +qualities which were so bright in himself--beautiful, accomplished, +and his equal in rank and fortune. He addressed himself at once to a +heart that was free and unengaged; and the same fine properties that +had won his love were sure to win her love for him. He was married, +and was happy beyond all that he had ever dreamed. He was happy; nay, +more, he was content! for the angel of his home was more than all he +had expected, and he sought and wished for nothing more. Every +feeling, every thought turned towards her; and though his kindness, +his benevolence, his philanthropy, were doubled rather than +diminished, yet no joy was any thing to the joy of his love. For +a year and six months he was as happy as any human thing can +be--happier, perhaps, than any human thing ever was before. I saw his +happiness; and, oh! how it made my heart expand to behold it! But then +suddenly came a change. His wife had given him a child--beautiful, I +hear she is, as her mother and good as her father; but ere the opening +of her infant mind could add anything to the happiness of her parents, +or afford even a momentary consolation to her father when distress +came, her mother was seized with sudden illness, and ere five days +were over she was dead." + +The gipsy paused, and seemed to sigh bitterly over the memories of the +past; while De Vaux, whose interest in all that concerned his beloved +Marian was hardly less than he felt for those things that affected +himself, waited anxiously to hear more; for though the story was not +unfamiliar to him, yet it was put in a new light, and told in a mild +and feeling tone, that gave it a thousand times more force than ever. +After a moment or two of silence the gipsy went on:--"What a change," +he continued, "came upon him then! The world seemed all forgotten. He +appeared as one struck with sudden blindness; and where he had beheld +nothing but beauty around him before, he now beheld nothing but a +blank. For hours and hours he would ride in solitude through the +country, unaccompanied even by a servant. He would pass his friends +when he met them as strangers, and when they spoke, would seem long +ere he remembered them. He forgot all enjoyment and all occupation, +and lived in the world as if it were not his proper place. Thus passed +the days for near two months, when, at the end of that time, he one +morning rode forth as usual alone; but he chanced--though it was +seldom he mentioned whither he went--he chanced to say that he was +going to the county town. He was known, too, to have a large sum of +money on his person; and as he passed by the house of Mrs. Falkland, +his sister, for it was at Dimden he always lived, he stopped for a few +minutes." + +"You seem to know the whole facts as minutely as if you had followed +him," said De Vaux, when the gipsy paused for a moment. + +"I do," said the gipsy; "and, if you will listen, you shall hear how. +When he left Mrs. Falkland's, her husband, who was then living, and a +noble, frank-hearted man, walked by his brother-in-law's horse as far +as the village, but there he left him, and Lord Dewry rode on. He was +seen by some boys who were playing in that field--can you see it? half +a mile nearer than the village, with a red barn at the side. But none +of the country people saw him after, and he never returned to the +hall. His servants, who all loved him, were alarmed, and sent over to +Mr. Falkland, and he despatched messengers to the county town, with +orders to inquire at the villages on the road; but no Lord Dewry was +to be heard of anywhere. The evening passed over in terror; night had +come on, and the family of Morley House were retiring late to rest, +when a messenger arrived from Mr. Arden the magistrate, to inform Mr. +Falkland that a gipsy--do you remark--a gipsy had just been taken up +upon the charge of beating a young peasant almost to death the day +before, and now made a voluntary declaration that he had seen the Lord +Dewry murdered at the elm-point, there down below, that very morning +at ten o'clock. Mr. Falkland instantly got upon horseback, and rode +over to see Mr. Arden; and it was agreed between them that the news +should instantly be sent to the Honourable Edward de Vaux, your +father, and that till he arrived nothing further should be asked of +the gipsy, except if he knew where the body of Lord Dewry might in any +likelihood be found. He said yes: it might be found at the sea; but +that if they would search in the reeds by the bank, they would find +the baron's hat, and that in some of the woods or meadows his horse +would be met with. Search was instantly made, and some of his words +proved true; for the hat, pierced through and through with a shot, was +found bloody among the reeds, and his horse was discovered grazing in +the meadows, four miles down, on the other side of the water. In the +mean time, the courier rode night and day to London, and when he +arrived, found the dead lord's brother at the playhouse. He was very +much shocked at the news, and instantly came down hither with one Sir +William Ryder, a good enough man, they said, at heart, but one who had +been fond of play, and had lost a fine fortune by that foolish +passion. When the new lord arrived, the gipsy was again brought up and +placed before him. A great many questions were asked, and he told this +story:--The young man he had beaten had foully ill-used a gipsy woman, +and he, the gipsy, had punished him, scarcely as he deserved. He had +left him for dead, however, on the ground; and thinking that if he +were dead the offence might bring trouble on his people, if he went +back to them, he hid himself in these woods, and on the morning of the +murder was lying down yonder, in the sweep of trees there, just at the +head of the point. He had been there all the morning, he said; and, as +the country people generally take the short way over the hill, he had +seen no one pass, till, about half-past nine o'clock, a man on +horseback came and backed in his horse between the two old elm-trees +that lie about five hundred yards farther up in the bite of the river. +He lay very still there to see what would come of it; and in about +half an hour he heard another horse's feet coming quickly up, and Lord +Dewry turned the point. The gipsy said that he thought to have sprung +out, and told him what he had seen; for his heart misgave him as to +the purpose of the other horseman; but just at the moment the other +came forth, and, riding quietly up, spoke with Lord Dewry calmly +enough for some minutes. They then seemed to get into high dispute, +and Lord Dewry pushed his horse on upon the road a little, while +following, and speaking at his side, the other suddenly drew a pistol +from his pocket, and fired right into the baron's head. At the same +moment, as he was falling from the saddle, the horse, taking fright, +plunged into the river, dragging him by the stirrup, and his hat fell +into the rushes. The other horseman looked after him for a moment; but +ere the swimming horse reached the opposite bank, he set spurs to his +own beast, and was galloping away, when at the turn he was met by +another. The gipsy could see them grasp each other's hands; but they +stopped not a moment to speak: the second turned his horse with the +first, and both galloped away like lightning. The gipsy plunged into +the water, he said, to see if he could bring out the body, as soon as +he saw that it had become disentangled from the stirrup; but it had +sunk to rise no more; and when he was tired with swimming he returned +to the woods. + +"Mr. Arden, the magistrate, said it was a very improbable story; but +asked the gipsy if he could recognise the man who had committed the +murder. The gipsy replied that he could, if he saw him, and could +swear to him whenever he was placed before him. Mr. Arden then said +that it would be better, under all circumstances, to commit the gipsy +at once for his other offences, when he would be always forthcoming to +give evidence if required; but as it was proved that the young man he +had beaten was hourly getting better, and acknowledged that he had +deserved the treatment he had received, the kind magistrate had no +other excuse to propose for committing the gipsy but that of his being +a rogue and a vagabond. In this, however, he was overruled by Lord +Dewry, the new Lord Dewry, after some private consultations with Sir +William Ryder. His lordship said, with a kind look to the gipsy, that +it would be cruel, he thought, to commit a man to prison for having +given voluntary evidence where it was much needed; and besides, that +he had reason to think very well of that gipsy, who had, in a degree, +been brought up by his father. Mr. Arden, however, suggested that the +gipsy himself might have been the murderer; and though Lord Dewry +treated the idea with contempt, yet the sturdy magistrate kept him in +custody, till, by the marks of the horse's feet, and many other +things, it was proved that his story must be true. In the mean time +Lord Dewry and Sir William Ryder were very kind to him, and took care +that he should want for nothing while he was detained. At length he +was liberated, and went to join his own people, promising to return +whenever he should be called upon, which every one felt sure he would +do, as he had been educated with the dead man, and loved him as a +brother. I need not tell you that I was that gipsy! + +"In the mean time," continued Pharold, "Mr. Edward de Vaux took the +titles and entered into possession of the estates held by his late +brother. The will of the last lord was found, and no one wondered that +in it he never mentioned his brother's name; for it was known to all +the world that they had had many a bitter dispute, and had long been, +not as brothers should be. His daughter, Miss De Vaux, and the care of +the splendid fortune which she inherited from her mother, were +intrusted to his sister, Mrs. Falkland, to Mrs. Falkland's husband, +and to a distant relation. + +"All his servants and friends were remembered by the dead nobleman, +and almost every one that he knew was named except his own brother. +The world did wonder, then, that that brother, with a singular +generosity, resigned in favour of his niece many things that he might +have claimed as belonging to the male heir, and treated all questions +between them, in regard to property, with unexampled liberality. When +he had settled all things, and retained a number of his brother's +domestics, he ordered the hall at Dewry to be put in order; not loving +the part of the country where his brother had been murdered. Thither, +then, he went, after he had arranged his affairs in London, bringing +down with him a young gentleman of seven years' old, his only son, and +supposed heir to all the property." + +"And my mother!" cried De Vaux, raising his head from his hands, in +which position he had been sitting while listening to the gipsy's +story; for during its course he had been agitated by many a strange, +but ill-defined, emotion. The story of his uncle's murder had always +been one on which his mind had rested with awe and pain from his very +childhood; but though he had heard it often told, both as a whole and +in detached fragments, yet he had never listened to such minute +details as were now given by an eye-witness of the horrible event, who +seemed prepared to connect it, too, by some vague and unexplained +link, with the painful assertions which had been made in regard to his +own doubtful situation. The very expectation, or rather apprehension, +of some horrible disclosure to follow at every word the gipsy uttered, +had troubled and shaken him greatly; and the name of Sir William +Ryder--a person who, it appeared, was then most intimate with his +father, but who, it was clear, had since become the object of his most +determined hatred--had added deeper feeling of mysterious dread to all +those thoughts by which he was already perturbed. What could be the +meaning of all this? whither would it lead? how was it to end? were +the questions which continually pressed upon him as the gipsy +proceeded; and it appeared even a relief, when Pharold's last words +seemed to bring his ideas back from the new and dreadful topics on +which they had been engaged, to the subject of his former doubts and +suspicions. + +"And my mother!" he cried, as the gipsy paused, "what of her?" + +"Nothing, that I know," replied Pharold, apparently with some +surprise; "nothing but that she was a Spanish lady, who married your +father privately, after breaking her vows in a convent." + +"Then they were married?" cried De Vaux, eagerly. + +"Certainly!" answered the gipsy: "I never heard it doubted; though he +kept her from all his family, and used her ill; which was one of the +causes of his quarrels with his brother. But she was dead before he +came down here to take possession of his brother's lands. But let me +tell my tale." + +De Vaux again leaned his head upon his hands; every thing once more +becoming dark and misty around him. "Go on! go on!" he said; "go on, +and keep me not in suspense, for Heaven's sake!" + +"I have now told you," continued Pharold, "the story of your family as +it went forth to the world, and as you most likely have heard it +yourself. It is a goodly tale, and just such as could be desired under +such circumstances! The picture is, indeed, a dark and painful one: +but it has another side more dark and painful still; and ere you look +at it, nerve your mind firmly, young gentleman; for if you be such as +I believe you are, filled with honourable feelings and kindly +affections, your very soul will writhe under all you have to hear." + +De Vaux waved his hand for him to go on; and the gipsy +continued:--"You have heard the world's version of the story; you must +now hear the gipsy's. My early history you know; for a year and nine +months I was brought up with your uncle and your father. Your uncle +ever loved me--your father never: but he was too proud to seek to +injure me; and when I left the false restraints of what you call +society, to go back to my own race and my native freedom, he and I +were friends, as far as we could be. + +"Your uncle I often returned to see, though longer and longer became +my absence, and greater and greater my contempt for gilded halls and +mercenary slaves in laced jackets. I took a pleasure, however, a +secret pleasure, in marking and learning all the doings of the man I +loved best on earth; and sometimes, though my distaste to fine +dwellings and insolent lackeys had grown into a diseased abhorrence +that would not let me cross the lordly threshold of Dimden, yet often +would I meet him in the park or in the walks, and hold a brief +conversation with him in the free air. It was after an absence from +this part of the country of near two years that I came back, and found +that his heart had been withered by the death of her he loved. I was +seeking for an opportunity of meeting him, when the offence was given +to an unhappy woman of our tribe, which called for vengeance at my +hand; and I was forced to conceal myself till I could learn what were +the ultimate consequences of the punishment that I had inflicted. I +hid myself, as I have told you, in that wood; and all the rest that I +said before the magistrate is true: but I said not all the truth. I +saw the horseman station himself between the elms; I saw Lord Dewry +ride up, and they met; I heard the words they spoke; I saw him ride +on, and I saw the other follow, though little did I dream his purpose; +I saw him draw the pistol from his bosom; I saw it raised, and the +shot fired that struck the good lord down--and the hand that fired it, +young man--the hand that fired it was his brother's!" + +"It is false!" cried De Vaux, starting up and half-drawing his sword; +"it is as false as hell itself!" + +"It is as true as yon stars in heaven!" replied the gipsy, calmly but +sternly; and a long pause followed, while Pharold stood erect and +tranquil before the son of him whom he had charged with so fearful a +crime, and De Vaux gazed on him with a countenance in which the +workings of all the manifold passions that such terrible tidings +produced were fearfully visible. "Will you hear me out?" demanded the +gipsy at length. + +"I will," said De Vaux, casting himself down again upon the tree; "I +will! but think not to escape me. You have made a dreadful charge; and +as there is a God in heaven, you shall show me that it is true before +I quit you!" and leaning his head again upon his hand, he kept his +eyes fixed upon the gipsy, as if fearful that he should elude him, +till he came to parts of the details that made his hearer again bury +his face in his hands. + +"I will!" continued Pharold; "I will show you that what I have uttered +is true; for it was to that purpose that I brought you here. But be +more calm, and let me tell you all the circumstances which might lead +him to the terrible act that he committed." + +"He committed it not!" murmured De Vaux; but the gipsy went on as if +he had not heard him. "I have since heard all the facts," he +proceeded, "from one who knew them too well; the only one, indeed, +besides myself. Edward de Vaux, the younger of the two brothers, was a +man of extravagant tastes and habits. He went early and often into +other countries, and there he learned expensive vices and follies. I +would not pain you; but he gamed deeply, and lived sumptuously, while +your mother lived neglected, and fared but hardly. What he inherited +from his father was but small; what he acquired was nothing; what he +squandered came from the liberality of his brother; and often his +demands were more than any liberality could supply. Lord Dewry +remonstrated and entreated, but in vain; and much and nobly, have I +heard, did he offer to do for him, if he would retire into the +country, and treat your mother well. But she died, and that cause of +dispute was removed by her death. All check, indeed, seemed now cast +away by her husband. He gamed more deeply than ever; lost all; applied +to his brother; was refused, and then staked what he did not possess. +He lost. Sir William Ryder, his great friend, joined him in an +engagement to pay the sum within a certain time; but shortly before +the period arrived, Mr. De Vaux was not to be found by his friend. Sir +William thought that he had evaded him in order to cast the whole debt +upon his shoulders; and, learning the route he had taken, followed at +full speed; traced him step by step, and overtook him--at the very +moment he had murdered his brother. Horrified, but confused and +bewildered, before he well comprehended what he was doing, Sir William +became a participator in the crime, by promising to conceal all that +he had seen; and setting spurs to their horses, they arrived in London +by different by-roads, in so short a space of time that it seemed +impossible they could have done the distance. Well knowing that he +must soon be sent for, the heir of the dead man took care to show +himself in every place where his presence in London would be marked +and remembered, in case of necessity; and he was found, as I have +said, at the play-house. What sort of hell was in his heart, as he sat +and saw mockeries and pageants, I know not." + +"But your story halts, sir," said De Vaux, sternly; "how could he know +at what exact spot his brother would be found at that precise time? +How could he--" + +"By that letter!" said the gipsy, placing abruptly an old but +well-preserved paper in his hands, on which the regular post marks +were easily discernible. + +"But I cannot read it by this faint light," said De Vaux, attempting +to make out the contents, after gazing at the address; "what is its +purport?" + +"I will tell you," replied the gipsy, striking a light with a flint +and touchwood that he carried; "I will tell you; though you shall soon +be able to satisfy yourself. It is your uncle's letter to your father, +telling him that he has not sufficient money at his banker's to meet +his fresh demand; but that, if he will be at the inn at the county +town of ----, at noon of the eighteenth of May--the very day of the +murder--he will give him the sum of five thousand pounds, which is all +he can collect without burdening himself for other people's faults, in +a manner that he does not choose to do. There!" he continued, lighting +a few dry sticks; "there is light enough to read!" + +De Vaux read the letter. It was such exactly as the gipsy described: +it was written in a hand which he remembered from other papers he had +seen to be that of his uncle; it was dated four days before his death, +signed with his name, sealed with his arms, directed to his brother, +and by the post marks had evidently been received. Conviction was +forcing itself painfully upon his mind, but drowning men will catch at +straws; and he hoped yet to find some flaw in the horrible history he +heard, and to be enabled to give it the lie to his own heart. He +returned the letter; and folding his arms upon his breast, bade the +gipsy go on; while, with a knitted brow and quivering lip, he +continued gazing upon vacancy, suffering his mind to roam wildly +through a thousand painful thoughts and memories, but without letting +one word escape his ear. + +"By this letter," continued the gipsy, "did he know exactly when his +brother would set out for the town of ----; and he knew his habits, +too, well enough to arrange the rest of his plan. But crime is always +agitated; and it is thus that even the coolest and most determined +ever leave some trace behind by which murder may be detected. Your +uncle came not so soon as he had expected, and he took the letter from +his pocket to be sure that he himself had not overstepped the hour. +Just as he was reading, the horse's feet which bore Lord Dewry +sounded, and he hastily thrust back the paper, as he thought, into his +pocket; but it fell, and I saw it, and forgot it not afterward. When +the deed was done, he paused for a moment gazing upon the swimming +horse, and the sinking form of his brother, as it detached itself from +the stirrup, and without even a struggle the waters closed over his +head; and I am as sure as there is a heaven above us, that at that +instant the murderer would have given lands and lordships--nay, life +itself--to have recalled the irrevocable act that he had done. He +could gaze at it no longer; but striking his spurs into his horse like +a madman, he turned back the way he came. Just at the turn of the wood +he was met by Sir William Ryder; what he said I know not, but he +grasped his hand for a moment, and then galloped away, followed by the +other. Ere he had gone far his coolness had returned; for before he +came down here all his plans had been arranged, and his conduct +decided. He had questioned the messenger, too, and had heard the +evidence that I had given; and though I had declared that I could +swear to the person, he felt sure, from my _not_ swearing to him, that +I either did not really know him, or had determined to conceal my +knowledge. At all events, he had no resource but to front the matter; +and he did so boldly. When I was brought into the justice room, I +could see that he turned a little pale, and at the same time he put up +his finger to his lip, in a way that I might take for a signal or not +as I pleased. I repeated all I had said before, nay, I went further, +and described exactly the appearance of the murderer, but such +descriptions are always loose; and no one asked me whether any of +those present was the man--" + +"Would you have said yes if they had?" interrupted De Vaux. + +"I do not well know what I might have done," replied the gipsy, "but +I think not. What use would it have been to me to destroy the son of +one who had loved and cherished me? He had committed an awful crime, +it is true--but I was not the avenger. Besides, I knew that vengeance, +in its intensity tenfold more terrible than aught that man could +inflict, was in his heart already,--that there was a serpent eating it +up,--that the mighty, the almighty Avenger of all crimes was there in +his terrors, and that every hour of his after-existence would be +constant judgment and continual death. No, no! on my life, I did not +so much hate as pity him. At night, after I had been removed from the +justice room, I heard the door of the chamber, in which they had +confined me, open, and Sir William Ryder came in with a light. He was +a fine-hearted man, though he had been misled; and although the real +murderer had shown himself but little shaken, yet through the whole of +my examination he, Sir William Ryder, had been agitated, as I could +see, to his very soul. Both he and the other, however, whether to make +me a friend or what matters little, had done all they could to soften +the hardness of old Squire Arden, as he was called; but Sir William +now came to me to see what I did know, and how far they could trust +me. It was a difficult task; and had he gone about it as cunningly as +some would have done, he might have failed with me. But he was too +much moved for that. He spoke kindly to me, however, and told me that +Lord Dewry was very much interested for me, and would take care of me, +and I told him at once to bid Lord Dewry take care of himself, for his +was the case of danger, and not mine. So then he said that he saw I +knew more than I had spoken, and that Lord Dewry was grateful to me. +'Call him not by a title that is not his,' I answered; 'for I know +that the patent of their nobility bears, that if any of the family, +judged according to law, be found guilty of a felony, he and his +children are to be considered dead, their line extinct, and the next +heir to claim as if they were not.' He answered that that mattered +not, for that his friend had not been found guilty of any felony, nor +ever would; and that he had only to say, if I would quit the kingdom, +till he gave me leave to return, he would secure me the sum of one +thousand pounds directly, and a pension for my life. I said I would +think of it, and tell him when I was at liberty; and I was very soon +after set free. Sir William Ryder did not fail to find me out, +however; and it was agreed between us that I should go; and that he +should meet me at the sea-port where I embarked, and there give me the +money. + +"It took a time, however, to move the tribe to the port, and some were +unwilling to go without knowing the reason. So we divided, some going +with me, some betaking themselves to their own way. I saw Sir William +Ryder often, and when I wrote to him to tell him that we were near a +sea-port in Wales, he came down directly, and visited the encampment. +He told me that he, too, was about to set out for America, and +intended to spend the rest of his life in the colonies. 'I will try,' +he said, 'by devoting the remainder of my days to doing good, and +walking uprightly with all men, to efface from my memory the traces of +many follies and of one great crime, in which I have not been a +sharer, indeed, but which I have aided to conceal.' The second day, +however, that he came out to us, his horse took fright at a monkey, +which some of our people had among the tents, and threw him violently. +He broke his collar-bone and several of his ribs, and being carried +into a hut, we all nursed him tenderly. I found him better than I +thought, and learned to love him; and under our care he got well +sooner than if all the doctors in the world had seen him. While he was +recovering it was that I learned how all had happened; and he tried to +persuade himself and to make me believe that the murder had been +committed in a moment of passion, and not by design, or that his +friend was distracted with anxiety and distress at the moment that he +committed it. When he left us for America I went away to Ireland. I +have since seen many other lands, and have lived for some years in +Scotland, but I never returned to this country of England till about +three weeks ago." + +The gipsy paused, and De Vaux remained as he had placed himself, with +his head bent down almost to his knees, and his eyes buried in his +extended hands. He continued silent long, bowed down by a sense of +misery, and humiliation, and despair. What would he have given at that +moment to have all his former apprehensions confirmed, if the present +terrible doubts could have been thereby swept away!--doubts, indeed, +they could scarcely now be called, for the gipsy's story was too +consistent in every part, was too much combined with facts within his +own knowledge, was too clear an explanation of many parts of his +father's conduct--his gloom, his reserve, his irritation, his +agitation at the very name of Sir William Ryder--for him to entertain +any thing but one of those faint, lingering, insane hopes, which death +itself is the only thing that can extinguish. But, for the moment, the +thought of whether there were still a doubt had merged itself in the +more agonizing ideas of what must be his fate if the story were true. +His own father! How could he ever behold him again? How was he to act +towards him? What was he to do? Then came the idea of Marian in all +her beauty, in all her gentleness, in all her generous love; and he +felt that she could never be his; that the blood of her father placed +between them an obstacle that could never be removed; that no time, no +change, no effort could ever cast down that dreadful barrier; that at +the very moment when his passionate love had been raised by her noble +conduct almost to adoration was the moment at which he must sacrifice +her for ever! And how must he sacrifice her? How must he act towards +her? He could not, he dared not explain, by even a single word, the +cause of that sacrifice; he could not tell her what had happened; he +could not even have the blessing of weeping with her over their +blighted hopes. Whichever way he turned, it was all horror and +destruction; and the brain of the unhappy young man seemed to reel +with the agony he suffered. He spoke not; he could hardly be said to +think; it was all one frightful dream of misery and despair. He felt +that his fate, as far as happiness was concerned, was sealed for ever; +and yet a thousand whirling and inconsistent visions rushed upon his +brain regarding his future conduct. How--how was he to act? What--what +was he to do? At one moment he thought of going instantly to his +father's presence, of telling him he knew all, and of ending his own +life before him, to cast off the intolerable burden of thought and +sensation; but then he remembered all that his father had already +suffered; called to mind the deep and gloomy pondering--the solitary +meditations, and the never-smiling lip--the bursts of wild and +impatient passion, the hollow cheek, the sunken eye, and all the +indications of a heart torn and mangled by remorse; and that idea +vanished in filial sorrow. At another time he thought of burying +himself deep in the wilds of America, of joining some Indian tribe, +and hiding his name and its disgrace in scenes to which Europeans +never penetrated; but then again the idea of Marian, and of never, +never seeing her more, overcame him with fresh anguish. He knew not +where to turn his eyes for guide or direction; he knew not how to act; +he knew not whither to go: every place was hopeless--every view +presented but despair; and, after a long and terrible silence, one +deep and bitter groan found its way to his lips. + +The gipsy's heart was moved for him; and, after gazing upon him for +several minutes, he said, "I grieve from my very heart to pain you +thus; but yet, young man, be comforted: there is a balm for all +things." + +The very words of comfort, however, proceeding from the same tongue +that had destroyed all his happiness for ever, roused De Vaux almost +to phrensy; and, starting up, he exclaimed, "Either what you have told +me is false, or you must know that there is no comfort for me on +earth! What balm do you mean?" + +"The balm of time," replied the gipsy, unmoved, "which, as I know by +the experience of many sorrows, can take the venom from the most +cankered wound!" + +De Vaux glared at him for a moment as if he would have struck him to +the earth, and then--for there are some loads of misery which are too +vast for the human mind to comprehend or to believe at first--and then +replied, "I believe you have been deceiving me, and wo be unto you if +you have! Have you any other proof," he cried, striving eagerly to +catch at a doubt; "have you any other proof? If so, produce it +quickly!" + +"I am not deceiving you, young gentleman," answered the gipsy; "and I +can forgive both your anger and your unbelief." + +"But the proof! the proof!" cried De Vaux; "have you any other proof?" + +"I have," answered Pharold, "and I will produce it, though the letter +I have shown you is proof enough. I grieve for you, sir, but you must +not injure me." + +"The letter you may have stolen," replied De Vaux, fiercely, "or found +it years afterward. What other proof have you? Give me some other +proof, and I will believe you." + +"You believe me already at your heart," answered the gipsy; "but the +other proof is this:--I have said that the murderer gazed for a moment +after his victim, and that I saw that he gazed in deep and terrible +remorse. Know you how I saw that it was so? Thus: The moment that the +shot was fired, and that his brother was falling, his hand let the +pistol drop from his grasp, and he sat on his horse motionless as a +statue, as if the deed he had done had turned him into stone; nor did +he move hand or limb till he turned and galloped away as if the fiends +of hell were pursuing him. The pistol was not lost any more than the +letter; and happy for him was it that they both fell into the hands of +one who concealed them carefully; for had they been found by any +other, your father might have ended his days upon a scaffold more than +twenty years ago. You ask for more proof. Look there! that is the +weapon, and you know the arms of a younger brother of your race too +well to doubt me longer." + +De Vaux took the pistol which the gipsy produced. It was curiously +inlaid with silver, and the arms of his family embossed upon the +stock. He had once seen one, and only one, precisely similar in the +hands of his father, when he came upon him by accident in his private +study. His father had put it away in haste into a chest that contained +it; and, with a pale cheek and quivering lip, had reproved his son for +breaking in upon his privacy. De Vaux now saw the fellow-weapon of the +one he had then beheld: the last faint gleam of hope left his heart +for ever; and striking his hand upon his bosom, and groaning in the +bitterness of his heart, he cast himself frantically down upon the +cold ground. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +It is a wonder that man ever smiles; for there is something so strange +and awful in the hourly uncertainty of our fate--in the atmosphere of +darkness and insecurity that surrounds our existence--in the troops of +dangers to our peace and to our being that ride invisible upon every +moment as it flies--that man is, as it were, like a blind man in the +front of a great battle, where his hopes and his joys are being swept +down on every side, and in which his own existence must terminate at +length, in some undefined hour, and some unknown manner--and yet he +smiles as if he were at a pageant! + +Were his smile the smile of faith and confidence in the great, good +Being who sees the struggle and prepares the reward, he might smile +unshaken indeed; but, alas, alas! is it so? I fear but seldom. + +There are few things on earth more melancholy than when one is +burdened with some evil news to see those whom it is destined to +plunge into grief full of gay life and happiness, enjoying the bright +moments as if there were nothing but pleasure in the world. There is +something awful in it! It brings home to our own hearts the fearful +fact that, at the very instant when we are at the height of joy, some +remote, unseen, unknown, unexpected agents may be performing acts +destined to blast our happiness for ever. There is something +mysterious in it, too; for it shows us that at the very moment when +our state is in reality the most miserable upon earth, we are often +giving ourselves up to the most wild and rapturous gayety, solely +because some other tongue has not spoken in our ear a few conventional +sounds which the inhabitant of another land would not understand, but +which, as soon as they are spoken, plunge us from the height of joy +down into the depth of despair. + +On the third morning of Colonel Manners's stay at Morley House, and on +which he expected letters that would give him a fair excuse for +abridging his visit, he rose as early, but came down somewhat later +than usual. He still, however, expected to find himself earlier than +the rest of the family; but on passing the music-room, the door of +which was ajar, he heard the notes of a harpsichord--the solace and +delight of our worthy ancestors--mingling with some gay voices +talking; and, taking the prescriptive right of opening quite all +half-opened doors, he walked in, and found Miss Falkland at the +instrument, speaking cheerfully, over her shoulder, to Miss De Vaux, +who stood behind. + +A slight complaining cry on the part of the lazy hinges made both +ladies turn their eyes towards it; and Isadore smiled as she did so, +while a faint colour spread itself deepening over Marian's soft +cheek--perhaps she might expect to see some one else than Colonel +Manners, and be just sufficiently disappointed to say something civil +and kind to him on his entrance, as a sort of compensation for the bad +compliment she paid him at the bottom of her heart. + +"Isadore was just talking of you, Colonel Manners," she said, looking +towards her cousin, as if leaving her to explain in what manner. + +"There is a proverb to that effect, madam," replied Manners, smiling; +"but I am always glad to find myself subject of discourse to those I +esteem, if the matter be not censure at least. May I be let into the +secret?" + +"Oh, beyond all doubt," replied Isadore. "The fact is, De Vaux +betrayed you last night, Colonel Manners; and told me, without even +binding me to secrecy, that you sing remarkably well." + +"He did me injustice, I assure you," replied Manners; "but if that be +'the head and front of my offence,' I can prove myself innocent of +singing remarkably well at any time you like." + +"No time like the present, Colonel Manners," said Isadore. "It wants +full half an hour to breakfast, and there is nothing on earth so +painful as to live in long-drawn expectation of such things. Will you +sing, Colonel Manners?" + +"I believe," he replied, "that there is some superstitious penalty +attached to singing before breakfast; but nevertheless I will dare the +adventure if you have any music that I know, for the sin of +accompanying myself I commit not." + +"Do you know that?" asked Miss Falkland; "or that! or that?" + +"No, indeed," answered Colonel Manners; "but I know the air of this +one, and have sung it more than once to different words, the +composition of a lady possessing no small poetical powers. I will try +to recollect them now; though, to speak the truth, it is doing some +injustice to the lines to take them from the drama for which they were +designed, and apply them to an old song." + +"Oh, never mind; we will make all due allowances," replied Miss +Falkland; "am I to accompany you, or Marian!--Oh, very well, with all +my heart! Is it to be the time of a monody or a jig?" + +"Not too fast, if you please," replied Colonel Manners; and Miss +Falkland accompanying him, he sang the following lines to an air, +which was then not very new, but which is now in all probability lost +to posterity. + + + SONG. + + "I woo thee not as others woo, + I flatter not as others do, + Nor vow that I adore; + I cannot laugh, I cannot smile. + Nor use, as they, each courtly wile, + But oh, I love thee more. + + "The rich, the noble, and the great, + Offer thee wealth, and power, and state, + And fortunes running o'er! + How can I smile, when none of these + Give me the worldly power to please, + Though I may love thee more? + + "And yet I hope, because I love + With thoughts that set thee far above + Vain Fortune's glittering store. + Others may deem thou canst be won + By things that sparkle in the sun, + But oh, I love thee more. + + "I do believe that unto thee + Truth, honour, plain sincerity, + Are jewels far before + All that the others think are dear; + And yet far more than they I fear, + Because I love thee more. + + "I love thee more than all the train + Who flaunt, who flatter, and who feign, + And vow that they adore: + I love thee as men loved of yore-- + Ah, no, I love thee more--far more + Than man e'er loved before." + + +"I do not think I could have resisted those verses well sung," cried +Isadore, smiling as he concluded, if I had been the most disdainful +beauty that ever carried a hawk upon her glove in the days of old. +"What do you say, Marian?" + +"I do not know how far my powers of resistance might go," answered +Marian de Vaux, "but I should very much like to hear the rest of the +story. You say that it is in a drama, Colonel Manners, I think; pray, +can it be procured?" + +"I am afraid not," answered Manners: "it is the writing of a lady, and +has never been given to the world; at least, as far as I know." + +"But at all events tell us the fate of the lover," exclaimed Isadore; +"that you are bound to do in common charity, after having excited our +curiosity." + +"Oh, he is made happy, of course," he replied, "as all lovers are, or +should be." + +"Say _true lovers_, if you please, Colonel Manners," cried Isadore, +"and then I will agree; but if a woman were to make happy, as you +gentlemen call it before you are married, every impertinent personage +who comes up, and making you a low bow, with his hat under his arm, +asks you, 'Pray, madam, will you marry me?' as if he were asking you +merely to walk a minuet, she would have enough to do, I can assure +you." + +"I can easily conceive it," answered Manners, laughing; "but what a +clamorous summons that bell makes! pray does it ring for breakfast +every morning? I did not near it yesterday." + +"That was because you were out having your fortune told when it rang, +Colonel Manners," replied Miss Falkland; "but it rings every morning +at this hour, and if Mrs. Falkland is not down, it falls to my lot to +make the tea. Wherefore I must now remove to the breakfast-room." + +Thus saying, she led the way, while her cousin and Colonel Manners +followed; and the hot and shining urn having taken its wonted place, +she proceeded with the breakfast arrangements, while the butler +bustled about, first at the sideboard, and then at the table, looking +ever and anon at the two young ladies, and then at Colonel Manners, +and then at the fire-place, till, having nothing further to do, he was +obliged to retire. + +"Gibson looks as if he had some vast secret upon his mind," said +Isadore, speaking to her cousin; "did you see, Marian, how he moved +about? You must know, Colonel Manners, that that old gentleman is a +very privileged person in our family, and often condescends to pour +forth the secrets of the village upon us, in despite of all our +struggles and reluctance." + +"I am sorry he did not gratify himself this morning," said Manners: +"there are few things more delightful than a village story well told." + +"You were the great obstacle, I am afraid," replied Miss Falkland: "he +has his own peculiar notions of decorum, and a visiter is pretty sure +of reverence; but I do believe, from his extreme alacrity this +morning, that he would have even disregarded your presence had a +single word been said to him. But I did not choose to gratify him even +by a word; for I knew if I had but said, 'Gibson, bring more butter,' +he would instantly have burst forth with, 'Yes, miss, I'll tell you +all about it. The park-keeper's daughter's husband's sister--' and so +he would have gone on for an hour." + +Colonel Manners could not help laughing, and even Marian smiled at the +manner in which her gay cousin imitated the old man's prolixity; but +at the same time there was an expression of anxiety on Miss De Vaux's +countenance which nothing but the presence of Edward de Vaux could +have done away. He had not yet come down, however, and the next person +who entered was Mrs. Falkland, whose first observation, after the +common salutations of the morning, was, "Why--is not Edward down? +surely he has not grown a sluggard in the wars!" + +"Oh no, my dear aunt," replied Marian; "I dare say he was down before +we were up, for he told me last night that he was going out early this +morning, but would be back to breakfast." + +The old butler was just at that moment entering with a partridge pie; +and halting in the midst, he exclaimed, "No, indeed, Miss Marian; no, +indeed! Master Edward has not come down, because he has never been +up." + +"Never been up!" said Mrs. Falkland, mistaking the man's meaning; +"then you had better send up his servant to wake him, Gibson. But why +are you so pale, Marian? what is the matter?" + +"Oh, that is not it at all, ma'am," replied the butler, taking upon +himself to answer for all parties. "Mr. De Vaux has never been in bed +last night, ma'am. His servant told me so this minute. There is the +bed turned down, says he, just as the housemaid left it, and his +slippers standing by the great chair, and his hat, and sword, and +riding-coat gone." + +"Nay, Marian, do not look so alarmed," said Isadore, laying her hand +affectionately upon that of her cousin. "This will prove all airy +nothing, depend upon it; but you had better come away with me, love, +and leave mamma and Colonel Manners to sift it; for you will only +agitate yourself more than is at all necessary by listening to the +miraculous conjectures of every different servant in the house." + +"No, no; I would a great deal rather hear all, Isadore," answered +Marian, in her usual calm tone, though the excessive paleness which +had spread over her countenance evinced clearly enough that her heart +was any thing but at ease. "You had better send for Edward's servant, +my dear aunt." + +Her suggestion was instantly followed, and De Vaux's servant, who had +been an old soldier, entered the room, and stood at ease before the +party assembled round the breakfast-table. + +"Colonel Manners, will you be so kind"--said Mrs. Falkland. + +"Most certainly, my dear madam," replied Manners, understanding her +meaning as well as if she had expressed it. "When did you see your +master last, William?" + +"Last night, sir, at twenty minutes to twelve," said the man. "Did he +seem as if he were about to go to bed?" demanded Manners. + +"No, sir," replied the servant. "He made me give him his dressing-gown +and slippers, but told me not to wait, for that he had a great deal to +write before he could go to bed." + +Marian's face cleared up a little, for she was glad to imagine that +De Vaux might have sat up writing on all the many subjects which she +knew occupied his mind till daylight had appeared, and might then have +set out at once for the gipsy encampment; but Colonel Manners +proceeded:--"Do you know at what time any of the other servants were +up?" + +"The groom and I were up at five, sir," replied the man, "and it was +just dawning then; but as we went along the corridor I saw my master's +door ajar, and thinking I must have left it so by carelessness, I just +pulled it gently to." + +"Were all the horses in the stable?" asked Colonel Manners. + +"All, sir," answered the servant. + +"And now, William, in what state did you find your master's room?" +demanded Mrs. Falkland. + +"Why, madam, I found that nobody had been in bed, clearly enough," +replied the man; "and I found, too, that Captain De Vaux had put off +his dressing-gown and slippers, and put on his riding-coat and boots; +and I remarked, also, that the curtains of one of the windows were +undrawn, and the window itself open." + +"Oh, then, I dare say he went out after daylight," said Colonel +Manners, "and will soon be back. Shall we ask him any thing further, +my dear madam?" + +Mrs. Falkland had nothing more to inquire, and the man was dismissed. + +"It is as well," said Manners, who knew that De Vaux was the man of +all others to be very much mortified, if he came back and found that +his absence had been made unnecessarily a nine-day's wonder of--"it is +as well to treat this business as quietly as possible, though, I +confess, it does seem to me strange that De Vaux should go out so +early, so very early, as to be seen by none of the servants, and also +should never have gone to bed; but I think Miss De Vaux said just now +that he mentioned his intention of going out very early." + +"I did so," replied Marian, colouring slightly, from a feeling of +embarrassment, in regard to disclosing any part of all that her cousin +had confided to her, and yet painfully anxious on his account. "He +intended to go to speak with somebody, who gave you, I think, a letter +for him yesterday, Colonel Manners." + +Manners was not a little anxious for his friend also; but he saw +Marian's still deeper anxiety, and he strove tenderly to avoid giving +her greater pain than necessary, while he yet continued to investigate +the cause of her lover's absence. "Oh, if he be gone to that person +who gave me the letter," he said, "De Vaux is safe enough; but, +perhaps, he may not be back for an hour or two, as it is a long way, +and they may have much to speak of; but yet, Mrs. Falkland, I should +like, if you could make an excuse for sending for the housemaid who +usually washes the stone steps, to ask her one or two questions." + +"Certainly," answered Mrs. Falkland. "If you will ring the bell, I +will find some excuse." + +The housemaid was accordingly sent for; and holding fast either +corner of her apron, presented herself before the company in the +breakfast-room. Mrs. Falkland then asked her one or two questions of +no particular moment, and Colonel Manners next demanded, somewhat to +the girl's surprise, "The mornings are becoming frosty now, are they +not, my good girl?" + +"Oh, that they are, sir," answered she. "It was all as white this +morning as if it had snowed last night." + +"And did you see any marks of feet upon the steps?" demanded Manners. + +"No, sir, none," replied the girl. + +"Are you sure?" repeated Colonel Manners. + +"Oh, quite sure, sir," she replied; "for I washed and whitened the +steps with my own two hands, and cold work it was; and I must have +seen steps if there had been any." + +After this answer she was dismissed, courtesying low, and not +ungracefully. + +"I dare say he will soon come back," said Colonel Manners, when the +woman was gone; "and, at all events, if he be with the person who gave +me the letter, he is in no danger, I am sure." + +Both Mrs. Falkland and her daughter perceived that Manners, at least, +if not Marian, spoke with a slight touch of mystery concerning the +letter and its sender, but, of course, they asked no questions; and +Colonel Manners's assurance that his friend was in no danger served in +some degree to tranquilize Marian. The breakfast, as may be supposed, +passed over dully enough, for every one was more anxious than they +chose to show, and their anxiety was, of course, increased by every +minute as it flew. Each passing step that made itself heard in the +breakfast-room, the sound of every opening door, caused Marian's heart +to beat, and Isadore to look round, but still the person for whose +return they were so anxious did not appear; and however slowly the +minutes flew, so many of them passed away at length as to justify +serious alarm. + +The time had now lingered on till eleven had struck by the clock in +the hall, and some very painful remembrances of all that had taken +place at the death of her beloved brother were recalled to the mind of +Mrs. Falkland by the unaccountable absence of her nephew. Isadore, +with all her natural cheerfulness, was anxious and silent; but it was +scarcely possible to express all the painful emotions that thrilled in +the bosom of Marian de Vaux. Manners, for his part--though his +feelings as a man were, of course, essentially different from those of +the persons by whom he was now surrounded--was far more alarmed about +his friend's absence than he liked to admit, and somewhat undecided in +regard to what he should do himself, under existing circumstances. He +wished much to go and seek his friend; but he did not like to do so +till the length of time was sufficient to warrant the conclusion that +some accident must have befallen him; and at the same time he +reflected, that during his absence some news might arrive which would +render his presence and assistance necessary at Morley House. At +length, however, he could master his impatience no longer; and, +ringing the bell, he said, with as much appearance of unconcern as he +could command, "I think, my dear madam, that it may be as well for me +to go and see if I can hear any thing of De Vaux, in the direction +which his fair cousin imagines that he has taken. I do not, indeed, +think that there is any cause for alarm; but it may quiet your mind." + +"Oh yes, yes! pray do, Colonel Manners," cried Marian, starting up, +and clasping her hands. "I beg your pardon for asking you such a +thing; but, indeed, it will be a very great consolation." + +"If it afford you the slightest comfort, my dear young lady," replied +Colonel Manners, "it will be the greatest pleasure to me. Will you +send my servant?" he added as the butler appeared. The servant came +promptly: for the anxiety of the parlour soon finds its way, in a +greater or less degree, to the servant's hall; and all the domestics +at Morley House were as much on the alert as the garrison of a newly +invested fort. + +"Put my saddle on the gray directly," said Colonel Manners; "saddle +Amherst for yourself, and bid Captain De Vaux's servant get a horse +ready to come with me." The man retired. "I will just put myself in +riding costume, and be down directly," Manners added; and leaving the +ladies still gazing in melancholy guise from the windows of the +breakfast-room, he retired to his own apartment. + +Long before the horses could be ready, however, he had rejoined them, +and was in the act of saying, "Now, I think, Mrs. Falkland, with three +old soldiers upon the search, we must soon be able to bring you +tidings of your nephew; and, I trust, perfectly satisfactory tidings +too," when the butler again made his appearance. The terror expressed +upon his countenance, and his first exclamation of, "Oh, ma'am!" +instantly sent every drop of blood from Marian's cheek back to her +heart. Colonel Manners would fain have stopped a communication +which was evidently alarming, and which might not only be a +confirmation of their worst fears, but be told in the most abrupt and +most painful manner; but it was too late, and the old man went on, +"Oh, madam, here is John Harwood, who has the cottage on t'other side +of the point, come up to say, that last night, about one o'clock, he +heard shots fired in the wood, and he's afraid there's been bad +business there." + +Marian dropped down where she stood, as if she had been struck with +lightning, and for the time all attention was called towards her. +Colonel Manners aided to carry the fair unhappy girl to her room; and +then leaving her to the care of her female relations, he returned +to question both the butler and the peasant, whose intelligence had so +much increased their alarm. On inquiry, however, he found that old +Gibson's taste for the sublime and horrible had given greater effect +to John Harwood's tale than it deserved. + +The man had simply heard shots fired, and his own natural conclusion +had been, that poachers were busy in the wood, of which, as a +dependent on Mrs. Falkland's family, he found himself bound to give +information. Colonel Manners, however, sent another servant to the +stables to hurry the horses, and then returning to the breakfast-room, +wrote down a few words in pencil to inform Mrs. Falkland that the +story had been exaggerated; but he was almost instantly joined by +Isadore, who assured him that her cousin was better. + +Moments of grief, anxiety, and danger are wonderfully powerful in +breaking down all the cold and icy barriers which society places +between us and those we like; and Isadore Falkland came forward, and +laid her fair hand as familiarly upon Colonel Manners's arm as if she +had known him from her infancy. There was an earnestness in her fine +eyes, too, and an appealing softness in her whole look, that was very +irresistible. "Colonel Manners," she said, "this state of apprehension +and uncertainty is very dreadful, especially to us poor women, who, +having but little knowledge of the world and its ways, have little +means of judging whether our fears be reasonable or not. I can see +that you have put a restraint upon yourself before Marian; but I +beseech you to tell me, at least, if you have any friendship for a +person you have known so short a time, what is your real opinion! Do +you think there is any serious cause for apprehension?" + +"You and your family, Miss Falkland," replied Manners, "have taught me +how soon one can feel the deepest interest and friendship for those +who deserve it; but in regard to De Vaux, I really see no cause for +apprehension." + +"Nay, nay, Colonel Manners," said Isadore, "I shall not think you have +much regard for me if you try to sooth me by false hopes respecting my +cousin. There is an anxiety in your look, which could not be there if +there were no cause for alarm." + +"Indeed, Miss Falkland," he replied, with a smile which was not of the +gayest character in the world--"indeed, I have the deepest regard for +you, and would not deceive you for a moment. De Vaux's absence is +strange, undoubtedly. His never having gone to bed is strange. But in +regard to these shots which have been heard--as the man himself +believed till your old butler infected him with his own miraculous +mood--they have been undoubtedly fired by poachers; and I see not the +slightest reason for believing that they are in any way connected with +your cousin's absence." + +There had been a degree of earnestness in Manners's profession of +regard that had called a slight glow into Isadore's cheek, and made +her heart beat a little quicker, though Heaven knows he had not the +slightest thought of making her heart beat with any but its ordinary +pulse, and Isadore herself never suspected that he had. It was only +one of those slight passing emotions which sometimes move the heart +without our well knowing why, like the light ripple that will +occasionally dimple the surface of a still, sheltered water from some +breath of air too soft and gentle to be felt by those who watch it +from the banks. Whatever caused the glow, it was all gone in an +instant; and she answered, "Perhaps what makes us all the more uneasy +is, that none of us can forget that my uncle, Marian's father, was +murdered many years ago in this neighbourhood; and the first news of +his death came upon mamma by surprise, in the same way that this has +done upon poor Marian." + +"I trust in Heaven, and believe most firmly, Miss Falkland, that you +will find no further resemblance between the fate of your cousin and +that of his uncle," replied Colonel Manners: "but, at all events, I +will lose no time and spare no exertion in endeavouring to satisfy you +as to his fate; and, if it should cost me my life, I will discover him +before I give up the search." + +"Nay, nay, you must take care of your life," said Isadore; "it must +doubtless be valuable to many, and therefore must not be risked +unadvisedly." + +"It is valuable to none that I know of, Miss Falkland," said Manners, +with a melancholy smile, "and to myself least of all; but, +nevertheless, I never trifle with it, looking upon it but as a loan +from that great Being who will demand it again when he himself thinks +fit. But I anticipate no danger from my visit to the gipsies." + +"Are you going, then, to the gipsies in search of Edward?" exclaimed +Miss Falkland, in evident astonishment. "Good Heaven, I had no idea of +that!" + +"It was from one of them that I received the letter to which Miss de +Vaux referred," replied Colonel Manners; "and I may add," he +continued, "to you, Miss Falkland, that the impression that letter +made upon your cousin was such as to induce me to believe that if news +is to be heard of him anywhere, it will be from them that I shall +obtain it." + +"This is all very strange, indeed!" cried Isadore. "But tell me, +Colonel Manners, do you know the contents of the letter?" + +"Not in the least," he replied; "but certain it is, that whatever they +were, they affected your cousin sensibly. I had it from a gipsy-man, +certainly of a very superior stamp to the rest, although I found him +consorting with a gang of as ruffianly fellows as ever I beheld." + +"Oh, then, for Heaven's sake, take more men with you!" cried Isadore, +eagerly: "you may get murdered, too, and then--" + +"Nay, nay, I have no fear," answered Manners, "and there, you see, are +the horses. Three strong men on horseback might surely contend with a +whole legion of gipsies." + +"Must I plead in vain, Colonel Manners?" said Isadore, really +apprehensive for his safety, and desirous of persuading him, but +blushing at the same time from feeling conscious that she was more +apprehensive for him than she had often before felt for any one. "Must +I plead in vain? or must I ask you for my sake, if you will not for +Heaven's sake? But consider what we should do if we were to lose your +aid and assistance at such a moment. Take two or three of our servants +with you also." + +"For your sake, Miss Falkland, I would do much more difficult things," +replied Manners, earnestly; "but listen to my reasons. It would delay +me long to wait till fresh horses are saddled, and longer to take men +on foot with me. In many cases speed is everything: I have lost more +time than I can well excuse already; and I can assure you, that with +the two strong and trustworthy fellows who accompany me, there is +nothing on earth to fear. Adieu! I doubt not soon, very soon, to bring +you not only news, but good news." + +Thus saying, he left the room, and sprang upon horseback, while +Isadore returned to the apartment of her cousin, who was now in bed by +the orders of the village apothecary, and in the act of taking such +medicines as he judged most likely to calm and sooth the mind by their +sedative effect upon the body. Here Isadore communicated in a low +voice to her mother all that she had gathered from Colonel Manners; +and placing herself at the window of her fair cousin's room, watched +the dark edge of the hill where it cut upon the sky, till at length +she saw the figures of three horses straining with their riders up the +steep ascent. The next moment they came upon the level ground at the +top, changed their pace into a quick gallop, were seen for a minute or +two flying along against the clear blue behind, and then, passing on, +were lost entirely to her sight. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +We must now beg leave to retrograde a little in regard to time: and, +in order to bring every character in our story to the same point, must +turn for a while to a personage of whom we have heard nothing since +the day after Edward de Vaux's arrival at Morley House. + +The beautiful world in which we live, the multitude of blessings by +which we are surrounded, and that beneficent ordination by which the +human mind in its natural state is rendered capable of resting +satisfied with whatever portion is allotted to it, would make the +earth that we inhabit an Eden indeed, if Satan had not supplied us +with easy steps to lead us to misery. Our passions form the first +round of the ladder; then come our follies close above them; then +follow next our vices; these, with brief intervals, are succeeded by +crimes; and all beyond is wretchedness. Every crime, too, is prolific +in miseries--its legitimate children--who not only return to prey upon +their proper parent, but ravage far and wide the hearts of thousands +of others. Not only is it on the grand scale when the glory-seeking +felon calls the dogs of war to tear the prostrate carcass of some +peaceful country, and, by his individual fault, render millions +wretched; but each petty individual crime, like the one small seed +from which mighty forests spring, is but the germ of gigantic and +incalculable consequences; and no one knows to what remote and +unforeseen events each trifling action may ultimately lead: no one can +tell to whose bosom the error he commits may not bring despair, or how +many hearts may be laid desolate by the sin or the folly of the +moment. + +The father of Edward de Vaux--for to him we must now turn--had gone on +in the usual road by which small errors grow into great crimes. He had +committed follies, and yielded to passions. Passions had hardened into +vices, and vices had ultimately hurried him beyond what he would at +first have dreamed possible for a reasonable creature to perpetrate. +In the story we have heard told by the gipsy, the part that he had +acted was in no degree overdrawn by the narrator, though there were +some secrets in Lord Dewry's breast alone, which neither, indeed, +justified nor even palliated his crime--for such deeds admit not of +palliation,--but which showed, at least, that the crowning act itself +was not accompanied by many of the circumstances which seemed to +aggravate it. Overwhelmed by a debt that he could not pay, +disappointed of relief from a source that had never before failed, Mr. +De Vaux had set out from London to meet his brother in a state of mind +which approached insanity, and was, in fact, despair. Hardened by many +years of vice, he had retained very few of those Christian principles +which had not been wanting in his early education; and there remained, +certainly, not sufficient virtue of any kind to make him view an +escape from disgrace, by an act of suicide, as any thing unmanly or +infamous in itself. He had determined, then, either to obtain from his +brother the full sum he demanded, by whatever means might suggest +themselves at the moment--threats, supplications, or remonstrances--or +to terminate his own existence on the spot,--principally with a view +to avoid the shame he anticipated in London if he could not discharge +his obligations, but partly, also, with a savage desire of inflicting +bitter regrets upon his brother for the obduracy of his refusal. + +As the most retired spot for executing this purpose, he had chosen the +point where we have seen that he had waited his brother's coming; and +there a busy devil, that had been stirring at his heart all the way +down, renewed its suggestions with tenfold importunity. He saw before +him some of the rich lands of Lord Dewry; he saw them smiling with the +promise of abundance; all seemed happy in the world but his own heart; +all seemed prosperous but himself. His brother, notwithstanding his +late loss, appeared in his eyes peculiarly blessed; and again and +again the fiend within asked him what right by nature had his brother, +because he was the elder, to the sole possession of all those +advantages which, the same evil spirit lyingly told him, would have +kept him from vice and misery, had they been equally divided between +them? His brother arrived while he was in this mood. The first means +he employed to obtain what he wanted were entreaty and persuasion; and +when these failed, he had recourse to threats and violence. Lord Dewry +retorted with reproach and reprehension; and his brother, in a moment +of frantic passion, brought the curse of Cain upon his own head. + +The agony of remorse was the first thing that succeeded; but +self-preservation and the enjoyment of that which he had so dearly +purchased, became the next considerations, and he bent all the +energies of a keen and daring mind to that purpose. He mastered his +own feelings, both bodily and mental; and, after returning to London +with a degree of speed and perseverance that killed the horse which +bore him, he overcame both personal fatigue and anguish of heart, and +showed himself on the evening of his return at two private parties and +one public place; and, what is more, he showed himself with a smiling +countenance and an unembarrassed air. But when it was all over--the +examination of the facts, the taking possession of the property, and +the removal of those who could betray him--the excitement which had +been caused by danger passed away; that bubble, the hope of happiness +without virtue, burst under his rude touch, and left his heart to +remorse for ever. + +Knowing that he must often see his brother's child, though at first +the sight was full of agony, he forced himself, by a great effort, to +endure it, till he had overcome the pain by habit; and at the same +time the lingering remains of some better feelings in his heart made +him look upon every generous or kindly thing that he could do towards +her as an act of atonement for the crime he had committed. + +Such were some of the motives, or, rather, such were some of the +facts, which had influenced Lord Dewry in all his actions for the last +twenty years. For a time, indeed, he had affected gayety which he did +not feel, and mingled in society which had lost all charm for him; but +the revellings of the never-dying worm upon his heart's inmost core +would make themselves felt, and gradually he drew back from the world, +gave himself up to solitude and stately reclusion, forgot what it was +to smile, and only mingled with his fellow-men to pour forth upon them +the gall and bitterness that welled from an everlasting source in his +own bosom. + +Remorse, however, was not the only fiend that preyed upon his heart: +fear, too, had its share. We have said, and said truly, that he was +corporeally as brave a man as ever lived: he knew not what bodily fear +is; but that is a very, very different affection of the complicated +being, man, from the mental terrors, the daily doubts, the hourly +apprehensions, that crowded upon him in solitude and retirement. +Corporal pain, the simple act of dying, he feared not, and there yet +lingered in his mind some faint traces of his early faith, suggesting +vague ideas of atonement made for man's crimes, which led him to +believe that the anguish which he suffered below might be received in +place of repentance, and procure him pardon hereafter; so that, on +ordinary occasions, he felt no tangible dread even of the awful +separation of soul and body. But this was not all: the torturing +uncertainty of his fate was a bitter portion of his curse. He knew +that there were two men in the world who could, at any time, doom him +to disgrace and death; or at least, if, by the precautions he had +taken, their success in any attempt of the kind had been rendered +doubtful, yet their knowledge of the dreadful secret of his state +rendered all that he possessed--honour, fortune, rank, even existence +itself--precarious; and he felt, as he looked around him, that he was +living in a gilded dream, which the next moment might vanish, and +leave him to misery and despair. + +At first, when, perhaps, it might have been in his power to implicate +the gipsy as the murderer of his brother, and, by pursuing him as +such, to have crushed one strong source of evidence against himself, +two powerful causes had operated to deter him from such a course. He +knew that Sir William Ryder, though implicated by accidental +circumstances in his crime, was of too generous a nature to connive at +any further evil to which the desire of concealing it might lead him. +But it would be doing him injustice not to say that he himself had +shrunk from the very thought. His heart was not hardened enough for +that: he felt that there was too much blood upon his hand already; and +although the idea did cross his mind, yet at that time remorse was +stronger than fear, and even had Sir William Ryder not existed, he +would have chosen rather to bear apprehension than a greater load of +regret. + +Time, however, had now altered such feelings; he was accustomed to +remorse, but no time can harden the heart to fear; and the first +imagination which crossed his mind, when, at the end of twenty years, +he again saw the gipsy, was to destroy him. The reader may recollect a +conversation in the beginning of this work, wherein Pharold detailed +the particulars of an interview he had had with the peer; and it may +easily be conceived, that from that interview Lord Dewry perceived at +once that the moment was come when he must try his strength with those +who had the power to injure him, and silence them for ever, or yield +for ever to his fate; and with a strong determination, but a mind +fearfully agitated, he instantly resolved to crush those he feared, if +human ingenuity, backed by wealth, and power, and a daring +disposition, could accomplish such an object. + +Such had been the state of his mind when he so unexpectedly visited +the house of Mrs. Falkland, and found new cause for apprehension in +the conversation of Colonel Manners. But his coming thither had not +for its sole object to meet and welcome his newly-returned son. He had +learned, by instant and close inquiry after the gipsy had left him, +that parties of his race had been seen lying in the neighbourhood of +Morley Wood, with the view, it was supposed, of poaching on the open +and ill-protected grounds in that district; and suspecting, from his +conversation with Pharold, that on the refusal he had given, Sir +William Ryder himself might return to England, he hastened over to his +sister's house, which lay within a few miles of his property of +Dimden, in order, if possible, to pursue means of destroying the +actual witness of his crime, before the arrival of the only other +person who even suspected it. + +Let it not be supposed--although there were in reality no means at +which Lord Dewry would now have hesitated to effect his purpose--that +he deliberately, and boldly, and undisguisedly proposed to his own +heart to bring about the gipsy's death. No, no: the great power of +evil is too well aware how horrible his naked suggestions are, not to +furnish them with a veil, flimsy enough, it is true, but still +sufficient to cover some part of their deformity. No! Lord Dewry +only proposed--at least, he cheated himself into thinking so--to +detect the gipsy or his comrades in some unlawful exploit, which might +give an excuse for removing them for ever from the country, and at the +same time might render any evidence they might tender against himself, +not only suspicious, but almost inadmissible. + +The severe laws in regard to poaching, and the loose and lawless +habits of the gipsies themselves, he doubted not would furnish the +means; and his great object was to discover an offence of such +magnitude, and to obtain proofs so clear, that great severity would be +warranted and the justice of the accusation undeniable. It might cross +his mind that, in the pursuit of these views, a gipsy or a keeper +might be killed, that the charge of murder might be added to that of +poaching, and that a felony might rid him of the enemy of his repose +for ever. Such a thing might cross his mind, and be viewed with no +great dissatisfaction; but, at the same time, he denied to himself +that such was his object. "No: God forbid! But, if it did happen, he +should of course take advantage of it to silence for ever the voice of +one who had been witness to the _unfortunate accident_ by which, in a +moment of hasty passion, his brother had been deprived of life, and +who seemed disposed to abuse the knowledge he unhappily possessed." + +Such had been the thoughts of Lord Dewry as he travelled over to Mrs. +Falkland's house on the night of his son's arrival, and such were the +thoughts that again took possession of him as soon as the passion in +which he had left her subsided on the following morning. + +"With Sir William Ryder," he thought, as the carriage rolled rapidly +on towards Dimden--"with Sir William Ryder I shall easily be able to +deal single-handed, if once I can remove his confederate. He used to +be a simple, frank-hearted, foolish fellow; but I must, by some means, +keep him from any further meeting with Edward. I have already remarked +that the boy sees there is some mystery; and a bare hint would awaken +suspicions that I would rather die than he should even dream of. But +this man--this Pharold--must be my first care; and my next must be to +procure such proofs of my having been in London at the time of my +brother's death that suspicion itself shall be silenced, if either of +the villains dare to open his lips." + +The manner in which this latter object was to be accomplished became +the next consideration; but ere Lord Dewry could come to any +determination upon the subject, the lodge of Dimden Park, and the old +woman who opened the gates, courtesying to the ground as the carriage +rolled through, met his eyes, and told him that he must reserve that +matter for after-thought. + +The place that he was now entering had been the favourite habitation +of his brother, where his days of happiness and sunshine had been +passed, and whence his virtues had made themselves felt and beloved +through all the country round. There were many recollections and +associations then connected with that spot which, as it may easily be +conceived, were not a little painful to the man who now entered it: +and although he sometimes visited the house, and had once or twice in +twenty years spent a day within its walls, yet he had never been able +to vanquish the distress that the sight occasioned him so far as to +live in it for any length of time. He now beheld it in a state which +added to the pain whereof other circumstances had rendered it +fruitful. It was not exactly going to ruin, for he had given strict +orders, and paid large annual sums, for the express purpose of keeping +the grounds in order and the house in repair; but those orders had +been given from a distance, and had been received with a conviction +that the master's eye would never inspect their execution very +minutely. There were long tufts of grass in the walks and on the +roads, though here and there was to be seen a faint and lazy effort to +clear away, by the exertions of a few hours, the shameful negligence +of many a day. Some of the trees, which had been felled years before, +were rotting in the long dank grass; and the fences which had been +placed to keep the deer within their proper bounds lay flat upon the +ground, overturned and broken. The road over which the carriage rolled +was channelled with deep unmended ruts; and the fine old house, with +its closed windows and smokeless chimneys, stood in its wide, open +esplanade, like the palace of damp and desertion. Lord Dewry bit his +lip, and muttered audibly, "This must be amended. The scoundrels did +not expect me to visit the place, and have been shamefully negligent. +I will send them away." + +But as he thought thus, his other purposes crossed his mind, and +brought with it one of those annoying and degrading convictions which +so often follow evil actions and crooked policy. He felt that when he +was about to engage his park-keepers in an action which his own heart +told him was base, he could not dare to treat them severely for the +faults they had themselves committed; and to a proud and violent man +the restraint which he was obliged to put upon his passions was bitter +enough. As the carriage approached the house, hasty symptoms of +opening windows and unbarring doors showed that his coming had been +remarked; and as he had no ambiguous commands to lay upon the old +servants who had been left to keep the mansion in order, upon them +fell the full weight of his indignation. When the first angry burst +was over, he ordered the old man to call the principal park-keeper; +and while he was absent upon that errand, strode gloomily through the +dreary chambers, feeling his heart more dark and comfortless than even +the long-deserted apartments amid which he stood. He then called for +pen and ink, which, after some difficulty, he obtained, and wrote and +despatched the note which we have seen delivered to Marian de Vaux. + +At length the park-keeper appeared, a bold and sturdy fellow, with no +inconsiderable portion of shrewd cunning in his countenance, to which +had been superadded at present an air of dogged preparation, +occasioned by the tidings of Lord Dewry's anger, which the old man had +given him as they walked along towards the house. + +"Harvey," said the peer, as the man presented himself, "you have +suffered the park to get into a terrible state. I must have all this +changed. Those fences must be put up; those trees cleared away: speak +to Wilson about the road, and tell him if ever I see it in that state +again I shall discharge him; and--do not answer me, but listen; for I +came over to speak to you upon matters of more importance.--What are +you waiting for, John?" + +"I thought your lordship might want me," said the old man, who had +lingered in the room. + +"No, no, not I," replied the peer: "retire, and shut the door; but +take care what you are about, for in future I shall come over at +least every month; and if I find the house is not properly attended to +after this warning, you and your wife go out of it without another +word.--Now, Harvey, tell me," he continued, as the old man withdrew +with a low and deprecating bow, "have you many poachers here?" + +"Why, no, my lord," replied the park-keeper, his face brightening up +to find that the anticipated storm had blown away; "we have not had +much of that work doing lately, though I dare say we soon shall have." + +"And why so?" demanded Lord Dewry. "I am glad to hear that poaching is +on the decrease. What makes you think it will revive again?" + +"As to revive, my lord, why, I don't know," replied the man; "but I +doubt we shall soon have more of it--so I think. It's just the time, +you see, my lord--long moonlight nights, and a good deal of the +out-door work over." + +The man paused; but these were not the reasons the peer had hoped to +hear him assign for his apprehensions of more extended poaching, and +found that he must bring him nearer to the point by some direct +course. "We have a great deal of poaching near the hall," he said: +"Wise tells me that there are a number of bad characters continually +in the woods, gipsies and thieves of all descriptions." + +"Ay, for the matter of that we have gipsies enough just now, too," +replied the keeper; "and that's the reason, my lord, why I said I +thought we should soon hear of more poaching: but I did not like to +mention it, you see. Why, there, I saw no longer ago than yesterday, +up in Morley Wood, I dare say a score of them--lazy beggars! D--n +them, I hate those fellows, and so I told 'em--beg your lordship's +pardon." + +Lord Dewry found that he was now on the right course; but, afraid of +pursuing the matter so eagerly as to cause suspicions which might +perhaps tell against himself hereafter, he replied with a tranquil +countenance, "It would not surprise me if these were the same that +have been plundering and poaching in a most desperate manner near the +hall." + +"O, no doubt they are the same, my lord," replied the keeper; "and as +to poaching, they were at it last night, or I have no ears: I heard a +gun--I am sure I heard a gun--though I got up, and went all over the +grounds without finding them. But I heard a gun--I am sure enough of +that, anyhow." + +"Oh, if that be the case," said Lord Dewry, "we must really take +serious measures for their apprehension and conviction. They once +murdered a gamekeeper, those gipsies, not far from here; and it is +dangerous to honest men to let them be in the country." + +"Ay, that it is, my lord," said the keeper; "they'd murder any one as +soon as look at him. They nearly murdered me once. I wish we could get +rid of them, that I do, anyhow." + +"And so do I, too," replied Lord Dewry, solemnly; "I do not like men's +lives risked continually, nor their property plundered at every turn, +solely because these gipsies are suffered to continue in the kingdom. +I declare I would give fifty guineas to any one who could convict them +in such a manner as to ensure their being sent out of the country +without fail. I do not like my people continually exposed to their +attacks." + +"Your lordship is very kind and very generous," said the keeper; "and +if your lordship would really give the fifty guineas, I dare say we +could find some young fellows that would join in and take a hand in +catching them." + +"But we must first be able to prove that they have committed some +offence," replied Lord Dewry, thoughtfully. + +"Oh, they have committed offences enough, my lord," answered the +keeper; "and if your lordship give fifty guineas, we shall soon have +plenty to help in catching them." + +The peer paused for a moment or two without any direct reply; but he +then answered, "What I have said I mean, Harvey: the fifty guineas I +would give of course to the man by whose means they were principally +brought to justice; but I would do more, and pay handsomely every one +concerned in actually taking them. Do you think they have ever shot +any of the deer?" he added after a short pause. + +"No, my lord, no!" answered the keeper, fearful that blame might fall +upon himself; "I will answer for it they have not done that." + +"I am sorry for it," said Lord Dewry, dryly. The man stared, and the +peer proceeded:--"I am sorry for it; because, you see, Harvey, the +offence would be the heavier, and we might get rid of them for ever if +we could prove such a thing against them; whereas this poaching, +especially if it be a first offence, will only take them out of the +way for a time, and then turn them back upon us more enraged against +us than ever." + +"That's true, my lord, that's true," replied the keeper, whose +perceptions were sufficiently acute, and who began to see that his +master had a very potent distaste to the race of gipsies, although his +mind, proceeding in its habitual train, did not fail to conclude that +the peer's motives for hating them were the same which would have +actuated himself had he been in the peer's situation, namely, wrath at +their having destroyed the peculiar objects of his veneration, game, +and anger at their having outwitted him in his endeavours to preserve +it. He went no further in his investigations of his lord's designs, +though he himself had peculiar motives of his own; but, possessing +goodly powers of detestation himself, he easily conceived that the +baron would not scruple at any plausible stratagem for the purpose of +obtaining his object. "That's true, my lord, that's true," replied he; +"but do you know, I should not wonder if they did some night shoot a +fat buck upon his moonlight walk; and I dare say, for the matter of +that, we could get them to do it very soon." + +"Nay, nay," cried the peer in a tone of moderation, "take care what +you are about, Harvey; for if any one were to discover that you +instigated them, you might get transported; and though of course I +would take care that none of my servants was a loser by his zeal in my +service, yet I should not like you to get into any scrape." + +"Your lordship is very kind," said the man; "but I will take care that +I get into no scrape; and as to any one hearing me say any thing about +it, no fear of that, for I will never say a word to any one but your +lordship; and but little will I say even now. But I know how to manage +the matter; and if I can get some stout hands to help me and the two +under-keepers in taking the fellows, when once we have found out when +they are about the job, I'll rid the country of them soon enough--a +set of lazy, thieving beggars." + +"Why, Harvey," said the peer, with a complacent smile, "you do not +seem fond of these gipsies, I think." + +"I fond of them, my lord!" said the man. "No, no! I owe them an old +grudge, which I have long thought to pay. One of them nearly killed me +once when I was a younker, now near twenty years ago, just for being a +little over-civil to one of their women. I might have had my revenge +at the time; but I was weak and sick with the bruises, and I was +spoony enough to let him get off; but he'll not do so again if I catch +hold of him." + +"But pray, Harvey," said the peer, "how do you propose to obtain +such information in regard to when and where these men are to be +caught--for they must be caught in the fact, remark--as to enable you +to seize them with any certainty? Do you know any of their gang +personally?" + +"Not I, my lord," replied the man; "but, do you see, my lord, I know a +man up in the village, called Harry Saxon, who hears a good deal about +all those sorts of people, and I will get him just to put it into +their heads to--" + +"Hush, hush, Harvey!" interrupted the nobleman, but a tone as to +express much disapprobation. "Do not tell me what you intend to do, +but merely how you are to learn when and where to catch them." + +"Why, _he_ will tell me all that, to be sure, my lord," replied the +keeper. "He's a good sort of man, and won't disoblige me, I'll +warrant." + +"And pray what is his usual occupation?" demanded the peer in a casual +way. + +"Oh, he sells venison to the dealers in London," replied the keeper; +and then suddenly perceiving that he was on the edge of a precipice, +he added, "that is, when any of the gentlemen in the neighbourhood +want to kill off some of their bucks, he buys them and sends them up +to London. I have heard, too," he continued, seeing that his lord +listened with an unmoved countenance, as if to something of course--"I +have heard, too, that he sends up many a good brace of partridges, and +many a pheasant and a hare: but he is a good sort of man, upon the +whole; and when he knows a keeper, like, he will not let the people +poach and that upon the grounds that he keeps, and that's what makes +us have so much game here. I'll warrant the game is better preserved +here than anywhere else in the country." + +The peer made no observations upon these disjointed pieces of +information; but in his own mind concluded, and not without reason, +that his keeper was a very great scoundrel. He took care, however, +neither by word, look, nor action, to suffer the man he was making use +of to perceive what sort of a character he was establishing in his +opinion; being fully resolved in his own mind, however, to discharge +him as soon after he had served the present purpose as might be found +convenient. + +Deceit, like every other art, has been wonderfully perfected and +refined since first it took its origin in the rude, uncultivated human +breast. There can be no doubt whatever that when one man entertains an +opinion which he wishes to conceal from another, the first natural +effort of his mind would be to tell him the direct contrary; and much +refinement and experience in the art must have been acquired before +the necessity was ascertained of doing things more delicately, and +implying, rather than saying, that one believes another to be an +honest man, when one is sure he is a great rogue. As the world +proceeded, however, and the liberal science of deceit became so +thoroughly studied as to force one, with very few exceptions, to say, +as said the Psalmist, "All men are liars," a new refinement was +introduced, and it became necessary to know when to cover one's own +opinion by a skilful implication of the reverse, when, returning to +the original and simple mode, in plain terms to announce the direct +contrary of what one feels, and to deceive the most thoroughly by the +appearance of the utmost candour. + +In the present instance Lord Dewry chose the latter means, and ended +the conversation with the keeper by saying, "Well, Harvey, well! I +believe you are a very honest fellow. There are ten guineas for you to +give the men you are obliged to employ, an earnest of their reward; +and if you succeed in catching these gipsies, so as to convict them +either of deer-stealing or aggravated poaching, you may count upon +fifty guineas and my favour, besides having all your _bonâ fide_ +expenses paid." + +The man made a low bow, though he did not understand at all what _bonâ +fide_ meant; and the peer with a slow step walked to his carriage. The +old man and woman who kept the house followed half a step behind, +troubling him all the way by questions concerning the superintendence +of the place, in regard to which their directions had been full and +explicit years before, but by re-demanding which they meant, as usual +on such occasions, to insinuate a justification of their late +negligence, implying that if they had been properly instructed they +would have behaved better. Short and severe were the replies of the +baron; and when the carriage-door was at length closed, and the +vehicle rolled away, he sunk into thought, feeling that at least one +part of his plan was in a fair way for execution, but feeling, +likewise, deep, deep in his heart's core, the melancholy +conviction--not the less poignant because he strove not to see +it--that one crime was lashing him on with a fiery scourge to the +commission of many more. + +The house he had just visited, and the scenes through which he was +passing, had not been without their effect. They had recalled to his +mind his brother, who had there lived so long the object of his envy, +and now of his deep regret. That brother's virtues, his kindness, his +noble generosity, tried to the very utmost by his excesses and +demands, often, often returned reproachfully to his mind. All the good +and affectionate acts which had seemed as nothing while his own +passions and interests existed in opposition, and while his brother +lived, had been estimated with terrible exactness as soon as his own +hand had placed the impassable barrier of death between them; and the +sight of that house now, as it always did, recalled every memory that +could aggravate remorse, and stir into an intenser blaze the +unquenchable fire that burned his heart. + +There, too, he had himself been educated from infancy to manhood; over +those lawns and walks he had played in the guileless innocence of +youth; under those trees he had sat a thousand times with the dead, in +the sweet and hopeful summer-days of boyhood. Their arms clasped round +each other's necks, or their hands locked in each other, they had +wandered in their hours of play through the calm green shades of the +park, or sat beneath the stately oak, reading some lighter book than +that appointed for their daily studies. He remembered it all well; and +many an individual day, too, would come forward from the crowd of +early memories, and stand before his eyes bright and distinct as if it +were hardly yet numbered with the past. He could call back even the +feelings of those times, the noble and enthusiastic glow of their +bosoms when they had read together some great actions, some generous +self-devotion, some pious act of friendship, some deed of mighty +patriotism; and now, what had those feelings become? In his brother +they were extinct in death, or, rather, glorifying him in a brighter +world; and with him himself they were but memories; with him it was +the feelings that were dead, while he himself lived but to remember +them. Nor was his a heart to scoff at their memory as some men might +have done. Perhaps, indeed, had his crimes been lighter--had they but +reached the grade of vices--had they been of that character which +man's blind selfishness can dress up in other garbs, and cover beneath +a light robe of wit, or of what we call philosophy, he might have +sneered at the sweet and innocent days that forced themselves upon his +recollection, and have parried all that was painful in them by a jest. +But the terrible, irrevocable, awful deed that he had committed had +been weighty enough, not only to break the elastic spring of gayety in +his heart for ever, but to leave those sweet early hours of guileless +happiness and noble feeling which still flattered him with the thought +that he had not always been base, or cruel, or depraved, the least +painful of all that series of painful things whereof his memory was +alone composed. And yet remorse mingled its poison even with them, and +perhaps rendered the agony they produced on the present occasion more +poignant, because on that point his heart was not hardened to the +lash. + +He cast the memories from him as the vehicle rolled on, for he found +not only that they were painful, but that other thoughts of the +imperious present must have way; and that though he trusted by a new +crime to remove some part of the danger of his situation, yet that it +was necessary to contemplate his position in every point of view, in +order to guard against all that might happen. But here, perhaps, his +feelings were even less enviable than those from which he turned. +Personal danger, not abstract and distinct, but accompanied by shame, +and scorn, and detection, was the first image that presented itself +to his mind. To meet the hatred and contempt of the whole world, +to be exposed in a court of justice, and on a public scaffold to be +pointed and hooted at by the rude populace--to be called the +fratricide, the murderer--to undergo the horrors of imprisonment, +suspense, trial, condemnation, and execution--and to plunge, loaded +with a brother's blood and many another sin, into the wide, dim, +terrible hereafter--such were the only objects of his anticipation, if +his present schemes should fail. + +Nor was it at all strange that he should feel them now much more +poignantly than at the time which immediately followed his brother's +death, though, perhaps, the years which had elapsed might have +rendered his safety less in danger now than then. But at that period +he had little time to reflect; and his whole mind had been occupied in +acting. He had seen and felt the immediate peril, and had apprehended +many a vague horror; but imagination had not had time to act--she had +not had time to call up and particularize, as she had since done with +terrible minuteness, all the awful and agonizing scenes that await the +detected murderer. + +As he leaned back in his carriage, and with closed eyes thought +of all the past and all the future, the mingling emotions that +agitated his breast were dreadful indeed. Bitter, bitter +remorse--strong, lasting, never-sleeping remorse--was for the moment +paramount; and could he have seen any way of avoiding shame and death +but by new evil, he would have resigned much, he would have resigned +all, to follow it. But there was no means before him of escaping all +the horrors that threatened, but either to destroy those he feared or +to destroy himself: he had but the choice of two great crimes; and +the terrors of the endless future, aggravated by the condemnation of +self-destruction, were too great for him to think of attempting his +own life. As we have before said, it was not that he feared death; for +often in his moods of deepest despondency he thought that if some one +were to take away his life as he had taken that of his brother, it +might be received, together with his long remorse, as some atonement +for the past; but he feared to make it his own act, and to double, +instead of diminishing, the load upon his own head; and in the +desperate choice which was before him he yielded to the common +weakness of human nature, and chose that crime of which punishment was +most remote. + +Such were some of the emotions which agitated his mind as the +carriage rolled on towards his usual residence; but still the picture +of them is but faint and imperfect, as every picture of agitated +feelings must be. There were a thousand shades that escape the pen, a +thousand sudden changes for which it would be difficult to account. +Nevertheless, it must not be supposed that this varying and uncertain +mood was the general state of his mind, when no outward circumstance +had served to awaken antagonist feelings. On the contrary, he was +generally firm in his despair, with remorse for the predominant tone +of his whole sensations; but at the same time, with a stern +determination to hold all that for which he had paid so deep a price, +and to defend his own safety at any risk. It was only when some +association connected with other days touched a tenderer point in his +heart, and aroused some better feelings from their sleep of years, +that the winds and the tempests dashed against the dark dwelling-place +of his spirit, and threatened to level it with its foundation in the +sand. The mood seldom lasted long, however, and, indeed, could not +have done so without driving him to phrensy; and now, as he came +within sight of the plantations that skirted his other property, he +put on a firmer frame of mind, cast doubt, and fear, and hesitation +behind him, and called up those powers of quick, decisive thought and +vigorous action which had often in former days carried him through +many a scene of difficulty and danger. + +"I have been as weak as a child," he said, when he looked back on all +the feelings to which he had given way--"I have been as weak as a +child; and that at a moment when I most need manly firmness: but it is +past, and I will not easily forget myself again!" + +On the next day but one, at a very early hour, Lord Dewry again drove +over to Dimden, and had the pleasure of learning, by implications and +hints from his head park-keeper, that the plan which had been shadowed +out for entangling the gipsies was in a fair way for execution; and +yet his spirit was ill at rest, for he felt that his plan was an +imperfect one, and that at a thousand points it might fail. The +gipsies might be too wary; and, at all events, Pharold was not likely +to take part himself in such a scheme. If his companions were +implicated, and he were to escape, the natural consequence would be, +that his roused-up vengeance would take the ready means of sating +itself by betraying the fearful secret that he possessed; and thus the +attempt to remove him would but bring about more certainly the danger +that was apprehended. Yet what could he do? the peer asked himself. If +he could add one other link to the chain in which he had sought to +entangle the gipsy, it might render it complete, and prevent the +possibility of his escape. But what was that link to be? He could not +tell, and yet it served him as food for stern and eager meditation as +the carriage bore him rapidly home again, after having satisfied +himself that his scheme, as far as it went, was already in progress +towards its completion. + +As he drove up to the door of the house, he remarked that one of his +grooms was walking a hard-ridden horse up and down upon the gravel, +while the dirty condition of the animal bespoke a long journey. As +such sights, however, were not at all uncommon, and the horse might +either belong to the steward, or to some stranger come on a visit of +curiosity to the house, it excited but little notice on the part of +the peer, who was entering without inquiry, when one of the servants +informed him that a gentleman was waiting his lordship's return in the +small library. Lord Dewry turned a little pale; for there was a +consciousness of danger and of the uncertainty of his condition at the +heart of the peer, that caused the blood to forsake his cheek at any +announcement of a visit, the import of which he did not know. He +rebuked the servant, however, for admitting any one to wait for him +during his absence; and ordered him never to do so again, adding, that +when he expected or wished to see any one, he would always give +intimation of his will. + +The servant excused himself on account of the stranger's pressing and +determined manner, motives which did not in the least reconcile the +peer to his admission; but, without any further appearance of +distrust, he walked with slow and stately steps to the library, and +throwing open the door advanced towards a table, determined not to +afford his unwished-for guest a pretext for sitting down by even +approaching a chair himself. + +The stranger's person merits some slight description, and even a more +detailed account of his clothing than is required on ordinary +occasions. He was a man perhaps four or five years younger than the +peer himself, thin, light, active, with a twinkling gray eye, somewhat +too full of moisture, and a number of those long radiating wrinkles +which, I believe, are called crows' feet, decorating the corners of +the eyelids. His general complexion was white, of that dry and +somewhat withered appearance which long habits of dissipation leave +behind, when dissipation is not combined with drunkenness. In every +glance there was a quick, sharp, prying expression, joined to a +somewhat subservient smile, which was strangely enough displayed upon +a cast of countenance, the natural expression of which was +pertinacious effrontery. + +His dress was well worn, and had not apparently been formed originally +of any very costly materials; but it had withal a smart cut, and a +smart look, which prevented the eye from detecting either the long +services it had rendered, or the coarseness of the stuff. It was of a +rather anomalous description, too, consisting of what was then called +a marone frock with a silver lace, a pair of buckskin breeches for +riding in, thunder and lightning silk stockings, just showing their +junction with the breeches above, and a pair of heavy boots; while +ruffles, and a frill of that species of lace which, seeming all darns +together, admits the most frequently of being mended, decorated his +wrists and his bosom. + +Lord Dewry gazed at him as he rose from the chair in which he had been +sitting with a look which, if it did not absolutely express the stare +of utter strangeness, had very few signs of recognition in it. But the +other was neither to be abashed nor discomposed; and his manners, +which were those of a gentleman, softened down a good deal of the +effrontery which his demeanour displayed. Had he not been a gentleman, +and in the habit of mingling with gentlemen, his determined impudence +would have been insufferable; and even as things were, that impudence, +together with a certain affected swagger in tone and language, which +was very generally assumed by the puppies of the day, and which the +visiter caricatured, were quite sufficiently annoying, especially to +such a man as Lord Dewry. Conceiving at once that the peer was not +peculiarly delighted with his visit, the stranger advanced round the +table, and with a low bow addressed him ere he had time to speak. + +"I perceive," he said, "that the lapse of time which has occurred +since we met, together with the accession of well-deserved fortunes +and dignities, and the cares consequent thereupon, has obliterated +from your memory, my lord, the person of a former friend. I must, +therefore, announce myself as Sir Roger Millington." + +The peer bowed haughtily. "I once," he said, "had some acquaintance +with a person of that name; but, as you say, sir, the lapse of time +has been so great since we have held any communication with each +other, that I certainly did not expect it to be so suddenly renewed, +and far less to be favoured with an unannounced visit at a time which, +perhaps, may not be the most convenient." + +"My lord," replied his companion, unrebuffed, "I am happy to find that +your lordship's memory extends to our acquaintance at least; and to +refresh it in regard to the degree of that acquaintance, I think I +could show you some letters in your lordship's hand, beginning, some, +'My dear friend!' some, 'My dear Millington!' some, 'Damn it, my dear +Millington!' with an elegant variety in the terms, whereby your +lordship was kind enough to express your friendship for your humble +servant." + +Lord Dewry coloured highly between anger and shame; but he did not +feel at all the more disposed to receive Sir Roger Millington kindly +on account of these proofs of their former intimacy. He had not +forgotten, any more than his visiter, that they had once been choice +companions in both the elegant and inelegant debaucheries of a London +life; but a great change in situation, and a total change in feelings, +had made the peer as desirous of forgetting the past as the other was +of recalling it; and he hated him in proportion as he felt himself +thwarted. Sir Roger Millington, however, had calculated his game with +the utmost nicety; and once that nothing was to be obtained by gentler +means, and determined, therefore, if possible, to force him to the +object towards which he could not lead him. Such had been his motive +in the somewhat pointed and galling manner in which he had repeated +some of Lord Dewry's former expressions of regard, and he was not a +little gratified to see the colour rise in his cheek as he spoke. + +Lord Dewry's reply, however, which immediately followed, was not quite +so much to his taste; for the peer also played his part skilfully; and +though, in reality, as angry as Sir Roger desired, he concealed his +anger, and replied in the same cold haughty tone. "You recall to me, +sir," he said, "days of which I am heartily ashamed, scenes of which +we have neither of us reason to be proud, and expressions which I +greatly wish could be retracted." + +"I am sorry, as your lordship wishes it, that such a thing is not +possible," answered the persevering Sir Roger; "but I think, if you +will take a few moments to consider, your lordship may find reason to +change some of your sentiments. I may have become an altered man as +well as Lord Dewry; and if so, his lordship will have no cause to hate +or shun an old friend, because he once followed in a course which his +lordship led, and has since followed in his repentance. I hear that a +mutual friend of your lordship's and my own is coming to England soon, +if not already on his way from America--I mean Sir William Ryder; and +I should be sorry to have to tell him, on his return, that your +lordship casts off your old acquaintances. You had better consider of +it, my lord." + +"I shall consider nothing, sir," replied the peer, "except that my +time is too valuable to be wasted in idle discourse, which can end in +nothing; and therefore I have the honour of wishing you good-morning." +Thus saying, he stood for about the space of a minute and a half, +expecting Sir Roger to leave the room; but being disappointed, he +himself turned upon his heel, with a curling lip and a flashing eye, +and quitted the library, leaving the door open behind him. + +Sir Roger Millington stood for a moment or two in some embarrassment, +but at length impudence and necessity prevailed. "No," cried he; "no: +damn it, it will never do to be beaten when one has resolved on such +an attack. Curse me, if I don't die in the breach, like other heroes. +Why, if I cannot raise a hundred or two I'm done, that's clear. No, +no: I'll not stir;" and casting himself down into a chair, he coolly +took up a book and began to read. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +"To be teased with such an insolent scoundrel at such a moment +as this!" thought the peer, as he strode hastily to his usual +sitting-room: "it is insufferable! I have a great mind to order the +villains that let him in to horsewhip him out again for their pains: I +believe that they will some day drive me mad among them!" And stamping +his foot upon the ground, as was his custom when very angry, he +clenched his thin hand as if he would have struck the object of his +indignation. Suddenly, however, stopping in the midst of his passion, +he fell into deep thought, which kept him standing in the middle of +the room for two or three minutes; then approaching the bell, he rang +it calmly. His own valet, whose peculiar province was to attend to +that especial sitting-room, appeared in less time than ordinary. "Is +the gentleman who was in the little library gone?" demanded the peer. + +"No, my lord," replied his laconic attendant. + +"I shall dine in the larger room to-day," said Lord Dewry: "bid Mr. +Scott have the table laid for two, and tell _le Chef_ that the dinner +must be different." + +The man bowed, and withdrew; and the peer, after pausing for a single +moment where he was, re-opened the door, and proceeded through the +neighbouring gallery to a vestibule, whence his eye could rest upon +the door of the room in which he had left Sir Roger Millington. Here +again, however, he paused even for several minutes; and then, raising +his head, which had been sunk somewhat upon his bosom, he walked on +with a calm, dignified step towards the room which he had quitted not +a quarter of an hour before in such great indignation. Sir Roger +Millington was seated exactly in the chair which had received his +person when the peer left him, and was deeply, and apparently +pleasantly, engaged with the book he had taken up. So perfectly +comfortable, indeed, did he seem to have made himself, that Lord +Dewry, notwithstanding strong determinations to the contrary--the +motives of which will be explained immediately--could scarcely refrain +from kicking him through the glass door into the park. He conquered +his passion, however; and, in a tone which was very different from +that which he had used towards the same person a quarter of an hour +before, but which was still sufficiently guarded by haughty coldness +to prevent the transition from appearing excessively abrupt, he +addressed his visiter once more. "Sir Roger Millington," he said, "I +am glad to find that you are not gone; for a little reflection makes +me regret having treated a former acquaintance somewhat hastily: but +the truth is, your arrival has occurred at a moment when I am not only +extremely busy, but also when my feelings have been irritated and hurt +by various occurrences, which may in some degree have made me forget +my courtesy." + +"Come, come," thought Sir Roger Millington, "matters are improving! +some fools would have gone away ashamed or affronted! There is nothing +like knowing when to keep one's ground--when to beat a retreat! My +lord," he continued, aloud, "it gives me the greatest pain to think +that I have intruded upon you at such a moment: but I am quite ready +to repair my fault by retiring! only requesting your lordship to name +some hour to-morrow when I can have the honour of conversing with you +on matters of some importance." + +"Of importance to yourself or to me, Sir Roger?" demanded the peer, +forcing a half-smile; though there had been something in the +pertinacity with which his visiter had held his ground that made him +almost apprehend that these matters of importance might refer, in some +unpleasant manner, to himself. + +Had Sir Roger Millington had the slightest means whatever of showing +that the matters of which he had to speak were in any degree relative +to the peer, he would have ventured the assertion that they were of +importance to him; but as he had not, he judged it expedient to be +candid in the more placable mood which his noble host now displayed; +and he accordingly answered, "Of more importance to myself, my lord, I +am afraid, than to you." + +It was a lucky hit, however; for this proceeding not only quieted all +Lord Dewry's apprehensions, but also favoured his views in other +respect. + +"I am glad to hear it, Sir Roger," replied the baron; "for, to say the +truth, I have important business of my own enough upon my hands to +tire me of it; and I would rather speak upon any one else's affairs +than have any more of myself. But you must not think of leaving the +hall, though I am afraid I must be absent from you a considerable part +of the day. I shall expect the pleasure of your company for a few +days, and I will order my servant to conduct you to your apartments. +You must amuse yourself as best you may till the evening. Here are +books enough, you see, if you have turned student; and if you are +still fond of field-sports, the gamekeeper will show you where you may +find plenty of game. Use the house as your own, I beg; but only excuse +the master of it for a few hours." + +"My lord, your lordship is too good, too kind," replied his companion, +bowing low and lower; "but--" + +"Oh, I understand," said the peer; "you have ridden here, and have not +dressing materials: never mind, we will cast away ceremony, Sir +Roger." + +"But if any one could be sent over to the village of Barholm, my +lord," said Sir Roger, "since your lordship is so very good, they +would find my valise at the inn." + +"Certainly, certainly," said the peer, increasing in courtesy at every +response--"certainly; we will see about it directly." And he rang the +bell once or twice with that air of good-will which was well +calculated to wipe away the memory of any former coldness. "Richard," +he said, as soon as a servant appeared, "send over the errand-boy on +horseback directly to Barholm, and bid him inquire for the things Sir +Roger Millington has left there at the inn. Bid the groom look to Sir +Roger's horse, and then come here to show him to the yellow room. +Attend upon him while he does me the pleasure of remaining here, and +see that everything is supplied properly.--Now, Sir Roger, I must beg +you to excuse me for a short time, but I shall have the pleasure of +seeing you at dinner." + +Sir Roger bowed low: the peer withdrew; and the servant, saying, "I +will be back in a minute, sir, to show you to your apartments," +followed, to give the orders he had received to the errand-boy and the +under-groom. + +Sir Roger Millington cast himself back into his chair, mentally +declaring, "'Pon my soul, he seems a devilish good fellow, after all; +somewhat hasty, and hellish proud, but better at bottom than he lets +himself appear. I should not wonder if this card, which, by----, is +the last in my hand, should turn up a trump, after all. Egad, that +would be queer!" + +Such were his first reflections; and he had not time to proceed much +beyond them when the servant reappeared, and begged him to follow. The +visiter immediately complied; and walking through a suite of handsome +rooms, where gold lace, and damask, and pictures, and cabinets, and +brass, and tortoise-shell, and marble, combined to form a very +dazzling assemblage of furniture and decorations, he was led up a fine +flight of stairs to another story, where, through corridors scarcely +less handsomely garnished than the apartments below, he was conducted, +murmuring, "What a splendid house!" to a spacious bedroom and +dressing-room, adorned with yellow damask hangings, and supplied with +everything at which luxury had yet arrived in the days whereof we +speak. Here, after asking his further commands, the servant left him, +and Sir Roger Millington threw himself on one of the sofas, asking, +"Well, what the devil can the fellow want? for want something he +certainly does. However, no matter; all the better for me. I'm the man +for his money, whatever he wants; and, by Jupiter! I'll take good care +not to quarrel with the sort of bread and butter that is to be got in +this house!" + +Leaving Sir Roger Millington to speculate upon such very natural +propositions, we may as well follow the peer once more to his private +room, and endeavour to ascertain the cause of a change in his +demeanour towards the poor knight, which had been, as we have seen, no +less sudden than complete. + +No sooner had he entered the chamber than he closed the door, and +bolted it; approached a small iron chest, which stood riveted to the +floor and to the wall, and, opening it with a key which was attached +to a strong gold chain round his neck, he folded his arms upon his +breast, and gazed in for a moment, biting his lip and straining his +eye as if it required no small powers of self-command to proceed any +farther. He then drew forth a large holster-pistol, richly embossed +with silver--the fellow to that which had been placed in the hands of +Edward de Vaux by the gipsy Pharold--and held it for a time in his +hand, with his eyes not fixed upon it, but upon some far object in the +distant landscape, which nevertheless, he saw not in the least; for +the intensity of the mind's occupation at that moment had broken for +the time the connection between the intellectual soul and her +servants, the corporal senses; so that his eye was as blind to the +things on which it was fixed as if it had been seared by lightning. +His thoughts were far away--in other years and in other scenes; and as +he laid the weapon down upon a chair beside him, he murmured, "It +_must_ have fallen into the river, or it would have been found with +the hat." + +He then sought for a moment among some papers, from which he selected +one; and replacing every thing in the chest as it had been before, +turned to the table and gazed upon the sheet, which seemed alone +filled with memoranda of dates and numbers that certainly could +possess no meaning to any eye but his own. To him, however, their +import seemed of great consequence; for again and again he studied +them; and ever and anon the contemplation would plunge him into deep +fits of thought, from which he only roused himself again to gaze upon +the figures as before. + +"It will do," he said at length, "it will do; but I must take care of +what I am about. Yet of this Roger Millington there is no fear. He +would at any time of his life have condemned his own soul for gold, +and now he seems beggared and wretched enough. The other people can +offer him nothing: I can offer him ease and luxury; and he will not +only have no temptation to betray me, but every inducement to keep my +secret till the grave closes over us both. And yet," he added, +thoughtfully--"and yet I must not put it in his power ever to annoy me +hereafter. He must rest in my power rather than I in his. Yet if we +can silence this Pharold for ever, all real danger will be past; and I +must risk something--I must risk much, for that object." + +Such were some of the thoughts which passed through the mind of Lord +Dewry; nor were his conclusions formed upon a very wrong estimate of +the character of his present visiter. The better qualities of Sir +Roger Millington were few. The best of them was personal courage, or +rather that total thoughtlessness in regard to death, and what is to +follow death, which in many men supplies the place of a nobler +principle. He had always, too, been what is called generous; and he +did, indeed, possess that curious combination of qualities which makes +a man pillage and ruin the father of a family, and thus bring want, +destruction, and desolation upon a whole household, while at the same +time he is willing, on every occasion, to share the ill-gotten wealth +of the moment with any one who needs it. His generosity, however, +still more displayed itself in wasting, among debauchees like himself, +whatever he possessed, and thinking no means ignoble to dissipate what +he had thought no means dishonourable to obtain. + +Born of a good family, introduced early into the best society, and +placed, as a military man, in a situation which should have acted +rather to strengthen honourable principles than to lead him from them, +he had at first, so long as the actual war lasted, gained some credit +and renown as a soldier; but no sooner had a peace succeeded than +various gambling transactions, of a somewhat doubtful character, +rendered it expedient that he should quit the service. This he was +permitted to do without disgrace; but from that hour his progress had +been downwards in fortune and society. He had first mingled with +gentlemen upon equal terms; and during the greater part of his +acquaintance with Lord Dewry had kept himself on the same footing with +his companions, by keeping up the same expenses, and by indulging the +same vices. He was often very successful at play; and, though it was +reported that his scruples were not very great in regard to the +experience or the sobriety of those with whom he sat down, as his +winnings enabled him, generally, to live in luxury and splendour, +there were few found to object to the means of acquirement. He +sometimes lost, however; and, as on one or two occasions his losses +had been to persons of greater wealth than courage, he was said to +have discharged his debt by lending the use of his sword in some of +the numerous disputes which vice and debauchery entail upon their +disciples. + +All these things were suspected; but still Sir Roger Millington was +not, on that account, shut out from society. Some people merely +thought that in him they knew where to find a _serviceable man_ when +they wanted such a thing; and others did not choose to quarrel with +one who was in better repute at the Park or the back of Montague +House, the two great resorts of duellists in that day, than in St. +James's-street. Gambling, however, is always a losing trade; and, by +slow degrees, and with many a brief revival of fortune, Sir Roger +Millington was forced down lower and lower in the scale of reputation +and estate. It must be a very honourable spirit, indeed, that poverty +renders more scrupulous; and such was certainly not the case with Sir +Roger Millington. The means of obtaining money seemed to him all +honourable if they led him not to Tyburn; and, at length, he would +fight with or for any man for a very trifling consideration. By this +trade, varied, where he found it necessary, by sycophancy or by +impudence, he contrived for some time to keep himself up, till at +length some one of his adversaries, more wise than the rest, took +courage to refuse to cross swords with a bully and a sharper, +horsewhipped Sir Roger when he posted him, fought and wounded the +first man of honour that looked cold on him for his conduct, and left +Sir Roger Millington no resource but to quit the circles in which he +had been formerly received. + +These circumstances had occurred about two years before the knight's +visit to Lord Dewry; and it would be more painful and disgusting than +amusing or instructive to follow him through the shifts and turnings +of the succeeding months. At length the happy thought struck him which +we have seen him execute; and with a horse, the last of a once +splendid stud, a valise containing all that remained of his wardrobe, +three guineas, and some silver in his purse, a vast stock of +impudence, and a packet of the peer's old letters, he set out to see +whether he could wring anything either from the weakness or the +kindness of Lord Dewry, from whom he had won, in former days, many a +sum which he now sighed to think upon. + +He came, as we have seen, at the very moment when the assistance of +such a person as himself, who was not in the least scrupulous either +in regard to oaths or dangers, was likely to prove most serviceable to +the peer, provided that any bonds could be invented, so close and +clinging as to restrain a man who had never yet been bound by any +principles of religion, morality, or honour. On their meeting, the +uses to which he might be put had not at first struck Lord Dewry, and +he had given way to the irritable impatience natural to his character: +but the last words of Sir Roger Millington concerning Sir William +Ryder, had struck a chord of association which soon awoke other ideas; +and before the peer had reached his own room he had seen and +comprehended the variety of services which Sir Roger might render him. + +Thought, however, was required, both to arrange and give a tangible +form to plans which were yet vague and undefined; and to devise means +of so guarding against the very agent he was about to employ as not to +fall into a new danger in striving to escape an old one. Men who have +involved themselves in the dark work of crime, like those employed in +forging red-hot iron, are obliged to touch the objects of their labour +with tools of steel, lest they should burn themselves with the bolts +they forge. After much thought, however, Lord Dewry believed that he +saw means of rendering Sir Roger Millington, not only obedient to his +every wish, but faithful also; and though the plans in which he was to +be employed, of course required long and intense consideration, the +new views that opened before the peer gave him so much comfort that he +heard the dressing-bell ring, long before he had expected it, without +any feelings but those of renewed security and anticipated triumph +over those who had before caused him so much doubt and apprehension. + +Now Lord Dewry was a shrewd and strong-minded man, who, as far as a +violent and proud disposition, and very uncontrollable passions, would +let him, generally acted upon a regularly-arranged and well-considered +system in every thing he undertook: but it is extraordinary how often +a man acts upon system without knowing it; for, after all, as before +said, we are but mere puppets, body and mind, in the hands of our +desires. Lord Dewry had ordered the beggared and threadbare Sir Roger +Millington to be taken to one of the most splendid apartments in his +splendid house; he had ordered such an intimation to be given to the +cook as would place upon the table a rich and luxurious repast; he had +directed that repast to be spread in a room full of magnificence; and +now he dressed himself with scrupulous care and elegance, without at +all being aware that it was all part of a system to re-awaken in the +bosom of the penniless knight that thirst for luxury and ease which +would render him most willingly and eagerly the tool of him who could +bestow it. So it was, however; and though pride had her word too, and +told his lordship that such display would make his visiter more humble +and respectful, yet the principal object was to show him how many +pleasant and desirable things might be obtained by being the very +humble and most devoted servant of the noble lord. + +Had Lord Dewry sat and calculated for an hour what system was most +likely to produce the desired effect upon a man of the peculiar mental +and bodily idiosyncrasy of Sir Roger Millington, he could not have +more happily adapted his actions to the circumstances. In his high and +plumy days of fortune, Sir Roger Millington had learned to love and +delight in every good thing of the earth that we inhabit; and in his +days of debasement and poverty he had equally learned to admire and +bow down to, in others, the possession of those things which had given +him so much pleasure when he possessed them himself. The soft tread of +the Turkey carpets, the sight of damask, and lace, and or-molu, an +accidental whiff of the distant kitchen, as he passed the top of a +back staircase--a whiff faint and fragrant as if it came from "the +spice islands in the south"--the very feel of the sofa on which he +sat, were all so many arguments in favour of any plan, action, or idea +which Lord Dewry could possibly suggest; and when, after having +received his goods and chattels from the village, selected the best of +his wardrobe, and made himself look, as he could do, perfectly +gentlemanly, he descended to the drawing-room, it was with an +impression of the greatest possible respect and admiration for the +talents, sentiments, feelings, thoughts, and virtues of his noble +entertainer. + +He was almost immediately joined by the peer, who was surprised but +not sorry to see his guest look so much like a gentleman; for though +he sincerely desired that he should be such at heart as to do his +unscrupulous bidding unscrupulously, yet he was quite willing to have +him such, in appearance, as would excite neither wonder nor +animadversion. + +Hasty as the peer was by nature, and eager as he was in the present +instance, he had acquired sufficient command over himself to reserve +any more open communication with Sir Roger till a more proper moment; +although, had he given way to the impulse of his own heart, he would +have entered upon the business which occupied his thoughts at once. +But he felt what an advantage such a course of action would confer +upon his guest; and, therefore, without showing the slightest haste or +impatience, he spoke a moment or two upon the weather, and the state +of the nation, and the alarming increase of crime in the metropolis, +and several other things, about which he cared not in the least, and +then turned to some of the pictures that hung upon the walls, +expatiating upon their various merits with as much learning as a +connoisseur, and as much taste as an Agar Ellis. "Yes," he said, "that +is a very fine picture, though not so valuable as it looks. It is by +one of the disciples of Rubens, and artists believe the heads to be by +Rubens himself. But I will show you a real treasure!" and approaching +a small panel opposite, covered with two richly-carved and gilded +doors, he opened them; and, drawing a silk curtain, displayed an inner +frame containing a Madonna exquisitely painted. "That is an undoubted +Correggio," he said; "and one of the most beautiful pictures that +master ever painted. Remark the exquisite bend of that head, so full +of grief and resignation. The beauty of the colouring, too--that tear +upon the cheek, the faint pink of the nostril partaking slightly of +the blue of the drapery, and the drapery itself, how masterly! Look +here, too, at the hands crossed upon the breast! Did you ever behold +such beautiful hands? so small and delicate, yet so soft and full! +every thing graceful and light, yet every thing full of contour and +correctness!" + +The doors were thrown open while he still spoke, and dinner was +announced; nor did Lord Dewry, during the whole course of the meal, +deviate from the rule he had laid down, of hurrying his communication +by neither word nor hint. The dinner itself was such as might be +expected from his fortune and his habits--abundant, but not loaded, +showing every delicacy that wealth could procure, and yet taking care +that, as in the Palace of the Sun, the workmanship should excel the +materials. The wines, however, surpassed every thing else; and that +sort of nectar which is called, _sec sillery_ once again greeted the +palate of Sir Roger Millington, after many years of tedious interval. +Sir Roger blessed the stars which had conferred so many good things on +a man to whom he hoped to render service; for though he neither ate +nor drank to excess, he enjoyed to the full, and saw the dessert +placed upon the table only with the expectation of at length hearing +how he might merit a participation in such blessings in future. + +The best polished crystal, full of the liquid rubies of rich Medoc, +was set upon the table; and the majestic butler drew off after the +retiring footmen. Lord Dewry recommended the claret; and when he saw +the glass filled, he opened his approaches cautiously. + +"Now, Sir Roger," he said, "we have all the evening before us, without +fear of interruption; and though I trust you will give me the pleasure +of your company some days longer, yet, as you spoke of some matter +which was of importance to you, it may be pleasanter to us both to get +rid of the business at once, and devote the rest of our time to less +weighty affairs." + +Sir Roger had not prepared for this way of opening the campaign; and +he felt some fear that any demand upon the purse of his noble host +might banish him from a dwelling where he felt himself as yet quite +comfortable. A moment's thought, however, reassured him; for, both +from his general knowledge of the world, and his particular knowledge +of the peer, he felt very sure that such a sudden transition from +rudeness to hospitality, as we have heretofore recorded, could not +have taken place without a motive--that motive he concluded to be a +desire of reaping advantage from some of his numerous and pliant +abilities; and he therefore perceived that the policy now was to make +a bargain as best he might. All this train of argumentation was run +over rapidly in his brain, and he then replied, "The fact is, my lord, +that some of my old evil habits have, as your lordship may have +anticipated, somewhat impaired my property, and put me to temporary +difficulties. Such being the case, and being rather rudely pressed, I +bethought me of your lordship's former kindness and liberality, and +came down in haste to see whether I could not induce you to favour me +with the loan of a small sum." + +"A loan!" exclaimed the peer, raising his eyebrows as if something +quite unexpected had broke upon his ear, though there was the dawning +of a half-suppressed smile about his lip that contradicted his tone of +surprise--"a loan! Ah, I dare say we can manage that matter, Sir +Roger. But be candid with me; tell me the state of your finances: it +shall not injure your views, upon my honour!" + +"Bad enough, my lord, bad enough," replied his companion, candidly, +and yet shrewdly; for he began to fancy that candour would be best: +"bad enough, I am sorry to say. I have had a sad run against me, and +have not been able to get over it." + +"No heavy debts?" said the peer. + +"No, upon my honour, no," replied Sir Roger; "I do not owe twenty +pounds in the world; but I find a difficulty in getting one." + +"That was always an extraordinary trait of yours, Millington," said +the peer: "you were never in debt, though you spent a good deal, and +played high." + +"Because I always paid away my money as fast as I got it," replied his +guest. "As soon as I had a sum, any one might have it that wanted it, +whether a tradesman or a friend; and as I had large sums then," he +added, with a sigh, "I was never long in debt." + +This was, indeed, partly true of the times to which he referred, as +the peer well knew; and the reason for his having few debts in later +years was still more simple, though he mentioned it not--it was, that +no one would trust him. Lord Dewry, however, seemed affected by his +reference to old times, and replied, "Well, well, Sir Roger, we will +not let you be hard pressed any longer. What is the sum you at present +want?" + +Sir Roger Millington hesitated between the fear of asking too +much and asking too little; and he would have given the three guineas +that graced his pocket willingly to have found out what service was +to be demanded of him in return, that he might shape his request +accordingly. "It cannot be to fight," he thought; "the fellow used +to do all that business for himself, and devilish well, too! but, +however, it must be some pitiful job, indeed, if it is not worth a +couple of hundred. I'll ask fifty more.--Why, my lord," he said aloud, +"the fact is, that two hundred and fifty pounds, I am afraid, will be +requisite." + +"Well, well," said Lord Dewry, who, thinking chiefly of Sir Roger's +former style of living, had calculated upon a demand of at least +double that amount--"well, well, that can be managed; and, upon my +honour, it shall be managed: but now let us speak a little upon other +matters." + +"Now it comes!" thought Sir Roger Millington; but the peer +proceeded,--"I have now promised you this sum unconditionally; but if +you will explain to me more fully the real and particular state of +your finances, perhaps we may strike out something that may prove +ultimately still more beneficial to you--I mean permanently +beneficial." + +Sir Roger Millington sat with his eyes wide open, and the internal +voice of his wonder would have been, could any one have heard it, +"Why, what's the meaning of all this? is he going to turn out really +generous, after all?" He had recourse to the claret jug, however, +which soothed him wonderfully; and he answered, "Why, my lord, as I +have already said, the state of my finances is bad--very bad! In +short, my lord, there is nothing which your lordship can do to mend +them that will not be most gratefully received by Roger Millington." + +"We must think of it, Sir Roger; we must think of it well," replied +the peer; "and you will find, Sir Roger, that no man will do more than +I will to remove you from all difficulties, and put you at your ease. +The worst point of the whole business is, I am afraid that all I can +do for you is but for my own life. My estates are strictly entailed. I +live up to my income; and I am afraid that with me would die anything +that I could annually do for you." + +"May your lordship live for ever!" replied Sir Roger, with more +sincerity, perhaps, than ever courtier offered such an aspiration in +favour of the kings of the Medes and Persians. "The truth is, my +lord," he continued, "nothing can be worse than the state of my +present fortunes. I certainly did not doubt being able to mend them +with a little assistance; but if your lordship carries into execution +your kind intentions in my favour, and mends them for me, all I can +say is, that you shall find one man at least grateful in this world; +and I hope also that your lordship will point out to me some means of +aiding you in return, for the burden of my obligation to you will be +greatly relieved by being able to show my zeal in your service." + +"Oh, we will think of that hereafter," said Lord Dewry; "and as +you are a man of taste and ingenuity, I have no doubt, Sir Roger, in +the various changes and alterations which I am making here and at +Dimden--I have no doubt that we shall be able to find you employment +of a nature the most agreeable to your feelings and the most suitable +to your mind. Nobody need know any thing of the pecuniary arrangements +between us. You shall always be received here as a friend, and the +rest of your days may pass in sunshine and enjoyment." + +These were prospects bright indeed to the view of the impoverished +knight; and as he felt that no services on his part would be too great +or too unscrupulous to merit such reward, he very plainly gave his +noble entertainer to understand that such was the case, and explained +to him how willing he would be to undertake any task he chose to +impose. This was the plainest speaking which had been held during the +evening; and the peer was not sorry that it had come on the part of +his guest, for he was anxious now to arrive at the point, and yet he +decidedly wished that the way might be smoothed for him. He smiled +most graciously, therefore, as he replied, "Well, well, Sir Roger, +your offers shall soon be put to the proof. I have upon my hands, at +the present moment, some business which is very difficult to manage; +and as I know you to be both firm and skilful, I will request your +assistance in it. But remember, I beg, that my object, as I shall +explain to you immediately, is perfectly just and upright; and +although the business wants a little shrewd management, yet it is one +in which you may engage conscientiously." + +"I doubt it not, my lord, I doubt it not," replied Sir Roger, who, +perhaps, in all the variety of human actions, would have found very +few in which, under his present circumstances, he would not have +engaged quite conscientiously--"I doubt it not, my lord. Pray, +proceed." + +"Oh, it is a long story," answered the baron; "and before we proceed +to that, let me ask you, Sir Roger, if you remember, with any degree +of accuracy, the transactions which took place between you and me and +Sir William Ryder, in regard to a large sum of money that we lost to +you in the year 17--?" + +"Perfectly, most perfectly, my lord," replied Sir Roger: "my memory +never fails on such points; I could swear to every fact." + +"Then, do you remember," said the peer, "receiving a note from me on +the eighteenth of May, telling you that if you would wait another week +I would pay you the whole sum at once, as my brother would be able by +that time to call in money to lend me? and do you remember your coming +to me the same evening to say that you were quite willing to wait, and +our going out together to a party?" + +"I remember it all accurately, my lord," replied the poor knight, to +whom the recollection of days when the proud man before whom he now +sat had been his debtor and his humble servant was too gratifying to +be easily forgotten--"I remember it all well--every particular; but +you are mistaken in the date, my lord: it was the nineteenth, not the +eighteenth, of May." + +"No, no; it is you who are mistaken, Sir Roger," replied the peer, +with a meaning smile. "It was the eighteenth, I can assure you." + +Sir Roger did not comprehend. "Indeed, my lord," he replied, "it was +the nineteenth; I remember it from many circumstances. On that very +morning the great bet had come off between Colonel Hammerstone and the +Nailer, and--" + +"Nay, nay, I am positive," said the peer, "from circumstances that I +cannot forget either. It was the eighteenth day of May, in the year +17--." + +"But, my lord, I have your lordship's own note," said Sir Roger, +persevering. + +"Have you so?" cried the peer. "I wish you would be so kind as to let +me see it." + +"Certainly, my lord; I will bring it in a moment," said Sir Roger; +and, rising from his chair, he left the room, in order to bring the +paper to which he referred. While he was gone, Lord Dewry sat silent +and stern, with his hand over his eyes and the upper part of his face; +but his lips, which were uncovered, moved as if he were speaking, and +the working of the muscles of his cheeks seemed to indicate that he +was in bodily pain. As soon as his guest returned, however, he +withdrew his hand, and all was clear and smiling, except, perhaps, a +slight contraction of the brow, and an anxious intensity of gaze in +his eye, which had both become habitual. Sir Roger Millington resumed +his place; and, laying down upon the table a bundle of papers which he +carried, he selected one, and presented it to the peer, saying, +"There, my lord, is the note." + +Lord Dewry received it calmly, not only because he knew the contents +exactly as well as Roger Millington, but because he felt perfectly +satisfied that Sir Roger himself was secured--bound hand and foot his +slave--by promises and expectations which no one else had the power or +the necessity of holding out to him. The paper, though it bore the +marks of age in the yellow hue of its complexion and the paleness of +the ink, was in other respects well preserved; and the peer, unfolding +it, perused it attentively, and still held it in his hand when he had +done. + +"I see, Sir Roger," he said, "that you are correct, as far as the +dating of this note goes; but at the same time, I can assure you, I +must have dated it wrong at the time by some unfortunate mistake, +which mistake, by an unpleasant concatenation of circumstances, might +prove of the greatest disadvantage to me at present, and might even +deprive me of the power of assisting you in the way that I am so +desirous of doing." + +The master-key of self-interest instantly unlocked the door of Sir +Roger Millington's understanding; and he now saw that some very strong +motive must influence the peer in wishing to prove that the letter was +written on a different day from that on which it was dated. He +consequently determined at once that it should be written on any day +whatsoever that his lordship thought fit; but, at the same time, +having a due regard to the friable nature of promises, he extremely +desired to make himself master of his noble friend's secret views, in +order to have some check upon him hereafter. "Indeed, my lord," he +replied, in a tone of much concern, "I am sorry to hear that the fact +should be likely to produce such results. May I inquire how such an +unfortunate state of things is likely to ensue from so simple a +circumstance?" + +"Oh, certainly," replied Lord Dewry, with somewhat of a sarcastic +smile; "you may inquire, and I will answer you, Sir Roger: but then, +if I do, I must, I am afraid, demand a bond for the two hundred and +fifty pounds I am about to advance, as I must either have security for +my money or my secrets--which you like, Sir Roger." + +"Oh, then, my lord," replied Sir Roger Millington, inclining his head +with a significant bow, "the matter is very simple. As I have no +security to offer for the money, I will beg not to burden myself with +your lordship's confidence any further than you think absolutely +necessary; and in regard to the note which is likely to produce +results so unlucky to both you and me--for I am fain to believe that +my prosperity is now intimately connected with your lordship's--I +think the best way to settle the matter will be to put it in the +fire." + +"I do not exactly know that," answered Lord Dewry, musing: "at all +events, let me convince you first that it was written on the +eighteenth, instead of the nineteenth." + +"My lord, I am already convinced," said Sir Roger Millington, who, +once having obtained the cue, could go on without the prompter--"I am +already convinced: I see my mistake. I remember it was the day before +the great walking bet came off, which was on the nineteenth, at +Hounslow. Indeed, it is impossible that it could have been otherwise: +for I was present on the ground all day; and if I was at Hounslow all +day, I could not receive your note in London." + +"True, true," said the peer; though he very well knew that the note +which he had written after his return to town, the very day subsequent +to his brother's death, had found Sir Roger just come back from +Hounslow--"true, true, Sir Roger; and doubtless you could swear to all +these facts, should it be necessary." + +"Beyond all doubt, my lord," replied the knight, "circumstances crowd +upon my memory which all tend to show that your lordship is right; and +it must have been the mistaken date of the note which deceived me." + +"Would it not, then, be advisable," demanded the peer, "to rectify the +date which the note bears, instead of destroying it--hey, Sir Roger, +hey?" + +"Certainly, my lord, certainly," said Sir Roger; and then, dropping +his voice, he added in a half-whisper, "if it can be done without the +chance of discovery." + +"Easily," replied the peer--"easily, Sir Roger: a little acid which I +have in my library will take out the tail of the nine, without leaving +a trace; there will then remain only a cipher, which I will alter to +an eight; so that no one will see a difference between the writing of +that figure and the rest of the letter. You and I, the only persons +concerned in a private letter from me to you, are both convinced that +the date ought to be so rectified; and no one else need know any thing +about it." + +"I am perfectly of your lordship's opinion," replied Sir Roger; "had +it not better be done immediately?" + +"With all my heart," replied the peer; "follow me, Sir Roger; we will +return here, and conclude our claret when we have done." + +The serviceable Sir Roger followed without another word to the peer's +private room. A small bottle of acid was produced, which answered its +object fully: the obnoxious figure was changed into a more convenient +one with ink mingled with water, to render it of the same hue as the +rest of the writing, and the most severe and practised eye could not +have detected a change. When it was done, the peer and his confederate +stood gazing upon the paper with very different feelings: Sir Roger, +totally indifferent to all considerations of right and wrong in the +matter, only wondering what was to come next, and desirous of knowing +whether he himself was to resume possession of the letter, or whether +his noble host intended to keep it for his own purposes; Lord Dewry +feeling at his heart that blessed sensation of security which he had +not known for twenty years. + +The peer's next act was calmly to take his pocketbook from his pocket, +and drawing forth five notes, amounting to the sum which Sir Roger had +demanded, he laid them, one after another, down upon the paper which +they had been corrupting; and then, taking up the whole packet, he put +it into his companion's hand. "Sir Roger," he said, "I always like to +be as good as my word, and often endeavour to prove myself better than +my word. In regard to these notes," he added, seeing the knight about +to pour forth thanks, "let us say no more about them; and in regard to +this note," pointing to the one they had altered, "let me beg you to +put it by carefully with the rest of my letters; and should you ever +be called upon to produce it and speak about it, you will remember the +fact accurately, that it was received by you on the eighteenth of May, +the day before the great bet came off at Hounslow. Also, you will +remember that you called upon me in answer to it, and that we sat +together for half an hour. But it may be as well to forget, perhaps, +that we went out in company to Hillier's party. Let all statements be +as simple as possible, with no more circumstances than are necessary +to show that you do really remember the facts. And now let us return +to our claret, for we have more to talk of yet, both concerning your +affairs and mine." + +Sir Roger bowed low, promising to act exactly as he was instructed. +"You know I have been a soldier, my lord," he said, "and am well aware +of the necessity of obeying orders without the slightest variation." + +The peer led the way back to the dining-room, and rang for more +claret, though there was a good deal still upon the table; but the +cause was, in truth, that he desired a moment or two to think further +before he continued his conversation with Sir Roger Millington. His +original design had been to employ him in a much more extensive and +conclusive enterprise than he had hitherto broached to him; but in the +very initiatory steps, the fact of the letter being still in +existence, the facility which Sir Roger had shown in bending to his +wishes, and the certainty of his following exactly the directions he +had received, seemed to remove the necessity for further efforts. "I +have now," thought the peer, "the most perfect and conclusive proof to +adduce that I was in London on the very day of my brother's death; and +granting that the oath of Sir Roger Millington may be somewhat +doubted, on account of his established character, the letter--the +letter is proof positive. Besides, what can be opposed to it but the +oath of a gipsy and a gambler? neither of them worth more than his, if +so much. The letter is conclusive. Perhaps it may be as well to let +the gipsy alone; and yet it is not to be longer endured--this state of +momentary apprehension of what the next minute is to produce. Nor can +there be any doubt that, as soon as Pharold finds out this business in +regard to the deer-stealing, which has gone too far by this time to be +stayed, his first vengeance will be to tell all, and I may as well be +prepared to cast the charge back upon himself. Besides, if I can crush +him before the other arrives in England, I may set the whole world at +defiance." + +As he thought thus he drank a large glass of claret. There never yet +was man who committed a great crime, and did not thenceforth feel that +the predominant longing of his soul was, once more to be able to +"sleep in spite of thunder." He drank another full glass; and then +went on, determined to bring the struggle to an issue at once, now +that he had all his preparations made, and was sure of the result. + +"What we have just been speaking of, Sir Roger," he said, as the +servant shut the door after setting down the claret, "brings to my +mind our former acquaintance, Sir William Ryder. I should scarcely +think that he proposes to come back again to this country, as you +hinted this morning, considering that he left many a debt unpaid. +Among other things, you know he was your debtor in the transaction of +which we but now spoke, as well as myself, though not to the same +amount; and you are doubtless also aware that I paid the whole debt. +Pray, when did you hear from him?" + +"I did not hear from him directly, my lord," replied the knight, "as +we have, in fact, kept up no correspondence. I wrote to him, indeed, +shortly after his departure, but he never answered my letter. But I +saw a few days ago in an American paper, that the well-known Sir +William Ryder was about to quit his dwelling at some strange named +place in a few weeks, for the purpose of visiting England, in order to +induce the government to take measures for the protection and +instruction of the savage Indians." + +A sneering smile curled the lip of the peer, but he made no +observation upon the information he received. "Did you not go down +with him to Holyhead, on his way to embark for America from some Irish +port?" demanded Lord Dewry; "I think I have heard so." + +"No, my lord, no," replied Sir Roger; "I met him at Holyhead by +accident. I had just come over from Ireland, where I had been to +settle a little affair with a man in Dublin. I lent Sir William one of +my horses to go out to see some gipsies--what the devil business he +had with them I could never tell--but the horse threw him and broke +his ribs, and hurt himself into the bargain; but a gipsy fellow, the +best farrier I ever saw, cured him in a week--the horse, I mean; but I +believe they cured Sir William too, for I left him in their hands +recovering fast; I myself being obliged to be at Newmarket before he +could get out of his bed." + +"I thought I remembered something of the transaction," said the peer. +"Sir William Ryder, with whom I was in some correspondence at that +time, in regard to the very debt of which we were speaking, wrote to +me that he had seen you there, and mentioned the accident your horse +had met with. But now tell me, Sir Roger, did you not receive from the +gipsy farrier a bank-note, in change for money given him in payment?" + +"No, my lord, not that I remember," said the knight; "faith, I have +forgot what I gave him, and all about it." + +"Recollect yourself, Sir Roger," said Lord Dewry; "I think, if you +remember right, you will find that he gave you in change a note, which +you afterward gave to me when we last settled our accounts together, +about six months after I succeeded to this property." + +"Nay, nay, my lord," said the knight, "your lordship is not right +there: it was you gave me the money; I gave you none. It was a round +sum, you know, my lord." + +Lord Dewry bit his lip, and Sir Roger Millington could hear his foot +stamp upon the carpet under the table with impatience at his +contradiction. In truth, the noble lord did not at all desire to be +driven to explanations, though, in fact, the dark and fearful scheme +which his mind had formed for the purpose of delivering himself from +all fear for ever was too deep and intricate to be understood by him +whom he intended for his tool in accomplishing it, without a much +fuller knowledge of the subject than the knight possessed. + +"You do not understand me," cried the peer, hastily; "you will not +understand me, Sir Roger! Mark me, now!" and then, after thinking for +a moment, he proceeded in a stern, determined tone, and with a dark, +contracted brow:--"You remember my succeeding to this property, Sir +Roger; and you remember the circumstances of my brother's unfortunate +death? The only person who saw the--the business was a gipsy; and at +the time some circumstances made it appear so strongly probable that +that gipsy had been himself the--the murderer, that Mr. Arden--old Mr. +Arden, who is still living--wished to commit him. I, however, +foolishly would believe nothing of the story, as this very gipsy had +always been a protégé of my brother's, and he was liberated. A number +of small particulars, however, afterward appeared to make me regret my +obstinacy, and to convince me that the villain was really the assassin +of my poor brother. I had him sought for in vain; and all the news I +could learn of him was, that he had sailed from Holyhead for Ireland. +There I lost sight of him, till a few days ago, when I suddenly met +him in the park; and I have since learned that he is lingering about +in the neighbourhood of my other place at Dimden. I have laid a trap +for him: we shall catch him this very night; and, if it cost me half +my fortune, I will bring him to justice." + +"Your lordship is right, very right," exclaimed Sir Roger Millington; +"but I do not see--" + +"Listen to me, Sir Roger, and you shall see," replied the peer: "I +doubt not that I shall be able to convict him; but if my recollections +are right, and can be supported by yours, his conviction is certain. +My brother at his death had a large sum of money on his person. One of +those notes, marked with his name, in his own handwriting, has since +come into my possession; and _I am sure that I received it from you, +while I feel almost sure that you received it from the gipsy!_" He +spoke the last words slowly and emphatically, and then added, rapidly +and sternly, "Now, what I want you to do, Sir Roger, is to recollect +yourself, and--if you can remember the facts of your having received +the note and given it to me--to be prepared to swear to those facts, +should it be necessary." + +Sir Roger Millington turned very pale. A light--a fearful light--had +broken in upon him, and how far it served to guide his suspicions +aright matters little. He was a man of few scruples, and vice and +misery had both contributed to harden his heart; for though the uses +of adversity maybe sweet when acting on a virtuous disposition, yet I +am afraid that in this good world of ours the back of that great felon +Vice only gets callous under the lash of affliction. Sir Roger +Millington, however, had, as we have said, but few scruples of any +kind; yet this thing that Lord Dewry now proposed to him was a step +beyond the point at which he had arrived in all the course of evil and +of folly that he had hitherto pursued. He had fought and had slain men +in another man's quarrel, but in doing so he had perilled his own +life, and the corporal risk had seemed in some degree to balance the +moral culpability; but now he was asked to say and do things which, +without any danger to himself, would conduct another to an ignominious +death,--one against whom he had no enmity, whom he had never, perhaps, +beheld, and of whose real guilt there was in his bosom many a terrible +doubt. He felt that it was a fearful and an awful thing that he was +called upon to do, and, in despite of the absence of all moral +principle--of twenty years' hardening in vice, and of a long training +in degradation and dishonour--he turned pale, he hesitated; and, +forgetting all restraint, rose from his seat and walked once or twice +up and down the room in evident agitation. + +Lord Dewry saw how far he had committed himself. He saw that, +notwithstanding all his caution, his words, having been spoken to one +whom habitual vice had rendered familiar with all the wiles of crime, +might have put his suspicions on a track from which they could never +be withdrawn, and that although Sir Roger had him not, indeed, in his +power, as the gipsy had, yet that no sacrifice would be too great to +force him on to acts which would make his co-operation irretrievable. +He suffered him then to pace the room for a single minute; and then +rising, he placed himself opposite to him, and laid his hand on that +of the knight. "Sir Roger," he said, "I am inclined to do much for +you, but you know service must have service in return." + +"But tell me, tell me, my lord," exclaimed the other, with some +vehemence, "do you really believe that the note you speak of was ever +in the possession of the gipsy?" + +"I not only believe it, but I am sure of it," replied the peer. "Hear +me, Sir Roger; I pledge you my honour, my soul, my word, this note +which you now see, and which is marked with my brother's own hand, +must have been in possession of the gipsy after my brother's death; +and if it did not come to me from you, it must at all events have come +through some one who received it of the gipsy." Nor in this assertion +did he speak falsely; for the note was one of those which he had sent +to the gipsy by Sir William Ryder, and which had accidentally returned +to his own possession. + +It is wonderful how easily men can sometimes satisfy their conscience. +Sir Roger did not pause to ask any very minute explanation: the +vehemence with which his noble entertainer spoke convinced him that in +some sense he spoke sincerely; and he would have been very sorry, by +any indiscreet question, to have discovered that there was any thing +like a double meaning in the words. "Well, well," he said, "I think I +do remember something of the transaction, my lord; and I doubt not +that a few moments' thought will bring it all back clearly to my +memory." + +The peer pressed his hand. "Well, then, Sir Roger," he said, "so much +for my affairs when they are all settled: hear what I wish to do for +you. I propose to give you apartments in my house at Dimden, where you +shall undertake to superintend all my improvements and works of taste, +for which you will favour me by receiving a deed of annuity for one +thousand per annum _during my life_. I am sorry that I cannot make it +permanent, but I have not the power; all I can do can only last as +long as my life lasts." + +Bright, bright grew the eyes of Sir Roger Millington; and, bowing low +before the peer, he uttered a few words of thanks, and cast himself +back into his chair to enjoy the glad transition from a state of +beggary and despair to the prospect of affluence and luxury such as he +had never hoped to see again. All scruples were swallowed up in +satisfaction; not even a shadow of them remained; and he was now only +anxious to prove his zeal in those services which were to merit so +noble a reward. + +The peer had seated himself, also, with the note of which he spoke +laid on the table before him; and it was not difficult for him to see +that the feelings of the serviceable Sir Roger Millington were +undergoing the exact sort of transition which he desired. He +accordingly entered into further explanations; and Sir Roger, in his +eagerness to merit the favour of so generous a patron, proposed of his +own free will to write his name upon the note in such a manner as to +give every apparent veracity to the recollections to which he was to +swear. + +"You will find the butler's pen and ink in the buffet," said the peer, +in reply; "dip your pen first in the claret, Sir Roger, to make the +ink look faint and old. Only put your name; no date--no date; never be +too precise. Thank you--thank you: now he cannot escape me." + +"But, my lord," said Sir Roger, "as I am to swear to the person of the +gipsy from whom I received the note, will it not be better that I +should see him first before he is taken up; so that I may identify him +at once without any appearance of connivance?" + +"That is, I am afraid, impossible," replied the peer; "for we have +found out that he and his fellows have a design upon the deer in +Dimden Park this very night, and a large party of keepers have been +assembled to arrest them, so that between twelve and one they will all +be prisoners. Otherwise it might have been better as you say." + +"But there is time before that," said Sir Roger, looking at his watch, +which--as the dinner hours of that day were very, very different from +those of the present time--only pointed at seven even after this long +conversation with the peer,--"there is time before that, my lord: how +far is it to Dimden?" + +"Fourteen miles at least," replied the peer. + +"Lend me a strong horse, and I will be over by half-past eight," +answered Sir Roger. "If I cannot get a sight of him by any other +means, I will join the keepers privately, and as soon as ever the +business is over, come back here; so that I may point out the fellow +at once, if there should be twenty of them. What is his name, my lord? +do you know?" + +"Pharold, he is called," answered the peer, thoughtfully. "Your plan +is good, but I am afraid it is too late. Let us take care that by +trying to do too much we do not spoil all." + +"Oh, no fear, no fear, my lord," replied Sir Roger, who was not +without hopes of getting a private conversation with the gipsy before +his arrest, and who had an object of his own in wishing to do so; for +although rogues often trust each other in a manner which--with the +knowledge of each other's character that they must possess--is little +less than a miracle, no man covenants with another whom he knows to be +a villain without seeking some check upon him; and Sir Roger was not a +little desirous of having the peer more fully in his power, as some +security for the fulfilment of his promises. "No fear, no fear, my +lord; and remember, it would never do if I were to point out the wrong +man by any chance." + +This argument was conclusive with Lord Dewry. The bell was rung, a +swift horse was ordered to be saddled immediately, Sir Roger equipped +himself for riding, received minute directions as to the way to +Dimden, and the peer and his guest were standing before the fireplace, +waiting for the horse, each occupied with his own thoughts, and each +rejoicing at the event of a meeting which had seemed at first so +inauspicious--Sir Roger Millington indulging in dreams of future +luxury and ease, and the baron triumphing in the hope that the means +he had employed, the dark and dreadful scheme which he was prepared to +execute, would bid defiance to accusation, and sweep from his path for +ever the man that he most feared on earth--when the sound of more +horses' feet than one was heard without, the bell was rung violently, +and the servant, entering, announced that a gentleman on horseback was +at the door, urging important business with his lordship. + +"Did he give his name?" demanded Lord Dewry. + +"Yes, my lord," replied the man: "he bade me say that it was Colonel +Manners!" + +"Ho, ho!" said the peer, his lip curling with a haughty smile: "take +him into the saloon. This is a business of no importance, Sir Roger; +do not let it detain you. Fare you well, my good friend, and may +success attend you!" + +"I give your lordship back your wish," replied Sir Roger, "and will +wait on you to-morrow at breakfast with all my tidings." + +Thus saying, they parted, Sir Roger proceeding to hasten the arrival +of the horse, and the peer walking with a haughty step towards the +saloon, where he was waited by Colonel Manners. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +We must now turn to follow the course of Colonel Manners, from the +time we last left him at Morley House to the moment of his visit to +Lord Dewry, comprising in all a space of about eight hours. While +waiting for his horse he had, as we have already seen, examined +quickly, but not the less accurately, into the story of the peasant +who had heard shots fired in the neighbouring wood during the night +before; and he had thus satisfied himself that there was very little +probability of there being any connection whatever between those shots +and the absence of his friend, except such as the marvel-loving mood +of the old butler and the natural fears of De Vaux's relations had +supplied from the stores of imagination. The shots had been fired, it +seemed, in a direction different from that in which there were many +reasons for believing that De Vaux had gone; and the man himself +acknowledged, not only that he had originally supposed the sounds to +be occasioned by poachers, but that he had heard the report of one gun +on the preceding night. + +Convinced, from what he himself suspected, as well as from what Marian +had said, that De Vaux had gone to visit the gipsies on the hill, +Colonel Manners at once determined to turn his horse's head thither, +before he made any examination in the wood where the shots had been +heard; and in this resolution he was strongly confirmed by a short +conversation with the head-gardener, whom he met as he was just +passing the gates. + +As soon as Manners saw him he checked his horse, and demanded, "Pray, +in coming through the garden this morning, did you see any marks of +steps in the direction of the small door leading towards Morley Down?" + +"No, sir," replied the man; "but I found the key in the outside of the +door this morning, so that anybody might have got into the garden that +liked; but, however, I cannot see that any of the fruit is gone. Did +you hear of any one having got in last night, sir?" + +"No, no," answered Manners: "I did not mean to imply that," and +spurring on his horse, he rode forward more than ever determined to +address his first inquiries to the gipsies. Now Colonel Manners was +not a man to pause and wonder what could be the connection between the +Honourable Edward de Vaux and the king of shreds and patches from whom +he had received the letter, till the time was past for rendering +effectual service. Nevertheless, as he rode on, he did wonder much at +that connection, revolving in his mind every thing probable and +improbable which could account for circumstances with regard to which +the reader wants no explanations; but keeping his horse's chest all +the time steadily against the hill, and his spurs to its flanks, to +prevent its resisting a method of progression to which he never +subjected it except on occasions of necessity. The beast panted, but +still Manners, feeling that perhaps too much time had been lost +already, kept it up to the same pace, saying, internally, "You would +have gone unflinching at the heels of the hounds, my good gray, and +the matter is more important now." + +The early rays of the sun had licked up the hoar-frost of a clear +autumnal morning, but had left the roads, in consequence, and +especially the road up which Manners's course lay, heavy and +difficult. The sunshine, too, of the autumn--as we often see with the +sunshine of life--had been too early bright to continue unclouded to +the close of the day; and now, even as he rode on, a thin brownish +film of dull vapour began to creep up from the verge of the horizon, +promising rain ere long. Manners spurred on all the faster, not that, +as far as his own person was concerned, he cared whether it rained or +not, but he had served long enough with nations who follow their +enemies by the lightest traces in the dew or in the sand to know that +a heavy rain was often destruction itself to the hopes of a pursuing +party. + +At length he reached the level at the top of the ascent; and, pointing +with his hand to the tumulus, he said, turning to those who followed +him, "You, William, ride up as far as you can upon the mound, and keep +a keen eye upon the whole plain. If you see any one skulking about or +watching, give instant notice, and gallop up if you hear me call. You +come with me," he added, to his own man; and, taking the shortest cut +towards the sandpit, he spurred on towards the spot where he had last +seen the gipsies. The bushes, however, were now directly between him +and the bank that had sheltered their encampment, so that he could see +nothing till he was nearly upon the pit. + +Then, however, his disappointment was not small to find the usual +relics of a gipsy resting-place, but nothing else. A few rags, a leaf +of an old black-letter book, feathers of many birds, and fur of more +than one sort of beast, several charred spots, and a large stick or +two, were to be seen upon the ground; but nothing else met the eye in +any direction, and Manners paused for a moment to lay out what was to +be done next. + +"Go back for a hundred yards," he said, at length, turning to his +servant; "and then make a slow circle at that distance quite round +this pit, seeing whether you can find fresh footmarks in any +direction." + +The servant obeyed, and in a few minutes, exclaimed, "Here are a great +many, sir, along this road, which seems to go down the other side of +the hill. Horses' feet, too, and cart-wheels, quite fresh." + +"Go on quite round," rejoined his master. "What do you find more?" + +"Here are a good many scattered footmarks in this direction, sir," +replied the man when he had arrived at a spot situated exactly between +Manners and the little tumulus; "but they do not tend in any +particular way that I can see." + +Manners rode up; but the footprints were turned in many directions, +and were of various sizes, some seemingly fresh, and some half-effaced +by others. Nothing, therefore, could be discovered from the traces on +that particular spot; but as Colonel Manners had every reason for +believing that his friend must have approached the gipsy encampment +from that side, he took the pains of dismounting, and tracing the +different steps some way upon each of the several paths in which they +led. It was in vain, however; the whole were so puzzled and intermixed +that he could make nothing of them, and had his foot in the stirrup to +mount again when De Vaux's servant came down from the mound, at full +gallop, exclaiming, "There is certainly some one watching there, sir, +at the edge of that wood. I have seen them come out and in three +times. There! there! Do you see, sir? He is coming more forward now." + +Could Manners have bent down with his attendants, so as to escape the +attention of the person who approached, he would certainly have done +so; but though they might have hidden themselves among the +neighbouring slopes, their horses were not so easily concealed, and +the sandpit was now too far off to afford them a screen. A moment's +thought showed him that it would be best to stand quite still, as the +man, whoever he was, was still advancing. The next moment, however, +the stranger stopped--went on again a few steps farther--stopped +again; and then, turning precipitately, made his way back towards the +wood. + +Manners was in the saddle in a moment; and could speed have +accomplished what he desired, the person who so evidently sought to +avoid observation would not have escaped, but the distance he had +advanced from the wood had not been more than a hundred yards; and +long ere Manners's horse could reach the skirt of the forest ground +all vestige of him he pursued was lost in an intricate labyrinth of +trees and bushes, which set further search at defiance. The two men +came up shortly after, while Manners was pausing disappointed by the +edge of the wood; and De Vaux's servant, touching his hat, called the +colonel's attention to some footmarks, which they had passed as they +followed him. Manners instantly turned back, and in a dip of the +ground, where some mud had been left by a half dried up pool, he +discovered the distinct traces of two different sets of footsteps. +Both were small, and neither seemed to have been left by the tread of +a peasant; but one was evidently the mark of a boot, cut by some neat +and fashionable maker; and De Vaux's servant declared that he could +swear to that print having been made by his master's foot. + +Nothing remained, then, but to follow these footsteps as far as +possible; but the difficulty of doing so was not small, for there were +but few spots of a nature similar to that in which the traces had been +found, and the ground around was in general covered by short parched +grass, or long tufts of rushes. At length, however, at the distance of +more than fifty yards farther on, in the exact direction in which the +other steps pointed, Manners discovered the mark of a heel, and this +again led them to more steps. Several times the traces seemed lost +entirely, and several times Colonel Manners was obliged to return to +the last he had seen, and set off anew; but still the positive +assertions of his friend's servant that the footsteps were those of De +Vaux caused Manners to persist, till at length he succeeded in tracing +the prints to the edge of the steep bank, to which, as we have seen, +the gipsy had really led his unfortunate visiter. + +Manners now paused, with some very painful apprehensions gathering +thick upon him. Thither, it is true, De Vaux must have come willingly +with some other person, for there was not the slightest appearance +either of haste or resistance in any of the footmarks they had seen; +but it was in that very wood, near which they now were, that the +report of fire-arms had been heard the night before; and, as far as +Manners had been able to discover, it had been in the precise +direction to which the steps had now guided them. What, too, he asked +himself, could be De Vaux's inducement to approach so lonely a place +as this--by a path which led to no other object--in the dead of the +night, and with a person to whom it appeared he must have been a +stranger? What, too, could be that person's object in leading him +hither at such a time? + +No answer could he give to either of these questions which was at all +likely to calm the apprehensions that he now began seriously to +entertain concerning his friend's fate; and he gazed round the spot to +which the footsteps had conducted him with more anxiety concerning the +next object that was to meet his view than ever he had felt on the +field of battle. + +At length, however, his eye rested on the little rugged path by which +his friend and the gipsy had descended to the scene of their +conference; and Manners at once followed it. Here, again, the two sets +of footprints were distinctly visible, going down towards the +abandoned quarry and the felled oak. There were marks also to be seen, +as of some one coming up; but they had evidently been imprinted by the +tread of one person, and that not of Edward de Vaux. A few drops of +blood next met Manners's eye, as with an attentive gaze he examined +the ground while he descended. Then came more and more, dotting the +sand with red, till they at length led on to a spot where the same +footsteps were thick and many, as if the persons whose course they +marked had stood there for some time. There, too, appeared, however, +an evidence of more import; for close to the spot where De Vaux and +the gipsy had been standing, the sand had drank up a large quantity of +gore, while the patches of short green grass that had rooted +themselves here and there upon the broken ground around were dabbled +with red in various directions. + +Manners gazed with horror and with grief on signs so unequivocal of +the fate of his unhappy friend; and if he sorrowed bitterly for De +Vaux, his heart was hardly less afflicted when he thought of her who +was so soon to have become his bride--of her whose father and whose +lover had shared the same dark and melancholy fate. His heart bled for +her; and although, under any circumstances, he would have felt the +same sympathy for De Vaux's family, and the same grief for the loss of +his friend, the pain he personally felt was aggravated by the belief +that he had, in some degree, been made an instrument for the purpose +of decoying him into the trap which had evidently been laid for him. +That feeling, however, and the indignation which that feeling +awakened, made him the more strongly determine never to abandon the +search till he had discovered the murderer and brought him to justice. +He resolved to devote time, and fortune, and life itself, if it should +be necessary, to the pursuit; to trace the offender out with the +pertinacity of a bloodhound, and to run him down as he would a wolf. + +Although, to a man of Manners's character and peculiar frame of mind, +the very task of the avenger was a bitter and a dreadful one, yet +there was another duty still more grievous which lay before him for +execution--that of communicating to the family of his unhappy friend +the painful facts he had discovered; and the thought of the tears of +Marian, and the sterner grief of Mrs. Falkland, and the deep, deep +sorrow of her daughter, all thrilled upon him as he contemplated the +course he had to follow. But to such thoughts he gave but a few +moments. No time was to be lost in long deliberation, if action were +to be effectual; and as Manners was not more a man of real deep and +noble feeling than he was a man of active energy, he turned instantly +to the measures for detecting the murderer. His first step was to take +the exact measurement of both the footprints, and the next, to note +down precisely in his memorandum-book every thing that had occurred in +the search. + +The man who had been seen watching his party from the wood he felt +sure was implicated in the transaction, if he were not the principal; +and among the gipsies were to be found, beyond all doubt, the +accomplices of the murderer, if not the participators in the deed +itself. After a brief conversation, then, with the servants concerning +the discoveries they had already made, he proceeded to inquire what +was the next village or town to the seat of Lord Dewry; and being +informed by his late friend's servant, who was well acquainted with +the county, that it was called Barholm, he went on to give further +directions. + +"You, William," he said, "ride back to the sandpit, which you saw me +examining just now on the top of the common; you will there find the +tracks of wheels and feet going down the opposite road to that by +which we came, indicating the direction the gipsies have taken. Follow +them as fast as you can, making continual inquiries concerning them. +Trace them out, step by step, till you have found them. Then hire any +of the peasantry to keep watch upon them, night and day, paying +whatever sum may be necessary in advance, and giving strict orders to +follow them wherever they go. There is a note to pay the people. Do +not spare either speed or money; and when you have taken these +precautions, ride over to join me at Barholm, where I will be tonight. +Quick! mount, and away!" + +The man obeyed, and Manners then turned to his own servant. "You, +John," he said, "lead your horse down the bank to the road--then on to +the village there, with all speed. Gather together as many stout men +as ever you can, and mount them at any price. Establish corresponding +patrols all round this wood, as we did at the wood beyond Montreal +last year, and remember that the great thing is haste. There is money, +and if you need more, refer the people to me at Morley House. When you +have done that, and left the care of the patrol in the hands of the +most intelligent fellow you can find, come back to me at the house." + +"Shall I tell the folks what is the matter, sir?" demanded the +servant. Manners mused for some moments. "Yes," he said, at length, +"yes; circumstances fully justify it; and the people, who must love +Mrs. Falkland and her family, will work in the matter with the greater +interest. Lose no time, John, lest the fellow get out of the wood +before you can surround it. He will probably lie there for half an +hour or so, till he thinks we are gone, and then will make an effort +to escape. It will take at least four or five-and-twenty men to watch +it properly, giving each of them half a mile; but I should think that +in the village you can get together as many--at all events, do your +best." + +The man bowed, and led his beast down the bank, while Manners, +springing into the saddle, turned his horse's head back towards Morley +House. + +With grief and reluctance he did so; and although he felt the +necessity of promptitude in his own proceedings, and that he had no +right to keep those so deeply interested in suspense, yet repugnance +to his painful task certainly rendered his horse's pace slower in +returning than it had been when he set out upon his search. + +"How is Miss De Vaux now?" he asked of the servant who presented +himself to take his horse; and it was some relief to hear in reply +that she had not come down. He then ascended the stairs towards the +drawing-room, but in the anteroom he was met by Isadore, who had +already become aware of his return. All the light gay spirit was gone +from her eyes, and her countenance now expressed nothing but intense +anxiety. "You look grave, Colonel Manners," she exclaimed, as soon as +she saw him. "You look sad; for Heaven's sake, tell me what have you +discovered?" + +"Nothing at all satisfactory," replied Manners, anxious to break the +matter to her as gently as possible: "the whole business is certainly +very strange; but I still hope and trust that--" + +"Hope and trust!" exclaimed Isadore, clasping her hands. "Oh, Colonel +Manners, you know more than you say. Poor, poor Marian! But tell me, I +beseech you, tell me all. Indeed, this suspense is worse than the +truth." + +"I have very little to tell, my dear Miss Falkland," he replied; "but +I must acknowledge that what I have to tell is not at all calculated +to remove our apprehensions." + +"But the gipsies, Colonel Manners!" exclaimed Isadore; "have you seen +the gipsies?" + +"No, I have not," he answered: "they had left the common before I +arrived; but I found traces of the way they had taken, and have sent +your cousin's own servant to pursue them." + +"Sent my cousin's servant, without attempting to follow them +yourself!" cried Isadore; but then, instantly lighting upon the right +conclusion, she added, "But, no, no, no, Colonel Manners, I know you +better! You would never have sent my cousin's servant upon such an +inquiry, unless you had discovered something to render your stay here +more necessary. But here comes mamma from poor Marian's room. Now, for +Heaven's sake, tell us all, Colonel Manners." + +"I hope Miss De Vaux is more composed," said Manners, turning to Mrs. +Falkland as she entered. + +"She is asleep from the effect of strong opiates, my dear sir," +replied Mrs. Falkland gravely; "and, if I may judge from your +countenance, it is happy for her that she is so. Now, Colonel Manners, +tell me candidly what you have discovered--I require no preparation." + +"The facts are simply these, then," replied Manners, "and I will not +attempt to conceal from you that I am deeply uneasy on account of De +Vaux. When I reached the gipsy encampment all was vacant, and nothing +to be found but the place where it had been, together with fresh +tracks of wheels and feet, marking the direction which the great body +of the gipsies had taken. However, in another part of the common we +discovered footmarks, which De Vaux's servant positively asserts to be +those of his master; and, of course, my first care was to follow those +as far as possible. They led us, I am sorry to say, in the direction +where shots had been heard in the wood." + +"Good God!" cried Isadore, the tears bursting from her eyes; "poor +Edward! and still more unhappy Marian!" + +"Nay, do not weep so bitterly, Miss Falkland," said Manners, "or I +fear I shall not be able to finish my account. Remember, however, that +we have discovered as yet nothing at all certain, and that such +appearances as we have discovered are often, very often, fallacious." + +"You must let her weep, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland: "men +never understand how great a relief tears are to a woman; and often I +regret that some severe sorrows have taken from me the power of +weeping as once I could. Pray go on, too; let us hear the worst. Where +did the steps lead to?" + +"To a high bank just above a turn in the road," replied Colonel +Manners; "a little more than a mile on the other side of the village." + +"Indeed!" cried Mrs. Falkland, now extremely agitated; "the very spot +where my poor brother was murdered." + +"Not exactly," answered Manners; "for that spot was pointed out to me +by De Vaux as we came hither; and the place to which I now refer, +though near it, is not precisely the same. At that bank, however, all +traces of my poor friend's footsteps were lost, and I could only find +those of another person going away from it." + +Isadore continued to weep in silence; but Mrs. Falkland, seeing that +Manners paused somewhat abruptly, fixed her eye upon him with a look +of keen inquiry. Manners glanced towards Miss Falkland, slightly +raising his eyebrows, and shaking his head; and Mrs. Falkland, +understanding his meaning, took Isadora's hand, saying, "Go, my love, +and sit by your poor cousin: Colonel Manners may have business with me +which we can better discuss alone." + +Isadore obeyed at once, and Mrs. Falkland then turned to Manners with +firm composure, saying, "Now, Colonel Manners, tell me all; what more +did you find?" + +"I am sorry to say, madam," he answered, "that I found a great deal of +blood spilt upon the sand." + +Mrs. Falkland covered her eyes with her hands, and remained silent for +several minutes. At length she looked up, and Colonel Manners +proceeded:--"I have now, madam, related all that I have done, except +some measures already taken for the apprehension of the persons +implicated. Such appearances as those I have met with, I still say, +are often fallacious; but, nevertheless, it is absolutely necessary to +take the same steps as if they were perfectly certain. If you will +give me the name of the nearest magistrate, I will write to him +instantly to obtain his sanction for what I have already done, and his +assistance in what we may yet have to do." + +"The nearest magistrate is old Mr. Arden," replied Mrs. Falkland; "an +active and intelligent man, though somewhat severe. He is the same," +she added, while some tears came into her eyes--"he is the same who +investigated with so much energy the circumstances attending the death +of my poor brother." + +"To him, then, I will write at once, madam," replied Manners. "When I +have done so, I have another task to perform which will lead me to +some distance; but I will be back here to-morrow; for though I would +not willingly intrude upon your family in such a moment of grief, yet +I hold myself bound--" + +"Oh, do not call it intruding, Colonel Manners," cried Mrs. Falkland; +"if you will have the great kindness to manage the whole of this sad +business for me, to act as my representative in it, and to add my love +for my poor nephew to your own friendship for him, as motives for +ascertaining his fate and pursuing his murderers, you will confer the +greatest of favours on me and mine. Oh no, Colonel Manners, you must +not think of leaving us at such a moment as this, when we all want the +assistance, advice, and support of one so well calculated to +strengthen and to aid us. But do you know there is another task I am +going to put upon you; and circumstances may render it very painful to +you--De Vaux's father--I could wish these tidings broken to him. His +whole soul was wrapped up in his son; and I am sure Colonel Manners is +too generous not to forget, in moments of affliction, any offence +that--" + +"I have already arranged, my dear madam," replied Colonel Manners, "to +go over to Lord Dewry as soon as I have written to Mr. Arden. De +Vaux's servant is to meet me at the village of Barholm; and believe me +that the little dispute which occurred between the father of my friend +and myself rests too lightly on my mind to be thought of for a moment, +when I can, in any degree, blunt the first sharp edge of the sad +tidings he must soon hear." + +"I see one cannot calculate too liberally on your good feeling," said +Mrs. Falkland; "nor can I express what a relief it is to me to have +you here, Colonel Manners, at such a trying moment. I cannot, indeed, +in my present state of mind, attend to your comfort as I could wish; +but let me beg you, at least, to take some refreshment ere you set out +for my brother's." + +"None, I thank you, my dear madam," he replied; "I do not require it. +But now do not let me detain you. I know that you, too, have the +painful task of breaking the confirmation of our fears to her who will +feel the pang more acutely than any." + +"Indeed, I hardly know how to do it," replied Mrs. Falkland. "To a +casual observer, Marian may appear cold and indifferent by nature; but +quite the reverse is known to be the case by those who have better +opportunities of judging. Her heart is all warmth, and tenderness, and +affection; and it is, perhaps, a consciousness of the very excess of +such feelings that makes her put a stricter guard upon the expression +of them. I fear that these tidings, if told entirely, will go far to +kill her." + +"Then by no means tell them, my dear madam," replied Manners: "I am no +advocate for concealments or pious frauds of any kind; and where the +strength of the individual is able to bear them up, we should always +speak the truth: but of course we must regulate our conduct by our +knowledge of the person; and both from what I have seen to-day, and +what you yourself say, I would strongly advise you--if you will excuse +my doing so--to tell Miss De Vaux, merely, that I have not succeeded +in my first search for my poor friend, and that I am still following +the same object in a different direction." + +"I believe I must do even as you say," replied Mrs. Falkland, "and +suffer Marian's mind to come to the sad conclusion, to which we have +already come, by degrees. Though the suspense may be harrowing, yet it +will not have so bad an effect on her as the sudden confirmation of +her worst fears. Allow me, too, to hint, Colonel Manners, that you +will find my brother less capable of bearing such tidings than you may +imagine, from what you have seen of his demeanour. His love for his +son was as ardent as his other passions." + +"Do not be afraid, my dear madam," replied Manners, taking her hand; +"I will do nothing roughly, believe me." + +"I do, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland--"I do, indeed, believe that it +is not in the nature of Colonel Manners to act unkindly to anyone. At +what time shall I order the carriage?" + +"Oh, not at all--not at all," he answered; "I will ride: it is always +my custom; and as soon as I have written this letter, and my servant +has returned, I will set out. Let me detain you no longer, and God +grant that our fears may have magnified the proofs in their own +support." + + + + END OF VOL. I. + + + + + + THE GIPSY; + + + A TALE. + + + + + BY THE AUTHOR OF + + + "RICHELIEU," "MARY OF BURGUNDY," &c. + + + + + "Ah! what a tangled web we weave, + When first we venture to deceive." + Sir Walter Scott. + + + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + + + + NEW YORK + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + 1855. + + + + + + THE GIPSY + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +Nothing shows us, perhaps, the utter blindness in which we are held by +fate more completely, than the constant fallacy of our calculations in +regard to even the smallest events over which we have not a personal +and unlimited control. A letter is put into our hands in a writing +that we know; and ere we have broken the seal, fancy, aided by the +best efforts of reason, has laid out before us the probable contents: +but as soon as the seal is broken, we find the whole as different +therefrom as it is possible to imagine. A friend, or a stranger, comes +to see us; and ere we can reach the room where he is waiting, +imagination has done her work, and given us a full account of the +person and his errand. We expect some pleasant meeting, or some glad +tidings, and we go but to hear of some bitter loss or sad +disappointment. + +Thus, as Lord Dewry walked towards the room to which he had directed +the servant to conduct Colonel Manners, he did not fail to calculate +the cause of his coming. "He is either here," thought the peer, "to +apologize for his conduct, in which case I shall treat him with +contempt, or he has come to proffer that personal satisfaction which +he before refused. I hope the latter; and if so, I shall have a cause +sufficient to assign for demanding Edward's immediate rupture with +him." + +As he thus thought, he opened the door of the saloon in the midst of +which Colonel Manners was standing, booted, and spurred, and dusty, +from the road; but with that air of ease, composure, and calmness +which spoke his character. + +"My lord," he said, as soon as the peer entered, "I am obliged very +unwillingly to intrude upon you; and, of course, feel more +uncomfortable in interrupting you at this unseasonable hour: but the +business on which I come admits of no delay." + +"I am not aware, sir," replied the peer, frowning sternly, "what +business can remain between us, after our last meeting, when you +thought fit--" + +"My lord," interrupted Colonel Manners, anxious to put a stop to a +revival of past grievances, which, at the present moment, could only +aggravate the pain he had to inflict--"my lord, my present business is +totally unconnected with the past; and extremely sorry I am that +anything ever occurred between your lordship and myself to render my +present visit disagreeable to you in itself." + +"Sir, your expression of sorrow," replied the peer, "as is usual in +such cases, comes too late; but to your business, sir. Do not let me +interrupt that. What is your business with me? for the sooner we +settle it the better shall I be pleased." + +There was a pertinacity in Lord Dewry's rudeness that offended +Manners; but he gave no way to his anger. There was a stronger feeling +in his bosom; and pity for the childless old man not barely mastered +every other sensation, but mastered all so completely, that he went on +with as nice a calculation of the best and kindest means of breaking +his loss to the peer, as if not a word had been said but those of +welcome and civility. "My lord," he replied, "I come to you as one +of the principal magistrates of this county, in your quality of +lord-lieutenant--" + +"I wish, sir," interrupted the peer, "that you had sought some other +magistrate to whom your presence would have been more welcome." + +"I might have done so, my lord," replied Manners, "had the business on +which I had to seek a magistrate not been one so immediately affecting +your lordship, that although, in the first instance, I wrote to the +nearest justice of the peace that I could hear of--Mr. Arden--I +thought it but right to ride over myself to request your co-operation +in the measures we are taking." + +Manners observed a change of expression, and a slight degree of +paleness pass over the countenance of his hearer; and, although he +certainly did not attribute it to that consciousness of crime and +consequent feeling of insecurity in which it really originated, he saw +that the first step was gained; and that the peer was, in some degree, +prepared to hear evil tidings. Lord Dewry, however, replied in a +manner which had nearly forced the communication at once. "May I ask, +sir," he said, in a tone grave but less bitter than that which he had +formerly employed--"may I ask, sir, why, when business of importance +concerning myself occurred, my son did not take upon himself the task +of communicating with his father upon the subject, but rather left it +to a person whose visit was certainly unsolicited?" + +"Because, my lord, your son was not capable of doing so," replied +Colonel Manners, "from the fact of his being absent from Morley +House." + +"Not at Morley House!" cried the peer. "Pray where is he, then, sir?" + +"I really cannot inform your lordship," replied Manners, "for I do not +know." + +"Good God! this is very extraordinary," cried Lord Dewry, taking alarm +more from the tone of Manners's voice, and the expression of his +countenance, than from anything he had said. "For Heaven's sake, +explain yourself, sir. Where is my son? What is your business? Sit +down, sir, I beg! What is it you seek?" + +By the agitated manner in which the baron spoke, Manners saw that he +must proceed cautiously. + +"May I ask you, my lord, if you have ever heard of a person named +Pharold, a gipsy?" he demanded, intending by this question to lead his +hearer's mind away, for a moment, from the real subject of +apprehension; but, without at all wishing it, by that very inquiry he +redoubled the agitation of the peer. + +For an instant the thoughts of Lord Dewry were all in confusion and +uncertainty,--doubtful of the end to which Manners's interrogatory +tended, and fearful that a man to whom he had given such just cause +for anger had become acquainted with some of the dreadful secrets +which oppressed his own bosom. His first impulse was to lift his hand +to his head, and to gaze with some degree of wildness upon the +countenance of his questioner; but almost instantly recalling his +firmness, and recollecting the measures he had taken, and the schemes +he had laid out, he recovered also his composure, and replied, with a +forced smile, "You have alarmed me about my son, Colonel Manners; but +you ask me if I know a gipsy of the name of Pharold. I do: my family +have, I am afraid, too good reason to know him." + +"Then have you any cause to suppose that he bears an ill-will towards +your family?" demanded Manners again. + +"I have, sir, I have!" replied Lord Dewry; "I have the strongest +reasons to believe that he bears us ill-will,--that he has already +injured us, and seeks but the opportunity to do more and more for our +destruction." + +"Does his ill-will particularly point against your son, my lord?" +asked Manners, deeply interested by an answer which to him was both +mysterious and painful. + +"No, no!" exclaimed the peer, starting up from the chair into which he +had cast himself when he had invited Manners to be seated--"no, no! +certainly not! What is the meaning of this? You have some darker +meaning, sir! What of Edward? Tell me, I beseech you, tell me, where +is my son?" + +"My lord, I am grieved to repeat, that I cannot tell you where he is," +replied Manners; "and it is for the purpose of concerting means for +discovering him that I now wait upon your lordship. He went out, it +appears, to see this gipsy Pharold, and has never returned." + +Manners acted for the best; and having not the slightest idea of all +that was passing in the bosom of De Vaux's father, he thought that by +concealing for a few moments the proof he had obtained of his friend +having been murdered, he would allow the mind of the unhappy parent to +come by degrees, and less painfully, to a knowledge of the truth: but +the result was by no means such as he anticipated; for to Lord Dewry +the bare idea of his son having any communication whatever with the +eyewitness of that dreadful deed which he had committed in other +years, was agonizing in itself; and, without remembering that any one +was present to remark the agitation to which he yielded, he clasped +his hands together, and strode up and down the saloon, muttering, +"Villain! scoundrel! it is all over!" Then, again, recollecting that +he was observed, he found it necessary to curb his emotions, and to +make anxiety for his son the apparent cause for that agitation which +he had already displayed. "Colonel Manners," he said, "you alarm me +much. For Heaven's sake, tell me the particulars! Something more than +a temporary and ordinary absence must have occurred to excite +apprehensions in an officer so much accustomed to danger as yourself. +Nor is my sister a woman to yield to idle fears. Tell me, then, what +has happened to my son, and why you are led to suppose that there has +been any communication between him and a person in regard to whom I +have more than suspicions of very terrible deeds--who is, I believe, a +villain of the blackest character, and who would scruple at nothing to +injure a race who were his first benefactors." + +"The facts are these, my lord," replied Manners: "but I trust we shall +find that your son's absence is owing, notwithstanding its +strangeness, to some accidental circumstance of no importance. As I +was about to say, however, the facts are these:--It appears that last +night De Vaux did not go to bed; that he left Morley House during the +night, and that he has never returned during the day. He also, I find, +mentioned yesterday to his cousin, Miss De Vaux, his intention of +visiting a gipsy named Pharold, who had sent him a letter that +morning; but his purpose, as he then stated it, was to go to Morley +Down, where the gipsies were, to-day, and not during the night; and +his prolonged absence has, of course, greatly alarmed Mrs. Falkland +and her family." + +"But has no search been instituted? Have no traces been found?" cried +Lord Dewry, his fears taking a new direction. "No time should be +lost." + +"No time has been lost as yet, my lord," replied Manners: "I myself +have been to the place where the gipsies were last seen; but they are +there no more, and, to all appearance, must have either decamped in +the night or early this morning. But it appears certain, from the +evidence of Mr. De Vaux's servant, who was with me, that some +footprints which we traced on the ground, in different parts of the +common, were from my poor friend's boot; and in the same track are +those of another person, who was apparently with him during the +night." + +"But whither did they lead?" exclaimed the peer, whose agitation was +becoming dreadful. "Speak out, sir, for God's sake! You call him your +poor friend: you have discovered more. Whither did the footsteps lead? +I can bear all." + +"They led, my lord," replied Manners, "to a high bank, overhanging a +part of the road, about a mile or more to the west of Morley House, +near a point of wooded land which causes the river to take a singular +bend in its course." + +Lord Dewry shook in every limb; but, by a strong effort, he uttered, +"Go on, sir; go on: let me hear the worst." + +"Thank God, my lord, I have little more to inflict upon your +lordship," replied Manners. "At that bank the steps ended; but--" + +He paused, and the peer eagerly demanded, "But what--what found you +more?" + +"It must be told," thought Manners. "We found, my lord," he added, +aloud, "a good deal of blood spilled upon the sand." + +The peer groaned bitterly. "My poor boy! my poor boy!" he cried; but +for some minutes he said no more. + +While Manners had been in the act of telling his tale, the conflict +which had taken place in the bosom of Lord Dewry can better be +conceived than described. Every moment produced a change of sensation; +every word a new and different apprehension. Now he fancied his son +made acquainted with his guilt; now feared that the very means he had +taken to conceal it might have made the gipsy to wreak his vengeance +on his unoffending child. That Pharold was capable of committing any +or every crime was a conviction which had been brought about in the +mind of the peer by one of those curious processes in the human heart +whereby great guilt seeks to conceal its blackness from even its own +eyes, by representing others in colours as dark as it feels that it +itself deserves; and while at one moment he suspected that Pharold +might have obtained information of the trap laid for him by the +gamekeeper, and to avenge himself might have revealed his whole +history to Edward de Vaux, at another he believed that the destruction +of his son might have been the means which the gipsies had determined +upon, in order to punish himself for his designs against them. + +As Colonel Manners concluded his account, however, the latter opinion +predominated over all others; the peer's own heart acknowledged that +the means they had taken was that which was the most fearfully +effectual; and he beheld no other image than the heir of his name, the +child of his love, murdered in cold blood, within sight of the very +spot where his own hand had slain his brother. All his first emotions +were consecrated to deep grief. He had loved his son; he had admired +him; and affection and pride had united to give him the only green +place in a heart that angry passions had left arid and desolate; and +now he was alone in all the world. He had been hitherto like a mariner +ploughing the waves in the midst of storms and darkness, with one +small point of bright light in the wide dark vacancy before him; but +now the clouds had rolled over that light for ever, and the past and +the future were alike one lurid night. There was nothing left in life +to live for; and during one moment all was despair: but the minute +after, the most overpowering passion of human nature rose up, and +rekindled with its own red and baleful light the extinguished torch of +hope. Revenge became his thirst; and the remembrance that it was +nearly within his grasp, and that another day would give it to him, +was the only consolation that his mind could receive. It seized upon +him at once; it compelled every other feeling and passion to its aid: +grief gave it bitterness; pride gave it intensity; wrath lent it +eagerness. "He has smitten me to the heart," he thought; "he has +smitten me to the heart. But I will smite him still deeper, and he +shall learn what it is to have raised his hand against a son of mine." +It was but for one instant that he had given way to despair, and the +next revenge took possession of his whole soul, and became almost more +than a consolation--a joy. All its dark and cruel pictures, too, rose +up before his mental vision, and he pleased himself with gazing forth +into the future, and seeing him he most hated within the gripe of his +vengeance. He painted to himself the agony which long and solitary +imprisonment would inflict on a heart which he knew to be wild and +free; he thought over all the tyrannical details of a trial in a court +of justice; and he gazed even into the gipsy's bosom, and saw the +burning indignation and despair that would wring his heart, exposed a +public spectacle to the eyes of a race he detested, tried by laws he +condemned and had abjured, and exciting the curiosity and the loud +remark of the idle and the vulgar. He followed him in imagination to +the scaffold, and saw him die the death of a dog; and only grieved +that there revenge must stop, and that the cup contained not another +drop of ignominy and suffering to pour upon the head of him who had +destroyed his son. + +Occupied with these thoughts, he remained silent for several minutes; +but his features worked, and his limbs even writhed, wrought +unconsciously by the intensity of the emotions within. Colonel Manners +saw the strong and painful degree of his agitation; but he had no key +to the secret sources of feeling which, opened wide by the news of his +son's loss, were gushing forth in streams of bitterness upon his +heart. He attributed, then, all that he saw to deep grief; and +although his application to the peer, in his magisterial capacity, had +been but to bring about the disclosures he had to make as gently as +possible, yet he still thought it best to continue the same course +with which he had begun, in order to engage the unhappy nobleman in +those personal and active exertions which might in some degree divert +his mind from the sole and painful contemplation of his recent loss. + +"My lord," he said, feelingly, "believe me, no one feels more deeply +and sympathizes more sincerely with your lordship than myself; but +allow me to recall to your mind that great and instant exertions are +necessary to ensure the arrest of the murderer; the pursuit of whom I +have determined never to quit till I have seen him brought to +justice." + +Lord Dewry, with his own burning hand, clasped warmly that of Colonel +Manners, the object of his former hatred. The fact is, however, that +circumstances had established between them two strong ties since the +death of Edward de Vaux. The one was wholly composed of good feelings, +and sprang from their mutual affection for the deceased,--affection +which had, of course, risen in value in each other's eyes since death +had hallowed it; and the other,--composed of feelings which, though +noble and virtuous on the one part, were terribly mixed with evil on +the other,--was the desire of bringing the murderer to justice. Lord +Dewry then grasped Colonel Manners's hand, and said, "I have much to +thank you for, sir, and I am afraid that I have somewhat to apologize +for in the past; but--" + +"Do not mention it, I beg, my lord," replied Manners. "It is forgotten +entirely; only let us bend our energies with a common effort to pursue +this sad affair to an end, to discover, as far as Heaven shall enable +us, what has really occurred, and above all, to ensure the immediate +apprehension of this gipsy Pharold, whom every circumstance, hitherto +apparent, points at as the murderer." + +A gleam of triumph broke over the thin sallow countenance of the peer. +"If I am not very much mistaken, Colonel Manners," he said, "this very +Pharold will be in our hands to-night. He and his gang are not famous +alone for one sort of crime. My park-keepers at Dimden informed me a +few days ago that they had discovered a plan which these gipsies had +laid for robbing my park of the deer; and I immediately took measures +to ensure the arrest of the whole of them in the very fact. Nor was +my purpose alone to save my game, Colonel Manners, nor to punish +deer-stealers," continued Lord Dewry, raising his head and speaking +with determined firmness; "no, I had a weightier object in view; I had +a more serious offence to avenge." + +The peer paused; for although he was anxious to make the charge which +he had determined to bring against the gipsy, boldly and distinctly to +as many private individuals as possible, before he urged it in a +public court of justice, yet he felt a difficulty, a hesitation, +perhaps we might say a fear, in pronouncing for the first time so +false an accusation against a fellow-creature, which was to be +supported, too, by so many dark, and tortuous, and deceitful +contrivances. There was in his bosom a consciousness of the fallacy, +of the futility, we might say, of all human calculations, which +produced an undefined dread of rendering his schemes irretrievable by +once making the charge to any one. It was to him the passing of the +Rubicon; and that step once taken, he felt that he should be involved +in a labyrinth of obscure and unknown paths, from which there would be +no retreat, and which would conduct him whither he knew not. And yet +he saw that it must be taken; that the gipsy's first act after his +arrest would undoubtedly be, to charge him with the crime which he had +committed; and that it was absolutely necessary, in order to give all +his future proceedings a firm basis and a commanding position, to be +the person to accuse rather than the person accused. He knew how +inferior defence is to attack; how much more faith men are naturally +inclined to give to a charge than they give to a recrimination; and +from the first commencement of his reply to Colonel Manners he had +determined to make it boldly; but when he came to the immediate point +where it was to be spoken, he hesitated and paused irresolute. + +The next moment, however, he went on. "Colonel Manners," he said, +resuming his firmness, "as I believe that the culprit may be +considered in our power, and that therefore no indiscreet +communication of my suspicions can give him warning to escape, I do +not scruple to say that I have many, many reasons to suppose that this +gipsy, this Pharold, is not only the murderer of my son, poor Edward, +but that my brother's death also may be laid to his charge; and with a +view of bringing him to justice for that offence it was that I, this +very morning, took the surest measures for his apprehension, and not +for any pitiful affair of deer-stealing, which might have gone long +unpunished ere I exerted myself as I have done." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed Manners, gazing upon the peer in much surprise. +"How strangely do events sometimes come round!" + +"Perhaps you are not acquainted with the circumstances of my brother's +death," replied the peer, marking some surprise in Manners's +countenance, and in his anxiety to show the probability of the charge +he had made, overcoming his repugnance to speak upon a subject of all +others the most dreadful to him. "However, Colonel Manners," he +continued, "he was killed by some one unknown many years ago; and the +suspicions against this man Pharold were then so strong, that good Mr. +Arden, the magistrate, would fain have had him committed, had not I +foolishly interfered, from a weak conviction of his honesty. That +conviction, however, has been since removed, and I may say that I have +in my hands the most decided proofs of his guilt." + +Such was the explanation to which the apparent surprise of Colonel +Manners led on the peer; but that surprise proceeded both from the new +charge which the peer made against the gipsy being totally unexpected +by his hearer, and from another cause which must be explained, as it +touches upon some of those little weaknesses of our nature, which +Colonel Manners possessed in common with other human beings. + +Through the whole affair, since he had discovered the traces of De +Vaux's footsteps on the common, and the marks of bloodshed at the +quarry, hope had offered to the mind of Charles Manners but one +suggestion to diminish his apprehensions for the fate of his friend; +and that suggestion, strange enough to say, was that the countenance, +the demeanour, and the language of the gipsy Pharold were not those of +a man familiar with guilt or designing evil. Colonel Manners was too +much a man of the world, and too much a man of sense, to suffer such +impressions to affect his conduct in the slightest degree. He knew +that this earth contains every grade and every sort of hypocrisy; and +that Satan himself will occasionally assume the form of an angel of +light: but at the same time, although his behaviour was on all +occasions guarded by what he had learned from experience, yet through +life he had preserved his natural enthusiasm unblunted by the hard +world in which we live; and there was thus in his character a rare +mingling of ardent and energetic feelings with calm and well +calculated actions, which formed the specific difference between him +and the general herd with which he moved. During his conversation with +Pharold he had remarked a dignity, not alone of manner, but of +thought, in the gipsy, opposed to all the habits of his tribe, and +which must have been difficult to retain among them at all, but still +more difficult to assume, if it was not natural and habitual,--if it +sprang not from a heart at ease in itself, and a consciousness of +virtue and intellect superior to the things through which it passed. +His countenance, too, had appeared to him open and frank, though wild +and keen; and Manners wished much to believe that vice or crime, in +general, more or less affect the expression of the human face. All +this had struck him; and though, as we have said before, he suffered +not these impressions to affect his conduct in the least, opposed as +they were to known facts, and circumstances of great probability, yet +hope still whispered, surely that gipsy was not a man either to plan +or to commit so dreadful a deed as the indications he had met with +would have naturally led him to suspect. It may well be supposed, +then, that the numerous and dark charges brought forward so boldly by +the peer startled Manners not a little; and as he had no cause to +believe that Lord Dewry was instigated by any motive to prefer a false +accusation against the gipsy, he could only conclude that he himself +had been deceived in his estimation of Pharold's character by the most +skilful and consummate hypocrisy. + +"I have heard some of the events to which your lordship alludes," he +replied, as soon as the peer paused; "and was only surprised to hear +such an unexpected aggravation of the suspicious circumstances which +have already appeared against this man Pharold. I trust, too, that the +measures which your lordship has taken may be successful for his +arrest; but allow me to suggest, that the unhappy news which I have +had the melancholy duty of communicating ought to point out more +extensive operations for the apprehension of the offender, as it is +not at all impossible that this new offence may have entirely changed +the circumstances, and may have put a stop to the attack upon your +lordship's park, of which you received intimation." + +Lord Dewry struck his hand upon the table, perceiving suddenly the +probability of Colonel Manners's suggestion, and anticipating with +rage and disappointment the possible escape of the gipsy, or at least +his evasion till such time as the arrival of Sir William Ryder in +England might render the schemes he had planned, if not entirely +impracticable, at all events highly difficult of execution, and +dangerous to himself in the attempt. + +"He shall be taken, if it cost me life and fortune," he exclaimed; +"but how, how?--that is the question, Colonel Manners. What you say is +true; the murder of my poor unhappy boy may have scared them away from +the scene of their crimes, and most probably has done so ere this. +What is to be done? how can we trace them? Pray, advise me, Colonel +Manners, if you had any regard for your unhappy comrade." + +His agitation was dreadful; and Manners saw that the only way to +tranquilize him was to give him fresh hopes of the apprehension of +those who had been instrumental in the death of his son. "Most +willingly will I give you any advice and assistance in my power," he +replied; "but your lordship will be better able to judge what is most +fitting to be done when you hear what I have already endeavoured to +accomplish. My proceedings have been those of a soldier, but perhaps +they may not be the less likely to be successful on that account." + +"The more, the more," cried Lord Dewry; "but let me beg you to give me +the details." + +"In the first place, my lord," he replied, "I have sent my poor +friend's own servant, who is a keen and active fellow, to trace out +the gipsies, and to follow the tracks we discovered on the common as +far as possible. I have furnished him also with money to hire +assistance and to buy information; and I directed him, as soon as his +object was accomplished, to join me at Barholm with all speed. He had +not, however, arrived when I passed the inn, and I ordered him to be +sent on here as soon as ever he appeared." + +"Thank you, thank you, sir," reiterated Lord Dewry; "but do you think +there is any hope of his discovering the road the villains have +taken?" + +"Every chance, my lord," replied Colonel Manners: "in the first place, +the tracks of the wheels, and the feet going in one particular +direction, was too evident to leave a doubt in regard to which path +they had taken at first. That path, I find, leads down to a hamlet +where they must have been seen, and where the servant will most +probably obtain the means of tracing them farther. But my next step, +my lord, is, I think, likely to produce the still more desirable +result of placing in the hands of justice the particular individual +whom we have the greatest reason to suspect. While we were examining +the sandpit, where these gipsies had been assembled, we discovered +some one apparently watching the common from the wood; and whether at +first he mistook us for some of his own tribe or not, I cannot tell; +but he advanced some way towards us. As soon as I saw he was again +retreating to the wood, I galloped after him; and though I +unfortunately had not time to overtake him, yet I had an opportunity +of satisfying myself very nearly to a certainty that this was that +very Pharold whom I had once before seen on another occasion. I took +measures as soon as possible for having the wood surrounded by a +mounted patrol of as many men as it was possible to obtain, and I +directed that any one who was apprehended in coming out of it should +be instantly carried before Mr. Arden, to whom I had written a concise +account of all the circumstances." + +The peer mused; for, as in every dark and complicated scheme of +villany, the slightest alteration in the events which he had +anticipated was likely to produce the most disastrous results to the +schemer. "If Pharold be carried at once before Mr. Arden," thought the +peer, "the accusation which he has it in his power to bring against me +may be made before I am aware of it, and that, too, to the very man +who has the best means of comparing minutely, in the first stages of +the proceeding, the present charge with the past circumstances. That +the gipsy will ultimately tell his own tale, there can be no doubt; +yet to make the first impression is the great object--to be the +accuser rather than the accused--to attack rather than defend." With +such views, the probability of the gipsy being carried before Mr. +Arden ere he had been prepared was anything but agreeable to the peer; +and for a moment the anguish occasioned by his son's death was +forgotten, in apprehensions for the failure of his own deep-laid +schemes. + +"I will write myself to Mr. Arden," he said, at length, after long +thought--"I will write myself, and send off the letter this very +night. Colonel Manners, excuse me for one moment. I have but a few +lines to write, and will be back with you in a few minutes." Thus +saying, he proceeded to his library, and with a hasty hand wrote down +that bold and decided charge against the gipsy which was to bring the +long apprehended struggle between them to an end at once. Nor did he, +in this instance, feel any hesitation. The words had now been spoken +to Colonel Manners--the charge had once been made; and it is wonderful +the difference that exists between the first and the second time of +doing anything that is wrong. He wrote, too, though without any effort +at policy, yet with the most exquisite art--with that sort of +intuitive cunning which much intercourse with the world, and its worst +part, gives to the keen and unscrupulous. He referred, directly, to +Mr. Arden's former opinion concerning the culpability of the gipsy; he +took shame and reproach to himself for his own incredulity at the +time; he declared that subsequent events had shown the wisdom and +clear-sightedness of the worthy magistrate's judgment, and he finished +his letter by directly accusing the gipsy of the crime which Mr. Arden +had suspected, doubting not that vanity would establish in the mind of +the magistrate such a prepossession against the object of his wiles as +to give everything in the important first steps that were to ensue a +strong tendency against Pharold. + +This done, he read the note over with satisfaction, sealed it, and +sent it off, raised his head, and, gazing upon vacancy, thought, for a +moment, over all the stern and painful circumstances that surrounded +him, and then turned his steps back to the room where he had left +Colonel Manners. He had now, however, made the course he was to pursue +irretrievable; his son's death had been the only thing wanting to give +all his determinations the energy of despair; he had chosen his path, +he had passed the Rubicon, and never hereafter, through the course of +this history, will be found in his character any of those fluctuating +changes of feeling and resolution which we have endeavoured to depict +while his fate was unfixed and his purpose undetermined. Deeply, +sternly, from that moment, he pursued his way, driven at length to +feel that one crime must be succeeded by many more to render it +secure. + +"I have now, Colonel Manners," he said, as he entered the saloon, "to +apologize for leaving you so unceremoniously; but you will, I am sure, +make excuse for feelings agitated like mine. To guard against the most +remote chance of Mr. Arden suffering this Pharold to escape, I have +formally made a charge, which I shall be able to substantiate, I am +sure, concerning the death of my poor brother; and next, let me beg +you to give me your good advice in regard to what more should be done, +in case the measures which you and I have separately taken should +prove alike insufficient." + +"I would not wait, my lord," replied Manners, "to ascertain whether +they were sufficient or not; but I would instantly take measures to +guard against their insufficiency. You have, I think, only three +contiguous counties here; had you not better send off messengers at +once to the sheriffs and magistrates of those three, informing them of +the circumstances, and begging them to stop any party of gipsies, or +any person similar in appearance to this man Pharold? Your messengers, +well mounted, will soon be far in advance of the murderer, or his +accessories, whose mode of travelling cannot be very rapid." + +The suggestion was no sooner given than it was assented to; and with +all speed the necessary letters were written by the peer, who took as +active and energetic a part in the whole proceedings as if he had been +in his prime of youth. But it was a part of his character to do so. He +could feel deep grief, it is true--and did feel it for the loss of his +son--but grief with him led not to languor and despondency, but, on +the contrary, to hate and to revenge; and as hunger, instead of +weakening, only renders the tiger and the wolf more ferocious and more +tremendous, so sorrow, instead of softening, only rendered him more +fierce and more vehement. The activity, the energy, and the fire he +displayed in his whole proceedings not a little surprised Colonel +Manners; and had he had time or inclination for anything like gayety, +he might have smiled to think that he had refused, on account of age, +to cross his sword with one who, in passions, at least, seemed +anything but an old man. Ere the letters were sealed, however, it was +announced that Mr. De Vaux's servant had arrived from Barholm, and +inquired for Colonel Manners. With the peer's permission he was +brought in; and bowing low to his master's father, by whom he was well +known, he gave a full account of his search in answer to Manners's +questions. + +"Well, William," demanded Manners, "have you been successful?" + +"Yes, sir," replied the man; "I believe I have seen the scoundrels +housed, and have left those to watch them who will not watch them in +vain." + +A glow of vengeful pleasure passed over the countenance of the peer, +and nodding his approbation, he leaned his head oh his hand, listening +attentively, while Manners proceeded. "Give us the particulars, +William," he said. "How did you first discover the gipsies?" + +"Why, first, sir, I went back to the sandpit," replied the man, "and +then I followed the tracks of wheels down to the bottom of the hill, +by the road that leads to Newtown. At the bottom I found traces up the +green lane, and I went on there for a mile, till I came to what they +call Newtown Lone; but since I was there last, some one has built a +cottage there; and I asked the woman in the cottage if she had seen +any gipsies, and which way they had gone. She said yes, she had seen +them that morning, just after daybreak; but that when they had found a +cottage there, they had turned down by the other side of the lone, +through the lane that leads but again upon the high-road beyond +Newtown. So I followed them down there, and I tracked their carts +across the high-road, up the other lane, till I came to where it +splits in two, the one going down to the water-side, and the other +sloping up the hill to the common at the back of Dimden Park. Here +there were wheels and footmarks both ways; and, after puzzling a +little, I took the way down by the water, thinking they might have +gone to lie among the banks there, as they used to do when I was a +young boy in that neighbourhood. But after looking about for an hour, +I could find nothing of them." + +"Then where did you find them at last?" demanded the peer, growing +somewhat tired of the servant's prolixity: to which, however, Manners, +who knew how important every little particular is in obscure +circumstances, had listened with patience and attention. + +"Why, my lord," replied the man, "I went back directly to the parting +of the roads, and then took the one towards the common, above Dimden, +which I had not chosen before; and there I rode on as hard as I could, +with the cart ruts and footmarks before me, till I came within about +twenty yards of the common. Thereabout, there is a bit of low coppice, +with some tall trees in the hedgerow; and my horse picked up a stone, +so I got off to clear his hoof; and as I was just going to mount +again, I heard some one call in a low voice, 'William! William +Butler!' so I looked round, but could see no one, and I said, 'Well, +what do you want? come out of the coppice, if you want me.' So, then, +from behind one of the tall trees, where he had planted himself on the +lookout, comes Dick Harvey, your lordship's head park-keeper at +Dimden; and he began asking after my health, and all I had seen in +foreign parts. So I told him I would answer him another time: but I +took leave to ask him in return what he was after, bush-ranging in +that way; and he answered, 'Oh, nothing; he was only seeing that +all was right.' So, then, I asked him again if he had seen e'er a +set of gipsies in that direction; upon which he asked why, and I told +him outright. 'Don't go any farther, then,' answered he, 'for the +blood-thirsty rascals are lying down there, between the park wall and +the common; and it is them that I am watching.' And he told me that he +had discovered they were to steal the deer in the park that very +night, and had laid a trap for them. However, I did not choose to come +away without seeing them myself. So, asking Dick when they had come +there, I told him he must get me a sight of them. He said that they +had not been there much above an hour; and he took me into the coppice +to where he had been standing himself. There I could see the whole +party of them well enough, lying about three hundred yards farther +down the park wall, some of them still putting out their tents, some +of them sitting on the wall and looking over into the park." + +"Was the park-keeper alone?" asked Manners, as the servant paused. + +"He was alone just at that minute, sir," replied the man; "but he told +me that he had five others within whistle, and that he had sent away +the man who had been mounting guard where he then was to bring more. +By this time, however, the sun was getting low; and Dick said he was +sure enough the gipsies would not budge till they had tried for some +of his deer. I told him not to let them go even if they had a mind; +and he said to make my mind easy, for that before one o'clock in the +morning, he would answer for having the whole party of them in what +used to be called the strong-room at Dimden House. I thought, +therefore, sir, that I could not leave the matter in better hands than +his; and I came away here to report myself: but as the horse was very +tired I thought it best to take my time." + +"You have done well, William," said Lord Dewry. "Now go down +and get some refreshment.--It seems to me, Colonel Manners," he added, +as the servant retired, a gleam of triumph lighting up his dark +countenance--"it seems to me that these men are in our power--that +they cannot escape us now. It may be unnecessary, therefore, to send +the letters which I have written." + +"I think not," replied Manners. "If you will consider a moment, you +will see that, although some of the gipsies have been seen in the +neighbourhood of your park at Dimden, yet we have no reason to be sure +that the very man we seek is with them. Indeed, from the resemblance +of the person I saw in the wood to this Pharold, we have some cause to +imagine that even if he have joined his companions since, he was not +with them in the morning." + +"You are right, you are right," said the peer. "In such a business as +this no precautions can, indeed, be superfluous, and I will send off +the letters at once." + +The bell was accordingly rung, and the epistles despatched by mounted +servants, who each had orders to spare no speed, but to ride all night +rather than suffer the communication to be delayed; nor should we be +unwilling to show how these directions were obeyed, and what sort of +speed is commonly practised by persons on such errands,--how they all +and several stopped to drink here, and to gossip there, and to feed at +another place,--but that the regular matter of our history is now of +some importance. + +As soon as the servants had been despatched, Lord Dewry bethought him +that Colonel Manners might himself require some refreshment, and +apologized for his previous forgetfulness. Manners, however, was +fatigued, but not hungry, and he preferred some strong green +tea--though not very soldier-like fare--to any thing else that the +peer's house could afford. This was soon obtained, and by the time it +had been brought and taken away, the clock struck ten. + +Manners then rose. "If your lordship does not expect news from Dimden +to-night," he said, "I will now take my leave; but should anything +occur in which I can be of the slightest assistance, if you will send +a servant, you will find me at the little town of Barholm, where I +have ordered rooms to be prepared for me at the inn." + +No two men that ever lived were more different in mind, in character, +in tastes, and feelings, than Colonel Charles Manners and Lord Dewry; +yet, strange to say, the peer did not like the idea of Manners's +quitting him. Their views were as distinct as light and darkness; and, +though for a moment they were pursuing the same object, could the +hearts of both have been seen, how different would have been the +spectacle presented--how different from those in the bosom of the +other would have been all the springs, and motives, and designs, which +actuated and guided each! And yet Lord Dewry felt uneasy when Manners +proposed to go. A part of his uneasiness might arise in his dislike to +be left alone, in the long, long hours of expectation which were to +intervene ere he could hear of the first step, in all his dark and +complicated designs, having been safely taken; but there was something +more in it too. Manners had assisted him with zeal, and talent, and +energy, in the very pursuit which he was following: by an +extraordinary concatenation of circumstances, he, unbribed, unbiased, +independent, upright, and noble, had been led to give his whole +support to the very first object which the peer had in view; and for +which he had already been obliged to hire and to intrigue with the +low, and the mercenary, and the vile; and Lord Dewry felt a support +and an encouragement in the presence and assistance of Colonel Manners +which a thousand Sir Roger Millingtons could not have afforded. Had he +had to explain his views and wishes to Colonel Manners as he had done +to Sir Roger Millington, he would have shrunk from the task in shame +and fear; but when Manners came willingly forward to aid him +voluntarily, even for a few steps on the way he was pursuing, it +seemed as if his actions were vouched and justified by the concurrence +of so honourable a man. + +"I believe, Colonel Manners," said the peer in reply--"I believe that +I am about to make a very extraordinary request; but I really cannot +allow you to leave me: a room shall be prepared for you here +immediately, and it will be a real consolation to me if you will stay +I shall myself sit up till I hear from Dimden," he added, in a tone of +hesitation, as if he would fain have asked Manners to do the same, had +it been courteous; "but I am afraid that news cannot arrive till +between one and two o'clock, and as you must be fatigued, I cannot ask +you to be the partner of my watch." + +"I will be so most willingly, my lord," replied Manners; "for though I +certainly am fatigued, still I am not sleepy, and I shall be anxious, +too, to hear the news as soon as possible." + +They waited, however, longer than they expected: three, four o'clock +came, and no tidings arrived. The moments, notwithstanding +expectation, flew more calmly than might have been imagined. Lord +Dewry, although he knew that there were few subjects on which he could +speak with Colonel Manners without meeting feelings and opinions +different from any that he now dared to entertain, knew also that +there was one topic, and that one very near to his heart at the +moment, on which he might discourse at ease. That topic was his son; +and on that--with all his feelings softened, with every asperity done +away, and with the pure natural welling forth of parental affection +and grief over his deep loss--on that he conversed during the greater +part of the night, effacing from the memory of his companion the rude +and disagreeable impression which their first interviews had caused, +and leaving little but grief, and sympathy, and regret. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +From sunset till about nine o'clock there had been a light refreshing +rain--not one of those cold autumnal pours which leave the whole world +dark, and drenched, and dreary, but the soft falling of light pellucid +drops, that scarcely bent the blades of grass on which they rested, +and through which, ever and anon, the purple of the evening sky, +and--as that faded away--the bright glance of a brilliant star, might +be seen amid the broken clouds. Towards nine, however, the vapours +that rested upon the eastern uplands became tinged with light; and, as +if gifted with the power of scattering darkness from her presence, +forth came the resplendent moon, while the dim clouds grew pale and +white as she advanced, and, rolling away over the hills, left the sky +all clear. It required scarcely a fanciful mind to suppose that--in +the brilliant shining of the millions of drops which hung on every +leaf and rested on every bough--in the glistening ripple of the river +that rolled in waves of silver through the plain--in the checkered +dancing of the light and shadow through the trees, and in the sudden +brightening up of every object throughout the scene which could +reflect her beams--it required scarcely a fanciful mind to suppose +that the whole world was rejoicing in the soft splendour of that +gentle watcher of the night, and gratulating her triumph over the +darkness and the clouds. + +It was a beautiful sight on that night, as, indeed, it ever is, to +see the planet thus change the aspect of all things in the sky and on +the earth; but, perhaps, the sight was more beautiful in Dimden Park +than anywhere around. The gentleman's park is likewise one of those +things peculiarly English, which are to be seen nowhere else upon the +earth; at least, we venture to say that there is nothing at all like +it in three out of the four quarters of this our globe: the wide +grassy slopes, the groups of majestic trees, the dim flankings of +forest-ground, broken with savannas and crossed by many a path +and many a walk, the occasional rivulet or piece of water, the +resting-place, the alcove, the ruin of the old mansion where our +fathers dwelt, now lapsed into the domain of Time, but carefully +guarded from any hands but his, with here and there some slope of the +ground or some turn of the path bringing us suddenly upon a bright and +unexpected prospect of distant landscapes far beyond--"all nature and +all art!" There is nothing like it on the earth, and few things half +so beautiful; for it is tranquil without being dull, and calm without +being cheerless: but of all times, when one would enjoy the stillness +and the serenity at its highest pitch, go forth into a fine old park +by moonlight. + +The moon, then, on the night of which we have lately been speaking, +within half an hour after her rise, shone full into the park, and +poured her flood of splendour over the wide slopes, glittering with +the late rain, along the winding paths and gravel-walks, and through +between the broad trunks of the oaks and beeches. The autumn had not +yet so far advanced as to make any very remarkable difference in the +thickness of the foliage: but still, some leaves had fallen from the +younger and tenderer plants, so that the moonbeams played more at +liberty upon the ground beneath, and the trees themselves had been +carefully kept so far apart that any one standing under their +shadow--except, indeed, in the thickets reserved as coverts for the +deer--had a view far over the open parts of the park; and, if the eye +took such a direction, could descry the great house itself on one +hand, or, on the other side, the park-keeper's cottage, situated on a +slight slope that concealed it from the windows of the mansion. At the +same time, though any one thus placed beneath the old trees--either +the clumps which studded the open ground, or the deeper woods at the +extremes--could see for a considerable distance around, yet it would +have been scarcely possible for anybody standing in the broad +moonlight to distinguish other persons under the shadow of the +branches, unless, indeed, they came to the very verge of the wooded +ground. This became more particularly the case as the moon rose +higher, and the crossing and interlacing of the shadows in the +woodland was rendered more intricate and perplexed, while the lawns +and savannas only received the brighter light. + +At a little before eleven o'clock, then, by which time the moon had +risen high in the heaven, a rustling and scraping sound might have +been heard by any one standing near that wall of the park which +separated it from the neighbouring common, and in a moment, after, the +head and shoulders of a man appeared above the parapet. He gave a +momentary glance into the walk which was immediately contiguous, and +then swinging himself over, dropped at once to the ground. Pausing +again, he looked round him more carefully; and then gave a low +whistle. No one followed, however; and the intruder, who was +apparently a lad of eighteen or nineteen, advanced cautiously across +the walk, and was soon placed beneath the shadow of the tall elms. +Every two or three minutes the lad paused to look around him; but as +his eyes were more frequently bent upon the ground than raised, it +appeared that he rather feared losing his way than apprehended the +appearance of any other person in the place to which he had somewhat +furtively introduced himself. Humming a tune as he advanced, he +approached that part of the park from which, as we have before said, a +view could be obtained both of the mansion and the park-keeper's +house; and here, fixing his eyes upon the latter, he seated himself at +the foot of a sturdy chestnut-tree at a little distance within the +extreme edge of the wood. + +There was a wreath of white smoke still curling up from the chimney of +the peaceful-looking dwelling of the park-keeper; and through two of +the cottage casements a full yellow light was streaming, so that it +was evident enough that some of the inmates were up and awake. For +about half an hour the young man kept his post with perseverance and +tranquillity, ceasing to hum the air with which he had amused himself +as he came along, and apparently regarding nothing but the cottage of +the park-keeper. + +At the end of that time, however, he rose, muttering, "I'll stay here +no longer. I might as well have been with Lena all this while. If Dick +would but wait till one o'clock, they would be all abed to a +certainty;" and he walked two or three steps resolutely away. Ere he +was out of sight, he, nevertheless, turned to look once more. The +light was still burning; but as he was in the very act of resuming his +retreat, it was totally extinguished, and nothing was to be seen but +the dark outline of the cottage in the clear moonlight. He now paused +again for a moment or two, to be sure of the facts; and then retracing +his way as fast as possible to the particular part of the wall over +which he had obtained ingress, he stopped, and whistled louder than +before. For some minutes there was no reply, and he then whistled +again, which instantly produced a corresponding signal from without, +and a voice demanded, "Is all right?" + +"Ay, ay, Dick," replied the lad, carelessly; "all's right--come +along." The moment after, another head and shoulders appeared above +the wall; and the gipsy whom we have seen with the old woman called +Mother Gray, scheming the destruction of the deer belonging to some of +the neighbouring gentry, swung himself up to the top of the wall, and +gazed round with a more anxious and careful face than that displayed +by his younger comrade. + +"When he had satisfied himself by examination, he handed over two guns +to his companion, who was within the park; and then, dropping down +again on the inside, gazed round him with more trepidation than his +bold and confident language would have led one to anticipate. He was +not alone, however; for no sooner had he effected his descent than +three others, each also armed with an old rude fowling-piece, followed +from without; and a whispered consultation took place in regard to +their further proceedings. + +"Where did you see the deer herding to-night, Will?" demanded their +leader; "I mean at sunset." + +"Oh, those I saw were down at the far end of the park," replied the +boy, "a mile off and more; up this wall will lead us." + +"The farther off the better," replied Dickon; "are all your guns +loaded?" + +An answer was given in the affirmative; and, led by Dickon and the lad +William, the party of gipsies crept stealthily along the walk that +proceeded under the wall to the far extremity of the park. Once or +twice the leader stopped and listened, and once he asked, in a low +tone, "Did you not hear a noise? there to the left!" No sound, +however, was heard by his companions, who paused as he paused, and +gave breathless attention with bended head and listening ear. A light +breeze stirred the tree tops, and a leaf would now and then fall +through the branches, but nothing else was to be distinguished; and as +they passed the end of many a vista and moonlight alley, and looked +cautiously out, nothing which could excite the least apprehension was +perceivable, and they walked on, gaining greater courage as every step +familiarized them more to their undertaking. By the time they had +reached the end of the park wall, they ventured to carry on their +consultation in a louder tone; and they also turned more into the +heart of the wood, following paths with which none of them seemed very +thoroughly acquainted, and the perplexity of which often caused them +to halt or to turn back, in order to reach the spot which they had +fixed upon for the commencement of their exploits among the deer. + +The lad Will, however, who had apparently reconnoitred the park by +daylight, at length led them right; and taking a small footway towards +the east, they found themselves suddenly upon the edge of an opening +in the wood, through the midst of which ran a stream of clear water. A +space of about five acres was here left without a tree; but on every +side were deep groves of old chestnuts, and to the east some thick +coverts of brushwood. It became necessary now to ascertain the +direction of the wind, lest the deer should scent their pursuers, and +take another road; and for this purpose, wetting his finger in the +water, Dickon held it up high, till he discovered by the coldness that +ensued which side it was that the wind struck. As soon as this +important point was known, he disposed his companions in separate +stations, but each by one of the old chestnuts, in such a manner and +at such distances as would render it impossible for the deer to cross +the open space before them without receiving one or more shots from +some of his party. The sort of sport in which he was now employed +seemed not altogether unfamiliar to the gipsy Dickon, whose +instructions, if oral rather than practical, must have been very +accurate and minute, as he wanted none of the skill or knowledge of an +old sportsman. + +As soon as his men were all properly disposed, and he had likewise +taken up his own position in the most favourable spot that the place +afforded, he sought out upon the ground a beech-leaf, and having found +one with some difficulty, bent it in the middle and applied it to his +lips. A quick percussion of the breath upon the bent leaf instantly +produced a sound exactly resembling the cry of a young doe. After +calling thus once or twice, he ceased, and all was attention; but no +noise followed to indicate that any of the horned dwellers in the wood +had heard or gave attention to the sound. Dickon again made the +experiment, and again waited in breathless expectation, but without +avail. After a lapse of some minutes the beech-leaf was once more +employed, and the next instant a slight rustling sound was heard among +the bushes beyond. The poacher repeated his cry, and there was then +evidently a rush through the brushwood; but the moment after all was +again still, and he began to think that the buck had scented them and +taken fright. + +In a minute more, however, not from the bushes, but from the opposite +chestnut-trees, which the low wood joined, trotted forth, at an easy +pace, a tall splendid deer, bearing his antlered head near the ground, +as if trying to scent out the path of his mate, whose voice he had +heard. The moment he came into the full moonlight, however, he stood +at gaze, as it is called, raising his proud head and looking +steadfastly before him. Then, turning to the right and to the left, he +seemed striving to see the object that he had not been able to +discover by the smell; but, as he was still too far distant for any +thing like a certain shot, Dickon once more ventured a low solitary +call upon the beach-leaf. Had it been loud, or repeated more than +once, the poor animal was near enough to have detected the cheat; but +as it was, he was deceived, and trotting on for fifty yards more, +again stood at gaze, with his head turned towards the trees under +which the poacher was standing. Dickon quietly raised his gun, aimed +deliberately, and fired just as the buck was again moving forward. The +ball struck the deer directly below the horns, and, bounding up full +four feet from the ground, he fell dead upon the spot where he had +been standing. + +All the gipsies were now rushing forward to see their prize, but +Dickon called them back; and keeping still under the shade of the +trees, he made his way round to them severally, saying, "We must have +another yet. Let him lie there! let him lie! That one shot has not +been loud enough to scare the rest, and I am sure there is a herd +there down at the end of the copse: so we must have another at all +events; and if we go making a noise about that one, we shall frighten +them. You, Bill, go round under those trees for five or six hundred +yards, and then come into the thicket, and beat it up this way." + +Bill did not undertake the task without grumbling and remonstrance; +asserting that everything that was tiresome was put upon him, while +Dickon and the rest had the sport. A little persuasion, however, +overcame his resistance, and he set off accordingly to perform the +part assigned to him. The others, in the meantime, resumed their +places, and now had to wait a longer time than at first; for the +youth, not very well inclined to the task, was anything but quick in +his motions. At the end of a quarter of an hour, however, a rustle and +then a rush was heard in the bushes; and then the bounding sound of +deer in quick flight, and, in a moment after, the whole herd sprang +into the moonlight, and crossed the open ground at the full canter. +They came fairly within shot of two of the gipsies in their passage, +and two guns were instantly discharged. Both took effect; but one of +the deer was only wounded, and was struggling up again, when the whole +body of poachers rushed forward and ended its sufferings with the +knife. + +"Now, now!" cried Dickon, hastily recharging his gun, "we have got +enough for once, I think; let us be off as soon as we can. We can +hitch the venison over that nearest wall," and he turned to point in +the direction to which he referred; but the sight that met his eyes at +that moment almost made the powder-flask, with which he was in the act +of priming, fall from his hands. Advancing from the chestnut-trees +under which he himself had just been standing, was a party consisting +of at least twelve strong men, apparently well armed, and he at once +saw that all chance of escape for himself and his comrades, without a +struggle, was over, as the keepers were coming up between them and the +common, while on the other side lay the thick bushes from which the +deer had issued, and in which his party must be entangled and taken if +they attempted to fly in that direction, and to the westward, beyond +the chestnut-trees, were the river and the park-keeper's house. Now, +however, that the matter was inevitable, Dickon showed more resolution +than he had hitherto done. "Stand to it, my men!" he cried: "they have +nosed us, by----! there's no running now; we must make our way to that +corner, or we're done." + +His companions instantly turned at his exclamation; and whatever might +be their internal feelings, they showed nothing but a dogged +determination to resist to the last. The man who had fired the last +shot instantly thrust a bullet into his gun, which he had already +charged with powder; and, giving up their slain game for lost, the +poachers advanced towards the angle of the wood nearest to the +park-wall, keeping in a compact body, and crossing the front of the +other party in an oblique line. The keepers, however, hastened to +interpose, and came up just in time to prevent their opponents from +reaching the trees. Thus, then, at the moment that they mutually faced +round upon each other, the left of the gipsies and the right of their +adversaries touched the wood, but the odds were fearfully in favour of +the gamekeepers. + +"Come, come, my masters, down with your arms!" cried Harvey, the head +keeper; "it's no use resisting: do you not see we are better than two +to one?" + +The first reply was the levelling of the gipsies' fowling pieces; and +notwithstanding the superiority of numbers and the anticipation of +resistance, the keepers drew a step or two back; for under such +circumstances no one can tell whose the chance may be, and the thought +of unpleasant death will have its weight till the blood is warm. +"Stand off!" cried Dickon, boldly: "master keeper, let us go free, or +take the worst of it. We leave you your venison, and a good half-ounce +bullet in each buck to pay for our pastime; but be you sure that the +guns which sent those bullets can send others as true, and will send +them very speedily, if you try to stop us." + +"A bold fellow, upon my honour!" cried Sir Roger Millington, +advancing, and standing calmly before the very muzzles of the gipsies' +guns. "But hark ye, my good man, you came to get the venison; we came +to get you; and, as we are rather more in number than you, it is not +probable we shall let you escape. However, I will tell you what--to +spare bloodshed, we will come to a compromise with you." + +"You are the spy of a fellow, are you not," cried Dickon, "who came +this evening asking for Pharold? Well, my knowing cove, be you sure +the first shot fired you shall have one." + +"But he speaks of a compromise, Dickon," cried one of his companions, +lowering the gun a little from his shoulder; "better hear what he has +to say." + +"Don't you believe a word," cried Dickon; "he's a cheat, and will only +humbug you if you listen to him. We can bring four of them down, at +all events, and then must take our chance with the but-ends of our +pieces." + +"Yes, yes, listen to him," cried another of the gipsies. "What have +you to say about a compromise?" + +"Simply this, my men," replied Sir Roger, who had still kept his +place, unconcernedly, within a couple of yards of the gipsies' +guns: "if you will lay down your arms and surrender, we will make a +bargain with you, that we will let each one free on account of the +deer-stealing against whom we cannot bring some other charge." + +Sir Roger's purpose was to catch Pharold: but he had not accurately +calculated upon the state of a gipsy's conscience; and as each +man present very well knew that something else--if not many other +things--might be justly laid to his charge, the proposed arrangement +was any thing but satisfactory to the poachers. Nor was it more to the +taste of Harvey and the other keepers, who had not been empowered by +their employer to make any such compromise. + +"No, no, sir," cried Harvey, aloud, "that won't do. My lord gave me no +authority to make such a bargain. I dare say you came from him; for, +indeed, no one else could tell you all about it: but, howsoever, I +can't consent to that. No, no, I cry off. Damme, lay down your arms, +my lads, or we will fire on you directly." + +"Take that, then!" cried Dickon, pulling the trigger of his gun, the +report of which was followed instantly by those of the fowling-pieces +in the hands of the other gipsies, though at the very same moment--or +rather, indeed, before the guns were discharged--a loud voice was +heard shouting from a distance, "Do not fire, villains! Dickon, I +command you not to fire!" + +Sir Roger Millington and one of the keepers dropped instantly; and a +good deal of confusion took place among their party, though a +straggling and ill-directed fire was returned, which only wounded one +of the gipsies slightly. In less than a moment, however, the keepers +had recovered themselves; and, hurrying the wounded behind, were +rushing on to close with their adversaries before they could reload, +when a reinforcement of eleven or twelve strong men appeared behind +the small party of the gipsies, and Pharold, rushing forward, thrust +Dickon vehemently back, exclaiming, "Mad fool! you have ruined us all +for ever!--Hold back!" he continued, addressing the keepers in the +same stern and imperative voice--"hold back, fools! we are too many +for you. Richard Harvey, when you plotted to entrap these poor foolish +young men, you should have secured the means of taking them. But get +you gone while you may! We are too many for you, I tell you; and you +know of old I am not one to trifle with." + +"I know you of old, sure enough, Master Pharold," replied the head +keeper, running his eye doubtfully over the group of powerful men who +now stood before him--"I know you of old, and I know you now; and one +thing more I know, that you will come to be hanged before the year be +many weeks older: I know that, too, Master Pharold." + +"Lift me up! lift me up!" cried a faint voice behind. "Lift me up, +fellows, I say! I want to see him!" and in compliance with this +command, one or two of the men who had accompanied the keepers raised +Sir Roger Millington in their arms, and brought him a little forward, +so that he could obtain a sight of what was passing. He gazed intently +upon Pharold, who was still standing prominent, waving the head keeper +and his party back with the air more of a prince than of one in his +station and class. But the knight was unable to continue his +observation of what was passing for more than a moment, as the +agony he seemed to be suffering--although he had sufficient power +over himself to prevent any expression of pain from escaping his +lips--caused him to writhe so dreadfully, that, after one brief stern +glance at the gipsy, he slipped out of the arms of those who supported +him, and fell again to the ground. The sight of what he suffered, +however, was not without its effect upon the keepers. Had they known +him, and been interested in his fate, it might, indeed, have stirred +them up to greater exertions in order to avenge the injury he had +sustained; but unknown and indifferent as he was to all of them, his +situation but served as an example of what they might themselves +encounter if they persisted in their attack of the gipsies; and +Harvey, who was the best inclined of the party to undertake the risk, +soon gathered from the countenances of his companions that he would be +but feebly supported, if not abandoned, in any further attempt. + +Unwilling, however, to yield the task he had undertaken, and inspired +as much by sincere hatred towards the gipsies as by hope of recompense +from his lord, he lingered, still glaring upon Pharold and his +companions; and every now and then, in the bitterness of his +disappointment, uttering such words as were likely to draw the adverse +party themselves on to the attack which he feared to make upon them. +"You are a pretty set of blackguards!" he exclaimed. "It would do my +heart good to see you all hanged up in a row: why can't you mind your +kettles, and not come stealing other folks deer? You go kidnapping +people's children, you do, you thieves of human flesh! Ah, you'll not +go long unhanged, that's one comfort!" + +Pharold's lip gradually curled into a look of bitter scorn; and, +turning to one of his elder comrades, he whispered a few words to him, +and a movement was instantly made on the part of the gipsies +themselves to evacuate the ground. They performed their retreat, +however, slowly and in good order; four of the party, directed by +Pharold, bringing up the rear, and facing round upon the keepers +whenever they approached, so as to render their flight secure. Harvey, +with several of his companions, followed, somewhat encouraged by the +sight of a retreating enemy; but two or three of the more charitable +remained with Sir Roger Millington and the wounded keeper, though the +latter was only slightly injured. At every two or three steps, also, +as the others advanced in the pursuit, either weariness of the +business altogether, or the better part of valour, caused one or two +of the head park-keeper's comrades to fall off, and return to the spot +where they had left the wounded men. Thus, by the time the gipsies +reached the park wall, only three persons followed Harvey; and +Pharold, somewhat irritated by his close pursuit, turned round upon +him with not the most placable expression in the world. In truth, he +had been crossed and pained; and, for a moment, the evil spirit, which +has a secret tabernacle in the heart of every one, came forth, and +thought that the dominion was all his own. But the gipsy drove back +the fiend; and restraining his inclination to take vengeance on the +keeper, he merely commanded him, sternly, not to advance another step +till all his people had cleared the wall. Harvey only replied by +imprecations, and Pharold calmly proceeded to station four of the +gipsies, who had guns, upon the top of the wall, to protect the +retreat of the others. Then, one by one, the gipsies passed over, +their leader following the last, and the keeper, after giving way to +one or two bursts of impotent wrath, turned on his heel, and joined +his companions. + +Pharold and his party proceeded in silence to their encampment, which +was not far distant, when, to the surprise of those who had been +engaged in the deer-stealing, they found everything prepared for +instant departure. The horses were to their carts, the tents were +packed up, and only one fire appeared lighted, beside which old Mother +Gray and the other women, protected by only one man, were standing, +watching with somewhat downcast countenances the solitary pot which +was suspended above it. This group made instant way for Pharold and +his comrades; and the former, advancing into the midst, folded his +arms upon his breast, and bending his brows sternly upon the old +woman, he said, after a bitter pause, "See, woman, what your +instigations have produced,--strife, bloodshed, murder; and, very +likely, ultimately, the death of this poor fool, who suffered himself +to be led by your bad counsels--very likely his death upon the +gallows!" + +"A very good death, too," muttered the beldam, sullenly and low. "His +father died the same." + +"For you, Dickon," said Pharold, not noticing her speech--"for you, +however ill you may have acted, your punishment is like to fall upon +you soon; but you must hear my reproaches too. You have scorned +authority throughout your life--you have forgotten the laws and habits +of your fathers--you belong not to our people. Here we must all +separate into small bodies, and take different ways, to avoid the +consequences of your faults; but you shall go out from among us for +ever, never to return. Answer me not, but hear! Had I not, by +returning sooner than you expected, learned your errand, and hastened +with the wiser and better of our people to stay your folly, and to +bring you back--had I not come up in time, not, indeed, to prevent +your crime, but to rescue you from the consequences, you would now +have been lying, tied hand and foot, and waiting to be judged by those +who hold us in hatred and contempt. From that you have been saved; but +you must fly far, and conceal yourself well, to make such safety +permanent. Go from us, then--go from us! and with whatever race of men +you hereafter mingle--whether abjuring your people, as you have +violated their rules, or whether seeking again some other tribe +of the Romanicheel race--let the memory of all the evil that follows +disobedience to those who have a right to command you, keep you from +follies like those you have this night committed." + +Pharold paused, and one of the other gipsies whispered a word in his +ear. "True!" he said, "true! as he has to wander far and long, he must +not go unprovided. We will all contribute to help him." + +"No, no!" murmured Dickon, with his head sunk, and his eyes bent upon +the ground--"no, no! I can do without." But the collection among the +gipsies was made without giving any attention to his words. Each +contributed something from the part he had received in the +distribution of the preceding evening, and a considerable sum was thus +collected. Pharold, perhaps, feeling that the boon from his hand would +come poisoned, suffered one of his companions to give the money to the +culprit, and then proceeded: "Go forth, Dickon! go forth! I warned you +long ago; I counselled you while counsel might avail: you heeded not +my warning--you rejected my counsel; the time is past; and I have only +now to bid you go forth from among us for ever!" + +With his head still bent, and his eyes upon the ground, Dickon took +two or three steps away from the rest. He then turned, and raising his +head, fixed his eyes upon Pharold, apparently struggling to speak. +Words, however, failed him: the stern glance of their leader met +his--calm, but reproachful; and suddenly turning a look full of fury +at the old beldam who had misled him, the unhappy young man shook his +hand at her, with a loud and bitter curse, and bounded away over the +common. + +"And now," said Pharold, turning to his companions, "let us separate +quickly--to the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, in +the same parties into which we had divided ourselves last night before +the unfortunate accident made us change our plans. Let us travel +rapidly and long, for be sure that we are followed by many and keen +pursuers, who will spare neither gold nor speed to catch us. Let all +of us that are alive meet this day three months at our old tryste on +Cheviot; and we may then, perhaps, pursue our way in peace." + +While he spoke, a light hand was laid upon his coat; and, as he ended, +he found the beautiful eyes of Lena looking up in his face, with a +glance of mingled apprehension and irresolution, as if she wished but +feared to speak. "What is it, Lena?" he demanded. "You, of course, go +with me and mine." + +"But William!" said Lena, in a timid voice, "William!" + +Pharold's brow contracted. "He goes with Brown!" he said, sternly. +"What is it to you?" She coloured highly, and cast down her eyes; but +still replied, "Nothing, nothing! But where is he? I meant to ask. He +went with Dickon and the rest--they made him go--and he has not +returned." + +Pharold started, and looked round, anxiously searching with his eyes +for the lad among the groups that stood near, over whose wild +countenances and figures the declining moon and the half-extinguished +fire were casting together a flickering and uncertain light.--"Where +is William?" he exclaimed, at length, turning to one of the men who +had accompanied Dickon on his predatory excursion against the deer; "I +saw but four of you when I came up. Where was William then?" + +"Dickon had sent him round into the copse, a quarter of a mile off, to +drive up the deer," replied the man; "but I am afraid they have caught +him, for I heard a bit of a struggle in that direction, as we were +making for the wall." + +Pharold clasped his hands in angry disappointment. "We must not leave +the poor boy," he said: "I, for one, will stay at any risk, and try to +help him." + +"And I, and I, and I!" cried all the gipsies. + +"Well, then," said Pharold, "we must take means to make them think +that we are gone; so that the nearer we lie to them, the more +completely will they be deceived. The wood on the other side of the +common is thicker than anywhere else. Thither away, my men, on +foot--all but five of you. Let those five take the carts down, by the +back of the park, to the river. Turn them as if you were going down +the road that leads along the bank. Then take out the horses, and +carry the carts over the gravel to the ford, so that no wheel-marks be +seen. Put the horses in again when that is done; but mind to fill up +the hoof-prints with fresh gravel. Thus they will lose your track. You +then take the ford, and cross the river. The water is low, and you can +drive along the gravel-bank, on the other side, for near a mile, +keeping in the water all the way. When it gets deep again, take the +road, and, crossing back by the bridge, come round to the wood by +Morley Road. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, yes; I do," replied the man he had called Brown. "I know the +country well. But where go you, Pharold, yourself?" + +"I go back into the park to seek the boy," replied the gipsy, "and +will join you all in the wood before daybreak. But, on your lives, +keep to that wood behind us there; and go not near Morley Common or +Morley Wood; for there are people on the watch there already. I should +have been back in time to have prevented all this, had they not penned +me in, in that very wood." + +"Well, well, we will do your bidding, Pharold," replied Brown. "You +are a brave heart, and always take the danger upon yourself." + +"Quick, quick, then," replied the gipsy: "there is no time to be lost. +Sarah Brown, take care of Lena; and see that that old woman," he +added, sternly, pointing to Mother Gray, "works no more mischief among +us. Bad has been the fruit which all the seed of her planting has +hitherto borne. You lead them to the wood, Wilson, and light a fire, +that I may see the smoke as I come back." + +So saying, he sought in one of the carts for a moment; and drawing +forth what is called a cut-and-thrust sword, buckled it under his +coat, took the path to the lowest part of the park wall, and, vaulting +over, was lost to the sight of his companions. + +His orders, however, were now as promptly obeyed as if he had been +present. Each of the gipsies who were destined immediately for the +wood hastened to unload the carts as fast as possible. The women took +their children on their backs, and large bundles in their hands; the +men charged themselves with the heavier packages; and the carts, +greatly lightened, having set off in the direction assigned to them, +the rest of the party proceeded across the common towards the wood. +They set off silently, and in straggling parties, that their footsteps +might not betray their path; but they had not gone far ere the tongue +of the old woman was heard, addressing one of the men who walked near +her--at first in few words and a low tone, but gradually increasing in +power and volubility as it became encouraged by its own sound. + +"He's a cruel, hard hand, that Pharold," said she, looking carefully +round. But her companion made no reply, and she went on: "It's a hard +thing for poor Dickon to be sent out to starve or be hanged, just +because he was a spirity lad, and had different notions from that +Pharold." Still the other was silent. "I often do wonder," she +continued, "how a number of strong hearty men, every one a better man +than Pharold, should submit to be led, and bullied, and ill-treated, +by an ill-looking thief like that, only because he comes from our old +dukes that are dead and gone.[5] It's all your own faults. If two or +three of you were but to lay your heads together, and to say--" + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 5: The gipsies of all countries still hold the persuasion +that they were originally led into Europe by persons whom they term +Dukes or Lords of Upper Egypt.] + +--------------------- + + +"Come, come, you old rip," broke forth the man angrily, "none of such +talk to me, if you have not a mind to be pitched into that pond. Hold +your tongue, now, and give us no more of it. I am not one of your +Dickons to be made a fool of; and if I hear you saying another word of +such matters, I will have you sent after him you have got turned out +from among us." + +Muttering a few words about "tame fools," Mother Gray slunk behind, +and for a little while walked on in silence, only interrupted by +occasional internal grunts and growls, expressive of her +dissatisfaction and wrath. From time to time, however, she cast her +eyes towards the straggling parties of her companions to the right and +left; and for a while her attention seemed principally directed +towards a group of two or three, who walked on immediately upon her +right, and among whom was one of those who had accompanied Dickon in +his unfortunate expedition. But on the left, again, was a line of four +or five other gipsies, principally women, followed by Lena, two or +three steps behind the rest, with a large handkerchief cast over her +head, and tied beneath her chin, in a manner which would have +concealed the greater part of her beautiful face, even if it had been +day, but which now served to veil it entirely from all observation. +Her head leaned forward, however: it was evident, too, that her eyes +were cast upon the ground; and from these, and many another little +symptom, the beldam, as she gazed upon her, concluded, and concluded +rightly, that she was weeping. She hesitated no longer which of the +two parties to join; but, dropping slowly behind, she sidled quietly +up to Lena, almost unperceived by the girl herself. After walking on a +step or two by her side in silence, she ventured to say, in a dolorous +and sympathizing tone, "Poor Bill! only to think!" Lena started, and +for a moment said nothing in reply; but after awhile she asked, "Do +you think they have caught him, Mother Gray?" + +"Ay, ay, they must have grabbed him," replied the other; "else he +would ha' been back 'afore this time. Poor Bill! he was as handsome a +spirity young chick as ever I set eyes on." + +There was something in hearing him spoken of in the past tense, as of +one gone for ever, that brought a deep sigh from Lena's bosom; and the +old worker of mischief went on, satisfied that she was now, at least, +upon the right track. "Ah, poor Bill!" she said; "there was only one +that was fit to match with him among us, and she was snapped up by a +kite before her right mate could come to her." + +Lena took no notice of her allusion, though it was sufficiently +direct; but asked, "What do you think they will do to him, Mother +Gray, if they have caught him?" + +"Hang him, perhaps," replied the old woman, "or at all events +send him to what they call the colonies, to work their work like a +slave--that's to say, if no one gets him out; but if he is so minded, +Pharold, who is so sharp, will get him out fast enough." + +"If Pharold can get him out," replied Lena, rousing herself at the +name of one whom she revered, if she did not love--"if Pharold can get +him out, he will not be long in." + +"I dare say not," replied the old woman, "if it be not too dangerous, +and cost too much time and trouble; and then Pharold, you know, will +not like to risk the other people to save poor Bill, unless, indeed, +some one coaxes him to do it." + +"But how can I speak to him about it?" demanded Lena, holding down her +head; "he would only give me hard words if I did, as he did to-night." + +"But Lena might risk a little for poor Bill," rejoined the other; "I +know Bill would risk his life for her." Lena was silent; and after a +pause of some minutes the old woman went on, in a low voice almost +sunk to a whisper. "Come, come, my pretty Lena," she said, "do try +your hand with Pharold; else poor William may lie there for months in +prison, with nothing to comfort him but songs about Lena--which he +will sing sweetly enough, poor chap--and then may go to the gallows +thinking of her. Do you think I do not see and know, my chick, all +that is going on?" + +"Then you see and know, Mother Gray, that I want to do nothing wrong," +replied the girl, turning half round upon her. + +"Yes, but I saw you, Lena, when you stood by the park-wall this +evening," replied the beldam, "talking to Will for half an hour; and +do you think I do not know what is in your heart, my pretty Lena?" + +"Then why should I strive to get him out of prison at all?" said Lena, +in a melancholy tone. "It is better that he were away; and I can tell +you what, Mother Gray, it was I made Pharold determine to send him +away with Brown's people rather than have him along with us." + +"And I can tell you what, too, Lena," replied the old woman, "I saw +you standing together by the wall, and I saw him come away, and I am +very sure that it was because you were unkind to him that he went with +Dickon and his people after the deer; so that it was your fault that +he went at all, and your fault that he got into prison; so you should +but help him out of it." + +What Lena might have replied, Heaven knows; but at the moment she was +about to speak, she was interrupted by the approach of others of the +tribe; and the whole party shortly after entered the wood, and took up +their camp in one of the deepest and most unfrequented spots that it +contained. + +In the mean time Pharold had, as we have seen, entered the park; +and here he spent the whole hours of moonlight that remained in +searching for the youth who had accompanied Dickon and his companions. +He searched, however, in vain; and although he often risked the +low peculiar whistle which he knew would be recognised by his +fellow-gipsy, yet no sound was returned from any quarter. Long and +anxiously did he seek--the more anxiously, perhaps, because he felt +that some undefined feelings of dislike and animosity had lately been +rising in his bosom towards the unfortunate youth, who had now +apparently become the sacrifice for the faults of others. With much +disappointment and regret, then, he saw at length the morning dawn; +and certain that, had the youth escaped, he would by this time have +joined the rest, he prepared to quit a place in which any longer delay +might prove dangerous to himself, and could be of no service to him he +sought. + +There was, however, in his bosom a misdoubting in regard to the lad's +fate, an apprehensive uncertainty, which moved him, perhaps, more than +if he had been assured of his capture; and ere he quitted the park, he +approached as near as possible to the mansion, to see if any such +signs of unusual bustle were apparent, as might furnish information to +a mind habituated to extract their meaning rapidly from every vague +and transient indication that met his eyes. As he stood beneath the +trees, the first thing he beheld was a boy run up the steps of the +house, and Pharold instantly concluded that it was a messenger +returned with some news. The moment after three or four men issued +forth; but instead of taking any of the roads that led from the house, +they began to traverse the lawn between the mansion and the nearest +point of the park-wall. One man halted half-way between, the others +went on; but at the first trees again another paused, and Pharold +thought, "They have discovered me and think to surround me, but they +will find themselves mistaken;" and with a quick, stealthy step, he +glided through the wood towards the angle of the park next to the +common. None of his senses, however, slept on such occasions; and ere +he had emerged from the bushes his ear caught the sound of low voices, +speaking in the very direction which he was taking, showing him that +he had been discovered and pursued before he had perceived it, though +the persons who were now before him must have come from the +gamekeeper's house, and not from the mansion. Wheeling instantly, he +retreated in a direction which led to one of the most open parts of +the park; but Pharold was well aware of what he did, and knew the +ground even better than those who followed him. As soon as he reached +the savanna, he emerged at once from the trees, and with a quick step +began to traverse the green. A man who had been stationed at the angle +instantly caught sight of him, and gave at once the shout which had +been appointed as a signal. The other keepers came up at a quick pace, +narrowing the half circle in which they had disposed themselves, and +penning the gipsy in between their body and the river. He scarcely +hastened his pace, but allowed them to come nearer and nearer, till at +length his purpose seemed to strike the head keeper suddenly, and, +with a loud imprecation, he called upon the man nearest the water to +close upon the object of their pursuit, adding, "He is a devil of a +swimmer!" But Pharold had been suffered to go too far. He sprang +forward at once to the bank, plunged in without a pause, and in a few +strokes carried himself to the other side, where, amid thick brushwood +and young plantations, he was perfectly secure from all pursuit. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +I know no reason why we--the readers and the writer--should not now +quit those characters which have lately been occupying us, and return +to others not less worthy of our care, till we have brought their +actions and their feelings up to the same point of time whereunto we +have conducted our other personages. The best form, perhaps I might +say the most classical, in which a tale like the present can be +related, with the exception of the autobiographical, is the dramatic; +and holding strongly with the liberty accorded to British dramatists +against the straight-waistcoat of Aristotelian unities, I believe that +he who sits down to write a book like this has as much right to shift +his scene and change his characters when he pleases as a playwright. + +The necessity of so doing exists in the very state of being in which +we live in relation to one another. Everyday we find that in five or +six families, the actions of each of which have mutually a great +influence on the others, events are occurring, and words are being +spoken, which bring about great and important results in the general +fate and relative position of those five or six families, and, in +fact, work out their united history, without one house knowing at the +time what was doing in the other. The task, then, of the writer, if he +would follow the best of guides, nature, is to take such a group of +five or six families, whose fate some common bond of union has linked +together; and, changing from house to house as soon as the interest of +the events in each requires the scene to be shifted, to paint what he +there sees passing; and thus, in a series of pictures, to give the +general history of the whole. Stupid must be the man, and impotent the +imagination, weak the judgment, and treacherous the memory, which +cannot bear the change of scene without a long refresher in regard to +the people about to be seen again, or the events of which the writer +is once more going to take up the thread! + +Could not this change be made, the circumstances which were taking +place at Morley House, and, what is still more important, the feelings +which were thrilling in the bosoms of its inhabitants, would of +necessity be all left untold, or be related in a long unnatural +resume. In truth, the feelings of which we speak are worth some +consideration; as feelings, indeed, always are: for, could one write +the history of man's heart and its motives, how much more interesting, +and instructive too, would the record be, than the brightest volume +that ever was written upon man's actions! + +For some time after Colonel Manners quitted Morley House, Marian de +Vaux continued to sleep under the influence of strong opiates, which +the medical man had found it necessary to give her in the morning. +Whether he did right or wrong--whether it would have been better to +let her meet grief boldly face to face, or was better to shield her +from the violence of its first attack--each must judge as he feels; +but he had known her from a child, and he had a notion that hers was a +heart which would be easily broken if sorrow was suffered to handle it +too roughly. At all events, while this state continued, she enjoyed a +cessation from grief and apprehension; but still, how different was +her slumber from the calm and natural repose of a heart at ease! The +dull poppy with its leaden weight seemed to keep down and oppress +feeling and thought, not to relieve and refresh them; and in her +beautiful face, even as she slept, there was something which told that +the slumber was not natural. Oh! the sweet profound sleep of infancy, +how beautiful it is! that soft and blessed gift of a heart without a +stain or a pang, of a body unbroken in any fibre by the cares and +labours of existence, of a mind without a burden or an apprehension. +It falls down upon our eyelids like the dew of a summer's eve, +refreshing for our use all the world of flowers in which we dwell, and +passing calm, and tranquil, and happy, without a dream and without an +interruption. But, alas! alas! with the first years of life it is +gone, and never returns. We may win joy, and satisfaction, and glory, +and splendour, and power--we may obtain more than our wildest ambition +aspired to, or our eager hope could grasp; but the sweet sleep of +infancy, the soft companion of our boyish pillow, flies from the +ardent joys as well as the bitter cares of manhood, and never, never, +never returns again. + +The apothecary had ventured on large doses of the drug, and Marian's +slumber continued for many hours; but at length she woke, pale, +languid, sick, with her ideas all confused, and yet her heart not the +less ill at ease. "Is that Isadore?" she said, gazing towards the +window at which some one was standing, and over which the shades of +evening were coming dim and fast. Isadore approached her bed, and +Marian asked eagerly, "What news?" She could not put her question in a +distinct form, for her mind refused to fix itself precision upon +anything; and besides, with the common self-cheatery of fear, she +loved not to give her apprehensions voice. + +"I have no news, dear Marian?" replied Isadore, sitting down by her. +"Sorry I am to say that Colonel Manners has returned without any +tidings; and he has since gone over to my uncle's, to see whether +anything may be known there in regard to these extraordinary +circumstances." + +Isadore had framed her answer, with a view of alone hiding from Marian +that anything had been discovered to confirm their fears, and of +turning her mind from the search on which Colonel Manners had been +employed: but the result went further than she had expected, or even +wished; for it was her purpose only to break the force of grief, not +to raise expectations which were likely to be disappointed. Hope, +however, is the most adroit of diplomatists, and takes hold of the +slightest word or circumstance in its own favour with skill and +agility unparalleled. The words of Isadore, simple as they were, +lighted again in a moment the half-extinguished flame in the bosom of +her cousin. She remembered the suspicions concerning the illegitimacy +of his birth, with which Edward had gone to visit the gipsies; she +remembered his fiery and impatient nature, and the agitation into +which even the apprehension had thrown him; and hope instantly +suggested that he might have found his fears confirmed, and, wild with +anger and distress, might have flown instantly to his father's house. + +It is true he was on foot; it is true he had quitted the house during +the night; it is true that he was not likely to take such a step +without writing to relieve her mind; but it is the quality of hope to +trample on improbabilities, and Marian de Vaux obtained a momentary +relief. Still she would fain have had her hopes confirmed by the +opinion of others: but she could not expect to do so without +explaining the reason why she entertained them; and that reason could +not be explained without entering into some details in regard to +Edward's communication with the gipsy, which she knew not whether she +were justified in making. Her mind was so confused with the effect of +the remedies employed to obtain sleep, that she was long in +determining what was the best to do, and remained silent, while +Isadore kindly and gently strove to suggest as many motives for +consolation as she could imagine. At length, however, as Marian +revolved all the probabilities in her mind, she recollected that other +causes might render the disclosure of Edward's feelings and intentions +necessary; that he might not be found at his father's house; that +strict and immediate investigation might be required; and that, under +those circumstances, a knowledge of all that her lover had proposed to +do previous to his sudden disappearance might be requisite to those +who were employed in searching for him, in order to render that search +at all effectual; and although she shrunk from the idea of betraying, +in the slightest degree, the confidence he had reposed in her, yet she +felt it necessary to give every information in her power which might +lead to the result they sought. She determined, then, at length, to +speak of what had passed between De Vaux and herself on the preceding +day; and only hesitated whether to relate it to her aunt or to her +cousin. Mrs. Falkland's kindness and strong good sense were not to be +doubted; but yet Marian knew Isadore thoroughly, and knew that there +was more judgment and tact under her usual gayety than was apparent. +She knew, too, that with her she should be able to relate and to keep +back just as much as she thought proper; while her aunt's keen and +rapid questions, she felt, might draw from her more than she was +justified in communicating. + +"Do you know, Isadore," she said, at length, "I am in some hopes that +Edward may be heard of at his father's house: it would not surprise me +if he had gone thither." + +Isadore felt that she had a delicate part to play. She was glad to see +that Marian was more composed than she could have expected; and, of +course, she would have wished to maintain that state of composure, +till apprehension gradually changed into grief, without any new shock +to her feelings: but she still felt that she had no right to encourage +hopes which must soon be broken; and she replied, "I am very happy, +dearest Marian, that you do think so; but is it not strange that he +should go thither, and be so long absent, without letting any one +know, when he must have felt that so many would be uneasy?" + +"It is strange," replied Marian; "but I think I can account for that. +I am about to tell you something, Isadore, which you must make what +use of you think fit, in case Colonel Manners has not found poor +Edward at Dewry Hall; but as it refers to matters which he might not +wish told to any one, you must ask me no more than I am inclined to +speak; and unless it be necessary, perhaps, had better not mention it +to any one but my aunt." + +"I will obey you to the letter, dear cousin," replied Isadore; "but I +foresee that you are going to speak of his visit to the gipsy, which, +indeed, surprised us all." + +"It is the cause of that visit I am about to tell you," answered +Marian; "for perhaps the facts connected with it may throw some light +on the business, if Edward be not at his father's. But you remember, +Isadore, that Colonel Manners went up yesterday morning to the +gipsies--I believe, because you teased him about them." + +"Yes, indeed, I believe it was one of my silly jests," replied +Isadore, with a sigh, "that made him go at all. I shall leave off +jesting for the future, Marian." + +"Nay, nay! never, Isadore!" replied Marian, shaking her head. +"However, Colonel Manners brought Edward down a letter from one of +them called Pharold, which distressed him a great deal; for it told +him things concerning our own family, and his part of it particularly, +which would be very terrible if true. He determined, after speaking to +me upon the matter, to go up to the common this morning, in order to +investigate the whole; and if he found any reason to believe that the +gipsy spoke the truth, his mind, I am sure, would be in such a state +that he would hardly know what he was doing. Under these +circumstances, it is very likely that he might go over at once to +inquire more of his father, without thinking of anything else in the +pain and anxiety of the moment." + +"No, Marian, depend upon it, he would think of you," cried Isadore, +somewhat incautiously. + +"I could easily forgive him for not doing so," replied Marian, +"notwithstanding all the pain I have suffered, if I could be sure that +he is safe at the Hall." + +"Pray God it maybe so!" replied Isadore; "and if it be, we shall +undoubtedly hear from Colonel Manners to-night." + +There was something so despairing in the tone with which Isadore +pronounced--"Pray God it may be so!" that Marian took alarm. +"Isadore," she said, looking at her steadily, "I hope you are not +deceiving me. Your heart is not one to be so easily cast down; your +lips, dear cousin, are not accustomed to such sad sounds. Tell me the +truth, Isadore, I beseech you. Have you heard anything of Edward?" + +"No, indeed, Marian!" replied Isadore, glad that she had put her +question in such a shape that she could give it a negative; and yet +hesitating a little at the utterance of one word approaching +insincerity, a vice that her mind had never known. "No, indeed," she +said, "no one has heard anything of him as yet." + +Marian marked her hesitation, however, and replied, in a low voice, "I +should always like to know the truth, Isadore; and I am sure you would +tell it me, dear cousin. You know how I love Edward; and I think it no +shame to acknowledge to you, Isadore, that I do not believe there ever +was a human being that loved another as I have loved him." She paused; +and though she knew that Isadore needed no new insight into her heart +to see how totally that heart was given to Edward de Vaux, yet, as she +spoke, the crimson came again into her cheeks, and mottled her brow +and temples, even to speak her love in the hearing of one who already +knew it so well. "Nevertheless, Isadore," she continued, "feeling +afraid of my own heart, and my own great happiness, I have schooled +myself to remember that the blessings of this world are anything but +permanent, and have prepared myself to say, if God should require me +to yield them, 'Thy will be done.' Of course, since Edward went into +active service, I have felt it the more necessary to be always thus +prepared; and though I have tried not to imbitter existence by +apprehensions, nor to keep myself in continual fear, I have +endeavoured never to forget that Almighty Wisdom may hourly require +sacrifices, at which we must not repine." + +"You are indeed a sweet creature!" cried Isadore, casting her arms +round her cousin's neck; "I wish that I were half as good!" Marian +leaned her brow upon her cousin's shoulder; and when Isadore again +looked at her, she found that Marian was weeping. + +In a few moments Marian wiped away her tears, and went on: "You will +think that, after boasting of all this preparation, I ought not to be +so overcome now--nor, indeed, so much as I was this morning; but the +truth is, when Edward returned, half my fears vanished. I thought that +all danger was over; and little remembered that he who had escaped +from battle and from storm, might be snatched from me in the bosom of +peace, and in his own home. But I am better now, Isadore, and firmer, +and stronger; and therefore I will beg you and my aunt to let me hear +at once everything that occurs; for though you are interested too, I +know, deeply and sincerely, yet you can neither of you feel as I do." + +"Perhaps that is the very reason, dear Marian," replied Isadore, "why +it would be better to keep from you all the rumours and reports, which +could only rack all your feelings with alternate hopes and fears, +without leading you even to any certain conclusion." + +"Oh, no!" said Marian; "no! let me hear all, Isadore! I am now again +prepared. I do not say that I shall not weep--I do not say that I +shall not be anxious--I do not say that I shall not tremble with hope +and fear: but I do say, Isadore, that the knowledge of whose hand it +is that guides the whole--and my firm, perfect, undoubting, +unchangeable belief that His will is mercy, and His way is wise--will +be my support and consolation to the end." + +"And I will never believe," said Isadore, warmly, "that He will leave +such confidence unrewarded and unprotected." + +"Oh, no!" answered Marian; and she then added, in a sadder tone, "But +He, seeing more wisely than we do, may yet think fit to afflict us, +Isadore. However, I am still prepared, and will meet whatever may +come, as little repining as I can." + +The conversation proceeded for some time in the same tone, nor was its +effect small in soothing the mind of her who suffered; for, in moments +of grief, the human heart forgets all the treasured consolations which +reason, and philosophy, and religion have garnered up in years of +tranquillity; and it is not till we examine the stores that we have +gathered that we remember the sources of comfort which we ourselves +possess. + +Marian then expressed her intention of rising, and begged Isadore to +send her maid from the dressing-room. Her cousin would fain have +dissuaded her; and proceeded to inform her mother of Marian's +intention of coming down to the drawing-room; but Mrs. Falkland did +not disapprove of the idea, especially when she learned from Isadore +the state of her niece's mind. "We must endeavour," she said, "to keep +any sudden tidings of evil from our poor Marian; but in other +respects, perhaps, occupation of any sort may do her good; for I know +too well, Isadore, that nothing can be worse than the fears and the +pains with which our own imagination fills up the interval of +suspense, when, alone and sleepless, we sit and watch away the weary +hours, till doubt and fear have grown into the too painful certainty." + +Marian was not long in following her cousin to the drawing-room; and +though a few tears rolled over her cheeks as Mrs. Falkland pressed her +to her bosom, she soon regained at least the appearance of composure. +By degrees she learned all that Colonel Manners had discovered, except +the indications which most strongly tended to confirm his +apprehensions for De Vaux; and she heard, also, all that he had done +towards obtaining further and more certain information. Marian, +however, inferred, from the measures that had been taken, that both +her aunt and Manners did entertain serious fears; and her heart sunk +to find her own alarm confirmed by that of persons so much more +thoroughly acquainted with the world than herself. Soon after she +had come down, the servant, who had been despatched to Mr. Arden, +returned with the tidings that he was absent from his own house, and +was not expected back till the next morning. Inquiries, too, were made +by the people who had been left to guard the wood, whether it were +necessary to keep up their patrol all night; and in Manners's absence, +Mrs. Falkland ordered it to be done at any expense. Many a rumour, +too, of many a likely and many an unlikely occurrence, reached the +drawing-room through the old butler, who, with one other man-servant, +had been retained in the house while the rest had been despatched to +reinforce the people on watch round the wood. + +Thus passed the evening, but no tidings arrived from Colonel Manners; +and as minute after minute and hour after hour went by after the +period which they calculated might have brought them the news of De +Vaux's being at his father's house, the hopes of all the party sunk +lower and more low, and at a late hour Mrs. Falkland persuaded Marian +again to go to bed. + +Sleep, indeed, visited Morley House but little during that night; and +the next morning early, a note was received from Colonel Manners, +informing Mrs. Falkland that nothing as yet had been heard of De Vaux. +So far Mrs. Falkland communicated the tidings she had received to +Marian, before she had risen; and, notwithstanding all the fortitude +she had endeavoured to assume, and the most careful guard she had been +enabled to put upon her heart, yet Marian had so far encouraged hopes +which now suffered disappointment, that medical aid was again obliged +to be called; and it was judged expedient once more to dull her sense +of grief and fear by strong opiates. The latter part of Colonel +Manners's communication, which spoke in plain terms of the murder of +poor De Vaux, Mrs. Falkland did not, of course, read to her unhappy +niece. In it, however, he informed her, that when he arrived at Dewry +Hall, he had found measures already in progress for arresting the +supposed murderers upon another charge, and had waited to know the +result. They had proved, unfortunately, without effect, he said; as no +one had been taken but a lad, from whom he was afraid little +satisfactory information was likely to be gained: but still it was his +purpose, he added, to go over to Dimden with Lord Dewry, previous to +returning to Morley House, in order to hear personally what evidence +could be extracted from the prisoner. In conclusion, he recommended, +if Mr. Arden had not taken measures for searching the wood in which +the gipsy had been seen, before his letter arrived, that such a step +should be resorted to directly; as the messenger who brought the news +of the affray at Dimden had not been able to say whether Pharold were +present or not. + +After the receipt of this letter, Mrs. Falkland waited anxiously for +the arrival of Mr. Arden; but it was late ere he came. He then asked +eagerly what further discoveries had been made, and Mrs. Falkland +communicated to him the substance of Colonel Manners's letter. The old +gentleman, whose heart was warm and kind, notwithstanding a certain +degree of severity of manner, and a persevering adherence to the +letter of the law, which often made him appear harsh and unfeeling, +sympathized truly with De Vaux's family; and spoke of Marian, and the +state of bereavement and distress into which her cousin's loss must +have cast her, with words of tenderness and pity which brought a +bright drop or two even into his own eyes. He then touched as +delicately as his nature permitted upon the subject of Lord Dewry's +letter to him, which he had received that morning; and triumphed a +little in the accuracy of the opinion he had formerly given in regard +to Pharold the gipsy being the real murderer of Mrs. Falkland's late +brother. + +Mrs. Falkland started, and combated the idea with various arguments, +which had been satisfactory to her own mind at the time. Mr. Arden, +however, informed her, that in his letter of that morning, Lord Dewry +had asserted, that he had acquired positive proofs of the gipsy's +guilt; and Mrs. Falkland was silent, but not convinced. That Pharold, +either in some fierce dispute, or in some accidental affray, might +have killed her unfortunate nephew, or that his companions might have +done so, without his will or concurrence, Mrs. Falkland did not doubt: +but she had heard too much of his character and behaviour in youth to +believe that, twenty years before, when he was still a young man, he +could have been so hardened in guilt as, for the purpose of paltry +plunder, to take the life of the only man for whom, with the exception +of his own tribe, he had shown affection. For Lord Dewry's fierce +accusation on the present occasion, she accounted easily by a +knowledge of his character, and conceived it very possible that the +rage and hatred which he felt at the very idea of the gipsy having +murdered his son, might make him regard as proof positive any slight +additional suspicions which he had found cause to form against Pharold +in regard to his brother's death. However, as she took no pleasure in +speaking of her brother's weaknesses, she made no answer; and Mr. +Arden began his proceedings for the purpose of causing the wood in +which Colonel Manners imagined he had seen Pharold to be so thoroughly +searched as to ascertain, beyond a doubt, whether the gipsy still +remained in it or not. + +As all those who have attempted to search a wood must know the task is +not an easy one; and before a sufficient number of people could be +collected, and all the orders and directions could be given, it was +late in the day. As the men, however, who had kept patrol for so many +hours were now weary of the task, and there existed many doubts +whether any inducement would make them undertake it during another +night, there was no possibility of delaying the search till the +following morning; and Mr. Arden accordingly set out, taking as many +of Mrs. Falkland's servants with him as could by any means be spared, +in order to make their proceedings as effectual as the short remaining +space of daylight permitted. + +During his absence Mrs. Falkland and her daughter remained in that +painful and exciting state of suspense in which every minute has its +expectation, and every minute its fear; and as Marian still slept, +Isadore walked out into the garden, in hopes of finding some +refreshment in the cool air of the autumn evening. When she had passed +about half through the garden, with her eyes turning mechanically from +time to time upon the flowers, but with her thoughts far otherwise +occupied, she perceived a boy of about ten years of age, who worked +under the gardeners, approaching her, cap in hand. + +"Please, miss," he said, "I think I have found out something." + +"And pray, what have you discovered, Harry?" demanded Isadore, as he +paused. + +"Why, ma'am," answered the boy, "I heard the gentleman yesterday, and +all the folks, indeed, talking of footsteps, and asking where there +were any to be seen, in sorts of unlikely places--" + +"And have you found any?" exclaimed Isadore, speaking eagerly, from +some of those vague, and often fallacious anticipations which rush +upon the mind in thousands when it is excited by any strongly-moving +cause. + +"Why, yes, ma'am, you see," replied the boy; "the gardener, when he +was going away to search the wood, sent me down to the other side of +the park to cut some box for the borders; and by the little door close +by the river, which has not been opened these two years, I saw the +marks of a gentleman's foot in the gravel, which is softish down on +that walk, and greenish, too, for it ha'nt been turned this autumn." + +"But how do you know it was a gentleman's foot?" demanded Isadore. "It +might be either the gardener's, or the under-gardener's, or the +gamekeeper's, for anything you know, Harry." + +"No, no, miss," answered the boy; "I know it was a gentleman's, for +they have little feet, and this was not bigger than mine; and it was +not a woman's foot, because the heel was different." + +"And a boy's?" said Isadore; "why might it not be a boy's?" The youth +rubbed his head, saying, "It might be a boy's, miss; but I do not +think it, miss, any how: I am sure it was a gentleman's--quite sure." + +Isadore endeavoured to discover the grounds of this certainty; but +when people whose ideas are not very clear upon a subject are pressed +by those who would fain help them to disentangle the ravelled skein of +their thoughts, they not unfrequently take refuge in a sort of blank +stolidity, which prevents others from finding out the causes that they +themselves are not able to explain. Such was the case in the present +instance, and the only answer that Isadore could obtain to her +questions, shape them how she would, was, that he--the boy--was sure +that the footmarks were those of a gentleman. + +With these tidings, however, with every willingness in the world to +believe that they were true, and with a long train of phantom hopes to +boot, Miss Falkland returned to her mother, taking the boy to the +house with her. Mrs. Falkland listened with attention, and replied +that it would be at least worth while to send down the old butler +directly, to ascertain the facts more precisely. + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake, do not send him, mamma!" exclaimed Isadore. +"He is so fond of miracles, that he will declare it is the foot of an +elephant. We shall never come at the truth from him." + +"But whom can I send, then?" demanded her mother. "All the other +servants are away; and both the gardener and under-gardener are with +Mr. Arden." + +"I will go myself, mamma," replied Isadore. "I shall have plenty of +time to get there and back before it is dark; and I will take the boy +with me to show me the place." + +"You are right, Isadore," replied Mrs. Falkland: "the fact may be of +no importance, but it may be of much; and, consequently, it is worth +our own examination. I will go with you, my love, if Marian be still +asleep. Wait one moment, and we will go and judge together." + +Mrs. Falkland was not long absent. Marian was still lying overpowered +with the opium; and the two ladies, having joined the boy in the hall, +set out upon the search. While her mother was absent, however, Isadore +called her own maid, and stationed her at one of the windows, whence +she could see the spot to which the boy referred, and the path leading +to it. She gave her also directions to remain there, and, in case of +either Mrs. Falkland or herself making a signal, to send or come down +to them in all haste. "I feel a sort of presentiment," thought +Isadore, as she gave the orders, "that this expedition will end in +something of importance." + +Whatever it was likely to end in, the maid obeyed her orders as +punctually as such orders generally are obeyed; that is to say, she +remained two minutes at the window; and having seen Mrs. Falkland and +Isadore walk about a hundred steps upon the path, she thought, "Dear +me! I can just get the cap I was trimming, and be back again here long +before they are at the other side of the park." But, as she crossed +the hall, she met with the old butler, who detained her just to ask +her where his mistress and Miss Falkland were gone; and then told her +a story, which he had heard when he was young, and the incidents of +which were very like those connected with the fate of poor Mr. Edward +de Vaux. Every hair on the maid's head stood on end, and gave her so +much occupation, that, ere she could get back to her post, it was too +dark to trim the cap any further; she therefore, immediately and +punctually, turned her eyes on the spot which her mistress had +directed her to observe, and watched most carefully, now that she +could see nothing at that distance. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +Isadore and Mrs. Falkland, in the meantime, took the little path +towards the brink of the river, in the immediate neighbourhood of +which lay the spot where the boy had remarked the footsteps. Mrs. +Falkland had lived too long in the great school of disappointment, +human life, to suffer her expectations to be greatly excited; but +Isadore, with a spirit naturally more enthusiastic, and as yet +unchastened by any deep sorrows, felt her heart beat high, and her +hopes struggle up against her fears, as she set out to take a more +active part than she had hitherto been able to assume in the search +for her cousin. The path wound along through the park, meandering +considerably, perhaps in conformity to the taste of some ancient layer +out of parks, or perhaps in consequence of the usual roundabout and +circuitous nature of man's paths. Isadore, like all ardent minds, was +tempted to make a more direct way for herself across the lawns; but +Mrs. Falkland, in a more practical spirit, remembered that the grass +was damp, and that it was not worth while to wet her feet for the +purpose of saving half a minute. She adhered, therefore, to the +gravel; and, as her more venturous daughter met with a little swamp +occasioned by a spring, which obliged her to go round, they arrived at +the spot they sought about the same time. + +The spot itself, however, needs some description, and, indeed, it has +been already described once before, with a special injunction to the +reader to remember all the points and bearings which were then +detailed. However, lest memory should be treacherous, we will once +more take a view of the scene, as it was presented to the eyes of Mrs. +Falkland and her daughter, who were at that moment looking exactly +west-north-west. Before them was a little shrubbery of evergreens and +indigenous plants, kept as low as possible, so as just to hide the +wall of the park, against which it rested, and yet not to cut off from +the windows of the house a beautiful rocky bank, which rose on the +other side of the wall to the height of a great number of feet. This +bank formed one of the faces of a small wooded promontory, or rather +peninsula, which was joined on to the hills by a narrow neck, over +which the high-road passed after having skirted the other wall of the +grounds. It was surrounded everywhere but at that point by the river. +The summit was covered with rich wood; and down the sides also, in +every place where the rock did not rise up abrupt and bare, a thousand +various trees and shrubs had rooted themselves in the clefts and +crevices, or towered up like pinnacles from the top of every detached +fragment, and overhung the calm, still bend of the river, which served +as a mirror to all the beauties round about it. The setting sun, with +his lower limb just resting on the western hills, was pouring a flood +of splendour down the valley of the stream; and his full light +bursting upon the face of the rock to the left of Mrs. Falkland and +Isadore, found its way round in bright catches of purple light, +illuminating every tree and angle of the rock that stood forward +before the rest. + +Pouring on, too, the beams streamed down the little footway which--cut +through the low shrubbery to a door in the wall--led out to another +path running from the high-road to the river, between the park and the +cliff; and by the clear light thus afforded it was easy to see the +marks of which the boy had spoken. They seemed to have been made by +some one coming from the grass on the side of the river upon the soft +gravel of the path, and had turned suddenly towards the door, where +they disappeared, as if the person had passed through. They were +small, too, as the boy had described, and were evidently not a +woman's; but neither Mrs. Falkland nor Isadore were sufficiently well +acquainted with De Vaux's footprints to feel anything like certainty +concerning them. It were vain to deny, however, that the hopes of both +were raised, though Heaven knows those hopes were vague and indistinct +enough. Had either Mrs. Falkland or Isadore been asked what they +expected to find, they would probably have answered, "Edward de Vaux;" +but had they been required to assign a reason for such expectations, +to account for his absence, or to point out any principle upon which +he could have abandoned the society of those he loved, and yet linger +in their neighbourhood, they would have been embarrassed for a reply. +But affection does not pause to argue. Hope, too, is ever most +powerful when she triumphs over reason, and, though it may seem a +paradox, expectation is never so vivid as when we know not what we +expect. Hope, then, as bright as sunshine, but as vague and undefined +as that sunshine when it streams through the morning mist, was lighted +up by the sight of those footsteps. As Mrs. Falkland gazed on them, +and traced them distinctly to the door, she exclaimed, "How very +stupid it was of me not to bring the key!" + +"I have a key, ma'am," said the boy, groping in the pocket of his +jacket; and producing it accordingly, he advanced to the door and +opened it. Mrs. Falkland now looked eagerly for more traces; but none +were to be seen close to the door, though the ground was composed of a +reddish sort of sand, which would easily have taken the print of even +a light foot. At the distance, however, of about five feet were to be +seen two deep marks of the same kind, but close together, with the +heels more profoundly indented in the sand than the front of the foot; +and it became evident that some one had leaped from the top of the +wall. This was made still clearer, when, turning back, Mrs. Falkland +examined the door, on the top of the lock of which several patches of +gravel had been left by the foot of some one who had taken that means +to reach the summit of the wall. In the mean time Isadore was eagerly +tracing on the footprints, which led straight from the deeper marks to +the bank; and on one of the large stones close by the river, she soon +found the impression of a foot in red sand stamped upon the green +mould with which the fragment of rock was covered. + +"Here, mamma, here," cried Isadore. "He must have passed here, and +that since the rain of last night, too; for if you look, the marks are +quite sharp, while some old ones going down towards the water are +nearly washed away. I should not wonder if he were here now." + +"Hark!" said Mrs. Falkland; "did you not hear a noise above there?" + +They listened, but all was silent; and at length Mrs. Falkland added, +"We have done wrong, my love, in not bringing more people with us, +even if they were but women. The wood is so small and so shut in by +the river that it might be searched easily." + +"Send the boy back to the house, mamma!" cried Isadore, quickly: "he +can bring down the butler, and probably some of the others may have +returned. We can remain here, and watch till they come." + +"But, Isadore," said Mrs. Falkland, gravely, "it is growing dusk and +late, and the place is lonely and obscure: I do not see any good that +two women can do here alone." + +"Oh, Harry will be back in a moment, mamma," cried her daughter; "and, +besides, nobody could hurt us. Any one on the high-road would hear a +scream from this place." + +Mrs. Falkland still hesitated; but Isadore continued eagerly,--"I will +tell you how we can manage it then, so that there can be no danger. +Send him back for the people, and you go into the park to the little +mound; there you can see the high-road quite across the point." + +"But I will not leave you here alone, my love," cried Mrs. Falkland, +in some surprise at the proposal: "indeed I cannot think of doing +that." + +"But, mamma, I have been here a hundred times alone before," replied +Isadore; "and, besides, what I mean is, to get up to that little point +where Marian and I have sat many a day. When I am there, you will be +able both to see me and to hear me if I speak to you; and if any +danger were really to happen, I could make the people with the cattle +in the opposite meadow hear me, while you could also make them see or +hear you from the house; and I set Charlotte at the window to watch." + +Mrs. Falkland still hesitated; but Isadore continued rapidly, "Run, +Harry, up to the house as fast as ever you can go; bring down Mr. +Gibson and any of the men you can find, and do not lose a minute." + +"I am afraid that this is not very prudent, Isadore," said Mrs. +Falkland, as the boy ran off like lightning; "but I suppose your plan +is the best one to follow now that he is gone. I will turn back to the +mound then, while you go up there. But if the boy does not return +before the twilight grows thicker, come down, by all means." + +"I will come down whenever you tell me, mamma," said Isadore; "and I +can hear everything you say at the mound." + +Without more words, then, Mrs. Falkland hastened to take up her +station at a little rising ground in the park, from the summit of +which she could see, not only the whole of that part of the high-road +which crossed the neck of the little promontory, but also the extreme +angle of the cliff above the river. Isadore, in the meanwhile, climbed +up by a steep and somewhat rugged path, which had been made at her +request some years before, to a small point of rock which commanded a +view both up and down the river, and afforded one of the most +picturesque landscapes, on either side, that the country possessed. + +The height was not more than ten or twelve feet above the stream, and +the distance from the mound in the park not a hundred yards, so that +any one speaking in a loud voice could be heard from one spot to the +other. The ascent, however, while it continued, was steep, and +Isadore's heart beat when she reached the top--nor, perhaps, was it +the exercise alone that made it palpitate. Although she had not +displayed any fear, she was not without some slight degree of alarm; +and felt not a little of that sort of excitement and agitation which +is not indeed fear, but which often produces very similar effects. She +looked back as soon as she reached the point of the rock, but Mrs. +Falkland was not yet in sight. Another instant, however, brought her +mother to the top of the mound, and Isadore demanded, "You can see the +high-road, mamma, can you not?" + +Mrs. Falkland did not at first distinguish what her daughter had said, +and Isadore repeated the question. Not that in this inquiry she was at +all influenced by fear, although it might appear so; but, in truth, +Isadore's eagerness to send back the boy for aid, and remain upon the +watch, had originated in a little stroke of strategy which was not +ill-conceived, considering that it sprang from the brain of a young +lady. + +That there was some one in the wood above them Miss Falkland was quite +convinced; and to ascertain who it was she knew was a great object at +the time being. It had instantly struck her, therefore, that, by +dividing their forces, her mother taking up a position on the little +mound, whence she could see along the whole of the high-road, and down +a considerable portion of the little lane under the wall, while she, +Isadore, placed herself on the point which commanded a view of two +other sides of the promontory, no one could well escape from the wood +without coming under the eyes of one or the other of the fair +watchers. She did forget, it is true, that, supposing the fugitive to +be a man, and that man not her cousin Edward de Vaux, neither herself +nor her mother were the least capable of making him stay, and that +their hunt might very likely end, while the boy was absent, like a +famous hunt of yore, in the catching a Tartar. A vague sort of +consciousness, it is true, that such might be the case, impressed +itself upon her mind as she climbed to the little point above the +river; but still her first question was directed to ascertain whether +their line of watch was, as she hoped, secure and complete. + +She repeated her inquiry then, in a louder tone, and Mrs. Falkland +replied, "Oh, yes, I can see to the river on the other side. But, +indeed, Isadore, it is growing very dark. I can scarcely distinguish +the house." + +Isadore still lingered, however; for the spot where she stood, looking +eastward, caught more light than the rest of the scene. She thought +she heard a slight rustling sound, too, above her, as of some one +creeping through the bushes; and it must be confessed that her heart +beat violently. Although, in truth, she now began to think her scheme +a little rash, yet curiosity and anxiety for her cousin's fate still +kept her where she stood. The next moment, however, she saw some one, +indistinctly, pass through the bushes on the edge of the higher part +of the bank, and imagination did much to persuade her that she +recognised the figure. + +"Oh, mamma," she exclaimed, "I see him, I see him!" but the figure was +instantly lost behind some more trees. It was evidently still passing +on to the eastward, as if to escape in that direction, for the +branches rustled as it forced its way through; and Isadore took two +steps back to catch another sight of it as it passed before a bare +facing of rock at the extreme point. At that moment there was a sudden +rush through the brushwood; and ere Isadore could see that it was +nothing more than a fragment of rock given way under the foot of the +person above, she started back, thinking that it was he himself +springing down upon her, lost her footing on the edge of the bank, +and, with a shrill scream, fell over into the river. + +Mrs. Falkland shrieked also, and rushed forward to the stream; but the +height from which Isadore had fallen had caused her instantly to sink, +and nothing was to be seen by the mother's eye but the clear +glistening expanse of the water, with the reflection of the cliffs, +and trees, and banks, and of the fading purple of the sky, broken by a +thousand rippling circles, where her child had disappeared. With the +loud, piercing, thrilling cry of maternal agony, she shrieked again +and again; and, as she did so, springing from rock to rock, with the +swiftness and certainty of a wild goat, appeared the figure which +Isadore had seen above her. He stood for a single moment on the spot +whence she had fallen, and then exclaimed to Mrs. Falkland, below, +"Where is she, woman? where is she?" + +"There, there!" cried Mrs. Falkland, pointing to the spot; but as she +spoke a bit of white drapery floated up to the top of the water, a +little farther down the stream. Pharold paused no longer, but leaped +from the bank--sank--rose again--and in the next moment, with his +left arm round the slender waist of Isadore Falkland, and her head +thrown back upon his shoulder, he struck with his right towards the +margin, where the soft, meadowy sloping of the park afforded an easy +landing-place. There, springing on shore, he laid his fair burden on +the grass, but she was pale, and moved not; and Mrs. Falkland gazing +with agony on the colourless countenance of her daughter, wrung her +hands, exclaiming, "Isadore! Isadore! she is dead! oh, she is dead!" + +"No, lady," said Pharold, kneeling down, and looking intently upon the +fair face before him--"no, lady! she is not dead, nor has the water +had any effect on her. That is not the face of a drowned person. She +must have fainted through fear, and will soon recover." + +"For God's sake, then, help me, sir, to bear her to the house," cried +Mrs. Falkland; "do not, do not hesitate. You who have rendered us such +infinite service, do not pause there, but make it complete by bringing +her to a place where she may be recalled to life." + +"What!" cried the gipsy, "to be taken and thrust into a prison! Do you +not know that they are pursuing me on a charge of murder--pursuing me +as if I were a wolf? Have you not, yourself, been sending out men to +take the murderer Pharold?" + +Mrs. Falkland had forgot all other fears in her fears for her +daughter; but as Pharold suddenly recalled them, she involuntarily +drew a step back, and gazed on him with terror; but it required +scarcely the thought of an instant to make her remember that he had +saved the life--at least she trusted so--of her only child; that he +had risked his own existence to rescue a perfect stranger, and she +exclaimed, boldly, "No, no! I will never believe it! You are not--you +cannot be guilty. But we waste time--we waste the moments that may +save my child. For pity's sake, for God's sake, aid me to carry her +home. I have sent, but I see no one coming--they may be long--she may +be lost ere they arrive. If you will come," she added, seeing the +gipsy still hesitate, "I promise you that you shall go free, and well +rewarded,--you shall be as safe as if you were in your own house." + +"House!" exclaimed the gipsy; "I have no house! but I will believe +you, lady--I will trust you;" and taking Isadore once more in his +arms, he strode rapidly and powerfully forward, followed at the same +quick pace by Mrs. Falkland. + +He took not the way across the green, however, believing that he might +there be met by the servants, and his retreat cut off; but passing +through the low shrubberies, which were almost as near, he walked on +towards the house in silence. Every moment the light was becoming less +and less, but he threaded the walks as if he had known them from +boyhood, and took all the shortest cuts to abridge the way. At length, +however, he paused for an instant, and turning to Mrs. Falkland, he +said, in a low voice, "She revives! I feel her breath upon my face!" + +"Thank God! thank God!" replied her mother, in the same low tone; and +the gipsy then abruptly added, as he resumed his way, "You believe me +innocent, then." + +"I do, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland; "I cannot believe a person +guilty of a cool, deliberate murder, who could so boldly and +generously risk his own life to save that of a fellow-creature,--it is +not in human nature." + +"It is not, indeed," replied Pharold, still striding on; "but why then +did you send out men to hunt me as you would a wolf?" + +"I sent them not out," she answered; "but when they went, I, too, +thought that you might be guilty." + +"The memory of your brother," said Pharold, "the memory of him who +loved me, and whom I loved as I have never loved any other man, should +have made you think differently. Was he a man to love one whose nature +led him to deeds of blood?" + +"He was not, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland; "but they charge you +with his death, too." + +"Ha!" cried Pharold, in a tone of unfeigned astonishment--"ha! that, +then, is the well prepared, long-digested lie, is it? That they should +accuse me of the gamekeeper's death I thought natural--though I would +have given a limb to save him. That they suspected me of Edward de +Vaux's, I heard without surprise; for men are always the fools of +circumstances, and there were circumstances against me: but that, +after twenty years, they should accuse me of the death of him that I +loved more than any other thing but liberty, I did not think that +villany and impudence could bring about,--and did you believe that, +too?" + +"No," replied Mrs. Falkland, very willing, by speaking the exact +truth, to sooth the irritated mind of a man who had just rendered her +so inestimable a service--"no, I did not believe it; and as soon as +the charge was made in my hearing, I expressed my disbelief of it +entirely." + +"So, so!" said the gipsy, "there is some justice left! Lady, when you +were four years old, I have carried you in these arms, as I now carry +your daughter; and I thank you, at this late hour, for doing justice +to one who was loved by those who loved you. No, no; I am not a +murderer; and never believe it, whatever they may say." + +They were now coming near the house; and Mrs. Falkland, with fears for +Isadore somewhat relieved, would fain have asked the fate of her +nephew; but at that moment the gipsy spoke again; and though, from the +shadow cast by the trees of the shrubbery, she could not see in which +way his eyes were directed, the tone of his voice, as well as the +words themselves, showed her that he was addressing her daughter. "Be +not afraid, lady, be not afraid," he said: "you are quite safe, though +in hands that you know not; your mother is behind: lean your head on +my shoulder, and keep quite still." + +"Are you there, mamma?" said a faint voice, that went thrilling +through all the innermost windings of Mrs. Falkland's heart. "Yes, my +beloved Isadore; yes, my dearest child," replied the mother, "I am +here, close beside you; and, thank God, you are quite safe!" + +"Hush!" said the gipsy, "hush! If I am seen, I am lost, remember; and +keep silence, if you feel that I have served you." + +"Inestimably," replied Mrs. Falkland, in a low tone; and the gipsy, +now emerging from the shrubbery, crossed a part of the lawn that lay +between the angle of the wood and the house. + +In the gray of the evening, a party of two or three persons might now +be seen, though indistinctly, following the open path, about half-way +across the park towards the cliff. But though he turned his eyes in +that direction, the gipsy took no further notice of them; and, +approaching the house, directed his course towards a glass door which +led out from a small breakfast-parlour upon the lawn. Mrs. Falkland +took a step or two forward, and opened the door; and Pharold carried +Isadore up the steps into the room, and placed her in safety upon a +sofa. + +Her first action was to hold out her arms to her mother, with all that +flood of gratitude, and tenderness, and joy flowing from her heart, +which we feel on being restored to "this pleasing, anxious being," +after having thought that we were quitting for ever the warm precincts +of the cheerful day. Mrs. Falkland caught her to her bosom, and, +locked in each other's arms, they wept as if they had lost a friend. + +Well may philosophers say, that man never knows what joy is till he +has tasted sorrow. Isadore and her mother had loved each other through +life, without one of those petty rivalries, either for authority or +admiration, without one of those jarrings of different purposes and +opposing wishes which sometimes sap the affection of child and parent. +They had loved each other through life dearly, and they knew it; but +they did not know how dearly, till fate had nearly placed the barrier +of the grave between them, and Isadore, safe and rescued, held her +mother, weeping, in her arms. Who can explain such tears? Who can tell +why the same drops which flow from pain or sorrow should be companions +of the brightest joy? For who can trace the workings of the fine +immortal essence within us, in its operations on the frail, weak +tabernacle of earth in which it is enshrined? + +However, they wept, and wept in silence; for both felt the bosom too +full for speech, and both, from the still oratory of the heart, +offered up thanks to God for the joy and relief of that moment. Nor +was their happiness unfelt by him to whom, under the Almighty, it was +owing. The gipsy stood and gazed upon them, with his arms crossed upon +his chest, and the light of internal satisfaction glistening in his +eye. There was something in the scene before him, and in those who +were the actors therein, which connected itself with the long, long +past; which woke up the memories of many a year, and which called up a +thousand thrilling sensations that long had slept. But he had neither +time nor inclination to let his mind rest upon all that chaos of +pleasures, and regrets, and wishes, and hopes, and sorrows, and +disappointments, which, when memory, awakened from her sleep, draws +back the veil from the past, is presented to the eyes of every one who +has lived an energetic and stirring existence. While one might count a +hundred, perhaps, he paused, and gazed upon Mrs. Falkland and her +daughter, giving way to the purest feelings of human affection, and +suffered his thoughts to wander wildly over the years gone by; but +then, starting from his revery, he remembered that he must depart. + +"Lady, I go," he said. "May God bless you and yours, and send you +ever, at your moment of need, one as willing and as able to help you +as the gipsy has shown himself." + +"Stay, stay one moment," said Mrs. Falkland. "You must not, indeed, +leave my house unrewarded for the infinite service you have rendered +me." + +"I am rewarded already, lady," he said; "I am rewarded by what I have +seen, I am rewarded by what I have felt, I am rewarded by knowing that +there is one at least that can do justice, in her own heart, even to a +gipsy. Lady, I must go: my stay is dangerous. Fare you well." + +At that moment, however, there was a powerful hand laid upon his +shoulder, and as he turned quickly round, he found himself faced by +Colonel Manners, who still kept his hold of the gipsy's collar and +shoulder, notwithstanding the sudden jerk he gave himself. + +"You are my prisoner," said Manners, sternly. "Surrender at once, for +resistance is in vain." + +"Doubtless, doubtless," answered the gipsy, bitterly. "I have fallen +into the trap, and it is useless to writhe. Oh, God of heaven! how +often have I sworn never again to do a service to any of these human +worms; for, if not punished by their own base ingratitude, some other +evil is sure to follow, as if thou hadst sworn vengeance on every one +that did an act of kindness to their outcast race!" + +"You shall not suffer, however, for your service to me," said Mrs. +Falkland, advancing. "I have pledged you my word, and I will redeem +it.--Colonel Manners," she continued, "listen to me for one moment: +this man has, within this quarter of an hour, saved my daughter's +life, at the risk of his own." + +"Indeed!" cried Colonel Manners. "May I ask how? I trust Miss Falkland +is not hurt." + +"No, not at all, I believe," replied Mrs. Falkland. "She fell from the +bank into the stream--sunk before my eyes, Colonel Manners; and had it +not been for his instant aid, she would have been now no more." + +"I am most delighted, indeed, to hear of her escape," replied Manners; +"and would to God it had been my fate to render her the assistance, +instead of this person, for I should then have avoided a most painful +duty. But, indeed, my dear madam, as it is--" + +"Nay, say not a word more, Colonel Manners," interrupted Mrs. +Falkland, "but hear my story out. He saved my daughter from the +stream; he swam with her to land; but she was without sense or motion. +I had nobody with me to help me, and I besought him, for the sake of +Heaven, to do what my strength was, of course, not sufficient to +perform, and to bear her home. He then told me his name; informed me +that people were hunting him like a wolf among the woods; and asked if +I could expect him to venture into the very midst of his enemies. I +plighted my word for his safety--I promised him by every thing sacred +that he should meet no impediment in quitting my dwelling; and upon +that promise alone he came." + +"I am sorry, my dear madam," answered Manners, calmly, but gravely, +"that such a promise can only be binding upon yourself. Did it involve +merely an act of politeness, of friendship, or of personal sacrifice, +I would do anything in my power to oblige you: but there is a higher +duty calls upon me than either courtesy or friendship, and I must obey +its voice. I have a duty to perform towards the laws of my country--I +have a duty to my dead friend; and, at any risk and all risks, I must +and will obey it. I wish, with all my heart, that I had met this man +anywhere but here; but wherever I meet him, I am not only empowered, +but bound, by every principle of law and justice, to arrest him." + +"Is there either law or justice, then, in arresting an innocent man?" +demanded the stern voice of the gipsy. + +"Of your innocence or guilt the law has still to decide," replied +Manners. "An accusation of the gravest kind has been made against you, +circumstances of strong suspicion have already been discovered to +justify the charge. If you be guilty, it is but fit you should be +punished; and if you be innocent, doubt not that you shall have equal +justice." + +"I did not expect this from you, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland, +bitterly. "Have you no regard, sir, to my plighted word? Have you no +consideration for my honour? I have used entreaties, sir; but I now +insist that he shall go; and, if necessary, I will call my servants +and make them set him free. He has saved my daughter's life, Colonel +Manners; he has come hither in my service, at my prayer, and upon my +promise of safety; and if he had killed my brother, he shall go hence +unimpeded." + +"Madam, I believe you risk that supposition without a suspicion that +it may be true," answered Manners. "But I must now inform you, that +one of the principal charges against this man is the very fact of +having murdered your late brother." + +"And the charge is false, Colonel Manners," answered Mrs. Falkland, +vehemently. "Whatever he may be now,--whatever he may have become +since,--he was not then a man to shed blood, much less the blood of +his friend and benefactor. He could have no motive but lucre, and that +motive was wanting; for from my brother he might have had whatever +sums he required. Nay, more, I have often heard my brother declare, +that he would not take what he offered. But, as I have said, Colonel +Manners, all other considerations apart, my word is pledged, and he +_shall_ go free." + +"Noble heart! noble heart!" cried the gipsy. "On my hand rests not one +drop of innocent blood, as there is a God above the stars! Neither do +I fear death nor dread inquiry; but my liberty is more than my life, +and what should I do, for months, a prisoner among stone walls and the +vermin of the earth! He talks boldly of arresting me now, when he has +got me here with dozens at his back; but let him take me five hundred +yards hence, where I was ere I carried your daughter hither,--let him +take me to the wood, or the bare hill side, where there are no odds +against me,--and then, strong as he thinks himself, let him arrest me +if he can." + +Mrs. Falkland was going to speak again; and might, perhaps, have +spoken angrily, for she was less calm than usual: but at that moment +Isadore's voice made itself heard, though but faintly. "Colonel +Manners," she said, "Colonel Manners, speak with me for a moment." +Manners looked towards her as she lay on the sofa at the other side of +the room; and he felt that to hear what she had to say distinctly he +must, by going nearer, release the gipsy from the grasp which he still +continued to maintain upon his collar. He felt also, what perhaps +Isadore had at her heart felt too, that her voice was likely to have +more effect with him than that of any one else; and as Manners had a +strong inclination to do his duty rigidly, he somewhat feared her +persuasions. However, he could not, of course, refuse to comply; +but to guard against his prisoner's escape, he instantly locked both +the doors of the little breakfast-room ere he approached her. He +then--seeing the gipsy stand calmly with his folded arms, as if +prepared to wait his decision--drew near, and bending down his head, +"I am most happy, indeed," he said, "that you have not suffered any +injury." + +"And yet you would ruin the person who saved me," said Isadore; "but +do not reason with me, Colonel Manners, for I have neither strength +nor wit to contend with you. I want to persuade, not to convince you." + +"That is what I am most afraid of," answered Manners with a smile. + +"Do not be afraid," said Isadore, "but listen. Do you think, Colonel +Manners, that a man who could murder Edward de Vaux would risk his own +life to save Edward's cousin?" + +"It is strange, certainly," answered Manners, "but--" + +"Do you think, then," continued Isadore, interrupting him, "that a man +who felt himself guilty of murder would go voluntarily to the midst of +the friends and relations of the person he had killed, solely for the +purpose of carrying home a poor girl that he had just saved from +drowning? Your murderers, Colonel Manners, must be curious +characters." + +Could Isadore have beheld the face of her hearer distinctly, she would +have seen that his cheek glowed a little with something like shame; +but he answered, "I did not say, my dear Miss Falkland, that I thought +him guilty. I only said, that the law required me to keep him a +prisoner till he had proved his innocence." + +"Well, then, Colonel Manners," rejoined Isadore, "since you do not +think him guilty--and I know you do not--since there is every reason +to think him innocent--since mamma has plighted her word--since he has +saved my life--since he came hither solely to aid me--you must let him +go, indeed you must--" + +Manners hesitated, and looked doubtfully at the gipsy, as he stood, +dark and shadowy, with his arms still crossed upon his bosom, and his +eyes bent upon the ground. Isadore saw that a word more would conquer; +and though her heart fluttered and her voice trembled to think how +important that word might, perhaps, become at some future time, she +made up her mind and spoke it, though in so low a tone that it fell on +no other ear but his for whom it was intended. "Colonel Manners," she +said, "you must let him go, indeed you must--" the words she added +were, "for my sake!" + +Manners was embarrassed in every way. Who shall say what he would, or +what he would not have done "for the sake" of Isadore Falkland? but +that was not all--had he really believed the gipsy guilty, he would +have had no hesitation; but he did not believe him guilty. The manner +in which Mrs. Falkland repelled the idea of his being the murderer of +her brother was enough to make Colonel Manners entertain many doubts +on a subject where his convictions had never been very strong; and the +fact of the gipsy having saved Isadore's life at the risk of his own, +and carried her home at the risk of arrest, were so irreconcilable +with his guilt, that Manners began to doubt too in regard to the +murder of De Vaux. He knew, undoubtedly, that he himself was not the +person called upon to judge; but still, of course, his conviction of +Pharold's guilt or innocence made a great difference in the degree of +eagerness with which he sought to apprehend him. + +But there were still several other motives for hesitation, when once +he began to doubt. He felt that Mrs. Falkland was perfectly right in +asserting, in every way, the inviolability of the promise she had made +to the gipsy--he felt that the gipsy had a right to expect that it +would be kept. He knew, also, that if Mrs. Falkland chose to call her +servants, and order the liberation of the gipsy, in all probability +any attempt to detain him would be in vain; and he was conscious, too, +that in making the attempt, he was acting, at least, a very ungracious +part. Still none of these motives, singly, would have restrained him, +had he not felt the strongest doubts of the gipsy's guilt; but when a +great many different motives enter into a conspiracy together to +change a man's opinion, they are like smiths engaged in forging a +piece of red-hot iron,--one gives it a stroke with his sledge-hammer, +and another gives it a stroke, till, hard as it may be, it is moulded +to their will. Manners, however,--although he might be led by many +considerations to temper the stern rigidity of duty,--was not a man to +abandon it altogether; and, therefore, he sought a mean which, as it +was only at his personal risk, he thought himself justified in +following, in order that Mrs. Falkland's promise might be held +inviolate, and, perhaps, that Isadore might be obeyed. + +"Well!" he said, after a moment's consideration. "All this business +has happened most unfortunately, that I should meet a man here whom I +am bound to apprehend, and who yet is guarded by a promise of safety. +However, Mrs. Falkland, although I cannot abandon my own duty, yet I +must do what I can to reconcile it with the engagement under which +this person came here. I think you said," he added, turning to +Pharold, "that if I would take you to the wood, or the bare hill-side, +with no odds against you, I might arrest you if I could--did you not?" + +"I did," said Pharold, "and I repeat it." + +"Then we are agreed," said Colonel Manners. "I will do so, although I +am fatigued and exhausted." + +"Who has a right to be the most fatigued?"' cried the gipsy. "Have I +not been hunted since the morning from wood to wood? Have I not had to +double and to turn like a hare before the hounds? Have I not twice +swam that quick stream? Have I had repose of mind or body, that you +should talk of fatigue?" + +"Well, well," said Manners, "all this matters little. I accept the +proposal which you have yourself made; and I thus specify the terms. +Though accompanied by me, you shall go free from this place in any +direction that you please for one quarter of an hour; a space of time +fully sufficient to put you out of all danger of being overpowered by +numbers. At the end of that time you are my prisoner." + +"If you can make me so," cried the gipsy: "if you can make me so." + +"Agreed," replied Manners: "that is what I mean, of course; otherwise +our agreement would be of no use." + +"Colonel Manners," exclaimed Isadore, calling him back to her, for, in +speaking, he had advanced a little towards the gipsy and Mrs. +Falkland, "for God's sake, do not go. You do not know what may happen. +Indeed, indeed, it is risking a valuable life most rashly. Let me +persuade you not to go." + +She made Colonel Manners's heart beat more rapidly than ever it had +done in his life; for to a man who felt as he did, and who had +nourished the fancies that he had, to hear the voice of beauty, and +worth, and gentleness pleading to him for his own safety, was +something much more agitating than the roar of artillery, or the rush +of charging squadrons. Isadore spoke, too, in a voice low, from an +effort not to appear too much interested, and a little faint, too, +perhaps, from late agitation and exhaustion; so that there was, in +fact, a great deal more of tenderness in her tone than she at all +wished or intended. + +"Nay, nay, Miss Falkland," answered Manners, who, in this instance, +though gratified, could resist--"nay, nay, I have yielded as much as I +can, indeed. I must either arrest this man here, or, out of respect to +your mother's promise and to your entreaties, must let him depart to a +spot where we may stand man to man, and then do my best to apprehend +him there." + +"Oh, let him go altogether, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland; "the +one charge made against him is false, depend upon it; and in regard to +Edward de Vaux, surely his conduct in saving Isadore may be taken as a +proof that he is innocent there also. Why should you risk your life in +a struggle where you know not how many may come against you?" + +"Lady, you do me justice and injustice in the same breath," said the +gipsy; "not one hand should be added to mine against his, if the whole +world were inclined to assist the gipsy, instead of to oppress him. +But at the same time, I tell him, as I have told you, that not a drop +of innocent blood is upon this hand; that it is as pure as his own, +and that I am more truly guiltless than those who boast their +innocence and sit in high places." + +"I think," said Manners, turning to Mrs. Falkland, "that we must here +end all discussion, my dear madam. My mind is perfectly made up as to +what it is my duty to do. The risk, in this instance, is merely +personal; and from such I will never shrink; and I feel very sure, +also, that there is no chance of failure." + +"Be not too sure," said the gipsy. + +"But, Colonel Manners," urged Isadore, "if this person will give us +what information he possesses--if he will tell us what has become of +Edward--if he will explain all, in short, will it not be better to +gain those tidings, and let him go quietly, than to hazard so much on +a chance which may be productive of no results?" + +"But will he make such a confession?" said Manners; "will he give +such information?" + +The gipsy was silent; but Mrs. Falkland anticipated his answer. +"Doubtless he will," she said, "if you will undertake to let him go +free when he has done." + +"Solely, if he can prove that Edward de Vaux is alive," answered +Manners. "Words, my dear lady, can be of no use--I must have proof +before I let him depart. He must not alone tell me what has become of +my poor friend, but he must convince me that what he has told is true; +otherwise I part not from him." + +"I know not well," replied the gipsy, "whether I have even a right to +tell what I know; and how can I prove it, without remaining in your +hands, and under the curse of a roof where I can scarcely breathe, +till those come who would thrust me into a prison, one month of which +were worse than a thousand deaths? No, no! I neither will speak to be +disbelieved, nor stay to be tortured, if I can win liberty by facing, +singly, a thing of clay like myself. If you will keep your word with +me, keep it now. If you would not play me false, throw open your door, +and go out with me to a place where you shall see whether, with God's +free air blowing on my cheek, and God's pure sky above my head, any +single arm on earth can stay me, if I will to go." As he spoke, +however, two or three dim indistinct forms passed across the windows, +which still admitted the faint lingering twilight of an autumn +evening, and the gipsy, dropping his arms by his side, listened for a +moment attentively. "It is too late," he exclaimed, at length--"it is +too late. You have kept me till the bloodhounds have come back; and +you shall have the joy of seeing them worry their quarry before you." + +"What is it you mean?" cried Manners. "Of what bloodhounds do you +speak?" + +"He means what, I am afraid, is too true, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. +Falkland, in a tone of bitter disappointment; "that Mr. Arden and the +people sent to search the wood have just returned; and that, +therefore, notwithstanding my word and your proposal, his apprehension +in my house is the recompense he will receive for saving my daughter's +life." + +"Do not be afraid, my dear madam," said Manners, "I will find means to +keep my word with him; but let us be sure that it is as you suppose, +before we risk going out into the park. I think I hear sounds in the +hall also." + +Every one was silent; and the noise of distant footsteps and voices +speaking was heard from the hall and vestibule; and in a moment after, +some persons approached the very room in which Manners and the rest +were standing. + +The steps passed on, however, to the library; and at the door thereof +paused immediately after, while the voice of the old butler said, "She +is not there, sir," and the feet returned. They then heard the door of +the music-room, which lay on the opposite side, open; and the butler +again said, "Nor there." The next moment a hand was laid upon the lock +of the very door near which they were standing, and Manners held his +finger to his lips in sign of silence. The old man made one or two +ineffectual attempts to turn the lock, and then repeated, "Nor there +either; for the door is locked for the night--though it is very odd +the housemaid should take upon herself to lock up the rooms when I am +out. I am sure I cannot tell where my mistress is, sir, nor Miss +Falkland either, unless they have both been spirited away, like poor +Mr. Edward; for they certainly are not up-stairs in either of the +drawing-rooms, nor at the place where the boy told me he left them. +But now I think of it, I should not wonder if they were in poor Miss +Marian's room; and if you will walk up into the drawing-room, sir, I +will send to see." + +"Do, do," said the voice of Mr. Arden; "but it is very strange that +they should have left the spot so suddenly, when they sent for you to +come to them. Why did you not search the wood directly? It is not +bigger than my hand." + +"Oh, sir, I set the boy and the two others we had called to help us to +search," replied the butler; "but I came back again, because it was +not my place to search woods, sir; and, besides, I had a presentiment +that your honour would be here." + +"The devil you had," said Mr. Arden; but what the worthy magistrate +further replied was lost as he followed the butler up the stairs +towards the drawing-room. + +"Now, my dear madam," said Manners, in a low voice, "let me advise you +instantly to join Mr. Arden, and to keep him engaged till I can effect +my retreat with our friend here; and you, my dear Miss Falkland, for +God's sake do not forget yourself any longer; we have treated you very +ill already, to keep you here so long in wet clothes. I am not very +much accustomed to act as physician to ladies; but if I might advise, +going to bed and warm negus would be my prescription." + +"Which I shall instantly follow, Colonel Manners," said Isadore; "but, +for Heaven's sake, take care of yourself too. Let us see you gone +before we open the door." + +"No, no," answered Manners; "yours must be the first party to march +off: I cannot move till I have reconnoitred the ground." Thus saying, +he turned the key and opened the door as silently as possible, and +Mrs. Falkland and her daughter passed out into the corridor. Isadore +paused for a single instant, as if she would have spoken either to +Manners or the gipsy; but the former held up his finger, and gently +closed the door that led from the breakfast-room into the interior of +the house. + +"Now, then," he said in a whisper to the gipsy, "let me see that +all is safe;" and opening the glass door, he gazed forth over the +lawns. The twilight lay heavy over the whole scene, and the dim +indistinctness of the day's old age rendered it impossible to see any +distant object. There was no one, however, in the immediate +neighbourhood of the house; and Manners, looking back into the room, +beckoned the gipsy forward, saying, "Now, come with me." + +Pharold instantly complied; and Manners whispered, "While we are in +the park, you remain under my guidance and protection. As soon as we +are safe out of it, you take the lead which way you will." + +The gipsy nodded, and Manners took his way by the shortest cut to the +trees. Then taking a walk which led up by some steps and a small +rustic door into the garden, he crossed over, till they were both +between the fruit-wall and a high holly hedge. Along this path he now +walked rapidly, till they reached a spot half way between the house +and the gate through which, with Isadore and Marian, and Edward de +Vaux, he had once walked out into the woods. Here the gipsy halted for +a moment, but then followed on without remark. The next instant, +however, Manners heard in the bushes a noise of rustling, which the +gipsy had before distinguished; and ere he had taken two steps +farther, a man stood before him in the walk. + +"Are you the gardener?" said Manners, still advancing. + +"Yes," said the man. "What if I be?" + +"Why, then, go to the house," said Manners, "and if you find Mr. +Arden, the magistrate, there, give him Colonel Manners's compliments, +and tell him that if he will wait half an hour, I will be back with +him, as I have matters of importance to speak to him about, but am +obliged to go a little way with this good man ere I can attend to +anything else." + +"I beg your honour's pardon," said the gardener; "I did not know you +in this dark walk. That made me speak so rough; but if your honour be +going out by that ere door, it's locked. I have just been locking it." + +"Well, open it again, then, gardener," said Manners, "and then make +haste and give my message." + +"That I will, your honour," answered the gardener, walking on towards +the door. "But did your honour say that this here man was along with +you? He looks--" + +"Never mind what he looks," answered Manners, somewhat sternly. "He +has matters of importance to arrange with me, or he would not be here; +so make haste and open the door." + +The man obeyed, and only demanded further, whether he should leave the +key. "No," said Manners; "I will return by the other gate.--Now go +out, my good friend, and lead the way to the place you spoke of." +Pharold proceeded through the open door; and Manners, bidding the +gardener not forget his message, followed out into the road. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +"This is a strange business!" thought Manners, as he followed the +gipsy into the road. "This is a strange business; and, on my part, not +a very wise one, I believe. However, there seemed no other way to +settle it; and having acted for the best, I must make the best of it; +though, perhaps, I should have persisted in apprehending the fellow, +where I had the means of doing so, at once." + +Such were the thoughts of the decided, energetic, acting Colonel +Manners, who was known to the world at large as one of the most +skilful and fortunate officers in his majesty's service; but the other +Colonel Manners--the feeling, generous-hearted, somewhat imaginative +Colonel Manners, who was only known to himself and a few very intimate +friends, as a man both of the most gentlemanly mind and spirit, and of +the most liberal and kindly disposition--had other thoughts. I have +tried to explain this union of separate characters in the same bosom +already; and I think it may be understood, for it is certain that it +existed. + +The latter Colonel Manners--whose great principle was to keep out of +sight, and who spoke so low that, though he generally, sooner or +later, made himself obeyed, he was not always very distinctly heard at +first, even by his fellow-denizen of the same noble bosom--now +revolved the whole business in which he was engaged in a different +manner; and although he could not help acknowledging that it was very +strange and very silly to yield to doubtful inferences, in opposition +to positive facts, yet he felt a strong conviction that the gipsy whom +he followed was not guilty of the crimes laid to his charge. + +He wished much also that, by any other means than those of violence, +he could obtain such evidence of Pharold's innocence, or at least such +powerful motives for believing him innocent, as might justify in the +severer eyes of understanding that course which was prompted by +feeling and kindness. He saw no means of doing so, however, unless +from the man's own lips he could draw some explanation of the many +suspicious circumstances which existed against him. Yet how to begin +such a conversation as might lead to that result, or how to shape his +inquiries so as to draw the gipsy on to the point in question, without +alarming him at an interrogation of which he did not see the end? It +required some thought, and yet there was little time for reflection. + +Manners followed, therefore, in silence for some way, while the gipsy, +with a quick step, took the path towards the hill. At the turn of the +lane both Manners and Pharold looked back towards the gate of the +garden, to see whether curiosity might not have tempted the gardener +to follow; but though the light of day had now almost entirely left +the sky, yet the distance was so short that the garden wall and the +closed door were plainly to be seen, without any other object. A +little farther on stood a cottage, with the warm fire and the single +candle within flashing faintly through the dim small window, on the +little bit of white railing before the door. Manners paused, and +looked at his watch by the light; and then following the gipsy, he +said, in a low and unconcerned tone, "There is an air of comfort even +in an English cottage." + +His purpose was to begin a conversation by any means, trusting to +chance for the rest; but the gipsy did not seem disposed to render it +a long one. "Holes for rats, and for mice, and for snakes, and for +foxes!" he said; "God's nobler sky for God's nobler creatures! that is +the best covering." + +He spoke harshly, but still he did speak, which was all that Manners +wanted; and he replied, "Do you think, then, that God gave men +talents, and skill, and power in many arts, without intending him to +make use of them?" + +"Not to build up molehills out of dust and ashes!" said the gipsy. + +"But how is he to defend himself, then, against the storm and the +tempest?" demanded Manners; "against the midday heat of summer or the +chill wintry wind?" + +"He needs no defence!" answered the gipsy. "Were he not the creature +of luxury rather than of God, the changing seasons would be as +beneficial to his body as they are to those of the beasts of the +field, and to the earth of which he and they are made. And as to storm +and tempest, the searching blade of the blue lightning will strike him +in the palace as surely as on the bare hill or the barren moor; and +the hurricane that passes by the wanderer on the plain will cast down +their painted rubbish on the heads of the dwellers in cities." + +Manners saw that, as the lines of their ideas set out from the same +point in directions diametrically opposite, they might be projected to +all eternity without meeting; and therefore he at once brought the +conversation nearer to the real subject of his thoughts. "We differ," +he said, "and of course must differ, on every subject connected with +the manners and habits of mankind; but there is one point on which, I +trust, we shall not differ." + +"I know none," said the gipsy, abruptly. "What is it?" + +"It is, that the creatures of the same God," Manners exclaimed, "are +bound to assist and comfort each other!" + +"If such be your thoughts," answered the gipsy, turning round upon +him--"if such be your opinions, then, why do you seek to torture me? +Or is it that you think a gipsy not a creature of the same God as +yourself?" + +"I seek not to torture you," answered Manners. "Were I to see any +one torture you, my hand would be the first raised to defend you. +Nothing that you see of me now--nothing that you saw of me when last +we met--should make you suppose that I would torture you, even if I +had the power." + +"I tell you," answered the gipsy, sternly, "that to live one day in +the brightest saloon that the hands of folly ever decked for the abode +of vice, would be torture to me! What, then, would be a prison?" + +"Whatever your own feelings might make it," answered Manners. "My +purpose in seeking to place you in one, could only be to fulfil the +laws of my country, and to bring the guilty to justice; but not to +torture you. Nor, in this, can you accuse me of looking upon you not +as a fellow-creature; for, of whatever race the offender had been, you +know I would have done the same under any circumstances; though your +peculiar feeling respecting liberty might, indeed, make me more +scrupulous in arresting you than I should be in regard to a person of +another race." + +"And have you been so scrupulous, then?" demanded the gipsy, bitterly. +"Have you examined so carefully whether you have any real right to +suspect me of the charges brought against me? Have you inquired +whether those appearances on which the charges were grounded might not +be all false and futile? Have you asked and searched out diligently +whether some of those men who witness against me have not hatred and +fear of me at their hearts? Have you done all this, before you sought +to give me up to the hands of those whose enmity and whose prejudices +would all forbid justice to be done me?" + +"I am not the judge," answered Manners; "and a judge alone can make +such inquiries." + +"Are you, then, a tipstaff, or a bailiff, or a turnkey?" demanded the +gipsy, "that you should pursue me, as if the warrant were placed in +your hands for execution!" + +"I am neither of those persons you mention," Manners replied; "but +every subject of this land is empowered and called upon to apprehend a +person against whom a warrant on a charge of murder is known to have +issued. But to return to what I was saying: in construing the power +thus placed in my hands, I should always be more scrupulous to a +person of your class--or nation, if you like the word better--because +I know how galling the loss of liberty must be to one who spurns even +the common restraints of cities; and could I have any positive proof +that the warrant had issued against you on a false charge, I certainly +should not attempt to execute it." + +"On what charge did it issue?" demanded the gipsy, turning for a +moment to ask the question, ere he again strode on. + +"You are aware that there are many charges against you," replied +Manners; "but the precise one to which you allude is, I believe, the +having murdered my poor friend Edward de Vaux." + +The gipsy laughed aloud. "Were that all," he said, "it were soon +disproved. His blood is not upon my hand." + +"Disprove it, then!" exclaimed Manners, who, from the whole tenour of +the gipsy's conversation, felt more and more convinced of his +companion's innocence at every step they took. "Disprove it, then! +Other charges have been brought since; but I know nothing of them, +except that one of them, as far as I can judge, is certainly false. +Therefore, if you can but show me that the blood of my poor friend De +Vaux does not stain your hand, I will leave you directly to follow +what course you please; but if you cannot do so, we are now upon the +bare hill-side, where there is none to aid either you or me; and you +shall go no further, if I can stop you." + +A man may be a very clever man, and not able to calculate all the +curious turns of another's character; and it so unfortunately happened +that Manners, after having led the gipsy very nearly to the point he +wished, overthrew at once everything he had accomplished by the threat +with which he concluded. He was sorry for it as soon as it had passed +his lips, as he instantly felt it might do harm; but he did not at all +calculate upon its producing so great effect as it did. + +The gipsy took two steps forward, and then turning round, stood with +Manners face to face. "Colonel Manners," he said, "not one drop of +your friend's blood stains my hand!--I swear it by yon heaven, and by +the God who made it! I could prove it, too; but I will not prove it +for any man's threats. You say I shall not go, if you can stop me! I +am not bound yet, thank God! with cords or chains. I am not laid in +one of your dungeons. I am not shut in with bolts and bars. I will not +tell you what I know! I will not give you proof of any kind; and I bid +you take me, if you can." As he thus defied him, and announced his +determination, Manners expected every moment to see Pharold turn to +use the speed for which his limbs seemed formed; and although the +gipsy was, as we have said, two paces in advance of him, he did not +doubt that he should be able to seize him before he could effect his +escape. The ground on which they were standing was a small flat space +on the side of the hill, with the road, taking a steep ascent four or +five paces beyond, and having a deep descent on one side, and a rapid +acclivity on the other. Thus, if the gipsy attempted to fly along the +road, Manners saw that he must necessarily turn to do so, and thus +delay his flight; while, if he took any other way, he must come within +reach. To Colonel Manners's surprise, however, the gipsy did not move +from his place; but remained with his arms folded, in an attitude of +determination, which very plainly spoke the resolution of bringing the +affair to a personal struggle. Manners smiled as he perceived his +intention, very confident that his superior muscular strength would at +any time enable him to overpower two such antagonists. + +"My good fellow," he said, "this is really very foolish; for even if +you suppose yourself stronger than I am, I could disable you in a +moment, if I thought fit, with my sword. As you seem determined to +resist, however, I will make myself even with you in point of arms, +and lay aside my sword, which I cannot draw upon an unarmed man; but +it must be remembered--" + +"Keep your sword, Colonel Manners," said the gipsy--"keep your sword, +and draw it! I am not so much unarmed as I look:" and, as he spoke, he +drew from beneath his long loose coat the weapon with which, as we +have seen, he had provided himself in the morning. + +Now there was not exactly at that moment what Sir Lucius O'Trigger +calls very good small-sword light. The sun was down completely; and +though the last gray gleam of parting daylight that lingered still in +the western extremity of the valley, and was reflected from the +windings of the glassy stream, fell, with all the force it had left, +upon the spot where Manners and his antagonist were standing--though +two or three stars were early looking through the mottled clouds, and +the coming moon threw some light before her--still, his powers of +vision must have been strong who could see, as clearly as is +desirable, the playing of an adversary's point round his sword-blade. +Manners, however, did not hesitate. He was becoming a little irritated +at the tone of bitter and, in some degree, scornful defiance which the +gipsy assumed; and although it was not in his nature to be very much +moved by any thing of the kind, yet he went so far as to think, "Well +he shall soon find that a gipsy is not quite so all-accomplished a +genius as he imagines! I have had a droll fate here, certainly; +to be called out by my friend's father, and to fight a duel with a +gipsy!--The consequences be upon your own head, my good friend!" he +added, aloud, bringing round the hilt of his sword, and drawing it +from the scabbard. "I do not wish to hurt you, but you force me to do +so." + +"Be it on my head!" said Pharold; and their blades crossed. + +There are two sorts of brave men--one which gets warm and impetuous in +action and danger, and one which gets calm and cool. Manners was of +the latter sort. Perhaps there never was upon the face of the earth a +man whose heart applied to itself the idea of danger less than his; +and, consequently, he acted as if he were a spectator, even where +peril to himself was most imminent. In the present instance, he soon +found that he had much underrated the skill of his opponent; for, if +he had not a very _theoretical_, Pharold had at least a very +_practical_, knowledge of the use of his weapon; and his singular +agility and pliancy of muscle added many an advantage. Manners was +sincerely sorry to find that such was the case: not that he imagined +for a moment that all the gipsy's skill or activity would suffice to +injure him, but he wished and designed to master his opponent without +hurting him; and this he felt would be very difficult, if not +impossible. He strove for it pertinaciously, however, for some time; +and hazarded something himself in order to obtain that object. At +length, however, he became weary of the contest, and saw that he must +soon bring it to a termination somehow, although he still felt an +invincible disinclination to risking such a lunge as might deprive his +adversary of life. He determined, then, to play a game hazardous to +himself, though merciful to his opponent; and, aided by his superior +strength and height, he pressed the gipsy back against the hill as +vehemently as he could. In his haste, he barely parried a lunge, and +the gipsy's sword went through the lappels of his coat: but the +advantage was gained; and at once disarming his adversary, he closed +with him, cast him to the ground, and set his knee upon his chest. + +The contest, in all, had continued for some time; but the last +struggle was over in a moment; and ere Pharold well knew what had +occurred, he found himself on the ground, with the sword of the +British officer at his throat. He lay there, however, calm, still, +stern, without making even one of those instinctive efforts to shield +his bosom from the weapon, from which a less determined spirit could +not have refrained. + +"Now!" cried Manners--"now, will you give me the explanation I seek?" + +"Never!" answered the gipsy, in a low but firm voice--"never!" + +Manners hesitated for a moment; but then, withdrawing his knee from +the gipsy's breast, he returned his sword into the scabbard. "I will +try other means!" he thought--"I will try other means!" + +Through the whole of the events which had lately passed, Manners had +been gradually gaining a deeper insight into the character of the +gipsy, and had learned to appreciate him better than at first; but +still there was much to be considered, much to be calculated; and many +a conflicting opinion, and many an opposite feeling, crossed Manners's +bosom in the short space of time that was allowed for thought. He did +not forget the various circumstances which had led him to believe that +his friend had been murdered by the gipsy, and all of which remained +unexplained; but he remembered, also, how fallacious circumstantial +evidence often is; and he set against those circumstances of suspicion +the positive fact, that the gipsy had saved the life of Isadore +Falkland at the peril of his own, and had carried her to her mother's +house at the imminent risk of being arrested. The high character which +Mrs. Falkland said he had borne in the past, the regard which she had +hinted that her deceased brother had felt towards him, all tended to +show that he was a man of no ordinary qualities; and although, in the +absence of such knowledge of his character. Manners might have judged +his obstinate refusal of all explanation as a proof of his guilt, yet, +seeing that in every thing else his motives and his actions were +different from those of ordinary men, he judged that it might be the +same in this instance also. "I will try extraordinary means with him, +too," thought Manners; "and perhaps I may gain more by it than by +following the dictates of rigid duty to the letter." + +"Why will you not explain?" he added, aloud. "It would save both you +and me from many a painful occurrence." + +"Because I will not be compelled to any act under the sun!" answered +the gipsy, who had only taken advantage of the degree of freedom which +he now possessed to raise himself upon his arm. + +"Then you shall not be compelled!" answered Manners, to whom his +answer had given the right key to his obduracy--"then you shall not +be compelled! but you shall be persuaded. Stand up, Pharold, and +listen to me, as to one who does not feel towards you as you would +make yourself believe that all our race do towards yours. You have +seen my conduct--you see it now; and you must judge of me better than +you lately did." + +The gipsy hung his head. "You have kept your word with me," he +answered. "You have brought me to a place where no odds could be found +against me; and you have vanquished with your own weapons at your own +trade. What more?" + +"I have spared you when I might have hurt you," replied Manners; "and +now I let you go free when I might make you a prisoner--" + +"You let me go free!" cried the gipsy, in a tone of +astonishment--"you let me go free! and without conditions, too?" + +"Without any conditions," answered Manners, "but such as your own +heart shall lay upon you, when you have heard all that I have to say +to you." + +"Then you, too, are one of the few noble hearts," answered the gipsy, +rising; "and I have done you injustice." + +"There are more noble hearts in the world," Manners rejoined, "than +you know of, my friend. But listen to me, and let me see if yours be a +noble heart too. Edward de Vaux is, or was, my friend and my companion +in arms. We have stood by each other in battle; we have attended each +other in sickness; we have delivered each other in danger; and, had he +been my brother, I could not have loved him better. I find that, the +night before last, he left his home when all the family were at rest; +that he went to visit one with whom he had no known acquaintance or +business; and that he never returned to those he most loved. Was it +not natural for me to search for him with all the rapidity in my +power?" + +"It was! it was!" answered the gipsy; "and I have judged you harshly." + +"I did search for him," continued Manners; "and I found, by footmarks +in the earth, that he had gone with the stranger whom he had visited +to a lonely quarry, and that from that spot his footsteps are not to +be traced. This afforded some cause for suspicion and apprehension; +but when the place where his steps disappeared was all stained and +dabbled with blood, what was I to think?--what was I to do?" + +"To think that he was murdered, and to pursue the murderer," answered +Pharold, boldly; "and I have done you wrong: but the habit of +suffering injustice and indignity from your race irritates ours into +believing that you are always unjust; and, in this instance, the +consciousness of my own innocence, too, hid from my eyes one-half of +the appearances against me." + +"You judge wisely, and you judge well," answered Manners. "There were +strong appearances against you; and there were also many minor facts +which swelled those appearances into proof so positive of my friend's +death and of your guilt, that I should have been unworthy of the name +of his friend--unworthy of the name of a man--if I had not pursued you +as I have done." + +"You would!" answered the gipsy. + +"And yet, notwithstanding all this," continued Manners, "I tell you, +honestly, that I believe you innocent. I may be foolish to do so--the +prepossession may be false--the motives for such belief may be slight; +but yet that belief is strong. With powerful evidence against you I +felt convinced of your innocence; and, with the power to take you, I +let you go free." + +Manners paused for a moment, and the gipsy, with his hands clasped and +his eyes bent upon the ground, remained silent, buried, apparently, in +deep thought. "Now," continued Manners, after suffering him to revolve +what he had said for a few moments--"now, I have spoken to your +understanding, and I have shown you that my conduct in pursuing you +has been fully justifiable, and that I am not one of those unjust and +ignorant fools who entertain a base prejudice against the whole of +your race, which but serves to drive them on to acts of reckless evil. +I have treated you generously--I have not consulted even rigid duty; +and leaving you free to act, I now speak to your heart." + +"Speak on! speak on!" said the gipsy. "You speak language that I love +to hear." + +"I have told you," said Manners, "how I esteem Edward de Vaux; I have +told you how intimate have been the bonds that united us--how dear the +friendship that we felt; judge, then, of my feelings now, as I stand +before you, not knowing whether he be dead or alive, well or ill, +murdered or in safety. But hear me further.--There is every reason to +believe him lost for ever; and in that belief, not only I, his friend, +must remain, but all who loved him--all to whom he is bound by the +dearest ties; and I leave you to conceive the agony of suspense which +they now endure. Mrs. Falkland--her daughter, whose life you have so +lately saved--De Vaux's father, Lord Dewry--" + +The gipsy started, clenched his white teeth, and shaking his hand +furiously towards the sky, exclaimed, "May the vengeance of God fall +like a thunderbolt on his head, and wither his heart to ashes!" + +"Well, well!" said Manners, seeing that he had struck a wrong chord, +"pass him by; for there are others more interested than he, than I, +than any of us. There is a young lady, fair, and gentle, and delicate, +beloved by all who know her, blessed by the poor and the afflicted, +the ornament of her house, the delight of her friends; and to her own +immediate family, the cherished, the beloved relic of a noble, a +generous, a feeling parent early snatched away--of a parent whom I +have heard that you yourself esteemed and loved--of the late Lord +Dewry, I mean; for the lady I refer to is Miss De Vaux." + +"What of her? what of her?" demanded the gipsy eagerly: "but I guess! +I guess!" + +"It is easy for you to imagine what she must feel," said Manners. "She +has been, as probably you know, engaged to her cousin De Vaux for +several years, and they have loved each other through life. Their +affection has grown up with them from childhood, and has been +strengthened by every tie, till at length their marriage, which was +appointed to take place in a few weeks, was to have united them for +ever. Judge, then--judge what must be her feelings now; but I will not +attempt to tell you what those feelings are--I will only tell you in +what situation she now is, and leave you to judge for yourself. This +very evening, the medical man who is attending her, assured me that +the anxiety and apprehension which she has suffered on account of her +cousin, have already seriously impaired her health; and that great +fears, even for her life itself, are to be entertained, if this state +of mental agony is not soon put an end to by certainty of some kind." + +"That alters the whole," cried the gipsy--"that alters the whole! But +let me think a moment--let me think!" + +"Yes!" said Manners; "think of it,--and think well!--think what must +be the feelings of a young and affectionate heart, which, early +deprived of the sweet relationships of parent and child, had fixed +all its best and warmest affections upon one who well deserved its +love,--had concentrated upon him alone all those feelings of +tenderness and regard which are generally divided among a thousand +other objects; and which had so lately seen him return from scenes of +danger and strife to peace and quietness, and, as all fancied, to love +and domestic happiness;--think what must be the feelings of such a +heart, when the object of all her thoughts and hopes is suddenly and +strangely torn from her--when every trace of him is lost, but such as +naturally and strongly lead the mind to conclude that death of a +bloody and violent nature is the cause of his prolonged and +extraordinary absence.--Think--think well what must be the feelings of +Miss De Vaux, his promised bride--think what must be my feelings, as +his companion and friend; and, if your heart be other than of stone, +sure I am that you will instantly afford the means--if you possess +them--of removing all these cruel doubts and fears, and relieving our +anxiety, at least by certainty of our friend's fate." + +"You need say no more!" said the gipsy--"you need say no more! I will +remove your fears upon easy conditions.--I had not foreseen all this. +Like a fool, I had not remembered that events, which seemed to me all +simple and clear, because I was an actor in them and saw them all, +would produce such anxiety and fear to those who saw no more than the +result; but I have been moved by many another feeling, and occupied by +many another event. I have seen men bring ruin on their own heads and +mine, by following their own wilful follies rather than my counsel and +command; and I have seen a thoughtless and innocent boy entrapped into +becoming the sacrifice for the guilty and the obstinate. I have been +called upon to punish the offenders, and to endeavour to rescue the +innocent; and I have been hunted through this livelong day like a wild +beast;--so that I may well have forgot that circumstances, very simple +in themselves, might fill others that knew not all, with strange fears +and suspicions; but besides that--besides that--I had other motives +for not telling what I knew.--Those motives are now shaken by stronger +ones; and for the sake of Marian de Vaux, I will say what I would not +have said for the sake of my own life; but it must be on certain +conditions." + +"Name them," said Manners; "and if they be not very hard to fulfil, +doubt not that I will undertake them." + +The gipsy paused, and thought for several minutes, and he then +replied, "I will, as I have said, put you in the way of finding your +friend, Edward de Vaux; and you will find him--if not well--at least +in kindly hands. But now mark me. The person with whom he is has +lately come over from America with private views and purposes of his +own, yet doubtful and unresolved whether he will proceed with them or +not. Were his residence in England known to any one, it might force +him either to execute the designs with which he came sooner than he +intended, or perhaps prevent him from changing those designs, though +other circumstances may render such a change necessary; or still +further--" + +"In short," said Manners, "he is desirous of remaining concealed; and, +as far as I know, has every right to do so, without my inquiring at +all into his motives. But you forget, my good friend, that there is as +little chance of my knowing this person of whom you speak, as of my +betraying him if I did." + +"You are wrong," said the gipsy; "there is every chance of your +knowing him; you have seen him I know, and esteem him I am sure; and, +what I have to require is this, if, by my means, you find Edward de +Vaux, and recognise the person now kindly tending him, you shall not, +upon any pretence, or to any person whatsoever, reveal his real name +and character. You shall recognise him merely as the person that he +chooses to call himself, and speak of him as none other." + +"Of course! of course!" answered Manners; "he shall keep the +incognito, for anything that I may do to the contrary, as long and as +strictly as he likes." + +"But, one thing more," said the gipsy, "one thing more,--you shall, on +no account whatever, lead--or give such information as may lead--the +father of Edward de Vaux to the place where his son is." + +"That is somewhat extraordinary," said Manners; "but I suppose, of +course, that this person to whom you allude is Lord Dewry's enemy." + +"He was once his friend," said the gipsy, "and, perhaps, now that lord +may speak of him as such, for there is no knowing by what terms his +deep and crafty spirit may designate the people whom he most hates. +Not a week ago he gave me gold, and would fain have made me think he +loved me; but I knew him to the heart, and I saw the serpent in his +eye." + +Whatever Manners might think of the evident hatred, strong and +reciprocal, which existed between the peer and the singular person +with whom he now stood, he did not judge it expedient to risk the +advantages he had gained by defending Lord Dewry, especially as +circumstances placed the power of dictating the conditions in the +hands of the gipsy. "My acquaintance with De Vaux's father," he said, +"has been too short to acquire any knowledge of his real character." + +"It would require years, long years," said the gipsy, "to know his +character as I know it--long, long years!--or one of those lightning +flashes of nature that sometimes, whether men will or not, burst from +the darkness in which they shroud themselves, and show at once the +deep secrets of their spirit." + +"At all events," said Manners, "common humanity leads me to wish much +to inform the unhappy father of his son's safety, and doubtless your +conditions do not imply that I should refrain from such proceeding, as +soon as I have, with my own eyes, seen my poor friend's condition." + +"In that respect, you shall be guided by him to whom I send you," +answered Pharold. "It is sufficient for me to ensure, that the +confidence he has placed in me will be betrayed by no fault of +mine--that compassion for a gentle and innocent girl does not lead me +to risk defeating the plans of a man who trusts me. I know that when +you have pledged your word, you will hold it sacred. Your actions have +spoken for you! Will you accept the conditions?" + +"I will!" answered Manners; "and only beg of you to conclude the +matter as fast as possible." + +"Well, then!" said the gipsy, pointing through the valley towards the +line of the distant hills; "you see yon moon, just raising her golden +round behind the thin trees upon the upland. When she has risen ten +palms breadths upon the sky, you shall find me here again, and I will +lead you to him you seek." + +"Nay, but," said Manners, "I thought you were about to conduct me +thither now." + +"Doubt me not," said the gipsy, sternly, discovering at once that +suspicions, slight indeed, but newly awakened by the proposed delay, +were coming over the mind of his companion. "Doubt me not. By the God +that I worship, by the heavens his handiwork, by the life he gave me, +by the liberty I value more, I will not fail you. You have spared me +when you might have thrust me into a dungeon, and I would not deceive +you even by a thought." + +"I believe you," answered Manners; "I believe you--only this, I am +very anxious, ere I return to Morley House, to be enabled to give some +account of him I seek; to be enabled, in short, to afford some comfort +to Edward de Vaux's family. Can we not proceed then at once?" + +"No!" answered the gipsy. "I must think of my own race too. By the +unhappy occurrences of last night, my people have been scattered and +have fled for concealment, while I remained to see whether I could +find, or could deliver, the unfortunate prey, which those who laid the +trap for us had found in the snare. My companions know not yet where I +am; and I know not whether they are safe. Thus, ere I go farther, I +must see what have been the events of this day to those whom I am +bound to protect and guide." + +"Be it so then," answered Manners; "but, at all events, you will allow +me to give De Vaux's family the assurance that he is living and is +safe." + +"As far," said the gipsy, "as you dare to trust to my most solemn +assurance, he is living, and safe also, if you mean by that word that +he is free from restraint, and from any risk of injury; but that he is +well, you must not say; for he is ill in body and sick at heart; and +it may be long ere he is cured of either." + +"That is bad enough, indeed," answered Manners; "but it is so much +better than the events, which we had reason to believe had occurred, +that the bare fact of his being in a state of security will be an +infinite relief to those who love him. I will trust to your word +entirely, and both give the consolation which you have afforded to +those who will feel it most deeply, and be here at the time you +name, though I am not very much accustomed to calculate hours by +hands-breadths of the sky; and you must remember that, from Morley +House, the moon is seen in a different position from that in which she +appears here." The gipsy smiled, with a slight touch of contempt at +Manners's inexpertness in a mode of calculating the time, which was to +him familiar. "Well, well," he said, "be here in just two hours, and +you shall find me waiting you. In the meantime, rest at ease regarding +your friend, and speak securely the words of hope and comfort to his +family; and God be with you in your errand of peace. You have acted a +noble part to-night, and there is one that blesses those who do so." + +Thus saying, he sprang down the bank to the spot where the sword, +which Manners's superior skill and strength had wrenched from his +grasp, was lying under a low bush. Pharold snatched it up, and was +about to return it to the sheath; but some sudden thought seemed to +cross his mind, and holding it up, he gazed upon it for a moment or +two in silence. "Accursed be thou!" he cried at length, in a bitter +tone. "Accursed be thou, false friend and faithless servant! to leave +thy master's hand at the moment of need!" and breaking the blade +across his knee, he cast the fragments down the hill, and strode away, +scarcely appearing to notice that Colonel Manners still stood gazing +at his wild and vehement behaviour. + +Manners smiled as he turned to retread his steps; and perhaps that +smile might be occasioned by seeing the gipsy wreak his indignation at +the failure he had met with in their struggle upon the senseless +object which his hand had not been able to retain. Perhaps, too, he +might remark how all uncultivated people resemble children; but, at +all events, the tidings that he had heard of his friend's safety, and +his conviction that those tidings were true, had certainly given him a +much greater inclination to smile than he had felt when he came to +that spot. + +As he thought, however, over all the circumstances, while bending his +way back once more to Morley House, he did not certainly find that his +situation was, in every respect, a very pleasant one. He had to +remember that the gipsy, Pharold, was charged with two other crimes +besides the assumed death of Edward de Vaux. In regard to the first of +these two, that of having been an accessary, or principal, in the +murder of the late Lord Dewry, Manners had but Mrs. Falkland's opinion +upon the subject to support his own doubts of the man's guilt. In +regard to the second, that of having participated in the outrage at +Dimden Park, and having fired the gun by which Sir Roger Millington +was wounded, Manners, after leaving the peer at Dimden, as we shall +almost immediately have occasion to show more particularly, had +visited the keeper who had been wounded in the affray, and from him +had learned sufficient to satisfy his mind that Pharold was guiltless +of any share in that unfortunate transaction. On that point, +therefore, his mind was satisfied; but, in regard to the other charge, +he did not feel at all sure that he was not liable to severe +animadversion for the lenity he had shown towards the gipsy. + +"I do not know the laws of the land," he thought, with a half smile, +"quite well enough to be sure whether they may not make me out an +accessary after the fact, if ever this Pharold should be found guilty +of slaying his benefactor; but, at all events, if the good gossiping +world were to get hold of my having taken two or three moonlight walks +with him, and having let him escape when I had the power to apprehend +him, it would make a pretty story of it." However. Colonel Manners was +a man who had too much confidence in his own motives, and too much +reliance on what he called his good fortune, though others named it +his good judgment, to care much what the world said; and this was +probably one of the reasons why that world was well satisfied to load +him with praise and honour. He took his way back to Morley House, +therefore, tolerably satisfied with what he had done, thinking, "I +must now, however, try to soften down Mrs. Falkland's wrath and +indignation at my persevering rudeness this evening; but, doubtless, +the tidings I bring will prove no small propitiation." + +To these thoughts he endeavoured to limit himself, though imagination +strove hard to lead him into a thousand rambling fancies concerning +the causes of De Vaux's disappearance. Manners, however, had a habit +of keeping his thoughts under proper discipline, and always prepared +to repel whatever force might attack them. Thus, as he knew, or at +least trusted, that a few hours would give him a thorough insight into +the real situation of Edward de Vaux, he would not give way on that +point, and tried to think of something else. But the light brigades of +fancy are like a troop of Cossacks, and the moment they are beaten off +at one spot, they wheel and attack another. When imagination found, +then, that Manners would not be drawn from his intrenchments by the +thoughts of De Vaux, she tried what she could do with the image of +Isadore Falkland; but Manners was prepared there, too, and had +reproached himself so bitterly with some slight beatings of his heart, +which had occurred during his last meeting with that fair lady, that +he resisted all thought upon the subject with the heroism of Leonidas. + +Having thus reached Morley House in safety, Manners's first inquiry +was for Mr. Arden; but the old butler, with a look of solemn +importance, informed him that the magistrate had been gone about half +an hour, leaving a message, however, for Colonel Manners, to the +effect that, having some other business of much importance awaiting +his return, he could not have the honour of staying till Colonel +Manners arrived, but would come back early the following morning. + +"That will do quite as well," answered Manners; and seeing that the +cloud of self-importance upon the old man's brow had not as yet quite +disgorged itself of its contents, he paused in order to hear what +next, and the butler proceeded: "Please, sir, Miss Marian--that is to +say, Miss De Vaux, but we always call her Miss Marian, to distinguish +from Miss Isadore--but Miss Marian sent her maid down just now to say, +that when you come back she wishes very much to see you herself, for +she desires to speak with you." + +The man spoke in as mysterious a tone as if he were communicating a +state secret, but Manners who hated nothing on earth so much as +mystery, answered rather sharply, "Well, as you see I have returned, +you had better call Miss De Vaux's maid to take me to her mistress." + +"Oh, Miss Marian, sir, is in the little drawing-room," replied the +butler: "she has been there these ten minutes, though Mrs. Falkland +does not know it, because she is with Miss Isadore, who fell into the +water, and wet her clothes, and had nearly been drowned, they do say; +but--" + +Manners waited for no further information on subjects with which he +was already acquainted; but, walking up stairs, proceeded to what was +called the little drawing-room, and opened the door. Marian de Vaux +was sitting on a sofa, with her fair rounded cheek, grown many a shade +paler since Manners last saw it, leaning on her hand, and her arm +again resting on the table. Her head was slightly bent, and the hand +on which it leaned curved round at the wrist, with the fingers +dropping languidly under her cheek, and with weary hopeless anxiety in +every line. Her eyes, when Manners entered, were cast down, with a +drop like a diamond struggling through the long dark lashes; and the +light, falling from above, threw the greater part of her beautiful +face into shadow; but it fell clear and soft on her fair open +forehead, and on her brown hair, which, to save the trouble of much +dressing, was braided back behind her ears, but which still, by many a +wavy line and struggling bend across her brow, showed its natural +tendency to fall into ringlets round her face. An open book was on the +table before her; but it looked not as if she had been reading, for it +was turned in such a way that her eye could not possibly have +deciphered its contents. + +She did not hear the door open; but Manners's first step in the room +caught her attention, and she raised her eyes. "Oh, Colonel Manners," +she said, as soon as she saw him, "I am very glad you have come, for I +very much wished to speak with you; but I am afraid you are fatigued, +and perhaps may not have time to spare." + +"Not at all," answered Manners, with a smile, which he intended to +prepare the way for better tidings. "Indeed, I think, Miss De Vaux, +that if you had not sent me an invitation, I should have sent to +petition one." + +"The fact is, Colonel Manners," said Marian, "I wish to know the +truth. My dear aunt and my cousin, with the very kindest intentions, +keep the truth from me--at least, so I am led to believe by what my +maid has told me. Now, indeed, it would do me less harm, though they +do not think so, to tell me the whole at once; and I am sure, Colonel +Manners, that you will be kind enough to do so, when I assure you that +I am far better able to bear even the worst tidings than this +terrible, awful state of suspense." + +Manners took her hand, and gazed in her face with a smile full of +kindness and hope, for he feared to make the change from grief to joy +too sudden, by speaking the happier news he now had to bear; but even +that was too much, and Marian's heart, as she read his smile aright, +beat with fearful violence; and, pale as ashes with emotion, she sunk +down again on the sofa, from which she had partially risen to speak to +him. + +"I see that your fortitude is not half real," said Manners, seating +himself near her; "but let me entreat you to hear me calmly, my dear +Miss De Vaux." + +"Oh, I will! I will, indeed!" cried Marian. "But, for Heaven's sake, +speak, Colonel Manners: you smile; and I know you would not smile on +one so wretched, if you had not some hope to give! Is it not so?" + +"It is," answered Manners; "and delighted I am that now, for the very +first time, I can give it. But, indeed, you must be calm; for the +intelligence I have obtained is not so entirely good as to warrant our +indulging in any very great joy, though it may do away our worst +apprehensions." + +"That is enough! that is enough!" cried Marian. "If they have not +murdered him, I can bear almost anything else with fortitude: but now, +for Heaven's sake, tell me all, for you see I can bear it with +calmness and composure." + +"First, let me defend Mrs. Falkland and your cousin," replied Manners, +wishing, by a little delay, to give his fair hearer's mind time to +habituate itself to a change of feeling; for neither her look nor her +manner served at all to confirm the assurances of calmness and +composure which she gave him. "Let me defend Mrs. Falkland and your +cousin: they really could give you no precise information, for till +within the last half-hour none has been obtained." + +"Oh, but they knew more than they let me know," cried Marian; "at +least, if my maid has told me true: but I trust it is not true; for I +cannot believe that Edward can be safe, if she spoke correctly; she +said you had found his footsteps, and blood, Colonel Manners, and the +place where he must have fallen." As she spoke, her countenance filled +with horror at the ideas she recalled, and she clasped her hands over +her eyes, as if to shut out some fearful sight. + +Colonel Manners thought that the sooner such a lady's-maid was +discharged the better; but as he could not contradict the story the +woman had so imprudently told, he left it as it was, and replied, "Do +not, my dear young lady, call up such painful images, when I assure +you that there is no foundation for the supposition that your cousin +has suffered in the way our fears led us to imagine. My information, +as yet, is scanty; and, till tomorrow, you must not ask me even how I +have obtained it; but I have the most positive assurances that De Vaux +is safe, though ill." + +"Thank God! thank God, for his safety, at least!" cried Marian; "but +are you sure, Colonel Manners--are you quite sure? I do not wish to +put any questions that you may not like to answer; but only tell me if +you yourself are quite sure of Edward's safety?" + +"I am perfectly and thoroughly convinced," answered Manners, "that, +whatever may have been the accident which may have prevented his +return home, he is both in security, and attended with care and +kindness. Indeed, my very telling you the fact should make you feel +quite sure that my own conviction is firm; for, indeed, Miss De Vaux, +no inducement would make me hold out a hope to you, were I not sure of +that hope having a good foundation." + +"Thank you! thank you!" replied Marian; and, with one of those sudden +bursts of tenderness which--springing from some secret action, either +of memory or imagination, without one spoken word or external +circumstance to call them forth--sometimes overpower us, when least we +expect it, she gave way to a gushing flood of tears, and, for a moment +or two, let the bright drops flow unrestrained. "You have not seen +him, then, Colonel Manners?" she said at length, wiping her eyes, and +looking up with a glance in which apprehension still contended a +little against joy. + +"Not yet," Manners answered; "but I have received a solemn promise +that I shall be conducted to the place where he is this very night." + +"Oh, let me go with you!" cried Marian, starting up. + +"Nay, nay, I am afraid that would not do," answered Manners, smiling. +"Think what the world would say, my dear Miss De Vaux, if you were to +go wandering about, no one knows whither, through a long autumn night, +with no other escort than a colonel of dragoons." + +Marian was won even to a smile; and, while it was yet playing round +her lips, and sparkling in her eyes, Mrs. Falkland entered the room, +not knowing by whom it was tenanted. "Marian! Colonel Manners!" she +exclaimed; "and both laughing, too! then some very happy change must +have come over our affairs." + +"Oh, most happy, my dear aunt!" cried Marian: "Colonel Manners--and I +know not how to thank him--has discovered where Edward is, and that he +is safe." + +"God be praised!" cried Mrs. Falkland; "but let me hear all about it, +for this is news indeed." + +"In the first place," said Manners, willing, if possible, to escape +any very close cross-examination till he could speak with more +security on the many points of De Vaux's situation, which were still +doubtful--"in the first place, I have to apologize, my dear madam, for +some want of courtesy to-night when last we met; but you must remember +that I am but a rude soldier, and accustomed to think far more of what +I consider my duty than of what is polite; and I am sure that my good +news will gain me your forgiveness." + +"If your perseverance have gained tidings of my poor nephew," answered +Mrs. Falkland, "my forgiveness for much graver offences--could Colonel +Manners commit them--would be but a poor recompense." + +"I hope Miss Falkland has not suffered at all," continued Manners. But +Mrs. Falkland exclaimed, with a smile, "Not at all, I trust! but, +Colonel Manners, I will not be put off without an answer. You shall +not keep all your good news for Marian, and refuse to let me share. +What have you discovered?" + +"Why, my dear madam," answered Manners, "I will tell you the candid +truth. I have discovered very little beyond the bare fact, that De +Vaux is in safety, though not well; and you must ask me no more +questions till I can give you satisfactory answers. I am to be +conducted to him, however, this very night, and within an hour of this +time. Miss De Vaux wished to go with me, and we were smiling to think +what sort of story the world would make of her taking a midnight walk +over the moors, and through the woods, with the ugliest colonel of +dragoons in his majesty's service." + +"But are you obliged to go alone?" asked Mrs. Falkland. + +"I rather think that is part of my compact," answered Manners; "and I +believe it must be on foot, too." + +"And you were fatigued an hour ago," replied Mrs. Falkland; "and +though I, selfishly, cannot make up my mind to ask you to put off your +expedition till to-morrow, yet I must prevail on you to take some +refreshment." So saying, she rang the bell, and then went on: "I need +not ask who was your informant; and I feel equally certain that the +tidings are true, because you give them credit, and because you +derived them from him." + +"Now, I am in the dark," said Marian, "both in regard to this person +you speak of and to Isadore. What made you believe she had suffered +from any accident, Colonel Manners, as you inquired of my aunt just +now?" + +"I am afraid that the whole story would be too long to tell you at +this moment," answered Manners, while a footman appeared, and Mrs. +Falkland ordered some refreshments to be brought immediately, +"especially as you see I have to sup before I go; nor will I deny that +I need my supper, for, to tell the truth, I have not dined. But Mrs. +Falkland will relate our whole story of this evening when I am gone; +will tell you how your cousin escaped drowning by a miracle; and how +Colonel Manners behaved in a very rude and uncivil manner; and how at +length a compromise was entered into, which reflected more honour upon +his obstinacy than upon his politeness." + +"No, no, Colonel Manners, I will not tell her such stories," answered +Mrs. Falkland. "I will tell her, perhaps, that Colonel Manners's duty +as an officer, and his feelings as a man, clashed with her aunt's duty +as a person of her word, and her feelings as a woman; that her aunt +did what she seldom does,--lost her temper; and that Colonel Manners +ended the matter wisely and well, and by his perseverance obtained +joyful tidings without a breach of faith." + +"You are both speaking in mysteries to me," said Marian, rising; "so I +will go and make Isadore tell me the whole in less enigmatical +language. Where is she, my dear aunt?" + +"She is in bed," answered Mrs. Falkland, "but not likely to go to +sleep." + +"In bed!" exclaimed Marian; "then, indeed, it is time that I should go +and see her, for I do not ever remember Isadore having been in bed at +nine o'clock before, and something must be the matter." + +Thus saying, she quitted the room; and left Colonel Manners to take +some refreshment, and to relate, the while, to Mrs. Falkland, as much +as he had time and inclination to tell of his adventure with the +gipsy. + +"I fear no danger," he concluded, when he had ascertained by his watch +that the time appointed for his return was approaching--"I fear no +danger, and have every confidence in the extraordinary man who is to +be my guide; but, at the same time, it is always well to be prepared; +and, therefore, I shall not only exchange these heavy riding-boots for +something more fit for walking, but I will take the liberty of adding +a brace of pistols to back my sword in case of need." He then took +leave of Mrs. Falkland; and, after making the alteration he proposed, +once more sallied out, like the knight of La Mancha, with a heart +scarcely less chivalrous, though guided by a mind which happily had +power to restrain and direct the operation of his feelings. Here, +however, the thread of his adventures must be broken off for a while, +in order that we may leave no longer unfilled that void in his history +which now exists between the moment at which we last left him in +conversation with Lord Dewry, and that of his sudden reappearance at +Morley House. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +At the end of the first chapter of this volume, it may be remembered, +that we left Lord Dewry sitting in the saloon of Dewry Hall with +Colonel Manners. Night had become morning before the messengers for +whom he waited arrived from Dimden; and when they did so, they brought +the tidings that his lordship's well-laid scheme had failed; that no +one had been taken by the keepers but a gipsy boy; and that Sir Roger +Millington, as well as one of the keepers, had been wounded--the first +seriously, the second but slightly. Manners had expected and believed +that the peer would both be disappointed and shocked; but a variety of +emotions naturally sprang from such tidings, in the situation in which +Lord Dewry had placed himself, which could not be understood or +calculated by any one unacquainted with all the dreary secrets of his +heart. He was disappointed, it is true, that Pharold had not been +taken; but he trusted that, with all the means employed against him, +the gipsy would not be able to escape. + +Far from either shocked or sorry was he, however, that blood had been +spilt in the affray between the keepers and the gipsies, or that death +might ensue; for he saw that his grasp upon Pharold would thereby be +strengthened, though he could have wished, certainly, that the shot +which had been fired had found any other bosom than that of Sir Roger +Millington, from whom much good service remained still to be derived. +Such feelings, of course, produced some effect upon his behaviour, +especially as Colonel Manners's cordial co-operation in his plans, +without making him entirely forget the different principles upon which +they acted, had, in some degree, thrown him off his guard in regard to +the minor points of demeanour. The effect, indeed, was not so striking +as to lead Manners to suspect anything like the truth; but it was +sufficiently marked to call his attention--to appear strange and +unpleasant--and to make him think, "This is one of those pampered sons +of luxury, who only feel where their own immediate comforts are +concerned. He seems to care no more for the people who have been +wounded in his service than if they were things of wood." + +After a few short comments on the means to be next employed, Manners +retired to the chamber prepared for him, and lay down to rest. He +rose betimes, however: but it was long ere the peer made his +appearance; for, exhausted with activity, and watching, and contending +passions--the most wearing of all the many assailants of life and +strength--he fell into a deeper slumber than he had known for many +years. At length he came, and at a late hour set out with Colonel +Manners for Dimden; but since the preceding night a change had come +over his feelings towards his companion. Then, in agitation, and +horror, and anxiety, he had clung to any one for the sake of society; +and more especially to one whose character and reputation gave him +confidence, and whose warm co-operation afforded support. Now, +however, he was going to hear from his agents the progress of dark and +subtle plans of which Colonel Manners knew nothing--to examine and +speak with persons whom he had engaged in proceedings equally cunning +and unjustifiable; and he could very well have dispensed with the +presence of one whose bold good sense was likely to search and see +further than might be at all convenient. + +These feelings influenced his demeanour also; and although he could +not be absolutely rude to a person he had so lately courted, and who +was so perfectly independent of him in every respect, yet his manners +were throughout the journey sufficiently cold and repulsive to make +Manners determine to bring their companionship to a close as speedily +as possible. On their arrival at Dimden, the gipsy lad was sent for, +and a few casual questions asked him by the peer, which he repelled by +either obdurate silence or sullen monosyllables. This, however, was +what Lord Dewry for the present desired; but Colonel Manners was +resolved, if possible, to hear more, and he plied the prisoner with +every question which he judged likely to elicit some information +concerning his poor friend De Vaux. Little satisfactory news did he, +indeed, obtain; and, in fact, received no reply to the greater part of +his interrogations. Still the impression upon his mind, from one or +two occasional words which the lad was induced to speak, was strong, +that he at least was ignorant that De Vaux had been murdered, and +thence arose in Manners's mind the first reasonable hope that his +friend might still be living. + +After the space of nearly an hour thus spent, the youth was removed. +The peer made no comment; but after looking out of the window, called +some of the servants, and inquired after Sir Roger Millington. The +reply was, that the knight suffered considerable agony, and that the +surgeon was with him still. + +"Colonel Manners, you must excuse me for half an hour, while I visit +my unfortunate friend," said Lord Dewry, with a frigid bow. "My poor +son's death," he added, while his quivering lip, at the very mention +of his son's name, betrayed that on that subject, at least, his heart +was painfully sensible--"my poor son's death, of course, weighs +heavily upon me; but I must not forget my wounded friend. I do not +contemplate being detained longer than half an hour, and then I will +have the honour of setting you down at Morley House as I drive home." + +"Do not hurry yourself, my lord," answered Manners, calmly: "I have +some inquiries to make concerning my poor friend, and the means that +have been taken to discover anything of his fate; and therefore, as I +sent my horse over to Morley House this morning, I will walk thither. +I wish you good-day." + +As it was not the peer's wish or intention to deprive himself +altogether of Colonel Manners's influence and support in his further +measures against the gipsy--although he heartily desired his absence +for the time--he changed his tone in some degree, and pressed Manners +to stay; but took care, at the same time, to add such inducements as +he knew were not very likely to have any weight with him, assuring him +that the distance was full five miles, and the road fatiguing and +hilly. + +Manners, however, as the peer expected, persisted in his design; and, +taking leave, he walked out into the park, while Lord Dewry left the +room, as if to proceed to the apartment of Sir Roger Millington. +Before following him, however, it may be as well to say, that Manners +did not direct his steps, in the first instance, to Morley House; but +thinking, "His lordship, in his concern for this Sir Roger Millington, +seems entirely to have forgotten the poor keeper they talked of," he +stopped at the gate, and inquired whither the wounded man had been +carried. The old woman at the lodge gave him the necessary direction; +and proceeding to the cottage which she described, Manners entered +with that sort of frank good feeling that stands on no ceremonies +where the object is humane. + +He found the wounded keeper still suffering considerably; and he found +also, as he had been inclined to suspect, that the attention of the +surgeon having been hitherto occupied by the patient of higher rank, +the keeper had been entirely neglected. He was consequently more ill +and feverish than the nature of his wound would otherwise have +accounted for; and Manners, knowing, from much experience in such +occurrences, that if proper care were not taken, a slight injury might +have a fatal termination, instantly despatched a messenger for the +surgeon who was attending Miss De Vaux, and kindly waited his arrival. + +In conversation with the keeper, he learned that Pharold had not been +present when the guns were fired, and from him, also, he heard the +particulars of the affray in Dimden Park, the wound the man had +received not having been sufficiently severe to deprive him of the +power of observing everything that occurred around him afterward. By +the whole of his narrative the character of Pharold rose in Manners's +opinion, and his hopes of De Vaux's safety were strengthened: but +still he determined to act as if such hopes did not exist; and +accompanying the surgeon on his late return to the village near Morley +House, he prepared to pursue the search for the gipsy as ardently as +ever. What followed his arrival we have already seen. + +In the mean while Lord Dewry proceeded through the long and somewhat +dreary galleries of Dimden House to a distant apartment, but not to +the chamber in which the participator in his dark schemes lay on a bed +of agony and distress. The room he sought was solitary; and, ringing +the bell, he ordered Harvey, the head keeper, to be sent to him. The +man was already in the house, waiting his orders, and somewhat +apprehensive of his lord's displeasure at the failure of his plans. +But as long as Pharold was alive and free, there was a demon of fear +in the bosom of Lord Dewry that cowed the more violent passions of his +nature in the presence of those whom he used as his tools. The +consciousness of the designs in which he employed them made him treat +them gently, from vague but anxious surmises that, notwithstanding all +his care, they might suspect the motives of the plans they mingled +with. + +Although, then, in his heart, he could have felled the keeper to the +earth for letting Pharold escape him. In addressed him mildly when he +presented himself. "Why, how is this, Harvey?" he said: "you have let +the game escape us. There must have been a fault somewhere." + +"The fault was in the cursed cowardice of the fellows that were with +me, my lord," replied the keeper; "if they would but have followed me, +we should have taken the blackfaced villain any how. Two or three of +us might have got wounded, but no matter for that; we should have had +him safe here, if they would but have come on. But one fell back, and +another fell back; so that when I had got them up against the wall +there were but two with me, and two could do nothing against a good +dozen." + +"Let me hear how the whole business took place," said the peer: +"remember that I have no full account of it from any one; and we must +try to remedy what has gone wrong." + +The park-keeper was, of course, glad enough to tell his story in the +way that best suited him; and he related the events which we already +know according to his own particular version. The first error, he +declared, was, that several of the men whom he had hired for the +purpose of capturing the gipsies were too late at the rendezvous, and +several did not come at all. These disappointments, and the delay they +occasioned, had prevented his taking advantage of the moment when the +gipsies' guns were discharged after the slaughter of the deer, and, as +time lost is never regained, had caused the ultimate failure of his +whole plan. He assured the peer, however, that Pharold had been one of +the party engaged in the destruction of the game; and that he had been +active in the affray wherein Sir Roger Millington and the keeper had +been wounded. Some of the other men, he said, were not very clear +about these facts, but he was ready to swear to it. He then related +how the boy William had been seized by two of his party, who had been +detached for that purpose; and he added a long account of the measures +which he had taken in order to trace the gipsies in their flight. + +"Is the keeper badly wounded?" demanded the peer, thoughtfully. + +"He did not seem bad at first, my lord," replied the man; "but they +say he is much worse this afternoon, and his wife is afraid he will +die." + +The peer muttered something between his teeth, which might be, "So +much the better;" but this sound reached Harvey's ears but +imperfectly, and Lord Dewry went on in a louder tone, "Poor fellow! +have you seen him, Harvey?" + +"Not myself, my lord," answered the keeper; "but his wife came up to +see if the doctor could go down, and I spoke with her for a minute." + +"Poor fellow!" said the peer; "but we must take care that his murderer +does not escape, Harvey. Have you thought of no way by which we can +catch him?" + +"Why, he is a keen hand, that Pharold, my lord," replied the keeper; +"but I do think we can manage it, if your lordship likes to try." + +"Try!" said Lord Dewry: "I will make him a rich and happy man, Harvey, +who brings that villain to justice. But how do you think it can be +managed?" + +"Why, I scarcely know as yet, my lord," answered the keeper; "I have +had sure eyes upon some of the gipsy folks, and think I can make out +whereabouts they have gone to; but Pharold knows better than to go +with them. Besides, he was in the park there, not many hours ago, in +the broad daylight." + +"Impudent villain!" cried the peer; "but what in the name of Heaven +could bring him there? Are you sure it was he?" + +"I saw him with my own eyes, my lord," replied the keeper; "and had +nearly caught him with my own hands; for we had him pinned in between +seven and eight of us and the river: but without minding us more than +if we had been rabbits, he took to the water like a hard-run fox, and +swam the river outright." + +Lord Dewry paused; for there was something in the daring hardihood of +the gipsy congenial to the bold and fearless spirit which had animated +himself in early years; and he felt a sort of stern admiration which +even hatred could not quell. At length, however, he repeated, "But +what could bring him here? He could not be fool enough to come for the +sole purpose of daring his pursuers." + +"No, no, my lord," answered Harvey. "He came after this boy that we +caught, I dare say. The boy may be a bit of a relation, or, at all +events, a friend; and they did not know what had become of him, for +he was taken apart. Now, my lord, I was thinking--if, might be so +bold--that one might, perhaps, turn this boy to some account, and get +him--do you see, my lord?" + +The mind of the peer had been so long habituated to revolve dark and +tortuous schemes, that it was apt and ready to comprehend the +significant word, or half-spoken hint, which often forms the language +of those who are afraid to give their purposes full utterance. Thus he +gained an instant insight into the nature of the plan which the keeper +had conceived, although he saw not the details; and he answered, "I do +see, Harvey, I do see! That is to say, I see what you mean; but I do +not see how it is to be managed. If the boy had any means of +communicating with his own gang, he might, perhaps, lure the chief +villain of the whole into our net; but we know not where they are, and +he, in all probability, is still more ignorant." + +"I know well enough where a part of them are," answered the keeper. +"Some went down towards the water, and I cannot trace them: but some, +for a certainty, went across the common to the Dingley wood, where +they are still, I am sure; and I should not wonder if the others soon +joined them, for it is uncommon what a fancy those gipsies have for +sticking to each other, especially in misfortune; and I should not +wonder if they were to hang about here till they hear what becomes of +this lad. He may be Pharold's son, for any thing I know." + +"Would that he were! would that he were!" cried the peer, vehemently, +the memory of his own son crossing the confused crowd of other +thoughts that pressed upon his brain. "Would that he were! I would +find the means to wring his heart. But still," he added, after pausing +for some moments on the pleasant thoughts of revenge--"but still the +boy is cut off from all communication with them." + +"But we can let him have some, if your lordship pleases," said the +keeper. "If your lordship remembers, I told you of a man named Harry +Saxon, who always has a good deal to do with poachers and such like, +and who put these gipsies up to the deer-stealing. Now we could let +him get speech of the boy; and if any one heard of it, we would say it +was only to see whether he could swear to the youth, and he would soon +take any message to his people for him." + +"But will he undertake the task? and can we depend upon him?" asked +the peer. + +"Why, ye--s, my lord, I think we may," answered Harvey, thoughtfully. +"He's a good sort of a man enough; and besides, I rather think I could +send him across the water to Botany, if I liked, for something I saw +him do one day, and he knows it too; and so he is always very civil +and obliging to me." + +"Well may he be so," replied the peer, with a curling lip. "But can +you get at him soon? There's no time to be lost in such a business." + +"I can get at him in a minute," answered the keeper; "for he came up +to my house about an hour ago; and he is in a bit of a fright about +all this bad business of the shooting. So I told him to stay there +till I had seen your lordship, and I would tell him how things went +when I came back." + +"Go and bring him then," said the peer quickly--"go and bring him--yet +stay a moment, Harvey. Let me consider what is to be done when he does +come. He is to be admitted to speech of this gipsy lad; and what +then?" + +"Why, my lord, I dare say the boy can be frightened into sending a +message to Pharold to come down and help him out." + +"No, no, no," said the peer, "it must be better arranged than that. +Let me see. The windows of the strong room look out into the close +wood, and any one from the outside could saw away the iron bars. Yes, +that will do. But the lad himself must be tutored in the first place. +Quick, then, Harvey, go and bring your friend; and in the meantime I +will see the boy alone. Do not come in till you hear that I have sent +for you." + +The keeper retired, and the peer again rang the bell, to direct that +the young gipsy should be brought before him once more. His orders +were promptly obeyed, and two stout fellows appeared, with the +prisoner between them. + +"Leave him with me," said the peer, as soon as they had brought him +two or three steps forward in the room. The men, who had calculated on +enjoying all the pleasures of a cross-examination, and who had even in +their hearts formed the aspiration that they hoped his lordship would +pump him well, stared with some mortification at being excluded from +witnessing the mental torture of their fellow-creature; but Lord +Dewry, who read something of the kind in their countenances, not only +repeated his command, but bade them wait at the end of the adjoining +passage till they were joined by Harvey, the head keeper. There was no +resource; and therefore they obeyed, shutting the door, and leaving +the peer face to face with the captive. + +The gipsy youth might be eighteen or nineteen years of age; that +season of life when enjoyment is in its first freshness; when all the +world is as bright, and as sweet, and as sparkling as a summer +morning; when imagination and passion are setting out hand in hand +upon the ardent race that soon wearies them, and when memory follows +them quick, gathering up the flowers that they pluck and cast away as +they go, but not as yet burdened with any of the cares, or sorrows, or +disappointments which they are destined to encounter in the end: he +was, in fact, at that age when life is the sweetest. His form was full +of nascent vigour, and his face was fine; but his whole countenance, +though speaking, by its variety and play of feature, active +imagination, and perhaps a degree of enterprise, betrayed a sort of +uncertain, undecided expression, which is never to be seen in the face +of the firm and the determined. The peer gazed on him for a moment, +seeing all, and calculating all, in order to work upon his prisoner's +mind by both his circumstances and his weaknesses. + +"You are very young," he said at length, in a tone of stern +gravity--"you are very young to be engaged in crimes like these. What +is your age?" + +That sort of dogged sullenness, half shyness, half hatred, which a +contemned and separate race are from their infancy taught by nature to +display towards their oppressors, was the only source of resistance in +the character of the young gipsy, whose powers of resolution were +naturally small, and whose mind was unfortified by firm and vigorous +principles of any kind. It was sufficient in the present instance, +however, to keep him silent; and he stood, with his dark eyes fixed +upon the ground, and his arms hanging by his side, apparently as +unmoved as if the peer had addressed him in a language that he did not +comprehend. + +"You are very young," repeated Lord Dewry, after waiting some time in +vain for an answer--"you are very young to be engaged in crimes like +these. Life must be sweet to you: there must be a thousand pleasures +that you are just beginning to enjoy, a thousand hopes of greater +pleasures hereafter; there must be many friends that you grieve to +part with--and some," he added, seeing the youth's lip quiver--"and +some that, doubtless, you love beyond anything on earth." + +A tear rolled over the rich brown cheek of the gipsy boy, and betrayed +that he not only understood what was said to him, but felt every word +at his heart's core, as the peer, with barbarous skill, sought out +every fresh wound in his bosom, and tearing them open one by one, +poured in the rankling poison of insincere commiseration. "Ah!" +continued Lord Dewry, "it is sad and terrible, indeed, to think of +being--at the very moment when one is the happiest--at the very moment +when one loves one's friends the best--at the very moment, perhaps, +when all our hopes are about to be fulfilled--to think of being cut +off from them all, and to die a horrid and painful death! and yet such +must be your fate, my poor boy; such must be inevitably your fate, as +a punishment for the murder committed in my park last night." + +"I murdered no one," cried the youth, with a convulsive sob, that +nearly rendered what he said unintelligible. "I murdered no one." + +"But your companions did," answered the peer, glad to have forced him +into breaking silence. "You were not present, it is true; but you +trespassed on my park for evil purposes with those who did commit +murder, and are therefore an accessary to the deed. Banish all hope, +poor boy; for to-morrow I must certainly commit you to the county +jail, from which you will only go to trial and to execution. I am +sorry for you, I grieve for you, to think that you must never see +again those you love; that you must be cut off in the prime of youth +and happiness--I grieve for you, indeed." + +"Then why do you not let me out?" cried the lad. "If you grieve for +me, let me run away." + +"That is impossible," answered the peer; "but perhaps I may do +something to make your fate less bitter. Death you must undergo; but +in the mean time I may soften the strictness of your imprisonment. Is +there any one whom you would wish to see--any of your friends and +companions who might comfort you by coming to visit you?" + +"What is the use, if I must die?" said the gipsy, sullenly, dropping +his tearful eyes to the ground, and clenching tighter his clasped +hands together; but Lord Dewry saw that there was something more +working in his mind, and warily held his peace. "There is none I +should like to see but Lena," said the gipsy at length, with a deep +sigh; "and Pharold would not let her come, even if I were to ask." + +"And why not?" demanded the peer, affecting as much unconcern as it +was possible for him to assume when coming near the very subject of +his wishes. "Why would any one prevent her from coming, if it would +comfort you? He must be very cruel to deny you, when you have so short +a time to live." + +"No, he is not cruel," said the youth; "he is hard, but not cruel; but +he would not let her come, do you see, because a year ago I was to +have had Lena for my wife--at least so Mother Gray always told me: but +then Pharold loved her; and though her own love did not lie that way, +her mother, when she was dying, herself gave Lena to him, because he +was better able to take care of her than any one else. And he does not +love to see Lena speak to me, I know." + +"So he took your bride from you," said the peer, not a little +delighted to hear tidings which promised so fairly for success; "he +took your bride from you, and now he is jealous of you. Well, then, +listen to me, and mark well what I am about to say. Your fate is in +your own hands. You are left to choose between life and death!" + +The youth gazed dully in his face for a moment, as if he did not +comprehend his words at first; but the next instant he burst forth, +"Life, life, life, then!" cried he, clasping his hands together, and +raising his eyes beaming with new hope: "life, oh, I choose life!" + +"There is but one way, however," replied the peer, "by which you can +obtain it. This Pharold, this very man who took away your bride, I +have every reason to believe killed my brother and murdered my son." + +"Then that is the way he gets money, no one knows how," cried the +youth. + +"Most probably it is," answered Lord Dewry; "but mark me, if you can +contrive a means to get him into my power, you shall not only go free, +but have a large reward. This is your only chance for life." + +The lad's countenance fell in a moment. He was young, and the better +spirit was the first to act. "No, no," he cried; "I hate Pharold, but +I will not betray him." + +"Then you must die," said the peer, sternly. + +The better spirit was still predominant: no image presented itself to +the youth's mind but that of betraying the chief of his tribe. He +thought not for the moment of the loveliness of life, he thought not +of the horrors of death, he remembered not either love or hate, in the +strong impression of a duty which had been fixed in his heart from +childhood; and he answered in a low sad tone, "Then die I will." + +"But think," said the peer, who had anticipated the first effect of +his proposal, and reserved every stronger inducement, every palliating +argument, to tempt and to excuse the unhappy youth, when the immediate +impression was over--"think what it is you choose--imprisonment in a +close room by yourself for several days; then trial and condemnation, +and then death upon a gibbet, with nobody to comfort you, nobody to +speak to you; but you must go through the horror, and the agony, and +the shame all alone and unsupported." The boy shuddered, and the peer +proceeded, changing the picture, however:--"This is what you choose. +Now what is it you cast away?--life, and happiness, and more wealth +than ever you knew, and most probably the possession of the girl you +love best upon the earth." + +The peer was experienced in temptations; for he had undergone and +yielded to them himself, and he knew, by the dark histories of his own +heart, all the wiles and artifices by which the fiend lures on +successfully even the firm and the determined to acts at which they +have shuddered in their days of innocence. + +The young gipsy listened, and hesitated, and felt all his resolutions +give way; but so fearful was the struggle in his bosom, that his limbs +trembled and his teeth chattered as if he had been shaken by an ague. +The keen eye that was upon him, however, did not fail to mark and +understand his emotion; and Lord Dewry proceeded, "Well may Lena think +you love her but little, when you scruple, by a few words, to break +the hateful bonds that tie her to this murderer Pharold, and when you +have the power to make her your own, yet refuse to use it." + +"But I tell you," cried the boy, vehemently, "that Lena would never +consent; that even if she were to know that I had done such a thing +she would hate me and curse me; that I should be driven forth from my +people, and never see her more." + +"But neither she nor any one else," replied the peer, "need ever know +one circumstance about it. If you will undertake to do what I wish, I +will tell you a plan by which it may be accomplished, without any +being on the earth knowing it but you and I." + +"But if Pharold should be innocent," said the youth, "the guiltless +blood would be upon my hand, and it would curse me." + +"But if Pharold be innocent, his blood shall not be shed," replied the +peer: "let him prove his innocence, and he shall go as free as you; +but he cannot prove his innocence, for he is guilty; and you, in +delivering him up, do but what is right and good; you do but avenge +the innocent blood he has shed, though at the same time you gain for +yourself life, and liberty, and happiness, and the girl that you +love." + +"Well, well, well!" cried the boy, "tell me what it is I am to do." + +"Will you undertake it?" demanded the peer, eagerly. + +"If," answered the gipsy--for probably there was never yet a crime +committed, in regard to which the criminal did not propose some +palliating motive, in order to deceive his own heart at the time, and +to calm the anticipated reproaches of his conscience thereafter--"if +you will promise, by God and the heavens, that, if Pharold is +innocent, you will let him go free." + +Lord Dewry paused for an instant. It is strange, but no less true than +strange, that the mind not only habituates itself to evil, but +habituates itself to a particular course of evil, and the same person +who will boldly reiterate a crime to which he is accustomed, will +start at a much less heinous offence, if it be new to his habits. +Thus, Lord Dewry paused for an instant ere he swore to a promise which +he intended to evade; but he soon remembered that, in the course which +he was pursuing, there was no halting at so airy a thing as an oath; +and he replied, "By all that is sacred, he shall go free, if he proves +himself innocent." + +"Well, then," said the youth, "I will do what you wish; but, oh, if +you deceive me!" + +"Deceive you in what?" demanded the peer. "I have promised that, if he +prove himself innocent, he shall of course go free: it is but just." + +"But it was not of that I spoke," said the gipsy: "I thought if you +were to deceive me into trapping Pharold, and then not to let me go +myself!" + +"On my honour! on my soul!" cried the peer, with a ready vehemence, +which convinced the youth more easily than would have been possible, +if he had known how often men pledge their honour and their soul when +the real jewels are no longer theirs--when their true honour has been +lost for years, and their soul pawned deeply to an eternal foe. + +"Well, well," he answered, "I will do it. Tell me how it is to be +done." + +"Tell me first," said the peer: "this Pharold--he is jealous of you, +it seems?" The boy smiled faintly. "Will he, then, take sufficient +interest in your fate to attempt to rescue you, if he thinks there is +a probability of success?" + +"That he will!" answered the youth; "besides, if I could get at Lena, +she would persuade him. But how can I get at her? She will not come +here, and I cannot go to her." + +"But do you think that if you were to send a message to her," demanded +Lord Dewry, "that she would try to persuade him to attempt your +rescue, and that she has influence enough to work him to her purpose?" + +"That she has, that she has," answered the gipsy: "Pharold often gives +her a cross word; but when she likes to try, she can always get her +own way, for all that. But how can I send a message to her? I know not +where she is, nor where Pharold is; though once, as I looked out +through the bars of the window this morning, I thought I saw him +through the gray mist, standing under the distant trees, and watching +the house. But they may have gone far before this time; yet, if you +were to let me out for a few hours, I would soon find them." + +"We will seek a better way," answered the peer, without taking any +further notice of the simple cunning with which the youth spoke. "I +hear from my gamekeepers that a man from one of the neighbouring +villages has been inquiring for you, and most likely he knows where +your friends and companions are. Now, as you promise to do what I ask, +he shall be admitted to see you, and you must send to Lena whatever +message you think will induce her to persuade Pharold to come to your +rescue." + +"Yes," said the boy; "but I must first know how he can rescue me, for +Pharold will never come unless he thinks it likely. Ay, and the story +must be a clever one, too; for he is as cunning as a sentinel-crow, +and smells powder at a mile's distance." + +"I must leave you to frame the story as you think best," replied the +peer; "but you can tell your fair Lena that if Pharold will come to +your prison-window with a sharp file or a sledge-hammer, he can easily +set you free by breaking the bars of iron that cross the opening. You +may add, that there is never any one on that side of the house all +night, and so that he will be perfectly safe." + +The lad hung down his head; and the hot blood of shame, as he thought +of what he was undertaking, rushed from his heart to his cheeks. There +was again a momentary struggle, but the good had been conquered once +already; and the thought of life, and Lena, and happiness, and freedom +from the oppressive terror that weighed down his heart in his prison, +got the better of everything besides; and he replied, "But what shall +I do if they thrust the file and the sledge-hammer through the bars to +me, and bid me work for myself?" + +Lord Dewry instantly saw the validity of the youth's objection, and +the probability that Pharold, instead of coming himself, would send +some woman or some child with the implements which might be necessary +for setting the prisoner at liberty. "You must tell them," he said, +after some minutes' thought, "that you are so tied that you cannot cut +through the bars for yourself." + +"But the man who gives them the message will see that I am not tied," +replied the youth; and, after pausing for a few moments, he added, +"No, no; I have thought of a better way. I will not trust him with any +particulars: I will bid him ask Lena and Mother Gray to work Pharold +to get me out; but, at all events, for some one of them to come down, +and speak with me through the bars to-night, and then I can make them +do what I want. But you must let them go, remember!" he exclaimed. +"You must not stop the women if they come." + +"I shall certainly stop none but Pharold," answered the peer: "the +rest may come and go as they like. But only do not you trifle with me; +for be you sure that you shall not only not have your liberty, but +that, if Pharold be not in my power before to-morrow night is over, +you shall be sent to the county-jail for instant trial." + +"And how," said the youth, whose shyness was fast wearing away--"and +how am I to get my liberty when Pharold is in your power?" + +"The door shall be set open," answered the peer, "and you shall go out +freely." + +"But how can I be sure of that?" he demanded again. + +"You may keep us both, for aught I know. Will you write it down? for I +have heard that you Englishmen are more bound by what is written than +by what is said." + +Lord Dewry again paused for a moment, somewhat embarrassed; but after +revolving the probable consequences in his mind for some time, he +replied, "I will write it down, if you require it." + +"Do--do, then," said the youth; and the peer, ringing the bell, +ordered writing-materials to be brought. As soon as they arrived, he +sat down, and drew up a promise, artfully couched in such terms as he +felt sure could not, in the slightest degree, implicate his character +or betray his real views, if ever it should be produced against him. + +"As the prisoner," so the writing ran, "now in custody at Dimden, +is apparently only an accessary, and not a principal, in the crime +lately committed at this place, I hereby promise him, on condition of +his placing in the hands of justice the notorious felon Pharold, +against whom various warrants have issued, at present unsuccessfully, +that he shall be immediately set at liberty, as soon as he has +accomplished the same. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my +hand, this---- day of ----," &c. &c. + +The youth's eyes sparkled as he read; and the prospect of liberty and +safety which opened before him blotted out at once from memory the +dark and villanous step which he must take to reach them. "I will do +it! I will do it!" he cried; "but you must let me do it my own way, +for I must not let anyone in the whole world know that it is my doing. +It must seem that he is taken by accident, while helping me, and that +I have made my escape in the meantime; and then I shall be free, and +Lena will be mine!" And the youth clapped his hands in the vehemence +of reawakened hope. + +"Well, well," said the peer, his anxiety for his ultimate object +coming eagerly upon him as soon as his immediate purpose was +accomplished--"well, well, the man I spoke of shall have admittance to +you immediately. But, remember, you must lose no time; for the longest +space I can afford you is this night and to-morrow night." + +"Some of the women will come to me to-night," answered the youth; "and +to-morrow night, fear not, Pharold shall stand under the window of the +prison-room, some time between the rising of the moon and the sun. So +watch well, and if you take him not it is your own fault." + +"So be it, then," said the peer; "and now you must return to speak +with the person I mentioned, who shall soon be sent to you." Thus +saying, Lord Dewry called back the two men who had brought the young +gipsy thither; and, after bidding them take him back to the strong +room, told them, in his hearing, as an earnest of his good-will, to +let him have everything that could render him comfortable in strict +imprisonment. As soon as the men appeared, the boy resumed his look of +sullen shyness; and, hanging his head, followed them in silence from +the room. + +The moment he had departed, the peer sent to inquire for the keeper, +who had not yet returned, however; and Lord Dewry was kept for a short +time under the irritation of his own impatient spirit. At length +Harvey appeared, followed by his confederate, Harry Saxon; and it +would have given sincere pleasure to a disciple of Lavater to see how +well this worthy's countenance corresponded with his actions. + +He was a man of about five-and-forty, and what many people would call +a good-looking man; that is to say, he had a fresh country complexion, +a high large nose, with small nostrils, a capacious mouth, furnished +with white and regular teeth, a small keen black eye, under a very +overhanging and observing brow, a forehead low, but broad, and +surmounted with a layer of fine jet-black hair, smoothed down, and +polished with the most careful and scrupulous precision. His dress, +without being exactly that of a gamekeeper, had a sufficient portion +of the style usually attributed to that class to show his hankering +after the beasts of the field. His coat was green, and on the buttons +thereof appeared, not alone the fox, that most sagacious animal, but a +variety of birds and beasts, so comprehensive in their number, and so +limited in their kind, that his garment formed a very excellent +hieroglyphical abstract of the game act. Leathern gaiters, with small +round leathern buttons, cased a pair of sturdy legs, and defended them +from the brambles of those paths he most frequented; and a pair of +hedger's gloves upon his hands seemed well calculated to grope for +springes and gins amid the thorny ways of life. + +The peer surveyed him, as he entered, with the keen eye of worldly +experience, and saw that he was a man to be depended on by those who +could pay him well. After a brief question or two, to which the other +replied with sly significance, the peer explained to him the +ostensible object he had in view; namely, that of securing the +apprehension of a gipsy felon called Pharold, by the instrumentality +of the boy they had taken on the preceding night, and asked him if he +were willing to undertake the part he was to play, and to perform it +carefully. + +"You are, I hear," he added, with some degree of irony, "in some way +acquainted with these gipsies, and may, therefore, not like to bring +one of them to justice. If it be so, speak, and we will find some +other person." + +"No, no, my lord," answered the man. "A gipsy! why, I hate a gipsy! +they come in and spoil every thing like the regular trade. No, no, +hang 'em all for me." + +Lord Dewry did not pause to inquire what Harry Saxon called the +regular trade; but replied, "Well, if such be your opinion, go in and +speak to this lad. Do not let him know that you have had any +conversation with me upon the subject; but offer to do anything for +him that you can; and when you have heard what he has to say, come +back and let me know the result." + +The peer added an injunction to be quick; and Harry Saxon was +conducted, by his worthy associate Harvey, to the strong room in which +the gipsy lad had been confined. + +The chamber would have been in every respect a comfortable one, had +not the doors and windows been furnished on the outside with those +appurtenances, obnoxious to all comfort, called bolts and bars. The +house had been constructed when population was much thinner than at +present, and when it was necessary that the dwelling of a magistrate, +if situated far from any great town, should be provided with some +place in which a prisoner might be confined for a few hours; for this +purpose the room we speak of had been selected and fitted up, both on +account of the distance at which it lay from the more frequented parts +of the building, and of its proximity to a large old hall, which +formed the extreme wing of the house, and topped the bank overhanging +the river. This hall had often served, in cases of necessity, as a +justice-room in the olden times; and though many years had elapsed +since it had been employed on any very important occasion, yet even of +later days it had been used for the meeting of magistrates and county +functionaries, when anything caused them to assemble in that part of +the country. + +The strong room, however, had never been intended for anything but +temporary purposes, and was not at all calculated for securing a +strong and determined prisoner for any length of time, as the windows, +which opened into the park, were only closed by iron bars, which, as +the peer had hinted, might easily be filed away from within, or forced +off from without. These bars the boy took care to examine minutely as +soon as he was taken back to the place of his confinement; and he then +turned his eyes to the park beyond, to ascertain how far the plan he +had to propose to Pharold would be recommended by the probability of +its success. + +A grove of old oaks and chestnuts came up nearly to the windows, so +that there was plenty of shade to conceal any one who approached, +except in the full light of day. But as he gazed, the boy's thoughts +were soon drawn away from the dark scheme which the peer had suggested +to him by the sight of the world beyond his prison. Through the wide +spaces between the trees the lawns and savannas of the park were to be +distinguished, with other woods and groves beyond. The soft evening +sunshine was sleeping upon the slopes and glistening on the river; and +the deer were seen walking calm and free through the long dry autumn +grass, while the call of the partridge sounded from some distant +fields, and everything spoke of liberty, and happiness, and peace. The +influence of the scene sank deep into his heart, as he stood separated +from his people, barred in from the free and beautiful world, and, for +the first time in his existence, confined to the close atmosphere of +one small solitary room. It sank deep into his bosom; but, like the +fabled amreeta cup of one of our truest poets, many of the sweetest +things on earth are productive of good or evil according to the lip +that tastes them. While he gazed, the passionate love of wild +unrestrained liberty, and of nature, in which his heart had been +nurtured from infancy, grew overpowering. To be free--to bound away +over those sunny fields--to cast bars and bolts behind him--became a +passion and burning thirst: better principles were wanting to teach +him to endure; and had the price of liberty, at that moment, been a +parricide, he would have dipped his hands in parental blood. Nerved by +the passionate desire, he seized the bars of iron in his hands, and +strove to tear them open; but their strength resisted all his efforts, +and he burst into tears to think that he must remain another day in +bondage. + +His eyes were still wet when the door opened, and the insidious +prompter of the enterprise which had deprived him of his liberty +entered the room. The youth, however, was, like the rest of the +gipsies, ignorant that they had been betrayed; and although he had +only seen the man once, he now received him gladly as an acquaintance +and a friend. + +Their conversation lasted about ten minutes, and at the end of that +time the emissary returned to the peer to report what had just passed. + +"Well, well," demanded Lord Dewry, "with what message has he charged +you?" + +"A very short one, my lord," answered the man: "he bade me seek out +old Mother Gray, or some of the women, and tell them to come down to +speak with him at the window to-night; so, I take it, that won't suit +your lordship's purpose." + +"Yes, it will," answered the peer. "He will, probably, employ the +women to work upon the men." + +"Ay, ay, plough with the heifer," answered the other; "but I may as +well, if your lordship has no objection, set them on the right track +myself; and I will answer for it, I get them to persuade old Pharold +to come down himself." + +"There is a very large reward offered," answered the peer, dryly, "to +any one who will contribute to place him in the hands of justice; and +if you are successful in the attempt you shall not lose the reward. +But do you think you can find these gipsies?" + +"Why, from what Dick Harvey says, my lord," he replied, "I think there +can be no doubt that I can find the women part of them, though, most +likely, the men are hiding away--and no bad job either; for they might +fancy I had some hand in the last night's job--but, howsomever, if I +can find the women, they'll make the men do what they like easy +enough. So, if your lordship will keep a good watch round the strong +room, without letting the folks show themselves till they are sure of +their man, I think we may calculate upon Master Pharold pretty +certain." + +"In which case your reward is certain, too," answered the peer; "but +now make haste upon your errand, my good man, for the sun will soon be +going down, and you have but little time." + +"Oh, I don't dislike a walk in the twilight," replied the fellow; and, +bowing low, but with a somewhat too familiar grin, he took his leave +and retired. + +Lord Dewry immediately proceeded to give orders for a strict watch to +be kept upon the windows of the strong room during the two following +nights; and took measures that an ambush should be laid in the +immediate vicinity, in such a manner that any person approaching could +not escape; but, at the same time, he carefully directed that if none +but women appeared, they should be permitted to go as they came, not +only without molestation, but with every precaution to prevent the +least appearance of unusual watch. + +This being done, he turned his steps towards the chamber of Sir Roger +Millington, for whose life the unfavourable opinion of the surgeon +gave him no slight apprehension. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The person against whom so many subtle contrivances were directed, on +leaving Colonel Manners, as we have described in a foregoing chapter, +turned his steps towards the wood in which his own companions had +sought refuge after the unfortunate events of the preceding night. If +the reader will cast his eye upon the county map, he will see that, +avoiding Morley Down, he skirted along the hill, the summit of which +it crowned; and then, after following for a little way that part of +the high-road which traversed the little isthmus, in the neighbourhood +of which he had saved the life of Isadore Falkland, he struck soon +after into the forest on the right. As he came not from the same side +on which his comrades had entered the wood, his search for them was +not without difficulty; but it is wonderful with what keen tact +persons accustomed to such scenes and circumstances take advantage of +slight and apparently insignificant indications to guide them on their +way. A branch brushed aside, a trodden-down flower, the sight, or even +the smell of smoke, the least sound of the human voice, will each aid +them in their search; and by means of this kind Pharold, ere long, +discovered the little glen in which his whole party had found an +asylum. + +At the moment he approached, had his keen mind not been engaged with +many another thought, he might have remarked that there was some +degree of bustle and consultation among the gipsies, which ceased as +he came up. All, however, appeared glad to see him safe; and all +crowded round to express the anxiety they had felt during his absence, +and to question him as to the events which had befallen him. Lena hung +upon his arm with evident pleasure at his return; but the fondness she +displayed was more like that of a child towards a parent than that of +a wife for a husband. + +In answer to the inquiries of the whole party, Pharold--after having +seated himself in the midst, and demanded some refreshment, which was +speedily procured--related, briefly, all that had occurred as far as +his own perils went. Of Colonel Manners he spoke as of a stranger, and +neither noticed their encounter nor his promise of again meeting him, +though he told the group around that ere an hour was over he must +again set forth on matters of import not to be delayed. + +"Well, I hope, at all events, that you are going to get poor Will +out," said the old woman we have so often mentioned. "Poor boy! he has +a hard fate." + +"I hope," said Lena, seeing that Pharold made no answer--"I hope--" but +then she stopped, as if afraid of offending him. + +"And what do you hope, Lena?" said Pharold, gravely, but not so +sternly as was often his wont. + +"I hope," she said, more boldly, but with the colour coming up in her +brown cheek--"I hope that some means will be found to set the poor boy +free, for I am sure he was not the guilty person." + +As she spoke Pharold gazed on her with such grave earnestness that her +latter words faltered; and even after she had concluded he still kept +his eyes fixed upon her in silence, till one of the men, who had +accompanied Dickon on the deer-stealing expedition, joined into +corroborate her words. + +"No, no," said the man, "he was not so guilty as any of us. Dickon +persuaded the rest of us, and we persuaded him; but it was a hard +matter to do so; and then, after all, he never fired a gun." + +"Well," said Pharold, "I have done my utmost to free him: but he is in +the hands of our enemies, who are keen, and vigilant, and many; and I +see no way of delivering him from them but by force, which I will not +employ, first, because it would fail; and next, because it would be +sacrificing many of the innocent to deliver one who, though less +guilty than others, is still culpable. I see no other way." + +"Ay, but there is another way, Pharold," said the old woman: "they say +that he is confined in what they call the strong room." + +"They say!" exclaimed Pharold, hastily--"they say! Some one has been +with you: speak, who has been here? or has any one gone forth when I +forbade it?" + +The old woman only grinned at having betrayed herself, as Pharold +looked sternly round upon the circle; but Lena cast herself upon his +bosom, saying, "Tell him the truth! Oh, tell him the truth! It is +always better to tell him the truth! Well, if no one else will, I +will. Some one has been here, Pharold--some one who has seen the poor +boy in prison; and he told us all how wretched he is, and also he said +that William himself had sent him to us to say, that if any one would +come down to-night or to-morrow night to the window of the room where +he is lying, they could easily wrench off the iron bars that kept him +in, and set him free at once." + +"And who was the person that he sent?" demanded Pharold, sternly. + +"Why, it was just Harry Saxon, the game-sneaker," answered the old +woman; "who else should it be?" + +"A dastardly villain!" said Pharold, hastily; "fit to betray us all: +speak no more of it. I know that man of old, and would not trust him +with the life of a child, if he could gain by its destruction." + +"He seemed honest enough in this business," said the man called Brown; +"for he told us all how he had got in to see the lad, and how he had +traced us hither. He took some blame to himself, too, in the business +of the deer-stealing, for he was to have bought the venison from +Dickon; and that was the reason why he went to see poor Will in +prison, and was willing to do what he could to get him out. Now I +would not promise to go till I knew what you thought of it, Pharold; +but if you like, I will go down to-night, for, as to the man betraying +us, you see I have no fear, because, if he had liked, he could have +brought people to nab us all here. So I will go and try what I can +do." + +"But did not Will say particularly," cried the shrill tones of the old +woman, "that it must be some one who knew the place well, or they +would get into a mess? If you go, Brown, you'll only get caught +yourself, and spoil a hopeful plan for setting poor William free. +There is no one that knows the place well but Pharold and I, because +we know it of old; and as Pharold is afraid to go any more, I would go +with all my heart, if I were strong enough to get the bars off: I +could have done it once, as well as the best man among you; but I am +an old woman now. As for that, Pharold knows the place better than I +do a great deal, for he lived in that very house for many a month, +and--" + +"Hold your peace, hold your peace, woman," interrupted Pharold. "The +boy said to-night or to-morrow, did he not?" + +"Yes, to-night or to-morrow," answered Brown; "but to-night were best, +for who knows what may happen before to-morrow?" + +"To-night I cannot go," answered Pharold, "for I have pledged my word +to be elsewhere, and I do not break my word: but to-morrow I will go; +and I think that, perhaps, after all, I may be able to set him free. +In the meantime, however, you, Mother Gray, shall go down this very +night, to reward you for all the share you have had in the matter. +You know the strong room window, just in the angle, by the great hall. +Get ye down thither at midnight; and tell the boy that I will come +to-morrow night: bid him keep a good watch; and if he sees any one +lurking about, as if watching, let him sing some of the songs that he +sings so well, to warn me. You look out well, too, and mark everything +about you, to tell me when I come back. You were never the wisest or +the best, but I do not think you such a devil as to betray one +wilfully." + +He looked sternly and keenly at her, but the beldam only answered in a +jeering tone, "No, no, Pharold, though I love you as much as a young +sparrow loves a cuckoo poult, I'll not betray you, man." + +"Go, then," said Pharold, "as soon as it is midnight: examine +everything well; and tell the boy, through the bars of the window, +that, although he deserves to suffer the consequences of his fault, +yet we will do our best to rescue him for his youth's sake." + +It is always some consolation to those who lie under the command of a +superior mind to be permitted to sneer at what they dare not disobey; +and the old woman, while she listened, gave way to all those grins, +and winks, and nods, the boldness of which she fancied might +counterbalance, in the opinion of those around, her degradation in +submitting quietly to the orders of one who treated her with such +unceremonious censure. She was secured, however, by Pharold's scorn, +against any notice of her malice, as far as he himself was concerned; +and without seeming to observe the affectation of contempt with which +she heard him, he turned to the rest, and gave directions for +immediately removing their encampment to another spot. + +"Quarter of a mile farther," he said, "you will come to a clear +stream, broad but not deep, flowing from the heart of the wood, over a +bed of sand and small clear stones. You can drive the carts up through +the water till you reach a place where the banks are flat; and there, +under the oaks and among the hazel-bushes, you will find plenty of +room and shelter. You, Brown, take every precaution you can to prevent +the slightest trace being left of the course you have followed; make +the people wade along the water--it is not deep enough to cover their +ankles; send them, too, by different parties and in different ways; +for remember that, because one of our number has killed two deer, the +whole world, that hated us before, will now think themselves justified +to hunt us down like foxes.--I can stay with you no longer, for the +hour I named is near at hand--I am wearied and sad, and I feel as if +the end were coming; but still I must keep my word, and do as I have +done to the last." + +Some tears, from mixed emotions that would have defied analysis, had +filled the eyes of the beautiful girl that reclined by his side; and +as Pharold rose to depart, he saw them still glistening there. Taking +her hand, he beckoned her with him, saying, "Come with me for a +moment, Lena: I would speak with you." + +She followed, and for about a hundred yards he led her on in silence; +and then, turning round, he pressed a kiss upon her lips:--"Remember +me, Lena," he said, "when I am dead. Ever, at this hour, whatever may +happen to you, whatever changes may befall, think of Pharold for a +few short minutes; and mark what I tell you, each time you think of +him--whatever you may feel now;--you shall regret him more, till, on +your dying day, you shall love Pharold as Pharold now loves you. +Remember, Lena, remember, remember!" and, turning away, he left her +with her bright eyes dropping fast unwonted tears. + +Alas, alas! the constancy and resolution of youth, what frail things +they are! and how fast the ephemeral feelings and purposes of the hour +give place to others as frail and vain! When Lena turned away from +Pharold, she had believed that for no boon on earth would she do aught +that could offend him; but ere many minutes were over, she was +listening to the persuasions of the old woman, that had led all those +wrong who had confided in her, and was combating faintly and more +faintly the arguments which age and cunning used to induce her to +visit that night the place where her unhappy lover was confined. Lena +listened and resisted, till she listened and yielded; and midnight +found her standing with the old woman under the window of the strong +room in Dimden Park. + +In the mean while Pharold pursued his way to rejoin Colonel Manners; +but there seemed to be some bitter feeling sitting heavy at his heart. +The light and agile step had become slow; the quick, keen eyes were +bent thoughtfully upon the ground; more than one sad sigh burst from +his bosom; and the spirit and the heart seemed to mourn. It might be +that Pharold perceived that he was not loved; it might be that he felt +he had set the whole fortunes of his being upon a hazardous chance; +but as we have not paused to trace his love, we shall not dwell long +upon his disappointment. Other feelings, too, such as, more or less +modified by circumstances, will cross the mind of every imaginative +and sensitive man, now rushed upon him, rendered tenfold more strong +in his case than in that of others, by the prejudices of his people, +and the wild and varying habits of his race. Feelings of superstition, +and vague, rambling, fanciful speculations upon all those indications +of human destiny, gathered from external objects, in which his tribe +believe, now mingled themselves with jealous doubts and apprehensions, +and appealed to his own heart for belief or rejection in his own +individual instance. + +"I am coming to the crosses," he murmured, as he walked along--"I am +coming to the crosses of life; and the end is not far off! I have seen +those who obeyed me once, rise up against my will. I have been +persecuted and hunted for faults not my own: I have been overcome by a +creature like myself, with no odds against me; and I have learned to +doubt those I love. Ah! and that she, too, should think of another! +Woman, woman! Care, instruction, and kind reproof but offend thee! +love and tenderness but spoil thee! Affection, and worth, and honour +are to thee but as nothing! In danger thou clingest to us! In peace +and security thou leavest us! The things which attract thee are the +lightest of qualities and the vainest of transitory things; and with +what cords shall we bind thee, even when once thou art caught? Vain, +vain, empty butterfly! indifference and reckless carelessness are the +things which win thee the most surely, and which most truly thou +meritest." + +Such were the first outpourings of a heart jealous of affection; but +as Pharold walked on, the belief that Lena's love might be given to +another was softened by reflection, and he began to think he had done +her wrong. He remembered the tears he had seen in her eyes; he thought +of many a testimony of girlish regard which she had displayed towards +him: he called to mind many of the finer traits of her heart and mind +which had first attracted him, and which he had striven to cultivate; +and he again began to trust that she would not suffer one thought to +stray from him who had become her husband. The feeling of that vast +disparity of age which existed between them did, indeed, ever mingle +with such hopes, and, as it had often done before, disturbed his peace +of mind by apprehension and doubt. "She will be the sooner free," he +thought bitterly: "she will be the sooner free! God only knows how +soon! for I feel a weight upon me, and a gloom, as if fate were coming +near to me, and its shadow rested dark upon my thoughts. She will be +free, and wed another, and be happy, and forget me, till pain, and +sorrow, and anxiety come, till she wants the hand that used to protect +her, till she requires the mind that used to guide her, and then she +may think of Pharold, and grieve to think that he is lying beneath the +cold and crumbling mould of earth, whence neither prayers nor wishes +shall bring him back to her side again. Then she may remember, and +perhaps weep for him who is lost to her for ever." + +With such sad and gloomy reflections Pharold amused the way, as, +retreading the steps he had lately taken, he proceeded to fulfil his +appointment with Colonel Manners. He was a man who gave, perhaps, as +few thoughts to self and selfish considerations as most men. He was +one of those who, in other circumstances and in other ages, would have +as willingly devoted himself a sacrifice for his friend, or for his +country, as any Greek or Roman that ever lived. But he was a gipsy, +and born in an age when patriotism and friendship were equally +considered as mercantile commodities; when men, having cast behind +them the heroism of ancient Greece and Rome, and the chivalry of +ancient France and England, were just beginning to dip themselves in a +spirit of cold and selfish calculation, which, like the waters of the +Carian fountain, emasculates all that is noble and energetic in human +nature; and it is not possible to live among such times without +feeling their chilling influence. Their influence, however, upon him +was different from that which it had upon others; for his race, and +state, and habits, all placed him without the circle of ordinary +thoughts and sensations common to the rest of men. That he was moving +among cold and selfish beings, he felt; that he was acting upon +principles different from theirs, he could not but know; and he +despised them because he did know it, hating them the more because he +was one of a scorned and injured race, to which he clung with the +greater tenacity because it was scorned and injured. But when he met +with a spirit congenial to his own, when he found that he could love +and could trust, all the deep, the noble, the generous feelings of his +original nature burst through every band of times, and circumstances, +and nation, and habit; and he was no longer the gipsy, the sullen +hater of every race except his own, but a creature endowed with noble +powers of mind, and gifted above all with that gem from heaven, an +upright and enthusiastic heart, which would have honoured any land, or +age, or people. The direction which it took might sometimes be wrong, +the reasonings that guided it might wander upon wild, and prejudiced, +and eccentric theories; but the principle was always good, and the +purpose was always generous. + +Thus, although he thought for some part of the way upon himself, and +upon the cares and griefs that thronged around him, his mind soon +turned to other objects; and the desire of serving and of soothing +others was strong enough even to withdraw his thoughts from the +powerful grasp of individual sorrows, always far more potent in their +selfishness than joys. + +As he approached the spot where his unsuccessful struggle had taken +place with Colonel Manners, he felt, it is true, some sort of +bitterness of heart, to think that he had been overcome. Vanity will +have her share in all; and happy it is--ay, even more than we can +expect--when she changes not the pain of her wound into hatred of +those who have inflicted it. Manners was already on the spot, and the +first words of the gipsy were those of human kindness. "How is she?" +he asked, abruptly. "How is the young lady? You have seen--you have +told her all is well, of course?" + +"I have," answered Manners, "and her heart is greatly lighter, though +she will remain still anxious and unsatisfied till I have with my own +eyes seen her cousin, and can report to her the state of his health." + +"Fear not, fear not," answered the gipsy; "I have promised to take you +to him, and there is not that power under the heavens which should +ever induce me to break my word, while I am capable of performing it." + +"I do not fear, in the least," answered Manners: "I knew perfectly +that you would keep your promise, and confidently assured the family +at Morley House that you would lead me to De Vaux this night. I need +hardly tell you how much joy that assurance gave them, and how much +gratitude they felt to him who made the promise." + +"Speak not of gratitude!" answered the gipsy--"speak not of gratitude! +I only regret that from the first I had not foreseen what pain might +fall on some of the good and kind, and that I did not assure myself of +how I ought to act. But if you knew, gentleman, what a life I have led +for the last three days, you would easily make excuse for some +forgetfulness of others--a life so different from that to which we are +accustomed. We come in sunshine, and pitch our dwelling in the warm +bosom of nature, with beauty all round us, and neither care nor strife +among ourselves; but now we have been hunted, and sought, and had to +change our dwellings from place to place; and in order to provide that +we left no traces of our way, we have been forced to double like a +poor hare before the accursed hounds, to think every footstep the +signal of an enemy, and every rustle of the leaves to look upon as the +indication of an ambush. I fear me, too, I fear me that their +persecutions are not yet over. But let us on: here lies our road." + +"I trust," said Manners, following him--"I trust that as you are able +to clear yourself in this business of my friend De Vaux, all the other +suspicions against you will be found equally groundless; and then you +may follow your way of life once more in peace." + +"No, no," answered the gipsy, "he would persecute me still. Once he +has made a false accusation against me, and he will never abandon it +as long as he and I are on the face of the same earth--never, never! I +know him too well." + +"I do not clearly understand of whom you speak," answered Manners, +keeping by the side of the gipsy, although the pace at which he had +set off seemed accelerated at every step by the angry feelings that he +was stirring up in his own bosom. "You do not name the person. Whom do +you mean?" + +"Whom should I mean?" answered the gipsy, sharply. "Whom but him who, +born with violent passions and a haughty nature, was bred a lawyer, in +order that dark cunning should be added to a bold spirit and a shrewd +mind. I speak of Lord Dewry; and I tell you that he will never cease +to persecute me. Does he not now hold in fast confinement a boy of our +people whom he well knows to be innocent?" + +"There is, certainly," answered Manners, "a gipsy-boy confined at +Dimden, for I saw him there this morning; but Lord Dewry, as well as +all the people of the neighbourhood, informed me that he had been +taken in an attempt to steal the deer in the park." + +"He was not present," said the gipsy: "he saw not the beast +slaughtered by the mad-headed fools that did it, any more than I did. +But he keeps him because he is a gipsy-boy, not that he thinks him +guilty. And so, you saw him, did you?" continued Pharold, striving, +with a slight mingling of the artful cunning of his people, to +discover what Manners knew of the situation of the young gipsy--"so, +you saw him? and, doubtless, he is to be sent soon to the county-jail, +to die of imprisonment and despair at losing his blessed freedom." + +"I did not hear any mention of such an intention," answered Manners. +"Every one present joined in accusing the youth of direct +participation in the deer-stealing; and he himself kept so obstinate a +silence, that there was no possibility of drawing from him even a word +that might exculpate himself." + +"And do you call it obstinate silence to refuse to answer either the +subtle or the idle questions of his enemies?" demanded the gipsy. + +"There is the mistake into which your people fall too often, and with +too fatal an effect," answered Manners. "You consider us, on all +occasions, as your enemies, and act towards us as if we were such, +instead of endeavouring to make us your friends, which might often be +accomplished--always, I might say, with good men, were your actions to +tend to that purpose. In the instance you speak of, the principal +questions were addressed to your young companion by myself. Their +object was solely to elicit some news of my friend De Vaux; and, had +he answered them frankly, he would have made a friend who might have +rendered him service." + +"And he refused to answer?" demanded the gipsy. + +"Not exactly refused," replied Manners; "but answered only by an +unmeaning monosyllable, or kept a profound silence." + +"He did right!" cried the gipsy; "he did right! The boy is more +deserving than I thought him; he merits an effort." + +"We judge very differently," answered Manners: "I thought he did very +wrong; and had he given me the information I sought, it is more than +probable that I should have met you with very different feelings from +those with which I at first saw you this night." + +"He did right, he did right!" cried the gipsy. "Would you have had him +betray secrets intrusted to him? or was he to judge what I might think +fit to be revealed? No, no: silence was his best security against +discovering, through fear or through folly, those things, the value of +which he knew not. He has shown both more prudence and more resolution +than I thought he possessed. However, he could have told you nothing, +for he knew nothing--not even the path we are now treading." + +"Well, then, his candour would only have served to give a favourable +opinion of himself," Manners rejoined, "without injuring you, or +betraying your confidence." + +"How can you tell that?" cried the gipsy--"how can you tell that? how +could he tell it either? Might you not have led him on to other +things? Might you not have wrung from him, if he had spoken candidly, +as you call it, one admission after another, till you had discovered +all that he could tell. Oh, we know your artful ways, your +examinations and cross-examinations, which would make an angel of +truth and wisdom seem like a liar and a fool. We know your skill in +making men reveal what they would not, and speak two apparently +opposite truths, without allowing them to give the explanation; so +that they seem to contradict themselves at every word. We know you; +and we have one way, and only one, to disappoint you, which is +silence. You can make naught of that." + +Manners saw that, where both the principles and the course of the +reasoning were so different, discussion was of very little use; and he +consequently made no reply to the gipsy's tirade, feeling, however, at +the same time, that there was a portion of truth in what he said, +which it would be difficult to separate from the great mass of +prejudice with which it was combined. Pharold, however, wished the +conversation prolonged upon the same topic; for with all the frank +generosity of his individual nature, the habits and the character of +the gipsy still modified and influenced the other qualities of his +heart and his mind. His character, as a man, was open and candid; but +the gipsy often acted, to render it stubborn and sullen when +oppressed, or even wily and artful when some peculiar object was to be +gained. + +He now greatly desired to obtain from Colonel Manners, as a sincere +and independent person, some information concerning the exact +situation of the boy William, both in order to guide more surely any +efforts made for his liberation, and to correct the report of the old +beldam, whom he had sent down to inquire, and of whose purposes and +views he entertained many a doubt. He did not choose, however, to let +his design become apparent, and therefore approached his object with a +careful art, which was not a part of his natural, but rather of his +acquired character. + +"Poor boy!" he said, as soon as he perceived that Manners did not +reply--"poor boy! I am sorry for him. He has never known anything but +liberty, and the enjoyment of all the free, wide, beautiful world; he +has never known what it is to have fetters on his young limbs, or to +be shut from the air and light of heaven, in some dark and gloomy +dungeon." + +"You must not let your imagination draw such a picture of his +situation," answered Manners, who, having nothing to conceal, was +easily led in the direction the gipsy wished. "The boy is not and +cannot be in such a state as you suppose. He has no fetters upon his +limbs, and, in all probability, is as well treated as a proper regard +for his safe custody will permit." + +"It will be pain and grief enough," rejoined the gipsy, "for one who +has never in his life been debarred from turning his steps in +whatsoever direction he thought fit--who has never been cutoff from +the sight of nature, and the breath of the free air, since his eyes +were first opened upon God's heaven and earth, and the breath of life +was breathed into his nostrils--it will be pain and grief enough for +him to be thrust into some dark and gloomy dungeon, perhaps under +ground, or, at all events, looking into some dull stone-built court, +where he can see nothing on any side but the hateful walls that keep +him in, and the sly, dastard faces of those that watch him." + +"Of course," answered Manners, "as I am nearly unacquainted with this +part of the country and with Dimden Hall, I cannot be aware of the +nature of the place in which the lad is confined. A dungeon it is not, +certainly; for such things are now, thank God, quite out of the +question. It appeared to me, too, that there was no such thing as a +court to the dwelling-house; and that, therefore, wherever he may be +placed, he will be able to see the face of nature, which you love so +much. But you yourself--at least, all I have heard would lead me to +suppose so--must know Dimden Hall far better than I do, and perhaps +may be aware of where the strong room is; for it was to it that I +heard Lord Dewry direct him to be taken, after we had in vain tried to +gain any information from him." + +"If he be there, he may do well," answered the gipsy; "but probably +they will remove him to the county-jail, and there he will have sad +and bitter hours enough." + +"I should certainly think that they will not do so," answered +Manners, "if what you tell me in regard to his innocence of all +participation in the actual slaughter of the deer be correct. The +magistrates will, of course, investigate the matter, and seek full +evidence of the facts, before they either commit the boy, or even send +him off to the jail, which, I understand, is many miles distant; so +that it is much more probable that he will remain where he is for the +present." + +The gipsy saw well that Manners spoke without disguise, and that he +had, in fact, nothing more to tell in regard to the situation of the +prisoner. However, he had gained at least the certainty that the lad +was confined in the strong room, which he knew well; that he was not +likely to be speedily removed, and that he was not encumbered with +fetters to impede his escape. Lest he might have been so secured, +Pharold had entertained some fear, as he knew that blood had been shed +in the encounter between the deer-stealers and the keepers, and +thought it more than likely that the peer would strive to prove the +lad William to have been an actual participator in that part of the +unfortunate affair, and would treat him accordingly. His next anxiety +was to know what was the state of the men who had been wounded, and +what was the exact charge against himself, in regard to the affray in +Dimden Park, as well as what evidence had been given to inculpate him. + +He had found so much frankness in the replies of Colonel Manners to +his former inquiries, however, that he now quitted the artful path +which he had taken, and spoke more boldly of his own situation. "I +would fain know," he said, after he had walked on about two hundred +paces farther in silence--"I would fain know how I stand in regard to +that false accusation which my enemy brought against me, respecting +the slaughter of his pitiful deer. As I passed through the country +this morning, after quitting his park, I gained some tidings; but when +I first met you, gentleman, to-night, you told me that though I might +be guilty of other things, you knew me to be innocent of that. If you +be, as you seem to be, a friend to justice and humanity, you will tell +me how you know that charge to be false, that I may prove it so, too, +by some proof that will be better received than the mere oath of my +own people." + +"I can have no objection whatever," Manners answered, "to tell you at +once how I was led to the conclusion that you mention. There were two +persons wounded in that unfortunate affair--one a gentleman who is now +lying at Dimden, and another a keeper, who was removed from the park +to his own cottage. As I found that the surgeon had confined his +attention to the person at Dimden, whose wound is far the most +dangerous, I went down to the cottage of the keeper to inquire how he +was going on--" + +"Good and kind, good and kind!" interrupted the gipsy, with one of +those bursts of vehement feeling to which he at times gave way. "Ah, I +see and understand it all! The mercenary manufacturer of diseases and +maker of men's ills remained with the gentleman, who could pay him for +his fancied skill, and left the poor man to do the best for himself; +and you went down to comfort him whom the other had neglected." + +"Not exactly so," answered Manners: "the wound of the one was much +more severe than that of the other, and the surgeon staid where his +presence was most necessary. I went down, however, and sat with the +poor fellow some time; and he distinctly informed me, not only that +you had not been present when the deer were killed, but that you were +coming up and calling to the others not to fire at the moment that the +guns went off. He said, too, that if it had not been for your +interference, there would have been far more bloodshed; and I strongly +advise you, should there ever be any investigation of this business, +to call the keeper Jones as a witness to establish your innocence." + +"While I can keep my liberty," said the gipsy, "they shall never hold +me in their gripe. Besides, he would find witnesses enough to swear +away my life, if he were to bribe them with half his fortune. But the +wounded men--are they likely to die, did you say?" + +"I trust not," answered Manners; "and with care and attention, the +wound of the keeper will not prove even dangerous. The other gentleman +I did not see, but I hear he is much more severely hurt." + +"What is his name?" demanded the gipsy. + +"Sir Roger Millington, I think, was the name," answered Manners; "but +I did not pay it any particular attention." + +"Sir Roger Millington!" repeated the gipsy, musing--"Sir Roger +Millington! I do not know him; and yet it sounds in my ears like a +word spoken in a dream. Oh yes, yes--I remember now: it was to him +that the money was owing." + +"What money?" demanded Manners, in some surprise. + +"Never mind," answered the gipsy; "but, be sure, if that man dies, my +enemy will find means to make me out his murderer. Mark that, +gentleman, and remember hereafter." + +"It is impossible that he can do so," answered Manners, whose +confidence in British justice was much stronger than that of the +gipsy. "I understand that there were eight or nine people present. One +of them, who has suffered severely, has already borne witness to your +innocence; and, depend upon it, that among the rest, you would find +plenty more to do the same. But it strikes me as extraordinary, I do +confess, that you should seem to apprehend much more evil from an +affair in which you can easily exculpate yourself, than from a charge +which, referring to matters long gone, and to circumstances of which +there could be but few witnesses, must be much more difficult to be +met in a satisfactory manner--I mean the charge of having killed the +late Lord Dewry." + +"I will tell you why, I will tell you why," answered the gipsy. "In +regard to this business, he can prove something against me: that I was +in his park without right--at a suspicious hour--when persons were +committing an unlawful act; and those people my own nation, and my own +comrades. He may make out a plausible tale, and a little false +swearing would easily do the rest. But in regard to the other, I +laugh him to scorn; for why? because, when I will, I can blow the +cloud away, like the west wind when it sweeps the mist from the +valleys--because I can dispel it all, and prove my own innocence +beyond a doubt, by proving who it was that did do the deed!" + +"Do that," answered Manners, eagerly--"do that, and, beyond all doubt, +Lord Dewry will forbear every other proceeding against you." + +"Would he, indeed!" cried the gipsy, with a contemptuous laugh--"would +he, indeed! Yet, perhaps, he might: but I will tell you, gentleman, if +I did do so, I should not stand in need of his forbearance. But I will +not do it; no, never! not if they were to cast a mountain upon me, it +should not crush that secret from my heart till the right hour be +come." + +"Indeed!" said Manners; "that is a strange determination; but, +however, you act and reason upon principles so different from those +that influence ordinary men, that it is useless to inquire why you run +great risks yourself, with motives apparently very slight." + +"I do it because it is written in the book of that which I am to do," +answered the gipsy. "But you say right; we do act and we do think upon +different principles; and it is useless to inquire into mine, for you +would not understand them; and yet I hold you to be a good man--better +than most--braver--wiser than the great part of your fellows. Had you +not been both brave and wise, you would never have learned from me +what you are to know to-night--the fangs of tigers would not have torn +it from me by any other means." + +"I hope," answered Manners, with a smile, "that the secret will not be +kept much longer unrevealed; for we have already walked several miles, +and our fair friend, the moon, is going down to rest, as if she were +as tired as I am." + +"And who that sees her sink," said the gipsy, turning round as Manners +spoke, and gazing for a moment on the setting orb--"and who that sees +her sink shall dare to say that he will ever see that calm and +splendid sight again? She goes, we know not whither, travelling alone +upon her oft-trodden path--the path that she has walked in majesty +through many a long century, looking unmoved upon the strifes and joys +of nations who now have left us nothing but their ruins and their +tombs. She saw my people live and rule in other lands.[6] She has +seen them bow the necks of proud and haughty enemies beneath their +chariot-wheels. She has seen them fall day by day, till they are but a +scattered remnant, dashed like the foam of a broken wave over the +lands around, while their temples and their palaces, their homes and +their altars, are the dwellings of the wolf and the jackal, that howl +beneath her light. She has seen them--mighty and nothing; and, +perhaps, when our bones are whitening beneath her beams, in the long +wide vacancy of after times, she may also see the despised nation +reinstated in its glory, and forgetful of the rod of the oppressor; +but you mind not such things--you look upon us merely as wandering +outcasts of some unknown race." + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 6: All the various tribes of gipsies, scattered throughout +different parts of Europe, undoubtedly possess a tradition of the +former greatness of their people; and whenever they can be brought to +speak upon the subject, adhere strictly to the story told by the first +of their nation that appeared in Europe, and maintain that their +original country was Egypt; some calling it _Lower_ Egypt, some +_Upper_ Egypt--a distinction worthy of remark, as it seems to evince a +real knowledge of the land that they claim as their own. The learned +have endeavoured to trace them to the Indian caste of Parias; and Sir +William Jones, I think, has pronounced many of the words in their +language to be pure Sanscrit, which fact would afford the strongest +proof that they are not of Paria origin. Besides this, I have been +assured by a learned friend, who passed many years in India, that +gipsies are sometimes to be met with in Hindostan, and appear there as +much a race distinct and separate from any of the native tribes as +they do among the nations of Europe.] + +--------------------- + + +"No, indeed," answered Manners; "you do me wrong. I have always looked +upon your people with much interest and curiosity. There is a sort of +mystery in their history and their fate that will not let any one, who +thinks and feels, regard them with indifference." + +"There is a mystery," answered the gipsy--"there is a mystery; but it +matters not. This is not the time to solve it;" and--as every person +who has ever conversed with one of the more intelligent and better +informed of the gipsies must have remarked as their invariable custom +when spoken to either upon their language or history--he suddenly +turned the conversation to other things, content with the vague hints +of brighter times and more extended power, which he had already given. +Manners endeavoured more than once to bring him back to the subject, +but the gipsy pertinaciously avoided any approach to it. Nor was his +companion more successful in an endeavour to lead him to the subject +of De Vaux, in regard to whom Pharold pointedly refused to answer any +questions. "You will know very soon all that you can know about the +matter," he replied; "and I do not choose to speak at all on subjects +where I might speak too much." + +Manners pressed the question no further, and followed in silence. They +had some time before crossed the summit of the rise above Morley +House, skirting along the woods, and had descended into a valley on +the other side, which, though not so deep as that in which the +principal events we have related took place, sunk sufficiently below +the level of the neighbouring hills to render a considerable ascent on +the other side necessary ere the travellers could be said to have +passed the chain of high grounds which separated that county from the +next. This eminence, also, they had surmounted, when, as Manners had +observed, the moon might be seen sinking below the dark line of the +distant horizon. The aspect of the country was here very different +from that on the other side of the hills; and although the light of +the setting orb was not sufficient to display distinctly the various +objects in the landscape, yet the long lines of light and shade that +varied the wide extent below their feet gave Manners the idea of a +rich and softly-undulating country, spreading for many miles without +any considerable eminence. From the spot where they then stood the +road, which they had now gained, wound through some young plantations +down towards the plain; but ere they had finished the descent the moon +was lost below the horizon, and the eye could no longer trace any but +the objects in its immediate vicinity. Manners remarked, however, that +along the young plantings were neat trimmed hedges, and that clean +shining white gates gave entrance into the fields which they skirted. +A dry raised footpath, too, rendered walking easy; and ere long he +passed one of those friendly milestones wherewith most civilized +governments have condescended to solace the longings of the weary +traveller, as he plods on, anxious to know his distance from the +expected rest. Just at the same moment, too, a village clock, with its +kindly bell, tolled the hour, sounding clear and calm upon the still +night air; and Manners, though without any great object in doing so, +paused to make out the inscription of one hundred and some miles from +London, and to count twelve, struck distinctly on the bell of the +clock. + +"Will not this be a very late hour," he asked, turning to the gipsy, +who had paused also--"will not this be a very late hour to visit my +poor friend, especially if he be ill as you say in body and in mind?" + +"We will see that presently," answered the gipsy: "if he sleep, so +much the better. You can wait till tomorrow. My part of the errand +must be done to-night, or never; for something at my heart tells me +that I shall not long be able to walk whither I will throughout the +world." + +Now, although Colonel Manners, with the firm determination of pursuing +the adventure to the end, whatever might come of it, had gone on with +the gipsy boldly, and had conversed with him as calmly as if they had +both been in a drawing-room, yet it is by no means to be supposed that +he refrained from speculating upon the place and circumstances into +which his enterprise might lead him; as in this instance he saw the +necessity of letting imagination range free, so long as she had reason +for her guide, in order that he might be prepared for all. While they +were on the hill, and near the woods, Manners imagined that he would +most likely find his sick friend under the care and attendance of some +separate party of gipsies; and, of course, fancy employed herself in +thinking what could be the train of events which had brought about so +strange a result. But as they descended into a more highly cultivated +and evidently well-peopled track, he began to doubt whether it was +such a spot as gipsies would choose for their habitation, and, +consequently, whether De Vaux would be found in the hands of any of +Pharold's tribe. Imagination had now, of course, a wider, field than +before; and his surprise--or whatever the feeling may be called which +is excited by circumstances we cannot account for--was still greater, +as they began to pass through the scattered houses and small neat +enclosures which mark the approach to an English country town. + +At length the gipsy stopped at a gate, opened it, and bade his +companion pass in. Manners did as he was desired, and found himself +standing on a neat gravel walk, with a shrubbery on either hand, +plentifully provided with laurels, hollies, and many another +evergreen. The gipsy followed; and the walk, skirting for a couple of +hundred yards round a trim, smooth, shaven green, brought them in +front of a neat house, built of brick, and evidently modern in all its +parts. Plate-glass, a-well-a-day! did not in those times decorate even +the houses of the greatest in the land; and the dwelling before which +they now stood, although it was clearly the abode of affluence, had no +pretensions to be any thing more than a handsome house of the middle +rank. It might be the new-built rectory of some wealthy parish, or the +place of retirement of some merchant who had had wisdom enough to seek +repose at the point where competence stops short of riches; but it had +no one circumstance which could entitle it to affect the name of the +Mansion, or the Hall, or the Abbey, or the Castle; and in those days +the word cottage had never yet been applied to designate a palace. It +had its little freestone portico, however, and its two low wings, in +the windows of each of which there were lights. It was evident, +therefore, if this was the place where Manners was destined to find De +Vaux, that, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, there were other +persons awake in the house besides those who might be supposed to +watch in the chamber of an invalid. + +As they came near the gipsy advanced a step before his companion, and +rang the bell. A few minutes elapsed without any one appearing to +answer the summons; but just as Pharold was about to repeat it, the +door was opened by a servant, carrying a light, which was almost +instantly extinguished by the gust of wind which rushed into the +unclosed door. There had been time enough, however, for the man to +recognise Pharold, and to bid him come in, as if his visit were a +thing of course; and in the moment that the light had remained +unextinguished, Colonel Manners could distinguish the countenance of +the servant, the features of which, he felt convinced, were not +unknown to him. + +"Come in, sir," said the gipsy.--"Is there any one in the parlour, +John?" he added, turning to the man as Manners entered. + +"No one, Mr. Pharold," answered the servant, intones that were still +more familiar to Manners's ear than his features had been to his eye. +"My master is in the little room beyond." + +"Then walk in here, sir, and wait for me one moment," said the gipsy; +and Colonel Manners, without question, walked into the dark room, of +which Pharold had opened the door, and waited patiently to see how all +the strange affair in which he was engaged would end. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +The room was, as we have said, quite dark, with the exception of a +narrow line of light, which found its way under a door on the opposite +side of the chamber; and by the time that Manners had been there two +minutes he heard voices speaking in that direction. What was said by +the first speaker, whom he concluded to be Pharold, did not make +itself heard in the apartment where Manners stood; but the moment +after another voice was distinguished, saying, in a louder tone, "You +have done wrong, you have done wrong, Pharold. My mind was still +undecided; and this will force me to act whether I will or not." + +Pharold's voice replied at considerable length, and was apparently +still going on, when the other exclaimed, hastily, "But, good God, did +you not let her know? Did you not send her the note I despatched to +you for that purpose?" + +"What note? When did you send?" demanded Pharold, eagerly, "I had no +note." + +"This is most unfortunate," replied the other. "I sent up a note to +you, intended to be conveyed to her for the purpose of putting her +mind at ease; and it should have reached you beyond all doubt; for I +gave it, with my own hand, to the youth Dickon, yesterday morning, +when he came with the message from you." + +"Ay, that is it, that is it," answered the gipsy. "I chose him as my +messenger to keep him out of evil; but ere I could get back to my +people, I found that, on some pretence, strangers on horseback were +watching for us on the common, and I betook me to the wood again. But +they set a watch round the wood; and it was long ere I could slip +through unseen; and when I did so, and got to the tents under Dimden +wall, I found that this very Dickon had seduced several others to go +and shoot the deer in the park. Deer were killed, the keepers were +met, blood was shed, and I drove the offender out from among us, that +he might not lead others again into evil, and draw down the rage of +the powerful upon us. Thus I saw him but for a moment, and he went +without giving me your letter." + +Now Manners, although he could not help hearing what was passing, had +a great objection to so doing; and he had therefore from the very +beginning contrived to make as much noise as possible, by every means +that suggested itself, in order both to render the sounds which +reached him indistinct, and to make the speakers aware that their +conversation might be overheard. Their first eagerness, however, +prevented them from taking warning; but at length their tone was +lowered, and for the next five minutes Manners heard nothing further +than a low indistinct murmur, which sufficiently showed that the +conference was continued, but did not betray the matter thereof. + +At length, however, the second voice spoke louder, in the sort of +marked manner with which one ends a private conversation, by words +which have little meaning to any ear but that of the person to whom +they are addressed. "Well, well, it is time that such a state should +be put an end to! As to this other business, there is nothing to fear +from Colonel Manners: I know him well, as I told you before; and were +I to choose any man in whom to confide, it would be him. Now rest you, +Pharold; rest you while I go and speak with him. Would to God that you +would quit this wandering life, and now in your age wisely accept from +me what you foolishly rejected in your youth from one long dead; but +rest you, as I have said, and I will return in a few minutes to hear +out your account." + +Pharold's reply was not distinct; but the next moment the door opened +between the two rooms, and Manners was joined by a gentleman whom we +have seen once, and only once, before in the course of this history. +It was, in short, the same hale, handsome old man whom we last heard +of conversing with the gipsy Pharold, in the beginning of the first +volume of this book, who now advanced with a light into the dark room +in which Manners had been left. He could not be less than sixty-three +or four years of age; but his frame appeared as vigorous as if twenty +of those years had been struck off the amount. His figure was tall and +upright, and his step had in it a peculiar bold and firm elasticity, +that spoke the undiminished energy of both mind and body. He was, in +short, a person whom, once seen, it would be difficult to forget; and +although the light he carried dazzled Manners's eyes a little, yet the +instant he entered the room his visiter advanced towards him, holding +out his hand, and exclaiming, "My dear Sir William Ryder, I am +delighted to meet you again, and to meet you in England." + +"Not less delighted than I am to see you, Manners," answered the +other, "although we meet under somewhat strange circumstances, and +though I am obliged to bid you, for a short time, forget that I am Sir +William Ryder, without forgetting that I am a sincere friend. My name, +for the present, is Mr. Harley; and now, having introduced myself as +such, let us sit down, and talk over old stories." + +"But, first, my dear sir," said Manners, "a word or two of new +stories, if you please. I am most anxious to inquire after my poor +friend De Vaux, though no longer anxious in regard to his situation, +now that I find he is in hands so kind and so skilful as yours. +Indeed, the first sight of your servant, though I caught but a glimpse +of him, set my mind at ease regarding my poor friend, as far as it can +be at ease till I hear how he is, and what is the matter with him." + +"He is better, he is better," answered Sir William Ryder; "and so far +banish all anxiety, for he will do well. I know such affairs of old; +and as he has been neither scalped nor tomahawked by any of my +children of the Seven Nations, I will answer for his recovery. But I +dare say you wonder at his being here with me; and, indeed, it is +altogether an odd coincidence, for I can assure you that it is by no +plot or contrivance of mine that I have got you and him once more +under my roof together, when the last time we so met was in my wigwam +on the very farthest verge of the inhabited world." + +"But first tell me what is the matter with him," said Manners; "and +then I will put all sorts of questions to you, which you shall answer +or not as you think fit." + +"What is the matter with him!" cried Sir William Ryder; "did not my +friend Pharold tell you that he had got a pistol-shot in his side, +which had broken two of his ribs?" + +"Good God! no," cried Manners: "I am excessively sorry to hear it; but +how did it occur--in a duel?" + +"No," answered the other; "no: he did it himself; but understand +me--not intentionally--he is not such a fool. However, he will do +well: the ball has been extracted; he has very little fever: no organ +important to life has been touched, and all promises fairly." + +"But, indeed, my dear Sir William, you must tell me more," said +Manners. "How did this happen? for though I have seen accidents enough +of different kinds, yet I cannot understand this affair at all." + +"Why, I do not very well know how to explain it," said the other, +musing, "without entering into unnecessary particulars. However, the +fact is this: he went out at night, it seems, to see my friend +Pharold, who, I need not tell you, is no ordinary person. However, +your friend did not know his character or his worth, and he placed a +brace of horse-pistols in his bosom. He must certainly have had one of +them cocked, too, though he will not acknowledge it: but the end of +the matter was, that he heard some very bad news; and being, like all +his race, subject to violent fits of passion, he cast himself down +like a madman, the pistol went off, and the shot was within a few +inches of his heart. Pharold, who was present and alone, did not very +well know what to do with him; but carrying him in his arms as far as +he could, he called some of his own people, bound up the poor boy's +wounds as well as circumstances admitted, and brought him here, +knowing that in other years I was upon terms of intimacy with his +father, and loved him still, notwithstanding one or two little causes +of misunderstanding between us." + +Manners listened in silence, and he certainly did not forget the terms +in which Lord Dewry had spoken of the very person who now alluded so +mildy to him; but as he was by no means fond of making mischief upon +any pretence, and knew that Sir William Ryder was not a man in whom +personal fear would act as any check upon resentment, he felt no +inclination to mention one word of the peer's vituperation of his +former friend. At the same time, the kindly tone in which Sir William +Ryder spoke did not at all lead Manners to believe that he was the +person in fault. The thoughts which crossed the gallant officer's +mind, however, must have had some visible representatives in his +countenance; for his companion looked at him with a smile, adding, "I +know well what you are thinking--that probably Lord Dewry does not +speak so gently of Sir William Ryder as Sir William Ryder does of him. +I have heard so before. Nevertheless, Manners, I shall not call him +out, and amuse the world with two men of sixty fighting a duel. Nor is +Colonel Manners one to think the worse of me for acting as I do, nor +to doubt my motives, though my conduct be a little eccentric. Is it +not so, my friend?" + +"It is, indeed," answered Manners; "and be you quite sure, my dear +sir, that so firm is my confidence in your honour and integrity, +from personal knowledge--which is better than all the gossip in the +world--that I would never hear the name of Sir William Ryder mentioned +with disrespect without taking the liberty of resenting it." + +"I believe you, I believe you, Manners, from my soul," answered his +companion: "but to return to our poor friend De Vaux--as soon as he +was brought here, I of course sent for the best advice that was to be +procured, the ball was extracted, and, as I have said, he is better. +He is at present, I am happy to say, in a sound and comfortable sleep; +but if you will take up your abode with me till to-morrow, you shall +see him, and judge of his condition for yourself. A room shall be +prepared for you immediately." + +"I will willingly lie down to take a little rest," answered Manners. +"But let me beg you, my dear sir, to have me called as soon as De Vaux +wakes, and is willing to see me; for I left a poor young lady, his +cousin--and there are ties of affection stronger than those of mere +relationship between them--waiting anxiously to hear some tidings of +him; for until this very night we have all imagined him murdered." + +"Ah, poor girl, poor girl!" said Sir William Ryder, in a tone of deep +sympathy. "She must have suffered dreadfully, I am afraid; but I can +assure you that her having been kept even an hour in suspense is +neither to be attributed to me nor to her cousin. His first thought +was of her, his first words, after he saw me, were to beg that I would +instantly write to her, in order to tell her what had occurred, and to +sooth her mind as far as possible. Nay, more, though suffering much +pain till the ball was extracted, he insisted upon writing a few words +with his own hand, to comfort her as far as possible. Though I would +fain have prevented an exertion which might injure him, I loved him +for his obstinacy, Manners. The note was sent to Pharold, with +directions to forward it to her; but neither note nor directions, it +seems, ever reached the gipsy." + +Manners could not refrain from saying, "It would have been better to +have sent it direct to herself, Sir William. You must remember, my +excellent friend, that you are no longer among your children, as you +call them, the Indians, and that you will meet with another class of +vices and virtues also here. What you would trust to a Mohawk, if he +promised to perform it, and feel convinced that nothing but death +would prevent its execution, is not at all to be confided to a common +messenger in England, and--" + +"I know all that, my friend, I know all that," interrupted his +companion; "but I had no choice. At that time I was not at all certain +whether I should let any one know that I was in England or not; and +had I sent the note direct to Morley House, such a communication must +have been opened as would instantly have put an end to my incognito. +One messenger might have failed me as well as another, and it was +owing to an accident which no one could foresee that the note was not +delivered. So much for your rebuke, Manners," he continued, smiling; +"but now tell me how the poor girl is; for the first question of my +patient, when he hears that you are here, will be, How is Marian de +Vaux?" + +"Alarm and agitation had rendered her seriously ill," answered +Manners; "so much so, indeed, that the medical man found it necessary, +during the whole of yesterday and this morning, to keep her feelings +deadened, as it were, by laudanum--to the great risk of her health, as +he acknowledged--but it was the lesser of two evils." + +"Sad, sad, indeed!" cried Sir William Ryder, rising from his seat, and +walking backwards and forwards in some agitation--"sad, sad, indeed! +and I am afraid that I have had something to do with the whole +business; but I trust she is better now--poor girl! I am grieved, +deeply grieved. But say, Manners, how was she when you left her?" + +"Infinitely better, I am happy to say," answered Manners; "for your +friend Pharold permitted me to inform her that De Vaux was safe at +least, though he tied me down to strict conditions. That piece of +news, of course, relieved her greatly; but not so much so as to set +her mind at ease, till she hears tidings from me of her cousin's exact +situation, which I trust to be able to give her early to-morrow." + +"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," answered Sir William Ryder. "Nay, if you +think it would be any great comfort to her, we will send off a man on +horseback this very night, to calm her with further assurances." + +"Unless," answered Manners, "I may be permitted to say that you will +give herself and Mrs. Falkland a welcome to visit De Vaux in person, I +think that I had better not send, but wait till I can communicate some +further information myself." + +Sir William Ryder hesitated. "I am afraid," he said--"I am afraid that +will be impossible, just at present. But she will believe your +assurance, of course; and I think that you may venture to tell her +that her cousin is under kind and careful hands, by which nothing will +be neglected to promote his speedy recovery." + +"I will certainly give the fullest assurances of that fact," answered +Manners. "But what reason am I to assign for her being debarred from +seeing and attending her cousin, when I have been admitted? She will +certainly think it mysterious." + +"As you do, Manners," said Sir William, with a smile. "But listen to +me, and I will tell you several of the many reasons which have brought +me back to a land which I have abandoned for long years; and out of +those reasons you shall see whether you can find a motive to assign to +Miss De Vaux for my mysterious conduct. In the first place, I, like +most men, have some friends and relations; and I was seized with a +longing to see them, to assure myself with my own eyes of their fate +and their happiness, ere I laid my head down upon its last pillow in +another land. The same longing seized me about twelve years since, but +then I resisted; for long ago I had met with a sad and severe blow in +my private happiness, which led me to forswear, in the bitterness of +my heart, any of those ties and affections which are but so many cords +to bind us to sorrow and disappointment. In various matters, about +that time, I had acted wrong; and I felt that a voluntary expatriation +was a good atonement. When I went, therefore, I resolved never to +return; and when, as I have said, twelve years ago, the longing to see +friends and relations, and scenes that I once loved, seized me, I +resisted, strengthened, in so doing, by a feeling that my return to +England might be painful to some whom I did not desire to pain, and +would only re-awaken, in my own bosom, feelings that had better sleep. +Now, however, many other motives have been added to this longing, +which returned upon me this spring with more force than ever. I wished +eagerly to raise such a sum as would purchase a large tract of land on +which to settle for ever, without danger of molestation, the remnant +of a nearly-destroyed tribe of Indians, who, after having been +massacred and ill-treated by every other white man they met with, at +length attached themselves to me, and were living round me like my +children, as you saw." + +"I did, indeed," answered Manners; "and I trust that you will let me +aid in your noble design." + +"I do not know that it will be necessary now, for I am likely to take +other measures," answered Sir William. "My own private income was not +sufficient, though I had saved out of a thousand a year, which was all +that I possessed, sufficient to lay a good foundation; but I also +wished the British government to interfere for the more general and +powerful protection of the Indians, and this was one reason of my +coming. I longed too, as I have said, to see many of my relations and +friends; but I wished to do so privately. There were two persons, +especially, of whom I was desirous of bearing more than I could in +America. One--over whom I hold some power, from various transactions +in the past--I wished to watch closely for a short time, and treat him +according to his merits. The other--who, though more independent of +me, I could raise up or cast down as I pleased--I desired to sift +thoroughly, to examine every trait in his character, to probe every +feeling in his heart, with the resolution of leaving him, ultimately, +to happiness, if I found him noble and true; but at the same time to +give him a severe lesson, which might crush early some failings; some +peculiar evils in his disposition, that would, if suffered to remain, +lead hereafter to misery, to himself and others. Various occurrences +have taken place since to alter or derange these plans; and, as we are +from day to day the creatures of circumstances over which we have no +control, I am now waiting for some decisive event to determine for me +a line of conduct which I find some difficulty in determining for +myself." + +"I am afraid, Sir William," answered Manners, "that even if I were to +explain all this in your own words to Miss De Vaux, she would still be +as much perplexed as ever; and I have often remarked, that in the +minds of the timid--especially where there is real cause for +uneasiness--everything that is doubtful and mysterious is interpreted +into afresh cause of apprehension and alarm. Besides, according to my +contract with your acquaintance Pharold, and the stipulations which +you have yourself implied, with regard to your name, so far from +explaining all these motives, I am not even to disclose that I have +seen you." + +Sir William Ryder paused for a moment or two in deep thought; and +Manners, seeing that he was embarrassed, added, "Perhaps, Sir William, +the best way for me to act will be, to give Miss De Vaux a true +account of the state of her cousin's health; to tell that I have seen +him, but to add that, from particular causes, which I must explain +hereafter, I can neither inform her where he is, nor enable her to see +him. I have always found it best, wherever I have been embarrassed +with any mystery of my own--which, thank God, has been seldom the +case--to meet the matter at once, and say, _I will not tell_, without +entangling myself in half explanations, which do me no good, and only +serve those, whose curiosity or feelings are interested, as materials +for imagination to build up visionary castles withal." + +"Perhaps you are right," said Sir William: "but stay yet a moment! +A word or two more with our friend in the next room--I mean the +gipsy--may decide my conduct." + +Manners smiled at the sort of counsellors by whom he had found his +friend surrounded in both hemispheres. When first he met Sir William +Ryder, he had seen him every day in deep consultation with Indian +chiefs; and now his principal reliance seemed to be upon gipsies: but, +at present, that somewhat eccentric personage was disappointed in his +purpose of calling Pharold to his councils; for when he opened the +door--which led into a small neat study, with a table covered with +papers, money, and lights, in the midst thereof--he found the room +untenanted by any living thing. + +"I had forgot," he said, turning back with a smile--"I had forgot that +one half-hour in the air of a close room is too much for Pharold's +endurance. He is gone, and I must send for him when I want him." + +"You seem to place more reliance on him," said Manners, pointing to +the heaps of gold and papers on the table, "than most Englishmen would +upon one of his race." + +"I would trust him, I may well say, with untold gold," answered Sir +William Ryder; "as you would, Manners, if you knew him as I do. He has +corresponded with me in America for twenty years; and one might be +glad if, in the highest ranks, one could find so exact, so true, and +so punctual a correspondent." The reader, who has already received +much information concerning things of which Manners was ignorant, may +easily understand some of the motives of a correspondence between two +persons so different in station. Manners also had by this time +discovered that his friend's acquaintance with the gipsy was certainly +not of yesterday; yet there was still sufficient matter, both new and +strange, in what he heard, to make him, not only feel surprised, but +look it also. Sir William Ryder, however, who probably did not wish to +give any further explanation, instantly led the conversation away, +saying, "But to return to what we were speaking of, Manners. I must +soon come to some determination; and, perhaps, I have been weak in not +forming one already: but there are spots of weakness in every one's +heart, as there are spots of madness in every one's brain; and I have +my share, of course, of both. However, I will limit myself to a time; +and when you return to Morley House, you may tell the poor girl, that +though it is judged expedient that she should not see her cousin +to-morrow, yet on the next morning the old gentleman with whom he +is--Mr. Harley, remember--will be very happy to receive her here, +together with her aunt, as I suppose she will be afraid to venture on +such an expedition alone. If," he added,--"if I should find reason to +change my present purpose, I can but affect the barbarian, and be +absent when the ladies come." + +"Such tidings will, indeed, give joy and peace," answered Manners: +"but before I go to-morrow, I must take care to ascertain where your +dwelling stands; for, coming hither at night, and across the country, +I am totally ignorant of everything concerning the spot where I now +am, except that it is more than a hundred miles from London, which I +found out by a mile-stone on the road." + +"We are in the environs of the little town of ----," replied his +companion; "and by the road about seven miles from Morley House. I saw +that this little place was to be let, as I passed by one day, +immediately after my return, and took it at once, on various accounts, +although I did not know how much it might prove of use to poor De +Vaux. And now, Manners, to your rest; for, although I am a late +watcher, you look fatigued, and are in need of repose." + +"I am somewhat fatigued," answered Manners, "although I have not had +any very great cause; but the fact is, the mind is sometimes like a +hard rider, and knocks up the body before it is aware. I have been all +this morning either with Lord Dewry, examining a gipsy boy--taken last +night in a sad deer-stealing affray at Dimden--in order to ascertain +whether I could discover poor De Vaux, or pursuing somewhat fiercely +your friend Pharold, against whom, by-the-way, warrants have been +issued on three different charges." + +"On three charges, did you say?" demanded Sir William Ryder: "on +three! He only mentioned directly one charge against himself, that of +having murdered this poor lad, which must now, of course, fall to the +ground." + +"The other charges were," answered Manners, "first, that he had been +engaged in the deer-stealing, wherein, I am sorry to say, blood was +spilt--but in regard to that I pointed out to him a means of proving +his innocence; and, secondly, that many years ago he was either a +principal or an accessary in the murder of the late Lord Dewry, who +was killed by some unknown person at a spot not far from Morley +House." + +It would be difficult to describe the effect that these few words +produced upon the countenance of Sir William Ryder. His eye flashed, +his brows contracted, and he bit his lip hard, till at length some +feeling of contempt seemed to master the rest, and his emotion ended +in a bitter and a meaning laugh. "And pray," he asked, "who is it that +has brought this last charge against him?" + +"None other than the brother of the murdered man, Lord Dewry," +answered Manners: "he says he has proofs of the gipsy's guilt." + +"They have been long in manufacturing!" answered Sir William Ryder, +sternly: "I will tell you more, Manners,--as there is a God of heaven, +the gipsy is innocent, and he shall be proved so, let the bolt light +where it may. Proofs! Out upon him! Falsehoods and villany! But he +shall learn better; for I will not stand by and see the innocent +oppressed, for any remembrances that memory can call up." + +"You speak more harshly than ever I heard you, my dear Sir William," +answered Manners; "but perhaps you have cause which I do not know of, +and into which I certainly shall not pry. However, this nobleman is, +as you know, De Vaux's father, and, ere we part for the night, you +must tell me how I am to act towards him; for the gipsy stipulated +that I was to tell him nothing concerning his son's situation, without +your consent. May I tell him where De Vaux is, and under whose care?" + +Sir William Ryder paused, and he thought for several moments, with the +same bitter smile which Manners's information had called up still +hanging upon his lip. "Yes," he said at length--"yes, you may tell him +where his son is; and you may tell him to come and see him and me as +speedily as he thinks fit: but call me still Mr. Harley, for there +might be something unpleasant to his ears in the name of William +Ryder, which might prevent his coming. Say that Mr. Harley, the old +gentleman to whose house De Vaux was conveyed after the accident he +met with, will be happy to see him at any time he may name." + +"I am most delighted to have your permission so to do," answered +Manners; "for, to tell the truth, it would have placed me in rather an +awkward position in regard to Lord Dewry, had you refused to let me +give him full tidings of his son." + +"He will not much thank you," said Sir William Ryder--"he will not +much thank you! But, nevertheless, let him come, let him come! +Perhaps, after all, this is the best way we could have devised of +bringing an unpleasant affair to an end." + +"I trust it may prove so," answered Manners; "and that the time may +speedily come when you will find it not unpleasant to unravel all the +mysteries which have been crowding lately so thick upon me, that I +begin to feel confused among them, and hardly know who are friends and +who are enemies." + +"Though I have the clew in my hands," answered Sir William, pursuing +more the direction of his own thoughts than that of Manners's last +observation--"though I have the clew in my own hands, there is one +thing puzzles me as much as the rest seems to do you: it is that a +youth so full of high and noble feelings as Edward de Vaux should be +the son of such a man as his father; yet, thank God, he has many a +goodly fault too, or I should begin to doubt that he were his son." + +"It not unfrequently happens," rejoined Manners, "that where the heart +is originally good, the errors of the fathers serve as examples or as +landmarks to the children; as the masts of some wrecked vessel often +serve to warn mariners of the shoal on which she perished." + +"And _his_ heart was originally good too, I do believe," answered Sir +William Ryder: "I mean the father's," he added, thoughtfully. "Well, +indeed, may his example serve to show to what, step by step, we may +reduce ourselves, as one vice lashes on to another." + +Manners smiled. "Nay, nay, Sir William," he said, "you are doing the +worthy lord somewhat less than justice, I think. I never heard of his +being troubled with any of what the world calls vices: pride, indeed, +and wrath, and irascibility, he is not without: but, setting aside +these gentlemanly peccadilloes, I never heard of any vices; and from +what I have seen of him, I should say that, whatever he may have been +in the days past, he has now sunk down into a very disagreeable old +gentleman--that is all." + +"That is all!" cried Sir William Ryder, starting up, and laying +his hand upon Manners's arm, while he fixed his eyes intently upon +him--"that is all!" but suddenly breaking off, he resumed a calmer +look and tone, and added, "But we have not time, to-night, to discuss +characters. I am but keeping you from your rest." + +Manners did not endeavour to carry on the conversation; for, in all +such matters, it was his rule to let people go on just as far as they +liked, but to press them no further; and although he certainly was not +without some feeling of curiosity in regard to the connection between +Sir William Ryder and the father of his friend De Vaux, yet he well +knew that the only way to come honestly at a secret is to be totally +careless about it. The bell was now rung, and Manners was conducted to +a room which the servant who had given him admission, and who was an +old acquaintance, had with laudable foresight prepared for his use, +looking upon it as certain that a visiter who arrived at twelve +o'clock at night was not likely to depart before the next morning. + +Everything had been carefully provided that he could want or desire; +and Colonel Manners, who enjoyed, perhaps more than most men, that +inestimable blessing of a heart at ease in itself, lay down to rest, +and was soon in a deep slumber. + +His repose was not disturbed till the gray of the next morning, when +he was roused with the intelligence that Captain De Vaux was awake, +and would be very glad to see him. He was not long in obeying the +summons; and, after a soldier's toilet hastily made, he rang for the +servant, and was conducted to the apartment where his wounded friend +lay. + +There is something always melancholy in entering a sick-room in the +early morning, even when it is to see returning health coming back +into a cheek we love. The cheerful light of the young day, finding its +way through the chinks of the shutters, and mingling with the faint +but inextinguishable glare of the night-lamp, the pale and sleepy +guardian of the sick, the book with which she has striven to while +away the hours of watching, and scare off sleep, half-open on a table +loaded with drugs and fever-cooling drinks, the warm, close +atmosphere, and the drawn curtains, all bring home to our own hearts +that painful conviction of our weak and fragile tenure upon health and +comfort, and all that makes life pleasant, which we forget in the +bright and hopeful light of day. + +In the small dressing-room, through which Manners ducted to the +chamber of his friend, he found a surgeon who had been brought from +London, and who had passed the preceding night in close attendance +upon the patient. He was luckily one of those men who can form an +opinion, and will venture to speak it; and in answer to Colonel +Manners's inquiries respecting De Vaux's real situation he replied at +once, "There is no danger, sir. He will do perfectly well. I should +advise, however, as little conversation as possible, and that of as +cheerful a kind as may be, for it may retard recovery, if it do not +produce more serious evil." + +Manners promised to observe his caution, and entered the room. De Vaux +smiled faintly when he saw him, and held out his hand, though he moved +with evident pain. + +"This is a sad accident, indeed, De Vaux," said Manners, sitting down +by his bedside; "but I am delighted to hear from the surgeon that it +is likely to have no bad consequences, and to be speedily remedied." + +"I should be ungrateful to say that I am sorry he thinks so," answered +De Vaux, in a melancholy tone; "and yet I can hardly make up my mind +to rejoice." + +"Nay, nay," said Manners, "I will not hear you say so, my friend. You +can have heard no tidings, you can be placed in no situation, De Vaux, +which should make you forget that you are surrounded by people who +love you for yourself, and are worthy of your love--who would love you +still, under all or any circumstances--that you have friends, +relations, ties of every dear and intimate character that can make +health and life a blessing, if you are willing to receive it as such. +Nor should you forget that there are others who may well be dear to +your heart, and whose whole happiness for life is staked upon yours." + +"Oh yes, poor Marian," said De Vaux: "I am, indeed, ungrateful; for +such a treasure as that should compensate for everything. But tell me +how she is. Tell me all about her, Manners. When did she hear of this +accident? and how has she borne it?" + +Manners, though it can scarcely be said that he was puzzled how to +answer, yet felt that, with a man of De Vaux's character, it was +somewhat a delicate task, especially as, from what the surgeon had +said, it might be expedient not to tell his friend the full extent of +what Marian had suffered. He was too well aware of De Vaux's +fastidiousness not to let him know that Marian had felt as deeply on +his account as he could possibly think she ought to have done; and yet +Manners did not wish to pain and alarm him by telling him how much she +really had undergone. + +"You ask me to tell you a long story, De Vaux," he answered, after a +moment's thought, "longer, I am afraid, than your worthy surgeon will +consent to your hearing at present; but the truth is, in consequence +of some other accident or mistake, we never did hear of what had +occurred to you at all." + +"Good God!" cried De Vaux, "when with my own hand I wrote to Marian as +much as I could write. I do think that servants and messengers were +made for the very purpose of breaking people's hearts, or teasing them +to death by carelessness." + +"In this instance, however," said Manners, "it seems that there were +various causes which prevented the delivery of your note; and the +consequence was, that, from your unexplained absence, and several +other accidental facts which came to our knowledge, we were led to +conclude that you had been murdered. I, of course, instantly took arms +to avenge you, as in duty bound, and, backed by warrants and gentlemen +of the quorum, I have been galloping about the country ever since; so +that, in fact, I have seen scarcely any thing of the family at Morley +House, and less than all of your fair cousin Miss De Vaux, whose very +first apprehensions rendered her so unwell that she has kept her room +almost ever since." + +"Good God!" cried De Vaux: "how she must have suffered! Poor dear +Marian! Would to God that I could go to her--but I am afraid that I +could not ride." + +"Ride! Do not think of it for an instant," cried Manners, "and make +yourself easy about Miss De Vaux. Last night, I, for the first time, +obtained news of your safety, which did her more good than all that +the god of medicine himself could have done. Nay, I do believe that +she would have walked over here with me in the middle of last night, +if it had not been that her own ideas of propriety, or, perhaps, her +fears of your notions thereof, prevented her from undertaking such a +task under such an escort." + +De Vaux smiled. "You are severe upon my fastidiousness, Manners," he +said; "but that is one bad quality which, I trust, I shall be able to +cast away with many others. I have had some hard lessons lately, +Manners, enough to bow down the pride of him of the morning star; and, +perhaps, I may have more yet to undergo: but, at all events, my vain +fastidiousness is gone for ever; so that one good is gained by +misfortune." + +"As it often is, my friend," answered Manners: "nevertheless, I think +Miss De Vaux was very right to stay where she was; especially as she +herself was far from strong, and I did not know whither I was about to +go; for my friend the gipsy, who conducted me hither, is a man of +mysteries. However, you owe him thanks for one service that he has +rendered to another fair cousin of yours, Miss Falkland, whom he saved +from drowning, at the risk of his own life." + +De Vaux had drawn his hand over his eyes when first Manners mentioned +the gipsy; but he removed it again, and looked up with pleasure at the +tidings of Isadore's escape, though he asked no account of the +accident. "Poor Isadore," he said, "and poor Marian, too, for God +knows what we may both be called upon to suffer. Manners, my brain is +in such a whirl, with various doubts, and fears, and anxieties, which +I can neither explain to others nor unravel myself, that I must, +indeed, endeavour to banish all thought of my own situation, and of my +future prospects, if I wish to recover." + +"Well, then, by all means banish all thought," answered Manners. "It +is seldom that I can be accused of giving such advice; but for a man +in your situation I think it absolutely a duty to cast from him every +memory, and every reflection, which may tend to impede his recovery, +trusting and believing that, in those circumstances where we have no +power to deliver ourselves, the Almighty Disposer of all things will +act for us far better than we could act for ourselves." + +"I must e'en think so," answered De Vaux, in whom corporal weakness +and exhaustion had deadened the first sense of misfortune. "Sir +William Ryder, indeed, bids me hope, and tells me that things must and +will go better than I anticipate: but we speak to each other in +enigmas; and till my mind and body are capable of clearer thought and +greater exertion, I must, I suppose, rest satisfied with assurances, +the foundation for which I can in no degree perceive." + +Manners, now anxious to lead his thoughts away from any more painful +subject, gave him a brief, light sketch of his own proceeding in +search of him, and all that had occurred since he had left Morley +House: but, warned by what had already passed concerning the gipsy, he +kept a watchful and a friendly eye upon the countenance of his friend, +skilfully turning to some other part of the same subject as soon as he +perceived that what he said was beginning to produce the slightest +uneasiness. He was surprised to find, however, on how many points De +Vaux was susceptible of pain. The mention of his own father affected +him as strongly as the mention of the gipsy; and many a casual word, +which seemed in itself to be innocent or kind, made him shrink as if +some one had laid a rough hand upon his wound. Beginning at length to +fear that his conversation was doing his friend more harm than good, +Manners rose, adding, "And now, my dear De Vaux, I think I have +remained as long with you as friendship can require, or gallantry +permit, considering that there is a fair lady, very dear to you, +watching anxiously till I shall return and tell her that I have seen +you with my own eyes, and that you are living, not dead; recovering, +not dying. The good people here, for various reasons, will not hear of +her coming to you to-day, but they assure me that to-morrow you will +be able to see her: so that I think I can then promise you a visit; +and hope to find that you have in the interval regained much of the +health and strength that you have lost." + +"I will not ask you to stay longer, Manners," said De Vaux; "for I am +too confident of my dear Marian's affection not to feel sure that the +tidings of my probable recovery will be the best consolation she can +receive; and tell her, Manners, I beg, that the only happiness I +anticipate in life and health is that of seeing her again." + +"I will tell her how happy it will make you," answered Manners; "but +without any of the melancholy adjuncts, if you please, De Vaux. I will +not spoil the best tidings I have had to tell for some time by such a +number of unpleasant negatives as you attach to them; and so, fare you +well for the present." + +"Manners, Manners," said the voice of De Vaux, ere his friend reached +the door, "there is one thing which I had forgot. Do not on any +account let Marian think that this wound which I have received was the +consequence of any intentional act of my own hand. Bid her be sure +that, whatever may have occurred, I was not fool enough or cruel +enough to her to think of such a thing. Explain to her the accident as +I dare say you must have heard it, and tell her that though they say +the pistol must have been cocked when I put it in my bosom, I have not +the slightest remembrance of its having been so." + +"I will tell her all," answered Manners; "but do not fancy that she +will ever dream that you did do it intentionally. If you were a +forlorn and solitary being like myself, destined to go through life in +single unblessedness, people might suspect you; but with so many ties +at present, and so much happiness to look forward to, you would be +worse than a madman to throw away, not only the crown of life, but all +the jewels with which fate has adorned it for you." + +De Vaux gave him a melancholy look, but only added, "You do not know +all, Manners!" and suffered him to depart. As he was crossing the hall +in search of some one who could inform him whether Sir William Ryder +was yet awake, he met the object of his search, booted and spurred, as +if returned from riding. "You keep your old habits, I see, Sir +William," said Manners, as they met. "You must have been up and out +full early, indeed." + +"Mr. Harley; remember, my dear colonel, Mr. Harley I am for the +present," replied the other. "I never sleep before one, nor after +five--a habit which was acquired in sorrow and in bitterness, but +which I would not now lose for half an empire. But have you seen our +poor friend?" + +"Yes, I have," answered Manners; "and find him better in body, at +least, than I had even hoped. In mind, however, he is very much +depressed; and without inquiring, or wishing to inquire, my dear sir, +into the connection which may exist between your affairs and his, +allow me to say, as some connection does certainly exist, that I am +sure whatever will sooth and quiet his mind will tend more than +anything to restore him to health. Whatever, on the contrary, +depresses him, as he now is, will not only greatly retard his +recovery, but may, I am afraid, have, remotely, very bad results upon +his constitution. I hope that I do not take too great a liberty with +your friendship," he added, seeing a cloud come upon his auditor's +brow. + +"Not in the least, Manners, not in the least," answered Sir William: +"I was only thinking what I could do to relieve the poor youth's mind. +I am afraid I somewhat mistook him, Manners, when I saw him with you +in America; I am afraid I did not half see the nobler and finer +qualities of his mind, concealed, as they were, under an exterior of +frivolous fastidiousness. But I can assure you, that anything on earth +I can do to set his mind at ease I will do; and I will go and assure +him thereof directly and solemnly." + +Manners detained him for a single moment, to borrow a horse, and to +explain the motives of his early departure for Morley House; and then +suffering him to proceed, in order to sooth and calm the mind of his +wounded friend, he himself took his way to Mrs. Falkland's, glad to +bear tidings to those who stood so much in need of them. + +Marian was watching at the window as he galloped up; and there was +something in the rapid pace at which he came, in the light and agile +motion with which he sprang to the ground, and flung the rein to +the servant, which spoke joyful tidings. Manners was soon in the +drawing-room; and the news he bore was not long in telling. He related +all that he had seen, and all that he had heard of her cousin's +accident and situation; and although we cannot deny that he softened a +little the pain he suffered, and the grief which seemed to oppress +him, Manners told her the truth, though he told it kindly. + +Marian's face was alternately the abode of smiles and tears during his +narrative, and during the manifold answers which he gave to her +questions, and again and again she thanked him for all his energetic +interest and feeling kindness, and prayed Heaven sincerely that De +Vaux and herself might have some opportunity of returning it as he +deserved. + +Manners only interrupted a conversation which was not without interest +to himself, and was so deeply interesting to her, in order to inquire +for her cousin, and to put many a question concerning Miss Falkland's +health, after the accident of the preceding night. He was still in +full career, when she herself entered, somewhat paler but not less gay +than ever; and although she declared, and persisted in the +declaration, that she was bound by every rule of propriety to fall in +love with the gipsy who had rescued her, and to tender him her hand +and heart, Manners felt sincerely rejoiced that Pharold had been the +person to come so opportunely to her aid. Isadore, indeed, as she +recollected one or two words which had been spoken on the preceding +evening, coloured more than once when Manners addressed her; but she +knew him to be a generous man, and she determined to trust to his +generosity for the result. + +Mrs. Falkland soon after joined the party; and the house of mourning +was changed into a house of joy. Nothing more remained but to write to +Lord Dewry, informing him of his son's safety; and this Manners +undertook and executed, keeping in mind the engagement he had come +under to Sir William Ryder, regarding the concealment of his name. A +servant was instantly despatched to Dewry Hall with the note: but on +reaching that place he found that the peer had returned early that +morning to Dimden, and thither he then bent his steps; but arrived too +late to give Lord Dewry even the option of visiting his son that +night. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Dimden Park--a spot which had been hated and avoided by Lord Dewry +ever since it fell into his possession, on account of its many +memories--some painful in themselves, some painful in their +associations--had, by this time, not alone been revisited by its +master, but had been occupied by him, with a part of his general +household, as if for the purpose of longer residence. Such a state of +things had been in no degree contemplated by the peer, either when +Manners left him, or when he himself terminated his conversation with +the gipsy boy who had become his prisoner; but another conversation +had succeeded with another person, to whose chamber we must now +follow. + +The first object of Lord Dewry being to get the gipsy Pharold into his +power--trusting to his previously arranged schemes to work his will +with him when he had him there--it was natural that he should turn his +whole efforts to accomplish his capture before he attended to anything +else. The moment, however, that all the means had been employed for +that purpose which circumstances permitted, his attention instantly +returned to the plans which he had concerted in order to prove the +object of his hatred and his fear guilty of the crime imputed to him, +when he should be ultimately taken. The execution of these plans +materially depended upon Sir Roger Millington; and for his safety and +recovery the peer's next aspirations were consequently raised. As +soon, then, as he had dismissed the affair of the boy, and had seen +the treacherous scoundrel he thought fit to employ for the purpose of +inveigling the gipsy to his destruction set out upon his errand, Lord +Dewry turned his steps towards the chamber of the wounded man, +sincerely grieved for the accident which had happened to him, and most +anxious concerning its ultimate result. Calculating, however, with +nice acumen, the irritable selfishness of sick people, he trusted not +to the personal vexation which he really felt to give his air and +countenance the appearance of grief and sympathy; but as he walked +slowly up the stairs, he thought over every point of the part he was +to play, in order to cover his individual motives from the eye of the +wounded man, and make him believe that sincere interest in his fate +and sufferings was the sole emotion which affected his friend and +benefactor. + +At the door of the chamber to which Sir Roger had been conveyed, the +peer paused for a moment; and then laying his hand upon the lock, +turned it, and entered with as noiseless a step as possible. The +windows were darkened; but there was still enough light in the room +for the eye to distinguish the table covered with surgical instruments +and bloody bandages, and all those appliances and means for saving +life which man so strangely combines with the most skilful and +persevering activity in taking it. There was the bed, too, and the +half-drawn curtains, and the gentleman in black, sitting by the +bolster, while a young prim assistant walked about on tiptoe, for the +soothing dose or the cooling drink. A deep groan was sounding through +the room as the peer entered; and although he was, and always had +been, a man of nerve, without any corporal terror at the thought +either of pain or death, there was something in that sound, and all +the accessory circumstances around, that made a sort of shudder pass +over his frame. It were difficult to guess in what feelings that +shudder took its rise. It might be, alone, the natural repugnance of +the human heart to anguish and dissolution--it might be that he +thought of his son--it might be that he remembered his brother, for +there were chords of association between the fate of each, and the +situation of the man he came to visit, which, like the strings of the +Eolian harp, might well be moved to a thousand vague and melancholy +sounds by the slightest breath that stirred them. + +He advanced, however, lightly towards the bed, and stood by the chair, +whence the surgeon rose as he approached, ere the wounded man was +aware of his presence. Sir Roger Millington was lying on his left +side, with his face turned away, and his right hand cast over the +bed-clothes; and it was not difficult, from the slow clenching of +his hand, and the rocking motion of his head, to see the intense +agony he suffered. The peer paused, and gazed for a moment with +some emotion--not, indeed, without a mingling of better +feelings--compassion, and sympathy, and disinterested grief, such as +he had not known for many years. It was better than all the acting in +the world; and when Sir Roger, whom no persuasion of the surgeon could +induce to lie still, turned round with the quick and irritable +movement of high fever and excessive pain, he saw the peer standing by +him, with an expression of sincere sorrow which could not be mistaken. + +A groan and a fearful contortion followed the change of position; but +when the first agony was over, he looked pleased to see the +countenance of Lord Dewry; and said, in a voice wonderfully strong and +firm, considering his situation, "Your lordship is very kind--I am +badly hurt, I am afraid--those accursed gipsies took too good an +aim--damn me, if I do not think the shot must have been red hot, it +gives one such torture. I have been wounded before, but never felt +anything like this. Do you think I shall die, my lord, ey?" + +"Heaven forbid," cried the peer, sitting down; "on the contrary, I +trust the very pain you suffer evinces that you are in no danger; for +I have always heard that mortal wounds are generally the least +painful. Is it not so, Mr. Swainstone?" + +"Yes, exactly so, my lord," replied the surgeon, who would probably +have confirmed anything on earth that the peer said to sooth his +patient. "I had told the gentleman so before your lordship arrived." + +"You never told me so," cried Sir Roger, looking up at him angrily. + +"Yes, indeed, sir, I told you that I hoped and trusted you would +recover," answered the surgeon; "and one of my reasons for thinking so +was the very pain you suffer; for, as his lordship very justly and +wisely observes, wounds which--" + +"But that damned parson," cried Sir Roger, "told me I should certainly +die--a foul-mouthed, old, hooded crow!" + +"What parson?" demanded the peer, in some surprise and dismay at the +very idea of Sir Roger Millington being brought in contact in his +dying hours with any one who might lead him on to dangerous +disclosures; "what parson does he mean?" + +"Oh, only good Dr. Edwards, my lord, the rector," answered the +surgeon. "He came to give the gentleman religious consolation; but he +did not exactly say that he would certainly die. He said that he would +certainly die at some time; and that even, if he were spared at +present, it would be better for him to turn his thoughts to serious +things, so that, if he recovered, the wound might prove salutary to +his mind at least." + +"Yes, yes; but he thought, and he meant me to think, too," cried Sir +Roger, "that I was dying, and that I could not recover. I knew well +enough what he meant--the canting old crow; but I'll live, curse me if +I do not, if it be but to pay those hellish gipsies for this torture +to which they have put me. I beg your pardon, my lord, for being +somewhat violent; but I am in agony, perfect agony." + +"I grieve most deeply and sincerely, my dear friend, to see you suffer +so much," answered the peer; "and I will take care that no such +fanatical irritation be intruded upon you again. Dr. Edwards is a very +good and well-intentioned man, I dare say; but I will not have a sick +and wounded friend tormented for any rector on the face of the earth. +In the mean time, however, I trust that this state of anguish is not +likely to be of long endurance. What do you think, Mr. Swainstone? Can +nothing be done to alleviate it?" + +"I have done as much as I could, my lord, to effect that purpose," +answered the surgeon, with a very significant shrug of the shoulders; +"and I doubt not, in a few hours, the gentleman will feel the pain +begin to subside." + +"That is the best news I have heard from you yet, doctor," said the +wounded man. "But do you not think you can extract the ball? I do not +believe I shall be easier as long as that remains in me, burning like +a coal." + +"O yes, you will," answered the surgeon; "and it is necessary to let +the first irritation subside, before I make the attempt again. Were I +to try it now, it might increase all you suffer, and prolong it, +perhaps, for many hours." + +"Then you shall not touch it, depend upon that," cried Sir Roger; "I +suffer quite enough already." + +"In the mean time, Mr. Swainstone," demanded the peer, "let me inquire +whether a little quiet conversation with a friend is likely to injure +your patient; for I would even deny myself the pleasure of remaining +with him, though I much desire it, if you thought it would prove in +any degree hurtful." + +"Not in the least, my lord," answered the surgeon; "a little cheerful +and interesting conversation, such as your lordship's must always be, +would, most likely, withdraw his mind from himself, and rather do him +good than otherwise." + +"Then I will relieve you in your attendance upon him for half an +hour," rejoined the peer: "and your assistant can wait in the next +room, in case Sir Roger may want any surgical aid. But, remember," he +added, in a louder tone, "in case I do not see you again, I beseech +you to give your whole time and attention up to my friend here, and +shall esteem it the greatest favour that any one can confer upon me, +if you bring him safely and speedily through this unfortunate affair." + +The surgeon bowed; and promising to do his best, proceeded to quit the +apartment with his assistant. The peer then, suddenly seeming to +remember something, followed into the anteroom, and, closing the door, +beckoned him back. "I wish to know, Mr. Swainstone," he said, in a low +but emphatic tone, "your real opinion of my friend's case. You said +just now that the pain would subside in a few hours: do you think that +likely to be really the case? for I see that you have spoken under +some restraint." + +"It will certainly be the case, my lord," replied the surgeon, +gravely; "but only from the coming on of mortification, which cannot +be long ere it occurs." + +"Good God! then you think he will die?" cried the peer, in real alarm. + +"I do think so, my lord," answered the surgeon, "without there +existing in my mind one hope of being able to prevent it. The fact is +this, my lord: the ball entered his right side; and passing directly +through the muscles of the back, was only stopped by the articulations +of the ribs and the vertebrae, both of which have been so much +fractured and injured, that there is neither any possibility of +extracting the ball, nor any chance of its remaining there innocuous, +as is sometimes the case." + +"Then how long do you think life may be protracted?" asked the peer, +anxiously. + +"It is impossible to say to a day or two, my lord," answered the +surgeon. "It may be over in a week; and, on the contrary, he may +linger ten days or a fortnight." + +"Then you do not think that there is any chance of immediate +dissolution?" demanded Lord Dewry. + +"None, none whatever, my lord," replied the surgeon. "All hemorrhage +has ceased long. First mortification will ensue, and then--" + +"Spare me the description," said the peer; "but tell me, in case of +its being necessary to transact any business of importance with this +unfortunate gentleman, when do you think will be the moment in which +it can best be done?" + +"Why, I should say, in the beginning of the mortification," the +surgeon replied. "All his faculties will be clear and active, and the +great bodily pain which he is now suffering will have abated." + +"Well then, Mr. Swainstone," rejoined Lord Dewry, "I shall trust you +to give me notice of the precise moment at which you judge it +expedient that this poor gentleman's declaration, on oath, regarding +the transactions in which he has suffered, should be taken down. At +the same time, let me caution you not to alarm him, or suffer him to +be alarmed, by the thought of death; but keep his spirits up, as far +as possible, till it shall become absolutely necessary to let him know +that all hope is past." + +Thus saying, the peer returned into the room of the wounded man; and +the surgeon withdrew, wondering who Sir Roger Millington could be, +towards whom the cold and proud Lord Dewry displayed so much courtesy +and warm regard. + +The peer, in the meantime, approached the bed of the sufferer with a +more cheerful countenance; and assured him, in answer to some rather +anxious questions, that the real opinion of the surgeon was more +favourable than he had even expected. "I have given orders, too," +added Lord Dewry, "that no more fanatics be admitted to you. There are +a crowd of those weak fools about the country, who haunt sick-rooms; +and very often, by depressing the mind and spirits, cause those +persons to die who would otherwise have recovered." + +"Oh, I'll not die for any of them," answered Sir Roger; "I'll live to +have revenge on those gipsies. They marked me out especially; and I +will live long enough to show that, though I was so badly hurt, I +could mark them too, and remember them to their cost." + +"Did you see Pharold, then, among them?" demanded the peer, eagerly. +"Was it he who fired the shot?" + +"I saw Pharold plainly," answered Sir Roger; "and can swear that he +was among them. So can the man that held me up in his arms, after I +was wounded; for he pointed him out to me, and I will swear to him +anywhere." + +Joy glistened in the eyes of the peer while he listened. He had had +doubts, he had had apprehensions, lest the testimony of his keeper +against the gipsy should remain unsupported by other authority; and he +had not left unremarked Harvey's implication that some of the other +persons present differed with him in their account of the affair. But +the assertion of Sir Roger Millington was conclusive; as he well knew, +from his own former experience as a lawyer, what an effect the dying +declaration of a murdered person always has upon a jury. + +During the last twenty-four hours he had sometimes doubted whether he +had or had not somewhat too intricately complicated his plans, in his +eagerness to snatch at every thing which gave an additional chance of +security; but now he congratulated himself that he had acted as he had +done, and fancied that if he confidently and boldly pursued them, his +mind was sufficiently acute to guide each of the schemes he had +engaged in to the same great end and object,--the ensuring his own +security by crushing those who could destroy it. + +He now felt armed at all points. By the transactions of the preceding +day he could prove the impossibility of his having committed the crime +which he believed that Pharold would cast back in his teeth; and from +the events of the preceding night he felt secure that if the gipsy +should even be cleared of the murder of his brother and of his son, +the last charge, in regard to the violence in Dimden Park, would be +made good against him, and lay his dangerous lips in the silence of +the grave. But in his eagerness to secure this advantage beyond the +power of fate, Lord Dewry somewhat outran discretion. Without giving +either himself or Sir Roger time to pause, he exclaimed, eagerly, +"Will it not be better, my dear Sir Roger, at once to make a +declaration, upon oath, of your recollections concerning the affair of +last night?" + +Sir Roger Millington looked at him suspiciously. "Do you think me +dying, or do you not. Lord Dewry?" he demanded; "for if I am not +dying, but likely to recover, I shall have plenty of time to make the +declaration when I am not in such pain, or give the _vivâ voce_ +evidence, which is much better in a court of justice. So let me know +the truth, my lord." + +Lord Dewry saw that it was in vain to hope he would make the +declaration he desired unless he believed himself to be dying; but the +peer had a keen knowledge of human nature, and saw all the dangers +which would attend the disclosure of his real state to Sir Roger +Millington. He knew that men who have confronted the chance of death a +thousand times, and, if one may use the expression, have bearded "the +lean, abhorred monster" in his most angry moods, will writhe and +flutter like a scared bird when he has got them in his inevitable +grasp, and when they know that they cannot escape. He knew that these +are the moments "that make cowards of us all;" and he feared lest some +lingering notions of crime, and repentance, and another world should +tempt Sir Roger Millington to an endeavour towards atoning past +errors, by the confession of all those evil designs which were still +in their passage between the past and the future, between the +revocable and the irretrievable; and he would not have risked the +chance for a world. He saw, however, that he had already created a +doubt which might be dangerous; but, he extricated himself +dexterously. + +"God forbid, my dear Millington," he said, "that anything should be +even likely to prevent your giving evidence when the trial of these +gipsies comes on; but my only reason for wishing you to make the +declaration was, that it might be produced at once before the +magistrates, whom I shall request to meet here to-morrow or the day +after, either to take measures for pursuing the villains vigorously, +if they have not been arrested before that time, or to investigate the +matter if they have, which I trust may be the case, as I have already +set half the county on their track. Now what I wish is, that this +Pharold may be committed directly; and you know that among a number of +country magistrates there is always some prating, troublesome fellow, +who throws difficulties in the way; and in this instance, it must be +remembered, some of the people did not recognise Pharold, so that your +evidence is of vital importance." + +"Let them come to me," said Sir Roger, vehemently--"let them come to +me, and I will give such evidence as would hang him half a dozen times +over. I should like to be but a quarter of an hour in the same room +with the scoundrel with two good small-swords. Only to think, my lord, +of me--who have made the daylight shine through many a pretty man as +one would wish to see--being hurt in this way by a stinking yellow fox +of a gipsy, that is only fit to be hunted down by a good pack of +hounds!" + +"I trust we shall catch him," said the peer, who saw that it was vain +to press the wounded man any further upon the subject of the +declaration. + +"Catch him!" cried Sir Roger, who was working himself up into a state +of vehement excitement--"catch him! you cannot miss catching him, if +you take proper means. By Jupiter, if you miss him, I'll undertake, +for a small sum, to catch him myself as soon as I am well; or rather, +I should say, catch the whole of them, for curse me if I know which of +them it was that fired the shot." + +"Indeed!" cried Lord Dewry; "I am sorry for that; I thought you were +certain it was Pharold." + +"I daresay it was," answered the knight, "for I saw him standing in +front, when they picked me up. It was either he himself or a young +fellow who stood near, and who bullied a great deal beforehand. But as +those that bully never act, I dare say it was Pharold himself." + +"I wish to heaven your recollection would enable you to swear that it +was Pharold," said the peer in a low but distinct voice. + +"Oh, I can swear that it was he who did it, to the best of my belief," +answered Sir Roger, who, notwithstanding all his sufferings, could not +but feel, that, in the peer, he had obtained a friend whom it might be +inexpedient to lose, and whose care and attention, under his existing +circumstances, might well make some impression upon him, although he +even did doubt the motives which produced such conduct--"I can swear +it was he who did it, to the best of my belief," he repeated, with +some emphasis on the last words; and then added, in the peevish tone +of pain, "You seem to have a goodly dislike towards this Pharold, my +lord." + +The peer did not wish, of course, that his personal hatred to Pharold +should be too apparent, even to those whom he employed as tools; but +he still less wished that that personal hatred should be so far +without plausible motive as to lead men to turn their thoughts towards +remote causes, in order to seek out some probable reason for such +persisting enmity. Nor, indeed, was a sufficient motive wanting; for +the terrible news he had heard the night before from Colonel Manners +had awakened feelings towards the gipsy which, though blending with +ancient hatred, were yet sufficiently powerful in themselves to stand +forth, even in his own mind, as the great incentive to his designs +against Pharold, as one great stream, joining others, mingles its +waters with theirs, and gives its name to all. + +"I have good cause to hate him," he said, bending down over the +wounded man, with the expression of all his dark and bitter feelings +frowning unrestrained upon his brow--"I have good cause to hate him, +Sir Roger--judge if I have not, when I tell you that his hand has not +only been dipped in my brother's blood, but also in the blood of my +only son." + +He spoke in a low and agitated voice: but Sir Roger caught his meaning +distinctly; and, with an involuntary movement of real horror, started +up upon his elbow. He fell back again instantly, with a groan of +agony; and the big drops rolled from his forehead. The peer paused for +a few minutes, seeing that the sudden movement had renewed all the +sufferings of the wounded man: but he had yet much more to say, and +when the knight had in some degree recovered, he began again with +expressions of sympathy and kindness:--"I am sorry to see you suffer +so terribly," he said: "you seemed easier just now; and I was in hopes +that the change for the better, which the surgeon prognosticated, was +already coming on." + +"I was better, I was better," said the knight, peevishly; "but that +cursed start that you made me give, by telling me about your son, has +torn me all to pieces again. You should not tell one such things so +hastily." + +"Were my son out of the question," replied Lord Dewry, with every +appearance of frankness and sincerity--"had this Pharold never shed +one drop of my kindred blood, I would pursue him and his tribe to the +last man, for what they have made you suffer." + +There is no calculating, however, the turns which the irritability of +sickness will take; and whether Lord Dewry overcharged the expression +of his regard or not, Sir Roger murmured to himself, in a tone too +indistinct for the peer to distinguish his words,--"I dare say you +think so, now that you have your own purposes to answer too--I am not +to be blinded. Well, my lord," he continued aloud, somewhat +apprehensive, perhaps, that the peer's present kindness might render +him the obliged person, instead of the conferer of the obligation, and +thus deprive him of many a profitable claim for the future--"well, my +lord. I am very much obliged to you for your kindness; but I trust you +will not allow my having suffered, in an attempt to serve you, so +greatly as to render me for the time incapable of doing all that I +could wish--I hope that you will not allow this fact, I say, to alter +your lordship's kind intentions in my favour." + +The peer understood very clearly, although Sir Roger was rendered +peevish and somewhat imprudent by pain and sickness, yet that with +habitual rapacity he now wished to tie him down to the fulfilment of +all that had been promised on the former evening, lest the opportunity +should slip, and the gipsy be convicted of other crimes by other +means. Confiding, however, in the assurance of the surgeon, that the +unhappy knight must die, he felt that he could be liberal as the air +in promises, without any dangerous result; and he therefore replied at +once, "Fear not, fear not, Sir Roger; not only will I do all that I +said, when you were first kind enough to give me your assistance, but +it shall not be my fault if I do not find means to do more. Set your +mind, therefore, at ease upon the subject, and do not allow any +thoughts for the future to give you apprehension, or delay your +recovery. Since, however, you have spoken of the subject yourself, +there are some things in those papers which we were looking over last +night which I should much like to see again. Have you them here?" + +Sir Roger, however, was not to be deceived; and his present views were +directly opposed to those which he perceived or suspected in his noble +companion. In the first arrangement of the affair, indeed, when he had +been suddenly raised from apprehensions of the most gnawing want to +hopes of competence and ease, when he believed that the peer could not +ultimately act without him, and that he had it always in his power to +enforce, by a few gentle hints of publicity, the performance of all +that had been promised, he would have given the papers out of his own +hands without fear. Under those circumstances, too, the peer had +thought it better that the knight should keep them, that their +production might take place more naturally. + +Now, however, the position of each was changed. Lord Dewry looked upon +Sir Roger as a dying man, whose life could not be protracted to the +completion of all they designed, and who might be worked upon by the +fear of death, or the irritability of sickness, to take a very +different view of the life he was leaving, from that which he had +hitherto entertained. Sir Roger, on his part, saw that, tied down to a +bed of pain, through, a long and tedious convalescence, no opportunity +could possibly be afforded him of superintending and directing the +proceeding in which he had been engaged; and, therefore, that his +great hold upon the peer was to be found in the papers which they had +altered together. Both, therefore, wished to possess them; and Sir +Roger, in the apparently casual question of Lord Dewry, perceived at +once the object he proposed. "No, my lord," he answered, somewhat +abruptly, "I have them not with me; I left them at your house, at +Dewry Hall. I wish to God I had them with me." + +The peer was somewhat startled by the eagerness of his tone; for it is +impossible for men to confederate in villany without being more or +less suspicious of each other. "Cannot I find them for you. Sir +Roger?" he demanded. "If you will intrust me with the key of your +valise, I will bring them over with me to-morrow." + +A grim smile checkered the expression of pain on the countenance of +the wounded man, and he replied, "Your lordship is very good; but as I +shall require a number of things contained in my valise, I think it +would be better if your lordship were to have the goodness to order +some of your servants to send me over every thing which I left in the +apartment assigned me at Dewry Hall." + +"Certainly, certainly," answered the peer, who saw that he must press +the matter no farther--"certainly, it shall be done this very night. +But do you not think, Sir Roger," he continued, with renewed +apprehension lest the unhappy man, if left unwatched by his own eye, +should discover his real situation, and be persuaded to make +inconvenient confessions--"do you not think, Sir Roger, that you +yourself might bear removal to the hall? I do not like your remaining +in this damp old house, which has not been inhabited for many years, +and in which there is but little that can render you comfortable, +during your convalescence. If you could bear the motion--" + +"Impossible, my lord," replied Sir Roger sharply; "I wonder you do not +see that I can bear no motion at all. This place will do very well: I +have lain in worse quarters; and if you will order my valise to be +sent, it is all I want. To tell the truth," he added, "I am somewhat +tired, and am afraid that to speak much more would injure me." + +"Then far be it from me," replied the peer, "to prolong our +conversation, Sir Roger. I shall take care that everything that +circumstances admit be done for your accommodation, and that you be +not again teased by our fanatical rector, as you were this morning." + +There was a degree of anger in his tone which, had it not been +repressed by many a potent consideration, might have flashed forth in +a very different manner; but it was still sufficiently perceptible to +make the wounded man add some deprecatory sentences, which the peer +received in good part, and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Sir +Roger Millington placed his hand over his eyes, and gave way to +thoughts of a very mixed, but all of a melancholy character. + +"His compassion and his regard," he thought, his mind turning to the +crafty man who had just left him--"his compassion and his regard are +all false and affected, that is clear enough. To think of his wishing +to move me fourteen or fifteen miles in this terrible state! I should +like to know what his object is. He has some deep object, beyond +doubt. Can he be afraid of my betraying him? Perhaps he may. His +schemes are villanous ones enough, that is certain: but he knows that +if I were to peach, I should lose the annuity from him, and get +nothing from any one else; so he cannot be afraid of that." Then came +a long interval of confused and rambling speculations on the motives +of the peer, which had something of delirium in their vague and +unconnected whirl; but then a more terrible image rose before the mind +of the sick man. "Can he think me dying?" he asked himself. "Can the +surgeon have told him that I am dying? No, I won't believe it. I feel +as strong as ever, notwithstanding all this pain! I cannot be dying! +No, no, I will live to revenge myself upon those cursed gipsies. +Doctor," he continued aloud, as the surgeon now re-entered the room, +"are you sure that you are not deceiving me about my condition? Are +you sure that I am not in danger?" + +The surgeon was a good but an easy-tempered man; not indifferent to +religion; but still not very certain, at all times, in regard to the +precise line of conduct which it dictated. Although he thought it +wrong, as a general principle, to depress the spirits of a patient, by +telling him his danger, yet he had conceived that the clergyman had +done but his duty, as a man of religion, in letting the wounded knight +know what he, as a medical man, had thought it his duty to conceal. +The arguments and injunctions of the peer, however, coming in support +of his own opinion, he maintained his first assertion to Sir Roger, +telling him that, although it was impossible to answer for +contingencies, and that he could not exactly tell what might be the +ultimate result of his wound till he had examined it on the following +day, yet he saw no reason whatever to apprehend any _immediate_ +danger. + +With this assurance Sir Roger satisfied himself, and passed a feverish +and painful night, in murmurs at the agony he suffered, in curses and +imprecations upon the whole race of gipsies, and in vague speculations +upon the motives and views of Lord Dewry, in his conduct of that +morning. At times his mind seemed to ramble a little; and he would +mutter vague sentences, referring to many a different object, which +would excite both the attention and wonder of the medical man, and +make him believe that his patient wanted the aid of religion more than +he had imagined at first. When spoken to, however, his replies became +instantly clear and precise, and all his faculties appeared again as +perfect as ever. + +In the mean while, the peer, after leaving such directions as the +circumstances and his own particular plans required, placed himself +once more in his carriage, and returned to his usual abode; but he +determined that on no consideration should the wounded man be left +longer in Dimden House without his presence. "Those meddling priests," +he thought, "think themselves privileged to obtrude and to persevere +in their obtrusion; but I do not think the rector will presume to set +his foot within the doors of Dimden while I am there, without my +especial desire; and if he do, he shall soon be disposed of. I dare +say, however, that Sir Roger himself said enough to prevent his speedy +return; but that surgeon, that Swainstone, is a weak fellow, and I +will trust nothing to circumstances." + +There were other things, however, to be accomplished, which required +no small skill and cunning to bring about; but the mind of Lord Dewry +was all activity and eagerness, now that the strife had actually +commenced, and that he felt that the struggle between him and the only +witness of the crime he had committed was so far advanced that it +could only end in the destruction of one or the other. There was no +more hesitation now--there was no more fear or doubt--there was none +of that wavering between many feelings and many emotions. He had +plunged in, and he was resolved to make his way through. The news of +his son's death had decided him; and the burning longing for revenge +went hand in hand with all his other motives. He had hesitated at the +first step; but that irretrievable first step was now taken, and he +did not regret it. He had chosen his path; he had begun the contest, +and his whole thoughts and mind were bent to take advantage of every +circumstance in order to terminate it in his own favour. + +Again and again, as the carriage rolled on, he revolved in his own +mind the various means that could be used to induce the dying man to +make such a declaration of what he had witnessed during the affray in +Dimden Park as would give an irresistible grasp of Pharold; and yet +how accomplish this purpose without letting Sir Roger know that he was +dying, and that the crimes to which he was making himself a party +would soon appear in the dreadful account against his disembodied +spirit? It was a difficult task, and yet he thought he could +accomplish it, if he were for any long time present in the knight's +sick-room; but on another point he saw, and saw with a glow of +triumph, that he could turn the very refusal of the papers, which for +a moment he had considered as detrimental, to the very best account. + +Although it was late, and he had not dined, yet he ordered the +carriage, ere it proceeded home, to pass through the neighbouring +village, and stop at the vicarage. It was an honour which the proud, +cold, irreverent peer had seldom paid to the poor minister of a +religion that condemned him; and with some surprise the vicar beheld +him enter his little study. But the struggle in which he was engaged, +like all other struggles of base interest, whether they be for the +purposes of political ambition or of private avarice, was one that +mightily tamed pride, and rendered coldness warm and affable. He was +anxious to buy golden opinions from all sorts of men: and although he +had a further purpose at present in view, he addressed the clergyman +with that sort of courtesy which his situation prompted him to use +towards every one whose word might be of value in the opinion of the +world. + +"My dear sir," he said, "I come to you for the purpose of requesting a +favour." The vicar, who neither loved nor approved the man who spoke +to him, answered coldly that he should be happy to do any thing to +serve his lordship; and the peer proceeded to explain. + +"The fact is," he said, "that last night, in a terrible deer-stealing +affray, which took place at Dimden, a poor friend of mine was severely +wounded, and is not expected to live from hour to hour. Among his +baggage, which remains here at the hall, he tells me that there are +papers of great importance; and, indeed, he wished me to bring them to +him; but as his mind is not itself, and his faculties wander from time +to time, I do not conceive I should be justified in placing papers of +importance at his disposal. At the same time, of course, I cannot +presume to examine them, and I wish much to seal them up in your +presence, if you have time to get into my carriage with me, and +accompany me to the hall. It is for this purpose that I have now +called here as I passed from Dimden on my way home." + +The vicar thought that the matter might have been more simply +arranged; but as there was nothing in the peer's request which was +unreasonable, he consented to accompany him; and in few minutes they +were at the door of the mansion. Leaving the cook to fret over his +delayed ragouts, the peer instantly ordered sealing-wax and lights to +be brought; and, accompanied by the clergyman, proceeded to the +apartments which Sir Roger Millington had occupied for so short a +time, and in which various articles of apparel were still lying about. +The valise, however, firmly locked, was in one corner of the room; and +what was still more pleasing in the sight of the peer, there appeared +on one of the tables a small portable letter-case, in which, beyond +all doubt, the knight had placed the papers which were of so much +consequence to Lord Dewry. + +Lord Dewry took the wax, and bidding the servant who brought it hold +the taper, he sealed first the letter-case, and then the valise, and +requested the vicar to do the same with his own seal. "I am induced," +he said, in a frank tone, "to take all these precautions, by a +conversation which I had with my poor friend this morning, in which he +spoke of these things as of the most vital importance. It might be the +mere rambling of delirium, but it might be more correct; and, +therefore, as this caution costs me nothing but the wax, and you, my +dear sir, nothing but the loss of a few minutes' time--though I know +your time is valuable--I thought it best not to neglect a line of +conduct, which I might regret not having pursued hereafter." + +"I think your lordship is quite right," replied the vicar, placing his +seal also on the cases. "In matters of worldly prudence, and in our +religious duties, where there is any thing to be done which may +produce good, and cannot produce evil, to neglect it is, in the one +case, a folly, and in the other, a sin." + +The peer repressed the sneer that began to curl his lip; and, perhaps, +felt at his heart that the good man's words were true, though through +life he had neglected the rule they taught. He then bade the servant +close up the apartment, and lock the door, till the death of the +unhappy knight should render the things that it contained the property +of others; and descending the stairs with the vicar, he begged that he +would favour him by remaining to dinner, which was about to be placed +upon the table. The clergyman replied that he had long dined; and in +answer to the offer of the peer's carriage to take him back to the +vicarage, he answered that he would rather walk. + +"He is stern and repulsive!" thought the peer as the clergyman left +him: but there was still a lingering gleam of better feeling, which +occasionally lighted up his darkened heart, and he added, almost +instantly, and aloud; "but he is loved by the poor, and he is a good +man; and I would rather have such a one near me than a pampered +voluptuary." + +"Sir!" said the servant, who was standing by. + +"Pshaw! nothing!" replied the peer, and walked back to his +dressing-room. + +Early the next morning he returned to Dimden, where he received, as we +have seen, the tidings which Colonel Manners sent him of the security +of his son, which, though it poured some balm into his heart, came too +late to effect any change in his purposes against the gipsy. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +"The time was," thought the gipsy, as he climbed the hills once +more, after leaving Colonel Manners at the house of Sir William +Ryder,--"the time was when these limbs would have undertaken double +the toil that they have undergone this day, as a matter of sport. But +now they are weary and faint, like those of some sickly dweller in +cities--of some slave of effeminate and enfeebling luxury. Age is +upon me: the breaker of the strong sinew--the softener of the hard +muscle--the destroyer of vigour, activity, and power has laid upon me +that heavy hand, which shall press me down into the grave. But it +matters not--it matters not. I have outlived my time; I have changed, +and the things around me have changed also; but we have not changed in +the same way. They have sprung up, new and young, while I have grown +weary and old; and, in the midst of the world, I am like a withered +leaf of the last year among the green fresh foliage of the spring. It +is time that I should fall from the bough, and give place to brighter +things." + +As he thus thought, whether from corporal weariness, or from the +listlessness of the dark melancholy which oppressed him, he turned +from the high-road into the first plantation that he met with; and +without such care for personal comfort as even a gipsy usually takes, +cast himself down under the trees, and sought to refresh himself by +sleep. Gloomy ideas, however, still pursued him long; and, with the +superstitious imaginations of his tribe heightening the universal +propensity to superstition in our nature, he fancied that the +melancholy which disappointment, and anxiety, and difficulty, and +failure, had produced, was but some supernatural warning of his +approaching fate. The bravest, the wisest, the best, as well as the +most hardened and the most skeptical, have felt such presentiments, +and have believed them; and very often, also, either by the desponding +inactivity of such belief, or by rash struggles to prove that they did +not believe, have brought about the fulfilment of that which +originally was but a dream. + +Sleep, however, came at length; and it was daylight the next morning +ere the gipsy awoke. He rose refreshed; and his dark visions, perhaps, +would have vanished, if he would have let them: but there is nothing +to which one so fondly clings as superstition; and to have cast from +him as untrue a presentiment in which he had once put faith, Pharold +would have held as treason to the creed of his people. He rose, then; +and, pursuing the paths through the plantations and the woods, +avoiding all public ways, and never venturing farther from the covert +than to follow the faintly-marked track through some small solitary +meadow, he mounted the remaining hills, and bent his steps towards the +thick wood in which he had left his companions, revolving, as he went, +what might be the probable fate of those to whom he had so +perseveringly clung, when he, himself, should be no more. + +He found the other gipsies all on foot, and busied about the various +little cares of a fresh day, with the light and careless glee of a +people to whom the sorrows of the past week are as a half-forgotten +tradition. The old were talking and laughing at the entrances of +their tents, the young were sporting together by the stream, and the +middle-aged were employed in mending this or that which had gone wrong +about their carts and baggage, and whistling as lightly at their work +as if there were no such thing as grief in all the world. + +"And thus will it be," thought Pharold, as he approached--"thus will +it be with them all, ere I am a week beneath the earth. But it matters +not, it matters not. So be it. Why should I wish tears shed or hearts +bruised for such a thing as I am?" + +He believed that he did not wish it; yet where is the man so steeled +by nature or philosophy as to look forward to the grave, and not to +hope that some kind bosom will sigh, some gentle eye give a tear to +his memory when he is gone? and though Pharold believed that he did +not wish it, he deceived himself. At the door of his own tent sat she +on whom, in this his latter day, he had bestowed the better part of +all his feelings; whom he loved, at once, with the tenderness of a +father and the tenderness of a husband,--a union of feelings that +never yet produced aught but sorrow, for it never can be returned in +the fulness of its own intensity. + +She was looking lovelier, too, than ever he had seen her; and though, +heaven knows, her beauty owed but little to richness of dress, yet +there was a something of taste and elegance in her attire, rude as it +was in quality, that pleased the eye of one who had acquired a +knowledge of what constitutes beauty in other times and circumstances. +She had twined a bright red handkerchief through the profuse masses of +her jetty black hair, and had brought a single fold partly across her +broad clear forehead. Her full round arms were bare up to the +shoulders; and, as if in sport, she had cast her red mantle round her, +like the plaid of a Scottish shepherd, contrasting strongly, but +finely, with the drapery of a blue gown beneath. Her head was bent +like the beautiful head of Hagar, by Correggio; and her dark eyes, +their long lashes resting on her sunny cheek, were cast down, well +pleased, upon one of the children of the tribe, who, leaning on her +knees, was playing with the silver ring that circled one of the taper +fingers of her small brown hand. + +Lena did not hear the approach of any one till Pharold was within +fifty paces; but the moment his well-known step met her ear, she +started up and ran to meet him, with smiles that were, perhaps, the +brighter because she felt that she had something to atone for, weighty +enough to be concealed, and yet not to oppress her very heavily. +Pharold pressed her to his bosom; and whatever he might try to +believe, he felt--felt to his heart's inmost core--that there was at +least one person on the earth that he should wish to remember him, +after the stream of time had washed away his memory from the hearts of +others. + +He gave but one moment to tenderness, however; and the next, turning +to the rest of the gipsies, he inquired, "What news of the boy?" The +old woman was instantly called from one of the tents, and came +willingly enough to make her report to Pharold, though she grumbled +audibly all the way at being hurried, and at such tasks being put upon +her at her years. + +"Well, Pharold, I have done your bidding," she said, in a tone both +cajoling and self-important--"I have done your bidding, and have seen +the lad. Poor fellow, his is a hard case, indeed; and such a fine, +handsome boy, too, and so happy a one as he used to be--" + +"But what said he, woman?" interrupted Pharold, sternly. "Keep your +praises of him till he be here to hear them, and thank you for them; +for, doubtless, he is the only person who will do so. Tell me what he +said of his situation." + +"What he said!" replied the beldam; "why, what should he say, but that +if he be not got out to-morrow night--that is, this night that is +coming,--he will be sent away to the county jail, and hanged for the +murder of that fellow that is dying or dead up at the house? That's +what he said." + +"But did he say how he was to be delivered?" asked Pharold. "That is +the question." + +"Yes, to be sure he did," answered the old woman. "Do you think I went +there for nothing? He may be delivered easy enough, if folks like to +try. You know the windows of that there strong room, Pharold, well +enough, and I know them too, for I was in there for half a day or +more, when old Dick Hodges swore to my nimming his cocks and hens. He +lies in the churchyard now, the old blackguard, for that was in the +old lord's time. But, as I was saying, you know the windows well +enough. When they had you up at the house, and wanted to make a +gentleman of you, but found they had got hold of the wrong stuff--" + +Pharold's brow grew as dark as a thundercloud. "On, woman, on with +your story," he cried, "and turn not aside to babble of the past. What +have you or I to do with the past? You were the same then that you are +now, only that the vices and follies of youth have given place to the +vices and follies of age." + +"Well, well, I'm sure I'm telling my story as quickly as it can be +told," replied Mother Gray; "but as I was saying, you know the windows +well enough, and know that any one that is at all strong could knock +off two or three of the bars, and let the boy out in a minute. Any one +could do it." + +"Oh, but he said that nobody but Pharold must come," cried Lena, +eagerly, forgetting for the moment all caution, and then reddening, +like the morning sky, as soon as she had spoken. + +"Ha!" cried Pharold, turning his keen dark eyes full upon her, "said +he so? and how know you that he did say so, Lena? Ha!" + +The poor girl turned redder and redder, and looked as if she would +have sunk into the ground, while Pharold still gazed sternly upon her, +as if waiting an answer; but the ready cunning of the old woman came +to her aid with a lie. "How does she know that he said so?" cried the +beldam: "how should she know it but by my telling her?" + +Lena heard the falsehood more willingly than she would have spoken it, +though by her silence she made it her own, as much as if her lips had +given it utterance. + +"'Tis well, 'tis well," said Pharold, with a bitter smile curling his +lip,--"'tis well. So he said that none but Pharold should come? Now +tell me, woman, if your tongue be not so inured to falsehood that it +cannot speak truth,"--Lena burst into tears, and crept back to her +tent, while Pharold went on,--"tell me why this boy said that none but +Pharold must come, when any one else could remove the bars as well?" + +"Because he said that any one else who did not know the park might +make some mistake," replied the old woman, "and so ruin both himself +and poor Will." + +Pharold mused for a moment or two and then asked, "Was all quiet when +you went?" + +"As quiet as a dead sheep," answered the old woman, with a grin. + +"And no one stirring in the house or in the park?" demanded Pharold. + +"In the park all was dark and solitary," she replied: "I saw nothing +but some fine fat deer, and an owl that came skimming along before us +in the long walk; and on the outside of the house all was quiet enough +too: but there were two rooms above where there were lights; and I +waited awhile to see if they would be put out: but they were so long, +that I made up my mind, as all the rest was still, to creep on; and I +got close under the boy's window and called his name, and he told me +that the lights were in the room where the man is dying." + +Pharold mused again; but the man whom we have heard called by the name +of Brown, a powerful gipsy of about forty years of age, took a step +forward, and laid his hand kindly upon Pharold's arm. "I will tell you +what, Pharold," he said, "this seems to me a doubtful sort of +business. I do not think the boy would do any thing willingly to trap +one of us: but he may have been taken in somehow; and it does seem as +if there was something strange about it; so I'll tell you what, I'll +go, and the old woman shall show me the way." + +"No, Brown, no," said Pharold; "I would put upon no man what I was +afraid to do myself,--if I could be afraid to do any thing. If there +be no treachery, there is nothing to fear: and if there be treachery, +I should be base, indeed, if I let any of my people fall into what was +meant for myself. No, no, I will go: no man can avoid his hour, Brown. +We all know that when fate has fixed what is to happen, we may turn +which way we will, but we shall not escape it. I will go; and if there +be treachery, let it light upon the heads of those that devised it. It +is my fate--I will go." + +"No, no, Pharold," said the other; "let me go. To me they can do +nothing. Me they cannot charge with any crime, even unjustly; for I +was not in the park at all when the man was shot. You and all the +others were, though you went there to prevent it; and so, if they +catch you, they may send you to prison: but if they catch me, they can +do nothing with me. They can but say I came to speak with the poor boy +through the bars." + +Pharold, however, persisted. It had ever been his habit among his +fellows to take upon himself the execution of any thing difficult or +dangerous, and he regarded it almost as a privilege, which he clung to +the more, in the present instance, from a superstitious conviction +that fate was leading him on, and that it was useless to struggle +against its influence. "There yet remains the whole day before us," he +said, when he had silenced opposition, "and but little remains to be +done. Call all the people round me, Brown, for I am going to speak +with them,--perhaps it may be for the last time." + +The gipsies who already surrounded him saw well that a presentiment of +approaching death weighed upon the mind of him who had been so long +their leader, and it is but doing them justice to acknowledge, that +most of them grieved sincerely to observe that such was the case. +None, however, offered comfort or consolation; for their belief in +their own superstitious traditions was far too strong for any one to +dream even that such a presentiment might prove fallacious. The rest +of the tribe were soon called together; and, stretching themselves out +in various groups around, with the clear forest stream bubbling and +murmuring through the midst, and the bright sun streaming through the +oaks and beeches upon the bank on which they lay, they waited in +silence for what Pharold had to say. The tone he assumed was simple +and calm, perhaps less marked and emphatic than that which he +generally affected. "My friends," he began, "I am going this night +upon a matter more dangerous than any that I have ever yet +attempted,--at least so, for many reasons, I am led to think; in it I +may probably be taken by men who hate and persecute us; and if I be so +taken, do not deceive yourselves--I shall never return among you +alive. I feel it, I know it; and, therefore, if by the first light of +to-morrow's sun I have not returned, look upon me as among the dead, +take up your tents, and go as far as you may. When you are so far from +this place that they cannot follow you to persecute you, seek out what +has become of the clay that I leave behind. Lay me in the earth, in +some green wood, but where the summer sun may shine upon me, and the +winter snow may fall: turn my face to the eastward, and put one hand +upon my heart, and let not the earth that covers me be more than four +palms deep.[7] When you have done all this, forget me; but forget not +what I am going to say. Remember, ever before all things, that you are +a nation apart, and mingle not with the strangers among whom you +dwell. Let them follow their way, and you follow your way. Give +obedience to their laws, but maintain your own liberties: bend to +their power, but preserve the customs of your fathers. Shut, them out, +too, as far as may be, from among you: let them not learn either your +history, or your language, or your knowledge; for if they do they will +make these the means of softening and enslaving, under the pretence of +civilizing and improving you. Forget not that you have been, and that +you shall yet be, a great people; nor ever think that there are too +few of you left for the time of your greatness to come. Look at this +acorn: it fell from a great tree, that has been cut down; and though +now it be smaller than the egg of a wren, it shall be as great as the +mightiest of the forest. So is it, and so shall it be, with you. None +of you can ever gain so much as I could have gained by abandoning my +people; but I would not do it. I refused wealth, and ease, and honour, +and I chose poverty, and wandering, and persecution, because I was +born of the gipsy race, and would not belie the blood of my fathers, +by mingling with the persecutors of our people--because I would not be +chosen from among them for a plaything and an experiment. I learned +their knowledge, though they learned not ours, and I returned to mine +own as true in heart as when I left them. Thus let it be with you all; +and if, after I am gone, the name of Pharold is ever mentioned, let it +be as an example of how true our people should be to the ways of their +fathers." + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 7: The gipsy tribes throughout Europe are so like one +another in their habits, that it is extraordinary so great a +difference should exist in their manner of burying their dead as has +been observed among them, especially when they attach much importance +to the method they each pursue. Among the greater part of the +continental gipsies the habit of burying their dead under water +prevails, but to other tribes, again, the forest affords a place of +sepulture; and to others, I have heard, the summits of high +mountains.] + +--------------------- + + +He paused, and there followed among those who surrounded him the +low murmur of people who draw their breath deep after a long and +eager attention, but no one spoke; and in a few minutes Pharold +proceeded:--"If I return no more, there will be some one wanting to +lead and direct you all aright. My choice falls upon you, Brown, as +the calmest, and the wisest, and the bravest, with years sufficient to +ensure experience, and yet with vigour unimpaired by age. Do you +consent, my brothers, that he shall be your Ria?" + +The choice was one which all anticipated, and with which all were +pleased, except, perhaps, two or three, who, feeling that they ought +to be satisfied though they were not, and that they must submit +whether they liked it or not, yielded with the rest, or, perhaps, gave +more clamorous approval. "I have now," continued Pharold, turning +towards Lena, who, since the people had been called round him, had +remained near in silent tears while he had been speaking,--"I have now +spoken to you of all things save one. I leave among you my wife, then +a widow; and as Heaven knows I have dealt justly with you all, so, I +beseech you, deal justly and kindly by her. Be unto her as brethren +and sisters. I supplied unto her the place of parents that are dead; +you supply unto her, I beseech you, my place when I am dead also. Let +her share with the rest in what you gain, until she shall choose out +some one to be to her a support and a husband. Let her choice depend +upon herself, but oh, let her choice be good; let it not fix upon a +fair form or a smooth tongue, but upon a strong mind and a noble +heart." + +He spoke firmly, but, perhaps, somewhat bitterly; and Lena, though she +raised her eyes for a moment with a look of imploring deprecation, +said nothing, but wept on in silence. "And now," continued Pharold, "I +will have done, my friends, with but one more injunction, which is, +keep together. Let not the people of the land separate you, but be ye +true among yourselves." + +Thus saying, he rose from the bank on which he had been leaning, and +the rest sprang upon their feet also. His scanty auditory then +dispersed to their several occupations again, though some lingered for +a few minutes, gazing upon him as on one they might never see more +after that day was over; and Pharold, after speaking a few words in a +gentler tone to Lena, laid his hand upon the arm of the man Brown, and +walked with him slowly down the course of the stream. + +Their conversation was long: many were the sage and prudent maxims +that Pharold gave to him whom he had pointed out as his successor, +many the wild and singular cautions which he suggested. It was, in +fact, his lesson of political economy and good government; but, as it +would not suit any other world but the little world for which it was +intended, it were useless to repeat it here. He did not, until the +end, refer again to himself in any way; but, after having spent +nearly two hours in giving instructions respecting the rule and +protection of the tribe, he added, "I need not tell you, Brown, that I +feel the flame going out--not that it is weaker, not that it is less +bright--the broadest blaze of the fire is often the last, but it is +near its end; and if it be not to-morrow or the next day, in the +manner that I apprehend, or in the way my enemies seek to make it, yet +death will come soon, in his own time, and by his own path. Look +there!" and he spread out before his comrade his broad palm, traversed +with the many lines and marks which are usually to be found there. The +other gipsy gazed on it for a moment, gravely, but made no reply; and +Pharold went on:--"Nevertheless, as I have heard the ignorant and the +conceited declare, that people often do things themselves to bring +about a fate that is foretold them, I will neglect nothing that can +turn aside mine. If, then, by dawn to-morrow, I have not returned to +you, send instantly a trusty messenger to the small village of ----, +where I have sent several times before, to the House of Mr. +Harley--many of the people know it--bid them tell him for me, that I +am in prison, on a false accusation which he knows of, and that if he +would save me, he must come over to Dimden soon. See that it be done +rightly, Brown; for were anything to happen to me without his +knowledge, he would say that I had used him unkindly, or had not +confidence in his honour." + +"I will do it myself, Pharold," replied the gipsy: "I will take one of +those that have been over, to be sure of the place, and will see the +man myself, if it be possible." + +"Oh, he will see you," answered Pharold; "he has learned bitter +lessons in life, and knows that a better heart may beat under a +gipsy's bosom than under the robes of peers and princes. Now, then, I +have said all, Brown: and fare you well, my friend. You at least will +not forget me." + +"Never!" answered the other; and they parted. During the rest of the +day a degree of gloom naturally hung over the party of gipsies; and +wherever Pharold turned, there were eyes looking at him, with some +degree of superstitious awe, as one in whom approaching fate was +already visible. Evening, however, came at length, and night began to +fall; and, ere the first twinkling star could claim full possession of +the sky, a thin whitish autumn mist rose up from the valleys, and came +drifting with the wind through the trees, and down the course of the +little stream by which the gipsies' tents were pitched. Pharold +remarked it with satisfaction, exclaiming, "May it last, may it last. +With such a mist as that, and a dark autumn night, he were a keen man, +indeed, that could take me in Dimden Park." + +As far as the continuance of the mist went, he was gratified to his +wish; for it not only remained, but increased in density to that +degree, that even round the gipsies' fires the dark faces lighted by +the red glare appeared dim and phantom-like to those who sat on the +other side of the blaze. Pharold himself remained from sunset till +nearly midnight in his tent; and Lena had not appeared at all from the +time he had spoken to the tribe in the morning. At length Pharold came +forth; and the gipsies, who were still congregated round the fires, +thinking that he was about to join them for a time ere he went, made +room for him among them; but he glided on past them all, merely +saying, in a low voice as he came near the spot where Brown was +placed, "I go! do not forget!" + +He then walked rapidly on, threaded the most intricate mazes of the +wood, traversed the common above the park, leaped the park wall, near +the spot where Dickon and his party had entered on the ill-starred +deer-stealing expedition, and paused for a moment to look around him, +and consider his further proceedings. The mist, which lay heavy on the +common and the lawns, was still more dense and dark amid the covered +walks and narrow paths of Dimden Park; but the obscurity proved of but +little inconvenience to one so much accustomed to wander in the night +as Pharold. Long habit of the kind seems, indeed, to give another +sense, and to enable persons who are possessed of it to distinguish, +as it were instinctively, obstacles in their way which the eye could +not have detected. + +Thus he walked on, through the thick trees and among the narrow paths +of the park, without ever either taking a wrong direction, or running +against any of the massy trunks round which the small footway turned. +Ever and anon, however, he stopped, to listen, but all was still: +there was not a voice, a footstep, a rustle, a sound of any kind to be +heard, till he entered one of the principal alleys leading towards the +house, when a distant clock struck a quarter to twelve, and, as if +roused by the sound, the owl poured forth her long melancholy cry, and +flitted slowly across Pharold's steps, stirring slightly the foggy air +with the scarcely heard wave of her light wings. + +Pharold marked its voice, and felt it flap past him; and, in that mood +when the heart connects every external thing with its internal gloom, +he muttered, "Hoot no more, bird of ill omen! I am prepared and +ready!" + +The end of the alley which he had chosen opened upon the side of the +lawn, at the distance of perhaps a hundred yards from the house. But +the fog was too thick for even the bare outline of the mansion to be +visible; and the only thing that indicated its proximity was the +appearance of two or three rays of light, pouring from the apertures +in some window-shutters, and streaming through the white mist, till +they lost themselves in the night. Pharold paused and gazed; and +emotions as mingled, but less painful, affected his bosom, as those +which had been experienced by Lord Dewry when he had last looked +towards the same building. All was silent around; he felt himself +secure in the obscurity; he was in no haste to go on; and as he stood +and gazed towards the dwelling where two years of the happiest part of +life had been spent, his mind naturally reverted to the past. He +called up those boyish days, the pleasures he had then enjoyed, his +friendship with one noble-minded youth, and the injuries he had since +received from the other companion of his boyhood. He thought of what +he had been, and of what he might have been; of the promises held out +to him by those who would have kept them; of the prospects that were +open before him, if he had chosen to follow them; he thought of the +life of honour, and respect, and fortune, which might have been his; +and he compared it with the life of wandering, and persecution, and +anxiety, which he had led from the day he quitted that mansion to the +hour that he stood there again, in the sear and yellow leaf of years, +in the close of man's too brief existence. It was a melancholy +retrospect, and he could not but feel it as melancholy; but there was +a proud, stern satisfaction mingled with it all, enhanced even by the +magnitude of the sacrifice he had made. He felt a deep gladness in +knowing, now that life lay behind him as a past journey, that he had +adhered to his persecuted people, in spite of every temptation that +could have led him to abandon them; that voluntarily and perseveringly +he had made their fate his fate, in preference to a more splendid +destiny than hope herself could have led him to expect. He felt proud, +too, and justly, that those feelings and principles which had won him +the strong affection of the noble and good in another class, and among +another people, had never been forgotten amid dangers, and perils, and +sorrows, and temptations; and that he could lay his hand upon his +heart, as he gazed up towards the mansion, and say, I have been as +noble in poverty and wandering as if I had never quitted the shelter +of those once lordly walls. + +He stood and gazed for near ten minutes; and then ending his revery, +as all deep contemplations end, with a sigh, he turned slightly from +the path he had been pursuing, skirted round the edge of the wood, +and, without crossing the open space, approached through the trees +that part of the building called the justice-room, which lay, as we +have seen, contiguous to the chamber in which the boy was confined. +Since he had been there, however, the river had encroached so much +upon the bank, that no one less active and expert than himself would +have found space to pass between the walls of the high old chapel-like +projection, so called, and the edge of the bank above the water. He +accomplished it, however, though with some difficulty; and then, +turning the angle of the building, approached the window of the strong +room. Raising himself on a ledge of ornamental stonework, which ran +along the basement, he put his hand through the bars to feel whether +the inner window was closed or not, and finding that it was shut, he +knocked gently on the glass with his knuckles. The moment after, it +was opened, and the voice of the youth demanded, "Who is there?" + +"It is I, William," said Pharold; "are your limbs free?" + +"They are free of cords," answered the lad in a voice that trembled +with agitation, and, perhaps, with remorse--"they are free of cords, +but I cannot get out." + +"I will open the way for you, then," answered Pharold; "but when I +have picked out the mortar from these bars, you use your strength to +force them out from within." + +The boy made no answer, but listened to hear if those who lay in wait +had taken the alarm; and a hope did cross his mind that they might +have neglected their watch on that dark and chilly night, and that +Pharold might give him the means of escape, without the consummation +of the treachery to which he had yielded. The hope increased, as +Pharold, with a small crow bar, gradually loosened the iron from its +socket in the stone, and yet no one appeared; and as soon as it was +practicable, the boy, using his whole strength from within, forced out +the lower end of the bar. The space, however, was not yet large enough +to give a passage to his shoulders, and the gipsy instantly applied +himself again to loosen the neighbouring bar. "Oh make haste, make +haste," cried the youth, with almost frantic eagerness--"make haste, +Pharold, make haste!" + +"Hush!" cried Pharold, sternly, and turned hastily to listen; but at +the same instant two men sprang upon him. The gipsy struggled to cast +them off, but his foot slipped, and they both fell with him to the +ground. Ere he could rise, two more were added to the assailants; and +finding resistance vain, Pharold instantly abandoned the attempt, +suffered his arms to be pinioned with a burning heart, and followed +whither they led him. + +Several lights and several figures appeared at the small backdoor to +which they conducted their prisoner; and more than one lantern was +raised to his face, and more than one inquisitive countenance stared +into his, as he was taken through some long stone passages towards the +very room from which he had been endeavouring to liberate his +treacherous young companion. The four men who had seized him hurried +him on, keeping close together, as if afraid that, notwithstanding all +their efforts, he might still escape. At the door of the strong room +they paused; and one, producing a key, proceeded to apply it to the +lock, and to undraw the heavy bolts and bars. Pharold spoke not a +word; but the moment the door was open, and the light, from some +lanterns behind, flashed in through the aperture, his eyes sought the +unhappy youth, whose face was covered with tears. + +Pharold had only time to ask himself, "Is he guilty, or is he +innocent?" when, springing past him and those that conducted him, the +lad made straight towards the door. One of those behind instantly +stopped him, exclaiming, "Holla, my lad, where are you going so fast?" + +The one who had opened the door, however, turned round almost at the +same time, crying, "Let him go, let him go; now we have got this one, +we do not care for the other. Let him be off as fast as he will." + +The gipsy's doubts were cleared up in a moment. He saw himself +betrayed by one of his own people, whom he was in the very act of +rescuing; he saw himself delivered up by one for whom he had been +risking so much; he saw his most generous feelings made use of as +snares to take him; and he believed that she whom he loved more than +anything on earth was a party to the infamous treachery by which he +had been entrapped. Oh, how he hated the whole human race! + +So deep, so powerful was the agony that he suffered, that, without a +word, without a movement, he stood upon the spot to which his captors +thrust him forward, his dark eyes bent upon the ground, his pinioned +hands clasped together, as if they had been riveted with iron, his +limbs as motionless as if they had been stone. The people round gazed +at him, but he saw them not; they taunted and they sneered, but his +ear was dull. He felt not at that moment the insolent gaze, the brutal +jest, the loss of liberty, the very hands that wrung his muscles. He +felt alone that he was betrayed, that his love and his confidence had +been cheated and dispised. All the rest was nothing. That, that was +the iron that entered into his soul! Ere he had been there a minute, +the keeper Harvey, who had not been among those that took him, pushed +through the gaping crowd, to assure himself that the report which had +reached him was true. But there was something in the gipsy that the +man felt and feared, with feelings full of hate, indeed, but nearly +akin to awe; and when he saw him stand there like a statue, in the +stern bitterness of utter despair, a faint conception of his +sensations thrilled even through the coarse mind of the keeper; and +after a hasty glance, without proffering a word, he made the rest +retire, and following them himself, locked and barred the door. + +At about three o'clock in the morning, those who watched in the gipsy +encampment were roused by a hasty step, and in a moment after the boy +William, all panting and wild, stood by the fire. "What news? what +news?" cried one of the men, eagerly; "where is Pharold?" + +"Bad news!" answered the youth, gazing round him with a look of +bewildered consciousness: "they have caught Pharold as he was helping +me out of the prison." + +"Brown," cried one of the men, approaching a neighbouring +tent--"Brown, here is bad news; they have caught Pharold, and here is +Will come back." + +Brown instantly started from the hut and came out to the fire: but he +was not the only one; for Lena's sleepless ear had caught the tidings, +and she too rushed out, with many others that the noise had awakened. +Wild apprehension and distress were in her eyes; but she spoke not, +while Brown proceeded rapidly to question the lad on what had +occurred. The trembling tone in which he answered might proceed from +fatigue and agitation at his escape, the varying colour on his cheek +might be the flash of the newly stirred up blaze; but there was a +rambling and inconsistent character about the story that he told +concerning his own escape and the capture of Pharold that raised doubt +in many. "You rushed past the people," said Brown, after many other +questions, "and got out even after they had taken Pharold. Did no one +try to stop you?" + +"Yes," answered the lad; "one man did; but I got away from him, too, +and ran as hard as I could. But why do you look at me so, Lena?" he +added, unable to bear any longer the keen, fierce glance which she had +never withdrawn from his face for one moment from the time she had +first come forth. + +"Why do I look at you so?" said the girl, stepping forward boldly +towards him, and casting back the jetty hair from her forehead while +she spoke, with a burning cheek and flashing eye, and almost frantic +vehemence of tone--"why do I look at you so? Because, base traitor, +you have betrayed him that came to save you--and you know it +well!--because you have cheated me into persuading him to go;--and oh, +if such a foolish thing as love for me had any hand in what you have +done--and I say boldly before them all that I believe it had--may that +love stay by you to curse you to your latest day! For think not you +will prosper in your villany--I hate you! I abhor you! I spit upon +you! and I call God and the heavens to witness, that if there were not +another man in all the earth I would die sooner than be your wife! +Cast him out from among us, Brown, cast him out! Dickon was but a +child in villany to him; Dickon was wilful and violent, but he was not +base and false; Dickon might be a rebel, but he was never a traitor. +Cast him out, Brown, cast him out; for the blood of my husband is upon +him; and I will not dwell in the same tents with him. He cannot deny +it; his face speaks it; his tale is not even like truth. Oh, my heart +misgave me when he used so many vows and protestations last night that +he would not have Pharold put in danger for the world. Truth is more +simple; and he is a traitor, and the seller of his friend's blood!" + +She spoke with all the energy of passion and indignation: her eyes +flashed, her arms waved, her very form seemed to increase in size with +the wild vehemence of her feelings; and the unhappy youth in the +meantime stood before her, with bent head and averted glance, like a +convicted criminal before his judge. + +"You are guilty, William," said Brown, gazing on him with pity, +mingling a drop or two of milder feeling with the sternness of his +abhorrence for a crime almost unknown among them,--"you are guilty." + +The youth made no answer; and after a pause the other went on:--"You +must go out from among us, for we cannot shelter a traitor. And yet I +grieve for you, William, that anything should have tempted you to +commit such a crime. But still you must go out from among us; for if +we be not all faithful to each other, in whom can we trust? Yet I +would not cast you alone upon the world, so that one fault might bring +on a hundred; and therefore I will send you down to the north country, +where, on the side of Cheviot, you will find more of our people, among +whom I have a brother: seek him out, and tell him I sent you to him." + +"I will not go there," answered the youth, doggedly--"I will not go +there, to have this story thrown in my teeth every hour; I will rather +go and seek out Dickon, and rove with him." + +"No, no, Billy, my chick," cried the old woman Gray--"no, no, go down +to the Yetholmers, as Brown says--a merry set they are, and a free, +and I will go with you, my lad. I dare say Dickon has gone thither +already; and, do you hear, Bill, I dare say among the bold young lads +thereabouts we may be able to get up as fresh a band as this is; and I +have got a good penny under my cloak, and I will be a mother to you, +my boy. Then who knows when you are a smart young fellow, with a +goodly band of your own, whether this young minx here, who has flown +at you like a wild cat, about that Pharold, who is no great loss any +how--perhaps she may be sorry enough that she was not more civil." + +"I shall be sorry," said Lena, in a less violent, but not less +determined, tone than she had before used--"I shall be sorry if ever I +hear the name of such a base and cowardly thing as he is upon this +earth again." + +"Well, well, scornful mistress Lena, you may rue," replied the beldam. +"What say you, Will, will you take me with you?" + +The youth at first had shown no very strong liking for the old woman's +company; but the hopes of better fortunes which she had held out to +him, the boldness with which she had taken his part, the stern and +reproachful looks of all around, and the feeling that he was parting +for ever from all those with whom his life had hitherto been spent, +made him willing to cling to any fragment of familiar things which +would remain with him to soften the breaking of all accustomed ties. +His conscience, too, reproached him bitterly with what he had done; +and the company of any one would have been preferable to solitude with +his own heart. Willingly, therefore, he caught at her proposal; and +drawing himself up, prepared to steel himself against the contempt of +his comrades, while the old woman went to make her brief preparations: +but he saw nothing around but the stern, cold looks of persons who, in +hatred and scorn, were waiting to see his departure. It was more than +he could bear; and, calling to the old woman to follow him down the +stream, he turned sullenly away, and walked slowly on without a word +of adieu to any one. + +"Brown," said Lena, laying her hand upon the gipsy's arm--"Brown, I +know what I am going to ask is in vain, for Pharold, when he went, +felt the shadow of death upon him, and I am a widow; but did he not +tell you any way to rescue him, if he should be taken? He spoke with +you long, and he said to me, too, that there was some way that might +deliver him, though he spoke not clearly. Oh, if it be so, and he have +told you how, lose no time, spare no exertion; for though, God knows, +I was deceived by that base villain's artful speeches, and believed +that my husband was safe, yet I feel--although I know my innocence of +thought, or word, or deed--I feel as if I were guilty of his death." + +"No, no, Lena, no, no. We all know that you are not," answered Brown, +in a kindly tone; "but go you to your tent, poor girl, and trust to me +to do every thing to rescue Pharold that can be done. First, I will +try the only means that he himself pointed out. I will follow his +directions to the letter. Then, if that should fail, I will try what +strength of arm can do; for I will not let him be lost if I can save +him. He was a good man, and a wonderful man, Lena. We shall never see +his like among us." + +Lena burst into tears: they were the first that she had shed, but they +were too bitter for any restraint; and turning to her tent, she gave +way to them in solitude. In the mean time Brown turned to call one of +the younger gipsies, who, on more than one occasion, had been +Pharold's messenger, to inquire after Edward de Vaux; but ere the +young man had joined him, Mother Gray, as she was called, tottered up, +with a bundle on her arm, to bid him adieu. + +"Fare ye well, Brown," she said; "fare ye well. I hope you may make a +better head of the people than Pharold has been: a pretty mess he has +got us all into here. I hope you may do better; but I doubt it, for +you were great cronies, and would never listen to what I advised. So I +am going to people who know how to manage matters better." + +"Get ye gone, then, old mischief-maker," answered Brown; "get ye gone, +and the sooner your back is turned upon us the better. I have seen +nothing prosper yet with which you had any thing to do; and I dare +prophesy that those people will never know peace or happiness where +you are suffered to meddle. So get you gone, and Heaven send you a +better heart and judgment. And now," he continued, speaking to the +young man who had come up, "tell me, Arral, have you not been for +Pharold to a house on the other side of the hill--the house of one +Harley?" + +"To be sure," answered the young man, "I have been four times." + +"Then come with me thither, now," answered Brown, "and lead me by the +shortest way, for I would be there, if possible, before day-break." + +"That is not possible, Brown," answered the other; "for it wants less +than an hour of the light, and go as you will it will take two hours +and a half." + +"We must do our best," answered Brown, "and can do no more. Go on. +Keep together, my lads," he continued, turning to the rest of the +gipsies,--"keep together till I come back, which will be before the +sun is more than half-way up. But have everything ready to go in case +of need." + +Thus saying, he followed his guide; and pursuing very nearly the path +by which Pharold had returned, he arrived in about two hours and a +half at the same house to which Colonel Manners had been conducted. By +this time, however, the sun had been long above the horizon; and when, +after walking through the little shrubbery, they approached the door +of the dwelling, a carriage and four smoking horses, with two servants +in Mrs. Falkland's livery, were seen standing before the house. The +gipsies, however, made their way boldly on, and rang the bell. This +intimation was instantly answered by the servant, and, while they +were still speaking to him, a shrill cry--evidently from a woman's +lips--rang through the passage. Ere the servant could ask their +business, a door on the right was thrown open, and the fine head of +Sir William Ryder appeared, exclaiming, "Henry, Henry! Bring water! +She has fainted!" + +A few moments of bustle and confusion succeeded, during which the +gipsies were allowed to remain with the door open, and without any of +those suspicious precautions which the very fact of their race would +have excited against them in any other dwelling. At length the servant +returned; and Brown's first question was, "Is the gentleman who was +hurt worse?" + +"No, much better!" answered the servant, "and you may tell Mr. +Pharold--" + +"I can tell him nothing," interrupted Brown, "for that is what I have +come here to say--that his enemies have caught him; and that, if Mr. +Harley would save him, he must bestir himself speedily." + +"Indeed!" said the servant, "indeed! that will not be good news to my +master's ear; but I must break in upon him to tell it nevertheless. +Wait a minute, my friends, and I will go and see what he says." + +The servant then entered the room where his master was, and from which +proceeded the sounds of eager voices speaking. A moment or two after +the door again opened, and the gipsies were joined by the person they +sought. Their story was soon told, and easily understood; and the brow +of their auditor knit into more than one deep wrinkle, as they spoke. + +"I will bestir myself," he said, in answer to Brown; "I will bestir +myself, and that instantly too. So rest satisfied in regard to your +friend's fate; for, be assured, that I can break the net in which +they have entangled him as easily as I could a spider's web; and I +will do it, too, with less remorse than I would the toils of the +hunter-insect. I will not lose a moment. Henry, have horses to the +carriage, and let me know when it is here." + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +"Has the parson come?" demanded the low faint voice of Sir Roger +Millington, as he turned round from a brief and half-delirious doze, +on the morning after Pharold's capture: "has the parson come?" + +"Not yet, sir," answered a sick-nurse, who was now the only person +left to attend him. "It is not ten minutes ago since you first told me +to send for him." + +"I thought it had been much longer," said the dying man. "But what is +all that noise in the house? They seem as if they were making all the +disturbance that they could, on purpose to kill me with the headache." + +"I dare say, sir, it is some of the other magistrates come, sir," +answered the nurse; "for last night it seems they caught the gipsy, +Pharold; and, when I went down to send for Dr. Edwards, his lordship +was sitting in the great parlour with Mr. Arden, waiting for two other +magistrates to make examination, as I think they call it. I should +scarcely have dared to send else--that is, if I had not known he had +his hands full for many a good hour, because you see, sir, he forbade +any one to let Dr. Edwards see you, whether you wished it or not." + +"Ah! did he so?" said the dying man, bitterly; and then, after a long +pause, he added, "but he would not care about it now, my good woman. +That declaration that he teased me into making last night, was all +that he wanted; and now I may die when I like--with or without benefit +of clergy?" and he groaned faintly and sadly at his bitter jest upon +himself. "But do you think I am dying, woman?" He went on, "I have +lost all the pain; but I am fearfully weak; and my legs and feet have +no feeling in them. Do you think I am dying? Ha, nurse, what does the +doctor say?" + +"He says you are very bad, sir; but he hopes--" replied the nurse. + +"Pshaw!" interrupted the other; "you have been tutored too. I wish the +parson would come; he would tell me the truth." + +"I am sure I wish he would too," cried the woman; "for he knows better +than I what ought to be said to you, sir." + +"Ah, I see how it is, I see how it is," cried the unhappy man; "I am +dying, and they have kept it from me till they had got all that they +sought;" and, like the stricken king of Israel, he turned his face to +the wall, while one or two hot and bitter drops scorched his eyelids, +and trickled over his cheeks. After a long silence, however, he again +turned towards the woman, saying, "He is very long; I wish to God he +would come! I have a great deal that lies heavy at my heart; and I +would fain hear some words of comfort before I die. You do not think +he will be frightened away by what that rascally lord has said?" + +"Ah! no, sir; no fear!" answered the nurse; "Dr. Edwards is not a man +to be frightened away by any body or any thing, so long as he thinks +he's doing his duty. He is not one of that sort, sir. Why, last year, +when the terrible catching fever was raging down in the village, and +every one that took it died, he was night and day at the bedsides of +the poor people that had it, although the doctor told him a thousand +times that he was risking his own precious life: but he saw that it +gave them more comfort than any thing to see him; and so he went at +all hours, and into all places." + +"I wish he would come," groaned the dying man; "I wish he would come." + +Almost as he spoke, there was a cautious step in the anteroom, and the +lock of the door turned under the quiet noiseless hand of one +evidently accustomed to the chambers of the sick. The next moment the +clergyman entered, and advanced closely towards the bed, although his +heated brow and quick breathing showed that he had lost no time in +obeying the summons he had received. He was a man between sixty and +seventy, with scanty white hair covering thinly a high broad forehead, +across which the cares and sorrows of others, more than his own, had +traced two or three deep furrows. His countenance was grave, but mild; +and his eyes full of both the light of feeling and the light of sense. + +The nurse rose up from the chair in which she had been sitting at the +pillow of the dying man, and Dr. Edwards quietly took her place, +without appearing to see that Sir Roger Millington was eying him from +head to foot; and, notwithstanding his situation, was comparing the +person before him with the prejudiced image of a _parson_, which +habits of vice had alone enabled his imagination to draw. + +"I am much obliged to you for admitting me, my dear sir," said the +rector, in a kindly tone. "How do you feel yourself? Are you in less +pain than when I last saw you?" + +"Yes, I am in less pain, sir," answered the other; "but I rather +believe that is no good sign. At least they told me, when I was in +torture, that pain was a good omen for my recovery; and now I am in no +pain at all, I suppose it is a bad one." + +"I am not sure that it is a good one," answered the clergyman gravely; +"but at all events it has this good with it, that it leaves your mind +and faculties perfectly free to consider fully your situation, and to +take whatever measures, temporal or spiritual, may be necessary for +your comfort and consolation." + +"Ay, that is what I want to come to, Dr. Edwards," answered Sir Roger, +"and I am glad you have come to it at once. But first tell me--and I +adjure you by Heaven to tell me true, for these people deceive me--am +I dying, or am I not?" + +"I would have answered you truly without any adjuration," answered the +clergyman. "None can, sir, or ought to say to another that it is +impossible he can recover; for God can and does show us every day the +fallacy of our judgment in the things that we best comprehend: but I +do believe that you are in such a situation that it were wise to +prepare yourself for another world without loss of time." + +"Then I am dying," said Sir Roger, solemnly. + +"I am afraid you are," answered the clergyman. "To deceive you would +be a crime: your surgeon has himself told me that human skill can do +nothing for you." + +Sir Roger Millington drew his hand over his eyes, and groaned heavily; +but after a brief pause he withdrew the white colourless fingers +again; and looking steadfastly at the clergyman, said, "It is a +terrible thing to die, sir; more terrible than I thought. I have +fought in more than one battle, sir, and have had my single affairs +too; but I never found out how terrible a thing death is till I came +to lie here, and see life flow away from me drop by drop." + +"Because in no other case had you time for thought," answered Dr. +Edwards; "but, believe me, oh! believe me, that the very time for +thought which you seem to regard as an evil, is the greatest mercy of +Heaven. Few, even of the very best of us, if any, can keep his heart +and mind in such a condition of preparation, as to be ready to pass +from this state of mortal sin into life eternal, and to the immediate +presence of a pure and perfect Being, who, though he is merciful, is +likewise just, and will by no means leave the impenitent transgressor +unpunished. No man, my dear sir, when he has years and days before +him, should trust to the efficacy of a deathbed repentance--a moment +which perhaps may not be granted to him; but when a man has gone on in +thoughtless neglect, through the vigour of careless existence, and +unexpectedly finds himself at the end of life with only a few short +hours between him and that judgment-seat, where nothing can be +concealed and nothing palliated, he may then take unto himself the +blessed hope that repentance never comes too late, that our Saviour +himself showed upon the cross that the last hour, the very last +minute, of human life may yet obtain forgiveness of all the offences +of the past, by evincing true repentance, founded on true faith." + +"But how can I show either true repentance or true faith?" exclaimed +the dying man, with a peevish movement of the hand. "All I can do +is, to say I am very sorry for everything I have done wrong; and +that I believe the religion in which I was educated to be the true +one--although I have thought very little about it, since I was a boy +at school. But it is no use! it is no use talking!" he added, seeing +the clergyman about to reply; "I have done many a thing, especially +lately, that cannot be forgiven--for which I shall never forgive +myself; and so, how can I expect God to forgive them, who is better +than I am, and who never knew what it was to be tempted as I have +been?" + +"You _can_ expect God to forgive them, _because he is_ better than you +are, and because we have an intercessor at his throne, who has known +what it is to be tempted, even as we are; because we have a mediator +in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was rendered subject to +temptation a thousand-fold more terrible than any that we can endure, +in order that he might obtain forgiveness for even the greatest of +sinners, who truly repents him of the evil he has done. Indeed, +indeed, you greatly err in your ideas of God's mercy. But we had +better, I think be left alone;" and he made a sign to the nurse, who +immediately retired into the anteroom. + +"I am sure," said the wounded man, feeling, in some degree, the effect +of such consolatory hopes--"I am sure I do most sincerely repent of +some things that I have done within this last week, and indeed all +that I have done throughout the course of my life that is evil; and I +do think, now that it is too late to mend it, that if I had taken a +different course, and acted in another manner on many occasions, I +should not only have been more comfortable now, but a happier man +altogether." + +"Doubt it not! doubt it not!" said the clergyman. "Those that sow in +sin shall reap in bitterness: but still have good hope: the very +conviction of the magnitude of your sins which you seem to entertain, +is the first great step to sincere repentance; and sincere repentance +once obtained, the atonement is already prepared in heaven--the +abundance of God's mercy is ready to blot out our iniquity from before +his sight." + +"Ah, but there are many things very heavy on my heart and my +conscience!" said the other. "Tell me, Doctor Edwards, tell me," he +added, in a gloomy and anxious tone, "tell me, can a man who has said +that and done that, which can take away the life of another upon a +false charge, hope to be saved?" + +The clergyman half started from his seat; and the other, sinking down +again on the bed from which he had partially raised himself, exclaimed +bitterly--"I see how it is! I see how it is--no hope for me--and so I +will die as I have lived, boldly, without thinking about it." + +"You greatly mistake me," cried the clergyman; "I wished to imply +nothing of the kind." + +"No, no," said Sir Roger, "say no more--I saw it in your face. I can +easily imagine that a man may be pardoned for running another through, +when they were hand to hand--I remember many people in the Bible that +did the same--and I doubt not that many another little sin might be +forgiven; but for taking a man's life that never hurt one, by a +cold-blooded cowardly lie--I dare say that there is no forgiveness for +that!" and as he spoke he drew his breath hard, and set his teeth, as +if working himself up to meet the worst. + +"God makes no such distinctions, as far as he has revealed himself to +us," answered Dr. Edwards. "Murder, whether committed with the steel, +or the poison, or the falsehood, is equally murder in his eyes. I was +indeed surprised to hear you charge yourself with such a crime; but I +repeat what I said before, that for that, as for every other sin, +there is abundant mercy in heaven for him that sincerely repents him +of the evil--" + +He paused; but the knight made no reply, and remained with a +contracted brow, a muttering lip and a wandering eye, struggling +between two opposite states of feeling,--the habitual daring which +despair had again called to his aid, and the fear of death, and +judgment after death. "Let me urge you," continued the clergyman, when +he perceived that he did not make any reply--"let me urge you to +consider for one moment what must be the state of him who, under the +circumstances which you have named, neglects the only opportunity +allowed him for repentance, and suffers the few short moments granted +mercifully for that purpose to escape unemployed. Remember, sir, that +death is not sleep! that the moment the eyes are closed on this world +they open on another! Remember that the disembodied spirit, freed from +the frailties and the motives of the flesh, must of necessity feel, in +all their bitterness and blackness, the crimes which here we can +palliate to ourselves, as well as conceal from others!--Remember that, +with feelings thus heightened, with eyes thus unblinded, the man who +has committed the crime which you mention, and has neglected to repent +of it fully, must go into the presence of the omniscient Creator, to +meet, in the face of thousands of worlds, the being whom his falsehood +and his baseness had destroyed--that he must hear his crimes +proclaimed in the ears of all, must listen to his eternal +condemnation, and must bear unceasing punishment, the never-dying +consciousness, not only of the crime that he has committed, but of +having neglected the opportunity of repentance--of having castaway the +mercy offered even to the last hour of life. Think, think of his +horror and his shame, and his torture, and his remorse, and, oh! +choose the better path, and, even at the eleventh hour, repent and be +saved!" + +The dying man writhed under the picture of the future presented to his +mind, a picture which he had ever contrived to shut out from his own +eyes; but now, as the reality was about to present itself,--as but few +short hours, he felt too well, only intervened between him and the +fulfilment of all,--the conviction of its truth and its awfulness +forced itself upon his heart, even to agony; and with clasped hands, +as the clergyman concluded, he cried out, almost in the words of the +Jewish lawyer, "What shall I do to be saved?" + +"Repent sincerely," answered Dr. Edwards; "and as the first great +proof of your repentance, make whatever atonement you can yet make for +the very horrible crime with which you charge yourself--" + +"I can, I can make atonement!" cried the dying man, raising himself +joyfully on his hand as the thought was suggested to his mind; "I +can--I can make atonement, and I feel that then I shall die in peace. +I can save the innocent,--I can punish the guilty,--and I will do +both, if God gives me two hours more of life." + +"Such indeed will be the earnest of a true repentance," cried the +clergyman, "and it is thus that a deathbed repentance can alone be +confided in as efficacious. I wish not to pry into the secrets of your +heart, sir, any further than may be necessary for the purpose of +affording you advice and consolation. We believe that the ear of God +is ever open to our confessions as to our petitions, and therefore +that to him they should be made; but if I can aid you in carrying into +effect your purpose of full atonement, command me; and be sure that no +earthly consideration of either fear or hope will induce me to pause +or waver in the execution of my duty. I say what I have just done, +because an evident desire has been shown by those who should know +better, to hold you back from the only true way to peace of mind. God +forgive me! if my suspicions wrong any man; but before I came to-day, +I thought the conduct pursued towards me strange; and now that I have +heard so much from your own lips, I think it more than strange." + +"And you think right," said Sir Roger. "It is more than strange, but +it is all part of a plan. I see it all now--I see it all. He--he--Lord +Dewry concealed from me at the first that I was dangerously hurt. He +would not let me see you or any one else who would have dared to tell +me so, because he was afraid I should blab. He would not let me have +my papers over from Dewry Hall, pretending they had been forgotten; +because he was afraid that I should destroy those we had manufactured +between us; and last night, when I was half delirious, and would have +signed away my soul for an hour's quiet and rest, he tormented me till +I made a declaration before witnesses, that I had received a note from +a man who never gave it me, and that this gipsy Pharold, whom they +have now got below, was one of those who fired when I was wounded; +though in truth I believe he did not come up till after." + +"This is horrible, indeed!" said the clergyman, not a little agitated +by the very painful tidings that he heard. "But let me beg you, sir, +as you hope for pardon and eternal life in that world to which you +must soon depart--let me beg you instantly to take measures to remedy +the evil that you have been seduced into committing." + +"Yes, yes, I will do my best to remedy it," answered the dying +man, whose passions were now excited against the seducer who had led +him forward to crimes from which even his mind had shrunk, all +accustomed as it was to evil of a less glaring kind. "Yes, I will do +my best.--Ay, and he affected to feel so much pity and friendship for +me too, till he got what he wanted, and now he has not been near me +all day. Ay, ay! and he promised me every thing on earth that could +make life happy to me, when he knew that I was dying:--but he shall +not triumph in his villany. No, no!" + +Although the clergyman was very willing that justice should be done, +yet even that consideration was secondary in his mind to the wish of +leading the unhappy man before him into a better train of feeling ere +he passed to things eternal. "By all means," he said, "let us proceed +as fast as possible to make the atonement that you speak of, and to +secure justice to the oppressed and innocent man you mention; but in +doing so, my dear sir, do not forget for one moment your present +situation. Let not wrath, or disappointment, or irritation, influence +you. Let your sole motive be, as far as human nature is capable of +controlling and purifying its motives, the desire of showing, by full +atonement, that repentance which, with faith in the merits of your +Saviour, may be effectual to salvation." + +"Well, well, I will do my best!" answered the dying man. "But let us +make haste, for I am beginning to feel faint; and there is a dimness +comes occasionally across my eyes, and a rush like water in my ears, +that disturbs me. How shall we set about it, Dr. Edwards?" + +"The best way will be to call in witnesses," answered the clergyman, +"and to draw up before them a complete statement of everything that +you think proper to reveal, therein setting forth that you are +perfectly aware of your situation, and that you are in a competent +state of mind for making such a declaration. I myself am a magistrate, +although I seldom act; and will give the document every formality in +my power." + +"Ay, but the witnesses! the witnesses, sir!" said Sir Roger; "I am +afraid that he may come in every minute and disturb the whole." + +"There is no fear of that, I believe," answered the clergyman. "In the +first place, I would not permit such an interruption, were he a +monarch; and in the next place, I was told that he and several +magistrates were assembled to examine some prisoners before +committal." + +"Ay, it is Pharold, the object of all his hate, that they have got +hold of," replied Sir Roger; "and they will have him off to jail on +the very things I stated against him." + +"Then, indeed, no time is to be lost!" answered Dr. Edwards. "The +surgeon was to follow me here very soon; for I left him in the +village. His assistant and the nurse are in the next room; and I am +not sure that I did not hear his step also come in a moment ago. Thus +we shall have sufficient witnesses, and one who can testify to your +mind being clear and unbiassed. Shall I call them in?" + +Sir Roger gave a sign of assent; and gazed eagerly towards the door to +which the clergyman proceeded, as if he feared that some one else +might be without. No one was in the anteroom, however, but the +surgeon, his assistant, and the nurse; and Dr. Edwards having called +them in, and briefly stated his object, they approached the bed, and +the assistant, having obtained writing materials, seated himself as +near the sick man as possible, to take down his exact words. Sir Roger +was about to begin, but the clergyman interposed:--"One moment, my +friend," he said mildly; "we must not forget our care for your eternal +salvation, under any other consideration. Let us pray to God that the +spirit under which this declaration is made may be the spirit of +truth, divested by his grace of human passions and frailties, that the +repentance of which it is the fruit may be pure and sincere, and may +be accepted;" and kneeling down, he offered a short but emphatic +prayer, so full of simple and unaffected piety, that Sir Roger +Millington found feelings springing up in his heart which he had not +known for years, and which made the warm drops rise into his eyes. + +The knight then proceeded in a voice, faint and agitated indeed, but +nevertheless one which, in the profound silence that reigned around, +could be distinctly heard. He took up his tale in years long back; he +related how, in better times and circumstances, he had won a large sum +from Sir William Ryder and the Honourable Mr. De Vaux. The first, he +added, had always the character of a frank, open-hearted, but gay and +thoughtless young man; the latter that of one whose keen shrewdness +would have ensured him the highest fortunes, if the violence of his +passions had not on many occasions marred his best-laid plans. The +day, he said, had been fixed for the payment of the money, and it had +been shrewdly suspected that there would be difficulty in procuring +it; but the very day previous to that appointed for the discharge of +the debt, Mr. De Vaux's brother was murdered; and, consequently, that +gentleman succeeding to his title and estates, the payment was made +without delay. + +He then passed over at once the twenty succeeding years, and briefly +but distinctly recapitulated all that had taken place since; he had +come down from London, in the hope of mending his broken fortunes by +an application to the wealthy peer. + +All this, however, has been already detailed, and needs not +repetition, though it caused more than one glance of surprise and +grief to pass between the clergyman and the surgeon. Nevertheless, for +the time, they made no comment, but suffered the dying man to proceed +uninterrupted as long as he seemed inclined to go on. When he paused, +however, and looked round feebly towards the clergyman, as if to +ask,--"Have I done enough?"--Dr. Edwards rejoined, "If you will permit +me, sir, I will ask you one or two questions, to which, of course, you +will answer or not, as you think fit. This young gentleman will take +them down, however. They shall be short," he added, seeing a look of +impatience cross the sick man's face; "may I ask, did his lordship +assign any reason for the enmity he showed towards the gipsy Pharold, +and for taking such unjustifiable steps to destroy him?" + +"He said that he was sure that he, Pharold, had been the real murderer +of his brother," answered Sir Roger; "but I have my own thoughts upon +the subject." He paused, as if hesitating whether to proceed or not; +and the clergyman paused too, for the mind of every one present had +been led towards a suspicion so dreadful, that each felt a degree of +awe at the thought of hearing his own doubts confirmed by those of +another. At length, however, Sir Roger Millington raised himself upon +his elbow, as if he had made up his mind to a painful effort, and +fixing his dim and hollow eyes upon the clergyman, he said, in slow +but solemn tone, "That was what he told me; but, as I am going into +the presence of the Almighty, and casting away all malice against the +man, I declare, that I believe he himself was the murderer of his +brother, that Pharold knows it, and that such is the cause why he +persecutes him even to death. Write that down, young man, for although +I cannot discover all the links in the chain, nor all the motives of +his cunning heart, yet it is fit they should be inquired into, and +that the innocent should be delivered." + +The assistant wrote, and read what he had written, and the knight made +an impatient sign for the paper and the pen. When they were given to +him, he scrawled his name faintly at the bottom. "And now, doctor," he +said, looking towards the surgeon, "you certify there, that this +declaration was made by me, when I had all my senses about me as fully +as if I were in perfect health; and you, Dr. Edwards, certify that, at +the time I made it, I knew that I was dying, and did it as the only +proof I could give of my sincere repentance for many sins, of which +the paper he wrung from me last night was not among the least. You may +well say that I know I am near my end," he continued, "for I believe +that I am nearer it than any one thinks." + +"Take a little wine and water, Sir Roger," said the surgeon, looking +at him, and remarking that strange and awful grayness, which generally +precedes dissolution, coming like the shadow of some unseen cloud over +the sick man's face; "take a little wine and water. It can do you no +harm." + +"I know that too well!" answered the other, in a hollow voice, +drinking the draught which the nurse handed him. "It can neither do me +harm nor good--for it is all passing away." The wine seemed, however, +to revive him for a moment, and he eagerly besought the clergyman to +take the paper which had just been signed to the magistrates assembled +below. "Let them not pursue their injustice even so far," he said, "as +to send an innocent man to jail. I have been in a jail myself, and +know what it is." + +"I think," answered Dr. Edwards, "that perhaps I maybe of more service +with you here; for now that you have proved your repentance really, +let me strive to assure you all the comforts thereof. I have much to +say to you--much consolation and hope yet to hold out to you, if you +will permit me." + +"Oh! yes; stay, stay, by all means," said the wounded man; "do not you +leave me. He can take it to them: for he can do this wretched carcass +no good now: let him take it;" and he pointed with his finger towards +the nurse, though, beyond doubt, it was the surgeon he intended to +designate, distinctly showing that his sight had failed, though his +power of hearing still remained. + +"Perhaps you will have the kindness to do so," said Dr. Edwards, +speaking to the surgeon; "but take care that it does not get into the +hands of any one who may suppress it; for though we can all bear +witness to the contents, yet the document itself is most valuable. I +think I heard that Mr. Simpson was among the magistrates below. If so, +give it into his own hand; for, though a calm and quiet man, he has +much good sense and much firmness. But let us fold it up and seal it +first." + +The surgeon undertook the task, though, it must be confessed, not very +willingly, for he loved not to do any thing to any one that might +afford matter of offence. He spent some time in inquiring where the +magistrates were, and some time in consulting with a constable at the +door of the great hall whether it would be proper for him to go in. In +short, at length, as he had just made up his mind, and had his hand +upon the lock, the nurse whom he had left with the sick man, and who +thought it absolutely necessary that he should be present at a +patient's death, came eagerly to tell him that the unhappy Sir Roger +Millington was in the last agonies. It was too good an excuse for +shifting upon another an unpleasant duty to be lost; and, putting the +paper into the constable's hand, he bade him go in and deliver it +directly into the hands of Mr. Simpson the magistrate. The man +received the commission as a matter of course, and proceeded to +execute it, while the surgeon returned to the sick room. He opened the +door--all was still--the assistants stood holding back the curtain, +and gazing fixedly in--the clergyman was kneeling by the bedside, with +his eyes raised towards heaven. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +While the dark and solemn scene of death had been passing above, with +half-closed windows and a darkened apartment, events scarcely less +painful had been taking place below, in the broad light of a clear +autumn day. + +Six magistrates, whom Lord Dewry, with the usual overacting of +conscious guilt, had invited, in order to give every appearance of +impartiality and justice to his unjust designs, dropped in one by one, +and were ushered into the chamber where the peer sat waiting with +burning impatience for the arrival of the whole. Totally indifferent +to the business themselves, each as he came in tortured the baron with +light and impertinent gossip,--of the weather, of the harvest, of the +prospects of the country, of the new fashion of dress swords, and the +exquisite effect of Maréchal hair-powder; and forced him into +conversation while his heart was full of deep stern thoughts, that +abhorred the idle topics on which he was expected to speak. Some, +however, mentioned his son, and congratulated him on the rumour of his +safety, which had already spread over the county: and here alone the +peer found matter on which he could converse feelingly; for the news +of his child's safety had come to him, in the midst of the fiery +passions that were agitating his bosom, like the thought of a drop +of cold water to Dives in the midst of his torments. Each of his +visiters wished to know more than general rumour had already told, and +many were the inquiries in regard to how Captain de Vaux had been +wounded, and who Mr. Harley could be, who had lately taken the house +at Little ----. Of all this, however, Lord Dewry could tell them +nothing. Colonel Manners's letter had been as laconic as possible; +and, therefore, the peer could merely reply, that it appeared the +wound had been received by accident, but that he intended to go over, +in order to hear more, as soon as they had concluded the business on +which they were assembling. + +At length the number was complete; and Lord Dewry, having asked the +servant who ushered in the last tardy magistrate if all were prepared, +proposed that they should proceed to the old justice-room, where they +would find everything ready for them. + +"The old justice-room!" cried bluff Mr. Arden; "I have not been in +there for many a year, my lord. But I have seen many a thing done +there, in my young days, that we should not dare to do now. They did +not mince the matter in those times; and I remember in the year +forty-five--now some three or four-and-twenty years ago--it was quite +enough to be _strongly suspected_ for a man to find his way to prison +very soon, without all these examinations and investigations. But they +are cutting down our powers every day, gentlemen. 'Pon my soul, I +think, when they have cut off every other part of my magisterial +rights, they will cut off the tails of my coat, for the _better +protection of the subject_, as they call it." + +A loud laugh followed; and thus with mirth and merriment they +proceeded along the passages of a house, where despair and indignant +grief waited anxiously in one room, and suffering, remorse, and death +tenanted another. Preceded by two or three regular constables, they +reached the little vestibule before the door of the justice-room, +where fifteen or sixteen persons were assembled, anxious to witness +the proceedings. They had not, however, been admitted without +selection; and among them were to be seen none but small tenants and +dependants of the lord of the mansion. The little crowd drew back as +the magistrates approached; and, the folding-doors being thrown open, +they entered the large old-fashioned hall, which had been prepared for +their reception. It formed, as has been before said, a long +parallelogram at the extreme of the building, built out upon the high +bank to the west, and had probably been designed originally for a +chapel. Four tall windows on either side rendered the aspect of the +whole light and cheerful; and from the south-east the sun, as bright +and warm as in the height of summer, was pouring a flood of glorious +light, which streamed in long oblique rays of misty splendour across +the perspective of the hall. A table, covered with the various +implements for writing, crossed the farther extremity of the +apartment; and beyond it was an array of chairs for the magistrates, +while at each end was a seat for the clerks; and a smaller table, +also, under one of the south-east windows, was furnished with paper +and pens for another secretary. The windows on that side were open, +and the warm soft breath of the southerly wind was felt fanning the +cheek, and breathing of nothing but peace, and gentleness, and +tranquillity. + +The magistrates proceeded to their places, and each taking a seat, +left the chair in the centre vacant for the peer; but he, however, +declined it, and begged Mr. Arden, as the senior, to preside at their +proceedings. + +"Nay, nay, my lord," replied the bluff old squire; "your official +station in the county, as much as your rank, gives you the +precedence." + +"In the present instance, however, my dear sir," replied Lord Dewry, +"I must appear before you as a private individual, as I am here in +some sort as the accuser, and if you find cause to commit the +prisoner, I must become the prosecutor. Therefore, I will sit here +beside you, but without exercising any official authority in a matter +where I am in a degree a party." + +"The prisoner cannot say that your lordship has not every disposition +to give him impartial justice," answered Mr. Arden, taking the vacant +chair. "You would have him let off before, when I would certainly have +committed him; and now you will not exercise your authority where he +is concerned. Let him be brought in, however. Constables, bring in the +prisoner." Two men instantly departed from the farther end of the hall +for that purpose, and while they were gone some formal business was +transacted, the clerks received their instructions, and one or two of +the magistrates looked into Blackstone's new work, the volumes of +which had been scattered about upon the table. At length a murmur and +the sound of footsteps were heard, and the doors being again opened, +the constables re-entered, followed by the persons who had been +waiting without, reinforced by several of the servants of the peer, as +well as by the footmen and grooms who had accompanied the magistrates +thither. The principal object of the whole group, however, was of +course the prisoner Pharold, and on him every eye was instantly fixed. +Walking between the two constables, who did not attempt to hold him, +he advanced boldly up the middle of the hall, and with a slight +contraction of the brow, and curl of the lip, gazed on the party +assembled to interrogate him with stern and fearless calmness. His +wrists were handcuffed, but no other restraint was put upon him; and +when he had advanced within a few yards of the table at which the +magistrates were seated, he paused of his own will, and waited as if +in expectation of what was to follow, merely turning round to some of +the crowd who followed, saying, sternly, "Do not press upon me; you +are near enough." + +Mr. Arden put on his spectacles, and after gazing for a moment or two +at the prisoner, he turned towards Lord Dewry, and said, "My lord, +will your lordship be good enough to state the charge against this +man; as of course that part of the business referring to the murder of +your son must be dropped, since it fortunately turns out that he is +alive. There are, however, I think, still two serious charges to be +disposed of, and probably our best plan will be to examine into them +separately: by separately, I mean, distinct from each other, though, +as many of us have come some distance, we had better go into both ere +we depart." + +Lord Dewry paused for several minutes ere he replied; and looked over +some papers which he had laid upon the table before him; but in truth +a momentary feeling of doubt and embarrassment crossed his mind. He +had determined most positively to urge against the gipsy the death of +his brother; he had arranged all his plans for that purpose; he had +matured them perfectly; he had secured, as far as human ingenuity +could go, every link of the chain; and nothing remained but to cast it +boldly round his victim; and yet, at the very moment of execution, a +doubt and apprehension, a sort of prophetic hesitation, seemed to +seize him, and he wished that it had been possible to abandon the +charge of the murder of his predecessor, and to confine his accusation +to the deer-stealing and the death of Sir Roger Millington, which was +now, as he well knew, so near, as to effect all that could be wished, +by rendering the charge against Pharold capital. + +He wavered for a moment, then, but he saw that the very wish to give +up an accusation so boldly made would appear suspicious, if any one +discovered it; and turning to Mr. Arden with a faint smile, he asked, +"With which of these charges had I better commence, my dear sir? The +one which is susceptible of the most immediate proof is that referring +to the recent offence." + +"No, no, my lord," replied the magistrate, "take them in the order of +their dates. Let us get rid of the ancient business before we begin +the other. 'Tis well to be off with the old love before we be on with +the new, my lord." + +"As you think fit," answered the peer, somewhat disappointed at the +magistrate's decision, but determined, as he must proceed, to proceed +boldly. "Well, then, my charge is as follows:--that the prisoner +Pharold, now before you, did, on the 18th day of May, in the year +17--, feloniously and with malice aforethought put to death my +unfortunate brother, the late Lord Dewry, in or near that part of the +road from Morley village to Green Hampton, which crosses the wood +called Morley Wood; and I am now ready to produce sufficient evidence +to induce you to commit the prisoner to the county jail for trial." + +While he spoke, the gipsy's eye rested on him with a glance so stern, +so keen, so searching, that he felt as if the dreadful secret of his +bosom--all its motives and all its feelings, its doubts, its +apprehensions, its remorse, its complicated plans and subtle +contrivances, were undergoing, one by one, the examination of that +dark, fixed regard. Though he looked towards the prisoner as little as +possible, yet the gipsy's eye was a load upon him, that oppressed and +would have confused a less powerful mind than his own. Even as it was, +however, he could not bear it without emotion, and turning abruptly to +Mr. Arden, he went on,--"I trust, Mr. Arden, that you have brought +with you the notes of the former examination." + +"Everything! everything, my lord," replied the magistrate; "prepared +as I was for the case, I brought every memorandum that could at all +bear upon it; and I think my clerk had better read the depositions +made at the time, and then you can proceed with any new facts which +may have since come to your knowledge." + +The peer bowed his head, and the clerk, under Mr. Arden's +instructions, proceeded to read a variety of documents relating to +facts with which the reader is already acquainted. It is unnecessary, +therefore, to repeat them; but the demeanour of the two persons +principally interested in the details was in itself sufficiently +singular to attract the attention of some of the magistrates, though, +if they sought in their own minds for the motives, they were mistaken +in the conclusions at which they arrived. During the reading of all +the formal and immaterial part of the depositions, the gipsy remained +with his eyes fixed upon the ground, and his head slightly bent, with +the aspect of one who hears a thing with all the details of which he +is too familiar to give it any deep attention. But when the clerk came +to his own deposition, and read the declaration which he had made of +having seen the murder committed, and marked the murderer so +particularly as to be able to swear to him if he ever saw him again, +his lip curled with a bitter and a biting sneer, and, raising his +head, he fixed his eyes upon his accuser, with a gaze that might well +have sunk him to the earth. + +Lord Dewry, however, encountered not his glance. He felt that the +gipsy's look must be then upon him; and, though he kept his own eyes +steadfastly on the papers before him, he turned deadly pale under the +consciousness of his own guilt, and the knowledge of what must be +passing in the bosom of the innocent man he had accused. + +"This is your declaration, made twenty years ago, prisoner!" said Mr. +Arden, examining the gipsy's countenance through his spectacles. + +"I know it is," answered the gipsy; "and it is truth, which twenty +years cannot change as they have done you and me, hard man!" + +"Egad, he's right there!" cried the magistrate; "twenty years have +worked a woful change both in my eyes and in my teeth; but, thank God, +I can ride as fresh as any man after the hounds, and shirk neither +fence nor gate." + +"Have you anything to add to your declaration, prisoner!" asked Mr. +Simpson, in a milder tone. "Nothing," answered Pharold. "Let me ask +you, however," continued the other, "whether you have ever, by any +chance, seen the murderer since the events which you have detailed in +this paper?" + +"More than once!" answered the gipsy. + +"Then, why did you not point him out for apprehension?" demanded Mr. +Simpson. + +"Because no one asked me," replied Pharold. "I told yon hard old man, +that I would point the murderer out if he were set before me; but I +never promised any of you to be as one of your hounds, and seize the +game for your sport or advantage." + +"Then if the murderer were brought before you," asked another +magistrate, "would you point him out, and swear to him?" + +The inquiry was taking a turn unpleasing to the peer; for although he +felt well convinced that Pharold would, sooner or later, retort the +accusation upon him, and was ready to meet it boldly and calmly, yet +he was not a little anxious to conclude his own statement of the case +first, and to bring forward every circumstance which could criminate +the gipsy, in order to take all weight from the testimony of his +adversary, and make the magistrates pass it over with contempt. + +"I think," he said, rising ere the gipsy could reply--"I think, +gentleman, if you will now permit me to proceed with what I have +further to adduce, you will find the matter very much simplified, and +can then examine the prisoner in whatever manner you think fit." + +"Certainly, my lord! certainly!" said some of the more complaisant of +the party; but the magistrate who had put the question was less easily +turned aside; and he replied,-- + +"Permit the prisoner, my lord, to answer my question in the first +place. My memory is bad," he added, dryly, "and before we got to the +end I might forget it. Now, answer me, prisoner,--that is, if you do +not object--there is no compulsion, remember,--if the murderer were +brought before you, could you and would you point him out, and swear +to him!" + +"That I could do so," answered Pharold, "I have already said; but that +I would do so, I do not know. It would depend upon circumstances." + +Lord Dewry looked suddenly up, and their eyes met, but there was +nothing in Pharold's glance at that moment but cold stern +indifference; and those who saw the look he gave the peer could not +have distinguished that he was moved towards him by any other feelings +than those which might well exist between the accused and the accuser. +Lord Dewry paused, and a momentary feeling of remorse for that which +he was engaged in crossed his bosom, now that he saw even persecution +would hardly make the gipsy violate his word so far as to betray his +fearful secret. But he had gone too far to recede, and he crushed the +better feeling. He called up the image of Sir William Ryder returning +to England, and supporting a charge against him by the testimony of +the gipsy; he recalled the state of feverish apprehension in which he +had lived for twenty years; and he went on with the work he had begun, +resolved that the struggle should be commenced and ended now for ever, +in the vain hope that thus his latter days might pass in peace! + +"Now, my lord," said the magistrate, when the gipsy had replied--"now, +my lord, I beg pardon for having detained you." + +"Well, then, sir," answered Lord Dewry, with some of his haughty +spirit breaking out even then--"well, then, if it quite suits your +convenience, I will proceed. I must give a slight sketch of some +events long passed, gentlemen; and the clerks had better take it down +as my deposition, which may be sworn to hereafter. Not very long after +my brother's death, gentlemen, I had some money transactions to settle +with an honourable friend of mine, one Sir Roger Millington; and I +went to London for the purpose. I found him just returned from +Ireland; and he told me that, in the neighbourhood of Holyhead, he had +met with an accident by which one of his finest horses had nearly been +killed; but that he had obtained a secret from a gipsy there by which +the animal had been completely cured. You may easily suppose I gave +the anecdote but little attention at the time. In settling our +accounts, however, Sir Roger had to give me, in change for a larger +sum, several smaller notes, on which he wrote his name. I took no +great notice of these bits of paper till I returned to the country, +when, on looking them over, I found, to my surprise, that one of them +was marked with my brother's own name, in his own handwriting. This +led to further examination; and in this banker's book, and also in +these memoranda, I found, by the dates and numbers of the notes, that +the very note in question must have been drawn by my poor brother from +his bankers the day before his death. The next thing to be discovered +was, where Sir Roger Millington had obtained it; but, as that +gentleman was continually moving about from place to place, some time +elapsed ere I could see him again. When I did so, however, I found +that he had received this very note from a gipsy called Pharold, at +Holyhead, in change for a larger one given him in order to purchase +the secret by which the worthy knight's horse had been cured." + +"A most singular coincidence!" cried Mr. Arden. "Murder will out, +gentlemen!" + +"For a long time no trace could be discovered of the gipsy," continued +Lord Dewry; "but at length he suddenly reappeared in this +neighbourhood; and one of my keepers obtained information that he and +his gang had laid a plan for robbing my park of the deer. On his +telling me this, I ordered him to take such measures as he thought +expedient for seizing the whole of them in the fact; much more +anxious, indeed, to capture my brother's murderer than to punish the +deer-stealers. It so happened, that just at the same time Sir Roger +Millington came down to pay me a visit; and on hearing that the +culprit was likely to fall into our hands that very night, he insisted +upon coming over here, both to direct the operations of the keepers, +and to satisfy himself that this gipsy Pharold is the same from whom +he received the note. I would fain have persuaded him that it was a +wild scheme; but he was a soldier, gentlemen, and accustomed to +contemn all dangers. The unhappy result you know. He was mortally +wounded, and is now lying in a state of delirium, if he be not already +dead. Last night, however, I took advantage of a time when his mind +was quite clear and rational, to obtain from him this declaration in +the presence of competent witnesses; and herein you will find that he +positively states that the man Pharold, whom he saw with the gipsy +deer-stealers in Dimden Park, was the same from whom he received this +note." + +"Foul, hellish liar!" exclaimed Pharold, starting abruptly from the +state of calm and apparently indifferent thought in which he had been +standing, with his eyes fixed upon the handcuffs on his wrists, and +his head bent down. "Foul, hellish liar! He never either gave me +aught, or had aught from me! I cured his noble beast for nothing; and +not for his sake either; but he gave me naught, nor would I have taken +his gold if he had offered it." + +"What, then," cried Mr. Arden, "you acknowledge that you did see this +gentleman at Holyhead, and did cure his horse by some nostrum in your +possession! Clerk, take that down carefully." + +"Ay, and take down that, if in dying he say he either gave me aught or +received aught from me," continued Pharold, vehemently, "he goes to +the place appointed for liars and false witnesses, if the great God of +all the universe be a God of justice and righteousness." + +"Do you know, gentlemen," said Mr. Arden, turning round and rubbing +his hands, "I think that quite enough has been elicited to justify us +in committing the prisoner without further ceremony." + +"We might perhaps be justified," said Mr. Simpson; "but I think there +is something more required of us than that, both by our own +consciences and our precise duties. It lies with us to prepare the +case as far as possible for superior functionaries; and, therefore, I +should propose that we proceed at once to collect every information +that is to be procured, and that we do not think of committing the +prisoner till we have done so. A great deal more still remains to +be--" + +Here one of the constables advanced from the other end of the hall, +and passing quietly round the table, interrupted the magistrate by +handing him a sealed packet, which he instantly opened, and proceeded +to read the first lines. While he did so, the constable advanced to +the spot where the peer sat, and spoke a few words in a low tone of +voice, while another magistrate, taking advantage of Mr. Simpson's +silence, proposed that they should adjourn to the bedside of Sir Roger +Millington, and receive his deposition officially. + +"I am sorry to say," answered Lord Dewry, with as grieved and +melancholy an air as he could assume, under circumstances which were +in reality satisfactory--"I am sorry to say, gentlemen, that the wise +and judicious proceeding just suggested cannot be executed, as the +constable has this moment informed me that my poor friend is no more. +His dissolution occurred a few minutes ago; and though I grieve for +the loss of my friend, it would be vain to say that I am sorry that an +event which was inevitable should have taken place so soon, when every +hour of prolonged existence was an hour of torture." + +"I trust, then, that the declaration which he made last night," said +the same magistrate, "was in every respect such as to be admitted in +evidence. Will your lordship permit me to examine it?" The paper was +handed to him, and he cast his eyes over it without any comment. Mr. +Simpson, however, was evidently strongly affected by the packet he had +just received. He returned more than once to several of the passages +it contained; and when he had satisfied himself of the precise terms, +he let the hand which held the paper fall over the arm of the chair; +and with a pale cheek and a look of deep thought, continued gazing at +vacancy for several moments. + +The first thing that seemed to rouse him was a renewal of Mr. Arden's +proposal for the instant committal of the prisoner, when, turning +round abruptly, he said, "No, Mr. Arden! no! we have not half gone +through the case; and something has just been put into my hand which +gives a very different aspect to the business altogether. This is a +very painful paper, gentlemen; and the task put upon me is a very +painful one, but, however, our duty must be done; and I will not +shrink from mine. However, let me beg your lordship in the first +instance to remark that this thing is no seeking of mine. For many +members of your lordship's family I have the utmost respect and +regard, and I would not willingly do anything to hurt any of your +house; but, as I have said, my duty must be done." + +While he spoke, the gipsy's eye lighted up anew, but the countenance +of the peer fell. His colour varied twenty times in a minute; but ere +the magistrate had done speaking, he had recovered his self-command, +and determined on his course, whatever might be the nature of the +communication which Mr. Simpson had received. "To what end, may I +ask," he said, haughtily, "to what end does all this tissue of idle +words lead, sir? Let me beg you to explain yourself, for I can +conceive no circumstances under which your professed regard for my +family should interfere in any way with the execution of your duty." + +"You shall hear, my lord, you shall hear," answered Mr. Simpson, with +more mild dignity than the peer had imagined he could assume. +"Constables, clear the hall there." + +"Shall we take away the prisoner, sir?" demanded one of the men who +stood by his side. + +The magistrate paused, and then replied, after a moment's thought, "He +has a right to hear anything that may benefit himself. He is here +before us without legal advice or assistance of any kind; and he must +not be shut out from a knowledge of facts which he may have to +communicate to his counsel hereafter. You, constable, however, retire +to the door. I think we are enough to manage one handcuffed man should +he prove turbulent." + +None of the other magistrates interfered: the hall was cleared; and +Pharold was left standing in the midst, with no other witnesses but +the magistrates and their clerks. Restraining all his feelings by a +mighty effort, the peer sat sternly gazing upon the speaker, with the +violent passions that were working within, discernible only in the +starting sinews of the thin clenched hand which he had laid upon the +papers before him. + +"What I have to read, gentlemen," continued Mr. Simpson, "has just +been sent me by the excellent rector of this parish, Dr. Edwards; and +it is entitled The dying declaration of Sir Roger Millington, knight. +It is, gentlemen, to the following effect;" and he proceeded to read +the confession which fear and repentance had induced the dying man to +make. The agitation of the peer was dreadful; but it was alone +internal; and all that was externally perceptible were those signs of +passion and indignation which an innocent man might feel at a false +accusation. At length, however, when, in conclusion, the unhappy Sir +Roger charged him boldly as the murderer of his brother, Lord Dewry +started up, exclaiming,-- + +"The raving madness of a delirious and dying man! How can you, +gentlemen, sit and listen to such trash! But I will soon bring you +proof of what state the man was in, when that canting old fanatic saw +him and he turned towards the door. + +"Sit down, my lord!" said Mr. Simpson, sternly. "I cannot allow you to +leave the room." + +"Sit down! not allow me!" cried the peer, turning upon him with all +the dark and haughty spirit of his heart flashing forth. "Do you dare, +sir, to use such terms to me in my own mansion?" + +"Anywhere, Lord Dewry!" replied the magistrate. "I say, sit down! or I +must give you in custody to one of the officers, _I_ will show you, +gentlemen, in what state of mind was the deponent when he made this +declaration. Here is the attestation of the surgeon and his assistant, +that Sir Roger Millington was, at the moment he signed this paper, +perfectly sane and rational; that he did it under the full knowledge +that he was a dying man; and that every word here written was exactly +used by himself. Gentlemen, this requires immediate investigation; for +every word here written must greatly affect the prisoner before us." + +Lord Dewry had cast himself down again in his chair; but wrath in the +present instance supported hypocrisy; for it was anger and indignation +he sought to assume, and the former at least, in the present instance, +required no acting. He folded his arms upon his breast, he rolled his +dark eye over the form of the magistrate, and he set his teeth in his +nether lip till the blood almost started beneath the pressure. In the +mean while there was a confused and murmuring conversation among the +magistrates, some standing, some sitting, and all talking together. At +length Mr. Arden exclaimed, in a loud voice that overpowered the +rest,-- + +"Well, well; this matter requires much consideration. Let us at all +events remand the gipsy for four or five days, while we inquire into +the rest. Here, he might be tampered with; but let us remand him to +the cage at Morley." + +"Remand me!" cried the gipsy, in a tone that called instant attention, +while his deep black eyes seemed flashing with living fire. "Remand +me! remand a man that you know to be innocent! Are these your boasted +laws? is this your English equity? Have you no more freedom in your +hearts than this? Did ye but know what real freedom is, ye would feel +that nothing upon earth,--neither gold, nor wealth, nor friends, nor +pleasures, nor health, nor life itself, to the freeman,--is half so +dear as liberty! If ye take his gold, ye call it robbery; if ye take +his life, ye call it murder; but I tell you, that every minute and +every hour of liberty is more than gold or life; and yet, base +hypocritical tyrants, without scruple and without remorse, you take +from your fellow-creatures, on the slightest pretence, the brightest +possession of man, the noblest gift of God. Ere you know whether your +fellow-creature be guilty or not ye doom him to the worst of +punishments, ye confine him in dungeons, ye fetter his free limbs with +iron, ye deny him God's light and God's air, ye make him the companion +of devils and fiends, and then ye find that he is innocent, and send +him forth into the world degraded, corrupted, vile as ye are +yourself,--punished without guilt, and robbed of many a long day of +golden liberty by those who pretend to dispense justice, and who talk +of equity. Out upon ye, I say! and out upon your laws! If there were +such things as liberty and justice in the land, the very rumour that a +fellow-creature was deprived of his freedom for an hour, would gather +together half the land to see justice done; and he who dared unjustly +to deprive a freeman of his liberty would be punished as a traitor +against the rights conferred by God. Then would not this bright and +beautiful land bear the multitude of prisons that darken the sunshine +in every town and village; and speedily the very use for them would be +forgotten; for man's heart, ennobled by freedom, would forget crime; +or crime, punished on the spot, would be a lesson far more awful. Now +ye debase yourselves and your fellow-creatures, and expect them to act +nobly; ye punish the innocent with the worst of punishments, and +expect them to refrain from guilt. If I am innocent of the crime with +which I am charged,--and God knows, and ye all know, that I am,--let +me go free. If I be guilty, punish me with death, but take not away my +liberty. Death were light, but one other night in a dungeon would +crush my very soul!" + +There was something so strong, so fiery, so impetuous, in the whole +tone and manner of the gipsy, that the magistrates, taken by surprise, +sat silent and attentive, till he had concluded an appeal which they +certainly had not expected. "There is some reason in what you say," +answered Mr. Simpson, mildly, "and, perhaps, if we had tasted a few +hours' imprisonment ourselves, we should not be so ready to send +others to that fate, as we are found too often. However, now answer +me, prisoner: you have declared that if the murderer of the late Lord +Dewry were set before you, you could recognise him, and swear to him. +I ask you, therefore, do you see him now?" + +A powerful emotion, which he could not resist, made the peer suddenly +turn away, as the magistrate thus addressed the gipsy; and Pharold's +dark keen eyes fixed sternly upon him. For several long, terrible, +anxious moments the gipsy was silent, and many were the strong and +agitating passions which struggled in his heart, and threw their +alternate shadows over his countenance; but at length he replied, in a +low but solemn and distinct voice, "I have said that I could tell, but +I have not said that I would; and I now say that, come what will to +myself, I will accuse no man." + +The magistrates gazed at each other for a brief space, both surprised +and perplexed; but at that moment there was heard the sound of +chariot-wheels, the step of a carriage violently thrown down, and a +considerable bustle and speaking in the passages beyond. The next +instant the door of the hall was thrown open, and a gentleman entered, +with his hat still on his head, and a large fur cloak cast round him, +as he had got out of his carriage. + +"I really must have the hall kept clear," exclaimed Mr. Simpson. "We +are here in private deliberation, and no one must be admitted." + +The stranger, however, without paying the slightest attention, walked +straight up the middle of the hall; and laying his hand upon the +gipsy's arm, as he passed the spot where he stood, "I have come," he +said, "to deliver an innocent man." The next moment he advanced to the +table; and taking off his hat gazed round upon the magistrates. + +The effect produced upon several persons present was no less strange +than sudden. The peer, with a countenance as pale as ashes, a +quivering lip and haggard eye, staggered up from his seat, grasped the +arm of the intruder, and holding him at arm's length, gazed in his +face, with an expression of doubt, and surprise, and horror. Mr. Arden +rubbed the glasses of his spectacles, exclaiming, "Good God! good God! +This is very strange! It can't be--no, it can't be!" + +"It is! it is!" exclaimed the peer, falling back into his chair, and +covering his eyes with his hands. "It is! it is! thank God! oh! thank +God!" and the deep groan which accompanied his expression of joy, far +from lessening its force, seemed to speak that the load of worlds was +taken off his heart. + +"In the name of Heaven, sir, who are you?" exclaimed one of the +younger magistrates. + +"Who is he?" exclaimed the gipsy, "who should he be, but William Lord +Dewry. There are plenty here who must know him well." + +"And none better than myself," cried Mr. Arden. "My Lord, are you +living or dead?" + +"Living, sir," replied the person whom we have hitherto known by +the name of Sir William Ryder. "Had I not believed, gentlemen, that +in this hall I have as much right as any one, I should not have +intruded upon your deliberations; but as I learned this morning +that my friend Pharold here, to whom I owe my life, was brought +before you on a charge of taking it, I felt myself bound to interfere. +You must, therefore, permit me to be present at your further +deliberations.--Edward," he continued, turning to his brother, "you +had better retire. We have matter for much thought and for much +emotion between us, which were as well confined to ourselves alone." + +"But, my lord'. but, my lord!" exclaimed Mr. Arden, "here is an +accusation made formally against your brother, also, of the same crime +with which the gipsy was charged." + +"Who made it?" exclaimed Lord Dewry, looking somewhat reproachfully at +Pharold. + +"Not I," answered the gipsy,--"I bring a false accusation against no +man." + +"At all events, sir," rejoined the peer, turning to Mr. Arden, "it +must be sufficiently evident to all, that my brother, whatever may +have been our personal differences, cannot be guilty of my murder, as +I am here alive and well. I say again, therefore, that you had better +retire, Edward, and leave me to conclude this business as I see fit; +unless, indeed," he added--"unless you are inclined to contest either +my identity or my rights." + +"No, no, no!" cried the other, starting up vehemently, and clasping +his hands together, while the burning tears of intense emotion rolled +rapidly over his cheeks. "No, no! So help me God, I would not lose the +knowledge that you are living for the highest rank and noblest fortune +that the earth could give; and I tell you, William, that to lay down +at your feet that which I have wrongfully possessed, to give up to you +wealth and station, and retire to poverty and obscurity, will be the +happiest act of my whole life. It will! it will! as there is truth +in Heaven, whatever my conduct heretofore may have caused you to +believe--and now I leave you." + +"That is one step at least," said the peer. "Fare you well for the +present. I will join you soon.--And now, gentlemen," he continued, +turning to the magistrates, as his brother, with a slow and faltering +step, quitted the hall--"and now let us proceed, as quickly as +possible, to render justice to a man who has been erroneously accused, +and subjected already to some loss of liberty,--a loss which I know is +more bitter to him than the loss of life would be." + +"Why, my lord, one would think you had turned gipsy yourself," said +Mr. Arden, "you speak so exactly the same sentiments which he has +himself expressed." + +"I have mingled much with persons who feel the same ardent love for +uncontrolled liberty," replied the peer somewhat dryly, "and it is +therefore that I wish at once to proceed to those matters which may +instantly set this good and honest man at liberty. It is evident, +gentlemen, that the charge against him must instantly be discharged, +and therefore it may be better to order those unworthy handcuffs to be +taken instantly from his wrists." + +"Not so fast, my lord," said Mr. Arden, who was not well pleased with +the tone in which the peer replied to him, and who had also a strong +disposition to commit every one who was committable. "Although your +sudden, miraculous, and very strange reappearance must of course put +an end to all proceedings relative to a murder which has not taken +place, yet there is another charge of a nature equally grave against +the prisoner, which renders it impossible to discharge him in the +summary method which you seem inclined to urge. There is a charge of +deer-stealing followed by murder, in both of which crimes it is pretty +evident that the prisoner has taken part. I should like to know, too, +before I part with him, whether the whole story that he told of your +being shot by a man on horseback had any foundation, or was a mere +invention." + +"In regard to the last point I will satisfy you at once," replied Lord +Dewry, "as far as I ever intend to satisfy any one. I was met by a man +on horseback, as I believe the gipsy told you, who demanded money of +me, and on my refusing it, somewhat harshly indeed, he did fire at and +wound me. My horse took fright, and plunged into the river; I fell +from the saddle, deprived of all sense; and had not that good man, +Pharold, leaped into the stream, dragged me out, and given me into the +hands of those who tended me with kindness and wisdom, my fate would +not have been doubtful for a moment. In regard to my after-conduct, +private motives determined it, into which no one has any right to +inquire. They were such as satisfied my own heart and my own +understanding, and that is sufficient." + +"And pray, my lord," demanded Mr. Arden, "were you acquainted with the +person who wounded you? Could you swear to him?" + +"I am not making a charge before you as a county magistrate," replied +Lord Dewry; "but telling you an anecdote as an old acquaintance; and +let me add, that my story is done. In regard to any further charge +against Pharold, there is, I think, by this time sufficient evidence +collected at the hall door to prove that he took no part either in the +destruction of the deer or the violence offered to the gamekeepers. If +you will order the persons who were present to be called in you will +soon be satisfied." + +"I beg your pardon, my lord," said Mr. Simpson: "I am most happy to +see you once again, when such a thing appeared impossible; but still I +am afraid the course you suggest cannot be pursued." + +"And why not, sir?" demanded Lord Dewry: "I believe that I have the +pleasure of speaking to Mr. Simpson, though time has somewhat altered +his features: if so, I address both a humane and reasonable man; and I +ask why cannot the plain and straightforward course I propose be +pursued at once?" + +"Let them have their way, William de Vaux! Let them have their way!" +cried the gipsy, whose dark features had been working under the +influence of many a contending passion since his friend had appeared. +"Let them have their way! One and all they are set in their own hearts +to do injustice. What, indeed, are they there for, but to dispense +that kind of injustice that you call law? Let them have their way! +They are but working out the inevitable will of fate; and though they +bring the curse of innocent blood upon their head, they needs must do +it." + +"If your lordship, during your long absence, have not forgot entirely +the customs of this country," replied Mr. Simpson, as soon as he could +make himself heard, "you will perceive at once, that, as one of the +unfortunate victims of this deer-stealing affray has died in this very +house, not half an hour ago, it is our bounden duty not to discharge a +prisoner against whom a charge upon oath of participation in the crime +has been made by an eyewitness, until the coroner shall have sat upon +the body, and returned a verdict; nor have we, I believe, any right to +take the matter out of the coroner's hands, by previously examining +the witnesses, which must afterward appear before his jury. I am +grieved to oppose you, I am grieved to inflict further imprisonment on +a man of whose innocence I do not entertain any strong doubts; but +Harvey, the head keeper, has sworn that the prisoner was present, +aiding and abetting, when Sir Roger Millington was wounded, and we +should not be justified even in receiving bail till the coroner's jury +have returned their verdict." + +Lord Dewry bit his lip, and remained silent for a few moments, while +Mr. Arden rubbed his hands, and elevated his eyebrows with the air of +a man who considers all opposition as silenced; and the gipsy eyed the +bench of magistrates with a look in which scorn was the only +expression that tempered hatred and indignation. "Pray, sir, how long +must it be ere the coroner can be summoned?" demanded the peer. "You +know not what you are inflicting upon a man as honest as any one +present. To him every hour of his freedom is more than life; and I +could give you fully sufficient proof to show that while his innocence +of the crime charged against him is clear, the punishment inflicted on +him by imprisonment cannot be estimated by the feelings of other men +under such circumstances." + +"The coroner cannot even be summoned to-day, my lord," replied Mr. +Arden; "and, consequently, it must be to-morrow or the next day ere +the gipsy can be liberated, even if the result be as favourable to him +as you expect. But what are two or three days spent in a snug warm +room to a man who has never known any thing better than a hovel in a +sandpit? Where is the great hardship? I see no very severe +infliction." + +"To him it is the most severe," replied Lord Dewry; "and if it be +possible--" + +"Cease, cease, William," cried Pharold, in a bitter and earnest tone; +"you degrade those noble lips by pleading in vain to men who can +neither understand your heart nor mine. Besides, it matters not, it +matters not. The long weary line of life has come to its end with me. +All that I had to do is done. I have seen you break through all your +good and wise designs, all your humane and generous scruples, for +the purpose of defending and delivering me; I have seen you return to +your home, and claim your own; and so far I have seen my utmost +desire. But hear what I have seen more," he continued with a rising +tone, while his eye flashed, his dark cheek flushed, and his brows +knit together--"hear what I have seen more, William de Vaux, and then +see whether I ought to care for anything else after. I have seen my +people mock my care, and refuse my counsels! I have seen one of my own +tribe betray me, in order to liberate himself! I have seen the wife of +my bosom take part in the scheme for delivering me over to +imprisonment and death, by the means of my best affections! I have +spent a whole bright autumn night in a prison! I come forth into the +day with bonds upon my hands, and I hear myself condemned, without +crime, to the torture of a longer slavery in chains and stone walls!" +As he went on, he spoke more and more rapidly, and his eye rolled over +the magistrates, as he lashed himself into phrensy, by a +recapitulation of his sufferings and his wrongs. "But think not," he +continued furiously, "think not that bolts, or bars, or walls shall +keep me in another night, in the living tomb into which ye have thrust +me! No, no, there is always a way for a bold heart to set itself free! +Thus, thus I spurn your chains from me!" and by one great effort of +skill and strength he slipped his hands out of the handcuffs, which +were somewhat too large, and dashed them down into the midst of the +hall. + +"Constables! constables!" shouted Mr. Arden. + +"You call in vain, hard, stone-hearted man," cried Pharold, shaking +his clenched hand at him, "you call in vain;" and bounding to the side +of the hall on which the tall windows had been thrown open, he set one +foot upon the secretary's table, and with a single spring reached the +high window sill, catching with his hand the small stone column on +which the casements hung. There he paused for one moment; and turning +his head, exclaimed, "William de Vaux, noble William de Vaux, +farewell,--for ever, and ever, and ever, farewell." + +He let go his hold: he sprang forward, and was lost to the sight. The +next moment the dull heavy splash of a large body falling into the +water rose up and was carried by the wind through the open windows +into the justice-room. + +"Run round, run round," cried Mr. Arden to the constables, who were +now hurrying in; "he has escaped through the window; run round there +by the outside." + +One or two instantly followed these directions; but another sprang up +to the window to mark the course of the fugitive, and point it out to +the pursuers. + +"He must have jumped into the stream, gentlemen," said the man, +turning to speak to the magistrates, as soon as he had reached the +spot where Pharold had stood the moment before. "He must have jumped +into the stream, for there is not footing for a mouse." + +"He did, he did: we heard him," answered Mr. Arden. "Look out, and see +where he comes to land. My lord, why do you cover your face with your +hand? you seem more sorry for the prisoner's escape than I +anticipated." + +"It is because I know him better than you do, sir," answered the peer; +"and I fear that you have driven him further than you imagine." + +"I can see nothing on the river, gentlemen," cried the constable, "but +the bubbles and the eddies where he must have gone down. There's a +shoulder, there's a shoulder, I do believe; and his long black hair as +I live:--it is gone again; he is down--I see no more of it." + +Lord Dewry started up and rushed out; but it was in vain that every +effort was made to find the gipsy living or dead. The constables who +had run round the justice-room declared that they had never seen +anything rise. The other, who had watched from the window, soon became +very doubtful in regard to the reality of the objects he had seen +floating down the stream. An old labourer, who had been working at a +distance, stated that he had remarked something fall from the window +of the justice-room into the water, but had seen nothing come to land. +The peer, with as many people as he could collect, followed the course +of the river for some way; and the constables, though with different +views, pursued the same course. In the meanwhile, the magistrates +continued in deliberation, as it is called; although it must be +acknowledged that their conversation referred much more particularly +to, and rested much more pertinaciously upon, the strange return of +Lord Dewry, the various circumstances which could have given occasion +to his absence, and the various events to which his re-appearance +would give rise, than even to the disappearance of the prisoner, and +the after-measures to be adopted. + +The matter, however, was quite sufficiently interesting to make three +quarters of an hour pass unnoticed; and at the end of that time a +servant appeared to inform them that, as the body of the unhappy gipsy +could not be found, Lord Dewry did not intend to intrude upon them +again, and that he had only to request that due information of the +death of Sir Roger Millington might be given to the coroner. + +The magistrates received the message--probably as it was intended--as +a hint that their further presence at Dimden was not desired. Mr. +Arden laughed, and declared that he would take care to tease his +lordship for his want of courtesy, by asking him unpleasant questions +whenever he met him; but Mr. Simpson, on the contrary, looked grave +and sad, and as he parted with his fellow-magistrates declared his +intention of withdrawing from his official duties. "I should never," +he said, "be able to remove from my mind the impression of that +unfortunate gipsy's fate, and I should fear that it might have some +effect upon the execution of my duty in future." + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +Day had waned, night had overshadowed the world several hours, and +Mrs. Falkland, with Marian, had long left the house in which Edward de +Vaux lay ere any sounds intimated that the master of the mansion had +returned. Anxious, bewildered, and impatient, De Vaux lay sleepless +till ten o'clock, when the rapid rush of rolling wheels, and the quick +footfalls of the horses, as they passed his window, told him that he +whom he expected had arrived. + +A few minutes elapsed without his appearance in the sick man's room, +however, and, with his characteristic impatience, De Vaux concluded +that "the fools had said he was asleep," and was sending to declare +the contrary, when the door was quietly opened, and the person he +wished for approached his bedside. + +"I am most happy to see you, my dear sir," said De Vaux, looking up in +the fine bland countenance that was bent over him, "for I cannot +sleep--I cannot rest--till I ask you who, who is it that I see?" + +"Ah! I perceive that your aunt has betrayed me," said Lord Dewry. "She +recognised me instantly this morning; but I laid strict injunctions +upon her, for many reasons, to keep my secret with you till I +returned. But I expected more than was reasonable. There is a proverb +against a woman keeping a secret." + +"No, no," said De Vaux: "she did not exactly betray you. She let a few +words accidentally fall, that only served to rouse my curiosity, which +she then refused to satisfy." + +"And what said Marian?" demanded the other, with a smile. + +"Oh, she said nothing on the subject," replied De Vaux, "but she +looked happier than I ever beheld her; and that too seemed to confirm +some vague surmises which my aunt's words had called up. But yet I +cannot believe it--it is impossible--I knew you myself as Sir William +Ryder in America--every one knew you by that name there--and I cannot +believe the wild fancy that has taken possession of me." + +"It is nevertheless true," replied the peer. "Sir William Ryder has +slept for more than twenty years in a village churchyard in Ireland, +and I am--what I suppose you suspect--your uncle. Agitate yourself +with this matter no more to-night, my dear boy: suffice it," and he +pressed his nephew's hand kindly in his own, "suffice it that I am +proud to have Edward de Vaux for my nephew, and shall rejoice to +acknowledge him as my son." + +The words were oil and wine to the heart of Edward de Vaux, but still +there was something wanting. "Thank you, thank you," he replied, still +holding his uncle's hand in his own; "but yet one word more before you +go:--that dreadful story that the gipsy told me--that story that drove +me almost mad--it is not, it cannot be true. My father did not--could +not--" + +"Edward," replied his uncle, gravely, "on no account must I do wrong +to the memory of a noble-hearted man. The gipsy told you true, as far +as he knew the truth. Nay, do not shudder: there are many palliating +circumstances which he did not know, but which I will relate to you +hereafter, in order to calm and tranquilize your mind. In the meantime +be satisfied with knowing that, as far as I am concerned, all that was +painful in the past shall be forgotten and buried in oblivion for +ever. Nor, indeed, would I, even to you, so far withdraw the veil from +things gone as to give any explanation, had it not been by my +authority and directions--under a mistaken view of your character and +heart--that the gipsy related to you as much as you already know. Your +knowledge of thus much renders it necessary for your own peace that +you should know more; which I will tell you as soon as you are well. +Rest assured, however, that all which you have yet to hear is good and +not evil, and will tend to alleviate and soften what is past." + +With such information Edward de Vaux was forced to rest contented +during the whole of the following week, for he could draw no more from +his uncle; and he feared, by questioning any one else upon the +subject, to raise suspicions which he trusted were as yet quiet in the +minds of all others. The rest of the little world, however, in which +these events had taken place, were not so soon satisfied. The +immediate neighbourhood of Dimden and of Morley House was, of course, +more agitated than the rest of the county; for there it may be said +that the stone had dropped into the water, and though the rippling +circles that it made extended far and wide around, yet each eddy was +fainter and fainter, of course, as it became farther removed from the +centre. In the immediate vortex, however, not only for nine days, but +nearly for nine months, all was gossip, and rumour, and confusion. +Every one had his own distinct report of the transactions which had +taken place in regard to the return of the old Lord Dewry; every one +had his own version of the story; and as neither the peer himself, nor +any of his family, gave either encouragement or refutation to any of +the statements, but held a stern and rigid silence upon the whole +affair, every one was left to enjoy his own version undisturbed, and +to make himself sure that it was the right one, by any logic that he +thought proper to use. + +There is no such diffusible a substance in nature as truth; for though +an infinitely small piece of gold can be spread over a wire that might +girdle the great earth, yet a much less portion of truth will serve to +gild a much greater quantity of falsehood. Thus, in all the stories +that were current, it is more than probable that some portion of truth +existed; and many of them, aided by curious inquiry and shrewd +conjecture, came very near the real facts of the case. + +The good-natured world of course anticipated all the disagreeable +things that were to happen. Lawsuits innumerable were prognosticated; +Lord Dewry was to compel his brother to refund the long enjoyed rents +of his estates; the brother was to deny his claim and rights +altogether; the marriage between Edward de Vaux and his cousin was to +be broken off; and some persons even anticipated that the lover would +shoot himself, and the lady die of consumption. + +None of these events, however, did really take place. Lord Dewry +showed himself in no hurry to take possession of his estates either at +Dimden or at Dewry Hall, but his title was not the less generally +recognised and his rights undisputed. His brother, indeed, lay for +many weeks ill at Dimden House; and, under the influence of feelings, +which those around him did not rightly comprehend, besought Lord Dewry +not to visit him till his strength was recovered, or till his death +was near. + +Edward de Vaux still remained at his uncle's cottage at the little +town of ----, tended by its owner with all the care and affection of a +father. His recovery was somewhat tedious indeed; and it was long ere +the surgeons permitted him to rise. From that period, however, his +convalescence proceeded more rapidly, and the kind tone of all his +uncle's conversation--the hope, the cheerfulness, the sunshine, that +beamed through it all--tended to sooth his mind, and turn it from +everything that was painful in his situation. At length it was +announced that he might with safety drive over to Dimden to see his +father: and on the day preceding that on which he went, as soon as the +short twilight of winter was over, Lord Dewry ordered his doors to be +closed against all the world; and walking up and down the room--as was +his custom when he spoke on matters of deep interest--while his nephew +lay on the couch beside him, he entered into the long promised +explanation of his past conduct. + +"I need not recapitulate, my dear boy," he said, "all that you have +already heard, nor tell you how bitterly I suffered from a loss, the +pain of which can never be wholly forgotten. At the time it nearly +drove me mad. At all events it made me look upon everything in nature +through a false medium, made me hate mankind, loath even the society +of my best and dearest friends, and find agony rather than consolation +in the sight of the infant which my lost angel had left me, and which +to a more sane and less impatient spirit would have been a source of +joy and comfort to my latest hour. It was under these circumstances, +and with these feelings, that I suddenly met my brother in the +neighbourhood of Morley House, while I was riding over to the county +town, with the purpose of giving him such a sum as I could spare at +the time, but of refusing the greater part of the assistance he +demanded. I had many other causes for dissatisfaction in regard to his +conduct besides his boundless extravagance; but of those causes we +need not speak. I acknowledge that I treated him harshly; and that, +not contented with rejecting his demand, I rejected it in that stern +and peremptory tone which was in some degree cruel, for grief had +hardened me for the time against all those things to which at other +moments I yielded most willingly. He pleaded more earnestly, more +humbly, than could have been expected from one who had no small share +of pride; but I refused to hear, and only repeated my determination. +Words of great bitterness passed between us; and at length he drew +forth a pistol, saying that nothing was left him but death or +dishonour, and that he preferred the former. I remember not the exact +words of my reply; but they were galling, bitter, and ungenerous; and +as I spoke them, I spurred on my horse. The next moment there came a +loud report, a giddiness of my eyes, and I felt myself reel in the +saddle. For the moment my powers over my horse were lost; and taking +fright at the sound, he plunged down the bank, lost his footing, and +slipped into the river. Nay, Edward, look not so distressed, remember +the shot might be accidental; my brother was following me eagerly at +the time, with the weapon in his hand which he had threatened to raise +against his own life: a plunge of his horse, a false step, an +accidental movement, might discharge the pistol without his will. I am +willing to believe it so; and I have never inquired further. If you +are wise, Edward de Vaux--if you are wise, you will inquire no further +either. There are few situations in which doubts are preferable to +certainty, but there are some, and this is one. Suffice it that, +whatever your father's intention was, he was driven at that moment, +both by despair and by a brother's harshness, to a state of mind in +which he could hardly be held responsible for his own actions. I +forgive him from my heart for that deed, though others have taken +place lately which I fear I cannot forgive--at least not as yet. But +of these no more: I seek not to be your father's accuser. I would +rather exculpate him as far as possible." + +De Vaux sighed deeply, and still kept his hands clasped over his eyes, +for he could not but feel that his uncle willingly deceived himself, +in order to palliate the actions of his father. "Let me now turn," +continued Lord Dewry, "to my own fate and conduct. The wound I had +received, though not dangerous--having passed obliquely along the back +of my head and neck, only slightly grazing the bone--was sufficient to +stun and confuse me; and although in the plunge into the water I was +thrown free of the horse, I should certainly have been drowned, had it +not been for the activity and courage of the gipsy Pharold. I knew +little that passed till I found myself lying on the moss, in the thick +wood above Morley Point, with two gipsies standing by me, one of whom +was my deliverer. I was still bleeding profusely; and Pharold was in +the very act of sending his comrade for help to bear me home. My first +words, however, were directed to stop him; and I besought the +companion of my boyhood to have me carried to the tents of his people, +and to conceal my escape from every one. The very first impulse on +recovering my recollection had been to execute a plan, which had often +occurred to me within the last few weeks previous to that time, of +abandoning state, and station, and society altogether, and wasting +away the rest of my days in grief and mourning. Had I been a Roman +Catholic at my wife's death, I should certainly have devoted myself to +the cloister; and the only consideration which had prevented me from +quitting England and all my former connections, had been the thought +of the inquiries and the search that would be made for me, and the +annoyance to which such proceedings might subject me. Now, however, +the opportunity was before me. I easily gathered, or rather divined +from the circumstances in which I found myself, that no one was +acquainted with my being still in life but the gipsy and his comrade: +I knew that my child, with an ample fortune and numerous connections, +would be well protected and cherished by my sister; and I resolved +instantly to seize the only opportunity I might ever have of quitting +without inquiry or pursuit, scenes that were full of painful memories, +and society which I detested. The rest was easily arranged. I felt +that I was but slightly wounded. Pharold would have done whatever I +chose to dictate on earth; and I was borne to the gipsies' tents, and +tended with as much care and skill as if I had lain in a palace, +surrounded by friends and servants. + +"None knew me personally but Pharold himself; and he pledged himself +solemnly to conceal the fact of my existence from every one. It was +agreed that his tribe should instantly remove to a distance, carrying +me with them; while he remained, in order to watch the subsequent +proceedings of my family, and give me information thereof. He was +absent for several days; and when at length he rejoined his people, I +found that he had been himself arrested, and in some degree suspected +of having murdered me. He told me, however, that my brother had been +the first to assert his innocence, and to effect his liberation. This +conduct pleased me; and I resolved to linger in England some time +longer, in order to mark your father's after proceedings. Through the +exertions of Pharold, I learned all that took place. I found that, +however he might have acted in other circumstances, my brother acted +nobly towards my child; and I took some pleasure, the first that I had +known for months, in viewing the emotions of his heart through the +conduct to which they led. The pleasure, however, was of a very +mingled nature; and at length I prepared to set out for Ireland, with +the intention of proceeding thence to America. At Holyhead I removed +from the tents of the gipsies, with whom I had hitherto continued, +because I was aware that Sir William Ryder, an old acquaintance both +of my brother's and my own, was to visit Pharold on Edward's account, +in order to ensure more perfectly the gipsy's silence. He came at +length, but in coming his horse took fright, threw him, and nearly +killed him on the spot. He likewise was borne into the gipsies' tents, +and for some days hovered between life and death. I saw him often, +without being seen, and many a time as I stood in the shadow, while +Pharold conversed with him, I heard him express bitter sorrow and +repentance for all the follies into which he had been led, and depict +vividly the writhings of a noble spirit under the consciousness of +having dipped deeply in vice and become a participator in crime. I +became interested in him, and determined in other lands--for he also +was following exactly the same track towards America as myself--to let +him know of my existence; which would at least relieve a part of the +load under which he suffered. He partially recovered, and proceeded to +Ireland; but he never reached America; for ere he could embark, the +consequences of the injuries he had received in his fall assumed a +severe character, and at a small inn, in a small and wretched Irish +port, I found him dying and alone. His surprise on seeing me had +nearly killed him; but he soon regained composure, and I remained with +him till his last hour. + +"By his advice, and authorized by his own hand, I took his name; and +by means of papers which he gave me at his death, have received ever +since the annuity of a thousand per annum, which my brother had +settled upon him; nor did I think myself unjustified in either of +these actions, for I only assumed a rank inferior to my own, and +received money which to all intents and purposes was mine. However, as +Sir William Ryder had a numerous acquaintance, it became necessary to +fix my abode in such a spot as would remove every chance of my assumed +name being questioned. My feelings too at this time led me to seek +solitude, and an entire change, not only of scene, but of all the +circumstances of life. Thus I retired to the spot where you found me, +during the late war; and there, in the midst of savage life, and +various sources of interest and excitement, I gradually recovered +calmness and peace. Of my life in America I need give you no picture, +as you have seen how it passed; and I have now only to explain further +the motives of my return. + +"Every human thing is weak in its resolves, and I not less than +others; but still, in some degree, it is happy that it should be so; +for our determinations are always the children of circumstances, and +upon circumstances also must their execution ever depend. Like a +madman and a fool, I had fancied that in Marian's mother I had found +imperishable happiness; and when she was suddenly snatched from me, my +whole feelings, my very soul, seemed turned into bitterness and +disappointment. In bitterness and disappointment, then, I had resolved +never to love another human being, and to cast off every tie that +could bind me to human affections: but time brought resignation and +consolation; and a longing, a thirst to see my child and my native +land often came upon me with overpowering force. I sought not to +resume wealth or station. I sought not to mingle again in cultivated +society; but the yearning of the heart of a father and a man towards +my daughter and my country were sometimes hardly to be resisted. That +my child was well, happy, and protected, I learned from the constant +correspondence which I kept up with the gipsy Pharold; and, at the +same time, the interest which I took in the wild tribes around me, and +the love they evinced towards me, acted as a strong tie to the land in +which I had settled. I wavered often, but I resisted long; till, at +length, I became acquainted with your admirable friend Manners, and +through him first personally knew yourself. Your very name was full of +interest to me; but how much was that interest increased when, by some +casual words which passed between you and your friend, I learned that +you were destined to become the husband of my only child. All the +faults of your father's character rose up before my imagination his +very faults towards your mother were remembered and when I pictured to +myself my dear Marian suffering under similar conduct, my heart was in +an agony of doubt and apprehension. From that moment I watched your +every word and action with eager anxiety, striving to judge your mind +and heart. I did judge you, Edward, and I judged you wrongly. There +was a fastidiousness, an irritability, an impatience, a degree of +pride, that put me strongly in mind of your father; and although I +thought I saw some nobler traits, yet I was anxious, doubtful, ill at +ease; and I determined, at any risk, at any cost, to try you to the +uttermost, ere you received the fate of my child into your hands. I +did try you, Edward, and somewhat too severely; and both for having +mistaken your nature, and made you suffer deeply, I now ask your +forgiveness. At the time you left me, I was engaged in negotiating the +purchase of a large tract of land to be reserved for certain tribes of +Indians, but a larger sum was required than I could command; and this, +with the other circumstances I have mentioned, hastened my return to +England. I arrived in my native country even before you did; but a +thousand difficulties surrounded me which I had not foreseen; and my +anxiety and eagerness made me act with less caution than I should have +done. I had no agent in whom I could confide but the gipsy Pharold; +and although he wrought in every thing exactly under my directions, +yet a thousand circumstances, over which we had no control, turned our +actions from their course, and led to results that neither of us +anticipated. My intention was not to claim either my name or my +estates, if I found that you were worthy of my child: but I have been +forced forward, from step to step, as if by the strong hand of fate, +till at length it became an imperative duty to disclose myself, in +order to deliver the innocent from persecution. One satisfaction, +however, I have obtained, which is, that I can now feel unbounded +confidence in the man to whom I leave the happiness of my child in +charge. Remember also, Edward, that I have resumed my own rights, +without compromising the honour or reputation of your father--" + +"Indeed! indeed!" cried De Vaux, starting up, and grasping his uncle's +hands. "Thanks, thanks, my dear sir! That is a blessed relief indeed! +But will not people suspect--" + +"They cannot do so reasonably," replied Lord Dewry. "The secret, my +dear boy, remains with you and me alone, and never to a living +creature shall it pass my lips, as I hope for happiness hereafter." + +"But the gipsy!" cried De Vaux, "the gipsy!" + +"The gipsy is no more!" replied his uncle, a shade coming over his +countenance. "Persecution and severe laws have driven him to despair, +and despair to death. And now, Edward, to-morrow you are about to +visit your father; in regard to letting him know what information you +possess, act as you shall think fit. Were I in your circumstances, if +possible, I should conceal from him that I knew aught beyond common +report; but if you do communicate to him the knowledge you have +obtained, add that for all and every fault towards myself I forgive +him from my heart and soul, but that his conduct towards Pharold the +gipsy rests dark upon my mind; and that, perhaps, it would be better +if we did not meet again till time had softened the remembrance. +Present him, Edward, with this packet also. It contains a deed +which will prevent him from feeling any great change of fortune +from my return." + +De Vaux coloured as he took it; and his uncle added,--"You must not +again make me deem you proud, Edward." + +"No, no, my dear sir," replied De Vaux. "What I have suffered has not +only been a trial, but will, I trust, prove a cure; for the errors +that you saw and justly feared, were fully as real as apparent. I +cannot but feel pained, however, that we should have so small a right +to expect--to expect--" He paused, hesitated a moment, and then +added,--"to expect bounty at the hand which now bestows it." + +"Call it not bounty, my dear Edward," answered his uncle, "nor couple +yourself with others in any shape, for in this deed you are in no +degree interested. The fortune which Marian inherits from her mother +will render you independent, till my death renders you wealthy. And +now to conclude, ere I wish you good-night:--I have been forced to +speak to you long of your father. In doing so, though I have tried not +to spare my own faults, I have been obliged to dwell for long upon +his; but I have done so once for all, and I never more mention them +again, either to his son or to any one else. It has been as painful +for me to speak, as for you to hear. It is over; and now, good-night!" + +We might dwell longer upon the feelings of Edward de Vaux; but we have +only space left for his actions. The next morning early he set out to +visit his parent, and it was late ere he returned. When he did so, +however, he announced to his uncle that, although still unwell, his +father had quitted Dimden, and removed a few stages on his journey to +a remote part of the country, in which he had determined to fix his +residence. + +"Of course, my dear sir," he added, "every inducement, but one, would +lead me to remain here, in the scenes wherein I have been brought up, +which are full of sweet recollections, and which contain her I love +the best on earth. Nevertheless, he is my father; and I cannot suffer +him to linger through the hours of sickness, in sorrow, dejection, and +solitude, when, perhaps, the society of his son may give him +consolation, or, at least, afford some diversion to his thoughts. +To-morrow, therefore, I will see Marian; and then, if the surgeons +will let me, will set off to follow my father. As soon as his illness +is terminated," and he spoke with a look of pain and apprehension, "I +will return, and claim a promise which is more valuable to me than +life; and, in the meantime, I know that none who are dear to me will +think the worse of me for having in this instance preferred duty to +happiness." + +Lord Dewry made no opposition to his purpose, and it was accordingly +executed. Two months elapsed without any event of importance. Lord +Dewry took possession of his rights again; and rumour and gossip, at +every fresh incident in our drama, revived more and more faintly, till +at length they died away, and gave place to newer things. The body of +the gipsy Pharold was never found; and a vague report spread over the +country that he was not dead, but had returned to his people, and had +been seen in several places by persons who were acquainted with his +person; but the origin of this report could not be traced; and certain +it is, that The Gipsy never again presented himself before any of the +family of De Vaux. The tribe which he had led disappeared from the +country; and whither their wanderings conducted them, or what was +their fate, the writer of this book cannot tell, though it appears +that Mr. Arden, that indefatigable magistrate, pursued them with his +usual vigour, on the charge of deer-stealing and murder, but was +unsuccessful in the attempt to identify any of the parties. In the +meanwhile two inducements led Lord Dewry to establish his permanent +residence at Dimden, rather than at the newer mansion which his +brother had inhabited; first, that it was full of memories that he +loved; and, secondly, that it was near those who were the dearest to +him on earth. Colonel Manners, for his part, had prolonged his stay at +Morley House for some time; but he then returned to London, promising +faithfully to renew his visit, when the same cause which had brought +him first into that part of England was again urged as a plea for +revisiting it. To the surprise of all his military acquaintances, +however, shortly after his arrival in the capital, Colonel Manners +resigned the command of his regiment, and retired upon half pay. +Various causes were assigned for this proceeding; but the real motive +lay hidden in his own bosom, deeper than he liked to own even to +himself. + +While these events were passing, Edward de Vaux wrote often to his +uncle, and still more frequently to Marian; but at the end of two +months the peer received a letter in which his brother's handwriting +was faintly to be traced. It was short, and to the following effect:-- + + +"My Lord, + +"I am dying; and a few days are all that remains to me of life; I +therefore venture to ask that you would see me once more before we +part--perhaps for ever. I would fain receive your forgiveness from +your own lips. I would fain tell you how that remorse--which led me on +to new crimes and more intense sufferings at every step, while it was +the companion of terror and despair--has conducted me to repentance +and consolation, now that the burden has been lightened by your +return. I have not only wronged you, but I have fearfully wronged +others, and I acknowledge it with sorrow and with shame. Nor will I +attempt to excuse or palliate any part of my conduct; for you, whose +life has passed without spot, cannot tell the goading power of that +fiery scourge with which one great crime drives us on to a thousand +more, in order to conceal it. My cruel, I might almost say insane, +persecution of an unhappy man who, as I hear, is now no more, had such +feelings for its cause; but I know too well that if my deep and bitter +repentance be not accepted by the Almighty, it will be no vindication +of a great crime to urge that it was the consequence of another. In +regard to my offences towards yourself, I have been punished by twenty +years of those torments which have been assigned to hell itself--the +worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched. But this is +not enough; and if I did not trust that the deep repentance which I +feel may obtain some better expiation of my offences than my own +sufferings can afford, I should die without hope. I do hope, however, +that mercy may be found; and oh, my brother, let me beseech you to +encourage that trust, by seeing me, and assuring me of your full +forgiveness, ere I go to another world." + + +The peer lost not a moment, and arrived at his brother's bedside +before the last scene was over. He found in him, however, scarcely a +trace of what he had been even three months before. At that time, +intense mental exertion and activity had apparently given him power to +bear up under all the load that pressed upon his heart; but the sudden +re-appearance of his brother, and the events which accompanied it, +seemed to have broken, in a moment, the staff under his hand, and he +had fallen at once into age, decrepitude, and decay. + +Lord Dewry and Edward de Vaux returned not after to Dimden Hall in +deep mourning; and though joy certainly sparkled in the lover's eyes +as he once more held Marian to his heart, yet for many weeks he was +grave and sad, and only recovered his cheerfulness by degrees. Nor +indeed even then did Edward de Vaux ever resume the same demeanour +which he had formerly borne. Sorrows, anxieties, and humiliation had +rendered him grave; but they had nevertheless in no degree made him +less amiable in the eyes of those that loved him. On the contrary, +whatever had been frivolous, or fastidious, or irritable in his +nature, had been removed; and in the trials he had undergone he had +cast away the impatient pride, which was the worst quality he had +possessed, and had obtained a calm dignity, which had a better and a +nobler foundation. Marian de Vaux did all she could to sooth, to +comfort, and console him; and in the end, if there was anything on +earth of which he was proud, it was of the love and the conduct of her +he was shortly to call his bride. As soon as De Vaux urged the +fulfilment of the engagement between Marian and himself, he met with +no opposition; and the day was fixed. Manners was immediately informed +of the fact; and, according to the invitation he received, came down +to Morley House a fortnight before the time appointed for the +marriage. Even six or eight months will work their change in every +one; and Isadore Falkland remarked that Colonel Manners neither seemed +in such good health nor such good spirits as when last she had seen +him: but ere the ceremony took place, in the air of the country and +the cheerful society which he now enjoyed, he had recovered both; and +only now and then gave way to a moment or two of absent thought. + +All was now gayety and cheerfulness: and as nothing occurred either to +delay the wedding again, or to imbitter the after lives of Edward and +Marian de Vaux, we shall pass the whole over with the fewest possible +words--they were united and were happy. + +But one scene more, and we have done. On the day succeeding that of +the wedding, there was, according to the custom of that time, a grand +and solemn dinner given at Morley House to all the grave and reverend +seniors in the neighbourhood. It was now the height of summer; and +though men sat long and drank deep in those days, yet people who were +sufficiently reasonable to condemn the practice, and sufficiently firm +to contemn an idle sneer, could rise from table when they liked, even +then. Thus, about an hour after the ladies had retired, and just as +the sun's lower rim touched the horizon, Colonel Manners, who had been +strangling a whole generation of yawns, rose and sauntered to the +window. Mr. Arden, who had sat next to him, instantly seized the +decanter, and exclaimed, "Come, come, colonel; your glass is charged." + +"Thank you," answered Manners; "I do not drink any more." + +"Poo, poo," cried the magistrate; "no flinching, colonel; your glass +is charged--charged to the muzzle; and a gallant soldier like you will +never refuse to fire it off." + +"I am on half-pay," answered Manners, with a smile; and moving towards +the door, notwithstanding all Mr. Arden's objurgations, he left the +room. + +In the drawing-room he found the ladies scattered in various parties, +and engaged in various occupations. Mrs. Falkland was paying such +attention to her guests as the circumstances required; but Isadore, as +if she had quite forgotten them, was standing at the far bay window, +looking at the setting sun and thinking-- + +Manners advanced as quietly as possible to the same spot, and spoke a +few words to Miss Falkland, which she answered in the same tone. It +was a low one. The conversation might thus have gone on for a long +time without disturbing any one; but Lady Margaret Simpson, who sat at +the other side of the room, was fond of being a third; and in about +five minutes she crossed over and joined them. + +"Well, Colonel Manners," she said, "I have not been able to speak a +word to you all dinner-time, and I wanted to talk to you about the +wedding. Has not this been a very fortunate termination to all that +bad business?" + +"Most satisfactory, indeed," answered Manners, with a glance towards +Isadore, who looked vexed and provoked. "I doubt not that De Vaux and +his fair bride are fully of your opinion." + +"Oh, they of course think so," rejoined Lady Margaret; "and there can +be no doubt that marriage is a very right and very proper thing, when +fortune, and rank, and all that agree. Do you not think so, my dear +Miss Falkland?" + +"Certainly, madam," answered Isadore, in a tone which argued a doubt +whether she should laugh or cry; "I dare say it is a very proper +thing." + +"Then now tell me," cried Lady Margaret, in a gay and happy tone of +raillery--"then now tell me, why you--who I know have had three very +good offers indeed--why you yourself do not marry? Tell me the truth, +now." + +"Oh, certainly I will," answered Isadore, half gayly, half pettishly. +"It is, I suppose, because I do not think it worth while to marry +without love; and if the man that I could love does not choose to +propose to me, it is quite impossible, you know, that I can propose to +him." + +God knows whether the colour that spread over Isadore's face came from +within or without,--whether it was a rush of warm blood from some deep +source in her heart, or the warm beams of the setting sun reflected +from the damask curtain on her cheek. However that might be, she felt +that the crimson was growing too deep, and turning round, upon some +light excuse, she left the room. Manners remained for a moment or two +to hear some more of her ladyship's pleasantries; and then declaring +that he could not abandon, even for the pleasure of her society, his +sunset walk in the garden, he strolled out through the anteroom, which +was not the way that Isadore had taken. When he reached the lobby, +however, he remembered that there was a certain music-room, of which +he had remarked that Isadore Falkland had lately become extremely +fond, and as he had by this time acquired a strong liking for the +things that she liked, he turned his steps thither instead of to the +garden. + +No sooner did he open the door, than he beheld Miss Falkland seated +near the window, with a handkerchief in her hand, engaged in the +somewhat sad occupation of wiping tears from her eyes. "Good God, +Colonel Manners!" she exclaimed, as soon as he appeared, "leave me, +leave me, I beg." + +But Manners did not obey. On the contrary, advancing rapidly towards +her, he took her hand, saying, "Miss Falkland, I am either the most +happy or the most miserable of men. I have broken through all my +resolutions; I have exposed myself to love, where I have no right to +entertain a hope; I love for the first time, deeply, passionately, +sincerely, and it is for you to say whether that passion shall be my +curse or my blessing." + +Isadore replied not, but her tears burst forth more vehemently than +before; and the hand that Manners had taken remained trembling in his. +Manners pressed her to his heart; and Isadore ended her flood of tears +upon his bosom. + +It was nearly three months after this event ere Isadore Falkland again +met Lady Margaret Simpson; and then her ladyship's first exclamation +was, "Goodness, my dear Miss Falkland, they tell me you are going to +be married to Colonel Manners! Well, I do declare, when you are so +very handsome, it is a great pity that he is so ugly." + +"Ugly!" cried Isadore. "Ugly! Lady Margaret! He is the handsomest man +in all the world!" and she continued to think so to her dying day. + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gipsy (Vols I & II), by +G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIPSY (VOLS I & II) *** + +***** This file should be named 39376-8.txt or 39376-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/3/7/39376/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (Princeton University Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gipsy (Vols I & II) + A Tale + +Author: G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James + +Release Date: April 4, 2012 [EBook #39376] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIPSY (VOLS I & II) *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (Princeton University Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br> +<br> +1. Page scan source:<br> +<br> + +1. Page scan source: http://books.google.com/books?id=nqMuAAAAYAAJ</p> + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE GIPSY;</h1> +<br> +<br> +<h3>A TALE.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h5>BY THE AUTHOR OF</h5> +<br> +<h4>"RICHELIEU," "MARY OF BURGUNDY," &c.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div style="margin-left:30%"> +<p class="continue" style="text-indent:-6pt">"Ah! what a tangled web we weave,<br> +When first we venture to deceive."</p> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Sir Walter Scott</span>.</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h4> + +<h3><a name="div1_01.0" href="#div1Ref_01.0">VOL. I.</a></h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>NEW YORK</h3> +<h4>HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,<br> +<span class="sc2">FRANKLIN SQUARE.</span></h4> +<h3>1855.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<br> +<h3><a name="div1Ref_01.0" href="#div1_01.0">VOLUME I</a>.</h3> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.1" href="#div1_01.1">CHAPTER I.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.2" href="#div1_01.2">CHAPTER II.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.3" href="#div1_01.3">CHAPTER III.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.4" href="#div1_01.4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.5" href="#div1_01.5">CHAPTER V.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.6" href="#div1_01.6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.7" href="#div1_01.7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.8" href="#div1_01.8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> + +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.9" href="#div1_01.9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.10" href="#div1_01.10">CHAPTER X.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.11" href="#div1_01.11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.12" href="#div1_01.12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.13" href="#div1_01.13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.14" href="#div1_01.14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.15" href="#div1_01.15">CHAPTER XV.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_01.16" href="#div1_01.16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h4> + +<br> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.0" href="#div1_02.0">VOLUME II.</a></h4> +<br> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.1" href="#div1_02.1">CHAPTER I.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.2" href="#div1_02.2">CHAPTER II.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.3" href="#div1_02.3">CHAPTER III.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.4" href="#div1_02.4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.5" href="#div1_02.5">CHAPTER V.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.6" href="#div1_02.6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.7" href="#div1_02.7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.8" href="#div1_02.8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h4> + +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.9" href="#div1_02.9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.10" href="#div1_02.10">CHAPTER X.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.11" href="#div1_02.11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.12" href="#div1_02.12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h4> +<h4><a name="div1Ref_02.13" href="#div1_02.13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h4> + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE GIPSY.</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.1" href="#div1Ref_01.1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">At that time in the world's history when watches, in their decline +from the fat comeliness of the turnip to the scanty meagerness of the +half-crown, had arrived at the intermediate form of a biffin--when the +last remnant of a chivalrous spirit instigated men to wear swords +every day, and to take purses on horseback--when quadrupeds were +preferred to steam, and sails were necessary to a ship--when Chatham +and Blackstone appeared in the senate and at the bar, and Goldsmith, +Johnson, and Burke, Cowper, Reynolds, Robertson Hume, and Smollett, +were just beginning to cumber the highways of arts and sciences--at +that period of the dark ages, the events which are about to be related +undoubtedly took place, in a county which shall be nameless.</p> + +<p class="normal">It may be that the reader would rather have the situation more +precisely defined, in order, as he goes along, to fix each particular +incident that this book may hereafter contain to the precise spot and +person for which it was intended. Nevertheless, such disclosures must +not be; in the first place, because the story, being totally and +entirely a domestic one, depends little upon locality; and, in the +next place, because greater liberties can be taken with people and +things when their identity is left in doubt, than when it is clearly +ascertained; for, although--</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt"> +"When caps into a crowd are thrown,<br> +What each man fits he calls his own,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">yet no one likes to have his name written upon his fool's cap, and +handed down for the benefit of posterity, attached to such an +ornament.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was, then, on an evening in the early autumn, at that particular +period of history which we have described, that two persons on +horseback were seen riding through a part of the country, the aspect +of which was one whereon we delight to dwell; that is to say, it was a +purely English aspect. Now, this character is different from all +others, yet subject to a thousand varieties; for although England, in +its extent, contains more, and more beautiful scenes, of different +kinds and sorts of the picturesque, than any other country under +heaven, nevertheless there is an aspect in them all that proclaims +them peculiarly English. It is not a sameness--far, far from it; but +it is a harmony; and whether the view be of a mountain or a valley, a +plain or a wood, a group of cottages by the side of a clear, still +trout stream, or a country town cheering the upland, there is still to +be seen in each a fresh green Englishness, which--like the peculiar +tone of a great composer's mind, pervading all his music, from his +requiem to his lightest air--gives character and identity to every +object, and mingles our country, and all its sweet associations, with +the individual scene.</p> + +<p class="normal">The spot through which the travellers were riding, and which was a +wide piece of forest ground, one might have supposed, from the nature +of the scenery, to be as common to all lands as possible; but no such +thing! and any one who gazed upon it required not to ask themselves in +what part of the world they were. The road, which, though sandy, was +smooth, neat, and well tended, came down the slope of a long hill, +exposing its course to the eye for near a mile. There was a gentle +rise on each side, covered with wood; but this rise, and its forest +burden, did not advance within a hundred yards of the road on either +hand, leaving between--except where it was interrupted by some old +sand-pits--a space of open ground covered with short green turf, with +here and there an ancient oak standing forward before the other trees, +and spreading its branches to the way-side. To the right was a little +rivulet gurgling along the deep bed it had worn for itself among the +short grass, in its way towards a considerable river that flowed +through the valley at about two miles' distance; and, on the left, the +eye might range far amid the tall, separate trees--now, perhaps, +lighting upon a stag at gaze, or a fallow deer tripping away over the +dewy ground as light and gracefully as a lady in a ballroom--till +sight became lost in the green shade and the dim wilderness of leaves +and branches.</p> + +<p class="normal">Amid the scattered oaks in advance of the wood, and nestled into +the dry nooks of the sand-pits, appeared about half a dozen dirty +brown shreds of canvass, none of which seemed larger than a dinner +napkin, yet which--spread over hoops, cross sticks, and other +contrivances--served as habitations to six or seven families of that +wild and dingy race, whose existence and history is a phenomenon, not +among the least strange of all the wonderful things that we pass by +daily without investigation or inquiry. At the mouths of one or two of +these little dwelling-places might be seen some gipsy women with their +peculiar straw bonnets, red cloaks, and silk handkerchiefs; some +withered, shrunk, and witch-like, bore evident the traces of long +years of wandering exposure and vicissitude; while others, with the +warm rose of health and youth glowing through the golden brown of +their skins, and their dark gem-like eyes flashing undimmed by sorrow +or infirmity, gave the beau idéal of a beautiful nation long passed +away from thrones and dignities, and left but as the fragments of a +wreck dashed to atoms by the waves of the past.</p> + +<p class="normal">At one point, amid white wood ashes, and many an unlawful feather from +the plundered cock and violated turkey, sparkled a fire and boiled a +caldron; and, round about the ancient beldam who presided over the pot +were placed in various easy attitudes several of the male members of +the tribe--mostly covered with long loose great-coats, which bespoke +the owners either changed or shrunk. A number of half-naked brats, +engaged in many a sport, filled up the scene, and promised a sturdy +and increasing race of rogues and vagabonds for after years.</p> + +<p class="normal">Over the whole--wood, and road, and streamlet, and gipsy +encampment--was pouring in full stream the purple light of evening, +with the long shadows stretching across, and marking the distances all +the way up the slope of the hill. Where an undulation of the ground, +about half-way up the ascent, gave a wider space of light than +ordinary, were seen, as we have before said, two strangers riding +slowly down the road, whose appearance soon called the eyes of the +gipsy fraternity upon their movements; for the laws in regard to +vagabondism<a name="div1Ref_03.1" href="#div1_03.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> had lately been strained somewhat hard, especially in +that part of the country, and the natural consequence was, that the +gipsy and the beggar looked upon almost every human thing as an enemy.</p> + +<p class="normal">With their usual quick perception, however, they soon gathered that +the travellers were not of that cast from whom they had anything to +fear; and indeed there was nothing of the swaggering bailiff or +bullying constable in the aspect of either. The one was a man of +about six-and-twenty years of age, with fine features, a slight but +well-made person, and a brown but somewhat pale complexion. His eyes +were remarkably fine, and his mouth and chin beautifully cut; he rode +his horse, too, with skill and grace; and withal he had that air of +consequence which is at any time worth the riband of the Bath. His +companion was older, taller, stronger. In age he might be thirty-two +or three, in height he was fully six feet, and seldom was there ever a +form which excelled his in all those points where great strength is +afforded without any appearance of clumsiness. He rode his horse, +which was a powerful dark-brown gelding, as if half his life were +spent on horseback; and as he came down the hill with the peculiar +appearance of ease and power which great bodily strength and activity +usually give, one might well have concluded that he was as +fine-looking a man as one had ever beheld. But when he approached so +as to allow his features to be seen, all one's prepossessions were +dispelled, and one perceived that, notwithstanding this fine person, +he was in some respects as ugly a man as it was possible to conceive.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thanks to Jenner and vaccination, we (the English) are nowadays as +handsome a people as any, perhaps, in Europe, with smooth skins and +features as nature made them; but in the times I talk of, vaccination, +alas! was unknown; and whatever the traveller we speak of might have +been before he had been attacked by the smallpox, the traces which +that horrible malady had left upon his face had deprived it of every +vestige of beauty--if, indeed, we except his eyes and eyelashes, which +had been spared as if just to redeem his countenance from the +frightful. They--his eyes and eyelashes--were certainly fine, very +fine; but they were like the beauty of Tadmor in the wilderness, +for all was ugliness around them. However, his countenance had a +good-humoured expression, which made up for much; neither was it of +that vulgar ugliness which robes and ermine but serve to render more +low and unprepossessing. But still, when first you saw him, you could +not but feel that he was excessively plain; and yet there was always +something at the heart which made one--as the ravages of the disease +struck the eye--think, if not say, "What a pity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The dress of the two strangers was alike, and it was military; but +although an officer of those days did not feel it at all scandalous or +wrong to show himself in his regimentals, yet such was not the case in +the present instance; and the habiliments of the two horsemen +consisted, as far as could be seen, of a blue riding-coat, bound round +the waist by a crimson scarf, with a pair of heavy boots, of that form +which afterward obtained the name of Pendragon. Swords were at their +sides, and--as was usual in those days, even for the most pacific +travellers--large fur-covered holsters were at their saddle-bows; so +that, although they had no servants with them, and were evidently of +that class of society upon which the more liberal-minded prey and have +preyed in all ages, there was about them "something dangerous," to +attack which would have implied great necessity or a very combative +disposition.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the travellers rode on, the gipsy men, without moving from the +places they had before occupied, eyed them from under their bent +brows, affecting withal hardly to see them; while the urchins ran like +young apes by the side of their horses, performing all sorts of +antics, and begging hard for halfpence; and at length a girl of +about fifteen or sixteen--notwithstanding some forcible injunctions +to forbear on the part of the old woman who was tending the +caldron--sprang up the bank, beseeching the gentlemen, in the usual +singsong of her tribe, to cross her hand with silver, and have their +fortunes told; promising them at the same time a golden future, and, +like Launcelot, "a pretty trifle of wives."</p> + +<p class="normal">In regard to her chiromantic science the gentlemen were obdurate, +though each of them gave her one of those flat polished pieces of +silver which were sixpences in our young days; and having done this, +they rode on, turning for a moment or two their conversation, which +had been flowing in a very different channel, to the subject of the +gipsies they had just passed, moralizing deeply on their strange +history and wayward fate, and wondering that no philanthropic +government had ever endeavoured to give them a "local habitation and a +name" among the sons and daughters of honest industry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid that the attempt would be in vain," answered the younger +of the two to his companion. "And besides, it would be doing a notable +injustice to the profession of petty larceny to deprive it of its only +avowed and honourable professors, while we have too many of its +amateur practitioners in the very best society already."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay! Society is not as bad as that would argue it," rejoined the +other. "Thank God, there are few thieves or pilferers within the +circle of my acquaintance, which is not small."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" said his companion. "Think for a moment, my dear colonel, +how many of your dearly-beloved friends are there who, for but a small +gratification, would pilfer from you those things that you value most +highly! How many would steal from one the affection of one's mistress +or wife! How many, for some flimsy honour, some dignity of riband or +of place, would pocket the reputation of deeds they had never done! +How many, for some party interest or political rancour, would deprive +you of your rightful renown, strip you of your credit and your fame, +and 'filch from you your good name!' Good God! those gipsies are +princes of honesty compared with the great majority of our dear +friends and worldly companions."</p> + +<p class="normal">His fellow-traveller replied nothing for a moment or two, unless a +smile, partly gay, partly bitter, could pass for answer. The next +minute, however, he read his own comment upon it, saying, "I thought, +De Vaux, you were to forget your misanthropy when you returned to +England."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, so I have," replied the other in a gayer tone; "it was only a +single seed of the wormwood sprouting up again. But, as you must have +seen throughout our journey, my heart is all expansion at coming back +again to my native land, and at the prospect of seeing so many beings +that I love: though God knows," he added, somewhat gloomily--"God +knows whether the love be as fully returned. However, imagination +serves me for Prince Ali's perspective glass; and I can see them all, +even now, at their wonted occupations, while my vanity dresses up +their faces in smiles when they think of my near approach."</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion sighed; and as he did not at all explain why he did +so, we must take the liberty of asking the worthy reader to walk into +the tabernacle of his bosom, and examine which of the mind's gods it +was that gave forth that oracular sigh, so that the officiating +priest may afford the clear interpretation thereof. But, to leave an +ill-conceived figure of speech, the simple fact was, that the picture +of home, and friends, and smiling welcome, and happy love, which his +companion's speech had displayed, had excited somewhat like envy in +the breast of Colonel Manners. Envy, indeed, properly so called, it +was not; for the breast of Colonel Manners was swept out and garnished +every day by a body of kindly spirits, who left not a stain of envy, +hatred, or malice in any corner thereof. The proper word would have +been <i>regret</i>; for regret it certainly was that he felt when he +reflected that, though he had many of what the world calls friends, +and a milky-way of acquaintances--though he was honoured and esteemed +wherever he came, and felt a proud consciousness that he deserved to +be so--yet that on all the wide surface of the earth there was no +sweet individual spot where dearer love, and brighter smiles, and +outstretched arms, glad voices, and sparkling eyes, waited to welcome +the wanderer home from battle, and danger, and privation, and fatigue. +He felt that there was a vacancy to him in all things; that the magic +chain of life's associations wanted a link; and he sighed--not with +<i>envy</i>, but with <i>regret</i>. That it was so was partly owing to events +over which he had no control. Left an orphan at an early age, the +father's mansion and the mother's bosom he had never known; and +neither brother nor sister had accompanied his pilgrimage through +life. His relations were all distant ones; and though (being the last +of a long line) great care had been bestowed upon his infancy and +youth, yet all the sweet ties and kindred fellowship which gather +thickly round us in a large family were wanting to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">So far his isolated situation depended upon circumstances which he +could neither alter nor avoid; but that he had not created for himself +a home, and ties as dear as those which fortune had at first denied +him, depended on himself; or rather what in vulgar parlance is called +a <i>crotchet</i>, which was quite sufficiently identified with his whole +nature, to be considered as part of himself, though it was mingled +intimately--woven in and out--with qualities of a very different +character.</p> + +<p class="normal">This crotchet--for that is the only term fitted for it, as it was +certainly neither a whim nor a caprice--this crotchet may be +considered as a matter of history--of his history, I mean; for it +depended upon foregone facts, which must be here explained. It is sad +to overturn all that imagination may have already done for the reader +on the very first news that Colonel Manners had a foregone history at +all. He had not been crossed in love, as may be supposed, nor had he +seen the object of his affections swept away by a torrent, burned in a +house on fire, killed by an unruly horse, or die by any of those means +usually employed for such a purpose. No; he had neither to bewail the +coldness nor the loss of her he loved, because, up to the moment when +we have set him before the reader, he had unfortunately never been in +love at all.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fact is, that during his youth Colonel Manners had possessed one +of the finest faces in the world, and every one of his judicious +friends had taken care to impress deeply upon his mind that it was the +best portion of all his present possessions or future expectations. By +nature he was quite the reverse of a vain man; but when he saw that +the great majority of those by whom he was surrounded admired the +beauties of his face far more than the beauties of his mind, and loved +him for the symmetry of his external person more than for the +qualities of his heart, of course the conviction that, however much +esteem and respect might be gained by mental perfections, affection +was only given to beauty, became an integral part of that fine texture +of memories and ideas which, though I do not think it, as some have +done, the mind itself, I yet look upon as the mind's innermost +garment. Such was the case when, at the age of about twenty, he was +attacked by the smallpox. For a length of time he was not allowed to +see a looking-glass, the physicians mildly telling him that his +appearance would improve; that they trusted no great traces would +remain: but when he did see a looking-glass, he certainly saw the +reflection of somebody he had never seen before. In the mean while his +relations had too much regard for their own persons to come near him; +and when, after having purified in the country, he went to visit an +antique female cousin, who had been a card-playing belle in the reign +of his majesty of blessed memory, King George the First, the old lady +first made him a profound courtesy, taking him for a stranger; and +when she discovered who he was, burst forth with, "Good God, Charles! +you are perfectly frightful!"</p> + +<p class="normal">To the same conclusion Charles Manners had by this time come himself; +and the very modesty of his original nature now leagued with one of +the deceptions of vanity, and made him believe that he could never, by +any circumstances, or events, obtain love. Nevertheless he made up his +mind to his fate entirely, and determined neither to seek for nor to +think of a good that could not be his. Indeed, at first, according to +the usual extravagance of man's nature, he flew to the very far +extreme, and believed that, putting woman's love out of the question, +even the more intimate friendship and affection of his fellow-men +might be influenced by his changed appearance, and that he would be +always more or less an object of that pity which touches upon scorn. +These ideas his commerce with the world soon showed him to be +fallacious; but in the mean time they had a certain effect upon his +conduct. Possessing a consciousness of great powers of mind and fine +qualities of the heart, he determined to cultivate and employ them to +the utmost, and compel esteem and respect, if love and affection were +not to be obtained. In his course through the army, too, the sort of +animosity which he felt against his own ugliness, which had cut him +off from happiness of a sort that he was well calculated to enjoy, +together with that mental and corporeal complexion which did not +suffer him to know what fear is, led him to be somewhat careless of +his own person; and during his earlier years of service he acquired +the name of rash Charles Manners. But it was soon found that wherever +the conduct of any enterprise was intrusted to his judgment, its +success was almost certain, and that skill and intrepidity with him +went hand-in-hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gradually he found that, with men at least, and with soldiers +especially, personal beauty formed no necessary ingredient in +friendship; and with a warm heart and noble feelings--guarded, +however, by wisdom and discretion--he soon rendered himself +universally liked and esteemed in the different corps with which +he served, and had an opportunity of selecting one or two of his +fellow-officers for more intimate regard. Unfortunately, however, he +saw no reason to change his opinion in respect to woman's love. +Indeed, he sought not to change it; for, as we have already said, the +belief that female affection could only be won by personal beauty was +one of those intimate convictions which were interwoven with all the +fabric of his ideas. He ceased to think of it; he devoted himself +entirely to his profession; he won honour and the highest renown; he +found himself liked and esteemed by his military companions, courted +and admired in general society, and he was content: at least, if he +was not content, the regrets which would not wholly be smothered--the +yearnings for nearer ties and dearer affections, which are principles, +not thoughts--only found vent occasionally in such a sigh as that +which we have just described.</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion, though he remarked it, made no comment on his sigh; +for, notwithstanding the most intimate relationships of friendship +which existed between himself and his fellow-traveller, and which had +arisen in mutual services that may hereafter be more fully mentioned, +he felt that the length of their acquaintance had not been such as to +warrant his inquiring more curiously into those private intricacies of +the bosom from which such signs of feeling issued forth. He saw, +however, that the proximate cause of the slight shadow that came over +his friend lay in something that he himself had said in picturing the +happy dreams that checkered his misanthropy; and putting his horse +into a quicker pace as they got upon the level ground, he changed the +subject while they rode on.</p> + +<p class="normal">The time, as we have said, was evening; and as the strangers passed by +the gipsy encampment, a flood of purple light, pouring from as +splendid a heaven as ever held out the promise of bright after-days, +was streaming over the road; but as the travellers reached the flat, +and turned the angle of the wood where the road wound round the bases +of the hills, the sky was already waxing gray, and a small twinkling +spot of gold here and there told that darkness was coming fast. At the +distance of about half a mile farther, the river was first seen +flowing broad and silvery through the valley; and a quarter of an hour +more brought the travellers to a spot where the water, taking an +abrupt turn round a salient promontory thrown out from the main body +of the hills, left hardly room for the road between the margin and the +wood. On the other side of the river, which might be a hundred yards +broad, was a narrow green meadow, backed by some young fir plantings, +and just beyond the first turn of the bank a deep sombre dell led away +to the right; while the shadows of the trees over the water, the +darkening hue of the sky, and the wild uninhabited aspect of the whole +scene, gave a sensation of gloom, which was not diminished by a large +raven flapping heavily up from the edge of the water, and hovering +with a hoarse croak over some carrion it had found among the reeds.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is a murderous-looking spot enough!" said Colonel Manners, +turning slightly towards De Vaux, who had been silent for some +minutes; "this is a murderous-looking spot enough!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well may it be so!" answered his companion abruptly; "well may it be +so; for on this very spot my uncle was murdered twenty years ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" exclaimed his fellow-traveller; "indeed--but on reflection," +he added, "I remember having heard something of it, though I was then +a boy, and have forgotten all the circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke as if he would willingly have heard them again detailed; but, +for a moment or two, De Vaux made no reply; and the next instant the +sound of a horse's feet at a quick trot suddenly broke upon the ear, +and called the attention of both. In a minute more, a horseman wrapped +in a large roquelaure passed them rapidly; and though he neither spoke +nor bowed, his sudden appearance was enough to break off the thread of +their discourse. When he was gone, Colonel Manners felt that, though +De Vaux might take it up again if he would, he himself could not in +propriety do so. De Vaux, however, was silent; for he was not one of +those men to whom the accidents and misfortunes of their friends and +relations furnished matter for pleasant discourse; and the topic of +course dropped there. Perhaps, indeed, the younger traveller showed +some inclination even to avoid the subject; for he led the +conversation almost immediately into another channel, pointing out to +his friend the various hills and landmarks which distinguished the +grounds of his father from those of his aunt, and dwelling with +enthusiasm upon the pleasures that his boyhood had there known, and +the hopes which his return had re-awakened in his bosom; and yet there +was mingled with the whole a touch of fastidiousness which contrasted +strangely enough with the warmth of feeling and expression to which he +gave way in other respects. He seemed to doubt the very love, the +happiness of which he pictured so brightly; he seemed to distrust the +joys to which he was so sensitively alive; he even seemed, in some +degree, to sneer at himself for giving the credence that he did to +those things which he most desired to believe true.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Edward de Vaux had been brought up in a fastidious school. He had +lived at the acmé of fortune and trod upon circumstances all his life, +and this we hold to be the true way of becoming misanthropical. It is +nonsense to suppose that a man turns misanthrope in consequence of +great misfortunes. No such thing! it is by being fortunate <i>ter et +amplius</i>. The spoiled children of the blind goddess are those that +kick at her wheel; and those on whom she showers nothing but +misfortunes cling tight to the tire, in hopes of a better turn, till +the next whirl casts them off into the wide hereafter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux stood at the climax of fortune. Never in his life had +he known what a serious reverse or great misfortune is; and +consequently he had gathered together all the petty vexations and +minor disappointments that he had met with, and, to use the term of +Napoleon Bonaparte, had nearly stung himself to death with wasps. +Perhaps, too, he might be fastidious by inheritance, for his father +was so in a still higher degree than himself; though in the father it +showed itself in irritable impatience, and a sort of contempt both +tyrannical and insulting towards those whom he disliked; while in the +son, mingled with, if not springing from, finer feelings: passing, +too, through the purifying medium of a gentler heart, and corrected by +a high sense of what is gentlemanly, his fastidiousness seldom showed +itself except in a passing sneer at any thing that is false, affected, +or absurd, in an indignant sarcasm at that which is base or evil, or +in petulant irritability at that which is weak.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he now rode onward to rejoin those friends whom he had not seen for +nearly three years, accompanied by a companion who had never seen them +at all, the little world of his heart was in a strange commotion. All +the joy which an affectionate disposition can feel was rising up at +every point against the sway of cold propriety, and yet he tormented +himself with a thousand imaginary annoyances. Now he fancied that the +delight he felt and expressed was undignified, and might lower him in +the eyes of his companion; now he chose to doubt that his reception +from those he had left behind would be warm enough to justify the +exuberant pleasure that he himself experienced; while, keenly alive to +the slightest ridicule, he shrunk from the idea of exposing, even to +his dearest friend, one single spot in his heart to which the lash +could be applied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was foolish," he thought, "not to leave Manners in London for a +day, and get all the joyful absurdities of a first welcome over before +he came down. However, my aunt would have it so; and it cannot be +avoided now."</p> + +<p class="normal">As they proceeded, the purple of the evening died entirely away, and a +gray dimness fell over tree, and stream, and hill. Star by star looked +out, grew brighter and brighter, as the wandering ball on which we +travel through the inconceivable depth turned our hemisphere from the +superior light, and at length all was night.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the lapse of ten minutes more, the road--which, winding about +between the hills and the stream, was forced often out of its true +direction,--had conducted them to a steep bank overhanging a wider +part of the valley, and here Colonel Manners divined--for he could +scarcely be said to see--that a scattered but considerable village lay +before them. Up and down the sides of the hill, a hundred twinkling +lights in cottage windows were sprinkled like glow-worms among the +darker masses of orchard and copsewood; and now and then, as the +travellers advanced, a bright glare suddenly flashed forth from some +opening door; and then again was as speedily extinguished, when the +entrance or the exit of the visiter was accomplished. Some watchful +dog, too, caught the sound of horses' feet, and, after one or two +desultory barks, set up his tongue into a continual peal. His +neighbours of the canine race took the signal, and--not at all unlike +the human species--ever inclined to clamour, yelped forth in concert, +whether they had heard or not the noise that roused their comrade's +indignation, so that the village was soon one continued roar with the +efforts of various hairy throats.</p> + +<p class="normal">The salutation, however, was sweet to Edward de Vaux, for it spoke of +home--or at least of a dwelling that was dearer than any other home he +might possess; and, pausing a moment, he pointed onward to a spot, +where, on the edge of the hill beyond the village, might be seen, +cutting sharp upon the pale silvery gray of the western sky, the dark +outline of a large house, with a plentiful supply of chimneys, of an +architecture somewhat less light and fanciful than that of Palladio, +but very well suited to a dwelling in the land of peace and comfort.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is my aunt's house," said De Vaux, "and, though it is nearly +three miles by the road from the spot where that horseman passed us, +it is not much more than three-quarters of a mile by the path over the +hill. But that path," he added, "is impracticable for horses, or I +should certainly have risked breaking your neck, Manners, rather than +take this long tedious round."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, strange to say, the round that they had taken seemed longer and +more tedious to Edward de Vaux, when he came within sight of the +mansion which was to end his journey, than it had done at any other +moment of the ride. But so it was; and without inquiring into things +with which we have nothing to do, we may conclude that he felt some +of those vague, unreasonable doubts and apprehensions, which almost +every one experiences on the first view of one's home after a long +absence--those fears which are the very children of our hopes--that +anxiety which the uncertainty of human fate impresses upon our minds, +till we are sure that all is well. Who is there that has not gazed up +at his own dwelling-place as he returned from far, and asked himself, +with a sudden consciousness of the instability of all things, "Shall I +find nothing gone amiss? Has no misfortune trod that threshold? Has +disease or sorrow never visited it? Has death turned his steps aside?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Whatever it was that Edward de Vaux felt, although the round seemed a +long one, and the time tedious that it had consumed, he yet drew in +his rein, not so as to bring his horse quite up, but to check him into +a walk; while he pointed out the house to his companion, and gazed at +its dark and distant mass himself. At that very moment, a single ray +glimmered in one of the windows, passed on into another, and then +three windows suddenly streamed forth with light. It looked like a +beacon to say that all was well; and though no man in the present day +cares a straw for things that in other years, when skilfully applied, +have won battles and overthrown dynasties--I mean omens--yet every man +has a silent, unacknowledged, foolish little system of augury of his +own; and Edward de Vaux and his companion, at the sight of this dexter +omen, set spurs to their horses, and rode merrily on their way.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.2" href="#div1Ref_01.2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The reader, who loves variety, will not be displeased, perhaps, to +find that this story, leaving the two horsemen whom we have conducted +a short stage on their way, now turns to another of our characters not +less important to our tale.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the same wood, which we have already described as clothing the +hills and skirting the road over which De Vaux and his companion were +travelling, but in a far more intricate part thereof than that into +which the reader's eye has hitherto penetrated, might be seen, at the +hour which we have chosen for the commencement of our tale, the figure +of a man creeping quietly, but quickly, along a path so covered by the +long branches of the underwood, that it could only be followed out by +one who knew well the deepest recesses of the forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">This personage was spare in form, and without being tall, as compared +with other men, he was certainly tall in reference to his other +proportions. His arms were long and sinewy, his feet small, his ankles +well turned, and his whole body giving the promise of great activity, +though at a time of life when the agile pliancy of youth is generally +past and gone. He was dressed in an old brown long coat, "a world too +wide" for his spare form, so that, as he crept along with a quiet, +serpentine turning of his body, he looked like an eel in a great coat, +if the reader's imagination be vivid enough to call up such an image. +A hat, which had seen other days, and many of them, covered his brows; +but under that hat was a countenance, which, however ordinary might be +the rest of his appearance, redeemed the whole from the common herd. +The complexion spoke his race: it was of a pale, greenish tint, +without any rosier hue in the cheeks to enliven the pure gipsy colour +of his skin. His nose was small, and slightly aquiline, though of a +peculiar bend, forming, from the forehead to the tip, what Hogarth +drew for the line of beauty. The eyebrows were small, and pencilled +like a Circassian's, and the eyes themselves, shining through their +long, thick, black eyelashes, were full of deep light, and--to use a +very anomalous crowd of words--of wild, dark, melancholy fire. His +forehead was broad and high; and the long, soft, glossy, black hair +that fell in untrimmed profusion round his face had hardly suffered +from the blanching hand of time, although his age could not be less +than fifty-five or fifty-six, and might be more. His teeth, too, were +unimpaired, and of as dazzling a whiteness as if beetle and recca had +all possessed the properties their venders assert, and had all been +tried on them in their turn.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was his appearance, as, creeping along through the brushwood with +a stealthy motion, which would hardly have disturbed the deer from +their lair, he made his way towards the spot where we have seen that +his fellows were encamped. He was still far distant from it, however; +and although it was evident that he was, or had been, well acquainted +with the intricacies of the wood, yet it appeared that some leading +marks were necessary to guide him surely on his way; for, ever and +anon, when he could find a round knob of earth, raising itself above +the rest of the ground, he would climb it, and gaze for several +moments over the world of wood below him, rich in all the splendid +hues of autumn, and flooded by the purple light of the evening.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ever, as he thus looked out, there might be seen a column of +bluish-white smoke rising from a spot at a mile's distance; and, after +towering up solemnly in the still air for several hundred feet, +spreading into light rolling clouds, and drifting among the wood. +Thitherward, again, he always turned his course; and any one who has +remarked the fondness of gipsies for a fire, even when they have no +apparent necessity for it, will little doubt that the smoke, or the +flame, serves them, on many occasions, for a signal or a guide.</p> + +<p class="normal">As progression through thick bushes can never be very rapid, the +evening had faded nearly into twilight ere the gipsy reached the +encampment of his companions. The hearing of those whose safety often +depends upon the sharpness of their ears is, of course, sufficiently +acuminated by habit; and although his steps were, as we have shown, +stealthy enough, his approach did not escape the attention of the +party round the fire. We have seen that they had taken but little +apparent notice of the two travellers, who had passed them about a +quarter of an hour before; but the sound of quiet footsteps from the +side of the wood, the moving of the branches, and the slight rustle of +the autumn leaves, caused a far greater sensation. Two or three of the +stoutest started instantly on their feet, and watched the spot whence +those sounds proceeded, as if not quite sure what species of visiter +the trees might conceal. The moment after, however, the figure we have +described, emerging into the more open part of the wood, seemed to +satisfy his comrades that there was no cause for apprehension; and +those who had risen turned towards the others, saying, "It is +Pharold," in a tone which, without expressing much pleasure, at all +events announced no alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several of the young gipsies sprang up, shaking their many-coloured +rags--for, like the goddess of the painted bow, their clothing was +somewhat motley--and ran on to meet the new comer; while the elder +members of the respectable assemblage congregated under the oaks, +though they did not show the same alacrity, perhaps, as the younger +and more volatile of the party, received him with an air in which +reverence was mingled with a slight touch of sullenness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who has passed since I left you, William?" was the first question of +the gipsy on his return, addressing one of the young men who had been +lying nearer than the others to the high-road, and by whose side +appeared, as he rose, a most portentous cudgel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A woman with eggs from the market; three labourers from the fields; a +gamekeeper, who damned us all, and said, if he had his will, he would +rid the country of us: and two gentlemen on horseback, who gave Leena +a shilling," was the accurate reply of the young gipsy, whose face, we +must remark, assumed not the most amiable expression that ever face +put on, as he recorded the comments of the gamekeeper upon his race +and profession. The other, who has been called Pharold, at first paid +no attention to any part of the account, except the apparition of the +two gentlemen on horseback; but in regard to them, he asked many a +question--were they old or young--what was their appearance--their +size--their apparent profession?</p> + +<p class="normal">To all these inquiries he received such correct and minute replies, as +showed that the seeming indifference with which the gipsy had regarded +the two travellers was anything but real; and that every particular of +their dress and circumstances which eye could reach or inference +arrive at, had been carefully marked, and, as it were, written down on +memory.</p> + +<p class="normal">The language which the gipsies spoke among themselves was a barbarous +compound of some foreign tongue, the origin and structure of which +has, and most likely ever will, baffle inquiry, and of English, +mingled with many a choice phrase from the very expressive jargon +called slang. Thus, when the gipsy spoke of gentlemen he called them +<i>raye</i>, when he spoke of the peasant, he termed him <i>gazo</i>: but as the +gipsy tongue may, probably, be not very edifying to the reader, the +conversation of our characters shall continue to be carried on in a +language which is more generally intelligible.</p> + +<p class="normal">The account rendered by the young man, however, did not seem +satisfactory to the elder, who twice asked if that were all; and then +made some more particular inquiries concerning the gamekeeper who had +expressed such friendly sentiments towards his tribe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep a good watch, my boys," he said, after musing for a moment or +two on the answers he received; "keep a good watch. There is danger +stirring abroad; and I fear that we shall be obliged to lift our +tents, and quit this pleasant nook."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The sooner we quit it the better, I say," cried the beldam who had +been tending the pot. "What the devil we do here at all, I don't know. +Why, we are wellnigh four miles from a farm yard, and five from the +village; and how you expect us to get food I don't understand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are there not plenty of rabbits and hares in the wood?" said the +other, in reply; "I saw at least a hundred run as I crossed just now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But one cannot eat brown meat for ever," rejoined the dame; "and tiny +Dick was obliged to go five miles for the turkey in the pot; and then +had very near been caught in nimming it off the edge of the common."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, give me the brown meat for my share," answered Pharold; "I will +eat none of the white things that they have fattened and fed up with +their hoarded corn, and have watched early and late, like a sick +child. Give me the free beast that runs wild, and by nature's law +belongs to no one but him who catches it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Pharold, you must have your share of turkey too," cried the +old lady; for although it may appear strange, yet as there is honour +among thieves, so there may be sometimes that sort of generosity among +gipsies which led the good dame who, on the present occasion, presided +over the pot--though, to judge by her size and proportions, and to +gauge her appetite by the Lavater standard of her mouth, she could +have eaten the whole turkey of which she spoke herself--which led her, +I say, to press Pharold to his food with hospitable care, declaring +that he was a "king of a fellow, though somewhat whimsical."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsies now drew round their fire, and scouts being thrown out +on either side to guard against interruption, the pot was unswung +from the cross bars that sustained it, trenchers and knives were +produced, and, with nature's green robe for a table-cloth, a plentiful +supper of manifold good things was spread before the race of +wanderers. Nor was the meal unjoyous, nor were their figures--at all +times picturesque--without an appearance of loftier beauty and more +symmetrical grace, as, reclining on triclinia of nature's providing, +with the fire and the evening twilight casting strange lights upon +them, they fell into those free and easy attitudes which none but the +children of wild activity can assume. The women of the party had all +come forth from their huts, and among them were two or three lovely +creatures as any race ever produced, from the chosen Hebrew to the +beauty-dreaming Greek. In truth, there seemed more women than men of +the tribe, and there certainly were more children than either; but due +subordination was not wanting; and the urchins who were ranged behind +the backs of the rest, though they wanted not sufficient food, +intruded not upon the circle of their elders.</p> + +<p class="normal">Scarcely, however, had the first mouthfuls been swallowed, and the cup +passed its round, when the farthest scout--a boy of about twelve years +of age--ran in, and whispered the mystical words, "A horse's feet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"One--or more than one?" was the instant question of Pharold, while +his companions busied themselves in shovelling away the principal +portions of their supper, and leaving nothing but what might pass for +very frugal fare indeed. "Only one!" replied the boy, running back to +his post; and the next instant another report was made to the effect, +that a single horseman was coming up the road at full speed, together +with such personal marks and appearances as the dim obscurity of the +hour permitted the scouts to observe. All this, be it remarked, was +carried on with both speed and quietude. The motions of the scouts +were all as stealthy as those of a cat over a dewy green, and their +words were all whispered; but their steps were quick, and their words +were few and rapid.</p> + +<p class="normal">The motions of the horseman, however, were not less speedy; and ere +much counsel could be taken, he was upon the road, exactly abreast of +the spot where the gipsies' fire was lighted. There he drew in his +reins at once; and, springing to the ground, called aloud to one of +the boys, who was acting sentinel, bidding him hold his horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is he!" said Pharold, "it is he!" and, rising from the turf, he +turned to meet the stranger, who, on his part, approached directly to +the fire, and at once held out his hand to the gipsy. Pharold took it, +and wrung it hard, and then stood gazing upon the countenance of the +stranger, as the fitful firelight flashed upon it, while his visiter +fixed his eyes with equal intensity upon the dark features of the +gipsy; and each might be supposed to contemplate the effect of time's +blighting touch upon the face of the other, and apply the chilling +tidings such an examination always yields to his own heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is probable, indeed, that such was really the case; for the first +words of the gipsy were, "Ay, we are both changed indeed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are so, truly, Pharold," replied the stranger; "so many years +cannot pass without change. But did my last letter reach you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It did," replied the gipsy, "and I have done all that you required."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you obtain a sight of him?" demanded the other, eagerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did," answered the gipsy, "in the park, as he walked alone--I +leaped the wall, and--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hitherto, all those first hurried feelings which crowd upon us, when, +after a long lapse of years, we meet again with some one whom +circumstances have connected closely with us in the past, had +prevented the gipsy and his companion from remarking--or rather from +remembering--the presence of so many witnesses. In the midst of what +he was saying, however, the eye of Pharold glanced for a moment from +the face of his companion to the circle by the fire, and he suddenly +stopped. The other understood his motive at once, and replied, "True, +true; let us come away for a moment, for I must hear it all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course," answered Pharold, "though you will hear much, perhaps, +that you would rather not hear. But come, let us go into the road; we +shall be farther there from human ears than anywhere else."</p> + +<p class="normal">As they walked towards the highway both were silent; for there is not +such a dumb thing on the face of the earth as deep emotion; and for +some reason, which may, or may not, be explained hereafter, both the +stranger and the gipsy were more moved by their meeting in that spot +than many less firm spirits have been on occasions of more apparent +importance.</p> + +<p class="normal">After thus walking on without a word for two or three hundred yards, +the gipsy abruptly resumed his speech. "Well, well," he said, "when we +are young we think of the future, and when we are old we think of the +past; and, by my fathers, there is no use of thinking of either! We +cannot change what is coming, nor mend what is gone; but, as I was +saying, I have seen him: I found that he walked every day in the park +by himself, and I watched his hour from behind the wall, and saw him +come up the long avenue that leads to the west gate--you remember it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," answered the other; "but how did he look?--Tell me, +Pharold, how did he look?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dark enough, and gloomy," answered the gipsy: "he came with his hands +behind his back, and his hat over his brows, and his eyes bent upon +the ground; and ever as he walked onward, his white teeth--for he has +fine teeth still--gnawed his under lip; and, for my part, if my +solitary walk were every day to be like that, I would not walk at all; +but would rather lie me down by the roadside and die at once. Well +then, often too as he came, he would stop and fix his eyes upon one +particular pebble in the gravel, and stare at it, as if it had been +enchanted; and then, with a great start, would look behind him to see +if there was anyone watching his gloomy ways; or would suddenly +whistle, as if for his dogs, though he had no dog with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion drew a deep sigh, and then asked, "But how seemed he in +health, Pharold? Is he much changed? He was once as strong a man as +any one could see--does he still seem vigorous and well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You would not know him," replied the gipsy, and was going on, but the +other broke in vehemently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not know him? That I would!" he exclaimed, "though age might have +whitened his hair and dimmed his eye--though suffering might have +shrivelled his flesh and bowed his stature--though death itself, and +corruption in its train, might have wrought for days upon him, I would +know him so long as the dust held together.--What, Pharold, not know +him?--<i>I</i> not know <i>him?</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," answered the gipsy, "I meant that he was changed--far, +far more changed than you are--you were a young man when last we met, +at least in your prime of strength, and now you are an old one, that +is all. But he--he does not seem aged but blighted. It is not like a +flower that has blown, and bloomed, and withered, but one that with a +worm in its heart has shrunk, and shrivelled, and faded. He is +yellower than I am, though I gain my colour from a long race who +brought it centuries ago from a land of sunshine, and he has got it in +less than twenty years from the scorching of a heart on fire. He is +bent, too; and his features are as thin as a heron's bill."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sad--sad--sad," said his companion; "but how could it be otherwise? +Well, what more? Tell me what happened when you met him? Did he know +you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At once," answered the gipsy; "no, no; I have seen one of my tribe +with a hot iron and an oaken board make painting of men's faces that +no water could wash out; and none should know better than you, that my +face has been burnt in upon his heart in such a way that it would take +a river of tears to sweep away the marks of it. But let me tell my +tale. When I saw that he was near, I sprang over the wall into the +walk, and stood before him at once. When first he saw me he started +back, as if it had been a snake that crossed him; but the moment +after, I could see him recollect himself; and I knew that he was +calculating whether to own he knew me, or to affect forgetfulness. He +chose the first, and asked mildly enough what I did there. 'I thought +you were out of the kingdom,' he said, 'and had promised Sir William +Ryder never to return.' I replied that he said true, and that I had +not returned till Sir William Ryder had told me to do so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What said he then?" asked the other, eagerly; "what said he to that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He started," replied the gipsy, "and then muttered something about a +villain and betraying him; but the moment after, as you must have seen +him to do long ago, he gathered himself up, and looking as proud and +stern as if the lives of a whole world were at his disposal, he asked, +what was Sir William Ryder's motive in bidding me return. 'Some motive +of course, he has,' he added, looking at me bitterly. 'Does he intend +to play villain, or fool, or both,--for whatever folly his knavery may +tempt him to commit, he will only injure himself; for at this time of +day it is somewhat too late to try to injure <i>me</i>;' and as he spoke," +continued the gipsy, "he nodded his head gravely but meaningly, as if +he would have said, 'You know that I speak truth.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lip of the stranger curled as his companion related this part of a +conversation in which he seemed to take no slight interest; but as we +do not choose to know any thing of what was passing in his bosom, we +must leave that somewhat bitter smile to interpret itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I told him," continued the gipsy, "as you directed me, that his +friend stood in some need of five thousand pounds, and trusting to his +lordship's kindness and generosity, had directed me to come back and +apply to him for that sum. So when he heard that, his face grew very +dark; and after thinking for a minute of two, he looked up two of the +walks, for he stood in the crossing, to see if he could see any of the +park-keepers, to give me into their hands--I know that was what he +wanted. However there was no one there; and he answered, looking at me +as if he would have withered me into dust, 'Tell Sir William Ryder, +wherever he is, that he shall ring no more from me. I have sent him +his thousand a year regularly, and if any of the packets missed him, +he should have let me know; but I will be no sponge to be squeezed by +any man's pleasure; nor do I care,' he went on, 'who conspires to +bring any false accusation against me. I am prepared to meet every +charge boldly, and to prove my innocence before the whole world, if +any one dare to accuse me.' He spoke very firmly," added the gipsy; +"and as long as he continued speaking I kept my eyes upon the ground, +though I felt that his were bent upon me: but the moment he had done, +I raised mine and looked full upon his face, and his lip quivered and +his eye fell in a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did he hold his resolution of refusing?" demanded the other, over +whose countenance, as he listened, had been passing emotions as +various as those which the gipsy had depicted; "did he hold his +resolution to the end?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Firmly!" replied Pharold, "though he softened his tone a great deal +towards me. He said he was only angry with Sir William Ryder, not with +me, and asked where I had been during so many years; and when I told +him in Ireland, he replied, that it was a poor country: I could not +have made much money there; and then he talked of other days, when the +old lord took me to the hall because I was a handsome boy, and kept me +for two years and more, and would have had me educated; and he vowed I +did mighty wrong to run away and join my own people again; and he took +out his purse and gave me all that it contained, and was sorry that it +was no more; but if I would tell him, he said, where we were lying, he +would send me more, for old acquaintance sake; and all the while he +talked to me he looked up the walks to see if he could see the +park-keepers, to have me taken up, and to accuse me of robbing him, or +of some such thing. I could see it all in his eye; and so I told him +that we were lying five miles to the east; and took leave of him +civily, and came away, laughing that he should think I was fool enough +to fancy he and I could ever do anything but hate each other to our +dying day."</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion mused for several minutes; and even when he did speak, +he took no notice either of the gipsy's suspicions or of the news he +gave him, but rather,--as one sometimes does when one wishes any thing +just heard to mature itself in the mind, ere further comment be made +upon it,--he linked on what he next said, to that part of Pharold's +speech which might have seemed the least interesting, namely, the +gipsy's own history; and yet, although he certainly did this, in order +to avoid, for the time, the most important parts of his narrative, he +did not do it with the commonplace tone of one who speaks of feelings +with which he has no sympathy: on the contrary, he spoke with warmth, +and kindness, and enthusiasm; and expressed profound regret that the +gipsy had, in his boyhood, thrown away advantages so seldom held out +to one of his tribe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why? why?" cried the gipsy, "why should you grieve? I did but what +you have done yourself. I quitted a life of sloth, effeminacy, and +bondage, for one of ease, freedom, and activity. I left false forms, +unnatural restraints, enfeebling habits--ay! and sickness too, for the +customs of my fathers, for man's native mode of life, for a continual +existence in the bosom of beautiful nature, and for blessed health. We +know no sickness but that which carries us to our grave; we feel no +vapours; we know no nerves. Go, ask the multitude of doctors,--a curse +which man's own luxurious habits have brought upon him,--go, ask your +doctor's whether a gipsy be not to be envied, for his exemption from +the plagues that punish other men's effeminate habits."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True, Pharold! true!" replied his companion; "but still, even the +short time that you lived in other scenes must have given your mind a +taste for very different enjoyments from those that you can now find. +You must have seen the beauty of law and order; you must have learned +to delight in mental pleasures; you must long for the society of those +of equal intellect and knowledge with yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do I not find them?" cried the gipsy, warming in defence of his +race; "to be sure I do. Think not that we have none among us as +learned and as thoughtful as yourselves, though in another way. But +you cannot understand us. You think that it is in our habits alone +that we are different; but, remember, that when you speak to a true +gipsy, who follows exactly the path of his fathers, you speak to one +different in race, and creed, and mind, and feeling, and law, and +philosophy, from you and yours. You think us all ignorant, and either +bound as drudges to some low rejected trade, or plundering others, +because we do not comprehend the excellence of laws. But let me tell +you again, that there are men among us deeply read in sciences which +you know not; speaking well a language, for a hundred words of which +your schools have laboured long years in vain. Have we not laws, too, +of our own? laws better observed than your boasted codes? But you +choose to doubt that we have them, because we put you beyond our code, +as you put us beyond yours. When was ever justice shown to a gipsy? +and therefore we look upon you as things to pillage. You speak, too, +of the pleasures of the mind. Do you think my mind finds no exercise +in scenes like these? I walk hand in hand with the seasons through the +world. Winter, your enemy, is my friend and companion. Gladly do I see +him come, with his white mantle, through the bare woods and over the +brown hills. I watch the budding forth of spring, too, and her light +airs and changing skies, as I would the sports of a beloved child. I +hail the majestic summer, as if the God of my own land had come to +visit our race, even here; and in the yellow autumn, too, with the +rich fruit and the fading leaf, I have a comrade full of calmer +thoughts. The sunrise, and the sunset, and the midday, to me, are all +eloquence. The storm, the stream, the clouds, the wind, for me have +each a voice. I talk with the bright stars as they wander through the +deep sky, and I listen to the sun and moon, as they sing along their +lonely pilgrimage. Is not this enough? What need I more than nature?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps his companion, whose mind was in no degree wanting in +acuteness, might imagine that in all the very enjoyments which the +gipsy enumerated, as well as in the tone he used, were to be traced +some remains of a better education than that of his race in general; +and might believe, that had that education been continued, every +pleasure that he felt would have been doubled by refinement. But all +this came upon his mind as impression rather than as thought; and the +reader will please to observe, that there is an immense difference +between the two. The truth was, that ever since the conversation had +turned to the gipsy himself, his companion had been doing what is +oftener done than the world imagines; that is to say, talking without +thinking, and listening without attending. In short, he was thinking +of other things; and yet, as we have said, he spoke with kindness, and +zeal, and real feeling; but the fact is, that the language he was +talking was memory. Years before, he had come to the same conclusions, +and held the same arguments in his own mind, regarding the very person +in whose company he was now once more; so that--having, in all the +news he had heard, greater calls upon present thought than he could +well satisfy,--as soon as the gipsy began to speak of gipsy-life, he +turned that topic over to memory, well knowing that she had a +plentiful stock of ideas prepared to supply any demand upon such a +subject; while intellect went on, quietly thinking of himself and of +the present. This plan, when skilfully executed, has a collateral +advantage, which, by-the-way, is often turned into a principal one; +namely, that while you let memory go on with the conversation--unless +she trips, or something of that kind--your companion does not perceive +that you are thinking at all; and thus the stranger, apparently +listened to, and took part in the gipsy's conversation about himself, +while his inner soul was busy, most busy, with the other tidings which +he had received. By the time that the enumeration of wild pleasures, +afforded by a wandering life was over, he had settled his plans in his +own mind; and, breaking off the subject there, demanded abruptly,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"When, Pharold--tell me, when did you see him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He mentioned no name; and the gipsy, at once dropping the high and +enthusiastic tone in which he had been speaking, answered, as to a +common question, "It was but to-day--not four hours ago, or you had +not found me here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not?" demanded the other. "Whither would you go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Far away," answered the gipsy, "far away! I love not his +neighbourhood; nor is it safe for me and mine. He thinks evil against +us, and he will not be long ere he tries to bring his thoughts to +pass."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he cannot injure you," replied the other; "in all the things +wherein you and he have borne a part, he has more cause to fear you +than you have to fear him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True! true!" said the gipsy; "and yet I love not his neighbourhood. I +may have done things in this land in my youth, when passion and +revenge were strong, and wisdom and forbearance weak, that I should +little like to have investigated in my middle age. Not that I fear for +myself; for, from the dark leap that all men must take, I have never +shrunk through life. But I fear the sorrow of those that would weep +for me, and the unjust mingling of the innocent with the guilty, for +which your laws are infamous."</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion mused for a moment; and then, laying his hand upon the +arm of the gipsy, he replied, in a tone where kindness mingled with +authority: "Mark me, Pharold!" said he; "you know that I am not one +either to counsel you amiss, or to fall from you at a moment of need: +base, indeed, should I be, were I to do so, after all you have done +for me. But my resolutions are not yet fixed--my mind is not yet +made up; and I must hear more, and examine deeply, ere I execute my +half-formed purpose. Still you have no cause to fear; call upon me +whenever you need me; and, in the meantime, if you please, you can +remove from the spot where you now are, but not so far that I cannot +find you, for you must help me to the end of all this."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the common, at the back of Mrs. Falkland's woods?" asked the +gipsy: "they will hardly seek us there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As good a spot as any," replied his companion; "and in the case of +necessity, Pharold, here, I have written down where you may always +find me in this immediate neighbourhood; remembering, in the meantime, +all that you have promised."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have promised--I have promised!" replied the gipsy; "and you never +knew me break my word. But what is this you give me with the paper? I +want not gold--and from you, William."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But your people may," replied the other; "take it, take it, Pharold; +it is never useless in such a life as yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will take it," answered the gipsy, "because it may give me more +control over my people; for although among our nation there are men +whose minds you little dream of, yet these I have here are not, +perhaps, of the best,--not that they are evil either; but wild, and +headstrong, and rash--as I was myself, when I was young."</p> + +<p class="normal">They had already turned in their walk, and were now re-approaching the +fire, round which the gipsies were gathered. Their conversation had +not been without its share of interest to either, and each had much +matter for reflection: so that--as thought is not that which makes a +man speak, but that which keeps him silent--they advanced without +another word to the spot where the stranger's horse stood. It was a +fine powerful animal, of great bone and blood; but it was standing +like a lamb in the hands of a little boy, while the beautiful girl, +whom we have mentioned as accosting the other travellers, now stood +stroking his proud neck, and examining the accoutrements with a care +that some people might have thought suspicious. As Pharold and his +companion returned, however, she sprung away to the rest of her tribe +with a step as light as the moonshine on the sea.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is very beautiful," said the stranger, whose eye had rested on +her for a moment; "who is she, Pharold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is my wife!" replied the gipsy, abruptly.</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion shook his head with a sigh, and putting his foot in the +stirrup, mounted his horse, and rode away.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.3" href="#div1Ref_01.3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">While such events as have just been described were passing in the +wood, the two travellers whom we first brought before the reader, and +to whom we must now return, rode on; but begging leave to pass over +all their farther journey, as it did not consist of more than half a +mile, we may bring them safe to the gate of the very house, whose +lights and shadows they had seen from the slope above the village.</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time it was as dark as could well be desired. It was not +exactly Egyptian darkness, for there was nothing in it that could be +<i>felt</i>, but the sun was gone entirely; and the last fringe of his +golden robe had swept the sky some time. The moon was not yet up, so +that the stars had the sky all to themselves; but though they were +shining as brightly as they did many a thousand years ago, when they +were first sent glittering into the depths of space, they did very +little to show the travellers their way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux, indeed, had taken it into his head to go to the back +entrance of his aunt's house. But the truth is, he had worked himself +up, as he came along, into a belief that there might be some fuss made +upon his return, and had conjured up before his imagination everything +that might or could possibly occur, in which there was the least smack +of ridicule; although all the time he knew perfectly well that his +companion was of too generous and feeling a disposition even to dream +that anything was ridiculous which sprung from the heart. He well +knew, also, that those he was about to meet were by education, and +habit, and natural character, the last persons in the world to do or +say anything that was not graceful and <i>bienséant</i>. But still, as his +imagination was not the most tractable imagination in the world, but +roved hither and thither, whether he liked it or not, on all +occasions, he could not get the better of her in the present instance; +and therefore, in order that everything in the way of reception might +pass as quietly and as quickly as possible, he rode up to the gate of +the back court, and after feeling about for the bell for some time, he +rang for admittance.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a little delay, a coachman with a powdered wig, and three rows +of curls round his ears, opened the gates with a lantern in his hand, +and demanded what the strangers wanted; but without other reply, De +Vaux rode into the yard with his companion, and springing to the +ground, exposed his well-known face to the glare of the lantern and +the wondering eyes of old Joseph, the immemorial coachman, who, +bursting forth into a loud exclamation, called vehemently to the +groom, and the helper, and the stable-boy. "The oaken doors returned a +brazen sound!" and not only those that the old curly-wigged official +of the hammercloth called to his aid appeared with ready promptitude, +but eke a footman emerged from the passage of the servants'-hall, and +two or three pippin-faced housemaids were seen "peeping from forth the +alleys green" beyond.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, as usual, De Vaux's precaution in regard to not making a bustle +had, in fact, the very contrary effect in the house itself. But this +was not all: his method of proceeding had the very contrary effect +with his companion, also, to that which he had purposed. Colonel +Manners certainly did think, in the first instance, that such an +entrance was a somewhat strange one for the house he saw before him; +and when he found that it was in truth the stable-yard into which he +had been taken, he thought the conduct of his friend still stranger. +But by this time Charles Manners had known Edward de Vaux too long not +to have some slight insight into his character and into the weaknesses +thereof; and as they had ridden along together upon that day's +journey, various little traits, which might have escaped any but a +very keen and a very friendly eye, had given him the key of his +friend's feelings on his return--a key which he did not fail to apply +on the present occasion. The result was, that he soon comprehended the +general motives of De Vaux, though perhaps not all the little ins and +outs of the business--ins and outs, by-the-way, which depended as much +upon the plan and architecture of the house, and upon the fact of the +first landing of the grand staircase leading at once into the little +ante-room of the drawing-room, so that the voice and step of any one +ascending could be recognised instantly, as upon anything else in the +world.</p> + +<p class="normal">A slight smile curled Colonel Manners's lip as he perceived what had +been passing in his friend's mind; but he would not have had that +smile seen for any recompense that could have been offered to him, +unless it had been that of curing his friend of a folly. But he knew +very well that De Vaux was not a man to be laughed out of anything on +earth; and that, with all his sensibility to ridicule, it was only so +long as the sneer was silent and suppressed that he cared anything +about it. The moment that the laugh was open, his pride took arms to +defend the position which he occupied, and every one knows that pride +would always rather blow up the place than capitulate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners did, indeed, wish that his friend could be taught, +with the same sort of bold determination which he displayed in +opposing the loud laugh, to despise the silent sneer, which is as +often excited in the minds of the worldlings by traits of a good and +noble nature as by folly or by awkwardness: but he knew that the only +lessons he would receive upon the subject would be gentle ones, spoken +by the voice of friendship, without a touch of sarcasm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a pity, a great pity," thought he, "that De Vaux, who affects +to, and perhaps really does, despise the opinion of the general fool, +should thus, as it were, make himself a slave to the laugh of his own +fancy. I hope and trust that his fair future bride may have influence +enough to school him from these weaknesses."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was all his comment; and by the time it was made their horses +were in safe hands, and a footman, as antique as the coachman, was +leading the way up the back stairs towards the drawing-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux was somewhat uneasy at the back stairs, and at a distant +prospect of the kitchen, and the servants' hall, and the housekeeper's +room; but Manners, though he saw it all, appeared to see nothing, +rubbed his boot with his riding-whip, and talked of North America +with all the zeal and volubility of a Mohawk. His companion was +relieved; and following the fat legs and white stockings of the old +footman up the narrow staircase, they were soon in a small lobby which +led into the drawing-room. Soft Turkey carpets covered the floor of +the lobby; against each of the piers stood a small antique table of +tortoise-shell and brass; and in the deep recesses of the windows were +placed those immense and beautiful china jars which formed the glory +of our great-grandmothers. These again were filled with a composition +of all the sweet-scented leaves gathered from the garden during the +past year; and which, mingled with orris-root and many a fragrant +spice, diffused through the whole air a rich perfume of the eighteenth +century.</p> + +<p class="normal">But there was music upon the air of this bower as well as perfume. It +was the music, however, of a sweet, low-toned woman's voice, speaking +some sentences of which nothing could be distinguished but the melody. +Nevertheless, it made the fitful colour come up for a moment in the +cheek of Edward de Vaux; and whether his heart beat more quickly, or +whether it maintained its even pulse, is a problem which we shall +leave others to solve; for, the next moment, the door was thrown open, +and the visiters all silently and unannounced entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a large handsome chamber, fitted up as unlike a modern +drawing-room as possible. There was nothing in it of the last +fashion, even of that day; but all was comfortable, and all bespoke +both taste and affluence. On the walls were a few cabinet pictures, +which at first appeared dark and dingy, but which, when any one +looked farther, turned out gems; and on the rich and massive marble +mantel-piece--which was itself nearly equal in size, and quite equal +in value, to a house in a modern square--were placed pagodas, and +feather fans, and screens, and many a little curiosity from different +parts of the world--bracelets that might have clasped the arm of +Cleopatra, and idols that had been acquainted with Captain Cook. The +room, like every clever room, had a great number of tables of all +sorts and sizes; and at two of these tables, not with hospitable cares +intent, but very busy with that sort of idleness which ladies call +work, sat two fair dames, who, in point of age, might divide between +them the apportioned years of man. The division of those seventy +years, however, was very unequal, as the one nearest the door had +monopolized at least forty-six of them to herself, and had left +her daughter--for such was the other lady--not much more than +twenty-three. They were both very handsome women nevertheless; the +mother feeling her years as light as a young king's crown, and the +daughter, in addition to a very beautiful person, and a face where all +that is fine was softened by all that is pleasing, having the advantage +of youth and all youth's graces. There was one peculiarity in her +countenance, which, as it had something to do with her mind, may +as well be noticed. It was one of those faces which love not +clouds--which smile where others frown; and as she sat with her eyes +bent upon a provoking knot in her work, which for the last ten minutes +had defied all her efforts to disentangle it, she was still +half-laughing at the perversity of the silk, which seemed to take a +pleasure in baffling her.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a third person in the drawing-room, younger than either, and +very different from both. As she lay upon a sofa at the other side of +the room, with a book in her hand, and her eyes bent upon the pages, +the light of the lamp falling at the same time from above upon her +clear fair forehead, on her beautiful eyelids with their long dark +eyelashes, and on the marble white chiselling of her nose and upper +lip, she did not appear to be more than eighteen; but her real age, +which we are bound to give, was twenty years, eleven months, and a few +days, the exact number of which is forgotten. Her form was light and +beautiful, and though those who did not love her might contend that +she was certainly not equal to the Medicean Venus, yet she was a great +deal more graceful than many another goddess, and as fair a specimen +of the fairest of earth's creatures as the eye of man has ever seen +since Eve's ill-fated experiment in Eden.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her hair was of that glossy golden brown, which is so beautiful and so +seldom seen; and as the whole party had given up the expectation of +their visiters for that night, she had turned back the shining curls +which would have fallen into her eyes while reading; so that, with a +wavy line on either side, they left her fair forehead bare, and formed +a bunch of ringlets behind each ear, that might have defied the chisel +of a Chantry.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the door which admitted De Vaux and his companion was that which +led to the back staircase, the party in the drawing-room concluded, +naturally enough, that it was opened by one of the domestics on some +of the many motives or pretexts upon which a servant can visit the +drawing-room. No one took any notice, no one looked up; and the fair +girl upon the sofa went on commenting upon the book in her hand, +without knowing that any one was listening to her gentle criticism.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus each of the two visiters had time to make their own observations, +if they chose it. A bright pleased smile lighted up the rough features +of Colonel Manners, as he was thus at once admitted, without the help +of an Asmodeous into the very heart of an English domestic circle, to +each member of which he was a stranger. To him it was a sight full of +pleasure and interest; it was a sight that he had seldom seen even +when in England, and which he had not seen at all for several years +while serving abroad: but it was one which fancy had often renewed for +him in his solitary wanderings, which had been painted to his eye in +the still night, and in the tented field on distant shores, which had +been to him a dream, whereunto imagination could cling without the +apprehension of disappointment; for he had ever thought of it as a +thing whereof he might be the spectator, but never a sharer in its +dearer ties.</p> + +<p class="normal">As for Edward de Vaux, he <i>did not</i> choose to make any observations on +the scene at all, for more fastidious in anticipation than in reality, +the moment he was in the midst of his domestic circle a host of bright +warm feelings rose up at once in his heart, and trampled every cold +calculation of Chesterfieldism beneath their feet. Passing the old +servant, who was himself amused to see the unconsciousness of the +party in the drawing-room, De Vaux at once advanced towards the fair +girl on the sofa. But there was a sound in his step different from +that of any of the servants, which only let him pass half across the +room ere her eyes were raised from the book and fell upon him. The +sight instantly called into them a gleam as bright as sunshine after a +storm, and the warm, eloquent blood rose into her cheek and brow, +while with a voice of unquestionable icy, she exclaimed, "Edward! My +dear aunt, here is Edward!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The next moment, however, the light of her glance faded away, the +blood ebbed back from her cheek, and from that moment it was scarcely +perceivable that Edward de Vaux was anything more to her than an +intimate friend. It was all the work of an instant, and Colonel +Manners had only time to think, "This is all very odd!" ere the other +two ladies rose to welcome his companion and himself; while the one +who had spoken, gracefully but composedly drew her small foot from the +sofa to the ground, and advanced to meet her lover; contriving to +execute what is sometimes a difficult manœuvre, without showing +half an inch of her ankle, though it might very well have borne the +display.</p> + +<p class="normal">The elder lady now of course took the lead, and expressed her joy at +the return of her nephew, in a manner which showed how compatible real +dignity and grace are with every zealous and kindly feeling. "And +this," she said the next moment, "is of course Colonel Manners; though +you have not introduced him to me, Edward; but Colonel Manners indeed +requires no introduction here; for allow me to say, my dear sir, that +even were it not that you had saved the life of my nephew, and +rendered him so many inestimable services, the son of your mother, who +was my dear and early friend, would always be the most welcome of +guests at my fire-side."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners bowed, and replied, "I have been lucky enough to find +among my mother's papers, madam, the letters of the Honourable Mrs. +Falkland; and am aware how fortunate in a friend my parent was during +the greater part of her short life. Most proud shall I be if the son +may merit some portion of the same regard which you bestowed upon the +mother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You already command it, Colonel Manners," she replied: +"Isadore,--Marian--Colonel Manners! My daughter--my niece, Miss De +Vaux."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now this introduction puzzled Colonel Manners a good deal, for reasons +which may as well be explained. He had heard long before, while +abroad, that his friend Edward de Vaux, the only son of Lord Dewry, +was affianced to his cousin, and that their marriage was to take place +as soon as the young heir of the barony could return to his native +country, provided that the lady were by that time of age. In the +course of their intimacy in other lands, De Vaux had often spoken of +his fair cousin Marian, and had indeed on their return besought +Colonel Manners to accompany him down to the house of his aunt, in +order to act the part of bridesman at his wedding, which was to take +place immediately. With this request we have seen that he complied; +but he had completely made up his mind to the belief that his friend +was about to be united to the daughter of Mrs. Falkland, and he was +now surprised to find a Miss De Vaux, towards whom the manner of +Edward de Vaux was not exactly that which men assume towards their +sisters. Besides, her name was Marian, that of his promised bride; and +although this discovery, leaping over the head of all his own +preconceptions, puzzled Colonel Manners for a moment, he soon set it +all to rights in his own mind, by supposing, what was in fact the +truth, that the fair girl we have described was the daughter of Lord +Dewry's brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the while he was settling this to his own satisfaction, he was +going through the manual of politeness, and doing De Vaux the favour +of talking to Mrs. Falkland and her daughter, while the lover spoke in +a lower tone to the other fair cousin. Whatever he said, however, +seemed to have no very great effect upon her. She smiled, and seemed +to answer him kindly and affectionately; but she displayed no further +sign of that agitation which a girl in her situation might be expected +to feel on the return of her lover from a long and dangerous +expedition. Once, indeed, she laid her hand upon the table near her, +and Colonel Manners saw that, notwithstanding the general composure +which she seemed to feel, that hand trembled so much, that, as if +conscious its tremour might be perceived, she instantly withdrew it, +and suffered her arm to fall gracefully by her side.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners marked all this, for from their first acquaintance De Vaux had +interested him, as much perhaps by the contrast of the little foibles +of his character with the greater and nobler qualities it possessed, +as by any other circumstance: he had gradually suffered a deep regard +for him to rise up in his heart; he had permitted imagination to +indulge herself with bright pictures of his friend's domestic +happiness; and in every little trait connected therewith he had a sort +of personal feeling, which made him seek to discover all that he +wished might be.</p> + +<p class="normal">After standing booted and spurred in the middle of the room for about +ten minutes, and having learned that their servants had arrived with +their baggage early in the morning of the same day, the two gentlemen +retired to cast off their travelling costume, and attire themselves in +apparel more suited to the drawing-room. Colonel Manners proceeded to +the task systematically; and although he knew that nothing on earth +could ever make him handsome, yet he took every reasonable pains with +his dress, and was soon ready to descend again, with that neat, clean, +soldier-like appearance for which he was particularly distinguished. +De Vaux acted differently, as may well be supposed, and giving his man +the keys of the trunk-mails, he cast himself on a chair; and, with his +arms leaning on the dressing-table, remained for full ten minutes in +deep and somewhat melancholy thought, while the servant continued to +torment him every other minute, with--"Sir, do you want this?" or, +"Sir, shall I do that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Into his private thoughts we shall not at present pry, although we +consider that we have a right to do so whenever the necessities of the +tale may demand it; but in this instance it is only requisite to give +the ending reflection of his revery, which may serve as a key to all +the rest. "How cold Manners must have thought her reception of me! and +yet her own lips, which never from her infancy spoke any thing but +truth, have given me the assurance of her love. Well, we cannot change +people's nature!--and yet she was very different as a child!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Such were the last dying words of his meditation and then, starting +up, he proceeded hastily to dress himself, addressing the servant with +as much impatience as if the man had been dreaming instead of himself. +"There, give me that coat," he exclaimed. "Set down the dressing-case +here. Put those shoes on the other side of the table; and throw the +stockings over the back of the chair. How slow you are, William! Here +now, pull off these great boots, and then go and see that old Joseph +does not poison the horses with any of his nostrums." These various +commands the man obeyed with as much promptitude as possible; and +after he was gone, De Vaux proceeded to dress himself with all the +haste of one who is afraid of being detected in loitering away his +time. He was half-way through the operation, and was just arranging +his hair, when Manners, whose rooms were on the opposite side of the +corridor, rejoined him; and they descended together, without having +made any comment on the subject which was certainly next to the heart +of Edward de Vaux. He felt that in common delicacy he could not begin +it, though he would have given worlds, by any curious process of +distillation, to have extracted Colonel Manners's first impression of +her he loved; and Manners was resolved to see more and judge more +clearly, ere he ventured even the common nothings which are usually +said upon such occasions.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the meanwhile, the ladies in the drawing-room had not, of course, +refrained from comment on the appearance and arrival of their +visiters. As the first object of all their affections was Edward de +Vaux, his appearance and health naturally occupied several moments ere +anything else was thought of.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How very well he looks!" said Mrs. Falkland; "his health seems +greatly improved."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never saw him look so handsome," said Isadore Falkland, "though he +was wrapped in that horrid great coat."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian de Vaux said nothing, but she repaid her cousin for her praises +of her lover's looks by a smile as bright as an angel's, which +fluttered away in a warm blush, though it had nearly been drowned in +some sparkling drops that rose into her eyes. So she turned away, and +began playing with the seals on the writing-table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am delighted that Edward has prevailed on Colonel Manners to come +down with him," said Mrs. Falkland; "for I have longed to see him on +his mother's account."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I, because he saved Edward's life," said Marian de Vaux.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I am delighted too," said Isadore Falkland, "because he seems a +very agreeable gentlemanly man, though certainly a very ugly one--I +think as ugly a man as I ever saw."</p> + +<p class="normal">"His face is certainly not handsome," replied her mother; "but his +figure seems remarkably fine. His mother was as beautiful a woman as +ever lived; and I have heard that till he was twenty he was equally +good looking."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor fellow!" cried Isadore; "he has been very unfortunate, then; for +it is better to be born ugly than to become so afterward."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not think him ugly at all," said Marian de Vaux.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was because you only saw the man that saved Edward's life," +replied Isadore, laughing; "but he is not beautiful, I can assure you, +Marian."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Happy are they, my dear Isadore," replied her mother, "who can 'see +Othello's visage in his mind;' and I do not think you, my dear girl, +are one either, to value any one for their personal appearance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, no, mamma! I am not," answered Miss Falkland; "but still, +some sensible old gentleman has said that a good countenance is +the best letter of recommendation; and now, had it not been that you +had known Colonel Manners's mother, or that he had saved Edward's +life--yet, notwithstanding--" she added, breaking off her sentence +abruptly--"after all, perhaps, his face is just the one from which we +should expect a man to save people's lives, and do a great many brave +and noble things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think so, certainly," answered Mrs. Falkland. "However ugly it may +be, I have seldom seen a face through which a fine mind shone out so +distinctly."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was the tenour of the conversation that went on in the +drawing-room till the two gentlemen returned, and by their presence +took themselves out of the range of topics. Other subjects were soon +started, and filled the hours till supper-time. Edward de Vaux +naturally took the place he loved best; and what passed between him +and his fair cousin was not always loud enough in its tone, or general +enough in its nature, to be very distinct to the rest of the party, or +very interesting to the reader. Manners, who knew as well as any one +how to effect a diversion in favour of a friend, placed himself near +the other ladies, and displayed such stores of varied information as +well occupied their attention. Those stores were somewhat desultory, +perhaps, but they were gained from every source. Man, and all the fine +and all the amusing traits of his character; countries, and all their +beauties and their disadvantages; the history of other times, the +varied events of the present; matters of taste and of science, the +light wit of a playful imagination, and the choice knowledge procured +by very extensive reading; all seemed to come within the scope of his +mind. All too, had been refined and ornamented by judgment and good +feeling, and his conversation had still the peculiar charm of +appearing far less profound than it really was. It was all light, and +playful, and gay; and yet, on rising from it, one felt improved and +instructed, without well knowing how or in what. His memory, too, was +excellent, and stored with a number of little anecdotes and beautiful +scraps of poetry; and, without ever seeming to intrude them, he knew +how to mingle them in the general current of what was passing, with +tact almost as skilful as that of the greatest writer and most amiable +man that centuries have witnessed upon earth--Sir Walter Scott.</p> + +<p class="normal">So extensive, indeed, seemed to have been the reading of their new +acquaintance, that Mrs. Falkland wondered thereat in silence; while +Isadore, well knowing that there is scarcely any question on the face +of the earth that a young and pretty woman may not ask of a man under +forty with perfect <i>bienséance</i> and propriety, looked up with a smile, +and said--"Pray tell me, Colonel Manners, where you have found time, +while you have been defeating the king's enemies night and day, to +read everything of every kind that is worth reading."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, madam," he replied, "I am afraid I have read but little as +compared with what I might have done. A soldier's life is the most +favourable of all others for general reading; though, perhaps, not for +pursuing steadily any particular study. He is for a few days full of +active employment, and then for many more has hardly anything to do; +and if he gives one half of his spare time to reading, he will, I +believe, read more than many a philosopher. The only difficulty is in +procuring books that are worth the trouble of poring over."</p> + +<p class="normal">In such conversation passed the hours till supper; for those were days +of supper,--that most pleasant and sociable of all ways of acquiring +the nightmare. When the meal was announced, it of course caused some +derangement in the local position of the parties; and Edward de Vaux +being brought for a moment nearer to his aunt than his other +occupations had hitherto permitted, she took the opportunity of +saying,--"I hope, Edward, your father will not be at all offended at +your coming here first. He is sometimes a little <i>ombrageux</i>, you +know; and I would advise you to ride over tomorrow as early as +possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! no fear of his being offended, my dear aunt," he replied. "In the +first place, he wrote to give me that assurance. In the next place, as +we chose to ride our own two best horses down, rather than trust them +to two break-neck grooms, we could not have gone seventeen miles +farther to-night: and in the last place," he added, in a lower tone, +"you know that his lordship never likes visiters to take him by +surprise; and as the invitation to Manners was yours, not his, of +course I could not have brought him to the hall without writing, which +I had no time to do. There is nothing he hates so much as any one +taking him by surprise."</p> + +<p class="normal">Almost as he spoke, the old servant Peter, who had retired after +announcing supper, once more threw the door open with a portentous +swing, and proclaimed, in a loud voice, "Lord Dewry!" Something like a +smile glanced upon Mrs. Falkland's lip, as the sudden and unexpected +arrival of her brother contrasted somewhat strangely with what her +nephew had just been saying. She paused in her progress to the +supper-room, however; and, in a moment after, with a slow step, which +was languid without being feeble, Lord Dewry entered the ante-room, +and came forward towards them.</p> + +<p class="normal">While he is in the act of doing so, let us paint him to the reader--at +least, as far as the outward man is concerned. Of the inward man more +must be said hereafter. He was tall--perhaps six feet high, or very +near it--and well made, though not excessively thin. His frame was +broad, and had been very powerful; his shoulders wide, his chest +expansive, and his waist remarkably small. In feature, too, it could +be still discerned that he had once been a very handsome man; but his +face was now thin and sharp, and his complexion extremely sallow. His +eyes, however, were still fine, and his teeth of a dazzling whiteness. +He might have numbered sixty years, but he looked somewhat older, +although he had taken a good deal of pains with his dress, and lay +under considerable obligations to his valet-de-chambre. The first +impression produced on the mind of a stranger by the appearance of +Lord Dewry was imposing but not pleasing; and, unfortunately, the +unpleasant effect did not wear off. He looked very much the peer and +the man of consequence, but there was a gloomy cloud upon his brow +which was not melancholy, and a curl of the lip which was not a smile, +and both prepared the mind of all who approached him, for not the most +agreeable man in the world. His general expression, too, was cold, he +had a look like the easterly wind, at once chilling and piercing; and +though report said that he had been a very fascinating man in his +youth, and had not always made the best use of his powers of pleasing, +he did not seem at present to consider it at all necessary to use any +effort to render himself agreeable, farther than the common forms of +society and what was due to his own station required.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my lord," said Mrs. Falkland, as he came forward, "I am happy +to see you come to welcome our wanderer back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">As she spoke, Edward advanced to his father, who grasped his hand +eagerly, while a smile of unfeigned pleasure for a single instant +spread a finer expression over the worn features of the baron. +"Welcome back, Edward!" he said; "welcome back! you look remarkably +well! I have to apologize, Maria," he added, turning to his sister +after this brief salutation bestowed upon his son, "I have to +apologize for coming thus, without notice; but I have some business +to-morrow, down at the park-house, of which I knew nothing till this +morning; and I also wished to see Edward, whose devoirs here," and he +turned towards Marian, "I knew must first be paid, according to all +the rules of gallantry. How are you, my fair niece? You look a little +pale. How are you, Isadore?" And the peer, without waiting to hear how +any one was, cast his eyes upon the ground, and fixing upon a spot in +the carpet, seemed calculating geometrically the precise measurement +of all its strange angles.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We were just going to supper, my lord," said Mrs. Falkland; "will you +come with us? But first let me introduce you to Colonel Manners." Lord +Dewry acknowledged the introduction by a cold bow, while Manners said +some words of course; and the question of supper being renewed, the +nobleman agreed to go down with the party to the table, though he +bestowed a word or two of heavy censure on the meal they were about to +take.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is, nevertheless," said Colonel Manners, "from its very hour, the +most sociable one of the whole day; for by this time, in general, all +the cares, and annoyances, and labours of the busy daylight are over; +and, as is justly observed--I forget where--'nothing remains for us +but enjoyment and repose.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eating and sleep!" muttered Lord Dewry; "the delights of a hog and a +squirrel;" but as what he said did not seem intended to be heard, +Colonel Manners made no reply, though he did hear it; and the party +seated themselves round the supper-table, in walking towards which +these few sentences had passed. For some time the presence of the peer +seemed destined to cast a gloom over the society in which he had so +suddenly appeared. His manner even here, in the midst of his nearest +relations, and by the side of his newly-returned son, was cold, stern, +and gloomy, only broken by some flash of cynical scorn for things that +other people valued, or by some biting sneer at the follies and +weaknesses of his fellow-creatures.</p> + +<p class="normal">To his niece Marian de Vaux, however, his conduct was very different. +At table he placed himself by her side; made an evident effort to +render himself agreeable to her; and whenever he spoke to her softened +his tone, and endeavoured to call up a smile. Such was his conduct on +the present evening; but it maybe necessary also to stretch our view +over the past, for his behaviour to his niece had always formed a +strange contrast to his conduct towards others. The first effect of +her presence, when he had not seen her for some time, was almost +always to throw him into a fit of deep gloom; and those who watched +him narrowly might have remarked his lip move, as if he were speaking +to himself, though no sound was heard. From this fit of abstraction he +generally roused himself soon, but it was evidently at the cost of +great efforts; and then he would speak to his niece with a degree of +tenderness which bordered on timidity, and treat her with attention +approaching to gallantry. Any one who saw him in conversation with her +might easily conceive him to have been the fascinating and courtly man +that report had represented him in his younger days; and there was a +kindness and gentleness in his whole demeanour towards her, which, +together with the family name that she bore, had often caused her to +be taken for his daughter. Nevertheless, even across the moments when +he seemed exerting himself to please her, would break occasionally the +same fits of gloom, called up by apparently the least calculated to +produce any such effect. They were then always brief, however; and a +seemed that the original exertion to conquer the dark feelings which +the first sight of his niece appeared to arouse, was sufficient to +hold all the rest in check.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was only to her, however, that he was thus gentle. Her presence +made no difference in his conduct towards others; and the moment his +attention or his speech was called from the conversation with his +niece, he seemed to become a different being,--dark, stern, and +overbearing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such a demeanour, of course, was not calculated to promote any thing +like cheerful conversation; and the atmosphere of his gloom would have +affected all those by whom he was surrounded, and extinguished every +thing like pleasure for that night, had it not been for the +counteracting influence of Colonel Manners. He, without the slightest +touch of obtrusiveness or self-conceit, by a just estimation of +himself and others, was always in possession of his own powers of +mind; and never suffered the presence of any other individual--unless, +indeed, it was that of one whom he could at once admire and love--to +give a tone to his behaviour, to restrain him in what he chose to say, +or to frighten him from what he chose to do.</p> + +<p class="normal">He took the tone of his conversation from his own heart, and from its +feelings at the time; and, guarded by fine sensibilities, good taste, +knowledge of the world, and a refined education, there was not the +slightest fear that he would ever give pain to any one whose +approbation he valued. Of all this he was himself well aware; and, +after a few moments given to something like wonder at the character of +Lord Dewry, he proceeded in the same manner as if such a person had +not been in existence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore Falkland, as soon as she found that such powerful support was +prepared for her, boldly resisted the influence of her uncle's +presence also. Mrs. Falkland, whose naturally strong mind was not +unfitted to cope with her brother, held on the even tenour of her way; +and Edward de Vaux joining in, the conversation soon became once more +general and cheerful. It had taken another turn, however; and the +subject had become the mutual adventures of Colonel Manners and Edward +de Vaux, in the war which was then raging between France and England +in North America. Many was the wild enterprise, many the curious +particular, that they had to speak of; "hair's breadth escapes and +perils imminent"--scenes and persons quite fresh and strange to +Europeans; a new world, and all that a new world contained, with a +system of warfare totally different from any thing that had ever been +seen on the older continents. At that time, neither a barbarous policy +nor a criminal negligence had produced any of those lamentable results +which are rapidly exterminating the Indian nations of America: but, at +the same time, a most barbarous policy had--instead of endeavouring to +civilize and soften the dusky natives of the woods, the real lords of +the land--had engaged them, with all their fierce and horrid modes of +warfare, in the contention between the two great bands of European +robbers, who were struggling for the country that really belonged to +the savage. Of these Indian nations, and of their wild habits, both +Manners and De Vaux spoke at large; and many a strange scene had they +witnessed together among the uncultivated woods and untamed people of +the transatlantic world.</p> + +<p class="normal">Often, too, Manners, with kind and friendly zeal, would make Edward de +Vaux the hero of his tale; and while he related, as if he were +speaking of ordinary events, some gallant exploit or some noble +action, would suffer his eye to glance for a single instant, +unperceived, to the countenance of Marian de Vaux; it was generally +calm and tranquil--beautiful, but still; yet occasionally, when the +moment of danger or of interest came, and when Edward extricated +himself gallantly from some difficult or dangerous situation, there +was a bright light beamed up in her eyes, a long-drawn breath, and a +flickering colour, which satisfied Manners that all was well.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nevertheless, Manners could not, of course, speak of his friend's +adventures without a little delicate manœuvring, in order to make +the tale appear more a general than a personal one; nor could he +continue the subject long. Often, therefore, he returned to the +Indians, and often to the state of America in general, while Mrs. +Falkland and her daughter gave him, by manifold questions and +observations, full opportunity of varying the subject <i>ad libitum</i>. +They sought to know, among other facts, what link of connection could +possibly have sprung up between the Indians and the Europeans so +strong as to make the savage nations have any feeling of regard or +interest towards either of the countries which only struggled to +monopolize the means of plundering and destroying them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you must not think, my dear madam," answered Colonel Manners, +"that all persons who visit America are actuated by one selfish +motive, or pursue one system of fraud and oppression towards the +Indians. On the contrary, there are many who go over there with the +philanthropic motive of civilizing and benefiting the savage tribes +themselves; and who, in the endeavour to effect this object, display a +degree of wisdom, perseverance, judgment, and courage, that is quite +astonishing. Nor are these qualities without the most immense effect +upon the wild aborigines of the land, who look up to such men almost +as they would to a god. De Vaux and I know a very remarkable instance +of the kind, in one of the most noble-spirited and excellent of human +beings, to whom we are both under no small obligations. He nursed me +through a long and severe fever, when my senses were quite gone; and +afterward enabled me, by his influence with the Indians, to render +your nephew some small service--which, however, was entirely +attributable to his exertions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, Manners," replied De Vaux; "to yours as much as his, and +more; for had you not ventured, at the head of a party of Indians, two +hundred miles into a hostile country, not a step of which you knew--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, De Vaux," answered his friend, "you must own that he went +with me, though he did not know you, and I did. You must not take away +from the merit of my hero, for such I intend to make him in these +ladies' eyes. I know not, however, how you will like a hero of sixty, +Miss Falkland; but such, I must confess, he is at least. He has now +lived for many years, upon the very borders of civilization, or rather +beyond it, for his house is surrounded by forests and Indian wigwams. +He has never taken any part in the contentions of the tribes, and +seems equally venerated by all, showering good and blessings upon the +heads of every one who approaches him. He is deeply versed in the laws +and the manners of the natives, too; and, though a finished and +elegant scholar and gentleman, conforms when necessary, to their +usages, in a manner that is at once amusing and admirable. He is, at +the same time, the most skilful and indefatigable hunter that the +world, perhaps, ever produced,--an accomplishment which renders him +still more venerable in the eyes of the Indians, who, on account of +all these qualities, have named him 'The White Father.'"<a name="div1Ref_03.2" href="#div1_03.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> + +<p class="normal">"Delightful creature!" exclaimed Miss Falkland, with her beautiful +eyes sparkling like diamonds; "but tell me, Colonel Manners, tell me, +what is he like? Mamma, if you have no objection, I will go out and +marry him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"None in the world, my love!" answered Mrs. Falkland; "but, perhaps, +it may be better, first, to send over and ask whether he will marry +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That he will of course," answered she: "but, Colonel Manners, you +have not told me what he is like--in person I mean."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he is fresh and hale as a life of exercise and a heart at rest +can make him," replied Manners. "Indeed, he is as handsome a man as +ever I saw."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that will do exactly!" cried Miss Falkland, laughing. Colonel +Manners smiled too; but there was a tinge of melancholy in his smile; +for, however much he might have made up his mind to the fact, that +personal beauty is an indispensable requisite to obtain woman's love, +yet every little trait which served to confirm that opinion touched a +gloomy chord in his bosom, which again called forth the tone of many a +harmonizing feeling, and made somewhat sad music within.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And pray, Colonel Manners," said Lord Dewry, with the cold, if not +supercilious tone which he generally employed, "what may be the name +of the wonderful person who does all these wonderful things?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The name, my lord," replied Colonel Manners coolly, "the name of the +gentleman who went two hundred miles into the Indian country to save +your son, Captain de Vaux from the tomahawk, without ever having seen +him, is one known throughout the greater part of America,--Sir William +Ryder."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry turned suddenly still paler than he was before; and then as +red as fire. Whether it was that some feelings had been excited by +that name with which he did not choose to trust his lips, or whether +his emotion proceeded from temporary illness, did not appear; but he +replied nothing; and Colonel Manners, by whom the peer's agitation had +not been totally unmarked, went on. "If I remember right," he said, "I +heard Sir William Ryder ask after your lordship's health from De Vaux, +and say that he had known you many years ago in England."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I once knew, sir," replied Lord Dewry, drawing himself up, "I once +knew an unworthy blackguard of that name, who is now I believe, in +America; but he has no right to claim acquaintance with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux looked at his father with astonishment, and then turned his +eyes towards Manners, as if to pray him patience; but his friend was +perfectly calm, and replied:--"Your lordship must allude to some +different person, as the description does not at all correspond with +him of whom I speak."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, sir," answered the baron, reddening, "I speak of the same +person,--there can be no doubt of it,--a gambling beggar!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you do speak of the same person, Lord Dewry," replied Colonel +Manners, quite calmly, "I must beg of you to remember, that you speak +of my friend; and in the presence of one who does not like to hear his +friend's character assailed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed, sir, indeed!" exclaimed Lord Dewry, rising; "do you kindly +wish to dictate to me, in my sister's house, what I am to say of a +person, who it seems, has formed an unfortunate intimacy with my own +son; and is, as I said, a gambling beggar?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners paused a moment. He and De Vaux were alike under deep +obligations to the man of whom Lord Dewry spoke; and he felt that the +language used by the peer was not only a gross personal insult to both +of them, but especially to himself, who had been the means of +introducing him to his companion, and who had the moment before +bestowed such high and unqualified praise on the very person whom he +now heard reviled. He remembered Lord Dewry's age and situation, +however, and his own particular position, and endeavoured to moderate +his reply as much as possible; though to pass the matter over in +silence, or to leave the charges of the peer without direct +contradiction, he felt to be impossible, as an officer, a man of +honour, or the friend of Sir William Ryder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your personal opinion, my lord," he answered, "you may, of course, +express to your own son, or your own family whenever you like, +provided it be not injurious to any friend of mine. In which last case +I shall, as before, beg your lordship to refrain in my presence, for I +am not a man to hear a friend calumniated in silence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Calumniated, sir! calumniated!" exclaimed Lord Dewry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, sir, such was the word I made use of," replied Colonel Manners, +"because the expressions you applied to Sir William Ryder were +calumnious, if applied to my friend, whom a long life of noble actions +raises above suspicion; but I trust and believe we are speaking of +different persons."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis well, sir; 'tis very well!" replied Lord Dewry, appearing to +grow somewhat cooler; "'tis extremely well!--I trust it is as you say. +Give me a glass of soda-water. Maria, I shall now retire to rest; +I am somewhat fatigued: my apartments are, I think, opposite the +drawing-room. Good-night!--Colonel Manners, I wish you good-night!" +And, bowing with low and bitter courtesy, he left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners, whatever might be his feelings, and whatever might be +his intentions, took no notice of what had passed after Lord Dewry +left the room, although he could not but feel that he had been +insulted by a man whose age protected him; but both Mrs. Falkland and +De Vaux spoke upon the subject, after a moment's painful pause. The +first apologized with dignified mildness for the occurrence, and +assuring her visiter that something strange and extraordinary must +have irritated her brother during the course of the day, or that he +would not so far have forgot his usual <i>bienséance</i>; and the latter +pressed his friend with kindly earnestness to forget what had +occurred, and not to suffer it to affect his conduct, or abridge his +stay.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners smiled, and suffered himself to be overcome: "You +know, De Vaux, that I am not one to be driven from my position by the +first fire," he said; "and as I suppose that Lord Dewry and myself +will not meet very frequently after the present time, we shall have +but few opportunities of being as agreeable to each other as we have +been to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus ended the conversation, and soon after the party separated, each +grieving not a little that the harmony of the evening had been so +unfortunately interrupted, when there was no reason to expect such an +event.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.4" href="#div1Ref_01.4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The mind of man is a curious thing, in some respects not at all unlike +an old Gothic castle, full of turnings and windings, long dark +passages, spiral staircases, and secret corners. Among all these +architectural involutions, too, the ideas go wandering about, +generally very much at random, often get astray, often go into a wrong +room and fancy it their own; and often, too, it happens that, when one +of them is tripping along quite quietly, thinking that all is right, +open flies a door; out comes another, and turns the first back +again--sometimes rudely, blowing her candle out, and leaving her in +the dark,--and sometimes taking her delicately by the tips of the +fingers, and leading her to the very spot whence she set out at first.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners, retiring to his bedchamber, though he seldom, if +ever, indulged in reveries of happiness which were never to be +realized, could not help sitting down to think over the events +of the evening, and the circle to which he had been introduced. +In the first place, he took great care to turn the idea of Lord Dewry +and his rudeness out of the castle, being a great economizer of +pleasant thoughts; and then, with somewhat of a sigh (the sort of +semi-singultus which people give to something irremediable in their +own fate, while contemplating the state of another), he thought, "De +Vaux is a very happy man! and yet," he continued, "though she is very +beautiful, too, and evidently has deeper feelings beneath that calm +exterior, yet, had I had to choose between the two cousins, I would +have fixed upon the other." As he thus went on thinking, Colonel +Manners began to remember that his thoughts might be treading upon +dangerous ground: he did not know even that they might not be drawn +into an ambuscade of dreams and wishes which he had long, as he +fancied, defeated for ever; and, therefore, he hastily beat the +general, and marched the whole detachment off to join his own +regiment. What we mean is, that he turned his mind to military +affairs, and would very fain have thought no more either of Mrs. +Falkland's domestic circle, or of the future happiness of his friend; +or, at least, he would have schooled himself, if he did think of such +things at all, not to extract any personal feelings therefrom, but to +let them be to him as matters in which he had no further share than as +in a passing pageant of a pretty device, through which he was to move +as he would have done through a minuet, forgetting it all as soon as +the music ceased. Still, however, as he went on thinking, open flew +some of the doors of association, and ever and anon out started some +fresh idea, which brought him back to the happiness of his friend, and +the delight of seeing a family circle of one's own, and looks of +affection, and a joyful welcome after toil, and exertion, and danger +were over.</p> + +<p class="normal">As sleep, however, is a strong fortress against the attack of +dangerous thoughts, he resolved to take refuge there from a force that +was too powerful for him; and, going to bed, he was soon within the +gates of slumber. But fancy turned traitor within his fortress, and, +ere long, whole troops of dreams poured in, laying his heart prostrate +before imaginations which he had repelled with veteran courage for +more than fourteen years. There was, of course, no resisting under +such circumstances: the garrison threw down their arms, and he went on +dreaming of love and domestic happiness all night. It did him no harm, +however, for one of the most curious phenomena which take place in +regard to those wild visitants, dreams, occurred in this case. The +visions that had come to him had all been as vivid as reality: he had +felt more and more acutely than he had, perhaps, ever felt in life; +there had been pleasures and pains, intense and varying; events and +feelings which, had they occurred in waking existence, he would have +remembered till the last hour of his life; and yet, when he awoke, he +had forgotten the whole. It was as if some after-sleep, with a sponge +dipped in Lethe, had passed by, and wiped out from the tablet of +memory all but a few rough scratches, sufficient to show the dreams +had been there.</p> + +<p class="normal">The day was yet young when he awoke; but Manners was habitually an +early riser--a habit that generally springs from two causes--vigorous +health, a frame without languor, and easily refreshed; or from a +refined heart, at ease within itself. When he had prayed--for all +noble-minded beings pray; and the only truly great pride is the pride +with which one owns one's self the servant of God: it is the soldier +pointing to the colours under which he serves--when he had prayed, he +dressed himself, somewhat slowly, gazing from time to time out of the +window over the rich landscape sparkling with dew and morning; and +then, opening his door, went out with the purpose of breathing the +fresh air of the early day. The windows at either end of the corridor +were still closed, for it had scarcely struck six, but the skylight +over the staircase gave light enough; and Colonel Manners, descending, +found a housemaid, with unbought roses on her cheeks, and blue arms, +busily washing the marble hall and the steps that went out into the +garden, which, stretching away to the south-west, was separated from +the park in which the house stood, by a haw-haw and a light fence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Give me a flower-garden, in the early morning, with its dry +gravel-walks shining in the fresh sunbeams, and all the thousands of +flowers which man's care and God's bounty have raised to beautify our +dwellings, expanding their refreshed petals to the young light. The +garden into which Colonel Manners now went forth was an old-fashioned +one, with manifold beds, arranged in as many mathematical figures. +Each bed, fringed with its close-cut green border of box, was full of +as many flowers as it would hold, and as the season afforded; and +though of late many a foreign land has been ransacked to procure new +exotics for our grounds, yet even then the garden was not without its +rich assortment of flowering shrubs; some still bearing the blossom, +some fallen into the fruit. Between the beds--and, as the gardens were +of very great extent, the beds were not very close together--were +spaces of soft green turf, sometimes flanked with holly, or hedged +with yew, so as to make a sort of little bowling-green; sometimes wide +open to the gay sunshine, and full of innumerable thrushes and +blackbirds, hopping along, with their fine shanks sunk amid the blades +of grass. Here and there, too, was an arbour covered with clematis; +and hothouses and green-houses now and then peeped out from behind the +shrubberies, on the sunny side of the garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners took his way along a walk that flanked the enclosure +to the east, and which, running by the side of the haw-haw, a little +elevated above the park and surrounding country, gave, on the one +side, an extensive prospect over a rich and smiling landscape, with +the deer bounding over the grass, and the cattle lowing along the +distant upland; and, on the other, showed the garden--somewhat formal, +perhaps, but neat, and beautiful, and sparkling. He was a soldier, and +a man of the world, and he loved books, and he did not dislike +society; but, perhaps, there never was a man upon earth who more +thoroughly enjoyed a solitary morning walk amid flowers and beautiful +scenery--scenery in which one can pause and fill one's eye with fair +sights, while the ideas springing from each particular blossom, or +from the whole general view, can ramble out into a world of indistinct +loveliness, wherein one can scarcely be said to think, but rather to +live in a sensation of happiness which approaches near to heaven.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although, as we have observed, one can scarcely be said to think, yet +there is no situation on the earth--or very few--in which a man so +little likes to have his thoughts interrupted, and his fine +imaginations forcibly called back to the dull ground. Colonel Manners, +therefore, was not very well pleased, when, after following the walk +which he had chosen to the end, he heard footsteps beyond the bushes, +round which the path now swept.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had these footsteps, indeed, possessed that light peculiar sound which +is produced by a small and pretty foot, Colonel Manners, who never +objected to see the beautiful things of nature enhanced by the +presence of the most beautiful, might not have thought his reveries +unworthily disturbed. In the present instance, however, the sound was +very different: it was the dull, heavy, determined step of a foot that +takes a firm hold of the ground; and, as he went on, he was not +surprised to meet with Lord Dewry at the turning of the walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners, if he had not forgot all about their discussion of +the preceding evening, had remembered it as little as possible; and, +being one of those happy men who never suffer any annoyance of such a +nature to rankle at the heart, he had settled the matter in his own +mind by thinking that the old gentleman had the toothache, or +some of those corporal pangs and infirmities which cause and excuse +ill-temper, and sometimes even rudeness, at that period of life when +the passing away of those mighty blessings, vigour and health, is in +itself matter enough for irritation. As, however, he never liked to +subject himself to occasions for commanding his temper, he proposed, +in the present instance, merely to give the peer "Good-morning," and +pass on upon his walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">This purpose he was not permitted to execute; as no sooner did Lord +Dewry come opposite to him, than he stopped abruptly, and answered +Colonel Manners's salutation by a cold and haughty bow. "Colonel +Manners," he said, "I saw you come into the garden from the windows of +my room, and I have done myself the honour of seeking you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer spoke slowly and calmly; but Manners, who doubted not that +his intention was to apologize, was both somewhat surprised that so +proud a man should do so at all, and likewise somewhat puzzled by a +sneering curl of the nostril and a slight twinkling of the eyelid, +which seemed to betray a spirit not quite so tranquil as his tone +would have indicated. "Your lordship does me honour," he replied; +"what are your commands?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Simply as follows, Colonel Manners," replied Lord Dewry: "I think you +last night made use of the term <i>calumny</i>, as applied to part of my +discourse; and as I am not in the habit of being insulted without +taking measures to redress myself, I have followed you hither for the +purpose of arranging the necessary result."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners felt inclined to smile, but he refrained, and replied, +seriously, "My lord, I wish to heaven you would forget this business. +You thought fit to apply the strongest terms of injury to a gentleman +for whom I had expressed my friendship and gratitude; and I pronounced +such terms to be calumnious in regard to my friend, but expressed, at +the same time, my belief that we were speaking of different persons. +For Heaven's sake, let the matter rest where it does: I meant no +personal insult to you; I trust you meant none to me. I came down here +the friend of your son, on a joyful occasion, and it would pain me not +a little to go away the enemy of his father."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lip of Lord Dewry curled with a bitter and galling sneer. "Colonel +Manners," he said, "I believe that you wear a sword."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do, sir," replied Manners, reddening; "but I should be unworthy to +wear one, did I draw it against a man old enough to be my father."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry, too, reddened. "If, as I perceive, sir," he said, "you +intend to make my age your protection, I trust you have calculated the +consequences to your reputation, and will understand the light in +which I view you. When I am willing, sir, to waive all respect of age, +I do not see what you have to do with it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Much, my lord," answered Colonel Manners; "much have my own +conscience and my own honour to do with it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not let an officer who is refusing to fight talk of honour, sir," +replied Lord Dewry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You cannot provoke me to forget myself, Lord Dewry," answered the +other; "I hold all duelling in abhorrence, and as any thing but a +proof of courage but when the encounter is to be between a young and +active man, and one of your lordship's age and probable habits, it is +murder outright. Your lordship will excuse me for saying that I think +the business a very foolish one, and that I must insist upon its being +dropped."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall drop it as far as regards the endeavour to make a man fight +who is not disposed to do so," replied Lord Dewry, with an angry and +disappointed, rather than a contemptuous, smile, for which he intended +it to be; "but, as a matter of course, I shall make generally known +the fact that you have refused to draw your sword when called upon."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners laughed. "My lord," he answered, "I have drawn it in +eleven different battles in his majesty's service; I have been wounded +nine times, and I am quite satisfied with a certain degree of +reputation obtained in these affairs, without seeking to increase it +by the encounter to which your lordship would provoke me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry stood and gazed at him for a moment or two with a heavy +lowering brow, as if contemplating how he might lash his adversary to +the course he sought to bring him to pursue; but the calm and +confident courage and cool determination of Colonel Manners foiled him +even in his own thoughts; and, after glaring at him thus while one +might count twenty, he exclaimed, "You shall repent it, sir! you shall +repent it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not think it, my lord," replied Manners: "I wish you +good-morning;" and he turned calmly on his heel, retreading, with slow +steps, the path he had followed from the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the mean time, the pace of Lord Dewry was much more rapid; but for +a moment we must pause ourselves, and seize this opportunity of +looking into his bosom, and seeing some of the motives which, like +Cyclops in the cave of Vulcan, were busy forging all those hot +thunderbolts that he was dealing about so liberally--<i>some</i>, we only +say some; for were we to look at all, we should have a catalogue too +long for recapitulation here. The fact, then, was, that Lord Dewry had +been greatly irritated on the previous day, by a conversation of not +the most pleasant kind, concerning the very Sir William Ryder of whom +he was destined to hear such high praises the moment he set his foot +within his sister's doors. Now, for various reasons, unto himself best +known, the noble lord hated this Sir William Ryder with a most +reverent and solicitous hatred, and would willingly have given a +thousand pounds to any one who would have brought him proof positive +that he was dead and safely deposited in that earthy chancery, the +archives of which, though they contain many a treasured secret, can +never meet the searching eye of this inquisitive world. What, then, +were his feelings, when he heard that this very man, in regard to whom +his darkest passions had been stirred up that very day, and towards +whom he had nourished an evergreen animosity for many years--when he +heard that, through the instrumentality of Colonel Manners, this man +had been made intimate with his only son!</p> + +<p class="normal">This, then, was Manners's offence; but had it been likely to end +there, Lord Dewry might even have forgiven it. Such, however, was not +the case: Lord Dewry had some reason to believe that the object of his +hatred might visit England; and imagination instantly set up before +him the picture of his son, Colonel Manners, and Sir William Ryder +meeting, and discussing many things that would be better let alone. +Now he trusted and believed that, as far as his ancient enemy was +concerned, he could manage his son, and cause him to break off a +connection which had not been of long duration; but at the same time +he judged it necessary to place a barrier between him and Colonel +Manners himself, so as to cut off every link of communication between +Edward de Vaux and Sir William Ryder; and for this purpose he at once +determined to quarrel with his son's friend; which, in his own +irritable and irritated state of mind, he found it not at all +difficult to accomplish. On the preceding night he had begun, +therefore, with real good-will; and as he was a man totally devoid of +any thing like personal fear, and remembered that he had once been a +remarkably good swordsman, while he forgot that he was sixty, he was +really pleased when Manners made use of a term which promised to give +him an opportunity of bringing their dispute to such an issue as must +absolutely put an end to the intimacy between his son and Colonel +Manners forever. "Even should I receive a wound," he thought, "so much +the better;" and, strange as it is to say, had Lord Dewry even +contemplated being killed in the encounter he sought, he would have +looked upon it with less apprehension than might be supposed, when +thereunto was attached the certainty of his son being separated for +ever from Charles Manners and from Sir William Ryder; so much less +terrible does it often appear to our contradictory nature to meet the +eye of God than to encounter the scrutiny of beings like ourselves.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frustrated by the coolness and firmness of his opponent in the grand +object of his morning's walk, he now turned towards the house, +animated with a strong desire of accomplishing his purpose by other +means. The peer now determined, as it was impossible to make Colonel +Manners the aggressor, to induce his own family to take the +initiative, and break with the object of his dislike or of his +apprehension--for perhaps there might be a little of both at the +bottom of his heart; and, with a resolution which was the more +imperious and domineering from having seldom suffered contradiction, +he sought the apartment of his son.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux was just up, and was in the act of putting on, one +after another, the different parts of his apparel. As this act of +clothing one's person, however much pleasure people may take in it +habitually, is in itself a laborious and troublesome operation, De +Vaux's servant was helping him therein; but the appearance of Lord +Dewry, and a hint not to be mistaken, sent the man out of the room, +while the noble lord betook him to a chair; and his son, seeing that +there was not a little thunder in the dark cloud upon his father's +brow, sat, expectant and half-dressed, wondering what was to come +next.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Edward," said his father, in a tone which was intended at once to +express parental affection, some slight touch of sadness, and firm +relying confidence upon his son's good feelings, but which, in truth, +did not succeed in expressing much except a great deal of irritation +and heat--"Edward, I have come to speak with you upon last night's +unfortunate business, and to give you, in a few words, my opinion upon +the subject, in order that you may choose your part at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux, who knew his father well--though he knew not all his +motives in the present instance--prepared himself to resist; for he +divined, almost immediately from the beginning of Lord Dewry's +discourse, what would be the end; being well aware, though he did not +choose to put it exactly in such terms to his own heart, that a +certain combination of vanity, pride, selfishness, and remorselessness +in the bosom of his worthy parent, made him the exact person to resent +highly even a slight offence, and to treasure long hatred for a casual +word. But Edward de Vaux knew also that he himself stood in a position +towards his father different from that in which any other person +stood: he knew that the ties of nature, long habit, and irreproachable +conduct rendered him the only real object of Lord Dewry's love--the +only being who possessed any influence over a mind which never through +life, in any other case than his own, had yielded to either persuasion +or opposition. He himself, however, had found from experience, that he +could resist with success when the ground of resistance was such as +satisfied his own heart; and he now, therefore, prepared to practise, +upon an occasion of more importance, a behaviour he had sometimes +displayed in regard to trifles. He was aware, at the same time, from +his soldierly habits, that it was advantageous sometimes to be the +attacking party; and when his father paused, a little out of breath +with climbing the stairs faster than necessary, and with speaking more +vehemently than was becoming, he instantly replied, "Oh, my lord, if +you mean the business with Manners, do not think of it any more! +Manners is extremely good-humoured, and will forget it at once, I am +sure. No further apology is necessary."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Apology, sir!" exclaimed Lord Dewry; "what do you mean? I have made +no apology!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my lord," replied De Vaux; "but, considering that Manners was my +friend, that he saved my life at the risk of his own, that he came +down here at my invitation, and that he was a guest in my aunt's +house, I thought it necessary to apologize for the manner in which my +father had treated him, saying that I was sure you were irritated by +some other cause;" and adding--"I felt sure you would--that you would +be sorry for having expressed yourself so bitterly, when you reflected +upon the circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You did, sir!" said Lord Dewry, "you did!--then I have only to tell +you that you said what was not the case;" De Vaux reddened; "that you +took a great and unwarrantable liberty with my name," continued Lord +Dewry, whose passion had quite overcome every restraint; "and that, +had you considered your father as much as this new friend, you would +have seen that <i>I</i> was the insulted person--that <i>I</i> had a right to +demand apology, and you would have broken off all connection with a +person who would show so little respect to your parent; and this, +sir,--this is what I command you now to do, or to take the +consequences of your disobedience."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord," answered De Vaux, cooling himself down as far as +possible,--"my lord, as you must already have seen, we view the matter +in a very different light. It grieves me bitterly that we should +disagree so severely on the very day after my return; but if you wish +me to break off my acquaintance with Colonel Manners, because you have +thought fit to treat him with some rudeness, I must tell you, at once, +such an idea could never be entertained by me for a moment. As to the +consequences which your lordship speaks of, I am at a loss to conceive +what you mean. A disagreement with your lordship is--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The consequences, Captain De Vaux," interrupted his father, with a +small red spot glowing in the middle of his sallow cheek--"the +consequences may be more bitter than you think. You believe that the +estates of the barony, being entailed, must descend to you; but let me +tell you, young man--let me tell you," he repeated, approaching nearer +to his son, and lowering his voice in tone, but not in emphasis,--"let +me tell you, you could be deprived of them by a word. But no more of +that," he added, raising his head, and resuming his usual air of +dignity, which had been a good deal lost during that morning, "no more +of that; the consequences to which I alluded, and to which I now +allude, are the displeasure of your father, and the knowledge that you +remain the friend of a man who has insulted him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Could I see, my dear sir," replied De Vaux, "that Manners had insulted +you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is sufficient, sir, that I see it," interrupted his father, +hastily, "it is sufficient that I see it; and I hold myself aggrieved +that my son should see it otherwise. But do as you will, Edward de +Vaux--do as you will. If you are lost to a sense of filial duty, and +refuse to obey my positive injunction to break with this man, you may +act as you think fit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall never, my lord, even dream of breaking with him," replied De +Vaux; "as it appears to me, that to do so would render me an +accomplice in an act of notable injustice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are dutiful, sir--you are respectful," said Lord Dewry, setting +his teeth hard; "but do as you please--do as you please: I wish you +good-morning;" and, turning on his heel, he quitted the apartment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is mighty disagreeable," thought De Vaux, as he rang the bell to +bring back his servant; "this is mighty disagreeable and mighty +absurd, it seems to me; but the worst part of all will be the meeting +at breakfast. However, all these things must be encountered as they +come, in this good pleasant world of ours;" and he returned to his +toilet.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the mean time the noble lord, his father, proceeded to his own +apartments, laid his hand upon the bell, and rang in such a manner as +to show that he was in a passion, not only to his own servant, but to +the whole house. His own servant, however, a thin, dark, saturnine +person, well calculated by constitutional frigidity to cope with an +irritable master, was not in the least alarmed by any sign of his +lord's angry mood, to which he was wont to oppose, on all occasions, a +dull, obtuse silence, that left him without any remedy but patience. +He accordingly proceeded slowly to Lord Dewry's apartment; received +the objurgation for his tardiness with profound and unmoved +taciturnity; listened to his lordship's orders to pack up all his +dressing things, and order the horses to the carriage directly, in the +same automatonical manner, and then went to take his breakfast, not at +all approving of his master's purpose of setting out without +refreshment. Lord Dewry, fondly fancying that he had gone to order the +horses to be put to, waited in his bedroom very patiently for five +minutes, then began to get angry during five minutes more, and then +rang the bell for at least the same space of time. At the end of that +period the man again made his appearance, and, with a face of dull +unconsciousness, asked if his lordship had rung, although he had heard +every succeeding stroke of the bell.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry stamped with rage; but, finding that it had no effect, he +left the man alone to arrange his dressing things, while, for the +purpose of waiting till the carriage was ready, he went down to the +library, calculating, of course, upon its being, as usual, the most +solitary room in the whole house. If he expected to find it empty, +however, he was mistaken: for Mrs. Falkland was seated at the table, +writing a note; and, as there was no person, in or out of his own +family, for whom his lordship entertained so great a respect--which +would have been a little, perhaps, approaching to fear, if he could +have feared any thing--there was no one consequently whom he less +wished to meet, at a moment when he was acting in a manner which +needed the full excitement of passion and pride to appear, even in his +own opinion, either dignified or gentlemanly. He was drawing back, but +Mrs. Falkland raised her eyes; and his lordship, conscious that he had +been wishing to retreat, advanced, of course, with a greater degree of +boldness, and asked whether he interrupted her by his presence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not in the least--not in the least," replied Mrs. Falkland; "but you +seem prepared for travelling, my lord. You are not thinking of setting +out before breakfast?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most assuredly I shall, Maria," replied the peer. "You do not suppose +that I am going to subject myself to the pain of meeting again, in +your house, a person by whom I have been so grossly insulted as this +Colonel Manners?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom you have so grossly insulted, I suppose, your lordship means," +replied Mrs. Falkland. "My lord, I am your sister, and consequently am +not disposed to see faults; but I tell you sincerely, that you equally +owe an apology to me and to Colonel Manners for your behaviour last +night. The one to myself I will, of course, dispense with; but, if you +do right, you will go to Colonel Manners, and tell him that something +had occurred in the course of yesterday to irritate and vex you, and +that you are extremely sorry that your irritation vented itself upon +him." Mrs. Falkland spoke with infinite calmness; and, when she had +done, wrote another sentence of her note, leaving her brother the +while to pause on the somewhat bitter matter of her discourse.</p> + +<p class="normal">His lordship employed the time in remembering that it was a lady and +his sister to whom he was opposed, and in subduing the wrath of his +heart into the quieter form of sneer; although he still continued to +gaze on her, while she wrote, with eyes in which his anger still +maintained its ground, like a solitary post left behind a retreating +army.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know, Mrs. Falkland," he replied, with a curling lip, "in such +pleasant little discussions as these, we gentlemen have hardly fair +play when opposed to female antagonists; for, under shelter of your +sex, you women dare say things to us that it would be ungentlemanly to +retort, and which are very difficult to bear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Truth, my lord, I am afraid, is often difficult to bear," replied +Mrs. Falkland; "and perhaps, on such occasions, you may hear it in a +more unqualified manner from a woman than from one of your own sex."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As the matter is a difference of opinion, Maria, between you and me," +said Lord Dewry, "it is rather like begging the question to assume +that it is truth that gives me offence. You have forgot your logic, my +good sister."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I ever possessed any, my lord," rejoined Mrs. Falkland, "I +certainly should not be disposed to try it upon you, in order to +induce you either to make an apology, which is alike due to yourself +and to Colonel Manners, or to stay here without making it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I understand you, my dear sister, I understand you!" exclaimed Lord +Dewry; "but do not be in a hurry. My carriage is ordered, and cannot +be many minutes ere it delivers you from my presence. In the mean +time, I will not interrupt you further.--Good-morning, Mrs. Falkland!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-morning," she replied; and her brother walked towards the door. +As he laid his hand upon the lock, he turned for a single glance at +his sister; but Mrs. Falkland was writing on, with a rapid and easy +pen, in the clear and running movements of which there was evidently +not the slightest impediment from one extraneous thought in reference +to the conversation which had just passed between them. Anger, hatred, +malice, even active scorn itself, man can bear or retort; but utter +indifference is more galling still. So Lord Dewry found it; and +throwing open the door with a degree of force that made sundry of +the smaller articles of furniture dance about the room, he issued +forth in search of his carriage, with wounded pride and diminished +self-importance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gliding gracefully down the corridor towards the breakfast-room was, +at that very moment, Marian de Vaux, his niece; and the sight of her +beautiful face and form, with its calm and easy movements, was well +calculated to tranquillize and sooth. But Lord Dewry had never been +famous for being easily soothed. Dr. Johnson is said to have liked a +"good hater;" and had he carried the predilection a little further, +the peer was just the man to merit that sort of approbation. He was +not only a good hater, but he was, and always had been, the man of all +others to nourish his anger, and render it both stout and permanent. +Now, during the early part of the preceding evening, before he found +"mettle more attractive" in his quarrel with Colonel Manners, the +noble lord had, as he always did, paid very great attention to Marian +de Vaux. He had sat by her, he had talked to her, he had exerted +himself to be agreeable to her, when it was very evident that he was +not much disposed to be agreeable to any one. But now, as Marian +approached, gave her hand, and wished him good-morning, he let her +hand drop as soon as he had taken it, and answered her salutation by +telling her he was in haste.</p> + +<p class="normal">Somewhat surprised at the cloud upon her uncle's brow, his flashing +eye, and abrupt manner, Marian drew back, in order to let him pass, +and Lord Dewry took two steps more along the passage. Then +recollecting himself, however, and remembering how strange his conduct +might appear, he turned, and made the whole seem stranger than ever, +as all people do when, with a heart very full of feelings which they +are afraid or ashamed to picture in their nakedness, they attempt to +explain the strange behaviour to which those feelings have prompted +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am obliged to quit the house, Marian," he said, in a quick and +agitated manner; "disagreeable occurrences have taken place, which +compel me, in justice to myself, to withdraw: the whole business is an +unfortunate one, and I am afraid it may be some time before we meet +again; but I will write--I will write, and explain myself fully. +Good-by! I hear the carriage!" And with a rapid step he walked on, +leaving Marian de Vaux not a little confounded by all that had passed, +and entirely misconstruing the few abrupt and unsatisfactory sentences +which her uncle had pronounced.</p> + +<p class="normal">She heard his step sound along the passage, down the stairs, and +through the hall; listened to his voice giving some directions to his +servant, and then to the closing of the carriage-door, and the grating +roll of the wheels over the gravel before the house. Then mentally +exclaiming, "This is all very strange, and very unfortunate!" she went +on towards the breakfast-room, into which a servant had just carried +the urn, without closing the door behind him. The sound of her cousin +Isadore's voice, speaking gayly with Colonel Manners, issued forth as +she approached; but Marian de Vaux was agitated and alarmed; and +feeling that she must have time to think over her uncle's words, and +to compose her mind, ere she mingled with any society, she turned to +the music-room, and had entered it before she was aware that any one +was there.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.5" href="#div1Ref_01.5">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It was a beautiful idea of Plato, and not at all an unchristian idea, +that the sins which people have committed during life, and which in +this case were termed <i>manes</i>, had an existence after death, and were +the instruments for punishing those who had committed them--the worm +that dieth not, and the fire that cannot be quenched. But had Plato +seen into the bosom of Lord Dewry, he would have perceived that his +theory might be carried a little further; and that the sins and +passions do not wait till we are dead in order to torment their +authors, but punish them even in this world, not alone in their +consequences, but by their very existence. After having laboured +<i>manibus pedibusque</i> to render every member of his sister's household +as uncomfortable as possible, the noble lord sunk back in his +carriage, with his frame exhausted and his whole heart on fire +with that flaming up of painful memories and violent passions +which the occurrences we have related had excited. Unfortunately, +however, it happens in the wonderful arrangement of this our earthly +dwelling-place, that here our evil qualities not only torment +ourselves, but others also; and the noble lord might have consoled +himself with the certainty that he had, for the time at least, +destroyed much tranquillity, and turned joy into bitterness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of all who suffered on the occasion, Marian de Vaux perhaps suffered +most. Mrs. Falkland, for her part, had been very much offended, but +she respected her brother too little to permit his ill temper or +rudeness to produce any lasting effect upon her. Edward de Vaux +believed that his father's present mood would not be long ere it +yielded to circumstances; and Colonel Manners, though of course +considerably annoyed by what had taken place between Lord Dewry and +himself, was not aware of what had passed afterward; and consequently +did not enter, as he would otherwise have done most feelingly, into +the uncomforts of Mrs. Falkland and his friend De Vaux. But with +Marian the matter was different. She knew nothing of all the +occurrences of the morning: she had seen her uncle retire on the +preceding night, apparently dropping his dispute with Colonel Manners; +and she never, for a moment, connected his extraordinary conduct of +that day with the disagreement of the preceding evening.</p> + +<p class="normal">In almost all cases of apprehension and uncertainty, the human mind +has a natural tendency to connect the occurrence of the moment, +whatever it may be, with the principal object of our wishes and our +feelings at the time. It matters not whether the two things be as +distinct and distant as the sun is from the moon; association in an +instant spins a thousand gossamer threads between them, forming a +glistening sort of spider-like bridge, scarcely discernible to other +people's eyes, but fully strong enough for fancy to run backwards and +forwards upon for ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, then, was it with poor Marian de Vaux. It had been settled that +her marriage with her cousin was to take place on the day she became +of age--that is to say, in about three weeks. Now, whether she was +pleased with the arrangement or not, we do not at all intend to say; +but she had made up her mind to it completely; and the first thing +that Lord Dewry's broken sentences suggested to her mind was, that +some difficulty had occurred in regard to her union with Edward, and +that his father had withdrawn the consent he had been before so +willing to give.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Lord Dewry left her, she was as pale as death; and though before +she reached the breakfast-room the colour had come back into her +cheek, yet all her former ideas were so completely scattered to the +four winds of heaven, that she felt it would be absolutely necessary +to think what her own conduct, under such circumstances, ought to be, +before she met any of the party; and especially before she met her +cousin Edward, as towards him, of course, the regulation of her +behaviour was most important. She turned, then, as we have before +said, to the music-room, and entering it ere she perceived that any +one was in it, found herself there alone with no other than Edward de +Vaux.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whether he had gone there purposely or accidentally--from a habit +which some people have, of returning to take a look at places where +they have spent happy moments, or from a sort of presentiment that he +might find Marian there, we have no means of judging; but on her part +the meeting certainly was unexpected, and being such, it would hardly +be fair to look narrowly into her manner of receiving her lover's +first salutation, which salutation was sufficiently warm.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as she recollected herself, however, she turned at once to the +subject of her thoughts. "But, Edward," she said, "this is a most +unfortunate occurrence--in regard to your father, I mean."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most unfortunate, indeed!" replied De Vaux, looking grave +immediately.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But tell me what it is all about, Edward," rejoined his cousin. "I do +not understand your father's conduct. Do explain it to me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not understand it either, my dear Marian," answered De Vaux; +"his conduct is quite inexplicable."</p> + +<p class="normal">The tears would fain have run away over Marian de Vaux's cheeks; but +she shut the gates in time, and only one straggler made its escape +into the court of her eyes, unable to get farther. Her cousin did not +see one-half of what was going on in the fair tabernacle of her bosom; +but he saw that she was much distressed, and endeavoured to sooth her +with the same assurances wherewith he made his own mind easy in regard +to his father's conduct. "Nay, nay, dearest Marian!" he said, "do not +distress yourself about this business, unfortunate as it is. The +principal part of my father's present heat in the affair will pass +away, for a great share is mere passion. I cannot however flatter +myself into believing that his dislike will ever entirely subside, +because, as you know, he is not a man who changes easily in such +matters; but all his violence and his threatenings will die away and +end in nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian, who had now recovered from her first emotion, paused, and +looked pensively upon the ground; but while her bosom seemed as calm +as monumental marble, there was a sad struggle going on within. +"Edward!" said she, at length, "we cannot tell what may be your +father's ultimate conduct; but, indeed, I think, that while his +present objection--or, as you call it, dislike--continues, we ought +certainly to delay our marriage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God, Marian!" exclaimed Edward de Vaux, in utter astonishment: +"in the name of heaven, my beloved, what has my father's dislike to +Colonel Manners to do with our union?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"His dislike to Colonel Manners!" said Marian, blushing a good deal as +she began to perceive her mistake, and comprehended at a glance that +the clearing up of the matter might make an <i>exposé</i> of her inmost +thoughts that for reasons of her own she did not desire. "His dislike +to Colonel Manners! Oh, is that all! His words and conduct towards me +just now, made me think that his dislike was to me, Edward, and to our +union."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And did the thought give you so much pain, Marian?" said De Vaux, +somewhat anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Marian de Vaux had by this time completely mastered her agitation, +and she answered in her usual quiet sweet tone: "Of course it gave me +great pain, Edward, to think that I had lost my uncle's regard, and +great pain to think that the consequences might pain you. But tell me, +was it really nothing more than his dispute with Colonel Manners which +made your father's conduct so very strange?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing more, I can assure you," answered her lover; "but you know +that my father, when he bursts forth into one of these fits of +passion, is like Don Quixote at the puppet-show, and deals his blows +to the right and left upon all things, whether they have offended him +or not."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, hush, Edward!" cried Marian, "he is your father, remember."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux coloured slightly, and indeed he had not got to the end of his +speech ere he had found that he had better have left it unsaid; for, +notwithstanding his general fastidiousness, and a certain degree of +bitter that mingled with his views of other people, he had too much +taste to find any pleasure in pointing out the faults or follies of +his near relations. He might feel them a little too sensitively, it is +true; but he seldom made them the subject of his conversation; and he +was now vexed, both that he had done so at all, and that Marian had +been the person to whom he had done it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, Edward de Vaux was a little out of humour with himself, and, as +a matter of course, he soon found cause to be dissatisfied with +others; for the human mind--to which nothing is so burdensome as +self-reproach of any kind--is always glad to cast a part of its load +upon the shoulders of other people. The first thing, then, that, upon +reflecting rapidly over the moments just passed, Edward de Vaux found +to be discontented with, was the manner in which Marian had spoken of +delaying their union; and once having started this idea, he hunted it +up and down through all the chambers and passages of his mind, like a +boy after a mouse. "Their marriage seemed to her a matter of great +indifference," he thought; and then he went onto persuade himself that +her love for him was of a very calm and tranquil character compared +with his for her. Indeed, it seemed little more than indifference, he +fancied, or at best <i>sisterly affection</i>; and at the very thought of +such a thing as <i>sisterly affection</i>, the spirit of Edward de Vaux +sprang up as if a serpent had crossed his path, although his person +remained perfectly calm, with his arm resting on the harpsichord, and +his fingers twisting some of the strings of the harp. One of the +strings breaking, with a sharp twang, called the spirit suddenly back +again; and he found himself standing abstractedly before his fair +cousin; while she looked upon him with a smile, which seemed to say, +"I could triumph, if I would! but it is not in my nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, Edward de Vaux, though he read the smile, and read it aright, +which is not always done in that difficult language of which it was +one of the hieroglyphics, was all the more puzzled when he had done. +But the fact is, that women's eyes, in matters of love, seem to be not +eyes but microscopes; and Marian had traced the whole fine progress of +Edward's thoughts and feelings, through every turning and winding, as +accurately as if he had laid them all open before her with his own +free will. Then, connecting the result with some foregone conclusions +in her own mind, the combination produced a smile, being, as we before +said, the equivalent sign, in the language mentioned, of the words, "I +could triumph, if I would! but it is not in my nature." There was, +however, a little mental reservation, perhaps, in regard to the +triumph, inasmuch as she reserved unto herself entire right and +privilege of triumphing hereafter, in case she should find it +necessary and expedient to do so.</p> + +<p class="normal">The time occupied in reading the smile, together with the beauty of +the smile itself, and the exceeding loveliness of the lips on which it +rested, all tended to get the better of the demon in the heart of De +Vaux, and to make him feel, that as he loved her beyond anything on +earth, he must try to content himself with obtaining her upon her own +terms. Having come to this conclusion, it was natural enough that he +should seek to linger out the time with her alone; but Marian felt +that if she did stay at that moment, she might be obliged to triumph +in the way she wished not to do, or to explain her smile without +triumphing at all, which was still more disagreeable. She therefore +determined to retreat to the breakfast-room, in which she was sure of +finding allies; and which--as her apprehensions in regard to Lord +Dewry's disapprobation, and the consequent emotion, had now been +dissipated--she was no longer afraid of entering.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux would fain have detained her, pleading that he had had no +opportunity of conversing with her alone since his return, and urging +all those little arguments which we leave to imagination. Marian, +however, resisted with fortitude; and her lover, forced to content +himself with a promise to take a long ramble with him after breakfast, +as they had done in the days of their early youth, led her to the +breakfast-room, where they found the rest of the party assembled, and +conversing with as much ease and cheerfulness as if nothing had +occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the morning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Edward," said Mrs. Falkland, "your father would not stay +longer; and I forbore to press him," she added, with a little +pardonable hypocrisy, "as I know that he has a good deal of business +on his hands; and when he is determined on any point, it is vain to +try to move him." As she spoke, she looked for an instant towards +Colonel Manners, to give more meaning to her words in her nephew's +ears than the words themselves imported.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I saw my father myself, my dear aunt," replied De Vaux: "he was with +me in my room for half an hour, and explained the necessity of his +departure."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners could have smiled; but he thought it best to follow +the lead that had been given, and to appear ignorant of anything else +having taken place, though, of course, he felt internally convinced +that his unfortunate dispute with De Vaux's father had been the cause +of that nobleman's sudden and abrupt departure. "I think your father +mentioned last night," he said, in pursuance of this plan, "that he +was going to Dimden, did he not, De Vaux? Does it belong to your +family?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It always has done so," replied his friend: "it is here, very +near--but a few miles off; but it is not kept up as I think it should +be. My father always resides at the other house; and seems to have so +strong an aversion to Dimden, that, not contented with not living +there, he lets it fall somewhat to decay."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must make you take me there some morning," answered Colonel +Manners; "I have heard that it contains a fine collection of +pictures."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fine, I believe, but small," answered De Vaux, delighted to fancy +that his friend had totally forgotten the dispute of the night before, +and was ignorant of any fresh discomfort which had been produced by +that morning; "fine, I believe, but small--but I do not understand +anything about pictures."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, Edward, do not say that," exclaimed Miss Falkland. "Do you +not love everything that is beautiful and fine in nature? have you not +an eye to mark every shade and every line that is worth looking at in +a landscape? and do you call that not understanding pictures? I have +seen you and Marian find out a thousand beautiful little tints and +touches, and lights and shades, in a view that I had generalized most +vulgarly."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners and Mrs. Falkland smiled; and perhaps both might have +said, had they spoken their thoughts, "It was because your two cousins +were in love, fair lady, and you were not!" They left the matter +unexplained, however, contenting themselves with thinking that Isadore +might, some time, learn the secret of finding out new beauties in a +view; and De Vaux answered in his own style, "Still, Isadore, I know +nothing about pictures, depend upon it. I cannot talk of <i>breadth</i>, +and <i>handling</i> and <i>chiar' oscuro</i>, and <i>juice</i>, and <i>ordonnance</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Except when you mean a park of artillery, De Vaux," said Colonel +Manners; "but, if I understand you rightly, you can see and feel the +beauties of a picture as well as any one, though you cannot talk the +jargon of a connoisseur about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps that is what I do mean," answered his friend; "but I believe +the truth is, Manners, that you and I are both far behind in the +elegant charlatanism of dilettanteship. Why, I have heard a man go on +by the hour with the <i>copia fandi</i> of a Cicero about a picture, the +beauties of which he no more understood than the frame in which it was +placed. These men's minds are like a yard measure, a thing on which a +multitude of figures are written down, without the slightest use till +they are properly applied by some one else. When I am seeing anything +fine, heaven deliver me from the proximity of a walking dictionary of +technical terms!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are very useful things in their way, Edward," answered Isadore; +"and only think, if these men can be so eloquent about things that +they do not feel, solely upon the strength of their jargon, how much +more eloquent you, who do feel them, would be, if you had the jargon +too."</p> + +<p class="normal">She spoke jestingly; but De Vaux, whose spleen had been somewhat +excited, answered quickly, "I do not know, Isadore--I do not know. I +very often think that a great acquaintance with the jargon of art +tends to destroy the feeling for it. I have heard of a great critic, +who, on viewing the Apollo of Belvidere, declared that had the lip +been a hair's breadth longer, the god would have been lost. This was +all very connoisseurish and very true, no doubt; but, depend upon it, +that man felt the beauties of the immortal statue a thousand times +more, whose only exclamation on seeing it was, 'Good God!' I would +rather have the fresh feelings of even ignorance itself than the +tutored and mechanical taste that measures the cheek-bones of a Venus, +gauges the depth of colour in a Claude, or feels the edges of a book +instead of looking into the inside."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but consider, Edward," said Marian, who since she entered the +room had been sitting silent at the breakfast-table, "it surely does +not follow that because we understand a thing well, we lose our first +and natural taste for it. If I could paint like Claude or Poussin, I +surely should not take less pleasure in a beautiful landscape."</p> + +<p class="normal">"NO, Marian," exclaimed Miss Falkland, well knowing that De Vaux would +not support his sarcasms very vigorously against his cousin, "no; but, +depend upon it, no one who could paint like Claude or Poussin would +talk like a connoisseur."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps," said Colonel Manners, "knowledge of all kinds may be like +the fabled cup, whose influence entirely depended upon those who drank +from it--to some it was death, to others immortal life; wisdom to +some, and foolishness to others. And thus I should think a great +acquaintance with any art, in some instances--where the taste was good +and the mind was strong--would refine the taste and give humility to +the mind, by showing what an unfathomable mine of undiscovered things +every study presents; while in other cases--where the taste was null +and the mind weak--the result would be the vanity of ill-digested +knowledge, and an idle gabble of unmeaning terms."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how often would the latter be the case when compared with the +former?" said De Vaux. "Answer me, my dear colonel."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid, indeed, nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a +thousand," replied Colonel Manners: "and what, I must confess, is +worse still, the proportion of those who would bow to the vanity of +ill-digested knowledge, and give implicit credit to the gabble of +unmeaning terms, would be still greater; while taste, and genius, and +mind would be forced to content themselves with the poor thousandth +part of those whom they addressed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then how is it, Colonel Manners," said Marian, "that we are told that +what is really good has always ultimate success, notwithstanding this +terrific array of folly against it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because truth is permanent in its very essence; and falsehood--of +every kind, as well false tastes as false statements--is evanescent," +replied Colonel Manners. "Such is, I suppose, the broad reason; but, +to examine it more curiously, we shall find the progress of the thing +somewhat amusing: for even the ultimate establishment of truth and +wisdom is, in a great measure, owing to the voice of the false and +foolish. Here is a fine picture or a fine statue, of that chaste but +not attractive kind which ensures the admiration of those who can feel +beauty, but does not win the attention of the crowd. A man without +taste sees a man of taste gazing at it; hears him praise its beauties; +and, as there is nothing so servile or so vain as folly, instantly +affects to perceive the beauties which he never saw, and goes forth +to trumpet them as things of his own discovery. Others come to see, +and, as one fool will never be outdone by another, each sings its +praises in the same vociferous tone, each gains his little stock of +self-complacency from praising what others praise, and the reputation +of the thing is established."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unless," said De Vaux, "one of the learned fools we were talking +of should step in; and as his vanity is always of the pugnacious +kind--the vanity that will lead, instead of being led--he of course +condemns what others have been praising; declares that the statue has +no contour--that the picture wants breadth, force, chiar' oscuro. All +the others cry out that it is evident it does so; wonder they could +have admired it; and poor patient merit is kicked back into the +shade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But still, the same process takes place again," rejoined Colonel +Manners. "The learned fool and his generation die off; but still, the +merit of the thing remains till some one again rescues it from +oblivion, and its reputation is finally established."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed, now, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland, "I think that you +have admitted Marian's maxim with too little limitation. That what is +really good may always have ultimate success, is true, undoubtedly, +when spoken of transcendent merit or of superexcellent qualities; but +this transcendent merit only appears once, perhaps, in a century; +and the world shows that, in the great mass of worldly things, the +every-day virtues, the every-day exertions, the every-day characters +which surround us in this busy existence, virtue and merit are not +always ultimately successful. The religious, the political, the +scientific charlatan often carries all before him; while the man of +modest talent and unassuming virtue plods on his way unnoticed, and +dies forgotten. So much, indeed, is this the case, that do not we +daily see that many a shrewd man of real talent feels obliged to mix a +little charlatanism with his other qualities for the sake of ensuring +success? If Marian had said that things which are intrinsically +immortal--which have in themselves inherent permanence--must have +ultimate success when they are really good, and condemnation when +they are bad, I would have granted it at once; but in all lesser +things--and the world is made up of them--I sincerely believe that +success depends upon accident or impudence."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners smiled, and abandoned, or at least modified, his +theory, admitting that Mrs. Falkland was right; for he was one of +those men who, having generally reason on their side, can be candid +without fear. But there was also something more than this in his +candour: it sprung from his heart--it was a part of his character; and +though it may seem unnatural to the greater part of mankind, it is no +less a fact, that he was so great a lover of truth that, when once he +was convinced, he never dreamed of contending against his conviction. +He therefore gave up the position, that merit would always be +ultimately successful, limiting it according to Mrs. Falkland's +showing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore added, that she thought it must be so, and would be sorry to +believe it otherwise, as the occasional separation of virtue and +success in this world afforded to her mind one of the strongest +corroborative assurances of a future state. De Vaux laughed at her, +and called her a little philosopher, and the conversation branched off +to other things.</p> + +<p class="normal">Breakfast is a meal at which one loves to linger. The daylight and the +wide world have all, more or less, an idea of labour attached to them; +and though that labour be of the lightest kind, there is still a +feeling in going forth after breakfast that we are about to take our +share of the original curse; which feeling inclines man naturally to +linger over the tea and coffee, and saunter to the window, or look +into the fire, or play with the knife and fork for a few minutes more +than is positively required. What between one oral occupation or +another, then, the party at Mrs. Falkland's breakfast-table contrived +to pass an hour very pleasantly. Colonel Manners, when all had risen, +bestowed five minutes more upon the long window--while Isadore and her +mother, De Vaux and Marian, held separate councils on the future +proceedings of the day--and then retired to his own room, to write a +note of business to some of his people in London. He had not long been +gone when the fat and venerable servant, whom we have called Peter, +entered the room, bearing a note, which, with much respectful +ceremony, he delivered over to the hands of Miss De Vaux. Marian +turned a little red and a little pale; and, had a jealous husband seen +her receive that billet, he might have begun to suspect one whose +every thought was pure; but the truth was, that poor Marian had +instantly recognised her uncle's hand; and as her last ideas in +respect to him had not been very pleasant, she was afraid that the new +ones about to be called up by his note might be still more +disagreeable. Without pausing to examine the scrawl upon the back, +which implied her name, she broke the seal, and read. As she did so, a +gentle smile and a softer suffusion stole over her face; but then she +became more grave, then looked vexed, and then handed the paper to +Mrs. Falkland, saying, "Do read it, my dear aunt; my uncle is both +very kind and very unkind; but, indeed, it concerns you and Edward a +great deal more than it does me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland took the letter and read it, the substance of which was +to the following effect:--In the first place, the noble lord began by +expressing more affection for Marian de Vaux than he had ever been +known to express for man, woman, or child before in his existence. He +next went on to say, that there was nothing on earth which had ever +given him so much pleasure as the prospect of his son's marriage with +her on whom he had been showering such praises: it was the solacing +idea of his old age, he said, and the compensating joy for many a past +sorrow. He then declared that he had hoped to be much with Edward and +Marian during the days that were to intervene ere their marriage could +be celebrated, and to have witnessed the ceremony as the most joyful +and satisfactory one that he could ever behold; and next came the real +object and substance-matter of the whole; for he concluded by +expressing his bitter disappointment at not being able to do so, from +the circumstance of a man who had so grossly insulted him as Colonel +Manners had done, continuing in his sister's house, as her honoured +guest and his son's bosom friend. Marian would understand, he said, +that it was impossible for him to present himself again at +Morley-house while Colonel Manners was there, without loss of dignity +and honour; but he nevertheless besought her to let every thing +proceed as if he were present; and he added a desire to see her as +soon after her marriage as possible.</p> + +<p class="normal">While Mrs. Falkland, and then Edward de Vaux, read the letter in turn, +Marian kept her eyes fixed on the ground. The fact is, however, that +there was much in her uncle's letter to pain her, as well as to +gratify her; and she would even willingly have sacrificed the +gratifying part, if by so doing she could have done away the painful. +It was very unpleasant, in the first place, to be pressed by +assurances of affection and kindness to commit a gross injustice for +the gratification of the person expressing that affection; and it was +not a little disagreeable to think of her marriage to Lord Dewry's son +taking place without his father's presence and countenance. Women of +the finest minds and the justest feelings will think of what the world +will say; and God forbid they ever should not. Marian de Vaux, +therefore, thought of what the world would say, in regard to Lord +Dewry being absent from her wedding; and she could not help feeling +that the comments of all her kind acquaintances would be painful, +both to her pride and her delicacy. All this was passing in her mind, +while her eyes were busy with a pair of nondescripts on the damask +table-cloth: but let it be clearly understood, that she never did +Colonel Manners the wrong to wish that he should go, on account of any +pain that she herself might suffer. She wished, indeed, that her uncle +would be more just, more placable, more generous; but she felt clearly +where the fault lay, and she never turned her eyes in the other +direction. Mrs. Falkland appreciated Marian's feelings in almost all +cases; but at present she estimated to the full all that would be +distressing to her niece in the conduct of her brother, and thought, +perhaps, that Marian might be more affected by it than she really +was. "My dear Marian," she said, "this is very disagreeable for us +all, and must be very painful to you, my sweet girl, in particular. +Nevertheless we must do justice to ourselves. Were it any thing like a +sacrifice of mere pleasure, we might and would willingly do a great +deal to satisfy your uncle, and remove the unpleasant load he casts +upon us; but this is a matter of right and wrong, in which he is +decidedly in the wrong; and to yield to him would not only be +dishonourable to ourselves, but seems to me quite impossible. The +demeanour of Colonel Manners to me and mine has been every thing +that I could desire, and is in every respect accordant with his +well-established character, as a most gallant soldier and accomplished +gentleman; and I can neither suffer the whims nor the ill-temper of +any person, however near the relationship, to alter my conduct in such +a case. What do you say, Edward?</p> + +<p class="normal">"I agree with you entirely, my dear aunt," he replied, "and so I told +my father this morning. Holding Manners, as I do, to be most nobly in +the right, I cannot suffer either my opinion of him, or my behaviour +towards him, to be changed by the sudden dislike of even my parent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And let me say, Edward, a most capricious and Lord Dewry-ish dislike +it is--though he be your father and my uncle," added Miss Falkland. +"What can he find to dislike in Colonel Manners? He is not beautiful, +it is true: but he saved your life at the risk of his own; he nursed +you in sickness; he was your companion in danger, and your friend at +all times; so that if any one loved him, it should be your father. +Besides, could any one have made himself more agreeable than he has +done since he has been here? What pretence does Lord Dewry think mamma +could have for turning such a man out of her house, when she had so +lately invited him in the most pressing terms?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, of course, that is quite out of the question," said Mrs. +Falkland, smiling at her fair daughter's enthusiasm; "though I cannot +help thinking, Edward, that your father's design, in that letter, was +to make us do so, by rendering the contrary so disagreeable to us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it were so, he will alter his behaviour," replied De Vaux, "when +he finds that we cannot follow such a course; and I am sure you think +with me, my dear aunt, that the only plan we can pursue is, to do as +he bids us in his note, and proceed as if he were present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most certainly," replied Mrs. Falkland: "do you not think so too, +Marian?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh yes, Marian does," cried Isadore Falkland; "I am sure she does."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid we must do so," answered Marian, smiling somewhat sadly; +"but, at all events, my dear aunt, I had better write to my uncle, and +I will try to persuade him to change his determination."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do so, my dear girl," replied her aunt; "though I am afraid you will +find it in vain."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian sat down and wrote, and put as much gentle sweetness into her +note as would have gone far to soften any other man upon earth. She +said not a word in regard to Colonel Manners, his quarrel with her +uncle, or her own feelings on the subject: but she expressed to Lord +Dewry how deeply gratified she was by his tenderness and affection; +how ardently she hoped to retain it when she should become the wife of +his son. She then went on to tell him, in language that came rushing +from her heart, how bitterly painful it would be to her, if he +continued the same determination of not being present at her marriage; +and she entreated, with persuasions that none but woman could have +written, that he would yield his resolution in this respect. In the +whole course of her letter--though it was as artless as any collection +of words that ever was penned--there was not one syllable that could +offend the pride, or the vanity, or the feelings of her uncle--not one +that could afford anger or irritation the least footing to rest upon. +Had it been calculated upon the most experienced view of all the +follies and passions of human nature, it could not have been better +constructed; and yet, as we have said, it was as artless a composition +as ever was penned: but the secret was, that it came from a fine, a +gentle, and a sensitive mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now, while she folds, seals, and addresses it, with neat and +careful hand, and gives it to the servant to be sent off immediately, +we shall take the liberty of turning to another part of the subject, +and treating of the person whose presence was the point of difficulty.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.6" href="#div1Ref_01.6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When Lord Dewry quitted Colonel Manners at the end of the +flower-garden, as we have shown in a preceding chapter, the gallant +soldier had turned back towards the house, but with steps much less +rapid than those of the peer, from the simple fact of no violent +passion moving in his breast. In truth, it would seem, after all, that +man, notwithstanding his great pretensions, his reasonings about his +own existence, and his conceit in his painted jacket, is not at all +unlike one of those figures that children buy at fairs, with his arms +and legs, and even his head, hung on by wires; and with the passions +to pull the string at the back, not only without his volition, but +often against his will. Wrath pulls, and he kicks; revenge pulls, and +he strikes; jealousy pulls, and he writhes; fear pulls, and he runs; +love pulls, and he dances; and, as no one of these passions was behind +Colonel Manners at the time, he had walked on slowly and deliberately +towards the house, sometimes turning to look at the landscape, +sometimes trifling with a flower, but doing neither one nor the other, +perhaps, quite so often as when he set out that day upon his morning's +walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">Still, it is not to be supposed that, though no very violent affection +of the mind followed Lord Dewry's departure, Colonel Manners remained +perfectly indifferent to what had occurred: on the contrary, it threw +him into a fit of musing, if not of deep thought, and produced +reflections which ended in resolutions, such as Colonel Manners might +be expected to form. At the peer's wrath he laughed, and laughed at +his menaces equally, secure in that calm, self-confident courage, +which, not knowing what fear is, never dreams that it can be +attributed to us; but at the uncomfort that his dispute with De Vaux's +father might and would produce in the family he had come to visit, +Colonel Manners did not laugh. He had assented on the preceding night, +in words which, with him, amounted to a promise, to forget the baron's +rudeness, and not to suffer it to abridge his stay; but, at present, +new provocation had been given, and he had every reason to believe +that his visit could not be prolonged to the period he had at first +proposed, without material uncomfort to the family at Morley House, +however strongly their kindness or their politeness might urge his +stay.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doubtless," thought Colonel Manners,--for we must put his +private cogitations into the form of that necessary folly, a +soliloquy,--"doubtless, the worthy peer will not go and expose himself +so much to his own family, as to tell them what has occurred between +us this morning; but equally, without doubt, he will contrive, by his +demeanour towards me, to render the house, not only very unpleasant to +me, but also to all its occupants; and, therefore, as this is a field +where honour is neither to be gained nor supported, I must even beat a +retreat. Yet De Vaux will, I know, feel very much mortified, if he +fancies that his father is the cause of my departure; and therefore I +suppose that the best plan be, to wait a day or two, and then, with +the first letters that arrive,--and I must receive some soon, to plead +important business, and set out. I suppose I must bear with this +ill-tempered old gentleman's behaviour as best I may for eight and +forty hours, though I am afraid it will be a struggle to avoid +retorting a little of his bitterness upon himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such had been the substance of Colonel Manners' thoughts upon this +subject, as he walked back, and such the determination he formed; but +as he did form them, there was something like a sigh escaped from his +bosom. The reception he had met with from Mrs. Falkland and her +family, on his first arrival, had been so warm and kind, that all the +best feelings of his heart had been enlisted on their side. He had +completely made up his mind to spend a happy three weeks with people +who seemed, in every respect, so amiable; and although he felt that it +might be a little dangerous,--by making him feel more acutely, from +comparison, the want of domestic ties and comforts,--although he felt +it might be a little dangerous, yet he had experienced a pleasure at +the idea of thus dwelling, even for a short space, in the midst of a +true old English family, that made him bitterly regret the necessity +of foregoing what he had set his heart upon. As he thought of going +forth again alone, it seemed as if it were the voice of fate that +forbade him to expose himself to the sight of feelings and enjoyments +that he was never to know personally, and sent him back imperiously to +the solitary state of existence which was to be his portion; and +although Colonel Manners was accustomed to the contemplation, and had +nerved his mind, not only to bear the uncomforts of his lot, but to +resist every thought that would teach him to repine, yet there were +times--and this was one--when he could not but feel the chill wind of +solitude blow from the dreary prospect of the future, and blight even +the enjoyment of the present. A dissertation on the moral and physical +nature of man might be given to prove to a demonstration, that +domestic ties are a necessity of his existence: and let any man gaze +forward into future years, and fancy that some cold barrier is placed +between him and domestic affection; that no kindred eye is to brighten +at his presence, no affectionate lip smile at his happiness, no tear +of sympathy to wash away one half of his griefs, no cheerful voice to +dispel the thoughts of care, no assiduous hand to smooth the pillow of +sickness, and close the eye of death,--let him picture his being +solitary, his joys unshared, his sorrows undivided, his misfortunes +unaided but by general compassion, his sickness tended by the slow +hand of mercenaries, and his eyes closed, while the light has scarce +departed, by the rude touch of some weary and indifferent menial,--let +him fancy all this, and then he will feel, indeed, that domestic ties +are a necessity of our existence; at least, if he be not either drunk +with licentious passions, or a mere calculating machine.</p> + +<p class="normal">We do not mean to say that all these ideas, or any one of them, +presented themselves to the mind of Colonel Manners. Far be it from us +to insinuate that he was foolish enough to give a vivid form and +painful minuteness to the evils of a state that he believed he could +not avoid. He struggled even against the general impression; but, as +we have said, there were moments in his life--and this was one--when, +notwithstanding reason and resolution, he would feel bitterly that it +is sad and sorrowful to pass through life alone, to spend one's days +in solitude, and to go down into the grave without a tie. The +impression was so strongly raised, and clung so firmly to his mind, at +the moment we speak of, that he took a turn of a hundred yards back +upon the walk, to give the thoughts full range. Then remembering +himself, he broke out into an involuntary exclamation of, "This is +folly!" and turned quickly back to the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the breakfast-room he found Miss Falkland alone, and was not sorry +so to find her; for there was in her conversation a pleasant and +good-humoured sparkling, a frank and fearless liveliness, which amused +and interested him. Besides, Colonel Manners was by no means a man to +object to the society of a very beautiful girl: on that score he was +quite fearless; for he had so guarded his heart by rampart, and +bastion, and half-moon, that he feared no attack, either by siege or +storm. The thing that he feared was, the sight of a state of happiness +which he coveted, but did not hope for; and therefore he could enjoy +the gay conversation and pleasing presence of Isadore Falkland without +alloy, though he might apprehend that a lengthened stay, in the midst +of a cheerful family circle, might deepen his regret at his own +loneliness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, although the house of Mrs. Falkland, like most other houses of +its date, had a certain ramblingness of construction, midway between +the Gothic of Henry the Seventh's and the anomalous architecture of +the nineteenth century, yet the rooms were sufficiently proximate to +allow Colonel Manners to hear every now and then, as the servant +opened and shut the door of the breakfast-room, the voice of Lord +Dewry, in tones more sharp than was becoming. Nor was he slack in +attributing the acerbity of the sounds he heard to their right cause; +so that, as we have before shown, when Mrs. Falkland and her nephew +spoke of the departure of the noble lord as a thing that had taken +place in the ordinary course of affairs, Manners had very nearly +smiled.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, having taken his determination in regard to his proceedings, +and, seeing no better plan that he could pursue, he suffered the +matter to pass quietly, well knowing that real delicacy never makes a +noise. To say the truth, he was not at all sorry to find that Lord +Dewry had taken his departure; for he had every inclination to make +himself both comfortable and agreeable while he did stay, neither of +which objects are very attainable in the same house with a man who +wants to fight a duel with you. After breakfast, as Manners was too +much of a general to leave any thing to chance, he retired to his own +apartments, in order to write such letters to London as would ensure +immediate replies of the kind that would afford him a fair excuse for +breaking through his engagement with De Vaux, without rendering the +matter painful to his friend by any direct reference to his father; +and, when this was accomplished, he returned to the rest of the party, +whom he found in the act of seeing the footman leave the room with +Marian's note to her uncle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We propose to take a walk, Manners," said De Vaux, as he entered; "I +must show you the beauties of our county; and I think we will go upon +the path which leads across the hill, and brings us through the wood +to within a few hundred yards of the spot where we saw the gipsies. We +call it Marian's Walk, as she might always be found there when we were +but little boys and girls."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It might have been called Edward's Walk as well, then," answered +Isadore, gayly; "for I am sure she was never there without you, +Edward. At all events, if you did not go with her, you were not long +before you found her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And can Miss de Vaux venture on so long a walk?" asked Colonel +Manners, "in the present day, when the extent of a lady's morning +promenade is twice round the room and once round the garden--when +shoemakers stare, I am told, at the name of walking shoes, and declare +that they never heard of such things?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian smiled. "You are severe upon us, Colonel Manners," she said; +"but this walk is not so far either--though it is a little steep."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seemed to me nearly six miles," replied Colonel Manners; "six +miles, at least, from this spot to the place De Vaux mentions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that was because you came by the road," replied Isadore: "if you +had come over the hill, you would have shortened the way by one +half--but I forgot; you would have met with some accident also, as it +was dark, and you were on horseback. It is not much more than two +miles to the place where the path again joins the high-road after +passing through Morley wood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you find it so short, I trust you are to be of the party, Miss +Falkland," said Colonel Manners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, most certainly," she replied. "It was all very well for Edward +and Marian to wander through the woods together when they were boys +and girls; but now propriety, you know, Colonel Manners, requires a +sedate and aged chaperon; and besides, I could not leave the party of +such an odd and unfortunate number as three: I should be afraid of +some accident happening to you by the way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But three is a fortunate number, my gay cousin," replied De Vaux, +smiling, "not an unfortunate one, by every rule of cabalistic +science."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In figures, but not in love, Edward," answered his cousin, with a gay +laugh. "At least, I have read as much in your face, more than once, +when I happened to be the unfortunate third--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, hush, Isadore," cried Marian. "Come, let us dress ourselves to +go;" and taking her cousin's arm, she hurried her away. Now Marian de +Vaux, who knew her cousin well, was quite sure that Isadore would not +push her raillery of her lover one step too far; but still she was not +sorry to break off Isadore's discourse; for love is one of those +things that people may talk about a great deal when they feel it not, +but which they bury deep in the heart's innermost tabernacle as soon +as they know its value, and, like misers, tremble even when their +treasure is named.</p> + +<p class="normal">Every one was soon ready to set out; and strolling through the garden +separately, they proceeded to what was called the little gate, which +gave them exit upon the road of which they were in search. By +separately, I mean that neither of the gentlemen offered an arm to +their female companions so long as they were within rows of box-wood +bordering and upon gravel walks. There would have been something +ridiculous in it; although, perhaps, the quality of walking arm-in-arm +is to be looked upon as one of the peculiar privileges of humanity, +which as much distinguishes man from other animals, as any other +quality of his mind or body. He has been called, by those who strove +to define him, "a forked radish, fantastically cut," "a viviparous +biped, without feathers," "a cooking animal," and many another name. +But had they called him "the animal that walks arm-in-arm," +philosophers might have come nearer to his distinctive quality; for +not only is it a thing that no other animal does, but it also gives at +once the idea of many of the finer qualities of man's mind, and is, in +fact, a sort of living hieroglyphic of affection and sympathy, and +mutual assistance and support.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Colonel Manners and Edward de Vaux, looking upon the privilege of +walking arm-in-arm in its true light, might consider it with too much +reverence to enter upon it lightly, and therefore not offer to +exercise it towards their fair companions, till the steepness of the +way and the openness of the country seemed to render it necessary for +their convenience and protection. There might, indeed, be another +reason, which was, that in issuing forth from the house, a little +derangement in the natural order of things had taken place--some stray +glove, or wandering stick, or something of the kind, had been +forgotten, so as to throw out the order of the march; and Colonel +Manners found himself walking beside Marian de Vaux, while De Vaux was +at the elbow of his cousin Isadore. Colonel Manners, in agreeing to go +out upon this expedition, had perfectly well understood the part he +was held to play; and De Vaux had the most firm and implicit reliance +upon his friend's tact in the business; so that by a tacit convention +it was arranged between them, that the long ramble which Marian had +promised to take with her lover was to be as completely solitary and +agreeable as if they had not a friend or relation upon the face of the +earth. But the derangement which had taken place in the position of +the forces of course rendered a counter movement on the part of De +Vaux and his friend necessary; and yet, as the walk they followed was +narrow, and did not admit of the advance of more than two abreast, the +desired evolution could not be performed without rendering the object +unpleasantly obvious, till some little accident came to their aid. +Colonel Manners, however, had been out in the morning, as we have +already seen, to reconnoitre the ground; and as soon as he saw the +difficulty, he instantly laid out the plan of the evolutions, and +fixed upon the exact position, walking on still by the side of Marian +de Vaux, and talking of <i>les mouches qui volent</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">But to proceed. Colonel Manners and Marian reached the little gate +first, and unlocked it, and then Colonel Manners halted till Miss de +Vaux and Miss Falkland had passed. The two ladies immediately halted +on the bank of the little road facing the gate, with Marian on the +right hand and Isadore on the left. Colonel Manners then resigned the +command of the gate to Edward de Vaux; but, in marching out, while the +other locked the door and brought the key, Manners took up a position +upon the extreme left. De Vaux then advanced to the right of the line, +and, wheeling about, gave his arm to Marian; Colonel Manners offered +his to Miss Falkland, and led the way up the road to the left. This +detail is given as an exemplification of Manners' military skill,--a +quality which, unfortunately, we shall have no other opportunity of +displaying throughout this book. Nor was Isadore Falkland's knowledge +of strategy less marked, in taking up the position to the left, as it +entirely commanded the road up which they were about to proceed; and +as people in love in general walk a great deal slower than people not +in love, it was necessary that she and Colonel Manners should lead the +way, in order at once to give Edward and Marian de Vaux the protection +of their presence and the benefit of their absence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners and Miss Falkland did not lose much time in silence, +for they were both people who could talk very pleasantly; and, +whatever they might think in regard to themselves, they each felt that +it was so in regard to the other. They spoke of many things; and +Isadore's conversation, as she became better acquainted with her +companion, and discovered that there were stores of feeling and +kindness at his heart which would prevent him from laughing at her own +enthusiasms, poured forth more of the deeper stream of her character, +over which the rippling current of gay and sparkling jest that she +usually displayed, flowed as much to conceal the depth, as for any +other purpose. Besides, she was happy and young; and where was ever +the stream, however profound, that did not sparkle when the sun shone +full upon it?</p> + +<p class="normal">Their first topic, as perhaps might be expected, was De Vaux and +Marian; a topic which, under some circumstances, might have been +dangerous; but Manners and Miss Falkland felt themselves perfectly +secure. Still it was a delicate one: for however deep and true Colonel +Manners' friendship might be for De Vaux, and however warm and +enthusiastic might be the love of Isadore for her cousin Marian, there +were, of course, a thousand little circumstances and feelings, upon +which neither could enter, out of respect for the very friendship and +affection which they felt for the two lovers. Nevertheless, perhaps, +this very <i>retenue</i>, with the sort of faint and misty allusions which +they were obliged to make to their friends' love and their friends' +hopes and prospects, and the graceful circumlocutions and explicative +figures that it obliged them to seek, were not without charms in +themselves. Colonel Manners, for his part, felt very sure that, under +Marian de Vaux's calm and tranquil manners were very deep and powerful +feelings; but, at the same time, he wished--if consistently with +delicacy it were possible--to find out from Miss Falkland whether his +opinions were fully justified; and Isadore longed to know--with all a +woman's yearnings to prove to her own heart the substantial existence +of real, pure, permanent, unswerving love--whether her cousin had +retained, during his long absence, all that tender, devoted, undivided +attachment which he displayed towards Marian when present. Not at all +did she wish to know whether Edward de Vaux had made love to, or +flirted with, or talked sweet nonsense to any other woman. Do not let +it be misunderstood; she never suspected such a thing, nor would have +believed it had it been told her: but she would have given a great +deal to find out, whether in the bosom of her cousin, the one thought +of his affection had ever been paramount; whether the world, and +ambition, and other scenes, and absence, and danger, and excitement +had never banished the image of Marian from the bosom of Edward de +Vaux; and, in short, she would have willingly heard it proved, in his +instance, that love can exist in the bosom of man, under prolonged +absence and varying circumstances. In all this, she was as +disinterested as a woman ever can be in regard to an affair of love; +but, the truth is, no woman can be totally so. The whole of that +bright race are, in this respect, but a joint-stock company--to borrow +a figure from familiar things--and love is their capital, in which all +have an interest, and all a share.</p> + +<p class="normal">However, it will be easily conceived that, under these circumstances, +the conversation between Miss Falkland and Colonel Manners was as +nice, and delicate, and difficult an encounter of their wits as ever +was practised. Colonel Manners was soon satisfied; for, in answer to +some complimentary observation upon her cousin's manners and +appearance, which went to praise their tranquillity as well as their +elegance, Isadore answered frankly, and smiling as she did so, "Oh, +Marian is often more <i>commoto dentro</i> than you think." Miss Falkland's +researches, however, were less easily pursued, and they led her, like +a child hunting a butterfly, through a world of flowers. One time, she +would put her problem generally, and wonder whether any man ever did +feel, and continue to feel, as she wished to believe Edward had done +towards Marian; and then she would put it particularly, and say, that +she thought such an attachment as his must have been a wonderful +solace and delight to him; an inexhaustible fund of sweet feelings and +hope, throughout all that he had been obliged to endure. But still +Colonel Manners, who very clearly understood what she meant, hung back +a little in his explanations; pleased, in truth, to watch the feelings +that prompted her and the path she pursued; pleased with all the +graces that the subject called up in her countenance and her manner; +the beaming smile, the sparkling eye, and sometimes the sudden stop +and passing blush, when she became uncertain of the next step and +dared not advance.</p> + +<p class="normal">After he had amused himself a little, and saw that she might +misconstrue his backwardness into something disadvantageous to his +friend, he caught at the next sentence, and replied, "Yes, indeed, I +look upon De Vaux's attachment, and his engagement to your fair +cousin, before he went to America, as one of the greatest blessings +that could have happened to him; especially for a man whose heart was +calculated to make it his happiness and his safeguard, and his leading +star wherever he went."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore blushed warmly; and perhaps there was a little mingling of +emotions in her blush; for, in the first place, the full confirmation +of what she had wished and hoped, made her cheek glow; and, in the +next place, Colonel Manners' words were so exactly a reply to the +questions which had been lurking unspoken in her heart, that she +almost suspected he had seen deeper into her thoughts than she had +anticipated. A slight smile that followed upon his lip she considered +as excessively malicious; but she was one who never suffered wrath to +rankle in her bosom, but, in her way, revenged herself always on the +spot. "You speak so feelingly, Colonel Manners," said she, just +suffering a single ray of laughing light to gleam out of her fine dark +eyes; "you speak so feelingly, that I doubt not you have been guarded +and led in the same manner."</p> + +<p class="normal">Let it be clearly kept in mind, that Isadore Falkland had only known +Colonel Charles Manners fourteen hours and a half, or she would not +have said what she did for the world. It may be thought that the case +ought to have been quite the contrary, and that she might have +ventured more had she been more intimate. But such would be an +erroneous view of the matter. Isadore Falkland well knew that fourteen +hours and a half was not a sufficient space of time for any rational +man either to feel or to affect love for the most enchanting being +that ever the world beheld, and, consequently, that she might say a +sportive thing in regard to Colonel Manners' heart, without any chance +of a retort which might have been disagreeable--unless he had been a +fool or a coxcomb, which she knew him not to be. Had she known him a +fortnight, he might have made the retort, as a jest, which would have +been disagreeable enough; or as a compliment, which would have been +still more disagreeable; or as a serious fact, which would have been +most disagreeable; and therefore, under such circumstances, she would +never have thought of talking about the heart of one of the company, +when there were but two in it. Had she known, too, that the subject +was a painful one to Colonel Manners, she would as little have thought +of touching upon it; and, indeed, a feeling that he was not handsome, +and a vague misty sort of consciousness that that fact might have +something to do with his remaining unmarried, did make her regret that +she had said such words, almost as soon as they were beyond recall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, indeed," said Colonel Manners, with a touch of melancholy in his +manner that could not wholly be banished; "no, indeed, I have not been +so fortunate as either to have guardian angel or leading star;" and he +smiled at the triteness of his own figures of speech, but with a smile +that did not counteract, to the mind of Miss Falkland, the sadness of +his tone. She was vexed with herself, and would have done anything on +earth, in a reasonable way, to efface whatever painful feelings she +might have awakened: but though she was generally skilful enough in +putting an end to a difficulty where others were concerned, she found +it not so easy to disentangle the affair when she herself was the +culprit.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whether Colonel Manners perceived that Miss Falkland felt she had +given pain, and was vexed with herself, or whether he likewise wished +to get rid of the subject, matters little; but he now changed the +topic somewhat abruptly; and looking round upon the woods, into the +very heart of which they were plunging, he said, "I wonder that you +fair ladies are not somewhat afraid of walking through these solitudes +by yourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no danger," she replied; "we have none but very orderly, +peaceable people in our part of the world: though, in truth," she +added, after a moment's thought, "we are the last family that should +say there is no danger; but I have never heard of any very serious +offence being committed in our neighbourhood since the murder of my +poor uncle, which, as it is long ago, of course I do not recollect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I remember having heard something of that event," replied Colonel +Manners, "but do not recollect the particulars. Was he killed by +highwaymen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe so," answered Miss Falkland, "though I know too little +about it to tell you exactly what happened. But--oh, yes!--he was +robbed and murdered, I remember; for it was proved that he had a large +sum of money upon his person when he went out--several thousand +pounds--and it was supposed that some one who knew the fact had either +waylaid him, or had informed the murderers of the booty they might +obtain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was, I think, your uncle by the side of Mrs. Falkland," said +Colonel Manners, who of course felt an interest in the matter in +proportion to the little difficulties of obtaining information.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my mother's brother," replied Isadore; "Marian's father. You may +easily imagine that such a story rendered her an object of double +interest to all her family--of redoubled tenderness, I believe I +should say, and even my uncle, who is not very scrupulous in regard to +what he says to any one, is more kind and considerate towards Marian +than towards any other human being. That great and horrible crime, +however--I mean the murder--seems to have frightened others from our +neighbourhood; and though we occasionally hear of a little poaching, +the people round us are uniformly well-behaved and peaceable."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you say as much for the gipsies towards whose encampment, if I +understood De Vaux right, we are bending our way?" asked Colonel +Manners. "They are, in general, very troublesome and unquiet +neighbours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had not heard of their being here," replied Miss Falkland: "we are +very seldom so honoured, I can assure you. I do not remember having +seen gipsies here more than once; and that was not in this wood, but +on a large common up yonder at the top of that hill, behind the house. +They are a strange race!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are, indeed," answered her companion; "and De Vaux and I, as we +passed their encampment, could not help marvelling that no government +had ever thought it worth its while to pay some attention to them, +either for the purpose of reclaiming them to civilized life, or, if +that were judged impossible, for the purpose of obtaining those traces +of knowledge which are waning from among them every day, but which +some of their better men are said still to retain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you mean their astrological knowledge?" asked Miss Falkland, with +a look of no slight interest in the question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"O, no!" answered Colonel Manners, with a smile; "I mean the knowledge +of their real history, of their original country, of their former +laws, of their language in its purity, and of many facts of great +interest, which, though with them they are merely traditionary, yet +might be confirmed or invalidated by other testimony in our own +possession."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are a strange people, indeed!" said Miss Falkland. "Do you know, +Colonel Manners, that the separate existence of these gipsies and of +the Jews--coming down, as it were, two distinct streams, amid all the +whirling confusion of an ocean of other nations--keeping their +identity among wars, and battles, and changes, and the overturning of +all things but themselves; retaining their habits, and their thoughts, +and their national character apart, in spite both of sudden and +violent revolutions in society, and of the slow, but even more +powerful efforts of gradual improvement and civilization. Do you know, +whenever I think of this, it gives me a strange feeling of mysterious +awe that I cannot describe? It seems as if I saw more distinctly than +in the common course of things the workings of the particular will of +the Almighty; for I cannot understand how these facts can be accounted +for by any of the common motives in existence; as, in both instances, +interest, ambition, policy, and pleasure, with almost every inducement +that could be enumerated, would have produced exactly the opposite +result."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall not attempt to reason against you, Miss Falkland," replied +Colonel Manners, with a smile; "and, indeed, I very much agree with +you in opinion, though perhaps not in your wonder; for being a +complete believer in a special providence, I only see the same hand in +this that I think is discernible throughout creation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But tell me, Colonel Manners," said Isadore, "have you any belief in +the fortune-telling powers of the gipsies?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"None whatever," answered Colonel Manners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor perhaps have I," said Isadore; "but at the same time it is +strange that in all ages and in all countries, as far as I can +understand, these gipsies have pretended to this particular science, +and have been very generally believed. At all events, it shows that +they have an immemorial tradition of such a power having been +possessed by their ancestors; and if it were possessed by their +ancestors, why not by themselves?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But we have no reason to believe that it was possessed by their +ancestors," replied Colonel Manners, "except, indeed, their own +tradition, which, as you say, is evidently very ancient."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, but I think we have other proofs," replied Isadore, "and +very strong ones, it appears to me. It is evident from the historical +part of the Bible that the most ancient Egyptians had various means of +divination, and even a magical influence, the reality and power of +which is admitted by the sacred writers most distinctly; and +consequently, when these facts are joined to an immemorial tradition +of the descendants of the same nation, it seems that there is strong +reason for believing that these powers existed even after the period +to which the sacred volume refers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am inclined, indeed, to believe," replied Colonel Manners, +"that the gipsies are descendants from some Egyptian tribe, although +the fact has been contested strongly, and the French call them +Bohemians--unreasonably enough. In regard to the powers of divination +attributed to the ancient Egyptians, too, I believe them to have +existed, because I believe the Bible not only as an inspired record, +but as the best-authenticated history, without any exception, that +exists; and at the same time I cannot suppose that men who had so +grand, so comprehensive, and also so philosophical an idea of the +Divinity, that four thousand years have not been able to produce the +slightest enlargement of it, as displayed in many passages of Holy +Writ--I cannot suppose that such men would have recorded as facts +anything substantially inconsistent with the majesty of that Being +whom they alone knew in the age when they wrote. But you must remember +that these powers, though permitted then for reasons we know not, may +have ceased now, like the powers of prophecy, and many other things of +the same kind; and did the gipsies possess such powers at present, +depend upon it, we should find them clothed in purple in the closets +of kings, instead of wandering upon bare heaths, and stealing for a +livelihood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, I know," replied Miss Falkland, with a smile, at the +lingerings of credulity that still haunted her own bosom, "and I have +convinced myself, and been convinced by others over and over again, +that it is all nonsense; and yet,--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She paused, and Manners rejoined, "One of our old humorous poets says,</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">'A man convinced against his will,<br> +Is of the same opinion still.'"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"And perhaps you think the verses still more applicable to a woman, +Colonel Manners," replied Miss Falkland; "but that is not exactly the +case with me. My weakness extends no farther than this:--were a gipsy +to predict any great evil for my future life, it would make me very +uneasy, however much I might struggle against the impression; and, on +that account, I would not have my fortune told, as they call it, for +the world! Would you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without the slightest apprehension," answered Colonel Manners, +laughing. "They may try their chiromancy on me, when they please, and +do me all the harm they can for half a crown, which is, I believe, the +stipulated sum."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is, because you are a man and a hero," replied Miss Falkland, in +the same gay tone, "and you are bound by honour and profession to be +afraid of nothing; but remember, I look upon it as an agreement--you +are to have your fortune told this very day, and that will do for the +whole party; for I will not have mine told, and I am sure Marian shall +not, if I can prevent it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I will be the scape-goat, with all my heart," he replied; "but I +suppose we cannot be far from their encampment, if your computation of +miles be correct."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are close to the high-road," answered Miss Falkland; "but how far +up the hill they are, you best know. However, let us wait for Edward +and Marian. We must not make the babes in the wood of them; and of +course they are a good way behind. Now, I dare say, while you and +Edward were in America, you heard of Marian de Vaux till you were +tired--was it not so, Colonel Manners?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, indeed," he answered, smiling; "far from it, I can assure you. +Although I long ago found out by various infallible signs that De Vaux +was in love; yet, never till circumstances had produced esteem and +friendship, and friendship had become intimacy, did he ever mention +his engagement, or the object of his attachment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then he doubtless painted her in very glowing colours," added +Isadore, trying strenuously to while away the time till her cousins +came up, they having lingered behind farther than she had expected.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, of course, all lovers are like the old painter Arellius," +answered Colonel Manners, "and always paint the objects of their love +as goddesses. But I will not gratify your malice, Miss Falkland; De +Vaux has too fine a sense of the ridiculous ever to render himself so +by exaggerating any feeling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has, indeed, too fine a sense of the ridiculous," answered +Isadore; "it is his worst fault, Colonel Manners; and I fear that, +like all the rest of our faults, it may some day prove his own bane; +but here they come! Now, Colonel Manners, prepare to hear your fate. +Edward, here is your friend going to have his fortune told."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean going to give half a crown to a gipsy," said De Vaux; "but if +you are serious, Manners, I will, of course, stand by you to the last, +as if you were going to fight a duel, or any other unreasonable thing. +Turn to the left and you will see the appointed place, as the +newspapers call it, before you."</p> + +<p class="normal">In this expectation, however, De Vaux was mistaken; for the gipsies +and their accompaniments, men, women, and children, pots, kettles, and +tents, had all disappeared. It must not be said, indeed, that they had +left no vestige of their abode behind them, for half a dozen black +spots burnt in the turf, and more than one pile of white wood ashes, +attested the extent of their encampment; but nothing else was to be +seen in the green wood, except the old oaks, and the yellow sunshine +streaming through the rugged boughs, with a squirrel balancing itself +on the branch of a fir, and two noisy jays screaming from tree to +tree.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is a very Robin Hood like scene," said Colonel Manners, as he +looked around, "and less gloomy in the broad daylight than at +eventide. But here are no gipsies, Miss Falkland; and I am afraid that +you must put off hearing the future fate and fortunes of Charles +Manners till another time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am very much mortified, indeed," replied Isadore, "and I see that +you only laugh at me, Colonel Manners, without sympathizing in the +least with disappointed curiosity; which,--as no one believes more +fully than yourself,--is a very serious event in a woman's case. +However, I shall hold you bound by your promise, and look upon you +engaged as a man of honour to have your fortune told the very first +time you meet with a party of gipsies,--nay, more, to let me know the +result also."</p> + +<p class="normal">She spoke with playful seriousness; and Colonel Manners replied, "With +all my heart, Miss Falkland; and, indeed, you shall find that your +commands are so lightly borne by me, that I will take other +obligations upon myself, and even seek out your favourites, the +gipsies; for these protegées of yours seldom move far at a time, +unless, indeed, all the poultry in the neighbourhood happens to be +exhausted."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that is not the case here," answered Isadore; "there is plenty +yet remaining in every farm-yard, and I dare say you will find them on +the common."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will go to-morrow, then, without fail," he answered, "for--" and he +had nearly added words which would have betrayed his meditated +departure; but he turned his speech another way; and all parties, well +satisfied with their ramble, returned by the same path to the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nothing occurred during the rest of the day to disturb the +tranquillity of the party. The evening passed away in conversation, +generally light enough, but of which we have given a specimen above, +fully sufficient to show its nature and quality. Sometimes it touched, +indeed, upon deeper feelings, without ever becoming grave; and +sometimes it ventured farther into the realms of learning, without +approaching pedantry. The annoyance of Lord Dewry's behaviour on the +preceding night had at the time reconciled Colonel Manners in some +degree to the idea of quitting a circle in which he found much to +please and interest him; but no such annoyance interrupted the course +of this evening, and he experienced more pain than he liked to +acknowledge, when he thought of leaving behind him for ever, a scene +in which the hours passed so pleasantly. He felt, however, that the +annoyance might soon be renewed, or that even if it were not, he had +no right by his presence to shut out De Vaux's father from Mrs. +Falkland's house; and he resolved still to adhere to his purpose, and +set out for London on the day after that which was just about to +follow.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.7" href="#div1Ref_01.7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The ordinary and too well-deserved lamentation over the fragility of +human resolutions was not in general applicable to the determinations +of Charles Manners, who was usually very rigid in his adherence to his +purposes, whether they were of great or small importance. But it must +not be supposed that this pertinacity, if it may so be called, in +pursuit of designs he had already formed, proceeded from what the +world calls obstinacy. Obstinacy maybe defined the act of persisting +in error; and the rectitude and precision of his judgment generally +kept him from being in error at first, so that he had rarely a +legitimate cause for breaking his resolution. Nor was he either of +such a hard and tenacious nature as to resist all persuasion, and, +like the cement of the Romans, only to grow the stiffer by the action +of external things. Far from it; he was always very willing to +sacrifice his purposes--where no moral sacrifice was implied--to the +wishes and solicitations of those he loved or esteemed. Nor is there +any contradiction in this statement, though it may be inquired, how, +then, did he break his resolutions less frequently than other people? +The secret was this, and it is worth while to burden memory with it: +he never formed his resolutions without thought, which saved at least +one-third from fracture; and though he broke them sometimes at the +entreaty of others, he never sacrificed them to any whim of his own, +which saved <i>very nearly</i> two-thirds more; for we may depend upon it +that the determinations which we abandon, either from a change of +circumstances, or from the persuasions of our friends, form but a very +minute fraction, when compared with those that we give up, either from +original error or after caprice.</p> + +<p class="normal">It has seemed necessary to give this lecture upon resolutions, because +Colonel Manners very speedily found cause to abandon the determination +which he formed so vigorously on the day we spoke of in the last +chapter; and, that he might not be charged with inconsistency, it +became requisite to enter into all those strict definitions and +explanations that generally leave us as many loopholes for escape and +evasion, as a treaty of peace or a deed of settlement.</p> + +<p class="normal">One resolution, however, and one promise, Colonel Manners certainly +did keep, as soon as it was possible, which was, to inquire whether +the gipsies were still in the neighbourhood, and to seek them out, +with the full purpose of having his fortune told. Now, it may be +supposed that here was a little weakness on the part of Colonel +Manners--that he did give some credit to gipsy chiromancy; nay, the +reader may even push his conjectures farther, and imagine him dreaming +of Isadore Falkland's beautiful eyes, and all their varieties of +expression, from the deep and soft to the gayest sparkle that ever +twinkled through two rows of long silky eyelashes. But the simple fact +was, that he had promised to go, and that he went; and though he might +think Miss Falkland extremely beautiful and extremely pleasing, as +every man who had been two minutes in her company must have thought, +he no more dreamed of the possibility of so fair a creature, courted +and loved as he knew she must be, ever uniting herself to so ugly a +man as himself--and as he sat and shaved himself that morning he +thought himself uglier than ever--than Napoleon Bonaparte, in the +plenitude of power and the majesty of victory, thought of a low grave +beneath a willow on a rock in the Atlantic.</p> + +<p class="normal">In regard to any belief in the gipsies' fortune-telling, there were +little use of investigating closely, whether some thin fibre of the +root of superstition had or had not been left in the bosom of Charles +Manners. If any particle thereof did remain, it went no farther than +to excite, perhaps, a slight degree of curiosity in regard to what the +people would predict, more, perhaps, from feeling that it must be +absurd, than from expecting any point of coincidence with his real +fate; and certain it is that, whatever the gipsies might have told to +Colonel Manners, he would have thought no more of after the immediate +moment, except as a matter for jest, than he would of any other kind +of <i>sortes</i>, whether drawn from Virgil or Joe Miller.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was just a quarter to six on the morning after that which had seen +the walk in Morley Wood, when Manners, who was, as we have said, an +early riser, gave some orders to his servant concerning his horses, +and went out into the new wakened world. Having observed on the +preceding day, for the purpose of carrying on the jest, the exact +position of the hill on which Miss Falkland conjectured that the +gipsies might have quartered themselves, he took his way across the +park from that side which formed, in fact, the back of Morley House; +and, having assured himself beforehand that he could find means of +egress in that direction, he was soon beyond the walls, and winding up +a small cart-road towards the summit.</p> + +<p class="normal">The hill itself was somewhat singular in form; and as it is rather +characteristic of that particular county, we may as well endeavour to +give the reader some idea of its appearance. It formed a portion of +that steep range of upland which we have before described as +principally covered with fine wood; but this particular point, +projecting towards the river in the form of very nearly a right angle, +seemed to have cast behind it the mass of forest which still continued +over the ridge of the other hills. Vestiges of the wood, too, hung in +broken patches on the flanks of even this protuberance, but the summit +offered nothing but a bare, open plain, full of pits and ravines, and +only further diversified by a few stunted hawthorns, and one single +group of tall beeches, gathered together upon a tumulus, which covered +the bodies of some of those invading warriors to whom our island was +once a prey. The ascent to this plain from the small gate in the park +wall, by which Colonel Manners issued forth, was in length somewhat +more than a mile; but it consisted of two distinct grades, or steps, +the first of which was formed by a little peninsula, jutting out from +the salient angle of the main hill, and completely surrounded by the +river on all sides except the one which served to unite it, by a +narrow neck not above three hundred yards in breadth, to the high +ground we have mentioned. This small peninsula, which was itself +covered with wood, rose in a rocky bank to the height of about a +hundred and fifty yards above the stream; and over the narrow isthmus +was carried the road which passed the park; while the wall of the park +itself, just excluding the wooded banks from the grounds of Morley +House, was lowered in that part, so as to leave a full view of the +picturesque little promontory from the windows of the mansion. Let the +reader remember all this, for his memory may be taxed hereafter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Branching off from the right of the high-road lay the path up which +Colonel Manners took his way, and which passed over a track upon the +side of the hill, partly hedged in and cultivated, and partly left to +its own ungrateful sterility. It was steep also, but Manners was a +good climber; and, knowing that Mrs. Falkland's breakfast hour was +half-past nine, he did not linger by the way, but soon found himself +at the summit of the hill, and on the piece of waste ground which will +be found in the county map under the name of Morley Common, or Morley +Down. A good deal of dew had fallen in the night; and as the sun, who +had not yet pursued his bright course far up the arch of heaven, +poured the flood of his morning light upon the short blades of grass +covering the common, the whole would have seemed crisp with hoarfrost, +had not, every here and there, a tuft of longer leaves caught the rays +more fully, and twinkled as if sprinkled with living diamonds, as the +early air moved it gently in the beams. In different directions across +the common might be seen a hundred small foot-roads, winding in that +tortuous and unsteady manner which is sure to mark a path trodden out +by man's unguided feet, and which offers no bad comment on his +uncertain and roundabout way of arriving at his object; but, as the +ground comprised many hundred acres, Colonel Manners might have been +puzzled which way to take, had not his military habits at once sent +him to the small planted tumulus which we have mentioned, in order to +obtain a general view of the place.</p> + +<p class="normal">Climbing up the sides of the little mound, therefore, he gazed round +him; but neither gipsies nor tents were visible; and he might have +returned to Mrs. Falkland's, satisfied that they were not there, had +not a small column of faint blue smoke, rising from behind some +bushes, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, marked the +presence of human beings in that direction, and shown that the bushes, +though apparently not higher than a man's hat, masked some fall in the +ground where the fire was kindled. Thither, then, Manners turned his +steps, and soon perceived that another old sand-pit, with some bushes +climbing up one of the sides, had given shelter to those of whom he +was now in search.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before he could even discover so much, he became aware, by two low +whistles, that his own approach had been perceived; and, as he was +advancing directly towards the sand-pit, where a number of the gipsies +had paused in their various occupations to watch him, he saw a man +issue forth from one of the huts, put something hastily into the bosom +of his long wrapping coat, and then come forward to meet him. The +gipsy, as he came nearer, gazed at him from head to foot, with a clear +dark eye, which had in it nothing either of the dogged sullenness or +cunning stealthiness that sometimes marks the male part of the +race,--often the fruit both of their own vices and the world's +harshness. There was something in the air and manner of the man, that +to so accurate an observer as Manners, spoke a great difference +between him and the general class of his people; but, to save a +repetition of description, it may be as well to say at once, that the +gipsy who now appeared was the same whom we have designated Pharold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-morning!" said Colonel Manners, as the other came near; "you +have hid your tents very completely here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-morning!" replied the gipsy, slightly knitting his brow, as he +saw the soldier's eye running over every part of their encampment with +some degree of curiosity; "Good-morning! It seems you were seeking me +or mine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was so," replied Manners, still gazing with some interest upon the +old sand-pit and its picturesque tenants, with their blazing fire of +sticks, and its white smoke curling through the broken ground and amid +the scattered bushes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what did you want with us, then?" asked Pharold, somewhat +impatiently; "you wanted something, or you would not have come here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish to have my fortune told," replied Manners with a smile, +excited equally by the impatience of the gipsy's tone, and by the +nature of his own errand.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy looked at him steadily, and then shook his head. "No, no, +no," said he; "you did not come for that. Never tell me, that you +would get out of your bed by daybreak, and climb a high hill, and seek +a bare common, at this hour, to have your fortune told--never tell me +that, Colonel Manners."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners started at hearing his own name pronounced familiarly by the +gipsy, though he knew the world, and all the tricks that accident and +confederacy can put upon us, too well to suppose that he who is +emphatically termed in Scripture "the prince of the power of the air" +had taken the trouble to send an account of his name and quality to a +gipsy on a common. Still, as it was unexpected, he was surprised, and +expressed it; but not in such a way as to make the gipsy believe more +fully than he had done at first, that he really gave credit to the +supernatural pretensions of his nation, and came there for the purpose +of consulting them upon his destiny.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pray how did you become acquainted with my name?" demanded Colonel +Manners, calmly. "I do not know that I ever saw you before?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps not," replied the gipsy; "but if you believe that I can tell +you what you will become hereafter, why should you be surprised that I +know what you are now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never said that I would believe what you told me," answered +Manners; "but I know that, as I have been scarcely two days in this +country, you must have been very expeditious in gaining my name. +However, it is a matter of small consequence: I came, as I said, to +have my fortune told according to your method. Will you do it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It shall be done," said the gipsy, still gazing at him inquiringly. +"It shall de done, if you really desire it; but I know you men of the +world, and I cannot help thinking you came not on that errand alone. I +should think that Lord Dewry had sent you, did I not know that he went +away yesterday morning to Dimden, and then before midday back to the +hall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a very singular person," said Colonel Manners, with a smile, +"not only because you know every thing that is going on in the place, +as well as a village gossip, but because you will not believe the +truth when it is told you. Once more, then, my good friend, let me +assure you, that nobody sent me; and that my sole purpose is to have +my fortune told: nor should I stay here any longer, even for that +purpose, had I not promised another person to submit to the +infliction.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So, so," said the gipsy; "so the fair lady you were walking with +yesterday in Morley Wood is more wise, or, as you would call it, more +credulous than you are. But do not look angry, gentleman. I will tell +you your fortune presently, and will tell it truly, if you will do me +a piece of service, of which I stand in need too--something that I +have promised to do, though not for a lady with dark eyes; and you +seem sent here on purpose to aid in it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Manners was half amused and half angry; but it is probable the +anger would have got the better of the other feeling, had not his +curiosity been excited also by the language, the manners, and the +request of the gipsy, whose whole demeanour was something quite new to +him. He replied, however, "I never undertake to do any thing without +knowing the precise nature thereof; but if you will tell me what you +desire, and I find it reasonable, I will not, of course, refuse."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes! you shall hear what it is," answered the gipsy; "nor will +you find the request unreasonable. But come hither a little away from +the people, for they need not know it." Thus speaking, he led the way +towards the mound from which Manners had made his reconnoissance of +the common; and, as he went, he kept his right hand in his bosom, but +spoke not a word. At length, when they were fully out of earshot, +Manners himself stopped, thinking that he had humoured his companion's +caprices far enough.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, my good fellow," he said, "nobody can either see or hear, unless +they follow for the purpose. Pray what is it you wish me to do for +you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a friend of Mr. De Vaux, are you not?" said the gipsy +abruptly, stopping and turning round as Manners spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As far as esteeming him highly, and desiring to serve him with all my +heart, can make me so," answered Manners, now more particularly +surprised, "I believe I may call myself his dear friend: but what if I +be so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you be really a friend of Mr. Edward de Vaux," said the gipsy, +"you will not object to take a letter to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why," answered Manners, "although I am not exactly either a private +courier or a postman, yet if your request stops there, I can have no +objection to do as you desire; reserving to myself, of course, the +right of telling him where I got the letter, and the circumstances +that attended my receiving it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you will do, if you please," replied the gipsy; "but the request +does not stop there. There are conditions in regard to the delivery of +the letter which you must observe, and that punctually."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners smiled. "This is all very extraordinary," he said; "you speak +in somewhat of a dictatorial tone, my good friend; and it is not easy +for me to comprehend what business one of your class and nation can +have with my friend De Vaux, so soon after his return from other +lands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Trouble not yourself with that, Colonel Manners," answered the gipsy; +and then added, seeing that something like a cloud was gathering on +his auditor's brow, "if I have offended you, sir, I am sorry: such was +not my purpose; and, believe me, I may know what is due both to you +and myself better than you think. You are the commander of one of the +King of England's regiments, and I am a poor gipsy; but you come to +make a request to me, for granting which--as every thing is barter or +robbery in this world--for granting which I require something of you. +So far we are as much equals as in the enjoyment of the free air, and +yonder bright sunshine, and this piece of common ground. Whether there +be any other difference between us, in point of higher or lower, God +knows, and he alone. Thus, then, hear me patiently, while I tell you +the conditions of my bargain; and afterward I will do your bidding +concerning your future fortunes--whether you esteem my skill or not, +being your business, and not mine, as you seek it without my offering +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe you are right," replied Colonel Manners, beginning more +fully to appreciate the character of him with whom he spoke; "go on, +and let me hear your conditions in regard to the delivery of this +letter, which is, I suppose, the object that you hold in your bosom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is not a pistol," said the gipsy, producing the letter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not suppose that it was," replied Colonel Manners; "and had it +been so, it would have been a matter of much indifference to me: but +now for your conditions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are few and simple," answered the gipsy; "I require, or request, +you to give this into Mr. De Vaux's own hand, and to choose a moment +when he is not only alone, but when he is likely to have an +opportunity of reading it in private; and though you may tell him when +and how you received it, and add what comments you like, you must not +indulge in the same tattle to other people; but must keep silence on +all concerning it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your conditions are not very difficult," replied Colonel Manners; "I +will undertake them. Give me the letter. Upon my honour," he added, +seeing that Pharold hesitated, "I will do exactly as you have +desired."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man gave him the letter, which was cleaner, neater, and, as far as +the address went, better written than the hands from which it came +would have led one to anticipate. The moment he had done so, Pharold +uttered a long, loud whistle, which brought a little yellow urchin of +ten years old to their side, as fast as a pair of bare feet could +carry him. "Thou mayst go," said the gipsy; "and make haste." The boy +set off like lightning on the road which led to the river, and the +gipsy again turned to Colonel Manners. "Give me your hand, sir," he +said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners did as he desired, smiling while he did so at a +certain lurking feeling of the ridicule of his situation, which he +could not repress. "If any of my old fellow-soldiers were to see me +here," he thought, "taking counsel with a gipsy upon my future fate +and prospects, they would certainly think Charles Manners mad." The +gipsy, however, gazed seriously upon his hand, and then raised his +eyes to the other's face, without the slightest expression in his own +countenance which could raise a suspicion that he was seeking to play +upon credulity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Colonel Manners," said Pharold, "before I tell you what I read here, +listen to me for one moment. Most people who come to us on such an +errand smile as they give us their hand; some because they believe us +thoroughly, and affect by a laugh to show they do not believe at all; +while some, who really do not believe, smile out of vain conceit in +their own superior strength of mind: but do you remember that this +that we practise is, when properly practised, a science in which we +have ourselves the most confident faith. We never inquire afterward +whether what we have predicted has proved true or not, for we are +always sure that it must do so: but, at all events, such confidence in +our own knowledge cannot spring from nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners could have easily found a reply in favour of his own side of +the question, but he did not think it worth while to argue logically +upon chiromancy with a gipsy, although that gipsy might be somewhat +superior to others of his tribe; and, therefore, without answering the +arguments of Pharold, he remained in silence, while the other again +turned a very steadfast glance upon his extended hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Colonel Manners," said the gipsy at length, "if I read right, you +have been a fortunate man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And, in some respects, an unfortunate one," rejoined his auditor, +"though, in truth, I have no great reason to complain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Far more fortunate than unfortunate," answered the gipsy. "Here are +but three crosses in all your life as yet; two so near the beginning, +that you could not have felt them; and one--a deep one--much more +lately."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners smiled. "In the past you are certainly not far wrong: +but it is the future I wish to hear: what of it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mock us, sir," said the gipsy, eying him. "However, you shall +hear your fate as it is. You shall be fortunate and unfortunate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the common lot of human nature," rejoined Colonel Manners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But herein does your fate differ from the common lot of human +nature," replied the gipsy: "you shall be no longer fortunate in those +things wherein you have hitherto found success; for you shall do all +that you think you will not do; and prosper where you neither hope nor +strive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is certainly a strange fate," answered Manners; "for I have ever +found that success is a coy goddess, who needs all our efforts to +obtain her smiles, and even then gives them but sparingly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It <i>is</i> a strange fate, and yet, in some sense, it is not," answered +the gipsy; "your painters rightly represent Fortune as a woman, though +they might as well have left her eyes unbandaged; for it is neither +new nor marvellous to see woman fly from those that pursue her, and +cast herself into the arms of those who care not for her smiles. And +yet the fate written on that hand is strange, too; for it speaks of +fortunes as fair without effort, for the future, as those of the past +have been rendered by toil and exertion. It is a strange fate; but, +nevertheless it shall be yours: and now, forget not my words, but, +when you find them verified, remember him that spoke them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But are you going to tell me no more?" demanded Colonel Manners: "I +would fain have you come a little more to particulars, my good friend. +One can make but little of these broad generalities."</p> + +<p class="normal">"One can make nothing to laugh at," answered the gipsy, "and therefore +I shall keep to them, though, perhaps, I could tell you more. Remember +them, however, and, as you will soon find them true, lay them to your +heart, sir, and let them teach you to believe, that a thing is not +false because you do not understand it; that there may be truths +without the range either of your knowledge or of your faculties--some +that you cannot comprehend, because they have not been explained to +you; and some that, if they were explained to you a thousand times, +your mind is too narrow to conceive--and yet they are."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish, my good friend, that I could send you to converse with +Voltaire," said Colonel Manners. "Who is he?" demanded Pharold; "I do +not know him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied Manners; "I dare say not: but he is a famous wit, who +dabbles in philosophy, and seems inclined to teach the world, by his +example, if not by his precepts, that man should credit nothing that +he cannot understand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what should I do with him'?" demanded the gipsy, frowning: "I +think you are mocking me--is it not so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, on my honour," replied Colonel Manners; "I am not mocking you. On +the contrary, I think you a very extraordinary person, and fitted for +a different station from that in which I find you. Whether you +yourself believe that which you have told me concerning my future +fortune, or not, I thank you for having gratified me; and, at all +events, I have derived from your conversation more that I shall +remember long, than I anticipated when I came here. Will you accept of +that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners offered him one of those beautiful golden pieces which +are now, I fear me, lost to the world for ever, and which were then +called guineas. But the gipsy put it away. "No," he said; "you have +undertaken to fulfil my request, and I have complied with yours. We +owe each other nothing, then. Farewell!" and, turning on his heel, he +left Colonel Manners to descend the hill, thinking him more +extraordinary than ever, from the last very ungipsy-like act, by which +he had terminated their conversation.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun was now much higher than when Manners had trod that path +before; for, according to his usual custom, the gracious luminary +seemed to have run more quickly at his first rising than he does after +having climbed the steep hill of heaven; and the wayfarer began to +think that he might be late at Mrs. Falkland's breakfast-table, where +cold eggs and lukewarm coffee were the just punishments of those who +linger long abed. As he had closed the park gate, however, and had not +the key, he was obliged to go round and enter by the other side of the +house; but this proceeding, at all events, tended to solve one mystery +connected with his late interview. In the hall the first object he +beheld was the little gipsy boy whom he had seen with Pharold on the +hill; and he now found him in conversation with Mrs. Falkland herself, +who appeared to be asking after some of the Egyptian fraternity who +were ill. Old Peter stood behind, keeping a wary eye upon the boy, +whom he justly considered a very promising élève in no inferior school +of petty larceny; and as Colonel Manners approached, Mrs. Falkland +terminated her inquiries, and made over her little companion to the +care of the footman, with orders to give him something and send him +away; an order, the latter part of which was complied with in a more +summary manner than she anticipated, as soon as her back was turned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-morning, Colonel Manners," she said, as they walked towards the +breakfast-room; "you find me with a curious little companion: but the +fact is, that, while you were all out walking yesterday, a poor gipsy +woman accidentally fell down from the high bank close by the house, +and was brought in here, completely stunned. The village apothecary +was away; and, as I endeavour to enact my Lady Bountiful, I did what I +could for the poor creature, who soon recovered. We had half a dozen +of her tribe in the servant's hall, however; and, much to the butler's +and Peter's surprise--and, I must confess, to my own also--when they +went away, nothing was missing. According to a promise made by one of +them, they have sent me down that little boy this morning to tell me +that the poor woman is now quite well. I wished to have despatched the +apothecary to her, and offered to do so as soon as he returned; but +they seemed to have an invincible repugnance to all the professors of +the healing art."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All people, I believe, who enjoy very good health," replied Colonel +Manners, "feel the same towards the learned doctors--the very sight of +one reminds us of losing one of the best blessings of Heaven. However, +the meeting with that little gipsy gentleman here explains something +which I might have made a mystery of, had I not heard your account of +your yesterday's interview; for this morning I had a long conversation +with a gipsy on the hill--a very singular person--who addressed me at +once by name, and seemed perfectly well acquainted with my being at +your house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, your servant was present yesterday," replied Mrs. Falkland, "and, +with all the dexterity of an old soldier, gave us very great +assistance in bringing the poor woman to herself. I remarked, too, +that her gipsy companions did but little, and contented themselves +with standing round, asking irrelevant questions of the servants, +which, of course, in that temple of tittle-tattle, a servant's hall, +they found somebody willing to answer; so that I dare say there was +nothing supernatural in your name being known on the hill. But how +came you, Colonel Manners," she added, with a smile, "how came you in +such deep consultation with a gipsy at this hour of the morning? You +surely have not been having your fortune told?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must plead guilty, I am afraid," replied Colonel Manners; "but if +the fault be a very grievous one, I must lay the blame upon Miss +Falkland, as it was under her special injunctions that I went."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" said Mrs. Falkland; "and to answer what object?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, if you mean Miss Falkland's object, I really cannot tell," he +replied; "and my object was certainly a very foolish one, but one that +leads many a man to do a still more foolish thing: I mean, it was to +prove that I was not afraid."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And pray, what was the result?" demanded Mrs. Falkland; but by this +time they were at the breakfast-room door, and Colonel Manners +declared that he would not communicate his fate to any one before he +revealed it to Miss Falkland in general consistory. This he had soon +an opportunity of doing: and the whole business was laughed at gayly +enough. It is wonderful how light a little merriment soon makes every +thing appear; and this is the reason why, in moments of mirth and +cheerfulness, so many secrets are revealed that one would often give +worlds to shut up again in the casket of one's own breast. Let wise +diplomatists keep far from merriment; for a light laugh or a gay +witticism, whose idle wings seemed hardly strong enough to flutter it +across the table, has often taken a weighty secret on its back, and +flown away with it, never to return. Now, the letter that the gipsy +had given Colonel Manners for his friend he had believed might be of +some importance, as long as he was alone; but every gay word that was +spoken on the subject of gipsies and fortune-telling took away +something from its weight in his estimation; and had he been only +restrained by a sense of its importance, he might have delivered the +letter before breakfast was over, and made a jest of it. It has never +been said that Colonel Manners was perfect; and though his mind was +strong, it certainly was not without a full share of human weaknesses. +Colonel Manners, however, was restrained by something besides a sense +of the letter's importance--he had given his word to deliver it in a +particular manner; and, whatever else he might do in the way of +frailties, he never forgot a promise, though, in the present instance, +it was long ere he found an opportunity of fulfilling the one he had +made the gipsy on the hill.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.8" href="#div1Ref_01.8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Any one who has tried to speak with another for five minutes in +private, without the pomp and circumstance of demanding an interview, +will know that it is almost impossible to find the opportunity, +unless the person be one's own wife. There is always something comes +in the way just at the very moment--something unforeseen and +unlikely,--especially if one be very anxious upon the subject. If the +matter be of no importance, the opportunity presents itself at every +turn; but if one be very, very desirous to unburden a full heart, or +tell a tale of love, or give a valuable hint, or plead the cause of +one's self, or any one else, without the freezing influence of a +formal conference, one may wait hours and days--nay, weeks and months, +sometimes--without finding five minutes open in the whole day.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as breakfast was over, Edward de Vaux followed Marian into the +music-room; and when Marian left him, he came to tell his friend and +Isadore that they proposed making a riding party to see something in +the neighbourhood. Manners went up in his room to prepare; and, as he +found himself on the stairs alone with De Vaux, he had his hand in his +pocket to produce the letter, when Miss Falkland's step sounded close +by them, and her voice invited her cousin to come with her, and see a +little present she had bought for Marian's birthday. As soon as +Manners was equipped for riding, he went to De Vaux's room, +calculating--as he usually dressed in half the time that his friend +expended on such exertions--that he would find him there: but no one +was in the apartment but a servant, who told him that Mr. De Vaux had +gone down. As he passed along one of the corridors, he saw De Vaux +sauntering across the lawn towards the gates of the stable-yard; but +ere he could catch him, his friend was surrounded by grooms and +servants, receiving his orders concerning the horses; and as they +turned again towards the house. Marian and Miss Falkland were standing +in their riding dresses on the steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I must wait," thought Manners, reflecting sagely on the +difficulties of executing punctually even so simple a commission as +that which he had undertaken. "Well, I must wait till we go to dress +for dinner; then I am sure to find my opportunity."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was not destined, however, to remain burdened with his secret so +long. The ride was pleasant, but did not extend far; and on the return +of the party, while Manners and De Vaux stood looking at their boots +in the hall, Miss Falkland and her cousin retired to change their +dress, and the opportunity was not lost.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now we are alone," said Manners, "let me execute a commission with +which I am charged towards you, De Vaux, and which has teased me all +the morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a challenge, I hope," replied the other; "for it seems a solemn +embassy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, nothing of the kind," answered his friend; "but the fact +is--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please, sir," said Colonel Manners' servant, opening the glass doors, +"I believe the young mare is throwing out a splint; and I did not like +to--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," said Manners, somewhat impatiently, "I will come and see +her myself, presently--I am engaged just now." The man withdrew; and +resuming his discourse at the precise point where he had left off, +Manners continued, "The fact is, that gipsy, of whom I was speaking +this morning, charged me with a letter to you, which I promised to +deliver in private, and when you were likely to be able to read it +without interruption."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A gipsy!" said De Vaux, knitting his brows; "the circle of my +acquaintance has extended itself farther than I thought, and in a +class, also, equally beyond my wishes and anticipations: but are you +sure there is no mistake? does he really mean me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is the letter," replied Manners, "with your titles, <i>nomen +and cognomen</i>, as clearly superscribed as ever I saw them +written:--Captain the Honourable Edward de Vaux, with many et +cæteras."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And in a good hand, and on tolerably clean paper," said De Vaux, +taking the letter, and gazing on the back. "Why, this gipsy of yours +must be a miracle, Manners."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is a very extraordinary person, certainly," answered his +companion, "both in his ideas and his deportment, which are equally +above his class."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, he must be a miracle--a complete miracle!" said De Vaux, +laughing, "if he can mend kettles and write such an address as that, +with the same good right hand. But this must be a begging letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think not," replied Manners: "it would not surprise me to find that +he knows more of you than you imagine; but, at all events, read the +letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux turned the letter, looked at the seal, which offered a very +good impression, though one with which he was not acquainted, and +then, tearing open the paper, read the contents. The very first words +made his eye strain eagerly upon the page; a few lines more rendered +him deadly pale; and though, as he went on, his agitation did not +increase, yet the intensity of his gaze upon the sheet before him was +not at all diminished; and when he had concluded it, after staring +vacantly in his companion's face for a moment, he again turned to the +letter, and read it attentively over once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid I have brought you evil tidings, De Vaux," said Colonel +Manners, who had watched with some anxiety the changes upon the +countenance of his friend: "if so, can I serve you? You know Charles +Manners; and I need scarcely say how much pleasure it will give me to +do any thing for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must think, Manners--I must think," replied De Vaux: "these are +strange tidings indeed, and vouched boldly too; but I doubt whether I +have a right to communicate them to any one but the person they affect +next to myself. However, I must think ere I act at all. Forgive me for +not making you a sharer of them; and excuse me now, for I am much +agitated, and hardly well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me be no restraint upon you, De Vaux," answered his friend. "If I +can serve you, tell me; if I can alleviate any thing you suffer by +sympathy, let me share in what you feel; but do not suppose for a +moment that I even desire to hear any thing that it may be proper to +keep to your own bosom. Leave me now, without ceremony: but take care +how you act, De Vaux; for I see there is matter of much importance in +your mind; and you are, sometimes at least, in military affairs, a +little hasty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will be as cool and thoughtful as yourself, my friend," replied De +Vaux; "but I am agitated, and the best place for me is my own room."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, he left his friend, not a little surprised, indeed, that +such a letter from such a person should have had the power to produce +on the mind of a man like De Vaux the extreme agitation which he had +just witnessed. De Vaux, he well knew, was not one to give credence to +any thing lightly, or to yield to any slight feeling which a first +impression might produce; but, in the present instance, it was evident +that his friend had received a shock from some tidings which had been +totally unexpected, but which must have been probable, as well as +unpleasant, to produce such an effect. The extraordinary fact, +however, that news of such importance should be left to the +transmission of such a man as the gipsy--so separated by station, and +state, and circumstances, from the person whom they concerned--was of +course a matter of much astonishment to Colonel Manners; and surprise +divided his bosom with anxiety and sympathy for his friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is a very disagreeable thing to have any two feelings thus making a +shuttlecock of our attention; or, when they are very eager, struggling +for it with mutual pertinacity; but the only way to act under such +circumstances is, to treat them like two quarrelsome boys; and, +shutting them up together, leave them to fight it out without +interruption. Such was the plan which Colonel Manners now proposed to +pursue; and, consequently, quitting the hall where his conversation +with De Vaux had taken place, he walked straight to the library, and +opened the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">What happened next was not without its importance; but as the mind may +be at this moment more anxious concerning De Vaux than concerning his +companion, we will follow him up the staircase as lightly as possible; +enter his chamber, lay our hand upon his bosom, draw the curtain, and +show the reader the scene within. But it may be as well first to look +at that letter upon the table before which he is sitting, with his +left hand upon his brow, and his right partly covering the sheet of +paper which had so disturbed him. If one can draw it gently out from +underneath his fingers, while his eyes are shut and his thoughts are +busy, one may read what follows:--</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Captain Edward de Vaux." Here, be it remarked, that there was a +difference between the superscription and the address; the latter +having borne, "To Captain the Honourable Edward de Vaux," while in the +inside was merely written, "To Captain Edward de Vaux."</p> + +<p class="normal">The difference may appear insignificant; but, in the present instance, +and with the commentary of the epistle itself thereon, it signifies a +great deal. However, the letter went on:--</p> +<br> + +<p style="text-indent:10%">"<i>To Captain Edward de Vaux</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<span class="sc">Sir</span>: I shall make no excuse for addressing you, as I am fully +justified therein; and you yourself, however great the pain I may +inflict upon you, will eventually admit that I am so. You are about, I +understand, to unite your fate to a young lady of rank and fortune; +and it is more than possible that mutual affection and mutual good +feelings would render your union happy. Nevertheless, believing you to +be a man of honour, I feel sure that you would not like to lead any +one into such an alliance with expectations which are not alone +doubtful, but fallacious. It is therefore necessary that you should +know more precisely how you are situated; and I hesitate not to inform +you, that on the title and estates held by your father you have no +earthly right to calculate; that, should you marry Miss de Vaux, you +bring with you nothing but your commission as a captain in the army; +and that whatever you expect from your parent will most certainly go +to another person. Your first conclusion--as a world in which there +are so many villains is naturally suspicious--will be, that this +letter is written either by some one who intends to set up some unjust +claim to your rightful inheritance, by some disappointed suitor of +your bride, or by some malevolent envier of another's happiness. Such, +however, is not the fact. The person who writes this owes some +gratitude to your family; not so much for what was accomplished, as +for what your grandfather sought to accomplish in his favour. You may +have heard the story--in which case you will give more credence to the +present letter--or you may not have heard the story: but still, the +way to satisfy yourself is open before you. Either resolve to question +your father boldly concerning the points herein contained; or, if you +would have the facts proved so that you cannot doubt them, come alone +to the gipsies' tents, in the sand-pit on Morley Down, this evening or +early to-morrow morning, and inquire for</p> + +<p style="text-indent:60%">"<span class="sc">Pharold</span>." +<br> + +<p class="normal">Now, under any ordinary circumstances, the only course which De Vaux +would have pursued might have been, to twist up the paper into any +strange and fanciful form that the whim of the moment suggested, and +put it into the first fire he met with, giving it hardly a second +thought. But there were circumstances totally distinct from, and +independent of, the letter itself, which gave it a degree of +importance far above that which it intrinsically possessed. Edward de +Vaux, though he had a slight recollection of a dark-eyed, beautiful +creature, whom in his infancy he had called mother, lost all +remembrance of her at a particular period of his life, and had never +since, that he knew of, heard her name mentioned. He passed, it is +true, for Lord Dewry's legitimate son, was received as such in +society, and admitted as such by his own family and relations. But, if +so, how was it he had never seen a picture of his mother among those +of his ancestors, and beside that of his father, which stood in the +gallery, and represented him as a man of about thirty-five years of +age?--How was it he had never heard his mother's jewels mentioned, +though those of the two baronesses who had preceded her were often +referred to? How was it that his aunt, Mrs. Falkland, as he inferred +from many facts, had never seen his mother? How was it that his father +had never spoken her name in his hearing? All this had often struck +him as something very extraordinary; and a thousand minor +circumstances, which cannot be here recapitulated, had shown him that +there was some mystery in regard to his family, which had frequently +given him pain. Since his return, however, something more had +occurred: two or three words had been spoken by his father, during +their dispute concerning Colonel Manners, which had startled him at +the time with a suspicion which he had instantly banished, but which +now came up again with fearful confirmation of the tidings he had just +received. Lord Dewry had declared that he could be deprived of the +entailed estates of the barony by a single word. At the time, that +expression had but slightly alarmed him; for, well knowing the +violence of his father's disposition, and the acts and words of almost +insane vehemence to which any opposition would drive him, he had +instantly concluded that it was a meaningless threat, spoken to punish +him for the spirit of resistance he had displayed. But now it came +back in its full force; and he asked himself, what could such words +mean, if he were a legitimate child? The estates were entailed on the +male heir; he himself was the only male heir in the present line; and +if by birth he were the lawful son of Lord Dewry, no earthly power +could deprive him of the lands of his forefathers. But his father, who +had been educated for the bar before he succeeded to the title, had +told him that a word would take them from him. A stranger now repeated +the same tale, and pointed more directly to the same conclusion; and +all his former recollections changed his bitter doubts into a terrible +certainty.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux bent down his head upon his hands, and covered his +eyes, with a feeling of shame and degradation that was hardly +supportable. It was not alone one well of bitterness that was opened +upon him; but, in whatever direction he turned his thoughts, new gall +and wormwood was poured into his cup. If there had been aught on earth +of which he had been proud--and, in that instance, his pride, though +bridled and restrained by better feelings, had been great;--if there +had been any thing on earth of which he had been proud, it had been of +his clear descent from thirteen generations of noble ancestors. He had +taken a delight, even from boyhood, in tracing the recorded history of +each, and in proving that there had not been one, from the founder of +the family to his own immediate parent, who had not been well +deserving of the rank and station that they held in their native land. +He had drawn from his noble birth the moral which noble birth should +always afford; and had determined that he, too, would deserve the +title that they had received for great deeds; that he, too, would +transmit the jewel of hereditary virtue to his children as an +heirloom, unimpaired in passing through his hands. He knew that, in +the words of a great natural poet,--</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt"> +"The rank is but the guinea's stamp--</p> +<p class="t1">The man's the gold for a' that;"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and he felt that, to bear the name of noble, without being noble in +his heart, was but to carry the die of value upon inferior metal, and +pass upon society a base and worthless counterfeit. But all such +thoughts, such remembrances, and aspirations were now at an end. He +could no longer look back to mighty men amid his forefathers, for the +world's law cut the link between him and them. He had no longer a +proud name to keep up and adorn with noble actions, for he was an +illegitimate son, who had unrightfully usurped the name and station +which belonged not to him. His best support, his noblest designs, his +most generous purposes, were cast down, and his heart was laid +prostrate along with them.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this was not all: he was now a beggar! the estates were entailed, +and descended with the title; and though his father lived in somewhat +gloomy retirement, yet the state with which he had surrounded his +solitude De Vaux well knew could have left little accumulation from +the revenues of his property. Here, then, were new evils to be +encountered. Accustomed to luxury, and ease, and plenty, without one +thought of that sordid ore, the want of which cramps so many a noble +spirit, and stifles so many a great design, he had lived free from one +of the greatest burdens upon man. He had never been lavish or +extravagant, for such was not a part of his nature; but he had been +generous and liberal to others, as well as at ease himself; and now he +felt that every expense must be measured and gauged by considerations +of economy; that every guinea must be weighed and estimated before it +was parted with; that he must look upon money in a light that he had +never done before; that he must make it a continual object of thought; +that his mind, like the traveller in the land of the Lilliputians, +must be painfully pinioned down on every side by the irritating ties +of petty cares; that his ease must be at an end, and his generosity +cease.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was more, however, far more bitter kept mingling in the draught. +Round the idea of one's mother the mind of man clings with fond +affection. It is the first sweet, deep thought stamped upon our infant +hearts, when yet soft and capable of receiving the most profound +impressions, and all the after-feelings of the world are more or less +light in comparison. I do not know that even in our old age we do not +look back to that feeling as the sweetest we have known through life. +Our passions and our wilfulness may lead us far from the object of our +filial love; we learn even to pain her heart, to oppose her wishes, to +violate her commands; we may become wild, headstrong, and angry at her +counsels or her opposition; but when death has stilled her monitory +voice, and nothing but calm memory remains to recapitulate her virtues +and good deeds, affection, like a flower beaten to the ground by a +past storm, raises up her head and smiles among the tears. Round that +idea, as we have said, the mind clings with fond affection; and even +when the early period of our loss forces memory to be silent, fancy +takes the place of remembrance, and twines the image of our dead +parent with a garland of graces, and beauties, and virtues, which we +doubt not that she possessed. Thus had it been with De Vaux: he could +just call to mind a face that had appeared to him very beautiful, and +a few kind and tender words from the lips of her he had called mother; +but he had fancied her all that was good, and gentle, and virtuous; +and now that he was forced to look upon her as a fallen being, as one +who had not only forgotten virtue herself, but, in sin, had brought +him into the world, to degradation and shame, what could be his +feelings towards her?</p> + +<p class="normal">Horrid! horrid is it to say, that the world should take unto itself +that awful power claimed by Almighty Omniscience, of visiting the sins +of the fathers upon the children, and of making the guiltless +offspring more than share the punishment inflicted on the offending +parent! But so De Vaux felt that the world does, and that, in his +instance, it was not alone the usual contemptible sneer, or still more +contemptible neglect, that he was destined to meet; but that he must +expect all the venomous pity and malignant compassion which his fall, +more than his situation, would excite, and which the hard and +unfeeling beings of the earth affect to experience for those they wish +most powerfully to depress.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such accumulated feelings were all bitter enough; but there was one +more bitter still, more filled with agony and degradation. De Vaux, as +we have seen, was engaged to a being full of beauty, and grace, and +gentleness, by promises which united them to each other, not alone as +persons of high rank and fortune, having found a fitting alliance; but +as two people who had known each other from infancy, had grown up in +affection, and had for many a year looked forward to their marriage as +the means of securing to both the utmost degree of human happiness for +life; as the binding on of a talisman, that would shut out from their +domestic hearth all the evil things of earth. With De Vaux, these +feelings, these anticipations, were even stronger. He loved Marian +with the fullest, deepest, most passionate attachment. Towards her his +heart was all fire and thrilling energy; and, though there were times +when he somewhat doubted that her feelings were of as powerful a kind +towards him, yet he believed that she loved him as much as she could +love; and perhaps even her slight reserve made him love her the more +ardently. The day for their marriage was already fixed; the bridal +ornaments were all prepared; their future life had, in the +conversation of that very day, been laid out before them as on a map, +and Edward de Vaux had as much doubted, when he sprang from his horse, +that Marian, in all her beauty, was to be his bride within three short +weeks, as he doubted of his own existence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, however, what were his feelings?--now that his situation was +changed in every particular,--that in fortune, and in station, he had +fallen at once from the situation in which she had promised him her +hand; and when he felt that he had no right to claim from Marian de +Vaux the execution of a promise which she had made under different +circumstances, and to which he believed that all her friends would, of +course, be opposed, as soon as his real position became known? He felt +that he had no right either to ask or to expect it; and the darkest +image that presented itself to his mind was, the loss of her he loved, +for ever. Nor did this image come before him vague and undefined, as a +thing of remote possibility,--though even then the apprehension would +have been terrible enough,--but, in his present state of despondency, +it appeared as an undoubted and inevitable certainty--as a thing that +must and would take place. He felt as if Marian were <i>already</i> lost to +him for ever, and the bright bubble of his happiness irreparably +broken. He fancied, also,--he could not help imagining, that something +like contempt would mingle in the pity that she felt for him. She was +herself so pure,--delicacy, modesty, and virtue so characterized her +every movement, and her every word,--that he tortured himself with +believing that a part of the reprobation and scorn with which she must +think of his mother, would fall upon himself. "She will look upon me +as the child of vice," he thought; "she will see in me the offspring +of guilt and shame, and will easily make up her mind to the +separation. She is always so reasonable, and so willing to do what she +considers right, at any sacrifice, that her mind will soon be tutored +to forget Edward de Vaux. Were she of that warm, ardent, deep-feeling +nature that casts fate and happiness upon one die, I might hope that +she would still cling to me: but it is in vain thinking of it--I have +no reason to hope it. She will follow the dictates of common sense and +prudence, and abandon an alliance which all her friends would now +oppose."</p> + +<p class="normal">Poor Marian! thus did her unhappy lover contrive to wring his own +heart even with her very virtues. After thinking for at least an hour +in gloomy silence, a faint hope crossed his mind, that he might have +mistaken the import of the letter--that his apprehensions might have +deceived him. Experience, gained from the consequences of our faults, +almost always, sooner or later, gives us a vague, unsatisfactory +consciousness that such things exist in our bosom; and Edward de Vaux +did know that he was given to torment himself needlessly. He therefore +read the letter over again, and read it carefully; but, on doing so, +his first impression was but the more confirmed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yet it might be false," he thought; "the whole tale might be false, +or might refer to something else, and be the mere blunder of some +ignorant and presumptuous person." But then the remembrance of his +father's words returned, and all that had before seemed strange +regarding his mother came up before his mind; and he once more gave +himself up to despair.</p> + +<p class="normal">What was to be done, became the next question. There was just a +sufficient portion of doubt mingled with his feelings to hold him +tortured in suspense, without being enough to approach the limit of +hope. This state, of course, he could have borne no longer under any +circumstances; but his situation in regard to Marian rendered it +absolutely necessary that he should put an end to all doubt upon the +business. And yet it was terrible, most terrible, to feel that it must +be his own hand which tore away the veil that concealed the obstacles +to his marriage--that it must be his own hand that cast away his +happiness for ever. The thought might cross his mind of letting things +take their course--of choosing to disbelieve the letter--of treating +it with contempt, and of proceeding with Marian to the altar, to +secure the blessing of her hand, at least, before the rest was +snatched from him. But if it did cross his mind, it was but as the +image of a thing that might be with some men, but could never be with +him. It occupied not a moment's consideration--it left no trace behind +it. To investigate the matter instantly, and to the bottom, became his +determination; and, having done so, to make the result known to those +interested, and at once place himself fearlessly in the situation +which he had alone a right to fill. He did get that there might be +circumstances in the story which he was about to hear which might +render it necessary to conceal it from the public ear, in +consideration for the feelings of his father, or of others. But to +Marian, at least, the facts must be told; she was too deeply +implicated in it all to be left in ignorance of what touched her whole +future happiness; and De Vaux resolved that not only should she be +told, but that no lips but his own should tell it, as he well knew how +a few explicative words, or a well-turned round of phrases, may +pervert a plain tale from its true meaning. "I will trust none," he +thought; "and, whatever the truth may be, from my lips alone shall she +first hear it."</p> + +<p class="normal">The course to be pursued in his investigation became the next +question. Two were pointed out in the letter itself; but from the +first, that of applying to his father, he shrank with irresistible +repugnance. It was not alone that De Vaux, as is common--we might +almost say universal--among men, possessed more physical than moral +courage; that he feared the fierce and angry mood of his father, +irritated as he had been by late opposition, and loved not to venture +upon a discussion with him, which would rouse every dark and stormy +passion into fiery activity; but he feared himself also: he feared +that anguish and anger, and the haughty irritation with which he was +sure to be encountered, might make him forget himself, and say words +that no after-sorrow could recall. There might still be a doubt, too, +upon even the very subject of his fears, and he felt that were those +fears unfounded, his father might justly look upon it as little better +than a gross personal insult, were he asked if he had passed his +illegitimate son upon the world as legitimate, and promoted his union +with the heiress of a large fortune, under the pretence of his being +heir to an honourable name and great possessions.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux might believe that such conduct was not impossible; he might +also think that his father was not actuated in so doing by the mean +and sordid views which, at first sight, seem the only motives +assignable for such behaviour. Various circumstances might have +occurred, in earlier years, to make his father acknowledge an unreal +marriage with his mother; considerations for her feelings, or for his +own respectability, might be among the rest. Once having said so, and +spoken of himself as of a legitimate child, Edward de Vaux knew well +that his father's proud and reserved nature might have made him ever +after silent upon the subject, till explanation became almost +impossible; and the deceit he had practised or permitted might have +been rather the result of haughty reserve than of cunning artifice.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux felt that, however, ere he presumed to insinuate to his father +a bare suspicion of his having committed such an act, he must have +much better information and clearer proof to justify the charge. When +such evidence was once obtained, he might communicate the discovery he +had made to Lord Dewry by letter, and thus avoid that painful +collision which a personal discussion of the matter must induce; or, +if he found that the evidence was faulty or inconclusive; that there +was motive for suspicion against the person who tendered it, or that +the whole was an interested calumny, he might lay it before his +father, as an affair which required him to investigate the assertions, +and punish the authors of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">The determination, therefore, was taken to visit the gipsy himself; +and the only consideration that remained was, whether to go alone, or +to ask Manners to accompany him. From the latter idea he shrank, as, +in that case, he must have exposed to his friend doubts and +apprehensions which were bitterly humiliating, and might even +compromise the secrets of others, to whom his friend was a stranger, +in a manner which he had no right to do. The letter, also, bade him +come alone; and, on reading it over once more, everything tended to +make him give credence both to the sincerity of the writer and the +accuracy of the facts. He had a faint remembrance, too, of having +heard the name of Pharold mentioned by his aunt, as connected with the +early days of her family; and the fact of the writer having referred +him, in the first instance, to his own father, tended to show that +there existed no design against himself personally. Besides, De Vaux +was not a man to entertain fears of any kind for his own safety; and, +as he clearly saw that Manners was totally ignorant of the contents of +the letter which he had brought him, he determined to go alone, and +investigate the matter thoroughly.</p> + +<p class="normal">His next question to his own heart was, "and, in the meantime, what +shall be my conduct towards Marian? How shall I behave while I expect +and believe that a few more hours will alter our situation towards +each other for ever, and render that conduct wrong which was perfectly +consistent with our engagement towards each other? If I change my +manner, she may think my affection cooled, and feel herself unkindly +treated. But then," he thought again, bitterly enough, "but then that +will but serve to smooth the way to the change which is ultimately to +take place; and perhaps it had better be reached by some such +intermediate step." The next moment, again, his wavering thoughts +turned to the other side, and he demanded whether he had any right +to give her one instant's pain more than necessary. The reply was +ready:--"No, no! that were cruel and unkind indeed; and should I do +so, and my fears prove false, my behaviour would necessarily, from all +the circumstances of the case, remain unexplained--a dark blot upon my +affection towards her. Yet, hereafter, if she should learn that such +tidings have been in my possession,--that such doubts have been justly +working in my mind,--will she not think it wrong, and even deceitful, +of me to treat her as my promised bride, when I know that she never +can be such?"</p> + +<p class="normal">What was to be done? De Vaux, according to the old scholastic term, +had got himself between the horns of a dilemma; and we must pause for +one moment, in order to inquire how far he was art and part in putting +himself into that situation. It is wonderful, most wonderful, how +people deceive themselves in this world, and how they go on arguing +with themselves on both sides of the question for an hour together, +affecting to be puzzled, and asking themselves what is to be done, +when, from the very first, they have determined, in secret counsel, +what to do; and all this logic and disquisition has solely been for +the purpose of bewildering <i>reason</i>, or <i>duty</i>, or <i>conscience</i>, or +any other of those personified qualities of the soul, which the great +parliament of man's passions choose to look upon as <i>the public</i>, <i>the +spectators</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, at that point of De Vaux's cogitations wherein he thought, and +rejected the idea, of admitting Manners to his confidence in the +matter before him, as is fully displayed three or four pages back, a +fancy struck him, which instantly changed into a secret resolution, +not to make Manners his confidant in the business, but to open his +whole heart to Marian de Vaux; and although it needed scarcely any +argument to prove that she, whose fate was the most strictly bound up +with his own, whose affection he certainly possessed, and whose good +sense he never doubted, was the person, of all others, in whom he +ought to confide; yet, some idle cant that he had read in some foolish +book, or heard from some foolish people, about the absurdity of +trusting a woman; some silly sneer or insignificant jest, magnified +into a bugbear through the mist of memory, had power enough to make +him hide his own determination from himself; and, in the first +instance, go the roundabout path we have traced, in order to prove +that he had no other resource but to tell her the whole affair, ere he +boldly admitted his resolution even to his own heart, and brought +forward the true and upright motives on which it was founded. So weak +is human nature!</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as this was done, the matter was no longer difficult; all +embarrassment in regard to his conduct was removed, and he felt that +what was kindest and what was most affectionate, was also the most +just and the most reasonable. Whatever was the truth of the assertions +contained in the letter he had received, and to whatever facts it +alluded, it pointed principally at his union with Marian, and the +disparity of fortune and rank which the writer affirmed to exist +between them. She, therefore, was a person principally concerned; and +on her ultimate decision their fate must rest. De Vaux feared not that +any loss of fortune could affect Marian's regard: he could not have +loved her had he supposed it would; but he did fear that the stigma, +which he believed might rest upon his birth, and which he himself felt +as so deeply humiliating, might make a difference in her feelings; +and, when backed by the counsel and arguments of some of her maternal +relations, might make her resolves unfavourable to his hopes. But +still, in telling her all, from the beginning, in concealing nothing, +in acting at once affectionately and candidly, he felt that he was +establishing the best claim to continued affection and esteem: he +felt, too, that, if there had been deceit on any part, such conduct +would be the best proof to all that he was as free as day from any +participation in it, and that, whatever were the result, his honour +and his name would be clear.</p> + +<p class="normal">His determination, therefore, was backed by every motive, but still it +required great delicacy in executing it. It was necessary not to shock +or to pain her--he loved too much to do so--and yet to be perfectly +explicit. It was requisite to tell her all, and to leave her fully +convinced of his unalterable love; yet perfectly free to form her own +decision on her future conduct. The hour, too, and the manner, were +matters for consideration, and he resolved not to delay, but let the +communication be made immediately, and as a matter of importance. It +would require time, however; and, as it was already late, he was +obliged to make up his mind that the visit to the gipsy must take +place on the following morning: he only paused, then, to recover his +composure completely, and to think of the best method of telling +Marian the whole, in such a manner as to give her the least pain, yet +show his confidence and affection the most clearly.</p> + +<p class="normal">He accordingly sat still, and laid it out like the plan of a battle; +but in this he was very wrong; as, by so doing, he naturally presented +Marian to his fancy in the light of the enemy. The consequences were, +that his own private little demon instantly saw his advantage, and, +whispering in De Vaux's ear, made his irritable and irritated spirit +believe that Marian would act in a thousand different ways, which he +could not blame, yet did not like. The fiend, who well knows how to +seize probabilities, took hold of every particular point in Marian's +character which could give him any thing to cling to; and De Vaux saw, +in the glass of fancy, her beautiful countenance looking upon him as +calmly and as reasonably as ever, without a shade of agitation passing +over its placid sweetness during the whole time that he, with +difficulty, and hesitation, and agony of spirit, and humiliation of +heart, was telling her all his anxieties and apprehensions. He saw, in +the same magic glass, the very spot of the room where she would stand, +and the fine easy line of her figure, all displaying perfect composure +and graceful ease; and he heard the soft, sweet modulations of her +voice, calm, gentle, but unaltered; and at length he thought, "I know +perfectly what she will say when she hears it: she will declare that I +am too hasty in my conclusions; that I must see the gipsy, or whatever +he may be, and hear the whole of what he has to say; for that the +matter is too important to be judged of hastily, and that when we know +the whole, and have had time to consider, we can decide: or she will +speak of consulting my aunt, or her great uncle Lord Westerham, or any +other of those cold, disinterested people who can give proper advice +upon the subject: and yet I do my aunt injustice; for though of a +decided nature, she is not of a cold-hearted one."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, then, did he torment himself for some minutes, taking as much +pains to make himself miserable as if there were not quite enough pain +in this world without our seeking it. Nor did he stop here; but went +on in the same train till he had almost wrought himself out of the +determination of telling Marian at all, though he ultimately came back +to his first resolution. It is not to be concealed that all this +hesitation, and a great deal of this anguish, proceeded from his +having fallen into the common error of giving the reins over to +imagination, and believing that he had placed them safely in the hands +of reason. Had he acted wisely, he would not have sat down to fancy +any thing upon the subject at all, but he would have risen up, on the +contrary, as soon as his resolution was taken, and, seeking out her he +loved, would have told her all his doubts and fears, without thinking +at all previously either of what he would say or what she would say. +Nature, left alone to work her own way, in a thousand instances out +of a thousand and one does it gracefully; but if one calls in to +counsel her all the host of man's passions, prejudices, faults, and +foibles--though judgment may be present too--yet, nine times out +often, the multitude of counsellors, in this case, produces any thing +but safety. Neither is there ever any use of long consideration in +circumstances like those we have mentioned. What we will do always +requires thought; how we will do it, seldom, if ever. Trust to your +own heart, if you have a good one; and if it be bad, the sooner you +hurry it through the business the better. It is equally vain thinking +what we will say ourselves, for we are sure never to say it; and still +more fruitless to fancy what other people will say, for we know +nothing about it.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux, however, was in some respects a curious compound of very +different principles. With all his errors and with all his faults, he +had a great deal of candour; and, however keen he might be in +investigating and lashing the motives of other people, he was not half +so strict an inquisitor into their failings as he was into his own. As +a consequence of this, though the knowledge often lay dormant, he did +know, as we have often before hinted, with extraordinary accuracy, all +the turnings and windings, the intricacies and the absurdities of his +own nature; and as soon as the rush of passions was over, his +conscience--like the power of the law restored after a popular +tumult--would mount the tribunal, and sit in judgment on his own +heart. Often, too--like the same power exerting itself to repress +anarchy--his better judgment would rise up against the crowd of wild +images presented by an irritable fancy, and after a short struggle +would regain its power.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, in the present instance he felt, after a while, that he was but +anticipating more misery when he had already sufficient to endure; +and, doing in the end what he ought to have done at first, he started +up, and went to seek Marian, in order to give her the opportunity of +letting her own conduct speak for itself.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.9" href="#div1Ref_01.9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux had calmed himself as much as he possibly could; and as he was +not blessed with a face possessing that general expression of jocund +felicity which is usually denominated a smiling countenance, whatever +degree of gravity and care was left in his look at present excited no +particular notice in the drawing-room, whither his steps were first +directed. The party there assembled now consisted of Mrs. Falkland and +her daughter, with Colonel Manners; and the latter alone saw that the +agitation which he had beheld the gipsy's letter produce in his friend +had ended in permanent distress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Marian?" said De Vaux, as he entered, not very much +disappointed, perhaps, to find that she was not with the rest of the +family; "where is Marian?--do you know, Isadore?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I left her drawing in the little saloon at the other end of the +house," replied Isadore; "but that was a full hour ago, Edward; and if +she expected a gay knight or wandering troubadour to come and sooth +her, either with his <i>gaie science</i> or his <i>bien dire</i>, she may have +left her solitude by this time in disappointment."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux smiled somewhat bitterly, as he felt how much more painfully +he had been employed than he would have been in the occupations to +which Isadore referred; and, again leaving the drawing-room, he sped +along the same passages which, with a light and bounding heart, he had +often trod in search of her upon some joyous errand whom he now sought +with feelings of care, anxiety, and sorrow. Marian was still where her +cousin Isadore had left her; and though, perhaps, she did think that +De Vaux might have found her out sooner, when he had no ostensible +motive for being absent from the side of her he loved, yet, like a +wise girl, she received him with as sweet a smile as if no such slight +reproach had ever crossed her fancy. The next moment she rejoiced that +she had done so; for the expression of anguish in her lover's eyes did +not escape her, and she felt at once that, for whatever other +occupation De Vaux had yielded the pleasure of her society, it was for +no agreeable one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look at this drawing, Edward," she said, as he came in: "do you not +think that I have made my hermit look very melancholy sitting on that +rock?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not so melancholy as my thoughts, dear Marian," replied De Vaux, +gazing over her shoulder, apparently at the drawing, but in truth +hardly seeing a line that the paper contained; "not so melancholy as +my thoughts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what has occurred to make them so, Edward?" she asked, turning +round to read the answer in his face before his lips could reply. +"Surely, I have a right to know, if any one has, what it is that makes +you unhappy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have, dear Marian, you have," he replied; "and I have sought you +out here to make you share in all I feel, though the task be a painful +one. But come here, and sit with me on the sofa by the window, and I +will tell you all." And, taking her by the hand, he led her on towards +one of the windows that looked out over the park; for, however strange +it may be, there are undoubtedly particular positions and particular +situations in which one can tell a disagreeable story more easily than +in others.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian was alarmed, and she was agitated, too, within; for she +suffered not her agitation to appear upon the surface when she could +help it; and, as is very natural, she anxiously strove to arrive at +some leading fact as quick as possible. "Something must have occurred +very lately, Edward," she said, "for you were very gay and cheerful +during our ride this morning. Have you heard any thing from your +father to distress you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, dearest girl," he answered, "I have heard nothing from him; but I +have heard from some one else much that distresses me: but I had +better show you what I have received, which will explain the matter +more briefly than I could do."</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying, he placed the gipsy's letter in her hand. Marian took it, +and read it through; but, as she knew none of the circumstances which +tended in the mind of De Vaux to corroborate the doubts insinuated by +the letter, she viewed its contents in a different light; and, +returning it with a smile, she asked, "And is that all that has made +you uneasy, Edward? But it is evidently all nonsense, my dear cousin. +If that foolish man, who teased me so much two years ago, were not out +of the country, I should think it was a plan of his to annoy you; but +depend upon it, that this is the trick of some one who wishes to +disturb our happiness. What have we to do with gipsies, Edward? and +how could gipsies know any thing about you and me, unless they were +instructed by somebody else? And if any person in our own rank had +real information, they would of course bring it forward themselves, +and not send it through a set of gipsies."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You argue well, Marian," answered De Vaux, "and I would fain believe +that you argue rightly; but I am sorry to tell you that several things +have previously occurred, which tend to confirm the assertions +contained in this."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian turned a little pale from anxiety for him she loved. "Tell me +all, Edward," she said, "tell me all; I am sure you will conceal +nothing from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing that I know, indeed, Marian," he answered: "I came with the +purpose of opening my whole thoughts to you; for you have every right, +that either true love or our mutual situation can give you, to know +every thing that I know. Well, then, my beloved, the fact which most +completely tends to corroborate the assertions in this letter, +occurred in a conversation between myself and my father yesterday +morning. It was when he was angry in regard to his unfortunate quarrel +with Manners and my opposition of the view he had taken: and he said +sternly, and bitterly enough, that though the estates were entailed, I +could be deprived of them by a word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" said Marian, thoughtfully, "indeed!" but the next moment she +added, "No, no, Edward, it must have been said in a moment of +passion, without reason, and without truth. Depend upon it, your +father and my uncle would never have spoken about our marriage to me, +and to all my mother's family, as he has often done, calling you +somewhat particularly the heir of his titles and estates, if you were +neither, as that letter says."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But yet the letter and his words confirm each other," said De Vaux: +"they both tell the same tale, dear Marian. Many a true word is spoken +in a moment of passion, that a man has concealed for years, and would +give worlds afterward to recall. Besides, I think I have heard the +name of this Pharold before: have you not heard my aunt speak of some +gipsy boy that my grandfather wished to educate?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no, not my aunt," answered Marian. "All that happened when she +was very young, quite a child, I believe. It was poor Mrs. Dickinson, +the old housekeeper, who used to tell us stories about that gipsy when +we were children; and his name was Pharold, I think. She spoke of him +as of a fine creature, but very wild."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, dear Marian," said De Vaux, with a gloomy smile, "everything +tends to the same result. My father's words confirm the story of the +gipsy, and what we know of the gipsy would show that he had some +acquaintance with the history of our family."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian mused: "It is very strange, Edward," she said at length, "and I +suppose there must, indeed, be some foundation for all this. But yet I +cannot understand it: if the estates are entailed, what is there on +earth that can prevent your inheriting them? If the title goes to the +sons, you must have it; and if it had gone to the daughters, I must +have had it, you know, which would have been all the same thing. If +you do believe this story, as I am afraid you do, tell me how it can +be."</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux paused; for he had never calculated upon going further, +or being more explicit than he had been. He had thought it would be +enough to explain that he was likely to lose the lands and honours of +Dewry, and that Marian would naturally draw her own conclusion, and +perceive the only cause which could produce such a result. Her +question, therefore, embarrassed him, for he would willingly have +sealed his lips upon his mother's shame; and, though he had felt +himself bound to tell her all he was likely to lose, without +concealment, yet he hesitated at revealing the most painful part of +his own suspicions, till those suspicions had been rendered +certainties.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian saw him hesitate, and raising her beautiful eyes to his face, +she said, "Edward, you have promised to tell me all, and you must make +it all you think, as well as all you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not to be resisted. "Well, beloved, well!" he said, "I will, +though it is very, very terrible to do so; and, in truth, I hardly +know how to do it. Marian, did you ever see my mother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Edward, never that I know of," she replied: "why do you ask?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you ever hear my aunt speak of her?" continued De Vaux, without +replying to her question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me think," said Marian. "I believe I have: but no, I cannot +remember that I ever did, now I reflect upon it: no, I never did."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor my father either?" asked De Vaux.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, never; certainly never," answered Marian.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then--" said De Vaux, and he paused abruptly, fixing his eyes +upon her face. Instantly a colour of the deepest crimson rushed up +over the whole countenance of Marian de Vaux, dying cheek, and neck, +and forehead with the blush of generous shame--the shame that every +pure, virtuous, inexperienced woman feels when the idea of vice in her +own sex is suddenly brought before her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux turned deadly pale, as he both perceived that Marian +had now caught his meaning, and comprehended most painfully the +feelings in which that bright blush arose. The shame that Marian felt +for the degradation of her sex touched the most agonized spot in De +Vaux's heart. All that hatred for vice, and scorn for the vicious, and +the pity which comes near contempt, could produce in a woman's bosom, +seemed to De Vaux expressed by that blush, and pointed, more or less +directly, towards himself; and, as I have said, he turned very pale.</p> + +<p class="normal">The deep emotion that he felt overpowered him for an instant; but then +he made a great exertion, and, rising from the sofa, "Marian," he +said, "I have now told you all, even to my innermost thoughts; and I +have but one word to add, my dear, dear cousin. Nearly three years +ago, you assured me of your love, and promised me your hand; and every +member of your family willingly consented to our ultimate union; but +then I was the Honourable Edward de Vaux, the heir to one of the most +ancient peerages in England, and to twenty thousand per annum. Things +have now changed; and, if the assertions in this letter, and my own +suspicions be correct, I am now a nameless, illegitimate beggar, +without a right to any thing on earth but my sword and my +reputation--with shame upon my mother's head--with nothing to claim +from my father, and without even a name that I can offer you. Under +these circumstances, though I shall love you to the last day of my +life, and think of you through every moment in the whole course of +time, I give you back your promise, I free you from all engagement, +and leave you totally untied to a connection from which your friends +will naturally be glad enough to separate you."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke calmly, slowly, and distinctly; but the deadly paleness of +his countenance showed how deeply he was moved at heart; and Marian +gazed upon him, with her long dark eyelashes raised high, her +beautiful eyes full upon his face, and her lip slightly trembling +while he went on. As soon as he had ceased, she rose from the sofa, +and, with agitation and ardour, all unlike her usual calmness, cast +herself at once upon his bosom, with her arms circling his neck, her +lips pressed upon his cheek, and her tears falling rapidly upon +him.--"Edward, Edward!" she cried, "I am yours--all yours! Could +you--could you do such injustice to your own Marian? You have given me +back my promise, and I here give it you again--so that, whatever +comes, I may never hear from any one a single word against our union. +Nay, nay, let me speak--it is seldom that I am vehement; but I must +speak now--you have my promise, most solemnly, most strictly; and I +consider myself as much bound to you as if I were your wife. Not only +shall no other person upon earth ever have my hand, but, whatever +happens, and whoever opposes it, you shall have it, when and where you +choose to ask it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Need I say how tenderly he pressed her to his heart? Need I say how +ardently, how sincerely he thanked her? But still there was some +slight hesitation in his mind. He almost doubted that she fully +appreciated his situation, and he felt that he could not receive such +a promise as she had made till she comprehended all. He bade her +think, then, of the whole; and conjured her to remember, that it was +not alone the loss of name and station, but that, if his anticipations +were correct, every thing like wealth, or even competence, would also +be lost to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But all Marian's reserve was now gone, and the long-restrained +feelings of her heart flowed forth all together. "Nay, nay, Edward," +she said, again seating herself on the sofa, without, however, +withdrawing the small soft hand he held in his; "nay, nay, Edward, +have I not enough for us both? enough to give us every comfort? Nay, +every luxury that we ought to have we shall still possess; and why +need we wish for more? Do you think that the coach-and-six, and the +golden-coated coachman, and the three lackeys on the footboard ever +entered into my calculations of happiness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but, dearest Marian," he replied, "it is only painful to me to +think that I bring nothing to unite to your property. Your large +fortune renders it only the more necessary that I should have one +too--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, hush, hush!" cried Marian, eagerly: but still he went on: "I +have to owe you every thing, Marian; love, and happiness, and rank, +and station, and fortune too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And will you, Edward, <i>you</i> talk so proudly to Marian de Vaux?" she +exclaimed. "Will you be too haughty to enjoy all the blessings that we +possess, because it is Marian that gives them? Is not that which is +mine yours? Has it not been so since we were children? Do not distress +me, Edward, by one thought of such a kind. Indeed, I shall think you +do not love me--that you are going to refuse my offered hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Marian, Marian!" he cried, kissing it a thousand times, while +something very bright, and not unlike a tear, glittered in his eye. "I +would not lose it for a thousand worlds! Distress you! dearest girl! I +grieve to have distressed you for a moment; but I felt myself bound to +tell you all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that does not distress me at all," replied Marian; "the only +thing that could distress me would be to see you grieve, or to think +that you should make a difference, even in thought, between what is +yours and what is mine. I declare, Edward, I never knew what it was to +feel glad of a large fortune before; but now I am thankful, not only +for what my mother left me, but for every shilling that my good old +granduncle and guardian has scraped together for me, by his economy +thereof. Three thousand a year, Edward--consider, we shall be as rich +as princes; and if it had not been for that, this misfortune might +have obliged us to wait on for many a year, till you had made a +fortune in India, and very likely have lost your health, which no +fortune could have compensated."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian de Vaux spoke in a manner totally different from that which her +cousin had seen her display for many a year. Her beautiful eyes were +full of light and feeling; a smile, half-tender, half-playful, hovered +over her lip, and her voice was full of eager kindness and thrilling +affection. He had remembered her thus as a girl; but, as she had grown +up towards womanhood, either the feelings which had animated her bosom +with such a warm and enthusiastic glow had passed away, or the +expression of them had been gradually suppressed. Now, again, she was +all that he remembered her, and to see her so, plunged him into a +sweet vision of the past--connected, though by some fine golden +threads, with the present. He had seated himself on the sofa beside +her, and, still holding her right hand in his, he had glided his left +arm round her waist, and then, with his eyes fixed on a distant spot +of the floor, he remained in silence for two or three moments after +she had done speaking. Unless man were a cold unfeeling piece of +ticking mechanism, like a watch, our measures of time would always be +by our sensations: and as Marian had at that moment given way to all +the eagerness of her heart, the two moments that Edward de Vaux +remained in thought seemed to her an age. "What is the matter, +Edward?" she said. "Are you still unhappy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my beloved," he answered, looking up in her face with a glance +that fully confirmed his words,--"no, my beloved; I am most happy! so +happy, indeed, that, were I placed as I was before, I would almost +again undergo the pain which this discovery first caused me, to enjoy +the delight which my Marian's conduct has bestowed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And did you doubt what that conduct would be, Edward?" she demanded, +half-reproachfully. Edward de Vaux coloured, and might have hesitated; +for conscience, that bitter smiter, who always finds his time to apply +the lash, now struck him severely for all those images which an +irritable fancy had suggested concerning Marian's conduct. But she +saved him the pain of a reply, which must either have been mortifying +or insincere. "And did you doubt what my conduct would be?" she asked; +and in the next moment she added, "But never mind, dear Edward; you +see what it is, and do never doubt it again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will never doubt, as long as I live, my own beloved girl," he +answered, ardently; "I will never doubt, as long as I live, that it +will on every occasion be all that is good, and noble, and generous: +but it was not that alone, my Marian, that made me so happy--so very, +very happy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What was it, then, dear Edward," she asked, in some surprise; for +Marian, with all the quickness of a woman's perception, had noticed +the passing colour that came into De Vaux's cheek; and knowing him, +and all the little intricacies of his heart, better than he +thought--better, perhaps, than she thought herself--she had instantly +set down the blush to its right cause, and said, in her own heart, +"Edward has been tormenting himself with fancies." Now, however, his +words puzzled her, though a latent consciousness of having--in the +urgency of the moment, and in the desire to sooth and render Edward +patient under his misfortune--a latent consciousness of having given +free course to feelings and enthusiasms which she had long held close +prisoners in her bosom, made her now feel embarrassed in turn; and a +bright warm blush, partly from curiosity, partly from that +consciousness, mantled for a moment in her cheek.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux gazed upon her as she put her question with a smile, +full of deep fond affection--with a sort of triumphant happiness, too, +in his look that made her inclined, she knew not why, to hide her eyes +upon his bosom, as she had done long ago, when first she had +acknowledged to him the love that he had won, and witnessed the joy +that it called up in his countenance. "I will tell you what it is, +dearest," he answered, "that makes me now so happy, that I should have +considered anything but yourself a light sacrifice to obtain such joy. +It is, that the misfortune which has befallen me has called forth my +beloved Marian's true and natural character, and shown her to me +fully, as the same dear, excellent, feeling, enthusiastic girl that I +have always pictured her to my own imagination--such as her feelings +as a child gave promise that she would be--such as I remember her +appearing constantly, not many years ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian blushed, and looked down; and there was a swimming moisture in +her eyes, which a little more might have caused to overflow in tears: +but they would not have been unhappy ones. She felt--</p> + +<p class="normal">But it is difficult to say what she felt. It was not that she felt +detected, for that word would imply a shade of culpability which she +did not feel; but she felt that she had betrayed herself--that a veil +which she had cast over the true features of her mind, from many a +deep and complicated motive, had been raised--had been snatched away, +and could never be dropped effectually again. The effect which the +raising of that veil had produced was all glad and gratifying, it is +true; but still there was that fluttering emotion at her heart, which +the disclosure of long-hidden feelings must always produce: she felt +as if she had told her love for the first time over again; and she +knew, too, that she might be called upon to assign motives, and give +reasons, which would be difficult to explain, but which she determined +not to withhold, for many a good and sufficient cause. But all this +agitated her. She blushed, she almost trembled; and Edward de Vaux was +but the more convinced, from the agitation which he beheld, that the +concealment of her real character, and the repression of her finest +feelings, had been a conscious and voluntary act on the part of her he +loved.</p> + +<p class="normal">He became curious, as well he might be, to learn more; and, as Marian +still sat silently beside him, he tried the tacit persuasion of a +gentle kiss upon the blushing cheek, that almost touched his shoulder. +She turned round towards him with a thoughtful smile; but, as she did +not speak, he asked more boldly, "Why, Marian, why, dearest, after +having given me your love, and promised me your hand, have you let +that dear little heart play at hide and seek with me, till I have +sometimes almost doubted whether it was my own?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should not have doubted that, De Vaux," Marian answered; "but if +you really wish to know why I have somewhat changed my conduct since I +was a girl, and why I have, in some degree, repressed feelings that I +have not experienced the less warmly, I will let you into some of the +secrets of a woman's heart; but you must promise me, Edward, never to +abuse the trust," she added, smiling more gaily; "and you must +promise, too, not to be angry with any thing I shall say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Angry! angry with you, Marian!" said De Vaux; "do not believe such a +thing possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian smiled again, for there is often a sort of prophetic +presentiment in the breast of woman, which teaches her that, however +much she may rule and command the lover, the husband will not receive +the power in vain; and, perhaps, it is this knowledge of the shortness +of their reign which sometimes makes women abuse it a little while it +lasts. Marian smiled again at De Vaux's words, and then replied, +"Well, then, Edward, keep your part of the compact, and I will tell +you all. You say I have changed very much since I was a girl; and that +is but natural, Edward; for, depend upon it, every woman does change, +if she feels and thinks at all deeply. As a girl, her words and her +actions are all of but little importance in the eyes of those around +her, or in her own, unless she be nourished in conceit and affectation +from her cradle; and, during the first fifteen or sixteen years of her +life, though she may be taught to act like a lady, yet she sees no +reason for concealing anything she feels, or anything she thinks, if +it be not likely to hurt the feelings of others. As she goes on +towards womanhood, however, the world changes its conduct towards her, +and she finds it necessary to change towards it. She learns to look +upon trifles in her own conduct, and in the conduct of others towards +her, as matters of importance: the world and society assume a +different aspect she trembles lest she should say, or do, or feel what +is wrong; and very often she expresses too little of what she feels, +lest she should express too much. Then, too, Edward," continued +Marian, with the colour which had partly left her cheek while she +spoke coming richly up again, and spreading over her whole face, +"then, too, Edward, if she learns to love, all those fears and +apprehensions are a thousand-fold increased. She is terrified at her +own sensations, and almost thinks it wrong and sacrilegious to suffer +that one being by whom her affections are won to take that station in +her heart, above all the rest of the world, which she has hitherto +devoted solely to a being beyond the world. Perhaps before that time +she may have longed to love and be beloved; but the first moment she +feels that it is so--especially if it come upon her suddenly--depend +upon it, her feelings are more or less those of terror."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux smiled, but his hand pressed tenderly upon Marian's as he did +so; and she felt it was as much a smile of thanks, as if he had +accompanied it with words of ever so much gratitude for the picture of +her feelings that she had given him. She paused, however, for she was +coming to matter which she feared might not please him so well; and +his thoughts turning, too, in the same direction, he said, after +waiting for a few moments to see if she would go on, "But, dear +Marian, this happens to every woman without producing such a change as +I have seen in you; and besides, what I have seen to-day, Marian, has +shown me fully that there has been some more distinct and individual +motive. Tell it me, Marian, tell it me, my beloved; and, believe me, I +will not abuse your confidence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor be angry?" she said, smiling again. "Remember, that it is a +principal part of our agreement. Well, then, I will go on. When first +we were engaged to each other, Edward, my chief thought--as, indeed, +it ever has been since--was how to make the man I loved most +completely happy, as far as my own conduct was concerned; and I was +reading at that time a very clever book, which recommended women, on +their marriage, to study, not alone the general character of their +husband, but all his individual opinions and thoughts, in order to +make their own behaviour completely conformable thereto; it asserted, +also, that such was the surest way of winning happiness for both. I +believed it, and resolved to try to follow the advice even before +marriage. I listened to every thing you said, concerning the conduct +of other women that we knew, with a determination of trying to acquire +the qualities that you praised, and to avoid all that you blamed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, good God! my dearest Marian!" exclaimed Edward, warmly, "surely +I did not blame them for suffering the beauties or the excellences of +their natural characters to appear, nor praise them for assuming a +coldness that was the most opposed to the general warmth of their +nature?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not exactly, Edward," replied Marian; "but I will tell you what you +did, which came much to the same purpose. Though whatever I did seemed +to give you pleasure, yet, when you spoke of any of our acquaintance, +you were so severe upon what appeared to me very slight mistakes in +their demeanour; you were so rigid in your ideas of what was right in +general behaviour; you even once censured so heavily a display, rather +too open, of attachment to her husband, on the part of a lady whom we +both knew, that I began to find that your opinions on such subjects +were very nice indeed: and knowing," added Marian, with a smile, which +De Vaux felt fully, "and knowing that my lover, with these nice +opinions, was peculiarly sensitive to every thing that he thought +could draw the slightest degree of ridicule upon him or his, I +determined so to school my own conduct, and to repress the expression +of my own feelings, as to ensure his heart against the slightest +annoyance, concerning a word, or a movement, or a look of his wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian paused, and Edward de Vaux, with his eyes bent upon the ground, +remained silent for two or three minutes, till she became alarmed. +"You promised me, Edward," she said, "not to be angry."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not to be angry with you, my beloved girl," he said; "but I did not +promise not to be angry with myself; and well, well do I deserve it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nor must you be angry with yourself either, Edward," replied +Marian; "if you are, I shall still think some of it lights upon me. +If, in seeking the means of rendering you happy, I have made you +unhappy, I shall meet with punishment instead of reward."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dearest Marian," answered De Vaux, "it were vain to deny it. I have +been a fastidious fool hitherto; and, like the other sneerers of this +world, have been seeking the mote in my brother's eye, while I have +forgot the beam in my own. But henceforth I will take example by you, +dearest Marian, and so school my own heart as to get over that feeling +of the ridiculous in others, and terror for it in myself, which I now +find and believe to be a vice and not a quality."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian shook her head with a doubtful smile, as if she would have +said, "It is in your nature, Edward."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will, indeed, Marian," he continued; "and you shall see what a +strong resolution can do even with Edward de Vaux. But you must +promise me in return, dearest, to reward my efforts, by casting off +the reserve that my foolish fastidiousness has drawn over you. The +qualities of my Marian's heart and mind are too beautiful to be hidden +beneath such a veil."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian smiled again, but looked a little thoughtful, for she felt that +the task her lover would impose was no easy one. "I will do my best, +Edward," she said; "but it must be by degrees. In the first place, all +the world would think me mad, if I were to change suddenly from the +quiet still-life demeanour of Marian de Vaux, and take up the gay, +lively, enthusiastic character of Isadore Falkland; and, in the next +place, it would be impossible, for I have now been training myself to +this behaviour so long, that it has become quite habitual to me; and, +whatever are the emotions that I feel at heart, my first effort--even +before I know I am making one--is to keep those emotions from +appearing. Sometimes, indeed," she added, laughing, "they break +through all restraint, as they have done today; but that is only on +great occasions. However, I will do my best to change back again; and, +perhaps, as I have overdone the quiet and composed, I may find the +happy medium, in returning to my old thoughtlessness. But, in the mean +time, Edward, never you be deceived in regard to what I feel. You have +seen the veil, as you call it, cast away; and you know entirely what +is beneath it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A thousand, thousand thanks, for letting me see it, Marian," he +replied: "but I can never thank you enough, my beloved, for all that +you have done this day--for showing me your heart, and for giving me a +glimpse, too, of my own."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I owe you thanks, too, Edward--deep and many thanks," replied +Marian, "for the generous candour of your conduct; and for not +shrinking, even for a moment, from making me a sharer in your thoughts +and feelings, however painful they might be to communicate. And oh, +Edward, let me entreat you ever to pursue the same course hereafter. +Let me be the sharer of all your thoughts; let me hear every thing +painful or to be feared, from your own lips, and the tale will loose +half its bitterness; and I promise you that, if I cannot assist you +with advice and support, I will not embarrass you by womanly fear, or +weak irresolution."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will, Marian, I will!" replied De Vaux; "for I can contemplate no +case in which what I had to communicate would combine half so many +sources of pain and anxiety as that which is just past: and now, +dearest, then, give me your advice in regard to the course I ought to +pursue in investigating this very painful business."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you not think, Edward," said Marian, "that you had better not +investigate it at all? If, by letting it rest, and treating this +information with contempt, you were likely to injure any one, of +course I should say, sift it to the last grain. But it seems that +these people, whoever they are, that send you such disagreeable +tidings, hold out our approaching marriage as the only motive for your +enquiry farther; and, as you have told me the whole without reserve, +and I am perfectly satisfied, I see no reason why you should trouble +yourself further about it. If you are to lose the titles and estates +of your father on any pretext, let the gipsies send their information +to the person who is to benefit by your loss. I would think no more of +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux shook his head, for his vivid imagination and excitable nature +did not fit him for sitting down quietly under such a load of +suspense. "No, no, Marian!" he said; "I could not bear such +uncertainty; I should not know an hour's peace, and whenever a letter +was put into my hand, whenever a stranger desired to speak with me, I +should dread some evil tidings. Investigate thoroughly I must. If I +find these insinuations false, my peace will be established on a surer +rock than ever; and my disposition may not be the worse for the ordeal +I have undergone, and the lessons I have received. If my fears prove +just, and these tidings true, I think, dear Marian--I think," and he +drew her nearer to his heart--"I think that, with the assurance of +such love as yours, I can see all the rest that was bright in my lot +pass away from me without a sigh."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian's heart was relieved, for she had doubted how Edward de Vaux +would endure the certainty which might soon be forced upon him, of the +severe reverses which were yet unconfirmed. She had doubted, and, with +all the skilful tenderness of a woman's heart, she had at once +perceived that the most open assurances of her own love were the +surest antidotes that she could offer him against the evils of the +day. She had acted, it is true, by impulse; but there is always some +rapidly operating motive even at the bottom of impulse itself, which, +nine times out of ten, works with wonderful sagacity. There are many +moments in the life of man, when his boasted reason, which is but a +slow and considerate personage, has not time to act, and when, if +there were no power but this same reason to save us from drowning, we +might drown beyond redemption for anything that reason would do to +help us; but God, who gives their never-failing instinct to the +beasts, does not leave man without resource in those moments when +haste, and need, and apprehension render him little better than a +judgment-less animal, and has afforded him also a kind of instinct, a +power which only acts on sudden emergencies, when reason has not time; +which power we call impulse, but which is neither more nor less than +the instinct of a hurry.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian de Vaux had, in the first instance, acted on impulse, but as +she went on, finding that impulse was quite right, and that the only +means to sooth and to strengthen her lover under his misfortunes, was +to let him see throughout the full extent of her love for him, she +cast away, as we have seen, every reserve, and showed Edward de Vaux +that he could but lose little, whatever he lost, compared with that +inestimable affection which was still his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian's heart was relieved by perceiving that her conduct had been +successful, and that De Vaux was nerved against the worst; and, as she +had no particular taste for suspense herself, any more than he had, +she now recalled her words, and advised him, if his feelings were such +as he expressed, to pursue the investigation at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That, Marian, for all our sakes and on every account, I must do," +he replied; "but the only question with me is, in which way had I +better follow the inquiry. Here are two courses pointed out in this +letter,--to apply at once to my father; or, in the first place, to +visit this gipsy, and to ascertain precisely what information he +possesses. I have already considered, and believe that the latter +course would be the best; but my Marian has every right to guide me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! do not go to the gipsy," cried Marian on the first impulse; but +impulse was wrong in this instance, and Marian soon found that it was +so. Edward himself paused, and thought over the matter again; but, on +consideration, Marian remembered many an objection to the plan of +seeking information from Lord Dewry himself. She knew his haughtiness +and his violence, and she knew, too, that De Vaux, tingling under a +sense of degradation, and feeling that such degradation was +attributable to his father, was in no state of mind to submit to the +proud and insulting tone Lord Dewry too often employed, or to speak +calmly and dispassionately upon a subject, in regard to which his +whole heart was bleeding, and every better feeling deeply wounded. She +dreaded the collision which might ensue between the two, and she +thought it also very probable that Lord Dewry might refuse all +information on the subject. "I am afraid I am wrong, Edward," she said +at length; "I have a dread of those gipsies,--I do not know why; but +still, perhaps, you should be more sure that such insinuations as +these are not mere calumny, before you speak to your father about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true, my love," replied De Vaux; "and, besides, I have just +remembered that if I wish to have the gipsy's information at all, I +must have it before I see my father. He here in this letter tells me +to come either this evening or to-morrow early. Now, it is too late to +go to my father this evening, and before I could be back, if I went +over to-morrow, the time would be expired and the gipsy gone. I think +my best plan will be, to go early to the gipsy camp to-morrow morning, +hear all the man has to say, and then, if necessary, I can ride over +to the hall and speak with my father ere he goes out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I doubt not that such is the best course," replied Marian; "but +for God's sake, Edward, take care of those gipsies. They are, I +believe, a terrible race of savages; and you told me that this was a +large encampment which you saw in the wood. They might murder you, +Edward, for your purse or your watch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no fear, no fear, dearest!" replied De Vaux; "you see they never +attempted to murder Manners today, though he was there at five or six +in the morning, and his purse is likely to be much better filled than +mine; and as they knew him, and know me, they must know also that his +fortune is larger than mine ever will be."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But they may have some motive of revenge against you, Edward," +repeated Marian, contriving to increase her fears most wonderfully by +thinking over them: "they have evidently some greater knowledge of our +situation, and some deeper motive for their conduct, than is apparent; +and may they not wish to entrap you for some purpose of revenge?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never injured one of them by word or deed, Marian," replied De +Vaux; "and if you will consider for a moment, dearest, you will see +that they can have no evil intention, at least, towards my person. In +the first place, they sent the letter by Manners, and therefore must +feel assured that other people will know of my visiting their +encampment; and in the next place, this man, this Pharold, leaves the +matter open to me to come to him, or to speak with my father on the +subject. Had they any design against me, they would have contrived to +convey the letter to me secretly, and would have taken care to tell me +that I could get the information they offer nowhere but from +themselves. Besides, they cannot be sure that I may not make the whole +matter public, and come up with half a dozen companions."</p> + +<p class="normal">This reasoning calmed Marian de Vaux not a little; but still she was +fearful, and could not banish from her mind a kind of foreboding that +evil would come of Edward's visit to the gipsy. She knew, however, +what absurd things forebodings are; and she felt how natural it was to +be anxious and apprehensive for an object in which all her affections +centred, the moment that a situation of danger presented itself, +without seeking for any supernatural inspirations to justify her +fears. At every reported movement of the armies during her lover's +absence, she had too often felt the same alarm to give any great +weight now to the fear she experienced, against the voice of reason +and conviction; and seeing that De Vaux had every probability on his +side of the argument, she ceased to oppose him by a word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At all events, Edward," she said, "for my sake, do not go unarmed: +that precaution cannot be very burdensome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not," replied he, "and I will take my pistols with me, with +all my heart, as well as my sword, if it will give you the slightest +pleasure, Marian; though I am sure, my beloved, I shall have to use +neither."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you shall do it for my sake, Edward," said Marian; "and I think +that to know it is so will lighten the weight upon you."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux's answer was the precise one which any other man would have +made in the same situation; and some further conversation ensued of no +great import, in the course of which Marian proposed to her cousin to +make Colonel Manners the companion of his expedition. She understood +fully, however, the objections which, in reply, he urged against +imparting to any one but herself a suspicion which so materially +affected his station in society, his fortune, and even his happiness; +and those objections having been stated to the reader before, it may +be unnecessary to repeat them here. Suffice it to say, that their +conversation continued so long that Marian's toilet for the +dinner-table was far more hurried than her maid approved. Marian, +however, safe in beauty and secure in love, felt that she could go +down to dinner, even if a curl or two did stray from its right place; +and there was something in her heart that made her never regret the +moments given to Edward de Vaux.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.10" href="#div1Ref_01.10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">We left Colonel Charles Manners standing at the library door, with his +hand upon the great brazen ball, embossed with sundry figures, which +served as the handle to the lock. It may be remembered that Colonel +Manners, being somewhat troubled with the internal contention between +feeling for his friend's uneasiness and wonder for its cause, was +seeking an empty room to let those two emotions calm themselves; but +when he turned the above brazen ball, and the door opened to his will, +he found that he had been mistaken in looking for solitude there; for +the first things he saw were, a very beautiful face and a pair of +bright gay eyes looking up at him from the other side of the little +table on the left hand, with the hat and feathers, which it was then +customary for ladies to wear in riding, thrown somewhat back from the +forehead, so as to show the whole countenance of Isadore Falkland, +raising her face with a look of half-laughing vexation, as if asking, +"Who is about to disturb me now, when I came here in search of +solitude?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The interpretation of the expression was so self-evident that Colonel +Manners paused with a smile; and Isadore, finding that her face had +told the truth somewhat too plainly, laughed, and begged him to come +in. "Nay, Miss Falkland," said Manners, "I will not disturb you. Your +look, I can assure you, said, <i>Not at home!</i> as plain as those words +ever were spoken." And he took a step back, as if to withdraw.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The servant made a mistake, then," replied Isadore; "I did not bid +him say, 'Not at home' to Colonel Manners. But the truth is, I am +endeavouring to compose my mind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" he exclaimed, in some surprise; "I am very sorry to hear +that any thing has occurred to agitate it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And can you say so, Colonel Manners?" asked Isadore laughing, "when +you, yourself, were art and part in the deed?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners was still more surprised; but, as he saw that the agitation of +which Miss Falkland complained was of no very serious nature, it only +affected him so far as to bring him two steps farther into the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I am one of the culprits," he said, approaching nearer the table, +where Isadore sat enjoying his astonishment,--for hers was one of +those light and happy hearts that can win a drop of honey from every +flower, however small,--"if I am one of the culprits, I claim the +right of an Englishman to hear the charge fairly read, Miss Falkland. +Otherwise I refuse to plead."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, Colonel Manners," she replied, "you stand arraigned of +having galloped as fast, when riding with two ladies, as if you had +been at the head of your regiment; and of being art and part with +Edward de Vaux in shaking the little brains possessed by one Isadore +Falkland out of their proper place. The truth is," she added more +seriously, "that after riding very fast, my ideas, which are never in +a very composed and tranquil state, get into such a whirl, that I am +always obliged to come and read some good book for a quarter of an +hour ere I dare venture into rational society. Do you feel the same, +Colonel Manners?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not exactly," answered Manners smiling, "but I rather fancy that I am +more accustomed to galloping than you are, Miss Falkland; and that had +you been as much used to that exercise as I have been, during eighteen +years' service, you would find your ideas quite as clear, after the +longest gallop that ever was ridden, as they were before you set out."</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time Colonel Manners had so far carried on his approaches that +he was in the midst of the library, the door shut behind him; and a +sofa in the window--not very far from Miss Falkland's left hand, with +two or three books upon a console hard by--within one step of his +position. What Isadore rejoined to his reply matters little. It was +just sufficient to seat him on the sofa, with a book in his hand, +which he had not the slightest intention of reading; and a +conversation began, which, though it had no particular tendency, and +was of no particular import, stretched itself over full three quarters +of an hour. It was, however, one of those conversations which are the +most pleasant that it is possible to imagine--one of those +conversations, when an intelligent man and an intelligent woman sit +down, without the intention of talking about any thing in particular, +and end by talking of every thing under the sun. They must, however, +feel convinced, like Isadore and Colonel Manners, that there is not +the slightest chance on earth of their falling in love with each +other; for the least drop of love, or any thing like it, changes the +whole essence of the thing, and it is no longer conversation. But +Isadore and Colonel Manners never dreamt of such a thing; and went on, +letting subject run into subject, and thought follow thought, as they +liked--not like a regiment of infantry, indeed, advancing in single +file, one behind the other, with measured step and stiff demeanour, +but like a bevy of rosy children rushing from a school-room door, +sometimes one at a time, sometimes two or three linked hand in hand +together, sometimes half a dozen in a crowd tumbling over one +another's shoulders. Thus ran on their ideas, gaily, lightly, of every +variety of face and complexion, without ceremony and without +restraint. It is true it required some activity to keep up the game +with spirit, for both were rapid; and Isadore, when she could not +easily express herself in one way, often took another, more fanciful +and flowery, so that had not Manners's wit been as agile as her own he +might often have been left behind.</p> + +<p class="normal">The moments flew rapidly till, as we have said, three quarters of an +hour had passed, as it were a minute; and neither Colonel Manners nor +Isadore Falkland would have known that it had passed at all, had not a +clock struck in the hall hard by, and Isadore suddenly thought that +<i>somebody</i>--that great bugbear <i>somebody</i>--might deem it strange that +she sat talking to Colonel Manners alone in the library, while the +rest of the family were probably in the drawing-room. She now +remembered, also, that she had still her riding-habit to change; and +having by this time quite forgotten that Colonel Manners was an ugly +man, she made the alteration of her dress an excuse to leave him, +though, to speak truth, she broke off their conversation with regret, +and felt inclined to look upon the moments she had thus spent as one +of the pleasantest things she had yet met with in the garland of +time--that garland which begins in buds and blossoms, and ends in +blighted flowers and withered leaves.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners, for his part,--though he had from the first thought her a +very beautiful girl, and a very charming one, too,--had by this time +determined that she was possessed of many a more admirable quality of +mind and grace of person than he had even believed before; and an +involuntary sigh, which broke from his lips when she left him taught +him, to feel that it was as well, upon the whole, that he was so soon +to take his departure. It was a part of his policy never to encourage +regrets in regard to a state of life which he had made up his mind +could not be his; and he found that to live long in the same house +with Isadore Falkland might cultivate those regrets much more than was +desirable.</p> + +<p class="normal">When she was gone, he thought for a moment over what had just passed, +gave another moment to memories of the long gone, spent two or three +more in trifling with the book he held in his hand, and then, after +changing his boots in his own room, proceeded to the drawing-room. +Mrs. Falkland was now there alone, but it was not long before Isadore +again appeared; and, in a few minutes after, De Vaux, as we have +before shown, entered the room for a single instant to enquire for +Marian. Neither his aunt nor his cousin perceived that any thing had +occurred to disturb his equanimity; but the eyes of his friend, +quickened perhaps by what he already knew, discovered without +difficulty that the pain which had been given him by the letter he had +himself delivered was not at all diminished by reflection; and +although he felt that he could ask no questions, he was not a little +anxious for the result.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some time passed, ere it was necessary to dress for dinner, Without +any thing of importance, either in word or deed, occurring in the +drawing-room, except inasmuch as Mrs. Falkland informed Colonel +Manners that a lady was to dine with them on that day who had also +enjoyed the advantage of his mother's acquaintance in her youth. +Isadore pronounced her a foolish, tiresome woman; and Manners, on +hearing her name, said he had met her some years before, but did not +venture to dissent from Miss Falkland's opinion.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland smiled, and tacitly acknowledged that her own judgment +of the good lady's qualities was not very different, by saying that +she had merely invited her because she knew that she would feel hurt +were she to hear that Colonel Manners had been long at Morley House +without her having seen him. "And I never wish to hurt people's +feelings, Colonel Manners," she added, "unless when it is very +necessary indeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is never worth while, my dear madam," replied Manners; "and I +believe that, with a little sacrifice of our comfort, without any +sacrifice of sincerity, we can always avoid it, however disagreeable +people may be."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners was in the drawing-room amongst the first after dressing, and +he looked with some degree of anxiety for the appearance of De Vaux, +in order to see whether the tidings he had received still continued to +affect him so strongly. But when De Vaux came in his manner had wholly +changed. His conversation with Marian had had the effect which such a +conversation might be expected to have. The recollection of it, too, +as a whole, while he had been dressing, had done as much as the +conversation itself. It had shown him a sweet and consoling result, +unmingled with any of the painful feelings, to which all he had +himself been called upon to communicate, had given rise in his own +breast. The gipsy's letter, and the suspicions which it called up, had +shaken and agitated him, had taken away the foundations from the hopes +and expectations of his whole life; but that which had past between +him and her he loved had re-established all, and fixed the hopes of +future happiness on a surer and a nobler basis than ever. He trod with +a firmer, ay, and with a prouder, step, than when he had fancied +himself the heir of broad lands and lordships; and when Marian herself +soon after entered the room, his face lighted up with a happy glow, +like the top of some high hill when it receives the first rays of the +morning sun. Marian herself, too, blushed as she appeared, for all the +display of her heart's inmost feelings, which she had that morning +made to her lover's eyes, had left a consciousness about her heart--a +slight but tremulous agitation, which brought the warm blood glowing +into her cheek. There was nothing like unhappiness, however, left in +the countenance of either; and Manners became satisfied, that whatever +had been the contents of the gipsy's letter, the evil effects thereof +were passing away.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Lady Barbara Simpson at length arrived with her husband in her +train, and was most tiresomely pleased to see Colonel Manners. She was +a worthy dame in the plenitude of ten lustres, in corporeal qualities +heavy, and in intellectual ones certainly not light. Vulgarity is, +unfortunately, to be found in every rank,--<i>unfortunately</i>, because, +where found in high rank, in which every means and appliance is at +hand to remedy it, its appearance argues vulgarity of mind, to which +the coarseness of the peasant is comparatively grace. Now Lady Barbara +Simpson was of the vulgar great; and, though the blood of all the +Howards might have flowed in her veins, the pure and honourable stream +would have been choked up by the mental mud of her nature. In her +youth, no sum or labour had been spared to ornament her mind with +those accomplishments and graces which are common in her class; and as +music and drawing, and a knowledge of languages, are things which, to +a certain degree, may be hung on like a necklace or a bracelet, the +mind of Lady Barbara was perfectly well dressed before her parents had +done with her education. But nothing could make the mind itself any +thing but what it was; and the load of accomplishments, which masters +of all kinds strove hard to bestow, rested upon it, like jewels on an +ugly person, fine things seen to a disadvantage. The want of +consideration for other people's feelings, or rather the want of that +peculiar delicacy of sensation called <i>tact</i>, which teaches rapidly to +understand what other people's feelings are, she fancied a positive, +instead of a negative, quality, and called it in her own mind ease and +good-humour; and thus, though she certainly was a good-tempered woman, +her coarseness of feeling and comprehension rendered her ten times +more annoying to every one near her than if she had been as malevolent +as Tisiphone.</p> + +<p class="normal">During dinner, Manners felt as if he were sitting next to somebody +clothed in hair-cloth, which caught his dress at every turn, and +scrubbed him whenever he touched it; and his comfort was not greatly +increased by finding himself an object of great attention and +patronage to Lady Barbara. Opposite to him sat Isadore Falkland; and, +though it was certainly a great relief to look in so fair a face, yet +there was in it an expression of amused pity for Lady Barbara's martyr +that was a little teasing. Her Ladyship first descanted +enthusiastically upon the beauty of Colonel Manners's mother and +called upon Mrs. Falkland to vouch how very lovely she was. Mrs. +Falkland assented as briefly as possible; and Lady Barbara then took +wine with Colonel Manners, and declared that there was not the +slightest resemblance between him and his mother, examining every +feature in his face as she did so to make herself sure of the fact.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this point of the proceedings Manners was more amused than annoyed; +for his own ugliness was no secret to himself, and he therefore knew +well that it could be no secret to others. He laughed then at her +Ladyship's scrutiny, and replied, "I was once considered very like my +mother, Lady Barbara; but whatever resemblance I did possess was +carried away by my enemy the small-pox."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh yes," she cried in return, "a dreadful disease that! Shocking the +ravages it sometimes makes! I see you must have had it very bad."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very bad, indeed, Lady Barbara," replied Colonel Manners with a +laughing glance towards Miss Falkland; "and, what is worse, I had it +at that period of life when one has just learned to value good looks, +without having learned to despise them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, terrible!" exclaimed Lady Barbara, really commiserating him; "it +must have made a terrible change in you, indeed. Dear me, what a +pity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian de Vaux was pained for Colonel Manners, and she now interposed +with a few words, endeavouring to change the subject; but Lady Barbara +was like a hollow square of infantry, and could <i>faire face partout</i>, +so that poor Marian only drew the fire on herself. Lady Barbara +answered her question, and then added, "And so I hear you are going to +be married in a fortnight, Miss De Vaux. Well, I wish you happy, with +all my heart; though marriage is always a great risk, God knows; is it +not, Mr. Simpson?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is, indeed, my dear," replied Mr. Simpson, a quiet little man with +much sterling good sense concealed under an insignificant exterior, +and with a certain degree of subacid fun in his nature, which was +habitually brought forth by the absurdities of his wife,--"it is, +indeed, my dear;" and he finished with an audible and perhaps not +unintentional sigh, which gave point to his reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, for all that, it is a very good, and a very proper state, too," +rejoined Lady Barbara, "and a very happy one, after all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am glad you find it so, my dear," said Mr. Simpson; but Lady +Barbara went on, as usual, without attending to her husband.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would advise all young people to marry," she said, "but not too +young though,"--she herself had married at thirty-five--"not too young +though, for then they only have such large families they do not know +what to do with them. But now at a proper age every one ought to +marry. Now, Colonel Manners, why are not you married? You ought to +have been married before this."</p> + +<p class="normal">The reader knows that she was upon dangerous ground: but Manners was +too good a politician to show that he was touched; and therefore he +determined in reply to put that as a jest which had a good deal of +serious earnest in it. "Oh, my dear madam," he answered, "you forget I +am too ugly; I should never find a wife now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" she answered; "ugliness has nothing to do +with it; many a woman will marry the ugliest man in the world sooner +than not marry at all; and besides, you ought to have a good fortune, +Colonel Manners; and that is a great thing. But, I can tell you, you +will certainly never find a wife, as you say, unless you ask some +one."</p> + +<p class="normal">The draught was bitter enough; but Manners was indomitable, and +answered still gayly, "Nay, nay, Lady Barbara, I am so diffident of +my own merits, and so completely convinced that no one will ever fall +in love with my beautiful countenance, that I shall certainly never +marry till some lady asks me. It would require that proof, at least, +to convince me that I had any chance of being loved."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if any lady were to ask you," continued the unmerciful Lady +Barbara, "would you really marry her after all, Colonel Manners?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe I may answer that it would depend upon circumstances," +replied Colonel Manners, with a grave smile; "as, unfortunately for my +happiness, your ladyship's marriage has put you out of the question."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, do not let me be in the way in the least degree," rejoined Mr. +Simpson from the other side of the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux was fairly driven to a laugh; and Lady Barbara, beginning to +find out that there was an error somewhere, paused for a moment, and +went on with her dinner.</p> + +<p class="normal">However skilfully and courageously a man may struggle against his own +feelings on those points where they have intrenched themselves by long +habit and possession, yet, when forced by circumstance to treat as a +matter of common conversation subjects that are habitually painful to +him, there are slight traits--each almost imperceptible, but making +something in the aggregate--which will betray what is going on within; +sometimes to the eyes of another man, and almost always to those of a +woman. A degree of bitterness will mingle with his gaiety; a sigh will +sometimes tread upon the heels of a smile; and a deeper gravity will +follow the transient, superficial laugh, and distinguish the true from +the assumed. Women, by a more refined nature, by a necessity of +concealing their own feelings under various disguises, and by the +habit of judging others by slight indications, are rendered infinitely +more capable of penetrating the veil with which we are often obliged +to cover our deeper sentiments. Both Marian de Vaux and Isadore +Falkland were at once in Colonel Manners's secret, and comprehended, +without difficulty, how much was jest and how much was earnest in his +replies to Lady Barbara. Both felt for him, too, and both were sorry +for him; and as Marian, in consequence of her generous interposition +in his favour, already suffered somewhat too much by her Ladyship's +answers touching matrimony, to dare the field again, Isadore entered +upon the campaign with greater power, and did her best to effect a +diversion. In this she was tolerably successful, though Colonel +Manners did not entirely escape; and the ladies retired sooner than +usual, in consequence of Mrs. Falkland's desire to support her +daughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux, anxious for the following morning, in order that all his +doubts might be brought to a conclusion, would willingly have followed +the ladies as soon as possible: but, alas! those were days of hard +drinking; and Mr. Simpson, though by no means given to excess any more +than Manners or De Vaux, had his own peculiar method of consoling +himself for his lady's tiresomeness during the day, by sitting long in +the evening, with the sparkling decanters and the social biscuits, by +which he was sure neither to be annoyed nor contradicted. He drank his +wine slowly, and with real enjoyment, pausing over every sip as a +miser over every guinea, playing with the stalk of his wineglass, +saying little smart things, if he had any one to hear him, and if he +had not, gazing in the fire and diversifying pleasant thoughts by +discovering landscapes and faces therein.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux, without any want of charity, wished every glass his last, and +Colonel Manners wished himself in the drawing-room; but the <i>leges +conviviales</i> of those days were far more strict than in these +degenerate times; and as the party was so small, both felt themselves +obliged to sit ceremoniously at table, till suddenly Mr. Simpson +perceived that neither of his companions had touched wine for half an +hour, and kindly took the hint. It was now near ten o'clock: Lady +Barbara had far to go, and was compassionate towards the four bright +bays that were ordered at that hour; and thus Colonel Manners was +spared the execution of all the manœuvres he had planned to get out +of her way in the drawing-room. The carriage was announced: De Vaux +handed her down-stairs; and a glad sound it was when the wheels rolled +away from the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">There are many people whose disagreeableness is of that peculiar kind +that one can compensate the annoyance it occasions at the time by +laughing at it with one's friends when it is over: but, unfortunately, +Lady Barbara's was of so extensive and tenacious a quality that it +outlasted her presence; and Mrs. Falkland, Isadore, and Marian, all +found that they could not talk of it in Colonel Manners's presence +without being as disagreeable as herself. As Marian, too, had no +inclination to converse upon the risks of matrimony and large +families, she was cut off from mentioning her share in the annoyance; +and after a quarter of an hour spent in determining, in general terms, +that Lady Barbara Simpson was a very disagreeable person, the family +returned to its usual course. Marian was a little anxious about +Edward's proposed excursion of the next morning; De Vaux himself was +thoughtful in regard to the conduct he was to pursue towards the +gipsy; and, as if by mutual consent, the whole party separated sooner +than usual.</p> + +<p class="normal">We have not, however, done with the events of that night, and, +consequently, we shall follow De Vaux to his room, where he rang his +bell; and on the appearance of his servant, suffered him to give him +his dressing-gown and slippers. "You need not wait, William," he said, +when this operation was concluded; "I have something to write--give me +that desk."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man obeyed and retired, and De Vaux proceeded to put down some +notes in regard to what he was to demand of the gipsy, and what was to +be the exact course he was to pursue, in order--without admitting any +fact till it was proved, or committing himself in any way--to arrive +both at the most accurate knowledge of his real situation, and the +most incontestable proofs of whatever was affirmed by the man he went +to visit.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had done this, he thought of going to bed; but his head ached +a good deal, with all the agitation he had gone through during the +day, crowned by the conversation of Lady Barbara Simpson during +dinner, and the tedium of Mr. Simpson after it; and approaching one of +the windows, he drew the curtain, opened the shutters, and looked out. +It was still moonlight, as when he had handed her ladyship to her +carriage; and throwing up the heavy sash, he leaned out, enjoying the +cool air. The moon was just at her highest noon, and the sky was +beautifully clear, except inasmuch as, every now and then, there +floated across a light white cloud, which the wind seemed playfully to +cast round the planet, like a veil, as she walked on in soft and +modest splendour, among the bright eyes of all the crowd of stars. The +river, gleaming like melted silver, appeared at the extremity of the +park, with the line of its banks, broken here and there by majestic +elms; and even beyond the grounds, glimpses of its windings might be +caught among the distant fields and plantations. The little wooded +promontory that flanked the park, with the higher hill, starting up +from the isthmus over which the road passed, rose grandly up, like two +towering steps, towards the glittering heavens; and beyond the sloping +fields and their hedgerow elms, with many an undulating line, lay soft +and obscure, in the sheeny moonlight, as far as a spot where, half-way +up the higher hill in front, the extreme horizontal line of the +distant country cut upon the sky. Scarce a sound was to be heard as De +Vaux gazed forth, but the whispering of the light breeze among the +tree tops, and the sweet plaintive belling of the deer in the park +below.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I had known that these people would have gone so soon," he +thought, "I would have made my visit to the gipsies' encampment +to-night instead of to-morrow. The gipsies sit up, carousing by their +fires, I believe, for full one-half of the night; and I might have set +my mind at rest about this business without waiting so long."</p> + +<p class="normal">The thought of going even then now struck him; and he paused for a few +minutes to consider whether he ought to do so or not. "I shall not +sleep, even if I go to bed," he thought. "With all these things +weighing on my mind, slumber is not very likely to visit me. A couple +of hours will be enough to obtain all the information that I want; and +returning home, I may sleep in certainty to-night, and to-morrow have +to tell Marian that my apprehensions were groundless, or that our lot, +as far as station and fortune go, must be lower than we at one time +expected. I shall then have time, too, to sleep over my information, +and to lay out my plan of action for to-morrow deliberately. I wonder +if any of the servants are up yet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The fears that Marian had expressed for his safety crossed his mind +for a moment; but they crossed it merely as apprehensions, which might +have given her some pain, if she knew that he was venturing to the +gipsies' encampment at midnight. No doubt of his own security ever +entered his thoughts; for, although De Vaux's imagination was a very +active one, it was not fertile in images of personal danger. In short, +he was constitutionally brave; and, like his father, did not know what +corporal fear is. "I shall only have to tell Marian," he again +thought, "that I have been, and that all she was alarmed about is +over."</p> + +<p class="normal">He gave one more look to the moonlight and then closed his window. His +boots were speedily drawn on; his dressing-gown exchanged for a +military coat; his sword buckled to his side; and, in conformity with +his promise to Marian, a brace of loaded pistols placed in his bosom. +Thus equipped, he opened his door and descended the staircase. All was +quiet; the lamp in the hall was still glimmering, though somewhat +faintly; the servants were all evidently in bed; and turning the key +in the glass door at the end of the lobby, De Vaux opened it +cautiously, and stepped out upon the lawn.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.11" href="#div1Ref_01.11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The moon was shining bright and clear upon Morley Down, covering every +rise on which its beams fell with soft and silvery light, and casting +every dell and opposite slope into dark broad shadow. From that height +a slight degree of mistiness appeared, hanging over the scene in the +valley; but above, all was clear; and the satellite of the earth was +so bountiful of her reflected rays, that our fellow-stars could +scarcely be seen in the sky, twinkling faintly, half eclipsed by her +excess of splendour. The scattered bushes and stunted hawthorns, and +the tumulus, with its clump of towering beeches, caught the rays; but, +with the peculiar effect of trees by moonlight, the latter seemed more +to absorb than to reflect the light, while their long deep shadows +cast upon the neighbouring ground, showed, at least, that they served +to intercept the beams. In many of the little pits and hollows of the +ground small pools of water had been formed; and so often did these +appear, glistening in the moonshine, in situations otherwise dark, +that it seemed as if the light sought out purposely the objects best +calculated to reflect it, and, like active benevolence in search of +humble merit, followed them into the dim and lowly abodes where they +had made their dwelling.</p> + +<p class="normal">From these pools, however, the sand-pit in which the gipsies had +pitched their tents was free; and the only water it contained was +afforded by a small clear spring, which the labourers had cut through +in digging for the produce of the pit; and, which, welling from the +bank, fell into a clear small basin of yellow sand that would, in all +probability, have absorbed it speedily, had it not found a sudden +channel among some smooth stones and gravel, and thence wound away, +forced into a thousand meanders by the irregularity of the ground, +till, issuing forth upon the common, it pursued its course down the +hill, and, joined by several other brooks, poured no inconsiderable +addition into the river in the valley below. It, too, caught the +moonbeams and glanced brightly in them; but that was not the only +light that shone upon it, as it trickled down the bank, and rested in +its little basin below. A redder and less pure gleam was reflected +from its waters, for at about twenty yards from the source, close +under shelter of the high bank and overhanging bushes, the gipsies had +pitched their tents; and now, though the hour was nearly midnight, +they were just in the midst of those revels that often rise up from +many a moor and many a planting throughout old England, while the rest +of her denizens are fast asleep. The evening was as warm as if it had +been far earlier in the year; and although the wind was high it +whistled sheer over the pit, without visiting with its rude search the +corner thereof in which the race of wanderers had nested their +encampment. The very sound, however, and the freshness of the night +air, rendered the idea of a fire any thing but unpleasant; and in +three different spots of the gipsy encampment the blaze rose up and +the sticks crackled, while the pots, now withdrawn from the flame, the +bottles of various shapes that lay round, and the cups, some of tin, +some of horn, some of silver,<a name="div1Ref_03.3" href="#div1_03.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> that circulated somewhat rapidly, +told that the last and merriest meal of the day had commenced.</p> + +<p class="normal">Three several groups had assembled round the three fires, and each had +its peculiar character. At that which burned in the middle of the +scene appeared Pharold, leaning upon the ground, with his elbow +supported by a projection of the bank, with a middle-aged woman on one +side, and the beautiful girl we have before mentioned on the other. +Two or three stout men, of from forty to fifty years, surrounded him; +and though joining boldly and freely in all that passed, it was +evident that they listened to him when he spoke with the respect due +to experience and command, and without any of that sullenness which we +have noticed in some of the younger members of the tribe who were with +him in the forest. Some more women completed that group; and, though +merry enough, it was evident, by their demeanour, that there sat the +eiders of the tribe. The next fire, at the door of a tent farther up +the pit, was surrounded by a different assemblage, though it was in +some degree mixed. At the entrance of the little hut itself appeared +the beldam whom we have seen acting as cook in the forest, and who on +that occasion, had shown some inclination towards a resistance of +Pharold's authority. Round about her were five or six sturdy young +men, from five-and-twenty to thirty, and five or six women; two of +whom did not appear to be more than eighteen or nineteen years of age, +while the rest were fine buxom brown dames of thirty-five or six. The +worthy lady of the hut, however, seemed now to have lost her acerbity; +and in a gay and jovial mood, with many a quip and many a jest, kept +all her younger auditors in a roar; though every now and then, with a +curl of the lip and a winking eye, she glanced towards the party at +the other fire, as if their graver conversation was the subject of her +merry sarcasm.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the third fire appeared the younger part of the tribe, the boys and +girls of all ages, except those, indeed, who rested sleeping in the +huts; and this circle, the loud laughter and broad jokes of which were +sometimes checkered by the sounds of contention and affray, occasioned +by an old pack of cards, was presided by a strong handsome youth of +about nineteen or twenty, whose proper place would have been, +apparently, at the second fire. He was here, however, placed much +nearer to the first group; and this proximity gave him, every now and +then, an opportunity, in the intervals of teasing his younger +comrades, of looking over his shoulder at the beautiful girl we have +called Lena, who, as we have said, was leaning beside Pharold, and +listening with seeming attention to his discourse.</p> + +<p class="normal">The whole three fires had assembled round them a much greater number +of the gipsy race than had been congregated in the wood where we first +saw them; and, in truth, a very formidable party was there gathered +together, who might have given not a little difficulty, and offered, +should their need have required it, no insignificant resistance, +either to game-keepers, constables, or police officers. Fourteen stout +men, in their prime of strength, with nine or ten boys capable of very +efficient service, were there met together, as well as a number of +women, whose arms were of no insignificant weight, and whose tongues +might have been more formidable still.</p> + +<p class="normal">As it may be necessary, for various reasons, to afford a sample of the +sort of conversation which was taking place amongst the gipsies on +that night, we shall begin, on many accounts, with the second fire, +round which it appeared that a liquor, which smelt very like rum, had +been circulating with no retarded movements.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take it easy, take it easy, Dickon, my chick," said the old dame of +whom we have already spoken, addressing one of the sturdy young +vagabonds by whom she was surrounded: "never let's kick up a row among +ourselves, do you see. That's the right way to bring the beaks upon +us. He's a king of a fellow, too, that Pharold, though he do sometimes +look at one, when he's angry, as if the words were too big for his +throat--just as I've seen a fat cock turkey, when I've been nimming +him off the perch, and got him tight round the neck with both my hands +to stop his gabbling." The simile seemed to tickle the fancy of her +auditors, who interrupted her by a roar, which soon, however, died +away, and she proceeded. "He's a king of a fellow, though, and it +wouldn't do to make a split; besides, he knows more than common; and +the law's again it, too: so take it easy, Dickon, and I'll put you up +to a thing or two."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, do, mother, there's a good soul!" replied the young man. "Do you +see, I don't want to split with Pharold; but damn me if I go out +shooting at rabbits, and hares, and little devils like that, if I am +to give my word that I won't touch a deer if it comes across me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Dickie, never you meddle with nobody's dear," said the old +woman; "though Bill there, at the other fire," she added, dropping her +voice a little, and grinning significantly--"though Bill there, at the +other fire, seems to have a great fancy for Pharold's own dear." A low +laugh, whose suppressed tone argued that every one felt themselves on +dangerous ground, followed her jest, and she went on: "But, +howsomdever, Dick, never you meddle with nobody's deer, when you are +bid not--till the person that bade you is out of the way--do you see? +eh, Dicky, my boy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, that's something like now, Mother Gray," replied Dickon. "Do you +see, to-morrow, it seems, we must troop, half one way and half +t'other; and then, if I be not sent to a distance, and can get some +good fellows to help me, I'll bet a bob that I bring home two or three +as fat bucks as ever laid their haunches on the king's table--and +that's a better night's work than ever Pharold will do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, Dickon, you shall do it," replied the old dame: "you wait +quiet till to-morrow, and seem to think no more about it; and I will +get Lena to wheedle Pharold out of the way, if some of his own strange +jobs do not take him without; and you shall have free scope and fair +play for a night, my boy, anyhow--so the keepers may count their deer +the next morning, if they can."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But suppose I am sent away," said the young man; "I would rather have +gone to-night by half."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you know you can't, Dickon," she replied; "and it would only make +a row to speak about it. We only go ten miles, any of us; and I will +take care of your ten miles, my chick. So keep snug; and, do you see, +there's no use of bringing up the deer to where we pitch. The shiners +are what we want; and Harry Saxon, who bags the pheasants and hares, +and who first gave me an inkling about the venison, will take the +beasts of us for so much a head, and send them up to the lord-mayor in +London. So to-morrow I'll be off early, and get the job arranged +proper, and have a cart and horse ready, do you see, Dickon."</p> + +<p class="normal">Dickon rubbed his hands with much glee; and as it would seem that some +people are born to deer-stealing, he felt that satisfaction which all +men must feel when a prospect opens before them of their talents at +length having a free course. At that moment, however, two shots were +heard at no very great distance, but in the direction of the little +wooded promontory near Morley House, and the sound called forth some +symptoms of emotion in more than one of the party. Pharold listened, +drew in his eyes, and knit his brows hard, while Dickon vowed, with an +oath, "That fellow Hallet has gone down into Mrs. Falkland's +preserves, and will blow us all with his cursed gun. He might have +waited an hour or two."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold listened still, but made no comment; and those by whom he was +surrounded seemed to suspend their own observations on the sound till +his were spoken. In the mean time, Dickon and the good dame, whom he +termed Mother Gray, proceeded with the edifying arrangements they had +been making, and had nearly completed their plan for getting Pharold +out of the way, stealing two or three deer from some of the +neighbouring grounds, and sending them up to the capital to supply his +majesty's burgher lieges in their necessity for fat venison. The exact +park which they were to plunder, and some other of the minor +considerations, were undergoing discussion, in which the whole party +round the fire took a friendly and zealous share; when one of Dickon's +comrades, who had been keeping an eye on Pharold's circle, touched him +on the shoulder, saying, "They are going to divide the money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They will not have so much to divide as we shall get to-morrow," said +Dickon; "I will answer for that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know, I don't know, my chick," rejoined the worthy beldam; +"that Pharold is a knowing hand, and always gets more than any one +else, work for it how they will. How he gets it I am sure I don't +know; and I often think he must coin his skin into guineas, for my +part."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now the complexion of the old dame herself, and of every one round +her, was as yellow as any one could desire; but that did not prevent +them all from enjoying the joke highly, simply, perhaps, because +Pharold's countenance might be a little brighter in hue than their +own. Several of them, however, now rose and approached the other fire, +at which the proposed division of gains was about to take place; for +it seemed that the tribe in question had retained many of the original +habits of their people which have been lost among other hordes.<a name="div1Ref_03.4" href="#div1_03.4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> One +after another, till the turn came to Pharold, the several gipsies +poured forth their acquisitions into this general fund. Silver and +copper were the principal metals that appeared in the collection, +though a few pieces of gold, consisting in general of coins of the +value of seven shillings or half a guinea, sparkled between; the +numbers who contributed, however, and the copious contributions of +small coin that some of them poured forth, gave the whole sum an +imposing amount; but when Pharold at length received the hat in which +it was collected, and drawing forth an old purse added between thirty +and forty golden pieces to the store, a murmur of joy and satisfaction +ran through the assembled gipsies.</p> + +<p class="normal">The partition next began; but it was not, as may be supposed, +perfectly equal. It was perfectly just, however; each received +according to the burdens upon him. The married man obtained a share +double in amount to that bestowed upon a single man: the mother +of a large family, even if her husband was no more, claimed in +proportion to the number of her offspring, and each orphan--of which +be it remarked, by one cause or another, there were several--- was +treated as a single man. The partition was made by Pharold himself +with rigorous equity; and though almost all the gipsies had gathered +round, and observed his proceedings with gleaming black eyes and eager +faces, none offered a word either of remonstrance or of information; +for all were not only convinced of his justice, but every one would +have felt shame to grumble at the award of one who, contributing more +than the whole together, only claimed the share of an individual.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had done, and the whole was distributed, Pharold addressed a +few words to his companions, such as the division which had just taken +place suggested. He told them that in this custom, as in all the +others which they themselves observed, they followed exactly the +manners of their fathers: and he praised, not without eloquence, the +sort of patriarchal state in which they lived. He lamented grievously, +however, that many of their nation were abandoning their ancient +habits; that some had even established themselves in fixed +dwelling-places, had submitted themselves to the laws, and had adopted +the manners, of the people amongst whom they dwelt. He besought those +who surrounded him to live as all their race had lived, and promised +that thus they would continue to be as prosperous as the division of +that night showed them to be at present.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A curse upon our children," cried one middle-aged woman, "if they +quit the ways of their fathers, and go to live among the puny, +white-faced things of the lands: a curse upon them all! May their line +of life be crooked and broken off in the middle--full of crosses, and +ending in <i>Gehennel</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A murmur of approbation followed this denunciation; and the rest of +the gipsies retiring to their several fires, their carousings were +renewed, while Pharold related to those who more particularly +surrounded him a variety of melancholy facts relative to the +degeneracy of various gipsy tribes, who had fallen into the iniquity +of fixed dwelling-places, and many other abominations. He spoke of +much that he had seen in his own wanderings, and much that he had +heard from others; and his story became so interesting that a good +many of the younger of the race crept round to listen. This, however, +did not seem to suit his purpose; for he speedily broke off his +discourse, and, looking round him, exclaimed, in a voice loud +enough to be heard at each of the neighbouring fires, "Come, my men, +we are sad to-night, and that must not be. Will," he added, speaking +to the young man who, as we have said, presided over the younger +circle,--"Will, you are a songster, let us hear your voice."</p> + +<p class="normal">William obeyed without hesitation; and while he went on with his song, +the old dame at the other fire continued conversing eagerly with her +favourite Dickon, in tones which were low in themselves, and which +were the better cut off from other ears by the rich fine voice of the +singer.</p> +<br> + +<h4>SONG.</h4> +<br> + +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0">In the gray of the dawn, when the moon has gone down,<br> +Ere the sun has got up over country and town,<br> +'Tis the time for the lover to steal to his dear,<br> +In the heart-beating May of the incoming year.</p> +<p class="t8"><i>Chorus</i>.--In the gray of the dawn, &c.</p> +<br> +<p class="t0">In the gray of the dawn, when the fox is asleep,<br> +And the foxes of cities in slumber are deep,<br> +'Tis the time for the wise from his tent to walk out,<br> +And to see what the rest of the world is about.</p> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:18%">In the gray of the dawn, &c.</p> +<br> +<p class="t0">In the gray of the dawn, ere the milkmaid trips by,<br> +To bring home the milk from the bright-coated kye,<br> +Some earlier hand may have taken the pain<br> +To render her milking all labour in vain.</p> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:18%">In the gray of the dawn, &c. +<br> +<p class="t0">In the gray of the dawn, if you'll meet me down by,<br> +My own pretty maid with the dark gleaming eye,<br> +We'll wander away far o'er mountain and plain,<br> +And leave the old fools to look for us in vain.</p> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:18%">In the gray of the dawn, &c. +<br> +<p class="t0">In the gray of the dawn, if you'll not come to me,<br> +My own pretty maid, by the green hawthorn tree,<br> +You may stumble by chance o'er the corpse of your love,<br> +As you trip with some other along the dim grove.</p> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:18%">In the gray of the dawn, &c.</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"You have changed the song, Will," said Pharold, as the other ended; +"you have added and taken away."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man reddened, but merely replied that he had forgot some +verses, and been obliged to put new ones; and Pharold, taking no +further notice, continued his conversation with his companions. In the +meantime, the consultation between the old lady and Dickon had gone on +throughout the song, and was still continued.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, Dickon, my boy," rejoined the old lady to something that +her companion had said under cover of the singing, "keep a good tongue +in your head for a while, and we'll see what we can make of it. It is +a shame, indeed, that he should have his own way of getting so much +stuff, no one knows how--from the <i>Spirit</i>, I think--and prevent you +from following your way of getting some too, specially when it's all +to go with the rest. And he's proud of his way of getting money, too. +Did you see with what an air he poured the shiners in?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That I did, that I did," replied the other; "curse him! I'd get as +many as he, if he'd let me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, but you see the thing is, Dick," she answered, "he gets it, no +one knows how, without ever saying a word about it to any one. Now, +you follow the same plan, my chick; and if he asks you, you can then +tell him to mind his own business. But hush, he's looking at us. Bid +Bill give us another stave."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bill," cried Dickon, "give us another touch of it, there's a good +'un. Sing us Old Dobbin, and then come here and take a swig of the +bingo with me and Mother Gray."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bill was not at all reluctant, and without the slightest appearance of +bashful hesitation again began to pour fourth his fine voice in song. +The air, however, was of a very different kind, as far as expression +went, from that which he had formerly chosen, which had been somewhat +more sentimental and solemn than the words in general required, or +than might have been expected from the personage by whom it was sung. +In the present case, his tones were all lively, and the song seemed +well known to all his companions.</p> +<br> + +<h4>SONG.</h4> +<div class="poem2"> +<h4>1.</h4> +<br> +<p class="t3">Lift your head, Robin!</p> +<p class="t4">Lift it and see,</p> +<p class="t3">Why shakes his bells, Dobbin,</p> +<p class="t4">Under the tree.</p> +<p class="t3">Why shakes his bells, Dobbin,</p> +<p class="t3">His old noddle bobbing,</p> +<p class="t0">As if there were strangers upon the green lea?</p> +<br> +<h4>2.</h4> +<br> +<p class="t3">Lie quiet, lie quiet,</p> +<p class="t4">Though danger be near,</p> +<p class="t3">If we make not a riot</p> +<p class="t4">There's nothing to fear.</p> +<p class="t3">If you will but try it,</p> +<p class="t3">And only lie quiet,</p> +<p class="t0">There is no harm will happen my own little dear.</p> +<br> +<h4>3.</h4> +<br> +<p class="t3">I have heard of the fairy</p> +<p class="t4">That walks in the night,</p> +<p class="t3">With a figure so airy</p> +<p class="t4">And fingers so light,</p> +<p class="t3">That though watch-dogs hairy</p> +<p class="t3">May sleep in the airy,</p> +<p class="t0">She will empty your hen-coops before morning light.</p> +<br> +<h4>4.</h4> +<br> +<p class="t3">I have heard of the witches</p> +<p class="t4">That ride in the dark,</p> +<p class="t3">And despite hedge and ditches</p> +<p class="t4">Get into the park;</p> +<p class="t3">Nim hares from their niches,</p> +<p class="t3">Without any hitches,</p> +<p class="t0">And think man-traps and spring-guns a toothless dog's bark.</p> +<br> +<h4>5.</h4> +<br> +<p class="t3">Then lift your head, Robin,</p> +<p class="t4">Lift it to find</p> +<p class="t3">Why the bells of old Dobbin</p> +<p class="t4">Sound on the night wind;</p> +<p class="t3">Then lift your head, Robin,</p> +<p class="t3">For my heart is throbbing,</p> +<p class="t0">About witches and fairies and things of the kind.</p> +<br> +<h4>6.</h4> +<br> +<p class="t3">Lie still, 'tis no fairy</p> +<p class="t4">That trips the green sod;</p> +<p class="t3">To hen-coop or dairy</p> +<p class="t4">No witch takes her road.</p> +<p class="t3">No, no! 'tis no fairy,</p> +<p class="t3">Nor anything airy;</p> +<p class="t0">Lie still and be silent, the <i>beaks</i> are abroad!</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">This very edifying composition seemed to give infinitely greater +satisfaction to the generality of the gipsies than the former song had +done; and especially in those places where the singer contrived to +modulate his voice, so as to change the tone from the male to the +female, or from the female to the male, as the words required, the +approbation of his hearers was loud and vehement. Pharold alone +appeared somewhat gloomy upon the occasion; and were one to look into +his breast, which we do not intend to do very deeply on this occasion, +one might see a strange and bitter contest between early feelings, +habits, and inclinations, and refinements and tastes acquired from the +most opposite sources--a state of things so discordant in all their +elements, that nothing but an originally wild and eccentric nature +could have endured its existence in the same bosom. Some one has said, +"<i>Malheureux celui qui est en avant de son siècle</i>;" and it certainly +might be said, in every class of society, "<i>Malheureux celui qui est +au-dessus de son état</i>." Pharold then became gloomy, and felt +disgusted at things which amused and interested his companions; nor, +perhaps, was his gloom decreased by seeing that the beautiful young +companion who leaned beside him was as much pleased and amused as the +rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought that I had taught you to despise such things, Lena," he +said in a low tone, and with somewhat of a frowning brow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," she replied, colouring brightly; "and so I do, when I +think; but yet--"</p> + +<p class="normal">She was interrupted by the man named Dickon, who gave a low whistle, +and exclaimed at the same time, repeating apart of his companion's +song,--</p> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0">Lift your head, Robin,</p> +<p class="t1">Lift it and see,</p> +<p class="t0">Why shakes his bells, Dobbin,</p> +<p class="t1">Under the tree!</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">And almost at the same moment one of the horses, of which the gipsies +had several feeding upon the common just above, repeated a low neigh, +which had been heard in the first instance by Dickon, as he was +called, alone. All was instantly silent; and then the jumping sort of +noise which a horse with a clog upon his feet makes, when endeavouring +to go fast, was heard from the common; and Pharold's practised ear +could also distinguish, proceeding from the gravel of the road, the +sound of a man's footstep, the near approach of which had probably +frightened the horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jump up, Will," he cried quickly, addressing the singer; "jump up, +and see who it is. Stop him up there! If he want me, whistle twice; if +you want help, whistle once!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man was up the bank in a moment; but the length of time that +elapsed before they heard any farther sound made them at first fancy +that they had been mistaken in thinking that any one approached, and +then showed them that in the clear silence of the night the sounds had +made themselves heard farther than they had at first imagined. All +kept a profound silence; but, after the lapse of about a minute, the +murmur of distant voices was distinguished, and then came a low long +whistle. Every one started on his feet, but the next moment a second +whistle was heard, and Pharold said calmly, "It is for me! I may be +absent, perhaps, for an hour or so: but as the young man has come +to-night instead of to-morrow, we will set off all the earlier in the +morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke to one of the elder men near him; but in a tone of voice loud +enough to be heard by those around. Dickon and Mother Gray gave each +other a look; and when Pharold slowly took his way up the bank she +stuck her tongue into her toothless cheek with very little of that +reverence in her looks which she sometimes professed for the leader of +the tribe.</p> + +<p class="normal">Soon after he was gone the young man called Will returned; and was +questioned by several of the gipsies regarding the stranger who had +intruded upon them at so late an hour. All that he could or would +reply was, that he was a young fellow with a sword by his side, and +that he had walked away with Pharold; with which tidings they were +forced to content themselves, and their revels went on and concluded +much as they had begun.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.12" href="#div1Ref_01.12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Let any one who is fond of sublime sensations take his hat and staff, +and climb a high hill by a moonlight midnight. There is apart of that +dust of earth, which gathers so sadly upon our spirit during our daily +commune with this sordid world, cast off at every step. The very act +of climbing has something ennobling in it, and the clearer air we +breathe, the elevation to which we rise, all gives the mind a +sensation of power and lightness, as if it had partly shaken off the +load of clay that weighs it down to the ground. But still more, when +with solitude--the deep solitude of night--we rise up high above the +sleeping world, with the bright stars for our only companions, and the +calm moon for our only light--when we look through the profound depth +of space, and see it peopled by never-ending orbs--when we gaze round +our extended horizon and see the power of God on every side,--then the +immortal triumphs over the mortal, and we feel our better being strong +within us. The cares, the sorrows, the anxieties of earth seem as dust +in the balance weighed with mightier things; and the grandest earthly +ambition that ever conquered worlds and wept for more, may feel itself +humiliated to the dust in the presence of silence, and solitude, and +space, and millions of eternal suns.</p> + +<p class="normal">The cool night air playing round his brow calmed the feverish headache +which anxiety and excitement had left upon Edward de Vaux; and as he +walked forth from the park, and climbed the high hill towards Morley +Down, with the stars looking at him from the clear heaven, and the +moon glistening on every pebble of his path, it is wonderful how much +his mind felt soothed and tranquilized, how small the cares of earth +became in his sight. So much so, indeed, was this the case, that +although, as he mounted the steep ascent, he heard distinctly two +several shots fired, apparently, a great deal too near his aunt's +preserves--a sound which, at any other time, might have roused his +indignation in a very superabundant degree--he now only paused for a +moment, and turned round to listen; and, hearing no more, walked on, +regarding the destruction of some hares or pheasants as a matter of +but small consequence. When he reached the common, the beauty of the +moonlight scene, with its broad lights and shadows, and the solemn +effect of silence, and solitude, and night, again made him halt in his +advance, to gaze upwards into the depth, and feel the mightiness of +the universe around him; and that, too, sunk all human cares so low by +comparison, that he began to think he could bear any disclosure with +calm tranquillity.</p> + +<p class="normal">He then walked on rapidly, regretting, perhaps, a little, that he had +not asked Manners the exact position of the gipsy encampment, as he +had become warm in climbing the hill, and the wind that blew over the +common felt chill, and made a slight shudder pass over him. The little +mound, however, was his resource, as it had been that of his friend +when engaged on a similar errand; and, walking on to the spot where it +stood, he climbed the side, and cast his eyes over the wide and broken +flat grounds below him. In the direction of the sand-pit, he almost +immediately beheld a light; and the next instant a fine mellow voice +singing showed him that the gipsies were not only there but awake, +though he was too far off to catch any thing but a few detached notes +of a merry air rising up from below. Turning his steps in that +direction, he had proceeded about a quarter of the way from the mound +to the encampment, when an old white horse, which had lain down after +feeding, started up at his approach, and hobbled away with its clogged +feet, as fast as it could, uttering, at the same time, one or two +short neighs, as if perfectly aware that its masters were of that +class which does not like to be interrupted without warning. The light +of the fire, now rising up above the abrupt edge of the sand-pit, and +showing the dark outline of the bank, with the few black bushes +cutting sharp upon the glare, pointed out to De Vaux the exact spot +where the gipsies were to be found, when suddenly a human figure was +seen rising rapidly across the light; and a minute or two after the +form of a stout youth planted itself directly in the way of the +wanderer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who do you want, and what?" demanded the young man, eyeing him from +head to foot with a look of no particular satisfaction.</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux, however, answered him at once in such a manner as to put a +stop to any farther enquiries, saying, "I want to see a person called +Pharold, who is with you here. Can you bring me to him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied the youth, "but I can bring him to you;" and he uttered +a low, long whistle, succeeded by another, which was quickly followed +by the appearance of Pharold himself, who, as he approached, took care +to examine his visiter as accurately as the moonlight would permit. +When he came near, without addressing De Vaux, or waiting to hear his +errand, he turned to the young man, saying, "You may return, William;" +and seeing a slight inclination to linger, he added, in a more +authoritative tone, "Return!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth obeyed; and then turning to his visiter, the gipsy said, +"You are Captain de Vaux, I suppose--nay, I see you are."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right," replied De Vaux; "though I am not aware that you ever +saw me before; at least, I am certain that I never saw you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I saw you on the day before yesterday," replied the gipsy, "though it +was but for a moment, and you did not see me. But it is not alone from +that I know you. You are very like your father, as I remember him; but +still more like your grandfather and your uncle, in the times when I +can recall as happy a set of faces in Dimden Hall as ever shone in the +palace or the cottage."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy sighed as he spoke, and De Vaux sighed too, for he had never +seen such faces in his father's house; and there was also, in the +picture thus presented, a sad sample of how happy things and scenes of +joy can, in a few short years, pass away and be forgotten, which, +linking itself by the chain of association to the present, carried on +his mind to the time when he and his might be as those of whom the +gipsy spoke, and all the happiness which he now so fondly anticipated +with her he loved become a memory for some old remaining servant, or +poor dependant, to sigh over in their age.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I am to suppose," rejoined De Vaux, after pausing for a moment +on thoughts which, perhaps, might be called gloomy--"then I am to +suppose that I am speaking with the person signing himself Pharold; +and I may also conclude," he added, "that he is the same whom I have +heard of, as having been taken, when a boy, by my grandfather, in +order to educate him with my father and uncle; but who could not bear +the restraints of that kind of life, and at the end of two years fled +back to his own race and his native pursuits."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In less time, in less time than that," said the gipsy; "but I often +went back, and was ever kindly met, and used to please myself by +enacting one day the young gentleman at the hall, and the next the +gipsy on the common. But after a time," he continued, carried away by +his subject, "I strayed farther, and forgot what I might have been, to +give myself more up to what I was to be--but there is no use of +talking of such things now, it makes me sad! And so you have heard all +that. Yet who would tell you? Your father never did, I am sure; and +your aunt was then but a child of two or three years old; and your +uncle--but you remember not him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied De Vaux, "any knowledge of the facts that I do possess +was derived, I believe, from the tales of an excellent old +housekeeper, who died not many years ago, and who seemed to speak of +Pharold with no small regard."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And is she dead?" cried Pharold. "Poor good old Mrs. Dickinson--I +knew not that she was dead--she was ever kind to me, good soul: and +now she is dust and ashes! Well, well, the fairest, and the strongest, +and the best, go down to the sand with the leaves of the tree!--but +will the kindly affections, and the noble feelings, and the generous +nature, die too and rot? Can you tell me that, young gentleman?--I +think not."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor I either," answered De Vaux. "God forbid that we should think so! +But, as I said, it was from that good old person, as I now recollect, +that I heard all I know of your former history."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux recurred to the subject of the old housekeeper purposely, for +he was not at all sorry that--instead of having to meet the gipsy as +an opponent, where every word was to be examined, and nothing admitted +without proof--their conversation had taken such a turn as to draw +forth the man's true character, and to show the deeper motives upon +which he acted. Anxious, as he might naturally be, to ascertain +whether there was any hidden passion which might tempt the other to +deceive him, or to seek to injure either himself or those connected +with him, De Vaux would fain have led the gipsy on to speak more fully +of the past; but Pharold's mind, following always its own particular +train, rested but for a moment longer upon the idea suggested, and +then returned abruptly to the cause of their meeting.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since you know so much of me, Captain de Vaux," he said, "you must +also know that I possess knowledge in regard to your family which few +other persons now living do possess; and you must know, likewise, that +I am not one to say to you a word that is false, or to seek to wrong +you by even a thought. That you have given some credence to my letter +I see by your having come here, and that you put some confidence in me +I see by your having come alone, and at this hour. Both deserve that I +should be as explicit with you as possible; and, therefore, before you +quit me, I will leave not a doubt upon your mind in regard to the +truth of what I affirm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"By so doing," replied De Vaux, "you will at least entitle yourself to +my gratitude and thanks, though I conceal not from you that it is +difficult to feel grateful or to offer sincere thanks to one who, +willingly or unwillingly, overturns our hopes and our happiness for +ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is difficult!" replied the gipsy; "I know it is difficult; but yet +you must believe me when I tell you that I feel deeply and bitterly +every pang that I inflict on you; that but for a duty and a promise +registered in my own heart and beyond the stars--but for your own +ultimate happiness--I would not pour upon you now all that I must bid +you bear. You must believe all this, Captain de Vaux, for it is true."</p> + +<p class="normal">And De Vaux did believe it, in part, if not entirely; for there was a +solemn earnestness about the man's manner, a sort of eager deprecation +in his tone, that would have been very difficult to assume unfelt. +Although his opinion of mankind in general, and of the gipsy race in +particular, was not very high, still the barrier of distrust was not +strong enough to shut out conviction when De Vaux heard the tones of +real sincerity; and he spake truly when he replied, "I will believe +that you do feel what you say, both because I have never, to my +knowledge, injured you or yours, so that it would be gratuitous +baseness to injure or afflict me; and because the little I have ever +heard of your character in youth, as well as your tone and manner at +present, convinces me that you are incapable of such a proceeding. +Nevertheless, you must remember, that before I can yield belief to any +part of a story which, in some way, must throw dark imputations upon +my family, I am bound to exact proof, and must be permitted to +question every assertion that is not supported by the fullest +evidence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Proof and evidence you shall have," replied the gipsy; "and you shall +not only be permitted to question any thing that seems doubtful, but +to be angry and indignant till you are convinced. Only, for your own +sake, command yourself as much as possible. Remember that you have to +hear a tale that will give you great pain; and, in order to enable +yourself to judge rationally of its truth, you must govern your +passions, and, as far as may be, subdue your feelings. You must +promise, too, Captain de Vaux, to forgive him who inflicts the truth +upon you. Will you promise me," he asked, laying his hand solemnly on +De Vaux's arm, "to forgive whatever pain I may inflict, when you shall +be satisfied both that my tale is true, and that I have no motive of +earthly interest in relating it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most certainly," replied De Vaux, "though you proved my illegitimacy +ever so clearly. Of course I must forgive you, if disinterestedly you +speak but the truth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Worse, worse, far worse than that have I to tell," replied the gipsy; +"but I cannot tell it here. The wind blows cold, and I saw you +shudder, but your blood will run colder still before my tale is done. +Besides, my people have long hearing and cunning ways. They are too +near; and I would not that any other ear than yours in the whole world +should listen to the words I am going to speak. You have trusted +yourself so far to-night that you will not fear to trust yourself +alone with me still farther. Come, then, with me to the edge of the +wood that you see lying there about half a mile off. There we can +shelter ourselves from the wind beneath the part of the bank just +where it looks down upon the road. You are nearer home there, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know I am," answered De Vaux, turning, and gazing somewhat fixedly +upon him; "but do you know that the road which it does overhang is +within a hundred yards of the spot where my uncle was murdered?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it well," replied the gipsy; "but you will never be murdered +like him, Captain de Vaux."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not?" said De Vaux, quickly. "What happened to him may happen +to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My story must explain my words," rejoined Pharold; "I am unarmed--you +are armed. All my comrades are there behind us: I go farther from +them, and lead you nearer to your home. Were I willing to injure you, +here were the place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lead on, lead on!" said De Vaux; "I will trust you, and follow you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without reply, the gipsy led the way across the common, with every +step of which he seemed so well acquainted as to be able to shape his +course amid all the breaks, and bushes, and irregularities of the +ground, without ever giving a glance to the right or the left. He said +not a word either, and De Vaux followed equally in silence, with his +interest and anxiety still more excited than they had been even by his +strange companion's letter. In less than a quarter of an hour they had +crossed that part of the common which lay between the sand-pit and the +edge of the wood, exactly at that point where the hill, of which +Morley Down formed the table land, joined on to the general chain of +hills, from which it appeared as a kind of offset or promontory, and +which, as we have said, were generally covered with forest. The neck +of the promontory here overhung the turn of the road and the river, at +about a couple of hundred yards nearer to Morley House than the spot +where De Vaux had told Manners, on their first arrival in the country, +that his uncle had been murdered some years before; and the track that +lay between the place where he now stood and the highway was a steep +precipitous bank of two or three hundred feet in height, covered with +loose stones, scattered bushes, and one or two larger trees, thrown +forward beyond the mass of wood on the left. The moon was shining +bright on the road and the river, and though she had passed her +meridian, promised yet several hours of light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come down this little path, sir," said the gipsy. "Under that bank, +with those bushes round us, about thirty yards down, we can find +shelter, and can see every thing around, so that there will be no fear +of interruption."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux followed as he desired, and in a few minutes reached the spot +to which he had pointed. There, upon a felled oak, which only remained +to be rolled down the hill, he seated himself on a little piece of +level ground, where some one had endeavoured ineffectually to +establish a quarry, and whence he could behold the village near his +aunt's dwelling and the top of Morley House itself, though the view up +the valley on the other side was interrupted by the sweep of the woody +hill. The gipsy stood beside him, and De Vaux anxiously besought him +to produce at once the proofs of the very painful assertions which his +letter had contained.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I brought you not here without an object, Edward de Vaux," said the +gipsy, still standing; "for here I can relate my tale better than +anywhere else. Now, tell me what you remember of your early years, and +what you have heard of your father's history--of his history and that +of his family."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not seek you," answered De Vaux, "to tell you what I myself +know, but to learn from you facts with which I am unacquainted. You +have made assertions, and you must either support them by proof, or +let them fall to the ground."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," said the gipsy, "be as cautious as you will! If you +hesitate to tell the story you have heard, I will tell it for you, +Captain de Vaux, as I know you have heard it, and stop me if I speak a +word that is false. Your grandfather, the twelfth Lord Dewry, left two +sons and one daughter, then nearly seventeen. His eldest son, who was +about six-and-twenty, succeeded to his title; and his second son, +Edward, your father, who was then at college, went soon after to +London to study for the bar. They were both as handsome men as you +could look upon; and of your father's life and conduct in the great +capital, as I know nothing with much certainty, so shall I say but +little--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it appears to me," interrupted De Vaux, "that such is the very +matter on which you are called to speak. I was born in London; and if +you can tell me nothing certain of my father's conduct in London, you +can tell me nothing to the purpose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Patience! patience, sir, I pray you!" replied the gipsy; "I can tell +you much, though on your father's conduct in London I will spare you +as far as may be. William Lord Dewry, your uncle, was one of those men +such as the world seldom sees; full of fine and generous feelings, +kind, forgiving, noble, with enthusiasm such as the cold call folly, +and humanity such as the unfeeling term weakness, though the rectitude +of his own conduct was as unbending as yonder oak, and his enthusiasm +never led him to aught but what was just and good. For some years +after he succeeded to the title, he remained unmarried, and it was +generally supposed that he would continue to live as a single man. +Those who knew him better, however, felt sure that if ever chance +should throw in his way a woman who deserved his love, whose heart was +full of such feelings as his own, and whose mind was stored with +thoughts and wishes as high and noble as those which filled his own +bosom, he would not only offer to join his fate to hers, but would +love her as woman has seldom been loved on earth; that such a woman, +so loved, would become the great object of his being and his life, and +would concentrate on herself all those deep and ardent affections +which from his boyhood he had shown that his heart possessed. He did +at length, as you well know, find such a woman--full of all those +qualities which were so bright in himself--beautiful, accomplished, +and his equal in rank and fortune. He addressed himself at once to a +heart that was free and unengaged; and the same fine properties that +had won his love were sure to win her love for him. He was married, +and was happy beyond all that he had ever dreamed. He was happy; nay, +more, he was content! for the angel of his home was more than all he +had expected, and he sought and wished for nothing more. Every +feeling, every thought turned towards her; and though his kindness, +his benevolence, his philanthropy, were doubled rather than +diminished, yet no joy was any thing to the joy of his love. For +a year and six months he was as happy as any human thing can +be--happier, perhaps, than any human thing ever was before. I saw his +happiness; and, oh! how it made my heart expand to behold it! But then +suddenly came a change. His wife had given him a child--beautiful, I +hear she is, as her mother and good as her father; but ere the opening +of her infant mind could add anything to the happiness of her parents, +or afford even a momentary consolation to her father when distress +came, her mother was seized with sudden illness, and ere five days +were over she was dead."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy paused, and seemed to sigh bitterly over the memories of the +past; while De Vaux, whose interest in all that concerned his beloved +Marian was hardly less than he felt for those things that affected +himself, waited anxiously to hear more; for though the story was not +unfamiliar to him, yet it was put in a new light, and told in a mild +and feeling tone, that gave it a thousand times more force than ever. +After a moment or two of silence the gipsy went on:--"What a change," +he continued, "came upon him then! The world seemed all forgotten. He +appeared as one struck with sudden blindness; and where he had beheld +nothing but beauty around him before, he now beheld nothing but a +blank. For hours and hours he would ride in solitude through the +country, unaccompanied even by a servant. He would pass his friends +when he met them as strangers, and when they spoke, would seem long +ere he remembered them. He forgot all enjoyment and all occupation, +and lived in the world as if it were not his proper place. Thus passed +the days for near two months, when, at the end of that time, he one +morning rode forth as usual alone; but he chanced--though it was +seldom he mentioned whither he went--he chanced to say that he was +going to the county town. He was known, too, to have a large sum of +money on his person; and as he passed by the house of Mrs. Falkland, +his sister, for it was at Dimden he always lived, he stopped for a few +minutes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You seem to know the whole facts as minutely as if you had followed +him," said De Vaux, when the gipsy paused for a moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do," said the gipsy; "and, if you will listen, you shall hear how. +When he left Mrs. Falkland's, her husband, who was then living, and a +noble, frank-hearted man, walked by his brother-in-law's horse as far +as the village, but there he left him, and Lord Dewry rode on. He was +seen by some boys who were playing in that field--can you see it? half +a mile nearer than the village, with a red barn at the side. But none +of the country people saw him after, and he never returned to the +hall. His servants, who all loved him, were alarmed, and sent over to +Mr. Falkland, and he despatched messengers to the county town, with +orders to inquire at the villages on the road; but no Lord Dewry was +to be heard of anywhere. The evening passed over in terror; night had +come on, and the family of Morley House were retiring late to rest, +when a messenger arrived from Mr. Arden the magistrate, to inform Mr. +Falkland that a gipsy--do you remark--a gipsy had just been taken up +upon the charge of beating a young peasant almost to death the day +before, and now made a voluntary declaration that he had seen the Lord +Dewry murdered at the elm-point, there down below, that very morning +at ten o'clock. Mr. Falkland instantly got upon horseback, and rode +over to see Mr. Arden; and it was agreed between them that the news +should instantly be sent to the Honourable Edward de Vaux, your +father, and that till he arrived nothing further should be asked of +the gipsy, except if he knew where the body of Lord Dewry might in any +likelihood be found. He said yes: it might be found at the sea; but +that if they would search in the reeds by the bank, they would find +the baron's hat, and that in some of the woods or meadows his horse +would be met with. Search was instantly made, and some of his words +proved true; for the hat, pierced through and through with a shot, was +found bloody among the reeds, and his horse was discovered grazing in +the meadows, four miles down, on the other side of the water. In the +mean time, the courier rode night and day to London, and when he +arrived, found the dead lord's brother at the playhouse. He was very +much shocked at the news, and instantly came down hither with one Sir +William Ryder, a good enough man, they said, at heart, but one who had +been fond of play, and had lost a fine fortune by that foolish +passion. When the new lord arrived, the gipsy was again brought up and +placed before him. A great many questions were asked, and he told this +story:--The young man he had beaten had foully ill-used a gipsy woman, +and he, the gipsy, had punished him, scarcely as he deserved. He had +left him for dead, however, on the ground; and thinking that if he +were dead the offence might bring trouble on his people, if he went +back to them, he hid himself in these woods, and on the morning of the +murder was lying down yonder, in the sweep of trees there, just at the +head of the point. He had been there all the morning, he said; and, as +the country people generally take the short way over the hill, he had +seen no one pass, till, about half-past nine o'clock, a man on +horseback came and backed in his horse between the two old elm-trees +that lie about five hundred yards farther up in the bite of the river. +He lay very still there to see what would come of it; and in about +half an hour he heard another horse's feet coming quickly up, and Lord +Dewry turned the point. The gipsy said that he thought to have sprung +out, and told him what he had seen; for his heart misgave him as to +the purpose of the other horseman; but just at the moment the other +came forth, and, riding quietly up, spoke with Lord Dewry calmly +enough for some minutes. They then seemed to get into high dispute, +and Lord Dewry pushed his horse on upon the road a little, while +following, and speaking at his side, the other suddenly drew a pistol +from his pocket, and fired right into the baron's head. At the same +moment, as he was falling from the saddle, the horse, taking fright, +plunged into the river, dragging him by the stirrup, and his hat fell +into the rushes. The other horseman looked after him for a moment; but +ere the swimming horse reached the opposite bank, he set spurs to his +own beast, and was galloping away, when at the turn he was met by +another. The gipsy could see them grasp each other's hands; but they +stopped not a moment to speak: the second turned his horse with the +first, and both galloped away like lightning. The gipsy plunged into +the water, he said, to see if he could bring out the body, as soon as +he saw that it had become disentangled from the stirrup; but it had +sunk to rise no more; and when he was tired with swimming he returned +to the woods.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mr. Arden, the magistrate, said it was a very improbable story; but +asked the gipsy if he could recognise the man who had committed the +murder. The gipsy replied that he could, if he saw him, and could +swear to him whenever he was placed before him. Mr. Arden then said +that it would be better, under all circumstances, to commit the gipsy +at once for his other offences, when he would be always forthcoming to +give evidence if required; but as it was proved that the young man he +had beaten was hourly getting better, and acknowledged that he had +deserved the treatment he had received, the kind magistrate had no +other excuse to propose for committing the gipsy but that of his being +a rogue and a vagabond. In this, however, he was overruled by Lord +Dewry, the new Lord Dewry, after some private consultations with Sir +William Ryder. His lordship said, with a kind look to the gipsy, that +it would be cruel, he thought, to commit a man to prison for having +given voluntary evidence where it was much needed; and besides, that +he had reason to think very well of that gipsy, who had, in a degree, +been brought up by his father. Mr. Arden, however, suggested that the +gipsy himself might have been the murderer; and though Lord Dewry +treated the idea with contempt, yet the sturdy magistrate kept him in +custody, till, by the marks of the horse's feet, and many other +things, it was proved that his story must be true. In the mean time +Lord Dewry and Sir William Ryder were very kind to him, and took care +that he should want for nothing while he was detained. At length he +was liberated, and went to join his own people, promising to return +whenever he should be called upon, which every one felt sure he would +do, as he had been educated with the dead man, and loved him as a +brother. I need not tell you that I was that gipsy!</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the mean time," continued Pharold, "Mr. Edward de Vaux took the +titles and entered into possession of the estates held by his late +brother. The will of the last lord was found, and no one wondered that +in it he never mentioned his brother's name; for it was known to all +the world that they had had many a bitter dispute, and had long been, +not as brothers should be. His daughter, Miss De Vaux, and the care of +the splendid fortune which she inherited from her mother, were +intrusted to his sister, Mrs. Falkland, to Mrs. Falkland's husband, +and to a distant relation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All his servants and friends were remembered by the dead nobleman, +and almost every one that he knew was named except his own brother. +The world did wonder, then, that that brother, with a singular +generosity, resigned in favour of his niece many things that he might +have claimed as belonging to the male heir, and treated all questions +between them, in regard to property, with unexampled liberality. When +he had settled all things, and retained a number of his brother's +domestics, he ordered the hall at Dewry to be put in order; not loving +the part of the country where his brother had been murdered. Thither, +then, he went, after he had arranged his affairs in London, bringing +down with him a young gentleman of seven years' old, his only son, and +supposed heir to all the property."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my mother!" cried De Vaux, raising his head from his hands, in +which position he had been sitting while listening to the gipsy's +story; for during its course he had been agitated by many a strange, +but ill-defined, emotion. The story of his uncle's murder had always +been one on which his mind had rested with awe and pain from his very +childhood; but though he had heard it often told, both as a whole and +in detached fragments, yet he had never listened to such minute +details as were now given by an eye-witness of the horrible event, who +seemed prepared to connect it, too, by some vague and unexplained +link, with the painful assertions which had been made in regard to his +own doubtful situation. The very expectation, or rather apprehension, +of some horrible disclosure to follow at every word the gipsy uttered, +had troubled and shaken him greatly; and the name of Sir William +Ryder--a person who, it appeared, was then most intimate with his +father, but who, it was clear, had since become the object of his most +determined hatred--had added deeper feeling of mysterious dread to all +those thoughts by which he was already perturbed. What could be the +meaning of all this? whither would it lead? how was it to end? were +the questions which continually pressed upon him as the gipsy +proceeded; and it appeared even a relief, when Pharold's last words +seemed to bring his ideas back from the new and dreadful topics on +which they had been engaged, to the subject of his former doubts and +suspicions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my mother!" he cried, as the gipsy paused, "what of her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing, that I know," replied Pharold, apparently with some +surprise; "nothing but that she was a Spanish lady, who married your +father privately, after breaking her vows in a convent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then they were married?" cried De Vaux, eagerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly!" answered the gipsy: "I never heard it doubted; though he +kept her from all his family, and used her ill; which was one of the +causes of his quarrels with his brother. But she was dead before he +came down here to take possession of his brother's lands. But let me +tell my tale."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux again leaned his head upon his hands; every thing once more +becoming dark and misty around him. "Go on! go on!" he said; "go on, +and keep me not in suspense, for Heaven's sake!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have now told you," continued Pharold, "the story of your family as +it went forth to the world, and as you most likely have heard it +yourself. It is a goodly tale, and just such as could be desired under +such circumstances! The picture is, indeed, a dark and painful one: +but it has another side more dark and painful still; and ere you look +at it, nerve your mind firmly, young gentleman; for if you be such as +I believe you are, filled with honourable feelings and kindly +affections, your very soul will writhe under all you have to hear."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux waved his hand for him to go on; and the gipsy +continued:--"You have heard the world's version of the story; you must +now hear the gipsy's. My early history you know; for a year and nine +months I was brought up with your uncle and your father. Your uncle +ever loved me--your father never: but he was too proud to seek to +injure me; and when I left the false restraints of what you call +society, to go back to my own race and my native freedom, he and I +were friends, as far as we could be.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your uncle I often returned to see, though longer and longer became +my absence, and greater and greater my contempt for gilded halls and +mercenary slaves in laced jackets. I took a pleasure, however, a +secret pleasure, in marking and learning all the doings of the man I +loved best on earth; and sometimes, though my distaste to fine +dwellings and insolent lackeys had grown into a diseased abhorrence +that would not let me cross the lordly threshold of Dimden, yet often +would I meet him in the park or in the walks, and hold a brief +conversation with him in the free air. It was after an absence from +this part of the country of near two years that I came back, and found +that his heart had been withered by the death of her he loved. I was +seeking for an opportunity of meeting him, when the offence was given +to an unhappy woman of our tribe, which called for vengeance at my +hand; and I was forced to conceal myself till I could learn what were +the ultimate consequences of the punishment that I had inflicted. I +hid myself, as I have told you, in that wood; and all the rest that I +said before the magistrate is true: but I said not all the truth. I +saw the horseman station himself between the elms; I saw Lord Dewry +ride up, and they met; I heard the words they spoke; I saw him ride +on, and I saw the other follow, though little did I dream his purpose; +I saw him draw the pistol from his bosom; I saw it raised, and the +shot fired that struck the good lord down--and the hand that fired it, +young man--the hand that fired it was his brother's!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is false!" cried De Vaux, starting up and half-drawing his sword; +"it is as false as hell itself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is as true as yon stars in heaven!" replied the gipsy, calmly but +sternly; and a long pause followed, while Pharold stood erect and +tranquil before the son of him whom he had charged with so fearful a +crime, and De Vaux gazed on him with a countenance in which the +workings of all the manifold passions that such terrible tidings +produced were fearfully visible. "Will you hear me out?" demanded the +gipsy at length.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will," said De Vaux, casting himself down again upon the tree; "I +will! but think not to escape me. You have made a dreadful charge; and +as there is a God in heaven, you shall show me that it is true before +I quit you!" and leaning his head again upon his hand, he kept his +eyes fixed upon the gipsy, as if fearful that he should elude him, +till he came to parts of the details that made his hearer again bury +his face in his hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will!" continued Pharold; "I will show you that what I have uttered +is true; for it was to that purpose that I brought you here. But be +more calm, and let me tell you all the circumstances which might lead +him to the terrible act that he committed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He committed it not!" murmured De Vaux; but the gipsy went on as if +he had not heard him. "I have since heard all the facts," he +proceeded, "from one who knew them too well; the only one, indeed, +besides myself. Edward de Vaux, the younger of the two brothers, was a +man of extravagant tastes and habits. He went early and often into +other countries, and there he learned expensive vices and follies. I +would not pain you; but he gamed deeply, and lived sumptuously, while +your mother lived neglected, and fared but hardly. What he inherited +from his father was but small; what he acquired was nothing; what he +squandered came from the liberality of his brother; and often his +demands were more than any liberality could supply. Lord Dewry +remonstrated and entreated, but in vain; and much and nobly, have I +heard, did he offer to do for him, if he would retire into the +country, and treat your mother well. But she died, and that cause of +dispute was removed by her death. All check, indeed, seemed now cast +away by her husband. He gamed more deeply than ever; lost all; applied +to his brother; was refused, and then staked what he did not possess. +He lost. Sir William Ryder, his great friend, joined him in an +engagement to pay the sum within a certain time; but shortly before +the period arrived, Mr. De Vaux was not to be found by his friend. Sir +William thought that he had evaded him in order to cast the whole debt +upon his shoulders; and, learning the route he had taken, followed at +full speed; traced him step by step, and overtook him--at the very +moment he had murdered his brother. Horrified, but confused and +bewildered, before he well comprehended what he was doing, Sir William +became a participator in the crime, by promising to conceal all that +he had seen; and setting spurs to their horses, they arrived in London +by different by-roads, in so short a space of time that it seemed +impossible they could have done the distance. Well knowing that he +must soon be sent for, the heir of the dead man took care to show +himself in every place where his presence in London would be marked +and remembered, in case of necessity; and he was found, as I have +said, at the play-house. What sort of hell was in his heart, as he sat +and saw mockeries and pageants, I know not."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But your story halts, sir," said De Vaux, sternly; "how could he know +at what exact spot his brother would be found at that precise time? +How could he--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"By that letter!" said the gipsy, placing abruptly an old but +well-preserved paper in his hands, on which the regular post marks +were easily discernible.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I cannot read it by this faint light," said De Vaux, attempting +to make out the contents, after gazing at the address; "what is its +purport?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell you," replied the gipsy, striking a light with a flint +and touchwood that he carried; "I will tell you; though you shall soon +be able to satisfy yourself. It is your uncle's letter to your father, +telling him that he has not sufficient money at his banker's to meet +his fresh demand; but that, if he will be at the inn at the county +town of ----, at noon of the eighteenth of May--the very day of the +murder--he will give him the sum of five thousand pounds, which is all +he can collect without burdening himself for other people's faults, in +a manner that he does not choose to do. There!" he continued, lighting +a few dry sticks; "there is light enough to read!"</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux read the letter. It was such exactly as the gipsy described: +it was written in a hand which he remembered from other papers he had +seen to be that of his uncle; it was dated four days before his death, +signed with his name, sealed with his arms, directed to his brother, +and by the post marks had evidently been received. Conviction was +forcing itself painfully upon his mind, but drowning men will catch at +straws; and he hoped yet to find some flaw in the horrible history he +heard, and to be enabled to give it the lie to his own heart. He +returned the letter; and folding his arms upon his breast, bade the +gipsy go on; while, with a knitted brow and quivering lip, he +continued gazing upon vacancy, suffering his mind to roam wildly +through a thousand painful thoughts and memories, but without letting +one word escape his ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By this letter," continued the gipsy, "did he know exactly when his +brother would set out for the town of ----; and he knew his habits, +too, well enough to arrange the rest of his plan. But crime is always +agitated; and it is thus that even the coolest and most determined +ever leave some trace behind by which murder may be detected. Your +uncle came not so soon as he had expected, and he took the letter from +his pocket to be sure that he himself had not overstepped the hour. +Just as he was reading, the horse's feet which bore Lord Dewry +sounded, and he hastily thrust back the paper, as he thought, into his +pocket; but it fell, and I saw it, and forgot it not afterward. When +the deed was done, he paused for a moment gazing upon the swimming +horse, and the sinking form of his brother, as it detached itself from +the stirrup, and without even a struggle the waters closed over his +head; and I am as sure as there is a heaven above us, that at that +instant the murderer would have given lands and lordships--nay, life +itself--to have recalled the irrevocable act that he had done. He +could gaze at it no longer; but striking his spurs into his horse like +a madman, he turned back the way he came. Just at the turn of the wood +he was met by Sir William Ryder; what he said I know not, but he +grasped his hand for a moment, and then galloped away, followed by the +other. Ere he had gone far his coolness had returned; for before he +came down here all his plans had been arranged, and his conduct +decided. He had questioned the messenger, too, and had heard the +evidence that I had given; and though I had declared that I could +swear to the person, he felt sure, from my <i>not</i> swearing to him, that +I either did not really know him, or had determined to conceal my +knowledge. At all events, he had no resource but to front the matter; +and he did so boldly. When I was brought into the justice room, I +could see that he turned a little pale, and at the same time he put up +his finger to his lip, in a way that I might take for a signal or not +as I pleased. I repeated all I had said before, nay, I went further, +and described exactly the appearance of the murderer, but such +descriptions are always loose; and no one asked me whether any of +those present was the man--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would you have said yes if they had?" interrupted De Vaux.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not well know what I might have done," replied the gipsy, "but +I think not. What use would it have been to me to destroy the son of +one who had loved and cherished me? He had committed an awful crime, +it is true--but I was not the avenger. Besides, I knew that vengeance, +in its intensity tenfold more terrible than aught that man could +inflict, was in his heart already,--that there was a serpent eating it +up,--that the mighty, the almighty Avenger of all crimes was there in +his terrors, and that every hour of his after-existence would be +constant judgment and continual death. No, no! on my life, I did not +so much hate as pity him. At night, after I had been removed from the +justice room, I heard the door of the chamber, in which they had +confined me, open, and Sir William Ryder came in with a light. He was +a fine-hearted man, though he had been misled; and although the real +murderer had shown himself but little shaken, yet through the whole of +my examination he, Sir William Ryder, had been agitated, as I could +see, to his very soul. Both he and the other, however, whether to make +me a friend or what matters little, had done all they could to soften +the hardness of old Squire Arden, as he was called; but Sir William +now came to me to see what I did know, and how far they could trust +me. It was a difficult task; and had he gone about it as cunningly as +some would have done, he might have failed with me. But he was too +much moved for that. He spoke kindly to me, however, and told me that +Lord Dewry was very much interested for me, and would take care of me, +and I told him at once to bid Lord Dewry take care of himself, for his +was the case of danger, and not mine. So then he said that he saw I +knew more than I had spoken, and that Lord Dewry was grateful to me. +'Call him not by a title that is not his,' I answered; 'for I know +that the patent of their nobility bears, that if any of the family, +judged according to law, be found guilty of a felony, he and his +children are to be considered dead, their line extinct, and the next +heir to claim as if they were not.' He answered that that mattered +not, for that his friend had not been found guilty of any felony, nor +ever would; and that he had only to say, if I would quit the kingdom, +till he gave me leave to return, he would secure me the sum of one +thousand pounds directly, and a pension for my life. I said I would +think of it, and tell him when I was at liberty; and I was very soon +after set free. Sir William Ryder did not fail to find me out, +however; and it was agreed between us that I should go; and that he +should meet me at the sea-port where I embarked, and there give me the +money.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It took a time, however, to move the tribe to the port, and some were +unwilling to go without knowing the reason. So we divided, some going +with me, some betaking themselves to their own way. I saw Sir William +Ryder often, and when I wrote to him to tell him that we were near a +sea-port in Wales, he came down directly, and visited the encampment. +He told me that he, too, was about to set out for America, and +intended to spend the rest of his life in the colonies. 'I will try,' +he said, 'by devoting the remainder of my days to doing good, and +walking uprightly with all men, to efface from my memory the traces of +many follies and of one great crime, in which I have not been a +sharer, indeed, but which I have aided to conceal.' The second day, +however, that he came out to us, his horse took fright at a monkey, +which some of our people had among the tents, and threw him violently. +He broke his collar-bone and several of his ribs, and being carried +into a hut, we all nursed him tenderly. I found him better than I +thought, and learned to love him; and under our care he got well +sooner than if all the doctors in the world had seen him. While he was +recovering it was that I learned how all had happened; and he tried to +persuade himself and to make me believe that the murder had been +committed in a moment of passion, and not by design, or that his +friend was distracted with anxiety and distress at the moment that he +committed it. When he left us for America I went away to Ireland. I +have since seen many other lands, and have lived for some years in +Scotland, but I never returned to this country of England till about +three weeks ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy paused, and De Vaux remained as he had placed himself, with +his head bent down almost to his knees, and his eyes buried in his +extended hands. He continued silent long, bowed down by a sense of +misery, and humiliation, and despair. What would he have given at that +moment to have all his former apprehensions confirmed, if the present +terrible doubts could have been thereby swept away!--doubts, indeed, +they could scarcely now be called, for the gipsy's story was too +consistent in every part, was too much combined with facts within his +own knowledge, was too clear an explanation of many parts of his +father's conduct--his gloom, his reserve, his irritation, his +agitation at the very name of Sir William Ryder--for him to entertain +any thing but one of those faint, lingering, insane hopes, which death +itself is the only thing that can extinguish. But, for the moment, the +thought of whether there were still a doubt had merged itself in the +more agonizing ideas of what must be his fate if the story were true. +His own father! How could he ever behold him again? How was he to act +towards him? What was he to do? Then came the idea of Marian in all +her beauty, in all her gentleness, in all her generous love; and he +felt that she could never be his; that the blood of her father placed +between them an obstacle that could never be removed; that no time, no +change, no effort could ever cast down that dreadful barrier; that at +the very moment when his passionate love had been raised by her noble +conduct almost to adoration was the moment at which he must sacrifice +her for ever! And how must he sacrifice her? How must he act towards +her? He could not, he dared not explain, by even a single word, the +cause of that sacrifice; he could not tell her what had happened; he +could not even have the blessing of weeping with her over their +blighted hopes. Whichever way he turned, it was all horror and +destruction; and the brain of the unhappy young man seemed to reel +with the agony he suffered. He spoke not; he could hardly be said to +think; it was all one frightful dream of misery and despair. He felt +that his fate, as far as happiness was concerned, was sealed for ever; +and yet a thousand whirling and inconsistent visions rushed upon his +brain regarding his future conduct. How--how was he to act? What--what +was he to do? At one moment he thought of going instantly to his +father's presence, of telling him he knew all, and of ending his own +life before him, to cast off the intolerable burden of thought and +sensation; but then he remembered all that his father had already +suffered; called to mind the deep and gloomy pondering--the solitary +meditations, and the never-smiling lip--the bursts of wild and +impatient passion, the hollow cheek, the sunken eye, and all the +indications of a heart torn and mangled by remorse; and that idea +vanished in filial sorrow. At another time he thought of burying +himself deep in the wilds of America, of joining some Indian tribe, +and hiding his name and its disgrace in scenes to which Europeans +never penetrated; but then again the idea of Marian, and of never, +never seeing her more, overcame him with fresh anguish. He knew not +where to turn his eyes for guide or direction; he knew not how to act; +he knew not whither to go: every place was hopeless--every view +presented but despair; and, after a long and terrible silence, one +deep and bitter groan found its way to his lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy's heart was moved for him; and, after gazing upon him for +several minutes, he said, "I grieve from my very heart to pain you +thus; but yet, young man, be comforted: there is a balm for all +things."</p> + +<p class="normal">The very words of comfort, however, proceeding from the same tongue +that had destroyed all his happiness for ever, roused De Vaux almost +to phrensy; and, starting up, he exclaimed, "Either what you have told +me is false, or you must know that there is no comfort for me on +earth! What balm do you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The balm of time," replied the gipsy, unmoved, "which, as I know by +the experience of many sorrows, can take the venom from the most +cankered wound!"</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux glared at him for a moment as if he would have struck him to +the earth, and then--for there are some loads of misery which are too +vast for the human mind to comprehend or to believe at first--and then +replied, "I believe you have been deceiving me, and wo be unto you if +you have! Have you any other proof," he cried, striving eagerly to +catch at a doubt; "have you any other proof? If so, produce it +quickly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not deceiving you, young gentleman," answered the gipsy; "and I +can forgive both your anger and your unbelief."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the proof! the proof!" cried De Vaux; "have you any other proof?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have," answered Pharold, "and I will produce it, though the letter +I have shown you is proof enough. I grieve for you, sir, but you must +not injure me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The letter you may have stolen," replied De Vaux, fiercely, "or found +it years afterward. What other proof have you? Give me some other +proof, and I will believe you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You believe me already at your heart," answered the gipsy; "but the +other proof is this:--I have said that the murderer gazed for a moment +after his victim, and that I saw that he gazed in deep and terrible +remorse. Know you how I saw that it was so? Thus: The moment that the +shot was fired, and that his brother was falling, his hand let the +pistol drop from his grasp, and he sat on his horse motionless as a +statue, as if the deed he had done had turned him into stone; nor did +he move hand or limb till he turned and galloped away as if the fiends +of hell were pursuing him. The pistol was not lost any more than the +letter; and happy for him was it that they both fell into the hands of +one who concealed them carefully; for had they been found by any +other, your father might have ended his days upon a scaffold more than +twenty years ago. You ask for more proof. Look there! that is the +weapon, and you know the arms of a younger brother of your race too +well to doubt me longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux took the pistol which the gipsy produced. It was curiously +inlaid with silver, and the arms of his family embossed upon the +stock. He had once seen one, and only one, precisely similar in the +hands of his father, when he came upon him by accident in his private +study. His father had put it away in haste into a chest that contained +it; and, with a pale cheek and quivering lip, had reproved his son for +breaking in upon his privacy. De Vaux now saw the fellow-weapon of the +one he had then beheld: the last faint gleam of hope left his heart +for ever; and striking his hand upon his bosom, and groaning in the +bitterness of his heart, he cast himself frantically down upon the +cold ground.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.13" href="#div1Ref_01.13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It is a wonder that man ever smiles; for there is something so strange +and awful in the hourly uncertainty of our fate--in the atmosphere of +darkness and insecurity that surrounds our existence--in the troops of +dangers to our peace and to our being that ride invisible upon every +moment as it flies--that man is, as it were, like a blind man in the +front of a great battle, where his hopes and his joys are being swept +down on every side, and in which his own existence must terminate at +length, in some undefined hour, and some unknown manner--and yet he +smiles as if he were at a pageant!</p> + +<p class="normal">Were his smile the smile of faith and confidence in the great, good +Being who sees the struggle and prepares the reward, he might smile +unshaken indeed; but, alas, alas! is it so? I fear but seldom.</p> + +<p class="normal">There are few things on earth more melancholy than when one is +burdened with some evil news to see those whom it is destined to +plunge into grief full of gay life and happiness, enjoying the bright +moments as if there were nothing but pleasure in the world. There is +something awful in it! It brings home to our own hearts the fearful +fact that, at the very instant when we are at the height of joy, some +remote, unseen, unknown, unexpected agents may be performing acts +destined to blast our happiness for ever. There is something +mysterious in it, too; for it shows us that at the very moment when +our state is in reality the most miserable upon earth, we are often +giving ourselves up to the most wild and rapturous gayety, solely +because some other tongue has not spoken in our ear a few conventional +sounds which the inhabitant of another land would not understand, but +which, as soon as they are spoken, plunge us from the height of joy +down into the depth of despair.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the third morning of Colonel Manners's stay at Morley House, and on +which he expected letters that would give him a fair excuse for +abridging his visit, he rose as early, but came down somewhat later +than usual. He still, however, expected to find himself earlier than +the rest of the family; but on passing the music-room, the door of +which was ajar, he heard the notes of a harpsichord--the solace and +delight of our worthy ancestors--mingling with some gay voices +talking; and, taking the prescriptive right of opening quite all +half-opened doors, he walked in, and found Miss Falkland at the +instrument, speaking cheerfully, over her shoulder, to Miss De Vaux, +who stood behind.</p> + +<p class="normal">A slight complaining cry on the part of the lazy hinges made both +ladies turn their eyes towards it; and Isadore smiled as she did so, +while a faint colour spread itself deepening over Marian's soft +cheek--perhaps she might expect to see some one else than Colonel +Manners, and be just sufficiently disappointed to say something civil +and kind to him on his entrance, as a sort of compensation for the bad +compliment she paid him at the bottom of her heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Isadore was just talking of you, Colonel Manners," she said, looking +towards her cousin, as if leaving her to explain in what manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is a proverb to that effect, madam," replied Manners, smiling; +"but I am always glad to find myself subject of discourse to those I +esteem, if the matter be not censure at least. May I be let into the +secret?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, beyond all doubt," replied Isadore. "The fact is, De Vaux +betrayed you last night, Colonel Manners; and told me, without even +binding me to secrecy, that you sing remarkably well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He did me injustice, I assure you," replied Manners; "but if that be +'the head and front of my offence,' I can prove myself innocent of +singing remarkably well at any time you like."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No time like the present, Colonel Manners," said Isadore. "It wants +full half an hour to breakfast, and there is nothing on earth so +painful as to live in long-drawn expectation of such things. Will you +sing, Colonel Manners?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe," he replied, "that there is some superstitious penalty +attached to singing before breakfast; but nevertheless I will dare the +adventure if you have any music that I know, for the sin of +accompanying myself I commit not."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know that?" asked Miss Falkland; "or that! or that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, indeed," answered Colonel Manners; "but I know the air of this +one, and have sung it more than once to different words, the +composition of a lady possessing no small poetical powers. I will try +to recollect them now; though, to speak the truth, it is doing some +injustice to the lines to take them from the drama for which they were +designed, and apply them to an old song."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, never mind; we will make all due allowances," replied Miss +Falkland; "am I to accompany you, or Marian!--Oh, very well, with all +my heart! Is it to be the time of a monody or a jig?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not too fast, if you please," replied Colonel Manners; and Miss +Falkland accompanying him, he sang the following lines to an air, +which was then not very new, but which is now in all probability lost +to posterity.</p> +<br> + +<h4>SONG.</h4> +<br> +<div class="poem2"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt"> +"I woo thee not as others woo,<br> +I flatter not as others do,</p> +<p class="t4">Nor vow that I adore;</p> +<p class="t0">I cannot laugh, I cannot smile.<br> +Nor use, as they, each courtly wile,</p> +<p class="t4">But oh, I love thee more.</p> +<br> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">"The rich, the noble, and the great,<br> +Offer thee wealth, and power, and state,</p> +<p class="t4">And fortunes running o'er!</p> +<p class="t0">How can I smile, when none of these<br> +Give me the worldly power to please,</p> +<p class="t4">Though I may love thee more?</p> +<br> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">"And yet I hope, because I love<br> +With thoughts that set thee far above</p> +<p class="t4">Vain Fortune's glittering store.</p> +<p class="t0">Others may deem thou canst be won<br> +By things that sparkle in the sun,</p> +<p class="t4">But oh, I love thee more.</p> +<br> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">"I do believe that unto thee<br> +Truth, honour, plain sincerity,</p> +<p class="t4">Are jewels far before</p> +<p class="t0">All that the others think are dear;<br> +And yet far more than they I fear,</p> +<p class="t4">Because I love thee more.</p> +<br> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">"I love thee more than all the train<br> +Who flaunt, who flatter, and who feign,</p> +<p class="t4">And vow that they adore:</p> +<p class="t0">I love thee as men loved of yore--<br> +Ah, no, I love thee more--far more</p> +<p class="t4">Than man e'er loved before."</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"I do not think I could have resisted those verses well sung," cried +Isadore, smiling as he concluded, if I had been the most disdainful +beauty that ever carried a hawk upon her glove in the days of old. +"What do you say, Marian?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know how far my powers of resistance might go," answered +Marian de Vaux, "but I should very much like to hear the rest of the +story. You say that it is in a drama, Colonel Manners, I think; pray, +can it be procured?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid not," answered Manners: "it is the writing of a lady, and +has never been given to the world; at least, as far as I know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But at all events tell us the fate of the lover," exclaimed Isadore; +"that you are bound to do in common charity, after having excited our +curiosity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he is made happy, of course," he replied, "as all lovers are, or +should be."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Say <i>true lovers</i>, if you please, Colonel Manners," cried Isadore, +"and then I will agree; but if a woman were to make happy, as you +gentlemen call it before you are married, every impertinent personage +who comes up, and making you a low bow, with his hat under his arm, +asks you, 'Pray, madam, will you marry me?' as if he were asking you +merely to walk a minuet, she would have enough to do, I can assure +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can easily conceive it," answered Manners, laughing; "but what a +clamorous summons that bell makes! pray does it ring for breakfast +every morning? I did not near it yesterday."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was because you were out having your fortune told when it rang, +Colonel Manners," replied Miss Falkland; "but it rings every morning +at this hour, and if Mrs. Falkland is not down, it falls to my lot to +make the tea. Wherefore I must now remove to the breakfast-room."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, she led the way, while her cousin and Colonel Manners +followed; and the hot and shining urn having taken its wonted place, +she proceeded with the breakfast arrangements, while the butler +bustled about, first at the sideboard, and then at the table, looking +ever and anon at the two young ladies, and then at Colonel Manners, +and then at the fire-place, till, having nothing further to do, he was +obliged to retire.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gibson looks as if he had some vast secret upon his mind," said +Isadore, speaking to her cousin; "did you see, Marian, how he moved +about? You must know, Colonel Manners, that that old gentleman is a +very privileged person in our family, and often condescends to pour +forth the secrets of the village upon us, in despite of all our +struggles and reluctance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry he did not gratify himself this morning," said Manners: +"there are few things more delightful than a village story well told."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were the great obstacle, I am afraid," replied Miss Falkland: "he +has his own peculiar notions of decorum, and a visiter is pretty sure +of reverence; but I do believe, from his extreme alacrity this +morning, that he would have even disregarded your presence had a +single word been said to him. But I did not choose to gratify him even +by a word; for I knew if I had but said, 'Gibson, bring more butter,' +he would instantly have burst forth with, 'Yes, miss, I'll tell you +all about it. The park-keeper's daughter's husband's sister--' and so +he would have gone on for an hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners could not help laughing, and even Marian smiled at the +manner in which her gay cousin imitated the old man's prolixity; but +at the same time there was an expression of anxiety on Miss De Vaux's +countenance which nothing but the presence of Edward de Vaux could +have done away. He had not yet come down, however, and the next person +who entered was Mrs. Falkland, whose first observation, after the +common salutations of the morning, was, "Why--is not Edward down? +surely he has not grown a sluggard in the wars!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh no, my dear aunt," replied Marian; "I dare say he was down before +we were up, for he told me last night that he was going out early this +morning, but would be back to breakfast."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old butler was just at that moment entering with a partridge pie; +and halting in the midst, he exclaimed, "No, indeed, Miss Marian; no, +indeed! Master Edward has not come down, because he has never been +up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never been up!" said Mrs. Falkland, mistaking the man's meaning; +"then you had better send up his servant to wake him, Gibson. But why +are you so pale, Marian? what is the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that is not it at all, ma'am," replied the butler, taking upon +himself to answer for all parties. "Mr. De Vaux has never been in bed +last night, ma'am. His servant told me so this minute. There is the +bed turned down, says he, just as the housemaid left it, and his +slippers standing by the great chair, and his hat, and sword, and +riding-coat gone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, Marian, do not look so alarmed," said Isadore, laying her hand +affectionately upon that of her cousin. "This will prove all airy +nothing, depend upon it; but you had better come away with me, love, +and leave mamma and Colonel Manners to sift it; for you will only +agitate yourself more than is at all necessary by listening to the +miraculous conjectures of every different servant in the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no; I would a great deal rather hear all, Isadore," answered +Marian, in her usual calm tone, though the excessive paleness which +had spread over her countenance evinced clearly enough that her heart +was any thing but at ease. "You had better send for Edward's servant, +my dear aunt."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her suggestion was instantly followed, and De Vaux's servant, who had +been an old soldier, entered the room, and stood at ease before the +party assembled round the breakfast-table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Colonel Manners, will you be so kind"--said Mrs. Falkland.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most certainly, my dear madam," replied Manners, understanding her +meaning as well as if she had expressed it. "When did you see your +master last, William?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Last night, sir, at twenty minutes to twelve," said the man. "Did he +seem as if he were about to go to bed?" demanded Manners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, sir," replied the servant. "He made me give him his dressing-gown +and slippers, but told me not to wait, for that he had a great deal to +write before he could go to bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian's face cleared up a little, for she was glad to imagine that +De Vaux might have sat up writing on all the many subjects which she +knew occupied his mind till daylight had appeared, and might then have +set out at once for the gipsy encampment; but Colonel Manners +proceeded:--"Do you know at what time any of the other servants were +up?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The groom and I were up at five, sir," replied the man, "and it was +just dawning then; but as we went along the corridor I saw my master's +door ajar, and thinking I must have left it so by carelessness, I just +pulled it gently to."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Were all the horses in the stable?" asked Colonel Manners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All, sir," answered the servant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now, William, in what state did you find your master's room?" +demanded Mrs. Falkland.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, madam, I found that nobody had been in bed, clearly enough," +replied the man; "and I found, too, that Captain De Vaux had put off +his dressing-gown and slippers, and put on his riding-coat and boots; +and I remarked, also, that the curtains of one of the windows were +undrawn, and the window itself open."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, then, I dare say he went out after daylight," said Colonel +Manners, "and will soon be back. Shall we ask him any thing further, +my dear madam?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland had nothing more to inquire, and the man was dismissed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is as well," said Manners, who knew that De Vaux was the man of +all others to be very much mortified, if he came back and found that +his absence had been made unnecessarily a nine-day's wonder of--"it is +as well to treat this business as quietly as possible, though, I +confess, it does seem to me strange that De Vaux should go out so +early, so very early, as to be seen by none of the servants, and also +should never have gone to bed; but I think Miss De Vaux said just now +that he mentioned his intention of going out very early."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did so," replied Marian, colouring slightly, from a feeling of +embarrassment, in regard to disclosing any part of all that her cousin +had confided to her, and yet painfully anxious on his account. "He +intended to go to speak with somebody, who gave you, I think, a letter +for him yesterday, Colonel Manners."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners was not a little anxious for his friend also; but he saw +Marian's still deeper anxiety, and he strove tenderly to avoid giving +her greater pain than necessary, while he yet continued to investigate +the cause of her lover's absence. "Oh, if he be gone to that person +who gave me the letter," he said, "De Vaux is safe enough; but, +perhaps, he may not be back for an hour or two, as it is a long way, +and they may have much to speak of; but yet, Mrs. Falkland, I should +like, if you could make an excuse for sending for the housemaid who +usually washes the stone steps, to ask her one or two questions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," answered Mrs. Falkland. "If you will ring the bell, I +will find some excuse."</p> + +<p class="normal">The housemaid was accordingly sent for; and holding fast either +corner of her apron, presented herself before the company in the +breakfast-room. Mrs. Falkland then asked her one or two questions of +no particular moment, and Colonel Manners next demanded, somewhat to +the girl's surprise, "The mornings are becoming frosty now, are they +not, my good girl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that they are, sir," answered she. "It was all as white this +morning as if it had snowed last night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And did you see any marks of feet upon the steps?" demanded Manners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, sir, none," replied the girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you sure?" repeated Colonel Manners.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, quite sure, sir," she replied; "for I washed and whitened the +steps with my own two hands, and cold work it was; and I must have +seen steps if there had been any."</p> + +<p class="normal">After this answer she was dismissed, courtesying low, and not +ungracefully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I dare say he will soon come back," said Colonel Manners, when the +woman was gone; "and, at all events, if he be with the person who gave +me the letter, he is in no danger, I am sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">Both Mrs. Falkland and her daughter perceived that Manners, at least, +if not Marian, spoke with a slight touch of mystery concerning the +letter and its sender, but, of course, they asked no questions; and +Colonel Manners's assurance that his friend was in no danger served in +some degree to tranquilize Marian. The breakfast, as may be supposed, +passed over dully enough, for every one was more anxious than they +chose to show, and their anxiety was, of course, increased by every +minute as it flew. Each passing step that made itself heard in the +breakfast-room, the sound of every opening door, caused Marian's heart +to beat, and Isadore to look round, but still the person for whose +return they were so anxious did not appear; and however slowly the +minutes flew, so many of them passed away at length as to justify +serious alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">The time had now lingered on till eleven had struck by the clock in +the hall, and some very painful remembrances of all that had taken +place at the death of her beloved brother were recalled to the mind of +Mrs. Falkland by the unaccountable absence of her nephew. Isadore, +with all her natural cheerfulness, was anxious and silent; but it was +scarcely possible to express all the painful emotions that thrilled in +the bosom of Marian de Vaux. Manners, for his part--though his +feelings as a man were, of course, essentially different from those of +the persons by whom he was now surrounded--was far more alarmed about +his friend's absence than he liked to admit, and somewhat undecided in +regard to what he should do himself, under existing circumstances. He +wished much to go and seek his friend; but he did not like to do so +till the length of time was sufficient to warrant the conclusion that +some accident must have befallen him; and at the same time he +reflected, that during his absence some news might arrive which would +render his presence and assistance necessary at Morley House. At +length, however, he could master his impatience no longer; and, +ringing the bell, he said, with as much appearance of unconcern as he +could command, "I think, my dear madam, that it may be as well for me +to go and see if I can hear any thing of De Vaux, in the direction +which his fair cousin imagines that he has taken. I do not, indeed, +think that there is any cause for alarm; but it may quiet your mind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh yes, yes! pray do, Colonel Manners," cried Marian, starting up, +and clasping her hands. "I beg your pardon for asking you such a +thing; but, indeed, it will be a very great consolation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it afford you the slightest comfort, my dear young lady," replied +Colonel Manners, "it will be the greatest pleasure to me. Will you +send my servant?" he added as the butler appeared. The servant came +promptly: for the anxiety of the parlour soon finds its way, in a +greater or less degree, to the servant's hall; and all the domestics +at Morley House were as much on the alert as the garrison of a newly +invested fort.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put my saddle on the gray directly," said Colonel Manners; "saddle +Amherst for yourself, and bid Captain De Vaux's servant get a horse +ready to come with me." The man retired. "I will just put myself in +riding costume, and be down directly," Manners added; and leaving the +ladies still gazing in melancholy guise from the windows of the +breakfast-room, he retired to his own apartment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Long before the horses could be ready, however, he had rejoined them, +and was in the act of saying, "Now, I think, Mrs. Falkland, with three +old soldiers upon the search, we must soon be able to bring you +tidings of your nephew; and, I trust, perfectly satisfactory tidings +too," when the butler again made his appearance. The terror expressed +upon his countenance, and his first exclamation of, "Oh, ma'am!" +instantly sent every drop of blood from Marian's cheek back to her +heart. Colonel Manners would fain have stopped a communication +which was evidently alarming, and which might not only be a +confirmation of their worst fears, but be told in the most abrupt and +most painful manner; but it was too late, and the old man went on, +"Oh, madam, here is John Harwood, who has the cottage on t'other side +of the point, come up to say, that last night, about one o'clock, he +heard shots fired in the wood, and he's afraid there's been bad +business there."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian dropped down where she stood, as if she had been struck with +lightning, and for the time all attention was called towards her. +Colonel Manners aided to carry the fair unhappy girl to her room; and +then leaving her to the care of her female relations, he returned +to question both the butler and the peasant, whose intelligence had so +much increased their alarm. On inquiry, however, he found that old +Gibson's taste for the sublime and horrible had given greater effect +to John Harwood's tale than it deserved.</p> + +<p class="normal">The man had simply heard shots fired, and his own natural conclusion +had been, that poachers were busy in the wood, of which, as a +dependent on Mrs. Falkland's family, he found himself bound to give +information. Colonel Manners, however, sent another servant to the +stables to hurry the horses, and then returning to the breakfast-room, +wrote down a few words in pencil to inform Mrs. Falkland that the +story had been exaggerated; but he was almost instantly joined by +Isadore, who assured him that her cousin was better.</p> + +<p class="normal">Moments of grief, anxiety, and danger are wonderfully powerful in +breaking down all the cold and icy barriers which society places +between us and those we like; and Isadore Falkland came forward, and +laid her fair hand as familiarly upon Colonel Manners's arm as if she +had known him from her infancy. There was an earnestness in her fine +eyes, too, and an appealing softness in her whole look, that was very +irresistible. "Colonel Manners," she said, "this state of apprehension +and uncertainty is very dreadful, especially to us poor women, who, +having but little knowledge of the world and its ways, have little +means of judging whether our fears be reasonable or not. I can see +that you have put a restraint upon yourself before Marian; but I +beseech you to tell me, at least, if you have any friendship for a +person you have known so short a time, what is your real opinion! Do +you think there is any serious cause for apprehension?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You and your family, Miss Falkland," replied Manners, "have taught me +how soon one can feel the deepest interest and friendship for those +who deserve it; but in regard to De Vaux, I really see no cause for +apprehension."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, Colonel Manners," said Isadore, "I shall not think you have +much regard for me if you try to sooth me by false hopes respecting my +cousin. There is an anxiety in your look, which could not be there if +there were no cause for alarm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed, Miss Falkland," he replied, with a smile which was not of the +gayest character in the world--"indeed, I have the deepest regard for +you, and would not deceive you for a moment. De Vaux's absence is +strange, undoubtedly. His never having gone to bed is strange. But in +regard to these shots which have been heard--as the man himself +believed till your old butler infected him with his own miraculous +mood--they have been undoubtedly fired by poachers; and I see not the +slightest reason for believing that they are in any way connected with +your cousin's absence."</p> + +<p class="normal">There had been a degree of earnestness in Manners's profession of +regard that had called a slight glow into Isadore's cheek, and made +her heart beat a little quicker, though Heaven knows he had not the +slightest thought of making her heart beat with any but its ordinary +pulse, and Isadore herself never suspected that he had. It was only +one of those slight passing emotions which sometimes move the heart +without our well knowing why, like the light ripple that will +occasionally dimple the surface of a still, sheltered water from some +breath of air too soft and gentle to be felt by those who watch it +from the banks. Whatever caused the glow, it was all gone in an +instant; and she answered, "Perhaps what makes us all the more uneasy +is, that none of us can forget that my uncle, Marian's father, was +murdered many years ago in this neighbourhood; and the first news of +his death came upon mamma by surprise, in the same way that this has +done upon poor Marian."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I trust in Heaven, and believe most firmly, Miss Falkland, that you +will find no further resemblance between the fate of your cousin and +that of his uncle," replied Colonel Manners: "but, at all events, I +will lose no time and spare no exertion in endeavouring to satisfy you +as to his fate; and, if it should cost me my life, I will discover him +before I give up the search."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, you must take care of your life," said Isadore; "it must +doubtless be valuable to many, and therefore must not be risked +unadvisedly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is valuable to none that I know of, Miss Falkland," said Manners, +with a melancholy smile, "and to myself least of all; but, +nevertheless, I never trifle with it, looking upon it but as a loan +from that great Being who will demand it again when he himself thinks +fit. But I anticipate no danger from my visit to the gipsies."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going, then, to the gipsies in search of Edward?" exclaimed +Miss Falkland, in evident astonishment. "Good Heaven, I had no idea of +that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was from one of them that I received the letter to which Miss de +Vaux referred," replied Colonel Manners; "and I may add," he +continued, "to you, Miss Falkland, that the impression that letter +made upon your cousin was such as to induce me to believe that if news +is to be heard of him anywhere, it will be from them that I shall +obtain it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is all very strange, indeed!" cried Isadore. "But tell me, +Colonel Manners, do you know the contents of the letter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not in the least," he replied; "but certain it is, that whatever they +were, they affected your cousin sensibly. I had it from a gipsy-man, +certainly of a very superior stamp to the rest, although I found him +consorting with a gang of as ruffianly fellows as ever I beheld."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, then, for Heaven's sake, take more men with you!" cried Isadore, +eagerly: "you may get murdered, too, and then--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, I have no fear," answered Manners, "and there, you see, are +the horses. Three strong men on horseback might surely contend with a +whole legion of gipsies."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Must I plead in vain, Colonel Manners?" said Isadore, really +apprehensive for his safety, and desirous of persuading him, but +blushing at the same time from feeling conscious that she was more +apprehensive for him than she had often before felt for any one. "Must +I plead in vain? or must I ask you for my sake, if you will not for +Heaven's sake? But consider what we should do if we were to lose your +aid and assistance at such a moment. Take two or three of our servants +with you also."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For your sake, Miss Falkland, I would do much more difficult things," +replied Manners, earnestly; "but listen to my reasons. It would delay +me long to wait till fresh horses are saddled, and longer to take men +on foot with me. In many cases speed is everything: I have lost more +time than I can well excuse already; and I can assure you, that with +the two strong and trustworthy fellows who accompany me, there is +nothing on earth to fear. Adieu! I doubt not soon, very soon, to bring +you not only news, but good news."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, he left the room, and sprang upon horseback, while +Isadore returned to the apartment of her cousin, who was now in bed by +the orders of the village apothecary, and in the act of taking such +medicines as he judged most likely to calm and sooth the mind by their +sedative effect upon the body. Here Isadore communicated in a low +voice to her mother all that she had gathered from Colonel Manners; +and placing herself at the window of her fair cousin's room, watched +the dark edge of the hill where it cut upon the sky, till at length +she saw the figures of three horses straining with their riders up the +steep ascent. The next moment they came upon the level ground at the +top, changed their pace into a quick gallop, were seen for a minute or +two flying along against the clear blue behind, and then, passing on, +were lost entirely to her sight.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.14" href="#div1Ref_01.14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">We must now beg leave to retrograde a little in regard to time: and, +in order to bring every character in our story to the same point, must +turn for a while to a personage of whom we have heard nothing since +the day after Edward de Vaux's arrival at Morley House.</p> + +<p class="normal">The beautiful world in which we live, the multitude of blessings by +which we are surrounded, and that beneficent ordination by which the +human mind in its natural state is rendered capable of resting +satisfied with whatever portion is allotted to it, would make the +earth that we inhabit an Eden indeed, if Satan had not supplied us +with easy steps to lead us to misery. Our passions form the first +round of the ladder; then come our follies close above them; then +follow next our vices; these, with brief intervals, are succeeded by +crimes; and all beyond is wretchedness. Every crime, too, is prolific +in miseries--its legitimate children--who not only return to prey upon +their proper parent, but ravage far and wide the hearts of thousands +of others. Not only is it on the grand scale when the glory-seeking +felon calls the dogs of war to tear the prostrate carcass of some +peaceful country, and, by his individual fault, render millions +wretched; but each petty individual crime, like the one small seed +from which mighty forests spring, is but the germ of gigantic and +incalculable consequences; and no one knows to what remote and +unforeseen events each trifling action may ultimately lead: no one can +tell to whose bosom the error he commits may not bring despair, or how +many hearts may be laid desolate by the sin or the folly of the +moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">The father of Edward de Vaux--for to him we must now turn--had gone on +in the usual road by which small errors grow into great crimes. He had +committed follies, and yielded to passions. Passions had hardened into +vices, and vices had ultimately hurried him beyond what he would at +first have dreamed possible for a reasonable creature to perpetrate. +In the story we have heard told by the gipsy, the part that he had +acted was in no degree overdrawn by the narrator, though there were +some secrets in Lord Dewry's breast alone, which neither, indeed, +justified nor even palliated his crime--for such deeds admit not of +palliation,--but which showed, at least, that the crowning act itself +was not accompanied by many of the circumstances which seemed to +aggravate it. Overwhelmed by a debt that he could not pay, +disappointed of relief from a source that had never before failed, Mr. +De Vaux had set out from London to meet his brother in a state of mind +which approached insanity, and was, in fact, despair. Hardened by many +years of vice, he had retained very few of those Christian principles +which had not been wanting in his early education; and there remained, +certainly, not sufficient virtue of any kind to make him view an +escape from disgrace, by an act of suicide, as any thing unmanly or +infamous in itself. He had determined, then, either to obtain from his +brother the full sum he demanded, by whatever means might suggest +themselves at the moment--threats, supplications, or remonstrances--or +to terminate his own existence on the spot,--principally with a view +to avoid the shame he anticipated in London if he could not discharge +his obligations, but partly, also, with a savage desire of inflicting +bitter regrets upon his brother for the obduracy of his refusal.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the most retired spot for executing this purpose, he had chosen the +point where we have seen that he had waited his brother's coming; and +there a busy devil, that had been stirring at his heart all the way +down, renewed its suggestions with tenfold importunity. He saw before +him some of the rich lands of Lord Dewry; he saw them smiling with the +promise of abundance; all seemed happy in the world but his own heart; +all seemed prosperous but himself. His brother, notwithstanding his +late loss, appeared in his eyes peculiarly blessed; and again and +again the fiend within asked him what right by nature had his brother, +because he was the elder, to the sole possession of all those +advantages which, the same evil spirit lyingly told him, would have +kept him from vice and misery, had they been equally divided between +them? His brother arrived while he was in this mood. The first means +he employed to obtain what he wanted were entreaty and persuasion; and +when these failed, he had recourse to threats and violence. Lord Dewry +retorted with reproach and reprehension; and his brother, in a moment +of frantic passion, brought the curse of Cain upon his own head.</p> + +<p class="normal">The agony of remorse was the first thing that succeeded; but +self-preservation and the enjoyment of that which he had so dearly +purchased, became the next considerations, and he bent all the +energies of a keen and daring mind to that purpose. He mastered his +own feelings, both bodily and mental; and, after returning to London +with a degree of speed and perseverance that killed the horse which +bore him, he overcame both personal fatigue and anguish of heart, and +showed himself on the evening of his return at two private parties and +one public place; and, what is more, he showed himself with a smiling +countenance and an unembarrassed air. But when it was all over--the +examination of the facts, the taking possession of the property, and +the removal of those who could betray him--the excitement which had +been caused by danger passed away; that bubble, the hope of happiness +without virtue, burst under his rude touch, and left his heart to +remorse for ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Knowing that he must often see his brother's child, though at first +the sight was full of agony, he forced himself, by a great effort, to +endure it, till he had overcome the pain by habit; and at the same +time the lingering remains of some better feelings in his heart made +him look upon every generous or kindly thing that he could do towards +her as an act of atonement for the crime he had committed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such were some of the motives, or, rather, such were some of the +facts, which had influenced Lord Dewry in all his actions for the last +twenty years. For a time, indeed, he had affected gayety which he did +not feel, and mingled in society which had lost all charm for him; but +the revellings of the never-dying worm upon his heart's inmost core +would make themselves felt, and gradually he drew back from the world, +gave himself up to solitude and stately reclusion, forgot what it was +to smile, and only mingled with his fellow-men to pour forth upon them +the gall and bitterness that welled from an everlasting source in his +own bosom.</p> + +<p class="normal">Remorse, however, was not the only fiend that preyed upon his heart: +fear, too, had its share. We have said, and said truly, that he was +corporeally as brave a man as ever lived: he knew not what bodily fear +is; but that is a very, very different affection of the complicated +being, man, from the mental terrors, the daily doubts, the hourly +apprehensions, that crowded upon him in solitude and retirement. +Corporal pain, the simple act of dying, he feared not, and there yet +lingered in his mind some faint traces of his early faith, suggesting +vague ideas of atonement made for man's crimes, which led him to +believe that the anguish which he suffered below might be received in +place of repentance, and procure him pardon hereafter; so that, on +ordinary occasions, he felt no tangible dread even of the awful +separation of soul and body. But this was not all: the torturing +uncertainty of his fate was a bitter portion of his curse. He knew +that there were two men in the world who could, at any time, doom him +to disgrace and death; or at least, if, by the precautions he had +taken, their success in any attempt of the kind had been rendered +doubtful, yet their knowledge of the dreadful secret of his state +rendered all that he possessed--honour, fortune, rank, even existence +itself--precarious; and he felt, as he looked around him, that he was +living in a gilded dream, which the next moment might vanish, and +leave him to misery and despair.</p> + +<p class="normal">At first, when, perhaps, it might have been in his power to implicate +the gipsy as the murderer of his brother, and, by pursuing him as +such, to have crushed one strong source of evidence against himself, +two powerful causes had operated to deter him from such a course. He +knew that Sir William Ryder, though implicated by accidental +circumstances in his crime, was of too generous a nature to connive at +any further evil to which the desire of concealing it might lead him. +But it would be doing him injustice not to say that he himself had +shrunk from the very thought. His heart was not hardened enough for +that: he felt that there was too much blood upon his hand already; and +although the idea did cross his mind, yet at that time remorse was +stronger than fear, and even had Sir William Ryder not existed, he +would have chosen rather to bear apprehension than a greater load of +regret.</p> + +<p class="normal">Time, however, had now altered such feelings; he was accustomed to +remorse, but no time can harden the heart to fear; and the first +imagination which crossed his mind, when, at the end of twenty years, +he again saw the gipsy, was to destroy him. The reader may recollect a +conversation in the beginning of this work, wherein Pharold detailed +the particulars of an interview he had had with the peer; and it may +easily be conceived, that from that interview Lord Dewry perceived at +once that the moment was come when he must try his strength with those +who had the power to injure him, and silence them for ever, or yield +for ever to his fate; and with a strong determination, but a mind +fearfully agitated, he instantly resolved to crush those he feared, if +human ingenuity, backed by wealth, and power, and a daring +disposition, could accomplish such an object.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such had been the state of his mind when he so unexpectedly visited +the house of Mrs. Falkland, and found new cause for apprehension in +the conversation of Colonel Manners. But his coming thither had not +for its sole object to meet and welcome his newly-returned son. He had +learned, by instant and close inquiry after the gipsy had left him, +that parties of his race had been seen lying in the neighbourhood of +Morley Wood, with the view, it was supposed, of poaching on the open +and ill-protected grounds in that district; and suspecting, from his +conversation with Pharold, that on the refusal he had given, Sir +William Ryder himself might return to England, he hastened over to his +sister's house, which lay within a few miles of his property of +Dimden, in order, if possible, to pursue means of destroying the +actual witness of his crime, before the arrival of the only other +person who even suspected it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Let it not be supposed--although there were in reality no means at +which Lord Dewry would now have hesitated to effect his purpose--that +he deliberately, and boldly, and undisguisedly proposed to his own +heart to bring about the gipsy's death. No, no: the great power of +evil is too well aware how horrible his naked suggestions are, not to +furnish them with a veil, flimsy enough, it is true, but still +sufficient to cover some part of their deformity. No! Lord Dewry +only proposed--at least, he cheated himself into thinking so--to +detect the gipsy or his comrades in some unlawful exploit, which might +give an excuse for removing them for ever from the country, and at the +same time might render any evidence they might tender against himself, +not only suspicious, but almost inadmissible.</p> + +<p class="normal">The severe laws in regard to poaching, and the loose and lawless +habits of the gipsies themselves, he doubted not would furnish the +means; and his great object was to discover an offence of such +magnitude, and to obtain proofs so clear, that great severity would be +warranted and the justice of the accusation undeniable. It might cross +his mind that, in the pursuit of these views, a gipsy or a keeper +might be killed, that the charge of murder might be added to that of +poaching, and that a felony might rid him of the enemy of his repose +for ever. Such a thing might cross his mind, and be viewed with no +great dissatisfaction; but, at the same time, he denied to himself +that such was his object. "No: God forbid! But, if it did happen, he +should of course take advantage of it to silence for ever the voice of +one who had been witness to the <i>unfortunate accident</i> by which, in a +moment of hasty passion, his brother had been deprived of life, and +who seemed disposed to abuse the knowledge he unhappily possessed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such had been the thoughts of Lord Dewry as he travelled over to Mrs. +Falkland's house on the night of his son's arrival, and such were the +thoughts that again took possession of him as soon as the passion in +which he had left her subsided on the following morning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With Sir William Ryder," he thought, as the carriage rolled rapidly +on towards Dimden--"with Sir William Ryder I shall easily be able to +deal single-handed, if once I can remove his confederate. He used to +be a simple, frank-hearted, foolish fellow; but I must, by some means, +keep him from any further meeting with Edward. I have already remarked +that the boy sees there is some mystery; and a bare hint would awaken +suspicions that I would rather die than he should even dream of. But +this man--this Pharold--must be my first care; and my next must be to +procure such proofs of my having been in London at the time of my +brother's death that suspicion itself shall be silenced, if either of +the villains dare to open his lips."</p> + +<p class="normal">The manner in which this latter object was to be accomplished became +the next consideration; but ere Lord Dewry could come to any +determination upon the subject, the lodge of Dimden Park, and the old +woman who opened the gates, courtesying to the ground as the carriage +rolled through, met his eyes, and told him that he must reserve that +matter for after-thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">The place that he was now entering had been the favourite habitation +of his brother, where his days of happiness and sunshine had been +passed, and whence his virtues had made themselves felt and beloved +through all the country round. There were many recollections and +associations then connected with that spot which, as it may easily be +conceived, were not a little painful to the man who now entered it: +and although he sometimes visited the house, and had once or twice in +twenty years spent a day within its walls, yet he had never been able +to vanquish the distress that the sight occasioned him so far as to +live in it for any length of time. He now beheld it in a state which +added to the pain whereof other circumstances had rendered it +fruitful. It was not exactly going to ruin, for he had given strict +orders, and paid large annual sums, for the express purpose of keeping +the grounds in order and the house in repair; but those orders had +been given from a distance, and had been received with a conviction +that the master's eye would never inspect their execution very +minutely. There were long tufts of grass in the walks and on the +roads, though here and there was to be seen a faint and lazy effort to +clear away, by the exertions of a few hours, the shameful negligence +of many a day. Some of the trees, which had been felled years before, +were rotting in the long dank grass; and the fences which had been +placed to keep the deer within their proper bounds lay flat upon the +ground, overturned and broken. The road over which the carriage rolled +was channelled with deep unmended ruts; and the fine old house, with +its closed windows and smokeless chimneys, stood in its wide, open +esplanade, like the palace of damp and desertion. Lord Dewry bit his +lip, and muttered audibly, "This must be amended. The scoundrels did +not expect me to visit the place, and have been shamefully negligent. +I will send them away."</p> + +<p class="normal">But as he thought thus, his other purposes crossed his mind, and +brought with it one of those annoying and degrading convictions which +so often follow evil actions and crooked policy. He felt that when he +was about to engage his park-keepers in an action which his own heart +told him was base, he could not dare to treat them severely for the +faults they had themselves committed; and to a proud and violent man +the restraint which he was obliged to put upon his passions was bitter +enough. As the carriage approached the house, hasty symptoms of +opening windows and unbarring doors showed that his coming had been +remarked; and as he had no ambiguous commands to lay upon the old +servants who had been left to keep the mansion in order, upon them +fell the full weight of his indignation. When the first angry burst +was over, he ordered the old man to call the principal park-keeper; +and while he was absent upon that errand, strode gloomily through the +dreary chambers, feeling his heart more dark and comfortless than even +the long-deserted apartments amid which he stood. He then called for +pen and ink, which, after some difficulty, he obtained, and wrote and +despatched the note which we have seen delivered to Marian de Vaux.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length the park-keeper appeared, a bold and sturdy fellow, with no +inconsiderable portion of shrewd cunning in his countenance, to which +had been superadded at present an air of dogged preparation, +occasioned by the tidings of Lord Dewry's anger, which the old man had +given him as they walked along towards the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Harvey," said the peer, as the man presented himself, "you have +suffered the park to get into a terrible state. I must have all this +changed. Those fences must be put up; those trees cleared away: speak +to Wilson about the road, and tell him if ever I see it in that state +again I shall discharge him; and--do not answer me, but listen; for I +came over to speak to you upon matters of more importance.--What are +you waiting for, John?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought your lordship might want me," said the old man, who had +lingered in the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, not I," replied the peer: "retire, and shut the door; but +take care what you are about, for in future I shall come over at +least every month; and if I find the house is not properly attended to +after this warning, you and your wife go out of it without another +word.--Now, Harvey, tell me," he continued, as the old man withdrew +with a low and deprecating bow, "have you many poachers here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, no, my lord," replied the park-keeper, his face brightening up +to find that the anticipated storm had blown away; "we have not had +much of that work doing lately, though I dare say we soon shall have."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why so?" demanded Lord Dewry. "I am glad to hear that poaching is +on the decrease. What makes you think it will revive again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As to revive, my lord, why, I don't know," replied the man; "but I +doubt we shall soon have more of it--so I think. It's just the time, +you see, my lord--long moonlight nights, and a good deal of the +out-door work over."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man paused; but these were not the reasons the peer had hoped to +hear him assign for his apprehensions of more extended poaching, and +found that he must bring him nearer to the point by some direct +course. "We have a great deal of poaching near the hall," he said: +"Wise tells me that there are a number of bad characters continually +in the woods, gipsies and thieves of all descriptions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, for the matter of that we have gipsies enough just now, too," +replied the keeper; "and that's the reason, my lord, why I said I +thought we should soon hear of more poaching: but I did not like to +mention it, you see. Why, there, I saw no longer ago than yesterday, +up in Morley Wood, I dare say a score of them--lazy beggars! D--n +them, I hate those fellows, and so I told 'em--beg your lordship's +pardon."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry found that he was now on the right course; but, afraid of +pursuing the matter so eagerly as to cause suspicions which might +perhaps tell against himself hereafter, he replied with a tranquil +countenance, "It would not surprise me if these were the same that +have been plundering and poaching in a most desperate manner near the +hall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"O, no doubt they are the same, my lord," replied the keeper; "and as +to poaching, they were at it last night, or I have no ears: I heard a +gun--I am sure I heard a gun--though I got up, and went all over the +grounds without finding them. But I heard a gun--I am sure enough of +that, anyhow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, if that be the case," said Lord Dewry, "we must really take +serious measures for their apprehension and conviction. They once +murdered a gamekeeper, those gipsies, not far from here; and it is +dangerous to honest men to let them be in the country."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, that it is, my lord," said the keeper; "they'd murder any one as +soon as look at him. They nearly murdered me once. I wish we could get +rid of them, that I do, anyhow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And so do I, too," replied Lord Dewry, solemnly; "I do not like men's +lives risked continually, nor their property plundered at every turn, +solely because these gipsies are suffered to continue in the kingdom. +I declare I would give fifty guineas to any one who could convict them +in such a manner as to ensure their being sent out of the country +without fail. I do not like my people continually exposed to their +attacks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your lordship is very kind and very generous," said the keeper; "and +if your lordship would really give the fifty guineas, I dare say we +could find some young fellows that would join in and take a hand in +catching them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But we must first be able to prove that they have committed some +offence," replied Lord Dewry, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, they have committed offences enough, my lord," answered the +keeper; "and if your lordship give fifty guineas, we shall soon have +plenty to help in catching them."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer paused for a moment or two without any direct reply; but he +then answered, "What I have said I mean, Harvey: the fifty guineas I +would give of course to the man by whose means they were principally +brought to justice; but I would do more, and pay handsomely every one +concerned in actually taking them. Do you think they have ever shot +any of the deer?" he added after a short pause.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my lord, no!" answered the keeper, fearful that blame might fall +upon himself; "I will answer for it they have not done that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry for it," said Lord Dewry, dryly. The man stared, and the +peer proceeded:--"I am sorry for it; because, you see, Harvey, the +offence would be the heavier, and we might get rid of them for ever if +we could prove such a thing against them; whereas this poaching, +especially if it be a first offence, will only take them out of the +way for a time, and then turn them back upon us more enraged against +us than ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's true, my lord, that's true," replied the keeper, whose +perceptions were sufficiently acute, and who began to see that his +master had a very potent distaste to the race of gipsies, although his +mind, proceeding in its habitual train, did not fail to conclude that +the peer's motives for hating them were the same which would have +actuated himself had he been in the peer's situation, namely, wrath at +their having destroyed the peculiar objects of his veneration, game, +and anger at their having outwitted him in his endeavours to preserve +it. He went no further in his investigations of his lord's designs, +though he himself had peculiar motives of his own; but, possessing +goodly powers of detestation himself, he easily conceived that the +baron would not scruple at any plausible stratagem for the purpose of +obtaining his object. "That's true, my lord, that's true," replied he; +"but do you know, I should not wonder if they did some night shoot a +fat buck upon his moonlight walk; and I dare say, for the matter of +that, we could get them to do it very soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay," cried the peer in a tone of moderation, "take care what +you are about, Harvey; for if any one were to discover that you +instigated them, you might get transported; and though of course I +would take care that none of my servants was a loser by his zeal in my +service, yet I should not like you to get into any scrape."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your lordship is very kind," said the man; "but I will take care that +I get into no scrape; and as to any one hearing me say any thing about +it, no fear of that, for I will never say a word to any one but your +lordship; and but little will I say even now. But I know how to manage +the matter; and if I can get some stout hands to help me and the two +under-keepers in taking the fellows, when once we have found out when +they are about the job, I'll rid the country of them soon enough--a +set of lazy, thieving beggars."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, Harvey," said the peer, with a complacent smile, "you do not +seem fond of these gipsies, I think."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fond of them, my lord!" said the man. "No, no! I owe them an old +grudge, which I have long thought to pay. One of them nearly killed me +once when I was a younker, now near twenty years ago, just for being a +little over-civil to one of their women. I might have had my revenge +at the time; but I was weak and sick with the bruises, and I was +spoony enough to let him get off; but he'll not do so again if I catch +hold of him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But pray, Harvey," said the peer, "how do you propose to obtain +such information in regard to when and where these men are to be +caught--for they must be caught in the fact, remark--as to enable you +to seize them with any certainty? Do you know any of their gang +personally?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not I, my lord," replied the man; "but, do you see, my lord, I know a +man up in the village, called Harry Saxon, who hears a good deal about +all those sorts of people, and I will get him just to put it into +their heads to--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, hush, Harvey!" interrupted the nobleman, but a tone as to +express much disapprobation. "Do not tell me what you intend to do, +but merely how you are to learn when and where to catch them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, <i>he</i> will tell me all that, to be sure, my lord," replied the +keeper. "He's a good sort of man, and won't disoblige me, I'll +warrant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And pray what is his usual occupation?" demanded the peer in a casual +way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he sells venison to the dealers in London," replied the keeper; +and then suddenly perceiving that he was on the edge of a precipice, +he added, "that is, when any of the gentlemen in the neighbourhood +want to kill off some of their bucks, he buys them and sends them up +to London. I have heard, too," he continued, seeing that his lord +listened with an unmoved countenance, as if to something of course--"I +have heard, too, that he sends up many a good brace of partridges, and +many a pheasant and a hare: but he is a good sort of man, upon the +whole; and when he knows a keeper, like, he will not let the people +poach and that upon the grounds that he keeps, and that's what makes +us have so much game here. I'll warrant the game is better preserved +here than anywhere else in the country."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer made no observations upon these disjointed pieces of +information; but in his own mind concluded, and not without reason, +that his keeper was a very great scoundrel. He took care, however, +neither by word, look, nor action, to suffer the man he was making use +of to perceive what sort of a character he was establishing in his +opinion; being fully resolved in his own mind, however, to discharge +him as soon after he had served the present purpose as might be found +convenient.</p> + +<p class="normal">Deceit, like every other art, has been wonderfully perfected and +refined since first it took its origin in the rude, uncultivated human +breast. There can be no doubt whatever that when one man entertains an +opinion which he wishes to conceal from another, the first natural +effort of his mind would be to tell him the direct contrary; and much +refinement and experience in the art must have been acquired before +the necessity was ascertained of doing things more delicately, and +implying, rather than saying, that one believes another to be an +honest man, when one is sure he is a great rogue. As the world +proceeded, however, and the liberal science of deceit became so +thoroughly studied as to force one, with very few exceptions, to say, +as said the Psalmist, "All men are liars," a new refinement was +introduced, and it became necessary to know when to cover one's own +opinion by a skilful implication of the reverse, when, returning to +the original and simple mode, in plain terms to announce the direct +contrary of what one feels, and to deceive the most thoroughly by the +appearance of the utmost candour.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the present instance Lord Dewry chose the latter means, and ended +the conversation with the keeper by saying, "Well, Harvey, well! I +believe you are a very honest fellow. There are ten guineas for you to +give the men you are obliged to employ, an earnest of their reward; +and if you succeed in catching these gipsies, so as to convict them +either of deer-stealing or aggravated poaching, you may count upon +fifty guineas and my favour, besides having all your <i>bonâ fide</i> +expenses paid."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man made a low bow, though he did not understand at all what <i>bonâ +fide</i> meant; and the peer with a slow step walked to his carriage. The +old man and woman who kept the house followed half a step behind, +troubling him all the way by questions concerning the superintendence +of the place, in regard to which their directions had been full and +explicit years before, but by re-demanding which they meant, as usual +on such occasions, to insinuate a justification of their late +negligence, implying that if they had been properly instructed they +would have behaved better. Short and severe were the replies of the +baron; and when the carriage-door was at length closed, and the +vehicle rolled away, he sunk into thought, feeling that at least one +part of his plan was in a fair way for execution, but feeling, +likewise, deep, deep in his heart's core, the melancholy +conviction--not the less poignant because he strove not to see +it--that one crime was lashing him on with a fiery scourge to the +commission of many more.</p> + +<p class="normal">The house he had just visited, and the scenes through which he was +passing, had not been without their effect. They had recalled to his +mind his brother, who had there lived so long the object of his envy, +and now of his deep regret. That brother's virtues, his kindness, his +noble generosity, tried to the very utmost by his excesses and +demands, often, often returned reproachfully to his mind. All the good +and affectionate acts which had seemed as nothing while his own +passions and interests existed in opposition, and while his brother +lived, had been estimated with terrible exactness as soon as his own +hand had placed the impassable barrier of death between them; and the +sight of that house now, as it always did, recalled every memory that +could aggravate remorse, and stir into an intenser blaze the +unquenchable fire that burned his heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">There, too, he had himself been educated from infancy to manhood; over +those lawns and walks he had played in the guileless innocence of +youth; under those trees he had sat a thousand times with the dead, in +the sweet and hopeful summer-days of boyhood. Their arms clasped round +each other's necks, or their hands locked in each other, they had +wandered in their hours of play through the calm green shades of the +park, or sat beneath the stately oak, reading some lighter book than +that appointed for their daily studies. He remembered it all well; and +many an individual day, too, would come forward from the crowd of +early memories, and stand before his eyes bright and distinct as if it +were hardly yet numbered with the past. He could call back even the +feelings of those times, the noble and enthusiastic glow of their +bosoms when they had read together some great actions, some generous +self-devotion, some pious act of friendship, some deed of mighty +patriotism; and now, what had those feelings become? In his brother +they were extinct in death, or, rather, glorifying him in a brighter +world; and with him himself they were but memories; with him it was +the feelings that were dead, while he himself lived but to remember +them. Nor was his a heart to scoff at their memory as some men might +have done. Perhaps, indeed, had his crimes been lighter--had they but +reached the grade of vices--had they been of that character which +man's blind selfishness can dress up in other garbs, and cover beneath +a light robe of wit, or of what we call philosophy, he might have +sneered at the sweet and innocent days that forced themselves upon his +recollection, and have parried all that was painful in them by a jest. +But the terrible, irrevocable, awful deed that he had committed had +been weighty enough, not only to break the elastic spring of gayety in +his heart for ever, but to leave those sweet early hours of guileless +happiness and noble feeling which still flattered him with the thought +that he had not always been base, or cruel, or depraved, the least +painful of all that series of painful things whereof his memory was +alone composed. And yet remorse mingled its poison even with them, and +perhaps rendered the agony they produced on the present occasion more +poignant, because on that point his heart was not hardened to the +lash.</p> + +<p class="normal">He cast the memories from him as the vehicle rolled on, for he found +not only that they were painful, but that other thoughts of the +imperious present must have way; and that though he trusted by a new +crime to remove some part of the danger of his situation, yet that it +was necessary to contemplate his position in every point of view, in +order to guard against all that might happen. But here, perhaps, his +feelings were even less enviable than those from which he turned. +Personal danger, not abstract and distinct, but accompanied by shame, +and scorn, and detection, was the first image that presented itself +to his mind. To meet the hatred and contempt of the whole world, +to be exposed in a court of justice, and on a public scaffold to be +pointed and hooted at by the rude populace--to be called the +fratricide, the murderer--to undergo the horrors of imprisonment, +suspense, trial, condemnation, and execution--and to plunge, loaded +with a brother's blood and many another sin, into the wide, dim, +terrible hereafter--such were the only objects of his anticipation, if +his present schemes should fail.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nor was it at all strange that he should feel them now much more +poignantly than at the time which immediately followed his brother's +death, though, perhaps, the years which had elapsed might have +rendered his safety less in danger now than then. But at that period +he had little time to reflect; and his whole mind had been occupied in +acting. He had seen and felt the immediate peril, and had apprehended +many a vague horror; but imagination had not had time to act--she had +not had time to call up and particularize, as she had since done with +terrible minuteness, all the awful and agonizing scenes that await the +detected murderer.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he leaned back in his carriage, and with closed eyes thought +of all the past and all the future, the mingling emotions that +agitated his breast were dreadful indeed. Bitter, bitter +remorse--strong, lasting, never-sleeping remorse--was for the moment +paramount; and could he have seen any way of avoiding shame and death +but by new evil, he would have resigned much, he would have resigned +all, to follow it. But there was no means before him of escaping all +the horrors that threatened, but either to destroy those he feared or +to destroy himself: he had but the choice of two great crimes; and +the terrors of the endless future, aggravated by the condemnation of +self-destruction, were too great for him to think of attempting his +own life. As we have before said, it was not that he feared death; for +often in his moods of deepest despondency he thought that if some one +were to take away his life as he had taken that of his brother, it +might be received, together with his long remorse, as some atonement +for the past; but he feared to make it his own act, and to double, +instead of diminishing, the load upon his own head; and in the +desperate choice which was before him he yielded to the common +weakness of human nature, and chose that crime of which punishment was +most remote.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such were some of the emotions which agitated his mind as the +carriage rolled on towards his usual residence; but still the picture +of them is but faint and imperfect, as every picture of agitated +feelings must be. There were a thousand shades that escape the pen, a +thousand sudden changes for which it would be difficult to account. +Nevertheless, it must not be supposed that this varying and uncertain +mood was the general state of his mind, when no outward circumstance +had served to awaken antagonist feelings. On the contrary, he was +generally firm in his despair, with remorse for the predominant tone +of his whole sensations; but at the same time, with a stern +determination to hold all that for which he had paid so deep a price, +and to defend his own safety at any risk. It was only when some +association connected with other days touched a tenderer point in his +heart, and aroused some better feelings from their sleep of years, +that the winds and the tempests dashed against the dark dwelling-place +of his spirit, and threatened to level it with its foundation in the +sand. The mood seldom lasted long, however, and, indeed, could not +have done so without driving him to phrensy; and now, as he came +within sight of the plantations that skirted his other property, he +put on a firmer frame of mind, cast doubt, and fear, and hesitation +behind him, and called up those powers of quick, decisive thought and +vigorous action which had often in former days carried him through +many a scene of difficulty and danger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have been as weak as a child," he said, when he looked back on all +the feelings to which he had given way--"I have been as weak as a +child; and that at a moment when I most need manly firmness: but it is +past, and I will not easily forget myself again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">On the next day but one, at a very early hour, Lord Dewry again drove +over to Dimden, and had the pleasure of learning, by implications and +hints from his head park-keeper, that the plan which had been shadowed +out for entangling the gipsies was in a fair way for execution; and +yet his spirit was ill at rest, for he felt that his plan was an +imperfect one, and that at a thousand points it might fail. The +gipsies might be too wary; and, at all events, Pharold was not likely +to take part himself in such a scheme. If his companions were +implicated, and he were to escape, the natural consequence would be, +that his roused-up vengeance would take the ready means of sating +itself by betraying the fearful secret that he possessed; and thus the +attempt to remove him would but bring about more certainly the danger +that was apprehended. Yet what could he do? the peer asked himself. If +he could add one other link to the chain in which he had sought to +entangle the gipsy, it might render it complete, and prevent the +possibility of his escape. But what was that link to be? He could not +tell, and yet it served him as food for stern and eager meditation as +the carriage bore him rapidly home again, after having satisfied +himself that his scheme, as far as it went, was already in progress +towards its completion.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he drove up to the door of the house, he remarked that one of his +grooms was walking a hard-ridden horse up and down upon the gravel, +while the dirty condition of the animal bespoke a long journey. As +such sights, however, were not at all uncommon, and the horse might +either belong to the steward, or to some stranger come on a visit of +curiosity to the house, it excited but little notice on the part of +the peer, who was entering without inquiry, when one of the servants +informed him that a gentleman was waiting his lordship's return in the +small library. Lord Dewry turned a little pale; for there was a +consciousness of danger and of the uncertainty of his condition at the +heart of the peer, that caused the blood to forsake his cheek at any +announcement of a visit, the import of which he did not know. He +rebuked the servant, however, for admitting any one to wait for him +during his absence; and ordered him never to do so again, adding, that +when he expected or wished to see any one, he would always give +intimation of his will.</p> + +<p class="normal">The servant excused himself on account of the stranger's pressing and +determined manner, motives which did not in the least reconcile the +peer to his admission; but, without any further appearance of +distrust, he walked with slow and stately steps to the library, and +throwing open the door advanced towards a table, determined not to +afford his unwished-for guest a pretext for sitting down by even +approaching a chair himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger's person merits some slight description, and even a more +detailed account of his clothing than is required on ordinary +occasions. He was a man perhaps four or five years younger than the +peer himself, thin, light, active, with a twinkling gray eye, somewhat +too full of moisture, and a number of those long radiating wrinkles +which, I believe, are called crows' feet, decorating the corners of +the eyelids. His general complexion was white, of that dry and +somewhat withered appearance which long habits of dissipation leave +behind, when dissipation is not combined with drunkenness. In every +glance there was a quick, sharp, prying expression, joined to a +somewhat subservient smile, which was strangely enough displayed upon +a cast of countenance, the natural expression of which was +pertinacious effrontery.</p> + +<p class="normal">His dress was well worn, and had not apparently been formed originally +of any very costly materials; but it had withal a smart cut, and a +smart look, which prevented the eye from detecting either the long +services it had rendered, or the coarseness of the stuff. It was of a +rather anomalous description, too, consisting of what was then called +a marone frock with a silver lace, a pair of buckskin breeches for +riding in, thunder and lightning silk stockings, just showing their +junction with the breeches above, and a pair of heavy boots; while +ruffles, and a frill of that species of lace which, seeming all darns +together, admits the most frequently of being mended, decorated his +wrists and his bosom.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry gazed at him as he rose from the chair in which he had been +sitting with a look which, if it did not absolutely express the stare +of utter strangeness, had very few signs of recognition in it. But the +other was neither to be abashed nor discomposed; and his manners, +which were those of a gentleman, softened down a good deal of the +effrontery which his demeanour displayed. Had he not been a gentleman, +and in the habit of mingling with gentlemen, his determined impudence +would have been insufferable; and even as things were, that impudence, +together with a certain affected swagger in tone and language, which +was very generally assumed by the puppies of the day, and which the +visiter caricatured, were quite sufficiently annoying, especially to +such a man as Lord Dewry. Conceiving at once that the peer was not +peculiarly delighted with his visit, the stranger advanced round the +table, and with a low bow addressed him ere he had time to speak.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I perceive," he said, "that the lapse of time which has occurred +since we met, together with the accession of well-deserved fortunes +and dignities, and the cares consequent thereupon, has obliterated +from your memory, my lord, the person of a former friend. I must, +therefore, announce myself as Sir Roger Millington."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer bowed haughtily. "I once," he said, "had some acquaintance +with a person of that name; but, as you say, sir, the lapse of time +has been so great since we have held any communication with each +other, that I certainly did not expect it to be so suddenly renewed, +and far less to be favoured with an unannounced visit at a time which, +perhaps, may not be the most convenient."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord," replied his companion, unrebuffed, "I am happy to find that +your lordship's memory extends to our acquaintance at least; and to +refresh it in regard to the degree of that acquaintance, I think I +could show you some letters in your lordship's hand, beginning, some, +'My dear friend!' some, 'My dear Millington!' some, 'Damn it, my dear +Millington!' with an elegant variety in the terms, whereby your +lordship was kind enough to express your friendship for your humble +servant."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry coloured highly between anger and shame; but he did not +feel at all the more disposed to receive Sir Roger Millington kindly +on account of these proofs of their former intimacy. He had not +forgotten, any more than his visiter, that they had once been choice +companions in both the elegant and inelegant debaucheries of a London +life; but a great change in situation, and a total change in feelings, +had made the peer as desirous of forgetting the past as the other was +of recalling it; and he hated him in proportion as he felt himself +thwarted. Sir Roger Millington, however, had calculated his game with +the utmost nicety; and once that nothing was to be obtained by gentler +means, and determined, therefore, if possible, to force him to the +object towards which he could not lead him. Such had been his motive +in the somewhat pointed and galling manner in which he had repeated +some of Lord Dewry's former expressions of regard, and he was not a +little gratified to see the colour rise in his cheek as he spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry's reply, however, which immediately followed, was not quite +so much to his taste; for the peer also played his part skilfully; and +though, in reality, as angry as Sir Roger desired, he concealed his +anger, and replied in the same cold haughty tone. "You recall to me, +sir," he said, "days of which I am heartily ashamed, scenes of which +we have neither of us reason to be proud, and expressions which I +greatly wish could be retracted."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry, as your lordship wishes it, that such a thing is not +possible," answered the persevering Sir Roger; "but I think, if you +will take a few moments to consider, your lordship may find reason to +change some of your sentiments. I may have become an altered man as +well as Lord Dewry; and if so, his lordship will have no cause to hate +or shun an old friend, because he once followed in a course which his +lordship led, and has since followed in his repentance. I hear that a +mutual friend of your lordship's and my own is coming to England soon, +if not already on his way from America--I mean Sir William Ryder; and +I should be sorry to have to tell him, on his return, that your +lordship casts off your old acquaintances. You had better consider of +it, my lord."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall consider nothing, sir," replied the peer, "except that my +time is too valuable to be wasted in idle discourse, which can end in +nothing; and therefore I have the honour of wishing you good-morning." +Thus saying, he stood for about the space of a minute and a half, +expecting Sir Roger to leave the room; but being disappointed, he +himself turned upon his heel, with a curling lip and a flashing eye, +and quitted the library, leaving the door open behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington stood for a moment or two in some embarrassment, +but at length impudence and necessity prevailed. "No," cried he; "no: +damn it, it will never do to be beaten when one has resolved on such +an attack. Curse me, if I don't die in the breach, like other heroes. +Why, if I cannot raise a hundred or two I'm done, that's clear. No, +no: I'll not stir;" and casting himself down into a chair, he coolly +took up a book and began to read.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.15" href="#div1Ref_01.15">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"To be teased with such an insolent scoundrel at such a moment +as this!" thought the peer, as he strode hastily to his usual +sitting-room: "it is insufferable! I have a great mind to order the +villains that let him in to horsewhip him out again for their pains: I +believe that they will some day drive me mad among them!" And stamping +his foot upon the ground, as was his custom when very angry, he +clenched his thin hand as if he would have struck the object of his +indignation. Suddenly, however, stopping in the midst of his passion, +he fell into deep thought, which kept him standing in the middle of +the room for two or three minutes; then approaching the bell, he rang +it calmly. His own valet, whose peculiar province was to attend to +that especial sitting-room, appeared in less time than ordinary. "Is +the gentleman who was in the little library gone?" demanded the peer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my lord," replied his laconic attendant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall dine in the larger room to-day," said Lord Dewry: "bid Mr. +Scott have the table laid for two, and tell <i>le Chef</i> that the dinner +must be different."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man bowed, and withdrew; and the peer, after pausing for a single +moment where he was, re-opened the door, and proceeded through the +neighbouring gallery to a vestibule, whence his eye could rest upon +the door of the room in which he had left Sir Roger Millington. Here +again, however, he paused even for several minutes; and then, raising +his head, which had been sunk somewhat upon his bosom, he walked on +with a calm, dignified step towards the room which he had quitted not +a quarter of an hour before in such great indignation. Sir Roger +Millington was seated exactly in the chair which had received his +person when the peer left him, and was deeply, and apparently +pleasantly, engaged with the book he had taken up. So perfectly +comfortable, indeed, did he seem to have made himself, that Lord +Dewry, notwithstanding strong determinations to the contrary--the +motives of which will be explained immediately--could scarcely refrain +from kicking him through the glass door into the park. He conquered +his passion, however; and, in a tone which was very different from +that which he had used towards the same person a quarter of an hour +before, but which was still sufficiently guarded by haughty coldness +to prevent the transition from appearing excessively abrupt, he +addressed his visiter once more. "Sir Roger Millington," he said, "I +am glad to find that you are not gone; for a little reflection makes +me regret having treated a former acquaintance somewhat hastily: but +the truth is, your arrival has occurred at a moment when I am not only +extremely busy, but also when my feelings have been irritated and hurt +by various occurrences, which may in some degree have made me forget +my courtesy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come," thought Sir Roger Millington, "matters are improving! +some fools would have gone away ashamed or affronted! There is nothing +like knowing when to keep one's ground--when to beat a retreat! My +lord," he continued, aloud, "it gives me the greatest pain to think +that I have intruded upon you at such a moment: but I am quite ready +to repair my fault by retiring! only requesting your lordship to name +some hour to-morrow when I can have the honour of conversing with you +on matters of some importance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of importance to yourself or to me, Sir Roger?" demanded the peer, +forcing a half-smile; though there had been something in the +pertinacity with which his visiter had held his ground that made him +almost apprehend that these matters of importance might refer, in some +unpleasant manner, to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had Sir Roger Millington had the slightest means whatever of showing +that the matters of which he had to speak were in any degree relative +to the peer, he would have ventured the assertion that they were of +importance to him; but as he had not, he judged it expedient to be +candid in the more placable mood which his noble host now displayed; +and he accordingly answered, "Of more importance to myself, my lord, I +am afraid, than to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a lucky hit, however; for this proceeding not only quieted all +Lord Dewry's apprehensions, but also favoured his views in other +respect.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am glad to hear it, Sir Roger," replied the baron; "for, to say the +truth, I have important business of my own enough upon my hands to +tire me of it; and I would rather speak upon any one else's affairs +than have any more of myself. But you must not think of leaving the +hall, though I am afraid I must be absent from you a considerable part +of the day. I shall expect the pleasure of your company for a few +days, and I will order my servant to conduct you to your apartments. +You must amuse yourself as best you may till the evening. Here are +books enough, you see, if you have turned student; and if you are +still fond of field-sports, the gamekeeper will show you where you may +find plenty of game. Use the house as your own, I beg; but only excuse +the master of it for a few hours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord, your lordship is too good, too kind," replied his companion, +bowing low and lower; "but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I understand," said the peer; "you have ridden here, and have not +dressing materials: never mind, we will cast away ceremony, Sir +Roger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if any one could be sent over to the village of Barholm, my +lord," said Sir Roger, "since your lordship is so very good, they +would find my valise at the inn."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, certainly," said the peer, increasing in courtesy at every +response--"certainly; we will see about it directly." And he rang the +bell once or twice with that air of good-will which was well +calculated to wipe away the memory of any former coldness. "Richard," +he said, as soon as a servant appeared, "send over the errand-boy on +horseback directly to Barholm, and bid him inquire for the things Sir +Roger Millington has left there at the inn. Bid the groom look to Sir +Roger's horse, and then come here to show him to the yellow room. +Attend upon him while he does me the pleasure of remaining here, and +see that everything is supplied properly.--Now, Sir Roger, I must beg +you to excuse me for a short time, but I shall have the pleasure of +seeing you at dinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger bowed low: the peer withdrew; and the servant, saying, "I +will be back in a minute, sir, to show you to your apartments," +followed, to give the orders he had received to the errand-boy and the +under-groom.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington cast himself back into his chair, mentally +declaring, "'Pon my soul, he seems a devilish good fellow, after all; +somewhat hasty, and hellish proud, but better at bottom than he lets +himself appear. I should not wonder if this card, which, by----, is +the last in my hand, should turn up a trump, after all. Egad, that +would be queer!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Such were his first reflections; and he had not time to proceed much +beyond them when the servant reappeared, and begged him to follow. The +visiter immediately complied; and walking through a suite of handsome +rooms, where gold lace, and damask, and pictures, and cabinets, and +brass, and tortoise-shell, and marble, combined to form a very +dazzling assemblage of furniture and decorations, he was led up a fine +flight of stairs to another story, where, through corridors scarcely +less handsomely garnished than the apartments below, he was conducted, +murmuring, "What a splendid house!" to a spacious bedroom and +dressing-room, adorned with yellow damask hangings, and supplied with +everything at which luxury had yet arrived in the days whereof we +speak. Here, after asking his further commands, the servant left him, +and Sir Roger Millington threw himself on one of the sofas, asking, +"Well, what the devil can the fellow want? for want something he +certainly does. However, no matter; all the better for me. I'm the man +for his money, whatever he wants; and, by Jupiter! I'll take good care +not to quarrel with the sort of bread and butter that is to be got in +this house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Leaving Sir Roger Millington to speculate upon such very natural +propositions, we may as well follow the peer once more to his private +room, and endeavour to ascertain the cause of a change in his +demeanour towards the poor knight, which had been, as we have seen, no +less sudden than complete.</p> + +<p class="normal">No sooner had he entered the chamber than he closed the door, and +bolted it; approached a small iron chest, which stood riveted to the +floor and to the wall, and, opening it with a key which was attached +to a strong gold chain round his neck, he folded his arms upon his +breast, and gazed in for a moment, biting his lip and straining his +eye as if it required no small powers of self-command to proceed any +farther. He then drew forth a large holster-pistol, richly embossed +with silver--the fellow to that which had been placed in the hands of +Edward de Vaux by the gipsy Pharold--and held it for a time in his +hand, with his eyes not fixed upon it, but upon some far object in the +distant landscape, which nevertheless, he saw not in the least; for +the intensity of the mind's occupation at that moment had broken for +the time the connection between the intellectual soul and her +servants, the corporal senses; so that his eye was as blind to the +things on which it was fixed as if it had been seared by lightning. +His thoughts were far away--in other years and in other scenes; and as +he laid the weapon down upon a chair beside him, he murmured, "It +<i>must</i> have fallen into the river, or it would have been found with +the hat."</p> + +<p class="normal">He then sought for a moment among some papers, from which he selected +one; and replacing every thing in the chest as it had been before, +turned to the table and gazed upon the sheet, which seemed alone +filled with memoranda of dates and numbers that certainly could +possess no meaning to any eye but his own. To him, however, their +import seemed of great consequence; for again and again he studied +them; and ever and anon the contemplation would plunge him into deep +fits of thought, from which he only roused himself again to gaze upon +the figures as before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will do," he said at length, "it will do; but I must take care of +what I am about. Yet of this Roger Millington there is no fear. He +would at any time of his life have condemned his own soul for gold, +and now he seems beggared and wretched enough. The other people can +offer him nothing: I can offer him ease and luxury; and he will not +only have no temptation to betray me, but every inducement to keep my +secret till the grave closes over us both. And yet," he added, +thoughtfully--"and yet I must not put it in his power ever to annoy me +hereafter. He must rest in my power rather than I in his. Yet if we +can silence this Pharold for ever, all real danger will be past; and I +must risk something--I must risk much, for that object."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such were some of the thoughts which passed through the mind of Lord +Dewry; nor were his conclusions formed upon a very wrong estimate of +the character of his present visiter. The better qualities of Sir +Roger Millington were few. The best of them was personal courage, or +rather that total thoughtlessness in regard to death, and what is to +follow death, which in many men supplies the place of a nobler +principle. He had always, too, been what is called generous; and he +did, indeed, possess that curious combination of qualities which makes +a man pillage and ruin the father of a family, and thus bring want, +destruction, and desolation upon a whole household, while at the same +time he is willing, on every occasion, to share the ill-gotten wealth +of the moment with any one who needs it. His generosity, however, +still more displayed itself in wasting, among debauchees like himself, +whatever he possessed, and thinking no means ignoble to dissipate what +he had thought no means dishonourable to obtain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Born of a good family, introduced early into the best society, and +placed, as a military man, in a situation which should have acted +rather to strengthen honourable principles than to lead him from them, +he had at first, so long as the actual war lasted, gained some credit +and renown as a soldier; but no sooner had a peace succeeded than +various gambling transactions, of a somewhat doubtful character, +rendered it expedient that he should quit the service. This he was +permitted to do without disgrace; but from that hour his progress had +been downwards in fortune and society. He had first mingled with +gentlemen upon equal terms; and during the greater part of his +acquaintance with Lord Dewry had kept himself on the same footing with +his companions, by keeping up the same expenses, and by indulging the +same vices. He was often very successful at play; and, though it was +reported that his scruples were not very great in regard to the +experience or the sobriety of those with whom he sat down, as his +winnings enabled him, generally, to live in luxury and splendour, +there were few found to object to the means of acquirement. He +sometimes lost, however; and, as on one or two occasions his losses +had been to persons of greater wealth than courage, he was said to +have discharged his debt by lending the use of his sword in some of +the numerous disputes which vice and debauchery entail upon their +disciples.</p> + +<p class="normal">All these things were suspected; but still Sir Roger Millington was +not, on that account, shut out from society. Some people merely +thought that in him they knew where to find a <i>serviceable man</i> when +they wanted such a thing; and others did not choose to quarrel with +one who was in better repute at the Park or the back of Montague +House, the two great resorts of duellists in that day, than in St. +James's-street. Gambling, however, is always a losing trade; and, by +slow degrees, and with many a brief revival of fortune, Sir Roger +Millington was forced down lower and lower in the scale of reputation +and estate. It must be a very honourable spirit, indeed, that poverty +renders more scrupulous; and such was certainly not the case with Sir +Roger Millington. The means of obtaining money seemed to him all +honourable if they led him not to Tyburn; and, at length, he would +fight with or for any man for a very trifling consideration. By this +trade, varied, where he found it necessary, by sycophancy or by +impudence, he contrived for some time to keep himself up, till at +length some one of his adversaries, more wise than the rest, took +courage to refuse to cross swords with a bully and a sharper, +horsewhipped Sir Roger when he posted him, fought and wounded the +first man of honour that looked cold on him for his conduct, and left +Sir Roger Millington no resource but to quit the circles in which he +had been formerly received.</p> + +<p class="normal">These circumstances had occurred about two years before the knight's +visit to Lord Dewry; and it would be more painful and disgusting than +amusing or instructive to follow him through the shifts and turnings +of the succeeding months. At length the happy thought struck him which +we have seen him execute; and with a horse, the last of a once +splendid stud, a valise containing all that remained of his wardrobe, +three guineas, and some silver in his purse, a vast stock of +impudence, and a packet of the peer's old letters, he set out to see +whether he could wring anything either from the weakness or the +kindness of Lord Dewry, from whom he had won, in former days, many a +sum which he now sighed to think upon.</p> + +<p class="normal">He came, as we have seen, at the very moment when the assistance of +such a person as himself, who was not in the least scrupulous either +in regard to oaths or dangers, was likely to prove most serviceable to +the peer, provided that any bonds could be invented, so close and +clinging as to restrain a man who had never yet been bound by any +principles of religion, morality, or honour. On their meeting, the +uses to which he might be put had not at first struck Lord Dewry, and +he had given way to the irritable impatience natural to his character: +but the last words of Sir Roger Millington concerning Sir William +Ryder, had struck a chord of association which soon awoke other ideas; +and before the peer had reached his own room he had seen and +comprehended the variety of services which Sir Roger might render him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thought, however, was required, both to arrange and give a tangible +form to plans which were yet vague and undefined; and to devise means +of so guarding against the very agent he was about to employ as not to +fall into a new danger in striving to escape an old one. Men who have +involved themselves in the dark work of crime, like those employed in +forging red-hot iron, are obliged to touch the objects of their labour +with tools of steel, lest they should burn themselves with the bolts +they forge. After much thought, however, Lord Dewry believed that he +saw means of rendering Sir Roger Millington, not only obedient to his +every wish, but faithful also; and though the plans in which he was to +be employed, of course required long and intense consideration, the +new views that opened before the peer gave him so much comfort that he +heard the dressing-bell ring, long before he had expected it, without +any feelings but those of renewed security and anticipated triumph +over those who had before caused him so much doubt and apprehension.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Lord Dewry was a shrewd and strong-minded man, who, as far as a +violent and proud disposition, and very uncontrollable passions, would +let him, generally acted upon a regularly-arranged and well-considered +system in every thing he undertook: but it is extraordinary how often +a man acts upon system without knowing it; for, after all, as before +said, we are but mere puppets, body and mind, in the hands of our +desires. Lord Dewry had ordered the beggared and threadbare Sir Roger +Millington to be taken to one of the most splendid apartments in his +splendid house; he had ordered such an intimation to be given to the +cook as would place upon the table a rich and luxurious repast; he had +directed that repast to be spread in a room full of magnificence; and +now he dressed himself with scrupulous care and elegance, without at +all being aware that it was all part of a system to re-awaken in the +bosom of the penniless knight that thirst for luxury and ease which +would render him most willingly and eagerly the tool of him who could +bestow it. So it was, however; and though pride had her word too, and +told his lordship that such display would make his visiter more humble +and respectful, yet the principal object was to show him how many +pleasant and desirable things might be obtained by being the very +humble and most devoted servant of the noble lord.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had Lord Dewry sat and calculated for an hour what system was most +likely to produce the desired effect upon a man of the peculiar mental +and bodily idiosyncrasy of Sir Roger Millington, he could not have +more happily adapted his actions to the circumstances. In his high and +plumy days of fortune, Sir Roger Millington had learned to love and +delight in every good thing of the earth that we inhabit; and in his +days of debasement and poverty he had equally learned to admire and +bow down to, in others, the possession of those things which had given +him so much pleasure when he possessed them himself. The soft tread of +the Turkey carpets, the sight of damask, and lace, and or-molu, an +accidental whiff of the distant kitchen, as he passed the top of a +back staircase--a whiff faint and fragrant as if it came from "the +spice islands in the south"--the very feel of the sofa on which he +sat, were all so many arguments in favour of any plan, action, or idea +which Lord Dewry could possibly suggest; and when, after having +received his goods and chattels from the village, selected the best of +his wardrobe, and made himself look, as he could do, perfectly +gentlemanly, he descended to the drawing-room, it was with an +impression of the greatest possible respect and admiration for the +talents, sentiments, feelings, thoughts, and virtues of his noble +entertainer.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was almost immediately joined by the peer, who was surprised but +not sorry to see his guest look so much like a gentleman; for though +he sincerely desired that he should be such at heart as to do his +unscrupulous bidding unscrupulously, yet he was quite willing to have +him such, in appearance, as would excite neither wonder nor +animadversion.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hasty as the peer was by nature, and eager as he was in the present +instance, he had acquired sufficient command over himself to reserve +any more open communication with Sir Roger till a more proper moment; +although, had he given way to the impulse of his own heart, he would +have entered upon the business which occupied his thoughts at once. +But he felt what an advantage such a course of action would confer +upon his guest; and, therefore, without showing the slightest haste or +impatience, he spoke a moment or two upon the weather, and the state +of the nation, and the alarming increase of crime in the metropolis, +and several other things, about which he cared not in the least, and +then turned to some of the pictures that hung upon the walls, +expatiating upon their various merits with as much learning as a +connoisseur, and as much taste as an Agar Ellis. "Yes," he said, "that +is a very fine picture, though not so valuable as it looks. It is by +one of the disciples of Rubens, and artists believe the heads to be by +Rubens himself. But I will show you a real treasure!" and approaching +a small panel opposite, covered with two richly-carved and gilded +doors, he opened them; and, drawing a silk curtain, displayed an inner +frame containing a Madonna exquisitely painted. "That is an undoubted +Correggio," he said; "and one of the most beautiful pictures that +master ever painted. Remark the exquisite bend of that head, so full +of grief and resignation. The beauty of the colouring, too--that tear +upon the cheek, the faint pink of the nostril partaking slightly of +the blue of the drapery, and the drapery itself, how masterly! Look +here, too, at the hands crossed upon the breast! Did you ever behold +such beautiful hands? so small and delicate, yet so soft and full! +every thing graceful and light, yet every thing full of contour and +correctness!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The doors were thrown open while he still spoke, and dinner was +announced; nor did Lord Dewry, during the whole course of the meal, +deviate from the rule he had laid down, of hurrying his communication +by neither word nor hint. The dinner itself was such as might be +expected from his fortune and his habits--abundant, but not loaded, +showing every delicacy that wealth could procure, and yet taking care +that, as in the Palace of the Sun, the workmanship should excel the +materials. The wines, however, surpassed every thing else; and that +sort of nectar which is called, <i>sec sillery</i> once again greeted the +palate of Sir Roger Millington, after many years of tedious interval. +Sir Roger blessed the stars which had conferred so many good things on +a man to whom he hoped to render service; for though he neither ate +nor drank to excess, he enjoyed to the full, and saw the dessert +placed upon the table only with the expectation of at length hearing +how he might merit a participation in such blessings in future.</p> + +<p class="normal">The best polished crystal, full of the liquid rubies of rich Medoc, +was set upon the table; and the majestic butler drew off after the +retiring footmen. Lord Dewry recommended the claret; and when he saw +the glass filled, he opened his approaches cautiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Sir Roger," he said, "we have all the evening before us, without +fear of interruption; and though I trust you will give me the pleasure +of your company some days longer, yet, as you spoke of some matter +which was of importance to you, it may be pleasanter to us both to get +rid of the business at once, and devote the rest of our time to less +weighty affairs."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger had not prepared for this way of opening the campaign; and +he felt some fear that any demand upon the purse of his noble host +might banish him from a dwelling where he felt himself as yet quite +comfortable. A moment's thought, however, reassured him; for, both +from his general knowledge of the world, and his particular knowledge +of the peer, he felt very sure that such a sudden transition from +rudeness to hospitality, as we have heretofore recorded, could not +have taken place without a motive--that motive he concluded to be a +desire of reaping advantage from some of his numerous and pliant +abilities; and he therefore perceived that the policy now was to make +a bargain as best he might. All this train of argumentation was run +over rapidly in his brain, and he then replied, "The fact is, my lord, +that some of my old evil habits have, as your lordship may have +anticipated, somewhat impaired my property, and put me to temporary +difficulties. Such being the case, and being rather rudely pressed, I +bethought me of your lordship's former kindness and liberality, and +came down in haste to see whether I could not induce you to favour me +with the loan of a small sum."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A loan!" exclaimed the peer, raising his eyebrows as if something +quite unexpected had broke upon his ear, though there was the dawning +of a half-suppressed smile about his lip that contradicted his tone of +surprise--"a loan! Ah, I dare say we can manage that matter, Sir +Roger. But be candid with me; tell me the state of your finances: it +shall not injure your views, upon my honour!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bad enough, my lord, bad enough," replied his companion, candidly, +and yet shrewdly; for he began to fancy that candour would be best: +"bad enough, I am sorry to say. I have had a sad run against me, and +have not been able to get over it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No heavy debts?" said the peer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, upon my honour, no," replied Sir Roger; "I do not owe twenty +pounds in the world; but I find a difficulty in getting one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was always an extraordinary trait of yours, Millington," said +the peer: "you were never in debt, though you spent a good deal, and +played high."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I always paid away my money as fast as I got it," replied his +guest. "As soon as I had a sum, any one might have it that wanted it, +whether a tradesman or a friend; and as I had large sums then," he +added, with a sigh, "I was never long in debt."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was, indeed, partly true of the times to which he referred, as +the peer well knew; and the reason for his having few debts in later +years was still more simple, though he mentioned it not--it was, that +no one would trust him. Lord Dewry, however, seemed affected by his +reference to old times, and replied, "Well, well, Sir Roger, we will +not let you be hard pressed any longer. What is the sum you at present +want?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington hesitated between the fear of asking too +much and asking too little; and he would have given the three guineas +that graced his pocket willingly to have found out what service was +to be demanded of him in return, that he might shape his request +accordingly. "It cannot be to fight," he thought; "the fellow used +to do all that business for himself, and devilish well, too! but, +however, it must be some pitiful job, indeed, if it is not worth a +couple of hundred. I'll ask fifty more.--Why, my lord," he said aloud, +"the fact is, that two hundred and fifty pounds, I am afraid, will be +requisite."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," said Lord Dewry, who, thinking chiefly of Sir Roger's +former style of living, had calculated upon a demand of at least +double that amount--"well, well, that can be managed; and, upon my +honour, it shall be managed: but now let us speak a little upon other +matters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now it comes!" thought Sir Roger Millington; but the peer +proceeded,--"I have now promised you this sum unconditionally; but if +you will explain to me more fully the real and particular state of +your finances, perhaps we may strike out something that may prove +ultimately still more beneficial to you--I mean permanently +beneficial."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington sat with his eyes wide open, and the internal +voice of his wonder would have been, could any one have heard it, +"Why, what's the meaning of all this? is he going to turn out really +generous, after all?" He had recourse to the claret jug, however, +which soothed him wonderfully; and he answered, "Why, my lord, as I +have already said, the state of my finances is bad--very bad! In +short, my lord, there is nothing which your lordship can do to mend +them that will not be most gratefully received by Roger Millington."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must think of it, Sir Roger; we must think of it well," replied +the peer; "and you will find, Sir Roger, that no man will do more than +I will to remove you from all difficulties, and put you at your ease. +The worst point of the whole business is, I am afraid that all I can +do for you is but for my own life. My estates are strictly entailed. I +live up to my income; and I am afraid that with me would die anything +that I could annually do for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May your lordship live for ever!" replied Sir Roger, with more +sincerity, perhaps, than ever courtier offered such an aspiration in +favour of the kings of the Medes and Persians. "The truth is, my +lord," he continued, "nothing can be worse than the state of my +present fortunes. I certainly did not doubt being able to mend them +with a little assistance; but if your lordship carries into execution +your kind intentions in my favour, and mends them for me, all I can +say is, that you shall find one man at least grateful in this world; +and I hope also that your lordship will point out to me some means of +aiding you in return, for the burden of my obligation to you will be +greatly relieved by being able to show my zeal in your service."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, we will think of that hereafter," said Lord Dewry; "and as +you are a man of taste and ingenuity, I have no doubt, Sir Roger, in +the various changes and alterations which I am making here and at +Dimden--I have no doubt that we shall be able to find you employment +of a nature the most agreeable to your feelings and the most suitable +to your mind. Nobody need know any thing of the pecuniary arrangements +between us. You shall always be received here as a friend, and the +rest of your days may pass in sunshine and enjoyment."</p> + +<p class="normal">These were prospects bright indeed to the view of the impoverished +knight; and as he felt that no services on his part would be too great +or too unscrupulous to merit such reward, he very plainly gave his +noble entertainer to understand that such was the case, and explained +to him how willing he would be to undertake any task he chose to +impose. This was the plainest speaking which had been held during the +evening; and the peer was not sorry that it had come on the part of +his guest, for he was anxious now to arrive at the point, and yet he +decidedly wished that the way might be smoothed for him. He smiled +most graciously, therefore, as he replied, "Well, well, Sir Roger, +your offers shall soon be put to the proof. I have upon my hands, at +the present moment, some business which is very difficult to manage; +and as I know you to be both firm and skilful, I will request your +assistance in it. But remember, I beg, that my object, as I shall +explain to you immediately, is perfectly just and upright; and +although the business wants a little shrewd management, yet it is one +in which you may engage conscientiously."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I doubt it not, my lord, I doubt it not," replied Sir Roger, who, +perhaps, in all the variety of human actions, would have found very +few in which, under his present circumstances, he would not have +engaged quite conscientiously--"I doubt it not, my lord. Pray, +proceed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, it is a long story," answered the baron; "and before we proceed +to that, let me ask you, Sir Roger, if you remember, with any degree +of accuracy, the transactions which took place between you and me and +Sir William Ryder, in regard to a large sum of money that we lost to +you in the year 17--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perfectly, most perfectly, my lord," replied Sir Roger: "my memory +never fails on such points; I could swear to every fact."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, do you remember," said the peer, "receiving a note from me on +the eighteenth of May, telling you that if you would wait another week +I would pay you the whole sum at once, as my brother would be able by +that time to call in money to lend me? and do you remember your coming +to me the same evening to say that you were quite willing to wait, and +our going out together to a party?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I remember it all accurately, my lord," replied the poor knight, to +whom the recollection of days when the proud man before whom he now +sat had been his debtor and his humble servant was too gratifying to +be easily forgotten--"I remember it all well--every particular; but +you are mistaken in the date, my lord: it was the nineteenth, not the +eighteenth, of May."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no; it is you who are mistaken, Sir Roger," replied the peer, +with a meaning smile. "It was the eighteenth, I can assure you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger did not comprehend. "Indeed, my lord," he replied, "it was +the nineteenth; I remember it from many circumstances. On that very +morning the great bet had come off between Colonel Hammerstone and the +Nailer, and--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, I am positive," said the peer, "from circumstances that I +cannot forget either. It was the eighteenth day of May, in the year +17--."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, my lord, I have your lordship's own note," said Sir Roger, +persevering.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you so?" cried the peer. "I wish you would be so kind as to let +me see it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, my lord; I will bring it in a moment," said Sir Roger; +and, rising from his chair, he left the room, in order to bring the +paper to which he referred. While he was gone, Lord Dewry sat silent +and stern, with his hand over his eyes and the upper part of his face; +but his lips, which were uncovered, moved as if he were speaking, and +the working of the muscles of his cheeks seemed to indicate that he +was in bodily pain. As soon as his guest returned, however, he +withdrew his hand, and all was clear and smiling, except, perhaps, a +slight contraction of the brow, and an anxious intensity of gaze in +his eye, which had both become habitual. Sir Roger Millington resumed +his place; and, laying down upon the table a bundle of papers which he +carried, he selected one, and presented it to the peer, saying, +"There, my lord, is the note."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry received it calmly, not only because he knew the contents +exactly as well as Roger Millington, but because he felt perfectly +satisfied that Sir Roger himself was secured--bound hand and foot his +slave--by promises and expectations which no one else had the power or +the necessity of holding out to him. The paper, though it bore the +marks of age in the yellow hue of its complexion and the paleness of +the ink, was in other respects well preserved; and the peer, unfolding +it, perused it attentively, and still held it in his hand when he had +done.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see, Sir Roger," he said, "that you are correct, as far as the +dating of this note goes; but at the same time, I can assure you, I +must have dated it wrong at the time by some unfortunate mistake, +which mistake, by an unpleasant concatenation of circumstances, might +prove of the greatest disadvantage to me at present, and might even +deprive me of the power of assisting you in the way that I am so +desirous of doing."</p> + +<p class="normal">The master-key of self-interest instantly unlocked the door of Sir +Roger Millington's understanding; and he now saw that some very strong +motive must influence the peer in wishing to prove that the letter was +written on a different day from that on which it was dated. He +consequently determined at once that it should be written on any day +whatsoever that his lordship thought fit; but, at the same time, +having a due regard to the friable nature of promises, he extremely +desired to make himself master of his noble friend's secret views, in +order to have some check upon him hereafter. "Indeed, my lord," he +replied, in a tone of much concern, "I am sorry to hear that the fact +should be likely to produce such results. May I inquire how such an +unfortunate state of things is likely to ensue from so simple a +circumstance?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, certainly," replied Lord Dewry, with somewhat of a sarcastic +smile; "you may inquire, and I will answer you, Sir Roger: but then, +if I do, I must, I am afraid, demand a bond for the two hundred and +fifty pounds I am about to advance, as I must either have security for +my money or my secrets--which you like, Sir Roger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, then, my lord," replied Sir Roger Millington, inclining his head +with a significant bow, "the matter is very simple. As I have no +security to offer for the money, I will beg not to burden myself with +your lordship's confidence any further than you think absolutely +necessary; and in regard to the note which is likely to produce +results so unlucky to both you and me--for I am fain to believe that +my prosperity is now intimately connected with your lordship's--I +think the best way to settle the matter will be to put it in the +fire."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not exactly know that," answered Lord Dewry, musing: "at all +events, let me convince you first that it was written on the +eighteenth, instead of the nineteenth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord, I am already convinced," said Sir Roger Millington, who, +once having obtained the cue, could go on without the prompter--"I am +already convinced: I see my mistake. I remember it was the day before +the great walking bet came off, which was on the nineteenth, at +Hounslow. Indeed, it is impossible that it could have been otherwise: +for I was present on the ground all day; and if I was at Hounslow all +day, I could not receive your note in London."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True, true," said the peer; though he very well knew that the note +which he had written after his return to town, the very day subsequent +to his brother's death, had found Sir Roger just come back from +Hounslow--"true, true, Sir Roger; and doubtless you could swear to all +these facts, should it be necessary."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beyond all doubt, my lord," replied the knight, "circumstances crowd +upon my memory which all tend to show that your lordship is right; and +it must have been the mistaken date of the note which deceived me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would it not, then, be advisable," demanded the peer, "to rectify the +date which the note bears, instead of destroying it--hey, Sir Roger, +hey?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, my lord, certainly," said Sir Roger; and then, dropping +his voice, he added in a half-whisper, "if it can be done without the +chance of discovery."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Easily," replied the peer--"easily, Sir Roger: a little acid which I +have in my library will take out the tail of the nine, without leaving +a trace; there will then remain only a cipher, which I will alter to +an eight; so that no one will see a difference between the writing of +that figure and the rest of the letter. You and I, the only persons +concerned in a private letter from me to you, are both convinced that +the date ought to be so rectified; and no one else need know any thing +about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am perfectly of your lordship's opinion," replied Sir Roger; "had +it not better be done immediately?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With all my heart," replied the peer; "follow me, Sir Roger; we will +return here, and conclude our claret when we have done."</p> + +<p class="normal">The serviceable Sir Roger followed without another word to the peer's +private room. A small bottle of acid was produced, which answered its +object fully: the obnoxious figure was changed into a more convenient +one with ink mingled with water, to render it of the same hue as the +rest of the writing, and the most severe and practised eye could not +have detected a change. When it was done, the peer and his confederate +stood gazing upon the paper with very different feelings: Sir Roger, +totally indifferent to all considerations of right and wrong in the +matter, only wondering what was to come next, and desirous of knowing +whether he himself was to resume possession of the letter, or whether +his noble host intended to keep it for his own purposes; Lord Dewry +feeling at his heart that blessed sensation of security which he had +not known for twenty years.</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer's next act was calmly to take his pocketbook from his pocket, +and drawing forth five notes, amounting to the sum which Sir Roger had +demanded, he laid them, one after another, down upon the paper which +they had been corrupting; and then, taking up the whole packet, he put +it into his companion's hand. "Sir Roger," he said, "I always like to +be as good as my word, and often endeavour to prove myself better than +my word. In regard to these notes," he added, seeing the knight about +to pour forth thanks, "let us say no more about them; and in regard to +this note," pointing to the one they had altered, "let me beg you to +put it by carefully with the rest of my letters; and should you ever +be called upon to produce it and speak about it, you will remember the +fact accurately, that it was received by you on the eighteenth of May, +the day before the great bet came off at Hounslow. Also, you will +remember that you called upon me in answer to it, and that we sat +together for half an hour. But it may be as well to forget, perhaps, +that we went out in company to Hillier's party. Let all statements be +as simple as possible, with no more circumstances than are necessary +to show that you do really remember the facts. And now let us return +to our claret, for we have more to talk of yet, both concerning your +affairs and mine."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger bowed low, promising to act exactly as he was instructed. +"You know I have been a soldier, my lord," he said, "and am well aware +of the necessity of obeying orders without the slightest variation."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer led the way back to the dining-room, and rang for more +claret, though there was a good deal still upon the table; but the +cause was, in truth, that he desired a moment or two to think further +before he continued his conversation with Sir Roger Millington. His +original design had been to employ him in a much more extensive and +conclusive enterprise than he had hitherto broached to him; but in the +very initiatory steps, the fact of the letter being still in +existence, the facility which Sir Roger had shown in bending to his +wishes, and the certainty of his following exactly the directions he +had received, seemed to remove the necessity for further efforts. "I +have now," thought the peer, "the most perfect and conclusive proof to +adduce that I was in London on the very day of my brother's death; and +granting that the oath of Sir Roger Millington may be somewhat +doubted, on account of his established character, the letter--the +letter is proof positive. Besides, what can be opposed to it but the +oath of a gipsy and a gambler? neither of them worth more than his, if +so much. The letter is conclusive. Perhaps it may be as well to let +the gipsy alone; and yet it is not to be longer endured--this state of +momentary apprehension of what the next minute is to produce. Nor can +there be any doubt that, as soon as Pharold finds out this business in +regard to the deer-stealing, which has gone too far by this time to be +stayed, his first vengeance will be to tell all, and I may as well be +prepared to cast the charge back upon himself. Besides, if I can crush +him before the other arrives in England, I may set the whole world at +defiance."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he thought thus he drank a large glass of claret. There never yet +was man who committed a great crime, and did not thenceforth feel that +the predominant longing of his soul was, once more to be able to +"sleep in spite of thunder." He drank another full glass; and then +went on, determined to bring the struggle to an issue at once, now +that he had all his preparations made, and was sure of the result.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What we have just been speaking of, Sir Roger," he said, as the +servant shut the door after setting down the claret, "brings to my +mind our former acquaintance, Sir William Ryder. I should scarcely +think that he proposes to come back again to this country, as you +hinted this morning, considering that he left many a debt unpaid. +Among other things, you know he was your debtor in the transaction of +which we but now spoke, as well as myself, though not to the same +amount; and you are doubtless also aware that I paid the whole debt. +Pray, when did you hear from him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not hear from him directly, my lord," replied the knight, "as +we have, in fact, kept up no correspondence. I wrote to him, indeed, +shortly after his departure, but he never answered my letter. But I +saw a few days ago in an American paper, that the well-known Sir +William Ryder was about to quit his dwelling at some strange named +place in a few weeks, for the purpose of visiting England, in order to +induce the government to take measures for the protection and +instruction of the savage Indians."</p> + +<p class="normal">A sneering smile curled the lip of the peer, but he made no +observation upon the information he received. "Did you not go down +with him to Holyhead, on his way to embark for America from some Irish +port?" demanded Lord Dewry; "I think I have heard so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my lord, no," replied Sir Roger; "I met him at Holyhead by +accident. I had just come over from Ireland, where I had been to +settle a little affair with a man in Dublin. I lent Sir William one of +my horses to go out to see some gipsies--what the devil business he +had with them I could never tell--but the horse threw him and broke +his ribs, and hurt himself into the bargain; but a gipsy fellow, the +best farrier I ever saw, cured him in a week--the horse, I mean; but I +believe they cured Sir William too, for I left him in their hands +recovering fast; I myself being obliged to be at Newmarket before he +could get out of his bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought I remembered something of the transaction," said the peer. +"Sir William Ryder, with whom I was in some correspondence at that +time, in regard to the very debt of which we were speaking, wrote to +me that he had seen you there, and mentioned the accident your horse +had met with. But now tell me, Sir Roger, did you not receive from the +gipsy farrier a bank-note, in change for money given him in payment?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my lord, not that I remember," said the knight; "faith, I have +forgot what I gave him, and all about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Recollect yourself, Sir Roger," said Lord Dewry; "I think, if you +remember right, you will find that he gave you in change a note, which +you afterward gave to me when we last settled our accounts together, +about six months after I succeeded to this property."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, my lord," said the knight, "your lordship is not right +there: it was you gave me the money; I gave you none. It was a round +sum, you know, my lord."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry bit his lip, and Sir Roger Millington could hear his foot +stamp upon the carpet under the table with impatience at his +contradiction. In truth, the noble lord did not at all desire to be +driven to explanations, though, in fact, the dark and fearful scheme +which his mind had formed for the purpose of delivering himself from +all fear for ever was too deep and intricate to be understood by him +whom he intended for his tool in accomplishing it, without a much +fuller knowledge of the subject than the knight possessed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You do not understand me," cried the peer, hastily; "you will not +understand me, Sir Roger! Mark me, now!" and then, after thinking for +a moment, he proceeded in a stern, determined tone, and with a dark, +contracted brow:--"You remember my succeeding to this property, Sir +Roger; and you remember the circumstances of my brother's unfortunate +death? The only person who saw the--the business was a gipsy; and at +the time some circumstances made it appear so strongly probable that +that gipsy had been himself the--the murderer, that Mr. Arden--old Mr. +Arden, who is still living--wished to commit him. I, however, +foolishly would believe nothing of the story, as this very gipsy had +always been a protégé of my brother's, and he was liberated. A number +of small particulars, however, afterward appeared to make me regret my +obstinacy, and to convince me that the villain was really the assassin +of my poor brother. I had him sought for in vain; and all the news I +could learn of him was, that he had sailed from Holyhead for Ireland. +There I lost sight of him, till a few days ago, when I suddenly met +him in the park; and I have since learned that he is lingering about +in the neighbourhood of my other place at Dimden. I have laid a trap +for him: we shall catch him this very night; and, if it cost me half +my fortune, I will bring him to justice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your lordship is right, very right," exclaimed Sir Roger Millington; +"but I do not see--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen to me, Sir Roger, and you shall see," replied the peer: "I +doubt not that I shall be able to convict him; but if my recollections +are right, and can be supported by yours, his conviction is certain. +My brother at his death had a large sum of money on his person. One of +those notes, marked with his name, in his own handwriting, has since +come into my possession; and <i>I am sure that I received it from you, +while I feel almost sure that you received it from the gipsy!</i>" He +spoke the last words slowly and emphatically, and then added, rapidly +and sternly, "Now, what I want you to do, Sir Roger, is to recollect +yourself, and--if you can remember the facts of your having received +the note and given it to me--to be prepared to swear to those facts, +should it be necessary."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington turned very pale. A light--a fearful light--had +broken in upon him, and how far it served to guide his suspicions +aright matters little. He was a man of few scruples, and vice and +misery had both contributed to harden his heart; for though the uses +of adversity maybe sweet when acting on a virtuous disposition, yet I +am afraid that in this good world of ours the back of that great felon +Vice only gets callous under the lash of affliction. Sir Roger +Millington, however, had, as we have said, but few scruples of any +kind; yet this thing that Lord Dewry now proposed to him was a step +beyond the point at which he had arrived in all the course of evil and +of folly that he had hitherto pursued. He had fought and had slain men +in another man's quarrel, but in doing so he had perilled his own +life, and the corporal risk had seemed in some degree to balance the +moral culpability; but now he was asked to say and do things which, +without any danger to himself, would conduct another to an ignominious +death,--one against whom he had no enmity, whom he had never, perhaps, +beheld, and of whose real guilt there was in his bosom many a terrible +doubt. He felt that it was a fearful and an awful thing that he was +called upon to do, and, in despite of the absence of all moral +principle--of twenty years' hardening in vice, and of a long training +in degradation and dishonour--he turned pale, he hesitated; and, +forgetting all restraint, rose from his seat and walked once or twice +up and down the room in evident agitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry saw how far he had committed himself. He saw that, +notwithstanding all his caution, his words, having been spoken to one +whom habitual vice had rendered familiar with all the wiles of crime, +might have put his suspicions on a track from which they could never +be withdrawn, and that although Sir Roger had him not, indeed, in his +power, as the gipsy had, yet that no sacrifice would be too great to +force him on to acts which would make his co-operation irretrievable. +He suffered him then to pace the room for a single minute; and then +rising, he placed himself opposite to him, and laid his hand on that +of the knight. "Sir Roger," he said, "I am inclined to do much for +you, but you know service must have service in return."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But tell me, tell me, my lord," exclaimed the other, with some +vehemence, "do you really believe that the note you speak of was ever +in the possession of the gipsy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I not only believe it, but I am sure of it," replied the peer. "Hear +me, Sir Roger; I pledge you my honour, my soul, my word, this note +which you now see, and which is marked with my brother's own hand, +must have been in possession of the gipsy after my brother's death; +and if it did not come to me from you, it must at all events have come +through some one who received it of the gipsy." Nor in this assertion +did he speak falsely; for the note was one of those which he had sent +to the gipsy by Sir William Ryder, and which had accidentally returned +to his own possession.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is wonderful how easily men can sometimes satisfy their conscience. +Sir Roger did not pause to ask any very minute explanation: the +vehemence with which his noble entertainer spoke convinced him that in +some sense he spoke sincerely; and he would have been very sorry, by +any indiscreet question, to have discovered that there was any thing +like a double meaning in the words. "Well, well," he said, "I think I +do remember something of the transaction, my lord; and I doubt not +that a few moments' thought will bring it all back clearly to my +memory."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer pressed his hand. "Well, then, Sir Roger," he said, "so much +for my affairs when they are all settled: hear what I wish to do for +you. I propose to give you apartments in my house at Dimden, where you +shall undertake to superintend all my improvements and works of taste, +for which you will favour me by receiving a deed of annuity for one +thousand per annum <i>during my life</i>. I am sorry that I cannot make it +permanent, but I have not the power; all I can do can only last as +long as my life lasts."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bright, bright grew the eyes of Sir Roger Millington; and, bowing low +before the peer, he uttered a few words of thanks, and cast himself +back into his chair to enjoy the glad transition from a state of +beggary and despair to the prospect of affluence and luxury such as he +had never hoped to see again. All scruples were swallowed up in +satisfaction; not even a shadow of them remained; and he was now only +anxious to prove his zeal in those services which were to merit so +noble a reward.</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer had seated himself, also, with the note of which he spoke +laid on the table before him; and it was not difficult for him to see +that the feelings of the serviceable Sir Roger Millington were +undergoing the exact sort of transition which he desired. He +accordingly entered into further explanations; and Sir Roger, in his +eagerness to merit the favour of so generous a patron, proposed of his +own free will to write his name upon the note in such a manner as to +give every apparent veracity to the recollections to which he was to +swear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will find the butler's pen and ink in the buffet," said the peer, +in reply; "dip your pen first in the claret, Sir Roger, to make the +ink look faint and old. Only put your name; no date--no date; never be +too precise. Thank you--thank you: now he cannot escape me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, my lord," said Sir Roger, "as I am to swear to the person of the +gipsy from whom I received the note, will it not be better that I +should see him first before he is taken up; so that I may identify him +at once without any appearance of connivance?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is, I am afraid, impossible," replied the peer; "for we have +found out that he and his fellows have a design upon the deer in +Dimden Park this very night, and a large party of keepers have been +assembled to arrest them, so that between twelve and one they will all +be prisoners. Otherwise it might have been better as you say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But there is time before that," said Sir Roger, looking at his watch, +which--as the dinner hours of that day were very, very different from +those of the present time--only pointed at seven even after this long +conversation with the peer,--"there is time before that, my lord: how +far is it to Dimden?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fourteen miles at least," replied the peer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lend me a strong horse, and I will be over by half-past eight," +answered Sir Roger. "If I cannot get a sight of him by any other +means, I will join the keepers privately, and as soon as ever the +business is over, come back here; so that I may point out the fellow +at once, if there should be twenty of them. What is his name, my lord? +do you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pharold, he is called," answered the peer, thoughtfully. "Your plan +is good, but I am afraid it is too late. Let us take care that by +trying to do too much we do not spoil all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no fear, no fear, my lord," replied Sir Roger, who was not +without hopes of getting a private conversation with the gipsy before +his arrest, and who had an object of his own in wishing to do so; for +although rogues often trust each other in a manner which--with the +knowledge of each other's character that they must possess--is little +less than a miracle, no man covenants with another whom he knows to be +a villain without seeking some check upon him; and Sir Roger was not a +little desirous of having the peer more fully in his power, as some +security for the fulfilment of his promises. "No fear, no fear, my +lord; and remember, it would never do if I were to point out the wrong +man by any chance."</p> + +<p class="normal">This argument was conclusive with Lord Dewry. The bell was rung, a +swift horse was ordered to be saddled immediately, Sir Roger equipped +himself for riding, received minute directions as to the way to +Dimden, and the peer and his guest were standing before the fireplace, +waiting for the horse, each occupied with his own thoughts, and each +rejoicing at the event of a meeting which had seemed at first so +inauspicious--Sir Roger Millington indulging in dreams of future +luxury and ease, and the baron triumphing in the hope that the means +he had employed, the dark and dreadful scheme which he was prepared to +execute, would bid defiance to accusation, and sweep from his path for +ever the man that he most feared on earth--when the sound of more +horses' feet than one was heard without, the bell was rung violently, +and the servant, entering, announced that a gentleman on horseback was +at the door, urging important business with his lordship.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did he give his name?" demanded Lord Dewry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my lord," replied the man: "he bade me say that it was Colonel +Manners!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho!" said the peer, his lip curling with a haughty smile: "take +him into the saloon. This is a business of no importance, Sir Roger; +do not let it detain you. Fare you well, my good friend, and may +success attend you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I give your lordship back your wish," replied Sir Roger, "and will +wait on you to-morrow at breakfast with all my tidings."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, they parted, Sir Roger proceeding to hasten the arrival +of the horse, and the peer walking with a haughty step towards the +saloon, where he was waited by Colonel Manners.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01.16" href="#div1Ref_01.16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">We must now turn to follow the course of Colonel Manners, from the +time we last left him at Morley House to the moment of his visit to +Lord Dewry, comprising in all a space of about eight hours. While +waiting for his horse he had, as we have already seen, examined +quickly, but not the less accurately, into the story of the peasant +who had heard shots fired in the neighbouring wood during the night +before; and he had thus satisfied himself that there was very little +probability of there being any connection whatever between those shots +and the absence of his friend, except such as the marvel-loving mood +of the old butler and the natural fears of De Vaux's relations had +supplied from the stores of imagination. The shots had been fired, it +seemed, in a direction different from that in which there were many +reasons for believing that De Vaux had gone; and the man himself +acknowledged, not only that he had originally supposed the sounds to +be occasioned by poachers, but that he had heard the report of one gun +on the preceding night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Convinced, from what he himself suspected, as well as from what Marian +had said, that De Vaux had gone to visit the gipsies on the hill, +Colonel Manners at once determined to turn his horse's head thither, +before he made any examination in the wood where the shots had been +heard; and in this resolution he was strongly confirmed by a short +conversation with the head-gardener, whom he met as he was just +passing the gates.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as Manners saw him he checked his horse, and demanded, "Pray, +in coming through the garden this morning, did you see any marks of +steps in the direction of the small door leading towards Morley Down?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, sir," replied the man; "but I found the key in the outside of the +door this morning, so that anybody might have got into the garden that +liked; but, however, I cannot see that any of the fruit is gone. Did +you hear of any one having got in last night, sir?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," answered Manners: "I did not mean to imply that," and +spurring on his horse, he rode forward more than ever determined to +address his first inquiries to the gipsies. Now Colonel Manners was +not a man to pause and wonder what could be the connection between the +Honourable Edward de Vaux and the king of shreds and patches from whom +he had received the letter, till the time was past for rendering +effectual service. Nevertheless, as he rode on, he did wonder much at +that connection, revolving in his mind every thing probable and +improbable which could account for circumstances with regard to which +the reader wants no explanations; but keeping his horse's chest all +the time steadily against the hill, and his spurs to its flanks, to +prevent its resisting a method of progression to which he never +subjected it except on occasions of necessity. The beast panted, but +still Manners, feeling that perhaps too much time had been lost +already, kept it up to the same pace, saying, internally, "You would +have gone unflinching at the heels of the hounds, my good gray, and +the matter is more important now."</p> + +<p class="normal">The early rays of the sun had licked up the hoar-frost of a clear +autumnal morning, but had left the roads, in consequence, and +especially the road up which Manners's course lay, heavy and +difficult. The sunshine, too, of the autumn--as we often see with the +sunshine of life--had been too early bright to continue unclouded to +the close of the day; and now, even as he rode on, a thin brownish +film of dull vapour began to creep up from the verge of the horizon, +promising rain ere long. Manners spurred on all the faster, not that, +as far as his own person was concerned, he cared whether it rained or +not, but he had served long enough with nations who follow their +enemies by the lightest traces in the dew or in the sand to know that +a heavy rain was often destruction itself to the hopes of a pursuing +party.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length he reached the level at the top of the ascent; and, pointing +with his hand to the tumulus, he said, turning to those who followed +him, "You, William, ride up as far as you can upon the mound, and keep +a keen eye upon the whole plain. If you see any one skulking about or +watching, give instant notice, and gallop up if you hear me call. You +come with me," he added, to his own man; and, taking the shortest cut +towards the sandpit, he spurred on towards the spot where he had last +seen the gipsies. The bushes, however, were now directly between him +and the bank that had sheltered their encampment, so that he could see +nothing till he was nearly upon the pit.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, however, his disappointment was not small to find the usual +relics of a gipsy resting-place, but nothing else. A few rags, a leaf +of an old black-letter book, feathers of many birds, and fur of more +than one sort of beast, several charred spots, and a large stick or +two, were to be seen upon the ground; but nothing else met the eye in +any direction, and Manners paused for a moment to lay out what was to +be done next.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go back for a hundred yards," he said, at length, turning to his +servant; "and then make a slow circle at that distance quite round +this pit, seeing whether you can find fresh footmarks in any +direction."</p> + +<p class="normal">The servant obeyed, and in a few minutes, exclaimed, "Here are a great +many, sir, along this road, which seems to go down the other side of +the hill. Horses' feet, too, and cart-wheels, quite fresh."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go on quite round," rejoined his master. "What do you find more?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here are a good many scattered footmarks in this direction, sir," +replied the man when he had arrived at a spot situated exactly between +Manners and the little tumulus; "but they do not tend in any +particular way that I can see."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners rode up; but the footprints were turned in many directions, +and were of various sizes, some seemingly fresh, and some half-effaced +by others. Nothing, therefore, could be discovered from the traces on +that particular spot; but as Colonel Manners had every reason for +believing that his friend must have approached the gipsy encampment +from that side, he took the pains of dismounting, and tracing the +different steps some way upon each of the several paths in which they +led. It was in vain, however; the whole were so puzzled and intermixed +that he could make nothing of them, and had his foot in the stirrup to +mount again when De Vaux's servant came down from the mound, at full +gallop, exclaiming, "There is certainly some one watching there, sir, +at the edge of that wood. I have seen them come out and in three +times. There! there! Do you see, sir? He is coming more forward now."</p> + +<p class="normal">Could Manners have bent down with his attendants, so as to escape the +attention of the person who approached, he would certainly have done +so; but though they might have hidden themselves among the +neighbouring slopes, their horses were not so easily concealed, and +the sandpit was now too far off to afford them a screen. A moment's +thought showed him that it would be best to stand quite still, as the +man, whoever he was, was still advancing. The next moment, however, +the stranger stopped--went on again a few steps farther--stopped +again; and then, turning precipitately, made his way back towards the +wood.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners was in the saddle in a moment; and could speed have +accomplished what he desired, the person who so evidently sought to +avoid observation would not have escaped, but the distance he had +advanced from the wood had not been more than a hundred yards; and +long ere Manners's horse could reach the skirt of the forest ground +all vestige of him he pursued was lost in an intricate labyrinth of +trees and bushes, which set further search at defiance. The two men +came up shortly after, while Manners was pausing disappointed by the +edge of the wood; and De Vaux's servant, touching his hat, called the +colonel's attention to some footmarks, which they had passed as they +followed him. Manners instantly turned back, and in a dip of the +ground, where some mud had been left by a half dried up pool, he +discovered the distinct traces of two different sets of footsteps. +Both were small, and neither seemed to have been left by the tread of +a peasant; but one was evidently the mark of a boot, cut by some neat +and fashionable maker; and De Vaux's servant declared that he could +swear to that print having been made by his master's foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nothing remained, then, but to follow these footsteps as far as +possible; but the difficulty of doing so was not small, for there were +but few spots of a nature similar to that in which the traces had been +found, and the ground around was in general covered by short parched +grass, or long tufts of rushes. At length, however, at the distance of +more than fifty yards farther on, in the exact direction in which the +other steps pointed, Manners discovered the mark of a heel, and this +again led them to more steps. Several times the traces seemed lost +entirely, and several times Colonel Manners was obliged to return to +the last he had seen, and set off anew; but still the positive +assertions of his friend's servant that the footsteps were those of De +Vaux caused Manners to persist, till at length he succeeded in tracing +the prints to the edge of the steep bank, to which, as we have seen, +the gipsy had really led his unfortunate visiter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners now paused, with some very painful apprehensions gathering +thick upon him. Thither, it is true, De Vaux must have come willingly +with some other person, for there was not the slightest appearance +either of haste or resistance in any of the footmarks they had seen; +but it was in that very wood, near which they now were, that the +report of fire-arms had been heard the night before; and, as far as +Manners had been able to discover, it had been in the precise +direction to which the steps had now guided them. What, too, he asked +himself, could be De Vaux's inducement to approach so lonely a place +as this--by a path which led to no other object--in the dead of the +night, and with a person to whom it appeared he must have been a +stranger? What, too, could be that person's object in leading him +hither at such a time?</p> + +<p class="normal">No answer could he give to either of these questions which was at all +likely to calm the apprehensions that he now began seriously to +entertain concerning his friend's fate; and he gazed round the spot to +which the footsteps had conducted him with more anxiety concerning the +next object that was to meet his view than ever he had felt on the +field of battle.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length, however, his eye rested on the little rugged path by which +his friend and the gipsy had descended to the scene of their +conference; and Manners at once followed it. Here, again, the two sets +of footprints were distinctly visible, going down towards the +abandoned quarry and the felled oak. There were marks also to be seen, +as of some one coming up; but they had evidently been imprinted by the +tread of one person, and that not of Edward de Vaux. A few drops of +blood next met Manners's eye, as with an attentive gaze he examined +the ground while he descended. Then came more and more, dotting the +sand with red, till they at length led on to a spot where the same +footsteps were thick and many, as if the persons whose course they +marked had stood there for some time. There, too, appeared, however, +an evidence of more import; for close to the spot where De Vaux and +the gipsy had been standing, the sand had drank up a large quantity of +gore, while the patches of short green grass that had rooted +themselves here and there upon the broken ground around were dabbled +with red in various directions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners gazed with horror and with grief on signs so unequivocal of +the fate of his unhappy friend; and if he sorrowed bitterly for De +Vaux, his heart was hardly less afflicted when he thought of her who +was so soon to have become his bride--of her whose father and whose +lover had shared the same dark and melancholy fate. His heart bled for +her; and although, under any circumstances, he would have felt the +same sympathy for De Vaux's family, and the same grief for the loss of +his friend, the pain he personally felt was aggravated by the belief +that he had, in some degree, been made an instrument for the purpose +of decoying him into the trap which had evidently been laid for him. +That feeling, however, and the indignation which that feeling +awakened, made him the more strongly determine never to abandon the +search till he had discovered the murderer and brought him to justice. +He resolved to devote time, and fortune, and life itself, if it should +be necessary, to the pursuit; to trace the offender out with the +pertinacity of a bloodhound, and to run him down as he would a wolf.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although, to a man of Manners's character and peculiar frame of mind, +the very task of the avenger was a bitter and a dreadful one, yet +there was another duty still more grievous which lay before him for +execution--that of communicating to the family of his unhappy friend +the painful facts he had discovered; and the thought of the tears of +Marian, and the sterner grief of Mrs. Falkland, and the deep, deep +sorrow of her daughter, all thrilled upon him as he contemplated the +course he had to follow. But to such thoughts he gave but a few +moments. No time was to be lost in long deliberation, if action were +to be effectual; and as Manners was not more a man of real deep and +noble feeling than he was a man of active energy, he turned instantly +to the measures for detecting the murderer. His first step was to take +the exact measurement of both the footprints, and the next, to note +down precisely in his memorandum-book every thing that had occurred in +the search.</p> + +<p class="normal">The man who had been seen watching his party from the wood he felt +sure was implicated in the transaction, if he were not the principal; +and among the gipsies were to be found, beyond all doubt, the +accomplices of the murderer, if not the participators in the deed +itself. After a brief conversation, then, with the servants concerning +the discoveries they had already made, he proceeded to inquire what +was the next village or town to the seat of Lord Dewry; and being +informed by his late friend's servant, who was well acquainted with +the county, that it was called Barholm, he went on to give further +directions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You, William," he said, "ride back to the sandpit, which you saw me +examining just now on the top of the common; you will there find the +tracks of wheels and feet going down the opposite road to that by +which we came, indicating the direction the gipsies have taken. Follow +them as fast as you can, making continual inquiries concerning them. +Trace them out, step by step, till you have found them. Then hire any +of the peasantry to keep watch upon them, night and day, paying +whatever sum may be necessary in advance, and giving strict orders to +follow them wherever they go. There is a note to pay the people. Do +not spare either speed or money; and when you have taken these +precautions, ride over to join me at Barholm, where I will be tonight. +Quick! mount, and away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The man obeyed, and Manners then turned to his own servant. "You, +John," he said, "lead your horse down the bank to the road--then on to +the village there, with all speed. Gather together as many stout men +as ever you can, and mount them at any price. Establish corresponding +patrols all round this wood, as we did at the wood beyond Montreal +last year, and remember that the great thing is haste. There is money, +and if you need more, refer the people to me at Morley House. When you +have done that, and left the care of the patrol in the hands of the +most intelligent fellow you can find, come back to me at the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I tell the folks what is the matter, sir?" demanded the +servant. Manners mused for some moments. "Yes," he said, at length, +"yes; circumstances fully justify it; and the people, who must love +Mrs. Falkland and her family, will work in the matter with the greater +interest. Lose no time, John, lest the fellow get out of the wood +before you can surround it. He will probably lie there for half an +hour or so, till he thinks we are gone, and then will make an effort +to escape. It will take at least four or five-and-twenty men to watch +it properly, giving each of them half a mile; but I should think that +in the village you can get together as many--at all events, do your +best."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man bowed, and led his beast down the bank, while Manners, +springing into the saddle, turned his horse's head back towards Morley +House.</p> + +<p class="normal">With grief and reluctance he did so; and although he felt the +necessity of promptitude in his own proceedings, and that he had no +right to keep those so deeply interested in suspense, yet repugnance +to his painful task certainly rendered his horse's pace slower in +returning than it had been when he set out upon his search.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is Miss De Vaux now?" he asked of the servant who presented +himself to take his horse; and it was some relief to hear in reply +that she had not come down. He then ascended the stairs towards the +drawing-room, but in the anteroom he was met by Isadore, who had +already become aware of his return. All the light gay spirit was gone +from her eyes, and her countenance now expressed nothing but intense +anxiety. "You look grave, Colonel Manners," she exclaimed, as soon as +she saw him. "You look sad; for Heaven's sake, tell me what have you +discovered?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing at all satisfactory," replied Manners, anxious to break the +matter to her as gently as possible: "the whole business is certainly +very strange; but I still hope and trust that--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hope and trust!" exclaimed Isadore, clasping her hands. "Oh, Colonel +Manners, you know more than you say. Poor, poor Marian! But tell me, I +beseech you, tell me all. Indeed, this suspense is worse than the +truth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have very little to tell, my dear Miss Falkland," he replied; "but +I must acknowledge that what I have to tell is not at all calculated +to remove our apprehensions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the gipsies, Colonel Manners!" exclaimed Isadore; "have you seen +the gipsies?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I have not," he answered: "they had left the common before I +arrived; but I found traces of the way they had taken, and have sent +your cousin's own servant to pursue them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sent my cousin's servant, without attempting to follow them +yourself!" cried Isadore; but then, instantly lighting upon the right +conclusion, she added, "But, no, no, no, Colonel Manners, I know you +better! You would never have sent my cousin's servant upon such an +inquiry, unless you had discovered something to render your stay here +more necessary. But here comes mamma from poor Marian's room. Now, for +Heaven's sake, tell us all, Colonel Manners."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope Miss De Vaux is more composed," said Manners, turning to Mrs. +Falkland as she entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is asleep from the effect of strong opiates, my dear sir," +replied Mrs. Falkland gravely; "and, if I may judge from your +countenance, it is happy for her that she is so. Now, Colonel Manners, +tell me candidly what you have discovered--I require no preparation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The facts are simply these, then," replied Manners, "and I will not +attempt to conceal from you that I am deeply uneasy on account of De +Vaux. When I reached the gipsy encampment all was vacant, and nothing +to be found but the place where it had been, together with fresh +tracks of wheels and feet, marking the direction which the great body +of the gipsies had taken. However, in another part of the common we +discovered footmarks, which De Vaux's servant positively asserts to be +those of his master; and, of course, my first care was to follow those +as far as possible. They led us, I am sorry to say, in the direction +where shots had been heard in the wood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God!" cried Isadore, the tears bursting from her eyes; "poor +Edward! and still more unhappy Marian!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, do not weep so bitterly, Miss Falkland," said Manners, "or I +fear I shall not be able to finish my account. Remember, however, that +we have discovered as yet nothing at all certain, and that such +appearances as we have discovered are often, very often, fallacious."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must let her weep, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland: "men +never understand how great a relief tears are to a woman; and often I +regret that some severe sorrows have taken from me the power of +weeping as once I could. Pray go on, too; let us hear the worst. Where +did the steps lead to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To a high bank just above a turn in the road," replied Colonel +Manners; "a little more than a mile on the other side of the village."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" cried Mrs. Falkland, now extremely agitated; "the very spot +where my poor brother was murdered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not exactly," answered Manners; "for that spot was pointed out to me +by De Vaux as we came hither; and the place to which I now refer, +though near it, is not precisely the same. At that bank, however, all +traces of my poor friend's footsteps were lost, and I could only find +those of another person going away from it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore continued to weep in silence; but Mrs. Falkland, seeing that +Manners paused somewhat abruptly, fixed her eye upon him with a look +of keen inquiry. Manners glanced towards Miss Falkland, slightly +raising his eyebrows, and shaking his head; and Mrs. Falkland, +understanding his meaning, took Isadora's hand, saying, "Go, my love, +and sit by your poor cousin: Colonel Manners may have business with me +which we can better discuss alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore obeyed at once, and Mrs. Falkland then turned to Manners with +firm composure, saying, "Now, Colonel Manners, tell me all; what more +did you find?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry to say, madam," he answered, "that I found a great deal of +blood spilt upon the sand."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland covered her eyes with her hands, and remained silent for +several minutes. At length she looked up, and Colonel Manners +proceeded:--"I have now, madam, related all that I have done, except +some measures already taken for the apprehension of the persons +implicated. Such appearances as those I have met with, I still say, +are often fallacious; but, nevertheless, it is absolutely necessary to +take the same steps as if they were perfectly certain. If you will +give me the name of the nearest magistrate, I will write to him +instantly to obtain his sanction for what I have already done, and his +assistance in what we may yet have to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The nearest magistrate is old Mr. Arden," replied Mrs. Falkland; "an +active and intelligent man, though somewhat severe. He is the same," +she added, while some tears came into her eyes--"he is the same who +investigated with so much energy the circumstances attending the death +of my poor brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To him, then, I will write at once, madam," replied Manners. "When I +have done so, I have another task to perform which will lead me to +some distance; but I will be back here to-morrow; for though I would +not willingly intrude upon your family in such a moment of grief, yet +I hold myself bound--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, do not call it intruding, Colonel Manners," cried Mrs. Falkland; +"if you will have the great kindness to manage the whole of this sad +business for me, to act as my representative in it, and to add my love +for my poor nephew to your own friendship for him, as motives for +ascertaining his fate and pursuing his murderers, you will confer the +greatest of favours on me and mine. Oh no, Colonel Manners, you must +not think of leaving us at such a moment as this, when we all want the +assistance, advice, and support of one so well calculated to +strengthen and to aid us. But do you know there is another task I am +going to put upon you; and circumstances may render it very painful to +you--De Vaux's father--I could wish these tidings broken to him. His +whole soul was wrapped up in his son; and I am sure Colonel Manners is +too generous not to forget, in moments of affliction, any offence +that--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have already arranged, my dear madam," replied Colonel Manners, "to +go over to Lord Dewry as soon as I have written to Mr. Arden. De +Vaux's servant is to meet me at the village of Barholm; and believe me +that the little dispute which occurred between the father of my friend +and myself rests too lightly on my mind to be thought of for a moment, +when I can, in any degree, blunt the first sharp edge of the sad +tidings he must soon hear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see one cannot calculate too liberally on your good feeling," said +Mrs. Falkland; "nor can I express what a relief it is to me to have +you here, Colonel Manners, at such a trying moment. I cannot, indeed, +in my present state of mind, attend to your comfort as I could wish; +but let me beg you, at least, to take some refreshment ere you set out +for my brother's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"None, I thank you, my dear madam," he replied; "I do not require it. +But now do not let me detain you. I know that you, too, have the +painful task of breaking the confirmation of our fears to her who will +feel the pang more acutely than any."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed, I hardly know how to do it," replied Mrs. Falkland. "To a +casual observer, Marian may appear cold and indifferent by nature; but +quite the reverse is known to be the case by those who have better +opportunities of judging. Her heart is all warmth, and tenderness, and +affection; and it is, perhaps, a consciousness of the very excess of +such feelings that makes her put a stricter guard upon the expression +of them. I fear that these tidings, if told entirely, will go far to +kill her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then by no means tell them, my dear madam," replied Manners: "I am no +advocate for concealments or pious frauds of any kind; and where the +strength of the individual is able to bear them up, we should always +speak the truth: but of course we must regulate our conduct by our +knowledge of the person; and both from what I have seen to-day, and +what you yourself say, I would strongly advise you--if you will excuse +my doing so--to tell Miss De Vaux, merely, that I have not succeeded +in my first search for my poor friend, and that I am still following +the same object in a different direction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe I must do even as you say," replied Mrs. Falkland, "and +suffer Marian's mind to come to the sad conclusion, to which we have +already come, by degrees. Though the suspense may be harrowing, yet it +will not have so bad an effect on her as the sudden confirmation of +her worst fears. Allow me, too, to hint, Colonel Manners, that you +will find my brother less capable of bearing such tidings than you may +imagine, from what you have seen of his demeanour. His love for his +son was as ardent as his other passions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not be afraid, my dear madam," replied Manners, taking her hand; +"I will do nothing roughly, believe me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland--"I do, indeed, believe that it +is not in the nature of Colonel Manners to act unkindly to anyone. At +what time shall I order the carriage?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, not at all--not at all," he answered; "I will ride: it is always +my custom; and as soon as I have written this letter, and my servant +has returned, I will set out. Let me detain you no longer, and God +grant that our fears may have magnified the proofs in their own +support."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>END OF VOL. I.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE GIPSY;</h1> +<br> +<br> +<h3>A TALE.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h5>BY THE AUTHOR OF</h5> +<br> +<h4>"RICHELIEU," "MARY OF BURGUNDY," &c.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div style="margin-left:30%"> +<p class="continue" style="text-indent:-6pt">"Ah! what a tangled web we weave,<br> +When first we venture to deceive."</p> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Sir Walter Scott</span>.</p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h4> + +<h3><a name="div1_02.0" href="#div1Ref_02.0">VOL. II.</a></h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>NEW YORK</h3> +<h4>HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,<br> +<span class="sc2">FRANKLIN SQUARE.</span></h4> +<h3>1855.</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>THE GIPSY</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.1" href="#div1Ref_02.1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Nothing shows us, perhaps, the utter blindness in which we are held by +fate more completely, than the constant fallacy of our calculations in +regard to even the smallest events over which we have not a personal +and unlimited control. A letter is put into our hands in a writing +that we know; and ere we have broken the seal, fancy, aided by the +best efforts of reason, has laid out before us the probable contents: +but as soon as the seal is broken, we find the whole as different +therefrom as it is possible to imagine. A friend, or a stranger, comes +to see us; and ere we can reach the room where he is waiting, +imagination has done her work, and given us a full account of the +person and his errand. We expect some pleasant meeting, or some glad +tidings, and we go but to hear of some bitter loss or sad +disappointment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, as Lord Dewry walked towards the room to which he had directed +the servant to conduct Colonel Manners, he did not fail to calculate +the cause of his coming. "He is either here," thought the peer, "to +apologize for his conduct, in which case I shall treat him with +contempt, or he has come to proffer that personal satisfaction which +he before refused. I hope the latter; and if so, I shall have a cause +sufficient to assign for demanding Edward's immediate rupture with +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he thus thought, he opened the door of the saloon in the midst of +which Colonel Manners was standing, booted, and spurred, and dusty, +from the road; but with that air of ease, composure, and calmness +which spoke his character.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord," he said, as soon as the peer entered, "I am obliged very +unwillingly to intrude upon you; and, of course, feel more +uncomfortable in interrupting you at this unseasonable hour: but the +business on which I come admits of no delay."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not aware, sir," replied the peer, frowning sternly, "what +business can remain between us, after our last meeting, when you +thought fit--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord," interrupted Colonel Manners, anxious to put a stop to a +revival of past grievances, which, at the present moment, could only +aggravate the pain he had to inflict--"my lord, my present business is +totally unconnected with the past; and extremely sorry I am that +anything ever occurred between your lordship and myself to render my +present visit disagreeable to you in itself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir, your expression of sorrow," replied the peer, "as is usual in +such cases, comes too late; but to your business, sir. Do not let me +interrupt that. What is your business with me? for the sooner we +settle it the better shall I be pleased."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a pertinacity in Lord Dewry's rudeness that offended +Manners; but he gave no way to his anger. There was a stronger feeling +in his bosom; and pity for the childless old man not barely mastered +every other sensation, but mastered all so completely, that he went on +with as nice a calculation of the best and kindest means of breaking +his loss to the peer, as if not a word had been said but those of +welcome and civility. "My lord," he replied, "I come to you as one +of the principal magistrates of this county, in your quality of +lord-lieutenant--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish, sir," interrupted the peer, "that you had sought some other +magistrate to whom your presence would have been more welcome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I might have done so, my lord," replied Manners, "had the business on +which I had to seek a magistrate not been one so immediately affecting +your lordship, that although, in the first instance, I wrote to the +nearest justice of the peace that I could hear of--Mr. Arden--I +thought it but right to ride over myself to request your co-operation +in the measures we are taking."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners observed a change of expression, and a slight degree of +paleness pass over the countenance of his hearer; and, although he +certainly did not attribute it to that consciousness of crime and +consequent feeling of insecurity in which it really originated, he saw +that the first step was gained; and that the peer was, in some degree, +prepared to hear evil tidings. Lord Dewry, however, replied in a +manner which had nearly forced the communication at once. "May I ask, +sir," he said, in a tone grave but less bitter than that which he had +formerly employed--"may I ask, sir, why, when business of importance +concerning myself occurred, my son did not take upon himself the task +of communicating with his father upon the subject, but rather left it +to a person whose visit was certainly unsolicited?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because, my lord, your son was not capable of doing so," replied +Colonel Manners, "from the fact of his being absent from Morley +House."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at Morley House!" cried the peer. "Pray where is he, then, sir?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I really cannot inform your lordship," replied Manners, "for I do not +know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God! this is very extraordinary," cried Lord Dewry, taking alarm +more from the tone of Manners's voice, and the expression of his +countenance, than from anything he had said. "For Heaven's sake, +explain yourself, sir. Where is my son? What is your business? Sit +down, sir, I beg! What is it you seek?"</p> + +<p class="normal">By the agitated manner in which the baron spoke, Manners saw that he +must proceed cautiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"May I ask you, my lord, if you have ever heard of a person named +Pharold, a gipsy?" he demanded, intending by this question to lead his +hearer's mind away, for a moment, from the real subject of +apprehension; but, without at all wishing it, by that very inquiry he +redoubled the agitation of the peer.</p> + +<p class="normal">For an instant the thoughts of Lord Dewry were all in confusion and +uncertainty,--doubtful of the end to which Manners's interrogatory +tended, and fearful that a man to whom he had given such just cause +for anger had become acquainted with some of the dreadful secrets +which oppressed his own bosom. His first impulse was to lift his hand +to his head, and to gaze with some degree of wildness upon the +countenance of his questioner; but almost instantly recalling his +firmness, and recollecting the measures he had taken, and the schemes +he had laid out, he recovered also his composure, and replied, with a +forced smile, "You have alarmed me about my son, Colonel Manners; but +you ask me if I know a gipsy of the name of Pharold. I do: my family +have, I am afraid, too good reason to know him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then have you any cause to suppose that he bears an ill-will towards +your family?" demanded Manners again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have, sir, I have!" replied Lord Dewry; "I have the strongest +reasons to believe that he bears us ill-will,--that he has already +injured us, and seeks but the opportunity to do more and more for our +destruction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does his ill-will particularly point against your son, my lord?" +asked Manners, deeply interested by an answer which to him was both +mysterious and painful.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" exclaimed the peer, starting up from the chair into which he +had cast himself when he had invited Manners to be seated--"no, no! +certainly not! What is the meaning of this? You have some darker +meaning, sir! What of Edward? Tell me, I beseech you, tell me, where +is my son?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord, I am grieved to repeat, that I cannot tell you where he is," +replied Manners; "and it is for the purpose of concerting means for +discovering him that I now wait upon your lordship. He went out, it +appears, to see this gipsy Pharold, and has never returned."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners acted for the best; and having not the slightest idea of all +that was passing in the bosom of De Vaux's father, he thought that by +concealing for a few moments the proof he had obtained of his friend +having been murdered, he would allow the mind of the unhappy parent to +come by degrees, and less painfully, to a knowledge of the truth: but +the result was by no means such as he anticipated; for to Lord Dewry +the bare idea of his son having any communication whatever with the +eyewitness of that dreadful deed which he had committed in other +years, was agonizing in itself; and, without remembering that any one +was present to remark the agitation to which he yielded, he clasped +his hands together, and strode up and down the saloon, muttering, +"Villain! scoundrel! it is all over!" Then, again, recollecting that +he was observed, he found it necessary to curb his emotions, and to +make anxiety for his son the apparent cause for that agitation which +he had already displayed. "Colonel Manners," he said, "you alarm me +much. For Heaven's sake, tell me the particulars! Something more than +a temporary and ordinary absence must have occurred to excite +apprehensions in an officer so much accustomed to danger as yourself. +Nor is my sister a woman to yield to idle fears. Tell me, then, what +has happened to my son, and why you are led to suppose that there has +been any communication between him and a person in regard to whom I +have more than suspicions of very terrible deeds--who is, I believe, a +villain of the blackest character, and who would scruple at nothing to +injure a race who were his first benefactors."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The facts are these, my lord," replied Manners: "but I trust we shall +find that your son's absence is owing, notwithstanding its +strangeness, to some accidental circumstance of no importance. As I +was about to say, however, the facts are these:--It appears that last +night De Vaux did not go to bed; that he left Morley House during the +night, and that he has never returned during the day. He also, I find, +mentioned yesterday to his cousin, Miss De Vaux, his intention of +visiting a gipsy named Pharold, who had sent him a letter that +morning; but his purpose, as he then stated it, was to go to Morley +Down, where the gipsies were, to-day, and not during the night; and +his prolonged absence has, of course, greatly alarmed Mrs. Falkland +and her family."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But has no search been instituted? Have no traces been found?" cried +Lord Dewry, his fears taking a new direction. "No time should be +lost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No time has been lost as yet, my lord," replied Manners: "I myself +have been to the place where the gipsies were last seen; but they are +there no more, and, to all appearance, must have either decamped in +the night or early this morning. But it appears certain, from the +evidence of Mr. De Vaux's servant, who was with me, that some +footprints which we traced on the ground, in different parts of the +common, were from my poor friend's boot; and in the same track are +those of another person, who was apparently with him during the +night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But whither did they lead?" exclaimed the peer, whose agitation was +becoming dreadful. "Speak out, sir, for God's sake! You call him your +poor friend: you have discovered more. Whither did the footsteps lead? +I can bear all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They led, my lord," replied Manners, "to a high bank, overhanging a +part of the road, about a mile or more to the west of Morley House, +near a point of wooded land which causes the river to take a singular +bend in its course."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry shook in every limb; but, by a strong effort, he uttered, +"Go on, sir; go on: let me hear the worst."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God, my lord, I have little more to inflict upon your +lordship," replied Manners. "At that bank the steps ended; but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused, and the peer eagerly demanded, "But what--what found you +more?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It must be told," thought Manners. "We found, my lord," he added, +aloud, "a good deal of blood spilled upon the sand."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer groaned bitterly. "My poor boy! my poor boy!" he cried; but +for some minutes he said no more.</p> + +<p class="normal">While Manners had been in the act of telling his tale, the conflict +which had taken place in the bosom of Lord Dewry can better be +conceived than described. Every moment produced a change of sensation; +every word a new and different apprehension. Now he fancied his son +made acquainted with his guilt; now feared that the very means he had +taken to conceal it might have made the gipsy to wreak his vengeance +on his unoffending child. That Pharold was capable of committing any +or every crime was a conviction which had been brought about in the +mind of the peer by one of those curious processes in the human heart +whereby great guilt seeks to conceal its blackness from even its own +eyes, by representing others in colours as dark as it feels that it +itself deserves; and while at one moment he suspected that Pharold +might have obtained information of the trap laid for him by the +gamekeeper, and to avenge himself might have revealed his whole +history to Edward de Vaux, at another he believed that the destruction +of his son might have been the means which the gipsies had determined +upon, in order to punish himself for his designs against them.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Colonel Manners concluded his account, however, the latter opinion +predominated over all others; the peer's own heart acknowledged that +the means they had taken was that which was the most fearfully +effectual; and he beheld no other image than the heir of his name, the +child of his love, murdered in cold blood, within sight of the very +spot where his own hand had slain his brother. All his first emotions +were consecrated to deep grief. He had loved his son; he had admired +him; and affection and pride had united to give him the only green +place in a heart that angry passions had left arid and desolate; and +now he was alone in all the world. He had been hitherto like a mariner +ploughing the waves in the midst of storms and darkness, with one +small point of bright light in the wide dark vacancy before him; but +now the clouds had rolled over that light for ever, and the past and +the future were alike one lurid night. There was nothing left in life +to live for; and during one moment all was despair: but the minute +after, the most overpowering passion of human nature rose up, and +rekindled with its own red and baleful light the extinguished torch of +hope. Revenge became his thirst; and the remembrance that it was +nearly within his grasp, and that another day would give it to him, +was the only consolation that his mind could receive. It seized upon +him at once; it compelled every other feeling and passion to its aid: +grief gave it bitterness; pride gave it intensity; wrath lent it +eagerness. "He has smitten me to the heart," he thought; "he has +smitten me to the heart. But I will smite him still deeper, and he +shall learn what it is to have raised his hand against a son of mine." +It was but for one instant that he had given way to despair, and the +next revenge took possession of his whole soul, and became almost more +than a consolation--a joy. All its dark and cruel pictures, too, rose +up before his mental vision, and he pleased himself with gazing forth +into the future, and seeing him he most hated within the gripe of his +vengeance. He painted to himself the agony which long and solitary +imprisonment would inflict on a heart which he knew to be wild and +free; he thought over all the tyrannical details of a trial in a court +of justice; and he gazed even into the gipsy's bosom, and saw the +burning indignation and despair that would wring his heart, exposed a +public spectacle to the eyes of a race he detested, tried by laws he +condemned and had abjured, and exciting the curiosity and the loud +remark of the idle and the vulgar. He followed him in imagination to +the scaffold, and saw him die the death of a dog; and only grieved +that there revenge must stop, and that the cup contained not another +drop of ignominy and suffering to pour upon the head of him who had +destroyed his son.</p> + +<p class="normal">Occupied with these thoughts, he remained silent for several minutes; +but his features worked, and his limbs even writhed, wrought +unconsciously by the intensity of the emotions within. Colonel Manners +saw the strong and painful degree of his agitation; but he had no key +to the secret sources of feeling which, opened wide by the news of his +son's loss, were gushing forth in streams of bitterness upon his +heart. He attributed, then, all that he saw to deep grief; and +although his application to the peer, in his magisterial capacity, had +been but to bring about the disclosures he had to make as gently as +possible, yet he still thought it best to continue the same course +with which he had begun, in order to engage the unhappy nobleman in +those personal and active exertions which might in some degree divert +his mind from the sole and painful contemplation of his recent loss.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My lord," he said, feelingly, "believe me, no one feels more deeply +and sympathizes more sincerely with your lordship than myself; but +allow me to recall to your mind that great and instant exertions are +necessary to ensure the arrest of the murderer; the pursuit of whom I +have determined never to quit till I have seen him brought to +justice."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry, with his own burning hand, clasped warmly that of Colonel +Manners, the object of his former hatred. The fact is, however, that +circumstances had established between them two strong ties since the +death of Edward de Vaux. The one was wholly composed of good feelings, +and sprang from their mutual affection for the deceased,--affection +which had, of course, risen in value in each other's eyes since death +had hallowed it; and the other,--composed of feelings which, though +noble and virtuous on the one part, were terribly mixed with evil on +the other,--was the desire of bringing the murderer to justice. Lord +Dewry then grasped Colonel Manners's hand, and said, "I have much to +thank you for, sir, and I am afraid that I have somewhat to apologize +for in the past; but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not mention it, I beg, my lord," replied Manners. "It is forgotten +entirely; only let us bend our energies with a common effort to pursue +this sad affair to an end, to discover, as far as Heaven shall enable +us, what has really occurred, and above all, to ensure the immediate +apprehension of this gipsy Pharold, whom every circumstance, hitherto +apparent, points at as the murderer."</p> + +<p class="normal">A gleam of triumph broke over the thin sallow countenance of the peer. +"If I am not very much mistaken, Colonel Manners," he said, "this very +Pharold will be in our hands to-night. He and his gang are not famous +alone for one sort of crime. My park-keepers at Dimden informed me a +few days ago that they had discovered a plan which these gipsies had +laid for robbing my park of the deer; and I immediately took measures +to ensure the arrest of the whole of them in the very fact. Nor was +my purpose alone to save my game, Colonel Manners, nor to punish +deer-stealers," continued Lord Dewry, raising his head and speaking +with determined firmness; "no, I had a weightier object in view; I had +a more serious offence to avenge."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer paused; for although he was anxious to make the charge which +he had determined to bring against the gipsy, boldly and distinctly to +as many private individuals as possible, before he urged it in a +public court of justice, yet he felt a difficulty, a hesitation, +perhaps we might say a fear, in pronouncing for the first time so +false an accusation against a fellow-creature, which was to be +supported, too, by so many dark, and tortuous, and deceitful +contrivances. There was in his bosom a consciousness of the fallacy, +of the futility, we might say, of all human calculations, which +produced an undefined dread of rendering his schemes irretrievable by +once making the charge to any one. It was to him the passing of the +Rubicon; and that step once taken, he felt that he should be involved +in a labyrinth of obscure and unknown paths, from which there would be +no retreat, and which would conduct him whither he knew not. And yet +he saw that it must be taken; that the gipsy's first act after his +arrest would undoubtedly be, to charge him with the crime which he had +committed; and that it was absolutely necessary, in order to give all +his future proceedings a firm basis and a commanding position, to be +the person to accuse rather than the person accused. He knew how +inferior defence is to attack; how much more faith men are naturally +inclined to give to a charge than they give to a recrimination; and +from the first commencement of his reply to Colonel Manners he had +determined to make it boldly; but when he came to the immediate point +where it was to be spoken, he hesitated and paused irresolute.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next moment, however, he went on. "Colonel Manners," he said, +resuming his firmness, "as I believe that the culprit may be +considered in our power, and that therefore no indiscreet +communication of my suspicions can give him warning to escape, I do +not scruple to say that I have many, many reasons to suppose that this +gipsy, this Pharold, is not only the murderer of my son, poor Edward, +but that my brother's death also may be laid to his charge; and with a +view of bringing him to justice for that offence it was that I, this +very morning, took the surest measures for his apprehension, and not +for any pitiful affair of deer-stealing, which might have gone long +unpunished ere I exerted myself as I have done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" exclaimed Manners, gazing upon the peer in much surprise. +"How strangely do events sometimes come round!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps you are not acquainted with the circumstances of my brother's +death," replied the peer, marking some surprise in Manners's +countenance, and in his anxiety to show the probability of the charge +he had made, overcoming his repugnance to speak upon a subject of all +others the most dreadful to him. "However, Colonel Manners," he +continued, "he was killed by some one unknown many years ago; and the +suspicions against this man Pharold were then so strong, that good Mr. +Arden, the magistrate, would fain have had him committed, had not I +foolishly interfered, from a weak conviction of his honesty. That +conviction, however, has been since removed, and I may say that I have +in my hands the most decided proofs of his guilt."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was the explanation to which the apparent surprise of Colonel +Manners led on the peer; but that surprise proceeded both from the new +charge which the peer made against the gipsy being totally unexpected +by his hearer, and from another cause which must be explained, as it +touches upon some of those little weaknesses of our nature, which +Colonel Manners possessed in common with other human beings.</p> + +<p class="normal">Through the whole affair, since he had discovered the traces of De +Vaux's footsteps on the common, and the marks of bloodshed at the +quarry, hope had offered to the mind of Charles Manners but one +suggestion to diminish his apprehensions for the fate of his friend; +and that suggestion, strange enough to say, was that the countenance, +the demeanour, and the language of the gipsy Pharold were not those of +a man familiar with guilt or designing evil. Colonel Manners was too +much a man of the world, and too much a man of sense, to suffer such +impressions to affect his conduct in the slightest degree. He knew +that this earth contains every grade and every sort of hypocrisy; and +that Satan himself will occasionally assume the form of an angel of +light: but at the same time, although his behaviour was on all +occasions guarded by what he had learned from experience, yet through +life he had preserved his natural enthusiasm unblunted by the hard +world in which we live; and there was thus in his character a rare +mingling of ardent and energetic feelings with calm and well +calculated actions, which formed the specific difference between him +and the general herd with which he moved. During his conversation with +Pharold he had remarked a dignity, not alone of manner, but of +thought, in the gipsy, opposed to all the habits of his tribe, and +which must have been difficult to retain among them at all, but still +more difficult to assume, if it was not natural and habitual,--if it +sprang not from a heart at ease in itself, and a consciousness of +virtue and intellect superior to the things through which it passed. +His countenance, too, had appeared to him open and frank, though wild +and keen; and Manners wished much to believe that vice or crime, in +general, more or less affect the expression of the human face. All +this had struck him; and though, as we have said before, he suffered +not these impressions to affect his conduct in the least, opposed as +they were to known facts, and circumstances of great probability, yet +hope still whispered, surely that gipsy was not a man either to plan +or to commit so dreadful a deed as the indications he had met with +would have naturally led him to suspect. It may well be supposed, +then, that the numerous and dark charges brought forward so boldly by +the peer startled Manners not a little; and as he had no cause to +believe that Lord Dewry was instigated by any motive to prefer a false +accusation against the gipsy, he could only conclude that he himself +had been deceived in his estimation of Pharold's character by the most +skilful and consummate hypocrisy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have heard some of the events to which your lordship alludes," he +replied, as soon as the peer paused; "and was only surprised to hear +such an unexpected aggravation of the suspicious circumstances which +have already appeared against this man Pharold. I trust, too, that the +measures which your lordship has taken may be successful for his +arrest; but allow me to suggest, that the unhappy news which I have +had the melancholy duty of communicating ought to point out more +extensive operations for the apprehension of the offender, as it is +not at all impossible that this new offence may have entirely changed +the circumstances, and may have put a stop to the attack upon your +lordship's park, of which you received intimation."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry struck his hand upon the table, perceiving suddenly the +probability of Colonel Manners's suggestion, and anticipating with +rage and disappointment the possible escape of the gipsy, or at least +his evasion till such time as the arrival of Sir William Ryder in +England might render the schemes he had planned, if not entirely +impracticable, at all events highly difficult of execution, and +dangerous to himself in the attempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He shall be taken, if it cost me life and fortune," he exclaimed; +"but how, how?--that is the question, Colonel Manners. What you say is +true; the murder of my poor unhappy boy may have scared them away from +the scene of their crimes, and most probably has done so ere this. +What is to be done? how can we trace them? Pray, advise me, Colonel +Manners, if you had any regard for your unhappy comrade."</p> + +<p class="normal">His agitation was dreadful; and Manners saw that the only way to +tranquilize him was to give him fresh hopes of the apprehension of +those who had been instrumental in the death of his son. "Most +willingly will I give you any advice and assistance in my power," he +replied; "but your lordship will be better able to judge what is most +fitting to be done when you hear what I have already endeavoured to +accomplish. My proceedings have been those of a soldier, but perhaps +they may not be the less likely to be successful on that account."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The more, the more," cried Lord Dewry; "but let me beg you to give me +the details."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the first place, my lord," he replied, "I have sent my poor +friend's own servant, who is a keen and active fellow, to trace out +the gipsies, and to follow the tracks we discovered on the common as +far as possible. I have furnished him also with money to hire +assistance and to buy information; and I directed him, as soon as his +object was accomplished, to join me at Barholm with all speed. He had +not, however, arrived when I passed the inn, and I ordered him to be +sent on here as soon as ever he appeared."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, thank you, sir," reiterated Lord Dewry; "but do you think +there is any hope of his discovering the road the villains have +taken?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Every chance, my lord," replied Colonel Manners: "in the first place, +the tracks of the wheels, and the feet going in one particular +direction, was too evident to leave a doubt in regard to which path +they had taken at first. That path, I find, leads down to a hamlet +where they must have been seen, and where the servant will most +probably obtain the means of tracing them farther. But my next step, +my lord, is, I think, likely to produce the still more desirable +result of placing in the hands of justice the particular individual +whom we have the greatest reason to suspect. While we were examining +the sandpit, where these gipsies had been assembled, we discovered +some one apparently watching the common from the wood; and whether at +first he mistook us for some of his own tribe or not, I cannot tell; +but he advanced some way towards us. As soon as I saw he was again +retreating to the wood, I galloped after him; and though I +unfortunately had not time to overtake him, yet I had an opportunity +of satisfying myself very nearly to a certainty that this was that +very Pharold whom I had once before seen on another occasion. I took +measures as soon as possible for having the wood surrounded by a +mounted patrol of as many men as it was possible to obtain, and I +directed that any one who was apprehended in coming out of it should +be instantly carried before Mr. Arden, to whom I had written a concise +account of all the circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer mused; for, as in every dark and complicated scheme of +villany, the slightest alteration in the events which he had +anticipated was likely to produce the most disastrous results to the +schemer. "If Pharold be carried at once before Mr. Arden," thought the +peer, "the accusation which he has it in his power to bring against me +may be made before I am aware of it, and that, too, to the very man +who has the best means of comparing minutely, in the first stages of +the proceeding, the present charge with the past circumstances. That +the gipsy will ultimately tell his own tale, there can be no doubt; +yet to make the first impression is the great object--to be the +accuser rather than the accused--to attack rather than defend." With +such views, the probability of the gipsy being carried before Mr. +Arden ere he had been prepared was anything but agreeable to the peer; +and for a moment the anguish occasioned by his son's death was +forgotten, in apprehensions for the failure of his own deep-laid +schemes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will write myself to Mr. Arden," he said, at length, after long +thought--"I will write myself, and send off the letter this very +night. Colonel Manners, excuse me for one moment. I have but a few +lines to write, and will be back with you in a few minutes." Thus +saying, he proceeded to his library, and with a hasty hand wrote down +that bold and decided charge against the gipsy which was to bring the +long apprehended struggle between them to an end at once. Nor did he, +in this instance, feel any hesitation. The words had now been spoken +to Colonel Manners--the charge had once been made; and it is wonderful +the difference that exists between the first and the second time of +doing anything that is wrong. He wrote, too, though without any effort +at policy, yet with the most exquisite art--with that sort of +intuitive cunning which much intercourse with the world, and its worst +part, gives to the keen and unscrupulous. He referred, directly, to +Mr. Arden's former opinion concerning the culpability of the gipsy; he +took shame and reproach to himself for his own incredulity at the +time; he declared that subsequent events had shown the wisdom and +clear-sightedness of the worthy magistrate's judgment, and he finished +his letter by directly accusing the gipsy of the crime which Mr. Arden +had suspected, doubting not that vanity would establish in the mind of +the magistrate such a prepossession against the object of his wiles as +to give everything in the important first steps that were to ensue a +strong tendency against Pharold.</p> + +<p class="normal">This done, he read the note over with satisfaction, sealed it, and +sent it off, raised his head, and, gazing upon vacancy, thought, for a +moment, over all the stern and painful circumstances that surrounded +him, and then turned his steps back to the room where he had left +Colonel Manners. He had now, however, made the course he was to pursue +irretrievable; his son's death had been the only thing wanting to give +all his determinations the energy of despair; he had chosen his path, +he had passed the Rubicon, and never hereafter, through the course of +this history, will be found in his character any of those fluctuating +changes of feeling and resolution which we have endeavoured to depict +while his fate was unfixed and his purpose undetermined. Deeply, +sternly, from that moment, he pursued his way, driven at length to +feel that one crime must be succeeded by many more to render it +secure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have now, Colonel Manners," he said, as he entered the saloon, "to +apologize for leaving you so unceremoniously; but you will, I am sure, +make excuse for feelings agitated like mine. To guard against the most +remote chance of Mr. Arden suffering this Pharold to escape, I have +formally made a charge, which I shall be able to substantiate, I am +sure, concerning the death of my poor brother; and next, let me beg +you to give me your good advice in regard to what more should be done, +in case the measures which you and I have separately taken should +prove alike insufficient."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would not wait, my lord," replied Manners, "to ascertain whether +they were sufficient or not; but I would instantly take measures to +guard against their insufficiency. You have, I think, only three +contiguous counties here; had you not better send off messengers at +once to the sheriffs and magistrates of those three, informing them of +the circumstances, and begging them to stop any party of gipsies, or +any person similar in appearance to this man Pharold? Your messengers, +well mounted, will soon be far in advance of the murderer, or his +accessories, whose mode of travelling cannot be very rapid."</p> + +<p class="normal">The suggestion was no sooner given than it was assented to; and with +all speed the necessary letters were written by the peer, who took as +active and energetic a part in the whole proceedings as if he had been +in his prime of youth. But it was a part of his character to do so. He +could feel deep grief, it is true--and did feel it for the loss of his +son--but grief with him led not to languor and despondency, but, on +the contrary, to hate and to revenge; and as hunger, instead of +weakening, only renders the tiger and the wolf more ferocious and more +tremendous, so sorrow, instead of softening, only rendered him more +fierce and more vehement. The activity, the energy, and the fire he +displayed in his whole proceedings not a little surprised Colonel +Manners; and had he had time or inclination for anything like gayety, +he might have smiled to think that he had refused, on account of age, +to cross his sword with one who, in passions, at least, seemed +anything but an old man. Ere the letters were sealed, however, it was +announced that Mr. De Vaux's servant had arrived from Barholm, and +inquired for Colonel Manners. With the peer's permission he was +brought in; and bowing low to his master's father, by whom he was well +known, he gave a full account of his search in answer to Manners's +questions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, William," demanded Manners, "have you been successful?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, sir," replied the man; "I believe I have seen the scoundrels +housed, and have left those to watch them who will not watch them in +vain."</p> + +<p class="normal">A glow of vengeful pleasure passed over the countenance of the peer, +and nodding his approbation, he leaned his head oh his hand, listening +attentively, while Manners proceeded. "Give us the particulars, +William," he said. "How did you first discover the gipsies?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, first, sir, I went back to the sandpit," replied the man, "and +then I followed the tracks of wheels down to the bottom of the hill, +by the road that leads to Newtown. At the bottom I found traces up the +green lane, and I went on there for a mile, till I came to what they +call Newtown Lone; but since I was there last, some one has built a +cottage there; and I asked the woman in the cottage if she had seen +any gipsies, and which way they had gone. She said yes, she had seen +them that morning, just after daybreak; but that when they had found a +cottage there, they had turned down by the other side of the lone, +through the lane that leads but again upon the high-road beyond +Newtown. So I followed them down there, and I tracked their carts +across the high-road, up the other lane, till I came to where it +splits in two, the one going down to the water-side, and the other +sloping up the hill to the common at the back of Dimden Park. Here +there were wheels and footmarks both ways; and, after puzzling a +little, I took the way down by the water, thinking they might have +gone to lie among the banks there, as they used to do when I was a +young boy in that neighbourhood. But after looking about for an hour, +I could find nothing of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then where did you find them at last?" demanded the peer, growing +somewhat tired of the servant's prolixity: to which, however, Manners, +who knew how important every little particular is in obscure +circumstances, had listened with patience and attention.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, my lord," replied the man, "I went back directly to the parting +of the roads, and then took the one towards the common, above Dimden, +which I had not chosen before; and there I rode on as hard as I could, +with the cart ruts and footmarks before me, till I came within about +twenty yards of the common. Thereabout, there is a bit of low coppice, +with some tall trees in the hedgerow; and my horse picked up a stone, +so I got off to clear his hoof; and as I was just going to mount +again, I heard some one call in a low voice, 'William! William +Butler!' so I looked round, but could see no one, and I said, 'Well, +what do you want? come out of the coppice, if you want me.' So, then, +from behind one of the tall trees, where he had planted himself on the +lookout, comes Dick Harvey, your lordship's head park-keeper at +Dimden; and he began asking after my health, and all I had seen in +foreign parts. So I told him I would answer him another time: but I +took leave to ask him in return what he was after, bush-ranging in +that way; and he answered, 'Oh, nothing; he was only seeing that +all was right.' So, then, I asked him again if he had seen e'er a +set of gipsies in that direction; upon which he asked why, and I told +him outright. 'Don't go any farther, then,' answered he, 'for the +blood-thirsty rascals are lying down there, between the park wall and +the common; and it is them that I am watching.' And he told me that he +had discovered they were to steal the deer in the park that very +night, and had laid a trap for them. However, I did not choose to come +away without seeing them myself. So, asking Dick when they had come +there, I told him he must get me a sight of them. He said that they +had not been there much above an hour; and he took me into the coppice +to where he had been standing himself. There I could see the whole +party of them well enough, lying about three hundred yards farther +down the park wall, some of them still putting out their tents, some +of them sitting on the wall and looking over into the park."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was the park-keeper alone?" asked Manners, as the servant paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was alone just at that minute, sir," replied the man; "but he told +me that he had five others within whistle, and that he had sent away +the man who had been mounting guard where he then was to bring more. +By this time, however, the sun was getting low; and Dick said he was +sure enough the gipsies would not budge till they had tried for some +of his deer. I told him not to let them go even if they had a mind; +and he said to make my mind easy, for that before one o'clock in the +morning, he would answer for having the whole party of them in what +used to be called the strong-room at Dimden House. I thought, +therefore, sir, that I could not leave the matter in better hands than +his; and I came away here to report myself: but as the horse was very +tired I thought it best to take my time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have done well, William," said Lord Dewry. "Now go down +and get some refreshment.--It seems to me, Colonel Manners," he added, +as the servant retired, a gleam of triumph lighting up his dark +countenance--"it seems to me that these men are in our power--that +they cannot escape us now. It may be unnecessary, therefore, to send +the letters which I have written."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think not," replied Manners. "If you will consider a moment, you +will see that, although some of the gipsies have been seen in the +neighbourhood of your park at Dimden, yet we have no reason to be sure +that the very man we seek is with them. Indeed, from the resemblance +of the person I saw in the wood to this Pharold, we have some cause to +imagine that even if he have joined his companions since, he was not +with them in the morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, you are right," said the peer. "In such a business as +this no precautions can, indeed, be superfluous, and I will send off +the letters at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">The bell was accordingly rung, and the epistles despatched by mounted +servants, who each had orders to spare no speed, but to ride all night +rather than suffer the communication to be delayed; nor should we be +unwilling to show how these directions were obeyed, and what sort of +speed is commonly practised by persons on such errands,--how they all +and several stopped to drink here, and to gossip there, and to feed at +another place,--but that the regular matter of our history is now of +some importance.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as the servants had been despatched, Lord Dewry bethought him +that Colonel Manners might himself require some refreshment, and +apologized for his previous forgetfulness. Manners, however, was +fatigued, but not hungry, and he preferred some strong green +tea--though not very soldier-like fare--to any thing else that the +peer's house could afford. This was soon obtained, and by the time it +had been brought and taken away, the clock struck ten.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners then rose. "If your lordship does not expect news from Dimden +to-night," he said, "I will now take my leave; but should anything +occur in which I can be of the slightest assistance, if you will send +a servant, you will find me at the little town of Barholm, where I +have ordered rooms to be prepared for me at the inn."</p> + +<p class="normal">No two men that ever lived were more different in mind, in character, +in tastes, and feelings, than Colonel Charles Manners and Lord Dewry; +yet, strange to say, the peer did not like the idea of Manners's +quitting him. Their views were as distinct as light and darkness; and, +though for a moment they were pursuing the same object, could the +hearts of both have been seen, how different would have been the +spectacle presented--how different from those in the bosom of the +other would have been all the springs, and motives, and designs, which +actuated and guided each! And yet Lord Dewry felt uneasy when Manners +proposed to go. A part of his uneasiness might arise in his dislike to +be left alone, in the long, long hours of expectation which were to +intervene ere he could hear of the first step, in all his dark and +complicated designs, having been safely taken; but there was something +more in it too. Manners had assisted him with zeal, and talent, and +energy, in the very pursuit which he was following: by an +extraordinary concatenation of circumstances, he, unbribed, unbiased, +independent, upright, and noble, had been led to give his whole +support to the very first object which the peer had in view; and for +which he had already been obliged to hire and to intrigue with the +low, and the mercenary, and the vile; and Lord Dewry felt a support +and an encouragement in the presence and assistance of Colonel Manners +which a thousand Sir Roger Millingtons could not have afforded. Had he +had to explain his views and wishes to Colonel Manners as he had done +to Sir Roger Millington, he would have shrunk from the task in shame +and fear; but when Manners came willingly forward to aid him +voluntarily, even for a few steps on the way he was pursuing, it +seemed as if his actions were vouched and justified by the concurrence +of so honourable a man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe, Colonel Manners," said the peer in reply--"I believe that +I am about to make a very extraordinary request; but I really cannot +allow you to leave me: a room shall be prepared for you here +immediately, and it will be a real consolation to me if you will stay +I shall myself sit up till I hear from Dimden," he added, in a tone of +hesitation, as if he would fain have asked Manners to do the same, had +it been courteous; "but I am afraid that news cannot arrive till +between one and two o'clock, and as you must be fatigued, I cannot ask +you to be the partner of my watch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will be so most willingly, my lord," replied Manners; "for though I +certainly am fatigued, still I am not sleepy, and I shall be anxious, +too, to hear the news as soon as possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">They waited, however, longer than they expected: three, four o'clock +came, and no tidings arrived. The moments, notwithstanding +expectation, flew more calmly than might have been imagined. Lord +Dewry, although he knew that there were few subjects on which he could +speak with Colonel Manners without meeting feelings and opinions +different from any that he now dared to entertain, knew also that +there was one topic, and that one very near to his heart at the +moment, on which he might discourse at ease. That topic was his son; +and on that--with all his feelings softened, with every asperity done +away, and with the pure natural welling forth of parental affection +and grief over his deep loss--on that he conversed during the greater +part of the night, effacing from the memory of his companion the rude +and disagreeable impression which their first interviews had caused, +and leaving little but grief, and sympathy, and regret.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.2" href="#div1Ref_02.2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">From sunset till about nine o'clock there had been a light refreshing +rain--not one of those cold autumnal pours which leave the whole world +dark, and drenched, and dreary, but the soft falling of light pellucid +drops, that scarcely bent the blades of grass on which they rested, +and through which, ever and anon, the purple of the evening sky, +and--as that faded away--the bright glance of a brilliant star, might +be seen amid the broken clouds. Towards nine, however, the vapours +that rested upon the eastern uplands became tinged with light; and, as +if gifted with the power of scattering darkness from her presence, +forth came the resplendent moon, while the dim clouds grew pale and +white as she advanced, and, rolling away over the hills, left the sky +all clear. It required scarcely a fanciful mind to suppose that--in +the brilliant shining of the millions of drops which hung on every +leaf and rested on every bough--in the glistening ripple of the river +that rolled in waves of silver through the plain--in the checkered +dancing of the light and shadow through the trees, and in the sudden +brightening up of every object throughout the scene which could +reflect her beams--it required scarcely a fanciful mind to suppose +that the whole world was rejoicing in the soft splendour of that +gentle watcher of the night, and gratulating her triumph over the +darkness and the clouds.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a beautiful sight on that night, as, indeed, it ever is, to +see the planet thus change the aspect of all things in the sky and on +the earth; but, perhaps, the sight was more beautiful in Dimden Park +than anywhere around. The gentleman's park is likewise one of those +things peculiarly English, which are to be seen nowhere else upon the +earth; at least, we venture to say that there is nothing at all like +it in three out of the four quarters of this our globe: the wide +grassy slopes, the groups of majestic trees, the dim flankings of +forest-ground, broken with savannas and crossed by many a path +and many a walk, the occasional rivulet or piece of water, the +resting-place, the alcove, the ruin of the old mansion where our +fathers dwelt, now lapsed into the domain of Time, but carefully +guarded from any hands but his, with here and there some slope of the +ground or some turn of the path bringing us suddenly upon a bright and +unexpected prospect of distant landscapes far beyond--"all nature and +all art!" There is nothing like it on the earth, and few things half +so beautiful; for it is tranquil without being dull, and calm without +being cheerless: but of all times, when one would enjoy the stillness +and the serenity at its highest pitch, go forth into a fine old park +by moonlight.</p> + +<p class="normal">The moon, then, on the night of which we have lately been speaking, +within half an hour after her rise, shone full into the park, and +poured her flood of splendour over the wide slopes, glittering with +the late rain, along the winding paths and gravel-walks, and through +between the broad trunks of the oaks and beeches. The autumn had not +yet so far advanced as to make any very remarkable difference in the +thickness of the foliage: but still, some leaves had fallen from the +younger and tenderer plants, so that the moonbeams played more at +liberty upon the ground beneath, and the trees themselves had been +carefully kept so far apart that any one standing under their +shadow--except, indeed, in the thickets reserved as coverts for the +deer--had a view far over the open parts of the park; and, if the eye +took such a direction, could descry the great house itself on one +hand, or, on the other side, the park-keeper's cottage, situated on a +slight slope that concealed it from the windows of the mansion. At the +same time, though any one thus placed beneath the old trees--either +the clumps which studded the open ground, or the deeper woods at the +extremes--could see for a considerable distance around, yet it would +have been scarcely possible for anybody standing in the broad +moonlight to distinguish other persons under the shadow of the +branches, unless, indeed, they came to the very verge of the wooded +ground. This became more particularly the case as the moon rose +higher, and the crossing and interlacing of the shadows in the +woodland was rendered more intricate and perplexed, while the lawns +and savannas only received the brighter light.</p> + +<p class="normal">At a little before eleven o'clock, then, by which time the moon had +risen high in the heaven, a rustling and scraping sound might have +been heard by any one standing near that wall of the park which +separated it from the neighbouring common, and in a moment, after, the +head and shoulders of a man appeared above the parapet. He gave a +momentary glance into the walk which was immediately contiguous, and +then swinging himself over, dropped at once to the ground. Pausing +again, he looked round him more carefully; and then gave a low +whistle. No one followed, however; and the intruder, who was +apparently a lad of eighteen or nineteen, advanced cautiously across +the walk, and was soon placed beneath the shadow of the tall elms. +Every two or three minutes the lad paused to look around him; but as +his eyes were more frequently bent upon the ground than raised, it +appeared that he rather feared losing his way than apprehended the +appearance of any other person in the place to which he had somewhat +furtively introduced himself. Humming a tune as he advanced, he +approached that part of the park from which, as we have before said, a +view could be obtained both of the mansion and the park-keeper's +house; and here, fixing his eyes upon the latter, he seated himself at +the foot of a sturdy chestnut-tree at a little distance within the +extreme edge of the wood.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a wreath of white smoke still curling up from the chimney of +the peaceful-looking dwelling of the park-keeper; and through two of +the cottage casements a full yellow light was streaming, so that it +was evident enough that some of the inmates were up and awake. For +about half an hour the young man kept his post with perseverance and +tranquillity, ceasing to hum the air with which he had amused himself +as he came along, and apparently regarding nothing but the cottage of +the park-keeper.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the end of that time, however, he rose, muttering, "I'll stay here +no longer. I might as well have been with Lena all this while. If Dick +would but wait till one o'clock, they would be all abed to a +certainty;" and he walked two or three steps resolutely away. Ere he +was out of sight, he, nevertheless, turned to look once more. The +light was still burning; but as he was in the very act of resuming his +retreat, it was totally extinguished, and nothing was to be seen but +the dark outline of the cottage in the clear moonlight. He now paused +again for a moment or two, to be sure of the facts; and then retracing +his way as fast as possible to the particular part of the wall over +which he had obtained ingress, he stopped, and whistled louder than +before. For some minutes there was no reply, and he then whistled +again, which instantly produced a corresponding signal from without, +and a voice demanded, "Is all right?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, ay, Dick," replied the lad, carelessly; "all's right--come +along." The moment after, another head and shoulders appeared above +the wall; and the gipsy whom we have seen with the old woman called +Mother Gray, scheming the destruction of the deer belonging to some of +the neighbouring gentry, swung himself up to the top of the wall, and +gazed round with a more anxious and careful face than that displayed +by his younger comrade.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When he had satisfied himself by examination, he handed over two guns +to his companion, who was within the park; and then, dropping down +again on the inside, gazed round him with more trepidation than his +bold and confident language would have led one to anticipate. He was +not alone, however; for no sooner had he effected his descent than +three others, each also armed with an old rude fowling-piece, followed +from without; and a whispered consultation took place in regard to +their further proceedings.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where did you see the deer herding to-night, Will?" demanded their +leader; "I mean at sunset."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, those I saw were down at the far end of the park," replied the +boy, "a mile off and more; up this wall will lead us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The farther off the better," replied Dickon; "are all your guns +loaded?"</p> + +<p class="normal">An answer was given in the affirmative; and, led by Dickon and the lad +William, the party of gipsies crept stealthily along the walk that +proceeded under the wall to the far extremity of the park. Once or +twice the leader stopped and listened, and once he asked, in a low +tone, "Did you not hear a noise? there to the left!" No sound, +however, was heard by his companions, who paused as he paused, and +gave breathless attention with bended head and listening ear. A light +breeze stirred the tree tops, and a leaf would now and then fall +through the branches, but nothing else was to be distinguished; and as +they passed the end of many a vista and moonlight alley, and looked +cautiously out, nothing which could excite the least apprehension was +perceivable, and they walked on, gaining greater courage as every step +familiarized them more to their undertaking. By the time they had +reached the end of the park wall, they ventured to carry on their +consultation in a louder tone; and they also turned more into the +heart of the wood, following paths with which none of them seemed very +thoroughly acquainted, and the perplexity of which often caused them +to halt or to turn back, in order to reach the spot which they had +fixed upon for the commencement of their exploits among the deer.</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad Will, however, who had apparently reconnoitred the park by +daylight, at length led them right; and taking a small footway towards +the east, they found themselves suddenly upon the edge of an opening +in the wood, through the midst of which ran a stream of clear water. A +space of about five acres was here left without a tree; but on every +side were deep groves of old chestnuts, and to the east some thick +coverts of brushwood. It became necessary now to ascertain the +direction of the wind, lest the deer should scent their pursuers, and +take another road; and for this purpose, wetting his finger in the +water, Dickon held it up high, till he discovered by the coldness that +ensued which side it was that the wind struck. As soon as this +important point was known, he disposed his companions in separate +stations, but each by one of the old chestnuts, in such a manner and +at such distances as would render it impossible for the deer to cross +the open space before them without receiving one or more shots from +some of his party. The sort of sport in which he was now employed +seemed not altogether unfamiliar to the gipsy Dickon, whose +instructions, if oral rather than practical, must have been very +accurate and minute, as he wanted none of the skill or knowledge of an +old sportsman.</p> + +<p class="normal">As soon as his men were all properly disposed, and he had likewise +taken up his own position in the most favourable spot that the place +afforded, he sought out upon the ground a beech-leaf, and having found +one with some difficulty, bent it in the middle and applied it to his +lips. A quick percussion of the breath upon the bent leaf instantly +produced a sound exactly resembling the cry of a young doe. After +calling thus once or twice, he ceased, and all was attention; but no +noise followed to indicate that any of the horned dwellers in the wood +had heard or gave attention to the sound. Dickon again made the +experiment, and again waited in breathless expectation, but without +avail. After a lapse of some minutes the beech-leaf was once more +employed, and the next instant a slight rustling sound was heard among +the bushes beyond. The poacher repeated his cry, and there was then +evidently a rush through the brushwood; but the moment after all was +again still, and he began to think that the buck had scented them and +taken fright.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a minute more, however, not from the bushes, but from the opposite +chestnut-trees, which the low wood joined, trotted forth, at an easy +pace, a tall splendid deer, bearing his antlered head near the ground, +as if trying to scent out the path of his mate, whose voice he had +heard. The moment he came into the full moonlight, however, he stood +at gaze, as it is called, raising his proud head and looking +steadfastly before him. Then, turning to the right and to the left, he +seemed striving to see the object that he had not been able to +discover by the smell; but, as he was still too far distant for any +thing like a certain shot, Dickon once more ventured a low solitary +call upon the beach-leaf. Had it been loud, or repeated more than +once, the poor animal was near enough to have detected the cheat; but +as it was, he was deceived, and trotting on for fifty yards more, +again stood at gaze, with his head turned towards the trees under +which the poacher was standing. Dickon quietly raised his gun, aimed +deliberately, and fired just as the buck was again moving forward. The +ball struck the deer directly below the horns, and, bounding up full +four feet from the ground, he fell dead upon the spot where he had +been standing.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the gipsies were now rushing forward to see their prize, but +Dickon called them back; and keeping still under the shade of the +trees, he made his way round to them severally, saying, "We must have +another yet. Let him lie there! let him lie! That one shot has not +been loud enough to scare the rest, and I am sure there is a herd +there down at the end of the copse: so we must have another at all +events; and if we go making a noise about that one, we shall frighten +them. You, Bill, go round under those trees for five or six hundred +yards, and then come into the thicket, and beat it up this way."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bill did not undertake the task without grumbling and remonstrance; +asserting that everything that was tiresome was put upon him, while +Dickon and the rest had the sport. A little persuasion, however, +overcame his resistance, and he set off accordingly to perform the +part assigned to him. The others, in the meantime, resumed their +places, and now had to wait a longer time than at first; for the +youth, not very well inclined to the task, was anything but quick in +his motions. At the end of a quarter of an hour, however, a rustle and +then a rush was heard in the bushes; and then the bounding sound of +deer in quick flight, and, in a moment after, the whole herd sprang +into the moonlight, and crossed the open ground at the full canter. +They came fairly within shot of two of the gipsies in their passage, +and two guns were instantly discharged. Both took effect; but one of +the deer was only wounded, and was struggling up again, when the whole +body of poachers rushed forward and ended its sufferings with the +knife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, now!" cried Dickon, hastily recharging his gun, "we have got +enough for once, I think; let us be off as soon as we can. We can +hitch the venison over that nearest wall," and he turned to point in +the direction to which he referred; but the sight that met his eyes at +that moment almost made the powder-flask, with which he was in the act +of priming, fall from his hands. Advancing from the chestnut-trees +under which he himself had just been standing, was a party consisting +of at least twelve strong men, apparently well armed, and he at once +saw that all chance of escape for himself and his comrades, without a +struggle, was over, as the keepers were coming up between them and the +common, while on the other side lay the thick bushes from which the +deer had issued, and in which his party must be entangled and taken if +they attempted to fly in that direction, and to the westward, beyond +the chestnut-trees, were the river and the park-keeper's house. Now, +however, that the matter was inevitable, Dickon showed more resolution +than he had hitherto done. "Stand to it, my men!" he cried: "they have +nosed us, by----! there's no running now; we must make our way to that +corner, or we're done."</p> + +<p class="normal">His companions instantly turned at his exclamation; and whatever might +be their internal feelings, they showed nothing but a dogged +determination to resist to the last. The man who had fired the last +shot instantly thrust a bullet into his gun, which he had already +charged with powder; and, giving up their slain game for lost, the +poachers advanced towards the angle of the wood nearest to the +park-wall, keeping in a compact body, and crossing the front of the +other party in an oblique line. The keepers, however, hastened to +interpose, and came up just in time to prevent their opponents from +reaching the trees. Thus, then, at the moment that they mutually faced +round upon each other, the left of the gipsies and the right of their +adversaries touched the wood, but the odds were fearfully in favour of +the gamekeepers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come, my masters, down with your arms!" cried Harvey, the head +keeper; "it's no use resisting: do you not see we are better than two +to one?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The first reply was the levelling of the gipsies' fowling pieces; and +notwithstanding the superiority of numbers and the anticipation of +resistance, the keepers drew a step or two back; for under such +circumstances no one can tell whose the chance may be, and the thought +of unpleasant death will have its weight till the blood is warm. +"Stand off!" cried Dickon, boldly: "master keeper, let us go free, or +take the worst of it. We leave you your venison, and a good half-ounce +bullet in each buck to pay for our pastime; but be you sure that the +guns which sent those bullets can send others as true, and will send +them very speedily, if you try to stop us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A bold fellow, upon my honour!" cried Sir Roger Millington, +advancing, and standing calmly before the very muzzles of the gipsies' +guns. "But hark ye, my good man, you came to get the venison; we came +to get you; and, as we are rather more in number than you, it is not +probable we shall let you escape. However, I will tell you what--to +spare bloodshed, we will come to a compromise with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are the spy of a fellow, are you not," cried Dickon, "who came +this evening asking for Pharold? Well, my knowing cove, be you sure +the first shot fired you shall have one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he speaks of a compromise, Dickon," cried one of his companions, +lowering the gun a little from his shoulder; "better hear what he has +to say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you believe a word," cried Dickon; "he's a cheat, and will only +humbug you if you listen to him. We can bring four of them down, at +all events, and then must take our chance with the but-ends of our +pieces."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, listen to him," cried another of the gipsies. "What have +you to say about a compromise?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Simply this, my men," replied Sir Roger, who had still kept his +place, unconcernedly, within a couple of yards of the gipsies' +guns: "if you will lay down your arms and surrender, we will make a +bargain with you, that we will let each one free on account of the +deer-stealing against whom we cannot bring some other charge."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger's purpose was to catch Pharold: but he had not accurately +calculated upon the state of a gipsy's conscience; and as each +man present very well knew that something else--if not many other +things--might be justly laid to his charge, the proposed arrangement +was any thing but satisfactory to the poachers. Nor was it more to the +taste of Harvey and the other keepers, who had not been empowered by +their employer to make any such compromise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, sir," cried Harvey, aloud, "that won't do. My lord gave me no +authority to make such a bargain. I dare say you came from him; for, +indeed, no one else could tell you all about it: but, howsoever, I +can't consent to that. No, no, I cry off. Damme, lay down your arms, +my lads, or we will fire on you directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take that, then!" cried Dickon, pulling the trigger of his gun, the +report of which was followed instantly by those of the fowling-pieces +in the hands of the other gipsies, though at the very same moment--or +rather, indeed, before the guns were discharged--a loud voice was +heard shouting from a distance, "Do not fire, villains! Dickon, I +command you not to fire!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington and one of the keepers dropped instantly; and a +good deal of confusion took place among their party, though a +straggling and ill-directed fire was returned, which only wounded one +of the gipsies slightly. In less than a moment, however, the keepers +had recovered themselves; and, hurrying the wounded behind, were +rushing on to close with their adversaries before they could reload, +when a reinforcement of eleven or twelve strong men appeared behind +the small party of the gipsies, and Pharold, rushing forward, thrust +Dickon vehemently back, exclaiming, "Mad fool! you have ruined us all +for ever!--Hold back!" he continued, addressing the keepers in the +same stern and imperative voice--"hold back, fools! we are too many +for you. Richard Harvey, when you plotted to entrap these poor foolish +young men, you should have secured the means of taking them. But get +you gone while you may! We are too many for you, I tell you; and you +know of old I am not one to trifle with."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know you of old, sure enough, Master Pharold," replied the head +keeper, running his eye doubtfully over the group of powerful men who +now stood before him--"I know you of old, and I know you now; and one +thing more I know, that you will come to be hanged before the year be +many weeks older: I know that, too, Master Pharold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lift me up! lift me up!" cried a faint voice behind. "Lift me up, +fellows, I say! I want to see him!" and in compliance with this +command, one or two of the men who had accompanied the keepers raised +Sir Roger Millington in their arms, and brought him a little forward, +so that he could obtain a sight of what was passing. He gazed intently +upon Pharold, who was still standing prominent, waving the head keeper +and his party back with the air more of a prince than of one in his +station and class. But the knight was unable to continue his +observation of what was passing for more than a moment, as the +agony he seemed to be suffering--although he had sufficient power +over himself to prevent any expression of pain from escaping his +lips--caused him to writhe so dreadfully, that, after one brief stern +glance at the gipsy, he slipped out of the arms of those who supported +him, and fell again to the ground. The sight of what he suffered, +however, was not without its effect upon the keepers. Had they known +him, and been interested in his fate, it might, indeed, have stirred +them up to greater exertions in order to avenge the injury he had +sustained; but unknown and indifferent as he was to all of them, his +situation but served as an example of what they might themselves +encounter if they persisted in their attack of the gipsies; and +Harvey, who was the best inclined of the party to undertake the risk, +soon gathered from the countenances of his companions that he would be +but feebly supported, if not abandoned, in any further attempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">Unwilling, however, to yield the task he had undertaken, and inspired +as much by sincere hatred towards the gipsies as by hope of recompense +from his lord, he lingered, still glaring upon Pharold and his +companions; and every now and then, in the bitterness of his +disappointment, uttering such words as were likely to draw the adverse +party themselves on to the attack which he feared to make upon them. +"You are a pretty set of blackguards!" he exclaimed. "It would do my +heart good to see you all hanged up in a row: why can't you mind your +kettles, and not come stealing other folks deer? You go kidnapping +people's children, you do, you thieves of human flesh! Ah, you'll not +go long unhanged, that's one comfort!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold's lip gradually curled into a look of bitter scorn; and, +turning to one of his elder comrades, he whispered a few words to him, +and a movement was instantly made on the part of the gipsies +themselves to evacuate the ground. They performed their retreat, +however, slowly and in good order; four of the party, directed by +Pharold, bringing up the rear, and facing round upon the keepers +whenever they approached, so as to render their flight secure. Harvey, +with several of his companions, followed, somewhat encouraged by the +sight of a retreating enemy; but two or three of the more charitable +remained with Sir Roger Millington and the wounded keeper, though the +latter was only slightly injured. At every two or three steps, also, +as the others advanced in the pursuit, either weariness of the +business altogether, or the better part of valour, caused one or two +of the head park-keeper's comrades to fall off, and return to the spot +where they had left the wounded men. Thus, by the time the gipsies +reached the park wall, only three persons followed Harvey; and +Pharold, somewhat irritated by his close pursuit, turned round upon +him with not the most placable expression in the world. In truth, he +had been crossed and pained; and, for a moment, the evil spirit, which +has a secret tabernacle in the heart of every one, came forth, and +thought that the dominion was all his own. But the gipsy drove back +the fiend; and restraining his inclination to take vengeance on the +keeper, he merely commanded him, sternly, not to advance another step +till all his people had cleared the wall. Harvey only replied by +imprecations, and Pharold calmly proceeded to station four of the +gipsies, who had guns, upon the top of the wall, to protect the +retreat of the others. Then, one by one, the gipsies passed over, +their leader following the last, and the keeper, after giving way to +one or two bursts of impotent wrath, turned on his heel, and joined +his companions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold and his party proceeded in silence to their encampment, which +was not far distant, when, to the surprise of those who had been +engaged in the deer-stealing, they found everything prepared for +instant departure. The horses were to their carts, the tents were +packed up, and only one fire appeared lighted, beside which old Mother +Gray and the other women, protected by only one man, were standing, +watching with somewhat downcast countenances the solitary pot which +was suspended above it. This group made instant way for Pharold and +his comrades; and the former, advancing into the midst, folded his +arms upon his breast, and bending his brows sternly upon the old +woman, he said, after a bitter pause, "See, woman, what your +instigations have produced,--strife, bloodshed, murder; and, very +likely, ultimately, the death of this poor fool, who suffered himself +to be led by your bad counsels--very likely his death upon the +gallows!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very good death, too," muttered the beldam, sullenly and low. "His +father died the same."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For you, Dickon," said Pharold, not noticing her speech--"for you, +however ill you may have acted, your punishment is like to fall upon +you soon; but you must hear my reproaches too. You have scorned +authority throughout your life--you have forgotten the laws and habits +of your fathers--you belong not to our people. Here we must all +separate into small bodies, and take different ways, to avoid the +consequences of your faults; but you shall go out from among us for +ever, never to return. Answer me not, but hear! Had I not, by +returning sooner than you expected, learned your errand, and hastened +with the wiser and better of our people to stay your folly, and to +bring you back--had I not come up in time, not, indeed, to prevent +your crime, but to rescue you from the consequences, you would now +have been lying, tied hand and foot, and waiting to be judged by those +who hold us in hatred and contempt. From that you have been saved; but +you must fly far, and conceal yourself well, to make such safety +permanent. Go from us, then--go from us! and with whatever race of men +you hereafter mingle--whether abjuring your people, as you have +violated their rules, or whether seeking again some other tribe +of the Romanicheel race--let the memory of all the evil that follows +disobedience to those who have a right to command you, keep you from +follies like those you have this night committed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold paused, and one of the other gipsies whispered a word in his +ear. "True!" he said, "true! as he has to wander far and long, he must +not go unprovided. We will all contribute to help him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" murmured Dickon, with his head sunk, and his eyes bent upon +the ground--"no, no! I can do without." But the collection among the +gipsies was made without giving any attention to his words. Each +contributed something from the part he had received in the +distribution of the preceding evening, and a considerable sum was thus +collected. Pharold, perhaps, feeling that the boon from his hand would +come poisoned, suffered one of his companions to give the money to the +culprit, and then proceeded: "Go forth, Dickon! go forth! I warned you +long ago; I counselled you while counsel might avail: you heeded not +my warning--you rejected my counsel; the time is past; and I have only +now to bid you go forth from among us for ever!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With his head still bent, and his eyes upon the ground, Dickon took +two or three steps away from the rest. He then turned, and raising his +head, fixed his eyes upon Pharold, apparently struggling to speak. +Words, however, failed him: the stern glance of their leader met +his--calm, but reproachful; and suddenly turning a look full of fury +at the old beldam who had misled him, the unhappy young man shook his +hand at her, with a loud and bitter curse, and bounded away over the +common.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now," said Pharold, turning to his companions, "let us separate +quickly--to the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, in +the same parties into which we had divided ourselves last night before +the unfortunate accident made us change our plans. Let us travel +rapidly and long, for be sure that we are followed by many and keen +pursuers, who will spare neither gold nor speed to catch us. Let all +of us that are alive meet this day three months at our old tryste on +Cheviot; and we may then, perhaps, pursue our way in peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">While he spoke, a light hand was laid upon his coat; and, as he ended, +he found the beautiful eyes of Lena looking up in his face, with a +glance of mingled apprehension and irresolution, as if she wished but +feared to speak. "What is it, Lena?" he demanded. "You, of course, go +with me and mine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But William!" said Lena, in a timid voice, "William!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold's brow contracted. "He goes with Brown!" he said, sternly. +"What is it to you?" She coloured highly, and cast down her eyes; but +still replied, "Nothing, nothing! But where is he? I meant to ask. He +went with Dickon and the rest--they made him go--and he has not +returned."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold started, and looked round, anxiously searching with his eyes +for the lad among the groups that stood near, over whose wild +countenances and figures the declining moon and the half-extinguished +fire were casting together a flickering and uncertain light.--"Where +is William?" he exclaimed, at length, turning to one of the men who +had accompanied Dickon on his predatory excursion against the deer; "I +saw but four of you when I came up. Where was William then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dickon had sent him round into the copse, a quarter of a mile off, to +drive up the deer," replied the man; "but I am afraid they have caught +him, for I heard a bit of a struggle in that direction, as we were +making for the wall."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold clasped his hands in angry disappointment. "We must not leave +the poor boy," he said: "I, for one, will stay at any risk, and try to +help him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I, and I, and I!" cried all the gipsies.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then," said Pharold, "we must take means to make them think +that we are gone; so that the nearer we lie to them, the more +completely will they be deceived. The wood on the other side of the +common is thicker than anywhere else. Thither away, my men, on +foot--all but five of you. Let those five take the carts down, by the +back of the park, to the river. Turn them as if you were going down +the road that leads along the bank. Then take out the horses, and +carry the carts over the gravel to the ford, so that no wheel-marks be +seen. Put the horses in again when that is done; but mind to fill up +the hoof-prints with fresh gravel. Thus they will lose your track. You +then take the ford, and cross the river. The water is low, and you can +drive along the gravel-bank, on the other side, for near a mile, +keeping in the water all the way. When it gets deep again, take the +road, and, crossing back by the bridge, come round to the wood by +Morley Road. Do you understand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes; I do," replied the man he had called Brown. "I know the +country well. But where go you, Pharold, yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I go back into the park to seek the boy," replied the gipsy, "and +will join you all in the wood before daybreak. But, on your lives, +keep to that wood behind us there; and go not near Morley Common or +Morley Wood; for there are people on the watch there already. I should +have been back in time to have prevented all this, had they not penned +me in, in that very wood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, we will do your bidding, Pharold," replied Brown. "You +are a brave heart, and always take the danger upon yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quick, quick, then," replied the gipsy: "there is no time to be lost. +Sarah Brown, take care of Lena; and see that that old woman," he +added, sternly, pointing to Mother Gray, "works no more mischief among +us. Bad has been the fruit which all the seed of her planting has +hitherto borne. You lead them to the wood, Wilson, and light a fire, +that I may see the smoke as I come back."</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying, he sought in one of the carts for a moment; and drawing +forth what is called a cut-and-thrust sword, buckled it under his +coat, took the path to the lowest part of the park wall, and, vaulting +over, was lost to the sight of his companions.</p> + +<p class="normal">His orders, however, were now as promptly obeyed as if he had been +present. Each of the gipsies who were destined immediately for the +wood hastened to unload the carts as fast as possible. The women took +their children on their backs, and large bundles in their hands; the +men charged themselves with the heavier packages; and the carts, +greatly lightened, having set off in the direction assigned to them, +the rest of the party proceeded across the common towards the wood. +They set off silently, and in straggling parties, that their footsteps +might not betray their path; but they had not gone far ere the tongue +of the old woman was heard, addressing one of the men who walked near +her--at first in few words and a low tone, but gradually increasing in +power and volubility as it became encouraged by its own sound.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's a cruel, hard hand, that Pharold," said she, looking carefully +round. But her companion made no reply, and she went on: "It's a hard +thing for poor Dickon to be sent out to starve or be hanged, just +because he was a spirity lad, and had different notions from that +Pharold." Still the other was silent. "I often do wonder," she +continued, "how a number of strong hearty men, every one a better man +than Pharold, should submit to be led, and bullied, and ill-treated, +by an ill-looking thief like that, only because he comes from our old +dukes that are dead and gone.<a name="div1Ref_03.5" href="#div1_03.5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> It's all your own faults. If two or +three of you were but to lay your heads together, and to say--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come, you old rip," broke forth the man angrily, "none of such +talk to me, if you have not a mind to be pitched into that pond. Hold +your tongue, now, and give us no more of it. I am not one of your +Dickons to be made a fool of; and if I hear you saying another word of +such matters, I will have you sent after him you have got turned out +from among us."</p> + +<p class="normal">Muttering a few words about "tame fools," Mother Gray slunk behind, +and for a little while walked on in silence, only interrupted by +occasional internal grunts and growls, expressive of her +dissatisfaction and wrath. From time to time, however, she cast her +eyes towards the straggling parties of her companions to the right and +left; and for a while her attention seemed principally directed +towards a group of two or three, who walked on immediately upon her +right, and among whom was one of those who had accompanied Dickon in +his unfortunate expedition. But on the left, again, was a line of four +or five other gipsies, principally women, followed by Lena, two or +three steps behind the rest, with a large handkerchief cast over her +head, and tied beneath her chin, in a manner which would have +concealed the greater part of her beautiful face, even if it had been +day, but which now served to veil it entirely from all observation. +Her head leaned forward, however: it was evident, too, that her eyes +were cast upon the ground; and from these, and many another little +symptom, the beldam, as she gazed upon her, concluded, and concluded +rightly, that she was weeping. She hesitated no longer which of the +two parties to join; but, dropping slowly behind, she sidled quietly +up to Lena, almost unperceived by the girl herself. After walking on a +step or two by her side in silence, she ventured to say, in a dolorous +and sympathizing tone, "Poor Bill! only to think!" Lena started, and +for a moment said nothing in reply; but after awhile she asked, "Do +you think they have caught him, Mother Gray?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, ay, they must have grabbed him," replied the other; "else he +would ha' been back 'afore this time. Poor Bill! he was as handsome a +spirity young chick as ever I set eyes on."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was something in hearing him spoken of in the past tense, as of +one gone for ever, that brought a deep sigh from Lena's bosom; and the +old worker of mischief went on, satisfied that she was now, at least, +upon the right track. "Ah, poor Bill!" she said; "there was only one +that was fit to match with him among us, and she was snapped up by a +kite before her right mate could come to her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lena took no notice of her allusion, though it was sufficiently +direct; but asked, "What do you think they will do to him, Mother +Gray, if they have caught him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hang him, perhaps," replied the old woman, "or at all events +send him to what they call the colonies, to work their work like a +slave--that's to say, if no one gets him out; but if he is so minded, +Pharold, who is so sharp, will get him out fast enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If Pharold can get him out," replied Lena, rousing herself at the +name of one whom she revered, if she did not love--"if Pharold can get +him out, he will not be long in."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I dare say not," replied the old woman, "if it be not too dangerous, +and cost too much time and trouble; and then Pharold, you know, will +not like to risk the other people to save poor Bill, unless, indeed, +some one coaxes him to do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how can I speak to him about it?" demanded Lena, holding down her +head; "he would only give me hard words if I did, as he did to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Lena might risk a little for poor Bill," rejoined the other; "I +know Bill would risk his life for her." Lena was silent; and after a +pause of some minutes the old woman went on, in a low voice almost +sunk to a whisper. "Come, come, my pretty Lena," she said, "do try +your hand with Pharold; else poor William may lie there for months in +prison, with nothing to comfort him but songs about Lena--which he +will sing sweetly enough, poor chap--and then may go to the gallows +thinking of her. Do you think I do not see and know, my chick, all +that is going on?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you see and know, Mother Gray, that I want to do nothing wrong," +replied the girl, turning half round upon her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but I saw you, Lena, when you stood by the park-wall this +evening," replied the beldam, "talking to Will for half an hour; and +do you think I do not know what is in your heart, my pretty Lena?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then why should I strive to get him out of prison at all?" said Lena, +in a melancholy tone. "It is better that he were away; and I can tell +you what, Mother Gray, it was I made Pharold determine to send him +away with Brown's people rather than have him along with us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I can tell you what, too, Lena," replied the old woman, "I saw +you standing together by the wall, and I saw him come away, and I am +very sure that it was because you were unkind to him that he went with +Dickon and his people after the deer; so that it was your fault that +he went at all, and your fault that he got into prison; so you should +but help him out of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">What Lena might have replied, Heaven knows; but at the moment she was +about to speak, she was interrupted by the approach of others of the +tribe; and the whole party shortly after entered the wood, and took up +their camp in one of the deepest and most unfrequented spots that it +contained.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the mean time Pharold had, as we have seen, entered the park; +and here he spent the whole hours of moonlight that remained in +searching for the youth who had accompanied Dickon and his companions. +He searched, however, in vain; and although he often risked the +low peculiar whistle which he knew would be recognised by his +fellow-gipsy, yet no sound was returned from any quarter. Long and +anxiously did he seek--the more anxiously, perhaps, because he felt +that some undefined feelings of dislike and animosity had lately been +rising in his bosom towards the unfortunate youth, who had now +apparently become the sacrifice for the faults of others. With much +disappointment and regret, then, he saw at length the morning dawn; +and certain that, had the youth escaped, he would by this time have +joined the rest, he prepared to quit a place in which any longer delay +might prove dangerous to himself, and could be of no service to him he +sought.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was, however, in his bosom a misdoubting in regard to the lad's +fate, an apprehensive uncertainty, which moved him, perhaps, more than +if he had been assured of his capture; and ere he quitted the park, he +approached as near as possible to the mansion, to see if any such +signs of unusual bustle were apparent, as might furnish information to +a mind habituated to extract their meaning rapidly from every vague +and transient indication that met his eyes. As he stood beneath the +trees, the first thing he beheld was a boy run up the steps of the +house, and Pharold instantly concluded that it was a messenger +returned with some news. The moment after three or four men issued +forth; but instead of taking any of the roads that led from the house, +they began to traverse the lawn between the mansion and the nearest +point of the park-wall. One man halted half-way between, the others +went on; but at the first trees again another paused, and Pharold +thought, "They have discovered me and think to surround me, but they +will find themselves mistaken;" and with a quick, stealthy step, he +glided through the wood towards the angle of the park next to the +common. None of his senses, however, slept on such occasions; and ere +he had emerged from the bushes his ear caught the sound of low voices, +speaking in the very direction which he was taking, showing him that +he had been discovered and pursued before he had perceived it, though +the persons who were now before him must have come from the +gamekeeper's house, and not from the mansion. Wheeling instantly, he +retreated in a direction which led to one of the most open parts of +the park; but Pharold was well aware of what he did, and knew the +ground even better than those who followed him. As soon as he reached +the savanna, he emerged at once from the trees, and with a quick step +began to traverse the green. A man who had been stationed at the angle +instantly caught sight of him, and gave at once the shout which had +been appointed as a signal. The other keepers came up at a quick pace, +narrowing the half circle in which they had disposed themselves, and +penning the gipsy in between their body and the river. He scarcely +hastened his pace, but allowed them to come nearer and nearer, till at +length his purpose seemed to strike the head keeper suddenly, and, +with a loud imprecation, he called upon the man nearest the water to +close upon the object of their pursuit, adding, "He is a devil of a +swimmer!" But Pharold had been suffered to go too far. He sprang +forward at once to the bank, plunged in without a pause, and in a few +strokes carried himself to the other side, where, amid thick brushwood +and young plantations, he was perfectly secure from all pursuit.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.3" href="#div1Ref_02.3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">I know no reason why we--the readers and the writer--should not now +quit those characters which have lately been occupying us, and return +to others not less worthy of our care, till we have brought their +actions and their feelings up to the same point of time whereunto we +have conducted our other personages. The best form, perhaps I might +say the most classical, in which a tale like the present can be +related, with the exception of the autobiographical, is the dramatic; +and holding strongly with the liberty accorded to British dramatists +against the straight-waistcoat of Aristotelian unities, I believe that +he who sits down to write a book like this has as much right to shift +his scene and change his characters when he pleases as a playwright.</p> + +<p class="normal">The necessity of so doing exists in the very state of being in which +we live in relation to one another. Everyday we find that in five or +six families, the actions of each of which have mutually a great +influence on the others, events are occurring, and words are being +spoken, which bring about great and important results in the general +fate and relative position of those five or six families, and, in +fact, work out their united history, without one house knowing at the +time what was doing in the other. The task, then, of the writer, if he +would follow the best of guides, nature, is to take such a group of +five or six families, whose fate some common bond of union has linked +together; and, changing from house to house as soon as the interest of +the events in each requires the scene to be shifted, to paint what he +there sees passing; and thus, in a series of pictures, to give the +general history of the whole. Stupid must be the man, and impotent the +imagination, weak the judgment, and treacherous the memory, which +cannot bear the change of scene without a long refresher in regard to +the people about to be seen again, or the events of which the writer +is once more going to take up the thread!</p> + +<p class="normal">Could not this change be made, the circumstances which were taking +place at Morley House, and, what is still more important, the feelings +which were thrilling in the bosoms of its inhabitants, would of +necessity be all left untold, or be related in a long unnatural +resume. In truth, the feelings of which we speak are worth some +consideration; as feelings, indeed, always are: for, could one write +the history of man's heart and its motives, how much more interesting, +and instructive too, would the record be, than the brightest volume +that ever was written upon man's actions!</p> + +<p class="normal">For some time after Colonel Manners quitted Morley House, Marian de +Vaux continued to sleep under the influence of strong opiates, which +the medical man had found it necessary to give her in the morning. +Whether he did right or wrong--whether it would have been better to +let her meet grief boldly face to face, or was better to shield her +from the violence of its first attack--each must judge as he feels; +but he had known her from a child, and he had a notion that hers was a +heart which would be easily broken if sorrow was suffered to handle it +too roughly. At all events, while this state continued, she enjoyed a +cessation from grief and apprehension; but still, how different was +her slumber from the calm and natural repose of a heart at ease! The +dull poppy with its leaden weight seemed to keep down and oppress +feeling and thought, not to relieve and refresh them; and in her +beautiful face, even as she slept, there was something which told that +the slumber was not natural. Oh! the sweet profound sleep of infancy, +how beautiful it is! that soft and blessed gift of a heart without a +stain or a pang, of a body unbroken in any fibre by the cares and +labours of existence, of a mind without a burden or an apprehension. +It falls down upon our eyelids like the dew of a summer's eve, +refreshing for our use all the world of flowers in which we dwell, and +passing calm, and tranquil, and happy, without a dream and without an +interruption. But, alas! alas! with the first years of life it is +gone, and never returns. We may win joy, and satisfaction, and glory, +and splendour, and power--we may obtain more than our wildest ambition +aspired to, or our eager hope could grasp; but the sweet sleep of +infancy, the soft companion of our boyish pillow, flies from the +ardent joys as well as the bitter cares of manhood, and never, never, +never returns again.</p> + +<p class="normal">The apothecary had ventured on large doses of the drug, and Marian's +slumber continued for many hours; but at length she woke, pale, +languid, sick, with her ideas all confused, and yet her heart not the +less ill at ease. "Is that Isadore?" she said, gazing towards the +window at which some one was standing, and over which the shades of +evening were coming dim and fast. Isadore approached her bed, and +Marian asked eagerly, "What news?" She could not put her question in a +distinct form, for her mind refused to fix itself precision upon +anything; and besides, with the common self-cheatery of fear, she +loved not to give her apprehensions voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no news, dear Marian?" replied Isadore, sitting down by her. +"Sorry I am to say that Colonel Manners has returned without any +tidings; and he has since gone over to my uncle's, to see whether +anything may be known there in regard to these extraordinary +circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore had framed her answer, with a view of alone hiding from Marian +that anything had been discovered to confirm their fears, and of +turning her mind from the search on which Colonel Manners had been +employed: but the result went further than she had expected, or even +wished; for it was her purpose only to break the force of grief, not +to raise expectations which were likely to be disappointed. Hope, +however, is the most adroit of diplomatists, and takes hold of the +slightest word or circumstance in its own favour with skill and +agility unparalleled. The words of Isadore, simple as they were, +lighted again in a moment the half-extinguished flame in the bosom of +her cousin. She remembered the suspicions concerning the illegitimacy +of his birth, with which Edward had gone to visit the gipsies; she +remembered his fiery and impatient nature, and the agitation into +which even the apprehension had thrown him; and hope instantly +suggested that he might have found his fears confirmed, and, wild with +anger and distress, might have flown instantly to his father's house.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is true he was on foot; it is true he had quitted the house during +the night; it is true that he was not likely to take such a step +without writing to relieve her mind; but it is the quality of hope to +trample on improbabilities, and Marian de Vaux obtained a momentary +relief. Still she would fain have had her hopes confirmed by the +opinion of others: but she could not expect to do so without +explaining the reason why she entertained them; and that reason could +not be explained without entering into some details in regard to +Edward's communication with the gipsy, which she knew not whether she +were justified in making. Her mind was so confused with the effect of +the remedies employed to obtain sleep, that she was long in +determining what was the best to do, and remained silent, while +Isadore kindly and gently strove to suggest as many motives for +consolation as she could imagine. At length, however, as Marian +revolved all the probabilities in her mind, she recollected that other +causes might render the disclosure of Edward's feelings and intentions +necessary; that he might not be found at his father's house; that +strict and immediate investigation might be required; and that, under +those circumstances, a knowledge of all that her lover had proposed to +do previous to his sudden disappearance might be requisite to those +who were employed in searching for him, in order to render that search +at all effectual; and although she shrunk from the idea of betraying, +in the slightest degree, the confidence he had reposed in her, yet she +felt it necessary to give every information in her power which might +lead to the result they sought. She determined, then, at length, to +speak of what had passed between De Vaux and herself on the preceding +day; and only hesitated whether to relate it to her aunt or to her +cousin. Mrs. Falkland's kindness and strong good sense were not to be +doubted; but yet Marian knew Isadore thoroughly, and knew that there +was more judgment and tact under her usual gayety than was apparent. +She knew, too, that with her she should be able to relate and to keep +back just as much as she thought proper; while her aunt's keen and +rapid questions, she felt, might draw from her more than she was +justified in communicating.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know, Isadore," she said, at length, "I am in some hopes that +Edward may be heard of at his father's house: it would not surprise me +if he had gone thither."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore felt that she had a delicate part to play. She was glad to see +that Marian was more composed than she could have expected; and, of +course, she would have wished to maintain that state of composure, +till apprehension gradually changed into grief, without any new shock +to her feelings: but she still felt that she had no right to encourage +hopes which must soon be broken; and she replied, "I am very happy, +dearest Marian, that you do think so; but is it not strange that he +should go thither, and be so long absent, without letting any one +know, when he must have felt that so many would be uneasy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is strange," replied Marian; "but I think I can account for that. +I am about to tell you something, Isadore, which you must make what +use of you think fit, in case Colonel Manners has not found poor +Edward at Dewry Hall; but as it refers to matters which he might not +wish told to any one, you must ask me no more than I am inclined to +speak; and unless it be necessary, perhaps, had better not mention it +to any one but my aunt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will obey you to the letter, dear cousin," replied Isadore; "but I +foresee that you are going to speak of his visit to the gipsy, which, +indeed, surprised us all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is the cause of that visit I am about to tell you," answered +Marian; "for perhaps the facts connected with it may throw some light +on the business, if Edward be not at his father's. But you remember, +Isadore, that Colonel Manners went up yesterday morning to the +gipsies--I believe, because you teased him about them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed, I believe it was one of my silly jests," replied +Isadore, with a sigh, "that made him go at all. I shall leave off +jesting for the future, Marian."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay! never, Isadore!" replied Marian, shaking her head. +"However, Colonel Manners brought Edward down a letter from one of +them called Pharold, which distressed him a great deal; for it told +him things concerning our own family, and his part of it particularly, +which would be very terrible if true. He determined, after speaking to +me upon the matter, to go up to the common this morning, in order to +investigate the whole; and if he found any reason to believe that the +gipsy spoke the truth, his mind, I am sure, would be in such a state +that he would hardly know what he was doing. Under these +circumstances, it is very likely that he might go over at once to +inquire more of his father, without thinking of anything else in the +pain and anxiety of the moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Marian, depend upon it, he would think of you," cried Isadore, +somewhat incautiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I could easily forgive him for not doing so," replied Marian, +"notwithstanding all the pain I have suffered, if I could be sure that +he is safe at the Hall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pray God it maybe so!" replied Isadore; "and if it be, we shall +undoubtedly hear from Colonel Manners to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was something so despairing in the tone with which Isadore +pronounced--"Pray God it may be so!" that Marian took alarm. +"Isadore," she said, looking at her steadily, "I hope you are not +deceiving me. Your heart is not one to be so easily cast down; your +lips, dear cousin, are not accustomed to such sad sounds. Tell me the +truth, Isadore, I beseech you. Have you heard anything of Edward?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, indeed, Marian!" replied Isadore, glad that she had put her +question in such a shape that she could give it a negative; and yet +hesitating a little at the utterance of one word approaching +insincerity, a vice that her mind had never known. "No, indeed," she +said, "no one has heard anything of him as yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian marked her hesitation, however, and replied, in a low voice, "I +should always like to know the truth, Isadore; and I am sure you would +tell it me, dear cousin. You know how I love Edward; and I think it no +shame to acknowledge to you, Isadore, that I do not believe there ever +was a human being that loved another as I have loved him." She paused; +and though she knew that Isadore needed no new insight into her heart +to see how totally that heart was given to Edward de Vaux, yet, as she +spoke, the crimson came again into her cheeks, and mottled her brow +and temples, even to speak her love in the hearing of one who already +knew it so well. "Nevertheless, Isadore," she continued, "feeling +afraid of my own heart, and my own great happiness, I have schooled +myself to remember that the blessings of this world are anything but +permanent, and have prepared myself to say, if God should require me +to yield them, 'Thy will be done.' Of course, since Edward went into +active service, I have felt it the more necessary to be always thus +prepared; and though I have tried not to imbitter existence by +apprehensions, nor to keep myself in continual fear, I have +endeavoured never to forget that Almighty Wisdom may hourly require +sacrifices, at which we must not repine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are indeed a sweet creature!" cried Isadore, casting her arms +round her cousin's neck; "I wish that I were half as good!" Marian +leaned her brow upon her cousin's shoulder; and when Isadore again +looked at her, she found that Marian was weeping.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a few moments Marian wiped away her tears, and went on: "You will +think that, after boasting of all this preparation, I ought not to be +so overcome now--nor, indeed, so much as I was this morning; but the +truth is, when Edward returned, half my fears vanished. I thought that +all danger was over; and little remembered that he who had escaped +from battle and from storm, might be snatched from me in the bosom of +peace, and in his own home. But I am better now, Isadore, and firmer, +and stronger; and therefore I will beg you and my aunt to let me hear +at once everything that occurs; for though you are interested too, I +know, deeply and sincerely, yet you can neither of you feel as I do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps that is the very reason, dear Marian," replied Isadore, "why +it would be better to keep from you all the rumours and reports, which +could only rack all your feelings with alternate hopes and fears, +without leading you even to any certain conclusion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no!" said Marian; "no! let me hear all, Isadore! I am now again +prepared. I do not say that I shall not weep--I do not say that I +shall not be anxious--I do not say that I shall not tremble with hope +and fear: but I do say, Isadore, that the knowledge of whose hand it +is that guides the whole--and my firm, perfect, undoubting, +unchangeable belief that His will is mercy, and His way is wise--will +be my support and consolation to the end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I will never believe," said Isadore, warmly, "that He will leave +such confidence unrewarded and unprotected."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no!" answered Marian; and she then added, in a sadder tone, "But +He, seeing more wisely than we do, may yet think fit to afflict us, +Isadore. However, I am still prepared, and will meet whatever may +come, as little repining as I can."</p> + +<p class="normal">The conversation proceeded for some time in the same tone, nor was its +effect small in soothing the mind of her who suffered; for, in moments +of grief, the human heart forgets all the treasured consolations which +reason, and philosophy, and religion have garnered up in years of +tranquillity; and it is not till we examine the stores that we have +gathered that we remember the sources of comfort which we ourselves +possess.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian then expressed her intention of rising, and begged Isadore to +send her maid from the dressing-room. Her cousin would fain have +dissuaded her; and proceeded to inform her mother of Marian's +intention of coming down to the drawing-room; but Mrs. Falkland did +not disapprove of the idea, especially when she learned from Isadore +the state of her niece's mind. "We must endeavour," she said, "to keep +any sudden tidings of evil from our poor Marian; but in other +respects, perhaps, occupation of any sort may do her good; for I know +too well, Isadore, that nothing can be worse than the fears and the +pains with which our own imagination fills up the interval of +suspense, when, alone and sleepless, we sit and watch away the weary +hours, till doubt and fear have grown into the too painful certainty."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian was not long in following her cousin to the drawing-room; and +though a few tears rolled over her cheeks as Mrs. Falkland pressed her +to her bosom, she soon regained at least the appearance of composure. +By degrees she learned all that Colonel Manners had discovered, except +the indications which most strongly tended to confirm his +apprehensions for De Vaux; and she heard, also, all that he had done +towards obtaining further and more certain information. Marian, +however, inferred, from the measures that had been taken, that both +her aunt and Manners did entertain serious fears; and her heart sunk +to find her own alarm confirmed by that of persons so much more +thoroughly acquainted with the world than herself. Soon after she +had come down, the servant, who had been despatched to Mr. Arden, +returned with the tidings that he was absent from his own house, and +was not expected back till the next morning. Inquiries, too, were made +by the people who had been left to guard the wood, whether it were +necessary to keep up their patrol all night; and in Manners's absence, +Mrs. Falkland ordered it to be done at any expense. Many a rumour, +too, of many a likely and many an unlikely occurrence, reached the +drawing-room through the old butler, who, with one other man-servant, +had been retained in the house while the rest had been despatched to +reinforce the people on watch round the wood.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus passed the evening, but no tidings arrived from Colonel Manners; +and as minute after minute and hour after hour went by after the +period which they calculated might have brought them the news of De +Vaux's being at his father's house, the hopes of all the party sunk +lower and more low, and at a late hour Mrs. Falkland persuaded Marian +again to go to bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sleep, indeed, visited Morley House but little during that night; and +the next morning early, a note was received from Colonel Manners, +informing Mrs. Falkland that nothing as yet had been heard of De Vaux. +So far Mrs. Falkland communicated the tidings she had received to +Marian, before she had risen; and, notwithstanding all the fortitude +she had endeavoured to assume, and the most careful guard she had been +enabled to put upon her heart, yet Marian had so far encouraged hopes +which now suffered disappointment, that medical aid was again obliged +to be called; and it was judged expedient once more to dull her sense +of grief and fear by strong opiates. The latter part of Colonel +Manners's communication, which spoke in plain terms of the murder of +poor De Vaux, Mrs. Falkland did not, of course, read to her unhappy +niece. In it, however, he informed her, that when he arrived at Dewry +Hall, he had found measures already in progress for arresting the +supposed murderers upon another charge, and had waited to know the +result. They had proved, unfortunately, without effect, he said; as no +one had been taken but a lad, from whom he was afraid little +satisfactory information was likely to be gained: but still it was his +purpose, he added, to go over to Dimden with Lord Dewry, previous to +returning to Morley House, in order to hear personally what evidence +could be extracted from the prisoner. In conclusion, he recommended, +if Mr. Arden had not taken measures for searching the wood in which +the gipsy had been seen, before his letter arrived, that such a step +should be resorted to directly; as the messenger who brought the news +of the affray at Dimden had not been able to say whether Pharold were +present or not.</p> + +<p class="normal">After the receipt of this letter, Mrs. Falkland waited anxiously for +the arrival of Mr. Arden; but it was late ere he came. He then asked +eagerly what further discoveries had been made, and Mrs. Falkland +communicated to him the substance of Colonel Manners's letter. The old +gentleman, whose heart was warm and kind, notwithstanding a certain +degree of severity of manner, and a persevering adherence to the +letter of the law, which often made him appear harsh and unfeeling, +sympathized truly with De Vaux's family; and spoke of Marian, and the +state of bereavement and distress into which her cousin's loss must +have cast her, with words of tenderness and pity which brought a +bright drop or two even into his own eyes. He then touched as +delicately as his nature permitted upon the subject of Lord Dewry's +letter to him, which he had received that morning; and triumphed a +little in the accuracy of the opinion he had formerly given in regard +to Pharold the gipsy being the real murderer of Mrs. Falkland's late +brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland started, and combated the idea with various arguments, +which had been satisfactory to her own mind at the time. Mr. Arden, +however, informed her, that in his letter of that morning, Lord Dewry +had asserted, that he had acquired positive proofs of the gipsy's +guilt; and Mrs. Falkland was silent, but not convinced. That Pharold, +either in some fierce dispute, or in some accidental affray, might +have killed her unfortunate nephew, or that his companions might have +done so, without his will or concurrence, Mrs. Falkland did not doubt: +but she had heard too much of his character and behaviour in youth to +believe that, twenty years before, when he was still a young man, he +could have been so hardened in guilt as, for the purpose of paltry +plunder, to take the life of the only man for whom, with the exception +of his own tribe, he had shown affection. For Lord Dewry's fierce +accusation on the present occasion, she accounted easily by a +knowledge of his character, and conceived it very possible that the +rage and hatred which he felt at the very idea of the gipsy having +murdered his son, might make him regard as proof positive any slight +additional suspicions which he had found cause to form against Pharold +in regard to his brother's death. However, as she took no pleasure in +speaking of her brother's weaknesses, she made no answer; and Mr. +Arden began his proceedings for the purpose of causing the wood in +which Colonel Manners imagined he had seen Pharold to be so thoroughly +searched as to ascertain, beyond a doubt, whether the gipsy still +remained in it or not.</p> + +<p class="normal">As all those who have attempted to search a wood must know the task is +not an easy one; and before a sufficient number of people could be +collected, and all the orders and directions could be given, it was +late in the day. As the men, however, who had kept patrol for so many +hours were now weary of the task, and there existed many doubts +whether any inducement would make them undertake it during another +night, there was no possibility of delaying the search till the +following morning; and Mr. Arden accordingly set out, taking as many +of Mrs. Falkland's servants with him as could by any means be spared, +in order to make their proceedings as effectual as the short remaining +space of daylight permitted.</p> + +<p class="normal">During his absence Mrs. Falkland and her daughter remained in that +painful and exciting state of suspense in which every minute has its +expectation, and every minute its fear; and as Marian still slept, +Isadore walked out into the garden, in hopes of finding some +refreshment in the cool air of the autumn evening. When she had passed +about half through the garden, with her eyes turning mechanically from +time to time upon the flowers, but with her thoughts far otherwise +occupied, she perceived a boy of about ten years of age, who worked +under the gardeners, approaching her, cap in hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please, miss," he said, "I think I have found out something."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And pray, what have you discovered, Harry?" demanded Isadore, as he +paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, ma'am," answered the boy, "I heard the gentleman yesterday, and +all the folks, indeed, talking of footsteps, and asking where there +were any to be seen, in sorts of unlikely places--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And have you found any?" exclaimed Isadore, speaking eagerly, from +some of those vague, and often fallacious anticipations which rush +upon the mind in thousands when it is excited by any strongly-moving +cause.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, yes, ma'am, you see," replied the boy; "the gardener, when he +was going away to search the wood, sent me down to the other side of +the park to cut some box for the borders; and by the little door close +by the river, which has not been opened these two years, I saw the +marks of a gentleman's foot in the gravel, which is softish down on +that walk, and greenish, too, for it ha'nt been turned this autumn."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how do you know it was a gentleman's foot?" demanded Isadore. "It +might be either the gardener's, or the under-gardener's, or the +gamekeeper's, for anything you know, Harry."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, miss," answered the boy; "I know it was a gentleman's, for +they have little feet, and this was not bigger than mine; and it was +not a woman's foot, because the heel was different."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And a boy's?" said Isadore; "why might it not be a boy's?" The youth +rubbed his head, saying, "It might be a boy's, miss; but I do not +think it, miss, any how: I am sure it was a gentleman's--quite sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore endeavoured to discover the grounds of this certainty; but +when people whose ideas are not very clear upon a subject are pressed +by those who would fain help them to disentangle the ravelled skein of +their thoughts, they not unfrequently take refuge in a sort of blank +stolidity, which prevents others from finding out the causes that they +themselves are not able to explain. Such was the case in the present +instance, and the only answer that Isadore could obtain to her +questions, shape them how she would, was, that he--the boy--was sure +that the footmarks were those of a gentleman.</p> + +<p class="normal">With these tidings, however, with every willingness in the world to +believe that they were true, and with a long train of phantom hopes to +boot, Miss Falkland returned to her mother, taking the boy to the +house with her. Mrs. Falkland listened with attention, and replied +that it would be at least worth while to send down the old butler +directly, to ascertain the facts more precisely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, for Heaven's sake, do not send him, mamma!" exclaimed Isadore. +"He is so fond of miracles, that he will declare it is the foot of an +elephant. We shall never come at the truth from him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But whom can I send, then?" demanded her mother. "All the other +servants are away; and both the gardener and under-gardener are with +Mr. Arden."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will go myself, mamma," replied Isadore. "I shall have plenty of +time to get there and back before it is dark; and I will take the boy +with me to show me the place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, Isadore," replied Mrs. Falkland: "the fact may be of +no importance, but it may be of much; and, consequently, it is worth +our own examination. I will go with you, my love, if Marian be still +asleep. Wait one moment, and we will go and judge together."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland was not long absent. Marian was still lying overpowered +with the opium; and the two ladies, having joined the boy in the hall, +set out upon the search. While her mother was absent, however, Isadore +called her own maid, and stationed her at one of the windows, whence +she could see the spot to which the boy referred, and the path leading +to it. She gave her also directions to remain there, and, in case of +either Mrs. Falkland or herself making a signal, to send or come down +to them in all haste. "I feel a sort of presentiment," thought +Isadore, as she gave the orders, "that this expedition will end in +something of importance."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whatever it was likely to end in, the maid obeyed her orders as +punctually as such orders generally are obeyed; that is to say, she +remained two minutes at the window; and having seen Mrs. Falkland and +Isadore walk about a hundred steps upon the path, she thought, "Dear +me! I can just get the cap I was trimming, and be back again here long +before they are at the other side of the park." But, as she crossed +the hall, she met with the old butler, who detained her just to ask +her where his mistress and Miss Falkland were gone; and then told her +a story, which he had heard when he was young, and the incidents of +which were very like those connected with the fate of poor Mr. Edward +de Vaux. Every hair on the maid's head stood on end, and gave her so +much occupation, that, ere she could get back to her post, it was too +dark to trim the cap any further; she therefore, immediately and +punctually, turned her eyes on the spot which her mistress had +directed her to observe, and watched most carefully, now that she +could see nothing at that distance.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.4" href="#div1Ref_02.4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Isadore and Mrs. Falkland, in the meantime, took the little path +towards the brink of the river, in the immediate neighbourhood of +which lay the spot where the boy had remarked the footsteps. Mrs. +Falkland had lived too long in the great school of disappointment, +human life, to suffer her expectations to be greatly excited; but +Isadore, with a spirit naturally more enthusiastic, and as yet +unchastened by any deep sorrows, felt her heart beat high, and her +hopes struggle up against her fears, as she set out to take a more +active part than she had hitherto been able to assume in the search +for her cousin. The path wound along through the park, meandering +considerably, perhaps in conformity to the taste of some ancient layer +out of parks, or perhaps in consequence of the usual roundabout and +circuitous nature of man's paths. Isadore, like all ardent minds, was +tempted to make a more direct way for herself across the lawns; but +Mrs. Falkland, in a more practical spirit, remembered that the grass +was damp, and that it was not worth while to wet her feet for the +purpose of saving half a minute. She adhered, therefore, to the +gravel; and, as her more venturous daughter met with a little swamp +occasioned by a spring, which obliged her to go round, they arrived at +the spot they sought about the same time.</p> + +<p class="normal">The spot itself, however, needs some description, and, indeed, it has +been already described once before, with a special injunction to the +reader to remember all the points and bearings which were then +detailed. However, lest memory should be treacherous, we will once +more take a view of the scene, as it was presented to the eyes of Mrs. +Falkland and her daughter, who were at that moment looking exactly +west-north-west. Before them was a little shrubbery of evergreens and +indigenous plants, kept as low as possible, so as just to hide the +wall of the park, against which it rested, and yet not to cut off from +the windows of the house a beautiful rocky bank, which rose on the +other side of the wall to the height of a great number of feet. This +bank formed one of the faces of a small wooded promontory, or rather +peninsula, which was joined on to the hills by a narrow neck, over +which the high-road passed after having skirted the other wall of the +grounds. It was surrounded everywhere but at that point by the river. +The summit was covered with rich wood; and down the sides also, in +every place where the rock did not rise up abrupt and bare, a thousand +various trees and shrubs had rooted themselves in the clefts and +crevices, or towered up like pinnacles from the top of every detached +fragment, and overhung the calm, still bend of the river, which served +as a mirror to all the beauties round about it. The setting sun, with +his lower limb just resting on the western hills, was pouring a flood +of splendour down the valley of the stream; and his full light +bursting upon the face of the rock to the left of Mrs. Falkland and +Isadore, found its way round in bright catches of purple light, +illuminating every tree and angle of the rock that stood forward +before the rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pouring on, too, the beams streamed down the little footway which--cut +through the low shrubbery to a door in the wall--led out to another +path running from the high-road to the river, between the park and the +cliff; and by the clear light thus afforded it was easy to see the +marks of which the boy had spoken. They seemed to have been made by +some one coming from the grass on the side of the river upon the soft +gravel of the path, and had turned suddenly towards the door, where +they disappeared, as if the person had passed through. They were +small, too, as the boy had described, and were evidently not a +woman's; but neither Mrs. Falkland nor Isadore were sufficiently well +acquainted with De Vaux's footprints to feel anything like certainty +concerning them. It were vain to deny, however, that the hopes of both +were raised, though Heaven knows those hopes were vague and indistinct +enough. Had either Mrs. Falkland or Isadore been asked what they +expected to find, they would probably have answered, "Edward de Vaux;" +but had they been required to assign a reason for such expectations, +to account for his absence, or to point out any principle upon which +he could have abandoned the society of those he loved, and yet linger +in their neighbourhood, they would have been embarrassed for a reply. +But affection does not pause to argue. Hope, too, is ever most +powerful when she triumphs over reason, and, though it may seem a +paradox, expectation is never so vivid as when we know not what we +expect. Hope, then, as bright as sunshine, but as vague and undefined +as that sunshine when it streams through the morning mist, was lighted +up by the sight of those footsteps. As Mrs. Falkland gazed on them, +and traced them distinctly to the door, she exclaimed, "How very +stupid it was of me not to bring the key!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a key, ma'am," said the boy, groping in the pocket of his +jacket; and producing it accordingly, he advanced to the door and +opened it. Mrs. Falkland now looked eagerly for more traces; but none +were to be seen close to the door, though the ground was composed of a +reddish sort of sand, which would easily have taken the print of even +a light foot. At the distance, however, of about five feet were to be +seen two deep marks of the same kind, but close together, with the +heels more profoundly indented in the sand than the front of the foot; +and it became evident that some one had leaped from the top of the +wall. This was made still clearer, when, turning back, Mrs. Falkland +examined the door, on the top of the lock of which several patches of +gravel had been left by the foot of some one who had taken that means +to reach the summit of the wall. In the mean time Isadore was eagerly +tracing on the footprints, which led straight from the deeper marks to +the bank; and on one of the large stones close by the river, she soon +found the impression of a foot in red sand stamped upon the green +mould with which the fragment of rock was covered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here, mamma, here," cried Isadore. "He must have passed here, and +that since the rain of last night, too; for if you look, the marks are +quite sharp, while some old ones going down towards the water are +nearly washed away. I should not wonder if he were here now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hark!" said Mrs. Falkland; "did you not hear a noise above there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">They listened, but all was silent; and at length Mrs. Falkland added, +"We have done wrong, my love, in not bringing more people with us, +even if they were but women. The wood is so small and so shut in by +the river that it might be searched easily."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Send the boy back to the house, mamma!" cried Isadore, quickly: "he +can bring down the butler, and probably some of the others may have +returned. We can remain here, and watch till they come."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Isadore," said Mrs. Falkland, gravely, "it is growing dusk and +late, and the place is lonely and obscure: I do not see any good that +two women can do here alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Harry will be back in a moment, mamma," cried her daughter; "and, +besides, nobody could hurt us. Any one on the high-road would hear a +scream from this place."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland still hesitated; but Isadore continued eagerly,--"I will +tell you how we can manage it then, so that there can be no danger. +Send him back for the people, and you go into the park to the little +mound; there you can see the high-road quite across the point."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I will not leave you here alone, my love," cried Mrs. Falkland, +in some surprise at the proposal: "indeed I cannot think of doing +that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, mamma, I have been here a hundred times alone before," replied +Isadore; "and, besides, what I mean is, to get up to that little point +where Marian and I have sat many a day. When I am there, you will be +able both to see me and to hear me if I speak to you; and if any +danger were really to happen, I could make the people with the cattle +in the opposite meadow hear me, while you could also make them see or +hear you from the house; and I set Charlotte at the window to watch."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland still hesitated; but Isadore continued rapidly, "Run, +Harry, up to the house as fast as ever you can go; bring down Mr. +Gibson and any of the men you can find, and do not lose a minute."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid that this is not very prudent, Isadore," said Mrs. +Falkland, as the boy ran off like lightning; "but I suppose your plan +is the best one to follow now that he is gone. I will turn back to the +mound then, while you go up there. But if the boy does not return +before the twilight grows thicker, come down, by all means."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will come down whenever you tell me, mamma," said Isadore; "and I +can hear everything you say at the mound."</p> + +<p class="normal">Without more words, then, Mrs. Falkland hastened to take up her +station at a little rising ground in the park, from the summit of +which she could see, not only the whole of that part of the high-road +which crossed the neck of the little promontory, but also the extreme +angle of the cliff above the river. Isadore, in the meanwhile, climbed +up by a steep and somewhat rugged path, which had been made at her +request some years before, to a small point of rock which commanded a +view both up and down the river, and afforded one of the most +picturesque landscapes, on either side, that the country possessed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The height was not more than ten or twelve feet above the stream, and +the distance from the mound in the park not a hundred yards, so that +any one speaking in a loud voice could be heard from one spot to the +other. The ascent, however, while it continued, was steep, and +Isadore's heart beat when she reached the top--nor, perhaps, was it +the exercise alone that made it palpitate. Although she had not +displayed any fear, she was not without some slight degree of alarm; +and felt not a little of that sort of excitement and agitation which +is not indeed fear, but which often produces very similar effects. She +looked back as soon as she reached the point of the rock, but Mrs. +Falkland was not yet in sight. Another instant, however, brought her +mother to the top of the mound, and Isadore demanded, "You can see the +high-road, mamma, can you not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland did not at first distinguish what her daughter had said, +and Isadore repeated the question. Not that in this inquiry she was at +all influenced by fear, although it might appear so; but, in truth, +Isadore's eagerness to send back the boy for aid, and remain upon the +watch, had originated in a little stroke of strategy which was not +ill-conceived, considering that it sprang from the brain of a young +lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">That there was some one in the wood above them Miss Falkland was quite +convinced; and to ascertain who it was she knew was a great object at +the time being. It had instantly struck her, therefore, that, by +dividing their forces, her mother taking up a position on the little +mound, whence she could see along the whole of the high-road, and down +a considerable portion of the little lane under the wall, while she, +Isadore, placed herself on the point which commanded a view of two +other sides of the promontory, no one could well escape from the wood +without coming under the eyes of one or the other of the fair +watchers. She did forget, it is true, that, supposing the fugitive to +be a man, and that man not her cousin Edward de Vaux, neither herself +nor her mother were the least capable of making him stay, and that +their hunt might very likely end, while the boy was absent, like a +famous hunt of yore, in the catching a Tartar. A vague sort of +consciousness, it is true, that such might be the case, impressed +itself upon her mind as she climbed to the little point above the +river; but still her first question was directed to ascertain whether +their line of watch was, as she hoped, secure and complete.</p> + +<p class="normal">She repeated her inquiry then, in a louder tone, and Mrs. Falkland +replied, "Oh, yes, I can see to the river on the other side. But, +indeed, Isadore, it is growing very dark. I can scarcely distinguish +the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore still lingered, however; for the spot where she stood, looking +eastward, caught more light than the rest of the scene. She thought +she heard a slight rustling sound, too, above her, as of some one +creeping through the bushes; and it must be confessed that her heart +beat violently. Although, in truth, she now began to think her scheme +a little rash, yet curiosity and anxiety for her cousin's fate still +kept her where she stood. The next moment, however, she saw some one, +indistinctly, pass through the bushes on the edge of the higher part +of the bank, and imagination did much to persuade her that she +recognised the figure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, mamma," she exclaimed, "I see him, I see him!" but the figure was +instantly lost behind some more trees. It was evidently still passing +on to the eastward, as if to escape in that direction, for the +branches rustled as it forced its way through; and Isadore took two +steps back to catch another sight of it as it passed before a bare +facing of rock at the extreme point. At that moment there was a sudden +rush through the brushwood; and ere Isadore could see that it was +nothing more than a fragment of rock given way under the foot of the +person above, she started back, thinking that it was he himself +springing down upon her, lost her footing on the edge of the bank, +and, with a shrill scream, fell over into the river.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland shrieked also, and rushed forward to the stream; but the +height from which Isadore had fallen had caused her instantly to sink, +and nothing was to be seen by the mother's eye but the clear +glistening expanse of the water, with the reflection of the cliffs, +and trees, and banks, and of the fading purple of the sky, broken by a +thousand rippling circles, where her child had disappeared. With the +loud, piercing, thrilling cry of maternal agony, she shrieked again +and again; and, as she did so, springing from rock to rock, with the +swiftness and certainty of a wild goat, appeared the figure which +Isadore had seen above her. He stood for a single moment on the spot +whence she had fallen, and then exclaimed to Mrs. Falkland, below, +"Where is she, woman? where is she?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, there!" cried Mrs. Falkland, pointing to the spot; but as she +spoke a bit of white drapery floated up to the top of the water, a +little farther down the stream. Pharold paused no longer, but leaped +from the bank--sank--rose again--and in the next moment, with his +left arm round the slender waist of Isadore Falkland, and her head +thrown back upon his shoulder, he struck with his right towards the +margin, where the soft, meadowy sloping of the park afforded an easy +landing-place. There, springing on shore, he laid his fair burden on +the grass, but she was pale, and moved not; and Mrs. Falkland gazing +with agony on the colourless countenance of her daughter, wrung her +hands, exclaiming, "Isadore! Isadore! she is dead! oh, she is dead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, lady," said Pharold, kneeling down, and looking intently upon the +fair face before him--"no, lady! she is not dead, nor has the water +had any effect on her. That is not the face of a drowned person. She +must have fainted through fear, and will soon recover."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For God's sake, then, help me, sir, to bear her to the house," cried +Mrs. Falkland; "do not, do not hesitate. You who have rendered us such +infinite service, do not pause there, but make it complete by bringing +her to a place where she may be recalled to life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" cried the gipsy, "to be taken and thrust into a prison! Do you +not know that they are pursuing me on a charge of murder--pursuing me +as if I were a wolf? Have you not, yourself, been sending out men to +take the murderer Pharold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland had forgot all other fears in her fears for her +daughter; but as Pharold suddenly recalled them, she involuntarily +drew a step back, and gazed on him with terror; but it required +scarcely the thought of an instant to make her remember that he had +saved the life--at least she trusted so--of her only child; that he +had risked his own existence to rescue a perfect stranger, and she +exclaimed, boldly, "No, no! I will never believe it! You are not--you +cannot be guilty. But we waste time--we waste the moments that may +save my child. For pity's sake, for God's sake, aid me to carry her +home. I have sent, but I see no one coming--they may be long--she may +be lost ere they arrive. If you will come," she added, seeing the +gipsy still hesitate, "I promise you that you shall go free, and well +rewarded,--you shall be as safe as if you were in your own house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"House!" exclaimed the gipsy; "I have no house! but I will believe +you, lady--I will trust you;" and taking Isadore once more in his +arms, he strode rapidly and powerfully forward, followed at the same +quick pace by Mrs. Falkland.</p> + +<p class="normal">He took not the way across the green, however, believing that he might +there be met by the servants, and his retreat cut off; but passing +through the low shrubberies, which were almost as near, he walked on +towards the house in silence. Every moment the light was becoming less +and less, but he threaded the walks as if he had known them from +boyhood, and took all the shortest cuts to abridge the way. At length, +however, he paused for an instant, and turning to Mrs. Falkland, he +said, in a low voice, "She revives! I feel her breath upon my face!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God! thank God!" replied her mother, in the same low tone; and +the gipsy then abruptly added, as he resumed his way, "You believe me +innocent, then."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland; "I cannot believe a person +guilty of a cool, deliberate murder, who could so boldly and +generously risk his own life to save that of a fellow-creature,--it is +not in human nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is not, indeed," replied Pharold, still striding on; "but why then +did you send out men to hunt me as you would a wolf?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I sent them not out," she answered; "but when they went, I, too, +thought that you might be guilty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The memory of your brother," said Pharold, "the memory of him who +loved me, and whom I loved as I have never loved any other man, should +have made you think differently. Was he a man to love one whose nature +led him to deeds of blood?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was not, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland; "but they charge you +with his death, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha!" cried Pharold, in a tone of unfeigned astonishment--"ha! that, +then, is the well prepared, long-digested lie, is it? That they should +accuse me of the gamekeeper's death I thought natural--though I would +have given a limb to save him. That they suspected me of Edward de +Vaux's, I heard without surprise; for men are always the fools of +circumstances, and there were circumstances against me: but that, +after twenty years, they should accuse me of the death of him that I +loved more than any other thing but liberty, I did not think that +villany and impudence could bring about,--and did you believe that, +too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied Mrs. Falkland, very willing, by speaking the exact +truth, to sooth the irritated mind of a man who had just rendered her +so inestimable a service--"no, I did not believe it; and as soon as +the charge was made in my hearing, I expressed my disbelief of it +entirely."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So, so!" said the gipsy, "there is some justice left! Lady, when you +were four years old, I have carried you in these arms, as I now carry +your daughter; and I thank you, at this late hour, for doing justice +to one who was loved by those who loved you. No, no; I am not a +murderer; and never believe it, whatever they may say."</p> + +<p class="normal">They were now coming near the house; and Mrs. Falkland, with fears for +Isadore somewhat relieved, would fain have asked the fate of her +nephew; but at that moment the gipsy spoke again; and though, from the +shadow cast by the trees of the shrubbery, she could not see in which +way his eyes were directed, the tone of his voice, as well as the +words themselves, showed her that he was addressing her daughter. "Be +not afraid, lady, be not afraid," he said: "you are quite safe, though +in hands that you know not; your mother is behind: lean your head on +my shoulder, and keep quite still."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you there, mamma?" said a faint voice, that went thrilling +through all the innermost windings of Mrs. Falkland's heart. "Yes, my +beloved Isadore; yes, my dearest child," replied the mother, "I am +here, close beside you; and, thank God, you are quite safe!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" said the gipsy, "hush! If I am seen, I am lost, remember; and +keep silence, if you feel that I have served you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Inestimably," replied Mrs. Falkland, in a low tone; and the gipsy, +now emerging from the shrubbery, crossed a part of the lawn that lay +between the angle of the wood and the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the gray of the evening, a party of two or three persons might now +be seen, though indistinctly, following the open path, about half-way +across the park towards the cliff. But though he turned his eyes in +that direction, the gipsy took no further notice of them; and, +approaching the house, directed his course towards a glass door which +led out from a small breakfast-parlour upon the lawn. Mrs. Falkland +took a step or two forward, and opened the door; and Pharold carried +Isadore up the steps into the room, and placed her in safety upon a +sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her first action was to hold out her arms to her mother, with all that +flood of gratitude, and tenderness, and joy flowing from her heart, +which we feel on being restored to "this pleasing, anxious being," +after having thought that we were quitting for ever the warm precincts +of the cheerful day. Mrs. Falkland caught her to her bosom, and, +locked in each other's arms, they wept as if they had lost a friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">Well may philosophers say, that man never knows what joy is till he +has tasted sorrow. Isadore and her mother had loved each other through +life, without one of those petty rivalries, either for authority or +admiration, without one of those jarrings of different purposes and +opposing wishes which sometimes sap the affection of child and parent. +They had loved each other through life dearly, and they knew it; but +they did not know how dearly, till fate had nearly placed the barrier +of the grave between them, and Isadore, safe and rescued, held her +mother, weeping, in her arms. Who can explain such tears? Who can tell +why the same drops which flow from pain or sorrow should be companions +of the brightest joy? For who can trace the workings of the fine +immortal essence within us, in its operations on the frail, weak +tabernacle of earth in which it is enshrined?</p> + +<p class="normal">However, they wept, and wept in silence; for both felt the bosom too +full for speech, and both, from the still oratory of the heart, +offered up thanks to God for the joy and relief of that moment. Nor +was their happiness unfelt by him to whom, under the Almighty, it was +owing. The gipsy stood and gazed upon them, with his arms crossed upon +his chest, and the light of internal satisfaction glistening in his +eye. There was something in the scene before him, and in those who +were the actors therein, which connected itself with the long, long +past; which woke up the memories of many a year, and which called up a +thousand thrilling sensations that long had slept. But he had neither +time nor inclination to let his mind rest upon all that chaos of +pleasures, and regrets, and wishes, and hopes, and sorrows, and +disappointments, which, when memory, awakened from her sleep, draws +back the veil from the past, is presented to the eyes of every one who +has lived an energetic and stirring existence. While one might count a +hundred, perhaps, he paused, and gazed upon Mrs. Falkland and her +daughter, giving way to the purest feelings of human affection, and +suffered his thoughts to wander wildly over the years gone by; but +then, starting from his revery, he remembered that he must depart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lady, I go," he said. "May God bless you and yours, and send you +ever, at your moment of need, one as willing and as able to help you +as the gipsy has shown himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay, stay one moment," said Mrs. Falkland. "You must not, indeed, +leave my house unrewarded for the infinite service you have rendered +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am rewarded already, lady," he said; "I am rewarded by what I have +seen, I am rewarded by what I have felt, I am rewarded by knowing that +there is one at least that can do justice, in her own heart, even to a +gipsy. Lady, I must go: my stay is dangerous. Fare you well."</p> + +<p class="normal">At that moment, however, there was a powerful hand laid upon his +shoulder, and as he turned quickly round, he found himself faced by +Colonel Manners, who still kept his hold of the gipsy's collar and +shoulder, notwithstanding the sudden jerk he gave himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are my prisoner," said Manners, sternly. "Surrender at once, for +resistance is in vain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doubtless, doubtless," answered the gipsy, bitterly. "I have fallen +into the trap, and it is useless to writhe. Oh, God of heaven! how +often have I sworn never again to do a service to any of these human +worms; for, if not punished by their own base ingratitude, some other +evil is sure to follow, as if thou hadst sworn vengeance on every one +that did an act of kindness to their outcast race!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall not suffer, however, for your service to me," said Mrs. +Falkland, advancing. "I have pledged you my word, and I will redeem +it.--Colonel Manners," she continued, "listen to me for one moment: +this man has, within this quarter of an hour, saved my daughter's +life, at the risk of his own."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" cried Colonel Manners. "May I ask how? I trust Miss Falkland +is not hurt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not at all, I believe," replied Mrs. Falkland. "She fell from the +bank into the stream--sunk before my eyes, Colonel Manners; and had it +not been for his instant aid, she would have been now no more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am most delighted, indeed, to hear of her escape," replied Manners; +"and would to God it had been my fate to render her the assistance, +instead of this person, for I should then have avoided a most painful +duty. But, indeed, my dear madam, as it is--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, say not a word more, Colonel Manners," interrupted Mrs. +Falkland, "but hear my story out. He saved my daughter from the +stream; he swam with her to land; but she was without sense or motion. +I had nobody with me to help me, and I besought him, for the sake of +Heaven, to do what my strength was, of course, not sufficient to +perform, and to bear her home. He then told me his name; informed me +that people were hunting him like a wolf among the woods; and asked if +I could expect him to venture into the very midst of his enemies. I +plighted my word for his safety--I promised him by every thing sacred +that he should meet no impediment in quitting my dwelling; and upon +that promise alone he came."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry, my dear madam," answered Manners, calmly, but gravely, +"that such a promise can only be binding upon yourself. Did it involve +merely an act of politeness, of friendship, or of personal sacrifice, +I would do anything in my power to oblige you: but there is a higher +duty calls upon me than either courtesy or friendship, and I must obey +its voice. I have a duty to perform towards the laws of my country--I +have a duty to my dead friend; and, at any risk and all risks, I must +and will obey it. I wish, with all my heart, that I had met this man +anywhere but here; but wherever I meet him, I am not only empowered, +but bound, by every principle of law and justice, to arrest him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is there either law or justice, then, in arresting an innocent man?" +demanded the stern voice of the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of your innocence or guilt the law has still to decide," replied +Manners. "An accusation of the gravest kind has been made against you, +circumstances of strong suspicion have already been discovered to +justify the charge. If you be guilty, it is but fit you should be +punished; and if you be innocent, doubt not that you shall have equal +justice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not expect this from you, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland, +bitterly. "Have you no regard, sir, to my plighted word? Have you no +consideration for my honour? I have used entreaties, sir; but I now +insist that he shall go; and, if necessary, I will call my servants +and make them set him free. He has saved my daughter's life, Colonel +Manners; he has come hither in my service, at my prayer, and upon my +promise of safety; and if he had killed my brother, he shall go hence +unimpeded."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Madam, I believe you risk that supposition without a suspicion that +it may be true," answered Manners. "But I must now inform you, that +one of the principal charges against this man is the very fact of +having murdered your late brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the charge is false, Colonel Manners," answered Mrs. Falkland, +vehemently. "Whatever he may be now,--whatever he may have become +since,--he was not then a man to shed blood, much less the blood of +his friend and benefactor. He could have no motive but lucre, and that +motive was wanting; for from my brother he might have had whatever +sums he required. Nay, more, I have often heard my brother declare, +that he would not take what he offered. But, as I have said, Colonel +Manners, all other considerations apart, my word is pledged, and he +<i>shall</i> go free."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Noble heart! noble heart!" cried the gipsy. "On my hand rests not one +drop of innocent blood, as there is a God above the stars! Neither do +I fear death nor dread inquiry; but my liberty is more than my life, +and what should I do, for months, a prisoner among stone walls and the +vermin of the earth! He talks boldly of arresting me now, when he has +got me here with dozens at his back; but let him take me five hundred +yards hence, where I was ere I carried your daughter hither,--let him +take me to the wood, or the bare hill side, where there are no odds +against me,--and then, strong as he thinks himself, let him arrest me +if he can."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland was going to speak again; and might, perhaps, have +spoken angrily, for she was less calm than usual: but at that moment +Isadore's voice made itself heard, though but faintly. "Colonel +Manners," she said, "Colonel Manners, speak with me for a moment." +Manners looked towards her as she lay on the sofa at the other side of +the room; and he felt that to hear what she had to say distinctly he +must, by going nearer, release the gipsy from the grasp which he still +continued to maintain upon his collar. He felt also, what perhaps +Isadore had at her heart felt too, that her voice was likely to have +more effect with him than that of any one else; and as Manners had a +strong inclination to do his duty rigidly, he somewhat feared her +persuasions. However, he could not, of course, refuse to comply; +but to guard against his prisoner's escape, he instantly locked both +the doors of the little breakfast-room ere he approached her. He +then--seeing the gipsy stand calmly with his folded arms, as if +prepared to wait his decision--drew near, and bending down his head, +"I am most happy, indeed," he said, "that you have not suffered any +injury."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet you would ruin the person who saved me," said Isadore; "but +do not reason with me, Colonel Manners, for I have neither strength +nor wit to contend with you. I want to persuade, not to convince you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is what I am most afraid of," answered Manners with a smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not be afraid," said Isadore, "but listen. Do you think, Colonel +Manners, that a man who could murder Edward de Vaux would risk his own +life to save Edward's cousin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is strange, certainly," answered Manners, "but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think, then," continued Isadore, interrupting him, "that a man +who felt himself guilty of murder would go voluntarily to the midst of +the friends and relations of the person he had killed, solely for the +purpose of carrying home a poor girl that he had just saved from +drowning? Your murderers, Colonel Manners, must be curious +characters."</p> + +<p class="normal">Could Isadore have beheld the face of her hearer distinctly, she would +have seen that his cheek glowed a little with something like shame; +but he answered, "I did not say, my dear Miss Falkland, that I thought +him guilty. I only said, that the law required me to keep him a +prisoner till he had proved his innocence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, Colonel Manners," rejoined Isadore, "since you do not +think him guilty--and I know you do not--since there is every reason +to think him innocent--since mamma has plighted her word--since he has +saved my life--since he came hither solely to aid me--you must let him +go, indeed you must--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners hesitated, and looked doubtfully at the gipsy, as he stood, +dark and shadowy, with his arms still crossed upon his bosom, and his +eyes bent upon the ground. Isadore saw that a word more would conquer; +and though her heart fluttered and her voice trembled to think how +important that word might, perhaps, become at some future time, she +made up her mind and spoke it, though in so low a tone that it fell on +no other ear but his for whom it was intended. "Colonel Manners," she +said, "you must let him go, indeed you must--" the words she added +were, "for my sake!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners was embarrassed in every way. Who shall say what he would, or +what he would not have done "for the sake" of Isadore Falkland? but +that was not all--had he really believed the gipsy guilty, he would +have had no hesitation; but he did not believe him guilty. The manner +in which Mrs. Falkland repelled the idea of his being the murderer of +her brother was enough to make Colonel Manners entertain many doubts +on a subject where his convictions had never been very strong; and the +fact of the gipsy having saved Isadore's life at the risk of his own, +and carried her home at the risk of arrest, were so irreconcilable +with his guilt, that Manners began to doubt too in regard to the +murder of De Vaux. He knew, undoubtedly, that he himself was not the +person called upon to judge; but still, of course, his conviction of +Pharold's guilt or innocence made a great difference in the degree of +eagerness with which he sought to apprehend him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But there were still several other motives for hesitation, when once +he began to doubt. He felt that Mrs. Falkland was perfectly right in +asserting, in every way, the inviolability of the promise she had made +to the gipsy--he felt that the gipsy had a right to expect that it +would be kept. He knew, also, that if Mrs. Falkland chose to call her +servants, and order the liberation of the gipsy, in all probability +any attempt to detain him would be in vain; and he was conscious, too, +that in making the attempt, he was acting, at least, a very ungracious +part. Still none of these motives, singly, would have restrained him, +had he not felt the strongest doubts of the gipsy's guilt; but when a +great many different motives enter into a conspiracy together to +change a man's opinion, they are like smiths engaged in forging a +piece of red-hot iron,--one gives it a stroke with his sledge-hammer, +and another gives it a stroke, till, hard as it may be, it is moulded +to their will. Manners, however,--although he might be led by many +considerations to temper the stern rigidity of duty,--was not a man to +abandon it altogether; and, therefore, he sought a mean which, as it +was only at his personal risk, he thought himself justified in +following, in order that Mrs. Falkland's promise might be held +inviolate, and, perhaps, that Isadore might be obeyed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well!" he said, after a moment's consideration. "All this business +has happened most unfortunately, that I should meet a man here whom I +am bound to apprehend, and who yet is guarded by a promise of safety. +However, Mrs. Falkland, although I cannot abandon my own duty, yet I +must do what I can to reconcile it with the engagement under which +this person came here. I think you said," he added, turning to +Pharold, "that if I would take you to the wood, or the bare hill-side, +with no odds against you, I might arrest you if I could--did you not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did," said Pharold, "and I repeat it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we are agreed," said Colonel Manners. "I will do so, although I +am fatigued and exhausted."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who has a right to be the most fatigued?"' cried the gipsy. "Have I +not been hunted since the morning from wood to wood? Have I not had to +double and to turn like a hare before the hounds? Have I not twice +swam that quick stream? Have I had repose of mind or body, that you +should talk of fatigue?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," said Manners, "all this matters little. I accept the +proposal which you have yourself made; and I thus specify the terms. +Though accompanied by me, you shall go free from this place in any +direction that you please for one quarter of an hour; a space of time +fully sufficient to put you out of all danger of being overpowered by +numbers. At the end of that time you are my prisoner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you can make me so," cried the gipsy: "if you can make me so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Agreed," replied Manners: "that is what I mean, of course; otherwise +our agreement would be of no use."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Colonel Manners," exclaimed Isadore, calling him back to her, for, in +speaking, he had advanced a little towards the gipsy and Mrs. +Falkland, "for God's sake, do not go. You do not know what may happen. +Indeed, indeed, it is risking a valuable life most rashly. Let me +persuade you not to go."</p> + +<p class="normal">She made Colonel Manners's heart beat more rapidly than ever it had +done in his life; for to a man who felt as he did, and who had +nourished the fancies that he had, to hear the voice of beauty, and +worth, and gentleness pleading to him for his own safety, was +something much more agitating than the roar of artillery, or the rush +of charging squadrons. Isadore spoke, too, in a voice low, from an +effort not to appear too much interested, and a little faint, too, +perhaps, from late agitation and exhaustion; so that there was, in +fact, a great deal more of tenderness in her tone than she at all +wished or intended.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, Miss Falkland," answered Manners, who, in this instance, +though gratified, could resist--"nay, nay, I have yielded as much as I +can, indeed. I must either arrest this man here, or, out of respect to +your mother's promise and to your entreaties, must let him depart to a +spot where we may stand man to man, and then do my best to apprehend +him there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, let him go altogether, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland; "the +one charge made against him is false, depend upon it; and in regard to +Edward de Vaux, surely his conduct in saving Isadore may be taken as a +proof that he is innocent there also. Why should you risk your life in +a struggle where you know not how many may come against you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lady, you do me justice and injustice in the same breath," said the +gipsy; "not one hand should be added to mine against his, if the whole +world were inclined to assist the gipsy, instead of to oppress him. +But at the same time, I tell him, as I have told you, that not a drop +of innocent blood is upon this hand; that it is as pure as his own, +and that I am more truly guiltless than those who boast their +innocence and sit in high places."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think," said Manners, turning to Mrs. Falkland, "that we must here +end all discussion, my dear madam. My mind is perfectly made up as to +what it is my duty to do. The risk, in this instance, is merely +personal; and from such I will never shrink; and I feel very sure, +also, that there is no chance of failure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be not too sure," said the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Colonel Manners," urged Isadore, "if this person will give us +what information he possesses--if he will tell us what has become of +Edward--if he will explain all, in short, will it not be better to +gain those tidings, and let him go quietly, than to hazard so much on +a chance which may be productive of no results?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But will he make such a confession?" said Manners; "will he give +such information?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy was silent; but Mrs. Falkland anticipated his answer. +"Doubtless he will," she said, "if you will undertake to let him go +free when he has done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Solely, if he can prove that Edward de Vaux is alive," answered +Manners. "Words, my dear lady, can be of no use--I must have proof +before I let him depart. He must not alone tell me what has become of +my poor friend, but he must convince me that what he has told is true; +otherwise I part not from him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know not well," replied the gipsy, "whether I have even a right to +tell what I know; and how can I prove it, without remaining in your +hands, and under the curse of a roof where I can scarcely breathe, +till those come who would thrust me into a prison, one month of which +were worse than a thousand deaths? No, no! I neither will speak to be +disbelieved, nor stay to be tortured, if I can win liberty by facing, +singly, a thing of clay like myself. If you will keep your word with +me, keep it now. If you would not play me false, throw open your door, +and go out with me to a place where you shall see whether, with God's +free air blowing on my cheek, and God's pure sky above my head, any +single arm on earth can stay me, if I will to go." As he spoke, +however, two or three dim indistinct forms passed across the windows, +which still admitted the faint lingering twilight of an autumn +evening, and the gipsy, dropping his arms by his side, listened for a +moment attentively. "It is too late," he exclaimed, at length--"it is +too late. You have kept me till the bloodhounds have come back; and +you shall have the joy of seeing them worry their quarry before you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it you mean?" cried Manners. "Of what bloodhounds do you +speak?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He means what, I am afraid, is too true, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. +Falkland, in a tone of bitter disappointment; "that Mr. Arden and the +people sent to search the wood have just returned; and that, +therefore, notwithstanding my word and your proposal, his apprehension +in my house is the recompense he will receive for saving my daughter's +life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not be afraid, my dear madam," said Manners, "I will find means to +keep my word with him; but let us be sure that it is as you suppose, +before we risk going out into the park. I think I hear sounds in the +hall also."</p> + +<p class="normal">Every one was silent; and the noise of distant footsteps and voices +speaking was heard from the hall and vestibule; and in a moment after, +some persons approached the very room in which Manners and the rest +were standing.</p> + +<p class="normal">The steps passed on, however, to the library; and at the door thereof +paused immediately after, while the voice of the old butler said, "She +is not there, sir," and the feet returned. They then heard the door of +the music-room, which lay on the opposite side, open; and the butler +again said, "Nor there." The next moment a hand was laid upon the lock +of the very door near which they were standing, and Manners held his +finger to his lips in sign of silence. The old man made one or two +ineffectual attempts to turn the lock, and then repeated, "Nor there +either; for the door is locked for the night--though it is very odd +the housemaid should take upon herself to lock up the rooms when I am +out. I am sure I cannot tell where my mistress is, sir, nor Miss +Falkland either, unless they have both been spirited away, like poor +Mr. Edward; for they certainly are not up-stairs in either of the +drawing-rooms, nor at the place where the boy told me he left them. +But now I think of it, I should not wonder if they were in poor Miss +Marian's room; and if you will walk up into the drawing-room, sir, I +will send to see."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do, do," said the voice of Mr. Arden; "but it is very strange that +they should have left the spot so suddenly, when they sent for you to +come to them. Why did you not search the wood directly? It is not +bigger than my hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, sir, I set the boy and the two others we had called to help us to +search," replied the butler; "but I came back again, because it was +not my place to search woods, sir; and, besides, I had a presentiment +that your honour would be here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The devil you had," said Mr. Arden; but what the worthy magistrate +further replied was lost as he followed the butler up the stairs +towards the drawing-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, my dear madam," said Manners, in a low voice, "let me advise you +instantly to join Mr. Arden, and to keep him engaged till I can effect +my retreat with our friend here; and you, my dear Miss Falkland, for +God's sake do not forget yourself any longer; we have treated you very +ill already, to keep you here so long in wet clothes. I am not very +much accustomed to act as physician to ladies; but if I might advise, +going to bed and warm negus would be my prescription."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which I shall instantly follow, Colonel Manners," said Isadore; "but, +for Heaven's sake, take care of yourself too. Let us see you gone +before we open the door."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," answered Manners; "yours must be the first party to march +off: I cannot move till I have reconnoitred the ground." Thus saying, +he turned the key and opened the door as silently as possible, and +Mrs. Falkland and her daughter passed out into the corridor. Isadore +paused for a single instant, as if she would have spoken either to +Manners or the gipsy; but the former held up his finger, and gently +closed the door that led from the breakfast-room into the interior of +the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, then," he said in a whisper to the gipsy, "let me see that +all is safe;" and opening the glass door, he gazed forth over the +lawns. The twilight lay heavy over the whole scene, and the dim +indistinctness of the day's old age rendered it impossible to see any +distant object. There was no one, however, in the immediate +neighbourhood of the house; and Manners, looking back into the room, +beckoned the gipsy forward, saying, "Now, come with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold instantly complied; and Manners whispered, "While we are in +the park, you remain under my guidance and protection. As soon as we +are safe out of it, you take the lead which way you will."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy nodded, and Manners took his way by the shortest cut to the +trees. Then taking a walk which led up by some steps and a small +rustic door into the garden, he crossed over, till they were both +between the fruit-wall and a high holly hedge. Along this path he now +walked rapidly, till they reached a spot half way between the house +and the gate through which, with Isadore and Marian, and Edward de +Vaux, he had once walked out into the woods. Here the gipsy halted for +a moment, but then followed on without remark. The next instant, +however, Manners heard in the bushes a noise of rustling, which the +gipsy had before distinguished; and ere he had taken two steps +farther, a man stood before him in the walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you the gardener?" said Manners, still advancing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the man. "What if I be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, then, go to the house," said Manners, "and if you find Mr. +Arden, the magistrate, there, give him Colonel Manners's compliments, +and tell him that if he will wait half an hour, I will be back with +him, as I have matters of importance to speak to him about, but am +obliged to go a little way with this good man ere I can attend to +anything else."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg your honour's pardon," said the gardener; "I did not know you +in this dark walk. That made me speak so rough; but if your honour be +going out by that ere door, it's locked. I have just been locking it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, open it again, then, gardener," said Manners, "and then make +haste and give my message."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That I will, your honour," answered the gardener, walking on towards +the door. "But did your honour say that this here man was along with +you? He looks--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind what he looks," answered Manners, somewhat sternly. "He +has matters of importance to arrange with me, or he would not be here; +so make haste and open the door."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man obeyed, and only demanded further, whether he should leave the +key. "No," said Manners; "I will return by the other gate.--Now go +out, my good friend, and lead the way to the place you spoke of." +Pharold proceeded through the open door; and Manners, bidding the +gardener not forget his message, followed out into the road.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.5" href="#div1Ref_02.5">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"This is a strange business!" thought Manners, as he followed the +gipsy into the road. "This is a strange business; and, on my part, not +a very wise one, I believe. However, there seemed no other way to +settle it; and having acted for the best, I must make the best of it; +though, perhaps, I should have persisted in apprehending the fellow, +where I had the means of doing so, at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such were the thoughts of the decided, energetic, acting Colonel +Manners, who was known to the world at large as one of the most +skilful and fortunate officers in his majesty's service; but the other +Colonel Manners--the feeling, generous-hearted, somewhat imaginative +Colonel Manners, who was only known to himself and a few very intimate +friends, as a man both of the most gentlemanly mind and spirit, and of +the most liberal and kindly disposition--had other thoughts. I have +tried to explain this union of separate characters in the same bosom +already; and I think it may be understood, for it is certain that it +existed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter Colonel Manners--whose great principle was to keep out of +sight, and who spoke so low that, though he generally, sooner or +later, made himself obeyed, he was not always very distinctly heard at +first, even by his fellow-denizen of the same noble bosom--now +revolved the whole business in which he was engaged in a different +manner; and although he could not help acknowledging that it was very +strange and very silly to yield to doubtful inferences, in opposition +to positive facts, yet he felt a strong conviction that the gipsy whom +he followed was not guilty of the crimes laid to his charge.</p> + +<p class="normal">He wished much also that, by any other means than those of violence, +he could obtain such evidence of Pharold's innocence, or at least such +powerful motives for believing him innocent, as might justify in the +severer eyes of understanding that course which was prompted by +feeling and kindness. He saw no means of doing so, however, unless +from the man's own lips he could draw some explanation of the many +suspicious circumstances which existed against him. Yet how to begin +such a conversation as might lead to that result, or how to shape his +inquiries so as to draw the gipsy on to the point in question, without +alarming him at an interrogation of which he did not see the end? It +required some thought, and yet there was little time for reflection.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners followed, therefore, in silence for some way, while the gipsy, +with a quick step, took the path towards the hill. At the turn of the +lane both Manners and Pharold looked back towards the gate of the +garden, to see whether curiosity might not have tempted the gardener +to follow; but though the light of day had now almost entirely left +the sky, yet the distance was so short that the garden wall and the +closed door were plainly to be seen, without any other object. A +little farther on stood a cottage, with the warm fire and the single +candle within flashing faintly through the dim small window, on the +little bit of white railing before the door. Manners paused, and +looked at his watch by the light; and then following the gipsy, he +said, in a low and unconcerned tone, "There is an air of comfort even +in an English cottage."</p> + +<p class="normal">His purpose was to begin a conversation by any means, trusting to +chance for the rest; but the gipsy did not seem disposed to render it +a long one. "Holes for rats, and for mice, and for snakes, and for +foxes!" he said; "God's nobler sky for God's nobler creatures! that is +the best covering."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke harshly, but still he did speak, which was all that Manners +wanted; and he replied, "Do you think, then, that God gave men +talents, and skill, and power in many arts, without intending him to +make use of them?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not to build up molehills out of dust and ashes!" said the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how is he to defend himself, then, against the storm and the +tempest?" demanded Manners; "against the midday heat of summer or the +chill wintry wind?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He needs no defence!" answered the gipsy. "Were he not the creature +of luxury rather than of God, the changing seasons would be as +beneficial to his body as they are to those of the beasts of the +field, and to the earth of which he and they are made. And as to storm +and tempest, the searching blade of the blue lightning will strike him +in the palace as surely as on the bare hill or the barren moor; and +the hurricane that passes by the wanderer on the plain will cast down +their painted rubbish on the heads of the dwellers in cities."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners saw that, as the lines of their ideas set out from the same +point in directions diametrically opposite, they might be projected to +all eternity without meeting; and therefore he at once brought the +conversation nearer to the real subject of his thoughts. "We differ," +he said, "and of course must differ, on every subject connected with +the manners and habits of mankind; but there is one point on which, I +trust, we shall not differ."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know none," said the gipsy, abruptly. "What is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is, that the creatures of the same God," Manners exclaimed, "are +bound to assist and comfort each other!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If such be your thoughts," answered the gipsy, turning round upon +him--"if such be your opinions, then, why do you seek to torture me? +Or is it that you think a gipsy not a creature of the same God as +yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I seek not to torture you," answered Manners. "Were I to see any +one torture you, my hand would be the first raised to defend you. +Nothing that you see of me now--nothing that you saw of me when last +we met--should make you suppose that I would torture you, even if I +had the power."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you," answered the gipsy, sternly, "that to live one day in +the brightest saloon that the hands of folly ever decked for the abode +of vice, would be torture to me! What, then, would be a prison?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whatever your own feelings might make it," answered Manners. "My +purpose in seeking to place you in one, could only be to fulfil the +laws of my country, and to bring the guilty to justice; but not to +torture you. Nor, in this, can you accuse me of looking upon you not +as a fellow-creature; for, of whatever race the offender had been, you +know I would have done the same under any circumstances; though your +peculiar feeling respecting liberty might, indeed, make me more +scrupulous in arresting you than I should be in regard to a person of +another race."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And have you been so scrupulous, then?" demanded the gipsy, bitterly. +"Have you examined so carefully whether you have any real right to +suspect me of the charges brought against me? Have you inquired +whether those appearances on which the charges were grounded might not +be all false and futile? Have you asked and searched out diligently +whether some of those men who witness against me have not hatred and +fear of me at their hearts? Have you done all this, before you sought +to give me up to the hands of those whose enmity and whose prejudices +would all forbid justice to be done me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not the judge," answered Manners; "and a judge alone can make +such inquiries."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you, then, a tipstaff, or a bailiff, or a turnkey?" demanded the +gipsy, "that you should pursue me, as if the warrant were placed in +your hands for execution!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am neither of those persons you mention," Manners replied; "but +every subject of this land is empowered and called upon to apprehend a +person against whom a warrant on a charge of murder is known to have +issued. But to return to what I was saying: in construing the power +thus placed in my hands, I should always be more scrupulous to a +person of your class--or nation, if you like the word better--because +I know how galling the loss of liberty must be to one who spurns even +the common restraints of cities; and could I have any positive proof +that the warrant had issued against you on a false charge, I certainly +should not attempt to execute it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"On what charge did it issue?" demanded the gipsy, turning for a +moment to ask the question, ere he again strode on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are aware that there are many charges against you," replied +Manners; "but the precise one to which you allude is, I believe, the +having murdered my poor friend Edward de Vaux."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy laughed aloud. "Were that all," he said, "it were soon +disproved. His blood is not upon my hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Disprove it, then!" exclaimed Manners, who, from the whole tenour of +the gipsy's conversation, felt more and more convinced of his +companion's innocence at every step they took. "Disprove it, then! +Other charges have been brought since; but I know nothing of them, +except that one of them, as far as I can judge, is certainly false. +Therefore, if you can but show me that the blood of my poor friend De +Vaux does not stain your hand, I will leave you directly to follow +what course you please; but if you cannot do so, we are now upon the +bare hill-side, where there is none to aid either you or me; and you +shall go no further, if I can stop you."</p> + +<p class="normal">A man may be a very clever man, and not able to calculate all the +curious turns of another's character; and it so unfortunately happened +that Manners, after having led the gipsy very nearly to the point he +wished, overthrew at once everything he had accomplished by the threat +with which he concluded. He was sorry for it as soon as it had passed +his lips, as he instantly felt it might do harm; but he did not at all +calculate upon its producing so great effect as it did.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy took two steps forward, and then turning round, stood with +Manners face to face. "Colonel Manners," he said, "not one drop of +your friend's blood stains my hand!--I swear it by yon heaven, and by +the God who made it! I could prove it, too; but I will not prove it +for any man's threats. You say I shall not go, if you can stop me! I +am not bound yet, thank God! with cords or chains. I am not laid in +one of your dungeons. I am not shut in with bolts and bars. I will not +tell you what I know! I will not give you proof of any kind; and I bid +you take me, if you can." As he thus defied him, and announced his +determination, Manners expected every moment to see Pharold turn to +use the speed for which his limbs seemed formed; and although the +gipsy was, as we have said, two paces in advance of him, he did not +doubt that he should be able to seize him before he could effect his +escape. The ground on which they were standing was a small flat space +on the side of the hill, with the road, taking a steep ascent four or +five paces beyond, and having a deep descent on one side, and a rapid +acclivity on the other. Thus, if the gipsy attempted to fly along the +road, Manners saw that he must necessarily turn to do so, and thus +delay his flight; while, if he took any other way, he must come within +reach. To Colonel Manners's surprise, however, the gipsy did not move +from his place; but remained with his arms folded, in an attitude of +determination, which very plainly spoke the resolution of bringing the +affair to a personal struggle. Manners smiled as he perceived his +intention, very confident that his superior muscular strength would at +any time enable him to overpower two such antagonists.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My good fellow," he said, "this is really very foolish; for even if +you suppose yourself stronger than I am, I could disable you in a +moment, if I thought fit, with my sword. As you seem determined to +resist, however, I will make myself even with you in point of arms, +and lay aside my sword, which I cannot draw upon an unarmed man; but +it must be remembered--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep your sword, Colonel Manners," said the gipsy--"keep your sword, +and draw it! I am not so much unarmed as I look:" and, as he spoke, he +drew from beneath his long loose coat the weapon with which, as we +have seen, he had provided himself in the morning.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now there was not exactly at that moment what Sir Lucius O'Trigger +calls very good small-sword light. The sun was down completely; and +though the last gray gleam of parting daylight that lingered still in +the western extremity of the valley, and was reflected from the +windings of the glassy stream, fell, with all the force it had left, +upon the spot where Manners and his antagonist were standing--though +two or three stars were early looking through the mottled clouds, and +the coming moon threw some light before her--still, his powers of +vision must have been strong who could see, as clearly as is +desirable, the playing of an adversary's point round his sword-blade. +Manners, however, did not hesitate. He was becoming a little irritated +at the tone of bitter and, in some degree, scornful defiance which the +gipsy assumed; and although it was not in his nature to be very much +moved by any thing of the kind, yet he went so far as to think, "Well +he shall soon find that a gipsy is not quite so all-accomplished a +genius as he imagines! I have had a droll fate here, certainly; +to be called out by my friend's father, and to fight a duel with a +gipsy!--The consequences be upon your own head, my good friend!" he +added, aloud, bringing round the hilt of his sword, and drawing it +from the scabbard. "I do not wish to hurt you, but you force me to do +so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be it on my head!" said Pharold; and their blades crossed.</p> + +<p class="normal">There are two sorts of brave men--one which gets warm and impetuous in +action and danger, and one which gets calm and cool. Manners was of +the latter sort. Perhaps there never was upon the face of the earth a +man whose heart applied to itself the idea of danger less than his; +and, consequently, he acted as if he were a spectator, even where +peril to himself was most imminent. In the present instance, he soon +found that he had much underrated the skill of his opponent; for, if +he had not a very <i>theoretical</i>, Pharold had at least a very +<i>practical</i>, knowledge of the use of his weapon; and his singular +agility and pliancy of muscle added many an advantage. Manners was +sincerely sorry to find that such was the case: not that he imagined +for a moment that all the gipsy's skill or activity would suffice to +injure him, but he wished and designed to master his opponent without +hurting him; and this he felt would be very difficult, if not +impossible. He strove for it pertinaciously, however, for some time; +and hazarded something himself in order to obtain that object. At +length, however, he became weary of the contest, and saw that he must +soon bring it to a termination somehow, although he still felt an +invincible disinclination to risking such a lunge as might deprive his +adversary of life. He determined, then, to play a game hazardous to +himself, though merciful to his opponent; and, aided by his superior +strength and height, he pressed the gipsy back against the hill as +vehemently as he could. In his haste, he barely parried a lunge, and +the gipsy's sword went through the lappels of his coat: but the +advantage was gained; and at once disarming his adversary, he closed +with him, cast him to the ground, and set his knee upon his chest.</p> + +<p class="normal">The contest, in all, had continued for some time; but the last +struggle was over in a moment; and ere Pharold well knew what had +occurred, he found himself on the ground, with the sword of the +British officer at his throat. He lay there, however, calm, still, +stern, without making even one of those instinctive efforts to shield +his bosom from the weapon, from which a less determined spirit could +not have refrained.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now!" cried Manners--"now, will you give me the explanation I seek?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!" answered the gipsy, in a low but firm voice--"never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners hesitated for a moment; but then, withdrawing his knee from +the gipsy's breast, he returned his sword into the scabbard. "I will +try other means!" he thought--"I will try other means!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Through the whole of the events which had lately passed, Manners had +been gradually gaining a deeper insight into the character of the +gipsy, and had learned to appreciate him better than at first; but +still there was much to be considered, much to be calculated; and many +a conflicting opinion, and many an opposite feeling, crossed Manners's +bosom in the short space of time that was allowed for thought. He did +not forget the various circumstances which had led him to believe that +his friend had been murdered by the gipsy, and all of which remained +unexplained; but he remembered, also, how fallacious circumstantial +evidence often is; and he set against those circumstances of suspicion +the positive fact, that the gipsy had saved the life of Isadore +Falkland at the peril of his own, and had carried her to her mother's +house at the imminent risk of being arrested. The high character which +Mrs. Falkland said he had borne in the past, the regard which she had +hinted that her deceased brother had felt towards him, all tended to +show that he was a man of no ordinary qualities; and although, in the +absence of such knowledge of his character. Manners might have judged +his obstinate refusal of all explanation as a proof of his guilt, yet, +seeing that in every thing else his motives and his actions were +different from those of ordinary men, he judged that it might be the +same in this instance also. "I will try extraordinary means with him, +too," thought Manners; "and perhaps I may gain more by it than by +following the dictates of rigid duty to the letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why will you not explain?" he added, aloud. "It would save both you +and me from many a painful occurrence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I will not be compelled to any act under the sun!" answered +the gipsy, who had only taken advantage of the degree of freedom which +he now possessed to raise himself upon his arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you shall not be compelled!" answered Manners, to whom his +answer had given the right key to his obduracy--"then you shall not +be compelled! but you shall be persuaded. Stand up, Pharold, and +listen to me, as to one who does not feel towards you as you would +make yourself believe that all our race do towards yours. You have +seen my conduct--you see it now; and you must judge of me better than +you lately did."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy hung his head. "You have kept your word with me," he +answered. "You have brought me to a place where no odds could be found +against me; and you have vanquished with your own weapons at your own +trade. What more?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have spared you when I might have hurt you," replied Manners; "and +now I let you go free when I might make you a prisoner--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You let me go free!" cried the gipsy, in a tone of +astonishment--"you let me go free! and without conditions, too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without any conditions," answered Manners, "but such as your own +heart shall lay upon you, when you have heard all that I have to say +to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you, too, are one of the few noble hearts," answered the gipsy, +rising; "and I have done you injustice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There are more noble hearts in the world," Manners rejoined, "than +you know of, my friend. But listen to me, and let me see if yours be a +noble heart too. Edward de Vaux is, or was, my friend and my companion +in arms. We have stood by each other in battle; we have attended each +other in sickness; we have delivered each other in danger; and, had he +been my brother, I could not have loved him better. I find that, the +night before last, he left his home when all the family were at rest; +that he went to visit one with whom he had no known acquaintance or +business; and that he never returned to those he most loved. Was it +not natural for me to search for him with all the rapidity in my +power?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was! it was!" answered the gipsy; "and I have judged you harshly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did search for him," continued Manners; "and I found, by footmarks +in the earth, that he had gone with the stranger whom he had visited +to a lonely quarry, and that from that spot his footsteps are not to +be traced. This afforded some cause for suspicion and apprehension; +but when the place where his steps disappeared was all stained and +dabbled with blood, what was I to think?--what was I to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To think that he was murdered, and to pursue the murderer," answered +Pharold, boldly; "and I have done you wrong: but the habit of +suffering injustice and indignity from your race irritates ours into +believing that you are always unjust; and, in this instance, the +consciousness of my own innocence, too, hid from my eyes one-half of +the appearances against me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You judge wisely, and you judge well," answered Manners. "There were +strong appearances against you; and there were also many minor facts +which swelled those appearances into proof so positive of my friend's +death and of your guilt, that I should have been unworthy of the name +of his friend--unworthy of the name of a man--if I had not pursued you +as I have done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You would!" answered the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet, notwithstanding all this," continued Manners, "I tell you, +honestly, that I believe you innocent. I may be foolish to do so--the +prepossession may be false--the motives for such belief may be slight; +but yet that belief is strong. With powerful evidence against you I +felt convinced of your innocence; and, with the power to take you, I +let you go free."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners paused for a moment, and the gipsy, with his hands clasped and +his eyes bent upon the ground, remained silent, buried, apparently, in +deep thought. "Now," continued Manners, after suffering him to revolve +what he had said for a few moments--"now, I have spoken to your +understanding, and I have shown you that my conduct in pursuing you +has been fully justifiable, and that I am not one of those unjust and +ignorant fools who entertain a base prejudice against the whole of +your race, which but serves to drive them on to acts of reckless evil. +I have treated you generously--I have not consulted even rigid duty; +and leaving you free to act, I now speak to your heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak on! speak on!" said the gipsy. "You speak language that I love +to hear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have told you," said Manners, "how I esteem Edward de Vaux; I have +told you how intimate have been the bonds that united us--how dear the +friendship that we felt; judge, then, of my feelings now, as I stand +before you, not knowing whether he be dead or alive, well or ill, +murdered or in safety. But hear me further.--There is every reason to +believe him lost for ever; and in that belief, not only I, his friend, +must remain, but all who loved him--all to whom he is bound by the +dearest ties; and I leave you to conceive the agony of suspense which +they now endure. Mrs. Falkland--her daughter, whose life you have so +lately saved--De Vaux's father, Lord Dewry--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy started, clenched his white teeth, and shaking his hand +furiously towards the sky, exclaimed, "May the vengeance of God fall +like a thunderbolt on his head, and wither his heart to ashes!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well!" said Manners, seeing that he had struck a wrong chord, +"pass him by; for there are others more interested than he, than I, +than any of us. There is a young lady, fair, and gentle, and delicate, +beloved by all who know her, blessed by the poor and the afflicted, +the ornament of her house, the delight of her friends; and to her own +immediate family, the cherished, the beloved relic of a noble, a +generous, a feeling parent early snatched away--of a parent whom I +have heard that you yourself esteemed and loved--of the late Lord +Dewry, I mean; for the lady I refer to is Miss De Vaux."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What of her? what of her?" demanded the gipsy eagerly: "but I guess! +I guess!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is easy for you to imagine what she must feel," said Manners. "She +has been, as probably you know, engaged to her cousin De Vaux for +several years, and they have loved each other through life. Their +affection has grown up with them from childhood, and has been +strengthened by every tie, till at length their marriage, which was +appointed to take place in a few weeks, was to have united them for +ever. Judge, then--judge what must be her feelings now; but I will not +attempt to tell you what those feelings are--I will only tell you in +what situation she now is, and leave you to judge for yourself. This +very evening, the medical man who is attending her, assured me that +the anxiety and apprehension which she has suffered on account of her +cousin, have already seriously impaired her health; and that great +fears, even for her life itself, are to be entertained, if this state +of mental agony is not soon put an end to by certainty of some kind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That alters the whole," cried the gipsy--"that alters the whole! But +let me think a moment--let me think!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes!" said Manners; "think of it,--and think well!--think what must +be the feelings of a young and affectionate heart, which, early +deprived of the sweet relationships of parent and child, had fixed +all its best and warmest affections upon one who well deserved its +love,--had concentrated upon him alone all those feelings of +tenderness and regard which are generally divided among a thousand +other objects; and which had so lately seen him return from scenes of +danger and strife to peace and quietness, and, as all fancied, to love +and domestic happiness;--think what must be the feelings of such a +heart, when the object of all her thoughts and hopes is suddenly and +strangely torn from her--when every trace of him is lost, but such as +naturally and strongly lead the mind to conclude that death of a +bloody and violent nature is the cause of his prolonged and +extraordinary absence.--Think--think well what must be the feelings of +Miss De Vaux, his promised bride--think what must be my feelings, as +his companion and friend; and, if your heart be other than of stone, +sure I am that you will instantly afford the means--if you possess +them--of removing all these cruel doubts and fears, and relieving our +anxiety, at least by certainty of our friend's fate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You need say no more!" said the gipsy--"you need say no more! I will +remove your fears upon easy conditions.--I had not foreseen all this. +Like a fool, I had not remembered that events, which seemed to me all +simple and clear, because I was an actor in them and saw them all, +would produce such anxiety and fear to those who saw no more than the +result; but I have been moved by many another feeling, and occupied by +many another event. I have seen men bring ruin on their own heads and +mine, by following their own wilful follies rather than my counsel and +command; and I have seen a thoughtless and innocent boy entrapped into +becoming the sacrifice for the guilty and the obstinate. I have been +called upon to punish the offenders, and to endeavour to rescue the +innocent; and I have been hunted through this livelong day like a wild +beast;--so that I may well have forgot that circumstances, very simple +in themselves, might fill others that knew not all, with strange fears +and suspicions; but besides that--besides that--I had other motives +for not telling what I knew.--Those motives are now shaken by stronger +ones; and for the sake of Marian de Vaux, I will say what I would not +have said for the sake of my own life; but it must be on certain +conditions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Name them," said Manners; "and if they be not very hard to fulfil, +doubt not that I will undertake them."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy paused, and thought for several minutes, and he then +replied, "I will, as I have said, put you in the way of finding your +friend, Edward de Vaux; and you will find him--if not well--at least +in kindly hands. But now mark me. The person with whom he is has +lately come over from America with private views and purposes of his +own, yet doubtful and unresolved whether he will proceed with them or +not. Were his residence in England known to any one, it might force +him either to execute the designs with which he came sooner than he +intended, or perhaps prevent him from changing those designs, though +other circumstances may render such a change necessary; or still +further--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In short," said Manners, "he is desirous of remaining concealed; and, +as far as I know, has every right to do so, without my inquiring at +all into his motives. But you forget, my good friend, that there is as +little chance of my knowing this person of whom you speak, as of my +betraying him if I did."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are wrong," said the gipsy; "there is every chance of your +knowing him; you have seen him I know, and esteem him I am sure; and, +what I have to require is this, if, by my means, you find Edward de +Vaux, and recognise the person now kindly tending him, you shall not, +upon any pretence, or to any person whatsoever, reveal his real name +and character. You shall recognise him merely as the person that he +chooses to call himself, and speak of him as none other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course! of course!" answered Manners; "he shall keep the +incognito, for anything that I may do to the contrary, as long and as +strictly as he likes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, one thing more," said the gipsy, "one thing more,--you shall, on +no account whatever, lead--or give such information as may lead--the +father of Edward de Vaux to the place where his son is."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is somewhat extraordinary," said Manners; "but I suppose, of +course, that this person to whom you allude is Lord Dewry's enemy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was once his friend," said the gipsy, "and, perhaps, now that lord +may speak of him as such, for there is no knowing by what terms his +deep and crafty spirit may designate the people whom he most hates. +Not a week ago he gave me gold, and would fain have made me think he +loved me; but I knew him to the heart, and I saw the serpent in his +eye."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whatever Manners might think of the evident hatred, strong and +reciprocal, which existed between the peer and the singular person +with whom he now stood, he did not judge it expedient to risk the +advantages he had gained by defending Lord Dewry, especially as +circumstances placed the power of dictating the conditions in the +hands of the gipsy. "My acquaintance with De Vaux's father," he said, +"has been too short to acquire any knowledge of his real character."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It would require years, long years," said the gipsy, "to know his +character as I know it--long, long years!--or one of those lightning +flashes of nature that sometimes, whether men will or not, burst from +the darkness in which they shroud themselves, and show at once the +deep secrets of their spirit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At all events," said Manners, "common humanity leads me to wish much +to inform the unhappy father of his son's safety, and doubtless your +conditions do not imply that I should refrain from such proceeding, as +soon as I have, with my own eyes, seen my poor friend's condition."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In that respect, you shall be guided by him to whom I send you," +answered Pharold. "It is sufficient for me to ensure, that the +confidence he has placed in me will be betrayed by no fault of +mine--that compassion for a gentle and innocent girl does not lead me +to risk defeating the plans of a man who trusts me. I know that when +you have pledged your word, you will hold it sacred. Your actions have +spoken for you! Will you accept the conditions?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will!" answered Manners; "and only beg of you to conclude the +matter as fast as possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then!" said the gipsy, pointing through the valley towards the +line of the distant hills; "you see yon moon, just raising her golden +round behind the thin trees upon the upland. When she has risen ten +palms breadths upon the sky, you shall find me here again, and I will +lead you to him you seek."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, but," said Manners, "I thought you were about to conduct me +thither now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doubt me not," said the gipsy, sternly, discovering at once that +suspicions, slight indeed, but newly awakened by the proposed delay, +were coming over the mind of his companion. "Doubt me not. By the God +that I worship, by the heavens his handiwork, by the life he gave me, +by the liberty I value more, I will not fail you. You have spared me +when you might have thrust me into a dungeon, and I would not deceive +you even by a thought."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe you," answered Manners; "I believe you--only this, I am +very anxious, ere I return to Morley House, to be enabled to give some +account of him I seek; to be enabled, in short, to afford some comfort +to Edward de Vaux's family. Can we not proceed then at once?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" answered the gipsy. "I must think of my own race too. By the +unhappy occurrences of last night, my people have been scattered and +have fled for concealment, while I remained to see whether I could +find, or could deliver, the unfortunate prey, which those who laid the +trap for us had found in the snare. My companions know not yet where I +am; and I know not whether they are safe. Thus, ere I go farther, I +must see what have been the events of this day to those whom I am +bound to protect and guide."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be it so then," answered Manners; "but, at all events, you will allow +me to give De Vaux's family the assurance that he is living and is +safe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As far," said the gipsy, "as you dare to trust to my most solemn +assurance, he is living, and safe also, if you mean by that word that +he is free from restraint, and from any risk of injury; but that he is +well, you must not say; for he is ill in body and sick at heart; and +it may be long ere he is cured of either."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is bad enough, indeed," answered Manners; "but it is so much +better than the events, which we had reason to believe had occurred, +that the bare fact of his being in a state of security will be an +infinite relief to those who love him. I will trust to your word +entirely, and both give the consolation which you have afforded to +those who will feel it most deeply, and be here at the time you +name, though I am not very much accustomed to calculate hours by +hands-breadths of the sky; and you must remember that, from Morley +House, the moon is seen in a different position from that in which she +appears here." The gipsy smiled, with a slight touch of contempt at +Manners's inexpertness in a mode of calculating the time, which was to +him familiar. "Well, well," he said, "be here in just two hours, and +you shall find me waiting you. In the meantime, rest at ease regarding +your friend, and speak securely the words of hope and comfort to his +family; and God be with you in your errand of peace. You have acted a +noble part to-night, and there is one that blesses those who do so."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, he sprang down the bank to the spot where the sword, +which Manners's superior skill and strength had wrenched from his +grasp, was lying under a low bush. Pharold snatched it up, and was +about to return it to the sheath; but some sudden thought seemed to +cross his mind, and holding it up, he gazed upon it for a moment or +two in silence. "Accursed be thou!" he cried at length, in a bitter +tone. "Accursed be thou, false friend and faithless servant! to leave +thy master's hand at the moment of need!" and breaking the blade +across his knee, he cast the fragments down the hill, and strode away, +scarcely appearing to notice that Colonel Manners still stood gazing +at his wild and vehement behaviour.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners smiled as he turned to retread his steps; and perhaps that +smile might be occasioned by seeing the gipsy wreak his indignation at +the failure he had met with in their struggle upon the senseless +object which his hand had not been able to retain. Perhaps, too, he +might remark how all uncultivated people resemble children; but, at +all events, the tidings that he had heard of his friend's safety, and +his conviction that those tidings were true, had certainly given him a +much greater inclination to smile than he had felt when he came to +that spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he thought, however, over all the circumstances, while bending his +way back once more to Morley House, he did not certainly find that his +situation was, in every respect, a very pleasant one. He had to +remember that the gipsy, Pharold, was charged with two other crimes +besides the assumed death of Edward de Vaux. In regard to the first of +these two, that of having been an accessary, or principal, in the +murder of the late Lord Dewry, Manners had but Mrs. Falkland's opinion +upon the subject to support his own doubts of the man's guilt. In +regard to the second, that of having participated in the outrage at +Dimden Park, and having fired the gun by which Sir Roger Millington +was wounded, Manners, after leaving the peer at Dimden, as we shall +almost immediately have occasion to show more particularly, had +visited the keeper who had been wounded in the affray, and from him +had learned sufficient to satisfy his mind that Pharold was guiltless +of any share in that unfortunate transaction. On that point, +therefore, his mind was satisfied; but, in regard to the other charge, +he did not feel at all sure that he was not liable to severe +animadversion for the lenity he had shown towards the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know the laws of the land," he thought, with a half smile, +"quite well enough to be sure whether they may not make me out an +accessary after the fact, if ever this Pharold should be found guilty +of slaying his benefactor; but, at all events, if the good gossiping +world were to get hold of my having taken two or three moonlight walks +with him, and having let him escape when I had the power to apprehend +him, it would make a pretty story of it." However. Colonel Manners was +a man who had too much confidence in his own motives, and too much +reliance on what he called his good fortune, though others named it +his good judgment, to care much what the world said; and this was +probably one of the reasons why that world was well satisfied to load +him with praise and honour. He took his way back to Morley House, +therefore, tolerably satisfied with what he had done, thinking, "I +must now, however, try to soften down Mrs. Falkland's wrath and +indignation at my persevering rudeness this evening; but, doubtless, +the tidings I bring will prove no small propitiation."</p> + +<p class="normal">To these thoughts he endeavoured to limit himself, though imagination +strove hard to lead him into a thousand rambling fancies concerning +the causes of De Vaux's disappearance. Manners, however, had a habit +of keeping his thoughts under proper discipline, and always prepared +to repel whatever force might attack them. Thus, as he knew, or at +least trusted, that a few hours would give him a thorough insight into +the real situation of Edward de Vaux, he would not give way on that +point, and tried to think of something else. But the light brigades of +fancy are like a troop of Cossacks, and the moment they are beaten off +at one spot, they wheel and attack another. When imagination found, +then, that Manners would not be drawn from his intrenchments by the +thoughts of De Vaux, she tried what she could do with the image of +Isadore Falkland; but Manners was prepared there, too, and had +reproached himself so bitterly with some slight beatings of his heart, +which had occurred during his last meeting with that fair lady, that +he resisted all thought upon the subject with the heroism of Leonidas.</p> + +<p class="normal">Having thus reached Morley House in safety, Manners's first inquiry +was for Mr. Arden; but the old butler, with a look of solemn +importance, informed him that the magistrate had been gone about half +an hour, leaving a message, however, for Colonel Manners, to the +effect that, having some other business of much importance awaiting +his return, he could not have the honour of staying till Colonel +Manners arrived, but would come back early the following morning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will do quite as well," answered Manners; and seeing that the +cloud of self-importance upon the old man's brow had not as yet quite +disgorged itself of its contents, he paused in order to hear what +next, and the butler proceeded: "Please, sir, Miss Marian--that is to +say, Miss De Vaux, but we always call her Miss Marian, to distinguish +from Miss Isadore--but Miss Marian sent her maid down just now to say, +that when you come back she wishes very much to see you herself, for +she desires to speak with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man spoke in as mysterious a tone as if he were communicating a +state secret, but Manners who hated nothing on earth so much as +mystery, answered rather sharply, "Well, as you see I have returned, +you had better call Miss De Vaux's maid to take me to her mistress."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Miss Marian, sir, is in the little drawing-room," replied the +butler: "she has been there these ten minutes, though Mrs. Falkland +does not know it, because she is with Miss Isadore, who fell into the +water, and wet her clothes, and had nearly been drowned, they do say; +but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners waited for no further information on subjects with which he +was already acquainted; but, walking up stairs, proceeded to what was +called the little drawing-room, and opened the door. Marian de Vaux +was sitting on a sofa, with her fair rounded cheek, grown many a shade +paler since Manners last saw it, leaning on her hand, and her arm +again resting on the table. Her head was slightly bent, and the hand +on which it leaned curved round at the wrist, with the fingers +dropping languidly under her cheek, and with weary hopeless anxiety in +every line. Her eyes, when Manners entered, were cast down, with a +drop like a diamond struggling through the long dark lashes; and the +light, falling from above, threw the greater part of her beautiful +face into shadow; but it fell clear and soft on her fair open +forehead, and on her brown hair, which, to save the trouble of much +dressing, was braided back behind her ears, but which still, by many a +wavy line and struggling bend across her brow, showed its natural +tendency to fall into ringlets round her face. An open book was on the +table before her; but it looked not as if she had been reading, for it +was turned in such a way that her eye could not possibly have +deciphered its contents.</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not hear the door open; but Manners's first step in the room +caught her attention, and she raised her eyes. "Oh, Colonel Manners," +she said, as soon as she saw him, "I am very glad you have come, for I +very much wished to speak with you; but I am afraid you are fatigued, +and perhaps may not have time to spare."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all," answered Manners, with a smile, which he intended to +prepare the way for better tidings. "Indeed, I think, Miss De Vaux, +that if you had not sent me an invitation, I should have sent to +petition one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The fact is, Colonel Manners," said Marian, "I wish to know the +truth. My dear aunt and my cousin, with the very kindest intentions, +keep the truth from me--at least, so I am led to believe by what my +maid has told me. Now, indeed, it would do me less harm, though they +do not think so, to tell me the whole at once; and I am sure, Colonel +Manners, that you will be kind enough to do so, when I assure you that +I am far better able to bear even the worst tidings than this +terrible, awful state of suspense."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners took her hand, and gazed in her face with a smile full of +kindness and hope, for he feared to make the change from grief to joy +too sudden, by speaking the happier news he now had to bear; but even +that was too much, and Marian's heart, as she read his smile aright, +beat with fearful violence; and, pale as ashes with emotion, she sunk +down again on the sofa, from which she had partially risen to speak to +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see that your fortitude is not half real," said Manners, seating +himself near her; "but let me entreat you to hear me calmly, my dear +Miss De Vaux."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I will! I will, indeed!" cried Marian. "But, for Heaven's sake, +speak, Colonel Manners: you smile; and I know you would not smile on +one so wretched, if you had not some hope to give! Is it not so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is," answered Manners; "and delighted I am that now, for the very +first time, I can give it. But, indeed, you must be calm; for the +intelligence I have obtained is not so entirely good as to warrant our +indulging in any very great joy, though it may do away our worst +apprehensions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is enough! that is enough!" cried Marian. "If they have not +murdered him, I can bear almost anything else with fortitude: but now, +for Heaven's sake, tell me all, for you see I can bear it with +calmness and composure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"First, let me defend Mrs. Falkland and your cousin," replied Manners, +wishing, by a little delay, to give his fair hearer's mind time to +habituate itself to a change of feeling; for neither her look nor her +manner served at all to confirm the assurances of calmness and +composure which she gave him. "Let me defend Mrs. Falkland and your +cousin: they really could give you no precise information, for till +within the last half-hour none has been obtained."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, but they knew more than they let me know," cried Marian; "at +least, if my maid has told me true: but I trust it is not true; for I +cannot believe that Edward can be safe, if she spoke correctly; she +said you had found his footsteps, and blood, Colonel Manners, and the +place where he must have fallen." As she spoke, her countenance filled +with horror at the ideas she recalled, and she clasped her hands over +her eyes, as if to shut out some fearful sight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Colonel Manners thought that the sooner such a lady's-maid was +discharged the better; but as he could not contradict the story the +woman had so imprudently told, he left it as it was, and replied, "Do +not, my dear young lady, call up such painful images, when I assure +you that there is no foundation for the supposition that your cousin +has suffered in the way our fears led us to imagine. My information, +as yet, is scanty; and, till tomorrow, you must not ask me even how I +have obtained it; but I have the most positive assurances that De Vaux +is safe, though ill."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God! thank God, for his safety, at least!" cried Marian; "but +are you sure, Colonel Manners--are you quite sure? I do not wish to +put any questions that you may not like to answer; but only tell me if +you yourself are quite sure of Edward's safety?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am perfectly and thoroughly convinced," answered Manners, "that, +whatever may have been the accident which may have prevented his +return home, he is both in security, and attended with care and +kindness. Indeed, my very telling you the fact should make you feel +quite sure that my own conviction is firm; for, indeed, Miss De Vaux, +no inducement would make me hold out a hope to you, were I not sure of +that hope having a good foundation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you! thank you!" replied Marian; and, with one of those sudden +bursts of tenderness which--springing from some secret action, either +of memory or imagination, without one spoken word or external +circumstance to call them forth--sometimes overpower us, when least we +expect it, she gave way to a gushing flood of tears, and, for a moment +or two, let the bright drops flow unrestrained. "You have not seen +him, then, Colonel Manners?" she said at length, wiping her eyes, and +looking up with a glance in which apprehension still contended a +little against joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not yet," Manners answered; "but I have received a solemn promise +that I shall be conducted to the place where he is this very night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, let me go with you!" cried Marian, starting up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, I am afraid that would not do," answered Manners, smiling. +"Think what the world would say, my dear Miss De Vaux, if you were to +go wandering about, no one knows whither, through a long autumn night, +with no other escort than a colonel of dragoons."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian was won even to a smile; and, while it was yet playing round +her lips, and sparkling in her eyes, Mrs. Falkland entered the room, +not knowing by whom it was tenanted. "Marian! Colonel Manners!" she +exclaimed; "and both laughing, too! then some very happy change must +have come over our affairs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, most happy, my dear aunt!" cried Marian: "Colonel Manners--and I +know not how to thank him--has discovered where Edward is, and that he +is safe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God be praised!" cried Mrs. Falkland; "but let me hear all about it, +for this is news indeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the first place," said Manners, willing, if possible, to escape +any very close cross-examination till he could speak with more +security on the many points of De Vaux's situation, which were still +doubtful--"in the first place, I have to apologize, my dear madam, for +some want of courtesy to-night when last we met; but you must remember +that I am but a rude soldier, and accustomed to think far more of what +I consider my duty than of what is polite; and I am sure that my good +news will gain me your forgiveness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If your perseverance have gained tidings of my poor nephew," answered +Mrs. Falkland, "my forgiveness for much graver offences--could Colonel +Manners commit them--would be but a poor recompense."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope Miss Falkland has not suffered at all," continued Manners. But +Mrs. Falkland exclaimed, with a smile, "Not at all, I trust! but, +Colonel Manners, I will not be put off without an answer. You shall +not keep all your good news for Marian, and refuse to let me share. +What have you discovered?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, my dear madam," answered Manners, "I will tell you the candid +truth. I have discovered very little beyond the bare fact, that De +Vaux is in safety, though not well; and you must ask me no more +questions till I can give you satisfactory answers. I am to be +conducted to him, however, this very night, and within an hour of this +time. Miss De Vaux wished to go with me, and we were smiling to think +what sort of story the world would make of her taking a midnight walk +over the moors, and through the woods, with the ugliest colonel of +dragoons in his majesty's service."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But are you obliged to go alone?" asked Mrs. Falkland.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I rather think that is part of my compact," answered Manners; "and I +believe it must be on foot, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you were fatigued an hour ago," replied Mrs. Falkland; "and +though I, selfishly, cannot make up my mind to ask you to put off your +expedition till to-morrow, yet I must prevail on you to take some +refreshment." So saying, she rang the bell, and then went on: "I need +not ask who was your informant; and I feel equally certain that the +tidings are true, because you give them credit, and because you +derived them from him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, I am in the dark," said Marian, "both in regard to this person +you speak of and to Isadore. What made you believe she had suffered +from any accident, Colonel Manners, as you inquired of my aunt just +now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid that the whole story would be too long to tell you at +this moment," answered Manners, while a footman appeared, and Mrs. +Falkland ordered some refreshments to be brought immediately, +"especially as you see I have to sup before I go; nor will I deny that +I need my supper, for, to tell the truth, I have not dined. But Mrs. +Falkland will relate our whole story of this evening when I am gone; +will tell you how your cousin escaped drowning by a miracle; and how +Colonel Manners behaved in a very rude and uncivil manner; and how at +length a compromise was entered into, which reflected more honour upon +his obstinacy than upon his politeness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Colonel Manners, I will not tell her such stories," answered +Mrs. Falkland. "I will tell her, perhaps, that Colonel Manners's duty +as an officer, and his feelings as a man, clashed with her aunt's duty +as a person of her word, and her feelings as a woman; that her aunt +did what she seldom does,--lost her temper; and that Colonel Manners +ended the matter wisely and well, and by his perseverance obtained +joyful tidings without a breach of faith."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are both speaking in mysteries to me," said Marian, rising; "so I +will go and make Isadore tell me the whole in less enigmatical +language. Where is she, my dear aunt?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is in bed," answered Mrs. Falkland, "but not likely to go to +sleep."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In bed!" exclaimed Marian; "then, indeed, it is time that I should go +and see her, for I do not ever remember Isadore having been in bed at +nine o'clock before, and something must be the matter."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, she quitted the room; and left Colonel Manners to take +some refreshment, and to relate, the while, to Mrs. Falkland, as much +as he had time and inclination to tell of his adventure with the +gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fear no danger," he concluded, when he had ascertained by his watch +that the time appointed for his return was approaching--"I fear no +danger, and have every confidence in the extraordinary man who is to +be my guide; but, at the same time, it is always well to be prepared; +and, therefore, I shall not only exchange these heavy riding-boots for +something more fit for walking, but I will take the liberty of adding +a brace of pistols to back my sword in case of need." He then took +leave of Mrs. Falkland; and, after making the alteration he proposed, +once more sallied out, like the knight of La Mancha, with a heart +scarcely less chivalrous, though guided by a mind which happily had +power to restrain and direct the operation of his feelings. Here, +however, the thread of his adventures must be broken off for a while, +in order that we may leave no longer unfilled that void in his history +which now exists between the moment at which we last left him in +conversation with Lord Dewry, and that of his sudden reappearance at +Morley House.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.6" href="#div1Ref_02.6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">At the end of the first chapter of this volume, it may be remembered, +that we left Lord Dewry sitting in the saloon of Dewry Hall with +Colonel Manners. Night had become morning before the messengers for +whom he waited arrived from Dimden; and when they did so, they brought +the tidings that his lordship's well-laid scheme had failed; that no +one had been taken by the keepers but a gipsy boy; and that Sir Roger +Millington, as well as one of the keepers, had been wounded--the first +seriously, the second but slightly. Manners had expected and believed +that the peer would both be disappointed and shocked; but a variety of +emotions naturally sprang from such tidings, in the situation in which +Lord Dewry had placed himself, which could not be understood or +calculated by any one unacquainted with all the dreary secrets of his +heart. He was disappointed, it is true, that Pharold had not been +taken; but he trusted that, with all the means employed against him, +the gipsy would not be able to escape.</p> + +<p class="normal">Far from either shocked or sorry was he, however, that blood had been +spilt in the affray between the keepers and the gipsies, or that death +might ensue; for he saw that his grasp upon Pharold would thereby be +strengthened, though he could have wished, certainly, that the shot +which had been fired had found any other bosom than that of Sir Roger +Millington, from whom much good service remained still to be derived. +Such feelings, of course, produced some effect upon his behaviour, +especially as Colonel Manners's cordial co-operation in his plans, +without making him entirely forget the different principles upon which +they acted, had, in some degree, thrown him off his guard in regard to +the minor points of demeanour. The effect, indeed, was not so striking +as to lead Manners to suspect anything like the truth; but it was +sufficiently marked to call his attention--to appear strange and +unpleasant--and to make him think, "This is one of those pampered sons +of luxury, who only feel where their own immediate comforts are +concerned. He seems to care no more for the people who have been +wounded in his service than if they were things of wood."</p> + +<p class="normal">After a few short comments on the means to be next employed, Manners +retired to the chamber prepared for him, and lay down to rest. He +rose betimes, however: but it was long ere the peer made his +appearance; for, exhausted with activity, and watching, and contending +passions--the most wearing of all the many assailants of life and +strength--he fell into a deeper slumber than he had known for many +years. At length he came, and at a late hour set out with Colonel +Manners for Dimden; but since the preceding night a change had come +over his feelings towards his companion. Then, in agitation, and +horror, and anxiety, he had clung to any one for the sake of society; +and more especially to one whose character and reputation gave him +confidence, and whose warm co-operation afforded support. Now, +however, he was going to hear from his agents the progress of dark and +subtle plans of which Colonel Manners knew nothing--to examine and +speak with persons whom he had engaged in proceedings equally cunning +and unjustifiable; and he could very well have dispensed with the +presence of one whose bold good sense was likely to search and see +further than might be at all convenient.</p> + +<p class="normal">These feelings influenced his demeanour also; and although he could +not be absolutely rude to a person he had so lately courted, and who +was so perfectly independent of him in every respect, yet his manners +were throughout the journey sufficiently cold and repulsive to make +Manners determine to bring their companionship to a close as speedily +as possible. On their arrival at Dimden, the gipsy lad was sent for, +and a few casual questions asked him by the peer, which he repelled by +either obdurate silence or sullen monosyllables. This, however, was +what Lord Dewry for the present desired; but Colonel Manners was +resolved, if possible, to hear more, and he plied the prisoner with +every question which he judged likely to elicit some information +concerning his poor friend De Vaux. Little satisfactory news did he, +indeed, obtain; and, in fact, received no reply to the greater part of +his interrogations. Still the impression upon his mind, from one or +two occasional words which the lad was induced to speak, was strong, +that he at least was ignorant that De Vaux had been murdered, and +thence arose in Manners's mind the first reasonable hope that his +friend might still be living.</p> + +<p class="normal">After the space of nearly an hour thus spent, the youth was removed. +The peer made no comment; but after looking out of the window, called +some of the servants, and inquired after Sir Roger Millington. The +reply was, that the knight suffered considerable agony, and that the +surgeon was with him still.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Colonel Manners, you must excuse me for half an hour, while I visit +my unfortunate friend," said Lord Dewry, with a frigid bow. "My poor +son's death," he added, while his quivering lip, at the very mention +of his son's name, betrayed that on that subject, at least, his heart +was painfully sensible--"my poor son's death, of course, weighs +heavily upon me; but I must not forget my wounded friend. I do not +contemplate being detained longer than half an hour, and then I will +have the honour of setting you down at Morley House as I drive home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not hurry yourself, my lord," answered Manners, calmly: "I have +some inquiries to make concerning my poor friend, and the means that +have been taken to discover anything of his fate; and therefore, as I +sent my horse over to Morley House this morning, I will walk thither. +I wish you good-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">As it was not the peer's wish or intention to deprive himself +altogether of Colonel Manners's influence and support in his further +measures against the gipsy--although he heartily desired his absence +for the time--he changed his tone in some degree, and pressed Manners +to stay; but took care, at the same time, to add such inducements as +he knew were not very likely to have any weight with him, assuring him +that the distance was full five miles, and the road fatiguing and +hilly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners, however, as the peer expected, persisted in his design; and, +taking leave, he walked out into the park, while Lord Dewry left the +room, as if to proceed to the apartment of Sir Roger Millington. +Before following him, however, it may be as well to say, that Manners +did not direct his steps, in the first instance, to Morley House; but +thinking, "His lordship, in his concern for this Sir Roger Millington, +seems entirely to have forgotten the poor keeper they talked of," he +stopped at the gate, and inquired whither the wounded man had been +carried. The old woman at the lodge gave him the necessary direction; +and proceeding to the cottage which she described, Manners entered +with that sort of frank good feeling that stands on no ceremonies +where the object is humane.</p> + +<p class="normal">He found the wounded keeper still suffering considerably; and he found +also, as he had been inclined to suspect, that the attention of the +surgeon having been hitherto occupied by the patient of higher rank, +the keeper had been entirely neglected. He was consequently more ill +and feverish than the nature of his wound would otherwise have +accounted for; and Manners, knowing, from much experience in such +occurrences, that if proper care were not taken, a slight injury might +have a fatal termination, instantly despatched a messenger for the +surgeon who was attending Miss De Vaux, and kindly waited his arrival.</p> + +<p class="normal">In conversation with the keeper, he learned that Pharold had not been +present when the guns were fired, and from him, also, he heard the +particulars of the affray in Dimden Park, the wound the man had +received not having been sufficiently severe to deprive him of the +power of observing everything that occurred around him afterward. By +the whole of his narrative the character of Pharold rose in Manners's +opinion, and his hopes of De Vaux's safety were strengthened: but +still he determined to act as if such hopes did not exist; and +accompanying the surgeon on his late return to the village near Morley +House, he prepared to pursue the search for the gipsy as ardently as +ever. What followed his arrival we have already seen.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the mean while Lord Dewry proceeded through the long and somewhat +dreary galleries of Dimden House to a distant apartment, but not to +the chamber in which the participator in his dark schemes lay on a bed +of agony and distress. The room he sought was solitary; and, ringing +the bell, he ordered Harvey, the head keeper, to be sent to him. The +man was already in the house, waiting his orders, and somewhat +apprehensive of his lord's displeasure at the failure of his plans. +But as long as Pharold was alive and free, there was a demon of fear +in the bosom of Lord Dewry that cowed the more violent passions of his +nature in the presence of those whom he used as his tools. The +consciousness of the designs in which he employed them made him treat +them gently, from vague but anxious surmises that, notwithstanding all +his care, they might suspect the motives of the plans they mingled +with.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although, then, in his heart, he could have felled the keeper to the +earth for letting Pharold escape him. In addressed him mildly when he +presented himself. "Why, how is this, Harvey?" he said: "you have let +the game escape us. There must have been a fault somewhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The fault was in the cursed cowardice of the fellows that were with +me, my lord," replied the keeper; "if they would but have followed me, +we should have taken the blackfaced villain any how. Two or three of +us might have got wounded, but no matter for that; we should have had +him safe here, if they would but have come on. But one fell back, and +another fell back; so that when I had got them up against the wall +there were but two with me, and two could do nothing against a good +dozen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me hear how the whole business took place," said the peer: +"remember that I have no full account of it from any one; and we must +try to remedy what has gone wrong."</p> + +<p class="normal">The park-keeper was, of course, glad enough to tell his story in the +way that best suited him; and he related the events which we already +know according to his own particular version. The first error, he +declared, was, that several of the men whom he had hired for the +purpose of capturing the gipsies were too late at the rendezvous, and +several did not come at all. These disappointments, and the delay they +occasioned, had prevented his taking advantage of the moment when the +gipsies' guns were discharged after the slaughter of the deer, and, as +time lost is never regained, had caused the ultimate failure of his +whole plan. He assured the peer, however, that Pharold had been one of +the party engaged in the destruction of the game; and that he had been +active in the affray wherein Sir Roger Millington and the keeper had +been wounded. Some of the other men, he said, were not very clear +about these facts, but he was ready to swear to it. He then related +how the boy William had been seized by two of his party, who had been +detached for that purpose; and he added a long account of the measures +which he had taken in order to trace the gipsies in their flight.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is the keeper badly wounded?" demanded the peer, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He did not seem bad at first, my lord," replied the man; "but they +say he is much worse this afternoon, and his wife is afraid he will +die."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer muttered something between his teeth, which might be, "So +much the better;" but this sound reached Harvey's ears but +imperfectly, and Lord Dewry went on in a louder tone, "Poor fellow! +have you seen him, Harvey?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not myself, my lord," answered the keeper; "but his wife came up to +see if the doctor could go down, and I spoke with her for a minute."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor fellow!" said the peer; "but we must take care that his murderer +does not escape, Harvey. Have you thought of no way by which we can +catch him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, he is a keen hand, that Pharold, my lord," replied the keeper; +"but I do think we can manage it, if your lordship likes to try."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Try!" said Lord Dewry: "I will make him a rich and happy man, Harvey, +who brings that villain to justice. But how do you think it can be +managed?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, I scarcely know as yet, my lord," answered the keeper; "I have +had sure eyes upon some of the gipsy folks, and think I can make out +whereabouts they have gone to; but Pharold knows better than to go +with them. Besides, he was in the park there, not many hours ago, in +the broad daylight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impudent villain!" cried the peer; "but what in the name of Heaven +could bring him there? Are you sure it was he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I saw him with my own eyes, my lord," replied the keeper; "and had +nearly caught him with my own hands; for we had him pinned in between +seven and eight of us and the river: but without minding us more than +if we had been rabbits, he took to the water like a hard-run fox, and +swam the river outright."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry paused; for there was something in the daring hardihood of +the gipsy congenial to the bold and fearless spirit which had animated +himself in early years; and he felt a sort of stern admiration which +even hatred could not quell. At length, however, he repeated, "But +what could bring him here? He could not be fool enough to come for the +sole purpose of daring his pursuers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, my lord," answered Harvey. "He came after this boy that we +caught, I dare say. The boy may be a bit of a relation, or, at all +events, a friend; and they did not know what had become of him, for +he was taken apart. Now, my lord, I was thinking--if, might be so +bold--that one might, perhaps, turn this boy to some account, and get +him--do you see, my lord?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The mind of the peer had been so long habituated to revolve dark and +tortuous schemes, that it was apt and ready to comprehend the +significant word, or half-spoken hint, which often forms the language +of those who are afraid to give their purposes full utterance. Thus he +gained an instant insight into the nature of the plan which the keeper +had conceived, although he saw not the details; and he answered, "I do +see, Harvey, I do see! That is to say, I see what you mean; but I do +not see how it is to be managed. If the boy had any means of +communicating with his own gang, he might, perhaps, lure the chief +villain of the whole into our net; but we know not where they are, and +he, in all probability, is still more ignorant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know well enough where a part of them are," answered the keeper. +"Some went down towards the water, and I cannot trace them: but some, +for a certainty, went across the common to the Dingley wood, where +they are still, I am sure; and I should not wonder if the others soon +joined them, for it is uncommon what a fancy those gipsies have for +sticking to each other, especially in misfortune; and I should not +wonder if they were to hang about here till they hear what becomes of +this lad. He may be Pharold's son, for any thing I know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would that he were! would that he were!" cried the peer, vehemently, +the memory of his own son crossing the confused crowd of other +thoughts that pressed upon his brain. "Would that he were! I would +find the means to wring his heart. But still," he added, after pausing +for some moments on the pleasant thoughts of revenge--"but still the +boy is cut off from all communication with them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But we can let him have some, if your lordship pleases," said the +keeper. "If your lordship remembers, I told you of a man named Harry +Saxon, who always has a good deal to do with poachers and such like, +and who put these gipsies up to the deer-stealing. Now we could let +him get speech of the boy; and if any one heard of it, we would say it +was only to see whether he could swear to the youth, and he would soon +take any message to his people for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But will he undertake the task? and can we depend upon him?" asked +the peer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, ye--s, my lord, I think we may," answered Harvey, thoughtfully. +"He's a good sort of a man enough; and besides, I rather think I could +send him across the water to Botany, if I liked, for something I saw +him do one day, and he knows it too; and so he is always very civil +and obliging to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well may he be so," replied the peer, with a curling lip. "But can +you get at him soon? There's no time to be lost in such a business."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can get at him in a minute," answered the keeper; "for he came up +to my house about an hour ago; and he is in a bit of a fright about +all this bad business of the shooting. So I told him to stay there +till I had seen your lordship, and I would tell him how things went +when I came back."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go and bring him then," said the peer quickly--"go and bring him--yet +stay a moment, Harvey. Let me consider what is to be done when he does +come. He is to be admitted to speech of this gipsy lad; and what +then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, my lord, I dare say the boy can be frightened into sending a +message to Pharold to come down and help him out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, no," said the peer, "it must be better arranged than that. +Let me see. The windows of the strong room look out into the close +wood, and any one from the outside could saw away the iron bars. Yes, +that will do. But the lad himself must be tutored in the first place. +Quick, then, Harvey, go and bring your friend; and in the meantime I +will see the boy alone. Do not come in till you hear that I have sent +for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The keeper retired, and the peer again rang the bell, to direct that +the young gipsy should be brought before him once more. His orders +were promptly obeyed, and two stout fellows appeared, with the +prisoner between them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave him with me," said the peer, as soon as they had brought him +two or three steps forward in the room. The men, who had calculated on +enjoying all the pleasures of a cross-examination, and who had even in +their hearts formed the aspiration that they hoped his lordship would +pump him well, stared with some mortification at being excluded from +witnessing the mental torture of their fellow-creature; but Lord +Dewry, who read something of the kind in their countenances, not only +repeated his command, but bade them wait at the end of the adjoining +passage till they were joined by Harvey, the head keeper. There was no +resource; and therefore they obeyed, shutting the door, and leaving +the peer face to face with the captive.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy youth might be eighteen or nineteen years of age; that +season of life when enjoyment is in its first freshness; when all the +world is as bright, and as sweet, and as sparkling as a summer +morning; when imagination and passion are setting out hand in hand +upon the ardent race that soon wearies them, and when memory follows +them quick, gathering up the flowers that they pluck and cast away as +they go, but not as yet burdened with any of the cares, or sorrows, or +disappointments which they are destined to encounter in the end: he +was, in fact, at that age when life is the sweetest. His form was full +of nascent vigour, and his face was fine; but his whole countenance, +though speaking, by its variety and play of feature, active +imagination, and perhaps a degree of enterprise, betrayed a sort of +uncertain, undecided expression, which is never to be seen in the face +of the firm and the determined. The peer gazed on him for a moment, +seeing all, and calculating all, in order to work upon his prisoner's +mind by both his circumstances and his weaknesses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very young," he said at length, in a tone of stern +gravity--"you are very young to be engaged in crimes like these. What +is your age?"</p> + +<p class="normal">That sort of dogged sullenness, half shyness, half hatred, which a +contemned and separate race are from their infancy taught by nature to +display towards their oppressors, was the only source of resistance in +the character of the young gipsy, whose powers of resolution were +naturally small, and whose mind was unfortified by firm and vigorous +principles of any kind. It was sufficient in the present instance, +however, to keep him silent; and he stood, with his dark eyes fixed +upon the ground, and his arms hanging by his side, apparently as +unmoved as if the peer had addressed him in a language that he did not +comprehend.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very young," repeated Lord Dewry, after waiting some time in +vain for an answer--"you are very young to be engaged in crimes like +these. Life must be sweet to you: there must be a thousand pleasures +that you are just beginning to enjoy, a thousand hopes of greater +pleasures hereafter; there must be many friends that you grieve to +part with--and some," he added, seeing the youth's lip quiver--"and +some that, doubtless, you love beyond anything on earth."</p> + +<p class="normal">A tear rolled over the rich brown cheek of the gipsy boy, and betrayed +that he not only understood what was said to him, but felt every word +at his heart's core, as the peer, with barbarous skill, sought out +every fresh wound in his bosom, and tearing them open one by one, +poured in the rankling poison of insincere commiseration. "Ah!" +continued Lord Dewry, "it is sad and terrible, indeed, to think of +being--at the very moment when one is the happiest--at the very moment +when one loves one's friends the best--at the very moment, perhaps, +when all our hopes are about to be fulfilled--to think of being cut +off from them all, and to die a horrid and painful death! and yet such +must be your fate, my poor boy; such must be inevitably your fate, as +a punishment for the murder committed in my park last night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I murdered no one," cried the youth, with a convulsive sob, that +nearly rendered what he said unintelligible. "I murdered no one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But your companions did," answered the peer, glad to have forced him +into breaking silence. "You were not present, it is true; but you +trespassed on my park for evil purposes with those who did commit +murder, and are therefore an accessary to the deed. Banish all hope, +poor boy; for to-morrow I must certainly commit you to the county +jail, from which you will only go to trial and to execution. I am +sorry for you, I grieve for you, to think that you must never see +again those you love; that you must be cut off in the prime of youth +and happiness--I grieve for you, indeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then why do you not let me out?" cried the lad. "If you grieve for +me, let me run away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is impossible," answered the peer; "but perhaps I may do +something to make your fate less bitter. Death you must undergo; but +in the mean time I may soften the strictness of your imprisonment. Is +there any one whom you would wish to see--any of your friends and +companions who might comfort you by coming to visit you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the use, if I must die?" said the gipsy, sullenly, dropping +his tearful eyes to the ground, and clenching tighter his clasped +hands together; but Lord Dewry saw that there was something more +working in his mind, and warily held his peace. "There is none I +should like to see but Lena," said the gipsy at length, with a deep +sigh; "and Pharold would not let her come, even if I were to ask."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not?" demanded the peer, affecting as much unconcern as it +was possible for him to assume when coming near the very subject of +his wishes. "Why would any one prevent her from coming, if it would +comfort you? He must be very cruel to deny you, when you have so short +a time to live."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, he is not cruel," said the youth; "he is hard, but not cruel; but +he would not let her come, do you see, because a year ago I was to +have had Lena for my wife--at least so Mother Gray always told me: but +then Pharold loved her; and though her own love did not lie that way, +her mother, when she was dying, herself gave Lena to him, because he +was better able to take care of her than any one else. And he does not +love to see Lena speak to me, I know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So he took your bride from you," said the peer, not a little +delighted to hear tidings which promised so fairly for success; "he +took your bride from you, and now he is jealous of you. Well, then, +listen to me, and mark well what I am about to say. Your fate is in +your own hands. You are left to choose between life and death!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth gazed dully in his face for a moment, as if he did not +comprehend his words at first; but the next instant he burst forth, +"Life, life, life, then!" cried he, clasping his hands together, and +raising his eyes beaming with new hope: "life, oh, I choose life!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is but one way, however," replied the peer, "by which you can +obtain it. This Pharold, this very man who took away your bride, I +have every reason to believe killed my brother and murdered my son."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then that is the way he gets money, no one knows how," cried the +youth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most probably it is," answered Lord Dewry; "but mark me, if you can +contrive a means to get him into my power, you shall not only go free, +but have a large reward. This is your only chance for life."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad's countenance fell in a moment. He was young, and the better +spirit was the first to act. "No, no," he cried; "I hate Pharold, but +I will not betray him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you must die," said the peer, sternly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The better spirit was still predominant: no image presented itself to +the youth's mind but that of betraying the chief of his tribe. He +thought not for the moment of the loveliness of life, he thought not +of the horrors of death, he remembered not either love or hate, in the +strong impression of a duty which had been fixed in his heart from +childhood; and he answered in a low sad tone, "Then die I will."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But think," said the peer, who had anticipated the first effect of +his proposal, and reserved every stronger inducement, every palliating +argument, to tempt and to excuse the unhappy youth, when the immediate +impression was over--"think what it is you choose--imprisonment in a +close room by yourself for several days; then trial and condemnation, +and then death upon a gibbet, with nobody to comfort you, nobody to +speak to you; but you must go through the horror, and the agony, and +the shame all alone and unsupported." The boy shuddered, and the peer +proceeded, changing the picture, however:--"This is what you choose. +Now what is it you cast away?--life, and happiness, and more wealth +than ever you knew, and most probably the possession of the girl you +love best upon the earth."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer was experienced in temptations; for he had undergone and +yielded to them himself, and he knew, by the dark histories of his own +heart, all the wiles and artifices by which the fiend lures on +successfully even the firm and the determined to acts at which they +have shuddered in their days of innocence.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young gipsy listened, and hesitated, and felt all his resolutions +give way; but so fearful was the struggle in his bosom, that his limbs +trembled and his teeth chattered as if he had been shaken by an ague. +The keen eye that was upon him, however, did not fail to mark and +understand his emotion; and Lord Dewry proceeded, "Well may Lena think +you love her but little, when you scruple, by a few words, to break +the hateful bonds that tie her to this murderer Pharold, and when you +have the power to make her your own, yet refuse to use it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I tell you," cried the boy, vehemently, "that Lena would never +consent; that even if she were to know that I had done such a thing +she would hate me and curse me; that I should be driven forth from my +people, and never see her more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But neither she nor any one else," replied the peer, "need ever know +one circumstance about it. If you will undertake to do what I wish, I +will tell you a plan by which it may be accomplished, without any +being on the earth knowing it but you and I."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if Pharold should be innocent," said the youth, "the guiltless +blood would be upon my hand, and it would curse me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But if Pharold be innocent, his blood shall not be shed," replied the +peer: "let him prove his innocence, and he shall go as free as you; +but he cannot prove his innocence, for he is guilty; and you, in +delivering him up, do but what is right and good; you do but avenge +the innocent blood he has shed, though at the same time you gain for +yourself life, and liberty, and happiness, and the girl that you +love."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, well!" cried the boy, "tell me what it is I am to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you undertake it?" demanded the peer, eagerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If," answered the gipsy--for probably there was never yet a crime +committed, in regard to which the criminal did not propose some +palliating motive, in order to deceive his own heart at the time, and +to calm the anticipated reproaches of his conscience thereafter--"if +you will promise, by God and the heavens, that, if Pharold is +innocent, you will let him go free."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry paused for an instant. It is strange, but no less true than +strange, that the mind not only habituates itself to evil, but +habituates itself to a particular course of evil, and the same person +who will boldly reiterate a crime to which he is accustomed, will +start at a much less heinous offence, if it be new to his habits. +Thus, Lord Dewry paused for an instant ere he swore to a promise which +he intended to evade; but he soon remembered that, in the course which +he was pursuing, there was no halting at so airy a thing as an oath; +and he replied, "By all that is sacred, he shall go free, if he proves +himself innocent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then," said the youth, "I will do what you wish; but, oh, if +you deceive me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Deceive you in what?" demanded the peer. "I have promised that, if he +prove himself innocent, he shall of course go free: it is but just."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it was not of that I spoke," said the gipsy: "I thought if you +were to deceive me into trapping Pharold, and then not to let me go +myself!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"On my honour! on my soul!" cried the peer, with a ready vehemence, +which convinced the youth more easily than would have been possible, +if he had known how often men pledge their honour and their soul when +the real jewels are no longer theirs--when their true honour has been +lost for years, and their soul pawned deeply to an eternal foe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," he answered, "I will do it. Tell me how it is to be +done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me first," said the peer: "this Pharold--he is jealous of you, +it seems?" The boy smiled faintly. "Will he, then, take sufficient +interest in your fate to attempt to rescue you, if he thinks there is +a probability of success?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That he will!" answered the youth; "besides, if I could get at Lena, +she would persuade him. But how can I get at her? She will not come +here, and I cannot go to her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But do you think that if you were to send a message to her," demanded +Lord Dewry, "that she would try to persuade him to attempt your +rescue, and that she has influence enough to work him to her purpose?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That she has, that she has," answered the gipsy: "Pharold often gives +her a cross word; but when she likes to try, she can always get her +own way, for all that. But how can I send a message to her? I know not +where she is, nor where Pharold is; though once, as I looked out +through the bars of the window this morning, I thought I saw him +through the gray mist, standing under the distant trees, and watching +the house. But they may have gone far before this time; yet, if you +were to let me out for a few hours, I would soon find them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will seek a better way," answered the peer, without taking any +further notice of the simple cunning with which the youth spoke. "I +hear from my gamekeepers that a man from one of the neighbouring +villages has been inquiring for you, and most likely he knows where +your friends and companions are. Now, as you promise to do what I ask, +he shall be admitted to see you, and you must send to Lena whatever +message you think will induce her to persuade Pharold to come to your +rescue."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the boy; "but I must first know how he can rescue me, for +Pharold will never come unless he thinks it likely. Ay, and the story +must be a clever one, too; for he is as cunning as a sentinel-crow, +and smells powder at a mile's distance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must leave you to frame the story as you think best," replied the +peer; "but you can tell your fair Lena that if Pharold will come to +your prison-window with a sharp file or a sledge-hammer, he can easily +set you free by breaking the bars of iron that cross the opening. You +may add, that there is never any one on that side of the house all +night, and so that he will be perfectly safe."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad hung down his head; and the hot blood of shame, as he thought +of what he was undertaking, rushed from his heart to his cheeks. There +was again a momentary struggle, but the good had been conquered once +already; and the thought of life, and Lena, and happiness, and freedom +from the oppressive terror that weighed down his heart in his prison, +got the better of everything besides; and he replied, "But what shall +I do if they thrust the file and the sledge-hammer through the bars to +me, and bid me work for myself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry instantly saw the validity of the youth's objection, and +the probability that Pharold, instead of coming himself, would send +some woman or some child with the implements which might be necessary +for setting the prisoner at liberty. "You must tell them," he said, +after some minutes' thought, "that you are so tied that you cannot cut +through the bars for yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the man who gives them the message will see that I am not tied," +replied the youth; and, after pausing for a few moments, he added, +"No, no; I have thought of a better way. I will not trust him with any +particulars: I will bid him ask Lena and Mother Gray to work Pharold +to get me out; but, at all events, for some one of them to come down, +and speak with me through the bars to-night, and then I can make them +do what I want. But you must let them go, remember!" he exclaimed. +"You must not stop the women if they come."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall certainly stop none but Pharold," answered the peer: "the +rest may come and go as they like. But only do not you trifle with me; +for be you sure that you shall not only not have your liberty, but +that, if Pharold be not in my power before to-morrow night is over, +you shall be sent to the county-jail for instant trial."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how," said the youth, whose shyness was fast wearing away--"and +how am I to get my liberty when Pharold is in your power?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The door shall be set open," answered the peer, "and you shall go out +freely."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how can I be sure of that?" he demanded again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You may keep us both, for aught I know. Will you write it down? for I +have heard that you Englishmen are more bound by what is written than +by what is said."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry again paused for a moment, somewhat embarrassed; but after +revolving the probable consequences in his mind for some time, he +replied, "I will write it down, if you require it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do--do, then," said the youth; and the peer, ringing the bell, +ordered writing-materials to be brought. As soon as they arrived, he +sat down, and drew up a promise, artfully couched in such terms as he +felt sure could not, in the slightest degree, implicate his character +or betray his real views, if ever it should be produced against him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As the prisoner," so the writing ran, "now in custody at Dimden, +is apparently only an accessary, and not a principal, in the crime +lately committed at this place, I hereby promise him, on condition of +his placing in the hands of justice the notorious felon Pharold, +against whom various warrants have issued, at present unsuccessfully, +that he shall be immediately set at liberty, as soon as he has +accomplished the same. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my +hand, this---- day of ----," &c. &c.</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth's eyes sparkled as he read; and the prospect of liberty and +safety which opened before him blotted out at once from memory the +dark and villanous step which he must take to reach them. "I will do +it! I will do it!" he cried; "but you must let me do it my own way, +for I must not let anyone in the whole world know that it is my doing. +It must seem that he is taken by accident, while helping me, and that +I have made my escape in the meantime; and then I shall be free, and +Lena will be mine!" And the youth clapped his hands in the vehemence +of reawakened hope.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," said the peer, his anxiety for his ultimate object +coming eagerly upon him as soon as his immediate purpose was +accomplished--"well, well, the man I spoke of shall have admittance to +you immediately. But, remember, you must lose no time; for the longest +space I can afford you is this night and to-morrow night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Some of the women will come to me to-night," answered the youth; "and +to-morrow night, fear not, Pharold shall stand under the window of the +prison-room, some time between the rising of the moon and the sun. So +watch well, and if you take him not it is your own fault."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So be it, then," said the peer; "and now you must return to speak +with the person I mentioned, who shall soon be sent to you." Thus +saying, Lord Dewry called back the two men who had brought the young +gipsy thither; and, after bidding them take him back to the strong +room, told them, in his hearing, as an earnest of his good-will, to +let him have everything that could render him comfortable in strict +imprisonment. As soon as the men appeared, the boy resumed his look of +sullen shyness; and, hanging his head, followed them in silence from +the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">The moment he had departed, the peer sent to inquire for the keeper, +who had not yet returned, however; and Lord Dewry was kept for a short +time under the irritation of his own impatient spirit. At length +Harvey appeared, followed by his confederate, Harry Saxon; and it +would have given sincere pleasure to a disciple of Lavater to see how +well this worthy's countenance corresponded with his actions.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was a man of about five-and-forty, and what many people would call +a good-looking man; that is to say, he had a fresh country complexion, +a high large nose, with small nostrils, a capacious mouth, furnished +with white and regular teeth, a small keen black eye, under a very +overhanging and observing brow, a forehead low, but broad, and +surmounted with a layer of fine jet-black hair, smoothed down, and +polished with the most careful and scrupulous precision. His dress, +without being exactly that of a gamekeeper, had a sufficient portion +of the style usually attributed to that class to show his hankering +after the beasts of the field. His coat was green, and on the buttons +thereof appeared, not alone the fox, that most sagacious animal, but a +variety of birds and beasts, so comprehensive in their number, and so +limited in their kind, that his garment formed a very excellent +hieroglyphical abstract of the game act. Leathern gaiters, with small +round leathern buttons, cased a pair of sturdy legs, and defended them +from the brambles of those paths he most frequented; and a pair of +hedger's gloves upon his hands seemed well calculated to grope for +springes and gins amid the thorny ways of life.</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer surveyed him, as he entered, with the keen eye of worldly +experience, and saw that he was a man to be depended on by those who +could pay him well. After a brief question or two, to which the other +replied with sly significance, the peer explained to him the +ostensible object he had in view; namely, that of securing the +apprehension of a gipsy felon called Pharold, by the instrumentality +of the boy they had taken on the preceding night, and asked him if he +were willing to undertake the part he was to play, and to perform it +carefully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are, I hear," he added, with some degree of irony, "in some way +acquainted with these gipsies, and may, therefore, not like to bring +one of them to justice. If it be so, speak, and we will find some +other person."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, my lord," answered the man. "A gipsy! why, I hate a gipsy! +they come in and spoil every thing like the regular trade. No, no, +hang 'em all for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry did not pause to inquire what Harry Saxon called the +regular trade; but replied, "Well, if such be your opinion, go in and +speak to this lad. Do not let him know that you have had any +conversation with me upon the subject; but offer to do anything for +him that you can; and when you have heard what he has to say, come +back and let me know the result."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer added an injunction to be quick; and Harry Saxon was +conducted, by his worthy associate Harvey, to the strong room in which +the gipsy lad had been confined.</p> + +<p class="normal">The chamber would have been in every respect a comfortable one, had +not the doors and windows been furnished on the outside with those +appurtenances, obnoxious to all comfort, called bolts and bars. The +house had been constructed when population was much thinner than at +present, and when it was necessary that the dwelling of a magistrate, +if situated far from any great town, should be provided with some +place in which a prisoner might be confined for a few hours; for this +purpose the room we speak of had been selected and fitted up, both on +account of the distance at which it lay from the more frequented parts +of the building, and of its proximity to a large old hall, which +formed the extreme wing of the house, and topped the bank overhanging +the river. This hall had often served, in cases of necessity, as a +justice-room in the olden times; and though many years had elapsed +since it had been employed on any very important occasion, yet even of +later days it had been used for the meeting of magistrates and county +functionaries, when anything caused them to assemble in that part of +the country.</p> + +<p class="normal">The strong room, however, had never been intended for anything but +temporary purposes, and was not at all calculated for securing a +strong and determined prisoner for any length of time, as the windows, +which opened into the park, were only closed by iron bars, which, as +the peer had hinted, might easily be filed away from within, or forced +off from without. These bars the boy took care to examine minutely as +soon as he was taken back to the place of his confinement; and he then +turned his eyes to the park beyond, to ascertain how far the plan he +had to propose to Pharold would be recommended by the probability of +its success.</p> + +<p class="normal">A grove of old oaks and chestnuts came up nearly to the windows, so +that there was plenty of shade to conceal any one who approached, +except in the full light of day. But as he gazed, the boy's thoughts +were soon drawn away from the dark scheme which the peer had suggested +to him by the sight of the world beyond his prison. Through the wide +spaces between the trees the lawns and savannas of the park were to be +distinguished, with other woods and groves beyond. The soft evening +sunshine was sleeping upon the slopes and glistening on the river; and +the deer were seen walking calm and free through the long dry autumn +grass, while the call of the partridge sounded from some distant +fields, and everything spoke of liberty, and happiness, and peace. The +influence of the scene sank deep into his heart, as he stood separated +from his people, barred in from the free and beautiful world, and, for +the first time in his existence, confined to the close atmosphere of +one small solitary room. It sank deep into his bosom; but, like the +fabled amreeta cup of one of our truest poets, many of the sweetest +things on earth are productive of good or evil according to the lip +that tastes them. While he gazed, the passionate love of wild +unrestrained liberty, and of nature, in which his heart had been +nurtured from infancy, grew overpowering. To be free--to bound away +over those sunny fields--to cast bars and bolts behind him--became a +passion and burning thirst: better principles were wanting to teach +him to endure; and had the price of liberty, at that moment, been a +parricide, he would have dipped his hands in parental blood. Nerved by +the passionate desire, he seized the bars of iron in his hands, and +strove to tear them open; but their strength resisted all his efforts, +and he burst into tears to think that he must remain another day in +bondage.</p> + +<p class="normal">His eyes were still wet when the door opened, and the insidious +prompter of the enterprise which had deprived him of his liberty +entered the room. The youth, however, was, like the rest of the +gipsies, ignorant that they had been betrayed; and although he had +only seen the man once, he now received him gladly as an acquaintance +and a friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">Their conversation lasted about ten minutes, and at the end of that +time the emissary returned to the peer to report what had just passed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," demanded Lord Dewry, "with what message has he charged +you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very short one, my lord," answered the man: "he bade me seek out +old Mother Gray, or some of the women, and tell them to come down to +speak with him at the window to-night; so, I take it, that won't suit +your lordship's purpose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it will," answered the peer. "He will, probably, employ the +women to work upon the men."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, ay, plough with the heifer," answered the other; "but I may as +well, if your lordship has no objection, set them on the right track +myself; and I will answer for it, I get them to persuade old Pharold +to come down himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is a very large reward offered," answered the peer, dryly, "to +any one who will contribute to place him in the hands of justice; and +if you are successful in the attempt you shall not lose the reward. +But do you think you can find these gipsies?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, from what Dick Harvey says, my lord," he replied, "I think there +can be no doubt that I can find the women part of them, though, most +likely, the men are hiding away--and no bad job either; for they might +fancy I had some hand in the last night's job--but, howsomever, if I +can find the women, they'll make the men do what they like easy +enough. So, if your lordship will keep a good watch round the strong +room, without letting the folks show themselves till they are sure of +their man, I think we may calculate upon Master Pharold pretty +certain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In which case your reward is certain, too," answered the peer; "but +now make haste upon your errand, my good man, for the sun will soon be +going down, and you have but little time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I don't dislike a walk in the twilight," replied the fellow; and, +bowing low, but with a somewhat too familiar grin, he took his leave +and retired.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry immediately proceeded to give orders for a strict watch to +be kept upon the windows of the strong room during the two following +nights; and took measures that an ambush should be laid in the +immediate vicinity, in such a manner that any person approaching could +not escape; but, at the same time, he carefully directed that if none +but women appeared, they should be permitted to go as they came, not +only without molestation, but with every precaution to prevent the +least appearance of unusual watch.</p> + +<p class="normal">This being done, he turned his steps towards the chamber of Sir Roger +Millington, for whose life the unfavourable opinion of the surgeon +gave him no slight apprehension.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.7" href="#div1Ref_02.7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The person against whom so many subtle contrivances were directed, on +leaving Colonel Manners, as we have described in a foregoing chapter, +turned his steps towards the wood in which his own companions had +sought refuge after the unfortunate events of the preceding night. If +the reader will cast his eye upon the county map, he will see that, +avoiding Morley Down, he skirted along the hill, the summit of which +it crowned; and then, after following for a little way that part of +the high-road which traversed the little isthmus, in the neighbourhood +of which he had saved the life of Isadore Falkland, he struck soon +after into the forest on the right. As he came not from the same side +on which his comrades had entered the wood, his search for them was +not without difficulty; but it is wonderful with what keen tact +persons accustomed to such scenes and circumstances take advantage of +slight and apparently insignificant indications to guide them on their +way. A branch brushed aside, a trodden-down flower, the sight, or even +the smell of smoke, the least sound of the human voice, will each aid +them in their search; and by means of this kind Pharold, ere long, +discovered the little glen in which his whole party had found an +asylum.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the moment he approached, had his keen mind not been engaged with +many another thought, he might have remarked that there was some +degree of bustle and consultation among the gipsies, which ceased as +he came up. All, however, appeared glad to see him safe; and all +crowded round to express the anxiety they had felt during his absence, +and to question him as to the events which had befallen him. Lena hung +upon his arm with evident pleasure at his return; but the fondness she +displayed was more like that of a child towards a parent than that of +a wife for a husband.</p> + +<p class="normal">In answer to the inquiries of the whole party, Pharold--after having +seated himself in the midst, and demanded some refreshment, which was +speedily procured--related, briefly, all that had occurred as far as +his own perils went. Of Colonel Manners he spoke as of a stranger, and +neither noticed their encounter nor his promise of again meeting him, +though he told the group around that ere an hour was over he must +again set forth on matters of import not to be delayed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I hope, at all events, that you are going to get poor Will +out," said the old woman we have so often mentioned. "Poor boy! he has +a hard fate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope," said Lena, seeing that Pharold made no answer--"I hope--" but +then she stopped, as if afraid of offending him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what do you hope, Lena?" said Pharold, gravely, but not so +sternly as was often his wont.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope," she said, more boldly, but with the colour coming up in her +brown cheek--"I hope that some means will be found to set the poor boy +free, for I am sure he was not the guilty person."</p> + +<p class="normal">As she spoke Pharold gazed on her with such grave earnestness that her +latter words faltered; and even after she had concluded he still kept +his eyes fixed upon her in silence, till one of the men, who had +accompanied Dickon on the deer-stealing expedition, joined into +corroborate her words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," said the man, "he was not so guilty as any of us. Dickon +persuaded the rest of us, and we persuaded him; but it was a hard +matter to do so; and then, after all, he never fired a gun."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Pharold, "I have done my utmost to free him: but he is in +the hands of our enemies, who are keen, and vigilant, and many; and I +see no way of delivering him from them but by force, which I will not +employ, first, because it would fail; and next, because it would be +sacrificing many of the innocent to deliver one who, though less +guilty than others, is still culpable. I see no other way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, but there is another way, Pharold," said the old woman: "they say +that he is confined in what they call the strong room."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They say!" exclaimed Pharold, hastily--"they say! Some one has been +with you: speak, who has been here? or has any one gone forth when I +forbade it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman only grinned at having betrayed herself, as Pharold +looked sternly round upon the circle; but Lena cast herself upon his +bosom, saying, "Tell him the truth! Oh, tell him the truth! It is +always better to tell him the truth! Well, if no one else will, I +will. Some one has been here, Pharold--some one who has seen the poor +boy in prison; and he told us all how wretched he is, and also he said +that William himself had sent him to us to say, that if any one would +come down to-night or to-morrow night to the window of the room where +he is lying, they could easily wrench off the iron bars that kept him +in, and set him free at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And who was the person that he sent?" demanded Pharold, sternly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, it was just Harry Saxon, the game-sneaker," answered the old +woman; "who else should it be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A dastardly villain!" said Pharold, hastily; "fit to betray us all: +speak no more of it. I know that man of old, and would not trust him +with the life of a child, if he could gain by its destruction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He seemed honest enough in this business," said the man called Brown; +"for he told us all how he had got in to see the lad, and how he had +traced us hither. He took some blame to himself, too, in the business +of the deer-stealing, for he was to have bought the venison from +Dickon; and that was the reason why he went to see poor Will in +prison, and was willing to do what he could to get him out. Now I +would not promise to go till I knew what you thought of it, Pharold; +but if you like, I will go down to-night, for, as to the man betraying +us, you see I have no fear, because, if he had liked, he could have +brought people to nab us all here. So I will go and try what I can +do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But did not Will say particularly," cried the shrill tones of the old +woman, "that it must be some one who knew the place well, or they +would get into a mess? If you go, Brown, you'll only get caught +yourself, and spoil a hopeful plan for setting poor William free. +There is no one that knows the place well but Pharold and I, because +we know it of old; and as Pharold is afraid to go any more, I would go +with all my heart, if I were strong enough to get the bars off: I +could have done it once, as well as the best man among you; but I am +an old woman now. As for that, Pharold knows the place better than I +do a great deal, for he lived in that very house for many a month, +and--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold your peace, hold your peace, woman," interrupted Pharold. "The +boy said to-night or to-morrow, did he not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, to-night or to-morrow," answered Brown; "but to-night were best, +for who knows what may happen before to-morrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-night I cannot go," answered Pharold, "for I have pledged my word +to be elsewhere, and I do not break my word: but to-morrow I will go; +and I think that, perhaps, after all, I may be able to set him free. +In the meantime, however, you, Mother Gray, shall go down this very +night, to reward you for all the share you have had in the matter. +You know the strong room window, just in the angle, by the great hall. +Get ye down thither at midnight; and tell the boy that I will come +to-morrow night: bid him keep a good watch; and if he sees any one +lurking about, as if watching, let him sing some of the songs that he +sings so well, to warn me. You look out well, too, and mark everything +about you, to tell me when I come back. You were never the wisest or +the best, but I do not think you such a devil as to betray one +wilfully."</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked sternly and keenly at her, but the beldam only answered in a +jeering tone, "No, no, Pharold, though I love you as much as a young +sparrow loves a cuckoo poult, I'll not betray you, man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go, then," said Pharold, "as soon as it is midnight: examine +everything well; and tell the boy, through the bars of the window, +that, although he deserves to suffer the consequences of his fault, +yet we will do our best to rescue him for his youth's sake."</p> + +<p class="normal">It is always some consolation to those who lie under the command of a +superior mind to be permitted to sneer at what they dare not disobey; +and the old woman, while she listened, gave way to all those grins, +and winks, and nods, the boldness of which she fancied might +counterbalance, in the opinion of those around, her degradation in +submitting quietly to the orders of one who treated her with such +unceremonious censure. She was secured, however, by Pharold's scorn, +against any notice of her malice, as far as he himself was concerned; +and without seeming to observe the affectation of contempt with which +she heard him, he turned to the rest, and gave directions for +immediately removing their encampment to another spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quarter of a mile farther," he said, "you will come to a clear +stream, broad but not deep, flowing from the heart of the wood, over a +bed of sand and small clear stones. You can drive the carts up through +the water till you reach a place where the banks are flat; and there, +under the oaks and among the hazel-bushes, you will find plenty of +room and shelter. You, Brown, take every precaution you can to prevent +the slightest trace being left of the course you have followed; make +the people wade along the water--it is not deep enough to cover their +ankles; send them, too, by different parties and in different ways; +for remember that, because one of our number has killed two deer, the +whole world, that hated us before, will now think themselves justified +to hunt us down like foxes.--I can stay with you no longer, for the +hour I named is near at hand--I am wearied and sad, and I feel as if +the end were coming; but still I must keep my word, and do as I have +done to the last."</p> + +<p class="normal">Some tears, from mixed emotions that would have defied analysis, had +filled the eyes of the beautiful girl that reclined by his side; and +as Pharold rose to depart, he saw them still glistening there. Taking +her hand, he beckoned her with him, saying, "Come with me for a +moment, Lena: I would speak with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">She followed, and for about a hundred yards he led her on in silence; +and then, turning round, he pressed a kiss upon her lips:--"Remember +me, Lena," he said, "when I am dead. Ever, at this hour, whatever may +happen to you, whatever changes may befall, think of Pharold for a +few short minutes; and mark what I tell you, each time you think of +him--whatever you may feel now;--you shall regret him more, till, on +your dying day, you shall love Pharold as Pharold now loves you. +Remember, Lena, remember, remember!" and, turning away, he left her +with her bright eyes dropping fast unwonted tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alas, alas! the constancy and resolution of youth, what frail things +they are! and how fast the ephemeral feelings and purposes of the hour +give place to others as frail and vain! When Lena turned away from +Pharold, she had believed that for no boon on earth would she do aught +that could offend him; but ere many minutes were over, she was +listening to the persuasions of the old woman, that had led all those +wrong who had confided in her, and was combating faintly and more +faintly the arguments which age and cunning used to induce her to +visit that night the place where her unhappy lover was confined. Lena +listened and resisted, till she listened and yielded; and midnight +found her standing with the old woman under the window of the strong +room in Dimden Park.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the mean while Pharold pursued his way to rejoin Colonel Manners; +but there seemed to be some bitter feeling sitting heavy at his heart. +The light and agile step had become slow; the quick, keen eyes were +bent thoughtfully upon the ground; more than one sad sigh burst from +his bosom; and the spirit and the heart seemed to mourn. It might be +that Pharold perceived that he was not loved; it might be that he felt +he had set the whole fortunes of his being upon a hazardous chance; +but as we have not paused to trace his love, we shall not dwell long +upon his disappointment. Other feelings, too, such as, more or less +modified by circumstances, will cross the mind of every imaginative +and sensitive man, now rushed upon him, rendered tenfold more strong +in his case than in that of others, by the prejudices of his people, +and the wild and varying habits of his race. Feelings of superstition, +and vague, rambling, fanciful speculations upon all those indications +of human destiny, gathered from external objects, in which his tribe +believe, now mingled themselves with jealous doubts and apprehensions, +and appealed to his own heart for belief or rejection in his own +individual instance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am coming to the crosses," he murmured, as he walked along--"I am +coming to the crosses of life; and the end is not far off! I have seen +those who obeyed me once, rise up against my will. I have been +persecuted and hunted for faults not my own: I have been overcome by a +creature like myself, with no odds against me; and I have learned to +doubt those I love. Ah! and that she, too, should think of another! +Woman, woman! Care, instruction, and kind reproof but offend thee! +love and tenderness but spoil thee! Affection, and worth, and honour +are to thee but as nothing! In danger thou clingest to us! In peace +and security thou leavest us! The things which attract thee are the +lightest of qualities and the vainest of transitory things; and with +what cords shall we bind thee, even when once thou art caught? Vain, +vain, empty butterfly! indifference and reckless carelessness are the +things which win thee the most surely, and which most truly thou +meritest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such were the first outpourings of a heart jealous of affection; but +as Pharold walked on, the belief that Lena's love might be given to +another was softened by reflection, and he began to think he had done +her wrong. He remembered the tears he had seen in her eyes; he thought +of many a testimony of girlish regard which she had displayed towards +him: he called to mind many of the finer traits of her heart and mind +which had first attracted him, and which he had striven to cultivate; +and he again began to trust that she would not suffer one thought to +stray from him who had become her husband. The feeling of that vast +disparity of age which existed between them did, indeed, ever mingle +with such hopes, and, as it had often done before, disturbed his peace +of mind by apprehension and doubt. "She will be the sooner free," he +thought bitterly: "she will be the sooner free! God only knows how +soon! for I feel a weight upon me, and a gloom, as if fate were coming +near to me, and its shadow rested dark upon my thoughts. She will be +free, and wed another, and be happy, and forget me, till pain, and +sorrow, and anxiety come, till she wants the hand that used to protect +her, till she requires the mind that used to guide her, and then she +may think of Pharold, and grieve to think that he is lying beneath the +cold and crumbling mould of earth, whence neither prayers nor wishes +shall bring him back to her side again. Then she may remember, and +perhaps weep for him who is lost to her for ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">With such sad and gloomy reflections Pharold amused the way, as, +retreading the steps he had lately taken, he proceeded to fulfil his +appointment with Colonel Manners. He was a man who gave, perhaps, as +few thoughts to self and selfish considerations as most men. He was +one of those who, in other circumstances and in other ages, would have +as willingly devoted himself a sacrifice for his friend, or for his +country, as any Greek or Roman that ever lived. But he was a gipsy, +and born in an age when patriotism and friendship were equally +considered as mercantile commodities; when men, having cast behind +them the heroism of ancient Greece and Rome, and the chivalry of +ancient France and England, were just beginning to dip themselves in a +spirit of cold and selfish calculation, which, like the waters of the +Carian fountain, emasculates all that is noble and energetic in human +nature; and it is not possible to live among such times without +feeling their chilling influence. Their influence, however, upon him +was different from that which it had upon others; for his race, and +state, and habits, all placed him without the circle of ordinary +thoughts and sensations common to the rest of men. That he was moving +among cold and selfish beings, he felt; that he was acting upon +principles different from theirs, he could not but know; and he +despised them because he did know it, hating them the more because he +was one of a scorned and injured race, to which he clung with the +greater tenacity because it was scorned and injured. But when he met +with a spirit congenial to his own, when he found that he could love +and could trust, all the deep, the noble, the generous feelings of his +original nature burst through every band of times, and circumstances, +and nation, and habit; and he was no longer the gipsy, the sullen +hater of every race except his own, but a creature endowed with noble +powers of mind, and gifted above all with that gem from heaven, an +upright and enthusiastic heart, which would have honoured any land, or +age, or people. The direction which it took might sometimes be wrong, +the reasonings that guided it might wander upon wild, and prejudiced, +and eccentric theories; but the principle was always good, and the +purpose was always generous.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, although he thought for some part of the way upon himself, and +upon the cares and griefs that thronged around him, his mind soon +turned to other objects; and the desire of serving and of soothing +others was strong enough even to withdraw his thoughts from the +powerful grasp of individual sorrows, always far more potent in their +selfishness than joys.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he approached the spot where his unsuccessful struggle had taken +place with Colonel Manners, he felt, it is true, some sort of +bitterness of heart, to think that he had been overcome. Vanity will +have her share in all; and happy it is--ay, even more than we can +expect--when she changes not the pain of her wound into hatred of +those who have inflicted it. Manners was already on the spot, and the +first words of the gipsy were those of human kindness. "How is she?" +he asked, abruptly. "How is the young lady? You have seen--you have +told her all is well, of course?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have," answered Manners, "and her heart is greatly lighter, though +she will remain still anxious and unsatisfied till I have with my own +eyes seen her cousin, and can report to her the state of his health."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fear not, fear not," answered the gipsy; "I have promised to take you +to him, and there is not that power under the heavens which should +ever induce me to break my word, while I am capable of performing it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not fear, in the least," answered Manners: "I knew perfectly +that you would keep your promise, and confidently assured the family +at Morley House that you would lead me to De Vaux this night. I need +hardly tell you how much joy that assurance gave them, and how much +gratitude they felt to him who made the promise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak not of gratitude!" answered the gipsy--"speak not of gratitude! +I only regret that from the first I had not foreseen what pain might +fall on some of the good and kind, and that I did not assure myself of +how I ought to act. But if you knew, gentleman, what a life I have led +for the last three days, you would easily make excuse for some +forgetfulness of others--a life so different from that to which we are +accustomed. We come in sunshine, and pitch our dwelling in the warm +bosom of nature, with beauty all round us, and neither care nor strife +among ourselves; but now we have been hunted, and sought, and had to +change our dwellings from place to place; and in order to provide that +we left no traces of our way, we have been forced to double like a +poor hare before the accursed hounds, to think every footstep the +signal of an enemy, and every rustle of the leaves to look upon as the +indication of an ambush. I fear me, too, I fear me that their +persecutions are not yet over. But let us on: here lies our road."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I trust," said Manners, following him--"I trust that as you are able +to clear yourself in this business of my friend De Vaux, all the other +suspicions against you will be found equally groundless; and then you +may follow your way of life once more in peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," answered the gipsy, "he would persecute me still. Once he +has made a false accusation against me, and he will never abandon it +as long as he and I are on the face of the same earth--never, never! I +know him too well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not clearly understand of whom you speak," answered Manners, +keeping by the side of the gipsy, although the pace at which he had +set off seemed accelerated at every step by the angry feelings that he +was stirring up in his own bosom. "You do not name the person. Whom do +you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom should I mean?" answered the gipsy, sharply. "Whom but him who, +born with violent passions and a haughty nature, was bred a lawyer, in +order that dark cunning should be added to a bold spirit and a shrewd +mind. I speak of Lord Dewry; and I tell you that he will never cease +to persecute me. Does he not now hold in fast confinement a boy of our +people whom he well knows to be innocent?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is, certainly," answered Manners, "a gipsy-boy confined at +Dimden, for I saw him there this morning; but Lord Dewry, as well as +all the people of the neighbourhood, informed me that he had been +taken in an attempt to steal the deer in the park."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was not present," said the gipsy: "he saw not the beast +slaughtered by the mad-headed fools that did it, any more than I did. +But he keeps him because he is a gipsy-boy, not that he thinks him +guilty. And so, you saw him, did you?" continued Pharold, striving, +with a slight mingling of the artful cunning of his people, to +discover what Manners knew of the situation of the young gipsy--"so, +you saw him? and, doubtless, he is to be sent soon to the county-jail, +to die of imprisonment and despair at losing his blessed freedom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not hear any mention of such an intention," answered Manners. +"Every one present joined in accusing the youth of direct +participation in the deer-stealing; and he himself kept so obstinate a +silence, that there was no possibility of drawing from him even a word +that might exculpate himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you call it obstinate silence to refuse to answer either the +subtle or the idle questions of his enemies?" demanded the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is the mistake into which your people fall too often, and with +too fatal an effect," answered Manners. "You consider us, on all +occasions, as your enemies, and act towards us as if we were such, +instead of endeavouring to make us your friends, which might often be +accomplished--always, I might say, with good men, were your actions to +tend to that purpose. In the instance you speak of, the principal +questions were addressed to your young companion by myself. Their +object was solely to elicit some news of my friend De Vaux; and, had +he answered them frankly, he would have made a friend who might have +rendered him service."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he refused to answer?" demanded the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not exactly refused," replied Manners; "but answered only by an +unmeaning monosyllable, or kept a profound silence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He did right!" cried the gipsy; "he did right! The boy is more +deserving than I thought him; he merits an effort."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We judge very differently," answered Manners: "I thought he did very +wrong; and had he given me the information I sought, it is more than +probable that I should have met you with very different feelings from +those with which I at first saw you this night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He did right, he did right!" cried the gipsy. "Would you have had him +betray secrets intrusted to him? or was he to judge what I might think +fit to be revealed? No, no: silence was his best security against +discovering, through fear or through folly, those things, the value of +which he knew not. He has shown both more prudence and more resolution +than I thought he possessed. However, he could have told you nothing, +for he knew nothing--not even the path we are now treading."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, his candour would only have served to give a favourable +opinion of himself," Manners rejoined, "without injuring you, or +betraying your confidence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can you tell that?" cried the gipsy--"how can you tell that? how +could he tell it either? Might you not have led him on to other +things? Might you not have wrung from him, if he had spoken candidly, +as you call it, one admission after another, till you had discovered +all that he could tell. Oh, we know your artful ways, your +examinations and cross-examinations, which would make an angel of +truth and wisdom seem like a liar and a fool. We know your skill in +making men reveal what they would not, and speak two apparently +opposite truths, without allowing them to give the explanation; so +that they seem to contradict themselves at every word. We know you; +and we have one way, and only one, to disappoint you, which is +silence. You can make naught of that."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners saw that, where both the principles and the course of the +reasoning were so different, discussion was of very little use; and he +consequently made no reply to the gipsy's tirade, feeling, however, at +the same time, that there was a portion of truth in what he said, +which it would be difficult to separate from the great mass of +prejudice with which it was combined. Pharold, however, wished the +conversation prolonged upon the same topic; for with all the frank +generosity of his individual nature, the habits and the character of +the gipsy still modified and influenced the other qualities of his +heart and his mind. His character, as a man, was open and candid; but +the gipsy often acted, to render it stubborn and sullen when +oppressed, or even wily and artful when some peculiar object was to be +gained.</p> + +<p class="normal">He now greatly desired to obtain from Colonel Manners, as a sincere +and independent person, some information concerning the exact +situation of the boy William, both in order to guide more surely any +efforts made for his liberation, and to correct the report of the old +beldam, whom he had sent down to inquire, and of whose purposes and +views he entertained many a doubt. He did not choose, however, to let +his design become apparent, and therefore approached his object with a +careful art, which was not a part of his natural, but rather of his +acquired character.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor boy!" he said, as soon as he perceived that Manners did not +reply--"poor boy! I am sorry for him. He has never known anything but +liberty, and the enjoyment of all the free, wide, beautiful world; he +has never known what it is to have fetters on his young limbs, or to +be shut from the air and light of heaven, in some dark and gloomy +dungeon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must not let your imagination draw such a picture of his +situation," answered Manners, who, having nothing to conceal, was +easily led in the direction the gipsy wished. "The boy is not and +cannot be in such a state as you suppose. He has no fetters upon his +limbs, and, in all probability, is as well treated as a proper regard +for his safe custody will permit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will be pain and grief enough," rejoined the gipsy, "for one who +has never in his life been debarred from turning his steps in +whatsoever direction he thought fit--who has never been cutoff from +the sight of nature, and the breath of the free air, since his eyes +were first opened upon God's heaven and earth, and the breath of life +was breathed into his nostrils--it will be pain and grief enough for +him to be thrust into some dark and gloomy dungeon, perhaps under +ground, or, at all events, looking into some dull stone-built court, +where he can see nothing on any side but the hateful walls that keep +him in, and the sly, dastard faces of those that watch him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course," answered Manners, "as I am nearly unacquainted with this +part of the country and with Dimden Hall, I cannot be aware of the +nature of the place in which the lad is confined. A dungeon it is not, +certainly; for such things are now, thank God, quite out of the +question. It appeared to me, too, that there was no such thing as a +court to the dwelling-house; and that, therefore, wherever he may be +placed, he will be able to see the face of nature, which you love so +much. But you yourself--at least, all I have heard would lead me to +suppose so--must know Dimden Hall far better than I do, and perhaps +may be aware of where the strong room is; for it was to it that I +heard Lord Dewry direct him to be taken, after we had in vain tried to +gain any information from him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If he be there, he may do well," answered the gipsy; "but probably +they will remove him to the county-jail, and there he will have sad +and bitter hours enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should certainly think that they will not do so," answered +Manners, "if what you tell me in regard to his innocence of all +participation in the actual slaughter of the deer be correct. The +magistrates will, of course, investigate the matter, and seek full +evidence of the facts, before they either commit the boy, or even send +him off to the jail, which, I understand, is many miles distant; so +that it is much more probable that he will remain where he is for the +present."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy saw well that Manners spoke without disguise, and that he +had, in fact, nothing more to tell in regard to the situation of the +prisoner. However, he had gained at least the certainty that the lad +was confined in the strong room, which he knew well; that he was not +likely to be speedily removed, and that he was not encumbered with +fetters to impede his escape. Lest he might have been so secured, +Pharold had entertained some fear, as he knew that blood had been shed +in the encounter between the deer-stealers and the keepers, and +thought it more than likely that the peer would strive to prove the +lad William to have been an actual participator in that part of the +unfortunate affair, and would treat him accordingly. His next anxiety +was to know what was the state of the men who had been wounded, and +what was the exact charge against himself, in regard to the affray in +Dimden Park, as well as what evidence had been given to inculpate him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had found so much frankness in the replies of Colonel Manners to +his former inquiries, however, that he now quitted the artful path +which he had taken, and spoke more boldly of his own situation. "I +would fain know," he said, after he had walked on about two hundred +paces farther in silence--"I would fain know how I stand in regard to +that false accusation which my enemy brought against me, respecting +the slaughter of his pitiful deer. As I passed through the country +this morning, after quitting his park, I gained some tidings; but when +I first met you, gentleman, to-night, you told me that though I might +be guilty of other things, you knew me to be innocent of that. If you +be, as you seem to be, a friend to justice and humanity, you will tell +me how you know that charge to be false, that I may prove it so, too, +by some proof that will be better received than the mere oath of my +own people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can have no objection whatever," Manners answered, "to tell you at +once how I was led to the conclusion that you mention. There were two +persons wounded in that unfortunate affair--one a gentleman who is now +lying at Dimden, and another a keeper, who was removed from the park +to his own cottage. As I found that the surgeon had confined his +attention to the person at Dimden, whose wound is far the most +dangerous, I went down to the cottage of the keeper to inquire how he +was going on--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good and kind, good and kind!" interrupted the gipsy, with one of +those bursts of vehement feeling to which he at times gave way. "Ah, I +see and understand it all! The mercenary manufacturer of diseases and +maker of men's ills remained with the gentleman, who could pay him for +his fancied skill, and left the poor man to do the best for himself; +and you went down to comfort him whom the other had neglected."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not exactly so," answered Manners: "the wound of the one was much +more severe than that of the other, and the surgeon staid where his +presence was most necessary. I went down, however, and sat with the +poor fellow some time; and he distinctly informed me, not only that +you had not been present when the deer were killed, but that you were +coming up and calling to the others not to fire at the moment that the +guns went off. He said, too, that if it had not been for your +interference, there would have been far more bloodshed; and I strongly +advise you, should there ever be any investigation of this business, +to call the keeper Jones as a witness to establish your innocence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"While I can keep my liberty," said the gipsy, "they shall never hold +me in their gripe. Besides, he would find witnesses enough to swear +away my life, if he were to bribe them with half his fortune. But the +wounded men--are they likely to die, did you say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I trust not," answered Manners; "and with care and attention, the +wound of the keeper will not prove even dangerous. The other gentleman +I did not see, but I hear he is much more severely hurt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is his name?" demanded the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir Roger Millington, I think, was the name," answered Manners; "but +I did not pay it any particular attention."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir Roger Millington!" repeated the gipsy, musing--"Sir Roger +Millington! I do not know him; and yet it sounds in my ears like a +word spoken in a dream. Oh yes, yes--I remember now: it was to him +that the money was owing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What money?" demanded Manners, in some surprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind," answered the gipsy; "but, be sure, if that man dies, my +enemy will find means to make me out his murderer. Mark that, +gentleman, and remember hereafter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is impossible that he can do so," answered Manners, whose +confidence in British justice was much stronger than that of the +gipsy. "I understand that there were eight or nine people present. One +of them, who has suffered severely, has already borne witness to your +innocence; and, depend upon it, that among the rest, you would find +plenty more to do the same. But it strikes me as extraordinary, I do +confess, that you should seem to apprehend much more evil from an +affair in which you can easily exculpate yourself, than from a charge +which, referring to matters long gone, and to circumstances of which +there could be but few witnesses, must be much more difficult to be +met in a satisfactory manner--I mean the charge of having killed the +late Lord Dewry."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell you why, I will tell you why," answered the gipsy. "In +regard to this business, he can prove something against me: that I was +in his park without right--at a suspicious hour--when persons were +committing an unlawful act; and those people my own nation, and my own +comrades. He may make out a plausible tale, and a little false +swearing would easily do the rest. But in regard to the other, I +laugh him to scorn; for why? because, when I will, I can blow the +cloud away, like the west wind when it sweeps the mist from the +valleys--because I can dispel it all, and prove my own innocence +beyond a doubt, by proving who it was that did do the deed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do that," answered Manners, eagerly--"do that, and, beyond all doubt, +Lord Dewry will forbear every other proceeding against you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would he, indeed!" cried the gipsy, with a contemptuous laugh--"would +he, indeed! Yet, perhaps, he might: but I will tell you, gentleman, if +I did do so, I should not stand in need of his forbearance. But I will +not do it; no, never! not if they were to cast a mountain upon me, it +should not crush that secret from my heart till the right hour be +come."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" said Manners; "that is a strange determination; but, +however, you act and reason upon principles so different from those +that influence ordinary men, that it is useless to inquire why you run +great risks yourself, with motives apparently very slight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do it because it is written in the book of that which I am to do," +answered the gipsy. "But you say right; we do act and we do think upon +different principles; and it is useless to inquire into mine, for you +would not understand them; and yet I hold you to be a good man--better +than most--braver--wiser than the great part of your fellows. Had you +not been both brave and wise, you would never have learned from me +what you are to know to-night--the fangs of tigers would not have torn +it from me by any other means."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope," answered Manners, with a smile, "that the secret will not be +kept much longer unrevealed; for we have already walked several miles, +and our fair friend, the moon, is going down to rest, as if she were +as tired as I am."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And who that sees her sink," said the gipsy, turning round as Manners +spoke, and gazing for a moment on the setting orb--"and who that sees +her sink shall dare to say that he will ever see that calm and +splendid sight again? She goes, we know not whither, travelling alone +upon her oft-trodden path--the path that she has walked in majesty +through many a long century, looking unmoved upon the strifes and joys +of nations who now have left us nothing but their ruins and their +tombs. She saw my people live and rule in other lands.<a name="div1Ref_03.6" href="#div1_03.6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> She has +seen them bow the necks of proud and haughty enemies beneath their +chariot-wheels. She has seen them fall day by day, till they are but a +scattered remnant, dashed like the foam of a broken wave over the +lands around, while their temples and their palaces, their homes and +their altars, are the dwellings of the wolf and the jackal, that howl +beneath her light. She has seen them--mighty and nothing; and, +perhaps, when our bones are whitening beneath her beams, in the long +wide vacancy of after times, she may also see the despised nation +reinstated in its glory, and forgetful of the rod of the oppressor; +but you mind not such things--you look upon us merely as wandering +outcasts of some unknown race."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, indeed," answered Manners; "you do me wrong. I have always looked +upon your people with much interest and curiosity. There is a sort of +mystery in their history and their fate that will not let any one, who +thinks and feels, regard them with indifference."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is a mystery," answered the gipsy--"there is a mystery; but it +matters not. This is not the time to solve it;" and--as every person +who has ever conversed with one of the more intelligent and better +informed of the gipsies must have remarked as their invariable custom +when spoken to either upon their language or history--he suddenly +turned the conversation to other things, content with the vague hints +of brighter times and more extended power, which he had already given. +Manners endeavoured more than once to bring him back to the subject, +but the gipsy pertinaciously avoided any approach to it. Nor was his +companion more successful in an endeavour to lead him to the subject +of De Vaux, in regard to whom Pharold pointedly refused to answer any +questions. "You will know very soon all that you can know about the +matter," he replied; "and I do not choose to speak at all on subjects +where I might speak too much."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners pressed the question no further, and followed in silence. They +had some time before crossed the summit of the rise above Morley +House, skirting along the woods, and had descended into a valley on +the other side, which, though not so deep as that in which the +principal events we have related took place, sunk sufficiently below +the level of the neighbouring hills to render a considerable ascent on +the other side necessary ere the travellers could be said to have +passed the chain of high grounds which separated that county from the +next. This eminence, also, they had surmounted, when, as Manners had +observed, the moon might be seen sinking below the dark line of the +distant horizon. The aspect of the country was here very different +from that on the other side of the hills; and although the light of +the setting orb was not sufficient to display distinctly the various +objects in the landscape, yet the long lines of light and shade that +varied the wide extent below their feet gave Manners the idea of a +rich and softly-undulating country, spreading for many miles without +any considerable eminence. From the spot where they then stood the +road, which they had now gained, wound through some young plantations +down towards the plain; but ere they had finished the descent the moon +was lost below the horizon, and the eye could no longer trace any but +the objects in its immediate vicinity. Manners remarked, however, that +along the young plantings were neat trimmed hedges, and that clean +shining white gates gave entrance into the fields which they skirted. +A dry raised footpath, too, rendered walking easy; and ere long he +passed one of those friendly milestones wherewith most civilized +governments have condescended to solace the longings of the weary +traveller, as he plods on, anxious to know his distance from the +expected rest. Just at the same moment, too, a village clock, with its +kindly bell, tolled the hour, sounding clear and calm upon the still +night air; and Manners, though without any great object in doing so, +paused to make out the inscription of one hundred and some miles from +London, and to count twelve, struck distinctly on the bell of the +clock.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will not this be a very late hour," he asked, turning to the gipsy, +who had paused also--"will not this be a very late hour to visit my +poor friend, especially if he be ill as you say in body and in mind?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will see that presently," answered the gipsy: "if he sleep, so +much the better. You can wait till tomorrow. My part of the errand +must be done to-night, or never; for something at my heart tells me +that I shall not long be able to walk whither I will throughout the +world."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, although Colonel Manners, with the firm determination of pursuing +the adventure to the end, whatever might come of it, had gone on with +the gipsy boldly, and had conversed with him as calmly as if they had +both been in a drawing-room, yet it is by no means to be supposed that +he refrained from speculating upon the place and circumstances into +which his enterprise might lead him; as in this instance he saw the +necessity of letting imagination range free, so long as she had reason +for her guide, in order that he might be prepared for all. While they +were on the hill, and near the woods, Manners imagined that he would +most likely find his sick friend under the care and attendance of some +separate party of gipsies; and, of course, fancy employed herself in +thinking what could be the train of events which had brought about so +strange a result. But as they descended into a more highly cultivated +and evidently well-peopled track, he began to doubt whether it was +such a spot as gipsies would choose for their habitation, and, +consequently, whether De Vaux would be found in the hands of any of +Pharold's tribe. Imagination had now, of course, a wider, field than +before; and his surprise--or whatever the feeling may be called which +is excited by circumstances we cannot account for--was still greater, +as they began to pass through the scattered houses and small neat +enclosures which mark the approach to an English country town.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length the gipsy stopped at a gate, opened it, and bade his +companion pass in. Manners did as he was desired, and found himself +standing on a neat gravel walk, with a shrubbery on either hand, +plentifully provided with laurels, hollies, and many another +evergreen. The gipsy followed; and the walk, skirting for a couple of +hundred yards round a trim, smooth, shaven green, brought them in +front of a neat house, built of brick, and evidently modern in all its +parts. Plate-glass, a-well-a-day! did not in those times decorate even +the houses of the greatest in the land; and the dwelling before which +they now stood, although it was clearly the abode of affluence, had no +pretensions to be any thing more than a handsome house of the middle +rank. It might be the new-built rectory of some wealthy parish, or the +place of retirement of some merchant who had had wisdom enough to seek +repose at the point where competence stops short of riches; but it had +no one circumstance which could entitle it to affect the name of the +Mansion, or the Hall, or the Abbey, or the Castle; and in those days +the word cottage had never yet been applied to designate a palace. It +had its little freestone portico, however, and its two low wings, in +the windows of each of which there were lights. It was evident, +therefore, if this was the place where Manners was destined to find De +Vaux, that, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, there were other +persons awake in the house besides those who might be supposed to +watch in the chamber of an invalid.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they came near the gipsy advanced a step before his companion, and +rang the bell. A few minutes elapsed without any one appearing to +answer the summons; but just as Pharold was about to repeat it, the +door was opened by a servant, carrying a light, which was almost +instantly extinguished by the gust of wind which rushed into the +unclosed door. There had been time enough, however, for the man to +recognise Pharold, and to bid him come in, as if his visit were a +thing of course; and in the moment that the light had remained +unextinguished, Colonel Manners could distinguish the countenance of +the servant, the features of which, he felt convinced, were not +unknown to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come in, sir," said the gipsy.--"Is there any one in the parlour, +John?" he added, turning to the man as Manners entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one, Mr. Pharold," answered the servant, intones that were still +more familiar to Manners's ear than his features had been to his eye. +"My master is in the little room beyond."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then walk in here, sir, and wait for me one moment," said the gipsy; +and Colonel Manners, without question, walked into the dark room, of +which Pharold had opened the door, and waited patiently to see how all +the strange affair in which he was engaged would end.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.8" href="#div1Ref_02.8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The room was, as we have said, quite dark, with the exception of a +narrow line of light, which found its way under a door on the opposite +side of the chamber; and by the time that Manners had been there two +minutes he heard voices speaking in that direction. What was said by +the first speaker, whom he concluded to be Pharold, did not make +itself heard in the apartment where Manners stood; but the moment +after another voice was distinguished, saying, in a louder tone, "You +have done wrong, you have done wrong, Pharold. My mind was still +undecided; and this will force me to act whether I will or not."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold's voice replied at considerable length, and was apparently +still going on, when the other exclaimed, hastily, "But, good God, did +you not let her know? Did you not send her the note I despatched to +you for that purpose?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What note? When did you send?" demanded Pharold, eagerly, "I had no +note."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is most unfortunate," replied the other. "I sent up a note to +you, intended to be conveyed to her for the purpose of putting her +mind at ease; and it should have reached you beyond all doubt; for I +gave it, with my own hand, to the youth Dickon, yesterday morning, +when he came with the message from you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, that is it, that is it," answered the gipsy. "I chose him as my +messenger to keep him out of evil; but ere I could get back to my +people, I found that, on some pretence, strangers on horseback were +watching for us on the common, and I betook me to the wood again. But +they set a watch round the wood; and it was long ere I could slip +through unseen; and when I did so, and got to the tents under Dimden +wall, I found that this very Dickon had seduced several others to go +and shoot the deer in the park. Deer were killed, the keepers were +met, blood was shed, and I drove the offender out from among us, that +he might not lead others again into evil, and draw down the rage of +the powerful upon us. Thus I saw him but for a moment, and he went +without giving me your letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Manners, although he could not help hearing what was passing, had +a great objection to so doing; and he had therefore from the very +beginning contrived to make as much noise as possible, by every means +that suggested itself, in order both to render the sounds which +reached him indistinct, and to make the speakers aware that their +conversation might be overheard. Their first eagerness, however, +prevented them from taking warning; but at length their tone was +lowered, and for the next five minutes Manners heard nothing further +than a low indistinct murmur, which sufficiently showed that the +conference was continued, but did not betray the matter thereof.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length, however, the second voice spoke louder, in the sort of +marked manner with which one ends a private conversation, by words +which have little meaning to any ear but that of the person to whom +they are addressed. "Well, well, it is time that such a state should +be put an end to! As to this other business, there is nothing to fear +from Colonel Manners: I know him well, as I told you before; and were +I to choose any man in whom to confide, it would be him. Now rest you, +Pharold; rest you while I go and speak with him. Would to God that you +would quit this wandering life, and now in your age wisely accept from +me what you foolishly rejected in your youth from one long dead; but +rest you, as I have said, and I will return in a few minutes to hear +out your account."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold's reply was not distinct; but the next moment the door opened +between the two rooms, and Manners was joined by a gentleman whom we +have seen once, and only once, before in the course of this history. +It was, in short, the same hale, handsome old man whom we last heard +of conversing with the gipsy Pharold, in the beginning of the first +volume of this book, who now advanced with a light into the dark room +in which Manners had been left. He could not be less than sixty-three +or four years of age; but his frame appeared as vigorous as if twenty +of those years had been struck off the amount. His figure was tall and +upright, and his step had in it a peculiar bold and firm elasticity, +that spoke the undiminished energy of both mind and body. He was, in +short, a person whom, once seen, it would be difficult to forget; and +although the light he carried dazzled Manners's eyes a little, yet the +instant he entered the room his visiter advanced towards him, holding +out his hand, and exclaiming, "My dear Sir William Ryder, I am +delighted to meet you again, and to meet you in England."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not less delighted than I am to see you, Manners," answered the +other, "although we meet under somewhat strange circumstances, and +though I am obliged to bid you, for a short time, forget that I am Sir +William Ryder, without forgetting that I am a sincere friend. My name, +for the present, is Mr. Harley; and now, having introduced myself as +such, let us sit down, and talk over old stories."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, first, my dear sir," said Manners, "a word or two of new +stories, if you please. I am most anxious to inquire after my poor +friend De Vaux, though no longer anxious in regard to his situation, +now that I find he is in hands so kind and so skilful as yours. +Indeed, the first sight of your servant, though I caught but a glimpse +of him, set my mind at ease regarding my poor friend, as far as it can +be at ease till I hear how he is, and what is the matter with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is better, he is better," answered Sir William Ryder; "and so far +banish all anxiety, for he will do well. I know such affairs of old; +and as he has been neither scalped nor tomahawked by any of my +children of the Seven Nations, I will answer for his recovery. But I +dare say you wonder at his being here with me; and, indeed, it is +altogether an odd coincidence, for I can assure you that it is by no +plot or contrivance of mine that I have got you and him once more +under my roof together, when the last time we so met was in my wigwam +on the very farthest verge of the inhabited world."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But first tell me what is the matter with him," said Manners; "and +then I will put all sorts of questions to you, which you shall answer +or not as you think fit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter with him!" cried Sir William Ryder; "did not my +friend Pharold tell you that he had got a pistol-shot in his side, +which had broken two of his ribs?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God! no," cried Manners: "I am excessively sorry to hear it; but +how did it occur--in a duel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," answered the other; "no: he did it himself; but understand +me--not intentionally--he is not such a fool. However, he will do +well: the ball has been extracted; he has very little fever: no organ +important to life has been touched, and all promises fairly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, indeed, my dear Sir William, you must tell me more," said +Manners. "How did this happen? for though I have seen accidents enough +of different kinds, yet I cannot understand this affair at all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, I do not very well know how to explain it," said the other, +musing, "without entering into unnecessary particulars. However, the +fact is this: he went out at night, it seems, to see my friend +Pharold, who, I need not tell you, is no ordinary person. However, +your friend did not know his character or his worth, and he placed a +brace of horse-pistols in his bosom. He must certainly have had one of +them cocked, too, though he will not acknowledge it: but the end of +the matter was, that he heard some very bad news; and being, like all +his race, subject to violent fits of passion, he cast himself down +like a madman, the pistol went off, and the shot was within a few +inches of his heart. Pharold, who was present and alone, did not very +well know what to do with him; but carrying him in his arms as far as +he could, he called some of his own people, bound up the poor boy's +wounds as well as circumstances admitted, and brought him here, +knowing that in other years I was upon terms of intimacy with his +father, and loved him still, notwithstanding one or two little causes +of misunderstanding between us."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners listened in silence, and he certainly did not forget the terms +in which Lord Dewry had spoken of the very person who now alluded so +mildy to him; but as he was by no means fond of making mischief upon +any pretence, and knew that Sir William Ryder was not a man in whom +personal fear would act as any check upon resentment, he felt no +inclination to mention one word of the peer's vituperation of his +former friend. At the same time, the kindly tone in which Sir William +Ryder spoke did not at all lead Manners to believe that he was the +person in fault. The thoughts which crossed the gallant officer's +mind, however, must have had some visible representatives in his +countenance; for his companion looked at him with a smile, adding, "I +know well what you are thinking--that probably Lord Dewry does not +speak so gently of Sir William Ryder as Sir William Ryder does of him. +I have heard so before. Nevertheless, Manners, I shall not call him +out, and amuse the world with two men of sixty fighting a duel. Nor is +Colonel Manners one to think the worse of me for acting as I do, nor +to doubt my motives, though my conduct be a little eccentric. Is it +not so, my friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is, indeed," answered Manners; "and be you quite sure, my dear +sir, that so firm is my confidence in your honour and integrity, +from personal knowledge--which is better than all the gossip in the +world--that I would never hear the name of Sir William Ryder mentioned +with disrespect without taking the liberty of resenting it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe you, I believe you, Manners, from my soul," answered his +companion: "but to return to our poor friend De Vaux--as soon as he +was brought here, I of course sent for the best advice that was to be +procured, the ball was extracted, and, as I have said, he is better. +He is at present, I am happy to say, in a sound and comfortable sleep; +but if you will take up your abode with me till to-morrow, you shall +see him, and judge of his condition for yourself. A room shall be +prepared for you immediately."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will willingly lie down to take a little rest," answered Manners. +"But let me beg you, my dear sir, to have me called as soon as De Vaux +wakes, and is willing to see me; for I left a poor young lady, his +cousin--and there are ties of affection stronger than those of mere +relationship between them--waiting anxiously to hear some tidings of +him; for until this very night we have all imagined him murdered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, poor girl, poor girl!" said Sir William Ryder, in a tone of deep +sympathy. "She must have suffered dreadfully, I am afraid; but I can +assure you that her having been kept even an hour in suspense is +neither to be attributed to me nor to her cousin. His first thought +was of her, his first words, after he saw me, were to beg that I would +instantly write to her, in order to tell her what had occurred, and to +sooth her mind as far as possible. Nay, more, though suffering much +pain till the ball was extracted, he insisted upon writing a few words +with his own hand, to comfort her as far as possible. Though I would +fain have prevented an exertion which might injure him, I loved him +for his obstinacy, Manners. The note was sent to Pharold, with +directions to forward it to her; but neither note nor directions, it +seems, ever reached the gipsy."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners could not refrain from saying, "It would have been better to +have sent it direct to herself, Sir William. You must remember, my +excellent friend, that you are no longer among your children, as you +call them, the Indians, and that you will meet with another class of +vices and virtues also here. What you would trust to a Mohawk, if he +promised to perform it, and feel convinced that nothing but death +would prevent its execution, is not at all to be confided to a common +messenger in England, and--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know all that, my friend, I know all that," interrupted his +companion; "but I had no choice. At that time I was not at all certain +whether I should let any one know that I was in England or not; and +had I sent the note direct to Morley House, such a communication must +have been opened as would instantly have put an end to my incognito. +One messenger might have failed me as well as another, and it was +owing to an accident which no one could foresee that the note was not +delivered. So much for your rebuke, Manners," he continued, smiling; +"but now tell me how the poor girl is; for the first question of my +patient, when he hears that you are here, will be, How is Marian de +Vaux?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alarm and agitation had rendered her seriously ill," answered +Manners; "so much so, indeed, that the medical man found it necessary, +during the whole of yesterday and this morning, to keep her feelings +deadened, as it were, by laudanum--to the great risk of her health, as +he acknowledged--but it was the lesser of two evils."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sad, sad, indeed!" cried Sir William Ryder, rising from his seat, and +walking backwards and forwards in some agitation--"sad, sad, indeed! +and I am afraid that I have had something to do with the whole +business; but I trust she is better now--poor girl! I am grieved, +deeply grieved. But say, Manners, how was she when you left her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infinitely better, I am happy to say," answered Manners; "for your +friend Pharold permitted me to inform her that De Vaux was safe at +least, though he tied me down to strict conditions. That piece of +news, of course, relieved her greatly; but not so much so as to set +her mind at ease, till she hears tidings from me of her cousin's exact +situation, which I trust to be able to give her early to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," answered Sir William Ryder. "Nay, if you +think it would be any great comfort to her, we will send off a man on +horseback this very night, to calm her with further assurances."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unless," answered Manners, "I may be permitted to say that you will +give herself and Mrs. Falkland a welcome to visit De Vaux in person, I +think that I had better not send, but wait till I can communicate some +further information myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir William Ryder hesitated. "I am afraid," he said--"I am afraid that +will be impossible, just at present. But she will believe your +assurance, of course; and I think that you may venture to tell her +that her cousin is under kind and careful hands, by which nothing will +be neglected to promote his speedy recovery."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will certainly give the fullest assurances of that fact," answered +Manners. "But what reason am I to assign for her being debarred from +seeing and attending her cousin, when I have been admitted? She will +certainly think it mysterious."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you do, Manners," said Sir William, with a smile. "But listen to +me, and I will tell you several of the many reasons which have brought +me back to a land which I have abandoned for long years; and out of +those reasons you shall see whether you can find a motive to assign to +Miss De Vaux for my mysterious conduct. In the first place, I, like +most men, have some friends and relations; and I was seized with a +longing to see them, to assure myself with my own eyes of their fate +and their happiness, ere I laid my head down upon its last pillow in +another land. The same longing seized me about twelve years since, but +then I resisted; for long ago I had met with a sad and severe blow in +my private happiness, which led me to forswear, in the bitterness of +my heart, any of those ties and affections which are but so many cords +to bind us to sorrow and disappointment. In various matters, about +that time, I had acted wrong; and I felt that a voluntary expatriation +was a good atonement. When I went, therefore, I resolved never to +return; and when, as I have said, twelve years ago, the longing to see +friends and relations, and scenes that I once loved, seized me, I +resisted, strengthened, in so doing, by a feeling that my return to +England might be painful to some whom I did not desire to pain, and +would only re-awaken, in my own bosom, feelings that had better sleep. +Now, however, many other motives have been added to this longing, +which returned upon me this spring with more force than ever. I wished +eagerly to raise such a sum as would purchase a large tract of land on +which to settle for ever, without danger of molestation, the remnant +of a nearly-destroyed tribe of Indians, who, after having been +massacred and ill-treated by every other white man they met with, at +length attached themselves to me, and were living round me like my +children, as you saw."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did, indeed," answered Manners; "and I trust that you will let me +aid in your noble design."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know that it will be necessary now, for I am likely to take +other measures," answered Sir William. "My own private income was not +sufficient, though I had saved out of a thousand a year, which was all +that I possessed, sufficient to lay a good foundation; but I also +wished the British government to interfere for the more general and +powerful protection of the Indians, and this was one reason of my +coming. I longed too, as I have said, to see many of my relations and +friends; but I wished to do so privately. There were two persons, +especially, of whom I was desirous of bearing more than I could in +America. One--over whom I hold some power, from various transactions +in the past--I wished to watch closely for a short time, and treat him +according to his merits. The other--who, though more independent of +me, I could raise up or cast down as I pleased--I desired to sift +thoroughly, to examine every trait in his character, to probe every +feeling in his heart, with the resolution of leaving him, ultimately, +to happiness, if I found him noble and true; but at the same time to +give him a severe lesson, which might crush early some failings; some +peculiar evils in his disposition, that would, if suffered to remain, +lead hereafter to misery, to himself and others. Various occurrences +have taken place since to alter or derange these plans; and, as we are +from day to day the creatures of circumstances over which we have no +control, I am now waiting for some decisive event to determine for me +a line of conduct which I find some difficulty in determining for +myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid, Sir William," answered Manners, "that even if I were to +explain all this in your own words to Miss De Vaux, she would still be +as much perplexed as ever; and I have often remarked, that in the +minds of the timid--especially where there is real cause for +uneasiness--everything that is doubtful and mysterious is interpreted +into afresh cause of apprehension and alarm. Besides, according to my +contract with your acquaintance Pharold, and the stipulations which +you have yourself implied, with regard to your name, so far from +explaining all these motives, I am not even to disclose that I have +seen you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir William Ryder paused for a moment or two in deep thought; and +Manners, seeing that he was embarrassed, added, "Perhaps, Sir William, +the best way for me to act will be, to give Miss De Vaux a true +account of the state of her cousin's health; to tell that I have seen +him, but to add that, from particular causes, which I must explain +hereafter, I can neither inform her where he is, nor enable her to see +him. I have always found it best, wherever I have been embarrassed +with any mystery of my own--which, thank God, has been seldom the +case--to meet the matter at once, and say, <i>I will not tell</i>, without +entangling myself in half explanations, which do me no good, and only +serve those, whose curiosity or feelings are interested, as materials +for imagination to build up visionary castles withal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps you are right," said Sir William: "but stay yet a moment! +A word or two more with our friend in the next room--I mean the +gipsy--may decide my conduct."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners smiled at the sort of counsellors by whom he had found his +friend surrounded in both hemispheres. When first he met Sir William +Ryder, he had seen him every day in deep consultation with Indian +chiefs; and now his principal reliance seemed to be upon gipsies: but, +at present, that somewhat eccentric personage was disappointed in his +purpose of calling Pharold to his councils; for when he opened the +door--which led into a small neat study, with a table covered with +papers, money, and lights, in the midst thereof--he found the room +untenanted by any living thing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had forgot," he said, turning back with a smile--"I had forgot that +one half-hour in the air of a close room is too much for Pharold's +endurance. He is gone, and I must send for him when I want him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You seem to place more reliance on him," said Manners, pointing to +the heaps of gold and papers on the table, "than most Englishmen would +upon one of his race."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would trust him, I may well say, with untold gold," answered Sir +William Ryder; "as you would, Manners, if you knew him as I do. He has +corresponded with me in America for twenty years; and one might be +glad if, in the highest ranks, one could find so exact, so true, and +so punctual a correspondent." The reader, who has already received +much information concerning things of which Manners was ignorant, may +easily understand some of the motives of a correspondence between two +persons so different in station. Manners also had by this time +discovered that his friend's acquaintance with the gipsy was certainly +not of yesterday; yet there was still sufficient matter, both new and +strange, in what he heard, to make him, not only feel surprised, but +look it also. Sir William Ryder, however, who probably did not wish to +give any further explanation, instantly led the conversation away, +saying, "But to return to what we were speaking of, Manners. I must +soon come to some determination; and, perhaps, I have been weak in not +forming one already: but there are spots of weakness in every one's +heart, as there are spots of madness in every one's brain; and I have +my share, of course, of both. However, I will limit myself to a time; +and when you return to Morley House, you may tell the poor girl, that +though it is judged expedient that she should not see her cousin +to-morrow, yet on the next morning the old gentleman with whom he +is--Mr. Harley, remember--will be very happy to receive her here, +together with her aunt, as I suppose she will be afraid to venture on +such an expedition alone. If," he added,--"if I should find reason to +change my present purpose, I can but affect the barbarian, and be +absent when the ladies come."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Such tidings will, indeed, give joy and peace," answered Manners: +"but before I go to-morrow, I must take care to ascertain where your +dwelling stands; for, coming hither at night, and across the country, +I am totally ignorant of everything concerning the spot where I now +am, except that it is more than a hundred miles from London, which I +found out by a mile-stone on the road."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are in the environs of the little town of ----," replied his +companion; "and by the road about seven miles from Morley House. I saw +that this little place was to be let, as I passed by one day, +immediately after my return, and took it at once, on various accounts, +although I did not know how much it might prove of use to poor De +Vaux. And now, Manners, to your rest; for, although I am a late +watcher, you look fatigued, and are in need of repose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am somewhat fatigued," answered Manners, "although I have not had +any very great cause; but the fact is, the mind is sometimes like a +hard rider, and knocks up the body before it is aware. I have been all +this morning either with Lord Dewry, examining a gipsy boy--taken last +night in a sad deer-stealing affray at Dimden--in order to ascertain +whether I could discover poor De Vaux, or pursuing somewhat fiercely +your friend Pharold, against whom, by-the-way, warrants have been +issued on three different charges."</p> + +<p class="normal">"On three charges, did you say?" demanded Sir William Ryder: "on +three! He only mentioned directly one charge against himself, that of +having murdered this poor lad, which must now, of course, fall to the +ground."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The other charges were," answered Manners, "first, that he had been +engaged in the deer-stealing, wherein, I am sorry to say, blood was +spilt--but in regard to that I pointed out to him a means of proving +his innocence; and, secondly, that many years ago he was either a +principal or an accessary in the murder of the late Lord Dewry, who +was killed by some unknown person at a spot not far from Morley +House."</p> + +<p class="normal">It would be difficult to describe the effect that these few words +produced upon the countenance of Sir William Ryder. His eye flashed, +his brows contracted, and he bit his lip hard, till at length some +feeling of contempt seemed to master the rest, and his emotion ended +in a bitter and a meaning laugh. "And pray," he asked, "who is it that +has brought this last charge against him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"None other than the brother of the murdered man, Lord Dewry," +answered Manners: "he says he has proofs of the gipsy's guilt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have been long in manufacturing!" answered Sir William Ryder, +sternly: "I will tell you more, Manners,--as there is a God of heaven, +the gipsy is innocent, and he shall be proved so, let the bolt light +where it may. Proofs! Out upon him! Falsehoods and villany! But he +shall learn better; for I will not stand by and see the innocent +oppressed, for any remembrances that memory can call up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You speak more harshly than ever I heard you, my dear Sir William," +answered Manners; "but perhaps you have cause which I do not know of, +and into which I certainly shall not pry. However, this nobleman is, +as you know, De Vaux's father, and, ere we part for the night, you +must tell me how I am to act towards him; for the gipsy stipulated +that I was to tell him nothing concerning his son's situation, without +your consent. May I tell him where De Vaux is, and under whose care?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir William Ryder paused, and he thought for several moments, with the +same bitter smile which Manners's information had called up still +hanging upon his lip. "Yes," he said at length--"yes, you may tell him +where his son is; and you may tell him to come and see him and me as +speedily as he thinks fit: but call me still Mr. Harley, for there +might be something unpleasant to his ears in the name of William +Ryder, which might prevent his coming. Say that Mr. Harley, the old +gentleman to whose house De Vaux was conveyed after the accident he +met with, will be happy to see him at any time he may name."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am most delighted to have your permission so to do," answered +Manners; "for, to tell the truth, it would have placed me in rather an +awkward position in regard to Lord Dewry, had you refused to let me +give him full tidings of his son."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will not much thank you," said Sir William Ryder--"he will not +much thank you! But, nevertheless, let him come, let him come! +Perhaps, after all, this is the best way we could have devised of +bringing an unpleasant affair to an end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I trust it may prove so," answered Manners; "and that the time may +speedily come when you will find it not unpleasant to unravel all the +mysteries which have been crowding lately so thick upon me, that I +begin to feel confused among them, and hardly know who are friends and +who are enemies."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Though I have the clew in my hands," answered Sir William, pursuing +more the direction of his own thoughts than that of Manners's last +observation--"though I have the clew in my own hands, there is one +thing puzzles me as much as the rest seems to do you: it is that a +youth so full of high and noble feelings as Edward de Vaux should be +the son of such a man as his father; yet, thank God, he has many a +goodly fault too, or I should begin to doubt that he were his son."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It not unfrequently happens," rejoined Manners, "that where the heart +is originally good, the errors of the fathers serve as examples or as +landmarks to the children; as the masts of some wrecked vessel often +serve to warn mariners of the shoal on which she perished."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And <i>his</i> heart was originally good too, I do believe," answered Sir +William Ryder: "I mean the father's," he added, thoughtfully. "Well, +indeed, may his example serve to show to what, step by step, we may +reduce ourselves, as one vice lashes on to another."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners smiled. "Nay, nay, Sir William," he said, "you are doing the +worthy lord somewhat less than justice, I think. I never heard of his +being troubled with any of what the world calls vices: pride, indeed, +and wrath, and irascibility, he is not without: but, setting aside +these gentlemanly peccadilloes, I never heard of any vices; and from +what I have seen of him, I should say that, whatever he may have been +in the days past, he has now sunk down into a very disagreeable old +gentleman--that is all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all!" cried Sir William Ryder, starting up, and laying +his hand upon Manners's arm, while he fixed his eyes intently upon +him--"that is all!" but suddenly breaking off, he resumed a calmer +look and tone, and added, "But we have not time, to-night, to discuss +characters. I am but keeping you from your rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners did not endeavour to carry on the conversation; for, in all +such matters, it was his rule to let people go on just as far as they +liked, but to press them no further; and although he certainly was not +without some feeling of curiosity in regard to the connection between +Sir William Ryder and the father of his friend De Vaux, yet he well +knew that the only way to come honestly at a secret is to be totally +careless about it. The bell was now rung, and Manners was conducted to +a room which the servant who had given him admission, and who was an +old acquaintance, had with laudable foresight prepared for his use, +looking upon it as certain that a visiter who arrived at twelve +o'clock at night was not likely to depart before the next morning.</p> + +<p class="normal">Everything had been carefully provided that he could want or desire; +and Colonel Manners, who enjoyed, perhaps more than most men, that +inestimable blessing of a heart at ease in itself, lay down to rest, +and was soon in a deep slumber.</p> + +<p class="normal">His repose was not disturbed till the gray of the next morning, when +he was roused with the intelligence that Captain De Vaux was awake, +and would be very glad to see him. He was not long in obeying the +summons; and, after a soldier's toilet hastily made, he rang for the +servant, and was conducted to the apartment where his wounded friend +lay.</p> + +<p class="normal">There is something always melancholy in entering a sick-room in the +early morning, even when it is to see returning health coming back +into a cheek we love. The cheerful light of the young day, finding its +way through the chinks of the shutters, and mingling with the faint +but inextinguishable glare of the night-lamp, the pale and sleepy +guardian of the sick, the book with which she has striven to while +away the hours of watching, and scare off sleep, half-open on a table +loaded with drugs and fever-cooling drinks, the warm, close +atmosphere, and the drawn curtains, all bring home to our own hearts +that painful conviction of our weak and fragile tenure upon health and +comfort, and all that makes life pleasant, which we forget in the +bright and hopeful light of day.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the small dressing-room, through which Manners ducted to the +chamber of his friend, he found a surgeon who had been brought from +London, and who had passed the preceding night in close attendance +upon the patient. He was luckily one of those men who can form an +opinion, and will venture to speak it; and in answer to Colonel +Manners's inquiries respecting De Vaux's real situation he replied at +once, "There is no danger, sir. He will do perfectly well. I should +advise, however, as little conversation as possible, and that of as +cheerful a kind as may be, for it may retard recovery, if it do not +produce more serious evil."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners promised to observe his caution, and entered the room. De Vaux +smiled faintly when he saw him, and held out his hand, though he moved +with evident pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is a sad accident, indeed, De Vaux," said Manners, sitting down +by his bedside; "but I am delighted to hear from the surgeon that it +is likely to have no bad consequences, and to be speedily remedied."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should be ungrateful to say that I am sorry he thinks so," answered +De Vaux, in a melancholy tone; "and yet I can hardly make up my mind +to rejoice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay," said Manners, "I will not hear you say so, my friend. You +can have heard no tidings, you can be placed in no situation, De Vaux, +which should make you forget that you are surrounded by people who +love you for yourself, and are worthy of your love--who would love you +still, under all or any circumstances--that you have friends, +relations, ties of every dear and intimate character that can make +health and life a blessing, if you are willing to receive it as such. +Nor should you forget that there are others who may well be dear to +your heart, and whose whole happiness for life is staked upon yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh yes, poor Marian," said De Vaux: "I am, indeed, ungrateful; for +such a treasure as that should compensate for everything. But tell me +how she is. Tell me all about her, Manners. When did she hear of this +accident? and how has she borne it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners, though it can scarcely be said that he was puzzled how to +answer, yet felt that, with a man of De Vaux's character, it was +somewhat a delicate task, especially as, from what the surgeon had +said, it might be expedient not to tell his friend the full extent of +what Marian had suffered. He was too well aware of De Vaux's +fastidiousness not to let him know that Marian had felt as deeply on +his account as he could possibly think she ought to have done; and yet +Manners did not wish to pain and alarm him by telling him how much she +really had undergone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ask me to tell you a long story, De Vaux," he answered, after a +moment's thought, "longer, I am afraid, than your worthy surgeon will +consent to your hearing at present; but the truth is, in consequence +of some other accident or mistake, we never did hear of what had +occurred to you at all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God!" cried De Vaux, "when with my own hand I wrote to Marian as +much as I could write. I do think that servants and messengers were +made for the very purpose of breaking people's hearts, or teasing them +to death by carelessness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In this instance, however," said Manners, "it seems that there were +various causes which prevented the delivery of your note; and the +consequence was, that, from your unexplained absence, and several +other accidental facts which came to our knowledge, we were led to +conclude that you had been murdered. I, of course, instantly took arms +to avenge you, as in duty bound, and, backed by warrants and gentlemen +of the quorum, I have been galloping about the country ever since; so +that, in fact, I have seen scarcely any thing of the family at Morley +House, and less than all of your fair cousin Miss De Vaux, whose very +first apprehensions rendered her so unwell that she has kept her room +almost ever since."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God!" cried De Vaux: "how she must have suffered! Poor dear +Marian! Would to God that I could go to her--but I am afraid that I +could not ride."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ride! Do not think of it for an instant," cried Manners, "and make +yourself easy about Miss De Vaux. Last night, I, for the first time, +obtained news of your safety, which did her more good than all that +the god of medicine himself could have done. Nay, I do believe that +she would have walked over here with me in the middle of last night, +if it had not been that her own ideas of propriety, or, perhaps, her +fears of your notions thereof, prevented her from undertaking such a +task under such an escort."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux smiled. "You are severe upon my fastidiousness, Manners," he +said; "but that is one bad quality which, I trust, I shall be able to +cast away with many others. I have had some hard lessons lately, +Manners, enough to bow down the pride of him of the morning star; and, +perhaps, I may have more yet to undergo: but, at all events, my vain +fastidiousness is gone for ever; so that one good is gained by +misfortune."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As it often is, my friend," answered Manners: "nevertheless, I think +Miss De Vaux was very right to stay where she was; especially as she +herself was far from strong, and I did not know whither I was about to +go; for my friend the gipsy, who conducted me hither, is a man of +mysteries. However, you owe him thanks for one service that he has +rendered to another fair cousin of yours, Miss Falkland, whom he saved +from drowning, at the risk of his own life."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux had drawn his hand over his eyes when first Manners mentioned +the gipsy; but he removed it again, and looked up with pleasure at the +tidings of Isadore's escape, though he asked no account of the +accident. "Poor Isadore," he said, "and poor Marian, too, for God +knows what we may both be called upon to suffer. Manners, my brain is +in such a whirl, with various doubts, and fears, and anxieties, which +I can neither explain to others nor unravel myself, that I must, +indeed, endeavour to banish all thought of my own situation, and of my +future prospects, if I wish to recover."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, by all means banish all thought," answered Manners. "It +is seldom that I can be accused of giving such advice; but for a man +in your situation I think it absolutely a duty to cast from him every +memory, and every reflection, which may tend to impede his recovery, +trusting and believing that, in those circumstances where we have no +power to deliver ourselves, the Almighty Disposer of all things will +act for us far better than we could act for ourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must e'en think so," answered De Vaux, in whom corporal weakness +and exhaustion had deadened the first sense of misfortune. "Sir +William Ryder, indeed, bids me hope, and tells me that things must and +will go better than I anticipate: but we speak to each other in +enigmas; and till my mind and body are capable of clearer thought and +greater exertion, I must, I suppose, rest satisfied with assurances, +the foundation for which I can in no degree perceive."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners, now anxious to lead his thoughts away from any more painful +subject, gave him a brief, light sketch of his own proceeding in +search of him, and all that had occurred since he had left Morley +House: but, warned by what had already passed concerning the gipsy, he +kept a watchful and a friendly eye upon the countenance of his friend, +skilfully turning to some other part of the same subject as soon as he +perceived that what he said was beginning to produce the slightest +uneasiness. He was surprised to find, however, on how many points De +Vaux was susceptible of pain. The mention of his own father affected +him as strongly as the mention of the gipsy; and many a casual word, +which seemed in itself to be innocent or kind, made him shrink as if +some one had laid a rough hand upon his wound. Beginning at length to +fear that his conversation was doing his friend more harm than good, +Manners rose, adding, "And now, my dear De Vaux, I think I have +remained as long with you as friendship can require, or gallantry +permit, considering that there is a fair lady, very dear to you, +watching anxiously till I shall return and tell her that I have seen +you with my own eyes, and that you are living, not dead; recovering, +not dying. The good people here, for various reasons, will not hear of +her coming to you to-day, but they assure me that to-morrow you will +be able to see her: so that I think I can then promise you a visit; +and hope to find that you have in the interval regained much of the +health and strength that you have lost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will not ask you to stay longer, Manners," said De Vaux; "for I am +too confident of my dear Marian's affection not to feel sure that the +tidings of my probable recovery will be the best consolation she can +receive; and tell her, Manners, I beg, that the only happiness I +anticipate in life and health is that of seeing her again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell her how happy it will make you," answered Manners; "but +without any of the melancholy adjuncts, if you please, De Vaux. I will +not spoil the best tidings I have had to tell for some time by such a +number of unpleasant negatives as you attach to them; and so, fare you +well for the present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Manners, Manners," said the voice of De Vaux, ere his friend reached +the door, "there is one thing which I had forgot. Do not on any +account let Marian think that this wound which I have received was the +consequence of any intentional act of my own hand. Bid her be sure +that, whatever may have occurred, I was not fool enough or cruel +enough to her to think of such a thing. Explain to her the accident as +I dare say you must have heard it, and tell her that though they say +the pistol must have been cocked when I put it in my bosom, I have not +the slightest remembrance of its having been so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell her all," answered Manners; "but do not fancy that she +will ever dream that you did do it intentionally. If you were a +forlorn and solitary being like myself, destined to go through life in +single unblessedness, people might suspect you; but with so many ties +at present, and so much happiness to look forward to, you would be +worse than a madman to throw away, not only the crown of life, but all +the jewels with which fate has adorned it for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux gave him a melancholy look, but only added, "You do not know +all, Manners!" and suffered him to depart. As he was crossing the hall +in search of some one who could inform him whether Sir William Ryder +was yet awake, he met the object of his search, booted and spurred, as +if returned from riding. "You keep your old habits, I see, Sir +William," said Manners, as they met. "You must have been up and out +full early, indeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mr. Harley; remember, my dear colonel, Mr. Harley I am for the +present," replied the other. "I never sleep before one, nor after +five--a habit which was acquired in sorrow and in bitterness, but +which I would not now lose for half an empire. But have you seen our +poor friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I have," answered Manners; "and find him better in body, at +least, than I had even hoped. In mind, however, he is very much +depressed; and without inquiring, or wishing to inquire, my dear sir, +into the connection which may exist between your affairs and his, +allow me to say, as some connection does certainly exist, that I am +sure whatever will sooth and quiet his mind will tend more than +anything to restore him to health. Whatever, on the contrary, +depresses him, as he now is, will not only greatly retard his +recovery, but may, I am afraid, have, remotely, very bad results upon +his constitution. I hope that I do not take too great a liberty with +your friendship," he added, seeing a cloud come upon his auditor's +brow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not in the least, Manners, not in the least," answered Sir William: +"I was only thinking what I could do to relieve the poor youth's mind. +I am afraid I somewhat mistook him, Manners, when I saw him with you +in America; I am afraid I did not half see the nobler and finer +qualities of his mind, concealed, as they were, under an exterior of +frivolous fastidiousness. But I can assure you, that anything on earth +I can do to set his mind at ease I will do; and I will go and assure +him thereof directly and solemnly."</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners detained him for a single moment, to borrow a horse, and to +explain the motives of his early departure for Morley House; and then +suffering him to proceed, in order to sooth and calm the mind of his +wounded friend, he himself took his way to Mrs. Falkland's, glad to +bear tidings to those who stood so much in need of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian was watching at the window as he galloped up; and there was +something in the rapid pace at which he came, in the light and agile +motion with which he sprang to the ground, and flung the rein to +the servant, which spoke joyful tidings. Manners was soon in the +drawing-room; and the news he bore was not long in telling. He related +all that he had seen, and all that he had heard of her cousin's +accident and situation; and although we cannot deny that he softened a +little the pain he suffered, and the grief which seemed to oppress +him, Manners told her the truth, though he told it kindly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marian's face was alternately the abode of smiles and tears during his +narrative, and during the manifold answers which he gave to her +questions, and again and again she thanked him for all his energetic +interest and feeling kindness, and prayed Heaven sincerely that De +Vaux and herself might have some opportunity of returning it as he +deserved.</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners only interrupted a conversation which was not without interest +to himself, and was so deeply interesting to her, in order to inquire +for her cousin, and to put many a question concerning Miss Falkland's +health, after the accident of the preceding night. He was still in +full career, when she herself entered, somewhat paler but not less gay +than ever; and although she declared, and persisted in the +declaration, that she was bound by every rule of propriety to fall in +love with the gipsy who had rescued her, and to tender him her hand +and heart, Manners felt sincerely rejoiced that Pharold had been the +person to come so opportunely to her aid. Isadore, indeed, as she +recollected one or two words which had been spoken on the preceding +evening, coloured more than once when Manners addressed her; but she +knew him to be a generous man, and she determined to trust to his +generosity for the result.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Falkland soon after joined the party; and the house of mourning +was changed into a house of joy. Nothing more remained but to write to +Lord Dewry, informing him of his son's safety; and this Manners +undertook and executed, keeping in mind the engagement he had come +under to Sir William Ryder, regarding the concealment of his name. A +servant was instantly despatched to Dewry Hall with the note: but on +reaching that place he found that the peer had returned early that +morning to Dimden, and thither he then bent his steps; but arrived too +late to give Lord Dewry even the option of visiting his son that +night.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.9" href="#div1Ref_02.9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Dimden Park--a spot which had been hated and avoided by Lord Dewry +ever since it fell into his possession, on account of its many +memories--some painful in themselves, some painful in their +associations--had, by this time, not alone been revisited by its +master, but had been occupied by him, with a part of his general +household, as if for the purpose of longer residence. Such a state of +things had been in no degree contemplated by the peer, either when +Manners left him, or when he himself terminated his conversation with +the gipsy boy who had become his prisoner; but another conversation +had succeeded with another person, to whose chamber we must now +follow.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first object of Lord Dewry being to get the gipsy Pharold into his +power--trusting to his previously arranged schemes to work his will +with him when he had him there--it was natural that he should turn his +whole efforts to accomplish his capture before he attended to anything +else. The moment, however, that all the means had been employed for +that purpose which circumstances permitted, his attention instantly +returned to the plans which he had concerted in order to prove the +object of his hatred and his fear guilty of the crime imputed to him, +when he should be ultimately taken. The execution of these plans +materially depended upon Sir Roger Millington; and for his safety and +recovery the peer's next aspirations were consequently raised. As +soon, then, as he had dismissed the affair of the boy, and had seen +the treacherous scoundrel he thought fit to employ for the purpose of +inveigling the gipsy to his destruction set out upon his errand, Lord +Dewry turned his steps towards the chamber of the wounded man, +sincerely grieved for the accident which had happened to him, and most +anxious concerning its ultimate result. Calculating, however, with +nice acumen, the irritable selfishness of sick people, he trusted not +to the personal vexation which he really felt to give his air and +countenance the appearance of grief and sympathy; but as he walked +slowly up the stairs, he thought over every point of the part he was +to play, in order to cover his individual motives from the eye of the +wounded man, and make him believe that sincere interest in his fate +and sufferings was the sole emotion which affected his friend and +benefactor.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the door of the chamber to which Sir Roger had been conveyed, the +peer paused for a moment; and then laying his hand upon the lock, +turned it, and entered with as noiseless a step as possible. The +windows were darkened; but there was still enough light in the room +for the eye to distinguish the table covered with surgical instruments +and bloody bandages, and all those appliances and means for saving +life which man so strangely combines with the most skilful and +persevering activity in taking it. There was the bed, too, and the +half-drawn curtains, and the gentleman in black, sitting by the +bolster, while a young prim assistant walked about on tiptoe, for the +soothing dose or the cooling drink. A deep groan was sounding through +the room as the peer entered; and although he was, and always had +been, a man of nerve, without any corporal terror at the thought +either of pain or death, there was something in that sound, and all +the accessory circumstances around, that made a sort of shudder pass +over his frame. It were difficult to guess in what feelings that +shudder took its rise. It might be, alone, the natural repugnance of +the human heart to anguish and dissolution--it might be that he +thought of his son--it might be that he remembered his brother, for +there were chords of association between the fate of each, and the +situation of the man he came to visit, which, like the strings of the +Eolian harp, might well be moved to a thousand vague and melancholy +sounds by the slightest breath that stirred them.</p> + +<p class="normal">He advanced, however, lightly towards the bed, and stood by the chair, +whence the surgeon rose as he approached, ere the wounded man was +aware of his presence. Sir Roger Millington was lying on his left +side, with his face turned away, and his right hand cast over the +bed-clothes; and it was not difficult, from the slow clenching of +his hand, and the rocking motion of his head, to see the intense +agony he suffered. The peer paused, and gazed for a moment with +some emotion--not, indeed, without a mingling of better +feelings--compassion, and sympathy, and disinterested grief, such as +he had not known for many years. It was better than all the acting in +the world; and when Sir Roger, whom no persuasion of the surgeon could +induce to lie still, turned round with the quick and irritable +movement of high fever and excessive pain, he saw the peer standing by +him, with an expression of sincere sorrow which could not be mistaken.</p> + +<p class="normal">A groan and a fearful contortion followed the change of position; but +when the first agony was over, he looked pleased to see the +countenance of Lord Dewry; and said, in a voice wonderfully strong and +firm, considering his situation, "Your lordship is very kind--I am +badly hurt, I am afraid--those accursed gipsies took too good an +aim--damn me, if I do not think the shot must have been red hot, it +gives one such torture. I have been wounded before, but never felt +anything like this. Do you think I shall die, my lord, ey?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heaven forbid," cried the peer, sitting down; "on the contrary, I +trust the very pain you suffer evinces that you are in no danger; for +I have always heard that mortal wounds are generally the least +painful. Is it not so, Mr. Swainstone?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, exactly so, my lord," replied the surgeon, who would probably +have confirmed anything on earth that the peer said to sooth his +patient. "I had told the gentleman so before your lordship arrived."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You never told me so," cried Sir Roger, looking up at him angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed, sir, I told you that I hoped and trusted you would +recover," answered the surgeon; "and one of my reasons for thinking so +was the very pain you suffer; for, as his lordship very justly and +wisely observes, wounds which--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But that damned parson," cried Sir Roger, "told me I should certainly +die--a foul-mouthed, old, hooded crow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What parson?" demanded the peer, in some surprise and dismay at the +very idea of Sir Roger Millington being brought in contact in his +dying hours with any one who might lead him on to dangerous +disclosures; "what parson does he mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, only good Dr. Edwards, my lord, the rector," answered the +surgeon. "He came to give the gentleman religious consolation; but he +did not exactly say that he would certainly die. He said that he would +certainly die at some time; and that even, if he were spared at +present, it would be better for him to turn his thoughts to serious +things, so that, if he recovered, the wound might prove salutary to +his mind at least."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes; but he thought, and he meant me to think, too," cried Sir +Roger, "that I was dying, and that I could not recover. I knew well +enough what he meant--the canting old crow; but I'll live, curse me if +I do not, if it be but to pay those hellish gipsies for this torture +to which they have put me. I beg your pardon, my lord, for being +somewhat violent; but I am in agony, perfect agony."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I grieve most deeply and sincerely, my dear friend, to see you suffer +so much," answered the peer; "and I will take care that no such +fanatical irritation be intruded upon you again. Dr. Edwards is a very +good and well-intentioned man, I dare say; but I will not have a sick +and wounded friend tormented for any rector on the face of the earth. +In the mean time, however, I trust that this state of anguish is not +likely to be of long endurance. What do you think, Mr. Swainstone? Can +nothing be done to alleviate it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have done as much as I could, my lord, to effect that purpose," +answered the surgeon, with a very significant shrug of the shoulders; +"and I doubt not, in a few hours, the gentleman will feel the pain +begin to subside."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the best news I have heard from you yet, doctor," said the +wounded man. "But do you not think you can extract the ball? I do not +believe I shall be easier as long as that remains in me, burning like +a coal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"O yes, you will," answered the surgeon; "and it is necessary to let +the first irritation subside, before I make the attempt again. Were I +to try it now, it might increase all you suffer, and prolong it, +perhaps, for many hours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you shall not touch it, depend upon that," cried Sir Roger; "I +suffer quite enough already."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the mean time, Mr. Swainstone," demanded the peer, "let me inquire +whether a little quiet conversation with a friend is likely to injure +your patient; for I would even deny myself the pleasure of remaining +with him, though I much desire it, if you thought it would prove in +any degree hurtful."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not in the least, my lord," answered the surgeon; "a little cheerful +and interesting conversation, such as your lordship's must always be, +would, most likely, withdraw his mind from himself, and rather do him +good than otherwise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I will relieve you in your attendance upon him for half an +hour," rejoined the peer: "and your assistant can wait in the next +room, in case Sir Roger may want any surgical aid. But, remember," he +added, in a louder tone, "in case I do not see you again, I beseech +you to give your whole time and attention up to my friend here, and +shall esteem it the greatest favour that any one can confer upon me, +if you bring him safely and speedily through this unfortunate affair."</p> + +<p class="normal">The surgeon bowed; and promising to do his best, proceeded to quit the +apartment with his assistant. The peer then, suddenly seeming to +remember something, followed into the anteroom, and, closing the door, +beckoned him back. "I wish to know, Mr. Swainstone," he said, in a low +but emphatic tone, "your real opinion of my friend's case. You said +just now that the pain would subside in a few hours: do you think that +likely to be really the case? for I see that you have spoken under +some restraint."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will certainly be the case, my lord," replied the surgeon, +gravely; "but only from the coming on of mortification, which cannot +be long ere it occurs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God! then you think he will die?" cried the peer, in real alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do think so, my lord," answered the surgeon, "without there +existing in my mind one hope of being able to prevent it. The fact is +this, my lord: the ball entered his right side; and passing directly +through the muscles of the back, was only stopped by the articulations +of the ribs and the vertebrae, both of which have been so much +fractured and injured, that there is neither any possibility of +extracting the ball, nor any chance of its remaining there innocuous, +as is sometimes the case."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then how long do you think life may be protracted?" asked the peer, +anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is impossible to say to a day or two, my lord," answered the +surgeon. "It may be over in a week; and, on the contrary, he may +linger ten days or a fortnight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you do not think that there is any chance of immediate +dissolution?" demanded Lord Dewry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"None, none whatever, my lord," replied the surgeon. "All hemorrhage +has ceased long. First mortification will ensue, and then--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare me the description," said the peer; "but tell me, in case of +its being necessary to transact any business of importance with this +unfortunate gentleman, when do you think will be the moment in which +it can best be done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, I should say, in the beginning of the mortification," the +surgeon replied. "All his faculties will be clear and active, and the +great bodily pain which he is now suffering will have abated."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, Mr. Swainstone," rejoined Lord Dewry, "I shall trust you +to give me notice of the precise moment at which you judge it +expedient that this poor gentleman's declaration, on oath, regarding +the transactions in which he has suffered, should be taken down. At +the same time, let me caution you not to alarm him, or suffer him to +be alarmed, by the thought of death; but keep his spirits up, as far +as possible, till it shall become absolutely necessary to let him know +that all hope is past."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, the peer returned into the room of the wounded man; and +the surgeon withdrew, wondering who Sir Roger Millington could be, +towards whom the cold and proud Lord Dewry displayed so much courtesy +and warm regard.</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer, in the meantime, approached the bed of the sufferer with a +more cheerful countenance; and assured him, in answer to some rather +anxious questions, that the real opinion of the surgeon was more +favourable than he had even expected. "I have given orders, too," +added Lord Dewry, "that no more fanatics be admitted to you. There are +a crowd of those weak fools about the country, who haunt sick-rooms; +and very often, by depressing the mind and spirits, cause those +persons to die who would otherwise have recovered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I'll not die for any of them," answered Sir Roger; "I'll live to +have revenge on those gipsies. They marked me out especially; and I +will live long enough to show that, though I was so badly hurt, I +could mark them too, and remember them to their cost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you see Pharold, then, among them?" demanded the peer, eagerly. +"Was it he who fired the shot?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I saw Pharold plainly," answered Sir Roger; "and can swear that he +was among them. So can the man that held me up in his arms, after I +was wounded; for he pointed him out to me, and I will swear to him +anywhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">Joy glistened in the eyes of the peer while he listened. He had had +doubts, he had had apprehensions, lest the testimony of his keeper +against the gipsy should remain unsupported by other authority; and he +had not left unremarked Harvey's implication that some of the other +persons present differed with him in their account of the affair. But +the assertion of Sir Roger Millington was conclusive; as he well knew, +from his own former experience as a lawyer, what an effect the dying +declaration of a murdered person always has upon a jury.</p> + +<p class="normal">During the last twenty-four hours he had sometimes doubted whether he +had or had not somewhat too intricately complicated his plans, in his +eagerness to snatch at every thing which gave an additional chance of +security; but now he congratulated himself that he had acted as he had +done, and fancied that if he confidently and boldly pursued them, his +mind was sufficiently acute to guide each of the schemes he had +engaged in to the same great end and object,--the ensuring his own +security by crushing those who could destroy it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He now felt armed at all points. By the transactions of the preceding +day he could prove the impossibility of his having committed the crime +which he believed that Pharold would cast back in his teeth; and from +the events of the preceding night he felt secure that if the gipsy +should even be cleared of the murder of his brother and of his son, +the last charge, in regard to the violence in Dimden Park, would be +made good against him, and lay his dangerous lips in the silence of +the grave. But in his eagerness to secure this advantage beyond the +power of fate, Lord Dewry somewhat outran discretion. Without giving +either himself or Sir Roger time to pause, he exclaimed, eagerly, +"Will it not be better, my dear Sir Roger, at once to make a +declaration, upon oath, of your recollections concerning the affair of +last night?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington looked at him suspiciously. "Do you think me +dying, or do you not. Lord Dewry?" he demanded; "for if I am not +dying, but likely to recover, I shall have plenty of time to make the +declaration when I am not in such pain, or give the <i>vivâ voce</i> +evidence, which is much better in a court of justice. So let me know +the truth, my lord."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry saw that it was in vain to hope he would make the +declaration he desired unless he believed himself to be dying; but the +peer had a keen knowledge of human nature, and saw all the dangers +which would attend the disclosure of his real state to Sir Roger +Millington. He knew that men who have confronted the chance of death a +thousand times, and, if one may use the expression, have bearded "the +lean, abhorred monster" in his most angry moods, will writhe and +flutter like a scared bird when he has got them in his inevitable +grasp, and when they know that they cannot escape. He knew that these +are the moments "that make cowards of us all;" and he feared lest some +lingering notions of crime, and repentance, and another world should +tempt Sir Roger Millington to an endeavour towards atoning past +errors, by the confession of all those evil designs which were still +in their passage between the past and the future, between the +revocable and the irretrievable; and he would not have risked the +chance for a world. He saw, however, that he had already created a +doubt which might be dangerous; but, he extricated himself +dexterously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid, my dear Millington," he said, "that anything should be +even likely to prevent your giving evidence when the trial of these +gipsies comes on; but my only reason for wishing you to make the +declaration was, that it might be produced at once before the +magistrates, whom I shall request to meet here to-morrow or the day +after, either to take measures for pursuing the villains vigorously, +if they have not been arrested before that time, or to investigate the +matter if they have, which I trust may be the case, as I have already +set half the county on their track. Now what I wish is, that this +Pharold may be committed directly; and you know that among a number of +country magistrates there is always some prating, troublesome fellow, +who throws difficulties in the way; and in this instance, it must be +remembered, some of the people did not recognise Pharold, so that your +evidence is of vital importance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let them come to me," said Sir Roger, vehemently--"let them come to +me, and I will give such evidence as would hang him half a dozen times +over. I should like to be but a quarter of an hour in the same room +with the scoundrel with two good small-swords. Only to think, my lord, +of me--who have made the daylight shine through many a pretty man as +one would wish to see--being hurt in this way by a stinking yellow fox +of a gipsy, that is only fit to be hunted down by a good pack of +hounds!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I trust we shall catch him," said the peer, who saw that it was vain +to press the wounded man any further upon the subject of the +declaration.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Catch him!" cried Sir Roger, who was working himself up into a state +of vehement excitement--"catch him! you cannot miss catching him, if +you take proper means. By Jupiter, if you miss him, I'll undertake, +for a small sum, to catch him myself as soon as I am well; or rather, +I should say, catch the whole of them, for curse me if I know which of +them it was that fired the shot."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" cried Lord Dewry; "I am sorry for that; I thought you were +certain it was Pharold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I daresay it was," answered the knight, "for I saw him standing in +front, when they picked me up. It was either he himself or a young +fellow who stood near, and who bullied a great deal beforehand. But as +those that bully never act, I dare say it was Pharold himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish to heaven your recollection would enable you to swear that it +was Pharold," said the peer in a low but distinct voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I can swear that it was he who did it, to the best of my belief," +answered Sir Roger, who, notwithstanding all his sufferings, could not +but feel, that, in the peer, he had obtained a friend whom it might be +inexpedient to lose, and whose care and attention, under his existing +circumstances, might well make some impression upon him, although he +even did doubt the motives which produced such conduct--"I can swear +it was he who did it, to the best of my belief," he repeated, with +some emphasis on the last words; and then added, in the peevish tone +of pain, "You seem to have a goodly dislike towards this Pharold, my +lord."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer did not wish, of course, that his personal hatred to Pharold +should be too apparent, even to those whom he employed as tools; but +he still less wished that that personal hatred should be so far +without plausible motive as to lead men to turn their thoughts towards +remote causes, in order to seek out some probable reason for such +persisting enmity. Nor, indeed, was a sufficient motive wanting; for +the terrible news he had heard the night before from Colonel Manners +had awakened feelings towards the gipsy which, though blending with +ancient hatred, were yet sufficiently powerful in themselves to stand +forth, even in his own mind, as the great incentive to his designs +against Pharold, as one great stream, joining others, mingles its +waters with theirs, and gives its name to all.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have good cause to hate him," he said, bending down over the +wounded man, with the expression of all his dark and bitter feelings +frowning unrestrained upon his brow--"I have good cause to hate him, +Sir Roger--judge if I have not, when I tell you that his hand has not +only been dipped in my brother's blood, but also in the blood of my +only son."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke in a low and agitated voice: but Sir Roger caught his meaning +distinctly; and, with an involuntary movement of real horror, started +up upon his elbow. He fell back again instantly, with a groan of +agony; and the big drops rolled from his forehead. The peer paused for +a few minutes, seeing that the sudden movement had renewed all the +sufferings of the wounded man: but he had yet much more to say, and +when the knight had in some degree recovered, he began again with +expressions of sympathy and kindness:--"I am sorry to see you suffer +so terribly," he said: "you seemed easier just now; and I was in hopes +that the change for the better, which the surgeon prognosticated, was +already coming on."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was better, I was better," said the knight, peevishly; "but that +cursed start that you made me give, by telling me about your son, has +torn me all to pieces again. You should not tell one such things so +hastily."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Were my son out of the question," replied Lord Dewry, with every +appearance of frankness and sincerity--"had this Pharold never shed +one drop of my kindred blood, I would pursue him and his tribe to the +last man, for what they have made you suffer."</p> + +<p class="normal">There is no calculating, however, the turns which the irritability of +sickness will take; and whether Lord Dewry overcharged the expression +of his regard or not, Sir Roger murmured to himself, in a tone too +indistinct for the peer to distinguish his words,--"I dare say you +think so, now that you have your own purposes to answer too--I am not +to be blinded. Well, my lord," he continued aloud, somewhat +apprehensive, perhaps, that the peer's present kindness might render +him the obliged person, instead of the conferer of the obligation, and +thus deprive him of many a profitable claim for the future--"well, my +lord. I am very much obliged to you for your kindness; but I trust you +will not allow my having suffered, in an attempt to serve you, so +greatly as to render me for the time incapable of doing all that I +could wish--I hope that you will not allow this fact, I say, to alter +your lordship's kind intentions in my favour."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer understood very clearly, although Sir Roger was rendered +peevish and somewhat imprudent by pain and sickness, yet that with +habitual rapacity he now wished to tie him down to the fulfilment of +all that had been promised on the former evening, lest the opportunity +should slip, and the gipsy be convicted of other crimes by other +means. Confiding, however, in the assurance of the surgeon, that the +unhappy knight must die, he felt that he could be liberal as the air +in promises, without any dangerous result; and he therefore replied at +once, "Fear not, fear not, Sir Roger; not only will I do all that I +said, when you were first kind enough to give me your assistance, but +it shall not be my fault if I do not find means to do more. Set your +mind, therefore, at ease upon the subject, and do not allow any +thoughts for the future to give you apprehension, or delay your +recovery. Since, however, you have spoken of the subject yourself, +there are some things in those papers which we were looking over last +night which I should much like to see again. Have you them here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger, however, was not to be deceived; and his present views were +directly opposed to those which he perceived or suspected in his noble +companion. In the first arrangement of the affair, indeed, when he had +been suddenly raised from apprehensions of the most gnawing want to +hopes of competence and ease, when he believed that the peer could not +ultimately act without him, and that he had it always in his power to +enforce, by a few gentle hints of publicity, the performance of all +that had been promised, he would have given the papers out of his own +hands without fear. Under those circumstances, too, the peer had +thought it better that the knight should keep them, that their +production might take place more naturally.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, however, the position of each was changed. Lord Dewry looked upon +Sir Roger as a dying man, whose life could not be protracted to the +completion of all they designed, and who might be worked upon by the +fear of death, or the irritability of sickness, to take a very +different view of the life he was leaving, from that which he had +hitherto entertained. Sir Roger, on his part, saw that, tied down to a +bed of pain, through, a long and tedious convalescence, no opportunity +could possibly be afforded him of superintending and directing the +proceeding in which he had been engaged; and, therefore, that his +great hold upon the peer was to be found in the papers which they had +altered together. Both, therefore, wished to possess them; and Sir +Roger, in the apparently casual question of Lord Dewry, perceived at +once the object he proposed. "No, my lord," he answered, somewhat +abruptly, "I have them not with me; I left them at your house, at +Dewry Hall. I wish to God I had them with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer was somewhat startled by the eagerness of his tone; for it is +impossible for men to confederate in villany without being more or +less suspicious of each other. "Cannot I find them for you. Sir +Roger?" he demanded. "If you will intrust me with the key of your +valise, I will bring them over with me to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">A grim smile checkered the expression of pain on the countenance of +the wounded man, and he replied, "Your lordship is very good; but as I +shall require a number of things contained in my valise, I think it +would be better if your lordship were to have the goodness to order +some of your servants to send me over every thing which I left in the +apartment assigned me at Dewry Hall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, certainly," answered the peer, who saw that he must press +the matter no farther--"certainly, it shall be done this very night. +But do you not think, Sir Roger," he continued, with renewed +apprehension lest the unhappy man, if left unwatched by his own eye, +should discover his real situation, and be persuaded to make +inconvenient confessions--"do you not think, Sir Roger, that you +yourself might bear removal to the hall? I do not like your remaining +in this damp old house, which has not been inhabited for many years, +and in which there is but little that can render you comfortable, +during your convalescence. If you could bear the motion--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impossible, my lord," replied Sir Roger sharply; "I wonder you do not +see that I can bear no motion at all. This place will do very well: I +have lain in worse quarters; and if you will order my valise to be +sent, it is all I want. To tell the truth," he added, "I am somewhat +tired, and am afraid that to speak much more would injure me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then far be it from me," replied the peer, "to prolong our +conversation, Sir Roger. I shall take care that everything that +circumstances admit be done for your accommodation, and that you be +not again teased by our fanatical rector, as you were this morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a degree of anger in his tone which, had it not been +repressed by many a potent consideration, might have flashed forth in +a very different manner; but it was still sufficiently perceptible to +make the wounded man add some deprecatory sentences, which the peer +received in good part, and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Sir +Roger Millington placed his hand over his eyes, and gave way to +thoughts of a very mixed, but all of a melancholy character.</p> + +<p class="normal">"His compassion and his regard," he thought, his mind turning to the +crafty man who had just left him--"his compassion and his regard are +all false and affected, that is clear enough. To think of his wishing +to move me fourteen or fifteen miles in this terrible state! I should +like to know what his object is. He has some deep object, beyond +doubt. Can he be afraid of my betraying him? Perhaps he may. His +schemes are villanous ones enough, that is certain: but he knows that +if I were to peach, I should lose the annuity from him, and get +nothing from any one else; so he cannot be afraid of that." Then came +a long interval of confused and rambling speculations on the motives +of the peer, which had something of delirium in their vague and +unconnected whirl; but then a more terrible image rose before the mind +of the sick man. "Can he think me dying?" he asked himself. "Can the +surgeon have told him that I am dying? No, I won't believe it. I feel +as strong as ever, notwithstanding all this pain! I cannot be dying! +No, no, I will live to revenge myself upon those cursed gipsies. +Doctor," he continued aloud, as the surgeon now re-entered the room, +"are you sure that you are not deceiving me about my condition? Are +you sure that I am not in danger?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The surgeon was a good but an easy-tempered man; not indifferent to +religion; but still not very certain, at all times, in regard to the +precise line of conduct which it dictated. Although he thought it +wrong, as a general principle, to depress the spirits of a patient, by +telling him his danger, yet he had conceived that the clergyman had +done but his duty, as a man of religion, in letting the wounded knight +know what he, as a medical man, had thought it his duty to conceal. +The arguments and injunctions of the peer, however, coming in support +of his own opinion, he maintained his first assertion to Sir Roger, +telling him that, although it was impossible to answer for +contingencies, and that he could not exactly tell what might be the +ultimate result of his wound till he had examined it on the following +day, yet he saw no reason whatever to apprehend any <i>immediate</i> +danger.</p> + +<p class="normal">With this assurance Sir Roger satisfied himself, and passed a feverish +and painful night, in murmurs at the agony he suffered, in curses and +imprecations upon the whole race of gipsies, and in vague speculations +upon the motives and views of Lord Dewry, in his conduct of that +morning. At times his mind seemed to ramble a little; and he would +mutter vague sentences, referring to many a different object, which +would excite both the attention and wonder of the medical man, and +make him believe that his patient wanted the aid of religion more than +he had imagined at first. When spoken to, however, his replies became +instantly clear and precise, and all his faculties appeared again as +perfect as ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the mean while, the peer, after leaving such directions as the +circumstances and his own particular plans required, placed himself +once more in his carriage, and returned to his usual abode; but he +determined that on no consideration should the wounded man be left +longer in Dimden House without his presence. "Those meddling priests," +he thought, "think themselves privileged to obtrude and to persevere +in their obtrusion; but I do not think the rector will presume to set +his foot within the doors of Dimden while I am there, without my +especial desire; and if he do, he shall soon be disposed of. I dare +say, however, that Sir Roger himself said enough to prevent his speedy +return; but that surgeon, that Swainstone, is a weak fellow, and I +will trust nothing to circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">There were other things, however, to be accomplished, which required +no small skill and cunning to bring about; but the mind of Lord Dewry +was all activity and eagerness, now that the strife had actually +commenced, and that he felt that the struggle between him and the only +witness of the crime he had committed was so far advanced that it +could only end in the destruction of one or the other. There was no +more hesitation now--there was no more fear or doubt--there was none +of that wavering between many feelings and many emotions. He had +plunged in, and he was resolved to make his way through. The news of +his son's death had decided him; and the burning longing for revenge +went hand in hand with all his other motives. He had hesitated at the +first step; but that irretrievable first step was now taken, and he +did not regret it. He had chosen his path; he had begun the contest, +and his whole thoughts and mind were bent to take advantage of every +circumstance in order to terminate it in his own favour.</p> + +<p class="normal">Again and again, as the carriage rolled on, he revolved in his own +mind the various means that could be used to induce the dying man to +make such a declaration of what he had witnessed during the affray in +Dimden Park as would give an irresistible grasp of Pharold; and yet +how accomplish this purpose without letting Sir Roger know that he was +dying, and that the crimes to which he was making himself a party +would soon appear in the dreadful account against his disembodied +spirit? It was a difficult task, and yet he thought he could +accomplish it, if he were for any long time present in the knight's +sick-room; but on another point he saw, and saw with a glow of +triumph, that he could turn the very refusal of the papers, which for +a moment he had considered as detrimental, to the very best account.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although it was late, and he had not dined, yet he ordered the +carriage, ere it proceeded home, to pass through the neighbouring +village, and stop at the vicarage. It was an honour which the proud, +cold, irreverent peer had seldom paid to the poor minister of a +religion that condemned him; and with some surprise the vicar beheld +him enter his little study. But the struggle in which he was engaged, +like all other struggles of base interest, whether they be for the +purposes of political ambition or of private avarice, was one that +mightily tamed pride, and rendered coldness warm and affable. He was +anxious to buy golden opinions from all sorts of men: and although he +had a further purpose at present in view, he addressed the clergyman +with that sort of courtesy which his situation prompted him to use +towards every one whose word might be of value in the opinion of the +world.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear sir," he said, "I come to you for the purpose of requesting a +favour." The vicar, who neither loved nor approved the man who spoke +to him, answered coldly that he should be happy to do any thing to +serve his lordship; and the peer proceeded to explain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The fact is," he said, "that last night, in a terrible deer-stealing +affray, which took place at Dimden, a poor friend of mine was severely +wounded, and is not expected to live from hour to hour. Among his +baggage, which remains here at the hall, he tells me that there are +papers of great importance; and, indeed, he wished me to bring them to +him; but as his mind is not itself, and his faculties wander from time +to time, I do not conceive I should be justified in placing papers of +importance at his disposal. At the same time, of course, I cannot +presume to examine them, and I wish much to seal them up in your +presence, if you have time to get into my carriage with me, and +accompany me to the hall. It is for this purpose that I have now +called here as I passed from Dimden on my way home."</p> + +<p class="normal">The vicar thought that the matter might have been more simply +arranged; but as there was nothing in the peer's request which was +unreasonable, he consented to accompany him; and in few minutes they +were at the door of the mansion. Leaving the cook to fret over his +delayed ragouts, the peer instantly ordered sealing-wax and lights to +be brought; and, accompanied by the clergyman, proceeded to the +apartments which Sir Roger Millington had occupied for so short a +time, and in which various articles of apparel were still lying about. +The valise, however, firmly locked, was in one corner of the room; and +what was still more pleasing in the sight of the peer, there appeared +on one of the tables a small portable letter-case, in which, beyond +all doubt, the knight had placed the papers which were of so much +consequence to Lord Dewry.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry took the wax, and bidding the servant who brought it hold +the taper, he sealed first the letter-case, and then the valise, and +requested the vicar to do the same with his own seal. "I am induced," +he said, in a frank tone, "to take all these precautions, by a +conversation which I had with my poor friend this morning, in which he +spoke of these things as of the most vital importance. It might be the +mere rambling of delirium, but it might be more correct; and, +therefore, as this caution costs me nothing but the wax, and you, my +dear sir, nothing but the loss of a few minutes' time--though I know +your time is valuable--I thought it best not to neglect a line of +conduct, which I might regret not having pursued hereafter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think your lordship is quite right," replied the vicar, placing his +seal also on the cases. "In matters of worldly prudence, and in our +religious duties, where there is any thing to be done which may +produce good, and cannot produce evil, to neglect it is, in the one +case, a folly, and in the other, a sin."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer repressed the sneer that began to curl his lip; and, perhaps, +felt at his heart that the good man's words were true, though through +life he had neglected the rule they taught. He then bade the servant +close up the apartment, and lock the door, till the death of the +unhappy knight should render the things that it contained the property +of others; and descending the stairs with the vicar, he begged that he +would favour him by remaining to dinner, which was about to be placed +upon the table. The clergyman replied that he had long dined; and in +answer to the offer of the peer's carriage to take him back to the +vicarage, he answered that he would rather walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is stern and repulsive!" thought the peer as the clergyman left +him: but there was still a lingering gleam of better feeling, which +occasionally lighted up his darkened heart, and he added, almost +instantly, and aloud; "but he is loved by the poor, and he is a good +man; and I would rather have such a one near me than a pampered +voluptuary."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir!" said the servant, who was standing by.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw! nothing!" replied the peer, and walked back to his +dressing-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Early the next morning he returned to Dimden, where he received, as we +have seen, the tidings which Colonel Manners sent him of the security +of his son, which, though it poured some balm into his heart, came too +late to effect any change in his purposes against the gipsy.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.10" href="#div1Ref_02.10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"The time was," thought the gipsy, as he climbed the hills once +more, after leaving Colonel Manners at the house of Sir William +Ryder,--"the time was when these limbs would have undertaken double +the toil that they have undergone this day, as a matter of sport. But +now they are weary and faint, like those of some sickly dweller in +cities--of some slave of effeminate and enfeebling luxury. Age is +upon me: the breaker of the strong sinew--the softener of the hard +muscle--the destroyer of vigour, activity, and power has laid upon me +that heavy hand, which shall press me down into the grave. But it +matters not--it matters not. I have outlived my time; I have changed, +and the things around me have changed also; but we have not changed in +the same way. They have sprung up, new and young, while I have grown +weary and old; and, in the midst of the world, I am like a withered +leaf of the last year among the green fresh foliage of the spring. It +is time that I should fall from the bough, and give place to brighter +things."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he thus thought, whether from corporal weariness, or from the +listlessness of the dark melancholy which oppressed him, he turned +from the high-road into the first plantation that he met with; and +without such care for personal comfort as even a gipsy usually takes, +cast himself down under the trees, and sought to refresh himself by +sleep. Gloomy ideas, however, still pursued him long; and, with the +superstitious imaginations of his tribe heightening the universal +propensity to superstition in our nature, he fancied that the +melancholy which disappointment, and anxiety, and difficulty, and +failure, had produced, was but some supernatural warning of his +approaching fate. The bravest, the wisest, the best, as well as the +most hardened and the most skeptical, have felt such presentiments, +and have believed them; and very often, also, either by the desponding +inactivity of such belief, or by rash struggles to prove that they did +not believe, have brought about the fulfilment of that which +originally was but a dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">Sleep, however, came at length; and it was daylight the next morning +ere the gipsy awoke. He rose refreshed; and his dark visions, perhaps, +would have vanished, if he would have let them: but there is nothing +to which one so fondly clings as superstition; and to have cast from +him as untrue a presentiment in which he had once put faith, Pharold +would have held as treason to the creed of his people. He rose, then; +and, pursuing the paths through the plantations and the woods, +avoiding all public ways, and never venturing farther from the covert +than to follow the faintly-marked track through some small solitary +meadow, he mounted the remaining hills, and bent his steps towards the +thick wood in which he had left his companions, revolving, as he went, +what might be the probable fate of those to whom he had so +perseveringly clung, when he, himself, should be no more.</p> + +<p class="normal">He found the other gipsies all on foot, and busied about the various +little cares of a fresh day, with the light and careless glee of a +people to whom the sorrows of the past week are as a half-forgotten +tradition. The old were talking and laughing at the entrances of +their tents, the young were sporting together by the stream, and the +middle-aged were employed in mending this or that which had gone wrong +about their carts and baggage, and whistling as lightly at their work +as if there were no such thing as grief in all the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And thus will it be," thought Pharold, as he approached--"thus will +it be with them all, ere I am a week beneath the earth. But it matters +not, it matters not. So be it. Why should I wish tears shed or hearts +bruised for such a thing as I am?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He believed that he did not wish it; yet where is the man so steeled +by nature or philosophy as to look forward to the grave, and not to +hope that some kind bosom will sigh, some gentle eye give a tear to +his memory when he is gone? and though Pharold believed that he did +not wish it, he deceived himself. At the door of his own tent sat she +on whom, in this his latter day, he had bestowed the better part of +all his feelings; whom he loved, at once, with the tenderness of a +father and the tenderness of a husband,--a union of feelings that +never yet produced aught but sorrow, for it never can be returned in +the fulness of its own intensity.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was looking lovelier, too, than ever he had seen her; and though, +heaven knows, her beauty owed but little to richness of dress, yet +there was a something of taste and elegance in her attire, rude as it +was in quality, that pleased the eye of one who had acquired a +knowledge of what constitutes beauty in other times and circumstances. +She had twined a bright red handkerchief through the profuse masses of +her jetty black hair, and had brought a single fold partly across her +broad clear forehead. Her full round arms were bare up to the +shoulders; and, as if in sport, she had cast her red mantle round her, +like the plaid of a Scottish shepherd, contrasting strongly, but +finely, with the drapery of a blue gown beneath. Her head was bent +like the beautiful head of Hagar, by Correggio; and her dark eyes, +their long lashes resting on her sunny cheek, were cast down, well +pleased, upon one of the children of the tribe, who, leaning on her +knees, was playing with the silver ring that circled one of the taper +fingers of her small brown hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lena did not hear the approach of any one till Pharold was within +fifty paces; but the moment his well-known step met her ear, she +started up and ran to meet him, with smiles that were, perhaps, the +brighter because she felt that she had something to atone for, weighty +enough to be concealed, and yet not to oppress her very heavily. +Pharold pressed her to his bosom; and whatever he might try to +believe, he felt--felt to his heart's inmost core--that there was at +least one person on the earth that he should wish to remember him, +after the stream of time had washed away his memory from the hearts of +others.</p> + +<p class="normal">He gave but one moment to tenderness, however; and the next, turning +to the rest of the gipsies, he inquired, "What news of the boy?" The +old woman was instantly called from one of the tents, and came +willingly enough to make her report to Pharold, though she grumbled +audibly all the way at being hurried, and at such tasks being put upon +her at her years.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Pharold, I have done your bidding," she said, in a tone both +cajoling and self-important--"I have done your bidding, and have seen +the lad. Poor fellow, his is a hard case, indeed; and such a fine, +handsome boy, too, and so happy a one as he used to be--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what said he, woman?" interrupted Pharold, sternly. "Keep your +praises of him till he be here to hear them, and thank you for them; +for, doubtless, he is the only person who will do so. Tell me what he +said of his situation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What he said!" replied the beldam; "why, what should he say, but that +if he be not got out to-morrow night--that is, this night that is +coming,--he will be sent away to the county jail, and hanged for the +murder of that fellow that is dying or dead up at the house? That's +what he said."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But did he say how he was to be delivered?" asked Pharold. "That is +the question."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, to be sure he did," answered the old woman. "Do you think I went +there for nothing? He may be delivered easy enough, if folks like to +try. You know the windows of that there strong room, Pharold, well +enough, and I know them too, for I was in there for half a day or +more, when old Dick Hodges swore to my nimming his cocks and hens. He +lies in the churchyard now, the old blackguard, for that was in the +old lord's time. But, as I was saying, you know the windows well +enough. When they had you up at the house, and wanted to make a +gentleman of you, but found they had got hold of the wrong stuff--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold's brow grew as dark as a thundercloud. "On, woman, on with +your story," he cried, "and turn not aside to babble of the past. What +have you or I to do with the past? You were the same then that you are +now, only that the vices and follies of youth have given place to the +vices and follies of age."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, I'm sure I'm telling my story as quickly as it can be +told," replied Mother Gray; "but as I was saying, you know the windows +well enough, and know that any one that is at all strong could knock +off two or three of the bars, and let the boy out in a minute. Any one +could do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, but he said that nobody but Pharold must come," cried Lena, +eagerly, forgetting for the moment all caution, and then reddening, +like the morning sky, as soon as she had spoken.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha!" cried Pharold, turning his keen dark eyes full upon her, "said +he so? and how know you that he did say so, Lena? Ha!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The poor girl turned redder and redder, and looked as if she would +have sunk into the ground, while Pharold still gazed sternly upon her, +as if waiting an answer; but the ready cunning of the old woman came +to her aid with a lie. "How does she know that he said so?" cried the +beldam: "how should she know it but by my telling her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Lena heard the falsehood more willingly than she would have spoken it, +though by her silence she made it her own, as much as if her lips had +given it utterance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis well, 'tis well," said Pharold, with a bitter smile curling his +lip,--"'tis well. So he said that none but Pharold should come? Now +tell me, woman, if your tongue be not so inured to falsehood that it +cannot speak truth,"--Lena burst into tears, and crept back to her +tent, while Pharold went on,--"tell me why this boy said that none but +Pharold must come, when any one else could remove the bars as well?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because he said that any one else who did not know the park might +make some mistake," replied the old woman, "and so ruin both himself +and poor Will."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold mused for a moment or two and then asked, "Was all quiet when +you went?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"As quiet as a dead sheep," answered the old woman, with a grin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And no one stirring in the house or in the park?" demanded Pharold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the park all was dark and solitary," she replied: "I saw nothing +but some fine fat deer, and an owl that came skimming along before us +in the long walk; and on the outside of the house all was quiet enough +too: but there were two rooms above where there were lights; and I +waited awhile to see if they would be put out: but they were so long, +that I made up my mind, as all the rest was still, to creep on; and I +got close under the boy's window and called his name, and he told me +that the lights were in the room where the man is dying."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold mused again; but the man whom we have heard called by the name +of Brown, a powerful gipsy of about forty years of age, took a step +forward, and laid his hand kindly upon Pharold's arm. "I will tell you +what, Pharold," he said, "this seems to me a doubtful sort of +business. I do not think the boy would do any thing willingly to trap +one of us: but he may have been taken in somehow; and it does seem as +if there was something strange about it; so I'll tell you what, I'll +go, and the old woman shall show me the way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Brown, no," said Pharold; "I would put upon no man what I was +afraid to do myself,--if I could be afraid to do any thing. If there +be no treachery, there is nothing to fear: and if there be treachery, +I should be base, indeed, if I let any of my people fall into what was +meant for myself. No, no, I will go: no man can avoid his hour, Brown. +We all know that when fate has fixed what is to happen, we may turn +which way we will, but we shall not escape it. I will go; and if there +be treachery, let it light upon the heads of those that devised it. It +is my fate--I will go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Pharold," said the other; "let me go. To me they can do +nothing. Me they cannot charge with any crime, even unjustly; for I +was not in the park at all when the man was shot. You and all the +others were, though you went there to prevent it; and so, if they +catch you, they may send you to prison: but if they catch me, they can +do nothing with me. They can but say I came to speak with the poor boy +through the bars."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold, however, persisted. It had ever been his habit among his +fellows to take upon himself the execution of any thing difficult or +dangerous, and he regarded it almost as a privilege, which he clung to +the more, in the present instance, from a superstitious conviction +that fate was leading him on, and that it was useless to struggle +against its influence. "There yet remains the whole day before us," he +said, when he had silenced opposition, "and but little remains to be +done. Call all the people round me, Brown, for I am going to speak +with them,--perhaps it may be for the last time."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsies who already surrounded him saw well that a presentiment of +approaching death weighed upon the mind of him who had been so long +their leader, and it is but doing them justice to acknowledge, that +most of them grieved sincerely to observe that such was the case. +None, however, offered comfort or consolation; for their belief in +their own superstitious traditions was far too strong for any one to +dream even that such a presentiment might prove fallacious. The rest +of the tribe were soon called together; and, stretching themselves out +in various groups around, with the clear forest stream bubbling and +murmuring through the midst, and the bright sun streaming through the +oaks and beeches upon the bank on which they lay, they waited in +silence for what Pharold had to say. The tone he assumed was simple +and calm, perhaps less marked and emphatic than that which he +generally affected. "My friends," he began, "I am going this night +upon a matter more dangerous than any that I have ever yet +attempted,--at least so, for many reasons, I am led to think; in it I +may probably be taken by men who hate and persecute us; and if I be so +taken, do not deceive yourselves--I shall never return among you +alive. I feel it, I know it; and, therefore, if by the first light of +to-morrow's sun I have not returned, look upon me as among the dead, +take up your tents, and go as far as you may. When you are so far from +this place that they cannot follow you to persecute you, seek out what +has become of the clay that I leave behind. Lay me in the earth, in +some green wood, but where the summer sun may shine upon me, and the +winter snow may fall: turn my face to the eastward, and put one hand +upon my heart, and let not the earth that covers me be more than four +palms deep.<a name="div1Ref_03.7" href="#div1_03.7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> When you have done all this, forget me; but forget not +what I am going to say. Remember, ever before all things, that you are +a nation apart, and mingle not with the strangers among whom you +dwell. Let them follow their way, and you follow your way. Give +obedience to their laws, but maintain your own liberties: bend to +their power, but preserve the customs of your fathers. Shut, them out, +too, as far as may be, from among you: let them not learn either your +history, or your language, or your knowledge; for if they do they will +make these the means of softening and enslaving, under the pretence of +civilizing and improving you. Forget not that you have been, and that +you shall yet be, a great people; nor ever think that there are too +few of you left for the time of your greatness to come. Look at this +acorn: it fell from a great tree, that has been cut down; and though +now it be smaller than the egg of a wren, it shall be as great as the +mightiest of the forest. So is it, and so shall it be, with you. None +of you can ever gain so much as I could have gained by abandoning my +people; but I would not do it. I refused wealth, and ease, and honour, +and I chose poverty, and wandering, and persecution, because I was +born of the gipsy race, and would not belie the blood of my fathers, +by mingling with the persecutors of our people--because I would not be +chosen from among them for a plaything and an experiment. I learned +their knowledge, though they learned not ours, and I returned to mine +own as true in heart as when I left them. Thus let it be with you all; +and if, after I am gone, the name of Pharold is ever mentioned, let it +be as an example of how true our people should be to the ways of their +fathers."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused, and there followed among those who surrounded him the +low murmur of people who draw their breath deep after a long and +eager attention, but no one spoke; and in a few minutes Pharold +proceeded:--"If I return no more, there will be some one wanting to +lead and direct you all aright. My choice falls upon you, Brown, as +the calmest, and the wisest, and the bravest, with years sufficient to +ensure experience, and yet with vigour unimpaired by age. Do you +consent, my brothers, that he shall be your Ria?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The choice was one which all anticipated, and with which all were +pleased, except, perhaps, two or three, who, feeling that they ought +to be satisfied though they were not, and that they must submit +whether they liked it or not, yielded with the rest, or, perhaps, gave +more clamorous approval. "I have now," continued Pharold, turning +towards Lena, who, since the people had been called round him, had +remained near in silent tears while he had been speaking,--"I have now +spoken to you of all things save one. I leave among you my wife, then +a widow; and as Heaven knows I have dealt justly with you all, so, I +beseech you, deal justly and kindly by her. Be unto her as brethren +and sisters. I supplied unto her the place of parents that are dead; +you supply unto her, I beseech you, my place when I am dead also. Let +her share with the rest in what you gain, until she shall choose out +some one to be to her a support and a husband. Let her choice depend +upon herself, but oh, let her choice be good; let it not fix upon a +fair form or a smooth tongue, but upon a strong mind and a noble +heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke firmly, but, perhaps, somewhat bitterly; and Lena, though she +raised her eyes for a moment with a look of imploring deprecation, +said nothing, but wept on in silence. "And now," continued Pharold, "I +will have done, my friends, with but one more injunction, which is, +keep together. Let not the people of the land separate you, but be ye +true among yourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, he rose from the bank on which he had been leaning, and +the rest sprang upon their feet also. His scanty auditory then +dispersed to their several occupations again, though some lingered for +a few minutes, gazing upon him as on one they might never see more +after that day was over; and Pharold, after speaking a few words in a +gentler tone to Lena, laid his hand upon the arm of the man Brown, and +walked with him slowly down the course of the stream.</p> + +<p class="normal">Their conversation was long: many were the sage and prudent maxims +that Pharold gave to him whom he had pointed out as his successor, +many the wild and singular cautions which he suggested. It was, in +fact, his lesson of political economy and good government; but, as it +would not suit any other world but the little world for which it was +intended, it were useless to repeat it here. He did not, until the +end, refer again to himself in any way; but, after having spent +nearly two hours in giving instructions respecting the rule and +protection of the tribe, he added, "I need not tell you, Brown, that I +feel the flame going out--not that it is weaker, not that it is less +bright--the broadest blaze of the fire is often the last, but it is +near its end; and if it be not to-morrow or the next day, in the +manner that I apprehend, or in the way my enemies seek to make it, yet +death will come soon, in his own time, and by his own path. Look +there!" and he spread out before his comrade his broad palm, traversed +with the many lines and marks which are usually to be found there. The +other gipsy gazed on it for a moment, gravely, but made no reply; and +Pharold went on:--"Nevertheless, as I have heard the ignorant and the +conceited declare, that people often do things themselves to bring +about a fate that is foretold them, I will neglect nothing that can +turn aside mine. If, then, by dawn to-morrow, I have not returned to +you, send instantly a trusty messenger to the small village of ----, +where I have sent several times before, to the House of Mr. +Harley--many of the people know it--bid them tell him for me, that I +am in prison, on a false accusation which he knows of, and that if he +would save me, he must come over to Dimden soon. See that it be done +rightly, Brown; for were anything to happen to me without his +knowledge, he would say that I had used him unkindly, or had not +confidence in his honour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will do it myself, Pharold," replied the gipsy: "I will take one of +those that have been over, to be sure of the place, and will see the +man myself, if it be possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he will see you," answered Pharold; "he has learned bitter +lessons in life, and knows that a better heart may beat under a +gipsy's bosom than under the robes of peers and princes. Now, then, I +have said all, Brown: and fare you well, my friend. You at least will +not forget me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!" answered the other; and they parted. During the rest of the +day a degree of gloom naturally hung over the party of gipsies; and +wherever Pharold turned, there were eyes looking at him, with some +degree of superstitious awe, as one in whom approaching fate was +already visible. Evening, however, came at length, and night began to +fall; and, ere the first twinkling star could claim full possession of +the sky, a thin whitish autumn mist rose up from the valleys, and came +drifting with the wind through the trees, and down the course of the +little stream by which the gipsies' tents were pitched. Pharold +remarked it with satisfaction, exclaiming, "May it last, may it last. +With such a mist as that, and a dark autumn night, he were a keen man, +indeed, that could take me in Dimden Park."</p> + +<p class="normal">As far as the continuance of the mist went, he was gratified to his +wish; for it not only remained, but increased in density to that +degree, that even round the gipsies' fires the dark faces lighted by +the red glare appeared dim and phantom-like to those who sat on the +other side of the blaze. Pharold himself remained from sunset till +nearly midnight in his tent; and Lena had not appeared at all from the +time he had spoken to the tribe in the morning. At length Pharold came +forth; and the gipsies, who were still congregated round the fires, +thinking that he was about to join them for a time ere he went, made +room for him among them; but he glided on past them all, merely +saying, in a low voice as he came near the spot where Brown was +placed, "I go! do not forget!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He then walked rapidly on, threaded the most intricate mazes of the +wood, traversed the common above the park, leaped the park wall, near +the spot where Dickon and his party had entered on the ill-starred +deer-stealing expedition, and paused for a moment to look around him, +and consider his further proceedings. The mist, which lay heavy on the +common and the lawns, was still more dense and dark amid the covered +walks and narrow paths of Dimden Park; but the obscurity proved of but +little inconvenience to one so much accustomed to wander in the night +as Pharold. Long habit of the kind seems, indeed, to give another +sense, and to enable persons who are possessed of it to distinguish, +as it were instinctively, obstacles in their way which the eye could +not have detected.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus he walked on, through the thick trees and among the narrow paths +of the park, without ever either taking a wrong direction, or running +against any of the massy trunks round which the small footway turned. +Ever and anon, however, he stopped, to listen, but all was still: +there was not a voice, a footstep, a rustle, a sound of any kind to be +heard, till he entered one of the principal alleys leading towards the +house, when a distant clock struck a quarter to twelve, and, as if +roused by the sound, the owl poured forth her long melancholy cry, and +flitted slowly across Pharold's steps, stirring slightly the foggy air +with the scarcely heard wave of her light wings.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold marked its voice, and felt it flap past him; and, in that mood +when the heart connects every external thing with its internal gloom, +he muttered, "Hoot no more, bird of ill omen! I am prepared and +ready!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The end of the alley which he had chosen opened upon the side of the +lawn, at the distance of perhaps a hundred yards from the house. But +the fog was too thick for even the bare outline of the mansion to be +visible; and the only thing that indicated its proximity was the +appearance of two or three rays of light, pouring from the apertures +in some window-shutters, and streaming through the white mist, till +they lost themselves in the night. Pharold paused and gazed; and +emotions as mingled, but less painful, affected his bosom, as those +which had been experienced by Lord Dewry when he had last looked +towards the same building. All was silent around; he felt himself +secure in the obscurity; he was in no haste to go on; and as he stood +and gazed towards the dwelling where two years of the happiest part of +life had been spent, his mind naturally reverted to the past. He +called up those boyish days, the pleasures he had then enjoyed, his +friendship with one noble-minded youth, and the injuries he had since +received from the other companion of his boyhood. He thought of what +he had been, and of what he might have been; of the promises held out +to him by those who would have kept them; of the prospects that were +open before him, if he had chosen to follow them; he thought of the +life of honour, and respect, and fortune, which might have been his; +and he compared it with the life of wandering, and persecution, and +anxiety, which he had led from the day he quitted that mansion to the +hour that he stood there again, in the sear and yellow leaf of years, +in the close of man's too brief existence. It was a melancholy +retrospect, and he could not but feel it as melancholy; but there was +a proud, stern satisfaction mingled with it all, enhanced even by the +magnitude of the sacrifice he had made. He felt a deep gladness in +knowing, now that life lay behind him as a past journey, that he had +adhered to his persecuted people, in spite of every temptation that +could have led him to abandon them; that voluntarily and perseveringly +he had made their fate his fate, in preference to a more splendid +destiny than hope herself could have led him to expect. He felt proud, +too, and justly, that those feelings and principles which had won him +the strong affection of the noble and good in another class, and among +another people, had never been forgotten amid dangers, and perils, and +sorrows, and temptations; and that he could lay his hand upon his +heart, as he gazed up towards the mansion, and say, I have been as +noble in poverty and wandering as if I had never quitted the shelter +of those once lordly walls.</p> + +<p class="normal">He stood and gazed for near ten minutes; and then ending his revery, +as all deep contemplations end, with a sigh, he turned slightly from +the path he had been pursuing, skirted round the edge of the wood, +and, without crossing the open space, approached through the trees +that part of the building called the justice-room, which lay, as we +have seen, contiguous to the chamber in which the boy was confined. +Since he had been there, however, the river had encroached so much +upon the bank, that no one less active and expert than himself would +have found space to pass between the walls of the high old chapel-like +projection, so called, and the edge of the bank above the water. He +accomplished it, however, though with some difficulty; and then, +turning the angle of the building, approached the window of the strong +room. Raising himself on a ledge of ornamental stonework, which ran +along the basement, he put his hand through the bars to feel whether +the inner window was closed or not, and finding that it was shut, he +knocked gently on the glass with his knuckles. The moment after, it +was opened, and the voice of the youth demanded, "Who is there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is I, William," said Pharold; "are your limbs free?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are free of cords," answered the lad in a voice that trembled +with agitation, and, perhaps, with remorse--"they are free of cords, +but I cannot get out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will open the way for you, then," answered Pharold; "but when I +have picked out the mortar from these bars, you use your strength to +force them out from within."</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy made no answer, but listened to hear if those who lay in wait +had taken the alarm; and a hope did cross his mind that they might +have neglected their watch on that dark and chilly night, and that +Pharold might give him the means of escape, without the consummation +of the treachery to which he had yielded. The hope increased, as +Pharold, with a small crow bar, gradually loosened the iron from its +socket in the stone, and yet no one appeared; and as soon as it was +practicable, the boy, using his whole strength from within, forced out +the lower end of the bar. The space, however, was not yet large enough +to give a passage to his shoulders, and the gipsy instantly applied +himself again to loosen the neighbouring bar. "Oh make haste, make +haste," cried the youth, with almost frantic eagerness--"make haste, +Pharold, make haste!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" cried Pharold, sternly, and turned hastily to listen; but at +the same instant two men sprang upon him. The gipsy struggled to cast +them off, but his foot slipped, and they both fell with him to the +ground. Ere he could rise, two more were added to the assailants; and +finding resistance vain, Pharold instantly abandoned the attempt, +suffered his arms to be pinioned with a burning heart, and followed +whither they led him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several lights and several figures appeared at the small backdoor to +which they conducted their prisoner; and more than one lantern was +raised to his face, and more than one inquisitive countenance stared +into his, as he was taken through some long stone passages towards the +very room from which he had been endeavouring to liberate his +treacherous young companion. The four men who had seized him hurried +him on, keeping close together, as if afraid that, notwithstanding all +their efforts, he might still escape. At the door of the strong room +they paused; and one, producing a key, proceeded to apply it to the +lock, and to undraw the heavy bolts and bars. Pharold spoke not a +word; but the moment the door was open, and the light, from some +lanterns behind, flashed in through the aperture, his eyes sought the +unhappy youth, whose face was covered with tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pharold had only time to ask himself, "Is he guilty, or is he +innocent?" when, springing past him and those that conducted him, the +lad made straight towards the door. One of those behind instantly +stopped him, exclaiming, "Holla, my lad, where are you going so fast?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The one who had opened the door, however, turned round almost at the +same time, crying, "Let him go, let him go; now we have got this one, +we do not care for the other. Let him be off as fast as he will."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gipsy's doubts were cleared up in a moment. He saw himself +betrayed by one of his own people, whom he was in the very act of +rescuing; he saw himself delivered up by one for whom he had been +risking so much; he saw his most generous feelings made use of as +snares to take him; and he believed that she whom he loved more than +anything on earth was a party to the infamous treachery by which he +had been entrapped. Oh, how he hated the whole human race!</p> + +<p class="normal">So deep, so powerful was the agony that he suffered, that, without a +word, without a movement, he stood upon the spot to which his captors +thrust him forward, his dark eyes bent upon the ground, his pinioned +hands clasped together, as if they had been riveted with iron, his +limbs as motionless as if they had been stone. The people round gazed +at him, but he saw them not; they taunted and they sneered, but his +ear was dull. He felt not at that moment the insolent gaze, the brutal +jest, the loss of liberty, the very hands that wrung his muscles. He +felt alone that he was betrayed, that his love and his confidence had +been cheated and dispised. All the rest was nothing. That, that was +the iron that entered into his soul! Ere he had been there a minute, +the keeper Harvey, who had not been among those that took him, pushed +through the gaping crowd, to assure himself that the report which had +reached him was true. But there was something in the gipsy that the +man felt and feared, with feelings full of hate, indeed, but nearly +akin to awe; and when he saw him stand there like a statue, in the +stern bitterness of utter despair, a faint conception of his +sensations thrilled even through the coarse mind of the keeper; and +after a hasty glance, without proffering a word, he made the rest +retire, and following them himself, locked and barred the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">At about three o'clock in the morning, those who watched in the gipsy +encampment were roused by a hasty step, and in a moment after the boy +William, all panting and wild, stood by the fire. "What news? what +news?" cried one of the men, eagerly; "where is Pharold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bad news!" answered the youth, gazing round him with a look of +bewildered consciousness: "they have caught Pharold as he was helping +me out of the prison."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Brown," cried one of the men, approaching a neighbouring +tent--"Brown, here is bad news; they have caught Pharold, and here is +Will come back."</p> + +<p class="normal">Brown instantly started from the hut and came out to the fire: but he +was not the only one; for Lena's sleepless ear had caught the tidings, +and she too rushed out, with many others that the noise had awakened. +Wild apprehension and distress were in her eyes; but she spoke not, +while Brown proceeded rapidly to question the lad on what had +occurred. The trembling tone in which he answered might proceed from +fatigue and agitation at his escape, the varying colour on his cheek +might be the flash of the newly stirred up blaze; but there was a +rambling and inconsistent character about the story that he told +concerning his own escape and the capture of Pharold that raised doubt +in many. "You rushed past the people," said Brown, after many other +questions, "and got out even after they had taken Pharold. Did no one +try to stop you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," answered the lad; "one man did; but I got away from him, too, +and ran as hard as I could. But why do you look at me so, Lena?" he +added, unable to bear any longer the keen, fierce glance which she had +never withdrawn from his face for one moment from the time she had +first come forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why do I look at you so?" said the girl, stepping forward boldly +towards him, and casting back the jetty hair from her forehead while +she spoke, with a burning cheek and flashing eye, and almost frantic +vehemence of tone--"why do I look at you so? Because, base traitor, +you have betrayed him that came to save you--and you know it +well!--because you have cheated me into persuading him to go;--and oh, +if such a foolish thing as love for me had any hand in what you have +done--and I say boldly before them all that I believe it had--may that +love stay by you to curse you to your latest day! For think not you +will prosper in your villany--I hate you! I abhor you! I spit upon +you! and I call God and the heavens to witness, that if there were not +another man in all the earth I would die sooner than be your wife! +Cast him out from among us, Brown, cast him out! Dickon was but a +child in villany to him; Dickon was wilful and violent, but he was not +base and false; Dickon might be a rebel, but he was never a traitor. +Cast him out, Brown, cast him out; for the blood of my husband is upon +him; and I will not dwell in the same tents with him. He cannot deny +it; his face speaks it; his tale is not even like truth. Oh, my heart +misgave me when he used so many vows and protestations last night that +he would not have Pharold put in danger for the world. Truth is more +simple; and he is a traitor, and the seller of his friend's blood!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She spoke with all the energy of passion and indignation: her eyes +flashed, her arms waved, her very form seemed to increase in size with +the wild vehemence of her feelings; and the unhappy youth in the +meantime stood before her, with bent head and averted glance, like a +convicted criminal before his judge.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are guilty, William," said Brown, gazing on him with pity, +mingling a drop or two of milder feeling with the sternness of his +abhorrence for a crime almost unknown among them,--"you are guilty."</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth made no answer; and after a pause the other went on:--"You +must go out from among us, for we cannot shelter a traitor. And yet I +grieve for you, William, that anything should have tempted you to +commit such a crime. But still you must go out from among us; for if +we be not all faithful to each other, in whom can we trust? Yet I +would not cast you alone upon the world, so that one fault might bring +on a hundred; and therefore I will send you down to the north country, +where, on the side of Cheviot, you will find more of our people, among +whom I have a brother: seek him out, and tell him I sent you to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will not go there," answered the youth, doggedly--"I will not go +there, to have this story thrown in my teeth every hour; I will rather +go and seek out Dickon, and rove with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Billy, my chick," cried the old woman Gray--"no, no, go down +to the Yetholmers, as Brown says--a merry set they are, and a free, +and I will go with you, my lad. I dare say Dickon has gone thither +already; and, do you hear, Bill, I dare say among the bold young lads +thereabouts we may be able to get up as fresh a band as this is; and I +have got a good penny under my cloak, and I will be a mother to you, +my boy. Then who knows when you are a smart young fellow, with a +goodly band of your own, whether this young minx here, who has flown +at you like a wild cat, about that Pharold, who is no great loss any +how--perhaps she may be sorry enough that she was not more civil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall be sorry," said Lena, in a less violent, but not less +determined, tone than she had before used--"I shall be sorry if ever I +hear the name of such a base and cowardly thing as he is upon this +earth again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, scornful mistress Lena, you may rue," replied the beldam. +"What say you, Will, will you take me with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The youth at first had shown no very strong liking for the old woman's +company; but the hopes of better fortunes which she had held out to +him, the boldness with which she had taken his part, the stern and +reproachful looks of all around, and the feeling that he was parting +for ever from all those with whom his life had hitherto been spent, +made him willing to cling to any fragment of familiar things which +would remain with him to soften the breaking of all accustomed ties. +His conscience, too, reproached him bitterly with what he had done; +and the company of any one would have been preferable to solitude with +his own heart. Willingly, therefore, he caught at her proposal; and +drawing himself up, prepared to steel himself against the contempt of +his comrades, while the old woman went to make her brief preparations: +but he saw nothing around but the stern, cold looks of persons who, in +hatred and scorn, were waiting to see his departure. It was more than +he could bear; and, calling to the old woman to follow him down the +stream, he turned sullenly away, and walked slowly on without a word +of adieu to any one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Brown," said Lena, laying her hand upon the gipsy's arm--"Brown, I +know what I am going to ask is in vain, for Pharold, when he went, +felt the shadow of death upon him, and I am a widow; but did he not +tell you any way to rescue him, if he should be taken? He spoke with +you long, and he said to me, too, that there was some way that might +deliver him, though he spoke not clearly. Oh, if it be so, and he have +told you how, lose no time, spare no exertion; for though, God knows, +I was deceived by that base villain's artful speeches, and believed +that my husband was safe, yet I feel--although I know my innocence of +thought, or word, or deed--I feel as if I were guilty of his death."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Lena, no, no. We all know that you are not," answered Brown, +in a kindly tone; "but go you to your tent, poor girl, and trust to me +to do every thing to rescue Pharold that can be done. First, I will +try the only means that he himself pointed out. I will follow his +directions to the letter. Then, if that should fail, I will try what +strength of arm can do; for I will not let him be lost if I can save +him. He was a good man, and a wonderful man, Lena. We shall never see +his like among us."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lena burst into tears: they were the first that she had shed, but they +were too bitter for any restraint; and turning to her tent, she gave +way to them in solitude. In the mean time Brown turned to call one of +the younger gipsies, who, on more than one occasion, had been +Pharold's messenger, to inquire after Edward de Vaux; but ere the +young man had joined him, Mother Gray, as she was called, tottered up, +with a bundle on her arm, to bid him adieu.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fare ye well, Brown," she said; "fare ye well. I hope you may make a +better head of the people than Pharold has been: a pretty mess he has +got us all into here. I hope you may do better; but I doubt it, for +you were great cronies, and would never listen to what I advised. So I +am going to people who know how to manage matters better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get ye gone, then, old mischief-maker," answered Brown; "get ye gone, +and the sooner your back is turned upon us the better. I have seen +nothing prosper yet with which you had any thing to do; and I dare +prophesy that those people will never know peace or happiness where +you are suffered to meddle. So get you gone, and Heaven send you a +better heart and judgment. And now," he continued, speaking to the +young man who had come up, "tell me, Arral, have you not been for +Pharold to a house on the other side of the hill--the house of one +Harley?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure," answered the young man, "I have been four times."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then come with me thither, now," answered Brown, "and lead me by the +shortest way, for I would be there, if possible, before day-break."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not possible, Brown," answered the other; "for it wants less +than an hour of the light, and go as you will it will take two hours +and a half."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must do our best," answered Brown, "and can do no more. Go on. +Keep together, my lads," he continued, turning to the rest of the +gipsies,--"keep together till I come back, which will be before the +sun is more than half-way up. But have everything ready to go in case +of need."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus saying, he followed his guide; and pursuing very nearly the path +by which Pharold had returned, he arrived in about two hours and a +half at the same house to which Colonel Manners had been conducted. By +this time, however, the sun had been long above the horizon; and when, +after walking through the little shrubbery, they approached the door +of the dwelling, a carriage and four smoking horses, with two servants +in Mrs. Falkland's livery, were seen standing before the house. The +gipsies, however, made their way boldly on, and rang the bell. This +intimation was instantly answered by the servant, and, while they +were still speaking to him, a shrill cry--evidently from a woman's +lips--rang through the passage. Ere the servant could ask their +business, a door on the right was thrown open, and the fine head of +Sir William Ryder appeared, exclaiming, "Henry, Henry! Bring water! +She has fainted!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A few moments of bustle and confusion succeeded, during which the +gipsies were allowed to remain with the door open, and without any of +those suspicious precautions which the very fact of their race would +have excited against them in any other dwelling. At length the servant +returned; and Brown's first question was, "Is the gentleman who was +hurt worse?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, much better!" answered the servant, "and you may tell Mr. +Pharold--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can tell him nothing," interrupted Brown, "for that is what I have +come here to say--that his enemies have caught him; and that, if Mr. +Harley would save him, he must bestir himself speedily."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" said the servant, "indeed! that will not be good news to my +master's ear; but I must break in upon him to tell it nevertheless. +Wait a minute, my friends, and I will go and see what he says."</p> + +<p class="normal">The servant then entered the room where his master was, and from which +proceeded the sounds of eager voices speaking. A moment or two after +the door again opened, and the gipsies were joined by the person they +sought. Their story was soon told, and easily understood; and the brow +of their auditor knit into more than one deep wrinkle, as they spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will bestir myself," he said, in answer to Brown; "I will bestir +myself, and that instantly too. So rest satisfied in regard to your +friend's fate; for, be assured, that I can break the net in which +they have entangled him as easily as I could a spider's web; and I +will do it, too, with less remorse than I would the toils of the +hunter-insect. I will not lose a moment. Henry, have horses to the +carriage, and let me know when it is here."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.11" href="#div1Ref_02.11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"Has the parson come?" demanded the low faint voice of Sir Roger +Millington, as he turned round from a brief and half-delirious doze, +on the morning after Pharold's capture: "has the parson come?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not yet, sir," answered a sick-nurse, who was now the only person +left to attend him. "It is not ten minutes ago since you first told me +to send for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought it had been much longer," said the dying man. "But what is +all that noise in the house? They seem as if they were making all the +disturbance that they could, on purpose to kill me with the headache."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I dare say, sir, it is some of the other magistrates come, sir," +answered the nurse; "for last night it seems they caught the gipsy, +Pharold; and, when I went down to send for Dr. Edwards, his lordship +was sitting in the great parlour with Mr. Arden, waiting for two other +magistrates to make examination, as I think they call it. I should +scarcely have dared to send else--that is, if I had not known he had +his hands full for many a good hour, because you see, sir, he forbade +any one to let Dr. Edwards see you, whether you wished it or not."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! did he so?" said the dying man, bitterly; and then, after a long +pause, he added, "but he would not care about it now, my good woman. +That declaration that he teased me into making last night, was all +that he wanted; and now I may die when I like--with or without benefit +of clergy?" and he groaned faintly and sadly at his bitter jest upon +himself. "But do you think I am dying, woman?" He went on, "I have +lost all the pain; but I am fearfully weak; and my legs and feet have +no feeling in them. Do you think I am dying? Ha, nurse, what does the +doctor say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He says you are very bad, sir; but he hopes--" replied the nurse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw!" interrupted the other; "you have been tutored too. I wish the +parson would come; he would tell me the truth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sure I wish he would too," cried the woman; "for he knows better +than I what ought to be said to you, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, I see how it is, I see how it is," cried the unhappy man; "I am +dying, and they have kept it from me till they had got all that they +sought;" and, like the stricken king of Israel, he turned his face to +the wall, while one or two hot and bitter drops scorched his eyelids, +and trickled over his cheeks. After a long silence, however, he again +turned towards the woman, saying, "He is very long; I wish to God he +would come! I have a great deal that lies heavy at my heart; and I +would fain hear some words of comfort before I die. You do not think +he will be frightened away by what that rascally lord has said?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! no, sir; no fear!" answered the nurse; "Dr. Edwards is not a man +to be frightened away by any body or any thing, so long as he thinks +he's doing his duty. He is not one of that sort, sir. Why, last year, +when the terrible catching fever was raging down in the village, and +every one that took it died, he was night and day at the bedsides of +the poor people that had it, although the doctor told him a thousand +times that he was risking his own precious life: but he saw that it +gave them more comfort than any thing to see him; and so he went at +all hours, and into all places."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish he would come," groaned the dying man; "I wish he would come."</p> + +<p class="normal">Almost as he spoke, there was a cautious step in the anteroom, and the +lock of the door turned under the quiet noiseless hand of one +evidently accustomed to the chambers of the sick. The next moment the +clergyman entered, and advanced closely towards the bed, although his +heated brow and quick breathing showed that he had lost no time in +obeying the summons he had received. He was a man between sixty and +seventy, with scanty white hair covering thinly a high broad forehead, +across which the cares and sorrows of others, more than his own, had +traced two or three deep furrows. His countenance was grave, but mild; +and his eyes full of both the light of feeling and the light of sense.</p> + +<p class="normal">The nurse rose up from the chair in which she had been sitting at the +pillow of the dying man, and Dr. Edwards quietly took her place, +without appearing to see that Sir Roger Millington was eying him from +head to foot; and, notwithstanding his situation, was comparing the +person before him with the prejudiced image of a <i>parson</i>, which +habits of vice had alone enabled his imagination to draw.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am much obliged to you for admitting me, my dear sir," said the +rector, in a kindly tone. "How do you feel yourself? Are you in less +pain than when I last saw you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I am in less pain, sir," answered the other; "but I rather +believe that is no good sign. At least they told me, when I was in +torture, that pain was a good omen for my recovery; and now I am in no +pain at all, I suppose it is a bad one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not sure that it is a good one," answered the clergyman gravely; +"but at all events it has this good with it, that it leaves your mind +and faculties perfectly free to consider fully your situation, and to +take whatever measures, temporal or spiritual, may be necessary for +your comfort and consolation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, that is what I want to come to, Dr. Edwards," answered Sir Roger, +"and I am glad you have come to it at once. But first tell me--and I +adjure you by Heaven to tell me true, for these people deceive me--am +I dying, or am I not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would have answered you truly without any adjuration," answered the +clergyman. "None can, sir, or ought to say to another that it is +impossible he can recover; for God can and does show us every day the +fallacy of our judgment in the things that we best comprehend: but I +do believe that you are in such a situation that it were wise to +prepare yourself for another world without loss of time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I am dying," said Sir Roger, solemnly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid you are," answered the clergyman. "To deceive you would +be a crime: your surgeon has himself told me that human skill can do +nothing for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger Millington drew his hand over his eyes, and groaned heavily; +but after a brief pause he withdrew the white colourless fingers +again; and looking steadfastly at the clergyman, said, "It is a +terrible thing to die, sir; more terrible than I thought. I have +fought in more than one battle, sir, and have had my single affairs +too; but I never found out how terrible a thing death is till I came +to lie here, and see life flow away from me drop by drop."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because in no other case had you time for thought," answered Dr. +Edwards; "but, believe me, oh! believe me, that the very time for +thought which you seem to regard as an evil, is the greatest mercy of +Heaven. Few, even of the very best of us, if any, can keep his heart +and mind in such a condition of preparation, as to be ready to pass +from this state of mortal sin into life eternal, and to the immediate +presence of a pure and perfect Being, who, though he is merciful, is +likewise just, and will by no means leave the impenitent transgressor +unpunished. No man, my dear sir, when he has years and days before +him, should trust to the efficacy of a deathbed repentance--a moment +which perhaps may not be granted to him; but when a man has gone on in +thoughtless neglect, through the vigour of careless existence, and +unexpectedly finds himself at the end of life with only a few short +hours between him and that judgment-seat, where nothing can be +concealed and nothing palliated, he may then take unto himself the +blessed hope that repentance never comes too late, that our Saviour +himself showed upon the cross that the last hour, the very last +minute, of human life may yet obtain forgiveness of all the offences +of the past, by evincing true repentance, founded on true faith."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how can I show either true repentance or true faith?" exclaimed +the dying man, with a peevish movement of the hand. "All I can do +is, to say I am very sorry for everything I have done wrong; and +that I believe the religion in which I was educated to be the true +one--although I have thought very little about it, since I was a boy +at school. But it is no use! it is no use talking!" he added, seeing +the clergyman about to reply; "I have done many a thing, especially +lately, that cannot be forgiven--for which I shall never forgive +myself; and so, how can I expect God to forgive them, who is better +than I am, and who never knew what it was to be tempted as I have +been?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You <i>can</i> expect God to forgive them, <i>because he is</i> better than you +are, and because we have an intercessor at his throne, who has known +what it is to be tempted, even as we are; because we have a mediator +in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was rendered subject to +temptation a thousand-fold more terrible than any that we can endure, +in order that he might obtain forgiveness for even the greatest of +sinners, who truly repents him of the evil he has done. Indeed, +indeed, you greatly err in your ideas of God's mercy. But we had +better, I think be left alone;" and he made a sign to the nurse, who +immediately retired into the anteroom.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sure," said the wounded man, feeling, in some degree, the effect +of such consolatory hopes--"I am sure I do most sincerely repent of +some things that I have done within this last week, and indeed all +that I have done throughout the course of my life that is evil; and I +do think, now that it is too late to mend it, that if I had taken a +different course, and acted in another manner on many occasions, I +should not only have been more comfortable now, but a happier man +altogether."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doubt it not! doubt it not!" said the clergyman. "Those that sow in +sin shall reap in bitterness: but still have good hope: the very +conviction of the magnitude of your sins which you seem to entertain, +is the first great step to sincere repentance; and sincere repentance +once obtained, the atonement is already prepared in heaven--the +abundance of God's mercy is ready to blot out our iniquity from before +his sight."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, but there are many things very heavy on my heart and my +conscience!" said the other. "Tell me, Doctor Edwards, tell me," he +added, in a gloomy and anxious tone, "tell me, can a man who has said +that and done that, which can take away the life of another upon a +false charge, hope to be saved?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The clergyman half started from his seat; and the other, sinking down +again on the bed from which he had partially raised himself, exclaimed +bitterly--"I see how it is! I see how it is--no hope for me--and so I +will die as I have lived, boldly, without thinking about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You greatly mistake me," cried the clergyman; "I wished to imply +nothing of the kind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," said Sir Roger, "say no more--I saw it in your face. I can +easily imagine that a man may be pardoned for running another through, +when they were hand to hand--I remember many people in the Bible that +did the same--and I doubt not that many another little sin might be +forgiven; but for taking a man's life that never hurt one, by a +cold-blooded cowardly lie--I dare say that there is no forgiveness for +that!" and as he spoke he drew his breath hard, and set his teeth, as +if working himself up to meet the worst.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God makes no such distinctions, as far as he has revealed himself to +us," answered Dr. Edwards. "Murder, whether committed with the steel, +or the poison, or the falsehood, is equally murder in his eyes. I was +indeed surprised to hear you charge yourself with such a crime; but I +repeat what I said before, that for that, as for every other sin, +there is abundant mercy in heaven for him that sincerely repents him +of the evil--"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused; but the knight made no reply, and remained with a +contracted brow, a muttering lip and a wandering eye, struggling +between two opposite states of feeling,--the habitual daring which +despair had again called to his aid, and the fear of death, and +judgment after death. "Let me urge you," continued the clergyman, when +he perceived that he did not make any reply--"let me urge you to +consider for one moment what must be the state of him who, under the +circumstances which you have named, neglects the only opportunity +allowed him for repentance, and suffers the few short moments granted +mercifully for that purpose to escape unemployed. Remember, sir, that +death is not sleep! that the moment the eyes are closed on this world +they open on another! Remember that the disembodied spirit, freed from +the frailties and the motives of the flesh, must of necessity feel, in +all their bitterness and blackness, the crimes which here we can +palliate to ourselves, as well as conceal from others!--Remember that, +with feelings thus heightened, with eyes thus unblinded, the man who +has committed the crime which you mention, and has neglected to repent +of it fully, must go into the presence of the omniscient Creator, to +meet, in the face of thousands of worlds, the being whom his falsehood +and his baseness had destroyed--that he must hear his crimes +proclaimed in the ears of all, must listen to his eternal +condemnation, and must bear unceasing punishment, the never-dying +consciousness, not only of the crime that he has committed, but of +having neglected the opportunity of repentance--of having castaway the +mercy offered even to the last hour of life. Think, think of his +horror and his shame, and his torture, and his remorse, and, oh! +choose the better path, and, even at the eleventh hour, repent and be +saved!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The dying man writhed under the picture of the future presented to his +mind, a picture which he had ever contrived to shut out from his own +eyes; but now, as the reality was about to present itself,--as but few +short hours, he felt too well, only intervened between him and the +fulfilment of all,--the conviction of its truth and its awfulness +forced itself upon his heart, even to agony; and with clasped hands, +as the clergyman concluded, he cried out, almost in the words of the +Jewish lawyer, "What shall I do to be saved?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Repent sincerely," answered Dr. Edwards; "and as the first great +proof of your repentance, make whatever atonement you can yet make for +the very horrible crime with which you charge yourself--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can, I can make atonement!" cried the dying man, raising himself +joyfully on his hand as the thought was suggested to his mind; "I +can--I can make atonement, and I feel that then I shall die in peace. +I can save the innocent,--I can punish the guilty,--and I will do +both, if God gives me two hours more of life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Such indeed will be the earnest of a true repentance," cried the +clergyman, "and it is thus that a deathbed repentance can alone be +confided in as efficacious. I wish not to pry into the secrets of your +heart, sir, any further than may be necessary for the purpose of +affording you advice and consolation. We believe that the ear of God +is ever open to our confessions as to our petitions, and therefore +that to him they should be made; but if I can aid you in carrying into +effect your purpose of full atonement, command me; and be sure that no +earthly consideration of either fear or hope will induce me to pause +or waver in the execution of my duty. I say what I have just done, +because an evident desire has been shown by those who should know +better, to hold you back from the only true way to peace of mind. God +forgive me! if my suspicions wrong any man; but before I came to-day, +I thought the conduct pursued towards me strange; and now that I have +heard so much from your own lips, I think it more than strange."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you think right," said Sir Roger. "It is more than strange, but +it is all part of a plan. I see it all now--I see it all. He--he--Lord +Dewry concealed from me at the first that I was dangerously hurt. He +would not let me see you or any one else who would have dared to tell +me so, because he was afraid I should blab. He would not let me have +my papers over from Dewry Hall, pretending they had been forgotten; +because he was afraid that I should destroy those we had manufactured +between us; and last night, when I was half delirious, and would have +signed away my soul for an hour's quiet and rest, he tormented me till +I made a declaration before witnesses, that I had received a note from +a man who never gave it me, and that this gipsy Pharold, whom they +have now got below, was one of those who fired when I was wounded; +though in truth I believe he did not come up till after."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is horrible, indeed!" said the clergyman, not a little agitated +by the very painful tidings that he heard. "But let me beg you, sir, +as you hope for pardon and eternal life in that world to which you +must soon depart--let me beg you instantly to take measures to remedy +the evil that you have been seduced into committing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, I will do my best to remedy it," answered the dying +man, whose passions were now excited against the seducer who had led +him forward to crimes from which even his mind had shrunk, all +accustomed as it was to evil of a less glaring kind. "Yes, I will do +my best.--Ay, and he affected to feel so much pity and friendship for +me too, till he got what he wanted, and now he has not been near me +all day. Ay, ay! and he promised me every thing on earth that could +make life happy to me, when he knew that I was dying:--but he shall +not triumph in his villany. No, no!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Although the clergyman was very willing that justice should be done, +yet even that consideration was secondary in his mind to the wish of +leading the unhappy man before him into a better train of feeling ere +he passed to things eternal. "By all means," he said, "let us proceed +as fast as possible to make the atonement that you speak of, and to +secure justice to the oppressed and innocent man you mention; but in +doing so, my dear sir, do not forget for one moment your present +situation. Let not wrath, or disappointment, or irritation, influence +you. Let your sole motive be, as far as human nature is capable of +controlling and purifying its motives, the desire of showing, by full +atonement, that repentance which, with faith in the merits of your +Saviour, may be effectual to salvation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, I will do my best!" answered the dying man. "But let us +make haste, for I am beginning to feel faint; and there is a dimness +comes occasionally across my eyes, and a rush like water in my ears, +that disturbs me. How shall we set about it, Dr. Edwards?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The best way will be to call in witnesses," answered the clergyman, +"and to draw up before them a complete statement of everything that +you think proper to reveal, therein setting forth that you are +perfectly aware of your situation, and that you are in a competent +state of mind for making such a declaration. I myself am a magistrate, +although I seldom act; and will give the document every formality in +my power."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, but the witnesses! the witnesses, sir!" said Sir Roger; "I am +afraid that he may come in every minute and disturb the whole."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no fear of that, I believe," answered the clergyman. "In the +first place, I would not permit such an interruption, were he a +monarch; and in the next place, I was told that he and several +magistrates were assembled to examine some prisoners before +committal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, it is Pharold, the object of all his hate, that they have got +hold of," replied Sir Roger; "and they will have him off to jail on +the very things I stated against him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, indeed, no time is to be lost!" answered Dr. Edwards. "The +surgeon was to follow me here very soon; for I left him in the +village. His assistant and the nurse are in the next room; and I am +not sure that I did not hear his step also come in a moment ago. Thus +we shall have sufficient witnesses, and one who can testify to your +mind being clear and unbiassed. Shall I call them in?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sir Roger gave a sign of assent; and gazed eagerly towards the door to +which the clergyman proceeded, as if he feared that some one else +might be without. No one was in the anteroom, however, but the +surgeon, his assistant, and the nurse; and Dr. Edwards having called +them in, and briefly stated his object, they approached the bed, and +the assistant, having obtained writing materials, seated himself as +near the sick man as possible, to take down his exact words. Sir Roger +was about to begin, but the clergyman interposed:--"One moment, my +friend," he said mildly; "we must not forget our care for your eternal +salvation, under any other consideration. Let us pray to God that the +spirit under which this declaration is made may be the spirit of +truth, divested by his grace of human passions and frailties, that the +repentance of which it is the fruit may be pure and sincere, and may +be accepted;" and kneeling down, he offered a short but emphatic +prayer, so full of simple and unaffected piety, that Sir Roger +Millington found feelings springing up in his heart which he had not +known for years, and which made the warm drops rise into his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">The knight then proceeded in a voice, faint and agitated indeed, but +nevertheless one which, in the profound silence that reigned around, +could be distinctly heard. He took up his tale in years long back; he +related how, in better times and circumstances, he had won a large sum +from Sir William Ryder and the Honourable Mr. De Vaux. The first, he +added, had always the character of a frank, open-hearted, but gay and +thoughtless young man; the latter that of one whose keen shrewdness +would have ensured him the highest fortunes, if the violence of his +passions had not on many occasions marred his best-laid plans. The +day, he said, had been fixed for the payment of the money, and it had +been shrewdly suspected that there would be difficulty in procuring +it; but the very day previous to that appointed for the discharge of +the debt, Mr. De Vaux's brother was murdered; and, consequently, that +gentleman succeeding to his title and estates, the payment was made +without delay.</p> + +<p class="normal">He then passed over at once the twenty succeeding years, and briefly +but distinctly recapitulated all that had taken place since; he had +come down from London, in the hope of mending his broken fortunes by +an application to the wealthy peer.</p> + +<p class="normal">All this, however, has been already detailed, and needs not +repetition, though it caused more than one glance of surprise and +grief to pass between the clergyman and the surgeon. Nevertheless, for +the time, they made no comment, but suffered the dying man to proceed +uninterrupted as long as he seemed inclined to go on. When he paused, +however, and looked round feebly towards the clergyman, as if to +ask,--"Have I done enough?"--Dr. Edwards rejoined, "If you will permit +me, sir, I will ask you one or two questions, to which, of course, you +will answer or not, as you think fit. This young gentleman will take +them down, however. They shall be short," he added, seeing a look of +impatience cross the sick man's face; "may I ask, did his lordship +assign any reason for the enmity he showed towards the gipsy Pharold, +and for taking such unjustifiable steps to destroy him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He said that he was sure that he, Pharold, had been the real murderer +of his brother," answered Sir Roger; "but I have my own thoughts upon +the subject." He paused, as if hesitating whether to proceed or not; +and the clergyman paused too, for the mind of every one present had +been led towards a suspicion so dreadful, that each felt a degree of +awe at the thought of hearing his own doubts confirmed by those of +another. At length, however, Sir Roger Millington raised himself upon +his elbow, as if he had made up his mind to a painful effort, and +fixing his dim and hollow eyes upon the clergyman, he said, in slow +but solemn tone, "That was what he told me; but, as I am going into +the presence of the Almighty, and casting away all malice against the +man, I declare, that I believe he himself was the murderer of his +brother, that Pharold knows it, and that such is the cause why he +persecutes him even to death. Write that down, young man, for although +I cannot discover all the links in the chain, nor all the motives of +his cunning heart, yet it is fit they should be inquired into, and +that the innocent should be delivered."</p> + +<p class="normal">The assistant wrote, and read what he had written, and the knight made +an impatient sign for the paper and the pen. When they were given to +him, he scrawled his name faintly at the bottom. "And now, doctor," he +said, looking towards the surgeon, "you certify there, that this +declaration was made by me, when I had all my senses about me as fully +as if I were in perfect health; and you, Dr. Edwards, certify that, at +the time I made it, I knew that I was dying, and did it as the only +proof I could give of my sincere repentance for many sins, of which +the paper he wrung from me last night was not among the least. You may +well say that I know I am near my end," he continued, "for I believe +that I am nearer it than any one thinks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take a little wine and water, Sir Roger," said the surgeon, looking +at him, and remarking that strange and awful grayness, which generally +precedes dissolution, coming like the shadow of some unseen cloud over +the sick man's face; "take a little wine and water. It can do you no +harm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that too well!" answered the other, in a hollow voice, +drinking the draught which the nurse handed him. "It can neither do me +harm nor good--for it is all passing away." The wine seemed, however, +to revive him for a moment, and he eagerly besought the clergyman to +take the paper which had just been signed to the magistrates assembled +below. "Let them not pursue their injustice even so far," he said, "as +to send an innocent man to jail. I have been in a jail myself, and +know what it is."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think," answered Dr. Edwards, "that perhaps I maybe of more service +with you here; for now that you have proved your repentance really, +let me strive to assure you all the comforts thereof. I have much to +say to you--much consolation and hope yet to hold out to you, if you +will permit me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! yes; stay, stay, by all means," said the wounded man; "do not you +leave me. He can take it to them: for he can do this wretched carcass +no good now: let him take it;" and he pointed with his finger towards +the nurse, though, beyond doubt, it was the surgeon he intended to +designate, distinctly showing that his sight had failed, though his +power of hearing still remained.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps you will have the kindness to do so," said Dr. Edwards, +speaking to the surgeon; "but take care that it does not get into the +hands of any one who may suppress it; for though we can all bear +witness to the contents, yet the document itself is most valuable. I +think I heard that Mr. Simpson was among the magistrates below. If so, +give it into his own hand; for, though a calm and quiet man, he has +much good sense and much firmness. But let us fold it up and seal it +first."</p> + +<p class="normal">The surgeon undertook the task, though, it must be confessed, not very +willingly, for he loved not to do any thing to any one that might +afford matter of offence. He spent some time in inquiring where the +magistrates were, and some time in consulting with a constable at the +door of the great hall whether it would be proper for him to go in. In +short, at length, as he had just made up his mind, and had his hand +upon the lock, the nurse whom he had left with the sick man, and who +thought it absolutely necessary that he should be present at a +patient's death, came eagerly to tell him that the unhappy Sir Roger +Millington was in the last agonies. It was too good an excuse for +shifting upon another an unpleasant duty to be lost; and, putting the +paper into the constable's hand, he bade him go in and deliver it +directly into the hands of Mr. Simpson the magistrate. The man +received the commission as a matter of course, and proceeded to +execute it, while the surgeon returned to the sick room. He opened the +door--all was still--the assistants stood holding back the curtain, +and gazing fixedly in--the clergyman was kneeling by the bedside, with +his eyes raised towards heaven.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.12" href="#div1Ref_02.12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">While the dark and solemn scene of death had been passing above, with +half-closed windows and a darkened apartment, events scarcely less +painful had been taking place below, in the broad light of a clear +autumn day.</p> + +<p class="normal">Six magistrates, whom Lord Dewry, with the usual overacting of +conscious guilt, had invited, in order to give every appearance of +impartiality and justice to his unjust designs, dropped in one by one, +and were ushered into the chamber where the peer sat waiting with +burning impatience for the arrival of the whole. Totally indifferent +to the business themselves, each as he came in tortured the baron with +light and impertinent gossip,--of the weather, of the harvest, of the +prospects of the country, of the new fashion of dress swords, and the +exquisite effect of Maréchal hair-powder; and forced him into +conversation while his heart was full of deep stern thoughts, that +abhorred the idle topics on which he was expected to speak. Some, +however, mentioned his son, and congratulated him on the rumour of his +safety, which had already spread over the county: and here alone the +peer found matter on which he could converse feelingly; for the news +of his child's safety had come to him, in the midst of the fiery +passions that were agitating his bosom, like the thought of a drop +of cold water to Dives in the midst of his torments. Each of his +visiters wished to know more than general rumour had already told, and +many were the inquiries in regard to how Captain de Vaux had been +wounded, and who Mr. Harley could be, who had lately taken the house +at Little ----. Of all this, however, Lord Dewry could tell them +nothing. Colonel Manners's letter had been as laconic as possible; +and, therefore, the peer could merely reply, that it appeared the +wound had been received by accident, but that he intended to go over, +in order to hear more, as soon as they had concluded the business on +which they were assembling.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length the number was complete; and Lord Dewry, having asked the +servant who ushered in the last tardy magistrate if all were prepared, +proposed that they should proceed to the old justice-room, where they +would find everything ready for them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The old justice-room!" cried bluff Mr. Arden; "I have not been in +there for many a year, my lord. But I have seen many a thing done +there, in my young days, that we should not dare to do now. They did +not mince the matter in those times; and I remember in the year +forty-five--now some three or four-and-twenty years ago--it was quite +enough to be <i>strongly suspected</i> for a man to find his way to prison +very soon, without all these examinations and investigations. But they +are cutting down our powers every day, gentlemen. 'Pon my soul, I +think, when they have cut off every other part of my magisterial +rights, they will cut off the tails of my coat, for the <i>better +protection of the subject</i>, as they call it."</p> + +<p class="normal">A loud laugh followed; and thus with mirth and merriment they +proceeded along the passages of a house, where despair and indignant +grief waited anxiously in one room, and suffering, remorse, and death +tenanted another. Preceded by two or three regular constables, they +reached the little vestibule before the door of the justice-room, +where fifteen or sixteen persons were assembled, anxious to witness +the proceedings. They had not, however, been admitted without +selection; and among them were to be seen none but small tenants and +dependants of the lord of the mansion. The little crowd drew back as +the magistrates approached; and, the folding-doors being thrown open, +they entered the large old-fashioned hall, which had been prepared for +their reception. It formed, as has been before said, a long +parallelogram at the extreme of the building, built out upon the high +bank to the west, and had probably been designed originally for a +chapel. Four tall windows on either side rendered the aspect of the +whole light and cheerful; and from the south-east the sun, as bright +and warm as in the height of summer, was pouring a flood of glorious +light, which streamed in long oblique rays of misty splendour across +the perspective of the hall. A table, covered with the various +implements for writing, crossed the farther extremity of the +apartment; and beyond it was an array of chairs for the magistrates, +while at each end was a seat for the clerks; and a smaller table, +also, under one of the south-east windows, was furnished with paper +and pens for another secretary. The windows on that side were open, +and the warm soft breath of the southerly wind was felt fanning the +cheek, and breathing of nothing but peace, and gentleness, and +tranquillity.</p> + +<p class="normal">The magistrates proceeded to their places, and each taking a seat, +left the chair in the centre vacant for the peer; but he, however, +declined it, and begged Mr. Arden, as the senior, to preside at their +proceedings.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, nay, my lord," replied the bluff old squire; "your official +station in the county, as much as your rank, gives you the +precedence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the present instance, however, my dear sir," replied Lord Dewry, +"I must appear before you as a private individual, as I am here in +some sort as the accuser, and if you find cause to commit the +prisoner, I must become the prosecutor. Therefore, I will sit here +beside you, but without exercising any official authority in a matter +where I am in a degree a party."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The prisoner cannot say that your lordship has not every disposition +to give him impartial justice," answered Mr. Arden, taking the vacant +chair. "You would have him let off before, when I would certainly have +committed him; and now you will not exercise your authority where he +is concerned. Let him be brought in, however. Constables, bring in the +prisoner." Two men instantly departed from the farther end of the hall +for that purpose, and while they were gone some formal business was +transacted, the clerks received their instructions, and one or two of +the magistrates looked into Blackstone's new work, the volumes of +which had been scattered about upon the table. At length a murmur and +the sound of footsteps were heard, and the doors being again opened, +the constables re-entered, followed by the persons who had been +waiting without, reinforced by several of the servants of the peer, as +well as by the footmen and grooms who had accompanied the magistrates +thither. The principal object of the whole group, however, was of +course the prisoner Pharold, and on him every eye was instantly fixed. +Walking between the two constables, who did not attempt to hold him, +he advanced boldly up the middle of the hall, and with a slight +contraction of the brow, and curl of the lip, gazed on the party +assembled to interrogate him with stern and fearless calmness. His +wrists were handcuffed, but no other restraint was put upon him; and +when he had advanced within a few yards of the table at which the +magistrates were seated, he paused of his own will, and waited as if +in expectation of what was to follow, merely turning round to some of +the crowd who followed, saying, sternly, "Do not press upon me; you +are near enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Arden put on his spectacles, and after gazing for a moment or two +at the prisoner, he turned towards Lord Dewry, and said, "My lord, +will your lordship be good enough to state the charge against this +man; as of course that part of the business referring to the murder of +your son must be dropped, since it fortunately turns out that he is +alive. There are, however, I think, still two serious charges to be +disposed of, and probably our best plan will be to examine into them +separately: by separately, I mean, distinct from each other, though, +as many of us have come some distance, we had better go into both ere +we depart."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry paused for several minutes ere he replied; and looked over +some papers which he had laid upon the table before him; but in truth +a momentary feeling of doubt and embarrassment crossed his mind. He +had determined most positively to urge against the gipsy the death of +his brother; he had arranged all his plans for that purpose; he had +matured them perfectly; he had secured, as far as human ingenuity +could go, every link of the chain; and nothing remained but to cast it +boldly round his victim; and yet, at the very moment of execution, a +doubt and apprehension, a sort of prophetic hesitation, seemed to +seize him, and he wished that it had been possible to abandon the +charge of the murder of his predecessor, and to confine his accusation +to the deer-stealing and the death of Sir Roger Millington, which was +now, as he well knew, so near, as to effect all that could be wished, +by rendering the charge against Pharold capital.</p> + +<p class="normal">He wavered for a moment, then, but he saw that the very wish to give +up an accusation so boldly made would appear suspicious, if any one +discovered it; and turning to Mr. Arden with a faint smile, he asked, +"With which of these charges had I better commence, my dear sir? The +one which is susceptible of the most immediate proof is that referring +to the recent offence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, my lord," replied the magistrate, "take them in the order of +their dates. Let us get rid of the ancient business before we begin +the other. 'Tis well to be off with the old love before we be on with +the new, my lord."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you think fit," answered the peer, somewhat disappointed at the +magistrate's decision, but determined, as he must proceed, to proceed +boldly. "Well, then, my charge is as follows:--that the prisoner +Pharold, now before you, did, on the 18th day of May, in the year +17--, feloniously and with malice aforethought put to death my +unfortunate brother, the late Lord Dewry, in or near that part of the +road from Morley village to Green Hampton, which crosses the wood +called Morley Wood; and I am now ready to produce sufficient evidence +to induce you to commit the prisoner to the county jail for trial."</p> + +<p class="normal">While he spoke, the gipsy's eye rested on him with a glance so stern, +so keen, so searching, that he felt as if the dreadful secret of his +bosom--all its motives and all its feelings, its doubts, its +apprehensions, its remorse, its complicated plans and subtle +contrivances, were undergoing, one by one, the examination of that +dark, fixed regard. Though he looked towards the prisoner as little as +possible, yet the gipsy's eye was a load upon him, that oppressed and +would have confused a less powerful mind than his own. Even as it was, +however, he could not bear it without emotion, and turning abruptly to +Mr. Arden, he went on,--"I trust, Mr. Arden, that you have brought +with you the notes of the former examination."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Everything! everything, my lord," replied the magistrate; "prepared +as I was for the case, I brought every memorandum that could at all +bear upon it; and I think my clerk had better read the depositions +made at the time, and then you can proceed with any new facts which +may have since come to your knowledge."</p> + +<p class="normal">The peer bowed his head, and the clerk, under Mr. Arden's +instructions, proceeded to read a variety of documents relating to +facts with which the reader is already acquainted. It is unnecessary, +therefore, to repeat them; but the demeanour of the two persons +principally interested in the details was in itself sufficiently +singular to attract the attention of some of the magistrates, though, +if they sought in their own minds for the motives, they were mistaken +in the conclusions at which they arrived. During the reading of all +the formal and immaterial part of the depositions, the gipsy remained +with his eyes fixed upon the ground, and his head slightly bent, with +the aspect of one who hears a thing with all the details of which he +is too familiar to give it any deep attention. But when the clerk came +to his own deposition, and read the declaration which he had made of +having seen the murder committed, and marked the murderer so +particularly as to be able to swear to him if he ever saw him again, +his lip curled with a bitter and a biting sneer, and, raising his +head, he fixed his eyes upon his accuser, with a gaze that might well +have sunk him to the earth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry, however, encountered not his glance. He felt that the +gipsy's look must be then upon him; and, though he kept his own eyes +steadfastly on the papers before him, he turned deadly pale under the +consciousness of his own guilt, and the knowledge of what must be +passing in the bosom of the innocent man he had accused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is your declaration, made twenty years ago, prisoner!" said Mr. +Arden, examining the gipsy's countenance through his spectacles.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it is," answered the gipsy; "and it is truth, which twenty +years cannot change as they have done you and me, hard man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Egad, he's right there!" cried the magistrate; "twenty years have +worked a woful change both in my eyes and in my teeth; but, thank God, +I can ride as fresh as any man after the hounds, and shirk neither +fence nor gate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you anything to add to your declaration, prisoner!" asked Mr. +Simpson, in a milder tone. "Nothing," answered Pharold. "Let me ask +you, however," continued the other, "whether you have ever, by any +chance, seen the murderer since the events which you have detailed in +this paper?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"More than once!" answered the gipsy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, why did you not point him out for apprehension?" demanded Mr. +Simpson.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because no one asked me," replied Pharold. "I told yon hard old man, +that I would point the murderer out if he were set before me; but I +never promised any of you to be as one of your hounds, and seize the +game for your sport or advantage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then if the murderer were brought before you," asked another +magistrate, "would you point him out, and swear to him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The inquiry was taking a turn unpleasing to the peer; for although he +felt well convinced that Pharold would, sooner or later, retort the +accusation upon him, and was ready to meet it boldly and calmly, yet +he was not a little anxious to conclude his own statement of the case +first, and to bring forward every circumstance which could criminate +the gipsy, in order to take all weight from the testimony of his +adversary, and make the magistrates pass it over with contempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think," he said, rising ere the gipsy could reply--"I think, +gentleman, if you will now permit me to proceed with what I have +further to adduce, you will find the matter very much simplified, and +can then examine the prisoner in whatever manner you think fit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, my lord! certainly!" said some of the more complaisant of +the party; but the magistrate who had put the question was less easily +turned aside; and he replied,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Permit the prisoner, my lord, to answer my question in the first +place. My memory is bad," he added, dryly, "and before we got to the +end I might forget it. Now, answer me, prisoner,--that is, if you do +not object--there is no compulsion, remember,--if the murderer were +brought before you, could you and would you point him out, and swear +to him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That I could do so," answered Pharold, "I have already said; but that +I would do so, I do not know. It would depend upon circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry looked suddenly up, and their eyes met, but there was +nothing in Pharold's glance at that moment but cold stern +indifference; and those who saw the look he gave the peer could not +have distinguished that he was moved towards him by any other feelings +than those which might well exist between the accused and the accuser. +Lord Dewry paused, and a momentary feeling of remorse for that which +he was engaged in crossed his bosom, now that he saw even persecution +would hardly make the gipsy violate his word so far as to betray his +fearful secret. But he had gone too far to recede, and he crushed the +better feeling. He called up the image of Sir William Ryder returning +to England, and supporting a charge against him by the testimony of +the gipsy; he recalled the state of feverish apprehension in which he +had lived for twenty years; and he went on with the work he had begun, +resolved that the struggle should be commenced and ended now for ever, +in the vain hope that thus his latter days might pass in peace!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, my lord," said the magistrate, when the gipsy had replied--"now, +my lord, I beg pardon for having detained you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, sir," answered Lord Dewry, with some of his haughty +spirit breaking out even then--"well, then, if it quite suits your +convenience, I will proceed. I must give a slight sketch of some +events long passed, gentlemen; and the clerks had better take it down +as my deposition, which may be sworn to hereafter. Not very long after +my brother's death, gentlemen, I had some money transactions to settle +with an honourable friend of mine, one Sir Roger Millington; and I +went to London for the purpose. I found him just returned from +Ireland; and he told me that, in the neighbourhood of Holyhead, he had +met with an accident by which one of his finest horses had nearly been +killed; but that he had obtained a secret from a gipsy there by which +the animal had been completely cured. You may easily suppose I gave +the anecdote but little attention at the time. In settling our +accounts, however, Sir Roger had to give me, in change for a larger +sum, several smaller notes, on which he wrote his name. I took no +great notice of these bits of paper till I returned to the country, +when, on looking them over, I found, to my surprise, that one of them +was marked with my brother's own name, in his own handwriting. This +led to further examination; and in this banker's book, and also in +these memoranda, I found, by the dates and numbers of the notes, that +the very note in question must have been drawn by my poor brother from +his bankers the day before his death. The next thing to be discovered +was, where Sir Roger Millington had obtained it; but, as that +gentleman was continually moving about from place to place, some time +elapsed ere I could see him again. When I did so, however, I found +that he had received this very note from a gipsy called Pharold, at +Holyhead, in change for a larger one given him in order to purchase +the secret by which the worthy knight's horse had been cured."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A most singular coincidence!" cried Mr. Arden. "Murder will out, +gentlemen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For a long time no trace could be discovered of the gipsy," continued +Lord Dewry; "but at length he suddenly reappeared in this +neighbourhood; and one of my keepers obtained information that he and +his gang had laid a plan for robbing my park of the deer. On his +telling me this, I ordered him to take such measures as he thought +expedient for seizing the whole of them in the fact; much more +anxious, indeed, to capture my brother's murderer than to punish the +deer-stealers. It so happened, that just at the same time Sir Roger +Millington came down to pay me a visit; and on hearing that the +culprit was likely to fall into our hands that very night, he insisted +upon coming over here, both to direct the operations of the keepers, +and to satisfy himself that this gipsy Pharold is the same from whom +he received the note. I would fain have persuaded him that it was a +wild scheme; but he was a soldier, gentlemen, and accustomed to +contemn all dangers. The unhappy result you know. He was mortally +wounded, and is now lying in a state of delirium, if he be not already +dead. Last night, however, I took advantage of a time when his mind +was quite clear and rational, to obtain from him this declaration in +the presence of competent witnesses; and herein you will find that he +positively states that the man Pharold, whom he saw with the gipsy +deer-stealers in Dimden Park, was the same from whom he received this +note."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Foul, hellish liar!" exclaimed Pharold, starting abruptly from the +state of calm and apparently indifferent thought in which he had been +standing, with his eyes fixed upon the handcuffs on his wrists, and +his head bent down. "Foul, hellish liar! He never either gave me +aught, or had aught from me! I cured his noble beast for nothing; and +not for his sake either; but he gave me naught, nor would I have taken +his gold if he had offered it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, then," cried Mr. Arden, "you acknowledge that you did see this +gentleman at Holyhead, and did cure his horse by some nostrum in your +possession! Clerk, take that down carefully."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, and take down that, if in dying he say he either gave me aught or +received aught from me," continued Pharold, vehemently, "he goes to +the place appointed for liars and false witnesses, if the great God of +all the universe be a God of justice and righteousness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know, gentlemen," said Mr. Arden, turning round and rubbing +his hands, "I think that quite enough has been elicited to justify us +in committing the prisoner without further ceremony."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We might perhaps be justified," said Mr. Simpson; "but I think there +is something more required of us than that, both by our own +consciences and our precise duties. It lies with us to prepare the +case as far as possible for superior functionaries; and, therefore, I +should propose that we proceed at once to collect every information +that is to be procured, and that we do not think of committing the +prisoner till we have done so. A great deal more still remains to +be--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here one of the constables advanced from the other end of the hall, +and passing quietly round the table, interrupted the magistrate by +handing him a sealed packet, which he instantly opened, and proceeded +to read the first lines. While he did so, the constable advanced to +the spot where the peer sat, and spoke a few words in a low tone of +voice, while another magistrate, taking advantage of Mr. Simpson's +silence, proposed that they should adjourn to the bedside of Sir Roger +Millington, and receive his deposition officially.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry to say," answered Lord Dewry, with as grieved and +melancholy an air as he could assume, under circumstances which were +in reality satisfactory--"I am sorry to say, gentlemen, that the wise +and judicious proceeding just suggested cannot be executed, as the +constable has this moment informed me that my poor friend is no more. +His dissolution occurred a few minutes ago; and though I grieve for +the loss of my friend, it would be vain to say that I am sorry that an +event which was inevitable should have taken place so soon, when every +hour of prolonged existence was an hour of torture."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I trust, then, that the declaration which he made last night," said +the same magistrate, "was in every respect such as to be admitted in +evidence. Will your lordship permit me to examine it?" The paper was +handed to him, and he cast his eyes over it without any comment. Mr. +Simpson, however, was evidently strongly affected by the packet he had +just received. He returned more than once to several of the passages +it contained; and when he had satisfied himself of the precise terms, +he let the hand which held the paper fall over the arm of the chair; +and with a pale cheek and a look of deep thought, continued gazing at +vacancy for several moments.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first thing that seemed to rouse him was a renewal of Mr. Arden's +proposal for the instant committal of the prisoner, when, turning +round abruptly, he said, "No, Mr. Arden! no! we have not half gone +through the case; and something has just been put into my hand which +gives a very different aspect to the business altogether. This is a +very painful paper, gentlemen; and the task put upon me is a very +painful one, but, however, our duty must be done; and I will not +shrink from mine. However, let me beg your lordship in the first +instance to remark that this thing is no seeking of mine. For many +members of your lordship's family I have the utmost respect and +regard, and I would not willingly do anything to hurt any of your +house; but, as I have said, my duty must be done."</p> + +<p class="normal">While he spoke, the gipsy's eye lighted up anew, but the countenance +of the peer fell. His colour varied twenty times in a minute; but ere +the magistrate had done speaking, he had recovered his self-command, +and determined on his course, whatever might be the nature of the +communication which Mr. Simpson had received. "To what end, may I +ask," he said, haughtily, "to what end does all this tissue of idle +words lead, sir? Let me beg you to explain yourself, for I can +conceive no circumstances under which your professed regard for my +family should interfere in any way with the execution of your duty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall hear, my lord, you shall hear," answered Mr. Simpson, with +more mild dignity than the peer had imagined he could assume. +"Constables, clear the hall there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall we take away the prisoner, sir?" demanded one of the men who +stood by his side.</p> + +<p class="normal">The magistrate paused, and then replied, after a moment's thought, "He +has a right to hear anything that may benefit himself. He is here +before us without legal advice or assistance of any kind; and he must +not be shut out from a knowledge of facts which he may have to +communicate to his counsel hereafter. You, constable, however, retire +to the door. I think we are enough to manage one handcuffed man should +he prove turbulent."</p> + +<p class="normal">None of the other magistrates interfered: the hall was cleared; and +Pharold was left standing in the midst, with no other witnesses but +the magistrates and their clerks. Restraining all his feelings by a +mighty effort, the peer sat sternly gazing upon the speaker, with the +violent passions that were working within, discernible only in the +starting sinews of the thin clenched hand which he had laid upon the +papers before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What I have to read, gentlemen," continued Mr. Simpson, "has just +been sent me by the excellent rector of this parish, Dr. Edwards; and +it is entitled The dying declaration of Sir Roger Millington, knight. +It is, gentlemen, to the following effect;" and he proceeded to read +the confession which fear and repentance had induced the dying man to +make. The agitation of the peer was dreadful; but it was alone +internal; and all that was externally perceptible were those signs of +passion and indignation which an innocent man might feel at a false +accusation. At length, however, when, in conclusion, the unhappy Sir +Roger charged him boldly as the murderer of his brother, Lord Dewry +started up, exclaiming,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"The raving madness of a delirious and dying man! How can you, +gentlemen, sit and listen to such trash! But I will soon bring you +proof of what state the man was in, when that canting old fanatic saw +him and he turned towards the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sit down, my lord!" said Mr. Simpson, sternly. "I cannot allow you to +leave the room."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sit down! not allow me!" cried the peer, turning upon him with all +the dark and haughty spirit of his heart flashing forth. "Do you dare, +sir, to use such terms to me in my own mansion?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Anywhere, Lord Dewry!" replied the magistrate. "I say, sit down! or I +must give you in custody to one of the officers, <i>I</i> will show you, +gentlemen, in what state of mind was the deponent when he made this +declaration. Here is the attestation of the surgeon and his assistant, +that Sir Roger Millington was, at the moment he signed this paper, +perfectly sane and rational; that he did it under the full knowledge +that he was a dying man; and that every word here written was exactly +used by himself. Gentlemen, this requires immediate investigation; for +every word here written must greatly affect the prisoner before us."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry had cast himself down again in his chair; but wrath in the +present instance supported hypocrisy; for it was anger and indignation +he sought to assume, and the former at least, in the present instance, +required no acting. He folded his arms upon his breast, he rolled his +dark eye over the form of the magistrate, and he set his teeth in his +nether lip till the blood almost started beneath the pressure. In the +mean while there was a confused and murmuring conversation among the +magistrates, some standing, some sitting, and all talking together. At +length Mr. Arden exclaimed, in a loud voice that overpowered the +rest,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well; this matter requires much consideration. Let us at all +events remand the gipsy for four or five days, while we inquire into +the rest. Here, he might be tampered with; but let us remand him to +the cage at Morley."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Remand me!" cried the gipsy, in a tone that called instant attention, +while his deep black eyes seemed flashing with living fire. "Remand +me! remand a man that you know to be innocent! Are these your boasted +laws? is this your English equity? Have you no more freedom in your +hearts than this? Did ye but know what real freedom is, ye would feel +that nothing upon earth,--neither gold, nor wealth, nor friends, nor +pleasures, nor health, nor life itself, to the freeman,--is half so +dear as liberty! If ye take his gold, ye call it robbery; if ye take +his life, ye call it murder; but I tell you, that every minute and +every hour of liberty is more than gold or life; and yet, base +hypocritical tyrants, without scruple and without remorse, you take +from your fellow-creatures, on the slightest pretence, the brightest +possession of man, the noblest gift of God. Ere you know whether your +fellow-creature be guilty or not ye doom him to the worst of +punishments, ye confine him in dungeons, ye fetter his free limbs with +iron, ye deny him God's light and God's air, ye make him the companion +of devils and fiends, and then ye find that he is innocent, and send +him forth into the world degraded, corrupted, vile as ye are +yourself,--punished without guilt, and robbed of many a long day of +golden liberty by those who pretend to dispense justice, and who talk +of equity. Out upon ye, I say! and out upon your laws! If there were +such things as liberty and justice in the land, the very rumour that a +fellow-creature was deprived of his freedom for an hour, would gather +together half the land to see justice done; and he who dared unjustly +to deprive a freeman of his liberty would be punished as a traitor +against the rights conferred by God. Then would not this bright and +beautiful land bear the multitude of prisons that darken the sunshine +in every town and village; and speedily the very use for them would be +forgotten; for man's heart, ennobled by freedom, would forget crime; +or crime, punished on the spot, would be a lesson far more awful. Now +ye debase yourselves and your fellow-creatures, and expect them to act +nobly; ye punish the innocent with the worst of punishments, and +expect them to refrain from guilt. If I am innocent of the crime with +which I am charged,--and God knows, and ye all know, that I am,--let +me go free. If I be guilty, punish me with death, but take not away my +liberty. Death were light, but one other night in a dungeon would +crush my very soul!"</p> + +<p class="normal">There was something so strong, so fiery, so impetuous, in the whole +tone and manner of the gipsy, that the magistrates, taken by surprise, +sat silent and attentive, till he had concluded an appeal which they +certainly had not expected. "There is some reason in what you say," +answered Mr. Simpson, mildly, "and, perhaps, if we had tasted a few +hours' imprisonment ourselves, we should not be so ready to send +others to that fate, as we are found too often. However, now answer +me, prisoner: you have declared that if the murderer of the late Lord +Dewry were set before you, you could recognise him, and swear to him. +I ask you, therefore, do you see him now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A powerful emotion, which he could not resist, made the peer suddenly +turn away, as the magistrate thus addressed the gipsy; and Pharold's +dark keen eyes fixed sternly upon him. For several long, terrible, +anxious moments the gipsy was silent, and many were the strong and +agitating passions which struggled in his heart, and threw their +alternate shadows over his countenance; but at length he replied, in a +low but solemn and distinct voice, "I have said that I could tell, but +I have not said that I would; and I now say that, come what will to +myself, I will accuse no man."</p> + +<p class="normal">The magistrates gazed at each other for a brief space, both surprised +and perplexed; but at that moment there was heard the sound of +chariot-wheels, the step of a carriage violently thrown down, and a +considerable bustle and speaking in the passages beyond. The next +instant the door of the hall was thrown open, and a gentleman entered, +with his hat still on his head, and a large fur cloak cast round him, +as he had got out of his carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I really must have the hall kept clear," exclaimed Mr. Simpson. "We +are here in private deliberation, and no one must be admitted."</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger, however, without paying the slightest attention, walked +straight up the middle of the hall; and laying his hand upon the +gipsy's arm, as he passed the spot where he stood, "I have come," he +said, "to deliver an innocent man." The next moment he advanced to the +table; and taking off his hat gazed round upon the magistrates.</p> + +<p class="normal">The effect produced upon several persons present was no less strange +than sudden. The peer, with a countenance as pale as ashes, a +quivering lip and haggard eye, staggered up from his seat, grasped the +arm of the intruder, and holding him at arm's length, gazed in his +face, with an expression of doubt, and surprise, and horror. Mr. Arden +rubbed the glasses of his spectacles, exclaiming, "Good God! good God! +This is very strange! It can't be--no, it can't be!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is! it is!" exclaimed the peer, falling back into his chair, and +covering his eyes with his hands. "It is! it is! thank God! oh! thank +God!" and the deep groan which accompanied his expression of joy, far +from lessening its force, seemed to speak that the load of worlds was +taken off his heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the name of Heaven, sir, who are you?" exclaimed one of the +younger magistrates.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is he?" exclaimed the gipsy, "who should he be, but William Lord +Dewry. There are plenty here who must know him well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And none better than myself," cried Mr. Arden. "My Lord, are you +living or dead?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Living, sir," replied the person whom we have hitherto known by +the name of Sir William Ryder. "Had I not believed, gentlemen, that +in this hall I have as much right as any one, I should not have +intruded upon your deliberations; but as I learned this morning +that my friend Pharold here, to whom I owe my life, was brought +before you on a charge of taking it, I felt myself bound to interfere. +You must, therefore, permit me to be present at your further +deliberations.--Edward," he continued, turning to his brother, "you +had better retire. We have matter for much thought and for much +emotion between us, which were as well confined to ourselves alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, my lord'. but, my lord!" exclaimed Mr. Arden, "here is an +accusation made formally against your brother, also, of the same crime +with which the gipsy was charged."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who made it?" exclaimed Lord Dewry, looking somewhat reproachfully at +Pharold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not I," answered the gipsy,--"I bring a false accusation against no +man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At all events, sir," rejoined the peer, turning to Mr. Arden, "it +must be sufficiently evident to all, that my brother, whatever may +have been our personal differences, cannot be guilty of my murder, as +I am here alive and well. I say again, therefore, that you had better +retire, Edward, and leave me to conclude this business as I see fit; +unless, indeed," he added--"unless you are inclined to contest either +my identity or my rights."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, no!" cried the other, starting up vehemently, and clasping +his hands together, while the burning tears of intense emotion rolled +rapidly over his cheeks. "No, no! So help me God, I would not lose the +knowledge that you are living for the highest rank and noblest fortune +that the earth could give; and I tell you, William, that to lay down +at your feet that which I have wrongfully possessed, to give up to you +wealth and station, and retire to poverty and obscurity, will be the +happiest act of my whole life. It will! it will! as there is truth +in Heaven, whatever my conduct heretofore may have caused you to +believe--and now I leave you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is one step at least," said the peer. "Fare you well for the +present. I will join you soon.--And now, gentlemen," he continued, +turning to the magistrates, as his brother, with a slow and faltering +step, quitted the hall--"and now let us proceed, as quickly as +possible, to render justice to a man who has been erroneously accused, +and subjected already to some loss of liberty,--a loss which I know is +more bitter to him than the loss of life would be."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, my lord, one would think you had turned gipsy yourself," said +Mr. Arden, "you speak so exactly the same sentiments which he has +himself expressed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have mingled much with persons who feel the same ardent love for +uncontrolled liberty," replied the peer somewhat dryly, "and it is +therefore that I wish at once to proceed to those matters which may +instantly set this good and honest man at liberty. It is evident, +gentlemen, that the charge against him must instantly be discharged, +and therefore it may be better to order those unworthy handcuffs to be +taken instantly from his wrists."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not so fast, my lord," said Mr. Arden, who was not well pleased with +the tone in which the peer replied to him, and who had also a strong +disposition to commit every one who was committable. "Although your +sudden, miraculous, and very strange reappearance must of course put +an end to all proceedings relative to a murder which has not taken +place, yet there is another charge of a nature equally grave against +the prisoner, which renders it impossible to discharge him in the +summary method which you seem inclined to urge. There is a charge of +deer-stealing followed by murder, in both of which crimes it is pretty +evident that the prisoner has taken part. I should like to know, too, +before I part with him, whether the whole story that he told of your +being shot by a man on horseback had any foundation, or was a mere +invention."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In regard to the last point I will satisfy you at once," replied Lord +Dewry, "as far as I ever intend to satisfy any one. I was met by a man +on horseback, as I believe the gipsy told you, who demanded money of +me, and on my refusing it, somewhat harshly indeed, he did fire at and +wound me. My horse took fright, and plunged into the river; I fell +from the saddle, deprived of all sense; and had not that good man, +Pharold, leaped into the stream, dragged me out, and given me into the +hands of those who tended me with kindness and wisdom, my fate would +not have been doubtful for a moment. In regard to my after-conduct, +private motives determined it, into which no one has any right to +inquire. They were such as satisfied my own heart and my own +understanding, and that is sufficient."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And pray, my lord," demanded Mr. Arden, "were you acquainted with the +person who wounded you? Could you swear to him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not making a charge before you as a county magistrate," replied +Lord Dewry; "but telling you an anecdote as an old acquaintance; and +let me add, that my story is done. In regard to any further charge +against Pharold, there is, I think, by this time sufficient evidence +collected at the hall door to prove that he took no part either in the +destruction of the deer or the violence offered to the gamekeepers. If +you will order the persons who were present to be called in you will +soon be satisfied."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg your pardon, my lord," said Mr. Simpson: "I am most happy to +see you once again, when such a thing appeared impossible; but still I +am afraid the course you suggest cannot be pursued."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not, sir?" demanded Lord Dewry: "I believe that I have the +pleasure of speaking to Mr. Simpson, though time has somewhat altered +his features: if so, I address both a humane and reasonable man; and I +ask why cannot the plain and straightforward course I propose be +pursued at once?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let them have their way, William de Vaux! Let them have their way!" +cried the gipsy, whose dark features had been working under the +influence of many a contending passion since his friend had appeared. +"Let them have their way! One and all they are set in their own hearts +to do injustice. What, indeed, are they there for, but to dispense +that kind of injustice that you call law? Let them have their way! +They are but working out the inevitable will of fate; and though they +bring the curse of innocent blood upon their head, they needs must do +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If your lordship, during your long absence, have not forgot entirely +the customs of this country," replied Mr. Simpson, as soon as he could +make himself heard, "you will perceive at once, that, as one of the +unfortunate victims of this deer-stealing affray has died in this very +house, not half an hour ago, it is our bounden duty not to discharge a +prisoner against whom a charge upon oath of participation in the crime +has been made by an eyewitness, until the coroner shall have sat upon +the body, and returned a verdict; nor have we, I believe, any right to +take the matter out of the coroner's hands, by previously examining +the witnesses, which must afterward appear before his jury. I am +grieved to oppose you, I am grieved to inflict further imprisonment on +a man of whose innocence I do not entertain any strong doubts; but +Harvey, the head keeper, has sworn that the prisoner was present, +aiding and abetting, when Sir Roger Millington was wounded, and we +should not be justified even in receiving bail till the coroner's jury +have returned their verdict."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry bit his lip, and remained silent for a few moments, while +Mr. Arden rubbed his hands, and elevated his eyebrows with the air of +a man who considers all opposition as silenced; and the gipsy eyed the +bench of magistrates with a look in which scorn was the only +expression that tempered hatred and indignation. "Pray, sir, how long +must it be ere the coroner can be summoned?" demanded the peer. "You +know not what you are inflicting upon a man as honest as any one +present. To him every hour of his freedom is more than life; and I +could give you fully sufficient proof to show that while his innocence +of the crime charged against him is clear, the punishment inflicted on +him by imprisonment cannot be estimated by the feelings of other men +under such circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The coroner cannot even be summoned to-day, my lord," replied Mr. +Arden; "and, consequently, it must be to-morrow or the next day ere +the gipsy can be liberated, even if the result be as favourable to him +as you expect. But what are two or three days spent in a snug warm +room to a man who has never known any thing better than a hovel in a +sandpit? Where is the great hardship? I see no very severe +infliction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To him it is the most severe," replied Lord Dewry; "and if it be +possible--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cease, cease, William," cried Pharold, in a bitter and earnest tone; +"you degrade those noble lips by pleading in vain to men who can +neither understand your heart nor mine. Besides, it matters not, it +matters not. The long weary line of life has come to its end with me. +All that I had to do is done. I have seen you break through all your +good and wise designs, all your humane and generous scruples, for +the purpose of defending and delivering me; I have seen you return to +your home, and claim your own; and so far I have seen my utmost +desire. But hear what I have seen more," he continued with a rising +tone, while his eye flashed, his dark cheek flushed, and his brows +knit together--"hear what I have seen more, William de Vaux, and then +see whether I ought to care for anything else after. I have seen my +people mock my care, and refuse my counsels! I have seen one of my own +tribe betray me, in order to liberate himself! I have seen the wife of +my bosom take part in the scheme for delivering me over to +imprisonment and death, by the means of my best affections! I have +spent a whole bright autumn night in a prison! I come forth into the +day with bonds upon my hands, and I hear myself condemned, without +crime, to the torture of a longer slavery in chains and stone walls!" +As he went on, he spoke more and more rapidly, and his eye rolled over +the magistrates, as he lashed himself into phrensy, by a +recapitulation of his sufferings and his wrongs. "But think not," he +continued furiously, "think not that bolts, or bars, or walls shall +keep me in another night, in the living tomb into which ye have thrust +me! No, no, there is always a way for a bold heart to set itself free! +Thus, thus I spurn your chains from me!" and by one great effort of +skill and strength he slipped his hands out of the handcuffs, which +were somewhat too large, and dashed them down into the midst of the +hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Constables! constables!" shouted Mr. Arden.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You call in vain, hard, stone-hearted man," cried Pharold, shaking +his clenched hand at him, "you call in vain;" and bounding to the side +of the hall on which the tall windows had been thrown open, he set one +foot upon the secretary's table, and with a single spring reached the +high window sill, catching with his hand the small stone column on +which the casements hung. There he paused for one moment; and turning +his head, exclaimed, "William de Vaux, noble William de Vaux, +farewell,--for ever, and ever, and ever, farewell."</p> + +<p class="normal">He let go his hold: he sprang forward, and was lost to the sight. The +next moment the dull heavy splash of a large body falling into the +water rose up and was carried by the wind through the open windows +into the justice-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Run round, run round," cried Mr. Arden to the constables, who were +now hurrying in; "he has escaped through the window; run round there +by the outside."</p> + +<p class="normal">One or two instantly followed these directions; but another sprang up +to the window to mark the course of the fugitive, and point it out to +the pursuers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must have jumped into the stream, gentlemen," said the man, +turning to speak to the magistrates, as soon as he had reached the +spot where Pharold had stood the moment before. "He must have jumped +into the stream, for there is not footing for a mouse."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He did, he did: we heard him," answered Mr. Arden. "Look out, and see +where he comes to land. My lord, why do you cover your face with your +hand? you seem more sorry for the prisoner's escape than I +anticipated."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is because I know him better than you do, sir," answered the peer; +"and I fear that you have driven him further than you imagine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can see nothing on the river, gentlemen," cried the constable, "but +the bubbles and the eddies where he must have gone down. There's a +shoulder, there's a shoulder, I do believe; and his long black hair as +I live:--it is gone again; he is down--I see no more of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry started up and rushed out; but it was in vain that every +effort was made to find the gipsy living or dead. The constables who +had run round the justice-room declared that they had never seen +anything rise. The other, who had watched from the window, soon became +very doubtful in regard to the reality of the objects he had seen +floating down the stream. An old labourer, who had been working at a +distance, stated that he had remarked something fall from the window +of the justice-room into the water, but had seen nothing come to land. +The peer, with as many people as he could collect, followed the course +of the river for some way; and the constables, though with different +views, pursued the same course. In the meanwhile, the magistrates +continued in deliberation, as it is called; although it must be +acknowledged that their conversation referred much more particularly +to, and rested much more pertinaciously upon, the strange return of +Lord Dewry, the various circumstances which could have given occasion +to his absence, and the various events to which his re-appearance +would give rise, than even to the disappearance of the prisoner, and +the after-measures to be adopted.</p> + +<p class="normal">The matter, however, was quite sufficiently interesting to make three +quarters of an hour pass unnoticed; and at the end of that time a +servant appeared to inform them that, as the body of the unhappy gipsy +could not be found, Lord Dewry did not intend to intrude upon them +again, and that he had only to request that due information of the +death of Sir Roger Millington might be given to the coroner.</p> + +<p class="normal">The magistrates received the message--probably as it was intended--as +a hint that their further presence at Dimden was not desired. Mr. +Arden laughed, and declared that he would take care to tease his +lordship for his want of courtesy, by asking him unpleasant questions +whenever he met him; but Mr. Simpson, on the contrary, looked grave +and sad, and as he parted with his fellow-magistrates declared his +intention of withdrawing from his official duties. "I should never," +he said, "be able to remove from my mind the impression of that +unfortunate gipsy's fate, and I should fear that it might have some +effect upon the execution of my duty in future."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02.13" href="#div1Ref_02.13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Day had waned, night had overshadowed the world several hours, and +Mrs. Falkland, with Marian, had long left the house in which Edward de +Vaux lay ere any sounds intimated that the master of the mansion had +returned. Anxious, bewildered, and impatient, De Vaux lay sleepless +till ten o'clock, when the rapid rush of rolling wheels, and the quick +footfalls of the horses, as they passed his window, told him that he +whom he expected had arrived.</p> + +<p class="normal">A few minutes elapsed without his appearance in the sick man's room, +however, and, with his characteristic impatience, De Vaux concluded +that "the fools had said he was asleep," and was sending to declare +the contrary, when the door was quietly opened, and the person he +wished for approached his bedside.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am most happy to see you, my dear sir," said De Vaux, looking up in +the fine bland countenance that was bent over him, "for I cannot +sleep--I cannot rest--till I ask you who, who is it that I see?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! I perceive that your aunt has betrayed me," said Lord Dewry. "She +recognised me instantly this morning; but I laid strict injunctions +upon her, for many reasons, to keep my secret with you till I +returned. But I expected more than was reasonable. There is a proverb +against a woman keeping a secret."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," said De Vaux: "she did not exactly betray you. She let a few +words accidentally fall, that only served to rouse my curiosity, which +she then refused to satisfy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what said Marian?" demanded the other, with a smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, she said nothing on the subject," replied De Vaux, "but she +looked happier than I ever beheld her; and that too seemed to confirm +some vague surmises which my aunt's words had called up. But yet I +cannot believe it--it is impossible--I knew you myself as Sir William +Ryder in America--every one knew you by that name there--and I cannot +believe the wild fancy that has taken possession of me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is nevertheless true," replied the peer. "Sir William Ryder has +slept for more than twenty years in a village churchyard in Ireland, +and I am--what I suppose you suspect--your uncle. Agitate yourself +with this matter no more to-night, my dear boy: suffice it," and he +pressed his nephew's hand kindly in his own, "suffice it that I am +proud to have Edward de Vaux for my nephew, and shall rejoice to +acknowledge him as my son."</p> + +<p class="normal">The words were oil and wine to the heart of Edward de Vaux, but still +there was something wanting. "Thank you, thank you," he replied, still +holding his uncle's hand in his own; "but yet one word more before you +go:--that dreadful story that the gipsy told me--that story that drove +me almost mad--it is not, it cannot be true. My father did not--could +not--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Edward," replied his uncle, gravely, "on no account must I do wrong +to the memory of a noble-hearted man. The gipsy told you true, as far +as he knew the truth. Nay, do not shudder: there are many palliating +circumstances which he did not know, but which I will relate to you +hereafter, in order to calm and tranquilize your mind. In the meantime +be satisfied with knowing that, as far as I am concerned, all that was +painful in the past shall be forgotten and buried in oblivion for +ever. Nor, indeed, would I, even to you, so far withdraw the veil from +things gone as to give any explanation, had it not been by my +authority and directions--under a mistaken view of your character and +heart--that the gipsy related to you as much as you already know. Your +knowledge of thus much renders it necessary for your own peace that +you should know more; which I will tell you as soon as you are well. +Rest assured, however, that all which you have yet to hear is good and +not evil, and will tend to alleviate and soften what is past."</p> + +<p class="normal">With such information Edward de Vaux was forced to rest contented +during the whole of the following week, for he could draw no more from +his uncle; and he feared, by questioning any one else upon the +subject, to raise suspicions which he trusted were as yet quiet in the +minds of all others. The rest of the little world, however, in which +these events had taken place, were not so soon satisfied. The +immediate neighbourhood of Dimden and of Morley House was, of course, +more agitated than the rest of the county; for there it may be said +that the stone had dropped into the water, and though the rippling +circles that it made extended far and wide around, yet each eddy was +fainter and fainter, of course, as it became farther removed from the +centre. In the immediate vortex, however, not only for nine days, but +nearly for nine months, all was gossip, and rumour, and confusion. +Every one had his own distinct report of the transactions which had +taken place in regard to the return of the old Lord Dewry; every one +had his own version of the story; and as neither the peer himself, nor +any of his family, gave either encouragement or refutation to any of +the statements, but held a stern and rigid silence upon the whole +affair, every one was left to enjoy his own version undisturbed, and +to make himself sure that it was the right one, by any logic that he +thought proper to use.</p> + +<p class="normal">There is no such diffusible a substance in nature as truth; for though +an infinitely small piece of gold can be spread over a wire that might +girdle the great earth, yet a much less portion of truth will serve to +gild a much greater quantity of falsehood. Thus, in all the stories +that were current, it is more than probable that some portion of truth +existed; and many of them, aided by curious inquiry and shrewd +conjecture, came very near the real facts of the case.</p> + +<p class="normal">The good-natured world of course anticipated all the disagreeable +things that were to happen. Lawsuits innumerable were prognosticated; +Lord Dewry was to compel his brother to refund the long enjoyed rents +of his estates; the brother was to deny his claim and rights +altogether; the marriage between Edward de Vaux and his cousin was to +be broken off; and some persons even anticipated that the lover would +shoot himself, and the lady die of consumption.</p> + +<p class="normal">None of these events, however, did really take place. Lord Dewry +showed himself in no hurry to take possession of his estates either at +Dimden or at Dewry Hall, but his title was not the less generally +recognised and his rights undisputed. His brother, indeed, lay for +many weeks ill at Dimden House; and, under the influence of feelings, +which those around him did not rightly comprehend, besought Lord Dewry +not to visit him till his strength was recovered, or till his death +was near.</p> + +<p class="normal">Edward de Vaux still remained at his uncle's cottage at the little +town of ----, tended by its owner with all the care and affection of a +father. His recovery was somewhat tedious indeed; and it was long ere +the surgeons permitted him to rise. From that period, however, his +convalescence proceeded more rapidly, and the kind tone of all his +uncle's conversation--the hope, the cheerfulness, the sunshine, that +beamed through it all--tended to sooth his mind, and turn it from +everything that was painful in his situation. At length it was +announced that he might with safety drive over to Dimden to see his +father: and on the day preceding that on which he went, as soon as the +short twilight of winter was over, Lord Dewry ordered his doors to be +closed against all the world; and walking up and down the room--as was +his custom when he spoke on matters of deep interest--while his nephew +lay on the couch beside him, he entered into the long promised +explanation of his past conduct.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I need not recapitulate, my dear boy," he said, "all that you have +already heard, nor tell you how bitterly I suffered from a loss, the +pain of which can never be wholly forgotten. At the time it nearly +drove me mad. At all events it made me look upon everything in nature +through a false medium, made me hate mankind, loath even the society +of my best and dearest friends, and find agony rather than consolation +in the sight of the infant which my lost angel had left me, and which +to a more sane and less impatient spirit would have been a source of +joy and comfort to my latest hour. It was under these circumstances, +and with these feelings, that I suddenly met my brother in the +neighbourhood of Morley House, while I was riding over to the county +town, with the purpose of giving him such a sum as I could spare at +the time, but of refusing the greater part of the assistance he +demanded. I had many other causes for dissatisfaction in regard to his +conduct besides his boundless extravagance; but of those causes we +need not speak. I acknowledge that I treated him harshly; and that, +not contented with rejecting his demand, I rejected it in that stern +and peremptory tone which was in some degree cruel, for grief had +hardened me for the time against all those things to which at other +moments I yielded most willingly. He pleaded more earnestly, more +humbly, than could have been expected from one who had no small share +of pride; but I refused to hear, and only repeated my determination. +Words of great bitterness passed between us; and at length he drew +forth a pistol, saying that nothing was left him but death or +dishonour, and that he preferred the former. I remember not the exact +words of my reply; but they were galling, bitter, and ungenerous; and +as I spoke them, I spurred on my horse. The next moment there came a +loud report, a giddiness of my eyes, and I felt myself reel in the +saddle. For the moment my powers over my horse were lost; and taking +fright at the sound, he plunged down the bank, lost his footing, and +slipped into the river. Nay, Edward, look not so distressed, remember +the shot might be accidental; my brother was following me eagerly at +the time, with the weapon in his hand which he had threatened to raise +against his own life: a plunge of his horse, a false step, an +accidental movement, might discharge the pistol without his will. I am +willing to believe it so; and I have never inquired further. If you +are wise, Edward de Vaux--if you are wise, you will inquire no further +either. There are few situations in which doubts are preferable to +certainty, but there are some, and this is one. Suffice it that, +whatever your father's intention was, he was driven at that moment, +both by despair and by a brother's harshness, to a state of mind in +which he could hardly be held responsible for his own actions. I +forgive him from my heart for that deed, though others have taken +place lately which I fear I cannot forgive--at least not as yet. But +of these no more: I seek not to be your father's accuser. I would +rather exculpate him as far as possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux sighed deeply, and still kept his hands clasped over his eyes, +for he could not but feel that his uncle willingly deceived himself, +in order to palliate the actions of his father. "Let me now turn," +continued Lord Dewry, "to my own fate and conduct. The wound I had +received, though not dangerous--having passed obliquely along the back +of my head and neck, only slightly grazing the bone--was sufficient to +stun and confuse me; and although in the plunge into the water I was +thrown free of the horse, I should certainly have been drowned, had it +not been for the activity and courage of the gipsy Pharold. I knew +little that passed till I found myself lying on the moss, in the thick +wood above Morley Point, with two gipsies standing by me, one of whom +was my deliverer. I was still bleeding profusely; and Pharold was in +the very act of sending his comrade for help to bear me home. My first +words, however, were directed to stop him; and I besought the +companion of my boyhood to have me carried to the tents of his people, +and to conceal my escape from every one. The very first impulse on +recovering my recollection had been to execute a plan, which had often +occurred to me within the last few weeks previous to that time, of +abandoning state, and station, and society altogether, and wasting +away the rest of my days in grief and mourning. Had I been a Roman +Catholic at my wife's death, I should certainly have devoted myself to +the cloister; and the only consideration which had prevented me from +quitting England and all my former connections, had been the thought +of the inquiries and the search that would be made for me, and the +annoyance to which such proceedings might subject me. Now, however, +the opportunity was before me. I easily gathered, or rather divined +from the circumstances in which I found myself, that no one was +acquainted with my being still in life but the gipsy and his comrade: +I knew that my child, with an ample fortune and numerous connections, +would be well protected and cherished by my sister; and I resolved +instantly to seize the only opportunity I might ever have of quitting +without inquiry or pursuit, scenes that were full of painful memories, +and society which I detested. The rest was easily arranged. I felt +that I was but slightly wounded. Pharold would have done whatever I +chose to dictate on earth; and I was borne to the gipsies' tents, and +tended with as much care and skill as if I had lain in a palace, +surrounded by friends and servants.</p> + +<p class="normal">"None knew me personally but Pharold himself; and he pledged himself +solemnly to conceal the fact of my existence from every one. It was +agreed that his tribe should instantly remove to a distance, carrying +me with them; while he remained, in order to watch the subsequent +proceedings of my family, and give me information thereof. He was +absent for several days; and when at length he rejoined his people, I +found that he had been himself arrested, and in some degree suspected +of having murdered me. He told me, however, that my brother had been +the first to assert his innocence, and to effect his liberation. This +conduct pleased me; and I resolved to linger in England some time +longer, in order to mark your father's after proceedings. Through the +exertions of Pharold, I learned all that took place. I found that, +however he might have acted in other circumstances, my brother acted +nobly towards my child; and I took some pleasure, the first that I had +known for months, in viewing the emotions of his heart through the +conduct to which they led. The pleasure, however, was of a very +mingled nature; and at length I prepared to set out for Ireland, with +the intention of proceeding thence to America. At Holyhead I removed +from the tents of the gipsies, with whom I had hitherto continued, +because I was aware that Sir William Ryder, an old acquaintance both +of my brother's and my own, was to visit Pharold on Edward's account, +in order to ensure more perfectly the gipsy's silence. He came at +length, but in coming his horse took fright, threw him, and nearly +killed him on the spot. He likewise was borne into the gipsies' tents, +and for some days hovered between life and death. I saw him often, +without being seen, and many a time as I stood in the shadow, while +Pharold conversed with him, I heard him express bitter sorrow and +repentance for all the follies into which he had been led, and depict +vividly the writhings of a noble spirit under the consciousness of +having dipped deeply in vice and become a participator in crime. I +became interested in him, and determined in other lands--for he also +was following exactly the same track towards America as myself--to let +him know of my existence; which would at least relieve a part of the +load under which he suffered. He partially recovered, and proceeded to +Ireland; but he never reached America; for ere he could embark, the +consequences of the injuries he had received in his fall assumed a +severe character, and at a small inn, in a small and wretched Irish +port, I found him dying and alone. His surprise on seeing me had +nearly killed him; but he soon regained composure, and I remained with +him till his last hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By his advice, and authorized by his own hand, I took his name; and +by means of papers which he gave me at his death, have received ever +since the annuity of a thousand per annum, which my brother had +settled upon him; nor did I think myself unjustified in either of +these actions, for I only assumed a rank inferior to my own, and +received money which to all intents and purposes was mine. However, as +Sir William Ryder had a numerous acquaintance, it became necessary to +fix my abode in such a spot as would remove every chance of my assumed +name being questioned. My feelings too at this time led me to seek +solitude, and an entire change, not only of scene, but of all the +circumstances of life. Thus I retired to the spot where you found me, +during the late war; and there, in the midst of savage life, and +various sources of interest and excitement, I gradually recovered +calmness and peace. Of my life in America I need give you no picture, +as you have seen how it passed; and I have now only to explain further +the motives of my return.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Every human thing is weak in its resolves, and I not less than +others; but still, in some degree, it is happy that it should be so; +for our determinations are always the children of circumstances, and +upon circumstances also must their execution ever depend. Like a +madman and a fool, I had fancied that in Marian's mother I had found +imperishable happiness; and when she was suddenly snatched from me, my +whole feelings, my very soul, seemed turned into bitterness and +disappointment. In bitterness and disappointment, then, I had resolved +never to love another human being, and to cast off every tie that +could bind me to human affections: but time brought resignation and +consolation; and a longing, a thirst to see my child and my native +land often came upon me with overpowering force. I sought not to +resume wealth or station. I sought not to mingle again in cultivated +society; but the yearning of the heart of a father and a man towards +my daughter and my country were sometimes hardly to be resisted. That +my child was well, happy, and protected, I learned from the constant +correspondence which I kept up with the gipsy Pharold; and, at the +same time, the interest which I took in the wild tribes around me, and +the love they evinced towards me, acted as a strong tie to the land in +which I had settled. I wavered often, but I resisted long; till, at +length, I became acquainted with your admirable friend Manners, and +through him first personally knew yourself. Your very name was full of +interest to me; but how much was that interest increased when, by some +casual words which passed between you and your friend, I learned that +you were destined to become the husband of my only child. All the +faults of your father's character rose up before my imagination his +very faults towards your mother were remembered and when I pictured to +myself my dear Marian suffering under similar conduct, my heart was in +an agony of doubt and apprehension. From that moment I watched your +every word and action with eager anxiety, striving to judge your mind +and heart. I did judge you, Edward, and I judged you wrongly. There +was a fastidiousness, an irritability, an impatience, a degree of +pride, that put me strongly in mind of your father; and although I +thought I saw some nobler traits, yet I was anxious, doubtful, ill at +ease; and I determined, at any risk, at any cost, to try you to the +uttermost, ere you received the fate of my child into your hands. I +did try you, Edward, and somewhat too severely; and both for having +mistaken your nature, and made you suffer deeply, I now ask your +forgiveness. At the time you left me, I was engaged in negotiating the +purchase of a large tract of land to be reserved for certain tribes of +Indians, but a larger sum was required than I could command; and this, +with the other circumstances I have mentioned, hastened my return to +England. I arrived in my native country even before you did; but a +thousand difficulties surrounded me which I had not foreseen; and my +anxiety and eagerness made me act with less caution than I should have +done. I had no agent in whom I could confide but the gipsy Pharold; +and although he wrought in every thing exactly under my directions, +yet a thousand circumstances, over which we had no control, turned our +actions from their course, and led to results that neither of us +anticipated. My intention was not to claim either my name or my +estates, if I found that you were worthy of my child: but I have been +forced forward, from step to step, as if by the strong hand of fate, +till at length it became an imperative duty to disclose myself, in +order to deliver the innocent from persecution. One satisfaction, +however, I have obtained, which is, that I can now feel unbounded +confidence in the man to whom I leave the happiness of my child in +charge. Remember also, Edward, that I have resumed my own rights, +without compromising the honour or reputation of your father--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed! indeed!" cried De Vaux, starting up, and grasping his uncle's +hands. "Thanks, thanks, my dear sir! That is a blessed relief indeed! +But will not people suspect--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They cannot do so reasonably," replied Lord Dewry. "The secret, my +dear boy, remains with you and me alone, and never to a living +creature shall it pass my lips, as I hope for happiness hereafter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the gipsy!" cried De Vaux, "the gipsy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The gipsy is no more!" replied his uncle, a shade coming over his +countenance. "Persecution and severe laws have driven him to despair, +and despair to death. And now, Edward, to-morrow you are about to +visit your father; in regard to letting him know what information you +possess, act as you shall think fit. Were I in your circumstances, if +possible, I should conceal from him that I knew aught beyond common +report; but if you do communicate to him the knowledge you have +obtained, add that for all and every fault towards myself I forgive +him from my heart and soul, but that his conduct towards Pharold the +gipsy rests dark upon my mind; and that, perhaps, it would be better +if we did not meet again till time had softened the remembrance. +Present him, Edward, with this packet also. It contains a deed +which will prevent him from feeling any great change of fortune +from my return."</p> + +<p class="normal">De Vaux coloured as he took it; and his uncle added,--"You must not +again make me deem you proud, Edward."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, my dear sir," replied De Vaux. "What I have suffered has not +only been a trial, but will, I trust, prove a cure; for the errors +that you saw and justly feared, were fully as real as apparent. I +cannot but feel pained, however, that we should have so small a right +to expect--to expect--" He paused, hesitated a moment, and then +added,--"to expect bounty at the hand which now bestows it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Call it not bounty, my dear Edward," answered his uncle, "nor couple +yourself with others in any shape, for in this deed you are in no +degree interested. The fortune which Marian inherits from her mother +will render you independent, till my death renders you wealthy. And +now to conclude, ere I wish you good-night:--I have been forced to +speak to you long of your father. In doing so, though I have tried not +to spare my own faults, I have been obliged to dwell for long upon +his; but I have done so once for all, and I never more mention them +again, either to his son or to any one else. It has been as painful +for me to speak, as for you to hear. It is over; and now, good-night!"</p> + +<p class="normal">We might dwell longer upon the feelings of Edward de Vaux; but we have +only space left for his actions. The next morning early he set out to +visit his parent, and it was late ere he returned. When he did so, +however, he announced to his uncle that, although still unwell, his +father had quitted Dimden, and removed a few stages on his journey to +a remote part of the country, in which he had determined to fix his +residence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course, my dear sir," he added, "every inducement, but one, would +lead me to remain here, in the scenes wherein I have been brought up, +which are full of sweet recollections, and which contain her I love +the best on earth. Nevertheless, he is my father; and I cannot suffer +him to linger through the hours of sickness, in sorrow, dejection, and +solitude, when, perhaps, the society of his son may give him +consolation, or, at least, afford some diversion to his thoughts. +To-morrow, therefore, I will see Marian; and then, if the surgeons +will let me, will set off to follow my father. As soon as his illness +is terminated," and he spoke with a look of pain and apprehension, "I +will return, and claim a promise which is more valuable to me than +life; and, in the meantime, I know that none who are dear to me will +think the worse of me for having in this instance preferred duty to +happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry made no opposition to his purpose, and it was accordingly +executed. Two months elapsed without any event of importance. Lord +Dewry took possession of his rights again; and rumour and gossip, at +every fresh incident in our drama, revived more and more faintly, till +at length they died away, and gave place to newer things. The body of +the gipsy Pharold was never found; and a vague report spread over the +country that he was not dead, but had returned to his people, and had +been seen in several places by persons who were acquainted with his +person; but the origin of this report could not be traced; and certain +it is, that The Gipsy never again presented himself before any of the +family of De Vaux. The tribe which he had led disappeared from the +country; and whither their wanderings conducted them, or what was +their fate, the writer of this book cannot tell, though it appears +that Mr. Arden, that indefatigable magistrate, pursued them with his +usual vigour, on the charge of deer-stealing and murder, but was +unsuccessful in the attempt to identify any of the parties. In the +meanwhile two inducements led Lord Dewry to establish his permanent +residence at Dimden, rather than at the newer mansion which his +brother had inhabited; first, that it was full of memories that he +loved; and, secondly, that it was near those who were the dearest to +him on earth. Colonel Manners, for his part, had prolonged his stay at +Morley House for some time; but he then returned to London, promising +faithfully to renew his visit, when the same cause which had brought +him first into that part of England was again urged as a plea for +revisiting it. To the surprise of all his military acquaintances, +however, shortly after his arrival in the capital, Colonel Manners +resigned the command of his regiment, and retired upon half pay. +Various causes were assigned for this proceeding; but the real motive +lay hidden in his own bosom, deeper than he liked to own even to +himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">While these events were passing, Edward de Vaux wrote often to his +uncle, and still more frequently to Marian; but at the end of two +months the peer received a letter in which his brother's handwriting +was faintly to be traced. It was short, and to the following effect:--</p> +<br> + +<p style="text-indent:10%">"<span class="sc">My Lord</span>,</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am dying; and a few days are all that remains to me of life; I +therefore venture to ask that you would see me once more before we +part--perhaps for ever. I would fain receive your forgiveness from +your own lips. I would fain tell you how that remorse--which led me on +to new crimes and more intense sufferings at every step, while it was +the companion of terror and despair--has conducted me to repentance +and consolation, now that the burden has been lightened by your +return. I have not only wronged you, but I have fearfully wronged +others, and I acknowledge it with sorrow and with shame. Nor will I +attempt to excuse or palliate any part of my conduct; for you, whose +life has passed without spot, cannot tell the goading power of that +fiery scourge with which one great crime drives us on to a thousand +more, in order to conceal it. My cruel, I might almost say insane, +persecution of an unhappy man who, as I hear, is now no more, had such +feelings for its cause; but I know too well that if my deep and bitter +repentance be not accepted by the Almighty, it will be no vindication +of a great crime to urge that it was the consequence of another. In +regard to my offences towards yourself, I have been punished by twenty +years of those torments which have been assigned to hell itself--the +worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched. But this is +not enough; and if I did not trust that the deep repentance which I +feel may obtain some better expiation of my offences than my own +sufferings can afford, I should die without hope. I do hope, however, +that mercy may be found; and oh, my brother, let me beseech you to +encourage that trust, by seeing me, and assuring me of your full +forgiveness, ere I go to another world."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The peer lost not a moment, and arrived at his brother's bedside +before the last scene was over. He found in him, however, scarcely a +trace of what he had been even three months before. At that time, +intense mental exertion and activity had apparently given him power to +bear up under all the load that pressed upon his heart; but the sudden +re-appearance of his brother, and the events which accompanied it, +seemed to have broken, in a moment, the staff under his hand, and he +had fallen at once into age, decrepitude, and decay.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lord Dewry and Edward de Vaux returned not after to Dimden Hall in +deep mourning; and though joy certainly sparkled in the lover's eyes +as he once more held Marian to his heart, yet for many weeks he was +grave and sad, and only recovered his cheerfulness by degrees. Nor +indeed even then did Edward de Vaux ever resume the same demeanour +which he had formerly borne. Sorrows, anxieties, and humiliation had +rendered him grave; but they had nevertheless in no degree made him +less amiable in the eyes of those that loved him. On the contrary, +whatever had been frivolous, or fastidious, or irritable in his +nature, had been removed; and in the trials he had undergone he had +cast away the impatient pride, which was the worst quality he had +possessed, and had obtained a calm dignity, which had a better and a +nobler foundation. Marian de Vaux did all she could to sooth, to +comfort, and console him; and in the end, if there was anything on +earth of which he was proud, it was of the love and the conduct of her +he was shortly to call his bride. As soon as De Vaux urged the +fulfilment of the engagement between Marian and himself, he met with +no opposition; and the day was fixed. Manners was immediately informed +of the fact; and, according to the invitation he received, came down +to Morley House a fortnight before the time appointed for the +marriage. Even six or eight months will work their change in every +one; and Isadore Falkland remarked that Colonel Manners neither seemed +in such good health nor such good spirits as when last she had seen +him: but ere the ceremony took place, in the air of the country and +the cheerful society which he now enjoyed, he had recovered both; and +only now and then gave way to a moment or two of absent thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">All was now gayety and cheerfulness: and as nothing occurred either to +delay the wedding again, or to imbitter the after lives of Edward and +Marian de Vaux, we shall pass the whole over with the fewest possible +words--they were united and were happy.</p> + +<p class="normal">But one scene more, and we have done. On the day succeeding that of +the wedding, there was, according to the custom of that time, a grand +and solemn dinner given at Morley House to all the grave and reverend +seniors in the neighbourhood. It was now the height of summer; and +though men sat long and drank deep in those days, yet people who were +sufficiently reasonable to condemn the practice, and sufficiently firm +to contemn an idle sneer, could rise from table when they liked, even +then. Thus, about an hour after the ladies had retired, and just as +the sun's lower rim touched the horizon, Colonel Manners, who had been +strangling a whole generation of yawns, rose and sauntered to the +window. Mr. Arden, who had sat next to him, instantly seized the +decanter, and exclaimed, "Come, come, colonel; your glass is charged."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you," answered Manners; "I do not drink any more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poo, poo," cried the magistrate; "no flinching, colonel; your glass +is charged--charged to the muzzle; and a gallant soldier like you will +never refuse to fire it off."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am on half-pay," answered Manners, with a smile; and moving towards +the door, notwithstanding all Mr. Arden's objurgations, he left the +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the drawing-room he found the ladies scattered in various parties, +and engaged in various occupations. Mrs. Falkland was paying such +attention to her guests as the circumstances required; but Isadore, as +if she had quite forgotten them, was standing at the far bay window, +looking at the setting sun and thinking--</p> + +<p class="normal">Manners advanced as quietly as possible to the same spot, and spoke a +few words to Miss Falkland, which she answered in the same tone. It +was a low one. The conversation might thus have gone on for a long +time without disturbing any one; but Lady Margaret Simpson, who sat at +the other side of the room, was fond of being a third; and in about +five minutes she crossed over and joined them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Colonel Manners," she said, "I have not been able to speak a +word to you all dinner-time, and I wanted to talk to you about the +wedding. Has not this been a very fortunate termination to all that +bad business?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most satisfactory, indeed," answered Manners, with a glance towards +Isadore, who looked vexed and provoked. "I doubt not that De Vaux and +his fair bride are fully of your opinion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, they of course think so," rejoined Lady Margaret; "and there can +be no doubt that marriage is a very right and very proper thing, when +fortune, and rank, and all that agree. Do you not think so, my dear +Miss Falkland?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, madam," answered Isadore, in a tone which argued a doubt +whether she should laugh or cry; "I dare say it is a very proper +thing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then now tell me," cried Lady Margaret, in a gay and happy tone of +raillery--"then now tell me, why you--who I know have had three very +good offers indeed--why you yourself do not marry? Tell me the truth, +now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, certainly I will," answered Isadore, half gayly, half pettishly. +"It is, I suppose, because I do not think it worth while to marry +without love; and if the man that I could love does not choose to +propose to me, it is quite impossible, you know, that I can propose to +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">God knows whether the colour that spread over Isadore's face came from +within or without,--whether it was a rush of warm blood from some deep +source in her heart, or the warm beams of the setting sun reflected +from the damask curtain on her cheek. However that might be, she felt +that the crimson was growing too deep, and turning round, upon some +light excuse, she left the room. Manners remained for a moment or two +to hear some more of her ladyship's pleasantries; and then declaring +that he could not abandon, even for the pleasure of her society, his +sunset walk in the garden, he strolled out through the anteroom, which +was not the way that Isadore had taken. When he reached the lobby, +however, he remembered that there was a certain music-room, of which +he had remarked that Isadore Falkland had lately become extremely +fond, and as he had by this time acquired a strong liking for the +things that she liked, he turned his steps thither instead of to the +garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">No sooner did he open the door, than he beheld Miss Falkland seated +near the window, with a handkerchief in her hand, engaged in the +somewhat sad occupation of wiping tears from her eyes. "Good God, +Colonel Manners!" she exclaimed, as soon as he appeared, "leave me, +leave me, I beg."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Manners did not obey. On the contrary, advancing rapidly towards +her, he took her hand, saying, "Miss Falkland, I am either the most +happy or the most miserable of men. I have broken through all my +resolutions; I have exposed myself to love, where I have no right to +entertain a hope; I love for the first time, deeply, passionately, +sincerely, and it is for you to say whether that passion shall be my +curse or my blessing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Isadore replied not, but her tears burst forth more vehemently than +before; and the hand that Manners had taken remained trembling in his. +Manners pressed her to his heart; and Isadore ended her flood of tears +upon his bosom.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was nearly three months after this event ere Isadore Falkland again +met Lady Margaret Simpson; and then her ladyship's first exclamation +was, "Goodness, my dear Miss Falkland, they tell me you are going to +be married to Colonel Manners! Well, I do declare, when you are so +very handsome, it is a great pity that he is so ugly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ugly!" cried Isadore. "Ugly! Lady Margaret! He is the handsomest man +in all the world!" and she continued to think so to her dying day.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div1_03.1" href="#div1Ref_03.1">Footnote 1</a>: At various times very severe laws have been enacted in +all countries against gipsies. The very fact of being a gipsy, or +consorting with them for a certain length of time, was, at one period, +punishable by death in England. The greater part of these laws, +however, had been repealed before the epoch at which the events +recorded in this book occurred; and that wandering race were simply +subject to the regulations respecting rogues and vagabonds. The old +spirit of the penal statutes, however, was not forgotten, and the +gipsies were often visited with bitter persecution long after those +statutes had ceased to exist. It is not unworthy of remark, that in +Scotland they have been, at various times, not only treated with great +lenity, but that their leaders have been recognised by law as +sovereign princes, exercising capital jurisdiction over their own race.</p> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div1_03.2" href="#div1Ref_03.2">Footnote 2</a>: We need hardly point out to the reader, that though the +name Has been changed, the character of a well-known individual is not +here overdrawn.</p> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div1_03.3" href="#div1Ref_03.3">Footnote 3</a>: It is a peculiar trait in the character of the gipsies, +remarked, I believe, in every country where they are to be found, that +each individual strives to possess himself of something formed of one +of the precious metals, denying himself even necessaries to procure +it; and guarding it with a degree of care which the race extend to few +other things. By some writers it is asserted that these cups, or +ornaments, or other articles formed of gold or silver, descend from +generation to generation, and are never parted with except under +circumstances of the greatest necessity.</p> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div1_03.4" href="#div1Ref_03.4">Footnote 4</a>: This habit is said still to exist among many of the gipsy +tribes; and some persons have not scrupled to assert, though +apparently without reason, that they carry their ideas of the +community of property to a somewhat licentious extent.</p> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div1_03.5" href="#div1Ref_03.5">Footnote 5</a>: The gipsies of all countries still hold the persuasion +that they were originally led into Europe by persons whom they term +Dukes or Lords of Upper Egypt.</p> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div1_03.6" href="#div1Ref_03.6">Footnote 6</a>: All the various tribes of gipsies, scattered throughout +different parts of Europe, undoubtedly possess a tradition of the +former greatness of their people; and whenever they can be brought to +speak upon the subject, adhere strictly to the story told by the first +of their nation that appeared in Europe, and maintain that their +original country was Egypt; some calling it <i>Lower</i> Egypt, some +<i>Upper</i> Egypt--a distinction worthy of remark, as it seems to evince a +real knowledge of the land that they claim as their own. The learned +have endeavoured to trace them to the Indian caste of Parias; and Sir +William Jones, I think, has pronounced many of the words in their +language to be pure Sanscrit, which fact would afford the strongest +proof that they are not of Paria origin. Besides this, I have been +assured by a learned friend, who passed many years in India, that +gipsies are sometimes to be met with in Hindostan, and appear there as +much a race distinct and separate from any of the native tribes as +they do among the nations of Europe.</p> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div1_03.7" href="#div1Ref_03.7">Footnote 7</a>: The gipsy tribes throughout Europe are so like one +another in their habits, that it is extraordinary so great a +difference should exist in their manner of burying their dead as has +been observed among them, especially when they attach much importance +to the method they each pursue. Among the greater part of the +continental gipsies the habit of burying their dead under water +prevails, but to other tribes, again, the forest affords a place of +sepulture; and to others, I have heard, the summits of high +mountains.</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gipsy (Vols I & II), by +G. P. R. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gipsy (Vols I & II) + A Tale + +Author: G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James + +Release Date: April 4, 2012 [EBook #39376] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIPSY (VOLS I & II) *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (Princeton University Library) + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: http://books.google.com/books?id=nqMuAAAAYAAJ + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + + THE GIPSY; + + + A TALE. + + + + + BY THE AUTHOR OF + + + "RICHELIEU," "MARY OF BURGUNDY," &c. + + + + + "Ah! what a tangled web we weave, + When first we venture to deceive." + Sir Walter Scott. + + + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + + + + NEW YORK + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + 1855. + + + + + + + THE GIPSY. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +At that time in the world's history when watches, in their decline +from the fat comeliness of the turnip to the scanty meagerness of the +half-crown, had arrived at the intermediate form of a biffin--when the +last remnant of a chivalrous spirit instigated men to wear swords +every day, and to take purses on horseback--when quadrupeds were +preferred to steam, and sails were necessary to a ship--when Chatham +and Blackstone appeared in the senate and at the bar, and Goldsmith, +Johnson, and Burke, Cowper, Reynolds, Robertson Hume, and Smollett, +were just beginning to cumber the highways of arts and sciences--at +that period of the dark ages, the events which are about to be related +undoubtedly took place, in a county which shall be nameless. + +It may be that the reader would rather have the situation more +precisely defined, in order, as he goes along, to fix each particular +incident that this book may hereafter contain to the precise spot and +person for which it was intended. Nevertheless, such disclosures must +not be; in the first place, because the story, being totally and +entirely a domestic one, depends little upon locality; and, in the +next place, because greater liberties can be taken with people and +things when their identity is left in doubt, than when it is clearly +ascertained; for, although-- + + + "When caps into a crowd are thrown, + What each man fits he calls his own," + + +yet no one likes to have his name written upon his fool's cap, and +handed down for the benefit of posterity, attached to such an +ornament. + +It was, then, on an evening in the early autumn, at that particular +period of history which we have described, that two persons on +horseback were seen riding through a part of the country, the aspect +of which was one whereon we delight to dwell; that is to say, it was a +purely English aspect. Now, this character is different from all +others, yet subject to a thousand varieties; for although England, in +its extent, contains more, and more beautiful scenes, of different +kinds and sorts of the picturesque, than any other country under +heaven, nevertheless there is an aspect in them all that proclaims +them peculiarly English. It is not a sameness--far, far from it; but +it is a harmony; and whether the view be of a mountain or a valley, a +plain or a wood, a group of cottages by the side of a clear, still +trout stream, or a country town cheering the upland, there is still to +be seen in each a fresh green Englishness, which--like the peculiar +tone of a great composer's mind, pervading all his music, from his +requiem to his lightest air--gives character and identity to every +object, and mingles our country, and all its sweet associations, with +the individual scene. + +The spot through which the travellers were riding, and which was a +wide piece of forest ground, one might have supposed, from the nature +of the scenery, to be as common to all lands as possible; but no such +thing! and any one who gazed upon it required not to ask themselves in +what part of the world they were. The road, which, though sandy, was +smooth, neat, and well tended, came down the slope of a long hill, +exposing its course to the eye for near a mile. There was a gentle +rise on each side, covered with wood; but this rise, and its forest +burden, did not advance within a hundred yards of the road on either +hand, leaving between--except where it was interrupted by some old +sand-pits--a space of open ground covered with short green turf, with +here and there an ancient oak standing forward before the other trees, +and spreading its branches to the way-side. To the right was a little +rivulet gurgling along the deep bed it had worn for itself among the +short grass, in its way towards a considerable river that flowed +through the valley at about two miles' distance; and, on the left, the +eye might range far amid the tall, separate trees--now, perhaps, +lighting upon a stag at gaze, or a fallow deer tripping away over the +dewy ground as light and gracefully as a lady in a ballroom--till +sight became lost in the green shade and the dim wilderness of leaves +and branches. + +Amid the scattered oaks in advance of the wood, and nestled into +the dry nooks of the sand-pits, appeared about half a dozen dirty +brown shreds of canvass, none of which seemed larger than a dinner +napkin, yet which--spread over hoops, cross sticks, and other +contrivances--served as habitations to six or seven families of that +wild and dingy race, whose existence and history is a phenomenon, not +among the least strange of all the wonderful things that we pass by +daily without investigation or inquiry. At the mouths of one or two of +these little dwelling-places might be seen some gipsy women with their +peculiar straw bonnets, red cloaks, and silk handkerchiefs; some +withered, shrunk, and witch-like, bore evident the traces of long +years of wandering exposure and vicissitude; while others, with the +warm rose of health and youth glowing through the golden brown of +their skins, and their dark gem-like eyes flashing undimmed by sorrow +or infirmity, gave the beau ideal of a beautiful nation long passed +away from thrones and dignities, and left but as the fragments of a +wreck dashed to atoms by the waves of the past. + +At one point, amid white wood ashes, and many an unlawful feather from +the plundered cock and violated turkey, sparkled a fire and boiled a +caldron; and, round about the ancient beldam who presided over the pot +were placed in various easy attitudes several of the male members of +the tribe--mostly covered with long loose great-coats, which bespoke +the owners either changed or shrunk. A number of half-naked brats, +engaged in many a sport, filled up the scene, and promised a sturdy +and increasing race of rogues and vagabonds for after years. + +Over the whole--wood, and road, and streamlet, and gipsy +encampment--was pouring in full stream the purple light of evening, +with the long shadows stretching across, and marking the distances all +the way up the slope of the hill. Where an undulation of the ground, +about half-way up the ascent, gave a wider space of light than +ordinary, were seen, as we have before said, two strangers riding +slowly down the road, whose appearance soon called the eyes of the +gipsy fraternity upon their movements; for the laws in regard to +vagabondism[1] had lately been strained somewhat hard, especially in +that part of the country, and the natural consequence was, that the +gipsy and the beggar looked upon almost every human thing as an enemy. + +With their usual quick perception, however, they soon gathered that +the travellers were not of that cast from whom they had anything to +fear; and indeed there was nothing of the swaggering bailiff or +bullying constable in the aspect of either. The one was a man of +about six-and-twenty years of age, with fine features, a slight but +well-made person, and a brown but somewhat pale complexion. His eyes +were remarkably fine, and his mouth and chin beautifully cut; he rode +his horse, too, with skill and grace; and withal he had that air of +consequence which is at any time worth the riband of the Bath. His +companion was older, taller, stronger. In age he might be thirty-two +or three, in height he was fully six feet, and seldom was there ever a +form which excelled his in all those points where great strength is +afforded without any appearance of clumsiness. He rode his horse, +which was a powerful dark-brown gelding, as if half his life were +spent on horseback; and as he came down the hill with the peculiar +appearance of ease and power which great bodily strength and activity +usually give, one might well have concluded that he was as +fine-looking a man as one had ever beheld. But when he approached so +as to allow his features to be seen, all one's prepossessions were +dispelled, and one perceived that, notwithstanding this fine person, +he was in some respects as ugly a man as it was possible to conceive. + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 1: At various times very severe laws have been enacted in +all countries against gipsies. The very fact of being a gipsy, or +consorting with them for a certain length of time, was, at one period, +punishable by death in England. The greater part of these laws, +however, had been repealed before the epoch at which the events +recorded in this book occurred; and that wandering race were simply +subject to the regulations respecting rogues and vagabonds. The old +spirit of the penal statutes, however, was not forgotten, and the +gipsies were often visited with bitter persecution long after those +statutes had ceased to exist. It is not unworthy of remark, that in +Scotland they have been, at various times, not only treated with great +lenity, but that their leaders have been recognised by law as +sovereign princes, exercising capital jurisdiction over their own race.] + +--------------------- + + +Thanks to Jenner and vaccination, we (the English) are nowadays as +handsome a people as any, perhaps, in Europe, with smooth skins and +features as nature made them; but in the times I talk of, vaccination, +alas! was unknown; and whatever the traveller we speak of might have +been before he had been attacked by the smallpox, the traces which +that horrible malady had left upon his face had deprived it of every +vestige of beauty--if, indeed, we except his eyes and eyelashes, which +had been spared as if just to redeem his countenance from the +frightful. They--his eyes and eyelashes--were certainly fine, very +fine; but they were like the beauty of Tadmor in the wilderness, +for all was ugliness around them. However, his countenance had a +good-humoured expression, which made up for much; neither was it of +that vulgar ugliness which robes and ermine but serve to render more +low and unprepossessing. But still, when first you saw him, you could +not but feel that he was excessively plain; and yet there was always +something at the heart which made one--as the ravages of the disease +struck the eye--think, if not say, "What a pity!" + +The dress of the two strangers was alike, and it was military; but +although an officer of those days did not feel it at all scandalous or +wrong to show himself in his regimentals, yet such was not the case in +the present instance; and the habiliments of the two horsemen +consisted, as far as could be seen, of a blue riding-coat, bound round +the waist by a crimson scarf, with a pair of heavy boots, of that form +which afterward obtained the name of Pendragon. Swords were at their +sides, and--as was usual in those days, even for the most pacific +travellers--large fur-covered holsters were at their saddle-bows; so +that, although they had no servants with them, and were evidently of +that class of society upon which the more liberal-minded prey and have +preyed in all ages, there was about them "something dangerous," to +attack which would have implied great necessity or a very combative +disposition. + +As the travellers rode on, the gipsy men, without moving from the +places they had before occupied, eyed them from under their bent +brows, affecting withal hardly to see them; while the urchins ran like +young apes by the side of their horses, performing all sorts of +antics, and begging hard for halfpence; and at length a girl of +about fifteen or sixteen--notwithstanding some forcible injunctions +to forbear on the part of the old woman who was tending the +caldron--sprang up the bank, beseeching the gentlemen, in the usual +singsong of her tribe, to cross her hand with silver, and have their +fortunes told; promising them at the same time a golden future, and, +like Launcelot, "a pretty trifle of wives." + +In regard to her chiromantic science the gentlemen were obdurate, +though each of them gave her one of those flat polished pieces of +silver which were sixpences in our young days; and having done this, +they rode on, turning for a moment or two their conversation, which +had been flowing in a very different channel, to the subject of the +gipsies they had just passed, moralizing deeply on their strange +history and wayward fate, and wondering that no philanthropic +government had ever endeavoured to give them a "local habitation and a +name" among the sons and daughters of honest industry. + +"I am afraid that the attempt would be in vain," answered the younger +of the two to his companion. "And besides, it would be doing a notable +injustice to the profession of petty larceny to deprive it of its only +avowed and honourable professors, while we have too many of its +amateur practitioners in the very best society already." + +"Nay, nay! Society is not as bad as that would argue it," rejoined the +other. "Thank God, there are few thieves or pilferers within the +circle of my acquaintance, which is not small." + +"Indeed!" said his companion. "Think for a moment, my dear colonel, +how many of your dearly-beloved friends are there who, for but a small +gratification, would pilfer from you those things that you value most +highly! How many would steal from one the affection of one's mistress +or wife! How many, for some flimsy honour, some dignity of riband or +of place, would pocket the reputation of deeds they had never done! +How many, for some party interest or political rancour, would deprive +you of your rightful renown, strip you of your credit and your fame, +and 'filch from you your good name!' Good God! those gipsies are +princes of honesty compared with the great majority of our dear +friends and worldly companions." + +His fellow-traveller replied nothing for a moment or two, unless a +smile, partly gay, partly bitter, could pass for answer. The next +minute, however, he read his own comment upon it, saying, "I thought, +De Vaux, you were to forget your misanthropy when you returned to +England." + +"Oh, so I have," replied the other in a gayer tone; "it was only a +single seed of the wormwood sprouting up again. But, as you must have +seen throughout our journey, my heart is all expansion at coming back +again to my native land, and at the prospect of seeing so many beings +that I love: though God knows," he added, somewhat gloomily--"God +knows whether the love be as fully returned. However, imagination +serves me for Prince Ali's perspective glass; and I can see them all, +even now, at their wonted occupations, while my vanity dresses up +their faces in smiles when they think of my near approach." + +His companion sighed; and as he did not at all explain why he did +so, we must take the liberty of asking the worthy reader to walk into +the tabernacle of his bosom, and examine which of the mind's gods it +was that gave forth that oracular sigh, so that the officiating +priest may afford the clear interpretation thereof. But, to leave an +ill-conceived figure of speech, the simple fact was, that the picture +of home, and friends, and smiling welcome, and happy love, which his +companion's speech had displayed, had excited somewhat like envy in +the breast of Colonel Manners. Envy, indeed, properly so called, it +was not; for the breast of Colonel Manners was swept out and garnished +every day by a body of kindly spirits, who left not a stain of envy, +hatred, or malice in any corner thereof. The proper word would have +been _regret_; for regret it certainly was that he felt when he +reflected that, though he had many of what the world calls friends, +and a milky-way of acquaintances--though he was honoured and esteemed +wherever he came, and felt a proud consciousness that he deserved to +be so--yet that on all the wide surface of the earth there was no +sweet individual spot where dearer love, and brighter smiles, and +outstretched arms, glad voices, and sparkling eyes, waited to welcome +the wanderer home from battle, and danger, and privation, and fatigue. +He felt that there was a vacancy to him in all things; that the magic +chain of life's associations wanted a link; and he sighed--not with +_envy_, but with _regret_. That it was so was partly owing to events +over which he had no control. Left an orphan at an early age, the +father's mansion and the mother's bosom he had never known; and +neither brother nor sister had accompanied his pilgrimage through +life. His relations were all distant ones; and though (being the last +of a long line) great care had been bestowed upon his infancy and +youth, yet all the sweet ties and kindred fellowship which gather +thickly round us in a large family were wanting to him. + +So far his isolated situation depended upon circumstances which he +could neither alter nor avoid; but that he had not created for himself +a home, and ties as dear as those which fortune had at first denied +him, depended on himself; or rather what in vulgar parlance is called +a _crotchet_, which was quite sufficiently identified with his whole +nature, to be considered as part of himself, though it was mingled +intimately--woven in and out--with qualities of a very different +character. + +This crotchet--for that is the only term fitted for it, as it was +certainly neither a whim nor a caprice--this crotchet may be +considered as a matter of history--of his history, I mean; for it +depended upon foregone facts, which must be here explained. It is sad +to overturn all that imagination may have already done for the reader +on the very first news that Colonel Manners had a foregone history at +all. He had not been crossed in love, as may be supposed, nor had he +seen the object of his affections swept away by a torrent, burned in a +house on fire, killed by an unruly horse, or die by any of those means +usually employed for such a purpose. No; he had neither to bewail the +coldness nor the loss of her he loved, because, up to the moment when +we have set him before the reader, he had unfortunately never been in +love at all. + +The fact is, that during his youth Colonel Manners had possessed one +of the finest faces in the world, and every one of his judicious +friends had taken care to impress deeply upon his mind that it was the +best portion of all his present possessions or future expectations. By +nature he was quite the reverse of a vain man; but when he saw that +the great majority of those by whom he was surrounded admired the +beauties of his face far more than the beauties of his mind, and loved +him for the symmetry of his external person more than for the +qualities of his heart, of course the conviction that, however much +esteem and respect might be gained by mental perfections, affection +was only given to beauty, became an integral part of that fine texture +of memories and ideas which, though I do not think it, as some have +done, the mind itself, I yet look upon as the mind's innermost +garment. Such was the case when, at the age of about twenty, he was +attacked by the smallpox. For a length of time he was not allowed to +see a looking-glass, the physicians mildly telling him that his +appearance would improve; that they trusted no great traces would +remain: but when he did see a looking-glass, he certainly saw the +reflection of somebody he had never seen before. In the mean while his +relations had too much regard for their own persons to come near him; +and when, after having purified in the country, he went to visit an +antique female cousin, who had been a card-playing belle in the reign +of his majesty of blessed memory, King George the First, the old lady +first made him a profound courtesy, taking him for a stranger; and +when she discovered who he was, burst forth with, "Good God, Charles! +you are perfectly frightful!" + +To the same conclusion Charles Manners had by this time come himself; +and the very modesty of his original nature now leagued with one of +the deceptions of vanity, and made him believe that he could never, by +any circumstances, or events, obtain love. Nevertheless he made up his +mind to his fate entirely, and determined neither to seek for nor to +think of a good that could not be his. Indeed, at first, according to +the usual extravagance of man's nature, he flew to the very far +extreme, and believed that, putting woman's love out of the question, +even the more intimate friendship and affection of his fellow-men +might be influenced by his changed appearance, and that he would be +always more or less an object of that pity which touches upon scorn. +These ideas his commerce with the world soon showed him to be +fallacious; but in the mean time they had a certain effect upon his +conduct. Possessing a consciousness of great powers of mind and fine +qualities of the heart, he determined to cultivate and employ them to +the utmost, and compel esteem and respect, if love and affection were +not to be obtained. In his course through the army, too, the sort of +animosity which he felt against his own ugliness, which had cut him +off from happiness of a sort that he was well calculated to enjoy, +together with that mental and corporeal complexion which did not +suffer him to know what fear is, led him to be somewhat careless of +his own person; and during his earlier years of service he acquired +the name of rash Charles Manners. But it was soon found that wherever +the conduct of any enterprise was intrusted to his judgment, its +success was almost certain, and that skill and intrepidity with him +went hand-in-hand. + +Gradually he found that, with men at least, and with soldiers +especially, personal beauty formed no necessary ingredient in +friendship; and with a warm heart and noble feelings--guarded, +however, by wisdom and discretion--he soon rendered himself +universally liked and esteemed in the different corps with which +he served, and had an opportunity of selecting one or two of his +fellow-officers for more intimate regard. Unfortunately, however, he +saw no reason to change his opinion in respect to woman's love. +Indeed, he sought not to change it; for, as we have already said, the +belief that female affection could only be won by personal beauty was +one of those intimate convictions which were interwoven with all the +fabric of his ideas. He ceased to think of it; he devoted himself +entirely to his profession; he won honour and the highest renown; he +found himself liked and esteemed by his military companions, courted +and admired in general society, and he was content: at least, if he +was not content, the regrets which would not wholly be smothered--the +yearnings for nearer ties and dearer affections, which are principles, +not thoughts--only found vent occasionally in such a sigh as that +which we have just described. + +His companion, though he remarked it, made no comment on his sigh; +for, notwithstanding the most intimate relationships of friendship +which existed between himself and his fellow-traveller, and which had +arisen in mutual services that may hereafter be more fully mentioned, +he felt that the length of their acquaintance had not been such as to +warrant his inquiring more curiously into those private intricacies of +the bosom from which such signs of feeling issued forth. He saw, +however, that the proximate cause of the slight shadow that came over +his friend lay in something that he himself had said in picturing the +happy dreams that checkered his misanthropy; and putting his horse +into a quicker pace as they got upon the level ground, he changed the +subject while they rode on. + +The time, as we have said, was evening; and as the strangers passed by +the gipsy encampment, a flood of purple light, pouring from as +splendid a heaven as ever held out the promise of bright after-days, +was streaming over the road; but as the travellers reached the flat, +and turned the angle of the wood where the road wound round the bases +of the hills, the sky was already waxing gray, and a small twinkling +spot of gold here and there told that darkness was coming fast. At the +distance of about half a mile farther, the river was first seen +flowing broad and silvery through the valley; and a quarter of an hour +more brought the travellers to a spot where the water, taking an +abrupt turn round a salient promontory thrown out from the main body +of the hills, left hardly room for the road between the margin and the +wood. On the other side of the river, which might be a hundred yards +broad, was a narrow green meadow, backed by some young fir plantings, +and just beyond the first turn of the bank a deep sombre dell led away +to the right; while the shadows of the trees over the water, the +darkening hue of the sky, and the wild uninhabited aspect of the whole +scene, gave a sensation of gloom, which was not diminished by a large +raven flapping heavily up from the edge of the water, and hovering +with a hoarse croak over some carrion it had found among the reeds. + +"This is a murderous-looking spot enough!" said Colonel Manners, +turning slightly towards De Vaux, who had been silent for some +minutes; "this is a murderous-looking spot enough!" + +"Well may it be so!" answered his companion abruptly; "well may it be +so; for on this very spot my uncle was murdered twenty years ago." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed his fellow-traveller; "indeed--but on reflection," +he added, "I remember having heard something of it, though I was then +a boy, and have forgotten all the circumstances." + +He spoke as if he would willingly have heard them again detailed; but, +for a moment or two, De Vaux made no reply; and the next instant the +sound of a horse's feet at a quick trot suddenly broke upon the ear, +and called the attention of both. In a minute more, a horseman wrapped +in a large roquelaure passed them rapidly; and though he neither spoke +nor bowed, his sudden appearance was enough to break off the thread of +their discourse. When he was gone, Colonel Manners felt that, though +De Vaux might take it up again if he would, he himself could not in +propriety do so. De Vaux, however, was silent; for he was not one of +those men to whom the accidents and misfortunes of their friends and +relations furnished matter for pleasant discourse; and the topic of +course dropped there. Perhaps, indeed, the younger traveller showed +some inclination even to avoid the subject; for he led the +conversation almost immediately into another channel, pointing out to +his friend the various hills and landmarks which distinguished the +grounds of his father from those of his aunt, and dwelling with +enthusiasm upon the pleasures that his boyhood had there known, and +the hopes which his return had re-awakened in his bosom; and yet there +was mingled with the whole a touch of fastidiousness which contrasted +strangely enough with the warmth of feeling and expression to which he +gave way in other respects. He seemed to doubt the very love, the +happiness of which he pictured so brightly; he seemed to distrust the +joys to which he was so sensitively alive; he even seemed, in some +degree, to sneer at himself for giving the credence that he did to +those things which he most desired to believe true. + +But Edward de Vaux had been brought up in a fastidious school. He had +lived at the acme of fortune and trod upon circumstances all his life, +and this we hold to be the true way of becoming misanthropical. It is +nonsense to suppose that a man turns misanthrope in consequence of +great misfortunes. No such thing! it is by being fortunate _ter et +amplius_. The spoiled children of the blind goddess are those that +kick at her wheel; and those on whom she showers nothing but +misfortunes cling tight to the tire, in hopes of a better turn, till +the next whirl casts them off into the wide hereafter. + +Edward de Vaux stood at the climax of fortune. Never in his life had +he known what a serious reverse or great misfortune is; and +consequently he had gathered together all the petty vexations and +minor disappointments that he had met with, and, to use the term of +Napoleon Bonaparte, had nearly stung himself to death with wasps. +Perhaps, too, he might be fastidious by inheritance, for his father +was so in a still higher degree than himself; though in the father it +showed itself in irritable impatience, and a sort of contempt both +tyrannical and insulting towards those whom he disliked; while in the +son, mingled with, if not springing from, finer feelings: passing, +too, through the purifying medium of a gentler heart, and corrected by +a high sense of what is gentlemanly, his fastidiousness seldom showed +itself except in a passing sneer at any thing that is false, affected, +or absurd, in an indignant sarcasm at that which is base or evil, or +in petulant irritability at that which is weak. + +As he now rode onward to rejoin those friends whom he had not seen for +nearly three years, accompanied by a companion who had never seen them +at all, the little world of his heart was in a strange commotion. All +the joy which an affectionate disposition can feel was rising up at +every point against the sway of cold propriety, and yet he tormented +himself with a thousand imaginary annoyances. Now he fancied that the +delight he felt and expressed was undignified, and might lower him in +the eyes of his companion; now he chose to doubt that his reception +from those he had left behind would be warm enough to justify the +exuberant pleasure that he himself experienced; while, keenly alive to +the slightest ridicule, he shrunk from the idea of exposing, even to +his dearest friend, one single spot in his heart to which the lash +could be applied. + +"I was foolish," he thought, "not to leave Manners in London for a +day, and get all the joyful absurdities of a first welcome over before +he came down. However, my aunt would have it so; and it cannot be +avoided now." + +As they proceeded, the purple of the evening died entirely away, and a +gray dimness fell over tree, and stream, and hill. Star by star looked +out, grew brighter and brighter, as the wandering ball on which we +travel through the inconceivable depth turned our hemisphere from the +superior light, and at length all was night. + +In the lapse of ten minutes more, the road--which, winding about +between the hills and the stream, was forced often out of its true +direction,--had conducted them to a steep bank overhanging a wider +part of the valley, and here Colonel Manners divined--for he could +scarcely be said to see--that a scattered but considerable village lay +before them. Up and down the sides of the hill, a hundred twinkling +lights in cottage windows were sprinkled like glow-worms among the +darker masses of orchard and copsewood; and now and then, as the +travellers advanced, a bright glare suddenly flashed forth from some +opening door; and then again was as speedily extinguished, when the +entrance or the exit of the visiter was accomplished. Some watchful +dog, too, caught the sound of horses' feet, and, after one or two +desultory barks, set up his tongue into a continual peal. His +neighbours of the canine race took the signal, and--not at all unlike +the human species--ever inclined to clamour, yelped forth in concert, +whether they had heard or not the noise that roused their comrade's +indignation, so that the village was soon one continued roar with the +efforts of various hairy throats. + +The salutation, however, was sweet to Edward de Vaux, for it spoke of +home--or at least of a dwelling that was dearer than any other home he +might possess; and, pausing a moment, he pointed onward to a spot, +where, on the edge of the hill beyond the village, might be seen, +cutting sharp upon the pale silvery gray of the western sky, the dark +outline of a large house, with a plentiful supply of chimneys, of an +architecture somewhat less light and fanciful than that of Palladio, +but very well suited to a dwelling in the land of peace and comfort. + +"That is my aunt's house," said De Vaux, "and, though it is nearly +three miles by the road from the spot where that horseman passed us, +it is not much more than three-quarters of a mile by the path over the +hill. But that path," he added, "is impracticable for horses, or I +should certainly have risked breaking your neck, Manners, rather than +take this long tedious round." + +Now, strange to say, the round that they had taken seemed longer and +more tedious to Edward de Vaux, when he came within sight of the +mansion which was to end his journey, than it had done at any other +moment of the ride. But so it was; and without inquiring into things +with which we have nothing to do, we may conclude that he felt some +of those vague, unreasonable doubts and apprehensions, which almost +every one experiences on the first view of one's home after a long +absence--those fears which are the very children of our hopes--that +anxiety which the uncertainty of human fate impresses upon our minds, +till we are sure that all is well. Who is there that has not gazed up +at his own dwelling-place as he returned from far, and asked himself, +with a sudden consciousness of the instability of all things, "Shall I +find nothing gone amiss? Has no misfortune trod that threshold? Has +disease or sorrow never visited it? Has death turned his steps aside?" + +Whatever it was that Edward de Vaux felt, although the round seemed a +long one, and the time tedious that it had consumed, he yet drew in +his rein, not so as to bring his horse quite up, but to check him into +a walk; while he pointed out the house to his companion, and gazed at +its dark and distant mass himself. At that very moment, a single ray +glimmered in one of the windows, passed on into another, and then +three windows suddenly streamed forth with light. It looked like a +beacon to say that all was well; and though no man in the present day +cares a straw for things that in other years, when skilfully applied, +have won battles and overthrown dynasties--I mean omens--yet every man +has a silent, unacknowledged, foolish little system of augury of his +own; and Edward de Vaux and his companion, at the sight of this dexter +omen, set spurs to their horses, and rode merrily on their way. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +The reader, who loves variety, will not be displeased, perhaps, to +find that this story, leaving the two horsemen whom we have conducted +a short stage on their way, now turns to another of our characters not +less important to our tale. + +In the same wood, which we have already described as clothing the +hills and skirting the road over which De Vaux and his companion were +travelling, but in a far more intricate part thereof than that into +which the reader's eye has hitherto penetrated, might be seen, at the +hour which we have chosen for the commencement of our tale, the figure +of a man creeping quietly, but quickly, along a path so covered by the +long branches of the underwood, that it could only be followed out by +one who knew well the deepest recesses of the forest. + +This personage was spare in form, and without being tall, as compared +with other men, he was certainly tall in reference to his other +proportions. His arms were long and sinewy, his feet small, his ankles +well turned, and his whole body giving the promise of great activity, +though at a time of life when the agile pliancy of youth is generally +past and gone. He was dressed in an old brown long coat, "a world too +wide" for his spare form, so that, as he crept along with a quiet, +serpentine turning of his body, he looked like an eel in a great coat, +if the reader's imagination be vivid enough to call up such an image. +A hat, which had seen other days, and many of them, covered his brows; +but under that hat was a countenance, which, however ordinary might be +the rest of his appearance, redeemed the whole from the common herd. +The complexion spoke his race: it was of a pale, greenish tint, +without any rosier hue in the cheeks to enliven the pure gipsy colour +of his skin. His nose was small, and slightly aquiline, though of a +peculiar bend, forming, from the forehead to the tip, what Hogarth +drew for the line of beauty. The eyebrows were small, and pencilled +like a Circassian's, and the eyes themselves, shining through their +long, thick, black eyelashes, were full of deep light, and--to use a +very anomalous crowd of words--of wild, dark, melancholy fire. His +forehead was broad and high; and the long, soft, glossy, black hair +that fell in untrimmed profusion round his face had hardly suffered +from the blanching hand of time, although his age could not be less +than fifty-five or fifty-six, and might be more. His teeth, too, were +unimpaired, and of as dazzling a whiteness as if beetle and recca had +all possessed the properties their venders assert, and had all been +tried on them in their turn. + +Such was his appearance, as, creeping along through the brushwood with +a stealthy motion, which would hardly have disturbed the deer from +their lair, he made his way towards the spot where we have seen that +his fellows were encamped. He was still far distant from it, however; +and although it was evident that he was, or had been, well acquainted +with the intricacies of the wood, yet it appeared that some leading +marks were necessary to guide him surely on his way; for, ever and +anon, when he could find a round knob of earth, raising itself above +the rest of the ground, he would climb it, and gaze for several +moments over the world of wood below him, rich in all the splendid +hues of autumn, and flooded by the purple light of the evening. + +Ever, as he thus looked out, there might be seen a column of +bluish-white smoke rising from a spot at a mile's distance; and, after +towering up solemnly in the still air for several hundred feet, +spreading into light rolling clouds, and drifting among the wood. +Thitherward, again, he always turned his course; and any one who has +remarked the fondness of gipsies for a fire, even when they have no +apparent necessity for it, will little doubt that the smoke, or the +flame, serves them, on many occasions, for a signal or a guide. + +As progression through thick bushes can never be very rapid, the +evening had faded nearly into twilight ere the gipsy reached the +encampment of his companions. The hearing of those whose safety often +depends upon the sharpness of their ears is, of course, sufficiently +acuminated by habit; and although his steps were, as we have shown, +stealthy enough, his approach did not escape the attention of the +party round the fire. We have seen that they had taken but little +apparent notice of the two travellers, who had passed them about a +quarter of an hour before; but the sound of quiet footsteps from the +side of the wood, the moving of the branches, and the slight rustle of +the autumn leaves, caused a far greater sensation. Two or three of the +stoutest started instantly on their feet, and watched the spot whence +those sounds proceeded, as if not quite sure what species of visiter +the trees might conceal. The moment after, however, the figure we have +described, emerging into the more open part of the wood, seemed to +satisfy his comrades that there was no cause for apprehension; and +those who had risen turned towards the others, saying, "It is +Pharold," in a tone which, without expressing much pleasure, at all +events announced no alarm. + +Several of the young gipsies sprang up, shaking their many-coloured +rags--for, like the goddess of the painted bow, their clothing was +somewhat motley--and ran on to meet the new comer; while the elder +members of the respectable assemblage congregated under the oaks, +though they did not show the same alacrity, perhaps, as the younger +and more volatile of the party, received him with an air in which +reverence was mingled with a slight touch of sullenness. + +"Who has passed since I left you, William?" was the first question of +the gipsy on his return, addressing one of the young men who had been +lying nearer than the others to the high-road, and by whose side +appeared, as he rose, a most portentous cudgel. + +"A woman with eggs from the market; three labourers from the fields; a +gamekeeper, who damned us all, and said, if he had his will, he would +rid the country of us: and two gentlemen on horseback, who gave Leena +a shilling," was the accurate reply of the young gipsy, whose face, we +must remark, assumed not the most amiable expression that ever face +put on, as he recorded the comments of the gamekeeper upon his race +and profession. The other, who has been called Pharold, at first paid +no attention to any part of the account, except the apparition of the +two gentlemen on horseback; but in regard to them, he asked many a +question--were they old or young--what was their appearance--their +size--their apparent profession? + +To all these inquiries he received such correct and minute replies, as +showed that the seeming indifference with which the gipsy had regarded +the two travellers was anything but real; and that every particular of +their dress and circumstances which eye could reach or inference +arrive at, had been carefully marked, and, as it were, written down on +memory. + +The language which the gipsies spoke among themselves was a barbarous +compound of some foreign tongue, the origin and structure of which +has, and most likely ever will, baffle inquiry, and of English, +mingled with many a choice phrase from the very expressive jargon +called slang. Thus, when the gipsy spoke of gentlemen he called them +_raye_, when he spoke of the peasant, he termed him _gazo_: but as the +gipsy tongue may, probably, be not very edifying to the reader, the +conversation of our characters shall continue to be carried on in a +language which is more generally intelligible. + +The account rendered by the young man, however, did not seem +satisfactory to the elder, who twice asked if that were all; and then +made some more particular inquiries concerning the gamekeeper who had +expressed such friendly sentiments towards his tribe. + +"Keep a good watch, my boys," he said, after musing for a moment or +two on the answers he received; "keep a good watch. There is danger +stirring abroad; and I fear that we shall be obliged to lift our +tents, and quit this pleasant nook." + +"The sooner we quit it the better, I say," cried the beldam who had +been tending the pot. "What the devil we do here at all, I don't know. +Why, we are wellnigh four miles from a farm yard, and five from the +village; and how you expect us to get food I don't understand." + +"Are there not plenty of rabbits and hares in the wood?" said the +other, in reply; "I saw at least a hundred run as I crossed just now." + +"But one cannot eat brown meat for ever," rejoined the dame; "and tiny +Dick was obliged to go five miles for the turkey in the pot; and then +had very near been caught in nimming it off the edge of the common." + +"Well, give me the brown meat for my share," answered Pharold; "I will +eat none of the white things that they have fattened and fed up with +their hoarded corn, and have watched early and late, like a sick +child. Give me the free beast that runs wild, and by nature's law +belongs to no one but him who catches it." + +"No, no, Pharold, you must have your share of turkey too," cried the +old lady; for although it may appear strange, yet as there is honour +among thieves, so there may be sometimes that sort of generosity among +gipsies which led the good dame who, on the present occasion, presided +over the pot--though, to judge by her size and proportions, and to +gauge her appetite by the Lavater standard of her mouth, she could +have eaten the whole turkey of which she spoke herself--which led her, +I say, to press Pharold to his food with hospitable care, declaring +that he was a "king of a fellow, though somewhat whimsical." + +The gipsies now drew round their fire, and scouts being thrown out +on either side to guard against interruption, the pot was unswung +from the cross bars that sustained it, trenchers and knives were +produced, and, with nature's green robe for a table-cloth, a plentiful +supper of manifold good things was spread before the race of +wanderers. Nor was the meal unjoyous, nor were their figures--at all +times picturesque--without an appearance of loftier beauty and more +symmetrical grace, as, reclining on triclinia of nature's providing, +with the fire and the evening twilight casting strange lights upon +them, they fell into those free and easy attitudes which none but the +children of wild activity can assume. The women of the party had all +come forth from their huts, and among them were two or three lovely +creatures as any race ever produced, from the chosen Hebrew to the +beauty-dreaming Greek. In truth, there seemed more women than men of +the tribe, and there certainly were more children than either; but due +subordination was not wanting; and the urchins who were ranged behind +the backs of the rest, though they wanted not sufficient food, +intruded not upon the circle of their elders. + +Scarcely, however, had the first mouthfuls been swallowed, and the cup +passed its round, when the farthest scout--a boy of about twelve years +of age--ran in, and whispered the mystical words, "A horse's feet!" + +"One--or more than one?" was the instant question of Pharold, while +his companions busied themselves in shovelling away the principal +portions of their supper, and leaving nothing but what might pass for +very frugal fare indeed. "Only one!" replied the boy, running back to +his post; and the next instant another report was made to the effect, +that a single horseman was coming up the road at full speed, together +with such personal marks and appearances as the dim obscurity of the +hour permitted the scouts to observe. All this, be it remarked, was +carried on with both speed and quietude. The motions of the scouts +were all as stealthy as those of a cat over a dewy green, and their +words were all whispered; but their steps were quick, and their words +were few and rapid. + +The motions of the horseman, however, were not less speedy; and ere +much counsel could be taken, he was upon the road, exactly abreast of +the spot where the gipsies' fire was lighted. There he drew in his +reins at once; and, springing to the ground, called aloud to one of +the boys, who was acting sentinel, bidding him hold his horse. + +"It is he!" said Pharold, "it is he!" and, rising from the turf, he +turned to meet the stranger, who, on his part, approached directly to +the fire, and at once held out his hand to the gipsy. Pharold took it, +and wrung it hard, and then stood gazing upon the countenance of the +stranger, as the fitful firelight flashed upon it, while his visiter +fixed his eyes with equal intensity upon the dark features of the +gipsy; and each might be supposed to contemplate the effect of time's +blighting touch upon the face of the other, and apply the chilling +tidings such an examination always yields to his own heart. + +It is probable, indeed, that such was really the case; for the first +words of the gipsy were, "Ay, we are both changed indeed!" + +"We are so, truly, Pharold," replied the stranger; "so many years +cannot pass without change. But did my last letter reach you?" + +"It did," replied the gipsy, "and I have done all that you required." + +"Did you obtain a sight of him?" demanded the other, eagerly. + +"I did," answered the gipsy, "in the park, as he walked alone--I +leaped the wall, and--" + +Hitherto, all those first hurried feelings which crowd upon us, when, +after a long lapse of years, we meet again with some one whom +circumstances have connected closely with us in the past, had +prevented the gipsy and his companion from remarking--or rather from +remembering--the presence of so many witnesses. In the midst of what +he was saying, however, the eye of Pharold glanced for a moment from +the face of his companion to the circle by the fire, and he suddenly +stopped. The other understood his motive at once, and replied, "True, +true; let us come away for a moment, for I must hear it all." + +"Of course," answered Pharold, "though you will hear much, perhaps, +that you would rather not hear. But come, let us go into the road; we +shall be farther there from human ears than anywhere else." + +As they walked towards the highway both were silent; for there is not +such a dumb thing on the face of the earth as deep emotion; and for +some reason, which may, or may not, be explained hereafter, both the +stranger and the gipsy were more moved by their meeting in that spot +than many less firm spirits have been on occasions of more apparent +importance. + +After thus walking on without a word for two or three hundred yards, +the gipsy abruptly resumed his speech. "Well, well," he said, "when we +are young we think of the future, and when we are old we think of the +past; and, by my fathers, there is no use of thinking of either! We +cannot change what is coming, nor mend what is gone; but, as I was +saying, I have seen him: I found that he walked every day in the park +by himself, and I watched his hour from behind the wall, and saw him +come up the long avenue that leads to the west gate--you remember it?" + +"Well, well," answered the other; "but how did he look?--Tell me, +Pharold, how did he look?" + +"Dark enough, and gloomy," answered the gipsy: "he came with his hands +behind his back, and his hat over his brows, and his eyes bent upon +the ground; and ever as he walked onward, his white teeth--for he has +fine teeth still--gnawed his under lip; and, for my part, if my +solitary walk were every day to be like that, I would not walk at all; +but would rather lie me down by the roadside and die at once. Well +then, often too as he came, he would stop and fix his eyes upon one +particular pebble in the gravel, and stare at it, as if it had been +enchanted; and then, with a great start, would look behind him to see +if there was anyone watching his gloomy ways; or would suddenly +whistle, as if for his dogs, though he had no dog with him." + +His companion drew a deep sigh, and then asked, "But how seemed he in +health, Pharold? Is he much changed? He was once as strong a man as +any one could see--does he still seem vigorous and well?" + +"You would not know him," replied the gipsy, and was going on, but the +other broke in vehemently. + +"Not know him? That I would!" he exclaimed, "though age might have +whitened his hair and dimmed his eye--though suffering might have +shrivelled his flesh and bowed his stature--though death itself, and +corruption in its train, might have wrought for days upon him, I would +know him so long as the dust held together.--What, Pharold, not know +him?--_I_ not know _him?_" + +"Well, well," answered the gipsy, "I meant that he was changed--far, +far more changed than you are--you were a young man when last we met, +at least in your prime of strength, and now you are an old one, that +is all. But he--he does not seem aged but blighted. It is not like a +flower that has blown, and bloomed, and withered, but one that with a +worm in its heart has shrunk, and shrivelled, and faded. He is +yellower than I am, though I gain my colour from a long race who +brought it centuries ago from a land of sunshine, and he has got it in +less than twenty years from the scorching of a heart on fire. He is +bent, too; and his features are as thin as a heron's bill." + +"Sad--sad--sad," said his companion; "but how could it be otherwise? +Well, what more? Tell me what happened when you met him? Did he know +you?" + +"At once," answered the gipsy; "no, no; I have seen one of my tribe +with a hot iron and an oaken board make painting of men's faces that +no water could wash out; and none should know better than you, that my +face has been burnt in upon his heart in such a way that it would take +a river of tears to sweep away the marks of it. But let me tell my +tale. When I saw that he was near, I sprang over the wall into the +walk, and stood before him at once. When first he saw me he started +back, as if it had been a snake that crossed him; but the moment +after, I could see him recollect himself; and I knew that he was +calculating whether to own he knew me, or to affect forgetfulness. He +chose the first, and asked mildly enough what I did there. 'I thought +you were out of the kingdom,' he said, 'and had promised Sir William +Ryder never to return.' I replied that he said true, and that I had +not returned till Sir William Ryder had told me to do so." + +"What said he then?" asked the other, eagerly; "what said he to that?" + +"He started," replied the gipsy, "and then muttered something about a +villain and betraying him; but the moment after, as you must have seen +him to do long ago, he gathered himself up, and looking as proud and +stern as if the lives of a whole world were at his disposal, he asked, +what was Sir William Ryder's motive in bidding me return. 'Some motive +of course, he has,' he added, looking at me bitterly. 'Does he intend +to play villain, or fool, or both,--for whatever folly his knavery may +tempt him to commit, he will only injure himself; for at this time of +day it is somewhat too late to try to injure _me_;' and as he spoke," +continued the gipsy, "he nodded his head gravely but meaningly, as if +he would have said, 'You know that I speak truth.'" + +The lip of the stranger curled as his companion related this part of a +conversation in which he seemed to take no slight interest; but as we +do not choose to know any thing of what was passing in his bosom, we +must leave that somewhat bitter smile to interpret itself. + +"I told him," continued the gipsy, "as you directed me, that his +friend stood in some need of five thousand pounds, and trusting to his +lordship's kindness and generosity, had directed me to come back and +apply to him for that sum. So when he heard that, his face grew very +dark; and after thinking for a minute of two, he looked up two of the +walks, for he stood in the crossing, to see if he could see any of the +park-keepers, to give me into their hands--I know that was what he +wanted. However there was no one there; and he answered, looking at me +as if he would have withered me into dust, 'Tell Sir William Ryder, +wherever he is, that he shall ring no more from me. I have sent him +his thousand a year regularly, and if any of the packets missed him, +he should have let me know; but I will be no sponge to be squeezed by +any man's pleasure; nor do I care,' he went on, 'who conspires to +bring any false accusation against me. I am prepared to meet every +charge boldly, and to prove my innocence before the whole world, if +any one dare to accuse me.' He spoke very firmly," added the gipsy; +"and as long as he continued speaking I kept my eyes upon the ground, +though I felt that his were bent upon me: but the moment he had done, +I raised mine and looked full upon his face, and his lip quivered and +his eye fell in a moment." + +"Did he hold his resolution of refusing?" demanded the other, over +whose countenance, as he listened, had been passing emotions as +various as those which the gipsy had depicted; "did he hold his +resolution to the end?" + +"Firmly!" replied Pharold, "though he softened his tone a great deal +towards me. He said he was only angry with Sir William Ryder, not with +me, and asked where I had been during so many years; and when I told +him in Ireland, he replied, that it was a poor country: I could not +have made much money there; and then he talked of other days, when the +old lord took me to the hall because I was a handsome boy, and kept me +for two years and more, and would have had me educated; and he vowed I +did mighty wrong to run away and join my own people again; and he took +out his purse and gave me all that it contained, and was sorry that it +was no more; but if I would tell him, he said, where we were lying, he +would send me more, for old acquaintance sake; and all the while he +talked to me he looked up the walks to see if he could see the +park-keepers, to have me taken up, and to accuse me of robbing him, or +of some such thing. I could see it all in his eye; and so I told him +that we were lying five miles to the east; and took leave of him +civily, and came away, laughing that he should think I was fool enough +to fancy he and I could ever do anything but hate each other to our +dying day." + +His companion mused for several minutes; and even when he did speak, +he took no notice either of the gipsy's suspicions or of the news he +gave him, but rather,--as one sometimes does when one wishes any thing +just heard to mature itself in the mind, ere further comment be made +upon it,--he linked on what he next said, to that part of Pharold's +speech which might have seemed the least interesting, namely, the +gipsy's own history; and yet, although he certainly did this, in order +to avoid, for the time, the most important parts of his narrative, he +did not do it with the commonplace tone of one who speaks of feelings +with which he has no sympathy: on the contrary, he spoke with warmth, +and kindness, and enthusiasm; and expressed profound regret that the +gipsy had, in his boyhood, thrown away advantages so seldom held out +to one of his tribe. + +"Why? why?" cried the gipsy, "why should you grieve? I did but what +you have done yourself. I quitted a life of sloth, effeminacy, and +bondage, for one of ease, freedom, and activity. I left false forms, +unnatural restraints, enfeebling habits--ay! and sickness too, for the +customs of my fathers, for man's native mode of life, for a continual +existence in the bosom of beautiful nature, and for blessed health. We +know no sickness but that which carries us to our grave; we feel no +vapours; we know no nerves. Go, ask the multitude of doctors,--a curse +which man's own luxurious habits have brought upon him,--go, ask your +doctor's whether a gipsy be not to be envied, for his exemption from +the plagues that punish other men's effeminate habits." + +"True, Pharold! true!" replied his companion; "but still, even the +short time that you lived in other scenes must have given your mind a +taste for very different enjoyments from those that you can now find. +You must have seen the beauty of law and order; you must have learned +to delight in mental pleasures; you must long for the society of those +of equal intellect and knowledge with yourself." + +"And do I not find them?" cried the gipsy, warming in defence of his +race; "to be sure I do. Think not that we have none among us as +learned and as thoughtful as yourselves, though in another way. But +you cannot understand us. You think that it is in our habits alone +that we are different; but, remember, that when you speak to a true +gipsy, who follows exactly the path of his fathers, you speak to one +different in race, and creed, and mind, and feeling, and law, and +philosophy, from you and yours. You think us all ignorant, and either +bound as drudges to some low rejected trade, or plundering others, +because we do not comprehend the excellence of laws. But let me tell +you again, that there are men among us deeply read in sciences which +you know not; speaking well a language, for a hundred words of which +your schools have laboured long years in vain. Have we not laws, too, +of our own? laws better observed than your boasted codes? But you +choose to doubt that we have them, because we put you beyond our code, +as you put us beyond yours. When was ever justice shown to a gipsy? +and therefore we look upon you as things to pillage. You speak, too, +of the pleasures of the mind. Do you think my mind finds no exercise +in scenes like these? I walk hand in hand with the seasons through the +world. Winter, your enemy, is my friend and companion. Gladly do I see +him come, with his white mantle, through the bare woods and over the +brown hills. I watch the budding forth of spring, too, and her light +airs and changing skies, as I would the sports of a beloved child. I +hail the majestic summer, as if the God of my own land had come to +visit our race, even here; and in the yellow autumn, too, with the +rich fruit and the fading leaf, I have a comrade full of calmer +thoughts. The sunrise, and the sunset, and the midday, to me, are all +eloquence. The storm, the stream, the clouds, the wind, for me have +each a voice. I talk with the bright stars as they wander through the +deep sky, and I listen to the sun and moon, as they sing along their +lonely pilgrimage. Is not this enough? What need I more than nature?" + +Perhaps his companion, whose mind was in no degree wanting in +acuteness, might imagine that in all the very enjoyments which the +gipsy enumerated, as well as in the tone he used, were to be traced +some remains of a better education than that of his race in general; +and might believe, that had that education been continued, every +pleasure that he felt would have been doubled by refinement. But all +this came upon his mind as impression rather than as thought; and the +reader will please to observe, that there is an immense difference +between the two. The truth was, that ever since the conversation had +turned to the gipsy himself, his companion had been doing what is +oftener done than the world imagines; that is to say, talking without +thinking, and listening without attending. In short, he was thinking +of other things; and yet, as we have said, he spoke with kindness, and +zeal, and real feeling; but the fact is, that the language he was +talking was memory. Years before, he had come to the same conclusions, +and held the same arguments in his own mind, regarding the very person +in whose company he was now once more; so that--having, in all the +news he had heard, greater calls upon present thought than he could +well satisfy,--as soon as the gipsy began to speak of gipsy-life, he +turned that topic over to memory, well knowing that she had a +plentiful stock of ideas prepared to supply any demand upon such a +subject; while intellect went on, quietly thinking of himself and of +the present. This plan, when skilfully executed, has a collateral +advantage, which, by-the-way, is often turned into a principal one; +namely, that while you let memory go on with the conversation--unless +she trips, or something of that kind--your companion does not perceive +that you are thinking at all; and thus the stranger, apparently +listened to, and took part in the gipsy's conversation about himself, +while his inner soul was busy, most busy, with the other tidings which +he had received. By the time that the enumeration of wild pleasures, +afforded by a wandering life was over, he had settled his plans in his +own mind; and, breaking off the subject there, demanded abruptly,-- + +"When, Pharold--tell me, when did you see him?" + +He mentioned no name; and the gipsy, at once dropping the high and +enthusiastic tone in which he had been speaking, answered, as to a +common question, "It was but to-day--not four hours ago, or you had +not found me here." + +"And why not?" demanded the other. "Whither would you go?" + +"Far away," answered the gipsy, "far away! I love not his +neighbourhood; nor is it safe for me and mine. He thinks evil against +us, and he will not be long ere he tries to bring his thoughts to +pass." + +"But he cannot injure you," replied the other; "in all the things +wherein you and he have borne a part, he has more cause to fear you +than you have to fear him." + +"True! true!" said the gipsy; "and yet I love not his neighbourhood. I +may have done things in this land in my youth, when passion and +revenge were strong, and wisdom and forbearance weak, that I should +little like to have investigated in my middle age. Not that I fear for +myself; for, from the dark leap that all men must take, I have never +shrunk through life. But I fear the sorrow of those that would weep +for me, and the unjust mingling of the innocent with the guilty, for +which your laws are infamous." + +His companion mused for a moment; and then, laying his hand upon the +arm of the gipsy, he replied, in a tone where kindness mingled with +authority: "Mark me, Pharold!" said he; "you know that I am not one +either to counsel you amiss, or to fall from you at a moment of need: +base, indeed, should I be, were I to do so, after all you have done +for me. But my resolutions are not yet fixed--my mind is not yet +made up; and I must hear more, and examine deeply, ere I execute my +half-formed purpose. Still you have no cause to fear; call upon me +whenever you need me; and, in the meantime, if you please, you can +remove from the spot where you now are, but not so far that I cannot +find you, for you must help me to the end of all this." + +"To the common, at the back of Mrs. Falkland's woods?" asked the +gipsy: "they will hardly seek us there." + +"As good a spot as any," replied his companion; "and in the case of +necessity, Pharold, here, I have written down where you may always +find me in this immediate neighbourhood; remembering, in the meantime, +all that you have promised." + +"I have promised--I have promised!" replied the gipsy; "and you never +knew me break my word. But what is this you give me with the paper? I +want not gold--and from you, William." + +"But your people may," replied the other; "take it, take it, Pharold; +it is never useless in such a life as yours." + +"I will take it," answered the gipsy, "because it may give me more +control over my people; for although among our nation there are men +whose minds you little dream of, yet these I have here are not, +perhaps, of the best,--not that they are evil either; but wild, and +headstrong, and rash--as I was myself, when I was young." + +They had already turned in their walk, and were now re-approaching the +fire, round which the gipsies were gathered. Their conversation had +not been without its share of interest to either, and each had much +matter for reflection: so that--as thought is not that which makes a +man speak, but that which keeps him silent--they advanced without +another word to the spot where the stranger's horse stood. It was a +fine powerful animal, of great bone and blood; but it was standing +like a lamb in the hands of a little boy, while the beautiful girl, +whom we have mentioned as accosting the other travellers, now stood +stroking his proud neck, and examining the accoutrements with a care +that some people might have thought suspicious. As Pharold and his +companion returned, however, she sprung away to the rest of her tribe +with a step as light as the moonshine on the sea. + +"She is very beautiful," said the stranger, whose eye had rested on +her for a moment; "who is she, Pharold?" + +"She is my wife!" replied the gipsy, abruptly. + +His companion shook his head with a sigh, and putting his foot in the +stirrup, mounted his horse, and rode away. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +While such events as have just been described were passing in the +wood, the two travellers whom we first brought before the reader, and +to whom we must now return, rode on; but begging leave to pass over +all their farther journey, as it did not consist of more than half a +mile, we may bring them safe to the gate of the very house, whose +lights and shadows they had seen from the slope above the village. + +By this time it was as dark as could well be desired. It was not +exactly Egyptian darkness, for there was nothing in it that could be +_felt_, but the sun was gone entirely; and the last fringe of his +golden robe had swept the sky some time. The moon was not yet up, so +that the stars had the sky all to themselves; but though they were +shining as brightly as they did many a thousand years ago, when they +were first sent glittering into the depths of space, they did very +little to show the travellers their way. + +Edward de Vaux, indeed, had taken it into his head to go to the back +entrance of his aunt's house. But the truth is, he had worked himself +up, as he came along, into a belief that there might be some fuss made +upon his return, and had conjured up before his imagination everything +that might or could possibly occur, in which there was the least smack +of ridicule; although all the time he knew perfectly well that his +companion was of too generous and feeling a disposition even to dream +that anything was ridiculous which sprung from the heart. He well +knew, also, that those he was about to meet were by education, and +habit, and natural character, the last persons in the world to do or +say anything that was not graceful and _bienseant_. But still, as his +imagination was not the most tractable imagination in the world, but +roved hither and thither, whether he liked it or not, on all +occasions, he could not get the better of her in the present instance; +and therefore, in order that everything in the way of reception might +pass as quietly and as quickly as possible, he rode up to the gate of +the back court, and after feeling about for the bell for some time, he +rang for admittance. + +After a little delay, a coachman with a powdered wig, and three rows +of curls round his ears, opened the gates with a lantern in his hand, +and demanded what the strangers wanted; but without other reply, De +Vaux rode into the yard with his companion, and springing to the +ground, exposed his well-known face to the glare of the lantern and +the wondering eyes of old Joseph, the immemorial coachman, who, +bursting forth into a loud exclamation, called vehemently to the +groom, and the helper, and the stable-boy. "The oaken doors returned a +brazen sound!" and not only those that the old curly-wigged official +of the hammercloth called to his aid appeared with ready promptitude, +but eke a footman emerged from the passage of the servants'-hall, and +two or three pippin-faced housemaids were seen "peeping from forth the +alleys green" beyond. + +Thus, as usual, De Vaux's precaution in regard to not making a bustle +had, in fact, the very contrary effect in the house itself. But this +was not all: his method of proceeding had the very contrary effect +with his companion, also, to that which he had purposed. Colonel +Manners certainly did think, in the first instance, that such an +entrance was a somewhat strange one for the house he saw before him; +and when he found that it was in truth the stable-yard into which he +had been taken, he thought the conduct of his friend still stranger. +But by this time Charles Manners had known Edward de Vaux too long not +to have some slight insight into his character and into the weaknesses +thereof; and as they had ridden along together upon that day's +journey, various little traits, which might have escaped any but a +very keen and a very friendly eye, had given him the key of his +friend's feelings on his return--a key which he did not fail to apply +on the present occasion. The result was, that he soon comprehended the +general motives of De Vaux, though perhaps not all the little ins and +outs of the business--ins and outs, by-the-way, which depended as much +upon the plan and architecture of the house, and upon the fact of the +first landing of the grand staircase leading at once into the little +ante-room of the drawing-room, so that the voice and step of any one +ascending could be recognised instantly, as upon anything else in the +world. + +A slight smile curled Colonel Manners's lip as he perceived what had +been passing in his friend's mind; but he would not have had that +smile seen for any recompense that could have been offered to him, +unless it had been that of curing his friend of a folly. But he knew +very well that De Vaux was not a man to be laughed out of anything on +earth; and that, with all his sensibility to ridicule, it was only so +long as the sneer was silent and suppressed that he cared anything +about it. The moment that the laugh was open, his pride took arms to +defend the position which he occupied, and every one knows that pride +would always rather blow up the place than capitulate. + +Colonel Manners did, indeed, wish that his friend could be taught, +with the same sort of bold determination which he displayed in +opposing the loud laugh, to despise the silent sneer, which is as +often excited in the minds of the worldlings by traits of a good and +noble nature as by folly or by awkwardness: but he knew that the only +lessons he would receive upon the subject would be gentle ones, spoken +by the voice of friendship, without a touch of sarcasm. + +"It is a pity, a great pity," thought he, "that De Vaux, who affects +to, and perhaps really does, despise the opinion of the general fool, +should thus, as it were, make himself a slave to the laugh of his own +fancy. I hope and trust that his fair future bride may have influence +enough to school him from these weaknesses." + +Such was all his comment; and by the time it was made their horses +were in safe hands, and a footman, as antique as the coachman, was +leading the way up the back stairs towards the drawing-room. + +De Vaux was somewhat uneasy at the back stairs, and at a distant +prospect of the kitchen, and the servants' hall, and the housekeeper's +room; but Manners, though he saw it all, appeared to see nothing, +rubbed his boot with his riding-whip, and talked of North America +with all the zeal and volubility of a Mohawk. His companion was +relieved; and following the fat legs and white stockings of the old +footman up the narrow staircase, they were soon in a small lobby which +led into the drawing-room. Soft Turkey carpets covered the floor of +the lobby; against each of the piers stood a small antique table of +tortoise-shell and brass; and in the deep recesses of the windows were +placed those immense and beautiful china jars which formed the glory +of our great-grandmothers. These again were filled with a composition +of all the sweet-scented leaves gathered from the garden during the +past year; and which, mingled with orris-root and many a fragrant +spice, diffused through the whole air a rich perfume of the eighteenth +century. + +But there was music upon the air of this bower as well as perfume. It +was the music, however, of a sweet, low-toned woman's voice, speaking +some sentences of which nothing could be distinguished but the melody. +Nevertheless, it made the fitful colour come up for a moment in the +cheek of Edward de Vaux; and whether his heart beat more quickly, or +whether it maintained its even pulse, is a problem which we shall +leave others to solve; for, the next moment, the door was thrown open, +and the visiters all silently and unannounced entered the room. + +It was a large handsome chamber, fitted up as unlike a modern +drawing-room as possible. There was nothing in it of the last +fashion, even of that day; but all was comfortable, and all bespoke +both taste and affluence. On the walls were a few cabinet pictures, +which at first appeared dark and dingy, but which, when any one +looked farther, turned out gems; and on the rich and massive marble +mantel-piece--which was itself nearly equal in size, and quite equal +in value, to a house in a modern square--were placed pagodas, and +feather fans, and screens, and many a little curiosity from different +parts of the world--bracelets that might have clasped the arm of +Cleopatra, and idols that had been acquainted with Captain Cook. The +room, like every clever room, had a great number of tables of all +sorts and sizes; and at two of these tables, not with hospitable cares +intent, but very busy with that sort of idleness which ladies call +work, sat two fair dames, who, in point of age, might divide between +them the apportioned years of man. The division of those seventy +years, however, was very unequal, as the one nearest the door had +monopolized at least forty-six of them to herself, and had left +her daughter--for such was the other lady--not much more than +twenty-three. They were both very handsome women nevertheless; the +mother feeling her years as light as a young king's crown, and the +daughter, in addition to a very beautiful person, and a face where all +that is fine was softened by all that is pleasing, having the advantage +of youth and all youth's graces. There was one peculiarity in her +countenance, which, as it had something to do with her mind, may +as well be noticed. It was one of those faces which love not +clouds--which smile where others frown; and as she sat with her eyes +bent upon a provoking knot in her work, which for the last ten minutes +had defied all her efforts to disentangle it, she was still +half-laughing at the perversity of the silk, which seemed to take a +pleasure in baffling her. + +There was a third person in the drawing-room, younger than either, and +very different from both. As she lay upon a sofa at the other side of +the room, with a book in her hand, and her eyes bent upon the pages, +the light of the lamp falling at the same time from above upon her +clear fair forehead, on her beautiful eyelids with their long dark +eyelashes, and on the marble white chiselling of her nose and upper +lip, she did not appear to be more than eighteen; but her real age, +which we are bound to give, was twenty years, eleven months, and a few +days, the exact number of which is forgotten. Her form was light and +beautiful, and though those who did not love her might contend that +she was certainly not equal to the Medicean Venus, yet she was a great +deal more graceful than many another goddess, and as fair a specimen +of the fairest of earth's creatures as the eye of man has ever seen +since Eve's ill-fated experiment in Eden. + +Her hair was of that glossy golden brown, which is so beautiful and so +seldom seen; and as the whole party had given up the expectation of +their visiters for that night, she had turned back the shining curls +which would have fallen into her eyes while reading; so that, with a +wavy line on either side, they left her fair forehead bare, and formed +a bunch of ringlets behind each ear, that might have defied the chisel +of a Chantry. + +As the door which admitted De Vaux and his companion was that which +led to the back staircase, the party in the drawing-room concluded, +naturally enough, that it was opened by one of the domestics on some +of the many motives or pretexts upon which a servant can visit the +drawing-room. No one took any notice, no one looked up; and the fair +girl upon the sofa went on commenting upon the book in her hand, +without knowing that any one was listening to her gentle criticism. + +Thus each of the two visiters had time to make their own observations, +if they chose it. A bright pleased smile lighted up the rough features +of Colonel Manners, as he was thus at once admitted, without the help +of an Asmodeous into the very heart of an English domestic circle, to +each member of which he was a stranger. To him it was a sight full of +pleasure and interest; it was a sight that he had seldom seen even +when in England, and which he had not seen at all for several years +while serving abroad: but it was one which fancy had often renewed for +him in his solitary wanderings, which had been painted to his eye in +the still night, and in the tented field on distant shores, which had +been to him a dream, whereunto imagination could cling without the +apprehension of disappointment; for he had ever thought of it as a +thing whereof he might be the spectator, but never a sharer in its +dearer ties. + +As for Edward de Vaux, he _did not_ choose to make any observations on +the scene at all, for more fastidious in anticipation than in reality, +the moment he was in the midst of his domestic circle a host of bright +warm feelings rose up at once in his heart, and trampled every cold +calculation of Chesterfieldism beneath their feet. Passing the old +servant, who was himself amused to see the unconsciousness of the +party in the drawing-room, De Vaux at once advanced towards the fair +girl on the sofa. But there was a sound in his step different from +that of any of the servants, which only let him pass half across the +room ere her eyes were raised from the book and fell upon him. The +sight instantly called into them a gleam as bright as sunshine after a +storm, and the warm, eloquent blood rose into her cheek and brow, +while with a voice of unquestionable icy, she exclaimed, "Edward! My +dear aunt, here is Edward!" + +The next moment, however, the light of her glance faded away, the +blood ebbed back from her cheek, and from that moment it was scarcely +perceivable that Edward de Vaux was anything more to her than an +intimate friend. It was all the work of an instant, and Colonel +Manners had only time to think, "This is all very odd!" ere the other +two ladies rose to welcome his companion and himself; while the one +who had spoken, gracefully but composedly drew her small foot from the +sofa to the ground, and advanced to meet her lover; contriving to +execute what is sometimes a difficult man[oe]uvre, without showing +half an inch of her ankle, though it might very well have borne the +display. + +The elder lady now of course took the lead, and expressed her joy at +the return of her nephew, in a manner which showed how compatible real +dignity and grace are with every zealous and kindly feeling. "And +this," she said the next moment, "is of course Colonel Manners; though +you have not introduced him to me, Edward; but Colonel Manners indeed +requires no introduction here; for allow me to say, my dear sir, that +even were it not that you had saved the life of my nephew, and +rendered him so many inestimable services, the son of your mother, who +was my dear and early friend, would always be the most welcome of +guests at my fire-side." + +Colonel Manners bowed, and replied, "I have been lucky enough to find +among my mother's papers, madam, the letters of the Honourable Mrs. +Falkland; and am aware how fortunate in a friend my parent was during +the greater part of her short life. Most proud shall I be if the son +may merit some portion of the same regard which you bestowed upon the +mother." + +"You already command it, Colonel Manners," she replied: +"Isadore,--Marian--Colonel Manners! My daughter--my niece, Miss De +Vaux." + +Now this introduction puzzled Colonel Manners a good deal, for reasons +which may as well be explained. He had heard long before, while +abroad, that his friend Edward de Vaux, the only son of Lord Dewry, +was affianced to his cousin, and that their marriage was to take place +as soon as the young heir of the barony could return to his native +country, provided that the lady were by that time of age. In the +course of their intimacy in other lands, De Vaux had often spoken of +his fair cousin Marian, and had indeed on their return besought +Colonel Manners to accompany him down to the house of his aunt, in +order to act the part of bridesman at his wedding, which was to take +place immediately. With this request we have seen that he complied; +but he had completely made up his mind to the belief that his friend +was about to be united to the daughter of Mrs. Falkland, and he was +now surprised to find a Miss De Vaux, towards whom the manner of +Edward de Vaux was not exactly that which men assume towards their +sisters. Besides, her name was Marian, that of his promised bride; and +although this discovery, leaping over the head of all his own +preconceptions, puzzled Colonel Manners for a moment, he soon set it +all to rights in his own mind, by supposing, what was in fact the +truth, that the fair girl we have described was the daughter of Lord +Dewry's brother. + +All the while he was settling this to his own satisfaction, he was +going through the manual of politeness, and doing De Vaux the favour +of talking to Mrs. Falkland and her daughter, while the lover spoke in +a lower tone to the other fair cousin. Whatever he said, however, +seemed to have no very great effect upon her. She smiled, and seemed +to answer him kindly and affectionately; but she displayed no further +sign of that agitation which a girl in her situation might be expected +to feel on the return of her lover from a long and dangerous +expedition. Once, indeed, she laid her hand upon the table near her, +and Colonel Manners saw that, notwithstanding the general composure +which she seemed to feel, that hand trembled so much, that, as if +conscious its tremour might be perceived, she instantly withdrew it, +and suffered her arm to fall gracefully by her side. + +Manners marked all this, for from their first acquaintance De Vaux had +interested him, as much perhaps by the contrast of the little foibles +of his character with the greater and nobler qualities it possessed, +as by any other circumstance: he had gradually suffered a deep regard +for him to rise up in his heart; he had permitted imagination to +indulge herself with bright pictures of his friend's domestic +happiness; and in every little trait connected therewith he had a sort +of personal feeling, which made him seek to discover all that he +wished might be. + +After standing booted and spurred in the middle of the room for about +ten minutes, and having learned that their servants had arrived with +their baggage early in the morning of the same day, the two gentlemen +retired to cast off their travelling costume, and attire themselves in +apparel more suited to the drawing-room. Colonel Manners proceeded to +the task systematically; and although he knew that nothing on earth +could ever make him handsome, yet he took every reasonable pains with +his dress, and was soon ready to descend again, with that neat, clean, +soldier-like appearance for which he was particularly distinguished. +De Vaux acted differently, as may well be supposed, and giving his man +the keys of the trunk-mails, he cast himself on a chair; and, with his +arms leaning on the dressing-table, remained for full ten minutes in +deep and somewhat melancholy thought, while the servant continued to +torment him every other minute, with--"Sir, do you want this?" or, +"Sir, shall I do that?" + +Into his private thoughts we shall not at present pry, although we +consider that we have a right to do so whenever the necessities of the +tale may demand it; but in this instance it is only requisite to give +the ending reflection of his revery, which may serve as a key to all +the rest. "How cold Manners must have thought her reception of me! and +yet her own lips, which never from her infancy spoke any thing but +truth, have given me the assurance of her love. Well, we cannot change +people's nature!--and yet she was very different as a child!" + +Such were the last dying words of his meditation and then, starting +up, he proceeded hastily to dress himself, addressing the servant with +as much impatience as if the man had been dreaming instead of himself. +"There, give me that coat," he exclaimed. "Set down the dressing-case +here. Put those shoes on the other side of the table; and throw the +stockings over the back of the chair. How slow you are, William! Here +now, pull off these great boots, and then go and see that old Joseph +does not poison the horses with any of his nostrums." These various +commands the man obeyed with as much promptitude as possible; and +after he was gone, De Vaux proceeded to dress himself with all the +haste of one who is afraid of being detected in loitering away his +time. He was half-way through the operation, and was just arranging +his hair, when Manners, whose rooms were on the opposite side of the +corridor, rejoined him; and they descended together, without having +made any comment on the subject which was certainly next to the heart +of Edward de Vaux. He felt that in common delicacy he could not begin +it, though he would have given worlds, by any curious process of +distillation, to have extracted Colonel Manners's first impression of +her he loved; and Manners was resolved to see more and judge more +clearly, ere he ventured even the common nothings which are usually +said upon such occasions. + +In the meanwhile, the ladies in the drawing-room had not, of course, +refrained from comment on the appearance and arrival of their +visiters. As the first object of all their affections was Edward de +Vaux, his appearance and health naturally occupied several moments ere +anything else was thought of. + +"How very well he looks!" said Mrs. Falkland; "his health seems +greatly improved." + +"I never saw him look so handsome," said Isadore Falkland, "though he +was wrapped in that horrid great coat." + +Marian de Vaux said nothing, but she repaid her cousin for her praises +of her lover's looks by a smile as bright as an angel's, which +fluttered away in a warm blush, though it had nearly been drowned in +some sparkling drops that rose into her eyes. So she turned away, and +began playing with the seals on the writing-table. + +"I am delighted that Edward has prevailed on Colonel Manners to come +down with him," said Mrs. Falkland; "for I have longed to see him on +his mother's account." + +"And I, because he saved Edward's life," said Marian de Vaux. + +"And I am delighted too," said Isadore Falkland, "because he seems a +very agreeable gentlemanly man, though certainly a very ugly one--I +think as ugly a man as I ever saw." + +"His face is certainly not handsome," replied her mother; "but his +figure seems remarkably fine. His mother was as beautiful a woman as +ever lived; and I have heard that till he was twenty he was equally +good looking." + +"Poor fellow!" cried Isadore; "he has been very unfortunate, then; for +it is better to be born ugly than to become so afterward." + +"I did not think him ugly at all," said Marian de Vaux. + +"That was because you only saw the man that saved Edward's life," +replied Isadore, laughing; "but he is not beautiful, I can assure you, +Marian." + +"Happy are they, my dear Isadore," replied her mother, "who can 'see +Othello's visage in his mind;' and I do not think you, my dear girl, +are one either, to value any one for their personal appearance." + +"No, no, no, mamma! I am not," answered Miss Falkland; "but still, +some sensible old gentleman has said that a good countenance is +the best letter of recommendation; and now, had it not been that you +had known Colonel Manners's mother, or that he had saved Edward's +life--yet, notwithstanding--" she added, breaking off her sentence +abruptly--"after all, perhaps, his face is just the one from which we +should expect a man to save people's lives, and do a great many brave +and noble things." + +"I think so, certainly," answered Mrs. Falkland. "However ugly it may +be, I have seldom seen a face through which a fine mind shone out so +distinctly." + +Such was the tenour of the conversation that went on in the +drawing-room till the two gentlemen returned, and by their presence +took themselves out of the range of topics. Other subjects were soon +started, and filled the hours till supper-time. Edward de Vaux +naturally took the place he loved best; and what passed between him +and his fair cousin was not always loud enough in its tone, or general +enough in its nature, to be very distinct to the rest of the party, or +very interesting to the reader. Manners, who knew as well as any one +how to effect a diversion in favour of a friend, placed himself near +the other ladies, and displayed such stores of varied information as +well occupied their attention. Those stores were somewhat desultory, +perhaps, but they were gained from every source. Man, and all the fine +and all the amusing traits of his character; countries, and all their +beauties and their disadvantages; the history of other times, the +varied events of the present; matters of taste and of science, the +light wit of a playful imagination, and the choice knowledge procured +by very extensive reading; all seemed to come within the scope of his +mind. All too, had been refined and ornamented by judgment and good +feeling, and his conversation had still the peculiar charm of +appearing far less profound than it really was. It was all light, and +playful, and gay; and yet, on rising from it, one felt improved and +instructed, without well knowing how or in what. His memory, too, was +excellent, and stored with a number of little anecdotes and beautiful +scraps of poetry; and, without ever seeming to intrude them, he knew +how to mingle them in the general current of what was passing, with +tact almost as skilful as that of the greatest writer and most amiable +man that centuries have witnessed upon earth--Sir Walter Scott. + +So extensive, indeed, seemed to have been the reading of their new +acquaintance, that Mrs. Falkland wondered thereat in silence; while +Isadore, well knowing that there is scarcely any question on the face +of the earth that a young and pretty woman may not ask of a man under +forty with perfect _bienseance_ and propriety, looked up with a smile, +and said--"Pray tell me, Colonel Manners, where you have found time, +while you have been defeating the king's enemies night and day, to +read everything of every kind that is worth reading." + +"Oh, madam," he replied, "I am afraid I have read but little as +compared with what I might have done. A soldier's life is the most +favourable of all others for general reading; though, perhaps, not for +pursuing steadily any particular study. He is for a few days full of +active employment, and then for many more has hardly anything to do; +and if he gives one half of his spare time to reading, he will, I +believe, read more than many a philosopher. The only difficulty is in +procuring books that are worth the trouble of poring over." + +In such conversation passed the hours till supper; for those were days +of supper,--that most pleasant and sociable of all ways of acquiring +the nightmare. When the meal was announced, it of course caused some +derangement in the local position of the parties; and Edward de Vaux +being brought for a moment nearer to his aunt than his other +occupations had hitherto permitted, she took the opportunity of +saying,--"I hope, Edward, your father will not be at all offended at +your coming here first. He is sometimes a little _ombrageux_, you +know; and I would advise you to ride over tomorrow as early as +possible." + +"Oh! no fear of his being offended, my dear aunt," he replied. "In the +first place, he wrote to give me that assurance. In the next place, as +we chose to ride our own two best horses down, rather than trust them +to two break-neck grooms, we could not have gone seventeen miles +farther to-night: and in the last place," he added, in a lower tone, +"you know that his lordship never likes visiters to take him by +surprise; and as the invitation to Manners was yours, not his, of +course I could not have brought him to the hall without writing, which +I had no time to do. There is nothing he hates so much as any one +taking him by surprise." + +Almost as he spoke, the old servant Peter, who had retired after +announcing supper, once more threw the door open with a portentous +swing, and proclaimed, in a loud voice, "Lord Dewry!" Something like a +smile glanced upon Mrs. Falkland's lip, as the sudden and unexpected +arrival of her brother contrasted somewhat strangely with what her +nephew had just been saying. She paused in her progress to the +supper-room, however; and, in a moment after, with a slow step, which +was languid without being feeble, Lord Dewry entered the ante-room, +and came forward towards them. + +While he is in the act of doing so, let us paint him to the reader--at +least, as far as the outward man is concerned. Of the inward man more +must be said hereafter. He was tall--perhaps six feet high, or very +near it--and well made, though not excessively thin. His frame was +broad, and had been very powerful; his shoulders wide, his chest +expansive, and his waist remarkably small. In feature, too, it could +be still discerned that he had once been a very handsome man; but his +face was now thin and sharp, and his complexion extremely sallow. His +eyes, however, were still fine, and his teeth of a dazzling whiteness. +He might have numbered sixty years, but he looked somewhat older, +although he had taken a good deal of pains with his dress, and lay +under considerable obligations to his valet-de-chambre. The first +impression produced on the mind of a stranger by the appearance of +Lord Dewry was imposing but not pleasing; and, unfortunately, the +unpleasant effect did not wear off. He looked very much the peer and +the man of consequence, but there was a gloomy cloud upon his brow +which was not melancholy, and a curl of the lip which was not a smile, +and both prepared the mind of all who approached him, for not the most +agreeable man in the world. His general expression, too, was cold, he +had a look like the easterly wind, at once chilling and piercing; and +though report said that he had been a very fascinating man in his +youth, and had not always made the best use of his powers of pleasing, +he did not seem at present to consider it at all necessary to use any +effort to render himself agreeable, farther than the common forms of +society and what was due to his own station required. + +"Well, my lord," said Mrs. Falkland, as he came forward, "I am happy +to see you come to welcome our wanderer back again." + +As she spoke, Edward advanced to his father, who grasped his hand +eagerly, while a smile of unfeigned pleasure for a single instant +spread a finer expression over the worn features of the baron. +"Welcome back, Edward!" he said; "welcome back! you look remarkably +well! I have to apologize, Maria," he added, turning to his sister +after this brief salutation bestowed upon his son, "I have to +apologize for coming thus, without notice; but I have some business +to-morrow, down at the park-house, of which I knew nothing till this +morning; and I also wished to see Edward, whose devoirs here," and he +turned towards Marian, "I knew must first be paid, according to all +the rules of gallantry. How are you, my fair niece? You look a little +pale. How are you, Isadore?" And the peer, without waiting to hear how +any one was, cast his eyes upon the ground, and fixing upon a spot in +the carpet, seemed calculating geometrically the precise measurement +of all its strange angles. + +"We were just going to supper, my lord," said Mrs. Falkland; "will you +come with us? But first let me introduce you to Colonel Manners." Lord +Dewry acknowledged the introduction by a cold bow, while Manners said +some words of course; and the question of supper being renewed, the +nobleman agreed to go down with the party to the table, though he +bestowed a word or two of heavy censure on the meal they were about to +take. + +"It is, nevertheless," said Colonel Manners, "from its very hour, the +most sociable one of the whole day; for by this time, in general, all +the cares, and annoyances, and labours of the busy daylight are over; +and, as is justly observed--I forget where--'nothing remains for us +but enjoyment and repose.'" + +"Eating and sleep!" muttered Lord Dewry; "the delights of a hog and a +squirrel;" but as what he said did not seem intended to be heard, +Colonel Manners made no reply, though he did hear it; and the party +seated themselves round the supper-table, in walking towards which +these few sentences had passed. For some time the presence of the peer +seemed destined to cast a gloom over the society in which he had so +suddenly appeared. His manner even here, in the midst of his nearest +relations, and by the side of his newly-returned son, was cold, stern, +and gloomy, only broken by some flash of cynical scorn for things that +other people valued, or by some biting sneer at the follies and +weaknesses of his fellow-creatures. + +To his niece Marian de Vaux, however, his conduct was very different. +At table he placed himself by her side; made an evident effort to +render himself agreeable to her; and whenever he spoke to her softened +his tone, and endeavoured to call up a smile. Such was his conduct on +the present evening; but it maybe necessary also to stretch our view +over the past, for his behaviour to his niece had always formed a +strange contrast to his conduct towards others. The first effect of +her presence, when he had not seen her for some time, was almost +always to throw him into a fit of deep gloom; and those who watched +him narrowly might have remarked his lip move, as if he were speaking +to himself, though no sound was heard. From this fit of abstraction he +generally roused himself soon, but it was evidently at the cost of +great efforts; and then he would speak to his niece with a degree of +tenderness which bordered on timidity, and treat her with attention +approaching to gallantry. Any one who saw him in conversation with her +might easily conceive him to have been the fascinating and courtly man +that report had represented him in his younger days; and there was a +kindness and gentleness in his whole demeanour towards her, which, +together with the family name that she bore, had often caused her to +be taken for his daughter. Nevertheless, even across the moments when +he seemed exerting himself to please her, would break occasionally the +same fits of gloom, called up by apparently the least calculated to +produce any such effect. They were then always brief, however; and a +seemed that the original exertion to conquer the dark feelings which +the first sight of his niece appeared to arouse, was sufficient to +hold all the rest in check. + +It was only to her, however, that he was thus gentle. Her presence +made no difference in his conduct towards others; and the moment his +attention or his speech was called from the conversation with his +niece, he seemed to become a different being,--dark, stern, and +overbearing. + +Such a demeanour, of course, was not calculated to promote any thing +like cheerful conversation; and the atmosphere of his gloom would have +affected all those by whom he was surrounded, and extinguished every +thing like pleasure for that night, had it not been for the +counteracting influence of Colonel Manners. He, without the slightest +touch of obtrusiveness or self-conceit, by a just estimation of +himself and others, was always in possession of his own powers of +mind; and never suffered the presence of any other individual--unless, +indeed, it was that of one whom he could at once admire and love--to +give a tone to his behaviour, to restrain him in what he chose to say, +or to frighten him from what he chose to do. + +He took the tone of his conversation from his own heart, and from its +feelings at the time; and, guarded by fine sensibilities, good taste, +knowledge of the world, and a refined education, there was not the +slightest fear that he would ever give pain to any one whose +approbation he valued. Of all this he was himself well aware; and, +after a few moments given to something like wonder at the character of +Lord Dewry, he proceeded in the same manner as if such a person had +not been in existence. + +Isadore Falkland, as soon as she found that such powerful support was +prepared for her, boldly resisted the influence of her uncle's +presence also. Mrs. Falkland, whose naturally strong mind was not +unfitted to cope with her brother, held on the even tenour of her way; +and Edward de Vaux joining in, the conversation soon became once more +general and cheerful. It had taken another turn, however; and the +subject had become the mutual adventures of Colonel Manners and Edward +de Vaux, in the war which was then raging between France and England +in North America. Many was the wild enterprise, many the curious +particular, that they had to speak of; "hair's breadth escapes and +perils imminent"--scenes and persons quite fresh and strange to +Europeans; a new world, and all that a new world contained, with a +system of warfare totally different from any thing that had ever been +seen on the older continents. At that time, neither a barbarous policy +nor a criminal negligence had produced any of those lamentable results +which are rapidly exterminating the Indian nations of America: but, at +the same time, a most barbarous policy had--instead of endeavouring to +civilize and soften the dusky natives of the woods, the real lords of +the land--had engaged them, with all their fierce and horrid modes of +warfare, in the contention between the two great bands of European +robbers, who were struggling for the country that really belonged to +the savage. Of these Indian nations, and of their wild habits, both +Manners and De Vaux spoke at large; and many a strange scene had they +witnessed together among the uncultivated woods and untamed people of +the transatlantic world. + +Often, too, Manners, with kind and friendly zeal, would make Edward de +Vaux the hero of his tale; and while he related, as if he were +speaking of ordinary events, some gallant exploit or some noble +action, would suffer his eye to glance for a single instant, +unperceived, to the countenance of Marian de Vaux; it was generally +calm and tranquil--beautiful, but still; yet occasionally, when the +moment of danger or of interest came, and when Edward extricated +himself gallantly from some difficult or dangerous situation, there +was a bright light beamed up in her eyes, a long-drawn breath, and a +flickering colour, which satisfied Manners that all was well. + +Nevertheless, Manners could not, of course, speak of his friend's +adventures without a little delicate man[oe]uvring, in order to make +the tale appear more a general than a personal one; nor could he +continue the subject long. Often, therefore, he returned to the +Indians, and often to the state of America in general, while Mrs. +Falkland and her daughter gave him, by manifold questions and +observations, full opportunity of varying the subject _ad libitum_. +They sought to know, among other facts, what link of connection could +possibly have sprung up between the Indians and the Europeans so +strong as to make the savage nations have any feeling of regard or +interest towards either of the countries which only struggled to +monopolize the means of plundering and destroying them. + +"Oh, you must not think, my dear madam," answered Colonel Manners, +"that all persons who visit America are actuated by one selfish +motive, or pursue one system of fraud and oppression towards the +Indians. On the contrary, there are many who go over there with the +philanthropic motive of civilizing and benefiting the savage tribes +themselves; and who, in the endeavour to effect this object, display a +degree of wisdom, perseverance, judgment, and courage, that is quite +astonishing. Nor are these qualities without the most immense effect +upon the wild aborigines of the land, who look up to such men almost +as they would to a god. De Vaux and I know a very remarkable instance +of the kind, in one of the most noble-spirited and excellent of human +beings, to whom we are both under no small obligations. He nursed me +through a long and severe fever, when my senses were quite gone; and +afterward enabled me, by his influence with the Indians, to render +your nephew some small service--which, however, was entirely +attributable to his exertions." + +"Nay, nay, Manners," replied De Vaux; "to yours as much as his, and +more; for had you not ventured, at the head of a party of Indians, two +hundred miles into a hostile country, not a step of which you knew--" + +"Well, well, De Vaux," answered his friend, "you must own that he went +with me, though he did not know you, and I did. You must not take away +from the merit of my hero, for such I intend to make him in these +ladies' eyes. I know not, however, how you will like a hero of sixty, +Miss Falkland; but such, I must confess, he is at least. He has now +lived for many years, upon the very borders of civilization, or rather +beyond it, for his house is surrounded by forests and Indian wigwams. +He has never taken any part in the contentions of the tribes, and +seems equally venerated by all, showering good and blessings upon the +heads of every one who approaches him. He is deeply versed in the laws +and the manners of the natives, too; and, though a finished and +elegant scholar and gentleman, conforms when necessary, to their +usages, in a manner that is at once amusing and admirable. He is, at +the same time, the most skilful and indefatigable hunter that the +world, perhaps, ever produced,--an accomplishment which renders him +still more venerable in the eyes of the Indians, who, on account of +all these qualities, have named him 'The White Father.'"[2] + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 2: We need hardly point out to the reader, that though the +name Has been changed, the character of a well-known individual is not +here overdrawn.] + +--------------------- + + +"Delightful creature!" exclaimed Miss Falkland, with her beautiful +eyes sparkling like diamonds; "but tell me, Colonel Manners, tell me, +what is he like? Mamma, if you have no objection, I will go out and +marry him." + +"None in the world, my love!" answered Mrs. Falkland; "but, perhaps, +it may be better, first, to send over and ask whether he will marry +you." + +"That he will of course," answered she: "but, Colonel Manners, you +have not told me what he is like--in person I mean." + +"Oh, he is fresh and hale as a life of exercise and a heart at rest +can make him," replied Manners. "Indeed, he is as handsome a man as +ever I saw." + +"Oh, that will do exactly!" cried Miss Falkland, laughing. Colonel +Manners smiled too; but there was a tinge of melancholy in his smile; +for, however much he might have made up his mind to the fact, that +personal beauty is an indispensable requisite to obtain woman's love, +yet every little trait which served to confirm that opinion touched a +gloomy chord in his bosom, which again called forth the tone of many a +harmonizing feeling, and made somewhat sad music within. + +"And pray, Colonel Manners," said Lord Dewry, with the cold, if not +supercilious tone which he generally employed, "what may be the name +of the wonderful person who does all these wonderful things?" + +"The name, my lord," replied Colonel Manners coolly, "the name of the +gentleman who went two hundred miles into the Indian country to save +your son, Captain de Vaux from the tomahawk, without ever having seen +him, is one known throughout the greater part of America,--Sir William +Ryder." + +Lord Dewry turned suddenly still paler than he was before; and then as +red as fire. Whether it was that some feelings had been excited by +that name with which he did not choose to trust his lips, or whether +his emotion proceeded from temporary illness, did not appear; but he +replied nothing; and Colonel Manners, by whom the peer's agitation had +not been totally unmarked, went on. "If I remember right," he said, "I +heard Sir William Ryder ask after your lordship's health from De Vaux, +and say that he had known you many years ago in England." + +"I once knew, sir," replied Lord Dewry, drawing himself up, "I once +knew an unworthy blackguard of that name, who is now I believe, in +America; but he has no right to claim acquaintance with me." + +De Vaux looked at his father with astonishment, and then turned his +eyes towards Manners, as if to pray him patience; but his friend was +perfectly calm, and replied:--"Your lordship must allude to some +different person, as the description does not at all correspond with +him of whom I speak." + +"No, no, sir," answered the baron, reddening, "I speak of the same +person,--there can be no doubt of it,--a gambling beggar!" + +"If you do speak of the same person, Lord Dewry," replied Colonel +Manners, quite calmly, "I must beg of you to remember, that you speak +of my friend; and in the presence of one who does not like to hear his +friend's character assailed." + +"Indeed, sir, indeed!" exclaimed Lord Dewry, rising; "do you kindly +wish to dictate to me, in my sister's house, what I am to say of a +person, who it seems, has formed an unfortunate intimacy with my own +son; and is, as I said, a gambling beggar?" + +Manners paused a moment. He and De Vaux were alike under deep +obligations to the man of whom Lord Dewry spoke; and he felt that the +language used by the peer was not only a gross personal insult to both +of them, but especially to himself, who had been the means of +introducing him to his companion, and who had the moment before +bestowed such high and unqualified praise on the very person whom he +now heard reviled. He remembered Lord Dewry's age and situation, +however, and his own particular position, and endeavoured to moderate +his reply as much as possible; though to pass the matter over in +silence, or to leave the charges of the peer without direct +contradiction, he felt to be impossible, as an officer, a man of +honour, or the friend of Sir William Ryder. + +"Your personal opinion, my lord," he answered, "you may, of course, +express to your own son, or your own family whenever you like, +provided it be not injurious to any friend of mine. In which last case +I shall, as before, beg your lordship to refrain in my presence, for I +am not a man to hear a friend calumniated in silence." + +"Calumniated, sir! calumniated!" exclaimed Lord Dewry. + +"Yes, sir, such was the word I made use of," replied Colonel Manners, +"because the expressions you applied to Sir William Ryder were +calumnious, if applied to my friend, whom a long life of noble actions +raises above suspicion; but I trust and believe we are speaking of +different persons." + +"'Tis well, sir; 'tis very well!" replied Lord Dewry, appearing to +grow somewhat cooler; "'tis extremely well!--I trust it is as you say. +Give me a glass of soda-water. Maria, I shall now retire to rest; +I am somewhat fatigued: my apartments are, I think, opposite the +drawing-room. Good-night!--Colonel Manners, I wish you good-night!" +And, bowing with low and bitter courtesy, he left the room. + +Colonel Manners, whatever might be his feelings, and whatever might be +his intentions, took no notice of what had passed after Lord Dewry +left the room, although he could not but feel that he had been +insulted by a man whose age protected him; but both Mrs. Falkland and +De Vaux spoke upon the subject, after a moment's painful pause. The +first apologized with dignified mildness for the occurrence, and +assuring her visiter that something strange and extraordinary must +have irritated her brother during the course of the day, or that he +would not so far have forgot his usual _bienseance_; and the latter +pressed his friend with kindly earnestness to forget what had +occurred, and not to suffer it to affect his conduct, or abridge his +stay. + +Colonel Manners smiled, and suffered himself to be overcome: "You +know, De Vaux, that I am not one to be driven from my position by the +first fire," he said; "and as I suppose that Lord Dewry and myself +will not meet very frequently after the present time, we shall have +but few opportunities of being as agreeable to each other as we have +been to-night." + +Thus ended the conversation, and soon after the party separated, each +grieving not a little that the harmony of the evening had been so +unfortunately interrupted, when there was no reason to expect such an +event. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +The mind of man is a curious thing, in some respects not at all unlike +an old Gothic castle, full of turnings and windings, long dark +passages, spiral staircases, and secret corners. Among all these +architectural involutions, too, the ideas go wandering about, +generally very much at random, often get astray, often go into a wrong +room and fancy it their own; and often, too, it happens that, when one +of them is tripping along quite quietly, thinking that all is right, +open flies a door; out comes another, and turns the first back +again--sometimes rudely, blowing her candle out, and leaving her in +the dark,--and sometimes taking her delicately by the tips of the +fingers, and leading her to the very spot whence she set out at first. + +Colonel Manners, retiring to his bedchamber, though he seldom, if +ever, indulged in reveries of happiness which were never to be +realized, could not help sitting down to think over the events +of the evening, and the circle to which he had been introduced. +In the first place, he took great care to turn the idea of Lord Dewry +and his rudeness out of the castle, being a great economizer of +pleasant thoughts; and then, with somewhat of a sigh (the sort of +semi-singultus which people give to something irremediable in their +own fate, while contemplating the state of another), he thought, "De +Vaux is a very happy man! and yet," he continued, "though she is very +beautiful, too, and evidently has deeper feelings beneath that calm +exterior, yet, had I had to choose between the two cousins, I would +have fixed upon the other." As he thus went on thinking, Colonel +Manners began to remember that his thoughts might be treading upon +dangerous ground: he did not know even that they might not be drawn +into an ambuscade of dreams and wishes which he had long, as he +fancied, defeated for ever; and, therefore, he hastily beat the +general, and marched the whole detachment off to join his own +regiment. What we mean is, that he turned his mind to military +affairs, and would very fain have thought no more either of Mrs. +Falkland's domestic circle, or of the future happiness of his friend; +or, at least, he would have schooled himself, if he did think of such +things at all, not to extract any personal feelings therefrom, but to +let them be to him as matters in which he had no further share than as +in a passing pageant of a pretty device, through which he was to move +as he would have done through a minuet, forgetting it all as soon as +the music ceased. Still, however, as he went on thinking, open flew +some of the doors of association, and ever and anon out started some +fresh idea, which brought him back to the happiness of his friend, and +the delight of seeing a family circle of one's own, and looks of +affection, and a joyful welcome after toil, and exertion, and danger +were over. + +As sleep, however, is a strong fortress against the attack of +dangerous thoughts, he resolved to take refuge there from a force that +was too powerful for him; and, going to bed, he was soon within the +gates of slumber. But fancy turned traitor within his fortress, and, +ere long, whole troops of dreams poured in, laying his heart prostrate +before imaginations which he had repelled with veteran courage for +more than fourteen years. There was, of course, no resisting under +such circumstances: the garrison threw down their arms, and he went on +dreaming of love and domestic happiness all night. It did him no harm, +however, for one of the most curious phenomena which take place in +regard to those wild visitants, dreams, occurred in this case. The +visions that had come to him had all been as vivid as reality: he had +felt more and more acutely than he had, perhaps, ever felt in life; +there had been pleasures and pains, intense and varying; events and +feelings which, had they occurred in waking existence, he would have +remembered till the last hour of his life; and yet, when he awoke, he +had forgotten the whole. It was as if some after-sleep, with a sponge +dipped in Lethe, had passed by, and wiped out from the tablet of +memory all but a few rough scratches, sufficient to show the dreams +had been there. + +The day was yet young when he awoke; but Manners was habitually an +early riser--a habit that generally springs from two causes--vigorous +health, a frame without languor, and easily refreshed; or from a +refined heart, at ease within itself. When he had prayed--for all +noble-minded beings pray; and the only truly great pride is the pride +with which one owns one's self the servant of God: it is the soldier +pointing to the colours under which he serves--when he had prayed, he +dressed himself, somewhat slowly, gazing from time to time out of the +window over the rich landscape sparkling with dew and morning; and +then, opening his door, went out with the purpose of breathing the +fresh air of the early day. The windows at either end of the corridor +were still closed, for it had scarcely struck six, but the skylight +over the staircase gave light enough; and Colonel Manners, descending, +found a housemaid, with unbought roses on her cheeks, and blue arms, +busily washing the marble hall and the steps that went out into the +garden, which, stretching away to the south-west, was separated from +the park in which the house stood, by a haw-haw and a light fence. + +Give me a flower-garden, in the early morning, with its dry +gravel-walks shining in the fresh sunbeams, and all the thousands of +flowers which man's care and God's bounty have raised to beautify our +dwellings, expanding their refreshed petals to the young light. The +garden into which Colonel Manners now went forth was an old-fashioned +one, with manifold beds, arranged in as many mathematical figures. +Each bed, fringed with its close-cut green border of box, was full of +as many flowers as it would hold, and as the season afforded; and +though of late many a foreign land has been ransacked to procure new +exotics for our grounds, yet even then the garden was not without its +rich assortment of flowering shrubs; some still bearing the blossom, +some fallen into the fruit. Between the beds--and, as the gardens were +of very great extent, the beds were not very close together--were +spaces of soft green turf, sometimes flanked with holly, or hedged +with yew, so as to make a sort of little bowling-green; sometimes wide +open to the gay sunshine, and full of innumerable thrushes and +blackbirds, hopping along, with their fine shanks sunk amid the blades +of grass. Here and there, too, was an arbour covered with clematis; +and hothouses and green-houses now and then peeped out from behind the +shrubberies, on the sunny side of the garden. + +Colonel Manners took his way along a walk that flanked the enclosure +to the east, and which, running by the side of the haw-haw, a little +elevated above the park and surrounding country, gave, on the one +side, an extensive prospect over a rich and smiling landscape, with +the deer bounding over the grass, and the cattle lowing along the +distant upland; and, on the other, showed the garden--somewhat formal, +perhaps, but neat, and beautiful, and sparkling. He was a soldier, and +a man of the world, and he loved books, and he did not dislike +society; but, perhaps, there never was a man upon earth who more +thoroughly enjoyed a solitary morning walk amid flowers and beautiful +scenery--scenery in which one can pause and fill one's eye with fair +sights, while the ideas springing from each particular blossom, or +from the whole general view, can ramble out into a world of indistinct +loveliness, wherein one can scarcely be said to think, but rather to +live in a sensation of happiness which approaches near to heaven. + +Although, as we have observed, one can scarcely be said to think, yet +there is no situation on the earth--or very few--in which a man so +little likes to have his thoughts interrupted, and his fine +imaginations forcibly called back to the dull ground. Colonel Manners, +therefore, was not very well pleased, when, after following the walk +which he had chosen to the end, he heard footsteps beyond the bushes, +round which the path now swept. + +Had these footsteps, indeed, possessed that light peculiar sound which +is produced by a small and pretty foot, Colonel Manners, who never +objected to see the beautiful things of nature enhanced by the +presence of the most beautiful, might not have thought his reveries +unworthily disturbed. In the present instance, however, the sound was +very different: it was the dull, heavy, determined step of a foot that +takes a firm hold of the ground; and, as he went on, he was not +surprised to meet with Lord Dewry at the turning of the walk. + +Colonel Manners, if he had not forgot all about their discussion of +the preceding evening, had remembered it as little as possible; and, +being one of those happy men who never suffer any annoyance of such a +nature to rankle at the heart, he had settled the matter in his own +mind by thinking that the old gentleman had the toothache, or +some of those corporal pangs and infirmities which cause and excuse +ill-temper, and sometimes even rudeness, at that period of life when +the passing away of those mighty blessings, vigour and health, is in +itself matter enough for irritation. As, however, he never liked to +subject himself to occasions for commanding his temper, he proposed, +in the present instance, merely to give the peer "Good-morning," and +pass on upon his walk. + +This purpose he was not permitted to execute; as no sooner did Lord +Dewry come opposite to him, than he stopped abruptly, and answered +Colonel Manners's salutation by a cold and haughty bow. "Colonel +Manners," he said, "I saw you come into the garden from the windows of +my room, and I have done myself the honour of seeking you." + +The peer spoke slowly and calmly; but Manners, who doubted not that +his intention was to apologize, was both somewhat surprised that so +proud a man should do so at all, and likewise somewhat puzzled by a +sneering curl of the nostril and a slight twinkling of the eyelid, +which seemed to betray a spirit not quite so tranquil as his tone +would have indicated. "Your lordship does me honour," he replied; +"what are your commands?" + +"Simply as follows, Colonel Manners," replied Lord Dewry: "I think you +last night made use of the term _calumny_, as applied to part of my +discourse; and as I am not in the habit of being insulted without +taking measures to redress myself, I have followed you hither for the +purpose of arranging the necessary result." + +Colonel Manners felt inclined to smile, but he refrained, and replied, +seriously, "My lord, I wish to heaven you would forget this business. +You thought fit to apply the strongest terms of injury to a gentleman +for whom I had expressed my friendship and gratitude; and I pronounced +such terms to be calumnious in regard to my friend, but expressed, at +the same time, my belief that we were speaking of different persons. +For Heaven's sake, let the matter rest where it does: I meant no +personal insult to you; I trust you meant none to me. I came down here +the friend of your son, on a joyful occasion, and it would pain me not +a little to go away the enemy of his father." + +The lip of Lord Dewry curled with a bitter and galling sneer. "Colonel +Manners," he said, "I believe that you wear a sword." + +"I do, sir," replied Manners, reddening; "but I should be unworthy to +wear one, did I draw it against a man old enough to be my father." + +Lord Dewry, too, reddened. "If, as I perceive, sir," he said, "you +intend to make my age your protection, I trust you have calculated the +consequences to your reputation, and will understand the light in +which I view you. When I am willing, sir, to waive all respect of age, +I do not see what you have to do with it." + +"Much, my lord," answered Colonel Manners; "much have my own +conscience and my own honour to do with it." + +"Do not let an officer who is refusing to fight talk of honour, sir," +replied Lord Dewry. + +"You cannot provoke me to forget myself, Lord Dewry," answered the +other; "I hold all duelling in abhorrence, and as any thing but a +proof of courage but when the encounter is to be between a young and +active man, and one of your lordship's age and probable habits, it is +murder outright. Your lordship will excuse me for saying that I think +the business a very foolish one, and that I must insist upon its being +dropped." + +"I shall drop it as far as regards the endeavour to make a man fight +who is not disposed to do so," replied Lord Dewry, with an angry and +disappointed, rather than a contemptuous, smile, for which he intended +it to be; "but, as a matter of course, I shall make generally known +the fact that you have refused to draw your sword when called upon." + +Colonel Manners laughed. "My lord," he answered, "I have drawn it in +eleven different battles in his majesty's service; I have been wounded +nine times, and I am quite satisfied with a certain degree of +reputation obtained in these affairs, without seeking to increase it +by the encounter to which your lordship would provoke me." + +Lord Dewry stood and gazed at him for a moment or two with a heavy +lowering brow, as if contemplating how he might lash his adversary to +the course he sought to bring him to pursue; but the calm and +confident courage and cool determination of Colonel Manners foiled him +even in his own thoughts; and, after glaring at him thus while one +might count twenty, he exclaimed, "You shall repent it, sir! you shall +repent it!" + +"I do not think it, my lord," replied Manners: "I wish you +good-morning;" and he turned calmly on his heel, retreading, with slow +steps, the path he had followed from the house. + +In the mean time, the pace of Lord Dewry was much more rapid; but for +a moment we must pause ourselves, and seize this opportunity of +looking into his bosom, and seeing some of the motives which, like +Cyclops in the cave of Vulcan, were busy forging all those hot +thunderbolts that he was dealing about so liberally--_some_, we only +say some; for were we to look at all, we should have a catalogue too +long for recapitulation here. The fact, then, was, that Lord Dewry had +been greatly irritated on the previous day, by a conversation of not +the most pleasant kind, concerning the very Sir William Ryder of whom +he was destined to hear such high praises the moment he set his foot +within his sister's doors. Now, for various reasons, unto himself best +known, the noble lord hated this Sir William Ryder with a most +reverent and solicitous hatred, and would willingly have given a +thousand pounds to any one who would have brought him proof positive +that he was dead and safely deposited in that earthy chancery, the +archives of which, though they contain many a treasured secret, can +never meet the searching eye of this inquisitive world. What, then, +were his feelings, when he heard that this very man, in regard to whom +his darkest passions had been stirred up that very day, and towards +whom he had nourished an evergreen animosity for many years--when he +heard that, through the instrumentality of Colonel Manners, this man +had been made intimate with his only son! + +This, then, was Manners's offence; but had it been likely to end +there, Lord Dewry might even have forgiven it. Such, however, was not +the case: Lord Dewry had some reason to believe that the object of his +hatred might visit England; and imagination instantly set up before +him the picture of his son, Colonel Manners, and Sir William Ryder +meeting, and discussing many things that would be better let alone. +Now he trusted and believed that, as far as his ancient enemy was +concerned, he could manage his son, and cause him to break off a +connection which had not been of long duration; but at the same time +he judged it necessary to place a barrier between him and Colonel +Manners himself, so as to cut off every link of communication between +Edward de Vaux and Sir William Ryder; and for this purpose he at once +determined to quarrel with his son's friend; which, in his own +irritable and irritated state of mind, he found it not at all +difficult to accomplish. On the preceding night he had begun, +therefore, with real good-will; and as he was a man totally devoid of +any thing like personal fear, and remembered that he had once been a +remarkably good swordsman, while he forgot that he was sixty, he was +really pleased when Manners made use of a term which promised to give +him an opportunity of bringing their dispute to such an issue as must +absolutely put an end to the intimacy between his son and Colonel +Manners forever. "Even should I receive a wound," he thought, "so much +the better;" and, strange as it is to say, had Lord Dewry even +contemplated being killed in the encounter he sought, he would have +looked upon it with less apprehension than might be supposed, when +thereunto was attached the certainty of his son being separated for +ever from Charles Manners and from Sir William Ryder; so much less +terrible does it often appear to our contradictory nature to meet the +eye of God than to encounter the scrutiny of beings like ourselves. + +Frustrated by the coolness and firmness of his opponent in the grand +object of his morning's walk, he now turned towards the house, +animated with a strong desire of accomplishing his purpose by other +means. The peer now determined, as it was impossible to make Colonel +Manners the aggressor, to induce his own family to take the +initiative, and break with the object of his dislike or of his +apprehension--for perhaps there might be a little of both at the +bottom of his heart; and, with a resolution which was the more +imperious and domineering from having seldom suffered contradiction, +he sought the apartment of his son. + +Edward de Vaux was just up, and was in the act of putting on, one +after another, the different parts of his apparel. As this act of +clothing one's person, however much pleasure people may take in it +habitually, is in itself a laborious and troublesome operation, De +Vaux's servant was helping him therein; but the appearance of Lord +Dewry, and a hint not to be mistaken, sent the man out of the room, +while the noble lord betook him to a chair; and his son, seeing that +there was not a little thunder in the dark cloud upon his father's +brow, sat, expectant and half-dressed, wondering what was to come +next. + +"Edward," said his father, in a tone which was intended at once to +express parental affection, some slight touch of sadness, and firm +relying confidence upon his son's good feelings, but which, in truth, +did not succeed in expressing much except a great deal of irritation +and heat--"Edward, I have come to speak with you upon last night's +unfortunate business, and to give you, in a few words, my opinion upon +the subject, in order that you may choose your part at once." + +Edward de Vaux, who knew his father well--though he knew not all his +motives in the present instance--prepared himself to resist; for he +divined, almost immediately from the beginning of Lord Dewry's +discourse, what would be the end; being well aware, though he did not +choose to put it exactly in such terms to his own heart, that a +certain combination of vanity, pride, selfishness, and remorselessness +in the bosom of his worthy parent, made him the exact person to resent +highly even a slight offence, and to treasure long hatred for a casual +word. But Edward de Vaux knew also that he himself stood in a position +towards his father different from that in which any other person +stood: he knew that the ties of nature, long habit, and irreproachable +conduct rendered him the only real object of Lord Dewry's love--the +only being who possessed any influence over a mind which never through +life, in any other case than his own, had yielded to either persuasion +or opposition. He himself, however, had found from experience, that he +could resist with success when the ground of resistance was such as +satisfied his own heart; and he now, therefore, prepared to practise, +upon an occasion of more importance, a behaviour he had sometimes +displayed in regard to trifles. He was aware, at the same time, from +his soldierly habits, that it was advantageous sometimes to be the +attacking party; and when his father paused, a little out of breath +with climbing the stairs faster than necessary, and with speaking more +vehemently than was becoming, he instantly replied, "Oh, my lord, if +you mean the business with Manners, do not think of it any more! +Manners is extremely good-humoured, and will forget it at once, I am +sure. No further apology is necessary." + +"Apology, sir!" exclaimed Lord Dewry; "what do you mean? I have made +no apology!" + +"No, my lord," replied De Vaux; "but, considering that Manners was my +friend, that he saved my life at the risk of his own, that he came +down here at my invitation, and that he was a guest in my aunt's +house, I thought it necessary to apologize for the manner in which my +father had treated him, saying that I was sure you were irritated by +some other cause;" and adding--"I felt sure you would--that you would +be sorry for having expressed yourself so bitterly, when you reflected +upon the circumstances." + +"You did, sir!" said Lord Dewry, "you did!--then I have only to tell +you that you said what was not the case;" De Vaux reddened; "that you +took a great and unwarrantable liberty with my name," continued Lord +Dewry, whose passion had quite overcome every restraint; "and that, +had you considered your father as much as this new friend, you would +have seen that _I_ was the insulted person--that _I_ had a right to +demand apology, and you would have broken off all connection with a +person who would show so little respect to your parent; and this, +sir,--this is what I command you now to do, or to take the +consequences of your disobedience." + +"My lord," answered De Vaux, cooling himself down as far as +possible,--"my lord, as you must already have seen, we view the matter +in a very different light. It grieves me bitterly that we should +disagree so severely on the very day after my return; but if you wish +me to break off my acquaintance with Colonel Manners, because you have +thought fit to treat him with some rudeness, I must tell you, at once, +such an idea could never be entertained by me for a moment. As to the +consequences which your lordship speaks of, I am at a loss to conceive +what you mean. A disagreement with your lordship is--" + +"The consequences, Captain De Vaux," interrupted his father, with a +small red spot glowing in the middle of his sallow cheek--"the +consequences may be more bitter than you think. You believe that the +estates of the barony, being entailed, must descend to you; but let me +tell you, young man--let me tell you," he repeated, approaching nearer +to his son, and lowering his voice in tone, but not in emphasis,--"let +me tell you, you could be deprived of them by a word. But no more of +that," he added, raising his head, and resuming his usual air of +dignity, which had been a good deal lost during that morning, "no more +of that; the consequences to which I alluded, and to which I now +allude, are the displeasure of your father, and the knowledge that you +remain the friend of a man who has insulted him." + +"Could I see, my dear sir," replied De Vaux, "that Manners had insulted +you--" + +"It is sufficient, sir, that I see it," interrupted his father, +hastily, "it is sufficient that I see it; and I hold myself aggrieved +that my son should see it otherwise. But do as you will, Edward de +Vaux--do as you will. If you are lost to a sense of filial duty, and +refuse to obey my positive injunction to break with this man, you may +act as you think fit." + +"I shall never, my lord, even dream of breaking with him," replied De +Vaux; "as it appears to me, that to do so would render me an +accomplice in an act of notable injustice." + +"You are dutiful, sir--you are respectful," said Lord Dewry, setting +his teeth hard; "but do as you please--do as you please: I wish you +good-morning;" and, turning on his heel, he quitted the apartment. + +"This is mighty disagreeable," thought De Vaux, as he rang the bell to +bring back his servant; "this is mighty disagreeable and mighty +absurd, it seems to me; but the worst part of all will be the meeting +at breakfast. However, all these things must be encountered as they +come, in this good pleasant world of ours;" and he returned to his +toilet. + +In the mean time the noble lord, his father, proceeded to his own +apartments, laid his hand upon the bell, and rang in such a manner as +to show that he was in a passion, not only to his own servant, but to +the whole house. His own servant, however, a thin, dark, saturnine +person, well calculated by constitutional frigidity to cope with an +irritable master, was not in the least alarmed by any sign of his +lord's angry mood, to which he was wont to oppose, on all occasions, a +dull, obtuse silence, that left him without any remedy but patience. +He accordingly proceeded slowly to Lord Dewry's apartment; received +the objurgation for his tardiness with profound and unmoved +taciturnity; listened to his lordship's orders to pack up all his +dressing things, and order the horses to the carriage directly, in the +same automatonical manner, and then went to take his breakfast, not at +all approving of his master's purpose of setting out without +refreshment. Lord Dewry, fondly fancying that he had gone to order the +horses to be put to, waited in his bedroom very patiently for five +minutes, then began to get angry during five minutes more, and then +rang the bell for at least the same space of time. At the end of that +period the man again made his appearance, and, with a face of dull +unconsciousness, asked if his lordship had rung, although he had heard +every succeeding stroke of the bell. + +Lord Dewry stamped with rage; but, finding that it had no effect, he +left the man alone to arrange his dressing things, while, for the +purpose of waiting till the carriage was ready, he went down to the +library, calculating, of course, upon its being, as usual, the most +solitary room in the whole house. If he expected to find it empty, +however, he was mistaken: for Mrs. Falkland was seated at the table, +writing a note; and, as there was no person, in or out of his own +family, for whom his lordship entertained so great a respect--which +would have been a little, perhaps, approaching to fear, if he could +have feared any thing--there was no one consequently whom he less +wished to meet, at a moment when he was acting in a manner which +needed the full excitement of passion and pride to appear, even in his +own opinion, either dignified or gentlemanly. He was drawing back, but +Mrs. Falkland raised her eyes; and his lordship, conscious that he had +been wishing to retreat, advanced, of course, with a greater degree of +boldness, and asked whether he interrupted her by his presence. + +"Not in the least--not in the least," replied Mrs. Falkland; "but you +seem prepared for travelling, my lord. You are not thinking of setting +out before breakfast?" + +"Most assuredly I shall, Maria," replied the peer. "You do not suppose +that I am going to subject myself to the pain of meeting again, in +your house, a person by whom I have been so grossly insulted as this +Colonel Manners?" + +"Whom you have so grossly insulted, I suppose, your lordship means," +replied Mrs. Falkland. "My lord, I am your sister, and consequently am +not disposed to see faults; but I tell you sincerely, that you equally +owe an apology to me and to Colonel Manners for your behaviour last +night. The one to myself I will, of course, dispense with; but, if you +do right, you will go to Colonel Manners, and tell him that something +had occurred in the course of yesterday to irritate and vex you, and +that you are extremely sorry that your irritation vented itself upon +him." Mrs. Falkland spoke with infinite calmness; and, when she had +done, wrote another sentence of her note, leaving her brother the +while to pause on the somewhat bitter matter of her discourse. + +His lordship employed the time in remembering that it was a lady and +his sister to whom he was opposed, and in subduing the wrath of his +heart into the quieter form of sneer; although he still continued to +gaze on her, while she wrote, with eyes in which his anger still +maintained its ground, like a solitary post left behind a retreating +army. + +"Do you know, Mrs. Falkland," he replied, with a curling lip, "in such +pleasant little discussions as these, we gentlemen have hardly fair +play when opposed to female antagonists; for, under shelter of your +sex, you women dare say things to us that it would be ungentlemanly to +retort, and which are very difficult to bear." + +"Truth, my lord, I am afraid, is often difficult to bear," replied +Mrs. Falkland; "and perhaps, on such occasions, you may hear it in a +more unqualified manner from a woman than from one of your own sex." + +"As the matter is a difference of opinion, Maria, between you and me," +said Lord Dewry, "it is rather like begging the question to assume +that it is truth that gives me offence. You have forgot your logic, my +good sister." + +"If I ever possessed any, my lord," rejoined Mrs. Falkland, "I +certainly should not be disposed to try it upon you, in order to +induce you either to make an apology, which is alike due to yourself +and to Colonel Manners, or to stay here without making it." + +"I understand you, my dear sister, I understand you!" exclaimed Lord +Dewry; "but do not be in a hurry. My carriage is ordered, and cannot +be many minutes ere it delivers you from my presence. In the mean +time, I will not interrupt you further.--Good-morning, Mrs. Falkland!" + +"Good-morning," she replied; and her brother walked towards the door. +As he laid his hand upon the lock, he turned for a single glance at +his sister; but Mrs. Falkland was writing on, with a rapid and easy +pen, in the clear and running movements of which there was evidently +not the slightest impediment from one extraneous thought in reference +to the conversation which had just passed between them. Anger, hatred, +malice, even active scorn itself, man can bear or retort; but utter +indifference is more galling still. So Lord Dewry found it; and +throwing open the door with a degree of force that made sundry of +the smaller articles of furniture dance about the room, he issued +forth in search of his carriage, with wounded pride and diminished +self-importance. + +Gliding gracefully down the corridor towards the breakfast-room was, +at that very moment, Marian de Vaux, his niece; and the sight of her +beautiful face and form, with its calm and easy movements, was well +calculated to tranquillize and sooth. But Lord Dewry had never been +famous for being easily soothed. Dr. Johnson is said to have liked a +"good hater;" and had he carried the predilection a little further, +the peer was just the man to merit that sort of approbation. He was +not only a good hater, but he was, and always had been, the man of all +others to nourish his anger, and render it both stout and permanent. +Now, during the early part of the preceding evening, before he found +"mettle more attractive" in his quarrel with Colonel Manners, the +noble lord had, as he always did, paid very great attention to Marian +de Vaux. He had sat by her, he had talked to her, he had exerted +himself to be agreeable to her, when it was very evident that he was +not much disposed to be agreeable to any one. But now, as Marian +approached, gave her hand, and wished him good-morning, he let her +hand drop as soon as he had taken it, and answered her salutation by +telling her he was in haste. + +Somewhat surprised at the cloud upon her uncle's brow, his flashing +eye, and abrupt manner, Marian drew back, in order to let him pass, +and Lord Dewry took two steps more along the passage. Then +recollecting himself, however, and remembering how strange his conduct +might appear, he turned, and made the whole seem stranger than ever, +as all people do when, with a heart very full of feelings which they +are afraid or ashamed to picture in their nakedness, they attempt to +explain the strange behaviour to which those feelings have prompted +them. + +"I am obliged to quit the house, Marian," he said, in a quick and +agitated manner; "disagreeable occurrences have taken place, which +compel me, in justice to myself, to withdraw: the whole business is an +unfortunate one, and I am afraid it may be some time before we meet +again; but I will write--I will write, and explain myself fully. +Good-by! I hear the carriage!" And with a rapid step he walked on, +leaving Marian de Vaux not a little confounded by all that had passed, +and entirely misconstruing the few abrupt and unsatisfactory sentences +which her uncle had pronounced. + +She heard his step sound along the passage, down the stairs, and +through the hall; listened to his voice giving some directions to his +servant, and then to the closing of the carriage-door, and the grating +roll of the wheels over the gravel before the house. Then mentally +exclaiming, "This is all very strange, and very unfortunate!" she went +on towards the breakfast-room, into which a servant had just carried +the urn, without closing the door behind him. The sound of her cousin +Isadore's voice, speaking gayly with Colonel Manners, issued forth as +she approached; but Marian de Vaux was agitated and alarmed; and +feeling that she must have time to think over her uncle's words, and +to compose her mind, ere she mingled with any society, she turned to +the music-room, and had entered it before she was aware that any one +was there. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +It was a beautiful idea of Plato, and not at all an unchristian idea, +that the sins which people have committed during life, and which in +this case were termed _manes_, had an existence after death, and were +the instruments for punishing those who had committed them--the worm +that dieth not, and the fire that cannot be quenched. But had Plato +seen into the bosom of Lord Dewry, he would have perceived that his +theory might be carried a little further; and that the sins and +passions do not wait till we are dead in order to torment their +authors, but punish them even in this world, not alone in their +consequences, but by their very existence. After having laboured +_manibus pedibusque_ to render every member of his sister's household +as uncomfortable as possible, the noble lord sunk back in his +carriage, with his frame exhausted and his whole heart on fire +with that flaming up of painful memories and violent passions +which the occurrences we have related had excited. Unfortunately, +however, it happens in the wonderful arrangement of this our earthly +dwelling-place, that here our evil qualities not only torment +ourselves, but others also; and the noble lord might have consoled +himself with the certainty that he had, for the time at least, +destroyed much tranquillity, and turned joy into bitterness. + +Of all who suffered on the occasion, Marian de Vaux perhaps suffered +most. Mrs. Falkland, for her part, had been very much offended, but +she respected her brother too little to permit his ill temper or +rudeness to produce any lasting effect upon her. Edward de Vaux +believed that his father's present mood would not be long ere it +yielded to circumstances; and Colonel Manners, though of course +considerably annoyed by what had taken place between Lord Dewry and +himself, was not aware of what had passed afterward; and consequently +did not enter, as he would otherwise have done most feelingly, into +the uncomforts of Mrs. Falkland and his friend De Vaux. But with +Marian the matter was different. She knew nothing of all the +occurrences of the morning: she had seen her uncle retire on the +preceding night, apparently dropping his dispute with Colonel Manners; +and she never, for a moment, connected his extraordinary conduct of +that day with the disagreement of the preceding evening. + +In almost all cases of apprehension and uncertainty, the human mind +has a natural tendency to connect the occurrence of the moment, +whatever it may be, with the principal object of our wishes and our +feelings at the time. It matters not whether the two things be as +distinct and distant as the sun is from the moon; association in an +instant spins a thousand gossamer threads between them, forming a +glistening sort of spider-like bridge, scarcely discernible to other +people's eyes, but fully strong enough for fancy to run backwards and +forwards upon for ever. + +Thus, then, was it with poor Marian de Vaux. It had been settled that +her marriage with her cousin was to take place on the day she became +of age--that is to say, in about three weeks. Now, whether she was +pleased with the arrangement or not, we do not at all intend to say; +but she had made up her mind to it completely; and the first thing +that Lord Dewry's broken sentences suggested to her mind was, that +some difficulty had occurred in regard to her union with Edward, and +that his father had withdrawn the consent he had been before so +willing to give. + +When Lord Dewry left her, she was as pale as death; and though before +she reached the breakfast-room the colour had come back into her +cheek, yet all her former ideas were so completely scattered to the +four winds of heaven, that she felt it would be absolutely necessary +to think what her own conduct, under such circumstances, ought to be, +before she met any of the party; and especially before she met her +cousin Edward, as towards him, of course, the regulation of her +behaviour was most important. She turned, then, as we have before +said, to the music-room, and entering it ere she perceived that any +one was in it, found herself there alone with no other than Edward de +Vaux. + +Whether he had gone there purposely or accidentally--from a habit +which some people have, of returning to take a look at places where +they have spent happy moments, or from a sort of presentiment that he +might find Marian there, we have no means of judging; but on her part +the meeting certainly was unexpected, and being such, it would hardly +be fair to look narrowly into her manner of receiving her lover's +first salutation, which salutation was sufficiently warm. + +As soon as she recollected herself, however, she turned at once to the +subject of her thoughts. "But, Edward," she said, "this is a most +unfortunate occurrence--in regard to your father, I mean." + +"Most unfortunate, indeed!" replied De Vaux, looking grave +immediately. + +"But tell me what it is all about, Edward," rejoined his cousin. "I do +not understand your father's conduct. Do explain it to me!" + +"I do not understand it either, my dear Marian," answered De Vaux; +"his conduct is quite inexplicable." + +The tears would fain have run away over Marian de Vaux's cheeks; but +she shut the gates in time, and only one straggler made its escape +into the court of her eyes, unable to get farther. Her cousin did not +see one-half of what was going on in the fair tabernacle of her bosom; +but he saw that she was much distressed, and endeavoured to sooth her +with the same assurances wherewith he made his own mind easy in regard +to his father's conduct. "Nay, nay, dearest Marian!" he said, "do not +distress yourself about this business, unfortunate as it is. The +principal part of my father's present heat in the affair will pass +away, for a great share is mere passion. I cannot however flatter +myself into believing that his dislike will ever entirely subside, +because, as you know, he is not a man who changes easily in such +matters; but all his violence and his threatenings will die away and +end in nothing." + +Marian, who had now recovered from her first emotion, paused, and +looked pensively upon the ground; but while her bosom seemed as calm +as monumental marble, there was a sad struggle going on within. +"Edward!" said she, at length, "we cannot tell what may be your +father's ultimate conduct; but, indeed, I think, that while his +present objection--or, as you call it, dislike--continues, we ought +certainly to delay our marriage." + +"Good God, Marian!" exclaimed Edward de Vaux, in utter astonishment: +"in the name of heaven, my beloved, what has my father's dislike to +Colonel Manners to do with our union?" + +"His dislike to Colonel Manners!" said Marian, blushing a good deal as +she began to perceive her mistake, and comprehended at a glance that +the clearing up of the matter might make an _expose_ of her inmost +thoughts that for reasons of her own she did not desire. "His dislike +to Colonel Manners! Oh, is that all! His words and conduct towards me +just now, made me think that his dislike was to me, Edward, and to our +union." + +"And did the thought give you so much pain, Marian?" said De Vaux, +somewhat anxiously. + +But Marian de Vaux had by this time completely mastered her agitation, +and she answered in her usual quiet sweet tone: "Of course it gave me +great pain, Edward, to think that I had lost my uncle's regard, and +great pain to think that the consequences might pain you. But tell me, +was it really nothing more than his dispute with Colonel Manners which +made your father's conduct so very strange?" + +"Nothing more, I can assure you," answered her lover; "but you know +that my father, when he bursts forth into one of these fits of +passion, is like Don Quixote at the puppet-show, and deals his blows +to the right and left upon all things, whether they have offended him +or not." + +"Hush, hush, Edward!" cried Marian, "he is your father, remember." + +De Vaux coloured slightly, and indeed he had not got to the end of his +speech ere he had found that he had better have left it unsaid; for, +notwithstanding his general fastidiousness, and a certain degree of +bitter that mingled with his views of other people, he had too much +taste to find any pleasure in pointing out the faults or follies of +his near relations. He might feel them a little too sensitively, it is +true; but he seldom made them the subject of his conversation; and he +was now vexed, both that he had done so at all, and that Marian had +been the person to whom he had done it. + +Thus, Edward de Vaux was a little out of humour with himself, and, as +a matter of course, he soon found cause to be dissatisfied with +others; for the human mind--to which nothing is so burdensome as +self-reproach of any kind--is always glad to cast a part of its load +upon the shoulders of other people. The first thing, then, that, upon +reflecting rapidly over the moments just passed, Edward de Vaux found +to be discontented with, was the manner in which Marian had spoken of +delaying their union; and once having started this idea, he hunted it +up and down through all the chambers and passages of his mind, like a +boy after a mouse. "Their marriage seemed to her a matter of great +indifference," he thought; and then he went onto persuade himself that +her love for him was of a very calm and tranquil character compared +with his for her. Indeed, it seemed little more than indifference, he +fancied, or at best _sisterly affection_; and at the very thought of +such a thing as _sisterly affection_, the spirit of Edward de Vaux +sprang up as if a serpent had crossed his path, although his person +remained perfectly calm, with his arm resting on the harpsichord, and +his fingers twisting some of the strings of the harp. One of the +strings breaking, with a sharp twang, called the spirit suddenly back +again; and he found himself standing abstractedly before his fair +cousin; while she looked upon him with a smile, which seemed to say, +"I could triumph, if I would! but it is not in my nature." + +Now, Edward de Vaux, though he read the smile, and read it aright, +which is not always done in that difficult language of which it was +one of the hieroglyphics, was all the more puzzled when he had done. +But the fact is, that women's eyes, in matters of love, seem to be not +eyes but microscopes; and Marian had traced the whole fine progress of +Edward's thoughts and feelings, through every turning and winding, as +accurately as if he had laid them all open before her with his own +free will. Then, connecting the result with some foregone conclusions +in her own mind, the combination produced a smile, being, as we before +said, the equivalent sign, in the language mentioned, of the words, "I +could triumph, if I would! but it is not in my nature." There was, +however, a little mental reservation, perhaps, in regard to the +triumph, inasmuch as she reserved unto herself entire right and +privilege of triumphing hereafter, in case she should find it +necessary and expedient to do so. + +The time occupied in reading the smile, together with the beauty of +the smile itself, and the exceeding loveliness of the lips on which it +rested, all tended to get the better of the demon in the heart of De +Vaux, and to make him feel, that as he loved her beyond anything on +earth, he must try to content himself with obtaining her upon her own +terms. Having come to this conclusion, it was natural enough that he +should seek to linger out the time with her alone; but Marian felt +that if she did stay at that moment, she might be obliged to triumph +in the way she wished not to do, or to explain her smile without +triumphing at all, which was still more disagreeable. She therefore +determined to retreat to the breakfast-room, in which she was sure of +finding allies; and which--as her apprehensions in regard to Lord +Dewry's disapprobation, and the consequent emotion, had now been +dissipated--she was no longer afraid of entering. + +De Vaux would fain have detained her, pleading that he had had no +opportunity of conversing with her alone since his return, and urging +all those little arguments which we leave to imagination. Marian, +however, resisted with fortitude; and her lover, forced to content +himself with a promise to take a long ramble with him after breakfast, +as they had done in the days of their early youth, led her to the +breakfast-room, where they found the rest of the party assembled, and +conversing with as much ease and cheerfulness as if nothing had +occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the morning. + +"Well, Edward," said Mrs. Falkland, "your father would not stay +longer; and I forbore to press him," she added, with a little +pardonable hypocrisy, "as I know that he has a good deal of business +on his hands; and when he is determined on any point, it is vain to +try to move him." As she spoke, she looked for an instant towards +Colonel Manners, to give more meaning to her words in her nephew's +ears than the words themselves imported. + +"I saw my father myself, my dear aunt," replied De Vaux: "he was with +me in my room for half an hour, and explained the necessity of his +departure." + +Colonel Manners could have smiled; but he thought it best to follow +the lead that had been given, and to appear ignorant of anything else +having taken place, though, of course, he felt internally convinced +that his unfortunate dispute with De Vaux's father had been the cause +of that nobleman's sudden and abrupt departure. "I think your father +mentioned last night," he said, in pursuance of this plan, "that he +was going to Dimden, did he not, De Vaux? Does it belong to your +family?" + +"It always has done so," replied his friend: "it is here, very +near--but a few miles off; but it is not kept up as I think it should +be. My father always resides at the other house; and seems to have so +strong an aversion to Dimden, that, not contented with not living +there, he lets it fall somewhat to decay." + +"I must make you take me there some morning," answered Colonel +Manners; "I have heard that it contains a fine collection of +pictures." + +"Fine, I believe, but small," answered De Vaux, delighted to fancy +that his friend had totally forgotten the dispute of the night before, +and was ignorant of any fresh discomfort which had been produced by +that morning; "fine, I believe, but small--but I do not understand +anything about pictures." + +"Nay, nay, Edward, do not say that," exclaimed Miss Falkland. "Do you +not love everything that is beautiful and fine in nature? have you not +an eye to mark every shade and every line that is worth looking at in +a landscape? and do you call that not understanding pictures? I have +seen you and Marian find out a thousand beautiful little tints and +touches, and lights and shades, in a view that I had generalized most +vulgarly." + +Colonel Manners and Mrs. Falkland smiled; and perhaps both might have +said, had they spoken their thoughts, "It was because your two cousins +were in love, fair lady, and you were not!" They left the matter +unexplained, however, contenting themselves with thinking that Isadore +might, some time, learn the secret of finding out new beauties in a +view; and De Vaux answered in his own style, "Still, Isadore, I know +nothing about pictures, depend upon it. I cannot talk of _breadth_, +and _handling_ and _chiar' oscuro_, and _juice_, and _ordonnance_." + +"Except when you mean a park of artillery, De Vaux," said Colonel +Manners; "but, if I understand you rightly, you can see and feel the +beauties of a picture as well as any one, though you cannot talk the +jargon of a connoisseur about it." + +"Perhaps that is what I do mean," answered his friend; "but I believe +the truth is, Manners, that you and I are both far behind in the +elegant charlatanism of dilettanteship. Why, I have heard a man go on +by the hour with the _copia fandi_ of a Cicero about a picture, the +beauties of which he no more understood than the frame in which it was +placed. These men's minds are like a yard measure, a thing on which a +multitude of figures are written down, without the slightest use till +they are properly applied by some one else. When I am seeing anything +fine, heaven deliver me from the proximity of a walking dictionary of +technical terms!" + +"They are very useful things in their way, Edward," answered Isadore; +"and only think, if these men can be so eloquent about things that +they do not feel, solely upon the strength of their jargon, how much +more eloquent you, who do feel them, would be, if you had the jargon +too." + +She spoke jestingly; but De Vaux, whose spleen had been somewhat +excited, answered quickly, "I do not know, Isadore--I do not know. I +very often think that a great acquaintance with the jargon of art +tends to destroy the feeling for it. I have heard of a great critic, +who, on viewing the Apollo of Belvidere, declared that had the lip +been a hair's breadth longer, the god would have been lost. This was +all very connoisseurish and very true, no doubt; but, depend upon it, +that man felt the beauties of the immortal statue a thousand times +more, whose only exclamation on seeing it was, 'Good God!' I would +rather have the fresh feelings of even ignorance itself than the +tutored and mechanical taste that measures the cheek-bones of a Venus, +gauges the depth of colour in a Claude, or feels the edges of a book +instead of looking into the inside." + +"Yes, but consider, Edward," said Marian, who since she entered the +room had been sitting silent at the breakfast-table, "it surely does +not follow that because we understand a thing well, we lose our first +and natural taste for it. If I could paint like Claude or Poussin, I +surely should not take less pleasure in a beautiful landscape." + +"NO, Marian," exclaimed Miss Falkland, well knowing that De Vaux would +not support his sarcasms very vigorously against his cousin, "no; but, +depend upon it, no one who could paint like Claude or Poussin would +talk like a connoisseur." + +"Perhaps," said Colonel Manners, "knowledge of all kinds may be like +the fabled cup, whose influence entirely depended upon those who drank +from it--to some it was death, to others immortal life; wisdom to +some, and foolishness to others. And thus I should think a great +acquaintance with any art, in some instances--where the taste was good +and the mind was strong--would refine the taste and give humility to +the mind, by showing what an unfathomable mine of undiscovered things +every study presents; while in other cases--where the taste was null +and the mind weak--the result would be the vanity of ill-digested +knowledge, and an idle gabble of unmeaning terms." + +"And how often would the latter be the case when compared with the +former?" said De Vaux. "Answer me, my dear colonel." + +"I am afraid, indeed, nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a +thousand," replied Colonel Manners: "and what, I must confess, is +worse still, the proportion of those who would bow to the vanity of +ill-digested knowledge, and give implicit credit to the gabble of +unmeaning terms, would be still greater; while taste, and genius, and +mind would be forced to content themselves with the poor thousandth +part of those whom they addressed." + +"Then how is it, Colonel Manners," said Marian, "that we are told that +what is really good has always ultimate success, notwithstanding this +terrific array of folly against it?" + +"Because truth is permanent in its very essence; and falsehood--of +every kind, as well false tastes as false statements--is evanescent," +replied Colonel Manners. "Such is, I suppose, the broad reason; but, +to examine it more curiously, we shall find the progress of the thing +somewhat amusing: for even the ultimate establishment of truth and +wisdom is, in a great measure, owing to the voice of the false and +foolish. Here is a fine picture or a fine statue, of that chaste but +not attractive kind which ensures the admiration of those who can feel +beauty, but does not win the attention of the crowd. A man without +taste sees a man of taste gazing at it; hears him praise its beauties; +and, as there is nothing so servile or so vain as folly, instantly +affects to perceive the beauties which he never saw, and goes forth +to trumpet them as things of his own discovery. Others come to see, +and, as one fool will never be outdone by another, each sings its +praises in the same vociferous tone, each gains his little stock of +self-complacency from praising what others praise, and the reputation +of the thing is established." + +"Unless," said De Vaux, "one of the learned fools we were talking +of should step in; and as his vanity is always of the pugnacious +kind--the vanity that will lead, instead of being led--he of course +condemns what others have been praising; declares that the statue has +no contour--that the picture wants breadth, force, chiar' oscuro. All +the others cry out that it is evident it does so; wonder they could +have admired it; and poor patient merit is kicked back into the +shade." + +"But still, the same process takes place again," rejoined Colonel +Manners. "The learned fool and his generation die off; but still, the +merit of the thing remains till some one again rescues it from +oblivion, and its reputation is finally established." + +"Indeed, now, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland, "I think that you +have admitted Marian's maxim with too little limitation. That what is +really good may always have ultimate success, is true, undoubtedly, +when spoken of transcendent merit or of superexcellent qualities; but +this transcendent merit only appears once, perhaps, in a century; +and the world shows that, in the great mass of worldly things, the +every-day virtues, the every-day exertions, the every-day characters +which surround us in this busy existence, virtue and merit are not +always ultimately successful. The religious, the political, the +scientific charlatan often carries all before him; while the man of +modest talent and unassuming virtue plods on his way unnoticed, and +dies forgotten. So much, indeed, is this the case, that do not we +daily see that many a shrewd man of real talent feels obliged to mix a +little charlatanism with his other qualities for the sake of ensuring +success? If Marian had said that things which are intrinsically +immortal--which have in themselves inherent permanence--must have +ultimate success when they are really good, and condemnation when +they are bad, I would have granted it at once; but in all lesser +things--and the world is made up of them--I sincerely believe that +success depends upon accident or impudence." + +Colonel Manners smiled, and abandoned, or at least modified, his +theory, admitting that Mrs. Falkland was right; for he was one of +those men who, having generally reason on their side, can be candid +without fear. But there was also something more than this in his +candour: it sprung from his heart--it was a part of his character; and +though it may seem unnatural to the greater part of mankind, it is no +less a fact, that he was so great a lover of truth that, when once he +was convinced, he never dreamed of contending against his conviction. +He therefore gave up the position, that merit would always be +ultimately successful, limiting it according to Mrs. Falkland's +showing. + +Isadore added, that she thought it must be so, and would be sorry to +believe it otherwise, as the occasional separation of virtue and +success in this world afforded to her mind one of the strongest +corroborative assurances of a future state. De Vaux laughed at her, +and called her a little philosopher, and the conversation branched off +to other things. + +Breakfast is a meal at which one loves to linger. The daylight and the +wide world have all, more or less, an idea of labour attached to them; +and though that labour be of the lightest kind, there is still a +feeling in going forth after breakfast that we are about to take our +share of the original curse; which feeling inclines man naturally to +linger over the tea and coffee, and saunter to the window, or look +into the fire, or play with the knife and fork for a few minutes more +than is positively required. What between one oral occupation or +another, then, the party at Mrs. Falkland's breakfast-table contrived +to pass an hour very pleasantly. Colonel Manners, when all had risen, +bestowed five minutes more upon the long window--while Isadore and her +mother, De Vaux and Marian, held separate councils on the future +proceedings of the day--and then retired to his own room, to write a +note of business to some of his people in London. He had not long been +gone when the fat and venerable servant, whom we have called Peter, +entered the room, bearing a note, which, with much respectful +ceremony, he delivered over to the hands of Miss De Vaux. Marian +turned a little red and a little pale; and, had a jealous husband seen +her receive that billet, he might have begun to suspect one whose +every thought was pure; but the truth was, that poor Marian had +instantly recognised her uncle's hand; and as her last ideas in +respect to him had not been very pleasant, she was afraid that the new +ones about to be called up by his note might be still more +disagreeable. Without pausing to examine the scrawl upon the back, +which implied her name, she broke the seal, and read. As she did so, a +gentle smile and a softer suffusion stole over her face; but then she +became more grave, then looked vexed, and then handed the paper to +Mrs. Falkland, saying, "Do read it, my dear aunt; my uncle is both +very kind and very unkind; but, indeed, it concerns you and Edward a +great deal more than it does me." + +Mrs. Falkland took the letter and read it, the substance of which was +to the following effect:--In the first place, the noble lord began by +expressing more affection for Marian de Vaux than he had ever been +known to express for man, woman, or child before in his existence. He +next went on to say, that there was nothing on earth which had ever +given him so much pleasure as the prospect of his son's marriage with +her on whom he had been showering such praises: it was the solacing +idea of his old age, he said, and the compensating joy for many a past +sorrow. He then declared that he had hoped to be much with Edward and +Marian during the days that were to intervene ere their marriage could +be celebrated, and to have witnessed the ceremony as the most joyful +and satisfactory one that he could ever behold; and next came the real +object and substance-matter of the whole; for he concluded by +expressing his bitter disappointment at not being able to do so, from +the circumstance of a man who had so grossly insulted him as Colonel +Manners had done, continuing in his sister's house, as her honoured +guest and his son's bosom friend. Marian would understand, he said, +that it was impossible for him to present himself again at +Morley-house while Colonel Manners was there, without loss of dignity +and honour; but he nevertheless besought her to let every thing +proceed as if he were present; and he added a desire to see her as +soon after her marriage as possible. + +While Mrs. Falkland, and then Edward de Vaux, read the letter in turn, +Marian kept her eyes fixed on the ground. The fact is, however, that +there was much in her uncle's letter to pain her, as well as to +gratify her; and she would even willingly have sacrificed the +gratifying part, if by so doing she could have done away the painful. +It was very unpleasant, in the first place, to be pressed by +assurances of affection and kindness to commit a gross injustice for +the gratification of the person expressing that affection; and it was +not a little disagreeable to think of her marriage to Lord Dewry's son +taking place without his father's presence and countenance. Women of +the finest minds and the justest feelings will think of what the world +will say; and God forbid they ever should not. Marian de Vaux, +therefore, thought of what the world would say, in regard to Lord +Dewry being absent from her wedding; and she could not help feeling +that the comments of all her kind acquaintances would be painful, +both to her pride and her delicacy. All this was passing in her mind, +while her eyes were busy with a pair of nondescripts on the damask +table-cloth: but let it be clearly understood, that she never did +Colonel Manners the wrong to wish that he should go, on account of any +pain that she herself might suffer. She wished, indeed, that her uncle +would be more just, more placable, more generous; but she felt clearly +where the fault lay, and she never turned her eyes in the other +direction. Mrs. Falkland appreciated Marian's feelings in almost all +cases; but at present she estimated to the full all that would be +distressing to her niece in the conduct of her brother, and thought, +perhaps, that Marian might be more affected by it than she really +was. "My dear Marian," she said, "this is very disagreeable for us +all, and must be very painful to you, my sweet girl, in particular. +Nevertheless we must do justice to ourselves. Were it any thing like a +sacrifice of mere pleasure, we might and would willingly do a great +deal to satisfy your uncle, and remove the unpleasant load he casts +upon us; but this is a matter of right and wrong, in which he is +decidedly in the wrong; and to yield to him would not only be +dishonourable to ourselves, but seems to me quite impossible. The +demeanour of Colonel Manners to me and mine has been every thing +that I could desire, and is in every respect accordant with his +well-established character, as a most gallant soldier and accomplished +gentleman; and I can neither suffer the whims nor the ill-temper of +any person, however near the relationship, to alter my conduct in such +a case. What do you say, Edward? + +"I agree with you entirely, my dear aunt," he replied, "and so I told +my father this morning. Holding Manners, as I do, to be most nobly in +the right, I cannot suffer either my opinion of him, or my behaviour +towards him, to be changed by the sudden dislike of even my parent." + +"And let me say, Edward, a most capricious and Lord Dewry-ish dislike +it is--though he be your father and my uncle," added Miss Falkland. +"What can he find to dislike in Colonel Manners? He is not beautiful, +it is true: but he saved your life at the risk of his own; he nursed +you in sickness; he was your companion in danger, and your friend at +all times; so that if any one loved him, it should be your father. +Besides, could any one have made himself more agreeable than he has +done since he has been here? What pretence does Lord Dewry think mamma +could have for turning such a man out of her house, when she had so +lately invited him in the most pressing terms?" + +"Oh, of course, that is quite out of the question," said Mrs. +Falkland, smiling at her fair daughter's enthusiasm; "though I cannot +help thinking, Edward, that your father's design, in that letter, was +to make us do so, by rendering the contrary so disagreeable to us." + +"If it were so, he will alter his behaviour," replied De Vaux, "when +he finds that we cannot follow such a course; and I am sure you think +with me, my dear aunt, that the only plan we can pursue is, to do as +he bids us in his note, and proceed as if he were present." + +"Most certainly," replied Mrs. Falkland: "do you not think so too, +Marian?" + +"Oh yes, Marian does," cried Isadore Falkland; "I am sure she does." + +"I am afraid we must do so," answered Marian, smiling somewhat sadly; +"but, at all events, my dear aunt, I had better write to my uncle, and +I will try to persuade him to change his determination." + +"Do so, my dear girl," replied her aunt; "though I am afraid you will +find it in vain." + +Marian sat down and wrote, and put as much gentle sweetness into her +note as would have gone far to soften any other man upon earth. She +said not a word in regard to Colonel Manners, his quarrel with her +uncle, or her own feelings on the subject: but she expressed to Lord +Dewry how deeply gratified she was by his tenderness and affection; +how ardently she hoped to retain it when she should become the wife of +his son. She then went on to tell him, in language that came rushing +from her heart, how bitterly painful it would be to her, if he +continued the same determination of not being present at her marriage; +and she entreated, with persuasions that none but woman could have +written, that he would yield his resolution in this respect. In the +whole course of her letter--though it was as artless as any collection +of words that ever was penned--there was not one syllable that could +offend the pride, or the vanity, or the feelings of her uncle--not one +that could afford anger or irritation the least footing to rest upon. +Had it been calculated upon the most experienced view of all the +follies and passions of human nature, it could not have been better +constructed; and yet, as we have said, it was as artless a composition +as ever was penned: but the secret was, that it came from a fine, a +gentle, and a sensitive mind. + +And now, while she folds, seals, and addresses it, with neat and +careful hand, and gives it to the servant to be sent off immediately, +we shall take the liberty of turning to another part of the subject, +and treating of the person whose presence was the point of difficulty. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +When Lord Dewry quitted Colonel Manners at the end of the +flower-garden, as we have shown in a preceding chapter, the gallant +soldier had turned back towards the house, but with steps much less +rapid than those of the peer, from the simple fact of no violent +passion moving in his breast. In truth, it would seem, after all, that +man, notwithstanding his great pretensions, his reasonings about his +own existence, and his conceit in his painted jacket, is not at all +unlike one of those figures that children buy at fairs, with his arms +and legs, and even his head, hung on by wires; and with the passions +to pull the string at the back, not only without his volition, but +often against his will. Wrath pulls, and he kicks; revenge pulls, and +he strikes; jealousy pulls, and he writhes; fear pulls, and he runs; +love pulls, and he dances; and, as no one of these passions was behind +Colonel Manners at the time, he had walked on slowly and deliberately +towards the house, sometimes turning to look at the landscape, +sometimes trifling with a flower, but doing neither one nor the other, +perhaps, quite so often as when he set out that day upon his morning's +walk. + +Still, it is not to be supposed that, though no very violent affection +of the mind followed Lord Dewry's departure, Colonel Manners remained +perfectly indifferent to what had occurred: on the contrary, it threw +him into a fit of musing, if not of deep thought, and produced +reflections which ended in resolutions, such as Colonel Manners might +be expected to form. At the peer's wrath he laughed, and laughed at +his menaces equally, secure in that calm, self-confident courage, +which, not knowing what fear is, never dreams that it can be +attributed to us; but at the uncomfort that his dispute with De Vaux's +father might and would produce in the family he had come to visit, +Colonel Manners did not laugh. He had assented on the preceding night, +in words which, with him, amounted to a promise, to forget the baron's +rudeness, and not to suffer it to abridge his stay; but, at present, +new provocation had been given, and he had every reason to believe +that his visit could not be prolonged to the period he had at first +proposed, without material uncomfort to the family at Morley House, +however strongly their kindness or their politeness might urge his +stay. + +"Doubtless," thought Colonel Manners,--for we must put his +private cogitations into the form of that necessary folly, a +soliloquy,--"doubtless, the worthy peer will not go and expose himself +so much to his own family, as to tell them what has occurred between +us this morning; but equally, without doubt, he will contrive, by his +demeanour towards me, to render the house, not only very unpleasant to +me, but also to all its occupants; and, therefore, as this is a field +where honour is neither to be gained nor supported, I must even beat a +retreat. Yet De Vaux will, I know, feel very much mortified, if he +fancies that his father is the cause of my departure; and therefore I +suppose that the best plan be, to wait a day or two, and then, with +the first letters that arrive,--and I must receive some soon, to plead +important business, and set out. I suppose I must bear with this +ill-tempered old gentleman's behaviour as best I may for eight and +forty hours, though I am afraid it will be a struggle to avoid +retorting a little of his bitterness upon himself." + +Such had been the substance of Colonel Manners' thoughts upon this +subject, as he walked back, and such the determination he formed; but +as he did form them, there was something like a sigh escaped from his +bosom. The reception he had met with from Mrs. Falkland and her +family, on his first arrival, had been so warm and kind, that all the +best feelings of his heart had been enlisted on their side. He had +completely made up his mind to spend a happy three weeks with people +who seemed, in every respect, so amiable; and although he felt that it +might be a little dangerous,--by making him feel more acutely, from +comparison, the want of domestic ties and comforts,--although he felt +it might be a little dangerous, yet he had experienced a pleasure at +the idea of thus dwelling, even for a short space, in the midst of a +true old English family, that made him bitterly regret the necessity +of foregoing what he had set his heart upon. As he thought of going +forth again alone, it seemed as if it were the voice of fate that +forbade him to expose himself to the sight of feelings and enjoyments +that he was never to know personally, and sent him back imperiously to +the solitary state of existence which was to be his portion; and +although Colonel Manners was accustomed to the contemplation, and had +nerved his mind, not only to bear the uncomforts of his lot, but to +resist every thought that would teach him to repine, yet there were +times--and this was one--when he could not but feel the chill wind of +solitude blow from the dreary prospect of the future, and blight even +the enjoyment of the present. A dissertation on the moral and physical +nature of man might be given to prove to a demonstration, that +domestic ties are a necessity of his existence: and let any man gaze +forward into future years, and fancy that some cold barrier is placed +between him and domestic affection; that no kindred eye is to brighten +at his presence, no affectionate lip smile at his happiness, no tear +of sympathy to wash away one half of his griefs, no cheerful voice to +dispel the thoughts of care, no assiduous hand to smooth the pillow of +sickness, and close the eye of death,--let him picture his being +solitary, his joys unshared, his sorrows undivided, his misfortunes +unaided but by general compassion, his sickness tended by the slow +hand of mercenaries, and his eyes closed, while the light has scarce +departed, by the rude touch of some weary and indifferent menial,--let +him fancy all this, and then he will feel, indeed, that domestic ties +are a necessity of our existence; at least, if he be not either drunk +with licentious passions, or a mere calculating machine. + +We do not mean to say that all these ideas, or any one of them, +presented themselves to the mind of Colonel Manners. Far be it from us +to insinuate that he was foolish enough to give a vivid form and +painful minuteness to the evils of a state that he believed he could +not avoid. He struggled even against the general impression; but, as +we have said, there were moments in his life--and this was one--when, +notwithstanding reason and resolution, he would feel bitterly that it +is sad and sorrowful to pass through life alone, to spend one's days +in solitude, and to go down into the grave without a tie. The +impression was so strongly raised, and clung so firmly to his mind, at +the moment we speak of, that he took a turn of a hundred yards back +upon the walk, to give the thoughts full range. Then remembering +himself, he broke out into an involuntary exclamation of, "This is +folly!" and turned quickly back to the house. + +In the breakfast-room he found Miss Falkland alone, and was not sorry +so to find her; for there was in her conversation a pleasant and +good-humoured sparkling, a frank and fearless liveliness, which amused +and interested him. Besides, Colonel Manners was by no means a man to +object to the society of a very beautiful girl: on that score he was +quite fearless; for he had so guarded his heart by rampart, and +bastion, and half-moon, that he feared no attack, either by siege or +storm. The thing that he feared was, the sight of a state of happiness +which he coveted, but did not hope for; and therefore he could enjoy +the gay conversation and pleasing presence of Isadore Falkland without +alloy, though he might apprehend that a lengthened stay, in the midst +of a cheerful family circle, might deepen his regret at his own +loneliness. + +Now, although the house of Mrs. Falkland, like most other houses of +its date, had a certain ramblingness of construction, midway between +the Gothic of Henry the Seventh's and the anomalous architecture of +the nineteenth century, yet the rooms were sufficiently proximate to +allow Colonel Manners to hear every now and then, as the servant +opened and shut the door of the breakfast-room, the voice of Lord +Dewry, in tones more sharp than was becoming. Nor was he slack in +attributing the acerbity of the sounds he heard to their right cause; +so that, as we have before shown, when Mrs. Falkland and her nephew +spoke of the departure of the noble lord as a thing that had taken +place in the ordinary course of affairs, Manners had very nearly +smiled. + +However, having taken his determination in regard to his proceedings, +and, seeing no better plan that he could pursue, he suffered the +matter to pass quietly, well knowing that real delicacy never makes a +noise. To say the truth, he was not at all sorry to find that Lord +Dewry had taken his departure; for he had every inclination to make +himself both comfortable and agreeable while he did stay, neither of +which objects are very attainable in the same house with a man who +wants to fight a duel with you. After breakfast, as Manners was too +much of a general to leave any thing to chance, he retired to his own +apartments, in order to write such letters to London as would ensure +immediate replies of the kind that would afford him a fair excuse for +breaking through his engagement with De Vaux, without rendering the +matter painful to his friend by any direct reference to his father; +and, when this was accomplished, he returned to the rest of the party, +whom he found in the act of seeing the footman leave the room with +Marian's note to her uncle. + +"We propose to take a walk, Manners," said De Vaux, as he entered; "I +must show you the beauties of our county; and I think we will go upon +the path which leads across the hill, and brings us through the wood +to within a few hundred yards of the spot where we saw the gipsies. We +call it Marian's Walk, as she might always be found there when we were +but little boys and girls." + +"It might have been called Edward's Walk as well, then," answered +Isadore, gayly; "for I am sure she was never there without you, +Edward. At all events, if you did not go with her, you were not long +before you found her." + +"And can Miss de Vaux venture on so long a walk?" asked Colonel +Manners, "in the present day, when the extent of a lady's morning +promenade is twice round the room and once round the garden--when +shoemakers stare, I am told, at the name of walking shoes, and declare +that they never heard of such things?" + +Marian smiled. "You are severe upon us, Colonel Manners," she said; +"but this walk is not so far either--though it is a little steep." + +"It seemed to me nearly six miles," replied Colonel Manners; "six +miles, at least, from this spot to the place De Vaux mentions." + +"Oh, that was because you came by the road," replied Isadore: "if you +had come over the hill, you would have shortened the way by one +half--but I forgot; you would have met with some accident also, as it +was dark, and you were on horseback. It is not much more than two +miles to the place where the path again joins the high-road after +passing through Morley wood." + +"If you find it so short, I trust you are to be of the party, Miss +Falkland," said Colonel Manners. + +"Oh, most certainly," she replied. "It was all very well for Edward +and Marian to wander through the woods together when they were boys +and girls; but now propriety, you know, Colonel Manners, requires a +sedate and aged chaperon; and besides, I could not leave the party of +such an odd and unfortunate number as three: I should be afraid of +some accident happening to you by the way." + +"But three is a fortunate number, my gay cousin," replied De Vaux, +smiling, "not an unfortunate one, by every rule of cabalistic +science." + +"In figures, but not in love, Edward," answered his cousin, with a gay +laugh. "At least, I have read as much in your face, more than once, +when I happened to be the unfortunate third--" + +"Hush, hush, Isadore," cried Marian. "Come, let us dress ourselves to +go;" and taking her cousin's arm, she hurried her away. Now Marian de +Vaux, who knew her cousin well, was quite sure that Isadore would not +push her raillery of her lover one step too far; but still she was not +sorry to break off Isadore's discourse; for love is one of those +things that people may talk about a great deal when they feel it not, +but which they bury deep in the heart's innermost tabernacle as soon +as they know its value, and, like misers, tremble even when their +treasure is named. + +Every one was soon ready to set out; and strolling through the garden +separately, they proceeded to what was called the little gate, which +gave them exit upon the road of which they were in search. By +separately, I mean that neither of the gentlemen offered an arm to +their female companions so long as they were within rows of box-wood +bordering and upon gravel walks. There would have been something +ridiculous in it; although, perhaps, the quality of walking arm-in-arm +is to be looked upon as one of the peculiar privileges of humanity, +which as much distinguishes man from other animals, as any other +quality of his mind or body. He has been called, by those who strove +to define him, "a forked radish, fantastically cut," "a viviparous +biped, without feathers," "a cooking animal," and many another name. +But had they called him "the animal that walks arm-in-arm," +philosophers might have come nearer to his distinctive quality; for +not only is it a thing that no other animal does, but it also gives at +once the idea of many of the finer qualities of man's mind, and is, in +fact, a sort of living hieroglyphic of affection and sympathy, and +mutual assistance and support. + +Now Colonel Manners and Edward de Vaux, looking upon the privilege of +walking arm-in-arm in its true light, might consider it with too much +reverence to enter upon it lightly, and therefore not offer to +exercise it towards their fair companions, till the steepness of the +way and the openness of the country seemed to render it necessary for +their convenience and protection. There might, indeed, be another +reason, which was, that in issuing forth from the house, a little +derangement in the natural order of things had taken place--some stray +glove, or wandering stick, or something of the kind, had been +forgotten, so as to throw out the order of the march; and Colonel +Manners found himself walking beside Marian de Vaux, while De Vaux was +at the elbow of his cousin Isadore. Colonel Manners, in agreeing to go +out upon this expedition, had perfectly well understood the part he +was held to play; and De Vaux had the most firm and implicit reliance +upon his friend's tact in the business; so that by a tacit convention +it was arranged between them, that the long ramble which Marian had +promised to take with her lover was to be as completely solitary and +agreeable as if they had not a friend or relation upon the face of the +earth. But the derangement which had taken place in the position of +the forces of course rendered a counter movement on the part of De +Vaux and his friend necessary; and yet, as the walk they followed was +narrow, and did not admit of the advance of more than two abreast, the +desired evolution could not be performed without rendering the object +unpleasantly obvious, till some little accident came to their aid. +Colonel Manners, however, had been out in the morning, as we have +already seen, to reconnoitre the ground; and as soon as he saw the +difficulty, he instantly laid out the plan of the evolutions, and +fixed upon the exact position, walking on still by the side of Marian +de Vaux, and talking of _les mouches qui volent_. + +But to proceed. Colonel Manners and Marian reached the little gate +first, and unlocked it, and then Colonel Manners halted till Miss de +Vaux and Miss Falkland had passed. The two ladies immediately halted +on the bank of the little road facing the gate, with Marian on the +right hand and Isadore on the left. Colonel Manners then resigned the +command of the gate to Edward de Vaux; but, in marching out, while the +other locked the door and brought the key, Manners took up a position +upon the extreme left. De Vaux then advanced to the right of the line, +and, wheeling about, gave his arm to Marian; Colonel Manners offered +his to Miss Falkland, and led the way up the road to the left. This +detail is given as an exemplification of Manners' military skill,--a +quality which, unfortunately, we shall have no other opportunity of +displaying throughout this book. Nor was Isadore Falkland's knowledge +of strategy less marked, in taking up the position to the left, as it +entirely commanded the road up which they were about to proceed; and +as people in love in general walk a great deal slower than people not +in love, it was necessary that she and Colonel Manners should lead the +way, in order at once to give Edward and Marian de Vaux the protection +of their presence and the benefit of their absence. + +Colonel Manners and Miss Falkland did not lose much time in silence, +for they were both people who could talk very pleasantly; and, +whatever they might think in regard to themselves, they each felt that +it was so in regard to the other. They spoke of many things; and +Isadore's conversation, as she became better acquainted with her +companion, and discovered that there were stores of feeling and +kindness at his heart which would prevent him from laughing at her own +enthusiasms, poured forth more of the deeper stream of her character, +over which the rippling current of gay and sparkling jest that she +usually displayed, flowed as much to conceal the depth, as for any +other purpose. Besides, she was happy and young; and where was ever +the stream, however profound, that did not sparkle when the sun shone +full upon it? + +Their first topic, as perhaps might be expected, was De Vaux and +Marian; a topic which, under some circumstances, might have been +dangerous; but Manners and Miss Falkland felt themselves perfectly +secure. Still it was a delicate one: for however deep and true Colonel +Manners' friendship might be for De Vaux, and however warm and +enthusiastic might be the love of Isadore for her cousin Marian, there +were, of course, a thousand little circumstances and feelings, upon +which neither could enter, out of respect for the very friendship and +affection which they felt for the two lovers. Nevertheless, perhaps, +this very _retenue_, with the sort of faint and misty allusions which +they were obliged to make to their friends' love and their friends' +hopes and prospects, and the graceful circumlocutions and explicative +figures that it obliged them to seek, were not without charms in +themselves. Colonel Manners, for his part, felt very sure that, under +Marian de Vaux's calm and tranquil manners were very deep and powerful +feelings; but, at the same time, he wished--if consistently with +delicacy it were possible--to find out from Miss Falkland whether his +opinions were fully justified; and Isadore longed to know--with all a +woman's yearnings to prove to her own heart the substantial existence +of real, pure, permanent, unswerving love--whether her cousin had +retained, during his long absence, all that tender, devoted, undivided +attachment which he displayed towards Marian when present. Not at all +did she wish to know whether Edward de Vaux had made love to, or +flirted with, or talked sweet nonsense to any other woman. Do not let +it be misunderstood; she never suspected such a thing, nor would have +believed it had it been told her: but she would have given a great +deal to find out, whether in the bosom of her cousin, the one thought +of his affection had ever been paramount; whether the world, and +ambition, and other scenes, and absence, and danger, and excitement +had never banished the image of Marian from the bosom of Edward de +Vaux; and, in short, she would have willingly heard it proved, in his +instance, that love can exist in the bosom of man, under prolonged +absence and varying circumstances. In all this, she was as +disinterested as a woman ever can be in regard to an affair of love; +but, the truth is, no woman can be totally so. The whole of that +bright race are, in this respect, but a joint-stock company--to borrow +a figure from familiar things--and love is their capital, in which all +have an interest, and all a share. + +However, it will be easily conceived that, under these circumstances, +the conversation between Miss Falkland and Colonel Manners was as +nice, and delicate, and difficult an encounter of their wits as ever +was practised. Colonel Manners was soon satisfied; for, in answer to +some complimentary observation upon her cousin's manners and +appearance, which went to praise their tranquillity as well as their +elegance, Isadore answered frankly, and smiling as she did so, "Oh, +Marian is often more _commoto dentro_ than you think." Miss Falkland's +researches, however, were less easily pursued, and they led her, like +a child hunting a butterfly, through a world of flowers. One time, she +would put her problem generally, and wonder whether any man ever did +feel, and continue to feel, as she wished to believe Edward had done +towards Marian; and then she would put it particularly, and say, that +she thought such an attachment as his must have been a wonderful +solace and delight to him; an inexhaustible fund of sweet feelings and +hope, throughout all that he had been obliged to endure. But still +Colonel Manners, who very clearly understood what she meant, hung back +a little in his explanations; pleased, in truth, to watch the feelings +that prompted her and the path she pursued; pleased with all the +graces that the subject called up in her countenance and her manner; +the beaming smile, the sparkling eye, and sometimes the sudden stop +and passing blush, when she became uncertain of the next step and +dared not advance. + +After he had amused himself a little, and saw that she might +misconstrue his backwardness into something disadvantageous to his +friend, he caught at the next sentence, and replied, "Yes, indeed, I +look upon De Vaux's attachment, and his engagement to your fair +cousin, before he went to America, as one of the greatest blessings +that could have happened to him; especially for a man whose heart was +calculated to make it his happiness and his safeguard, and his leading +star wherever he went." + +Isadore blushed warmly; and perhaps there was a little mingling of +emotions in her blush; for, in the first place, the full confirmation +of what she had wished and hoped, made her cheek glow; and, in the +next place, Colonel Manners' words were so exactly a reply to the +questions which had been lurking unspoken in her heart, that she +almost suspected he had seen deeper into her thoughts than she had +anticipated. A slight smile that followed upon his lip she considered +as excessively malicious; but she was one who never suffered wrath to +rankle in her bosom, but, in her way, revenged herself always on the +spot. "You speak so feelingly, Colonel Manners," said she, just +suffering a single ray of laughing light to gleam out of her fine dark +eyes; "you speak so feelingly, that I doubt not you have been guarded +and led in the same manner." + +Let it be clearly kept in mind, that Isadore Falkland had only known +Colonel Charles Manners fourteen hours and a half, or she would not +have said what she did for the world. It may be thought that the case +ought to have been quite the contrary, and that she might have +ventured more had she been more intimate. But such would be an +erroneous view of the matter. Isadore Falkland well knew that fourteen +hours and a half was not a sufficient space of time for any rational +man either to feel or to affect love for the most enchanting being +that ever the world beheld, and, consequently, that she might say a +sportive thing in regard to Colonel Manners' heart, without any chance +of a retort which might have been disagreeable--unless he had been a +fool or a coxcomb, which she knew him not to be. Had she known him a +fortnight, he might have made the retort, as a jest, which would have +been disagreeable enough; or as a compliment, which would have been +still more disagreeable; or as a serious fact, which would have been +most disagreeable; and therefore, under such circumstances, she would +never have thought of talking about the heart of one of the company, +when there were but two in it. Had she known, too, that the subject +was a painful one to Colonel Manners, she would as little have thought +of touching upon it; and, indeed, a feeling that he was not handsome, +and a vague misty sort of consciousness that that fact might have +something to do with his remaining unmarried, did make her regret that +she had said such words, almost as soon as they were beyond recall. + +"No, indeed," said Colonel Manners, with a touch of melancholy in his +manner that could not wholly be banished; "no, indeed, I have not been +so fortunate as either to have guardian angel or leading star;" and he +smiled at the triteness of his own figures of speech, but with a smile +that did not counteract, to the mind of Miss Falkland, the sadness of +his tone. She was vexed with herself, and would have done anything on +earth, in a reasonable way, to efface whatever painful feelings she +might have awakened: but though she was generally skilful enough in +putting an end to a difficulty where others were concerned, she found +it not so easy to disentangle the affair when she herself was the +culprit. + +Whether Colonel Manners perceived that Miss Falkland felt she had +given pain, and was vexed with herself, or whether he likewise wished +to get rid of the subject, matters little; but he now changed the +topic somewhat abruptly; and looking round upon the woods, into the +very heart of which they were plunging, he said, "I wonder that you +fair ladies are not somewhat afraid of walking through these solitudes +by yourselves." + +"There is no danger," she replied; "we have none but very orderly, +peaceable people in our part of the world: though, in truth," she +added, after a moment's thought, "we are the last family that should +say there is no danger; but I have never heard of any very serious +offence being committed in our neighbourhood since the murder of my +poor uncle, which, as it is long ago, of course I do not recollect. + +"I remember having heard something of that event," replied Colonel +Manners, "but do not recollect the particulars. Was he killed by +highwaymen?" + +"I believe so," answered Miss Falkland, "though I know too little +about it to tell you exactly what happened. But--oh, yes!--he was +robbed and murdered, I remember; for it was proved that he had a large +sum of money upon his person when he went out--several thousand +pounds--and it was supposed that some one who knew the fact had either +waylaid him, or had informed the murderers of the booty they might +obtain." + +"He was, I think, your uncle by the side of Mrs. Falkland," said +Colonel Manners, who of course felt an interest in the matter in +proportion to the little difficulties of obtaining information. + +"Yes, my mother's brother," replied Isadore; "Marian's father. You may +easily imagine that such a story rendered her an object of double +interest to all her family--of redoubled tenderness, I believe I +should say, and even my uncle, who is not very scrupulous in regard to +what he says to any one, is more kind and considerate towards Marian +than towards any other human being. That great and horrible crime, +however--I mean the murder--seems to have frightened others from our +neighbourhood; and though we occasionally hear of a little poaching, +the people round us are uniformly well-behaved and peaceable." + +"Can you say as much for the gipsies towards whose encampment, if I +understood De Vaux right, we are bending our way?" asked Colonel +Manners. "They are, in general, very troublesome and unquiet +neighbours." + +"I had not heard of their being here," replied Miss Falkland: "we are +very seldom so honoured, I can assure you. I do not remember having +seen gipsies here more than once; and that was not in this wood, but +on a large common up yonder at the top of that hill, behind the house. +They are a strange race!" + +"They are, indeed," answered her companion; "and De Vaux and I, as we +passed their encampment, could not help marvelling that no government +had ever thought it worth its while to pay some attention to them, +either for the purpose of reclaiming them to civilized life, or, if +that were judged impossible, for the purpose of obtaining those traces +of knowledge which are waning from among them every day, but which +some of their better men are said still to retain." + +"Do you mean their astrological knowledge?" asked Miss Falkland, with +a look of no slight interest in the question. + +"O, no!" answered Colonel Manners, with a smile; "I mean the knowledge +of their real history, of their original country, of their former +laws, of their language in its purity, and of many facts of great +interest, which, though with them they are merely traditionary, yet +might be confirmed or invalidated by other testimony in our own +possession." + +"They are a strange people, indeed!" said Miss Falkland. "Do you know, +Colonel Manners, that the separate existence of these gipsies and of +the Jews--coming down, as it were, two distinct streams, amid all the +whirling confusion of an ocean of other nations--keeping their +identity among wars, and battles, and changes, and the overturning of +all things but themselves; retaining their habits, and their thoughts, +and their national character apart, in spite both of sudden and +violent revolutions in society, and of the slow, but even more +powerful efforts of gradual improvement and civilization. Do you know, +whenever I think of this, it gives me a strange feeling of mysterious +awe that I cannot describe? It seems as if I saw more distinctly than +in the common course of things the workings of the particular will of +the Almighty; for I cannot understand how these facts can be accounted +for by any of the common motives in existence; as, in both instances, +interest, ambition, policy, and pleasure, with almost every inducement +that could be enumerated, would have produced exactly the opposite +result." + +"I shall not attempt to reason against you, Miss Falkland," replied +Colonel Manners, with a smile; "and, indeed, I very much agree with +you in opinion, though perhaps not in your wonder; for being a +complete believer in a special providence, I only see the same hand in +this that I think is discernible throughout creation." + +"But tell me, Colonel Manners," said Isadore, "have you any belief in +the fortune-telling powers of the gipsies?" + +"None whatever," answered Colonel Manners. + +"Nor perhaps have I," said Isadore; "but at the same time it is +strange that in all ages and in all countries, as far as I can +understand, these gipsies have pretended to this particular science, +and have been very generally believed. At all events, it shows that +they have an immemorial tradition of such a power having been +possessed by their ancestors; and if it were possessed by their +ancestors, why not by themselves?" + +"But we have no reason to believe that it was possessed by their +ancestors," replied Colonel Manners, "except, indeed, their own +tradition, which, as you say, is evidently very ancient." + +"Nay, nay, but I think we have other proofs," replied Isadore, "and +very strong ones, it appears to me. It is evident from the historical +part of the Bible that the most ancient Egyptians had various means of +divination, and even a magical influence, the reality and power of +which is admitted by the sacred writers most distinctly; and +consequently, when these facts are joined to an immemorial tradition +of the descendants of the same nation, it seems that there is strong +reason for believing that these powers existed even after the period +to which the sacred volume refers." + +"I am inclined, indeed, to believe," replied Colonel Manners, +"that the gipsies are descendants from some Egyptian tribe, although +the fact has been contested strongly, and the French call them +Bohemians--unreasonably enough. In regard to the powers of divination +attributed to the ancient Egyptians, too, I believe them to have +existed, because I believe the Bible not only as an inspired record, +but as the best-authenticated history, without any exception, that +exists; and at the same time I cannot suppose that men who had so +grand, so comprehensive, and also so philosophical an idea of the +Divinity, that four thousand years have not been able to produce the +slightest enlargement of it, as displayed in many passages of Holy +Writ--I cannot suppose that such men would have recorded as facts +anything substantially inconsistent with the majesty of that Being +whom they alone knew in the age when they wrote. But you must remember +that these powers, though permitted then for reasons we know not, may +have ceased now, like the powers of prophecy, and many other things of +the same kind; and did the gipsies possess such powers at present, +depend upon it, we should find them clothed in purple in the closets +of kings, instead of wandering upon bare heaths, and stealing for a +livelihood." + +"You are right, I know," replied Miss Falkland, with a smile, at the +lingerings of credulity that still haunted her own bosom, "and I have +convinced myself, and been convinced by others over and over again, +that it is all nonsense; and yet,--" + +She paused, and Manners rejoined, "One of our old humorous poets says, + + + 'A man convinced against his will, + Is of the same opinion still.'" + + +"And perhaps you think the verses still more applicable to a woman, +Colonel Manners," replied Miss Falkland; "but that is not exactly the +case with me. My weakness extends no farther than this:--were a gipsy +to predict any great evil for my future life, it would make me very +uneasy, however much I might struggle against the impression; and, on +that account, I would not have my fortune told, as they call it, for +the world! Would you?" + +"Without the slightest apprehension," answered Colonel Manners, +laughing. "They may try their chiromancy on me, when they please, and +do me all the harm they can for half a crown, which is, I believe, the +stipulated sum." + +"That is, because you are a man and a hero," replied Miss Falkland, in +the same gay tone, "and you are bound by honour and profession to be +afraid of nothing; but remember, I look upon it as an agreement--you +are to have your fortune told this very day, and that will do for the +whole party; for I will not have mine told, and I am sure Marian shall +not, if I can prevent it." + +"Oh, I will be the scape-goat, with all my heart," he replied; "but I +suppose we cannot be far from their encampment, if your computation of +miles be correct." + +"We are close to the high-road," answered Miss Falkland; "but how far +up the hill they are, you best know. However, let us wait for Edward +and Marian. We must not make the babes in the wood of them; and of +course they are a good way behind. Now, I dare say, while you and +Edward were in America, you heard of Marian de Vaux till you were +tired--was it not so, Colonel Manners?" + +"No, indeed," he answered, smiling; "far from it, I can assure you. +Although I long ago found out by various infallible signs that De Vaux +was in love; yet, never till circumstances had produced esteem and +friendship, and friendship had become intimacy, did he ever mention +his engagement, or the object of his attachment." + +"And then he doubtless painted her in very glowing colours," added +Isadore, trying strenuously to while away the time till her cousins +came up, they having lingered behind farther than she had expected. + +"Oh, of course, all lovers are like the old painter Arellius," +answered Colonel Manners, "and always paint the objects of their love +as goddesses. But I will not gratify your malice, Miss Falkland; De +Vaux has too fine a sense of the ridiculous ever to render himself so +by exaggerating any feeling." + +"He has, indeed, too fine a sense of the ridiculous," answered +Isadore; "it is his worst fault, Colonel Manners; and I fear that, +like all the rest of our faults, it may some day prove his own bane; +but here they come! Now, Colonel Manners, prepare to hear your fate. +Edward, here is your friend going to have his fortune told." + +"You mean going to give half a crown to a gipsy," said De Vaux; "but if +you are serious, Manners, I will, of course, stand by you to the last, +as if you were going to fight a duel, or any other unreasonable thing. +Turn to the left and you will see the appointed place, as the +newspapers call it, before you." + +In this expectation, however, De Vaux was mistaken; for the gipsies +and their accompaniments, men, women, and children, pots, kettles, and +tents, had all disappeared. It must not be said, indeed, that they had +left no vestige of their abode behind them, for half a dozen black +spots burnt in the turf, and more than one pile of white wood ashes, +attested the extent of their encampment; but nothing else was to be +seen in the green wood, except the old oaks, and the yellow sunshine +streaming through the rugged boughs, with a squirrel balancing itself +on the branch of a fir, and two noisy jays screaming from tree to +tree. + +"This is a very Robin Hood like scene," said Colonel Manners, as he +looked around, "and less gloomy in the broad daylight than at +eventide. But here are no gipsies, Miss Falkland; and I am afraid that +you must put off hearing the future fate and fortunes of Charles +Manners till another time." + +"I am very much mortified, indeed," replied Isadore, "and I see that +you only laugh at me, Colonel Manners, without sympathizing in the +least with disappointed curiosity; which,--as no one believes more +fully than yourself,--is a very serious event in a woman's case. +However, I shall hold you bound by your promise, and look upon you +engaged as a man of honour to have your fortune told the very first +time you meet with a party of gipsies,--nay, more, to let me know the +result also." + +She spoke with playful seriousness; and Colonel Manners replied, "With +all my heart, Miss Falkland; and, indeed, you shall find that your +commands are so lightly borne by me, that I will take other +obligations upon myself, and even seek out your favourites, the +gipsies; for these protegees of yours seldom move far at a time, +unless, indeed, all the poultry in the neighbourhood happens to be +exhausted." + +"Oh, that is not the case here," answered Isadore; "there is plenty +yet remaining in every farm-yard, and I dare say you will find them on +the common." + +"I will go to-morrow, then, without fail," he answered, "for--" and he +had nearly added words which would have betrayed his meditated +departure; but he turned his speech another way; and all parties, well +satisfied with their ramble, returned by the same path to the house. + +Nothing occurred during the rest of the day to disturb the +tranquillity of the party. The evening passed away in conversation, +generally light enough, but of which we have given a specimen above, +fully sufficient to show its nature and quality. Sometimes it touched, +indeed, upon deeper feelings, without ever becoming grave; and +sometimes it ventured farther into the realms of learning, without +approaching pedantry. The annoyance of Lord Dewry's behaviour on the +preceding night had at the time reconciled Colonel Manners in some +degree to the idea of quitting a circle in which he found much to +please and interest him; but no such annoyance interrupted the course +of this evening, and he experienced more pain than he liked to +acknowledge, when he thought of leaving behind him for ever, a scene +in which the hours passed so pleasantly. He felt, however, that the +annoyance might soon be renewed, or that even if it were not, he had +no right by his presence to shut out De Vaux's father from Mrs. +Falkland's house; and he resolved still to adhere to his purpose, and +set out for London on the day after that which was just about to +follow. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The ordinary and too well-deserved lamentation over the fragility of +human resolutions was not in general applicable to the determinations +of Charles Manners, who was usually very rigid in his adherence to his +purposes, whether they were of great or small importance. But it must +not be supposed that this pertinacity, if it may so be called, in +pursuit of designs he had already formed, proceeded from what the +world calls obstinacy. Obstinacy maybe defined the act of persisting +in error; and the rectitude and precision of his judgment generally +kept him from being in error at first, so that he had rarely a +legitimate cause for breaking his resolution. Nor was he either of +such a hard and tenacious nature as to resist all persuasion, and, +like the cement of the Romans, only to grow the stiffer by the action +of external things. Far from it; he was always very willing to +sacrifice his purposes--where no moral sacrifice was implied--to the +wishes and solicitations of those he loved or esteemed. Nor is there +any contradiction in this statement, though it may be inquired, how, +then, did he break his resolutions less frequently than other people? +The secret was this, and it is worth while to burden memory with it: +he never formed his resolutions without thought, which saved at least +one-third from fracture; and though he broke them sometimes at the +entreaty of others, he never sacrificed them to any whim of his own, +which saved _very nearly_ two-thirds more; for we may depend upon it +that the determinations which we abandon, either from a change of +circumstances, or from the persuasions of our friends, form but a very +minute fraction, when compared with those that we give up, either from +original error or after caprice. + +It has seemed necessary to give this lecture upon resolutions, because +Colonel Manners very speedily found cause to abandon the determination +which he formed so vigorously on the day we spoke of in the last +chapter; and, that he might not be charged with inconsistency, it +became requisite to enter into all those strict definitions and +explanations that generally leave us as many loopholes for escape and +evasion, as a treaty of peace or a deed of settlement. + +One resolution, however, and one promise, Colonel Manners certainly +did keep, as soon as it was possible, which was, to inquire whether +the gipsies were still in the neighbourhood, and to seek them out, +with the full purpose of having his fortune told. Now, it may be +supposed that here was a little weakness on the part of Colonel +Manners--that he did give some credit to gipsy chiromancy; nay, the +reader may even push his conjectures farther, and imagine him dreaming +of Isadore Falkland's beautiful eyes, and all their varieties of +expression, from the deep and soft to the gayest sparkle that ever +twinkled through two rows of long silky eyelashes. But the simple fact +was, that he had promised to go, and that he went; and though he might +think Miss Falkland extremely beautiful and extremely pleasing, as +every man who had been two minutes in her company must have thought, +he no more dreamed of the possibility of so fair a creature, courted +and loved as he knew she must be, ever uniting herself to so ugly a +man as himself--and as he sat and shaved himself that morning he +thought himself uglier than ever--than Napoleon Bonaparte, in the +plenitude of power and the majesty of victory, thought of a low grave +beneath a willow on a rock in the Atlantic. + +In regard to any belief in the gipsies' fortune-telling, there were +little use of investigating closely, whether some thin fibre of the +root of superstition had or had not been left in the bosom of Charles +Manners. If any particle thereof did remain, it went no farther than +to excite, perhaps, a slight degree of curiosity in regard to what the +people would predict, more, perhaps, from feeling that it must be +absurd, than from expecting any point of coincidence with his real +fate; and certain it is that, whatever the gipsies might have told to +Colonel Manners, he would have thought no more of after the immediate +moment, except as a matter for jest, than he would of any other kind +of _sortes_, whether drawn from Virgil or Joe Miller. + +It was just a quarter to six on the morning after that which had seen +the walk in Morley Wood, when Manners, who was, as we have said, an +early riser, gave some orders to his servant concerning his horses, +and went out into the new wakened world. Having observed on the +preceding day, for the purpose of carrying on the jest, the exact +position of the hill on which Miss Falkland conjectured that the +gipsies might have quartered themselves, he took his way across the +park from that side which formed, in fact, the back of Morley House; +and, having assured himself beforehand that he could find means of +egress in that direction, he was soon beyond the walls, and winding up +a small cart-road towards the summit. + +The hill itself was somewhat singular in form; and as it is rather +characteristic of that particular county, we may as well endeavour to +give the reader some idea of its appearance. It formed a portion of +that steep range of upland which we have before described as +principally covered with fine wood; but this particular point, +projecting towards the river in the form of very nearly a right angle, +seemed to have cast behind it the mass of forest which still continued +over the ridge of the other hills. Vestiges of the wood, too, hung in +broken patches on the flanks of even this protuberance, but the summit +offered nothing but a bare, open plain, full of pits and ravines, and +only further diversified by a few stunted hawthorns, and one single +group of tall beeches, gathered together upon a tumulus, which covered +the bodies of some of those invading warriors to whom our island was +once a prey. The ascent to this plain from the small gate in the park +wall, by which Colonel Manners issued forth, was in length somewhat +more than a mile; but it consisted of two distinct grades, or steps, +the first of which was formed by a little peninsula, jutting out from +the salient angle of the main hill, and completely surrounded by the +river on all sides except the one which served to unite it, by a +narrow neck not above three hundred yards in breadth, to the high +ground we have mentioned. This small peninsula, which was itself +covered with wood, rose in a rocky bank to the height of about a +hundred and fifty yards above the stream; and over the narrow isthmus +was carried the road which passed the park; while the wall of the park +itself, just excluding the wooded banks from the grounds of Morley +House, was lowered in that part, so as to leave a full view of the +picturesque little promontory from the windows of the mansion. Let the +reader remember all this, for his memory may be taxed hereafter. + +Branching off from the right of the high-road lay the path up which +Colonel Manners took his way, and which passed over a track upon the +side of the hill, partly hedged in and cultivated, and partly left to +its own ungrateful sterility. It was steep also, but Manners was a +good climber; and, knowing that Mrs. Falkland's breakfast hour was +half-past nine, he did not linger by the way, but soon found himself +at the summit of the hill, and on the piece of waste ground which will +be found in the county map under the name of Morley Common, or Morley +Down. A good deal of dew had fallen in the night; and as the sun, who +had not yet pursued his bright course far up the arch of heaven, +poured the flood of his morning light upon the short blades of grass +covering the common, the whole would have seemed crisp with hoarfrost, +had not, every here and there, a tuft of longer leaves caught the rays +more fully, and twinkled as if sprinkled with living diamonds, as the +early air moved it gently in the beams. In different directions across +the common might be seen a hundred small foot-roads, winding in that +tortuous and unsteady manner which is sure to mark a path trodden out +by man's unguided feet, and which offers no bad comment on his +uncertain and roundabout way of arriving at his object; but, as the +ground comprised many hundred acres, Colonel Manners might have been +puzzled which way to take, had not his military habits at once sent +him to the small planted tumulus which we have mentioned, in order to +obtain a general view of the place. + +Climbing up the sides of the little mound, therefore, he gazed round +him; but neither gipsies nor tents were visible; and he might have +returned to Mrs. Falkland's, satisfied that they were not there, had +not a small column of faint blue smoke, rising from behind some +bushes, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, marked the +presence of human beings in that direction, and shown that the bushes, +though apparently not higher than a man's hat, masked some fall in the +ground where the fire was kindled. Thither, then, Manners turned his +steps, and soon perceived that another old sand-pit, with some bushes +climbing up one of the sides, had given shelter to those of whom he +was now in search. + +Before he could even discover so much, he became aware, by two low +whistles, that his own approach had been perceived; and, as he was +advancing directly towards the sand-pit, where a number of the gipsies +had paused in their various occupations to watch him, he saw a man +issue forth from one of the huts, put something hastily into the bosom +of his long wrapping coat, and then come forward to meet him. The +gipsy, as he came nearer, gazed at him from head to foot, with a clear +dark eye, which had in it nothing either of the dogged sullenness or +cunning stealthiness that sometimes marks the male part of the +race,--often the fruit both of their own vices and the world's +harshness. There was something in the air and manner of the man, that +to so accurate an observer as Manners, spoke a great difference +between him and the general class of his people; but, to save a +repetition of description, it may be as well to say at once, that the +gipsy who now appeared was the same whom we have designated Pharold. + +"Good-morning!" said Colonel Manners, as the other came near; "you +have hid your tents very completely here." + +"Good-morning!" replied the gipsy, slightly knitting his brow, as he +saw the soldier's eye running over every part of their encampment with +some degree of curiosity; "Good-morning! It seems you were seeking me +or mine." + +"I was so," replied Manners, still gazing with some interest upon the +old sand-pit and its picturesque tenants, with their blazing fire of +sticks, and its white smoke curling through the broken ground and amid +the scattered bushes. + +"And what did you want with us, then?" asked Pharold, somewhat +impatiently; "you wanted something, or you would not have come here." + +"I wish to have my fortune told," replied Manners with a smile, +excited equally by the impatience of the gipsy's tone, and by the +nature of his own errand. + +The gipsy looked at him steadily, and then shook his head. "No, no, +no," said he; "you did not come for that. Never tell me, that you +would get out of your bed by daybreak, and climb a high hill, and seek +a bare common, at this hour, to have your fortune told--never tell me +that, Colonel Manners." + +Manners started at hearing his own name pronounced familiarly by the +gipsy, though he knew the world, and all the tricks that accident and +confederacy can put upon us, too well to suppose that he who is +emphatically termed in Scripture "the prince of the power of the air" +had taken the trouble to send an account of his name and quality to a +gipsy on a common. Still, as it was unexpected, he was surprised, and +expressed it; but not in such a way as to make the gipsy believe more +fully than he had done at first, that he really gave credit to the +supernatural pretensions of his nation, and came there for the purpose +of consulting them upon his destiny. + +"Pray how did you become acquainted with my name?" demanded Colonel +Manners, calmly. "I do not know that I ever saw you before?" + +"Perhaps not," replied the gipsy; "but if you believe that I can tell +you what you will become hereafter, why should you be surprised that I +know what you are now?" + +"I never said that I would believe what you told me," answered +Manners; "but I know that, as I have been scarcely two days in this +country, you must have been very expeditious in gaining my name. +However, it is a matter of small consequence: I came, as I said, to +have my fortune told according to your method. Will you do it?" + +"It shall be done," said the gipsy, still gazing at him inquiringly. +"It shall de done, if you really desire it; but I know you men of the +world, and I cannot help thinking you came not on that errand alone. I +should think that Lord Dewry had sent you, did I not know that he went +away yesterday morning to Dimden, and then before midday back to the +hall." + +"You are a very singular person," said Colonel Manners, with a smile, +"not only because you know every thing that is going on in the place, +as well as a village gossip, but because you will not believe the +truth when it is told you. Once more, then, my good friend, let me +assure you, that nobody sent me; and that my sole purpose is to have +my fortune told: nor should I stay here any longer, even for that +purpose, had I not promised another person to submit to the +infliction. + +"So, so," said the gipsy; "so the fair lady you were walking with +yesterday in Morley Wood is more wise, or, as you would call it, more +credulous than you are. But do not look angry, gentleman. I will tell +you your fortune presently, and will tell it truly, if you will do me +a piece of service, of which I stand in need too--something that I +have promised to do, though not for a lady with dark eyes; and you +seem sent here on purpose to aid in it." + +Now Manners was half amused and half angry; but it is probable the +anger would have got the better of the other feeling, had not his +curiosity been excited also by the language, the manners, and the +request of the gipsy, whose whole demeanour was something quite new to +him. He replied, however, "I never undertake to do any thing without +knowing the precise nature thereof; but if you will tell me what you +desire, and I find it reasonable, I will not, of course, refuse." + +"Yes, yes! you shall hear what it is," answered the gipsy; "nor will +you find the request unreasonable. But come hither a little away from +the people, for they need not know it." Thus speaking, he led the way +towards the mound from which Manners had made his reconnoissance of +the common; and, as he went, he kept his right hand in his bosom, but +spoke not a word. At length, when they were fully out of earshot, +Manners himself stopped, thinking that he had humoured his companion's +caprices far enough. + +"Now, my good fellow," he said, "nobody can either see or hear, unless +they follow for the purpose. Pray what is it you wish me to do for +you?" + +"You are a friend of Mr. De Vaux, are you not?" said the gipsy +abruptly, stopping and turning round as Manners spoke. + +"As far as esteeming him highly, and desiring to serve him with all my +heart, can make me so," answered Manners, now more particularly +surprised, "I believe I may call myself his dear friend: but what if I +be so?" + +"If you be really a friend of Mr. Edward de Vaux," said the gipsy, +"you will not object to take a letter to him." + +"Why," answered Manners, "although I am not exactly either a private +courier or a postman, yet if your request stops there, I can have no +objection to do as you desire; reserving to myself, of course, the +right of telling him where I got the letter, and the circumstances +that attended my receiving it." + +"That you will do, if you please," replied the gipsy; "but the request +does not stop there. There are conditions in regard to the delivery of +the letter which you must observe, and that punctually." + +Manners smiled. "This is all very extraordinary," he said; "you speak +in somewhat of a dictatorial tone, my good friend; and it is not easy +for me to comprehend what business one of your class and nation can +have with my friend De Vaux, so soon after his return from other +lands." + +"Trouble not yourself with that, Colonel Manners," answered the gipsy; +and then added, seeing that something like a cloud was gathering on +his auditor's brow, "if I have offended you, sir, I am sorry: such was +not my purpose; and, believe me, I may know what is due both to you +and myself better than you think. You are the commander of one of the +King of England's regiments, and I am a poor gipsy; but you come to +make a request to me, for granting which--as every thing is barter or +robbery in this world--for granting which I require something of you. +So far we are as much equals as in the enjoyment of the free air, and +yonder bright sunshine, and this piece of common ground. Whether there +be any other difference between us, in point of higher or lower, God +knows, and he alone. Thus, then, hear me patiently, while I tell you +the conditions of my bargain; and afterward I will do your bidding +concerning your future fortunes--whether you esteem my skill or not, +being your business, and not mine, as you seek it without my offering +it." + +"I believe you are right," replied Colonel Manners, beginning more +fully to appreciate the character of him with whom he spoke; "go on, +and let me hear your conditions in regard to the delivery of this +letter, which is, I suppose, the object that you hold in your bosom." + +"It is not a pistol," said the gipsy, producing the letter. + +"I did not suppose that it was," replied Colonel Manners; "and had it +been so, it would have been a matter of much indifference to me: but +now for your conditions." + +"They are few and simple," answered the gipsy; "I require, or request, +you to give this into Mr. De Vaux's own hand, and to choose a moment +when he is not only alone, but when he is likely to have an +opportunity of reading it in private; and though you may tell him when +and how you received it, and add what comments you like, you must not +indulge in the same tattle to other people; but must keep silence on +all concerning it." + +"Your conditions are not very difficult," replied Colonel Manners; "I +will undertake them. Give me the letter. Upon my honour," he added, +seeing that Pharold hesitated, "I will do exactly as you have +desired." + +The man gave him the letter, which was cleaner, neater, and, as far as +the address went, better written than the hands from which it came +would have led one to anticipate. The moment he had done so, Pharold +uttered a long, loud whistle, which brought a little yellow urchin of +ten years old to their side, as fast as a pair of bare feet could +carry him. "Thou mayst go," said the gipsy; "and make haste." The boy +set off like lightning on the road which led to the river, and the +gipsy again turned to Colonel Manners. "Give me your hand, sir," he +said. + +Colonel Manners did as he desired, smiling while he did so at a +certain lurking feeling of the ridicule of his situation, which he +could not repress. "If any of my old fellow-soldiers were to see me +here," he thought, "taking counsel with a gipsy upon my future fate +and prospects, they would certainly think Charles Manners mad." The +gipsy, however, gazed seriously upon his hand, and then raised his +eyes to the other's face, without the slightest expression in his own +countenance which could raise a suspicion that he was seeking to play +upon credulity. + +"Colonel Manners," said Pharold, "before I tell you what I read here, +listen to me for one moment. Most people who come to us on such an +errand smile as they give us their hand; some because they believe us +thoroughly, and affect by a laugh to show they do not believe at all; +while some, who really do not believe, smile out of vain conceit in +their own superior strength of mind: but do you remember that this +that we practise is, when properly practised, a science in which we +have ourselves the most confident faith. We never inquire afterward +whether what we have predicted has proved true or not, for we are +always sure that it must do so: but, at all events, such confidence in +our own knowledge cannot spring from nothing." + +Manners could have easily found a reply in favour of his own side of +the question, but he did not think it worth while to argue logically +upon chiromancy with a gipsy, although that gipsy might be somewhat +superior to others of his tribe; and, therefore, without answering the +arguments of Pharold, he remained in silence, while the other again +turned a very steadfast glance upon his extended hand. + +"Colonel Manners," said the gipsy at length, "if I read right, you +have been a fortunate man." + +"And, in some respects, an unfortunate one," rejoined his auditor, +"though, in truth, I have no great reason to complain." + +"Far more fortunate than unfortunate," answered the gipsy. "Here are +but three crosses in all your life as yet; two so near the beginning, +that you could not have felt them; and one--a deep one--much more +lately." + +Colonel Manners smiled. "In the past you are certainly not far wrong: +but it is the future I wish to hear: what of it?" + +"You mock us, sir," said the gipsy, eying him. "However, you shall +hear your fate as it is. You shall be fortunate and unfortunate." + +"That is the common lot of human nature," rejoined Colonel Manners. + +"But herein does your fate differ from the common lot of human +nature," replied the gipsy: "you shall be no longer fortunate in those +things wherein you have hitherto found success; for you shall do all +that you think you will not do; and prosper where you neither hope nor +strive." + +"That is certainly a strange fate," answered Manners; "for I have ever +found that success is a coy goddess, who needs all our efforts to +obtain her smiles, and even then gives them but sparingly." + +"It _is_ a strange fate, and yet, in some sense, it is not," answered +the gipsy; "your painters rightly represent Fortune as a woman, though +they might as well have left her eyes unbandaged; for it is neither +new nor marvellous to see woman fly from those that pursue her, and +cast herself into the arms of those who care not for her smiles. And +yet the fate written on that hand is strange, too; for it speaks of +fortunes as fair without effort, for the future, as those of the past +have been rendered by toil and exertion. It is a strange fate; but, +nevertheless it shall be yours: and now, forget not my words, but, +when you find them verified, remember him that spoke them." + +"But are you going to tell me no more?" demanded Colonel Manners: "I +would fain have you come a little more to particulars, my good friend. +One can make but little of these broad generalities." + +"One can make nothing to laugh at," answered the gipsy, "and therefore +I shall keep to them, though, perhaps, I could tell you more. Remember +them, however, and, as you will soon find them true, lay them to your +heart, sir, and let them teach you to believe, that a thing is not +false because you do not understand it; that there may be truths +without the range either of your knowledge or of your faculties--some +that you cannot comprehend, because they have not been explained to +you; and some that, if they were explained to you a thousand times, +your mind is too narrow to conceive--and yet they are." + +"I wish, my good friend, that I could send you to converse with +Voltaire," said Colonel Manners. "Who is he?" demanded Pharold; "I do +not know him." + +"No," replied Manners; "I dare say not: but he is a famous wit, who +dabbles in philosophy, and seems inclined to teach the world, by his +example, if not by his precepts, that man should credit nothing that +he cannot understand." + +"And what should I do with him'?" demanded the gipsy, frowning: "I +think you are mocking me--is it not so?" + +"No, on my honour," replied Colonel Manners; "I am not mocking you. On +the contrary, I think you a very extraordinary person, and fitted for +a different station from that in which I find you. Whether you +yourself believe that which you have told me concerning my future +fortune, or not, I thank you for having gratified me; and, at all +events, I have derived from your conversation more that I shall +remember long, than I anticipated when I came here. Will you accept of +that?" + +Colonel Manners offered him one of those beautiful golden pieces which +are now, I fear me, lost to the world for ever, and which were then +called guineas. But the gipsy put it away. "No," he said; "you have +undertaken to fulfil my request, and I have complied with yours. We +owe each other nothing, then. Farewell!" and, turning on his heel, he +left Colonel Manners to descend the hill, thinking him more +extraordinary than ever, from the last very ungipsy-like act, by which +he had terminated their conversation. + +The sun was now much higher than when Manners had trod that path +before; for, according to his usual custom, the gracious luminary +seemed to have run more quickly at his first rising than he does after +having climbed the steep hill of heaven; and the wayfarer began to +think that he might be late at Mrs. Falkland's breakfast-table, where +cold eggs and lukewarm coffee were the just punishments of those who +linger long abed. As he had closed the park gate, however, and had not +the key, he was obliged to go round and enter by the other side of the +house; but this proceeding, at all events, tended to solve one mystery +connected with his late interview. In the hall the first object he +beheld was the little gipsy boy whom he had seen with Pharold on the +hill; and he now found him in conversation with Mrs. Falkland herself, +who appeared to be asking after some of the Egyptian fraternity who +were ill. Old Peter stood behind, keeping a wary eye upon the boy, +whom he justly considered a very promising eleve in no inferior school +of petty larceny; and as Colonel Manners approached, Mrs. Falkland +terminated her inquiries, and made over her little companion to the +care of the footman, with orders to give him something and send him +away; an order, the latter part of which was complied with in a more +summary manner than she anticipated, as soon as her back was turned. + +"Good-morning, Colonel Manners," she said, as they walked towards the +breakfast-room; "you find me with a curious little companion: but the +fact is, that, while you were all out walking yesterday, a poor gipsy +woman accidentally fell down from the high bank close by the house, +and was brought in here, completely stunned. The village apothecary +was away; and, as I endeavour to enact my Lady Bountiful, I did what I +could for the poor creature, who soon recovered. We had half a dozen +of her tribe in the servant's hall, however; and, much to the butler's +and Peter's surprise--and, I must confess, to my own also--when they +went away, nothing was missing. According to a promise made by one of +them, they have sent me down that little boy this morning to tell me +that the poor woman is now quite well. I wished to have despatched the +apothecary to her, and offered to do so as soon as he returned; but +they seemed to have an invincible repugnance to all the professors of +the healing art." + +"All people, I believe, who enjoy very good health," replied Colonel +Manners, "feel the same towards the learned doctors--the very sight of +one reminds us of losing one of the best blessings of Heaven. However, +the meeting with that little gipsy gentleman here explains something +which I might have made a mystery of, had I not heard your account of +your yesterday's interview; for this morning I had a long conversation +with a gipsy on the hill--a very singular person--who addressed me at +once by name, and seemed perfectly well acquainted with my being at +your house." + +"Oh, your servant was present yesterday," replied Mrs. Falkland, "and, +with all the dexterity of an old soldier, gave us very great +assistance in bringing the poor woman to herself. I remarked, too, +that her gipsy companions did but little, and contented themselves +with standing round, asking irrelevant questions of the servants, +which, of course, in that temple of tittle-tattle, a servant's hall, +they found somebody willing to answer; so that I dare say there was +nothing supernatural in your name being known on the hill. But how +came you, Colonel Manners," she added, with a smile, "how came you in +such deep consultation with a gipsy at this hour of the morning? You +surely have not been having your fortune told?" + +"I must plead guilty, I am afraid," replied Colonel Manners; "but if +the fault be a very grievous one, I must lay the blame upon Miss +Falkland, as it was under her special injunctions that I went." + +"Indeed!" said Mrs. Falkland; "and to answer what object?" + +"Oh, if you mean Miss Falkland's object, I really cannot tell," he +replied; "and my object was certainly a very foolish one, but one that +leads many a man to do a still more foolish thing: I mean, it was to +prove that I was not afraid." + +"And pray, what was the result?" demanded Mrs. Falkland; but by this +time they were at the breakfast-room door, and Colonel Manners +declared that he would not communicate his fate to any one before he +revealed it to Miss Falkland in general consistory. This he had soon +an opportunity of doing: and the whole business was laughed at gayly +enough. It is wonderful how light a little merriment soon makes every +thing appear; and this is the reason why, in moments of mirth and +cheerfulness, so many secrets are revealed that one would often give +worlds to shut up again in the casket of one's own breast. Let wise +diplomatists keep far from merriment; for a light laugh or a gay +witticism, whose idle wings seemed hardly strong enough to flutter it +across the table, has often taken a weighty secret on its back, and +flown away with it, never to return. Now, the letter that the gipsy +had given Colonel Manners for his friend he had believed might be of +some importance, as long as he was alone; but every gay word that was +spoken on the subject of gipsies and fortune-telling took away +something from its weight in his estimation; and had he been only +restrained by a sense of its importance, he might have delivered the +letter before breakfast was over, and made a jest of it. It has never +been said that Colonel Manners was perfect; and though his mind was +strong, it certainly was not without a full share of human weaknesses. +Colonel Manners, however, was restrained by something besides a sense +of the letter's importance--he had given his word to deliver it in a +particular manner; and, whatever else he might do in the way of +frailties, he never forgot a promise, though, in the present instance, +it was long ere he found an opportunity of fulfilling the one he had +made the gipsy on the hill. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Any one who has tried to speak with another for five minutes in +private, without the pomp and circumstance of demanding an interview, +will know that it is almost impossible to find the opportunity, +unless the person be one's own wife. There is always something comes +in the way just at the very moment--something unforeseen and +unlikely,--especially if one be very anxious upon the subject. If the +matter be of no importance, the opportunity presents itself at every +turn; but if one be very, very desirous to unburden a full heart, or +tell a tale of love, or give a valuable hint, or plead the cause of +one's self, or any one else, without the freezing influence of a +formal conference, one may wait hours and days--nay, weeks and months, +sometimes--without finding five minutes open in the whole day. + +As soon as breakfast was over, Edward de Vaux followed Marian into the +music-room; and when Marian left him, he came to tell his friend and +Isadore that they proposed making a riding party to see something in +the neighbourhood. Manners went up in his room to prepare; and, as he +found himself on the stairs alone with De Vaux, he had his hand in his +pocket to produce the letter, when Miss Falkland's step sounded close +by them, and her voice invited her cousin to come with her, and see a +little present she had bought for Marian's birthday. As soon as +Manners was equipped for riding, he went to De Vaux's room, +calculating--as he usually dressed in half the time that his friend +expended on such exertions--that he would find him there: but no one +was in the apartment but a servant, who told him that Mr. De Vaux had +gone down. As he passed along one of the corridors, he saw De Vaux +sauntering across the lawn towards the gates of the stable-yard; but +ere he could catch him, his friend was surrounded by grooms and +servants, receiving his orders concerning the horses; and as they +turned again towards the house. Marian and Miss Falkland were standing +in their riding dresses on the steps. + +"Well, I must wait," thought Manners, reflecting sagely on the +difficulties of executing punctually even so simple a commission as +that which he had undertaken. "Well, I must wait till we go to dress +for dinner; then I am sure to find my opportunity." + +He was not destined, however, to remain burdened with his secret so +long. The ride was pleasant, but did not extend far; and on the return +of the party, while Manners and De Vaux stood looking at their boots +in the hall, Miss Falkland and her cousin retired to change their +dress, and the opportunity was not lost. + +"Now we are alone," said Manners, "let me execute a commission with +which I am charged towards you, De Vaux, and which has teased me all +the morning." + +"Not a challenge, I hope," replied the other; "for it seems a solemn +embassy." + +"No, no, nothing of the kind," answered his friend; "but the fact +is--" + +"Please, sir," said Colonel Manners' servant, opening the glass doors, +"I believe the young mare is throwing out a splint; and I did not like +to--" + +"Well, well," said Manners, somewhat impatiently, "I will come and see +her myself, presently--I am engaged just now." The man withdrew; and +resuming his discourse at the precise point where he had left off, +Manners continued, "The fact is, that gipsy, of whom I was speaking +this morning, charged me with a letter to you, which I promised to +deliver in private, and when you were likely to be able to read it +without interruption." + +"A gipsy!" said De Vaux, knitting his brows; "the circle of my +acquaintance has extended itself farther than I thought, and in a +class, also, equally beyond my wishes and anticipations: but are you +sure there is no mistake? does he really mean me?" + +"There is the letter," replied Manners, "with your titles, _nomen +and cognomen_, as clearly superscribed as ever I saw them +written:--Captain the Honourable Edward de Vaux, with many et +caeteras." + +"And in a good hand, and on tolerably clean paper," said De Vaux, +taking the letter, and gazing on the back. "Why, this gipsy of yours +must be a miracle, Manners." + +"He is a very extraordinary person, certainly," answered his +companion, "both in his ideas and his deportment, which are equally +above his class." + +"Nay, he must be a miracle--a complete miracle!" said De Vaux, +laughing, "if he can mend kettles and write such an address as that, +with the same good right hand. But this must be a begging letter." + +"I think not," replied Manners: "it would not surprise me to find that +he knows more of you than you imagine; but, at all events, read the +letter." + +De Vaux turned the letter, looked at the seal, which offered a very +good impression, though one with which he was not acquainted, and +then, tearing open the paper, read the contents. The very first words +made his eye strain eagerly upon the page; a few lines more rendered +him deadly pale; and though, as he went on, his agitation did not +increase, yet the intensity of his gaze upon the sheet before him was +not at all diminished; and when he had concluded it, after staring +vacantly in his companion's face for a moment, he again turned to the +letter, and read it attentively over once more. + +"I am afraid I have brought you evil tidings, De Vaux," said Colonel +Manners, who had watched with some anxiety the changes upon the +countenance of his friend: "if so, can I serve you? You know Charles +Manners; and I need scarcely say how much pleasure it will give me to +do any thing for you." + +"I must think, Manners--I must think," replied De Vaux: "these are +strange tidings indeed, and vouched boldly too; but I doubt whether I +have a right to communicate them to any one but the person they affect +next to myself. However, I must think ere I act at all. Forgive me for +not making you a sharer of them; and excuse me now, for I am much +agitated, and hardly well." + +"Let me be no restraint upon you, De Vaux," answered his friend. "If I +can serve you, tell me; if I can alleviate any thing you suffer by +sympathy, let me share in what you feel; but do not suppose for a +moment that I even desire to hear any thing that it may be proper to +keep to your own bosom. Leave me now, without ceremony: but take care +how you act, De Vaux; for I see there is matter of much importance in +your mind; and you are, sometimes at least, in military affairs, a +little hasty." + +"I will be as cool and thoughtful as yourself, my friend," replied De +Vaux; "but I am agitated, and the best place for me is my own room." + +Thus saying, he left his friend, not a little surprised, indeed, that +such a letter from such a person should have had the power to produce +on the mind of a man like De Vaux the extreme agitation which he had +just witnessed. De Vaux, he well knew, was not one to give credence to +any thing lightly, or to yield to any slight feeling which a first +impression might produce; but, in the present instance, it was evident +that his friend had received a shock from some tidings which had been +totally unexpected, but which must have been probable, as well as +unpleasant, to produce such an effect. The extraordinary fact, +however, that news of such importance should be left to the +transmission of such a man as the gipsy--so separated by station, and +state, and circumstances, from the person whom they concerned--was of +course a matter of much astonishment to Colonel Manners; and surprise +divided his bosom with anxiety and sympathy for his friend. + +It is a very disagreeable thing to have any two feelings thus making a +shuttlecock of our attention; or, when they are very eager, struggling +for it with mutual pertinacity; but the only way to act under such +circumstances is, to treat them like two quarrelsome boys; and, +shutting them up together, leave them to fight it out without +interruption. Such was the plan which Colonel Manners now proposed to +pursue; and, consequently, quitting the hall where his conversation +with De Vaux had taken place, he walked straight to the library, and +opened the door. + +What happened next was not without its importance; but as the mind may +be at this moment more anxious concerning De Vaux than concerning his +companion, we will follow him up the staircase as lightly as possible; +enter his chamber, lay our hand upon his bosom, draw the curtain, and +show the reader the scene within. But it may be as well first to look +at that letter upon the table before which he is sitting, with his +left hand upon his brow, and his right partly covering the sheet of +paper which had so disturbed him. If one can draw it gently out from +underneath his fingers, while his eyes are shut and his thoughts are +busy, one may read what follows:-- + +"To Captain Edward de Vaux." Here, be it remarked, that there was a +difference between the superscription and the address; the latter +having borne, "To Captain the Honourable Edward de Vaux," while in the +inside was merely written, "To Captain Edward de Vaux." + +The difference may appear insignificant; but, in the present instance, +and with the commentary of the epistle itself thereon, it signifies a +great deal. However, the letter went on:-- + + +"_To Captain Edward de Vaux_. + +"Sir: I shall make no excuse for addressing you, as I am fully +justified therein; and you yourself, however great the pain I may +inflict upon you, will eventually admit that I am so. You are about, I +understand, to unite your fate to a young lady of rank and fortune; +and it is more than possible that mutual affection and mutual good +feelings would render your union happy. Nevertheless, believing you to +be a man of honour, I feel sure that you would not like to lead any +one into such an alliance with expectations which are not alone +doubtful, but fallacious. It is therefore necessary that you should +know more precisely how you are situated; and I hesitate not to inform +you, that on the title and estates held by your father you have no +earthly right to calculate; that, should you marry Miss de Vaux, you +bring with you nothing but your commission as a captain in the army; +and that whatever you expect from your parent will most certainly go +to another person. Your first conclusion--as a world in which there +are so many villains is naturally suspicious--will be, that this +letter is written either by some one who intends to set up some unjust +claim to your rightful inheritance, by some disappointed suitor of +your bride, or by some malevolent envier of another's happiness. Such, +however, is not the fact. The person who writes this owes some +gratitude to your family; not so much for what was accomplished, as +for what your grandfather sought to accomplish in his favour. You may +have heard the story--in which case you will give more credence to the +present letter--or you may not have heard the story: but still, the +way to satisfy yourself is open before you. Either resolve to question +your father boldly concerning the points herein contained; or, if you +would have the facts proved so that you cannot doubt them, come alone +to the gipsies' tents, in the sand-pit on Morley Down, this evening or +early to-morrow morning, and inquire for + + "Pharold." + + +Now, under any ordinary circumstances, the only course which De Vaux +would have pursued might have been, to twist up the paper into any +strange and fanciful form that the whim of the moment suggested, and +put it into the first fire he met with, giving it hardly a second +thought. But there were circumstances totally distinct from, and +independent of, the letter itself, which gave it a degree of +importance far above that which it intrinsically possessed. Edward de +Vaux, though he had a slight recollection of a dark-eyed, beautiful +creature, whom in his infancy he had called mother, lost all +remembrance of her at a particular period of his life, and had never +since, that he knew of, heard her name mentioned. He passed, it is +true, for Lord Dewry's legitimate son, was received as such in +society, and admitted as such by his own family and relations. But, if +so, how was it he had never seen a picture of his mother among those +of his ancestors, and beside that of his father, which stood in the +gallery, and represented him as a man of about thirty-five years of +age?--How was it he had never heard his mother's jewels mentioned, +though those of the two baronesses who had preceded her were often +referred to? How was it that his aunt, Mrs. Falkland, as he inferred +from many facts, had never seen his mother? How was it that his father +had never spoken her name in his hearing? All this had often struck +him as something very extraordinary; and a thousand minor +circumstances, which cannot be here recapitulated, had shown him that +there was some mystery in regard to his family, which had frequently +given him pain. Since his return, however, something more had +occurred: two or three words had been spoken by his father, during +their dispute concerning Colonel Manners, which had startled him at +the time with a suspicion which he had instantly banished, but which +now came up again with fearful confirmation of the tidings he had just +received. Lord Dewry had declared that he could be deprived of the +entailed estates of the barony by a single word. At the time, that +expression had but slightly alarmed him; for, well knowing the +violence of his father's disposition, and the acts and words of almost +insane vehemence to which any opposition would drive him, he had +instantly concluded that it was a meaningless threat, spoken to punish +him for the spirit of resistance he had displayed. But now it came +back in its full force; and he asked himself, what could such words +mean, if he were a legitimate child? The estates were entailed on the +male heir; he himself was the only male heir in the present line; and +if by birth he were the lawful son of Lord Dewry, no earthly power +could deprive him of the lands of his forefathers. But his father, who +had been educated for the bar before he succeeded to the title, had +told him that a word would take them from him. A stranger now repeated +the same tale, and pointed more directly to the same conclusion; and +all his former recollections changed his bitter doubts into a terrible +certainty. + +Edward de Vaux bent down his head upon his hands, and covered his +eyes, with a feeling of shame and degradation that was hardly +supportable. It was not alone one well of bitterness that was opened +upon him; but, in whatever direction he turned his thoughts, new gall +and wormwood was poured into his cup. If there had been aught on earth +of which he had been proud--and, in that instance, his pride, though +bridled and restrained by better feelings, had been great;--if there +had been any thing on earth of which he had been proud, it had been of +his clear descent from thirteen generations of noble ancestors. He had +taken a delight, even from boyhood, in tracing the recorded history of +each, and in proving that there had not been one, from the founder of +the family to his own immediate parent, who had not been well +deserving of the rank and station that they held in their native land. +He had drawn from his noble birth the moral which noble birth should +always afford; and had determined that he, too, would deserve the +title that they had received for great deeds; that he, too, would +transmit the jewel of hereditary virtue to his children as an +heirloom, unimpaired in passing through his hands. He knew that, in +the words of a great natural poet,-- + + + "The rank is but the guinea's stamp-- + The man's the gold for a' that;" + + +and he felt that, to bear the name of noble, without being noble in +his heart, was but to carry the die of value upon inferior metal, and +pass upon society a base and worthless counterfeit. But all such +thoughts, such remembrances, and aspirations were now at an end. He +could no longer look back to mighty men amid his forefathers, for the +world's law cut the link between him and them. He had no longer a +proud name to keep up and adorn with noble actions, for he was an +illegitimate son, who had unrightfully usurped the name and station +which belonged not to him. His best support, his noblest designs, his +most generous purposes, were cast down, and his heart was laid +prostrate along with them. + +But this was not all: he was now a beggar! the estates were entailed, +and descended with the title; and though his father lived in somewhat +gloomy retirement, yet the state with which he had surrounded his +solitude De Vaux well knew could have left little accumulation from +the revenues of his property. Here, then, were new evils to be +encountered. Accustomed to luxury, and ease, and plenty, without one +thought of that sordid ore, the want of which cramps so many a noble +spirit, and stifles so many a great design, he had lived free from one +of the greatest burdens upon man. He had never been lavish or +extravagant, for such was not a part of his nature; but he had been +generous and liberal to others, as well as at ease himself; and now he +felt that every expense must be measured and gauged by considerations +of economy; that every guinea must be weighed and estimated before it +was parted with; that he must look upon money in a light that he had +never done before; that he must make it a continual object of thought; +that his mind, like the traveller in the land of the Lilliputians, +must be painfully pinioned down on every side by the irritating ties +of petty cares; that his ease must be at an end, and his generosity +cease. + +There was more, however, far more bitter kept mingling in the draught. +Round the idea of one's mother the mind of man clings with fond +affection. It is the first sweet, deep thought stamped upon our infant +hearts, when yet soft and capable of receiving the most profound +impressions, and all the after-feelings of the world are more or less +light in comparison. I do not know that even in our old age we do not +look back to that feeling as the sweetest we have known through life. +Our passions and our wilfulness may lead us far from the object of our +filial love; we learn even to pain her heart, to oppose her wishes, to +violate her commands; we may become wild, headstrong, and angry at her +counsels or her opposition; but when death has stilled her monitory +voice, and nothing but calm memory remains to recapitulate her virtues +and good deeds, affection, like a flower beaten to the ground by a +past storm, raises up her head and smiles among the tears. Round that +idea, as we have said, the mind clings with fond affection; and even +when the early period of our loss forces memory to be silent, fancy +takes the place of remembrance, and twines the image of our dead +parent with a garland of graces, and beauties, and virtues, which we +doubt not that she possessed. Thus had it been with De Vaux: he could +just call to mind a face that had appeared to him very beautiful, and +a few kind and tender words from the lips of her he had called mother; +but he had fancied her all that was good, and gentle, and virtuous; +and now that he was forced to look upon her as a fallen being, as one +who had not only forgotten virtue herself, but, in sin, had brought +him into the world, to degradation and shame, what could be his +feelings towards her? + +Horrid! horrid is it to say, that the world should take unto itself +that awful power claimed by Almighty Omniscience, of visiting the sins +of the fathers upon the children, and of making the guiltless +offspring more than share the punishment inflicted on the offending +parent! But so De Vaux felt that the world does, and that, in his +instance, it was not alone the usual contemptible sneer, or still more +contemptible neglect, that he was destined to meet; but that he must +expect all the venomous pity and malignant compassion which his fall, +more than his situation, would excite, and which the hard and +unfeeling beings of the earth affect to experience for those they wish +most powerfully to depress. + +Such accumulated feelings were all bitter enough; but there was one +more bitter still, more filled with agony and degradation. De Vaux, as +we have seen, was engaged to a being full of beauty, and grace, and +gentleness, by promises which united them to each other, not alone as +persons of high rank and fortune, having found a fitting alliance; but +as two people who had known each other from infancy, had grown up in +affection, and had for many a year looked forward to their marriage as +the means of securing to both the utmost degree of human happiness for +life; as the binding on of a talisman, that would shut out from their +domestic hearth all the evil things of earth. With De Vaux, these +feelings, these anticipations, were even stronger. He loved Marian +with the fullest, deepest, most passionate attachment. Towards her his +heart was all fire and thrilling energy; and, though there were times +when he somewhat doubted that her feelings were of as powerful a kind +towards him, yet he believed that she loved him as much as she could +love; and perhaps even her slight reserve made him love her the more +ardently. The day for their marriage was already fixed; the bridal +ornaments were all prepared; their future life had, in the +conversation of that very day, been laid out before them as on a map, +and Edward de Vaux had as much doubted, when he sprang from his horse, +that Marian, in all her beauty, was to be his bride within three short +weeks, as he doubted of his own existence. + +Now, however, what were his feelings?--now that his situation was +changed in every particular,--that in fortune, and in station, he had +fallen at once from the situation in which she had promised him her +hand; and when he felt that he had no right to claim from Marian de +Vaux the execution of a promise which she had made under different +circumstances, and to which he believed that all her friends would, of +course, be opposed, as soon as his real position became known? He felt +that he had no right either to ask or to expect it; and the darkest +image that presented itself to his mind was, the loss of her he loved, +for ever. Nor did this image come before him vague and undefined, as a +thing of remote possibility,--though even then the apprehension would +have been terrible enough,--but, in his present state of despondency, +it appeared as an undoubted and inevitable certainty--as a thing that +must and would take place. He felt as if Marian were _already_ lost to +him for ever, and the bright bubble of his happiness irreparably +broken. He fancied, also,--he could not help imagining, that something +like contempt would mingle in the pity that she felt for him. She was +herself so pure,--delicacy, modesty, and virtue so characterized her +every movement, and her every word,--that he tortured himself with +believing that a part of the reprobation and scorn with which she must +think of his mother, would fall upon himself. "She will look upon me +as the child of vice," he thought; "she will see in me the offspring +of guilt and shame, and will easily make up her mind to the +separation. She is always so reasonable, and so willing to do what she +considers right, at any sacrifice, that her mind will soon be tutored +to forget Edward de Vaux. Were she of that warm, ardent, deep-feeling +nature that casts fate and happiness upon one die, I might hope that +she would still cling to me: but it is in vain thinking of it--I have +no reason to hope it. She will follow the dictates of common sense and +prudence, and abandon an alliance which all her friends would now +oppose." + +Poor Marian! thus did her unhappy lover contrive to wring his own +heart even with her very virtues. After thinking for at least an hour +in gloomy silence, a faint hope crossed his mind, that he might have +mistaken the import of the letter--that his apprehensions might have +deceived him. Experience, gained from the consequences of our faults, +almost always, sooner or later, gives us a vague, unsatisfactory +consciousness that such things exist in our bosom; and Edward de Vaux +did know that he was given to torment himself needlessly. He therefore +read the letter over again, and read it carefully; but, on doing so, +his first impression was but the more confirmed. + +"Yet it might be false," he thought; "the whole tale might be false, +or might refer to something else, and be the mere blunder of some +ignorant and presumptuous person." But then the remembrance of his +father's words returned, and all that had before seemed strange +regarding his mother came up before his mind; and he once more gave +himself up to despair. + +What was to be done, became the next question. There was just a +sufficient portion of doubt mingled with his feelings to hold him +tortured in suspense, without being enough to approach the limit of +hope. This state, of course, he could have borne no longer under any +circumstances; but his situation in regard to Marian rendered it +absolutely necessary that he should put an end to all doubt upon the +business. And yet it was terrible, most terrible, to feel that it must +be his own hand which tore away the veil that concealed the obstacles +to his marriage--that it must be his own hand that cast away his +happiness for ever. The thought might cross his mind of letting things +take their course--of choosing to disbelieve the letter--of treating +it with contempt, and of proceeding with Marian to the altar, to +secure the blessing of her hand, at least, before the rest was +snatched from him. But if it did cross his mind, it was but as the +image of a thing that might be with some men, but could never be with +him. It occupied not a moment's consideration--it left no trace behind +it. To investigate the matter instantly, and to the bottom, became his +determination; and, having done so, to make the result known to those +interested, and at once place himself fearlessly in the situation +which he had alone a right to fill. He did get that there might be +circumstances in the story which he was about to hear which might +render it necessary to conceal it from the public ear, in +consideration for the feelings of his father, or of others. But to +Marian, at least, the facts must be told; she was too deeply +implicated in it all to be left in ignorance of what touched her whole +future happiness; and De Vaux resolved that not only should she be +told, but that no lips but his own should tell it, as he well knew how +a few explicative words, or a well-turned round of phrases, may +pervert a plain tale from its true meaning. "I will trust none," he +thought; "and, whatever the truth may be, from my lips alone shall she +first hear it." + +The course to be pursued in his investigation became the next +question. Two were pointed out in the letter itself; but from the +first, that of applying to his father, he shrank with irresistible +repugnance. It was not alone that De Vaux, as is common--we might +almost say universal--among men, possessed more physical than moral +courage; that he feared the fierce and angry mood of his father, +irritated as he had been by late opposition, and loved not to venture +upon a discussion with him, which would rouse every dark and stormy +passion into fiery activity; but he feared himself also: he feared +that anguish and anger, and the haughty irritation with which he was +sure to be encountered, might make him forget himself, and say words +that no after-sorrow could recall. There might still be a doubt, too, +upon even the very subject of his fears, and he felt that were those +fears unfounded, his father might justly look upon it as little better +than a gross personal insult, were he asked if he had passed his +illegitimate son upon the world as legitimate, and promoted his union +with the heiress of a large fortune, under the pretence of his being +heir to an honourable name and great possessions. + +De Vaux might believe that such conduct was not impossible; he might +also think that his father was not actuated in so doing by the mean +and sordid views which, at first sight, seem the only motives +assignable for such behaviour. Various circumstances might have +occurred, in earlier years, to make his father acknowledge an unreal +marriage with his mother; considerations for her feelings, or for his +own respectability, might be among the rest. Once having said so, and +spoken of himself as of a legitimate child, Edward de Vaux knew well +that his father's proud and reserved nature might have made him ever +after silent upon the subject, till explanation became almost +impossible; and the deceit he had practised or permitted might have +been rather the result of haughty reserve than of cunning artifice. + +De Vaux felt that, however, ere he presumed to insinuate to his father +a bare suspicion of his having committed such an act, he must have +much better information and clearer proof to justify the charge. When +such evidence was once obtained, he might communicate the discovery he +had made to Lord Dewry by letter, and thus avoid that painful +collision which a personal discussion of the matter must induce; or, +if he found that the evidence was faulty or inconclusive; that there +was motive for suspicion against the person who tendered it, or that +the whole was an interested calumny, he might lay it before his +father, as an affair which required him to investigate the assertions, +and punish the authors of them. + +The determination, therefore, was taken to visit the gipsy himself; +and the only consideration that remained was, whether to go alone, or +to ask Manners to accompany him. From the latter idea he shrank, as, +in that case, he must have exposed to his friend doubts and +apprehensions which were bitterly humiliating, and might even +compromise the secrets of others, to whom his friend was a stranger, +in a manner which he had no right to do. The letter, also, bade him +come alone; and, on reading it over once more, everything tended to +make him give credence both to the sincerity of the writer and the +accuracy of the facts. He had a faint remembrance, too, of having +heard the name of Pharold mentioned by his aunt, as connected with the +early days of her family; and the fact of the writer having referred +him, in the first instance, to his own father, tended to show that +there existed no design against himself personally. Besides, De Vaux +was not a man to entertain fears of any kind for his own safety; and, +as he clearly saw that Manners was totally ignorant of the contents of +the letter which he had brought him, he determined to go alone, and +investigate the matter thoroughly. + +His next question to his own heart was, "and, in the meantime, what +shall be my conduct towards Marian? How shall I behave while I expect +and believe that a few more hours will alter our situation towards +each other for ever, and render that conduct wrong which was perfectly +consistent with our engagement towards each other? If I change my +manner, she may think my affection cooled, and feel herself unkindly +treated. But then," he thought again, bitterly enough, "but then that +will but serve to smooth the way to the change which is ultimately to +take place; and perhaps it had better be reached by some such +intermediate step." The next moment, again, his wavering thoughts +turned to the other side, and he demanded whether he had any right +to give her one instant's pain more than necessary. The reply was +ready:--"No, no! that were cruel and unkind indeed; and should I do +so, and my fears prove false, my behaviour would necessarily, from all +the circumstances of the case, remain unexplained--a dark blot upon my +affection towards her. Yet, hereafter, if she should learn that such +tidings have been in my possession,--that such doubts have been justly +working in my mind,--will she not think it wrong, and even deceitful, +of me to treat her as my promised bride, when I know that she never +can be such?" + +What was to be done? De Vaux, according to the old scholastic term, +had got himself between the horns of a dilemma; and we must pause for +one moment, in order to inquire how far he was art and part in putting +himself into that situation. It is wonderful, most wonderful, how +people deceive themselves in this world, and how they go on arguing +with themselves on both sides of the question for an hour together, +affecting to be puzzled, and asking themselves what is to be done, +when, from the very first, they have determined, in secret counsel, +what to do; and all this logic and disquisition has solely been for +the purpose of bewildering _reason_, or _duty_, or _conscience_, or +any other of those personified qualities of the soul, which the great +parliament of man's passions choose to look upon as _the public_, _the +spectators_. + +Now, at that point of De Vaux's cogitations wherein he thought, and +rejected the idea, of admitting Manners to his confidence in the +matter before him, as is fully displayed three or four pages back, a +fancy struck him, which instantly changed into a secret resolution, +not to make Manners his confidant in the business, but to open his +whole heart to Marian de Vaux; and although it needed scarcely any +argument to prove that she, whose fate was the most strictly bound up +with his own, whose affection he certainly possessed, and whose good +sense he never doubted, was the person, of all others, in whom he +ought to confide; yet, some idle cant that he had read in some foolish +book, or heard from some foolish people, about the absurdity of +trusting a woman; some silly sneer or insignificant jest, magnified +into a bugbear through the mist of memory, had power enough to make +him hide his own determination from himself; and, in the first +instance, go the roundabout path we have traced, in order to prove +that he had no other resource but to tell her the whole affair, ere he +boldly admitted his resolution even to his own heart, and brought +forward the true and upright motives on which it was founded. So weak +is human nature! + +As soon as this was done, the matter was no longer difficult; all +embarrassment in regard to his conduct was removed, and he felt that +what was kindest and what was most affectionate, was also the most +just and the most reasonable. Whatever was the truth of the assertions +contained in the letter he had received, and to whatever facts it +alluded, it pointed principally at his union with Marian, and the +disparity of fortune and rank which the writer affirmed to exist +between them. She, therefore, was a person principally concerned; and +on her ultimate decision their fate must rest. De Vaux feared not that +any loss of fortune could affect Marian's regard: he could not have +loved her had he supposed it would; but he did fear that the stigma, +which he believed might rest upon his birth, and which he himself felt +as so deeply humiliating, might make a difference in her feelings; +and, when backed by the counsel and arguments of some of her maternal +relations, might make her resolves unfavourable to his hopes. But +still, in telling her all, from the beginning, in concealing nothing, +in acting at once affectionately and candidly, he felt that he was +establishing the best claim to continued affection and esteem: he +felt, too, that, if there had been deceit on any part, such conduct +would be the best proof to all that he was as free as day from any +participation in it, and that, whatever were the result, his honour +and his name would be clear. + +His determination, therefore, was backed by every motive, but still it +required great delicacy in executing it. It was necessary not to shock +or to pain her--he loved too much to do so--and yet to be perfectly +explicit. It was requisite to tell her all, and to leave her fully +convinced of his unalterable love; yet perfectly free to form her own +decision on her future conduct. The hour, too, and the manner, were +matters for consideration, and he resolved not to delay, but let the +communication be made immediately, and as a matter of importance. It +would require time, however; and, as it was already late, he was +obliged to make up his mind that the visit to the gipsy must take +place on the following morning: he only paused, then, to recover his +composure completely, and to think of the best method of telling +Marian the whole, in such a manner as to give her the least pain, yet +show his confidence and affection the most clearly. + +He accordingly sat still, and laid it out like the plan of a battle; +but in this he was very wrong; as, by so doing, he naturally presented +Marian to his fancy in the light of the enemy. The consequences were, +that his own private little demon instantly saw his advantage, and, +whispering in De Vaux's ear, made his irritable and irritated spirit +believe that Marian would act in a thousand different ways, which he +could not blame, yet did not like. The fiend, who well knows how to +seize probabilities, took hold of every particular point in Marian's +character which could give him any thing to cling to; and De Vaux saw, +in the glass of fancy, her beautiful countenance looking upon him as +calmly and as reasonably as ever, without a shade of agitation passing +over its placid sweetness during the whole time that he, with +difficulty, and hesitation, and agony of spirit, and humiliation of +heart, was telling her all his anxieties and apprehensions. He saw, in +the same magic glass, the very spot of the room where she would stand, +and the fine easy line of her figure, all displaying perfect composure +and graceful ease; and he heard the soft, sweet modulations of her +voice, calm, gentle, but unaltered; and at length he thought, "I know +perfectly what she will say when she hears it: she will declare that I +am too hasty in my conclusions; that I must see the gipsy, or whatever +he may be, and hear the whole of what he has to say; for that the +matter is too important to be judged of hastily, and that when we know +the whole, and have had time to consider, we can decide: or she will +speak of consulting my aunt, or her great uncle Lord Westerham, or any +other of those cold, disinterested people who can give proper advice +upon the subject: and yet I do my aunt injustice; for though of a +decided nature, she is not of a cold-hearted one." + +Thus, then, did he torment himself for some minutes, taking as much +pains to make himself miserable as if there were not quite enough pain +in this world without our seeking it. Nor did he stop here; but went +on in the same train till he had almost wrought himself out of the +determination of telling Marian at all, though he ultimately came back +to his first resolution. It is not to be concealed that all this +hesitation, and a great deal of this anguish, proceeded from his +having fallen into the common error of giving the reins over to +imagination, and believing that he had placed them safely in the hands +of reason. Had he acted wisely, he would not have sat down to fancy +any thing upon the subject at all, but he would have risen up, on the +contrary, as soon as his resolution was taken, and, seeking out her he +loved, would have told her all his doubts and fears, without thinking +at all previously either of what he would say or what she would say. +Nature, left alone to work her own way, in a thousand instances out +of a thousand and one does it gracefully; but if one calls in to +counsel her all the host of man's passions, prejudices, faults, and +foibles--though judgment may be present too--yet, nine times out +often, the multitude of counsellors, in this case, produces any thing +but safety. Neither is there ever any use of long consideration in +circumstances like those we have mentioned. What we will do always +requires thought; how we will do it, seldom, if ever. Trust to your +own heart, if you have a good one; and if it be bad, the sooner you +hurry it through the business the better. It is equally vain thinking +what we will say ourselves, for we are sure never to say it; and still +more fruitless to fancy what other people will say, for we know +nothing about it. + +De Vaux, however, was in some respects a curious compound of very +different principles. With all his errors and with all his faults, he +had a great deal of candour; and, however keen he might be in +investigating and lashing the motives of other people, he was not half +so strict an inquisitor into their failings as he was into his own. As +a consequence of this, though the knowledge often lay dormant, he did +know, as we have often before hinted, with extraordinary accuracy, all +the turnings and windings, the intricacies and the absurdities of his +own nature; and as soon as the rush of passions was over, his +conscience--like the power of the law restored after a popular +tumult--would mount the tribunal, and sit in judgment on his own +heart. Often, too--like the same power exerting itself to repress +anarchy--his better judgment would rise up against the crowd of wild +images presented by an irritable fancy, and after a short struggle +would regain its power. + +Thus, in the present instance he felt, after a while, that he was but +anticipating more misery when he had already sufficient to endure; +and, doing in the end what he ought to have done at first, he started +up, and went to seek Marian, in order to give her the opportunity of +letting her own conduct speak for itself. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +De Vaux had calmed himself as much as he possibly could; and as he was +not blessed with a face possessing that general expression of jocund +felicity which is usually denominated a smiling countenance, whatever +degree of gravity and care was left in his look at present excited no +particular notice in the drawing-room, whither his steps were first +directed. The party there assembled now consisted of Mrs. Falkland and +her daughter, with Colonel Manners; and the latter alone saw that the +agitation which he had beheld the gipsy's letter produce in his friend +had ended in permanent distress. + +"Where is Marian?" said De Vaux, as he entered, not very much +disappointed, perhaps, to find that she was not with the rest of the +family; "where is Marian?--do you know, Isadore?" + +"I left her drawing in the little saloon at the other end of the +house," replied Isadore; "but that was a full hour ago, Edward; and if +she expected a gay knight or wandering troubadour to come and sooth +her, either with his _gaie science_ or his _bien dire_, she may have +left her solitude by this time in disappointment." + +De Vaux smiled somewhat bitterly, as he felt how much more painfully +he had been employed than he would have been in the occupations to +which Isadore referred; and, again leaving the drawing-room, he sped +along the same passages which, with a light and bounding heart, he had +often trod in search of her upon some joyous errand whom he now sought +with feelings of care, anxiety, and sorrow. Marian was still where her +cousin Isadore had left her; and though, perhaps, she did think that +De Vaux might have found her out sooner, when he had no ostensible +motive for being absent from the side of her he loved, yet, like a +wise girl, she received him with as sweet a smile as if no such slight +reproach had ever crossed her fancy. The next moment she rejoiced that +she had done so; for the expression of anguish in her lover's eyes did +not escape her, and she felt at once that, for whatever other +occupation De Vaux had yielded the pleasure of her society, it was for +no agreeable one. + +"Look at this drawing, Edward," she said, as he came in: "do you not +think that I have made my hermit look very melancholy sitting on that +rock?" + +"Not so melancholy as my thoughts, dear Marian," replied De Vaux, +gazing over her shoulder, apparently at the drawing, but in truth +hardly seeing a line that the paper contained; "not so melancholy as +my thoughts." + +"And what has occurred to make them so, Edward?" she asked, turning +round to read the answer in his face before his lips could reply. +"Surely, I have a right to know, if any one has, what it is that makes +you unhappy." + +"You have, dear Marian, you have," he replied; "and I have sought you +out here to make you share in all I feel, though the task be a painful +one. But come here, and sit with me on the sofa by the window, and I +will tell you all." And, taking her by the hand, he led her on towards +one of the windows that looked out over the park; for, however strange +it may be, there are undoubtedly particular positions and particular +situations in which one can tell a disagreeable story more easily than +in others. + +Marian was alarmed, and she was agitated, too, within; for she +suffered not her agitation to appear upon the surface when she could +help it; and, as is very natural, she anxiously strove to arrive at +some leading fact as quick as possible. "Something must have occurred +very lately, Edward," she said, "for you were very gay and cheerful +during our ride this morning. Have you heard any thing from your +father to distress you?" + +"No, dearest girl," he answered, "I have heard nothing from him; but I +have heard from some one else much that distresses me: but I had +better show you what I have received, which will explain the matter +more briefly than I could do." + +So saying, he placed the gipsy's letter in her hand. Marian took it, +and read it through; but, as she knew none of the circumstances which +tended in the mind of De Vaux to corroborate the doubts insinuated by +the letter, she viewed its contents in a different light; and, +returning it with a smile, she asked, "And is that all that has made +you uneasy, Edward? But it is evidently all nonsense, my dear cousin. +If that foolish man, who teased me so much two years ago, were not out +of the country, I should think it was a plan of his to annoy you; but +depend upon it, that this is the trick of some one who wishes to +disturb our happiness. What have we to do with gipsies, Edward? and +how could gipsies know any thing about you and me, unless they were +instructed by somebody else? And if any person in our own rank had +real information, they would of course bring it forward themselves, +and not send it through a set of gipsies." + +"You argue well, Marian," answered De Vaux, "and I would fain believe +that you argue rightly; but I am sorry to tell you that several things +have previously occurred, which tend to confirm the assertions +contained in this." + +Marian turned a little pale from anxiety for him she loved. "Tell me +all, Edward," she said, "tell me all; I am sure you will conceal +nothing from me." + +"Nothing that I know, indeed, Marian," he answered: "I came with the +purpose of opening my whole thoughts to you; for you have every right, +that either true love or our mutual situation can give you, to know +every thing that I know. Well, then, my beloved, the fact which most +completely tends to corroborate the assertions in this letter, +occurred in a conversation between myself and my father yesterday +morning. It was when he was angry in regard to his unfortunate quarrel +with Manners and my opposition of the view he had taken: and he said +sternly, and bitterly enough, that though the estates were entailed, I +could be deprived of them by a word." + +"Indeed!" said Marian, thoughtfully, "indeed!" but the next moment she +added, "No, no, Edward, it must have been said in a moment of +passion, without reason, and without truth. Depend upon it, your +father and my uncle would never have spoken about our marriage to me, +and to all my mother's family, as he has often done, calling you +somewhat particularly the heir of his titles and estates, if you were +neither, as that letter says." + +"But yet the letter and his words confirm each other," said De Vaux: +"they both tell the same tale, dear Marian. Many a true word is spoken +in a moment of passion, that a man has concealed for years, and would +give worlds afterward to recall. Besides, I think I have heard the +name of this Pharold before: have you not heard my aunt speak of some +gipsy boy that my grandfather wished to educate?" + +"Oh, no, not my aunt," answered Marian. "All that happened when she +was very young, quite a child, I believe. It was poor Mrs. Dickinson, +the old housekeeper, who used to tell us stories about that gipsy when +we were children; and his name was Pharold, I think. She spoke of him +as of a fine creature, but very wild." + +"You see, dear Marian," said De Vaux, with a gloomy smile, "everything +tends to the same result. My father's words confirm the story of the +gipsy, and what we know of the gipsy would show that he had some +acquaintance with the history of our family." + +Marian mused: "It is very strange, Edward," she said at length, "and I +suppose there must, indeed, be some foundation for all this. But yet I +cannot understand it: if the estates are entailed, what is there on +earth that can prevent your inheriting them? If the title goes to the +sons, you must have it; and if it had gone to the daughters, I must +have had it, you know, which would have been all the same thing. If +you do believe this story, as I am afraid you do, tell me how it can +be." + +Edward de Vaux paused; for he had never calculated upon going further, +or being more explicit than he had been. He had thought it would be +enough to explain that he was likely to lose the lands and honours of +Dewry, and that Marian would naturally draw her own conclusion, and +perceive the only cause which could produce such a result. Her +question, therefore, embarrassed him, for he would willingly have +sealed his lips upon his mother's shame; and, though he had felt +himself bound to tell her all he was likely to lose, without +concealment, yet he hesitated at revealing the most painful part of +his own suspicions, till those suspicions had been rendered +certainties. + +Marian saw him hesitate, and raising her beautiful eyes to his face, +she said, "Edward, you have promised to tell me all, and you must make +it all you think, as well as all you know." + +It was not to be resisted. "Well, beloved, well!" he said, "I will, +though it is very, very terrible to do so; and, in truth, I hardly +know how to do it. Marian, did you ever see my mother?" + +"No, Edward, never that I know of," she replied: "why do you ask?" + +"Did you ever hear my aunt speak of her?" continued De Vaux, without +replying to her question. + +"Let me think," said Marian. "I believe I have: but no, I cannot +remember that I ever did, now I reflect upon it: no, I never did." + +"Nor my father either?" asked De Vaux. + +"No, never; certainly never," answered Marian. + +"Well, then--" said De Vaux, and he paused abruptly, fixing his eyes +upon her face. Instantly a colour of the deepest crimson rushed up +over the whole countenance of Marian de Vaux, dying cheek, and neck, +and forehead with the blush of generous shame--the shame that every +pure, virtuous, inexperienced woman feels when the idea of vice in her +own sex is suddenly brought before her. + +Edward de Vaux turned deadly pale, as he both perceived that Marian +had now caught his meaning, and comprehended most painfully the +feelings in which that bright blush arose. The shame that Marian felt +for the degradation of her sex touched the most agonized spot in De +Vaux's heart. All that hatred for vice, and scorn for the vicious, and +the pity which comes near contempt, could produce in a woman's bosom, +seemed to De Vaux expressed by that blush, and pointed, more or less +directly, towards himself; and, as I have said, he turned very pale. + +The deep emotion that he felt overpowered him for an instant; but then +he made a great exertion, and, rising from the sofa, "Marian," he +said, "I have now told you all, even to my innermost thoughts; and I +have but one word to add, my dear, dear cousin. Nearly three years +ago, you assured me of your love, and promised me your hand; and every +member of your family willingly consented to our ultimate union; but +then I was the Honourable Edward de Vaux, the heir to one of the most +ancient peerages in England, and to twenty thousand per annum. Things +have now changed; and, if the assertions in this letter, and my own +suspicions be correct, I am now a nameless, illegitimate beggar, +without a right to any thing on earth but my sword and my +reputation--with shame upon my mother's head--with nothing to claim +from my father, and without even a name that I can offer you. Under +these circumstances, though I shall love you to the last day of my +life, and think of you through every moment in the whole course of +time, I give you back your promise, I free you from all engagement, +and leave you totally untied to a connection from which your friends +will naturally be glad enough to separate you." + +He spoke calmly, slowly, and distinctly; but the deadly paleness of +his countenance showed how deeply he was moved at heart; and Marian +gazed upon him, with her long dark eyelashes raised high, her +beautiful eyes full upon his face, and her lip slightly trembling +while he went on. As soon as he had ceased, she rose from the sofa, +and, with agitation and ardour, all unlike her usual calmness, cast +herself at once upon his bosom, with her arms circling his neck, her +lips pressed upon his cheek, and her tears falling rapidly upon +him.--"Edward, Edward!" she cried, "I am yours--all yours! Could +you--could you do such injustice to your own Marian? You have given me +back my promise, and I here give it you again--so that, whatever +comes, I may never hear from any one a single word against our union. +Nay, nay, let me speak--it is seldom that I am vehement; but I must +speak now--you have my promise, most solemnly, most strictly; and I +consider myself as much bound to you as if I were your wife. Not only +shall no other person upon earth ever have my hand, but, whatever +happens, and whoever opposes it, you shall have it, when and where you +choose to ask it." + +Need I say how tenderly he pressed her to his heart? Need I say how +ardently, how sincerely he thanked her? But still there was some +slight hesitation in his mind. He almost doubted that she fully +appreciated his situation, and he felt that he could not receive such +a promise as she had made till she comprehended all. He bade her +think, then, of the whole; and conjured her to remember, that it was +not alone the loss of name and station, but that, if his anticipations +were correct, every thing like wealth, or even competence, would also +be lost to him. + +But all Marian's reserve was now gone, and the long-restrained +feelings of her heart flowed forth all together. "Nay, nay, Edward," +she said, again seating herself on the sofa, without, however, +withdrawing the small soft hand he held in his; "nay, nay, Edward, +have I not enough for us both? enough to give us every comfort? Nay, +every luxury that we ought to have we shall still possess; and why +need we wish for more? Do you think that the coach-and-six, and the +golden-coated coachman, and the three lackeys on the footboard ever +entered into my calculations of happiness?" + +"No; but, dearest Marian," he replied, "it is only painful to me to +think that I bring nothing to unite to your property. Your large +fortune renders it only the more necessary that I should have one +too--" + +"Hush, hush, hush!" cried Marian, eagerly: but still he went on: "I +have to owe you every thing, Marian; love, and happiness, and rank, +and station, and fortune too." + +"And will you, Edward, _you_ talk so proudly to Marian de Vaux?" she +exclaimed. "Will you be too haughty to enjoy all the blessings that we +possess, because it is Marian that gives them? Is not that which is +mine yours? Has it not been so since we were children? Do not distress +me, Edward, by one thought of such a kind. Indeed, I shall think you +do not love me--that you are going to refuse my offered hand." + +"Oh, Marian, Marian!" he cried, kissing it a thousand times, while +something very bright, and not unlike a tear, glittered in his eye. "I +would not lose it for a thousand worlds! Distress you! dearest girl! I +grieve to have distressed you for a moment; but I felt myself bound to +tell you all." + +"Oh, that does not distress me at all," replied Marian; "the only +thing that could distress me would be to see you grieve, or to think +that you should make a difference, even in thought, between what is +yours and what is mine. I declare, Edward, I never knew what it was to +feel glad of a large fortune before; but now I am thankful, not only +for what my mother left me, but for every shilling that my good old +granduncle and guardian has scraped together for me, by his economy +thereof. Three thousand a year, Edward--consider, we shall be as rich +as princes; and if it had not been for that, this misfortune might +have obliged us to wait on for many a year, till you had made a +fortune in India, and very likely have lost your health, which no +fortune could have compensated." + +Marian de Vaux spoke in a manner totally different from that which her +cousin had seen her display for many a year. Her beautiful eyes were +full of light and feeling; a smile, half-tender, half-playful, hovered +over her lip, and her voice was full of eager kindness and thrilling +affection. He had remembered her thus as a girl; but, as she had grown +up towards womanhood, either the feelings which had animated her bosom +with such a warm and enthusiastic glow had passed away, or the +expression of them had been gradually suppressed. Now, again, she was +all that he remembered her, and to see her so, plunged him into a +sweet vision of the past--connected, though by some fine golden +threads, with the present. He had seated himself on the sofa beside +her, and, still holding her right hand in his, he had glided his left +arm round her waist, and then, with his eyes fixed on a distant spot +of the floor, he remained in silence for two or three moments after +she had done speaking. Unless man were a cold unfeeling piece of +ticking mechanism, like a watch, our measures of time would always be +by our sensations: and as Marian had at that moment given way to all +the eagerness of her heart, the two moments that Edward de Vaux +remained in thought seemed to her an age. "What is the matter, +Edward?" she said. "Are you still unhappy?" + +"No, my beloved," he answered, looking up in her face with a glance +that fully confirmed his words,--"no, my beloved; I am most happy! so +happy, indeed, that, were I placed as I was before, I would almost +again undergo the pain which this discovery first caused me, to enjoy +the delight which my Marian's conduct has bestowed." + +"And did you doubt what that conduct would be, Edward?" she demanded, +half-reproachfully. Edward de Vaux coloured, and might have hesitated; +for conscience, that bitter smiter, who always finds his time to apply +the lash, now struck him severely for all those images which an +irritable fancy had suggested concerning Marian's conduct. But she +saved him the pain of a reply, which must either have been mortifying +or insincere. "And did you doubt what my conduct would be?" she asked; +and in the next moment she added, "But never mind, dear Edward; you +see what it is, and do never doubt it again." + +"I will never doubt, as long as I live, my own beloved girl," he +answered, ardently; "I will never doubt, as long as I live, that it +will on every occasion be all that is good, and noble, and generous: +but it was not that alone, my Marian, that made me so happy--so very, +very happy." + +"What was it, then, dear Edward," she asked, in some surprise; for +Marian, with all the quickness of a woman's perception, had noticed +the passing colour that came into De Vaux's cheek; and knowing him, +and all the little intricacies of his heart, better than he +thought--better, perhaps, than she thought herself--she had instantly +set down the blush to its right cause, and said, in her own heart, +"Edward has been tormenting himself with fancies." Now, however, his +words puzzled her, though a latent consciousness of having--in the +urgency of the moment, and in the desire to sooth and render Edward +patient under his misfortune--a latent consciousness of having given +free course to feelings and enthusiasms which she had long held close +prisoners in her bosom, made her now feel embarrassed in turn; and a +bright warm blush, partly from curiosity, partly from that +consciousness, mantled for a moment in her cheek. + +Edward de Vaux gazed upon her as she put her question with a smile, +full of deep fond affection--with a sort of triumphant happiness, too, +in his look that made her inclined, she knew not why, to hide her eyes +upon his bosom, as she had done long ago, when first she had +acknowledged to him the love that he had won, and witnessed the joy +that it called up in his countenance. "I will tell you what it is, +dearest," he answered, "that makes me now so happy, that I should have +considered anything but yourself a light sacrifice to obtain such joy. +It is, that the misfortune which has befallen me has called forth my +beloved Marian's true and natural character, and shown her to me +fully, as the same dear, excellent, feeling, enthusiastic girl that I +have always pictured her to my own imagination--such as her feelings +as a child gave promise that she would be--such as I remember her +appearing constantly, not many years ago." + +Marian blushed, and looked down; and there was a swimming moisture in +her eyes, which a little more might have caused to overflow in tears: +but they would not have been unhappy ones. She felt-- + +But it is difficult to say what she felt. It was not that she felt +detected, for that word would imply a shade of culpability which she +did not feel; but she felt that she had betrayed herself--that a veil +which she had cast over the true features of her mind, from many a +deep and complicated motive, had been raised--had been snatched away, +and could never be dropped effectually again. The effect which the +raising of that veil had produced was all glad and gratifying, it is +true; but still there was that fluttering emotion at her heart, which +the disclosure of long-hidden feelings must always produce: she felt +as if she had told her love for the first time over again; and she +knew, too, that she might be called upon to assign motives, and give +reasons, which would be difficult to explain, but which she determined +not to withhold, for many a good and sufficient cause. But all this +agitated her. She blushed, she almost trembled; and Edward de Vaux was +but the more convinced, from the agitation which he beheld, that the +concealment of her real character, and the repression of her finest +feelings, had been a conscious and voluntary act on the part of her he +loved. + +He became curious, as well he might be, to learn more; and, as Marian +still sat silently beside him, he tried the tacit persuasion of a +gentle kiss upon the blushing cheek, that almost touched his shoulder. +She turned round towards him with a thoughtful smile; but, as she did +not speak, he asked more boldly, "Why, Marian, why, dearest, after +having given me your love, and promised me your hand, have you let +that dear little heart play at hide and seek with me, till I have +sometimes almost doubted whether it was my own?" + +"You should not have doubted that, De Vaux," Marian answered; "but if +you really wish to know why I have somewhat changed my conduct since I +was a girl, and why I have, in some degree, repressed feelings that I +have not experienced the less warmly, I will let you into some of the +secrets of a woman's heart; but you must promise me, Edward, never to +abuse the trust," she added, smiling more gaily; "and you must +promise, too, not to be angry with any thing I shall say." + +"Angry! angry with you, Marian!" said De Vaux; "do not believe such a +thing possible." + +Marian smiled again, for there is often a sort of prophetic +presentiment in the breast of woman, which teaches her that, however +much she may rule and command the lover, the husband will not receive +the power in vain; and, perhaps, it is this knowledge of the shortness +of their reign which sometimes makes women abuse it a little while it +lasts. Marian smiled again at De Vaux's words, and then replied, +"Well, then, Edward, keep your part of the compact, and I will tell +you all. You say I have changed very much since I was a girl; and that +is but natural, Edward; for, depend upon it, every woman does change, +if she feels and thinks at all deeply. As a girl, her words and her +actions are all of but little importance in the eyes of those around +her, or in her own, unless she be nourished in conceit and affectation +from her cradle; and, during the first fifteen or sixteen years of her +life, though she may be taught to act like a lady, yet she sees no +reason for concealing anything she feels, or anything she thinks, if +it be not likely to hurt the feelings of others. As she goes on +towards womanhood, however, the world changes its conduct towards her, +and she finds it necessary to change towards it. She learns to look +upon trifles in her own conduct, and in the conduct of others towards +her, as matters of importance: the world and society assume a +different aspect she trembles lest she should say, or do, or feel what +is wrong; and very often she expresses too little of what she feels, +lest she should express too much. Then, too, Edward," continued +Marian, with the colour which had partly left her cheek while she +spoke coming richly up again, and spreading over her whole face, +"then, too, Edward, if she learns to love, all those fears and +apprehensions are a thousand-fold increased. She is terrified at her +own sensations, and almost thinks it wrong and sacrilegious to suffer +that one being by whom her affections are won to take that station in +her heart, above all the rest of the world, which she has hitherto +devoted solely to a being beyond the world. Perhaps before that time +she may have longed to love and be beloved; but the first moment she +feels that it is so--especially if it come upon her suddenly--depend +upon it, her feelings are more or less those of terror." + +De Vaux smiled, but his hand pressed tenderly upon Marian's as he did +so; and she felt it was as much a smile of thanks, as if he had +accompanied it with words of ever so much gratitude for the picture of +her feelings that she had given him. She paused, however, for she was +coming to matter which she feared might not please him so well; and +his thoughts turning, too, in the same direction, he said, after +waiting for a few moments to see if she would go on, "But, dear +Marian, this happens to every woman without producing such a change as +I have seen in you; and besides, what I have seen to-day, Marian, has +shown me fully that there has been some more distinct and individual +motive. Tell it me, Marian, tell it me, my beloved; and, believe me, I +will not abuse your confidence." + +"Nor be angry?" she said, smiling again. "Remember, that it is a +principal part of our agreement. Well, then, I will go on. When first +we were engaged to each other, Edward, my chief thought--as, indeed, +it ever has been since--was how to make the man I loved most +completely happy, as far as my own conduct was concerned; and I was +reading at that time a very clever book, which recommended women, on +their marriage, to study, not alone the general character of their +husband, but all his individual opinions and thoughts, in order to +make their own behaviour completely conformable thereto; it asserted, +also, that such was the surest way of winning happiness for both. I +believed it, and resolved to try to follow the advice even before +marriage. I listened to every thing you said, concerning the conduct +of other women that we knew, with a determination of trying to acquire +the qualities that you praised, and to avoid all that you blamed." + +"But, good God! my dearest Marian!" exclaimed Edward, warmly, "surely +I did not blame them for suffering the beauties or the excellences of +their natural characters to appear, nor praise them for assuming a +coldness that was the most opposed to the general warmth of their +nature?" + +"Not exactly, Edward," replied Marian; "but I will tell you what you +did, which came much to the same purpose. Though whatever I did seemed +to give you pleasure, yet, when you spoke of any of our acquaintance, +you were so severe upon what appeared to me very slight mistakes in +their demeanour; you were so rigid in your ideas of what was right in +general behaviour; you even once censured so heavily a display, rather +too open, of attachment to her husband, on the part of a lady whom we +both knew, that I began to find that your opinions on such subjects +were very nice indeed: and knowing," added Marian, with a smile, which +De Vaux felt fully, "and knowing that my lover, with these nice +opinions, was peculiarly sensitive to every thing that he thought +could draw the slightest degree of ridicule upon him or his, I +determined so to school my own conduct, and to repress the expression +of my own feelings, as to ensure his heart against the slightest +annoyance, concerning a word, or a movement, or a look of his wife." + +Marian paused, and Edward de Vaux, with his eyes bent upon the ground, +remained silent for two or three minutes, till she became alarmed. +"You promised me, Edward," she said, "not to be angry." + +"Not to be angry with you, my beloved girl," he said; "but I did not +promise not to be angry with myself; and well, well do I deserve it." + +"Nay, nor must you be angry with yourself either, Edward," replied +Marian; "if you are, I shall still think some of it lights upon me. +If, in seeking the means of rendering you happy, I have made you +unhappy, I shall meet with punishment instead of reward." + +"Dearest Marian," answered De Vaux, "it were vain to deny it. I have +been a fastidious fool hitherto; and, like the other sneerers of this +world, have been seeking the mote in my brother's eye, while I have +forgot the beam in my own. But henceforth I will take example by you, +dearest Marian, and so school my own heart as to get over that feeling +of the ridiculous in others, and terror for it in myself, which I now +find and believe to be a vice and not a quality." + +Marian shook her head with a doubtful smile, as if she would have +said, "It is in your nature, Edward." + +"I will, indeed, Marian," he continued; "and you shall see what a +strong resolution can do even with Edward de Vaux. But you must +promise me in return, dearest, to reward my efforts, by casting off +the reserve that my foolish fastidiousness has drawn over you. The +qualities of my Marian's heart and mind are too beautiful to be hidden +beneath such a veil." + +Marian smiled again, but looked a little thoughtful, for she felt that +the task her lover would impose was no easy one. "I will do my best, +Edward," she said; "but it must be by degrees. In the first place, all +the world would think me mad, if I were to change suddenly from the +quiet still-life demeanour of Marian de Vaux, and take up the gay, +lively, enthusiastic character of Isadore Falkland; and, in the next +place, it would be impossible, for I have now been training myself to +this behaviour so long, that it has become quite habitual to me; and, +whatever are the emotions that I feel at heart, my first effort--even +before I know I am making one--is to keep those emotions from +appearing. Sometimes, indeed," she added, laughing, "they break +through all restraint, as they have done today; but that is only on +great occasions. However, I will do my best to change back again; and, +perhaps, as I have overdone the quiet and composed, I may find the +happy medium, in returning to my old thoughtlessness. But, in the mean +time, Edward, never you be deceived in regard to what I feel. You have +seen the veil, as you call it, cast away; and you know entirely what +is beneath it." + +"A thousand, thousand thanks, for letting me see it, Marian," he +replied: "but I can never thank you enough, my beloved, for all that +you have done this day--for showing me your heart, and for giving me a +glimpse, too, of my own." + +"But I owe you thanks, too, Edward--deep and many thanks," replied +Marian, "for the generous candour of your conduct; and for not +shrinking, even for a moment, from making me a sharer in your thoughts +and feelings, however painful they might be to communicate. And oh, +Edward, let me entreat you ever to pursue the same course hereafter. +Let me be the sharer of all your thoughts; let me hear every thing +painful or to be feared, from your own lips, and the tale will loose +half its bitterness; and I promise you that, if I cannot assist you +with advice and support, I will not embarrass you by womanly fear, or +weak irresolution." + +"I will, Marian, I will!" replied De Vaux; "for I can contemplate no +case in which what I had to communicate would combine half so many +sources of pain and anxiety as that which is just past: and now, +dearest, then, give me your advice in regard to the course I ought to +pursue in investigating this very painful business." + +"Do you not think, Edward," said Marian, "that you had better not +investigate it at all? If, by letting it rest, and treating this +information with contempt, you were likely to injure any one, of +course I should say, sift it to the last grain. But it seems that +these people, whoever they are, that send you such disagreeable +tidings, hold out our approaching marriage as the only motive for your +enquiry farther; and, as you have told me the whole without reserve, +and I am perfectly satisfied, I see no reason why you should trouble +yourself further about it. If you are to lose the titles and estates +of your father on any pretext, let the gipsies send their information +to the person who is to benefit by your loss. I would think no more of +it." + +De Vaux shook his head, for his vivid imagination and excitable nature +did not fit him for sitting down quietly under such a load of +suspense. "No, no, Marian!" he said; "I could not bear such +uncertainty; I should not know an hour's peace, and whenever a letter +was put into my hand, whenever a stranger desired to speak with me, I +should dread some evil tidings. Investigate thoroughly I must. If I +find these insinuations false, my peace will be established on a surer +rock than ever; and my disposition may not be the worse for the ordeal +I have undergone, and the lessons I have received. If my fears prove +just, and these tidings true, I think, dear Marian--I think," and he +drew her nearer to his heart--"I think that, with the assurance of +such love as yours, I can see all the rest that was bright in my lot +pass away from me without a sigh." + +Marian's heart was relieved, for she had doubted how Edward de Vaux +would endure the certainty which might soon be forced upon him, of the +severe reverses which were yet unconfirmed. She had doubted, and, with +all the skilful tenderness of a woman's heart, she had at once +perceived that the most open assurances of her own love were the +surest antidotes that she could offer him against the evils of the +day. She had acted, it is true, by impulse; but there is always some +rapidly operating motive even at the bottom of impulse itself, which, +nine times out of ten, works with wonderful sagacity. There are many +moments in the life of man, when his boasted reason, which is but a +slow and considerate personage, has not time to act, and when, if +there were no power but this same reason to save us from drowning, we +might drown beyond redemption for anything that reason would do to +help us; but God, who gives their never-failing instinct to the +beasts, does not leave man without resource in those moments when +haste, and need, and apprehension render him little better than a +judgment-less animal, and has afforded him also a kind of instinct, a +power which only acts on sudden emergencies, when reason has not time; +which power we call impulse, but which is neither more nor less than +the instinct of a hurry. + +Marian de Vaux had, in the first instance, acted on impulse, but as +she went on, finding that impulse was quite right, and that the only +means to sooth and to strengthen her lover under his misfortunes, was +to let him see throughout the full extent of her love for him, she +cast away, as we have seen, every reserve, and showed Edward de Vaux +that he could but lose little, whatever he lost, compared with that +inestimable affection which was still his own. + +Marian's heart was relieved by perceiving that her conduct had been +successful, and that De Vaux was nerved against the worst; and, as she +had no particular taste for suspense herself, any more than he had, +she now recalled her words, and advised him, if his feelings were such +as he expressed, to pursue the investigation at once. + +"That, Marian, for all our sakes and on every account, I must do," +he replied; "but the only question with me is, in which way had I +better follow the inquiry. Here are two courses pointed out in this +letter,--to apply at once to my father; or, in the first place, to +visit this gipsy, and to ascertain precisely what information he +possesses. I have already considered, and believe that the latter +course would be the best; but my Marian has every right to guide me." + +"Oh! do not go to the gipsy," cried Marian on the first impulse; but +impulse was wrong in this instance, and Marian soon found that it was +so. Edward himself paused, and thought over the matter again; but, on +consideration, Marian remembered many an objection to the plan of +seeking information from Lord Dewry himself. She knew his haughtiness +and his violence, and she knew, too, that De Vaux, tingling under a +sense of degradation, and feeling that such degradation was +attributable to his father, was in no state of mind to submit to the +proud and insulting tone Lord Dewry too often employed, or to speak +calmly and dispassionately upon a subject, in regard to which his +whole heart was bleeding, and every better feeling deeply wounded. She +dreaded the collision which might ensue between the two, and she +thought it also very probable that Lord Dewry might refuse all +information on the subject. "I am afraid I am wrong, Edward," she said +at length; "I have a dread of those gipsies,--I do not know why; but +still, perhaps, you should be more sure that such insinuations as +these are not mere calumny, before you speak to your father about it." + +"That is true, my love," replied De Vaux; "and, besides, I have just +remembered that if I wish to have the gipsy's information at all, I +must have it before I see my father. He here in this letter tells me +to come either this evening or to-morrow early. Now, it is too late to +go to my father this evening, and before I could be back, if I went +over to-morrow, the time would be expired and the gipsy gone. I think +my best plan will be, to go early to the gipsy camp to-morrow morning, +hear all the man has to say, and then, if necessary, I can ride over +to the hall and speak with my father ere he goes out." + +"Yes, I doubt not that such is the best course," replied Marian; "but +for God's sake, Edward, take care of those gipsies. They are, I +believe, a terrible race of savages; and you told me that this was a +large encampment which you saw in the wood. They might murder you, +Edward, for your purse or your watch." + +"Oh, no fear, no fear, dearest!" replied De Vaux; "you see they never +attempted to murder Manners today, though he was there at five or six +in the morning, and his purse is likely to be much better filled than +mine; and as they knew him, and know me, they must know also that his +fortune is larger than mine ever will be." + +"But they may have some motive of revenge against you, Edward," +repeated Marian, contriving to increase her fears most wonderfully by +thinking over them: "they have evidently some greater knowledge of our +situation, and some deeper motive for their conduct, than is apparent; +and may they not wish to entrap you for some purpose of revenge?" + +"I never injured one of them by word or deed, Marian," replied De +Vaux; "and if you will consider for a moment, dearest, you will see +that they can have no evil intention, at least, towards my person. In +the first place, they sent the letter by Manners, and therefore must +feel assured that other people will know of my visiting their +encampment; and in the next place, this man, this Pharold, leaves the +matter open to me to come to him, or to speak with my father on the +subject. Had they any design against me, they would have contrived to +convey the letter to me secretly, and would have taken care to tell me +that I could get the information they offer nowhere but from +themselves. Besides, they cannot be sure that I may not make the whole +matter public, and come up with half a dozen companions." + +This reasoning calmed Marian de Vaux not a little; but still she was +fearful, and could not banish from her mind a kind of foreboding that +evil would come of Edward's visit to the gipsy. She knew, however, +what absurd things forebodings are; and she felt how natural it was to +be anxious and apprehensive for an object in which all her affections +centred, the moment that a situation of danger presented itself, +without seeking for any supernatural inspirations to justify her +fears. At every reported movement of the armies during her lover's +absence, she had too often felt the same alarm to give any great +weight now to the fear she experienced, against the voice of reason +and conviction; and seeing that De Vaux had every probability on his +side of the argument, she ceased to oppose him by a word. + +"At all events, Edward," she said, "for my sake, do not go unarmed: +that precaution cannot be very burdensome." + +"Certainly not," replied he, "and I will take my pistols with me, with +all my heart, as well as my sword, if it will give you the slightest +pleasure, Marian; though I am sure, my beloved, I shall have to use +neither." + +"Well, you shall do it for my sake, Edward," said Marian; "and I think +that to know it is so will lighten the weight upon you." + +De Vaux's answer was the precise one which any other man would have +made in the same situation; and some further conversation ensued of no +great import, in the course of which Marian proposed to her cousin to +make Colonel Manners the companion of his expedition. She understood +fully, however, the objections which, in reply, he urged against +imparting to any one but herself a suspicion which so materially +affected his station in society, his fortune, and even his happiness; +and those objections having been stated to the reader before, it may +be unnecessary to repeat them here. Suffice it to say, that their +conversation continued so long that Marian's toilet for the +dinner-table was far more hurried than her maid approved. Marian, +however, safe in beauty and secure in love, felt that she could go +down to dinner, even if a curl or two did stray from its right place; +and there was something in her heart that made her never regret the +moments given to Edward de Vaux. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +We left Colonel Charles Manners standing at the library door, with his +hand upon the great brazen ball, embossed with sundry figures, which +served as the handle to the lock. It may be remembered that Colonel +Manners, being somewhat troubled with the internal contention between +feeling for his friend's uneasiness and wonder for its cause, was +seeking an empty room to let those two emotions calm themselves; but +when he turned the above brazen ball, and the door opened to his will, +he found that he had been mistaken in looking for solitude there; for +the first things he saw were, a very beautiful face and a pair of +bright gay eyes looking up at him from the other side of the little +table on the left hand, with the hat and feathers, which it was then +customary for ladies to wear in riding, thrown somewhat back from the +forehead, so as to show the whole countenance of Isadore Falkland, +raising her face with a look of half-laughing vexation, as if asking, +"Who is about to disturb me now, when I came here in search of +solitude?" + +The interpretation of the expression was so self-evident that Colonel +Manners paused with a smile; and Isadore, finding that her face had +told the truth somewhat too plainly, laughed, and begged him to come +in. "Nay, Miss Falkland," said Manners, "I will not disturb you. Your +look, I can assure you, said, _Not at home!_ as plain as those words +ever were spoken." And he took a step back, as if to withdraw. + +"The servant made a mistake, then," replied Isadore; "I did not bid +him say, 'Not at home' to Colonel Manners. But the truth is, I am +endeavouring to compose my mind." + +"Indeed!" he exclaimed, in some surprise; "I am very sorry to hear +that any thing has occurred to agitate it." + +"And can you say so, Colonel Manners?" asked Isadore laughing, "when +you, yourself, were art and part in the deed?" + +Manners was still more surprised; but, as he saw that the agitation of +which Miss Falkland complained was of no very serious nature, it only +affected him so far as to bring him two steps farther into the room. + +"If I am one of the culprits," he said, approaching nearer the table, +where Isadore sat enjoying his astonishment,--for hers was one of +those light and happy hearts that can win a drop of honey from every +flower, however small,--"if I am one of the culprits, I claim the +right of an Englishman to hear the charge fairly read, Miss Falkland. +Otherwise I refuse to plead." + +"Well, then, Colonel Manners," she replied, "you stand arraigned of +having galloped as fast, when riding with two ladies, as if you had +been at the head of your regiment; and of being art and part with +Edward de Vaux in shaking the little brains possessed by one Isadore +Falkland out of their proper place. The truth is," she added more +seriously, "that after riding very fast, my ideas, which are never in +a very composed and tranquil state, get into such a whirl, that I am +always obliged to come and read some good book for a quarter of an +hour ere I dare venture into rational society. Do you feel the same, +Colonel Manners?" + +"Not exactly," answered Manners smiling, "but I rather fancy that I am +more accustomed to galloping than you are, Miss Falkland; and that had +you been as much used to that exercise as I have been, during eighteen +years' service, you would find your ideas quite as clear, after the +longest gallop that ever was ridden, as they were before you set out." + +By this time Colonel Manners had so far carried on his approaches that +he was in the midst of the library, the door shut behind him; and a +sofa in the window--not very far from Miss Falkland's left hand, with +two or three books upon a console hard by--within one step of his +position. What Isadore rejoined to his reply matters little. It was +just sufficient to seat him on the sofa, with a book in his hand, +which he had not the slightest intention of reading; and a +conversation began, which, though it had no particular tendency, and +was of no particular import, stretched itself over full three quarters +of an hour. It was, however, one of those conversations which are the +most pleasant that it is possible to imagine--one of those +conversations, when an intelligent man and an intelligent woman sit +down, without the intention of talking about any thing in particular, +and end by talking of every thing under the sun. They must, however, +feel convinced, like Isadore and Colonel Manners, that there is not +the slightest chance on earth of their falling in love with each +other; for the least drop of love, or any thing like it, changes the +whole essence of the thing, and it is no longer conversation. But +Isadore and Colonel Manners never dreamt of such a thing; and went on, +letting subject run into subject, and thought follow thought, as they +liked--not like a regiment of infantry, indeed, advancing in single +file, one behind the other, with measured step and stiff demeanour, +but like a bevy of rosy children rushing from a school-room door, +sometimes one at a time, sometimes two or three linked hand in hand +together, sometimes half a dozen in a crowd tumbling over one +another's shoulders. Thus ran on their ideas, gaily, lightly, of every +variety of face and complexion, without ceremony and without +restraint. It is true it required some activity to keep up the game +with spirit, for both were rapid; and Isadore, when she could not +easily express herself in one way, often took another, more fanciful +and flowery, so that had not Manners's wit been as agile as her own he +might often have been left behind. + +The moments flew rapidly till, as we have said, three quarters of an +hour had passed, as it were a minute; and neither Colonel Manners nor +Isadore Falkland would have known that it had passed at all, had not a +clock struck in the hall hard by, and Isadore suddenly thought that +_somebody_--that great bugbear _somebody_--might deem it strange that +she sat talking to Colonel Manners alone in the library, while the +rest of the family were probably in the drawing-room. She now +remembered, also, that she had still her riding-habit to change; and +having by this time quite forgotten that Colonel Manners was an ugly +man, she made the alteration of her dress an excuse to leave him, +though, to speak truth, she broke off their conversation with regret, +and felt inclined to look upon the moments she had thus spent as one +of the pleasantest things she had yet met with in the garland of +time--that garland which begins in buds and blossoms, and ends in +blighted flowers and withered leaves. + +Manners, for his part,--though he had from the first thought her a +very beautiful girl, and a very charming one, too,--had by this time +determined that she was possessed of many a more admirable quality of +mind and grace of person than he had even believed before; and an +involuntary sigh, which broke from his lips when she left him taught +him, to feel that it was as well, upon the whole, that he was so soon +to take his departure. It was a part of his policy never to encourage +regrets in regard to a state of life which he had made up his mind +could not be his; and he found that to live long in the same house +with Isadore Falkland might cultivate those regrets much more than was +desirable. + +When she was gone, he thought for a moment over what had just passed, +gave another moment to memories of the long gone, spent two or three +more in trifling with the book he held in his hand, and then, after +changing his boots in his own room, proceeded to the drawing-room. +Mrs. Falkland was now there alone, but it was not long before Isadore +again appeared; and, in a few minutes after, De Vaux, as we have +before shown, entered the room for a single instant to enquire for +Marian. Neither his aunt nor his cousin perceived that any thing had +occurred to disturb his equanimity; but the eyes of his friend, +quickened perhaps by what he already knew, discovered without +difficulty that the pain which had been given him by the letter he had +himself delivered was not at all diminished by reflection; and +although he felt that he could ask no questions, he was not a little +anxious for the result. + +Some time passed, ere it was necessary to dress for dinner, Without +any thing of importance, either in word or deed, occurring in the +drawing-room, except inasmuch as Mrs. Falkland informed Colonel +Manners that a lady was to dine with them on that day who had also +enjoyed the advantage of his mother's acquaintance in her youth. +Isadore pronounced her a foolish, tiresome woman; and Manners, on +hearing her name, said he had met her some years before, but did not +venture to dissent from Miss Falkland's opinion. + +Mrs. Falkland smiled, and tacitly acknowledged that her own judgment +of the good lady's qualities was not very different, by saying that +she had merely invited her because she knew that she would feel hurt +were she to hear that Colonel Manners had been long at Morley House +without her having seen him. "And I never wish to hurt people's +feelings, Colonel Manners," she added, "unless when it is very +necessary indeed." + +"It is never worth while, my dear madam," replied Manners; "and I +believe that, with a little sacrifice of our comfort, without any +sacrifice of sincerity, we can always avoid it, however disagreeable +people may be." + +Manners was in the drawing-room amongst the first after dressing, and +he looked with some degree of anxiety for the appearance of De Vaux, +in order to see whether the tidings he had received still continued to +affect him so strongly. But when De Vaux came in his manner had wholly +changed. His conversation with Marian had had the effect which such a +conversation might be expected to have. The recollection of it, too, +as a whole, while he had been dressing, had done as much as the +conversation itself. It had shown him a sweet and consoling result, +unmingled with any of the painful feelings, to which all he had +himself been called upon to communicate, had given rise in his own +breast. The gipsy's letter, and the suspicions which it called up, had +shaken and agitated him, had taken away the foundations from the hopes +and expectations of his whole life; but that which had past between +him and her he loved had re-established all, and fixed the hopes of +future happiness on a surer and a nobler basis than ever. He trod with +a firmer, ay, and with a prouder, step, than when he had fancied +himself the heir of broad lands and lordships; and when Marian herself +soon after entered the room, his face lighted up with a happy glow, +like the top of some high hill when it receives the first rays of the +morning sun. Marian herself, too, blushed as she appeared, for all the +display of her heart's inmost feelings, which she had that morning +made to her lover's eyes, had left a consciousness about her heart--a +slight but tremulous agitation, which brought the warm blood glowing +into her cheek. There was nothing like unhappiness, however, left in +the countenance of either; and Manners became satisfied, that whatever +had been the contents of the gipsy's letter, the evil effects thereof +were passing away. + +The Lady Barbara Simpson at length arrived with her husband in her +train, and was most tiresomely pleased to see Colonel Manners. She was +a worthy dame in the plenitude of ten lustres, in corporeal qualities +heavy, and in intellectual ones certainly not light. Vulgarity is, +unfortunately, to be found in every rank,--_unfortunately_, because, +where found in high rank, in which every means and appliance is at +hand to remedy it, its appearance argues vulgarity of mind, to which +the coarseness of the peasant is comparatively grace. Now Lady Barbara +Simpson was of the vulgar great; and, though the blood of all the +Howards might have flowed in her veins, the pure and honourable stream +would have been choked up by the mental mud of her nature. In her +youth, no sum or labour had been spared to ornament her mind with +those accomplishments and graces which are common in her class; and as +music and drawing, and a knowledge of languages, are things which, to +a certain degree, may be hung on like a necklace or a bracelet, the +mind of Lady Barbara was perfectly well dressed before her parents had +done with her education. But nothing could make the mind itself any +thing but what it was; and the load of accomplishments, which masters +of all kinds strove hard to bestow, rested upon it, like jewels on an +ugly person, fine things seen to a disadvantage. The want of +consideration for other people's feelings, or rather the want of that +peculiar delicacy of sensation called _tact_, which teaches rapidly to +understand what other people's feelings are, she fancied a positive, +instead of a negative, quality, and called it in her own mind ease and +good-humour; and thus, though she certainly was a good-tempered woman, +her coarseness of feeling and comprehension rendered her ten times +more annoying to every one near her than if she had been as malevolent +as Tisiphone. + +During dinner, Manners felt as if he were sitting next to somebody +clothed in hair-cloth, which caught his dress at every turn, and +scrubbed him whenever he touched it; and his comfort was not greatly +increased by finding himself an object of great attention and +patronage to Lady Barbara. Opposite to him sat Isadore Falkland; and, +though it was certainly a great relief to look in so fair a face, yet +there was in it an expression of amused pity for Lady Barbara's martyr +that was a little teasing. Her Ladyship first descanted +enthusiastically upon the beauty of Colonel Manners's mother and +called upon Mrs. Falkland to vouch how very lovely she was. Mrs. +Falkland assented as briefly as possible; and Lady Barbara then took +wine with Colonel Manners, and declared that there was not the +slightest resemblance between him and his mother, examining every +feature in his face as she did so to make herself sure of the fact. + +At this point of the proceedings Manners was more amused than annoyed; +for his own ugliness was no secret to himself, and he therefore knew +well that it could be no secret to others. He laughed then at her +Ladyship's scrutiny, and replied, "I was once considered very like my +mother, Lady Barbara; but whatever resemblance I did possess was +carried away by my enemy the small-pox." + +"Oh yes," she cried in return, "a dreadful disease that! Shocking the +ravages it sometimes makes! I see you must have had it very bad." + +"Very bad, indeed, Lady Barbara," replied Colonel Manners with a +laughing glance towards Miss Falkland; "and, what is worse, I had it +at that period of life when one has just learned to value good looks, +without having learned to despise them." + +"Oh, terrible!" exclaimed Lady Barbara, really commiserating him; "it +must have made a terrible change in you, indeed. Dear me, what a +pity!" + +Marian de Vaux was pained for Colonel Manners, and she now interposed +with a few words, endeavouring to change the subject; but Lady Barbara +was like a hollow square of infantry, and could _faire face partout_, +so that poor Marian only drew the fire on herself. Lady Barbara +answered her question, and then added, "And so I hear you are going to +be married in a fortnight, Miss De Vaux. Well, I wish you happy, with +all my heart; though marriage is always a great risk, God knows; is it +not, Mr. Simpson?" + +"It is, indeed, my dear," replied Mr. Simpson, a quiet little man with +much sterling good sense concealed under an insignificant exterior, +and with a certain degree of subacid fun in his nature, which was +habitually brought forth by the absurdities of his wife,--"it is, +indeed, my dear;" and he finished with an audible and perhaps not +unintentional sigh, which gave point to his reply. + +"But, for all that, it is a very good, and a very proper state, too," +rejoined Lady Barbara, "and a very happy one, after all." + +"I am glad you find it so, my dear," said Mr. Simpson; but Lady +Barbara went on, as usual, without attending to her husband. + +"I would advise all young people to marry," she said, "but not too +young though,"--she herself had married at thirty-five--"not too young +though, for then they only have such large families they do not know +what to do with them. But now at a proper age every one ought to +marry. Now, Colonel Manners, why are not you married? You ought to +have been married before this." + +The reader knows that she was upon dangerous ground: but Manners was +too good a politician to show that he was touched; and therefore he +determined in reply to put that as a jest which had a good deal of +serious earnest in it. "Oh, my dear madam," he answered, "you forget I +am too ugly; I should never find a wife now." + +"Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" she answered; "ugliness has nothing to do +with it; many a woman will marry the ugliest man in the world sooner +than not marry at all; and besides, you ought to have a good fortune, +Colonel Manners; and that is a great thing. But, I can tell you, you +will certainly never find a wife, as you say, unless you ask some +one." + +The draught was bitter enough; but Manners was indomitable, and +answered still gayly, "Nay, nay, Lady Barbara, I am so diffident of +my own merits, and so completely convinced that no one will ever fall +in love with my beautiful countenance, that I shall certainly never +marry till some lady asks me. It would require that proof, at least, +to convince me that I had any chance of being loved." + +"And if any lady were to ask you," continued the unmerciful Lady +Barbara, "would you really marry her after all, Colonel Manners?" + +"I believe I may answer that it would depend upon circumstances," +replied Colonel Manners, with a grave smile; "as, unfortunately for my +happiness, your ladyship's marriage has put you out of the question." + +"Oh, do not let me be in the way in the least degree," rejoined Mr. +Simpson from the other side of the table. + +De Vaux was fairly driven to a laugh; and Lady Barbara, beginning to +find out that there was an error somewhere, paused for a moment, and +went on with her dinner. + +However skilfully and courageously a man may struggle against his own +feelings on those points where they have intrenched themselves by long +habit and possession, yet, when forced by circumstance to treat as a +matter of common conversation subjects that are habitually painful to +him, there are slight traits--each almost imperceptible, but making +something in the aggregate--which will betray what is going on within; +sometimes to the eyes of another man, and almost always to those of a +woman. A degree of bitterness will mingle with his gaiety; a sigh will +sometimes tread upon the heels of a smile; and a deeper gravity will +follow the transient, superficial laugh, and distinguish the true from +the assumed. Women, by a more refined nature, by a necessity of +concealing their own feelings under various disguises, and by the +habit of judging others by slight indications, are rendered infinitely +more capable of penetrating the veil with which we are often obliged +to cover our deeper sentiments. Both Marian de Vaux and Isadore +Falkland were at once in Colonel Manners's secret, and comprehended, +without difficulty, how much was jest and how much was earnest in his +replies to Lady Barbara. Both felt for him, too, and both were sorry +for him; and as Marian, in consequence of her generous interposition +in his favour, already suffered somewhat too much by her Ladyship's +answers touching matrimony, to dare the field again, Isadore entered +upon the campaign with greater power, and did her best to effect a +diversion. In this she was tolerably successful, though Colonel +Manners did not entirely escape; and the ladies retired sooner than +usual, in consequence of Mrs. Falkland's desire to support her +daughter. + +De Vaux, anxious for the following morning, in order that all his +doubts might be brought to a conclusion, would willingly have followed +the ladies as soon as possible: but, alas! those were days of hard +drinking; and Mr. Simpson, though by no means given to excess any more +than Manners or De Vaux, had his own peculiar method of consoling +himself for his lady's tiresomeness during the day, by sitting long in +the evening, with the sparkling decanters and the social biscuits, by +which he was sure neither to be annoyed nor contradicted. He drank his +wine slowly, and with real enjoyment, pausing over every sip as a +miser over every guinea, playing with the stalk of his wineglass, +saying little smart things, if he had any one to hear him, and if he +had not, gazing in the fire and diversifying pleasant thoughts by +discovering landscapes and faces therein. + +De Vaux, without any want of charity, wished every glass his last, and +Colonel Manners wished himself in the drawing-room; but the _leges +conviviales_ of those days were far more strict than in these +degenerate times; and as the party was so small, both felt themselves +obliged to sit ceremoniously at table, till suddenly Mr. Simpson +perceived that neither of his companions had touched wine for half an +hour, and kindly took the hint. It was now near ten o'clock: Lady +Barbara had far to go, and was compassionate towards the four bright +bays that were ordered at that hour; and thus Colonel Manners was +spared the execution of all the man[oe]uvres he had planned to get out +of her way in the drawing-room. The carriage was announced: De Vaux +handed her down-stairs; and a glad sound it was when the wheels rolled +away from the door. + +There are many people whose disagreeableness is of that peculiar kind +that one can compensate the annoyance it occasions at the time by +laughing at it with one's friends when it is over: but, unfortunately, +Lady Barbara's was of so extensive and tenacious a quality that it +outlasted her presence; and Mrs. Falkland, Isadore, and Marian, all +found that they could not talk of it in Colonel Manners's presence +without being as disagreeable as herself. As Marian, too, had no +inclination to converse upon the risks of matrimony and large +families, she was cut off from mentioning her share in the annoyance; +and after a quarter of an hour spent in determining, in general terms, +that Lady Barbara Simpson was a very disagreeable person, the family +returned to its usual course. Marian was a little anxious about +Edward's proposed excursion of the next morning; De Vaux himself was +thoughtful in regard to the conduct he was to pursue towards the +gipsy; and, as if by mutual consent, the whole party separated sooner +than usual. + +We have not, however, done with the events of that night, and, +consequently, we shall follow De Vaux to his room, where he rang his +bell; and on the appearance of his servant, suffered him to give him +his dressing-gown and slippers. "You need not wait, William," he said, +when this operation was concluded; "I have something to write--give me +that desk." + +The man obeyed and retired, and De Vaux proceeded to put down some +notes in regard to what he was to demand of the gipsy, and what was to +be the exact course he was to pursue, in order--without admitting any +fact till it was proved, or committing himself in any way--to arrive +both at the most accurate knowledge of his real situation, and the +most incontestable proofs of whatever was affirmed by the man he went +to visit. + +When he had done this, he thought of going to bed; but his head ached +a good deal, with all the agitation he had gone through during the +day, crowned by the conversation of Lady Barbara Simpson during +dinner, and the tedium of Mr. Simpson after it; and approaching one of +the windows, he drew the curtain, opened the shutters, and looked out. +It was still moonlight, as when he had handed her ladyship to her +carriage; and throwing up the heavy sash, he leaned out, enjoying the +cool air. The moon was just at her highest noon, and the sky was +beautifully clear, except inasmuch as, every now and then, there +floated across a light white cloud, which the wind seemed playfully to +cast round the planet, like a veil, as she walked on in soft and +modest splendour, among the bright eyes of all the crowd of stars. The +river, gleaming like melted silver, appeared at the extremity of the +park, with the line of its banks, broken here and there by majestic +elms; and even beyond the grounds, glimpses of its windings might be +caught among the distant fields and plantations. The little wooded +promontory that flanked the park, with the higher hill, starting up +from the isthmus over which the road passed, rose grandly up, like two +towering steps, towards the glittering heavens; and beyond the sloping +fields and their hedgerow elms, with many an undulating line, lay soft +and obscure, in the sheeny moonlight, as far as a spot where, half-way +up the higher hill in front, the extreme horizontal line of the +distant country cut upon the sky. Scarce a sound was to be heard as De +Vaux gazed forth, but the whispering of the light breeze among the +tree tops, and the sweet plaintive belling of the deer in the park +below. + +"If I had known that these people would have gone so soon," he +thought, "I would have made my visit to the gipsies' encampment +to-night instead of to-morrow. The gipsies sit up, carousing by their +fires, I believe, for full one-half of the night; and I might have set +my mind at rest about this business without waiting so long." + +The thought of going even then now struck him; and he paused for a few +minutes to consider whether he ought to do so or not. "I shall not +sleep, even if I go to bed," he thought. "With all these things +weighing on my mind, slumber is not very likely to visit me. A couple +of hours will be enough to obtain all the information that I want; and +returning home, I may sleep in certainty to-night, and to-morrow have +to tell Marian that my apprehensions were groundless, or that our lot, +as far as station and fortune go, must be lower than we at one time +expected. I shall then have time, too, to sleep over my information, +and to lay out my plan of action for to-morrow deliberately. I wonder +if any of the servants are up yet?" + +The fears that Marian had expressed for his safety crossed his mind +for a moment; but they crossed it merely as apprehensions, which might +have given her some pain, if she knew that he was venturing to the +gipsies' encampment at midnight. No doubt of his own security ever +entered his thoughts; for, although De Vaux's imagination was a very +active one, it was not fertile in images of personal danger. In short, +he was constitutionally brave; and, like his father, did not know what +corporal fear is. "I shall only have to tell Marian," he again +thought, "that I have been, and that all she was alarmed about is +over." + +He gave one more look to the moonlight and then closed his window. His +boots were speedily drawn on; his dressing-gown exchanged for a +military coat; his sword buckled to his side; and, in conformity with +his promise to Marian, a brace of loaded pistols placed in his bosom. +Thus equipped, he opened his door and descended the staircase. All was +quiet; the lamp in the hall was still glimmering, though somewhat +faintly; the servants were all evidently in bed; and turning the key +in the glass door at the end of the lobby, De Vaux opened it +cautiously, and stepped out upon the lawn. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The moon was shining bright and clear upon Morley Down, covering every +rise on which its beams fell with soft and silvery light, and casting +every dell and opposite slope into dark broad shadow. From that height +a slight degree of mistiness appeared, hanging over the scene in the +valley; but above, all was clear; and the satellite of the earth was +so bountiful of her reflected rays, that our fellow-stars could +scarcely be seen in the sky, twinkling faintly, half eclipsed by her +excess of splendour. The scattered bushes and stunted hawthorns, and +the tumulus, with its clump of towering beeches, caught the rays; but, +with the peculiar effect of trees by moonlight, the latter seemed more +to absorb than to reflect the light, while their long deep shadows +cast upon the neighbouring ground, showed, at least, that they served +to intercept the beams. In many of the little pits and hollows of the +ground small pools of water had been formed; and so often did these +appear, glistening in the moonshine, in situations otherwise dark, +that it seemed as if the light sought out purposely the objects best +calculated to reflect it, and, like active benevolence in search of +humble merit, followed them into the dim and lowly abodes where they +had made their dwelling. + +From these pools, however, the sand-pit in which the gipsies had +pitched their tents was free; and the only water it contained was +afforded by a small clear spring, which the labourers had cut through +in digging for the produce of the pit; and, which, welling from the +bank, fell into a clear small basin of yellow sand that would, in all +probability, have absorbed it speedily, had it not found a sudden +channel among some smooth stones and gravel, and thence wound away, +forced into a thousand meanders by the irregularity of the ground, +till, issuing forth upon the common, it pursued its course down the +hill, and, joined by several other brooks, poured no inconsiderable +addition into the river in the valley below. It, too, caught the +moonbeams and glanced brightly in them; but that was not the only +light that shone upon it, as it trickled down the bank, and rested in +its little basin below. A redder and less pure gleam was reflected +from its waters, for at about twenty yards from the source, close +under shelter of the high bank and overhanging bushes, the gipsies had +pitched their tents; and now, though the hour was nearly midnight, +they were just in the midst of those revels that often rise up from +many a moor and many a planting throughout old England, while the rest +of her denizens are fast asleep. The evening was as warm as if it had +been far earlier in the year; and although the wind was high it +whistled sheer over the pit, without visiting with its rude search the +corner thereof in which the race of wanderers had nested their +encampment. The very sound, however, and the freshness of the night +air, rendered the idea of a fire any thing but unpleasant; and in +three different spots of the gipsy encampment the blaze rose up and +the sticks crackled, while the pots, now withdrawn from the flame, the +bottles of various shapes that lay round, and the cups, some of tin, +some of horn, some of silver,[3] that circulated somewhat rapidly, +told that the last and merriest meal of the day had commenced. + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 3: It is a peculiar trait in the character of the gipsies, +remarked, I believe, in every country where they are to be found, that +each individual strives to possess himself of something formed of one +of the precious metals, denying himself even necessaries to procure +it; and guarding it with a degree of care which the race extend to few +other things. By some writers it is asserted that these cups, or +ornaments, or other articles formed of gold or silver, descend from +generation to generation, and are never parted with except under +circumstances of the greatest necessity.] + +--------------------- + + +Three several groups had assembled round the three fires, and each had +its peculiar character. At that which burned in the middle of the +scene appeared Pharold, leaning upon the ground, with his elbow +supported by a projection of the bank, with a middle-aged woman on one +side, and the beautiful girl we have before mentioned on the other. +Two or three stout men, of from forty to fifty years, surrounded him; +and though joining boldly and freely in all that passed, it was +evident that they listened to him when he spoke with the respect due +to experience and command, and without any of that sullenness which we +have noticed in some of the younger members of the tribe who were with +him in the forest. Some more women completed that group; and, though +merry enough, it was evident, by their demeanour, that there sat the +eiders of the tribe. The next fire, at the door of a tent farther up +the pit, was surrounded by a different assemblage, though it was in +some degree mixed. At the entrance of the little hut itself appeared +the beldam whom we have seen acting as cook in the forest, and who on +that occasion, had shown some inclination towards a resistance of +Pharold's authority. Round about her were five or six sturdy young +men, from five-and-twenty to thirty, and five or six women; two of +whom did not appear to be more than eighteen or nineteen years of age, +while the rest were fine buxom brown dames of thirty-five or six. The +worthy lady of the hut, however, seemed now to have lost her acerbity; +and in a gay and jovial mood, with many a quip and many a jest, kept +all her younger auditors in a roar; though every now and then, with a +curl of the lip and a winking eye, she glanced towards the party at +the other fire, as if their graver conversation was the subject of her +merry sarcasm. + +At the third fire appeared the younger part of the tribe, the boys and +girls of all ages, except those, indeed, who rested sleeping in the +huts; and this circle, the loud laughter and broad jokes of which were +sometimes checkered by the sounds of contention and affray, occasioned +by an old pack of cards, was presided by a strong handsome youth of +about nineteen or twenty, whose proper place would have been, +apparently, at the second fire. He was here, however, placed much +nearer to the first group; and this proximity gave him, every now and +then, an opportunity, in the intervals of teasing his younger +comrades, of looking over his shoulder at the beautiful girl we have +called Lena, who, as we have said, was leaning beside Pharold, and +listening with seeming attention to his discourse. + +The whole three fires had assembled round them a much greater number +of the gipsy race than had been congregated in the wood where we first +saw them; and, in truth, a very formidable party was there gathered +together, who might have given not a little difficulty, and offered, +should their need have required it, no insignificant resistance, +either to game-keepers, constables, or police officers. Fourteen stout +men, in their prime of strength, with nine or ten boys capable of very +efficient service, were there met together, as well as a number of +women, whose arms were of no insignificant weight, and whose tongues +might have been more formidable still. + +As it may be necessary, for various reasons, to afford a sample of the +sort of conversation which was taking place amongst the gipsies on +that night, we shall begin, on many accounts, with the second fire, +round which it appeared that a liquor, which smelt very like rum, had +been circulating with no retarded movements. + +"Take it easy, take it easy, Dickon, my chick," said the old dame of +whom we have already spoken, addressing one of the sturdy young +vagabonds by whom she was surrounded: "never let's kick up a row among +ourselves, do you see. That's the right way to bring the beaks upon +us. He's a king of a fellow, too, that Pharold, though he do sometimes +look at one, when he's angry, as if the words were too big for his +throat--just as I've seen a fat cock turkey, when I've been nimming +him off the perch, and got him tight round the neck with both my hands +to stop his gabbling." The simile seemed to tickle the fancy of her +auditors, who interrupted her by a roar, which soon, however, died +away, and she proceeded. "He's a king of a fellow, though, and it +wouldn't do to make a split; besides, he knows more than common; and +the law's again it, too: so take it easy, Dickon, and I'll put you up +to a thing or two." + +"Ay, do, mother, there's a good soul!" replied the young man. "Do you +see, I don't want to split with Pharold; but damn me if I go out +shooting at rabbits, and hares, and little devils like that, if I am +to give my word that I won't touch a deer if it comes across me." + +"No, no, Dickie, never you meddle with nobody's dear," said the old +woman; "though Bill there, at the other fire," she added, dropping her +voice a little, and grinning significantly--"though Bill there, at the +other fire, seems to have a great fancy for Pharold's own dear." A low +laugh, whose suppressed tone argued that every one felt themselves on +dangerous ground, followed her jest, and she went on: "But, +howsomdever, Dick, never you meddle with nobody's deer, when you are +bid not--till the person that bade you is out of the way--do you see? +eh, Dicky, my boy?" + +"Ay, that's something like now, Mother Gray," replied Dickon. "Do you +see, to-morrow, it seems, we must troop, half one way and half +t'other; and then, if I be not sent to a distance, and can get some +good fellows to help me, I'll bet a bob that I bring home two or three +as fat bucks as ever laid their haunches on the king's table--and +that's a better night's work than ever Pharold will do." + +"Well, well, Dickon, you shall do it," replied the old dame: "you wait +quiet till to-morrow, and seem to think no more about it; and I will +get Lena to wheedle Pharold out of the way, if some of his own strange +jobs do not take him without; and you shall have free scope and fair +play for a night, my boy, anyhow--so the keepers may count their deer +the next morning, if they can." + +"But suppose I am sent away," said the young man; "I would rather have +gone to-night by half." + +"But you know you can't, Dickon," she replied; "and it would only make +a row to speak about it. We only go ten miles, any of us; and I will +take care of your ten miles, my chick. So keep snug; and, do you see, +there's no use of bringing up the deer to where we pitch. The shiners +are what we want; and Harry Saxon, who bags the pheasants and hares, +and who first gave me an inkling about the venison, will take the +beasts of us for so much a head, and send them up to the lord-mayor in +London. So to-morrow I'll be off early, and get the job arranged +proper, and have a cart and horse ready, do you see, Dickon." + +Dickon rubbed his hands with much glee; and as it would seem that some +people are born to deer-stealing, he felt that satisfaction which all +men must feel when a prospect opens before them of their talents at +length having a free course. At that moment, however, two shots were +heard at no very great distance, but in the direction of the little +wooded promontory near Morley House, and the sound called forth some +symptoms of emotion in more than one of the party. Pharold listened, +drew in his eyes, and knit his brows hard, while Dickon vowed, with an +oath, "That fellow Hallet has gone down into Mrs. Falkland's +preserves, and will blow us all with his cursed gun. He might have +waited an hour or two." + +Pharold listened still, but made no comment; and those by whom he was +surrounded seemed to suspend their own observations on the sound till +his were spoken. In the mean time, Dickon and the good dame, whom he +termed Mother Gray, proceeded with the edifying arrangements they had +been making, and had nearly completed their plan for getting Pharold +out of the way, stealing two or three deer from some of the +neighbouring grounds, and sending them up to the capital to supply his +majesty's burgher lieges in their necessity for fat venison. The exact +park which they were to plunder, and some other of the minor +considerations, were undergoing discussion, in which the whole party +round the fire took a friendly and zealous share; when one of Dickon's +comrades, who had been keeping an eye on Pharold's circle, touched him +on the shoulder, saying, "They are going to divide the money." + +"They will not have so much to divide as we shall get to-morrow," said +Dickon; "I will answer for that." + +"I don't know, I don't know, my chick," rejoined the worthy beldam; +"that Pharold is a knowing hand, and always gets more than any one +else, work for it how they will. How he gets it I am sure I don't +know; and I often think he must coin his skin into guineas, for my +part." + +Now the complexion of the old dame herself, and of every one round +her, was as yellow as any one could desire; but that did not prevent +them all from enjoying the joke highly, simply, perhaps, because +Pharold's countenance might be a little brighter in hue than their +own. Several of them, however, now rose and approached the other fire, +at which the proposed division of gains was about to take place; for +it seemed that the tribe in question had retained many of the original +habits of their people which have been lost among other hordes.[4] One +after another, till the turn came to Pharold, the several gipsies +poured forth their acquisitions into this general fund. Silver and +copper were the principal metals that appeared in the collection, +though a few pieces of gold, consisting in general of coins of the +value of seven shillings or half a guinea, sparkled between; the +numbers who contributed, however, and the copious contributions of +small coin that some of them poured forth, gave the whole sum an +imposing amount; but when Pharold at length received the hat in which +it was collected, and drawing forth an old purse added between thirty +and forty golden pieces to the store, a murmur of joy and satisfaction +ran through the assembled gipsies. + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 4: This habit is said still to exist among many of the gipsy +tribes; and some persons have not scrupled to assert, though +apparently without reason, that they carry their ideas of the +community of property to a somewhat licentious extent.] + +--------------------- + + +The partition next began; but it was not, as may be supposed, +perfectly equal. It was perfectly just, however; each received +according to the burdens upon him. The married man obtained a share +double in amount to that bestowed upon a single man: the mother +of a large family, even if her husband was no more, claimed in +proportion to the number of her offspring, and each orphan--of which +be it remarked, by one cause or another, there were several--- was +treated as a single man. The partition was made by Pharold himself +with rigorous equity; and though almost all the gipsies had gathered +round, and observed his proceedings with gleaming black eyes and eager +faces, none offered a word either of remonstrance or of information; +for all were not only convinced of his justice, but every one would +have felt shame to grumble at the award of one who, contributing more +than the whole together, only claimed the share of an individual. + +When he had done, and the whole was distributed, Pharold addressed a +few words to his companions, such as the division which had just taken +place suggested. He told them that in this custom, as in all the +others which they themselves observed, they followed exactly the +manners of their fathers: and he praised, not without eloquence, the +sort of patriarchal state in which they lived. He lamented grievously, +however, that many of their nation were abandoning their ancient +habits; that some had even established themselves in fixed +dwelling-places, had submitted themselves to the laws, and had adopted +the manners, of the people amongst whom they dwelt. He besought those +who surrounded him to live as all their race had lived, and promised +that thus they would continue to be as prosperous as the division of +that night showed them to be at present. + +"A curse upon our children," cried one middle-aged woman, "if they +quit the ways of their fathers, and go to live among the puny, +white-faced things of the lands: a curse upon them all! May their line +of life be crooked and broken off in the middle--full of crosses, and +ending in _Gehennel_!" + +A murmur of approbation followed this denunciation; and the rest of +the gipsies retiring to their several fires, their carousings were +renewed, while Pharold related to those who more particularly +surrounded him a variety of melancholy facts relative to the +degeneracy of various gipsy tribes, who had fallen into the iniquity +of fixed dwelling-places, and many other abominations. He spoke of +much that he had seen in his own wanderings, and much that he had +heard from others; and his story became so interesting that a good +many of the younger of the race crept round to listen. This, however, +did not seem to suit his purpose; for he speedily broke off his +discourse, and, looking round him, exclaimed, in a voice loud +enough to be heard at each of the neighbouring fires, "Come, my men, +we are sad to-night, and that must not be. Will," he added, speaking +to the young man who, as we have said, presided over the younger +circle,--"Will, you are a songster, let us hear your voice." + +William obeyed without hesitation; and while he went on with his song, +the old dame at the other fire continued conversing eagerly with her +favourite Dickon, in tones which were low in themselves, and which +were the better cut off from other ears by the rich fine voice of the +singer. + + + SONG. + + In the gray of the dawn, when the moon has gone down, + Ere the sun has got up over country and town, + 'Tis the time for the lover to steal to his dear, + In the heart-beating May of the incoming year. + _Chorus_.--In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, when the fox is asleep, + And the foxes of cities in slumber are deep, + 'Tis the time for the wise from his tent to walk out, + And to see what the rest of the world is about. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, ere the milkmaid trips by, + To bring home the milk from the bright-coated kye, + Some earlier hand may have taken the pain + To render her milking all labour in vain. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, if you'll meet me down by, + My own pretty maid with the dark gleaming eye, + We'll wander away far o'er mountain and plain, + And leave the old fools to look for us in vain. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + In the gray of the dawn, if you'll not come to me, + My own pretty maid, by the green hawthorn tree, + You may stumble by chance o'er the corpse of your love, + As you trip with some other along the dim grove. + In the gray of the dawn, &c. + + +"You have changed the song, Will," said Pharold, as the other ended; +"you have added and taken away." + +The young man reddened, but merely replied that he had forgot some +verses, and been obliged to put new ones; and Pharold, taking no +further notice, continued his conversation with his companions. In the +meantime, the consultation between the old lady and Dickon had gone on +throughout the song, and was still continued. + +"Well, well, Dickon, my boy," rejoined the old lady to something that +her companion had said under cover of the singing, "keep a good tongue +in your head for a while, and we'll see what we can make of it. It is +a shame, indeed, that he should have his own way of getting so much +stuff, no one knows how--from the _Spirit_, I think--and prevent you +from following your way of getting some too, specially when it's all +to go with the rest. And he's proud of his way of getting money, too. +Did you see with what an air he poured the shiners in?" + +"That I did, that I did," replied the other; "curse him! I'd get as +many as he, if he'd let me." + +"Ay, but you see the thing is, Dick," she answered, "he gets it, no +one knows how, without ever saying a word about it to any one. Now, +you follow the same plan, my chick; and if he asks you, you can then +tell him to mind his own business. But hush, he's looking at us. Bid +Bill give us another stave." + +"Bill," cried Dickon, "give us another touch of it, there's a good +'un. Sing us Old Dobbin, and then come here and take a swig of the +bingo with me and Mother Gray." + +Bill was not at all reluctant, and without the slightest appearance of +bashful hesitation again began to pour fourth his fine voice in song. +The air, however, was of a very different kind, as far as expression +went, from that which he had formerly chosen, which had been somewhat +more sentimental and solemn than the words in general required, or +than might have been expected from the personage by whom it was sung. +In the present case, his tones were all lively, and the song seemed +well known to all his companions. + + + SONG. + + 1. + + Lift your head, Robin! + Lift it and see, + Why shakes his bells, Dobbin, + Under the tree. + Why shakes his bells, Dobbin, + His old noddle bobbing, + As if there were strangers upon the green lea? + + 2. + + Lie quiet, lie quiet, + Though danger be near, + If we make not a riot + There's nothing to fear. + If you will but try it, + And only lie quiet, + There is no harm will happen my own little dear. + + 3. + + I have heard of the fairy + That walks in the night, + With a figure so airy + And fingers so light, + That though watch-dogs hairy + May sleep in the airy, + She will empty your hen-coops before morning light. + + 4. + + I have heard of the witches + That ride in the dark, + And despite hedge and ditches + Get into the park; + Nim hares from their niches, + Without any hitches, + And think man-traps and spring-guns a toothless dog's bark. + + 5. + + Then lift your head, Robin, + Lift it to find + Why the bells of old Dobbin + Sound on the night wind; + Then lift your head, Robin, + For my heart is throbbing, + About witches and fairies and things of the kind. + + 6. + + Lie still, 'tis no fairy + That trips the green sod; + To hen-coop or dairy + No witch takes her road. + No, no! 'tis no fairy, + Nor anything airy; + Lie still and be silent, the _beaks_ are abroad! + + +This very edifying composition seemed to give infinitely greater +satisfaction to the generality of the gipsies than the former song had +done; and especially in those places where the singer contrived to +modulate his voice, so as to change the tone from the male to the +female, or from the female to the male, as the words required, the +approbation of his hearers was loud and vehement. Pharold alone +appeared somewhat gloomy upon the occasion; and were one to look into +his breast, which we do not intend to do very deeply on this occasion, +one might see a strange and bitter contest between early feelings, +habits, and inclinations, and refinements and tastes acquired from the +most opposite sources--a state of things so discordant in all their +elements, that nothing but an originally wild and eccentric nature +could have endured its existence in the same bosom. Some one has said, +"_Malheureux celui qui est en avant de son siecle_;" and it certainly +might be said, in every class of society, "_Malheureux celui qui est +au-dessus de son etat_." Pharold then became gloomy, and felt +disgusted at things which amused and interested his companions; nor, +perhaps, was his gloom decreased by seeing that the beautiful young +companion who leaned beside him was as much pleased and amused as the +rest. + +"I thought that I had taught you to despise such things, Lena," he +said in a low tone, and with somewhat of a frowning brow. + +"Yes, yes," she replied, colouring brightly; "and so I do, when I +think; but yet--" + +She was interrupted by the man named Dickon, who gave a low whistle, +and exclaimed at the same time, repeating apart of his companion's +song,-- + + + Lift your head, Robin, + Lift it and see, + Why shakes his bells, Dobbin, + Under the tree! + + +And almost at the same moment one of the horses, of which the gipsies +had several feeding upon the common just above, repeated a low neigh, +which had been heard in the first instance by Dickon, as he was +called, alone. All was instantly silent; and then the jumping sort of +noise which a horse with a clog upon his feet makes, when endeavouring +to go fast, was heard from the common; and Pharold's practised ear +could also distinguish, proceeding from the gravel of the road, the +sound of a man's footstep, the near approach of which had probably +frightened the horse. + +"Jump up, Will," he cried quickly, addressing the singer; "jump up, +and see who it is. Stop him up there! If he want me, whistle twice; if +you want help, whistle once!" + +The young man was up the bank in a moment; but the length of time that +elapsed before they heard any farther sound made them at first fancy +that they had been mistaken in thinking that any one approached, and +then showed them that in the clear silence of the night the sounds had +made themselves heard farther than they had at first imagined. All +kept a profound silence; but, after the lapse of about a minute, the +murmur of distant voices was distinguished, and then came a low long +whistle. Every one started on his feet, but the next moment a second +whistle was heard, and Pharold said calmly, "It is for me! I may be +absent, perhaps, for an hour or so: but as the young man has come +to-night instead of to-morrow, we will set off all the earlier in the +morning." + +He spoke to one of the elder men near him; but in a tone of voice loud +enough to be heard by those around. Dickon and Mother Gray gave each +other a look; and when Pharold slowly took his way up the bank she +stuck her tongue into her toothless cheek with very little of that +reverence in her looks which she sometimes professed for the leader of +the tribe. + +Soon after he was gone the young man called Will returned; and was +questioned by several of the gipsies regarding the stranger who had +intruded upon them at so late an hour. All that he could or would +reply was, that he was a young fellow with a sword by his side, and +that he had walked away with Pharold; with which tidings they were +forced to content themselves, and their revels went on and concluded +much as they had begun. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Let any one who is fond of sublime sensations take his hat and staff, +and climb a high hill by a moonlight midnight. There is apart of that +dust of earth, which gathers so sadly upon our spirit during our daily +commune with this sordid world, cast off at every step. The very act +of climbing has something ennobling in it, and the clearer air we +breathe, the elevation to which we rise, all gives the mind a +sensation of power and lightness, as if it had partly shaken off the +load of clay that weighs it down to the ground. But still more, when +with solitude--the deep solitude of night--we rise up high above the +sleeping world, with the bright stars for our only companions, and the +calm moon for our only light--when we look through the profound depth +of space, and see it peopled by never-ending orbs--when we gaze round +our extended horizon and see the power of God on every side,--then the +immortal triumphs over the mortal, and we feel our better being strong +within us. The cares, the sorrows, the anxieties of earth seem as dust +in the balance weighed with mightier things; and the grandest earthly +ambition that ever conquered worlds and wept for more, may feel itself +humiliated to the dust in the presence of silence, and solitude, and +space, and millions of eternal suns. + +The cool night air playing round his brow calmed the feverish headache +which anxiety and excitement had left upon Edward de Vaux; and as he +walked forth from the park, and climbed the high hill towards Morley +Down, with the stars looking at him from the clear heaven, and the +moon glistening on every pebble of his path, it is wonderful how much +his mind felt soothed and tranquilized, how small the cares of earth +became in his sight. So much so, indeed, was this the case, that +although, as he mounted the steep ascent, he heard distinctly two +several shots fired, apparently, a great deal too near his aunt's +preserves--a sound which, at any other time, might have roused his +indignation in a very superabundant degree--he now only paused for a +moment, and turned round to listen; and, hearing no more, walked on, +regarding the destruction of some hares or pheasants as a matter of +but small consequence. When he reached the common, the beauty of the +moonlight scene, with its broad lights and shadows, and the solemn +effect of silence, and solitude, and night, again made him halt in his +advance, to gaze upwards into the depth, and feel the mightiness of +the universe around him; and that, too, sunk all human cares so low by +comparison, that he began to think he could bear any disclosure with +calm tranquillity. + +He then walked on rapidly, regretting, perhaps, a little, that he had +not asked Manners the exact position of the gipsy encampment, as he +had become warm in climbing the hill, and the wind that blew over the +common felt chill, and made a slight shudder pass over him. The little +mound, however, was his resource, as it had been that of his friend +when engaged on a similar errand; and, walking on to the spot where it +stood, he climbed the side, and cast his eyes over the wide and broken +flat grounds below him. In the direction of the sand-pit, he almost +immediately beheld a light; and the next instant a fine mellow voice +singing showed him that the gipsies were not only there but awake, +though he was too far off to catch any thing but a few detached notes +of a merry air rising up from below. Turning his steps in that +direction, he had proceeded about a quarter of the way from the mound +to the encampment, when an old white horse, which had lain down after +feeding, started up at his approach, and hobbled away with its clogged +feet, as fast as it could, uttering, at the same time, one or two +short neighs, as if perfectly aware that its masters were of that +class which does not like to be interrupted without warning. The light +of the fire, now rising up above the abrupt edge of the sand-pit, and +showing the dark outline of the bank, with the few black bushes +cutting sharp upon the glare, pointed out to De Vaux the exact spot +where the gipsies were to be found, when suddenly a human figure was +seen rising rapidly across the light; and a minute or two after the +form of a stout youth planted itself directly in the way of the +wanderer. + +"Who do you want, and what?" demanded the young man, eyeing him from +head to foot with a look of no particular satisfaction. + +De Vaux, however, answered him at once in such a manner as to put a +stop to any farther enquiries, saying, "I want to see a person called +Pharold, who is with you here. Can you bring me to him?" + +"No," replied the youth, "but I can bring him to you;" and he uttered +a low, long whistle, succeeded by another, which was quickly followed +by the appearance of Pharold himself, who, as he approached, took care +to examine his visiter as accurately as the moonlight would permit. +When he came near, without addressing De Vaux, or waiting to hear his +errand, he turned to the young man, saying, "You may return, William;" +and seeing a slight inclination to linger, he added, in a more +authoritative tone, "Return!" + +The youth obeyed; and then turning to his visiter, the gipsy said, +"You are Captain de Vaux, I suppose--nay, I see you are." + +"You are right," replied De Vaux; "though I am not aware that you ever +saw me before; at least, I am certain that I never saw you." + +"I saw you on the day before yesterday," replied the gipsy, "though it +was but for a moment, and you did not see me. But it is not alone from +that I know you. You are very like your father, as I remember him; but +still more like your grandfather and your uncle, in the times when I +can recall as happy a set of faces in Dimden Hall as ever shone in the +palace or the cottage." + +The gipsy sighed as he spoke, and De Vaux sighed too, for he had never +seen such faces in his father's house; and there was also, in the +picture thus presented, a sad sample of how happy things and scenes of +joy can, in a few short years, pass away and be forgotten, which, +linking itself by the chain of association to the present, carried on +his mind to the time when he and his might be as those of whom the +gipsy spoke, and all the happiness which he now so fondly anticipated +with her he loved become a memory for some old remaining servant, or +poor dependant, to sigh over in their age. + +"Then I am to suppose," rejoined De Vaux, after pausing for a moment +on thoughts which, perhaps, might be called gloomy--"then I am to +suppose that I am speaking with the person signing himself Pharold; +and I may also conclude," he added, "that he is the same whom I have +heard of, as having been taken, when a boy, by my grandfather, in +order to educate him with my father and uncle; but who could not bear +the restraints of that kind of life, and at the end of two years fled +back to his own race and his native pursuits." + +"In less time, in less time than that," said the gipsy; "but I often +went back, and was ever kindly met, and used to please myself by +enacting one day the young gentleman at the hall, and the next the +gipsy on the common. But after a time," he continued, carried away by +his subject, "I strayed farther, and forgot what I might have been, to +give myself more up to what I was to be--but there is no use of +talking of such things now, it makes me sad! And so you have heard all +that. Yet who would tell you? Your father never did, I am sure; and +your aunt was then but a child of two or three years old; and your +uncle--but you remember not him." + +"No," replied De Vaux, "any knowledge of the facts that I do possess +was derived, I believe, from the tales of an excellent old +housekeeper, who died not many years ago, and who seemed to speak of +Pharold with no small regard." + +"And is she dead?" cried Pharold. "Poor good old Mrs. Dickinson--I +knew not that she was dead--she was ever kind to me, good soul: and +now she is dust and ashes! Well, well, the fairest, and the strongest, +and the best, go down to the sand with the leaves of the tree!--but +will the kindly affections, and the noble feelings, and the generous +nature, die too and rot? Can you tell me that, young gentleman?--I +think not." + +"Nor I either," answered De Vaux. "God forbid that we should think so! +But, as I said, it was from that good old person, as I now recollect, +that I heard all I know of your former history." + +De Vaux recurred to the subject of the old housekeeper purposely, for +he was not at all sorry that--instead of having to meet the gipsy as +an opponent, where every word was to be examined, and nothing admitted +without proof--their conversation had taken such a turn as to draw +forth the man's true character, and to show the deeper motives upon +which he acted. Anxious, as he might naturally be, to ascertain +whether there was any hidden passion which might tempt the other to +deceive him, or to seek to injure either himself or those connected +with him, De Vaux would fain have led the gipsy on to speak more fully +of the past; but Pharold's mind, following always its own particular +train, rested but for a moment longer upon the idea suggested, and +then returned abruptly to the cause of their meeting. + +"Since you know so much of me, Captain de Vaux," he said, "you must +also know that I possess knowledge in regard to your family which few +other persons now living do possess; and you must know, likewise, that +I am not one to say to you a word that is false, or to seek to wrong +you by even a thought. That you have given some credence to my letter +I see by your having come here, and that you put some confidence in me +I see by your having come alone, and at this hour. Both deserve that I +should be as explicit with you as possible; and, therefore, before you +quit me, I will leave not a doubt upon your mind in regard to the +truth of what I affirm." + +"By so doing," replied De Vaux, "you will at least entitle yourself to +my gratitude and thanks, though I conceal not from you that it is +difficult to feel grateful or to offer sincere thanks to one who, +willingly or unwillingly, overturns our hopes and our happiness for +ever." + +"It is difficult!" replied the gipsy; "I know it is difficult; but yet +you must believe me when I tell you that I feel deeply and bitterly +every pang that I inflict on you; that but for a duty and a promise +registered in my own heart and beyond the stars--but for your own +ultimate happiness--I would not pour upon you now all that I must bid +you bear. You must believe all this, Captain de Vaux, for it is true." + +And De Vaux did believe it, in part, if not entirely; for there was a +solemn earnestness about the man's manner, a sort of eager deprecation +in his tone, that would have been very difficult to assume unfelt. +Although his opinion of mankind in general, and of the gipsy race in +particular, was not very high, still the barrier of distrust was not +strong enough to shut out conviction when De Vaux heard the tones of +real sincerity; and he spake truly when he replied, "I will believe +that you do feel what you say, both because I have never, to my +knowledge, injured you or yours, so that it would be gratuitous +baseness to injure or afflict me; and because the little I have ever +heard of your character in youth, as well as your tone and manner at +present, convinces me that you are incapable of such a proceeding. +Nevertheless, you must remember, that before I can yield belief to any +part of a story which, in some way, must throw dark imputations upon +my family, I am bound to exact proof, and must be permitted to +question every assertion that is not supported by the fullest +evidence." + +"Proof and evidence you shall have," replied the gipsy; "and you shall +not only be permitted to question any thing that seems doubtful, but +to be angry and indignant till you are convinced. Only, for your own +sake, command yourself as much as possible. Remember that you have to +hear a tale that will give you great pain; and, in order to enable +yourself to judge rationally of its truth, you must govern your +passions, and, as far as may be, subdue your feelings. You must +promise, too, Captain de Vaux, to forgive him who inflicts the truth +upon you. Will you promise me," he asked, laying his hand solemnly on +De Vaux's arm, "to forgive whatever pain I may inflict, when you shall +be satisfied both that my tale is true, and that I have no motive of +earthly interest in relating it?" + +"Most certainly," replied De Vaux, "though you proved my illegitimacy +ever so clearly. Of course I must forgive you, if disinterestedly you +speak but the truth." + +"Worse, worse, far worse than that have I to tell," replied the gipsy; +"but I cannot tell it here. The wind blows cold, and I saw you +shudder, but your blood will run colder still before my tale is done. +Besides, my people have long hearing and cunning ways. They are too +near; and I would not that any other ear than yours in the whole world +should listen to the words I am going to speak. You have trusted +yourself so far to-night that you will not fear to trust yourself +alone with me still farther. Come, then, with me to the edge of the +wood that you see lying there about half a mile off. There we can +shelter ourselves from the wind beneath the part of the bank just +where it looks down upon the road. You are nearer home there, too." + +"I know I am," answered De Vaux, turning, and gazing somewhat fixedly +upon him; "but do you know that the road which it does overhang is +within a hundred yards of the spot where my uncle was murdered?" + +"I know it well," replied the gipsy; "but you will never be murdered +like him, Captain de Vaux." + +"And why not?" said De Vaux, quickly. "What happened to him may happen +to me." + +"My story must explain my words," rejoined Pharold; "I am unarmed--you +are armed. All my comrades are there behind us: I go farther from +them, and lead you nearer to your home. Were I willing to injure you, +here were the place." + +"Lead on, lead on!" said De Vaux; "I will trust you, and follow you!" + +"Without reply, the gipsy led the way across the common, with every +step of which he seemed so well acquainted as to be able to shape his +course amid all the breaks, and bushes, and irregularities of the +ground, without ever giving a glance to the right or the left. He said +not a word either, and De Vaux followed equally in silence, with his +interest and anxiety still more excited than they had been even by his +strange companion's letter. In less than a quarter of an hour they had +crossed that part of the common which lay between the sand-pit and the +edge of the wood, exactly at that point where the hill, of which +Morley Down formed the table land, joined on to the general chain of +hills, from which it appeared as a kind of offset or promontory, and +which, as we have said, were generally covered with forest. The neck +of the promontory here overhung the turn of the road and the river, at +about a couple of hundred yards nearer to Morley House than the spot +where De Vaux had told Manners, on their first arrival in the country, +that his uncle had been murdered some years before; and the track that +lay between the place where he now stood and the highway was a steep +precipitous bank of two or three hundred feet in height, covered with +loose stones, scattered bushes, and one or two larger trees, thrown +forward beyond the mass of wood on the left. The moon was shining +bright on the road and the river, and though she had passed her +meridian, promised yet several hours of light. + +"Come down this little path, sir," said the gipsy. "Under that bank, +with those bushes round us, about thirty yards down, we can find +shelter, and can see every thing around, so that there will be no fear +of interruption." + +De Vaux followed as he desired, and in a few minutes reached the spot +to which he had pointed. There, upon a felled oak, which only remained +to be rolled down the hill, he seated himself on a little piece of +level ground, where some one had endeavoured ineffectually to +establish a quarry, and whence he could behold the village near his +aunt's dwelling and the top of Morley House itself, though the view up +the valley on the other side was interrupted by the sweep of the woody +hill. The gipsy stood beside him, and De Vaux anxiously besought him +to produce at once the proofs of the very painful assertions which his +letter had contained. + +"I brought you not here without an object, Edward de Vaux," said the +gipsy, still standing; "for here I can relate my tale better than +anywhere else. Now, tell me what you remember of your early years, and +what you have heard of your father's history--of his history and that +of his family." + +"I did not seek you," answered De Vaux, "to tell you what I myself +know, but to learn from you facts with which I am unacquainted. You +have made assertions, and you must either support them by proof, or +let them fall to the ground." + +"Well, well," said the gipsy, "be as cautious as you will! If you +hesitate to tell the story you have heard, I will tell it for you, +Captain de Vaux, as I know you have heard it, and stop me if I speak a +word that is false. Your grandfather, the twelfth Lord Dewry, left two +sons and one daughter, then nearly seventeen. His eldest son, who was +about six-and-twenty, succeeded to his title; and his second son, +Edward, your father, who was then at college, went soon after to +London to study for the bar. They were both as handsome men as you +could look upon; and of your father's life and conduct in the great +capital, as I know nothing with much certainty, so shall I say but +little--" + +"But it appears to me," interrupted De Vaux, "that such is the very +matter on which you are called to speak. I was born in London; and if +you can tell me nothing certain of my father's conduct in London, you +can tell me nothing to the purpose." + +"Patience! patience, sir, I pray you!" replied the gipsy; "I can tell +you much, though on your father's conduct in London I will spare you +as far as may be. William Lord Dewry, your uncle, was one of those men +such as the world seldom sees; full of fine and generous feelings, +kind, forgiving, noble, with enthusiasm such as the cold call folly, +and humanity such as the unfeeling term weakness, though the rectitude +of his own conduct was as unbending as yonder oak, and his enthusiasm +never led him to aught but what was just and good. For some years +after he succeeded to the title, he remained unmarried, and it was +generally supposed that he would continue to live as a single man. +Those who knew him better, however, felt sure that if ever chance +should throw in his way a woman who deserved his love, whose heart was +full of such feelings as his own, and whose mind was stored with +thoughts and wishes as high and noble as those which filled his own +bosom, he would not only offer to join his fate to hers, but would +love her as woman has seldom been loved on earth; that such a woman, +so loved, would become the great object of his being and his life, and +would concentrate on herself all those deep and ardent affections +which from his boyhood he had shown that his heart possessed. He did +at length, as you well know, find such a woman--full of all those +qualities which were so bright in himself--beautiful, accomplished, +and his equal in rank and fortune. He addressed himself at once to a +heart that was free and unengaged; and the same fine properties that +had won his love were sure to win her love for him. He was married, +and was happy beyond all that he had ever dreamed. He was happy; nay, +more, he was content! for the angel of his home was more than all he +had expected, and he sought and wished for nothing more. Every +feeling, every thought turned towards her; and though his kindness, +his benevolence, his philanthropy, were doubled rather than +diminished, yet no joy was any thing to the joy of his love. For +a year and six months he was as happy as any human thing can +be--happier, perhaps, than any human thing ever was before. I saw his +happiness; and, oh! how it made my heart expand to behold it! But then +suddenly came a change. His wife had given him a child--beautiful, I +hear she is, as her mother and good as her father; but ere the opening +of her infant mind could add anything to the happiness of her parents, +or afford even a momentary consolation to her father when distress +came, her mother was seized with sudden illness, and ere five days +were over she was dead." + +The gipsy paused, and seemed to sigh bitterly over the memories of the +past; while De Vaux, whose interest in all that concerned his beloved +Marian was hardly less than he felt for those things that affected +himself, waited anxiously to hear more; for though the story was not +unfamiliar to him, yet it was put in a new light, and told in a mild +and feeling tone, that gave it a thousand times more force than ever. +After a moment or two of silence the gipsy went on:--"What a change," +he continued, "came upon him then! The world seemed all forgotten. He +appeared as one struck with sudden blindness; and where he had beheld +nothing but beauty around him before, he now beheld nothing but a +blank. For hours and hours he would ride in solitude through the +country, unaccompanied even by a servant. He would pass his friends +when he met them as strangers, and when they spoke, would seem long +ere he remembered them. He forgot all enjoyment and all occupation, +and lived in the world as if it were not his proper place. Thus passed +the days for near two months, when, at the end of that time, he one +morning rode forth as usual alone; but he chanced--though it was +seldom he mentioned whither he went--he chanced to say that he was +going to the county town. He was known, too, to have a large sum of +money on his person; and as he passed by the house of Mrs. Falkland, +his sister, for it was at Dimden he always lived, he stopped for a few +minutes." + +"You seem to know the whole facts as minutely as if you had followed +him," said De Vaux, when the gipsy paused for a moment. + +"I do," said the gipsy; "and, if you will listen, you shall hear how. +When he left Mrs. Falkland's, her husband, who was then living, and a +noble, frank-hearted man, walked by his brother-in-law's horse as far +as the village, but there he left him, and Lord Dewry rode on. He was +seen by some boys who were playing in that field--can you see it? half +a mile nearer than the village, with a red barn at the side. But none +of the country people saw him after, and he never returned to the +hall. His servants, who all loved him, were alarmed, and sent over to +Mr. Falkland, and he despatched messengers to the county town, with +orders to inquire at the villages on the road; but no Lord Dewry was +to be heard of anywhere. The evening passed over in terror; night had +come on, and the family of Morley House were retiring late to rest, +when a messenger arrived from Mr. Arden the magistrate, to inform Mr. +Falkland that a gipsy--do you remark--a gipsy had just been taken up +upon the charge of beating a young peasant almost to death the day +before, and now made a voluntary declaration that he had seen the Lord +Dewry murdered at the elm-point, there down below, that very morning +at ten o'clock. Mr. Falkland instantly got upon horseback, and rode +over to see Mr. Arden; and it was agreed between them that the news +should instantly be sent to the Honourable Edward de Vaux, your +father, and that till he arrived nothing further should be asked of +the gipsy, except if he knew where the body of Lord Dewry might in any +likelihood be found. He said yes: it might be found at the sea; but +that if they would search in the reeds by the bank, they would find +the baron's hat, and that in some of the woods or meadows his horse +would be met with. Search was instantly made, and some of his words +proved true; for the hat, pierced through and through with a shot, was +found bloody among the reeds, and his horse was discovered grazing in +the meadows, four miles down, on the other side of the water. In the +mean time, the courier rode night and day to London, and when he +arrived, found the dead lord's brother at the playhouse. He was very +much shocked at the news, and instantly came down hither with one Sir +William Ryder, a good enough man, they said, at heart, but one who had +been fond of play, and had lost a fine fortune by that foolish +passion. When the new lord arrived, the gipsy was again brought up and +placed before him. A great many questions were asked, and he told this +story:--The young man he had beaten had foully ill-used a gipsy woman, +and he, the gipsy, had punished him, scarcely as he deserved. He had +left him for dead, however, on the ground; and thinking that if he +were dead the offence might bring trouble on his people, if he went +back to them, he hid himself in these woods, and on the morning of the +murder was lying down yonder, in the sweep of trees there, just at the +head of the point. He had been there all the morning, he said; and, as +the country people generally take the short way over the hill, he had +seen no one pass, till, about half-past nine o'clock, a man on +horseback came and backed in his horse between the two old elm-trees +that lie about five hundred yards farther up in the bite of the river. +He lay very still there to see what would come of it; and in about +half an hour he heard another horse's feet coming quickly up, and Lord +Dewry turned the point. The gipsy said that he thought to have sprung +out, and told him what he had seen; for his heart misgave him as to +the purpose of the other horseman; but just at the moment the other +came forth, and, riding quietly up, spoke with Lord Dewry calmly +enough for some minutes. They then seemed to get into high dispute, +and Lord Dewry pushed his horse on upon the road a little, while +following, and speaking at his side, the other suddenly drew a pistol +from his pocket, and fired right into the baron's head. At the same +moment, as he was falling from the saddle, the horse, taking fright, +plunged into the river, dragging him by the stirrup, and his hat fell +into the rushes. The other horseman looked after him for a moment; but +ere the swimming horse reached the opposite bank, he set spurs to his +own beast, and was galloping away, when at the turn he was met by +another. The gipsy could see them grasp each other's hands; but they +stopped not a moment to speak: the second turned his horse with the +first, and both galloped away like lightning. The gipsy plunged into +the water, he said, to see if he could bring out the body, as soon as +he saw that it had become disentangled from the stirrup; but it had +sunk to rise no more; and when he was tired with swimming he returned +to the woods. + +"Mr. Arden, the magistrate, said it was a very improbable story; but +asked the gipsy if he could recognise the man who had committed the +murder. The gipsy replied that he could, if he saw him, and could +swear to him whenever he was placed before him. Mr. Arden then said +that it would be better, under all circumstances, to commit the gipsy +at once for his other offences, when he would be always forthcoming to +give evidence if required; but as it was proved that the young man he +had beaten was hourly getting better, and acknowledged that he had +deserved the treatment he had received, the kind magistrate had no +other excuse to propose for committing the gipsy but that of his being +a rogue and a vagabond. In this, however, he was overruled by Lord +Dewry, the new Lord Dewry, after some private consultations with Sir +William Ryder. His lordship said, with a kind look to the gipsy, that +it would be cruel, he thought, to commit a man to prison for having +given voluntary evidence where it was much needed; and besides, that +he had reason to think very well of that gipsy, who had, in a degree, +been brought up by his father. Mr. Arden, however, suggested that the +gipsy himself might have been the murderer; and though Lord Dewry +treated the idea with contempt, yet the sturdy magistrate kept him in +custody, till, by the marks of the horse's feet, and many other +things, it was proved that his story must be true. In the mean time +Lord Dewry and Sir William Ryder were very kind to him, and took care +that he should want for nothing while he was detained. At length he +was liberated, and went to join his own people, promising to return +whenever he should be called upon, which every one felt sure he would +do, as he had been educated with the dead man, and loved him as a +brother. I need not tell you that I was that gipsy! + +"In the mean time," continued Pharold, "Mr. Edward de Vaux took the +titles and entered into possession of the estates held by his late +brother. The will of the last lord was found, and no one wondered that +in it he never mentioned his brother's name; for it was known to all +the world that they had had many a bitter dispute, and had long been, +not as brothers should be. His daughter, Miss De Vaux, and the care of +the splendid fortune which she inherited from her mother, were +intrusted to his sister, Mrs. Falkland, to Mrs. Falkland's husband, +and to a distant relation. + +"All his servants and friends were remembered by the dead nobleman, +and almost every one that he knew was named except his own brother. +The world did wonder, then, that that brother, with a singular +generosity, resigned in favour of his niece many things that he might +have claimed as belonging to the male heir, and treated all questions +between them, in regard to property, with unexampled liberality. When +he had settled all things, and retained a number of his brother's +domestics, he ordered the hall at Dewry to be put in order; not loving +the part of the country where his brother had been murdered. Thither, +then, he went, after he had arranged his affairs in London, bringing +down with him a young gentleman of seven years' old, his only son, and +supposed heir to all the property." + +"And my mother!" cried De Vaux, raising his head from his hands, in +which position he had been sitting while listening to the gipsy's +story; for during its course he had been agitated by many a strange, +but ill-defined, emotion. The story of his uncle's murder had always +been one on which his mind had rested with awe and pain from his very +childhood; but though he had heard it often told, both as a whole and +in detached fragments, yet he had never listened to such minute +details as were now given by an eye-witness of the horrible event, who +seemed prepared to connect it, too, by some vague and unexplained +link, with the painful assertions which had been made in regard to his +own doubtful situation. The very expectation, or rather apprehension, +of some horrible disclosure to follow at every word the gipsy uttered, +had troubled and shaken him greatly; and the name of Sir William +Ryder--a person who, it appeared, was then most intimate with his +father, but who, it was clear, had since become the object of his most +determined hatred--had added deeper feeling of mysterious dread to all +those thoughts by which he was already perturbed. What could be the +meaning of all this? whither would it lead? how was it to end? were +the questions which continually pressed upon him as the gipsy +proceeded; and it appeared even a relief, when Pharold's last words +seemed to bring his ideas back from the new and dreadful topics on +which they had been engaged, to the subject of his former doubts and +suspicions. + +"And my mother!" he cried, as the gipsy paused, "what of her?" + +"Nothing, that I know," replied Pharold, apparently with some +surprise; "nothing but that she was a Spanish lady, who married your +father privately, after breaking her vows in a convent." + +"Then they were married?" cried De Vaux, eagerly. + +"Certainly!" answered the gipsy: "I never heard it doubted; though he +kept her from all his family, and used her ill; which was one of the +causes of his quarrels with his brother. But she was dead before he +came down here to take possession of his brother's lands. But let me +tell my tale." + +De Vaux again leaned his head upon his hands; every thing once more +becoming dark and misty around him. "Go on! go on!" he said; "go on, +and keep me not in suspense, for Heaven's sake!" + +"I have now told you," continued Pharold, "the story of your family as +it went forth to the world, and as you most likely have heard it +yourself. It is a goodly tale, and just such as could be desired under +such circumstances! The picture is, indeed, a dark and painful one: +but it has another side more dark and painful still; and ere you look +at it, nerve your mind firmly, young gentleman; for if you be such as +I believe you are, filled with honourable feelings and kindly +affections, your very soul will writhe under all you have to hear." + +De Vaux waved his hand for him to go on; and the gipsy +continued:--"You have heard the world's version of the story; you must +now hear the gipsy's. My early history you know; for a year and nine +months I was brought up with your uncle and your father. Your uncle +ever loved me--your father never: but he was too proud to seek to +injure me; and when I left the false restraints of what you call +society, to go back to my own race and my native freedom, he and I +were friends, as far as we could be. + +"Your uncle I often returned to see, though longer and longer became +my absence, and greater and greater my contempt for gilded halls and +mercenary slaves in laced jackets. I took a pleasure, however, a +secret pleasure, in marking and learning all the doings of the man I +loved best on earth; and sometimes, though my distaste to fine +dwellings and insolent lackeys had grown into a diseased abhorrence +that would not let me cross the lordly threshold of Dimden, yet often +would I meet him in the park or in the walks, and hold a brief +conversation with him in the free air. It was after an absence from +this part of the country of near two years that I came back, and found +that his heart had been withered by the death of her he loved. I was +seeking for an opportunity of meeting him, when the offence was given +to an unhappy woman of our tribe, which called for vengeance at my +hand; and I was forced to conceal myself till I could learn what were +the ultimate consequences of the punishment that I had inflicted. I +hid myself, as I have told you, in that wood; and all the rest that I +said before the magistrate is true: but I said not all the truth. I +saw the horseman station himself between the elms; I saw Lord Dewry +ride up, and they met; I heard the words they spoke; I saw him ride +on, and I saw the other follow, though little did I dream his purpose; +I saw him draw the pistol from his bosom; I saw it raised, and the +shot fired that struck the good lord down--and the hand that fired it, +young man--the hand that fired it was his brother's!" + +"It is false!" cried De Vaux, starting up and half-drawing his sword; +"it is as false as hell itself!" + +"It is as true as yon stars in heaven!" replied the gipsy, calmly but +sternly; and a long pause followed, while Pharold stood erect and +tranquil before the son of him whom he had charged with so fearful a +crime, and De Vaux gazed on him with a countenance in which the +workings of all the manifold passions that such terrible tidings +produced were fearfully visible. "Will you hear me out?" demanded the +gipsy at length. + +"I will," said De Vaux, casting himself down again upon the tree; "I +will! but think not to escape me. You have made a dreadful charge; and +as there is a God in heaven, you shall show me that it is true before +I quit you!" and leaning his head again upon his hand, he kept his +eyes fixed upon the gipsy, as if fearful that he should elude him, +till he came to parts of the details that made his hearer again bury +his face in his hands. + +"I will!" continued Pharold; "I will show you that what I have uttered +is true; for it was to that purpose that I brought you here. But be +more calm, and let me tell you all the circumstances which might lead +him to the terrible act that he committed." + +"He committed it not!" murmured De Vaux; but the gipsy went on as if +he had not heard him. "I have since heard all the facts," he +proceeded, "from one who knew them too well; the only one, indeed, +besides myself. Edward de Vaux, the younger of the two brothers, was a +man of extravagant tastes and habits. He went early and often into +other countries, and there he learned expensive vices and follies. I +would not pain you; but he gamed deeply, and lived sumptuously, while +your mother lived neglected, and fared but hardly. What he inherited +from his father was but small; what he acquired was nothing; what he +squandered came from the liberality of his brother; and often his +demands were more than any liberality could supply. Lord Dewry +remonstrated and entreated, but in vain; and much and nobly, have I +heard, did he offer to do for him, if he would retire into the +country, and treat your mother well. But she died, and that cause of +dispute was removed by her death. All check, indeed, seemed now cast +away by her husband. He gamed more deeply than ever; lost all; applied +to his brother; was refused, and then staked what he did not possess. +He lost. Sir William Ryder, his great friend, joined him in an +engagement to pay the sum within a certain time; but shortly before +the period arrived, Mr. De Vaux was not to be found by his friend. Sir +William thought that he had evaded him in order to cast the whole debt +upon his shoulders; and, learning the route he had taken, followed at +full speed; traced him step by step, and overtook him--at the very +moment he had murdered his brother. Horrified, but confused and +bewildered, before he well comprehended what he was doing, Sir William +became a participator in the crime, by promising to conceal all that +he had seen; and setting spurs to their horses, they arrived in London +by different by-roads, in so short a space of time that it seemed +impossible they could have done the distance. Well knowing that he +must soon be sent for, the heir of the dead man took care to show +himself in every place where his presence in London would be marked +and remembered, in case of necessity; and he was found, as I have +said, at the play-house. What sort of hell was in his heart, as he sat +and saw mockeries and pageants, I know not." + +"But your story halts, sir," said De Vaux, sternly; "how could he know +at what exact spot his brother would be found at that precise time? +How could he--" + +"By that letter!" said the gipsy, placing abruptly an old but +well-preserved paper in his hands, on which the regular post marks +were easily discernible. + +"But I cannot read it by this faint light," said De Vaux, attempting +to make out the contents, after gazing at the address; "what is its +purport?" + +"I will tell you," replied the gipsy, striking a light with a flint +and touchwood that he carried; "I will tell you; though you shall soon +be able to satisfy yourself. It is your uncle's letter to your father, +telling him that he has not sufficient money at his banker's to meet +his fresh demand; but that, if he will be at the inn at the county +town of ----, at noon of the eighteenth of May--the very day of the +murder--he will give him the sum of five thousand pounds, which is all +he can collect without burdening himself for other people's faults, in +a manner that he does not choose to do. There!" he continued, lighting +a few dry sticks; "there is light enough to read!" + +De Vaux read the letter. It was such exactly as the gipsy described: +it was written in a hand which he remembered from other papers he had +seen to be that of his uncle; it was dated four days before his death, +signed with his name, sealed with his arms, directed to his brother, +and by the post marks had evidently been received. Conviction was +forcing itself painfully upon his mind, but drowning men will catch at +straws; and he hoped yet to find some flaw in the horrible history he +heard, and to be enabled to give it the lie to his own heart. He +returned the letter; and folding his arms upon his breast, bade the +gipsy go on; while, with a knitted brow and quivering lip, he +continued gazing upon vacancy, suffering his mind to roam wildly +through a thousand painful thoughts and memories, but without letting +one word escape his ear. + +"By this letter," continued the gipsy, "did he know exactly when his +brother would set out for the town of ----; and he knew his habits, +too, well enough to arrange the rest of his plan. But crime is always +agitated; and it is thus that even the coolest and most determined +ever leave some trace behind by which murder may be detected. Your +uncle came not so soon as he had expected, and he took the letter from +his pocket to be sure that he himself had not overstepped the hour. +Just as he was reading, the horse's feet which bore Lord Dewry +sounded, and he hastily thrust back the paper, as he thought, into his +pocket; but it fell, and I saw it, and forgot it not afterward. When +the deed was done, he paused for a moment gazing upon the swimming +horse, and the sinking form of his brother, as it detached itself from +the stirrup, and without even a struggle the waters closed over his +head; and I am as sure as there is a heaven above us, that at that +instant the murderer would have given lands and lordships--nay, life +itself--to have recalled the irrevocable act that he had done. He +could gaze at it no longer; but striking his spurs into his horse like +a madman, he turned back the way he came. Just at the turn of the wood +he was met by Sir William Ryder; what he said I know not, but he +grasped his hand for a moment, and then galloped away, followed by the +other. Ere he had gone far his coolness had returned; for before he +came down here all his plans had been arranged, and his conduct +decided. He had questioned the messenger, too, and had heard the +evidence that I had given; and though I had declared that I could +swear to the person, he felt sure, from my _not_ swearing to him, that +I either did not really know him, or had determined to conceal my +knowledge. At all events, he had no resource but to front the matter; +and he did so boldly. When I was brought into the justice room, I +could see that he turned a little pale, and at the same time he put up +his finger to his lip, in a way that I might take for a signal or not +as I pleased. I repeated all I had said before, nay, I went further, +and described exactly the appearance of the murderer, but such +descriptions are always loose; and no one asked me whether any of +those present was the man--" + +"Would you have said yes if they had?" interrupted De Vaux. + +"I do not well know what I might have done," replied the gipsy, "but +I think not. What use would it have been to me to destroy the son of +one who had loved and cherished me? He had committed an awful crime, +it is true--but I was not the avenger. Besides, I knew that vengeance, +in its intensity tenfold more terrible than aught that man could +inflict, was in his heart already,--that there was a serpent eating it +up,--that the mighty, the almighty Avenger of all crimes was there in +his terrors, and that every hour of his after-existence would be +constant judgment and continual death. No, no! on my life, I did not +so much hate as pity him. At night, after I had been removed from the +justice room, I heard the door of the chamber, in which they had +confined me, open, and Sir William Ryder came in with a light. He was +a fine-hearted man, though he had been misled; and although the real +murderer had shown himself but little shaken, yet through the whole of +my examination he, Sir William Ryder, had been agitated, as I could +see, to his very soul. Both he and the other, however, whether to make +me a friend or what matters little, had done all they could to soften +the hardness of old Squire Arden, as he was called; but Sir William +now came to me to see what I did know, and how far they could trust +me. It was a difficult task; and had he gone about it as cunningly as +some would have done, he might have failed with me. But he was too +much moved for that. He spoke kindly to me, however, and told me that +Lord Dewry was very much interested for me, and would take care of me, +and I told him at once to bid Lord Dewry take care of himself, for his +was the case of danger, and not mine. So then he said that he saw I +knew more than I had spoken, and that Lord Dewry was grateful to me. +'Call him not by a title that is not his,' I answered; 'for I know +that the patent of their nobility bears, that if any of the family, +judged according to law, be found guilty of a felony, he and his +children are to be considered dead, their line extinct, and the next +heir to claim as if they were not.' He answered that that mattered +not, for that his friend had not been found guilty of any felony, nor +ever would; and that he had only to say, if I would quit the kingdom, +till he gave me leave to return, he would secure me the sum of one +thousand pounds directly, and a pension for my life. I said I would +think of it, and tell him when I was at liberty; and I was very soon +after set free. Sir William Ryder did not fail to find me out, +however; and it was agreed between us that I should go; and that he +should meet me at the sea-port where I embarked, and there give me the +money. + +"It took a time, however, to move the tribe to the port, and some were +unwilling to go without knowing the reason. So we divided, some going +with me, some betaking themselves to their own way. I saw Sir William +Ryder often, and when I wrote to him to tell him that we were near a +sea-port in Wales, he came down directly, and visited the encampment. +He told me that he, too, was about to set out for America, and +intended to spend the rest of his life in the colonies. 'I will try,' +he said, 'by devoting the remainder of my days to doing good, and +walking uprightly with all men, to efface from my memory the traces of +many follies and of one great crime, in which I have not been a +sharer, indeed, but which I have aided to conceal.' The second day, +however, that he came out to us, his horse took fright at a monkey, +which some of our people had among the tents, and threw him violently. +He broke his collar-bone and several of his ribs, and being carried +into a hut, we all nursed him tenderly. I found him better than I +thought, and learned to love him; and under our care he got well +sooner than if all the doctors in the world had seen him. While he was +recovering it was that I learned how all had happened; and he tried to +persuade himself and to make me believe that the murder had been +committed in a moment of passion, and not by design, or that his +friend was distracted with anxiety and distress at the moment that he +committed it. When he left us for America I went away to Ireland. I +have since seen many other lands, and have lived for some years in +Scotland, but I never returned to this country of England till about +three weeks ago." + +The gipsy paused, and De Vaux remained as he had placed himself, with +his head bent down almost to his knees, and his eyes buried in his +extended hands. He continued silent long, bowed down by a sense of +misery, and humiliation, and despair. What would he have given at that +moment to have all his former apprehensions confirmed, if the present +terrible doubts could have been thereby swept away!--doubts, indeed, +they could scarcely now be called, for the gipsy's story was too +consistent in every part, was too much combined with facts within his +own knowledge, was too clear an explanation of many parts of his +father's conduct--his gloom, his reserve, his irritation, his +agitation at the very name of Sir William Ryder--for him to entertain +any thing but one of those faint, lingering, insane hopes, which death +itself is the only thing that can extinguish. But, for the moment, the +thought of whether there were still a doubt had merged itself in the +more agonizing ideas of what must be his fate if the story were true. +His own father! How could he ever behold him again? How was he to act +towards him? What was he to do? Then came the idea of Marian in all +her beauty, in all her gentleness, in all her generous love; and he +felt that she could never be his; that the blood of her father placed +between them an obstacle that could never be removed; that no time, no +change, no effort could ever cast down that dreadful barrier; that at +the very moment when his passionate love had been raised by her noble +conduct almost to adoration was the moment at which he must sacrifice +her for ever! And how must he sacrifice her? How must he act towards +her? He could not, he dared not explain, by even a single word, the +cause of that sacrifice; he could not tell her what had happened; he +could not even have the blessing of weeping with her over their +blighted hopes. Whichever way he turned, it was all horror and +destruction; and the brain of the unhappy young man seemed to reel +with the agony he suffered. He spoke not; he could hardly be said to +think; it was all one frightful dream of misery and despair. He felt +that his fate, as far as happiness was concerned, was sealed for ever; +and yet a thousand whirling and inconsistent visions rushed upon his +brain regarding his future conduct. How--how was he to act? What--what +was he to do? At one moment he thought of going instantly to his +father's presence, of telling him he knew all, and of ending his own +life before him, to cast off the intolerable burden of thought and +sensation; but then he remembered all that his father had already +suffered; called to mind the deep and gloomy pondering--the solitary +meditations, and the never-smiling lip--the bursts of wild and +impatient passion, the hollow cheek, the sunken eye, and all the +indications of a heart torn and mangled by remorse; and that idea +vanished in filial sorrow. At another time he thought of burying +himself deep in the wilds of America, of joining some Indian tribe, +and hiding his name and its disgrace in scenes to which Europeans +never penetrated; but then again the idea of Marian, and of never, +never seeing her more, overcame him with fresh anguish. He knew not +where to turn his eyes for guide or direction; he knew not how to act; +he knew not whither to go: every place was hopeless--every view +presented but despair; and, after a long and terrible silence, one +deep and bitter groan found its way to his lips. + +The gipsy's heart was moved for him; and, after gazing upon him for +several minutes, he said, "I grieve from my very heart to pain you +thus; but yet, young man, be comforted: there is a balm for all +things." + +The very words of comfort, however, proceeding from the same tongue +that had destroyed all his happiness for ever, roused De Vaux almost +to phrensy; and, starting up, he exclaimed, "Either what you have told +me is false, or you must know that there is no comfort for me on +earth! What balm do you mean?" + +"The balm of time," replied the gipsy, unmoved, "which, as I know by +the experience of many sorrows, can take the venom from the most +cankered wound!" + +De Vaux glared at him for a moment as if he would have struck him to +the earth, and then--for there are some loads of misery which are too +vast for the human mind to comprehend or to believe at first--and then +replied, "I believe you have been deceiving me, and wo be unto you if +you have! Have you any other proof," he cried, striving eagerly to +catch at a doubt; "have you any other proof? If so, produce it +quickly!" + +"I am not deceiving you, young gentleman," answered the gipsy; "and I +can forgive both your anger and your unbelief." + +"But the proof! the proof!" cried De Vaux; "have you any other proof?" + +"I have," answered Pharold, "and I will produce it, though the letter +I have shown you is proof enough. I grieve for you, sir, but you must +not injure me." + +"The letter you may have stolen," replied De Vaux, fiercely, "or found +it years afterward. What other proof have you? Give me some other +proof, and I will believe you." + +"You believe me already at your heart," answered the gipsy; "but the +other proof is this:--I have said that the murderer gazed for a moment +after his victim, and that I saw that he gazed in deep and terrible +remorse. Know you how I saw that it was so? Thus: The moment that the +shot was fired, and that his brother was falling, his hand let the +pistol drop from his grasp, and he sat on his horse motionless as a +statue, as if the deed he had done had turned him into stone; nor did +he move hand or limb till he turned and galloped away as if the fiends +of hell were pursuing him. The pistol was not lost any more than the +letter; and happy for him was it that they both fell into the hands of +one who concealed them carefully; for had they been found by any +other, your father might have ended his days upon a scaffold more than +twenty years ago. You ask for more proof. Look there! that is the +weapon, and you know the arms of a younger brother of your race too +well to doubt me longer." + +De Vaux took the pistol which the gipsy produced. It was curiously +inlaid with silver, and the arms of his family embossed upon the +stock. He had once seen one, and only one, precisely similar in the +hands of his father, when he came upon him by accident in his private +study. His father had put it away in haste into a chest that contained +it; and, with a pale cheek and quivering lip, had reproved his son for +breaking in upon his privacy. De Vaux now saw the fellow-weapon of the +one he had then beheld: the last faint gleam of hope left his heart +for ever; and striking his hand upon his bosom, and groaning in the +bitterness of his heart, he cast himself frantically down upon the +cold ground. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +It is a wonder that man ever smiles; for there is something so strange +and awful in the hourly uncertainty of our fate--in the atmosphere of +darkness and insecurity that surrounds our existence--in the troops of +dangers to our peace and to our being that ride invisible upon every +moment as it flies--that man is, as it were, like a blind man in the +front of a great battle, where his hopes and his joys are being swept +down on every side, and in which his own existence must terminate at +length, in some undefined hour, and some unknown manner--and yet he +smiles as if he were at a pageant! + +Were his smile the smile of faith and confidence in the great, good +Being who sees the struggle and prepares the reward, he might smile +unshaken indeed; but, alas, alas! is it so? I fear but seldom. + +There are few things on earth more melancholy than when one is +burdened with some evil news to see those whom it is destined to +plunge into grief full of gay life and happiness, enjoying the bright +moments as if there were nothing but pleasure in the world. There is +something awful in it! It brings home to our own hearts the fearful +fact that, at the very instant when we are at the height of joy, some +remote, unseen, unknown, unexpected agents may be performing acts +destined to blast our happiness for ever. There is something +mysterious in it, too; for it shows us that at the very moment when +our state is in reality the most miserable upon earth, we are often +giving ourselves up to the most wild and rapturous gayety, solely +because some other tongue has not spoken in our ear a few conventional +sounds which the inhabitant of another land would not understand, but +which, as soon as they are spoken, plunge us from the height of joy +down into the depth of despair. + +On the third morning of Colonel Manners's stay at Morley House, and on +which he expected letters that would give him a fair excuse for +abridging his visit, he rose as early, but came down somewhat later +than usual. He still, however, expected to find himself earlier than +the rest of the family; but on passing the music-room, the door of +which was ajar, he heard the notes of a harpsichord--the solace and +delight of our worthy ancestors--mingling with some gay voices +talking; and, taking the prescriptive right of opening quite all +half-opened doors, he walked in, and found Miss Falkland at the +instrument, speaking cheerfully, over her shoulder, to Miss De Vaux, +who stood behind. + +A slight complaining cry on the part of the lazy hinges made both +ladies turn their eyes towards it; and Isadore smiled as she did so, +while a faint colour spread itself deepening over Marian's soft +cheek--perhaps she might expect to see some one else than Colonel +Manners, and be just sufficiently disappointed to say something civil +and kind to him on his entrance, as a sort of compensation for the bad +compliment she paid him at the bottom of her heart. + +"Isadore was just talking of you, Colonel Manners," she said, looking +towards her cousin, as if leaving her to explain in what manner. + +"There is a proverb to that effect, madam," replied Manners, smiling; +"but I am always glad to find myself subject of discourse to those I +esteem, if the matter be not censure at least. May I be let into the +secret?" + +"Oh, beyond all doubt," replied Isadore. "The fact is, De Vaux +betrayed you last night, Colonel Manners; and told me, without even +binding me to secrecy, that you sing remarkably well." + +"He did me injustice, I assure you," replied Manners; "but if that be +'the head and front of my offence,' I can prove myself innocent of +singing remarkably well at any time you like." + +"No time like the present, Colonel Manners," said Isadore. "It wants +full half an hour to breakfast, and there is nothing on earth so +painful as to live in long-drawn expectation of such things. Will you +sing, Colonel Manners?" + +"I believe," he replied, "that there is some superstitious penalty +attached to singing before breakfast; but nevertheless I will dare the +adventure if you have any music that I know, for the sin of +accompanying myself I commit not." + +"Do you know that?" asked Miss Falkland; "or that! or that?" + +"No, indeed," answered Colonel Manners; "but I know the air of this +one, and have sung it more than once to different words, the +composition of a lady possessing no small poetical powers. I will try +to recollect them now; though, to speak the truth, it is doing some +injustice to the lines to take them from the drama for which they were +designed, and apply them to an old song." + +"Oh, never mind; we will make all due allowances," replied Miss +Falkland; "am I to accompany you, or Marian!--Oh, very well, with all +my heart! Is it to be the time of a monody or a jig?" + +"Not too fast, if you please," replied Colonel Manners; and Miss +Falkland accompanying him, he sang the following lines to an air, +which was then not very new, but which is now in all probability lost +to posterity. + + + SONG. + + "I woo thee not as others woo, + I flatter not as others do, + Nor vow that I adore; + I cannot laugh, I cannot smile. + Nor use, as they, each courtly wile, + But oh, I love thee more. + + "The rich, the noble, and the great, + Offer thee wealth, and power, and state, + And fortunes running o'er! + How can I smile, when none of these + Give me the worldly power to please, + Though I may love thee more? + + "And yet I hope, because I love + With thoughts that set thee far above + Vain Fortune's glittering store. + Others may deem thou canst be won + By things that sparkle in the sun, + But oh, I love thee more. + + "I do believe that unto thee + Truth, honour, plain sincerity, + Are jewels far before + All that the others think are dear; + And yet far more than they I fear, + Because I love thee more. + + "I love thee more than all the train + Who flaunt, who flatter, and who feign, + And vow that they adore: + I love thee as men loved of yore-- + Ah, no, I love thee more--far more + Than man e'er loved before." + + +"I do not think I could have resisted those verses well sung," cried +Isadore, smiling as he concluded, if I had been the most disdainful +beauty that ever carried a hawk upon her glove in the days of old. +"What do you say, Marian?" + +"I do not know how far my powers of resistance might go," answered +Marian de Vaux, "but I should very much like to hear the rest of the +story. You say that it is in a drama, Colonel Manners, I think; pray, +can it be procured?" + +"I am afraid not," answered Manners: "it is the writing of a lady, and +has never been given to the world; at least, as far as I know." + +"But at all events tell us the fate of the lover," exclaimed Isadore; +"that you are bound to do in common charity, after having excited our +curiosity." + +"Oh, he is made happy, of course," he replied, "as all lovers are, or +should be." + +"Say _true lovers_, if you please, Colonel Manners," cried Isadore, +"and then I will agree; but if a woman were to make happy, as you +gentlemen call it before you are married, every impertinent personage +who comes up, and making you a low bow, with his hat under his arm, +asks you, 'Pray, madam, will you marry me?' as if he were asking you +merely to walk a minuet, she would have enough to do, I can assure +you." + +"I can easily conceive it," answered Manners, laughing; "but what a +clamorous summons that bell makes! pray does it ring for breakfast +every morning? I did not near it yesterday." + +"That was because you were out having your fortune told when it rang, +Colonel Manners," replied Miss Falkland; "but it rings every morning +at this hour, and if Mrs. Falkland is not down, it falls to my lot to +make the tea. Wherefore I must now remove to the breakfast-room." + +Thus saying, she led the way, while her cousin and Colonel Manners +followed; and the hot and shining urn having taken its wonted place, +she proceeded with the breakfast arrangements, while the butler +bustled about, first at the sideboard, and then at the table, looking +ever and anon at the two young ladies, and then at Colonel Manners, +and then at the fire-place, till, having nothing further to do, he was +obliged to retire. + +"Gibson looks as if he had some vast secret upon his mind," said +Isadore, speaking to her cousin; "did you see, Marian, how he moved +about? You must know, Colonel Manners, that that old gentleman is a +very privileged person in our family, and often condescends to pour +forth the secrets of the village upon us, in despite of all our +struggles and reluctance." + +"I am sorry he did not gratify himself this morning," said Manners: +"there are few things more delightful than a village story well told." + +"You were the great obstacle, I am afraid," replied Miss Falkland: "he +has his own peculiar notions of decorum, and a visiter is pretty sure +of reverence; but I do believe, from his extreme alacrity this +morning, that he would have even disregarded your presence had a +single word been said to him. But I did not choose to gratify him even +by a word; for I knew if I had but said, 'Gibson, bring more butter,' +he would instantly have burst forth with, 'Yes, miss, I'll tell you +all about it. The park-keeper's daughter's husband's sister--' and so +he would have gone on for an hour." + +Colonel Manners could not help laughing, and even Marian smiled at the +manner in which her gay cousin imitated the old man's prolixity; but +at the same time there was an expression of anxiety on Miss De Vaux's +countenance which nothing but the presence of Edward de Vaux could +have done away. He had not yet come down, however, and the next person +who entered was Mrs. Falkland, whose first observation, after the +common salutations of the morning, was, "Why--is not Edward down? +surely he has not grown a sluggard in the wars!" + +"Oh no, my dear aunt," replied Marian; "I dare say he was down before +we were up, for he told me last night that he was going out early this +morning, but would be back to breakfast." + +The old butler was just at that moment entering with a partridge pie; +and halting in the midst, he exclaimed, "No, indeed, Miss Marian; no, +indeed! Master Edward has not come down, because he has never been +up." + +"Never been up!" said Mrs. Falkland, mistaking the man's meaning; +"then you had better send up his servant to wake him, Gibson. But why +are you so pale, Marian? what is the matter?" + +"Oh, that is not it at all, ma'am," replied the butler, taking upon +himself to answer for all parties. "Mr. De Vaux has never been in bed +last night, ma'am. His servant told me so this minute. There is the +bed turned down, says he, just as the housemaid left it, and his +slippers standing by the great chair, and his hat, and sword, and +riding-coat gone." + +"Nay, Marian, do not look so alarmed," said Isadore, laying her hand +affectionately upon that of her cousin. "This will prove all airy +nothing, depend upon it; but you had better come away with me, love, +and leave mamma and Colonel Manners to sift it; for you will only +agitate yourself more than is at all necessary by listening to the +miraculous conjectures of every different servant in the house." + +"No, no; I would a great deal rather hear all, Isadore," answered +Marian, in her usual calm tone, though the excessive paleness which +had spread over her countenance evinced clearly enough that her heart +was any thing but at ease. "You had better send for Edward's servant, +my dear aunt." + +Her suggestion was instantly followed, and De Vaux's servant, who had +been an old soldier, entered the room, and stood at ease before the +party assembled round the breakfast-table. + +"Colonel Manners, will you be so kind"--said Mrs. Falkland. + +"Most certainly, my dear madam," replied Manners, understanding her +meaning as well as if she had expressed it. "When did you see your +master last, William?" + +"Last night, sir, at twenty minutes to twelve," said the man. "Did he +seem as if he were about to go to bed?" demanded Manners. + +"No, sir," replied the servant. "He made me give him his dressing-gown +and slippers, but told me not to wait, for that he had a great deal to +write before he could go to bed." + +Marian's face cleared up a little, for she was glad to imagine that +De Vaux might have sat up writing on all the many subjects which she +knew occupied his mind till daylight had appeared, and might then have +set out at once for the gipsy encampment; but Colonel Manners +proceeded:--"Do you know at what time any of the other servants were +up?" + +"The groom and I were up at five, sir," replied the man, "and it was +just dawning then; but as we went along the corridor I saw my master's +door ajar, and thinking I must have left it so by carelessness, I just +pulled it gently to." + +"Were all the horses in the stable?" asked Colonel Manners. + +"All, sir," answered the servant. + +"And now, William, in what state did you find your master's room?" +demanded Mrs. Falkland. + +"Why, madam, I found that nobody had been in bed, clearly enough," +replied the man; "and I found, too, that Captain De Vaux had put off +his dressing-gown and slippers, and put on his riding-coat and boots; +and I remarked, also, that the curtains of one of the windows were +undrawn, and the window itself open." + +"Oh, then, I dare say he went out after daylight," said Colonel +Manners, "and will soon be back. Shall we ask him any thing further, +my dear madam?" + +Mrs. Falkland had nothing more to inquire, and the man was dismissed. + +"It is as well," said Manners, who knew that De Vaux was the man of +all others to be very much mortified, if he came back and found that +his absence had been made unnecessarily a nine-day's wonder of--"it is +as well to treat this business as quietly as possible, though, I +confess, it does seem to me strange that De Vaux should go out so +early, so very early, as to be seen by none of the servants, and also +should never have gone to bed; but I think Miss De Vaux said just now +that he mentioned his intention of going out very early." + +"I did so," replied Marian, colouring slightly, from a feeling of +embarrassment, in regard to disclosing any part of all that her cousin +had confided to her, and yet painfully anxious on his account. "He +intended to go to speak with somebody, who gave you, I think, a letter +for him yesterday, Colonel Manners." + +Manners was not a little anxious for his friend also; but he saw +Marian's still deeper anxiety, and he strove tenderly to avoid giving +her greater pain than necessary, while he yet continued to investigate +the cause of her lover's absence. "Oh, if he be gone to that person +who gave me the letter," he said, "De Vaux is safe enough; but, +perhaps, he may not be back for an hour or two, as it is a long way, +and they may have much to speak of; but yet, Mrs. Falkland, I should +like, if you could make an excuse for sending for the housemaid who +usually washes the stone steps, to ask her one or two questions." + +"Certainly," answered Mrs. Falkland. "If you will ring the bell, I +will find some excuse." + +The housemaid was accordingly sent for; and holding fast either +corner of her apron, presented herself before the company in the +breakfast-room. Mrs. Falkland then asked her one or two questions of +no particular moment, and Colonel Manners next demanded, somewhat to +the girl's surprise, "The mornings are becoming frosty now, are they +not, my good girl?" + +"Oh, that they are, sir," answered she. "It was all as white this +morning as if it had snowed last night." + +"And did you see any marks of feet upon the steps?" demanded Manners. + +"No, sir, none," replied the girl. + +"Are you sure?" repeated Colonel Manners. + +"Oh, quite sure, sir," she replied; "for I washed and whitened the +steps with my own two hands, and cold work it was; and I must have +seen steps if there had been any." + +After this answer she was dismissed, courtesying low, and not +ungracefully. + +"I dare say he will soon come back," said Colonel Manners, when the +woman was gone; "and, at all events, if he be with the person who gave +me the letter, he is in no danger, I am sure." + +Both Mrs. Falkland and her daughter perceived that Manners, at least, +if not Marian, spoke with a slight touch of mystery concerning the +letter and its sender, but, of course, they asked no questions; and +Colonel Manners's assurance that his friend was in no danger served in +some degree to tranquilize Marian. The breakfast, as may be supposed, +passed over dully enough, for every one was more anxious than they +chose to show, and their anxiety was, of course, increased by every +minute as it flew. Each passing step that made itself heard in the +breakfast-room, the sound of every opening door, caused Marian's heart +to beat, and Isadore to look round, but still the person for whose +return they were so anxious did not appear; and however slowly the +minutes flew, so many of them passed away at length as to justify +serious alarm. + +The time had now lingered on till eleven had struck by the clock in +the hall, and some very painful remembrances of all that had taken +place at the death of her beloved brother were recalled to the mind of +Mrs. Falkland by the unaccountable absence of her nephew. Isadore, +with all her natural cheerfulness, was anxious and silent; but it was +scarcely possible to express all the painful emotions that thrilled in +the bosom of Marian de Vaux. Manners, for his part--though his +feelings as a man were, of course, essentially different from those of +the persons by whom he was now surrounded--was far more alarmed about +his friend's absence than he liked to admit, and somewhat undecided in +regard to what he should do himself, under existing circumstances. He +wished much to go and seek his friend; but he did not like to do so +till the length of time was sufficient to warrant the conclusion that +some accident must have befallen him; and at the same time he +reflected, that during his absence some news might arrive which would +render his presence and assistance necessary at Morley House. At +length, however, he could master his impatience no longer; and, +ringing the bell, he said, with as much appearance of unconcern as he +could command, "I think, my dear madam, that it may be as well for me +to go and see if I can hear any thing of De Vaux, in the direction +which his fair cousin imagines that he has taken. I do not, indeed, +think that there is any cause for alarm; but it may quiet your mind." + +"Oh yes, yes! pray do, Colonel Manners," cried Marian, starting up, +and clasping her hands. "I beg your pardon for asking you such a +thing; but, indeed, it will be a very great consolation." + +"If it afford you the slightest comfort, my dear young lady," replied +Colonel Manners, "it will be the greatest pleasure to me. Will you +send my servant?" he added as the butler appeared. The servant came +promptly: for the anxiety of the parlour soon finds its way, in a +greater or less degree, to the servant's hall; and all the domestics +at Morley House were as much on the alert as the garrison of a newly +invested fort. + +"Put my saddle on the gray directly," said Colonel Manners; "saddle +Amherst for yourself, and bid Captain De Vaux's servant get a horse +ready to come with me." The man retired. "I will just put myself in +riding costume, and be down directly," Manners added; and leaving the +ladies still gazing in melancholy guise from the windows of the +breakfast-room, he retired to his own apartment. + +Long before the horses could be ready, however, he had rejoined them, +and was in the act of saying, "Now, I think, Mrs. Falkland, with three +old soldiers upon the search, we must soon be able to bring you +tidings of your nephew; and, I trust, perfectly satisfactory tidings +too," when the butler again made his appearance. The terror expressed +upon his countenance, and his first exclamation of, "Oh, ma'am!" +instantly sent every drop of blood from Marian's cheek back to her +heart. Colonel Manners would fain have stopped a communication +which was evidently alarming, and which might not only be a +confirmation of their worst fears, but be told in the most abrupt and +most painful manner; but it was too late, and the old man went on, +"Oh, madam, here is John Harwood, who has the cottage on t'other side +of the point, come up to say, that last night, about one o'clock, he +heard shots fired in the wood, and he's afraid there's been bad +business there." + +Marian dropped down where she stood, as if she had been struck with +lightning, and for the time all attention was called towards her. +Colonel Manners aided to carry the fair unhappy girl to her room; and +then leaving her to the care of her female relations, he returned +to question both the butler and the peasant, whose intelligence had so +much increased their alarm. On inquiry, however, he found that old +Gibson's taste for the sublime and horrible had given greater effect +to John Harwood's tale than it deserved. + +The man had simply heard shots fired, and his own natural conclusion +had been, that poachers were busy in the wood, of which, as a +dependent on Mrs. Falkland's family, he found himself bound to give +information. Colonel Manners, however, sent another servant to the +stables to hurry the horses, and then returning to the breakfast-room, +wrote down a few words in pencil to inform Mrs. Falkland that the +story had been exaggerated; but he was almost instantly joined by +Isadore, who assured him that her cousin was better. + +Moments of grief, anxiety, and danger are wonderfully powerful in +breaking down all the cold and icy barriers which society places +between us and those we like; and Isadore Falkland came forward, and +laid her fair hand as familiarly upon Colonel Manners's arm as if she +had known him from her infancy. There was an earnestness in her fine +eyes, too, and an appealing softness in her whole look, that was very +irresistible. "Colonel Manners," she said, "this state of apprehension +and uncertainty is very dreadful, especially to us poor women, who, +having but little knowledge of the world and its ways, have little +means of judging whether our fears be reasonable or not. I can see +that you have put a restraint upon yourself before Marian; but I +beseech you to tell me, at least, if you have any friendship for a +person you have known so short a time, what is your real opinion! Do +you think there is any serious cause for apprehension?" + +"You and your family, Miss Falkland," replied Manners, "have taught me +how soon one can feel the deepest interest and friendship for those +who deserve it; but in regard to De Vaux, I really see no cause for +apprehension." + +"Nay, nay, Colonel Manners," said Isadore, "I shall not think you have +much regard for me if you try to sooth me by false hopes respecting my +cousin. There is an anxiety in your look, which could not be there if +there were no cause for alarm." + +"Indeed, Miss Falkland," he replied, with a smile which was not of the +gayest character in the world--"indeed, I have the deepest regard for +you, and would not deceive you for a moment. De Vaux's absence is +strange, undoubtedly. His never having gone to bed is strange. But in +regard to these shots which have been heard--as the man himself +believed till your old butler infected him with his own miraculous +mood--they have been undoubtedly fired by poachers; and I see not the +slightest reason for believing that they are in any way connected with +your cousin's absence." + +There had been a degree of earnestness in Manners's profession of +regard that had called a slight glow into Isadore's cheek, and made +her heart beat a little quicker, though Heaven knows he had not the +slightest thought of making her heart beat with any but its ordinary +pulse, and Isadore herself never suspected that he had. It was only +one of those slight passing emotions which sometimes move the heart +without our well knowing why, like the light ripple that will +occasionally dimple the surface of a still, sheltered water from some +breath of air too soft and gentle to be felt by those who watch it +from the banks. Whatever caused the glow, it was all gone in an +instant; and she answered, "Perhaps what makes us all the more uneasy +is, that none of us can forget that my uncle, Marian's father, was +murdered many years ago in this neighbourhood; and the first news of +his death came upon mamma by surprise, in the same way that this has +done upon poor Marian." + +"I trust in Heaven, and believe most firmly, Miss Falkland, that you +will find no further resemblance between the fate of your cousin and +that of his uncle," replied Colonel Manners: "but, at all events, I +will lose no time and spare no exertion in endeavouring to satisfy you +as to his fate; and, if it should cost me my life, I will discover him +before I give up the search." + +"Nay, nay, you must take care of your life," said Isadore; "it must +doubtless be valuable to many, and therefore must not be risked +unadvisedly." + +"It is valuable to none that I know of, Miss Falkland," said Manners, +with a melancholy smile, "and to myself least of all; but, +nevertheless, I never trifle with it, looking upon it but as a loan +from that great Being who will demand it again when he himself thinks +fit. But I anticipate no danger from my visit to the gipsies." + +"Are you going, then, to the gipsies in search of Edward?" exclaimed +Miss Falkland, in evident astonishment. "Good Heaven, I had no idea of +that!" + +"It was from one of them that I received the letter to which Miss de +Vaux referred," replied Colonel Manners; "and I may add," he +continued, "to you, Miss Falkland, that the impression that letter +made upon your cousin was such as to induce me to believe that if news +is to be heard of him anywhere, it will be from them that I shall +obtain it." + +"This is all very strange, indeed!" cried Isadore. "But tell me, +Colonel Manners, do you know the contents of the letter?" + +"Not in the least," he replied; "but certain it is, that whatever they +were, they affected your cousin sensibly. I had it from a gipsy-man, +certainly of a very superior stamp to the rest, although I found him +consorting with a gang of as ruffianly fellows as ever I beheld." + +"Oh, then, for Heaven's sake, take more men with you!" cried Isadore, +eagerly: "you may get murdered, too, and then--" + +"Nay, nay, I have no fear," answered Manners, "and there, you see, are +the horses. Three strong men on horseback might surely contend with a +whole legion of gipsies." + +"Must I plead in vain, Colonel Manners?" said Isadore, really +apprehensive for his safety, and desirous of persuading him, but +blushing at the same time from feeling conscious that she was more +apprehensive for him than she had often before felt for any one. "Must +I plead in vain? or must I ask you for my sake, if you will not for +Heaven's sake? But consider what we should do if we were to lose your +aid and assistance at such a moment. Take two or three of our servants +with you also." + +"For your sake, Miss Falkland, I would do much more difficult things," +replied Manners, earnestly; "but listen to my reasons. It would delay +me long to wait till fresh horses are saddled, and longer to take men +on foot with me. In many cases speed is everything: I have lost more +time than I can well excuse already; and I can assure you, that with +the two strong and trustworthy fellows who accompany me, there is +nothing on earth to fear. Adieu! I doubt not soon, very soon, to bring +you not only news, but good news." + +Thus saying, he left the room, and sprang upon horseback, while +Isadore returned to the apartment of her cousin, who was now in bed by +the orders of the village apothecary, and in the act of taking such +medicines as he judged most likely to calm and sooth the mind by their +sedative effect upon the body. Here Isadore communicated in a low +voice to her mother all that she had gathered from Colonel Manners; +and placing herself at the window of her fair cousin's room, watched +the dark edge of the hill where it cut upon the sky, till at length +she saw the figures of three horses straining with their riders up the +steep ascent. The next moment they came upon the level ground at the +top, changed their pace into a quick gallop, were seen for a minute or +two flying along against the clear blue behind, and then, passing on, +were lost entirely to her sight. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +We must now beg leave to retrograde a little in regard to time: and, +in order to bring every character in our story to the same point, must +turn for a while to a personage of whom we have heard nothing since +the day after Edward de Vaux's arrival at Morley House. + +The beautiful world in which we live, the multitude of blessings by +which we are surrounded, and that beneficent ordination by which the +human mind in its natural state is rendered capable of resting +satisfied with whatever portion is allotted to it, would make the +earth that we inhabit an Eden indeed, if Satan had not supplied us +with easy steps to lead us to misery. Our passions form the first +round of the ladder; then come our follies close above them; then +follow next our vices; these, with brief intervals, are succeeded by +crimes; and all beyond is wretchedness. Every crime, too, is prolific +in miseries--its legitimate children--who not only return to prey upon +their proper parent, but ravage far and wide the hearts of thousands +of others. Not only is it on the grand scale when the glory-seeking +felon calls the dogs of war to tear the prostrate carcass of some +peaceful country, and, by his individual fault, render millions +wretched; but each petty individual crime, like the one small seed +from which mighty forests spring, is but the germ of gigantic and +incalculable consequences; and no one knows to what remote and +unforeseen events each trifling action may ultimately lead: no one can +tell to whose bosom the error he commits may not bring despair, or how +many hearts may be laid desolate by the sin or the folly of the +moment. + +The father of Edward de Vaux--for to him we must now turn--had gone on +in the usual road by which small errors grow into great crimes. He had +committed follies, and yielded to passions. Passions had hardened into +vices, and vices had ultimately hurried him beyond what he would at +first have dreamed possible for a reasonable creature to perpetrate. +In the story we have heard told by the gipsy, the part that he had +acted was in no degree overdrawn by the narrator, though there were +some secrets in Lord Dewry's breast alone, which neither, indeed, +justified nor even palliated his crime--for such deeds admit not of +palliation,--but which showed, at least, that the crowning act itself +was not accompanied by many of the circumstances which seemed to +aggravate it. Overwhelmed by a debt that he could not pay, +disappointed of relief from a source that had never before failed, Mr. +De Vaux had set out from London to meet his brother in a state of mind +which approached insanity, and was, in fact, despair. Hardened by many +years of vice, he had retained very few of those Christian principles +which had not been wanting in his early education; and there remained, +certainly, not sufficient virtue of any kind to make him view an +escape from disgrace, by an act of suicide, as any thing unmanly or +infamous in itself. He had determined, then, either to obtain from his +brother the full sum he demanded, by whatever means might suggest +themselves at the moment--threats, supplications, or remonstrances--or +to terminate his own existence on the spot,--principally with a view +to avoid the shame he anticipated in London if he could not discharge +his obligations, but partly, also, with a savage desire of inflicting +bitter regrets upon his brother for the obduracy of his refusal. + +As the most retired spot for executing this purpose, he had chosen the +point where we have seen that he had waited his brother's coming; and +there a busy devil, that had been stirring at his heart all the way +down, renewed its suggestions with tenfold importunity. He saw before +him some of the rich lands of Lord Dewry; he saw them smiling with the +promise of abundance; all seemed happy in the world but his own heart; +all seemed prosperous but himself. His brother, notwithstanding his +late loss, appeared in his eyes peculiarly blessed; and again and +again the fiend within asked him what right by nature had his brother, +because he was the elder, to the sole possession of all those +advantages which, the same evil spirit lyingly told him, would have +kept him from vice and misery, had they been equally divided between +them? His brother arrived while he was in this mood. The first means +he employed to obtain what he wanted were entreaty and persuasion; and +when these failed, he had recourse to threats and violence. Lord Dewry +retorted with reproach and reprehension; and his brother, in a moment +of frantic passion, brought the curse of Cain upon his own head. + +The agony of remorse was the first thing that succeeded; but +self-preservation and the enjoyment of that which he had so dearly +purchased, became the next considerations, and he bent all the +energies of a keen and daring mind to that purpose. He mastered his +own feelings, both bodily and mental; and, after returning to London +with a degree of speed and perseverance that killed the horse which +bore him, he overcame both personal fatigue and anguish of heart, and +showed himself on the evening of his return at two private parties and +one public place; and, what is more, he showed himself with a smiling +countenance and an unembarrassed air. But when it was all over--the +examination of the facts, the taking possession of the property, and +the removal of those who could betray him--the excitement which had +been caused by danger passed away; that bubble, the hope of happiness +without virtue, burst under his rude touch, and left his heart to +remorse for ever. + +Knowing that he must often see his brother's child, though at first +the sight was full of agony, he forced himself, by a great effort, to +endure it, till he had overcome the pain by habit; and at the same +time the lingering remains of some better feelings in his heart made +him look upon every generous or kindly thing that he could do towards +her as an act of atonement for the crime he had committed. + +Such were some of the motives, or, rather, such were some of the +facts, which had influenced Lord Dewry in all his actions for the last +twenty years. For a time, indeed, he had affected gayety which he did +not feel, and mingled in society which had lost all charm for him; but +the revellings of the never-dying worm upon his heart's inmost core +would make themselves felt, and gradually he drew back from the world, +gave himself up to solitude and stately reclusion, forgot what it was +to smile, and only mingled with his fellow-men to pour forth upon them +the gall and bitterness that welled from an everlasting source in his +own bosom. + +Remorse, however, was not the only fiend that preyed upon his heart: +fear, too, had its share. We have said, and said truly, that he was +corporeally as brave a man as ever lived: he knew not what bodily fear +is; but that is a very, very different affection of the complicated +being, man, from the mental terrors, the daily doubts, the hourly +apprehensions, that crowded upon him in solitude and retirement. +Corporal pain, the simple act of dying, he feared not, and there yet +lingered in his mind some faint traces of his early faith, suggesting +vague ideas of atonement made for man's crimes, which led him to +believe that the anguish which he suffered below might be received in +place of repentance, and procure him pardon hereafter; so that, on +ordinary occasions, he felt no tangible dread even of the awful +separation of soul and body. But this was not all: the torturing +uncertainty of his fate was a bitter portion of his curse. He knew +that there were two men in the world who could, at any time, doom him +to disgrace and death; or at least, if, by the precautions he had +taken, their success in any attempt of the kind had been rendered +doubtful, yet their knowledge of the dreadful secret of his state +rendered all that he possessed--honour, fortune, rank, even existence +itself--precarious; and he felt, as he looked around him, that he was +living in a gilded dream, which the next moment might vanish, and +leave him to misery and despair. + +At first, when, perhaps, it might have been in his power to implicate +the gipsy as the murderer of his brother, and, by pursuing him as +such, to have crushed one strong source of evidence against himself, +two powerful causes had operated to deter him from such a course. He +knew that Sir William Ryder, though implicated by accidental +circumstances in his crime, was of too generous a nature to connive at +any further evil to which the desire of concealing it might lead him. +But it would be doing him injustice not to say that he himself had +shrunk from the very thought. His heart was not hardened enough for +that: he felt that there was too much blood upon his hand already; and +although the idea did cross his mind, yet at that time remorse was +stronger than fear, and even had Sir William Ryder not existed, he +would have chosen rather to bear apprehension than a greater load of +regret. + +Time, however, had now altered such feelings; he was accustomed to +remorse, but no time can harden the heart to fear; and the first +imagination which crossed his mind, when, at the end of twenty years, +he again saw the gipsy, was to destroy him. The reader may recollect a +conversation in the beginning of this work, wherein Pharold detailed +the particulars of an interview he had had with the peer; and it may +easily be conceived, that from that interview Lord Dewry perceived at +once that the moment was come when he must try his strength with those +who had the power to injure him, and silence them for ever, or yield +for ever to his fate; and with a strong determination, but a mind +fearfully agitated, he instantly resolved to crush those he feared, if +human ingenuity, backed by wealth, and power, and a daring +disposition, could accomplish such an object. + +Such had been the state of his mind when he so unexpectedly visited +the house of Mrs. Falkland, and found new cause for apprehension in +the conversation of Colonel Manners. But his coming thither had not +for its sole object to meet and welcome his newly-returned son. He had +learned, by instant and close inquiry after the gipsy had left him, +that parties of his race had been seen lying in the neighbourhood of +Morley Wood, with the view, it was supposed, of poaching on the open +and ill-protected grounds in that district; and suspecting, from his +conversation with Pharold, that on the refusal he had given, Sir +William Ryder himself might return to England, he hastened over to his +sister's house, which lay within a few miles of his property of +Dimden, in order, if possible, to pursue means of destroying the +actual witness of his crime, before the arrival of the only other +person who even suspected it. + +Let it not be supposed--although there were in reality no means at +which Lord Dewry would now have hesitated to effect his purpose--that +he deliberately, and boldly, and undisguisedly proposed to his own +heart to bring about the gipsy's death. No, no: the great power of +evil is too well aware how horrible his naked suggestions are, not to +furnish them with a veil, flimsy enough, it is true, but still +sufficient to cover some part of their deformity. No! Lord Dewry +only proposed--at least, he cheated himself into thinking so--to +detect the gipsy or his comrades in some unlawful exploit, which might +give an excuse for removing them for ever from the country, and at the +same time might render any evidence they might tender against himself, +not only suspicious, but almost inadmissible. + +The severe laws in regard to poaching, and the loose and lawless +habits of the gipsies themselves, he doubted not would furnish the +means; and his great object was to discover an offence of such +magnitude, and to obtain proofs so clear, that great severity would be +warranted and the justice of the accusation undeniable. It might cross +his mind that, in the pursuit of these views, a gipsy or a keeper +might be killed, that the charge of murder might be added to that of +poaching, and that a felony might rid him of the enemy of his repose +for ever. Such a thing might cross his mind, and be viewed with no +great dissatisfaction; but, at the same time, he denied to himself +that such was his object. "No: God forbid! But, if it did happen, he +should of course take advantage of it to silence for ever the voice of +one who had been witness to the _unfortunate accident_ by which, in a +moment of hasty passion, his brother had been deprived of life, and +who seemed disposed to abuse the knowledge he unhappily possessed." + +Such had been the thoughts of Lord Dewry as he travelled over to Mrs. +Falkland's house on the night of his son's arrival, and such were the +thoughts that again took possession of him as soon as the passion in +which he had left her subsided on the following morning. + +"With Sir William Ryder," he thought, as the carriage rolled rapidly +on towards Dimden--"with Sir William Ryder I shall easily be able to +deal single-handed, if once I can remove his confederate. He used to +be a simple, frank-hearted, foolish fellow; but I must, by some means, +keep him from any further meeting with Edward. I have already remarked +that the boy sees there is some mystery; and a bare hint would awaken +suspicions that I would rather die than he should even dream of. But +this man--this Pharold--must be my first care; and my next must be to +procure such proofs of my having been in London at the time of my +brother's death that suspicion itself shall be silenced, if either of +the villains dare to open his lips." + +The manner in which this latter object was to be accomplished became +the next consideration; but ere Lord Dewry could come to any +determination upon the subject, the lodge of Dimden Park, and the old +woman who opened the gates, courtesying to the ground as the carriage +rolled through, met his eyes, and told him that he must reserve that +matter for after-thought. + +The place that he was now entering had been the favourite habitation +of his brother, where his days of happiness and sunshine had been +passed, and whence his virtues had made themselves felt and beloved +through all the country round. There were many recollections and +associations then connected with that spot which, as it may easily be +conceived, were not a little painful to the man who now entered it: +and although he sometimes visited the house, and had once or twice in +twenty years spent a day within its walls, yet he had never been able +to vanquish the distress that the sight occasioned him so far as to +live in it for any length of time. He now beheld it in a state which +added to the pain whereof other circumstances had rendered it +fruitful. It was not exactly going to ruin, for he had given strict +orders, and paid large annual sums, for the express purpose of keeping +the grounds in order and the house in repair; but those orders had +been given from a distance, and had been received with a conviction +that the master's eye would never inspect their execution very +minutely. There were long tufts of grass in the walks and on the +roads, though here and there was to be seen a faint and lazy effort to +clear away, by the exertions of a few hours, the shameful negligence +of many a day. Some of the trees, which had been felled years before, +were rotting in the long dank grass; and the fences which had been +placed to keep the deer within their proper bounds lay flat upon the +ground, overturned and broken. The road over which the carriage rolled +was channelled with deep unmended ruts; and the fine old house, with +its closed windows and smokeless chimneys, stood in its wide, open +esplanade, like the palace of damp and desertion. Lord Dewry bit his +lip, and muttered audibly, "This must be amended. The scoundrels did +not expect me to visit the place, and have been shamefully negligent. +I will send them away." + +But as he thought thus, his other purposes crossed his mind, and +brought with it one of those annoying and degrading convictions which +so often follow evil actions and crooked policy. He felt that when he +was about to engage his park-keepers in an action which his own heart +told him was base, he could not dare to treat them severely for the +faults they had themselves committed; and to a proud and violent man +the restraint which he was obliged to put upon his passions was bitter +enough. As the carriage approached the house, hasty symptoms of +opening windows and unbarring doors showed that his coming had been +remarked; and as he had no ambiguous commands to lay upon the old +servants who had been left to keep the mansion in order, upon them +fell the full weight of his indignation. When the first angry burst +was over, he ordered the old man to call the principal park-keeper; +and while he was absent upon that errand, strode gloomily through the +dreary chambers, feeling his heart more dark and comfortless than even +the long-deserted apartments amid which he stood. He then called for +pen and ink, which, after some difficulty, he obtained, and wrote and +despatched the note which we have seen delivered to Marian de Vaux. + +At length the park-keeper appeared, a bold and sturdy fellow, with no +inconsiderable portion of shrewd cunning in his countenance, to which +had been superadded at present an air of dogged preparation, +occasioned by the tidings of Lord Dewry's anger, which the old man had +given him as they walked along towards the house. + +"Harvey," said the peer, as the man presented himself, "you have +suffered the park to get into a terrible state. I must have all this +changed. Those fences must be put up; those trees cleared away: speak +to Wilson about the road, and tell him if ever I see it in that state +again I shall discharge him; and--do not answer me, but listen; for I +came over to speak to you upon matters of more importance.--What are +you waiting for, John?" + +"I thought your lordship might want me," said the old man, who had +lingered in the room. + +"No, no, not I," replied the peer: "retire, and shut the door; but +take care what you are about, for in future I shall come over at +least every month; and if I find the house is not properly attended to +after this warning, you and your wife go out of it without another +word.--Now, Harvey, tell me," he continued, as the old man withdrew +with a low and deprecating bow, "have you many poachers here?" + +"Why, no, my lord," replied the park-keeper, his face brightening up +to find that the anticipated storm had blown away; "we have not had +much of that work doing lately, though I dare say we soon shall have." + +"And why so?" demanded Lord Dewry. "I am glad to hear that poaching is +on the decrease. What makes you think it will revive again?" + +"As to revive, my lord, why, I don't know," replied the man; "but I +doubt we shall soon have more of it--so I think. It's just the time, +you see, my lord--long moonlight nights, and a good deal of the +out-door work over." + +The man paused; but these were not the reasons the peer had hoped to +hear him assign for his apprehensions of more extended poaching, and +found that he must bring him nearer to the point by some direct +course. "We have a great deal of poaching near the hall," he said: +"Wise tells me that there are a number of bad characters continually +in the woods, gipsies and thieves of all descriptions." + +"Ay, for the matter of that we have gipsies enough just now, too," +replied the keeper; "and that's the reason, my lord, why I said I +thought we should soon hear of more poaching: but I did not like to +mention it, you see. Why, there, I saw no longer ago than yesterday, +up in Morley Wood, I dare say a score of them--lazy beggars! D--n +them, I hate those fellows, and so I told 'em--beg your lordship's +pardon." + +Lord Dewry found that he was now on the right course; but, afraid of +pursuing the matter so eagerly as to cause suspicions which might +perhaps tell against himself hereafter, he replied with a tranquil +countenance, "It would not surprise me if these were the same that +have been plundering and poaching in a most desperate manner near the +hall." + +"O, no doubt they are the same, my lord," replied the keeper; "and as +to poaching, they were at it last night, or I have no ears: I heard a +gun--I am sure I heard a gun--though I got up, and went all over the +grounds without finding them. But I heard a gun--I am sure enough of +that, anyhow." + +"Oh, if that be the case," said Lord Dewry, "we must really take +serious measures for their apprehension and conviction. They once +murdered a gamekeeper, those gipsies, not far from here; and it is +dangerous to honest men to let them be in the country." + +"Ay, that it is, my lord," said the keeper; "they'd murder any one as +soon as look at him. They nearly murdered me once. I wish we could get +rid of them, that I do, anyhow." + +"And so do I, too," replied Lord Dewry, solemnly; "I do not like men's +lives risked continually, nor their property plundered at every turn, +solely because these gipsies are suffered to continue in the kingdom. +I declare I would give fifty guineas to any one who could convict them +in such a manner as to ensure their being sent out of the country +without fail. I do not like my people continually exposed to their +attacks." + +"Your lordship is very kind and very generous," said the keeper; "and +if your lordship would really give the fifty guineas, I dare say we +could find some young fellows that would join in and take a hand in +catching them." + +"But we must first be able to prove that they have committed some +offence," replied Lord Dewry, thoughtfully. + +"Oh, they have committed offences enough, my lord," answered the +keeper; "and if your lordship give fifty guineas, we shall soon have +plenty to help in catching them." + +The peer paused for a moment or two without any direct reply; but he +then answered, "What I have said I mean, Harvey: the fifty guineas I +would give of course to the man by whose means they were principally +brought to justice; but I would do more, and pay handsomely every one +concerned in actually taking them. Do you think they have ever shot +any of the deer?" he added after a short pause. + +"No, my lord, no!" answered the keeper, fearful that blame might fall +upon himself; "I will answer for it they have not done that." + +"I am sorry for it," said Lord Dewry, dryly. The man stared, and the +peer proceeded:--"I am sorry for it; because, you see, Harvey, the +offence would be the heavier, and we might get rid of them for ever if +we could prove such a thing against them; whereas this poaching, +especially if it be a first offence, will only take them out of the +way for a time, and then turn them back upon us more enraged against +us than ever." + +"That's true, my lord, that's true," replied the keeper, whose +perceptions were sufficiently acute, and who began to see that his +master had a very potent distaste to the race of gipsies, although his +mind, proceeding in its habitual train, did not fail to conclude that +the peer's motives for hating them were the same which would have +actuated himself had he been in the peer's situation, namely, wrath at +their having destroyed the peculiar objects of his veneration, game, +and anger at their having outwitted him in his endeavours to preserve +it. He went no further in his investigations of his lord's designs, +though he himself had peculiar motives of his own; but, possessing +goodly powers of detestation himself, he easily conceived that the +baron would not scruple at any plausible stratagem for the purpose of +obtaining his object. "That's true, my lord, that's true," replied he; +"but do you know, I should not wonder if they did some night shoot a +fat buck upon his moonlight walk; and I dare say, for the matter of +that, we could get them to do it very soon." + +"Nay, nay," cried the peer in a tone of moderation, "take care what +you are about, Harvey; for if any one were to discover that you +instigated them, you might get transported; and though of course I +would take care that none of my servants was a loser by his zeal in my +service, yet I should not like you to get into any scrape." + +"Your lordship is very kind," said the man; "but I will take care that +I get into no scrape; and as to any one hearing me say any thing about +it, no fear of that, for I will never say a word to any one but your +lordship; and but little will I say even now. But I know how to manage +the matter; and if I can get some stout hands to help me and the two +under-keepers in taking the fellows, when once we have found out when +they are about the job, I'll rid the country of them soon enough--a +set of lazy, thieving beggars." + +"Why, Harvey," said the peer, with a complacent smile, "you do not +seem fond of these gipsies, I think." + +"I fond of them, my lord!" said the man. "No, no! I owe them an old +grudge, which I have long thought to pay. One of them nearly killed me +once when I was a younker, now near twenty years ago, just for being a +little over-civil to one of their women. I might have had my revenge +at the time; but I was weak and sick with the bruises, and I was +spoony enough to let him get off; but he'll not do so again if I catch +hold of him." + +"But pray, Harvey," said the peer, "how do you propose to obtain +such information in regard to when and where these men are to be +caught--for they must be caught in the fact, remark--as to enable you +to seize them with any certainty? Do you know any of their gang +personally?" + +"Not I, my lord," replied the man; "but, do you see, my lord, I know a +man up in the village, called Harry Saxon, who hears a good deal about +all those sorts of people, and I will get him just to put it into +their heads to--" + +"Hush, hush, Harvey!" interrupted the nobleman, but a tone as to +express much disapprobation. "Do not tell me what you intend to do, +but merely how you are to learn when and where to catch them." + +"Why, _he_ will tell me all that, to be sure, my lord," replied the +keeper. "He's a good sort of man, and won't disoblige me, I'll +warrant." + +"And pray what is his usual occupation?" demanded the peer in a casual +way. + +"Oh, he sells venison to the dealers in London," replied the keeper; +and then suddenly perceiving that he was on the edge of a precipice, +he added, "that is, when any of the gentlemen in the neighbourhood +want to kill off some of their bucks, he buys them and sends them up +to London. I have heard, too," he continued, seeing that his lord +listened with an unmoved countenance, as if to something of course--"I +have heard, too, that he sends up many a good brace of partridges, and +many a pheasant and a hare: but he is a good sort of man, upon the +whole; and when he knows a keeper, like, he will not let the people +poach and that upon the grounds that he keeps, and that's what makes +us have so much game here. I'll warrant the game is better preserved +here than anywhere else in the country." + +The peer made no observations upon these disjointed pieces of +information; but in his own mind concluded, and not without reason, +that his keeper was a very great scoundrel. He took care, however, +neither by word, look, nor action, to suffer the man he was making use +of to perceive what sort of a character he was establishing in his +opinion; being fully resolved in his own mind, however, to discharge +him as soon after he had served the present purpose as might be found +convenient. + +Deceit, like every other art, has been wonderfully perfected and +refined since first it took its origin in the rude, uncultivated human +breast. There can be no doubt whatever that when one man entertains an +opinion which he wishes to conceal from another, the first natural +effort of his mind would be to tell him the direct contrary; and much +refinement and experience in the art must have been acquired before +the necessity was ascertained of doing things more delicately, and +implying, rather than saying, that one believes another to be an +honest man, when one is sure he is a great rogue. As the world +proceeded, however, and the liberal science of deceit became so +thoroughly studied as to force one, with very few exceptions, to say, +as said the Psalmist, "All men are liars," a new refinement was +introduced, and it became necessary to know when to cover one's own +opinion by a skilful implication of the reverse, when, returning to +the original and simple mode, in plain terms to announce the direct +contrary of what one feels, and to deceive the most thoroughly by the +appearance of the utmost candour. + +In the present instance Lord Dewry chose the latter means, and ended +the conversation with the keeper by saying, "Well, Harvey, well! I +believe you are a very honest fellow. There are ten guineas for you to +give the men you are obliged to employ, an earnest of their reward; +and if you succeed in catching these gipsies, so as to convict them +either of deer-stealing or aggravated poaching, you may count upon +fifty guineas and my favour, besides having all your _bona fide_ +expenses paid." + +The man made a low bow, though he did not understand at all what _bona +fide_ meant; and the peer with a slow step walked to his carriage. The +old man and woman who kept the house followed half a step behind, +troubling him all the way by questions concerning the superintendence +of the place, in regard to which their directions had been full and +explicit years before, but by re-demanding which they meant, as usual +on such occasions, to insinuate a justification of their late +negligence, implying that if they had been properly instructed they +would have behaved better. Short and severe were the replies of the +baron; and when the carriage-door was at length closed, and the +vehicle rolled away, he sunk into thought, feeling that at least one +part of his plan was in a fair way for execution, but feeling, +likewise, deep, deep in his heart's core, the melancholy +conviction--not the less poignant because he strove not to see +it--that one crime was lashing him on with a fiery scourge to the +commission of many more. + +The house he had just visited, and the scenes through which he was +passing, had not been without their effect. They had recalled to his +mind his brother, who had there lived so long the object of his envy, +and now of his deep regret. That brother's virtues, his kindness, his +noble generosity, tried to the very utmost by his excesses and +demands, often, often returned reproachfully to his mind. All the good +and affectionate acts which had seemed as nothing while his own +passions and interests existed in opposition, and while his brother +lived, had been estimated with terrible exactness as soon as his own +hand had placed the impassable barrier of death between them; and the +sight of that house now, as it always did, recalled every memory that +could aggravate remorse, and stir into an intenser blaze the +unquenchable fire that burned his heart. + +There, too, he had himself been educated from infancy to manhood; over +those lawns and walks he had played in the guileless innocence of +youth; under those trees he had sat a thousand times with the dead, in +the sweet and hopeful summer-days of boyhood. Their arms clasped round +each other's necks, or their hands locked in each other, they had +wandered in their hours of play through the calm green shades of the +park, or sat beneath the stately oak, reading some lighter book than +that appointed for their daily studies. He remembered it all well; and +many an individual day, too, would come forward from the crowd of +early memories, and stand before his eyes bright and distinct as if it +were hardly yet numbered with the past. He could call back even the +feelings of those times, the noble and enthusiastic glow of their +bosoms when they had read together some great actions, some generous +self-devotion, some pious act of friendship, some deed of mighty +patriotism; and now, what had those feelings become? In his brother +they were extinct in death, or, rather, glorifying him in a brighter +world; and with him himself they were but memories; with him it was +the feelings that were dead, while he himself lived but to remember +them. Nor was his a heart to scoff at their memory as some men might +have done. Perhaps, indeed, had his crimes been lighter--had they but +reached the grade of vices--had they been of that character which +man's blind selfishness can dress up in other garbs, and cover beneath +a light robe of wit, or of what we call philosophy, he might have +sneered at the sweet and innocent days that forced themselves upon his +recollection, and have parried all that was painful in them by a jest. +But the terrible, irrevocable, awful deed that he had committed had +been weighty enough, not only to break the elastic spring of gayety in +his heart for ever, but to leave those sweet early hours of guileless +happiness and noble feeling which still flattered him with the thought +that he had not always been base, or cruel, or depraved, the least +painful of all that series of painful things whereof his memory was +alone composed. And yet remorse mingled its poison even with them, and +perhaps rendered the agony they produced on the present occasion more +poignant, because on that point his heart was not hardened to the +lash. + +He cast the memories from him as the vehicle rolled on, for he found +not only that they were painful, but that other thoughts of the +imperious present must have way; and that though he trusted by a new +crime to remove some part of the danger of his situation, yet that it +was necessary to contemplate his position in every point of view, in +order to guard against all that might happen. But here, perhaps, his +feelings were even less enviable than those from which he turned. +Personal danger, not abstract and distinct, but accompanied by shame, +and scorn, and detection, was the first image that presented itself +to his mind. To meet the hatred and contempt of the whole world, +to be exposed in a court of justice, and on a public scaffold to be +pointed and hooted at by the rude populace--to be called the +fratricide, the murderer--to undergo the horrors of imprisonment, +suspense, trial, condemnation, and execution--and to plunge, loaded +with a brother's blood and many another sin, into the wide, dim, +terrible hereafter--such were the only objects of his anticipation, if +his present schemes should fail. + +Nor was it at all strange that he should feel them now much more +poignantly than at the time which immediately followed his brother's +death, though, perhaps, the years which had elapsed might have +rendered his safety less in danger now than then. But at that period +he had little time to reflect; and his whole mind had been occupied in +acting. He had seen and felt the immediate peril, and had apprehended +many a vague horror; but imagination had not had time to act--she had +not had time to call up and particularize, as she had since done with +terrible minuteness, all the awful and agonizing scenes that await the +detected murderer. + +As he leaned back in his carriage, and with closed eyes thought +of all the past and all the future, the mingling emotions that +agitated his breast were dreadful indeed. Bitter, bitter +remorse--strong, lasting, never-sleeping remorse--was for the moment +paramount; and could he have seen any way of avoiding shame and death +but by new evil, he would have resigned much, he would have resigned +all, to follow it. But there was no means before him of escaping all +the horrors that threatened, but either to destroy those he feared or +to destroy himself: he had but the choice of two great crimes; and +the terrors of the endless future, aggravated by the condemnation of +self-destruction, were too great for him to think of attempting his +own life. As we have before said, it was not that he feared death; for +often in his moods of deepest despondency he thought that if some one +were to take away his life as he had taken that of his brother, it +might be received, together with his long remorse, as some atonement +for the past; but he feared to make it his own act, and to double, +instead of diminishing, the load upon his own head; and in the +desperate choice which was before him he yielded to the common +weakness of human nature, and chose that crime of which punishment was +most remote. + +Such were some of the emotions which agitated his mind as the +carriage rolled on towards his usual residence; but still the picture +of them is but faint and imperfect, as every picture of agitated +feelings must be. There were a thousand shades that escape the pen, a +thousand sudden changes for which it would be difficult to account. +Nevertheless, it must not be supposed that this varying and uncertain +mood was the general state of his mind, when no outward circumstance +had served to awaken antagonist feelings. On the contrary, he was +generally firm in his despair, with remorse for the predominant tone +of his whole sensations; but at the same time, with a stern +determination to hold all that for which he had paid so deep a price, +and to defend his own safety at any risk. It was only when some +association connected with other days touched a tenderer point in his +heart, and aroused some better feelings from their sleep of years, +that the winds and the tempests dashed against the dark dwelling-place +of his spirit, and threatened to level it with its foundation in the +sand. The mood seldom lasted long, however, and, indeed, could not +have done so without driving him to phrensy; and now, as he came +within sight of the plantations that skirted his other property, he +put on a firmer frame of mind, cast doubt, and fear, and hesitation +behind him, and called up those powers of quick, decisive thought and +vigorous action which had often in former days carried him through +many a scene of difficulty and danger. + +"I have been as weak as a child," he said, when he looked back on all +the feelings to which he had given way--"I have been as weak as a +child; and that at a moment when I most need manly firmness: but it is +past, and I will not easily forget myself again!" + +On the next day but one, at a very early hour, Lord Dewry again drove +over to Dimden, and had the pleasure of learning, by implications and +hints from his head park-keeper, that the plan which had been shadowed +out for entangling the gipsies was in a fair way for execution; and +yet his spirit was ill at rest, for he felt that his plan was an +imperfect one, and that at a thousand points it might fail. The +gipsies might be too wary; and, at all events, Pharold was not likely +to take part himself in such a scheme. If his companions were +implicated, and he were to escape, the natural consequence would be, +that his roused-up vengeance would take the ready means of sating +itself by betraying the fearful secret that he possessed; and thus the +attempt to remove him would but bring about more certainly the danger +that was apprehended. Yet what could he do? the peer asked himself. If +he could add one other link to the chain in which he had sought to +entangle the gipsy, it might render it complete, and prevent the +possibility of his escape. But what was that link to be? He could not +tell, and yet it served him as food for stern and eager meditation as +the carriage bore him rapidly home again, after having satisfied +himself that his scheme, as far as it went, was already in progress +towards its completion. + +As he drove up to the door of the house, he remarked that one of his +grooms was walking a hard-ridden horse up and down upon the gravel, +while the dirty condition of the animal bespoke a long journey. As +such sights, however, were not at all uncommon, and the horse might +either belong to the steward, or to some stranger come on a visit of +curiosity to the house, it excited but little notice on the part of +the peer, who was entering without inquiry, when one of the servants +informed him that a gentleman was waiting his lordship's return in the +small library. Lord Dewry turned a little pale; for there was a +consciousness of danger and of the uncertainty of his condition at the +heart of the peer, that caused the blood to forsake his cheek at any +announcement of a visit, the import of which he did not know. He +rebuked the servant, however, for admitting any one to wait for him +during his absence; and ordered him never to do so again, adding, that +when he expected or wished to see any one, he would always give +intimation of his will. + +The servant excused himself on account of the stranger's pressing and +determined manner, motives which did not in the least reconcile the +peer to his admission; but, without any further appearance of +distrust, he walked with slow and stately steps to the library, and +throwing open the door advanced towards a table, determined not to +afford his unwished-for guest a pretext for sitting down by even +approaching a chair himself. + +The stranger's person merits some slight description, and even a more +detailed account of his clothing than is required on ordinary +occasions. He was a man perhaps four or five years younger than the +peer himself, thin, light, active, with a twinkling gray eye, somewhat +too full of moisture, and a number of those long radiating wrinkles +which, I believe, are called crows' feet, decorating the corners of +the eyelids. His general complexion was white, of that dry and +somewhat withered appearance which long habits of dissipation leave +behind, when dissipation is not combined with drunkenness. In every +glance there was a quick, sharp, prying expression, joined to a +somewhat subservient smile, which was strangely enough displayed upon +a cast of countenance, the natural expression of which was +pertinacious effrontery. + +His dress was well worn, and had not apparently been formed originally +of any very costly materials; but it had withal a smart cut, and a +smart look, which prevented the eye from detecting either the long +services it had rendered, or the coarseness of the stuff. It was of a +rather anomalous description, too, consisting of what was then called +a marone frock with a silver lace, a pair of buckskin breeches for +riding in, thunder and lightning silk stockings, just showing their +junction with the breeches above, and a pair of heavy boots; while +ruffles, and a frill of that species of lace which, seeming all darns +together, admits the most frequently of being mended, decorated his +wrists and his bosom. + +Lord Dewry gazed at him as he rose from the chair in which he had been +sitting with a look which, if it did not absolutely express the stare +of utter strangeness, had very few signs of recognition in it. But the +other was neither to be abashed nor discomposed; and his manners, +which were those of a gentleman, softened down a good deal of the +effrontery which his demeanour displayed. Had he not been a gentleman, +and in the habit of mingling with gentlemen, his determined impudence +would have been insufferable; and even as things were, that impudence, +together with a certain affected swagger in tone and language, which +was very generally assumed by the puppies of the day, and which the +visiter caricatured, were quite sufficiently annoying, especially to +such a man as Lord Dewry. Conceiving at once that the peer was not +peculiarly delighted with his visit, the stranger advanced round the +table, and with a low bow addressed him ere he had time to speak. + +"I perceive," he said, "that the lapse of time which has occurred +since we met, together with the accession of well-deserved fortunes +and dignities, and the cares consequent thereupon, has obliterated +from your memory, my lord, the person of a former friend. I must, +therefore, announce myself as Sir Roger Millington." + +The peer bowed haughtily. "I once," he said, "had some acquaintance +with a person of that name; but, as you say, sir, the lapse of time +has been so great since we have held any communication with each +other, that I certainly did not expect it to be so suddenly renewed, +and far less to be favoured with an unannounced visit at a time which, +perhaps, may not be the most convenient." + +"My lord," replied his companion, unrebuffed, "I am happy to find that +your lordship's memory extends to our acquaintance at least; and to +refresh it in regard to the degree of that acquaintance, I think I +could show you some letters in your lordship's hand, beginning, some, +'My dear friend!' some, 'My dear Millington!' some, 'Damn it, my dear +Millington!' with an elegant variety in the terms, whereby your +lordship was kind enough to express your friendship for your humble +servant." + +Lord Dewry coloured highly between anger and shame; but he did not +feel at all the more disposed to receive Sir Roger Millington kindly +on account of these proofs of their former intimacy. He had not +forgotten, any more than his visiter, that they had once been choice +companions in both the elegant and inelegant debaucheries of a London +life; but a great change in situation, and a total change in feelings, +had made the peer as desirous of forgetting the past as the other was +of recalling it; and he hated him in proportion as he felt himself +thwarted. Sir Roger Millington, however, had calculated his game with +the utmost nicety; and once that nothing was to be obtained by gentler +means, and determined, therefore, if possible, to force him to the +object towards which he could not lead him. Such had been his motive +in the somewhat pointed and galling manner in which he had repeated +some of Lord Dewry's former expressions of regard, and he was not a +little gratified to see the colour rise in his cheek as he spoke. + +Lord Dewry's reply, however, which immediately followed, was not quite +so much to his taste; for the peer also played his part skilfully; and +though, in reality, as angry as Sir Roger desired, he concealed his +anger, and replied in the same cold haughty tone. "You recall to me, +sir," he said, "days of which I am heartily ashamed, scenes of which +we have neither of us reason to be proud, and expressions which I +greatly wish could be retracted." + +"I am sorry, as your lordship wishes it, that such a thing is not +possible," answered the persevering Sir Roger; "but I think, if you +will take a few moments to consider, your lordship may find reason to +change some of your sentiments. I may have become an altered man as +well as Lord Dewry; and if so, his lordship will have no cause to hate +or shun an old friend, because he once followed in a course which his +lordship led, and has since followed in his repentance. I hear that a +mutual friend of your lordship's and my own is coming to England soon, +if not already on his way from America--I mean Sir William Ryder; and +I should be sorry to have to tell him, on his return, that your +lordship casts off your old acquaintances. You had better consider of +it, my lord." + +"I shall consider nothing, sir," replied the peer, "except that my +time is too valuable to be wasted in idle discourse, which can end in +nothing; and therefore I have the honour of wishing you good-morning." +Thus saying, he stood for about the space of a minute and a half, +expecting Sir Roger to leave the room; but being disappointed, he +himself turned upon his heel, with a curling lip and a flashing eye, +and quitted the library, leaving the door open behind him. + +Sir Roger Millington stood for a moment or two in some embarrassment, +but at length impudence and necessity prevailed. "No," cried he; "no: +damn it, it will never do to be beaten when one has resolved on such +an attack. Curse me, if I don't die in the breach, like other heroes. +Why, if I cannot raise a hundred or two I'm done, that's clear. No, +no: I'll not stir;" and casting himself down into a chair, he coolly +took up a book and began to read. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +"To be teased with such an insolent scoundrel at such a moment +as this!" thought the peer, as he strode hastily to his usual +sitting-room: "it is insufferable! I have a great mind to order the +villains that let him in to horsewhip him out again for their pains: I +believe that they will some day drive me mad among them!" And stamping +his foot upon the ground, as was his custom when very angry, he +clenched his thin hand as if he would have struck the object of his +indignation. Suddenly, however, stopping in the midst of his passion, +he fell into deep thought, which kept him standing in the middle of +the room for two or three minutes; then approaching the bell, he rang +it calmly. His own valet, whose peculiar province was to attend to +that especial sitting-room, appeared in less time than ordinary. "Is +the gentleman who was in the little library gone?" demanded the peer. + +"No, my lord," replied his laconic attendant. + +"I shall dine in the larger room to-day," said Lord Dewry: "bid Mr. +Scott have the table laid for two, and tell _le Chef_ that the dinner +must be different." + +The man bowed, and withdrew; and the peer, after pausing for a single +moment where he was, re-opened the door, and proceeded through the +neighbouring gallery to a vestibule, whence his eye could rest upon +the door of the room in which he had left Sir Roger Millington. Here +again, however, he paused even for several minutes; and then, raising +his head, which had been sunk somewhat upon his bosom, he walked on +with a calm, dignified step towards the room which he had quitted not +a quarter of an hour before in such great indignation. Sir Roger +Millington was seated exactly in the chair which had received his +person when the peer left him, and was deeply, and apparently +pleasantly, engaged with the book he had taken up. So perfectly +comfortable, indeed, did he seem to have made himself, that Lord +Dewry, notwithstanding strong determinations to the contrary--the +motives of which will be explained immediately--could scarcely refrain +from kicking him through the glass door into the park. He conquered +his passion, however; and, in a tone which was very different from +that which he had used towards the same person a quarter of an hour +before, but which was still sufficiently guarded by haughty coldness +to prevent the transition from appearing excessively abrupt, he +addressed his visiter once more. "Sir Roger Millington," he said, "I +am glad to find that you are not gone; for a little reflection makes +me regret having treated a former acquaintance somewhat hastily: but +the truth is, your arrival has occurred at a moment when I am not only +extremely busy, but also when my feelings have been irritated and hurt +by various occurrences, which may in some degree have made me forget +my courtesy." + +"Come, come," thought Sir Roger Millington, "matters are improving! +some fools would have gone away ashamed or affronted! There is nothing +like knowing when to keep one's ground--when to beat a retreat! My +lord," he continued, aloud, "it gives me the greatest pain to think +that I have intruded upon you at such a moment: but I am quite ready +to repair my fault by retiring! only requesting your lordship to name +some hour to-morrow when I can have the honour of conversing with you +on matters of some importance." + +"Of importance to yourself or to me, Sir Roger?" demanded the peer, +forcing a half-smile; though there had been something in the +pertinacity with which his visiter had held his ground that made him +almost apprehend that these matters of importance might refer, in some +unpleasant manner, to himself. + +Had Sir Roger Millington had the slightest means whatever of showing +that the matters of which he had to speak were in any degree relative +to the peer, he would have ventured the assertion that they were of +importance to him; but as he had not, he judged it expedient to be +candid in the more placable mood which his noble host now displayed; +and he accordingly answered, "Of more importance to myself, my lord, I +am afraid, than to you." + +It was a lucky hit, however; for this proceeding not only quieted all +Lord Dewry's apprehensions, but also favoured his views in other +respect. + +"I am glad to hear it, Sir Roger," replied the baron; "for, to say the +truth, I have important business of my own enough upon my hands to +tire me of it; and I would rather speak upon any one else's affairs +than have any more of myself. But you must not think of leaving the +hall, though I am afraid I must be absent from you a considerable part +of the day. I shall expect the pleasure of your company for a few +days, and I will order my servant to conduct you to your apartments. +You must amuse yourself as best you may till the evening. Here are +books enough, you see, if you have turned student; and if you are +still fond of field-sports, the gamekeeper will show you where you may +find plenty of game. Use the house as your own, I beg; but only excuse +the master of it for a few hours." + +"My lord, your lordship is too good, too kind," replied his companion, +bowing low and lower; "but--" + +"Oh, I understand," said the peer; "you have ridden here, and have not +dressing materials: never mind, we will cast away ceremony, Sir +Roger." + +"But if any one could be sent over to the village of Barholm, my +lord," said Sir Roger, "since your lordship is so very good, they +would find my valise at the inn." + +"Certainly, certainly," said the peer, increasing in courtesy at every +response--"certainly; we will see about it directly." And he rang the +bell once or twice with that air of good-will which was well +calculated to wipe away the memory of any former coldness. "Richard," +he said, as soon as a servant appeared, "send over the errand-boy on +horseback directly to Barholm, and bid him inquire for the things Sir +Roger Millington has left there at the inn. Bid the groom look to Sir +Roger's horse, and then come here to show him to the yellow room. +Attend upon him while he does me the pleasure of remaining here, and +see that everything is supplied properly.--Now, Sir Roger, I must beg +you to excuse me for a short time, but I shall have the pleasure of +seeing you at dinner." + +Sir Roger bowed low: the peer withdrew; and the servant, saying, "I +will be back in a minute, sir, to show you to your apartments," +followed, to give the orders he had received to the errand-boy and the +under-groom. + +Sir Roger Millington cast himself back into his chair, mentally +declaring, "'Pon my soul, he seems a devilish good fellow, after all; +somewhat hasty, and hellish proud, but better at bottom than he lets +himself appear. I should not wonder if this card, which, by----, is +the last in my hand, should turn up a trump, after all. Egad, that +would be queer!" + +Such were his first reflections; and he had not time to proceed much +beyond them when the servant reappeared, and begged him to follow. The +visiter immediately complied; and walking through a suite of handsome +rooms, where gold lace, and damask, and pictures, and cabinets, and +brass, and tortoise-shell, and marble, combined to form a very +dazzling assemblage of furniture and decorations, he was led up a fine +flight of stairs to another story, where, through corridors scarcely +less handsomely garnished than the apartments below, he was conducted, +murmuring, "What a splendid house!" to a spacious bedroom and +dressing-room, adorned with yellow damask hangings, and supplied with +everything at which luxury had yet arrived in the days whereof we +speak. Here, after asking his further commands, the servant left him, +and Sir Roger Millington threw himself on one of the sofas, asking, +"Well, what the devil can the fellow want? for want something he +certainly does. However, no matter; all the better for me. I'm the man +for his money, whatever he wants; and, by Jupiter! I'll take good care +not to quarrel with the sort of bread and butter that is to be got in +this house!" + +Leaving Sir Roger Millington to speculate upon such very natural +propositions, we may as well follow the peer once more to his private +room, and endeavour to ascertain the cause of a change in his +demeanour towards the poor knight, which had been, as we have seen, no +less sudden than complete. + +No sooner had he entered the chamber than he closed the door, and +bolted it; approached a small iron chest, which stood riveted to the +floor and to the wall, and, opening it with a key which was attached +to a strong gold chain round his neck, he folded his arms upon his +breast, and gazed in for a moment, biting his lip and straining his +eye as if it required no small powers of self-command to proceed any +farther. He then drew forth a large holster-pistol, richly embossed +with silver--the fellow to that which had been placed in the hands of +Edward de Vaux by the gipsy Pharold--and held it for a time in his +hand, with his eyes not fixed upon it, but upon some far object in the +distant landscape, which nevertheless, he saw not in the least; for +the intensity of the mind's occupation at that moment had broken for +the time the connection between the intellectual soul and her +servants, the corporal senses; so that his eye was as blind to the +things on which it was fixed as if it had been seared by lightning. +His thoughts were far away--in other years and in other scenes; and as +he laid the weapon down upon a chair beside him, he murmured, "It +_must_ have fallen into the river, or it would have been found with +the hat." + +He then sought for a moment among some papers, from which he selected +one; and replacing every thing in the chest as it had been before, +turned to the table and gazed upon the sheet, which seemed alone +filled with memoranda of dates and numbers that certainly could +possess no meaning to any eye but his own. To him, however, their +import seemed of great consequence; for again and again he studied +them; and ever and anon the contemplation would plunge him into deep +fits of thought, from which he only roused himself again to gaze upon +the figures as before. + +"It will do," he said at length, "it will do; but I must take care of +what I am about. Yet of this Roger Millington there is no fear. He +would at any time of his life have condemned his own soul for gold, +and now he seems beggared and wretched enough. The other people can +offer him nothing: I can offer him ease and luxury; and he will not +only have no temptation to betray me, but every inducement to keep my +secret till the grave closes over us both. And yet," he added, +thoughtfully--"and yet I must not put it in his power ever to annoy me +hereafter. He must rest in my power rather than I in his. Yet if we +can silence this Pharold for ever, all real danger will be past; and I +must risk something--I must risk much, for that object." + +Such were some of the thoughts which passed through the mind of Lord +Dewry; nor were his conclusions formed upon a very wrong estimate of +the character of his present visiter. The better qualities of Sir +Roger Millington were few. The best of them was personal courage, or +rather that total thoughtlessness in regard to death, and what is to +follow death, which in many men supplies the place of a nobler +principle. He had always, too, been what is called generous; and he +did, indeed, possess that curious combination of qualities which makes +a man pillage and ruin the father of a family, and thus bring want, +destruction, and desolation upon a whole household, while at the same +time he is willing, on every occasion, to share the ill-gotten wealth +of the moment with any one who needs it. His generosity, however, +still more displayed itself in wasting, among debauchees like himself, +whatever he possessed, and thinking no means ignoble to dissipate what +he had thought no means dishonourable to obtain. + +Born of a good family, introduced early into the best society, and +placed, as a military man, in a situation which should have acted +rather to strengthen honourable principles than to lead him from them, +he had at first, so long as the actual war lasted, gained some credit +and renown as a soldier; but no sooner had a peace succeeded than +various gambling transactions, of a somewhat doubtful character, +rendered it expedient that he should quit the service. This he was +permitted to do without disgrace; but from that hour his progress had +been downwards in fortune and society. He had first mingled with +gentlemen upon equal terms; and during the greater part of his +acquaintance with Lord Dewry had kept himself on the same footing with +his companions, by keeping up the same expenses, and by indulging the +same vices. He was often very successful at play; and, though it was +reported that his scruples were not very great in regard to the +experience or the sobriety of those with whom he sat down, as his +winnings enabled him, generally, to live in luxury and splendour, +there were few found to object to the means of acquirement. He +sometimes lost, however; and, as on one or two occasions his losses +had been to persons of greater wealth than courage, he was said to +have discharged his debt by lending the use of his sword in some of +the numerous disputes which vice and debauchery entail upon their +disciples. + +All these things were suspected; but still Sir Roger Millington was +not, on that account, shut out from society. Some people merely +thought that in him they knew where to find a _serviceable man_ when +they wanted such a thing; and others did not choose to quarrel with +one who was in better repute at the Park or the back of Montague +House, the two great resorts of duellists in that day, than in St. +James's-street. Gambling, however, is always a losing trade; and, by +slow degrees, and with many a brief revival of fortune, Sir Roger +Millington was forced down lower and lower in the scale of reputation +and estate. It must be a very honourable spirit, indeed, that poverty +renders more scrupulous; and such was certainly not the case with Sir +Roger Millington. The means of obtaining money seemed to him all +honourable if they led him not to Tyburn; and, at length, he would +fight with or for any man for a very trifling consideration. By this +trade, varied, where he found it necessary, by sycophancy or by +impudence, he contrived for some time to keep himself up, till at +length some one of his adversaries, more wise than the rest, took +courage to refuse to cross swords with a bully and a sharper, +horsewhipped Sir Roger when he posted him, fought and wounded the +first man of honour that looked cold on him for his conduct, and left +Sir Roger Millington no resource but to quit the circles in which he +had been formerly received. + +These circumstances had occurred about two years before the knight's +visit to Lord Dewry; and it would be more painful and disgusting than +amusing or instructive to follow him through the shifts and turnings +of the succeeding months. At length the happy thought struck him which +we have seen him execute; and with a horse, the last of a once +splendid stud, a valise containing all that remained of his wardrobe, +three guineas, and some silver in his purse, a vast stock of +impudence, and a packet of the peer's old letters, he set out to see +whether he could wring anything either from the weakness or the +kindness of Lord Dewry, from whom he had won, in former days, many a +sum which he now sighed to think upon. + +He came, as we have seen, at the very moment when the assistance of +such a person as himself, who was not in the least scrupulous either +in regard to oaths or dangers, was likely to prove most serviceable to +the peer, provided that any bonds could be invented, so close and +clinging as to restrain a man who had never yet been bound by any +principles of religion, morality, or honour. On their meeting, the +uses to which he might be put had not at first struck Lord Dewry, and +he had given way to the irritable impatience natural to his character: +but the last words of Sir Roger Millington concerning Sir William +Ryder, had struck a chord of association which soon awoke other ideas; +and before the peer had reached his own room he had seen and +comprehended the variety of services which Sir Roger might render him. + +Thought, however, was required, both to arrange and give a tangible +form to plans which were yet vague and undefined; and to devise means +of so guarding against the very agent he was about to employ as not to +fall into a new danger in striving to escape an old one. Men who have +involved themselves in the dark work of crime, like those employed in +forging red-hot iron, are obliged to touch the objects of their labour +with tools of steel, lest they should burn themselves with the bolts +they forge. After much thought, however, Lord Dewry believed that he +saw means of rendering Sir Roger Millington, not only obedient to his +every wish, but faithful also; and though the plans in which he was to +be employed, of course required long and intense consideration, the +new views that opened before the peer gave him so much comfort that he +heard the dressing-bell ring, long before he had expected it, without +any feelings but those of renewed security and anticipated triumph +over those who had before caused him so much doubt and apprehension. + +Now Lord Dewry was a shrewd and strong-minded man, who, as far as a +violent and proud disposition, and very uncontrollable passions, would +let him, generally acted upon a regularly-arranged and well-considered +system in every thing he undertook: but it is extraordinary how often +a man acts upon system without knowing it; for, after all, as before +said, we are but mere puppets, body and mind, in the hands of our +desires. Lord Dewry had ordered the beggared and threadbare Sir Roger +Millington to be taken to one of the most splendid apartments in his +splendid house; he had ordered such an intimation to be given to the +cook as would place upon the table a rich and luxurious repast; he had +directed that repast to be spread in a room full of magnificence; and +now he dressed himself with scrupulous care and elegance, without at +all being aware that it was all part of a system to re-awaken in the +bosom of the penniless knight that thirst for luxury and ease which +would render him most willingly and eagerly the tool of him who could +bestow it. So it was, however; and though pride had her word too, and +told his lordship that such display would make his visiter more humble +and respectful, yet the principal object was to show him how many +pleasant and desirable things might be obtained by being the very +humble and most devoted servant of the noble lord. + +Had Lord Dewry sat and calculated for an hour what system was most +likely to produce the desired effect upon a man of the peculiar mental +and bodily idiosyncrasy of Sir Roger Millington, he could not have +more happily adapted his actions to the circumstances. In his high and +plumy days of fortune, Sir Roger Millington had learned to love and +delight in every good thing of the earth that we inhabit; and in his +days of debasement and poverty he had equally learned to admire and +bow down to, in others, the possession of those things which had given +him so much pleasure when he possessed them himself. The soft tread of +the Turkey carpets, the sight of damask, and lace, and or-molu, an +accidental whiff of the distant kitchen, as he passed the top of a +back staircase--a whiff faint and fragrant as if it came from "the +spice islands in the south"--the very feel of the sofa on which he +sat, were all so many arguments in favour of any plan, action, or idea +which Lord Dewry could possibly suggest; and when, after having +received his goods and chattels from the village, selected the best of +his wardrobe, and made himself look, as he could do, perfectly +gentlemanly, he descended to the drawing-room, it was with an +impression of the greatest possible respect and admiration for the +talents, sentiments, feelings, thoughts, and virtues of his noble +entertainer. + +He was almost immediately joined by the peer, who was surprised but +not sorry to see his guest look so much like a gentleman; for though +he sincerely desired that he should be such at heart as to do his +unscrupulous bidding unscrupulously, yet he was quite willing to have +him such, in appearance, as would excite neither wonder nor +animadversion. + +Hasty as the peer was by nature, and eager as he was in the present +instance, he had acquired sufficient command over himself to reserve +any more open communication with Sir Roger till a more proper moment; +although, had he given way to the impulse of his own heart, he would +have entered upon the business which occupied his thoughts at once. +But he felt what an advantage such a course of action would confer +upon his guest; and, therefore, without showing the slightest haste or +impatience, he spoke a moment or two upon the weather, and the state +of the nation, and the alarming increase of crime in the metropolis, +and several other things, about which he cared not in the least, and +then turned to some of the pictures that hung upon the walls, +expatiating upon their various merits with as much learning as a +connoisseur, and as much taste as an Agar Ellis. "Yes," he said, "that +is a very fine picture, though not so valuable as it looks. It is by +one of the disciples of Rubens, and artists believe the heads to be by +Rubens himself. But I will show you a real treasure!" and approaching +a small panel opposite, covered with two richly-carved and gilded +doors, he opened them; and, drawing a silk curtain, displayed an inner +frame containing a Madonna exquisitely painted. "That is an undoubted +Correggio," he said; "and one of the most beautiful pictures that +master ever painted. Remark the exquisite bend of that head, so full +of grief and resignation. The beauty of the colouring, too--that tear +upon the cheek, the faint pink of the nostril partaking slightly of +the blue of the drapery, and the drapery itself, how masterly! Look +here, too, at the hands crossed upon the breast! Did you ever behold +such beautiful hands? so small and delicate, yet so soft and full! +every thing graceful and light, yet every thing full of contour and +correctness!" + +The doors were thrown open while he still spoke, and dinner was +announced; nor did Lord Dewry, during the whole course of the meal, +deviate from the rule he had laid down, of hurrying his communication +by neither word nor hint. The dinner itself was such as might be +expected from his fortune and his habits--abundant, but not loaded, +showing every delicacy that wealth could procure, and yet taking care +that, as in the Palace of the Sun, the workmanship should excel the +materials. The wines, however, surpassed every thing else; and that +sort of nectar which is called, _sec sillery_ once again greeted the +palate of Sir Roger Millington, after many years of tedious interval. +Sir Roger blessed the stars which had conferred so many good things on +a man to whom he hoped to render service; for though he neither ate +nor drank to excess, he enjoyed to the full, and saw the dessert +placed upon the table only with the expectation of at length hearing +how he might merit a participation in such blessings in future. + +The best polished crystal, full of the liquid rubies of rich Medoc, +was set upon the table; and the majestic butler drew off after the +retiring footmen. Lord Dewry recommended the claret; and when he saw +the glass filled, he opened his approaches cautiously. + +"Now, Sir Roger," he said, "we have all the evening before us, without +fear of interruption; and though I trust you will give me the pleasure +of your company some days longer, yet, as you spoke of some matter +which was of importance to you, it may be pleasanter to us both to get +rid of the business at once, and devote the rest of our time to less +weighty affairs." + +Sir Roger had not prepared for this way of opening the campaign; and +he felt some fear that any demand upon the purse of his noble host +might banish him from a dwelling where he felt himself as yet quite +comfortable. A moment's thought, however, reassured him; for, both +from his general knowledge of the world, and his particular knowledge +of the peer, he felt very sure that such a sudden transition from +rudeness to hospitality, as we have heretofore recorded, could not +have taken place without a motive--that motive he concluded to be a +desire of reaping advantage from some of his numerous and pliant +abilities; and he therefore perceived that the policy now was to make +a bargain as best he might. All this train of argumentation was run +over rapidly in his brain, and he then replied, "The fact is, my lord, +that some of my old evil habits have, as your lordship may have +anticipated, somewhat impaired my property, and put me to temporary +difficulties. Such being the case, and being rather rudely pressed, I +bethought me of your lordship's former kindness and liberality, and +came down in haste to see whether I could not induce you to favour me +with the loan of a small sum." + +"A loan!" exclaimed the peer, raising his eyebrows as if something +quite unexpected had broke upon his ear, though there was the dawning +of a half-suppressed smile about his lip that contradicted his tone of +surprise--"a loan! Ah, I dare say we can manage that matter, Sir +Roger. But be candid with me; tell me the state of your finances: it +shall not injure your views, upon my honour!" + +"Bad enough, my lord, bad enough," replied his companion, candidly, +and yet shrewdly; for he began to fancy that candour would be best: +"bad enough, I am sorry to say. I have had a sad run against me, and +have not been able to get over it." + +"No heavy debts?" said the peer. + +"No, upon my honour, no," replied Sir Roger; "I do not owe twenty +pounds in the world; but I find a difficulty in getting one." + +"That was always an extraordinary trait of yours, Millington," said +the peer: "you were never in debt, though you spent a good deal, and +played high." + +"Because I always paid away my money as fast as I got it," replied his +guest. "As soon as I had a sum, any one might have it that wanted it, +whether a tradesman or a friend; and as I had large sums then," he +added, with a sigh, "I was never long in debt." + +This was, indeed, partly true of the times to which he referred, as +the peer well knew; and the reason for his having few debts in later +years was still more simple, though he mentioned it not--it was, that +no one would trust him. Lord Dewry, however, seemed affected by his +reference to old times, and replied, "Well, well, Sir Roger, we will +not let you be hard pressed any longer. What is the sum you at present +want?" + +Sir Roger Millington hesitated between the fear of asking too +much and asking too little; and he would have given the three guineas +that graced his pocket willingly to have found out what service was +to be demanded of him in return, that he might shape his request +accordingly. "It cannot be to fight," he thought; "the fellow used +to do all that business for himself, and devilish well, too! but, +however, it must be some pitiful job, indeed, if it is not worth a +couple of hundred. I'll ask fifty more.--Why, my lord," he said aloud, +"the fact is, that two hundred and fifty pounds, I am afraid, will be +requisite." + +"Well, well," said Lord Dewry, who, thinking chiefly of Sir Roger's +former style of living, had calculated upon a demand of at least +double that amount--"well, well, that can be managed; and, upon my +honour, it shall be managed: but now let us speak a little upon other +matters." + +"Now it comes!" thought Sir Roger Millington; but the peer +proceeded,--"I have now promised you this sum unconditionally; but if +you will explain to me more fully the real and particular state of +your finances, perhaps we may strike out something that may prove +ultimately still more beneficial to you--I mean permanently +beneficial." + +Sir Roger Millington sat with his eyes wide open, and the internal +voice of his wonder would have been, could any one have heard it, +"Why, what's the meaning of all this? is he going to turn out really +generous, after all?" He had recourse to the claret jug, however, +which soothed him wonderfully; and he answered, "Why, my lord, as I +have already said, the state of my finances is bad--very bad! In +short, my lord, there is nothing which your lordship can do to mend +them that will not be most gratefully received by Roger Millington." + +"We must think of it, Sir Roger; we must think of it well," replied +the peer; "and you will find, Sir Roger, that no man will do more than +I will to remove you from all difficulties, and put you at your ease. +The worst point of the whole business is, I am afraid that all I can +do for you is but for my own life. My estates are strictly entailed. I +live up to my income; and I am afraid that with me would die anything +that I could annually do for you." + +"May your lordship live for ever!" replied Sir Roger, with more +sincerity, perhaps, than ever courtier offered such an aspiration in +favour of the kings of the Medes and Persians. "The truth is, my +lord," he continued, "nothing can be worse than the state of my +present fortunes. I certainly did not doubt being able to mend them +with a little assistance; but if your lordship carries into execution +your kind intentions in my favour, and mends them for me, all I can +say is, that you shall find one man at least grateful in this world; +and I hope also that your lordship will point out to me some means of +aiding you in return, for the burden of my obligation to you will be +greatly relieved by being able to show my zeal in your service." + +"Oh, we will think of that hereafter," said Lord Dewry; "and as +you are a man of taste and ingenuity, I have no doubt, Sir Roger, in +the various changes and alterations which I am making here and at +Dimden--I have no doubt that we shall be able to find you employment +of a nature the most agreeable to your feelings and the most suitable +to your mind. Nobody need know any thing of the pecuniary arrangements +between us. You shall always be received here as a friend, and the +rest of your days may pass in sunshine and enjoyment." + +These were prospects bright indeed to the view of the impoverished +knight; and as he felt that no services on his part would be too great +or too unscrupulous to merit such reward, he very plainly gave his +noble entertainer to understand that such was the case, and explained +to him how willing he would be to undertake any task he chose to +impose. This was the plainest speaking which had been held during the +evening; and the peer was not sorry that it had come on the part of +his guest, for he was anxious now to arrive at the point, and yet he +decidedly wished that the way might be smoothed for him. He smiled +most graciously, therefore, as he replied, "Well, well, Sir Roger, +your offers shall soon be put to the proof. I have upon my hands, at +the present moment, some business which is very difficult to manage; +and as I know you to be both firm and skilful, I will request your +assistance in it. But remember, I beg, that my object, as I shall +explain to you immediately, is perfectly just and upright; and +although the business wants a little shrewd management, yet it is one +in which you may engage conscientiously." + +"I doubt it not, my lord, I doubt it not," replied Sir Roger, who, +perhaps, in all the variety of human actions, would have found very +few in which, under his present circumstances, he would not have +engaged quite conscientiously--"I doubt it not, my lord. Pray, +proceed." + +"Oh, it is a long story," answered the baron; "and before we proceed +to that, let me ask you, Sir Roger, if you remember, with any degree +of accuracy, the transactions which took place between you and me and +Sir William Ryder, in regard to a large sum of money that we lost to +you in the year 17--?" + +"Perfectly, most perfectly, my lord," replied Sir Roger: "my memory +never fails on such points; I could swear to every fact." + +"Then, do you remember," said the peer, "receiving a note from me on +the eighteenth of May, telling you that if you would wait another week +I would pay you the whole sum at once, as my brother would be able by +that time to call in money to lend me? and do you remember your coming +to me the same evening to say that you were quite willing to wait, and +our going out together to a party?" + +"I remember it all accurately, my lord," replied the poor knight, to +whom the recollection of days when the proud man before whom he now +sat had been his debtor and his humble servant was too gratifying to +be easily forgotten--"I remember it all well--every particular; but +you are mistaken in the date, my lord: it was the nineteenth, not the +eighteenth, of May." + +"No, no; it is you who are mistaken, Sir Roger," replied the peer, +with a meaning smile. "It was the eighteenth, I can assure you." + +Sir Roger did not comprehend. "Indeed, my lord," he replied, "it was +the nineteenth; I remember it from many circumstances. On that very +morning the great bet had come off between Colonel Hammerstone and the +Nailer, and--" + +"Nay, nay, I am positive," said the peer, "from circumstances that I +cannot forget either. It was the eighteenth day of May, in the year +17--." + +"But, my lord, I have your lordship's own note," said Sir Roger, +persevering. + +"Have you so?" cried the peer. "I wish you would be so kind as to let +me see it." + +"Certainly, my lord; I will bring it in a moment," said Sir Roger; +and, rising from his chair, he left the room, in order to bring the +paper to which he referred. While he was gone, Lord Dewry sat silent +and stern, with his hand over his eyes and the upper part of his face; +but his lips, which were uncovered, moved as if he were speaking, and +the working of the muscles of his cheeks seemed to indicate that he +was in bodily pain. As soon as his guest returned, however, he +withdrew his hand, and all was clear and smiling, except, perhaps, a +slight contraction of the brow, and an anxious intensity of gaze in +his eye, which had both become habitual. Sir Roger Millington resumed +his place; and, laying down upon the table a bundle of papers which he +carried, he selected one, and presented it to the peer, saying, +"There, my lord, is the note." + +Lord Dewry received it calmly, not only because he knew the contents +exactly as well as Roger Millington, but because he felt perfectly +satisfied that Sir Roger himself was secured--bound hand and foot his +slave--by promises and expectations which no one else had the power or +the necessity of holding out to him. The paper, though it bore the +marks of age in the yellow hue of its complexion and the paleness of +the ink, was in other respects well preserved; and the peer, unfolding +it, perused it attentively, and still held it in his hand when he had +done. + +"I see, Sir Roger," he said, "that you are correct, as far as the +dating of this note goes; but at the same time, I can assure you, I +must have dated it wrong at the time by some unfortunate mistake, +which mistake, by an unpleasant concatenation of circumstances, might +prove of the greatest disadvantage to me at present, and might even +deprive me of the power of assisting you in the way that I am so +desirous of doing." + +The master-key of self-interest instantly unlocked the door of Sir +Roger Millington's understanding; and he now saw that some very strong +motive must influence the peer in wishing to prove that the letter was +written on a different day from that on which it was dated. He +consequently determined at once that it should be written on any day +whatsoever that his lordship thought fit; but, at the same time, +having a due regard to the friable nature of promises, he extremely +desired to make himself master of his noble friend's secret views, in +order to have some check upon him hereafter. "Indeed, my lord," he +replied, in a tone of much concern, "I am sorry to hear that the fact +should be likely to produce such results. May I inquire how such an +unfortunate state of things is likely to ensue from so simple a +circumstance?" + +"Oh, certainly," replied Lord Dewry, with somewhat of a sarcastic +smile; "you may inquire, and I will answer you, Sir Roger: but then, +if I do, I must, I am afraid, demand a bond for the two hundred and +fifty pounds I am about to advance, as I must either have security for +my money or my secrets--which you like, Sir Roger." + +"Oh, then, my lord," replied Sir Roger Millington, inclining his head +with a significant bow, "the matter is very simple. As I have no +security to offer for the money, I will beg not to burden myself with +your lordship's confidence any further than you think absolutely +necessary; and in regard to the note which is likely to produce +results so unlucky to both you and me--for I am fain to believe that +my prosperity is now intimately connected with your lordship's--I +think the best way to settle the matter will be to put it in the +fire." + +"I do not exactly know that," answered Lord Dewry, musing: "at all +events, let me convince you first that it was written on the +eighteenth, instead of the nineteenth." + +"My lord, I am already convinced," said Sir Roger Millington, who, +once having obtained the cue, could go on without the prompter--"I am +already convinced: I see my mistake. I remember it was the day before +the great walking bet came off, which was on the nineteenth, at +Hounslow. Indeed, it is impossible that it could have been otherwise: +for I was present on the ground all day; and if I was at Hounslow all +day, I could not receive your note in London." + +"True, true," said the peer; though he very well knew that the note +which he had written after his return to town, the very day subsequent +to his brother's death, had found Sir Roger just come back from +Hounslow--"true, true, Sir Roger; and doubtless you could swear to all +these facts, should it be necessary." + +"Beyond all doubt, my lord," replied the knight, "circumstances crowd +upon my memory which all tend to show that your lordship is right; and +it must have been the mistaken date of the note which deceived me." + +"Would it not, then, be advisable," demanded the peer, "to rectify the +date which the note bears, instead of destroying it--hey, Sir Roger, +hey?" + +"Certainly, my lord, certainly," said Sir Roger; and then, dropping +his voice, he added in a half-whisper, "if it can be done without the +chance of discovery." + +"Easily," replied the peer--"easily, Sir Roger: a little acid which I +have in my library will take out the tail of the nine, without leaving +a trace; there will then remain only a cipher, which I will alter to +an eight; so that no one will see a difference between the writing of +that figure and the rest of the letter. You and I, the only persons +concerned in a private letter from me to you, are both convinced that +the date ought to be so rectified; and no one else need know any thing +about it." + +"I am perfectly of your lordship's opinion," replied Sir Roger; "had +it not better be done immediately?" + +"With all my heart," replied the peer; "follow me, Sir Roger; we will +return here, and conclude our claret when we have done." + +The serviceable Sir Roger followed without another word to the peer's +private room. A small bottle of acid was produced, which answered its +object fully: the obnoxious figure was changed into a more convenient +one with ink mingled with water, to render it of the same hue as the +rest of the writing, and the most severe and practised eye could not +have detected a change. When it was done, the peer and his confederate +stood gazing upon the paper with very different feelings: Sir Roger, +totally indifferent to all considerations of right and wrong in the +matter, only wondering what was to come next, and desirous of knowing +whether he himself was to resume possession of the letter, or whether +his noble host intended to keep it for his own purposes; Lord Dewry +feeling at his heart that blessed sensation of security which he had +not known for twenty years. + +The peer's next act was calmly to take his pocketbook from his pocket, +and drawing forth five notes, amounting to the sum which Sir Roger had +demanded, he laid them, one after another, down upon the paper which +they had been corrupting; and then, taking up the whole packet, he put +it into his companion's hand. "Sir Roger," he said, "I always like to +be as good as my word, and often endeavour to prove myself better than +my word. In regard to these notes," he added, seeing the knight about +to pour forth thanks, "let us say no more about them; and in regard to +this note," pointing to the one they had altered, "let me beg you to +put it by carefully with the rest of my letters; and should you ever +be called upon to produce it and speak about it, you will remember the +fact accurately, that it was received by you on the eighteenth of May, +the day before the great bet came off at Hounslow. Also, you will +remember that you called upon me in answer to it, and that we sat +together for half an hour. But it may be as well to forget, perhaps, +that we went out in company to Hillier's party. Let all statements be +as simple as possible, with no more circumstances than are necessary +to show that you do really remember the facts. And now let us return +to our claret, for we have more to talk of yet, both concerning your +affairs and mine." + +Sir Roger bowed low, promising to act exactly as he was instructed. +"You know I have been a soldier, my lord," he said, "and am well aware +of the necessity of obeying orders without the slightest variation." + +The peer led the way back to the dining-room, and rang for more +claret, though there was a good deal still upon the table; but the +cause was, in truth, that he desired a moment or two to think further +before he continued his conversation with Sir Roger Millington. His +original design had been to employ him in a much more extensive and +conclusive enterprise than he had hitherto broached to him; but in the +very initiatory steps, the fact of the letter being still in +existence, the facility which Sir Roger had shown in bending to his +wishes, and the certainty of his following exactly the directions he +had received, seemed to remove the necessity for further efforts. "I +have now," thought the peer, "the most perfect and conclusive proof to +adduce that I was in London on the very day of my brother's death; and +granting that the oath of Sir Roger Millington may be somewhat +doubted, on account of his established character, the letter--the +letter is proof positive. Besides, what can be opposed to it but the +oath of a gipsy and a gambler? neither of them worth more than his, if +so much. The letter is conclusive. Perhaps it may be as well to let +the gipsy alone; and yet it is not to be longer endured--this state of +momentary apprehension of what the next minute is to produce. Nor can +there be any doubt that, as soon as Pharold finds out this business in +regard to the deer-stealing, which has gone too far by this time to be +stayed, his first vengeance will be to tell all, and I may as well be +prepared to cast the charge back upon himself. Besides, if I can crush +him before the other arrives in England, I may set the whole world at +defiance." + +As he thought thus he drank a large glass of claret. There never yet +was man who committed a great crime, and did not thenceforth feel that +the predominant longing of his soul was, once more to be able to +"sleep in spite of thunder." He drank another full glass; and then +went on, determined to bring the struggle to an issue at once, now +that he had all his preparations made, and was sure of the result. + +"What we have just been speaking of, Sir Roger," he said, as the +servant shut the door after setting down the claret, "brings to my +mind our former acquaintance, Sir William Ryder. I should scarcely +think that he proposes to come back again to this country, as you +hinted this morning, considering that he left many a debt unpaid. +Among other things, you know he was your debtor in the transaction of +which we but now spoke, as well as myself, though not to the same +amount; and you are doubtless also aware that I paid the whole debt. +Pray, when did you hear from him?" + +"I did not hear from him directly, my lord," replied the knight, "as +we have, in fact, kept up no correspondence. I wrote to him, indeed, +shortly after his departure, but he never answered my letter. But I +saw a few days ago in an American paper, that the well-known Sir +William Ryder was about to quit his dwelling at some strange named +place in a few weeks, for the purpose of visiting England, in order to +induce the government to take measures for the protection and +instruction of the savage Indians." + +A sneering smile curled the lip of the peer, but he made no +observation upon the information he received. "Did you not go down +with him to Holyhead, on his way to embark for America from some Irish +port?" demanded Lord Dewry; "I think I have heard so." + +"No, my lord, no," replied Sir Roger; "I met him at Holyhead by +accident. I had just come over from Ireland, where I had been to +settle a little affair with a man in Dublin. I lent Sir William one of +my horses to go out to see some gipsies--what the devil business he +had with them I could never tell--but the horse threw him and broke +his ribs, and hurt himself into the bargain; but a gipsy fellow, the +best farrier I ever saw, cured him in a week--the horse, I mean; but I +believe they cured Sir William too, for I left him in their hands +recovering fast; I myself being obliged to be at Newmarket before he +could get out of his bed." + +"I thought I remembered something of the transaction," said the peer. +"Sir William Ryder, with whom I was in some correspondence at that +time, in regard to the very debt of which we were speaking, wrote to +me that he had seen you there, and mentioned the accident your horse +had met with. But now tell me, Sir Roger, did you not receive from the +gipsy farrier a bank-note, in change for money given him in payment?" + +"No, my lord, not that I remember," said the knight; "faith, I have +forgot what I gave him, and all about it." + +"Recollect yourself, Sir Roger," said Lord Dewry; "I think, if you +remember right, you will find that he gave you in change a note, which +you afterward gave to me when we last settled our accounts together, +about six months after I succeeded to this property." + +"Nay, nay, my lord," said the knight, "your lordship is not right +there: it was you gave me the money; I gave you none. It was a round +sum, you know, my lord." + +Lord Dewry bit his lip, and Sir Roger Millington could hear his foot +stamp upon the carpet under the table with impatience at his +contradiction. In truth, the noble lord did not at all desire to be +driven to explanations, though, in fact, the dark and fearful scheme +which his mind had formed for the purpose of delivering himself from +all fear for ever was too deep and intricate to be understood by him +whom he intended for his tool in accomplishing it, without a much +fuller knowledge of the subject than the knight possessed. + +"You do not understand me," cried the peer, hastily; "you will not +understand me, Sir Roger! Mark me, now!" and then, after thinking for +a moment, he proceeded in a stern, determined tone, and with a dark, +contracted brow:--"You remember my succeeding to this property, Sir +Roger; and you remember the circumstances of my brother's unfortunate +death? The only person who saw the--the business was a gipsy; and at +the time some circumstances made it appear so strongly probable that +that gipsy had been himself the--the murderer, that Mr. Arden--old Mr. +Arden, who is still living--wished to commit him. I, however, +foolishly would believe nothing of the story, as this very gipsy had +always been a protege of my brother's, and he was liberated. A number +of small particulars, however, afterward appeared to make me regret my +obstinacy, and to convince me that the villain was really the assassin +of my poor brother. I had him sought for in vain; and all the news I +could learn of him was, that he had sailed from Holyhead for Ireland. +There I lost sight of him, till a few days ago, when I suddenly met +him in the park; and I have since learned that he is lingering about +in the neighbourhood of my other place at Dimden. I have laid a trap +for him: we shall catch him this very night; and, if it cost me half +my fortune, I will bring him to justice." + +"Your lordship is right, very right," exclaimed Sir Roger Millington; +"but I do not see--" + +"Listen to me, Sir Roger, and you shall see," replied the peer: "I +doubt not that I shall be able to convict him; but if my recollections +are right, and can be supported by yours, his conviction is certain. +My brother at his death had a large sum of money on his person. One of +those notes, marked with his name, in his own handwriting, has since +come into my possession; and _I am sure that I received it from you, +while I feel almost sure that you received it from the gipsy!_" He +spoke the last words slowly and emphatically, and then added, rapidly +and sternly, "Now, what I want you to do, Sir Roger, is to recollect +yourself, and--if you can remember the facts of your having received +the note and given it to me--to be prepared to swear to those facts, +should it be necessary." + +Sir Roger Millington turned very pale. A light--a fearful light--had +broken in upon him, and how far it served to guide his suspicions +aright matters little. He was a man of few scruples, and vice and +misery had both contributed to harden his heart; for though the uses +of adversity maybe sweet when acting on a virtuous disposition, yet I +am afraid that in this good world of ours the back of that great felon +Vice only gets callous under the lash of affliction. Sir Roger +Millington, however, had, as we have said, but few scruples of any +kind; yet this thing that Lord Dewry now proposed to him was a step +beyond the point at which he had arrived in all the course of evil and +of folly that he had hitherto pursued. He had fought and had slain men +in another man's quarrel, but in doing so he had perilled his own +life, and the corporal risk had seemed in some degree to balance the +moral culpability; but now he was asked to say and do things which, +without any danger to himself, would conduct another to an ignominious +death,--one against whom he had no enmity, whom he had never, perhaps, +beheld, and of whose real guilt there was in his bosom many a terrible +doubt. He felt that it was a fearful and an awful thing that he was +called upon to do, and, in despite of the absence of all moral +principle--of twenty years' hardening in vice, and of a long training +in degradation and dishonour--he turned pale, he hesitated; and, +forgetting all restraint, rose from his seat and walked once or twice +up and down the room in evident agitation. + +Lord Dewry saw how far he had committed himself. He saw that, +notwithstanding all his caution, his words, having been spoken to one +whom habitual vice had rendered familiar with all the wiles of crime, +might have put his suspicions on a track from which they could never +be withdrawn, and that although Sir Roger had him not, indeed, in his +power, as the gipsy had, yet that no sacrifice would be too great to +force him on to acts which would make his co-operation irretrievable. +He suffered him then to pace the room for a single minute; and then +rising, he placed himself opposite to him, and laid his hand on that +of the knight. "Sir Roger," he said, "I am inclined to do much for +you, but you know service must have service in return." + +"But tell me, tell me, my lord," exclaimed the other, with some +vehemence, "do you really believe that the note you speak of was ever +in the possession of the gipsy?" + +"I not only believe it, but I am sure of it," replied the peer. "Hear +me, Sir Roger; I pledge you my honour, my soul, my word, this note +which you now see, and which is marked with my brother's own hand, +must have been in possession of the gipsy after my brother's death; +and if it did not come to me from you, it must at all events have come +through some one who received it of the gipsy." Nor in this assertion +did he speak falsely; for the note was one of those which he had sent +to the gipsy by Sir William Ryder, and which had accidentally returned +to his own possession. + +It is wonderful how easily men can sometimes satisfy their conscience. +Sir Roger did not pause to ask any very minute explanation: the +vehemence with which his noble entertainer spoke convinced him that in +some sense he spoke sincerely; and he would have been very sorry, by +any indiscreet question, to have discovered that there was any thing +like a double meaning in the words. "Well, well," he said, "I think I +do remember something of the transaction, my lord; and I doubt not +that a few moments' thought will bring it all back clearly to my +memory." + +The peer pressed his hand. "Well, then, Sir Roger," he said, "so much +for my affairs when they are all settled: hear what I wish to do for +you. I propose to give you apartments in my house at Dimden, where you +shall undertake to superintend all my improvements and works of taste, +for which you will favour me by receiving a deed of annuity for one +thousand per annum _during my life_. I am sorry that I cannot make it +permanent, but I have not the power; all I can do can only last as +long as my life lasts." + +Bright, bright grew the eyes of Sir Roger Millington; and, bowing low +before the peer, he uttered a few words of thanks, and cast himself +back into his chair to enjoy the glad transition from a state of +beggary and despair to the prospect of affluence and luxury such as he +had never hoped to see again. All scruples were swallowed up in +satisfaction; not even a shadow of them remained; and he was now only +anxious to prove his zeal in those services which were to merit so +noble a reward. + +The peer had seated himself, also, with the note of which he spoke +laid on the table before him; and it was not difficult for him to see +that the feelings of the serviceable Sir Roger Millington were +undergoing the exact sort of transition which he desired. He +accordingly entered into further explanations; and Sir Roger, in his +eagerness to merit the favour of so generous a patron, proposed of his +own free will to write his name upon the note in such a manner as to +give every apparent veracity to the recollections to which he was to +swear. + +"You will find the butler's pen and ink in the buffet," said the peer, +in reply; "dip your pen first in the claret, Sir Roger, to make the +ink look faint and old. Only put your name; no date--no date; never be +too precise. Thank you--thank you: now he cannot escape me." + +"But, my lord," said Sir Roger, "as I am to swear to the person of the +gipsy from whom I received the note, will it not be better that I +should see him first before he is taken up; so that I may identify him +at once without any appearance of connivance?" + +"That is, I am afraid, impossible," replied the peer; "for we have +found out that he and his fellows have a design upon the deer in +Dimden Park this very night, and a large party of keepers have been +assembled to arrest them, so that between twelve and one they will all +be prisoners. Otherwise it might have been better as you say." + +"But there is time before that," said Sir Roger, looking at his watch, +which--as the dinner hours of that day were very, very different from +those of the present time--only pointed at seven even after this long +conversation with the peer,--"there is time before that, my lord: how +far is it to Dimden?" + +"Fourteen miles at least," replied the peer. + +"Lend me a strong horse, and I will be over by half-past eight," +answered Sir Roger. "If I cannot get a sight of him by any other +means, I will join the keepers privately, and as soon as ever the +business is over, come back here; so that I may point out the fellow +at once, if there should be twenty of them. What is his name, my lord? +do you know?" + +"Pharold, he is called," answered the peer, thoughtfully. "Your plan +is good, but I am afraid it is too late. Let us take care that by +trying to do too much we do not spoil all." + +"Oh, no fear, no fear, my lord," replied Sir Roger, who was not +without hopes of getting a private conversation with the gipsy before +his arrest, and who had an object of his own in wishing to do so; for +although rogues often trust each other in a manner which--with the +knowledge of each other's character that they must possess--is little +less than a miracle, no man covenants with another whom he knows to be +a villain without seeking some check upon him; and Sir Roger was not a +little desirous of having the peer more fully in his power, as some +security for the fulfilment of his promises. "No fear, no fear, my +lord; and remember, it would never do if I were to point out the wrong +man by any chance." + +This argument was conclusive with Lord Dewry. The bell was rung, a +swift horse was ordered to be saddled immediately, Sir Roger equipped +himself for riding, received minute directions as to the way to +Dimden, and the peer and his guest were standing before the fireplace, +waiting for the horse, each occupied with his own thoughts, and each +rejoicing at the event of a meeting which had seemed at first so +inauspicious--Sir Roger Millington indulging in dreams of future +luxury and ease, and the baron triumphing in the hope that the means +he had employed, the dark and dreadful scheme which he was prepared to +execute, would bid defiance to accusation, and sweep from his path for +ever the man that he most feared on earth--when the sound of more +horses' feet than one was heard without, the bell was rung violently, +and the servant, entering, announced that a gentleman on horseback was +at the door, urging important business with his lordship. + +"Did he give his name?" demanded Lord Dewry. + +"Yes, my lord," replied the man: "he bade me say that it was Colonel +Manners!" + +"Ho, ho!" said the peer, his lip curling with a haughty smile: "take +him into the saloon. This is a business of no importance, Sir Roger; +do not let it detain you. Fare you well, my good friend, and may +success attend you!" + +"I give your lordship back your wish," replied Sir Roger, "and will +wait on you to-morrow at breakfast with all my tidings." + +Thus saying, they parted, Sir Roger proceeding to hasten the arrival +of the horse, and the peer walking with a haughty step towards the +saloon, where he was waited by Colonel Manners. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +We must now turn to follow the course of Colonel Manners, from the +time we last left him at Morley House to the moment of his visit to +Lord Dewry, comprising in all a space of about eight hours. While +waiting for his horse he had, as we have already seen, examined +quickly, but not the less accurately, into the story of the peasant +who had heard shots fired in the neighbouring wood during the night +before; and he had thus satisfied himself that there was very little +probability of there being any connection whatever between those shots +and the absence of his friend, except such as the marvel-loving mood +of the old butler and the natural fears of De Vaux's relations had +supplied from the stores of imagination. The shots had been fired, it +seemed, in a direction different from that in which there were many +reasons for believing that De Vaux had gone; and the man himself +acknowledged, not only that he had originally supposed the sounds to +be occasioned by poachers, but that he had heard the report of one gun +on the preceding night. + +Convinced, from what he himself suspected, as well as from what Marian +had said, that De Vaux had gone to visit the gipsies on the hill, +Colonel Manners at once determined to turn his horse's head thither, +before he made any examination in the wood where the shots had been +heard; and in this resolution he was strongly confirmed by a short +conversation with the head-gardener, whom he met as he was just +passing the gates. + +As soon as Manners saw him he checked his horse, and demanded, "Pray, +in coming through the garden this morning, did you see any marks of +steps in the direction of the small door leading towards Morley Down?" + +"No, sir," replied the man; "but I found the key in the outside of the +door this morning, so that anybody might have got into the garden that +liked; but, however, I cannot see that any of the fruit is gone. Did +you hear of any one having got in last night, sir?" + +"No, no," answered Manners: "I did not mean to imply that," and +spurring on his horse, he rode forward more than ever determined to +address his first inquiries to the gipsies. Now Colonel Manners was +not a man to pause and wonder what could be the connection between the +Honourable Edward de Vaux and the king of shreds and patches from whom +he had received the letter, till the time was past for rendering +effectual service. Nevertheless, as he rode on, he did wonder much at +that connection, revolving in his mind every thing probable and +improbable which could account for circumstances with regard to which +the reader wants no explanations; but keeping his horse's chest all +the time steadily against the hill, and his spurs to its flanks, to +prevent its resisting a method of progression to which he never +subjected it except on occasions of necessity. The beast panted, but +still Manners, feeling that perhaps too much time had been lost +already, kept it up to the same pace, saying, internally, "You would +have gone unflinching at the heels of the hounds, my good gray, and +the matter is more important now." + +The early rays of the sun had licked up the hoar-frost of a clear +autumnal morning, but had left the roads, in consequence, and +especially the road up which Manners's course lay, heavy and +difficult. The sunshine, too, of the autumn--as we often see with the +sunshine of life--had been too early bright to continue unclouded to +the close of the day; and now, even as he rode on, a thin brownish +film of dull vapour began to creep up from the verge of the horizon, +promising rain ere long. Manners spurred on all the faster, not that, +as far as his own person was concerned, he cared whether it rained or +not, but he had served long enough with nations who follow their +enemies by the lightest traces in the dew or in the sand to know that +a heavy rain was often destruction itself to the hopes of a pursuing +party. + +At length he reached the level at the top of the ascent; and, pointing +with his hand to the tumulus, he said, turning to those who followed +him, "You, William, ride up as far as you can upon the mound, and keep +a keen eye upon the whole plain. If you see any one skulking about or +watching, give instant notice, and gallop up if you hear me call. You +come with me," he added, to his own man; and, taking the shortest cut +towards the sandpit, he spurred on towards the spot where he had last +seen the gipsies. The bushes, however, were now directly between him +and the bank that had sheltered their encampment, so that he could see +nothing till he was nearly upon the pit. + +Then, however, his disappointment was not small to find the usual +relics of a gipsy resting-place, but nothing else. A few rags, a leaf +of an old black-letter book, feathers of many birds, and fur of more +than one sort of beast, several charred spots, and a large stick or +two, were to be seen upon the ground; but nothing else met the eye in +any direction, and Manners paused for a moment to lay out what was to +be done next. + +"Go back for a hundred yards," he said, at length, turning to his +servant; "and then make a slow circle at that distance quite round +this pit, seeing whether you can find fresh footmarks in any +direction." + +The servant obeyed, and in a few minutes, exclaimed, "Here are a great +many, sir, along this road, which seems to go down the other side of +the hill. Horses' feet, too, and cart-wheels, quite fresh." + +"Go on quite round," rejoined his master. "What do you find more?" + +"Here are a good many scattered footmarks in this direction, sir," +replied the man when he had arrived at a spot situated exactly between +Manners and the little tumulus; "but they do not tend in any +particular way that I can see." + +Manners rode up; but the footprints were turned in many directions, +and were of various sizes, some seemingly fresh, and some half-effaced +by others. Nothing, therefore, could be discovered from the traces on +that particular spot; but as Colonel Manners had every reason for +believing that his friend must have approached the gipsy encampment +from that side, he took the pains of dismounting, and tracing the +different steps some way upon each of the several paths in which they +led. It was in vain, however; the whole were so puzzled and intermixed +that he could make nothing of them, and had his foot in the stirrup to +mount again when De Vaux's servant came down from the mound, at full +gallop, exclaiming, "There is certainly some one watching there, sir, +at the edge of that wood. I have seen them come out and in three +times. There! there! Do you see, sir? He is coming more forward now." + +Could Manners have bent down with his attendants, so as to escape the +attention of the person who approached, he would certainly have done +so; but though they might have hidden themselves among the +neighbouring slopes, their horses were not so easily concealed, and +the sandpit was now too far off to afford them a screen. A moment's +thought showed him that it would be best to stand quite still, as the +man, whoever he was, was still advancing. The next moment, however, +the stranger stopped--went on again a few steps farther--stopped +again; and then, turning precipitately, made his way back towards the +wood. + +Manners was in the saddle in a moment; and could speed have +accomplished what he desired, the person who so evidently sought to +avoid observation would not have escaped, but the distance he had +advanced from the wood had not been more than a hundred yards; and +long ere Manners's horse could reach the skirt of the forest ground +all vestige of him he pursued was lost in an intricate labyrinth of +trees and bushes, which set further search at defiance. The two men +came up shortly after, while Manners was pausing disappointed by the +edge of the wood; and De Vaux's servant, touching his hat, called the +colonel's attention to some footmarks, which they had passed as they +followed him. Manners instantly turned back, and in a dip of the +ground, where some mud had been left by a half dried up pool, he +discovered the distinct traces of two different sets of footsteps. +Both were small, and neither seemed to have been left by the tread of +a peasant; but one was evidently the mark of a boot, cut by some neat +and fashionable maker; and De Vaux's servant declared that he could +swear to that print having been made by his master's foot. + +Nothing remained, then, but to follow these footsteps as far as +possible; but the difficulty of doing so was not small, for there were +but few spots of a nature similar to that in which the traces had been +found, and the ground around was in general covered by short parched +grass, or long tufts of rushes. At length, however, at the distance of +more than fifty yards farther on, in the exact direction in which the +other steps pointed, Manners discovered the mark of a heel, and this +again led them to more steps. Several times the traces seemed lost +entirely, and several times Colonel Manners was obliged to return to +the last he had seen, and set off anew; but still the positive +assertions of his friend's servant that the footsteps were those of De +Vaux caused Manners to persist, till at length he succeeded in tracing +the prints to the edge of the steep bank, to which, as we have seen, +the gipsy had really led his unfortunate visiter. + +Manners now paused, with some very painful apprehensions gathering +thick upon him. Thither, it is true, De Vaux must have come willingly +with some other person, for there was not the slightest appearance +either of haste or resistance in any of the footmarks they had seen; +but it was in that very wood, near which they now were, that the +report of fire-arms had been heard the night before; and, as far as +Manners had been able to discover, it had been in the precise +direction to which the steps had now guided them. What, too, he asked +himself, could be De Vaux's inducement to approach so lonely a place +as this--by a path which led to no other object--in the dead of the +night, and with a person to whom it appeared he must have been a +stranger? What, too, could be that person's object in leading him +hither at such a time? + +No answer could he give to either of these questions which was at all +likely to calm the apprehensions that he now began seriously to +entertain concerning his friend's fate; and he gazed round the spot to +which the footsteps had conducted him with more anxiety concerning the +next object that was to meet his view than ever he had felt on the +field of battle. + +At length, however, his eye rested on the little rugged path by which +his friend and the gipsy had descended to the scene of their +conference; and Manners at once followed it. Here, again, the two sets +of footprints were distinctly visible, going down towards the +abandoned quarry and the felled oak. There were marks also to be seen, +as of some one coming up; but they had evidently been imprinted by the +tread of one person, and that not of Edward de Vaux. A few drops of +blood next met Manners's eye, as with an attentive gaze he examined +the ground while he descended. Then came more and more, dotting the +sand with red, till they at length led on to a spot where the same +footsteps were thick and many, as if the persons whose course they +marked had stood there for some time. There, too, appeared, however, +an evidence of more import; for close to the spot where De Vaux and +the gipsy had been standing, the sand had drank up a large quantity of +gore, while the patches of short green grass that had rooted +themselves here and there upon the broken ground around were dabbled +with red in various directions. + +Manners gazed with horror and with grief on signs so unequivocal of +the fate of his unhappy friend; and if he sorrowed bitterly for De +Vaux, his heart was hardly less afflicted when he thought of her who +was so soon to have become his bride--of her whose father and whose +lover had shared the same dark and melancholy fate. His heart bled for +her; and although, under any circumstances, he would have felt the +same sympathy for De Vaux's family, and the same grief for the loss of +his friend, the pain he personally felt was aggravated by the belief +that he had, in some degree, been made an instrument for the purpose +of decoying him into the trap which had evidently been laid for him. +That feeling, however, and the indignation which that feeling +awakened, made him the more strongly determine never to abandon the +search till he had discovered the murderer and brought him to justice. +He resolved to devote time, and fortune, and life itself, if it should +be necessary, to the pursuit; to trace the offender out with the +pertinacity of a bloodhound, and to run him down as he would a wolf. + +Although, to a man of Manners's character and peculiar frame of mind, +the very task of the avenger was a bitter and a dreadful one, yet +there was another duty still more grievous which lay before him for +execution--that of communicating to the family of his unhappy friend +the painful facts he had discovered; and the thought of the tears of +Marian, and the sterner grief of Mrs. Falkland, and the deep, deep +sorrow of her daughter, all thrilled upon him as he contemplated the +course he had to follow. But to such thoughts he gave but a few +moments. No time was to be lost in long deliberation, if action were +to be effectual; and as Manners was not more a man of real deep and +noble feeling than he was a man of active energy, he turned instantly +to the measures for detecting the murderer. His first step was to take +the exact measurement of both the footprints, and the next, to note +down precisely in his memorandum-book every thing that had occurred in +the search. + +The man who had been seen watching his party from the wood he felt +sure was implicated in the transaction, if he were not the principal; +and among the gipsies were to be found, beyond all doubt, the +accomplices of the murderer, if not the participators in the deed +itself. After a brief conversation, then, with the servants concerning +the discoveries they had already made, he proceeded to inquire what +was the next village or town to the seat of Lord Dewry; and being +informed by his late friend's servant, who was well acquainted with +the county, that it was called Barholm, he went on to give further +directions. + +"You, William," he said, "ride back to the sandpit, which you saw me +examining just now on the top of the common; you will there find the +tracks of wheels and feet going down the opposite road to that by +which we came, indicating the direction the gipsies have taken. Follow +them as fast as you can, making continual inquiries concerning them. +Trace them out, step by step, till you have found them. Then hire any +of the peasantry to keep watch upon them, night and day, paying +whatever sum may be necessary in advance, and giving strict orders to +follow them wherever they go. There is a note to pay the people. Do +not spare either speed or money; and when you have taken these +precautions, ride over to join me at Barholm, where I will be tonight. +Quick! mount, and away!" + +The man obeyed, and Manners then turned to his own servant. "You, +John," he said, "lead your horse down the bank to the road--then on to +the village there, with all speed. Gather together as many stout men +as ever you can, and mount them at any price. Establish corresponding +patrols all round this wood, as we did at the wood beyond Montreal +last year, and remember that the great thing is haste. There is money, +and if you need more, refer the people to me at Morley House. When you +have done that, and left the care of the patrol in the hands of the +most intelligent fellow you can find, come back to me at the house." + +"Shall I tell the folks what is the matter, sir?" demanded the +servant. Manners mused for some moments. "Yes," he said, at length, +"yes; circumstances fully justify it; and the people, who must love +Mrs. Falkland and her family, will work in the matter with the greater +interest. Lose no time, John, lest the fellow get out of the wood +before you can surround it. He will probably lie there for half an +hour or so, till he thinks we are gone, and then will make an effort +to escape. It will take at least four or five-and-twenty men to watch +it properly, giving each of them half a mile; but I should think that +in the village you can get together as many--at all events, do your +best." + +The man bowed, and led his beast down the bank, while Manners, +springing into the saddle, turned his horse's head back towards Morley +House. + +With grief and reluctance he did so; and although he felt the +necessity of promptitude in his own proceedings, and that he had no +right to keep those so deeply interested in suspense, yet repugnance +to his painful task certainly rendered his horse's pace slower in +returning than it had been when he set out upon his search. + +"How is Miss De Vaux now?" he asked of the servant who presented +himself to take his horse; and it was some relief to hear in reply +that she had not come down. He then ascended the stairs towards the +drawing-room, but in the anteroom he was met by Isadore, who had +already become aware of his return. All the light gay spirit was gone +from her eyes, and her countenance now expressed nothing but intense +anxiety. "You look grave, Colonel Manners," she exclaimed, as soon as +she saw him. "You look sad; for Heaven's sake, tell me what have you +discovered?" + +"Nothing at all satisfactory," replied Manners, anxious to break the +matter to her as gently as possible: "the whole business is certainly +very strange; but I still hope and trust that--" + +"Hope and trust!" exclaimed Isadore, clasping her hands. "Oh, Colonel +Manners, you know more than you say. Poor, poor Marian! But tell me, I +beseech you, tell me all. Indeed, this suspense is worse than the +truth." + +"I have very little to tell, my dear Miss Falkland," he replied; "but +I must acknowledge that what I have to tell is not at all calculated +to remove our apprehensions." + +"But the gipsies, Colonel Manners!" exclaimed Isadore; "have you seen +the gipsies?" + +"No, I have not," he answered: "they had left the common before I +arrived; but I found traces of the way they had taken, and have sent +your cousin's own servant to pursue them." + +"Sent my cousin's servant, without attempting to follow them +yourself!" cried Isadore; but then, instantly lighting upon the right +conclusion, she added, "But, no, no, no, Colonel Manners, I know you +better! You would never have sent my cousin's servant upon such an +inquiry, unless you had discovered something to render your stay here +more necessary. But here comes mamma from poor Marian's room. Now, for +Heaven's sake, tell us all, Colonel Manners." + +"I hope Miss De Vaux is more composed," said Manners, turning to Mrs. +Falkland as she entered. + +"She is asleep from the effect of strong opiates, my dear sir," +replied Mrs. Falkland gravely; "and, if I may judge from your +countenance, it is happy for her that she is so. Now, Colonel Manners, +tell me candidly what you have discovered--I require no preparation." + +"The facts are simply these, then," replied Manners, "and I will not +attempt to conceal from you that I am deeply uneasy on account of De +Vaux. When I reached the gipsy encampment all was vacant, and nothing +to be found but the place where it had been, together with fresh +tracks of wheels and feet, marking the direction which the great body +of the gipsies had taken. However, in another part of the common we +discovered footmarks, which De Vaux's servant positively asserts to be +those of his master; and, of course, my first care was to follow those +as far as possible. They led us, I am sorry to say, in the direction +where shots had been heard in the wood." + +"Good God!" cried Isadore, the tears bursting from her eyes; "poor +Edward! and still more unhappy Marian!" + +"Nay, do not weep so bitterly, Miss Falkland," said Manners, "or I +fear I shall not be able to finish my account. Remember, however, that +we have discovered as yet nothing at all certain, and that such +appearances as we have discovered are often, very often, fallacious." + +"You must let her weep, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland: "men +never understand how great a relief tears are to a woman; and often I +regret that some severe sorrows have taken from me the power of +weeping as once I could. Pray go on, too; let us hear the worst. Where +did the steps lead to?" + +"To a high bank just above a turn in the road," replied Colonel +Manners; "a little more than a mile on the other side of the village." + +"Indeed!" cried Mrs. Falkland, now extremely agitated; "the very spot +where my poor brother was murdered." + +"Not exactly," answered Manners; "for that spot was pointed out to me +by De Vaux as we came hither; and the place to which I now refer, +though near it, is not precisely the same. At that bank, however, all +traces of my poor friend's footsteps were lost, and I could only find +those of another person going away from it." + +Isadore continued to weep in silence; but Mrs. Falkland, seeing that +Manners paused somewhat abruptly, fixed her eye upon him with a look +of keen inquiry. Manners glanced towards Miss Falkland, slightly +raising his eyebrows, and shaking his head; and Mrs. Falkland, +understanding his meaning, took Isadora's hand, saying, "Go, my love, +and sit by your poor cousin: Colonel Manners may have business with me +which we can better discuss alone." + +Isadore obeyed at once, and Mrs. Falkland then turned to Manners with +firm composure, saying, "Now, Colonel Manners, tell me all; what more +did you find?" + +"I am sorry to say, madam," he answered, "that I found a great deal of +blood spilt upon the sand." + +Mrs. Falkland covered her eyes with her hands, and remained silent for +several minutes. At length she looked up, and Colonel Manners +proceeded:--"I have now, madam, related all that I have done, except +some measures already taken for the apprehension of the persons +implicated. Such appearances as those I have met with, I still say, +are often fallacious; but, nevertheless, it is absolutely necessary to +take the same steps as if they were perfectly certain. If you will +give me the name of the nearest magistrate, I will write to him +instantly to obtain his sanction for what I have already done, and his +assistance in what we may yet have to do." + +"The nearest magistrate is old Mr. Arden," replied Mrs. Falkland; "an +active and intelligent man, though somewhat severe. He is the same," +she added, while some tears came into her eyes--"he is the same who +investigated with so much energy the circumstances attending the death +of my poor brother." + +"To him, then, I will write at once, madam," replied Manners. "When I +have done so, I have another task to perform which will lead me to +some distance; but I will be back here to-morrow; for though I would +not willingly intrude upon your family in such a moment of grief, yet +I hold myself bound--" + +"Oh, do not call it intruding, Colonel Manners," cried Mrs. Falkland; +"if you will have the great kindness to manage the whole of this sad +business for me, to act as my representative in it, and to add my love +for my poor nephew to your own friendship for him, as motives for +ascertaining his fate and pursuing his murderers, you will confer the +greatest of favours on me and mine. Oh no, Colonel Manners, you must +not think of leaving us at such a moment as this, when we all want the +assistance, advice, and support of one so well calculated to +strengthen and to aid us. But do you know there is another task I am +going to put upon you; and circumstances may render it very painful to +you--De Vaux's father--I could wish these tidings broken to him. His +whole soul was wrapped up in his son; and I am sure Colonel Manners is +too generous not to forget, in moments of affliction, any offence +that--" + +"I have already arranged, my dear madam," replied Colonel Manners, "to +go over to Lord Dewry as soon as I have written to Mr. Arden. De +Vaux's servant is to meet me at the village of Barholm; and believe me +that the little dispute which occurred between the father of my friend +and myself rests too lightly on my mind to be thought of for a moment, +when I can, in any degree, blunt the first sharp edge of the sad +tidings he must soon hear." + +"I see one cannot calculate too liberally on your good feeling," said +Mrs. Falkland; "nor can I express what a relief it is to me to have +you here, Colonel Manners, at such a trying moment. I cannot, indeed, +in my present state of mind, attend to your comfort as I could wish; +but let me beg you, at least, to take some refreshment ere you set out +for my brother's." + +"None, I thank you, my dear madam," he replied; "I do not require it. +But now do not let me detain you. I know that you, too, have the +painful task of breaking the confirmation of our fears to her who will +feel the pang more acutely than any." + +"Indeed, I hardly know how to do it," replied Mrs. Falkland. "To a +casual observer, Marian may appear cold and indifferent by nature; but +quite the reverse is known to be the case by those who have better +opportunities of judging. Her heart is all warmth, and tenderness, and +affection; and it is, perhaps, a consciousness of the very excess of +such feelings that makes her put a stricter guard upon the expression +of them. I fear that these tidings, if told entirely, will go far to +kill her." + +"Then by no means tell them, my dear madam," replied Manners: "I am no +advocate for concealments or pious frauds of any kind; and where the +strength of the individual is able to bear them up, we should always +speak the truth: but of course we must regulate our conduct by our +knowledge of the person; and both from what I have seen to-day, and +what you yourself say, I would strongly advise you--if you will excuse +my doing so--to tell Miss De Vaux, merely, that I have not succeeded +in my first search for my poor friend, and that I am still following +the same object in a different direction." + +"I believe I must do even as you say," replied Mrs. Falkland, "and +suffer Marian's mind to come to the sad conclusion, to which we have +already come, by degrees. Though the suspense may be harrowing, yet it +will not have so bad an effect on her as the sudden confirmation of +her worst fears. Allow me, too, to hint, Colonel Manners, that you +will find my brother less capable of bearing such tidings than you may +imagine, from what you have seen of his demeanour. His love for his +son was as ardent as his other passions." + +"Do not be afraid, my dear madam," replied Manners, taking her hand; +"I will do nothing roughly, believe me." + +"I do, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland--"I do, indeed, believe that it +is not in the nature of Colonel Manners to act unkindly to anyone. At +what time shall I order the carriage?" + +"Oh, not at all--not at all," he answered; "I will ride: it is always +my custom; and as soon as I have written this letter, and my servant +has returned, I will set out. Let me detain you no longer, and God +grant that our fears may have magnified the proofs in their own +support." + + + + END OF VOL. I. + + + + + + THE GIPSY; + + + A TALE. + + + + + BY THE AUTHOR OF + + + "RICHELIEU," "MARY OF BURGUNDY," &c. + + + + + "Ah! what a tangled web we weave, + When first we venture to deceive." + Sir Walter Scott. + + + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + + + + NEW YORK + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + 1855. + + + + + + THE GIPSY + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +Nothing shows us, perhaps, the utter blindness in which we are held by +fate more completely, than the constant fallacy of our calculations in +regard to even the smallest events over which we have not a personal +and unlimited control. A letter is put into our hands in a writing +that we know; and ere we have broken the seal, fancy, aided by the +best efforts of reason, has laid out before us the probable contents: +but as soon as the seal is broken, we find the whole as different +therefrom as it is possible to imagine. A friend, or a stranger, comes +to see us; and ere we can reach the room where he is waiting, +imagination has done her work, and given us a full account of the +person and his errand. We expect some pleasant meeting, or some glad +tidings, and we go but to hear of some bitter loss or sad +disappointment. + +Thus, as Lord Dewry walked towards the room to which he had directed +the servant to conduct Colonel Manners, he did not fail to calculate +the cause of his coming. "He is either here," thought the peer, "to +apologize for his conduct, in which case I shall treat him with +contempt, or he has come to proffer that personal satisfaction which +he before refused. I hope the latter; and if so, I shall have a cause +sufficient to assign for demanding Edward's immediate rupture with +him." + +As he thus thought, he opened the door of the saloon in the midst of +which Colonel Manners was standing, booted, and spurred, and dusty, +from the road; but with that air of ease, composure, and calmness +which spoke his character. + +"My lord," he said, as soon as the peer entered, "I am obliged very +unwillingly to intrude upon you; and, of course, feel more +uncomfortable in interrupting you at this unseasonable hour: but the +business on which I come admits of no delay." + +"I am not aware, sir," replied the peer, frowning sternly, "what +business can remain between us, after our last meeting, when you +thought fit--" + +"My lord," interrupted Colonel Manners, anxious to put a stop to a +revival of past grievances, which, at the present moment, could only +aggravate the pain he had to inflict--"my lord, my present business is +totally unconnected with the past; and extremely sorry I am that +anything ever occurred between your lordship and myself to render my +present visit disagreeable to you in itself." + +"Sir, your expression of sorrow," replied the peer, "as is usual in +such cases, comes too late; but to your business, sir. Do not let me +interrupt that. What is your business with me? for the sooner we +settle it the better shall I be pleased." + +There was a pertinacity in Lord Dewry's rudeness that offended +Manners; but he gave no way to his anger. There was a stronger feeling +in his bosom; and pity for the childless old man not barely mastered +every other sensation, but mastered all so completely, that he went on +with as nice a calculation of the best and kindest means of breaking +his loss to the peer, as if not a word had been said but those of +welcome and civility. "My lord," he replied, "I come to you as one +of the principal magistrates of this county, in your quality of +lord-lieutenant--" + +"I wish, sir," interrupted the peer, "that you had sought some other +magistrate to whom your presence would have been more welcome." + +"I might have done so, my lord," replied Manners, "had the business on +which I had to seek a magistrate not been one so immediately affecting +your lordship, that although, in the first instance, I wrote to the +nearest justice of the peace that I could hear of--Mr. Arden--I +thought it but right to ride over myself to request your co-operation +in the measures we are taking." + +Manners observed a change of expression, and a slight degree of +paleness pass over the countenance of his hearer; and, although he +certainly did not attribute it to that consciousness of crime and +consequent feeling of insecurity in which it really originated, he saw +that the first step was gained; and that the peer was, in some degree, +prepared to hear evil tidings. Lord Dewry, however, replied in a +manner which had nearly forced the communication at once. "May I ask, +sir," he said, in a tone grave but less bitter than that which he had +formerly employed--"may I ask, sir, why, when business of importance +concerning myself occurred, my son did not take upon himself the task +of communicating with his father upon the subject, but rather left it +to a person whose visit was certainly unsolicited?" + +"Because, my lord, your son was not capable of doing so," replied +Colonel Manners, "from the fact of his being absent from Morley +House." + +"Not at Morley House!" cried the peer. "Pray where is he, then, sir?" + +"I really cannot inform your lordship," replied Manners, "for I do not +know." + +"Good God! this is very extraordinary," cried Lord Dewry, taking alarm +more from the tone of Manners's voice, and the expression of his +countenance, than from anything he had said. "For Heaven's sake, +explain yourself, sir. Where is my son? What is your business? Sit +down, sir, I beg! What is it you seek?" + +By the agitated manner in which the baron spoke, Manners saw that he +must proceed cautiously. + +"May I ask you, my lord, if you have ever heard of a person named +Pharold, a gipsy?" he demanded, intending by this question to lead his +hearer's mind away, for a moment, from the real subject of +apprehension; but, without at all wishing it, by that very inquiry he +redoubled the agitation of the peer. + +For an instant the thoughts of Lord Dewry were all in confusion and +uncertainty,--doubtful of the end to which Manners's interrogatory +tended, and fearful that a man to whom he had given such just cause +for anger had become acquainted with some of the dreadful secrets +which oppressed his own bosom. His first impulse was to lift his hand +to his head, and to gaze with some degree of wildness upon the +countenance of his questioner; but almost instantly recalling his +firmness, and recollecting the measures he had taken, and the schemes +he had laid out, he recovered also his composure, and replied, with a +forced smile, "You have alarmed me about my son, Colonel Manners; but +you ask me if I know a gipsy of the name of Pharold. I do: my family +have, I am afraid, too good reason to know him." + +"Then have you any cause to suppose that he bears an ill-will towards +your family?" demanded Manners again. + +"I have, sir, I have!" replied Lord Dewry; "I have the strongest +reasons to believe that he bears us ill-will,--that he has already +injured us, and seeks but the opportunity to do more and more for our +destruction." + +"Does his ill-will particularly point against your son, my lord?" +asked Manners, deeply interested by an answer which to him was both +mysterious and painful. + +"No, no!" exclaimed the peer, starting up from the chair into which he +had cast himself when he had invited Manners to be seated--"no, no! +certainly not! What is the meaning of this? You have some darker +meaning, sir! What of Edward? Tell me, I beseech you, tell me, where +is my son?" + +"My lord, I am grieved to repeat, that I cannot tell you where he is," +replied Manners; "and it is for the purpose of concerting means for +discovering him that I now wait upon your lordship. He went out, it +appears, to see this gipsy Pharold, and has never returned." + +Manners acted for the best; and having not the slightest idea of all +that was passing in the bosom of De Vaux's father, he thought that by +concealing for a few moments the proof he had obtained of his friend +having been murdered, he would allow the mind of the unhappy parent to +come by degrees, and less painfully, to a knowledge of the truth: but +the result was by no means such as he anticipated; for to Lord Dewry +the bare idea of his son having any communication whatever with the +eyewitness of that dreadful deed which he had committed in other +years, was agonizing in itself; and, without remembering that any one +was present to remark the agitation to which he yielded, he clasped +his hands together, and strode up and down the saloon, muttering, +"Villain! scoundrel! it is all over!" Then, again, recollecting that +he was observed, he found it necessary to curb his emotions, and to +make anxiety for his son the apparent cause for that agitation which +he had already displayed. "Colonel Manners," he said, "you alarm me +much. For Heaven's sake, tell me the particulars! Something more than +a temporary and ordinary absence must have occurred to excite +apprehensions in an officer so much accustomed to danger as yourself. +Nor is my sister a woman to yield to idle fears. Tell me, then, what +has happened to my son, and why you are led to suppose that there has +been any communication between him and a person in regard to whom I +have more than suspicions of very terrible deeds--who is, I believe, a +villain of the blackest character, and who would scruple at nothing to +injure a race who were his first benefactors." + +"The facts are these, my lord," replied Manners: "but I trust we shall +find that your son's absence is owing, notwithstanding its +strangeness, to some accidental circumstance of no importance. As I +was about to say, however, the facts are these:--It appears that last +night De Vaux did not go to bed; that he left Morley House during the +night, and that he has never returned during the day. He also, I find, +mentioned yesterday to his cousin, Miss De Vaux, his intention of +visiting a gipsy named Pharold, who had sent him a letter that +morning; but his purpose, as he then stated it, was to go to Morley +Down, where the gipsies were, to-day, and not during the night; and +his prolonged absence has, of course, greatly alarmed Mrs. Falkland +and her family." + +"But has no search been instituted? Have no traces been found?" cried +Lord Dewry, his fears taking a new direction. "No time should be +lost." + +"No time has been lost as yet, my lord," replied Manners: "I myself +have been to the place where the gipsies were last seen; but they are +there no more, and, to all appearance, must have either decamped in +the night or early this morning. But it appears certain, from the +evidence of Mr. De Vaux's servant, who was with me, that some +footprints which we traced on the ground, in different parts of the +common, were from my poor friend's boot; and in the same track are +those of another person, who was apparently with him during the +night." + +"But whither did they lead?" exclaimed the peer, whose agitation was +becoming dreadful. "Speak out, sir, for God's sake! You call him your +poor friend: you have discovered more. Whither did the footsteps lead? +I can bear all." + +"They led, my lord," replied Manners, "to a high bank, overhanging a +part of the road, about a mile or more to the west of Morley House, +near a point of wooded land which causes the river to take a singular +bend in its course." + +Lord Dewry shook in every limb; but, by a strong effort, he uttered, +"Go on, sir; go on: let me hear the worst." + +"Thank God, my lord, I have little more to inflict upon your +lordship," replied Manners. "At that bank the steps ended; but--" + +He paused, and the peer eagerly demanded, "But what--what found you +more?" + +"It must be told," thought Manners. "We found, my lord," he added, +aloud, "a good deal of blood spilled upon the sand." + +The peer groaned bitterly. "My poor boy! my poor boy!" he cried; but +for some minutes he said no more. + +While Manners had been in the act of telling his tale, the conflict +which had taken place in the bosom of Lord Dewry can better be +conceived than described. Every moment produced a change of sensation; +every word a new and different apprehension. Now he fancied his son +made acquainted with his guilt; now feared that the very means he had +taken to conceal it might have made the gipsy to wreak his vengeance +on his unoffending child. That Pharold was capable of committing any +or every crime was a conviction which had been brought about in the +mind of the peer by one of those curious processes in the human heart +whereby great guilt seeks to conceal its blackness from even its own +eyes, by representing others in colours as dark as it feels that it +itself deserves; and while at one moment he suspected that Pharold +might have obtained information of the trap laid for him by the +gamekeeper, and to avenge himself might have revealed his whole +history to Edward de Vaux, at another he believed that the destruction +of his son might have been the means which the gipsies had determined +upon, in order to punish himself for his designs against them. + +As Colonel Manners concluded his account, however, the latter opinion +predominated over all others; the peer's own heart acknowledged that +the means they had taken was that which was the most fearfully +effectual; and he beheld no other image than the heir of his name, the +child of his love, murdered in cold blood, within sight of the very +spot where his own hand had slain his brother. All his first emotions +were consecrated to deep grief. He had loved his son; he had admired +him; and affection and pride had united to give him the only green +place in a heart that angry passions had left arid and desolate; and +now he was alone in all the world. He had been hitherto like a mariner +ploughing the waves in the midst of storms and darkness, with one +small point of bright light in the wide dark vacancy before him; but +now the clouds had rolled over that light for ever, and the past and +the future were alike one lurid night. There was nothing left in life +to live for; and during one moment all was despair: but the minute +after, the most overpowering passion of human nature rose up, and +rekindled with its own red and baleful light the extinguished torch of +hope. Revenge became his thirst; and the remembrance that it was +nearly within his grasp, and that another day would give it to him, +was the only consolation that his mind could receive. It seized upon +him at once; it compelled every other feeling and passion to its aid: +grief gave it bitterness; pride gave it intensity; wrath lent it +eagerness. "He has smitten me to the heart," he thought; "he has +smitten me to the heart. But I will smite him still deeper, and he +shall learn what it is to have raised his hand against a son of mine." +It was but for one instant that he had given way to despair, and the +next revenge took possession of his whole soul, and became almost more +than a consolation--a joy. All its dark and cruel pictures, too, rose +up before his mental vision, and he pleased himself with gazing forth +into the future, and seeing him he most hated within the gripe of his +vengeance. He painted to himself the agony which long and solitary +imprisonment would inflict on a heart which he knew to be wild and +free; he thought over all the tyrannical details of a trial in a court +of justice; and he gazed even into the gipsy's bosom, and saw the +burning indignation and despair that would wring his heart, exposed a +public spectacle to the eyes of a race he detested, tried by laws he +condemned and had abjured, and exciting the curiosity and the loud +remark of the idle and the vulgar. He followed him in imagination to +the scaffold, and saw him die the death of a dog; and only grieved +that there revenge must stop, and that the cup contained not another +drop of ignominy and suffering to pour upon the head of him who had +destroyed his son. + +Occupied with these thoughts, he remained silent for several minutes; +but his features worked, and his limbs even writhed, wrought +unconsciously by the intensity of the emotions within. Colonel Manners +saw the strong and painful degree of his agitation; but he had no key +to the secret sources of feeling which, opened wide by the news of his +son's loss, were gushing forth in streams of bitterness upon his +heart. He attributed, then, all that he saw to deep grief; and +although his application to the peer, in his magisterial capacity, had +been but to bring about the disclosures he had to make as gently as +possible, yet he still thought it best to continue the same course +with which he had begun, in order to engage the unhappy nobleman in +those personal and active exertions which might in some degree divert +his mind from the sole and painful contemplation of his recent loss. + +"My lord," he said, feelingly, "believe me, no one feels more deeply +and sympathizes more sincerely with your lordship than myself; but +allow me to recall to your mind that great and instant exertions are +necessary to ensure the arrest of the murderer; the pursuit of whom I +have determined never to quit till I have seen him brought to +justice." + +Lord Dewry, with his own burning hand, clasped warmly that of Colonel +Manners, the object of his former hatred. The fact is, however, that +circumstances had established between them two strong ties since the +death of Edward de Vaux. The one was wholly composed of good feelings, +and sprang from their mutual affection for the deceased,--affection +which had, of course, risen in value in each other's eyes since death +had hallowed it; and the other,--composed of feelings which, though +noble and virtuous on the one part, were terribly mixed with evil on +the other,--was the desire of bringing the murderer to justice. Lord +Dewry then grasped Colonel Manners's hand, and said, "I have much to +thank you for, sir, and I am afraid that I have somewhat to apologize +for in the past; but--" + +"Do not mention it, I beg, my lord," replied Manners. "It is forgotten +entirely; only let us bend our energies with a common effort to pursue +this sad affair to an end, to discover, as far as Heaven shall enable +us, what has really occurred, and above all, to ensure the immediate +apprehension of this gipsy Pharold, whom every circumstance, hitherto +apparent, points at as the murderer." + +A gleam of triumph broke over the thin sallow countenance of the peer. +"If I am not very much mistaken, Colonel Manners," he said, "this very +Pharold will be in our hands to-night. He and his gang are not famous +alone for one sort of crime. My park-keepers at Dimden informed me a +few days ago that they had discovered a plan which these gipsies had +laid for robbing my park of the deer; and I immediately took measures +to ensure the arrest of the whole of them in the very fact. Nor was +my purpose alone to save my game, Colonel Manners, nor to punish +deer-stealers," continued Lord Dewry, raising his head and speaking +with determined firmness; "no, I had a weightier object in view; I had +a more serious offence to avenge." + +The peer paused; for although he was anxious to make the charge which +he had determined to bring against the gipsy, boldly and distinctly to +as many private individuals as possible, before he urged it in a +public court of justice, yet he felt a difficulty, a hesitation, +perhaps we might say a fear, in pronouncing for the first time so +false an accusation against a fellow-creature, which was to be +supported, too, by so many dark, and tortuous, and deceitful +contrivances. There was in his bosom a consciousness of the fallacy, +of the futility, we might say, of all human calculations, which +produced an undefined dread of rendering his schemes irretrievable by +once making the charge to any one. It was to him the passing of the +Rubicon; and that step once taken, he felt that he should be involved +in a labyrinth of obscure and unknown paths, from which there would be +no retreat, and which would conduct him whither he knew not. And yet +he saw that it must be taken; that the gipsy's first act after his +arrest would undoubtedly be, to charge him with the crime which he had +committed; and that it was absolutely necessary, in order to give all +his future proceedings a firm basis and a commanding position, to be +the person to accuse rather than the person accused. He knew how +inferior defence is to attack; how much more faith men are naturally +inclined to give to a charge than they give to a recrimination; and +from the first commencement of his reply to Colonel Manners he had +determined to make it boldly; but when he came to the immediate point +where it was to be spoken, he hesitated and paused irresolute. + +The next moment, however, he went on. "Colonel Manners," he said, +resuming his firmness, "as I believe that the culprit may be +considered in our power, and that therefore no indiscreet +communication of my suspicions can give him warning to escape, I do +not scruple to say that I have many, many reasons to suppose that this +gipsy, this Pharold, is not only the murderer of my son, poor Edward, +but that my brother's death also may be laid to his charge; and with a +view of bringing him to justice for that offence it was that I, this +very morning, took the surest measures for his apprehension, and not +for any pitiful affair of deer-stealing, which might have gone long +unpunished ere I exerted myself as I have done." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed Manners, gazing upon the peer in much surprise. +"How strangely do events sometimes come round!" + +"Perhaps you are not acquainted with the circumstances of my brother's +death," replied the peer, marking some surprise in Manners's +countenance, and in his anxiety to show the probability of the charge +he had made, overcoming his repugnance to speak upon a subject of all +others the most dreadful to him. "However, Colonel Manners," he +continued, "he was killed by some one unknown many years ago; and the +suspicions against this man Pharold were then so strong, that good Mr. +Arden, the magistrate, would fain have had him committed, had not I +foolishly interfered, from a weak conviction of his honesty. That +conviction, however, has been since removed, and I may say that I have +in my hands the most decided proofs of his guilt." + +Such was the explanation to which the apparent surprise of Colonel +Manners led on the peer; but that surprise proceeded both from the new +charge which the peer made against the gipsy being totally unexpected +by his hearer, and from another cause which must be explained, as it +touches upon some of those little weaknesses of our nature, which +Colonel Manners possessed in common with other human beings. + +Through the whole affair, since he had discovered the traces of De +Vaux's footsteps on the common, and the marks of bloodshed at the +quarry, hope had offered to the mind of Charles Manners but one +suggestion to diminish his apprehensions for the fate of his friend; +and that suggestion, strange enough to say, was that the countenance, +the demeanour, and the language of the gipsy Pharold were not those of +a man familiar with guilt or designing evil. Colonel Manners was too +much a man of the world, and too much a man of sense, to suffer such +impressions to affect his conduct in the slightest degree. He knew +that this earth contains every grade and every sort of hypocrisy; and +that Satan himself will occasionally assume the form of an angel of +light: but at the same time, although his behaviour was on all +occasions guarded by what he had learned from experience, yet through +life he had preserved his natural enthusiasm unblunted by the hard +world in which we live; and there was thus in his character a rare +mingling of ardent and energetic feelings with calm and well +calculated actions, which formed the specific difference between him +and the general herd with which he moved. During his conversation with +Pharold he had remarked a dignity, not alone of manner, but of +thought, in the gipsy, opposed to all the habits of his tribe, and +which must have been difficult to retain among them at all, but still +more difficult to assume, if it was not natural and habitual,--if it +sprang not from a heart at ease in itself, and a consciousness of +virtue and intellect superior to the things through which it passed. +His countenance, too, had appeared to him open and frank, though wild +and keen; and Manners wished much to believe that vice or crime, in +general, more or less affect the expression of the human face. All +this had struck him; and though, as we have said before, he suffered +not these impressions to affect his conduct in the least, opposed as +they were to known facts, and circumstances of great probability, yet +hope still whispered, surely that gipsy was not a man either to plan +or to commit so dreadful a deed as the indications he had met with +would have naturally led him to suspect. It may well be supposed, +then, that the numerous and dark charges brought forward so boldly by +the peer startled Manners not a little; and as he had no cause to +believe that Lord Dewry was instigated by any motive to prefer a false +accusation against the gipsy, he could only conclude that he himself +had been deceived in his estimation of Pharold's character by the most +skilful and consummate hypocrisy. + +"I have heard some of the events to which your lordship alludes," he +replied, as soon as the peer paused; "and was only surprised to hear +such an unexpected aggravation of the suspicious circumstances which +have already appeared against this man Pharold. I trust, too, that the +measures which your lordship has taken may be successful for his +arrest; but allow me to suggest, that the unhappy news which I have +had the melancholy duty of communicating ought to point out more +extensive operations for the apprehension of the offender, as it is +not at all impossible that this new offence may have entirely changed +the circumstances, and may have put a stop to the attack upon your +lordship's park, of which you received intimation." + +Lord Dewry struck his hand upon the table, perceiving suddenly the +probability of Colonel Manners's suggestion, and anticipating with +rage and disappointment the possible escape of the gipsy, or at least +his evasion till such time as the arrival of Sir William Ryder in +England might render the schemes he had planned, if not entirely +impracticable, at all events highly difficult of execution, and +dangerous to himself in the attempt. + +"He shall be taken, if it cost me life and fortune," he exclaimed; +"but how, how?--that is the question, Colonel Manners. What you say is +true; the murder of my poor unhappy boy may have scared them away from +the scene of their crimes, and most probably has done so ere this. +What is to be done? how can we trace them? Pray, advise me, Colonel +Manners, if you had any regard for your unhappy comrade." + +His agitation was dreadful; and Manners saw that the only way to +tranquilize him was to give him fresh hopes of the apprehension of +those who had been instrumental in the death of his son. "Most +willingly will I give you any advice and assistance in my power," he +replied; "but your lordship will be better able to judge what is most +fitting to be done when you hear what I have already endeavoured to +accomplish. My proceedings have been those of a soldier, but perhaps +they may not be the less likely to be successful on that account." + +"The more, the more," cried Lord Dewry; "but let me beg you to give me +the details." + +"In the first place, my lord," he replied, "I have sent my poor +friend's own servant, who is a keen and active fellow, to trace out +the gipsies, and to follow the tracks we discovered on the common as +far as possible. I have furnished him also with money to hire +assistance and to buy information; and I directed him, as soon as his +object was accomplished, to join me at Barholm with all speed. He had +not, however, arrived when I passed the inn, and I ordered him to be +sent on here as soon as ever he appeared." + +"Thank you, thank you, sir," reiterated Lord Dewry; "but do you think +there is any hope of his discovering the road the villains have +taken?" + +"Every chance, my lord," replied Colonel Manners: "in the first place, +the tracks of the wheels, and the feet going in one particular +direction, was too evident to leave a doubt in regard to which path +they had taken at first. That path, I find, leads down to a hamlet +where they must have been seen, and where the servant will most +probably obtain the means of tracing them farther. But my next step, +my lord, is, I think, likely to produce the still more desirable +result of placing in the hands of justice the particular individual +whom we have the greatest reason to suspect. While we were examining +the sandpit, where these gipsies had been assembled, we discovered +some one apparently watching the common from the wood; and whether at +first he mistook us for some of his own tribe or not, I cannot tell; +but he advanced some way towards us. As soon as I saw he was again +retreating to the wood, I galloped after him; and though I +unfortunately had not time to overtake him, yet I had an opportunity +of satisfying myself very nearly to a certainty that this was that +very Pharold whom I had once before seen on another occasion. I took +measures as soon as possible for having the wood surrounded by a +mounted patrol of as many men as it was possible to obtain, and I +directed that any one who was apprehended in coming out of it should +be instantly carried before Mr. Arden, to whom I had written a concise +account of all the circumstances." + +The peer mused; for, as in every dark and complicated scheme of +villany, the slightest alteration in the events which he had +anticipated was likely to produce the most disastrous results to the +schemer. "If Pharold be carried at once before Mr. Arden," thought the +peer, "the accusation which he has it in his power to bring against me +may be made before I am aware of it, and that, too, to the very man +who has the best means of comparing minutely, in the first stages of +the proceeding, the present charge with the past circumstances. That +the gipsy will ultimately tell his own tale, there can be no doubt; +yet to make the first impression is the great object--to be the +accuser rather than the accused--to attack rather than defend." With +such views, the probability of the gipsy being carried before Mr. +Arden ere he had been prepared was anything but agreeable to the peer; +and for a moment the anguish occasioned by his son's death was +forgotten, in apprehensions for the failure of his own deep-laid +schemes. + +"I will write myself to Mr. Arden," he said, at length, after long +thought--"I will write myself, and send off the letter this very +night. Colonel Manners, excuse me for one moment. I have but a few +lines to write, and will be back with you in a few minutes." Thus +saying, he proceeded to his library, and with a hasty hand wrote down +that bold and decided charge against the gipsy which was to bring the +long apprehended struggle between them to an end at once. Nor did he, +in this instance, feel any hesitation. The words had now been spoken +to Colonel Manners--the charge had once been made; and it is wonderful +the difference that exists between the first and the second time of +doing anything that is wrong. He wrote, too, though without any effort +at policy, yet with the most exquisite art--with that sort of +intuitive cunning which much intercourse with the world, and its worst +part, gives to the keen and unscrupulous. He referred, directly, to +Mr. Arden's former opinion concerning the culpability of the gipsy; he +took shame and reproach to himself for his own incredulity at the +time; he declared that subsequent events had shown the wisdom and +clear-sightedness of the worthy magistrate's judgment, and he finished +his letter by directly accusing the gipsy of the crime which Mr. Arden +had suspected, doubting not that vanity would establish in the mind of +the magistrate such a prepossession against the object of his wiles as +to give everything in the important first steps that were to ensue a +strong tendency against Pharold. + +This done, he read the note over with satisfaction, sealed it, and +sent it off, raised his head, and, gazing upon vacancy, thought, for a +moment, over all the stern and painful circumstances that surrounded +him, and then turned his steps back to the room where he had left +Colonel Manners. He had now, however, made the course he was to pursue +irretrievable; his son's death had been the only thing wanting to give +all his determinations the energy of despair; he had chosen his path, +he had passed the Rubicon, and never hereafter, through the course of +this history, will be found in his character any of those fluctuating +changes of feeling and resolution which we have endeavoured to depict +while his fate was unfixed and his purpose undetermined. Deeply, +sternly, from that moment, he pursued his way, driven at length to +feel that one crime must be succeeded by many more to render it +secure. + +"I have now, Colonel Manners," he said, as he entered the saloon, "to +apologize for leaving you so unceremoniously; but you will, I am sure, +make excuse for feelings agitated like mine. To guard against the most +remote chance of Mr. Arden suffering this Pharold to escape, I have +formally made a charge, which I shall be able to substantiate, I am +sure, concerning the death of my poor brother; and next, let me beg +you to give me your good advice in regard to what more should be done, +in case the measures which you and I have separately taken should +prove alike insufficient." + +"I would not wait, my lord," replied Manners, "to ascertain whether +they were sufficient or not; but I would instantly take measures to +guard against their insufficiency. You have, I think, only three +contiguous counties here; had you not better send off messengers at +once to the sheriffs and magistrates of those three, informing them of +the circumstances, and begging them to stop any party of gipsies, or +any person similar in appearance to this man Pharold? Your messengers, +well mounted, will soon be far in advance of the murderer, or his +accessories, whose mode of travelling cannot be very rapid." + +The suggestion was no sooner given than it was assented to; and with +all speed the necessary letters were written by the peer, who took as +active and energetic a part in the whole proceedings as if he had been +in his prime of youth. But it was a part of his character to do so. He +could feel deep grief, it is true--and did feel it for the loss of his +son--but grief with him led not to languor and despondency, but, on +the contrary, to hate and to revenge; and as hunger, instead of +weakening, only renders the tiger and the wolf more ferocious and more +tremendous, so sorrow, instead of softening, only rendered him more +fierce and more vehement. The activity, the energy, and the fire he +displayed in his whole proceedings not a little surprised Colonel +Manners; and had he had time or inclination for anything like gayety, +he might have smiled to think that he had refused, on account of age, +to cross his sword with one who, in passions, at least, seemed +anything but an old man. Ere the letters were sealed, however, it was +announced that Mr. De Vaux's servant had arrived from Barholm, and +inquired for Colonel Manners. With the peer's permission he was +brought in; and bowing low to his master's father, by whom he was well +known, he gave a full account of his search in answer to Manners's +questions. + +"Well, William," demanded Manners, "have you been successful?" + +"Yes, sir," replied the man; "I believe I have seen the scoundrels +housed, and have left those to watch them who will not watch them in +vain." + +A glow of vengeful pleasure passed over the countenance of the peer, +and nodding his approbation, he leaned his head oh his hand, listening +attentively, while Manners proceeded. "Give us the particulars, +William," he said. "How did you first discover the gipsies?" + +"Why, first, sir, I went back to the sandpit," replied the man, "and +then I followed the tracks of wheels down to the bottom of the hill, +by the road that leads to Newtown. At the bottom I found traces up the +green lane, and I went on there for a mile, till I came to what they +call Newtown Lone; but since I was there last, some one has built a +cottage there; and I asked the woman in the cottage if she had seen +any gipsies, and which way they had gone. She said yes, she had seen +them that morning, just after daybreak; but that when they had found a +cottage there, they had turned down by the other side of the lone, +through the lane that leads but again upon the high-road beyond +Newtown. So I followed them down there, and I tracked their carts +across the high-road, up the other lane, till I came to where it +splits in two, the one going down to the water-side, and the other +sloping up the hill to the common at the back of Dimden Park. Here +there were wheels and footmarks both ways; and, after puzzling a +little, I took the way down by the water, thinking they might have +gone to lie among the banks there, as they used to do when I was a +young boy in that neighbourhood. But after looking about for an hour, +I could find nothing of them." + +"Then where did you find them at last?" demanded the peer, growing +somewhat tired of the servant's prolixity: to which, however, Manners, +who knew how important every little particular is in obscure +circumstances, had listened with patience and attention. + +"Why, my lord," replied the man, "I went back directly to the parting +of the roads, and then took the one towards the common, above Dimden, +which I had not chosen before; and there I rode on as hard as I could, +with the cart ruts and footmarks before me, till I came within about +twenty yards of the common. Thereabout, there is a bit of low coppice, +with some tall trees in the hedgerow; and my horse picked up a stone, +so I got off to clear his hoof; and as I was just going to mount +again, I heard some one call in a low voice, 'William! William +Butler!' so I looked round, but could see no one, and I said, 'Well, +what do you want? come out of the coppice, if you want me.' So, then, +from behind one of the tall trees, where he had planted himself on the +lookout, comes Dick Harvey, your lordship's head park-keeper at +Dimden; and he began asking after my health, and all I had seen in +foreign parts. So I told him I would answer him another time: but I +took leave to ask him in return what he was after, bush-ranging in +that way; and he answered, 'Oh, nothing; he was only seeing that +all was right.' So, then, I asked him again if he had seen e'er a +set of gipsies in that direction; upon which he asked why, and I told +him outright. 'Don't go any farther, then,' answered he, 'for the +blood-thirsty rascals are lying down there, between the park wall and +the common; and it is them that I am watching.' And he told me that he +had discovered they were to steal the deer in the park that very +night, and had laid a trap for them. However, I did not choose to come +away without seeing them myself. So, asking Dick when they had come +there, I told him he must get me a sight of them. He said that they +had not been there much above an hour; and he took me into the coppice +to where he had been standing himself. There I could see the whole +party of them well enough, lying about three hundred yards farther +down the park wall, some of them still putting out their tents, some +of them sitting on the wall and looking over into the park." + +"Was the park-keeper alone?" asked Manners, as the servant paused. + +"He was alone just at that minute, sir," replied the man; "but he told +me that he had five others within whistle, and that he had sent away +the man who had been mounting guard where he then was to bring more. +By this time, however, the sun was getting low; and Dick said he was +sure enough the gipsies would not budge till they had tried for some +of his deer. I told him not to let them go even if they had a mind; +and he said to make my mind easy, for that before one o'clock in the +morning, he would answer for having the whole party of them in what +used to be called the strong-room at Dimden House. I thought, +therefore, sir, that I could not leave the matter in better hands than +his; and I came away here to report myself: but as the horse was very +tired I thought it best to take my time." + +"You have done well, William," said Lord Dewry. "Now go down +and get some refreshment.--It seems to me, Colonel Manners," he added, +as the servant retired, a gleam of triumph lighting up his dark +countenance--"it seems to me that these men are in our power--that +they cannot escape us now. It may be unnecessary, therefore, to send +the letters which I have written." + +"I think not," replied Manners. "If you will consider a moment, you +will see that, although some of the gipsies have been seen in the +neighbourhood of your park at Dimden, yet we have no reason to be sure +that the very man we seek is with them. Indeed, from the resemblance +of the person I saw in the wood to this Pharold, we have some cause to +imagine that even if he have joined his companions since, he was not +with them in the morning." + +"You are right, you are right," said the peer. "In such a business as +this no precautions can, indeed, be superfluous, and I will send off +the letters at once." + +The bell was accordingly rung, and the epistles despatched by mounted +servants, who each had orders to spare no speed, but to ride all night +rather than suffer the communication to be delayed; nor should we be +unwilling to show how these directions were obeyed, and what sort of +speed is commonly practised by persons on such errands,--how they all +and several stopped to drink here, and to gossip there, and to feed at +another place,--but that the regular matter of our history is now of +some importance. + +As soon as the servants had been despatched, Lord Dewry bethought him +that Colonel Manners might himself require some refreshment, and +apologized for his previous forgetfulness. Manners, however, was +fatigued, but not hungry, and he preferred some strong green +tea--though not very soldier-like fare--to any thing else that the +peer's house could afford. This was soon obtained, and by the time it +had been brought and taken away, the clock struck ten. + +Manners then rose. "If your lordship does not expect news from Dimden +to-night," he said, "I will now take my leave; but should anything +occur in which I can be of the slightest assistance, if you will send +a servant, you will find me at the little town of Barholm, where I +have ordered rooms to be prepared for me at the inn." + +No two men that ever lived were more different in mind, in character, +in tastes, and feelings, than Colonel Charles Manners and Lord Dewry; +yet, strange to say, the peer did not like the idea of Manners's +quitting him. Their views were as distinct as light and darkness; and, +though for a moment they were pursuing the same object, could the +hearts of both have been seen, how different would have been the +spectacle presented--how different from those in the bosom of the +other would have been all the springs, and motives, and designs, which +actuated and guided each! And yet Lord Dewry felt uneasy when Manners +proposed to go. A part of his uneasiness might arise in his dislike to +be left alone, in the long, long hours of expectation which were to +intervene ere he could hear of the first step, in all his dark and +complicated designs, having been safely taken; but there was something +more in it too. Manners had assisted him with zeal, and talent, and +energy, in the very pursuit which he was following: by an +extraordinary concatenation of circumstances, he, unbribed, unbiased, +independent, upright, and noble, had been led to give his whole +support to the very first object which the peer had in view; and for +which he had already been obliged to hire and to intrigue with the +low, and the mercenary, and the vile; and Lord Dewry felt a support +and an encouragement in the presence and assistance of Colonel Manners +which a thousand Sir Roger Millingtons could not have afforded. Had he +had to explain his views and wishes to Colonel Manners as he had done +to Sir Roger Millington, he would have shrunk from the task in shame +and fear; but when Manners came willingly forward to aid him +voluntarily, even for a few steps on the way he was pursuing, it +seemed as if his actions were vouched and justified by the concurrence +of so honourable a man. + +"I believe, Colonel Manners," said the peer in reply--"I believe that +I am about to make a very extraordinary request; but I really cannot +allow you to leave me: a room shall be prepared for you here +immediately, and it will be a real consolation to me if you will stay +I shall myself sit up till I hear from Dimden," he added, in a tone of +hesitation, as if he would fain have asked Manners to do the same, had +it been courteous; "but I am afraid that news cannot arrive till +between one and two o'clock, and as you must be fatigued, I cannot ask +you to be the partner of my watch." + +"I will be so most willingly, my lord," replied Manners; "for though I +certainly am fatigued, still I am not sleepy, and I shall be anxious, +too, to hear the news as soon as possible." + +They waited, however, longer than they expected: three, four o'clock +came, and no tidings arrived. The moments, notwithstanding +expectation, flew more calmly than might have been imagined. Lord +Dewry, although he knew that there were few subjects on which he could +speak with Colonel Manners without meeting feelings and opinions +different from any that he now dared to entertain, knew also that +there was one topic, and that one very near to his heart at the +moment, on which he might discourse at ease. That topic was his son; +and on that--with all his feelings softened, with every asperity done +away, and with the pure natural welling forth of parental affection +and grief over his deep loss--on that he conversed during the greater +part of the night, effacing from the memory of his companion the rude +and disagreeable impression which their first interviews had caused, +and leaving little but grief, and sympathy, and regret. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +From sunset till about nine o'clock there had been a light refreshing +rain--not one of those cold autumnal pours which leave the whole world +dark, and drenched, and dreary, but the soft falling of light pellucid +drops, that scarcely bent the blades of grass on which they rested, +and through which, ever and anon, the purple of the evening sky, +and--as that faded away--the bright glance of a brilliant star, might +be seen amid the broken clouds. Towards nine, however, the vapours +that rested upon the eastern uplands became tinged with light; and, as +if gifted with the power of scattering darkness from her presence, +forth came the resplendent moon, while the dim clouds grew pale and +white as she advanced, and, rolling away over the hills, left the sky +all clear. It required scarcely a fanciful mind to suppose that--in +the brilliant shining of the millions of drops which hung on every +leaf and rested on every bough--in the glistening ripple of the river +that rolled in waves of silver through the plain--in the checkered +dancing of the light and shadow through the trees, and in the sudden +brightening up of every object throughout the scene which could +reflect her beams--it required scarcely a fanciful mind to suppose +that the whole world was rejoicing in the soft splendour of that +gentle watcher of the night, and gratulating her triumph over the +darkness and the clouds. + +It was a beautiful sight on that night, as, indeed, it ever is, to +see the planet thus change the aspect of all things in the sky and on +the earth; but, perhaps, the sight was more beautiful in Dimden Park +than anywhere around. The gentleman's park is likewise one of those +things peculiarly English, which are to be seen nowhere else upon the +earth; at least, we venture to say that there is nothing at all like +it in three out of the four quarters of this our globe: the wide +grassy slopes, the groups of majestic trees, the dim flankings of +forest-ground, broken with savannas and crossed by many a path +and many a walk, the occasional rivulet or piece of water, the +resting-place, the alcove, the ruin of the old mansion where our +fathers dwelt, now lapsed into the domain of Time, but carefully +guarded from any hands but his, with here and there some slope of the +ground or some turn of the path bringing us suddenly upon a bright and +unexpected prospect of distant landscapes far beyond--"all nature and +all art!" There is nothing like it on the earth, and few things half +so beautiful; for it is tranquil without being dull, and calm without +being cheerless: but of all times, when one would enjoy the stillness +and the serenity at its highest pitch, go forth into a fine old park +by moonlight. + +The moon, then, on the night of which we have lately been speaking, +within half an hour after her rise, shone full into the park, and +poured her flood of splendour over the wide slopes, glittering with +the late rain, along the winding paths and gravel-walks, and through +between the broad trunks of the oaks and beeches. The autumn had not +yet so far advanced as to make any very remarkable difference in the +thickness of the foliage: but still, some leaves had fallen from the +younger and tenderer plants, so that the moonbeams played more at +liberty upon the ground beneath, and the trees themselves had been +carefully kept so far apart that any one standing under their +shadow--except, indeed, in the thickets reserved as coverts for the +deer--had a view far over the open parts of the park; and, if the eye +took such a direction, could descry the great house itself on one +hand, or, on the other side, the park-keeper's cottage, situated on a +slight slope that concealed it from the windows of the mansion. At the +same time, though any one thus placed beneath the old trees--either +the clumps which studded the open ground, or the deeper woods at the +extremes--could see for a considerable distance around, yet it would +have been scarcely possible for anybody standing in the broad +moonlight to distinguish other persons under the shadow of the +branches, unless, indeed, they came to the very verge of the wooded +ground. This became more particularly the case as the moon rose +higher, and the crossing and interlacing of the shadows in the +woodland was rendered more intricate and perplexed, while the lawns +and savannas only received the brighter light. + +At a little before eleven o'clock, then, by which time the moon had +risen high in the heaven, a rustling and scraping sound might have +been heard by any one standing near that wall of the park which +separated it from the neighbouring common, and in a moment, after, the +head and shoulders of a man appeared above the parapet. He gave a +momentary glance into the walk which was immediately contiguous, and +then swinging himself over, dropped at once to the ground. Pausing +again, he looked round him more carefully; and then gave a low +whistle. No one followed, however; and the intruder, who was +apparently a lad of eighteen or nineteen, advanced cautiously across +the walk, and was soon placed beneath the shadow of the tall elms. +Every two or three minutes the lad paused to look around him; but as +his eyes were more frequently bent upon the ground than raised, it +appeared that he rather feared losing his way than apprehended the +appearance of any other person in the place to which he had somewhat +furtively introduced himself. Humming a tune as he advanced, he +approached that part of the park from which, as we have before said, a +view could be obtained both of the mansion and the park-keeper's +house; and here, fixing his eyes upon the latter, he seated himself at +the foot of a sturdy chestnut-tree at a little distance within the +extreme edge of the wood. + +There was a wreath of white smoke still curling up from the chimney of +the peaceful-looking dwelling of the park-keeper; and through two of +the cottage casements a full yellow light was streaming, so that it +was evident enough that some of the inmates were up and awake. For +about half an hour the young man kept his post with perseverance and +tranquillity, ceasing to hum the air with which he had amused himself +as he came along, and apparently regarding nothing but the cottage of +the park-keeper. + +At the end of that time, however, he rose, muttering, "I'll stay here +no longer. I might as well have been with Lena all this while. If Dick +would but wait till one o'clock, they would be all abed to a +certainty;" and he walked two or three steps resolutely away. Ere he +was out of sight, he, nevertheless, turned to look once more. The +light was still burning; but as he was in the very act of resuming his +retreat, it was totally extinguished, and nothing was to be seen but +the dark outline of the cottage in the clear moonlight. He now paused +again for a moment or two, to be sure of the facts; and then retracing +his way as fast as possible to the particular part of the wall over +which he had obtained ingress, he stopped, and whistled louder than +before. For some minutes there was no reply, and he then whistled +again, which instantly produced a corresponding signal from without, +and a voice demanded, "Is all right?" + +"Ay, ay, Dick," replied the lad, carelessly; "all's right--come +along." The moment after, another head and shoulders appeared above +the wall; and the gipsy whom we have seen with the old woman called +Mother Gray, scheming the destruction of the deer belonging to some of +the neighbouring gentry, swung himself up to the top of the wall, and +gazed round with a more anxious and careful face than that displayed +by his younger comrade. + +"When he had satisfied himself by examination, he handed over two guns +to his companion, who was within the park; and then, dropping down +again on the inside, gazed round him with more trepidation than his +bold and confident language would have led one to anticipate. He was +not alone, however; for no sooner had he effected his descent than +three others, each also armed with an old rude fowling-piece, followed +from without; and a whispered consultation took place in regard to +their further proceedings. + +"Where did you see the deer herding to-night, Will?" demanded their +leader; "I mean at sunset." + +"Oh, those I saw were down at the far end of the park," replied the +boy, "a mile off and more; up this wall will lead us." + +"The farther off the better," replied Dickon; "are all your guns +loaded?" + +An answer was given in the affirmative; and, led by Dickon and the lad +William, the party of gipsies crept stealthily along the walk that +proceeded under the wall to the far extremity of the park. Once or +twice the leader stopped and listened, and once he asked, in a low +tone, "Did you not hear a noise? there to the left!" No sound, +however, was heard by his companions, who paused as he paused, and +gave breathless attention with bended head and listening ear. A light +breeze stirred the tree tops, and a leaf would now and then fall +through the branches, but nothing else was to be distinguished; and as +they passed the end of many a vista and moonlight alley, and looked +cautiously out, nothing which could excite the least apprehension was +perceivable, and they walked on, gaining greater courage as every step +familiarized them more to their undertaking. By the time they had +reached the end of the park wall, they ventured to carry on their +consultation in a louder tone; and they also turned more into the +heart of the wood, following paths with which none of them seemed very +thoroughly acquainted, and the perplexity of which often caused them +to halt or to turn back, in order to reach the spot which they had +fixed upon for the commencement of their exploits among the deer. + +The lad Will, however, who had apparently reconnoitred the park by +daylight, at length led them right; and taking a small footway towards +the east, they found themselves suddenly upon the edge of an opening +in the wood, through the midst of which ran a stream of clear water. A +space of about five acres was here left without a tree; but on every +side were deep groves of old chestnuts, and to the east some thick +coverts of brushwood. It became necessary now to ascertain the +direction of the wind, lest the deer should scent their pursuers, and +take another road; and for this purpose, wetting his finger in the +water, Dickon held it up high, till he discovered by the coldness that +ensued which side it was that the wind struck. As soon as this +important point was known, he disposed his companions in separate +stations, but each by one of the old chestnuts, in such a manner and +at such distances as would render it impossible for the deer to cross +the open space before them without receiving one or more shots from +some of his party. The sort of sport in which he was now employed +seemed not altogether unfamiliar to the gipsy Dickon, whose +instructions, if oral rather than practical, must have been very +accurate and minute, as he wanted none of the skill or knowledge of an +old sportsman. + +As soon as his men were all properly disposed, and he had likewise +taken up his own position in the most favourable spot that the place +afforded, he sought out upon the ground a beech-leaf, and having found +one with some difficulty, bent it in the middle and applied it to his +lips. A quick percussion of the breath upon the bent leaf instantly +produced a sound exactly resembling the cry of a young doe. After +calling thus once or twice, he ceased, and all was attention; but no +noise followed to indicate that any of the horned dwellers in the wood +had heard or gave attention to the sound. Dickon again made the +experiment, and again waited in breathless expectation, but without +avail. After a lapse of some minutes the beech-leaf was once more +employed, and the next instant a slight rustling sound was heard among +the bushes beyond. The poacher repeated his cry, and there was then +evidently a rush through the brushwood; but the moment after all was +again still, and he began to think that the buck had scented them and +taken fright. + +In a minute more, however, not from the bushes, but from the opposite +chestnut-trees, which the low wood joined, trotted forth, at an easy +pace, a tall splendid deer, bearing his antlered head near the ground, +as if trying to scent out the path of his mate, whose voice he had +heard. The moment he came into the full moonlight, however, he stood +at gaze, as it is called, raising his proud head and looking +steadfastly before him. Then, turning to the right and to the left, he +seemed striving to see the object that he had not been able to +discover by the smell; but, as he was still too far distant for any +thing like a certain shot, Dickon once more ventured a low solitary +call upon the beach-leaf. Had it been loud, or repeated more than +once, the poor animal was near enough to have detected the cheat; but +as it was, he was deceived, and trotting on for fifty yards more, +again stood at gaze, with his head turned towards the trees under +which the poacher was standing. Dickon quietly raised his gun, aimed +deliberately, and fired just as the buck was again moving forward. The +ball struck the deer directly below the horns, and, bounding up full +four feet from the ground, he fell dead upon the spot where he had +been standing. + +All the gipsies were now rushing forward to see their prize, but +Dickon called them back; and keeping still under the shade of the +trees, he made his way round to them severally, saying, "We must have +another yet. Let him lie there! let him lie! That one shot has not +been loud enough to scare the rest, and I am sure there is a herd +there down at the end of the copse: so we must have another at all +events; and if we go making a noise about that one, we shall frighten +them. You, Bill, go round under those trees for five or six hundred +yards, and then come into the thicket, and beat it up this way." + +Bill did not undertake the task without grumbling and remonstrance; +asserting that everything that was tiresome was put upon him, while +Dickon and the rest had the sport. A little persuasion, however, +overcame his resistance, and he set off accordingly to perform the +part assigned to him. The others, in the meantime, resumed their +places, and now had to wait a longer time than at first; for the +youth, not very well inclined to the task, was anything but quick in +his motions. At the end of a quarter of an hour, however, a rustle and +then a rush was heard in the bushes; and then the bounding sound of +deer in quick flight, and, in a moment after, the whole herd sprang +into the moonlight, and crossed the open ground at the full canter. +They came fairly within shot of two of the gipsies in their passage, +and two guns were instantly discharged. Both took effect; but one of +the deer was only wounded, and was struggling up again, when the whole +body of poachers rushed forward and ended its sufferings with the +knife. + +"Now, now!" cried Dickon, hastily recharging his gun, "we have got +enough for once, I think; let us be off as soon as we can. We can +hitch the venison over that nearest wall," and he turned to point in +the direction to which he referred; but the sight that met his eyes at +that moment almost made the powder-flask, with which he was in the act +of priming, fall from his hands. Advancing from the chestnut-trees +under which he himself had just been standing, was a party consisting +of at least twelve strong men, apparently well armed, and he at once +saw that all chance of escape for himself and his comrades, without a +struggle, was over, as the keepers were coming up between them and the +common, while on the other side lay the thick bushes from which the +deer had issued, and in which his party must be entangled and taken if +they attempted to fly in that direction, and to the westward, beyond +the chestnut-trees, were the river and the park-keeper's house. Now, +however, that the matter was inevitable, Dickon showed more resolution +than he had hitherto done. "Stand to it, my men!" he cried: "they have +nosed us, by----! there's no running now; we must make our way to that +corner, or we're done." + +His companions instantly turned at his exclamation; and whatever might +be their internal feelings, they showed nothing but a dogged +determination to resist to the last. The man who had fired the last +shot instantly thrust a bullet into his gun, which he had already +charged with powder; and, giving up their slain game for lost, the +poachers advanced towards the angle of the wood nearest to the +park-wall, keeping in a compact body, and crossing the front of the +other party in an oblique line. The keepers, however, hastened to +interpose, and came up just in time to prevent their opponents from +reaching the trees. Thus, then, at the moment that they mutually faced +round upon each other, the left of the gipsies and the right of their +adversaries touched the wood, but the odds were fearfully in favour of +the gamekeepers. + +"Come, come, my masters, down with your arms!" cried Harvey, the head +keeper; "it's no use resisting: do you not see we are better than two +to one?" + +The first reply was the levelling of the gipsies' fowling pieces; and +notwithstanding the superiority of numbers and the anticipation of +resistance, the keepers drew a step or two back; for under such +circumstances no one can tell whose the chance may be, and the thought +of unpleasant death will have its weight till the blood is warm. +"Stand off!" cried Dickon, boldly: "master keeper, let us go free, or +take the worst of it. We leave you your venison, and a good half-ounce +bullet in each buck to pay for our pastime; but be you sure that the +guns which sent those bullets can send others as true, and will send +them very speedily, if you try to stop us." + +"A bold fellow, upon my honour!" cried Sir Roger Millington, +advancing, and standing calmly before the very muzzles of the gipsies' +guns. "But hark ye, my good man, you came to get the venison; we came +to get you; and, as we are rather more in number than you, it is not +probable we shall let you escape. However, I will tell you what--to +spare bloodshed, we will come to a compromise with you." + +"You are the spy of a fellow, are you not," cried Dickon, "who came +this evening asking for Pharold? Well, my knowing cove, be you sure +the first shot fired you shall have one." + +"But he speaks of a compromise, Dickon," cried one of his companions, +lowering the gun a little from his shoulder; "better hear what he has +to say." + +"Don't you believe a word," cried Dickon; "he's a cheat, and will only +humbug you if you listen to him. We can bring four of them down, at +all events, and then must take our chance with the but-ends of our +pieces." + +"Yes, yes, listen to him," cried another of the gipsies. "What have +you to say about a compromise?" + +"Simply this, my men," replied Sir Roger, who had still kept his +place, unconcernedly, within a couple of yards of the gipsies' +guns: "if you will lay down your arms and surrender, we will make a +bargain with you, that we will let each one free on account of the +deer-stealing against whom we cannot bring some other charge." + +Sir Roger's purpose was to catch Pharold: but he had not accurately +calculated upon the state of a gipsy's conscience; and as each +man present very well knew that something else--if not many other +things--might be justly laid to his charge, the proposed arrangement +was any thing but satisfactory to the poachers. Nor was it more to the +taste of Harvey and the other keepers, who had not been empowered by +their employer to make any such compromise. + +"No, no, sir," cried Harvey, aloud, "that won't do. My lord gave me no +authority to make such a bargain. I dare say you came from him; for, +indeed, no one else could tell you all about it: but, howsoever, I +can't consent to that. No, no, I cry off. Damme, lay down your arms, +my lads, or we will fire on you directly." + +"Take that, then!" cried Dickon, pulling the trigger of his gun, the +report of which was followed instantly by those of the fowling-pieces +in the hands of the other gipsies, though at the very same moment--or +rather, indeed, before the guns were discharged--a loud voice was +heard shouting from a distance, "Do not fire, villains! Dickon, I +command you not to fire!" + +Sir Roger Millington and one of the keepers dropped instantly; and a +good deal of confusion took place among their party, though a +straggling and ill-directed fire was returned, which only wounded one +of the gipsies slightly. In less than a moment, however, the keepers +had recovered themselves; and, hurrying the wounded behind, were +rushing on to close with their adversaries before they could reload, +when a reinforcement of eleven or twelve strong men appeared behind +the small party of the gipsies, and Pharold, rushing forward, thrust +Dickon vehemently back, exclaiming, "Mad fool! you have ruined us all +for ever!--Hold back!" he continued, addressing the keepers in the +same stern and imperative voice--"hold back, fools! we are too many +for you. Richard Harvey, when you plotted to entrap these poor foolish +young men, you should have secured the means of taking them. But get +you gone while you may! We are too many for you, I tell you; and you +know of old I am not one to trifle with." + +"I know you of old, sure enough, Master Pharold," replied the head +keeper, running his eye doubtfully over the group of powerful men who +now stood before him--"I know you of old, and I know you now; and one +thing more I know, that you will come to be hanged before the year be +many weeks older: I know that, too, Master Pharold." + +"Lift me up! lift me up!" cried a faint voice behind. "Lift me up, +fellows, I say! I want to see him!" and in compliance with this +command, one or two of the men who had accompanied the keepers raised +Sir Roger Millington in their arms, and brought him a little forward, +so that he could obtain a sight of what was passing. He gazed intently +upon Pharold, who was still standing prominent, waving the head keeper +and his party back with the air more of a prince than of one in his +station and class. But the knight was unable to continue his +observation of what was passing for more than a moment, as the +agony he seemed to be suffering--although he had sufficient power +over himself to prevent any expression of pain from escaping his +lips--caused him to writhe so dreadfully, that, after one brief stern +glance at the gipsy, he slipped out of the arms of those who supported +him, and fell again to the ground. The sight of what he suffered, +however, was not without its effect upon the keepers. Had they known +him, and been interested in his fate, it might, indeed, have stirred +them up to greater exertions in order to avenge the injury he had +sustained; but unknown and indifferent as he was to all of them, his +situation but served as an example of what they might themselves +encounter if they persisted in their attack of the gipsies; and +Harvey, who was the best inclined of the party to undertake the risk, +soon gathered from the countenances of his companions that he would be +but feebly supported, if not abandoned, in any further attempt. + +Unwilling, however, to yield the task he had undertaken, and inspired +as much by sincere hatred towards the gipsies as by hope of recompense +from his lord, he lingered, still glaring upon Pharold and his +companions; and every now and then, in the bitterness of his +disappointment, uttering such words as were likely to draw the adverse +party themselves on to the attack which he feared to make upon them. +"You are a pretty set of blackguards!" he exclaimed. "It would do my +heart good to see you all hanged up in a row: why can't you mind your +kettles, and not come stealing other folks deer? You go kidnapping +people's children, you do, you thieves of human flesh! Ah, you'll not +go long unhanged, that's one comfort!" + +Pharold's lip gradually curled into a look of bitter scorn; and, +turning to one of his elder comrades, he whispered a few words to him, +and a movement was instantly made on the part of the gipsies +themselves to evacuate the ground. They performed their retreat, +however, slowly and in good order; four of the party, directed by +Pharold, bringing up the rear, and facing round upon the keepers +whenever they approached, so as to render their flight secure. Harvey, +with several of his companions, followed, somewhat encouraged by the +sight of a retreating enemy; but two or three of the more charitable +remained with Sir Roger Millington and the wounded keeper, though the +latter was only slightly injured. At every two or three steps, also, +as the others advanced in the pursuit, either weariness of the +business altogether, or the better part of valour, caused one or two +of the head park-keeper's comrades to fall off, and return to the spot +where they had left the wounded men. Thus, by the time the gipsies +reached the park wall, only three persons followed Harvey; and +Pharold, somewhat irritated by his close pursuit, turned round upon +him with not the most placable expression in the world. In truth, he +had been crossed and pained; and, for a moment, the evil spirit, which +has a secret tabernacle in the heart of every one, came forth, and +thought that the dominion was all his own. But the gipsy drove back +the fiend; and restraining his inclination to take vengeance on the +keeper, he merely commanded him, sternly, not to advance another step +till all his people had cleared the wall. Harvey only replied by +imprecations, and Pharold calmly proceeded to station four of the +gipsies, who had guns, upon the top of the wall, to protect the +retreat of the others. Then, one by one, the gipsies passed over, +their leader following the last, and the keeper, after giving way to +one or two bursts of impotent wrath, turned on his heel, and joined +his companions. + +Pharold and his party proceeded in silence to their encampment, which +was not far distant, when, to the surprise of those who had been +engaged in the deer-stealing, they found everything prepared for +instant departure. The horses were to their carts, the tents were +packed up, and only one fire appeared lighted, beside which old Mother +Gray and the other women, protected by only one man, were standing, +watching with somewhat downcast countenances the solitary pot which +was suspended above it. This group made instant way for Pharold and +his comrades; and the former, advancing into the midst, folded his +arms upon his breast, and bending his brows sternly upon the old +woman, he said, after a bitter pause, "See, woman, what your +instigations have produced,--strife, bloodshed, murder; and, very +likely, ultimately, the death of this poor fool, who suffered himself +to be led by your bad counsels--very likely his death upon the +gallows!" + +"A very good death, too," muttered the beldam, sullenly and low. "His +father died the same." + +"For you, Dickon," said Pharold, not noticing her speech--"for you, +however ill you may have acted, your punishment is like to fall upon +you soon; but you must hear my reproaches too. You have scorned +authority throughout your life--you have forgotten the laws and habits +of your fathers--you belong not to our people. Here we must all +separate into small bodies, and take different ways, to avoid the +consequences of your faults; but you shall go out from among us for +ever, never to return. Answer me not, but hear! Had I not, by +returning sooner than you expected, learned your errand, and hastened +with the wiser and better of our people to stay your folly, and to +bring you back--had I not come up in time, not, indeed, to prevent +your crime, but to rescue you from the consequences, you would now +have been lying, tied hand and foot, and waiting to be judged by those +who hold us in hatred and contempt. From that you have been saved; but +you must fly far, and conceal yourself well, to make such safety +permanent. Go from us, then--go from us! and with whatever race of men +you hereafter mingle--whether abjuring your people, as you have +violated their rules, or whether seeking again some other tribe +of the Romanicheel race--let the memory of all the evil that follows +disobedience to those who have a right to command you, keep you from +follies like those you have this night committed." + +Pharold paused, and one of the other gipsies whispered a word in his +ear. "True!" he said, "true! as he has to wander far and long, he must +not go unprovided. We will all contribute to help him." + +"No, no!" murmured Dickon, with his head sunk, and his eyes bent upon +the ground--"no, no! I can do without." But the collection among the +gipsies was made without giving any attention to his words. Each +contributed something from the part he had received in the +distribution of the preceding evening, and a considerable sum was thus +collected. Pharold, perhaps, feeling that the boon from his hand would +come poisoned, suffered one of his companions to give the money to the +culprit, and then proceeded: "Go forth, Dickon! go forth! I warned you +long ago; I counselled you while counsel might avail: you heeded not +my warning--you rejected my counsel; the time is past; and I have only +now to bid you go forth from among us for ever!" + +With his head still bent, and his eyes upon the ground, Dickon took +two or three steps away from the rest. He then turned, and raising his +head, fixed his eyes upon Pharold, apparently struggling to speak. +Words, however, failed him: the stern glance of their leader met +his--calm, but reproachful; and suddenly turning a look full of fury +at the old beldam who had misled him, the unhappy young man shook his +hand at her, with a loud and bitter curse, and bounded away over the +common. + +"And now," said Pharold, turning to his companions, "let us separate +quickly--to the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, in +the same parties into which we had divided ourselves last night before +the unfortunate accident made us change our plans. Let us travel +rapidly and long, for be sure that we are followed by many and keen +pursuers, who will spare neither gold nor speed to catch us. Let all +of us that are alive meet this day three months at our old tryste on +Cheviot; and we may then, perhaps, pursue our way in peace." + +While he spoke, a light hand was laid upon his coat; and, as he ended, +he found the beautiful eyes of Lena looking up in his face, with a +glance of mingled apprehension and irresolution, as if she wished but +feared to speak. "What is it, Lena?" he demanded. "You, of course, go +with me and mine." + +"But William!" said Lena, in a timid voice, "William!" + +Pharold's brow contracted. "He goes with Brown!" he said, sternly. +"What is it to you?" She coloured highly, and cast down her eyes; but +still replied, "Nothing, nothing! But where is he? I meant to ask. He +went with Dickon and the rest--they made him go--and he has not +returned." + +Pharold started, and looked round, anxiously searching with his eyes +for the lad among the groups that stood near, over whose wild +countenances and figures the declining moon and the half-extinguished +fire were casting together a flickering and uncertain light.--"Where +is William?" he exclaimed, at length, turning to one of the men who +had accompanied Dickon on his predatory excursion against the deer; "I +saw but four of you when I came up. Where was William then?" + +"Dickon had sent him round into the copse, a quarter of a mile off, to +drive up the deer," replied the man; "but I am afraid they have caught +him, for I heard a bit of a struggle in that direction, as we were +making for the wall." + +Pharold clasped his hands in angry disappointment. "We must not leave +the poor boy," he said: "I, for one, will stay at any risk, and try to +help him." + +"And I, and I, and I!" cried all the gipsies. + +"Well, then," said Pharold, "we must take means to make them think +that we are gone; so that the nearer we lie to them, the more +completely will they be deceived. The wood on the other side of the +common is thicker than anywhere else. Thither away, my men, on +foot--all but five of you. Let those five take the carts down, by the +back of the park, to the river. Turn them as if you were going down +the road that leads along the bank. Then take out the horses, and +carry the carts over the gravel to the ford, so that no wheel-marks be +seen. Put the horses in again when that is done; but mind to fill up +the hoof-prints with fresh gravel. Thus they will lose your track. You +then take the ford, and cross the river. The water is low, and you can +drive along the gravel-bank, on the other side, for near a mile, +keeping in the water all the way. When it gets deep again, take the +road, and, crossing back by the bridge, come round to the wood by +Morley Road. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, yes; I do," replied the man he had called Brown. "I know the +country well. But where go you, Pharold, yourself?" + +"I go back into the park to seek the boy," replied the gipsy, "and +will join you all in the wood before daybreak. But, on your lives, +keep to that wood behind us there; and go not near Morley Common or +Morley Wood; for there are people on the watch there already. I should +have been back in time to have prevented all this, had they not penned +me in, in that very wood." + +"Well, well, we will do your bidding, Pharold," replied Brown. "You +are a brave heart, and always take the danger upon yourself." + +"Quick, quick, then," replied the gipsy: "there is no time to be lost. +Sarah Brown, take care of Lena; and see that that old woman," he +added, sternly, pointing to Mother Gray, "works no more mischief among +us. Bad has been the fruit which all the seed of her planting has +hitherto borne. You lead them to the wood, Wilson, and light a fire, +that I may see the smoke as I come back." + +So saying, he sought in one of the carts for a moment; and drawing +forth what is called a cut-and-thrust sword, buckled it under his +coat, took the path to the lowest part of the park wall, and, vaulting +over, was lost to the sight of his companions. + +His orders, however, were now as promptly obeyed as if he had been +present. Each of the gipsies who were destined immediately for the +wood hastened to unload the carts as fast as possible. The women took +their children on their backs, and large bundles in their hands; the +men charged themselves with the heavier packages; and the carts, +greatly lightened, having set off in the direction assigned to them, +the rest of the party proceeded across the common towards the wood. +They set off silently, and in straggling parties, that their footsteps +might not betray their path; but they had not gone far ere the tongue +of the old woman was heard, addressing one of the men who walked near +her--at first in few words and a low tone, but gradually increasing in +power and volubility as it became encouraged by its own sound. + +"He's a cruel, hard hand, that Pharold," said she, looking carefully +round. But her companion made no reply, and she went on: "It's a hard +thing for poor Dickon to be sent out to starve or be hanged, just +because he was a spirity lad, and had different notions from that +Pharold." Still the other was silent. "I often do wonder," she +continued, "how a number of strong hearty men, every one a better man +than Pharold, should submit to be led, and bullied, and ill-treated, +by an ill-looking thief like that, only because he comes from our old +dukes that are dead and gone.[5] It's all your own faults. If two or +three of you were but to lay your heads together, and to say--" + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 5: The gipsies of all countries still hold the persuasion +that they were originally led into Europe by persons whom they term +Dukes or Lords of Upper Egypt.] + +--------------------- + + +"Come, come, you old rip," broke forth the man angrily, "none of such +talk to me, if you have not a mind to be pitched into that pond. Hold +your tongue, now, and give us no more of it. I am not one of your +Dickons to be made a fool of; and if I hear you saying another word of +such matters, I will have you sent after him you have got turned out +from among us." + +Muttering a few words about "tame fools," Mother Gray slunk behind, +and for a little while walked on in silence, only interrupted by +occasional internal grunts and growls, expressive of her +dissatisfaction and wrath. From time to time, however, she cast her +eyes towards the straggling parties of her companions to the right and +left; and for a while her attention seemed principally directed +towards a group of two or three, who walked on immediately upon her +right, and among whom was one of those who had accompanied Dickon in +his unfortunate expedition. But on the left, again, was a line of four +or five other gipsies, principally women, followed by Lena, two or +three steps behind the rest, with a large handkerchief cast over her +head, and tied beneath her chin, in a manner which would have +concealed the greater part of her beautiful face, even if it had been +day, but which now served to veil it entirely from all observation. +Her head leaned forward, however: it was evident, too, that her eyes +were cast upon the ground; and from these, and many another little +symptom, the beldam, as she gazed upon her, concluded, and concluded +rightly, that she was weeping. She hesitated no longer which of the +two parties to join; but, dropping slowly behind, she sidled quietly +up to Lena, almost unperceived by the girl herself. After walking on a +step or two by her side in silence, she ventured to say, in a dolorous +and sympathizing tone, "Poor Bill! only to think!" Lena started, and +for a moment said nothing in reply; but after awhile she asked, "Do +you think they have caught him, Mother Gray?" + +"Ay, ay, they must have grabbed him," replied the other; "else he +would ha' been back 'afore this time. Poor Bill! he was as handsome a +spirity young chick as ever I set eyes on." + +There was something in hearing him spoken of in the past tense, as of +one gone for ever, that brought a deep sigh from Lena's bosom; and the +old worker of mischief went on, satisfied that she was now, at least, +upon the right track. "Ah, poor Bill!" she said; "there was only one +that was fit to match with him among us, and she was snapped up by a +kite before her right mate could come to her." + +Lena took no notice of her allusion, though it was sufficiently +direct; but asked, "What do you think they will do to him, Mother +Gray, if they have caught him?" + +"Hang him, perhaps," replied the old woman, "or at all events +send him to what they call the colonies, to work their work like a +slave--that's to say, if no one gets him out; but if he is so minded, +Pharold, who is so sharp, will get him out fast enough." + +"If Pharold can get him out," replied Lena, rousing herself at the +name of one whom she revered, if she did not love--"if Pharold can get +him out, he will not be long in." + +"I dare say not," replied the old woman, "if it be not too dangerous, +and cost too much time and trouble; and then Pharold, you know, will +not like to risk the other people to save poor Bill, unless, indeed, +some one coaxes him to do it." + +"But how can I speak to him about it?" demanded Lena, holding down her +head; "he would only give me hard words if I did, as he did to-night." + +"But Lena might risk a little for poor Bill," rejoined the other; "I +know Bill would risk his life for her." Lena was silent; and after a +pause of some minutes the old woman went on, in a low voice almost +sunk to a whisper. "Come, come, my pretty Lena," she said, "do try +your hand with Pharold; else poor William may lie there for months in +prison, with nothing to comfort him but songs about Lena--which he +will sing sweetly enough, poor chap--and then may go to the gallows +thinking of her. Do you think I do not see and know, my chick, all +that is going on?" + +"Then you see and know, Mother Gray, that I want to do nothing wrong," +replied the girl, turning half round upon her. + +"Yes, but I saw you, Lena, when you stood by the park-wall this +evening," replied the beldam, "talking to Will for half an hour; and +do you think I do not know what is in your heart, my pretty Lena?" + +"Then why should I strive to get him out of prison at all?" said Lena, +in a melancholy tone. "It is better that he were away; and I can tell +you what, Mother Gray, it was I made Pharold determine to send him +away with Brown's people rather than have him along with us." + +"And I can tell you what, too, Lena," replied the old woman, "I saw +you standing together by the wall, and I saw him come away, and I am +very sure that it was because you were unkind to him that he went with +Dickon and his people after the deer; so that it was your fault that +he went at all, and your fault that he got into prison; so you should +but help him out of it." + +What Lena might have replied, Heaven knows; but at the moment she was +about to speak, she was interrupted by the approach of others of the +tribe; and the whole party shortly after entered the wood, and took up +their camp in one of the deepest and most unfrequented spots that it +contained. + +In the mean time Pharold had, as we have seen, entered the park; +and here he spent the whole hours of moonlight that remained in +searching for the youth who had accompanied Dickon and his companions. +He searched, however, in vain; and although he often risked the +low peculiar whistle which he knew would be recognised by his +fellow-gipsy, yet no sound was returned from any quarter. Long and +anxiously did he seek--the more anxiously, perhaps, because he felt +that some undefined feelings of dislike and animosity had lately been +rising in his bosom towards the unfortunate youth, who had now +apparently become the sacrifice for the faults of others. With much +disappointment and regret, then, he saw at length the morning dawn; +and certain that, had the youth escaped, he would by this time have +joined the rest, he prepared to quit a place in which any longer delay +might prove dangerous to himself, and could be of no service to him he +sought. + +There was, however, in his bosom a misdoubting in regard to the lad's +fate, an apprehensive uncertainty, which moved him, perhaps, more than +if he had been assured of his capture; and ere he quitted the park, he +approached as near as possible to the mansion, to see if any such +signs of unusual bustle were apparent, as might furnish information to +a mind habituated to extract their meaning rapidly from every vague +and transient indication that met his eyes. As he stood beneath the +trees, the first thing he beheld was a boy run up the steps of the +house, and Pharold instantly concluded that it was a messenger +returned with some news. The moment after three or four men issued +forth; but instead of taking any of the roads that led from the house, +they began to traverse the lawn between the mansion and the nearest +point of the park-wall. One man halted half-way between, the others +went on; but at the first trees again another paused, and Pharold +thought, "They have discovered me and think to surround me, but they +will find themselves mistaken;" and with a quick, stealthy step, he +glided through the wood towards the angle of the park next to the +common. None of his senses, however, slept on such occasions; and ere +he had emerged from the bushes his ear caught the sound of low voices, +speaking in the very direction which he was taking, showing him that +he had been discovered and pursued before he had perceived it, though +the persons who were now before him must have come from the +gamekeeper's house, and not from the mansion. Wheeling instantly, he +retreated in a direction which led to one of the most open parts of +the park; but Pharold was well aware of what he did, and knew the +ground even better than those who followed him. As soon as he reached +the savanna, he emerged at once from the trees, and with a quick step +began to traverse the green. A man who had been stationed at the angle +instantly caught sight of him, and gave at once the shout which had +been appointed as a signal. The other keepers came up at a quick pace, +narrowing the half circle in which they had disposed themselves, and +penning the gipsy in between their body and the river. He scarcely +hastened his pace, but allowed them to come nearer and nearer, till at +length his purpose seemed to strike the head keeper suddenly, and, +with a loud imprecation, he called upon the man nearest the water to +close upon the object of their pursuit, adding, "He is a devil of a +swimmer!" But Pharold had been suffered to go too far. He sprang +forward at once to the bank, plunged in without a pause, and in a few +strokes carried himself to the other side, where, amid thick brushwood +and young plantations, he was perfectly secure from all pursuit. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +I know no reason why we--the readers and the writer--should not now +quit those characters which have lately been occupying us, and return +to others not less worthy of our care, till we have brought their +actions and their feelings up to the same point of time whereunto we +have conducted our other personages. The best form, perhaps I might +say the most classical, in which a tale like the present can be +related, with the exception of the autobiographical, is the dramatic; +and holding strongly with the liberty accorded to British dramatists +against the straight-waistcoat of Aristotelian unities, I believe that +he who sits down to write a book like this has as much right to shift +his scene and change his characters when he pleases as a playwright. + +The necessity of so doing exists in the very state of being in which +we live in relation to one another. Everyday we find that in five or +six families, the actions of each of which have mutually a great +influence on the others, events are occurring, and words are being +spoken, which bring about great and important results in the general +fate and relative position of those five or six families, and, in +fact, work out their united history, without one house knowing at the +time what was doing in the other. The task, then, of the writer, if he +would follow the best of guides, nature, is to take such a group of +five or six families, whose fate some common bond of union has linked +together; and, changing from house to house as soon as the interest of +the events in each requires the scene to be shifted, to paint what he +there sees passing; and thus, in a series of pictures, to give the +general history of the whole. Stupid must be the man, and impotent the +imagination, weak the judgment, and treacherous the memory, which +cannot bear the change of scene without a long refresher in regard to +the people about to be seen again, or the events of which the writer +is once more going to take up the thread! + +Could not this change be made, the circumstances which were taking +place at Morley House, and, what is still more important, the feelings +which were thrilling in the bosoms of its inhabitants, would of +necessity be all left untold, or be related in a long unnatural +resume. In truth, the feelings of which we speak are worth some +consideration; as feelings, indeed, always are: for, could one write +the history of man's heart and its motives, how much more interesting, +and instructive too, would the record be, than the brightest volume +that ever was written upon man's actions! + +For some time after Colonel Manners quitted Morley House, Marian de +Vaux continued to sleep under the influence of strong opiates, which +the medical man had found it necessary to give her in the morning. +Whether he did right or wrong--whether it would have been better to +let her meet grief boldly face to face, or was better to shield her +from the violence of its first attack--each must judge as he feels; +but he had known her from a child, and he had a notion that hers was a +heart which would be easily broken if sorrow was suffered to handle it +too roughly. At all events, while this state continued, she enjoyed a +cessation from grief and apprehension; but still, how different was +her slumber from the calm and natural repose of a heart at ease! The +dull poppy with its leaden weight seemed to keep down and oppress +feeling and thought, not to relieve and refresh them; and in her +beautiful face, even as she slept, there was something which told that +the slumber was not natural. Oh! the sweet profound sleep of infancy, +how beautiful it is! that soft and blessed gift of a heart without a +stain or a pang, of a body unbroken in any fibre by the cares and +labours of existence, of a mind without a burden or an apprehension. +It falls down upon our eyelids like the dew of a summer's eve, +refreshing for our use all the world of flowers in which we dwell, and +passing calm, and tranquil, and happy, without a dream and without an +interruption. But, alas! alas! with the first years of life it is +gone, and never returns. We may win joy, and satisfaction, and glory, +and splendour, and power--we may obtain more than our wildest ambition +aspired to, or our eager hope could grasp; but the sweet sleep of +infancy, the soft companion of our boyish pillow, flies from the +ardent joys as well as the bitter cares of manhood, and never, never, +never returns again. + +The apothecary had ventured on large doses of the drug, and Marian's +slumber continued for many hours; but at length she woke, pale, +languid, sick, with her ideas all confused, and yet her heart not the +less ill at ease. "Is that Isadore?" she said, gazing towards the +window at which some one was standing, and over which the shades of +evening were coming dim and fast. Isadore approached her bed, and +Marian asked eagerly, "What news?" She could not put her question in a +distinct form, for her mind refused to fix itself precision upon +anything; and besides, with the common self-cheatery of fear, she +loved not to give her apprehensions voice. + +"I have no news, dear Marian?" replied Isadore, sitting down by her. +"Sorry I am to say that Colonel Manners has returned without any +tidings; and he has since gone over to my uncle's, to see whether +anything may be known there in regard to these extraordinary +circumstances." + +Isadore had framed her answer, with a view of alone hiding from Marian +that anything had been discovered to confirm their fears, and of +turning her mind from the search on which Colonel Manners had been +employed: but the result went further than she had expected, or even +wished; for it was her purpose only to break the force of grief, not +to raise expectations which were likely to be disappointed. Hope, +however, is the most adroit of diplomatists, and takes hold of the +slightest word or circumstance in its own favour with skill and +agility unparalleled. The words of Isadore, simple as they were, +lighted again in a moment the half-extinguished flame in the bosom of +her cousin. She remembered the suspicions concerning the illegitimacy +of his birth, with which Edward had gone to visit the gipsies; she +remembered his fiery and impatient nature, and the agitation into +which even the apprehension had thrown him; and hope instantly +suggested that he might have found his fears confirmed, and, wild with +anger and distress, might have flown instantly to his father's house. + +It is true he was on foot; it is true he had quitted the house during +the night; it is true that he was not likely to take such a step +without writing to relieve her mind; but it is the quality of hope to +trample on improbabilities, and Marian de Vaux obtained a momentary +relief. Still she would fain have had her hopes confirmed by the +opinion of others: but she could not expect to do so without +explaining the reason why she entertained them; and that reason could +not be explained without entering into some details in regard to +Edward's communication with the gipsy, which she knew not whether she +were justified in making. Her mind was so confused with the effect of +the remedies employed to obtain sleep, that she was long in +determining what was the best to do, and remained silent, while +Isadore kindly and gently strove to suggest as many motives for +consolation as she could imagine. At length, however, as Marian +revolved all the probabilities in her mind, she recollected that other +causes might render the disclosure of Edward's feelings and intentions +necessary; that he might not be found at his father's house; that +strict and immediate investigation might be required; and that, under +those circumstances, a knowledge of all that her lover had proposed to +do previous to his sudden disappearance might be requisite to those +who were employed in searching for him, in order to render that search +at all effectual; and although she shrunk from the idea of betraying, +in the slightest degree, the confidence he had reposed in her, yet she +felt it necessary to give every information in her power which might +lead to the result they sought. She determined, then, at length, to +speak of what had passed between De Vaux and herself on the preceding +day; and only hesitated whether to relate it to her aunt or to her +cousin. Mrs. Falkland's kindness and strong good sense were not to be +doubted; but yet Marian knew Isadore thoroughly, and knew that there +was more judgment and tact under her usual gayety than was apparent. +She knew, too, that with her she should be able to relate and to keep +back just as much as she thought proper; while her aunt's keen and +rapid questions, she felt, might draw from her more than she was +justified in communicating. + +"Do you know, Isadore," she said, at length, "I am in some hopes that +Edward may be heard of at his father's house: it would not surprise me +if he had gone thither." + +Isadore felt that she had a delicate part to play. She was glad to see +that Marian was more composed than she could have expected; and, of +course, she would have wished to maintain that state of composure, +till apprehension gradually changed into grief, without any new shock +to her feelings: but she still felt that she had no right to encourage +hopes which must soon be broken; and she replied, "I am very happy, +dearest Marian, that you do think so; but is it not strange that he +should go thither, and be so long absent, without letting any one +know, when he must have felt that so many would be uneasy?" + +"It is strange," replied Marian; "but I think I can account for that. +I am about to tell you something, Isadore, which you must make what +use of you think fit, in case Colonel Manners has not found poor +Edward at Dewry Hall; but as it refers to matters which he might not +wish told to any one, you must ask me no more than I am inclined to +speak; and unless it be necessary, perhaps, had better not mention it +to any one but my aunt." + +"I will obey you to the letter, dear cousin," replied Isadore; "but I +foresee that you are going to speak of his visit to the gipsy, which, +indeed, surprised us all." + +"It is the cause of that visit I am about to tell you," answered +Marian; "for perhaps the facts connected with it may throw some light +on the business, if Edward be not at his father's. But you remember, +Isadore, that Colonel Manners went up yesterday morning to the +gipsies--I believe, because you teased him about them." + +"Yes, indeed, I believe it was one of my silly jests," replied +Isadore, with a sigh, "that made him go at all. I shall leave off +jesting for the future, Marian." + +"Nay, nay! never, Isadore!" replied Marian, shaking her head. +"However, Colonel Manners brought Edward down a letter from one of +them called Pharold, which distressed him a great deal; for it told +him things concerning our own family, and his part of it particularly, +which would be very terrible if true. He determined, after speaking to +me upon the matter, to go up to the common this morning, in order to +investigate the whole; and if he found any reason to believe that the +gipsy spoke the truth, his mind, I am sure, would be in such a state +that he would hardly know what he was doing. Under these +circumstances, it is very likely that he might go over at once to +inquire more of his father, without thinking of anything else in the +pain and anxiety of the moment." + +"No, Marian, depend upon it, he would think of you," cried Isadore, +somewhat incautiously. + +"I could easily forgive him for not doing so," replied Marian, +"notwithstanding all the pain I have suffered, if I could be sure that +he is safe at the Hall." + +"Pray God it maybe so!" replied Isadore; "and if it be, we shall +undoubtedly hear from Colonel Manners to-night." + +There was something so despairing in the tone with which Isadore +pronounced--"Pray God it may be so!" that Marian took alarm. +"Isadore," she said, looking at her steadily, "I hope you are not +deceiving me. Your heart is not one to be so easily cast down; your +lips, dear cousin, are not accustomed to such sad sounds. Tell me the +truth, Isadore, I beseech you. Have you heard anything of Edward?" + +"No, indeed, Marian!" replied Isadore, glad that she had put her +question in such a shape that she could give it a negative; and yet +hesitating a little at the utterance of one word approaching +insincerity, a vice that her mind had never known. "No, indeed," she +said, "no one has heard anything of him as yet." + +Marian marked her hesitation, however, and replied, in a low voice, "I +should always like to know the truth, Isadore; and I am sure you would +tell it me, dear cousin. You know how I love Edward; and I think it no +shame to acknowledge to you, Isadore, that I do not believe there ever +was a human being that loved another as I have loved him." She paused; +and though she knew that Isadore needed no new insight into her heart +to see how totally that heart was given to Edward de Vaux, yet, as she +spoke, the crimson came again into her cheeks, and mottled her brow +and temples, even to speak her love in the hearing of one who already +knew it so well. "Nevertheless, Isadore," she continued, "feeling +afraid of my own heart, and my own great happiness, I have schooled +myself to remember that the blessings of this world are anything but +permanent, and have prepared myself to say, if God should require me +to yield them, 'Thy will be done.' Of course, since Edward went into +active service, I have felt it the more necessary to be always thus +prepared; and though I have tried not to imbitter existence by +apprehensions, nor to keep myself in continual fear, I have +endeavoured never to forget that Almighty Wisdom may hourly require +sacrifices, at which we must not repine." + +"You are indeed a sweet creature!" cried Isadore, casting her arms +round her cousin's neck; "I wish that I were half as good!" Marian +leaned her brow upon her cousin's shoulder; and when Isadore again +looked at her, she found that Marian was weeping. + +In a few moments Marian wiped away her tears, and went on: "You will +think that, after boasting of all this preparation, I ought not to be +so overcome now--nor, indeed, so much as I was this morning; but the +truth is, when Edward returned, half my fears vanished. I thought that +all danger was over; and little remembered that he who had escaped +from battle and from storm, might be snatched from me in the bosom of +peace, and in his own home. But I am better now, Isadore, and firmer, +and stronger; and therefore I will beg you and my aunt to let me hear +at once everything that occurs; for though you are interested too, I +know, deeply and sincerely, yet you can neither of you feel as I do." + +"Perhaps that is the very reason, dear Marian," replied Isadore, "why +it would be better to keep from you all the rumours and reports, which +could only rack all your feelings with alternate hopes and fears, +without leading you even to any certain conclusion." + +"Oh, no!" said Marian; "no! let me hear all, Isadore! I am now again +prepared. I do not say that I shall not weep--I do not say that I +shall not be anxious--I do not say that I shall not tremble with hope +and fear: but I do say, Isadore, that the knowledge of whose hand it +is that guides the whole--and my firm, perfect, undoubting, +unchangeable belief that His will is mercy, and His way is wise--will +be my support and consolation to the end." + +"And I will never believe," said Isadore, warmly, "that He will leave +such confidence unrewarded and unprotected." + +"Oh, no!" answered Marian; and she then added, in a sadder tone, "But +He, seeing more wisely than we do, may yet think fit to afflict us, +Isadore. However, I am still prepared, and will meet whatever may +come, as little repining as I can." + +The conversation proceeded for some time in the same tone, nor was its +effect small in soothing the mind of her who suffered; for, in moments +of grief, the human heart forgets all the treasured consolations which +reason, and philosophy, and religion have garnered up in years of +tranquillity; and it is not till we examine the stores that we have +gathered that we remember the sources of comfort which we ourselves +possess. + +Marian then expressed her intention of rising, and begged Isadore to +send her maid from the dressing-room. Her cousin would fain have +dissuaded her; and proceeded to inform her mother of Marian's +intention of coming down to the drawing-room; but Mrs. Falkland did +not disapprove of the idea, especially when she learned from Isadore +the state of her niece's mind. "We must endeavour," she said, "to keep +any sudden tidings of evil from our poor Marian; but in other +respects, perhaps, occupation of any sort may do her good; for I know +too well, Isadore, that nothing can be worse than the fears and the +pains with which our own imagination fills up the interval of +suspense, when, alone and sleepless, we sit and watch away the weary +hours, till doubt and fear have grown into the too painful certainty." + +Marian was not long in following her cousin to the drawing-room; and +though a few tears rolled over her cheeks as Mrs. Falkland pressed her +to her bosom, she soon regained at least the appearance of composure. +By degrees she learned all that Colonel Manners had discovered, except +the indications which most strongly tended to confirm his +apprehensions for De Vaux; and she heard, also, all that he had done +towards obtaining further and more certain information. Marian, +however, inferred, from the measures that had been taken, that both +her aunt and Manners did entertain serious fears; and her heart sunk +to find her own alarm confirmed by that of persons so much more +thoroughly acquainted with the world than herself. Soon after she +had come down, the servant, who had been despatched to Mr. Arden, +returned with the tidings that he was absent from his own house, and +was not expected back till the next morning. Inquiries, too, were made +by the people who had been left to guard the wood, whether it were +necessary to keep up their patrol all night; and in Manners's absence, +Mrs. Falkland ordered it to be done at any expense. Many a rumour, +too, of many a likely and many an unlikely occurrence, reached the +drawing-room through the old butler, who, with one other man-servant, +had been retained in the house while the rest had been despatched to +reinforce the people on watch round the wood. + +Thus passed the evening, but no tidings arrived from Colonel Manners; +and as minute after minute and hour after hour went by after the +period which they calculated might have brought them the news of De +Vaux's being at his father's house, the hopes of all the party sunk +lower and more low, and at a late hour Mrs. Falkland persuaded Marian +again to go to bed. + +Sleep, indeed, visited Morley House but little during that night; and +the next morning early, a note was received from Colonel Manners, +informing Mrs. Falkland that nothing as yet had been heard of De Vaux. +So far Mrs. Falkland communicated the tidings she had received to +Marian, before she had risen; and, notwithstanding all the fortitude +she had endeavoured to assume, and the most careful guard she had been +enabled to put upon her heart, yet Marian had so far encouraged hopes +which now suffered disappointment, that medical aid was again obliged +to be called; and it was judged expedient once more to dull her sense +of grief and fear by strong opiates. The latter part of Colonel +Manners's communication, which spoke in plain terms of the murder of +poor De Vaux, Mrs. Falkland did not, of course, read to her unhappy +niece. In it, however, he informed her, that when he arrived at Dewry +Hall, he had found measures already in progress for arresting the +supposed murderers upon another charge, and had waited to know the +result. They had proved, unfortunately, without effect, he said; as no +one had been taken but a lad, from whom he was afraid little +satisfactory information was likely to be gained: but still it was his +purpose, he added, to go over to Dimden with Lord Dewry, previous to +returning to Morley House, in order to hear personally what evidence +could be extracted from the prisoner. In conclusion, he recommended, +if Mr. Arden had not taken measures for searching the wood in which +the gipsy had been seen, before his letter arrived, that such a step +should be resorted to directly; as the messenger who brought the news +of the affray at Dimden had not been able to say whether Pharold were +present or not. + +After the receipt of this letter, Mrs. Falkland waited anxiously for +the arrival of Mr. Arden; but it was late ere he came. He then asked +eagerly what further discoveries had been made, and Mrs. Falkland +communicated to him the substance of Colonel Manners's letter. The old +gentleman, whose heart was warm and kind, notwithstanding a certain +degree of severity of manner, and a persevering adherence to the +letter of the law, which often made him appear harsh and unfeeling, +sympathized truly with De Vaux's family; and spoke of Marian, and the +state of bereavement and distress into which her cousin's loss must +have cast her, with words of tenderness and pity which brought a +bright drop or two even into his own eyes. He then touched as +delicately as his nature permitted upon the subject of Lord Dewry's +letter to him, which he had received that morning; and triumphed a +little in the accuracy of the opinion he had formerly given in regard +to Pharold the gipsy being the real murderer of Mrs. Falkland's late +brother. + +Mrs. Falkland started, and combated the idea with various arguments, +which had been satisfactory to her own mind at the time. Mr. Arden, +however, informed her, that in his letter of that morning, Lord Dewry +had asserted, that he had acquired positive proofs of the gipsy's +guilt; and Mrs. Falkland was silent, but not convinced. That Pharold, +either in some fierce dispute, or in some accidental affray, might +have killed her unfortunate nephew, or that his companions might have +done so, without his will or concurrence, Mrs. Falkland did not doubt: +but she had heard too much of his character and behaviour in youth to +believe that, twenty years before, when he was still a young man, he +could have been so hardened in guilt as, for the purpose of paltry +plunder, to take the life of the only man for whom, with the exception +of his own tribe, he had shown affection. For Lord Dewry's fierce +accusation on the present occasion, she accounted easily by a +knowledge of his character, and conceived it very possible that the +rage and hatred which he felt at the very idea of the gipsy having +murdered his son, might make him regard as proof positive any slight +additional suspicions which he had found cause to form against Pharold +in regard to his brother's death. However, as she took no pleasure in +speaking of her brother's weaknesses, she made no answer; and Mr. +Arden began his proceedings for the purpose of causing the wood in +which Colonel Manners imagined he had seen Pharold to be so thoroughly +searched as to ascertain, beyond a doubt, whether the gipsy still +remained in it or not. + +As all those who have attempted to search a wood must know the task is +not an easy one; and before a sufficient number of people could be +collected, and all the orders and directions could be given, it was +late in the day. As the men, however, who had kept patrol for so many +hours were now weary of the task, and there existed many doubts +whether any inducement would make them undertake it during another +night, there was no possibility of delaying the search till the +following morning; and Mr. Arden accordingly set out, taking as many +of Mrs. Falkland's servants with him as could by any means be spared, +in order to make their proceedings as effectual as the short remaining +space of daylight permitted. + +During his absence Mrs. Falkland and her daughter remained in that +painful and exciting state of suspense in which every minute has its +expectation, and every minute its fear; and as Marian still slept, +Isadore walked out into the garden, in hopes of finding some +refreshment in the cool air of the autumn evening. When she had passed +about half through the garden, with her eyes turning mechanically from +time to time upon the flowers, but with her thoughts far otherwise +occupied, she perceived a boy of about ten years of age, who worked +under the gardeners, approaching her, cap in hand. + +"Please, miss," he said, "I think I have found out something." + +"And pray, what have you discovered, Harry?" demanded Isadore, as he +paused. + +"Why, ma'am," answered the boy, "I heard the gentleman yesterday, and +all the folks, indeed, talking of footsteps, and asking where there +were any to be seen, in sorts of unlikely places--" + +"And have you found any?" exclaimed Isadore, speaking eagerly, from +some of those vague, and often fallacious anticipations which rush +upon the mind in thousands when it is excited by any strongly-moving +cause. + +"Why, yes, ma'am, you see," replied the boy; "the gardener, when he +was going away to search the wood, sent me down to the other side of +the park to cut some box for the borders; and by the little door close +by the river, which has not been opened these two years, I saw the +marks of a gentleman's foot in the gravel, which is softish down on +that walk, and greenish, too, for it ha'nt been turned this autumn." + +"But how do you know it was a gentleman's foot?" demanded Isadore. "It +might be either the gardener's, or the under-gardener's, or the +gamekeeper's, for anything you know, Harry." + +"No, no, miss," answered the boy; "I know it was a gentleman's, for +they have little feet, and this was not bigger than mine; and it was +not a woman's foot, because the heel was different." + +"And a boy's?" said Isadore; "why might it not be a boy's?" The youth +rubbed his head, saying, "It might be a boy's, miss; but I do not +think it, miss, any how: I am sure it was a gentleman's--quite sure." + +Isadore endeavoured to discover the grounds of this certainty; but +when people whose ideas are not very clear upon a subject are pressed +by those who would fain help them to disentangle the ravelled skein of +their thoughts, they not unfrequently take refuge in a sort of blank +stolidity, which prevents others from finding out the causes that they +themselves are not able to explain. Such was the case in the present +instance, and the only answer that Isadore could obtain to her +questions, shape them how she would, was, that he--the boy--was sure +that the footmarks were those of a gentleman. + +With these tidings, however, with every willingness in the world to +believe that they were true, and with a long train of phantom hopes to +boot, Miss Falkland returned to her mother, taking the boy to the +house with her. Mrs. Falkland listened with attention, and replied +that it would be at least worth while to send down the old butler +directly, to ascertain the facts more precisely. + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake, do not send him, mamma!" exclaimed Isadore. +"He is so fond of miracles, that he will declare it is the foot of an +elephant. We shall never come at the truth from him." + +"But whom can I send, then?" demanded her mother. "All the other +servants are away; and both the gardener and under-gardener are with +Mr. Arden." + +"I will go myself, mamma," replied Isadore. "I shall have plenty of +time to get there and back before it is dark; and I will take the boy +with me to show me the place." + +"You are right, Isadore," replied Mrs. Falkland: "the fact may be of +no importance, but it may be of much; and, consequently, it is worth +our own examination. I will go with you, my love, if Marian be still +asleep. Wait one moment, and we will go and judge together." + +Mrs. Falkland was not long absent. Marian was still lying overpowered +with the opium; and the two ladies, having joined the boy in the hall, +set out upon the search. While her mother was absent, however, Isadore +called her own maid, and stationed her at one of the windows, whence +she could see the spot to which the boy referred, and the path leading +to it. She gave her also directions to remain there, and, in case of +either Mrs. Falkland or herself making a signal, to send or come down +to them in all haste. "I feel a sort of presentiment," thought +Isadore, as she gave the orders, "that this expedition will end in +something of importance." + +Whatever it was likely to end in, the maid obeyed her orders as +punctually as such orders generally are obeyed; that is to say, she +remained two minutes at the window; and having seen Mrs. Falkland and +Isadore walk about a hundred steps upon the path, she thought, "Dear +me! I can just get the cap I was trimming, and be back again here long +before they are at the other side of the park." But, as she crossed +the hall, she met with the old butler, who detained her just to ask +her where his mistress and Miss Falkland were gone; and then told her +a story, which he had heard when he was young, and the incidents of +which were very like those connected with the fate of poor Mr. Edward +de Vaux. Every hair on the maid's head stood on end, and gave her so +much occupation, that, ere she could get back to her post, it was too +dark to trim the cap any further; she therefore, immediately and +punctually, turned her eyes on the spot which her mistress had +directed her to observe, and watched most carefully, now that she +could see nothing at that distance. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +Isadore and Mrs. Falkland, in the meantime, took the little path +towards the brink of the river, in the immediate neighbourhood of +which lay the spot where the boy had remarked the footsteps. Mrs. +Falkland had lived too long in the great school of disappointment, +human life, to suffer her expectations to be greatly excited; but +Isadore, with a spirit naturally more enthusiastic, and as yet +unchastened by any deep sorrows, felt her heart beat high, and her +hopes struggle up against her fears, as she set out to take a more +active part than she had hitherto been able to assume in the search +for her cousin. The path wound along through the park, meandering +considerably, perhaps in conformity to the taste of some ancient layer +out of parks, or perhaps in consequence of the usual roundabout and +circuitous nature of man's paths. Isadore, like all ardent minds, was +tempted to make a more direct way for herself across the lawns; but +Mrs. Falkland, in a more practical spirit, remembered that the grass +was damp, and that it was not worth while to wet her feet for the +purpose of saving half a minute. She adhered, therefore, to the +gravel; and, as her more venturous daughter met with a little swamp +occasioned by a spring, which obliged her to go round, they arrived at +the spot they sought about the same time. + +The spot itself, however, needs some description, and, indeed, it has +been already described once before, with a special injunction to the +reader to remember all the points and bearings which were then +detailed. However, lest memory should be treacherous, we will once +more take a view of the scene, as it was presented to the eyes of Mrs. +Falkland and her daughter, who were at that moment looking exactly +west-north-west. Before them was a little shrubbery of evergreens and +indigenous plants, kept as low as possible, so as just to hide the +wall of the park, against which it rested, and yet not to cut off from +the windows of the house a beautiful rocky bank, which rose on the +other side of the wall to the height of a great number of feet. This +bank formed one of the faces of a small wooded promontory, or rather +peninsula, which was joined on to the hills by a narrow neck, over +which the high-road passed after having skirted the other wall of the +grounds. It was surrounded everywhere but at that point by the river. +The summit was covered with rich wood; and down the sides also, in +every place where the rock did not rise up abrupt and bare, a thousand +various trees and shrubs had rooted themselves in the clefts and +crevices, or towered up like pinnacles from the top of every detached +fragment, and overhung the calm, still bend of the river, which served +as a mirror to all the beauties round about it. The setting sun, with +his lower limb just resting on the western hills, was pouring a flood +of splendour down the valley of the stream; and his full light +bursting upon the face of the rock to the left of Mrs. Falkland and +Isadore, found its way round in bright catches of purple light, +illuminating every tree and angle of the rock that stood forward +before the rest. + +Pouring on, too, the beams streamed down the little footway which--cut +through the low shrubbery to a door in the wall--led out to another +path running from the high-road to the river, between the park and the +cliff; and by the clear light thus afforded it was easy to see the +marks of which the boy had spoken. They seemed to have been made by +some one coming from the grass on the side of the river upon the soft +gravel of the path, and had turned suddenly towards the door, where +they disappeared, as if the person had passed through. They were +small, too, as the boy had described, and were evidently not a +woman's; but neither Mrs. Falkland nor Isadore were sufficiently well +acquainted with De Vaux's footprints to feel anything like certainty +concerning them. It were vain to deny, however, that the hopes of both +were raised, though Heaven knows those hopes were vague and indistinct +enough. Had either Mrs. Falkland or Isadore been asked what they +expected to find, they would probably have answered, "Edward de Vaux;" +but had they been required to assign a reason for such expectations, +to account for his absence, or to point out any principle upon which +he could have abandoned the society of those he loved, and yet linger +in their neighbourhood, they would have been embarrassed for a reply. +But affection does not pause to argue. Hope, too, is ever most +powerful when she triumphs over reason, and, though it may seem a +paradox, expectation is never so vivid as when we know not what we +expect. Hope, then, as bright as sunshine, but as vague and undefined +as that sunshine when it streams through the morning mist, was lighted +up by the sight of those footsteps. As Mrs. Falkland gazed on them, +and traced them distinctly to the door, she exclaimed, "How very +stupid it was of me not to bring the key!" + +"I have a key, ma'am," said the boy, groping in the pocket of his +jacket; and producing it accordingly, he advanced to the door and +opened it. Mrs. Falkland now looked eagerly for more traces; but none +were to be seen close to the door, though the ground was composed of a +reddish sort of sand, which would easily have taken the print of even +a light foot. At the distance, however, of about five feet were to be +seen two deep marks of the same kind, but close together, with the +heels more profoundly indented in the sand than the front of the foot; +and it became evident that some one had leaped from the top of the +wall. This was made still clearer, when, turning back, Mrs. Falkland +examined the door, on the top of the lock of which several patches of +gravel had been left by the foot of some one who had taken that means +to reach the summit of the wall. In the mean time Isadore was eagerly +tracing on the footprints, which led straight from the deeper marks to +the bank; and on one of the large stones close by the river, she soon +found the impression of a foot in red sand stamped upon the green +mould with which the fragment of rock was covered. + +"Here, mamma, here," cried Isadore. "He must have passed here, and +that since the rain of last night, too; for if you look, the marks are +quite sharp, while some old ones going down towards the water are +nearly washed away. I should not wonder if he were here now." + +"Hark!" said Mrs. Falkland; "did you not hear a noise above there?" + +They listened, but all was silent; and at length Mrs. Falkland added, +"We have done wrong, my love, in not bringing more people with us, +even if they were but women. The wood is so small and so shut in by +the river that it might be searched easily." + +"Send the boy back to the house, mamma!" cried Isadore, quickly: "he +can bring down the butler, and probably some of the others may have +returned. We can remain here, and watch till they come." + +"But, Isadore," said Mrs. Falkland, gravely, "it is growing dusk and +late, and the place is lonely and obscure: I do not see any good that +two women can do here alone." + +"Oh, Harry will be back in a moment, mamma," cried her daughter; "and, +besides, nobody could hurt us. Any one on the high-road would hear a +scream from this place." + +Mrs. Falkland still hesitated; but Isadore continued eagerly,--"I will +tell you how we can manage it then, so that there can be no danger. +Send him back for the people, and you go into the park to the little +mound; there you can see the high-road quite across the point." + +"But I will not leave you here alone, my love," cried Mrs. Falkland, +in some surprise at the proposal: "indeed I cannot think of doing +that." + +"But, mamma, I have been here a hundred times alone before," replied +Isadore; "and, besides, what I mean is, to get up to that little point +where Marian and I have sat many a day. When I am there, you will be +able both to see me and to hear me if I speak to you; and if any +danger were really to happen, I could make the people with the cattle +in the opposite meadow hear me, while you could also make them see or +hear you from the house; and I set Charlotte at the window to watch." + +Mrs. Falkland still hesitated; but Isadore continued rapidly, "Run, +Harry, up to the house as fast as ever you can go; bring down Mr. +Gibson and any of the men you can find, and do not lose a minute." + +"I am afraid that this is not very prudent, Isadore," said Mrs. +Falkland, as the boy ran off like lightning; "but I suppose your plan +is the best one to follow now that he is gone. I will turn back to the +mound then, while you go up there. But if the boy does not return +before the twilight grows thicker, come down, by all means." + +"I will come down whenever you tell me, mamma," said Isadore; "and I +can hear everything you say at the mound." + +Without more words, then, Mrs. Falkland hastened to take up her +station at a little rising ground in the park, from the summit of +which she could see, not only the whole of that part of the high-road +which crossed the neck of the little promontory, but also the extreme +angle of the cliff above the river. Isadore, in the meanwhile, climbed +up by a steep and somewhat rugged path, which had been made at her +request some years before, to a small point of rock which commanded a +view both up and down the river, and afforded one of the most +picturesque landscapes, on either side, that the country possessed. + +The height was not more than ten or twelve feet above the stream, and +the distance from the mound in the park not a hundred yards, so that +any one speaking in a loud voice could be heard from one spot to the +other. The ascent, however, while it continued, was steep, and +Isadore's heart beat when she reached the top--nor, perhaps, was it +the exercise alone that made it palpitate. Although she had not +displayed any fear, she was not without some slight degree of alarm; +and felt not a little of that sort of excitement and agitation which +is not indeed fear, but which often produces very similar effects. She +looked back as soon as she reached the point of the rock, but Mrs. +Falkland was not yet in sight. Another instant, however, brought her +mother to the top of the mound, and Isadore demanded, "You can see the +high-road, mamma, can you not?" + +Mrs. Falkland did not at first distinguish what her daughter had said, +and Isadore repeated the question. Not that in this inquiry she was at +all influenced by fear, although it might appear so; but, in truth, +Isadore's eagerness to send back the boy for aid, and remain upon the +watch, had originated in a little stroke of strategy which was not +ill-conceived, considering that it sprang from the brain of a young +lady. + +That there was some one in the wood above them Miss Falkland was quite +convinced; and to ascertain who it was she knew was a great object at +the time being. It had instantly struck her, therefore, that, by +dividing their forces, her mother taking up a position on the little +mound, whence she could see along the whole of the high-road, and down +a considerable portion of the little lane under the wall, while she, +Isadore, placed herself on the point which commanded a view of two +other sides of the promontory, no one could well escape from the wood +without coming under the eyes of one or the other of the fair +watchers. She did forget, it is true, that, supposing the fugitive to +be a man, and that man not her cousin Edward de Vaux, neither herself +nor her mother were the least capable of making him stay, and that +their hunt might very likely end, while the boy was absent, like a +famous hunt of yore, in the catching a Tartar. A vague sort of +consciousness, it is true, that such might be the case, impressed +itself upon her mind as she climbed to the little point above the +river; but still her first question was directed to ascertain whether +their line of watch was, as she hoped, secure and complete. + +She repeated her inquiry then, in a louder tone, and Mrs. Falkland +replied, "Oh, yes, I can see to the river on the other side. But, +indeed, Isadore, it is growing very dark. I can scarcely distinguish +the house." + +Isadore still lingered, however; for the spot where she stood, looking +eastward, caught more light than the rest of the scene. She thought +she heard a slight rustling sound, too, above her, as of some one +creeping through the bushes; and it must be confessed that her heart +beat violently. Although, in truth, she now began to think her scheme +a little rash, yet curiosity and anxiety for her cousin's fate still +kept her where she stood. The next moment, however, she saw some one, +indistinctly, pass through the bushes on the edge of the higher part +of the bank, and imagination did much to persuade her that she +recognised the figure. + +"Oh, mamma," she exclaimed, "I see him, I see him!" but the figure was +instantly lost behind some more trees. It was evidently still passing +on to the eastward, as if to escape in that direction, for the +branches rustled as it forced its way through; and Isadore took two +steps back to catch another sight of it as it passed before a bare +facing of rock at the extreme point. At that moment there was a sudden +rush through the brushwood; and ere Isadore could see that it was +nothing more than a fragment of rock given way under the foot of the +person above, she started back, thinking that it was he himself +springing down upon her, lost her footing on the edge of the bank, +and, with a shrill scream, fell over into the river. + +Mrs. Falkland shrieked also, and rushed forward to the stream; but the +height from which Isadore had fallen had caused her instantly to sink, +and nothing was to be seen by the mother's eye but the clear +glistening expanse of the water, with the reflection of the cliffs, +and trees, and banks, and of the fading purple of the sky, broken by a +thousand rippling circles, where her child had disappeared. With the +loud, piercing, thrilling cry of maternal agony, she shrieked again +and again; and, as she did so, springing from rock to rock, with the +swiftness and certainty of a wild goat, appeared the figure which +Isadore had seen above her. He stood for a single moment on the spot +whence she had fallen, and then exclaimed to Mrs. Falkland, below, +"Where is she, woman? where is she?" + +"There, there!" cried Mrs. Falkland, pointing to the spot; but as she +spoke a bit of white drapery floated up to the top of the water, a +little farther down the stream. Pharold paused no longer, but leaped +from the bank--sank--rose again--and in the next moment, with his +left arm round the slender waist of Isadore Falkland, and her head +thrown back upon his shoulder, he struck with his right towards the +margin, where the soft, meadowy sloping of the park afforded an easy +landing-place. There, springing on shore, he laid his fair burden on +the grass, but she was pale, and moved not; and Mrs. Falkland gazing +with agony on the colourless countenance of her daughter, wrung her +hands, exclaiming, "Isadore! Isadore! she is dead! oh, she is dead!" + +"No, lady," said Pharold, kneeling down, and looking intently upon the +fair face before him--"no, lady! she is not dead, nor has the water +had any effect on her. That is not the face of a drowned person. She +must have fainted through fear, and will soon recover." + +"For God's sake, then, help me, sir, to bear her to the house," cried +Mrs. Falkland; "do not, do not hesitate. You who have rendered us such +infinite service, do not pause there, but make it complete by bringing +her to a place where she may be recalled to life." + +"What!" cried the gipsy, "to be taken and thrust into a prison! Do you +not know that they are pursuing me on a charge of murder--pursuing me +as if I were a wolf? Have you not, yourself, been sending out men to +take the murderer Pharold?" + +Mrs. Falkland had forgot all other fears in her fears for her +daughter; but as Pharold suddenly recalled them, she involuntarily +drew a step back, and gazed on him with terror; but it required +scarcely the thought of an instant to make her remember that he had +saved the life--at least she trusted so--of her only child; that he +had risked his own existence to rescue a perfect stranger, and she +exclaimed, boldly, "No, no! I will never believe it! You are not--you +cannot be guilty. But we waste time--we waste the moments that may +save my child. For pity's sake, for God's sake, aid me to carry her +home. I have sent, but I see no one coming--they may be long--she may +be lost ere they arrive. If you will come," she added, seeing the +gipsy still hesitate, "I promise you that you shall go free, and well +rewarded,--you shall be as safe as if you were in your own house." + +"House!" exclaimed the gipsy; "I have no house! but I will believe +you, lady--I will trust you;" and taking Isadore once more in his +arms, he strode rapidly and powerfully forward, followed at the same +quick pace by Mrs. Falkland. + +He took not the way across the green, however, believing that he might +there be met by the servants, and his retreat cut off; but passing +through the low shrubberies, which were almost as near, he walked on +towards the house in silence. Every moment the light was becoming less +and less, but he threaded the walks as if he had known them from +boyhood, and took all the shortest cuts to abridge the way. At length, +however, he paused for an instant, and turning to Mrs. Falkland, he +said, in a low voice, "She revives! I feel her breath upon my face!" + +"Thank God! thank God!" replied her mother, in the same low tone; and +the gipsy then abruptly added, as he resumed his way, "You believe me +innocent, then." + +"I do, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland; "I cannot believe a person +guilty of a cool, deliberate murder, who could so boldly and +generously risk his own life to save that of a fellow-creature,--it is +not in human nature." + +"It is not, indeed," replied Pharold, still striding on; "but why then +did you send out men to hunt me as you would a wolf?" + +"I sent them not out," she answered; "but when they went, I, too, +thought that you might be guilty." + +"The memory of your brother," said Pharold, "the memory of him who +loved me, and whom I loved as I have never loved any other man, should +have made you think differently. Was he a man to love one whose nature +led him to deeds of blood?" + +"He was not, indeed," answered Mrs. Falkland; "but they charge you +with his death, too." + +"Ha!" cried Pharold, in a tone of unfeigned astonishment--"ha! that, +then, is the well prepared, long-digested lie, is it? That they should +accuse me of the gamekeeper's death I thought natural--though I would +have given a limb to save him. That they suspected me of Edward de +Vaux's, I heard without surprise; for men are always the fools of +circumstances, and there were circumstances against me: but that, +after twenty years, they should accuse me of the death of him that I +loved more than any other thing but liberty, I did not think that +villany and impudence could bring about,--and did you believe that, +too?" + +"No," replied Mrs. Falkland, very willing, by speaking the exact +truth, to sooth the irritated mind of a man who had just rendered her +so inestimable a service--"no, I did not believe it; and as soon as +the charge was made in my hearing, I expressed my disbelief of it +entirely." + +"So, so!" said the gipsy, "there is some justice left! Lady, when you +were four years old, I have carried you in these arms, as I now carry +your daughter; and I thank you, at this late hour, for doing justice +to one who was loved by those who loved you. No, no; I am not a +murderer; and never believe it, whatever they may say." + +They were now coming near the house; and Mrs. Falkland, with fears for +Isadore somewhat relieved, would fain have asked the fate of her +nephew; but at that moment the gipsy spoke again; and though, from the +shadow cast by the trees of the shrubbery, she could not see in which +way his eyes were directed, the tone of his voice, as well as the +words themselves, showed her that he was addressing her daughter. "Be +not afraid, lady, be not afraid," he said: "you are quite safe, though +in hands that you know not; your mother is behind: lean your head on +my shoulder, and keep quite still." + +"Are you there, mamma?" said a faint voice, that went thrilling +through all the innermost windings of Mrs. Falkland's heart. "Yes, my +beloved Isadore; yes, my dearest child," replied the mother, "I am +here, close beside you; and, thank God, you are quite safe!" + +"Hush!" said the gipsy, "hush! If I am seen, I am lost, remember; and +keep silence, if you feel that I have served you." + +"Inestimably," replied Mrs. Falkland, in a low tone; and the gipsy, +now emerging from the shrubbery, crossed a part of the lawn that lay +between the angle of the wood and the house. + +In the gray of the evening, a party of two or three persons might now +be seen, though indistinctly, following the open path, about half-way +across the park towards the cliff. But though he turned his eyes in +that direction, the gipsy took no further notice of them; and, +approaching the house, directed his course towards a glass door which +led out from a small breakfast-parlour upon the lawn. Mrs. Falkland +took a step or two forward, and opened the door; and Pharold carried +Isadore up the steps into the room, and placed her in safety upon a +sofa. + +Her first action was to hold out her arms to her mother, with all that +flood of gratitude, and tenderness, and joy flowing from her heart, +which we feel on being restored to "this pleasing, anxious being," +after having thought that we were quitting for ever the warm precincts +of the cheerful day. Mrs. Falkland caught her to her bosom, and, +locked in each other's arms, they wept as if they had lost a friend. + +Well may philosophers say, that man never knows what joy is till he +has tasted sorrow. Isadore and her mother had loved each other through +life, without one of those petty rivalries, either for authority or +admiration, without one of those jarrings of different purposes and +opposing wishes which sometimes sap the affection of child and parent. +They had loved each other through life dearly, and they knew it; but +they did not know how dearly, till fate had nearly placed the barrier +of the grave between them, and Isadore, safe and rescued, held her +mother, weeping, in her arms. Who can explain such tears? Who can tell +why the same drops which flow from pain or sorrow should be companions +of the brightest joy? For who can trace the workings of the fine +immortal essence within us, in its operations on the frail, weak +tabernacle of earth in which it is enshrined? + +However, they wept, and wept in silence; for both felt the bosom too +full for speech, and both, from the still oratory of the heart, +offered up thanks to God for the joy and relief of that moment. Nor +was their happiness unfelt by him to whom, under the Almighty, it was +owing. The gipsy stood and gazed upon them, with his arms crossed upon +his chest, and the light of internal satisfaction glistening in his +eye. There was something in the scene before him, and in those who +were the actors therein, which connected itself with the long, long +past; which woke up the memories of many a year, and which called up a +thousand thrilling sensations that long had slept. But he had neither +time nor inclination to let his mind rest upon all that chaos of +pleasures, and regrets, and wishes, and hopes, and sorrows, and +disappointments, which, when memory, awakened from her sleep, draws +back the veil from the past, is presented to the eyes of every one who +has lived an energetic and stirring existence. While one might count a +hundred, perhaps, he paused, and gazed upon Mrs. Falkland and her +daughter, giving way to the purest feelings of human affection, and +suffered his thoughts to wander wildly over the years gone by; but +then, starting from his revery, he remembered that he must depart. + +"Lady, I go," he said. "May God bless you and yours, and send you +ever, at your moment of need, one as willing and as able to help you +as the gipsy has shown himself." + +"Stay, stay one moment," said Mrs. Falkland. "You must not, indeed, +leave my house unrewarded for the infinite service you have rendered +me." + +"I am rewarded already, lady," he said; "I am rewarded by what I have +seen, I am rewarded by what I have felt, I am rewarded by knowing that +there is one at least that can do justice, in her own heart, even to a +gipsy. Lady, I must go: my stay is dangerous. Fare you well." + +At that moment, however, there was a powerful hand laid upon his +shoulder, and as he turned quickly round, he found himself faced by +Colonel Manners, who still kept his hold of the gipsy's collar and +shoulder, notwithstanding the sudden jerk he gave himself. + +"You are my prisoner," said Manners, sternly. "Surrender at once, for +resistance is in vain." + +"Doubtless, doubtless," answered the gipsy, bitterly. "I have fallen +into the trap, and it is useless to writhe. Oh, God of heaven! how +often have I sworn never again to do a service to any of these human +worms; for, if not punished by their own base ingratitude, some other +evil is sure to follow, as if thou hadst sworn vengeance on every one +that did an act of kindness to their outcast race!" + +"You shall not suffer, however, for your service to me," said Mrs. +Falkland, advancing. "I have pledged you my word, and I will redeem +it.--Colonel Manners," she continued, "listen to me for one moment: +this man has, within this quarter of an hour, saved my daughter's +life, at the risk of his own." + +"Indeed!" cried Colonel Manners. "May I ask how? I trust Miss Falkland +is not hurt." + +"No, not at all, I believe," replied Mrs. Falkland. "She fell from the +bank into the stream--sunk before my eyes, Colonel Manners; and had it +not been for his instant aid, she would have been now no more." + +"I am most delighted, indeed, to hear of her escape," replied Manners; +"and would to God it had been my fate to render her the assistance, +instead of this person, for I should then have avoided a most painful +duty. But, indeed, my dear madam, as it is--" + +"Nay, say not a word more, Colonel Manners," interrupted Mrs. +Falkland, "but hear my story out. He saved my daughter from the +stream; he swam with her to land; but she was without sense or motion. +I had nobody with me to help me, and I besought him, for the sake of +Heaven, to do what my strength was, of course, not sufficient to +perform, and to bear her home. He then told me his name; informed me +that people were hunting him like a wolf among the woods; and asked if +I could expect him to venture into the very midst of his enemies. I +plighted my word for his safety--I promised him by every thing sacred +that he should meet no impediment in quitting my dwelling; and upon +that promise alone he came." + +"I am sorry, my dear madam," answered Manners, calmly, but gravely, +"that such a promise can only be binding upon yourself. Did it involve +merely an act of politeness, of friendship, or of personal sacrifice, +I would do anything in my power to oblige you: but there is a higher +duty calls upon me than either courtesy or friendship, and I must obey +its voice. I have a duty to perform towards the laws of my country--I +have a duty to my dead friend; and, at any risk and all risks, I must +and will obey it. I wish, with all my heart, that I had met this man +anywhere but here; but wherever I meet him, I am not only empowered, +but bound, by every principle of law and justice, to arrest him." + +"Is there either law or justice, then, in arresting an innocent man?" +demanded the stern voice of the gipsy. + +"Of your innocence or guilt the law has still to decide," replied +Manners. "An accusation of the gravest kind has been made against you, +circumstances of strong suspicion have already been discovered to +justify the charge. If you be guilty, it is but fit you should be +punished; and if you be innocent, doubt not that you shall have equal +justice." + +"I did not expect this from you, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland, +bitterly. "Have you no regard, sir, to my plighted word? Have you no +consideration for my honour? I have used entreaties, sir; but I now +insist that he shall go; and, if necessary, I will call my servants +and make them set him free. He has saved my daughter's life, Colonel +Manners; he has come hither in my service, at my prayer, and upon my +promise of safety; and if he had killed my brother, he shall go hence +unimpeded." + +"Madam, I believe you risk that supposition without a suspicion that +it may be true," answered Manners. "But I must now inform you, that +one of the principal charges against this man is the very fact of +having murdered your late brother." + +"And the charge is false, Colonel Manners," answered Mrs. Falkland, +vehemently. "Whatever he may be now,--whatever he may have become +since,--he was not then a man to shed blood, much less the blood of +his friend and benefactor. He could have no motive but lucre, and that +motive was wanting; for from my brother he might have had whatever +sums he required. Nay, more, I have often heard my brother declare, +that he would not take what he offered. But, as I have said, Colonel +Manners, all other considerations apart, my word is pledged, and he +_shall_ go free." + +"Noble heart! noble heart!" cried the gipsy. "On my hand rests not one +drop of innocent blood, as there is a God above the stars! Neither do +I fear death nor dread inquiry; but my liberty is more than my life, +and what should I do, for months, a prisoner among stone walls and the +vermin of the earth! He talks boldly of arresting me now, when he has +got me here with dozens at his back; but let him take me five hundred +yards hence, where I was ere I carried your daughter hither,--let him +take me to the wood, or the bare hill side, where there are no odds +against me,--and then, strong as he thinks himself, let him arrest me +if he can." + +Mrs. Falkland was going to speak again; and might, perhaps, have +spoken angrily, for she was less calm than usual: but at that moment +Isadore's voice made itself heard, though but faintly. "Colonel +Manners," she said, "Colonel Manners, speak with me for a moment." +Manners looked towards her as she lay on the sofa at the other side of +the room; and he felt that to hear what she had to say distinctly he +must, by going nearer, release the gipsy from the grasp which he still +continued to maintain upon his collar. He felt also, what perhaps +Isadore had at her heart felt too, that her voice was likely to have +more effect with him than that of any one else; and as Manners had a +strong inclination to do his duty rigidly, he somewhat feared her +persuasions. However, he could not, of course, refuse to comply; +but to guard against his prisoner's escape, he instantly locked both +the doors of the little breakfast-room ere he approached her. He +then--seeing the gipsy stand calmly with his folded arms, as if +prepared to wait his decision--drew near, and bending down his head, +"I am most happy, indeed," he said, "that you have not suffered any +injury." + +"And yet you would ruin the person who saved me," said Isadore; "but +do not reason with me, Colonel Manners, for I have neither strength +nor wit to contend with you. I want to persuade, not to convince you." + +"That is what I am most afraid of," answered Manners with a smile. + +"Do not be afraid," said Isadore, "but listen. Do you think, Colonel +Manners, that a man who could murder Edward de Vaux would risk his own +life to save Edward's cousin?" + +"It is strange, certainly," answered Manners, "but--" + +"Do you think, then," continued Isadore, interrupting him, "that a man +who felt himself guilty of murder would go voluntarily to the midst of +the friends and relations of the person he had killed, solely for the +purpose of carrying home a poor girl that he had just saved from +drowning? Your murderers, Colonel Manners, must be curious +characters." + +Could Isadore have beheld the face of her hearer distinctly, she would +have seen that his cheek glowed a little with something like shame; +but he answered, "I did not say, my dear Miss Falkland, that I thought +him guilty. I only said, that the law required me to keep him a +prisoner till he had proved his innocence." + +"Well, then, Colonel Manners," rejoined Isadore, "since you do not +think him guilty--and I know you do not--since there is every reason +to think him innocent--since mamma has plighted her word--since he has +saved my life--since he came hither solely to aid me--you must let him +go, indeed you must--" + +Manners hesitated, and looked doubtfully at the gipsy, as he stood, +dark and shadowy, with his arms still crossed upon his bosom, and his +eyes bent upon the ground. Isadore saw that a word more would conquer; +and though her heart fluttered and her voice trembled to think how +important that word might, perhaps, become at some future time, she +made up her mind and spoke it, though in so low a tone that it fell on +no other ear but his for whom it was intended. "Colonel Manners," she +said, "you must let him go, indeed you must--" the words she added +were, "for my sake!" + +Manners was embarrassed in every way. Who shall say what he would, or +what he would not have done "for the sake" of Isadore Falkland? but +that was not all--had he really believed the gipsy guilty, he would +have had no hesitation; but he did not believe him guilty. The manner +in which Mrs. Falkland repelled the idea of his being the murderer of +her brother was enough to make Colonel Manners entertain many doubts +on a subject where his convictions had never been very strong; and the +fact of the gipsy having saved Isadore's life at the risk of his own, +and carried her home at the risk of arrest, were so irreconcilable +with his guilt, that Manners began to doubt too in regard to the +murder of De Vaux. He knew, undoubtedly, that he himself was not the +person called upon to judge; but still, of course, his conviction of +Pharold's guilt or innocence made a great difference in the degree of +eagerness with which he sought to apprehend him. + +But there were still several other motives for hesitation, when once +he began to doubt. He felt that Mrs. Falkland was perfectly right in +asserting, in every way, the inviolability of the promise she had made +to the gipsy--he felt that the gipsy had a right to expect that it +would be kept. He knew, also, that if Mrs. Falkland chose to call her +servants, and order the liberation of the gipsy, in all probability +any attempt to detain him would be in vain; and he was conscious, too, +that in making the attempt, he was acting, at least, a very ungracious +part. Still none of these motives, singly, would have restrained him, +had he not felt the strongest doubts of the gipsy's guilt; but when a +great many different motives enter into a conspiracy together to +change a man's opinion, they are like smiths engaged in forging a +piece of red-hot iron,--one gives it a stroke with his sledge-hammer, +and another gives it a stroke, till, hard as it may be, it is moulded +to their will. Manners, however,--although he might be led by many +considerations to temper the stern rigidity of duty,--was not a man to +abandon it altogether; and, therefore, he sought a mean which, as it +was only at his personal risk, he thought himself justified in +following, in order that Mrs. Falkland's promise might be held +inviolate, and, perhaps, that Isadore might be obeyed. + +"Well!" he said, after a moment's consideration. "All this business +has happened most unfortunately, that I should meet a man here whom I +am bound to apprehend, and who yet is guarded by a promise of safety. +However, Mrs. Falkland, although I cannot abandon my own duty, yet I +must do what I can to reconcile it with the engagement under which +this person came here. I think you said," he added, turning to +Pharold, "that if I would take you to the wood, or the bare hill-side, +with no odds against you, I might arrest you if I could--did you not?" + +"I did," said Pharold, "and I repeat it." + +"Then we are agreed," said Colonel Manners. "I will do so, although I +am fatigued and exhausted." + +"Who has a right to be the most fatigued?"' cried the gipsy. "Have I +not been hunted since the morning from wood to wood? Have I not had to +double and to turn like a hare before the hounds? Have I not twice +swam that quick stream? Have I had repose of mind or body, that you +should talk of fatigue?" + +"Well, well," said Manners, "all this matters little. I accept the +proposal which you have yourself made; and I thus specify the terms. +Though accompanied by me, you shall go free from this place in any +direction that you please for one quarter of an hour; a space of time +fully sufficient to put you out of all danger of being overpowered by +numbers. At the end of that time you are my prisoner." + +"If you can make me so," cried the gipsy: "if you can make me so." + +"Agreed," replied Manners: "that is what I mean, of course; otherwise +our agreement would be of no use." + +"Colonel Manners," exclaimed Isadore, calling him back to her, for, in +speaking, he had advanced a little towards the gipsy and Mrs. +Falkland, "for God's sake, do not go. You do not know what may happen. +Indeed, indeed, it is risking a valuable life most rashly. Let me +persuade you not to go." + +She made Colonel Manners's heart beat more rapidly than ever it had +done in his life; for to a man who felt as he did, and who had +nourished the fancies that he had, to hear the voice of beauty, and +worth, and gentleness pleading to him for his own safety, was +something much more agitating than the roar of artillery, or the rush +of charging squadrons. Isadore spoke, too, in a voice low, from an +effort not to appear too much interested, and a little faint, too, +perhaps, from late agitation and exhaustion; so that there was, in +fact, a great deal more of tenderness in her tone than she at all +wished or intended. + +"Nay, nay, Miss Falkland," answered Manners, who, in this instance, +though gratified, could resist--"nay, nay, I have yielded as much as I +can, indeed. I must either arrest this man here, or, out of respect to +your mother's promise and to your entreaties, must let him depart to a +spot where we may stand man to man, and then do my best to apprehend +him there." + +"Oh, let him go altogether, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. Falkland; "the +one charge made against him is false, depend upon it; and in regard to +Edward de Vaux, surely his conduct in saving Isadore may be taken as a +proof that he is innocent there also. Why should you risk your life in +a struggle where you know not how many may come against you?" + +"Lady, you do me justice and injustice in the same breath," said the +gipsy; "not one hand should be added to mine against his, if the whole +world were inclined to assist the gipsy, instead of to oppress him. +But at the same time, I tell him, as I have told you, that not a drop +of innocent blood is upon this hand; that it is as pure as his own, +and that I am more truly guiltless than those who boast their +innocence and sit in high places." + +"I think," said Manners, turning to Mrs. Falkland, "that we must here +end all discussion, my dear madam. My mind is perfectly made up as to +what it is my duty to do. The risk, in this instance, is merely +personal; and from such I will never shrink; and I feel very sure, +also, that there is no chance of failure." + +"Be not too sure," said the gipsy. + +"But, Colonel Manners," urged Isadore, "if this person will give us +what information he possesses--if he will tell us what has become of +Edward--if he will explain all, in short, will it not be better to +gain those tidings, and let him go quietly, than to hazard so much on +a chance which may be productive of no results?" + +"But will he make such a confession?" said Manners; "will he give +such information?" + +The gipsy was silent; but Mrs. Falkland anticipated his answer. +"Doubtless he will," she said, "if you will undertake to let him go +free when he has done." + +"Solely, if he can prove that Edward de Vaux is alive," answered +Manners. "Words, my dear lady, can be of no use--I must have proof +before I let him depart. He must not alone tell me what has become of +my poor friend, but he must convince me that what he has told is true; +otherwise I part not from him." + +"I know not well," replied the gipsy, "whether I have even a right to +tell what I know; and how can I prove it, without remaining in your +hands, and under the curse of a roof where I can scarcely breathe, +till those come who would thrust me into a prison, one month of which +were worse than a thousand deaths? No, no! I neither will speak to be +disbelieved, nor stay to be tortured, if I can win liberty by facing, +singly, a thing of clay like myself. If you will keep your word with +me, keep it now. If you would not play me false, throw open your door, +and go out with me to a place where you shall see whether, with God's +free air blowing on my cheek, and God's pure sky above my head, any +single arm on earth can stay me, if I will to go." As he spoke, +however, two or three dim indistinct forms passed across the windows, +which still admitted the faint lingering twilight of an autumn +evening, and the gipsy, dropping his arms by his side, listened for a +moment attentively. "It is too late," he exclaimed, at length--"it is +too late. You have kept me till the bloodhounds have come back; and +you shall have the joy of seeing them worry their quarry before you." + +"What is it you mean?" cried Manners. "Of what bloodhounds do you +speak?" + +"He means what, I am afraid, is too true, Colonel Manners," said Mrs. +Falkland, in a tone of bitter disappointment; "that Mr. Arden and the +people sent to search the wood have just returned; and that, +therefore, notwithstanding my word and your proposal, his apprehension +in my house is the recompense he will receive for saving my daughter's +life." + +"Do not be afraid, my dear madam," said Manners, "I will find means to +keep my word with him; but let us be sure that it is as you suppose, +before we risk going out into the park. I think I hear sounds in the +hall also." + +Every one was silent; and the noise of distant footsteps and voices +speaking was heard from the hall and vestibule; and in a moment after, +some persons approached the very room in which Manners and the rest +were standing. + +The steps passed on, however, to the library; and at the door thereof +paused immediately after, while the voice of the old butler said, "She +is not there, sir," and the feet returned. They then heard the door of +the music-room, which lay on the opposite side, open; and the butler +again said, "Nor there." The next moment a hand was laid upon the lock +of the very door near which they were standing, and Manners held his +finger to his lips in sign of silence. The old man made one or two +ineffectual attempts to turn the lock, and then repeated, "Nor there +either; for the door is locked for the night--though it is very odd +the housemaid should take upon herself to lock up the rooms when I am +out. I am sure I cannot tell where my mistress is, sir, nor Miss +Falkland either, unless they have both been spirited away, like poor +Mr. Edward; for they certainly are not up-stairs in either of the +drawing-rooms, nor at the place where the boy told me he left them. +But now I think of it, I should not wonder if they were in poor Miss +Marian's room; and if you will walk up into the drawing-room, sir, I +will send to see." + +"Do, do," said the voice of Mr. Arden; "but it is very strange that +they should have left the spot so suddenly, when they sent for you to +come to them. Why did you not search the wood directly? It is not +bigger than my hand." + +"Oh, sir, I set the boy and the two others we had called to help us to +search," replied the butler; "but I came back again, because it was +not my place to search woods, sir; and, besides, I had a presentiment +that your honour would be here." + +"The devil you had," said Mr. Arden; but what the worthy magistrate +further replied was lost as he followed the butler up the stairs +towards the drawing-room. + +"Now, my dear madam," said Manners, in a low voice, "let me advise you +instantly to join Mr. Arden, and to keep him engaged till I can effect +my retreat with our friend here; and you, my dear Miss Falkland, for +God's sake do not forget yourself any longer; we have treated you very +ill already, to keep you here so long in wet clothes. I am not very +much accustomed to act as physician to ladies; but if I might advise, +going to bed and warm negus would be my prescription." + +"Which I shall instantly follow, Colonel Manners," said Isadore; "but, +for Heaven's sake, take care of yourself too. Let us see you gone +before we open the door." + +"No, no," answered Manners; "yours must be the first party to march +off: I cannot move till I have reconnoitred the ground." Thus saying, +he turned the key and opened the door as silently as possible, and +Mrs. Falkland and her daughter passed out into the corridor. Isadore +paused for a single instant, as if she would have spoken either to +Manners or the gipsy; but the former held up his finger, and gently +closed the door that led from the breakfast-room into the interior of +the house. + +"Now, then," he said in a whisper to the gipsy, "let me see that +all is safe;" and opening the glass door, he gazed forth over the +lawns. The twilight lay heavy over the whole scene, and the dim +indistinctness of the day's old age rendered it impossible to see any +distant object. There was no one, however, in the immediate +neighbourhood of the house; and Manners, looking back into the room, +beckoned the gipsy forward, saying, "Now, come with me." + +Pharold instantly complied; and Manners whispered, "While we are in +the park, you remain under my guidance and protection. As soon as we +are safe out of it, you take the lead which way you will." + +The gipsy nodded, and Manners took his way by the shortest cut to the +trees. Then taking a walk which led up by some steps and a small +rustic door into the garden, he crossed over, till they were both +between the fruit-wall and a high holly hedge. Along this path he now +walked rapidly, till they reached a spot half way between the house +and the gate through which, with Isadore and Marian, and Edward de +Vaux, he had once walked out into the woods. Here the gipsy halted for +a moment, but then followed on without remark. The next instant, +however, Manners heard in the bushes a noise of rustling, which the +gipsy had before distinguished; and ere he had taken two steps +farther, a man stood before him in the walk. + +"Are you the gardener?" said Manners, still advancing. + +"Yes," said the man. "What if I be?" + +"Why, then, go to the house," said Manners, "and if you find Mr. +Arden, the magistrate, there, give him Colonel Manners's compliments, +and tell him that if he will wait half an hour, I will be back with +him, as I have matters of importance to speak to him about, but am +obliged to go a little way with this good man ere I can attend to +anything else." + +"I beg your honour's pardon," said the gardener; "I did not know you +in this dark walk. That made me speak so rough; but if your honour be +going out by that ere door, it's locked. I have just been locking it." + +"Well, open it again, then, gardener," said Manners, "and then make +haste and give my message." + +"That I will, your honour," answered the gardener, walking on towards +the door. "But did your honour say that this here man was along with +you? He looks--" + +"Never mind what he looks," answered Manners, somewhat sternly. "He +has matters of importance to arrange with me, or he would not be here; +so make haste and open the door." + +The man obeyed, and only demanded further, whether he should leave the +key. "No," said Manners; "I will return by the other gate.--Now go +out, my good friend, and lead the way to the place you spoke of." +Pharold proceeded through the open door; and Manners, bidding the +gardener not forget his message, followed out into the road. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +"This is a strange business!" thought Manners, as he followed the +gipsy into the road. "This is a strange business; and, on my part, not +a very wise one, I believe. However, there seemed no other way to +settle it; and having acted for the best, I must make the best of it; +though, perhaps, I should have persisted in apprehending the fellow, +where I had the means of doing so, at once." + +Such were the thoughts of the decided, energetic, acting Colonel +Manners, who was known to the world at large as one of the most +skilful and fortunate officers in his majesty's service; but the other +Colonel Manners--the feeling, generous-hearted, somewhat imaginative +Colonel Manners, who was only known to himself and a few very intimate +friends, as a man both of the most gentlemanly mind and spirit, and of +the most liberal and kindly disposition--had other thoughts. I have +tried to explain this union of separate characters in the same bosom +already; and I think it may be understood, for it is certain that it +existed. + +The latter Colonel Manners--whose great principle was to keep out of +sight, and who spoke so low that, though he generally, sooner or +later, made himself obeyed, he was not always very distinctly heard at +first, even by his fellow-denizen of the same noble bosom--now +revolved the whole business in which he was engaged in a different +manner; and although he could not help acknowledging that it was very +strange and very silly to yield to doubtful inferences, in opposition +to positive facts, yet he felt a strong conviction that the gipsy whom +he followed was not guilty of the crimes laid to his charge. + +He wished much also that, by any other means than those of violence, +he could obtain such evidence of Pharold's innocence, or at least such +powerful motives for believing him innocent, as might justify in the +severer eyes of understanding that course which was prompted by +feeling and kindness. He saw no means of doing so, however, unless +from the man's own lips he could draw some explanation of the many +suspicious circumstances which existed against him. Yet how to begin +such a conversation as might lead to that result, or how to shape his +inquiries so as to draw the gipsy on to the point in question, without +alarming him at an interrogation of which he did not see the end? It +required some thought, and yet there was little time for reflection. + +Manners followed, therefore, in silence for some way, while the gipsy, +with a quick step, took the path towards the hill. At the turn of the +lane both Manners and Pharold looked back towards the gate of the +garden, to see whether curiosity might not have tempted the gardener +to follow; but though the light of day had now almost entirely left +the sky, yet the distance was so short that the garden wall and the +closed door were plainly to be seen, without any other object. A +little farther on stood a cottage, with the warm fire and the single +candle within flashing faintly through the dim small window, on the +little bit of white railing before the door. Manners paused, and +looked at his watch by the light; and then following the gipsy, he +said, in a low and unconcerned tone, "There is an air of comfort even +in an English cottage." + +His purpose was to begin a conversation by any means, trusting to +chance for the rest; but the gipsy did not seem disposed to render it +a long one. "Holes for rats, and for mice, and for snakes, and for +foxes!" he said; "God's nobler sky for God's nobler creatures! that is +the best covering." + +He spoke harshly, but still he did speak, which was all that Manners +wanted; and he replied, "Do you think, then, that God gave men +talents, and skill, and power in many arts, without intending him to +make use of them?" + +"Not to build up molehills out of dust and ashes!" said the gipsy. + +"But how is he to defend himself, then, against the storm and the +tempest?" demanded Manners; "against the midday heat of summer or the +chill wintry wind?" + +"He needs no defence!" answered the gipsy. "Were he not the creature +of luxury rather than of God, the changing seasons would be as +beneficial to his body as they are to those of the beasts of the +field, and to the earth of which he and they are made. And as to storm +and tempest, the searching blade of the blue lightning will strike him +in the palace as surely as on the bare hill or the barren moor; and +the hurricane that passes by the wanderer on the plain will cast down +their painted rubbish on the heads of the dwellers in cities." + +Manners saw that, as the lines of their ideas set out from the same +point in directions diametrically opposite, they might be projected to +all eternity without meeting; and therefore he at once brought the +conversation nearer to the real subject of his thoughts. "We differ," +he said, "and of course must differ, on every subject connected with +the manners and habits of mankind; but there is one point on which, I +trust, we shall not differ." + +"I know none," said the gipsy, abruptly. "What is it?" + +"It is, that the creatures of the same God," Manners exclaimed, "are +bound to assist and comfort each other!" + +"If such be your thoughts," answered the gipsy, turning round upon +him--"if such be your opinions, then, why do you seek to torture me? +Or is it that you think a gipsy not a creature of the same God as +yourself?" + +"I seek not to torture you," answered Manners. "Were I to see any +one torture you, my hand would be the first raised to defend you. +Nothing that you see of me now--nothing that you saw of me when last +we met--should make you suppose that I would torture you, even if I +had the power." + +"I tell you," answered the gipsy, sternly, "that to live one day in +the brightest saloon that the hands of folly ever decked for the abode +of vice, would be torture to me! What, then, would be a prison?" + +"Whatever your own feelings might make it," answered Manners. "My +purpose in seeking to place you in one, could only be to fulfil the +laws of my country, and to bring the guilty to justice; but not to +torture you. Nor, in this, can you accuse me of looking upon you not +as a fellow-creature; for, of whatever race the offender had been, you +know I would have done the same under any circumstances; though your +peculiar feeling respecting liberty might, indeed, make me more +scrupulous in arresting you than I should be in regard to a person of +another race." + +"And have you been so scrupulous, then?" demanded the gipsy, bitterly. +"Have you examined so carefully whether you have any real right to +suspect me of the charges brought against me? Have you inquired +whether those appearances on which the charges were grounded might not +be all false and futile? Have you asked and searched out diligently +whether some of those men who witness against me have not hatred and +fear of me at their hearts? Have you done all this, before you sought +to give me up to the hands of those whose enmity and whose prejudices +would all forbid justice to be done me?" + +"I am not the judge," answered Manners; "and a judge alone can make +such inquiries." + +"Are you, then, a tipstaff, or a bailiff, or a turnkey?" demanded the +gipsy, "that you should pursue me, as if the warrant were placed in +your hands for execution!" + +"I am neither of those persons you mention," Manners replied; "but +every subject of this land is empowered and called upon to apprehend a +person against whom a warrant on a charge of murder is known to have +issued. But to return to what I was saying: in construing the power +thus placed in my hands, I should always be more scrupulous to a +person of your class--or nation, if you like the word better--because +I know how galling the loss of liberty must be to one who spurns even +the common restraints of cities; and could I have any positive proof +that the warrant had issued against you on a false charge, I certainly +should not attempt to execute it." + +"On what charge did it issue?" demanded the gipsy, turning for a +moment to ask the question, ere he again strode on. + +"You are aware that there are many charges against you," replied +Manners; "but the precise one to which you allude is, I believe, the +having murdered my poor friend Edward de Vaux." + +The gipsy laughed aloud. "Were that all," he said, "it were soon +disproved. His blood is not upon my hand." + +"Disprove it, then!" exclaimed Manners, who, from the whole tenour of +the gipsy's conversation, felt more and more convinced of his +companion's innocence at every step they took. "Disprove it, then! +Other charges have been brought since; but I know nothing of them, +except that one of them, as far as I can judge, is certainly false. +Therefore, if you can but show me that the blood of my poor friend De +Vaux does not stain your hand, I will leave you directly to follow +what course you please; but if you cannot do so, we are now upon the +bare hill-side, where there is none to aid either you or me; and you +shall go no further, if I can stop you." + +A man may be a very clever man, and not able to calculate all the +curious turns of another's character; and it so unfortunately happened +that Manners, after having led the gipsy very nearly to the point he +wished, overthrew at once everything he had accomplished by the threat +with which he concluded. He was sorry for it as soon as it had passed +his lips, as he instantly felt it might do harm; but he did not at all +calculate upon its producing so great effect as it did. + +The gipsy took two steps forward, and then turning round, stood with +Manners face to face. "Colonel Manners," he said, "not one drop of +your friend's blood stains my hand!--I swear it by yon heaven, and by +the God who made it! I could prove it, too; but I will not prove it +for any man's threats. You say I shall not go, if you can stop me! I +am not bound yet, thank God! with cords or chains. I am not laid in +one of your dungeons. I am not shut in with bolts and bars. I will not +tell you what I know! I will not give you proof of any kind; and I bid +you take me, if you can." As he thus defied him, and announced his +determination, Manners expected every moment to see Pharold turn to +use the speed for which his limbs seemed formed; and although the +gipsy was, as we have said, two paces in advance of him, he did not +doubt that he should be able to seize him before he could effect his +escape. The ground on which they were standing was a small flat space +on the side of the hill, with the road, taking a steep ascent four or +five paces beyond, and having a deep descent on one side, and a rapid +acclivity on the other. Thus, if the gipsy attempted to fly along the +road, Manners saw that he must necessarily turn to do so, and thus +delay his flight; while, if he took any other way, he must come within +reach. To Colonel Manners's surprise, however, the gipsy did not move +from his place; but remained with his arms folded, in an attitude of +determination, which very plainly spoke the resolution of bringing the +affair to a personal struggle. Manners smiled as he perceived his +intention, very confident that his superior muscular strength would at +any time enable him to overpower two such antagonists. + +"My good fellow," he said, "this is really very foolish; for even if +you suppose yourself stronger than I am, I could disable you in a +moment, if I thought fit, with my sword. As you seem determined to +resist, however, I will make myself even with you in point of arms, +and lay aside my sword, which I cannot draw upon an unarmed man; but +it must be remembered--" + +"Keep your sword, Colonel Manners," said the gipsy--"keep your sword, +and draw it! I am not so much unarmed as I look:" and, as he spoke, he +drew from beneath his long loose coat the weapon with which, as we +have seen, he had provided himself in the morning. + +Now there was not exactly at that moment what Sir Lucius O'Trigger +calls very good small-sword light. The sun was down completely; and +though the last gray gleam of parting daylight that lingered still in +the western extremity of the valley, and was reflected from the +windings of the glassy stream, fell, with all the force it had left, +upon the spot where Manners and his antagonist were standing--though +two or three stars were early looking through the mottled clouds, and +the coming moon threw some light before her--still, his powers of +vision must have been strong who could see, as clearly as is +desirable, the playing of an adversary's point round his sword-blade. +Manners, however, did not hesitate. He was becoming a little irritated +at the tone of bitter and, in some degree, scornful defiance which the +gipsy assumed; and although it was not in his nature to be very much +moved by any thing of the kind, yet he went so far as to think, "Well +he shall soon find that a gipsy is not quite so all-accomplished a +genius as he imagines! I have had a droll fate here, certainly; +to be called out by my friend's father, and to fight a duel with a +gipsy!--The consequences be upon your own head, my good friend!" he +added, aloud, bringing round the hilt of his sword, and drawing it +from the scabbard. "I do not wish to hurt you, but you force me to do +so." + +"Be it on my head!" said Pharold; and their blades crossed. + +There are two sorts of brave men--one which gets warm and impetuous in +action and danger, and one which gets calm and cool. Manners was of +the latter sort. Perhaps there never was upon the face of the earth a +man whose heart applied to itself the idea of danger less than his; +and, consequently, he acted as if he were a spectator, even where +peril to himself was most imminent. In the present instance, he soon +found that he had much underrated the skill of his opponent; for, if +he had not a very _theoretical_, Pharold had at least a very +_practical_, knowledge of the use of his weapon; and his singular +agility and pliancy of muscle added many an advantage. Manners was +sincerely sorry to find that such was the case: not that he imagined +for a moment that all the gipsy's skill or activity would suffice to +injure him, but he wished and designed to master his opponent without +hurting him; and this he felt would be very difficult, if not +impossible. He strove for it pertinaciously, however, for some time; +and hazarded something himself in order to obtain that object. At +length, however, he became weary of the contest, and saw that he must +soon bring it to a termination somehow, although he still felt an +invincible disinclination to risking such a lunge as might deprive his +adversary of life. He determined, then, to play a game hazardous to +himself, though merciful to his opponent; and, aided by his superior +strength and height, he pressed the gipsy back against the hill as +vehemently as he could. In his haste, he barely parried a lunge, and +the gipsy's sword went through the lappels of his coat: but the +advantage was gained; and at once disarming his adversary, he closed +with him, cast him to the ground, and set his knee upon his chest. + +The contest, in all, had continued for some time; but the last +struggle was over in a moment; and ere Pharold well knew what had +occurred, he found himself on the ground, with the sword of the +British officer at his throat. He lay there, however, calm, still, +stern, without making even one of those instinctive efforts to shield +his bosom from the weapon, from which a less determined spirit could +not have refrained. + +"Now!" cried Manners--"now, will you give me the explanation I seek?" + +"Never!" answered the gipsy, in a low but firm voice--"never!" + +Manners hesitated for a moment; but then, withdrawing his knee from +the gipsy's breast, he returned his sword into the scabbard. "I will +try other means!" he thought--"I will try other means!" + +Through the whole of the events which had lately passed, Manners had +been gradually gaining a deeper insight into the character of the +gipsy, and had learned to appreciate him better than at first; but +still there was much to be considered, much to be calculated; and many +a conflicting opinion, and many an opposite feeling, crossed Manners's +bosom in the short space of time that was allowed for thought. He did +not forget the various circumstances which had led him to believe that +his friend had been murdered by the gipsy, and all of which remained +unexplained; but he remembered, also, how fallacious circumstantial +evidence often is; and he set against those circumstances of suspicion +the positive fact, that the gipsy had saved the life of Isadore +Falkland at the peril of his own, and had carried her to her mother's +house at the imminent risk of being arrested. The high character which +Mrs. Falkland said he had borne in the past, the regard which she had +hinted that her deceased brother had felt towards him, all tended to +show that he was a man of no ordinary qualities; and although, in the +absence of such knowledge of his character. Manners might have judged +his obstinate refusal of all explanation as a proof of his guilt, yet, +seeing that in every thing else his motives and his actions were +different from those of ordinary men, he judged that it might be the +same in this instance also. "I will try extraordinary means with him, +too," thought Manners; "and perhaps I may gain more by it than by +following the dictates of rigid duty to the letter." + +"Why will you not explain?" he added, aloud. "It would save both you +and me from many a painful occurrence." + +"Because I will not be compelled to any act under the sun!" answered +the gipsy, who had only taken advantage of the degree of freedom which +he now possessed to raise himself upon his arm. + +"Then you shall not be compelled!" answered Manners, to whom his +answer had given the right key to his obduracy--"then you shall not +be compelled! but you shall be persuaded. Stand up, Pharold, and +listen to me, as to one who does not feel towards you as you would +make yourself believe that all our race do towards yours. You have +seen my conduct--you see it now; and you must judge of me better than +you lately did." + +The gipsy hung his head. "You have kept your word with me," he +answered. "You have brought me to a place where no odds could be found +against me; and you have vanquished with your own weapons at your own +trade. What more?" + +"I have spared you when I might have hurt you," replied Manners; "and +now I let you go free when I might make you a prisoner--" + +"You let me go free!" cried the gipsy, in a tone of +astonishment--"you let me go free! and without conditions, too?" + +"Without any conditions," answered Manners, "but such as your own +heart shall lay upon you, when you have heard all that I have to say +to you." + +"Then you, too, are one of the few noble hearts," answered the gipsy, +rising; "and I have done you injustice." + +"There are more noble hearts in the world," Manners rejoined, "than +you know of, my friend. But listen to me, and let me see if yours be a +noble heart too. Edward de Vaux is, or was, my friend and my companion +in arms. We have stood by each other in battle; we have attended each +other in sickness; we have delivered each other in danger; and, had he +been my brother, I could not have loved him better. I find that, the +night before last, he left his home when all the family were at rest; +that he went to visit one with whom he had no known acquaintance or +business; and that he never returned to those he most loved. Was it +not natural for me to search for him with all the rapidity in my +power?" + +"It was! it was!" answered the gipsy; "and I have judged you harshly." + +"I did search for him," continued Manners; "and I found, by footmarks +in the earth, that he had gone with the stranger whom he had visited +to a lonely quarry, and that from that spot his footsteps are not to +be traced. This afforded some cause for suspicion and apprehension; +but when the place where his steps disappeared was all stained and +dabbled with blood, what was I to think?--what was I to do?" + +"To think that he was murdered, and to pursue the murderer," answered +Pharold, boldly; "and I have done you wrong: but the habit of +suffering injustice and indignity from your race irritates ours into +believing that you are always unjust; and, in this instance, the +consciousness of my own innocence, too, hid from my eyes one-half of +the appearances against me." + +"You judge wisely, and you judge well," answered Manners. "There were +strong appearances against you; and there were also many minor facts +which swelled those appearances into proof so positive of my friend's +death and of your guilt, that I should have been unworthy of the name +of his friend--unworthy of the name of a man--if I had not pursued you +as I have done." + +"You would!" answered the gipsy. + +"And yet, notwithstanding all this," continued Manners, "I tell you, +honestly, that I believe you innocent. I may be foolish to do so--the +prepossession may be false--the motives for such belief may be slight; +but yet that belief is strong. With powerful evidence against you I +felt convinced of your innocence; and, with the power to take you, I +let you go free." + +Manners paused for a moment, and the gipsy, with his hands clasped and +his eyes bent upon the ground, remained silent, buried, apparently, in +deep thought. "Now," continued Manners, after suffering him to revolve +what he had said for a few moments--"now, I have spoken to your +understanding, and I have shown you that my conduct in pursuing you +has been fully justifiable, and that I am not one of those unjust and +ignorant fools who entertain a base prejudice against the whole of +your race, which but serves to drive them on to acts of reckless evil. +I have treated you generously--I have not consulted even rigid duty; +and leaving you free to act, I now speak to your heart." + +"Speak on! speak on!" said the gipsy. "You speak language that I love +to hear." + +"I have told you," said Manners, "how I esteem Edward de Vaux; I have +told you how intimate have been the bonds that united us--how dear the +friendship that we felt; judge, then, of my feelings now, as I stand +before you, not knowing whether he be dead or alive, well or ill, +murdered or in safety. But hear me further.--There is every reason to +believe him lost for ever; and in that belief, not only I, his friend, +must remain, but all who loved him--all to whom he is bound by the +dearest ties; and I leave you to conceive the agony of suspense which +they now endure. Mrs. Falkland--her daughter, whose life you have so +lately saved--De Vaux's father, Lord Dewry--" + +The gipsy started, clenched his white teeth, and shaking his hand +furiously towards the sky, exclaimed, "May the vengeance of God fall +like a thunderbolt on his head, and wither his heart to ashes!" + +"Well, well!" said Manners, seeing that he had struck a wrong chord, +"pass him by; for there are others more interested than he, than I, +than any of us. There is a young lady, fair, and gentle, and delicate, +beloved by all who know her, blessed by the poor and the afflicted, +the ornament of her house, the delight of her friends; and to her own +immediate family, the cherished, the beloved relic of a noble, a +generous, a feeling parent early snatched away--of a parent whom I +have heard that you yourself esteemed and loved--of the late Lord +Dewry, I mean; for the lady I refer to is Miss De Vaux." + +"What of her? what of her?" demanded the gipsy eagerly: "but I guess! +I guess!" + +"It is easy for you to imagine what she must feel," said Manners. "She +has been, as probably you know, engaged to her cousin De Vaux for +several years, and they have loved each other through life. Their +affection has grown up with them from childhood, and has been +strengthened by every tie, till at length their marriage, which was +appointed to take place in a few weeks, was to have united them for +ever. Judge, then--judge what must be her feelings now; but I will not +attempt to tell you what those feelings are--I will only tell you in +what situation she now is, and leave you to judge for yourself. This +very evening, the medical man who is attending her, assured me that +the anxiety and apprehension which she has suffered on account of her +cousin, have already seriously impaired her health; and that great +fears, even for her life itself, are to be entertained, if this state +of mental agony is not soon put an end to by certainty of some kind." + +"That alters the whole," cried the gipsy--"that alters the whole! But +let me think a moment--let me think!" + +"Yes!" said Manners; "think of it,--and think well!--think what must +be the feelings of a young and affectionate heart, which, early +deprived of the sweet relationships of parent and child, had fixed +all its best and warmest affections upon one who well deserved its +love,--had concentrated upon him alone all those feelings of +tenderness and regard which are generally divided among a thousand +other objects; and which had so lately seen him return from scenes of +danger and strife to peace and quietness, and, as all fancied, to love +and domestic happiness;--think what must be the feelings of such a +heart, when the object of all her thoughts and hopes is suddenly and +strangely torn from her--when every trace of him is lost, but such as +naturally and strongly lead the mind to conclude that death of a +bloody and violent nature is the cause of his prolonged and +extraordinary absence.--Think--think well what must be the feelings of +Miss De Vaux, his promised bride--think what must be my feelings, as +his companion and friend; and, if your heart be other than of stone, +sure I am that you will instantly afford the means--if you possess +them--of removing all these cruel doubts and fears, and relieving our +anxiety, at least by certainty of our friend's fate." + +"You need say no more!" said the gipsy--"you need say no more! I will +remove your fears upon easy conditions.--I had not foreseen all this. +Like a fool, I had not remembered that events, which seemed to me all +simple and clear, because I was an actor in them and saw them all, +would produce such anxiety and fear to those who saw no more than the +result; but I have been moved by many another feeling, and occupied by +many another event. I have seen men bring ruin on their own heads and +mine, by following their own wilful follies rather than my counsel and +command; and I have seen a thoughtless and innocent boy entrapped into +becoming the sacrifice for the guilty and the obstinate. I have been +called upon to punish the offenders, and to endeavour to rescue the +innocent; and I have been hunted through this livelong day like a wild +beast;--so that I may well have forgot that circumstances, very simple +in themselves, might fill others that knew not all, with strange fears +and suspicions; but besides that--besides that--I had other motives +for not telling what I knew.--Those motives are now shaken by stronger +ones; and for the sake of Marian de Vaux, I will say what I would not +have said for the sake of my own life; but it must be on certain +conditions." + +"Name them," said Manners; "and if they be not very hard to fulfil, +doubt not that I will undertake them." + +The gipsy paused, and thought for several minutes, and he then +replied, "I will, as I have said, put you in the way of finding your +friend, Edward de Vaux; and you will find him--if not well--at least +in kindly hands. But now mark me. The person with whom he is has +lately come over from America with private views and purposes of his +own, yet doubtful and unresolved whether he will proceed with them or +not. Were his residence in England known to any one, it might force +him either to execute the designs with which he came sooner than he +intended, or perhaps prevent him from changing those designs, though +other circumstances may render such a change necessary; or still +further--" + +"In short," said Manners, "he is desirous of remaining concealed; and, +as far as I know, has every right to do so, without my inquiring at +all into his motives. But you forget, my good friend, that there is as +little chance of my knowing this person of whom you speak, as of my +betraying him if I did." + +"You are wrong," said the gipsy; "there is every chance of your +knowing him; you have seen him I know, and esteem him I am sure; and, +what I have to require is this, if, by my means, you find Edward de +Vaux, and recognise the person now kindly tending him, you shall not, +upon any pretence, or to any person whatsoever, reveal his real name +and character. You shall recognise him merely as the person that he +chooses to call himself, and speak of him as none other." + +"Of course! of course!" answered Manners; "he shall keep the +incognito, for anything that I may do to the contrary, as long and as +strictly as he likes." + +"But, one thing more," said the gipsy, "one thing more,--you shall, on +no account whatever, lead--or give such information as may lead--the +father of Edward de Vaux to the place where his son is." + +"That is somewhat extraordinary," said Manners; "but I suppose, of +course, that this person to whom you allude is Lord Dewry's enemy." + +"He was once his friend," said the gipsy, "and, perhaps, now that lord +may speak of him as such, for there is no knowing by what terms his +deep and crafty spirit may designate the people whom he most hates. +Not a week ago he gave me gold, and would fain have made me think he +loved me; but I knew him to the heart, and I saw the serpent in his +eye." + +Whatever Manners might think of the evident hatred, strong and +reciprocal, which existed between the peer and the singular person +with whom he now stood, he did not judge it expedient to risk the +advantages he had gained by defending Lord Dewry, especially as +circumstances placed the power of dictating the conditions in the +hands of the gipsy. "My acquaintance with De Vaux's father," he said, +"has been too short to acquire any knowledge of his real character." + +"It would require years, long years," said the gipsy, "to know his +character as I know it--long, long years!--or one of those lightning +flashes of nature that sometimes, whether men will or not, burst from +the darkness in which they shroud themselves, and show at once the +deep secrets of their spirit." + +"At all events," said Manners, "common humanity leads me to wish much +to inform the unhappy father of his son's safety, and doubtless your +conditions do not imply that I should refrain from such proceeding, as +soon as I have, with my own eyes, seen my poor friend's condition." + +"In that respect, you shall be guided by him to whom I send you," +answered Pharold. "It is sufficient for me to ensure, that the +confidence he has placed in me will be betrayed by no fault of +mine--that compassion for a gentle and innocent girl does not lead me +to risk defeating the plans of a man who trusts me. I know that when +you have pledged your word, you will hold it sacred. Your actions have +spoken for you! Will you accept the conditions?" + +"I will!" answered Manners; "and only beg of you to conclude the +matter as fast as possible." + +"Well, then!" said the gipsy, pointing through the valley towards the +line of the distant hills; "you see yon moon, just raising her golden +round behind the thin trees upon the upland. When she has risen ten +palms breadths upon the sky, you shall find me here again, and I will +lead you to him you seek." + +"Nay, but," said Manners, "I thought you were about to conduct me +thither now." + +"Doubt me not," said the gipsy, sternly, discovering at once that +suspicions, slight indeed, but newly awakened by the proposed delay, +were coming over the mind of his companion. "Doubt me not. By the God +that I worship, by the heavens his handiwork, by the life he gave me, +by the liberty I value more, I will not fail you. You have spared me +when you might have thrust me into a dungeon, and I would not deceive +you even by a thought." + +"I believe you," answered Manners; "I believe you--only this, I am +very anxious, ere I return to Morley House, to be enabled to give some +account of him I seek; to be enabled, in short, to afford some comfort +to Edward de Vaux's family. Can we not proceed then at once?" + +"No!" answered the gipsy. "I must think of my own race too. By the +unhappy occurrences of last night, my people have been scattered and +have fled for concealment, while I remained to see whether I could +find, or could deliver, the unfortunate prey, which those who laid the +trap for us had found in the snare. My companions know not yet where I +am; and I know not whether they are safe. Thus, ere I go farther, I +must see what have been the events of this day to those whom I am +bound to protect and guide." + +"Be it so then," answered Manners; "but, at all events, you will allow +me to give De Vaux's family the assurance that he is living and is +safe." + +"As far," said the gipsy, "as you dare to trust to my most solemn +assurance, he is living, and safe also, if you mean by that word that +he is free from restraint, and from any risk of injury; but that he is +well, you must not say; for he is ill in body and sick at heart; and +it may be long ere he is cured of either." + +"That is bad enough, indeed," answered Manners; "but it is so much +better than the events, which we had reason to believe had occurred, +that the bare fact of his being in a state of security will be an +infinite relief to those who love him. I will trust to your word +entirely, and both give the consolation which you have afforded to +those who will feel it most deeply, and be here at the time you +name, though I am not very much accustomed to calculate hours by +hands-breadths of the sky; and you must remember that, from Morley +House, the moon is seen in a different position from that in which she +appears here." The gipsy smiled, with a slight touch of contempt at +Manners's inexpertness in a mode of calculating the time, which was to +him familiar. "Well, well," he said, "be here in just two hours, and +you shall find me waiting you. In the meantime, rest at ease regarding +your friend, and speak securely the words of hope and comfort to his +family; and God be with you in your errand of peace. You have acted a +noble part to-night, and there is one that blesses those who do so." + +Thus saying, he sprang down the bank to the spot where the sword, +which Manners's superior skill and strength had wrenched from his +grasp, was lying under a low bush. Pharold snatched it up, and was +about to return it to the sheath; but some sudden thought seemed to +cross his mind, and holding it up, he gazed upon it for a moment or +two in silence. "Accursed be thou!" he cried at length, in a bitter +tone. "Accursed be thou, false friend and faithless servant! to leave +thy master's hand at the moment of need!" and breaking the blade +across his knee, he cast the fragments down the hill, and strode away, +scarcely appearing to notice that Colonel Manners still stood gazing +at his wild and vehement behaviour. + +Manners smiled as he turned to retread his steps; and perhaps that +smile might be occasioned by seeing the gipsy wreak his indignation at +the failure he had met with in their struggle upon the senseless +object which his hand had not been able to retain. Perhaps, too, he +might remark how all uncultivated people resemble children; but, at +all events, the tidings that he had heard of his friend's safety, and +his conviction that those tidings were true, had certainly given him a +much greater inclination to smile than he had felt when he came to +that spot. + +As he thought, however, over all the circumstances, while bending his +way back once more to Morley House, he did not certainly find that his +situation was, in every respect, a very pleasant one. He had to +remember that the gipsy, Pharold, was charged with two other crimes +besides the assumed death of Edward de Vaux. In regard to the first of +these two, that of having been an accessary, or principal, in the +murder of the late Lord Dewry, Manners had but Mrs. Falkland's opinion +upon the subject to support his own doubts of the man's guilt. In +regard to the second, that of having participated in the outrage at +Dimden Park, and having fired the gun by which Sir Roger Millington +was wounded, Manners, after leaving the peer at Dimden, as we shall +almost immediately have occasion to show more particularly, had +visited the keeper who had been wounded in the affray, and from him +had learned sufficient to satisfy his mind that Pharold was guiltless +of any share in that unfortunate transaction. On that point, +therefore, his mind was satisfied; but, in regard to the other charge, +he did not feel at all sure that he was not liable to severe +animadversion for the lenity he had shown towards the gipsy. + +"I do not know the laws of the land," he thought, with a half smile, +"quite well enough to be sure whether they may not make me out an +accessary after the fact, if ever this Pharold should be found guilty +of slaying his benefactor; but, at all events, if the good gossiping +world were to get hold of my having taken two or three moonlight walks +with him, and having let him escape when I had the power to apprehend +him, it would make a pretty story of it." However. Colonel Manners was +a man who had too much confidence in his own motives, and too much +reliance on what he called his good fortune, though others named it +his good judgment, to care much what the world said; and this was +probably one of the reasons why that world was well satisfied to load +him with praise and honour. He took his way back to Morley House, +therefore, tolerably satisfied with what he had done, thinking, "I +must now, however, try to soften down Mrs. Falkland's wrath and +indignation at my persevering rudeness this evening; but, doubtless, +the tidings I bring will prove no small propitiation." + +To these thoughts he endeavoured to limit himself, though imagination +strove hard to lead him into a thousand rambling fancies concerning +the causes of De Vaux's disappearance. Manners, however, had a habit +of keeping his thoughts under proper discipline, and always prepared +to repel whatever force might attack them. Thus, as he knew, or at +least trusted, that a few hours would give him a thorough insight into +the real situation of Edward de Vaux, he would not give way on that +point, and tried to think of something else. But the light brigades of +fancy are like a troop of Cossacks, and the moment they are beaten off +at one spot, they wheel and attack another. When imagination found, +then, that Manners would not be drawn from his intrenchments by the +thoughts of De Vaux, she tried what she could do with the image of +Isadore Falkland; but Manners was prepared there, too, and had +reproached himself so bitterly with some slight beatings of his heart, +which had occurred during his last meeting with that fair lady, that +he resisted all thought upon the subject with the heroism of Leonidas. + +Having thus reached Morley House in safety, Manners's first inquiry +was for Mr. Arden; but the old butler, with a look of solemn +importance, informed him that the magistrate had been gone about half +an hour, leaving a message, however, for Colonel Manners, to the +effect that, having some other business of much importance awaiting +his return, he could not have the honour of staying till Colonel +Manners arrived, but would come back early the following morning. + +"That will do quite as well," answered Manners; and seeing that the +cloud of self-importance upon the old man's brow had not as yet quite +disgorged itself of its contents, he paused in order to hear what +next, and the butler proceeded: "Please, sir, Miss Marian--that is to +say, Miss De Vaux, but we always call her Miss Marian, to distinguish +from Miss Isadore--but Miss Marian sent her maid down just now to say, +that when you come back she wishes very much to see you herself, for +she desires to speak with you." + +The man spoke in as mysterious a tone as if he were communicating a +state secret, but Manners who hated nothing on earth so much as +mystery, answered rather sharply, "Well, as you see I have returned, +you had better call Miss De Vaux's maid to take me to her mistress." + +"Oh, Miss Marian, sir, is in the little drawing-room," replied the +butler: "she has been there these ten minutes, though Mrs. Falkland +does not know it, because she is with Miss Isadore, who fell into the +water, and wet her clothes, and had nearly been drowned, they do say; +but--" + +Manners waited for no further information on subjects with which he +was already acquainted; but, walking up stairs, proceeded to what was +called the little drawing-room, and opened the door. Marian de Vaux +was sitting on a sofa, with her fair rounded cheek, grown many a shade +paler since Manners last saw it, leaning on her hand, and her arm +again resting on the table. Her head was slightly bent, and the hand +on which it leaned curved round at the wrist, with the fingers +dropping languidly under her cheek, and with weary hopeless anxiety in +every line. Her eyes, when Manners entered, were cast down, with a +drop like a diamond struggling through the long dark lashes; and the +light, falling from above, threw the greater part of her beautiful +face into shadow; but it fell clear and soft on her fair open +forehead, and on her brown hair, which, to save the trouble of much +dressing, was braided back behind her ears, but which still, by many a +wavy line and struggling bend across her brow, showed its natural +tendency to fall into ringlets round her face. An open book was on the +table before her; but it looked not as if she had been reading, for it +was turned in such a way that her eye could not possibly have +deciphered its contents. + +She did not hear the door open; but Manners's first step in the room +caught her attention, and she raised her eyes. "Oh, Colonel Manners," +she said, as soon as she saw him, "I am very glad you have come, for I +very much wished to speak with you; but I am afraid you are fatigued, +and perhaps may not have time to spare." + +"Not at all," answered Manners, with a smile, which he intended to +prepare the way for better tidings. "Indeed, I think, Miss De Vaux, +that if you had not sent me an invitation, I should have sent to +petition one." + +"The fact is, Colonel Manners," said Marian, "I wish to know the +truth. My dear aunt and my cousin, with the very kindest intentions, +keep the truth from me--at least, so I am led to believe by what my +maid has told me. Now, indeed, it would do me less harm, though they +do not think so, to tell me the whole at once; and I am sure, Colonel +Manners, that you will be kind enough to do so, when I assure you that +I am far better able to bear even the worst tidings than this +terrible, awful state of suspense." + +Manners took her hand, and gazed in her face with a smile full of +kindness and hope, for he feared to make the change from grief to joy +too sudden, by speaking the happier news he now had to bear; but even +that was too much, and Marian's heart, as she read his smile aright, +beat with fearful violence; and, pale as ashes with emotion, she sunk +down again on the sofa, from which she had partially risen to speak to +him. + +"I see that your fortitude is not half real," said Manners, seating +himself near her; "but let me entreat you to hear me calmly, my dear +Miss De Vaux." + +"Oh, I will! I will, indeed!" cried Marian. "But, for Heaven's sake, +speak, Colonel Manners: you smile; and I know you would not smile on +one so wretched, if you had not some hope to give! Is it not so?" + +"It is," answered Manners; "and delighted I am that now, for the very +first time, I can give it. But, indeed, you must be calm; for the +intelligence I have obtained is not so entirely good as to warrant our +indulging in any very great joy, though it may do away our worst +apprehensions." + +"That is enough! that is enough!" cried Marian. "If they have not +murdered him, I can bear almost anything else with fortitude: but now, +for Heaven's sake, tell me all, for you see I can bear it with +calmness and composure." + +"First, let me defend Mrs. Falkland and your cousin," replied Manners, +wishing, by a little delay, to give his fair hearer's mind time to +habituate itself to a change of feeling; for neither her look nor her +manner served at all to confirm the assurances of calmness and +composure which she gave him. "Let me defend Mrs. Falkland and your +cousin: they really could give you no precise information, for till +within the last half-hour none has been obtained." + +"Oh, but they knew more than they let me know," cried Marian; "at +least, if my maid has told me true: but I trust it is not true; for I +cannot believe that Edward can be safe, if she spoke correctly; she +said you had found his footsteps, and blood, Colonel Manners, and the +place where he must have fallen." As she spoke, her countenance filled +with horror at the ideas she recalled, and she clasped her hands over +her eyes, as if to shut out some fearful sight. + +Colonel Manners thought that the sooner such a lady's-maid was +discharged the better; but as he could not contradict the story the +woman had so imprudently told, he left it as it was, and replied, "Do +not, my dear young lady, call up such painful images, when I assure +you that there is no foundation for the supposition that your cousin +has suffered in the way our fears led us to imagine. My information, +as yet, is scanty; and, till tomorrow, you must not ask me even how I +have obtained it; but I have the most positive assurances that De Vaux +is safe, though ill." + +"Thank God! thank God, for his safety, at least!" cried Marian; "but +are you sure, Colonel Manners--are you quite sure? I do not wish to +put any questions that you may not like to answer; but only tell me if +you yourself are quite sure of Edward's safety?" + +"I am perfectly and thoroughly convinced," answered Manners, "that, +whatever may have been the accident which may have prevented his +return home, he is both in security, and attended with care and +kindness. Indeed, my very telling you the fact should make you feel +quite sure that my own conviction is firm; for, indeed, Miss De Vaux, +no inducement would make me hold out a hope to you, were I not sure of +that hope having a good foundation." + +"Thank you! thank you!" replied Marian; and, with one of those sudden +bursts of tenderness which--springing from some secret action, either +of memory or imagination, without one spoken word or external +circumstance to call them forth--sometimes overpower us, when least we +expect it, she gave way to a gushing flood of tears, and, for a moment +or two, let the bright drops flow unrestrained. "You have not seen +him, then, Colonel Manners?" she said at length, wiping her eyes, and +looking up with a glance in which apprehension still contended a +little against joy. + +"Not yet," Manners answered; "but I have received a solemn promise +that I shall be conducted to the place where he is this very night." + +"Oh, let me go with you!" cried Marian, starting up. + +"Nay, nay, I am afraid that would not do," answered Manners, smiling. +"Think what the world would say, my dear Miss De Vaux, if you were to +go wandering about, no one knows whither, through a long autumn night, +with no other escort than a colonel of dragoons." + +Marian was won even to a smile; and, while it was yet playing round +her lips, and sparkling in her eyes, Mrs. Falkland entered the room, +not knowing by whom it was tenanted. "Marian! Colonel Manners!" she +exclaimed; "and both laughing, too! then some very happy change must +have come over our affairs." + +"Oh, most happy, my dear aunt!" cried Marian: "Colonel Manners--and I +know not how to thank him--has discovered where Edward is, and that he +is safe." + +"God be praised!" cried Mrs. Falkland; "but let me hear all about it, +for this is news indeed." + +"In the first place," said Manners, willing, if possible, to escape +any very close cross-examination till he could speak with more +security on the many points of De Vaux's situation, which were still +doubtful--"in the first place, I have to apologize, my dear madam, for +some want of courtesy to-night when last we met; but you must remember +that I am but a rude soldier, and accustomed to think far more of what +I consider my duty than of what is polite; and I am sure that my good +news will gain me your forgiveness." + +"If your perseverance have gained tidings of my poor nephew," answered +Mrs. Falkland, "my forgiveness for much graver offences--could Colonel +Manners commit them--would be but a poor recompense." + +"I hope Miss Falkland has not suffered at all," continued Manners. But +Mrs. Falkland exclaimed, with a smile, "Not at all, I trust! but, +Colonel Manners, I will not be put off without an answer. You shall +not keep all your good news for Marian, and refuse to let me share. +What have you discovered?" + +"Why, my dear madam," answered Manners, "I will tell you the candid +truth. I have discovered very little beyond the bare fact, that De +Vaux is in safety, though not well; and you must ask me no more +questions till I can give you satisfactory answers. I am to be +conducted to him, however, this very night, and within an hour of this +time. Miss De Vaux wished to go with me, and we were smiling to think +what sort of story the world would make of her taking a midnight walk +over the moors, and through the woods, with the ugliest colonel of +dragoons in his majesty's service." + +"But are you obliged to go alone?" asked Mrs. Falkland. + +"I rather think that is part of my compact," answered Manners; "and I +believe it must be on foot, too." + +"And you were fatigued an hour ago," replied Mrs. Falkland; "and +though I, selfishly, cannot make up my mind to ask you to put off your +expedition till to-morrow, yet I must prevail on you to take some +refreshment." So saying, she rang the bell, and then went on: "I need +not ask who was your informant; and I feel equally certain that the +tidings are true, because you give them credit, and because you +derived them from him." + +"Now, I am in the dark," said Marian, "both in regard to this person +you speak of and to Isadore. What made you believe she had suffered +from any accident, Colonel Manners, as you inquired of my aunt just +now?" + +"I am afraid that the whole story would be too long to tell you at +this moment," answered Manners, while a footman appeared, and Mrs. +Falkland ordered some refreshments to be brought immediately, +"especially as you see I have to sup before I go; nor will I deny that +I need my supper, for, to tell the truth, I have not dined. But Mrs. +Falkland will relate our whole story of this evening when I am gone; +will tell you how your cousin escaped drowning by a miracle; and how +Colonel Manners behaved in a very rude and uncivil manner; and how at +length a compromise was entered into, which reflected more honour upon +his obstinacy than upon his politeness." + +"No, no, Colonel Manners, I will not tell her such stories," answered +Mrs. Falkland. "I will tell her, perhaps, that Colonel Manners's duty +as an officer, and his feelings as a man, clashed with her aunt's duty +as a person of her word, and her feelings as a woman; that her aunt +did what she seldom does,--lost her temper; and that Colonel Manners +ended the matter wisely and well, and by his perseverance obtained +joyful tidings without a breach of faith." + +"You are both speaking in mysteries to me," said Marian, rising; "so I +will go and make Isadore tell me the whole in less enigmatical +language. Where is she, my dear aunt?" + +"She is in bed," answered Mrs. Falkland, "but not likely to go to +sleep." + +"In bed!" exclaimed Marian; "then, indeed, it is time that I should go +and see her, for I do not ever remember Isadore having been in bed at +nine o'clock before, and something must be the matter." + +Thus saying, she quitted the room; and left Colonel Manners to take +some refreshment, and to relate, the while, to Mrs. Falkland, as much +as he had time and inclination to tell of his adventure with the +gipsy. + +"I fear no danger," he concluded, when he had ascertained by his watch +that the time appointed for his return was approaching--"I fear no +danger, and have every confidence in the extraordinary man who is to +be my guide; but, at the same time, it is always well to be prepared; +and, therefore, I shall not only exchange these heavy riding-boots for +something more fit for walking, but I will take the liberty of adding +a brace of pistols to back my sword in case of need." He then took +leave of Mrs. Falkland; and, after making the alteration he proposed, +once more sallied out, like the knight of La Mancha, with a heart +scarcely less chivalrous, though guided by a mind which happily had +power to restrain and direct the operation of his feelings. Here, +however, the thread of his adventures must be broken off for a while, +in order that we may leave no longer unfilled that void in his history +which now exists between the moment at which we last left him in +conversation with Lord Dewry, and that of his sudden reappearance at +Morley House. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +At the end of the first chapter of this volume, it may be remembered, +that we left Lord Dewry sitting in the saloon of Dewry Hall with +Colonel Manners. Night had become morning before the messengers for +whom he waited arrived from Dimden; and when they did so, they brought +the tidings that his lordship's well-laid scheme had failed; that no +one had been taken by the keepers but a gipsy boy; and that Sir Roger +Millington, as well as one of the keepers, had been wounded--the first +seriously, the second but slightly. Manners had expected and believed +that the peer would both be disappointed and shocked; but a variety of +emotions naturally sprang from such tidings, in the situation in which +Lord Dewry had placed himself, which could not be understood or +calculated by any one unacquainted with all the dreary secrets of his +heart. He was disappointed, it is true, that Pharold had not been +taken; but he trusted that, with all the means employed against him, +the gipsy would not be able to escape. + +Far from either shocked or sorry was he, however, that blood had been +spilt in the affray between the keepers and the gipsies, or that death +might ensue; for he saw that his grasp upon Pharold would thereby be +strengthened, though he could have wished, certainly, that the shot +which had been fired had found any other bosom than that of Sir Roger +Millington, from whom much good service remained still to be derived. +Such feelings, of course, produced some effect upon his behaviour, +especially as Colonel Manners's cordial co-operation in his plans, +without making him entirely forget the different principles upon which +they acted, had, in some degree, thrown him off his guard in regard to +the minor points of demeanour. The effect, indeed, was not so striking +as to lead Manners to suspect anything like the truth; but it was +sufficiently marked to call his attention--to appear strange and +unpleasant--and to make him think, "This is one of those pampered sons +of luxury, who only feel where their own immediate comforts are +concerned. He seems to care no more for the people who have been +wounded in his service than if they were things of wood." + +After a few short comments on the means to be next employed, Manners +retired to the chamber prepared for him, and lay down to rest. He +rose betimes, however: but it was long ere the peer made his +appearance; for, exhausted with activity, and watching, and contending +passions--the most wearing of all the many assailants of life and +strength--he fell into a deeper slumber than he had known for many +years. At length he came, and at a late hour set out with Colonel +Manners for Dimden; but since the preceding night a change had come +over his feelings towards his companion. Then, in agitation, and +horror, and anxiety, he had clung to any one for the sake of society; +and more especially to one whose character and reputation gave him +confidence, and whose warm co-operation afforded support. Now, +however, he was going to hear from his agents the progress of dark and +subtle plans of which Colonel Manners knew nothing--to examine and +speak with persons whom he had engaged in proceedings equally cunning +and unjustifiable; and he could very well have dispensed with the +presence of one whose bold good sense was likely to search and see +further than might be at all convenient. + +These feelings influenced his demeanour also; and although he could +not be absolutely rude to a person he had so lately courted, and who +was so perfectly independent of him in every respect, yet his manners +were throughout the journey sufficiently cold and repulsive to make +Manners determine to bring their companionship to a close as speedily +as possible. On their arrival at Dimden, the gipsy lad was sent for, +and a few casual questions asked him by the peer, which he repelled by +either obdurate silence or sullen monosyllables. This, however, was +what Lord Dewry for the present desired; but Colonel Manners was +resolved, if possible, to hear more, and he plied the prisoner with +every question which he judged likely to elicit some information +concerning his poor friend De Vaux. Little satisfactory news did he, +indeed, obtain; and, in fact, received no reply to the greater part of +his interrogations. Still the impression upon his mind, from one or +two occasional words which the lad was induced to speak, was strong, +that he at least was ignorant that De Vaux had been murdered, and +thence arose in Manners's mind the first reasonable hope that his +friend might still be living. + +After the space of nearly an hour thus spent, the youth was removed. +The peer made no comment; but after looking out of the window, called +some of the servants, and inquired after Sir Roger Millington. The +reply was, that the knight suffered considerable agony, and that the +surgeon was with him still. + +"Colonel Manners, you must excuse me for half an hour, while I visit +my unfortunate friend," said Lord Dewry, with a frigid bow. "My poor +son's death," he added, while his quivering lip, at the very mention +of his son's name, betrayed that on that subject, at least, his heart +was painfully sensible--"my poor son's death, of course, weighs +heavily upon me; but I must not forget my wounded friend. I do not +contemplate being detained longer than half an hour, and then I will +have the honour of setting you down at Morley House as I drive home." + +"Do not hurry yourself, my lord," answered Manners, calmly: "I have +some inquiries to make concerning my poor friend, and the means that +have been taken to discover anything of his fate; and therefore, as I +sent my horse over to Morley House this morning, I will walk thither. +I wish you good-day." + +As it was not the peer's wish or intention to deprive himself +altogether of Colonel Manners's influence and support in his further +measures against the gipsy--although he heartily desired his absence +for the time--he changed his tone in some degree, and pressed Manners +to stay; but took care, at the same time, to add such inducements as +he knew were not very likely to have any weight with him, assuring him +that the distance was full five miles, and the road fatiguing and +hilly. + +Manners, however, as the peer expected, persisted in his design; and, +taking leave, he walked out into the park, while Lord Dewry left the +room, as if to proceed to the apartment of Sir Roger Millington. +Before following him, however, it may be as well to say, that Manners +did not direct his steps, in the first instance, to Morley House; but +thinking, "His lordship, in his concern for this Sir Roger Millington, +seems entirely to have forgotten the poor keeper they talked of," he +stopped at the gate, and inquired whither the wounded man had been +carried. The old woman at the lodge gave him the necessary direction; +and proceeding to the cottage which she described, Manners entered +with that sort of frank good feeling that stands on no ceremonies +where the object is humane. + +He found the wounded keeper still suffering considerably; and he found +also, as he had been inclined to suspect, that the attention of the +surgeon having been hitherto occupied by the patient of higher rank, +the keeper had been entirely neglected. He was consequently more ill +and feverish than the nature of his wound would otherwise have +accounted for; and Manners, knowing, from much experience in such +occurrences, that if proper care were not taken, a slight injury might +have a fatal termination, instantly despatched a messenger for the +surgeon who was attending Miss De Vaux, and kindly waited his arrival. + +In conversation with the keeper, he learned that Pharold had not been +present when the guns were fired, and from him, also, he heard the +particulars of the affray in Dimden Park, the wound the man had +received not having been sufficiently severe to deprive him of the +power of observing everything that occurred around him afterward. By +the whole of his narrative the character of Pharold rose in Manners's +opinion, and his hopes of De Vaux's safety were strengthened: but +still he determined to act as if such hopes did not exist; and +accompanying the surgeon on his late return to the village near Morley +House, he prepared to pursue the search for the gipsy as ardently as +ever. What followed his arrival we have already seen. + +In the mean while Lord Dewry proceeded through the long and somewhat +dreary galleries of Dimden House to a distant apartment, but not to +the chamber in which the participator in his dark schemes lay on a bed +of agony and distress. The room he sought was solitary; and, ringing +the bell, he ordered Harvey, the head keeper, to be sent to him. The +man was already in the house, waiting his orders, and somewhat +apprehensive of his lord's displeasure at the failure of his plans. +But as long as Pharold was alive and free, there was a demon of fear +in the bosom of Lord Dewry that cowed the more violent passions of his +nature in the presence of those whom he used as his tools. The +consciousness of the designs in which he employed them made him treat +them gently, from vague but anxious surmises that, notwithstanding all +his care, they might suspect the motives of the plans they mingled +with. + +Although, then, in his heart, he could have felled the keeper to the +earth for letting Pharold escape him. In addressed him mildly when he +presented himself. "Why, how is this, Harvey?" he said: "you have let +the game escape us. There must have been a fault somewhere." + +"The fault was in the cursed cowardice of the fellows that were with +me, my lord," replied the keeper; "if they would but have followed me, +we should have taken the blackfaced villain any how. Two or three of +us might have got wounded, but no matter for that; we should have had +him safe here, if they would but have come on. But one fell back, and +another fell back; so that when I had got them up against the wall +there were but two with me, and two could do nothing against a good +dozen." + +"Let me hear how the whole business took place," said the peer: +"remember that I have no full account of it from any one; and we must +try to remedy what has gone wrong." + +The park-keeper was, of course, glad enough to tell his story in the +way that best suited him; and he related the events which we already +know according to his own particular version. The first error, he +declared, was, that several of the men whom he had hired for the +purpose of capturing the gipsies were too late at the rendezvous, and +several did not come at all. These disappointments, and the delay they +occasioned, had prevented his taking advantage of the moment when the +gipsies' guns were discharged after the slaughter of the deer, and, as +time lost is never regained, had caused the ultimate failure of his +whole plan. He assured the peer, however, that Pharold had been one of +the party engaged in the destruction of the game; and that he had been +active in the affray wherein Sir Roger Millington and the keeper had +been wounded. Some of the other men, he said, were not very clear +about these facts, but he was ready to swear to it. He then related +how the boy William had been seized by two of his party, who had been +detached for that purpose; and he added a long account of the measures +which he had taken in order to trace the gipsies in their flight. + +"Is the keeper badly wounded?" demanded the peer, thoughtfully. + +"He did not seem bad at first, my lord," replied the man; "but they +say he is much worse this afternoon, and his wife is afraid he will +die." + +The peer muttered something between his teeth, which might be, "So +much the better;" but this sound reached Harvey's ears but +imperfectly, and Lord Dewry went on in a louder tone, "Poor fellow! +have you seen him, Harvey?" + +"Not myself, my lord," answered the keeper; "but his wife came up to +see if the doctor could go down, and I spoke with her for a minute." + +"Poor fellow!" said the peer; "but we must take care that his murderer +does not escape, Harvey. Have you thought of no way by which we can +catch him?" + +"Why, he is a keen hand, that Pharold, my lord," replied the keeper; +"but I do think we can manage it, if your lordship likes to try." + +"Try!" said Lord Dewry: "I will make him a rich and happy man, Harvey, +who brings that villain to justice. But how do you think it can be +managed?" + +"Why, I scarcely know as yet, my lord," answered the keeper; "I have +had sure eyes upon some of the gipsy folks, and think I can make out +whereabouts they have gone to; but Pharold knows better than to go +with them. Besides, he was in the park there, not many hours ago, in +the broad daylight." + +"Impudent villain!" cried the peer; "but what in the name of Heaven +could bring him there? Are you sure it was he?" + +"I saw him with my own eyes, my lord," replied the keeper; "and had +nearly caught him with my own hands; for we had him pinned in between +seven and eight of us and the river: but without minding us more than +if we had been rabbits, he took to the water like a hard-run fox, and +swam the river outright." + +Lord Dewry paused; for there was something in the daring hardihood of +the gipsy congenial to the bold and fearless spirit which had animated +himself in early years; and he felt a sort of stern admiration which +even hatred could not quell. At length, however, he repeated, "But +what could bring him here? He could not be fool enough to come for the +sole purpose of daring his pursuers." + +"No, no, my lord," answered Harvey. "He came after this boy that we +caught, I dare say. The boy may be a bit of a relation, or, at all +events, a friend; and they did not know what had become of him, for +he was taken apart. Now, my lord, I was thinking--if, might be so +bold--that one might, perhaps, turn this boy to some account, and get +him--do you see, my lord?" + +The mind of the peer had been so long habituated to revolve dark and +tortuous schemes, that it was apt and ready to comprehend the +significant word, or half-spoken hint, which often forms the language +of those who are afraid to give their purposes full utterance. Thus he +gained an instant insight into the nature of the plan which the keeper +had conceived, although he saw not the details; and he answered, "I do +see, Harvey, I do see! That is to say, I see what you mean; but I do +not see how it is to be managed. If the boy had any means of +communicating with his own gang, he might, perhaps, lure the chief +villain of the whole into our net; but we know not where they are, and +he, in all probability, is still more ignorant." + +"I know well enough where a part of them are," answered the keeper. +"Some went down towards the water, and I cannot trace them: but some, +for a certainty, went across the common to the Dingley wood, where +they are still, I am sure; and I should not wonder if the others soon +joined them, for it is uncommon what a fancy those gipsies have for +sticking to each other, especially in misfortune; and I should not +wonder if they were to hang about here till they hear what becomes of +this lad. He may be Pharold's son, for any thing I know." + +"Would that he were! would that he were!" cried the peer, vehemently, +the memory of his own son crossing the confused crowd of other +thoughts that pressed upon his brain. "Would that he were! I would +find the means to wring his heart. But still," he added, after pausing +for some moments on the pleasant thoughts of revenge--"but still the +boy is cut off from all communication with them." + +"But we can let him have some, if your lordship pleases," said the +keeper. "If your lordship remembers, I told you of a man named Harry +Saxon, who always has a good deal to do with poachers and such like, +and who put these gipsies up to the deer-stealing. Now we could let +him get speech of the boy; and if any one heard of it, we would say it +was only to see whether he could swear to the youth, and he would soon +take any message to his people for him." + +"But will he undertake the task? and can we depend upon him?" asked +the peer. + +"Why, ye--s, my lord, I think we may," answered Harvey, thoughtfully. +"He's a good sort of a man enough; and besides, I rather think I could +send him across the water to Botany, if I liked, for something I saw +him do one day, and he knows it too; and so he is always very civil +and obliging to me." + +"Well may he be so," replied the peer, with a curling lip. "But can +you get at him soon? There's no time to be lost in such a business." + +"I can get at him in a minute," answered the keeper; "for he came up +to my house about an hour ago; and he is in a bit of a fright about +all this bad business of the shooting. So I told him to stay there +till I had seen your lordship, and I would tell him how things went +when I came back." + +"Go and bring him then," said the peer quickly--"go and bring him--yet +stay a moment, Harvey. Let me consider what is to be done when he does +come. He is to be admitted to speech of this gipsy lad; and what +then?" + +"Why, my lord, I dare say the boy can be frightened into sending a +message to Pharold to come down and help him out." + +"No, no, no," said the peer, "it must be better arranged than that. +Let me see. The windows of the strong room look out into the close +wood, and any one from the outside could saw away the iron bars. Yes, +that will do. But the lad himself must be tutored in the first place. +Quick, then, Harvey, go and bring your friend; and in the meantime I +will see the boy alone. Do not come in till you hear that I have sent +for you." + +The keeper retired, and the peer again rang the bell, to direct that +the young gipsy should be brought before him once more. His orders +were promptly obeyed, and two stout fellows appeared, with the +prisoner between them. + +"Leave him with me," said the peer, as soon as they had brought him +two or three steps forward in the room. The men, who had calculated on +enjoying all the pleasures of a cross-examination, and who had even in +their hearts formed the aspiration that they hoped his lordship would +pump him well, stared with some mortification at being excluded from +witnessing the mental torture of their fellow-creature; but Lord +Dewry, who read something of the kind in their countenances, not only +repeated his command, but bade them wait at the end of the adjoining +passage till they were joined by Harvey, the head keeper. There was no +resource; and therefore they obeyed, shutting the door, and leaving +the peer face to face with the captive. + +The gipsy youth might be eighteen or nineteen years of age; that +season of life when enjoyment is in its first freshness; when all the +world is as bright, and as sweet, and as sparkling as a summer +morning; when imagination and passion are setting out hand in hand +upon the ardent race that soon wearies them, and when memory follows +them quick, gathering up the flowers that they pluck and cast away as +they go, but not as yet burdened with any of the cares, or sorrows, or +disappointments which they are destined to encounter in the end: he +was, in fact, at that age when life is the sweetest. His form was full +of nascent vigour, and his face was fine; but his whole countenance, +though speaking, by its variety and play of feature, active +imagination, and perhaps a degree of enterprise, betrayed a sort of +uncertain, undecided expression, which is never to be seen in the face +of the firm and the determined. The peer gazed on him for a moment, +seeing all, and calculating all, in order to work upon his prisoner's +mind by both his circumstances and his weaknesses. + +"You are very young," he said at length, in a tone of stern +gravity--"you are very young to be engaged in crimes like these. What +is your age?" + +That sort of dogged sullenness, half shyness, half hatred, which a +contemned and separate race are from their infancy taught by nature to +display towards their oppressors, was the only source of resistance in +the character of the young gipsy, whose powers of resolution were +naturally small, and whose mind was unfortified by firm and vigorous +principles of any kind. It was sufficient in the present instance, +however, to keep him silent; and he stood, with his dark eyes fixed +upon the ground, and his arms hanging by his side, apparently as +unmoved as if the peer had addressed him in a language that he did not +comprehend. + +"You are very young," repeated Lord Dewry, after waiting some time in +vain for an answer--"you are very young to be engaged in crimes like +these. Life must be sweet to you: there must be a thousand pleasures +that you are just beginning to enjoy, a thousand hopes of greater +pleasures hereafter; there must be many friends that you grieve to +part with--and some," he added, seeing the youth's lip quiver--"and +some that, doubtless, you love beyond anything on earth." + +A tear rolled over the rich brown cheek of the gipsy boy, and betrayed +that he not only understood what was said to him, but felt every word +at his heart's core, as the peer, with barbarous skill, sought out +every fresh wound in his bosom, and tearing them open one by one, +poured in the rankling poison of insincere commiseration. "Ah!" +continued Lord Dewry, "it is sad and terrible, indeed, to think of +being--at the very moment when one is the happiest--at the very moment +when one loves one's friends the best--at the very moment, perhaps, +when all our hopes are about to be fulfilled--to think of being cut +off from them all, and to die a horrid and painful death! and yet such +must be your fate, my poor boy; such must be inevitably your fate, as +a punishment for the murder committed in my park last night." + +"I murdered no one," cried the youth, with a convulsive sob, that +nearly rendered what he said unintelligible. "I murdered no one." + +"But your companions did," answered the peer, glad to have forced him +into breaking silence. "You were not present, it is true; but you +trespassed on my park for evil purposes with those who did commit +murder, and are therefore an accessary to the deed. Banish all hope, +poor boy; for to-morrow I must certainly commit you to the county +jail, from which you will only go to trial and to execution. I am +sorry for you, I grieve for you, to think that you must never see +again those you love; that you must be cut off in the prime of youth +and happiness--I grieve for you, indeed." + +"Then why do you not let me out?" cried the lad. "If you grieve for +me, let me run away." + +"That is impossible," answered the peer; "but perhaps I may do +something to make your fate less bitter. Death you must undergo; but +in the mean time I may soften the strictness of your imprisonment. Is +there any one whom you would wish to see--any of your friends and +companions who might comfort you by coming to visit you?" + +"What is the use, if I must die?" said the gipsy, sullenly, dropping +his tearful eyes to the ground, and clenching tighter his clasped +hands together; but Lord Dewry saw that there was something more +working in his mind, and warily held his peace. "There is none I +should like to see but Lena," said the gipsy at length, with a deep +sigh; "and Pharold would not let her come, even if I were to ask." + +"And why not?" demanded the peer, affecting as much unconcern as it +was possible for him to assume when coming near the very subject of +his wishes. "Why would any one prevent her from coming, if it would +comfort you? He must be very cruel to deny you, when you have so short +a time to live." + +"No, he is not cruel," said the youth; "he is hard, but not cruel; but +he would not let her come, do you see, because a year ago I was to +have had Lena for my wife--at least so Mother Gray always told me: but +then Pharold loved her; and though her own love did not lie that way, +her mother, when she was dying, herself gave Lena to him, because he +was better able to take care of her than any one else. And he does not +love to see Lena speak to me, I know." + +"So he took your bride from you," said the peer, not a little +delighted to hear tidings which promised so fairly for success; "he +took your bride from you, and now he is jealous of you. Well, then, +listen to me, and mark well what I am about to say. Your fate is in +your own hands. You are left to choose between life and death!" + +The youth gazed dully in his face for a moment, as if he did not +comprehend his words at first; but the next instant he burst forth, +"Life, life, life, then!" cried he, clasping his hands together, and +raising his eyes beaming with new hope: "life, oh, I choose life!" + +"There is but one way, however," replied the peer, "by which you can +obtain it. This Pharold, this very man who took away your bride, I +have every reason to believe killed my brother and murdered my son." + +"Then that is the way he gets money, no one knows how," cried the +youth. + +"Most probably it is," answered Lord Dewry; "but mark me, if you can +contrive a means to get him into my power, you shall not only go free, +but have a large reward. This is your only chance for life." + +The lad's countenance fell in a moment. He was young, and the better +spirit was the first to act. "No, no," he cried; "I hate Pharold, but +I will not betray him." + +"Then you must die," said the peer, sternly. + +The better spirit was still predominant: no image presented itself to +the youth's mind but that of betraying the chief of his tribe. He +thought not for the moment of the loveliness of life, he thought not +of the horrors of death, he remembered not either love or hate, in the +strong impression of a duty which had been fixed in his heart from +childhood; and he answered in a low sad tone, "Then die I will." + +"But think," said the peer, who had anticipated the first effect of +his proposal, and reserved every stronger inducement, every palliating +argument, to tempt and to excuse the unhappy youth, when the immediate +impression was over--"think what it is you choose--imprisonment in a +close room by yourself for several days; then trial and condemnation, +and then death upon a gibbet, with nobody to comfort you, nobody to +speak to you; but you must go through the horror, and the agony, and +the shame all alone and unsupported." The boy shuddered, and the peer +proceeded, changing the picture, however:--"This is what you choose. +Now what is it you cast away?--life, and happiness, and more wealth +than ever you knew, and most probably the possession of the girl you +love best upon the earth." + +The peer was experienced in temptations; for he had undergone and +yielded to them himself, and he knew, by the dark histories of his own +heart, all the wiles and artifices by which the fiend lures on +successfully even the firm and the determined to acts at which they +have shuddered in their days of innocence. + +The young gipsy listened, and hesitated, and felt all his resolutions +give way; but so fearful was the struggle in his bosom, that his limbs +trembled and his teeth chattered as if he had been shaken by an ague. +The keen eye that was upon him, however, did not fail to mark and +understand his emotion; and Lord Dewry proceeded, "Well may Lena think +you love her but little, when you scruple, by a few words, to break +the hateful bonds that tie her to this murderer Pharold, and when you +have the power to make her your own, yet refuse to use it." + +"But I tell you," cried the boy, vehemently, "that Lena would never +consent; that even if she were to know that I had done such a thing +she would hate me and curse me; that I should be driven forth from my +people, and never see her more." + +"But neither she nor any one else," replied the peer, "need ever know +one circumstance about it. If you will undertake to do what I wish, I +will tell you a plan by which it may be accomplished, without any +being on the earth knowing it but you and I." + +"But if Pharold should be innocent," said the youth, "the guiltless +blood would be upon my hand, and it would curse me." + +"But if Pharold be innocent, his blood shall not be shed," replied the +peer: "let him prove his innocence, and he shall go as free as you; +but he cannot prove his innocence, for he is guilty; and you, in +delivering him up, do but what is right and good; you do but avenge +the innocent blood he has shed, though at the same time you gain for +yourself life, and liberty, and happiness, and the girl that you +love." + +"Well, well, well!" cried the boy, "tell me what it is I am to do." + +"Will you undertake it?" demanded the peer, eagerly. + +"If," answered the gipsy--for probably there was never yet a crime +committed, in regard to which the criminal did not propose some +palliating motive, in order to deceive his own heart at the time, and +to calm the anticipated reproaches of his conscience thereafter--"if +you will promise, by God and the heavens, that, if Pharold is +innocent, you will let him go free." + +Lord Dewry paused for an instant. It is strange, but no less true than +strange, that the mind not only habituates itself to evil, but +habituates itself to a particular course of evil, and the same person +who will boldly reiterate a crime to which he is accustomed, will +start at a much less heinous offence, if it be new to his habits. +Thus, Lord Dewry paused for an instant ere he swore to a promise which +he intended to evade; but he soon remembered that, in the course which +he was pursuing, there was no halting at so airy a thing as an oath; +and he replied, "By all that is sacred, he shall go free, if he proves +himself innocent." + +"Well, then," said the youth, "I will do what you wish; but, oh, if +you deceive me!" + +"Deceive you in what?" demanded the peer. "I have promised that, if he +prove himself innocent, he shall of course go free: it is but just." + +"But it was not of that I spoke," said the gipsy: "I thought if you +were to deceive me into trapping Pharold, and then not to let me go +myself!" + +"On my honour! on my soul!" cried the peer, with a ready vehemence, +which convinced the youth more easily than would have been possible, +if he had known how often men pledge their honour and their soul when +the real jewels are no longer theirs--when their true honour has been +lost for years, and their soul pawned deeply to an eternal foe. + +"Well, well," he answered, "I will do it. Tell me how it is to be +done." + +"Tell me first," said the peer: "this Pharold--he is jealous of you, +it seems?" The boy smiled faintly. "Will he, then, take sufficient +interest in your fate to attempt to rescue you, if he thinks there is +a probability of success?" + +"That he will!" answered the youth; "besides, if I could get at Lena, +she would persuade him. But how can I get at her? She will not come +here, and I cannot go to her." + +"But do you think that if you were to send a message to her," demanded +Lord Dewry, "that she would try to persuade him to attempt your +rescue, and that she has influence enough to work him to her purpose?" + +"That she has, that she has," answered the gipsy: "Pharold often gives +her a cross word; but when she likes to try, she can always get her +own way, for all that. But how can I send a message to her? I know not +where she is, nor where Pharold is; though once, as I looked out +through the bars of the window this morning, I thought I saw him +through the gray mist, standing under the distant trees, and watching +the house. But they may have gone far before this time; yet, if you +were to let me out for a few hours, I would soon find them." + +"We will seek a better way," answered the peer, without taking any +further notice of the simple cunning with which the youth spoke. "I +hear from my gamekeepers that a man from one of the neighbouring +villages has been inquiring for you, and most likely he knows where +your friends and companions are. Now, as you promise to do what I ask, +he shall be admitted to see you, and you must send to Lena whatever +message you think will induce her to persuade Pharold to come to your +rescue." + +"Yes," said the boy; "but I must first know how he can rescue me, for +Pharold will never come unless he thinks it likely. Ay, and the story +must be a clever one, too; for he is as cunning as a sentinel-crow, +and smells powder at a mile's distance." + +"I must leave you to frame the story as you think best," replied the +peer; "but you can tell your fair Lena that if Pharold will come to +your prison-window with a sharp file or a sledge-hammer, he can easily +set you free by breaking the bars of iron that cross the opening. You +may add, that there is never any one on that side of the house all +night, and so that he will be perfectly safe." + +The lad hung down his head; and the hot blood of shame, as he thought +of what he was undertaking, rushed from his heart to his cheeks. There +was again a momentary struggle, but the good had been conquered once +already; and the thought of life, and Lena, and happiness, and freedom +from the oppressive terror that weighed down his heart in his prison, +got the better of everything besides; and he replied, "But what shall +I do if they thrust the file and the sledge-hammer through the bars to +me, and bid me work for myself?" + +Lord Dewry instantly saw the validity of the youth's objection, and +the probability that Pharold, instead of coming himself, would send +some woman or some child with the implements which might be necessary +for setting the prisoner at liberty. "You must tell them," he said, +after some minutes' thought, "that you are so tied that you cannot cut +through the bars for yourself." + +"But the man who gives them the message will see that I am not tied," +replied the youth; and, after pausing for a few moments, he added, +"No, no; I have thought of a better way. I will not trust him with any +particulars: I will bid him ask Lena and Mother Gray to work Pharold +to get me out; but, at all events, for some one of them to come down, +and speak with me through the bars to-night, and then I can make them +do what I want. But you must let them go, remember!" he exclaimed. +"You must not stop the women if they come." + +"I shall certainly stop none but Pharold," answered the peer: "the +rest may come and go as they like. But only do not you trifle with me; +for be you sure that you shall not only not have your liberty, but +that, if Pharold be not in my power before to-morrow night is over, +you shall be sent to the county-jail for instant trial." + +"And how," said the youth, whose shyness was fast wearing away--"and +how am I to get my liberty when Pharold is in your power?" + +"The door shall be set open," answered the peer, "and you shall go out +freely." + +"But how can I be sure of that?" he demanded again. + +"You may keep us both, for aught I know. Will you write it down? for I +have heard that you Englishmen are more bound by what is written than +by what is said." + +Lord Dewry again paused for a moment, somewhat embarrassed; but after +revolving the probable consequences in his mind for some time, he +replied, "I will write it down, if you require it." + +"Do--do, then," said the youth; and the peer, ringing the bell, +ordered writing-materials to be brought. As soon as they arrived, he +sat down, and drew up a promise, artfully couched in such terms as he +felt sure could not, in the slightest degree, implicate his character +or betray his real views, if ever it should be produced against him. + +"As the prisoner," so the writing ran, "now in custody at Dimden, +is apparently only an accessary, and not a principal, in the crime +lately committed at this place, I hereby promise him, on condition of +his placing in the hands of justice the notorious felon Pharold, +against whom various warrants have issued, at present unsuccessfully, +that he shall be immediately set at liberty, as soon as he has +accomplished the same. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my +hand, this---- day of ----," &c. &c. + +The youth's eyes sparkled as he read; and the prospect of liberty and +safety which opened before him blotted out at once from memory the +dark and villanous step which he must take to reach them. "I will do +it! I will do it!" he cried; "but you must let me do it my own way, +for I must not let anyone in the whole world know that it is my doing. +It must seem that he is taken by accident, while helping me, and that +I have made my escape in the meantime; and then I shall be free, and +Lena will be mine!" And the youth clapped his hands in the vehemence +of reawakened hope. + +"Well, well," said the peer, his anxiety for his ultimate object +coming eagerly upon him as soon as his immediate purpose was +accomplished--"well, well, the man I spoke of shall have admittance to +you immediately. But, remember, you must lose no time; for the longest +space I can afford you is this night and to-morrow night." + +"Some of the women will come to me to-night," answered the youth; "and +to-morrow night, fear not, Pharold shall stand under the window of the +prison-room, some time between the rising of the moon and the sun. So +watch well, and if you take him not it is your own fault." + +"So be it, then," said the peer; "and now you must return to speak +with the person I mentioned, who shall soon be sent to you." Thus +saying, Lord Dewry called back the two men who had brought the young +gipsy thither; and, after bidding them take him back to the strong +room, told them, in his hearing, as an earnest of his good-will, to +let him have everything that could render him comfortable in strict +imprisonment. As soon as the men appeared, the boy resumed his look of +sullen shyness; and, hanging his head, followed them in silence from +the room. + +The moment he had departed, the peer sent to inquire for the keeper, +who had not yet returned, however; and Lord Dewry was kept for a short +time under the irritation of his own impatient spirit. At length +Harvey appeared, followed by his confederate, Harry Saxon; and it +would have given sincere pleasure to a disciple of Lavater to see how +well this worthy's countenance corresponded with his actions. + +He was a man of about five-and-forty, and what many people would call +a good-looking man; that is to say, he had a fresh country complexion, +a high large nose, with small nostrils, a capacious mouth, furnished +with white and regular teeth, a small keen black eye, under a very +overhanging and observing brow, a forehead low, but broad, and +surmounted with a layer of fine jet-black hair, smoothed down, and +polished with the most careful and scrupulous precision. His dress, +without being exactly that of a gamekeeper, had a sufficient portion +of the style usually attributed to that class to show his hankering +after the beasts of the field. His coat was green, and on the buttons +thereof appeared, not alone the fox, that most sagacious animal, but a +variety of birds and beasts, so comprehensive in their number, and so +limited in their kind, that his garment formed a very excellent +hieroglyphical abstract of the game act. Leathern gaiters, with small +round leathern buttons, cased a pair of sturdy legs, and defended them +from the brambles of those paths he most frequented; and a pair of +hedger's gloves upon his hands seemed well calculated to grope for +springes and gins amid the thorny ways of life. + +The peer surveyed him, as he entered, with the keen eye of worldly +experience, and saw that he was a man to be depended on by those who +could pay him well. After a brief question or two, to which the other +replied with sly significance, the peer explained to him the +ostensible object he had in view; namely, that of securing the +apprehension of a gipsy felon called Pharold, by the instrumentality +of the boy they had taken on the preceding night, and asked him if he +were willing to undertake the part he was to play, and to perform it +carefully. + +"You are, I hear," he added, with some degree of irony, "in some way +acquainted with these gipsies, and may, therefore, not like to bring +one of them to justice. If it be so, speak, and we will find some +other person." + +"No, no, my lord," answered the man. "A gipsy! why, I hate a gipsy! +they come in and spoil every thing like the regular trade. No, no, +hang 'em all for me." + +Lord Dewry did not pause to inquire what Harry Saxon called the +regular trade; but replied, "Well, if such be your opinion, go in and +speak to this lad. Do not let him know that you have had any +conversation with me upon the subject; but offer to do anything for +him that you can; and when you have heard what he has to say, come +back and let me know the result." + +The peer added an injunction to be quick; and Harry Saxon was +conducted, by his worthy associate Harvey, to the strong room in which +the gipsy lad had been confined. + +The chamber would have been in every respect a comfortable one, had +not the doors and windows been furnished on the outside with those +appurtenances, obnoxious to all comfort, called bolts and bars. The +house had been constructed when population was much thinner than at +present, and when it was necessary that the dwelling of a magistrate, +if situated far from any great town, should be provided with some +place in which a prisoner might be confined for a few hours; for this +purpose the room we speak of had been selected and fitted up, both on +account of the distance at which it lay from the more frequented parts +of the building, and of its proximity to a large old hall, which +formed the extreme wing of the house, and topped the bank overhanging +the river. This hall had often served, in cases of necessity, as a +justice-room in the olden times; and though many years had elapsed +since it had been employed on any very important occasion, yet even of +later days it had been used for the meeting of magistrates and county +functionaries, when anything caused them to assemble in that part of +the country. + +The strong room, however, had never been intended for anything but +temporary purposes, and was not at all calculated for securing a +strong and determined prisoner for any length of time, as the windows, +which opened into the park, were only closed by iron bars, which, as +the peer had hinted, might easily be filed away from within, or forced +off from without. These bars the boy took care to examine minutely as +soon as he was taken back to the place of his confinement; and he then +turned his eyes to the park beyond, to ascertain how far the plan he +had to propose to Pharold would be recommended by the probability of +its success. + +A grove of old oaks and chestnuts came up nearly to the windows, so +that there was plenty of shade to conceal any one who approached, +except in the full light of day. But as he gazed, the boy's thoughts +were soon drawn away from the dark scheme which the peer had suggested +to him by the sight of the world beyond his prison. Through the wide +spaces between the trees the lawns and savannas of the park were to be +distinguished, with other woods and groves beyond. The soft evening +sunshine was sleeping upon the slopes and glistening on the river; and +the deer were seen walking calm and free through the long dry autumn +grass, while the call of the partridge sounded from some distant +fields, and everything spoke of liberty, and happiness, and peace. The +influence of the scene sank deep into his heart, as he stood separated +from his people, barred in from the free and beautiful world, and, for +the first time in his existence, confined to the close atmosphere of +one small solitary room. It sank deep into his bosom; but, like the +fabled amreeta cup of one of our truest poets, many of the sweetest +things on earth are productive of good or evil according to the lip +that tastes them. While he gazed, the passionate love of wild +unrestrained liberty, and of nature, in which his heart had been +nurtured from infancy, grew overpowering. To be free--to bound away +over those sunny fields--to cast bars and bolts behind him--became a +passion and burning thirst: better principles were wanting to teach +him to endure; and had the price of liberty, at that moment, been a +parricide, he would have dipped his hands in parental blood. Nerved by +the passionate desire, he seized the bars of iron in his hands, and +strove to tear them open; but their strength resisted all his efforts, +and he burst into tears to think that he must remain another day in +bondage. + +His eyes were still wet when the door opened, and the insidious +prompter of the enterprise which had deprived him of his liberty +entered the room. The youth, however, was, like the rest of the +gipsies, ignorant that they had been betrayed; and although he had +only seen the man once, he now received him gladly as an acquaintance +and a friend. + +Their conversation lasted about ten minutes, and at the end of that +time the emissary returned to the peer to report what had just passed. + +"Well, well," demanded Lord Dewry, "with what message has he charged +you?" + +"A very short one, my lord," answered the man: "he bade me seek out +old Mother Gray, or some of the women, and tell them to come down to +speak with him at the window to-night; so, I take it, that won't suit +your lordship's purpose." + +"Yes, it will," answered the peer. "He will, probably, employ the +women to work upon the men." + +"Ay, ay, plough with the heifer," answered the other; "but I may as +well, if your lordship has no objection, set them on the right track +myself; and I will answer for it, I get them to persuade old Pharold +to come down himself." + +"There is a very large reward offered," answered the peer, dryly, "to +any one who will contribute to place him in the hands of justice; and +if you are successful in the attempt you shall not lose the reward. +But do you think you can find these gipsies?" + +"Why, from what Dick Harvey says, my lord," he replied, "I think there +can be no doubt that I can find the women part of them, though, most +likely, the men are hiding away--and no bad job either; for they might +fancy I had some hand in the last night's job--but, howsomever, if I +can find the women, they'll make the men do what they like easy +enough. So, if your lordship will keep a good watch round the strong +room, without letting the folks show themselves till they are sure of +their man, I think we may calculate upon Master Pharold pretty +certain." + +"In which case your reward is certain, too," answered the peer; "but +now make haste upon your errand, my good man, for the sun will soon be +going down, and you have but little time." + +"Oh, I don't dislike a walk in the twilight," replied the fellow; and, +bowing low, but with a somewhat too familiar grin, he took his leave +and retired. + +Lord Dewry immediately proceeded to give orders for a strict watch to +be kept upon the windows of the strong room during the two following +nights; and took measures that an ambush should be laid in the +immediate vicinity, in such a manner that any person approaching could +not escape; but, at the same time, he carefully directed that if none +but women appeared, they should be permitted to go as they came, not +only without molestation, but with every precaution to prevent the +least appearance of unusual watch. + +This being done, he turned his steps towards the chamber of Sir Roger +Millington, for whose life the unfavourable opinion of the surgeon +gave him no slight apprehension. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The person against whom so many subtle contrivances were directed, on +leaving Colonel Manners, as we have described in a foregoing chapter, +turned his steps towards the wood in which his own companions had +sought refuge after the unfortunate events of the preceding night. If +the reader will cast his eye upon the county map, he will see that, +avoiding Morley Down, he skirted along the hill, the summit of which +it crowned; and then, after following for a little way that part of +the high-road which traversed the little isthmus, in the neighbourhood +of which he had saved the life of Isadore Falkland, he struck soon +after into the forest on the right. As he came not from the same side +on which his comrades had entered the wood, his search for them was +not without difficulty; but it is wonderful with what keen tact +persons accustomed to such scenes and circumstances take advantage of +slight and apparently insignificant indications to guide them on their +way. A branch brushed aside, a trodden-down flower, the sight, or even +the smell of smoke, the least sound of the human voice, will each aid +them in their search; and by means of this kind Pharold, ere long, +discovered the little glen in which his whole party had found an +asylum. + +At the moment he approached, had his keen mind not been engaged with +many another thought, he might have remarked that there was some +degree of bustle and consultation among the gipsies, which ceased as +he came up. All, however, appeared glad to see him safe; and all +crowded round to express the anxiety they had felt during his absence, +and to question him as to the events which had befallen him. Lena hung +upon his arm with evident pleasure at his return; but the fondness she +displayed was more like that of a child towards a parent than that of +a wife for a husband. + +In answer to the inquiries of the whole party, Pharold--after having +seated himself in the midst, and demanded some refreshment, which was +speedily procured--related, briefly, all that had occurred as far as +his own perils went. Of Colonel Manners he spoke as of a stranger, and +neither noticed their encounter nor his promise of again meeting him, +though he told the group around that ere an hour was over he must +again set forth on matters of import not to be delayed. + +"Well, I hope, at all events, that you are going to get poor Will +out," said the old woman we have so often mentioned. "Poor boy! he has +a hard fate." + +"I hope," said Lena, seeing that Pharold made no answer--"I hope--" but +then she stopped, as if afraid of offending him. + +"And what do you hope, Lena?" said Pharold, gravely, but not so +sternly as was often his wont. + +"I hope," she said, more boldly, but with the colour coming up in her +brown cheek--"I hope that some means will be found to set the poor boy +free, for I am sure he was not the guilty person." + +As she spoke Pharold gazed on her with such grave earnestness that her +latter words faltered; and even after she had concluded he still kept +his eyes fixed upon her in silence, till one of the men, who had +accompanied Dickon on the deer-stealing expedition, joined into +corroborate her words. + +"No, no," said the man, "he was not so guilty as any of us. Dickon +persuaded the rest of us, and we persuaded him; but it was a hard +matter to do so; and then, after all, he never fired a gun." + +"Well," said Pharold, "I have done my utmost to free him: but he is in +the hands of our enemies, who are keen, and vigilant, and many; and I +see no way of delivering him from them but by force, which I will not +employ, first, because it would fail; and next, because it would be +sacrificing many of the innocent to deliver one who, though less +guilty than others, is still culpable. I see no other way." + +"Ay, but there is another way, Pharold," said the old woman: "they say +that he is confined in what they call the strong room." + +"They say!" exclaimed Pharold, hastily--"they say! Some one has been +with you: speak, who has been here? or has any one gone forth when I +forbade it?" + +The old woman only grinned at having betrayed herself, as Pharold +looked sternly round upon the circle; but Lena cast herself upon his +bosom, saying, "Tell him the truth! Oh, tell him the truth! It is +always better to tell him the truth! Well, if no one else will, I +will. Some one has been here, Pharold--some one who has seen the poor +boy in prison; and he told us all how wretched he is, and also he said +that William himself had sent him to us to say, that if any one would +come down to-night or to-morrow night to the window of the room where +he is lying, they could easily wrench off the iron bars that kept him +in, and set him free at once." + +"And who was the person that he sent?" demanded Pharold, sternly. + +"Why, it was just Harry Saxon, the game-sneaker," answered the old +woman; "who else should it be?" + +"A dastardly villain!" said Pharold, hastily; "fit to betray us all: +speak no more of it. I know that man of old, and would not trust him +with the life of a child, if he could gain by its destruction." + +"He seemed honest enough in this business," said the man called Brown; +"for he told us all how he had got in to see the lad, and how he had +traced us hither. He took some blame to himself, too, in the business +of the deer-stealing, for he was to have bought the venison from +Dickon; and that was the reason why he went to see poor Will in +prison, and was willing to do what he could to get him out. Now I +would not promise to go till I knew what you thought of it, Pharold; +but if you like, I will go down to-night, for, as to the man betraying +us, you see I have no fear, because, if he had liked, he could have +brought people to nab us all here. So I will go and try what I can +do." + +"But did not Will say particularly," cried the shrill tones of the old +woman, "that it must be some one who knew the place well, or they +would get into a mess? If you go, Brown, you'll only get caught +yourself, and spoil a hopeful plan for setting poor William free. +There is no one that knows the place well but Pharold and I, because +we know it of old; and as Pharold is afraid to go any more, I would go +with all my heart, if I were strong enough to get the bars off: I +could have done it once, as well as the best man among you; but I am +an old woman now. As for that, Pharold knows the place better than I +do a great deal, for he lived in that very house for many a month, +and--" + +"Hold your peace, hold your peace, woman," interrupted Pharold. "The +boy said to-night or to-morrow, did he not?" + +"Yes, to-night or to-morrow," answered Brown; "but to-night were best, +for who knows what may happen before to-morrow?" + +"To-night I cannot go," answered Pharold, "for I have pledged my word +to be elsewhere, and I do not break my word: but to-morrow I will go; +and I think that, perhaps, after all, I may be able to set him free. +In the meantime, however, you, Mother Gray, shall go down this very +night, to reward you for all the share you have had in the matter. +You know the strong room window, just in the angle, by the great hall. +Get ye down thither at midnight; and tell the boy that I will come +to-morrow night: bid him keep a good watch; and if he sees any one +lurking about, as if watching, let him sing some of the songs that he +sings so well, to warn me. You look out well, too, and mark everything +about you, to tell me when I come back. You were never the wisest or +the best, but I do not think you such a devil as to betray one +wilfully." + +He looked sternly and keenly at her, but the beldam only answered in a +jeering tone, "No, no, Pharold, though I love you as much as a young +sparrow loves a cuckoo poult, I'll not betray you, man." + +"Go, then," said Pharold, "as soon as it is midnight: examine +everything well; and tell the boy, through the bars of the window, +that, although he deserves to suffer the consequences of his fault, +yet we will do our best to rescue him for his youth's sake." + +It is always some consolation to those who lie under the command of a +superior mind to be permitted to sneer at what they dare not disobey; +and the old woman, while she listened, gave way to all those grins, +and winks, and nods, the boldness of which she fancied might +counterbalance, in the opinion of those around, her degradation in +submitting quietly to the orders of one who treated her with such +unceremonious censure. She was secured, however, by Pharold's scorn, +against any notice of her malice, as far as he himself was concerned; +and without seeming to observe the affectation of contempt with which +she heard him, he turned to the rest, and gave directions for +immediately removing their encampment to another spot. + +"Quarter of a mile farther," he said, "you will come to a clear +stream, broad but not deep, flowing from the heart of the wood, over a +bed of sand and small clear stones. You can drive the carts up through +the water till you reach a place where the banks are flat; and there, +under the oaks and among the hazel-bushes, you will find plenty of +room and shelter. You, Brown, take every precaution you can to prevent +the slightest trace being left of the course you have followed; make +the people wade along the water--it is not deep enough to cover their +ankles; send them, too, by different parties and in different ways; +for remember that, because one of our number has killed two deer, the +whole world, that hated us before, will now think themselves justified +to hunt us down like foxes.--I can stay with you no longer, for the +hour I named is near at hand--I am wearied and sad, and I feel as if +the end were coming; but still I must keep my word, and do as I have +done to the last." + +Some tears, from mixed emotions that would have defied analysis, had +filled the eyes of the beautiful girl that reclined by his side; and +as Pharold rose to depart, he saw them still glistening there. Taking +her hand, he beckoned her with him, saying, "Come with me for a +moment, Lena: I would speak with you." + +She followed, and for about a hundred yards he led her on in silence; +and then, turning round, he pressed a kiss upon her lips:--"Remember +me, Lena," he said, "when I am dead. Ever, at this hour, whatever may +happen to you, whatever changes may befall, think of Pharold for a +few short minutes; and mark what I tell you, each time you think of +him--whatever you may feel now;--you shall regret him more, till, on +your dying day, you shall love Pharold as Pharold now loves you. +Remember, Lena, remember, remember!" and, turning away, he left her +with her bright eyes dropping fast unwonted tears. + +Alas, alas! the constancy and resolution of youth, what frail things +they are! and how fast the ephemeral feelings and purposes of the hour +give place to others as frail and vain! When Lena turned away from +Pharold, she had believed that for no boon on earth would she do aught +that could offend him; but ere many minutes were over, she was +listening to the persuasions of the old woman, that had led all those +wrong who had confided in her, and was combating faintly and more +faintly the arguments which age and cunning used to induce her to +visit that night the place where her unhappy lover was confined. Lena +listened and resisted, till she listened and yielded; and midnight +found her standing with the old woman under the window of the strong +room in Dimden Park. + +In the mean while Pharold pursued his way to rejoin Colonel Manners; +but there seemed to be some bitter feeling sitting heavy at his heart. +The light and agile step had become slow; the quick, keen eyes were +bent thoughtfully upon the ground; more than one sad sigh burst from +his bosom; and the spirit and the heart seemed to mourn. It might be +that Pharold perceived that he was not loved; it might be that he felt +he had set the whole fortunes of his being upon a hazardous chance; +but as we have not paused to trace his love, we shall not dwell long +upon his disappointment. Other feelings, too, such as, more or less +modified by circumstances, will cross the mind of every imaginative +and sensitive man, now rushed upon him, rendered tenfold more strong +in his case than in that of others, by the prejudices of his people, +and the wild and varying habits of his race. Feelings of superstition, +and vague, rambling, fanciful speculations upon all those indications +of human destiny, gathered from external objects, in which his tribe +believe, now mingled themselves with jealous doubts and apprehensions, +and appealed to his own heart for belief or rejection in his own +individual instance. + +"I am coming to the crosses," he murmured, as he walked along--"I am +coming to the crosses of life; and the end is not far off! I have seen +those who obeyed me once, rise up against my will. I have been +persecuted and hunted for faults not my own: I have been overcome by a +creature like myself, with no odds against me; and I have learned to +doubt those I love. Ah! and that she, too, should think of another! +Woman, woman! Care, instruction, and kind reproof but offend thee! +love and tenderness but spoil thee! Affection, and worth, and honour +are to thee but as nothing! In danger thou clingest to us! In peace +and security thou leavest us! The things which attract thee are the +lightest of qualities and the vainest of transitory things; and with +what cords shall we bind thee, even when once thou art caught? Vain, +vain, empty butterfly! indifference and reckless carelessness are the +things which win thee the most surely, and which most truly thou +meritest." + +Such were the first outpourings of a heart jealous of affection; but +as Pharold walked on, the belief that Lena's love might be given to +another was softened by reflection, and he began to think he had done +her wrong. He remembered the tears he had seen in her eyes; he thought +of many a testimony of girlish regard which she had displayed towards +him: he called to mind many of the finer traits of her heart and mind +which had first attracted him, and which he had striven to cultivate; +and he again began to trust that she would not suffer one thought to +stray from him who had become her husband. The feeling of that vast +disparity of age which existed between them did, indeed, ever mingle +with such hopes, and, as it had often done before, disturbed his peace +of mind by apprehension and doubt. "She will be the sooner free," he +thought bitterly: "she will be the sooner free! God only knows how +soon! for I feel a weight upon me, and a gloom, as if fate were coming +near to me, and its shadow rested dark upon my thoughts. She will be +free, and wed another, and be happy, and forget me, till pain, and +sorrow, and anxiety come, till she wants the hand that used to protect +her, till she requires the mind that used to guide her, and then she +may think of Pharold, and grieve to think that he is lying beneath the +cold and crumbling mould of earth, whence neither prayers nor wishes +shall bring him back to her side again. Then she may remember, and +perhaps weep for him who is lost to her for ever." + +With such sad and gloomy reflections Pharold amused the way, as, +retreading the steps he had lately taken, he proceeded to fulfil his +appointment with Colonel Manners. He was a man who gave, perhaps, as +few thoughts to self and selfish considerations as most men. He was +one of those who, in other circumstances and in other ages, would have +as willingly devoted himself a sacrifice for his friend, or for his +country, as any Greek or Roman that ever lived. But he was a gipsy, +and born in an age when patriotism and friendship were equally +considered as mercantile commodities; when men, having cast behind +them the heroism of ancient Greece and Rome, and the chivalry of +ancient France and England, were just beginning to dip themselves in a +spirit of cold and selfish calculation, which, like the waters of the +Carian fountain, emasculates all that is noble and energetic in human +nature; and it is not possible to live among such times without +feeling their chilling influence. Their influence, however, upon him +was different from that which it had upon others; for his race, and +state, and habits, all placed him without the circle of ordinary +thoughts and sensations common to the rest of men. That he was moving +among cold and selfish beings, he felt; that he was acting upon +principles different from theirs, he could not but know; and he +despised them because he did know it, hating them the more because he +was one of a scorned and injured race, to which he clung with the +greater tenacity because it was scorned and injured. But when he met +with a spirit congenial to his own, when he found that he could love +and could trust, all the deep, the noble, the generous feelings of his +original nature burst through every band of times, and circumstances, +and nation, and habit; and he was no longer the gipsy, the sullen +hater of every race except his own, but a creature endowed with noble +powers of mind, and gifted above all with that gem from heaven, an +upright and enthusiastic heart, which would have honoured any land, or +age, or people. The direction which it took might sometimes be wrong, +the reasonings that guided it might wander upon wild, and prejudiced, +and eccentric theories; but the principle was always good, and the +purpose was always generous. + +Thus, although he thought for some part of the way upon himself, and +upon the cares and griefs that thronged around him, his mind soon +turned to other objects; and the desire of serving and of soothing +others was strong enough even to withdraw his thoughts from the +powerful grasp of individual sorrows, always far more potent in their +selfishness than joys. + +As he approached the spot where his unsuccessful struggle had taken +place with Colonel Manners, he felt, it is true, some sort of +bitterness of heart, to think that he had been overcome. Vanity will +have her share in all; and happy it is--ay, even more than we can +expect--when she changes not the pain of her wound into hatred of +those who have inflicted it. Manners was already on the spot, and the +first words of the gipsy were those of human kindness. "How is she?" +he asked, abruptly. "How is the young lady? You have seen--you have +told her all is well, of course?" + +"I have," answered Manners, "and her heart is greatly lighter, though +she will remain still anxious and unsatisfied till I have with my own +eyes seen her cousin, and can report to her the state of his health." + +"Fear not, fear not," answered the gipsy; "I have promised to take you +to him, and there is not that power under the heavens which should +ever induce me to break my word, while I am capable of performing it." + +"I do not fear, in the least," answered Manners: "I knew perfectly +that you would keep your promise, and confidently assured the family +at Morley House that you would lead me to De Vaux this night. I need +hardly tell you how much joy that assurance gave them, and how much +gratitude they felt to him who made the promise." + +"Speak not of gratitude!" answered the gipsy--"speak not of gratitude! +I only regret that from the first I had not foreseen what pain might +fall on some of the good and kind, and that I did not assure myself of +how I ought to act. But if you knew, gentleman, what a life I have led +for the last three days, you would easily make excuse for some +forgetfulness of others--a life so different from that to which we are +accustomed. We come in sunshine, and pitch our dwelling in the warm +bosom of nature, with beauty all round us, and neither care nor strife +among ourselves; but now we have been hunted, and sought, and had to +change our dwellings from place to place; and in order to provide that +we left no traces of our way, we have been forced to double like a +poor hare before the accursed hounds, to think every footstep the +signal of an enemy, and every rustle of the leaves to look upon as the +indication of an ambush. I fear me, too, I fear me that their +persecutions are not yet over. But let us on: here lies our road." + +"I trust," said Manners, following him--"I trust that as you are able +to clear yourself in this business of my friend De Vaux, all the other +suspicions against you will be found equally groundless; and then you +may follow your way of life once more in peace." + +"No, no," answered the gipsy, "he would persecute me still. Once he +has made a false accusation against me, and he will never abandon it +as long as he and I are on the face of the same earth--never, never! I +know him too well." + +"I do not clearly understand of whom you speak," answered Manners, +keeping by the side of the gipsy, although the pace at which he had +set off seemed accelerated at every step by the angry feelings that he +was stirring up in his own bosom. "You do not name the person. Whom do +you mean?" + +"Whom should I mean?" answered the gipsy, sharply. "Whom but him who, +born with violent passions and a haughty nature, was bred a lawyer, in +order that dark cunning should be added to a bold spirit and a shrewd +mind. I speak of Lord Dewry; and I tell you that he will never cease +to persecute me. Does he not now hold in fast confinement a boy of our +people whom he well knows to be innocent?" + +"There is, certainly," answered Manners, "a gipsy-boy confined at +Dimden, for I saw him there this morning; but Lord Dewry, as well as +all the people of the neighbourhood, informed me that he had been +taken in an attempt to steal the deer in the park." + +"He was not present," said the gipsy: "he saw not the beast +slaughtered by the mad-headed fools that did it, any more than I did. +But he keeps him because he is a gipsy-boy, not that he thinks him +guilty. And so, you saw him, did you?" continued Pharold, striving, +with a slight mingling of the artful cunning of his people, to +discover what Manners knew of the situation of the young gipsy--"so, +you saw him? and, doubtless, he is to be sent soon to the county-jail, +to die of imprisonment and despair at losing his blessed freedom." + +"I did not hear any mention of such an intention," answered Manners. +"Every one present joined in accusing the youth of direct +participation in the deer-stealing; and he himself kept so obstinate a +silence, that there was no possibility of drawing from him even a word +that might exculpate himself." + +"And do you call it obstinate silence to refuse to answer either the +subtle or the idle questions of his enemies?" demanded the gipsy. + +"There is the mistake into which your people fall too often, and with +too fatal an effect," answered Manners. "You consider us, on all +occasions, as your enemies, and act towards us as if we were such, +instead of endeavouring to make us your friends, which might often be +accomplished--always, I might say, with good men, were your actions to +tend to that purpose. In the instance you speak of, the principal +questions were addressed to your young companion by myself. Their +object was solely to elicit some news of my friend De Vaux; and, had +he answered them frankly, he would have made a friend who might have +rendered him service." + +"And he refused to answer?" demanded the gipsy. + +"Not exactly refused," replied Manners; "but answered only by an +unmeaning monosyllable, or kept a profound silence." + +"He did right!" cried the gipsy; "he did right! The boy is more +deserving than I thought him; he merits an effort." + +"We judge very differently," answered Manners: "I thought he did very +wrong; and had he given me the information I sought, it is more than +probable that I should have met you with very different feelings from +those with which I at first saw you this night." + +"He did right, he did right!" cried the gipsy. "Would you have had him +betray secrets intrusted to him? or was he to judge what I might think +fit to be revealed? No, no: silence was his best security against +discovering, through fear or through folly, those things, the value of +which he knew not. He has shown both more prudence and more resolution +than I thought he possessed. However, he could have told you nothing, +for he knew nothing--not even the path we are now treading." + +"Well, then, his candour would only have served to give a favourable +opinion of himself," Manners rejoined, "without injuring you, or +betraying your confidence." + +"How can you tell that?" cried the gipsy--"how can you tell that? how +could he tell it either? Might you not have led him on to other +things? Might you not have wrung from him, if he had spoken candidly, +as you call it, one admission after another, till you had discovered +all that he could tell. Oh, we know your artful ways, your +examinations and cross-examinations, which would make an angel of +truth and wisdom seem like a liar and a fool. We know your skill in +making men reveal what they would not, and speak two apparently +opposite truths, without allowing them to give the explanation; so +that they seem to contradict themselves at every word. We know you; +and we have one way, and only one, to disappoint you, which is +silence. You can make naught of that." + +Manners saw that, where both the principles and the course of the +reasoning were so different, discussion was of very little use; and he +consequently made no reply to the gipsy's tirade, feeling, however, at +the same time, that there was a portion of truth in what he said, +which it would be difficult to separate from the great mass of +prejudice with which it was combined. Pharold, however, wished the +conversation prolonged upon the same topic; for with all the frank +generosity of his individual nature, the habits and the character of +the gipsy still modified and influenced the other qualities of his +heart and his mind. His character, as a man, was open and candid; but +the gipsy often acted, to render it stubborn and sullen when +oppressed, or even wily and artful when some peculiar object was to be +gained. + +He now greatly desired to obtain from Colonel Manners, as a sincere +and independent person, some information concerning the exact +situation of the boy William, both in order to guide more surely any +efforts made for his liberation, and to correct the report of the old +beldam, whom he had sent down to inquire, and of whose purposes and +views he entertained many a doubt. He did not choose, however, to let +his design become apparent, and therefore approached his object with a +careful art, which was not a part of his natural, but rather of his +acquired character. + +"Poor boy!" he said, as soon as he perceived that Manners did not +reply--"poor boy! I am sorry for him. He has never known anything but +liberty, and the enjoyment of all the free, wide, beautiful world; he +has never known what it is to have fetters on his young limbs, or to +be shut from the air and light of heaven, in some dark and gloomy +dungeon." + +"You must not let your imagination draw such a picture of his +situation," answered Manners, who, having nothing to conceal, was +easily led in the direction the gipsy wished. "The boy is not and +cannot be in such a state as you suppose. He has no fetters upon his +limbs, and, in all probability, is as well treated as a proper regard +for his safe custody will permit." + +"It will be pain and grief enough," rejoined the gipsy, "for one who +has never in his life been debarred from turning his steps in +whatsoever direction he thought fit--who has never been cutoff from +the sight of nature, and the breath of the free air, since his eyes +were first opened upon God's heaven and earth, and the breath of life +was breathed into his nostrils--it will be pain and grief enough for +him to be thrust into some dark and gloomy dungeon, perhaps under +ground, or, at all events, looking into some dull stone-built court, +where he can see nothing on any side but the hateful walls that keep +him in, and the sly, dastard faces of those that watch him." + +"Of course," answered Manners, "as I am nearly unacquainted with this +part of the country and with Dimden Hall, I cannot be aware of the +nature of the place in which the lad is confined. A dungeon it is not, +certainly; for such things are now, thank God, quite out of the +question. It appeared to me, too, that there was no such thing as a +court to the dwelling-house; and that, therefore, wherever he may be +placed, he will be able to see the face of nature, which you love so +much. But you yourself--at least, all I have heard would lead me to +suppose so--must know Dimden Hall far better than I do, and perhaps +may be aware of where the strong room is; for it was to it that I +heard Lord Dewry direct him to be taken, after we had in vain tried to +gain any information from him." + +"If he be there, he may do well," answered the gipsy; "but probably +they will remove him to the county-jail, and there he will have sad +and bitter hours enough." + +"I should certainly think that they will not do so," answered +Manners, "if what you tell me in regard to his innocence of all +participation in the actual slaughter of the deer be correct. The +magistrates will, of course, investigate the matter, and seek full +evidence of the facts, before they either commit the boy, or even send +him off to the jail, which, I understand, is many miles distant; so +that it is much more probable that he will remain where he is for the +present." + +The gipsy saw well that Manners spoke without disguise, and that he +had, in fact, nothing more to tell in regard to the situation of the +prisoner. However, he had gained at least the certainty that the lad +was confined in the strong room, which he knew well; that he was not +likely to be speedily removed, and that he was not encumbered with +fetters to impede his escape. Lest he might have been so secured, +Pharold had entertained some fear, as he knew that blood had been shed +in the encounter between the deer-stealers and the keepers, and +thought it more than likely that the peer would strive to prove the +lad William to have been an actual participator in that part of the +unfortunate affair, and would treat him accordingly. His next anxiety +was to know what was the state of the men who had been wounded, and +what was the exact charge against himself, in regard to the affray in +Dimden Park, as well as what evidence had been given to inculpate him. + +He had found so much frankness in the replies of Colonel Manners to +his former inquiries, however, that he now quitted the artful path +which he had taken, and spoke more boldly of his own situation. "I +would fain know," he said, after he had walked on about two hundred +paces farther in silence--"I would fain know how I stand in regard to +that false accusation which my enemy brought against me, respecting +the slaughter of his pitiful deer. As I passed through the country +this morning, after quitting his park, I gained some tidings; but when +I first met you, gentleman, to-night, you told me that though I might +be guilty of other things, you knew me to be innocent of that. If you +be, as you seem to be, a friend to justice and humanity, you will tell +me how you know that charge to be false, that I may prove it so, too, +by some proof that will be better received than the mere oath of my +own people." + +"I can have no objection whatever," Manners answered, "to tell you at +once how I was led to the conclusion that you mention. There were two +persons wounded in that unfortunate affair--one a gentleman who is now +lying at Dimden, and another a keeper, who was removed from the park +to his own cottage. As I found that the surgeon had confined his +attention to the person at Dimden, whose wound is far the most +dangerous, I went down to the cottage of the keeper to inquire how he +was going on--" + +"Good and kind, good and kind!" interrupted the gipsy, with one of +those bursts of vehement feeling to which he at times gave way. "Ah, I +see and understand it all! The mercenary manufacturer of diseases and +maker of men's ills remained with the gentleman, who could pay him for +his fancied skill, and left the poor man to do the best for himself; +and you went down to comfort him whom the other had neglected." + +"Not exactly so," answered Manners: "the wound of the one was much +more severe than that of the other, and the surgeon staid where his +presence was most necessary. I went down, however, and sat with the +poor fellow some time; and he distinctly informed me, not only that +you had not been present when the deer were killed, but that you were +coming up and calling to the others not to fire at the moment that the +guns went off. He said, too, that if it had not been for your +interference, there would have been far more bloodshed; and I strongly +advise you, should there ever be any investigation of this business, +to call the keeper Jones as a witness to establish your innocence." + +"While I can keep my liberty," said the gipsy, "they shall never hold +me in their gripe. Besides, he would find witnesses enough to swear +away my life, if he were to bribe them with half his fortune. But the +wounded men--are they likely to die, did you say?" + +"I trust not," answered Manners; "and with care and attention, the +wound of the keeper will not prove even dangerous. The other gentleman +I did not see, but I hear he is much more severely hurt." + +"What is his name?" demanded the gipsy. + +"Sir Roger Millington, I think, was the name," answered Manners; "but +I did not pay it any particular attention." + +"Sir Roger Millington!" repeated the gipsy, musing--"Sir Roger +Millington! I do not know him; and yet it sounds in my ears like a +word spoken in a dream. Oh yes, yes--I remember now: it was to him +that the money was owing." + +"What money?" demanded Manners, in some surprise. + +"Never mind," answered the gipsy; "but, be sure, if that man dies, my +enemy will find means to make me out his murderer. Mark that, +gentleman, and remember hereafter." + +"It is impossible that he can do so," answered Manners, whose +confidence in British justice was much stronger than that of the +gipsy. "I understand that there were eight or nine people present. One +of them, who has suffered severely, has already borne witness to your +innocence; and, depend upon it, that among the rest, you would find +plenty more to do the same. But it strikes me as extraordinary, I do +confess, that you should seem to apprehend much more evil from an +affair in which you can easily exculpate yourself, than from a charge +which, referring to matters long gone, and to circumstances of which +there could be but few witnesses, must be much more difficult to be +met in a satisfactory manner--I mean the charge of having killed the +late Lord Dewry." + +"I will tell you why, I will tell you why," answered the gipsy. "In +regard to this business, he can prove something against me: that I was +in his park without right--at a suspicious hour--when persons were +committing an unlawful act; and those people my own nation, and my own +comrades. He may make out a plausible tale, and a little false +swearing would easily do the rest. But in regard to the other, I +laugh him to scorn; for why? because, when I will, I can blow the +cloud away, like the west wind when it sweeps the mist from the +valleys--because I can dispel it all, and prove my own innocence +beyond a doubt, by proving who it was that did do the deed!" + +"Do that," answered Manners, eagerly--"do that, and, beyond all doubt, +Lord Dewry will forbear every other proceeding against you." + +"Would he, indeed!" cried the gipsy, with a contemptuous laugh--"would +he, indeed! Yet, perhaps, he might: but I will tell you, gentleman, if +I did do so, I should not stand in need of his forbearance. But I will +not do it; no, never! not if they were to cast a mountain upon me, it +should not crush that secret from my heart till the right hour be +come." + +"Indeed!" said Manners; "that is a strange determination; but, +however, you act and reason upon principles so different from those +that influence ordinary men, that it is useless to inquire why you run +great risks yourself, with motives apparently very slight." + +"I do it because it is written in the book of that which I am to do," +answered the gipsy. "But you say right; we do act and we do think upon +different principles; and it is useless to inquire into mine, for you +would not understand them; and yet I hold you to be a good man--better +than most--braver--wiser than the great part of your fellows. Had you +not been both brave and wise, you would never have learned from me +what you are to know to-night--the fangs of tigers would not have torn +it from me by any other means." + +"I hope," answered Manners, with a smile, "that the secret will not be +kept much longer unrevealed; for we have already walked several miles, +and our fair friend, the moon, is going down to rest, as if she were +as tired as I am." + +"And who that sees her sink," said the gipsy, turning round as Manners +spoke, and gazing for a moment on the setting orb--"and who that sees +her sink shall dare to say that he will ever see that calm and +splendid sight again? She goes, we know not whither, travelling alone +upon her oft-trodden path--the path that she has walked in majesty +through many a long century, looking unmoved upon the strifes and joys +of nations who now have left us nothing but their ruins and their +tombs. She saw my people live and rule in other lands.[6] She has +seen them bow the necks of proud and haughty enemies beneath their +chariot-wheels. She has seen them fall day by day, till they are but a +scattered remnant, dashed like the foam of a broken wave over the +lands around, while their temples and their palaces, their homes and +their altars, are the dwellings of the wolf and the jackal, that howl +beneath her light. She has seen them--mighty and nothing; and, +perhaps, when our bones are whitening beneath her beams, in the long +wide vacancy of after times, she may also see the despised nation +reinstated in its glory, and forgetful of the rod of the oppressor; +but you mind not such things--you look upon us merely as wandering +outcasts of some unknown race." + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 6: All the various tribes of gipsies, scattered throughout +different parts of Europe, undoubtedly possess a tradition of the +former greatness of their people; and whenever they can be brought to +speak upon the subject, adhere strictly to the story told by the first +of their nation that appeared in Europe, and maintain that their +original country was Egypt; some calling it _Lower_ Egypt, some +_Upper_ Egypt--a distinction worthy of remark, as it seems to evince a +real knowledge of the land that they claim as their own. The learned +have endeavoured to trace them to the Indian caste of Parias; and Sir +William Jones, I think, has pronounced many of the words in their +language to be pure Sanscrit, which fact would afford the strongest +proof that they are not of Paria origin. Besides this, I have been +assured by a learned friend, who passed many years in India, that +gipsies are sometimes to be met with in Hindostan, and appear there as +much a race distinct and separate from any of the native tribes as +they do among the nations of Europe.] + +--------------------- + + +"No, indeed," answered Manners; "you do me wrong. I have always looked +upon your people with much interest and curiosity. There is a sort of +mystery in their history and their fate that will not let any one, who +thinks and feels, regard them with indifference." + +"There is a mystery," answered the gipsy--"there is a mystery; but it +matters not. This is not the time to solve it;" and--as every person +who has ever conversed with one of the more intelligent and better +informed of the gipsies must have remarked as their invariable custom +when spoken to either upon their language or history--he suddenly +turned the conversation to other things, content with the vague hints +of brighter times and more extended power, which he had already given. +Manners endeavoured more than once to bring him back to the subject, +but the gipsy pertinaciously avoided any approach to it. Nor was his +companion more successful in an endeavour to lead him to the subject +of De Vaux, in regard to whom Pharold pointedly refused to answer any +questions. "You will know very soon all that you can know about the +matter," he replied; "and I do not choose to speak at all on subjects +where I might speak too much." + +Manners pressed the question no further, and followed in silence. They +had some time before crossed the summit of the rise above Morley +House, skirting along the woods, and had descended into a valley on +the other side, which, though not so deep as that in which the +principal events we have related took place, sunk sufficiently below +the level of the neighbouring hills to render a considerable ascent on +the other side necessary ere the travellers could be said to have +passed the chain of high grounds which separated that county from the +next. This eminence, also, they had surmounted, when, as Manners had +observed, the moon might be seen sinking below the dark line of the +distant horizon. The aspect of the country was here very different +from that on the other side of the hills; and although the light of +the setting orb was not sufficient to display distinctly the various +objects in the landscape, yet the long lines of light and shade that +varied the wide extent below their feet gave Manners the idea of a +rich and softly-undulating country, spreading for many miles without +any considerable eminence. From the spot where they then stood the +road, which they had now gained, wound through some young plantations +down towards the plain; but ere they had finished the descent the moon +was lost below the horizon, and the eye could no longer trace any but +the objects in its immediate vicinity. Manners remarked, however, that +along the young plantings were neat trimmed hedges, and that clean +shining white gates gave entrance into the fields which they skirted. +A dry raised footpath, too, rendered walking easy; and ere long he +passed one of those friendly milestones wherewith most civilized +governments have condescended to solace the longings of the weary +traveller, as he plods on, anxious to know his distance from the +expected rest. Just at the same moment, too, a village clock, with its +kindly bell, tolled the hour, sounding clear and calm upon the still +night air; and Manners, though without any great object in doing so, +paused to make out the inscription of one hundred and some miles from +London, and to count twelve, struck distinctly on the bell of the +clock. + +"Will not this be a very late hour," he asked, turning to the gipsy, +who had paused also--"will not this be a very late hour to visit my +poor friend, especially if he be ill as you say in body and in mind?" + +"We will see that presently," answered the gipsy: "if he sleep, so +much the better. You can wait till tomorrow. My part of the errand +must be done to-night, or never; for something at my heart tells me +that I shall not long be able to walk whither I will throughout the +world." + +Now, although Colonel Manners, with the firm determination of pursuing +the adventure to the end, whatever might come of it, had gone on with +the gipsy boldly, and had conversed with him as calmly as if they had +both been in a drawing-room, yet it is by no means to be supposed that +he refrained from speculating upon the place and circumstances into +which his enterprise might lead him; as in this instance he saw the +necessity of letting imagination range free, so long as she had reason +for her guide, in order that he might be prepared for all. While they +were on the hill, and near the woods, Manners imagined that he would +most likely find his sick friend under the care and attendance of some +separate party of gipsies; and, of course, fancy employed herself in +thinking what could be the train of events which had brought about so +strange a result. But as they descended into a more highly cultivated +and evidently well-peopled track, he began to doubt whether it was +such a spot as gipsies would choose for their habitation, and, +consequently, whether De Vaux would be found in the hands of any of +Pharold's tribe. Imagination had now, of course, a wider, field than +before; and his surprise--or whatever the feeling may be called which +is excited by circumstances we cannot account for--was still greater, +as they began to pass through the scattered houses and small neat +enclosures which mark the approach to an English country town. + +At length the gipsy stopped at a gate, opened it, and bade his +companion pass in. Manners did as he was desired, and found himself +standing on a neat gravel walk, with a shrubbery on either hand, +plentifully provided with laurels, hollies, and many another +evergreen. The gipsy followed; and the walk, skirting for a couple of +hundred yards round a trim, smooth, shaven green, brought them in +front of a neat house, built of brick, and evidently modern in all its +parts. Plate-glass, a-well-a-day! did not in those times decorate even +the houses of the greatest in the land; and the dwelling before which +they now stood, although it was clearly the abode of affluence, had no +pretensions to be any thing more than a handsome house of the middle +rank. It might be the new-built rectory of some wealthy parish, or the +place of retirement of some merchant who had had wisdom enough to seek +repose at the point where competence stops short of riches; but it had +no one circumstance which could entitle it to affect the name of the +Mansion, or the Hall, or the Abbey, or the Castle; and in those days +the word cottage had never yet been applied to designate a palace. It +had its little freestone portico, however, and its two low wings, in +the windows of each of which there were lights. It was evident, +therefore, if this was the place where Manners was destined to find De +Vaux, that, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, there were other +persons awake in the house besides those who might be supposed to +watch in the chamber of an invalid. + +As they came near the gipsy advanced a step before his companion, and +rang the bell. A few minutes elapsed without any one appearing to +answer the summons; but just as Pharold was about to repeat it, the +door was opened by a servant, carrying a light, which was almost +instantly extinguished by the gust of wind which rushed into the +unclosed door. There had been time enough, however, for the man to +recognise Pharold, and to bid him come in, as if his visit were a +thing of course; and in the moment that the light had remained +unextinguished, Colonel Manners could distinguish the countenance of +the servant, the features of which, he felt convinced, were not +unknown to him. + +"Come in, sir," said the gipsy.--"Is there any one in the parlour, +John?" he added, turning to the man as Manners entered. + +"No one, Mr. Pharold," answered the servant, intones that were still +more familiar to Manners's ear than his features had been to his eye. +"My master is in the little room beyond." + +"Then walk in here, sir, and wait for me one moment," said the gipsy; +and Colonel Manners, without question, walked into the dark room, of +which Pharold had opened the door, and waited patiently to see how all +the strange affair in which he was engaged would end. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +The room was, as we have said, quite dark, with the exception of a +narrow line of light, which found its way under a door on the opposite +side of the chamber; and by the time that Manners had been there two +minutes he heard voices speaking in that direction. What was said by +the first speaker, whom he concluded to be Pharold, did not make +itself heard in the apartment where Manners stood; but the moment +after another voice was distinguished, saying, in a louder tone, "You +have done wrong, you have done wrong, Pharold. My mind was still +undecided; and this will force me to act whether I will or not." + +Pharold's voice replied at considerable length, and was apparently +still going on, when the other exclaimed, hastily, "But, good God, did +you not let her know? Did you not send her the note I despatched to +you for that purpose?" + +"What note? When did you send?" demanded Pharold, eagerly, "I had no +note." + +"This is most unfortunate," replied the other. "I sent up a note to +you, intended to be conveyed to her for the purpose of putting her +mind at ease; and it should have reached you beyond all doubt; for I +gave it, with my own hand, to the youth Dickon, yesterday morning, +when he came with the message from you." + +"Ay, that is it, that is it," answered the gipsy. "I chose him as my +messenger to keep him out of evil; but ere I could get back to my +people, I found that, on some pretence, strangers on horseback were +watching for us on the common, and I betook me to the wood again. But +they set a watch round the wood; and it was long ere I could slip +through unseen; and when I did so, and got to the tents under Dimden +wall, I found that this very Dickon had seduced several others to go +and shoot the deer in the park. Deer were killed, the keepers were +met, blood was shed, and I drove the offender out from among us, that +he might not lead others again into evil, and draw down the rage of +the powerful upon us. Thus I saw him but for a moment, and he went +without giving me your letter." + +Now Manners, although he could not help hearing what was passing, had +a great objection to so doing; and he had therefore from the very +beginning contrived to make as much noise as possible, by every means +that suggested itself, in order both to render the sounds which +reached him indistinct, and to make the speakers aware that their +conversation might be overheard. Their first eagerness, however, +prevented them from taking warning; but at length their tone was +lowered, and for the next five minutes Manners heard nothing further +than a low indistinct murmur, which sufficiently showed that the +conference was continued, but did not betray the matter thereof. + +At length, however, the second voice spoke louder, in the sort of +marked manner with which one ends a private conversation, by words +which have little meaning to any ear but that of the person to whom +they are addressed. "Well, well, it is time that such a state should +be put an end to! As to this other business, there is nothing to fear +from Colonel Manners: I know him well, as I told you before; and were +I to choose any man in whom to confide, it would be him. Now rest you, +Pharold; rest you while I go and speak with him. Would to God that you +would quit this wandering life, and now in your age wisely accept from +me what you foolishly rejected in your youth from one long dead; but +rest you, as I have said, and I will return in a few minutes to hear +out your account." + +Pharold's reply was not distinct; but the next moment the door opened +between the two rooms, and Manners was joined by a gentleman whom we +have seen once, and only once, before in the course of this history. +It was, in short, the same hale, handsome old man whom we last heard +of conversing with the gipsy Pharold, in the beginning of the first +volume of this book, who now advanced with a light into the dark room +in which Manners had been left. He could not be less than sixty-three +or four years of age; but his frame appeared as vigorous as if twenty +of those years had been struck off the amount. His figure was tall and +upright, and his step had in it a peculiar bold and firm elasticity, +that spoke the undiminished energy of both mind and body. He was, in +short, a person whom, once seen, it would be difficult to forget; and +although the light he carried dazzled Manners's eyes a little, yet the +instant he entered the room his visiter advanced towards him, holding +out his hand, and exclaiming, "My dear Sir William Ryder, I am +delighted to meet you again, and to meet you in England." + +"Not less delighted than I am to see you, Manners," answered the +other, "although we meet under somewhat strange circumstances, and +though I am obliged to bid you, for a short time, forget that I am Sir +William Ryder, without forgetting that I am a sincere friend. My name, +for the present, is Mr. Harley; and now, having introduced myself as +such, let us sit down, and talk over old stories." + +"But, first, my dear sir," said Manners, "a word or two of new +stories, if you please. I am most anxious to inquire after my poor +friend De Vaux, though no longer anxious in regard to his situation, +now that I find he is in hands so kind and so skilful as yours. +Indeed, the first sight of your servant, though I caught but a glimpse +of him, set my mind at ease regarding my poor friend, as far as it can +be at ease till I hear how he is, and what is the matter with him." + +"He is better, he is better," answered Sir William Ryder; "and so far +banish all anxiety, for he will do well. I know such affairs of old; +and as he has been neither scalped nor tomahawked by any of my +children of the Seven Nations, I will answer for his recovery. But I +dare say you wonder at his being here with me; and, indeed, it is +altogether an odd coincidence, for I can assure you that it is by no +plot or contrivance of mine that I have got you and him once more +under my roof together, when the last time we so met was in my wigwam +on the very farthest verge of the inhabited world." + +"But first tell me what is the matter with him," said Manners; "and +then I will put all sorts of questions to you, which you shall answer +or not as you think fit." + +"What is the matter with him!" cried Sir William Ryder; "did not my +friend Pharold tell you that he had got a pistol-shot in his side, +which had broken two of his ribs?" + +"Good God! no," cried Manners: "I am excessively sorry to hear it; but +how did it occur--in a duel?" + +"No," answered the other; "no: he did it himself; but understand +me--not intentionally--he is not such a fool. However, he will do +well: the ball has been extracted; he has very little fever: no organ +important to life has been touched, and all promises fairly." + +"But, indeed, my dear Sir William, you must tell me more," said +Manners. "How did this happen? for though I have seen accidents enough +of different kinds, yet I cannot understand this affair at all." + +"Why, I do not very well know how to explain it," said the other, +musing, "without entering into unnecessary particulars. However, the +fact is this: he went out at night, it seems, to see my friend +Pharold, who, I need not tell you, is no ordinary person. However, +your friend did not know his character or his worth, and he placed a +brace of horse-pistols in his bosom. He must certainly have had one of +them cocked, too, though he will not acknowledge it: but the end of +the matter was, that he heard some very bad news; and being, like all +his race, subject to violent fits of passion, he cast himself down +like a madman, the pistol went off, and the shot was within a few +inches of his heart. Pharold, who was present and alone, did not very +well know what to do with him; but carrying him in his arms as far as +he could, he called some of his own people, bound up the poor boy's +wounds as well as circumstances admitted, and brought him here, +knowing that in other years I was upon terms of intimacy with his +father, and loved him still, notwithstanding one or two little causes +of misunderstanding between us." + +Manners listened in silence, and he certainly did not forget the terms +in which Lord Dewry had spoken of the very person who now alluded so +mildy to him; but as he was by no means fond of making mischief upon +any pretence, and knew that Sir William Ryder was not a man in whom +personal fear would act as any check upon resentment, he felt no +inclination to mention one word of the peer's vituperation of his +former friend. At the same time, the kindly tone in which Sir William +Ryder spoke did not at all lead Manners to believe that he was the +person in fault. The thoughts which crossed the gallant officer's +mind, however, must have had some visible representatives in his +countenance; for his companion looked at him with a smile, adding, "I +know well what you are thinking--that probably Lord Dewry does not +speak so gently of Sir William Ryder as Sir William Ryder does of him. +I have heard so before. Nevertheless, Manners, I shall not call him +out, and amuse the world with two men of sixty fighting a duel. Nor is +Colonel Manners one to think the worse of me for acting as I do, nor +to doubt my motives, though my conduct be a little eccentric. Is it +not so, my friend?" + +"It is, indeed," answered Manners; "and be you quite sure, my dear +sir, that so firm is my confidence in your honour and integrity, +from personal knowledge--which is better than all the gossip in the +world--that I would never hear the name of Sir William Ryder mentioned +with disrespect without taking the liberty of resenting it." + +"I believe you, I believe you, Manners, from my soul," answered his +companion: "but to return to our poor friend De Vaux--as soon as he +was brought here, I of course sent for the best advice that was to be +procured, the ball was extracted, and, as I have said, he is better. +He is at present, I am happy to say, in a sound and comfortable sleep; +but if you will take up your abode with me till to-morrow, you shall +see him, and judge of his condition for yourself. A room shall be +prepared for you immediately." + +"I will willingly lie down to take a little rest," answered Manners. +"But let me beg you, my dear sir, to have me called as soon as De Vaux +wakes, and is willing to see me; for I left a poor young lady, his +cousin--and there are ties of affection stronger than those of mere +relationship between them--waiting anxiously to hear some tidings of +him; for until this very night we have all imagined him murdered." + +"Ah, poor girl, poor girl!" said Sir William Ryder, in a tone of deep +sympathy. "She must have suffered dreadfully, I am afraid; but I can +assure you that her having been kept even an hour in suspense is +neither to be attributed to me nor to her cousin. His first thought +was of her, his first words, after he saw me, were to beg that I would +instantly write to her, in order to tell her what had occurred, and to +sooth her mind as far as possible. Nay, more, though suffering much +pain till the ball was extracted, he insisted upon writing a few words +with his own hand, to comfort her as far as possible. Though I would +fain have prevented an exertion which might injure him, I loved him +for his obstinacy, Manners. The note was sent to Pharold, with +directions to forward it to her; but neither note nor directions, it +seems, ever reached the gipsy." + +Manners could not refrain from saying, "It would have been better to +have sent it direct to herself, Sir William. You must remember, my +excellent friend, that you are no longer among your children, as you +call them, the Indians, and that you will meet with another class of +vices and virtues also here. What you would trust to a Mohawk, if he +promised to perform it, and feel convinced that nothing but death +would prevent its execution, is not at all to be confided to a common +messenger in England, and--" + +"I know all that, my friend, I know all that," interrupted his +companion; "but I had no choice. At that time I was not at all certain +whether I should let any one know that I was in England or not; and +had I sent the note direct to Morley House, such a communication must +have been opened as would instantly have put an end to my incognito. +One messenger might have failed me as well as another, and it was +owing to an accident which no one could foresee that the note was not +delivered. So much for your rebuke, Manners," he continued, smiling; +"but now tell me how the poor girl is; for the first question of my +patient, when he hears that you are here, will be, How is Marian de +Vaux?" + +"Alarm and agitation had rendered her seriously ill," answered +Manners; "so much so, indeed, that the medical man found it necessary, +during the whole of yesterday and this morning, to keep her feelings +deadened, as it were, by laudanum--to the great risk of her health, as +he acknowledged--but it was the lesser of two evils." + +"Sad, sad, indeed!" cried Sir William Ryder, rising from his seat, and +walking backwards and forwards in some agitation--"sad, sad, indeed! +and I am afraid that I have had something to do with the whole +business; but I trust she is better now--poor girl! I am grieved, +deeply grieved. But say, Manners, how was she when you left her?" + +"Infinitely better, I am happy to say," answered Manners; "for your +friend Pharold permitted me to inform her that De Vaux was safe at +least, though he tied me down to strict conditions. That piece of +news, of course, relieved her greatly; but not so much so as to set +her mind at ease, till she hears tidings from me of her cousin's exact +situation, which I trust to be able to give her early to-morrow." + +"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," answered Sir William Ryder. "Nay, if you +think it would be any great comfort to her, we will send off a man on +horseback this very night, to calm her with further assurances." + +"Unless," answered Manners, "I may be permitted to say that you will +give herself and Mrs. Falkland a welcome to visit De Vaux in person, I +think that I had better not send, but wait till I can communicate some +further information myself." + +Sir William Ryder hesitated. "I am afraid," he said--"I am afraid that +will be impossible, just at present. But she will believe your +assurance, of course; and I think that you may venture to tell her +that her cousin is under kind and careful hands, by which nothing will +be neglected to promote his speedy recovery." + +"I will certainly give the fullest assurances of that fact," answered +Manners. "But what reason am I to assign for her being debarred from +seeing and attending her cousin, when I have been admitted? She will +certainly think it mysterious." + +"As you do, Manners," said Sir William, with a smile. "But listen to +me, and I will tell you several of the many reasons which have brought +me back to a land which I have abandoned for long years; and out of +those reasons you shall see whether you can find a motive to assign to +Miss De Vaux for my mysterious conduct. In the first place, I, like +most men, have some friends and relations; and I was seized with a +longing to see them, to assure myself with my own eyes of their fate +and their happiness, ere I laid my head down upon its last pillow in +another land. The same longing seized me about twelve years since, but +then I resisted; for long ago I had met with a sad and severe blow in +my private happiness, which led me to forswear, in the bitterness of +my heart, any of those ties and affections which are but so many cords +to bind us to sorrow and disappointment. In various matters, about +that time, I had acted wrong; and I felt that a voluntary expatriation +was a good atonement. When I went, therefore, I resolved never to +return; and when, as I have said, twelve years ago, the longing to see +friends and relations, and scenes that I once loved, seized me, I +resisted, strengthened, in so doing, by a feeling that my return to +England might be painful to some whom I did not desire to pain, and +would only re-awaken, in my own bosom, feelings that had better sleep. +Now, however, many other motives have been added to this longing, +which returned upon me this spring with more force than ever. I wished +eagerly to raise such a sum as would purchase a large tract of land on +which to settle for ever, without danger of molestation, the remnant +of a nearly-destroyed tribe of Indians, who, after having been +massacred and ill-treated by every other white man they met with, at +length attached themselves to me, and were living round me like my +children, as you saw." + +"I did, indeed," answered Manners; "and I trust that you will let me +aid in your noble design." + +"I do not know that it will be necessary now, for I am likely to take +other measures," answered Sir William. "My own private income was not +sufficient, though I had saved out of a thousand a year, which was all +that I possessed, sufficient to lay a good foundation; but I also +wished the British government to interfere for the more general and +powerful protection of the Indians, and this was one reason of my +coming. I longed too, as I have said, to see many of my relations and +friends; but I wished to do so privately. There were two persons, +especially, of whom I was desirous of bearing more than I could in +America. One--over whom I hold some power, from various transactions +in the past--I wished to watch closely for a short time, and treat him +according to his merits. The other--who, though more independent of +me, I could raise up or cast down as I pleased--I desired to sift +thoroughly, to examine every trait in his character, to probe every +feeling in his heart, with the resolution of leaving him, ultimately, +to happiness, if I found him noble and true; but at the same time to +give him a severe lesson, which might crush early some failings; some +peculiar evils in his disposition, that would, if suffered to remain, +lead hereafter to misery, to himself and others. Various occurrences +have taken place since to alter or derange these plans; and, as we are +from day to day the creatures of circumstances over which we have no +control, I am now waiting for some decisive event to determine for me +a line of conduct which I find some difficulty in determining for +myself." + +"I am afraid, Sir William," answered Manners, "that even if I were to +explain all this in your own words to Miss De Vaux, she would still be +as much perplexed as ever; and I have often remarked, that in the +minds of the timid--especially where there is real cause for +uneasiness--everything that is doubtful and mysterious is interpreted +into afresh cause of apprehension and alarm. Besides, according to my +contract with your acquaintance Pharold, and the stipulations which +you have yourself implied, with regard to your name, so far from +explaining all these motives, I am not even to disclose that I have +seen you." + +Sir William Ryder paused for a moment or two in deep thought; and +Manners, seeing that he was embarrassed, added, "Perhaps, Sir William, +the best way for me to act will be, to give Miss De Vaux a true +account of the state of her cousin's health; to tell that I have seen +him, but to add that, from particular causes, which I must explain +hereafter, I can neither inform her where he is, nor enable her to see +him. I have always found it best, wherever I have been embarrassed +with any mystery of my own--which, thank God, has been seldom the +case--to meet the matter at once, and say, _I will not tell_, without +entangling myself in half explanations, which do me no good, and only +serve those, whose curiosity or feelings are interested, as materials +for imagination to build up visionary castles withal." + +"Perhaps you are right," said Sir William: "but stay yet a moment! +A word or two more with our friend in the next room--I mean the +gipsy--may decide my conduct." + +Manners smiled at the sort of counsellors by whom he had found his +friend surrounded in both hemispheres. When first he met Sir William +Ryder, he had seen him every day in deep consultation with Indian +chiefs; and now his principal reliance seemed to be upon gipsies: but, +at present, that somewhat eccentric personage was disappointed in his +purpose of calling Pharold to his councils; for when he opened the +door--which led into a small neat study, with a table covered with +papers, money, and lights, in the midst thereof--he found the room +untenanted by any living thing. + +"I had forgot," he said, turning back with a smile--"I had forgot that +one half-hour in the air of a close room is too much for Pharold's +endurance. He is gone, and I must send for him when I want him." + +"You seem to place more reliance on him," said Manners, pointing to +the heaps of gold and papers on the table, "than most Englishmen would +upon one of his race." + +"I would trust him, I may well say, with untold gold," answered Sir +William Ryder; "as you would, Manners, if you knew him as I do. He has +corresponded with me in America for twenty years; and one might be +glad if, in the highest ranks, one could find so exact, so true, and +so punctual a correspondent." The reader, who has already received +much information concerning things of which Manners was ignorant, may +easily understand some of the motives of a correspondence between two +persons so different in station. Manners also had by this time +discovered that his friend's acquaintance with the gipsy was certainly +not of yesterday; yet there was still sufficient matter, both new and +strange, in what he heard, to make him, not only feel surprised, but +look it also. Sir William Ryder, however, who probably did not wish to +give any further explanation, instantly led the conversation away, +saying, "But to return to what we were speaking of, Manners. I must +soon come to some determination; and, perhaps, I have been weak in not +forming one already: but there are spots of weakness in every one's +heart, as there are spots of madness in every one's brain; and I have +my share, of course, of both. However, I will limit myself to a time; +and when you return to Morley House, you may tell the poor girl, that +though it is judged expedient that she should not see her cousin +to-morrow, yet on the next morning the old gentleman with whom he +is--Mr. Harley, remember--will be very happy to receive her here, +together with her aunt, as I suppose she will be afraid to venture on +such an expedition alone. If," he added,--"if I should find reason to +change my present purpose, I can but affect the barbarian, and be +absent when the ladies come." + +"Such tidings will, indeed, give joy and peace," answered Manners: +"but before I go to-morrow, I must take care to ascertain where your +dwelling stands; for, coming hither at night, and across the country, +I am totally ignorant of everything concerning the spot where I now +am, except that it is more than a hundred miles from London, which I +found out by a mile-stone on the road." + +"We are in the environs of the little town of ----," replied his +companion; "and by the road about seven miles from Morley House. I saw +that this little place was to be let, as I passed by one day, +immediately after my return, and took it at once, on various accounts, +although I did not know how much it might prove of use to poor De +Vaux. And now, Manners, to your rest; for, although I am a late +watcher, you look fatigued, and are in need of repose." + +"I am somewhat fatigued," answered Manners, "although I have not had +any very great cause; but the fact is, the mind is sometimes like a +hard rider, and knocks up the body before it is aware. I have been all +this morning either with Lord Dewry, examining a gipsy boy--taken last +night in a sad deer-stealing affray at Dimden--in order to ascertain +whether I could discover poor De Vaux, or pursuing somewhat fiercely +your friend Pharold, against whom, by-the-way, warrants have been +issued on three different charges." + +"On three charges, did you say?" demanded Sir William Ryder: "on +three! He only mentioned directly one charge against himself, that of +having murdered this poor lad, which must now, of course, fall to the +ground." + +"The other charges were," answered Manners, "first, that he had been +engaged in the deer-stealing, wherein, I am sorry to say, blood was +spilt--but in regard to that I pointed out to him a means of proving +his innocence; and, secondly, that many years ago he was either a +principal or an accessary in the murder of the late Lord Dewry, who +was killed by some unknown person at a spot not far from Morley +House." + +It would be difficult to describe the effect that these few words +produced upon the countenance of Sir William Ryder. His eye flashed, +his brows contracted, and he bit his lip hard, till at length some +feeling of contempt seemed to master the rest, and his emotion ended +in a bitter and a meaning laugh. "And pray," he asked, "who is it that +has brought this last charge against him?" + +"None other than the brother of the murdered man, Lord Dewry," +answered Manners: "he says he has proofs of the gipsy's guilt." + +"They have been long in manufacturing!" answered Sir William Ryder, +sternly: "I will tell you more, Manners,--as there is a God of heaven, +the gipsy is innocent, and he shall be proved so, let the bolt light +where it may. Proofs! Out upon him! Falsehoods and villany! But he +shall learn better; for I will not stand by and see the innocent +oppressed, for any remembrances that memory can call up." + +"You speak more harshly than ever I heard you, my dear Sir William," +answered Manners; "but perhaps you have cause which I do not know of, +and into which I certainly shall not pry. However, this nobleman is, +as you know, De Vaux's father, and, ere we part for the night, you +must tell me how I am to act towards him; for the gipsy stipulated +that I was to tell him nothing concerning his son's situation, without +your consent. May I tell him where De Vaux is, and under whose care?" + +Sir William Ryder paused, and he thought for several moments, with the +same bitter smile which Manners's information had called up still +hanging upon his lip. "Yes," he said at length--"yes, you may tell him +where his son is; and you may tell him to come and see him and me as +speedily as he thinks fit: but call me still Mr. Harley, for there +might be something unpleasant to his ears in the name of William +Ryder, which might prevent his coming. Say that Mr. Harley, the old +gentleman to whose house De Vaux was conveyed after the accident he +met with, will be happy to see him at any time he may name." + +"I am most delighted to have your permission so to do," answered +Manners; "for, to tell the truth, it would have placed me in rather an +awkward position in regard to Lord Dewry, had you refused to let me +give him full tidings of his son." + +"He will not much thank you," said Sir William Ryder--"he will not +much thank you! But, nevertheless, let him come, let him come! +Perhaps, after all, this is the best way we could have devised of +bringing an unpleasant affair to an end." + +"I trust it may prove so," answered Manners; "and that the time may +speedily come when you will find it not unpleasant to unravel all the +mysteries which have been crowding lately so thick upon me, that I +begin to feel confused among them, and hardly know who are friends and +who are enemies." + +"Though I have the clew in my hands," answered Sir William, pursuing +more the direction of his own thoughts than that of Manners's last +observation--"though I have the clew in my own hands, there is one +thing puzzles me as much as the rest seems to do you: it is that a +youth so full of high and noble feelings as Edward de Vaux should be +the son of such a man as his father; yet, thank God, he has many a +goodly fault too, or I should begin to doubt that he were his son." + +"It not unfrequently happens," rejoined Manners, "that where the heart +is originally good, the errors of the fathers serve as examples or as +landmarks to the children; as the masts of some wrecked vessel often +serve to warn mariners of the shoal on which she perished." + +"And _his_ heart was originally good too, I do believe," answered Sir +William Ryder: "I mean the father's," he added, thoughtfully. "Well, +indeed, may his example serve to show to what, step by step, we may +reduce ourselves, as one vice lashes on to another." + +Manners smiled. "Nay, nay, Sir William," he said, "you are doing the +worthy lord somewhat less than justice, I think. I never heard of his +being troubled with any of what the world calls vices: pride, indeed, +and wrath, and irascibility, he is not without: but, setting aside +these gentlemanly peccadilloes, I never heard of any vices; and from +what I have seen of him, I should say that, whatever he may have been +in the days past, he has now sunk down into a very disagreeable old +gentleman--that is all." + +"That is all!" cried Sir William Ryder, starting up, and laying +his hand upon Manners's arm, while he fixed his eyes intently upon +him--"that is all!" but suddenly breaking off, he resumed a calmer +look and tone, and added, "But we have not time, to-night, to discuss +characters. I am but keeping you from your rest." + +Manners did not endeavour to carry on the conversation; for, in all +such matters, it was his rule to let people go on just as far as they +liked, but to press them no further; and although he certainly was not +without some feeling of curiosity in regard to the connection between +Sir William Ryder and the father of his friend De Vaux, yet he well +knew that the only way to come honestly at a secret is to be totally +careless about it. The bell was now rung, and Manners was conducted to +a room which the servant who had given him admission, and who was an +old acquaintance, had with laudable foresight prepared for his use, +looking upon it as certain that a visiter who arrived at twelve +o'clock at night was not likely to depart before the next morning. + +Everything had been carefully provided that he could want or desire; +and Colonel Manners, who enjoyed, perhaps more than most men, that +inestimable blessing of a heart at ease in itself, lay down to rest, +and was soon in a deep slumber. + +His repose was not disturbed till the gray of the next morning, when +he was roused with the intelligence that Captain De Vaux was awake, +and would be very glad to see him. He was not long in obeying the +summons; and, after a soldier's toilet hastily made, he rang for the +servant, and was conducted to the apartment where his wounded friend +lay. + +There is something always melancholy in entering a sick-room in the +early morning, even when it is to see returning health coming back +into a cheek we love. The cheerful light of the young day, finding its +way through the chinks of the shutters, and mingling with the faint +but inextinguishable glare of the night-lamp, the pale and sleepy +guardian of the sick, the book with which she has striven to while +away the hours of watching, and scare off sleep, half-open on a table +loaded with drugs and fever-cooling drinks, the warm, close +atmosphere, and the drawn curtains, all bring home to our own hearts +that painful conviction of our weak and fragile tenure upon health and +comfort, and all that makes life pleasant, which we forget in the +bright and hopeful light of day. + +In the small dressing-room, through which Manners ducted to the +chamber of his friend, he found a surgeon who had been brought from +London, and who had passed the preceding night in close attendance +upon the patient. He was luckily one of those men who can form an +opinion, and will venture to speak it; and in answer to Colonel +Manners's inquiries respecting De Vaux's real situation he replied at +once, "There is no danger, sir. He will do perfectly well. I should +advise, however, as little conversation as possible, and that of as +cheerful a kind as may be, for it may retard recovery, if it do not +produce more serious evil." + +Manners promised to observe his caution, and entered the room. De Vaux +smiled faintly when he saw him, and held out his hand, though he moved +with evident pain. + +"This is a sad accident, indeed, De Vaux," said Manners, sitting down +by his bedside; "but I am delighted to hear from the surgeon that it +is likely to have no bad consequences, and to be speedily remedied." + +"I should be ungrateful to say that I am sorry he thinks so," answered +De Vaux, in a melancholy tone; "and yet I can hardly make up my mind +to rejoice." + +"Nay, nay," said Manners, "I will not hear you say so, my friend. You +can have heard no tidings, you can be placed in no situation, De Vaux, +which should make you forget that you are surrounded by people who +love you for yourself, and are worthy of your love--who would love you +still, under all or any circumstances--that you have friends, +relations, ties of every dear and intimate character that can make +health and life a blessing, if you are willing to receive it as such. +Nor should you forget that there are others who may well be dear to +your heart, and whose whole happiness for life is staked upon yours." + +"Oh yes, poor Marian," said De Vaux: "I am, indeed, ungrateful; for +such a treasure as that should compensate for everything. But tell me +how she is. Tell me all about her, Manners. When did she hear of this +accident? and how has she borne it?" + +Manners, though it can scarcely be said that he was puzzled how to +answer, yet felt that, with a man of De Vaux's character, it was +somewhat a delicate task, especially as, from what the surgeon had +said, it might be expedient not to tell his friend the full extent of +what Marian had suffered. He was too well aware of De Vaux's +fastidiousness not to let him know that Marian had felt as deeply on +his account as he could possibly think she ought to have done; and yet +Manners did not wish to pain and alarm him by telling him how much she +really had undergone. + +"You ask me to tell you a long story, De Vaux," he answered, after a +moment's thought, "longer, I am afraid, than your worthy surgeon will +consent to your hearing at present; but the truth is, in consequence +of some other accident or mistake, we never did hear of what had +occurred to you at all." + +"Good God!" cried De Vaux, "when with my own hand I wrote to Marian as +much as I could write. I do think that servants and messengers were +made for the very purpose of breaking people's hearts, or teasing them +to death by carelessness." + +"In this instance, however," said Manners, "it seems that there were +various causes which prevented the delivery of your note; and the +consequence was, that, from your unexplained absence, and several +other accidental facts which came to our knowledge, we were led to +conclude that you had been murdered. I, of course, instantly took arms +to avenge you, as in duty bound, and, backed by warrants and gentlemen +of the quorum, I have been galloping about the country ever since; so +that, in fact, I have seen scarcely any thing of the family at Morley +House, and less than all of your fair cousin Miss De Vaux, whose very +first apprehensions rendered her so unwell that she has kept her room +almost ever since." + +"Good God!" cried De Vaux: "how she must have suffered! Poor dear +Marian! Would to God that I could go to her--but I am afraid that I +could not ride." + +"Ride! Do not think of it for an instant," cried Manners, "and make +yourself easy about Miss De Vaux. Last night, I, for the first time, +obtained news of your safety, which did her more good than all that +the god of medicine himself could have done. Nay, I do believe that +she would have walked over here with me in the middle of last night, +if it had not been that her own ideas of propriety, or, perhaps, her +fears of your notions thereof, prevented her from undertaking such a +task under such an escort." + +De Vaux smiled. "You are severe upon my fastidiousness, Manners," he +said; "but that is one bad quality which, I trust, I shall be able to +cast away with many others. I have had some hard lessons lately, +Manners, enough to bow down the pride of him of the morning star; and, +perhaps, I may have more yet to undergo: but, at all events, my vain +fastidiousness is gone for ever; so that one good is gained by +misfortune." + +"As it often is, my friend," answered Manners: "nevertheless, I think +Miss De Vaux was very right to stay where she was; especially as she +herself was far from strong, and I did not know whither I was about to +go; for my friend the gipsy, who conducted me hither, is a man of +mysteries. However, you owe him thanks for one service that he has +rendered to another fair cousin of yours, Miss Falkland, whom he saved +from drowning, at the risk of his own life." + +De Vaux had drawn his hand over his eyes when first Manners mentioned +the gipsy; but he removed it again, and looked up with pleasure at the +tidings of Isadore's escape, though he asked no account of the +accident. "Poor Isadore," he said, "and poor Marian, too, for God +knows what we may both be called upon to suffer. Manners, my brain is +in such a whirl, with various doubts, and fears, and anxieties, which +I can neither explain to others nor unravel myself, that I must, +indeed, endeavour to banish all thought of my own situation, and of my +future prospects, if I wish to recover." + +"Well, then, by all means banish all thought," answered Manners. "It +is seldom that I can be accused of giving such advice; but for a man +in your situation I think it absolutely a duty to cast from him every +memory, and every reflection, which may tend to impede his recovery, +trusting and believing that, in those circumstances where we have no +power to deliver ourselves, the Almighty Disposer of all things will +act for us far better than we could act for ourselves." + +"I must e'en think so," answered De Vaux, in whom corporal weakness +and exhaustion had deadened the first sense of misfortune. "Sir +William Ryder, indeed, bids me hope, and tells me that things must and +will go better than I anticipate: but we speak to each other in +enigmas; and till my mind and body are capable of clearer thought and +greater exertion, I must, I suppose, rest satisfied with assurances, +the foundation for which I can in no degree perceive." + +Manners, now anxious to lead his thoughts away from any more painful +subject, gave him a brief, light sketch of his own proceeding in +search of him, and all that had occurred since he had left Morley +House: but, warned by what had already passed concerning the gipsy, he +kept a watchful and a friendly eye upon the countenance of his friend, +skilfully turning to some other part of the same subject as soon as he +perceived that what he said was beginning to produce the slightest +uneasiness. He was surprised to find, however, on how many points De +Vaux was susceptible of pain. The mention of his own father affected +him as strongly as the mention of the gipsy; and many a casual word, +which seemed in itself to be innocent or kind, made him shrink as if +some one had laid a rough hand upon his wound. Beginning at length to +fear that his conversation was doing his friend more harm than good, +Manners rose, adding, "And now, my dear De Vaux, I think I have +remained as long with you as friendship can require, or gallantry +permit, considering that there is a fair lady, very dear to you, +watching anxiously till I shall return and tell her that I have seen +you with my own eyes, and that you are living, not dead; recovering, +not dying. The good people here, for various reasons, will not hear of +her coming to you to-day, but they assure me that to-morrow you will +be able to see her: so that I think I can then promise you a visit; +and hope to find that you have in the interval regained much of the +health and strength that you have lost." + +"I will not ask you to stay longer, Manners," said De Vaux; "for I am +too confident of my dear Marian's affection not to feel sure that the +tidings of my probable recovery will be the best consolation she can +receive; and tell her, Manners, I beg, that the only happiness I +anticipate in life and health is that of seeing her again." + +"I will tell her how happy it will make you," answered Manners; "but +without any of the melancholy adjuncts, if you please, De Vaux. I will +not spoil the best tidings I have had to tell for some time by such a +number of unpleasant negatives as you attach to them; and so, fare you +well for the present." + +"Manners, Manners," said the voice of De Vaux, ere his friend reached +the door, "there is one thing which I had forgot. Do not on any +account let Marian think that this wound which I have received was the +consequence of any intentional act of my own hand. Bid her be sure +that, whatever may have occurred, I was not fool enough or cruel +enough to her to think of such a thing. Explain to her the accident as +I dare say you must have heard it, and tell her that though they say +the pistol must have been cocked when I put it in my bosom, I have not +the slightest remembrance of its having been so." + +"I will tell her all," answered Manners; "but do not fancy that she +will ever dream that you did do it intentionally. If you were a +forlorn and solitary being like myself, destined to go through life in +single unblessedness, people might suspect you; but with so many ties +at present, and so much happiness to look forward to, you would be +worse than a madman to throw away, not only the crown of life, but all +the jewels with which fate has adorned it for you." + +De Vaux gave him a melancholy look, but only added, "You do not know +all, Manners!" and suffered him to depart. As he was crossing the hall +in search of some one who could inform him whether Sir William Ryder +was yet awake, he met the object of his search, booted and spurred, as +if returned from riding. "You keep your old habits, I see, Sir +William," said Manners, as they met. "You must have been up and out +full early, indeed." + +"Mr. Harley; remember, my dear colonel, Mr. Harley I am for the +present," replied the other. "I never sleep before one, nor after +five--a habit which was acquired in sorrow and in bitterness, but +which I would not now lose for half an empire. But have you seen our +poor friend?" + +"Yes, I have," answered Manners; "and find him better in body, at +least, than I had even hoped. In mind, however, he is very much +depressed; and without inquiring, or wishing to inquire, my dear sir, +into the connection which may exist between your affairs and his, +allow me to say, as some connection does certainly exist, that I am +sure whatever will sooth and quiet his mind will tend more than +anything to restore him to health. Whatever, on the contrary, +depresses him, as he now is, will not only greatly retard his +recovery, but may, I am afraid, have, remotely, very bad results upon +his constitution. I hope that I do not take too great a liberty with +your friendship," he added, seeing a cloud come upon his auditor's +brow. + +"Not in the least, Manners, not in the least," answered Sir William: +"I was only thinking what I could do to relieve the poor youth's mind. +I am afraid I somewhat mistook him, Manners, when I saw him with you +in America; I am afraid I did not half see the nobler and finer +qualities of his mind, concealed, as they were, under an exterior of +frivolous fastidiousness. But I can assure you, that anything on earth +I can do to set his mind at ease I will do; and I will go and assure +him thereof directly and solemnly." + +Manners detained him for a single moment, to borrow a horse, and to +explain the motives of his early departure for Morley House; and then +suffering him to proceed, in order to sooth and calm the mind of his +wounded friend, he himself took his way to Mrs. Falkland's, glad to +bear tidings to those who stood so much in need of them. + +Marian was watching at the window as he galloped up; and there was +something in the rapid pace at which he came, in the light and agile +motion with which he sprang to the ground, and flung the rein to +the servant, which spoke joyful tidings. Manners was soon in the +drawing-room; and the news he bore was not long in telling. He related +all that he had seen, and all that he had heard of her cousin's +accident and situation; and although we cannot deny that he softened a +little the pain he suffered, and the grief which seemed to oppress +him, Manners told her the truth, though he told it kindly. + +Marian's face was alternately the abode of smiles and tears during his +narrative, and during the manifold answers which he gave to her +questions, and again and again she thanked him for all his energetic +interest and feeling kindness, and prayed Heaven sincerely that De +Vaux and herself might have some opportunity of returning it as he +deserved. + +Manners only interrupted a conversation which was not without interest +to himself, and was so deeply interesting to her, in order to inquire +for her cousin, and to put many a question concerning Miss Falkland's +health, after the accident of the preceding night. He was still in +full career, when she herself entered, somewhat paler but not less gay +than ever; and although she declared, and persisted in the +declaration, that she was bound by every rule of propriety to fall in +love with the gipsy who had rescued her, and to tender him her hand +and heart, Manners felt sincerely rejoiced that Pharold had been the +person to come so opportunely to her aid. Isadore, indeed, as she +recollected one or two words which had been spoken on the preceding +evening, coloured more than once when Manners addressed her; but she +knew him to be a generous man, and she determined to trust to his +generosity for the result. + +Mrs. Falkland soon after joined the party; and the house of mourning +was changed into a house of joy. Nothing more remained but to write to +Lord Dewry, informing him of his son's safety; and this Manners +undertook and executed, keeping in mind the engagement he had come +under to Sir William Ryder, regarding the concealment of his name. A +servant was instantly despatched to Dewry Hall with the note: but on +reaching that place he found that the peer had returned early that +morning to Dimden, and thither he then bent his steps; but arrived too +late to give Lord Dewry even the option of visiting his son that +night. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Dimden Park--a spot which had been hated and avoided by Lord Dewry +ever since it fell into his possession, on account of its many +memories--some painful in themselves, some painful in their +associations--had, by this time, not alone been revisited by its +master, but had been occupied by him, with a part of his general +household, as if for the purpose of longer residence. Such a state of +things had been in no degree contemplated by the peer, either when +Manners left him, or when he himself terminated his conversation with +the gipsy boy who had become his prisoner; but another conversation +had succeeded with another person, to whose chamber we must now +follow. + +The first object of Lord Dewry being to get the gipsy Pharold into his +power--trusting to his previously arranged schemes to work his will +with him when he had him there--it was natural that he should turn his +whole efforts to accomplish his capture before he attended to anything +else. The moment, however, that all the means had been employed for +that purpose which circumstances permitted, his attention instantly +returned to the plans which he had concerted in order to prove the +object of his hatred and his fear guilty of the crime imputed to him, +when he should be ultimately taken. The execution of these plans +materially depended upon Sir Roger Millington; and for his safety and +recovery the peer's next aspirations were consequently raised. As +soon, then, as he had dismissed the affair of the boy, and had seen +the treacherous scoundrel he thought fit to employ for the purpose of +inveigling the gipsy to his destruction set out upon his errand, Lord +Dewry turned his steps towards the chamber of the wounded man, +sincerely grieved for the accident which had happened to him, and most +anxious concerning its ultimate result. Calculating, however, with +nice acumen, the irritable selfishness of sick people, he trusted not +to the personal vexation which he really felt to give his air and +countenance the appearance of grief and sympathy; but as he walked +slowly up the stairs, he thought over every point of the part he was +to play, in order to cover his individual motives from the eye of the +wounded man, and make him believe that sincere interest in his fate +and sufferings was the sole emotion which affected his friend and +benefactor. + +At the door of the chamber to which Sir Roger had been conveyed, the +peer paused for a moment; and then laying his hand upon the lock, +turned it, and entered with as noiseless a step as possible. The +windows were darkened; but there was still enough light in the room +for the eye to distinguish the table covered with surgical instruments +and bloody bandages, and all those appliances and means for saving +life which man so strangely combines with the most skilful and +persevering activity in taking it. There was the bed, too, and the +half-drawn curtains, and the gentleman in black, sitting by the +bolster, while a young prim assistant walked about on tiptoe, for the +soothing dose or the cooling drink. A deep groan was sounding through +the room as the peer entered; and although he was, and always had +been, a man of nerve, without any corporal terror at the thought +either of pain or death, there was something in that sound, and all +the accessory circumstances around, that made a sort of shudder pass +over his frame. It were difficult to guess in what feelings that +shudder took its rise. It might be, alone, the natural repugnance of +the human heart to anguish and dissolution--it might be that he +thought of his son--it might be that he remembered his brother, for +there were chords of association between the fate of each, and the +situation of the man he came to visit, which, like the strings of the +Eolian harp, might well be moved to a thousand vague and melancholy +sounds by the slightest breath that stirred them. + +He advanced, however, lightly towards the bed, and stood by the chair, +whence the surgeon rose as he approached, ere the wounded man was +aware of his presence. Sir Roger Millington was lying on his left +side, with his face turned away, and his right hand cast over the +bed-clothes; and it was not difficult, from the slow clenching of +his hand, and the rocking motion of his head, to see the intense +agony he suffered. The peer paused, and gazed for a moment with +some emotion--not, indeed, without a mingling of better +feelings--compassion, and sympathy, and disinterested grief, such as +he had not known for many years. It was better than all the acting in +the world; and when Sir Roger, whom no persuasion of the surgeon could +induce to lie still, turned round with the quick and irritable +movement of high fever and excessive pain, he saw the peer standing by +him, with an expression of sincere sorrow which could not be mistaken. + +A groan and a fearful contortion followed the change of position; but +when the first agony was over, he looked pleased to see the +countenance of Lord Dewry; and said, in a voice wonderfully strong and +firm, considering his situation, "Your lordship is very kind--I am +badly hurt, I am afraid--those accursed gipsies took too good an +aim--damn me, if I do not think the shot must have been red hot, it +gives one such torture. I have been wounded before, but never felt +anything like this. Do you think I shall die, my lord, ey?" + +"Heaven forbid," cried the peer, sitting down; "on the contrary, I +trust the very pain you suffer evinces that you are in no danger; for +I have always heard that mortal wounds are generally the least +painful. Is it not so, Mr. Swainstone?" + +"Yes, exactly so, my lord," replied the surgeon, who would probably +have confirmed anything on earth that the peer said to sooth his +patient. "I had told the gentleman so before your lordship arrived." + +"You never told me so," cried Sir Roger, looking up at him angrily. + +"Yes, indeed, sir, I told you that I hoped and trusted you would +recover," answered the surgeon; "and one of my reasons for thinking so +was the very pain you suffer; for, as his lordship very justly and +wisely observes, wounds which--" + +"But that damned parson," cried Sir Roger, "told me I should certainly +die--a foul-mouthed, old, hooded crow!" + +"What parson?" demanded the peer, in some surprise and dismay at the +very idea of Sir Roger Millington being brought in contact in his +dying hours with any one who might lead him on to dangerous +disclosures; "what parson does he mean?" + +"Oh, only good Dr. Edwards, my lord, the rector," answered the +surgeon. "He came to give the gentleman religious consolation; but he +did not exactly say that he would certainly die. He said that he would +certainly die at some time; and that even, if he were spared at +present, it would be better for him to turn his thoughts to serious +things, so that, if he recovered, the wound might prove salutary to +his mind at least." + +"Yes, yes; but he thought, and he meant me to think, too," cried Sir +Roger, "that I was dying, and that I could not recover. I knew well +enough what he meant--the canting old crow; but I'll live, curse me if +I do not, if it be but to pay those hellish gipsies for this torture +to which they have put me. I beg your pardon, my lord, for being +somewhat violent; but I am in agony, perfect agony." + +"I grieve most deeply and sincerely, my dear friend, to see you suffer +so much," answered the peer; "and I will take care that no such +fanatical irritation be intruded upon you again. Dr. Edwards is a very +good and well-intentioned man, I dare say; but I will not have a sick +and wounded friend tormented for any rector on the face of the earth. +In the mean time, however, I trust that this state of anguish is not +likely to be of long endurance. What do you think, Mr. Swainstone? Can +nothing be done to alleviate it?" + +"I have done as much as I could, my lord, to effect that purpose," +answered the surgeon, with a very significant shrug of the shoulders; +"and I doubt not, in a few hours, the gentleman will feel the pain +begin to subside." + +"That is the best news I have heard from you yet, doctor," said the +wounded man. "But do you not think you can extract the ball? I do not +believe I shall be easier as long as that remains in me, burning like +a coal." + +"O yes, you will," answered the surgeon; "and it is necessary to let +the first irritation subside, before I make the attempt again. Were I +to try it now, it might increase all you suffer, and prolong it, +perhaps, for many hours." + +"Then you shall not touch it, depend upon that," cried Sir Roger; "I +suffer quite enough already." + +"In the mean time, Mr. Swainstone," demanded the peer, "let me inquire +whether a little quiet conversation with a friend is likely to injure +your patient; for I would even deny myself the pleasure of remaining +with him, though I much desire it, if you thought it would prove in +any degree hurtful." + +"Not in the least, my lord," answered the surgeon; "a little cheerful +and interesting conversation, such as your lordship's must always be, +would, most likely, withdraw his mind from himself, and rather do him +good than otherwise." + +"Then I will relieve you in your attendance upon him for half an +hour," rejoined the peer: "and your assistant can wait in the next +room, in case Sir Roger may want any surgical aid. But, remember," he +added, in a louder tone, "in case I do not see you again, I beseech +you to give your whole time and attention up to my friend here, and +shall esteem it the greatest favour that any one can confer upon me, +if you bring him safely and speedily through this unfortunate affair." + +The surgeon bowed; and promising to do his best, proceeded to quit the +apartment with his assistant. The peer then, suddenly seeming to +remember something, followed into the anteroom, and, closing the door, +beckoned him back. "I wish to know, Mr. Swainstone," he said, in a low +but emphatic tone, "your real opinion of my friend's case. You said +just now that the pain would subside in a few hours: do you think that +likely to be really the case? for I see that you have spoken under +some restraint." + +"It will certainly be the case, my lord," replied the surgeon, +gravely; "but only from the coming on of mortification, which cannot +be long ere it occurs." + +"Good God! then you think he will die?" cried the peer, in real alarm. + +"I do think so, my lord," answered the surgeon, "without there +existing in my mind one hope of being able to prevent it. The fact is +this, my lord: the ball entered his right side; and passing directly +through the muscles of the back, was only stopped by the articulations +of the ribs and the vertebrae, both of which have been so much +fractured and injured, that there is neither any possibility of +extracting the ball, nor any chance of its remaining there innocuous, +as is sometimes the case." + +"Then how long do you think life may be protracted?" asked the peer, +anxiously. + +"It is impossible to say to a day or two, my lord," answered the +surgeon. "It may be over in a week; and, on the contrary, he may +linger ten days or a fortnight." + +"Then you do not think that there is any chance of immediate +dissolution?" demanded Lord Dewry. + +"None, none whatever, my lord," replied the surgeon. "All hemorrhage +has ceased long. First mortification will ensue, and then--" + +"Spare me the description," said the peer; "but tell me, in case of +its being necessary to transact any business of importance with this +unfortunate gentleman, when do you think will be the moment in which +it can best be done?" + +"Why, I should say, in the beginning of the mortification," the +surgeon replied. "All his faculties will be clear and active, and the +great bodily pain which he is now suffering will have abated." + +"Well then, Mr. Swainstone," rejoined Lord Dewry, "I shall trust you +to give me notice of the precise moment at which you judge it +expedient that this poor gentleman's declaration, on oath, regarding +the transactions in which he has suffered, should be taken down. At +the same time, let me caution you not to alarm him, or suffer him to +be alarmed, by the thought of death; but keep his spirits up, as far +as possible, till it shall become absolutely necessary to let him know +that all hope is past." + +Thus saying, the peer returned into the room of the wounded man; and +the surgeon withdrew, wondering who Sir Roger Millington could be, +towards whom the cold and proud Lord Dewry displayed so much courtesy +and warm regard. + +The peer, in the meantime, approached the bed of the sufferer with a +more cheerful countenance; and assured him, in answer to some rather +anxious questions, that the real opinion of the surgeon was more +favourable than he had even expected. "I have given orders, too," +added Lord Dewry, "that no more fanatics be admitted to you. There are +a crowd of those weak fools about the country, who haunt sick-rooms; +and very often, by depressing the mind and spirits, cause those +persons to die who would otherwise have recovered." + +"Oh, I'll not die for any of them," answered Sir Roger; "I'll live to +have revenge on those gipsies. They marked me out especially; and I +will live long enough to show that, though I was so badly hurt, I +could mark them too, and remember them to their cost." + +"Did you see Pharold, then, among them?" demanded the peer, eagerly. +"Was it he who fired the shot?" + +"I saw Pharold plainly," answered Sir Roger; "and can swear that he +was among them. So can the man that held me up in his arms, after I +was wounded; for he pointed him out to me, and I will swear to him +anywhere." + +Joy glistened in the eyes of the peer while he listened. He had had +doubts, he had had apprehensions, lest the testimony of his keeper +against the gipsy should remain unsupported by other authority; and he +had not left unremarked Harvey's implication that some of the other +persons present differed with him in their account of the affair. But +the assertion of Sir Roger Millington was conclusive; as he well knew, +from his own former experience as a lawyer, what an effect the dying +declaration of a murdered person always has upon a jury. + +During the last twenty-four hours he had sometimes doubted whether he +had or had not somewhat too intricately complicated his plans, in his +eagerness to snatch at every thing which gave an additional chance of +security; but now he congratulated himself that he had acted as he had +done, and fancied that if he confidently and boldly pursued them, his +mind was sufficiently acute to guide each of the schemes he had +engaged in to the same great end and object,--the ensuring his own +security by crushing those who could destroy it. + +He now felt armed at all points. By the transactions of the preceding +day he could prove the impossibility of his having committed the crime +which he believed that Pharold would cast back in his teeth; and from +the events of the preceding night he felt secure that if the gipsy +should even be cleared of the murder of his brother and of his son, +the last charge, in regard to the violence in Dimden Park, would be +made good against him, and lay his dangerous lips in the silence of +the grave. But in his eagerness to secure this advantage beyond the +power of fate, Lord Dewry somewhat outran discretion. Without giving +either himself or Sir Roger time to pause, he exclaimed, eagerly, +"Will it not be better, my dear Sir Roger, at once to make a +declaration, upon oath, of your recollections concerning the affair of +last night?" + +Sir Roger Millington looked at him suspiciously. "Do you think me +dying, or do you not. Lord Dewry?" he demanded; "for if I am not +dying, but likely to recover, I shall have plenty of time to make the +declaration when I am not in such pain, or give the _viva voce_ +evidence, which is much better in a court of justice. So let me know +the truth, my lord." + +Lord Dewry saw that it was in vain to hope he would make the +declaration he desired unless he believed himself to be dying; but the +peer had a keen knowledge of human nature, and saw all the dangers +which would attend the disclosure of his real state to Sir Roger +Millington. He knew that men who have confronted the chance of death a +thousand times, and, if one may use the expression, have bearded "the +lean, abhorred monster" in his most angry moods, will writhe and +flutter like a scared bird when he has got them in his inevitable +grasp, and when they know that they cannot escape. He knew that these +are the moments "that make cowards of us all;" and he feared lest some +lingering notions of crime, and repentance, and another world should +tempt Sir Roger Millington to an endeavour towards atoning past +errors, by the confession of all those evil designs which were still +in their passage between the past and the future, between the +revocable and the irretrievable; and he would not have risked the +chance for a world. He saw, however, that he had already created a +doubt which might be dangerous; but, he extricated himself +dexterously. + +"God forbid, my dear Millington," he said, "that anything should be +even likely to prevent your giving evidence when the trial of these +gipsies comes on; but my only reason for wishing you to make the +declaration was, that it might be produced at once before the +magistrates, whom I shall request to meet here to-morrow or the day +after, either to take measures for pursuing the villains vigorously, +if they have not been arrested before that time, or to investigate the +matter if they have, which I trust may be the case, as I have already +set half the county on their track. Now what I wish is, that this +Pharold may be committed directly; and you know that among a number of +country magistrates there is always some prating, troublesome fellow, +who throws difficulties in the way; and in this instance, it must be +remembered, some of the people did not recognise Pharold, so that your +evidence is of vital importance." + +"Let them come to me," said Sir Roger, vehemently--"let them come to +me, and I will give such evidence as would hang him half a dozen times +over. I should like to be but a quarter of an hour in the same room +with the scoundrel with two good small-swords. Only to think, my lord, +of me--who have made the daylight shine through many a pretty man as +one would wish to see--being hurt in this way by a stinking yellow fox +of a gipsy, that is only fit to be hunted down by a good pack of +hounds!" + +"I trust we shall catch him," said the peer, who saw that it was vain +to press the wounded man any further upon the subject of the +declaration. + +"Catch him!" cried Sir Roger, who was working himself up into a state +of vehement excitement--"catch him! you cannot miss catching him, if +you take proper means. By Jupiter, if you miss him, I'll undertake, +for a small sum, to catch him myself as soon as I am well; or rather, +I should say, catch the whole of them, for curse me if I know which of +them it was that fired the shot." + +"Indeed!" cried Lord Dewry; "I am sorry for that; I thought you were +certain it was Pharold." + +"I daresay it was," answered the knight, "for I saw him standing in +front, when they picked me up. It was either he himself or a young +fellow who stood near, and who bullied a great deal beforehand. But as +those that bully never act, I dare say it was Pharold himself." + +"I wish to heaven your recollection would enable you to swear that it +was Pharold," said the peer in a low but distinct voice. + +"Oh, I can swear that it was he who did it, to the best of my belief," +answered Sir Roger, who, notwithstanding all his sufferings, could not +but feel, that, in the peer, he had obtained a friend whom it might be +inexpedient to lose, and whose care and attention, under his existing +circumstances, might well make some impression upon him, although he +even did doubt the motives which produced such conduct--"I can swear +it was he who did it, to the best of my belief," he repeated, with +some emphasis on the last words; and then added, in the peevish tone +of pain, "You seem to have a goodly dislike towards this Pharold, my +lord." + +The peer did not wish, of course, that his personal hatred to Pharold +should be too apparent, even to those whom he employed as tools; but +he still less wished that that personal hatred should be so far +without plausible motive as to lead men to turn their thoughts towards +remote causes, in order to seek out some probable reason for such +persisting enmity. Nor, indeed, was a sufficient motive wanting; for +the terrible news he had heard the night before from Colonel Manners +had awakened feelings towards the gipsy which, though blending with +ancient hatred, were yet sufficiently powerful in themselves to stand +forth, even in his own mind, as the great incentive to his designs +against Pharold, as one great stream, joining others, mingles its +waters with theirs, and gives its name to all. + +"I have good cause to hate him," he said, bending down over the +wounded man, with the expression of all his dark and bitter feelings +frowning unrestrained upon his brow--"I have good cause to hate him, +Sir Roger--judge if I have not, when I tell you that his hand has not +only been dipped in my brother's blood, but also in the blood of my +only son." + +He spoke in a low and agitated voice: but Sir Roger caught his meaning +distinctly; and, with an involuntary movement of real horror, started +up upon his elbow. He fell back again instantly, with a groan of +agony; and the big drops rolled from his forehead. The peer paused for +a few minutes, seeing that the sudden movement had renewed all the +sufferings of the wounded man: but he had yet much more to say, and +when the knight had in some degree recovered, he began again with +expressions of sympathy and kindness:--"I am sorry to see you suffer +so terribly," he said: "you seemed easier just now; and I was in hopes +that the change for the better, which the surgeon prognosticated, was +already coming on." + +"I was better, I was better," said the knight, peevishly; "but that +cursed start that you made me give, by telling me about your son, has +torn me all to pieces again. You should not tell one such things so +hastily." + +"Were my son out of the question," replied Lord Dewry, with every +appearance of frankness and sincerity--"had this Pharold never shed +one drop of my kindred blood, I would pursue him and his tribe to the +last man, for what they have made you suffer." + +There is no calculating, however, the turns which the irritability of +sickness will take; and whether Lord Dewry overcharged the expression +of his regard or not, Sir Roger murmured to himself, in a tone too +indistinct for the peer to distinguish his words,--"I dare say you +think so, now that you have your own purposes to answer too--I am not +to be blinded. Well, my lord," he continued aloud, somewhat +apprehensive, perhaps, that the peer's present kindness might render +him the obliged person, instead of the conferer of the obligation, and +thus deprive him of many a profitable claim for the future--"well, my +lord. I am very much obliged to you for your kindness; but I trust you +will not allow my having suffered, in an attempt to serve you, so +greatly as to render me for the time incapable of doing all that I +could wish--I hope that you will not allow this fact, I say, to alter +your lordship's kind intentions in my favour." + +The peer understood very clearly, although Sir Roger was rendered +peevish and somewhat imprudent by pain and sickness, yet that with +habitual rapacity he now wished to tie him down to the fulfilment of +all that had been promised on the former evening, lest the opportunity +should slip, and the gipsy be convicted of other crimes by other +means. Confiding, however, in the assurance of the surgeon, that the +unhappy knight must die, he felt that he could be liberal as the air +in promises, without any dangerous result; and he therefore replied at +once, "Fear not, fear not, Sir Roger; not only will I do all that I +said, when you were first kind enough to give me your assistance, but +it shall not be my fault if I do not find means to do more. Set your +mind, therefore, at ease upon the subject, and do not allow any +thoughts for the future to give you apprehension, or delay your +recovery. Since, however, you have spoken of the subject yourself, +there are some things in those papers which we were looking over last +night which I should much like to see again. Have you them here?" + +Sir Roger, however, was not to be deceived; and his present views were +directly opposed to those which he perceived or suspected in his noble +companion. In the first arrangement of the affair, indeed, when he had +been suddenly raised from apprehensions of the most gnawing want to +hopes of competence and ease, when he believed that the peer could not +ultimately act without him, and that he had it always in his power to +enforce, by a few gentle hints of publicity, the performance of all +that had been promised, he would have given the papers out of his own +hands without fear. Under those circumstances, too, the peer had +thought it better that the knight should keep them, that their +production might take place more naturally. + +Now, however, the position of each was changed. Lord Dewry looked upon +Sir Roger as a dying man, whose life could not be protracted to the +completion of all they designed, and who might be worked upon by the +fear of death, or the irritability of sickness, to take a very +different view of the life he was leaving, from that which he had +hitherto entertained. Sir Roger, on his part, saw that, tied down to a +bed of pain, through, a long and tedious convalescence, no opportunity +could possibly be afforded him of superintending and directing the +proceeding in which he had been engaged; and, therefore, that his +great hold upon the peer was to be found in the papers which they had +altered together. Both, therefore, wished to possess them; and Sir +Roger, in the apparently casual question of Lord Dewry, perceived at +once the object he proposed. "No, my lord," he answered, somewhat +abruptly, "I have them not with me; I left them at your house, at +Dewry Hall. I wish to God I had them with me." + +The peer was somewhat startled by the eagerness of his tone; for it is +impossible for men to confederate in villany without being more or +less suspicious of each other. "Cannot I find them for you. Sir +Roger?" he demanded. "If you will intrust me with the key of your +valise, I will bring them over with me to-morrow." + +A grim smile checkered the expression of pain on the countenance of +the wounded man, and he replied, "Your lordship is very good; but as I +shall require a number of things contained in my valise, I think it +would be better if your lordship were to have the goodness to order +some of your servants to send me over every thing which I left in the +apartment assigned me at Dewry Hall." + +"Certainly, certainly," answered the peer, who saw that he must press +the matter no farther--"certainly, it shall be done this very night. +But do you not think, Sir Roger," he continued, with renewed +apprehension lest the unhappy man, if left unwatched by his own eye, +should discover his real situation, and be persuaded to make +inconvenient confessions--"do you not think, Sir Roger, that you +yourself might bear removal to the hall? I do not like your remaining +in this damp old house, which has not been inhabited for many years, +and in which there is but little that can render you comfortable, +during your convalescence. If you could bear the motion--" + +"Impossible, my lord," replied Sir Roger sharply; "I wonder you do not +see that I can bear no motion at all. This place will do very well: I +have lain in worse quarters; and if you will order my valise to be +sent, it is all I want. To tell the truth," he added, "I am somewhat +tired, and am afraid that to speak much more would injure me." + +"Then far be it from me," replied the peer, "to prolong our +conversation, Sir Roger. I shall take care that everything that +circumstances admit be done for your accommodation, and that you be +not again teased by our fanatical rector, as you were this morning." + +There was a degree of anger in his tone which, had it not been +repressed by many a potent consideration, might have flashed forth in +a very different manner; but it was still sufficiently perceptible to +make the wounded man add some deprecatory sentences, which the peer +received in good part, and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Sir +Roger Millington placed his hand over his eyes, and gave way to +thoughts of a very mixed, but all of a melancholy character. + +"His compassion and his regard," he thought, his mind turning to the +crafty man who had just left him--"his compassion and his regard are +all false and affected, that is clear enough. To think of his wishing +to move me fourteen or fifteen miles in this terrible state! I should +like to know what his object is. He has some deep object, beyond +doubt. Can he be afraid of my betraying him? Perhaps he may. His +schemes are villanous ones enough, that is certain: but he knows that +if I were to peach, I should lose the annuity from him, and get +nothing from any one else; so he cannot be afraid of that." Then came +a long interval of confused and rambling speculations on the motives +of the peer, which had something of delirium in their vague and +unconnected whirl; but then a more terrible image rose before the mind +of the sick man. "Can he think me dying?" he asked himself. "Can the +surgeon have told him that I am dying? No, I won't believe it. I feel +as strong as ever, notwithstanding all this pain! I cannot be dying! +No, no, I will live to revenge myself upon those cursed gipsies. +Doctor," he continued aloud, as the surgeon now re-entered the room, +"are you sure that you are not deceiving me about my condition? Are +you sure that I am not in danger?" + +The surgeon was a good but an easy-tempered man; not indifferent to +religion; but still not very certain, at all times, in regard to the +precise line of conduct which it dictated. Although he thought it +wrong, as a general principle, to depress the spirits of a patient, by +telling him his danger, yet he had conceived that the clergyman had +done but his duty, as a man of religion, in letting the wounded knight +know what he, as a medical man, had thought it his duty to conceal. +The arguments and injunctions of the peer, however, coming in support +of his own opinion, he maintained his first assertion to Sir Roger, +telling him that, although it was impossible to answer for +contingencies, and that he could not exactly tell what might be the +ultimate result of his wound till he had examined it on the following +day, yet he saw no reason whatever to apprehend any _immediate_ +danger. + +With this assurance Sir Roger satisfied himself, and passed a feverish +and painful night, in murmurs at the agony he suffered, in curses and +imprecations upon the whole race of gipsies, and in vague speculations +upon the motives and views of Lord Dewry, in his conduct of that +morning. At times his mind seemed to ramble a little; and he would +mutter vague sentences, referring to many a different object, which +would excite both the attention and wonder of the medical man, and +make him believe that his patient wanted the aid of religion more than +he had imagined at first. When spoken to, however, his replies became +instantly clear and precise, and all his faculties appeared again as +perfect as ever. + +In the mean while, the peer, after leaving such directions as the +circumstances and his own particular plans required, placed himself +once more in his carriage, and returned to his usual abode; but he +determined that on no consideration should the wounded man be left +longer in Dimden House without his presence. "Those meddling priests," +he thought, "think themselves privileged to obtrude and to persevere +in their obtrusion; but I do not think the rector will presume to set +his foot within the doors of Dimden while I am there, without my +especial desire; and if he do, he shall soon be disposed of. I dare +say, however, that Sir Roger himself said enough to prevent his speedy +return; but that surgeon, that Swainstone, is a weak fellow, and I +will trust nothing to circumstances." + +There were other things, however, to be accomplished, which required +no small skill and cunning to bring about; but the mind of Lord Dewry +was all activity and eagerness, now that the strife had actually +commenced, and that he felt that the struggle between him and the only +witness of the crime he had committed was so far advanced that it +could only end in the destruction of one or the other. There was no +more hesitation now--there was no more fear or doubt--there was none +of that wavering between many feelings and many emotions. He had +plunged in, and he was resolved to make his way through. The news of +his son's death had decided him; and the burning longing for revenge +went hand in hand with all his other motives. He had hesitated at the +first step; but that irretrievable first step was now taken, and he +did not regret it. He had chosen his path; he had begun the contest, +and his whole thoughts and mind were bent to take advantage of every +circumstance in order to terminate it in his own favour. + +Again and again, as the carriage rolled on, he revolved in his own +mind the various means that could be used to induce the dying man to +make such a declaration of what he had witnessed during the affray in +Dimden Park as would give an irresistible grasp of Pharold; and yet +how accomplish this purpose without letting Sir Roger know that he was +dying, and that the crimes to which he was making himself a party +would soon appear in the dreadful account against his disembodied +spirit? It was a difficult task, and yet he thought he could +accomplish it, if he were for any long time present in the knight's +sick-room; but on another point he saw, and saw with a glow of +triumph, that he could turn the very refusal of the papers, which for +a moment he had considered as detrimental, to the very best account. + +Although it was late, and he had not dined, yet he ordered the +carriage, ere it proceeded home, to pass through the neighbouring +village, and stop at the vicarage. It was an honour which the proud, +cold, irreverent peer had seldom paid to the poor minister of a +religion that condemned him; and with some surprise the vicar beheld +him enter his little study. But the struggle in which he was engaged, +like all other struggles of base interest, whether they be for the +purposes of political ambition or of private avarice, was one that +mightily tamed pride, and rendered coldness warm and affable. He was +anxious to buy golden opinions from all sorts of men: and although he +had a further purpose at present in view, he addressed the clergyman +with that sort of courtesy which his situation prompted him to use +towards every one whose word might be of value in the opinion of the +world. + +"My dear sir," he said, "I come to you for the purpose of requesting a +favour." The vicar, who neither loved nor approved the man who spoke +to him, answered coldly that he should be happy to do any thing to +serve his lordship; and the peer proceeded to explain. + +"The fact is," he said, "that last night, in a terrible deer-stealing +affray, which took place at Dimden, a poor friend of mine was severely +wounded, and is not expected to live from hour to hour. Among his +baggage, which remains here at the hall, he tells me that there are +papers of great importance; and, indeed, he wished me to bring them to +him; but as his mind is not itself, and his faculties wander from time +to time, I do not conceive I should be justified in placing papers of +importance at his disposal. At the same time, of course, I cannot +presume to examine them, and I wish much to seal them up in your +presence, if you have time to get into my carriage with me, and +accompany me to the hall. It is for this purpose that I have now +called here as I passed from Dimden on my way home." + +The vicar thought that the matter might have been more simply +arranged; but as there was nothing in the peer's request which was +unreasonable, he consented to accompany him; and in few minutes they +were at the door of the mansion. Leaving the cook to fret over his +delayed ragouts, the peer instantly ordered sealing-wax and lights to +be brought; and, accompanied by the clergyman, proceeded to the +apartments which Sir Roger Millington had occupied for so short a +time, and in which various articles of apparel were still lying about. +The valise, however, firmly locked, was in one corner of the room; and +what was still more pleasing in the sight of the peer, there appeared +on one of the tables a small portable letter-case, in which, beyond +all doubt, the knight had placed the papers which were of so much +consequence to Lord Dewry. + +Lord Dewry took the wax, and bidding the servant who brought it hold +the taper, he sealed first the letter-case, and then the valise, and +requested the vicar to do the same with his own seal. "I am induced," +he said, in a frank tone, "to take all these precautions, by a +conversation which I had with my poor friend this morning, in which he +spoke of these things as of the most vital importance. It might be the +mere rambling of delirium, but it might be more correct; and, +therefore, as this caution costs me nothing but the wax, and you, my +dear sir, nothing but the loss of a few minutes' time--though I know +your time is valuable--I thought it best not to neglect a line of +conduct, which I might regret not having pursued hereafter." + +"I think your lordship is quite right," replied the vicar, placing his +seal also on the cases. "In matters of worldly prudence, and in our +religious duties, where there is any thing to be done which may +produce good, and cannot produce evil, to neglect it is, in the one +case, a folly, and in the other, a sin." + +The peer repressed the sneer that began to curl his lip; and, perhaps, +felt at his heart that the good man's words were true, though through +life he had neglected the rule they taught. He then bade the servant +close up the apartment, and lock the door, till the death of the +unhappy knight should render the things that it contained the property +of others; and descending the stairs with the vicar, he begged that he +would favour him by remaining to dinner, which was about to be placed +upon the table. The clergyman replied that he had long dined; and in +answer to the offer of the peer's carriage to take him back to the +vicarage, he answered that he would rather walk. + +"He is stern and repulsive!" thought the peer as the clergyman left +him: but there was still a lingering gleam of better feeling, which +occasionally lighted up his darkened heart, and he added, almost +instantly, and aloud; "but he is loved by the poor, and he is a good +man; and I would rather have such a one near me than a pampered +voluptuary." + +"Sir!" said the servant, who was standing by. + +"Pshaw! nothing!" replied the peer, and walked back to his +dressing-room. + +Early the next morning he returned to Dimden, where he received, as we +have seen, the tidings which Colonel Manners sent him of the security +of his son, which, though it poured some balm into his heart, came too +late to effect any change in his purposes against the gipsy. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +"The time was," thought the gipsy, as he climbed the hills once +more, after leaving Colonel Manners at the house of Sir William +Ryder,--"the time was when these limbs would have undertaken double +the toil that they have undergone this day, as a matter of sport. But +now they are weary and faint, like those of some sickly dweller in +cities--of some slave of effeminate and enfeebling luxury. Age is +upon me: the breaker of the strong sinew--the softener of the hard +muscle--the destroyer of vigour, activity, and power has laid upon me +that heavy hand, which shall press me down into the grave. But it +matters not--it matters not. I have outlived my time; I have changed, +and the things around me have changed also; but we have not changed in +the same way. They have sprung up, new and young, while I have grown +weary and old; and, in the midst of the world, I am like a withered +leaf of the last year among the green fresh foliage of the spring. It +is time that I should fall from the bough, and give place to brighter +things." + +As he thus thought, whether from corporal weariness, or from the +listlessness of the dark melancholy which oppressed him, he turned +from the high-road into the first plantation that he met with; and +without such care for personal comfort as even a gipsy usually takes, +cast himself down under the trees, and sought to refresh himself by +sleep. Gloomy ideas, however, still pursued him long; and, with the +superstitious imaginations of his tribe heightening the universal +propensity to superstition in our nature, he fancied that the +melancholy which disappointment, and anxiety, and difficulty, and +failure, had produced, was but some supernatural warning of his +approaching fate. The bravest, the wisest, the best, as well as the +most hardened and the most skeptical, have felt such presentiments, +and have believed them; and very often, also, either by the desponding +inactivity of such belief, or by rash struggles to prove that they did +not believe, have brought about the fulfilment of that which +originally was but a dream. + +Sleep, however, came at length; and it was daylight the next morning +ere the gipsy awoke. He rose refreshed; and his dark visions, perhaps, +would have vanished, if he would have let them: but there is nothing +to which one so fondly clings as superstition; and to have cast from +him as untrue a presentiment in which he had once put faith, Pharold +would have held as treason to the creed of his people. He rose, then; +and, pursuing the paths through the plantations and the woods, +avoiding all public ways, and never venturing farther from the covert +than to follow the faintly-marked track through some small solitary +meadow, he mounted the remaining hills, and bent his steps towards the +thick wood in which he had left his companions, revolving, as he went, +what might be the probable fate of those to whom he had so +perseveringly clung, when he, himself, should be no more. + +He found the other gipsies all on foot, and busied about the various +little cares of a fresh day, with the light and careless glee of a +people to whom the sorrows of the past week are as a half-forgotten +tradition. The old were talking and laughing at the entrances of +their tents, the young were sporting together by the stream, and the +middle-aged were employed in mending this or that which had gone wrong +about their carts and baggage, and whistling as lightly at their work +as if there were no such thing as grief in all the world. + +"And thus will it be," thought Pharold, as he approached--"thus will +it be with them all, ere I am a week beneath the earth. But it matters +not, it matters not. So be it. Why should I wish tears shed or hearts +bruised for such a thing as I am?" + +He believed that he did not wish it; yet where is the man so steeled +by nature or philosophy as to look forward to the grave, and not to +hope that some kind bosom will sigh, some gentle eye give a tear to +his memory when he is gone? and though Pharold believed that he did +not wish it, he deceived himself. At the door of his own tent sat she +on whom, in this his latter day, he had bestowed the better part of +all his feelings; whom he loved, at once, with the tenderness of a +father and the tenderness of a husband,--a union of feelings that +never yet produced aught but sorrow, for it never can be returned in +the fulness of its own intensity. + +She was looking lovelier, too, than ever he had seen her; and though, +heaven knows, her beauty owed but little to richness of dress, yet +there was a something of taste and elegance in her attire, rude as it +was in quality, that pleased the eye of one who had acquired a +knowledge of what constitutes beauty in other times and circumstances. +She had twined a bright red handkerchief through the profuse masses of +her jetty black hair, and had brought a single fold partly across her +broad clear forehead. Her full round arms were bare up to the +shoulders; and, as if in sport, she had cast her red mantle round her, +like the plaid of a Scottish shepherd, contrasting strongly, but +finely, with the drapery of a blue gown beneath. Her head was bent +like the beautiful head of Hagar, by Correggio; and her dark eyes, +their long lashes resting on her sunny cheek, were cast down, well +pleased, upon one of the children of the tribe, who, leaning on her +knees, was playing with the silver ring that circled one of the taper +fingers of her small brown hand. + +Lena did not hear the approach of any one till Pharold was within +fifty paces; but the moment his well-known step met her ear, she +started up and ran to meet him, with smiles that were, perhaps, the +brighter because she felt that she had something to atone for, weighty +enough to be concealed, and yet not to oppress her very heavily. +Pharold pressed her to his bosom; and whatever he might try to +believe, he felt--felt to his heart's inmost core--that there was at +least one person on the earth that he should wish to remember him, +after the stream of time had washed away his memory from the hearts of +others. + +He gave but one moment to tenderness, however; and the next, turning +to the rest of the gipsies, he inquired, "What news of the boy?" The +old woman was instantly called from one of the tents, and came +willingly enough to make her report to Pharold, though she grumbled +audibly all the way at being hurried, and at such tasks being put upon +her at her years. + +"Well, Pharold, I have done your bidding," she said, in a tone both +cajoling and self-important--"I have done your bidding, and have seen +the lad. Poor fellow, his is a hard case, indeed; and such a fine, +handsome boy, too, and so happy a one as he used to be--" + +"But what said he, woman?" interrupted Pharold, sternly. "Keep your +praises of him till he be here to hear them, and thank you for them; +for, doubtless, he is the only person who will do so. Tell me what he +said of his situation." + +"What he said!" replied the beldam; "why, what should he say, but that +if he be not got out to-morrow night--that is, this night that is +coming,--he will be sent away to the county jail, and hanged for the +murder of that fellow that is dying or dead up at the house? That's +what he said." + +"But did he say how he was to be delivered?" asked Pharold. "That is +the question." + +"Yes, to be sure he did," answered the old woman. "Do you think I went +there for nothing? He may be delivered easy enough, if folks like to +try. You know the windows of that there strong room, Pharold, well +enough, and I know them too, for I was in there for half a day or +more, when old Dick Hodges swore to my nimming his cocks and hens. He +lies in the churchyard now, the old blackguard, for that was in the +old lord's time. But, as I was saying, you know the windows well +enough. When they had you up at the house, and wanted to make a +gentleman of you, but found they had got hold of the wrong stuff--" + +Pharold's brow grew as dark as a thundercloud. "On, woman, on with +your story," he cried, "and turn not aside to babble of the past. What +have you or I to do with the past? You were the same then that you are +now, only that the vices and follies of youth have given place to the +vices and follies of age." + +"Well, well, I'm sure I'm telling my story as quickly as it can be +told," replied Mother Gray; "but as I was saying, you know the windows +well enough, and know that any one that is at all strong could knock +off two or three of the bars, and let the boy out in a minute. Any one +could do it." + +"Oh, but he said that nobody but Pharold must come," cried Lena, +eagerly, forgetting for the moment all caution, and then reddening, +like the morning sky, as soon as she had spoken. + +"Ha!" cried Pharold, turning his keen dark eyes full upon her, "said +he so? and how know you that he did say so, Lena? Ha!" + +The poor girl turned redder and redder, and looked as if she would +have sunk into the ground, while Pharold still gazed sternly upon her, +as if waiting an answer; but the ready cunning of the old woman came +to her aid with a lie. "How does she know that he said so?" cried the +beldam: "how should she know it but by my telling her?" + +Lena heard the falsehood more willingly than she would have spoken it, +though by her silence she made it her own, as much as if her lips had +given it utterance. + +"'Tis well, 'tis well," said Pharold, with a bitter smile curling his +lip,--"'tis well. So he said that none but Pharold should come? Now +tell me, woman, if your tongue be not so inured to falsehood that it +cannot speak truth,"--Lena burst into tears, and crept back to her +tent, while Pharold went on,--"tell me why this boy said that none but +Pharold must come, when any one else could remove the bars as well?" + +"Because he said that any one else who did not know the park might +make some mistake," replied the old woman, "and so ruin both himself +and poor Will." + +Pharold mused for a moment or two and then asked, "Was all quiet when +you went?" + +"As quiet as a dead sheep," answered the old woman, with a grin. + +"And no one stirring in the house or in the park?" demanded Pharold. + +"In the park all was dark and solitary," she replied: "I saw nothing +but some fine fat deer, and an owl that came skimming along before us +in the long walk; and on the outside of the house all was quiet enough +too: but there were two rooms above where there were lights; and I +waited awhile to see if they would be put out: but they were so long, +that I made up my mind, as all the rest was still, to creep on; and I +got close under the boy's window and called his name, and he told me +that the lights were in the room where the man is dying." + +Pharold mused again; but the man whom we have heard called by the name +of Brown, a powerful gipsy of about forty years of age, took a step +forward, and laid his hand kindly upon Pharold's arm. "I will tell you +what, Pharold," he said, "this seems to me a doubtful sort of +business. I do not think the boy would do any thing willingly to trap +one of us: but he may have been taken in somehow; and it does seem as +if there was something strange about it; so I'll tell you what, I'll +go, and the old woman shall show me the way." + +"No, Brown, no," said Pharold; "I would put upon no man what I was +afraid to do myself,--if I could be afraid to do any thing. If there +be no treachery, there is nothing to fear: and if there be treachery, +I should be base, indeed, if I let any of my people fall into what was +meant for myself. No, no, I will go: no man can avoid his hour, Brown. +We all know that when fate has fixed what is to happen, we may turn +which way we will, but we shall not escape it. I will go; and if there +be treachery, let it light upon the heads of those that devised it. It +is my fate--I will go." + +"No, no, Pharold," said the other; "let me go. To me they can do +nothing. Me they cannot charge with any crime, even unjustly; for I +was not in the park at all when the man was shot. You and all the +others were, though you went there to prevent it; and so, if they +catch you, they may send you to prison: but if they catch me, they can +do nothing with me. They can but say I came to speak with the poor boy +through the bars." + +Pharold, however, persisted. It had ever been his habit among his +fellows to take upon himself the execution of any thing difficult or +dangerous, and he regarded it almost as a privilege, which he clung to +the more, in the present instance, from a superstitious conviction +that fate was leading him on, and that it was useless to struggle +against its influence. "There yet remains the whole day before us," he +said, when he had silenced opposition, "and but little remains to be +done. Call all the people round me, Brown, for I am going to speak +with them,--perhaps it may be for the last time." + +The gipsies who already surrounded him saw well that a presentiment of +approaching death weighed upon the mind of him who had been so long +their leader, and it is but doing them justice to acknowledge, that +most of them grieved sincerely to observe that such was the case. +None, however, offered comfort or consolation; for their belief in +their own superstitious traditions was far too strong for any one to +dream even that such a presentiment might prove fallacious. The rest +of the tribe were soon called together; and, stretching themselves out +in various groups around, with the clear forest stream bubbling and +murmuring through the midst, and the bright sun streaming through the +oaks and beeches upon the bank on which they lay, they waited in +silence for what Pharold had to say. The tone he assumed was simple +and calm, perhaps less marked and emphatic than that which he +generally affected. "My friends," he began, "I am going this night +upon a matter more dangerous than any that I have ever yet +attempted,--at least so, for many reasons, I am led to think; in it I +may probably be taken by men who hate and persecute us; and if I be so +taken, do not deceive yourselves--I shall never return among you +alive. I feel it, I know it; and, therefore, if by the first light of +to-morrow's sun I have not returned, look upon me as among the dead, +take up your tents, and go as far as you may. When you are so far from +this place that they cannot follow you to persecute you, seek out what +has become of the clay that I leave behind. Lay me in the earth, in +some green wood, but where the summer sun may shine upon me, and the +winter snow may fall: turn my face to the eastward, and put one hand +upon my heart, and let not the earth that covers me be more than four +palms deep.[7] When you have done all this, forget me; but forget not +what I am going to say. Remember, ever before all things, that you are +a nation apart, and mingle not with the strangers among whom you +dwell. Let them follow their way, and you follow your way. Give +obedience to their laws, but maintain your own liberties: bend to +their power, but preserve the customs of your fathers. Shut, them out, +too, as far as may be, from among you: let them not learn either your +history, or your language, or your knowledge; for if they do they will +make these the means of softening and enslaving, under the pretence of +civilizing and improving you. Forget not that you have been, and that +you shall yet be, a great people; nor ever think that there are too +few of you left for the time of your greatness to come. Look at this +acorn: it fell from a great tree, that has been cut down; and though +now it be smaller than the egg of a wren, it shall be as great as the +mightiest of the forest. So is it, and so shall it be, with you. None +of you can ever gain so much as I could have gained by abandoning my +people; but I would not do it. I refused wealth, and ease, and honour, +and I chose poverty, and wandering, and persecution, because I was +born of the gipsy race, and would not belie the blood of my fathers, +by mingling with the persecutors of our people--because I would not be +chosen from among them for a plaything and an experiment. I learned +their knowledge, though they learned not ours, and I returned to mine +own as true in heart as when I left them. Thus let it be with you all; +and if, after I am gone, the name of Pharold is ever mentioned, let it +be as an example of how true our people should be to the ways of their +fathers." + + +--------------------- + +[Footnote 7: The gipsy tribes throughout Europe are so like one +another in their habits, that it is extraordinary so great a +difference should exist in their manner of burying their dead as has +been observed among them, especially when they attach much importance +to the method they each pursue. Among the greater part of the +continental gipsies the habit of burying their dead under water +prevails, but to other tribes, again, the forest affords a place of +sepulture; and to others, I have heard, the summits of high +mountains.] + +--------------------- + + +He paused, and there followed among those who surrounded him the +low murmur of people who draw their breath deep after a long and +eager attention, but no one spoke; and in a few minutes Pharold +proceeded:--"If I return no more, there will be some one wanting to +lead and direct you all aright. My choice falls upon you, Brown, as +the calmest, and the wisest, and the bravest, with years sufficient to +ensure experience, and yet with vigour unimpaired by age. Do you +consent, my brothers, that he shall be your Ria?" + +The choice was one which all anticipated, and with which all were +pleased, except, perhaps, two or three, who, feeling that they ought +to be satisfied though they were not, and that they must submit +whether they liked it or not, yielded with the rest, or, perhaps, gave +more clamorous approval. "I have now," continued Pharold, turning +towards Lena, who, since the people had been called round him, had +remained near in silent tears while he had been speaking,--"I have now +spoken to you of all things save one. I leave among you my wife, then +a widow; and as Heaven knows I have dealt justly with you all, so, I +beseech you, deal justly and kindly by her. Be unto her as brethren +and sisters. I supplied unto her the place of parents that are dead; +you supply unto her, I beseech you, my place when I am dead also. Let +her share with the rest in what you gain, until she shall choose out +some one to be to her a support and a husband. Let her choice depend +upon herself, but oh, let her choice be good; let it not fix upon a +fair form or a smooth tongue, but upon a strong mind and a noble +heart." + +He spoke firmly, but, perhaps, somewhat bitterly; and Lena, though she +raised her eyes for a moment with a look of imploring deprecation, +said nothing, but wept on in silence. "And now," continued Pharold, "I +will have done, my friends, with but one more injunction, which is, +keep together. Let not the people of the land separate you, but be ye +true among yourselves." + +Thus saying, he rose from the bank on which he had been leaning, and +the rest sprang upon their feet also. His scanty auditory then +dispersed to their several occupations again, though some lingered for +a few minutes, gazing upon him as on one they might never see more +after that day was over; and Pharold, after speaking a few words in a +gentler tone to Lena, laid his hand upon the arm of the man Brown, and +walked with him slowly down the course of the stream. + +Their conversation was long: many were the sage and prudent maxims +that Pharold gave to him whom he had pointed out as his successor, +many the wild and singular cautions which he suggested. It was, in +fact, his lesson of political economy and good government; but, as it +would not suit any other world but the little world for which it was +intended, it were useless to repeat it here. He did not, until the +end, refer again to himself in any way; but, after having spent +nearly two hours in giving instructions respecting the rule and +protection of the tribe, he added, "I need not tell you, Brown, that I +feel the flame going out--not that it is weaker, not that it is less +bright--the broadest blaze of the fire is often the last, but it is +near its end; and if it be not to-morrow or the next day, in the +manner that I apprehend, or in the way my enemies seek to make it, yet +death will come soon, in his own time, and by his own path. Look +there!" and he spread out before his comrade his broad palm, traversed +with the many lines and marks which are usually to be found there. The +other gipsy gazed on it for a moment, gravely, but made no reply; and +Pharold went on:--"Nevertheless, as I have heard the ignorant and the +conceited declare, that people often do things themselves to bring +about a fate that is foretold them, I will neglect nothing that can +turn aside mine. If, then, by dawn to-morrow, I have not returned to +you, send instantly a trusty messenger to the small village of ----, +where I have sent several times before, to the House of Mr. +Harley--many of the people know it--bid them tell him for me, that I +am in prison, on a false accusation which he knows of, and that if he +would save me, he must come over to Dimden soon. See that it be done +rightly, Brown; for were anything to happen to me without his +knowledge, he would say that I had used him unkindly, or had not +confidence in his honour." + +"I will do it myself, Pharold," replied the gipsy: "I will take one of +those that have been over, to be sure of the place, and will see the +man myself, if it be possible." + +"Oh, he will see you," answered Pharold; "he has learned bitter +lessons in life, and knows that a better heart may beat under a +gipsy's bosom than under the robes of peers and princes. Now, then, I +have said all, Brown: and fare you well, my friend. You at least will +not forget me." + +"Never!" answered the other; and they parted. During the rest of the +day a degree of gloom naturally hung over the party of gipsies; and +wherever Pharold turned, there were eyes looking at him, with some +degree of superstitious awe, as one in whom approaching fate was +already visible. Evening, however, came at length, and night began to +fall; and, ere the first twinkling star could claim full possession of +the sky, a thin whitish autumn mist rose up from the valleys, and came +drifting with the wind through the trees, and down the course of the +little stream by which the gipsies' tents were pitched. Pharold +remarked it with satisfaction, exclaiming, "May it last, may it last. +With such a mist as that, and a dark autumn night, he were a keen man, +indeed, that could take me in Dimden Park." + +As far as the continuance of the mist went, he was gratified to his +wish; for it not only remained, but increased in density to that +degree, that even round the gipsies' fires the dark faces lighted by +the red glare appeared dim and phantom-like to those who sat on the +other side of the blaze. Pharold himself remained from sunset till +nearly midnight in his tent; and Lena had not appeared at all from the +time he had spoken to the tribe in the morning. At length Pharold came +forth; and the gipsies, who were still congregated round the fires, +thinking that he was about to join them for a time ere he went, made +room for him among them; but he glided on past them all, merely +saying, in a low voice as he came near the spot where Brown was +placed, "I go! do not forget!" + +He then walked rapidly on, threaded the most intricate mazes of the +wood, traversed the common above the park, leaped the park wall, near +the spot where Dickon and his party had entered on the ill-starred +deer-stealing expedition, and paused for a moment to look around him, +and consider his further proceedings. The mist, which lay heavy on the +common and the lawns, was still more dense and dark amid the covered +walks and narrow paths of Dimden Park; but the obscurity proved of but +little inconvenience to one so much accustomed to wander in the night +as Pharold. Long habit of the kind seems, indeed, to give another +sense, and to enable persons who are possessed of it to distinguish, +as it were instinctively, obstacles in their way which the eye could +not have detected. + +Thus he walked on, through the thick trees and among the narrow paths +of the park, without ever either taking a wrong direction, or running +against any of the massy trunks round which the small footway turned. +Ever and anon, however, he stopped, to listen, but all was still: +there was not a voice, a footstep, a rustle, a sound of any kind to be +heard, till he entered one of the principal alleys leading towards the +house, when a distant clock struck a quarter to twelve, and, as if +roused by the sound, the owl poured forth her long melancholy cry, and +flitted slowly across Pharold's steps, stirring slightly the foggy air +with the scarcely heard wave of her light wings. + +Pharold marked its voice, and felt it flap past him; and, in that mood +when the heart connects every external thing with its internal gloom, +he muttered, "Hoot no more, bird of ill omen! I am prepared and +ready!" + +The end of the alley which he had chosen opened upon the side of the +lawn, at the distance of perhaps a hundred yards from the house. But +the fog was too thick for even the bare outline of the mansion to be +visible; and the only thing that indicated its proximity was the +appearance of two or three rays of light, pouring from the apertures +in some window-shutters, and streaming through the white mist, till +they lost themselves in the night. Pharold paused and gazed; and +emotions as mingled, but less painful, affected his bosom, as those +which had been experienced by Lord Dewry when he had last looked +towards the same building. All was silent around; he felt himself +secure in the obscurity; he was in no haste to go on; and as he stood +and gazed towards the dwelling where two years of the happiest part of +life had been spent, his mind naturally reverted to the past. He +called up those boyish days, the pleasures he had then enjoyed, his +friendship with one noble-minded youth, and the injuries he had since +received from the other companion of his boyhood. He thought of what +he had been, and of what he might have been; of the promises held out +to him by those who would have kept them; of the prospects that were +open before him, if he had chosen to follow them; he thought of the +life of honour, and respect, and fortune, which might have been his; +and he compared it with the life of wandering, and persecution, and +anxiety, which he had led from the day he quitted that mansion to the +hour that he stood there again, in the sear and yellow leaf of years, +in the close of man's too brief existence. It was a melancholy +retrospect, and he could not but feel it as melancholy; but there was +a proud, stern satisfaction mingled with it all, enhanced even by the +magnitude of the sacrifice he had made. He felt a deep gladness in +knowing, now that life lay behind him as a past journey, that he had +adhered to his persecuted people, in spite of every temptation that +could have led him to abandon them; that voluntarily and perseveringly +he had made their fate his fate, in preference to a more splendid +destiny than hope herself could have led him to expect. He felt proud, +too, and justly, that those feelings and principles which had won him +the strong affection of the noble and good in another class, and among +another people, had never been forgotten amid dangers, and perils, and +sorrows, and temptations; and that he could lay his hand upon his +heart, as he gazed up towards the mansion, and say, I have been as +noble in poverty and wandering as if I had never quitted the shelter +of those once lordly walls. + +He stood and gazed for near ten minutes; and then ending his revery, +as all deep contemplations end, with a sigh, he turned slightly from +the path he had been pursuing, skirted round the edge of the wood, +and, without crossing the open space, approached through the trees +that part of the building called the justice-room, which lay, as we +have seen, contiguous to the chamber in which the boy was confined. +Since he had been there, however, the river had encroached so much +upon the bank, that no one less active and expert than himself would +have found space to pass between the walls of the high old chapel-like +projection, so called, and the edge of the bank above the water. He +accomplished it, however, though with some difficulty; and then, +turning the angle of the building, approached the window of the strong +room. Raising himself on a ledge of ornamental stonework, which ran +along the basement, he put his hand through the bars to feel whether +the inner window was closed or not, and finding that it was shut, he +knocked gently on the glass with his knuckles. The moment after, it +was opened, and the voice of the youth demanded, "Who is there?" + +"It is I, William," said Pharold; "are your limbs free?" + +"They are free of cords," answered the lad in a voice that trembled +with agitation, and, perhaps, with remorse--"they are free of cords, +but I cannot get out." + +"I will open the way for you, then," answered Pharold; "but when I +have picked out the mortar from these bars, you use your strength to +force them out from within." + +The boy made no answer, but listened to hear if those who lay in wait +had taken the alarm; and a hope did cross his mind that they might +have neglected their watch on that dark and chilly night, and that +Pharold might give him the means of escape, without the consummation +of the treachery to which he had yielded. The hope increased, as +Pharold, with a small crow bar, gradually loosened the iron from its +socket in the stone, and yet no one appeared; and as soon as it was +practicable, the boy, using his whole strength from within, forced out +the lower end of the bar. The space, however, was not yet large enough +to give a passage to his shoulders, and the gipsy instantly applied +himself again to loosen the neighbouring bar. "Oh make haste, make +haste," cried the youth, with almost frantic eagerness--"make haste, +Pharold, make haste!" + +"Hush!" cried Pharold, sternly, and turned hastily to listen; but at +the same instant two men sprang upon him. The gipsy struggled to cast +them off, but his foot slipped, and they both fell with him to the +ground. Ere he could rise, two more were added to the assailants; and +finding resistance vain, Pharold instantly abandoned the attempt, +suffered his arms to be pinioned with a burning heart, and followed +whither they led him. + +Several lights and several figures appeared at the small backdoor to +which they conducted their prisoner; and more than one lantern was +raised to his face, and more than one inquisitive countenance stared +into his, as he was taken through some long stone passages towards the +very room from which he had been endeavouring to liberate his +treacherous young companion. The four men who had seized him hurried +him on, keeping close together, as if afraid that, notwithstanding all +their efforts, he might still escape. At the door of the strong room +they paused; and one, producing a key, proceeded to apply it to the +lock, and to undraw the heavy bolts and bars. Pharold spoke not a +word; but the moment the door was open, and the light, from some +lanterns behind, flashed in through the aperture, his eyes sought the +unhappy youth, whose face was covered with tears. + +Pharold had only time to ask himself, "Is he guilty, or is he +innocent?" when, springing past him and those that conducted him, the +lad made straight towards the door. One of those behind instantly +stopped him, exclaiming, "Holla, my lad, where are you going so fast?" + +The one who had opened the door, however, turned round almost at the +same time, crying, "Let him go, let him go; now we have got this one, +we do not care for the other. Let him be off as fast as he will." + +The gipsy's doubts were cleared up in a moment. He saw himself +betrayed by one of his own people, whom he was in the very act of +rescuing; he saw himself delivered up by one for whom he had been +risking so much; he saw his most generous feelings made use of as +snares to take him; and he believed that she whom he loved more than +anything on earth was a party to the infamous treachery by which he +had been entrapped. Oh, how he hated the whole human race! + +So deep, so powerful was the agony that he suffered, that, without a +word, without a movement, he stood upon the spot to which his captors +thrust him forward, his dark eyes bent upon the ground, his pinioned +hands clasped together, as if they had been riveted with iron, his +limbs as motionless as if they had been stone. The people round gazed +at him, but he saw them not; they taunted and they sneered, but his +ear was dull. He felt not at that moment the insolent gaze, the brutal +jest, the loss of liberty, the very hands that wrung his muscles. He +felt alone that he was betrayed, that his love and his confidence had +been cheated and dispised. All the rest was nothing. That, that was +the iron that entered into his soul! Ere he had been there a minute, +the keeper Harvey, who had not been among those that took him, pushed +through the gaping crowd, to assure himself that the report which had +reached him was true. But there was something in the gipsy that the +man felt and feared, with feelings full of hate, indeed, but nearly +akin to awe; and when he saw him stand there like a statue, in the +stern bitterness of utter despair, a faint conception of his +sensations thrilled even through the coarse mind of the keeper; and +after a hasty glance, without proffering a word, he made the rest +retire, and following them himself, locked and barred the door. + +At about three o'clock in the morning, those who watched in the gipsy +encampment were roused by a hasty step, and in a moment after the boy +William, all panting and wild, stood by the fire. "What news? what +news?" cried one of the men, eagerly; "where is Pharold?" + +"Bad news!" answered the youth, gazing round him with a look of +bewildered consciousness: "they have caught Pharold as he was helping +me out of the prison." + +"Brown," cried one of the men, approaching a neighbouring +tent--"Brown, here is bad news; they have caught Pharold, and here is +Will come back." + +Brown instantly started from the hut and came out to the fire: but he +was not the only one; for Lena's sleepless ear had caught the tidings, +and she too rushed out, with many others that the noise had awakened. +Wild apprehension and distress were in her eyes; but she spoke not, +while Brown proceeded rapidly to question the lad on what had +occurred. The trembling tone in which he answered might proceed from +fatigue and agitation at his escape, the varying colour on his cheek +might be the flash of the newly stirred up blaze; but there was a +rambling and inconsistent character about the story that he told +concerning his own escape and the capture of Pharold that raised doubt +in many. "You rushed past the people," said Brown, after many other +questions, "and got out even after they had taken Pharold. Did no one +try to stop you?" + +"Yes," answered the lad; "one man did; but I got away from him, too, +and ran as hard as I could. But why do you look at me so, Lena?" he +added, unable to bear any longer the keen, fierce glance which she had +never withdrawn from his face for one moment from the time she had +first come forth. + +"Why do I look at you so?" said the girl, stepping forward boldly +towards him, and casting back the jetty hair from her forehead while +she spoke, with a burning cheek and flashing eye, and almost frantic +vehemence of tone--"why do I look at you so? Because, base traitor, +you have betrayed him that came to save you--and you know it +well!--because you have cheated me into persuading him to go;--and oh, +if such a foolish thing as love for me had any hand in what you have +done--and I say boldly before them all that I believe it had--may that +love stay by you to curse you to your latest day! For think not you +will prosper in your villany--I hate you! I abhor you! I spit upon +you! and I call God and the heavens to witness, that if there were not +another man in all the earth I would die sooner than be your wife! +Cast him out from among us, Brown, cast him out! Dickon was but a +child in villany to him; Dickon was wilful and violent, but he was not +base and false; Dickon might be a rebel, but he was never a traitor. +Cast him out, Brown, cast him out; for the blood of my husband is upon +him; and I will not dwell in the same tents with him. He cannot deny +it; his face speaks it; his tale is not even like truth. Oh, my heart +misgave me when he used so many vows and protestations last night that +he would not have Pharold put in danger for the world. Truth is more +simple; and he is a traitor, and the seller of his friend's blood!" + +She spoke with all the energy of passion and indignation: her eyes +flashed, her arms waved, her very form seemed to increase in size with +the wild vehemence of her feelings; and the unhappy youth in the +meantime stood before her, with bent head and averted glance, like a +convicted criminal before his judge. + +"You are guilty, William," said Brown, gazing on him with pity, +mingling a drop or two of milder feeling with the sternness of his +abhorrence for a crime almost unknown among them,--"you are guilty." + +The youth made no answer; and after a pause the other went on:--"You +must go out from among us, for we cannot shelter a traitor. And yet I +grieve for you, William, that anything should have tempted you to +commit such a crime. But still you must go out from among us; for if +we be not all faithful to each other, in whom can we trust? Yet I +would not cast you alone upon the world, so that one fault might bring +on a hundred; and therefore I will send you down to the north country, +where, on the side of Cheviot, you will find more of our people, among +whom I have a brother: seek him out, and tell him I sent you to him." + +"I will not go there," answered the youth, doggedly--"I will not go +there, to have this story thrown in my teeth every hour; I will rather +go and seek out Dickon, and rove with him." + +"No, no, Billy, my chick," cried the old woman Gray--"no, no, go down +to the Yetholmers, as Brown says--a merry set they are, and a free, +and I will go with you, my lad. I dare say Dickon has gone thither +already; and, do you hear, Bill, I dare say among the bold young lads +thereabouts we may be able to get up as fresh a band as this is; and I +have got a good penny under my cloak, and I will be a mother to you, +my boy. Then who knows when you are a smart young fellow, with a +goodly band of your own, whether this young minx here, who has flown +at you like a wild cat, about that Pharold, who is no great loss any +how--perhaps she may be sorry enough that she was not more civil." + +"I shall be sorry," said Lena, in a less violent, but not less +determined, tone than she had before used--"I shall be sorry if ever I +hear the name of such a base and cowardly thing as he is upon this +earth again." + +"Well, well, scornful mistress Lena, you may rue," replied the beldam. +"What say you, Will, will you take me with you?" + +The youth at first had shown no very strong liking for the old woman's +company; but the hopes of better fortunes which she had held out to +him, the boldness with which she had taken his part, the stern and +reproachful looks of all around, and the feeling that he was parting +for ever from all those with whom his life had hitherto been spent, +made him willing to cling to any fragment of familiar things which +would remain with him to soften the breaking of all accustomed ties. +His conscience, too, reproached him bitterly with what he had done; +and the company of any one would have been preferable to solitude with +his own heart. Willingly, therefore, he caught at her proposal; and +drawing himself up, prepared to steel himself against the contempt of +his comrades, while the old woman went to make her brief preparations: +but he saw nothing around but the stern, cold looks of persons who, in +hatred and scorn, were waiting to see his departure. It was more than +he could bear; and, calling to the old woman to follow him down the +stream, he turned sullenly away, and walked slowly on without a word +of adieu to any one. + +"Brown," said Lena, laying her hand upon the gipsy's arm--"Brown, I +know what I am going to ask is in vain, for Pharold, when he went, +felt the shadow of death upon him, and I am a widow; but did he not +tell you any way to rescue him, if he should be taken? He spoke with +you long, and he said to me, too, that there was some way that might +deliver him, though he spoke not clearly. Oh, if it be so, and he have +told you how, lose no time, spare no exertion; for though, God knows, +I was deceived by that base villain's artful speeches, and believed +that my husband was safe, yet I feel--although I know my innocence of +thought, or word, or deed--I feel as if I were guilty of his death." + +"No, no, Lena, no, no. We all know that you are not," answered Brown, +in a kindly tone; "but go you to your tent, poor girl, and trust to me +to do every thing to rescue Pharold that can be done. First, I will +try the only means that he himself pointed out. I will follow his +directions to the letter. Then, if that should fail, I will try what +strength of arm can do; for I will not let him be lost if I can save +him. He was a good man, and a wonderful man, Lena. We shall never see +his like among us." + +Lena burst into tears: they were the first that she had shed, but they +were too bitter for any restraint; and turning to her tent, she gave +way to them in solitude. In the mean time Brown turned to call one of +the younger gipsies, who, on more than one occasion, had been +Pharold's messenger, to inquire after Edward de Vaux; but ere the +young man had joined him, Mother Gray, as she was called, tottered up, +with a bundle on her arm, to bid him adieu. + +"Fare ye well, Brown," she said; "fare ye well. I hope you may make a +better head of the people than Pharold has been: a pretty mess he has +got us all into here. I hope you may do better; but I doubt it, for +you were great cronies, and would never listen to what I advised. So I +am going to people who know how to manage matters better." + +"Get ye gone, then, old mischief-maker," answered Brown; "get ye gone, +and the sooner your back is turned upon us the better. I have seen +nothing prosper yet with which you had any thing to do; and I dare +prophesy that those people will never know peace or happiness where +you are suffered to meddle. So get you gone, and Heaven send you a +better heart and judgment. And now," he continued, speaking to the +young man who had come up, "tell me, Arral, have you not been for +Pharold to a house on the other side of the hill--the house of one +Harley?" + +"To be sure," answered the young man, "I have been four times." + +"Then come with me thither, now," answered Brown, "and lead me by the +shortest way, for I would be there, if possible, before day-break." + +"That is not possible, Brown," answered the other; "for it wants less +than an hour of the light, and go as you will it will take two hours +and a half." + +"We must do our best," answered Brown, "and can do no more. Go on. +Keep together, my lads," he continued, turning to the rest of the +gipsies,--"keep together till I come back, which will be before the +sun is more than half-way up. But have everything ready to go in case +of need." + +Thus saying, he followed his guide; and pursuing very nearly the path +by which Pharold had returned, he arrived in about two hours and a +half at the same house to which Colonel Manners had been conducted. By +this time, however, the sun had been long above the horizon; and when, +after walking through the little shrubbery, they approached the door +of the dwelling, a carriage and four smoking horses, with two servants +in Mrs. Falkland's livery, were seen standing before the house. The +gipsies, however, made their way boldly on, and rang the bell. This +intimation was instantly answered by the servant, and, while they +were still speaking to him, a shrill cry--evidently from a woman's +lips--rang through the passage. Ere the servant could ask their +business, a door on the right was thrown open, and the fine head of +Sir William Ryder appeared, exclaiming, "Henry, Henry! Bring water! +She has fainted!" + +A few moments of bustle and confusion succeeded, during which the +gipsies were allowed to remain with the door open, and without any of +those suspicious precautions which the very fact of their race would +have excited against them in any other dwelling. At length the servant +returned; and Brown's first question was, "Is the gentleman who was +hurt worse?" + +"No, much better!" answered the servant, "and you may tell Mr. +Pharold--" + +"I can tell him nothing," interrupted Brown, "for that is what I have +come here to say--that his enemies have caught him; and that, if Mr. +Harley would save him, he must bestir himself speedily." + +"Indeed!" said the servant, "indeed! that will not be good news to my +master's ear; but I must break in upon him to tell it nevertheless. +Wait a minute, my friends, and I will go and see what he says." + +The servant then entered the room where his master was, and from which +proceeded the sounds of eager voices speaking. A moment or two after +the door again opened, and the gipsies were joined by the person they +sought. Their story was soon told, and easily understood; and the brow +of their auditor knit into more than one deep wrinkle, as they spoke. + +"I will bestir myself," he said, in answer to Brown; "I will bestir +myself, and that instantly too. So rest satisfied in regard to your +friend's fate; for, be assured, that I can break the net in which +they have entangled him as easily as I could a spider's web; and I +will do it, too, with less remorse than I would the toils of the +hunter-insect. I will not lose a moment. Henry, have horses to the +carriage, and let me know when it is here." + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +"Has the parson come?" demanded the low faint voice of Sir Roger +Millington, as he turned round from a brief and half-delirious doze, +on the morning after Pharold's capture: "has the parson come?" + +"Not yet, sir," answered a sick-nurse, who was now the only person +left to attend him. "It is not ten minutes ago since you first told me +to send for him." + +"I thought it had been much longer," said the dying man. "But what is +all that noise in the house? They seem as if they were making all the +disturbance that they could, on purpose to kill me with the headache." + +"I dare say, sir, it is some of the other magistrates come, sir," +answered the nurse; "for last night it seems they caught the gipsy, +Pharold; and, when I went down to send for Dr. Edwards, his lordship +was sitting in the great parlour with Mr. Arden, waiting for two other +magistrates to make examination, as I think they call it. I should +scarcely have dared to send else--that is, if I had not known he had +his hands full for many a good hour, because you see, sir, he forbade +any one to let Dr. Edwards see you, whether you wished it or not." + +"Ah! did he so?" said the dying man, bitterly; and then, after a long +pause, he added, "but he would not care about it now, my good woman. +That declaration that he teased me into making last night, was all +that he wanted; and now I may die when I like--with or without benefit +of clergy?" and he groaned faintly and sadly at his bitter jest upon +himself. "But do you think I am dying, woman?" He went on, "I have +lost all the pain; but I am fearfully weak; and my legs and feet have +no feeling in them. Do you think I am dying? Ha, nurse, what does the +doctor say?" + +"He says you are very bad, sir; but he hopes--" replied the nurse. + +"Pshaw!" interrupted the other; "you have been tutored too. I wish the +parson would come; he would tell me the truth." + +"I am sure I wish he would too," cried the woman; "for he knows better +than I what ought to be said to you, sir." + +"Ah, I see how it is, I see how it is," cried the unhappy man; "I am +dying, and they have kept it from me till they had got all that they +sought;" and, like the stricken king of Israel, he turned his face to +the wall, while one or two hot and bitter drops scorched his eyelids, +and trickled over his cheeks. After a long silence, however, he again +turned towards the woman, saying, "He is very long; I wish to God he +would come! I have a great deal that lies heavy at my heart; and I +would fain hear some words of comfort before I die. You do not think +he will be frightened away by what that rascally lord has said?" + +"Ah! no, sir; no fear!" answered the nurse; "Dr. Edwards is not a man +to be frightened away by any body or any thing, so long as he thinks +he's doing his duty. He is not one of that sort, sir. Why, last year, +when the terrible catching fever was raging down in the village, and +every one that took it died, he was night and day at the bedsides of +the poor people that had it, although the doctor told him a thousand +times that he was risking his own precious life: but he saw that it +gave them more comfort than any thing to see him; and so he went at +all hours, and into all places." + +"I wish he would come," groaned the dying man; "I wish he would come." + +Almost as he spoke, there was a cautious step in the anteroom, and the +lock of the door turned under the quiet noiseless hand of one +evidently accustomed to the chambers of the sick. The next moment the +clergyman entered, and advanced closely towards the bed, although his +heated brow and quick breathing showed that he had lost no time in +obeying the summons he had received. He was a man between sixty and +seventy, with scanty white hair covering thinly a high broad forehead, +across which the cares and sorrows of others, more than his own, had +traced two or three deep furrows. His countenance was grave, but mild; +and his eyes full of both the light of feeling and the light of sense. + +The nurse rose up from the chair in which she had been sitting at the +pillow of the dying man, and Dr. Edwards quietly took her place, +without appearing to see that Sir Roger Millington was eying him from +head to foot; and, notwithstanding his situation, was comparing the +person before him with the prejudiced image of a _parson_, which +habits of vice had alone enabled his imagination to draw. + +"I am much obliged to you for admitting me, my dear sir," said the +rector, in a kindly tone. "How do you feel yourself? Are you in less +pain than when I last saw you?" + +"Yes, I am in less pain, sir," answered the other; "but I rather +believe that is no good sign. At least they told me, when I was in +torture, that pain was a good omen for my recovery; and now I am in no +pain at all, I suppose it is a bad one." + +"I am not sure that it is a good one," answered the clergyman gravely; +"but at all events it has this good with it, that it leaves your mind +and faculties perfectly free to consider fully your situation, and to +take whatever measures, temporal or spiritual, may be necessary for +your comfort and consolation." + +"Ay, that is what I want to come to, Dr. Edwards," answered Sir Roger, +"and I am glad you have come to it at once. But first tell me--and I +adjure you by Heaven to tell me true, for these people deceive me--am +I dying, or am I not?" + +"I would have answered you truly without any adjuration," answered the +clergyman. "None can, sir, or ought to say to another that it is +impossible he can recover; for God can and does show us every day the +fallacy of our judgment in the things that we best comprehend: but I +do believe that you are in such a situation that it were wise to +prepare yourself for another world without loss of time." + +"Then I am dying," said Sir Roger, solemnly. + +"I am afraid you are," answered the clergyman. "To deceive you would +be a crime: your surgeon has himself told me that human skill can do +nothing for you." + +Sir Roger Millington drew his hand over his eyes, and groaned heavily; +but after a brief pause he withdrew the white colourless fingers +again; and looking steadfastly at the clergyman, said, "It is a +terrible thing to die, sir; more terrible than I thought. I have +fought in more than one battle, sir, and have had my single affairs +too; but I never found out how terrible a thing death is till I came +to lie here, and see life flow away from me drop by drop." + +"Because in no other case had you time for thought," answered Dr. +Edwards; "but, believe me, oh! believe me, that the very time for +thought which you seem to regard as an evil, is the greatest mercy of +Heaven. Few, even of the very best of us, if any, can keep his heart +and mind in such a condition of preparation, as to be ready to pass +from this state of mortal sin into life eternal, and to the immediate +presence of a pure and perfect Being, who, though he is merciful, is +likewise just, and will by no means leave the impenitent transgressor +unpunished. No man, my dear sir, when he has years and days before +him, should trust to the efficacy of a deathbed repentance--a moment +which perhaps may not be granted to him; but when a man has gone on in +thoughtless neglect, through the vigour of careless existence, and +unexpectedly finds himself at the end of life with only a few short +hours between him and that judgment-seat, where nothing can be +concealed and nothing palliated, he may then take unto himself the +blessed hope that repentance never comes too late, that our Saviour +himself showed upon the cross that the last hour, the very last +minute, of human life may yet obtain forgiveness of all the offences +of the past, by evincing true repentance, founded on true faith." + +"But how can I show either true repentance or true faith?" exclaimed +the dying man, with a peevish movement of the hand. "All I can do +is, to say I am very sorry for everything I have done wrong; and +that I believe the religion in which I was educated to be the true +one--although I have thought very little about it, since I was a boy +at school. But it is no use! it is no use talking!" he added, seeing +the clergyman about to reply; "I have done many a thing, especially +lately, that cannot be forgiven--for which I shall never forgive +myself; and so, how can I expect God to forgive them, who is better +than I am, and who never knew what it was to be tempted as I have +been?" + +"You _can_ expect God to forgive them, _because he is_ better than you +are, and because we have an intercessor at his throne, who has known +what it is to be tempted, even as we are; because we have a mediator +in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was rendered subject to +temptation a thousand-fold more terrible than any that we can endure, +in order that he might obtain forgiveness for even the greatest of +sinners, who truly repents him of the evil he has done. Indeed, +indeed, you greatly err in your ideas of God's mercy. But we had +better, I think be left alone;" and he made a sign to the nurse, who +immediately retired into the anteroom. + +"I am sure," said the wounded man, feeling, in some degree, the effect +of such consolatory hopes--"I am sure I do most sincerely repent of +some things that I have done within this last week, and indeed all +that I have done throughout the course of my life that is evil; and I +do think, now that it is too late to mend it, that if I had taken a +different course, and acted in another manner on many occasions, I +should not only have been more comfortable now, but a happier man +altogether." + +"Doubt it not! doubt it not!" said the clergyman. "Those that sow in +sin shall reap in bitterness: but still have good hope: the very +conviction of the magnitude of your sins which you seem to entertain, +is the first great step to sincere repentance; and sincere repentance +once obtained, the atonement is already prepared in heaven--the +abundance of God's mercy is ready to blot out our iniquity from before +his sight." + +"Ah, but there are many things very heavy on my heart and my +conscience!" said the other. "Tell me, Doctor Edwards, tell me," he +added, in a gloomy and anxious tone, "tell me, can a man who has said +that and done that, which can take away the life of another upon a +false charge, hope to be saved?" + +The clergyman half started from his seat; and the other, sinking down +again on the bed from which he had partially raised himself, exclaimed +bitterly--"I see how it is! I see how it is--no hope for me--and so I +will die as I have lived, boldly, without thinking about it." + +"You greatly mistake me," cried the clergyman; "I wished to imply +nothing of the kind." + +"No, no," said Sir Roger, "say no more--I saw it in your face. I can +easily imagine that a man may be pardoned for running another through, +when they were hand to hand--I remember many people in the Bible that +did the same--and I doubt not that many another little sin might be +forgiven; but for taking a man's life that never hurt one, by a +cold-blooded cowardly lie--I dare say that there is no forgiveness for +that!" and as he spoke he drew his breath hard, and set his teeth, as +if working himself up to meet the worst. + +"God makes no such distinctions, as far as he has revealed himself to +us," answered Dr. Edwards. "Murder, whether committed with the steel, +or the poison, or the falsehood, is equally murder in his eyes. I was +indeed surprised to hear you charge yourself with such a crime; but I +repeat what I said before, that for that, as for every other sin, +there is abundant mercy in heaven for him that sincerely repents him +of the evil--" + +He paused; but the knight made no reply, and remained with a +contracted brow, a muttering lip and a wandering eye, struggling +between two opposite states of feeling,--the habitual daring which +despair had again called to his aid, and the fear of death, and +judgment after death. "Let me urge you," continued the clergyman, when +he perceived that he did not make any reply--"let me urge you to +consider for one moment what must be the state of him who, under the +circumstances which you have named, neglects the only opportunity +allowed him for repentance, and suffers the few short moments granted +mercifully for that purpose to escape unemployed. Remember, sir, that +death is not sleep! that the moment the eyes are closed on this world +they open on another! Remember that the disembodied spirit, freed from +the frailties and the motives of the flesh, must of necessity feel, in +all their bitterness and blackness, the crimes which here we can +palliate to ourselves, as well as conceal from others!--Remember that, +with feelings thus heightened, with eyes thus unblinded, the man who +has committed the crime which you mention, and has neglected to repent +of it fully, must go into the presence of the omniscient Creator, to +meet, in the face of thousands of worlds, the being whom his falsehood +and his baseness had destroyed--that he must hear his crimes +proclaimed in the ears of all, must listen to his eternal +condemnation, and must bear unceasing punishment, the never-dying +consciousness, not only of the crime that he has committed, but of +having neglected the opportunity of repentance--of having castaway the +mercy offered even to the last hour of life. Think, think of his +horror and his shame, and his torture, and his remorse, and, oh! +choose the better path, and, even at the eleventh hour, repent and be +saved!" + +The dying man writhed under the picture of the future presented to his +mind, a picture which he had ever contrived to shut out from his own +eyes; but now, as the reality was about to present itself,--as but few +short hours, he felt too well, only intervened between him and the +fulfilment of all,--the conviction of its truth and its awfulness +forced itself upon his heart, even to agony; and with clasped hands, +as the clergyman concluded, he cried out, almost in the words of the +Jewish lawyer, "What shall I do to be saved?" + +"Repent sincerely," answered Dr. Edwards; "and as the first great +proof of your repentance, make whatever atonement you can yet make for +the very horrible crime with which you charge yourself--" + +"I can, I can make atonement!" cried the dying man, raising himself +joyfully on his hand as the thought was suggested to his mind; "I +can--I can make atonement, and I feel that then I shall die in peace. +I can save the innocent,--I can punish the guilty,--and I will do +both, if God gives me two hours more of life." + +"Such indeed will be the earnest of a true repentance," cried the +clergyman, "and it is thus that a deathbed repentance can alone be +confided in as efficacious. I wish not to pry into the secrets of your +heart, sir, any further than may be necessary for the purpose of +affording you advice and consolation. We believe that the ear of God +is ever open to our confessions as to our petitions, and therefore +that to him they should be made; but if I can aid you in carrying into +effect your purpose of full atonement, command me; and be sure that no +earthly consideration of either fear or hope will induce me to pause +or waver in the execution of my duty. I say what I have just done, +because an evident desire has been shown by those who should know +better, to hold you back from the only true way to peace of mind. God +forgive me! if my suspicions wrong any man; but before I came to-day, +I thought the conduct pursued towards me strange; and now that I have +heard so much from your own lips, I think it more than strange." + +"And you think right," said Sir Roger. "It is more than strange, but +it is all part of a plan. I see it all now--I see it all. He--he--Lord +Dewry concealed from me at the first that I was dangerously hurt. He +would not let me see you or any one else who would have dared to tell +me so, because he was afraid I should blab. He would not let me have +my papers over from Dewry Hall, pretending they had been forgotten; +because he was afraid that I should destroy those we had manufactured +between us; and last night, when I was half delirious, and would have +signed away my soul for an hour's quiet and rest, he tormented me till +I made a declaration before witnesses, that I had received a note from +a man who never gave it me, and that this gipsy Pharold, whom they +have now got below, was one of those who fired when I was wounded; +though in truth I believe he did not come up till after." + +"This is horrible, indeed!" said the clergyman, not a little agitated +by the very painful tidings that he heard. "But let me beg you, sir, +as you hope for pardon and eternal life in that world to which you +must soon depart--let me beg you instantly to take measures to remedy +the evil that you have been seduced into committing." + +"Yes, yes, I will do my best to remedy it," answered the dying +man, whose passions were now excited against the seducer who had led +him forward to crimes from which even his mind had shrunk, all +accustomed as it was to evil of a less glaring kind. "Yes, I will do +my best.--Ay, and he affected to feel so much pity and friendship for +me too, till he got what he wanted, and now he has not been near me +all day. Ay, ay! and he promised me every thing on earth that could +make life happy to me, when he knew that I was dying:--but he shall +not triumph in his villany. No, no!" + +Although the clergyman was very willing that justice should be done, +yet even that consideration was secondary in his mind to the wish of +leading the unhappy man before him into a better train of feeling ere +he passed to things eternal. "By all means," he said, "let us proceed +as fast as possible to make the atonement that you speak of, and to +secure justice to the oppressed and innocent man you mention; but in +doing so, my dear sir, do not forget for one moment your present +situation. Let not wrath, or disappointment, or irritation, influence +you. Let your sole motive be, as far as human nature is capable of +controlling and purifying its motives, the desire of showing, by full +atonement, that repentance which, with faith in the merits of your +Saviour, may be effectual to salvation." + +"Well, well, I will do my best!" answered the dying man. "But let us +make haste, for I am beginning to feel faint; and there is a dimness +comes occasionally across my eyes, and a rush like water in my ears, +that disturbs me. How shall we set about it, Dr. Edwards?" + +"The best way will be to call in witnesses," answered the clergyman, +"and to draw up before them a complete statement of everything that +you think proper to reveal, therein setting forth that you are +perfectly aware of your situation, and that you are in a competent +state of mind for making such a declaration. I myself am a magistrate, +although I seldom act; and will give the document every formality in +my power." + +"Ay, but the witnesses! the witnesses, sir!" said Sir Roger; "I am +afraid that he may come in every minute and disturb the whole." + +"There is no fear of that, I believe," answered the clergyman. "In the +first place, I would not permit such an interruption, were he a +monarch; and in the next place, I was told that he and several +magistrates were assembled to examine some prisoners before +committal." + +"Ay, it is Pharold, the object of all his hate, that they have got +hold of," replied Sir Roger; "and they will have him off to jail on +the very things I stated against him." + +"Then, indeed, no time is to be lost!" answered Dr. Edwards. "The +surgeon was to follow me here very soon; for I left him in the +village. His assistant and the nurse are in the next room; and I am +not sure that I did not hear his step also come in a moment ago. Thus +we shall have sufficient witnesses, and one who can testify to your +mind being clear and unbiassed. Shall I call them in?" + +Sir Roger gave a sign of assent; and gazed eagerly towards the door to +which the clergyman proceeded, as if he feared that some one else +might be without. No one was in the anteroom, however, but the +surgeon, his assistant, and the nurse; and Dr. Edwards having called +them in, and briefly stated his object, they approached the bed, and +the assistant, having obtained writing materials, seated himself as +near the sick man as possible, to take down his exact words. Sir Roger +was about to begin, but the clergyman interposed:--"One moment, my +friend," he said mildly; "we must not forget our care for your eternal +salvation, under any other consideration. Let us pray to God that the +spirit under which this declaration is made may be the spirit of +truth, divested by his grace of human passions and frailties, that the +repentance of which it is the fruit may be pure and sincere, and may +be accepted;" and kneeling down, he offered a short but emphatic +prayer, so full of simple and unaffected piety, that Sir Roger +Millington found feelings springing up in his heart which he had not +known for years, and which made the warm drops rise into his eyes. + +The knight then proceeded in a voice, faint and agitated indeed, but +nevertheless one which, in the profound silence that reigned around, +could be distinctly heard. He took up his tale in years long back; he +related how, in better times and circumstances, he had won a large sum +from Sir William Ryder and the Honourable Mr. De Vaux. The first, he +added, had always the character of a frank, open-hearted, but gay and +thoughtless young man; the latter that of one whose keen shrewdness +would have ensured him the highest fortunes, if the violence of his +passions had not on many occasions marred his best-laid plans. The +day, he said, had been fixed for the payment of the money, and it had +been shrewdly suspected that there would be difficulty in procuring +it; but the very day previous to that appointed for the discharge of +the debt, Mr. De Vaux's brother was murdered; and, consequently, that +gentleman succeeding to his title and estates, the payment was made +without delay. + +He then passed over at once the twenty succeeding years, and briefly +but distinctly recapitulated all that had taken place since; he had +come down from London, in the hope of mending his broken fortunes by +an application to the wealthy peer. + +All this, however, has been already detailed, and needs not +repetition, though it caused more than one glance of surprise and +grief to pass between the clergyman and the surgeon. Nevertheless, for +the time, they made no comment, but suffered the dying man to proceed +uninterrupted as long as he seemed inclined to go on. When he paused, +however, and looked round feebly towards the clergyman, as if to +ask,--"Have I done enough?"--Dr. Edwards rejoined, "If you will permit +me, sir, I will ask you one or two questions, to which, of course, you +will answer or not, as you think fit. This young gentleman will take +them down, however. They shall be short," he added, seeing a look of +impatience cross the sick man's face; "may I ask, did his lordship +assign any reason for the enmity he showed towards the gipsy Pharold, +and for taking such unjustifiable steps to destroy him?" + +"He said that he was sure that he, Pharold, had been the real murderer +of his brother," answered Sir Roger; "but I have my own thoughts upon +the subject." He paused, as if hesitating whether to proceed or not; +and the clergyman paused too, for the mind of every one present had +been led towards a suspicion so dreadful, that each felt a degree of +awe at the thought of hearing his own doubts confirmed by those of +another. At length, however, Sir Roger Millington raised himself upon +his elbow, as if he had made up his mind to a painful effort, and +fixing his dim and hollow eyes upon the clergyman, he said, in slow +but solemn tone, "That was what he told me; but, as I am going into +the presence of the Almighty, and casting away all malice against the +man, I declare, that I believe he himself was the murderer of his +brother, that Pharold knows it, and that such is the cause why he +persecutes him even to death. Write that down, young man, for although +I cannot discover all the links in the chain, nor all the motives of +his cunning heart, yet it is fit they should be inquired into, and +that the innocent should be delivered." + +The assistant wrote, and read what he had written, and the knight made +an impatient sign for the paper and the pen. When they were given to +him, he scrawled his name faintly at the bottom. "And now, doctor," he +said, looking towards the surgeon, "you certify there, that this +declaration was made by me, when I had all my senses about me as fully +as if I were in perfect health; and you, Dr. Edwards, certify that, at +the time I made it, I knew that I was dying, and did it as the only +proof I could give of my sincere repentance for many sins, of which +the paper he wrung from me last night was not among the least. You may +well say that I know I am near my end," he continued, "for I believe +that I am nearer it than any one thinks." + +"Take a little wine and water, Sir Roger," said the surgeon, looking +at him, and remarking that strange and awful grayness, which generally +precedes dissolution, coming like the shadow of some unseen cloud over +the sick man's face; "take a little wine and water. It can do you no +harm." + +"I know that too well!" answered the other, in a hollow voice, +drinking the draught which the nurse handed him. "It can neither do me +harm nor good--for it is all passing away." The wine seemed, however, +to revive him for a moment, and he eagerly besought the clergyman to +take the paper which had just been signed to the magistrates assembled +below. "Let them not pursue their injustice even so far," he said, "as +to send an innocent man to jail. I have been in a jail myself, and +know what it is." + +"I think," answered Dr. Edwards, "that perhaps I maybe of more service +with you here; for now that you have proved your repentance really, +let me strive to assure you all the comforts thereof. I have much to +say to you--much consolation and hope yet to hold out to you, if you +will permit me." + +"Oh! yes; stay, stay, by all means," said the wounded man; "do not you +leave me. He can take it to them: for he can do this wretched carcass +no good now: let him take it;" and he pointed with his finger towards +the nurse, though, beyond doubt, it was the surgeon he intended to +designate, distinctly showing that his sight had failed, though his +power of hearing still remained. + +"Perhaps you will have the kindness to do so," said Dr. Edwards, +speaking to the surgeon; "but take care that it does not get into the +hands of any one who may suppress it; for though we can all bear +witness to the contents, yet the document itself is most valuable. I +think I heard that Mr. Simpson was among the magistrates below. If so, +give it into his own hand; for, though a calm and quiet man, he has +much good sense and much firmness. But let us fold it up and seal it +first." + +The surgeon undertook the task, though, it must be confessed, not very +willingly, for he loved not to do any thing to any one that might +afford matter of offence. He spent some time in inquiring where the +magistrates were, and some time in consulting with a constable at the +door of the great hall whether it would be proper for him to go in. In +short, at length, as he had just made up his mind, and had his hand +upon the lock, the nurse whom he had left with the sick man, and who +thought it absolutely necessary that he should be present at a +patient's death, came eagerly to tell him that the unhappy Sir Roger +Millington was in the last agonies. It was too good an excuse for +shifting upon another an unpleasant duty to be lost; and, putting the +paper into the constable's hand, he bade him go in and deliver it +directly into the hands of Mr. Simpson the magistrate. The man +received the commission as a matter of course, and proceeded to +execute it, while the surgeon returned to the sick room. He opened the +door--all was still--the assistants stood holding back the curtain, +and gazing fixedly in--the clergyman was kneeling by the bedside, with +his eyes raised towards heaven. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +While the dark and solemn scene of death had been passing above, with +half-closed windows and a darkened apartment, events scarcely less +painful had been taking place below, in the broad light of a clear +autumn day. + +Six magistrates, whom Lord Dewry, with the usual overacting of +conscious guilt, had invited, in order to give every appearance of +impartiality and justice to his unjust designs, dropped in one by one, +and were ushered into the chamber where the peer sat waiting with +burning impatience for the arrival of the whole. Totally indifferent +to the business themselves, each as he came in tortured the baron with +light and impertinent gossip,--of the weather, of the harvest, of the +prospects of the country, of the new fashion of dress swords, and the +exquisite effect of Marechal hair-powder; and forced him into +conversation while his heart was full of deep stern thoughts, that +abhorred the idle topics on which he was expected to speak. Some, +however, mentioned his son, and congratulated him on the rumour of his +safety, which had already spread over the county: and here alone the +peer found matter on which he could converse feelingly; for the news +of his child's safety had come to him, in the midst of the fiery +passions that were agitating his bosom, like the thought of a drop +of cold water to Dives in the midst of his torments. Each of his +visiters wished to know more than general rumour had already told, and +many were the inquiries in regard to how Captain de Vaux had been +wounded, and who Mr. Harley could be, who had lately taken the house +at Little ----. Of all this, however, Lord Dewry could tell them +nothing. Colonel Manners's letter had been as laconic as possible; +and, therefore, the peer could merely reply, that it appeared the +wound had been received by accident, but that he intended to go over, +in order to hear more, as soon as they had concluded the business on +which they were assembling. + +At length the number was complete; and Lord Dewry, having asked the +servant who ushered in the last tardy magistrate if all were prepared, +proposed that they should proceed to the old justice-room, where they +would find everything ready for them. + +"The old justice-room!" cried bluff Mr. Arden; "I have not been in +there for many a year, my lord. But I have seen many a thing done +there, in my young days, that we should not dare to do now. They did +not mince the matter in those times; and I remember in the year +forty-five--now some three or four-and-twenty years ago--it was quite +enough to be _strongly suspected_ for a man to find his way to prison +very soon, without all these examinations and investigations. But they +are cutting down our powers every day, gentlemen. 'Pon my soul, I +think, when they have cut off every other part of my magisterial +rights, they will cut off the tails of my coat, for the _better +protection of the subject_, as they call it." + +A loud laugh followed; and thus with mirth and merriment they +proceeded along the passages of a house, where despair and indignant +grief waited anxiously in one room, and suffering, remorse, and death +tenanted another. Preceded by two or three regular constables, they +reached the little vestibule before the door of the justice-room, +where fifteen or sixteen persons were assembled, anxious to witness +the proceedings. They had not, however, been admitted without +selection; and among them were to be seen none but small tenants and +dependants of the lord of the mansion. The little crowd drew back as +the magistrates approached; and, the folding-doors being thrown open, +they entered the large old-fashioned hall, which had been prepared for +their reception. It formed, as has been before said, a long +parallelogram at the extreme of the building, built out upon the high +bank to the west, and had probably been designed originally for a +chapel. Four tall windows on either side rendered the aspect of the +whole light and cheerful; and from the south-east the sun, as bright +and warm as in the height of summer, was pouring a flood of glorious +light, which streamed in long oblique rays of misty splendour across +the perspective of the hall. A table, covered with the various +implements for writing, crossed the farther extremity of the +apartment; and beyond it was an array of chairs for the magistrates, +while at each end was a seat for the clerks; and a smaller table, +also, under one of the south-east windows, was furnished with paper +and pens for another secretary. The windows on that side were open, +and the warm soft breath of the southerly wind was felt fanning the +cheek, and breathing of nothing but peace, and gentleness, and +tranquillity. + +The magistrates proceeded to their places, and each taking a seat, +left the chair in the centre vacant for the peer; but he, however, +declined it, and begged Mr. Arden, as the senior, to preside at their +proceedings. + +"Nay, nay, my lord," replied the bluff old squire; "your official +station in the county, as much as your rank, gives you the +precedence." + +"In the present instance, however, my dear sir," replied Lord Dewry, +"I must appear before you as a private individual, as I am here in +some sort as the accuser, and if you find cause to commit the +prisoner, I must become the prosecutor. Therefore, I will sit here +beside you, but without exercising any official authority in a matter +where I am in a degree a party." + +"The prisoner cannot say that your lordship has not every disposition +to give him impartial justice," answered Mr. Arden, taking the vacant +chair. "You would have him let off before, when I would certainly have +committed him; and now you will not exercise your authority where he +is concerned. Let him be brought in, however. Constables, bring in the +prisoner." Two men instantly departed from the farther end of the hall +for that purpose, and while they were gone some formal business was +transacted, the clerks received their instructions, and one or two of +the magistrates looked into Blackstone's new work, the volumes of +which had been scattered about upon the table. At length a murmur and +the sound of footsteps were heard, and the doors being again opened, +the constables re-entered, followed by the persons who had been +waiting without, reinforced by several of the servants of the peer, as +well as by the footmen and grooms who had accompanied the magistrates +thither. The principal object of the whole group, however, was of +course the prisoner Pharold, and on him every eye was instantly fixed. +Walking between the two constables, who did not attempt to hold him, +he advanced boldly up the middle of the hall, and with a slight +contraction of the brow, and curl of the lip, gazed on the party +assembled to interrogate him with stern and fearless calmness. His +wrists were handcuffed, but no other restraint was put upon him; and +when he had advanced within a few yards of the table at which the +magistrates were seated, he paused of his own will, and waited as if +in expectation of what was to follow, merely turning round to some of +the crowd who followed, saying, sternly, "Do not press upon me; you +are near enough." + +Mr. Arden put on his spectacles, and after gazing for a moment or two +at the prisoner, he turned towards Lord Dewry, and said, "My lord, +will your lordship be good enough to state the charge against this +man; as of course that part of the business referring to the murder of +your son must be dropped, since it fortunately turns out that he is +alive. There are, however, I think, still two serious charges to be +disposed of, and probably our best plan will be to examine into them +separately: by separately, I mean, distinct from each other, though, +as many of us have come some distance, we had better go into both ere +we depart." + +Lord Dewry paused for several minutes ere he replied; and looked over +some papers which he had laid upon the table before him; but in truth +a momentary feeling of doubt and embarrassment crossed his mind. He +had determined most positively to urge against the gipsy the death of +his brother; he had arranged all his plans for that purpose; he had +matured them perfectly; he had secured, as far as human ingenuity +could go, every link of the chain; and nothing remained but to cast it +boldly round his victim; and yet, at the very moment of execution, a +doubt and apprehension, a sort of prophetic hesitation, seemed to +seize him, and he wished that it had been possible to abandon the +charge of the murder of his predecessor, and to confine his accusation +to the deer-stealing and the death of Sir Roger Millington, which was +now, as he well knew, so near, as to effect all that could be wished, +by rendering the charge against Pharold capital. + +He wavered for a moment, then, but he saw that the very wish to give +up an accusation so boldly made would appear suspicious, if any one +discovered it; and turning to Mr. Arden with a faint smile, he asked, +"With which of these charges had I better commence, my dear sir? The +one which is susceptible of the most immediate proof is that referring +to the recent offence." + +"No, no, my lord," replied the magistrate, "take them in the order of +their dates. Let us get rid of the ancient business before we begin +the other. 'Tis well to be off with the old love before we be on with +the new, my lord." + +"As you think fit," answered the peer, somewhat disappointed at the +magistrate's decision, but determined, as he must proceed, to proceed +boldly. "Well, then, my charge is as follows:--that the prisoner +Pharold, now before you, did, on the 18th day of May, in the year +17--, feloniously and with malice aforethought put to death my +unfortunate brother, the late Lord Dewry, in or near that part of the +road from Morley village to Green Hampton, which crosses the wood +called Morley Wood; and I am now ready to produce sufficient evidence +to induce you to commit the prisoner to the county jail for trial." + +While he spoke, the gipsy's eye rested on him with a glance so stern, +so keen, so searching, that he felt as if the dreadful secret of his +bosom--all its motives and all its feelings, its doubts, its +apprehensions, its remorse, its complicated plans and subtle +contrivances, were undergoing, one by one, the examination of that +dark, fixed regard. Though he looked towards the prisoner as little as +possible, yet the gipsy's eye was a load upon him, that oppressed and +would have confused a less powerful mind than his own. Even as it was, +however, he could not bear it without emotion, and turning abruptly to +Mr. Arden, he went on,--"I trust, Mr. Arden, that you have brought +with you the notes of the former examination." + +"Everything! everything, my lord," replied the magistrate; "prepared +as I was for the case, I brought every memorandum that could at all +bear upon it; and I think my clerk had better read the depositions +made at the time, and then you can proceed with any new facts which +may have since come to your knowledge." + +The peer bowed his head, and the clerk, under Mr. Arden's +instructions, proceeded to read a variety of documents relating to +facts with which the reader is already acquainted. It is unnecessary, +therefore, to repeat them; but the demeanour of the two persons +principally interested in the details was in itself sufficiently +singular to attract the attention of some of the magistrates, though, +if they sought in their own minds for the motives, they were mistaken +in the conclusions at which they arrived. During the reading of all +the formal and immaterial part of the depositions, the gipsy remained +with his eyes fixed upon the ground, and his head slightly bent, with +the aspect of one who hears a thing with all the details of which he +is too familiar to give it any deep attention. But when the clerk came +to his own deposition, and read the declaration which he had made of +having seen the murder committed, and marked the murderer so +particularly as to be able to swear to him if he ever saw him again, +his lip curled with a bitter and a biting sneer, and, raising his +head, he fixed his eyes upon his accuser, with a gaze that might well +have sunk him to the earth. + +Lord Dewry, however, encountered not his glance. He felt that the +gipsy's look must be then upon him; and, though he kept his own eyes +steadfastly on the papers before him, he turned deadly pale under the +consciousness of his own guilt, and the knowledge of what must be +passing in the bosom of the innocent man he had accused. + +"This is your declaration, made twenty years ago, prisoner!" said Mr. +Arden, examining the gipsy's countenance through his spectacles. + +"I know it is," answered the gipsy; "and it is truth, which twenty +years cannot change as they have done you and me, hard man!" + +"Egad, he's right there!" cried the magistrate; "twenty years have +worked a woful change both in my eyes and in my teeth; but, thank God, +I can ride as fresh as any man after the hounds, and shirk neither +fence nor gate." + +"Have you anything to add to your declaration, prisoner!" asked Mr. +Simpson, in a milder tone. "Nothing," answered Pharold. "Let me ask +you, however," continued the other, "whether you have ever, by any +chance, seen the murderer since the events which you have detailed in +this paper?" + +"More than once!" answered the gipsy. + +"Then, why did you not point him out for apprehension?" demanded Mr. +Simpson. + +"Because no one asked me," replied Pharold. "I told yon hard old man, +that I would point the murderer out if he were set before me; but I +never promised any of you to be as one of your hounds, and seize the +game for your sport or advantage." + +"Then if the murderer were brought before you," asked another +magistrate, "would you point him out, and swear to him?" + +The inquiry was taking a turn unpleasing to the peer; for although he +felt well convinced that Pharold would, sooner or later, retort the +accusation upon him, and was ready to meet it boldly and calmly, yet +he was not a little anxious to conclude his own statement of the case +first, and to bring forward every circumstance which could criminate +the gipsy, in order to take all weight from the testimony of his +adversary, and make the magistrates pass it over with contempt. + +"I think," he said, rising ere the gipsy could reply--"I think, +gentleman, if you will now permit me to proceed with what I have +further to adduce, you will find the matter very much simplified, and +can then examine the prisoner in whatever manner you think fit." + +"Certainly, my lord! certainly!" said some of the more complaisant of +the party; but the magistrate who had put the question was less easily +turned aside; and he replied,-- + +"Permit the prisoner, my lord, to answer my question in the first +place. My memory is bad," he added, dryly, "and before we got to the +end I might forget it. Now, answer me, prisoner,--that is, if you do +not object--there is no compulsion, remember,--if the murderer were +brought before you, could you and would you point him out, and swear +to him!" + +"That I could do so," answered Pharold, "I have already said; but that +I would do so, I do not know. It would depend upon circumstances." + +Lord Dewry looked suddenly up, and their eyes met, but there was +nothing in Pharold's glance at that moment but cold stern +indifference; and those who saw the look he gave the peer could not +have distinguished that he was moved towards him by any other feelings +than those which might well exist between the accused and the accuser. +Lord Dewry paused, and a momentary feeling of remorse for that which +he was engaged in crossed his bosom, now that he saw even persecution +would hardly make the gipsy violate his word so far as to betray his +fearful secret. But he had gone too far to recede, and he crushed the +better feeling. He called up the image of Sir William Ryder returning +to England, and supporting a charge against him by the testimony of +the gipsy; he recalled the state of feverish apprehension in which he +had lived for twenty years; and he went on with the work he had begun, +resolved that the struggle should be commenced and ended now for ever, +in the vain hope that thus his latter days might pass in peace! + +"Now, my lord," said the magistrate, when the gipsy had replied--"now, +my lord, I beg pardon for having detained you." + +"Well, then, sir," answered Lord Dewry, with some of his haughty +spirit breaking out even then--"well, then, if it quite suits your +convenience, I will proceed. I must give a slight sketch of some +events long passed, gentlemen; and the clerks had better take it down +as my deposition, which may be sworn to hereafter. Not very long after +my brother's death, gentlemen, I had some money transactions to settle +with an honourable friend of mine, one Sir Roger Millington; and I +went to London for the purpose. I found him just returned from +Ireland; and he told me that, in the neighbourhood of Holyhead, he had +met with an accident by which one of his finest horses had nearly been +killed; but that he had obtained a secret from a gipsy there by which +the animal had been completely cured. You may easily suppose I gave +the anecdote but little attention at the time. In settling our +accounts, however, Sir Roger had to give me, in change for a larger +sum, several smaller notes, on which he wrote his name. I took no +great notice of these bits of paper till I returned to the country, +when, on looking them over, I found, to my surprise, that one of them +was marked with my brother's own name, in his own handwriting. This +led to further examination; and in this banker's book, and also in +these memoranda, I found, by the dates and numbers of the notes, that +the very note in question must have been drawn by my poor brother from +his bankers the day before his death. The next thing to be discovered +was, where Sir Roger Millington had obtained it; but, as that +gentleman was continually moving about from place to place, some time +elapsed ere I could see him again. When I did so, however, I found +that he had received this very note from a gipsy called Pharold, at +Holyhead, in change for a larger one given him in order to purchase +the secret by which the worthy knight's horse had been cured." + +"A most singular coincidence!" cried Mr. Arden. "Murder will out, +gentlemen!" + +"For a long time no trace could be discovered of the gipsy," continued +Lord Dewry; "but at length he suddenly reappeared in this +neighbourhood; and one of my keepers obtained information that he and +his gang had laid a plan for robbing my park of the deer. On his +telling me this, I ordered him to take such measures as he thought +expedient for seizing the whole of them in the fact; much more +anxious, indeed, to capture my brother's murderer than to punish the +deer-stealers. It so happened, that just at the same time Sir Roger +Millington came down to pay me a visit; and on hearing that the +culprit was likely to fall into our hands that very night, he insisted +upon coming over here, both to direct the operations of the keepers, +and to satisfy himself that this gipsy Pharold is the same from whom +he received the note. I would fain have persuaded him that it was a +wild scheme; but he was a soldier, gentlemen, and accustomed to +contemn all dangers. The unhappy result you know. He was mortally +wounded, and is now lying in a state of delirium, if he be not already +dead. Last night, however, I took advantage of a time when his mind +was quite clear and rational, to obtain from him this declaration in +the presence of competent witnesses; and herein you will find that he +positively states that the man Pharold, whom he saw with the gipsy +deer-stealers in Dimden Park, was the same from whom he received this +note." + +"Foul, hellish liar!" exclaimed Pharold, starting abruptly from the +state of calm and apparently indifferent thought in which he had been +standing, with his eyes fixed upon the handcuffs on his wrists, and +his head bent down. "Foul, hellish liar! He never either gave me +aught, or had aught from me! I cured his noble beast for nothing; and +not for his sake either; but he gave me naught, nor would I have taken +his gold if he had offered it." + +"What, then," cried Mr. Arden, "you acknowledge that you did see this +gentleman at Holyhead, and did cure his horse by some nostrum in your +possession! Clerk, take that down carefully." + +"Ay, and take down that, if in dying he say he either gave me aught or +received aught from me," continued Pharold, vehemently, "he goes to +the place appointed for liars and false witnesses, if the great God of +all the universe be a God of justice and righteousness." + +"Do you know, gentlemen," said Mr. Arden, turning round and rubbing +his hands, "I think that quite enough has been elicited to justify us +in committing the prisoner without further ceremony." + +"We might perhaps be justified," said Mr. Simpson; "but I think there +is something more required of us than that, both by our own +consciences and our precise duties. It lies with us to prepare the +case as far as possible for superior functionaries; and, therefore, I +should propose that we proceed at once to collect every information +that is to be procured, and that we do not think of committing the +prisoner till we have done so. A great deal more still remains to +be--" + +Here one of the constables advanced from the other end of the hall, +and passing quietly round the table, interrupted the magistrate by +handing him a sealed packet, which he instantly opened, and proceeded +to read the first lines. While he did so, the constable advanced to +the spot where the peer sat, and spoke a few words in a low tone of +voice, while another magistrate, taking advantage of Mr. Simpson's +silence, proposed that they should adjourn to the bedside of Sir Roger +Millington, and receive his deposition officially. + +"I am sorry to say," answered Lord Dewry, with as grieved and +melancholy an air as he could assume, under circumstances which were +in reality satisfactory--"I am sorry to say, gentlemen, that the wise +and judicious proceeding just suggested cannot be executed, as the +constable has this moment informed me that my poor friend is no more. +His dissolution occurred a few minutes ago; and though I grieve for +the loss of my friend, it would be vain to say that I am sorry that an +event which was inevitable should have taken place so soon, when every +hour of prolonged existence was an hour of torture." + +"I trust, then, that the declaration which he made last night," said +the same magistrate, "was in every respect such as to be admitted in +evidence. Will your lordship permit me to examine it?" The paper was +handed to him, and he cast his eyes over it without any comment. Mr. +Simpson, however, was evidently strongly affected by the packet he had +just received. He returned more than once to several of the passages +it contained; and when he had satisfied himself of the precise terms, +he let the hand which held the paper fall over the arm of the chair; +and with a pale cheek and a look of deep thought, continued gazing at +vacancy for several moments. + +The first thing that seemed to rouse him was a renewal of Mr. Arden's +proposal for the instant committal of the prisoner, when, turning +round abruptly, he said, "No, Mr. Arden! no! we have not half gone +through the case; and something has just been put into my hand which +gives a very different aspect to the business altogether. This is a +very painful paper, gentlemen; and the task put upon me is a very +painful one, but, however, our duty must be done; and I will not +shrink from mine. However, let me beg your lordship in the first +instance to remark that this thing is no seeking of mine. For many +members of your lordship's family I have the utmost respect and +regard, and I would not willingly do anything to hurt any of your +house; but, as I have said, my duty must be done." + +While he spoke, the gipsy's eye lighted up anew, but the countenance +of the peer fell. His colour varied twenty times in a minute; but ere +the magistrate had done speaking, he had recovered his self-command, +and determined on his course, whatever might be the nature of the +communication which Mr. Simpson had received. "To what end, may I +ask," he said, haughtily, "to what end does all this tissue of idle +words lead, sir? Let me beg you to explain yourself, for I can +conceive no circumstances under which your professed regard for my +family should interfere in any way with the execution of your duty." + +"You shall hear, my lord, you shall hear," answered Mr. Simpson, with +more mild dignity than the peer had imagined he could assume. +"Constables, clear the hall there." + +"Shall we take away the prisoner, sir?" demanded one of the men who +stood by his side. + +The magistrate paused, and then replied, after a moment's thought, "He +has a right to hear anything that may benefit himself. He is here +before us without legal advice or assistance of any kind; and he must +not be shut out from a knowledge of facts which he may have to +communicate to his counsel hereafter. You, constable, however, retire +to the door. I think we are enough to manage one handcuffed man should +he prove turbulent." + +None of the other magistrates interfered: the hall was cleared; and +Pharold was left standing in the midst, with no other witnesses but +the magistrates and their clerks. Restraining all his feelings by a +mighty effort, the peer sat sternly gazing upon the speaker, with the +violent passions that were working within, discernible only in the +starting sinews of the thin clenched hand which he had laid upon the +papers before him. + +"What I have to read, gentlemen," continued Mr. Simpson, "has just +been sent me by the excellent rector of this parish, Dr. Edwards; and +it is entitled The dying declaration of Sir Roger Millington, knight. +It is, gentlemen, to the following effect;" and he proceeded to read +the confession which fear and repentance had induced the dying man to +make. The agitation of the peer was dreadful; but it was alone +internal; and all that was externally perceptible were those signs of +passion and indignation which an innocent man might feel at a false +accusation. At length, however, when, in conclusion, the unhappy Sir +Roger charged him boldly as the murderer of his brother, Lord Dewry +started up, exclaiming,-- + +"The raving madness of a delirious and dying man! How can you, +gentlemen, sit and listen to such trash! But I will soon bring you +proof of what state the man was in, when that canting old fanatic saw +him and he turned towards the door. + +"Sit down, my lord!" said Mr. Simpson, sternly. "I cannot allow you to +leave the room." + +"Sit down! not allow me!" cried the peer, turning upon him with all +the dark and haughty spirit of his heart flashing forth. "Do you dare, +sir, to use such terms to me in my own mansion?" + +"Anywhere, Lord Dewry!" replied the magistrate. "I say, sit down! or I +must give you in custody to one of the officers, _I_ will show you, +gentlemen, in what state of mind was the deponent when he made this +declaration. Here is the attestation of the surgeon and his assistant, +that Sir Roger Millington was, at the moment he signed this paper, +perfectly sane and rational; that he did it under the full knowledge +that he was a dying man; and that every word here written was exactly +used by himself. Gentlemen, this requires immediate investigation; for +every word here written must greatly affect the prisoner before us." + +Lord Dewry had cast himself down again in his chair; but wrath in the +present instance supported hypocrisy; for it was anger and indignation +he sought to assume, and the former at least, in the present instance, +required no acting. He folded his arms upon his breast, he rolled his +dark eye over the form of the magistrate, and he set his teeth in his +nether lip till the blood almost started beneath the pressure. In the +mean while there was a confused and murmuring conversation among the +magistrates, some standing, some sitting, and all talking together. At +length Mr. Arden exclaimed, in a loud voice that overpowered the +rest,-- + +"Well, well; this matter requires much consideration. Let us at all +events remand the gipsy for four or five days, while we inquire into +the rest. Here, he might be tampered with; but let us remand him to +the cage at Morley." + +"Remand me!" cried the gipsy, in a tone that called instant attention, +while his deep black eyes seemed flashing with living fire. "Remand +me! remand a man that you know to be innocent! Are these your boasted +laws? is this your English equity? Have you no more freedom in your +hearts than this? Did ye but know what real freedom is, ye would feel +that nothing upon earth,--neither gold, nor wealth, nor friends, nor +pleasures, nor health, nor life itself, to the freeman,--is half so +dear as liberty! If ye take his gold, ye call it robbery; if ye take +his life, ye call it murder; but I tell you, that every minute and +every hour of liberty is more than gold or life; and yet, base +hypocritical tyrants, without scruple and without remorse, you take +from your fellow-creatures, on the slightest pretence, the brightest +possession of man, the noblest gift of God. Ere you know whether your +fellow-creature be guilty or not ye doom him to the worst of +punishments, ye confine him in dungeons, ye fetter his free limbs with +iron, ye deny him God's light and God's air, ye make him the companion +of devils and fiends, and then ye find that he is innocent, and send +him forth into the world degraded, corrupted, vile as ye are +yourself,--punished without guilt, and robbed of many a long day of +golden liberty by those who pretend to dispense justice, and who talk +of equity. Out upon ye, I say! and out upon your laws! If there were +such things as liberty and justice in the land, the very rumour that a +fellow-creature was deprived of his freedom for an hour, would gather +together half the land to see justice done; and he who dared unjustly +to deprive a freeman of his liberty would be punished as a traitor +against the rights conferred by God. Then would not this bright and +beautiful land bear the multitude of prisons that darken the sunshine +in every town and village; and speedily the very use for them would be +forgotten; for man's heart, ennobled by freedom, would forget crime; +or crime, punished on the spot, would be a lesson far more awful. Now +ye debase yourselves and your fellow-creatures, and expect them to act +nobly; ye punish the innocent with the worst of punishments, and +expect them to refrain from guilt. If I am innocent of the crime with +which I am charged,--and God knows, and ye all know, that I am,--let +me go free. If I be guilty, punish me with death, but take not away my +liberty. Death were light, but one other night in a dungeon would +crush my very soul!" + +There was something so strong, so fiery, so impetuous, in the whole +tone and manner of the gipsy, that the magistrates, taken by surprise, +sat silent and attentive, till he had concluded an appeal which they +certainly had not expected. "There is some reason in what you say," +answered Mr. Simpson, mildly, "and, perhaps, if we had tasted a few +hours' imprisonment ourselves, we should not be so ready to send +others to that fate, as we are found too often. However, now answer +me, prisoner: you have declared that if the murderer of the late Lord +Dewry were set before you, you could recognise him, and swear to him. +I ask you, therefore, do you see him now?" + +A powerful emotion, which he could not resist, made the peer suddenly +turn away, as the magistrate thus addressed the gipsy; and Pharold's +dark keen eyes fixed sternly upon him. For several long, terrible, +anxious moments the gipsy was silent, and many were the strong and +agitating passions which struggled in his heart, and threw their +alternate shadows over his countenance; but at length he replied, in a +low but solemn and distinct voice, "I have said that I could tell, but +I have not said that I would; and I now say that, come what will to +myself, I will accuse no man." + +The magistrates gazed at each other for a brief space, both surprised +and perplexed; but at that moment there was heard the sound of +chariot-wheels, the step of a carriage violently thrown down, and a +considerable bustle and speaking in the passages beyond. The next +instant the door of the hall was thrown open, and a gentleman entered, +with his hat still on his head, and a large fur cloak cast round him, +as he had got out of his carriage. + +"I really must have the hall kept clear," exclaimed Mr. Simpson. "We +are here in private deliberation, and no one must be admitted." + +The stranger, however, without paying the slightest attention, walked +straight up the middle of the hall; and laying his hand upon the +gipsy's arm, as he passed the spot where he stood, "I have come," he +said, "to deliver an innocent man." The next moment he advanced to the +table; and taking off his hat gazed round upon the magistrates. + +The effect produced upon several persons present was no less strange +than sudden. The peer, with a countenance as pale as ashes, a +quivering lip and haggard eye, staggered up from his seat, grasped the +arm of the intruder, and holding him at arm's length, gazed in his +face, with an expression of doubt, and surprise, and horror. Mr. Arden +rubbed the glasses of his spectacles, exclaiming, "Good God! good God! +This is very strange! It can't be--no, it can't be!" + +"It is! it is!" exclaimed the peer, falling back into his chair, and +covering his eyes with his hands. "It is! it is! thank God! oh! thank +God!" and the deep groan which accompanied his expression of joy, far +from lessening its force, seemed to speak that the load of worlds was +taken off his heart. + +"In the name of Heaven, sir, who are you?" exclaimed one of the +younger magistrates. + +"Who is he?" exclaimed the gipsy, "who should he be, but William Lord +Dewry. There are plenty here who must know him well." + +"And none better than myself," cried Mr. Arden. "My Lord, are you +living or dead?" + +"Living, sir," replied the person whom we have hitherto known by +the name of Sir William Ryder. "Had I not believed, gentlemen, that +in this hall I have as much right as any one, I should not have +intruded upon your deliberations; but as I learned this morning +that my friend Pharold here, to whom I owe my life, was brought +before you on a charge of taking it, I felt myself bound to interfere. +You must, therefore, permit me to be present at your further +deliberations.--Edward," he continued, turning to his brother, "you +had better retire. We have matter for much thought and for much +emotion between us, which were as well confined to ourselves alone." + +"But, my lord'. but, my lord!" exclaimed Mr. Arden, "here is an +accusation made formally against your brother, also, of the same crime +with which the gipsy was charged." + +"Who made it?" exclaimed Lord Dewry, looking somewhat reproachfully at +Pharold. + +"Not I," answered the gipsy,--"I bring a false accusation against no +man." + +"At all events, sir," rejoined the peer, turning to Mr. Arden, "it +must be sufficiently evident to all, that my brother, whatever may +have been our personal differences, cannot be guilty of my murder, as +I am here alive and well. I say again, therefore, that you had better +retire, Edward, and leave me to conclude this business as I see fit; +unless, indeed," he added--"unless you are inclined to contest either +my identity or my rights." + +"No, no, no!" cried the other, starting up vehemently, and clasping +his hands together, while the burning tears of intense emotion rolled +rapidly over his cheeks. "No, no! So help me God, I would not lose the +knowledge that you are living for the highest rank and noblest fortune +that the earth could give; and I tell you, William, that to lay down +at your feet that which I have wrongfully possessed, to give up to you +wealth and station, and retire to poverty and obscurity, will be the +happiest act of my whole life. It will! it will! as there is truth +in Heaven, whatever my conduct heretofore may have caused you to +believe--and now I leave you." + +"That is one step at least," said the peer. "Fare you well for the +present. I will join you soon.--And now, gentlemen," he continued, +turning to the magistrates, as his brother, with a slow and faltering +step, quitted the hall--"and now let us proceed, as quickly as +possible, to render justice to a man who has been erroneously accused, +and subjected already to some loss of liberty,--a loss which I know is +more bitter to him than the loss of life would be." + +"Why, my lord, one would think you had turned gipsy yourself," said +Mr. Arden, "you speak so exactly the same sentiments which he has +himself expressed." + +"I have mingled much with persons who feel the same ardent love for +uncontrolled liberty," replied the peer somewhat dryly, "and it is +therefore that I wish at once to proceed to those matters which may +instantly set this good and honest man at liberty. It is evident, +gentlemen, that the charge against him must instantly be discharged, +and therefore it may be better to order those unworthy handcuffs to be +taken instantly from his wrists." + +"Not so fast, my lord," said Mr. Arden, who was not well pleased with +the tone in which the peer replied to him, and who had also a strong +disposition to commit every one who was committable. "Although your +sudden, miraculous, and very strange reappearance must of course put +an end to all proceedings relative to a murder which has not taken +place, yet there is another charge of a nature equally grave against +the prisoner, which renders it impossible to discharge him in the +summary method which you seem inclined to urge. There is a charge of +deer-stealing followed by murder, in both of which crimes it is pretty +evident that the prisoner has taken part. I should like to know, too, +before I part with him, whether the whole story that he told of your +being shot by a man on horseback had any foundation, or was a mere +invention." + +"In regard to the last point I will satisfy you at once," replied Lord +Dewry, "as far as I ever intend to satisfy any one. I was met by a man +on horseback, as I believe the gipsy told you, who demanded money of +me, and on my refusing it, somewhat harshly indeed, he did fire at and +wound me. My horse took fright, and plunged into the river; I fell +from the saddle, deprived of all sense; and had not that good man, +Pharold, leaped into the stream, dragged me out, and given me into the +hands of those who tended me with kindness and wisdom, my fate would +not have been doubtful for a moment. In regard to my after-conduct, +private motives determined it, into which no one has any right to +inquire. They were such as satisfied my own heart and my own +understanding, and that is sufficient." + +"And pray, my lord," demanded Mr. Arden, "were you acquainted with the +person who wounded you? Could you swear to him?" + +"I am not making a charge before you as a county magistrate," replied +Lord Dewry; "but telling you an anecdote as an old acquaintance; and +let me add, that my story is done. In regard to any further charge +against Pharold, there is, I think, by this time sufficient evidence +collected at the hall door to prove that he took no part either in the +destruction of the deer or the violence offered to the gamekeepers. If +you will order the persons who were present to be called in you will +soon be satisfied." + +"I beg your pardon, my lord," said Mr. Simpson: "I am most happy to +see you once again, when such a thing appeared impossible; but still I +am afraid the course you suggest cannot be pursued." + +"And why not, sir?" demanded Lord Dewry: "I believe that I have the +pleasure of speaking to Mr. Simpson, though time has somewhat altered +his features: if so, I address both a humane and reasonable man; and I +ask why cannot the plain and straightforward course I propose be +pursued at once?" + +"Let them have their way, William de Vaux! Let them have their way!" +cried the gipsy, whose dark features had been working under the +influence of many a contending passion since his friend had appeared. +"Let them have their way! One and all they are set in their own hearts +to do injustice. What, indeed, are they there for, but to dispense +that kind of injustice that you call law? Let them have their way! +They are but working out the inevitable will of fate; and though they +bring the curse of innocent blood upon their head, they needs must do +it." + +"If your lordship, during your long absence, have not forgot entirely +the customs of this country," replied Mr. Simpson, as soon as he could +make himself heard, "you will perceive at once, that, as one of the +unfortunate victims of this deer-stealing affray has died in this very +house, not half an hour ago, it is our bounden duty not to discharge a +prisoner against whom a charge upon oath of participation in the crime +has been made by an eyewitness, until the coroner shall have sat upon +the body, and returned a verdict; nor have we, I believe, any right to +take the matter out of the coroner's hands, by previously examining +the witnesses, which must afterward appear before his jury. I am +grieved to oppose you, I am grieved to inflict further imprisonment on +a man of whose innocence I do not entertain any strong doubts; but +Harvey, the head keeper, has sworn that the prisoner was present, +aiding and abetting, when Sir Roger Millington was wounded, and we +should not be justified even in receiving bail till the coroner's jury +have returned their verdict." + +Lord Dewry bit his lip, and remained silent for a few moments, while +Mr. Arden rubbed his hands, and elevated his eyebrows with the air of +a man who considers all opposition as silenced; and the gipsy eyed the +bench of magistrates with a look in which scorn was the only +expression that tempered hatred and indignation. "Pray, sir, how long +must it be ere the coroner can be summoned?" demanded the peer. "You +know not what you are inflicting upon a man as honest as any one +present. To him every hour of his freedom is more than life; and I +could give you fully sufficient proof to show that while his innocence +of the crime charged against him is clear, the punishment inflicted on +him by imprisonment cannot be estimated by the feelings of other men +under such circumstances." + +"The coroner cannot even be summoned to-day, my lord," replied Mr. +Arden; "and, consequently, it must be to-morrow or the next day ere +the gipsy can be liberated, even if the result be as favourable to him +as you expect. But what are two or three days spent in a snug warm +room to a man who has never known any thing better than a hovel in a +sandpit? Where is the great hardship? I see no very severe +infliction." + +"To him it is the most severe," replied Lord Dewry; "and if it be +possible--" + +"Cease, cease, William," cried Pharold, in a bitter and earnest tone; +"you degrade those noble lips by pleading in vain to men who can +neither understand your heart nor mine. Besides, it matters not, it +matters not. The long weary line of life has come to its end with me. +All that I had to do is done. I have seen you break through all your +good and wise designs, all your humane and generous scruples, for +the purpose of defending and delivering me; I have seen you return to +your home, and claim your own; and so far I have seen my utmost +desire. But hear what I have seen more," he continued with a rising +tone, while his eye flashed, his dark cheek flushed, and his brows +knit together--"hear what I have seen more, William de Vaux, and then +see whether I ought to care for anything else after. I have seen my +people mock my care, and refuse my counsels! I have seen one of my own +tribe betray me, in order to liberate himself! I have seen the wife of +my bosom take part in the scheme for delivering me over to +imprisonment and death, by the means of my best affections! I have +spent a whole bright autumn night in a prison! I come forth into the +day with bonds upon my hands, and I hear myself condemned, without +crime, to the torture of a longer slavery in chains and stone walls!" +As he went on, he spoke more and more rapidly, and his eye rolled over +the magistrates, as he lashed himself into phrensy, by a +recapitulation of his sufferings and his wrongs. "But think not," he +continued furiously, "think not that bolts, or bars, or walls shall +keep me in another night, in the living tomb into which ye have thrust +me! No, no, there is always a way for a bold heart to set itself free! +Thus, thus I spurn your chains from me!" and by one great effort of +skill and strength he slipped his hands out of the handcuffs, which +were somewhat too large, and dashed them down into the midst of the +hall. + +"Constables! constables!" shouted Mr. Arden. + +"You call in vain, hard, stone-hearted man," cried Pharold, shaking +his clenched hand at him, "you call in vain;" and bounding to the side +of the hall on which the tall windows had been thrown open, he set one +foot upon the secretary's table, and with a single spring reached the +high window sill, catching with his hand the small stone column on +which the casements hung. There he paused for one moment; and turning +his head, exclaimed, "William de Vaux, noble William de Vaux, +farewell,--for ever, and ever, and ever, farewell." + +He let go his hold: he sprang forward, and was lost to the sight. The +next moment the dull heavy splash of a large body falling into the +water rose up and was carried by the wind through the open windows +into the justice-room. + +"Run round, run round," cried Mr. Arden to the constables, who were +now hurrying in; "he has escaped through the window; run round there +by the outside." + +One or two instantly followed these directions; but another sprang up +to the window to mark the course of the fugitive, and point it out to +the pursuers. + +"He must have jumped into the stream, gentlemen," said the man, +turning to speak to the magistrates, as soon as he had reached the +spot where Pharold had stood the moment before. "He must have jumped +into the stream, for there is not footing for a mouse." + +"He did, he did: we heard him," answered Mr. Arden. "Look out, and see +where he comes to land. My lord, why do you cover your face with your +hand? you seem more sorry for the prisoner's escape than I +anticipated." + +"It is because I know him better than you do, sir," answered the peer; +"and I fear that you have driven him further than you imagine." + +"I can see nothing on the river, gentlemen," cried the constable, "but +the bubbles and the eddies where he must have gone down. There's a +shoulder, there's a shoulder, I do believe; and his long black hair as +I live:--it is gone again; he is down--I see no more of it." + +Lord Dewry started up and rushed out; but it was in vain that every +effort was made to find the gipsy living or dead. The constables who +had run round the justice-room declared that they had never seen +anything rise. The other, who had watched from the window, soon became +very doubtful in regard to the reality of the objects he had seen +floating down the stream. An old labourer, who had been working at a +distance, stated that he had remarked something fall from the window +of the justice-room into the water, but had seen nothing come to land. +The peer, with as many people as he could collect, followed the course +of the river for some way; and the constables, though with different +views, pursued the same course. In the meanwhile, the magistrates +continued in deliberation, as it is called; although it must be +acknowledged that their conversation referred much more particularly +to, and rested much more pertinaciously upon, the strange return of +Lord Dewry, the various circumstances which could have given occasion +to his absence, and the various events to which his re-appearance +would give rise, than even to the disappearance of the prisoner, and +the after-measures to be adopted. + +The matter, however, was quite sufficiently interesting to make three +quarters of an hour pass unnoticed; and at the end of that time a +servant appeared to inform them that, as the body of the unhappy gipsy +could not be found, Lord Dewry did not intend to intrude upon them +again, and that he had only to request that due information of the +death of Sir Roger Millington might be given to the coroner. + +The magistrates received the message--probably as it was intended--as +a hint that their further presence at Dimden was not desired. Mr. +Arden laughed, and declared that he would take care to tease his +lordship for his want of courtesy, by asking him unpleasant questions +whenever he met him; but Mr. Simpson, on the contrary, looked grave +and sad, and as he parted with his fellow-magistrates declared his +intention of withdrawing from his official duties. "I should never," +he said, "be able to remove from my mind the impression of that +unfortunate gipsy's fate, and I should fear that it might have some +effect upon the execution of my duty in future." + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +Day had waned, night had overshadowed the world several hours, and +Mrs. Falkland, with Marian, had long left the house in which Edward de +Vaux lay ere any sounds intimated that the master of the mansion had +returned. Anxious, bewildered, and impatient, De Vaux lay sleepless +till ten o'clock, when the rapid rush of rolling wheels, and the quick +footfalls of the horses, as they passed his window, told him that he +whom he expected had arrived. + +A few minutes elapsed without his appearance in the sick man's room, +however, and, with his characteristic impatience, De Vaux concluded +that "the fools had said he was asleep," and was sending to declare +the contrary, when the door was quietly opened, and the person he +wished for approached his bedside. + +"I am most happy to see you, my dear sir," said De Vaux, looking up in +the fine bland countenance that was bent over him, "for I cannot +sleep--I cannot rest--till I ask you who, who is it that I see?" + +"Ah! I perceive that your aunt has betrayed me," said Lord Dewry. "She +recognised me instantly this morning; but I laid strict injunctions +upon her, for many reasons, to keep my secret with you till I +returned. But I expected more than was reasonable. There is a proverb +against a woman keeping a secret." + +"No, no," said De Vaux: "she did not exactly betray you. She let a few +words accidentally fall, that only served to rouse my curiosity, which +she then refused to satisfy." + +"And what said Marian?" demanded the other, with a smile. + +"Oh, she said nothing on the subject," replied De Vaux, "but she +looked happier than I ever beheld her; and that too seemed to confirm +some vague surmises which my aunt's words had called up. But yet I +cannot believe it--it is impossible--I knew you myself as Sir William +Ryder in America--every one knew you by that name there--and I cannot +believe the wild fancy that has taken possession of me." + +"It is nevertheless true," replied the peer. "Sir William Ryder has +slept for more than twenty years in a village churchyard in Ireland, +and I am--what I suppose you suspect--your uncle. Agitate yourself +with this matter no more to-night, my dear boy: suffice it," and he +pressed his nephew's hand kindly in his own, "suffice it that I am +proud to have Edward de Vaux for my nephew, and shall rejoice to +acknowledge him as my son." + +The words were oil and wine to the heart of Edward de Vaux, but still +there was something wanting. "Thank you, thank you," he replied, still +holding his uncle's hand in his own; "but yet one word more before you +go:--that dreadful story that the gipsy told me--that story that drove +me almost mad--it is not, it cannot be true. My father did not--could +not--" + +"Edward," replied his uncle, gravely, "on no account must I do wrong +to the memory of a noble-hearted man. The gipsy told you true, as far +as he knew the truth. Nay, do not shudder: there are many palliating +circumstances which he did not know, but which I will relate to you +hereafter, in order to calm and tranquilize your mind. In the meantime +be satisfied with knowing that, as far as I am concerned, all that was +painful in the past shall be forgotten and buried in oblivion for +ever. Nor, indeed, would I, even to you, so far withdraw the veil from +things gone as to give any explanation, had it not been by my +authority and directions--under a mistaken view of your character and +heart--that the gipsy related to you as much as you already know. Your +knowledge of thus much renders it necessary for your own peace that +you should know more; which I will tell you as soon as you are well. +Rest assured, however, that all which you have yet to hear is good and +not evil, and will tend to alleviate and soften what is past." + +With such information Edward de Vaux was forced to rest contented +during the whole of the following week, for he could draw no more from +his uncle; and he feared, by questioning any one else upon the +subject, to raise suspicions which he trusted were as yet quiet in the +minds of all others. The rest of the little world, however, in which +these events had taken place, were not so soon satisfied. The +immediate neighbourhood of Dimden and of Morley House was, of course, +more agitated than the rest of the county; for there it may be said +that the stone had dropped into the water, and though the rippling +circles that it made extended far and wide around, yet each eddy was +fainter and fainter, of course, as it became farther removed from the +centre. In the immediate vortex, however, not only for nine days, but +nearly for nine months, all was gossip, and rumour, and confusion. +Every one had his own distinct report of the transactions which had +taken place in regard to the return of the old Lord Dewry; every one +had his own version of the story; and as neither the peer himself, nor +any of his family, gave either encouragement or refutation to any of +the statements, but held a stern and rigid silence upon the whole +affair, every one was left to enjoy his own version undisturbed, and +to make himself sure that it was the right one, by any logic that he +thought proper to use. + +There is no such diffusible a substance in nature as truth; for though +an infinitely small piece of gold can be spread over a wire that might +girdle the great earth, yet a much less portion of truth will serve to +gild a much greater quantity of falsehood. Thus, in all the stories +that were current, it is more than probable that some portion of truth +existed; and many of them, aided by curious inquiry and shrewd +conjecture, came very near the real facts of the case. + +The good-natured world of course anticipated all the disagreeable +things that were to happen. Lawsuits innumerable were prognosticated; +Lord Dewry was to compel his brother to refund the long enjoyed rents +of his estates; the brother was to deny his claim and rights +altogether; the marriage between Edward de Vaux and his cousin was to +be broken off; and some persons even anticipated that the lover would +shoot himself, and the lady die of consumption. + +None of these events, however, did really take place. Lord Dewry +showed himself in no hurry to take possession of his estates either at +Dimden or at Dewry Hall, but his title was not the less generally +recognised and his rights undisputed. His brother, indeed, lay for +many weeks ill at Dimden House; and, under the influence of feelings, +which those around him did not rightly comprehend, besought Lord Dewry +not to visit him till his strength was recovered, or till his death +was near. + +Edward de Vaux still remained at his uncle's cottage at the little +town of ----, tended by its owner with all the care and affection of a +father. His recovery was somewhat tedious indeed; and it was long ere +the surgeons permitted him to rise. From that period, however, his +convalescence proceeded more rapidly, and the kind tone of all his +uncle's conversation--the hope, the cheerfulness, the sunshine, that +beamed through it all--tended to sooth his mind, and turn it from +everything that was painful in his situation. At length it was +announced that he might with safety drive over to Dimden to see his +father: and on the day preceding that on which he went, as soon as the +short twilight of winter was over, Lord Dewry ordered his doors to be +closed against all the world; and walking up and down the room--as was +his custom when he spoke on matters of deep interest--while his nephew +lay on the couch beside him, he entered into the long promised +explanation of his past conduct. + +"I need not recapitulate, my dear boy," he said, "all that you have +already heard, nor tell you how bitterly I suffered from a loss, the +pain of which can never be wholly forgotten. At the time it nearly +drove me mad. At all events it made me look upon everything in nature +through a false medium, made me hate mankind, loath even the society +of my best and dearest friends, and find agony rather than consolation +in the sight of the infant which my lost angel had left me, and which +to a more sane and less impatient spirit would have been a source of +joy and comfort to my latest hour. It was under these circumstances, +and with these feelings, that I suddenly met my brother in the +neighbourhood of Morley House, while I was riding over to the county +town, with the purpose of giving him such a sum as I could spare at +the time, but of refusing the greater part of the assistance he +demanded. I had many other causes for dissatisfaction in regard to his +conduct besides his boundless extravagance; but of those causes we +need not speak. I acknowledge that I treated him harshly; and that, +not contented with rejecting his demand, I rejected it in that stern +and peremptory tone which was in some degree cruel, for grief had +hardened me for the time against all those things to which at other +moments I yielded most willingly. He pleaded more earnestly, more +humbly, than could have been expected from one who had no small share +of pride; but I refused to hear, and only repeated my determination. +Words of great bitterness passed between us; and at length he drew +forth a pistol, saying that nothing was left him but death or +dishonour, and that he preferred the former. I remember not the exact +words of my reply; but they were galling, bitter, and ungenerous; and +as I spoke them, I spurred on my horse. The next moment there came a +loud report, a giddiness of my eyes, and I felt myself reel in the +saddle. For the moment my powers over my horse were lost; and taking +fright at the sound, he plunged down the bank, lost his footing, and +slipped into the river. Nay, Edward, look not so distressed, remember +the shot might be accidental; my brother was following me eagerly at +the time, with the weapon in his hand which he had threatened to raise +against his own life: a plunge of his horse, a false step, an +accidental movement, might discharge the pistol without his will. I am +willing to believe it so; and I have never inquired further. If you +are wise, Edward de Vaux--if you are wise, you will inquire no further +either. There are few situations in which doubts are preferable to +certainty, but there are some, and this is one. Suffice it that, +whatever your father's intention was, he was driven at that moment, +both by despair and by a brother's harshness, to a state of mind in +which he could hardly be held responsible for his own actions. I +forgive him from my heart for that deed, though others have taken +place lately which I fear I cannot forgive--at least not as yet. But +of these no more: I seek not to be your father's accuser. I would +rather exculpate him as far as possible." + +De Vaux sighed deeply, and still kept his hands clasped over his eyes, +for he could not but feel that his uncle willingly deceived himself, +in order to palliate the actions of his father. "Let me now turn," +continued Lord Dewry, "to my own fate and conduct. The wound I had +received, though not dangerous--having passed obliquely along the back +of my head and neck, only slightly grazing the bone--was sufficient to +stun and confuse me; and although in the plunge into the water I was +thrown free of the horse, I should certainly have been drowned, had it +not been for the activity and courage of the gipsy Pharold. I knew +little that passed till I found myself lying on the moss, in the thick +wood above Morley Point, with two gipsies standing by me, one of whom +was my deliverer. I was still bleeding profusely; and Pharold was in +the very act of sending his comrade for help to bear me home. My first +words, however, were directed to stop him; and I besought the +companion of my boyhood to have me carried to the tents of his people, +and to conceal my escape from every one. The very first impulse on +recovering my recollection had been to execute a plan, which had often +occurred to me within the last few weeks previous to that time, of +abandoning state, and station, and society altogether, and wasting +away the rest of my days in grief and mourning. Had I been a Roman +Catholic at my wife's death, I should certainly have devoted myself to +the cloister; and the only consideration which had prevented me from +quitting England and all my former connections, had been the thought +of the inquiries and the search that would be made for me, and the +annoyance to which such proceedings might subject me. Now, however, +the opportunity was before me. I easily gathered, or rather divined +from the circumstances in which I found myself, that no one was +acquainted with my being still in life but the gipsy and his comrade: +I knew that my child, with an ample fortune and numerous connections, +would be well protected and cherished by my sister; and I resolved +instantly to seize the only opportunity I might ever have of quitting +without inquiry or pursuit, scenes that were full of painful memories, +and society which I detested. The rest was easily arranged. I felt +that I was but slightly wounded. Pharold would have done whatever I +chose to dictate on earth; and I was borne to the gipsies' tents, and +tended with as much care and skill as if I had lain in a palace, +surrounded by friends and servants. + +"None knew me personally but Pharold himself; and he pledged himself +solemnly to conceal the fact of my existence from every one. It was +agreed that his tribe should instantly remove to a distance, carrying +me with them; while he remained, in order to watch the subsequent +proceedings of my family, and give me information thereof. He was +absent for several days; and when at length he rejoined his people, I +found that he had been himself arrested, and in some degree suspected +of having murdered me. He told me, however, that my brother had been +the first to assert his innocence, and to effect his liberation. This +conduct pleased me; and I resolved to linger in England some time +longer, in order to mark your father's after proceedings. Through the +exertions of Pharold, I learned all that took place. I found that, +however he might have acted in other circumstances, my brother acted +nobly towards my child; and I took some pleasure, the first that I had +known for months, in viewing the emotions of his heart through the +conduct to which they led. The pleasure, however, was of a very +mingled nature; and at length I prepared to set out for Ireland, with +the intention of proceeding thence to America. At Holyhead I removed +from the tents of the gipsies, with whom I had hitherto continued, +because I was aware that Sir William Ryder, an old acquaintance both +of my brother's and my own, was to visit Pharold on Edward's account, +in order to ensure more perfectly the gipsy's silence. He came at +length, but in coming his horse took fright, threw him, and nearly +killed him on the spot. He likewise was borne into the gipsies' tents, +and for some days hovered between life and death. I saw him often, +without being seen, and many a time as I stood in the shadow, while +Pharold conversed with him, I heard him express bitter sorrow and +repentance for all the follies into which he had been led, and depict +vividly the writhings of a noble spirit under the consciousness of +having dipped deeply in vice and become a participator in crime. I +became interested in him, and determined in other lands--for he also +was following exactly the same track towards America as myself--to let +him know of my existence; which would at least relieve a part of the +load under which he suffered. He partially recovered, and proceeded to +Ireland; but he never reached America; for ere he could embark, the +consequences of the injuries he had received in his fall assumed a +severe character, and at a small inn, in a small and wretched Irish +port, I found him dying and alone. His surprise on seeing me had +nearly killed him; but he soon regained composure, and I remained with +him till his last hour. + +"By his advice, and authorized by his own hand, I took his name; and +by means of papers which he gave me at his death, have received ever +since the annuity of a thousand per annum, which my brother had +settled upon him; nor did I think myself unjustified in either of +these actions, for I only assumed a rank inferior to my own, and +received money which to all intents and purposes was mine. However, as +Sir William Ryder had a numerous acquaintance, it became necessary to +fix my abode in such a spot as would remove every chance of my assumed +name being questioned. My feelings too at this time led me to seek +solitude, and an entire change, not only of scene, but of all the +circumstances of life. Thus I retired to the spot where you found me, +during the late war; and there, in the midst of savage life, and +various sources of interest and excitement, I gradually recovered +calmness and peace. Of my life in America I need give you no picture, +as you have seen how it passed; and I have now only to explain further +the motives of my return. + +"Every human thing is weak in its resolves, and I not less than +others; but still, in some degree, it is happy that it should be so; +for our determinations are always the children of circumstances, and +upon circumstances also must their execution ever depend. Like a +madman and a fool, I had fancied that in Marian's mother I had found +imperishable happiness; and when she was suddenly snatched from me, my +whole feelings, my very soul, seemed turned into bitterness and +disappointment. In bitterness and disappointment, then, I had resolved +never to love another human being, and to cast off every tie that +could bind me to human affections: but time brought resignation and +consolation; and a longing, a thirst to see my child and my native +land often came upon me with overpowering force. I sought not to +resume wealth or station. I sought not to mingle again in cultivated +society; but the yearning of the heart of a father and a man towards +my daughter and my country were sometimes hardly to be resisted. That +my child was well, happy, and protected, I learned from the constant +correspondence which I kept up with the gipsy Pharold; and, at the +same time, the interest which I took in the wild tribes around me, and +the love they evinced towards me, acted as a strong tie to the land in +which I had settled. I wavered often, but I resisted long; till, at +length, I became acquainted with your admirable friend Manners, and +through him first personally knew yourself. Your very name was full of +interest to me; but how much was that interest increased when, by some +casual words which passed between you and your friend, I learned that +you were destined to become the husband of my only child. All the +faults of your father's character rose up before my imagination his +very faults towards your mother were remembered and when I pictured to +myself my dear Marian suffering under similar conduct, my heart was in +an agony of doubt and apprehension. From that moment I watched your +every word and action with eager anxiety, striving to judge your mind +and heart. I did judge you, Edward, and I judged you wrongly. There +was a fastidiousness, an irritability, an impatience, a degree of +pride, that put me strongly in mind of your father; and although I +thought I saw some nobler traits, yet I was anxious, doubtful, ill at +ease; and I determined, at any risk, at any cost, to try you to the +uttermost, ere you received the fate of my child into your hands. I +did try you, Edward, and somewhat too severely; and both for having +mistaken your nature, and made you suffer deeply, I now ask your +forgiveness. At the time you left me, I was engaged in negotiating the +purchase of a large tract of land to be reserved for certain tribes of +Indians, but a larger sum was required than I could command; and this, +with the other circumstances I have mentioned, hastened my return to +England. I arrived in my native country even before you did; but a +thousand difficulties surrounded me which I had not foreseen; and my +anxiety and eagerness made me act with less caution than I should have +done. I had no agent in whom I could confide but the gipsy Pharold; +and although he wrought in every thing exactly under my directions, +yet a thousand circumstances, over which we had no control, turned our +actions from their course, and led to results that neither of us +anticipated. My intention was not to claim either my name or my +estates, if I found that you were worthy of my child: but I have been +forced forward, from step to step, as if by the strong hand of fate, +till at length it became an imperative duty to disclose myself, in +order to deliver the innocent from persecution. One satisfaction, +however, I have obtained, which is, that I can now feel unbounded +confidence in the man to whom I leave the happiness of my child in +charge. Remember also, Edward, that I have resumed my own rights, +without compromising the honour or reputation of your father--" + +"Indeed! indeed!" cried De Vaux, starting up, and grasping his uncle's +hands. "Thanks, thanks, my dear sir! That is a blessed relief indeed! +But will not people suspect--" + +"They cannot do so reasonably," replied Lord Dewry. "The secret, my +dear boy, remains with you and me alone, and never to a living +creature shall it pass my lips, as I hope for happiness hereafter." + +"But the gipsy!" cried De Vaux, "the gipsy!" + +"The gipsy is no more!" replied his uncle, a shade coming over his +countenance. "Persecution and severe laws have driven him to despair, +and despair to death. And now, Edward, to-morrow you are about to +visit your father; in regard to letting him know what information you +possess, act as you shall think fit. Were I in your circumstances, if +possible, I should conceal from him that I knew aught beyond common +report; but if you do communicate to him the knowledge you have +obtained, add that for all and every fault towards myself I forgive +him from my heart and soul, but that his conduct towards Pharold the +gipsy rests dark upon my mind; and that, perhaps, it would be better +if we did not meet again till time had softened the remembrance. +Present him, Edward, with this packet also. It contains a deed +which will prevent him from feeling any great change of fortune +from my return." + +De Vaux coloured as he took it; and his uncle added,--"You must not +again make me deem you proud, Edward." + +"No, no, my dear sir," replied De Vaux. "What I have suffered has not +only been a trial, but will, I trust, prove a cure; for the errors +that you saw and justly feared, were fully as real as apparent. I +cannot but feel pained, however, that we should have so small a right +to expect--to expect--" He paused, hesitated a moment, and then +added,--"to expect bounty at the hand which now bestows it." + +"Call it not bounty, my dear Edward," answered his uncle, "nor couple +yourself with others in any shape, for in this deed you are in no +degree interested. The fortune which Marian inherits from her mother +will render you independent, till my death renders you wealthy. And +now to conclude, ere I wish you good-night:--I have been forced to +speak to you long of your father. In doing so, though I have tried not +to spare my own faults, I have been obliged to dwell for long upon +his; but I have done so once for all, and I never more mention them +again, either to his son or to any one else. It has been as painful +for me to speak, as for you to hear. It is over; and now, good-night!" + +We might dwell longer upon the feelings of Edward de Vaux; but we have +only space left for his actions. The next morning early he set out to +visit his parent, and it was late ere he returned. When he did so, +however, he announced to his uncle that, although still unwell, his +father had quitted Dimden, and removed a few stages on his journey to +a remote part of the country, in which he had determined to fix his +residence. + +"Of course, my dear sir," he added, "every inducement, but one, would +lead me to remain here, in the scenes wherein I have been brought up, +which are full of sweet recollections, and which contain her I love +the best on earth. Nevertheless, he is my father; and I cannot suffer +him to linger through the hours of sickness, in sorrow, dejection, and +solitude, when, perhaps, the society of his son may give him +consolation, or, at least, afford some diversion to his thoughts. +To-morrow, therefore, I will see Marian; and then, if the surgeons +will let me, will set off to follow my father. As soon as his illness +is terminated," and he spoke with a look of pain and apprehension, "I +will return, and claim a promise which is more valuable to me than +life; and, in the meantime, I know that none who are dear to me will +think the worse of me for having in this instance preferred duty to +happiness." + +Lord Dewry made no opposition to his purpose, and it was accordingly +executed. Two months elapsed without any event of importance. Lord +Dewry took possession of his rights again; and rumour and gossip, at +every fresh incident in our drama, revived more and more faintly, till +at length they died away, and gave place to newer things. The body of +the gipsy Pharold was never found; and a vague report spread over the +country that he was not dead, but had returned to his people, and had +been seen in several places by persons who were acquainted with his +person; but the origin of this report could not be traced; and certain +it is, that The Gipsy never again presented himself before any of the +family of De Vaux. The tribe which he had led disappeared from the +country; and whither their wanderings conducted them, or what was +their fate, the writer of this book cannot tell, though it appears +that Mr. Arden, that indefatigable magistrate, pursued them with his +usual vigour, on the charge of deer-stealing and murder, but was +unsuccessful in the attempt to identify any of the parties. In the +meanwhile two inducements led Lord Dewry to establish his permanent +residence at Dimden, rather than at the newer mansion which his +brother had inhabited; first, that it was full of memories that he +loved; and, secondly, that it was near those who were the dearest to +him on earth. Colonel Manners, for his part, had prolonged his stay at +Morley House for some time; but he then returned to London, promising +faithfully to renew his visit, when the same cause which had brought +him first into that part of England was again urged as a plea for +revisiting it. To the surprise of all his military acquaintances, +however, shortly after his arrival in the capital, Colonel Manners +resigned the command of his regiment, and retired upon half pay. +Various causes were assigned for this proceeding; but the real motive +lay hidden in his own bosom, deeper than he liked to own even to +himself. + +While these events were passing, Edward de Vaux wrote often to his +uncle, and still more frequently to Marian; but at the end of two +months the peer received a letter in which his brother's handwriting +was faintly to be traced. It was short, and to the following effect:-- + + +"My Lord, + +"I am dying; and a few days are all that remains to me of life; I +therefore venture to ask that you would see me once more before we +part--perhaps for ever. I would fain receive your forgiveness from +your own lips. I would fain tell you how that remorse--which led me on +to new crimes and more intense sufferings at every step, while it was +the companion of terror and despair--has conducted me to repentance +and consolation, now that the burden has been lightened by your +return. I have not only wronged you, but I have fearfully wronged +others, and I acknowledge it with sorrow and with shame. Nor will I +attempt to excuse or palliate any part of my conduct; for you, whose +life has passed without spot, cannot tell the goading power of that +fiery scourge with which one great crime drives us on to a thousand +more, in order to conceal it. My cruel, I might almost say insane, +persecution of an unhappy man who, as I hear, is now no more, had such +feelings for its cause; but I know too well that if my deep and bitter +repentance be not accepted by the Almighty, it will be no vindication +of a great crime to urge that it was the consequence of another. In +regard to my offences towards yourself, I have been punished by twenty +years of those torments which have been assigned to hell itself--the +worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched. But this is +not enough; and if I did not trust that the deep repentance which I +feel may obtain some better expiation of my offences than my own +sufferings can afford, I should die without hope. I do hope, however, +that mercy may be found; and oh, my brother, let me beseech you to +encourage that trust, by seeing me, and assuring me of your full +forgiveness, ere I go to another world." + + +The peer lost not a moment, and arrived at his brother's bedside +before the last scene was over. He found in him, however, scarcely a +trace of what he had been even three months before. At that time, +intense mental exertion and activity had apparently given him power to +bear up under all the load that pressed upon his heart; but the sudden +re-appearance of his brother, and the events which accompanied it, +seemed to have broken, in a moment, the staff under his hand, and he +had fallen at once into age, decrepitude, and decay. + +Lord Dewry and Edward de Vaux returned not after to Dimden Hall in +deep mourning; and though joy certainly sparkled in the lover's eyes +as he once more held Marian to his heart, yet for many weeks he was +grave and sad, and only recovered his cheerfulness by degrees. Nor +indeed even then did Edward de Vaux ever resume the same demeanour +which he had formerly borne. Sorrows, anxieties, and humiliation had +rendered him grave; but they had nevertheless in no degree made him +less amiable in the eyes of those that loved him. On the contrary, +whatever had been frivolous, or fastidious, or irritable in his +nature, had been removed; and in the trials he had undergone he had +cast away the impatient pride, which was the worst quality he had +possessed, and had obtained a calm dignity, which had a better and a +nobler foundation. Marian de Vaux did all she could to sooth, to +comfort, and console him; and in the end, if there was anything on +earth of which he was proud, it was of the love and the conduct of her +he was shortly to call his bride. As soon as De Vaux urged the +fulfilment of the engagement between Marian and himself, he met with +no opposition; and the day was fixed. Manners was immediately informed +of the fact; and, according to the invitation he received, came down +to Morley House a fortnight before the time appointed for the +marriage. Even six or eight months will work their change in every +one; and Isadore Falkland remarked that Colonel Manners neither seemed +in such good health nor such good spirits as when last she had seen +him: but ere the ceremony took place, in the air of the country and +the cheerful society which he now enjoyed, he had recovered both; and +only now and then gave way to a moment or two of absent thought. + +All was now gayety and cheerfulness: and as nothing occurred either to +delay the wedding again, or to imbitter the after lives of Edward and +Marian de Vaux, we shall pass the whole over with the fewest possible +words--they were united and were happy. + +But one scene more, and we have done. On the day succeeding that of +the wedding, there was, according to the custom of that time, a grand +and solemn dinner given at Morley House to all the grave and reverend +seniors in the neighbourhood. It was now the height of summer; and +though men sat long and drank deep in those days, yet people who were +sufficiently reasonable to condemn the practice, and sufficiently firm +to contemn an idle sneer, could rise from table when they liked, even +then. Thus, about an hour after the ladies had retired, and just as +the sun's lower rim touched the horizon, Colonel Manners, who had been +strangling a whole generation of yawns, rose and sauntered to the +window. Mr. Arden, who had sat next to him, instantly seized the +decanter, and exclaimed, "Come, come, colonel; your glass is charged." + +"Thank you," answered Manners; "I do not drink any more." + +"Poo, poo," cried the magistrate; "no flinching, colonel; your glass +is charged--charged to the muzzle; and a gallant soldier like you will +never refuse to fire it off." + +"I am on half-pay," answered Manners, with a smile; and moving towards +the door, notwithstanding all Mr. Arden's objurgations, he left the +room. + +In the drawing-room he found the ladies scattered in various parties, +and engaged in various occupations. Mrs. Falkland was paying such +attention to her guests as the circumstances required; but Isadore, as +if she had quite forgotten them, was standing at the far bay window, +looking at the setting sun and thinking-- + +Manners advanced as quietly as possible to the same spot, and spoke a +few words to Miss Falkland, which she answered in the same tone. It +was a low one. The conversation might thus have gone on for a long +time without disturbing any one; but Lady Margaret Simpson, who sat at +the other side of the room, was fond of being a third; and in about +five minutes she crossed over and joined them. + +"Well, Colonel Manners," she said, "I have not been able to speak a +word to you all dinner-time, and I wanted to talk to you about the +wedding. Has not this been a very fortunate termination to all that +bad business?" + +"Most satisfactory, indeed," answered Manners, with a glance towards +Isadore, who looked vexed and provoked. "I doubt not that De Vaux and +his fair bride are fully of your opinion." + +"Oh, they of course think so," rejoined Lady Margaret; "and there can +be no doubt that marriage is a very right and very proper thing, when +fortune, and rank, and all that agree. Do you not think so, my dear +Miss Falkland?" + +"Certainly, madam," answered Isadore, in a tone which argued a doubt +whether she should laugh or cry; "I dare say it is a very proper +thing." + +"Then now tell me," cried Lady Margaret, in a gay and happy tone of +raillery--"then now tell me, why you--who I know have had three very +good offers indeed--why you yourself do not marry? Tell me the truth, +now." + +"Oh, certainly I will," answered Isadore, half gayly, half pettishly. +"It is, I suppose, because I do not think it worth while to marry +without love; and if the man that I could love does not choose to +propose to me, it is quite impossible, you know, that I can propose to +him." + +God knows whether the colour that spread over Isadore's face came from +within or without,--whether it was a rush of warm blood from some deep +source in her heart, or the warm beams of the setting sun reflected +from the damask curtain on her cheek. However that might be, she felt +that the crimson was growing too deep, and turning round, upon some +light excuse, she left the room. Manners remained for a moment or two +to hear some more of her ladyship's pleasantries; and then declaring +that he could not abandon, even for the pleasure of her society, his +sunset walk in the garden, he strolled out through the anteroom, which +was not the way that Isadore had taken. When he reached the lobby, +however, he remembered that there was a certain music-room, of which +he had remarked that Isadore Falkland had lately become extremely +fond, and as he had by this time acquired a strong liking for the +things that she liked, he turned his steps thither instead of to the +garden. + +No sooner did he open the door, than he beheld Miss Falkland seated +near the window, with a handkerchief in her hand, engaged in the +somewhat sad occupation of wiping tears from her eyes. "Good God, +Colonel Manners!" she exclaimed, as soon as he appeared, "leave me, +leave me, I beg." + +But Manners did not obey. On the contrary, advancing rapidly towards +her, he took her hand, saying, "Miss Falkland, I am either the most +happy or the most miserable of men. I have broken through all my +resolutions; I have exposed myself to love, where I have no right to +entertain a hope; I love for the first time, deeply, passionately, +sincerely, and it is for you to say whether that passion shall be my +curse or my blessing." + +Isadore replied not, but her tears burst forth more vehemently than +before; and the hand that Manners had taken remained trembling in his. +Manners pressed her to his heart; and Isadore ended her flood of tears +upon his bosom. + +It was nearly three months after this event ere Isadore Falkland again +met Lady Margaret Simpson; and then her ladyship's first exclamation +was, "Goodness, my dear Miss Falkland, they tell me you are going to +be married to Colonel Manners! Well, I do declare, when you are so +very handsome, it is a great pity that he is so ugly." + +"Ugly!" cried Isadore. "Ugly! Lady Margaret! He is the handsomest man +in all the world!" and she continued to think so to her dying day. + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gipsy (Vols I & II), by +G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIPSY (VOLS I & II) *** + +***** This file should be named 39376.txt or 39376.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/3/7/39376/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (Princeton University Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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