CHAPTER XII. ertine son produced upon his unhappy_father and the sky without a cloud-the storm was you are no doubt apprised of; and, as I never gathering unseen, and he sternest trial of more could be happy in a place where I had his young career awaited the island orphan. passed my manhood, and had once hoped to have worn out my declining years, I determined to leave the country altogether, and, with the savings of an industrious life, seek a home in my native village, where my mind would be at peace, and my daughter safe Love-Lane.—Mr. Hunsgate makes a new ac from profligate machinations. With deep quaintance, and renews an old one.-Evenanxiety on your account, Brian, I watched ing Conferences.-Suppers and Symposia. the tardy recovery of the maimed libertine ; "Is there a heart that never loved?" says and when the surgeons had pronounced him out of danger, I bade Carramore Park an eter- a song that I first heard issue from rosy lips, nal farewell. One regret alone disturbed me which Sir John Suckling would have sonnetIf in coming to the resolution I had done. The ized, and were nearly the death of me. dust of one still dear to memory was reposing in there be such, then say I, "devil take the prothe neighboring churchyard; and had it been prietor!" I talk but of the past. Many a the will of heaven, I would have wished to year has flown since, in the parlance of that have laid my bones beside those of my Su-inflammable, little gentleman, Tom Moore, san's mother. "I knew not how to communicate with you. Where you had retired to was unknown; and I thought any attempt which I could have made to discover your retreat, might compromise your safety. To Providence I trusted to unite us in happier times; and you see I have not placed my hopes in vain. "To see him, whom for years I have regarded as a son, once more beneath my roof, is indeed a happiness I am thankful for; but from other causes your return is additionally desirable. Heard ye of the unexpected gift that fortune has conferred ?" Brian briefly replied, that a fellow-passenger had mentioned the death of an unknown relative, and his unexpected succession to the wealth of a departed citizen. "Well, Brian," continued the ex-keeper, “I neither desire the trouble, nor feel myself competent to the management of aught beyond the savings of my youth. Within the last few days I have had an opportunity of knowing how Susan feels towards you; and if the affection you formerly professed for her is still unchanged, in God's name, the sooner you have a wife, and she a protector, the better. And now let us step in doors -I see that Susan beckons to us-and no doubt dinner will not be unwelcome to a traveller. My delight, Was love-still love.' It is high time for a man, anno ætatis the wrong side of forty-five, to shake hands with Cupid, and part company; but still, may he not cherish the dearest passages in mortal existence, and call back to memory the almost agonizing rapture attendant on reciprocated passion, when, in the spring of life, like Brian O'Linn, he was but approaching his twentieth summer? Three days passed, and never was there a happier Irishman than the young gentleman just mentioned. The old keeper dawdled the morning through his garden; dozed after dinner in his high-backed chair; and in the evening puffed the time away, and discussed village politics at the "Chequers." Brian and his pretty mistress were consequently left to their own resources; and whoever may discover that time flies tardily, lovers make no complaints. Through the park we have already described as flanking the gardens of the hamlet, a footpath ran, shortening considerably the distance between Holmesdale and a neighboring market-town. It was said that his liberty of passage through the domain of Mr. Hunsgate occasioned much annoyance to the owner, who had vainly endeavored to close his park; but the usage of centuries had too In altered mood to that in which he had en- firmly established it as a right, beyond the tered it, Brian left the garden. No nameless possibility of interrupting. Winding through fear disturbed his breast-no doubt remained thick plantations, and generally overshadowtouching the tried fidelity of her he loved. ed by spreading trees, from its beauty and To the long-looked-for union with the fair seclusion the villagers had called this avenue Susan every obstacle was removed; his path"Love's Lane." Here many a rustic suit seemed strewn with roses; and his cup of had been listened to or rejected, and hither, happiness full even to the overflowing. But on the third evening after his arrival, Brian how closely is the page of destiny sealed from and his fair fiancee repaired selon le regle, the human sight! At this moment, when to commune with themselves, when the old bliss appeared secure, and nothing remained keeper, as was his custom, had paid his evento be feared, or even to be wished for-when ing visit to the parlor of the "Chequers." the haven was in sight, the ocean tranquil, Twilight grey" gave signal to the lovers 66 Brian silently gave promise, by a pressure of his hand, that he would defer to the entreaty of his mistress. that it was time to return to the cottage; and, sake-for your own sake, remember this is not accordingly, they were leisurely retracing a country where a little whiskey salves a datheir steps, when, where a by-path crossed maged head." the lane, a man, muffled in a cloak, suddenly presented himself. To avoid a meeting was impossible. Susan, startled at the unexpected appearance of a stranger, clung to Brian's arm, while the intruder, in a harsh and angry voice, demanded "Why they loitered there when evening was closing?" and the young Irishman, more Hibernico, responded to the question by demanding—“ What business it was of his ?" This system of interrogatories appeared to give satisfaction to neither party, while Susan, fearing that her lover's fiery temper might lead to an altercation, whispered an entreaty to be quiet. "Who are you, fellow ?" said the man in the cloak. "One," replied the youth, "who, if you fellow him again, will lay you at full length upon the sward." "Know you who I am?" "Not I, by St. Patrick," was the careless return; "nor would I give a brass button for the information." My name is Hunsgate," said the stranger. « What is yours?” "When you acquaint me by what right you ask, I may favor you with the intelligence you require, and not till then." "You are a trespasser in my domain." "It is false!" was the fiery reply. "I am on a road the property of any one who pleases to make use of it." "Ha!" returned the muffled stranger. "I suppose you will next question my right to the mansion and estate." "Not I," returned the youth, with a scornful laugh. “I presume you have some legal claim to the property, or the right owner would kick you out. "Fellow!" exclaimed he in the cloak, and, in a threatening attitude, he made a step forward, while the young Irishman gently disengaged himself from the fair arm that rested upon his. "I warn you once more," said the youth. Apply fellow to me the third time, and down you go!" Susan, born and educated in a country where, however pecuniary obligations may be postponed, personal ones are promptly cleared off, saw that it was full time for her to resort to active mediation. "Mr. Hunsgate," she said firmly, "we are not intentionally trespassers on your path. This pathway is open as the King's high red, and you know that full well. We are quietly returning home. My father is Hugh Fleming; and this youth is my affianced husband, and his guest." Then, turning to her impatient lover, she whispered in his ear"Would you distress me, Brian? For my "Come," she said, " supper will be waiting us. Good night, sir," and she bowed to Mr. Hunsgate as she passed. "Good night" was sulkily returned; and, in passing, Brian's face approached the stranger's. The latter suddenly recoiled. 66 "Great God!" he uttered, " is it a vision, or reality?" and, while Susan and her lover walked briskly down the lane, Mr. Hunsgate remained in a fixed attitude, as if some magic influence had rooted him to the spot. Well, upon my conscience, my darling Susan, that Mr. Hunsworth, or Hunsgate, or whatever you call him, may bless you for retreating with unbroken bones. During our short conversation, if ever the devil stood at the elbow of an Irishman, the old gentleman was stuck hard and fast at mine. With the exception of a scoundrel who calls himself Dangerfield, I never met living man yet, who I longed so much to measure strength with. "Your feelings towards Mr. Hunsgate are not peculiar, dear Brian; for he is a man feared by many and disliked by all." "We must find some other walk out, Susan, and give up Love Lane in future. If I meet that man again, and he ventures to look crooked, or rub skirts, down he goes, though I get a month on the tread-mill for it." "Well, dear Brian, I must not attempt to dissuade you. My father hinted something last night about our marrying within a fortnight. But that is a matter in which there need be no hurry, you know; and, as you have never been in a House of Correction, why a month's exercise, and an introduction to genteel society, might be desira לי The sentence was unfinished; the lady folded in her suitor's arms; and the penalty of love exacted on the spot. 66 Ah, Susan!" exclaimed the youth, "my vaunt indeed ends an idle threat. I'll keep the peace, though Mr. Hunsgate followed me a thousand times." While with light and joyous hearts the lovers hastened home, he who had been the cause of robbing Susan of a kiss remained standing on the spot from which they had departed, with folded arms, and feet rooted to the ground, as if under some spell or fascination. Minutes passed after the youth and his mistress had disappeared, shut from the stranger's view by a bending of the path, and still he spake not. Feelings for a time too powerful for expression kept him silent; but words slowly came at last. "Has hell bandied against me, and the grave given up its tenants ?" was the first would a man, when his vessel's no longer sea-worthy, and fit to be commissioned, wish to moor himself, but under the lee of a grateful friend and wealthy patron?" eyes away from enduring a villain's glance, which spoke determination of purpose, and the consciousness that the means to effect the object were in his power. What could a man steeped in crime like Mr. Hunsgate do? Nothing but submit to the dictation of a ruffian despotism, too absolute to be resisted. Still, though his heart was terror-stricken, he strove to show a bold front, and hide from Hans Wildman a truth of which that scoundrel was fatally assured,—that his former patron would now be his future slave. desperate sentence the lord of Holmesdale Priory gave utterance to. "That voice was hers; such as I heard even in this very park some twenty years ago. But deeper damnation still! that flashing eye was his-ay, Mr. Hunsgate trembled; and well he his-his-his!" and the words came hissing might. Fear succeeded anger; the blood through teeth clenched in agony together. deserted his pallid face, and he turned his Methought, as I looked from the window of the library, the figure of one whom on earth I wished only to avoid, gliding past me, and vanished in a clump of evergreens. My fears induced me to venture forth. I came to seek the living, and found the dead!" A long pause followed. "Yes; voice and eye were neither to be forgotten; and, could there have been a doubt, the youth's bold manner, the tone in which he hurled defiance back,—the hand prompt to back the tongue,-all, all remind me of him I strive to forget in vain. 'Tis strange, too, how painfully men present likenesses to others. Search the world over, and a counterpart of that unmatched scoundrel, Hans Wildman, could scarcely be produced. He's distant, and, could my wishes effect it-drowned, or hanged, and yet, to my heated fancy, crossed the lawn this evening. Pshaw! 'tis idle to disturb oneself. Henry Devereux and Ellen Hunsgate sleep together in the island grave; and the only being who lives, and knows the secret, is ignorant of my name, divided from me by the sea, and from his dissolute and drunken habits not likely to cumber the earth long. I'll home, and "This is no conntry for you," said Mr. Hunsgate. "And wherefore, my dear friend?" returned the mariner, with surpassing impudence. 66 They hang men here for murder,” remarked the lord of Holmesdale Priory. "Egad! I have heard as much," respond ed Hans Wildman; "and, as they tell me, they make no distinction between the person who operates himself, and him who does the job by proxy." Humph!" was the only notice which Mr. Hunsgate vouchsafed to the stinging observation of his infamous confederate. "Not bid an old acquaintance welcome!" "Have you never a tingling here?" and exclaimed a coarse voice which thrilled to the ruffian, with matchless effrontery, touchthe soul of the lord of Holmesdale Priory. ed the collar of the person he was address"Ha!" he exclaimed, starting back horror-ing,-"no crick i' the neck? nor any apprestricken. "Can it be possible; or do my hension that it and hemp may be rather too eyes deceive me? and is itHe made familiar yet?" a pause, as if unwilling to pronounce the hated name. "Your staunch and valued friend, Hans Wildman," said the ruffian, with a fiendish laugh. "I thought ere this you were hanged." "Oh, no; you only hoped it," retnrned the mariner. "Had that misfortune overtaken me, I tremble at the misery you would have suffered. Of course you would have bent a suit of sables, and clapped up a figuré-head of me in the next gospel-shop. "Hush, fellow! your ribald insolence is offensive," and Mr. Hunsgate endeavored to awe the intruder by assuming a cold and formal dignity. "What brought you hither?" "I think they call it," said the ruffian, with marked indifference, "the Holmesdale Express; and a cursed slow craft it is. Give me the York mail for my money. D-n me! they do spank along!" "But wherefore visit England?" "Bah! what a question!" returned the mariner. "I'm getting old, squire,-ay, that's what they call ye here,--and where Could he have dared it, Mr. Hunsgate would have stabbed Wildman to the heart; but he was too fatally within his power, and his reply was an agonizing groan. "Come-come, said the mariner, "'tia idle for old friends to trifle. Act as you should, and I'll be true to you, old boy! as flint to steel. D-n it, my demands shall not be beyond the mark neither. I don't wish to become a justice of the peace, or even to set up shop in my old days as a gentleman. Let us see. A safe roadstead, with good holding-ground, to let go my anchor in; a warm berth, and well-stored locker. No banyan days throughout the week; and the evening put in at the "Chequers." Well, a couple of hundred pounds, paid monthly, would do the trick,-ay, and do it well. D-n me, they tell me in the village that you're worth seven thousand a year.You're not incommoded with a family; and I have been better to you than a bad stepson," and the scoundrel laughed, while Mr. Hunsgate writhed with impotent rage. Hang it!" continued the mariner, "are "I pray you," he said, turning to the mariner, "to keep these ruffian recollections to yourself." we to spin a dry yarn out of doors, and re-ate; and he had paid a more than ordinary main here till cock-crow? In my poor opin- penalty for guilt and bloodshed. Gradually, ion, a steady friend like me should half an the grave closes on the just and the unjust; hour since have had his legs snug under but that resting place was refused to Danyour mahogany. Had you washed the cob- gerfield. webs from my throat with any Christian liquid I could have told you news. They say down at the Chequers,'-I'm riding there at single anchor till you find me safer moorings to bring up to,-they whisper that the want of a heir annoys you. Well, to tell you that I can provide you with one, and to inquire after your general health, were the objects which brought me here." "And how the devil did you devise means to find me out?" 66 "Well; it's a weakness of mine; I never forget old friends. You see the trouble I have taken to find you out. But, what say you to the 'Chequers ?" " Mr. Hunsgate started at the proposition. "I enter an alehouse, and in such company as your's! I, who never lay my foot within the village! Is the fellow mad?" "Remain 'Why, for once, our master, the gentle- "No," returned Wildman, "but the felman you have just named, came to my as- low's cursedly tired of talking out of doors. sistance. I had been unceremoniously kick- Then are we not to sup at the Priory ?" ed out of a coffee-room into the street; and, "Such must be the case, I suppose," rewhen gathering myself up from the kerb-plied Mr. Hunsgate with a sigh. stone, saw your well-remembered counten- in the thick plantation you entered this eveance inside a passing stage-coach. I could ning; and, when you perceive a light placed barely manage to read the word 'Holmes- in a lower window, come forward. The sash gate' on the vehicle, until the carriage drove reaches to the lawn; and it will give you out of hail. Well, the clue once gained, a easy admission. There the refreshment you little inquiry did the rest; and here we are, require shall be prepared; and then you can once more united, and—if I can prevent it communicate the intelligence you hinted at. never again to part." Keep that path; I take this," and, as he spoke, the owner of Holmesdale Park entered a narrow alley, and disappeared. "It is useless to strive against the hand of destiny!” Mr. Hunsgate muttered, with a groan. "What will be, will be. It is dangerous to talk here." "And devilish disagreeable, as I dined at one o'clock," responded the mariner. "Accursed lot!" said, or rather thought, the proprietor of Holmesdale, " to be firmly in the thrall of this ruthless ruffian, who knows his power, and will make his victim feel it." "Well, squire! what the plague are you mumbling about? If you don't like to bring me to the hall, or the priory, or whatever they call that dark building, that looks far liker a rasp-house than the dwelling of a gentleman, there is the 'Chequers,' ay, and a better place by odds than the old dancingshop in Flushing, where Dangerfield introduced us to each other. It's an old story now. Twenty years old! One who passes that space sees a deal. When I think of it, what a capricious jade is Fortune! Two old and valued camarados!-one in undisputed possession of seven thousand pounds a year; and the other ornamenting a gibbet! I can't say he held an undisputed possession of it, for, d-n me! the night-hawks used to have a peck or two, until they cleaned his ribs. There's nothing left of Dangerfield but bare bones; and the hoodie-crow would not waste time in whetting his beak upon a skeleton. A pebble would do it better." Mr. Hunsgate shuddered. The disgusting remnant of mortality which Wildman described, had been his own criminal confeder The mariner's eyes followed his retiring patron, until a bending in the path shut Mr. Hunsgate's figure from his view, and then broke into a soliloquy. "Hans Wildman," he exclaimed in a tone of triumph, "thou hast fallen on thy legs at last! Little did the scoundrels imagine, when they were bundling me neck and crop out of the hotel, like a mangy dog, that every kick they gave was sending me direct into the path of fortune. One half minute, and the golden opportunity would have been lost. Mr. Hunsgate-it's pleasant to find out the name of an old friend and benefactor,—would have escaped my recognition; and the chances would have been a million to one that no exertions of mine could have ever led to the discovery of a person who wrapped himself in such mystery as seemed to defy detection. Am I safe in trusting myself in that gloomy house? Might he not have me done to death, or ease his fears by a slight infusion in the wine-cup, merely to insure pleasant dreams, and such as would last until eternity! Ha! friend Hans, look to yourself sharply! You have made the land; and, if you don't turn fortune to account, you deserve to beat hemp in the rasp-house for life, and die a pauper. Well, we'll follow in the commander's wake; and, before we part tonight, I'll let him into a secret that will not make him sleep the sounder." So saying, the ruffian strolled slowly to the appointed place, ensconsed himself in the clump of evergreens, and waited the signal | world quietly, that I should this night sleep to rejoin his worthy patron. with-Captain Devereux. Hans Wildman was not kept waiting long. myself to wine, for all that. A light appeared in the window, and the mar- port. I don't object to it. iner approached the mansion. The case-screw. Come, out goes the ment was unclosed, the ruffian stepped in, to business, if you will." and found himself in an old-fashioned library, well-furnished, largely stocked with books, and its gloomy proprietor standing with his back against the mantelpiece. "Close the shutters, draw the curtains, and then for supper first, and business afterwards " The mariner obeyed; and, having made the casement secure against external espionage, he advanced to the fire-place, and regarded the meal prepared for him with keener interest than a hungry man generally bestows upon his supper. "This "What call you this?" he said. thing with claws above the pastry.' Mr. Hunsgate carelessly applied to the glass hanging at his breast for assistance. "It is a pigeon-pie, at least I fancy so," he replied; and his lip curled with ill-suppressed indignation at the easy familiarity of his ruffian guest. "Then the same pigeon-pie shall content us. Its coating is a sort of security,—and, forgive me, only one more remark, you'll permit me to draw my own corks. I have become particular of late; but, after tomorrow you may play butler, should you please it." "Scoundrel! ruffian ! what mean you?" "Oh! nothing particular. By the Lord! your cook's a treasure. I trust your dovecote is amply stocked; for, when we sup, give me the pigeons." "Mr. Wildman !" "Oh! d―n it! don't 'Mr. Wildman' me; it looks unfriendly. But," touching the bottle, "any of those chaps upon the sideboard will do, provided the cork is sealed." "What mean you, villain ?" 66 Why, only, that the shortest road to heaven, barring that through a gashed throat, is often found in the wine-cup.' 66 Now, by everything man hopes for, this is not endurable. Wretch! monster! murderer! Dare you say that to remove one so iow I would stoop to homicide?" "I am but a plain and simple man, Mr. Hunsgate." He placed strong emphasis on the title. "Well, I cannot help laughing, for the life of me, to think how a simple devil of my kind could have weathered a crafty old fox like you. As to homicide-if by that phrase you mean throat-slitting-why, my belief is, that throughout wide England there is not a man who would by the hands of others do it more unscrupulously than yourself. I am privy to one instance; and did the trick in person for you a second time; and, I have no doubt, could you but drug me from the Well, I'll help "Go on. What is the information you promised me ?" "Why, what I promised in the park I'll fulfil to the letter. You want an heir. I have one for you, cut and dry, in London." "Bah! stupid trifler !" "Yes; no mistake about it, Mr. Hunsgate. Devereux's orphan is at this moment in London." "False as hell!" replied the host. "I say he is," returned the mariner angrily. "I repeat it; he is not." 66 By heaven! if I do not produce him in a week, I'll forfeit this right hand!" exclaimed Hans Wildman. "A week!" observed the lord of the Priory, with a sneer. 'Why consume a week in doing what I can effect within an hour ?” "Mr. Hunsgate, I do not comprehend riddles, but I will tell you facts; I met, and under strange circumstances, with young Devereux on the Border. Under still stranger, we arrived in London in the York mail. The morning I fortunately recovered your traces, I lost his-accident again befriended me, and when I half despaired of finding the youth, I ran against his companion in the street-followed him home, and found that I had the younker once more upon the hip. I came here like your guardian angel, to apprise you that this noble property is not without an heir -and that if you are in a hurry to find him, you have only to drive to No. in Craven Street." And having delivered this long and circumstantial detail, the worthy mariner filled and turned down a bumper. "I thank you for your information, friend," returned the host, drily; "but as I neither wish to undertake a useless journey, or commence a wild-goose-chase, I'll not go further than the village. If there be on earth a son of Ralph Devereux, he is this evening in Holmesdale, and most probably at supper i the cottage of Hugh Nevill." "I saw him five days ago in London. said the mariner, as he struck the table witl his hand. "And I spoke to him this evening in my own park, five minutes before I had the plea. sure of renewing my acquaintance with the worthy gentleman I have now the honor of entertaining." The mutual disclosures made by the host and the mariner, produced on both sides unqualified surprise, and on neither any pleasure. To Mr. Hunsgate the discovery was astounding, that he had steeped himself in |