'm^ .^^ :3o5i>i'::>^ ^^a^ ^^ ^^:^. "^z?'^^--^^ ~s=«> ^V^ ^ V>1) .^ 1 ■^ :^a^ ^ w j^^^amm^ ^ ^Tv^ i ^^ ^ '^\# >^^ j^ ->:» ^EIE^^^B fcj Ji> g i^ ~-^^^^^I^Se^ >\;'^^S ^1 ^0> 7. ^ 3 . _ ^ >y - ^> ■> z im^ .~>>'3 ^Hl ■ ^>.^> -^ !) • '!>■ > ^S ^ 3^ .^* i!ft^ii^AA. ! f7mii\' . \^^ "^ >3 3 M^' j^ ^/^ ^m 9 y -f- m^ p C' / € 0' 0' m ^ Wm- ' > ». -1, ♦> "S |r ■>*»♦, ^ ■t «- • V ■■- ♦ , •• Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from Duke University Libraries littp://www.arcliive.org/details/castleslieirnovelOOwood THE CASTLE'S HEIR. NOVEL IN REAL LIFE. BY MRS. HENRY WOOD. AUTHOR OF "VERNER's PRIDE," "THE CHANNINGS," " EARL's HEIRS,' "A life's secret," "east lynne," "the. mystery," "the SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT," "SQUIRE TREVLYN's HEIR," "FOGGY NIGHT AT OFFORD," "RUNAWAY MATCH," ETC. Printed from the authors' Manuscript, purchased from Mrs. Henry "Wood, and issued here in advance of the publication of the work in Europe, with Illus- trations from original designs, by the first artists in this country. P 1) i I a c I p I) i a : T. B. PETERSON & BROTHEES; 306 CHESTNUT STREET. Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1853, by T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. CONTENTS. I -««4 CHAPTER p^ng I.— The Family— The Chapel-Ruins 2;; II.— The Quarrel- The Lady's Shrieks 29 III.— The Fall from the Cliff. 3S IV. — Lady Adelaide's Oath 45 y. — Richard Ravensbird 53 TI. — The Packman — The Death-Room 59 YII.— What the Sea Casts Up— The Flag Half-mast high GT Tin. — Margaret Bordillion — Tiffle 74 IX. — The Lease of the Sailor's Rest 80 X. — The Damp Flags — The Bride Coming Heme 88 XL — Squire Lester's Household — "Wilfred 96 XIL— Shad IO4 XIII. — An Awful Night — and an Awful Scene Ill XIV.— The Rescued 121 XV. — The Japanned Box 121 XVI. — The Search 13G XVII. — A Thousand Pounds Reward 142 XVIIL— A Battle Royal— A Wood 149 XIX.— The Writ 156 XX. — The Night Interview 165 ■ XXI. — An Encounter with Shad — Turned from the Hall 171 XXII. — A Confused Plot — The Apparition in the Ruins 177 XXIIL — The Detective from Scotland Yard 185 XXIV.— The Attack 191 XXV.—The Dead in Life 201 XXVI.— The Heir of Dane 211 XXVII.— The Trestle-Closet— Maria Lester 215 XXVIII. — Lady Adelaide's Interview 222 XXIX. — Taking Dane Castle by Storm 230 XXX. — Squire Lester's Astonishment — Tiffle in a Fainting-Fit 236 XXXI. — Lord Dane's Levee — The Flag Half-mast high 244 XXXII.— A Wedding-Breakfast— The Last Scene on the Heights.... 252 (19) ILLUSTRATIONS. THE SECRET MEETING 33 RAVENSBIRD'S INDIGNANT DENIAL i < t3d M b OQ M b M !z! !> !2i b M ^ (>1. THB CASTLE'S HEIB." 5t of the latter. " I'll go out and see after him." " Does Mitchel say it was I, strug- gling with Captain Dane ? — that he saw me ?" inquired the prisoner, as Mr. Cotton left the hall. " Of course he does," answered the lawyer. " Do you imagine he would conceal it ?" " Then he tells a malicious, gra- tuitous lie," exclaimed llavensbird. "And he must do so to screen the real offender." Lord Dane bent his head forward, and spoke. " Ravensbird, as Mr. Ap- perly says, this line of conduct will only tell against you. Had no per- son whatever seen the transaction, there could not have been any mis- conception upon the point, for who else, but you, was in ill-blood with my son ? Of the nature of the quar- rel between you and him, yesterday morning, I am in ignorance, but it is certain that you must have provoked him most grievously, and you quitted my roof, uttering threats against him. " " My lord, so far, that is true," re- plied Ravensbird, calmly and respect- fully. " I gave Captain Dane certain information, by which I thought to do him a service, but he received it in a contrary spirit. It was connected with his own affairs, not pleasant news, and it called forth anger on his part towards me. I felt that it was unmerited, that I was harshly treated, and my own anger was roused. I an- swered my master as I confess I had no business to answer him. We both grew excited, he beyond control, and he ordered me out of the house and kicked me down the stairs. I ask you, my lord, whether it was likely I could take it calmly, without a retort ? I had been a good servant to my master, had served him faith- fully for years, and that only made me feel the insult more keenly. I left the castle, and for the next two hours all I did was to give vent to my feel- ings in harsh words — " " You said you would be revenged," interrupted Lord Dane. " Ten times, at least, I said it, my lord, and many heard me, but by the end of the two hours my anger was spent. Harsh words they were, but idle as the wind. I never seriously entertained the thought of taking ven- geance on my master. I had but spo- ken in the heat of passion ; and, be- fore long, I actually began in my own mind to find some excuse for him." " You forget that your struggle with him was witnessed by the preventive- man." " It never was, my lord, for no strug- gle with me took place. What Mit- chel's motive for accusing me can be, I cannot tell : either his eyesight de- ceived him, or he is screening the real offender at my cost. But I don't fear ; the truth is sure to come to light." " The truth is to the light already," sarcastically replied Mr. Apperly. "I am astonished at your ridiculous per- sistence, prisoner. You may just as well hold to it that the sun is not shin- ing into the room at this present mo- ment. But all this is most irregular, and only a waste of time. Inspector, is there nothing we can proceed with in order, while waiting for Mitchel ? Are there no witnesses to be examined?" The police-inspector stood forward and addressed Lord Dane. "Your lordship has done me the honor to put the conducting of this case into my hands," he said, " and I must ask to be allowed to question a witness — or that your lordship would question her. It has come to my knowlenge that there is one of your lordship's family, who perhaps may be enabled to throw some light upon the affair : I speak of Lady Adelaide Errol." There was a pause. Lord Dane did not reply. Mr. Apperly stared, and the inspector continued. " I have been informed that the Lady Adelaide proceeded as far as the ruins last night, just about the time the affray must have happened, and came back screaming, in a state of ex- treme terror. It strikes me, my lord, that her terror may have been caused through having seen something of the affray : and I should like to question her." 52 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. " I have questioned her," replied Lord Dane. " She says not." " Pardon me, my lord, if I hold my own opinion. Her ladyship is but young:, most likely timid, and she may feel afraid to confess to it. It may be necessar}^ — with your lordship's sanc- tion — to administer the oath.'i Lord Dane despatched a summons for Lady Adelaide. The reader must not suppose that things were conduct- ed with the regularity that they would have been in a formal court. Nothing of the sort. Lord Dane ruled, and the rest bowed to his will. Adelaide came in, not daring to dis- obey. She was in a white morning- dress, ornamented with blue ribbons. The sunlight fell upon her auburn hair, and her color went and came painfully : one minute she was crim- son : the next, white as her robe. She shivered and shook as she took the oath. " Had your ladyship any motive in going out to the ruins last evening ?" asked the inspector. " It was a fine night," she faltered, her voice scarcely audible. "You had no suspicion that any quarrel or affray was about to take place there ?" " Oh, no !" she vehemently an- swered. " It took you by surprise, then. Will your ladyship tell us what you saw ?" She burst into tears. But for her oath, she would have denied seeing any thing, as she had hitherto done. " Speak out," said Lord Dane, sternly. " I ran across to the ruins : it was very stupid and thoughtless of me : and I went inside," she sobbed. " I stood a few moments to take breath, and I fancied I heard voices, as if in dispute." "And then ?" eagerly questioned Lord Dane, for she had paused. " I crossed the ruins to thefbther door — the one nearer the sea — and looked out. Two men seemed to be struggling on the brow of the preci- pice, and I saw one fall over. I was nearly terrified out of my senses : I believe that, for the moment, my senses did leave me : all I remember is, that I tore out of the ruins, and back here, screaming." " Why did you not state this ?" sharply demanded Lord Dane. " Oh, I was too frightened," she shivered. ■" I was sick with fear. I thought if the men should come after me, and kill me for watching them." "Did you recognize one to be Harry ?" "No, no. How could I recognize them in that short moment ?" "My lady," interrupted Mr. Ap- perly, "did the other seem to bear any resemblance to the prisoner here ?" "Not that I saw or thought of," she answered. " It did not strike me that either of them was Ravensbird." " If she could not recognize my son, she could not recognize Ravensbird," observed Lord Dane. " My lady,^' struck in the inspector, " did no idea, ever so faint, convey to your mind who either of them might be ?" The question — from him — seemed to excite her anger, and she turned her face haughtily upon him. " Did you not hear my replies to Lord Dane and Mr. Apperly ? ■» Had I recognized Captain Dane or his ad- versarv, should I be likely to say I did not ? To what end ? What had the affair to do with me ?" It takes a great deal to stop a police- inspector. And this one proceeded as deliberately as though he had re- ceived no reproof. " Nor the voices either, my lady ? Did you not recognize them ?" " I recognized nothing," she impa- tiently answered. " I was too terri- fied. May I retire ?" she added, turn- ing to Lord Dane. " If I stop here forever, I can say no more." "An instant yet, my lady," inter- rupted the inspector. " Did the other . — the one who did not go over the cliff — attempt to follow you, when you ran away ?" " Not that I saw — not that I know of. I did not look round to see." THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 6S " My 1 ady, " continued the undaunted inspector, " I must ask you one more question ; and you will pardon me for reminding you that you arc upon your oath, before you answer it. Have you told all ? Is there nothing that you are keeping back ?" But the question was never an- swered. For Lady Adelaide, over- come by emotion, caused perhaps by past remembrance, perhaps by present perplexity, turned deadly white, and fell back on a chair. " She knows no more," said Lord Dane. " Take her up-stairs to my lady." CHAPTER Y. BICHARD RAVENSBIRD. Lord Dane grew impatient in his chair of state. The warrant, commit- ting Richard Ravensbird for the wil- ful murder of his son, was already made out ; it wanted only the sig- nature, and that waited but for the formality of Mitchel's evidence. Mr. Apperly busied himself with his pa- pers, the prisoner leaned against the wall, the inspector was in a brown study, his arms folded, while the ser- vants collected outside in groups, to express their horror and aversion of their late comrade, Ravensbird. " Here's Mitchel, here's Mitchel," briskly cried out Mr. Apperly, seeing the approach of the man. " Now, then, we shall soon have it over." The preventive-man came in, under the wing of Supervisor Cotton. He looked pale and ill still, and Lord Dane ordered him a chair, while he gave his evidence. He testified to hearing the disputing sounds, to see- ing indistinctly the struggle, and to the fall of Captain Dane. " Thrown over by Ravensbird," said hot-tongued Lawyer Apperly. " Yes," responded Mitchel. " Were there no signs of life what- ever in my son ?" inquired Lord Dane, struggling with his inward feelings. " None, my lord : he was as dead as ever I saw anybody. I wish I could have carried him away with me in my arms, my lord, instead of leav- ing him to be washed away with the tide ; but it was beyond my strength. I wish I had not fell into that fit : there'd have been time to get to him." "You could not help it, Mitchel," replied Lord Dane, in a sad, kind tone. " Did you recognize him to be my son on the heights before he fell ?" Mitchel shook his head. " Impossible, my lord. It was only moonlight, and the scuffle did not seem to last a moment hardly before he was over. It was only when I got to him, trying to lift him up, that I saw it was Captain Dane." An interruption came from the prisoner. He had fixed his stern, black eyes on Mitchel when the man first entered, never removing them ; they seemed to devour every turn of his countenance, every word that fell from his mouth. " My lord," said he, turning to Lord Dane, " the worst criminal brought to the bar is allowed an advocate, by the English law ; but I have been hurried here without one. Having none, I should like to ask the witness a ques- tion myself." "Ask it," assented Lord Dane. "You have just sworn that it was impossible you could recognize Cap- tain Dane upon the heights, that it was only moonlight, and the scuffle lasted but a moment," proceeded the prisoner to Mitchel, availing himself of the permission. " If you could not recognize him, how could you recog- nize me ?" " I did not recognize you," returned Mitchel. A pause. The prisoner spoke out again eagerly, passionately. " Then why did you say you did ?" "I didn't say it." "^^udid. As I am told." "Wg, I did not say it. My eye- sight did not carry me so far," was Mitchel's rejoinder ; but he was inter- rupted by the police-inspector. "Do you mean to deny, Mitchel, S4 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. now you are on your oath, that it was Ravensbird who flung over Captain Dane ?" " I couldn't say that it wasn't, or that it was, sir. It might have been him, or it might have been anybody else in this room, for all I saw." The inspector looked at Lord Dane. " I understood your lordship, last night, that Mitchel had seen and re- cognized Ravensbird as the offender." "/understood so," returned Lord Dane, " I was so informed. You, for one, Apperly, certainly said so." Mr. Apperly brought his spectacles severely down upon the countenance of Mitchel and spoke in a sharp quick tone. " You know you said last evening in the guard-house, that it was Rav- ensbird." " I said it was sure to have been Ravensbird, because of the quarrel he had with his master in the morning," answered Mitchel. " As I was com- ing-to, after my attack, and telling what I had seen, somebody exclaimed —and I do believe it was yourself, Mr. Annerly — that it must have been Ravensbird, and I agreed, saying there was no doubt of it. But I never said it was Ravensbird from my own knowledge ; from my own eyesight." " Then are we to understand, Mit- chel, that you do not positively know who it was that was engaged in the conflict with my son ? — that you did not recognize the person ?" asked Loi'd Dane. " I did not, my lord. I surmised it to be Mr. Ravensbird, on account of the quarrel, but I could not see who the people were scuffling on the heights. Had Captain Dane not fallen, I could not have known him to be one. The other might have been a woman, for all I could see." The party felt rather nonplussed. Every one present, including the usu- ally keen and correct inspectjj^ had fully understood that Mitche^ould swear to Ravensbird. The misappre- hension had gone abroad, carried from one to the other. " It makes little difference," cried Lawyer Apperly, who was the first to speak. " It could have been nobody but Ravensbird. He owed his mas- ter a gi'udge, and he paid him out : he may not have intended a fatal termin- ation — " " But it makes every difference," interrupted the prisoner, in agitation. " If a credible witness says he saw a man commit murder, he is believed ; but, if it turns out that he never saw it, it makes all the difference. My lord," he added, " I swear I was not the assailant of your son : I swear I never saw him after I left here this morning." Lord Dane looked annoyed at the appeal. His belief that Ravensbird was the guilty man was firm as a rock. Mr. Apperly spoke up author- itatively. " Assertions go for nothing, pris- oner. Perhaps you'll account for your time yesterday, hour by hour, up to ten o'clock at night." " Yes, I can," somewhat doggedly returned the prisoner. " After I quit- ted the castle I went straight to the Sailor's Rest, and the landlord can tell you so." " But you may not have stopped at the Sailor's Rest." " I did stop at it ; and twenty peo- ple, going in and out, saw me there ; and I dined and had tea with the landlord and his wife." "Well— after tea?" Ravensbird hesitated. " After tea I sat in the parlor with the landlady till it was hard upon seven, and then I went out for a stroll." The inspector pricked up his ears and exchanged glances with Mr. Ap- perly. The latter continued, his dry, hard tone speaking volumes. " Where did you stroll to ? Which road ?" " I don't know that that matters to anybody," was the somewhat sullen answer. " Perhaps it was up this road ?" " Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn't,'* returned the prisoner. But all present felt that it was. THE C A ST LE'S HEIR. s^ " Why, bless my heart 1" uttered the lawyer, nearly jumpiiif^ from his chair with the suddenness that the recollection flashed upon him, " I met you myself, Ravensbird ; I was on my way home from a client's, and en- countered you coming up this way. It was about seven o'clock. You can- not deny it." " I have not attempted to deny it, Mr. Apperly." " Well, now, the question is, What time did you get back again to the Sailor's Rest ?" Ravensbird answered the question by asking another, looking at Mitchel as he did so. " What time was it that you saw the scuffle, and the fall ?" " It had gone the half-hour past eight," was the immediate reply of Mitchel, " it was hard upon the quar- ter to nine." Ravensbird coolly folded his arms and drew back. " That settles it, then," said he, with the air of a man who has done with contention ; "I was back inside the Sailor's Rest at twenty minutes past eight, and I did not stir out again." It, however, by no means " settled" it. For not one believed him. They could not have been more fully per- suaded that he was the culprit had they actually seen him with their own eyes pitch over Captain Dane. " I gather," said Lord Dane, " that you were — according to your own ac- count — absent from the inn some- where about an hour and a half. Where did you pass that interval ?" " My lord, I must decline to an- swer," promptly replied the prisoner. " You refuse to state, sir ?" " Yes, my lord. I was at the Sailor's Rest at the time the crime is stated to have been committed, and could have had nothing to do with it; therefore I would respectfully submit to your lordship, that my movements, preceding it, have no right to be in- quired into." " Now don't you go drifting against rocks, prisoner, or may be you'll split upon them," interposed the inspector. " When a man's arrested on a capital charge, it is the business of the law to work up and bring to light, not only his movements and doings, but every particular respecting him. So you will do well to answer his lordship." " I decline to answer," was the only response reiterated by the prisoner. However convinced Lord Dane, the solicitor, and the police, might feel, that Ravensbird was guilty, it was yet necessary to show justifiable grounds for the opinion, ere the warrant was acted upon. Ravensbird was detained in custody at the castle, while the in- spector went to make inquiries in the town. And he brought back news which completely baffled Lord Dane. Hawthorne and his wife, in conjunc- tion with two or three other respect- able witnesses, declared that Ravens- bird ivas back at the Sailor's Rest by twenty minutes past eight, and that he did not quit it again. He sat in the parlor, common to the guests, till eleven, when the house shut up, and then retired to his chamber. The in- spector confessed himself " floored " by the news. . But what about the warrant ? Why, it was of no use, and had been made out for nothing ; for it could not be put in force against Ravens- bird. Neither was there any plea for detaining him in custody in the face of so distinct an alibi ; and he was discharged. " Only to be retaken," observed Lord Dane, as the man quitted the hall. " I do not clearly, at present, understand how it could be ; either thei'e is an error in the stated time, or some other false plea has been set up ; but that Ravensbird is the guilty man, I feel a positive conviction. And he will soon be retaken on the charge." " Not he," angerly dissented Mr. Apperly, who was more vexed than anybody at the termination ; not that he \^La malicious man, but his mind alscM|fe fully made up. " Now that he has got his liberty, my lord, he'll be putting distance between himself and this place with the seven-leagued boots of Jack in the fairy tale ; and 56 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, when any thing fresh turns up to re- take him upon, he'll be non est." " I could not do otherwise," re- turned Lord Dane. " I could not commit him in the teeth of evidence. Nevertheless, I am certain the man is guilty ; and the very fact of his re- fusing to state where he was, or how he passed his time during a portion of the evening, would almost condemn him. An innocent man has nothing to conceal." Near the gate before mentioned, stood Herbert Dane, when Ravens- bird was released from the castle. Not perched upon it, as was his wont in gayer times, but leaning against it in pensive sadness. That the untime- ly fate of his cousin gave him much concern, was evident. He looked ex- ceedingly surprised to see Ravensbird approach, released from the handcuffs, and unattended by the guardians of the law. "What! have they let you off, Ravensbird ?" he uttered, as the man neared him. " Could they do otherwise, Mr. Herbert?" was the response of Ra- vensbird, stopping short before him, as though he disdained to shun in- quiry, " Do otherwise !" echoed Herbert. " Why, the whole place is sa5'"ing that there never was a clearer case. Mitchel testifies that be saw you push him over." "No, he does not, Mr. Herbert," steadily answered the man, bringing his piercing black eyes to bear fully on the face of Herbert Dane. " Has he eaten his words, then, be- fore my lord ?" " No, sir. He never spoke the words ; it was a misconception alto- gether. When you see Mitchel* you had better inquire for yourself, and you will find that he did not dis- tinguish who the strugglers were. He would not have known the cactain, but for his falling at his feet." (Hk "And so, on the strength of ^re un- certainty, they have given you your liberty 1 I suppose you will hasten now to put the sea or some equally effective barrier, between you and England." " Why should I ?" returned Ravens- bird. " An innocent man does not fly like a craven." Herbert Dane very nearly laughed. " Innocent !" he exclaimed, his tone savoring of ridicule. "You know, Ravensbird, it is of no use to be on the exalted ropes before me. The words you spoke in my presence, yesterday morning, in this very spot, the threats of vengeance you uttered against your master, would be enough to hang you. But — " " Do you believe me guilty, Mr, Herbert?" interrupted the man, draw- ing nearer with his fixed, penetrating eyes. " I w^as about to say, Ravensbird, that you are safe for me," proceeded Herbert Dane. " I make no doubt that you dropped the words in the heat of passion, almost unconscious (if I may so express it) that I was within hearing, to take cognisance of them. I felt sorry for you at the time, feeling that my cousin, in his passion (whatever may have called it forth), must have been unjustifiably harsh, and I will 'not put myself forw^ard against you. Moreover, were you gibbeted on the nearest tree this day, it could not bring your master back to life." " Sir," repeated Ravensbird, in the same calm, matter-of-fact voice, " I asked if you believed me guilty." " What a superfluous question !" was the retort. " Do you suppose there's a soul in the place but must believe it ? — although you have con- trived to escape bonds. You ask me if I believe you guilty, when I say that I could hang you !" " Then why don't you hang me ?" returned Ravensbird. " I have told you why. I do not care to go out of my way to do you harm ; and it could not benefit the dead. But guilty you certainly are." The way in which Ravensbird stood his ground before Herbert Dane, stony, self-possessed, not a muscle of his face changing, not a tremor in his voice, THE CASTLE'S HEIR. M and his searching eyes never moving from Herbert's face, astonished the latter not a little. " Then let me tell you that I am not guilty, Mr. Herbert," spoke Ra- vensbird. " Let me tell you some- thing more, shall I ?" " Well !" responded Herbert, lifting his questioning eyes. " That I could this hour put my finger out upon the guilty person. As certain as that you and I, sir, are standing here, face to face, I know the one who did the deed. " " What absurd treason are you ut- tering now ?" demanded Herbert, af- ter a pause of blank astonishment. " No treason, and nothing absurd," was the undaunted reply. " I could lay my hand upon the party who murdered my master, as readily as I now lay it upon this gate. But I don't choose to do it ; I bide my time." Herbert Dane stared at the speaker from head to foot; wondering, pos- sibly, whether the man was not giv- ing utterance to a most audacious falsehood. " Will you venture to assert — al- lowing that you were not one of the actors in it — that you witnessed the scuffle on the heights ?" he inquired. " No, sir, I did not witness it ; I was not there. I was in the public room at the Sailor's Rest at the time it took place, which proved fact has baffled my lord and the police, and compelled them to release me. But I know who was on the heights, though I was not." " And what may be your reasons for holding it secret, if you know so much ?" " That, sir, you must excuse me if I keep to myself," was Ravensbird's reply. "But I hope, Mr. Herbert, you will not again accuse me of being the guilty man. Good-day, sir." Ravensbird turned off towards Daneshold as he concluded, and Mr. Herbert Dane stood watching him, deep ,in puzzled thought. Not until the former was out of sight did he awake from his reverie, and then he bent his steps towards the castle. " I'll know, at any rate, what grounds they had for kitting the fel- low off," cried he, in soliloquy. He had reached the castle-gate when it Avas suddenly opened by Bruff, who was showing out Mr. Ap- perly. In another minute Herbert was in possession of the facts testi- fied — that Ravensbird had been in the Sailor's Rest as the time of the catas- trophe. " But, let be a bit, Mr. Herbert," continued the lawyer, in excitement, " I can't question the good faith of the witnesses, for I believe them to be honest, and Hawthorne and his wife, at all events, would be true to the Dane family ; but some trickery is at work, something is up ; the hands of the clock were surreptitiously put back, or some other deviltry. Ravensbird's the guilty man, and it will turn out so." "What do you think, Bruff?" questioned Herbert, as Mr. Apperly marched hastily away, and they stood looking after him. " Well, sir, we don't — us upper servants — know what to think. If appearances — that is, the quarrel with his master, and his revengeful threats — hadn't been so much against him, we should not have suspected Ravens- bird, for he never seemed that sort of bad man. Then, again, the evidence just given has posed us ; for if Ra- vensbird was at the Sailor's Rest, he couldn't^ave been hcre'on the heights." " Very true," responded Herbert, in a mechanical tone, as though his thoughts were elsewhere. " There appears to be some mystery over it." " They had my Lady Adelaide be- fore them in the hall this morning," proceeded Bruff, dropping his voice. " And put the oath to her." " Lady Adelaide !" quickly repeat- ed Herbert. "Why, what does she know ?" " It seems she saw the scuffle, sir, or j^kally saw it — as, of course, we ser^Jros suspected before, and that it was what frightened her — and the in- spector thought she might have re- cognized the assailant." 58 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, " And did she ?" asked Herbert Dane. " Neither him nor the captain, sir. She was too frightened, she says, and knows nothing." " Open the door, BruflF. I am going in to my lord." Lord Dane was alone when Herbert entered the hall. His lordship gave his nephew the heads of what had transpired, dwelling much upon the testimony of the witnesses which tended to establish the alibi, but avow- ing his positive belief, in spite of it, that Ravensbird had been the man. Herbert agreed ; and quitting the hall, went up-stairs to the drawing-rooms. Lady Adelaide was alone. Herbert began speaking, in a low and cautious tone, his eyes ranging round the room, as though he feared the walls might have ears, of the catastrophe of the previous night. He was proceeding \o ask what she had seen, what had caused her to scream, in the manner reported, when she vehemently inter- rupted him. " Don't enter upon it ! don't speak to me ! If ever you so much as touch upon it to me by the faintest allusion, I will never willingly sufiFer you to come into my presence again." He gazed at her in utter surprise : he could not understand either her words or her vehemence. "What do you mean, Adelaide? This to me ?" " Yes, to you or to any one. I will not be questioned, or reminded of the horrors of last night. I could not bear it." Herbert Dane felt vexed, consider- ably chafed, and he showed it in his rejoinder. " Does this indicate grief, inordinate grief, for the loss of your declared lover ?" " Never mind what it indicates," she answered, bursting into tears. " Now that he is gone, I feel how un- justifiable was my deceitful treAaent of him. And if a promise of^nne, to marry him the next hour, would recall him to life, I would joyfully give it." " You are unhinged, my dear," whispered Herbert Dane, thinking it better to bury his annoyance and sur- prise, and to soothe her : but that she really was so unhinged as to be scarcely responsible for what she said, he believed. "What a pity it is," he more impetuously broke forth, "that you went near the ruins last night." " I went there, hoping to meet you," she reproachfully interrupted. " My dearest, I know it," he hast- ened to put in, in an appeasing tone. But she would not let him continue, drowning his words with her own. " You told me in the day you should not be there, if some friends came, whom you were expecting : but you were alone, after the train came in, and I judged that they had not come. Moreover, I saw some one, as I stood at this window, going towards the ruins in the moonlight : I thought it might be you. And you reflect upon me for having gone !" "Adelaide, what is the matter? What have I said or done to offend you ? Are you angry because I did not go to the ruins ? The two Eccing- tons had given me a half promise to come over yesterday and dine, but they did not keep it : I did not much think they would. Of course I could have gone to the ruins — and should, had I known you would be there. I did not suppose you would go, not expecting me, and I had a reason for stopping at home. Harry Dane had said he would call in and smoke a manilla : nine o'clock was the hour he mentioned, but he was proverb- ially uncertain, and might have made his appearance earlier. I did not deem it expedient to be out when he came." Lady Adelaide vouchsafed no an- swer. She sat with her pale face cast down, playing with the ornaments attached to her chain. Mr. Herbert Dane resumed. " You speak and look as though you had a reproach to cast to me, Adelaide. What is the cause ? How have I offended you ?" She rose up from her chair, and THE C A STLE'S HEIR. 59 Herbert noticed, as she raised one band to push her hair from her brow, that the hand was shaking. She fol- lowed the bent of his eyes, and saw that he observed her tremor. " I am — as you remarked but now — unhinged to-day, not fit for the so- ciety of any one," she said. " I did not intend to cast a reproach to you for not meeting me at the ruins." And, sweeping past him, she was quitting the room, when he laid his hand on her arm, to detain her. " A moment, Adelaide. You may surely tell to me what you would not to others — if you have any thing to tell ; any thing you are concealing. Did you not recognize Harry Dane's adversary last night? — not by the faintest shadow of a clue ? Every conjecture would point to Ravensbird, yet the man says, earnestly, that he is innocent." Her face grew ashy white as she stood confronting him, and twice she essayed to speak, ere any sound would come from her bloodless lips. " I was had down there this morn- ing," she said, pointing to the floor with her hand, to indicate the hall underneath. " I was marshalled, like a criminal, before my lord, and the police, and the lawyers — I know not whom. They made me take the oath ; they put to me the question that you are doing. I told them I was unable to testify to the recognition of any one ; I was too terrified last night to notice, or to retain recognition. If I could not answer them, do you think it likely I can answer you ? Yoii for- got yourself when you asked me." "Forgot myself!" repeated Her- bert, wondering more and more at her strangeness of manner. "Yes, forgot yourself; or you would not so have spoken upon the very heels of my caution. I will forgive this, I will pass it over, believing you trans- gressed it through forgetfulness : but never, never you attempt to open the subject to me again, for I would not suffer it with impunity." She quitted finally the room, and Herbert advanced to the door and followed her with his eyes. He had never seen her like this. Always gay, always light-hearted, always loving and confidential to him had she hith- erto been. What had changed her ? What had invoked her present dark mood ? A contraction of perplexity knitted his brow, as he gazed after her ; but she did not turn to look at him : at other times her nods and her smiles had been his till she was out of sight. She sped on to her own apartments, and Herbert Dane quit- ted the castle. That Lady Adelaide's conduct, touching the affair, was unaccountable, all must admit, but upon none had it made so deep an impression as upon the police-inspector. After she had given her evidence, after Mitchel's remark that it might have been a woman, after Ravensbird appeared to be cleared, a most extraordinary idea flashed into the officer's mind, and grew there : was Lady Adelaide the one who had been disputing on the heights with Captain Dane ? CHAPTER YL THE PACKMAN — THE DEATH-ROOM. But, ere long, another phase in the strange story was to be turned. As Herbert Dane was strolling down towards Danesheld from the castle, he encountered a man well known in the locality — better known than trusted, indeed. His name was Drake, and his ostensible occupation was that of a fisherman, to which he added as much smuggling as he could accomplish with impunity. He took off his blue, woolen cap, made after the form of a cotton nightcap, to sa- lute Mr. Herbert Dane. " 9 fine horrid tale I've been a hearing of, master, since our boat got in," began he. " Folks be a say- ing as the captain's got murdered, 60 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. aud his body a floating awaj in tbe sea ; Davy Jones on'y knows to what part. Be it true ?" "It is an incomprehensible affair altogether, Drake, and seems to be shrouded in mystery ; but I fear it is only too true. The body has not been found." " Who was it as attacked him on the heights, master ?" " Ah ! that's the question," was Herbert's response. " They be saying, down in the vil- lage yonder, as it turns out not to have been the captain's servant, though t-he thing was first put upon him, and he was took up." " I know they are saying it ; at least I make no doubt they are." " Well, now, master, perhaps I can throw some light upon this here. 'Twon't be much, though." " You !" returned Herbert, gazing at Drake. " Yes, me. I had been up to Nut Cape, for I wanted to have a talk with old — that is — that is, I had been up the road past the castle — " " Never mind speaking out, Drake," interrupted Herbert Dane, significant- ly, for the man had got confused when he broke off. " You had been up to Nut Cape to hold one of your confabs with that old smuggler, Beecher ; that's about the English of it. But if I saw you pushing in a boat-load of contraband goods under my very eyes, you might do it, for me ; I have no sway in the place, that I should interfere, and I concern myself with nobody's business but my own. So go on, fearlessly." " Well, I had been up to old Beecher's," acknowledged Di-ake, "but only for a yarn, — indeed, master, nothing else. I stopped there longer than I ought, and was coming back again full pelt, afraid the boat might put off without me, when I heard voices in dispute." ^ " Whereabouts ?" asked Herslrt. " I was on the brow of the heights, had kept close to it all the way, and was just abreast o' them ruins o' the chapel, between it and the sea, when my ear caught the sound. It seemed to come from the direction of the cas- tle, and Icutacrosstowards.it, think- ing I'd spare a moment, to see what the row was. Standing about mid- way between the ruins and the castle were two men ; the one was speaking in a harsh, commanding tone, and I had got a'inost up to him when I saw it was Captain Dane. Seeing that, of course I cut away again." " Where do you say this was ?" de- manded Herbert, pausing some mo- ments before he spoke. " Between them ruins and the cas- tle, a trifle nearer the castle, maybe. 'Tother man was a stranger." "A stranger ?" " Leastways he was a stranger to me ; I'd never seen him afore, to my knowledge. A biggish sort of fellow, with a pack in his hand." "A pack !" uttered Herbert again. " Or som'at that looked like one. If 'twasn't a pack, 'twas a big parcel. I didn't take much notice of him, see- ing the other was the captain. The captain was blowing him up." " In what terms ?" cried Herbert, with vivid eagerness. " Can you re- member ?" " How dare you, fellow ?" I heard him say, and those were all the words I caught distinct. But I heard them both at it, railing like, as 'I steered off" "What time was this ?" " Well, now, I can't be positive to a quarter of an hour," was Drake's re- ply. " 'Twas past eight, and it 'twasn't near nine ; I should guess it might be a quarter past eight, rather more, may- be." Herbert Dane mused ; he was re- volving the information. "Are you sure, Drake," he asked, " that it was not Ravensbird ?" " Be I a otter, master, to have no sense in my eyes ?" was Drake's re- sponse. 'Twasn't no more like Ra- vensbird than 'twas like me or you. 'Twas a chap rising five foot ten, with broad shoulders." " You must speak of this affair be- fore Lord Dane." THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 6V " I was on my way to the castle now, to do it ; I knows my duty. Not but what I'd rather go ten miles t'other way, than face his lordship." Herbert Dane laughed. " He is not so lenient to you smug- glers as you would like, and you fear him. But, if you can help his lord- ship to trace out this assaulter of his son, it will no doubt atone for some old scores, Drake." "Any ways it's my duty, having seen what I did see. And I'm not agoing to shirk it, master." He proceeded towards the castle, and Herbert Dane continued his way in the direction of Danesheld. But scarcely had he taken many steps when a slight bend in the road brought him to a milestone, hidden from his view previously ; and half- seated upon it, deep in thought, was Ravensbird. " You are in a brown study, Ra- vensbird." The man positively started. He had been so buried with himself as to be oblivious to the approach, and the voice aroused him abruptly. " I was absent in last night's work, sir; that is, my spirit was," was Ra- venbird's reply. " I did not hear you come up." " Ravensbird," returned Herbert Dane, " if a man has been led into an error, the least he can do, is, to ac- knowledge it, when his mind opens to the conviction that it was an error. I regret having avowed to you my be- lief that you were the destroyer of your master." A peculiar smile, somewhat cynical in its nature, flitted over the features of Ravensbird. " I find that another attacked Cap- tain Dane on the heights last night ; at any rate, that Captain Dane and another were having a broil there together, about the time of the catas- trophe ; therefore it is but fair to infer that that other was the offender." The smile on Ravensbird's face was exchanged for a look of astonishment. "Who?" he uttered. " Some strange man, with a pack in his hand. I should imagine it must have been a traveling hawker, or per- son of that class ; such men have been known, before now, to commit evil deeds. He may have tried to extort money from Captain Dane, and, find- ing he could not, have proceeded to vio- lence. One fact appears to be indis- putable ; that they were giving vent to angry passions, one against the other. " "AVho saw or heard this?" asked Ravensbird. "You, sir?" " I ?" echoed Herbert Dane. " What a very senseless question I Had I witnessed it — or indeed any thing else connected with the affair — should I have kept it to myself? No, Ravens- bird ; had I known this, I should not have been so hasty to indulge sus- picion of you." " Then who was it ?" somewhat impatiently resumed Ravensbird. "Drake. The man stopped me a few minutes ago, to tell me what he had seen. He was on his way to the castle to declare it to my lord ; and he has gone on there now." " And he says it was a stranger ?" "A man he did not know, and had never seen before. A big, bulky fel- low with a pack. Just the descrip- tion one is apt to expect of those itinerant pedlers." " Drake has been tardy in declaring this," sarcastically returned Ravens- bird. " Not at all. He could not declare it out at sea, where he has been all night. His boat is but just in — as I understand — and he knew nothing till he landed of the accident to Captain Dane." Ravensbird did not reply. His eyes seemed to be fixed in vacancy, as if in thought. Herbert proceeded. "When you gave utterance to the expression that you could place your finger upon the offender, I believed you were speaking in vain boastful- ness, if not in deceit. I conclude now, that you must have been aware of this encounter of Captain Dane's with the stranger, and alluded to the latter when you spoke. Was it so V 62 THE C ASTLE'S HEIE. " I — I was not aware — that — that Captain Dane — I did not know of any encounter, of his, with a stranger," replied Ravensbird, in a sIoav, hesi- tating tone, his eyes still bearing the appearance of a man in a dream. Herbert Dane scanned him search- ingly. "Possibly this man was no stranger o your master." " Possibly not," was the reply of Ravensbird, waking from his reverie. " It is scarcely probable that a stranger would attack him to his death." " You speak in riddles, Ravensbird. Did you allude to this man, or not, when you spoke ?" " Sir," respectfully returned Raven- bird, "you must pardon me for declin- ing to answei*." And nothing more could Herbert Dane get from him ; and the parting, in consequence, though friendly, was not to the former satisfactory. Drake, meanwhile, reached the cas- tle, and disclosed his tale to Lord Dane. However loose may have been the fisherman's antecedents, in the w^ay of smuggling and other matters, bringing him under the displeasure and surveillance of the lord, that was no reason for his present account be- ing doubted. Indeed, that he was but declaring the truth, was evident even to the lynx-eyed Lawyer Apperly, who was summoned to the conference. The police also were summoned, and Drake had to repeat his tale to them. Should he know the man again ? they asked him. Drake was not sure : not by his face, he thought, for he did not take much note of it : if he knew him again it would be by his shoulders and the pack. Not very conclusive distinctive marks, decided the in- spector. A search was set on foot, — as active as could be supposed to be undertaken by village police, which is not saying a great deal. Inquiries were made at Danesheld and its environs, extending to the neighboring towns around and past them, as to whether a man, an- swering the description, had been seen. But all to no avail : nobody appeared to have observed any such traveler. A farm-laborer, at work about six miles oif, deposed that he had noticed a man the afternoon of the accident, going towards Danesheld, a " brown man, with a sort o' box on his back." " And big shoulders ?" questioned the police-officer. " Noa, not he," was the answer; " he didn't seem to ha' got no should- ers. A little undersized chap, it were, no bigger nor a weasel." So that description did not tally. Neither did any other, that the police could find out, and the affair remained involved in mystery. There is an old saying, that mis- fortune never comes alone. Lord Dane wrote to his eldest son to ac- quaint him with the melancholy fate of his brother, and requested him to return home. For years there had been an unpleasant estrangement be- tween the brothers, but, with death, these estrangements, or rather the re- membrance of them, generally end. Harry Dane had been a favorite son : Geoffry, the eldest, a. cold, haughty^ overbearing man by nature, had re- sented the partiality of his parents, his own disposition magnifying the pre- dilection ten-fold, and he had now been for some time abroad. The handsome fortune Harry had dropped into, a young man, had also been a sore point with the Honorable Geoffry: and, altogether, he preferred to live a life of estrangement fi'om his kindred. His letters home were few and far be- tween, and at the present moment Lord Dane did not know precisely where to address to him : he had been in Paris, but had spoken of leaving it, for Italy, for Malta, and other places in rotation. So Lord Dane sent his letter to their banker's, in London, who was kept cognizant of the move- ments of Geoffry Dane, giving them instructions to forward it without de- lay. They did so, and the days, nay the weeks passed on, but still Mr. Dane arrived not. Lord Dane grew angry. THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 63 ♦' Geoflfry might have written, at least," he observed to his wife, " if he did not choose to come." Alas ! he came all too soon. Not himself; but what remained of him. News arrived first : a letter written by his personal attendant, who was a native of Danesheld. Mr. Dane had been suddenly at- tacked in the neighborhood of Rome by one of those fevers common to hot and unhealthy climates, and in three days was dead. The letter, written by Lord Dane, and duly forwarded by the London bankers, had never reached him (it might be traveling half over the continent after him then), and he had died in ignorance of the fate of his brother. Even then, as Lord Dane perused the unhappy letter, his body was on its way to England for interment, having been embarked on board a steamer at Civita Yecchia. Yeiy sad, very grievous were the tidings to Dane Castle, and the flag on it floated half-mast high, — the cus- tom when a death occurred in the fam- ily. But a little span, since it had so floated for Harry Dane, and now it was floating for Geoftry ! Lord and Lady Dane were bowed down to the very earth with grief ; they were their only children ; and whispers went abroad that her ladyship would not be long after them : people said they could see the " change for death" in her. On a gay morning in the beginning of May, a hearse, who.se sable, mourn- ful plumes contrasted unpleasingly with the world's sunny brightness, ar- rived at Dane Castle, having brought something inside it from Southampton. The burden was taken from within it and deposited in a certain apartment of the castle, called the death-room. Why was it called by so unpropi- tious a name ? the reader will inquire. Simply because it was a room conse- crated to the dead. When any of the family died, they were placed there to await interment, lie in state, it may be said, and the public were admitted to see the sight. The apartment was never used for any other purpose, though occasionally opened to be aired : a large, cold, gray room it was, per- fectly empty, with high windows and a stone floor. Tradition went, that when any one of the Danes was about to leave the world, that floor would become damp in patches; not damp all over, as it did in wet weather, — but they were very stupid Avho believed in any such nonsensical superstition. The trestles were brought from their hiding-closet and set up in the middle of the room, and the coffins were placed upon them. Lord Dane was wheeled in, in his chair ; Lady Dane glided in and stood by his side, both struggling to suppress their grief until they should be alone to indulge it. Some of the upper servants were also present, and a workman, purposely summoned to the castle, prepared to unseal the coffins. At that moment, Wilkins, the ser- vant who had accompanied the body from abroad, he who had written to Lord Dane, stepped forward, placed his hand on the man's tools to arrest him, and then addressed Lord Dane. " My lord — I beg your pardon— but is it a safe thing to do, think you ? May there not be danger ? He died of malignant fever." A disagreeable feeling fell upon all, and some drew involuntarily a st^p back. Lord Dane reflected. " I do not fear infection," he pres- ently said. " Let those who do fear it, retire : but I will see the remains of my son. Stories have been told, before now, of — of — others being sub- stituted for those supposed to be dead." Wilkins turned to Lord Dane, as- stonishment on his face and tears in his eyes. " My lord, is it possible you can suspect — " "No reflection on you, Wilkins," interrupted his lordship ; " I did not mean to imply any. There is a difi'er- ence between satisfaction from con- viction of the mind, and satisfaction from ocular demonstration. I have no moral doubt whatever that my dear son Geofifry does lie within that coffin ; nevertheless, I choose to be indisputa- 64 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. bly assured of the fact. Retire," he somewhat sharply added to the serv- ants ; " and do you," nodding to the mechanic, " proceed with your work. Had you not also better leave us ?" The last words were addressed to Lady Dane. She simply shook her head, and waited. It was a long process, for the lead had to be unsoldered. But it was ac- complished at last. The domestics had quitted the room, all save BrufiF. Lord Dane looked at him in a ques- tioning manner. " / have no fear, my lord. Allow me to see the last of poor Mi'. GeoftVy." Geoffry Dane it was, unmistakably ; and less changed than might have been expected, under the circum- stances. A long, yearning look from all of them, a few stifled sobs from the childless mother, and the coffins were reclosed forever. Then they left the room, and the public, those who chose to come, were admitted. A sort of fright, so to term it, took place that night in the house, one that caused some unpleasant commotion. It happened that Sophie, Lady Ade- laide's maid, was suffering from a violent cough, which had clung to her some weeks, and was especially troublesome at night. She was in the habit of taking a soothing drink, for it, made of herbs, or, as she called it, in her own language, tisane, which she took regularly up to bed with her. On this night she forgot it, and would not return for it ; for she, in conjunc- tion with the rest, felt nervous when going through the long passages, con- sidering WHAT was in the house. But Sophie's cough proved to be unusually severe. No sleep could she get ; and at length she rose from her bed, de- termined to brave ghostly fancies and lonely corridors, and fetch the tisane. Wrapping herself up, she started, carrying a hand-lamp. Away she scuttered down the stairs. Her road to the housekeeper's parlor, where the drink had been left, lay past the death-room. How Sophie flew by its door, how her heart beat, and her skin crept, she would not like to have told. In common with the generality of French, of her grade and class, she was given to superstitious fears touch- ing the presence of the dead, more so than are the English of the lower orders. But there's an old proverb, " More haste, less speed," and poor Sophie received an exemplification of it ; for, so great was her haste, that in passing the very spot, the dreaded door, she lost one of her slippers. With a half cry of terror at the stop- page there, Sophie snatched it up in her hand, did not wait to put it on, but tore on to the parlor. The drink was inside the fender, where it had been placed to retain its warmth. Sophie took up the jug, and put it on the table for a moment while she drew breath (short with the run- ning and the fright), and put on the refractory slipper. She was stooping down to accomplish the latter, Avhen a noise close alDove her head inter- rupted her. It was nothing but the striking of the time-piece on the mantel-shelf, two strokes — one, two — telling the half hour — the half hour after midnight. But Sophie's nerves were unhinged, and it startled her beyond self-control. She shrieked, she grasped the nearest thing to her, which happened to be a chair, she hid her face upon it, and she wondered how in the world she could muster courage to get back to her room. Back she must get, somehow ; for the longer she stayed, the worse she' grew. " If ever I leave my tisane down-stairs again," quoth Sophie, " may a ghost run away with me, that's all !" She took up the jug, drew her cloak round her, and began to speed back again ; not very fast this time, for fear of spilling the tisane. Poor Sophie ! the real fright was coming. As she gained the corridor in which was situated the death-room, her hair nearly stood on end, and her skin was as a goose's skin, quivering and cold. A perfect horror grew upon her, in that moment, of passing the dreaded door. TH^E CASTLE'S HEIR. 65 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 67 And well it might. She did gain it ; how, she hardly knew ; but in- stead of rushing past it, with her head turned the other way, some power seemed to impel her head towards it. If you ever experienced the same uncontrollable midnight ter- ror, reader, you will understand it. Sophie's eyes irresistibly, and in spite of her will, turned right upon the door, fascinated as by the evil power of the basilisk ; had her very life depended on it, she could not have kept them away. And in the same instant, a hollow, wailing sound, like a groan, broke from within the stillness of the room. Nearly paralyzed, nearly bereft of her senses, Sophie fell against the door, and the movement caused it to open, as though it had been imper- fectly latched : yet Sophie knew that the door had been securely locked the previous evening at dusk. But for the door-post she might have fallen with her head inside it; that saved her. There came another groan, and what looked like a flood of white light from the room ; and the miserable Sophie, breaking into the most unearthly shrieks and yells, flew along the cor- ridor, dropping the jug and the tisane with a crash and a splash ! That those hermetic solderings and fasten- ings had come undone, and what they confined down had risen, and was after her, was the least of her imaginings. Out came the terrified servants ; peal upon peal rang the bell of Lord Dane ; Lady Adelaide opened her door and stood at it, her face as white as her maid's. When they gathered in the account of the shaking Sophie, some of the braver of the domestics proceeded to the death-room, and there the cause was made clear. Kneeling on the stone floor beside the coffin, lost to all outward things, , save her grief, a white dressing-gown only thrown over her night-clothes, was Lady Dane. The groans of pain, of sorrow, had come from her ; and the " white light," as Sophie had described it, from her lamp. Not for a long while, a whole hour, could they pre- vail upon the unha)>py lady to return to her own chamber: in vain they urged upon her that she would surely catch hor death of cold. " What mat- ters it?" she murmured. "Harry first, Geoffry next ; both gone, both cut off in their prime : what signifies death, or any thing else, that may come to me ?" Geoffry was buried in the family vault, amidst much pomp and cere- mony, as befitted, according to the world's usages, the late heir of the Danes. Lord Dane was too ill to be taken to the funeral, and the chief mourner was Herbert, now the pre- sumptive successor to the title, and to the wide and rich domains. CHAPTER YIL WHAT THE SEA CASTS UP — THE YLA^ HALF-MAST HIGH. The words spoken by the servants, perhaps heedlessly, that their lady might be " catching her death," were borne out more literally than such words generally are. Whether it was the kneeling on the stone floor in the chilly night ; whether it was the scan- tiness of the apparel she had thrown on ; or the rising from her bed, hot, for that she had previously been in bed, there was no doubt, certain it is, that violent cold and inflammation at- tacked Lady Dane. The medical men called pleurisy ; less scientific people, inflammation of the chest: no matter for the proper term, Lady Dane was in imminent danger. She lay in her spacious bed-room, so redolent of comfort ; its fire re- gulated that the temperature might be of a certain heat, its little luxuries ready at hand. The servants, moving softly in their list slippers, were anxi- ous and attentive ; the doctors were unremitting; the neighborhood was concerned. Could life have been kept in Lady Dane by earthly means, they 68 THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. were not lacking ; liut when the time comes for its deparkire, who may pro- long its stay ? Lady Dane was dying ; and she knew it. An eminent phy- sician had been summoned from town ; he had paid his visit that morning, and had gone back again. A rumor spread in the servant's hall — though whence originating and how they could have got hold of it, they themselves would have been at a loss to tell — that the great London man had pronounced it, in confidence to Mr. Wild, a case without hope. " I said it from the first," wailed Sophie. " I knew that when two died out of the family, the third would not be long after them." " What's that, Mam'selle Sophie ?" cried Mr. Bruflf. "What's that!" sharply retorted Sophie : " it's a well known certainty to anybody who keep their eyes open. I have remarked it hundreds of times in my own countr)^, and I dare say you have in yours, if you'll only put your recollection to work, and cast it back- wards. Let two out of the same fam- ily die, pretty near together, and you may look soon for the third interment. It's safe to come, if not directly, be- fore the twelvemonth's up." "Nonsense," said Bruff. " Is it nonsense ? You just look abroad and take notice, if you've never noticed it before. You can begin with this household," added Sophie, tap- ping her foot on the floor to give force to her argument. " The captain was the first, Mr. Dane was the second, and her ladyship will be the third. When news came that Mr. Dane was dead, I said to myself, ' Then who'll be the next V — for it came across my brain in the same minute that another there would be. And I feared it might be my lord : I never thought of my lady. " "Perhaps there'll be a fourth!" sarcastically returned the incredulous Bruflf. " Sophie's right," put in the house- keeper ; "I have observed it myself many times. When two go ofif qui- etly out of a family, a third generally follows." " If I could lower myself to think such trash, I'd never say it," rebuked the indignant butler. " Mam'selle So- phie may be excused: she's young: but when folks have lived to your age and mine, ma'am, they might know better. It is to be hoped her ladyship will recover." " Then if she does recover, it will be his lordship that will go," persisted the undaunted Sophie. " But I don't think she is going to recover : it is not in her face. I may not be as old as you, Mr. BruflF, by twenty good years, and I shall be thirty my next birth- day ; but if I were you, I'd never boast of my age, until I had used my powers of observation to more pur- pose. Anyway, two have gone, and the other will follow. You'll see." Adelaide Errol sat alone with her aunt, ostensibly attending on her, should she want any thing : though indeed she seemed more buried within herself and her own reflections, than thinking of Lady Dane. Since the night when she had been so terrified in the ruins, a great change had over- taken Adelaide. No longer was she the gay, careless girl of formerly : her step was languid, her spirits were un- equal, her manner was subdued. In her appearance, also, there was an al- teration for the worse : her brilliant color had faded to paleness, and her rounded form had grown thin. She sat in an invalid-chair before the fire (her aunt's, previous to Lady Dane's taking to her bed) her cheek was pressed upon her right hand, and her eyes were fixed on vacancy. "Adelaide." It was Lady Dane who spoke ; and Adelaide sprang up with a start, abruptly aroused to outward things. " Yes, aunt. What can I do for you ?" " Nothing just now," feebly replied Lady Dane, whose voice was scarcely audible for weakness ; and had her medical attendants been present, they would have taken care she did not try to make it audible. "Why are you looking so''sad, Adelaide ? What were you thinking of ?" THE CAS TLB'S HEIR, 6» A vivid blush rose to the cheeks of Lady Adelaide. "It is a sad time, aunt," she an- swered ; and the plea was too true a one for Lady Dane to suspect its eva- sion. "This strange sadness — I call it strange, Adelaide, in you — has con- tinued since the death of Harry," pur- sued Lady Dane. "Is it caused by his death ?" A blush as vivid as the previous one, but more painful. Lady Adelaide, however, remained silent. "Child, I shall not long be here; "and I would ask — " " Oh, aunt !" interrupted Adelaide, in a tone of pain. " Not long," calmly repeated Lady Dane : " a few days, perhaps but a few hours. Do not distress yourself It causes me no distress : quite the contrary : I am glad to go. I have — I humbly hope — a Friend in heaven, and he will welcome me to his Father's home. Oh, Adelaide ! the world has become sad to me : I shall be glad to go." Tears were raining from the eyes of Lady Adelaide. There was a pause, and then the invalid resumed : " But I want now to speak of your- self, whilst I have power left for it. This unaccountable sadness — whence does it proceed ? I do not think it is caused by grief for Harry's death. " "It — it — was a dreadful death, aunt," shivered Adelaide, shunning the question. Lady Dane clasped her hands to- gether. " Ay, a dreadful death ; a dreadful death ! Still, not one to have made this lasting impression upon you ; for, Adelaide, I suspect you did not love him." " We all loved him," Adelaide was beginning, but Lady Dane arrested her words. " Child, I am dying. If there must needs still be concealment between us, in these my last hours, at least let there not be equivocation. I believed that you did not care for Harry : I believe that you loved, and do still love Herbert — Geofifry, as we must call him now. Though I cannot quite I'cmember to say Geoffry so soon," added Lady Dane sadly : " it puts me too much in mind of my own Geoffry who is gone." Adelaide burst into fresh tears. "Tell me the truth, child. Why should you conceal it now ? Herbert was no match for you then : Harry was, and he idolized you : but things have changed. Herbert will succeed his uncle, and there can be no barrier to your union with him : but I should like to be satisfied how it will be, be- fore I go. Speak the truth, Ade-> laide." Adelaide Errol was visibly agitated, as she bent over her aunt, for the lat- ter had taken her hands and was draw- ing her closer. Speak she must ; there was no escape ; but even Lady Dane, dying as she was, observed how violently her heart beat. " Aunt, I do not wish to marry Her- bert Dane." " What !" uttered Lady Dane in her astonishment. " I will not marry him. I — do not" — she spoke here with remarkable hesitation — "like him well enough." Lady Dane regarded her searching- ly : a suspicion came over her that Adelaide imperfectly understood ; not the present conversation, but the fu- ture position of Herbert : for that Adelaide had long been wrapt up in Herbert, was her settled conviction. " Child, are you mistaking his cir- cumstances — his future ? He will be Lord Dane." " If he were to be King of England, I would not marry him," vehemently spoke Lady Adelaide. " Then — is it possible ? — did you really love Harry ?" was the slow, doubting response. Another flow of tears, and a softened answer. " Aunt, if Harry could rise from the dead, I would be glad to marry him : I would rather marry him than any one else in the world." " How I have been mistaken !" ut- tered Lady Dane, and Adelaide hid 70 THE CASTLE'S HEIE. her face amid the bed-clothes as she listened. Lady Dane thought her manner appeared very singular, and a doubt crossed her mind whether there was not some mystery yet to fathom. Whether or not, it was not fated that Lady Dane should unravel it. During their conversation an unusual stir and noise had been gradually aris- ing in the road ; and now penetrating to the inside of the castle. Unnoticed at first, the commotion was now so great as to attract the attention, if not the alarm, of Lady Dane. Tumult like that within the well-conducted castle I " Adelaide, go you and see what it can be. Bring me word." Away went Adelaide : thankful, if the truth were known, to be dismissed from that bed-side. A dozen fisher- men, or so, were congregated in the hall, having carried in a burden cover- ed up, on a sort of hand-barrow. The servants were surrounding them. Lord Dane was present in his chair, strag- glers, attracted by the news, made bold to push into the castle. Alto- gether, it was a scene of confusion. Questions were poured on the fisher- men, and they were all answering at once, in their loud voices and rude pa- tois. Adelaide gathered in the sense of their words. What motive impelled her to act as she was doing, none could tell ; probably she, herself, could not have told ; possibly, in that moment of terror, she was unconscious of her actions. A moment of unspeakable terror it evidently was to her : her lips were blanched and drawn back from her teeth, her features wore the hue of the grave : she glided amidst the crowd, laid her hand upon the barrow, and was lifting up its covering. A fisherman darted forward, and unceremoniously pulled her back. " It's no sight for her," he said, turning to Lord Dane, " it's no sight for women, young or old : ye may judge, my lord, that it is not !" Then, for the first time, Lord Dane observed that Adelaide was present. " Go away," he said to her sadly. but imperatively ; " what brought you here ?" " Ye'd never get it out o' your sight, young madam, all yer life a'ter," spoke up another man, who had advanced to keep guard of the barrow ; " and it's stark naked, beside." " Leave the hall, Adelaide : are you mad ?" sternly reiterated Lord Dane. The flushing crimson had come to her cheeks now, and the perspiration broke out on her brow, as she hur- riedly obeyed. " I think I must have been mad," she repeated to herself. " What pos- sessed me ?" Mechanically, scarcely conscious of what she was about, she re-entered the chamber of Lady Dane. The lat- ter had contrived to struggle into a sitting posture in bed, and her eyes eagerly turned upon Adelaide their questioning light. " What is it ? what is it ?" she ut- tered, for the young lady made no response to the mute questioning. " I — I do not know, aunt." " What is it ?" repeated Lady Dane. " You do know : I see it in your countenance." " They said I was not to tell you," replied Adelaide — the most senseless rejoinder she could have made, prov- ing how uncollected was her mind. " Instinct has told me," said Lady Dane, with a gasping sob. " They have found, and brought home, the body of Harry." " It is so, aunt," acknowledged Ade- laide. " But — at this distance of time — so long in the water — how can they re- cognize it ?" " I gathered in the purport of what they were saying, aunt," returned Adelaide, evidently speaking with a painful effort, "that it was all but un- recognizable, that they knew it hj the teeth and a mark on the arm. Ra- vensbird, who came in with them, says he could swear to it by the mark ; and they were saying that it could not have been all this time in the water." " Ravensbird ! And Lord Dane suffered him to enter ?" THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 71 " There is great confusion, aunt. Perhaps he may have been unnoticed, until he spoke." The body had been found a few miles forther off by the fishermen, and they brought it to Danesheld in their boat, never giving a thought to its being that of Captain Dane. But — as fate had it — when they reached the shore, Ravensbird happened to be strolling about there. He immedi- ately pronounced it to be the body of his late master, knowing it, as Ade- laide had said, by the teeth and the mark on the arm ; and it was borne to the castle. An inquest was held upon it, and the verdict returned was, " Wilful murder against some person or per- sons unknown." A rumor went about the place, and obtained cre- dence, that had it not been for the episode, related by Drake, of the man with the pack, it might have been " Wilful murder against Richard Ra- vensbird," in spite of the testified alibi. The body was buried in the Dane vault, and people mourned more truly for the Honorable William Henry Dane than they had done for the heir, the Honorable Geofifry. But, the very day of the interment, another died, to be mourned for — Lady Dane. It seemed that the flag was forever floating half-mast high now, over the castle. All these events, following one upon another with succession so rapid, told upon the shattered frame, the broken health of Lord Dane. He was unable now to quit his chamber ; and very soon, it was thought, he would be un- able to quit his bed. Herbert Dane — Geofi'ry Dane, as he was henceforth to be called — once again, and for the third time, had to perform the office of chief mourner ; and on his return from the funeral he was summoned to the presence of the old lord. A favorite name in the Dane family was that of Geoffry. From the first creation of the barony, more than two- thirds of the lords had borne it, and it was held (superstition again !) that those who had so borne it, had been more lucky than the rest. Herbert Dane, who was the son of the Honor- able Herbert Dane, and grandson to the preceding peer who had reigned, had been christened Geofiry Herbert ; his friends calling him by his second name, Herbert, that liis name might not clash with that of his cousin, Geoffry, the heir. Now, however, that the succession lapsed to him, he was henceforth to be, not Herbert, but Geoffry. He left his hat with its sweeping band in the library, and proceeded to attend the summons. He could not avoid remarking as he went in, how strangely altered and ill Lord Dane looked. " Are you worse, uncle ?" he in- voluntarily asked. "Don't you feel well ?" " I do not know that I am much worse, Geoffry, but as to feeling well, that I shall never do again. I may be called away at any moment, and it is necessary that I should ' set my house in order.' For this purpose — I should be more correct in saying, in pursuance of this purpose — I have caused you to come to me. Accord- ing to the arbitrary decrees of fate — how capricious, how unlooked-for they are ! — you will be the seventeenth Baron Dane. Geoffrey, I have a charge to leave you, as such — a charge above all other charges." " I will fulfill it, sir, if it be in my power." The old peer stretched out his hand from his easy-chair, in which he was propped, and laid it upon the wrist of his nephew, slowly and impressively. Geoffry bent a little nearer to the anxious face. " I charge you, by all your hopes of happiness, that you never cease in striving to bring to light the destroyer of Harry," solemnly said Lord Dane. " Spare no means, no energies, no trouble ; let not idleness overtake you in your task ; be not tempted by want of success to relinquish it. Should the years go on, ay, until you are an old man, and nothing have turned up, 72 THE CASTLE'S HEIE. still do not flag ; a conviction is upon me that search will not be always in vain. You hear me, Geoffry ?" " Oh, yes, I hear." " Let your suspicions, your secret watchings, be directed to one quarter in particular ; for, that the guilt lies in it, there is no doubt. Never suifer your surveillance to be off that man." " Of whom do you speak, sir ?" in- quired Geoffry, in a tone of surprise. " Ravensbird. Of whom else do you suppose I speak ? Why do you knit your brow ? why do you look displeased — incredulous ?" " Pardon me, sir, if I do not agree with you ; though, if I did knit my brow, it was with perplexity, not dis- pleasure. I cannot get over the fact that the absence of Ravensbird from the heights at the time of the occur- rence has been credibly testified to ; and it is a physical impossibility for a man to be in two places at once. Neither can I keep my suspicions from dwelling on that other, that packman." " Pshaw !" returned Lord Dane, im- patiently, shaking his head, " I have never attached credit to that tale of the packman. I do not say it did not take place, the encounter, dispute — whatever it may have been — as Drake describes it ; but, as to that fellow's having attacked Harry to death, the notion is absurd. Some tfaveling bag- man, passing accidentally, who im- portuned Harry to purchase a cotton pocket-handkerchief, or a horn-knife to cut bread-and-cheese, and Harry rode the high horse at being accosted, and drove the fellow away. It was nothing more, rely upon it. No ; who- ever dealt out his death to Harry, that night, had a motive in it. It was Ravensbird ; I tell you it was Ravens- bird, Geoffry, and I charge you look to him." Lord Dane ceased. He appeared to have done with the subject, and a long pause ensued, each appearing buried in his own reflections. It was Geoffrey who broke it. " What report is this, that I hear, uncle — that Lady Adelaide goes back to Scotland ?» "It is so decided. It would not be expedient for her to remain here, now her aunt is gone. Under present circumstances, it would scarcely be expedient, a wild, random girl like Adelaide — think of her running out, mad-cap fashion, on to the ruins that ill-fated night I — but in the uncertain state of my life, it is not to be thought of When death shall overtake me — and it is not far off: it is not, Geoffry, disbelieving as you may look — fancy what would be the position of Ade- laide, were she still here. You, tak- ing up your abode here, the castle's master, and an unprotected young la- dy in it 1 A pretty affair, that would be!" A flush illumined Geoffry's features, symbol of his deep, passionate love for Adelaide, and he turned his face to hide it. " It would be time enough for her to go back to Scotland then, sir — should the catastrophe occur." " You talk like a boy," retorted Lord Dane. " Is the Lady Adelaide Errol one to be subjected to the possi- ble comments of a scandalous world ? She must quit the castle before I do." "You cannot think, sir," said Geoffry, in agitation — he may possibly have misunderstood Lord Dane's remarks — "that I would do aught to bring scandal on Lady Adelaide ? I would guard her from it with my life." The proud old peer turned his face upon him in all its haughty severity. " What do you mean, nephew? 'If I thought you capable of bringing scandal on Lady Adelaide ?' Did I deem you capable of but imagining such, I would shoot you there as you stand before me, rather than let so dishonorable a craven live to succeed to the coronet of Dane." Geoffry felt that he was being mis- understood, and suffered the point to drop. " Where is Adelaide going to reside," he asked. " With whom ? I thought she had no relatives." " She has scarcely any. Some cousin of her late father's is willing to receive THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 73 her. A Mrs. Grant, living in Werth- shire." " Mrs. Grant," repeated Geoffry. " I have heard of her. A widow with a very bare jointure and a house full of children. Will Lady Adelaide like thai, after Dane Castle." " Necessity has no law," observed Lord Dane. " Of course I shall take care that Adelaide is no burden to Mrs, Grant now or for the future. Were her brother what he ought to be, he might settle down and afford her a home, but Kirkdale is as wild as a March hare." " Will Lady Adelaide like going to Mrs. Grant's ?" repeated Geoffry. " Like it, no !" returned Lord Dane. " She has never had the tears out of her eyes since the plan was mooted. But she acquiesces in its expediency, seeing there is nowhere else where she can apply for a home." " I think — I think — uncle, will you pardon my saying it, will you sanc- tion my saying it, that she might be happier with me ?" Geoffry spoke in a low tone of emo- tion, the color coming and going in his fair face. Life to him, without Adelaide Errol, would be a dreary prospect. " Happier with you," echoed Lord Dane, in a quick tone. " In what way ?" " As my wife." " Look you here, Geoffry ; it is of no use for us to converse at cross pur- poses, so I will be explicit. You can- not suppose that since the death of my sons I have never cast my thoughts to the future, and to those who are left. Now, your aunt, my poor de- parted wife, took a notion in her head long ago that Adelaide cared for you more than she did for Harry, For my part, I deemed Lady Dane must be mistaken ; I deemed it was alto- gether too absurd to suspect that Ad- elaide should do so, considering she had freely consented to be Harry's wife. But Harry went ; Geoffry went ; and you were left : and I told Lady Dane that if her idea was cor- rect, you and Adelaide could now marry. Truth to say, I would more cordially have given you my approval than I did to my son : for I do not like cousins marrying, and to you she is no blood relation." " Well, sir ?" eagerly cried Geoffry, whose eyes had been sparkling. "Well. Two or three nights be- fore my wife died, she told me we had all been wrong, — or rather that she had been wrong. That it was Harry to whom Adelaide had been really attached, and that she never would consent to be addressed by you. Therefore, I imagine, if you are in- dulging dreams of Adelaide you are nourishing a chimera." A proud, self-satisfied smile passed over the face of Geoffry. He knew whom she had really loved. Lord Dane put an end to the inter- view. A little thing fatigued him now, and he dismissed Geoffry. Geoffry proceeded to the drawing- room, and there sat Adelaide. Yery sad, very lonely did she look there in her mourning-robes, the only inmate of the castle save its invalid master. She rose from her seat to leave the room as Geoffry entered. "Adelaide, am I scaring you away?" " Oh, no," she answered, with a confused blush, and down she sat again. " I hope you are better than you have been of late," he continued. " You have allowed me to see so lit- tle of you, that we seem like stran- gers." " I have not been very well, and I have been much occupied with my poor aunt." " I hear it is in contemplation that you should return to Scotland V " I believe it is." " But it is most strange that you should do so," he impulsively rejoined. "You may as w^ell bury yourself alive as become an inmate of Mrs. Grant's undesirable home I" A change passed over her face, and but for a strong effort the tei'.rs would have rained from her eyes. Purgatory itself would have scarcely seemed more 74 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. terrible in prospective to Lady Ade- laide than did Mrs. Grant's house. "Adelaide," he resumed, in a low tone, " I have now come from leaving your aunt in her grave ; and to enter upon what I am about to do, may ap- pear unseeming at such a time. It is unseemly in point of fact; but it is but a single word I would say, or ask ; and what I have heard must justify it. Give me the hope, the permission, that at a future time I may ask you to be my wife." " It is impossible," was her low re- ply ; but Geoffry saw that she could scarcely speak for agitation, and that she was in fact, gasping for bi-eath. " Do you understand me ?" he re- turned. "I believe so. You are asking me to be your wife ; is not that it ? I thank you for the — the — the cour- tesy — the offer — but I cannot avail myself of.it." "Later I craved, Adelaide; that I might speak of it later. " " Neither now nor later. I beg you to drop the subject forever." Geoffry Dane was likewise agitated, and pale as death. Were all the hopes of his later life to be thus ruth- lessly blown away ? "Adelaide, what has changed you ?" he resumed, in a deep tone. " I once thought — " " Never mind what you once thought," she impetuously interrupt- ed, " or what I thought either. The past is past." " I can offer you now what I could not then ; what I never^ — I solemnly declare — so much as glanced at the possibility of; I can offer to make you mistress of this castle and these broad lands." Some emotion appeared to overcome her, for she buried her face in her hands and was shaking as though she had the ague. With an effort she looked up, and steadied her voice to speak. "You need not enlarge upon it: I perfectly understand. You would make me Lady Dane." " I would make you Lady Dane and my dear wife," he interposed, in a tone of the deepest tenderness. " Oh, Ade- laide, let this misery end 1 What has come between us ?" "But I cannot accept the offer," she more calmly continued, completely ignoring his last sentence, and retreat- ing backwards, for he had made as if he would take her hands. " Geoffry Dane, I pray you let this subject cease, now and forever." "Adelaide 1" "Cease, cease," she implored. "I can never give you any other answer." " But this is inexplicable ; most strange. You must assign me the cause for your estrangement." " No other answer, no other an- swer," she reiterated in a tone that savored of alarm. " The broad fact is sufficient ; why go into details ?" "It is not sufficient, Adelaide. I have a right to demand its cause." " I shall never give it you. You ask me to be your wife, and I refuse. There it must end." " Are we to part thus — in anger ? in dissatisfaction ?" "Not in anger, unless you choose. I thank you, Geoffry, for your court- esy, as much as though I had accept- ed it. And now, you must forgive me for reminding you what to-day is ; that your ' one word ' has lengthened into many : and that I wish to be alone." Geoffry Dane withdrew ; he could not well do otherwise. But, over- whelmed as he felt with disappoint- ment, unpleasantly perplexed and puz- zled though he was at her curious con- duct, there was yet a hope lurking within him which seemed to whisper that a little time might set things to rights — that Lady Adelaide Errol would still be his. CHAPTER VIIL MARGARET BORDILLION — TIFFLE. About half a mile from Dane Cas- tle, standing almost at a right angle THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 75 between the castle and the village of Panesheld, was the dwelling of Mr. Lester, or, as he was sometimes styled in the vicinity, Squire Lester. It was a substantial, red -brick building, known by the name of Danesheld Hall, and but for its large size might have been taken for a farm-house, surround- ed as it was by out-buildings, barns, sheds, rick-yards, poultry-yards, and other appurtenances that a superior farm generally possesses. Its site was somewhat solitary, no dwellings being in the immediate vicinity, while the large, wild wood at the back, rang- ing out and extending to some dis- tance, did not tend to render its aspect more cheerful. The wood belonged to Lord Dane, and was a favorite re- sort of poachers. Now, it may be as well to state be- fore going on, that Mr Lester's pro- perty was not entailed. It had come to him by bequest, not by inheritence. A distant relative of the late owner, he had been made the heii*, unexpect- edly to himself — the heir, upon the condition that he should take up his residence on the estate, and make the hall his home. He was a dashing young guardsman then, poor and proud, and he scarcely knew whether to be pleased or annoyed. The for- tune was most welcome ; but to veg- etate in the country and be dubbed "the squire," — -he winced at that. However, we get reconciled to most things in time, and so did George Lester. He sold out, married, and took up his abode at Danesheld. In course of years his wife died, leaving hi 01 with two children, Wilfred and Maria, the latter four years younger than her brother. Mr. Lester was now nearly forty years of age, but he did not look it. He was a fine handsome man, rather "fast" yet, a great admirer of beauty, fond of society, and exceedingly popu- lar. To say that he had become at- tached to Lady Adelaide, would be scarcely a right phrase to use. He had not suffered himself to become so, seeing that she was engaged to her cousin, Captain Dane. He admired Lady Adelaide greatly, he felt that he could love her ; very delighted and proud would he have been to make her Lady Adelaide Lester, but for that previous engagement to Harry Dane. But then came Harry Dane's death ; the barrier was removed, and Mr. Lester's heart leaped up within him. Not immediately did he speak ; the deaths following rapidly at the castle one upon another, barred its propriety, but when the rumor reached him that Lady Adelaide was about to return to Scotland, he threw propriety to the winds, and besought her to become his wife. She requested a day or two for consideration, and then accepted him. Mr. Lester urged their immediate marriage ; where was the use of her traveling to Scotland, he said ; better be married at once from the castle, and obviate its necessity. Lady Adelaide, as an objection to haste, put forth her aunt's recent death. But Mr. Lester replied that circumstances altered cases, and he thought haste in this instance was justifiable. Lord Dane agreed with him. He told them both that he felt his own life waning quickly, and should be better content to leave Adelaide with a legal protector. So the usual formal preliminaries and preparations were in their case dis- pensed with, and the wedding-day was fixed. " Geoffry," said Lord Dane to his nephew, " I cannot leave my bed and accompany them to church to give her away. Will you attend for me ?" It was the first positive information Geoffry Dane had received of the forth- coming marriage of Lady Adelaide. Vague reports, half surmises, had penetrated to him, but he believed them not. A deadly pallor overspread his face, too sudden, too intense to be concealed; and it startled Lord Dane. " Be a man, Geoffry. If she won't have you, if she prefers somebody else, you can't alter it ; but don't sigh for her after the fashion of a love-sick girl. Adelaide is beautiful, but she is 76 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. not the wife I should like to choose ; she is capricious and unsteady as the breeze. Forget her, and look abroad for somebody better ; there's as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it." Geoffry's color was coming back to him, and he made an eflbrt to smooth his brow — to pass it off lightly. "Will you go to church and officiate for me, Geoffry ?" " No, sir," he answered in a low tone, but one that betrayed firm reso- lution. " If she marries George Les- ter of her own inclination, why — let her. But I will not take part in it." Not only to Geoffry Dane did the projected union bring its pangs. Mr. Lester's first wife had been a Miss Bordillion, a lady of a good family, but a poor one — there was a saying in their vicinity, "Poor and proud as a Bordillion." During Mrs. Lester's last illness, which was known to be a fatal one, a very distant relative of hers, but still a Bordillion, was stay- ing with her. They had been girls together, close and tried friends since, and Mrs. Lester besought a promise from Margaret Bordillion that she would remain at the hall after her coming death, and watch over her young daughter, Maria. Margaret Bordillion was a delicate-looking wo- man of two or three and thirty, and the pink hue came into her checks as she thought of what the world might say did she remain an inmate of the house of the somewhat gayly-inclined George Lester. But when death is brought palpably before us — and Mar- garet Bordillion knew that it was very near to that chamber, as she held the damp hand, and looked down at the wasted face of Mrs. Lester — minor considerations are lost in the vista of the future, which now comes so pal- pably before us ; that solemn future where we must all be gathered to- gether and render up our accounts, and we feel far more anxious to fulfill our duty, wherever it may lie, than to be troubled at what the " world will say." Mrs. Lester received the prom- ise she craved, that Margaret Bor- dillion would — at any rate for a time — ^remain at the Hall to take charge of Maria. "And remember, Margaret," whis- pered Mrs. Lester, drawing Marga- ret's ear down, that she might catch unmistakably the low accents, "should any warmer feeling arise between you and George — it may be so — should he ever seek to make you his wife, re- member that I now tell you I should be pleased with it." " How can you contemplate such a thing I how can you speak of it — at this moment ?" interrupted Miss Bor- dillion, aghast. "You, his wife, can calmly enter upon the subject of his marrying another !" " The world and its passions are fading from me, Margaret," was the reply of Mrs. Lester. " It almost seems as if I had already left it. I feel no doubt that George will marry again ; he is most likely to do so ; and I would prefer that he should make you my children's mother rather than any other woman." Mrs. Lester died, and Miss Bor- dillion ^continued at Danesheld Hall. But she kept herself very much in the background, more as though she were only Maria's governess, and declined to preside as the hall's mistress. She regulated the servants, and the do- mestic affairs, but she never officiated at table in the place of Mrs. Lester; when Mr. Lester had visitors, she frequently did not appear, remaining in private with Maria ; and she quite as often sat in her own sitting-room, as joined Mi\ Lester. Maria was only eight years old at the time of her mother's death : had she been more of a woman. Miss Bordillion would have felt her position less awkward. Some ladies might not have found any awkwardness in it ; but Miss Bor- dillion was of an unusually sensitive temperament, exceedingly alive to the refined proprieties of life. Two years had now passed over her head since Mrs. Lester's death, and what had they brought forth ? Love. Thrown into constant contact with George Lester, who was a man of re- markably attractive manners, to Miss THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 77 Bordillion as to others ; evei' dwelling on the words spoken by Mrs. Lester, Miss Bordillion had, at first uncon- sciously to herself, become deeply attached to him. And when a wo- man's love has lain dormant for the first five-and-thirty 3'"ears of her life, and is then awakened, it bursts into a lasting passion, — one that the young little know of. Timid, modest, retir- ing, she nourished it in secret, gradu- ally giving way to the hope that she should be what Mrs. Lester had sug- gested, his second wife ; a hope that soon grew to intensity — nay, to ex- pectation. And Margaret Bordillion's days, now, were as one long dr'^'u^ of paradise. More especially high beat her heart one morning, for her hopes appeared to be nearing their realization. It was a hot summer's day at the close of July, and as the party rose from break- fast, Mr. Lester remarked that, while the excessive heat lasted, it would be better to have the breakfast laid in the dining-room, which did not face the morning sun. " I will tell the servants to-day," said Miss Bordillion. Wilfred Lester was at home for his holidays, which, however, were draw- ing to an end. He was a high-spirited boy of foui'teen, though, it must be confessed, given to be passionate and disobedient on occasions ; his eyes were of an intensely violet blue, his hair and eyelashes dark, and he gave promise of being a handsome man. Maria and Edith had run out to the lawn, and Wilfred vaulted after them. A pretty little girl of eleven, was Edith Bordillion, now on a visit at the hall. She was the daughter of Major Bordillion, and niece of Margaret. The children were gamboling on the lawn, caring nothing for the heat, and Mr. Lester stood at the window watching them. Miss Bordillion re- mained in her seat at the breakfast- table, reading a letter which the morn- ing-post had brought. " Look here, Margaret," Mr. Lester suddenly exclaimed. " Step this way a minute. " She put aside her letter and went to him. " Has it ever struck you, Margaret, what a famous conservatory might be carried out from this end window ?" " It would be an excellent spot for one," she replied. " I think I once heard you make the same remark." " No doubt. It has been in my mind some time. I suppo.se I must set about it now." " Why now ?" inquired Miss Bor- dillion. Mr. Lester laughed ; it was what might be called a shy laugh, and as he replied to the question, his usually free tone had a tinge of embarrass- ment in it. "It is two years — more — since Katherine died ; I may begin to look out soon for some one to supply her place. In that case the old house ought to be brightened up. What say you, Margaret ?" Margaret Bordillion said nothing. She stood with her eyes cast down, and her cheeks glowing. She cer- tainly did not construe the words into an offer; she had better sense; but she did believe that George Lester's intentions pointed to herself; his em- barrassment of manner may have aided the thought. He saw the marks of con- fusion ; it was impossible that she could conceal them, standing facing him, as she did, in the glowing bright- ness of the morning ; and he attrib- uted them to displeasure ; he thought she was feeling pained at the idea of Katherine's place being filled up. " Margaret," he said, in a low, ten- der tone, as he gently laid his hand upon her shoulder, though neither the tone nor the action was born of tenderness for her, " it is not good for a man to be alone. Katherine is gone , but we are living. Ponder over what I have hinted, and try and overget your distaste to it." Mr. Lester stepped out at the win- dow, which opened to the ground, as he concluded, and joined the children. And Margaret Bordillion ? — she re- mained standing as he had left her in the day's brightness, type of the 78 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. brightness which had rushed over and was illumining her whole soul. " I shall be his wife, at last," she softly murmured ; " his wife ! his wife ! how have I deserved so intense a happiness ?" The servants entered to remove the breakfast-things, and that aroused her. She called to her the two little girls, and went with them up-stairs to the study, to superintend, as usual, their lessons. The day went on to its close, its calm varied only by an outbreak be- tween Master Wilfred and Tifile. Tiffle, one of the sourest of virgins, was the head-servant at the hall, and liked to rule with an overbearing hand. She was housekeeper and mis- tress, subject, of course, to the author- ity of Miss Bordillion ; but Miss Bor- dillion interfered but little. Tiffle, if not of a desirable temper, was neither of a kindly disposition : the servants called her cross-grained, and Miss Bordillion, truth to say, felt afraid of her. When Mrs. Lester died, and Tiffle found that Miss Bordillion was to remain, Tiffle went to her master and gave warning. Mr. Lester would not take it : he fancied that the hall, deprived both of mistress and house- keeper, would inevitably come to something bad ; and he raised Tiffle's wages, and told her she must stop. Tiffle ungraciously consented to a three - months further sojourn ; but when the three months came to an end, and Tiffle found how little Miss Bordillion troubled her — that she had, in fact, far more sway than in the days of her late mistress, Tiffle said no more about leaving. But she hated Miss Bordillion, simply because the latter was nominally placed over her ; and Tiffle was one who could hate to some purpose. Another object of her dislike was Master Lester, and it was returned by him. That soi't of repulsion must have existed between them, which two persons will sometimes entertain, one to the other, unexplainable by themselves or in metaphysics ; and when Wilfred was at home there were frequent contests between him and Tiffle. On this occasion it was sharper than customary : so sharp and loud as to disturb the household : Mr. Les- ter was out, but Miss Bordillion, as in duty bouud, interposed her authority, and ordered them both before her. It Avas an unusual procedure for her to make : induced possibly by a fore- shadowing idea of the full and indis- putable authority she might soon be vested with in that house. Miss Bor- dillion found that Tiffle was in the Avrong — had provoked the boy unjus- tifiably ; and she reprimanded her. Tiffle was pretty nearly stunned with indignation : truth to say, though the fault lay on her side this time, it was as often on Wilfred's : and she withdrew, vowing vengeance in her heart against the Avorld in general and Miss Bordillion in particular. The servants suffered from her temper that day, as they scarcely ever had suffered, and the murmurs were loud and deep. " Let her have her fling out," cried the butler, who had been a passive listener. " It won't be for long now. I have heard news this evening." " What's that ?" cried Tiffle, turning sharply round upon him. " Did you speak of me ?" " I tell them they may as well let you have your fling out, Mrs. Tiffle," he quietly answered. "Another week or two, and it will be at an end." "You are a fool," retorted Tiffle. "Perhaps I am," said the man. "Perhaps master would be if he didn't set himself about remedying this. But he is going to, and to marry a wife, and to give the house a mistress — which will put your nose out of joint, ma'am. " " Is it true ?" uttered one of the other servants, all of whom stood in consternation. "It is perfectly true ; otherwise I should not have repeated it. In a couple of weeks at the most, I believe they'll be married." His accent was serious, and they knew him to be a cautious and a truth- ful man. Even Tiffle felt the calamity THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 79 was certain, and she turned cold all over. "It's that animal, Miss Bordillion 1" she uttered, the conviction fixing itself into her mind : "it's she who has come over him, and no other. She's as sly as a cat!" The butler only smiled ; it exasper- ated her beyond bearing, and she flung out of the room. "I'll go to her this minute, and tell her what I think, if I die for it 1" she muttered, " and the deuce himself shouldn't stop me." Miss Bordillion was alone in the breakfast-room; — they often sat in it on a summer's evening — it was so pleasant to be where the windows opened to the ground, and to step out when inclined. Mr. Lester was dining out that evening. The little girls were dragging a child's carriage to and fro on the lawn, in which were seated two dolls in state, Wilfred teas- ing them with all his might, and, alto- gether, making a great noise. Tiffle came brushing in, her face red. She had a long sharp nose, and gray, sly ferret's eyes : was very little in per- son, and generally stealthy in her movements. She was attired in an old brown silk dress and a white mus- lin apron. " I lived in the family before you ever came near it. Miss Bordillion," began she, " and I think if this change was in view I might have been in- jected into it." Miss Bordillion looked up, aston- ished at her abrupt entrance, her words, her manner altogether. Tiffle was literally panting with passion. "Explain yourself," said Miss Bor- dillion. " I say that it's a shame for the ser- vants to have been enlightened, and for me, their head, to have been kept in the dark," burst out Tiffle. " But when things are set about in this kivert way, it don't bring much luck." " Explain yourself, I repeat," inter- rupted Miss Bordillion. "What are you speaking of? You forget your- self." " It's announced in the kitchen by Jones that you and master are going to make a match of it," shrieked Tiffle. " I suppose master told him." Miss Bordillion was completely taken too ; never had she been so much so in all her life. Tiffle's inso- lence was entirely merged in the news : it was that which took away her self-possession, and covered her with confusion. She blushed rosy red, she stammered, she faltered ; bringing out some disjointed words that she "did not know," she "was not sure." Tiffle read the signs only too correctly. "Lovesick as a school-girl!" she contemptuously soliloquized, and then spoke aloud. " So, as I have not been used to underhanded treatment, and can't stomach it, I'll give warning now, if you please." And, leaving Miss Bordillion in a whirl of happy perplexity, she strode back to the servants, and boasted of what she had done. " Good heavens !" exclaimed the butler, " you never have been such an idiot ! You complimented me with being a fool just now, but" you might have kept it for yourself more justly. It is not Miss Bordillion that master's going to marry." Tiffle sat down, overcome with sun- dry emotions. " Not Miss Bordillion I Who is it, then ?" " The pretty young lady at the cas- tle, — Lady Adelaide. I should be sorry to put my foot in it, as you have done." Tiffle said nothing in reply. She sat silent for at least half an hour, re- volving in her mind the points of all she had heard and seen, and drawing her own deductions. Then she arose, and proceeded again to the breakfast- room. Miss Bordillion sat as she had left her, in the same chair, in the same po- sition, her eyes fixed on vacancy, and the rosy hue of happy love lighting her countenance. She was lost in the mazes of dream-land, — illusive dream- land, upon which a rude blow was 80 THE CASTLE'S HEIE. now about to fall, — one that would shatter its bliss forever. Yeiy different was the present Tiffle, meekly standing there, from the outrageous Tiffle of half an hour ago. She deprecatingly held her hands together, smoothing them one over the other, and stole covert glances with her false eyes at Miss Bordillion. " I am come to apologize, ma'am, for what I said just now, which I shouldn't have done but for laboring under a misapprehension. Them ser- vants led me into it, and I should like to turn the whole lot away. I find there were no grounds for coupling your name with master's." " Your words took me so entirely by surprise, Tiffle, that I did not meet them, or reprove you as I ought," was the quiet reply of Miss Bordil- lion. " I will now merely observe that Mr. Lester entertains no present intention of changing his condition, so far as I know. Do not offend again — or take up groundless notions." " I was only mistaken in the lady, you see, ma'am," returned Tiffle, stand- ing her ground. " I thought it had been you, — for which, as I say, I'm here to beg parding, — whereas it's somebody else. Master is about to marry. " Slowly Miss Bordillion gathered in the words. Had they meaning ? or had they not ? Her heart beat wildly, as she gazed at Tiffle. j ■' In less than two weeks from this the wedding is to come ofi"," proceeded Tiffle, venturing on the unqualified as ■ sertion, and positively reveling in the misery she knew she was inflicting. " A dainty bride she'll make, young and lovaly as ever wore the oringe wreath ; but master — so it's said — al- ways had an eye for beauty. You don't seem as if you had heard it, ma'am: he marries Lady Adelaide." Misery ? Ay, misery as cruel ever fell in this world. Margaret Bordil- lion's pulses stood still, and then began to beat with alarming quickness. All the blood in her body seemed turning to stone, her brain whirled, her heart turned sick, the things around were growing dim to her. " Water — a drop of water, Tiffle," she gasped out, as her sight was fail- ing. Tiffle whisked round to where some stood, a wicked look of satisfaction on her countenance, now that it was turned from view. She poured some into a tumbler, and carried it to Miss Bordillion, beginning to speak in a con- doling tone. " These changes is unpleasant, ma'am, when they come upon us by surprise ; but — " Tiffle ceased ; for she saw that her words were falling on a deaf ear. Miss Bordillion lay in a fainti^ig fit. CHAPTER IX. THE LEASE OP THE SAILOR'S REST. The indisposition of Miss Bordillion soon passed, and Tiffle withdrew in silence ; having the grace to feel that it was scarcely the moment to venture upon any more of her " condolences." The evening grew later, and the chil- dren were sent to bed ; but Margaret sat on where she was, never quitting her chair. To say that the news had stunned her, would be to use a most feeble ex- pression, as descriptive of the facts. Her whole mind was in a chaos ; and she was only conscious that the Ru- bicon, which most women must en- counter once in their lives, was now passed, leaving behind it sweet and sunny plains, as of Arcadia ; stretch- ing out before it, the way she must henceforth walk, nothing but a black darkness. But Margaret Bordillion was one to look troubles firmly in the face, and she set herself to do so by this ; even now, in the very dawn of her agony. First of all, were the tidings true ? If so, she must decide upon her own future movements ; for, to remain in THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 81 THE CASTLE'S HEIR 83 the house after the young Lady Ade- laide was broug;ht to it, his wife — Margaret beut her head with a wail- ing cry ; she could not pursue the thought. She must, if possible, be satislied on the point before she slept; there way only one was to accomplish it, and that was by putting the ques- tion to Mr. Lester ; and she resolved to do it. He came home about eleven o'clock, much surprised to see Miss Bordillion sitting there ; for she never waited for him when he passed his evenings out. " You are quite dissipated, Mar- garet," began he, in his gay, careless tones. " Eleven o'clock, and you sit- ting up !" She strove to form ber lips to an- swer, but no sound came from them. Siie was schooling down her manner to indifference, making an effort to speak with calmness, but it was more difficult than she had thought. Mr. Lester continued, noticing nothing. " I am sure this is much more sensi- ble than your dancing off up-stairs to your own sitting-room or to bed, leav- ing an empty room to welcome me. I have wondered why you do so, Mar- garet : you can't fear I shall eat you." Margaret cleared her throat prepara- tory to speaking, but the self- agitation which the effort induced, was more than she well knew how to hide. Her heart was beating great thumps, beat- ing up to her throat, her face was white and her lips were dry. She rose from her seat, and opening her workbox, which rested on a side table, stood there, apparently rummaging its contents, her back to Mr. Lester. Then she managed to bring out what she had made up her mind to say. '' I have been hearing some news to-night, and I thought I would wait and ask you if it was true. These warm evenings, too, one finds sitting^ up agreeable." "What momentous news have you been hearing ?" he laughed. " That the Thames has taken fire !" " Something nearer home," she an- swered, dropping a reel of cotton and stooping for it. " I have been told that you are going to" — a sudden cough took her, which caused the pause — "to marry Lady Adelaide Errol." " Now, who the deuce could have given you that information ?" de- manded Mr. Lester, in a joking tone. " Tiffle. She said that Jones — at least I think she said it was Jones — had announced it to the servants, and she concluded he had authority from you." "The notion of Miss Bordillion 's listening to the gossip of servants !" was his retort ; and but for his manner, still a laughing one, she would have deemed it all nonsense together ; per- haps a faint hope did come across her that it might be. At that juncture the butler happened to enter with some glasses, and his master arrested him. " So, Jones, you have been making free with Lady Adelaide Errol's name to-night — in conjunction with mine." Jones turned crimson and purple, and Jones stuttered and stammered, but not a connected word could Jones utter. " Pray from whom did you get your information ?" continued Mr. Lester. " Sir, I'm sure I beg pardon if — if it's not correct, or if I did wrong to speak of it," cried the man. " I got it from Mr. Geoffry Dane." " From Mr. Geoffry Dane !" re- peated Squire Lester, surprise causing him to echo the words. "How did that come about ?" " It was in this way, sir. I met Mr. Geoffry Dane in the road near the castle, and he stopped to speak ; he often does, for he's a affable, pleasant gentleman ; and just then my Lady Adelaide passed towards the castle, with her maid and Bruff behind her. * She's a winsome young thing, sir,' I said, when Mr. Dane was putting on his hat again, which he had taken off to her, ' as good as a sunbeam. ' ' It's a sunbeam you'll soon have near to you, Jones,' answered he ; ' in a week or two's time she leaves the castle for your master's, changing her name for his.' He looked so queer when lie said it." 84 THE CASTL E'S HEIR, "Queer! How 'queer?'" asked Mr. Lester. " Well, sir, I can hardly describe — there was a funny look about his mouth ; the corners of it drawn down like. It made me think he had been speaking in ridicule, but I found he had not." The servant ceased, but no rejoinder was made to him. " And I certainly did speak of it when I got home, sir, and I am sorry if it has given offence, but I thought there could be no harm in repeating it, as it was said openly to me. Shall I contradict it, sir ?" "Oh, dear, no," carelessly replied Mr. Lester. " You may go, Jones." The man retired, and Miss Bordill- ion, who had been steadying her nerves during the colloquy, turned to Mr. Lester. " It is true, then ?" " Yes, it is true, Margaret," he an- swered, his manner changing to seri- ousness. "I should have acquainted you with it to-morrow ; the few words I said to you this morning after break- fast were intended as preparing her- alds." " And is it possible that it is so near ?" " Circumstances are compelling the haste. Lord Dane's state is most pre- carious, and I do not wish Adelaide to depart for Scotland." " I think you should have told me," she returned, her voice expressing re- sentment. "It is a short notice for me to lay my plans and get away from the house." " Gret away from the house !" ex- claimed Mr. Lester. " What are you thinking of now ?" " Nay — what are you thinking of? I may rather say." " The house is large enough for you and for Adelaide. She will not be putting you out of your place as mis- tress, because it is a place you have never assumed, and never would do it. You can remain in it precisely as you have hitherto done." " No, Mr. Lester, it is impossible," she answered, a sickly smile momenta- rily arising to her features. " Before you bring home your wife, I must leave to make room for her." " Margaret," he returned in a low tone, " I do not forget that you prom- ised Katherine to supply her place to Maria — to be, in a sense, the child's second mother. Are you forgetting it?" A flush of pain dyed her face — the peculiar words called it forth. " You are bringing home Maria's second mother, in Lady Adelaide," she said, laying her hand on her chest to still its beating. " I should not bring Adelaide here to saddle her with the charge of a child, for whom she does not, as yet, care : and she is neither old enough nor experienced enough to fulfill the duties of a parent to one of Maria's age. When she shall have children of her own, experience will come with them. Margaret, you love Maria al- most as the apple of your eye : you could not bear to part with her." That it would bring more grief than she chose to acknowledge, was certain. " I must bear it," was all she said. " No, no. Margaret, by the re- membrance of Katharine, for Maria's own sake, I ask you to rescind this expressed resolution, and remain with us. At any rate, for a period : say three months, six months ; and then — if your sojourn be not agreeable ; if you and Adelaide cannot get on well together — then it will be time enough to talk of leaving. Dear Margaret ! do not desert Maria." He had drawn close to her, and ta- ken her hands in the earnestness of his emotion. She quietly Avithdrew them without reply ; and Mr. Lester supposed his prayer was acceded to. Margaret Bordillion retired to her chamber, and sat herself down to think. What should she do ? what ought she to do ? She was a woman greatly alive to the dictates of con- science, one who was most anxious, even at a self-sacrifice, to fulfill her THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 85 dutj. And conscience was already beginning to ask her whether it would be right to abandon Maria Lester. " Should I put my own pain, my own chilled feelings in comparison with this ?" she asked herself. " Terrible as it will be to me to live here when she is his wife, perhaps I cmi bear it. And I deserve punishment : yes ; for I had no right to suffer myself to be- come so attached to him. Let me take up the punishment and bear it, as I best may." She sat on, to the little hours of the morning, battling with her grievous trial. But no better reconciled did she get to it : and she rose impressed with the belief that she should not be able to remain. She made a kind of compromise with herself: she would not hurry away before the marriage, as was her first thought, but would remain during the month the bride and bridegroom expected to be absent on their wedding-tour (following the cus- toms of the world), and quit it only just previous to their return. " About Edith ?" she said to Mr. Lester the following day, without touching upon other particulars. " She had better be sent back to school." " I don't see why she should be," was his reply. " She was invited for a three-months' visit, and but a month of it has elapsed. Her remaining here will make no difference to Lady Adelaide: she will be with Maria." Miss Bordillion offei'ed no rejoinder. Edith could leave when she did, she thought. A few days passed on, nine or ten, and the day fixed for the wedding was drawing very close. Lord Dane seemed to have taken a turn for the better : he still kept his bed, — from that he would never rise again, — but his general health and spirits were much improved. One morning he sent for Mr. Apperly. The lawj^er express • ed his pleasure at seeing him so well. "Yes," smiled Lord Dane : "I fancy I have taken another lease of my short span of life, and may be here a few months longer instead of a few weeks. Fu^eling equal to business, Apperly, I may as well execute the will to day : I suppose it is ready." " Quite ready, my lord, and has been this fortnight. But you were to let me know when to bring it up for signature." "I have not been well enough to put myself to any sort of business or trou- ble," was the reply of Lord Dane. "It is not well to suffer wills to re- main unexecuted," remarked the law- yer. " Procrastination plays strange tricks sometimes." " Not well, as a general rule, or when a man lies daily in danger of death," acquiesced Lord Dane. " Had I been likely to go off like the snuff of a candle, I would have signed the will the day it was made. But I do not imagine my departure will be quite so sudden as all that." " About witnesses ?" inquired Mr. Apperly: "shall I bring them with me?" " There's no necessity. Bruff and one of the other men will do. Squire Lester may happen to be in the castle at the time : if so, he can be one." "He marries Adelaide, we hear." " Yes. Was it not you who drew up the settlement ?" Mr. Apperly shook his head. " I am not solicitor to Mr. Lester. Oh, by the way," he suddenly added, "has your lordship heard that Haw- thorne is off to Australia ?" " Hawthorne off to Australia I" ut- tered Lord Dane, turning his eyes on the lawyer in surprise. " What should take him thither ?" " He has heard from his two broth- ers, who went over, as your lordship may remember, some four or five years ago. They are doing well — excel- lently — are making fortunes ; and have written for Hawthorne to go out and do the same." " And he intends to go ?" " Ay, and to be off in a jifiFy. Since the letter came, the man has not known whether he stood on his head or his heels, his brain reeling with the golden visions it holds forth. He was with me next day, asking what he had bet- ter do about the lease of his house. 86 THE CASTL E'S HEIR. It seems he nad given wings to the news, and twenty are already after it, anxious to talie it off his hands, — of course subject to your lordship's approval." " A good house is the Sailor's Rest," remarked Lord Dane ; " an excellent living for any steady man. Haw- thorne would do well to think twice before he gives it up." " So I told him. But, you see that sun, my lord, its rays shining in so brightly : you might just as well try to turn that from the earth, as to turn Hawthorne from this new proj- ect. He is wildly bent upon it, and his wife is the same ; she is already gone to London to lay in an outfit for the voyage." " What do they mean to do with their furniture and fixtures ?" " Whoever takes to the house must take to them. He puts the value down at £300, altogether ; furniture, fix- tures, lease, and good-will ; and it's not too much. One man is after it who Avould make a good tenant, — Mitchel." " Mitchel ?" echoed Lord Dane. "What could he do with a public house ? And where's his money ?" " Your lordship is thinking of the preventive-man. I mean his brother." " Oh, ay, I forgot him. Yes, he would be a good tenant, and could pay Hawthorne the money down. Well, I leave it to you, Apperly ; but let the name be submitted to me before the bargain is actually struck. I like to approve of my own tenants." " Very well, my lord. But I sup- pose I may allow the negotiations with Mitchel to go on, if he and Haw- thorne so will it ?" " Yes, yes," returned his lordship, " I could have no objection to Mitchel A respectable man ; a very respecta- ble man is Mitchel." "And at what hour shall I return with the will ?" inquired Mr. Apperly. " Three o'clock ? four o'clock ?" "Any hour. You won't find me gone out" responded Lord Dane, with a joking smile. " Then I'll say thrr:e," said Mr. Ap- perly, "and bid your lordship good- day now, hoping my visit has not fa- tigued you." He had quitted the room, when Lord Dane's bell rang a hasty peal. It was to recall him. "Apperly," cried his lordship, " I do feel somewhat fatigued, not so well as I did when you came in, and think it may be better to put off the business till to-morrow. It's not well for me to attempt too much in one day. Be here with the will at eleven in the morning." And the lawyer, with a bow of ac- quiescence, turned and went out again. When he reached homo, John Mitchel was waiting to see him, the man who wished to take to the Sailor's Rest. "Hawthorne and I have come to terms, sir," were the words with whicli he accosted Mr. Apperly ; " and wo shall want you to make out the agree- ment and transfer. I don't care how soon it's done." "All very fine, my good man," re- turned the lawyer, who, lawyer-like, chose to throw difficulties in the way, though none really existed; "but there's a third party to be consulted in this affair, besides you and Haw- thorne. And that's Lord Dane." " I feel sure his lordship will accept me readily," returned the man. "lie could not find a surer tenant ; you know he could not, Mr. Apperly." " I have nothing to say against you, Mitchel ; there's no doubt his lordsnip might get many a worse. Well, I'll see about it in a few days." " But, if you could manage it, sir, we should like the deeds drawn out immediately. I want to take posses- sion next week, and Hawthorne wants to be rid of it." " Pooh, pooh !" cried Mr. Apperly, " you can't take a bull by the horns in that way. Some men are six months getting into a house. I am busy to-day ; and I shall be busy to- morrow ; but you may come in again the next morning. Meanwhile, I'll contrive to see Lord Dane." TUB CASTLE'S HEIR. 87 "I dare say, sir," returned Mitchel, looking hard at Mr. Apperly, " you might accept me now, if you would. It's not altogether that I am in so great a hurry to get into the house ; it is Hawthorne who is in haste to get out of it : I)ut what I want is, to make sure that I shall have it — that I shan't be put aside for another. I'd pay this, freely, to secure it, sir." He laid down a £5 note. Five- pound notes had charms for Mr. Ap- perly like they have for all men, law- yers in particular. lie looked at it complacently; but, true still to his a-aft, he would not speak the word positive. " I have some power vested in me, Mitchel, certainly, and believe I can promise that you shall become the tenant. Subject, you understand, to the consent of Lord Dane." " Of course, Mr. Apperly. Then it is a settled thing, for I know, his lord- ship won't object to me. So I'll say good-morning, and thank you, sir." "And step in the day after to-mor- row, in the forenoon, Mitchel. As to this," added the lawyer, carelessly popping the note inside his desk, "it can go into the costs." But there was to be acting and counteracting. Somewhere about the same hour that Mitchel paid his visit to Mr. Apperly, Richard Ravensbird paid one at Mr. Geofifry Dane's. The latter looked exceedingly surprised to see him, if not annoyed. " Sir," began Ravensbird, without any circumlocution, "report runs that, now you are the heir, my lord leaves many points of business, relating to the estate, entirely in your hands. I have come to ask your interest and influence to get me accepted as tenant oi the Sailor's Rest." He spoke fearlessly, not at all as a petitioner, more as though he was making a demand. A remarkably in- dependent man was Richard Ravens- bird. " What ! are you after the Sailor's Rest ?" exclaimed Mr. Dane. " I have beard a dozen names mentioned ; but not yours. The man most likely to have it, they say, is Mitchel." " I have not been after it with a noise, like the rest have, sir ; but, as soon as I found it was to let, I spoke privately to Hawthorne. I must do something for a living, and have been looking out ever since I left the castle in the spring." " Then you don't intend to go t^o service again ?" " Service !" returned Ravensbird. " Who would engage me, after having been taken up on a charge of murder- ing my former master ? There may be some, Mr. Herbert, — I beg your pardon, sir, I ought to say Mr. Dane, — who don'tyet believe me innocent. Not that that's the reason ; I never did in- tend to enter upon another service, if I left Captain Dane's. The Sailor's Rest is just such a house as I should like : will you help me to it, sir ?" "Ravensbird," said Mr. Dane, not replying to his request, " it appears strange to me that you should remain in Daneshcld. You have no ties in it ; until you came here with your master you were a stranger to it : had a like cloud fallen upon me, however unjustly, I should be glad to get away from the place." " No, sir," answered Ravensbird, in a quiet, concentrated tone : " I pre- fer to stay in it." " To enter upon the Sailor's Rest will require money," again objected Mr. Dane. " I am prepared with that. I have not lived to these years without saving up money. That won't be the bar — as Hawthorne knows. He has been shilly shallying, has Hawthorne," con- tinued Ravensbird. " I knew of his intention to leave the house as soou as he did, for he read the letter from Australia to me when it came, lodg- ing with them as I do ; and I spoke up at once, and said I would take the house off his hands. He quite jumped at it, — was all eagerness to transfer it to me ; but in a day or two his tone changed, and he has been vacillating between me and John Mitchel." 88 THE CAS TLE'S HEIR, " Why did lie change ? Do you know ?" "Yes; and I have no objection to say," answered Ravensbird. "A crot- chet came over him that I might not be an acceptable tenant to my lord, who still wavers as to my guilt or nonguilt." " My lord does not waver : he be- lieves you guilty," was on the tongue of Geoffry Dane ; but he checked the words, and suffered Ravensbird to continue. "It is scarcely likely that any rea- sonable man can believe me to have been the assailant, in the face of the sworn alibi ; so why should his lord- ship nourish a prejudice against me ? Will you accept me as tenant, Mr. Dane ?" "I have no power to do so: you have taken up a wrong notion alto- gether. I certainly have transacted business for my uncle, since I have stood, as may be said, in Mr. Geoffry Dane's place ; but he has not given me authority to let his houses." " Will you speak to him for me, sir ?" Mr. Dane hesitated. " I would speak in a minute, Ra- vensbird, but I am sure it would be doing no good. Apart from any pre- judice he may or may not hold against you, he is one who will not brook in- terference, even from me." " You might earings of the scene. Bewildering confusion, sickening distress, unbound- ed fear. Almost as terrible is it as that Great Daj^ pictured to us of what shall be the last judgment : for that Great Day, for them, is at hand — time is over — eternity is beginning — and all are not prepared to meet it ! Two gentlemen came together, arm- in-arm, and the crowd parted to give them place. They were Lord Dane and Mr. Lester. Mr. Lester carried a night-glass, but the wind would render it almost useless. " Why, she's neai'ly close in shore !" uttered Lord Dane, in an accent of horror. "Another half-hour, my lord, and she'll be upon the rocks," responded a bystander. '• Mercy 1 how fast she's drifting ! One can see her drift !" " My men," said Mr. Lester, ad- dressing himself more particularly to the fishermen and sailors, many of whom had congregated there, " can nothing be done ?" One unanimous, subdued sound was heard in answer : " No !" " If one of 'em, any crack swim- mer, could leave the ship, and come ashore with a hawser, that's their only chance," observed an old'man. "Not that I think he'd succeed : the waves would swallow him long before he got to it." " There's the life-boat," cried Lord Dane. The crowd shook their heads with a smile. " No life-boat could put off in such a sea as this !" Never, perhaps, had been witnessed a more hopeless spectacle of prolonged agony. Once, twice, three times, a blue -light was burnt on board the ship, lighting up more distinctly than the moon had done her crowd on deck, some of whom were standing with outstretched hands. And yet those on shore could give no help. Men ran from the beach to the heights, and from the heights to the beach, in pain- ful, eager excitement ; but they could do nothing. On she came, — on, on, swiftly and surely. The night went on : the hur- ricane raged in its fury ; the waves roared and tossed in their terrific might ; — and the good ship came stead- ily to her doom. In two hours from the time that the castle-bell boomed out she struck ; and, simultaneously with the striking, many souls were washed overboard, and were battling their own poor might and strength with the water as hopelessly as the ship had done. The agonized shrieks of woe were borne over the waters with a shrill, wailing sound, and were echoed by the watchers : some of whom — women — fell on their knees in their nervous excitement, and prayed God to have mercy on the spirits of the drowning. " She'll be in pieces I she'll be in pieces ! and no earthly aid can save her !" was the cry that went up around. As it was being uttered, another dashed into the heart of the throng, — one who appeared not yet to have been among the spectators. It was Wilfred Lester. He wore his sport- ing-clothes, as he had done when Maria met him in the evening. Press- ing through it to the front with scant ceremony, he leaned his arms on the rails of the little jetty, and contem- plated the beating vessel. " Good heavens !" he uttered, after a few moments' steadfast gaze ; "she mu.st have struck !" "This five minutes ago !" " What is that in the water ?" he continued, after another pause. " Human beings drowning. They are being washed off the ship fast !" All that Wilfred Lester possessed of excitement was aroused within him. " Human beings drowning !" he re- peated, his voice harsh with emotion. "And you are not attempting to res- cue them ! Are you mad, or only wicked ?" One by his side pointed to the foam- ing sea. " Let that answer you." 118 THE C A STLB'S HEIR, " It is no answer," said Wilfred Lester. " Where's the life-boat ?". Mr. Lester drew away to hide him- self amidst numbers : he had not cared lately to come in contact with his son. But Lord Dane pressed forward. " You are excited, Lester," he ob- served to Wilfred ; " and I acknow- ledge the sight is sufficient to excite the most stoical man on earth. You might as well talk of a balloon as a life-boat : the one could no more get to the ship than the other." " The effoi't might be made," re- turned Wilfred, eagerly. "And the lives of those making it sacrificed," rejoined Lord Dane. Wilfred turned to where a knot of fishermen were congregated. He was familiar with them all, and had been from boyhood. " Bill Gaud, where's the life-boat ?" he said, to a weather-beaten tar, who looked sixty at the least, to judge by the wrinkles on his face. " Is she ready ?" Bill Gand pointed with his finger to a small and snug creek at some little distance : he was not a man of fluent words. The life - boat was moored in the creek, and could be out at sea (wind and weather permitting) in a few minutes. " Was made ready when the castle- bell tolled out. Master Wilfred," an- swered he. "And why have you not put off in her ?" demanded Wilfred, in a tone of command. " Couldn't dare, sir. And the sea be higher now nor it was then." " Couldn't dare I" scornfully echoed Wilfred Lester, whose anger, like that of the waves, seemed to be rising. " I never knew a British sailor could be a coward until now : I never thought ' couldn't dare' was in his vocabulary. I aiii going out in the life-boat : those of you who can overcome ' fear' had better come with me." He turned to quit the spot and make for the creek, but fifty voices assailed him. " It would be sheer madness to attempt it," " Did he mean to throw away his life ?" " He and the life- boat would be swamped together I" " Then swamped we will be 1" re- torted Wilfred. " Do you see there ?" he added, waving his hand in the di- rection of the ill-fated ship ; " when your fellow-creatures' lives are being swamped' wholesale, when you see them bufi'eting with the pitiless waves, does it become you to hesitate attempt- ing their rescue ' for fear' yours should be ? — and you brave seamen ! Come on, my men I if there be any of jox) who deserve the name." How contagious is example ! How valuable a little sterling encourage- ment ! How effective a spice of sting- ing ridicule ! Several " good men and true," acted on by the words, declared themselves readj^to man the life-boat; and pretty nearly the whole crowd trooped oft' in the wake of Wilfred Lester. He was long of leg and fleet of foot, and was already busy with the boat when they gained him. A voice called out that if she must go out, Mr. Wil- fred had best not be one to man her : he was no sailor. Wilfred Lester caught the words, and turned his hand- some face towards the sound ; very pale looked his features in the moon- light ; pale, but resolute. " Who said that ?" he asked. It was old Bill Gand. " You are' not yourself, Bill Gand, to-night. Would I urge others on a danger that I shrink from ?" " Venture in that there boat, Master Wilfred, and you wunna reach the ship alive," cried Bill, " let alone come back. Nor the rest, nor the boat neither." " It is possible ; but I think we may hope for a better result. We are em- barking in a good cause, and God is over us." The last words told ; for, of all men, a sailor has the most implicit trust in God's mercy, — a simple, childlike, perfect trust, that many who call themselves more religious might envy. They were contending now who should man her, numbers being eager; and THE C A STLE'S HEIR, 119 there appeared some chance of its rising to a quarrel. " This is my expedition," said Wil- fred Lester; "but for me you would not have attempted it ; allow me the privilege, therefore, of choosing my men. Bill Gand, will you make one of us or not ?" " Yes," answered the old sailor, "if it's only to take care of you. My wife's in the churchyard, and my two boys are under the waters : I shall be less missed nor some."v The twelve were soon named, and they went into the boat. Wilfred was about to follow them, when some one glided up, and stood before him. " Will it prove availing if I ask you not to peril your life ?" The speaker was Mr. Lester. Wil- fred hesitated a moment before he an- swered : " I could not, for any consideration, abandon the expedition ; nevertheless, I thank j^ou, I thank you heartily, if you spoke out of interest for my wel- fare. Father, this may be our last meeting : shall we shake hands ? If I do perish, regret me not ; for I tell you truly, life has lost its value for me." Mr. Lester grasped the offered hand in silence, a more bitter pang wringing his heart than many of the bystanders would have believed. Wilfred leaped into the boat ; and it put off on its stormy voyage, the spectators tearing round again to the spot, whence they could see the sinking ship. What a fine picture the scene would have made ! could it have been repre- sented both to the eye and the ear — not unlike those old Dutch paintings of the Flemish school. The doomed ship and her unhappy freight of human life, soon to be human life no longer; the life-boat, launched on her perilous venture, making some way in spite of the impeding wind — now riding aloft, now engulfed under a huge wave, now battling with the furious sea for mas- tery ; the anxious faces of the specta- tors, and their hushed, breathless in- terest, as they watched the progress of the boat, or the dim and dreadful spot farther on ; with the bright moon- light lighting up the whole, and the night sky, over which the clouds were racing ; while, ever and anon, the faint tinkle of a bell might be heard from the ship, and the heavy bell at the castle still boomed out at intervals I Would the boat reach the ship ? Those in the boat, as well as those on shore, were asking the question ? Bill Gand, the oldest of them, declared he had never wrestled with a gale so ter- rific, with waves so furious. The mys- tery to Bill then — and it would remain a mystery to him throughout all his after life — was that they did wrestle with them. Minute by minute, as they strove to labor on, and the angry sea beat them back, did he believe would be their last ; that the next must see them in eternity : all who were with him believed so, including Wilfred Lester. How was it that they did es- cape ? It appeared nothing less than a miracle — an impossibility effected ; and they could not account for it, un- less Wilfred Lester's words on shore could do so : It was a good cause, and God was over them. But they did not reach the ship. Xo : too many poor WTetches were struggling with the waves, nearer to them ; and they picked up what they could — picked up until the boat could hold no more. Shouting out a cheer- ing cry of hope to the wreck, they turned in shore again. The going back was less labor, for they had the wind with them, but it was not less dangerous. Some of the men, powerful, hardy sailors that they were, felt their strength drooping ; they did not think they could hold out to the shore. Wilfred encouraged them, as he had done in going, cheer- ing on their spirits, almost renewing their physical strength. But for him, they would several times have given up the effort in despair, when they were first beating on for the wreck. " Bear on with a will, my brave lads," he urged; "don't let the fa- tigue master you. I and Bill Gand are good for another turn yet ; but we'll leave you on shore to recruit 120 THE CASTL E'S H E I K. force, and bring others in your stead. You shall join again the third time. Cheerily on with a will 1 I wonder how many times it will take, to save them all ?" One of the rescued spoke up to answer. All could not speak, for some were lying, hurt or senseless, in the boat. He was an able-bodied sea- man. " It would take several times, mas- ter; but you'll never get the chance of going to her a third time, if you do a second. She was parting amid- ships." " Parting amidships !" " I think so ; and so did the captain. She must have struck upon a rock, and was grinding and cracking aw- fully." " Whence does she come ?" " From New York. A passenger- ship. A prosperous voj^age Ave have had all along from starting, and this is the ending I A fine ship she was, spick and span new, eleven hundred tons register, her name ' The Wind.' I didn't like her name, for my part, when I joined her." " Many passengers ?" " Forty or fifty ; about half a dozen of them first-class ; the rest, second." " Did you jump overboard ? hoping to swim for your lives ?" " No, no ; who could swim in such a sea as this ? All you saw in the sea were washed off. Some had sunk when you got to us." Of course the above conversation had only been carried on at intervals, as the struggling boat permitted, and now it ceased altogether, for every energy had to be devoted to the boat, if they were to get her to the shore. A low, heartfelt murmur of ap- plause greeted their ears as they reached it ; it might have been louder, but for remembrance of what the brave adventurers had yet to do, and the little chance there was of its being done — the very small portion these few saved formed of those to be saved. As Wilfred Lester stepped ashore, his face white with exertion, and the salt foam dripping off him, it is possible he looked for a father's hand and a father's voice to welcome him. If so, he was mistaken. Mr. Lester was still there, but did not advance. What he might have done alone, it is im- possible to say, but his wife was now with him. Strange to relate. Lady Adelaide had ventured, in her cu- riosity, down to the beach, and stood, braving the wind, supported between her husband and Lord Dane. Perhaps Mr. Lester did not choose to notice Wilfred in the presence of his wife, for he knew how much at variance they were ; or perhaps he already repented of his late greeting. Wilfred saw her standing there, and turned again to the life-boat. '' These poor creatures must be conveyed to warm beds, and warm fires," he exclaimed, looking at some of those he had helped to rescue, "or they may soon be no better off than they would have been if left in the water. " " I can receive two or three," ex- claimed Richard Ravensbird, pressing forward. " I have not been able to do any thing towards saving, but I can towards sheltering." " Two vehicles were waiting, having come down to be in readiness, if wanted, and they were brought into requisition, one of them taking its way4;o the Sailor's Rest. It contained a man who was too exhausted to speak much, or to notice any thing, and a young man who appeared to be in at- tendance upon him, probably a friend. " That we owe our lives to you this night, under God, there is little doubt," the latter cried, grasping Wilfred I^ester's hand. " The time to thank you, I hope, Avill come." Wilfred began mustering his second crew. Old 13111 Gand insisted upon being one. " Not you, Dick," cried Wilfred to another ; " I won't have you ; you could not stand the labor." " I'm as strong as I wa,s Ix^fore my illness, sir," pleaded Dick. " I will not admit you, I say. Stand back. We have no time to lose." Scarcelv had the words left Wil- THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 121 fred Lester's mouth, when a pro- longed, dreadful shriek, only too palpable to the ear, arose from the wreck. It was some minutes before those on shore could make out its cause. But, when they did ; when they discovered what had happened — alas 1 alas 1 The rescued sailor's words had been too surely and swiftly veri- fied. The vessel had parted amid- ships, and was settling down in the water. Oh, for the life-boat now ! One more voyage, and it may yet save a few of those now launched into the water. Before it could take a third, the rest will have been launched into eternity. And the life-boat hastened out amidst cheers to force its mad way, but it rescued none. The hungry waters had made too sure of their prey. CHAPTER XIY. THE RESCUED. But three passengers had been rescued. The two conveyed to the Sailor's Rest, who had been chief- cabin passengers, and a steerage pas- senger ; the rest saved, were seamen ; not one of the officers, all had gone with the ill-fated ship. Messengers had been dispatched to Sophie, and when the fly got there, she had warm beds in readiness, and hot flannels, in case rubbing should be necessary. One man, it was he who had seemed so exhausted, had nothing on but his shirt and drawers. A large cloak had been thrown over him as they raised him out of the life-boat ; and then he spoke a few words. "My head. I am cold. Get a shawl for my head." Shawls were not plentiful on the beach, for none had been brought down, but a large neck-handkerchief was found in somebody's pocket, and the man's head was enveloped in it. He feebly pulled it far over his face, as if to shield it from the cold. Little could be seen of his features when he got to the Sailor's Rest, but Sophie jumped to the conclusion, by some reasoning process of her own, that he was a man of fifty, or hard upon it. His wet hair hung about his face, — nearly white hair. He declined all assistance, shut himself into the cham- ber prepared, dried him.self by tho fire, got into bed between the warm blankets, and then rang the bell. It was for a large basin of hot gruel with a glass of brandy in it. When the maid took it up to him, she said that the young man, his fel- low-passenger saved, wi.shed to know if he could come in, or do any thing for him. No, was the answer. And the young man had better lose no time in getting to bed himself. He might come in in the morning ; and nobody else was to disturb him till he had been in, unless he rung. Sophie did not go to bed that night ; she had said she would not, and was glad of the excuse of being bu.sy. One of the rescued sailors had by some means got his head much cut ; besides the two cabin passengers he was the only one taken to the Sailor's Rest, the others had found refuge elsewhere, and Sophie busied herself in attending to him, and in drying the younger passenger's clothes — for he, when saved, had been completely dres.sed. About eight in the morning, Sophie was in her parlor, when the passen- ger, mentioned, entered, attired in the said dry clothes. Sophie turned has- tily, and thought, in that first mo- ment, that she had never seen so pre- possessing a man. He appeared about four-and-twenty, tall, and of lofty bearing, with clearly-cut features, dark hair, and a most attractive counte- nance. " Are you a clever needle-woman ?" asked he, with a very winning smile. Mrs. Ravensbird, won by the good looks, the courteous manner, and the pleasant voice, began protesting that she was famous, nobody more clever 122 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. than she. She had been out-door pu- pil in a convent in France for seven years, and let the Sisters alone for making girls into expert needle-wo- men. Did the gentleman want a but- ton sewn on ?" The gentleman smiled again. Had it been only that, he thought he could have managed the job himself with- out troubling her, provided she had supplied hiim with needle and cotton. " No," he continued, "it is some- thing that requires more skill. I want a shade made for the eyes." Sophie raised her own to the eyes looking at her ; clear, bright eyes they were, of a dark gray, and she won- dered what they could want with a shade. " It is for my fellow-passenger," he proceeded to explain. " I have been to his room, and all his cry is for a shade for his eyes. He suffered with them during the voyage, I observed, and the light of the room this morn- ing effects them much." " Oh, I'll soon make that," said Sophie. " Who is he, sir ?" " You must ask himself that ques- tion," was the reply. "A large shade, he said, made of thin card-board, covered with dark blue or green silk, any color, in fact, and tapes to tie it on with." "Tape!" ejaculated Sophie; "you mean ribbon, sir." " Any thing. He will not care what the materials are, provided his eyes are shaded. I asked him about break- fast, but he seemed only anxious for the shade." Sophie soon got her necessary materials ; a sheet of card-board, which she fished up from somewhere, and some purple silk, the remnant of a dress ; and set to work. The gentle- man sat himself on the arm of an old horse-hair sofa opposite, and watched her fingers. His orders were, he said, laughingly, not to go up again with- out the shade. " And so you and he met on board as fellow-passengers 1" cried Sophie, a6 she worked. " Strangers, I sup- pose, to each other until then." "We were on board, fellow-passen- gers." " It's strange how intimate people grow upon a sea-voyage !" resumed she, "just as if they had been friends for years. The old gentleman seems ill." " Very ill. Very ill, indeed, he has been all the voyage." " What is his name ? what was he coming to England for ?" proceeded Sophie. " I suppose he's an Amerir can ?" " His name — his name ?" deliber- ated the gentleman, as if casting back his thoughts. " I am not sure that I heard his name mentioned during the time we were in the ship. As to his motive for coming to England, I can- not speak. Gentlemen travelers do not unceremoniously inquire into each other's private affairs, Mrs. Ravens- bird." " I hope you will let me have the gratification of knowing your name, sir," continued Sophie, nothing daunt- ed. "I'm sure it's a pleasant one." " Do you guess so ?" laughed he. "Tdo not discern much in it myself. Lydney." "Lydney!" repeated Sophie, after him. "And are you an American, too, sir ? And have you come over on business ?" " I have come over on pleasure — to look about me, never having had the honor of seeing old England before," answered he, good-humoredly. " How many more questions would you like answered, Mrs. Ravensbird ?" "Ah, hah! it's my French nature, and I ask you to excuse it. I am not English ; you may tell that by my tongue ; and we Gauls are always curious. Do you speak French, Mr. Lydney ?" " Quite as well as I do English. My mother was a French woman." Sophie's eyes sparkled with delight ; her heart had warmed to him at first, she said, and forthwith she com- menced a rattling conversation in her native tongue. He sat there till the shade was finished, and then went up-stairs with it. THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 123 In the course of the morning Lord Dane walked into the Sailor's Rest, to inquire after the rescued. Richard Ravensbird was not in the way at the moment, but Sophie was quite equal to receiving his lordship. In earlier days, when he was plain and poor Herbert Dane, she had been rather fond of chattering to him, or he was to her ; and her manners to him still retained far more of ease than did those of some of the inhabitants of Danesheld. Sophie began pouring into his ear all the news she had been able to collect, as regarded the two passeugers, coupled with her own additions ; for she was one of those who form conclusions according to their active imagination, and then assume them to be facts. They were both Americans, from the United States, she said ; the old gentleman travelling over here for his health, especially for a weakness in the eyes ; and the young one for pleasure. They had first met on board, and got friendly together. The old gentleman's name she had not come at yet, but the young one's was Lydney. Such a pleasant young man ! — spoke French like an angel — and as rattling and free as my lord himself used to be, in the by-gone days. And Madame Sophie cast a half-saucy glance to my lord when she said it. "Are they gentlemen ?" inquired Lord Dane. " Or people in business, merchants, and that sort of thing ?" " The young one's a gentleman, if ever I saw one," returned Mrs. Ra- vensbird, warmly. " In looks and manners he is fit, every inch of him, to be what you are, my lord — a British nobleman. There's no mis- taking him for any thing inferior. And, do you know, his face puts me in mind of somebody, but for the life of me I can't tell who. As to the other, the old man, I don't know whether he's a gentleman or not ; I have seen little of him, except his shoulders and his purple shade, — the one I made him ; for there he lies, buried in his pillow and the bed-clothes, his face to the wall, and his back up ; and all you can dis- cern of him, barring the shade, is his white hair. When we go in with a tray of refreshment, he tells us to put it on the table by the bed, and helps himself when we are gone." " The younger one is up, I suppose," remarked Lord Dane. " Oh, up hours ago, my lord ; up and out. He seems in a fine way about some box being lost that was on board, and is going towards the wreck to hear if there's any chance of things being got up. Does your lordship think there is ?" "A few things may be, perhaps ; I cannot tell. I wish to send a message to this old gentleman, if you will con- vey it to him," continued his lordship, " Say that I, Lord Dane, shall be happy to render him any assistance, and if he would like me to pay him a visit, I can do so now." Sophie ran up the stairs to the inva- lid's chamber, and came back again, shaking her head. " I'll lay any money he's a cross- grained old bachelor," cried she, " he speaks up so sharply. He answered me quite rudely, my lord. ' My ser- vice to Lord Dane, but tell him I am a private individual, seeking only re- pose, and am not desirous of forming acquaintance, even with his lordship.' You might speak it more civilly, I thought to myself, as I took it from him." " Oh, very well," said Lord Dane. " When these disastrous circumstanceB occur, it is due from my position to show courtesy to the sufferers ; but if it be refused, of course the obligation is at an end. It is the last time I shall trouble your old gentleman, Mrs. Ra- vensbird. " The wind was less violent this morning, and many people were gath- ered on the heights, watching the spot where the wreck had been. At low-water part of the ship could be seen, and she lay with her larboard side to the rocks. Quantities of chips were floating about, and pieces of iron might be discerned on the beach. The masts and yards were gone, and there was no symptom of a bowsprit. Some- 124 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, thing more appalling than wood or iron floated in occasionally — a human body ; not near enough, however, to terrify away the watchers on the heights, some of whom were ladies. Standing most imprudently on the very edge of the heights, in their eager sympathy, their sad curiosity, were Miss Bordillion and Maria Lester. The latter, who was a little apart, bent forward to look at some bustle right underneath, when a gust of wind, more furious than any they had experienced that morning, sud- denly swept over them, swept over Maria, and — " Take care, Maria 1" shrieked out Miss Bordillion, in an agony of terror. Whether Maria could have " taken care," must remain an unanswered question. Certain it is, that the wind shook her, and she had all but lost her balance, when, at the very mo- ment of peril, just as Miss Bordillion called out, a strong arm was thrown round her, and snatched her into safety. She had felt her own danger, and her face was perfectly white, as she turned it to her preserver. She saw a stranger. A young aris- tocratic man, who had "gentleman" stamped on every motion and linea- ment. " I thank you very greatly," she said to him, from between her agitated lips. " I did not know the wind was still so high." Miss Bordillion, in her gratitude, laid hold of the stranger's hand. " Let me thank you ! let me thank you 1 I do believe you have saved her from destruction ! Ah, Maria I you may well weep 1" she added, as Maria, overcome by the fear and agi- tation of the moment, let fall a few hysterical tears. " How could you be so imprudent? — how could you advance so near ? Thank him better, child, for there's no doubt he has saved you from death I" " Not from death so certain as I was saved from last night," be smiled, hoping to reassure Miss Lester. " I was a passenger in that ill-fated ship," he said, in answer to the inquiring looks of Miss Bordillion, " and was one of those rescued by the life-boat." " Is it possible ?" " But for a gentleman who took command of that life-boat, and shamed the sailors— as I hear — into manning her, sharing himself the danger, we should all have perished," he pro- ceeded. "He was but a stripling, no older than myself ; but he showed a braver heart than the inured-to-danger sailors." Maria's face was glowing as a damask rose, and the tears rested on the eyelashes. " Shall I tell you who that was?" she said. " It was my dear brother, Wilfred Lester." And in a few minutes it seemed as though they had been conversing to- gether for years. There are certain events that break the barriers of re- straint more effectually than time can do. " We must not part without hear- ing your name," said Miss Bordillion. "William Lydney." "And I am Miss Bordillion. And this is my address," she added, giving him a card, for she, like many other old-fashioned ladies, kept her card- case in her pocket. "I hope, Mr. Lydney, that you will call upon us." " That I will be sure to do," he an- swered, a gratified expression lighting his countenance. And he lifted his hat as Miss Bordillion and Maria moved away. The chamber in which the invalid lay, at the Sailor's Rest, was a com- modious room, the bed at the farther end of it, opposite the door, and the fire-place in the middle, between the two. It was very comfortably fur- nished : a sofa, a centre-table and side- tables, besides the requisite furniture for a sleeping-room, but its space af- forded good accommodation. On this same evening at dusk, Mr. Ravens- bird himself was in the chamber, at- tending to the fire, when the sick gentleman suddenly addressed him : "What sort of a neighborhood is this ?" THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 125 Mr. Ravcnsbird probably wondered in what light he was intended to take the question, whether as to its natural, its social, its political features, or any others. But he did not inquire. " It's a dull neighborhood rather," said he. " Except when it gets en- livened by any such event as that, last night, or by a poaching or smuggling ftflfray. Lord Dane's having aban- doned it for several years did not tend to make it gayer." " He is your great man of the lo- cality, I conclude, this Lord Dane ?" " Oh, yes, sir. The Danes have been the lords of Danesheld from times unheard of. And plenty of state they have kept up. But, to have the cas- tle closed, or as good as closed, has been like a blight upon the place. " The present Lord Dane has been absent from it ?" questioned the in- valid. " He went abroad almost as soon as he came with the title, within two or three months of it, and has not long returned. Eight or nine years he must have been away. " " Is he married ?" " No, sir. His sister is with him at the castle at present, — Miss Dane. And will stop, people surmise, unless his lordship should give it another mistress. " " Perhaps you'll inform me what you are talking of," cried the invalid from the bed. " Lord Dane has no sister." "Yes, he has, sir. And she is with him, as I tell you, at the castle. " Then I tell you he has not a sister," was the sick man's irritable answer, but delivered in a subdued, quiet tone as the rest of his conversation had been, as though the voice stuck in the throat. "Some years ai^o I was in this part of the world and knew all the Danes. The present lord I knew very well: there was no sister then." Richard Ravensbird thought it as well to drop the contention and suf- fer the stranger to have his own way, for he did not appear one likely to re- linquish it. He stretched his head up to get a sight of the sick man's face. but did not succeed : the upper part was under the purple shade, and the lower ])art under the bed-clothes. "Yes, I knew a good bit of the Danes then," went on the invalid. " My lord and my lady, the two sons, the cousin, — in short, all of them. Has the younger one, William Henry, ever been heard of?" " How do you mean, sir ?" quickly cried Ravensbird, who began to doubt whether the stranger was cognizant that he, Richard Ravensbird, had been suspected of, and charged with the murder, — a point upon which he was sensitive. "He was heard of so far as that his body Avas found, and was buried in the family vault." " How did they recognize it ?" "By certain marks," replied Ra- vensbird. " I recognized it myself. I was Captain Dane's servant." " It was a nasty pitch-over, that fall from the heights," soliloquized the stranger : " it took place while I was in Danesheld — " " I beg your pardon, sir, you are never Colonel Moncton ?" breathlessly uttered Ravensbird. "What if I am ?" coolly asked the stranger. Ravensbird paused. He did not know "what," but felt in much doubt and surprise. Convinced, moreover, also that, whoever it might be, whether Colonel Moncton or another, his own suspected share in the affair was known. He therefore set himself to speak of it calmly and openly, as be always did, to those aware of the struggle ; otherwise he preferred to maintain a complete reticence on all points relating to that night. "Yes, it was a fatal fall, a nasty struggle," Ravensbird observed: "and who the adversary was, remains a mystery to this day. Two or three were suspected. I, for one, and was taken up on suspicion ; and a pack- man, for another, who was seen in angry contest with the captain on the heights, that same night : but I, in my own mind, suspected somebody else." "Pray whom did you suspect ?" 126 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, " I should be sorry to tell," an- swered Ravensbird. "What were the grounds for sus- pecting you ?" inquired the invalid, after a pause. " That quarrel I had with Captain Dane — which I suppose you heard of, if you heard of the rest. It occurred in the morning, when he kicked me Out of the castle, and the catastrophe took place in the evening. People's suspicions — and naturally enough, I acknowledge — flew to me. But they were wrong. I would have saved my master's life with my own : I would almost bring him back to life now at the sacrifice of my own, were it in my power. I was much attached to him, and I am faithful to his memory." " In spite of the kicking-out ?" put in the stranger. " Pshaw !" returned Ravensbird. "A dispute of a moment, in which we both lost our tempers, could not de- stroy the friendship of years. Yes, sir, I presume to say it — friendship. He was the Honorable Captain Dane, and I but his servant ; and though he never lost his dignity any more than I forgot my place, there was a feeling between us that might be called friendship." There ensued a long silence. The gentleman broke it. "What has become of Herbert Dane ? He was to have married Lady Adelaide Errol. There Avas some — some — some talk of such a thing, I fancy." " He did not marry her. Ah ! that was another mystery. She would not have him, after all ; and she mar- ried Mr. Lester. She has a whole troop of children now." "And where is Herbert Dane? What has become of him ?" Ravensbird turned round to the bed in astonishment. "He is at the castle now, sir ; I have just said so." " He at the castle ! What for ?" " The castle is his home, sir," re- plied Ravensbird, beginning to won- der whether the sick man was in his right mind. " Whose home ? I am speaking of Herbert Dane. What should bring the castle his home ? Does Lord Dane tolerate him there ?" " Why, sir, is it possible you do not know that Herbert Dane — that was — is the present Lord Dane ?" uttered Ravensbird. "He succeeded the old lord." The stranger raised himself on his elbow, and peered at Ravensbird un- der the purple shade. " Then what on earth has become of Geotfry ? — the eldest son ? Where was he — that Herbert Dane should inherit ?" " He died at the same time as his brother," answered Ravensbird, shak- ing his head. " Before the body of my master was found, the remains of the other were brought home, and in- terred in the familv-vault. " " Where did he die ? What did he die of ?" reiterated the invalid, who appeared unable to overcome his shock of astonishment. " He died of fever, sir. I can't take upon myself just to say where, for I forget ; but he was put on board at Civita Vecchia. My lady went al- most as quick ; and the old lord did not live above a month or two. " " I know ; I know," cried the stranger with feverish impatience, "I saw their deaths announced in the newspapers ; and I saw the succession of the new peer, ' Geoffry, Lord Dane.' Not of Herbert." " His name is Herbert Geoffry, sir. As soon as he became heir, he was no longer called Herbert, but Geoffry. It is a favorite name with the Lords Dane." The invalid laid down and covered his face. Ravensbird was about to leave the room, when he spoke again. "This Herbert, — Lord Dane, as you tell me he is, — is he liked ?" " He has not given much opportu- nity to be liked or disliked, sir, stop- ping away so long," was the rejoinder of Ravensbird. " He behaved gener- ously in the matter of my lord's will. The will left presents and legacies to servants, and fifteen thousand pounds THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 127 to Lady Adelaide Errol, but my lord died before he sipncd it ; consequently it was void. The young lord, how- ever, fulfilled all the bequests to the very letter, as honorably as though he had been legally bound to do so." " Why did he not marry Lady Ad- elaide ?" sharply put iu the invalid. " She turned round, sir, as I tell you, and would not have him. It was exactly like a sudden freak, a change of mind that nobody could account for. My present wife was maid to her at that time, and I heard of her refusal : but it was not generally known that there was any thing be- tween them." " Perhaps there never was any thing between them," remarked the invalid. "Oh, yes there was, sir ; when he was plain Herbert Dane," significantly replied Ravensbird. " Ah I he little thought then to be what he is now — the Lord of Danesheld !" The stranger turned his face to the wall, and put up his back ; and noth- ing could be seen of him but his white hair, and the purple shade. CHAPTER XV. THE JAPANNED BOX. The days went on, and the divers were busy, striving to fish up articles from the wreck. The coast presented an unusually stirring appearance, so many idlers flocking constantly to the scene, — the preventive-men being in charge, so that no depredations could take place. As the divers' exertions, however, appeared likely to meet with but poor reward, the idle spectators got tired of thronging to the spot, and the operators and coast-guard were left comparatively in peace. One visitor they constantly had, and that was the young stranger, Mr. Lydney. He expressed himself as being most anxious to recover a cer- tain box, describing it as one of mid- dling size, — a tin one, japanned. Wil- fred Lester, between whom and Mr. Lydney an intimacy was springing up, laughed at him one day, and ral- lied him on his disquiet. " One would think all your worldly wealth was entombed in that chest, Lydney," he observed. " And it is — in a measure," was the answer, " for it contains valuable deeds and documents, without which my worldly wealth will be of little value to me." " Suppose it is gone forever ?" re- turned Wilfred. " Would the loss be totally irremediable ?" " Upon my word, I cannot say,",re- plied Mr. Lydney. " Some of its documents might be replaced, but others, — I would rather not dwell on that possibility : I am of a hopeful nature. " And he appeared, in this instance, not to be of a hopeful nature in vain. One morning, a fortnight after the night of the wreck, Mr. Lydney found, upon going down, that the divers had brought up several things. They were of various and opposite kinds, as you may well imagine. A part of a beam of wood ; a gold Albert chain ; a small cask which contained salt meat ; a sealed case, holding letters ; and there were divers boxes. Once, they thought they were hauling up a poor little baby, but it proved to be a huge, wax doll, dressed in lace and satins ; its young mistress was colder and more lifeless now than the doll. With an eager step, when he saw the recovered things, did William Lydney hasten to inspect them. Own- ers had been found for none ; not for one of those articles lying on the beach. The owners had gone with the wax doll's little mistress, and would awaken no more in this world. " Is it among 'em, sir ?" asked Mitchel, the preventive-man, coming up as Mr. Lydney stood over the boxes ; for his anxiety to recover the chest was no secret. " There's one tin case, you see, sir, but I fear it's larger than you describe yours to be." William Lydney lifted his bead. 128 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. and his face expressed keen disap- pointment. " It is not among them," was all he said. " What's this ?" rejoined Mitchel, turning round to speak as he was walking away, for he perceived that something else was coming up, to be added to the relics. It was a japanned box, about two feet square, with the initials " V. V. V. " surmounted by a Maltese cross, stud- ded on itin brass nails. Mitchel scarce- ly need have asked what it was had he glanced at the countenance of Mr. Lydney : the eager, trembling expec- tation, the intense joy that lighted it np, proved it was the much-wished-for chest. In the moment's excitement he took it, he alone, from the grasp of the men who bore it. William Lydney was a strong man, but not strong ejiough to lift that heavy case in ordi- nary moments. " It's the one ye've been looking out for, ain't it master ?" asked one of the bearers, as it was deposited on the beach. " Yes it is," replied Mr. Lydney. " I will reward you and the divers well." " But them letters don't stand for your name, sir," cried Mitchel, as the men moved away again. " I have not said they did," laughed Mr. Lydney. " But now, to get it up to the Sailor's Rest. I'll leave you guard over it, Mitchel, while I go and find somebody with a truck or barrow ; or get Ravensbird to send. Mark you, my good man, it's very precious." " I'll take charge of it, sir," smiled Mitchel ; " it's all in my duty and my day's work. Where you leave it, there you'll find it, untouched." You spoke there without your host, Mr. Preventive Mitchel. Hardly had Mr. Lydney quitted the beach when Lord Dane appeared on it. He was in sporting attire ; but underneath his black velvet coat, linen shone out of the finest and most costly texture. His keeper — not the one who was wounded — had gone to the preserves with the guns and dogs, and Lord Dane had been following him, when a rumor met him that the divers were now beginning to find. His lordship turned off his way for a short visit to the beach. There stood Mitchel, keeping watch over the things, in pursuance of his promise to Mr. Lydney — and also in pursuance of his duty. " Is this all they have got up ?" ut- tered his lordship to Mitchel, in a tone of surprise. " I thought it must have been half the ship full. Young Shad came grinning up to me, and said the beach was covered." "A light-fingered young monkey !" apostrophized Mitchel. " I drove him off from here, for it would require a man with ten eyes to watch him. No, my lord, they have not got up much, and I don't expect they will ; though they have been more fortunate the last few hours than they have been all along. That box has turned up at last, my lord, that the young gent has been so worried after." "What young gent?" asked his lordship. " That fine young man who was saved in the life-boat, and is stopping at the Sailor's Rest," replied Mitchel. " How anxious he have come here, day after day, a watching and waiting, all for this japanned box I Had it been crammed full of thousand-pound bank- notes he couldn't have been more eager. That's it, my lord, behind you. " Lord Dane was standing with his back to the box, and turned round at the words. What could he find in it to attract his notice ? Something, ap- parently ; for he remained gazing down at it. Like one transfixed stood he : and when he did rouse himself and lift his head, it was only to walk round the box, survey it on all sides, touch it, shake it, and, in short, look like a child does at a new toy, as if he would very much enjoy the pulling it to pieces to see what was in it. "Who do you say this belongs to ?" cried he presently to Mitchel. " That young American, my lord, who was brought ashore in the life- boat. Your lordship must have seen THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 129 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 131 bim many times : a fine, handsome man he is, ])leasant to speak to. I mean jMr. Lvdney." " Is it his chest ?" " It can't well be anybody else's," returned Mitchel, " as your lordship would say, if you had seen his anxiety over it. When it came up this morn- ing it was just as if he had found a treasure : all a-tremble he was with delight." " Lydney ? — Lydney ?" repeated his lordship to himself, as if oblivious of the presence of Mitchel. " Lydney ? Have I beard that name ever ? It does not strike upon my memory. Neither does it answer to — to — " Lord Dane stopped ; he was look- ing down at the initials on the box, and Mitchel spoke up, possibly be- lieving he discovered the drift of the peer's thoughts. " The letters don't stand for his own name, my lord, as I remarked to him just now ; and he answered me, merrily like, that he had not said they did. He is gone to send down some men to remove it to the Sailor's Rest." Lord Dane stepped to the rest of the things and glanced keenly at all. " Does any of this belong to him ?" he questioned of Mitchel. " Nothing else, my lord ; nothing but that japanned box that seems so precious to him. He has not appeared to care at all about any other part of his luggage being found, though he says he had a good bit on board." Lord Dane walked away without saying more, and Mitchel remained in charge. Presently, somewhat to the surprise of the latter, his lordship reappeared, followed by an empty cart and two men. The cart belonged to a miller on the Dane estate, and was on its way to fetch wheat to be ground. Lord Dane encountered it as he turned off the beach into the road, and commanded it into his own service, for what purpose you will see. Down came the cart, its two attend- ants, and his lordship, and halted close to Mitchel and the recovered things. Lord Dane pointed to th^m witli his finger. " Hoist them in," said he. The men did so, to the wondering surprise of Mitchel, and made short work of the [)rocess. None of the articles were heavy, save the japan- ned box. That went in with the rest; but the barrel of ])ork and the beam of wood his lordship told them they might leave on the beach. Then the cart and its contents proceeded to move away again. " My lord," uttered Mitchel, in a perfect ecstacy of consternation, "they must not take off the things, especially that tin chest. I am left here to see that nobody does do it." " I have ordered them to the castle for safety," replied Lord Dane. " But that tin case, my lord,, — its owner is coming down for it directly. And I passed my word that he should find it here safe and untouched. If he complains to the supervisor I may lose my place, your lordship." " Lose your place for yielding the authority vested in you to mine !" returned Lord Dane, in a good- humored tone, which seemed to chaff at Mitehel's simplicity. " We don't know yet to whom these things may belong, and they will be in safety at the castle." " But — I hope your lordship will pardon me for speaking — this tin box has got its owner," persisted Mitchel. " When the gentleman returns for it, what am I to say to him ?" " Mitchel," said his lordship, quietly, "you must understand one thing which you do not yet appear to be aware of. As lord of the manor, I possess a right to claim all and every thing fished up from that wreck, whether the original owners be saved or not. I do not wish to exert this privilege ; I should not think of doing so ; but I do choose that these things shall, for the present, be placed in the castle, that they may be in safety You may say that to Mr. Lydney." Lord Dane strode off after the cart, and Mitchel remained where he was, as still as though he had been changed 132 THE CAST LE'S HEIR. to a petrifaction. The procedure did not meet his approbation ; and, in defiance of Lord Dane's assurance, he feared he might get into troul>le over it. He neither spoke nor moved, but just remained staring and thinking. Neither did he when, some time after, Mr. Lydney appeared. Ravensbird came with him, and a man with a truck. " Why, w^here's the box ?" exclaim- ed Mr. Lydney, gazing round. " Mit- chel, what have you done with the box ?" " I don't know," replied Mitchel, speaking helplessly. " I have not done any thing with it. Lord Dane came down, and sent it away, and the other things also." " Sent it where ?" asked Mr. Lyd- ney. " Up to the ca.stle, sir. He was lord of the manor, and possessed a right to claim what was got up from the wreck, he said. Not that he should think of claiming them, but the}'' must be put in the castle for safety till the owners turned up — which, of course, they are never likely to do : but per- haps he meant their friends." " The owners of that japanned box had turned up," cried Mr. Lydney. " His lordship had no business to in- terfere, so much as to put his finger upon it. How could you think of al- lowing it, Mitchel. You are to blame. " " If you were not a stranger here, sir, you would never ask how Ave can think of allowing sway to Lord Dane," was the reply »jf the preventive-man to Mr. Lydney. " He is master of every thing ; of Danesheld and the people in it. I had no more power to keep your box back, when Lord Dane said it was to go, than I have to stop that sea from flowing." " Nonsense," said Mr. Lydney, who appeared much provoked. " Lord Dane cannot be allowed to play the martinet over all the world." "Well, sir, I assure you it was no fault of mine. But if you go to the castle, of course he will give the box up to you ; it can't be of no use to him." Ravensbird looked round at Mr. Lydney. " I don't think you'll get it, sir," he said. " At any rate you must go cautiously to work." With a haughty toss of the head and contemptuous curl of the lip, not directed at Ravensbird, — but ill or un- derhand doing always excited the scorn of William Lydney, — he proceed- ed immediately to the castle, the man and the truck following in his wake. Not Ravensbird ; it was rare, indeed, that he troubled the castle. He rang a sounding peal on the bell, just as Mr. Bruff, w^ho was quitting the house, opened the gate. " I wish to see Lord Dane," said Mr. Lydney. And Bruff thought that no man had ever appeared at that castle yet, possessing more of the bearing and tones of a chieftain. He bowed low. " His lordship is out, sir." " I was informed his lordship had just returned, in charge of some prop- erty got up from the wreck." Bruff" looked curiously at the visitor. Who could he be, presuming to speak in those scornful tones, palpably di- rected towards Lord Dane and his doings ? Bruft" did not resent it, but he felt convinced that the gentleman before him ivas a gentleman, and an honorable man. " My lord did return here, sir, with the men who brought up the things. But he has gone out since." " Amongst those things was a box, which I claim," proceeded Mr. Lyd- ney. " I must request you to deliver it to me." "It is not in my power, sir. I dare not meddle with any thing against the orders of Lord Dane." " I say that I claim it," quietly re- turned Mr. Lydney, " and I must have it given up to me." " I am sure, sir, when you remember that I am Lord Dane's servant, you will see how impossible it is that I can meddle with any thing, contrary to his lordship's orders." THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 133 " The things are in the castle ?" " Certainly they are, sir. Ilis lord- ship hiul them put in the strong'-room, that they might be in safety : he gave me the key, and charged me not to let them be touched : the death-room we used to call it ; but the name, not being an agreeable one, has been changed." " Do you know that you may do me an irreparable injury — an injury that can never be removed — by refusing to deliver up that property ?" pursued Mr. Lydney. " I am sorry to hear you say so, sir; and if it depended on my will, you should have it this instant ; but this is a matter of duty to my lord, which I, receiving his wages and living under his roof, must not violate." Mr. Lydney silently acquiesced in the good faith of the reasoning, and perceived how useless it would be to argue the point further. " Is there any one who holds au- thority at the castle, to whom I can apply ?" he inquired. " Miss Dane is at the castle, sir : my lord's sister ; but as to authority, • — you can see her, if you please, sir." The visitor motioned with his hand in reply, and Bruff led the way to the drawing-rooms. " What name, sir ?" he asked, paus- ing, with his hand on the door. " Mr. William Lydney." Miss Dane rose at his entrance. She was older than her brother ; in fact, in her forty-second year ; but she as- sumed the dress and the manners of a girl of twenty. She had small and rather pretty features, a delicate com- plexion, and a soft rose-color on her cheeks, — altogether looking very much more youthful than she really was. Her dark-brown hair, beginning to be sprinkled with silver, was worn, as carelessly as a child's, in a profusion of long ringlets all round her head ; and her blue eyes had a habit of shyly sinking from the gaze of other eyes, es- pecially those of gentlemen. Putting her vanity and her affectation aside, Miss Dane was not to be disliked. She was simple and kind-hearted — not overburdened with strong intellect ; and the most marked peculiarity about her was, thatshe fancied every stranger fell in love with her at first sight, Danesheld called her an old maid : Miss Dane would have been mortally offended, had she heard them. She was attired in a light-blue silk, and jacket to match, jointly set off with many trimmings and silver buttons. " I have the honor of speaking to Miss Dane ?" began Mr. Lydney. Miss Dane curtsied and simpered, and simpered and curtsied again. " What an attractive man !" quoth she to herself; and forthwith fell right in love with him, and fondly hoped that he was returning the compliment. Mr. Lydney, however, was too much engrossed by his tin box and its ab- straction, to admit softer impressions just then, even though he had been as susceptible as the lady. He gave her a concise history of the affair, and inquired whether she would not give orders that his box should be restored to him. " I never heard of such a proced- ure," cried she, in a pretty little weak voice, and shaking her ringlets affect- edly. " Geoffry — my brother — went down to the beach, and ordered the recovered things up here, you say ? What did he do it for ? what did he want with them ?" " That is precisely what I should be glad to know. Miss Dane ?" " I don't think they can have come here, dear sir ; I fancy there must be some error. Allow me to wring for Bruff." She tripped to the bell before Mr. Lydney could forestall her ; and Bruff — who for some reason, best known to himself, had delayed the errand he was departing upon when Mr. Lydney appeared at the castle-gate — came in answer to the summons. "Bruff," asked Miss Dane, "have any boxes and things been brought here this morning, belonging to that wrecked ship ?" " Yes, miss," answered Bruff. For Miss Dane, though living at the castle as its mistress, never would submit to be addressed as "ma'am." In her 134 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. opinion it would have taken from her appearance of youth ; and woe be to the servant who transgressed, for he fell under her stern displeasure : at least, as stern as simple Miss Dane could show. "Is this gentleman's box here, then ?" she proceeded. " I can't say that, miss ; I did not remark particularly what came. It was all put in the strong room. If the box was in the cart with the other things, it's here." "It is of the very utmost conse- quence that I should have it, Miss Dane," struck in Mr. Lydney. "Lord Dane would surely not object to its be- ing returned to me, were he at home." Of course not, sir," warmly acqui- esced Miss Dane. " Bruff, you can- not do wrong by giving up to this gen- tleman his own property." " My lord's orders were that the things should not be touched, under any pretence whatever, miss," remon- strated Bruff. " Yes, I can understand that; when there were no claimants for them, he naturally would cause them to remain in security. But this gentleman claims his box and requires it : so you must give it to him." " Not upon my o\vn responsibility, miss," retui'ned the butler. "If you order me to do so, that of course alters the case." "Dear me, Bruff, how tiresome and precise you are !" ejaculated Miss Dane, with her childish simper. " It stands to reason that his lordship, in takingpossessionof the property, could only have had regard to the interest of the owners ; therefore I cannot do wrong in desiring that what belongs to this gentleman should be given up to him." Mr. Lydney rose. " It is a japanned box," he said to Bruff, " with initials and a cross on the lid in gilt ; you cannot mistake it. But I may as well go with you, and point it out." Bruff seemed to hesitate still, and at length turned to Miss Dane. "Miss," he said, "you know what my lord is, if he is disobeyed. Now I really dare not do this of my own accord — though I'm sure I ask pardon for saying so, in the face of your orders. Perhaps, miss, you would not mind coming to the strong room, and delivering up the box yourself, as it were." Miss Dane did not mind it at all : she rather liked the expedition, espe- cially when the handsome young stranger gallantly offered his arm as an escort. Down-stairs they went, through the passages to the strong room, she mincing and chattering by his side. Bruff produced the key, and unlocked the door. When the reader first saw that room, it had trestles standing in its middle, bearing something cold and heavy. Now the trestles had disap- peared, and in the same place, thrown in a hasty heap on the floor, were the relics fished up by the divers. Mr. L3'^dncy released Miss Dane, and stood an instant, his eye rapidly scanning them one by one. A look of angry perplexity rose to his face. " My box is not here," he exclaimed with sternness. It was a contretemps that neither Miss Dane nor Bruff had expected — perhaps the latter felt rather relieved than otherwise. Certainly no japan- ned chest was amongst the articles. Mr. Lydney turned to Bruff. " Where has it been put to ?" he inquired, his quiet tone carrying more command with it than many a louder one. " If it is not here, sir," promptly re- plied Bruff, "it was not brought to the castle. The things were removed from the cart straight to this room, and I can be upon my word that no- body has been near them since." " It was brought to the castle safe enough," returned Mr. Lydney. " If you saw the things taken out of the cart, you must remember it." " A japanned box, you say, sir," cogitated Bruff, casting his thoughts back. " I cannot be certain that I did see it; I took no particular notice THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 135 what the things "wore, thoup:h I can attest that they were all placed in this room." " Then it has been removed since," replied INIr. Ijydncy. Bruff shook his head. " I can equal- ly attest, sir, and in the most positive manner, that that could not be. The key has not been out of my pos- session." Mr. Lydney felt sure that the box had been removed, and he began cast- ing round his eyes for hiding-places. They fell upon the door of a closet, and he pulled it open, for the key was in. A dark closet, with nothing in it but some trestles, which leaned against the wall. There were no signs of the box. " It is like magic," observed Miss Dane. " If the box was positively brought up in the cart, as you affirm, dear sir, the cart must have taken it away again ; that's the only solution I can come to. My brother, hearing it was yours, may have sent it to your lodgings." But this hypothesis was destroyed by Bruff, who declared that when the cart drove away from the gate it was perfectly empty. Mr. Lydney ap- peared to be thrown up. He inquired at what hour he could see Lord Dane. " He would probably not be home before the dinner-hour," Bruff rejoined, — " six o'clock. His lordship dined at six when in the country." "But, my dear sir," interrupted Miss Dane, as Lydney was wishing her good-morning, " if the box has been so long in the water, its contents must be saturated and useless. You may be disturbing yourself for no- thing." " I expect the contents are intact," was the reply. " The box contains another, which is hermetically sealed, and is impervious to fire and water. I have the honor, madame, for the present, to wish you good-day." Outside the castle, Mr. Lydney paused to consider what he should do in the emergency. He came to the determination to seek out the men be- longing to the cart, and proceeded to the beach to inquire of Mitchel who they were. Mitchel gave the neces- sary information, adding (when ho heard the box was massing) that it did go away in the, cart. And Mr. Lyd- ney found the men. But it afforded him very little serv- ice. Tliay were a couple of dull, stupid clodhoppers, of that species of rustic whom we are apt to marvel at — to question, almost, whether they can be human beings. They had just sufficient brains to get through their day's work at the miller's, and that was all. "A tin box, japanned, wi' gilt marks outside on't ? They didn't know : my lord telled 'em 'to pick up the things what laid on the shingle and take 'em to the castle, and they did so. There couldn't be no box missing out of 'em, 'twarn't likely." " But I tell you that it is missing," said Mr. Lydney ; " and, as to your not recollecting it, if you lifted it into the cart, and then removed it from the cart to Lord Dane's strong-room, you must have observed it. It was a peculiar-looking box." The men scratched their heads. They moved the things for sartain themselves, but they didn't mark one thing more nor another — " Was the box taken from the cart between the beach and the castle ?" impatiently interrupted Mr. Lydney. The two fellows stared, evidently considering it a foolish question. Not it, they answered. They had drove right from the beach to the castle, the one walking by the cart, t'other be- hind it : where should they be likely to leave a box, when my lord had or- dered 'em to the castle ? By token, my lord hisself was near 'em, and must have kept the cart in sight, and could say whether they had stopped or not. "And you left all the things at the castle ?" They left 'em all, and come away with' the empty cart to fetch their sacks o' wheat. And nothing more satisfactory than this could Mr. Lydney get out of them. 136 THE C ASTLE'S H EIE. Though he believed they were too stolid to tell any thing but the truth. CHAPTER XVI. THE SEARCH. Mr. Bruff entertained an idea that there was no policy like that of taking the bull by the horns. Accordingly he quitted the castle, and contrived to cross that portion of the Dane pre- serves where he deemed it most likely Lord Dane would be. Upon seeing him, he went boldly up and told his tale of the occurrences of the morn- ing, deprecatingly dwelling upon the fact that the room had been opened by Miss Dane's orders, against his own will. Lord Dane was sitting on the stump of a tree, solacing himself with a sandwich and something good from a flask. Bruff' stood humbly before him, expecting little less than that his head would be snapped off. Few peers visited disobedience of orders more sharply than he of Dane. "As a general rule, Bruff", you know that what I say is law, and may not be violated with impunity," cried his lordship, with his mouth full. " In this instance the matter was not mo- mentous : but I shall speak to Miss Dane, who appears to have been more in fault than you. Did you give the young man his box ?" " The box was not there, my lord ; leastways the one he said he was look- ing after," replied the amazed and re- lieved Bruff". "A tin box, japanned, with gilt initials outside, he described it to be : there was nothing answering to the description, your lordship " " Then what brought the fellow in- truding after it ?" cried his lordship, testily. " That's just what I expected it would be, — that every man, woman, and child, who might have ever so remote an interest in the ship, would be poking themselves up to view the relics ; and therefore I ordered you to keep them closed. Let them go down with the divers and hunt there." " The young gentleman says the box was found and brought to the castle, my lord," returned Brufi", be- lieving Lord Dane was taking a wrong view of the facts. " But, as I told him, if the box came with the other things, there it would now be, with them." " Rubbish !" returned Lord Dane. " The box could not vanish through the floor. Perhaps you overlooked it, Bruff"." Mr. Bruff" thought not ; and sub- joined the information that the young gentleman had announced his inten- tion of calling at the castle, to see Lord Dane upon the point. " He is welcome," said his lordship. Mr. Lydney so timed his visit as to see Lord Dane just before his dinner- hour. He was received with polite- ness. " My butler has been telling me some rigmarole story about a box vanishing out of the strong-room," began his lordship, in a free, frank tone. " But the thing is impossible : if the box was placed in the strong- room, it must be in it still." " The box was certainly put in the cart to be brought to the castle, — to that Mitchel can testify," returned Mr. Lydney, in a tone as free as his lordship's, though somewhat more haughty. " The question is, where was it put after it reached the castle ?" " Did Mitchel take notice of the box ?" " Yes," emphatically replied Mr. Lydney. "And Mitchel says that your lordship also took notice of it, and remarked that the initials on it were not those of my name." "Is it that box which is missing ? the one with the three gilt Y's upon it ?" exclaimed Lord Dane. " Oh, that was certainly placed in the cart : I saw the men put it in." " May I inquire why your lordship should have meddled with the box at all—" " I had the things brought up for security," interrupted Lord Dane. THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 137 '* But J had claimed that particular box, and had left it in MitchePs care, while I went for means to remove it," said Mr. Lydncy. " It appears to me that it could not be any concern of your lordship's. As to safety — Mit- chel, I say, was in charge." "Were you accustomed to see much of wrecks, which I do not suppose you are, you would know how next to im- possible it is for any preventive-men to stop the pilfering of the marauders that infest the coast," rejoined Lord Dane. " It was my duty, as lord of the manor, to take care that the things recovered remained intact. You are at liberty to claim your property, and remove it from the castle." " But where is my property ?" asked Mr. Lydney. " Your servant showed me the things brought here from the beach, all the things, he said ; and it was not with them." " Sir, to reiterate such an assertion makes me quite angry," tartly rejoined Lord Dane. " A box locked up safely in a strong room could not vanish from it : it must be there still. " Lord Dane rang the bell for the key of the strong room as he spoke, and Bruif brought it to him. He and Mr. Lydney then proceeded thither. " Your lordship must perceive that the box is not here." said Mr. Lydney, pointing to the things as they lay on the floor. Lord Dane glanced at them with a keen and curious eye : and when he found beyond doubt that the box really was missing, he appeared on the point of losing his temper. " It is most strange, most singular !" he uttered ; and, striding to the door, shouted out for Bruff. The man came in hasty answer to the summons, and Lord Dane abruptly addressed him : " Whom have you dared admit to this room ? Somebody must have en- tered and removed the box." " I declare to goodness, my lord, that not a soul has entered it," cried the unhappy Bruff, " saving this gen- tleman and Miss Dane. The key never was out of my personal cus- tody." And Lydney felt convinced that the man was speaking the truth. " The box must have been conveyed to some other room when brought to the castle, not to this one at all," he observed, but Lord Dane interrupted him. " I give you my honor, sir, as a peer of England, that the things brought in the cart were placed in this room, and in this room only. The men had no opportunity of enter- ing any other, and did not enter one." " I can bear my lord out in that/' interposed Bruff, turning his honest face upon the stranger. " The things were brought straight to this room through the outer passage, not the inner one : had the men wished to go into another room, they could not. Besides, I was with them all the time, and my lord also was looking on. I'm sure it's like magic." " I can surmise how it is," said Lord Dane ; " the men must have omitted to remove the box from the cart." " No," said Mr. Lydaey. " I ha,ve questioned the men, and am satisfied that it was brought into the castle." " My lord," put in the butler, " I watched the cart go away from the gates, and it was quite empty." " It is inexplicable," exclaimed Lord Dane. " But I hope," he added, turn- ing to Mr. Lydney, with a frank smile, " that it will soon be explained, and the box found, for you appear to set store by it." " It shall be found, if there be law or justice in England," warmly spoke the young man. "Nay," said Lord Dane, "you would seem to cast blame to me ; but that is not just." " My lord," returned Mr. Lydney, " it is against my nature to act, or suspect, in an underhand manner, and therefore I candidly avow my opinion that your lordship has custody of the box. Had it been lying on the beach unclaimed, as the other things were, and you had ordered it to the castle, I could have understood it ; but that you should do so in the face of Mit- chel's assurance that ii was mine, and 188 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. that I was then bringing assistance to remove it, does appear to me to be a procedure fraught with doubt. I can only believe that your lordship did so to obtain possession of the box." " Why I what do you suppose I wanted with the box ?" uttered Lord Dane. " I am unable to say." "You are smarting under this loss, young sir, which I confess is a vex- atious one, and therefore I excuse your language," equably returned Lord Dane. " I will even condescend to point out how totally absurd your suspicions are. That the things were all brought to this room I have testi- fied to you ; my servants have done the same, and you can also question the miller's men. Now, this room is some distance removed from any other room in the castle, and I ask you how it would be possible for me to carry a heavy box, which most likely I could not even lift through the passages to them ? You may be capable of deem- ing that my servants helped me, or carried it by my orders : but I give you hearty leave to question them all. No, Mr. Lydney ; I will swear to you that not a thing went out of this room- doo\[ again after it was brought in at it : I locked the door upon the things immediately, and handed the key to Bruff. Since then it lies with him." Bruff looked up deprecatingly, but did not again defend himself. That there was point in what Lord Dane advanced Mr. Lydney could but ac- knowledge, and perhaps he began to doubt whether his suspicions were correct. He returned with Lord Dane to the reception-room, for he had left his gloves there, and then took his leave. Standing at another door, as he passed through the corridor, was Miss Dane, apparently calling to her little pet dog ; in point of fact, watch- ing for the departure of the handsome stranger. Her ringlets were more elaborate, now they were arranged for dinner, and were ornamented with sundiy bows of sky-blue ribbon; her white dress, made after a girlish fashion, was also decorated with blue. She gave a little start, as of surprise, when Mr. Lydney approached, and put down her arms like a timid child. "You here again ? How nice ! Oh, I hope you have found your box." " It cannot be found," was the an- swer. "It appears to have vanished in some unaccountable manner from Lord Dane's strong room." " Yanished as the ghosts do," sim- pered the lady. " Not exactly. The days of ghosts are over, Miss Dane." He quitted her to depart. As she watched his receding figure, Lord Dane came up whistling, his hands in his pockets. " What are you looking after, Ce- cilia ?" " That handsome young man," avowed Miss Dane. " I never saw one so good-looking before." " H — m," returned Lord Dane in a tone of dissent. " Not a bad figure, though." " Geoffry, who does he put you in mind of?" " Not any one," answered Lord Dane, resuming his whistling. " Ah, you never can see likenesses as I do. He is exceedingly like old Lady Dane." Lord Dane stared at his sister, and then laughed slightingly. " You take queer fancies in your head, Cecilia. That man is no more like Lady Dane than he is like you or me. I should be sorry if he were." " Why ?" " Because a suspicion is drawing over my mind that he is not what he assumes to be, — that he is not a good character : an adventurer, in short who is bent on nefarious purposes." Miss Dane gave vent to a scream of genuine mortification. If her bro- ther said so she feared it must be the fact, for she knew how clear-sighted Lord Dane was. Brufi", meanwhile, was showing out the same- — gentleman, or adventurer, or whatever he might be. They stood for an instant to converse beyond the gate. " I hope, sir, you will not attribute THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 139 this loss to any fault or carelessness of mine," spoke Bruff. " No, I do not," was the ready answer. "But, you must admit that it is strange in the extreme." " I can't malce it out in any way, sir ; turn it about as I will there's no opening for a probability to creep in at." " Lord Dane delivered the key to you immediately?" " That he did, sir. When the men had carried in the things I went to the door with them, and saw them drive off with the empty cart. Then I turned back along the passage to the room, and there stood my lord waiting for me. He locked the door fast in my sight, gave me the key, and or- dered me to keep it locked, and to allow no one to enter. Then he went out, and returned but just now. Now, sir, even allowing that my lord had an inclination to remove that box else- where, as you seemed to suspect, he could not by any possibility have had the time, either to do it himself, or to get it done : and my own moral per- suasion is, that the box never did come into the castle. Halloa ! you young eaves-dropper ? what do you do here ?" The latter words were addressed to Mr. Shad, who was standing in close proximity. Mr. Lydney turned has- tily, and thought he had never seen so strange-looking a boy. The butler pointed bis finger in authoritative warning, and the lad shuffled off. " Had the box been of light weight I might have thought that young rep- tile had pilfered it from the cart," ob- served Bruff to Mr. Lydney. " He must have stolen after when the cart came up here from the beach, for I saw him hovering close by when the men were taking the things from it. A box of that weight, of course he could not take." Mr. Lydney strode away, overtook Shad, and laid his hand upon his shoulder. " What is your name ?" asked he. " Please, sir, it's Shad." "Shad— what?" " I doesn't know." " The drivers recovered some thing? this morning from the wreck, and a cart took them up to Dane Castle. You followed, I believe, Mr. Shad. Did you see the cart unloaded ?" " I didn't finger nothing," was the response of the boy. " That is not what I ask you. Con jon speak truth ?" proceeded Mr. Lydney, doubting whether much truth could come from a mortal, possessing a countenance like the one he gazed on. Shad only grinned. " You see this sixpence," said Mr. Lydney, taking one from his pocket. " I am going to ask you a question or two ; answer me with strict truth, and it shall be yours. Equivocate only by a word, and instead of the six- pence, you shall get something not so pleasant." " I know what you'd ask me," burst forth the boy, forgetting his usual role of 'simpleton,' in the eager fascina- tion the sixpence bore for him ; " it's about your lost box, that a row's be- ing made over, him with the three letters on it. I see it took in to the castle." "You did?" " I see it with these two eyes o'mine," avowed Shad, lifting his sly orbs, sparkling now, to the face of Mr. Lydney. " It was a'most the last thing left in the cart ; the two millers carried of it in, and Mr. Bruff went a'ter 'em up the passage." " Where was Lord Dane then ?" « " I didn't see him. I think he was agone into the castle afore." " You saw the cart drive away, no doubt ; was it quite empty ?" " Yes ; there warn't nothing left in her. Master, I'm telled the truth, and now, please, for the sixpence." " Should I find later that you have not told the truth, it shall go hard with you," said Mr. Lydney, drop- ping the sixpence into his hand. " But if you could only learn. Shad, how much easier it is to speak truth than the contrary, what a vast amount of trouble it saves, you would never say another false word again." 140 THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. Shad's only reply was to amble off, his arms flinging themselves about in wild delight at the possession of the sixpence. It was somewhere about this hour, or a little later, for the shades of night were gathering on the earth, that Miss Lester and her brother were walking through the wood-path, already mentioned. Once more Maria had transgressed home orders, and had been to see Edith, for the accounts she heard of her state of health grew more dark day by day. The visit paid, she was now returning home, Wilfred escorting her through the wood. In more open parts, Maria would scarcely have dared to be seen with him, fearing it might get reported at home, and that unpleasantness would be the consequence. They had walked at first in silence, but Maria's thoughts were gradually winding themselves up to a pitch of excite- ment, and she suddenly broke it, clasping her hands as she turned to her brother. " Oh, Wilfred ! is there nothing that you can do. Try any thing. Look out for a situation ; no matter what, so that you can but earn a trifle. Throw pride to the winds." " Pride 1 Gad, I don't think much of that stops by me, Maria," was his reply. "What would you suggest that I should do ? I know of nothing. I cannot go and open a general shop in Danesheld, wanting funds ; I can- not engage myself as keeper to Lord Dane ; I don't suppose I should get hired if I offered myself as footman to my father, to replace the one I hear is leaving." " How can you thus turn what I say into ridicule ? and Edith in the state she is 1" rejoined Maria, with displeasure in her voice, but tears in her eyes. " Not ridicule, Maria," he quietly replied. " These subordinate situ- ations being closed to me, are a proof how much more closed better ones would be. It was in that light I spoke." " But you are wrong. You draw a wrong deduction," she argued. " These mean sort of situations for making money, are of course closed to you ; but there are others, suitable to a gentleman." "I don't know how a gentleman, entirely devoid of means, could put himself in the way of obtaining such. Maria, it is of no use to finesse longer, and to play at pride and propriety. You see these clothes ?" pointing to the velveteen suit he wore. " They are all I possess." " Where are your others ?" she uttered, breathlessly ; " your better suits ?" " Pledged. Pledged for food. I may have to put in this coat also, for some pressing necessity, and to go about, astonishing Danesheld, in shirt- sleeves. It is not very likely that / could take any situation appropriate to a gentleman." The crimson had flushed into Maria's face; it seemed that she was at a loss for words. They were drawing near to the wood, and Wilfred stopped. " I shall not go any farther, Maria. But, l)efore we part, I wish you would tell me whether there's truth, or not, in a report I have heard. Eumor runs that you are to marry Lord Dane." Maria turned away her head, and remained silent. "I see," said Wilfred, "it is so. Think well what you are about, Maria ; remember he was once the choice lover of Lady Adelaide ; and she his. That is, if tradition tells true." " Do not allow yourself to repeat such stories," remonstrated Maria. " Lady Adelaide is papa's wife. And disabuse your mind upon another point, Wilfred ; I do not wish to marry Lord Dane." " Oh I Is the wish, the liking, all on his side ?" " It is not on mine. I do not dis- like Lord Dane, but I shall never like him well enough to marry him. There is only one thing — " At this moment an inten'uption oc- curred. It had pleased Mr. Lydney, buried in deep thoughts, to take a cir- THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 141 cuitons path from the castle to the Sailor's Rest, which ]>ath led him through the wood. He had scarcely entered it when his eye caught sight of young Mr. Shad, twined, something like a snake, round the thin trunk of a tree, and evidently in the act of listen- ing. At the same moment, his ear caught the sound of voices. He went gently forward, laid his grasp upon the gentleman, and drew him out be- fore the astonished gaze of Wilfred and Miss Lester. Young Shad whined out — " What had he done ? It was hard a poor little fellow couldn't be watch- ing an ant's nest, but he must be pounced upon and took up, as if he was a bird or a rabbit." " I hope you were saying nothing that all the world may not hear," said Mr. Lydney, addressing them, " for this boy was certainly listening." "No, I wasn't," sniffed Shad, trying to squeeze out a tear. " I never heard nothing. I was looking at the ant's nest." " You young dog, you'll come in for my stick some of these days," cried Wilfred Lester, shaking his cane menacingly at him. " You are always up to your tricks. I don't believe there's an ant's nest there. No, there is not," he added, going to the spot, and examining. " Now, what do you deserve ?" " I never said as there was," wailed the incorrigible Shad. " I said as I was a looking for him. Granny al'ays tells me to look out for the ants' nests." Finding himself at liberty, he scam- pered away at the utmost speed of his legs ; but only to double back again when he was beyond sight and hear- ing. Dodging stealthily amidst the thick trees, he got as near to the spot as he dared, his ears all awake. Finding himself balked, for by that time the three were dispersing, he solaced his inquisitive mind by dodg- ing the further movements of Mr. Wilfred Lester. "As shrewd a young spirit as ever crossed my path, that Master Shad," exclaimed Mr. Lydney. "One to be guarded against, unless I am mistaken. Who is he i* He told me he did not know his name." " I don't think he does know it, or anybody else in this neighborhood, except the old woman he calls graiuiy," replied Mr. Wilfred Lester. " Shad's parentage remains amidst the things untold. He is a sly young imp of mischief" " He has an evil physiognomy, and a cunning one," returned Mr. Lydney. " Bad cpialities, both ; doubly bad when they go together." " The gossips are engrossed with the tale of the loss of your property, the box brought to light by the div- ers," resumed Wilfred. "Is it found ?" " No ! It is the most extraordinary, the most unaccountable — however, I will say no more till I call in the aid of the police," Mr. Lydney broke off. "Is Lord Dane a man of veracity?" he added, abruptly. "I know nothing to the contrary," replied Wilfred Lester. " I cannot say that he is a favorite of mine ; we all have our likes and dislikes ; but — a man of veracity ? Yes, I should deem him to be that. But I must leave you, for I have an appointment, and shall be late for it. Good-night. Lydney, just see my sister the few steps to the end of the wood." He sped off" unceremoniously, and Mr. Lydne}^ turned to walk by the side of Miss Lester. " Were the contents of this lost box of very much consequence ?" she in- quired. "Of the very utmost consequence," he answered. " Strictly speaking, neither the box nor the contents be- longed to me, but they were in my charge ; and I would rather give every shilling I possess in the world than lose them." " Are you going to make a long stay in Danesheld ?" "I cannot tell how long it will be. Hitherto I have been hoping for the box, w^hich this morning brought up. Now it is gone again, and I am no more forward than before." 142 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. "Its disappearance certainly appears to savor of the marvelous," observed Maria. " But, rely upon it, it never was placed in the death-room." "In the what room ?" echoed Mr. Lydney. Maria smiled at his surprise. " They call it the strong room now : but until the return of Lord Dane from abroad, it was known as the death- room, being the apartment where the Danes, after death, lie in state. Ex- cept in Lord Dane's presence, most people call it the death-room still. " "I fancy — now you speak of it — that Lord Dane's butler called it the death-room to-day ; but it nearly es- caped my notice," observed Mr. Lyd- ney. He conducted Maria to the door of the hall, and then wished her good- evening. From some cause they had dined earlier than usual that day, and Maria supposed that tea would be waiting. It was not, however, and she proceeded to the study of her father, where he sat alone. Mr. Les- ter was reading a newspaper; Maria waited till he looked up. " Papa," she said, untying her bon- net-strings, " there has been an under- stood embargo, more implied than ex- pressed to me, that I should not go to Wilfred's house." " Of course," replied Mr. Lester ; " it could not be permitted." " I have come to tell you that I have transgressed it, and have been there, twice. The first time my going was, if I may so express it, involuntary ; the second, this evening, I went in deliberation. It would not be right if I kept it from you, papa." " And what took you there ?" an- grily demanded Mr. Lester, after sur- veying Maria for some moments in silence. " I went to see Edith. Papa, I think she is dying." Mr. Lester made no reply, — only let fall the glasses that rested across his nose. Their gold chain went down with a chink. "And she is dying of hunger," Maria continued, catching up her breath with a sobbing sigh. " Dying of hunger, papa." " Don't talk absurdly," reproved Mr. Lester. " Papa, it is so. She cannot eat the coarse food they can alone procure, and she is sinking for want of the delicacies necessary for her condition. Miss Bordillion has helped them till she has little left for herself. Oh, papa, my heart feels as if it would burst." " Why do you tell me this ?" " I could not be disobedient without telling you. Dear papa, will you not assist them ? Just a little, to get Edith a few things until she is stronger. " " I will not," affirmed Mr. Lester, in a deliberate tone. "Your brother and his wife have brought this upon themselves, and they must abide by it. You cannot go near them again." " Papa, I pray you do not impose that command upon me," she implored in agitation. " I am not sure, — dear papa, pardon my saying so, — but I am not sure that I could strictly obey it. He is my brother ; he is deserted of all. I fear it may be my duty to stand by him, even though you bade me not. Do not bar all intercourse ; I will promise very rarely to go ; never, unless occasion should seem to re- quire ; and if you like, when that shall happen, I will tell you that I have been. Our mother is dead ; you have other ties ; but Wilfred and I are alone." No reply made Mr. Lester. Maria waited, but none came ; and she turned and quitted the room with a slow step. CHAPTER XYIL A THOUSAND POUNDS EEWARD. Had Miss Lester quitted her fath- er's study with a hasty step instead of a slow one, she would probably have run over Tiffle j for that damsel THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 143 had had her ear glued to the door throughout the greater portion of the interview. Tiffle proceeded to Lady- Adelaide's dressing-room, closed the door with a mysterious air, and turned up the whites of her eyes. " Such treason and plots as is being hatched, my lady ; that of Guy Fox's was nothing in compii-ison. There's Miss Lester been shut up with master till this blessed minute, a pleading for them two married ones, and declaring that she has been to see 'em, and is going again." " Impossible," returned Lady Ad- elaide; "Miss Lester would not dis- obey expressed commands." " She has disobeyed 'em, my lady. And she has been a-making up a tale to her pa, that them two are famish- ing, and ought to be helped. My lady, if you don't mind, master will take 'em into favor again, and allow 'em a income — to the wrongs of the dear little cher}^bums at home, your ladyship's own. I — I — I'd let 'em famish, if it was me," emphatically added Tiffle. " They deserve nothing better," said Lady Adelaide. " Does he go out at night still ?" "Oh, don't he?" replied Tiffle. " Last night as ever was, he and that Drake, and young Beecher was on my lord's grounds," she continued, sink- ing her voice. " Let it go on a bit, my lady; he'll be dropped upon." " Where do you get your informa- tion, Tiffle ?" demanded Lady Ade- laide. " My lady, I do get it, and it's for the good of the family I'm proud to serve. If I pay all my wages away in bribes, I don't regret it, so long as I can render service to your ladyship, and the precious little ones. But to say precisely how, when, and where I do get the infermation, is beyond me, and your ladyship must ixcuse my saying so. Let them two once get the upperhand of master, and they'd be for turning us out of house and home." Before more was said, a loud knock, as of a visitor, was heard at the hall door. Tiffle — who seemed to make it her business to watch everybody's business in the house, as keenly as a cat watches a mouse — left the room with a spring, and planted herself where she could see down into the hall. The visitor admitted, she came back. " Is it Lord Dane ?" inquired Lady- Adelaide. " Not at all, my lady. It's that young man that is lodging at the Sailor's Rest ; that Mr. Lydney who was hooked up in the life-boat. I saw Miss Lester walking with him just now, so she has invited of him to tea, no doubt." "Saw Miss Lester walking with him ! invited him to tea ?" reiterated Lady Adelaide. " What are you say- ing, Tiffle ?" " Oh, my lady, they have growed to be upon quite close terms of friend- ship," carelessly replied Tiffle. " Miss Lester is forever meeting of him at Miss Bordillion's, where he have got intimate." Mr. Lydney, however, had not come " to tea," or to visit Miss Lester. His business was with Mr. Lester, and into his study was he shown. Not many minutes had he quitted Maria when it occurred to him that Mr. Les- ter, in his magisterial capacity, might be of service to him. Mr. Lester re- ceived him cordially; a speaking ac- quaintanceship had grown up between them since the night of the wreck, and he liked young Lydney much. Miss Bordillion had also informed him of the service he had rendered Maria. " Saved her life," Miss Bordillion ex- pressed it ; but Mr. Lester laughed at that. " I must ask you to pardon my call- ing upon you at this unseasonable hour, — unseasonable for business," be- gan Mr. Lydney, as he took the chair placed for him. " You are, I believe, in the commission of peace for the county?" " I am," replied Mr. Lester. " Then will you allow me to request you to grant a warrant to search Dane Castle ?" 144 THE C A STLE'S HEIR. Had Mr. Lester been applied to for a warrant to search his own house in- side and out, he could not have evinced more surprise. " Search Dane Castle ?" he echoed. " You probably have heard, Mr. Lester, the details of the loss of my box this day ; for Danesheld is a small place, famous for tale-bearing ; and a transaction taking place at one end of it at ten in the morning, would be known at the other by ten minutes past — " " That is so," interrupted Mr. Lester with a laugh. "And I believe I am as cognizant of the circumstances at- tending the loss of the box, as you can be." " Then, Mr. Lester, I will go on. That box, rely upon it, is in Dane Castle ; and I must have it found." " What grounds can you possibly entertain for coming to that conclu- sion ? " slowly uttered Mr. Lester. " Lord Dane can have no motive for detaining or concealing the box : he would only be too glad to hand it over to you, — you being the owner." " I draw my deductions from facts," returned the young man. " What right — nay, I will say what motive — had Lord Dane to interfere with my box at all ? Mitchel told him it was mine, and that I was about to re- move it." " I do not mj^self see any necessity there was for his doing so," reflectively [replied Mr. Lester. " As to his mo- tive, it must have been zeal — over zeal that no harm should come to the things, — your box among them. Were I to conjecture, I should say the box fell from the cart, unseen, on its way to the castle." "I think that would scarcely be your conjecture did you know how heavy the box was, Mr. Lester. It could not well fall unseen or unheard ; and one of the men walked behind the cart. Besides, it was seen to be car- ried into the castle." Mr. Lester pricked up his ears. The last little bit of information was new to him. "By whom ?" he eagerly asked. " I understood it had not been observed whether it was positively taken in, or not." " A somewhat noted young gentle- man of your vicinity, SJaad by name, saw it go in — " Mr. Lester interrupted with a burst of laughter; and it was some moments before he recovered himself, so entirely did the avowal excite his mirth. " Excuse me, Mr. Lydney, but the remark proved how great a stranger you are to our village politics and to Shad. Why, he is the falsest boy you can conceive ; he tells more lies in an hour, than another lad would in a lifetime. I doubt if he ever spoke a word of truth yet, knowing it to be truth." " I agree with you in all that," re- plied Mr. Lydney, who had sat per- fectly composed until the laugh was over ; " from my limited observation of the boy I should judge him to be an exceedingly bad boy, an habitual and systematic deceiver. Neverthe- less, I avow to you my belief that in this one instance he has told me truth. Depend upon it, he can tell truth, if it .suits his purposes of self-interest. He said tlie two men carried the box into the castle, it being nearly the last thing taken out of the cart, and that Lord Dane's butler followed them in. I re- peat to you, Mr. Lester, my convictj^n that this account was in acconjance with fact." :■*"" "Can you suspect any of the serv- ants of having cribbed it ?" hastily asked Mr. Lester. " Bruff is as honest as the day — a most respectable man — was butler to the old Lord Dane." " No : I cannot suspect the serv- ants ; by what I hear, they never went near the box." And this was an un- lucky admission of Mr. Lydney's, for it took away all semblance of a plea for the grant of the search-warrant ; that is, according to the opinions or the prejudices held by Mr. Lester. " Whom do you suspect ?" he in- quired of his guest, fixing his eye? searchingly upon him. " It is a question, Mr. Lester, that I cannot answer you. I believe the THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 145 box to be in the castle, concealed by some person or persons, either inten- tionally, or — it is just possible — in- advertently, the result of an oversight ; therefore, I apply to you to grant me a search-warrant." " I am sorry to refuse," he said, at length, " but I am really not satisfied that the law would justify me in doing so. The only direct evidence that the box did go into the castle comes from that Shad ; scarcely one upon whose word we could venture to thrust the insult of a search-warrant upon Lord Dane." He spoke the last sentence in a sar- castic tone. Mr. Lydney's voice rose courteously in answer. " I thought it might prove so. I felt that you would be chary of grant- ing a search-warrant against Lord Dane, who is your intimate friend. Well, Mr. Lester, I can hardly blame you ; perhaps in your place I should not be any the more willing." "Nay, nay," interposed Mr. Lester. " don't put the refusal upon friendship. I do not see that the grounds are sufficient to grant a search-warrant." " I must apply to another magis- trate," observed the young man. " Of course that is entirely at your option. I do not think you will find another more willing to grant it than I. If you do, I am not sure that it would serve you." "Why not?" " Lord Dane is higher in the com- mission of peace than we are ; we are but county magivStrates ; he is the lord- lieutenant ; as such, we are under his authority, — under his thumb. Were a warrant to search his house issued by one of us, I am not sure but he has the power to draw his pen down it, and render it null and void. I say that I am not certain of this, Mr. Lydney, for I would not willingly mislead you ; but I fancy it would prove to be the fact " Not a very consolatory suggestion for William Lydney. He rose to leave. Mr. Lester rose also. " Will you spend an hour or two with us this evening, and be introduced 9 to Lady Adelaide ?" said the latter. " We are just going to tea." " I shall be very happy," was the answer. " I have thought once or twice that I should like to know Lady Adelaide." But no sooner had Mr. Lester given the invitation than he repented of it, fr>j it occurred to him how exceedingly awkward it would be did Lord Dane come in, as he mostly did now of an evening. It might be any thing but pleasant for two men to meet in social intercourse, on^e of whom was apply- ing for a search-warrant against the other. Mr. Lester accordingly sat upon thorns, but his guest spent a re- markably pleasant evening, completely gaining the favor of Lady Adelaide. Lord Dane did not make his appear- ance. Bearing in mind the doubt express- ed by Mr. Lester whether Lord Dane might not quash any warrant issued by a magistrate, Mr. Lydney deter- mined to apply direct to the police, and on the following morning pro- ceeded to the station. The inspector was not there ; one of the subordi- nate officers heard the story, and then asked what it was that he required, — what was the object of his application. " I want the assistance of the police to aid in discovering this box," was the reply. " I wish Dane Castle to be searched for it." The policeman gave a slight shake of the head, which seemed to argue rather unfavorably for Lydney's de- mand. He could not take any such responsibility upon himself, he ob- served, but he would report the appli- cation to his superior, and the gentle- man had better call again. Little indeed was Mr. Lydney ac- quainted with the usages of the neigh- borhood, and with Lord Dane's sway in it, if he supposed the police could receive such an application and not make his lordship acquainted with it. The inspector himself carried it to the castle in the course of the day, and Lord Dane accorded him a private in- terview. " Search the castle, forsooth 1" iron- 146 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. ically ejaculated his lordship. "It were more to the purpose that he per- mitted himself to be searched ; that he declared who and what he is. Look at the facts, inspector. Here's a young man saved from a wreck with what he stands upright in, taken up his abode at a public house, and worms himself into the best houses of the neighborhood, on a footing of equality. He is obstinately silent as to his antecedents : that he has been asked of them, I know, but he does not answer. How can we tell that he is not an adventurer, a chevalier d'in- dustrie ? For my own part, I believe him to be one, and that it will turn out so in the end ; I have my reasons for thinking so. He spent last eve- ning at Squire Lester's." " Did he, indeed, my lord ?" re- turned the inspector, in a tone of dis- may, taking his cue from the peer. " At Miss Bordillion's he is inti- mate ; at other houses he is intimate ; he has contrived to scrape acquaint- ance with my own sister, — places, all, where he has insinuated himself. Yesterday evening he was actually walking in the wood with — with " — Lord Dane arrested the words on the tip of his tongue, and then substituted others — " with a young lady ; a young lady of the highest consideration." " Why, there's no knowing what it may end in, if he really is an adven- turer," cried the inspector. " It will end in the neighborhood's hav4ng cause to repent its folly, its cre- dulity," returned Lord Dane. "With regard to the box he claims — and I dare say it is just as much his as it is yours or mine — ." But here his lordship summoned Bruff and the key, and marched the inspector to the strong room. " Here they are, the things that came from the wreck," continued Lord Dane, pointing to the articles which lay on the floor, just as they had done the previous day. " Does it stand to common sense that if the box had been brought to this room it could have vanished out of it, the door being secured fast? Why that box more than any other ? No, Mr. Inspector, if the box had been here at all, here it would be still. Who is to know that he did not contrive to get it from the cart himself, and is making this fuss to put you police off the scent that he has got it ?" " A not-improbable supposition, if he forked what did not belong to him," cried the inspector. " A pretty fellow he, to talk of a search-warrant for the castle !" " I'd see him hanging from the yard- arm of the tallest ship in the harbor before he should execute it," haughtily spoke his lordship. " But I am far from imposing the same impediment upon you, inspector. If you choose, for your own satisfaction, to go through every room and examine every nook and corner of the castle, you are at liberty to do so. Bruff will guide you, or you may go alone, as you please. Here's the trestle-closet : begin with that." " My lord, for my own satisfaction I should certainly not need to do so : if it would be for your lordship's satis- faction, I will. You do not cast a doubt to any of the servants ?" he added, lowering his tone. " The servants ?" echoed Lord Dane, with a pause and a stare, as though the idea to suspect them had not be- fore occurred to him. " No, I don't ; what should they want with the box ? But — there, you had better go through the castle : it will set the matter at rest." Accordingly the inspector did go through the castle, searching it thor- oughly, but found no trace of the lost box. Lord Dane's manner had changed to one of chilling hauteur when the officer rejoined him. " And when this man — Lydney, or whatever his name is — shall presume to speak to you again of a search-war- rant for Dane Castle, inquire a little as to who he may be, and what he may be doing here, and where he comes from," said his lordship. " Un- derstand me, inspector; you have my orders to do this : find out what you can, and report to me." THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 147 •" Very f!:ood, my lord," said the in- spector ; and, bowing low, he backed out from the presence of Lord Dane. The inspector was much occupied that day, and it was not till evening that Mr. Lydney succeeded in finding him. The inspector did not at first tell him that he would not accord his application ; he fenced with the ques- tion. He went to work in his own cautious manner, every eye and ear open to gather what he could of the applicant and his belongings. " Am I to understand," he de- manded, "that you accuse Lord Dane of stealing the box ?" " No ; I do not accuse him of that, not feeling sufficiently sure of my grounds," was the bold answer. "That Lord Dane had the box taken away in the cart is indisputable ; that it must have reached the castle appears almost equally indisputable ; and also, in my opinion, that it entered it. Where, then, is the box? Lord Dane does not give it up ; he either cannot or he will not, one of the two ; and the only course of action left to me, the only approach to redress, is to have the castle searched by the police." " Were those proceedings adopted they would carry with them an out- rage, an insult upon Lord Dane," urged the inspector. " You must re- member who and what he is — a peer of Great Britain ; lord-lieutenant of the county ; lord of the manor ; a man of high character — " " High character ?" interrupted the young gentleman. " Yes ; high character," warmly re- peated the inspector, " and very high character, too. What, to the con- trary, has ever been breathed against Lord Dane ? But it's of no good wandering from the point like this. The fact is, sir, to speak plainly, be- fore we can listen to any charge or slur on Lord Dane, we must know who it is that would prefer it." "What difference does that make?" inquired Mr. Lydney. " It makes all the difference," said the keen inspector. " A worthless fellow, a known poacher or smuggler, might come to us with some trumped- up, imaginary com])laint against his lordship, and we should show him out at the door for his temerity. But were a gentleman of position and character, such — let us say, for ex- ample — as Squire Lester, to bring forward any charge against his lord- ship, it would carry weight. Now, do you see the distinction ?" " I am a gentleman, if you require that assurance," returned Mr. Lydney, " one entitled to position." " Can you prove it, sir ?" " You have my word for it," was the haughty answer ; "a word that never was doubted yet." The inspector smiled somewhat broadly. " Words don't go for much in law," said he ; " proofs are better. You are an American, I have heard. " I am an Englishman. That is, of English descent, though born in America. My father's family are of reputation in England, and know how to hold their own." The inspector's ears were opened an inch wider, and his tongue was ready. " Where do they live ? in what part of England ? Lydney ? Lydney ? the name is not familiar to me as borne by any family of note." " I cannot give you further informa- tion. It is as I have told you, and you must trust to my word." " But where can be the objection to speak out ?" urged the officer. " That is my business," was the cold, stiff answer. " Very well, sir," returned the in- spector ; " you have said just as much as I expected you to say, and no more. You assert that you are somebody grand and great, and when I ask for corroborative proof you decline to give it. Now, do you think that any charge from )'ou against my Lord Dane would be listened to ?" Lydney regarded him in silence. " Perhaps you'll tell me whether you followed any business in Amer- ica ?" pursued the officer. " I have told you I am a gentle- man,^'' was the quiet but emphatic answer. 148 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. "Will you tell me, then, what your business may be in this neighborhood, and how long you intend to stop in it?" " My business in the neighborhood I" echoed Mr. Lydney. " Why, did not the sea cast me upon it ? As to my re- maining, if I choose to remain in it for good, I believe there is no law to pre- vent me. I can promise you one thing, I don't quit it till the box is found." " Our conference is at an end, sir," said the inspector. " My time is val- uable." " Am I to understand that the po- lice refuse their assistance to me in ray efforts to recover the box ?" " Not at all," more cordially replied the inspector : " we should be very glad to find it, for our own satisfac- tion. What we decline to do, is, to act in any oflPensive manner towards Lord Dane. Especially," he pointedly added, "when an unknown stranger, and one who won't declare any thing about himself, urges it. But now, sir, J am not ill-natured, and if it will ease your mind at all to know it, I can testify that if you did get the search executed, it would be fruitless, for the box is not in the castle." " You cannot know that it is not." " I never testify to a thing that I don't know," coolly returned the offi- cer. " I searched the castle myself for it this day. " "You!" " I did : searched it effectively and thoroughly : there was not a space the size of that," holding up two fingers of his hand, "that I did not go into. I did it by Lord Dane's wish — for of course it was not an absolute impos- sibility, though next door to it, that the servants had not made free with the box. It is nowhere in the castle." To say that Lydney was completely astonished at the information, would be saying little. He had fully made up his mind that the box tvas in the castle. "Then where can it be? what can have become of it ?" he exclaimed aloud. " I can't say : to my mind, it's a queer business altogether. I don't much like the fact of that Granny Dean's Shad having been close to the cart when it was unloading. That imp would lay his hands on any thing he could ;, and a japanned box, got up from a wreck, would be the very treasure he'd like to finger. Still, that idea does not go for much with me ; that he did not carry it off himself, is certain ; first, because he could not, from its weight ; next, because I have evidence that Avhen the cart went away empty, he shambled, empty handed, after it." "You have been collecting evidence upon this loss, I perceive." " Undoubtedly. When losses take place, whether mysterious or other- wise, it is our business to do so. We were yesterday in possession of all the facts, — so far as they go." "And what are your deductions ?" was the next eager question. " Can you give a guess at how or where the abstraction took place ?" " Not the faintest. It's as uncer- tain a case as ever came under our care. We shall keep a sharp look-out. It is your own box, I think you said ?" the inspector carelessly added, with a keen, rapid glance of the eye. "I did not say so," was the unex- pected answer. " It was in my charge, and I have authority to claim it ; but neither the box nor its contents be- longed to me." " May I inquire whose it was ?" " When the box shall be found," was Mr. Lydney's rejoinder, suppres- sing a peculiar smile. " You may ask then, and will be satisfactorily an- swered. Would it be of any use," he resumed, as though the thought had that instant struck him, " to offer a reward ?" " Well, it might," said the inspector. " Particularly if any customer, like that young Shad, should have got hold of it. Yes : a reward might bring the box back." " Then be so good as to take the necessary steps to announce it. Spare no trouble, no time, no expense : you shall be well repaid." THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 149 " Very pood, sir. Wliat shall we Bay ? — five pounds ? — ten pounds ? — Jor the reward, I mean ?" " Offer a thousand pounds," quietly rejoined Mr. Lydney. "A thousand pounds to be paid to any one who shall restore the box intact." Surprise and the munificent amount both combined, sent the inspector staggering backwards. "A thousand pounds !" he stam- mered. " The box must be valuable, sir, and you rich to offer that." " The box, to its owner, is invalua- ble," replied Mr. Lydney. "And the reward I offer would be paid from his pocket, not from mine." He quitted the station-house as he concluded, and the inspector followed him to the door, and looked after him down the street. " 1 said it was queer, and it is," was his mental comment. "A thousand pounds !" CHAPTER XYIII. A BATTLE ROYAL — A WOOD. Mr. Lydney walked down the street slowly, his brain working. The in- spector's information of having search- ed the castle by Lord Dane's orders, astonished him much ; and he began to ask himself whether he was justified in assuming that Lord Dane had been the willful delinquent. The train of thought led him to glance at others connected with the affair, especially young Shad. Could it be that that young gentleman had succeeded in blinding him, and was he the real thief ? or the assistant of the thieves ? Yerily he began to doubt it. Somewhat impulsive in what he did, he determined on the instant to seek out Shad, and question him again. A glance too cunning, or a word too sharp, might betray Shad's share in it. He was not quite sure of the road that would conduct him to Granny Bean's, but believed it was the one that skirted the wood, leading past the cottage of Wilfred Lester, and he took it. " I believe now I ought to have turned down by MissBordillion's," he soliloquized, as he arrived opposite Wilfred's residence, and halted. " Sup- pose I ask ?" Opening the gate, he walked up the little garden, where something occur- red that startled him considerably. The door was stealthily unlatched, and he was pounced upon by a tall female, and dragged towards the dark passage. " Thanks be to the stars that you're come I" apostrophized she, in a covert whisper. " Now it's of no use your being angry and struggling to get off. I've had you in my arms when you were a baby, and I know what's right and what's wrong. There's a whisper abroad that the poachers are out to- night, and if the keepers have got an inkling of it, there'll be a conflict. You shan't go, then, master ; you are killing your wife outright, — sooner a deal than she'd go of her own natural ailments, for she is beginning to sus- pect, and lies in dread. Hav^e you no pity for her, Mr. Wilfred ? Come in, and let me bar the door, and then you, at any rate, will be in safety." "My good woman," he exclaimed, as soon as he had breath to speak, for she had held him in a tight grip, "for whom do you take me ? I am Mr. Lydney. Is your master at home ?" The servant fell against the wall like one turned stupid, and he had to repeat his question. "I'm just a fool and nothing else !" cried she, speaking in a light tone, to cover, Lydney thought, her agitation. " I was expecting a friend to call upon me, and thought it was him ; and I'm sure I ask your pardon, sir. Master ? no, sir ; I don't think he is in." " Never mind : I merely troubled his house to ask a question. Which way will take me to the hut of Granny Bean ?" " Straight on, sir, to the right. When you come to the triangle, turn down the field, and you'll see it, — a little low cottage, all by itself, at the back of the wood. Once again, sir, I 150 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, beg your pardon, and I hope you'll never talk about the mistake, or what I said or did ?" " Not I," laughed Mr. Lydney. " Make my compliments to your mas- ter." So he had been on the right road, after all ; and a few minutes brought him to Granny Bean's cottage. It appeared to be closely shut up, and he might have imagined its inmates. Granny and Shad, had retired to rest, but for the commotion that was taking place within. Now rose an old wo- man's voice in shrill shrieks of rage ; now Shad's in shriller whines. Mr. Lydney knocked, on the door and on the shutters, but little chance was there of his being heard while the noise lasted. " You infamous young dog," raved she, with a profuse sprinkling of worse language, which the reader may ima- gine if he pleases, but which certainly will not be transcribed : "to go and rob your old granny of her hard-earned savings ! You'll come to the gallows, you will." " 'Taint yourn," returned Shad, his denial intermixed with similar embel- lishments of speech. " The new gem- man give it me for telling him about the box, and I'll take my oath to it. Come, you ! hand it over." " Oh you wicked sarpint ! as if any gemman 'ud go and give you a whole silver sixpence ! Now, will you be off ? You ought to have been on the watch a good half-hour ago." " No, I wun't," said Shad's voice. " I wun't go on the watch, and I wun't stir anywheres till I gets my sixpence." The old woman appeared to be beating him, or he her, by the scuffling sound and the shrieks. " I'll tell Miss Tiffle ! I'll tell Miss Tiffle !" the old voice reiterated. " Miss Tiffle may be hanged, and you with her !" gasped Shad, as the commotion grew worse and worse. Mr. Lydney had no doubt they were fighting and struggling for possession of the sixpence. He feared some in- jury might be done, and he gave a thundering peal at the shutters, enough to awaken their alarm, just as a loud shout of triumph from Shad seemed to proclaim that victory and the six- pence had declared themselves for him. Total silence supervened : the knock had startled them. Mr. Lydney thun- dered again. But still he remained unanswered. He could hear some stealthy movements inside, accompan- ied by the hasty shutting of a door, and he knocked once more, louder than ever. It brought forth the head of the woman to a window on the right. The cottage had two rooms, both on the ground-floox', a window in each. She opened the shutters, and thrust her face through the aperture, recon- noitering — a red and wrinkled face, surmounted by a cap in tatters, pro- bably (the tatters) the result of the recent conflict, the whole shaking as if suffering from palsy. " Have you been committing mur- der here ?" demanded Mr. Lydney. " I was a saying of my prayers out loud, if that's murder," returned the dame. " What now ? what do you mean ?" The bold assertion took away his self-possession for a moment. Where was the profit of bandying words with such a woman ? "I want Shad," he resumed. " Shad ! I can't go for to disturb him from his rest to-night. Shad's abed and asleep." " Why, you audacious old crea- ture !" he could not help exclaiming, " I wonder you don't fear a judgment for falsehoods so deliberate. You and Shad have just been at it, tooth and nail, fighting after a sixpence. Let me tell you the sixpence is his, for I gave it him." "Now, did you, indeed, sir?" was the bland answer, the tone changing as if by magic : " what a dear, good, generous gentleman you must be ! You haven't got another about you, to bestow in charity upon a poor, lone, wretched, half- starved widder, have you ? I'd remember you in my pray- ers ever after, I would." THE CAST LE'S HEIR. 151 " If I had fifty, I would not give you the shadow of one ; and I don't imagine your prayers will do yourself mueh good, let alone anybody else. I want Shad, I say." " Oh, sir, dear sir, you are a joking; perhaps another time you'll remember me. I'd be everlasting grateful, if it was only a few poor coppers." " Do you hear me ask for Shad ?" interrupted Mr. Lydney. " Send him out to me ; or open the door that I may get to him." " Shad's abed and asleep, which I'll swear to, and I daredn't break into his night's rest," was the impu- dent answer. "A delicate child, as he is, and the stay and staff o' my life — if I was to lose him, I should die of grief Come any time in the morning, sir, when his night's rest's over, and you're welcome. I tucked him up, the darling, a hour ago in his little bed, and a sweet sleep he dropped off into." " Of all the extraordinary charac- ters, I think you must be the worst !" uttered Mr. Lydney. " Shad's no more in bed than I am. I heard your conflict, I tell you. These false as- sertions sound perfectly awful from a woman at your time of life." " Strange noises is heard outside this hut, at times, — folks have said so afore. It's the witches a pla3^ing in the air, I fancy ; and it's them you must have heard, — unless it was me at my prayers." " Will you send out Shad ?" " I'm sure I'd obleege you in any ways but that, such a nice gentleman as you seem to be ; but I wouldn't wake up my poor sickly gran'ehild for any thing — no, not if you offered me fifty sixpences." Giving a good-night to Granny Bean, more emphatic than polite, Mr. Lydney strode away. He must put off seeing Shad till the morning. He did not return to the road, but went to the back of the cottage, where he believed he should find a path leading through the wood, and that would be the nearest way to the Sailor's Rest. Curiosity induced him to turn round and look at the cottage, and there he saw a door ; so Master Shad and his granny had ingress and egress by back and by front. Pursuing the path, which was there as he had expected, Mr. Lydney sped on with a smart step, buried in thought. It was a starlight night ; though few stars penetrated to the wood-path ; nevertheless, it was not wholly dark. He had arrived at about the midst of the wood, where the trees were thickest, when a sound, as of one pushing through the thick brambles, caught his ear. Having* been told that certain suspicious char- acters did sometimes lurk in that wood, Mr. Lydney drew close to the trees, to see who might be approach- ing. It was "Wilfred Lester. Panting, eager, excited, he came tearing on, at a right angle with Lydney, where no path seemed to be. He crossed the path by a bound, penetrated the trees on its opposite side, and went push- ing on, as though he were making straight for home, and clearing a way to get to it. Mr. Lydney remained immovable. Not looking after him, for the trees prevented that, but wondering what his appearance could mean. That Wilfred was in excessive agitation was apparent, and involuntarily cer- tain mysterious words, spoken by the servant when she had so unceremoni- ously made a prisoner of him, rose to the recollection of Mr. Lydney. He was, as the saying runs, " putting that and that together," and by no means liking the appearance of things, when another movement, one far more stealthy, attracted his attention. Stealing out into the path in the trail left by Wilfred Lester, came Mr. Shad, like a young hound scenting its prey. Once in the path, he made a dead stoppage, unconscious that any eye or ear was near him. " He's tored home to his lair," solilo- quized he, aloud, looking at the spot where Wilfred Lester had disap- peared. " No good to track him again to-night. I'll go and tell her now." 162 THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. Mr. Lydney had stretched out his hand to lay it on the boy, but a second impulse prompted him to hesitate. Par better, himself, track this erratic gentleman, and discover if possible, what treason was being hatched. That some plot was agate against Wilfred Lester, and probably against others, Mr. Lydney felt convinced. He also felt pretty nearly convinced of another thing : that Wilfred was hatching enough mischief, of his own accord, against himself; but that was no reason why Shad should augment it into more. Shad flew along the path, in the direction opposite to Granny Bean's, and when near the end of the wood struck among the trees to the right ; a minute or two brought him to the wood's edge, and close to the back of Squire Lester's. Mr. Lydney followed him : tall and slender, he could pene- trate the trees as well as Shad, and when Shad stopped he stopped. Shad was in his favorite attitude, twined, just like a snake, round one of the outer trees thin stem, gazing in expectation at the open space be- fore him. Mr. Lydney halted suf- ficiently near to see and hear : he wondered who the " her" was to whom Shad was bound. Having had expe- rience by this time of the insatiable nature of Madame Raven sbird's curi- osity, a half suspicion crossed his mind that she might be the audience ex- pected by Shad. Not so, however. A female of stealthy and ambling gait, not unlike Shad's own, appeared, somewhat mysteriously, in that open space. She could not have sprung from the ground, like the spirits do in pantomimes, therefore it was fair to infer that she had emerged from some back-door of Squire Lester's. Shad gave a soft whistle, and the lady came tripping up to it. It was Tifiie. "Well?" cried she. " He's agone right home," answered Shad. " When I got up to 'em, they was a having hot words, him and Beecher and Drake, and another ; I thought it were Ben Nicholson, but I wouldn't swear it. He was a blowing of 'em up — " "Ben Nicholson was blowing 'em up ?" interrupted Tiffle. " How stupid you be 1" snapped Shad. "Lester. He was a blowing the three men up for wanting to go right where they know'd the keepers 'ud be, and he got in a passion, a swearing he wouldn't jine in nothing that might bring bloodshed, and back he went, a cutting right through the thick of the bushes I followed after him till he cut over the cross-path, our'n, and into the bushes ayond it. I know'd then that gone home he was for sartin. I say, where'll be the pull o" my dodging him, if he's a going to take to shirking ?" Tiffle had listened in silence. "How did they ferret out where the keepers would be ?" asked she. "Can't tell," said Shad. "I only got up at the tail o' their confab. I didn't hear nothing of what they'd been a saying afore." " Then you were late ; and a wicked, inattentive, good-for-nothing — " Shad began to whimper. " If I was late, it were granny's fault, Mrs. Tiffle. She set on me and a'most killed me. You should be hid in the oven or somewhere, and see her in her tantrums, you'd not believe it was any thing but Old Nick's mother let loose. Look here ! here's where she bited me, and here's where she kicked at me, and here's where she scratted me, and clutches of my hair she tored out by han'fuls." Shad exhibited various damaged spots about his face and arms, and let fall a shower of dolorous tears. Tiffle — somewhat to the surprise of Mr. Lydney, who had recognized her for Lady Adelaide's maid — was remark- ably demonstrative in her condolences. She grasped Shad tenderly in her arms, and kissed the places fervently with her own lips. " Granny's a regular hyenia when she's put up," cried she. " But I'll be even with her. What did she do it for ?" THE C A STLE'S HEIR, 153 " She have got the nastiest, slyest ways," returned Shad, who appeared not to relish the embrace so much as Tiffle did, and wriggled himself from it as soon as he possibly could. " She dives into my pockets and into any thing, she do, and to-night she found a sixpence in 'em, and she set on and swored it were hern, and that I rob- bed her on't, and she grabbed it from me, and — my ! warn't there a shindy ! and such a row came to the shutters amid it. I grabbed it again, though," concluded the gentleman, with glee, as he took out the bright sixpence and exhibited it to Tiffle. Tiffle did not look at it with equa- nimity. She took the same view of its possession that Gi'anny Bean had done, — though whether granny had really believed that it was stolen from her, or that she put forth the plea to gain possession of it, cannot be told. "You little divil !" apostrophized Tiffle, her affectionate mood changing. " If you begin to bone money, you'll end your days a- working in gangs and irons. Now, you tell me where you stole that ?" " If ever I see the like ! You're as bad as granny," whined the boy. " I might as well be a dog what's mad, and roped-up at once ! That there sixpence was given me by a gemman; gived out and out." " Give for what?" sharplv respond- ed Tiffle. " Give for telling about his box. It's that one what's stopping at the Sailor's Rest. He asked — did I see the things took up to the castle-gates, and I said I see 'em ; and then he said if I'd tell him the truth and no lie, whether the box went into the castle or not, I should get a sixpence, and I did. and he give it me." "Did you see the box took in?" quickly asked Tiffle. "What should ail me ?" responded Shad. " I were a watching." "And it was took right in ?" "It was took right in," answered Shad, his eyes glistening, " as right in as ever any thing was took into that castle yet. Them two miller's chaps carried of it, like they did 'tother lots, and that big Mr. Bruft" a follered of 'em. Not as he seemed to be taking much heed hisself. I telled the gem- man this, and he give me the six- pence." " Shad, you must keep your eyes open upon him, that Lydney, as well as upon Will Lester," was Tiffle's next remark. " Ferret out all about him, where he goes, and what he does ; he's in this wood sometimes, I know ; find out what for. He looks like a gentlemin ; but he may be one of them gentlemin what comes to places to be after watches, and chains, and rings. You find out. I've got my reasons. And be sure, mark it if you see him with Miss Lester." Mr. Lydney, from his hiding-place, felt infinitely obliged to her. "And now, there's no more to be done to-night, as he has hooked it off home," proceeded the refined Tiffle. " So you get back again as quick as you can, and get to bed." She turned away towards the hall ; Shad turned towards the path that would lead him to Granny Bean's ; and Mr. Lydney remained where he was till the echo of their footsteps should die away. Scarcely had Tiffle gone many yards, however, when she met Lord Dane, in the angle made by the side of the hall : to the right was the back-entrance ; to the left, the front. Tiffle was speed- ing on to the former ; Lord Dane was coming from the latter, and they came in contact. " Is it you, Tiffle ?" cried his lord- ship, gayly. "Enjoying a ramble bj starlight ?" " Oh, my lord, you are pleased to joke," simpered Tiffle. " My days for starlighted rambles is over. I leave 'em for the young now, my lord : I've had my turn. Last night I see Miss Lester walking cosy in the star- light, — the evening-star was out, at any rate, if it wasn't late enough for the others, — and I thought how ro- mintic it was : it put me in mind of 154 THE CASTI. P:'S HEIR my own sentamintel days, my lord. There was a gentlemin by her side, him that the wreck cast up. Had it been daylight, instead of starlight, Tiffle would scarcely have presumed to fix her eyes so keenly upon Lord Dane : she believed she had thrown out a shaft that would take. " Wrecks cast up rogues as well as gentlemen," responded his lordship, in a stern, displeased tone, "A man whom nobody knows is scarcely one to be walking by starlight with Miss Lester." " Just the very refliction that oc- curred to myself, my lord," acquiesced Tiffle, complacently. " And says I to myself, ' I'll keep a sharp look-out over you, young man, for Miss Lester's sake, if you presumes to ipproach too near of her. ' And so I shall, my lord. " " Quite right, Tiffle," cried his lord- ship, warmly. And as they parted company, a golden sovereign was left in Tififle's hand. This appeared to be a night prolific in adventures and encounters. Before Mr. L3^dney had well removed from his hiding-place, he found himself face to face with a man — a youngish man — who was dragging himself cov- ertly through the wood. He ap- peared alarmingly startled at the en- counter, and leveled his gun at Mr. Lydney. " Halloa, my man, what's that for ?" cried the latter, unmoved. " Do you take me for a cut-throat ?" " If you don't say who you are, and what you are doi«g here, I'll shoot you," was the reply. " I feel infinitely obliged to you. Have you any more right to be in the wood than I have ? I should be glad to know." Mr. Lydney spoke with courtesy ; and the man could not fail to remark that his voice was that of a gentleman. He had feared a keeper. " You were posted there to watch me ?" he exclaimed. " Nay," said Mr. Lydney, " I may with equal reason reverse the accusa- tion, and say you were watching me. I don't know who you are ; I never saw you in my life that I know of; and my time is more valuable than to be wasted in looking after strangers, if yours is not. You must have es- caped from a lunatic asylum." The man let fall his gun. He had been peering at Mr. Lydney as well as the obscurity around allowed him, and at last made out that he was not a foe ; at all events, not a known one. " I ask your pardon for my haste," he said ; " I thought you were some- body else. The fact is, nobody but suspicious characters are ever prowl- ing in the wood so late as this, unless it's them dratted keepers, who are ever ready to swear an innocent man's life away." Mr. Lydney laughed. Young-man- like, he had no objection to a spice of adventure, and he was naturally of a kindly, affable disposition ; if he could do no good to a fellow-creature, he would not do him harm. "Are you aware of the insinuation against yourself which that last speech implied ? ' Nobody but suspicious characters.' I conclude you mean poachers. Poachers and keepers. Well, I am neither the one nor the other. If you choose to beat about this wood, or any other part of Danes- held, from January till December, car- rying a gun in one hand and snare- nets in the other, you are welcome, for all the business it is of mine. Were they my preserves, it would be a different matter." " You won't go and say to-morrow that you dropped upon me here with a gun ?" " I should be clever to say it, see- ing I know you neither by sight nor name. But if you prefer a specific promise, you may take it. Life is short enough, my man, for the little good we can accomplish, without passing it in doing gratuitous injury to others." The man liked the tones, and liked the words ; he could not account for it, but his heart opened to the speaker, as it had not opened of late years. " I think, sir, you are the gentle- THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 155 man stopping at the Sailor's Rest, whose box is missing." " The same," replied Mr. Lydney. " I nearly got into trouble over that box yesterday. I happened to be passing the castle on my way to my home, as the cart was unloading, and 1 halted for a few minutes, and looked on. Them keen police heard of it, and had me up to the station ; whether they thought I had walked it off, or had seen anybody else walk it olf, I don't know. I laughed at 'em. Young Shad and two or three more urchins could testify that I didn't go near enough to touch any thing on the cart. " " You must have heard the box described," rejoined Mr. Lydney. " Did you see it ?" " I did not see it, sir, to my knowl- edge or recollection. But if, as I hear, it was underneath the rest of the things, I was not likely to. I stopped but a few minutes, and they had just begun to unload." " You cannot give a guess as to where it is gone, or who took it ?" re- sumed Mr. Lydney, a thought occur- ring to him. "No, that I can't. I have not thought much about it. That Shad's as ready-fingered as a magpie, but they say it was too heavy for him to lift." "I would give a good reward if it were restored to me,untampered with," resumed Mr. Lydney. " Would you, though ?" quickly re- joined the poacher, as if the sound were music to his ears. " Fifty guineas," " Fifty guineas !" uttered the man, as much astonished as the inspector had been. " Fifty guineas, and no questions asked. Provided it were restored to me before midday to-morrow. After that, a different offer may be made, and questions asked, pretty sharp ones." " By jingo ! that's worth looking after," exclaimed the man. " I know a fellow or two, who have done a little in the fingering line, sir, and I'll — I'll Be on to them. If I can hear of the box you shall have it on those terms. Honor bright, though." " Honor bright, on the word of a gentleman. The fifty guineas shall be paid, and no incjuiries made. I fancied you might perhaps hear of it among your friends." Little cared Mr. Ben Beecher — for it was no other — for the last delicate insinuation : indeed, it may be ques- tioned if he heard it. A golden vision had been opened to him, and in that he was absorbed. But the two, so strangely met, were not to part without observation. Lord Dane, in walking away from his con- ference with Tiffle, heard the sound of voices, and began to peer about him for the purpose of ascertaining who their owners might be. His lordship's thoughts were directed to poachers. He saw Mr. Ben Beecher, the latter passing out of the wood close to Lord Dane. But no sooner had he passed out than he passed in again, penetrat- ing to Lydney. " I'm afraid it's of no use saying to- morrow at midday, sir : there'll not be sufficient time for what I shall want to do, and the people I must see. Say twenty-four hours from this, and I have little doubt I can hear of it, and bring it. I would meet you here, too, by ourselves : I'd rather not go to the Sailor's Rest." " Very well," replied Mr. Lydney, after considering, " I will give you the extra time. In this same spot," he added, after a pause ; " to-morrow night at the same time." Now the last sentence, only the last, appointing the meeting, reached the ears of Lord Dane, for Lydney raised his voice that it might catch Beecher's ear, who was again departing. " Who can the speaker be ?" thought Lord Dane : " the voice does not seem unfamiliar. I'll be down upon you, my gentlemen, to-morrow night." Lydney! His lordship stared with all his eyes as Lydney came forth to view, and walked away. " Then he is a bad character, and a poacher to boot !" muttered Lord Dane. 156 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. CHAPTER XIX. THE WRIT, Brightly rose the sun on the fol- lowing morning ; brightly, as the day went on, did it throw its rays into the little sitting-room of Wilfred Lester. On the sofa lay Edith : she did not keep her bed, but was in the habit of getting up after breakfast. Wilfred sat on the arm of the sofa making some flies for fishing. A fair, fragile being, almost a child, looked she, as she lay there : her fea- tures attenuated, her cheeks hectic. She wore a white wrapping-gown, which possibly made her appear more of an invalid than any other dress would. She was anxious to say something to her husband, but the topic was one of dread and agitation, and she trembled to set about it. " Wilfred," she exclaimed at length, dashing hurriedly into the subject, "where was it that you went la-st night ?" " Went ?" he returned, bending his head over the flies. " Nowhere in particular. I was out and about, talking to one, talking to another." " So you always say," resumed Edith, in a low tone. Why will you not tell me the truth ?" "You are not jealous, are you?" was his next remark, with an air of pleasantry. She raised herself, and seizing his hand, drew him towards her, speaking in a nervous whisper. " Oh, Wilfred, my husband, do not try to joke it away, but answer me. Is it true what people say ? They declare that you go out with the poachers ; that you are learning to do as they do." " Stop a bit," he interrupted. "Who told you that, Edith ? Because if any man were base enough to bring to a wife such tales of her husband, I'll mark him, as sure as my name's Lester. If a woman, I'll tell her what she is." " Is it true, Wilfred ?" " I ask who brought you the news ?" he reiterated. " Before I answer your question you must answer mine." " No one brought it to me, in the sense you would imply," she rejoined. " It was — let me see — the day before yesterday. I had come down here, and Sarah did not know it ; the door was ajar, and I heard some one accost her at the kitchen- window. She was ironing at the board underneath it, and I suppose *had got it open. I don't know who it was, Wilfred ; I cannot detail to you what I heard ; neither did I listen purposely, but some words caught my ear. They turned me sick ; faint ; they were to the efiFect that you went out at night with the poachers, that you had been one of them in that late attack upon Cattley ; the words and the tone seemed to insinuate that Sarah must know it to be true. Oh, Wilfred, T have felt since that morning that I would rather die than bear the burden of the fear." " Would it not have been as easy for you to assume the wicked tale to be false ?" he inquired. " I might have deemed it false, but for Sarah's words in answer ; I am sure I should have thought it too dreadfully improbable to be true. But she — " Why I did she uphold it ?" he in- terrupted, with impetuosity. " No ; she denied it," answered Edith, in a low, shuddering tone ; "but she denied it with falsehoods: denied it too eagerly. She retorted that whoever said it, must be fools and liars ; she vowed and protested that her master — you — was never out after sunset. Now you know^, Wilfred, it is after sunset — after dark in fact- — that you do go out ; and some nights you have not been home till early morning. Besides, there was a tone of fear in Sarah's voice as she spoke, giving me the impression that she knew it to be true." " And that's all ?" he asked. " Is it not enough ?" " No : you must not be so silly. Making me into a poacher, indeed ! a THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 157 midnight attacker of keepers ! You have certainly an exalted opinion of your husband, Edith. I would no more attack a keeper, than 1 would attack you." " But where is it you go to when you are out at night ?" " Never you mind where, Edith. I am not attacking keepers. If I get into any troublesome escapades, it will serve my father right. I don't mean escapades that the law could touch, you foolish girl," he added hastily, seeing her terrified countenance. "Pray have you been gossiping over this to Sarah ?" Edith shook her head, " I have not hinted to her that I heard any thing said, but I have asked her where you go to at night — I could not help it. I asked her two or three times yesterday, and she pretended to think 1 was afraid of your catching cold, and kept telling me not to worry myself." "Edith," said Wilfred Lester, "a man is generally driven to good or to evil by circumstances. As they may be favorable, or the contrary, as the world uses him, so follow his own acts." " As his conduct is, so will his cir- cumstances be," she said, stopping what he was about to add. " Yes, Wilfred, it lies with himself to be prosperous and happy, or not ; in nine cases out of ten, you will find that as a man plants, so will he reap." " Nonsense !" returned Wilfred, "it Ls as he's used. Look at my case. I am used infamously by my father, — kept out of what I ought to enjoy on the one hand ; on the other, I have you, whom I have made my wife, and vowed to succor and cherish, dying of want — yes, of want, Edith — before my eyes. My darling I if I went into the highway, and robbed the first man I met, none could say I was not driven to it." " Don't think of me," she answered with eager, painful emotion, her wan, white face lifted pleadingly to his. " I shall grow stronger soon ; I do not require any thing more than I have. If you will only be patient and endure, this dark cloud will pass away. Have faith in (rod. But, oh, Wilfred I do not let my imaginary wants lead you to evil." " Imaginary !" he uttered. "Indeed, I think I shall soon be better ; and you know my Aunt Mar- garet brings me many things. Wil- fred, remember, — ' we must not do evil that good may come. ' " " My wrongs make me desperate ; your suffering makes me desperate," retorted Wilfred. But she interrupted him. " It is just this, Wilfred : if you do wrong, or go wrong, you will kill me. I can bear poverty avfd privation ; I cannot bear disgrace and ill-doing. Act so as to bring it upon us, and I shall not survive." At this juncture, Sarah put in her head ; half spoke, half beckoned to her master, and he followed her to the adjoining room, the kitchen. Edith, her fears, since the last two days, pain- fully alert against some obscure dread, to which she could give neither shape nor name, sprang from the sofa and unlatched the door, which they had closed. Sarah had advanced to the ironing- board, and pointed to some beans that' lay upon it. " What's to be done for missis ?" asked she. " She can't eat these, and they are every thing I have been able to get to-day. Credit's all gone, master." " There's a partridge in the house." "Well, master, the truth is, she can't eat partridge any longer. She never liked 'em. When at Miss Bor- dillion's, as I hear, if they had game for dinner, something was always got for her. There are some folks who turn against game, and she's one ; and when they are sick, their fancies are all the stronger. And for this last month, pretty near, she has had noth- ing else. I have tried the part- ridges every way to tempt her ; I've roasted 'em, I've boiled 'em, I've fric- asseed 'em, I've fried 'em, and one day I chopped 'em up and made 'em into 158 THE CASTLES HEIR, balls, but it didn't do ; it ivas part- ridge, and that was enough. She makes a show of eating a bit before you ; but her stomach heaves right against 'em now, and she can't pretend any longer." Wilfred Lester stood by the board, gloomy and perplexed. He knew no way whatever of procuring any thing else for Edith : as Sarah observed, all credit was gone. If a mutton-chop would have saved her life, he must pay the butcher for it before it was sent home. " Can't you do up some eggs for to-day ?" he asked. " I could if I had 'em. Eggs are no more to be had than any thing else, without money. And there's another thing, master, that looks blue : the coals are almost out." Inexpressibly relieved to find the colloquy with Sarah related to no more dread topic than her comforts, Edith breathed a silent thanksgiving, and called to her husband. It was at this moment her voice was heard. "Wilfred." He stepped into the parlor. She was standing in it with a bright, quite a merry face. " Do not be so anxious about my luxuries," smiled she. " I overheard your debate with Sarah. I was alarmed when she called you out, — mysteriously, as I thought, — and I opened the door. I can eat some of the beans ; I can, indeed ; I shall do very well. As to the partridges, — well, I confess that I am tired of them : but you must treat me as a capricious child is served ; make me go without, if I cannot eat what is provided." "And will that be the way to get up your strength ? to restore you to health ?" he mournfully returned. "Whilst the grass grows, Edith, the steed starves ; whilst you are starv- ing, I may lose you." She turned away, for her eyes were filling with tears. But just then some commotion was heard in the kitchen. Sarah's voice was distinguishable, and raised in an angry tone, apparently to some one who had entered. " Then I say he's not in, and he M^on't be in to-day, that's more. So be off out, please." " I say he is in," responded a man's voice. "Not a moment ago, I see him at that there kitchen-winder. You may as well fetch him here, for I shall stop till I see him. I'm a emissary of the law, and the law can't be played with ; and if folks gets into trouble against the law, they must pay for it." Edith, her eyes full of terror, and her face ghastly, seized hold of her husband, as if her feeble arms could shield him from harm. She was con- necting this unseen visitor with the wild rumors afloat of the night work ; and terrific visions were dazzling her eyes of handcuffs, a prison, a public trial ; perhaps death. Sarah's voice was heard again in loud remonstrance and abuse. " Don't keep me, Edith ; don't alarm yourself; I must go and see what it is," he whispered, himself agitated. " I must, my dear ! we shall have the fellow penetrating to this room." Unwinding her hands, he put her hastily in a chair, and entered the kitchen. Sarah had armed herself with the tongs, which she was pre- senting in a warlike manner towards the stranger, hoping to menace him away. The man laughed derisively Avhen he saw Wilfred, put a paper in his hand, and disappeared. Sarah dashed down the tongs in a passion. " Now why couldn't you keep away, in there ?" she wrathfully demanded, more as a person in authority speaks to a subordinate, than a servant to a master. " / know what it is ; as long as he didn't serve it, you were safe." " He would have dropped upon me, going out. Don't make a fuss." " No, ho needn't," snapped Sarah. " You might have slied out at the back door, and over the palings when you wanted to go out, or strided out at the side-window. There's plenty of ways THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 159 of dodp^inpi: them <^ontry, if folks have a mind to it. My goodness, missis I what's the matter i"' Edith had como into the kitchen, the image of ghastly terror, and shaking like a leaf. " What is it all ?" she gasped. " What's that ? Show it me ! oh, Wilfred, show it me !" Her voice rose quite harsh in its agitation, and she pointed to the paper left by the man. Wilfred Lester crumpled it up in his hands to keep it from her. " It's nothing, Edith ; don't disturb yourself Nothing but a stupid bill." Sarah gave a snatch at the paper ; Wilfred would not let go it ; and the two had actually a sort of tussle for its possession, in which the paper got torn, and Sarah mastered. She opened it and laid it before her mistress. " There, ma'am, now you can see for yourself; it is nothing but a claim on master for money. Did you not 866, sir, that her fears were o' some- thing worse ; that the agony were crushing her ?" added the woman, in her strong sense, as she turned again to her master. Standing at the kitchen-door — for she had entered the house unperceived, like the unwelcome visitor had done — was Miss Bordillion, an amazed spec- tator of the scene. "Have you all taken leave of your senses ?" she demanded. " What does this mean ?" " It means that we have come to the end of every thing," bitterly re- torted Wilfred, as he returned to the sitting-room, leaving those to follow him who would : " of food, of credit, of hope. And the next thing for me will be a prison. Lady Adelaide will hold a jubilee the night I enter it. She is at the bottom of our misfor- tunes. Aunt," (for so he had learned to call her) " when I go in, you must take care of Edith." Edith stole up to her husband, her face white still ; the livid white of fear, not of illness. She was unable to comprehend the paper ; and certain ominous words in it. "In the name of our Sovereign Lady, the Queen," did not tend to re- assure hor. " Do explain it to me," she gasped. " It is a simple thing, easy enough of comprehension," was Wilfred's an- sw^er, his mind smarting terribly under its annoyances ; " I owe — let me look at the amount — nine pounds, three shillings ;• that's five pounds for the debt and four for the costs ; and un- less I pay it by a certain day, they will take further proceedings against me. It is a writ, Edith." "What proceedings ?" she inquired. " Oh, I hardly know. The result would be a prison ; couldn't be any thing else in my case." She still held the writ in her hand, and glanced at it dubiously. " You are sure — sure it is only a debt, Wilfred ?" " Why, what else should it be ?" he returned. " Of course it is a debt. What can your thoughts be running on, Edith ?" He took it from her, and she sighed heavily as she relinquished it. Miss Bordillion, after exchanging a few sentences with Sarah, had come in and seated herself; she was looking exceedingly perplexed and grieved. " It does appear to me," she began, "that things cannot go on longer in this way ; that they ought not so to go on, even if your creditors, Wilfred, would allow them." " How is it to be helped ?" was Wilfred's answer. " My father, who ought to help it, will not ; and I can- not force him. Neither have I a claim on any one else." " In the last few days — I may say weeks — I have reflected upon it much. I have prayed to be directed for the right," pursued Miss Bordillion, in her quiet way, " and I have at length come to the conclusion that if Squire Lester will not help you, out of favor, he must out of right." " Who's to make him ?" put in Wilfred. " You know how very, very greatl}* I esteem Mr. Lester, how warm a regard I have for him," pursued Miss Bordillion, the delicate pink 160 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. ou her cheek increasing to brightness. •'Hitherto, I have taken his part in this business ; I have been unwilling to cross him, or say a word that could reflect upon him : — and you know, my ttears, that you did do wrong in diso- bediently marrying — " " Halt there !" intorrupted Wilfred. " 1 do not see the disobedience. My jathei" approved of the union in the lirst place ; and could I be so base as to desert Edith, because Colonel Bor- dillion lost his fortune ? No ; there was the more reason for my fulfilling the engagement ; and my father would never have been implacable but for Lady Adelaide." " Well, we will not reap up the (juestion of the marriage ; it can do no good now," sighed Miss Bordillion. " The very moment I read the news of Colonel Bordillion's loss, I knew that Lady Adelaide would set her face against Edith, and induce my lather to do so ; and therefore I chose to act for myself. And why sliould she ? Out of regard for me ? No ; but because she fears a sixpence going out of my father's pocket ; if it came to me it would be that much loss to her own children. It was a black day for me and Maria when he made Lady Adelaide his wife." Miss Bordillion thought within her that it had not been a l)right day for somebody else. She resumed. " There was a sum of money that ought to have been paid to you, Wilfred, when you came of age. You did not have it." His check flushed as he listened. " A sum of money ! I had none paid to me. What sum of money ?" " Twelve hundred pounds. It was left to you like Maria's fortune was left to her : save that hers was a large sum, yours a small. Squire Lester enjoyed the interest ; the principal was to be paid to you when you were of age : Mai'ia's when she married." "And why have I been kept out of it ? why has even the knowledge uf it been denied me ?" fiercely re- sponded Wilfred. " I have spoken latterly to Squire Lester about it," sighed Miss Bordil- lion. "I have intimated that it ought to be given up to you ; that both law '' and justice demand that it should be. He said, ' No, neither law nor justice ;' but he would not discuss it. So then I took counsel with myself, I took counsel in my prayers, and it appeared to me that my duty lay in telling you." Wilfred sat gazing at her, astounded at the tidings. They were too good to be received without doubt. " Is there, indeed, no mistake ?" he uttered. " Am I truly entitled, now, to twelve hundred pounds of my own ?" " It was so left," replied Miss Bor- dillion. A flash of joy, not seen in his face for a long while, illuminated it to brightness. He stooped down and kissed Edith. " You shall have something better than partridges yet, darling." " Where are you going ?" she asked, as he was leaving the room. "To the hall.' My father and I must have a settlement now." " Edith, what did he mean about partridges ?" inquired Miss Bordillion, who had caught but the one word. *' Nothing worth telling, aunt. It is only the housekeeping grievances over again." " I know it is a hard time with you, Edith, and has been. But, Edith, has it been wholly undeserved ? I know Wilfred is careless and impetuous ; man-like, he does not trace cause and effect ; he does not see as we do. You did act Avrongly, Edith, both you and he, and I pray that your wrong- doing may be thus working itself out." " 1 have thought so, long, Aunt Margaret," was the whispered answer. " I look upon it as our penance, and patiently tr}^ to bear." " Then you do rightly, child," wann- ly replied Miss Bordillion. " Take up your cross bravely and humbly, and it will grow lighter with each step ; let it drag behind you in discontent and rebellion, and it will weigh you down. Bo comforted, Edith ; God will remove it in his own good time." THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 161 h hill THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 163 Wilfred Lester was speeding to the hall. And who should answer his summons at the door but Tiffle I Of course it was not Tiffle 's place to answer doors : she was quite above it ; but happening to cross the hall at the moment of the knock, she, in her curiosity, pulled it open. Her first impulse was a stare of unqualified surprise ; her next, to place herself in his way, and prevent his entrance. " Who might you want, sir ?" " Mr. Lester, — if it concerns you to know," was the reply of Wilfred, as he attempted to pass in. " I see he is in his study." "Master's pertikelarly engaged, and can't see visitars," objected Tiffle. Wilfred Lester's eyes flashed fire, and he raised his hand authorita- tively. "Stand aside, woman," was the im- perative command. "You forget to whom you speak. This is my father's house." Tiffle slunk out of his way, and he approached the study. It was a room on the ground-floor, whose window looked to the side of the house. Wil- fred had caught a glimpse of him standing at it. He turned round when Wilfred entered, and his fea- tures assumed an angry expression. " To what am I indebted for this visit ?" he began. " You were for- bidden the house, sir." " I do not suppose my breaking the interdict will produce permanent in- jury to the house's inmates," some- what insolently retorted Wilfred, who, what with Tiffle's reception and now his father's, felt chafed almost beyond bearing. " I shall not infect it with ague or fever, nor yet with small-pox." " What does bring you here ?" im- periously rejoined Mr. Lester. Wilfred coolly seated himself in the chair opposite that usually occupied by its master. "Father," he said, changing his tone, " I have come to ask assistance from you. Our position cannot be a secret : my wife is wasting away from want before my eyes ; every available article is either pledged or sold, save Edith's wedding-ring, and that I can- not attempt to take ; I have no clothes save these I stand up in ; in short, we have eked out our resources until none are left to us. To-day I had a writ served upon me for £10, or nearly that, and my next move must be to a prison. Will you help me in my strait ?" " You must be aware that you have brought all this upon yourselves," was the reply of Mr. Lester. " What, save destitution and embarrassment, could come of a marriage like yours ?" Wilfred drew his chhir a little for- ward, and leaned towards his father. " Yon make a show of punishing me for marrying her ; but, do you blame me in your heart of hearts ? Would not you have done the same, in my place ? Father, from my soul I believe that you would never have visited it upon me, but that you were incited to do so by Lady Adelaide." " To the point," briefly spoke Mr, Lester, " State the purport of your visit, if you have any to state." "I believe I was not far from the point. However, I am here, I repeat, to ask you for assistance." " I cannot give it." " I crave it as a favor." " I will not give it, I say," tartly responded Mr. Lester. " Then I must request it as aright. Yes, sir, and I must have it. You hold money belonging to me I believe, money that by right of law ought to be at this moment in my hands in- stead of yours." "No, i do not." Wilfred felt a little staggered ; but he rallied, convinced that Miss Bor- dillion had not misled him. " Maria has her fourteen thousand pounds, to be paid to her on her mar- riage, you enjoying the interest until that epoch. I have in like manner twelve hundred, which passed legally into my possession when I became of age. Sir, it ought to have passed absolutely: it must do so now." " Who has been giving you this information ?" inquired Mr. Lester. " That, I imagine, is of no con- sequence." 164 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. " Not much, certainly. I couclude it was Margaret Bordillion. The money — for to set the question at rest and save trouble, I will descend to explain to my rebellious son — was left to you, twelve hundred pounds, and the intention of the donor would appear to be, to a cursory reader, that you should come into the money at twenty-one. But the deed is so ob- scurely worded, that upon that point a question has arisen. I have taken counsel's opinion upon it, and their advice is that you do not come into it until my death." Wilfred paused a few moments be- fore replying. " And what of Maria's ? That she does not come into hers until your death ?" " About Maria's there is no question. The clauses are differently worded." " Where's the will ? In Doctor's Commons ?" next spoke Wilfred. " The money was not left by will. It was a deed of gift." " Where's the deed, then ?" pur- sued Wilfred. Mr. Lester pointed with his finger to a small, iron safe which had stood in his study as long as Wilfred could remember. " It is there," he said. "You will allow me to peruse it." " Indeed, no," said Mr. Lester. " I think I have satisfied you pretty well, as it is. Your perusing it could an- swer no end : it is obscurely worded, as I now assure you, and the opinion of counsel was that you could not touch it till my death." "Other counsel may be of an oppo- site opinion," persisted Wilfred. " It would be but fair to allow me to sub- mit it, in my turn." "And to what good?" asked Mr. Lester. " Were your counsel's opin- ion adverse to the one already con- sulted, what of that ? You could only prove which was right by an action at law, and I believe you have no funds to sustain one. I tell you openly, that I shall not part with the money, until death compels me." " Is this justice ?" "It is law." " Once convince me that it is law, and I will urge the point no more," said Wilfred. " Suffer me to read over the deed." " I have told you no," said Mr. Lester. " The deed is there, safe and secure," motioning once more to the iron safe, " and I will not disturb it. Our interview is over. I cannot give you any assistance ; and I desire that you will not intrude here again." Wilfred rose from his seat in agita- tion. " Will you drive me to a prison ? Will you allow Edith to die ? Look here," and he snatched the writ from his pocket, "for this paltry ten pounds, I must go into one ; will you not, at least, pay that ?" Whether Mr. Lester would have relented, with the unpleasant scrap of paper placed palpably before him, it is impossible to say. Before he .fej| could speak, the door was flung open, '' and Lady Adelaide sailed in. She did not look at Wilfred. She passed him with scorn, picking up her dress as she swept by, but she spoke to Mr. Lester. " They told me your son was here, but I did not believe it. Mr. Lester, can you allow his presence ? — and by so doing make light of parental dis- obedience in the sight of your young children ?" " He is not here by my will : he en- tered the house against it. I have al- ready told you to depart," he added, looking at Wilfred. " I wait for my answer," said the latter, still showing the writ. " Will you help me out of this ?" " Neither out of that, nor any thing else," irascibly responded Mr. Lester, whose temper did not appear improved at the implied contest between wife and son. " I tell you the interview is over." Wilfred put the writ in his pocket ; and turning on his heel, departed, bow- ing to Lady Adelaide, — a bow so low, so elaborate, that she might well have deemed it offered iu irony. THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 165 CHAPTER XX. THE NIGHT INTERVIEW. As Wilfred Lester was striding Lome from the unsatisfactory inter- view, be met Miss Bordilliou and Maria. Walking by tbeir side, baving just overtaken them, was Mr. Lydney. To say that Wilfred was in anger, would not be conveying half an idea of the actual rage that possessed bim. He was literally foaming with passion : it was boiling over and bub- bling out from every pore : the pres- ence of Lydney — a stranger — he ig- nored as completely as though he had not been there ; and burst forth with all his grievances, chiefly addressing Miss Bordillion : " I am kept out of it, — I am to be kept out of it 1 The money is mine, safe enough : twelve hundred pounds, as you said : and he coolly assures me he has had counsel's opinion, and I cannot claim it till his death I The deed is obscurely worded, he says ; and when I ask to read it over : no : he denies it, though it was in the very room. If there's justice in heaven — " " What are you speaking of, Wil- fred ?" interrupted Maria, who had turned crimson, but was now growing white. " I told him Edith was dying of want ; I told him I was going to the dogs, and should soon be in prison," raved Wilfred, never so much as hear- ing his sister. " Look here : — dashing the writ out of his pocket : — " I posi- tively lowered myself to show him this, and beg of him, like any mendi- cant, that he would help me over this stile ! But, no : my wife may die, and I may go to jail and rot there. It's nothing to you, Maria : nothing that you need worry yourself over," he broke oiF : for she was evincing painful curiosity to look at the paper: "it's only a cursed writ for ten pounds." " Must you pay it ?" she shivered. " Must I pay it ?" echoed he, turning ironically to Miss Bordillion. " Must I pay ten pounds, she asks, when I have not ten pence : no : nor ten farth- ings. Perhaps you'll tell me how I am to pay it i"' he chafed, to Maria. " Wilfred, when you do give way to these outbreaks of temper, you are so impetuous that there's no getting you to speak reason or to hear it," said Miss Bordillion, who had not been able until then to put in a word edge- ways. "Do be calm, if you can, and tell me what it is that Mr. Lester says about the deed." "He says the deed is obscurely worded, and that I cannot claim the money till his death. He taunted me — yes, it was nothing less — with my wings being clipped, so that I could not go to law with him. And he is right," stamped Wilfred: "they are clipped." "I never heard the slightest doubt expressed but that you came into the money at twenty-one," spoke Miss Bordillion. " I am quite certain that such was the intention when the deed was made. Mr. Lester should have allowed you to read it for your own satisfaction." " He had better not drive me to extremities," foamed Wilfred, " or I will break the safe open and take the deed. 'Twould be no theft." ^ " Wilfred ! Wilfred !" pleaded Ma- ria, " you don't know what you are saying. " " Not know I I should say a vast deal more, but that you are present. But it is not my father," he added, in an altered voice : " it is that false wo- man, who is ever at his side to set him against his first wife's children. It may come home to you yet, my Lady Adelaide." Without further colloquy, vouchsaf- ing no adieu, Wilfred Lester strode away. Miss Bordillion, possibly not liking him to escape in that mood, or wishing to soothe him, followed quick- ly in his steps, leaving Maria and Mr. Lydney alone. " I will be back directly," Miss Bor- dillion hurriedly said. They were in a retired path, near the entrance of the wood, and Maria began pacing it backwards and for- 166 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, wards slowly. Mr. Lydney turned with her and remained by her side. He saw that she was greatly agitated, — that even her lips were white. ' It had been more to the purpose, possibly, that I had followed your brother, than Miss Bordillion," he ob- served. " I am grieved, I am annoyed that these painful family affairs should be brought under the notice of a strang- er," spoke Maria, half in vexation, half in apology. " I should be very sorry if I thought you considered me now in that light," he warmly uttered. " I was in hopes, I believed, you did not." " In truth you are right, Mr. Lyd- ney," she said. "When I look back and remember how very short a period it is that we have known you, and then consider the (I may say it) al- most confidential terms upon which we meet, I am lost in surprise. I think," she added, with a smile, "either you or ourselves must have displayed great forwardness." "Not so, Miss Lester. There are some people who only act upon us as repulsive elements, whom we never can like, never can unbosom to, — no, not though we were thrown into do- mestic contact with them for years. There are others who are mutually attracted at the first glance, who know that they have found kindred spirits, objects worthy of esteem and trust : it does not require long for intimacy to grow up between these. Let me prove myself deserving of your friendship, your confidence : hesitate not to speak unreservedly to me of your brother. From what I gather, — for it is con- versed of openly in Danesheld, — he is at the present time in some straits. " He bent his handsome form towards Maria, and a flush rose to her face. It may have appeared to her that there was help, protection, in that manly figure of strength, — it had long ap- peared to her that there was perfect truth to be found in that earnest face. An irresistible attraction had drawn Maria to him from the first, — an at- traction, not less irresistible, prompted her now to acquiesce in his last words. " That Wilfred and his affairs are freely spoken of in Danesheld is, I believe, only too true, Mr. Lydney ; and it is nothing but what must be expected. I should think no son of good family — heir, as he ought to be — was ever reduced to the plight that Wilfred is." " He is the heir, is he not ?" Maria shook her head. "Danesheld Hall is not entailed, and papa can, if he pleases, make one of his younger children his' heir." "Would that be just?" " Shamefully unjust," answered Ma- ria, her face in a glow. " Oh !" she added, with emotion, " I cannot tell you how miserable I am I I could sacrifice myself to bring comfort to poor Wilfred. When I think of his trials, his uncertain prospects, and know that they are not deserved, my heart seems as though it would break with grief and pity, for I am helpless to aid him. And when I remember his thoughtless impetuosity, coupled with his keen sense of injury, I dread, I dread — I hardly know what I dread." " You dread that, smarting under privation and unmerited wrong, he may be drawn into some escapade, not precisely fitting for the heir of Squire Lester." Maria glanced quickly up at him, and he bent his truthful, sympathizing eyes upon her. In that moment she became aware that he knew and was then thinking of the disgraceful ru- mors which were abroad to Wilfred's prejudice. An instant's struggle with her feelings, which ended in her strug- gling no longer, and she burst into tears. William Lydney drew her hand within his. " Have faith in me," he whispered. " Leave him to me : I will be his friend in every way that I possibly can ; and will try, all that man can try, to keep him from harm." "I see you know — I see you have heard," she stammered, in much dis- tress. " My days and nights are THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 167 passed in feverish dread. If any — any — disgrace fell upon Wilfred, I think I should die. I have so loved him I I have so looked up to him 1 Mamma died, papa was estranged from us : we had only each other to care for." " Trust to me," he fondly reiterated, as he pressed her hand between both of his, and then released it, for Miss Bordillion was discerned returning in the distance. Leaving Maria, giving a passing word of greeting to Miss Bordillion as he passed her, Mr. Lydney sped after Wilfred. The latter had not en- tered his house, but had halted near it, and was moodily leaning against a stile that led into the wood. Lydney laid his hand on his shoulder, and rallied him in a gay tone : " Shake off dull care and send it packing. What is the matter ?" " The matter I that's good ! When a fellow's out at elbows and out at heart, out of friends, and out of help, there's enough the matter. I'm hard- up in every way ; and, by Jove ! I don't care who knows it, for the shame's to others, not to me." " A man never yet deserved friends and help, but he found them," returned Lydney. "No need to be out of heart." " Tush !" was the chafed response of Wilfred Lester. " If I am cognizant of some part of your grievances, you must thank yourself for speaking of them before me a few minutes ago : and must par- don my thus reverting to them. I — " " I don't care who knows of them, I say," impetuously interrupted Wil- fred. " I'd mount a public rostrum and proclaim them with pleasure ; for the shame, I tell you, lies with others. Still, I don't see any good in your re- curring to the subject." " No good at all, unless I could help you out of them, which I dare say I can do, if you will only behave like a reasonable being. Lester," he con- tinued, earnestly, something very like emotion checking his free utterance, " I owe my life to you ; but for your brave exertions, that awful night, I should have been gone and forgotten. You saved my life at the risk of your own. It is a debt that I can never repay, but you can lessen my sense of the obligation, if you will, by allowing me to be your friend, by treating me as a brother." " What now ?" asked Wilfred, star- ing at him. " As to risking my life — it's not so joyous to me that I need care to prolong it." " Suffer me to be to you what a brother would be, if you had one. You are wrongfully kept out of money. I have more than I know what to do with. Let me be your banker. The red color flushed into the cheek of Wilfred. He hesitated some mo- ments before he spoke. Mr. Lydney resumed : " Borrow of me, as one chum would borrow of another, — as I dare say you and I have both borrowed before now, when out of cash. You can repay me, you know, when things come round again." " They never may come round again," answered Wilfred; "you'd probably be done out of it forever, if you lent money to me." " Rubbish ! You'll come in for it sometime ; and plenty of it. How much will you have ?" " Are you serious in this offer ?" demanded Wilfred, after looking keen- ly at him. " Serious !" returned Lydney, "what do you mean ? Is it any thing so very great, that you should doubt, or hesitate ?" " Then you are a good fellow, Lyd- ney, and it's more than any body else has done for me. I'll take ten pounds, to get rid of this cursed writ." " Nonsense about ten pounds ! You must take some for yourself, as well as for the writ." " No more, no more," uttered Wil- fred Lester, the crimson flush again dyeing his face. " Save me from pris- on, and I'll thank you ; but I want none for myself " Mr. Lydney looked him full in the face, and spoke in a low tone. 168 THE C ASTLE'S H E 1 E, " For your wife's comforts, then." "No," pei'sisted Wilfred, "those who have brought us to this, upon their heads shall the consequence be. I will not accept from a stranger what it is the duty of others to perform." That he was unmistakably in ear- nest, and meant to be, Lydney saw : so he urged that point no further then. And the day passed on to its close. Brightly and clearly shone out the evening star ; brightly and clearly, if less large, crept out its sister stars, shedding their refulgence over Danes- held, lighting the path of Lord Dane, as he, remembering the interview that was to take place between Lydney and the poacher, walked from the cas- tle to take up his station in the wood and overhear it. His lordship, to give him his due, was above acting the eaves-dropper in general, but he was most anxious to find out all he could regarding Lydney, and burning to punish those troublesome poachers. That Lydney was really an impostor, a loose character, and had now joined the fraternity, he entertained little doubt. To imprison the whole lot for two years would have delighted Lord Dane. " Good-night to your lordship." The saluter was the inspector of police, who was passing on horseback, and Lord Dane nodded in reply to the greeting, and continued his way. The next moment, however, he wheeled around. "Halloa, inspector ! Any news of the box?" " Not yet, my lord," was the reply, as the oflBcer turned his horse side- ways. " We shall have the bills out to-morrow, and I hope they may do something." " Bills?" echoed Lord Dane. " Offering a reward, my lord. They would have been posted this after- noon, but Mr. Lydney called this morning and stopped it. He had his reasons, he said, for not allowing them to appear till to-morrow. It must be a valuable box, to offer a thousand pounds reward." " Who does offer it ?" burst forth Lord Dane in astonishment. " Mr. Lydney has given us author- ity. If the box is in existence still, that will bring it forth." Lord Dane paused ere he spoke, one thought was chasing another in his brain. " Inspector, take care you are not done. I know more of this Lydney and his doings than I did when I spoke with you last: he has got a thousand pounds to pay just as much as that horse of yours has." " My lord, he said freely that the box was none of his, and that the re- ward would come from the pocket of the owner ; not from his own. I in- quired who and w^hat he was — this Lydney — but could obtain nothing satisfactory in reply. He protested that he w^as of English descent, and of good family, but would give no par- ticulars." Lord Dane drew nearer the inspec- tor, and resumed in a low whisper. The man's head was bowed to his saddle-bow, as he bent to catch it. " He is in league with the poachers. I am on my way now to track their meetings in my own preserves. I was a witness to it last night, and heard the rendezvous made for this, made between Ben Beecher and Lyd- ney. That's your gentleman of family I your thousand-pound man !" " My lord, is it possible ?" uttered the inspector. " I told you I suspected the fellow from the first," resumed Lord Dane. " He is now showing out in his true colors. Don't you be gulled, inspector. He may have made off with the box himself, as I hinted, — stolen it ! and he goes to you with this munificent thousand-pound tale, to put you off the scent." Lord Dane turned and pursued his way as he spoke, and the inspector, after a pause, given to thought, urged his horse on his way. His lordship posted himself in his hiding-place in the wood, snug and safe. Lydney was at the place of meeting THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 169 first — I mean before Beecher, The latter came along in a joyless, dis- pirited sort of way, as tliougb he had not good news to bring. " It has been no go, sir," was his sal- utation to Lydney, and Lord Dane's ears were strained to their utmost ca- pacity, so sure was he of discovering treason. " The box has not been lifted." " No !" uttered the gentleman, in an accent of keen disappointment, for somehow he had fed himself with the hope that it had been "lifted," and would be restored through Mr. Beech- er. " Have you ascertained to a posi- tive certainity ?" "As certain as that you and I are here, sir. I saw the right men, and I can assure you they know nothing whatever about it. Their opinion is, that it was took into the castle. Right glad they'd have been to get the fifty guineas, and we'd have shared it among us. You'd have had your box this night, sir, if they could help you to it." Lydney paused to revolve the news." "Would a higher reward bring it forth ?" he presently asked. "Not if you offered a bank-full — not if you offered a thousand pounds," answered Beecher, little thinking that he named the very sum to be an- nounced on the morrow. "What they haven't got, they can't give up, — and they've not been a-nigh it at all They think you must look for it in the castle." " What reason have they for think- ing that ?" " Well, I don't know that they have got much reason, but it's their opinion. Sharp cards they are, too, and their opinion's worth having, sir. For one thing, they say that if the box had been smuffed, they should know it." " But Lord Dane says it is not in the castle. More than that, I hear he had the castle searched by the police, every nook and corner of it, and there was no box." "Has Lord Dane any interest in hiding or detaining the box, sir ?" " Why ?" " Because — not that I insinuate he had, nor have I reason to think it — there's places in the castle where things may be put away, and where the eyes of the police, though they were sharpened up by a dozen mag- nifying telescopes, would never find 'cm. I was a-talking to old father about it. Says he, ' If my Lord Dane wanted to keep that box in hiding, he could do it fast enough in the ca.stle.' Tales go, sir, though they may not be true, that years ago, one of the Lord Danes, who was at his wits' end for cash, went snacks with some smug- glers, and the booty used to be de- posited in the secret places of the castle." How did my Lord Dane's ears like being regaled with thaf? There's a very popular proverb which runs in this fashion : — " Listeners never hear any good of themselves." " And if, by chance, the box should have been consigned to any one of these secret places, how, — who's to get it ?" inquired Lydney. " Why, it will never be got as long as the castle's a castle — at least as long as my Lord Dane's its master," returned the poacher. " There's not many, sir, would choose to brave Lord Dane." " A martinet, when crossed, I sup- pose," carelessly remarked Mr. Lyd- ney. " Like all the rest of the Dane family. The old lord was a stinger, if thwarted ; and his eldest son would have been worse, had he lived to reign. Captain Dane was hot, too ; but gen- erous." " I have heard him, the captain, spoken of since I came to Danesheld," observed Mr. Lydney. " Did he not fall over the cliff ? or was thrown from it ?" " It was not a simple fall, sir. He was scuffling with another man, and was no doubt pitched over. Danes- held regretted him much, and all the more when tidings came of his eldest brother's death. We should have liked the captain to reign over us. Why, 170 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. Ravensbird— the very man you are lodging with — was his servant." " Indeed ! With whom was Captain Dane scuffling ?" " It's what has never been found out, sir, from that day to this. Ravens- bird was took up for it ; but it wasn't him, and that was proved. And then there was a talk of a packman ; but he couldn't be discovered. No, it has never been found out." There was a pause. Mr. Lydney broke it, his voice ringing out un- usually sonorous and clear in the night-air. " The present Lord Dane — Mr. Herbert, as I hear he was called then — was he suspected ?" " My heart alive, no !" returned the poacher. " Whatever made you sus- pect him, sir ?" " I suspect him !" echoed Mr. Lyd- ney. " My good man, don't run away with a wrong notion : I cast no sus- picion towards him. Had I been in Danesheld at the time of the occur- rence, and of an age to reason, it is an idea I might have taken up. He was the one to benefit by Captain Dane's death." "But, when the thing happened, Mr. Dane, the eldest son, was alive. Captain Dane was no more the heir to the property, at the time of his death, than I was : in fact, he never was heir at all, for he died before his brother. " "And Mr. Herbert was not suspect- ed?" " He was not suspected," answered Beecher. "Though that brings to mind that a chap which I'd rather not name, declared he saw Mr. Herbert on the heights at the time of the accident, or murder, — whichever it was. But he was three sheets in the wind, and we made him hush his tongue." " Why make him hush it ?" " Who'd charge such a insinuation against a Dane, — though it was only Mr. Herbert? Besides, what should he want, attacking his cousin ? No, 'twasn't likely : and we made the chap cork up his chatter." " Who was ' the chap ?' " continued Mr. Lydney. " Well, I don't know that it matters telling ; it's all over and done with. 'Twas my brother, sir." To describe how Lord Dane in his hiding-place clenched his fists at the audacious Lydney, and would have liked to pummel him as he deserved, would be a task for a strong pen. The latter continued, totally unconscious that he had any listener, save Beecher. " Could you give me an idea where these secret holes are in the castle ?" " No, that I couldn't, sir, and I don't know that there really are any : it may be all bosh. I'll ask father again." " Do so. And. — " The speech was interrupted by a shot, fired not far from them. Beecher opened his ears. " That shot's a ruse to deceive the , keepers : they are not at work so low down as this. It was within an ace of being hot work last night ; but the keepers got help and came out in num- bers, and we made a run for it." " What pleasure can you find in this wild, lawless life ?" remonstrated Lyd- ney. " It is full of danger." "A spice of danger gives zest," re- turned the man. "A spice may But when it comes to exchange bullets, and battered heads, and broken limbs ; that is rather more than is agreeable." "One must live, sir." " Every man, who tries to live hon- estly, may live honestly : and — ", " Not when he has been at this sort of work all his life. Who'd trust him then ? or help him to honest labor ?" " I would, for one," returned Mr. Lydney. " If a man who had stepped aside from the straight path, turned to it again, and set himself in a proper way to be what he ought to be, there's all the more respect due to him." " Ah, well, sir ; talking's one thing, doings another. I wish I could have found your box ; that would have helped some of us on." " Keep a look-out still : it is not im- possible but you may hear of it. There's for the trouble you have al- ready taken," he added, putting a piece of gold in his hand. THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 171 " I'll tell you what it is, sir. If we had always had such people as you to deal with us in this Daneshcld, we shouldn't, many of us, have gone wrong. Thank you, sir, and a hearty good-night to you." The man moved quickly away ; Lydney more leisurely followed him ; and, last of all, emerged Lord Dane, wiping his brows like a man in a hot consternation. "A pretty devil's plot, these fellows would like to set afoot 1" quoth he ; " secret places in the castle, and all the rest of it ! If ever a man deserved hanging, it's that traitor Lydney. The whole set of poachers are angels, com- pared with him." CHAPTER XXL AN ENCOUNTER WITH SHAD- FROM THE HALL. -TURNED Outside the police-station, and on every available place where bills could be stuck, appeared notices of the loss of the japanned box, with the offer of a thousand pounds reward for its res- toration. The offer took Danesheld by storm, and the crowds that were wont to collect, wherever one of these bills appeared, staring at the offer and making their comments, quite impeded the foot-traffic. The days however, nay, the weeks, and the months went on, and nothing came of it ; no box turned up, and the reward was still unclaimed. The police felt inclined to adopt Lord Dane's opinion ; that Lydney himself had got the box, and that the reward never would be called for. The depredations on Lord Dane's preserves went on alarmingly, and ap- parently with impunity. Whole dozens of game were bagged, the poachers seemed to enjoy their full swing, and the keepers were balked, night after night. Lord Dane was losing patience, and felt inclined to offer a thousand pounds reward to csitch them. Heartily indeed would he have given it, could Lydney have been entrapped with them. That Lydney was occa- sionally seen by Lord Dane, in the wood with the poachers, at any rate with one of them, Beecher, was be- yond dispute ; and perhaps few in Danesheld but would have subscribed to Lord Dane's opinion of his worth- lessness, had they enjoyed the same means for judging of him. Meanwhile, at Wilfred Lester's cot- tage domestic matters appeared to be going on rather more comfortably. Sarah, by some cajoling process of her own, the secret charm of which she would reveal to neither master nor mistress, had contrived to obtain a little renewed credit for meat and other necessaries. Mrs. Lester would sigh and trouble herself as to when they were to be paid for ; her husband evinced that utter indifference to fu- ture consequences, which is some- times born of despair ; had Sarah pledged his credit for hundreds, it seemed the same to him. A most bitter feeling had seated itself in his heart against his father, touching the deed and the money withheld from him ; at first he had been loud and noisy, vowing revenge, vowing to ob- tain possession of the deed by some desperate means, but of late he had buried his wrongs in silence, and spoke of them no more. In his for- mer loud flights of temper, the only one to remonstrate against them to his face was Lydney ; Edith dared not. One frosty morning in December, Maria, in taking the wood-path to Miss Bordillions, encountered Lyd- ney ; somehow or other they often did encounter each other; but to which lay the fault, whether to him or to her, or to the two mutually, cannot be said. That a powerful attachment had sprung up between them, there was little doubt, though as yet it had been spoken of by neither. Danes- held was that morning alive with commotion, for an encounter had taken place the previous night between the keepers and poachers, in which the 172 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, former were worsted, and the latter had got off scotfree. It was said that Lord Dane was foaming. Maria almost sprang to Lydney when she saw him, asking if he had heard the news. That she was trembling with an inward fear, a dread to which she dared not give a shape, her agitated manner proved. "I heard of it hours ago," he smiled, as he took both her hands in greeting. " Do you know — do you know" — it seemed that she could scarcely get the words out — " who were in it ? what men ?" " No. Yarious rumors are afloat. 1 1)elieve I could mention one fellow ; but it's no business of mine. I saw him sneaking into the wood, under cover of the dark night, as I was go- ing to your brother's, where I spent the evening." Maria's countenance visibly changed, and her lips parted with suspense, as she listened. "And what Mrs. Lester will say the next time she sees me, I cannot anticipate," he continued, not unob- servant of Maria's varying cheek. " Will you believe that 1 was so de- void of all conscience as to stay there till one in the morning, keeping Wil- fred from his bed ?" She could dissimulate no longer. Her lips turned white, her eyes be- came wet, and she faltered out tale- telling words in the moment's emotion. " Oh, is it true ? Are you sure you were with him ?" He pressed her hands«varmly, bent low, and whispered, with a beaming smile, " I never tell you any thing but truth ; believe me,. I could not do so. Maria, it is all right, there is no cause for agitation. I was with Wilfred, at his own house, till one o'clock in the morning; we got into a discussion, and the time slipped on unwarily. The encounter with the poachers took place at half-past twelve." "How kind you are!" she ex- claimed, in the sudden revulsion of feeling induced by the news. " In what way ?" he laughed. " Kind for telling you this, or for keeping Wilfred up shamefully, and running the risk of Mrs. Lester's displeasure ?" "Kind in every way, I think," she answered, . her face radiant. " But for you — " Mr. Lydney raised his hand with a warning gesture, and Maria looked round in surprise. Clearing some feet with a bound, he sprang upon young Mr. Shad, Avho had been twined round a tree in his usual attitude, listening with all his ears. He drew him forth by the hair of his head, Shad yelling unmercifully. Maria said farewell, and walked quietly on, leaving the capturer and captured. "You sneaking young varmint!" uttered Lydney; "so I have caught you again at your tricks 1 How many times does this make ? Now, what shall your punishment be ? I wonder if I could get you a week or two's wholesome recreation on the tread- mill ?" At the last suggestion, Shad only yelled the louder ; and in the midst of the noise up came Tiffle, who was going into Danesheld, and generally chose the wood-path when she did so, though it was the longest round. She took in every point of the scene with her sly eyes, but suffered not her tougue to betray it. " Well : if I ever heard such a noise I" quoth she ; " I thought it must be some young pantheir let loose. And who is it ? It's some- thing like Granny Bean's Shad." " He's agoing to kill me ! he's want- ing to whack me ! he'd a-like to pull up my har by the roots !" shrieked Shad. " Tell him to let me go." " Let him go, please," said Tiffle to Lydney. " I'm sure you're too much a gentlemin, sir, to ill-treat a poor little weak boy." Tiffle essayed to pull him from Mr. Lydney, as she spoke, but Mr. Lydney put her away. He had not attempted to beat Shad : only held him tight. " I am not going to touch him now," he said to Tiffle : " I have no cane with me ; but, so sure as I catch him THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 173 dodging my footsteps, or Miss Lester's, again, so sure will 1 inflict proper chas- tisement upon him. You came up opportunely, Mrs. Tiffle." " To prevent the beating ?" "No: to hear my promise. The next time you give him orders to track me, or your young lady, remem- ber that he shall certainly suffer for it, if he attempts to put your behests in practice. That you merit the punish- ment, shall not avail with me : he shall get it." " Oh }" screamed Tiffle, with a great show of indignation, "what treason- ous words is these ? I give him or- ders to track people 1 what have I to do with him ? Am I a perlice •walker?" "You have more to do with him than people suspect, and in more ways than one," was his significant retort, as he turned round and looked full in Tiffle's face, which suddenly became the color of scarlet. " Now, my good woman, set him to watch me again !" He quitted hold of Shad with a gentle shake, and proceeded on his way, in the opposite direction to that taken by Maria. Tiffle regained her composure, as she best might ; but the scarlet of her face turned white with rage, and she shook her fists after him, and panted forth : "I vow I'll be revenged on him for this ?" " I know what," cried Shad. " I saw him at the wood last night, just after the row. He'd been in it, I think." "Where did you see him?" eagerly cried Tiffle. "He was a coming up the road, t'other side the wood. I see him with my two eyes. The clocks was a strik- ing one." "Did you see "Will Lester?" re- turned Tiffle. " Was he out with 'em ?" " I didna see him. He might ha' been there, though, and this un ha' been to take him home, for 'twas close to Will Lester's where I see him. I ha'n't seen Will Lester, this morning, nowhere: maybe, he's wounded." " What did that divil set upon you now for ?" " Cause I were a watching him and Miss Lester, and he twigged me," re- turned Shad. " I never see such a keen eyes as he's got. He had laid hold of her two hands and was a-hug- ging of 'em." " Keep the sharpest look-out on him you ever kept in your life. Shad," were the concluding words of Tiffle. " Poke and peer about the woods for- ever, especially after dark. That Lydney's a big cut-throat in disguise, and we'll pay him off." Yowing vengeance upon the whole world in her anger, and upon Lydney in particular, Tiffle pursued her way. She had executed her commissions in the town, and was returning, when she met Lord Dane. She had had plenty of time to cool ; but to cool down from an evil spirit was not in Tiffle's nature : she remembered the sovereign bestowed upon her by his lordship, and the words he had used 5 and she stopped him now. " Well, Tiffle, and how are you ?"— for, when Lord Dane chose, he could, be affable and condescending to the lowest. " I'm none the better, my lord, craving your pardon, for the dreadful tales of last night's blood that every shop you go into will tell. Is it true, my lord, that one of the keepers was cut in half ?" " Not quite," replied Lord Dane, checking a laugh. "He is wounded in the ribs. I wish I could lay my finger on the man that fired at him. " " My lord, I think it's as likely to have been that Lydney as anybody," responded Tiffle, dropping her voice. " I have good information that he was one of them." " Have you ?" eagerly returned Lord Dane. "Where? how? — how did you get it ?" " One that's safe and sure saw him just outside the wood at one o'clock this morning. And where could he have been to, my lord, at that place and hour, but a-j'ining in the fray ? If you could get him transported, my 174 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. lord, it would be a provadinshil mercy for Danesheld and for Miss Lester. " " Ah," was the only answer of his lordship. " She's a getting enthrilled by him, my lord ; as safe as my name's Tiffle. Not a day passes but he's at our house, with master, or with my lady, and of course she^s present. And then the private meetings out of doors !" added Tiffle, turning up her eyes. " They were in the wood together not half an hour ago, her two hands squozed in his, as if he were her lovier." Lord Dane's face grew black as night. Tiffle did not pursue the sub- ject : she left her shaft to tell. "And they do say that Mr. Wilfred Lester has not been seen abroad yet, my lord. It's to be hoped he's come to no harm : though I did hear a in- sinivation that he was wounded." She shot a rapid glance out of her cat's eyes at Lord Dane, then meekly dropped them, curtsied and turned away. It is probable that Lord Dane would not so far have forgotten his courtly manners as to speak to Maria on the point of Tiffle's information touching, herself, but that he w^as betrayed into it in the angry heat of the moment. His road led him past Miss Bordil- lion's house, and seeing Maria leave it on her way home, he increased his pace and overtook her. He raised his hat, a pleasant smile on his comely face, and, joining her, walked by her Bide. " Maria," he began, " when am I to be favoi'ed with my answer ? Do you not think I have waited long and patiently ?" Maria's heart beat, though her spirit sank within her. Was he going to enter again upon that subject ? " I really beg your pardon," she stammered. " I do not undei'stand." " Not understand that I love you ?" he rejoined, his tone one of the sweet- est tenderness. ' " That my days are passed in one long dream — the hope to call you my wife ? In truth, Maria, my patience has been sorely put to the test ; let the suspense come to an end." " But indeed you could not have misunderstood me. Lord Dane," she replied, in agitation. " I told you months ago this could never be. I have no other answer to return. I thank you very much for your good opinion, but I cannot be your wife." " Tell me why you would reject me," he said, after a pause. " There is no particular reason, ex- cept — except — that I do not care for you sufficiently to become your wife," she hesitated. " Do you deem that it would be an inexpedient alliance ? Or do you fear I should not make you a good hus- band ?" " I never glanced at either point. Suffer the subject to drop, Lord Dane." He looked at her with a winning smile. " It can never drop until you are mine, Maria." "But indeed it must," she answered, " for yours I cannot be." " Have you seen your brother this morning ?" he resumed. "My .brother? No." " Nor have heard, possibly this rumor touching him. That he is wounded." Had Maria been shot with one of the random shots from Danesheld wood, it could not have had much greater effect upon her than these words. The whole of her heart's blood seemed to leave her, and she turned to him with quivering lips that refused utterance. " It may not be correct," he con- tinued, " but the report is certainly abroad. Maria, this is no hour for squeamishness : your brother ought to be got away from here. If he is not hurt now, it will be sure to come ere now." " I wish he was away," she cried, betrayed out of her self-possession ; "but where is he to go?" " If you did not treat me so cava- lierly, Maria, I would soon find him a post. I have one at my disposal now : THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 175 at least my interest would secure its being bestowed where I please. It is under government, and would be the very thing for Wilfred, until better times comes round for him. It is nearly a sinecure ; the pay eight hun- dred a-year." Maria's brain began to whirl. Eight hundred pounds a-year on the one hand, absence from Danesheld and his grievances, home-comfort for him and Edith I On the other, poverty, starva- tion, a continuance of the awful dread, companionship with his dangerous as- sociates, perhaps disgrace, a public trial, or killed in some midnight en- counter ! She turned her lovely face, crimson now with excitement, on Lord Dane. "Oh, will you not interest yourself and give it him ?" " Willingly. If you will interest yourself toi/^ yourself for me." It was a cruel alternative. Maria walked on in silence, and began re- volving all he had said. " Who informed you he was wound- ed ?" she whispered. " I heard it." " I do not think it can be true. Mr. Lydney told me he was with him till one o'clock this morning ; the time flew unwarily, he said." A strangely derisive smile curled the lips of Lord Dane. Maria knew not why, but she shrank from it. " I do not doubt it," he significantly observed ; " I think it extremely, probable that he was with him till that hour. Birds of a feather — but I should be sorry to class Wilfred Les- ter, with all his faults and impru- dences, with a man of Lydney's stamp." " Mr. Lydney is a gentleman," she returned, in a low voice. " Allow me to ask whait proof you have of that : whose testifying word ? Maria, it is time your eyes were opened. I hear from various points Miss Lester's name coupled with Lyd- ney's, — that they are seen abroad in company, that they appear on inti- mate terms of friendship. This very morning they were walking in the wood together, the young lady's hands in his : and Danesheld is ringing with it." She turned her face in its hot scar- let upon Lord Dane, her eyes flash- ing, her tongue indignant. " And what though I was in the wood conversing with Mr. Lydney ? It is a public path, open to all the world. Let Danesheld concern itself with its own business, but not with mine. My conscience is pure. Lord Dane : I met Mi'. Lydney accidentally, as you might meet him, and I have done nothing unbecoming to a lady. "I did not mean to reproach you, Maria, and I spoke but out of regard[ for you. I cannot bear to hear of the future Lady Dane being brought into contact with a — " " I am not the future Lady Dane," she burst forth. " I never will be." " Perhaps you would prefer to be the future Mrs. Lydney," he rejoined, unable to suppress his sarcasm. Again her face grew scarlet, but she made no retort. Lord Dane resumed. " Maria, let us have done with this playing at cross-sticks with each other. If you will not allow me to speak to you as your future husband, — though that will come, — let me speak as your true friend. Lydney — mind, Maria, I am only asserting what I know — is here under false colors. He parades himself as a gentleman, he has ob- tained admission in that character to the best families, he has made himself intimate with you. Will you believe that almost from the very first I have known him to be an associate with the worst characters here, sharing in their pursuits, poaching on my preserves with them ? He tells you he was with Wilfred Lester till one o'clock this morning ; I say that it is more than likely ; for it has been whis- pered to me that Lydney was one of those engaged in the attack last night." She felt utterly confounded. Strange doubts and fears assailing her at all points ; but she had faith in Lydney. "It is not possible," she gasped. 176 THE CAST LE'S HEIR. " All that you say of him cannot be possible. And it was at Wilfred's own house that he was, last night. " " Understand me, Maria. With re- gard to last night, I assert nothing positive ;. for, of his movements then, and Wilfred's, I am personally ignor- ant. It has been told to me that he was in the wood, it has been told to me that your brother is wounded : both may be false, for aught I know. But when I tell you that he is the associate of bad characters, and that he frequents the wood at night with them, I speak of my own positive knowledge. Is that a man to be in- timate with Miss Lester ?" Maria was hard of belief, and she spoke resentfully. " If you have known this, as you sav, from the first, why have you not stopped his visits to the families of the neighborhood ?" " I have my reasons for not speaking too soon, and the police have theirs. My gentleman is being watched, and the time will come, I believe shortly, when he will be dropped upon and denounced. Private friendship would have led me to interfere, but as lord- lieutenant I have public duties to consider. The time is not yet come, I say. He made a show of offering £1000 reward for the recovery of the box—" " He never said it was himself offered it : he was but acting for the owner," persisted Maria. " Be it so. But whether for him- self or owner, he was safe in offering it, seeing that the box is most pro- bably in his own possession, and has been from the time it was lost." " Who asserts that ?" flashed Maria. " It is a suspicion — not an asser- tion. We cannot come to any other conclusion." At that moment Wilfred Lester came in view, walking as well as he ever walked in his life, with no sign of a wound about him. He did not stop, but passed them with a nod. Maria turned triumphantly to Lord Dane, " You see ! All the other assertions may be false as this." "False! Thank you, Maria. I passed you my w^ord that with regard to Lydney's pursuits and associates they were true. I did not answer for last night's doings. Can you have faith in him still?" "It seems to me that I can never lose ni}' faith in him," she replied in a low tone, as though she were com- muning with herself. Lord Dane threw up his head with all the hauteur of a British peer, and he bit his lips with vexation. That he Avas very greatly prejudiced against Lydney there was no question; still he did believe him to be an unworthy character. Danesheld Hall Avas in view, and Ma- ria entered. Lord Dane also entered, and proceeded to the study of Mr. Les- ter. He there confided to Mr. Lester what he had never done before — his suspicions of Mr. Lydney; and strenu- ously urged that he should be treated as an impostor and turned from the hall. " He appears to me to be a thorough gentleman — a gentleman in all re- spects," was the reply of Mr. Lester, who felt considerably astonished and staggered at the communication. "If what you say be correct, the fellow must have the impudence of — " " It is correct," interposed Lord Dane. " Do I not tell you I have watched him myself, been a witness to his night assignations in the wood, his confederacy with the poachers ? I have had my reasons for keeping this close, and the police have also theirs. Neither must it be made public noAV, unless we would defeat the ends of justice ; but I confide the facts to you that he may have no further op- portunity of working more mischief at the hall." " He certainly shall not be ad- mitted here again," remarked Mr. Lester. "But as to past mischief — you go too far. Lord Dane. What mischief has he brought to the hall ?'• "He has tried at it, unless I am THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 177 greatly mistaken," significantJy re- turned Lord Dane. " He has con- trived to establisli a pretty good understanding with Maria, out of doors and in : and young ladies often prove more susceptible to the fascina- tions of a stranger than to the sterling qualities of old friends." Very indignant, indeed, felt Mr. Lester at the hint : not indignant against Lord Dane, but at the presum- ing intruder, Lydney. He, however, repudiated the insinuation touching Maria. Lord Dane smiled. " These fellows, who come into a neighborhood for what they can pick up, are just the sort to draw a young lady into mischief: I mean such mis- chief as a secret attachment, and then a marriage. Fancy what a windfall Maria's fortune would be to this man ! and you know, were she to marry without the previous arrangement re- garding the money, you would be compelled to hand it over." Mr. Lester stood as one thunder- struck. This view of the case had never struck him before, and he began to rail at himself for his blindness. Sneaking covertly after Maria, that he might grasp her fortune ? Of course he was ! it was all plain now. The perspiration broke out over his face like peas. " You had better persuade her to become Lady Dane without delay," said his lordship, quietly, " and so secure her from harm. You would retain the money, and I should gain a wife, whose happiness it would be my daily study to promote." " She shall be your wife before the month's out," foamed the disturbed Mr. Lester. Lord Dane quitted the hall, and it happened unfortunately that Mr. Lyd- ney almost immediately called at it before Squire Lester's indignant fears had had time to cool. He rushed out and met him as he entered ; and, with many needless words of insult, ordered him to quit the house again. " What has occurred ? what have I done ?" demanded the amazed Lyd- ncv, while the raised tones of Mr. 11 Lester's voice lirought forth Lady Adelaide and Maria. " I condescend to no explanation, sir," was the retort of Mr. Lester. " Only take yourself off, and nevei presume to attempt crossing the threshold of my house again : you have crossed it too much." "But you will first accord me an explanation of this treatment," per- sisted Mr. Lydney. " There's the door, sir," stormed the squire, waving his hand to the open door, which the servant held. " If you do not depart instantly I shall order my domestics to put you forth." A moment's communing with him- self, and then the young man turned to obey. But he first raised his hat courteously to tho Lady Adelaide, who had stood the image of conster- nation, and w^alked forth — not as one cowed by merited insult, but with a lordly step and head erect, his whole air and bearing that of a chieftain, from whom insult recoiled. Maria shivered, crept up to her own room, and burst into a flood of pas- sionate tears. CHAPTER XXIL A CONFUSED PLOT — THE APPARITIOX IN THE RUINS. Lord Dane was not one to do his work by halves. If he could not pub- licly proclaim his suspicions of Lyd- ney's ill-doings, or if he did not choose to do so, he yet determined to damage his reputation as far as possible. The most welcome news to his lordship would be, to hear that Lydney had been driven from the place : perhaps he hoped to help on that desirable consummation. Upon quitting Squire Lester's he bent his steps to the Sail- or's Rest. Ravensbird was alone in the bar, reading a newspaper: he rose up when his lordship entered. " I want three minutes' conversa- tion with you, Ravensbird." 178 THE CASTLE'S H E I K. The man bowed, led the way to the parlor, and handed a chair to Lord Dane, remaining himself standing of course, " How much longer do you intend to harbor that fellow Lydney ?" " I'm sure, my lord, that's more than I can say," returned the land- lord, who could take questions as coolly and literally as most folks, even from Lord Dane. " It's his business ; not mine. He'll stop on at his pleas- ure : as long as he pays his bill, I have nothing to say against it." " No, Ravensbird, he will not stop at his pleasure," returned Lord Dane. " I am here now to desire you to turn him out." " Upon what plea, my lord ?" asked Ravensbird. "Give any plea you choose, to him. The one I give to you is — that it is my pleasure." " My lord, I cannot put forth a gen- tleman in that fashion ; one who con- ducts himself as a gentleman, and pays his way." " It must be done. I insist upon it," said Lord Dane. " I beg your pardon, my lord. Not by me." " The fellow is an impostor, a man given to nefarious courses ; he con- sorts with the poachers, and trespasses on my preserves at night. But, mind, Ravensbird, this is for your private ear alone, and I know you can be secret when you like. He has wormed himself into the social circles of the best families here, and may work in- calculable mischief Is that a man for you to continue to harbor ?" " What he may do out of doors, I know nothing of," persisted Ravens- bird ; " I see nothing wrong in him, and have heard no wrong. In-doors, he conducts himself as a quiet, well- behaved, honorable gentleman, and that's all I have got to do with." " You are my tenant, Ravensbird, and you must do as I wish you." " My lord, I am your tenant, but I pay you rent for your house, and am master of it. In taking the Sailor's Rest, I did not part with my respon- sibility of action. I should be happy to oblige your lordship in many ways, but to turn a harmless gentleman (as far as I see) from it, is what I can't do." " Say you won't, Ravensbird." "Well, my lord, I'll say I won't, if you prefer it," answered the man, though with every token of civility and respect. " If this young Mr. Lydney behaved himself ill under my notice, it would be a different thing." Lord Dane regarded Ravensbird with a haughty stare. The man met it equably. " I fancy you cannot understand, Ravensbird. He has come here to engage in bad practices, therefore he must be hunted out of Danesheld. The police might do it for him, and save trouble, but he seems to take precious good care not to give tangi- ble grounds. He's a sly one, depend upon it, and he must be got out of the place." " All well and good, my lord, if it can be done ; but I am not going to join in getting him out." " Do you remember a certain clause in your lease, which I caused Apperly to insert, when you entered upon this house ?" demanded Lord Dane. " It was to the effect that, should circum- stances induce me to retake the house upon my hands, you must give up possession, and quit it at my pleasure." " By your lordship's giving me six weeks' notice," interposed Ravens bird. " Good. If you are to fly in the teeth of my requests in this manner, — and it is the first, I believe, that I have made to you, — you stand a chance of getting that clause acted upon, Mr. Ravensbird." "As your lordship pleases, of course," was the sturdy answer, while Ravensbird looked full in the face of the peer. " I should be sorry to leave the house, for it suits me, and I earn a living ; still, there are other tene- ments to be had in Danesheld. Per- haps your lordship will give it some reflection, before you compel me to quit this." THE C ASTLE'S HEIR. 179 ^Marked independence, nay, more, marked meaning, was in his tone. Lord Dane passed from the subject to another. " You have heard of this outrage in my woods last night. " "As all Danesheld, has, my lord." " What do you personally know of it?" " Not any thing," said Ravensbird. " What should I ?" " Ravensbird," proceeded Lord Dane, bending his head forward, and speaking in an under-tone, "I could bring the officers of justice into this house now, and give you into custody on suspicion of having been concerned in it." "Because I 'harbor' Lydney — it is your lordship's expression — and you suspect him of being connected with the poachers ?" asked Ravensbird, with some freedom. "No." The two stood gazing at each other — for Lord Dane had risen, and now faced his tenant. It was his lordship who broke the silence. " Last evening — it must have been near ten o'clock, not very long before the afifray took place — I saw you in the wood, with one of the worst of the men, Ben Beecher. Hand in glove with him, pacing the thicket with him, your hand upon his shoulder ! I saw you myself, Ravensbird." " I was there with him," quietly replied Ravensbird. " It is a cool assertion." " I had a little private matter of business with Ben Beecher : and I went to the wood, hoping to find him and to transact it. I did find him, and was with him the best part of half an hour, and then I left him, and came back home. That's the simple truth, and the whole truth, my lord. Had I known there was likely to be a fight in the wood, I should not have chosen last night to go there. I take part in a poacher's conflict ! You know better than that, Lord Dane." "Yet you have been accused of a worse offence in your day," cried his lordship. A strangely significant smile played over the lips of Ravensbird. He raised his eyes full on Lord Dane. " I may be publicly cleared of that suspicion yet, my lord, by the real offender being brought to light. I have reason to think I shall be." " What reason ?" inquired Lord Dane. "A belief in the divine laws of retribution and of justice." " Can you tell me the nature of your business with Ben Beecher ?" "I have said that it was private, my lord." Lord Dane took up his hat. " It seems that I have met with little sat- isfaction in coming here this morning. Considering that you were once ser- vant in my family, Ravensbird, I have an idea that it might behoove you to treat my wishes with more com- pliance." A tinge of color flashed into Ra- vensbird's dark face. " I was servant to the Honorable Captain Dane ; I was not servant to Mr. Herbert.'* Lord Dane put his hat on his head and walked out, Ravensbird attending him to the door. " By the way," cried his lordship, wheeling round, "is that other man gone ? I mean the old passenger, who was likewise saved and brought here," he added, seeing that Ravens- bird looked puzzled. " He is not gone, my lord ; he has not found himself well enough to go. But he is getting better now." " Does he not go out?" " He has never once been out of his room, let alone the house, your lord- ship. He is waiting for remittances, he says." " Ah ! mind you don't feed him all this while, and then not get paid. How quiet he must keep himself ! I never hear it mentioned that there is such a person in the place. What does he do all day ?" " Sits and coughs, and reads the newspapers." " What's his name ?" " When he first arrived Sophie asked it, and he answered that it was no 180 business of hers. But I saw his medi- cine came in directed to ' Mr. Home.' He was so ill at first, we were obliged to call in Dr. Green." " Home ? Home ?" debated his lord- " don't know the name." He marched up the street, and Rav- ensbird turned in-doors again. Cer- tainly the man behaved more cava- lierly to Lord Dane than any other of his dependents would have presumed to venture upon. The wonder was that his lordship put up with it. It was growing dark that same even- ing, — that is, it may have been near upon five o'clock, — when three men met under covert of the thick wood. Later, with last night's remembrance upon them, they would not have dared to be there : a few days must elapse, ere they grew bold again. They deemed themselves alone ; but, trail- ing flat with his belly on the ground, serpent that he was, lay young Shad, listening, — not to plans for another liattue on the pheasants, but to as ne- farious a scheme of housebreaking as was ever concocted. Shad had not yet been promoted to assist at great crimes ; and his hair rose up on end, as he listened. What, with his per- sonal fear (for Shad fully believed that if any untoward accident be- trayed his proximity, he should be riddled through with bullets), and what with the low tone the men con- versed in, Shad obtained but a partial liearing of the plot. The chief part that he made out was, that Dane Castle was to be broken into, and the plate "bagged." Waiting till the men dispersed, — for he did not dare to move until they were gone, — Shad rose up, and tore along at the top of his speed till he gained the spot where he was in the habit of waiting for Tiffle. But no Tiffle was there. She probably had been, and was gone ; for it was near eight o'clock. Shad, with all his cun- ning, was at fault : he scarcely dared to approach Mr. Lester's, which Tiffle had always strictly forbidden, but his tongue was burning to be delivered of its secret. He stole across the in- THE CASTLE'S HEIE. tervening space, and gave a timid knock at the back-door. " If you please, ma'am, can I speak a word to Mrs. Tiffle ?" cried he, as a kitchen-maid answered it. The girl went to the housekeeper's room, where Tiffle was. " Mrs. Tiffle's wanted," cried she. " It's Granny Bean's Shad." An unwelcome announcement in the pi'esence of her fellow-servants, and Tiffle jumped up. " Granny Bean's Shad !" uttered she, in apparent amazement. " He can't want me : it must be a mistake." She flounced through the back-pas- sages of the house to its outside, and there, sure enough, stood Shad. Her first impulse was to treat him to a good shaking. " Don't you begin upon me, then, till you've heered," whined Shad. " I shouldn't a-come a-nigh, but you warn't at the place. I've been a hear- ing murder, and it made my bones sweat to listen." "Hearing murder !" ejaculated Tiffle. "They's a going to break into the castle," resumed the boy, " murder Lord Dane, and fork the plate. I heered 'em say as there was hundreds of ounces kep' in the big chest, and they'd l)ag it all, while 'tother was a doing the business." To give Tiffle her due, her badly disposed mind was more intent upon working petty ills and aggravations to her species, than great crimes. Mur- der, certainly, bore as much horror for her as it does for most people : and she clasped hold or young Shad in alfright, and bade him speak intelligi- bly, and relate all he knew. "It were them three. Drake, and Ben Beecher, and Bill Nicholson, Ben Nick's brother," said Shad, " and I've been a-lyingever since dark a-listening to 'em, with my nose, in the frosty ground, and afraid to draw a breath. I couldn't make out all they said, but I made out enough : and they be a- going in for the castle plate and fo murder Lord Dane." " Did you hear them plan his mur- der ?" THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 181 " No, but look you hei-e," said Shad, who did not want for brains, though it was convenient to let it appear to the world in general that his head ran short of them. " They talked about the plate ; and to hear of it was good to make your mouth water, spoons, and waiters, and teapots, and things ; but 'tain't the plate as they's chiefly a-going in for ; I made out that much. They said, while the business was a- being done, two or three of 'em could go and rifle the plate-chest, and nobody be none the wiser. And I says to my- self as I listened, what is the business, if it's not the robbing the plate-chest ? It must be to mui'der his lordship." Not an improbable conclusion for Shad to arrive at. TiSie arrived at the same. " How many more was to be in it, besides them three ?" asked she. " I dun know. They said two or three of 'em ud fork the plate while the business was a-being done, so there'll be more in it nor them. I heard 'em speak of Lydney once, and then the rest said. Hush ! and after that they called him ' L. ' I'd lay that white doe rabbit of mine, what's at granny's, as he is to be in it." Tiffle's eyes sparkled at the informa- tion, but before she could reply, one of the footmen, who had been out on some private matter of his own, came up the back-door. " What, is it you, Mrs. Tiffle, out here ! why, you'll catch cold. And young Shad, as I'm alive !" " Come to beg a drop of my linei'- ment for Granny Bean's rheumitix," responded Tiffle to the servant. " The last time I gave her some, it cured her in no time ; her back's a'most double to-night, he says. Here, Shad, give me the bottle, and I'll bring it out to ye." "A-groaning with it awful, granny was," whined Shad, quickly taking his cue ; " and please, ma'am, I haven't got no bottle. I come cutting along fast, feeling for granny, and fell over a stone and broke it." "What a careless boy you must be 1" returned Tiffle : " I suppose I must find one. Wait there." She followed the footman in-doors ; but only to return and finish her con- versation with Shad. The boy dis- missed, she prepared to go out herself. Lady Adelaide, wuth Mr. Lester, was djning abroad, so she had no leave to ask. Her proposed visit was to Lord Dane. Apart from Tiffle's shock at the contemplated murder in itself, it put a stop (should it be carried into effect) to certain ambitious visions Avhich Tiffle had recently, and more especially that day, been indulging a hope might grow into realities. Tiffle had cast her covetous eyes on the castle, hoping to slip in as its house- keeper, either through favor of Miss Lester, should she become Lady Dane, or through the favor of Lord Dane himself, did he remain a bachelor. Of course, were the thread of his lordship's life to be severed by any such summary process, Tiffle's visions must fade into air. Lord Dane was seated alone in his dining-room, — the great dining-room that the reader has seen before. Miss Dane had retired, but he sat yet over his wine. The rays of the chandelier fell on the glittering table, on its beauti- ful service of sparkling crystal. Bruff entered. " My lord, a person is asking to see you. It's Lady Adelaide Lester's maid." " To see me ?" returned his lord- ship. "What, Tiffle?" " Yes ; Tiffle, my lord. I told her your lordship was at dinnei', but she wished me to bring word that she had come for something important." "A message from Lady Adelaide, possibly," carelessly remarked Lord Dane. " Let her come in." Tiffle appeared. Lord Dane had turned his chair to the fire then, and she advanced and stood near him^ Bruff departed and shut the door. " Oh, my lord ! the most wicked plot 1" she began, throwing her bonnet back in her flurry, and putting out her 182 THE CASTLE'S HEIR hands. " The castle's going to be riffled, and your lordship murdered promiskeous in your bed." " What !" uttered Lord Dane, won- dering whether Tiffle had turned crazy, and evincing a very powerful inclination to laugh. " You can sit down, Tiffle: you seem a little ex- cited." " My lord, it may sound like ridicul, but its gospial truth," returned Tiffle, taking the chair offered her. "Them three men have been a-plotting of it in the wood — Bill Nicholson, and Drake, and Ben Beecher ; and one overheard 'em as is sure and safe, and he come and imparted of it to me. Lydney is to be with them, it's pretty apperient, for his name was mentioned once, but they said. Hush ! and after- wards called him only ' L.' And they spoke of rifaling the plate-chest while the business was done, — the business object that they break in for, my lord, — and that, you may be sure, is no other than the murdering of you." Lord Dane, uncertain still whether there might be any thing in the tale, or Avhether Tiffle really had lost her senses, made her go over the Avhole of it circumstantially. It comprised all she had heard, and some she had not heard, for Tiffle's news, like many other persons', was sure to increase rn the telling; she repeated it all. "Was it you who heard this fine plot ?" " Me, me lord ! As if I should be prowling in the wood at night, a-haz- arding of my repetation !" " Oh, of course not," said Lord Dane, with a cough. " Who was it, then ?" " I couldn't impart that to your lordship." "Then you had better not have im- parted the tale. I suppose it was some — some — " his lordship was rather at a loss for a word — " beau of yours. " "Indeed, then, no!" was Tiffle's nettled rejoinder. " I've had enough of them sort of vanaties, and had rather keep 'em at arms-distance." " Well, as it appears that something may be in it : at any rate there's suffi- cient doubt to induce some sort of preparation against the possibility — " " Some sort of preperatign !" inter- rupted the alarmed Tiffie. "Prepe- ration against it vmat be made, my lord, or you'll have the catastrify for certain." " Just so !" said Lord Dane. " Therefore it is necessary that all points bearing upon it should be im- parted to me. Tell me, in private, who this hearer was, and he shall come to no harm, nor you either. Otherwise, I must call in the aid of the police, and you must be publicly examined to-morrow before Squire Lester." This would not have suited Tiffle at all : quite the contrary. Yet she was awake to the common-sense view of Lord Dane's argument, and to the ne- cessity of his knowing all. " It's not that he could come to harm, my lord, or that I have any motive to conceal it, such as you might fancy," she resumed. " But the one that heard it is useful to me ; he looks about for me, unsuspected, and brings me news ; and if it was once known he did so, there'd be good-by to it, — for folks would be on their guard not to speak before him. I'd tell your lordship, if you'd let it be quite pri- vate from everybody else ; indeed, you might see him for yourself." "Agreed," said Lord Dane. " It was Granny Bean's Shad." " Granny Bean's Shad !" he uttered, looking at her. "AVhy, every second word spoken by that boy is a bare- faced lie." Tiffle bent her face close to Lord Dane's : he had never seen it so earn- est, so little savoring of deceit. " That Shad will tell you the truth in this, my lord, I'll answer for it with my own life. He has less faults than folks think for, and he daredn't play the fool with me." " I'll see him," said Lord Dane, as Tiffle rose to withdraw. " When do you say the attack is to be made ?" " Not for three nights for certain ; and then none was named. They THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 183 were waiting for something, though Shad could not make out for what, unless it is for the moon to go. Another thing he only half heard : those ruins were mintioned. He thought perhaps they Avere going to meet in them, and plot further." " What ruins ?" quickly asked Lord Dane. " The chapel ruins opposite," re- plied Tifflo, extending her hand in the direction. — " They may be there now, at this very moment, for all we know." "Tiffle," called out his lordship, as she was gliding from the room with her usual stealthy step. "Not a word of this abroad, remember. And caution that Shad." " He,''s safe, my lord ; and you may rely upon it, I don't ejict another syllible from my lips. It's in your lordship's hands now, and out of mine." Lord Dane remained in a reverie after her departure, and then strolled out of the castle. That an attack was being contemplated he entertained no manner of doubt, though he did not take precisely the same view of it that Mr. Shad and Tiffle had adopted. He felt surprised ; for, loose in char- acter as the three men mentioned had hitherto been regarded, taking their full delight in poaching, smuggling, and similar adventures of a venial nature, or what are looked upon by many as venial, they had never attempted great crimes, and Lord Dane felt convinced that some master head-piece was urging them on. He stood outside the castle-gates, still thinking, taking little notice of a female form approaching from the direction of Danesheld. But the female came close up to him, and compelled his attention : he recog- nized the cloak and bonnet of Tiffle. "Back again !" cried Lord Dane. " I have abtained a little more ividence, ni}^ lord," was Tiflfle's re- joinder, " and thought you'd blame Ine if I didn't return with it. — When I came the first time, I sent young Shad with a lantern to search the place where them smugglers had been, thinking it not impossible but they might have left some token behind 'em ; for when folks hold a meeting in the dark, and things slip from their pockets or their hands, they're diffacult to be picked up again. Shad was back before I was, and ho brought this." She held out a scrap of paper to Lord Dane, and he examined it by the light of the lamp which illumined the gateway, paying Tifile the compli- ment, as he took it from her, that she would have made a first-rate de- tective. It proved to be part of a note, and Lord Dane read the following words : impossible to join you to- night, but to-morrow you may expect me without fail. "W. L." It appeared to have been written hastily on a long, narrow bit of paper, and then twisted up. The direction, if there had been any, had gone with the first part of the contents. " Now, I can take my Bible effida- vit that that writing is Lydney's," cried Tiffle, when Lord Dane had looked at it. " I have seen his hand- writing at our house upon pieces of music, and I saw a note of his to Miss Lester. 'Twas only a line or two about a book, but it was that v^ry self-same hand-writing, and I'll stand to it, my lord, with the very same autigriff at the end of it, ' W. L ;' which is the short for his name, William Lydney." " Where did Shad find this ?" " Close upon the very spot where they'd been a-plotting." " Why did you not bring Shad up, as you dropped upon him ?" " Shad'll come to-morrow morning and ask for you, my lord, as you or- dered. 'Twasn't likely I was going to bring him to the castle myself, and set your detainers a wondering and talking," was the reply of Tiffle. She took her final departure, and Lord Dane, after consigning the paper to his pocket-book, fell into another 184 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. reverie. That Lydney was an out- and-out villain he was beginning to believe, and his angry eye flashed at the thought that he had been admitted to the intimacy — perhaps gained the love — of Maria Lester. Before him stretched out the sea, broad and wide, not that he could see much of it from Avhere he stood ; on his right were the lights of Danesheld ; and on his left the chapel-ruins. The moon was high in the sky, and flickered her light upon those picturesque ruins as .she had done many a time before, — upon the green Avails, the several apertures. Lord Dane turned his eyes towards them. Singular to say, he had never once been inside those ruins since his re- turn from abroad, in fact since his ac- cession to the title : nay, it may be said, since the period of his romantic love for the Lady Adelaide. Many times had he passed them since then, walked round them, stood near them, Imt it happened that, either by design or accident, he had not gone inside. He bent his steps thither now, his mind full of Tiffle's surmise : the plotters might be there at that moment, for aught he knew. Lord Dane crossed the green sward, crisp with frost, crossed it as stealthily as he had ever stolen to his appoint- ments with Adelaide Errol ; for it was not his intention to pounce upon or .surprise the men, but to ILsten to them. He had his own reasons for suifering the plot to go on to the very hour appointed for its execution. Once inside, he halted, looked about, and kept his ears open. Nothing ap- ]>eared to have changed : there were the faint remains of the altar, the traces of the graves, the ghostly-look- ing windows, and the moss-covered stones : all looked as it had looked in those years long gone by. It appeared to be entirely void of human life ; if any plotters were there, they remained still and silent : and, that none were there, speedily became apparent to Lord Dane, as he paced about it. His thoughts began to revert to the past, and soon, grow- ing oblivious to the present, to the lapse of years, to annoying plots, and to Maria Lester, the past was alone before him. He was dwelling on Lady Adelaide's beauty, on their mu- tual dream of sentimental passion, on her strangely sudden desertion : and from that topic his mind naturally re- verted to the tragic accident, which had cost the life of Henry Dane, almost on the very site where he then stood. The latter was not a pleasant sub- ject to indulge in, with the ghostly- looking ruins around, the grave-stones beneath, and the pale white moonlight above ; and Lord Dane, middle-aged man though he Avas getting, British peer though he was, began to find that he Avas not totally exempt from the sport of superstitious fancies. He turned from the altar, where he had been standing, to make the best of his way out, Avhen at that moment a form rose up in the windoAV aperture nearest to him, and remained silent, Avatching him, it seemed, in the moonlight. A half-smothered cry broke from Lord Dane's lips, his hair stood on end, and his flesh crept. Yes they did, lowering to him as you may deem the assertion. It is true that Lord Dane had been think- ing of his cousin : and imagination, especially superstitious imagination, plays curious tricks. As he stared at that figure in the aperture, its extra- ordinary resemblance in form to the dead man, struck upon him : he strode to the Avindow, separated only by the wall, and stood face to face, — face to face with him Avho Avas once Harry Dane. The once-familiar features stood out pale and clear in the moon- light, far too clear for Lord Dane not to recognize them. It Avas then he utter- ed the smothered cry, and his hair bris- tled up from his brow. He fell back involuntarily. He leaned against the decayed wall tore- cover hiniself. He remembered who and Avhat he Avas, a man and an Eng- lishman : shook himself, stepped to the entrance and passed out at it. That he had seen his cousin's spirit, — a THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 185 ghost, as it is familiarly called, — was his undoubted conviction, little as he had hitthero believed in ghosts, given to ridicule the fancied seers of them, as he had been. It had vanished. Nothing was to be seen outside. Lord Dane strode round the exterior of the ruins, but the ghost was gone, leaving no trace behind. No trace, save in the physical dis- turbance of Loud Dane. Again the superstitious feeling came creeping over him, the dread that the dead was hovering near : and he positively started, full-pace to the castle, quickly, and perhaps as conscious of terror, as Lady Adelaide had run, shrieking, that eventful night. Bruff was stand- ing in the gateway as his lord entered, and turned in amazement to look at him: for in the starting eyes, the panting lips, and the livid features, tlie man could scarcely I'ecognize those of Lord Dane, CHAPTER XXIIL THE DETECTIVE FROM SCOTLAND YARD. A TELEGRAPHIC despatch went up to London in the course of the follow- ing day. It was sent by Lord Dane, and received by the head police-office in Scotland Yard. On the morning after, Bruff informed Lord Dane that a gentleman, a stranger, was at the castle, asking to see him. As the reader may surmise, it was one of the chief detectives, come down in obedience to the demand of Lord Dane. He bore about him no out- ward signs of his profession ; was in plain clothes, and a free-speaking, agreeable man, — one who had received a liberal education, and was well read. His name was Blair. Miss Dane, meet- ing him in the corridor, scanned him with her critical eyes, — critical when single gentlemen were in the way, — and inquired privately of her brother who he was, and whether he was mar- ried. To the latter question. Lord Dane, at hazard, answered " Yes ;" to the former, he carelessly said some- thing about " banking firm," " private affairs," "money nuitters." Miss Dane, who was a great gossip, forthwith favored the household \fith the infor- mation that Mr. Blair was one of his lordship's town -bankers, come down on money business. And thence the news penetrated to Danesheld. He remained on a visit at the castle. After breakfast, which Lord Dane partook of with him in the library, came the conference. Mr. Blair was put in possession of the facts already known to the reader ; — of the ship- wreck, of Lydney's being saved from it, of the recovery of the box, and then its loss, of Lydney's suspicious asso- ciation with the poachers, his frequent- ing the wood, of his having been seen in it, or close to it, at the hour of the late conflict with the keepers ; of his having wormed himself into the confi- dence of the neighboring families, es- pecially of Squire Lester's, and his supposed covert designs on Miss Les- ter and her fortune ; and lastly came this projected attack on the castle, to which Master Shad had been a listener, and of which Lydney was no doubt prime mover. Lord Dane threw open the whole budget. Mr. Blair listened in silence. "When is the supposed attack to take place ?" was the first question he put. " Better be prepared from to-night, inclusive. The boy said not quite immediately." " And — if I gather your lordship's wishes rightly — you would prefer the attack not to be prevented ; but that the light-fingered gentry should be caught in the act." Precisely so. The neighborhood shall be rid of this pest, Lydney ; therefore it shall go on to the attack. I am sorry for the other men, and would have spared them if I could, but there's no help for it, and they must share the penalty. They have been too fond of helping themselves to hares and pheasants, and of setting 186 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. nir keepers at defiance, also of doing a little private business in the smug- gling line : but they would no more have ventured to plan such a feat as this, than I should. Lydney has drawn them into it." " I scarcely follow your lordship yet," mused Mr. Blair. " By this lad's account — Shad, or whatever you call him — robbery appeared to be a sec- ondary consideration : the clearing of the plate-chest is to be effected while the real object, ' the business,' is trans- acting, and this business a murderous assault on your lordship. How have you incurred Lydney 's ill-will, that he should plan so diabolical a crime ?" " I have given you Shad's version, — I should rather say the conclusion he jumped to," returned Lord Dane, " but I have not yet given you mine. I do not believe that any assault upon myself is contemplated. I believe they would be only too happy that I should sleep, undisturbed, through the proceedings, and wake up to find them and the plate safely off." " But you have said the plate is not the principal object," again pursued Mr. Blair. " Neither is it," returned Lord Dane. " I believe that Lydney 's chief object is to search for this box. From the first, he has insolently and rudely accused me of detaining it in the castle ; accused me both to my ^- face and behind my back. Noav, I think it will turn out that the box is the prime motive-power, and that he has persuaded these poor fellows to join in the attack by promising them a share in the plate-booty for their pains." " Where is the box ?" " I cannot say." " Did it enter the castle ?" " Have I not explained that the things were all placed in my strong • room and secured ; and that when they were visited — on the same day, and by Lydney himself — the box in ques- tion was not among them ? The two men who carried in the things could not remember that particular box ; my butler, who was looking on failed to observe it ; in short, the only pair of eyes which professed to witness its actual entry, belonged to this young reptile, Shad ; and he's the deuce's own cousin for telling lies, if it suits his purpose." " Had he a purpose ?" "He was standing by, watching the unloading of the cart. Lydney afterwards heard of this, and offered him sixpence if he could tell where the box went to. Siiad said into the castle, — having the attractions of the sixpence before his sight. The gen- eral opinion was, that the box was stolen from the cart in its progress to the castle. For my own satisfaction's sake, and in justice to my servants, 1 had the castle at once searched by the police ; but no box was found." " And did Lydney know of this ?" " He did. The inspector of police, here, informed him of it." " Then, my lord, how can you take up the opinion that he must be break- ing into the castle after the box ?" " It is my opinion," replied Lord Dane. "Bad as he is, I do not be- lieve personal injury to myself is his object." "Have you cause to think he may entertain any ill-feeling against you at all ?" proceeded Mr. Blair, after some reflection. " No. Unless — I declare, that is a point in the business that never oc- curred to me till this moment^ — unless he is cognizant that I, on Tuesday last, warned Mr. Lester against him. I found the fellow growing more in- timate than was expedient with Miss Lester, — at all events trying to do so, — meeting her in her walks, and the like ; and I gave Mr. Lester my opin- ion of his character, with the grounds for it. I understand Mr. Lester so far acted upon it, that same day, as to turn him from the house upon his attempting to call." " Did he know it was you who gave Mr. Lester the information ?" inquired Mr. Blair. " Not that I am aware of. But he may have learned it." " Quite sufficient provocation to in- THE CASTLE'S HEIR 187 duce ill-feeling towards your lordship, in a base mind like his," remarked the officer. " Especially if he really had cast a covetous eye on the fortune of the young lady." " But to murder me for it 1" cried LordDane,in a doubtful tone." That's rather strong revenge." " Few men, let them be ever so bad, contemplate murder," answered Mr. Blair. " The crime, when commit- ted, generally arises with circum- stances. But I must lay my plans, so that this one does not succeed in it. Where is your police-station ?" " In the heart of Danesheld. I will walk with you to it." "I understand that your lordship gives the entire charge of this business into my hands ?" pursued Mr. Blair. "Undoubtedly." " Then you must allow me to go to work in my own way. I would pre- fer to visit the inspector here alone. His name is Young, I think ?" " Young. He succeeded Wilkes, who died. Your plan will be, I sup- pose, to place some men each night inside the castle ?" " I will inform your lordship of my plans this evening, when I shall have had time to consider of them." Mr. Blair walked into the town, and found the police-station. Inspector Young happened to be in the first room alone, perched upon a stool. The stranger, in a summary sort of manner, began asking various ques- tions of Danesheld and its inhabitants, of the police - station, and of other things, rousing the ire of the inspector, who was a great man in his own esti- mation, and considered that nobody, save a magistrate, or Lord Dane him- self, might interfere in what pertained to his post. "I should be glad to know who you are, coming in and examining into my business," cried he, resentfully. " Should you ?" was the careless reply. " I am Mr. Blair, from Scot- land Yard, and I hold my private orders direct from Sir Richard Mayne. " The inspector jumped off the stool. " I beg your pardon, sir," said he. " Please to step into the inner room. I hope — I'm sure I hope nothing in our office here has fallen under the displeasure of Sir Richard." " Not that I have heard," replied Mr. Blair, as he took his seat. " But now I want a great deal of informa- tion from you. Who's this Lydney that's stopping in the place ?" "Well, I don't know who he is," returned the inspector. " We can't make him out, sir. To appearance, and to speak to, he seems of the very highest degree, — you wouldn't take him for any thing less than a noble- man. But, on the other hand, he mixes himself up with poachers and disreputable people, goes into the woods with them at night, lodges at a public-house, and, — in short, we are puzzled." " Was it his own box that was lost ?" "He says not. Very anxious he has been for its recovery, quite fever- ish over it. He offered a thousand pounds reward." " When he is probably not worth a hundred pence. Had that box been produced, and the reward claimed, you might have found yourselves in a dilemma, or had to rob your own pockets to give it." Inspector Young smiled. " We are more cautious than that, sir, though we are countrymen. My Lord Dane dropped me a hint to the same effect ; and I, in a civil way, in- timated to Lydney that he was a stranger, and we could not be answer- able for the reward. So he deposited the money with me." " The thousand pounds ?" uttered Mr. Blair. " He did, sir. Of course I gave him an acknowledgment, and we -hold the money still. But I had to pass my word to him that the transaction should be a strict secret : consequently it is not known." " Not to Lord Dane ?" "Not to any one. Lord Dane's opinion is, that Lydney himself has possession of the box ; but — " " No, it is not," interrupted Mr. Blair. 188 THE CASTLE'S HEIE, " I can assure you that it is," said the inspector. " I can assure you that it is wo<," authoritatively corrected Mr. Blair. " If his lordship has told you so, he must have had his own reasons." The inspector did not dare to con- tradict again. He looked at his su- perior, and waited. The latter low- ered his voice. " Have you heard that Dane Castle is likely to be broken into ?" " No !" exclaimed the inspector. " Who by ?" " L3^dney — as the chief mover. And his object, as Lord Dane thinks — one of his objects — is to search after this identical box ; the other object is the plate-chest. That is the business I am down upon." " My goodness me !" ejaculated the inspectoi', after a pause. " Lydney ! well I could not have believed that of him I I can't understand this at all, sir." "Neither can I," returned Mr. Blair. " It was clear enough before you told me of the thousand pounds : it is not now. How can I get at a chap called Shad ? I should like a meeting with the gentleman, — accidental, you com- prehend. " " That will be easily effected. He is always about the wood," was the reply of the inspector. AVhile they converse, let us turn for an instant to Miss Bordillion's, where Mr. Lydney was presenting himself for a morning call. " Not at home," said the servant ; but at that very unlucky moment who should present her unconscious self at the window but Miss Bordillion. Lyd- ne}'' looked at her, and then at the ser- vant, a half-smile upon his face. The girl felt angry and confused, and at- tempted a justification. " It is not my fault, sir : I have only to obey orders. Though it is not my mistress' general custom to say she is not at home when she is." " Miss Bordillion desired you to den}^ her if I called ?" " Yes, sir, she did." He wrote a few words on a leaf of his pocket-book, tore it out, and sent it in to Miss Bordillion. " I pray you, as a favor, see me for a few minutes : I will not ask it again." " Once more can't matter," said Miss Bordillion to herself, as she read the Avords. " Show Mr. Lydney in, Ann." " I thank you for admitting me," he began, as he entered. " I find, Miss Bordillion, that within the last day or two some strange rumors to my prejudice have been circulating in Danesheld. With Lord Dane, I never was in favor; but others were friendly with me. Will you tell me candidly what these rumors are, and whence they arise. I apply to you, because 1 believe you are truthful and sincere, above petty prejudice, and I had learnt to believe that, of all in Danesheld, you esteemed me as a friend ?" Miss Bordillion hesitated in per- plexity. She was, as he designated it, truthful and sincere ; but she was also kind, and revolted at the thought of giving pain. Mr. Lester had fa- vored her with his version of the reports against Lydney, asserting that they were indisputably true — as Lord Dane had asserted to him — and. Miss Bordillion felt that she could not again receive one who lay under so dark a cloud. "You probably heard that Mr. Lester turned me from his door ?" he proceeded, finding she did not speak. " I must acknowledge that I did." "And you have given orders to be denied to me. Well, now. Miss Bor- dillion, would it not be fair to acquaint me with the grounds for that line of conduct ? A man cannot fight shadows." " It might be fair, Mr. liydney, but it would be a task by no means agree- able. That there are tales abroad to your prejudice, it would be folly to deny ; but I think the removing of them rests with yourself." " In what way ? I cannot, I say, combat shadows ?" " It appears to me that you should declare who you are. You have said that you are of good family, — a family THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 189 of some note in England. I am sure I received the assertion with perfect reliance on its truth, as I make no doubt others did. But, now that these prejudices against you have arisen, it is incumbent on you to declare more particularly who your family are, and of what country. I think if you could do this, the feeling against you would, in a measui*e, be removed. You per- ceive I speak openly." Something like amusement twinkled in his eye as he listened. " I suppose, since the prejudice has spread, people have been searching through the peerage and baronetage, and all your other red books, to find the name of Lydney," said he. " Something very like it, I believe," replied Miss Bordillion. "Do you not see that it is necessary you should declare yourself ?" " Will you tell me what the rumors are, and whence they arise ?" "Whence they arise, I do not know ; from your own conduct, I believe. People talk of you being friendly with the poachers, — of your frequenting the woods at night. For myself, I do not credit that; I do not, indeed, Mr. Lydney ; I have better faith in you." " Yet you have ordered your doors to be closed." '' I — I could not do otherwise," she answered, quite distressed at having to give the explanation, yet deeming it better to speak freely, now it was entered upon. " Squire Lester in- sisted upon it ; or else Maria's visits here must have ceased." " I am accused, I hear, among other henious sins," he proceeded, dropping his voice to a lower key, "of enter- taining covetous designs on the for- tune of Miss Lester." " Who could have told you that ?" uttered Miss Bordillion. " It is patent to all Danesheld. You may hear it as you pass along the street. I am supposed to be doing my best to delude Miss Lester into a Gretna-Green escapade, or some such unorthodox marriage, for the sake of touchins: her fourteen thousand pounds. Allow mo to assure you, Miss 13ordilIion, that, whenever I do marry, it will be of no moment to me whether my wife shall possess four- teen thousand pounds, or not fourteen hundred pence." " I wish you would not mention these things, Mr. Lydney, for they only pain me to hear them. For my- self, I cannot but have confidence in you ; there is something about you that I have trusted from the first, and trust still. But, put yourself in my position, and reflect how impossible it is that I can act against the stream, and continue to receive you here, — es- pecially with Miss Lester visiting me as usual. If you would be more open, as to yourself, and declare who you are, it might be different." " The fact is," said Lydney, but in a good-natured tone, "that you do doubt me. You like me personally, you have a sort of faith in me, at least you had ; but you cannot overget the budget of inuendoes against me, now opened. I do not know that I blame you for it, Miss Bordillion ; in your position, as you observe, I might judge as you do. I will not intrude longer on you," he added, as he rose, " but I must express my hope that the time will shortly come when you will welcome me to your house again." Miss Bordillion held out her hand in token of adieu. " Were I you, Mr. Lydney, I would no longer remain in Danesheld ; it cannot be a pleasant spot of abode to you now." " That proves how you share in the general prejudice," he laughed, as he released her hand. " Farewell." " Not a word about his family — or who he is," thought Miss Bordillion, as she turned to ring the bell. " I don't know what to think." The servant had the street-door open as he approached it, admitting Maria Lester. Mr. Lydney caught her hand and drew her into a small room or study, where in past days she and Edith used to do their lessons. He closed the door, and stood before her. "Maria," he began, calling her in 190 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. his agitation by her Christian name, " I am going to put your friendship, your confidence in me, to the proof. Dark tales are abroad to my prejudice, insinuations that I am not what I ap- pear to be, that I am no gentleman ; nay, worse, that I am a bad character. Do you believe them ?" " No," she quietly said, lifting her trusting e5^es to his. " I will not thank you ; it appears to me that if you could believe such accusations, cast on me, you would not be worth my thanks. Bold, you will say. Yes, I am bold in this moment. It is not convenient to me — you shall know why, sometime — to declare any thing more of myself than people know at present. The tales of my nefarious doings will right themselves ; I do not fear them, or cast a word to them ; but when you hear it said that I am no gentleman, that I am an adventurer, believe it not. Will you trust me ?" "With my whole heart and faith," she answered, the tears rising to her eyes. "I do thank you now," and some- how he contrived to possess himself of both her hands. Holding them between his, he looked her steadfastly in the face. "It has been brought against me, that I am striving to gain the affections of Miss Lester for the sake of securing her fortune. Upon the state of Miss Lester's affections I will not enter, but I will honestly avow that she has gained mine. I say no more ; I must leave it to the future ; to the time when I can pre- sent myself before Mr. Lester, and ask that his daughter may be given to me for my own. In that hour Mr. Lester will find that fortune is cer- tainly no object to me, and that he is heartily welcome to retain any she may possess. I have not offended you in saying this ?" he added in a tone of the deepest tenderness. No, he had not offended her; far from it: her heart only beat more lesponsively to the avowal. It was an instant of agitation ; her feelings were nearly beyond control, and her wet eyelashes rested on her crimsoned cheeks. "It has been told to me," he whis- pered, "that another covets the prize for his : one whom I suspect to be my enemy. And that Mr. Lester favors his suit." " But not I," she answered in the moment's impulse. "I never can be his, though he has made it a condition of his placing AVilfred beyond reach of want. Papa would like it: Lord Dane is rich and a man of rank." " I will take care of Wilfred," said Mr. Lydney : "so far as any one can take care of him. And it may be in my power to offer Mr. Lester a posi- tion for his daughter, not inferior to that of Lord Dane. Only trust me, Maria," he concluded, as he linger- ingh' released her, and turned away. As the maid was showing him out, a stranger passed the door, and looked keenly at him, very keenly Lydney thought. It was not, however, an offensive stare : but the eyes that gave it appeared to have a peculiar power of their own for taking in all points of any object on which they rested. "I hope he will know me again," said Mr. Lydney, good-humoredly : " I wonder who he is." "I know sir," said the girl. "He passed when I was in the tea-shop just DOW, and I heard it. It is my Lord Dane's banker, come down on a visit. Good morning, Mr. Lydney, sir. " The last sentence was uttered in a hearty tone, and with a raised voice, for Lydney had slipped half-a-crown into her hand, willing, perhaps, to prove to the girl that he cherished no resentment against her for obeying orders, and denying him. The stran- ger evidently caught the tones, and turned to the maid. "Did I hear you call that gentleman Lydney ?" he asked. "Yes, sir. That's Mr. Lydney." Mr. Blair looked after him, looked curiously, as if Lydney did not answer to the picture he had mentally painted of him. " He does look like a gentleman," THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 191 were the words that seemed involun- tarily to escape him. " He is a gentleman, if ever there was one," cried the girl familiarly. "Ah !" soliloquized Mr. Blair, walk- ing on. " Just the fellow to come into a country-place and ride the high horse. He might deceive us, if we trusted to his looks. CHAPTER XXIV. THE ATTACK. It was Sunday evening, and several days subsequent to the arrival of Mr. Blair. In the large dining-room at Dane Castle he sat, Lord Dane-with him. Both gentlemen had finished their wine, but the decanters and des- sert remained on the table. They were in earnest conversation, when suddenly one of the windows was shaken, and Lord Dane rose hastily, pulled aside the white blind, the cur- tains not being closed, and found him- self face to face with Mr. Shad, the glass only between them. He had mounted the iron railings outside, and was standing on the spikes, leaning forward, and holding on by the frame of the window. " You young imp !" uttered Lord Dane, as he drew back the window, which opened in the middle, after the manner of the French, "what the deuce brings you here ?" "They're a-coming on this very night, my lard, — I know they is," cried Shad, his face working with excite- ment. " They're in the wood now, and a-tying black crape to their hats ; I see 'em a-tying of 'em on, and I thought I'd come and tell ye." Mr. Blair was by the side of Lord Dane, and he seized the boy and de- posited him inside the room. " I see the 'lumination in this here parlor," proceeded Shad, "and made bold to get up and look if it Avas your lardship in it, but the blind hindered me. 1 was afeared to go to the big gates, for the servants would on'y ha' druv me back again." " How many did you see ?" asked Mr. Blair. " I see four. Two tall, and two short," answered Shad. " There was the three what I heered a-planning of the thing days back, and the 'tother, the tallest of all, was like — ; I didn't see his face, though,"- he broke off. " He was a-sitting down all the time, and the black hung afore his nose." " How can you tell that he was tall, if he were sitting down ?" demanded Mr. Blair. " 'Cause he was," was Shad's reply. "I twigged his long legs." " Who were you going to say he was like ?" " Well, I never heered him speak, and I never see him get up — but he was like Will Lester." "Nonsense!" angerly interposed Lord Dane. " What should Wilfred Lester want, breaking into my house ? The boy's a fool, Blair, and has always been deemed one. Do you think it was Lydney ?" he sharply added, turning to Shad. Now the boy was not a fool ; he had a vast deal too much cunning to be a fool, and that cunning he was in- cessantly calling into requisition. It did not in the least matter to Shad whether the silent gentleman in the disguising crape might be Mr. Lydney or Mr. Wilfred Lester ; his opinion was that it was the latter ; but as the suggestion appeared to give offence to Lord Dane, who would evidently be better pleased to hear that it was Lydney, Shad's cunning prompted him to veer round. " Well, I dunno," said he, with ad- mirable simplicity. " Lydney's tall, too, he is ; and I think the man was broad, here," touching his chest, " like Lydney's is. Yes, I does think he looked more like Lydney. 'Twas the leggins made me think o' Will Lester ; but I see Lydney with a pair on, one day." " Safe to be Lydney," murmured Lord Dane in the ear of Mi'. Blair. And the latter nodded. THE CASTLE'S HEIE. 192 " What did you hear ?" he asked of Shad. " I didn't hear nothing, sir. They warn't a talking, above a odd word 'bout the veils ; and I cut off, and left 'em, to tell his lardship." Mr. Blair spoke for a moment in an undertone with Lord Dane, and then gingerly lifted Shad out at the window again, on to the spikes, telling him to jump down. Lord Dane ad- dressed the boy : "You go home at once, to bed. Shad. You are not wanted, and there might be a danger, you know, of your getting shot, in mistake for one of the thieves, if you lingered near the castle. If these men get dropped upon through your information, you shall have such a reward as you have never seen in your life. Make the best of your way home." AM-ay tore Shad, as if in a hurry of oV)cdience. But the moment he was beyond view of the castle, he stopped dead, threw up his arms, capered with his feet ; performed, in short, all sorts of antics, and spoke out with his tongue : " Go home to bed, my lard says ! Not I ; I hain't agoing to bed ; I'd like to see the fun. And as if I didn't know Will Lester, though he have got the black crape over his face ! He — " Shad found himself pinioned. Stroll- ing about and smoking a cigar, was Mr. Lydney, close to whom Shad had unconsciously been dancing, and who had heard his words. "What is that about Will Lester and black crape. Shad ?" Shad began to howl. He was a- going home to his granny's to bed, he was. " You little hypocrite !" exclaimed Mr. Lydney, " do I want to hurt you, do you suppose ? Look here. Shad, you cannot play the simpleton with me, so just put off that idiotic folly. I ask 3"ou what you meant, when you alluded to Wilfred Lester's having black crape over his face, and I ask to knoio. If you don't choose to tell me, I will take you off now to the police-station, and you shall tell them. '^ What fun is going on to-night? I heard all you said, and that Lord Dane had ordei'ed you home to bed. Did you ever see a sovereign, ShP4i ?" " I have seed 'em," returned Shad, with a stress on the "seed." " Would you like to possess one ?" " Oh !" aspirated Shad, in trembling delight, his mouth beginning to water. " I said I would give you sixpence if you told me the truth about that box ; I believe you did tell me the truth, and I gave it you. Tell me now the truth of what is agate, touch- ing Mr. Wilfred Lester, and I will give you a golden sovereign." For that tempting bate Shad would have sold Danesheld and everybody in it, himself included. But Shad was somewhat puzzled. If this was the night of the grand expedition, and Mr. Lydney was strolling about en- joying idleness and a cigar, he could not be in it, as had been surmised. Shad's cunning came to the rapid con- clusion that he was not in it, and that they had been under a mistake in supposing so. "I daredn't tell," said he, "I'm afeared as you'd tell on me again, and they'd kill me dead, some of 'em." " You may trust my word. Shad, better than I can trust yours ; I will not tell upon you. See how bright it looks." Mr. Lydney struck a fusee, took a sovereign from his pocket, and held the light close to it. The attraction was irresistible, and Shad speedily made a clean breast of it, and put Mr. Lydney into possession of as much as he knew himself. " The castle was a-going to be broke into that night, and the plate chest stoled," was its substance. "It is not possible that Wilfred Lester would join in an expedition of that sort !" debated Mr. Lydney in incredulity. " It's not possible, I say, Shad." " I see 'em ; they be a-tying the black crape over their faces at this very time," was Shad's eager rejoinder. "Tiaere's Drake, and Nicholson, and Ben Beecher; and Will Lester was T II E C A S T L E'S HEIR. 193 #^;r/j.f|^D^; 12 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 195 a-sitting: down, ready. My lard broke out upon me sharp, a-saying it warn't him; he said it was you." " Lord Dane said it was 1 1" re- peated Mr. Lydney. " Leastways," cried Shad, retract- ing, lest he might be getting himself into hot water, " he said, ' Was it Mr. Lydney or was it Will Lester ?' 'cause both was tall. So I said as I couldn't speak to neither of 'em for certain, when I see it angered him. As if I didn't know Will Lester!" After some further colloquy, Shad was dismissed, and Mr. Lydney re- mained in a state of the utmost per- plexity and discomposure. That Wil- fred Lester had joined in certain night expeditions of the poachers, touching game, he had made himself only too sure ; but that he would rush madly into crime, was incompreljensible. One of two things was certain ; he must have lost his senses, or become utterly reckless. How could he, Lydney, prevent its taking place ? at any rate prevent Lester's joining in it ? It was indis- pensable he should be prevented, not only for his own sake, but for his family's ; and a deep flush rose to Mr. Lydney's brow, as he thought of the terrible disgrace it would reflect on Maria, should her brother be taken and tried for housebreaking. As he thus mused, he became conscious that several policemen were passing him, not together, but singly, and at different times, as if not to attract observation ; the connection of their errand flashed into his mind — they were going up to guard the castle ? All that he could do was to follow them, place himself in a position that would command the approach to the castle, watch for the appearance of the robbers, and intercept Wilfred Lester. The only retainer of Lord Dane's who had been made privy to the ex- pected attack, was Bruff. The rest had been suffered to retire quietly to rest, night after night, unconscious that any armed force was at watch in the castle. Suffer it to be known to them, and it would no longer be a se- cret in Dancslield, was the argument of Mr. Blair; in which case the attack would not take place. On this Sun- day night, the police were admitted privately as usual ; the household went to bed ; but Lord Dane, Mr. Blair and Bruft' remained up. Mr. Blair told the officers that the attack was expected. They waited and waited ; the men at their appointed posts, Mr. Blair anywhere and everywhere. Lord Dane and Bruff in excitement ; they waited, and waited on. The clock struck one. "It is very strange they don't come !" muttered Mr. Blair. Suddenly, shots were heard in the wood at a distance, and the men came stealthily out of their hiding-places ; Lord Dane and Bruff also rushed into the hall. " Back, every one of you !" was the stern order of Mr. Blair. "It is coming on now." " They h^jve met with some obstacle, and are flghting it out in the wood," exclaimed Lord Dane. " Hark at the shots." " Back, I say, all of you !" was the reiterated order of the detective. " Those shots are a ruse to draw the attention of the keepers from the castle should any be near it. I ex- pected something of the sort. They'll be here directly, now. Back ; and silence ; and whatever you may hear or see, let none stir forth till I give the signal." Back they cowered, and the castle returned to silence. And still they waited and waited on. Lydney also waited in his place of ambush. Like those within, he won- dered what was keeping the villains. He heard the town-clock strike one ; and, not long after, he heard the shots in the wood. It did not occur to him to take the view of them that the de- tective had done, and they disturbed him much : but he could not quit his present post. It was a muggy, dis- agreeable, damp night ; the early part of it had been clear, but the weather was changing, — any thing but a pleas- ^ M 196 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. ant night to remain on the watch in the open air. Suddenly, a noise stole on his ear : not, however, a sound of the covert footsteps of more than one, as he was expecting, but of one pair of boy's feet scampering over the ground with all possible haste and noise. Mr. Lydney looked out and encountered Shad. " So you are here ! instead of having gone home to bed !" " Don't hold on me then, please, sir," panted Shad, who was out of breath. " I'm a-going to the castle to tell Lord Dane. I know he's up, a-waiting." " To tell him what ?" " 'Taint the castle they be on to. It's the hall " " What ?" screamed Lydney. " They've a-broke into it : they be in it now. I've been a-dodging on to 'em all the night, and they be gone right into the hall, 'stead o' coming here. They took a pane out at one o' the winders." All that had been dark grew clear to Lydney. Wilfred Lester was after the DEED, — the deed relating to his property, which his father withheld from him. He had persuaded these men into the expedition, and they, no doubt, were after doing a little private business on their own account, touch- ing the plate-chest. And this was correct. When Shad had heard, or partially heard, the planning, he had mistakenly concluded that the castle was the object, never giving a thought to the hall. The castle, however, had never been threatened. And Wilfred " Lester (but this need scarcely be ob- served) was not cognizant of the men's intentions to steal. He purposed and believed that the abstraction would be confined to the deed. He looked upon that as his own, and deemed he was committing no sin to take it, under the circumstances of its being so un- justly and unlawfully denied him. With a half cry of dismay, Lydney sped towards the hall ; but, ere he had gone a yard, he stopped and grasped Shad. " You must not go to the castle, Shad : there's no need to acquaint Lord Dane with this. I will not have you go there." Shad lifted his cunning and covet- ous eyes. " The}^ be on the watch, they be ; and if I goes and tells his lardship as that lot hain't a coming, maybe he'll give me a half-a-crown." "And a pretty thing you'd do !" returned Mr. Lydney, meeting cun- ning with cunning. " You would put them off their guard at the castle ; and how do you know ' that lot,' as you call them, may not take a turn up there, after they have done with the hall ? Would Lord Dane reward you for that ?" Shad opened his eyes. The notion had not struck him. " You be quiet. Shad, that is all you have to do. Be entirely silent as to the doings of this night, and es- pecially as to Wilfred Lester : if I find that you are, I will do something bet- ter for 3'ou even than the sovereign." He flew towards the hall, as he con- cluded, and Shad followed more slowly after him. Lydney seemed to gain the hall in no time. He passed through the gates, and stood there to reconnoitre, before approaching close. The house seemed silent as the grave ; nothing could be seen, nothing heard ; the blinds appeared drawn before the windows, and the inmates were no doubt sleeping peacefully. Lj^dney began to question whether that iniquit- ous Shad had deceived him, when he was startled by the loud report of a pistol inside, and at the same moment some o))ject seemed to come forth from the hall-door, and disappear among the shrubs ; but who or what he could not decide. He darted forward to the house and entered it, his head full of Wilfred Lester, his ill-conduct, and his danger. Shad had not used deceit. The men were in. Drake had entered hj means of the window, had then opened the back-door and admitted the rest. They waited and listened when they were fairly in ; but not a mouse seemed THE CASTLE'S HEIR 197 stirriiif; — nothing but the beating of their own hearts. Silently went Wilfred Lester to his father's study, the others with him ; and silently he applied himself to open the safe, where his father had told him the deed was deposited. lie had come armed with a key to unlock it harm- lessly, so that no discovery should be made of its having been opened by unfair means. Drake kept the room- door against surprise, Ben Beecher held the light, and Nicholson did noth- ing. It may be wondered that Wilfi'ed Lester should enlist three men in the expedition, when plunder was not the object, and there would be no booty to carry off"; but the men had obsti- nately refused to go with him singly : all would risk it and staiid by each other if surprised, or none. Young Lester yielded in his recklessness. Strange objects they looked there, on that dark, midnight expedition, the black crape disguising their faces. The safe was soon opened ; but there ap- peared a mass of papers within, and Wilfred could not get at the deed "without search. Other deeds were there : other papers : some tied with red tape, some sealed, some unfast- ened. They were disposed of in order, and there was no difficulty in looking them over, — only it took time. He came to one : " Will of George Lester, Esquire ;" and the temptation to tear it open and read it was great : he felt sure he Avas disinherited : that he, the heir by right of birth, had been dis- carded for Lady Adelaide's children ; but he resisted the impulse, and threw it aside with an angry and hasty word. Presently he came to the one he wanted : his own name on the back guided him to the right parchment, and he clutched it with a suppressed shout of joy. " All right, boys ! I have it at last." There was a murmur of congratu- lation given under their breath ; and W^ilfred began putting in order again the papers he had disturbed. While doing this, Robertson and Drake at- tempted to steal out of the room. Wilfred turned to them. " Where are you going ? Stop where you are I" " Why, you'd never go to begmdge us a snack of bread-and-cheese, and a draught of beer ?" returned Drake. " We shall find it in the pantry, and 'twont be missed." " You know the bargain," said Wil- fred Lester, in suppressed anger. " Nothing must be touched in the house ; no : not a crust of bread ; they shall not have it to say that we came in like thieves, for common plun- der." " I'll take a stroll through it, at any rate," answered Drake, hardily. "And as to not touching a bit and a sup, if I see it — " " I will shoot the first man who lays his finger upon any thing in my father's house, no matter what it may be," was the stern interruption of young Lester, as he. drew his pistol. "Drake! Nicholson! you know the agreement, I say. I have promised you a reward for helping me ; and having secured the deed, I shall be able to pay it you ; but the house and its contents must remain intact." They Avere callous, bold men, and not to be balked in that way. Having entered on the expedition with their own views of self-benefit, it was little likely they w^ould be turned from them. A low whisper of conversation went on between Drake and Nichol- son ; something to the effect that they must accomplish their purpose by stratagem, rather than come to an open broil with Wilfred Lester there and then ; and they debated how best to work it. Wilfred, meanwhile, con- tinued to arrange the papers in the safe ; it was soon done, and he closed the door again, and locked it. " Now then," said he, "to get out as cleverly as we came in." That was easier said than done, for more reasons than one. Wilfred Les- ter quitted the study, with his com- panions, and locked the door, leaving the key in the lock as he had found it. " We'll go out at the hall-door," he whispered, pointing to it ; " it is more handy, and I know the fastenings," 198 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. Stealing over the oil-cloth, he gained it, undid the bolts, drew it cautiously open about an inch, and looked round. The men stood as he had left them ; not one following him ; and Beecher was putting the candle on a bracket that rested against the wall. " I tell you what it is, Master Les- ter," whispered Drake, who appeared to be more ready with his tongue than the others, " we have helped you on to your ends, and you must help us on to ours ; or if you won't help, you must wink at 'em. We come into this house with a resolve to pay ourselves, or we shouldn't have come in at all, and you may as well hear the truth, and make no bones over it. If we takes away but a spoon a-piece, we will take it, for we don't go empty handed." Wilfred Lester's reply was to raise his pistol and cock it, — not to fire upon them, but to coerce them to withdraw under fear that he would. Ben Beecher, believing life was in danger, stepped close and threw up Lester's arm. The pistol went off; the bullet shattering the glass of a door at the back of the hall. " Fools !" bitterly exclaimed Wil- fred Lester ; " save yourselves, and be quick over it. Fools I fools 1" He sped through the hall-door, leaving it open for them to follow, and darted amidst the shrubs, on his right- hand, whence he could readily gain the road by scaling the iron rails. Nicholson and Beecher would have escaped with him, but Drake seized hold of both. " Don't show yourselves what he called ye — fools," cried he, in a hoarse whisper. "We may get the forks yet ; if they be sleeping sound, that shot mayn't have roused 'em. Wait and see : plenty of time to get off then." But an interruption took place at that moment that they did not bargain for. The hall-door was pushed wider, and in rushed a tall man. But that there was no crape on his face, they might have thought it young Lester come back again. He came close up to them, and they saw it was Lydney, " You misguided, miserable men !" he uttered in agitation. " Where'3 Wilfred Lester ?" Before they could frame an answer — whether it would have been one of civility, repulsion, or attack — Nichol- son's eye caught sight of something white on the staircase, and a human face staring at them through the bal- ustrades. It was in a crouching po- sition, and might have been there some time. The sound of the pistol had also done its work : doors were being opened and shut in consterna- tion. " It's all over !" stamped Drake. "A race for it now, boys." " Wilfred Lester ?" panted Lydney in emotion. " Is he in the house, or not ?" " Not. I swear it. I won't deceive you, Mr. Lydney ; he escaped as you came in." It was Beecher who an- swered. Now, all this, since young Lester's egress, though it may seem to take time in telling, had really been the work of but a few instants ; but the noise was already great, for the figure on the stairs — a female, by her voice — • began screaming and shrieking fear- fully. The men rushed through the door ; and Lydney rushed after them, in his pursuit of Wilfred Lester. " What in the name of confusion is the matter ?" was heard above the hubbub in the voice of Squire Lester, as he descended in pantaloons and slippers, while a crowd of timid ones aroused out of their sleep — ladies, do- mestics, children — cowered in the rear. And the female on the stairs, who was no other than Tiffle, sobbed out in an- swer : " It's a crowd of villyans with blackened faces, broke in to murder us." With all possible speed. Squire Les- ter and his men-servants made search. But the " villyans " were gone. Exceedingly surprised, not to say discomfited, was the great London de- THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 199 tective, Mr. Blair, to find that while he had snufjcly made all preparations for the defence of the castle, that edi- fice had been left to repose in security, and the hall had sufl'ered the attack. Lord Dane was far more confounded to hear of it : for it sent all his calcu- lations out to sea. What could Lyd- ncy want at the hall ? he could not expect to find his box there ; and it was hardly to be supposed he broke in to steal Miss Lester. Nothing had been missed, nothing displaced in the house ; Squire Lester testified that he did not believe a thing had been touched ; therefore robbery had scarcely been the object. But of course the outrage must be investigated. It is the custom in some parts of England for country magistrates to hold examinations of prisoners, when in a preliminary stage, at their own houses. Whether it be in strict ac- cordance with law is another matter. Country justices, especially in remote districts, pay more attention to con- venience than law. About eleven o'clock on Monday morning, there was a gathering at Squire Lester's to inquire into the night's outrage. Lord Dane, Mr. Blair, a neighboring magistrate or two, and the squire himself, were present ; Lady Adelaide and Maria, the latter with a face of emotion, now crimson, now white ; Inspector Young and a policeman ; Mr. Apperly, who had been sent for; and — having obeyed the mandate to attend, half- request, half-command, borne from Mr. Lester by Inspector Young — William Lydney. That it was not a strictly official inquiry, only an irregu- lar one, the reader will understand, by the ladies being present. There was no appearance of a court ; they came in as morning guests might do, and took their seats anywhere ; some stood. Maria held some embroidery in her hand and made a show of working at it ; Lady Adelaide did nothing, save hold a screen between the fire and her delicate face. Mr. Blair appeared merely as a friend of Lord Dane's. He took no part in the proceedings, and his real character was unsuspected. The last to enter was Lydney, accompanied by Inspec- tor Young : he looked exceedingly grave, not to say troubled, as he approached Mr.' Lester, though as little like a housebreaker as it was possible to conceive. His elegant form, in its plain, gentlemanly morn- ing-costume, was drawn to its full height : it would seem that he might suspect the accusation to be made against him, and would not abate one jot of his dignity: very attractive did his high, pale features look that morn- ing. "I have been favored by a mes- sage from you, Mr. Lester, desiring my attendance here," he began, after saluting Lady Adelaide and Maria, and the rest of the company gene- rally. " May I request to know for what purpose ?" " Yes, sir," dryly replied Mr. Lester. "You may be aware that my house was broken into early this morning. I am about — in conjunction with my Lord Dane, and some of my brother- magistrates — to make some inquiry into it ; and, from circumstances which have transpired, we deem it right that you should be present at the sitting. Are you ready to be so, of your own free-will ?" " Perfectly ready," replied Mr. Lyd- ney. " Good !" said the squire. "Other- wise we must have compelled your attendance." Now, it must be remembered that *' ' none save those in the secret knew '^ of the suspected attack on Dane Cas- tle. Mr. Lester and his brother- magistrates were in ignorance of it : the police, receiving their orders from Mr. Blair, did not mention it, — Mr. Blair forbidding it at the earnest re- quest of Lord Dane. Certainly the preparations for defence, and the post- ing the police inside could have had nothing to do with the attack on the hall. Lord Dane strongly urged on Mr. Blair that the three men, spoken of by Shad, should not be told upon, and he spoke with all the high author- 200 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. ity vested in the county's lord-lieuten- ant: to such authority the officer could do little else but bow. In the first place, urged Lord Dane, nobody was sure that they Avere the men, they had only the word of that little liar, Shad, for it. In the second place, even if they were the men, they had, beyond doubt, been beguiled by that traitor, Lydney, — whom it would be much more in accordance with justice to punish for the whole. Thus, it oc- curred that nothing was likely to transpire beyond the fact of the actual entrance into the hall. Shad was not alluded to in the business, and the only person who appeared likely to give evidence was Tiffle. Tiffle was introduced to the draw- ing-room, curtseying, ambling and shuffling. Squire Lester desired her to speak out what she knew to Lord Dane and the magistrates. " I retired to rist last night, my lord," began Tiffle, choosing to address his lordship particularly, " and what the reason was, I am inable to say ; but the more I tried to get to sleep, the more pertineshously I lay awake. Well, my lord, it was getting on, I'm sure, for two o'clock, when I started up in bed, a-thinking I heard some- thing down-stairs. The flurry it put me in is undescriptable, and I went out of my room to listen. If ever I heered voices in the hall, I hccred 'em then : I thought some of the house- hold had got down-stairs at their pranks, — for a tight hand I'm obli- gated to keep over the servants in this house, — and I crept to the last flight and peeped through the ban- nisters. I never could have done it if I had known, but I no more thought of bulgarious robbers being in the hall than—" " What did you see or hear !" inter- posed Lord Dane. " My lord, I saw this. I saw three horrid marauders with their faces blackened, and I saw another which I couldn't distinguish nothing of but his coat-tails a-whisking out at the hall-door. Then, or whether it was just before it I can't be sure, a dread- ful pistol went off", and I nearly fainted. I wouldn't faint, however ; I come-to ; knowing the family's lives were at stake, and I looked down again, and there I saw the man whisk into the hall again, and I'm sorry to say" — Tiffle coughed and dropped her voice — " that it was Mr. Lydney." There was a dead pause. " What next ?" said Lord Dane. " My lord, nothing. Except that they all four, him, and the black bul- garians, talked together for a minute, and then they blew out the candle which had been flaring, level with their heads, and tore away, one trying to get off faster than another." Mr. Lydney glanced round at Maria. She sat there with a white face, her hands clasped. He smiled at her ; it did not look like the smile of a guilty man. " You hear ?" exclaimed Squire Lester. " I do hear," replied Mr. Lydney. " Can 5^ou offer any explanation ?" " I swear it was him," broke forth Tiffle. " If he denies it he will com- mit perjury. I saw him as plain as I see him now. I didn't know the others, because their faces Avere de- guised in black, but his was not." " I did enter your house last night, Mr. Lester, but only once," he calmly said. " If a person went out of it, before I came in, as your servant testifies, it was not myself." Every soul present appeared struck with consternation at the boldness of the avowal. When the sensation had subsided, Lord Dane inquired haught- ily if he could plead any thing in justification. " If you will allow me five-minutes' conversation with you in private, Mr. Lester," said Lydney, turning to that gentleman, " I will enter upon my justification. Probably you may deem it a satisfactory one." Mr. Lester repulsed the request in- dignantly. He was not accustomed to grant private interviews to mid- night burglars. Had Lydney any thing to say, he must speak out. " Then I have no resouice but to be THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 201 silent," observed Mr. Lydney, after a pause of thoui^ht. " Nevertheless I am innocent of any oflence." "You have called yourself a gen- tleman," cynically remarked Lord Pane. And Lydney took a step for- ward and threw his head back with dignity. " I am at least as much of a gentle- man as your lordship — in all points," was the firm answer. " Possibly, did Ave come to examine and compare rank and rights, I should take pre- cedence of you." The whole room (save one) resented the speech, and were ready to cudgel Lydney for the insult to my Lord Dane. " Let it pass," said his lordship, good-naturedly. " I can afford it. Will you make out the warrant for his committal, Mr. Apperly ?" " For my committal !" interrupted Lydney, half angry, half inclined to laugh. " Committal where ? and for what ?" " To the police-station, for the pres- ent, while we look after your com- panions, and for the crime of breaking into Danesheld Ha,ll," sharply spoke Squire Lester. " This is beyond a joke," cried Lydney. " You cannot possibly sup- pose I broke into it, or was one of those who did ?" " Silence, sir !" said Lord Dane. " The opportunity of explanation was offered you, and you declined to make use of it. " Lydney remained silent : not in obedience to his lordship, but for self- communing. The warrant for his com- mittal was made out, and Inspector Young laid his hand upon him. "You are my prisoner, William Lydney. " Then Mr. Lydney roused himself, and appeared as though he would have entered upon his justification ; but, as he was turning to Mr. Lester, his eyes rested on Maria, and it seemed to change his intention. He hesitated, and finally remained silent. " You need not touch me," he qui- etly said to Inspector Young, " I will yield to your authority. But do not treat me as if I were guilty." The audience was broken up, and the room rose. In the confusion, Wil- liam Lydney found himself near Miss Ijester. There was a whole world of sincerity, of truth, in his smile of tenderness. " Appearances are dark just now, Maria," he whispered. " Can you trust me still ?" " I trust you more than ever, Wil- liam. I will trust you through all," she answered fervently. " It shall be Avell repaid, my darl- ing." And Inspector Young called him, and marshalled him forth, an ignominious prisoner. CHAPTER XX Y. THE DEAD IN LIFE. In the invalid's room — for so they called that at the Sailor's Rest, tenant- ed by the stranger, Mr. Home — there was great bustle. Ravensbird was in attendance, his wife also, and Dr. Green was there ; all gathered round Mr. Home, who lay on the sofa, very, very ill. Ailing from the first, he had now been taken alarmingly worse, and the physician gave little hopes that he would recover. " Tell me how long you think I shall last," said Mr. Home to him. " I do not fear death ; but if I am near it, I must settle many things." " Of immediate death, hourly death, there is no danger," was the reply, " and I think you will rally yet. But I do fear your life will not be much prolonged." " That is, I may rally so as to last a few days ? Speak out." "Yes," said the physician, reluct- antly. " Then the sooner Apperly is brought to me, the better," was the invalid's answer. " Do you hear, Ravensbird ?" Dr. Green shook hands with his pa- tient, and went out. Mr. Home spoke 202 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. again, anxiety in his tone. His voice was as energetic as it had ever been : his intellect as keen. " Ravensbird, there's no time to be lost. Send for Apperly." " Immediately, my lord," w^as the man's answer. But, it so happened, that as Dr. Green left the Sailor's Rest, he was overtaken by the group who had emerged from Danesheld Hall. Ap- perly was among them ; and Inspec- tor Young walked by the side of Lydney. Dr. Green informed Apperly that he was wanted at the Sailor's Rest in his professional capacity, and the latter went in at once, and pro- ceeded to the door of the sick-chamber. " I am told the old gentleman wants me, who is lying here," quoth he to Sophie, who came out to him. "Yes, he is very ill," answered Sophie. " But you need not call him old, Mr. Apperly : he is not as old as you are. You can go in." She held the door open for him, quitting the room herself. Mr. Ap- perly advanced to the couch, near which stood Ravensbird. "I am sorry to hear you are seri- ously ill, sir," he began. " Mr. Home, I believe." The invalid turned his head towards him. His high features, somewhat attenuated now by suffering, his keen eyes, and his white hair. A handsome man still. Mr. Apperly gazed at him, and then backed a few paces, astonish- ment, mingled with terror, on his countenance. " Good heavens !" he uttered, as he wiped his brow. " It — it — can it be ? It is Captain Dane 1 come to life again." " No, sir," rejoined the invalid, very sharply for one so ill, "it is not Cap- tain Dane. I am Lord Dane. And so I have been, ever since my father's death." The lawyer looked bewildered. He turned from the sick man to Ravens- bird, from Ravensbird to the sick man. "Is it not a dream ?" he gasped. " It is not a dream," said Ravens- bird. "It is ray old master, sure enough ; my lord now. I have been proud to know it ever since the day after the shipwreck." "Why you — you — are supposed to be lying in the Danesheld vaults, sir — my lord. Goodness help me !" broke off Apperly in his former hot fashion ; " if you are in truth Lord Dane, who is he, — the other Lord Dane at the castle ?" " If I am in truth Lord Dane !" re- torted the invalid. " What do you mean, Apperly ? I am my father's son." " Yes, yes, of course ; but these sudden changes confuse me, my lord. Who is he at the castle, I say ? I can't collect my senses." " I should think you can't," was the reply of the true Lord Dane. " He is an usurper ; not an intentional one ; we must give him that due. He is plain Mr Herbert Dane, and never has been any thing else, though he has reveled in all the rights of a peer for these ten years." "It will take me — it will take me a week to get over this ; a week be- fore I can comprehend it," ejaculated Apperly. " Were you really not killed, my lord ?" "If I was killed I came to life again," said Lord Dane, intending the words as a joke. " The fall over the cliff took away my senses for a time, and otherwise injured me ; but I re- covered. A moment yet, Apperly: there will be some work for the law- yers between me and the false Lord bane ; which side do you enlist upon?" " Yours, my lord, certainly ; yours by all means." " Then I retain you as my adviser, and I will tell you my tale. But I should wish somebody else to be present. Ravensbird, where's Mr. William ?" " He has not been in, my lord, since he went this morning to Danesheld Hall." " Did he go to Danesheld Hall ?" asked Lord Dane. " Yes," was Ravensbird's answer " Squire Lester sent for him." THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 203 " And a pretty kettle of fish he has got himself into, if you mean the young man lodging here, William Lydncy," put in the lawyer. " lie is taken into custody on remand. Young has just walked him otf to the station- house." "Walked Mr. Lydney off to the station-house !" uttered Ravensbird, while Lord Dane stared, in unquali- fied astonishment. " A shocking scapegrace, I'm afraid, gentlemanly as he looks," explained Mr. Apperly. " Reports have been abroad, connecting him with the poachers, for some time ; but he has got himself into real trouble now. He and three more, with blackened faces, broke into the hall last night, for robbery no doubt, but that they were disturbed. Lydney is the only one of the lot taken as yet. " How dare you so traduce him, and in my presence ?" cried Lord Dane, his eyes flashing wrath. "You don't know what you are saying, Ap- perly. Are you aware who he is ?" "Not I, my lord. I know nothing of him, except that his name's Lyd- ney ; or he says it is. Danesheld looks upon him as an adventurer." " He will be Danesheld's chieftain, sir ; I can tell you that," returned his lordship, with emotion. " Ay, you may stare, but he will. He is my own lawful son, and will be my Lord Dane before many days are over, for I shan't last longer." " Why, it is mystery upon mys- tery !" exclaimed Mr. Apperly, who certainly did stare, in no measured degree. " He goes by the name of Lydney." " He is my own son, I tell you, the Honorable Geoffry William Lydney Dane. Geoffry is his first name, but we have always called him William : my wife, a lady of French extraction, used to say her lips would not pro- nounce the Geoffry. And you assert that he is in custody ?" " He is in custody beyond dispute, for I made out myself the warrant for his committal," was the answer of Mr. Apperly. And he forthwith pro- ceeded to give Lord Dane a summary of the circumstances, so far as he knew them : dwelling on the fact that Mr. Lydney did not deny having been ia the house, as testified to by Tiffle. " One thing is certain," said Lord Dane, "that William is incapable of a mean or dishonorable action. If he was in Lester's house, he was there for some good and legitimate purpose, and so it will turn out ; not for a bad one. Pshaw, sir ! speak of house- breaking in connection with William Dane, a future peer of England ! I will stake the rest of my poor life that Herbert Dane — my lord, as you all call him — is at the bottom of these rumors against him. I do not sup- pose he suspects who William is ; but I think it likely that he fears I am alive, and goes upon thorns, lest I should turn up. " " My lord, may I ask you why you did not assume your rank and your rights when you first returned ?" said Apperly. " Why you have lain on here in obscurity, suffering Lord Dane — Mr. Herbert, I should say — to con- tinue in his honors ?" " All in good time," replied Lord Dane. " I have had my reasons. You know that box that so much has been said about ?" " Well, my lord ?" " I must get that into my posses- sion, if I can, before I alarm Mr. Hei'bert Dane. I would almost barter my boy's future title to have it safely by my side now. Apperly," continued Lord Dane, after a pause, given to reflection, "it has been in my mind some time to have a detective officer down. Keen men are those Lon- don detectives ; they ferret out every thing ; and perhaps by those means I may arrive at the box. I was only waiting for my health to get better ; but it has got worse instead. You shall telegraph for one this day." " A London detective is at present in Danesheld, at the castle," replied Mr. Apperly. " His name is Blair, and he passes as Lord Dane's banker ; business brought me in contact with him some time ago, and of course I 204 THE CASTLE'S HEIE recognized him, but he gave me a hint that he was here incog. He might suit your lordship's purpose as well as another." " Not if he be a friend of Lord Dane's, as you persist in calling him." " I beg the true Lord Dane's par- don," smiled Mr. Apperly ; " but we have called Mr. Herbert Lord Dane so long, that we must call him so, I fear, by many another slip of the tongue. I could ascertain by two words to Blair himself, whether he is at liberty to give his energies to your cause." " Then go and do so at once," was the command. " Let him understand that he will have to act against the present Lord Dane of the castle, but do not mention me otherwise than as Mi\ Home. "When Dr. Green was called in to me, — I could not send for Wild, because he would have known me, — he asked my name. I replied, ' Mr. Home,' for I was thinking of my own home at the moment, and the word did as well as any other. If this Blair will assist, bring him back with you, for it is high time to act, and the plot is thickening. The Heir of Dane in custody for felony 1 Do you hear it, Ravensbird ?" As Mr. Apperly walked towards the castle, not knowing where else to look for the detective, it occurred to him that he was not bent upon alto- gether an honorable errand. To seek Mr. Blair in his host's residence, pur- posely to ask him to act against that host, was certainly not altogether clear steering ; but lawyers are thick- skinned, most of them, and so was Mr. Apperly. It happened, however, that he had not to seek Mr. Blair at the castle, for he met the latter walk- ing from it. "I was going in search of you," began Mr. Apperly. "A gentleman down here has need of the services of a detective officer. Could you act for him ?" " Yes ; for the business that brought me down is so far over that I am no longer needed, and have now quitted the castle. What is it ?" " I must premise that you will have to act against Lord Dane, though in what manner I do not precisely un- derstand myself. Will your private feelings allow you to do so ?" "An officer must have no pi'ivate feelings," was Mr. Blair's reply. " Lord Dane demanded a detective from town, and I was sent down. My business with him is concluded ; and if I am required by another party, I have neither plea nor wish for refus- ing, Avhether my services may be put in requisition against Lord Dane, or against any other lord. Does it re- late to this business of breaking into the hall ? which I confess I cannot fathom, — at least Lydney's share in it." " In a manner it does ; and I can fathom it as little as you." " I fancied so. I thought Squire Lester might be calling upon me for aid." " I am not the agent of Squire Les- ter," replied the lawyer, as he took Mr. Blair to the Sailor's Rest. Lord Dane was then off the sofa, pacing the room by the help of Ra- vensbird's arm. The complaint that he labored under Avas an inward one, telling little upon his general appear- ance and his apparent health. " This is Mr. Blair, my lord," said Lawyer Apperly. " Sir," said the peer, stopping in his walk, and facing him, "I have need of advice and assistance. I have been wronged by Herbert Dane, • — Lord Dane, as he is called, — whom I hear you have been visiting. Can you aid me ?" " I have no doubt I can," was Mr. Blair's reply ; " at least I can inform you Avhether anything can be done, if you will put me in possession of the circumstances." " Very good. But before I enter upon my tale, which is a long one, allow me to inform you that I am Lord Dane." The detective gave a sort of cough, impressed with the sudden belief that the gentleman before him was labor- ing under a mania, and wanted a THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 205 keeper, rather than a police-officer. His eye glanced at Mr. Ai)perly. " His lordship s'ays right," observed the latter. " He is the true Lord Dane." " The true, veritable William Henry, Lord Dane, only surviving son of the old Lord Dane, of whom you may have heard," continued the peer. "You look astonished, Mr. Blair : I thought police-officers were surprised at noth- ing." " The present lord has enjoyed the honors so long," remarked Mr. Blair, recovering himself. " He is not like one who succeeded yesterday. Sir Richard Mayne himself would be sur- prised at this." "I dare sa}^ he will be, when he hears of it," returned Lord Dane. " And now for ni}^ story, — when you will learn how it happens that he has enjoyed them." Lord Dane seated himself on the sofa, Ravensbird disposing the pillows for his support, and then taking his stand by his side, while the lawyer and the detective occupied chairs op- posite, — and Lord Dane began : " You may probably have heard, Mr. Detective, that Captain the Hon- orable William Henr}'- Dane, as I was then, went over the cliff, one moon- light night, by accident or by treach- ery, and lost his life ; that his body was turned up by the sea some weeks afterwards, and buried in the family vault." "I have heard this," replied Mr. Blair. " Bruff, the butler at the cas- tle, a sociable spirit if encouraged, has been fond of visiting m}^ room since my sojourn here, and entertaining me ^ with various items of the family's his- tory. All in good faith : he is proud to tell laudatory tales of the Danes." " I had been staying at home for some time," proceeded Lord Dane, "and was engaged to my mother's niece and ward. Lady Adelaide Errol. I don't mind telling you, Mr. Blair, — for you may have lost your head for a woman yourself, — that I was madly and blindly in love with her, fascinated by her beauty. I say blindly, — had I not been blind, I might have seen that her love was given to another. This was the man to enlighten me," — touching Ravensbird's arm. "He came to me in my chamber one morn- ing, in his true regard for my welfare and honor, and warned me that Lady Adelaide was deceiving me ; that she loved my cousin, Mr. Herbert Dane, and that he returned her love. Wlieu he went on to say that they met al- most nightly in the ruins of the chapel, — you know them : on the edge of the cliff, — met for their lovers' en- dearments, their confidential converse, their ridicule and deceit of me, — then my passion broke forth, and I kicked him, Ravensbird, my faithful friend and servant, down the stairs, dis- charging him on the spot. In my blind infatuation for Lady Adelaide, I thought he was but traducing her, and I visited it upon him. What made me more angry than any thing, was the accusation that she stole out at night to visit the ruins and meet her lover — my childlike, gentle Ade- laide !" " Danesheld never could come at the cause of quarrel between you and Ravensbird," put in Mr. Apperly, but Lord Dane went on. "A friend of mine, Colonel Moncton, had his j^acht in the harbor. I had dined with him on board the previous evening, and on this morning he came up to call at the castle. I walked out with him afterwards, and was show- ing him the locality. We went into the ruins, and there I picked up a small bow of pink ribbon, whose cen- tre was a pearl, which I knew Lady Adelaide had worn on the front of her dress the previous evening, for I had seen her dressed for dinner before I went down to the yacht. All in an instant it flashed upon me that Ra- vensbird had told me truth — for, un- less she had visited the ruins the pre- vious night, the bow could not have come there. My blood was boiling over, and I determined that not a day should pass, before I had it out. I met Herbert Dane, and told him I should step into his house to smoke a 206 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. cigar that evening ; intending in my own mind to tax him with the treach- ery. " "He said he was expecting you," again interrupted Mr. Apperly. "And we found him at home, waiting for you, after your fall from the clift"." "Not wailsing for me," significantly returned Lord Dane. " Evening came. I had promised Moncton to dine on board and say farewell, for the yacht was to sail with the tide. I did not go. I had brooded over my wrongs all the afternoon, and felt in no fit state even for Moncton's society, and I dined at home, with Lord and Lady Dane, and Adelaide ; we had no guests that evening. After dinner I took my way to the ruins, resolved to watch the meeting between them, should there be one. 1 felt half mad to think that I had been so gulled ; to know that Adelaide had but tampered with me ; to feel that her love was another's. Inside the ruins I waited, and pre- sently I saw Herbert Dane come stealing over the grass, keeping as much in the shade as he could, for I think the moon w^as never brighter. Cautiously he came up, came inside, and all but touched me, as I stood close to one of the apertures. Whether Le heard my breathing, whether I made any movement, I don't know, ' but he evidently became aware that some one was there. He took it to be her for whom he waited ; 'Ade- laide, my dearest, is it you ?' he whis- pered — and the words unnerved me. In my passionate rage I seized hold of Lim and shook him ; I reproached him with his base treachery ; I told him be should fight me on the next day. He retorted — and quarrelling vehem- ently, we made our way outside the ruins, close to the edge of the cliff. There it came to a struggle, and there I saw Lady Adelaide, who must have come up meanwhile, quickly step out of the ruins, and gaze at us. In the same moment, we got on the edge, and I lost my footing and fell — " " Then it was Herbert Dane who flung you over ?" eagerly inquired Mr. Apperly, in his eagerness. "We have never known whom to suspect," " It was Herbert Dane. I do not think it was purposely done. He was trying to, fling me to the ground, but not over the cliff; I was trying to fling him, and I lost my footing I say, and fell. In the instant of the fall my ear caught Lady Adelaide's shrill scream." " She ran screaming back to the castle half dead with terror," ex- claimed Mr. Apperly, whose mercu- rial temperament could not be still. "But she did not recognize either you or Herbert Dane." " She recognized us both," returned Lord Dane ; " it is absurd to suppose otherwise. It was light as day,- I say. I know that she denied it ; I have talked it all over with Ravens- bird, over and over again since I lay here, and I say that Lady Adelaide must have recognized us. Love for Herbert Dane may have kept her silent ; or fear lest her own name should be brought in did she betray that it was with him I struggled. I hear that, after this, she refused to continue her friendship with Herbert Dane. I am glad she bad so much grace. " " She may have looked upon him as a murderer in intention as well as in actuality. Most persons thought the murderer was a packman." "Oh, that packman was nothing," said Lord Dane. " As I was crossing the heights to the ruins some fellow accosted me, opened a small box or tray of wares, and importuned me to buy. I refused, harshly enough, I dare say, for I w^as in no mood of suavity, and the fellow grew loud and insulting. I promised him if he did not be off I would call forth the servants from my father's castle to convey him and his pack to the lock- up, and away he hurried." "And how were you rescued after the fall ?" again began Mr. Apperly, while the detective sat perfectly si- lent, as he had done from the first. "By one of those interpositions of THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 207 Providence that no doubt come direct from Heaven," solemnly repeated Lord Dane. " Moncton, disappointed of seeing me on board, anxious to bid me farewell, caused his yacht to heave-to, when she was abreast of the castle, put off in the boat, with a hand, and came to the very spot where I was lying, intending to seek me at the castle. Now, mark you, he was not Avell acquainted with the coast, and he mistook this small spot of beach for the larger one above, where steps wind up the cliff; what do you call that but Providence ? He found me lying there insensible ; he thought dead ; and he found that there was no road to the heights from that place. He put me in the boat with the help of the sailor, and they pulled back to the yacht. I revived. I was very much bruised and hurt, but no bones were broken. They had a surgeon on board, a young man who had come with them from the States for what he called a spree. Moncton was for putting the yacht back to port, but I — smarting under the infa- mous deceit of Lady Adelaide — pre- ferred to go on with him on the voyage. I did not care if England never saw me again, and the farther I was away from it the better. The yacht touched here and touched there, reaching the States at last, long before I was well ; in fact this complaint that I am dying from was no doubt induced by that fall. I ought to have written to them at home, at least to tell them that I was in the land of the living, but I put it off and put it off, and the next thing that overtook me was a fever ; a long, nervous fever, rendering me incapable in mind and in body. When I was sufficiently well to hear the news, Moncton in- formed me of the death of my mother ; he had seen it in the papers many weeks back ; had kept them, now put them into my hand. ' I must write to my father now,' I said to him, but that very same day fresh newspapers came in, bringing accounts of the death of Lord Dane." " Ah ! they were not long apart," said Mr. Apperly. "My lord went off quite sudden at the last, and never signed his will. Mr. Herbert suc- ceeded then." " Yes, Herbert succeeded," replied Lord Dane, with emotion, " but I never suspected that he did. I saw mentioned occasionally in the English, journals, ' Geoffry, Lord Dane,' and it never occurred to me that it was other than my brother Geoffry, the direct heir. Had I known it was Herbert, and that I myself was the true Lord Dane, the first and fastest steamer would have brought me over. I had not been friendly with my brother Geoffry ; he was overbearing and ty- rannical, and I did not care to return, neither did I care to write. England had lost her attractions for me, and I had ceased relations with her. I knew that I should inherit nothing under my father's will — my fortune had been paid to me when I came of age. Therefoi'e, I stayed on, giving no token home of my existence, my residence being chiefly in America, though I travelled pretty well over the globe, Europe excepted. When I found my health failing, failing probably to a fatal termination, then I turned my thoughts to home, and lost no time in returning hithei'. We took our pas- sage in the ' Wind,' elev^en hundred tons register, New York. She brought us safely to this, my own native spot, and wrecked us on it. That was strange," he musingly added, but after a moment's pause went on. "But for my son's interest I do not suppose I should have troubled the old country again — " " Your son ?" said Mr. Blair, inter- rupting for the first time. ■' Yes, sir, my son," returned the narrator, his agitation rising. " The gentleman whom you and Squire Lester and Herbert Dane have, be- tween you, ordered into custody to- day on a charge of midnight plun- dering, he is my son." " He ! William Lydney 1" contin- ued the inspector, astonished for once in his life. ' ' He, and no other, sir. He is the 208 THE CASTLE'S HEIK. honorable William Dane, one of your future peers. Do you think he broke into George Lester's house ?" "By Jove!" exclaiined Mr. Blair, surprised out of his equanimity. " I had never lighted upon any ac- count of the marriage of Lord Dane, (always supposing it to be my brother Geoffry), and, failing in children of his own, of course William was his heir, after me ; for that reason, and to establish his rights, I came home. We were wrecked — and saved ; all that we had with us went down, save a few papers and letters in William's pockets, who was dressed when the catastrophe occurred, sufficient to es- tablish our identity with the agents in London of our American bankers ; otherwise we might have been at a temporary strait for money here — " " Never, my lord," put in Ravens- bird, "so far as my narrow means could prevent it." " Knowing me for Lord Dane, per- haps not, Kavensbird," smiled his master. " But you might not have been so ready to help two distressed unknown shipwrecked travellers." "My lord," spoke Mr. Apperly, who was dying to have his curiosity gratified, " how does that young gen- tleman come to be your son ? You must have made an early marriage." " I did make an early marriage," replied Lord Dane. "I was not much more than of age. I married the daughter of a French merchant and jbanker, who had settled in the States, and I married her in secret. Her father had a bitter prejudice against the English, arising from a grievous wrong done to his family by an Eng- lish officer in her time of the Napo- leon wai'. I was an English officer, and he told her plainly he would rather see her in her grave than my wife. On my own side, I knew that my family, always a haughty one, would never sanction my alliance with a mer- chant's daughter, and the result was that we married in secret, and con- trived to keep it a secret. My wife lived on, unsuspected, at her father's home, making plausible absences from it occasionally. During one of these William was born, and was christened Geoffry William Lydney. As the boy grew he was introduced by my vAi'e to her father's house as the child of a friend, and from that time thei'e was no difficulty in her having him there much, for the old gentleman grew to like him, and to ask for him . Still, we did not dare tell our secret, and the years passed on. We waited patiently for the time that death, in the course of nature, would take him, and release us from our bondage. Alas, death came, as it often does come, where it is not expected. The old gentleman died ; that was expect- ed, leaving his accumulated riches to his daughter ; but ere we had well declared our position, and inher- ited, she also died ; died from a neglected cold. After the lapse of a few months, I came on a visit to England, and to my father's at Dane Castle, and there my senses became enthralled by the charms of Lady Ad- elaide. I did not tell Lord and Lady Dane of my marriage, or of my boy ; I had no particular motive for the re- ticence, save that I felt a constant un- willingness to enter upon it. You must remember that I was not the heir, my brother Geoffry's was a good life, and I never cast a thought to the probability of inheriting. Had I done so I should have been the first to de- clare that I had a son. I did tell Ad- elaide. In one of our confidential in- terviews I told her I had made an early and secret marriage, and that my wife was dead. I bound her in honor to secresy, and so far as I know, she has obseiwed it. I did not men- tion William ; a feeling prompted me not to ; but I meant to have told her of him before we married. William's very large fortune in his own right, inherited from his mother, would pre- vent any jealous unpleasantness on pecuniar}^ scores. Now you perceive how it is that William Lydney — as he has called himself here — is my son." " It's like the winding up of a comedy," cried Mr. Apperly. " The comedy's not wound up yet," THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 209 retorted Lord Dane. " And now, Mr. Detective," he added, turning to that gentleman, " I come to the part that more particularly concerns you. There was cast up from the wreck a box, which was claimed by William, — a japanned box, with the initials 'V.V.V.' upon it, surmounted by a Maltese cross. While he came here to get assistance to remove it, my Lord Dane goes on the beech, sees the box, and orders it up to the castle. Why did he do this ?" Lord Dane stopped, but his question was not answered. " Because he recognized it ; recog- nized it as my mother's box, — one that she had given me when I first went abroad. There is not the slight- est doubt that he must have known it again, for he had seen it many and many a score of times at the castle in earlier days ; and Mitchel, whom Ra- vensbird questioned, says that he ap- peared struck with its appearance. The initials stood for her maiden name, Yerena Vincent Yerner, General Yinccnt having been her uncle : and the Maltese cross had been added to them, in a freak, by her brother, young Yerner. He had borrowed the box of her, and when it came back it was embellished with the cross. This box she gave to me when I was going out with my regiment, and the very day I was putting my papers and best treasures in it, Herbert Dane stood by and helped me. Yes, he recognized the box, and that's why he laid his hasty hands upon it and sent it to the castle." Mr. Blair drew his chair a few inches nearer Lord Dane. His part was indeed beginning now, and the plot was getting interesting. " What he may have feared, what he may have thought, I do not pre- tend to say, when he saw it on the beach. He may have arrived at a doubt whether I was not yet alive ; or he may have feared that some one was bringing my effects to England, and was preparing to denounce him as my destroyer. I say I cannot fathom his precise thoughts and mo- 13 tives, but that he holds that box securely housed in the castle — unless he has destroyed it and its contents with it — is my unshakable convic- tion." " Permit me," said Mr. Blair, in- terposing. "Will your lordship in- form me what its contents were ?" " They were varied, sir. Papers and documents relating to my property in America, for my money is invested there, and to that of my son. My will was also in it. All these can be replaced : but what I fear can never be replaced, are the testamentary papers relating to my marriage and to my son's birth. The clergyman who united us is dead, the witnesses are dead : altogether, if these are lost, I might never be able to prove, to the satisfaction of British law, that William is my veritable, legitimate son. See you not how valuable the suppression of them would be to Her- bert Dane ? I cannot last long, and failing the proof of William's title, he would be the next baron by right of law." The detective nodded his head ; he saw it all now clearly. " That box has been the cause of my remaining on in this house in se- cresy and seclusion," continued Lord Dane. " I never intended, you may be sure, to return home otherwise than openly, than as my own proper self; but the moment the life-boat had saved us — for which we may thank young Lester — came the knowledge that the box was lost, and all else we had had with us. I told William that night it would be better to remain in- cog, for a time, till we could see what must be done. I did not choose, you see, to bring him home and introduce him as my son and heir, without being ableto prove the fact, were I challeng- ed to do it. Then burst upon me the knowledge that my own brother had long been dead, and that he who reigned as the Baron was Herbert Dane. All the more cause for my go- ing to work cautiously. The box at present may be intact ; at any rate, not destroyed ; but were I to make a 210 THE CASTLE'S HEIR. stir, and it came to his knowledge that I am here, and that William is my son, he might burn the contents whole- sale." " I imderstood that the castle had been thoroughly searched, and that no such box was there," observed Mr. Blair. " So did I," said Lord Dane. " Wil- liam brought me home the news from the police-inspector, and it has troubled me much. But for that, I might have gone about matters in a bolder man- ner. The fact is, I have been ill all along, in daily hopes of getting bettei*, and I put it off until I should be so. It appears now that I never shall be." " The chances are that he has re- moved it from the castle," mused Mr. Blair. Young told me the search was as efficient as he could make it. But again, it was, by all accounts, very heavy, and he must have had help to do this : would he risk that, under the noise that has been made ? I sup- pose," he continued, stroking his chin, and speaking half in a soliloquy, half as a question, to Lord Dane, "that there are no secret hiding-places in the castle ?" " I cannot say ; if there are, I do not know of them," was the emphatic answer of Lord Dane. " I never heard the supposition mentioned till the other day. William came in con- tact Avith Ben Beecher — a loose, devil- may-care set those Beechers always were — and, by something that acci- dentally transpired, William thought Beecher or his companions had been concerned in the abstraction of the box, and that through Beecher he might get it again. It came to noth- ing, but he has met Beecher occasion- ally since — the box, mind you, being the object — and the man persists in it to him that there are secret places in the castle, old Beecher vouching for it." " I know of one," observed Mr. Apperl)^, while they all turned to him with interest. — " In the strong- room — " " Which do you call the strong- room ?" interrupted Lord Dane. " The death-room, as it was in your time, my lord ; but the present owner of the castle chose to change the name, not liking, possibly, the asso- ciations the word death gave, as con- nected with your supposed fate. In the trestle-closet in that room there is a hidden spring ; press it, and the side of the closet slowly opens like a door : plenty of space there to con- ceal any thing. It came to my know- ledge by accident. I went to the death-room once in search of the old Lord Dane, and he, not expecting me or any one else, had the place open. He commanded my secresy : tradition went that the castle had once, it was in his grandfather's time, been a refuge for the booty of smugglers, and his lordship, honorable and haughty, liked not that coloring should be added to the tale. I informed the present lord of that place — I mean Mr. Herbert." " You !" " I did, my lord. It was just after he came into the title. We were speaking of the castle and its rooms, and I told him of that hiding-spot, and showed it to him. He was the only and legitimate lord, as I believed, and had more right to the secret than I." " Then, by heaven, that's where my box is !" uttered Lord Dane, rising from his seat in excitement. " And now what's to be done .''" he feverishly asked of the detective. "Plenty of clue to work upon now." " Your lordship must give me a few hours for deliberation. As you have observed, we must act cautiously, lest he become alarmed and destroy it. We might get a search-warrant for the castle, but he is the lord-lieu- tenant still, and might cancel it. None in the county possess his authority. There is no immediate hurry for to- day, and I must mature my plans. It may be necessary for me to apply to Sir Richard Mayne." " And my son ?" imperiously spoke Lord Dane. " Will you suffer him to remain in custody ?" " That he cannot be guilty, is per- fectly clear to my mind," returned THE CASTLE'S HEIR, 211 Mr. Blair, " and I will release him on my own responsibility, provided he shall satisfactorily account to me for his presence at Mr. Lester's with those men last night. Can your lord- ship explain it ?" " No, I cannot," replied Lord Dane. " I will drop a few pencilled w^ords to him, and tell him to confide in you. He may do it." "In all security. He may tell me as a friend, not as a detective." The words were written, and Mr. Blair departed with them to the police- station, leaving his lordship, the law- yer, and Ravensbird setting their wits to work over the box and the hiding- place. CHAPTER XXVL THE HEIR OF DANE. William Lydney sat quietly enough in the strong-room of the station, ex- pecting a visitor. He had requested to be allowed an interview with his landlord. Ravensbird, and Inspector Young, had appeared to acquiesce, and to send a messenger for him. In point of fact, the messenger was des- patched to the castle to inquire Lord Dane's pleasure on the subject. The door opened, and William Lydney rose in expectation, but he saw only the stranger who had been at Lord Dane's side that morning at the ex- amination, — the London banker. " I bring you a line from Lord Dane," began Mr. Blair, putting the folded paper in his hand. William looked at it, and then at his visitor. " From whom did you say ?" " From the true Lord Dane," was the whispered answer. "And I be- lieve I have now the honor of speaking to the future lord. Your father, in that note, bids you confide in me, — he has done so. Perhaps it may be in my power to order your release." " But what can you possibly have to do with it ?" exclaimed young Lyd- ney. " You are a friend of — of him at the castle ; his town banker. " " You have been flourishing in Danesheld under false colors, Mr. Dane ; so have I. I am not Lord Dane's (the title will slip out) banker, and how the report got wind is more than I can say. I am one of the chief detective-officers of the police force. Your father has called in my aid to assist him, and I am ready to assist you. First of all, what did bring you to Mr. Lester's with those companions last night ?" "I cannot explain; I cannot tell you any thing about it," was the quick response. Mr. Blair looked at him, doubtfe arising. " You could not have broken in with those men for a nefarious pur- pose, surely !" he slowly debated, feel- ing very unpleasantly perplexed in his own mind. "II" returned William Dane, as haughtily as any Dane had evei* spoken. " You intimated but now your cognizance of my rank ; I do not forget it, I assure you, or yet dis- grace it." " Will you give me your reasons for not confiding in me ?" "I do not know that I need object to that," said William, after delibera- ting. " I could not prove my own in- nocence without compromising an- other." " I told your father you might con- fide in me, as a friend, not as a detec- tive officer. Do so, that I may be enabled to assist you ; and I declare to you, upon my sacred word, that what you may tell me of any other party shall remain locked up in my own breast, — it shall never be used against them." "Never be spoken of? never be- trayed ?" " Never, so long as I breathe, un- less by your permission. I am not retained to work out this business at Mr. Lester's ; it is nothing more to me than to any idle spectator, there- fore I can safely give you the promise. Let me know the whole, from begin-* 212 THE CASTLE'S HEIR, uing to end. A curious suspicion has occurred to me more than once, having its rise from some words dropped last night, by that respectable member of society, Shad. Is it possible that Mr. Lester's son has been the actor in this, and not you ; that the woman-servant . — Tiffle, or whatever her name is — mistook you for him in the confusion ; and that you have been bearing the stigma to screen him ?" William Dane saw that it would be the best plan to confide the whole truth to Mr. Blair ; and he did so. That Wilfred Lester was indeed the culprit, and that he had rushed in after him, having waited for him in vain near the castle, through Shad's tale, rushed in, hoping to bring him to his senses, and rescue him from his alarming danger. He gave the history of the deed as the motive of the in- break, not plunder ; he told that the object had been accomplished, and the deed was then in Wilfred's possession, unsuspected by Mr. Lester. It was William Dane, who, finding Lester amidst the shrubs, had torn the crape from his face, and seen him into his home. " You see," he concluded, " I can- not declare these facts, without aw- fully compromising Wilfred Lester, and it is not my intention to do that." " The facts must be confided to Squire Lester, and he must stop pro- ceedings." " I don't know. He is very bitter against his son. If he knew me for the true heir to Dane, I might have some influence with him," continued William, smiling, "and it should cer- tainly be exerted for Wilfred. It may be better to wait and see what will turn up, so long as Wilfred is not sus- pected." " You seem wonderfully easy under your own incarceration," observed Mr. Blair, gazing on his handsome face. " A man with his conscience at peace, is generally easy under most circumstances. And as to the accu- sation — pshaw ! I need only point my finger, and say there is the true Lord Dane at Ravensbird's, come home to assume his rights, and you may know me for his son ; Danesheld would soon scatter the accusation to the winds." "I think I can do that," said Mr. Blair. "Come with me." He led the way into the general office, where sat Inspector Young on his usual stool, writing. At the same moment, the messenger, who had been despatched to Dane Castle, entered. "Did you see his lordship?" in- quired the inspector of the latter. " Yes. And he says no person whatever, especially Ravensbird, is to be admitted to the prisoner." " The interdict will not be neces- sary," coolly observed Mr. Blair, as he tui-ned to the inspector. " Young, I am about to relieve you of your charge. This gentleman must be set at liberty." The inspector stood in mute con- sternation. " Where's the warrant for it ?" he presently ejaculated. " Your warrant is, that you are bound to obey my orders," said Mr. Blair. " Let that be your answer to any one who has authority to question you." Mr. Blair opened the door, and bowed slightly, with every mark of respect, as Lydney passed him. Had the inspector possessed ten eyes, they could not have stared away his aston- ishment ; it was not lessened when Lydney, laughing and looking back, spoke : " I will not cherish resentment against you, inspector, for holding mc your prisoner. But the day may come when you will thank your stars for not having made an enemy of me. Better, for your self-interest, that you made one of my Lord Dane." As Mr. Blair and the ex-prisoner left the town behind them, and were ncai'ing the Sailor's Rest, who should come full upon them, in a not-very- frequented part of the road, but Lord Dane. He was swinging down from the castle to the station, to enforce his prohibition personally against any one's being admitted to the prisoner. To describe his amazement when ho THE CASTLE'S HEIR. 213 saw Ly