Part 78 (2/2)
”Welcome to Malkin Tower, madam,” said the robber with a grin, and doffing his cap with affected courtesy. ”We have met before, but it is many years ago, and I dare say you have forgotten me. You will guess who I am when I tell you my mother occupied this tower before me.”
Finding Mistress Nutter made no remark, he went on.
”I am Christopher Demdike, madam-Captain Demdike, I should say. The brave fellows who have brought you hither are part of my band, and till lately Northumberland and the borders of Scotland used to be our scene of action; but chancing to hear of my worthy old mother's death, I thought we could not do better than take possession of her stronghold, which devolved upon me by right of inheritance. Since our arrival here we have kept ourselves very quiet, and the country folk, taking us for spirits or demons, never approach our hiding-place; while, as all our depredations are confined to distant parts, our retreat has never been suspected.”
”This concerns me little,” observed Mistress Nutter, coldly.
”Pardon me, madam, it concerns you much, as you will learn anon. But be seated, I pray you,” he said, with mock civility. ”I am keeping you standing all this while.”
But as the lady declined the attention, he went on.
”I was fortunate enough, on first coming back to this part of the country, to pick up an acquaintance with your relative, Nicholas a.s.sheton, who invited me to stay with him at Downham, and was so well pleased with my society that he could not endure to part with me.”
”Indeed!” exclaimed Mistress Nutter, ”are you the person he called Lawrence Fogg?”
”The same,” replied Demdike; ”and no doubt you would hear a good report of me, madam. Well, it suited my purpose to stay; for I was very hospitably entertained by the squire, who, except being rather too much addicted to lectures and psalm-singing, is as pleasant a host as one could desire; besides which, he was obliging enough to employ me to borrow money for him, and what I got, I kept, you may be sure.”
”I would willingly be spared the details of your knavery,” said Mistress Nutter, somewhat impatiently.
”I am coming to an end,” rejoined Demdike, ”and then, perhaps, you may wish I had prolonged them. All the squire's secrets were committed to me, and I was fully aware of your concealment in the hall, but I could never ascertain precisely where you were lodged. I meant to carry you off, and only awaited the opportunity which has presented itself to-night.”
”If you think to obtain money from me, you will find yourself mistaken,” said Mistress Nutter. ”I have parted with all my possessions.”
”But to whom, madam?” cried Demdike, with a sinister smile-”to your daughter. And I am sure she is too gentle, too tender-hearted, to allow you to suffer when she can relieve you. You must get us a good round sum from her or you will be detained here long. The dungeons are dark and unwholesome, and my band are apt to be harsh in their treatment of captives. They have found in the vaults some instruments of torture belonging to old Blackburn, the freebooter, the efficacy of which in an obstinate case I fear they might be inclined to try. You now begin to see the drift of my discourse, madam, and understand the sort of men you have to deal with-barbarous fellows, madam-inhuman dogs!”
And he laughed coa.r.s.ely at his own jocularity.
”It may put an end to this discussion,” said Mistress Nutter firmly, ”if I declare that no torture shall induce me to make any such demand from my daughter.”
”You think, perhaps, I am jesting with you, madam,” rejoined Demdike.
”Oh! no, I believe you capable of any atrocity,” replied the lady. ”You do not, either in feature or deeds, belie your parentage.”
”Ah! say you so, madam?” cried Demdike. ”You have a sharp tongue, I find. Courtesy is thrown away upon you. What, ho! lads-Kenyon and Lowton, take the lady down to the vaults, and there let her have an hour for solitary reflection. She may change her mind in that time.”
”Do not think it,” cried Mistress Nutter, resolutely.
”If you continue obstinate, we will find means to move you,” rejoined Demdike, in a taunting tone. ”But what has she got beneath her arm? Give me the book. What's this?-a Bible! A witch with a Bible! It should be a grimoire. Ha! ha!”
”Give it me back, I implore of you,” shrieked the lady. ”I shall be destroyed, soul and body, if I have it not with me.”
”What! you are afraid the devil may carry you off without it-ho! ho!” roared Demdike. ”Well, that would not suit my purpose at present. Here, take it-and now off with her, lads, without more ado!”
And as he spoke, a trapdoor was opened by one of the robbers, disclosing a flight of steps leading to the subterranean chambers, down which the miserable lady was dragged.
Presently the two men re-appeared with a grim smile on their ruffianly countenances, and, as they closed the trapdoor, one of them observed to the captain that they had chained her to a pillar, by removing the band from the great skeleton, and pa.s.sing it round her body.
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