Part 42 (2/2)

Lucy, I deserve you; I outdo you in generosity. All that you would desert for me is nothing--O G.o.d!--nothing to the sacrifice I make to you! And now, Lucy, I have seen you, and I must once more bid you farewell; I am on the eve of quitting this country forever. I shall enlist in a foreign service. Perhaps” (and Clifford's dark eyes flashed with fire) ”you will yet hear of me, and not blush when you hear! But”

(and his voice faltered, for Lucy, hiding her face with both hands, gave way to her tears and agitation),--”but, in one respect, you have conquered. I had believed that you could never be mine,--that my past life had forever deprived me of that hope! I now begin, with a rapture that can bear me through all ordeals, to form a more daring vision. A soil maybe effaced,--an evil name maybe redeemed,--the past is not set and sealed, without the power of revoking what has been written. If I can win the right of meriting your mercy, I will throw myself on it without reserve; till then, or till death, you will see me no more!”

He dropped on his knee, left his kiss and his tears upon Lucy's cold hand; the next moment she heard his step on the stairs, the door closed heavily and jarringly upon him, and Lucy felt one bitter pang, and, for some time at least, she felt no more!

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

Many things fall between the cup and the lip!

Your man does please me With his conceit.

Comes Chanon Hugh accoutred as you see Disguised!

And thus am I to gull the constable?

Now have among you for a man at arms.

High-constable was more, though He laid d.i.c.k Tator by the heels.

BEN JONSON--Tale of a Tub.

Meanwhile Clifford strode rapidly through the streets which surrounded the judge's house, and turning to an obscurer quartier of the town, entered a gloomy lane or alley. Here he was abruptly accosted by a man wrapped in a s.h.a.ggy great-coat, of somewhat a suspicious appearance.

”Aha, Captain!” said he, ”you are beyond your time, but all 's well!”

Attempting, with indifferent success, the easy self-possession which generally marked his address to his companions, Clifford, repeating the stranger's words, replied,--

”All's well! What! are the prisoners released?”

”No, faith!” answered the man, with a rough laugh, ”not yet; but all in good time. It is a little too much to expect the justices to do our work, though, by the Lord Harry, we often do theirs!”

”What then?” asked Clifford, impatiently.

”Why, the poor fellows had been carried to the town of -----, and brought before the queer cuffin (Magistrate) ere I arrived, though I set off the moment you told me, and did the journey in four hours.

The examination lasted all yesterday, and they were remanded till to-day,--let's see, it is not yet noon; we may be there before it's over.”

”And this is what you call well!” said Clifford, angrily. ”No, Captain, don't be glimflashy! You have not heard all yet! It seems that the only thing buffed hard against them was by a stout grazier, who was cried 'Stand!' to, some fifty miles off the town; so the queer coffin thinks of sending the poor fellows to the jail of the county where they did the business!”

”Ah! that may leave some hopes for them! We must look sharp to their journey; if they once get to prison, their only chances are the file and the bribe. Unhappily, neither of them is so lucky as myself at that trade!”

”No, indeed, there is not a stone-wall in England that the great Captain Lovett could not creep through, I'll swear!” said the admiring satellite.

”Saddle the horses and load the pistols! I will join you in ten minutes.

Have my farmer's dress ready, the false hair, etc. Choose your own trim.

Make haste; the Three Feathers is the house of meeting.”

”And in ten minutes only, Captain?”

”Punctually!”

The stranger turned a corner and was out of sight. Clifford, muttering, ”Yes, I was the cause of their apprehension; it was I who was sought; it is but fair that I should strike a blow for their escape before I attempt my own,” continued his course till he came to the door of a public-house. The sign of a seaman swung aloft, portraying the jolly tar with a fine pewter pot in his hand, considerably huger than his own circ.u.mference. An immense pug sat at the door, lolling its tongue out, as if, having stuffed itself to the tongue, it was forced to turn that useful member out of its proper place. The shutters were half closed, but the sounds of coa.r.s.e merriment issued jovially forth.

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