Volume Ii Part 9 (1/2)

”But had n't you better let us concert--”

”Send Cary to me, my Lord, and leave me!” and I said the words in a way that he could n't misunderstand. He had scarcely quitted the room when Cary entered it.

”There, dearest papa,” said she, caressingly, ”don't fret. It's a mere trifle; and if he was n't a wretchedly cowardly creature, he 'd think nothing of it!”

”Are you in the conspiracy against me too?” cried I; ”have _you_ also joined the enemy?”

”That I haven't,” said she, putting an arm round my neck; ”and I know well, if the fellow had not grossly outraged, or perhaps menaced you, you 'd never have done it! I 'm certain of that, pappy!”

Egad, Tom, I don't like to own it, but the truth is--I burst out a-crying; that's what all this bleeding and lowering has brought me to, that I have n't the nerve of a kitten! It was the inability to rebut all this balderdash--to show that it was a lie from beginning to end--confounded me; and when I saw my poor Cary, that never believed ill of me before, that, no matter what I said or did, always took my part, and, if she could n't defend at least excused me,--when, I say, I saw that _she_ gave in to this infernal delusion, I just felt as if my heart was going to break, and I sincerely wished it might.

I tried very hard to summon strength to set her right; I suppose that a drowning man never struggled harder to reach a plank than did I to grasp one thought well and vigorously; but to no use. My ideas danced about like the phantoms in a magic lantern, and none would remain long enough to be recognized.

”I think I 'll take a sleep, my dear,” said I.

”The very wisest thing you could do, pappy,” said she, closing the shutters noiselessly, and sitting down in her old place beside my bed.

Though I pretended slumber, I never slept a wink. I went over all this affair in my mind, and, summing up the evidence against me, I began to wonder if a man ever committed a homicide without knowing it,--I mean, if, when his thoughts were very much occupied, he could stick a fellow-creature and not be aware of it. I could n't exactly call any case in point to mind, but I did n't see why it might not be possible.

If stabbing people was a common and daily habit of an individual, doubtless he might do it, just as he would wind his watch or wipe his spectacles, while thinking of something else; but as it was not a customary process, at least where I came from, there was the difficulty.

I would have given more than I had to give, just to ask Cary a few questions,--as, for instance, how did it happen? where is the wound? how deep is it? and so on,--but I was so terrified lest I should compromise my innocence that I would not venture on a syllable. One sees constantly in the police reports how the prisoner, when driving off to jail with Inspector Potts, invariably betrays himself by some expression of anxiety or uneasiness, such as ”Well, n.o.body can say I did it! I was in Houndsditch till eleven o'clock;” or, ”Poor Molly, I did n't mean her any harm, but it was she begun it.” Warned by these indiscreet admissions, I was guarded not to utter a word. I preserved my resolution with such firmness that I fell into a sound sleep, and never awoke till the next morning.

Before I acknowledged myself to be awake,--don't you know that state, Tom, in which a man vibrates between consciousness and indolence, and when he has not fully made up his mind whether he 'll not skulk his load of daily cares a little longer?--I could perceive that there was a certain stir and movement about me that betokened extraordinary preparation, and I could overhear little sc.r.a.ps of discussions as to whether ”he ought to be awakened,” and ”what he should wear,” Cary's voice being strongly marked in opposition to everything that portended any disturbance of me. Patience, I believe, is not my forte, though long-suffering may be my fortune, for I sharply asked, ”What the------ was in the wind now?”

”We'll leave him to Cary,” said Mrs. D., retiring precipitately, followed by the rest, while Cary came up to my bedside, and kindly began her inquiries about my health; but I stopped her, by a very abrupt repet.i.tion of my former question.

”Oh! it's a mere nothing, pappy,--a formality, and nothing more. That creature, Giacomo, has been making a fuss over the affair of last night; and though Lord George endeavored to settle it, he refused, and went off to the Tribunal to lodge a complaint.”

”Well, go on.”

”The Judge, or Prefect, or whatever he is, took his depositions, and issued a warrant--”

”To apprehend me?”

”Don't flurry yourself, dearest pappy; these are simply formalities, for the Brigadier has just told me--”

”He is here, then,--in the house?”

”Why will you excite yourself in this way, when I tell you that all will most easily be arranged? The Brigadier only asks to see you,--to ascertain, in fact, that you are really ill, and unable to be removed--”

”To jail--to the common prison, eh?”

”Oh, I must not talk to you, if it irritates you in this fas.h.i.+on; indeed, there is now little more to say, and if you will just permit the Brigadier to come in for a second, everything is done.”

”I 'm ready for him,” said I, in a tone that showed I needed no further information; and Cary left the room.

After about five minutes' waiting, in an almost intolerable impatience, the Brigadier, stooping his enormous bearskin to fully three feet, entered with four others, armed cap--pic, who drew up in a line behind him, and grounded their carbines with a clank that made the room shake.

The Brigadier, I must tell you, was a very fine soldier-like fellow, and with fully half a dozen decorations hanging to his coat. It struck me that he was rather disappointed; he probably expected to see a man of colossal proportions and herculean strength, instead of the poor remnant of humanity that chicken broth and the lancet have left me. The room, too, seemed to fall below his expectations; for he threw his eyes around him without detecting any armory or offensive weapons, or, indeed, any means of resistance whatever.

”This is his Excellency?” said he at last, addressing Cary; and she nodded.

”Ask him his own name, Cary,” said I. ”I'm curious about it.”