Volume I Part 34 (1/2)
Trust me for your rescue, though it will be d--d hard. What made you shoot Wilton, poor devil?”
”It was the Earl I aimed at; the rash fool saved his master, and did for himself.”
”I wish to G-- you had hit your man. But here comes Arranmore, I must keep up my character. Egad, how d.i.c.k Musgrave and I will laugh over our toddy. Ha, Arranmore, I have been trying to play the priest, and get confession, but the villain plays the mute; the rope will find him his tongue.”
”He will be hung, then?”
”Not a doubt of it; as cold blooded a murder as I ever saw; poor Jack Wilton!”
”The Earl wants you, John.”
”All right, I'll go--now for Ellen,” he muttered, as he stepped across.
Ellen very nearly did for him, but his good star, as he called his luck in infamy, still shone on him, and the Earl misunderstood her expression.
”Bad man, do you dare show your false face? more hypocritical than the wretched young man you have led astray!”
”List thee, Ellen, now you are safe; be wise and hold that tongue of yours. Keep your thumb on this, or by G--, safe as you think yourself you will come to grief. Breathe not a syllable of this, and as you value your life betray not me. I will be reasonable. If you are silent, I give you my word--my plighted word--my vow, if you like--that you shall be the Earl's wife; if you are mad enough to venture to betray me, though you were kept in the Earl's sight--though you sheltered beneath his wing--thence would I drag you: and no power shall ever stay me, nor make you the countess you wish to be!”
”These are not terms, you compel me; but what security have I? your word--your oath, I do mistrust.”
”Then I swear by my sword--the most sacred oath--I swear not by G.o.d, whom I believe not in; nor by the Devil, a phantom existing only in the mind of priests, and priest-ridden fools; but my sword I see and feel, and by it I swear. Do you trust me?”
”I have no alternative; you shall at least see Ellen will keep her faith. If you keep your part I will never divulge this awful secret as long as I live, not even to my husband; and oh! may G.o.d change your heart, unhappy infidel, and may remorse of conscience never sting you like an adder.”
”No fears of that; you are a better girl than I thought. Ah, here comes your lord, be silent or dread me.”
”Now, Ellen, dearest, take my arm, the carriage waits; I have sent a man with the news to your father, he will be at the Towers as soon as we are. John, see the prisoner in the carriage, and he will be sent off to the prison: I have sent a messenger to the Sheriff. Musgrave, will you see about Wilton's remains? and Arranmore, attend to Scroop. I fear the worst in his case.”
The Earl then a.s.sisted Ellen to a carriage, which was ready at the door.
”G.o.d bless you, miss, and I am right glad to see you,” said old Andrew, with tears of joy standing in his eye.
Ellen thanked him warmly, and the Earl wrung the old servant's hand.
They then drove off together, and if after rain the sun looks brighter, if after snow the gra.s.s greener, so after her long suspense the Earl's presence at her side seemed sweeter, and after the long darkness of doubt and fear Ellen's smile seemed brighter than it had ever been before.
One of the first questions she asked was after Juana, the n.o.ble girl who had sacrificed so much for her sake.
”I have made every inquiry, darling, but she has not been seen. Her disappearance is not the least remarkable part of this extraordinary plot, so darkly, deeply, cleverly laid. I hope we may yet meet her, to try and express our grat.i.tude. Oh, what a wondrous week this has been!”
”Talk not of it--let us forget past misery in present bliss, and not forget to thank Him who protected me when naught else availed. Oh! what I thought my worst trial proved my safety. I had almost put an end to my life. I struck, and he stopped the blade, and I thought all was over.
Had he not I should have been now cold and dead. Man's extremity is surely G.o.d's opportunity.”
”We should indeed be thankful. What should I have done if I had found my Ellen dead?”
”And what should I have been had that fatal pistol shot not been intercepted by faithful Wilton?”
”But let us not talk more of it, but rather of the welcome of our friends at home.”
Whilst the Earl and Ellen drove to the Towers, the Captain lifted the bound man, and, carrying him down stairs, tossed him on the ground as if he had been a bundle of hay and not a human being, making him groan again with the pain. But the Captain was aware any tenderness to the man whom everyone was reviling would excite suspicion.