Part 38 (1/2)
”When do you wish to proceed?”
”To-morrow”
”Why, then, sir, I have a proposal to make which will remove the need of your note of hand Lend me your horses, sir, to reach Harwich I wish to set out at once!”
”But your wound?” cried Cynthia ”You are still faint”
”Faint! Not I I a My wound is no wound, for a scratch hed, and drawing down her head, he whispered the words: ”Your father” Then turning again to Foster ”Now, sir,” he continued, ”there are four tolerable posthorses of mine below, on which you can follow toain for your ohich you shall find awaiting you, stabled at the Garter Inn For this service, to aws to you”
”But, rat enerous--'pon honour it is I can't consent to it No, rat reat a boon you will confer Believe me, sir, to me it is worth twice, a hundred times the value of those trinkets”
”You shall have my horses, sir, and my note of hand as well,” said Foster firmly
”Your note of hand is of no value to land to-morrow, and I know not when I ain was concluded Cynthia's maid akened and bidden to rise The horses were harnessed to Crispin's coach, and Crispin, leaning upon Harry Foster's are
Leaving the London blood at the door of the Suffolk Ar hih the night in the direction of Ipswich
Ten o'clock in thebeheld the of the coach had so hardly used Crispin that he had to be carried into the hostelry He was o down to the quay in quest of her, when he was accosted by a burly, red-faced individual who bluntly asked him was he called Sir Crispin Galliard Ere he could frame an answer the man had added that he was Thoood news Crispin felt like to shout for joy
But his reflection upon his present position, when at last he lay in the schooner's cabin, brought hi Cynthia to his son; he had pledged his honour to acco his trust? In his despondency, during a moment when alone, he cursed the knave that had wounded hi taken a lower aily riddle of life for all time
Vainly did he strive to console hi he had done with the consideration that he was theto her, and that she would never have accompanied him had she dreamt that he wooed her for another
No The deed was foul, and rendered fouler still by virtue of those other wrongs in whose extenuation it had been undertaken For aMaster Jackson avoid Calais andthe coast But in a ht, and deterht he would face his son, and lay the truth before hi fate had been As he lay feverish and fretful in the vessel's cabin, he ca Kenneth; he reot, now a fop, now a psaler, now a roysterer, but ever a hypocrite, ever a coward, and never such aas his offspring
They had a fair wind, and towards evening Cynthia, who had been absent from his side a little while, cah
His ansas a sigh, and when she chid him for it, he essayed a smile that was yet more melancholy For a second he was tempted to confide in her; to tell her of the position in which he found hi it with her But this he dared not do
Cynthia must never know
CHAPTER XXVII THE AUBERGE DU SOLEIL
In a rooe du Soleil, at Calais, the host inquired of Crispin if he were ht his breath in apprehension, and felt hiuessed; and it stifled the hope that had been rising in him since his arrival, and because he had not found his son awaiting him either on the jetty or at the inn He dared ask no questions, fearing that the reply would quench that hope, which rose despite hiotten of a desire of which he was hardly conscious
He sighed before replying, and passing his brown, nervous hand across his brow, he found it moist
”My name, M l'hote, is Crispin Galliard What news have you for entleman--a country him”
For a little while Crispin sat quite still, stripped of his last rag of hope Then suddenly bracing hi him to me I will see him at once”