CHAPTER NINTH.
One of the thieves come back again! I'll stand close, He dares not wrong me now, so near the house, And call in vain 'tis, till I see him offer it. The Widow.
"A stranger!" echoed the Justice--"not upon business, I trust, for I'llbe"--
His protestation was cut short by the answer of the man himself. "Mybusiness is of a nature somewhat onerous and particular," said myacquaintance, Mr. Campbell--for it was he, the very Scotchman whom I hadseen at Northallerton--"and I must solicit your honour to give instantand heedful consideration to it.--I believe, Mr. Morris," he added,fixing his eye on that person with a look of peculiar firmness and almostferocity--"I believe ye ken brawly what I am--I believe ye cannot haveforgotten what passed at our last meeting on the road?" Morris's jawdropped--his countenance became the colour of tallow--his teethchattered, and he gave visible signs of the utmost consternation. "Takeheart of grace, man," said Campbell, "and dinna sit clattering your jawsthere like a pair of castanets! I think there can be nae difficulty inyour telling Mr. Justice, that ye have seen me of yore, and ken me to bea cavalier of fortune, and a man of honour. Ye ken fu' weel ye will besome time resident in my vicinity, when I may have the power, as I willpossess the inclination, to do you as good a turn."
"Sir--sir--I believe you to be a man of honour, and, as you say, a man offortune. Yes, Mr. Inglewood," he added, clearing his voice, "I reallybelieve this gentleman to be so."
"And what are this gentleman's commands with me?" said the Justice,somewhat peevishly. "One man introduces another, like the rhymes in the'house that Jack built,' and I get company without either peace orconversation!"
"Both shall be yours, sir," answered Campbell, "in a brief period oftime. I come to release your mind from a piece of troublesome duty, notto make increment to it."
"Body o' me! then you are welcome as ever Scot was to England, and that'snot saying much. But get on, man--let's hear what you have got to say atonce."
"I presume, this gentleman," continued the North Briton, "told you therewas a person of the name of Campbell with him, when he had the mischanceto lose his valise?"
"He has not mentioned such a name, from beginning to end of the matter,"said the Justice.
"Ah! I conceive--I conceive," replied Mr. Campbell;--"Mr. Morris waskindly afeared of committing a stranger into collision wi' the judicialforms of the country; but as I understand my evidence is necessary to thecompurgation of one honest gentleman here, Mr. Francis Osbaldistone, whahas been most unjustly suspected, I will dispense with the precaution. Yewill therefore" (he added addressing Morris with the same determined lookand accent) "please tell Mr. Justice Inglewood, whether we did not travelseveral miles together on the road, in consequence of your own anxiousrequest and suggestion, reiterated ance and again, baith on the eveningthat we were at Northallerton, and there declined by me, but afterwardsaccepted, when I overtook ye on the road near Cloberry Allers, and wasprevailed on by you to resign my ain intentions of proceeding toRothbury; and, for my misfortune, to accompany you on your proposedroute."
"It's a melancholy truth," answered Morris, holding down his head, as hegave this general assent to the long and leading question which Campbellput to him, and seemed to acquiesce in the statement it contained withrueful docility.
"And I presume you can also asseverate to his worship, that no man isbetter qualified than I am to bear testimony in this case, seeing that Iwas by you, and near you, constantly during the whole occurrence."
"No man better qualified, certainly," said Morris, with a deep andembarrassed sigh.
"And why the devil did you not assist him, then," said the Justice,"since, by Mr. Morris's account, there were but two robbers; so you weretwo to two, and you are both stout likely men?"
"Sir, if it please your worship," said Campbell, "I have been all my lifea man of peace and quietness, noways given to broils or batteries. Mr.Morris, who belongs, as I understand, or hath belonged, to his Majesty'sarmy, might have used his pleasure in resistance, he travelling, as Ialso understand, with a great charge of treasure; but, for me, who hadbut my own small peculiar to defend, and who am, moreover, a man of apacific occupation, I was unwilling to commit myself to hazard in thematter."
I looked at Campbell as he muttered these words, and never recollect tohave seen a more singular contrast than that between the strong daringsternness expressed in his harsh features, and the air of composedmeekness and simplicity which his language assumed. There was even aslight ironical smile lurking about the corners of his mouth, whichseemed, involuntarily as it were, to intimate his disdain of the quietand peaceful character which he thought proper to assume, and which ledme to entertain strange suspicions that his concern in the violence doneto Morris had been something very different from that of afellow-sufferer, or even of a mere spectator.
Perhaps some suspicious crossed the Justice's mind at the moment, for heexclaimed, as if by way of ejaculation, "Body o' me! but this is astrange story."
The North Briton seemed to guess at what was passing in his mind; for hewent on, with a change of manner and tone, dismissing from hiscountenance some part of the hypocritical affectation of humility whichhad made him obnoxious to suspicion, and saying, with a more frank andunconstrained air, "To say the truth, I am just ane o' those canny folkswha care not to fight but when they hae gotten something to fight for,which did not chance to be my predicament when I fell in wi' these loons.But that your worship may know that I am a person of good fame andcharacter, please to cast your eye over that billet."
Mr. Inglewood took the paper from his hand, and read, half aloud, "Theseare to certify, that the bearer, Robert Campbell of--of some place whichI cannot pronounce," interjected the Justice--"is a person of goodlineage, and peaceable demeanour, travelling towards England on his ownproper affairs, &c. &c. &c. Given under our hand, at our Castle ofInver--Invera--rara--Argyle."
"A slight testimonial, sir, which I thought fit to impetrate from thatworthy nobleman" (here he raised his hand to his head, as if to touch hishat), "MacCallum More."
"MacCallum who, sir?" said the Justice.
"Whom the Southern call the Duke of Argyle."
"I know the Duke of Argyle very well to be a nobleman of great worth anddistinction, and a true lover of his country. I was one of those thatstood by him in 1714, when he unhorsed the Duke of Marlborough out of hiscommand. I wish we had more noblemen like him. He was an honest Tory inthose days, and hand and glove with Ormond. And he has acceded to thepresent Government, as I have done myself, for the peace and quiet of hiscountry; for I cannot presume that great man to have been actuated, asviolent folks pretend, with the fear of losing his places and regiment.His testimonial, as you call it, Mr. Campbell, is perfectly satisfactory;and now, what have you got to say to this matter of the robbery?"
"Briefly this, if it please your worship,--that Mr. Morris might as weelcharge it against the babe yet to be born, or against myself even, asagainst this young gentleman, Mr. Osbaldistone; for I am not only free todepone that the person whom he took for him was a shorter man, and athicker man, but also, for I chanced to obtain a glisk of his visage, ashis fause-face slipped aside, that he was a man of other features andcomplexion than those of this young gentleman, Mr. Osbaldistone. And Ibelieve," he added, turning round with a natural, yet somewhat sternerair, to Mr. Morris, "that the gentleman will allow I had betteropportunity to take cognisance wha were present on that occasion than he,being, I believe, much the cooler o' the twa."
"I agree to it, sir--I agree to it perfectly," said Morris, shrinkingback as Campbell moved his chair towards him to fortify his appeal--"AndI incline, sir," he added, addressing Mr. Inglewood, "to retract myinformation as to Mr. Osbaldistone; and I request, sir, you will permithim, sir, to go about his business, and me to go about mine also; yourworship may have business to settle with Mr. Campbell, and I am rather inhaste to be gone."
"Then, there go
the declarations," said the Justice, throwing them intothe fire--"And now you are at perfect liberty, Mr Osbaldistone. And you,Mr. Morris, are set quite at your ease."
"Ay," said Campbell, eyeing Morris as he assented with a rueful grin tothe Justice's observations, "much like the ease of a tod under a pair ofharrows--But fear nothing, Mr. Morris; you and I maun leave the housethegither. I will see you safe--I hope you will not doubt my honour, whenI say sae--to the next highway, and then we part company; and if we donot meet as friends in Scotland, it will be your ain fault."
With such a lingering look of terror as the condemned criminal throws,when he is informed that the cart awaits him, Morris arose; but when onhis legs, appeared to hesitate. "I tell thee, man, fear nothing,"reiterated Campbell; "I will keep my word with you--Why, thou sheep'sheart, how do ye ken but we may can pick up some speerings of yourvalise, if ye will be amenable to gude counsel?--Our horses are ready.Bid the Justice fareweel, man, and show your Southern breeding."
Morris, thus exhorted and encouraged, took his leave, under the escort ofMr. Campbell; but, apparently, new scruples and terrors had struck himbefore they left the house, for I heard Campbell reiterating assurancesof safety and protection as they left the ante-room--"By the soul of mybody, man, thou'rt as safe as in thy father's kailyard--Zounds! that achield wi' sic a black beard should hae nae mair heart than ahen-partridge!--Come on wi' ye, like a frank fallow, anes and for aye."
The voices died away, and the subsequent trampling of their horsesannounced to us that they had left the mansion of Justice Inglewood.
The joy which that worthy magistrate received at this easy conclusion ofa matter which threatened him with some trouble in his judicial capacity,was somewhat damped by reflection on what his clerk's views of thetransaction might be at his return. "Now, I shall have Jobson on myshoulders about these d--d papers--I doubt I should not have destroyedthem, after all--But hang it! it is only paying his fees, and that willmake all smooth--And now, Miss Die Vernon, though I have liberated allthe others, I intend to sign a writ for committing you to the custody ofMother Blakes, my old housekeeper, for the evening, and we will send formy neighbour Mrs. Musgrave, and the Miss Dawkins, and your cousins, andhave old Cobs the fiddler, and be as merry as the maids; and FrankOsbaldistone and I will have a carouse that will make us fit company foryou in half-an-hour."
"Thanks, most worshipful," returned Miss Vernon; "but, as matters stand,we must return instantly to Osbaldistone Hall, where they do not knowwhat has become of us, and relieve my uncle of his anxiety on my cousin'saccount, which is just the same as if one of his own sons wereconcerned."
"I believe it truly," said the Justice; "for when his eldest son, Archie,came to a bad end, in that unlucky affair of Sir John Fenwick's, oldHildebrand used to hollo out his name as readily as any of the remainingsix, and then complain that he could not recollect which of his sons hadbeen hanged. So, pray hasten home, and relieve his paternal solicitude,since go you must. But hark thee hither, heath-blossom," he said, pullingher towards him by the hand, and in a good-humoured tone of admonition,"another time let the law take its course, without putting your prettyfinger into her old musty pie, all full of fragments of lawgibberish--French and dog-Latin--And, Die, my beauty, let young fellowsshow each other the way through the moors, in case you should lose yourown road, while you are pointing out theirs, my pretty Will o' theWisp."
With this admonition, he saluted and dismissed Miss Vernon, and took anequally kind farewell of me.
"Thou seems to be a good tight lad, Mr. Frank, and I remember thy fathertoo--he was my playfellow at school. Hark thee, lad,--ride early atnight, and don't swagger with chance passengers on the king's highway.What, man! all the king's liege subjects are not bound to understandjoking, and it's ill cracking jests on matters of felony. And here's poorDie Vernon too--in a manner alone and deserted on the face of this wideearth, and left to ride, and run, and scamper, at her own silly pleasure.Thou must be careful of Die, or, egad, I will turn a young fellow againon purpose, and fight thee myself, although I must own it would be agreat deal of trouble. And now, get ye both gone, and leave me to my pipeof tobacco, and my meditations; for what says the song--
The Indian leaf doth briefly burn; So doth man's strength to weakness turn The fire of youth extinguished quite, Comes age, like embers, dry and white. Think of this as you take tobacco."*
* [The lines here quoted belong to or were altered from a set of versesat one time very popular in England, beginning, _Tobacco that is witheredquite._ In Scotland, the celebrated Ralph Erskine, author of the _GospelSonnets,_ published what he called "_Smoking Spiritualized,_ in twoparts. The first part being an Old Meditation upon Smoking Tobacco." Itbegins--*
This Indian weed now withered quite, Tho' green at noon, cut down at night, Shows thy decay; All flesh is hay. Thus thank, and smoke tobacco.]
I was much pleased with the gleams of sense and feeling which escapedfrom the Justice through the vapours of sloth and self-indulgence,assured him of my respect to his admonitions, and took a friendlyfarewell of the honest magistrate and his hospitable mansion.
We found a repast prepared for us in the ante-room, which we partook ofslightly, and rejoined the same servant of Sir Hildebrand who had takenour horses at our entrance, and who had been directed, as he informedMiss Vernon, by Mr. Rashleigh, to wait and attend upon us home. We rode alittle way in silence, for, to say truth, my mind was too much bewilderedwith the events of the morning, to permit me to be the first to break it.At length Miss Vernon exclaimed, as if giving vent to her ownreflections, "Well, Rashleigh is a man to be feared and wondered at, andall but loved; he does whatever he pleases, and makes all others hispuppets--has a player ready to perform every part which he imagines, andan invention and readiness which supply expedients for every emergency."
"You think, then," said I, answering rather to her meaning, than to theexpress words she made use of, "that this Mr. Campbell, whose appearancewas so opportune, and who trussed up and carried off my accuser as afalcon trusses a partridge, was an agent of Mr. RashleighOsbaldistone's?"
"I do guess as much," replied Diana; "and shrewdly suspect, moreover,that he would hardly have appeared so very much in the nick of time, if Ihad not happened to meet Rashleigh in the hall at the Justice's."
"In that case, my thanks are chiefly due to you, my fair preserver."
"To be sure they are," returned Diana; "and pray, suppose them paid, andaccepted with a gracious smile, for I do not care to be troubled withhearing them in good earnest, and am much more likely to yawn than tobehave becoming. In short, Mr. Frank, I wished to serve you, and I havefortunately been able to do so, and have only one favour to ask inreturn, and that is, that you will say no more about it.--But who comeshere to meet us, 'bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste?' It is thesubordinate man of law, I think--no less than Mr. Joseph Jobson."
And Mr. Joseph Jobson it proved to be, in great haste, and, as itspeedily appeared, in most extreme bad humour. He came up to us, andstopped his horse, as we were about to pass with a slight salutation.
"So, sir--so, Miss Vernon--ay, I see well enough how it is--bail put induring my absence, I suppose--I should like to know who drew therecognisance, that's all. If his worship uses this form of procedureoften, I advise him to get another clerk, that's all, for I shallcertainly demit."
"Or suppose he get this present clerk stitched to his sleeve, Mr.Jobson," said Diana; "would not that do as well? And pray, how doesFarmer Rutledge, Mr. Jobson? I hope you found him able to sign, seal, anddeliver?"
This question seemed greatly to increase the wrath of the man of law. Helooked at Miss Vernon with such an air of spite and resentment, as laidme under a strong temptation to knock him off his horse with the butt-endof my whip, which I only suppressed in consideration of hisinsignifican
ce.
"Farmer Rutledge, ma'am?" said the clerk, as soon as his indignationpermitted him to articulate, "Farmer Rutledge is in as handsome enjoymentof his health as you are--it's all a bam, ma'am--all a bamboozle and abite, that affair of his illness; and if you did not know as much before,you know it now, ma'am."
"La you there now!" replied Miss Vernon, with an affectation of extremeand simple wonder, "sure you don't say so, Mr. Jobson?"
"But I _do_ say so, ma'am," rejoined the incensed scribe; "andmoreover I say, that the old miserly clod-breaker called mepettifogger--pettifogger, ma'am--and said I came to hunt for a job,ma'am--which I have no more right to have said to me than any othergentleman of my profession, ma'am--especially as I am clerk to thepeace, having and holding said office under _Trigesimo Septimo HenriciOctavi_ and _Primo Gulielmi,_ the first of King William, ma'am, ofglorious and immortal memory--our immortal deliverer from papists andpretenders, and wooden shoes and warming pans, Miss Vernon."
"Sad things, these wooden shoes and warming pans," retorted the younglady, who seemed to take pleasure in augmenting his wrath;--"and it is acomfort you don't seem to want a warming pan at present, Mr. Jobson. I amafraid Gaffer Rutledge has not confined his incivility to language--Areyou sure he did not give you a beating?"
"Beating, ma'am!--no"--(very shortly)--"no man alive shall beat me, Ipromise you, ma'am."
"That is according as you happen to merit, sir," said I: "for your modeof speaking to this young lady is so unbecoming, that, if you do notchange your tone, I shall think it worth while to chastise you myself."
"Chastise, sir? and--me, sir?--Do you know whom you speak to, sir?"
"Yes, sir," I replied; "you say yourself you are clerk of peace to thecounty; and Gaffer Rutledge says you are a pettifogger; and in neithercapacity are you entitled to be impertinent to a young lady of fashion."
Miss Vernon laid her hand on my arm, and exclaimed, "Come, Mr.Osbaldistone, I will have no assaults and battery on Mr. Jobson; I amnot in sufficient charity with him to permit a single touch of yourwhip--why, he would live on it for a term at least. Besides, you havealready hurt his feelings sufficiently--you have called himimpertinent."
"I don't value his language, Miss," said the clerk, somewhat crestfallen:"besides, impertinent is not an actionable word; but pettifogger isslander in the highest degree, and that I will make Gaffer Rutledge knowto his cost, and all who maliciously repeat the same, to the breach ofthe public peace, and the taking away of my private good name."
"Never mind that, Mr. Jobson," said Miss Vernon; "you know, where thereis nothing, your own law allows that the king himself must lose hisrights; and for the taking away of your good name, I pity the poor fellowwho gets it, and wish you joy of losing it with all my heart."
"Very well, ma'am--good evening, ma'am--I have no more to say--only thereare laws against papists, which it would be well for the land were theybetter executed. There's third and fourth Edward VI., of antiphoners,missals, grailes, professionals, manuals, legends, pies, portuasses, andthose that have such trinkets in their possession, Miss Vernon--andthere's summoning of papists to take the oaths--and there are popishrecusant convicts under the first of his present Majesty--ay, and thereare penalties for hearing mass--See twenty-third of Queen Elizabeth, andthird James First, chapter twenty-fifth. And there are estates to beregistered, and deeds and wills to be enrolled, and double taxes to bemade, according to the acts in that case made and provided"--
"See the new edition of the Statutes at Large, published under thecareful revision of Joseph Jobson, Gent., Clerk of the Peace," said MissVernon.
"Also, and above all," continued Jobson,--"for I speak to yourwarning--you, Diana Vernon, spinstress, not being a _femme couverte,_and being a convict popish recusant, are bound to repair to your owndwelling, and that by the nearest way, under penalty of being held felonto the king--and diligently to seek for passage at common ferries, andto tarry there but one ebb and flood; and unless you can have it in suchplaces, to walk every day into the water up to the knees, assaying topass over."
"A sort of Protestant penance for my Catholic errors, I suppose," saidMiss Vernon, laughing.--"Well, I thank you for the information, Mr.Jobson, and will hie me home as fast as I can, and be a betterhousekeeper in time coming. Good-night, my dear Mr. Jobson, thou mirrorof clerical courtesy."
"Good-night, ma'am, and remember the law is not to be trifled with."
And we rode on our separate ways.
"There he goes for a troublesome mischief-making tool," said Miss Vernon,as she gave a glance after him; it is hard that persons of birth and rankand estate should be subjected to the official impertinence of such apaltry pickthank as that, merely for believing as the whole worldbelieved not much above a hundred years ago--for certainly our CatholicFaith has the advantage of antiquity at least."
"I was much tempted to have broken the rascal's head," I replied.
"You would have acted very like a hasty young man," said Miss Vernon;"and yet, had my own hand been an ounce heavier than it is, I think Ishould have laid its weight upon him. Well, it does not signifycomplaining, but there are three things for which I am much to be pitied,if any one thought it worth while to waste any compassion upon me."
"And what are these three things, Miss Vernon, may I ask?"
"Will you promise me your deepest sympathy, if I tell you?"
"Certainly;--can you doubt it?" I replied, closing my horse nearer tohers as I spoke, with an expression of interest which I did not attemptto disguise.
"Well, it is very seducing to be pitied, after all; so here are my threegrievances: In the first place, I am a girl, and not a young fellow, andwould be shut up in a mad-house if I did half the things that I have amind to;--and that, if I had your happy prerogative of acting as youlist, would make all the world mad with imitating and applauding me."
"I can't quite afford you the sympathy you expect upon this score," Ireplied; "the misfortune is so general, that it belongs to one half ofthe species; and the other half"--
"Are so much better cared for, that they are jealous of theirprerogatives," interrupted Miss Vernon--"I forgot you were a partyinterested. Nay," she said, as I was going to speak, "that soft smile isintended to be the preface of a very pretty compliment respecting thepeculiar advantages which Die Vernon's friends and kinsmen enjoy, by herbeing born one of their Helots; but spare me the utterance, my goodfriend, and let us try whether we shall agree better on the second countof my indictment against fortune, as that quill-driving puppy would callit. I belong to an oppressed sect and antiquated religion, and, insteadof getting credit for my devotion, as is due to all good girls beside, mykind friend, Justice Inglewood, may send me to the house of correction,merely for worshipping God in the way of my ancestors, and say, as oldPembroke did to the Abbess of Wilton,* when he usurped her convent andestablishment, 'Go spin, you jade,--Go spin.'"
* Note F. The Abbess of Wilton.
"This is not a cureless evil," said I gravely. "Consult some of ourlearned divines, or consult your own excellent understanding, MissVernon; and surely the particulars in which our religious creed differsfrom that in which you have been educated"--
"Hush!" said Diana, placing her fore-finger on her mouth,--"Hush! no moreof that. Forsake the faith of my gallant fathers! I would as soon, were Ia man, forsake their banner when the tide of battle pressed hardestagainst it, and turn, like a hireling recreant, to join the victoriousenemy."
"I honour your spirit, Miss Vernon; and as to the inconveniences to whichit exposes you, I can only say, that wounds sustained for the sake ofconscience carry their own balsam with the blow."
"Ay; but they are fretful and irritating, for all that. But I see, hardof heart as you are, my chance of beating hemp, or drawing out flax intomarvellous coarse thread, affects you as little as my condemnation tocoif and pinners, instead of beaver and cockade; so I will spare myselfthe fruitless pains of telling my third cause of vexation."
"Nay, my dear Miss Vernon, do not
withdraw your confidence, and I willpromise you, that the threefold sympathy due to your very unusual causesof distress shall be all duly and truly paid to account of the third,providing you assure me, that it is one which you neither share with allwomankind, nor even with every Catholic in England, who, God bless you,are still a sect more numerous than we Protestants, in our zeal forchurch and state, would desire them to be."
"It is indeed," said Diana, with a manner greatly altered, and moreserious than I had yet seen her assume, "a misfortune that well meritscompassion. I am by nature, as you may easily observe, of a frank andunreserved disposition--a plain true-hearted girl, who would willinglyact openly and honestly by the whole world, and yet fate has involved mein such a series of nets and toils, and entanglements, that I dare hardlyspeak a word for fear of consequences--not to myself, but to others."
"That is indeed a misfortune, Miss Vernon, which I do most sincerelycompassionate, but which I should hardly have anticipated."
"O, Mr. Osbaldistone, if you but knew--if any one knew, what difficulty Isometimes find in hiding an aching heart with a smooth brow, you wouldindeed pity me. I do wrong, perhaps, in speaking to you even thus far onmy own situation; but you are a young man of sense and penetration--youcannot but long to ask me a hundred questions on the events of thisday--on the share which Rashleigh has in your deliverance from this pettyscrape--upon many other points which cannot but excite your attention;and I cannot bring myself to answer with the necessary falsehood andfinesse--I should do it awkwardly, and lose your good opinion, if I haveany share of it, as well as my own. It is best to say at once, Ask me noquestions,--I have it not in my power to reply to them."
Miss Vernon spoke these words with a tone of feeling which could not butmake a corresponding impression upon me. I assured her she had neither tofear my urging her with impertinent questions, nor my misconstruing herdeclining to answer those which might in themselves be reasonable, or atleast natural.
"I was too much obliged," I said, "by the interest she had taken in myaffairs, to misuse the opportunity her goodness had afforded me of pryinginto hers--I only trusted and entreated, that if my services could at anytime be useful, she would command them without doubt or hesitation."
"Thank you--thank you," she replied; "your voice does not ring the cuckoochime of compliment, but speaks like that of one who knows to what hepledges himself. If--but it is impossible--but yet, if an opportunityshould occur, I will ask you if you remember this promise; and I assureyou, I shall not be angry if I find you have forgotten it, for it isenough that you are sincere in your intentions just now--much may occurto alter them ere I call upon you, should that moment ever come, toassist Die Vernon, as if you were Die Vernon's brother."
"And if I were Die Vernon's brother," said I, "there could not be lesschance that I should refuse my assistance--And now I am afraid I must notask whether Rashleigh was willingly accessory to my deliverance?"
"Not of me; but you may ask it of himself, and depend upon it, he willsay _yes;_ for rather than any good action should walk through the worldlike an unappropriated adjective in an ill-arranged sentence, he isalways willing to stand noun substantive to it himself."
"And I must not ask whether this Campbell be himself the party who easedMr. Morris of his portmanteau,--or whether the letter, which our friendthe attorney received, was not a finesse to withdraw him from the sceneof action, lest he should have marred the happy event of my deliverance?And I must not ask"--
"You must ask nothing of me," said Miss Vernon; "so it is quite in vainto go on putting cases. You are to think just as well of me as if I hadanswered all these queries, and twenty others besides, as glibly asRashleigh could have done; and observe, whenever I touch my chin just so,it is a sign that I cannot speak upon the topic which happens to occupyyour attention. I must settle signals of correspondence with you, becauseyou are to be my confidant and my counsellor, only you are to knownothing whatever of my affairs."
"Nothing can be more reasonable," I replied, laughing; "and the extent ofyour confidence will, you may rely upon it, only be equalled by thesagacity of my counsels."
This sort of conversation brought us, in the highest good-humour witheach other, to Osbaldistone Hall, where we found the family far advancedin the revels of the evening.
"Get some dinner for Mr. Osbaldistone and me in the library," said MissVernon to a servant.--"I must have some compassion upon you," she added,turning to me, "and provide against your starving in this mansion ofbrutal abundance; otherwise I am not sure that I should show you myprivate haunts. This same library is my den--the only corner of theHall-house where I am safe from the Ourang-Outangs, my cousins. Theynever venture there, I suppose for fear the folios should fall down andcrack their skulls; for they will never affect their heads in any otherway--So follow me."
And I followed through hall and bower, vaulted passage and winding stair,until we reached the room where she had ordered our refreshments.