voice Silas dropped the lid of the desk, andslipping off his stool, went down on his knees, holding up his handswith a look of the most abject terror. "I did not intend to injure him,indeed I did not!" he exclaimed, in a whining voice.
"Oh! Mr. Kyffin, you know how long I have toiled for the house, and howour employer's interests were as dear to me as my own; then how can youaccuse me of doing such things as you say I have done?"
"Don't kneel to me," answered Mr. Kyffin, sternly; "don't add additionalfalsehood to your other villainies. Expect no leniency from me. Of allbad characters, I hate a hypocrite the most. I will make no promise,but if you will confess in a court of justice what you have done, I maypossibly endeavour to have your punishment mitigated, and no otherpromise can I make."
"I will do all you ask, indeed I will," answered Silas, "only don't lookso fierce; don't shoot me," he exclaimed, looking at the pistol which,unconsciously, Mr. Kyffin had taken from his pocket.
"I have no intention of shooting you, but again say I will make nopromises. Mr. Coppinger will decide what is to be done with the man whohas robbed him, and so cruelly treated his nephew."
Saying this, Mr. Kyffin returned the pistol to his pocket. The roundeyes of Silas had been watching him all the time. He now hung down hishead as if ashamed to meet Mr. Kyffin's glance. His eye, however, wasglancing upward all the time. Suddenly he made a spring, and rushedtowards Mr. Kyffin.
"I will have my revenge!" he exclaimed, grappling with him.
Mr. Kyffin, though advanced in life, was as active as ever. His musclesand nerves had never been unstrung by dissipation, as were those ofSilas, who found that he had met almost his match. The young man,however, struggled desperately, as a fierce desire seized him to destroyhis opponent. He felt for the pistol in his pocket. With insanesatisfaction he grasped it, and was drawing it forth, with adetermination of shooting the owner, when he found his arm seized, anddirectly afterwards he lay on the ground with the sturdy porter and Mr.Kyffin standing over him.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
A BALL AT STANMORE, AND WHAT TOOK PLACE AT IT.
Mr. Sleech and his family were enjoying their possession of Stanmore.He had begun to cut down the trees which he and his son had marked, andas many of them were very fine and old, he was delighted to find thatthey would fetch the full amount he had anticipated. This encouragedhim to proceed further.
"I have often heard that trees about houses are not wholesome," heobserved. "The more space we can clear away the better, and really afive-pound note to my mind is better than an old tree, with its boughsspreading far and wide over the ground, and shutting out the sunlight.Nothing will grow under old trees except fungi, and the ground may bemuch better occupied."
A sufficient time had now elapsed, in the opinion of Mr. Sleech, sincethe death of Colonel Everard, his predecessor, to allow him to give aparty at Stanmore without impropriety. The Misses Sleech were busilyemployed in sending out invitations. They asked everybody, whether theyhad called or not. "The chances are they will come," they observed,"and it will not do to be too particular." They were rather surprisedto find that several of the principal families in the neighbourhooddeclined. However, their rooms were sure to be filled, there was nodoubt of that. The foreign officers had no scruple about coming, and ata distance there were several families with whom Mr. Sleech was more orless acquainted, who would be glad to accept the invitation. MissSleech, Miss Anna Maria Sleech, and Miss Martha, who were out, were veryanxious to have their brother Silas. They agreed to write to get himdown. They could not ask Mr. Coppinger to allow him to come merely forthe sake of a ball; they therefore begged their father from his fertilebrain to invent an excuse, which that gentleman had no scruple whateverin doing. The result of that letter has been seen. At the hour he wasexpected to arrive, the carriage was sent over to meet the coach, butneither in the inside nor on the out was Silas Sleech to be seen.
"Of course he will come to-morrow in plenty of time for the ball,"observed his sisters, consoling themselves. Old Mr. Sleech, however,wanted his son's advice and assistance.
The morning before the intended _fete_, when workmen were busy indifferent parts of the house preparing the rooms, placing tents outsidethe windows, and arranging flowers and taking up the carpets, a carriagedrove up to the door. A gentleman stepped out of it in a naval undress.He looked about him with an air of mute astonishment.
"Who is here? what is taking place?" he asked of the servant who openedthe door.
"Why, we are going to have a ball to-night," was the answer. "Who doyou want to see?"
"A ball!" exclaimed the stranger. "My aunt and daughter giving a ball!Has Colonel Everard so completely recovered?"
"Why, bless you, Colonel Everard has been dead ever so long, and theMisses Everard are not in the house. My master is Mr. Sleech, the ownerof Stanmore. If you want to see him I will take in your name."
"Are you mocking me, man?" exclaimed the stranger. "Where are Madam andMiss Everard?"
"Why, I rather fancy they have gone to live in the town since they wereturned out of this," answered the man, with an impudent look.
"Let me see Mr. Sleech immediately, then," said the stranger, enteringthe house. "I must learn clearly what has taken place without delay.Where is Mr. Sleech?"
"Who wants me?" asked a voice from the study, the door of which facedthe entrance. The stranger, advancing with rapid step, entered theroom.
"I am Captain Everard, sir," he said, facing Mr. Sleech, who had risenfrom his chair with a newspaper in his hand. "Let me know, I entreatyou, by what means you have come into possession of Stanmore, and tellme did I hear rightly that my uncle is dead?"
"Dead as a door-mat," answered Mr. Sleech, "you may depend on that; andas to how I came into possession of Stanmore, I came in by right of law.I don't want to hurt your feelings, Captain Everard, but you know thatlegitimacy takes precedence over illegitimacy. It is not a man's faultwhen his mother has forgotten to get the marriage ceremony performed;but her children have to take the consequences. You understand me, Ineed not be more explicit."
"What do you mean?" exclaimed Captain Everard, leaning on a chair tosupport himself, for though a strong man, late events had shaken him.He was yet more completely overcome by the news he had just heard.
"Mean, sir, that your father, Lieutenant Everard, of the Royal Navy,brother of the late Colonel Everard, and of my beloved and departedwife, was never married to your French mother; no witnesses are to befound, and no documents exist to prove that any such marriage ever tookplace. By right of law, therefore, when my excellent brother-in-law,Colonel Everard, departed this life, I, as the representative of hissister--he having no direct heir--became possessed of this very fine andbeautiful estate. It is not my fault that your father was not married;it is not your fault; nor could I forego the privileges and advantageswhich accrue from possessing this estate."
"You should know, sir, that my father was married. The colonel alwaysbelieved that he was, and treated me as his heir," answered CaptainEverard, with all the calmness he could command. "But, as you say, thelaw must decide, and if it decide against me, I must submit. You, bysome means, have got into possession; I cannot, therefore, turn you out.I can only judge of the way you have treated those dear to me by themanner in which you have received me."
The captain drew himself up, and was about to retire from the room.
"Come, we are relations, though you bear the name of Everard bycourtesy," said Mr. Sleech, putting out his hand; "I don't want toquarrel about the matter; your ill-luck is my good fortune; that's theview of the case I take."
Captain Everard drew back his hand.
"No, sir, no. I cannot impute wrong motives to you; but, at the sametime, I cannot pretend friendship to a person who, without apology,casts a stigma on the names of my father and mother."
"_As_ you please, as you please," said Mr. Sleech, in an apparentlyindifferent tone; "I wish to do you good, but I cannot make a silk purseou
t of a sow's ear. If you won't receive my kindness, that's yourlook-out, and not mine."
Captain Everard had always felt an especial dislike to his aunt'shusband; it now, very naturally, increased considerably. Still he spokecalmly.
"I must bid you good-day, sir," he said. "For my daughter's sake and myown, you must expect that I will use every means to regain the propertywhich I believe to be rightfully mine."
"And I will do my best to keep what I have got, and I rather think Ishall succeed," answered the attorney, as the captain left the roomwithout deigning to cast another look upon his relative.
The door had been left open, and the