Lady Grace. They,however, from the first, declined dancing, after which, even had theydesired it, they could not, without offending those who had firstoffered, have accepted other partners.
Mr. Sleech was on his way, for about the twentieth time, to thecountess, when his eldest daughter came up to him, and, in a hurriedvoice, said that a person wished to see him on important business.
"Tell him to come in, then; I cannot come out to see him. If he has gotany message to deliver he must deliver it here," answered Mr. Sleech,scarcely knowing what he was saying.
His daughter hurried off. Soon afterwards a man was seen in ahorseman's suit passing among the gaily-dressed throng towards themaster of the house.
"Who do you come from?" asked Mr. Sleech, eyeing him narrowly.
"From Mr. Coppinger," answered the messenger. "It is about a matter ofimportance, and he told me to see you immediately."
"What is it? Is it about my son?" asked Mr. Sleech, in a nervous voice.
"I believe so; but that will tell you," said the man, delivering theletter he held in his hand. Mr. Sleech, in his eagerness, tore it open,forgetting at the moment by whom he was surrounded. His eyes ranrapidly over the paper. With unrepressed anger he broke silence,exclaiming--
"My son accused of forgery! It is a lie. Mr. Coppinger is a base liar;I will bring an action against him for defamation of character."
The Misses Coppinger, unfortunately, were standing near at the time, andwere very naturally indignant at hearing their father thus spoken of.
"The letter says true enough, I have no doubt," observed Mr. Gilby, whohad been dancing with one of the young ladies. "If the son he speaks ofis Silas Sleech, a more arrant rogue does not exist. I am very certainthat he led that young Harry Tryon purposely into all sorts of scrapes,and drove him off at last to sea. Poor fellow! I don't think I toldyou what I know about him."
His remarks were cut short by the confusion which ensued in consequenceof Mr. Sleech's behaviour. The letter he had received, although sent inkindness, had completely overcome him. Had he been in his usual stateof composure he would probably have put it in his pocket, and kept itscontents secret; but being already excited, having paid constant visitsto the refreshment-room in order to keep up his spirits, it drove himbeside himself. In vain his friends tried to pacify him. He rushedround the room, exclaiming again, "It is a lie! It is a base lie! Myson a rogue! The heir of Stanmore accused of forgery! It isimpossible; it is impossible! I defy any one to prove it."
Thus the wretched man went on proclaiming his son's infamy and his owndisgrace. Several of the guests, who had been somewhat unwilling tocome, on this ordered their carriages. Even the most heartless feltthat they could not with propriety remain, and thus the greater part ofthe company followed the example of the first.
The Misses Coppinger and their aunt got away immediately, attended byMr. Gilby; and in a short time the gaily-bedecked and highly-lightedrooms were deserted by all the guests, while his children could withdifficulty get their father to his room, still but little pacified. Thepeople said, not without reason, that the balls at Stanmore weredestined to have a disastrous termination.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
A JOURNEY, AND WHAT BEFELL THE TRAVELLERS.--A VISIT TO WINDSOR, AND ITSRESULT.
The days were long, the weather was fine, and Mabel and her companionhoped by starting at dawn to reach London at an early hour on the thirdday of their journey. They were crossing Hounslow Heath, a part of thecountry, in those days especially, and even in later years, notoriousfor the number of robberies committed on travellers. In the fardistance were seen dangling in the air two objects, the wretchedremnants of humanity, suspended in chains, intended as a warning toevil-doers, but having about as much effect as scarecrows have generallyon bold birds who have discovered that they can do them no harm. Mabelturned away her eyes to avoid the hideous spectacle. Paul said nothing,but pulled out his pistols one by one, carefully surveying their locks.Then restoring them to their holsters, he continued trotting on at arapid pace behind his young mistress.
"We shall be in town, Miss Mabel, long before your godfather sits downto his early dinner, I hope," observed Paul. "You might spare Beauty alittle, for we shall have some steep bits of road soon, and a steadypace will bring us to our journey's end, maybe, as soon as a rapid one."
As Paul spoke he caught sight of three men crouching down under somebushes a short distance ahead. Had he been alone, he would have dashedforward and easily have eluded them, should they prove to be footpads,as he thought likely. He was afraid, however, should Mabel make theattempt, that they might succeed in stopping her horse, and then, ifgoing at full speed, he would be less able to take steady aim, or todefend her. At the same time, he did not wish to alarm her before itwas necessary. She, however, directly afterwards caught sight of thesame objects. They were not left long in doubt as to the intention ofthose they saw, for as they approached, live men sprang up, and rushingforward seized Mabel's rein. Paul, drawing a pistol, fired. One of hisassailants fell, but this did not deter the others from their purpose.While one of the ruffians held Mabel's horse, the other three attackedhim, endeavouring to pull him from his saddle. Before they had time toseize his arm, he drew another pistol. He fired, but it flashed in thepan. He endeavoured to reprime it, but having no time to do so, heseized it by the muzzle, and began to lay about him with right goodwill, striking one fellow on the head and another on the shoulder, andcompelling them to let go their hold, at the same time shouting at thetop of his voice, "To the rescue! to the rescue! Off with you,villains!" and similar cries, which were not without the effect ofdistracting the attention of his assailants. Still, as they were threeto one, and had also firearms, though they had not hitherto used them,it was too evident that they must ultimately succeed in their purpose.Still undaunted, however, the old soldier fought on, continuing tostrike with a rapidity which astonished his assailants. One, however,more savage than the others, springing back, drew a pistol from hisbelt, and was levelling it at Paul, when his eye caught sight of twomen, who, at that instant had jumped out of a gravel-pit a little wayahead, and were rushing towards them, flourishing thick sticks whichthey held in their hands.
"Don't let the fellows sheer off, Paul, and we will make prizes of thewhole," shouted one of the new comers, springing forward and bringinghis thick stick down on the head of one of Paul's assailants. Thefellow dropped as if shot, when the other three men, seeing that theiropponents were even in number, let go the horses' reins and took toflight.
The men who had so opportunely arrived were dressed as sailors. In themost active of them Paul recognised his old acquaintance, Jacob Tuttle.The other was a stranger.
"Well, this is fortunate!" exclaimed Jacob, in astonishment. "Why, Mr.Gauntlett, I little thought to see you and Miss Mabel out here. Why,please miss, you are the very lady I was coming all the way to Lyndertonto see. Only yesterday I could get leave from my ship to come ashore,and started away up to London, where we stopped a few houts, and thencame along south-west, keeping a course for Lynderton."
Mabel had been so agitated by the attack of the footpads that she hadbeen unable to speak. She now eagerly asked Jacob why he wished to seeher.
"It is about a shipmate of mine, please you, miss, as true-hearted a ladas ever stepped--one Harry Tryon, though in speaking to you, miss, Iought to call him Master Harry."
"Go on, I entreat you," said Mabel, eagerly.
"You have heard talk of the mutiny, miss, and how the seamen thoughtthey had not got their rights, and how they held out against theirofficers? Well, the chief of the mutineers, and I have not much to sayin his favour, was aboard our ship, and because Harry was a gentlemanand could write a good hand, he made him act as his secretary. Now doyou see Harry did not wish to do so, to my certain knowledge, butsomehow or other, after Parker, who was the chief in the business, wastried and hung, Harry was brought in guilty of helping him. I don'tknow how it was I was not called as a
witness, or I could have provedthat Parker held a pistol to Harry's head and made him write what hetold him. The long and short, however, of it is that poor Harry hasbeen condemned to death, and lies on board the prison ship with a numberof other fellows, to be run up one of these days to the yard-arm. Now Ithought to myself, he has got friends down at Lynderton who I know wouldhelp him. As I could not get away from the ship to give the news, I gota messmate, howsomdever, to write to my Mary, you know her, miss, andtell her all about it. At last, however, yesterday morning, Jack Vealhere and I got leave to come ashore and spend a fortnight at home. Welost no time as soon as we stepped on shore, you may depend on it, miss,but came along as fast as our two legs would carry us, and a pretty goodjob it is we did come, or we should have missed the chance of knockingthose fellows on the head