CHAPTER LXIV.
'Tis but a single murder.--Lillo: Fatal Curiosity.
It was in a melancholy and thoughtful mood that I rode away from theparsonage. Numerous and hearty were the maledictions I bestowed upon asystem of education which, while it was so ineffective with the many,was so pernicious to the few. Miserable delusion (thought I), thatencourages the ruin of health and the perversion of intellect by studiesthat are as unprofitable to the world as they are destructive to thepossessor--that incapacitate him for public, and unfit him for privatelife--and that, while they expose him to the ridicule of strangers,render him the victim of his wife, and the prey of his domestic.
Busied in such reflections, I rode quickly on till I found myself oncemore on the heath. I looked anxiously round for the conspicuous equipageof Lady Chester, but in vain--the ground was thin--nearly all the higherorders had retired--the common people, grouped together, and clamouringnoisily, were withdrawing: and the shrill voices of the itineranthawkers of cards and bills had at length subsided into silence. I rodeover the ground, in the hope of finding some solitary straggler ofour party. Alas! there was not one; and, with much reluctance at, anddistaste to, my lonely retreat, I turned in a homeward direction fromthe course.
The evening had already set in, but there was a moon in the cold greysky, that I could almost have thanked in a sonnet for a light which Ifelt was never more welcomely dispensed, when I thought of the crossroads and dreary country I had to pass before I reached the longed forhaven of Chester Park. After I had left the direct road, the wind, whichhad before been piercingly keen, fell, and I perceived a dark cloudbehind, which began slowly to overtake my steps. I care little, ingeneral, for the discomfort of a shower; yet, as when we are in onemisfortune we always exaggerate the consequence of a new one, I lookedupon my dark pursuer with a very impatient and petulant frown, and setmy horse on a trot, much more suitable to my inclination than his own.Indeed, he seemed fully alive to the cornless state of the parson'sstable, and evinced his sense of the circumstance by a very languid modeof progression, and a constant attempt, whenever his pace abated, and Isuffered the rein to slumber upon his neck, to crop the rank grass thatsprung up on either side of our road. I had proceeded about three mileson my way, when I heard the clatter of hoofs behind me. My even pacesoon suffered me to be overtaken, and, as the stranger checked his horsewhen he was nearly by my side, I turned towards him, and beheld Sir JohnTyrrell.
"Well," said he, "this is really fortunate--for I began to fear I shouldhave my ride, this cold evening, entirely to myself."
"I imagined that you had long reached Chester Park by this time," saidI. "Did not you leave the course with our party?"
"No," answered Tyrrell, "I had business, at Newmarket, with a rascallyfellow of the name of Dawson. He lost to me rather a considerable wager,and asked me to come to the town with him after the race, in order topay me. As he said he lived on the direct road to Chester Park, andwould direct and even accompany me, through all the difficult part ofthe ride, I the less regretted not joining Chester and his party; andyou know, Pelham, that when pleasure pulls one way, and money another,it is all over with the first. Well--to return to my rascal--would youbelieve, that when we got to Newmarket, he left me at the inn, in order,he said, to fetch the money; and after having kept me in a coldroom, with a smoky chimney, for more than an hour, without making hisappearance, I sallied out into the town, and found Mr. Dawson quietlyseated in a hell with that scoundrel Thornton, whom I did not conceive,till then, he was acquainted with. It seems that he was to win, athazard, sufficient to pay his wager. You may fancy my anger, and theconsequent increase to it, when he rose from the table, approached me,expressed his sorrow, d--d his ill luck, and informed me that he couldnot pay me for three months. You know that I could not ride home withsuch a fellow--he might have robbed me by the way--so I returned to myinn--dined--ordered my horse, set off--en cavalier seul--inquired my wayof every passenger I passed, and after innumerable misdirections--here Iam."
"I cannot sympathise with you," said I, "since I am benefitted by yourmisfortunes. But do you think it very necessary to trot so fast? I fearmy horse can scarcely keep up with yours."
Tyrrell cast an impatient glance at my panting steed. "It is cursedunlucky you should be so badly mounted, and we shall have a peltingshower presently."
In complaisance to Tyrrell, I endeavoured to accelerate my steed. Theroads were rough and stony, and I had scarcely got the tired animal intoa sharper trot, before--whether or no by some wrench among the deep rutsand flinty causeway--he fell suddenly lame. The impetuosity of Tyrrellbroke out in oaths, and we both dismounted to examine the cause of myhorse's hurt, in the hope that it might only be the intrusion of somepebble between the shoe and the hoof. While we were yet investigatingthe cause of our misfortune, two men on horseback overtook us. Tyrrelllooked up. "By Heaven," said he, in a low tone, "it's that dog Dawson,and his worthy coadjutor, Tom Thornton."
"What's the matter, gentlemen?" cried the bluff voice of the latter."Can I be of any assistance?" and without waiting our reply, hedismounted, and came up to us. He had no sooner felt the horse's leg,than he assured us it was a most severe strain, and that the utmost Icould effect would be to walk the brute gently home.
As Tyrrell broke out into impatient violence at this speech, the sharperlooked up at him with an expression of countenance I by no means liked;but in a very civil, and even respectful tone, said, "If you want, SirJohn, to reach Chester Park sooner than Mr. Pelham can possibly do,suppose you ride on with us, I will put you in the direct road before Iquit you." (Good breeding, thought I, to propose leaving me to find myown way through this labyrinth of ruts and stones!) However, Tyrrell,who was in a vile humour, in no very courteous manner, refused theoffer, and added that he should continue with me as long as he could,and did not doubt that when he left me he should be able to find hisown way. Thornton pressed the invitation still closer, and even offered,sotto voce, to send Dawson on before, should the baronet object to hiscompany.
"Pray, Sir," said Tyrrell, "leave me alone, and busy yourself about yourown affairs." After so tart a reply, Thornton thought it useless to saymore; he remounted, and with a silent and swaggering nod of familiarity,soon rode away with his companion.
"I am sorry," said I, as we were slowly proceeding, "that you rejectedThornton's offer."
"Why, to say truth," answered Tyrrell, "I have so very bad an opinionof him, that I was almost afraid to trust myself in his company on sodreary a road. I have nearly (and he knows it), to the amount of twothousand pounds about me; for I was very fortunate in my betting-booktoday."
"I know nothing about racing regulations," said I; "but I thought onenever paid sums of that amount upon the ground?"
"Ah!" answered Tyrrell, "but I won this sum, which is L1,800., of acountry squire from Norfolk, who said he did not know when he should seeme again, and insisted on paying me on the spot: 'faith I was not nicein the matter. Thornton was standing by at the time, and I did not halflike the turn of his eye when he saw me put it up. Do you know, too,"continued Tyrrell, after a pause, "that I have had a d--d fellow dodgingme all day, and yesterday too; wherever I go, I am sure to see him. Heseems constantly, though distantly, to follow me; and what is worse, hewraps himself up so well, and keeps at so cautious a distance, that Ican never catch a glimpse of his face."
I know not why, but at that moment the recollection of the muffledfigure I had seen upon the course, flashed upon me.
"Does he wear a long horseman's cloak?" said I.
"He does," answered Tyrrell, in surprise: "have you observed him?"
"I saw such a person on the race ground," replied I; "but only for aninstant!"
Farther conversation was suspended by a few heavy drops which fell uponus; the cloud had passed over the moon, and was hastening rapidly andloweringly over our heads. Tyrrell was neither of an age, a frame, nor atemper, to be so indifferent to a hearty wetting as myself.
"God!" he cried, "y
ou must put on that beast of your's--I can't get wet,for all the horses in the world."
I was not much pleased with the dictatorial tone of this remark. "It isimpossible," said I, "especially as the horse is not my own, and seemsconsiderably lamer than at first; but let me not detain you."
"Well!" cried Tyrrell, in a raised and angry voice, which pleased mestill less than his former remark; "but how am I to find my way, if Ileave you?"
"Keep straight on," said I, "for a mile farther, then a sign-post willdirect you to the left; after a short time, you will have a steep hillto descend, at the bottom of which is a large pool, and a singularlyshaped tree; then keep straight on, till you pass a house belonging toMr. Dawson--"
"Come, come, Pelham, make haste!" exclaimed Tyrrell, impatiently, as therain began now to descend fast and heavy.
"When you have passed that house," I resumed coolly, rather enjoying hispetulance, "you must bear to the right for six miles, and you will be atChester Park in less than an hour."
Tyrrell made no reply, but put spurs to his horse. The pattering rainand the angry heavens soon drowned the last echoes of the recedinghoofclang.
For myself, I looked in vain for a tree; not even a shrub was to befound; the fields lay bare on either side, with no other partition buta dead hedge, and a deep dyke. "Patientia fit melius," thought I, asHorace said, and Vincent would say; and in order to divert my thoughtsfrom my situation, I turned them towards my diplomatic success with LordChester. Presently, for I think scarcely five minutes had elapsed sinceTyrrell's departure, a horseman passed me at a sharp pace; the moon washid by the dense cloud, and the night, though not wholly dark, was dimand obscured, so that I could only catch the outline of the flittingfigure. A thrill of fear crept over me, when I saw that it was envelopedin a horseman's cloak. I soon rallied--"There are more cloaks in theworld than one," said I to myself; "besides, even if it be Tyrrell'sdodger, as he calls him, the baronet is better mounted than anyhighwayman since the days of Du Val; and is, moreover, strong enough andcunning enough to take admirable care of himself." With this reflectionI dismissed the occurrence from my thoughts, and once more returned toself-congratulations upon my own incomparable genius. "I shall now,"I thought, "have well earned my seat in parliament; Dawton willindisputably be, if not the prime, the principal minister in rank andinfluence. He cannot fail to promote me for his own sake, as well asmine; and when I have once fairly got my legs in St. Stephen's, I shallsoon have my hands in office: 'power,' says some one, 'is a snake thatwhen it once finds a hole into which it can introduce its head, soonmanages to wriggle in the rest of its body.'" With such meditations Iendeavoured to beguile the time and cheat myself into forgetfulness ofthe lameness of my horse, and the dripping wetness of his rider. At lastthe storm began sullenly to subside: one impetuous torrent, ten-foldmore violent than those that had preceded it, was followed by amomentary stillness, which was again broken by a short relapse of a lessformidable severity, and the moment it ceased, the beautiful moon brokeout, the cloud rolled heavily away, and the sky shone forth, as fair andsmiling as Lady--at a ball, after she has been beating her husband athome.
But at that instant, or perhaps a second before the storm ceased, Ithought I heard the sound of a human cry. I paused, and my heart stoodstill--I could have heard a gnat hum: the sound was not repeated; my earcaught nothing but the plashing of the rain drops from the dead hedges,and the murmur of the swollen dykes, as the waters pent within themrolled hurriedly on. By and by, an owl came suddenly from behind me, andscreamed as it flapped across my path; that, too, went rapidly away:and with a smile, at what I deemed my own fancy, I renewed my journey.I soon came to the precipitous descent I have before mentioned; Idismounted, for safety, from my drooping and jaded horse, and led himdown the hill. At a distance beyond I saw something dark moving on thegrass which bordered the road; as I advanced, it started forth from theshadow, and fled rapidly before me, in the moonshine--it was a riderlesshorse. A chilling foreboding seized me: I looked round for some weapon,such as the hedge might afford; and finding a strong stick of tolerableweight and thickness, I proceeded more cautiously, but more fearlesslythan before. As I wound down the hill, the moonlight fell full upon theremarkable and lonely tree I had observed in the morning. Bare, wan, andgiant-like, as it rose amidst the surrounding waste, it borrowed evena more startling and ghostly appearance from the cold and lifelessmoonbeams which fell around and upon it like a shroud. The retreatinganimal I had driven before me, paused by this tree. I hastened my steps,as if by an involuntary impulse, as well as the enfeebled animal I wasleading would allow me, and discovered a horseman galloping across thewaste at full speed. The ground over which he passed was steeped inthe moonshine, and I saw the long and disguising cloak, in which he wasdeveloped, as clearly as by the light of day. I paused: and as I wasfollowing him with my looks, my eye fell upon some obscure object bythe left side of the pool. I threw my horse's rein over the hedge, andfirmly grasping my stick, hastened to the spot. As I approached theobject, I perceived that it was a human figure; it was lying still andmotionless; the limbs were half immersed in the water--the face wasturned upwards--the side and throat were wet with a deep red stain--itwas of blood; the thin, dark hairs of the head, were clotted togetherover a frightful and disfiguring contusion. I bent over the face ina shuddering and freezing silence. It was the countenance of Sir JohnTyrrell!
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