Varney the Vampire; Or, the Feast of Blood
Page 74
CHAPTER LXXV.
MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS, AND THE VISIT TO THE RUINS.
During the next hour, Charles informed Flora of the whole particulars ofhis forcible abduction; and to his surprise he heard, of course, for thefirst time, of those letters, purporting to be written by him, whichendeavoured to give so bad an aspect to the fact of his suddendisappearance from Bannerworth Hall.
Flora would insist upon the admiral, Henry, and the rest of the family,hearing all that Charles had to relate concerning Mr. Marchdale; forwell she knew that her mother, from early associations, was so farimpressed in the favour of that hypocritical personage, that nothing butdamning facts, much to his prejudice, would suffice to convince her ofthe character he really was.
But she was open to conviction, and when she really found what a villainshe had cherished and given her confidence to, she shed abundance oftears, and blamed herself exceedingly as the cause of some of themisfortunes which had fallen upon her children.
"Very good," said the admiral; "I ain't surprised a bit. I knew he was avagabond from the first time I clapped eyes upon him. There was a downlook about the fellow's figure-head that I didn't like, and be hanged tohim, but I never thought he would have gone the length he has done. Andso you say you've got him safe in the ruins, Charles?"
"I have, indeed, uncle."
"And then there let him remain, and a good place, too, for him."
"No, uncle, no. I'm sure you speak without thought. I intend to releasehim in a few hours, when I have rested from my fatigues. He could notcome to any harm if he were to go without food entirely for the timethat I leave him; but even that he will not do, for there is bread andwater in the dungeon."
"Bread and water! that's too good for him. But, however, Charles, whenyou go to let him out, I'll go with you, just to tell him what I thinkof him, the vagabond."
"He must suffer amazingly, for no doubt knowing well, as he does, hisown infamous intentions, he will consider that if I were to leave him tostarve to death, I should be but retailing upon him the injuries hewould have inflicted upon me."
"The worst of it is," said the admiral, "I can't think what to do withhim."
"Do nothing, uncle, but just let him go; it will be a sufficientpunishment for such a man to feel that, instead of succeeding in hisdesigns, he has only brought upon himself the bitterest contempt ofthose whom he would fain have injured. I can have no desire for revengeon such a man as Marchdale."
"You are right, Charles," said Flora; "let him go, and let him go with afeeling that he has acquired the contempt of those whose best opinionsmight have been his for a far less amount of trouble than he has takento acquire their worst."
Excitement had kept up Charles to this point, but now, when he arose andexpressed his intention of going to the ruins, for the purpose ofreleasing Marchdale, he exhibited such unequivocal symptoms ofexhaustion and fatigue that neither his uncle nor Flora would permit himto go, so, in deference to them, he gave up the point, and commissionedthe admiral and Jack, with Henry, to proceed to the place, and give thevillain his freedom; little suspecting what had occurred since he hadhimself left the neighbourhood of those ruins.
Of course Charles Holland couldn't be at all accountable for the work ofthe elements, and it was not for him to imagine that when he leftMarchdale in the dungeon that so awful a catastrophe as that we haverecorded to the reader was to ensue.
The distance to the ruins was not so great from this cottage even as itwas from Bannerworth Hall, provided those who went knew the most directand best road to take; so that the admiral was not gone above a coupleof hours, and when he returned he sat down and looked at Charles withsuch a peculiar expression, that the latter could not for the life ofhim tell what to make of it.
"Something has happened, uncle," he said, "I am certain; tell me at oncewhat it is."
"Oh! nothing, nothing," said the admiral, "of any importance."
"Is that what you call your feelings?" said Jack Pringle. "Can't youtell him as there came on a squall last night, and the ruins have comein with a dab upon old Marchdale, crushing his guts, so that we smelthim as soon as we got nigh at hand?"
"Good God!" said Charles, "has such a catastrophe occurred?"
"Yes, Charles, that's just about the catastrophe that has occurred. He'sdead; and rum enough it is that it should happen on the very night thatyou escaped."
"Rum!" said Jack, suddenly; "my eye, who mentions rum? What a singularsort of liquor rum must be. I heard of a chap as used to be fond of itonce on board a ship; I wonder if there's any in the house."
"No!" said the admiral; "but there's a fine pump of spring water outsideif you feel a little thirsty, Jack; and I'll engage it shall do you moregood than all the rum in the world."
"Uncle," said Charles, "I'm glad to hear you make that observation."
"What for?"
"Why, to deal candidly with you, uncle, Jack informed me that you hadlately taken quite a predilection for drinking."
"Me!" cried the admiral; "why the infernal rascal, I've had to threatenhim with his discharge a dozen times, at least, on that very ground, andno other."
"There's somebody calling me," said Jack. "I'm a coming! I'm a coming!"and, so he bolted out of the room, just in time to escape an inkstand,which the admiral caught up and flung after him.
"I'll strike that rascal off the ship's books this very day," mutteredAdmiral Bell. "The drunken vagabond, to pretend that I take anything,when all the while it's himself!"
"Well, well, I ought certainly to have suspected the quarter from whencethe intelligence came; but he told it to me so circumstantially, andwith such an apparent feeling of regret for the weakness into which hesaid you had fallen, that I really thought there might be some truth init."
"The rascal! I've done with him from this moment; I have put up with toomuch from him for years past."
"I think now that you have given him a great deal of liberty, and that,with a great deal more he has taken, makes up an amount which you findit difficult to endure."
"And I won't endure it."
"Let me talk to him, and I dare say I shall be able to convince him thathe goes too far, and when he finds that such is the case he will mend."
"Speak to him, if you like, but I have done with such a mutinous rascal,I have. You can take him into your service, if you like, till you gettired of him; and that won't be very long."
"Well, well, we shall see. Jack will apologise to you I have no doubt;and then I shall intercede for him, and advise you to give him anothertrial."
"If you get him into the apology, then there's no doubt about me givinghim another trial. But I know him too well for that; he's as obstinateas a mule, he is, and you won't get a civil word out of him; but nevermind that, now. I tell you what, Master Charley, it will take a good lotof roast beef to get up your good looks again."
"It will, indeed, uncle; and I require, now, rest, for I am thoroughlyexhausted. The great privations I have undergone, and the amount ofmental excitement which I have experienced, in consequence of the suddenand unexpected release from a fearful confinement, have greatly weakenedall my energies. A few hours' sleep will make quite a different being ofme."
"Well, my boy, you know best," returned the admiral; "and I'll takecare, if you sleep till to-morrow, that you sha'n't be disturbed. So nowbe off to bed at once."
The young man shook his uncle's hand in a cordial manner, and thenrepaired to the apartment which had been provided for him.
Charles Holland did, indeed, stand in need of repose; and for the firsttime now for many days he laid down with serenity at his heart, andslept for many hours. And was there not now a great and a happy changein Flora Bannerworth! As if by magic, in a few short hours, much of thebloom of her before-fading beauty returned to her. Her step againrecovered its springy lightness; again she smiled upon her mother, andsuffered herself to talk of a happy future; for the dread even of thevampyre's visitations had faded into comparative insignificance againstthe hea
rt's deep dejection which had come over her at the thought thatCharles Holland must surely be murdered, or he would have contrived tocome to her.
And what a glorious recompense she had now for the trusting confidencewith which she had clung to a conviction of his truth! Was it not great,now, to feel that when he was condemned by others, and when strong andunimpeachable evidence seemed to be against him, she had clung to himand declared her faith in his honour, and wept for him instead ofcondemning?
Yes, Flora; you were of that order of noble minds that, where onceconfidence is given, give it fully and completely, and will not harboura suspicion of the faith of the loved one, a happy disposition whenverified, as in this instance, by an answering truthfulness.
But when such a heart trusts not with judgment--when that pure, exalted,and noble confidence is given to an object unworthy of it--then comes,indeed, the most fearful of all mental struggles; and if the fond heart,that has hugged to its inmost core so worthless a treasure, do not breakin the effort to discard it, we may well be surprised at the amount offortitude that has endured so much.
Although the admiral had said but little concerning the fearful endMarchdale had come to, it really did make some impression upon him; and,much as he held in abhorrence the villany of Marchdale's conduct, hewould gladly in his heart have averted the fate from him that he hadbrought upon himself.
On the road to the ruins, he calculated upon taking a different kind ofvengeance.
When they had got some distance from the cottage, Admiral Bell made aproposal to Henry to be his second while he fought Marchdale, but Henrywould not hear of it for a moment.
"My dear sir," he said, "could I, do you think, stand by and see avaluable, revered, and a respected life like yours exposed to any hazardmerely upon the chance of punishing a villain? No, no; Marchdale is toobase now to be met in honourable encounter. If he is dealt with in anyway let it be by the laws."
This was reasonable enough, and after some argument the admiralcoincided in it, and then they began to wonder how, without Charles,they should be able to get an entrance to the dungeons, for it had beenhis intention originally, had he not felt so fatigued, to go with them.
As soon, however, as they got tolerably near to the ruins, they saw whathad happened. Neither spoke, but they quickened their pace, and soonstood close to the mass of stone-work which now had assumed so differenta shape to what it had a few short hours before.
It needed little examination to let them feel certain that whoever mighthave been in any of the underground dungeons must have been crushed todeath.
"Heaven have mercy upon his soul!" said Henry.
"Amen!" said the admiral.
They both turned away, and for some time they neither of them spoke, fortheir thoughts were full of reflection upon the horrible death whichMarchdale must have endured. At length the admiral said--
"Shall we tell this or not?"
"Tell it at once," said Henry; "let us have no secrets."
"Good. Then I will not make one you may depend. I only wish that whilehe was about it, Charley could have popped that rascal Varney as well inthe dungeon, and then there would have been an end and a good riddanceof them both."