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197. Country Neighborhood. By Miss Dupuy 50
198. Constance Herbert. By Miss Jewsbury 50
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201. John Halifax. By Miss Mulock 75
202. Evelyn Marston. By Mrs. Marsh 50
203. Fortunes of Glen core. By Lever 50
204. Leonora d'Orco. By James .' 50
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216. One of Them. By Lever. 75
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218. Notice to Quit. By Wills 50
219. A Strange Story. By Bulwer 1 00
220. The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson.
By Trollope 50
221. Abel Drake's Wife. By John Saunders 75
222. Olive Blake's Good Work. By John Cordy
Jeaffreson 75
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224. Mistress and Maid. By Miss Mulock 50
225. Aurora Floyd. By M. E. Braddon 75
226. Barrington. By Lever 75
2-27. Sy Ma' s Lovers. By Mrs. Gaskell 75
228. A First Friendship :... 50
229. A Dark Night's Work. By Mrs. Gaskell 50
230. Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings , $025
231. St.01aves ' 75
232. A Point of Honor 50
233. Live it Down. By Jeaffreson 1 00
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235. Mary Lyndsay. By Lady Emily Ponsonby... 60
236. Eleanor's Victory. By M. E. Braddon ...".... 75
237. Rachel Ray. By Trollope 50
238. John Marchmont's Legacy. By M. E. Braddon 75
239. Annis Warloigh's Fortunes. By Holme Lee. . 75
240. The Wife' s lOvidence. By Wills : 50
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242. Cousin Phillis. By Mrs. Gaskell 25
243. What will he do with It 1 By Bulwer 1 50
244. The Ladder of Life. By Amelia B. Edwards. . 50
245. Denis Duval. By Thackeray 50
240. Maurice Dering. By the Author of u Guy Liv-
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247. Margaret Denzil's History 75
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249. Mattie: a Stray 75
250. My Brother's Wife. By Amelia B. Edwards. . 50
251. 'Uncle Silas. By J. S. Le Fanu 75
253. Miss Mackenzie. By Anthony Trollope 50
254. On Guard. By Annie Thomas 50
255. Theo Leigh. By Annie Thomas 56
256. Denis Donne. By Annie Thomas 50
25T. Belial 50
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259. Miss Carew. By Amelia B. Edwards 50
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263. The Belton Estate. By Anthony Trollope 50
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265. Walter Goring. By Annie Thomas 75
266. Maxwell Drewitt. By Mrs. J. H. Riddell 75
267. The Toilers of the Sea. By Victor Hugo 75
268. Miss Marjoribanks. By Mrs. Oliphant 50
260. The True History of a Little Ragamuffin 50
270. Gilbert Rugge. By the Author of "A First
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271. Sans Merci ; or, Kestrels and Falcons. By tho
Author of " Guy Livingstone" 60
272. Thcmie Keller. By Mrs. J. H. Riddell 50
273. Land at Last. By Edmund Yates 50
274. Felix Holt, the Radical. By George Eliot 75
275. Bound to the Wheel. By John Saunders 75
276. All in the Dark. By J. S. Le Fanu 60
277. Kissing the Rod. By Edmund Yates 75
278. The Race for Wealth. By Mrs. J. H. Riddell.. 75
279. Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg. By Mrs. 1C. Lynn
Linton 75
280. The Beauclercs, Father and Son. By Charles
Clarke 50
281. Sir Brooke Fossbrooke. By Charles Lever ... 50
282. Madonna Mary. By Mrs. Oliphant 50
283. Cradock Nowell. By R. D. Blackmore 75
284. Bernthal. From the German of L. Miihlbach. 50
285. Rachel's Secret 75
280. The Claverings. By Anthony Trollope 50
287. The Village on the Cliff. By Miss Thackeray. 25
288. Played Out. By Annie Thomas 75
289. Black Sheep. By Edmund Yates 50
290. Sowing the Wind. By Mrs. E. Lynn Linton.. 50
291. Nora and Archibald Lee 50
292. Raymond's Heroine 50
293. Mr. Wynyard's Ward. By Holme Lee . i 50
294. Alec Forbes of Howglen. By George Macdon-
ald 75
295. No Man's Friend. By F. W. Robinson 75
296. Called to Account. By Annie Thomas 50
297. Caste 50
298. The Curate's Discipline. By Mrs. Kiloart 50
299. Circe. By Babington White 50
300. The Tenants of Malory. ByJ. S. Le Fanu 50
301. Carlyon'a Year. By the Author of "Lost Sir
Massingberd," &c 25
302. The Waterdale Neighbors. By the Author of
"Paul Massie" 60
303. Mabel's Progress. By the Author of " The Sto-
ry of Aunt Margaret's Trouble" 50
304. Guild Court. A London Story. By George
Mac Donald..; 50
3C5. Margaret's Engagement 50
FIVE
' '
BY A BARRISTER.
* 1
~4
6 S7
1 >
,<w
, ^ y
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1868.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD,
CHAPTER I.
ONE day, during Easter Term, not a great
many years ago, two barristers sat down to
breakfast in chambers, at No. 8 Stone Buildings,
Lincoln's Inn.
John Worsley w&s the name of one : Paul
Petersfeld the name of the other.
Worsley, of Avhom I shall hereafter speak in
the first person, being no other than myself,
was the actual proprietor of tne rooms in ques-
tion. There I lived and worked and slept ;
making the most of them, both in their profes-
sional and domestic capacity.
Paul, an old college friend, and some three
years my junior, owned fashionable quarters in
the Albany ; and beyond placing his name upon
my door, and dropping in pretty regularly once
a day, to ascertain that he wasn't in the least want-
ed, took his brieflessness as a matter of course,
as if it had been one of those unimportant ail-
ments which naturally cure themselves as peo-
ple grow older.
"Energy, Worsley !" he exclaimed suddenly,
in answer to some observation of mine, the tone
of which seemed to strike him as objectiona-
bly paternal, " I like that! To charge me, of
all men in the world, with want of energy, is
too good. What on earth do you suppose I am
in Lincoln's Inn for at half-past nine this bless-
ed May morning ? Is there any thing so aston-
ishing about your chops and coffee both capi-
tal by the bye as to indu|^ a fellow who wasn't
a perfect miracle of energy to pound all this
way from Piccadilly before most people are
quite awake ? Wrong for once in your life, old
fellow. Think again !"
" Not I. You are here simply because, as I
truly told you, dawdling down some time be-
tween eleven and twelve in a hansom, with a
cigar in your mouth, looked preciously unlike
work in a three-months' barrister, and would
infallibly damage your professional prospects,
whatever these may be. I quite admit that
you have put on a famous spurt this morning,
and I advise you to stick to the plan."
"All right," returned Petersfeld, proceeding
leisurely with his breakfast. "But, do you
know K Worsley, I begin to suspect that what
you are pleased to call professional energy, is a
confounded delusion in my case, and nothing
else. What's the good of energy to a man who
never has any thing to do ? Where's its use to
a man bound hand and foot to a profession
where he can't get a chance to show it ? Isn't
it like a good appetite to a man who hasn't got
a chop like this before him like Eobinson "Cru-
soe's tarnishing doubloons in a land with no
tailors and nobody to take a bet ? But, to say
that I haven't got energy ! Give me the chance
to how it that's all ! Give me what Archi-
medes wanted when he offered to shunt the
world ! Give me "
"Give me the coffee. What's the -good of
blowing off steam at this rate ? Who said you
were not energetic ? Of course you are, in
your own way in any ready-made pursuit which
happens to take your fancy. I have no doubt,
for instance, but that you are, at this moment,
about the most energetic volunteer in the
'Devil's Own.' Only there are two sorts of
energy, Pefersfeld male and female as an old
writer rather happily distinguishes them."
"Interesting couple, I should say. Which
is the lady ?"
"Female energy," I replied, " is the energy
which waits for its work. It works well enough
with what actually comes to it ; but its work
must come, do you understand ? Female ener-
gy waits for its work."
" Like the spider. Were you aware that
spiders are all females? They are, though.
What's the other?"
" Male energy doesn't wait for its work it
finds it makes it does it."
"Like the policeman. By the bye, police-
men are supposed to be all males. Curious co-
incidence. What next?"
"I simply advise you not to wait for your
work. You look too far ahead. You always,
in chambers at 'least, talk and dream of what
you will do some time or another not of what
you are going to do to-day."
"To-day, my dear fellow," replied Paul,
with a slight yawn, " my numerous engage-
ments may be summed up approximately as fol-
lows :-i-I shall devote the next hour or so to
the consumption of a pipe of cavendish and the
perusal of the Times. From eleven till one, I
shall hold quiet communion with some standard
author upon the principles of equity. At one,
or thereabouts, I shall take my seat in the
luncheon-room of Lincoln's Inn. Immediately
afterward, I shall array myself in complete ca-
FIVE HUNDEED POUNDS KEWABD.
nonicals, and proceed to inhale ' the atmosphere
of the Courts,' until four o'clock. I shall en-
deavor to look, as much as possible, as if I had
been called six years, instead of half as many
months, and as if I were ' waiting for the next
cause,' instead of a cause in which the plaintiff
is probably at this moment employed with his
coral. At four precisely my presence, as the
most valuable sergeant in No. 9 company, is im-
peratively required in the Temple - Gardens.
That's about what I'm going to do to-day.
After five, a lawyer's time, you know, is entire-
ly his own. What do you say to that, for a
day's work?"
It so happened that I was at the moment ad-
justing my wig and bands before the glass over
the chimney-piece, with my chin rather in the
air, preparatory to going into court for the day.
Otherwise my reply " Do you call that work ?"
would hardly have been resented as implying,
what it certainly was never intended to imply,
a disagreeable comparison.
"Call it work, indeed! It's about all- the
work I'm likely to get if I stick to this con-
founded profession till I'm as old as Adam. It's
all very well for you, my boy, who've got solicit-
ors for friends, and go into court every day of
your life, with three briefs in your bag, like a
little Daniel, to ask me if I call that work.
If you'd got a plate of chops and I'd got a plate
of sawdust, you'd ask me, I suppose, why I
didn't peg away like you, and whether I called
that eating. What next ?"
"Male energy," replied I, arranging my pa-
pers. "Don't wait for the chops. Peg away
at the sawdust now. That's your work, if you
only choose to make it so. But by your own ad-
mission you don't. You are not half in earnest
about it. Give it up, if it doesn't suit you ; but
don't dawdle away the best years of your life
under false pretenses. There's a bit of my mind
for you."
" A nice large piece too. However, there's
sense in what you say, old fellow. If I don't
see the result pretty near, I never do work with
more than half a will. That's about it, I ex-
pect."
" Exactly. You wait for work which is to
show a result at once, and in the mean time do
nothing worth doing at all. You don't find your
work your real work either in the profession
or any thing else."
' ' Which is a state of things to be immediately
rectified," observed Paul. " Just so. Now let's
see what I'll do I'll what! going already?
Why, it's hardly half-past nine.."
" I've a consultation with Buttermere at the
quarter to. We're in the first cause in to-day's
paper."
" Au revoir, then. I perfectly agree in all
you've said. I can take advice like a child, pro-
vided I get the article genuine. Hand me the
Times, will you? I must have a smoke over
all this. And, when I once do make up my
mind, why then Foig-a-ballagh ! as the Irish say
at Donnybrook."
CHAPTER II.
"BY the way, Worsley," inquired Mr. But-
termere, as, consultation over, we walked from
his chambers toward the court, "you've a man
of the name of Petersfeld with you in Stone
Buildings, have you not ?"
"Yes; we have shared chambers since his
call last January."
" Nice, amusing, gentlemanly fellow," pur-
sued Buttermere, in his peculiar soft, soup-eat-
ing tone. " Met him at dinner the other night.
One of the Westmoreland Petersfelds, I believe.
Isn't he an eldest son, and on his way to some
sort of property there ? I fancy I have heard
something about his family."
" Some day or other he comes, I believe,
into a very considerable estate, with a baronetcy
into the bargain. The present baronet is an
unmarried uncle. In the mean time his fa-
ther gives him no option but to follow the
law."
" Ha ! well, he couldn't do better. Does he
seem to take toi;, Worsley?"
"Oh yes; fairly enough. He is a man
who may do a great deal if he chooses ; and I
have a strong idea that he will come out in due
time. Petersfeld is one 6f those dashing, reck-
less fellows to whom our work is rather a grind
at starting."
" Ha! yes. My son, who was with him at
Trinity, tells me that he was first-rate on the r jv-
er a sort of recognized leader in every thing
in the way of a lark. That I take to be about
the best sign after all in a young man. I want
to ask him to dine with us some day. Will you
come and meet him ?"
"I shall be delighted, I am sure."
" That's well. You shall hear from Mrs.
Buttermere in the course of a week. But here
we are and just in time."
I could not help secretly smiling as I follow-
ed my leader into court. Report said that three
blooming olive-branches in muslin sat around
the prosperous table of Mr. Buttermere.. More-
over, that that learned gentleman was bound,
under high connuHal pains and penalties, to
'bring home' every eligible or promising young .
man whom he could pick up in court or else-
where, to be looked at by Mrs. Buttermere a~nd,
if found eligible, appropriated, if possible, for
the benefit of one or other of the three sedate
vestals aforesaid. It was a beautiful instance
of male and female energy, combining toward
a virtuous end.
My own position, I may at once say, was
scarcely such as to warrant Buttermere in bring-
ing me home. I was getting on well enough
for a comparative beginner, and that was all.
But Paul was handsome, dashing and attractive ;
and moreover blessed with ultimate prospects
which were of infinitely greater merit and im-
portance in the eyes of all sensible people. So
I felt that I was only to be asked for the sake of
making the thing rather less palpable ; and, giv-
ing Paul credit for being very well able to take
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
care of himself, gave myself no farther concern
about the matter.
Our case came to an end rather sooner than
we expected, and, having no other court business
on hand, I leisurely returned to chambers.
Ours were on the top story of Stone Buildings,
a fearful and wonderful height for human habi-
tation. You ascend by exactly one hundred
steps from the pavement outside to a suite of
rooms nice enough with one rather serious excep-
tion. A long, narrow aperture, some seven feet
from the ground, extending across the room just
below the ceiling, is the sole substitute for a win-
dow. Through this slice of glazing, when you
can reach it, you may look between the inter-
stices of a massive stone balustrade upon the fair
breadth of Lincoln's Inn Fields. To a couple
of acrobats such a window would probably be
the source of unmixed enjoyment, as they might
regale each other with alternate peeps the whole
day long. But, practically*, the necessity of ar-
ranging and climbing upon furniture every time
you wish to look abroad, becomes irksome and
irritating sooner than one would easily believe.
I found Petersfeld striding backward and for-
ward under this exasperating casement his
fine bronzed face on fire with excitement.
His arm-chair had been sent sprawling npon
its back his pipe lay extinct upon the table
while he crumpled and flourished a sheet of the
Times as he walked, like a sort of preposterous
pocket-handkerchief.
"Found it, Jack ! 'Found it! Told you I
should ! Never knew such luck in my life !"
"What's up now?"
"Up? Why look here! Not in a hurry,
are you? Sit down and read THAT!" contin-
ued he, thrusting into my hands the page con-
taining that mysterious "second column," at
which most of us glance every morning.
" There, Jack that's the place : ' Five hun-
dred pounds reward,' it begins. Read it out,
will you, old fellow ? I want to hear how the
thing runs. Come, fire away ! "
So with Petersfeld stalking backward and for-
ward before me, looking so defiantly resolute,
that it was all I could do to avoid laughing
outright, I took my seat upon the edge of the
table, and read as follows :
"FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD ! Disap-
peared lately, a YOUNG LADY, aged eighteen, of very
distinguished appearance. She. is slender and of middle-
height dark hair and eyes pale clear complexion, and
is in manner peculiarly graceful and self-possessed. She
had with her a very considerable sum of money ; hut,
it is believed, no personal luggage whatever. She wag
dressed, on leaving home, in a brown silk dress, purple
cloth jacket, white straw hat, trimmed with black velvet,
and grebe feather. Wore a curious oriental gold bracelet,
plain gold guard-chain, and watch by Rosenthal, Paris.
Whoever will bring her to Mr. Bloss, solicitor, No. 14,
New Square, Lincoln's Inn, or give information leading
to her recovery, shall receive the above reward. Thurs-
day, May 1."
" Now then, Worsley, what do you think
of that?" exclaimed Petersfeld, as I threw
down the*paper. "Did you ever hear of such
,a chance? Give you my horftr, I never did !"
"What on earth do you mean? Are you
going to find her?"
"Find her ! Certainly I am. My good fel-
low, don't laugh. This is exactly what I want-
ed ! Now you shall see something like energy !
I take my oath I'll find her, that's to say, if "
" If you can," suggested I, quietly.
" If she's above ground, Worsley ! Of course,
if I can't, I can't ; but I tell you I will. I'll
make it my business to find her. I give you
my honor I never felt as I do at this moment.
Now, I've a direct object in life. Just you
watch me while I pursue it ; and then tell me
I've no energy, if you dare," concluded Paul,
picking up his arm-chair, and arranging his neck-
tie' furiously at the glass.
"You don't mean to say that you are going
to begin this moment?"
"Don't I. Why should I lose one hour's
start ? I'm going at once to Bloss. I shall
pump him ; get all the information I can, and
probably leave London in one direction or an-
other, by an afternoon train."
' ' Petersfeld ! unless you have really gone
barking mad, stand still for one minute. Will
you listen to reason, or will you not ? If not,
say so, and I have done."
"Reason!" retorted Paul, looking slightly
piqued ; " are you going to advise me not to
try ? You needn't do that."*
" Nothing of the kind."
"Then can't you see that there is no time
to be lost. In a case of this sort every minute,
What's the good of conversation ?"
really gave you credit for more sense,
Petersfeld! You are just now in a mood to
make a mess of the whole thing. You'll ruin
your chance at first starting."
" Talk away, then," returned Paul. "Per-
haps I was a little too hot, after all, but then I
had considered more than you think, before you
came in. Really, I ought to be very much
obliged to you for taking so much trouble. So
I am : that's the fact."
I am ashamed to acknowledge that the ex-
travagant absurdity, the utter wantonness of the
whole proceeding, did not strike me as distinct-
ly as it ought to have done at the first blush.
I so thoroughly entered into Petersfeld's over-
whelming desire to engage in an adventurous,
exciting chase, in which every energy of mind
and body might be strained to the uttermost,
and in which success would afford such a glori-
ous omen of future, victories, that I simply
wished to prevent his rushing into immediate
and vexatious failure through sheer impetuosity
in the first instance. But, in fact, any attempt
at dissuasion would have been perfectly idle.
The hot spirit of pursuit was upon him that
strange indelible brand of the forest imprinted
upon every human heart. Jaques was quite
wrong when he piped over the stag, whose
" Big round tears
Coursed one another down his innocent nose."
Who that ever hunted, considered the stag's dis-
likings ? Who has pitied the wise and wonder-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
ful fox, or the hare so docile and original, so
glad to be an affectionate diverting fireside
companion, instead of that changed and ghastly
fugitive which nobody who has ever seen flying,
can ever forget? Whoever suggested that a
woodcock minded being winged ? What sailor
ever gave a thought to the feelings of his
chase, while overhauling her hand over hand to
the glorious banging pf his big bow-gun ? And
if a young lady of eighteen objected to being
dogged about the country by an exuberant j
young barrister of three-and-twenty, for no j
earthly reason except that he wanted occupation,
and had made up his mind to catch her, had she
any special ground of complaint, after having
advisedly placed herself in the catalogue of
ferce. natures ?
"All this will cost money, Paul," I ob-
served. "No use going into an affair of this
kind unless you mean to spend. Hast thou
' put money in thy purse ?' "
" Good lago, be easy upon that score. I had
an odd twenty guineas or so, which I was keep-
ing for Switzerland in the Long. They will
shortly be' in my cigar-case for this especial
purpose."
"It jvill also cost time," pursued I. "Our
courts won't be up this week."
" All the worse for them. What can a few
days, more or leSs, matter to me ? Our East-
er vacation begins almost directly, and I shall
have the whole of that quite free. Anyhow, I
go to-night ; that is, if I see reason."
" One more question : do you know B*loss ?"
" Not I. I shall call upon him in conse-
quence of his advertisement. Isn't that regu-
lar enough ?"
" Suppose you take" my card. Bloss and I
come from the same part of the world, and we
always nod when we meet. Scratch out my
name, in pencil, and write your own. It may
serve as a sort of introduction ; at least, I
think he'll consider it as such."
" Thank you very much. What sort of a
fellow is he ? By the way, how had I better
begin? That's the point I hadn't quite con-
sidered."
' ' Bloss is a great, fat, good-natured fellow,
who will talk and laugh with you for half an
hour together, without letting you be one bit
wiser than he chooses. I should say that the
more frankly you go to work the better. Don't
let him, at any rate, fancy that you are laying
traps for him. If you do, he'll shut up at once.
Go in and win. Shall we meet in Hall ?"
" Haven't an idea. All I know is, that I'm
down upon Bloss within the next t'wo minutes."
CHAPTER III.
Ax five o'clock on every evening during Term
time, we Chancery lawyers hold pleasant festi-
ral in the great dining-hall of Lincoln's Inn.
At the tables, running lengthways, toward
the lower end of the hall, sit the students, di-
vided into messes of four. Above, at the cross-
tables, distributed in the same manner, dine
the barristers ; while higher still, entrenched
behind a sort of oaken rampart, and raised
upon a da'is, the benchers of the Inn regale them-
selves it is believed upon the fare of the rich
man's table.
That the assisting at a certain number of
these dinners should be an indispensable pre-
liminary to a call to the bar has always been
a fruitful subject of pleasantry among peo-
ple of the " funny" class, who are perhaps
unnecessarily numerous. Of course I am not
going to explain, in these casual pages, any of
our esoteric doctrines our calm, professional
mysteries, which propter simplicilatem laicorum,
we habitually keep to ourselves. That would
never do. But I can safely declare that I have
enjoyed few dinners more than those at which I
"ate my terms, '^ while for plain fare and
good company, I ask nothing better than the
bar-table at Lincoln's Inn.
Petefsfeld and I entered the hall almost at the
same moment. .
"Just seen old Bloss," he whispered. " Got
a mess? Tell you all about it afterward."
And so the dinner began.
Our two comrades at the board were Broc-
klebank and Millworth : one a large, red, lusty,
noisy man ; the other singularly composed and
quiet, with an olive complexion' and a soft voice.
So remarkable an advertisement as that which
had just roused the curiosity of half London in
the morning papers, was not likely to pass with-
out comment at the bar-table.
"I say," exclaimed Brocklebank, who was
lecturer in some branch of jurisprudence at
Lincoln's Inn, "seen that queer advertisement
to-day, Worsley, about the beauty in brown
silk ? Richest thing I've known this long time !
By George, I expect to find my class empty to-
morrow. All our students will be after her. "
" You must have a very mild opinion of all
our students," observed Millworth.
" Lord bless you, why ?" retorted Brockle-
bank, with his strong, loud laugh. "You'll
be after her yourself, Millworth, I shouldn't
w^der. I can fancy the sly, innocent way
you'll go purring and peeping about, and how
you'll come back with your eyes half shut and
a perpetual smile, asking us all, confidentially,
if we know of a nice snug investment for 500
or so!"
"lassure you," said the other, with unchange-
able suavity, "you do me far too much credit.
Besides, if I were really such an egregious ras-
cal as to undertake the experiment, I ought to
have made my fortune long ago."
"Well done, Millworth!" said I, while'
Petersfeld flushed perplexedly, embarrassed with
the weight of his own secret. ' ' How do you
know that I'm not on the track myself?"
" If you are, I wish you joy of it k " returned
my neighbor with his easy smile.
" You have had the benefit of a candid opin
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
ion, at all events. But, seriously, Worsley,
what, a hideous state of mind must that man
be in who could undertake such an adventure
for the sake of the paltry reward."
" Not so paltry, after all. Besides, one offers
the other earns. Is there any harm in that ?"
"Worsley, yon are a gentleman. If you
wish to test the utter baseness of such a pur-
suit, just consider, what the young lady herself
would think of the man who could be vile enough
to follow and'molest her without any conceivable
inducement or excuse, beyond the miserable
hope of pocketing some few hundred pounds.
Of course we are all now speaking in joke, but
I should really like to tell that man my opinion
of him. I should indeed."
"Isn't that Millvvorth all over?" shouted
Brocklebank. " What a virtuous man he. is !
Now, I've no doubt whatever but that this
young woman is as thorough - going franche
aventwiere as ever met Monsieur Gil Bias.
Where did she get the ' very considerable sum
of money' she seems to have sidled away with
in her dainty pocket ? She's a naughty little
fashionable thief in my opinion. She hajyobbed
somebody who- was fool enough to trup her ;
and, I'll bet you what you like, ought not only
to be caught, but whipped int6 the'bargain, for
all her distinguished appearance."
"To my mind, noo," came a deliberate north-
ern voice from the adjoining mess, " I've listened
to two vara indifferent opinions, where I would
have thought to have heard two wise ones."
"What's the matter now, Kinghorn ?" cried
Brocklebank. "Don't you believe she's a thief ?"
" Do you want any more of my mind about
hunting her ?" inquired Millworth.
"I think ye may be both strangely in the
wrong. I think ye have both taken extreme
views ; neither of which was there any need to
take."
" In medio tutius ito," suggested Millworth.
"As to this young lassie," continued King-
horn, placing his elbows square upon the table,
and helping himself to a stupendous pinch from
the snuff-box which forms part of the regula-
tion-furniture of every bar-mess, " I can detect
no reason whatever for concluding her to be a
thief. Far more likely to my mind she is <te
innocent and virtuous, and has rin awa' from
home through some love trouble, which was na
kindly taken by those about her. Many girls
do flit away for the like reason. As to the lots
of siller spoken of in the advertisement, what
would be quantities to Mr. Brocklebank or my-
self, mightn't be so much out of the ordinary to
a well-to-do lassie. Anyhow, she has fled away
from the bosom of her family, or those who
have the caring for her, which is indubitably
the right place for her at eighteen. And it
'seems to me that he who can recover and win
her back before she falls into some terrible pit
of misery, and may be of sin, which may happen
to any girl of that simple age wandering alone,
would well deserve five hundred pounds and
more for the good office."
" Well, we must let her alone for the pres-
ent. They're going to say grace."
"Petersfeld," said I, as we rose from the
table, "are you off for the evening, or will you
smoke your pipe in chambers first ?"
"Certainly. I want to tell you what hap-
pened this afternoon. Are you going there
now ?"
" Yes, and I'll bring Kinghorn. He has a
first-rate head for a matter of this kind. If you.
have any thing to discuss, you couldn't have a
better adviser."
" Is he safe, do you think ? You know what
I mean. I mustn't have this talked about."
"To be sure he is. Besides, he has com-
mitted himself, you see, to the doctrine of inter-
vention, and Kinghorn never changed his mind
in his life. Go on, and I'll bring him."
And so, within ten minutes' time, we were
all three seated in that legal eyrie, of which I
have already made mention, with pipes alight,
coffee brewing upon the hob, and ready to dis-
pose of any conceivable question which could
be submitted to a council of counselors.
" I am well satisfied to be here," began King-
horn, quietly adopting to himself the arm-chair
and footstool of our chamber establishment;
"because I'll advise with you, Worsley, upon a
point of copy-hold which was much pressed upon
me this morning. Hereditaments parcel of the
Manor of A., and held "
" Pardon me one moment, Kinghorn. We
want to ask your advice upon a point which con-
cerns our friend here, personally. Would you
mind clearing his mind upon a private matter,
in the first instance, before we go to the Manor
of A. ? Afterward, my time for the rest of the
evening is quite at your disposal."
" By all means, my dear Worsley by all
means ! It is I who should ask pardon. Of
what would you speak ?"
' ' Of the young lady whose case we just now
discussed in Hall. Petersfeld is going to find
her."
" That's news, indeed !" exclaimed Kinghorn,
with a look of unqualified interest. "I am
glad, on my soul, that such a pursuit should be
undertaken by a gentleman so likely to bring it
to a creditable issue. May be you are acquaint-
ed with the lassie's whereabouts, or have some
other information to guide you ? Is it so, sir ?
"Wish I had," returned Petersfeld. "I
got some information this morning rather less
than I should have liked from Mr. Bloss,
whose name you may remember in the adver-
tisement. If you could help me to make head
or tail of it, I should really be obliged. Every
man's opinion is worth taking at the outset in a
case like this ; and yours, of course, Mr. King-
horn, would be a great favor."
This was said rather in the sort of blunt shy
way in which, of olden time, we who were not
then very old, were wont to avail ourselves, as
a disagreeable convenience, of the opinion of
our elders.
" You have only to ask my mind to know it,"
10
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
replied Kinghorn. "Well enough do I re-
member Bloss. If I had a hind leg to be
talked off I'd take it to Bloss. But, in the
mean time, let us hear what he said ; and give
me, if you have it, a copy of this advertisement,
which is the chief matter after all. Thank you.
Proceed now, Mr. Petersfeld, if you please."
And Paul, seating himeelf astride of a chair
with its back toward us, as if delivering his ex-
perience from the top of a small and unusually
stiff-necked pony, detailed for our benefit the
result of the first step instigated by those
euphonious syllables " Five hundred pounds
reward!"
CHAPTER IV.
IT may seem scarcely fair upon Petersfeld to
intercept him from giving, in the first person,
his own account of the interview between him-
self and Mr. Bloss. But an historian is bound
to consult the convenience of his readers, even
at the expense of strict justice to his dramatis
persona: And, in the present instance, it de-
manded so much conversational cross-question-
ing to extract the story entire, that I intend to
undertake it myself, as the shorter and more
intelligible course.
Lincoln's Inn clock had just struck two, as
Paul arrived at the great yellow door, No. 14
New Square, which bore the inscription in large
black letters, "MR. BLOSS."
As the postern of the forty thieves unlocked
itself spontaneously upon the very shallow sug-
gestion " open sesame!" so did Mr. Bloss's out-
er oak spring backward, as of its own accord, at
Petersfeld's decided rap. ,
Within was the indistinct vista of a passage,
terminating in a green-baize door ; with certain
pens or pews on the right, in which the work
which we barristers conventionally depreciate
as " clerical," was apparently in course of per-
formance.
"Yes ?" inquired the voice of the invisible
gentleman, who had pulled the string, which
raised the latch, which opened the door.
"Yes?"
" Yes," replied Petersfeld, with composure.
He was now fairly embarked on his enterprise,
and it would never do to be trifled with at
starting.
A round sleek face appeared over the nearest
pew door; and the owner having satisfied him-
self that Paul was what he inwardly designated
as a "swell," at once let himself out, and ap-
peared jn the passage.
' ' Wish to see Mr. Bloss, sir ? What name
shall I say ?"
" Be good enough to gay that Mr. Peters-
feld, of Stone Buildings, would be glad of five
minutes' conversation. Have the kindness, also,
to hand him my card."
"Certainly, sir," replied the clerk. "Mr.
Bloss is just at this moment engaged with a
gentleman from Oxfordshire ; but if you'll sit
down for one minute or so, he'll be happy to
| see you. There, that's his bell ! Go in, Tom-
my."
Tommy, whose clerical duties were apparent-
ly exercised in an adjoining pew, at once obey-
ed orders, and presently returned with a con-
siderable tin tray which filled the whole outer
office with a savor of beefsteak and onions, and
upon which an empty pewter tankard suggested
that those delicacies had been pleasantly wash-
ed down.
"Now, sir, I'll take your card in," said the
first clerk ; and whether the gentleman from
Oxfordshire had been smuggled off under the
tin tray, or how otherwise his exit had been
effected, as it most certainly had, must be left to
the conjectures of the inquisitive. At all events
Petersfeld was at once ushered through the
green-baize door, and found Mr. Bloss alone.
."Happy "to see you, Mr. Petersfeld very
happy indeed," exclaimed the solicitor. " I find
your name upon Mr. Worsley's card. Always
glad to meet any friend of Mr. Worsley.
Know his family well."
Hejjp Mr. Bloss pushed back his arm-chair
fromt^e table, and courteously motioning Paul
to an opposite seat, inspected him with a jolly,
benevolent air, as if the departed gentleman
from Oxfordshire had left him in a most even
and enviable frame of mind.
It would be a rare world, indeed, and not
without its recommendations, which should be
peopled exclusively with gentlemen cut out after
the exact pattern of Mr. Bloss. Fancy our
streets crowded with nothing but enormously
protuberant, white-'waistcoated, elderly men,
with immense flaxen faces, no hair to speak of,
pitcher lips, three chins apiece, and unsteady
blue eyes which float ever so long right and left
before they seem to lay hold of any thing in
particular. Fancy them all lolling and bobbing
about, perpetually saying, " ha, ha!" and what
a fine day it was, to each other, never grumbling,
never discontented, never in any thing but the
best of spirits, and think how charmingly we
should all get on.
"Happy to meet you," repeated Bloss, roll-
ing his plump white hands together, and kick-
i V bis immense legs into a listening attitude. "
" What can 1 have the pleasure of doing for
Mr. Petersfeld ?"
" I have troubled you, Mr. Bloss, in conse-
quence of an advertisement, mentioning your
name, which appeared in the Times this morn-
ing. I have a strong idea that I can find the
young lady."
"Ho, ho, ho!" chuckled Bloss. " Delight-
ed to hear that. Heartily hope you can. You
haven't .got her outside, have you ? Not left
her to play with those good little boys in the
office, I hope, hey?"
" Certainly not. I shall take better care of
her than that. I pught however, to explain
that my object in troubling you, at present, is
simply to ask whether you can give me any
information beyond that contained in the ad-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
11
vertisement the young lady's name, resi-
dence, and so forth, for instance."
"I can give you one very material piece of
information," replied Bloss, settling himself
cosily in his chair, and tapping- a paper-knife
upon his desk " and that is, that the 500
will be paid across this very table, upon pro-
duction of the young lady. That's a point, sir,
which, perhaps, you took for granted ; but it
ought to be gratifying to a practical man like
yourself, considering how these sort of things
are sometimes managed in fact, how they are
managed every day. The check is in this
drawer, sir. And this is the key."
" I never doubted it for one moment, Mr.
Bloss ; the advertisement being in your name."
"My name! ho, ho, ho! That's true
enough ; but I'm not the advertiser," inter-
rupted Bloss, with his comfortable laugh.
" The advertisement is not mine, my dear sir,
one bit more than yours. I'm to pay that's
all. I hold the money, and wait for the lady.
I'm a cat's-paw in the affair nothing else. I
can't give you any farther help, not I. I'm not
instructed to do it. I'm told not to do it.
Bring the lady take the check. That's all."
"In that case," returned Pettersfeld, not a
little disconcerted, " I'm sorry I troubled you.
Worsley told me that I might expect from you
the ordinary information, whatever that may
mean. However, if I am simply wasting your
time and my own, I had better wish you good-
day at once, and beg pardon for intruding."
"No, no, no!" replied Mr. Bloss. "Sit
down again, my dear sir, do. Don't run away
as if I wouldn't give you every sort of informa-
tion in my power, because I will. Only, un-
luckily, the best piece of advice I can give you
always supposing that you don't know more than
I do about this business is to let it alone."
"If that's the case," retorted Paul, "what's
the meaning of this confounded advertisement ?"
"Ha, ha, ha! What, of course? Well,
the fact is," continued Bloss, struggling between
the keen enjoyment of an interesting mystery,
amusement at Petersfeld's absurd crotchet, and
the obligations of professional reticence " the
fact is, speaking to you, Mr. Petersfeld, as a
barrister, and wishing, of course, to afford you
every assistance in my powar the fagt is, that
this young lady escaped, eloped levanted is, I
believe, the correct word upward of a fort-
night ago."
"The deuce she did?"
' ' Ha, ha ! it's a fact though. Her father,"
continued Bloss, cautiously balking himself be-
fore every word which might betray more than
he intended "knowing old customer as ever
lived, naturally thinks to himself, ' least said,
soonest mended' keeps all quiet in the first
instance, and simply sets two Scotland Tard
detectives upon her track before she had been
twelve hours out of his gates. Don't you see,
it was every thing that the scandal of this sort
of escapade shouldn't get wind in the county?"
" To be sure ! and so the detectives failed ?"
"Failed! I believe you. As I said just now,
they were hot-foot after her before she was well
over the lawn. They knew all that you know
from the advertisement and more too. Much
more, of course. Yet not one trace of the girl
did they ever manage to discover. Not a bit of
it. From that day to this she- has just as much
disappeared as if she had been sunk in the sea.
By the way, that reminds me: every likely
port in the kingdom has been watched day and
night ; so I'm told. It's the most extraordi-
nary thing I ever knew, Mr. Petersfeld ; and
that's the fact. Ha, ha, ha !"
" And the present advertisement ?"
" Why, don't you see ? She must be some-
where. The detectives have done their outside.
They've come home and said ' no go.' There-
fore, the only chance is to appeal to those who've
got her. 500 is a good lot of money, Mr. Pe-
tersfeld, as we both know; and if that doesn't
tempt them to hand her over, or lead to some ac-
count of her, why, " continued Mr. Bloss, rolling
himself up more cosily than ever, and stabbing
himself playfully with his paper-knife, " why,
that's about the end of the story, I take it."
"You said something about being a mere
cat's-paw in the business. You'll excuse my
curiosity, I am sure. I shall not trouble you
again."
"Oh law! don't mention it. Ask what you
like, Mr. Petersfeld. Cat's-paw, indeed, ha, ha !
that's just what I am. Don't you see, this clev-
er old gentleman who would manage it all him-
self, advertisements and every thing, didn't want
his own solicitors' names to appear in the mat-
ter. There was a reason for that. If they had,
all their clerks would have guessed directly who
the young lady was. Their house had acted-for
her father in a chancery suit, to which she was
a party. However, never mind about that.
He didn't want those clerks to ge* wind of the
thing, and go talking right and left as of course
they would. Law, you've no idea how clerkf
do talk. So he just told his people to put it
into my hands, so far as the reward was con-
cerned ; that's all. My chaps here know no
more of the family than the man in the moon,
so they can't tell tales. The other chaps, there,
not having the thing popped under their noses,
as it were, don't think about her more than any
body else. In fact, my name appearing, you
see, they're cock-sure the matter doesn't concern
any of their clients. It was a neat dodge, that,
indeed ha, ha!"
" I will trouble you with only one ques-
tion more," said Petersfeld. " The advertise-
ment mentions a considerable sum of money. 1 '
"So it does. Large sum, indeed. Very
large. Quite a little fortune. Just about the
funniest part of the whole affair, that is. But
really, Mr. Petersfeld, I shall be telling more
than I ought if I don't shut up soon, and upon
my honor, I've told you a great deal. Hope you
don't think I should have done as much for ev-
ery body, ha?"
"Certainly not," replied Petersfeld rising.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
" You have told me every tiling which as it
seems I could, under the circumstances,, fairly
ask, and I am exceedingly obliged. Good-day,
Mr. Bloss. I am afraid you must wait until
next week for the young lady !"
"Good-day good-day!" laughed the jolly
old gentleman, ringing his bell. "Law bless
me, what a funny start it is, to he surCj" repeat-
ed he to himself, long after Petersfeld had dis-
appeared in the passage " Only to think of the
advertisement of a runaway girl in a newspaper,
setting a young chap wild like that! What
upon earth does he want with her ? Is he go-
ing to take his reward out in love or money, I
wonder? Ha, ha, ha !"
" And yet," continued Mr. Bloss, musing to
himself, "what a strange round things do run,
to be sure! That I should have drawn that will
more than forty years ago ! That I should have
had charge of that child when she first landed
in England ! And now, that this boy should
come to me for information about her knowing'
just as much of Miss Helen, as I do of next
month's baby! Almost wish I had told him
more. Give a good deal to think she was in
safe hands again. But it would have been no
use no use at all ! Very strange the whole
thing is, but as for Petersfeld ha, ha, ha !"
And so diverting did Mr. Bloss consider his
recent conversation, that he merrily recounted it
that self-same evening to his son and heir, Mr.
Eldon Bloss, barrister-at-law, over a chosen bot-
tle of port, with strict injunctions not to let the
cat out of the bag upon any account whatever.
Unluckily Mr. Eldon's bag was about as un-
safe an enclosure as his papa's. But whether
or not this piece of paternal and after-dinner
confidence was justified by the result, must be
discovered in a future chapter.
CHAPTER V.
"WELL," exclaimed I, as Petersfeld con-
cluded his narrative, "Bloss has been a great
deal more communicative than I should have ex-
pected. I suppose he felt himself a cat's-paw,
as you say, and behaved accordingly. But,
after all, are we much wiser than before? If
we are, I don't seem to see it."
" How does it strike you, Mr. Kinghorn ?"
inquired Paul, quietly disparaging my remark.
"Worsley, there, never does see things. He'd
be chancellor one of these days, if 4ie could."
" It strikes me," replied Kinghorn gravely,
" that this visit of yours, Mr. Petersfeld, has
been by no means unproductive. I am inclined
to opine that it throws a new light altogether,
upon this advertisement."
"You think so!" cried Paul, immensely
pleased. "Well, now, if you wouldn't mind
telling us what you think about the whole matter,
I should be really obliged. Of course I gathered
something from Bloss, butSI have hardly had
time to think it into shape, yet."
"Very strange," observed Kinghorn thought-
fully, "was the foolish failure of those detect-
ives, placed upon the track as it were, just the
minute the lassie escaped from bounds, and yet
dumbfounded- from the outset. A private man
may indeed be a great fule, which need never
be wondered nt, seeing he may have been taught
no better. But these men, one would suppose,
were trained to their trade, and that a young
girl should all at once ouUvit them, and flee
away from under their noses, without leaving
trace or track behind, passes my comprehension
altogether. The present reward would make
me think they were not ill-fee'd, and yet they
must have been strangely remiss."
"We shall come to about the same conclu-
sion, Kinghorn, after all," observed I.
"By no means. For mark you this : when
I cast my eye over the advertisement this morn-
ing, it never occnrred to me that the ' con-
siderable sum of money' mentioned therein,
need be more than a weel-filled purse of gold,
such as any young lady of rank and position
as the present undoubtedly is might be s.up-
posed to have at her command. You may rec-
ollect that I stated as muMi just now in Hall.
And indeed, 500 would be no more than
friends might well offer for the recovery of such
a girl, without any respect to her belongings.
But now Bloss has told us that this sum of mon-
ey is another thing altogether ! Quite a little
fortune, you say, were his own words. This
alters the case most strangely. Heaven help
her, she must have purloined it !"
"Purloined it!" exclaimed Petersfeld with
an indignant start. "Impossible! You are
joking, Mr. Kinghorn." ,
It was useless to struggle against the explo-
sion provoked by this fiery and unlooked-for bit
of championship. Luckily Petersfeld saw the
matter in our light, and laughed as loud as we.
"Still, Mr. Kinghorn," he persisted, "I don't
see why you should come to any such conclusion
without even the shadow of evidence to sup-
port it. There is nothing that I know of, either
in the terms of the advertisement, or in what
Bloss has told us, inconsistent with the money
having been her own."
" How do you suppose she may have earned
it, sir ?" inquired Kinghorn dryly.
" Earned it ! I am not going to suppose any
thing of the kind. But why may it not have
been left to Her been her own fortune, in fact ?
Nothing more likely."
"Left 'to her? her own fortune?" repeated
Kinghorn, looking at Paul, with a half curious,
half compassionate expression. "Why now, a
parson's daughter might have propounded to me
that query well enough, but surely not Mr.
Petersfeld of Stone Buildings. Will you tell
me this, sir Who would have taken her re-
ceipt?"
"True enough," rejoined Paul, after a mo-
ment's reflection. " Of course at eighteen she
could not give a discharge for money."
"I doubt if there be a young lady heiress
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
13
or no heiress aged eighteen, within the united
Kingdom," pursued Kinghorn, abstractedly, with
the tone of one who has been in contact with
ignorance, "who at this moment could lawfully
put, say a couple of thousand, into her pocket,
and proceed to expend it after her own sweet
will let alone in gallanting about the country on
her own hook. It could not be, sir."
" What are we to conclude then ?" demanded
Petersfeld, with a gasp of despair.
"Let us conclude nothing against the yonng
lady's probity without farther testimony. Many
a suspicious matter admits of being explained easi-
ly, which is incomprehensible for want of knowing
one simple fact. When I employed the word ' pur-
loined,' I made use perhaps of a term, for which
there was no need. But now, observe. From
whomsoever's custody or Weping that money
was removed, as it undoubtedly was, it must
have been carried away in notes, or paper of
some sort. And, knowing thus much, it scarce-
ly can be difficult to discover that person's name
and abode. And thereupon, you have made a
grand step at once."
"He would advertise, you mean?"
"Surely. What man do you suppose would
sit down and blink, with his hands before him,
in such a state of affairs. He would stop the
notes if notes they were at the bank, and ad-
vertise in all the papers. You may depend
upon that. And he would do so, mind you,
the first moment he discovered his ill-fortune,
which, according to your information, may well
be some weeks ago. This is but a suggestion,
yon'll'observe, Mr. Petersfeld, which you must
work out for yourself. I only affirm that if this
'very considerable sum of money' has not
been already advertised, it is more than strange :
and that, if you are only canny enough to pick
out the right advertisement, you will have made
a strong beginning."
"It's a good idea, anyhow," exclaimed Pe-
tersfeld. "But suppose after all she happened
to carry it away in cash ?"
" Whoo, now ! that's a bright notion, truly !
Why, man, a couple of thousands, even, in sover-
eigns, is more than any lassie living would trav-
el under far, were it all she had to keep her for-
ever. Besides, though I've seen the value of
such a sum in a house, or a steamer, or may be
a drove of black beasts, I never yet saw it to-
gether in stamped gold, except at the mint in-
deed, neither I'll wager did you."
" Well, I've no doubt but you're right. Can
you suggest any farther clue ?"
" I can. Have you not just heard that the
lassie disappeared some three weeks back ?"
" All the worse for me, I should say."
"Not quite. It is indubitably discouraging
to find that she has been pursued by detectives
so long in vain. Nevertheless, to my mind it
opens just this chance. The advertisement I
hold in my hand is not addressed, you see, to
lierself."
"No. To use Bloss's words, it is addressed
to those who've got her."
"It is. And you recollect he added that
the scandal of this escapade, as he named it,
was to be avoided by all means. That's just
why the present step, careful as it is, has been
so long delayed. That's why they don't give
you an address, or an initial even, don't you see.
But I would engage that some notice intended
for the young lady's eye alone has already ap-
peared ; and knowing what you now know, or
may adroitly discover, there's no saying but that
it might supply a link at least. In short, you
must just lay side by side every thing that you
can find out any way which seems likely to
bear upon the present matter, and I doubt not '
but that, with perseverance and good luck, Mr.
Petersfeld, you may at last lay hold of the clew-
hope; and then, with a long pull and a strong
pull, who knows but you may even end by haul-
ing in the young leddie herself. Never was
neater description laid on paper than that with
which her friends have provided you in this
present advertisement. And so I wish you the
needful luck very honestly."
"I'm immensely obliged indeed," returned
Paul. " You'll excuse me, I'm sure, if I leave
you at once. , I shall just drop down to my
club, and look through last month's file of thje
Times. Gopd-night, Worsley. I shall send you a
line some day to let you know my whereabouts.
And, if I shouldn't turn up in a hurry, don't put
me in the pap'er, that's all."
"Strange, vary," muttered Kinghorn, as
Paul disappeared. " Is he gone off, think you,
without bag or baggage, to seek after this
anonymous hussy ? According to the adver-
tisement, she's just as ill provided. So they'll
make but an untidy couple."
"Oh, dear no. We share chambers here
during the day ; but Petersfeld has his own, or
rather his father's, rooms in. the Albany. He
comes down here pretty regularly as early as
breakfast now and then just to show that he is
really one of us."
" I see. One hundred fi' pound notes is a
handful indeed. He would like it?"
"Like it? Probably he would. However,
I'm quite certain that's not his object in this
present instance. I believe that, so far as
Petersfeld knows his own mind, he is entirely
actuated by a restless adventurous spirit, which,
must cut out immediate work for itself, the
more arduous the better. Besides, in this in-
stance, there is a tinge of romance curiosity to
gratify, with perhaps a bit of gallantry into the
bargain. Surely this is enough to account for
the whim of an unemployed and impetuous
young man."
"Undoubtedly. And I wish him winning
luck with all my heart, for he's a nice gentle-
manly lad indeed. But faith, Worsley, to run
your nose into places where you're neither asked
for -nor expected, is just the Deil and St.
Dunstan over again. And we all know what
happened of that. The present is not a com-
mon case, I am certain ; and I'd have your
friend look out for something besides purring
14
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
and velvet paws. Not that I would dissuade
him from the adventure altogether, since lie has
set his heart upon it. But he may cry ' would
it were bed-time and all well ! ' like old John
Falstaff at Shrewsbury, before he finds him-
self fairly through the business, and safe out on
the other side. And now may be you'd not
mind turning over with me the copy-hold query,
of which we began to speak awhile ago ?"
" With the greatest pleasure," returned I.
And we were soon deep in the discussion of
an entertaining controversy, touching the exact
position of the representatives of a defunct copy-
holder, late tenant of the Manor of A.
And the same hour beheld Petersfeld seated
in the most sequestered corner of his club libra-
ry, diligently conning over the last month's file
of the Times, between a towering pair of silver
candlesticks^ which he had ordered the waiter to
place beside him, upon either hand ; so that no
possible mistake in his investigations should oc-
cur through want of sufficient light.
And here it becomes necessary to divert the
course of our narrative, in order to make room
for other people whose turn has come to appear
upon the stage.
CHAPTER VI,
FOUR or five days, if I remember rightly, had
elapsed since the occurrences of my-last chap-
ter, during which I had heard nothing whatever
of Petersfeld. I knew his independent, unbus-
iness-like habits better than to expect him to
write, without any particular necessity. In
fact, to take any sort of trouble "for fun," as
he called it, was ' altogether out of his line.
And, being at the time unusually pressed with
work, I took very, little heed of his absence,
satisfied that he would turn up, some fine morn-
ing, just as easily as he had disappeared.
The first rlews f heard of him was in a letter,
bearing the Paris postmark, which I found with
two or three others, upon my breakfast-table.
It was short :
4t Grand Hotel, Boulevard des Capucins, Tuesday.
" DEAR WOESLET : In Paris, as you see.
Full on the scent, thanks to Kinghorn ; but just
now at a confounded check. Expect me at
Stone Buildings some time to-morrow. Yours,
ever,
PAUL G. PETERSFELD."
Another note, written in a clear, feminine
hand, said :
" Mr. and Mrs. Buttermere request the hon-
or of Mr. John Worsley's company at dinner in
Harley Street on Friday next, the 9th instant,
at seven o'clock."
There was a corresponding envelope address-
ed to Petersfeld ; evidently a counterpart of
mine, and which I accordingly took the liberty
of opening and answering in his name. I had
no objection myself to the capital dinner which
Buttermere always hung out ; and I knew that
Petersfeld liked to extend the circle of his visit-
ing acquaintance in all respectable directions.
Moreover, nothing vexes a man of the world
more than to have left an invitation of any sort
unanswered, even for a single post. It is one
of those cases in which excuses count for little ;
being a simple crime in itself, like sending let-
ters without stamps, or calling people by wrong
names.
Perhaps the reader may like to accompany
these twin notes of acceptance to their destina-
tion, and make acquaintance at once with the
three young ladies of whose existence he has
already become aware.
"There, girls !" exclaimed Mrs. Buttermere,
tossing the notes upon the table, at which her
daughters sat engaged in various feminine oc-
cupations around tne evening lamp. "That's
fortunate. We shall just make up fourteen at
dinner on Friday. Mr. Worsley and Mr. Peters-
feld are both coming. Here's our list ; so. you
may set to work and arrange it among your-
selves. I'll just look in and tell your papa that
it's all settled. He'll like to know."
Whether that eminent Queen's counsel liked to
know any thing unconnected with the contents
of the great white briefs, which he systematic-
ally devoured after dinner, and digested until
bed-time, is not so certain. But,' at all events,
their mamma's absence gave the young ladies
the opportunity of discussing that fashionable
domestic puzzle how shall they sit entirely
at their leisure.
Charlotte, Louisa, and Belinda were the
names of these damsels. Collectively, however,
they were better known as "Lotty, Loo, and Lin-
da" among those of the junior members of our
fraternity who had the luck to enjoy an entree
to the house in Harley Street. And, to tell
the truth, there were a good many stories cur-
rent touching transactions between various young
gentlemen whose first wig was still crisp and
curly, and the several partners in that elegant
firm. This, however, is no business of mine.
Now, whensoever there chance to be three
maiden daughters of one house, it invariably
happens, if the experience of centuries is to
count for any thing, that the youngest is all that
is nice and lovely ; the elders jealous and un-
kindly disposed.
From the age of Khosrou Schah, whose' un-
paralleled matrimonial disasters are recorded
in the Arabian Nights from the birthday of
Cinderella, or that of the unlucky Beauty of
Beastly memory from the time of Regan and
Goneril the rule has constantly held good.
Nobody, therefore, need be surprised to find
that Linda enjoyed the proper advantages, and
paid the peculiar penalties of her birthright.
But more of her in her turn.
. Lotty, the senior partner, was of the venera-
ble age of twenty-one. She was blonde, mod-
erately handsome, and the victim of a dissatis-
fied spirit. The world, according to her think-
ing, was not altogether as happy a place as it
might have been. Its grapes hung high, and
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
15
were probably sour and dusty. Whether she
had been disappointed in her own private glean-
ing, is more than I can tell. But it was early
days to disbelieve in that ladder of Gold so long
delayed, so often raised when least expected.
One remembers a cynical French saying that
in thinking over the misfortune of our best
friend, there is always the germ of a pleasant
sensation. In the present instance, the theory
received an illustration. Whatever may have
been Lotty's particular crosses, they attracted a
very mild amount of sympathy from her junior
partners, who, on the contrary, were in the hab-
it of posting up in the private ledgers of memo-
ry all her peevish sayings and doings, for repro-
duction at inconvenient opportunities.
In every contest for a favorite cavalier
seat in a carriage, or place at a picnic, it was so
atrociously delightful to be able to say " Oh,
Lotty doesn't care for this "sort of thing. She's
so good she won't mind;" a quiet process of
annihilation which would probably have discon-
certed a saint, had Lotty been such in good
earnest.
Loo, the second partner, was some two years
younger than her sister handsomer, cleverer,
and any thing but used up. Her first object
in life was to cut out Lotty by some splendid
coup in the matrimonial bazar. Her second, to
escape being cut out by Linda, who was bent
upon winning, and in fact coming 'up at a dan-
gerous pace. The very idea, good gracious,
of the celebrated firm coming to grief that way,
and suddenly collapsing into "Lotty and Loo
spinsters." was a great dpal too dismal for sober
realization. Unluckily, it appeared any thing
but an improbable wind-up of the existing busi-
ness.
Fair, like her sisters, Linda's figure was pet-
ite and faultless, while her delicately-modeled
features had that peculiar and indescribable
charm which so rarely survives the school-room.
Very few faces retain that bewitching air of
naivete and innocence up to the time when its
value would be beyond all price. And hers, to
use an expression which is at least intelligible,
was a regular little kitten-face ; now so de-
liciously demure, now, in an instant lighting
up, as if fun or mischief were the only things in
the world worth living for.
Her complexion was the most perfect thing
you ever saw, and her hands oh those wonder-
ful little white hands ! ought to have had a chap-
ter all to themselves in Dr. Bell's Bridgewater
treatise. To call those twinkling fairy fingers
"organs," was plain profanation. Any one
could see that they were not constructed for
mere every-day useful purposes. They had, in-
deed, much more destructive work before them,
and had already endangered many a young
gentleman's peace of mind. And they would
probably continue to do so again and again, un-
til at last one of them should be imprisoned in
a tiny gold circlet, by way of pledge that they,
one and all, should thereafter keep the peace,
and do mischief no more forever.
Besides these advantages, Linda dressed bet-
ter than her sisters, partly, perhaps, from better
taste partly, certainly, from more extensive,
opportunities. For Buttermere, who was quite
foolish over his youngest pet, had a way of every
now and then giving her his gloves to mend ;
when, owfng doubtless to the prodigious amount
of fees which diurnally traveled through the
hands of that learned gentleman, a stray sov-
ereign or so was frequently found lodged in the
thumb.
And it was quite a treat to sec the paternal vis-
age expand, as Linda jumped upon his knee with
the resuscitated gloves, exclaiming, "There papa!
Aren't they nicely sewn ? Do you know, I don't
wonder you found them uncomfortable ! If you
only knew the no end of work I've had clearing
all sorts of rubbish out of the fingers !"
Now it is no part of my business to tell tales of
my characters, or even allude to their failings
unnecessarily. Therefore, lest any thing which
it may fall within my province hereafter to relate
should happen to convey a disadvantageous im-
pression of little Linda, I wish every body dis-
tinctly to recollect that her chances and edu-
cation had been sadly against her, and to lay
the saddle upon the right horse.
Her mother, a mere worldly woman of little
sense, would have spoiled most girls in her un-
blushing attempts to pitchfork them into matri-
mony. ' ' Train up a child in the way she
shouldn't go, and when she grows up will be time
to depart from it" is a maxim neither safe nor
sound, albeit acted upon by wiser people than
Mrs. Buttermere. Her father's petting was
scarcely less injudicious, and placed her in a
false position with regard to her sisters ; who, in
their turn, were perhaps in some small degree
less inexcusable for uncharity toward a sisterly
rival.
Such, however, was the firm ; in which, if the
partners didn't sec their way toward pulling all
together, there was quite as much cordiality,
and probably less discord, than I have known in
certain grand commercial houses doing real bus-
iness in this city of London.
But it is time to return to the drawing-room
table.
" Read out the card, Linda !" exclaimed Loo.
"Don't keep it all to yourself. We want to know
who's coming."
" All right, Loo, my dear. First of all Mr.
Justice Brindlebun and Lady Brindlcbun."
" Well, that settles itself. Papa takes my
lady. Mr. Justice waits on mamma. Who
next ?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Springletop Mr. and Mrs.
Poppit. Hands across, don't you see ? that's
all. Married people ought to dine with married
people and entertain one another about their
families."
' ' Much you know about the matter ! How-
ever, you're right for once," remarked Loo.
" The fact is, Mr. Springletop and Mrs. Poppit
do flirt so desperately whenever they get a chance
that they not only entertain each other, bu*.
1C
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
every body else. Poor little Mr. Poppit ! He
docs get so aggravated, and then drinks like a
fish and shouts out questions across the table
to Mr. Springletop, which he knows he can't an-
swer, on purpose to make him shut up and look
foolish."
"How many more?" demanded Lotty.
" Only three all bachelors Mr. Goldwin,
Mr. Worsley, and Mr. Pctersfeld."
"Well?"
"Just what we want," rejoined Linda. "You
shall have Mr. Goldwin, Lotty, my dear, because
he's a beautiful dark dandy with diamond studs
and an eye-glass, and all that sort of thing:
much too good for small people like me ; and
Loo shall have Mr. Worsley, because, though he's
rather a muff, he's going to be Vice-Chancellor
or something, some day, papa says. And I'll
dine with Mr. Petersfcld, because there's no-
body else left. Nothing could be more capital."
Naturally enough this cool appropriation of
the new guest, about whom a great deal of curi-
osity, to say the least of it, existed, was not re-
ceived with acclamation by the elder sisters.
"You are quite welcome to Mr. Petersfeld,
Linda," observed Lotty in a freezing voice.
" Quite." added Loo, with a slight toss of her
head. "We wouldn't stand in your way upon
any account."
" Why, what nonsense ! You know perfectly
well that there's no choosing in the matter.
He's the youngest of the three and can't well be
sent down before them ; and I'm the youngest
of you, so we must go together hey ?"
To this unsatisfactory truth the sisters could
only reply by a mitigated, young-lady-like snort.
" I can't conceive what you mean, either of
you," resumed Linda, almost out of patience.
" You seem to want a quarrel, and to expect
me" to begin."
"I wish you were back in the school-room !"
broke out Loo, impetuously. " It's too bad that
such a chit as you should always interfere with
arrangements. Mamma should get a* great big
school-boy with short trousers and a silver watch
for your partner. Then you wouldn't make a fool
of yourself, and of us into the bargain."
"I'm afraid what Charley Lavender said of
you at his club yes, up in the smoking-room,
before goodness knows how many men is only
too true," murmured Lotty. "I wish you
.were aware, Linda, of what men do say of girls
who come down stairs before they know the way
of the world, or what's what in society."
"Perhaps Mr. Petersfeld likes that sort of
thing, "continued Loo. "I hear he is eccentric.
Isn't he to have ever so many thousand a year,
and to be a baronet some day, when somebody
dies ?"
"Don't ask me," growled Lotty. "I know
nothing whatever about Mr. Petersfeld. Linda
has it all pat, I'll be bound."
To this petulant explosion of ultra-sisterly
jealousy Linda disdained a corresponding reply.
To place an angry person plainly in the wrong
is to pull the bone from a snarling dog. He
must have something to worry, and ten to one if
you interfere with his occupation as it stands,
you will divert it with very little advantage to
yourself. I don't mean to say that she was not
considerably annoyed at the moment ; but, how-
ever* that may have been, she came down upon
her sisters with a brilliant flank movement, which
disconcerted them both.
"Come!" said she, her sunny little face
lighting up, as if with some delightful idea. " I
couldn't be as old as Lotty, of course, if I tried ;
and as to being as wise as you, Loo, my dear, that's
still more out of the question. However, I beg
to decline the school-boy, and to offer you both
abet if you only dare to take it."
"A bet!" exclaimed Lotty contemptuously.
"Certainly. Mr. Petersfeld, you'll observe,
is none of my choice. Moreover, I have never
set eyes upon him in my life. Now, we are
engaged logo to the Zoological Gardens on Sat-
urday with those dreadful country cousins, the
whole clan of the Bunnytails are we not?"
" Dear me, I had forgotten it, I declare,"
replied Loo. " Why on earth we need be so
frightfully civil to them every time they think
proper to come to town, passes my comprehen-
sion altogether !"
"My gracious, Loo, don't you know better
than that ? Members of Parliament, like papa,
must take notice of their constituents, even
when they aren't their own brothers-in-law, as
Mr. Bunny tail is. Why, papa would have been
turned out last election, if it hadn't beenTorMr.
Bunnytail and his friends, the farmers. If he
and aunt were ten times as dreadful, they'd
have to be rubbed the right way. But no mat-
ter for that. We are going to the Zoological
Gardens, are we not ?" .
"I suppose we are. Worse luck to us. I
do hate dromedaries and all that 'sort of thing
like poison."
" Never mind the dromedaries. Listen to
me. I bet you each a pair of new gloves that
Mr. Petersfeld shall not only talk to me all the
evening after dinner, but that he shall appear
at the Zoological Gardens next day, and talk to
me, and me alone, and follow me about all the
afternoon like a regular showman. There,
now ! Say ' done,' if you dare !"
" Well, you are too dreadful, Linda !" gasped
Lotty. " Do you mean to say that you'll actu-
ally ask him to come sweet-hearting, like a
housemaid? I do hope to goodness gracious
he's a modest man, or got some rag of decency
left him, that's all !"
' ' Fiddlestick, Charlotte ! I give you my
honor I will never even allude to the Gardens,
if either of you will simply let him know we are
going. Now, there's a fair wager. You have
called me all sorts of contemptuous names.
Now, I defy you both! Why don't you say
'done?'"
"Who's' to be umpire?" demanded Lotty,
with a supercilious air. "Are we to believe
our own eyes, or only what you may please to
tell us ?"
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
17
"Judge for yourselves, of course!" replied
Linda. " What do you suppose I should care
for victory, if I didn't make you acknowledge
your defeat ?"
" Done with you," said Loo, desperately.
" A pair of new gloves at three-and-six."
"Done!" echoed Lotty, who 'didn't see ex-
actly what else to say, though she had uncom-
fortable misgivings as to the result. "I'm ut-
terly ashamed of the whole thing, Linda ; hut if
willful will, why willful must. I only hope
you'll get a right-down, good lesson, without
disgracing any body besides yourself. Of course
Mr. Petersfeld may be fool enough for any
thing, for all we know."
"Part of my chance !" retorted Linda laugh-
ing. " Recollect, my number is six and a
quarter, and my favorite color bright chocolate.
Recollect, also, that I leave it to your honor to
tell fairly about the Zoo. I promise not to say
a word myself."
CHAPTER VII.
IT was not until four o'clock of the very day
of the Buttermere dinner, that Petersfeld made
his appearance at chambers, on his way from
the terminus at ^London Bridge. I had natu-
rally begun to feel not a little uneasy at his ab-
sence, for it is no joke to have forged a man's ac-
ceptance to a note of invitation, and to be obliged
to confess the fact with shame, at the last mo-
ment, to a justly irritated and disappointed
hostess.
His arrival, therefore, was a welcome relief,
although I was too much engaged at the moment
to listen to the story of his adventures. Ac-
cordingly, he soon took his departure, promis-
ing to appear in Harley Street at seven punctu-
ally, and engaging me on the other hand to ac-
company him, after dinner, to the Albany, and
hear all he had to tell, even if we gave the
whole night to it.
Three facts, indeed, were all that I had time
to gather during our short interview. First :
that he had actually ascertained the name and
late abode of the missing young lady, beyond
all possibility of mistake. Secondly : that
like the detectives themselves he had signally
failed in discovering any clue whatever to her
actual whereabouts. Lastly: that he had ar-
rived at the irrepressible and uncomfortable
misgiving, that all was not as it should be upon
the part of her friends to use his own words,
that there was foul play somewhere.
This belief, indeed, had worked itself so
deeply into his mind, that the idea of a mere
exciting chase, brilliant with adventure, and
perhaps closing in romance, was no longer as
I could easily perceive the principal motive for
continued exertion.
Lightly as the pursuit had been taken up, it
might as lightly have been abandoned, but for
a grave change in the aspect under which he
had begun to view it. Wondering even to him-
B
self at the blind and headlong manner in which
he had rushed recklessly into what was in the
outset, certainly no business of his, a gradual
conviction had possessed his mind, that by $.
sort of providential chance, he had blundered
into an affair in which he was, as it were, a pre-
destined actor, with a duty and a responsibility
deservedly cast upon his hands.
Is there any thing in this to smile at ? Did
you yourself, reader of these pages, never en-
counter some sudden, some unexpected occasion,
upon which you might have made yourself the
instrument of untold good, had you only chosen
to interfere ? I use the word " interfere" advis-
edly, for in its base and secondary sense, it has
probably furnished as much excuse for plain
neglect of duty, as any in the English language.
Was it not, if you recollect, one day when you
passed on, happy to be able to assure yourself
that the matter was no business of yours ? No ?
Then you are fortunate, indeed. I have : and
the recollection has embittered many a moment
since. It was an opportunity offered me, a
chance of service, the reward of which was, as-
suredly, not in this world. But I passed on,
with the dreadful, the irrevocable truth upon my
lips, that the affair was no business of mine.
However, since nothing can be more foreign
to my purpose than to regale my reader with
melodramatic extravagance, I may at once say
that Petersfeld was altogether wrong in his sus-
picion that any thing like foul play had occurred
in the present instance. That, in his hot inex-
perience, he may have had strong apparent rea-
son for coming to the conclusion which he did,
is quite possible, but another thing altogether,
as in due time will.appear. Meanwhile, it may
be as well not to be late for dinner.
As I happened to be the first arrival in Harley
Street that evening, I had not only the pleasure
of being very kindly welcomed by the family
present, but of entertaining myself with watch-
ing other people as they entered the room.
Those who study character, should always
avail themselves of such an opportunity, where
a great deal that is suggestive may often be
picked up in a few moments.
The fact is, that although the entering a
drawing-room before dinner is a feat which
many people perform several times in the course
of each week of their lives, yet such are the
conditions of complete civilization, that between
the clatter and clang at the hall door, announc-
ing the first arrrival, and the welcome appari-
tion at the drawing-room door of an obsequious
personage in black, shortly after the arrival of
the last, there is generally an embarrassing in-
terval, which a recent Chinese embassador used
to rejoice in, as the only portion of the day dur-
ing which he found himself reminded of the
ineffable proprieties of his own Flowery Land.
It is a mauvais quart d'heure, during which
nobody appears to be naturally alive when
wits are shy and beauties dull, and when mid-
dle-aged gentlemen, who in ten minutes' time
are going to be jolly for the rest of the evening,
18
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
talk grievous platitudes with a miserable show
of being quite serious, and positively amused
in good earnest.
-And, as each successive visitor alights .with-
in the spell-bound circle, it is with such reckless
resignation to the exigency of the moment, that
to guess from first appearances what he or she may
be like in more lucid intervals, or may probably
turn out after a short course of soup and sherry,
presents a problem well worthy the attentioa of
any unoccupied philosopher.
Thus Mr. and Mrs. Poppit sidled in first,
with a conscious simper, as if they had just
been privately married in the cloak-room.
Mr. and Mrs. Springletop came next, with
radiant air and ambling steps, looking as people
are bound to look upon such occasions, in tip-
top spirits, and full of the pleasantest anticipa-
tions imaginable.
Then arrived Mr. Justice Brindlebun and
his lady, smiling like a well-to-do couple in the
farming line ; the former with just a touch of
the hippopotamus in plain clothes, but as jovial
and easy an old gentleman as one would wish
to meet.
Immediately afterward, Mr. Goldwin sparkled
in, all wristband, studs, and eye-glass, with his
flat hat under his arm, and pulling off his white
gloves, to all appearance just landed from some
magnificent planet, and bewildered in plain
wax-candle-light.
Last of all came Petersfeld, elaborately got
up certainly, but as easy and unembarrassed as
if strolling into our own chambers before break-
fast. He was happily unaware of the intense
interest which his appearance created in the
minds of the three partners j-espectively ; and,
after gracefully making his salutations to host
and hostess, allowed himself as easily to be in-
troduced to Linda, as the young lady whom he
was to take down to dinner.
Preoccupied as he was with other thoughts,
it was not in his nature that he should be in-
different to her pretty face and figure, lustrous
with youth and health. Whether the knowl-
edge that those snowy muslin flounces had been
arranged for his especial benefit that those
glossy sheaves of auburn hair had been parted
and s.moothed with such elaborate attention for
the same purpose, and that even the tiny locket
which danced like a star upon her dainty bosom,
bad been carefully selected to flash fascination
upon him alone, would have made any differ-
ence, is perhaps an awkward question. And
what might have been the result of a suspicion
that his own performance that evening had been
betted upon as freely by the young lady herself
as that of a colt at Newmarket, is a speculation
better left alone.
Bnttermere himself moved about the room a
perfect picture, of happiness and hospitality.
The old boy enjoyed nothing in the world, out
of court, so much as these snug little dinners.
Fourteen was his regular number, partly because
it just suited the dimensions of his modest din-
ing-room, partly because it was one of the num-
bers which admit of such an arrangement as
seats a lady on each side of her host, a gentle-
man on either side of his hostess, with alternate
lady and gentleman down both sides of the
table. And upon this latter point Mr. Butter-
mere was minutely particular a place for
every body, and every body in his or her place
being in his opinion one of the many secrets
of success in one of the most arduous responsi-
bilities which can be undertaken by a citizen
of the world.
Another secret the happy selection and
combination of one's guests he flattered him-
self he had not overlooked upon the present
occasion. In short, it was with feelings of
more than every-day complacency that, having
, carefully counted his visitors backward and for-
ward, he turned to Mrs. Buttermere with the
stereotyped smile and expression customary in
such cases, and meekly said : " I think I may
ring for dinner, may I not ? We seem to be all
here."
Oh no, Mr. Buttermere, oh no. Not by any
manner of means. You may count your com-
pany and ring your bell ; but we are not all
here. Not all !
For there arose a sound of conversation up-
on the- staircase, at first simply mysterious and
irregular ; then louder and more energetic, as if
somebody was being punished. And then the
drawing-room door was suddenly flung open,
and a vague voice announced "Mr. and Mrs.
Bunnytail!" and was gone.
It was the transaction of a moment. So are
many of the casualties of life.
An enormous woman, followed by a short
sunburnt, stubble-headed man, sailed steadily
across the room, like a frigate with prize in
tow. And such a cruiser ! She really might
have been shown for money at the town-fair,
and described to the sound of the drum. You
never saw such a fat, florid face, cascaded on
either side with floods of golden ringlets, shiny
sleek. You never saw such magnificent fat
arms, such a breadth of bosom, such girth of
waist, and exuberant, well-developed weight.
If the tough little gentleman astern had any
thing to do with it I mean in the professional
administration of oat-cake, swedes and mangold-
wurzel, or any better adapted esculent, I should
like to walk with him through his home farm,
and pat and pinch the remainder of his stock.
He ought to have won the medal of every known
society whose aim it is to encourage unwary
beasts in overeating themselves, and disfigure
our shops at Christmastide with bloated and
unwieldly carcasses, only fit to be devoured in
darkness, amid the bellowing of all the giants.
But, if Mrs. Bunnytail's appearance was com-
manding, her attire, when you had leisure to
consider it, was quite as worthy of wonder.
I suppose it was, in point of fact, the dream of
some Arcadian modiste, inspired by one of the
plates in a French Fashion-book. Of course, as a
bachelor, my connoisseurship in such matters v ill
be taken for what it is worth. I only recollect
FIVE HUNDKED POUNDS KEWAED.
19
that she seemed to set us all in a blaze with a
crimson satin gown glittering with bugle lace,
while her neck and arms, which rivaled the
dress in point of complexion, were festooned
with outrageous jewelry, producing a result
which I think she would like me to describe as
"gorgeous."
Moreover, notwilhstandingher ample circum-
ference, she positively rolled top-heavy under
the frightful weight of flowers, lace and feather
stacked upon her head. It looked, I declare,
as if some insane tropical bird had built its nest
upon that stupendous summit indeed it may
have been hatching there at the moment, for
aught I know to the contrary.
" Well, Sister Carlo ! " she exclaimed, steering
straight for Mrs. Buttermere, "you know you
said you hoped we'd dine with you often, as
long as we could stay in London; and so here
we are, you see, though goodness knows if I'd
only known who you'd got here, I wouldn't have
come ; anyhow I wouldn't have brought Bun-
nytail. And now I do hope and trust we bring
no inconvenience with us ; though that's like
talking about spilt milk, isn't it, because really,
what between the cat and the parlor-maid, as to
keeping any thing at our lodgings, the thing's
impossible, and to go straight back again, would
be just going to bed at once ; and as you recom-
mended the apartments, it makes finding fault
more unpleasant than ever, doesn't it?"
Mrs. Buttermere had been in the act of rising
from her chair at the moment of this unparal-
leled intrusion. Her first impulse was to sink
back again and faint away dead. Her second,
an injudicious one, to exclaim, with a dreadful
face, "Who are you?" and command that the
Bunnytails should be forthwith hustled into the
street as a couple of sturdy impostors. But,
alas, the indignant volubility with which Mrs.
Bunnytail would only too clearly proclaim her
identity, was matter of very plain prophecy ; and
terror held her dumb.
Could a word have consigned Mrs. Bunnytail
and her consort to the uttermost part of the
lied Sea, or landed them both within the crater
of Cotopaxi, I suspect the worthy couple would
have vanished upon their travels in les% time
than it takes me to write this line. What
would the Brindlebuns think ? what would the
Poppits say? how should she ever look the
Springletops in the face again ? And as to
Petersfeld, why had he ever been "brought
home" on that horrible night ?
" I thought you were going to the theatre this
evening ! " she gasped at last. ' ' Oh, why didn't
you go !"
"Why that's true enough," retorted the great
sister, nothing abashed. " We were going, sure
alive, and meant to go, only Bunnytail, don't
you see, has a wonderful knack of asking ques-
tions ; so he asks and asks, and at last he makes
out that these performers, or whatever you call
them, don't finish up till some outlandish time
to-morrow, anyhow long after twelve o'clock to-
night ; and if Bunnytail ain't in bed before the
clock strikes ten, why he goes to roost wher-
ever he is, and snorts like his own bull. So,
don't you see, the theatre was no place for us ;
and we had, as it were, to cast about how to
spend a companionable evening ; and, as luck
would have it, I says to him, says I, Law, Bun-
nytail, good man, why not spend it with Sister
Carlo ? Let's dress up at once "
"Oh, my goodness!" shuddered poor Mrs.
Buttermere, on the verge of hysterics, "Char-
lotte's my name, if you'd only leave it alone!
Couldn't you go down stairs or up stairs or
do any thing but stand there?"
Lucky it was that Mr. Buttermere had exactly
the tact and aplomb necessary for encountering
the most desperate emergency. Had he been
in court, before the chancellor himself, he could
not have shown more conspicuous generalship
and self-possession.
"My dear Mrs. Bunnytail, say no more.
We are delighted to see you. How are you,
Bunnytail ! Just the man we wanted to fill our
only spare place." And in the twinkling of an
eye the unlucky couple were introduced all round.
Petersfeld and Linda, as the junior couple, were
begged in a whisper, the one to escort Mrs. Bun-
nytail, the other to pass to dinner under Mr. Bun-
ny tail's wing then to assume their proper places,
side by side, as if nothing had happened, leav-
ing their morganatic partners to edge in where
they could.
And so, in five minutes' time we found our-
selves upon the staircase, raflier the better, if
any thing, for recent troubles, during which
Lotty had looked on like a vestal insulted at the
altar, Loo with the more intolerant feelings of a
maiden of this world, while Linda laughed out-
right.
CHAPTER VIII.
"WELL," exclaimed Mrs. Bunnytail, cram-
ming herself into a chair next to Petersfeld, who
had Linda on his left, "this is comfortable in-
deed, and as smart as you please ! You live in
London, sir, I dare say, and living and lodging
comes all natural. But just you come up from
the country as we do. You'd wish yourself
back again often enough. But law !" continued
the lady, glancing round at the eperynes, cut
glass, spun-sugar and hot-house flowers, "what's
the meaning of all this ? It looks more like a
dessert than a dinner, to my mind. We're nev-
er going to dine backward, are we ? Not that I
mind, only Bunnytail's got a short temper, and
if he doesn't soon get his tooth into something
wholesome, he won't like it, I know. Lucky for
him he would step in for a snack this afternoon
at the ' Six Bells.' I dare say yon know it
well, sir. A public-house with a blue door and
plate-glass window, just off Charing Cross. It
reminded him, don't you see, of the old sign
where he takes his dinner market days. La!
I do declare here's a dish of hot broth, and I nev-
er saw it come ; and yes, my man, I'll take a
20
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
glass of wine, and it's just what I was wanting,
thank you."
But it is high time to put a padlock at once
upon "Mrs. Bunnytail's tongue. lu spite of her
voluble conversation, to which Petersfeld listep-
ed apparently with the most winning interest and
attention, Linda was not neglected ; neither did
she forget to improve the shining hour to the
very best of her ability, which was indeed far
abore the average.
I need hardly say that the only too palpable
manner in which she was rapidly coming over
Petersfeld was watched by her sisters with un-
mitigated displeasure. Lotty pretended to her-
self that she was scandalized, when in fact only
jealous ; while Loo's exasperation proceeded to
the extent of seriously interfering with her din-
ner. They were only too delighted at the in-
cessant interruptions of Mrs. Bunnytail, whose
running commentary upon the whole entertain-
ment, intermixed with her experience of life
in London, as contrasted with housekeeping in
the country, were loudly audible across the
table.
It would be a great mistake, however, to sup-
pose that Linda was trusting to her own person-
al attractions, or pretty flow of small-talk, alone,
to win the chocolate gloves, and drive her sis-
ters in confusion from their own ground. Quite
the contrary. She had a famous piece ol artil-
lery in reserve, which she hesitated to let off a
propos to nothing, but which nevertheless lay
primed and loaded, and which, come what
might, must be discharged, at all hazards, before
the ladies left the table. Luckily, almost at the
last moment, she was spared the trouble of find-
ing an excuse for the shot.
" By the way, Bnttermere," suddenly exclaim-
ed Mr. Justice Brindlebun in his sonorous voice,
"have you ever, among your many clients,
chanced to learn the meaning of that strange ad-
vertisement in the Times, the other day ? Five
hundred pounds reward, if you recollect, offer-
ed for the recovery of a lovely and mysterious
damsel, who seems to have walked off with her
pockets full of gold and silver."
"No, indeed I have not, Sir John," replied
Buttermere, from the lower end of the table.
" There's a romance of real life, depend upon
it, at the bottom of that story. It was talked
about a good deal when the notice first appeared,
and the singular thing is, that nobody I ever met,
even pretended to know any thing about it.
Never yet heard a bit of scandal discussed at the
club, when somebody or other didn't say he
only wished he was at liberty to tell all he
knew. "
" She ought to be caught, I should say," ob-
served Mr. Goldwin, in the tone of one accus-
tomed to deliver weighty remarks ex cathedra .
" caught of course, if only to satisfy the public,
whose curiosity she has so unfeelingly tantalized.
Wonder if they'll tell us, if they do catch her.
Very likely not, I should say. Wonder where
she is now ?"
" Last seen near the London Tavern, hailing
a hansom," said Mr. Springletop. "Poppit
jumped in after her."
"What, my husband !" exclaimed Mrs. Pop-
pit, with a little affected scream.
"It's a dreadful business, in my opinion,"
remarked Mrs. Springletop. "Only to think
of having one's face and dress paraded in all the
newspapers, with a reward for one's conviction,
as if one was going to be removed in the van."
Mrs. Springletop's experience in criminal law
having been chiefly derived from a persual of
the daily police report, suggested this as the
final doom of the wicked j in England, at all
events.
" I'm not so sure that a month in the House
of Correction would be at all a bad lesson for
her," observed Mrs. Buttermere, by way of
promptly discountenancing any such escapade
as matter for imitation in her own family.
" What's all this ? For goodness' sake some-
body tell me what we're all talking about !" ex-
claimed Mrs. Bunnytail.
" Isn't it odd, Mr. Petersfeld," remarked Lin-
da, in a low tone, and with the most captivating
air of innocent confidence "isn't it odd that
I should know more of this mysterious affair
than all these good people put together ?"
" You !" exclaimed Petersfeld, with a start
of astonishment. " Is it possible ?"
"Pray pray, Mr. Petersfeld, don't jump
again like that, or we shall have every one look-
ing at us. Yes. It is not only possible, but
perfectly true."
"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said Paul,
"but really if you had told me that the young
lady was under the table at this moment, I
should scarcely have been more surprised. Will
you tell me her name?"
" Not for five hundred pounds !" replied Lin-
da, with a playful shake of her head. " I as-
sure you, Mr. Petersfeld, I can keep a secret.
How can her name have any possible interest
for you, unless as a mere point of curiosity ?'*
"It happens, however, that I am very much
interested in the case," returned Petersfeld,
gravely. "As to her name, I assure you I
know that as well as yon."
" (5h no no! Else why did you ask me?
Yon are not serious, I am quite sure. Tell me
the name, and I shall begin to believe you."
For an instant, the ungracious suspicion
flashed across Petersfeld's mind that his pretty
companion was making fun of him. She might
possibly have heard of his late proceedings, and
thought it fair sport enough to get a "rise" out
of him after dinner. So he replied to the
challenge by a shake of his own head, implying
that the conversation had come to an end so far
as he was concerned.
"You doubt my word : I see that," persisted
Linda, pretending to look vexed. " I am not
I suspicious myself, and I do not choose to be
I suspected by others. I will be the first to tell.
| Only there's my sister looking as hard at us as
i if we were talking high treason. You can
speak on your fingers ? Well, watch mine
FIVE HUNDKED POUNDS KEWARD.
21
quite promiscuous, you know while I speak to
Mr. Worsley across the table."
Of course, in her simple artlessness, Linda
knew of no better way than this to convey an
important piece of information. -Of course she
hadn't the slightest idea that those little nimble
fingers could be doing any other business than
passing it silently and secretly to her attentive
neighbor. Of course, if the pretty twinkling
telegraph, working with such bewitching neat-
ness, should make him long to snatch and work
it himself, and keep it for his own private use
all the rest of his life, it would be an exceeding-
ly odd result; but no affair of hers. It was
obviously a quiet careful way of imparting a
secret, and adopted accordingly.
Quick as thought, a Christian, then a surname,
were spelled out. Then the name of a country
house. Then the little fairy hands clapped
thrice, as if in the glee of childish triumph
folded themselves pleasantly together, and were
still.
Nobody was a bit the wiser J except, indeed,
Mrs. Bunnytail, who, conceiving at once the
sensible idea that this might be the way in
which town-bred young ladies explained the
state of their feelings to favored young gentle-
men, was much edified by the performance.
Not being an adept at the manual alphabet, the
various symbols, as she considered them, were
naturally perplexing ; although, as to the mean-
ing of one or two of them, she felt there could
be no possible mistake.
Paul sat thunderstruck. It was evident that
Linda knew all. "May I ask you one more
question," he began, breathless and confused at
this astounding revelation.
"Not now. Look! Mamma's signaling to
Lady Brindlebnn, and can't catch her eye.
We shall be going up stairs in one minute.
Another time."
" I am not asking out of mere curiosity."
"No, no, I dare say not. But you should
have asked sooner. See, we are going ; I can
tell you no more now."
And in that rustling sweep of silk and muslin
with which ladies disappear from a dining-room,
was Linda borne away.
I have not thought it worth while to say
much of Mr. Bunnytail's behavior during din-
ner, because, in point of fact, beyond being very
quiet and clumsy, I can scarcely say that he be-
haved at all. Fishes, I believe, are proverbially
supposed to drink very often and speak very
seldom, which was precisely the case with my
neighbor. However, just after the departure
of the ladies, and almost before Buttermere had
assumed his position at the head of the table,
he suddenly exclaimed, after a thump of his fist,
which set every wine-glass jingling :
" She should ha' come to Bunnytail Bot-
tom !"
" Hey who should have come ?" exclaimed
the judge, looking down the table, his rosy face
on the qui vive for a joke. ' ' Are you speak-
ing of the young lady, Mr. Bunnytail ?"
" Aye, my lord," returned the farmer slowly.
" She should have come to Bunnytail Bottom.
She would have been safe there. Safe enough.
My house is my castle."
" To be sure ! She wouldn't get away again
in a hurry eh? Well, now, if she came to
me, I should take much the same view. I
should think twice before I parted with her for
five hundred pounds. I think I'd keep her
economically, of course and stand out for the
thousand."
" Saving your presence, my lord," replied
Bunnytail, upon whose elocution a liberal bot-
tle of port had bestowed an almost judicial so-
lemnity, " if I could harbor such a thought in
the way, mind you, of putting it in act I
should deserve nothing better than to be tossed
by my own bull. Nothing I should hate more,
you understand ; but I'd take it, if I so de-
served it, like a cheerful man."
"Just so," rejoined Brindlebun, mischiev-
ously, "I see exactly what you mean. If you
had the young lady, and I came to molest her,
you'd run your bull, and let him carry the an-
swer. That's it, I think."
"Ho, ho, ho!" chucklad Bunnytail. "I'-d
give a pound, any time, to see Solomon do it !
There'd ba no mistaking what he'd got to say,
would there ? So that's law, my lord ?"
"Come, come, Mr. BunnytaiH I'm not go-
ing to be let in for a legal opinion after dinner ;
especially where I'm a party concerned. It
would be quite enough for me, I take it, if it
turned out to be a fact."
"Fact!" retorted the farmer, over whose
faculties the predestined hour of roost was rap-
idly stealing. " Aye, fact. I'm a juryman of
twenty years' standing and more I am. Many's
the judge I've seen sitting penned up like a pig
with a medal, and not a word to say for him-
self, till we gentlemen made it convenient to
step back into court and tell him what o'clock
it was by the fact. Facts are facts, sir. And
if ever there was a fact with a tail and a pair
of horns to it, that fact is my bull, Solomon."
"What a pity it is, Mr. Bunnytail," suggest-
ed Petersfeld, whose excitement during this
desultory conversation had become unendurable,
and who felt that he must explode in unexpect-
ed confession, if he kept silence a moment
longer. "What a pity it is that this forlorn
young woman can't be made aware of your kind
intentions. If we could only contrive to let
her know that there was one spot, at least, in
England where peace and protection awaited
her, and that that one spot was Bunnytail Bot-
tom what glorious news to carry !"
" Carry it yourself, young gentleman," re-
plied Bunnytail, whose conversational faculties
were in process of rapid eclipse. ' ' Carry it
yourself, if it's no trouble, and say I sent it.
Just you bring her there, any time between
milking in the morning and half- past nine
at night, and see whether Laban Bunnytail
isn't as good as his word ! Let the Beadles
come. Let any body come. The more the bet-
22
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
ter, I say. To Le sure. The more the better.
While she wants to stay she stays. When she
wants to go she goes. And if any man would
lay his ringer upon her, within my gates, except
in the way of kindness, Laban Bunnytail will
know the reason why. That's all I shall say."
Nothing could have been truer than the last
remark ; for Mr. Bunnytail thereupon fell im-
mediately into a snoring sleep from which noth-
ing short of violence could have aroused him.
And a few slight attempts in that direction,
made as we quitted the dining - room, having
been received with unmeasured obloquy, there
was nothing for it but to leave him in his chair,
with orders to the servants upon no account
whatever to disturb him.
So the latter, in clearing the table, laughed as
gently as possible, and not liking to leave their
master's guest entirely in the dark, compromised
matters by lighting a flat-candlestick and plac-
ing it reverently before him.
And there Mr. Bunnytail was found, an hour
later, by his buxom partner ; his chin buried in
his waistcoat, and his hands folded complacent-
ly across his stomach looking like a weather-
beaten Chinese Joss, whom some good-natured
worshiper had charitably provided with a night-
light.
That he ever troubled his head again, with-
out reason, about his rambling challenge to
Petersfeld is extremely unlikely. Nevertheless,
as we have already seen, these general invita-
tions do sometimes lead to unexpected results,
and I would not have you too hastily dismiss
Mr. Bunnytail from recollection, at the conclu-
sion of the, present chapter.
All Petersfeld's attempts, and they proceeded
certainly to the very outmost borders of discre-
tion, to get any farther confidence that evening
out of Linda, were perfectly futile. A young
lady of the house has her own proper duties to at-
tend to ; and if she has no spare time* to devote
to comparing notes with an inquisitive gentle-
man, why so much the worse for him. With-
out in the least evading Petersfeld, she easily
let him feel that, if he wanted farther informa-
tion, he must ask for it at the proper time, which
unquestionably was not then. And so, after
having been twice discomfited once at the tea-
table, and afterward beside the piano, there was
no help for it but to take leave like other people.
A few moments found us bowling down Bond
Street, in a hansom, on our way to his rooms in
the Albany.
CHAPTER IX.
THAT dim and jealously-guarded " No Thor-
oughfare," which runs from Vigo Street to Pic-
cadilly, almost side by side with the Burlington
Arcade, and which we now know as the Albany,
was a strawberry garden a hundred years ago.
It belonged to the mansion in Piccadilly which it
now tunnels, then the residence of His Royal
Highness the Duke of York, whose second title
has since given a name to the whole concern.
j However, the last strawberry was picked before
any of us were born or thought of; and it is now
j simply a covered avenue, with a range of bache-
lor apartments on either side ; among the quiet-
est and most severely fashionable in all London.
Paul's sitting-room was a large, low, heavily-
wainscoted apartment, upon the ground floor.
The chambers had been in his family for an im-
mense number of years, cherished and preserved
as forming a sort of pied a terre, in the great me-
tropolis. The stiff, black, oaken furniture dated
from the day of an equally stiff grandpapa, whose
portrait surmounted the mantle - piece. The
more modern decorations were Paul's oVn.
And .nobody knew his own taste more clearly or
gratified it more cleverly than he. Well do I
recollect the day when he first came up to Trin-
ity, and I assisted him in making the usual bar-
gain with the college upholsterer.
" Print or two, sir, wouldn't look amiss over
that chiffonier. Glass for chimney-piece of
course you'll want. Bracket for figure here, sir,
would make all the difference. Clock weath-
er-glass mahogany book-case. Got a great se-
lection if you'd only call in All Saint's Passage,"
said the tradesman. "Make your room look
very nice."
"Just yon knock half a hundred brass-head-
ed books into the wall, right and left," replied
Petersfeld, " and come and see me to-morrow.
Then you'll know what a nice room's like !''
I hope the upholsterer came in the morning,
for the result was a thing to be noticed. There
was not one hook too many. Foils, boxing-
gloves, pipes, daggers, bats, pistols, antlers, al-
penstocks, whips, bugles, fox-brushes, skates, fish-
ing-rods, guns, goff-sticks, Indian clubs, and
every conceivable article of similar nature cov-
ered the walls in lavish profusion, producing at
once, as we all confessed, the most stunning
room in college.
Most of these effective decorations had accom-
panied their master to the Albany, where, with
many important additions, they had been ar-
ranged with considerable taste. The stuffed ani-
mals alone were worth a visit ; but in point of
fact the connoisseur in any thing, from suits of
solid armor down to glowing French ballet scenes
(suggesting the motto of our most noble order
of knighthood) need not have gone away disap-
pointed. Last, but not least, upon the round
table in the middle of the room, sparkled the
central glory of the place, a fifty guinea cup of
massive silver, fairly won at Wimbledon from a
phalanx of nearly one hundred competitors.
To stir the fire light candles, and produce
every proper adjunct of midnight hospitality
was the work of a minute. I say "midnight"
because I had promised Petersfeld to hear his
whole story out before leaving ; as I was obliged
to start on the morrow for a distant country
chateau, where I had engaged to spend my East-
er vacation. And though my own counsel and
experience may not have been very valuable, I
knew how intensely he would dislike the being
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
23
left to stumble on in his adventure as best he
might, without having any intimate friend in
the secret, with whom he could correspond as to
his movements, or consult in a difficulty.
Besides, nothing would have satisfied him
short of taking my opinion as to all that he had
already heard, done and seen ; and, as that
could not be learned without listening, I resolved
to give audience patiently, and with good grace.
So, seating ourselves in two huge fauteuils, on
either side of the comfortably-blazing hearth,
Paul began the story of his adventures, which
was to the following effect :
We left him,. it may be recollected, in a cor-
ner of his club library, bent upon following out
Kinghorn's canny suggestion, that by searching
a file of the Times extending over the preceding
month or so, he might probably hit upon some-
thing which would afford a clue for farther pro-
ceedings.
Neither was he disappointed : at least some-
thing which seemed not exactly promising, but
still possibly to the purpose, soon presented it-
self. After turning the leaves for some time
steadily backward, and wading through a lament-
able list of missing husbands, wives, sons, daugh-
ters, keys, poodle-dogs, and purses, enough to
convince him that we English are among the
most reckless and untrustworthy people alive,
his eye fell at last upon the following advertise-
ment. It was dated the 17th of April rather
more than a fortnight back.
"ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS REWARD !
Lost, on Wednesday last, supposed upon or near the
high road between St. Mark's - on - the - Sea and River-
wood, a RED MOROCCO POCKET-BOOK, containing,
among other papers, three Bank of England notes for 1000
each, numbered and dated as below. The said notes are
stopped at the Bank of England. Whoever will bring these
notes, or any of them to the Branch Bank, St. Mark's-on-
the-Sea, or give information leading to their recovery,
either at that place, or to Sergeant Wilkinson, Detective
Department, Great Scotland Yard, London, shall receive
the above reward, or a proportionate part thereof. Bankers
and others are cautioned not to take or exchange the
above notes April ITtli."
[Dates and Numbers. ]
Now this advertisement accorded precisely in
point of time with the date at which, according
to Mr. Bloss, the disappearance of the young
lady had taken place. It was, besides, the only
advertisement, within some .weeks either way,
referring to the loss of any sum of money at all
worth mentioning. Moreover, toward the con-
clusion, so at least Paul fancied, it bore some
resemblance, in point of style, to the notice
which had appeared that morning ; and although
there was nothing but the very vaguest of con-
jecture to connect it in the slightest degree with
the object of his search, to neglect it altogether
was to throw away his only apparent chance.
Por, after devoting a full hour to the investiga-
tion, there was no appeal to be found of any
sort or kind which could reasonably be supposed
to have emanated from the friends of the lost
young lady, or to have any thing to do with the
matter. Kinghorn had been too sanguine there.
However, nothing could be more simple than to
drop down to St. Mark's^ and ascertain by whom
the money had been lost. And with that in-
formation, it could hardly be difficult, supposing
that a young lady answering the description
in the Times had disappeared from the neigh-
borhood about the same time, to ascertain the
fact.
So at least reasoned Paul ; who, like most be-
ginners in these matters, fancied that any thing
jn the world might be found out by dint of ask-
ing a sufficient number of questions. And with
no more promising base than this to start upon,
the next morning found him actually on the rail,
steering direct for St. Mark's-on-the-Sea, which
is within one hundred and fifty miles of Lon-
don.
Without taking the trouble to assume any
actual disguise, he adopted a well-worn tweed
fishing-suit, wide-awake hat, and leathern knap-
sack, which had done good mountain service, in
the Tyrol and elsewhere, as best suited to the
expedition. A mere pedestrian wanderer, geo-
logically, botanically, architecturally, or other-
wise harmlessly inclined, might, he imagined,
loiter and pry a good deal about a country
neighborhood ; make all manner of acquaint-
ances, and fish out no end of facts, without
placing any body upon their guard or good be-
havior. And, thus appointed, he arrived, about
two in the afternoon, at the railway station of
St. Mark's-on-the-Sea.
St. Mark's is not one of those towns over
which any traveler in search of the picturesque
is likely to undergo ecstasy at first sight.
It is a slovenly, ill-built place enough ; of
which the principal feature is a long straggling
Main Street, with woful shops and a deserted
air a street which obviously could hardly do
better, if it would. What could be expected,
for instance, from those deadly dry auctioneer
offices, with faded plans and dreary catalogues,
and old prospectuses of sales, which, if they ever
took place at all, were over and done with half a
year ago ? What from that miserable chemist,
with all last year's dead flies in his window ?
What from that fusty little haberdasher, the
prices of whose goods, so painfully ticketed, all
end with three farthings? What from that
stranded Library, which, with useless belief in
better things, stubbornly maintains that it "cir-
culates ?"
However, in the absence of any personal
quarrel with the town itself, one need not make
more ado about its demerits, unless to observe
that its veiy name indicates almost as loose a
regard for truth, as its inhabitants have for ap-
pearances.
St. Mark's-on-the-Sea is not upon the sea at
all ; in fact more than a mile distant ; although
it possesses a pretty little suburb in that direc-
tion, called St. Mark's Bay, with a beach, a
boat, a shrimp-catcher, a bathing machine, and
a small hotel an embryo watering-place per-
haps with a future of its own.
Of course Paul's first business was to look
out for some place where he could put up, for a
24
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
time at least, and relieve himself of his knap-
sack ; and, upon that point, it seemed as if he
were likely to be saved all trouble in the way of
selection. Boldly conspicuous in the Main
Street stands " THE SARACEN, Commercial
Hotel and Posting House ;" a great, red,
hideous building, brandishing its pagan sign-
board half across the way.
I don't know that I feel a more rooted re-
'pugnance to the shameless blaze of a London
gin palace, than I do to the very sight of these
commercial caravansaries. There is a bagman,
publican aspect about them which suggests the
very antipodes of comfort in any decent sense
of the word. I know perfectly well what I shall
meet with inside, before I cross the threshold.
I know that there will be a large lumber-
littered hall, with a bar at the end of it, con-
taining a sharp young woman. I know that
that hall will be hung with commercial and
agricultural placards, three deep, containing in-
formation which at all events is not addressed
to me. I know that the whole place will reek
with spirits, sawdust, and stale smoke.
And as to the rooms, setting aside that up-
roarious parlor which the children of commerce
call their own, and from which the unsuspicious
intruder is so promptly ejected, whither shall
we turn ? The sitting-rooms are all alike.
Their very atmosphere is dust and rottenness.
They have all horse-hair sofas, naked tables,
hard chairs, mythical prints, and a cruet-stand.
The windows of each are scratched over, in ex-
actly the same manner, with the names of the
several Samuels and Jemimas who, having
adopted it as their unsavory bower, invariably
append the date of the transaction.
Try the club-room, where the farmers make
evening hideous after every market day. There
you will indeed find the death's-head without
the feast. Perhaps the coffee-room is worst of
all:
'' Old boxes larded with the steam
Of thirty thousand dinners ;"
stale newspapers, glass of tooth - picks, and
beastly Directory. If you have a fancy to as-
cend the shallow creaking staircase, you may
mount alone. I know too well the mysteries of
those airless bedrooms and suspicious beds.
And I own to even a more unconquerable dis-
taste for the unclean chambermaid flitting aloof,
than I have for her greedy, greasy, thankless
brother, the waiter below.
Probably Petersfeld may have been much of
my opinion. At all events, after having regard-
ed the house distrustfully for a few moments,
he crossed the street, and addressed a hostler-
like man, who was loafing about the stable-yard.
" Is this the only hotel in the place, my
man?"
"On'y one," replied the hostler, shortly.
"Don't it suit you?"
" Can't say till I've tried," returned Peters-
felck and as the question was one which could
only be decided by experiment, while the neces-
sity for luncheon admitted of no delay, he en-
tered the hostelry, and without committing him-
self to any longer stay, ordered bread and cheese
and a jug of ale.
Even this rustic refreshment proved a failure.
The bread was indifferent, the cheese rank, and
the ale villainously hard. The waiter was an
apathetic discontented youth, who took refuge
from every inquiry in abstract ignorance.
Petersfeld paid his half-crown, sat down by the
fire to consider, and began by considering that
he had made a fool of himself.
It was early times, certainly, to jump to such
a conclusion. But there is a strange ebb in
the flow of enterprise, which most of us have
felt. We press on, for days together, perhaps,
| toward some coveted end, with scarcely a sus-
I picion of failure, or a cessation of impatience.
| Suddenly, from some utterly inadequate reason,
I a chill seems to sweep over our mind. We
pause, and with a hesitation which almost
amounts to indifference, wonder whether it is
really worth while to try on. Something has
set the whole matter before us in a changed light.
Many a project has failed, simply because its un-
dertaker had not sufficient faith or courage to
pull against stream during this mysterious ebb,
SQ that before the tide of resolution again began
to flow, irrevocable time and opportunities had
passed away forever.
"I was a fool," muttered Paul to himself,
with trementious emphasis upon the noun sub-
stantive, "a fool to come down to this con-
founded place ! I wouldn't dine and sleep in
this den of thieves a week together for a hun-
dred pounds. As to getting any thing out of
these frightful boors, the idea's absurd. In fact,
I should never have patience to attempt it. I
wonder why on earth I came? By the bye,
there's the bank ! I forgot that. Of course I'll
go there at once, and ask if they know any thing
about it. If they don't, I'll go straight to the
station, and get back to town by the next train ;
I can consider there whether there's any thing
more to be done; and at worst, it's only a day
lost. I wonder what Worsley will say! How-
ever, I may succeed at the bank, and if I do,
I'll take precious good care not to let- him know
how near I was shutting up. "
And in this unpromising mood, Petersfeld
proceeded at once to the branch bank, which he
reached without difficulty, although he fancied
that the grocer to whom he applied for direction,
equivocated strangely, and would have deceived
him altogether if he could.
Now to act, in any important business, pre-
maturely and without consideration, simply
from an impulsive wish to do something, is; as
we all know, one of the many recipes for failure.
It is almost infallible as I have noticed again
and again.
"Nothing of importance," observes Mr.
Thomas Thrifty, in his valuable " Essay upon
Early Rising," "ought to be attemped in a hur-
ry. But I except the catching of fleas."
The branch bank at St. Mark's-on-the-Sea, is
a small, quiet concern, having the faded ill-to-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
25
do look, common to every thing else in the place.
Nobody was in the office, except two clerks, one
of whom raised his eyes from the desk as Paul
entered, and fixed them placidly upon him, as
much as to say, that unless time was no object,
he was prepared to listen at once.
"I say!" began Paul, in his usual off-hand
style, "about those 1000 notes that were lost
in this neighborhood some three weeks ago, and
advertised in the Times. Would you mind tell-
ing me who lost them ? Not been found yet, I
Suppose have they?"
"Sir!" said the placid clerk, "if you have
any information to communicate respecting these
notes, you had better see our principal, Mr.
Crackleton, within."
"Nevermind your principal," returned Paul.
" Can't you tell me what I want to know ?"
"What name, sir?"
" As if my name had any thing to do with it !
I only want to know who lost these notes." *
This was said with just as much insouciance as
if the question had been "what's o'clock?" or
"how many miles to London?"
" fll inquire, sir." And the clerk disap-
peared into an inner office.
" As if he didn't know !" thought Petersfeld.
" I never, in all my life, saw a place like this.
The whole thing seems like a nightmare. I
almost believe it is."
" Now, sir !" exclaimed a little bald, plump,
fidgety man, popping suddenly into the bank,
and pouncing toward Petersfsld like a spider
upon a fly. " You've come about these notes,
I understand. What about them ? Now, sir !
what ?"
Anywhere else, the Jack-in-the-box like ap-
parition of Mr. Crackleton might scarcely have
been remarkable, but in this weird and sleepy
place, it really seemed as if the excitability of
a whole town had been bottled up in the testy
little gentleman, who had just drawn his own
cork, and was enjoying the relief of a fizz over.
"Now, sir! Any information to give?
Time's time here, you know."
"None whatever. I just called to ask a
simple question, as your clerk has probably told
you."
" Oh, yes ! but, you know, I want to know
what's your reason for coming here asking sim-
ple questions. Now, sir ! What do you want
to know the name of the person who lost them
for? You're to come here, if you've any thing
to say not to go to him. Didn't you see that
in the advertisement? Now, sir, from what
my clerk tells me "
"Your clerk be hanged!" retorted Peters-
feld, incensed at this additional instance of the
malignity of the St. Mark's men. " It'll do
. him good. What's the use of kicking up a
shindy like this? If you don't like to answer
my question, let it alone and take the conse-
quences!"
And so saying, Paul strode loftily out of the
bank.
" Mr. Meeklin !" shouted the principal. " I
don't like this. I don't at all. Now, sir!
Keep that man in sight ! Find Mr. Tobacco,
and make him do his duty. I want to know
who that man is, and- where he goes. That
man's got the notes, or else knows where they
are. What else should he come here for, ask-
ing who they belong to. I should like to know?
Only wish I could see my way to detaining that
man ! Jump, Mr. Meeklin, and tell Tobacco
what I say."
And before Petersfeld ha'd proceeded a couple
of hundred yards down the street, he was, with-
out being in the least aware of the fact, attend-
ed at a respectful distance, by a small prowling
man in rusty black, who had be.en beckoned out
of the "Six Bells,'' an adjacent 'public-house,
and "laid on" by the bank clerk.
If you ask me the why and wherefore of this
inquisitorial proceeding, I am obliged to answer
that I am ia the unfortunate predicament of
being only able to deal with one matter at a
time. Luckily for you, the explanation is not
distant, and you may follow my narrative with-
out the uncomfortable misgiving that you have
overlooked a point of importance.
In a peevish and despondent state of mind,
Petersfeld took his way toward the railway sta-
tion, laying the flattering unction to his soul
that he had done the very utmost possible for
one day, and that to pass the night in such
a frowsy town, would be simply Quixotic and
absurd. As to giving up his adventure, that, as
he was at some pains to assure himself, had nev-
er crossed his mind. He wanted time to re-
flect, before taking his next step. That was all.
Just as he was actually ascending the incline
leading to the station, a whistle sounded, and
with heavy, deliberate snorts, a train rolled
slowly forth in the London direction.
"The up train, by all that's unlucky!" he
exclaimed. "What an idiot I was not to look
at the time-table. How long shall I have to
wait ?" continued he, addressing a porter, who
was leisurely leaving the premises.
"No train up till 7.15," replied the man.
"Run it a leetle too fine this time, haA'en'tyou,
sir ? That's the 3.10 train just gone."
" Good heavens ! Then I'm in for four hours
more of it. Look here, porter ! You know
the place. How's a man to get through four
hours at St. Mark's-on-the-Sea ? What's to be
seen ? What's to be done ? Got any thing to
suggest ?''
"I know what I should do, if I was you,"
replied the porter, a jolly-looking, thick-set man,
with a pleasant twinkle in his eye. " I should
fust of all say to me 'Here, porter ; you look
after my knapsack for me, and keep me a snug
seat, with my back to the engine, by the 7.15
train.' Then, I should just step down to the
' Saracen' yonder, and order a reg'lar fust-rate
blow-out. Steak, I should have, and baked
potatoes, and fried onions, and a Welsh rabbit,
and a pot of the double. I should order all
that ; and I wouldn't hurry myself over it nei-
ther. Then I should smoke my pipe least-
26
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
ways my cigar, in your case don't you see, sir,
till C.45. Then I should have a go of gin-and-
water warm, I should ; and get tip-top comfort-
able. Then I should walk very slowly up here,
like a nobleman, and look out for me. That's
about what I should do."
"Not a bad idea either," said Petersfeld.
" But, I say, is the ' Saracen' the only hotel in
die place ?"
"Well there ain't no other only publics.
The ' Six Bells' ain't much of a place. Not
unless you don't mind going a mile on may be
a mile and a quarter to St. Mark's Bay.
There's a nice little house enough there Mrs.
Maldon's. Just on the sea, it is."
"Hang it; I've been so disgusted with the
whole place that I never once thought of the
sea ! It's a decent house, is it?"
' ' Fust-rate, I should say. If you haven't seen
our bay yet, you'd better go there. You've lots
of time, sir, haven't you ?"
"Rather too much of it. Well, I won't
trouble you with my knapsack ; because, if I like
Mrs. Maldon's, I may possibly stay. However,
that's for steak and onions, and nothing less,
mind," concluded Paul, tossing him a half-
crown and striding down the hill.
"Knew he was a gentleman!" chuckled the
porter, spinning the coin high into the air.
"Won't I just dine upon a dinner of my own
ordering ! at four o'clock too like a director
that's all !"
CHAPTER X.
IT was a good half-hour's walk, from the
railway station to St. Mark's Bay. Past that ;
ill-favored bank, the way led past that scowl- !
ing, unsavory " Saracen" past rows of alms-
houses for decayed shop-keepers, a likely enough
complaint in St. Mark's, until at last it emerged
in a shaded lane with overarching limes, whose
twinkling canopy of transparent green seemed
to dally rather than struggle with the westering
light. A moment more, and the sea rose broad
and blue, folding landward into a rounded
nook, with low cliffs and spreading sands.
This was St. Mark's Bay.
A few unpretending houses, sprinkled along
the sloping down, alone broke the outline.
Lower still, almost upon the shingle, a small
irregular one-storied building, surrounded by a
trim colonnade, announced itself as " The St.
Mark's Bay Hotel."
A tiny lawn around was smoothly mown, and
the nicely-tended flower-borders were already
bright with color, beneath the early break of :
lilac and laburnum ; for St. Mark's Bay is for- 1
tnnate in its aspect, and lights up before most
places, under the fruitful influence of a strong
May sun.
Altogether, there was such a clean, cozy, cap-
tivating air about the whole place, that Paul j
marched in at once, with a feeling of thankful-
ness that he had been late for the train.
The good-looking, buxom landlady Mrs.
Maldon herself at once appeared.
Had she any room ?
To be sure, she had. Her season had hardly
begun yet. There was only one family in the
house. They had the best sitting-room. No-
body at all in the coffee-room at present.
Would the gentleman like to be shown up stairs,
and choose his apartment ?
Up stairs all seemed as neat as below. Paul
selected a bright, airy bedroom which overlooked
the sea ; so closely, indeed, that the windows
were actually crusted with the salt spray of a late
gale. For this, the smart little chambermaid
apologized ; observing, with a great deal of truth,
that the sea was always a-going on, and praising
the room generally, as the loveliest to look out
of in the whole house.
Having ordered his dinner at six, for his late
performance at the Saracen had been unsatisfac-
tory, Paul strolled forth, a happier man, upon
the wide sea- shore. His feelings had under-
gone a sudden change for the better. Nothing
could be more pleasant than his present quar-
ters, or better adapted as a basis for farther op-
erations. What those should be, he now set
himself to work to consider.
It was a glorious afternoon ; the sea winking
and basking in the sun, as if with an amused
recollection of its late misbehavior ; while thou-
sands of birds, hawks, gulls, puffins, razor-bills,
curlews and cormorants, whirled incessantly
from the grey cliff-side, or swooped and flickered
upon the surface of the water.
"Your servant, sir!" said a clear, cheery
voice.
The speaker, a slight, good-looking man of
forty, or thereabouts, had approach'ed unper-
ceived during the commencement of an inter-
esting reverie, and bringing an Enfield rifle,
which he carried at the trail, smartly to " order,"
touched his cap pleasantly.
" Yours," replied Paul, returning the salute.
"Been shooting, I see. Couldn't have a nicer
range than these sands, anywhere."
"No, nor better marks, neither. It's a won-
derful coast for birds, this is."
' ' You don't seem to have brought home much
of a bag," observed Paul, rather ugraciously.
" Can't hit. That's it," said the stranger.
" Government rifle ?"
" Oh yes. I'm one of the St. Mark's com-
pany only we haven't got to musketry instruc-
tion yet. However, as my gun was served out,
I sent up to town for a couple of hundred ball
cartridges, and blaze away a bit, now and then,
along the beach, just to get my hand in. You
see we shall have our butt up, and begin target-
work this summer ; so I thought I'd just steal a
march, as it were. I should like to come out-
strong in shooting."
" So would a good many of us. Then you're
your own instructor for the present ?'
" Can't do any harm, at all events. Can it ?"
replied the other, glancing affectionately at his
rifle.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
27
"Hum! That rather depends upon your
style of teaching. Let's see you take a pot at
that gull," said Petersfeld, pointing to a bird
which had just settled, about a quarter of a mile
from shore.
The stranger at once produced a ball-cartridge
from his trowsers pocket, and went through his
loading with the patient, clumsy accuracy of a
man who has learned his lesson diligently out
of a red book, but never seen it reduced to prac-
tice.
He then, with equal deliberation, twisted him-
self into a cruel and complicated posture, intend-
ed to represent the Hythe position ; and, after
taking murderously longaim at the unsuspicious
bird, suddenly shut both eyes and discharged his
rifle, like a suicide.
" Well done, you !" exclaimed Paul, as a just
perceptible fleck of spray, far out to sea, an-
nounced the result of the performance. "If
he'd been five hundred yards farther off, and a
mile or so to the right, you'd have had him, and
no mistake. Now, if you wouldn't be offended
by a hint or two, I'd engage to improve your
shooting straight away, so that, with three days'
practice, you wouldn't know it again."
" Offended, indeed, sir ! Would you really?
I shall be grateful, I can tell yon. Perhaps
you'll take a shot yourself ?"
"By all means," replied Paul, accepting the
offered cartridge with a smile. " You are quite
right to try what I can do, before you take a les-
son. Now, look here."
It is a curious sensation, with which we see a
piece of work over which we have been bungling
and blundering for some time by the proverbi-
ally indifferent light of nature, quietly taken in
hand by a real workman. It is vexatiously
amusing to watch the rapid, natty way in which
all our own difficulties are demolished or evaded,
almost before they have time to show their stu-
pid heads. In less time than it takes to write
it, Paul's rifle was loaded and capped.
"Now," said he, "this is the way we kneel.
Down upon your heel so ! Just you practice
that for a week together,.and you've a natural
camp-stool for life, always handy wherever you
go. Now, as to distance. Four hundred and
fifty yards is what I give that bird. Look here !
I put up my back-sight to five hundred, and,
with foresight fine in the notch, I shan't be far
wrong. Now I come to the present. Elbow-
joint just over the knee ; fore-arm well under the
barrel. I'm not going to snatch at the trigger, as.
if I was letting off a shower-bath, I'm not. I'm
just going to lay my head rather lazily over the
butt. Then, just as I cover that bird, I shall
quietly squeeze my trigger, as if it was a young
lady's little finger. The gun won't hurt me. ,1
know that. Keep your eye on the mark now."
"Crack!"
For an instant, it seemed as if the bird had
exploded bodily, so sharply did a light feathery
puff glance in the sunshine, apparently exactly
where she floated. Fortunately for herself and
her friends, however, she arose uninjured, and
flew hastily away, lest the inconsiderate experi-
ment should be repeated.
"Well done you, sir! That was a shot,"
exclaimed the self-instructing gentleman, open-
ing his eyes to their widest. " I'd give a guinea,
I any day, to be able to lay my gun on like that.
Why the ball went right on to her ! How in
the world did she ever get out of the water ?"
" One hair's breadth more elevation, and she'd
have caught it," replied Paul, handing back the
rifle. ' ' I suspect I was half a dozen yards short,
and rrco'd just over her back. The direction
was as true as need be."
" Well, if you'd only show me how to do it
to-morrow, I should really take it as a kindness.
I'm obliged to go up to the house now. Hope
you're going to make some stay with us, sir ?"
"Stay with you," repeated Paul, puzzled,
" you live hereabouts, do you?"
"Landlord. At your service, sir. Maldon,
my name is. St. Mark's Bay Hotel."
"Really! I'm delighted to hear it. Yes, I
shall stay a day or so, at all events. How did
you know I was at your hotel ? You must give
me a lesson in clairvoyance, in return for my
rifle drill, Mr. Maldon."
" Saw you, from down yonder, sir, go into the
house with a knapsack on, and was happ.y to see
you come out without it ; which I took to be a
good sign, " replied the landlord frankly. ' ' Shall
I leave you my gun, sir?"
Paul thanked him, but declined the weapon.
His resolution, after its late cooling, at the Sar-
acen, and dismal experience at the bank, was
again beginning to assert itself. Between his
volunteer landlord and obliging landlady, it
would be odd, indeed, if he didn't obtain infor-
mation enough to enable him to commence
active operations.
There was an air, too, of romance about the
very scene around him. The lady, upon his
theory, must have resided very near. Had her
fair foot ever paced those glossy sands, or per-
chance stepped out of that little green bathing-
machine? Perhaps it had. Perhaps the whole
thing was a delusion altogether. Why had he
so hastily concluded that she had any connection
with those wretched bank notes ?
And so, refreshing himself with alternate
doses of bright anticipation, and doleful doubt,
he strolled about until it was time to think of
dinner.
Nothing could possibly have been nicer than
that important meal, which Paul had wisely left
to the discretion of his landlady. Both in se-
lection and concoction, it showed an amiable
care for the comfort and contentment of her
guest ; a kindness not less appreciable where
the repast is to be honestly paid for, than where
it is provided gratis in the dining-room of an
acquaintance, to which you are only invited for
socio-political reasons.
Dinners, however, are fleeting things, which,
in their nature, can not last. From the del-
icately fried whiting to the ripe Stilton, with its
: attendant glass of port, we proceed buoyantly
28
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
enough wherever we are. But then, in a lonely
sea-side coffee-room, however cosy and hospita-
ble it may contrive to look, there loom before us
some three xinsatisfactory hours, which insist
upon having work provided for them, and refuse,
upon any terms, to depart until bed-time.
Luckily for Paul, the coffee-room table was
amply provided with a scattered miscellany of
light literature ; and he got through his time
fairly enough until the clock struck nine.
Then the silence of the place became annoy-
ing. The respectable family in the best sitting-
room were as mute as mice. If they would only
have sung, or cheered, or danced, or done any
thing to show that they were alive, it would have
been a relief. So at last, with a yawn, he rose,
filled his pipe, and walked out into the colonnade
to enjoy a quiet smoke, and watch the moon rise
over the bay.
" I beg your pardon," said his landlord's
cheery voice the speaker suddenly appearing
upon the lawn " but would it be a liberty to ask
if you would drink a tumbler of Mrs. Maldon's
punch, in our parlor, this evening. Mrs. Mal-
don is rather famous for her punch. You'll ex-
cuse me, I'm sure, if I offend, but I am sorry
we have no company for you in the coffee-room."
" My dear sir," replied Petersfeld, " when an
invitation like yours needs an apology, we'll
talk about it. If you'll only introduce me to
Mrs. 'Maldon as a brother volunteer, H will save
me the trouble of making my excuses for in-
truding. I'll be with you in five minutes di-
rectly I've finished my pipe."
"Why," said the landlord smiling, "yon
don't suppose Mrs. Maldon would consider we
could taste her punch, without a whiff of 'bacco
going? Come along with me, sir. Over the
step this way."
Mrs. Maldon's whisky punch did not belie
its reputation. A better brew never s'ent up its
fragrant steam from the choice little bowl of
real china which had belonged to her grandpapa.
Her husband was in the best of good spirits.
To have met with such a redoubtable volunteer
comrade, who could graze gulls at five hundred
yards, and belonged, as he was awed to discov-
er, to the "Devil's Own, "was a piece of good
fortune to which he was never tired of reverting.
As to Mrs. Maldon, who cared less for ball-
practice than for London anecdotes, Paul's in-
formation of which he speedily became very
profuse, appeared to border on the miraculous.
How things " got into the papers" had always
been rather a mystery to her ; but she accepted
the fact of editorial omniscience just in the same
blind way that all women believe in machinery.
Tell them that a thing is done by machinery,
and difficulties vanish at once. There's nothing
left to think about. A machine is a machine,
just as a conjuror is a conjuror : and to push the
matter farther would be simply to blunder into
a world of things which nobody understands.
But in Paul, Mrs. Maldon's admiring eyes
beheld a man who had seen and even talked to
many of the great people of whom she delight-
ed to read : who had dined in their houses,
and knew their ways who lived in a London
Club, and was aware of even more than the
newspapers themselves. So she freely accepted
more than one tumbler of her own mellow
punch, and believed that, in point of fashiona-
ble information, she was a made woman for
life.
Of course this was just the time for Paul to
push his inquiries ; and, observing that the
more amusingly he talked the more liberally
was the silver punch-ladle put in requisition,
he lost no time in beginning.
" By the way, what's the story, Mr. Maldon,"
said he, in his usual blunt way, "about those
thousand pound bank notes, lost last month by
a neighbor of yours ? They were advertised in
the Times, and we talked about them in Lon-
don, I recollect."
"Admiral Mortlake lost them, sir. Lives at
Riverwood Lawn three miles on the London
road. Had a mortgage paid off that afternoon.
Would insist on having the money in bank
notes (that's just his way), and had his pocket
picked before night. Serve him right ! That's
what we all said at market. He was starting
for abroad next morning for a longish trip, and
I expect he took a nice temper with him. Not
much to boast of as far as that goes, any day."
"He's a bad sort of man, I think, is Admi-
ral Mortlake," observed the landlady, "and, if
he'd lost twice as much, we should all have said
the same serve him right! By the bye,"
added she, " that's the business that nasty little
man, Tobacco they call him, has been potter-
ing about the town for these last three weeks ;
isn't it, Maldon?"
" I expect it is," replied her husband.
"Don't know what else he's up to. He was
round here not two hours ago. I heard some-
body say something the other day, I'm sure I
forget what, about his being a spy, paid by Ad-
miral Mortlake. Spy, indeed! I'd have no
spies in England, if I Imd my way. I'd shoot
'em every man jack ; that is, if I could hit
'em. Wouldn't you, sir? I'll be bound you
would!"
' ' I should think so ! And choose a tender
place too. But, about this Admiral Mortlake,"
continued Paul, pretending to reflect. "Db I
know him in London, or not? What family
has he?"
" Only his wife, sir. No children. Only
Miss Helen Fleetlands, a young lady who lives
with him a ward, I believe. Never a nicer
young lady, in this world, ever walked through
the grass or sat on a saddle!"
" To be sure !" rejoined Petersfeld, quivering
with excitement. "Helen Fleetlands is the
very name just about eighteen very pretty
pale, clear complexion pleasant girl to talk to
isn't she ? Oh, yes. I recollect."
" Ah ! I see you know her," interposed Mrs.
Maldon, whose belief in Paul's experience had
become so extensive, that she would have con-
sidered it rather odd than otherwise if he hadn't
FIVE HUNDRED POUNES EEWARD.
known Helen. "Yes; she's just that. I'm
only sorry they took her away with them ; for
I'm sure the poor child has no good time of it,
where they are. But they did."
" Took her away ? Abroad do you mean ?"
" To be sure, sir. They all went together.
They went to France."
Paul was staggered. If she had eloped in
France he might as well give in at once, but
that was impossible. Bloss had talked about
the London detectives, and the sea-ports being
watched. There was a mistake somewhere.
That Miss Fleetlands was the lady in question,
was, however, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
"Ah, I dare say you're right, Mrs. Mai-
don," he resumed, with pretended carelessness.
"Only I hear a good deal of people's move-
ments, you see ; and, somehow, I fancied that
Miss Fleetlands had not been of the party to
the continent."
"But she was, sir," replied the landlady,
taking down an account-book, "and I'll tell
you how I happen to know. They'd talked
about going for some days before ; and, just be-
fore they started, Mrs. Mortlake sent to me to
come up, about an account I had with her for
fish. We supply them with fish and prawns,
don't you see. Well, now, here it is, the very
day, in my book. April 16th. That was the
day I went up with my bill ; and Mrs. Mortlake
sent me down word that she couldn't see me
about business just then, as the carriage was at
the door and so it was and she'd tell a serv-
ant to call on me next day and pay it which
she did. That's why I'm sure, sir."
"I see," said Paul, whose excitement became
almost uncontrollable, as he recollected that the
17th of April was the exact date of the advertise-
ment respecting the notes. " So you saw Miss
Fleetlands that morning?"
"No, I did not. But I saw the servants,
and they all spoke of her as going. She was
not well that morning, now I come to recollect.
And when the house-maid, Leah, came down
here next day, about the bill, she told me they
were all off."
In spite of his intense desire to press the mat-
ter farther, Paul had sufficient delicacy to for-
bear.
He was confident that he was upon the right
track : but it was equally certain that some
mystery existed, of which his hospitable compan-
ions had no suspicion.
Under such circumstances, to communicate,
or allow them to discover his doubts, seemed
scarcely less than dishonorable. He was bound
to solve the problem for himself not to thrust
his immature conjectures upon other people ;
and so, in all probability, light up a fire of curios-
ity of which nobody could foresee the end. He
mnst keep his misgivings to himself, for that
night, at all events, and try his luck at River-
wood Lawn in the .morning.
And so the conversation was allowed to flow
back to London town, and proceeded until Mrs.
Maiden's news-treasures began to mix as they
multiplied, causing the unsatisfactory suspicion
that there might be difficult work in the sorting.
There was a famous butcher of Bagdad,
once, who, after habitually selling mutton-chops
to a Magician for bran-new sequins (which, as
the story goes, he hoarded in a bag by them-
selves), awoke one morning to find these splen-
did coins a delusion ; and that the pieces which
he had so greedily accepted as silver from his
regular and ready-money customer, were, for
spending purposes, only " leaves cut round."
Probably Mrs. Maldon had never read the
story ; but some such experience seemed to be
brewing.
However, after a hearty good-night, which
his landlord insisted upon enlivening with a tre-
mendous volunteer carol, commencing
" When the false Foreigner, over the sea,
Vows to plant foot on old England the free,
This is the answer we'll make to the Man
1 Come if you dare and go back if you can !' "
Paul took his departure, leaving Mr. Maldon
delighted with the assurance that such senti-
ments were equally business-like and patriotic,
and his wife sorely concerned lest they should
have been considered unseasonable in the best
sitting-room.
CHAPTER XI.
OVERLOOKING a broad plateau of perfectly
level turf, studded with mighty clumps of imme-
morial oak, stands the low, irregular, turreted
stone mansiofl which has, for a couple of centu-
ries at least, borne the name of Rivenvood
Lawn.
Behind rise the tree-tops of the woodland
which fringes, at that spot, the river St. Mark.
On either side, half buried among close-
clipped hedges of the densest yew, lie the flower
gardens, with their stone stairs, stone seats, stone
balls, stone sun-dials, and fish-ponds rimmed
with stone. Were our ancestors really so cold,
blooded? Did ever man actually sit down to
plot and plan one of these rectangular petrified
pleasaunces without a quiet chuckle over his '
diagram? There must be some joke in the
matter long since lost forever ; but nothing, to
my mind, carries one back to the days which
are gone, more than these austere old gardens.
Old houses burn or tumble down ; or, if they
stand, have probably been improved and fur-
nished into something quite beyond the expecta-
tions of their first inhabitants. Old parks have
changed their timber, their boundaries, and their
ancient fence ; or towns have sprung up and
choked them ; and we can not feel certain in
what degree, if at all, they preserve their olden
aspect.
But, in these old gardens, substantially noth-
ing is altered. The clipped hedges stand ex-
actly as they stood two hundred years ago. The
steps, the seats, the vases, are identical. They
also stand where they always stood, and look as
they always looked, except for Time's modest
30
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
livery of rusty green. The Nymphs and Apol-
los wear exactly the same plump good-natured
expression which they wore when there used to
be something worth simpering at, in the way of
company, around their pedestals. Their faces
no doubt are wofully mottled, and they have
suffered somewhat from frost-bite or other griev-
ance in the matter of fingers and noses. But
they would tell you, if they could, that such as
you see the garden now, such it was in the days
of the Vandyke'd gallants of the Stuart time,
and the periwigged, square-toed, snuff-box-car-
rying dandies of Queen Anne.
They could tell you a great deal more, too, I
suspect, if they chose. I should like to have that
bashful Venus in the witness-box for half an
hour. I should like to know all she has seen in
that secret bower of yew, into which she still
persists in prying with inextinguishable curios-
ity. Unless our elder dramatists drew very
strangely upon their imagination, the reminis-
cences of her early statuehood ought to comprise
a great deal that would be well worth hearing.
Of the Lawn itself I'am not ready at present
to say much. The family are away. The blinds
are down, the carpets up, and the furniture
smothered in brown-holland. In due time, when
it is in a fit state to receive us, we will make
ourselves fairly at home. Meanwhile let us ac-
company Petersfeld thither, upon his first early
visit.
After a capital breakfast at the St. Mark's
Bay Hotel, and a few cheery words with his
landlord, who was counting his cartridges in the
bar parlor, Paul set out upon his tour of discov-
ery. An hour's walking brought him to the
lodge, the gate at which was opened by a small
child who plucked its hair respectfully as he
passed in. A long carriage sweep, winding
through a well-grown shrubbery, led to the front
entrance, near which stood a gardener busily
engaged in preparing some flower-beds for his
approaching bedding out.
Paul at once broke ground with his accus-
tomed affability. "I'm afraid I shan't have
the pleasure of seeing Admiral Mortlake this
morning. He's abroad, I hear."
"If you ain't going abroad, I'm afraid you
won't," replied the gardener, coolly. " Did you
expect to see him ?"
" Came from London on some business of his,
at all events. Can you give me his address ?"
" Can't give you any thing of his. What did
the old woman at the gate say ?"
" Didn't see her, unfortunately; so I had to
walk in."
"Old donkey," muttered the gardener, apos-
trophizing his absent wife. ' ; If you : re a friend
of Admiral Mortlake's, sir, why all right. If
you ain't, why we've our orders at the Lodge,
you see : and those orders are, No Thorough
Fair."
"All right ! When I asked for the admiral's
address, I only meant to inquire where a letter
would reach him ; and that I suppose I can find
out at the house."
"That's the house," said the man with a jerk
| of his head, as if he washed his hands of the
j whole affair. " I've nothing to do with the
' house. If you're going there, that's it."
" I am going to the house," replied Paul, good
humoredly ; " so you needn't have taken me for
a tramp. Have a cigar?" continued he, produc-
i ing his case. " These are fresh from London.
Try one."
For a moment the man looked at him dis-
trustfully. But, after all, the cigar looked less
like a bribe than a peace-offering, and he was
an amateur in tobacco.
"Thanky, sir," he said. "You'll excuse my
mentioning that this was no Thorough Fair; but
we've the admiral's orders to mention as much,
unless we know the party."
"Quite right, too. And when the admiral
gives an order he means it, I've no doubt."
" That he does, and no mistake. What he
says has got to be minded : and so it should.
If you'll just go round the corner, sir, and ring
the front door bell, you'll be attended to."
The front door, to which Petersfeld had been
directed, was on the side of the house opposite
that which overlooked the lawn. It was cover-
ed in with a massive stone portico large enough
to admit a carriage, and had altogether an an-
tique, imposing air.
There was no occasion to ring the bell, for the
door stood open, and a coquettish-looking house-
maid was shaking a mat upon the steps. She
stopped in her work on perceiving Paul, and
said " fiff !" by way of apology for the dust.
" Good-morning," said Paul. "The gardener
has sent me here for Admiral Mortlake's address.
Do you happen to know where he is at present ?"
"I can tell you where we send his letters to,
if that will do, "returned the girl, looking for a
card upon the hall-table. "This is it. Grand
Hotel, Paris."
"All there, are they? Mrs. Mortlake and
Miss Fleetlands ?"
' ' Oh yes ! They're all there. "
"Miss Fleetlands went with them then?"
"Why of course! What do you want to
know about Miss Fleetlands for?" suddenly
added the house-maid with a saucy twinkle in
her eye, as she looked at Paul from head to foot, .
and noticed his handsome face and dashing
tout ensemble
"Hum!" said Paul. "That's my lookout.
I doubt if you could keep a secret if I told you
one."
"Couldn't I?" exclaimed the damsel, who
was beginning to feel highly curious. "You
try !"
"Well, the fact is, I rather wanted to find
out where Miss Fleetlands is at present. How-
ever, if she's in Paris, that's enough."
" Oh, I know she's there ; because only two
days ago she wrote to me to send over some
things out of her drawers, and something which
she said her dress-maker in the town yonder
! had forgotten to bring home before she went,
I and a pretty piece of work we had about it,
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
31
and oj^j or two things I couldn't find after all.
That's How I know she's there. But you said
there was a secret, sir, you know."
" Only this that I asked you any question
at all about her. Buy a new ribbon for my
sake, and keep that piece of news to yourself,"
continued Paul, slipping a five shilling piece
into her hand.
"Well I'm sure, sir, I'm much obliged; but
it's very little of a secret to keep. I'll be bound
I won't tell any body."
" And you're sure you've told me every thing
every thing, mind !" added Paul significantly.
"I don't quite understand you, sir don't see
quite what you want to know. Unless," con-
tinued she, turning the crown piece over and
over in her hand, as if its acceptance pledged
her to unlimited gossip, "unless, indeed but
may be what I was going to say, don't concern
you in the least, you see. 7 ' '
"How should I know ?'' cried Paul. " You'd
better say it. Then I'll tell you."
" Why," rejoined the girl, simpering, " it just
depends upon whether you was a-thinking of
keeping company with our Miss Helen. You
see I can't tell why you come asking about her,
and likely enough you know your own business,
but if you had a mind that way, I should say
you'd better be more careful than common
that's all."
"More careful than common! Why in the
world should I be more careful than common ?
My good girl, tell me exactly what you mean,
and I'll give you a new bonnet, to trim the rib-
bon on."
"Oh no," said the girl. "I don't mind a
ribbon, but I ain't going to tell tales for new
bonnets. Only as you have behaved quite the
gentleman, sir, I shouldn't like to see you get
into the same trouble as others have. Our Miss
Helen," continued she, sinking her voice to a
whisper, " isn't exactly like other young ladies.
Don't you come a-courting of her, sir. She
mustn't be married."
"Good gracious go on!" gasped Paul.
"What's the matter with her?"
" Well, we never quite made out the rights of
it," replied the house-maid mysteriously, ' ' though
we've talked it over often enough, you may be
sure. But she mustn't. Not three months ago,
or thereabouts, there was a young gentleman
came after her, much about your age, I should
say, sir ; a soldier captain, he was, and she liked
him, too, we all said. They used to ride to-
gether when the hounds were out, and it was
quite pretty, like, her groom used to say, to see
the way he'd follow her all across the country ;
and it took a good one too, to do that, for she's
a rare young lady to gallop, is our Miss Helen.
And so, of course, we all considered it was a
match, and nobody had a word to say against
it, for he was every bit like a soldier, he was,
and a nice pleasant-spoken gentleman, even fit
for our Miss Helen, and that's not saying a
little.
" Well, we never heard, any of us, that there
was any difficulty in the way. Our Miss Helen
has heaps of money, they say, and he, we found
out, had a great estate not many miles off, and
was going to be a noble lord viscount some
time ; and we were just wondering when the
wedding was to be, when lo and behold you,
just as he was a-walking up to this very door
one morning, up steps an officer from London,
and ' You're my prisoner, captain ! ' says he,
' God save the Queen !' "
"'What now,' says the captain. 'What
have I done ?'
" ' Goin' after Miss Fleetlands,' says the offi-
cer. ' That's it. So you come along.'
" ' Hands off!' says the captain, and knocks
him right through that holly-bush, yonder.
' ' ' Murder, alive ! ' shouted the officer. ' Catch
him somebody, afore I'm stung to death in this
beastly tree ! '
" Well, up rushes the officer's man, for there
was two of them, and catches up the captain
like a baby, and they two goes to work like ex-
ecutioners, and puts handcuffs on his hands, and
fetters on his feet, and carries him off kicking
and calling I believe you, to a cart, and drives
him right away to London ; and there he is this
day, sir, if you'll believe me, in dungeon deep,
and won't be let out never no more. Never,
no, never! That's why I say our Miss Helen
isn't like other young ladies. She mustn't
be married. We found that out among our-
selves. By talking, sir. Our Miss Helen must
be left alone."
Paul stood for a moment like a man in a
dream. "Are you quite certain of all this?"
he was beginning, when the housekeeper's voice
was heard upon the stairs.
"Oh, you must go, please!" exclaimed the
girl, " or I shall catch it for talking," and almost
before he fownd himself clear of the portico, the
mat was again in such tremendous requisition,
that even to look back was at the risk of being
smothered.
Not caring again to encounter the surly garden-
er, Paul took the opposite walk to that by which
he had arrived, and which led into a dark suite
of yew-surrounded gardens.
Beyond just where they opened upon a spa-
cious lawn stood a pretty summer-house, or
rustic temple, of unbarked pine. It was a place
upon which a good deal of taste and care had
evidently been expended. The windows were
of colored glass, and the oaken parquet curiously
inlaid. The table and chairs were, likewise, all
of massive oak. There was a snug little fire-
place, large enough to boil the kettle upon tea-
drinking occasions, and upon either side of it,
large oaken cupboards, which perhaps contained
the paraphernalia necessary for such temperate
festivity.
Paul walked in and sat down. He was too
much bewildered by his own recent discoveries
to indulge in romantic conjectures as to whether
he might not, at that moment, be smoking his
cigar in Helen's own favorite bower.
He was trying in vain to reduce all that he
32
FIVE HUNDKED POUNDS EEWAED.
had learned since his arrival at St. Mark's, into
some sort of consistency, and to make it square,
if possible, with the contents of the two advertise-
ments, and the information which he had obtain-
ed from Bloss.
But the attempt was hopeless. It was like
unraveling a tangled skein, in which to untwist
one end is only to ensure a tighter knot at the
other. That Helen Fleetlands was the person
of whom he was in search, he was more than
ever certain. His landlady's instant recognition
of her as described in the advertisement, was
conclusive upon that head. Again Miss Fleet-
lands had actually left Riverwood Lawn upon
the very day, or day after, the loss of the bank
notes advertised by Admiral Mortlake. These
were clearly the " little fortune" of which Bloss
had spoken ; in fact, the whole chain of events
thus far fitted to a nicety. The detectives had
been placed upon her track, and upon their
failure, the second advertisement had been in-
serted in the papers, addressed upon the same
authority, to those who had got her.
That so extremely nice a young lady as " our
Miss Helen" should have picked her guardian's
pocket in such confoundedly good earnest, was
of course improbable enough at the first blush.
But Paul was in no mood for arguing at that
moment. He had got among facts, and motives
might take care of themselves. Some such act
of "graceful self-possession" had perhaps led to
those qualities having been so conspicuously
noticed in the advertisement.
Indeed, if there had been reason to conclude
that the young lady had then and thereupon
decamped with her plunder, Paul would have
had a fair start enough. To know more would
be to fathom the grand secret itself, for the res-
olution of which five hundred pounds had just
been offered wherehad she gone where was she
then ? And this he didn't expect to discover
without such sustained and arduous exertion as
would render his name a household word for
indomitable and successful energy through some
time to come.
But then arose the calm bewildering fact
agreed to upon all hands, that she had left the
lawn in company with Admiral Mortlake and his
wife, and was at that moment spending her time
with them in Paris. Upon this point it seemed
scarcely possible that every body should be mis-
taken, especially the gossiping house-maid, who
had clearly told the truth to the best of her
belief, and who had actually heard from her at
the Grand Hotel.
So the question seemed to resolve itself into
this dilemma : was Miss Fleetlands at that mo-
ment in Paris, or was she not ?
If she was, all was delusion from beginning to
<md. Never since the world began had a man
Seen so unaccountably and egregiously misled.
If she was not, then indeed matters wore a
perplexing aspect. Every body about St. Mark's
must have been deliberately and successfully de-
ceived by the admiral, for some purpose of his
own, which Paul, at the moment, felt it impos-
sible to conjecture. But taken in con^ction
with Mrs. Maiden's remark, that Helen had no
good time of it in his house, it suggested unpleas-
ant misgivings, and made Paul quite flush with
excitement, like a champion with a task before
him.
As to the wild myth of the chained and captive
captain his unintelligible offense and condign
punishment it seemed rather like a page out of
the Arabian Nights than an episode of modern
life in England. But it was evidently a romance
of the back-stairs a story which wouldn't bear
examination for a moment. The captain had
probably been arrested captains often were ;
and this was the wise version of the story, with
which his own groom, probably, had entertained
the servants' hall. Paul knew more of the world
than to take his facts from house-maids.
Upon the main question, however, there was
only one thing to be done. To rest in his pres-
ent state of doubt was impossible. To breakfast
on the boulevards next morning was easy. It
was not in his nature to pause for one moment
when any active measure suggested itself.
Great was the disappointment of his hespitable
host and hostess when Paul returned about noon,
and announced that pressing business compelled
him to terminate his visit, and take the next
train to London.
Mrs. Maldon was vexed at losing her fash-
ionable and amusing guest. Mr. Maldon had
still more cause to be sorry. He had employed
the whole morning in polishing up his rifle
until, from nose-cap to heel-plate, it shone like
gold and silver. It was too bad that the bloody-
business of the afternoon, upon which he had
counted so securely, should be indefinitely post-
poned. All had been well enough before
Petersfeld came. But to go out again by him-
self to blaze at the gannets with all his new-
born consciousness that rifle-shooting was rath-
er an art, and that his own performance was
probably disregarded by the birds themselves,
as a mere noisy nuisance, undeserving of the at-
tention of any sensible fowl, was too much for
his philosophy.
There was no help for it, however ; as Paul
was bent upon departing by the mid-day ex-
press. So, after a good deal of leave-taking,
and a sort of undertaking upon his part to re-
turn within a week, and bring his rifle with him,
he was allowed to shoulder his knapsack and
march off to the station.
His friend, the jolly-looking porter, received
him with the greatest deference as he appeared
upon the platform.
" So Paul had had a pleasant evening at St.
Mark's Bay? To be sure he had! Else he
wouldn't have recommended-the house not he !
As for himself, hadn't he just taken the change
out* of that half-crown ? Never had any body
enjoyed a dinner more that was his opinion.
It was lovely."
And, before the bell rang for starting, Paul
had been regaled with a complete menu of the
most savory and wonderful entertainment that
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWAED.
33
had ever been ordered and devoured by a sin-
gle glutton regardless of expense, or which
the porter appeared to consider as the same
thing with no necessary limit to extravagance
short of two and six.
Just as the train was on the move, after hav-
ing placed Paul in 'a compartment to himself,
from which, as he assured him, ladies and ba-
bies would, be rigidly excluded by the guard Jill
the way to London, he suddenly reappeared at
the window.
" See that snuffy little chap there, sir ?" he
said, pointing, to a small, ill-conditioned man,
who was apparently looking out for a seat.
"That chap's name's Tobacco. He's a spy.
A London spy, he is. Up to some game, yon
may depend upon it. Little rascal ; he's going
to town!"
" A spy, is he ? Looks more like an under-
taker in difficulties," said Paul, as the individ-
ual in question shambled into a third-class car-
riage. "Get me a Bradshaw, will you, at that
book-stall." And the train rolled away.
After the usual display of cheerful persever-
ance and intellectual dexterity which it seems
to have been the main object of the compiler of
our national hand-book to elicit, Paul succeed-
ed in ascertaining that he would be in London by
3.30. There was a train for Folkestone at four
in connection with the tidal boat, and he might
reach Paris soon after midnight. So he resolved
to go straight through.
Upon his arrival at London Bridge station,
and while taking his ticket for Paris, he was
not exactly disconcerted, but certainly surprised,
to observe at a little distance no other personage
than Mr. Tobacco. Could it be possible that
he himself Paul Petersfeld was the mark of
that hideous little animal ? A dim confused
suspicion that he had been treading dangerous
ground seemed to arise in his mind without any
assignable reason. And then the house-maid's
concluding warning "Our Miss Helen must
be left alone," came back like an echo. 'But
w&at had he done ?
That was just the question the captain had
asked, when, according to her account, he was
knocked down to the tune of "God save the
Queen, "and carried away tied, in a tax-cart.
However, there was no need to pursue the
inquiry ; since Mr. Tobacco made no attempt
to enter the train ; although he lingered in
view rubbing his nose wistfully through the
barrier-railings, until- it was fairly under steam
for Folkestone.
CHAPTER XII.
IT was long past midnight, when Paul found
himself at last upon the Boulevard des Capu-
chins.
This was of little consequence. Nobody ever
goes to bed in Paris nobody, at least, whose
presence could be of the slightest interest to a
newly-arrived traveler. Paul might have had
C
a " diner a la carte" at ten minutes' notice.
But he had dined at Amiens, during that con-
vulsive "vinfjt minutes d'arret," which at once
gives individuality to the town, and provides
the single reminiscence of it which most En-
glishmen carry away. So he only went to bed.
By whatsoever- token it may please posterity
to distinguish this present era, nothing is more
certain than that it will be hereafter referred to
as the age .of hotels. In those palatial edifices
which are so fast rising in every direction
which form part of every railway terminus, and
overshadow the roofs of every watering-place,
and appropriate the best places in our streets
and squares, I see something more than the re-
sult of a mere joint-stock mania. I see not
only a step, but a stride, in the march of com-
fort and civilization ; and heartily wish I could
secure to every shareholder a regular dividend
of fifteen per cent., with a handsome bonus at
frequent intervals. I should like also to be a
considerable shareholder myself upon these
terms. And, as a fair sample of a comparative-
ly new state of things, I recommend the Grand
Hotel, Paris.
A man must indeed be strangely impassive
who could walk into that noble Cow d'honneurfor
the first time, without an agreeable sensation.
It is something to feel that one is~ going to be
so royally lodged and cared for. But the real
wonder of the place lies in those interminable
furlongs of soft-carpeted corridors Boulevards,
as they are aptly called rising five stories high,
each a swarming hive of guests.
By what mysterious arrangement can the
countless wants of this great multitude be pro-
vided for ? What waiter's sanity would be worth
an hour's purchase, exposed to the competitive
jangling of five hundred beils? All is easy,
nevertheless. There is a bureau de service
one or more upon each boulevard. Touch
the little- ivory button of your bedroom tele-
graph, and you have at once the satisfaction of
knowing that you have set a fiery little demon
chattering, whose tongue will never rest until
your wants have been attended to. You have,
as it were, your own particular landlord with all
his myrmidons close at hand. And, practical-
ly, you find that the requirements of half a
thousand people are far more quickly and com-
fortably provided for, than those of a dozen at
the Saracen.
Another advantage, not less noteworthy, is
that you can at any moment ascertain the
names of all your fellow-guests. There arc five
mahogany compartments in the grand bureau,
on the ground floor, corresponding with the five
boulevards above stairs, in which the name and
date of each arrival is at once inserted. It
seems a simple business enough ; but the slov-
enly way in which this important duty is dis-
charged, or rather neglected, at most old-fash-
ioned hotels, converts into matter of praise what
would otherwise only call for simple approval.
Before these gigantic muster-rolls, Paul took
his stand early the next morning, in much the
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
same condition of nervous excitejnent with
which, as he well recollected, he had, not many
years before, searched for his own name upon
the pillar in the Senate House. It is wonderful
what a blinding, bewildering affair reading be-
comes under such circumstances. The very let-
ters seem to be writing themselves over again
while you read, and loop, and twist, and dance,
and dazzle, until we begin to doubt whether our
education has been as complete as it might have
been. But there was no mistake at last.
"J7 Amiralet Mine. Mortlake, et Mile. Fleet-
lands," said the scroll. Arrives le 19 Avrif."
Their rooms were on the second boulevard.
Paul whistled, and walked away. The crisis
had come at last. If that oracular board was
to be believed, Miss Fleetlands was probably at
that moment dressing within twenty yards of
him.
Of course she was : and the people at St.
Mark's perfectly in the right. The odd thing
would have been to find them all in the wrong.
But then what a hideojis unintelligible enigma
was the whole affair ! Who had run away, if
she had not? What did the advertisement
mean ? Lunacy at three-and-twenty was a bad
lookout ; but that was what matters were coming
to. However, under the same roof with her at
last, something definite must surely be arrived
at.
Even to see her. That in itself would be
worth a journey to Paris. To sit next her at
the table d' hole. That would be better still,
and easily managed. In the meanwhile a ques-
tion or so at the bureau de service of the second
boulevard would put him at once in possession
of the usual hours and habits of the admiral and
his ladies, and enable him without difficulty to
identify them. So up stairs he went.
As I l^ave already explained, there is, at the
Grand Hotel, a bureau de service upon every
floor, at which of course, with very little trouble,
you may ascertain all the secrets of its inhabit-
ants. Foreign waiters are not apt to be dis-
creet. Their delight is to lay a long forefinger
on the top of their nose, and tell you more than
you expected.
" Good-morning !" said Paul, marching sud-
denly into the room. "Admiral Mortlake, an
Englishman, lives, I hear, upon this floor. He
has two ladies with him, hasn't he ?"
" Nein nein .'" replied the gen* de service,
shaking his head, with a smile.
"Nonsense! Nine ladies in two rooms!
that won't do," retorted Paul. "Admiral Mort-
lake's the man I'm asking about. Fellow from
England. Wouldn't think of such a thing."
" Neun damen habe ich nichtgesagt, mein. Herr.
Mit der Herr Admiral ist nur eine Dame, die
gnadifje Frau. Niemand cinders."
" Come, I say ! That's not French, anyhow, "
exclaimed Paul, impatiently. "Parley Fran-
9ais, my good fellow, if you can't parley
Anglais, which would save no end of trouble.
You've no idea how easy it is. Try it on !"
"7a wold! Jezt verstehe ich der Herr," re-
plied the good-humored Bavarian, who always
will start in his own language until driven out
of it by main force. ' ' You ask me about your
English admiral. Well, he is yonder: in the
room at the end of the corridor. Last door on
the left. By the stairs. His wife is with him.
No one else. He has kept a room engaged
these many days for hisfraulcin. But she has
not come yet, and will not come now, for they
start this morning for Normandie. They and
my lady's' kammer-jungfer her maid. I am
even now making out their note."
"By George, what a rage I should have been
in if I'd missed them. Now look here," con-
tinued Paul, "I want to know this very par-
ticularly. Are you quite sure that Miss did
not arrive with them here? Are you certain
that she has never been in this house ?"
"Quite certain, mein Herr" replied the man
confidently. " I know it all the more because
two days ago I asked my lady's maid why that
expensive room was kept empty so long, when
miss did not come. And she said oh, that miss
had gone to pay a visit among some friends in
the Faubourg St. Germain, and that the admiral
wished to keep her room, because it was next his
own, and he expected her at the hotel every day.
And also, because money was of no consequence.
Oh that I were such a lucky lord as that !"
" Seems an odd arrangement, doesn't it ?"
pursued Petersfeld. "Miss must be very fond
of her friends in the Faubourg."
" Ha! Just what I said to the maid," return-
ed the gen' de service. "I said to her, Fratilein,
I begin to think that you've lost this young lady
of yours, and that we shall never have the pleas-
ure of seeing her here at all hein ? And then she
looked at me, all dark and angry, and demand-
ed of me, what business' it was of mine ? I won-
der why your nation are so fond of asking that?
No other people do it. I am almost afraid to
say to an English fellow-servant 'Wie beftnden
Sie sichf for fear he should enrage himself
and 'make that reply."
" What time do these people start ?" inquired
Petersfeld, who was in no mood to moralize
over insular peculiarities. " You tell me they're
going this morning."
"7a wolil. They have ordered a carriage at
half-past ten to take them to the railway station
Rue St. Lazare. That is all I know."
"Do they breakfast in their rooms?"
" Oh no. They breakfast daily in the coffee-
room restaurant below. Let me see," continued
the Bavarian, looking at the clock, " they will
be going down directly I should think. It is
now hall) zehn nearly half-past nine."
" All right," said Paul, and took his stand
upon the great staircase within view of the door
of their apartment. Perhaps his notions of
what could possibly be done in the way of ac-
tion under the circumstances were not very def-
inite ; but his curiosity to see the admiral, and
at least carry away a living image of that man
in his mind, was indescribable.
He had not long to wait. In a few moments
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
35
the door opened, and Admiral and Mrs. Mortlake
passed him as they descended.
Once seen, the admiral was not a man to be
easily forgotten. Solid and square built, with a
red weather-beaten face, he looked the very im-
personation of physical power combined with
unconquerable resolve. The stubborn under-
jaw the broad battle-broken nose the iron
foreliead, and those self-reliant hempen-shaded
eyes, that so seldom and so slowly looked either
to the right or left, all told the same story.
Nor was his dress less characteristic. His
trousers, cut after a fashion exploded years be-
fore most of us were trousered at all, showed
that he was not a man to change with the times
or ask his tailor's opinion as to the prevailing
pattern. An immense bunch of gold seals dan-
gled from his fob. His rough blue coat had
flaps, and side pockets, and gilt buttons, and
these, with a low-crowned hat and ponderous
oaken cudgel, were the prominent points which
struck Petersfeld upon his first brief inspection.
Mrs. Mortlake was tall, angular, and fright-
fully prim. She had a thin aquiline nose, dark
uncompromising eyebrows, and no lips. She
was dressed entirely in black, and as Paul look-
ed at the couple, he thought that the young lady
had exercised a very sound discretion in run-
ning away.
Neither she nor her husband took the slightest
notice of Paul as they passed him upon the stairs.
It didn't seem to be their way. They marched
doggedly on into the coffee-room, and took their
seats at a table which had been reserved for
them ; and Paul, whose appetite reminded him
that his own breakfast had not yet been accom-
plished, accepted the services of a waiter, who
was bent upon interesting every body with the
contents of a little tract, entitled, " Les plats du
jour."
The admiral and his wife breakfasted in si-
lence. No domestic confidences, at all events,
reached Paul's ear. And, the meal over, Mrs.
Mortlake retired to her apartment, while the ad-
miral, lighting his cigar, paced sternly forth
into the Cour cChonneur.
There Petersfeld had the opportunity of re-
garding him at leisure. And, to tell the truth,
he recognized, in that solid, imperturbablejnan,
a great deal more than his match. He felt pos-
itively afraid of him, as his imagination suggest-
ed the sudden and picturesque result, if, by any
process of divination, his own rash secret could
be discovered on the spot. Mere manslaughter
would scarcely satisfy the soul of such a tremen-
dous Tartar. However, there was no im-
mediate cause for anxiety.
Punctually, at half-past ten, the carriage roll-
ed into the court-yard. The luggage was brought
down, and Mrs. Mortlake appeared in traveling
costume, attended by a shrewish-looking maid.
Paul resolved to take a fiacre and follow the
vehicle to the station. There was just the shad-
ow of a possibility that Miss Fleetlands might
join them there ; and it was as well to leave no
loop-hole whatever open to future doubt.
I It often happens, to thpse whose ears and eyes
are alive to every suggestion, that some unex-
pected clue suddenly presents itself, which to
less observant or less practical people, would
have no significance whatever. Upon the ad-
miral's portmanteau, as it was being placed upon
the coach-box, Paul noticed an old address,
which had not been removed. It was "Lord
Warden Hotel, Dover." An idea instantly
glanced upon his mind. They had come to
Paris by that route. He had only to return the
same way to ascertain, beyond all possibility of
mistake, whether Miss Fleetlands had actually
left England with them.
If she had not, then, that the admiral was
playing some deep inexplicable game which had
hitherto duped every body was decided ; and he
would never rest until he had penetrated the
mystery, and otherwise played the part of a true
knight in the adventure. If she . had but his
common sense told him that it was otherwise,
and that he had only to make assurance doubly
sure.
His drive to the railway station simply con-
firmed his conjecture that Admiral and Mrs.
Mortlake would depart alone. There was noth-
ing for it but to return to London via Dover.
So after ascertaining that the admiral had desired
his letters to be forwarded to him at the Ho-
tel d' Angleterre Quai des paquebots Rouen,
he quitted the Grand Hotel a wiser but far from
satisfied man.
At the " Lord Warden" he had little difficul-
ty in ascertaining that the Mortlakes had slept
there on the night of the 18th of April, en route
for the continent. Miss Fleetlands was not in
their company. Her name had not been men-
tioned. With the exception of Mrs. Mortlake's
maid, they had been quite alone.
* * * * *
"Now!" exclaimed Paul, giving the fire a
tremendous stab, which sent the sparks roaring
up the chimney, " that's the end of my travels,
Worsley. Tell us what you think of them."
"Anyhow," replied I, "I admit that your
character for energy is, from this moment, beyond
all possible question. After our conversation
of the other morning you ought to be proud of
the admission."
"Upon my word, I think I've earned it.
But now, Worsley, what's to be made of the
whole business ?"
" Well," replied I, " taking the story as yon
state it, just listen to the reply I should make as
to the probabilities of the case, if I were counsel
on the other side in one of our own courts. In
the first place, you fall upon the track of Miss
Fleetlands through the medium of these lost
bank notes. Do you seriously believe that she
ran away with them ?"
"Why," replied Paul, looking slightly con-
fused, " I declare, since I first hit off the right
scent, I've thought about nothing but herself.
Forgot the notes altogether. Probably they
were her own."
' ' Not very likely ; if they were those which
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
the admiral advertised. But, now, look here.
Your theory is, that the young lady of the ad-
vertisement is your Miss Fleetlands ?"
"Of course she is. The description agrees
perfectly. So docs the time at which she left
her home. The whole thing squares exactly."
" No doubt. But the lady whom you and
Bloss talked about, was, if you recollect, as he
said, pursued by detectives before she was twelve
hours over the lawn. Search had been made
for her everywhere the sea-ports watched and
yet she had never been heard of from that time
to this. Now your Miss Fleetlands, according
to the united testimony of every body most like-
ly to know, both at her own house and in St.
Mark's, started quietly for Paris, in pursuance
of a long-arranged plan, in the company of her
guardian and his wife."
" She never got there, though !"
"Granted. But the admiral and his wife
did. Now, I put it to your common sense, is it
1 conceivable that had she eloped upon the road,
either with or without a considerable sum of mon-
ey, they would have complacently pursued their
way to the continent, contenting themselves
. with putting an advertisement in the papers, to
the effect that, if found, she was to be packed
up and left with Mr. Bloss?"
"Botheration! Of course it isn't probable.
But why did they stick her name up at the hotel,
and pretend she was in Paris, when she wasn't?
You don't half see your way through it yet, Mas-
ter Worsley."
"Perhaps not. We pass all at once from
the improbable to the mysterious."
"That's it, exactly. What right has -a
guardian to be mysterious about his . ward ?
Say what you like, I'd lay my "head upon it that
Miss Fleetlands is the missing girl; and the
more perplexing the more incomprehensible
the whole story becomes, the more I am deter-
mined to find out whether I'm not right. It's
the very charm of the whole affair. You can't
make head or tail of it. Neither can I. Won-
der whether Kinghorn would ! But, when I
clear up the whole affair, who'll laugh then ?
There's a grand discovery to be made, I'm
sure. Wrong to be put right, perhaps. By the
way, though," suddenly exclaimed Petersfeld,
starting upright as he spoke, " I declare, all this
time, I've been forgetting the most stunning
thing of all ! This very night when we were
dining with Buttermere I declare it seems a
week ago already that little girl Linda, you
remember I sat beside her at dinner when
we were talking about this affair "
" Of course. What about her?"
"Why, she told me mark this, Worsley!
that she knew all about the matter : knew who
the girl was, where she lived, and where she is
now. Think of that!"
" Little humbug. Did you believe her ?''
" When she gave me names. Not before. I
told her she was only chaffing, and then she
went to work with those natty little fingers
of hers, and spelled out right away ' Helen
Fleetlands Riverwood.' How now, Worsley,
hey?"
" I think that you have made a most valuable
acquaintance for your purpose," returned I, con-
siderably surprised by the intelligence. "You
two should start together, in partnership, in
search of Miss Helen and her five hundred.
Only that would be next door to bigamy. But
you should have stroked her a little and asked
for more."
" So I would. Only the ladies, bother them,
chose to go just at that moment, and I never
got a chance afterward. I'd give something to
have another talk with her."
" That you may, easily. She and her sisters
are going to the Zoological Gardens to-morrow
afternoon. Meet them there,' and t*he thing's
done."
" The deuce they are ! How do you know ?
She never told me. I wonder at that."
"It was certainly very inconsiderate. Bun-
nytail told me. I asked him if he had been to
the cattle show, by way of finding some subject
in which he might possibly take an interest,
and he said, ' no but he was going to-morrow ;
while his partner yonder,' pointing to that ex-
traordinary wife of his, 'preferred going, with
the Buttermere young ladies, to some shabby
show in the Regent's Park of outlandish beasts,
that would never pay for their own litter. He
gave 'em joy of it, he did.'"
"My dear Worsley, you've done me a signal
service ! won't I go that's all ! Stay and drink
good luck to my chance. At all events, finish
your cigar. All may turn upon this. I declare,
though, I wouldn't take such a short cut in the
matter, if I didn't feel that, knowing what I
now know, it might be a sin to lose time."
"My good fellow, it's past twelve o'clock,
and I'm off. I start for the country to-morrow,
and have work to arrange before leaving. I
can be of no farther use to you, at present.
Good-night. Go on upon your own hook al-
ways the best way."
" Good-night, if yon must go. I hoped we
might have struck out something clear; but
never mind. Let us see what comes of to-mor-
row. At all events, when we next meet in
Lincoln's Inn, you shall find that I have a story
to tell. Good-night, and good-bye, for the
present !"
And so Petersfeld went to bed, and to sleep,
and had rather a remarkable dream.
He found himself walking alone with Linda,
in a sequestered part of the Zoological Gardens,
into which they 'had wandered, far away from
the rest of the party. And by way of securing
a perfectly retired place, in which to converse
about Helen, without any rational fear of inter-
ruption, they entered an empty crocodile's den,
the door of which had propitiously been left un-
fastened. And as they got into very deep and
interesting conversation indeed, and "locked
up" for that purpose, closer and closer upon the
crocodile's plank, a deaf old janitor of the g:;r-
dens came by and locked them in.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
37
Naturally they both shouted a good deal, for " Didn't say any thing. What should he
it was growing desperately dark ; but owing to say ?"
the peculiar atmosphere of the place, Paul was j "Now, really, Loo, you are too provoking!
conscious that he could only crow like a croco- Did you make him understand, or not ? You
dile, while Linda whistled in accompaniment, are not answering fairly, and you know it!"
like some unearthly fowl. " I know," replied Loo, with useless prevar-
Of course, in the Zoological Gardens, where ication, "that I told it to Mr. Goldwin after
noises of the kind are only too common, such a dinner here, by the tea-table and Mr. Peters-
proceeding was useless, and they passed the feld was standing close by just where that
night unpleasantly enough ; Linda insisting that j chair is, and heard every word. I had no chance
Paul should climb to the very topmost bar of of telling him otherwise. He scarcely spoke to
the iron rails, and cling on there until morning me once, all the evening."-
while she arranged her virgin couch amid all " Hovv do you know he heard ?"
the comforts of a crocodile's roast. " Oh^come, Linda, it's useless going on in
And, when morning came, it came attended ; this way ! He was quite close enough to hear,
by Mr. and Mrs. Buttermere ; who, after mo- ! and I'll answer for it, he did, for he was doing
tioning Petersfeld down, somewhat sternly tin- nothing in the world at the time, except letting
bolted the door, and with a few sententious re- ! you show
marks of orthodox purport, led the way to a : graphs."
him those foolish Dutch photo-
neighboring church, where ho and Linda were, j "A likely time to make him hear, wasn't it,
married on the spot by a mild-looking gentleman
fust asleep.
But this was only a dream.
CHAPTER XIII.
LITNCHEOX was over in Harley Street, and
when he was talking to me .'" exclaimed Linda
with perfect naivete " / didn't hear, I promise
you ! I really am ashamed of you both," con-
tinued she, with a little stamp of vexation.
" When people make wagers, all is supposed to
be straightforward and 'pon honor. Ours was
not a very wise one, perhaps, and I shouldn't
have made it except that I was put out at the
moment. But you must both admit that I won
it fairly, so far as last night went. And then,
the three Buttermere young ladies assembled in j that you might have a dishonorable crow over
the drawing-room in walking array, as the clock
upon the chimney-piece chimed two.
me to-day, you deliberately broke your part of
the bargain, while I most faithfully kept mine.
" Here's the carriage coming round, "observed , However, if you don't feel sufficiently ashamed
Lotty, looking out of the window. "I wonder
whether those horrid Bunnytails will be punctu-
<il. Lucky for them papa's not at home to see
the horses kept waiting."
" Well, they haven't begun to wait yet," said
Loo. " Country people are always punctual.
Besides, these wretches dine at twelve, and
begged mamma particularly not to be later
than two. Imagine any creature, calling itself
human, confessing to -a regular twelve o'clock
dinner. Je le crois parceque c'est incroyable.
Only fancy the enormity of the thing."
'.' After all, what does it signify ?" remarked
Linda. "Two hours of wild-beast-land will
surely be enough for every body."
"Oh, I should think so!" drawled Lotty
'^unless, indeed, they find something more in-
teresting than wild beasts to divert them."
"By the way," exclaimed Linda, starting at
of yourselves already, nothing that I can say
will make you."
" That's quite possible," retorted Lotty dryly,
yet with an annoying consciousness that Linda
had the best of it. "As you are not satisfied,
the wager shall be off."
' " To be sure," s-aid Loo. " We don't want
to win your gloves. The wager is off!"
"Not at all," replied Linda. "You told me,
Loo, not two minutes since, that you had per-
formed your part. You told me that, positively.
So did Lotty. I give you the benefit of your
assertion. I couldn't allow the wager to be of!
without accusing you both of direct' untruth.
Win the gloves and wear them ! If with a good
conscience, so much the better. If not, I give
you joy of your spoils."
"As you please," replied Lotty, viciously.
"I dare say you'll win yet. You made a fa-
the last suggestion, "I quite forgot to ask you mous beginning."
before. Which of you told Mr. Petersfeld, last L At this moment, Mrs. Buttermere entered
night, that we were going to the Zoo to-day ?" the room rather in a fuss. It was twenty min-
Each of the young ladies to whom this ques- utes past two and no sign of the Bunnytails.
tion was addressed looked a little disconcerted.
As there will be some farther demand upon
But Lotty, who had most presence of mind, ju- your patience, and I can not expect you to con-
diciously answered " Loo did." I sume the interval in merely watching the clock,
"Did you, Loo?" demanded Linda. |I will take the opportunity of explaining how
" To be sure I did. Hasn't Lotty just told it was that Linda had counted so securely upon
you so?" replied Loo, awkwardly trying to di- her success with Petersfeld. Of course you have
vide the fib. already guessed the truth in part.
"Well, and what did he say?" persisted
Linda.
It happened that, a few evenings before, Mr.
Eldqn Bloss, barrister-at-law, whose name I
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
have already had occasion to mention, had been
her partner in a quadfille at a certain soiree
dansante.
Now, Mr. Eldon was one of those free and
easy, dashing, affable young bucks, whose boast
it is, in their own phrase to be able to tell you
what's o'clock about every thing, and who are
always so anxious to do it. They form such a
distinct, well-recognized class in British society,
that it is scarcely worth while to define it care-
fully ; but they all dress gayly converse tre-
mendously tell funny stories to gentlemen and
talk slang to ladies, and otherwise exhibit the
hearty exuberance of unembarrassed people who
are 'delighted to find themselves at once orna-
mental, amusing, and instructive.
And Mr. Eldon was a brilliant specimen of
his order. I never yet talked to him for five
minutes together without being enriched by a
comic anecdote, a couundrum, and a tip for the
Derby. And upon standing up with Linda in
the quadrille, after having had, as he expressed it,
rather more "cham"than commonly fell to
his luck, he poured forth a torrent of small-talk
with even more than his usual volubility. The
fact is, he admired Linda immensely, a dis-
tinction of which the young lady was perfectly
conscious; and always alluded to her as " a
stunner," of which she was also aware. And
this, though it did not by any means lead to a
return of admiration, made her feel not alto-
gether displeased with his company.
At last, in a rash attempt to establish some-
thing like a confidential relation between him-
self and his partner, the infatuated youth, quite
forgetting his papa's solemn injunctions to
secrecy, related, during fits of the quadrille, the
desperate enterprise upon which Petersfeld was
bound.
The fact is that Petersfeld was a man whom
every one in the " Devil's Own," and almost
every body in Lincoln's Inn, knew perfectly well
by name and sight. And without (at least to
my knowledge) being aware that he was at that
moment engaged to dinner in Harley Street,
Mr. Eldon naturally supposed that Linda would
like to hear something diverting of so distin-
guished a character.
Stories of this description seldom lose in the
telling ; especially when the narrator happens
to be quite reckless of truth dying to astonish
a beauty, and only imperfectly sober.
Petersfeld, for, to give zest to his story, the
scamp unscrupulously let out his name, was rep-
resented as consumed by a devouring passion,
all the more intolerable from the fact that he
had never yet beheld the object of his devotion.
The latter was rapidly pictured as a perfect blaze
of youthful loveliness, with half a pound of dia-
monds in her dress-pocket and her crinoline
crackling with bank notes.
Wonderful revelations touching people of
high rank might shortly be expected ; but
whether Petersfeld would succeed or not, was, in
Mr. Eldon's opinion, a toss-up. His own im-
pression was, that his prospects were decidedly
fishy, and he had good reason for thinking so.
" Only .pray, my dear Miss Buttermere, keep
this entirely between ourselves. The governor,
you see, let it out, quite promiscuous, last night
the fact is, it was a great deal too rich not to
tell, particularly after I'd seen his name in the
advertisement. Only he made me swear so sol-
emnly that I wouldn't allow it to go one inch
farther, that I'm sure you quite understand,"
concluded the prodigal son with a delicate leer.
' ' I understand, " replied Linda. "You have
kept your secret : and I am to keep mine."
Mr. Bloss, junior, would have liked to suggest
that he had only been forestalling the day when
all his own reservations might be Linda's as of
right. It seemed rather premature, however, to
allude to that problematical era, and he wisely
let it alone, casting about rather hazily for a re-
joinder to his partner's last reply.
I wonder whether many people recollect an
episode in "Thompson's Seasons," which has
just come into my mind. "Thompson's Sea-
sons" was our poetry-book at school ; and I once
knew the whole four by heart a dreadful acqui-
sition.
A young lover, Damon by name, wandering
absently through a wood, suddenly comes upon
his beloved Musidora, who happens to be at the
moment enjoying herself in the river.
Even Paul Pry himself, one would think,
might under the circumstances have had the
grace to retire and hold his tongue. Not so
Master Damon, who, after indulging in a good
long look, whips out his writing-case and de-
scribes his sensations in an amorous ditty, which
he carefully commits to the water. The lady,
seeing a piece of paper float by, naturally exam-
ines it, and finds her curiosity rewarded by a
compliment in blank verse.
Upon this she good-naturedly returns to shore,
and, after due precaution, let us hope, against
catching cold, engraves with a "sylvan pen"
(whatever that may mean) a neat inscription
upon the trunk of the nearest tree ; ending with
the encouraging pentameter
" Dear youth, the time may come you need not fly 1"
This, of course, after a decent interval, is pe-
rused by the lover, who with due admiration for
the maidenly reserve which sheltered itself so
vaguely in the future, must have been inquisitive
as to what he would, some day or other, be per-
mitted to stay for.
I suspect that, if Mr. Eldon Bloss had ven-
tured upon putting his first idea into English,
he would scarcely have been met by so flattering
a reply. At all events he contented himself
with answering, " Wellbangit, MissButtermere,
what's a man fit for if he can't tell who to trust
and who not? If I was wrong just now, you
tell me so, and I'll knock under at once !"
" Not wrong at all, Mr. Bloss," replied Linda,
laughing, as she recollected that Petersfeld was
asked to their next dinner-party, when she would
in all probability find herself next him at table.
It naturally occurred to her what immense fun
she might have with that young gentleman, by
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
39
pretending to know a great deal more than she
did, and mystifying him in the most delightful
manner. " Not wrong at all. Only you haven't
told me her name yet."
"Couldn^t, at any price," replied Mr. Eldon
Bloss. ' ' Governor would cut me off with nine-
pence if he only came to hear of it."
"Oh, very well!" said Linda. "You said
something just now about knowing whom you
could trust, whom not. But never mind."
" Well, here goes," replied Mr. Eldon, des-
perately :
" ' In for a penny in for a pound !
Better be hung for a horse than a hound !'
Miss Helen Fleetlands is her name. Lives at
Riverwood Lawn, near St. Mark 's-on-the- Sea.
Now I've been and gone and done it, by jingo !
Fui ivifeci! as Julius Cassar used to say.
If you go and betray me, Miss Buttermere, you'll
effect the ruin of one who would rather die
than do as much for you, " concluded the young
gentleman, devoutly wishing that he dared say
more.
I am quite sure, and I hope my reader will be
of the same opinion, that nothing more than mere
childish frolic had in the first instance entered
Linda's little head.. It was not until she was
provoked beyond endurance by the conduct of
her sisters that she ever dreamed of putting her
new knowledge to what will, I am afraid, be
considered an unscrupulous use.
But we have been absent long enough from
the Buttermere drawing-room. Just before three
o'clock, when every body's patience was exhaust-
ed, and speculations as to what papa would say,
when he heard how the horses had been treated,
were becoming serious, a tremendous clatter in
the street brought every body to the window.
A bright yellow chariot, with a post-boy in
pink jacket and shiny white hat, with a satin
rosette in his button-hole, came galloping gayly
over the stones with Mrs. Bunnytail bawling at
the top of her voice from the open window. The
vehicle^Jashed rapidly past the house, and then,
as if in obedience to the unceasing vociferations
of the pilot in the cabin, wheeled suddenly round,
performed a figure of eight in no time, and final-
ly pulled up at the door ; the horses, for the
matter of steam and lather, looking as if they
had just come out of a wash-tub.
"Good heavens!" gasped Mrs. Buttermere.
" This dreadfuHvoman will ruin us all ! Ring
the bell, one of you do ! Send her away ! Tell
her it's the wrong door! Oh how abominably
drunk he is!"
Even the post-boy, at whom this last remark
was directed, could hardly have disputed its ac-
curacy. Nobody was more sensible of the fact ;
but as to not being able to see straight, or drive
straight, or being ever so thoroughly all right in
his life, he would have argued with you as long as
he could hiccup.
" Well, dear Carlo," exclaimed the robust
lady, as, panting and breathless, she bustled into
the drawing-room, ' ' here we are, at last, you
seo, and goodness only knows what a job we've
had to get here. It was no fault of mine, I do
assure you, only all the livery stable's glass
coaches had gone to the wedding, and we were
to have the first that came home, and come home
he didn't till two o'clock, and then as tipsy as
you please, saying 'you're another!' when I
told him to drive to Harley Street, and then
driving right away to Harlesden Green, and
wouldn't pull up for all I could screech, till he
ran into the baker just by the cemetery, with
such a to-do as you never heard. Say good-after-
noon to your aunt, my dears," continued she, pre-
senting three impish-looking children. " Only
I haven't told you one half the man did, Carlo,
or how he rode seven times at full gallop round
a long church in a gravel square, which of course
couldn't be right 'anyhow; and so I told him,
and made him stop and hire a sober man for six-
pence to sit upon the dickey-box and call the
way till we got to the top of Barley Street. Oh
my! what a jaunt we've had."
It took some time to convince Mrs. Bunnytail
of the necessity of dismissing her egregious
charioteer upon the spot, and still more to induce
the latter to depart. In fact, resenting a direc-
tioh'to that effect as simply personal, he was in
the act of charging in at the hall door, glass-
coach and all, when a policeman interfered, and
he accepted his situation.
" Well, if you must send for a cab, send for
No. 999, Carlo do ! It's a nice curly man that
don't charge more than his fare, and brought us
from Shoreditch station yesterday sen'night,
with a blast in his eye, but quite civil. Send
for him, won't you ?"
Even this question was adjusted at last, and
the whole party deposited at the gate of the
Zoological Gardens.
At this juncture the small Bunnytail fry
naturally began to be uproarious. Potty, Fly,
and Loop seemed to be the calls to which they
severally answered, puppy -dog fashion; but
what may have been their real names what
their ages what their genders, I don't pretend
to have the slightest conception. However,
the first glimpse of the " Sunday Animals" as,
from Noah-Archical associations, probably, they
at once christened them, had a sobering effect,
and caused them to behave with respectful curi-
osity during the greater part of their visit.
Never were two young ladies more deserved-
ly surprised and discomfited than were Loo and
Lotty, as, just opposite the lion's den, they
recognized Petersfeld, evidently got up for the
occasion. His glossy new hat his bright
gloves his whole aspect in short, all told a
tale to which they found it most intolerable to
Jjsten. And when, after paying his respects to
their mamma, he made them each a beautiful
bow and then shook hands cordially with Linda,
thoy fairly gasped with vexation not so much
that the gloves were lost, as --that Linda was
going to be married before them.
Judged by results, this bold experiment of
Petersfeld's was little better than a failure. It
was in vain that, as Linda had predicted, he
40
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
followed her about like a showman. Somehow
or other, no reasonable opportunity for any
thing like private conversation ever presented
itself. And although it may be the business of
heroes to make opportunities, the manufacture
is ono which requires a 'certain amount of lei-
sure, as well as of raw material.
The fact is, that the young lady was not a
little afraid of her would-be cavalier. Her
conscience told her that she had not only done a
foolish thing, but made a serious mistake.
What is fun for the evening, may be earnest in
the morning, and she was neither inclined to
confess the childish joke in which she had per-
mitted herself to indulge, nor to carry it farther
in cool blood. So she pretended that the whole
care of the children had devolved upon her,
and executed her maternal duties with such ex-
asperating fidelity, that she never allowed her
little pups to wander beyond ear-shot of their
real dam.
Of course this was, literally, nuts for the
children, for whose benefit Paul produced shil-
ling aftej: shilling with untiring liberality. Nor
was his good-nature allowed to satisfy itself so
cheaply, for Mrs. Bunnytail, espying a tempting
refreshment counter, availed herself of the op-
portunity to flop down into a garden seat, and
complain of a " sinking," which necessarily in-
duced the offer of some restorative. And her
smiling admission, that if she took any thing in
that line, she was partial to cherry brandy, was
justified by the result, for she took four shillings'
worth before confessing to being quite beyond
the probability of a relapse.
However, she amply repaid Petersfeld for
his kind attentions, by the enthusiastic praises
of his manner and appearance, which she poured
without ceasing into Mrs. Buttermere's ear. '
She never had seen such a real noble-looking
young gentleman in all her born days "And
my dear Carlo, what a lucky girl is our Linda,
to be sure ! Not but what you might have told
me what was in the wind before this, consider-
ing she's my own niece. But town ways are
town ways, and I don't pretend to understand
every thing ; only you should have seen them
talking on their fingers together all dinner-time,
last night. Oh it was pretty ! But that's noth-
ing to the way he follows her about to-day.
That's what I call keeping company in earnest,
and no mistake. Bunnytail never courted me
like that, I promise you, though never was a
man so set upon woman, as he was upon me,
if you'll only believe me, Carlo."
Some philosopher goes so far as to suggest
that, in this world of ours, no deed is done, nor
word spoken, without leaving its individual im-
press upon the future, and influencing imper-
ceptibly perhaps, but inevitably the entire cur-
rent of time to come. That the chattering of
this foolish woman should have had any influ-
ence upon a person of Mrs. Buttermere's tact
and experience, may seem in the last degree
unlikely but nevertheless, it was so.
She had, of course, observed the very marked
attentions which Petersfeld had paid v Linda
since their first introduction, and had re-
joiced over them with considerable pride and
pleasure. lie was in every respect the very
man she -wanted young, handsome, fashiona-
ble, and with brilliant prospects. But she knew
better than to build too much upon the result
of a twenty-four hours' acquaintance. For
aught she could tell, he might flirt equally witli
every girl he met, and to do more than float the
pious prayer that the end might be as welcome
as the beginning, would have been presumptu-
ous.
But the loudly-expressed confidence of Mrs.
Bunnytail, coinciding as it did with her own
newly-formed aspirations, gave to the latter a
degree of consistency which they would not
otherwise have obtained. People, she recollect-
ed, made love" just as effectually in the grazing
counties, as in Grosvenor Square, and her sister
might be no bad judge in such matters after all.
And so, without being in the least aware of it,
she allowed the affair in her own mind to
take a most important slide in the direction of
final Consummation.
This, however, was not all. What Mrs.
Bunnytail had seen, she had seen ; and Mrs.
Buttermere knew well enough, that no bribe
which London could afford, would induce her to
hold her tongue. To assure her that Petersfeld
and Linda were not really engaged, would be to
waste words. Mrs. Bunnytail had an awkward
custom of believing her own eyes. Happen
what might, the thing would shortly be as pub-
lic as if it had been proclaimed in the Morning
Post.
So she concluded to say as little as possible
at the moment, and to discuss the question of
settlements with Mr. Buttermere before she went
to bed.
I am sorry to say that both Lotty and Loo,
who were in the very worst of tempers, owing
to their unexpected defeat, displayed a great
deal of acrimony, and some want of self-cyntrol,
before they got back to Harley Street.
Xotty, for instance, upon being accosted by an
unfortunate cockatoo with some harmless person-
ality, knocked the bird off* its perch with a blow
which might have felled a foot-pad, and upon
being remonstrated with by the bird-house keep-
er, whom she at first addressed defiantly as
"Man," and afterward deferentially as "Mr.,"
had to elect in the ignominious alternative of
leaving her name and address, or a deposit of
one pound fifteen.
Loo made even worse weather of it, for while
chastising Fly within range of the Cassowary's
cage, the unlucky child was, as Mrs. Bunn^'tail
comprehensively remarked, "pecked into fits,"
and danced like St. Vitus before it left the Gar-
dens.
As to Paul, he had only one momentary
chance of private conversation with Linda, which
unluckily occurred in the monkey room.
"My dear Miss Linda," he was just begin-
ning, when a wretched ring-tail made a snatch
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
41
at the silk tassel of her parasol, with which he
went capering away to the top of his cage, to
dissect at his leisure, after the careful and de-
liberate manner with which his bi'otherhood usu-
ally conduct their investigations. Nothing more
provoking could possibly have occurred, for to
stand by, helpless, in any emergency, makes a
man feel seriously ashamed, while to interfere
had such a course been possible would have
been to cover himself with ridicule forever.
Every thing, in short, seemed to have gone
wrong, and it was a relief when, after handing
the ladies into their carriages, he watched them
drive away.
CHAPTER XIV.
WHEN a man is "out of suits with fortune"
unless matters . are very serious indeed he
naturally goes to his club. There is a fine brac-
ing atmosphere about these institutions, in which
we generally revive.
Paul went to his club, won a game at billiards,
dined, and was himself again. His afternoon
had been unproductive, but what ofthat ? Great
results were not to be obtained by magic, and
when one course failed, the obvious expedient
was to try another. Except for that miserable
monkey, what might he not have known at that
moment. No matter. He would know it yet.
He had only to write to Linda, and of course
she'd reply, with full particulars, by return of
post.
It never once occurred to him that such a
proceeding would be either unusual or indis-
creet, or demand more than the mere semblance
of an apology. The only danger which sug-
gested itself was, that his letter might possibly
fall into wrong hands. He had a vague idea
that the correspondence of young ladies was oc-
casionally vise by their mammas, so he resolved
to express himself with caution.
He -wouldn't trust himself to write from his
club. In the quiet of his own rooms he would
be better able to concoct a letter, which he fully
expected woiild elicit the grand secret.
T^nluckily, just as he sat down to his desk in
the Albany, his mental serenity was unpleasant-
ly disturbed. A letter which he had carelessly
torn open, as an unmistakable circular, turned
out to be of a much less innocent description.
It was from his tailor.
Bags was perfectly civil, but at the same time
business-like and brief** He reminded Paul that
his account had been running considerably over
two years. He apologized for troubling him
with the well-worn tradesman fib of having a
large demand to meet in the course of the fol-
lowing week : and concluded with a formal re-
quest^ for fifty pounds at least on account by
Monday.
Nothing could have been more vexatious.
Paul's allowance was by no means an illiberal
one, but he spent it recklessly, and never had
money in hand. One solitary twenty-pound
note, with about a dozen stray sovereigns, was
all that he could muster at the moment. The for-
mer he had set aside, some time before, toward
the expense of a Swiss walk in the Long Vaca-
tion. It was a fine financial precaution. So
long as you regard a twenty-pound .note as mere
inconvertible paper not to be touched upon any
account until a given day, it is tolerably certain
to be forthcoming when wanted. Twenty sover-
eigns are quite another thing, and may be coax-
ed out, one at a time, upon the most plausible
reasons, until there are no more to coax. Now
quarter-day was several weeks off, and to be
obliged to enclose this precious note to his tailor
was little less than a calamity.
It had already, as we know, been diverted from
its original purpose, and dedicated to the per-
secution of Miss Fleetlands. Indeed, deprived
of its assistance, the whole affair seemed likely
to end in a dead lock. Traveling and bribery
are expensive luxuries, and five hundred pound
rewards are not at all to be reckoned upon in
one's computation of available cash. Of course,
Paul might have borrowed money easily enough j
but, with all his carelessness, he was not dcnkey
enough for that.
Whenever you find yourself dunned in good
earnest, and payment quite out of the question,
you should meet the matter in a philosophic and
comprehensive spirit. Don't be angry with your
creditor. " You must think this, look j'ou,
that the worm will do his kind," as Cleopatra's
clown had the good sense to remind her. You
must recollect also, that nothing is more vulgar
than to be always flush of money, except the
baseness of treating the want of it as an incon-
venience, either to yourself or any body else.
Try a frank genial course ; with nothing provok-
ing still less any thing penitential about it.
Make the fellow feel that you're all serene your-
self ab9ut the matter, and ten to one he won't
give needless trouble.
Acting upon this view, Paul wrote a very
concise reply to Mr. Bags. " He was sorry to
hear of his difficulty. He lost no time in en-
closing the trifle he happened to have about
him, and would look into his bill 'the first mo-
ment he had to spare. He should be very sorry
to be dressed t>y any body but Mr. Bags, who al-
ways fitted him so nicely ; but really some of
his charges seven guineas, for instance, for a
frock-coat were irfbre than he had paid, even
at Cambridge. He was almost afraid he couldn't
afford Mr. Bags."
These latter sentences, he flattered himself,
had a particulary solvent sound, and though the
sudden apotheosis of his hoarded note was a de-
cided inconvenience, it was useless to send re-
grets after it, and he set to work upon his letter
to Linda.
I should be ashamed to say how many sheets
of crested and superfine note paper were de-
stroyed during the composition of this precious
document. Nothing within the whole range of
his letter-writing experience had approached the
difficulty of composing those few lines. Now
42
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
lie seemed to be saying too much. Another
sheet was torn to tatters for saying too little.
At last a sort of nightmare-like entanglement
crept over his mind, and he grew desperate.
So, solemnly vowing that the next sheet should
be the last, he wrote a cautious note in the best
words he could muster, and carried it, with Mr.
Bags's answer, to the post. I think I have al-
ready observed that Linda had her faults. Among
these, and let us hope among the worst, was her
custom of never appearing at family prayers or
indeed until farther delay would have involved
the loss of her breakfast.
The fact is, that Buttermere always left home
at nine precisely, for his early consultations,
and was Turk enough to inflict preposterous
matins upon an innocent wife and family. Of
course he was quite right in so doing, and Linda
quite wrong to rebel; but the little sluggard
would neither be coaxed nor scolded into submis-
sion, and was at last allowed to persevere, as a
pet, in what she called "her own comfor' way."
" Who's Linda got a letter from, I wonder,"
observed Lotty, as the footman distributed the
produce of the early post. " Who can she pos-
sibly have to direct to her in that great, black,
gentleman scrawl, with a seal as big as a tart-
let?"
"Let's look!" exclaimed Loo, seizing the
letter in her turn. ' ' What a fiinny crest !
Papa, what does this crest mean a five-barred
gate with two great keys across it ?"
" Hey ?" replied Buttermere, laying down his
newspaper. " Why, I seem to recollect that
crest too ! Oh yes ! I'll tell you whose it is.
It's the Petersfeld crest. Don't you see the gate
with the cross-keys of Saint Peter. Peter's field
that's it. One of those old fashioned heraldic
puns. Why? What the deuce ?"
Positively, if the tea-pot had begun to talk, or
' the French rolls to waltz upon the table, a quiet
family could hardly have looked more astounded
over their breakfast than did the Buttermeres at
this simple information.
A letter from Petersfeld ! Why, he hadn't
been introduced to Linda forty-eight hours ago.
This was bringing her down with a snap shot,
and no mistake. Proposing by letter too ! Mrs.
Buttermere gasped a gasp of mingled thankful-
ness and bewilderment, while Lotty and Loo
scarcely dared to exchange glances, in the depth
of their utter discomfiture.
To be deliberately cut out, in this cool easy'
way, and probably have to stand up as Linda's
brides-maids within a month, was too much for
their philosophy.
As to papa, he looked at his wife and daugh-
ters with a puzzled and anxious expression, and
pushed away his plate.
Just at this moment Linda came fluttering
into the ro'8m, fresh and buoyant as the morn-
ing.
"Good-morning, everybody! Good-morn-
ing, jrnpa!" accompanying the latter benedic-
tion with a kiss. " Late again, am I? Well,
this time, I'm sure it wasn't my fault, at all
events. Why, good gracious, how dreadfully
circumspect you all look! quite guilty, I declare"!
What on earth is the matter ? What is it,
mamma?"
"There's a letter for you, Linda," observed
Lotty, maliciously.
" A letter, is there?" replied 'Linda, glanc-
ing at the address. " Only a bill, I dare say,
and I want my breakfast." Her quick instinct
instantly told her that this letter had excited un-
usual curiosity ; which, without having, at the
moment, the slightest suspicion as to who her
correspondent might be, she quietly determined
to disappoint.
Lotty and Loo bit their lips with vexation, as
Linda, slipping the mysterious document into
her pocket,- ate her toast and drank her coffee,
all serenity and good nature, and with even
more deliberation than usual. At last the
time arrived for Buttermere to be off to his
clients, and Linda, who, with all her external *
self-control, was burning with impatience to
know what they had all looked so cunning about,
soon satisfied her curiosity, upon the musjs-
stool in the back drawing-room.
" My good gracious a twenty-pound not6!"
exclaimed she, as she pulled the crisp bank paper
out of the envelope. "Well, I never saw a
t\yenty-pound note before, in all my life ! Who
in the world can have sent it?"
At the sight of Petersfeld's name she started
violently. She felt her color go while every
whiff of breath seemed for the moment out of
her body. Her fun appeared, indeed, likely to
have a serius result. She hastily ran her eye
over the following words, and felt stupefied :
"Albany, Saturday.
" MY DEAR Miss BUTTERMEHE : I am
most anxious to press for an answer to a ques-
tion of the very deepest interest to myself per-
sonally.
" You can not but be aware of the subject to
which I refer, and I most earnestly beg that you
will either indulge me with a' few moments'
private conversation, when and where you please,
or set my mind at rest by writing unreserved-
ly. I trust that you will not be oftendei by
my venturing to send you a note ; but our con-
versation yesterday was so vexatiously interrupt-
ed that I had no opportunity of saying verbally
all I had intended, and accomplishing the pur-
pose for which, in truth, I awaited you at the
Gardens. I believe that you will neither mis-
understand me nor misconstrue my motives in
thus addressing you ; and again apologizing for
the liberty which I fear I am taking, remain, my
dear Miss Buttermere, yours most sincerely,
. PETEESFELD."
Now, considering what had passed between
himself and Linda with reference to Miss Fleet-
lands, not twenty-four hours before he sat down
to write the above, I think that Paul was not
altogether unreasonable in supposing that his
meaning was beyond mistake. Limln had her-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
43
self told him that he must find some other op-
portunity of continuing their conversation ; and,
after having failed at the Zoological Gardens,
it was the most natural thing in the world that,
to avoid an indefinite loss of time, he should ad-
dress her in writing. In fact, his letter would
have been perfectly intelligible^ had he not, with
wonted alacrity in blundering, carelessly thrust
his twenty pound note into its envelope, instead
of that directed to his tailor, previously to seal-
ing them both.
It was exactly the thing which any body who
knew his ways as well as I, might almost have
counted upon his doing; and yet, considering
that an average of many hundred letters, contain-
ing notes or money, are annually posted without
any direction at all, we must not be too hasty in
deciding who is, or is not, fit to be entrusted
with pen and ink-*
" I trust you will not be offended at my ventur-
ing to send you a note."
Linda read these astonishing words three
timesover, with perpetually increasing bewilder-
ment.-
What could they possibly mean ?
At first a confused suspicion that he might be
attempting to purchase her supposed knowledge
with a twenty pound bribe, entered her puzzled
little head. Gentlemen, she was aware, habitu-
ally did very odd things, but surely nothing so
offensive as that.
Perhaps he was eccentric. Eccentric people
went up in balloons got good-humoredly fined
at police courts, and probably forwarded bank-
notes gratis to favorite ladies. But this sup-
position was as absurd as the former.
And then the overwhelming possibility that,
after all, the money might actually have been
intended for herself, sent the blood flushing and
throbbing to her very temples. What did ho
mean by saying, " I had no opportunity of say-
ing verbally all I intended, and accomplishing
the purpose for wftch, in truth, I awaited you at
the Gardens ?"
Could it be possible that his presence there
had been prompted by feelings of which she was
herself the object? Improbable as this might
seem, she knew that Petersfeld would never have
been invited to dine in Harley Street, unless he
had been regarded by her parents as perfectly
at liberty to make himself agreeable either to her-
self or her sisters. Indeed, it might be that he
had even received her papa's formal assent to
consider himself as her suitor. But the whole
business was so wild and unintelligible that she
laid the letter down with a sigh of despair, and
wished herself several weeks older.
It was most unfortunate for Linda that in so
critical a conjuncture she had no trustworthy
friend to whom she could appeal for advice.
* During two consecutive years ten thousand pounds'
worth of property was actually enclosed in blank envelopes,
and posted within tbe United Kingdom. Any one who
may be curious to find this astounding fact philosophical-
ly accounted for, may, perhaps, like to refer to an article
(I believe by the late Sir Francis Head) in the Quarterly
Review, vol. Ixxxvii., p. S3.
Her sisters were out of the question. To go to
her mamma, without showing the letter and ex-
plaining the foolish mystification which she
had put upon Petersfeld, would have been use-
less. To make a clean breast of it would have
been simply to ensure herself a sound scolding
all the sounder indeed from the fact that her
mamma would, as he was well aware, have
been if possible still more puzzled than her
daughter. For Mrs. Buttermere's gift was not
in the way of expounding parables ; which not
only perplexed her, but made her very angry and
unreasonable.
What would she not have given to have
awakened suddenly, and found the whole affair
a dream, and the bank note an illusion ! But
after having convinced herself by experiment
that she was so perfectly wide awake that any
farther development in that line was out of the
question, and recollecting thatPetersfeld's com-
munication demanded an immediate reply of
some kind, she determined, as the only resource,
to place herself at once under the guidance of
Mrs. Springletop, a young married lady of her
acquaintance who lived in Portland Place, not
many hundred yards off.
Mrs. Springletop, whose name has already
appeared in these pages, was very young, very
fashionable, and very strongly impressed with a
conviction of her own profound knowledge of
the world and its ways, and consequent ability
to give valuable advice.
Nothing could have delighted her more than
to see Linda arrive on her early visit, with a
letter in her hand and a question to ask.
"Oh my goodness, what a bear! I never
saw any thing so delightful never since I was
christened," laughed Mrs. Springletop, handing
back Paul's unfortunate missive with its enclosed
bank note. "It's the King of the Cannibal
Islands all over ! Does he mean to buy you
right away fpr twenty pounds or is it only so
much board-wages to begin upon ? Why didn't
he accomplish his purpose, poor darling, at the
Zoological Gardens? and what was the vexa-
tious interruption he makes such a fuss about ?
Do tell me more about him. I only wish to
goodness he'd write to me!"
"My dear Fanny, please be serious. You
see I must return this money by the very next
post ; and I don't know what in the world to say
to him about it. I want you to help me. I
have no one else to ask."
" Quite right to come to me, my dear," re-
turned Mrs. Springletop, playfully. "Particu-
larly, since after seeing what I couldn't help
seeing, at your house the other night, I quite
expected that something of this sort would hap-
pen in the course of a week. But, as to return-
ing the note, that's fiddlestick ! Don't begin
by sending young gentlemen to the right-about
like that, my dear, or you may die an old maid."
"Never mind what you saw at our house.
That was all nonsense. Mr. Petersfeld fancied
that I knew a secret about a friend of his, and
was trying all the evening to get it out of me.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
That was all. And I'm quite certain, that's
what he's writing about now. But why should
he send me this wretched bank note, and talk as
he does?" continued Linda, ready to cry with
vexation. "I'll send it back in a blank envel-
ope and have done with it!"
"You won't do any thing half so foolish, my
dear," replied her sagacious adviser. "If you
do, he'll have done with you : you may depend
upon that. I declare I won't have you snub
such a nice, affable, generous bear upon any
account. Send back twenty-pound notes indeed !
I can assure you they're not always to be had
for the asking. I know I've heard my husband
say it's a maxim in the city 'Never refuse
money ;' and it seems sensible enough. Mr.
Petersfeld, who's a- barrister, will think you a
ninny if you do. Besides, it would just be a
simple affront, let alone the cruelty of the
thing."
"There could be no cruelty, so far as I am
concerned," said Linda; "but oh how I wish
he would only have let me alone !"
" Let you alone, indeed ! I don't advise you
to count upon being let alone much, so long as
you wear that little face ! I really can't help
laughing at the drollery of the thing," continued
Mrs. Springletop, "but I declare I quite love
him for his simplicity. I'll answer for it he was
at .his wits' end to know what present to make,
so he judiciously sent the money instead, that
you might choose for yourself."
" It seems so very unlike him " began Linda.
" Oh, if you dislike him," returned Mrs.
Springletop, pretending to misunderstand,
" that's another pair of shoes altogether!"
" I never said that : I said "
" Oh, in that case never mind what you said.
Don't stand in your own light, my dear Linda.
It's only returning presents, you know, if the
worst conies to the Worst."
"But what must I do," persisted Linda, fairly
driven to desperation. " See, the morning is
passing, and the post will be going, and I must
do something, right or wrong!"
" You shall do quite right, " replied Mrs.
Springletop, ringing the bell, " if you'll only
leave it all to me. Do you think I don't under-
stand a little affair of this kind? Trust me,
my dear, and don't fidget yourself. The brough-
am will be round in ten minutes, and then I'll
show you exactly what to do."
Linda was by no means satisfied : indeed quite
the reverse. But as a skipper blown out of his
reckoning into some unknown and reef-sprinkled
channel, will take any man on board who declares
himself a pilot, and leave him at the wheel so
long as he continues to bellow orders with un-
abated confidence, so she reluctantly, and as an
only resource, _placed herself unreservedly in
Mrs. Springletop's hands.
, She did not deceive herself into supposing that
she was acting rightly in so doing. But what
else could she do ? She acted just as our fore-
fathers, about whose wisdom we are so fond of
moralizing, used to act, when they found them-
' selves engaged in what, by a charitable euphuism,
; was distinguished as "an affair of honor." So
soon as matters took a gunpowder turn, and the
! question had clearly outgrown the stage of fools-
cap and armorial seals, they committed them-
selves, soul and body, into the hands of a second.
In the prospect of subsequently getting shot at
short notice, it was a grand point to be able to
indulge in the school-boy consolation " It
wasn't their lookout." Whatever might be
their private likes or otherwise with regard to
that contingency, personal responsibility was the
one thing intolerable.
Paul sat at breakfast, next morning, alone in
his Albanian quarters, waiting impatiently for
the post. He was just beginning to wonder
whether it could possibly have passed without
bringing him a line from Linda, when a twin
tap at his door, and a flutter in his letter-box,
decided the question. There were two letters
one directed in his tailor's flourishing scrawl,
the other a delicate little pink note, addressed
to him in a pretty, young-lady-like hand. In
the excitement of the moment he felt as if he
scarcely dared to open .it, and mechanically
began to examin,e the' contents of Mr. Bags's
dispatch. To his dismay and astonishment it
ran as follows :
"Sra: Your favor qf this day's date to
hand, stating that you enclose the trifle you
'have about you on account of bill delivered.
Am sorry to say your letter contains no remit-
tance, and not being a jocular party myself, and
pressed for money, can't see the pleasantry as
you might wishi, Must request, therefore, that
you will favor me with draft for entire amount
of bill delivered, 84 16s., (say eighty-four
pounds sixteen shillings) in the course of to-mor-
row, or shall with great reluctance be obliged to
commence usual proceedings, and remain, sir,
jour obedient servant, B. BAGS.
" To Paul Petersfeld, Esq., AlbanffS-W."
Paul read this letter in stupid bewilderment.
His note, which he perfectly recollected enclos-
ing, must have been stolen in the post. But
what a miserable scrape to be in. Things were
bad enough before ; but now it looked as if his
grand adventure were ruined altogether. Al-
most recklessly he tore open Linda's dainty en-
velope, for let it contain what information it
might, this hideous tailor had ruined him for
the rest of the quarter.
Twenty pounds gone already, and eighty-four
to be raised in the course of the morning, was a
financial crash upon which, he had not calcu-
lated.
But if he was disagreeably astonished at Mr.
Bags's letter, he was thunderstruck upon reading
as follows written, as you may suppose, under
Mrs. Springletop's dictation :
"DEAR MB. PETERSFELD: I ought to he
very angry with you for sending me a twenty
pound bank note, and my first intention was to
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
45
return it to you immediately. But that, I sup-
pose, you would have resented as an affront, so
I have lost no time in devoting it to the only
purpose for.M*bich it could possibly have been
intended. Next time we meet I shall have the
pleasure of showing you the most- beautiful em-
erald bracelet, and such a love of a lace parasol,
to make amends .for the one which you allowed
the monkey to ruin. I am only sorry that,
since you choose to make me such a splendid
present, you did not add to its value by choosing
it yourself. But, after all, the things could
scarcely have been prettier than they are. You
talk of an interview in your note,, which, I sup-
pose, is to give me the opportunity of thanking
you in person. Believe me, yours very truly,
" LINDA BUTTERMEKE."
Let us drop the curtain upon Act the First.
When it rises again, our prima donna shall at
last appear upon the stage.
CHAPTER XV.
HELEN FLEETLANDS first saw the light in a
pretty green bungalow, with infinite verandas,
which looked out upon the flaming waves of the
Bay of Bengal.
Her father's history is briefly told. A soldier
of fortune in other words, a soldier with no
fortune at all he found himself, after a quarter
of a century of Indian life, in command of a
cavalry regiment in the Company's service. In
broken health, he was obliged to relinquish his
career, and consoled himself with a late mar-
riage. A child was born a wife died, and the
worn-out soldier simply awaited a fate in Hindo-
stan, which his doctors plainly told him was be-
yond challenge either in India or elsewhere.
The ne'w house at Cossambazar in which he
had intended to live, was the new house in which
it only remained for him to die ; and, with quiet
soldierly fortitude, he resigned himself to his
doom.
A brother-officer, whom he could implicitly
trust, had promised to take charge of little
Helen when the time came, and bring ier up
among his own children ; and Colonel Flect-
lands's last and all-absorbing object was so to
arrange matters that she should have some sort
of independence of her own enough, at all
events, to enable her to live modestly in England,
without the necessity cither of toiling or marry-
ing for bread, or of drifting miserably through
life in that most pitiable of all capacities, a poor
relation.
His ambition, in short, was, to secure her a
clear annual income of two thousand rupees
(two hundred pounds sterling, or thereabouts) ;
and to effect this the dying man denied himself,
not only every thing in the shape of indulgence,
but many things which, in his condition, were
almost among the necessaries of life. He had
never saved before ; in fact his opportunities in
that direction had not been encouraging ; and
the freshly awakened impulse took possession
of him like a mania. His table was daily litter-
ed with papers covered with calculations in
rupees, annas, and pice, as to the exact rate of
his expenditure, the degree in which his savings
were rolling up, and the number of months which
he must contrive to live before he could die
with his work done.
Neither were these computations quite so sim-
ple as might, at first sight, be supposed. His
design was to leave the entire amount of his
property to the friend who was to be Helen's
guardian, in trust to accumulate so much of the
interest as should not be required for her main-
tenance and education, at compound interest
for her benefit.
During the earlier years of her life, living as
she would among other children, a great deal
would of course be saved. Gradually her
clothing and education would become more ex-
pensive ; but still, after allowing for every
probable deduction, and reckoning interest at
five per cent., the prospect that, at one-and-
twentv, she would be mistress of a capital rep-
resenting two hundred pounds a year, became
at last, little short of a certainty. He had only
to live a few months longer. Another half-
year's pension drawn, and the thing was done.
And Colonel Fleetlands did live, as strong-
hearted men, determined to accomplish their
work below, sometimes contrive to live, in spite
of the soundest medical advice to the contrary.
He lived to see the day .when, seated in his
veranda, with a pile of papers upon the table
before him, he could at last exclaim, " Thank
God, my task is finished ! Helen will not be a
pauper. With common economy, and reason-
able care of her money during infancy, she will
at one-and-twenty have a clear four thousand
pounds of her own two hundred pounds a year,
at five per cent. Heaven knows the struggle it
has cost me to bring her income up to this.
But I would go through it all again aye, ten
times over, rather than die without having done'
thus much for my darling. I would do more
if I could ; but I can not now there is no time.
I must rest before I die."
As Colonel Fleetlands sank languidly back
in his arm-chair, there was a sha^rp rattle of
buggy-wheels over the gravel in the compound,
followed by loud and lively conversation in the
same direction. In another moment a visitor
was announced.
"Jump is my name, if you'll allow me, colo-
nel," said a smart nattily-dressed little man,
flourishing his straw hat with an obsequious
wave in the direction of Colonel Fleetlands ;
" firm of Joy, Jingle & Jump, Calcutta. You
know us by name, I daro say Joy, Jingle
& Jump, my dear sir ?"
Any body could have seen at once that Mr.
Jump had some tremendously interesting intel-
ligence to communicate. It was beaming out
of his eyes, fluttering upon his tongue, and
tingling to his very finger-ends. But like a
4G
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
child who can never tell a piece of news without
first insisting upon one guess at least, Mr. Jump
couldn't help coquetting with his secret, and
repeating "Joy, Jingle & Jump?" with his
head on one side, and a provoking smile. This
first step in the riddle had, however, been un-
luckily chosen.
"I have reason to recollect your firm," re-
turned the sick officer slowly. " Several years
ago, I accepted a bill fora friend of mine a
young fellow in our dragoons, and the paper
got into your hands. You didn't show me much
mercy. It was a rascally transaction, and you
knew and know it. Don't stand there grin-
ning. I've had quite enough of your firm. Go
away and write to me, if you've any thing .to
say. Do you hear ? I have but a few days
left, and each moment has its value now."
"Oh, my dear colonel!" exclaimed Mr.
Jump shocked beyond measure at this fright-
ful allusion to an affair which he had long since
forgotten "pray forgive us if any such thing
ever occurred ! I give you my honor I wasn't in
the concern at the time never even heard of it.
I've come now, sir, with the most splendid news
for yon, and do hope and trust you'll allow me
the great satisfaction of delivering it personally.
I've come all the way to Cossambazar, colonel,
for that very purpose. The idea of my firm
having ever sued you upon a trumpery bill !
It's the very best joke I ever heard the very
best, indeed!"
" It was a very indifferent one at the time,"
observed Colonel Fleetlands dryly. " \Ve will
not joke again, if you please."
"Certainly not, colonel. Certainly not.
My firm to which I won't allude again for one
moment received, by last mail, from Mr. Bloss,
of i New Square, Lincoln's Inn, our London
correspondent, a letter directed to yourself, to-
gether with certain documents which we were
instructed to- lay before you. The letter,"
continued Mr. Jump, opening his black leather
bag, ' ' is here. The documents are these.
And now, my dear colonel, will you allow me
the pleasure of communicating the purport of
this glorious intelligence myself?"
" Mr. Jump, there can be no glorious intelli-
gence for me, in this world. I have not long
to live, and can only attend to business which
it may be my duty to transact. Give me the
letter which you tell me is addressed-to me, and
suffer me to read it quietly. My servants will
show you every attention, and the house is at
your service. But let me read this letter
alone."
" Certainly, colonel, certainly," replied his
visitor, rising. " Only allow me to fulfill Mr.
Bloss's particular desire, that I should wish you,
from him, health and long life to enjoy your
good fortune, and to do as much upon my own
account, colonel."
" You are wasting good wishes, but I am
obliged. Is it the Mr. Bloss, I wonder, whom
I remember .long long ago, a remarkably stout
young man?"
"The same, colonel the same! Oh dear
yes ! Sent us his carte-de-visite by the mail be-
fore last. Not so young now as he was, but
an elephant-and-castle to look t. Quite so,
colonel."
"Pray, Mr. Jump, call for whatever you re-
quire, and use my house as your own. Excuse
a dying man ; I would rather be alone at pres-
ent."
And so, while Mr. Jump reveled in pale ale
and cigars in an adjoining apartment, Colonel
Fleetlands's thin fingers broke the broad black
seal, and he read news which for the moment
seemed to transfix him to his chair.
The letter was dated from New Square,
Lincoln's Inn, and headed
"RE NETTLETON, DECEASED."
Instead of merely copying the document
verbatim, I shall take the liberty of giving you
its purport, premising a few facts, without which
its entire significance could scarcely be under-
stood.
Some five-and-twenty years before the date
of* which I am now speaking, Colonel Fleet-
lands, then a frank, fair-haired lad of eighteen,
upon the point of embarking for India, had been
a great favorite with the dead Nettleton. They
were distantly connected, but no more ; only
just enough to suggest a sort of indistinct fam-
ily tie. However, Nettleton, a jolly, luxurious
bachelor : a wharfinger, I believe he called him-
self liked the boy, asked him to dinners, took
him to prize-fights, tipped him with sovereigns,
and otherwise treated him with great good
nature.
One day Mr. Nettleton suddenly took it into
his head to make his will. He had found rea-
sons for so doing, which may now be left in
peace. Obligations which lawyers distinguish
as "moral" are sometimes, by less educated
people, called by less edifying names. At all
events, to provide a life-income for a certain in-
teresting annuitant, Mr. Nettleton held himself
in conscience bound, and sent for Mr. Bloss
then in the first bloom of his attorneyhood to
compose a testament accordingly.
The annuity was provided a few unimportant
legacies given, and then
v " How about the residue ? We must have a
residuary legatee, my dear sir," suggested Mr. '
Bloss, suddenly pausing and placing his pen
across his mouth.
"What's that?" demanded the testator.
" Somebody to take the balance pick np the
crumbs, as it were, in case the bequests already
made should fail to exhaust your entire fortune.
It is usual to name somebody."
"I've left all I have. I can't leave more."
"There may be more to come," urged Mr.
Bloss. "Better put a name in, in case."
"Name little Ned Fleetlands," replied Mr.
Nettleton. "Nice young fellow, that. If there's
any thing over, let him have it. Much good
may it do him."
To tell the truth, had the will-maker died
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
47
then and there, Colonel Fleetlands's residuary
expectations would have been dearly purchased
at an outlay of eighteen-pence. But Mr. Nettle
ton did not so die. He lived to coin money foi
many a long year, and to see his business extend
and flourish in a degree of which he had never
indulged the faintest anticipation. Moreover,
the fair legatee, for whose benefit the whole wil
had been projected, died in his life-time, so that,
in default of any later disposition which he
never made the provision destined for herself,
as well as the entire bulk of his general property,
devolved upon his residuary legatee in othei
words, passed to Colonel Flectlands for his own
absolute use and benefit.
In fact, the purport oPMr. Bloss's letter was to
inform him that he was, at that moment, mastei
of trade property and premises worth some sixty
thousand pounds at the least, of ten thousant
pounds in stocks and shares, of thirty years
lease of a mansion in Bryanston Square with all
its furniture, carriages, horses, and six hundred
dozens of wine, of a fishing-box in the neighbor-
hood of Llanfairpwllgwingyll, North Wales, and
a shooting-box at Fort George in the Highlands,
with sundry little pickings, not yet estimated,
but which might be taken as from eight to twelve
thousand additional. That was all.
Strangely as it may sound, Colonel Fleetlands's
first emotion, upon realizing the extent of this
astounding windfall, was^me of intense and
overwhelming vexation, ffte had tasted the de-
lights of saving a passio^ by the way, which,
once encouraged, will take root and run to seed
just as surely as drinking, gambling, debauchery
or any other exceptional /human indulgence;
He had lived, as it were, with Helen's little
hoard before him, enjoying, day by day, its slow
but steady increase. He had counted no piece
of self-sacrifice too severe which only added a
couple of annas to the pile. More than that, he
had succeeded. He had made her independent.
And .now, as if in mockery of all his. toil,
came this immense fortune tumbling in, a solid
mass of wealth, from which every fragment of
his miserable savings aye, multiplied fifty-fold
might be chipped away without leaving it
sensibly less than before. He had worked and
suffered for nothing. So, at least, he mistak-
enly felt at the moment.
Another, and far more bitter feeling, only too
naturally crossed his mind. Why had it come
so late ? Three years ago it might have carried
him home to England, with blessed hopes of life
and health. Much more. She for whom his
heart still silently bled, might have been at that
moment in bloom and beauty by his side. Why
had it come so late? Again he ground his
teeth.
Why had it come at all ? Except in so far as
little Helen was concerned, it was much as if he
had suddenly received commission to divide a
great territory in China among the Peacock
Mandarins. He could, himself, have neither
part nor lot in the inheritance ; while, as regard-
ed Helen, there were anxieties almost as vivid
under her strangely altered prospects, as those
which had tormented him already. If lie had
dreaded poverty for her, he dreaded friendless
wealth still more. He knew no one to whom
he could conscientiously entrust the care of a
baby heiress, with upward of a hundred thou-
sand for her marriage portion ; nobody who
would bring her up as she ought to be brought up
watch her as she ought to be watched and
steer her course through the dangerous morning
splendor of such a future.
The only man in England to whom his
thoughts pointed, at the moment, was Admiral,
then Captain Mortlake, of whom we have al-
ready heard. But whether he would like, or
even accept, so delicate a task, the colonel could
not know ; and, in any event, there were com-
plicated arrangements to be made, contingencies
to be guarded against, and an elaborate will pre-
pared before it could be even suggested. There
was no European lawyer at Cossambazar, and
Colonel Fleetlands longed to consult Mr. Jump,
whose buggy-horse was at that moment panting
in the compound before him.
But that hateful bill transaction, of Heaven
knows how many years before, still clave to his
soul like pitch, and rather than unbosom him-
self confidentially to one of such a gang of swin-
dlers, as he very naturally considered them, he
would, I suspect, have seen Mr. Jump's persua-
sive countenance revolving in the Ilooghly
among those of the many native gentlemen who
diurnally proceed to sea down that mysterious
river.
So he allowed the opportunity to pass unim-
proved, and dismissed Mr. Jump with a mag-
nificent fee, as became a man who had been so
suddenly transformed from a miser into a mil-
lionaire^
And then, feeling that his time was short,
and that a whole world of responsibility had
devolved upon him within the last few hours,
he deliberately drew a clean quire of foolscap
from his writing-desk, and set to work at once
upon his last will and testament.
Perhaps,, while he is about it, I may be per-
mitted to offer to the unprofessional reader a
suggestion or two, gratis, upon a subject re-
specting which the most serious errors are un-
luckily prevalent. He may skip the rest of
this chapter and welcome, if he please ; and if
he can equally contrive to skip the advancing
hour, from which, as the law has it, his will must,
if he ever make one, "speak," his time will be
much better occupied than in pursuing my story.
But to those who like to listen, I would say :
Never suppose that any possible amount of
common sense (whatever that may mean), or
any quantity of trouble which you may be dis-
posed to take in the matter, is sufficient to en-
able you to make a will, and defy all the world
to pick a hole in it. Eschew the weak belief
that you can clearly express your meaning, at
all events. In a cursory glance among the
books upon my shelves at this moment, I have
lit upon half a dozen cases, at least, in which
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
the Court has substantially said, " The mean-
ing of the testator is clear enough, but the
words which he has used unfortunately oblige
us to disregard it. " And the reason of this ap-
parent hardship is so well explained in a stand-
ard professional work, which I always consult
with pleasure, that I have no hesitation in em-
ploying the writer's language instead of my
own.
"In construing wills," he remarks, "the
courts have always borne in mind, that a testa-
tor may not have had the same opportunity of
legal advice in drawing his will, as he would
have had in executing a deed. And the first
great maxim of construction accordingly is,
that the intention of the testator ought to be
observed. The decisions of the courts in pur-
suing this maxim, have given rise to a number
of subsidiary rules, to be applied in making out
the testator's intention ; and, when doubts oc-
cur, these rules are always made use of to de-
termine the meaning ; so that the true legal
construction of a will, is occasionally different
from that which would occur to the mind of an
unprofessional reader. Certainty can not be
obtained without uniformity, or uniformity with-
out rule. Rules therefore have been found to
be absolutely necessary ; and the indefinite
maxim of observing the intention is now large-
ly qualified by the numerous decisions which
have been made respecting all manner of doubt-
ful points, each of which decisions forms or con-
firms a rule of construction, to be attended to
whenever any similar difficulty occurs. It is
indeed very questionable, whether this maxim
of observing the intention, reasonable as it may
appear, has been of any service to testators ;
and it has certainly occasioned a great deal of
trouble to the courts. Testators have imagined
that the making of wills to be so leniently in-
terpreted, is a matter to which any body is com-
petent ; and the consequence has been an im-
mense amount of litigation. An intention,
moreover, expressed clearly enough for ordina-
ry apprehensions, has often been defeated by
some technical rule, too stubborn to yield to
the general maxim, that the intention ought to
be observed."
And our author, in illustration of his last
remark, notices a case, in which a father by his
will declared his intention to be, that his son
should not sell or dispose of his estate for any
longer time than his life; and, to that intent,
he devised the same to his son, for life only ;
and after his (the son's) decease, to the heirs
of the body of his said son.
Common sense would probably have ap-
proved of this disposition, as at once clear and
effectual. But common sense and common
law are two very different things. The testa-
tor had unwarily laid hold of a technical term,
and the technical term wouldn't let him go
again. And the day of his death beheld his
son absolute and irresponsible master of the
estate.
Under what inconceivable infatuation, then,
j do people, in other respects sound in mind,
careful of their own interests, and not incon-
j siderate of the welfare of others, sit down daily
to make their own wills ? How do they ex-
cuse to their consciences this most cruel and
culpable folly ? By what right do they dare
expose those for whose benefit they ostensibly
put pen to paper, to the unspeakable calamity
of a Chancery suit, with all its heart-burnings,
misery, and waste ? And yet, a thousand times
over, has this been the penalty of indiscretion
in the use of one single drop of ink. Verily,
the man who, for the selfish saving of a misera-
ble fee, can leave his family liable to such horri-
ble hazard, ought to be buried in disgrace, and
the reason noticed upon his tombstone.
CHAPTER XVI.
A NOTORIOUS criminal was, one morning,
proceeding on foot to the place of execution,
accompanied by a father confessor, whose efforts
to improve the occasion were not altogether
well received.
The culprit, unfortunately, chanced to be in
what nurses term a "fractious" mood; and
evinced his repugnance to the entire proceeding
by first of all " stepping short" in the most un-
conscionable manner and subsequently sub-
siding into plain goose-step when fairly within
sight of the gallows. *
"My good brother," urged his ghostly com-
.panion with a persuasive nudge, "if you had
|ihe slightest idea how late we are, you would,
I am certain, walk a little faster. Do you sup-
pose that, because you have naturally no en-
gagements for the afternoon, we are all equally
free? I assure you, for my own part, that I
have a great deal upon hand ; and so, probably,
have many of the gentlemen yonder. Pray
come along ! We ought to have been upon
the drop by this time. Just look at the crowd !"
"No hurry, governor," replied the penitent,
gruffly. "They can't begin without us."
I should scarcely imagine that, under the cir-
cumstances, much consolation couid have been
extracted from this palpable truism. But the
words themselves frequently recur to my mind
with very salutary effect "No hurry, gover-
nor. They can't begin without us."
Say that to yourself, my friend, as I do, when
you fancy you are going to be late for a dinner,
a train, a consultation or possibly for morning
church. You will be right nine times out of
ten. Either they won't begin without you, or
you will pick up your place in a canter, which
is practically much the same thing. And the
wear and tear of a certain nervous tissue worn
and torn beyond computation by disquieting
anxieties upon such matters will be saved al-
together, which is as much as adding two clear
years to your life, a consideration not to be lost
sight of, as times go. They won't begin with-
out you. Make a note of that.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS BEWARD.
There is only one contingency in which I
can not advise you to rely upon this comfortable
assurance. Never write a story under the de-
lusion that your readers can't begin without
you. Bless yo^r innocence, why not? They
can read you back ward, or forward, or skipplng-
waya, juat as they please ; and cut altogether
those careful passages which you so often smiled
over in secret, as the very key-stones and but-
tresses of your narrative. As to not beginning
without you, it is only too certain that they will
begin and end exactly where they choose.
The above digression came into my mind as
I was finishing my last chapter. I felt a mis-
giving that the little dissertation in which I had
indulged, with a view of preparing the ground
for what is immediately Ho follow, might be
accepted by some wary people as a sort of
salutary warning, and acted upon accordingly.
I fancied I saw them cunningly turning over
my leaves until they found themselves quite
clear of the shop, and then " beginning with-
out me" some twenty pages down stream, leav-
ing me to trudge after them at my leisure.
It is unpleasant, however, even to moralize
upon such possible treachery, and a relief to re-
turn to my narrative.
When Colonel Fleetlands deliberately sat
down to concoct his own will, he had three ob-
jects prominently before his mind.
In the first place, he wished to secure for his
little Helen, so far as human foresight could
extend, a thoroughly, happy and comfortable
home, where she should not only be a welcome
but a coveted guest. This was easy.
In the second place, he was anxious to pro-
tect her effectually, during her girlish inexperi-
ence, against those prowling adventurers who
were certain to " go in" for so splendid a prize
as a maiden with several thousands a year.
This appeared a problem equally simple.
Lastly, he desired to restore a large portion
of Mr. Nettleton's fortune to the family or rel-
atives of that gentleman. The property had
fallen to him through the merest accident, and
was far larger than he had even the slightest
inclination to retain for his daughter. He had
no sentimental scruples about using that which
was absolutely his own, but he exercised his
right, subject to the self-imposed understanding,
that after helping himself and his own liberally,
he was not entitled to trifle with the remainder.
Here again all seemed plain sailing.
With these objects in view, Colonel Fleet-
lands's testamentary dispositions ran as follows.
I give the will as he wrote it, simply because it
is not a technical, but a straightforward, soldier-
like document, which in itself explains the
manner in which he conceived that his wishes
could best be carried into effect :
"Tms is TUB LAST WILL of me, Edward
Fleetlands, Lieut. -Col. II. E. I. C. S. I ap-
point my friend, Hercules Mortlake, pf River-
woodLawn,.St. Mark's-on-the-Sea, in England,
a captain B.N., guardian of my only daughter,
D
Helen, until she attain the age of twenty-three
years. Should he decline so to act, or die, then
I appoint the Rev. Felix Salterton, rector of
Riverwood, aforesaid, guardian of mysaiddaugh.
ter. Should they both decline to act, or die,
I request the Bishop of London for the time
being to name a guardian. I give my said
daughter the sum of fifty thousand pounds,
which I direct shall be at once invested in con-
sols by my executors. I desire that out of the
interest of this sum, five hundred pounds per
annum shall be received by my daughter's guard-
ian for the time being, for her maintenance,
education, clothing, and pocket-money. The
rest of the interest is to be accumulated and
added to the principal until she attains the
age of twenty-three or marries, when the whole
is to be transferred into her name. Should
she die under twenty-three, or marry under
that age without the consent of her gnardian
for the time being, her interest is to pass to the
persons hereafter named, expect that, in the
event of her marriage without such consent, I
desire that she may receive two hundred pounds
a year for life, and no more, to be strictly settled
to her separate use. I give the legacies men-
tioned in the list below ; and, subject as above
stated, I give all the residue of my property
among the persons who would have been entitled
thereto had I not been named in the will of the
late Mr. Nettleton. And so I leave my soul
to God, appointing Captain Mortlake and Mr.
Salterton my executors. Done and dated at
Cossambazar, this 13th day of September, etc.,
etc."' [Schedule of Legacies.]
Now, with one unlucky exception, the above,
as every lawyer must admit, was a most credit-
able specimen of amateur testatorship.
No guardian could help feeling warmly to-
ward a child who brought him substantially an
additional income of five hundred pounds a year.
No gay deceiver was likely to entangle the
inexperience of a blooming heiress, whose wealth
would disappear upon seizure, like the colors of
a butterfly under a school-boy's cap.
Up to twenty-three, at all events, her mar-
riage would have to be contracted with the
deliberate approval of her guardian for the time
being. No great hardship after all. There is
no magic in the precise age of one-and-twenty,
and many young ladies, who will never he 'one-
and-twenty again, deceive themselves wofully
in the estimate of their own worldly wisdom.
Indeed I don't understand why we, insular and
independent Britons as we are, should vote our-
selves mature at an earlier period than people
are content to ripen at, anywhere else in the
world. In France, Spain, and Germany in
general, full majority is not conceded until
twenty-five. Under this age no young man
can dispose of himself without the consent of
his parents or guardians, as the case may be
although young ladies are, here and there, let
off more easily. In Spain, for instance, they
have only to wait for twenty-three ; while,
50
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
oddly enough, your Burgomaster's daughter is
permitted to dive into matrimony upon her own
. hook the very moment she is out of her teens.
To return, however, to the will, and the un-
fortunate paragraph jnst referred to.
Why, in the name of all that is wonderful, was
Colonel Fleetlands rash enough to write those
lines ' ' I give all the residue of my property
among the persons who would have been entitled
thereto, had I not been named in the will of the
lute Mr. Nettleton?"
Far better to have flung a lighted hand-grenade
among the powder barrels of Dum-Dum. The
bang would have been big and bad, but soon over.
But these few words consigned his estate at once
to the mercies of the Court of Chancery in En-
gland. These few words let loose at once the
spirit of rapine and discord in at least fifty hearts.
These few words stirred up envies, hatreds and
malices, which may scatter fire and poison among
generations yet unborn.
In a will, all is irrevocable. The writer
passes away into the land that is very far off, be-
yond all reach of human question. None can
ask him what he meant, if he has failed to express
that meaning. If no possible construction can
be put upon his words, the law, of necessity, dis-
regards them and distributes the property as if no
will had ever been made. But if any meaning
can be attached to them, however unjust, mis-
chievous, or absurd in the result, the law accepts
that meaning, and abides by it through thick and
thin. No evidence of intention is, generally
speaking, admissible. What the testator has
written he has written, and must be accepted as
sufficient, and expounded as oracular.
I dare say that, unless you are yourself imbued
with the wisdom of the legal serpent, you might
read the mischievous few lines above referred to
at least twice over without suspecting any par-
ticular harm. Perhaps, under similar circum-
stances, you might even have expressed your own
meaning much in the same way. Well, I will
not pause now, to explain exactly what was
wrong, or what was the exact question to which
these words gave birth ; but in case you should
feel any curiosity upon the subject, or any wish
to be wiser, I have transcribed in the note below,
and I hope you will read, an opinion written by
a brother barrister under the impression (acci-
dental upon my part) that the case I put to him
was occurring in my own practice.*
* " DKAB W. I have read your note carefully. Of
course you will file your bill at once ; as no executor would
dream of acting upon his own responsibility in such a case.
Colonel F. seems to have had 4000 of his own, plus say
100,000, bequeathed to him by Mr. N. Out of this fund
lie leaves 50,000 to his daughter, and the residue ' among
the persons who would have been entitled thereto, had he
not been named in N.'B will.' What in the world does he
mean? The fact that by Nettleson's will the 100,000
became Col. Fleetlands's property, can not be affected by
any thing contained in the colonel's wiH. Consequently
it became part of, and passed under the description of, his
(Colonel Fleetlands's) residue.
"This residue Colonel Fleetlands attempts to dispose
of, by referring to Mr. Nettleton's wilL
" But instead of giving it to the person who would have
been entitled to the residue of Mr. Nettleton's estate if he
(Colonel Fleetlands) had not been named, he gives it to
A very few mornings afterward, the long
anticipated event occurred. ' Colonel Fleetlands
was found at day-dawn speechless in his bed.
And as the boom of sunset-gun from the neigh-
boring cantonments rolled heavily over Cos-
sambazar, the heart of a good man and gallant
soldier was quietly hushed forever.
Loving and careful hands tended the little
orphan in her unperceived bereavement, and pro-
vided for her transplantment to English soil.
And, in charge of a magnificent brown Ayah,
all turban, teeth, and ear-rings, the child was in
due course cleared at the Southampton Docks
by Mr. Bloss himself ; who, as holding the will
under which her splendid fortune had devolved,
considered himself bound to do the honors of
Old England upon hdr first arrival. And under
his escort, she was safely deposited a few days
later with her gallant guardian at Rivenvood
Lawn, hard by St. Mark's-on-the-Sea.
And this would seem to be the time to give
some account of Admiral Mortlake personally.
His acquaintance in a casual sort of way we
have already had the opportunity of making.
Colonel Fleetlands and he had been school-
boys together, and had contracted one of those
early friendships which outlast all others.
Mortlake was a brave, willful boy, cock of the
school, and deservedly respected all round upon,
the very sufficient ground that he was going to
be midshipman in a frigate before next half.
And midshipman, dirk and all, he accordingly
became, with as fair a career before him as ever
was cut out for a young sailor.
His family were immensely rich, with high
admiralty interest ; his father chief of one of
the greatest county banks in the kingdom, with
the persons who would have been entitled to his men residue
if he had not been named !
" The supposed omission of Colonel Fleetlands's name
from Mr. Nettleton'g will, fails to afford any clue to the
persons who would be entitled to Colonel Fleetlands's resi-
due, with reference to that contingency. The description
is unintelligible, and the gift must fail.
" I assume that there are no recitals in the early part
of the will, such as 'Whereas I desire that, subject to
the legacy hereby given to my daughter, so much of my
property as I derived under the will of Mr. Nettleton, should
revert to his family,' because it is possible that some such
recital might connect the beqaest so intimately with Mr.
Nettleton's will, as to allow the Court to substitute the
words ' to the residue of Mr. Nettleton's property,' for the
word 'thereto.'
11 In short my view is, that the testator has altogether
failed to describe the parties whom he intended to take his
residue; the description he has given being incapable of
being made sense of without introducing a large amount
of extrinsic evidence to show his meaning or probable
meaning.
" The bequest therefore fails altogether as a gift, and
the residue goes, as a matter of course, to the daughter, as
next of kin, unless something in the will prevents it.
" The fact of thje testator having given a fixed legacy to
his daughter, and the residue to others, renders it morally
certain that it was not his intention that his daughter
should take the residue as well as the legacy. But if, as I
hold, he has altogether failed sufficiently to describe the
object of the gift of residue, and the gift on that account
fails, I do nof think that his inferred intention would be
considered as any bar to her taking it.
" I can not see how the colonel's next'of kin (other than
his daughter and only child) could possibly be let in, even
if the words of the gift to the daughter went so far as to
: express a positive prohibition to her taking more than the
legacy under any circumstances. If you can not fix upon
the proper people to take, it must go to the real next of
kin, I should think,"
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
51
a noble landed estate, upon which young Mort-
lakc, as an eldest son, might have looked for-
ward to a life of luxurious independence.
But his tastes were not for flocks and kine ;
while as to sitting behind a desk in pen-and-
inky slavery during the best hours of every day,
he would far sooner have been mast-headed
regularly for the same period an elevation, by
the way, which he subsequently had pretty fre-
quent opportunities of enjoying. In short he
seemed, as it were, born for the sea, with every
quality, except one, which was requisite to en-
sure success. A reckless, insubordinate spirit
marred all. He could not obey cheerfully.
There are men who can not. It is a base fail-
ing. " Imperantur ut imperani" was not said
of such. Not, at least, of one in ten thousand.
And so, after rising to the command, of a
frigate, Captain Mortlake came suddenly to
grief. The version which we landsmen received
of the affair may possibly have been even less
accurate than the information usually supplied
to the marines. But we all believe that one
fine afternoon, when a squadron was^mnning
down Channel, under all sail, Captain Mortlake
received such a series of aggravating and " nag-
ging" signals from his admiral, between whom
and himself a private feud existed, that he lost
all control over his temper suddenly beat to
quarters, and sent a thundering broadside of
blank cartridge right into the spectacles of that
fussy old gentleman, who was only half a cable's
length to leeward.
Of course, as soon as the latter could be un-
suffbcated sufficiently to sputter, he signaled
Captain Mortlake on board in fury ; and though
we don't pretend to know precisely what passed
in the admiral's cabin, we are quite clear that
Captain Mortlake's alternative lay between in-
stantly retiring upon half-pay, or standing a
court-martial. And we are morally certain that,
but for the tremendous amount of interest which
he was fortunately enabled to bring to bear, the
result of this unlucky explosion of temper and
gunpowder would have had no alternative about
it.
Be this as it may, it is beyond all doubt that
Captain Mortlake quitted the service entirely
against his own inclination, and retired to the
life of a country gentleman upon his estate at
Rivcrwood, a morose, dissatisfied man.
Perhaps to an active and domineering spirit,
no severer trial can easily be conceived than
that of being summarily expelled from a profes-
sion. A dark cloud is at once flung down upon
the whole stretch of the future, in which it is
impossible to discern the "silver lining." In
C.iptaiu Mortlake's case, the sentence was sim-
ply one of civil death. What were a thousand
acres of grass and furrow, compared with those
few feet of glossy quarter-deck ? He resented
his fate both upon himself and those about him,
and, avoiding society altogether, lived for some
time a life of savage seclusion.
No doubt sulking has it pleasures : but un-
less we have reasonable grounds for supposing
that we are making others at least half as un-
comfortable as ourselves, they scarcely outweigh
its disadvantages. To some extent Captain
Mortlake had the satisfaction of believing that,
if he chose to lead the life of a hermit, the
neighborhood must have \iyshed it otherwise.
With a noble domain, a splendid country house,
and every means at his command for the exer-
cise of princely hospitality, it was so much the
worse for them when he sternly closed his gates.
There is something almost fascinating in such a
burial of unbounded wealth. Whereas, let a
poor man amuse himself after the same fashion,
and we simply say, ' ' Poor devil ! The sooner
the coroner's wanted the better."
But this gourd of his solitude was destined to
cky up as it were in a night. The bank stopped
payment. Not a very uncommon occurrence,
but, like a railway accident, frightfully astonish-
ing to all concerned, from the directors sitting in
dismayed committee, down to the guilty switch-
man who brought it all about, and the poor
third-class passenger whose head is picked out
of the ballast. It was a terrible break-down
not quite irremediable as regarded the concern,
but involving thousands in the most serious per-
plexity and distress. To Captain Mortlake it
was little less than ruin. Half the Riverwood
estate was sold, and the remainder heavily
mortgaged, and every sixpence of his stocks and
shares confiscated, before he was out of the
scrape.
How it all came about, matters little now.
No need to talk about that pre-eminently meek
and subservient clerk, always clad in Sunday
black, who wore gloves, and discountenanced
sporting language in the vicinity of his virtuous
desk. He is at Portland this morning, suffer-
ing from a rather large padlock on the pastern,
and in the way, I hope, of being liberally whip-
ped, not once for good, but ever and anon, be-
fore he is again 'entrusted with pen and ink.
Pen and ink ! that, Captain Mortlake never
could abide, and resented his dislike by pluck-
ing him bare.
Just at this conjuncture, news arrived in
England of Colonel Fleetlands's death, and of
Captain Mortlake's appointment as his executor
and guardian of little Helen. A few months
before, he might have surlily refused to act.
But times had changed. In two points of
view, the chance was one not to be neglected.
In the first place, five hundred a year was just
at the moment an immense object. Of course
the poor little Indian baby who brought it would
be a nuisance ; but she might, for the present,
at all events, be kept in the nursery and per-
fectly out of the way ; so that there was no sub-
stantial drawback upon that head.
Secondly, this very baby might, in a few
years become, in another respect, a rather de-
sirable acquisition. Long before the bank
smash, Mortlake had begun to discover that he
was making a miserable fool of himself by
growling through his gates at the world, which
he fancied had done him wrong. And the worst
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
of growling is, that when the good wish comes
over us to wag our tails and be friendly, the
difficulty of getting that said tail into motion,
or delivering it at all from our hind legs, with-
out conscious loss of dignity, is a sad obstacle
in the way of amendment. But, with a bril-
liant young heiress to bring forward, all would
be easy. She would be an excuse, at once, for
entering society again ; nnd the world, as he
sullenly admitted, he was no longer in a con-
dition to defy. So he at once accepted his new
duties, and, in conjunction with Mr. Salterton,
proved his late friend's will in the Principal
Registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate.
That I have been neglecting Mrs. Mortlake
nil this time, is quite true. In that respect, I
am afraid I resemble her husband, -who hated
counsel of every description, and above all, that
of his wife. He was neither in the habit of
listening to her reasons, nor of troubling her
with his own. And if, for purely financial pur-
poses, he chose to present her with a full-
fledged baby instead of the callow little "pledge"
which sentimental people so pleasingly describe,
and w.hich, in his own case, had never arrived,
she had no option, you may depend, but to
accept the gift, and make the best of it.
I had no intention, when I began my story,
of attempting to entice any body who might do
me the honor of perusing it, into the diabolical
labyrinth of a Chancery suit. I will not do so
now. I will not even explain the construction
ultimately put by the Court upon those unfor-
tunate words, " I give all the residue of my
property among the persons who would have
been entitled thereto, had I not been named in
the will of the late Mr. Nettleton."
But the result was, that in the face of the
innumerable claimants whom these words called
suddenly into legal existence, it was impossible
for the executors to act at all, except under the
protection of the court. So thSy filed their bill in
Chancery, in which Captain Mortlake and Mr.
Salterton were plaintiffs, and Helen, and some
score of others, were defendants, and interlocu-
tory and other decrees were made, and costs
were ordered out of the estate, and every thing
went on as comfortably as need be, and after
the fashion in which things constantly go on
.when testators have been so economical as to
make their own wills.
One result of the suit, however, you will per-
haps have the goodness to bear in mind.
Helen's 50,000 was ordered to be realized and
paid into the Bank of England, to the credit of
the Accountant-general of the- Court of Chan-
cery, to be duly invested in consols ; out of the
interest of which 500 per annum was directed
to be paid to Captain Mortlake, as her guardian,
and the remainder accumulated for her benefit
until farther order.
It was among the consequences of this con-
siderate proceeding that she thereupon became
immediately a Ward of Court.
Over persons in this position, the Court of
Chancery, as is well known, exercises a pro-
tectorship at once jealous, vigilant, and despotic.
To marry a young lady so- situated, without the
Court's consent, is stigmatized as " Ravishment
of Ward," of which, in former times, the Court
(succeeding, as it did, the Star Chamber, in
cognizance of such offenses) used to mark its
disapproval by imprisonment for life, or by en-
forcing perpetual abjurance of the realm. So
that, as was naively remarked in an old case,
" the grievousness of the punishment showed
the greatness of the offense."
Even at the present moment, such a mar-
riage, or indeed any preliminary flirtation with
marriage in view, is considered as an aggra-
vated criminal contempt in all parties concerned,
which the court will always resent as nearly
touching its honor and justice, and severely
deal jvith. The bridegroom goes forthwith to
the Queen's prison, and the incautious parson
is lucky if he can find any body to listen to his
miserere.
Ignorance, or want of notice of the fact that
the infant was a ward, is an excuse which can
not be ^tended to upon any account, for the
plain aM satisfactory reason that every suit, or
other proceeding, in chancery, is a lispendens, of
which all good subjects- are bound to take no-
tice.
Neither, in the plenitude of itsanxiety to
extend protection where protection is needed,
will the court withhold its assistance, even
where the cause of interference may have
arisen in the case of an infant, male or female,
not previously a ward.
Not many months ago, for example, a certain
affable Miss Richardson contrived to " ravish"
a young prodigal aged nineteen, who quitted
the paternal roof to enjoy her company unmo-
lested, in the neighborhood of Dorset Square.
So far, so bad. But the lady, not content with
love, demanded matrimony also, and the feeble
youth wrote home to his mamma, bidding her
not grieve any more, because he had turned
over a new leaf, and was really going to be mar-
ried.
His papa, however, who looked for consola-
tion from other sources, couldn't stand this, and
instantly executed a settlement of one hundred
pounds upon the offending simpleton, in whose
name, as next friend, he forthwith filed a bill to
administer the trusts thereof.
This made the bridegroom intendant at once
a ward in Chancery, and the very next morn-
ing, Miss Richardson's frail gayety was dis-
turbed by a notice that another interview with
her young friend would be purchased at the
cost of her liberty.
There now! If any thing in the way of
" ravishment" should ever threaten poor Helen,
I trust you feel competent to shake your head in
good time, and to prophesy that ' ' assuming"
this, and "subject to" that, and "apart from"
something else (qualifications without which no
legal opinion is worth a rush), such and such
will be the end of the transgressors.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
53
CHAPTER XVII.
IN my last two chapters I have been obliged
to ascend for some little distance up the stream
of history, in order to explain the circumstances
under which Helen passed into the guardian-
ship of the master of Riverwood Lawn. I am
now about to square my story, by bringing my
account of her down to the exact period at
which our friend Petersfeld set out upon his
remarkable chase.
It is unfortunate that I should be,obliged to
leave him so long in the background, especially
in such a promising scrape ; but he must take
his turn like the rest of us, according to the
rule of the world, and shall have no cause to
complain of his historian before I have done
with him.
Admiral Mortlake for I may as well give
him his flag at once, although he did not actu-
ally attain it for some dozen years after Colonel
Fleetlands's death was not naturally an avari-
cious man. Few sailors are so at least we be-
lieve, ashore though few "people, I fancy, are
less content with their wages, or cry out more
lustily for what they are pleased to call prize-
money, a luxury which we land-lubbers never
even expect. But the bank disaster, to which I
have just referred, had changed his nature for
the worse. It is among the worst results of
these mercantile catastrophes that they are apt
to damage a man in mind, even more than in
purse. The man who limps away out of a
railway accident may hope to get his leg put
straight again, some day ; but ten to one, the
man who has been seriously run over in a money
smash; will hardly pull thorough without some
crook in his mind which all the doctors in Eu-
rope would fail to disentangle.
It was obvious that in accepting Helen and
her five hundred a year, he was treading the
very verge of what could strictly be considered
honorable. He knew well that her father, in
entrusting her to his care, was under the im-
pression that he was possessed of a splendid
country seat, with a fortune to correspond ; and
it might well be that it was in a home of this
description, that he wished and expected the
little heiress to be brought up. He knew,
equally, that the house could now scarcely be
considered as his own, while his affairs were so
miserably embarrassed, that but for the trifling
additional income thus thrown in his way, it
was by no means certain that even by the exer-
cise of the most penurious economy, he would
be able to continue his establishment at River-
wood at all.
However, he was in no mood to indulge in
sentimental scruples, and comforted himself
with the resolution that he would take the best
possible care of his ward a precaution clearly
desirable under the circumstances.
One point only gave him a little uneasiness.
He had a vague suspicion that awkward ques-
tions might one day or other be asked by the
Court of Chancery, with reference to hi expend-
iture of Helen's money. Trustees, he knew,
were considered peculiarly "accountable" peo-
ple by that intrusive tribunal, and proverbially
afforded more sport than almost any other class
of individuals when brought in to be badgered.
His neighbor and co-executor, Mr. Salterton,
had once mooted something upon the subject
which rather startled him ; but after all, look-
ing at the will as it stood, the case seemed
straightforward enough. All he had to do was
to feed, clothe, and educate the little lady, and
provide her with pocket-money when she was
old enough to spend it, and the rest was his
plain and proper fee for quasi paternal care and
responsibility.
Now, although I have undertaken in some
degree to furnish a memoir of Miss Fleetlands,
from the day of her birth up to that upon which
my story commences, I have no idea of wasting
useful time and paper in an elaborate chronicle
of her nursery days.
She seems, by all accounts, to have been a
peculiarly fascinating little creature the pet of
every one at Riverwood Lawn. Even Mortlake
himself found a soft corner in that tough and
ancient muscle which he probably talked about
as his heart, and suffered the child to follow
him all about the house, and to frequent his
private sitting-room at her pleasure.
This latter apartment was Helen's especial
delight. It. was a large, handsome room, with
a French window opening upon the lawn, filled
with curiosities of all kinds, of which the ad-
miral, it would seem, had iu former times been
a most fortunate collector. Giant lay-figures
were there copper men of Patagon fellows
who, like the jolly young waterman, renowned
in song, " feathered their skulls with such skill
and dexterity," that they looked like bad hu-
man cockatoos, and were altogether real stum-
bling-blocks in the way of a self-educating stu-
dent of natural history. And thei* were vicious
fishes and hulking birds, and serpents which
yawned at the little girl, as if she would just
have made one delicate mouthful, crackling like
a beccafique at Bordeaux. And there were odd
comers full of boarding-pikes, cutlasses, toma-
hawks and working-tools of a like nature, with
which man, whether savage or civil, has for va-
rious good reasons, let day-light into his breth-
ren from time immemorial.
But perhaps the grand attraction of this won-
derful room, was an immense iron safe, or
"ark, "as the admiral always chose to call it,
upon which the little maiden was never tired
of gazing. It had once, I believe, held the
books and papers of the family bank. On
either side, stood one of the plumed Patago-
nians, with a shocking smile upon his engraved
face, looking like its guardian demon.
There was a mystery about the whole affair,
which quite fascinated Helen. The tawny sen-
tinels, the huge lock, the clanging bolt, the
ponderous doors that opened with such a re-
luctant whine, and which the admiral himself
could scarcely close. What did it all mean ?
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
It meant simply this : that ever since his
grand financial disaster, Admiral Mortlake had
distrusted every living soul in England, from
his co-partners at the St. Mark's bank, down to
the very agent who screwed rents out of the
Riverwood tenantry. In this ark he kept de-
posited all his title deeds when he had any to
keep, most of them being, at the time of which
I am speaking, in the hands of various mort-
gagees all documents of any value, and not
unfrequently, very large sums in ready money.
It amused him to shut the heavy door with a
bang, and growl to himself, " Safe bind safe
find ! No clerk there, at all events."
Partly out of pure rough good nature, partly
perhaps because the inquisitive interest of the
little mite was positively amusing, the portal of
this iron cavern was unlocked most days for
Helen's private amusement. And nothipg
pleased her better than to plant herself cross-
legged upon the carpet, gaze wistfully into its
recess, and wonder, as a child will wonder, w"hat
it would feel like to be locked up inside till
Christmas, with other profitable speculations of
a like nature.
It became an old familiar friend. She knew
exactly in what corner of the admiral's writing-
desk its bright steel keys were kept, and would
have liked above all things to have had a private
key of her own, which was plainly not to be
thought of. Still, there it stood ; a sturdy ac-
quaintance with a sort of magnetic and mys-
terious influence, the* future of which was alto-
gether inscrutable, and may remain so for the
present at all events.
It was lucky for Helen that even this savage
boudoir was at her disposal. For Mrs. Mortlake
was a formidably good woman, and sternly aware
of the fact. When we refer to the doings of
somebody else, upon some particular occasion, as
"rather too good," we are not commonly sup-
posed to use*tvords in their primary meaning.
And whether any lady can by any possibility be
too good in reality is a delicate question. But,
if such a thing be possible, I should have no hes-
itation in saying that Mrs. Mortlake must have
been very close to the mark.
From the very first moment that Helen could
understand a fact, the tale of an immaculate
infancy was diligently dinned into her ears.
" I never was naughty, all the time I was a little
girl," was the pious fib which the child at last
began to believe, and to consider what a nice
mess she might make of it, if she were weak
enough to follow suit.
For, although Mrs. Mortlake in her angelic
maturity abundantly fulfilled this early promise,
nobody liked her at the Lawn a fact which, as
we all know, children discover just as soon as
their elders. Her goodness was the goodness
of a good machine which will grind over you,
body and limb, before it will go out of its groove,
or give you time to get out of the way. So
long as you did as she did thought as she
thought and emitted an equally pungent and
persistent odor of sanctity, all was well. You
need only discern between Mr. Muleymist, the
curate, who was right, and Mr. Salterton, the
rector, who was wrong; be in your pew ten
minutes before eleven in the morning, and ten
minutes before three in the afternoon upon every
Sunday, fast, and festival, throughout the year
encourage all poor parishioners who read
your tracts and said your conversation "did
them good," and persecute all who would
neither listen to your reproof nor smilingly ac-
cept your ready-made flannels and you took
your oar in her boat at once. But the crew, I
can tell you, was a picked one ; and there was
nothing for it but to keep stroke, or be landed,
mud or meadow.
Talking about tracts, by the way, Mrs. Mort-
lake's mission, you must know, was not only to
disseminate, but to create. I dare say you may
have sometimes wondered I have, at all events
whence all the myriad tracts in circulation
are actually evolved. It is really a very curious
question.
Well then, one flourishing offidna existed,
and may still exist, at Riverwood Lawn. Mrs.
Mortlake's themes were drawn from sources wide
as life itself, and therefore variegated and various.
Sometimes she dealt in hard-headed and argu-
mentative damsels who exchanged logic with
the tempter until he modestly admitted his mis-
take, and disappeared with his hat in his hand.
Sometimes in Scipionic policemen, whose rigid
and frigid moral philosophy was proof against
any temptation at all. Sometimes in serious
sailors, who held tobaccoless tea-parties in the
forecastle, and whose conversation was seasoned
with nothing stronger than ^ Bless me ! " and
"Oh, my dear!"
But I intend to take an opportunity before
long of offering yon a specimen of her compo-
sition ; devoting, if necessary, an entire inter-
calary chapter to that very purpose.
It was no fault of this excellent person that her
inherent dislike to children was intense and in-
eradicable. She detested them so much that
she never had any of her own ; and of course
the apparition of a little stranger, in the literal
sense of the words, for whose care and educa-
tion she was to be entirely responsible, was any
thing but an occasion of rejoicing. Granting,
however, that, in this particular, her very fail-
ings didn't lean to virtue's side, they at least
gave her virtues a famous opportunity of dis-
playing themselves. Many, and probably most
of our good deeds derive their principal merit
from the amount of self-sacrifice which they in-
volve ; and if the care of the friendless little or-
phan had happened to have been a pleasure
rather than the reverse, there would have been
but little scope for self-approbation in undertak-
ing it.
Whether other considerations could have had
any possible sway with so austere a moralist as
Mrs. Mortlake, is more than I can tell. Be
this as it may, little Helen's early experience
might have suggested to her that she must have
done something naughty in her cradle, and been
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
55
forthwith consigned to a reformatory for the re-
mainder of her life.
For education by way of reward or persuasion
was entirely opposed to Mrs. Mortlake's prin-
ciples. People ought to obey because obedience
was right, and ought to be punished, if they
didn't, because disobedience was wrong. Any
other system was, according to her creed, a gov-
ernment by lower motives, and unsuited to the
case of a reasonable and accountable baby.
Moreover, lest the said baby should by any
means entertain the idea that any particular
punishment exceeded the offense, or was indeed
more than a rather liberal instalment of what
might be expected hereafter, the most tremen-
dous threats and texts were always at her service ;
denunciations which, if they conveyed any
meaning at all, produced much the same effect
as the invocation of the black sweep, or the
wicked old man with the bag familiars long
since cashiered in all decent nurseries.
And so the work of education began unsat-
isfactorily enough to both parties; for Miss
Helen was not very docile, and her instructress
not very patient. Probably she made the pace
rather trying on principle, as one who perceived
that the high authority for not sparing the
rod forbade her to allow any precious opportu-
nity to escape unimproved, which seemed to
justify a snug little whipping.
And so things went on for a few uncomforta-
ble years, during which Mrs. Mortlake's patience
and trimming tackle were alike exhausted ; and
Helen's naturally high spirit became so thor-
oughly chafed and roused, that she disobeyed for
disobedience' sake. She even horrified that lady
one Sunday, between services, by audaciously
announcing that she had broken all the ten
commandments that very morning and found
herself much as usual.
Of course matters couldn't be allowed to con-
tinue upon that footing ; and, despite the admi-
ral's dislike to the incumbrance, a governess was
the only resource. Firm, good-humored guard-
ianship was all that Helen wanted ; and this
one would suppose might, by proper exertion,
have befn readily secured. But with charac-
teristic inaptitude in such matters, Mrs. Mort-
lake pitched upon Miss Serena Smugg, the pro-
tegee, of one of her clique.
There had been one naughty child in the
house before. There were two now ; for Sere-
na was as cunning a little humbug as ever step-
ped in crinoline. Mrs. Mortlake thought her
perfection, and, for once in their lives, Helen and
she were of the same opinion. Serena didn't
mind a little teaching, and she taught rather
well ; and Helen didn't mind a little learning,
and she learned exceedingly fast. But, a very
mild amount of daily business once over, and
the governess was only too anxious to be quit of
her pupil. She had her own correspondence,
which was voluminous, to attend to. She had
a thrilling "Tale of Fashionable Life" fast ap-
proaching completion on the sly, in which all the
characters wcro peers and peeresses, whose
graceful badinage was for the most part ex-
changed in boarding-school French.
She was addicted likewise to siestas, which
Helen never ventured to disturb ; during which
visions of spurred and whiskered counts jingling
with jewelry and scented like Mr. Rimmel's
shop, passed pleasantly in procession when la-
dies lovelier than the morning were followed
I about their corridors by these peeping Toms, who
looked unutterable things, and occasionally said
things which would have been much better un-
uttered when pages, waiting-women, and sa-
tanic valets all did their best to surpass their
employers, and when, in short, the whole ma-
chinery of modern aristocratic life in England
was at last remorselessly unveiled.
All that she insisted "upon was, that she was
" never to hear of" Helen's being naughty ; and
the young lady very sincerely promised ^that, if
she could help it, she never should. And so
Mrs. Mortlake, having washed her hands of the
whole affair, gave herself no farther trouble
whatever about the child. She had the great-
est possible confidence, so she assured her own
conscience, in Miss Smugg, who had been so
highly recommended in the best quarters who
was always so demure and unobtrusive, and
whose behavior in church was enough to ed
fy any body. Helen was scarcely reasonable
yet. When Miss Smugg had. once broken her
in, and she had fairly arrived at years of some
discretion, then would be the time to resume her
task, and trim and train this "warped slip of
the wilderness" into the faultless model which it
would be her pride and pleasure ultimately to
present to society.
In the meanwhile, one grand point upon which
she insisted, was, that Helen should have no
playfellows. It was extremely improbable that
she would meet with any child brought up half
so religiously as herself: and therefore, while
she might possibly be contaminated, she could
scarcely be improved, by chance acquaintances.
She had her paragon governess for companion,
a gloomy old garden to play in, and a shaggy
old pony to ride upon, anfl there was nothing in
the world to prevent her from being as happy as
Mrs. Mortlake herself. Besides which, it was
just as well that she should be kept in ignorance,
as long as possible, of her own splendid pros-
pects, a glimpse of which could only tend to un-
settle her mind. And so the upshot was that
Helen became the pet and companion of all the
servants, who felt for her lonely estate, and, as
they expressed it, ciid all they knew toward mak-
ing her a good time.
One morning in August brought round Hel-
en's ninth birthday. If she had learned to look
in her glass to any useful purpose, she might
have discovered a wonderful little countenance,
which gave promise of unusual beauty long be-
fore nine more summers should have passed over
her head. Nothing could be more perfect than
the pure brown complexion and delicately mould-
ed features, resolute though childish, and stamp-
ed with character and originality. But Helen
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
never looked in a glass, nor cared for a reflect-
ed fairy face, nor knew by sight her own lithe,
graceful figure, nor mused over her pretty hands,
unless when exceptionally dirty. And all this
bright summer day she had been entirely her
own mistress, as was only fit and proper ; and
had scampered her pony, and wandered in the
garden, and climbed the chestnuts, and fished in
the pond : while Serena's lords and ladies had
an equally busy time of it, for the " assembly "
sounded early, and the demure novelist allotted
the whole of her idle day to passing them all be-
fore her in grand review.
At last Helen's rambles were brought to a
disagreeable termination. The little girl man-
aged to tread on a sharp strong thorn of a bro-
ken acacia bough, which not only pierced her
shoe, but soon stained the white cotton sock
with blood.
It was not her way to make the least fuss
about so commonplace a casualty. But as she
happened to be close to the French window
which opened from the admiral's private room
upon the lawn, she hopped in there to try the
result of the small amount of operative surgery
at her command. The admiral was buried in
his great arm-chair, devouring the Times, which
Had just arrived from town, and took no notice
of her entrance. So, seating herself upon the
carpet, between the great oak writing-table and
the window, she pulled off shoe and stocking,
and, placing the dainty little white foot across
her lap, began leisurely to dig for the thorn with
a penknife, wishing heartily all the time that
she had been operating upon Mrs. Mortlake in-
stead of herself.
So. busily was she engaged, that she never
noticed the clang of the hall door bell, which
announced the arrival of a visitor.
Neither did the admiral. And yet there
was a footstep at the door a footstep bringing
something worth attention, both to Guardian
and to Ward.
INTERCALARY CHAPTER.
BETWEEN two -successive Acts of a serious
opera, we occasionally find, what is described in
the bill as a ballet divertissement, interposed
with the best effect. After the appalling dagger-
work, the unfathomable despair, and the uproar-
ious chorus in which the last scene culminated,
it is charming to find ourselves at once amid
the innocent gayety of a happy valley where all
the world is dancing. We have really nothing
to think about perhaps the less we think the
better and simply enjoy the spectacle. And,
when the ball-music dies away, and the curtain
descends upon a sea of smiling eyes and whirl-
ing muslin, we are ready to enter with renewed
vigor upon the substantial business of the even-
ing.
Well then, let us here interpose the intercala-
ry chapter already promised, with a specimen of
Mrs. Mortlake's Tracts served au naturel from a
large pile of these compositions upon the table
before me.
The fact is, she was in the habit of sending a
copy of each, as it appeared, to a maiden aunt
of mine, who as regularly passed it on, uncut,
to Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn. Whether she
thought that it was likely to do me more good
than she could herself, poor soul, expect from its
perusal, or merely got rid of it like a bad shil-
ling which it seemed extravagant to chuck in the
fire, I haven't the least idea. Anyhow, here
they all are, and to allude to a delicacy in one's
own possession without offering a slice or a
glass, is a rudeness of which I am not capable.
So I have taken "Abraham Brown, Mariner,"
from the top of the heap, and beg leave to send
the dish in your direction to taste if you like,
and by all means to reject, should you find it
untempting.
Perhaps it may give you a more favorable
impression of their authoress than you have al-
ready received. In that case, I beg you, in all
sincerity, to judge of her by her writings rather
than by mine. Not only have I no possible mo-
tive for misrepresenting her, but now that I
come to peruse her works myself for the first time,
I begin to think that, in some respects at least,
hers must have been a simple case of misdirect-
ed energy, and that we may not have seen the
best of her yet.
PJVERWOOD TRACTS. NO. 41.
SOME PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE OF
ABRAHAM BROWN,
MARINER,
OR
ALWAYS BE FIRM.
H.M.S. Crocodile was a magnificent frigate
of fifty guns, with a crew of five hundred and
one men, including the Captain.
Among so great a multitude, it would be idle
to conceal the fact that there were many whose
days were passed in the careless and unthinking
merriment too common among sailors to whom
the flowing bowl and the lively hornpipe offered
attractions infinitely greater than those of study
and serious meditation.
There was one, however, amid that thought-
less crew, whose conduct was a marked excep-
tion to that of the generality of his messmates.
And yet he was only a common sailor, and his
name, Abraham Brown.
From the very commencement of the voyage
to which I now refer, it had been Brown's con-
stant habit to devote a considerable portion of
each day to the perusal of various works of a
moral and elevating tendency. And, in order
to pursue his studies with less prospect of inter-
ruption, he usually ascended shortly after break-
fast to the main-top-gallant-yard, upon which,
with sailor-like ingenuity, he had constructed
for himself a tolerably commodious seat or cra-
dle, which in fact he rarely quitted, unless for
the purpose of partaking of his regular meals.
I need hardly remark that this unusual course
of conduct on board a man-of-war drew upon
Brown the ridicule and animadversion of his
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
57
less intellectual companions. But Brown was
not a man to be diverted either by jeers or
threats from the plain path of duty ; and his
well-disciplined mind stood him in admirable
stead upon these trying occasions, enabling him,
in most cases, to refute the charges of his persecu-
tors with so much force and propriety, as to drive
them, confused and blushing, from his presence.
It so happened that, as the ship approached
the latitude of the Canary Islands, a remarkable
change took place in the state of the weather.
Instead of the serene and prosperous breezes
which they had previously enjoyed, a succession
of violent gales from the south-west caused the
ship to labor considerably, and rendered Brown's
seat upon the main-top-gallant-yard not only
inconvenient, but unsafe.
His hat was so frequently blown into the sea,
that the Captain at last positively refused to
lower a boat again for the purpose of picking it
up. The rain wetted his book : the wind curled
the pages, and more than once carried away an en-
tire chapter at a time. At last, the yard itself was
blown overboard, and Brown only saved by his
remarkable dexterity in swimming. Consequent-
ly he resolved, if possible, to select a more eligible
spot for the pursuit of his studies in future.
Adjoining the large cabin, in which Brown and
some two hundred of his comrades were accus-
tomed to repose, was a small but pleasant apart-
ment known as the sail-room. This our hero
determined to occupy, after the hour for retiring
to rest. To apply his mind in the larger dormi-
tory, amid the boisterous merriment and practi-
cal pleasantries, which were too frequently pro-
longed far into the night, was plainly impos-
sible.
The scheme succeeded perfectly. Appro-
priating to himself one of the candles which
were issued to the men for the purposes of their
evening toilet, Brown arranged for himself a
most comfortable and even luxurious snuggery
among the sails ; and, balancing his candle
upon a beam overhead, was enabled to read and
meditate undisturbed, until warned by his own
sensations, of the necessity for retiring to his
hammock. This was an inexpressible privilege.
I am sorry to say that no sooner did the
Captain and First Lieutenant become aware of
the plan which Brown had adopted to secure
privacy, than they raised every objection in their
power to its fulfillment. Not that they were in-
sensible to the perfect propriety of his motives,
but they were men of routine, incapable of ap-
proving any course of conduct inconsistent with
the customs of the service.
" Brown !" the Captain would frequently ex-
claim, " this will really never do. It is even
worse than reading in bed. I beg that I may
never again find you in the sail-room at these
untimely hours, especially with a candle loose
upon the beams. We shall all be on fire some
night. I am persuaded that it will be so."
" You should recollect, Brown," added the
First Lieutenant, " that, by this reprehensible
practice, you not only expose your own life to
risk, but the lives of several hundred valuable
men, as well as the safety of one of Her Majes-
ty's ships. Is it possible that this consideration
should have no weight with one who in point
of sobriety and morality is a model to our whole
party?"
Brown was firm, but respectful. Study and
self-improvement, he assured his officers, were,
with him, paramount considerations. In no
other part of the ship, and at no other time,
could he expect to carry out these otjects with
equal advantage to himself, and consideration
for the prejudices of others. The suggested
danger from fire was, he observed, purely imag-
inary, since no one was habitually more care-
ful with a candle than himself.
" Brown, you.are provoking !" exclaimed the
Captain. ' ' Mr. Barnacle, " addressing the First
Lieutenant, " be so good as to see that the door
of this room is in future locked at nine o'clock.
Brown must be taught obedience at any cost.
And Brown was left alone.
Strange as it may seem, upon that very night,
a sensation of unusual drowsiness overpowered
him. He had had hard work upon deck dur-
ing the day, and his book was rather hard to
understand. Between the two he began to nod
gently at first, and then rather more distinct-
ly, until, at last, he forgot himself altogether,
and a sudden dive among the sail-racks brought
the candle tumbling down his back.
With a frightful start, amid sparks and smoke,
and a universal crackle, Abraham Brown awoke
to a sense of his situation. Bounding from the
sail-room, on fire*fore and aft, he escaped by the
main hatchway ladder, making the ship ring
with outcries, prompted, not by any selfish sense
of personal discomfort, but by the desire of ap-
prising his shipmates of a common danger.
For one moment, all was confusion on board.
There was a general rush upon deck. But then
the clarion voice of the Captain rang through
the darkness, and the discipline of a Queen's
ship was vindicated at once, and effectually.
"Hands, away!" shoutedrfhe chief officer.
"Afterguard! 'man the flying-jib-boom ! Let
go the weather-back-stay, and keep her head to
the wind ! Up with the helm, Quartermaster !
Marines ! start cartridges into the quarter gal-
lery, and throw all live shell down the main
hold! Master-at-arms send the ship's band
into the fore-chains, and let them play ' Jack's
Alive' to encourage J;he men."
Contrary to what might have been expected,
these energetic measures were not in the first
instance crowned with success. In a few mo-
ments a torrent of flame issued from the hatch-
way, and, flourishing upward amid the rigging,
actually fired the ensign at the fore-truck.
The light flashed far and wide over the sea.
It lit up the foaming waters all around. . . .
Spectre-like in that ocean-blaze, like a giant
amid "the darkness, arose, immediately ahead,
the towering Peak of Teneriffe.
Another moment, and the Crocodile would
have been crashing and grinding upon that mag-
58
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWAED.
nificent mountain, her timbers splintered and ters back ; but there is all the difference in the
scattered into ten thousand fragments. j world between a bull-dog as he appears in the
" Down with the helm !" shouted the Captain. ! smooth pages of Bingley, and a live bull-dog
"That blessed flare has saved us! But for over a bone.
this most opportune conflagration, we should all Nothing could be more savagely picturesque
have been, at this moment, swimming for our , than the rough old tar, clad in the invariable
lives, amid the insatiable crowd of carnivorous < shooting-suit of iron-grey, with an immense blue
fishes which infest this most unsatisfactory choker knotted loosely round his great sandy-
archipelago. What in the world can our
helmsman have been thinking of ! Was ever
such culpable negligence known ?
" ' It needeth not that blood b8 spilt,
For folly to amount to guilt,'
as the poet wisely sings. Ah, Brown ! how can
we sufficiently thank you?"
Torrents of water from exactly five hundred
buckets were rapidly poured -down the fore-
hatchway. Gradually the flames were master-
whiskered throat. Eolling himself round, in
his arm-chair clutching the paper with both
hands scowling under a pair of enormous eye-
brows, that twitched like mice at play, and
snorting as he read with that peculiar nasal
expletive " Hon !" so characteristic of a French-
man in a passion, one would have fancied that
the editor musj have devoted his entire impres-
sion to some bitter personal libel, of which he,
the reader, was the sole object.
ed, and magnificent volumes of smoke, rolling | Not a bit of it. Admiral Mortlake read his
heavily to leeward, left behind them nothing ; paper, as he did every thing else, under extrav-
beyond a pungent and rather unpleasant smell. I agantly high pressure, and all these growls and
" Brown, " exclaimed the Captain, warmly gesticulations simply signified assent or the con-
shaking the hand of the common sailor, whom trary to what he was reading. You had only
he had summoned for that pui-pose upon the j" to listen, to hear an approving "good!" snorted
quarter-deck, "it is to your firmness and good i out exactly in the same tone as " fool rogue
sense that the Crocodile is indebted for this most j dolt liar hammer-headed baboon ! " which ob-
extraordinary escape. Adequately to reward j viously implied difference of opinion,
your service is impossible. Fortunately the As for Helen, she was so perfectly accustom-
clerkship of.the weather gangway is vacant and I ed to these irregular explosions that she con-
at my disposal. The emoluments are considera- j sidered them just the natural result of reading
ble, including the sole use of a commodiov>s
cabin, telescope, thermometer, and well-selected
library. From this moment it is your own.
May you enjoy it long. Never was patronage
better bestowed."
The British navy is not ungrateful. It cher-
ishes the fame of its thousand heroes. From
that day to this, wherever the British ensign
waves afloat and the strains of our National
Anthem resound along the deep, the initials of
our humble friend are preserved in every log.
When our officers desire to confer the highest
mark of approval upon a sailor whose agility,
integrity, and general worth appear to entitle
the newspaper ; and took no more notice of
them than did the spaniel, who used to be shown
in the lion's den at Wombwell's, of the roar of
his royal companion.
Upon this particular occasion, the admiral
chanced to be deep in the details of a great na-
val court-martial, and had the misfortune to
differ from the majority of the court, as well as
from certain views expressed in the paper before
him. Consequently, upon him, as well as upon
Helen, the door opened unexpectedly, and Mr.
Salterton was announced.
The rector of Riverwood, who, it will be
recollected, was co-executor with the admiral
him to distinction, they know no higher enco- [ of the will of the late Colonel Fleetlands, and,
mium than that conveyed in these simple words : as it were, vice-guardian of little Helen, was a
" Let him be rated as an A.B.'
tall, dark, handsome man of fifty, reputed to be
MORAL. [I have felt myself warranted in the only human being of whom Admiral
removing a sententious and rather indigestible ! Mortlake stood in the slightest degree of awe.
moral appended to the above history, before In truth Mr. Salterton was not quite an ordina-
consigning it to the printer. It is with no feel-
ing of disrespect, or doubts as to the original
propriety of the appendage, that we pinch off
shrimps' tails at breakfast.]
CHAPTER
I WISH it were possible, by dint of mere pen
and ink, to give any sufficient idea of Admiral
Mortlake engaging his Times.
I have described the man himself, as he ap-
peared to our friend Petersfeld, some few chap-
ry character. Upright as a drill-sergeant, with
a reserved and rather dry manner, in which
people who saw him for the first time detected
hauteur and probable cynicism, he was too self-
contained to be universally popular. Perhaps
he was a little too fastidious in his likes and
dislikes. Perhaps he was overweeningly con-
fident in those terse opinions with which he BO
briefly disposed of every question which it be-
came necessary to dispose of at all. Perhaps a
rooted and uncompromising aversion to every
thing which he was pleased to stigmatize as
trifling or buffoonery made average people find
him ascetic. But, be this as it may, there was
no one of whom opinions changed more rapidly,
when once, which was not difficult, those who
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
misliked him at first came really to understand
the rector. Then they found a true and kind-
ly heart, with infinitely more practical tolera-
tion than they expected.
Mr. Salterton was a widower. A dire
calamity had overshadowed him in early life.
He had lost his wife within a year of their mar-
riage. An elder sister kept house for him at
the Rectory. She was in delicate health, and
rarely seen abroad ; and it was not until long
after the period through which we are now trav-
eling, that Helen .became more than vaguely
aware of her existence. Neither will you hear
of her again, until the last hours of my story
are upon the point of striking its pageant van-
ishing into empty air.
Naturally, all the naughty folks in his parish
were sorely afraid of him, while those of a
better mind regarded him as a sort of oracle, a
little to be feared, certainly, but not the less
upon that account to be equally loved and re-
spected. $frs. Mortlake, I am afraid, was an
exception. Two oracles in the same district
were perhaps not likely to agree. At any rate,
Mr. Salterton found himself received with so
little cordiality at the Lawn, that it was not
oftener than once in a year or so, and then al-
most as a point of ceremony, that he ever en-
tered the gates.
The admiral had no personal objection to
his clergyman, indeed he rather liked him than
otherwise. But that fatal cloud which had
overshadowed his, conscience ever since he first
seized upon Helen's money as lawful spoil, had
made him shy and suspicious. He knew that
Salterton himself would have died rather than
divert one sixpence of her income to any pur-
pose not expressly calculated in some way to
romote her welfare. He expected that the
jctor would interfere at last, and in many a
moody reverie had mused over the sort of re-
ception with which it would be prudent to en-
counter the enemy, whenever he advanced to
the attack.
Something in the rector's manner told him
that the hour^was come.
" Why, Salterton, is that you ? Glad to see
you, indeed. Take the arm-chair, my dear
sir," exclaimed he, in his deep rolling- growl,
shaking hands with the clergyman and waving
him to a seat with old-fashioned empressement.
"Famous weather this, for the crops. Seen
the paper to-day ha ? Read the court-martial
on John Bonny, master of the Atalanta, for
running his ship into a French brig off the Liz-
ard ? Ha, sir ! What d'ye think of the egre-
gious land-lubber the son of a sea-cook, who
wrote this precious letter; a fellow, sir, who
positively signs himself 'AN OLD TAK.' I'd tar
him, sir, and feather him too, till he looked as
old as his grandmother. But, perhaps you
haven't seen the paper."
"I have not," replied Mr. Salterton with a
smile, as he availed himself of tha offered arm-
chair. " Perhaps it is as well I did not, or I
might have been innocent enough to believe the
story. By the way, can we have ten minutes'
private conversation? I took my chance of
finding you disengaged, but if it is otherwise,
I will drop in some other day."
' ' Not at all, my dear sir. I am at your serv-
ice as long as you please. We are alone, and
not likely to be disturbed ha 1"
Poor Helen literally quivered all over with
excitement. The little blood-bedabbled sock
could not be drawn on in a moment, and even,
had that been possible, the shoe was mislaid on
a chair. To hop out of the window, with the
certainty of being instantly called back in her
dismal pickle, was not to be thought of. So
she scuttled under the table like a lame rabbit,
hoping to goodness-gracious, that nobody would
think it necessary to search the room before this
awful conversation began.
" Admiral," said the rector, after a moment's
pause, " I want to have a few words with you
about your*ward, Miss Fleetlands. I should be
the last person, as you may suppose, to intrude
officiously anywhere. But as I stand in a pe-
culiar position with regard to the little girl, and,
next to yourself, am the person most responsi-
ble for her, you will pardon me if I speak plain-
ly, and without reserve.''
"That's what I do myself," replied the ad-
miral with a slight snort; "and what's more,
stow all palaver before I begin. If you are
anxious to take any responsibility off my shoul-
ders, why, sir, you are heartily welcome. Hith=
erto, I have been under the impression, right of
wrong, that I was accountable to the High Court
of Chancery, and to that court alone, as regard-
ed all matters connected with the care and cus-
tody of my ward. That, sir, subject to correc-
tion, was my belief," concluded the master of
Riverwood, working his shoulders and twitching
his brows, preparatory to going into argument
upon the question.
" You are quite right," replied.Mr. Salterton,
quietly playing with his riding-whip. ' ' Your dis-
cretion can be controlled only by the Court of
Chancery, which of course would not interfere
unless in an extreme case."
" I presume not, sir. And now, ifyou would
favorme with a little of that plain-speaking which
you were so good as to promise me a moment
ago, I shall probably have the honor of under-
standing your meaning. Sir, you have my full-
est attention."
" Plainly, then," resumed the rector, in a dry,
decided tone, "it seems to me speaking mere-
ly as a spectator that you are in some danger
of inviting the interference of this Court of
Chancery. Is it right, admiral,. that at her age,
Miss Fleetlands should be allowed to run wild
about the place, with no more suitable compan-
ions than your groom and gardener ? Of Miss
Smugg, who is, I believe, supposed to have
charge of her, I wish to say nothing. Whatever
her qualifications may be, they have jjeen most
unfortunately applied in this case. I know,
from my own conversations with the child, that
her education, both religious and otherwise, haa
60
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
been strangely neglected. Positively, I am
ashamed of her as a parishioner. There is not
a child of six years old in my school, yonder,
who is not far better acquainted with her Bible,
and at least equally well read in history. And
all this with a girl who, in the course of a few
short years, will probably be the richest heiress
in the county ! All this with a girl whose father
left the munificent sum of five hundred pounds
a year from her very babyhood for what pur-
pose, in the name of common sense ? Surely
that she might receive the very best education
which money could purchase that she should
have every proper luxury, every elegance and
advantage which wealth could bestow carriage
exercise, for exam pie ; change of scene, real sea-
side pleasures, and most of all, companions and
playfellows of her own age and position. I
think, admiral, that might be about the view the
Court would take, were its attention drawn to
the matter."
" My goodness gracious me !" gasped
Helen, trying desperately to screw herself up into
nothingat all, "only think of my being somebody
else all this time, and not knowing it ! Oh, this is
better than any thing Serena ever invented, and
it's true besides. My stars, don't I wish the
carriage full of playfellows would drive up!
Richest heiress in the county! Why, I shall
marry a king's son or somebody. Go on, Mr.
Clergyman go on !"
" Now," pursued the* rector, " I have deliver-
ed my mind. Not prematurely, at all events,
for I have waited long after my conscience bade
me interpose, in the hope that such a step would
become unnecessary. But Helen is just now at
the most critical point of life, and I dared not
liesitate longer. Thereisonly one other point,"
concluded the rector, " to which I will advert
while upon the subject. No one, in his senses,
will suppose th-at you would attempt to divert
money especially devoted in trust for a partic-
ular purpose, to any other use. But let me re-
mind you that to attempt to lay by any portion
of your ward's income for her future benefit, is
perfectly idle. With her magnificent prospects,
any possible present saving would count for
nothing at all ; while, just now, every sixpence
might be laid out to her great advantage, both
immediate and prospective. I know you too
well, admiral, to doubt your perfect honor as re-
gards motive. If we differ upon a point of expe-
diency, I am sorry."
" Sir," retorted the admiral, who had risen
restlessly from his chair, and, with his fists buried
two feet deep in his trouser pockets, appeared to
be inscribing hieroglyphics with his chin upon
some invisible pyramid, "Sir, I am obliged to
you. Say no more, sir ; say no more, ha !"
" Oh, mercy !" thought Helen, who, crouch-
ed in her snug recess, had been devouring every
word. "This is much too dreadful. J never
heard him in such a rage in all my born days.
They'll fight a battle assure as I'm alive."
" Fortunately, I have no more to say," replied
Mr. Salterton. " I have spoken my mind, and,
I believe, discharged my duty, certainly without
the remotest intention of giving offense."
"I am willing to take your word 'for it, sir.
But let me tell .you that I will be answerable to
the Lord Chancellor, and to the Lord Chancel-
lor alone, as regards all that may concern my
ward. I do not meddle, sir, in other people's
affairs, myself. I do not catechise their children
in private; neither do I presume to pass an
opinion upon their expenditure or mode of liv-
ing. I do not insinuate, either directly or indi-
rectly, that they may be making a purse out of
moneys entrusted to their care ; and, by Heaven,
I think that mine's the best way, sir, ha?"
" All right ! " returned the rector good-humor-
edly. " Don't trouble yourself to be civil now.
Next time you pass the Rectory, look in and tell
us there are no bones.broke. Good-day, admi-
ral."
I am afraid that the gruff " good-day" of the
latter was supplemented so soon as his visitor
was fairly out of hearing, by a thundering roll
of maledictions, in which parson, ward, and five
hundred a year, were severally consigned sine die
to Jericho, and several stations beyond. As for
poor little Helen, the whole transaction had risen
into a hideous tangle of utter bewilderment and
terror. Why she was included in the anathema,
and what babe-in-the-wood end might be in store
for her, were puzzles too terrible to attempt.
"Thank goodness, he's firing off his pipe!"
was her first consolation. "Now he'll go out
and smoke upon the terrace. .That's all right ;
for I'm tired of being scrunched up here. It's as
bad as being in church only I've heard some-
thing worth hearing. Don't I wish Gi had been
with me, under the table. Gi would have un-
derstood it all in no time. I must talk it all
over with Gi."
"Gi,"you must know, was the pet name of
an elderly young man, who had been groom at
Riverwood for something under forty years, and
for whom Helen indulged a profound affection.
That he could play sphynx upon occasion, seems
likely.
The young lady was, however, right in her
conjecture. Her guardian, after deliberately
lighting his meerschaum, strolled forth upon the
terrace, leaving Helen free to shoe herself, and
escape undetected. But what the savage old
smoker thought of himself, as he paced moodily
backward and forward under the statues, is more
than I can tell. I suppose he felt as many of
us have felt who have been told unwelcome
truths, in our time, and made strange fools of
ourselves, by way of acknowledgment. I dare
say he wondered whether Salterton was really in
earnest, and what was after all the law of the
matter. That such a comparative trifle as five
hundred a year should stand between himself
and virtual ruin, was the bitterest part of the
business. Yet so it was : while if Helen's ac-
counts were to be overhauled, and he made
answerable for the excess of the last seven years'
receipts over his expenditure upon her account
during the same time, there would be nothing
FIVE HUNDEED POUNDS KEWAKD.
fit
for it but to pat the shutters up, and go and live
on the Continent.
Whatever course of procedure with reference
to his ward might otherwise have been adopted
by the admiral, an immediate change, in the way
of education, was rendered necessary by the sud-
den disappearance of Miss Smugg.
That gifted and unfortunate damsel, among
other treasures of periodical literature, had un-
luckily lighted nipon one of those detestable publi-
cations which professto afford" a medium of inter-
communication" between young ladies and gen-
tlemen capable of committing matrjmony in cool
blood. "Gustavus Alonzo, dark and aristocrat-
ic-looking," so ran the precious announcement
which onp day attracted her attention " eldest
son of a country baronet, and heir to a landed
estate of many thousands a year, was in search of
a handsome, lively partner, fond of music and
dancing, and not over twenty-three.'' Peculiar
domestic difficulties combined with constitutional
diffidence, prevented him from making his wishes
known among the brilliant circles of his own
acquaintance, and drove him with reluctance to
advertise in a penny paper. He would gladly
exchange cartes-de-visite with any young lady
who would so far lay aside the conventionalities
of rank and fashion as to condescend to answer
through the same channel, with a view of adorn-
ing what he rather mystically alluded to as his
future coronet, and gilding with her constant smile
an existence of lonely and luxurious ennui.
Serena jumped at the news. The good time,
for which she had so long been pining, was
come at last ; supposing it possible that such a
chance should not have been accepted and closed
with before the paper which contained it was
fairly dry from the press. So her answer .was
written at once on bright pink note, in a lovely
lady-like hand, enclosing a photograph of her-
self in a low evening dress, reclining in a bower
of roses, with a crook and a guitar, and some
sheep picking at her petticoats. And, fearing,
I suppose, lest her Smugg patronymic should be
considered homely among the family of her futuro
lord, she quietly evaded comment by subscrib-
ing herself "yours most fervently, Serenissima
Southamptontowers."
In her case at least, the course of true love ap-
peared likely to run as smoothly as could be wish-
ed. The return post brought an answer from
Gustavus Alonzo, expressing the respectful hope
that Miss Southamptontowers could make it
convenient to be in Rotten Bow at six p.m. on
the following Friday, when that young gentleman
would appear, .mounted on a thoroughbred chest-
nut, and followed by a groom in blue livery with
|E cockade in b^s hat. Would Miss Southampton-
towers kindly carry a scarlet geranium ; at the
sight of which Gustavus Alonzo would immedi-
ately dismount, and indulge himself with an in-
terview which he fondly trusted was to be the
turning-point of his existence?
Alas for poor Serena. She made some fright-
fully fabulous excuse for n visit to London, and
flourished her geranium unsuccessfully before a
great many gentlemen. At last a rakish-looking
youth sidled up ; and pointing out his father the
baronet, an innocent old stock-broker, who was
cantering toward Apsley House, announced him-
self as the Gustavus Alonzo of the advertisement.
His horse had unluckily fallen lame, not five
minutes before, and had to be led home by his
gro.om, which accounted for his appearance au
pied. Would Miss Southamptontowers conde-
scend to excuse an accident, and avail herself
of apartments at his disposal in Carnaby Street
a sort of family appanage, in charge of an old
housekeeper, a pensioner of twenty years' stand-
ing. She would do her best to make Miss
Southamptontowers comfortable after the fatigue
of her journey, until her future mother-in-law
could be prepared to receive her in the morning.
By what extraordinary fatuity Serena fell
into this open vulgar trap, it would seem at first
sight impossible to conjecture. Yet, would to
Heaven that it were extraordinary after all !
Such things happened yesterday they are hap-
pening even while I write these words, and
they will happen to-morrow and to-morrow so
long as the world endures. It is a mystery,
and a dreadful one. Enough that from that
day to this from thenceforth, from henceforth,
and forever, poor Serena's name never was or will
be heard of on earth again.
Her disappearance was not perhaps absolutely
unwelcome to Admiral Mortlake. It gave him
the opportunity of making an entire change in
Helen's course of education, without the appear-
ance of having been bullied by his rector. .It
was quite clear that the best thing he could do
with her was to send her to school ; a conclusion
in which his wife cordially agreed. So in the
course of a few weeks Helen found herself trans-
ferred to the intensely select and fashionable
establishment of the Misses Magnolia, of Luxor
Court, Palmyra Stairs, Brighton, where for the
modest consideration of some two hundred
guineas per annum, she was guaranteed notonly
the usual education of a young lady, but that
last unutterable polish, which, unlike certain oth-
er Christian graces, is only to be had for money.
It had seemed better, all things considered, to
do the business handsomely, so as not to leave
the slightest loop-hole for farther cavil.
CHAPTER XIX.
SEVEN years is a long time a large slice out
of one's existence. Physiologists, I believe,
tell us that in seven years we change altogether,
body and bones ; 'and that the suit of mortality
which we wore at the beginning of the era, is,
before its conclusion, replaced by one entirely
different. If this be the case, I can only say
that I suspect I have either been overlooked al-
together, or repaired with second-hand material,
and would give a trifle to have my old suit re-
turned ia any thing like the condition I once
knew it.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
Seven years is a long time. So long in fact,
that when in the regular course of a narrative it
becomes necessary to dispose of it in a sentence,
there is always a certain feeling of responsibili-
ty and compunction. Nevertheless, seven years
and upward have passed away since the date of
my last chapter, and the day arrived on which
Helen was to take leave of the Misses Magno-
lia and their fashionable academy forever.
Vividly as, at this moment, I seem to see her
before me in all the elastic health and beauty
of seventeen, I am perfectly conscious of my in-
ability to transfer to print what I most wish to
be understood, or to place before another im-
agination exactly tne image which is present to
my own. I had some thoughts of prefixing a
photograph to this volume. But that, I am
told, would look lazy and eccentric, and were
better avoided.
So, to the clearest imaginable olive complex-
ion, with just a fair tinge of color, you may
add a straight, pretty nose, and the firmest yet
most delicate little mouth and chin which your
recollection is able to supply. Dark and glossy
and luxuriant was Helen's hair, parted smooth-
ly over her bright brow, and harmonizing with
eyes that looked almost melancholy while at
rest, and flashed so instantly and wonderfully
whenever there was an excuse for flashing at
all. A buoyant graceful figure, rather full, I
suppose, than the reverse, and charming hands
must complete my portrait. I am not sketch-
ing, or intending to sketch, a beauty, though in
my opinion Helen had a perfect right to the
title, but something far better a form to which
one's soul goes rushing forth, because though it
may be only clay after all, it is not merely a
painted vase. There is light within the porce-
lain real living light. Happy the man to
whom God has given such a lamp. In the
dark and desolate places of this wilderness it is
the gift beyond all price.
Seven years had also passed over the admiral,
since the day that he growled so famously at his
rector for interfering about little Helen. Nor
had those years been quite unprofitable. The
old fellow had grown decidedly less morose and
more sociably disposed. Some of us mellow
some harden with time ; and if Admiral Mort-
lakc's life could only have been prolonged for
another half century, he might have grown into
an affable and benignant elderly gentleman
with a smile and a present for every visitor.
Perhaps this favorable change was partly
owing to a good round legacy, which dropped in
when least expected, and placed him, all at
once, in comparative ease in his possessions.
But at any rate, it was so marked as to be a
subject of rejoicing to Helen when she at last
returned to take up her residence at Riverwood
for good.
And how are we to suppose that Admiral
Mortlake felt toward the frank, handsome girl,
who stood before him, no' longer a little toy to
be teased or petted according to his humor
but erect in crinoline, ready to ride his horses,
grace his dinner-table, and flirt with his guests
whenever he gave her the chance ? I will tell
you my own belief upon the subject, which you
may take for what it is worth. Only since it
| has fallen upon me to write the story, you may
perhaps as well believe that I am not very far
wrong, and accept it as part of the narrative.
I suspect that Admiral Mortlake's feeling
with regard to his ward was essentially selfish.
I mean, that although he had been amused with
her as a child, and glad when her school-holi-
days came round, he liked her for his own sake,
rather than hers. It was pleasant to see her
sunny face in the garden, and to hear her voice
upon the stairs. She was the life and ornament
of that dull old house, and he was well aware
of the fact. Still, he never cpnsider-ed her as
his own ; he never, thought of her as we think
of those fledglings, who, if they are not to live
with us forever, are never, as we hope,, to forget
the old birds and the parent nest. Helen would
marry, of course, in due time, and so pass
away. He would be sorry to lose her, and upon
that account alone would, as long as possible,
postpone the evil day. But as to any farther
regard for her, I don't think it was in his nature.
She was his to-day, and would be another's to-
morrow and there the connection would end,
so far as he was concerned.
There was, however, one other consideration
involved in the contingency of Helen's marriage,
which had so deep an influence over his mind,
that I must refer to it in this place as the key,
in some measure at least, to the remainder of
my story.
It was briefly this. So long as Helen con-
tinued in his guardianship, and remained un-
married, he received, as we are aware, under
her father's will, five hundred a year for her
maintenance and education. Now it was a
simple matter of arithmetic that, during the
seventeen years of her life he had received, at
the very lowest estimate, upward of .foOOO
sterling in excess of what she could by any pos-
sibility be supposed to have cost him in money
out of pocket. To be called over the coals to
' the tune of such a balance, was a hideous pros-
; pect, and to be by all means averted, if that
might be.
Supposing that she remained single up to
twenty-one, there would probably be but little
difficulty about the matter. She would then
be competent to give, and in the ordinary course
of events would give, what is technically term-
I ed a release in full. In other words, she would
sign and place her forefinger upon the wafer of
j a parchment deed, the concluding paragraph of
which would perhaps run as follows :
"And whereas for the satisfaction of the said
Hercules Mortlake and in consideration of the
premises she the said Helen Fleetlands hath
' agreed to execute to him the said Hercules
Mortlake such a release as is hereinafter con-
tained Now THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH that
in pursuance of the said agreement and in con-
sideration of the premises She the said Helen
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
63
Fleetlands hath remised released and forever
quit-claimed and by these presents doth remise
release and forever quit-claim the said Hercules
Mortlake his heirs executors and administrators
from all and all manner of action and actions
causes of action suits controversies differences
debts accounts reckonings sum and sums of mon-
ey and all other claims and demands whatso-
ever both at law and in equity for or by reason or
on account of the said annual sum of 500 so
raceived by him the said Hercules Mortlake as
aforesaid or any part thereof or for or by reason
or on account of the payment application or ap-
propriation thereof or of any part thereof by him
the said Hercules Mortlake or for or by reason
or on account of any other act deed matter or
thing by him done committed or permitted in
anywise relating to the premises."
This succinct little document, assuming it to
be freely given, and after a fair explanation of
the state of the case, would operate to silence
all possible demands, square all accounts, .and
spare her guardian all farther trouble in the
matter.
But, in the event of her marrying under
twenty-one, this smooth and easy course would
unfortunately be inappropriate. Until that
mystical birthday, we are all infants in the eye
of the law undiscerning babes, unfit to " reck-
on," or to cast up the mildest sum in compound
addition by which our interests may be prejudi-
cially affected. I have, it is true, known one or
two infant senior wranglers in my time ; but
they would have been good-naturedly repressed
in the Court of Chancery, had they come there
armed with the pence-table, or trusting in the
rule of three.
Consequently, in the case just supposed,
Helen's accounts would be liable to be overhaul-
ed under the direction of the Court itself; while
her intended, if of a greedy turn, and given to
seeking his own, would be in a position to ask
questions which might easily become vexatious.
I am not asserting that the admiral, under the
circumstances, could actually have been called
upon to refund. I volunteer no opinion what-
ever. He never consulted me ; and perhaps
felt a difficulty in taking direct legal advice
upon so delicate a topic. It was enough to
know that the money was most certainly never
intended as a mere present to himself, to be tor-
mented with fears of reprisal.
It is not, therefore, much to be wondered at
that he had long since resolved to take one short
cut toward stopping all nonsense of the above
description. Under her father's will he was
empowered to withhold consent to his ward's
marriage up to twenty-three. Upon marriage
without such consent, her whole property became
virtually confiscated.
This power he was determined to exercise,
and made no secret of the matter. He even, I
am sorry to say, gave out that he had the best
reasons for believing that Colonel Fleetlands's
last and most anxious wish had been, that his
daughter should not marry before twenty-three
at earliest, and that he should hold himself
; bound to respect this desire, so far as his own
conduct in the trust was concerned. Of course
| this was simply a falsehood, and even if true as
an assertion, would have carried with it no legal
weight whatever ; but it gave convenient van-
tage-ground in the event of his being scouted
as an obstinate, impracticable donkey, when he
stood upon the letter of his rights.
I don't say that Colonel Fleetlands was wrong
in the disposition which he made. Naturally,
in the circumstances under which he died, he
was anxious to protect his daughter from being
run away with, while yet a girl, by any rascal
who only coveted her money. A controlling
power in this respect must have been vested in
somebody, and every controlling power is, in its
nature, susceptible of abuse. In all cases of
this kind, we must select the most reliable peo-
ple we know, and after* that, "quis custodiet
custodem f" is a question more easily asked than
answered.
To return to' our story. With Helen once
iigain established at Riverwood, the admiral's
first desire was to disabuse the neighborhood of
the impression that his own conduct toward her
bore the slightest trace of mercenary or unwor-
thy motives in fact, to convince them magnifi-
cently of their mistake. Helen was now, as he
perceived, too old to be kept in a corner, being
indeed the ooject of curiosity and speculation to
halfthe county Appearances must be kept up
at all costs even of that priceless convenience,
ready money.
Helen's grand passion was riding. The horse
to her mind outweighed all that creation ever
did in the way of hair, scale, fur or feathSr.
She had been allowed riding lessons at Bright-
on, as part of the Misses Magnolia's gorgeous
curriculum, and of course now hoped for a steed
of her own.
To her intense delight and astonishment, her
guardian one day presented her with as lovely
a blood-mare as could be bought for money so
the -dealer had told him, and so I hope he be-
lieved and placed Gigoggin the groom at her
disposal, to follow her whither she listed. This
was life itself to Helen. To regale her pet with
toast and lump sugar after breakfast, to gallop
her unmercifully all day, and dream about her
religiously at night, made a division of time
which was perfectly enchanting. She began to
wonder that she had ever reviled Riverwood to
her school-fellows as a dismally owlish, mopy old
place, and wished she could show them Camilla.
Gigoggin, alias Gi, the fortunate youth
who was commissioned as Miss Helen's aide-
de-camp and knight-companion in her equestri-
an expeditions, was a small, brown, taciturn
man, who had probably been young in his time,
and was still rejoicing in that perennial bloom
which, in former days, we used so often to no-
tice among post-boys. He was quite devoted to
his young mistress, having, in fact, as we are al-
ready aware, been Helen's earliest friend on the
premises, and admired her riding as an accom-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
plishment of his own creation. He would have
given his ears any day to see her follow the
hounds a performance which, being strictly
prohibited, she looked forward to, as the very
climax of human enjoyment. And his caution-
ary " 'Ware hounds, Miss Helen!" when Camil-
la pricked her ears to the distant music, and
the girl, who seemed to be pulling so desperate-
ly, was away like the wind, before he could even
kick Happy-go-lucky into a canter came from
the depths of a sorrowful and sympathizing
heart.
By dint of continued badgering, you may
make most people admit that you are in the
right, or at all events consent to your wishes,
which is still more satisfactory. And so it
came to pass that the admiral at length gave
way in his objection to Helen's taking her gal-
lop in the hunting-field, the more so as the
discussion had suggested an idea to his mind,
for which he gave himself infinite credit.
It occurred to him that an opportunity now
presented itself, by which without the smallest
sacrifice of his own self-complacency he might
at once put himself upon a more cordial footing
with people whom he had been foolish enough
to estrange. It would, moreover, display his
liberality and kindness to Helen, in a pictur-
esque and valuable light, and lastly, "would be
the correct thing to do by her, if he intended to
allow her to hunt at all. He determined that
the very next day the hounds met in his neigh-
borhood, he would invite the Master to break-
fast at the Lawn, and to bring his field with
him.
It was a capital notion, and seemed better
afid better the more it was reflected upon. The
Windmill Turnpike, on the London Road, was
m due course announced as next Thursday's
meet, and in answer to the admiral's invitation,
Sir Philip Chevy replied, that he would with
pleasure do himself the honor of bringing his
hounds to the Lawn at ten upon that day, and
draw the Riverwood spinney into the bargain.
Whatever the admiral undertook, was sure
to be executed in good earnest, and the very
idea of this jolly dejeuner a la chasse, made him
ten years younger at once. The "Master's
eye," as we all know, is proverbially efficacious,
and although to employ a slang caution I
would advise him to mind it, when engaged in
kitchen investigations, it certainly did its duty
in the present instance. Nothing was too
minute, nothing too palpably beyond its province
to be secure from incessant supervision. One
moment beheld its owner rearranging the gar-
niture of a ham ; the next assuring himself that
a due proportion of port wine and oysters were
combined in the principal pie. And all this
while cross-catechising his footman like a thief,
as to the disposable amount of plate, and how
it would make out breakfast covers for thirty ;
and writing to Fortnum & Mason for terrines,
caviare and canvas backs, and to Liquor-pond
Street for a kilderkin of such malt as should
rejoice the cockles of the huntsman, and such
of the farmers and yeomen, as could not be
provided for in the dining-room. In short", if
he had been planning some grand naval "affair,"
in which details, they say, are half the battle, he
couldn't have been expected to do his duty more
conscientiously than while plotting this mem-
orable breakfast.
I am glad that I am not a fox. I should
hate being cheyied, more than tongue can tell.
But if I had been born to such experience, and
had happened to be the denizen of the River-
wood spinney when that Thursday came round,
I must say I should have reckoned upon an
easy bargain. I wouldn't be too hard upon any
body. But I know an ugly ditch or so, and a
few nasty stiles, and a quiet bit of wire in the
neighborhood, and I should like to have taken
my friends round that way. I think that with
the assistance of that kilderkin of XXX, let
alone the cider cup upon the high hall-table, I
could have emptied a saddle or two, and post-
poned indefinitely that spasmodic moment which
survivors so complacently refer to as "the
finish."
If you ask' me what Mrs. Mortlake thought
of the approaching saturnalia, I am obliged to
confess that the subject is altogether beyond
me. I suspect that she considered fox-hunting
as too shameless a branch of scarlet wickedness
to need a verse to itself in the commination
service. I dare say that she had delivered her
mind to the admiral upon the matter of allow-
ing Helen to take such a palpably short cut to
perdition, and I can fancy the grunt she got in
reply. I can also fancy the sour odor of sancti-
ty under cover of which she washed her hands
of a bad business, and with the rather promis-
cuous consolation that evil was probably per-
mitted for some useful purpose, allowed the
backsliders to slide, and Helen to go to the
dogs.
The important morning arrived at last.
Nothing could look more successful than the
dining-room at Riverwood, arrayed for a hunt-
ing-breakfast. It was a large square room,
wainscoted in solid oak, with a handsome pan-
eled ^ceiling, and hung with time-honored por-
traits of the dons and heroes of the house of
Mortlake. The hearth was ample and old-
fashioned, and, with its ponderous log of dry
timber, made hospitable music of roar and
crackle, lighting up the room with a pleasant
glow, and touching the glass, and silver, and
holly, upon the breakfast-tables, with good-na-
tured glancing light. The admiral was more
than satisfied.
" Ha hum !" he growled, as, with his hands
in his pockets, and Helen at his side, he stood
surveying the preparations, an hour before
breakfast-time. " This looks about the right
thing, Helen. I don't see how it could have
been made much better hey ? I wonder how
many of these fellows will come. We could
manage with forty; and I'll be bound that
forty wouldn't get to the bottom of that pie.
I wonder if we shall find any body man enough
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
65
to drink sack of a morning. ' That sack, Helen,
in those black bottles over yonder, was in
Riverwood cellars before I was born and that's a
year or two ago hum ! What says old Sir John
Falstaff ha ? ' If I had a thousand sons, the
first human principle I would teach them should
be to forswear thin potations, and addict thenir
selves to sack.' Hey ! There were men in
those days, who knew what breakfast ought to
be. No slops and decoctions for them, I'll be
bound only fit for o-ld women under physic.
Now, look, Helen. You'll sit here, at this
table, and pour out coffee. Keep your eye
open, and tell me if you see any thing wanting.
Call out at once never mind who hears.
There'll be coffee at the sideboard for the peo-
ple over yonder. Is that vase your filling?
Ha ! you've made a pretty thing of the holly.
Now, I suppose you want to go and sugar your
horse. Good for his coat, eh ? Well, away
with you, and send your groom round if you see
him. It'll be all plain sailing enough to-day,
I'll be bound ; but I may as well give him his
course. And take care you're back in the hall
by ten exactly before any body comes. Do
you hear ? Mind that !"
With this imperative duty twice impressed
upon her mind, Helen took her way toward the
stables. It was a soft, mild, January morning,
with a grey mottled sky, and a delicious air.
Outside, as well as within the house, were
something more than promises of good cheer.
The trebly X'd kilderkin stood trestled upon
the terrace, garlanded with holly, and surround-
ed by tables flashing with bran-new pewters.
These, with the mighty loaves of home-made
bread, the mill-stone cheeses, the round and
the sirloin, the sheaves of tobacco-pipes, and
many other good things, were for the benefit of
the huntsman and whips, as well as of chance
comers, if any, who might be afflicted with
Sancho Panza's dislike to feasting in company.
It was to be a great day, and nothing could be
more promising than its dawn.
Through these preparations Helen passed,
wishing, perhaps, that she had learned to drink
beer, which seemed so essential a part of a
day's enjoyment. She was amused by all she
saw. She looked forward to the breakfast
as great fun, and to the draw and gallop aft-
erward, as untold pleasure. And yet there was
something beyond this in her mind ; some-
thing that seemed to wander amid those mys-
terious recesses in which spontaneous thoughts
arise and often make themselves distinctly felt,
long before they can be grasped and moulded
by the mechanism of the brain. What it was,
she could not have told us, neither can I. But
I do not, and will not, believe that the great
events of our lives come down upon us without
warning. We know not how the tidings are
carried, but I am certain there is a whisper al-
ways. Drowned and disregarded at the mo-
ment neglected and forgotten afterward, it
may be ; but depend upon this, that you never
went forth from your house upon the morning
E
when some crowning chance, whether of good
or ill was to befall you, without that prophetic
whisper.
Is this what you call being superstitious ?
What do you mean by the term ? I confess
to being " stitious," if that will do ; but I object
to being saddled with a superlative.
CHAPTER XX.
RATHER to Helen's surprise certainly to her
great delight the very first person whom she
encountered upon her way to the stables, was
Mr. Salterton.
If he had, as may be recollected, withstood
the admiral in former days, upon the question
of her own education, all difference npon that
score had long since blown over, and he had
been specially invited to look in and say grace
on that particular morning.
" So you expected me, I see," said he, play-
fully laying hold of Helen's little sugar-laden
fist. "How good of you to bring me such a
treat ! such beautiful large lumps too !"
"Oh, yes, they are all for you, Mr. Salter-
ton," returned Helen, laughing, " all except
one, which you won't be so greedy as not to
leave for Camilla. I am on my way to pay her
my regular morning visit. Come and see her.
There ! do you hear that neigh ? Yes, we are
coming, Camilla, coming, coining ! She know.s
my step perfectly. Look, there's her pretty
little nose peeping through the bars of the loose
box. Oh, there you are, Gigoggin. Open the
door, please, and take off her cloth. Now, isn't
she a beauty, Mr. Salterton ? No, darling, I
have not forgotten your sugar. Here it is !
Now arch your neck, and show yowr handsome
crest. Feel it, Mr. Salterton ; it is as firm as a
racer's, and her coat is as soft as satin. And
her color. I do love that rich dark brown.
The star on her forehead, and that white hind
foot, help to show it off. Did you ever see any
thing so soft and gentle as her eye, yet with a
wild glance in it, too, like a deer's ? You |hould
see it when she is excited by a good gallop.
Ah ! you may look at her legs and dainty little
feet, as much as you please. She has been
too well cared for, to show any signs of work
there. Are you thinking her rather tall for a
lady's horse ? Oh, no only fifteen three, and
she measures high. Some people don't like so
much fall behind the withers, but I think it
charming it helps to keep the saddle back, and
you can guess what easy paces she has, with
that good sloping shoulder. She is thorough-
bred : you will find her name and lineage in the
stud-book ; but she was too wise to run well as
a racer, and so she came to me to be my dar-
ling, and to obey my voice and hand as she will
those of nobody else.
"There that's all!" concluded Helen, as
Camilla disposed of the last lump, and eagerly
pushed her nose into the bosom of her mistress's
riding-habit, having, apparently, some theory of
6G
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
her own upon the subject of pockets. " No
more, my pet : no more ! What an affection-
ate creature a horse is, Mr. Salterton. I don't
know any animal Jhat shows its love for one in
so expressive a way. Just look at her eye,
now."
"To judge from what I have just seen," re-
plied the rector, ' ' your mare has very good rea-
sons for being affectionate. If I got so much
petting and coaxing myself, you've no idea how
nice I should look in return. Don't laugh, but
try me."
" Ah, that reminds me of one of Leech's
sketches that I was looking at last night. A
lady is leading an immensely fat pampered
spaniel by a ribbon. A coster monger passing
by, observes to his companion, ' Now, I 9aie saf,
Bill, that 'ere beast of a dawg is a good deal
more petted than ytu or I should be !' lr
"Thank you! That, is a compliment and
no mistake. I remember i.t, however. It Is one
of Leech's many bits of genuine humor. Can
you tell me what it is exactly in the costeremon-
ger's remark that makes one smile ? I will give
you another instance from the same pencil. It
is headed 'Disagreeable Truth.' A sentry, on
duty at Buckingham Palace, says to a couple of
little street urchins, ' Now then, you must move
away from here.' 'Ah, but you mustn't, old
fellow!' reply the young scamps. Now these
designs are both admirable. Both are in the
highest degree diverting ; but analyze them,
and you will find that they are so for perfectly
distinct reasons. The coster-monger need not
have been far wrong in his premises, although
lamentably unlueky in the conclusion which
produced his remark. The little boy simply em-
ployed a false antithesis which resulted in a
lucky jingle, embodying an unexpected home
thrust. You may get no bad lesson in logic out
of the pages of Leech."
They had turned away from the stables and
were strolling along the broad walk at the back
of the house. Mr. Salterton had seen Helen
frequently since her return, but something in her
brighLfresh look of youth and loveliness struck
him particularly that morning. Perhaps the
riding-habit set off her beautiful figure to more
advantage than usual. Perhaps the excitement
of the coming breakfast, and of the glorious gal-
lop which was to follow her first day of riding
to hounds, lit up her countenance with more
than ordinary animation. He was not a man
given to compliments, but he could not for the
life of him help saying, "Do you know, Helen,
I can't take my eyes off you, this morning. I
think I never saw you looking so well and charm-
ing. I hope you are as happy as you look."
"Indeed, I am, Mr. Salterton. I have no
reason to be otherwise. Do you know I was
dreadfully sorry, at first, to leave Brighton for
good. I cried right out when it came to the kiss-
ing at last. I thought I should be so frightfully
lonely here; and there were many girls that I
cared about a great deal. I knew the admiral
would never ask them here, you see, and that
made it worse. But he has been very kind to
me ever since I came back, and, now that I've
got Camilla, I don't feel in the least forlorn. I
hope you don't think it's wrong to hunt, Mr.
Salterton ?"
"Not in the least, my dear, or I shouldn't
have been at Riverwood this morning. I should
be heartily sorry to see hunting abolished in this
country. Of course many people hunt who have
no business to do so but that is all beside the
question. To take my own case for example.
I should be just as much out of my place in fol-
lowing Sir Philip as he would be in mounting
my pulpit. If the admiral has no objection to
your hunting, do so by all means. He seems
anxious to give you every indulgence, and I sin-
cerely hope that you may continue happy in- his
house. You ought to be a great blessing to
him ; and I believe he is aware of it. He has
a rough manner, and you don't expect much
petting I suppose. But if you only choose to go
to work with him the right way, which you'll dis-
cover much more easily than I should, I'll an-
swer for your making him a great deal fonder
of you than even Camilla rather a triumph I
should say in the way of domestication."
"Mr. Salterton," said Helen, after a moment's
silence, ' ' would you mind my asking you a
question? There is something on my mind
about the admiral which I can not shake off.
You will not be displeased at any thing I may
tell you will you ?"
"My dear child," replied the rector, noticing
her doubtful and puzzled look, " ask any ques-
tion you like ; and tell me any thing in the
world. Nothing would delight me more than to
have your confidence. Talk to me just as if you
were talking to j'ourself that's to say if you
think I'm discreet enough to be trusted."
" Well then," continued Helen, speaking very
slowly, "a long time ago quite seven years it
must be, Mr. Salterton, do you recollect having
a conversation with the admiral about me in his
study yonder?"
"Perfectly. Stay, let me think what it was
all about. Yes; I believe I remember every
thing that passed. But, surely, the admiral
never mentioned to you what I then said, Helen.
How do you know we talked about you .*"'
" I was under the table all the time."
' ' The deuce you were !" was the commentary
which I am afraid rose to the rector's lips.
Luckily it was suppressed before publication,
and he simply said
" What a good little girl !"
" It was an accident, Mr. Salterton. I had
hurt my foot, and lost my shoe. But I heard
every thing."
"Well, you had better remind me of what
was said."
"I think it came to this. I was to have a
great deal of money some day ; and in the mean
time all the allowance my poor papa left me vyas
paid !b the admiral. I understood that and
i that, instead of doing what you thought he ought
! with the money, he was spending every thing he
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
67
could upon himself. You told him he had no
right to do so, and made him frightfully angry.
Now, from that day to this, Mr. Salterton, I have
never felt toward him exactly as I did before.
I have never been able to feel quite cordial.
And, now that I know more, the gulf appears to
grow infinitely wider, and I have a miserable
feeling of doubt and distrust. I wish I hadn't,
but I can't help it. I want you to put me right,
Mr. Salterton," concluded Helen, rather pite-
ously.
"Were there any children of eight years old
at the Misses Magnolias when you left, Helen ?"
" Oh yes two or three little chits. Why do
you ask?"
" Suppose one of these little chits had repeat-
ed to you the import or what "she imagined to
have been the import of a business conversation
which she had accidentally underheard. Should
you have been inclined to take her version ex-
actly for gospel ? ' Little miss from under the
table loquitur.' 1 What would Leech have made
her say ?"
"Oh, Mr. Salterton, this is not fair! I can
trust myself; and I am trusting you, now."
"I beg your pardon," returned the rector,
feeling, I suspect, a little abashed ; "I will an-
swer you as plainly as I would a solicitor. But
you said something just this moment about know-
ing more now. Tell me exactly what you mean,
and depend upon it I will be as plain with
you."
' ' Why, just this. Of course, at a girl's school
we tell each other all about home, you know.''
" I dare say, Helen : although, not having
been brought up at one myself, I don't speak from
experience."
"Well, then, we do. And I told Sophy
Hunter, who was my particular friend, all I had
discovered ; and we had a good deal of talk
about it. In short we talked so much that So-
phy Hunter, who has an 1 old brother, a barrister,
or something of the sort, in London, said she
would ask him to find out the real truth."
"Capital! That was business and no mis-
take. And pray did Sophy Hunter's old broth-
er enlighten your minds ?"
"Oh, dear, yes. You must know, Mr. 'Sal-
terton, that there's a place near London called
' The Doctor's Common,' where every body goes
to make their wills, and where you may see every
will that ever was made by paying a shilling and
asking. Well, Sophy Hunter's old brother paid
his shilling, and saw my poor papa's will with
his own eyes."
" Well"?"
" Why, it's just as you told the admiral, the
day I was under the table. I ought to have had
five hundred a year ever since I was born, to be-
gin with. And I am to have a whole heap of
money when I'm twenty-one, or twenty-three,
or if ever I marry ; only there's some jumble
which I don't quite understand, and, if certain
things happen, why it seems the admiral has
the right of giving all my fortune to somebody
else, and what Sophy Hunter's old brother was
very particular about telling was that ' I had
better keep a bright lookout or the old bloke
was cock-sure to chisel me out of my tin.' I
wrote the very words down on the back of a
French exercise at the time, that I might be
certain there was no mistake. It's only slang,
of course, Mr. Salterton, but still you see what
he means."
" I congratulate you upon the possession of
such a valuable legal opinion. You said just
now that you wanted to ask me a question.
Was it as to whether I was of the same mind
with this learned old brother, or only as to my
advice in general?"
" I only want your advice, Mr. Salterton. I
want to be put right upon the whole subject. It
is so very miserable to distrust those with whom
one has to live. And there can be no helpless-
ness like that of feeling that those who ought to
help one are interested the other way."
" My dear Helen, I have not the slightest
hesitation in offering you my advice, which I
earnestly en treat you to follow. When I thought
it right, some years ago, to interfere in the man-
ner which you so unfortunately overheard, it was
for a twofold reason. In the first place, I was
distressed at the manner in which your educa-
tion was being neglected under the auspices of
Miss Smugg, and at the idle uncivilized life
which you were then permitted to lead. In the
second place, I certainly felt it my duty to noint
out to the admiral that he was receiving a very
large sum annually for your care and mainte-
nance, and that it was incumbent upon him to
give you corresponding advantages. I think
that my interference was not unsuccessful. Yon
have had the benefit, ever since, of one of the
first at all events one of the most expensive
schools in the kingdom. You nowappear to have
every indulgence which could be wished ; indeed,
to judge from to-day's proceedings, your guard-
ian has only waited for your return home to
make an entire charige in his mode of living.
As to what Sophy Hunter's old brother told her
forget it altogether. What do you know of
him ? What reason have you for supposing that
he is even competent to divide a biscuit between
two puppy-dogs? Can you suppose that I, as
one of your father's executors, would stand by
if I suspected that injustice was being done you,
or ever will, so long as I have the power to pre-
vent it, permit it to be done ? Leave your in-
terests entirely in my hands, Helen, and forget
them altogether for the present. And above all
things, never, my dear girl, allow any thing in
the shape of suspicion to rankle in your mind.
Make yourself unhappy, if you must, in any
other way you please, but send this sort
of feeling to the winds forever ! Upon my
honor, Helen, to discover that, at your age, you
were indulging a morbid distrust of your guard-
ian, and wondering whether he stole your mon-
ey, would give me almost the same sensation as
being told that you drank whisky on the sly."
"Oh, Mr. Salterton," exclaimed Helen, in
rather an unsteady voice,. " I didn't quite mean
68
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
all I said just now. But thank you so much for
all your kindness. I would give any thing that
the subject had never got into my head. Why
can't we pull these things out of our brains, and
trample upon them, and walk away ?" she con-
cluded, with a half petulant stamp.
"Ah, there you have touched upon a terrible
question, which we have no time to discuss now.
It is awful to think how things take root in our
minds, never to be dislodged again. Sometimes
we sow them ourselves sometimes they seem
to be chance-sown, or sown by the enemy. Hel-
en, these weeds are the very bitterness of life.
For God's sake guard your own garden while
you may ! But it is getting late. You will be
wanted within doors."
"A quarter to ten, still, Mr. Salterton," re-
plied Helen, not unwilling perhaps to change the
subject. "Come and see my country house.
It is close by. The admiral has just had it done
up for me, and you can't think how fresh it looks.
It will be charming in summer ; and do you
know, there is actually a fire-place for cold
weather poker, tongs, and every thing ! Come
and stay with me some day, Mr. Salterton, and
I'll order a fire!"
I believe I have already described this rustic
lodge in the wilderness, while speaking of Pe-
tersfeld's surreptitious visit to Riverwood. A
pretty little haunt it looked, and the rector was
amused at Helen's girlish enjoyment of the tri-
umph of possession.
" Now this is my own my very own, Mr.
Salterton, given to me out and out. This is
where I intend to entertain my friends from
Brighton school, whenever they are allowed to
visit me. Here we shall smoke our pipes and
talk politics, and nobody in the world will be al-
lowed to come in except yourself. We have
jus* time for one peep at the inside, which I
never allow any body to see, except people for
whom I feel the most particular regard "
Probably Helen would, not unwillingly, have
recalled these last few words, for scarcely had
they passed her lips before a young gentleman,
in full hunting costume, appeared at the summer-
house door.
He co'uld scarcely have been more than two-
and-twenty, and might even have been younger,
for his was one of those joyous, sunshiny, reckless
faces which we can scarcely believe have seen
much of this rough world in earnest. His fair
complexion was just weather-tanned enough to
set off to the best advantage a pair of pleasant
blue-grey eyes, and harmonized well with his
bright brown hair. Slenderly, almost slightly
built, and perhaps not above what is usually de-
scribed as the middle height, so firm, quick, and
graceful was every movement, that you per-
ceived at once that his training had been athlet-
ic, and that of a good school.
And if Nature had been kind in the first in-
stance, it was quite obvious that his tailor had
been careful. His pink and cords were the
most perfect you ever saw ; new, spotless, and
fitting like a pair of gloves. His boots were so
pretty that they looked like those one sometimes
sees under glass shades in very superior shops,
and glittered with a polish which seemed nearly
supernatural. All this Helen took in at a glance,
with the neat spurs, and little sparkling watch-
guard trinkets into the bargain.
Her first impression was one of unqualified
admiration. But at the same moment a sus-
picion flashed across her mind that he was a
fop. She had read about fops frequently, but
never seen a clear case for certain not at all
events close enough to talk to : so she listened
with eager ears. " He will lisp, I'll be bound,"
she thought, " and that will settle the matter.
What jnakes him smile like that ? Can't he
speak?"
All this took place in a single instant, and Hel-
en had not perhaps observed that the smile was
directed not at herself, but at her companion, who
received the supposed fop with a face of wonder
which was amusing.
" Good Heavens, Ferdinand ! who'd have
thought of seeing you here to-day ?" he exclaim-
ed in a tone which struck the young lady as re-
markable.
" Not you, evidently, Mr. Salterton," replied
the youngster gayly, as he grasped the rector's
hand. " I beg your pardon for offering a bri-
dle arm, but the doctors won't allow me to
shake the other myself, yet ; so I musn't ask
you to do it for me."
"You are not going to hunt, to-day, sure-
ly?"
"Oh, yes. Why not? I am not, going to
try any thing difficult, you know. I shall make
up to some cautious party who opens gates, and
we shall get along nicely. I shall explain to
him that, in my opinion, going 'cross country is
quite dangerous enough to be wicked. We
shall agree that every rational enjoyment of
hunting can be had by jogging away like a
couple of undertakers, without risking our necks
among a parcel of lunatics and mad dogs."
" Well, but the arm ? how's the arm going
on?"
"Oh, as right as possible, thank you. It
was nothing to signify, after all."
His arm was in a sling, as Helen had noticed,
when, after shaking hands with the rector, he
had turned to raise his cap to herself.
"Nothing! God bless the boy! Why, I
thought the ball went through it?"
" Well, what would you have had, Mr. Salter-
ton ? Just about the best thing it could do.
But I'm afraid," continued he, " that I ought to
apologize for being found where I was. Do
you know I tore up Sir Philip's note last night
to light a cigar, and forgot the hour for to-day,
which I fancied had been half-past nine and
so "
" Good gracious, I beg your pardon, Helen !"
exclaimed the rector, as if suddenly aroused from
a reverie. " What upon earth can I have been
thinking about? Let me introduce Captain
Ferdinand Hunsdon, of the Victosia Cross
Miss Fleetlands."
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
69
Helen started at the words, as if she had been
shot like the captain.
Hero-worship is, as we all know, one of the es-
sential elements of the girlish mind. The
frightful error of judgment which she had so
narrowly escaped committing confused her al-
together, and she stood perfectly breathless, with
open eyes and lips apart, looking interesting
enough certainly, if not unusually wise. Could
it be possible that this bright boy, who seemed
at first sight the fit Adonis of a fancy-ball, trick-
ed out for an evening in hunting-array, had
really won the glorious and all-coveted jewel
upon a blood-stained field, amid the thunder
and tumult of a great battle ?
She had a vague impulsive longing to ask
him questions; but, without knowing exactly
why, she felt frightened and unable to count
upon her own self-control.
Luckily the rector continued :
" Captain Hunsdon, Helen, I hope you are
aware, is an old pupil of mine. So I feel a
little excusable pride in announcing him."
"Were you one of the last made?" inquired
Helen, with a sudden courage. "I mean, I
saw an account in the newspaper some weeks ago
of a grand distribution of the Cross at South-
sea, I think."
"One of the very last," replied the young
officer, thinking how nice it was to be looked at
after that fashion. " I am glad to see that Miss
Flcetlands intends to hunt to-day."
"Were you really there?" persisted Helen
with glistening eyes* " I mean when all the
troops were drawn up on Southsea Common, and
the whole line presented arms, and the drums
rolled, and the Victory fired ? Was that
when "
"That was it, Miss Fleetlands. Do you
know that your question reminds me of an odd
sort of sensation which came over me at the
moment. It was all jolly enough till the old
ship joined in ; but when, just as we were called
to the front, her first heavy ' bang !' went sweep-
ing over the ground, it was regularly too much
for some of us. I declare I'd have given a
pound to have been allowed to use my pocket-
handkerchief, which is contrary to Queen's regu-
lations, you know. Can't say how it was.
How should you account for it, Mr. Salterton ?"
' tl I should so like to hear," interposed Helen,
grown quite reckless in her curiosity, "how it
was you won the Cross. Do you mind my ask-
ing?"
" Oh, there is very little to tell, I assure you.
Besides; I only wear it as representing many
better fellows who did more and fared worse.
I shouldn't be here at this moment, but for one
of them, who had a far better right to it than I
a fellow who stood over me and got cut to
pieces, while I escaped with this scratch. . I
only wish he had lived to wear it."
" Come, come," interrupted Mr. Salterton,
"if there was to be nothing of this sort, there
would be no crosses to wear. And if you ex-
pect a civil answer, Helen, don't ask Captain
Hunsdon to tell you what all the world knows,
except yourself. But, hark ! what's that ?"
It was the clear, ringing tantara of Sir Phil-
ip's horn, blown by way of announcement, as he
entered the Lawn gates.
Far away, through the shrubbery, they could
distinguish the pack, trailing in like a snake,
and a scattering and scampering of pink-coated
horsemen.
" My gracious !" exclaimed Helen, "I must
run home directly, or I shall be in a scrape."
CHAPTER XXI.
THE hunting-breakfast was a complete suc-
cess ; and Helen got credit for the manner in
which she behaved as hostess, and conducted
the business of her own table. Every body left
the Lawn in good humor ; and, what was more
to the purpose, the run which followed proved
the most brilliant of the season. A magnificent
dog-fox ran his last race, and fulfilled his des-
tiny on that eventful morning. His brush was
of course secured for Helen. Sir Philip carried
it off to be mounted, and returned it with an
ivory handle, bearing her name and the date,
engraved upon a tiny silver shield.
But, after all, what do you care so I hope
at least for these huntsmen and their glorious
appetites, or for the fox dead and docked ? You
are aware that a story-teller never brings two
eligible young people together for purposes pure-
ly Platonic. You are satisfied that, after a certain
amount of variegated experience, a few ups and
downs, and an entanglement more or less amus-
ing, Captain Hunsdon and Helen Fleetlands
will at last "fall out" (in a military, not matri-
monial sense), in order to enjoy the large fam-
ily and prosperous future which are always giv-
en away gratis when the play comes to an end.
Quite right ; and I will not only make you a
present of your conjecture, but tell you plainly
what were the exact difficulties which stood in
the captain's way.
You may imagine possibly, as I dare say you
do, that Helen, with her youth, health, and
beauty, to say nothing of her many thousands
and good social position, would have been a
partie to whom no demur could possibly have
been raised : more probably the object of a gen-
eral scramble when once fairly in the market.
You may suppose, reasonably enough, that if
Captain Hunsdon chose to press his suit, and
Helen was not willful enough to say "no," the
admiral was the only rock ahead likely to cause
trouble. Unfortunately we live in a state of so-
ciety which philosophers complain of as " high-
ly complicated," and the working of which is
unquestionably mysterious to outsiders. How
it came to work unfavorably in the present in-
stance, I will explain at once.
Lord St. Margarets was a widower, with only
one surviving child the youth whose acquaint-
ance we have just made. He was in popular
ro
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
estimation a very proud man ; and if a vast ter- : already illustrious house! And the old peer,
ritory, immense wealth, an historic name, and who was an inveterate day-dreamer, made up
ancient coronet things which no amount of in- his mind that, for some years to come, it was
tellect or ability can ever command for any body plainly expedient that his son should not marry
gave any good reason for pride, he was not . at all. He was still very young, and for the
much to blame. Perhaps, however, we some- present, at all events, would be far better occu-
times suppose such people proud from a con- pied with his regiment then on foreign serv-
fused suspicion as to what our own feelings [ ice. The happy combination of chances in his
might be, could we be suddenly placed in their
shoes. Sometimes from a natural wish that
they would abase themselves to our level, and
not walk about as if they were, in fact, what the
catechism aggravatingly describes as ' ' our bet-
,ters."
Be this as it may, one would have fancied
that pride itself could scarcely have desired to
perpetuate a fairer lot than that which appar-
ently awaited Ferdinand Hunsdon.
Half a million of money, a fair slice of a
southern county, with a title into the bargain,
ought to have satisfied Methuselah. One need
scarcely be overfrugal to wonder how it was all
to be enjoyed in a modern life-time.
Lord St. Margarets had all these things, and
was not discontented with his lot. And proba-
bly he was the happier for having the one grand
wish of his heart still to be satisfied that of see-
ing Ferdinand a greater man than himself.
The anxious and eventful period at which his
boy would naturally look out for a wife, was now
coming on. Upon its result all depended.
Money he did not care about. A few thou-
sands more or less, could make no sort of dif-
ference in his son's position, but the alliance for
which he hoped and prayed with one of the
oldest and noblest families of the empire, was
another thing altogether. That was his object.
But the event of the last few months had
brought with it higher aspirations. even than
these. Ferdinand had been encouraged to
enter the army rather in accordance with an old
family tradition, and as the best possible, finish
to his education, than with any idea of treating
it as a profession. The signal distinction which
had so suddenly fallen to his lot, had never en-
tered the calculations of Lord St. Margarets.
He woke up one morning to find that his son was
a soldier in earnest. Young as he was, he had
done a deed of more than mere dash and daring.
He had shown a cool judgment, a resolute will,
and a power of self-sacrifice which commanded
others, in one of the most critical conjunctures
which ever tested the 'mettle of an unfledged
subaltern. He had " done the state some serv-
ice, and they knew it ;" a service which, for the
hour, at least, was talked about at head-quarters,
in every capital of Europe.
The letters of congratulation which Lord St.
Margarets received upon the occasion, would
probably have papered a study, and brought him
more pride and pleasure than he had ever known
to arrive through the post. His son's path to
the very highest destinies of his profession seem-
ed fairly cut out. A dazzling and triumphant
favor, were such as did no^ occur to one in ten
thousand, and it would be inexcusable not to
make the most of them.
It was an odd conclusion, certainly, all things
considered. One would have thought that he
might have been shy ot exposing his coronet a
second time to the chance of being sent down a
collateral line, by some wretched ounce of lead ;
and one might naturally have supposed that
Ferdinand must be wanted at home. But
Lord St. Margarets was an odd man, and didn't
see things always in a regular light. His real
home was in his London club, among a clique of
gossiping old cronies, who babbled of Talleyrand
and Waterloo. Of course, in this society, his
son's late exploit had created a prodigious sen-
sation, and Lord St. Margarets ,found the ex-
citement agreeable. At any rate, having made
the above reflections, he. remarked to himself
that his mind was quite clear upon the subject.
Its crystallization, however, was destined to
be abruptly disturbed. A few days after the
hunt-breakfast at Riverwood, Captain Hunsdon
surprised rather than delighted his papa by the
announcement that he had found him a daugh-
ter-in-law ; in other words, that he had seen
the girl whom, of all others, he would like to
make his wife, provided his father saw no ob-
jection.
Lord St. Margarets prided himself upon his
savoir faire. He had been embassador at the
court of one of the great powers, and knew how
to handle matters. He wouldn't even allow
himself to be ruffled by the intelligence. It
simply demanded an exercise of tact. Nothing
could have been more frank and honorable than
the way in which his son had spoken his mind
in the very first instance. Knowing that Helen
was no match for him, according to his father's
views, he had come, as was right, for a " per-
mit" to fall in love. The only question was
how to act ? As to that, his mind was quite
clear.
In the first place, to run the risk of estrang-
ing his son, was out of the question. Rather
than that, he would have seen him turmed off"
with the ' ' Ratcatcher's Daughter" herself. They
must be friends always, whatever happened.
In the second place, he knew that suddenly to
thwart a lad in an affair of this description,
was absurd in the light of all experience, and
would be simply to send the last chance over-
hoard. Finally, his diplomatic education had
taught him, that if you wish to divert any body
from a darling project, you must never allow
your .objections to appear in the first instance,
career, with an ultimate earldom of his own win- when they are certain to be considered as mere
ning this would indeed be to add lustre to an prejudice, and treated very shortly.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
71
However, instead of pursuing this inductive
process farther, let us invite ourselves for a few
minutes to the pleasant dining-room at Saints-
wood, with father and son beside us, in snug
after-dinner tete-a-tete.
Lord St. Margarets had, according to prom-
ise, given the matter every consideration, before
finally clearing his mind, and committing him-
self upon a point of so much importance.
" Fill your glass, my boy, and give the fire a
stir," he exclaimed, with easy gayety. " Well,
Ferdinand, are we to drink Miss Fleetlands's
good health, and may she soon be a lawful prize
of war hey ?"
"You have not yet given me your opinion,
sir," replied the captain, laughing. "I took
the liberty of giving you mine pretty freely the
other morning."
" You did ; and I was most pleased at your
doing so. You see, Ferdinand, that if it had
been' one of the Strawberry leaf girls, or any body
from Hainault Towers, for instance, I should
have been ready for an agreeable surprise. But
as Miss Fleetlands is, as yet, a stranger, I am
glad that you gave me your confidence in the
first instance. As yet, I suppose, you are only
feeling your way ?"
"Just so, sir. Salterton introduced me to
her, at old Mortlake's breakfast, last week. It
was love made easy upon-my part, I can assure
you. I was lucky enough to sit next her at
breakfast, and I've seen her twice since, and
hope to find her to-morrow mornjng at cover-
side. We meet at Bunnytail End."
" Well done, you," remarked his father, un-
able to repress a smile at this liberal instalment
of candor. "Try how you like her, by all
means, Ferdinand. I only wish you to please
yourself. Only don't get out of your depth be-
fore you know where you are. There are peo-
ple about that young lady who will bring you to
book if you do. I'm quite clear abopt that."
"That trying how you like young ladies, is
awkward work," observed the captain musing-
ly. " You see, directly you begin, they're
down upon you with just the same game.
' No trial allowed,' is nearer the mark."
" Much nearer. But I leave you to manage
all that for yourself. It's a pity she should be
in troublesome hands. She has money, they
say."
"A great deal, I'm told, sir. Fortunately
my conscience is quite clear upon that head. I
really knew nothing about her being an heiress
until long after I was in for it. However, that
I hope is no objection. One can put up with a
little money."
" Do you know, Ferdinand," replied his
father quietly, straightening his legs against
the fender, and holding up his glass to the fire-
light as he spoke, " this money would be about
my greatest objection, supposing I were inclined
to make any, as I certainly am not. The idea
of your marrying any girl for money, is of
course absurd. Nevertheless, people will talk.
Somebody is always ready to explain every
thing. This money annoys me, and I will tell
you why : -Miss Fleetlands of whom every one
speaks well is, as I dare say you know, the
daughter of an Indian officer, who was the son
of a Glamorganshire parson. Of course, since
you spoke to me, I have made it my business to
ascertain her antecedents."
" Well, sir?" inquired his son, not altogether
satisfied with the last word.
"Well ; her father was an officer in the Com-
pany's service nothing more : and the fortune
of which we are speaking fell to him quite sud-
denly, under the will of an old relation Nettle-
ton, I think "he was called, who was, I am told,
a monger of some sort."
"A what, sir?"
" A monger," repeated Lord St. Margarets,
as if employing the word for the first time, and
undecided as to its proper pronunciation.
" Not a coster-monger, I hope ?"
" No. But I am not sure as to the exact
prefix. Stay. I believe it was a wharfmonger.
Oh, no. Wharfinger that was it! At all
events he managed to hoard tip a great deal of
money, which I would not have pass into our
family upon any consideration. It would be
a mistake, Ferdinand, and a serious one. I
would rather lay it out in founding a house for
decayed people of that sort or get rid of it in
any way and even then we should be laughed
at for our trouble. But let that pass. Miss
Fleetlands, I hear, is fresh from a boarding-
school at Brighton, where she has spent the last
seven years. All very charming. I only wish
I were her age. Of course we don't send our
own daughters to boarding-schools ; but, as to
that matter, she was probably better there than
living with that cracked old admiral, and his
muffin of a wife. I really have now told you
all that has passed my mind upon the subject. I
don't pretend to see exactly the person I should
have chosen for you, Ferdinand ; but you are
to choose, not I. You ask my advice. I advise
you to please yourself. With your prospects
here, and the position which you have won with
your own hand, I don't believe you stand second
to any man in the kingdom in the way of a
splendid marriage. You might probably wait
at least a year or two with advantage. You
are not tired of your profession yet, I suppose,
with a staff appointment waiting for you. But,
as I said before, please yourself. Isn't that
quite clear?"
" I should like to ask one question. You
spoke just now of Helen's being in troublesome
hands. Of course I know that old Mortlake has
locked himself up a good deal, and behaved al-
together in an odd way. Is that all ? I declare
I took rather a liking to the old fellow the oth-
er morning. I could have fancied myself talk-
ing to Admhra^ Benbow !"
" I am glad that you have asked the ques-
tion. When I said that this young lady was in
troublesome hands, I meant, of course, as his
ward. He is her guardian in Chancery. I call
him troublesome for this reason. Some years
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
ago before he locked himself up, as you say
he got into a shocking mess when the St. Mark's
Bank stopped payment in fact he lost the best
part of his property. lie had to sell a good deal
of land ; and I happened to know that a few
hundred acres in our direction were actually in
the market. I wanted them, to square our map
on the north-west, and wrote to him about them.
I declare I had no idea that I was doing him
otherwise than a friendly trrn ; in fact, I offer-
ed to take his title without inquiry, and named
around sum for the land. However, he chose-
to fancy that I was riding the high horse, and
about to amuse myself by buying Mm up, and re-
ferred me at once to his solicitor. Since then,
we have scarcely spoken. Therefore, in the
present case, I must not be expected to open the
ball. I am rather sorry that I did not know
you were going to his breakfast the other day ;
or I should have mentioned all this. That, how-
ever, is of little consequence. Only recollect,
that no correspondence, between myself and the
admiral, should such ever become necessary,
can begin from this house. I will answer any
communication, the other way, most willingly.
It is more than likely that in your case he may
find himself inclined to show temper. Now,
only one word more, my boy. A few weeks ago
you caused the whole land to ring with your
name, by making up your mind in a moment,
when the lives of hundreds depended upon your
decision in fact upon the next words which fell
from your lips. That was well done : that was
glorious ! But depend upon it, Ferdinand, that
whenever you hear a man boast that his rule is,
never to hesitate, but to decide instantly in im-
portant affairs, that man is either a charlatan or
an imbecile. Fellows of this kind are either
simply reckless, or too nervous for the regular
game of life. They would rather toss up for the
stakes and have done with it, than play the rub-
ber fairly out. Take your time and mind your
moves while you can ; and never trust to luck
what you may make by play. Now, ring the
bell, and let us have coffee."
The test of diplomacy is success. Young
Hunsdon Avcnt to his room that night in a rest-
less and undecided state of mind. If his father
had spoken of his lady-love with open scorn, or
pronoiinced himself decidedly against the match,
he would at least have had the consolation of
feeling himself unfortunate, if not ill-used. But
he had no such solace. Not one single word in-
dicative of the slightest disrespect for Helen her-
self had Lord St. Margarets let fall. All that
he had said was true enough, and infinitely less
than most fathers would have said, in a case in
which such interests were at stake, and the de-
scent of a noble and ancient house immediately
involved.
What more could a fellow, in his position, ask
than to be told to please himself 7 What more
do any of us desire ? And yet, after all, isn't it
generally the most aggravating pel-mission
which i{ is in the nature of words to convey ?
When your groom or gardener retires from ar-
gument with a stolid shrug and misbelieving eye,
and remarks, "Well, sir; of course you will
please yourself!" how do you feel toward the ras- .
cal ? Of course Ave want to please ourselves,
and intend to manage it if we can. No need to
tell us that ! But we want to be helped to do
so in our own way ; and not dismissed to the
endeavor with a suppression which is an abuse
of language.
Again and again, Ferdinand thought over the
whole conversation. The more he did so, the
more was he impressed with the conviction that
his father had been most kind and self-denying
in the business. That an union between him-
self and Helen would be a disappointment, he
felt keenly enough, and infinitely the more so
from the light easy way in which certain topics
had been touched upon. He admitted to him-
self that marriage at his age might be la bad be-
ginning, if his father's ambitious views for him
as a soldier were to be at all regarded. He per-
ceived also, what had naturally never occurred to
him before, that, in point of worldly position,
Helen was a mere nobody in Lord St. Marga-
rets's eyes ; and that her money was, in his own
case, by no means a desirable part of her be-
longings. The, idea of his proposal being made
the subject of an unworthy squabble upon the
admiral's part was highly annoying and the ex-
pression ' ' brought to book" rested unpleasantly
in his mind. Upon each and all of these topics
his father might easily have enlarged ; and he
could not help feeling the delicacy and good na-
ture with which they had been allowed to pass,
as mere hints for his consideration.
Then he set himself to work deliberately to
consider all that had taken place between him-
self and Helen. He had, after all, only seen
her thrice, and he had to confess that even her
attractive presence and engaging ways would
perhap* hardly have produced the effect they did,
but for the flattery of their first interview.
The curiosity and admiration with which the
young girl had regarded him, as the living wear-
er of a Victoria Cross, had been more than re-
paid upon his part. His passion for her had be-
gun with vanity. Was it, after all, real or not ?
He had not yet committed himself. - Did he
know himself? Another meeting might render
these questions superfluous.
Lord St. Margarets had known his son's mind
thoroughly. Ferdinand Hunsdon had his own
good, and even great gifts, from nature ; but
they were of a kind which are conspicuous rath-
er in the field and the drawing-room, than in
the chamber of meditation or debate. To the
most perfect amount of nerve and physical cour-
age consistent with penetrable flesh and blood,,
he added a singular degree of out-of-doors judg-
ment. This last is rather a rare, and, to those
who have it not, a very inscrutable instinct.
Its characteristics almost defy description, and
fortunately, scarcely require it.
There are two very different sorts of people
in this world. I am not thinking of the good
and the wicked among one of which classes
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
73
every body is supposed to sit but of two prom
inent sets : people who always know how a thing is
to' be done, and people who always know (or rather,
want to know) why it is to be done. Ferdinand
Hunsdon was one of the former. When he
troubled himself about whys and becauses, he
was out of his depth directly. He had no turn
for argument, and gave way under the feeblest
pressure of "pro" and " con." Action was his
forte. Action whether in the football-field at
Eton, in the happy hunting-ground around
Riverwood, or in a sterner arena where life and
death are laid in balance, and every faculty of
mind and body strung to quivering tension amid
the "dreadful reyelry" of battle. It was then
that he knew how to trust himself. And,
young as he wasj he was wonderfully trusted by
others. The men of his company thoroughly
believed in him. Not one of them but looked
upon young Hunsdon, as an inspired soldier a
chief to be followed through thick and thin an
officer for whom it would be worth while to
sacrifice one's light of day. There wasn't his
equal in the regiment, from the colonel down to
the small boy in the band such was the creed of
rank and file ; and I don't know tliat they were
much out in their estimate.
And yet, with all this, nobody could be more
easily led by those whom he was accustomed to
regard with affection and esteem. Nobody was
more ready to take advice, in cool blood, upon
points as to which he felt that others were better
qualified to judge than himself. In short, he
had all the weaknesses of a trusting and sen-
sitive nature, and, accordingly, not only took his
papa's diplomacy greatly to heart, but torment-
ed himself through a night of sleeplessness, by
wondering .what the deuce he had better do
about Hclent
At last it occurred to him, that obviously the
best plan would be to call upon Mr. Salterton
the next day, after hunting, and ask his advice.
He had known Helen from her infancy; and
was, besides, a man whose opinion was really
worth having. And this seemed such a good
resolution, that he slept up9n it for a whole
hour before it was time to rise.
There was, in Lord St. Margarets's dining-
room, a picture, upon which he had once s"et
the greatest value, and held the pride and gem
of his whole collection. He had purchased it,
many years ago, at Florence, and a check of
four figures had paid the price, a reflection
which, so far from being disagreeable, only add-
ed to his enjoyment as its possessor. "Diana
Venatrix," was the subject; and certainly, if
buxom beauty, in its lustiest and least embar-
rassed form, gorgeous coloring, and wondrous
power of animal painting, could justify implicit
belief, the gilded scroll beneath, which bore the
name of "P. P. RUBENS,'' was rightly worn by
that magnificent canvas.
Day after day, Lord St. Margarets was never
tired of feasting his eyes upon its breadth of
splendor, and congratulating himself upon the
possession of a work which might even bear his
own name down to posterity. It was already
known, in the leading hand-books of art, as
"The Saintswood Rubens, " and report said that
the town counsel of Antwerp had sent a special
envoy to this country, for the purpose of ascer-
taining whether it was to be reclaimed for
money.
One day, a foreigner called, as many for-
eigners did, for permission to view the Rubens.
Lord St. Margarets chanced to be at home, and
good-naturedly received the visitor himself.
Nothing flattered him .more than these little
pilgrimages ; while, to stand beside the shrine,
and enjoy anu>ccasional whiff of incense in per-
son, was doubly pleasant.
The foreigner in question chanced to be a
dried elderly man, of particularly small stature,
with high shoulders and wide, spectacles, who
looked as if he had been littered in a dust-bin,
and brought up upon rusks and snuff. His
card bore the name of "Ant Krinkel,"and he
received Lord St. Margarets's attentions "frith a
business-like air, observing that he was pressed
for time, and alluding to an appointment at
Amsterdam.
This might easily have been excused ; but,
not so the way in which he inspected "the
Rubens." Instead of looking at it from the
best light in the room, to which he was courte-
ously invited, or looking at it from under his
hrfnd, or through a roll of paper, or in fact, as
it seemed, to any useful purpose whatever, this
abominable little cinder of humanity began to
peer-into corners of the drapery, and ferret about
the frame, in a manner which appeared to Lord
St. Margarets scarcely less than impious.
" Confound the fellow, does he think there's
a rat behind the arras !" he growled to himself.
" Come here, sir ! Did you never see a picture
before? Come and look at one now!" .
"I, have looked at a great many pictures,
milord," replied 'Ant Krinkel, hitching himself
together, and readjusting his spectacles in a
complicated fashion. ' ' And I have looked at
a great many pictures by Rubens, milord a
great many indeed. But this is not one. Ex-
cuse me. Bift lam right."
" What the devil do you mean, sir ! and who
are you ? Go to Amsterdam, and " 1 declare
I mustn't finish the sentence ; Lord St. Marga-
rets was so outrageously angry.
"One moment, milord!" implored the in-
truder, with the air of a man Avho had been
kicked aforetime, and deprecated the practice.
" One moment. Will you listen tome ? Yah?
Lord St. Margarets did listen ; and this was
what he heard.
Unrolling as he spoke a dirty paper, and
twisting his spectacles more ominously than
ever, the fawning Low Countryman reminded
him of every circumstance connected with the
purchase of his picture. He gave him names
and dates ; and even went to the unnecessary
length of producing for his edification a copy of
the draft on Coutts, to which the money had
been paid. With equal circumstantiality, he
74
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
detailed the exact ^tory of the work, and of the
sublime and patient ingenuity by which it had '.
been worked into the market as an accredited .
original of the great master.
All this, he explained, was practically known j
to no man in Europe but himself. Milord had
been imposed upon, no doubt. But by men who
were dupes themselves. The greatest critics
had been deceived, and vfVfQ at that moment
without suspicion. He ventured to place with
his lordship a paper embodying every word
which he had just uttered. He had no conceal-
ments. He requested none. Would his lord-
ship condescen<J to inquire into the matter.
Would he farther, at his high leisure, command
that the picture should be reversed, and observe
the monogram at the left hand lower corner.
A fac-simile would be found in the paper which
he had the honor to present.
And was that all ?
Not quite ; as you may suppose. In a slimy
shuffling manner, which drove Lord St. Mar-
garets to the verge of criticide, the rogue ex-
plained that he was at the moment engaged upon
a great work " The Painters of the Low
Countries." He had the patronage of many
crowned heads of the principal Universities in
Europe. Lord St. Margarets's Rubens was a
work of mark. To pass it over without notice
was impossible. His lordship could judge, from
proofs now in his own possession, as to the
speaker's qualifications as a critic. Should he
call again ? In a month ? In six weeks ?
Time was of no consequence. His work was
for all time. As regarded that picture, he
concluded with a frightful shrug, he was at his
lordship's service.
I have no occasion to pursue the subject. I
don't know what happened next. That Lord
St. Margarets had been the victim of a masterly
swindle, which had entrapped people much bet-
ter able to judge of pictures than himself, is
certain. I only know that, ever after this in-
terview, he hated the very name of Rubens, and
would gladly have consigned the Saintswood
specimen to the billiard -room, or the back-
stairs. But to have confessed tfte extent of his I
victimization was more than his diplomatic !
philosophy could abide; The secret, however j
secured, remained his own, and the chaste god-
dess was allowed still to smile from his dining-
room wall, silently preaching to his lordship an
useful lesson upon the mysterious unrealities of
life. The picture had not changed. The sky
still shone the wind blew, the floating canopy
of cloud sailed on ; the hounds bayed and
bounded around their mistress, and the gallant
Flemish steed, with foaming curb, snuffed lov-
ingly among her flying tresses. But a loath-
some little Dutchman had crawled in like a toad,
and fire and wind and radiant air and the music
of exultant life had departed at his whisper, and
given place to naked vulgarity and tawdry glare.
Lord St. Margarets paused that evening be-
fore the picture, on his way to bed, and survey-
ed it steadily by the light of his flat candlestick.
He was very deep in thought ; and, as he look-
ed, a dry compressed smile passed slowly over
his lips. It was the smile of a statesman who
had made a coup ; of a man whose mind is quite
clear upon one point. But I am not in the con-
fidence of ex-embassadors, and have only my
own private guess as to the nature of his medi-
tations.
So I shall follow the example of the editor
of the Daily Courant, the first daily paper
ever published in England, who in his opening
number announced that he should not be at the
pains to write leaders upon his news "suppos-
ing other people to have wit enough to make
reflections for themselves."
I have read a few essays, and heard a few
speeches, and undergone a good many sermons
in my time, wishing earnestly that the expound-
ers had been of the same mind as honest " Ed-
ward Mallet, over against the Ditch at Fleet
Bridge," Anno Domini 1702.
CHAPTER XXII.
IT was a splendid winter morning. A pearly
vaporous haze was drifting over lake and lawn
and clustering woods, as the sun went slowly up
into an unclouded sky. Scarcely a breath of
air was stirring, yet there was a living freshness
in the atmosphere which felt like a promise of
the far-offspring.
Ferdinand's dressing-room was at the top of a
large and lofty pile of building, known as the
East Tower. Its quaint octagonal shape, deep-
ly recessed windows, and vaulted ceiling, were
picturesque; but the great glory of the room
was its lookout. It was a thoroughly English
landscape such as you never find abroad, and
not very often, it must be confessed, at home.
People who ought to know, pronounced it one of
the most perfect in the kingdom.
It would be difficult to imagine a more com-
manding eminence, with forest, park, and water
stretching far intp the lower distance, down to
where, miles away, appeared the smoke of a
small sea-town. Beyond, and high over all, piled
as it were against the horizon, stood the broad,
unbroken circle of ocean-rim.
The perfect stillness was only broken by an
occasional measured boom from the sea. An
iron-clad was trying her new guns at a target
laid out in the offing, and each sullen reverber-
ation came shuddering through the morning air
as if marking another interval of time.
One hates to be reminded of its passage when
one has a nervous business coming on ; and
Ferdinand, to tell the truth, felt desperately-
nervous that morning. It could scarcely have
been otherwise. His heart misgave him that
under the influence of his first fascination he
had permitted himself to show more of the state
of his own feelings than was either prudent, or
generous by Helen. Now, he had to see her in
a new light, and look at her, for one morning at
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
75
least, with his father's eyes. He could not dare
to trust himself as he had done before. Per-
haps she was, at that moment, looking forward
with pleasure to seeing him in the field. He
knew she liked to meet him indeed she had
never been at any pains to conceal the fact.
And now he had to atone for his own previous
indiscretion by a behavior which could scarcely
fail to occasion her both vexation and surprise.
However, there was no help for it, and he pro-
ceeded uncomfortably with his toilet.
Ferdinand, as we know, took a good deal of
thought about his raiment, and was indescriba-
bly careful of his personal appearance. To
some men this is natural, and they would like to
go smart, even if their days were to be as those
of Robinson Crusoe, before he caught Friday to
look at him. With others it is a pure matter
of vanity ; and some people are tidy on princi-
ple. I am thinking of an anecdote which a
brother-officer of his happened to tell me only a
few nights ago. He had been observing that
Hunsdon used to come in for no small amount of
chaff upon the score of his dandy habits while
on service, and more especially for the exceed-
ing care with which he always attended to every
nicety of dress and person in the immediate
prospect of action.
One day, on the morning of an assault, my
friend chanced to overhear a couplo of privates
exchanging their own comments upon Ferdi-
nand's appearance.
"William," said one, "see little Hunsdon
walk down the ranks just now, with new gloves
and a pocket-handketchcr, and his hair curled for
figluin' ? Blessed if there's such another little
game-cock in the whole brigade!"
"Not of my knowledge," replied William.
"Where man or officer can go, he'll go and
stand who won't, he will."
"Aye, that's what's at the bottom of it, no
doubt," returned the other. " But, mind you,
William, that to see that little chap looking just
as if he was fresh out of England at a go-in like
this, is as good as ten files to the strength of the
company."
This conclusion, William did not gainsay,
and my friend seemed to think that there might
have been something in the remark. But,
while I have been digressing, Ferdinand has
been dressing ; and his horse is already pawing
the gravel in front of the coffee-room window.
This coffee-roota was quite an institution at
Saintswood. It was a very modest apartment
upon the ground-floor, with a great oaken ta-
ble in the middle, which had a mission of its
own.
Every morning, during the winter months,
breakfast was laid upon that table, for the bene-
fit as well of any guests staying in, the house
who might choose to patronize it, as of the
many people in the neighborhood who had the
privilege of entree. It was a convenient ar-
rangement. There was no fuss, no waiting, no
ceremony, and you might light your cigar in tho
room. There was one particular bell labeled
"Breakfast," a single pull at which, at any
hour of the morning, was answered by the appa-
rition of coffee and toast for one, with something
appropriate in the way of hors d'ccuvres cliaudes.
You x took your chance of what came up, like
children round a bran-tub. Every man for
himself, and wait for nobody, was the greedy
rule of the room.
There were only three men at breakfast when
Ferdinand entered, by whom he was of course
received with acclamation, and a chorus of in-
quiries as to the state of his wounded arm.
"All right, thank you. Hard as ever, I
hope, in another week's time! All breakfast-
ing, I see. That's right. Getting late, isn't
it ? Half-past nine, I declare, by the clock !"
"You've just come in time for a bet, Huns-
don," exclaimed Mr. Scatterley, a loud boister-
ous youth fresh from Oxford. "Andrew has
just offered. to lay Kingston and me a pound
apiece, even, that he rides off with Miss Fleet-
lands, of Rivenvood, within a fortnight. He'll
give you a chance too, I'll be bound."
"Ha, ha! Now, that's too bad," laughed
Captain Andrew.. ' ' What I said was, I'd bet a
pound any body might do it, and I was just
considering, ha, ha, whether I would go in for
her myself or not ; that's what I said."
Captain Andrew, who claimed military rank
as an ornament of the county yeomanry, was
also a very young man, with weak eyes, and a
weak laugh, and the face of a debauched doll.
He was reported to lie the richest man, next to
Lord St. Margarets, for a great many miles
round.
' ' Would you mind touching the bell behind
you, Kingston?" said Ferdinand, horrified at
the conversation which he perceived had been
going on.
Few young ladies, I suppose, are sanguine
enough to imagine that the gentlemen of their
acquaintance always talk of them, among them- '
selves, with exactly the same agreeable empres-
sement which they display in their presence.
Many a pair of innocent eyes, however, would
open considerably, could the owners only over-
hear their own points, action, temper, and mar-
ket-value candidly discussed in free-and-easy
conclave around a smoking-roorn fire. I am
not su,re but that many a young lady might be
allowed to listen with considerable advantage.
And yet I don't know. "Without a certain
amount of illusion, reservation, and conventional
insincerity, life would become insupportable.
The little girl who spoiled her scissors in opening
Matilda Jane, to find her filled with sawdust,
fell a victim to indiscreet curiosity, and left a
warning to her elder sisters. But, if punish-
ment were in question, and I were at liberty to
devise the sorest I could think of for a damsel
who had affronted me, I should assuredly con-
demn her to hear herself talked about for half an
hour by a fool in high spirits.
" Well, but, I say, Hunsdon," continued Cap-
tain Andrew, still gobbling away as he speke,
"what's your opinion of this new star of tho
76
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
hunt ? What do you say to her, now, as a fine
animal, sir, hey ?"
" I have not as yet formed any opinion what-
ever," returned Ferdinand, dryly. "I say,
Kingston, what are we to do about that row
with old Rogers ? Are we to pay, or not ?"
"By Jove! you've had the best chance of
any of us," interposed Scattcrley. "I envied
you, I'm sure, the other day, at the Riverwood
hang-out. As if you weren't next her all the
time, and all the fellows said she couldn't keep
her eyes off you ; and was seen cracking away
ever so long at her coffee-cup instead of an egg
through being what the ladies call preoc-
cupee."
" Nonsense ! However, since I was so fortu-
nate as to find myself next her, I'm glad to
hear I was supposed to make myself pleasant."
"It strikes me as a deuced odd thing I
don't know how you see it Hunsdon," observed
Sir Edward Kingston, "that old Mortlake
should allow this young lady, who I understand
to be his ward, to ride, as she does, with no
better escort than her groom. I'm told she's en-
titled to a whole heap of money under some
strange will or other, and loses it all if she marries
under twenty-three. Did you ever hear the
real story?"
"As to riding," interrupted Scatterley, be-
fore Ferdinand could reply, " I don't know a
girl in the county better able to take care of
herself with hounds. She's not likely to .-\sk
you to show her the way, nor to Want any
body's help either. I'd give something, if
she'd show me how to ride my horse as she
does hers. And, by Jove, sir, talk about es-
cort, just you notice that fellow, Gigoggin, al-
ways at her heels. He's got his orders to range
within half a stable's 'length of her all day ;
and, if any body hails, to lay alongside, with
his bow on the engaged quarter bring his star-
board daddle to the peak, like "a marine, &nd
hold on till they cease firing. Those are the
admiral's orders, sir, and, by Jove, you may
see them carried out to the letter, any day of
the week. No tricks with Gigoggin, I can tell
you, or you'll find him as great a cherub as his
master ! "
"Pawn my soul, that's true, now," remark-
ed Captain Andrew. " The beggar has the
most diabolical countenance. He almost rode
into me last Friday, when I ventured to wave
my hand and cry ' bravo ! ' to his lady, as she
came after me over a rail. I begin to think
that I shall have to whip him, before very long,
do you know, in the natural course of events. "
" I recommend you to do so, most decided-
ly," remarked Sir Edward, gravely. " You
won't be too rough with the young man, I dare
say ? Very likely he thinks he is only doing
his duty."
" Ha, ha! No I'll pity him a little for his
mistress's sake. I'll bet the story about the
money is all moonshine. I can see plain
enough how the land lies. The old admiral is
trotting' her out, horse and all. Riding them
to sell ; that's my opinion. Only wish he'd let
me take them both upon trial, for a month or
six weeks !"
"I tell you what, Andrew," observed Fer-
dinand, in a careless tone, which nevertheless
had something not quite natural about' it, "I
strongly advise you, when you get home, to
ask your mamma to rummage out the family
birch ! By Jove, you'd be the better for it."
" Ha, ha, capital ! No more birch-rods for
me, brother-soldier!" sniggled the miserable
youth. "Nimrod, ramrod, and fishing-rod,
are my rods now."
" Oh come, Andrew, we've heard that be-
fore! Shut up and show us your new nag.
Hunsdon, we'll wait for you at the west lodge.
Come along, you little rake, or, by jingo. I'll
tell Miss Fleetlands that you're given to glut-
tony."
"That fellow ought to have been drowned
young," muttered Ferdinand, as the pair quit-
ted the room. "Pity his friends ever let him
grow up. What do you say, Kingston?"
"Ah, it was one of those mistakes parents
make. Lucky for him, as you say, that they
didn't weed the kennel. I don't know whether
you are at all acquainted with the young lady,
but I saw you look annoyed."
"I only wish I were sufficiently acquainted,
to give Master Andrew something else to chat-
ter about. He shan't breakfast here again, if
I know it. Try one of these cigars. They
have a history. It is about time to be off."
Nothing, to my mind, is more unsatisfactory
than to have to do any thing I don't like. But
to be watched in doing it is to undergo the
difficulty arid annoyance doubled. Under cer-
tain circumstances the intrusion becomes insup-
portable, and although heroes are popularly
supposed to be less susceptible of the pudor in
oculis, than other people, I suspect we are all .
pretty much alike in that particular.
It was not till toward the middle of the day
that Ferdinand chanced to encounter Helen.
There had" been a brisk run, and a fox killed,
and the people had pulled up, and were walk-
ing their horses about in groups, talking of
what was to happen next.
The first glance warned him that, if he was
to look at her with his father's eyes, he ought
to have brought his papa's tinted spectacles in
his pocket. Nothing so lovely as she looked at
that moment, flushed and happy with excite-
ment, and scarcely able to rein the impatient
Camilla,' quivering for another gallop, had ever
crossed his imagination. He thought he had
known her face well enough and yet, for an
instant, it seemed as if he had scarcely grasped
it at all. A confused suspicion, moreover,
that, if all secrets were told, he had himself
something to do with that radiant overflow of
beauty that the pleasure of that particular
minute was told in those colored cheeks and
sparkling eyes, made the meeting still more em-
barrassing. Not to dwell upon the fact that he
felt that many were watching, and that in all
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
77
probability the dirty green peepers of the scan-
dalous little Andrew might be blinking mali-
ciously in his direction.
It was very unlike Ferdinand to lose his
presence of mind, or fail, either in deed or
word, to do justice to hjmself in any emer-
gency. Unluckily upon this particular occasion
he contrived to blunder and break down alto-
gether. He was confused and spoke awkward-
ly ; and, worse still, made a miserable mess of
a matter of common politeness. He didn't per-
ceive, as he raised his cap to Helen, that she
not only expected him to shake hands, but had
passed her whip into her bridle-hand for that
purpose. And, when he did perceive it, the
young lady had withdrawn her offer, looking a
little disconcerted. It was a trifle but trifles
of this sort drive a sensitive man to the verge
of distraction. They are recollected, long aft-
er they happen, with a stinging bitterness of
self-accusation which ought to be reserved for
nothing less than one of the seven sins. In
short, after having contrived, in the course of a
couple of minutes, to impress Helen with the
conviction that some extraordinary change had
come over him, and that, for some inscrutable
reason, he intended to drop her acquaintance,
he fairly turned his horse and rode off the field,
desperate with vexation and self-disgust.
Luckily Mr. Salterton's rectory was within a
mile, so he rode there for luncheon. He de-
termined to lay his whole mind, so far as he
knew it, open to the rector, with his father's
views into the bargain, and to be guided by his
advice. It was a wise resolution, for there was
no man in the county better capable of advising
him.
I am certain that every young lady who may
do me the honor to peruse these pages, is con-
fidently trusting that Captain Andrew may not
be forgotten altogether, or dismissed without
some appropriate casualty. Fortunately I have
one to record.
Gigoggin was not to be trifled with. He was
a man of wrath, and easily roused to vengeance,
lie looked upon Helen very much as his own
child, and was careful as to her acquaintances.
To tell the truth, I believe he had already
awarded her in marriage to Captain Hunsdon,
who was his beau ideal of what a gentleman
ought to be. Captain Andrew he could not
abide. And when that young simpleton came
cantering and capering in front of his mistress,
foolishly trying to attract her notice with puppy
smiles and impertinent "brayvos," the cauldron
of Gigoggin's indignation boiled hotter and hrgh-
er, till it boiled over at last, to some purpose.
That groom of iron saw his chance and seized
it. The hounds were running, the field was rid-
ing, when the audacious yeomanry officer, in
trying to display his horsemanship and adoration
at the same time, blundered stupidly under the
nose of Camilla. In an instant Gigoggin was
upon him, not upon Happy-go-lucky, for, when
Helen had been allowed to enter the hunting-
field, her esquire had been provided with a mount
to match the man. Over he went fifteen or
sixteen times, according to his own subsequent
calculation amid a perfect kaleidoscope of
squibs and horse-shoes, which only settled into
intelligible pattern when he found himself
spread-eagled in a furrow, like a turned turtle,
and ridden over by every body who had a*horse.
It was a serious lesson ; for so strongly was
he impressed with the conviction that the shock
had " done harm to his wits," that I believe to
this day he seldom speaks three words consecu-
tively without whimpering. I wonder if Gi-
goggin will ever come to be tried for manslaugh-
ter. It will go hard with him, I am afraid, un-
less he has a very honest judge, and a jury com-
posed chiefly of dragoons.
But it is time to think a little more of Helen
herself, to whom I am not quite sure that I have
as ye^ done author's justice.
It may seem a bold assertion to make, but I
believe it to be true nevertheless, that Helen had
passed through the ordeal of seven years' novi-
tiate at a fashionable boarding-school without
sensible damage to her character. There are
some minds whose native purity and freshness
seem to preserve them against the mischief of un-
wholesome contact, just as gold is able to retain
its lustre in an atmosphere which would be tar-
nish and destruction to baser metal. Whatever
she may have heard or learned in the play-
ground, she was still, at heart, thoroughly young,
simple and unspoiled. The wildness and self-will
of her childhood had moulded themselves into a
quiet, resolute, and independent spirit a littlo
enthusiastic perhaps, but still, fer every-day pur-
poses, under the control of no small amount of
judgment and good sense. Even her own sin-
gular position and prospects, which would have
turned the heads of most girls, were in her case
disarmed of half their danger. She thought
about them, certainly ; and was pleased, so far
as she could realize their meaning. But, except
in the unfortunate instance, when a painful, and
perhaps inevitable, suspicion had been forced
upon a 1 mind which was frankness and sinceri-
ty itself, she had scarcely wasted one serious re-
flection upon the subject. She had not yet
learned to "give thought to the morrow," and
" the evil of the day" was yet to come.
The change was near at hand. Feelings that
had nev^r yet been awakened, were now to bloom
and break, and dart their living tendrils through
and through her nature, and overshadow her
very being with a sudden canopy of tropic
growth.
That she should have been quite insensible to
Captain Hunsdon's marked attentions, was im-
possible ; but it is not less true that she had hith-
erto never ventured to accept them as her own.
Her first impressions of Ferdinand had been
those of wonder and admiration. She regarded
him as a bright young hero, whom to see and
converse with, was pleasure enough in itself.
She noticed the way in which he was flattered,
and courted by every body in the hunting-field,
and innocently wpndered that he should ever
78
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
find time for a word with her, of ev&n remember
her name. And when the conviction grew
stronger and stronger, that he not only found
time to talk to her, but talked to her more and
more eagerly than to any body else ; and when
she remembered that, whenever he appeared,
Gigoggin always broke a stirrup-leather, or cast
a shoe, or met with some other calamity, and
went off to a gate, or got behind a tree to ex-
amine damages a sort of dream-like illusion
seemed to be settling over every thing.
And perhaps as a dream it might have con-
tinued for some time longer, but for the sudden
awakening brought about upon the morning of
which we have just been speaking.
Ferdinand's behavior had been to Helen a
perfect mystery. Her first impression natural-
ly was that she must unconsciously have said or
done something to annoy him, and she puzzled
her head accordingly to very little purpose. Peo-
ple who never take offense themselves, are slow
in comprehending how that unwholesome pro-
cess evolves in the minds of others, and make
odd mistakes when they attempt to pick out the
veritable point of discord. One, thing, however,
she did discover in the course of her self-exam-
ination, and what that was, no young lady will
be at loss to imagine. It was her turn to look
forward to the next meeting, whenever that
might be, with a troubled and anxious heart.
I do not know exactly what passed between
Ferdinand and the rector. Perhaps even if I
did, I should be bound to consider it confiden-
tial, seeing that the latter, in giving any advice
at all, must have found himself upon delicate
ground. But it is certain that, at the very next
meeting, ample amends were made for the mis-
takes of the last, and that for many days and
nights afterward, the secret chambers of Helen's
heart were warm and glorious with that " purple
light," which, alas, for many of us perhaps not
for you, oh, fortunate reader is kindled but
once in a life-time.
It may strike you as grotesque, to say the
least of it, to picture the heir of Saintswood, with
its baronial towers and forest miles, on the one
hand, and a wealthy and beautiful heiress like
Helen, on the other, exchanging amiabilities
from their respective saddles, simply because
they had no other place in the world to transact
business in. Polly and her baker, at yonder
area railing, are not more obviously at sea for a
bower.
It was, however, one of the necessities of their
situation, and what you may probably call upon
me more seriously to explain, is how the flirta-
tion could possibly have been carried on, with-
out at once coming to the ears of Admiral Mort-
lake.
That point became also a puzzle to the
admiral himself in due season, but then he was
not as alive as he might have been to the fact
that he was an unpopular character, and that it
would have been difficult to find any one base
enough to carry tales of Helen especially in
connection with an universal favorite like Fer-
dinand Hunsdon to such an unsentimental old
crocodile.
But, not to mince matters, Gigoggin was the
real go-between, and scandalously betrayed his
trust. He had been sworn by all that he held
holy, whatever that might be, . to keep strict
watch and ward over his young mistress ; to
allow her to speak to no one, except in his im-
mediate presence, and to report all that he had
heard, seen, or suspected, to the admiral, in the
evening, like the spy of a private inquiry office.
And the old henchman was really so ugly and
uncivil to people in general, that one would
have fancied he would have en joyed the task.
It so happened, however, that, like Desue-
mona, Gigoggin perceived before him " a divid-
ed duty," and while he conscientiously fulfilled
his mission as Helen's aide-de-camp, and would
have tolerated nothing which might have struck
him as an impropriety, he deliberately declined
to bring her to grief about matters which he
considered as not only natural, but very much
to her credit. So he shut his eyes to a good
deal that passed in the field, and lied like a
dentist whenever he was, what he called, kicked
into it, in cross-examination.
Some people assert that he was bribed by the
captain, but this is a mistake. It is true that
upon one occasion a gentleman, who wished to
be well with Helen, offered him a ham sand-
wich with a sovereign in it, but the result only
proved in what perfect simplicity this expensive
refreshment was accepted. For Gigoggin, after
the most unearthly chuckling that ever proceed-
ed from human glottis, suddenly exploded like
a horse-pistol, and fired the unlucky coin into a
farmer's garden, two fields off.
As for Helen, she fortunately had no occa-
sion to tell one single fib in the matter. It
was not her guardian's policy to make her feel
herself mistrusted, and he never pressed her
with questions of an awkward nature. On the
other hand, he entered into her amusements
with a sort of growling good humor, and began
to talk about people she must visit, and dinners
that he must give, until she was reminded of
her old fairy-tale reading, and of how Orson
came at last to be endowed with reason.
All this was very well, but it could not last
forever. Never count your secret safely kept,
merely because you do not hear it told. The
bird of the air may have carried the matter, and
you none the wiser. And one day that same
spiteful fowl explained the whole story to the
admiral.
CHAPTER XXHI.
THREE weeks of fine open weather, which
had made every body happy in England who
deserved to be so, broke up suddenly at last. A
good honest frost with bracing breath, and
shooting, skating, and the like, to employ and
console the frozen-out fox-hunter, would scarce-
ly have been unwelcome, but it was not so writ-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
79
ten in the calendar. The weather had broken
in bad earnest, and for days together there was
a howling north wind, and skies that streamed
with sleet, and roads that offered nothing to
man or beast but cold abominable mire.
Luckily for all parties concerned, the guest-
chambers at Saintswood chanced to be at the
moment tolerably well filled. It was a famous
house to be weather-bound in, for more reasons
than one. In the first place, you were always
certain to find there people whom you liked to
meet. In the second, it was one of those grand
old buildings in which there is room enough for
every thing and every body. And then, there
was no formality. Lord St. Margarets had seen
a little of embroidery and etiquette, sticks and
chamberlains, at one or two places where he had
spent the greater portion of his diplomatic ca-
reer, and perhaps had no objection to a rather
rigid ritual when at home in Grosvenor Square.
But at his country house, he liked nothing so
well as to surround himself with holiday life,
and to see his guests assemble, like folks at a
picnic, with the undissembled intention of en-
joying themselves.
And, to people thus disposed, even the vil-
lainous weather which had set in, presented no
insurmountable difficulty. The great dining-
room was cleared for croquet, and a famous
lawn it made, upon which all the main fascina-
tions of that pleasant game came out rather
heightened than otherwise. And, at luncheon-
time, it was voted, that to have the tables and
chairs replaced, would be grievous waste of
time, and give a vast amount of useless trouble
into the bargain. So it was ordered to be laid
upon the carpet, and to be considered as taking
place in the Forest of Arden.
I am told that the face of the reverend butler,
when he entered the gallery, and announced
wijh lofty composure " Luncheon is upon the
floor, " was a study in itself.
However, the plan succeeded ; and when
somebody proposed to change the scene, next
day, to the Gemmi Pass, and have it upon the
great staircase, the suggestion was unanimous-
ly applauded, and ordered to be carried into ef-
fect. After luncheon, there was a grand tir au
pistokt for prizes, in the hall ; and an important
billiard match between Captain Hunsdon and
Flora Richmond, one hundred up twenty
points given for a pair of gloves.
"Now," exclaimed that young lady, as the
game grew warm, "that was something like a
break, Captain Hunsdon ! Two cannons and a
winning hazard ! You in hand, and both balls
in baulk ! Well done me, I declare ! It is you
to play. Fifteen to thirty-one is the game.
The striker fifteen."
"A cannon on the balls," observed Ferdi-
nand.
"No! is there? I should like to see you
make it," returned Flora, chalking her cue.
" Only tell me how, first, or it shall be called a
fluke."
"Right hand cushion, six inches from top
corner pocket side to the left come down just
below left middle pocket, and capnon, madem-
oiselle ! Now, then."
Click click.
" Well, I declare, that's too bad. And look
what's left ! Really, Captain Hunsdon, if I had
known that you were such a disreputably gaod
player, I shouldn't have put my gloves on at
those odds, I assure you!"
" Chalk away, Flo!" exclaimed her sister, as
Flora, after the custom of people with a game
going against them, applied dose after dose of
the carbonate to her idle cue.
' ' Miss Richmond has the best of the game
yet," said a young guardsman, who was markj
ing. "I say, Hunsdon, I should like to give
you two to one about that last stroke, and go on
as long as you like. Will you have it ?"
"A Jotter for you, sir," interrupted a serv-
ant, entering the room. "Admiral Mortlake's
groom is below, sir, with directions to take your
pleasure as to his waiting for an answer."
" Put it down. Tell him I am engaged at
this moment, and will let him know presently.
It is you to play, Miss Richmond, I believe."
" Oh, please don't mind me, if you want to
write an answer," cried Flora. " I can wait as
long as you like, you know, so long as there's
plenty of chalk. Won't you read it ?
"'It does seem so*hocking
To keep people knocking,'
as somebody says."
"I beg your pardon a thousand times, Ferdi-
nand, for asking questions about a letter," ex-
claimed a young cousin, peering inquisitively at
the envelope, "but, really, I have such a great
curiosity about Admiral Mortlake I mean Ad-
miral Mortlake of Riverwood that you won't
mind my looking at the outside, will you ?"
"Look as long as you like, my dear Con-
stance ; you would be perfectly welcome to open
and read it, only that, I suppose, would be
scarcely fair by the admiral, since he has chosen
to favor me with his correspondence."
1 ' Fair ! No, of course it wouldn't. Only
fancy my writing you a letter, and your letting
Flora read it first, for instance ! Catch me
writing to you again !" laughed Lady Constance.
" But, Ferdinand, do tell me ; is it true that he
really keeps that beautiful Miss Fleetlands lock-
ed up in a strong-room, and fed upon sugar-
plums ; and only lets her out on hunting morn-
ings with a keeper disguised as a groom ? and
what's that dreadful story about her papa's
being buried, and the will, and all the money?"
" Oh," exclaimed Janet Richmond, " is that
the man ? Do you know we're dying to hear
all about it. Every body talks of her, you
know, and somebody is always sure of some-
thing ; but the worst of it is that nobody is ever
able to understand more than any body else ;
and there are no more bodies in the world than
that, are there? Perhaps he tells you in his
letter?"
"If he does, I'll let you know," replied Fer-
dinand, smiling. "But I should almost doubt
80
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
his pitching upon me, as n proper person to
know the facts, and suddenly sending full par-
ticulars. I had heard of her papa's having
been buried ; but it struck me as the regular
thing."
"I'm just as curious as my sister," began
Flora, but a famous cannon presented itself,
and the well-chalked cue was brought into req-
uisition.
" Game !" called the marker, at last. " Miss
Richmond, one hundred ; Captain Hunsdon,
ninety-six." -
' ' Fairly beaten, " confessed the latter. ' ' Miss
Richmond, I owe you a pair of gloves. You
must let me measure you for them very care-
fully this evening, or there wjll certainly be
some mistake. And, now that you have de-
feated the line, I advise you to demolish the
Guards, while your hand is in. Come, Heston !
let Miss Richmond polish you off, while I send
this unlucky groom away with his answer."
Coolly as Ferdinand had passed off the mat-
ter, it is not to be supposed that he retired to
read his' letter in either a tranquil or comfort-
able state of mind. Like Bob Acre's memora-
ble epistle, which had a designing and malicious
look about it, and, to honest David's apprehen-
sion, "smelt of gunpowder like a soldier's
pouch," there was something positively for-
midable in the large envelope the scrawling,
yet tremendously legible address and the great
broad scarlet seal. It was, in fact, "a v dis-
patch" nothing less. The contents were as
follows :
Rivenvood Lawn, January "18th.
" SIR : Circumstances have occurred, which,
while rendering it necessary that I should place
myself at once in communication with you,
seem to suggest personal explanations, rather
than a written correspondence.
" I am debarred by considerations which no
one can lament more than myself, from wait-
ing upon you at your father's house.
"I take the liberty, therefore, of requesting
that you will either name some place where I
may do myself that honor, or favor me with an
intimation that you will visit me at Riverwood ;
in which event I shall await 'your pleasure at
any hour you may think fit to appoint. I have,
etc., HERCULES MORTLAKE,
' ' Rear Admiral.
" The Hon. Captain Hunsdon, V. C.,
"Saintswood."
Whatever might have been the meaning of
this gracious summons, one thing was certain
that it would have to be attended to sooner
or later ; and, that being so, Ferdinand wisely
determined to get the business out of hand at
once. There is no more miserable, mistake in
life, than the postponing of that which is un-
pleasant. It is like keeping something objec-
tionable in your pocket, to molest and poison
you the whole day long, instead of instantly get-
ting rid of the nuisance. Therefore, having as-
certained from the messenger that his master
was certain to be found at home during the re-
mainder of the evening, he dismissed him with
a brief note, to the effect that Captain Hunsdon
would lose no time in affording the desired in-
terview, and might be looked for at Rirerwood
toward four o'clock. And he ordered his horse
accordingly.
It would be difficult to imagine a more per-
fectly detestable afternoon. Torrents of sleet
were still spattering down through the discolor-
ed air ; there was a vicious wind blowing, and
the roads were as bad as a bog. But the rider
felt that go he must. He did not like the tone
of the npte which he had just received ; and,
knowing that it could only relate to one possi-
ble subject, felt that there was no rest for him
until that business was settled.
Perhaps you may have expected that I should
have said rather more than I have, about his
own private feelings with regard to Helen, since
the day when he broke down so unfortunately
in the attempt to admire her at arm's length.
Very young ladies, at least, would like to hear
how his heart turned to her, and her alone, amid
all the gayeties of Saintswood ; and to be sup-
plied with copies of sonnets composed in his
airy tower, and repeated to the family owls,. by
the comfortable light of a January moon.
Well, if I leave something unsaid, in this
part of my story, it is partly because I do not
pretend to know every thing, and partly because
the process of falling in love is one which must
be described by a very clever hand ; or else,
beyond all question, let alone altogether. Neither
you nor I, probably, would like to have all the
thoughts, feelings, and doings of that golden
morning retailed to courteous readers ; or
wouldn't walk in the middle of the street for
the rest of our lives, if any one were cunning
and cruel enough to put us to such open shame.
But if I may at all guess at Ferdinand's medi-
tations during the rough half hour which carried
him to Riverwood, I suspect that they were much
to this purport :
Come what might, the die was cast and his
choice made. Nobody but Helen should be the
next mistress of his old halls, so far as he was
concerned. The impression of that first meet-
ing, when he might have remarked with the
Moor
" She loved me for the dangers I had passed ;
And I loved her that she did pity them I"
had grown and strengthened with every suc-
ceeding interview, until it had ripened into that
wild hungry longing, which it is easier to re-
member than to describe. Could he charge
himself with precipitation ? Scarcely. Had he
not boldly explained to his father what was like-
ly to happen in the very first instance, and re-
ceived permission to please himself? Had he
not fairly talked the matter over with Mr.
Salterton, and learned nothing which he could
have wished otherwise ? True, his acquaintance
could hardly be said -to be a very deep one ; but
what matter for that, if it had taught him all he
cared to know ? Nine people out of ten know
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
81
little more of their wives, when they propose,
than he did of Helen. Old women tell us that
"marriages are made in Heaven ;" and certainly,
unless these arrangements are, in fact, the objects
of a peculiar providence, there are few impor-
tant affairs in this life which are managed more
religiously at random. An accidental meeting
a chance conversation a glance a word,
have done the work fifty times over in every
week since the Conquest, and lit the flame which
was to weld two lives inseparably as one, and
leave a lasting impress upon the development
of the human race.
There was a touch of mystery, too, about
Helen, which had an interest of its own. Every
body knew that she was under some strict con-
trol in the way of marriage, and that the des-
tinies of a great fortune were involved in her
choice. That obstacles would be interposed
appeared quite likely, but Ferdinand was ready
to wait. He had all but satisfied himself that
his own feelings were returned indeed, to tell
the truth, he knew that there was no doubt about
the matter ; and, that being so, he was content
to bide his time. The prospect of a couple of
years' delay would, as he well knew, make all
the difference in the world to his father. Lord
St. Margarets never started difficulties two years
in advance. Give him but that space of time
to turn about in to bring his diplomatic spirit-
ing to bear and to await the flux and change
of all things terrestrial, and you might make your
own bargain. And by the time that two years
or so had run out (any change of mind upon
the part of an enamored couple being, of course,
out of the question), he would have become so
far acclimatized to the project, and so much in
love with Helen himself, that she would be re-
ceived with open arms.
In the mean time, while his papa was being
thus gracefully relegated to self-delusion, Ferdi-
nand, as he was well aware, would be remorse-
lessly marched off to the wars, to take his chance
of coming back with a cork leg or a glass eye,
or, more serious still, no skull for his future cor-
onet. All families have their traditions, and
those of the St. Margarets's were feudatory and
warlike.
"Adsum!" was their motto, centuries old.
The heir was bound to serve. And Ferdinand
had begun to think how nice it would be to re-
ceive letters from Helen, in camp, and to com-
pose most interesting replies, for her benefit,
when a vivid piece of descriptive writing was
suddenly demolished by finding his horse's nose
at the gates of Riverwood.
He had only once before entered the place,
and if any thing had been wanting to, convince
him of the true state of his feelings, he might
have found it in the strange and inexplicable in-
terest which every thing around him seemed to
awaken. Nothing, though ever so commonplace
and trivial whether tree, post, or gate, old wom-
an at the lodge-entrance, or handle of the hall
door bell, but seemed hallowed by her look or
touch. And she was there herself ! Somewhere
F
[ up in those snow-beaten eaves, perhaps. More
I probably in that warm-looking, lamp-lit drawing-
I room, whose glimmer went out upon thelawu be-
', tween the shutters which a servant was, at the
! very instant, employed in closing. But just as
| far removed from him that evening, for all use-
ful purposes, as if she had been ten thousand
miles away, and down in the Yalley of Diamonds.
However, it is in the nature of business to
supplant romance, and Ferdinand found himself
at once ushered into the admiral's study.
We know the room already, with its clubs,
canoes, and cocoa-nut men, its towering iron
chest, and other belongings.
A great log was slowly consuming itself upon
the hearth, and the lamp, just lighted, threw mys-
terious glimpses around the dark apartment.
Admiral Mortlake rose hastily from his arm-
chair, and received his visitor with even more
than customary ceremony. But it was plain
that some strong constraint was upon him, and
that he had a matter in hand which he would
have given a good deal to know how to get rid
of, or to transact.
"Captain Hunsdon, lam perfectly confound-
ed at seeing you here on such a frightful even-
ing. Sir, I hope and trust that tnere \vas noth-
ing in my note which could have been so far
misunderstood as to lead you to take this ride
upon my account. Sir, you should have allowed
me the honor of waiting upon you, rather than
have driven me to apologies which I am at a loss
for words to convey. Can I say more, sir ha ?"
"I beg you will say nothing more, admi-
ral. I was rather glad of an excuse for a ride ;
that was all. And, as to the weather, I've seen
rather too much of this sort of thing to care a
button about it."
"Ha! You are young, and a soldier. At
all events draw your chair to the fire, Captain
Hunsdon, and let us try another log so! If I
had had the slightest idea that I should have
the pleasure of a call from you this evening, I
wduld have taken care to be better prepared
ha!
"Captain Hunsdon," resumed the admiral,
after a pause which threatened to become awk-
ward, " in making the communication which I
have to make, and to which my note of this morn-
ing refers, I will be brief and straightforward.
I was not aware, sir, until last evening, that
your acquaintance with my ward, Miss Fleet-
lands, had extended: without either information
or inquiry directed to myself into a degree of
intimacy which has become the subject of general
conversation. I learned so much, sir, last
evening. It is for you to say whether I have
been misinformed."
" I don't know who your informant may be,
admiral ; however, I dare say you may trust
him. My hope is that the acquaintance may
ripen into something considerably more satisfac-
tory ; and, as her guardian, I tako the liberty
of telling you so."
"But you should have told me before, sir
you should have told me before," muttered the
82
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
admiral, rising from his chair, and displaying
his broad coat-skirts to the chimney-blaze.
" Captain Hunsdon, I entertain the very highest
respect for you personally, both as a gallant
soldier, and one of the leading men in this
county. Still, sir, you will permit me to re-
mind you, that a young lady's position in society
is injured by marked and public attentions,
from any one, no matter how distinguished,
which may ultimately come to nothing ; and
that it is the duty of those about her to preserve
her, so far as possible, from expectations which
can only end in disappointment and useless
pain."
"Had you not better proceed, admiral?"
said Ferdinand, leaning back in his chair.
" Your last remarks require a conclusion."
" Ha, sir, very true ! And the conclusion is
this. It is a conclusion, sir, which would have
been at j-our service in the first instance, had
you condescended to inquire it. Miss Fleet-
lands, as you may probably be aware, is heiress
to a very large fortune. That fortune, sir, her
father, under views with which I have no con-
cern, chose to preserve to her own use thus far
namely, tlt he exerted all legal means in his
power to restrain her marriage up to the age of
three-and-twenty. I have a copy of his will in
a safe yonder, which you will perhaps accept, to
read at your leisure. Now, sir, Miss Fleetlands
will, in exactly five years from Wednesday last,
attain the age of three-and-twenty. Until that
day, I, as her guardian, must decline to promise
my assent to her marriage. You may think
that my late friend, Colonel Fleetlands, was
unreasonable in what he did. I do not. We
grow cautious as we grow older, Captain Huns-
don ; and though I may regret the course which
, I feel obliged to take in this particular instance,
I am pledged to fulfill his last wisli to the utter-
most. I am sorry, as I said before, that mere
casual information, volunteered by a stranger,
should have led me, as it were, to obtrude this
information upoi. you rather than it should
have been supplied at an earlier period in an-
swer to some direct application from yourself."
"Three-and-twenty! Is it possible that I
can have understood you, admiral ?"
"It is the fact, sir. My control over my
ward's actual marriage may or may not extend
beyond the age of twenty-one. But should she
marry without my consent, previously to attain-
ing that of twenty-three, the whole of her large
fortune, with the exception of an insignificant
annuity secured to her own use, passes, without
any act of mine, into other hands. That is the
actual state of the case, sir ha !"
"As you may suppose, admiral," replied
Ferdinand, " Miss Fleetlands's fortune is not my
object. Let it pass, sir. I would rather that
it did."
"Humph!" broke in the admiral, upon
whom this last piece of information appeared to
produce a most exasperating effect. "You are
very generous, sir, of what, I may remind you,
is not, and can never be yours to give away.
With a little more knowledge of the world, sir,
you would have been aware that upon my
ward's marriage, whenever that event may take
place, it will be my duty as her guardian to see,
and in fact the Court of Chancery will insist,
that her property is settled upon herself in the
customary manner. And when you speak of
Miss Fleetlands's fortune not being your object,
and of allowing it, as you say, to pass, the
observation may be a romantic one, and made
in good faith into the bargain but it necessarily
leads to questions which we should scarcely
discuss in good temper: "
"I am quite at a loss to understand your
meaning, admiral."
" My meaning, sir, is this!" retorted the
other, almost fiercely. "You are heir, as all
the world knows, to a viscount's coronet.
Probably^ to an immense estate. As to the
latter point, I know nothing whatever. My
Lord St. Margarets's lands may be entailed, or
they may not ; and he may live thirty years yet,
and I hope he will. Sir, I have not the honor
to enjoy your father's friendship, and circum-
stances have occurred circumstances to which I
need not advert at present which seem to have
placed a bar between us. And now, sir, do
you come from Lord St. Margarets, without one
word of courtesy from him, haughtily to ask
for my ward, and fling her money to the winds
like dirt ? Or do you come, sir, simply upon
your own account, unprepared to inform me
whether Miss Fleetlands would be received at
Saintswood at all ? as ignorant as I am myself
of the aspect in which your father would regard
such alliance upon your part, and of the pros-
pects which you would be able to offer her,
could every thing be arranged as you wish ?
You propose, as I understand, to throw her for-
tune, overboard. And you expect me to fold
my arms and allow this to be done, without the
slightest opportunity of judging as to whether
or no yo"u are in a position to replace that which
in the whim of the moment you boast of being
ready to scatter. Sir, could you marry her to-
morrow, regardless of my consent, you might
certainlv show that money was not at present
your object not, however, by sacrificing any
thing to which you have or can ever have lawful
claim, but by virtually sweeping away from Miss
Fleetlands every sixpence of her private and in-
dependent patrimony. That would be liberal
indeed ! Sir, if I have rendered myself thus far
intelligible, I will merely add that had the nego-
tiation which I understand you to propose been
fairly and formally opened in the first instance,
my only answer could have been, that, for these
three years to come, it would be inconsistent
with my duty as guardian for me to allow it to
be entertained at all. Under present circum-
stances, I must distinctly, upon my ward's
account and my own, finally decline the honor
which you propose to do her."
" In that case, I need trespass no farther upon
your time,'' remarked Captain Hunsdon. ;
ly, as he rose to take leave.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
83
" After what I have felt it my duty to say,
sir," rejoined the admiral, "you will not think
it strange, if, for obvious reasons, I request your
word that all intercourse whatever between your-
self and Miss Fleetlands will be at once and
henceforward totally discontinued."
" If you are serious in requesting that at your
instance I should pledge myself to any partic-
ular course of conduct with respect to any person
alive, you must be aware that there is only one
answer," returned the young officer, buttoning
his cloak. - " We had better part without far-
ther words."
"Not quite so, sir; not quite so!" inter-
posed the admiral. " It is my duty, sir, to pro-
tect my ward against, I will not say solicitation,
but against any thing which could only tend to
unsettle and disturb her mind, and place her in a
false and most improper position. Sir, unless
you tender me the pledge which I require be-
fore we part this night, Miss Fleetlands does not
quit these grounds again, so long as you remain
in the county. Make it necessary, sir, and she
does not pass yonder hall door. One step more,
and her room becomes her prison ! The power
is in my hands ; and it is you, sir, and not me,
that she will have to thank, should it at once
be put in exercise."
Ferdinand's face grew suddenly quite pale.
His eyes looked as if a light were slowly passing
behind them, and his lips assumed a slight yet
peculiar curve. Perhaps it was after some such
look that in a desperate hour, not many months
before, he had " called upon" his men !
" Admiral Mortlake," he said, " I know what
is due to a man in his own house. I am sorry
that you did not take my advice just now.
Yon should have permitted our conversation to
close as it stood. Allow me to pass you. It
is time."
And the admiral was alone.
CHAPTER XXIV.
I AM going to take the liberty of hazarding a
guess as to the true explanation of Admiral
Mortlake's conduct in the interview which I
have just described.
For many years previously his views, with
regard to Helen, seem to have been little better
than selfish and mercenary. He was receiving
a considerable sum annually upon her account ;
and between the natural desire to retain so
easy a source of income, and the dread of be-
ing dragged into Chancery upon the score of
past receipts, he had come to regard her mar-
riage as a day of evil, to be postponed as long
as possible, and awaited at last as one of the in-
evitable misfortunes of life. Still, since it was
morally certain that Helen would marry some-
body, one might have supposed that he would
not only have seen in the heir of the St. Marga-
rets's a husband who would do credit to his choice
and care, but rejoiced in the absolute certainty
that the whole question of arrears, if such really,
existed, would be settled at once : dismissed, in
fact, as an idle topic.
And so it might have been, but for the affront
which he conceived that Lord St. Margarets had
put upon him, in the matter of that wretched
bargain and sale. That he could not forgive.
And that, coupled with what he was pleased to
stigmatize as stolen interviews, and love on the
sly, roused up in him the dogged spirit of resist-
ance, until, dismissing all prudential considera-
tions, he made up his mind to fight, and allow-
ed temper to clear the deck.
Whether or not, had Ferdinand only inherit-
ed a portion of his father's diplomatic wisdom,
and condescended, to coax and be cunning, in-
stead of marching out like a man who had been
defrauded and did well to be angry, is not now
a very important question. It is even possible
that you may think that the admiral had some
show of reason in his view of the case. At all
events he thought he had ; for, next morning,
he sent for his lawyer.
Mr. Clover, attorney - at - law, the leading
practitioner in that direction at St. Mark's-on-
the-Sea, was a little, sturdy, middle-aged man,
whose maxim was, " bonne guerre Ion paix .'"
In other words, he always liked to see his cli-
ents fight first, and shake hands afterward. By
this means, a great deal of unworthy haggling
was avoided ; and the parties, instead of hating
each other, as people always do who imagine
that they have been overreached in a compro-
mise, retired with feelings of mutual respect.
And, -lastly, Mr. Clover's reward was written
upon blue-ruled foolscap, tied up with green
ferret, instead of being limited to the territori-
al recompense ultimately in store for the peace-
makers.
You would never have supposed from his
conversation, however, that Mr. Clover was the
man to draw you into a needless quarrel.
Quite the reverse. He was so particularly dry
and guarded in the matter of giving advice, and
discountenanced so gravely all that seemed to
savor of precipitation, and took such a respon-
sible amount of snuff, that your only doubt was,
whether he would ever get the coach started at
all never, whether he would rattle the ribbons,
flick the leaders, and upset the whole concern
into the ditch.
"We must not be too precipitate, admiral,
indeed we must not," he remarked, after half
j\n hour's conference. "An application to the
Court in a matter of this description is not to be
lightly risked, nor, generally speaking, without
some more distinctly overt act upon the part of
the individual sought to be affected. Still,
sir," he proceeded, after an infamously large
pinch " still, sir ; while we must by all means
avoid precipitation, we must not, on the other '
hand, lay ourselves open to the charge of neg-
ligence. Our course, should we feel it right to
adopt an active one, is plain. It is to restrain
Captain Hunsdon from all intercourse, whether
written or verbal, with your ward. In these
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
cases the affidavit is half the battle. The affi-
davit is every thing. And it seems to me that
we are in a position to swear as good an affida-
vit as ever was put upon the file. Miss Fleet-
lands under age by these three years her prop-
erty diverted upon marriage without consent
clandestine interviews suitor barely one-and-
twenty no proposal for settlements upon the
part of his father, who to best of deponent's
knowledge, information, and belief, is either un-
aware of or opposed to the conduct of the re-
spondent unsuitable match altogether. Hang
it, admiral, what could one want more? I'm
afraid we must go on."
" Go on, then," growled the admiral. " Sir,
you precisely expressed the reasons upon which
I desire to put an end to this absurd and most
objectionable flirtation. Am I to understand
that you see your way to doing so at once and
effectually ?"
" Certainly, admiral. God bless me, yes ! I
shall write up by to-night's post to have affidavit
settled by counsel, and sent down at once to be
sworn."
"And then, sir ha?"
" Then, sir, we obtain an ex parte injunction,
as a matter of course, and serve the captain forth-
with. And, after that, sir, he'd better mind
his moves. You see there's the Sergeant-at-
Arms and the Queen's prison, and commitment
during pleasure, all upon the cards if he doesn't.
Famous !" concluded Mr. Clover, smacking his
lips and tapping his box, like a man who has
just produced a very particular bottle, and is
confident as to flavor.
" Good !" snorted the client. " Hope they'll
clap him in irons, with a sentry over him !"
And so the conversation ended.
Without the slightest ill-feeling in the world
toward Ferdinand, for whom indeed he really
felt a sincere respect, the opportunity of inflict-
ing a marked and mortal snub upon his haughty
neighbor at Saintswood, was temptation too
strong for the admiral. Such a chance might
not occur again in a life-time, and he deter-
mined to make the most of it. That it might be
unwise to iijyite the direct attention of the Court
of Chancery to his conduct in the guardianship,
was a reflection which of course had not escaped
him. But it also occurred to his mind that a
bold stroke might, after all, be the safest in the
end. It would at least have the effect of scar-
ing inferior intruders out of the field. And
since, unless, contrary to all probability, Lord
St. Margarets should take up the affair in earnest
upon his son's behalf, which he could scarcely
do without absolutely tendering him as Helen's
suitor, the game was in his own hands.
There are two mistakes so universally com-
mitted by people, upon falling in love for the
first time, that they seem rather part of the di-
agnosis of the complaint than mere instances of
casual weakness upon the part of individuals.
In the first place, they never see any difficul-
ties at starting : none at least which,, in their
early ardor, appear of more account than the
hurdles in a steeple-chase. Without these,
I there would be no sport no excitement no
I triumph in ultimate success. In the second place,
I directly a difficulty is really reached, it presents
itself as a hurdle ten feet high, with a ditchful
of spikes and pitchforks on either side. And
' unlucky Strephon at once discovers that nobody,
since love was invented, ever ran his head
' against such a barbaroua and insurmountable
! chevaux de frise ; and would like to make the
world ring with lamentations, and complaints
of a measure of ill-luck, heaped as measure
never was heaped before.
Perhaps, to say the truth, Ferdinand's first
hurdle was rather a stiff one, and might well
have cost him a little uneasiness.
It was with infinite difficulty that he man-
aged, as in duty bound, to carry on his duties as
host, and give no outward token of the volcano
that was burning within. It was too frightful,
so he felt at least, not only to have awakened
in Helen's young mind expectations which, to
use the admiral's own words, seemed likely to
end in disappointment and useless pain, but to
have actually roused feelings in the heart of
that old curmudgeon which would assuredly be
vented upon herself. And that coward threat,
" Make it necessary, sir, and her room becomes
her prison!" rang and reverberated in his ears
with such intolerable and insulting violence,
that he thought of the Chamber of Horrors in
Baker Street, and felt his pulse.
The worst of it was, that there was no human
being to whom he could apply for sympathy,
advice, or assistance. He had spoken manfully
to his father when he first found himself touched,
and had no reason to repent of having done so :
but to go to him again would be simply idle.
A few empty expressions of profound condolence
a mist of insincere hopes that something
might yet supervene, and a sprinkling of polite
regrets that his lordship's own relations with the
admiral were such as necessarily to preclude
his own personal interference even if such in.
! terference could, by any possibility, have been
of use were, he knew, all that he had to expect.
He did not know, and we will not tell him,
! that his profound papa, not altogether confident
| as to the success of his previous diplomacy, had
! already taken the most effective steps toward
having him forthwith recalled to his regiment ;
! and had written, letter after letter to know if
' there was not some non-combatant capacity in
' which his lately-wounded son could be immedi-
ately required to serve. Neither was he aware,
which we will also consider confidential, that
Lord St. Margarets had carefully arranged that
his bailiff should pick a little perverse quarrel
with the admiral's people upon some trumpery
question of trespass over adjoining lands, and
thereby incensed that irascible old gentleman
against the whole house of Hunsdon to a degree
which threatened apoplexy. So smooth, silent,
and unsuspected is the under-current of affairs
when guided by the discretion of ex-embassa-
dors.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
85
There was Mr. Saltevton certainly his own
former tutor to whom he had already appealed
in a difficulty, but to whom, whether wisely or
not, he felt it in that conjuncture impossible to
resort. The rector, as we know, was associated
with the admiral in the trusteeship created by
Colonel Fleetlands's will. Still, he was not Hel-
en's guardian ; and Ferdinand felt a natural del-
icacy in, as it were, inviting him to intermeddle.
Besides his interference could work no possible
good, and nothing but additional humiliation
could spring from it. So the young soldier
found himself alone, with no other counselor
than his own resolute heart. Then was the
time to think. Then was the time to decide ;
without one gainsaying word ! Swift was the
thought stern the resolution. The council-
chamber was closed : the doors locked ; and the
word passed for war !
His first impulse, and one upon which he im-
mediately acted, was to write to Helen herself.
I shall resist the temptation to give the letter
verbatim, because love effusions, however wor-
thy of the occasion, appear, generally, either in-
sipid or ridiculous to outsiders who read in cold
blood. But I will take upon myself to say that
it was a brave, manly letter, which told his own
feelings in as few words as could be expected,
and challenged her own in terms equally plain.
He mentioned, as he was bound to mention,
something of what had passed between her
guardian and himself, carefully avoiding what-
ever might, even in the slightest degree, have
conveyed an impression of petulance or ill-will.
And then, if she felt toward him at all as he to
her, he begged one single interview ; and as it
was his place to make things as easy as possible,
and to name a rendezvous, he inquired if there
was any time, either by day or night, at which
lie might hope to find her, even for a few mo-
ments, in the little summer-house where their
eyes had first met. If she ever found an op-
portunity of answering, and would only name
an hour, he would be there.
This letter he entrusted to his own groom,
Ailsa, a smart, intelligent ex-sergeant of dra-
goons, vrho had a wonderful way with people,
male or female, and always succeeded in his er-
rands. Tell him what was to be done, and he
did it, without even asking a question, which
was marvelous.
"Ailsa, my lad, this note is for Miss Fleet-
lands, at Riverwood prisoner with enemy. Do
you understand ?"
"I will see to it, captain," replied Ailsa
pleasantly, touching, as he spoke, the peak of a
supposed cap.
And when Ailsa said that he would "see to
a thing," that thing was as good as done. No-
body knew exactly how he managed his missions
least of all, people whom he absorbed into un-
suspecting complicity. Why, indeed, should we
know, or want to know? When your doctor
sets you upon two legs again, after a week on
your back, you don't ask him why ho wrote the
prescriptions which did the business, in cunei-
form symbols and Gower Street Latin, instead
of Queen's English. Bull's-eyes are the real
thing in life, and the world in general has noth-
ing to do but to look to the score. Helen's let-
ter was in safe hands, and reached her own be-
fore dinner-time.
To picture the delighted surprise with which
it was received, would probably be impossible
in print. Who has not dreamed some splendid
dream, and woke up with a sigh, that the
glimpse of happiness, just seen and lost, belong-
ed to another world a living, vivid realm into
which, in this mysterious helpless way, we are
sometimes permitted to peep a world from
which, alas, we can bring nothing back to this,
But, oh, to be told, on waking, just as we had
dismissed the magic story as a baseless fancy of
the night a vision to be rubbed away from
morning eyes " It is all true ! Dreamer, you
have not dreamed in vain ! Wake up ; for it is
real ! Wake up ; amid the lights and the mu-
sic and the love of Fairy-land !" Why, then, we
might probably scratch our eyes to some pur-
pose, and feel very much like Miss Helen.
Ferdinand's note was not an easy one to an-
swer, nor was the swift and delightful emotion
which it produced, altogether favorable to bus-
iness.
I hope you will not at once set Helen down
as a young lady of ill-regulated mind, if I con-
fess that the idea of a clandestine interview was
eagerly welcomed, as something particularly de-
lightful. Such meetings formed an essential
item in every romance which she had ever read ;
indeed, without some such adventure, the story
of her own life would be as tame as a tract.
Besides, Ferdinand's letter had revived old feel-
ings in her mind. Not, indeed, in their girlish
bitterness ; but not the less dangerous for all
that. It was quite clear that her guardian was
playing some deep game, of which she was her-
self the subject; and that her future was, in
some mysterious manner, concealed in mist and
labyrinth, which was obviously unfair. Ferdi-
nand, she found, had actually asked for her, and
had been sternly repulsed, with orders to think
of her no more to address her again at his
peril. How was this? Why was she danger-
ous ? What had she done to be thus treated ?
Upon this footing, she might next hear that
Captain Andrew had made a similar application,
and be called in to kiss him. This would never
do. Sooner or later, she would learn her own
position, and there could be no chance like the
present.
It was Monday. On Thursday, she knew
that her guardian was to attend a meeting at
St. Mark's, which would occupy him the entire
afternoon. Mrs. Mortlake, after four o'clock,
always locked herself up in her own room with
a tea-pot, and devoted the time, till dinner, to
literary composition. Tracts, as you are aware,
were her strength, or weakness, in that depart-
ment ; and they were regularly read to Helen
upon completion, much upon the same principle
as that which made Moliere recite comic scenes
66
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
to liis housekeeper. Not, of course, to see wheth-
cr the young lady would laugh, but to try whether
she could be induced to look edified, and ask
intelligent questions. Perhaps this was one of
the reasons which made Helen resolve that her
own career should be very different not, indeed,
from those of "Abraham Brown, Mariner," or
the "Blasphemous Boy, of Brighton," who was
scarified by forked lightning on the spot, which
were altogether out of her line but from the
deadly dull experience of the staid and senten-
tious damsels who prosed for her benefit.
So she settled that half-past four o'clock on
Thursday would be a nice time to name ; and
after spoiling several sheets of note-paper in
trying to frame a reply which should be exactly
what it ought to be, gave up the attempt, for
the moment, in despair. Miss Smugg would
have rattled off an answer in no time. But,
then, Serena's notions of maidenly reserve were
gleaned from the frank pages of Paul de Kock.
So she locked the new treasure up in her
desk, reflecting that there would be plenty of
time to write, especially since there was no
chance of her being able to post her letter until
the following afternoon.
That desk had been a present of the ad-
miral's, when she first returned from school.
It was a beautiful gilt steel-bound affair, with a
real Brahma lock ; and Helen had been quite
touched by the kindness of an act which possess-
ed her of so charming a depository for all her
little valuables. She did not know and how
should she have suspected what I blush to
write. That desk came home from the maker's
with two keys, only one of which found its way
into Helen's hand. Mrs. Mortlake took charge
of the other.
By what conceivable self-imposture the donor
palliated, or supposed that he could palliate,
such infamous treachery, I do not care to in-
quire. I am not, thank goodness, holding a
brief for such a rogue, and leave him undefend-
ed to his own conscience, and any amount of
infamy you may choose to smother him under.
Of course, Admiral Mortlake's long experi-
ence of mankind was sufficient to assure him
that Ferdinand, after his late rebuff, would lose
no time in writing to Helen. Unfortunately,
he had better evidence still to work upon.
The dashing ex-sergeant of dragoons had
done his part so well, that no human being in
the house, except Helen, knew how or when the
letter had been delivered. But Crimp was on
the admiral's side, 'and received secret-service
pay. Crimp was Mrs. Mortlake's maid, and
acted in the same capacity for Helen. Every
woman knows when another has received a love-
letter. That is a fact ; argue over it as long as
you like. So Crimp knew, and told the ad-
miral.
You now know as much as I, and can under-
stand how it came to pass, that even before
poor Helen's manuscript was fairly transcribed
and posted, Mr. Clover was again in requisition.
The interview was business-like and . brief, j
Admiral Mortlake was in a position to inform
his legal adviser, without confessing to the sub-
sidiary and shameful source of information,
which, however, he had freely used, that he had
been informed, and had the best reason to be-
lieve, that Captain Hunsdon's attentions had
reached the stage of written correspondence.
That was an important count in the indict-
ment.
' ' Capital ! " replied Mr. Clover, tapping his
snuff-box. " Clearly, we must proceed at once.
I'll write by to-night's post to my London
agents, Talbot & Castle, and beg them not to
lose an hour. You shall hear from me directly
we serve the injunction ; and then it's for you,
you know, to keep a bright lookout."
The eventful Thursday arrived at last. Lord
St. Margarets had been obliged, unexpectedly,
to return to town, and the party at Saintswood
had broken up. It was a relief to Ferdinand
to find himself comparatively alone. Distrac-
tion is sometimes a safe and soothing medicine
to the self-devouring mind, but like other em-
piric remedies, if it doesn't happen to hit the
particular case, it only aggravates what it was
intended to allay.
"Get along with you into society, and for-
get your troubks in merry-making and parlor
dancing, right and left," is a favorite \ostrum
with old women. It may succeed now and
then, with those who are lucky enough to know
where to go for the remedy, and young enough
to dance back again. But, in serious cases, the
theory is that of the lunatic, who got into the
casualty-ward at Guy's Hospital and tickled
the patients all round.
Ferdinand sat at breakfast alone in the coffee-
room, in that delicious state of mental exalta-
tion which is just consistent with practical
sanity.
"A young man from London, sir, would be
glad of a few minutes' conversation, on partic-
ular business," said a servant, presenting a card,
with this inscription, the address being added in
pencil :
MR. JACOBS.
From Talbot & Castle, Lincoln's Inn,
"What does he want? I don't know the
fellow. Never heard of such a name. Let
him mention his business, if he has any."
This was just what the young man from
London had overwhelmingly declined to do.
It was with Captain Hunsdon alone, and couldn't
possibly be mentioned in the hall.
'.' Send him in," at last said Ferdinand. In
came the young man from London, with brisk
step, free-and-easy wave of his hat, and the
general air of a man accustomed to castles.
" Got a nice place of it, indeed, captain," he
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
87
began, running his fingers through shocks of
well-buttered black hair, and throwing open his
overcoat to display the thunder-and-lightning
scarf, brimstone buttons, and general dandy-
flash make-up of a Chancery Lane swell.
"Nice place, indeed ! You are Captain Huns-
don, I presume?"
" We will not ask questions. Be so good as
to mention your business."
"Ah, business-, of course! Well, just this,"
replied the visitor, rummaging in his pockets.
"Got my name, you know? Talbot & Castle,
Lincoln's Inn, are my governors. And this is
a paper, captain, which you'll have the good-
ness to look at, perhaps? This one ; thank ye.
Now, Captain Hunsdon, you'll take notice that
you're served with the injunction of the Court
of Chancery against holding any farther inter-
course whatsoever, whether written, verbal, or
oral (if that's any thing else), with Miss Helen
Fleetlands of Riverwood Lawn, upon pain of
commitment and so forth ; and 'pon my word,
do you know, captain, if you'll allow me, being
here, to offer advice as a friend, I should say
that, as things go, the sooner you're off with
that little party the better. My governors
won't stand any nonsense, you may take your
oath of that. So if you was just to drop her a
line, as much as to say she'd better look out for
some other gent in the way of company, you
understand, and not get you quodded for noth-
ing ; why," concluded Mr. Jacobs, with a cool
wink, " that would be about the c'rect move, in
the eye of the law. Nice place you've got
here. Very nice place indeed, captain."
" What do you call this?" demanded Fer-
dinand, holding up, as if by the nape, the docu-
ment which had just been placed in his hands.
It was a closely-written sheet of foolscap-pa-
per, bearing a peculiar purple adhesive stamp.
I have a copy before me at this moment, but to
transcribe it verbatim, would be useless trouble,
and savor too much of the shop.
" Office copy of order on motion for injunction,
captain that's what it is. Like me to go
through it with you? Come alo.:g!" exclaim-
qd Mr. Jacobs, preparing to draw a chair to the
table, with a wistful glance at the fish and cof-
fee, for he had traveled all the way from Lon-
don upon a very early breakfast.
"Go through it, indeed !" returned Ferdi-
nand contemptuously, crumpling, as he spoke,
the piece of paper which had just come a hun-
dred miles for his benefit, and tossing it into
the fire. "Now, Mr. Jacobs, you may have
simply done your duty, for all I know to the
contrary, and if so, you had better begone at
once ; but if you venture to offer me another
syllable of advice as you are pleased to call it
or take that young lady's name into your
mouth again in my presence, by George, sir, I
will have you tumbled into a large pond by
gamekeepers, before you are ten minutes older.
There ! I have rung for them. Don't wait,
if you care about going home dry."
"Oh, I say though !" exclaimed Mr. Jacobs,
combing his hair rapidly with his fingers, as he
edged away in the direction of the door, " this
won't do, you know, captain, at any price !
This is contempt, you know gross contempt.
You'll find you've put your foot in it, captain,
as sure as you stand there !"
" Send a couple of under-keepers here, direct-
ly," said Ferdinand to the servant who answer-
ed the bell. "Contempt, indeed!" taking the
words in their social, rather than professional
meaning.
"No, don't !" cried the young man from Lon-
don. " Hi ! show us out, somebody ! Which
is the way through these horrid long halls ? I
say, who let me in? Don't send the couple,
footman ! I'm going, captain I'm going
gone ever so long ago!" And Mr. Jacobs was
forthwith seen diving down the approach, with
his heels clicking his shoulder-blades, at a pace
which would be very insufficiently described as
a " double."
The being tumbled in a horse-pond upon
an empty stomach, is a process which, without
being over-particular, most of us would wish to
evade, even if certain that the aggressor would
be never so quickly visited and chastised.
This was just Mr. Jacobs's reflection. He had
done his work, and even gone out of his way in
supplementing it with 'gratuitous advice. But
some people never know how t be grateful.
Supposing that he had stood upon his rights,
and defied Ferdinand to touch him at his peril ;
not all the men of Saintswood could have saved
their young master from prison before the week
was out, had he ruffled so much as one anointed
hair of the Chanceiy-protected puppy.
However, as I said before, he had done his
work. That foul scrap of foolscap placed in
Ferdinand's hand, had laid a bar between him-
self and Helen. They were fellow-creatures
still, if that was any comfort. But their lots
had been shorn asunder by an edict. They
were never to meet again without permission,
on pain of imprisonment upon his part, at least.
By neither word or sign, look or line, must any
communication take place. The Court of
Chancery, which can marry nobody, had unmar-
ried them by anticipation, and warned them
thenceforth to walk apart, and with averted
eyes.
Of course the apparition of this Lincoln's
Inn gorilla had no influence whatever upon
Captain Hunsdon's conduct. Helen and he
met in the summer-house at the appointed hour,
and had it all their own way. I am neither
going to peep nor listen upon such an occasion.
Earnestly, happily, daringly they talked, and
laughed I have no doubt merrily over the
episode of the young man from London, and at
the ridiculous imbecility of guardians, Lord
High Chancellors, and other meddlesome peo-
ple in general. Nothing could be definitively
settled just then, except that they must meet
again, and that very often. And they parted
at last, and how Helen got back to her room
she never knew, but there seemed a- rich and
88
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
radiant mist around her pathway, and a band
played a march in the air, or somewhere among
the glooming yews ; and the statues, as she hur-
ried by, were all alive and excited ; and she
reached her own room at last, unobserved, and
flung herself upon the bed in an ecstasy of joy-
ous tears.
And how came it to pass that the admiral,
knowing all he did, did not take, as it was his
duty to take, due steps to render impossible this
most undesirable meeting ? The truth is, that
Ferdinand's letter, which had been perused by
his wife, in Helen's desk, had misled him alto-
gether. It had never entered his mind that "the
summer-house where their eyes first had met,"
referred to the little pavilion in his own grounds.
Not having the slightest idea that his ward and
Captain Hunsdon had ever met there, he natu-
rally enough concluded that the words had refer-
ence to some spot af which, upon riding occa-
sions, they might have indulged in an impromp-
tu tete-a-tete. Thus it was that all his precau-
tions turned out quite inadequate to prevent the
interview ; although he was not so ill served- as
to remain unaware of its accomplishment. -In
short, Captain Hunsdon was observed leaving
the grounds, and thenceforth his doom, was
sealed.
An attachment was issued, at the instance of
the industrious Mr. Clover, and executed a few
days later, when, as it happened, Ferdinand
was wandering in the neighborhood of the bow-
er, like a gentleman Peri who had lost his latch-
key.
In case you should like to peruse a true copy
of this ugly but influential document, here it is.
Travelers, as we all know, when pursued by
bears, are ready to fling overboard, for the ex-
amination of these animals, any thing which
seems likely to attract their attention, and di-
vert it, however transiently, from themselves.
You must not be offended at the allusion. I
am upon an unpleasant topic, and wish to close
the present chapter as speedily as may be.
Therefore, if you will good-naturedly snuff at
the Writ, instead of pursuing me with a de-
mand for minute particulars of an arrest which
ought never to have become possible, I shall
consider it a particular favor.
ATTACHMEXT-^ancers . )
VICTORIA, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the
Faith, to the Sheriff of Southernshire, GBEETING.
We command you to attach CAPTAIN FEBDINANI)
HUNSDON of Saintswood in your county aforesaid, so
as to have him before us in our Court of Chancery on
the first day of March next, wheresoever the said
Court shall then be, there to answer to us as well
touching a Contempt which he, as it is alleged, hath
committed against us, and also such other matters as
shall be then and there laid to his Charge, and far-
ther to perform and abide such Order as our said
Court shall make in this behalf. And hereof fail not,
and Bring this Writ with you. Witness Ourcelf at
Westminster, etc., etc.
Such was the writ. The house-maid's story,
already reported, was necessarily rubbish ; but
nevertheless Captain Hunsdon was in fact not
only caught, but carried off to London ; and con-
veyed in a cab to the Queen's Prison without
superfluous ceremony, and with a certain busi-
| ness-like promptitude in the highest degree ex-
asperating.
He was, however, neither lowered into a dun-
geon nor loaded-with chains, nor even left all
night with a lamp out of reach, a pitcher of
water, and a crusty loaf, like the bad young man
in the wood-cut. He was only marshaled into
a tight little room, asked what he would like for
dinner, and advised to send for his solicitor.
It was rather a scrape certainly ; and might
have been an ugly one for you or me. But, bah !
The Chancery Lion must blink now and then
if only to keep himself wide awake for chance
comers. And what came of it all you shall
learn in due time.
A furious explosion followed, between Helen
and the admiral. How it began is not so cer-
tain ; but she reproached him with treachery,
cowardice, and cruelty. And he, not being
quick at repartee, and stung by unpalatable
! truisms, replied in terms of clumsy banter, and
told her, with prolonged guffaws over his own
delicate humor, that the captain had been
arrested for poaching. That was all!
CHAPTER XXV.
A GREAT many years ago more indeed than
I find any satisfaction in reckoning I used to
sleep in a little white bed, in a well-filled nurs-
ery, at the top of a tall house in Wimpole Street.
Well, once it so happened that long after we
children were asleep, and the place quiet for the
night, the nurse and the nursery-maid took ad-
vantage of the mysterious stillness of the hour to
set about the concoction of some elaborate cos-
metic wherewith to sleek their soft ambrosial
locks in the morning. I do not know the exact
recipe which they had been fortunate enough to
secure ; and am almost reluctant to name the
only two ingredients as to" which I am morally
certain. Gin and pig-suet are homely items,
but great is the power of alchemy, and wonder-
ful results are sometimes achieved out of very
unpromising materials.
In this instance the process went on with un-
usual rapidity, for the gallipot . boiled over.
There was a fizz and a gush of solid flame which
; licked the ceiling. There were shrill screams
from the fair Rosecrucians, who expected noth-
ing less than to go down alive and blazing into
' the cellarage.
The whole household was instantly in com-
motion. Every body came jumping up stairs,
like moths to a candle ; and the alarm was upon
the point of being given up and down the street.
Luckily there stood a large tub in the corner,
wherein I was regularly soused at break of day ;
and it occurred to somebody, whose presence of
mind must have been remarkable, to send the
contents bodily into the immediate centre of dan-
ger. Under this hydropathic treatment the
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS KEWAKD.
89
conflagration was soon subdued ; and, barring a
suffocating atmosphere of steam and hot rags, a
few odd sparks wandering like flies, and a din
which might have come from the Toiver of
Babel on fire, all immediate reason for dis-
quietude was at an end.
" Jane Jane ! what's the matter ?"exclaimed
I, sitting up like a little white scarecrow in
bed. " What makes the room full of smoke,
and why are they throwing all the slops up the
chimney, and what's every body up stairs for ?"
"You lie down and go to sleep again, this
very minute," replied the nursery-maid. ' ' There
isn't nothing at all the matter. It was the leg
of our table came off. That's all."
I have always considered this as about the
finest instance of a ready fib within the limit of
my own personal experience. And I never hear
an absurdly and palpably untrue reason given
for any phenomenon without thinking of the leg
of our nursery-table.
Of course the explanation with which the ad-
miral had pretended to account for Ferdinand's
abrupt disappearance, did not for one moment
impose upon Helen. Indeed, it was never in-
tended to do so. It was simply an intimation
that if she chose to cry for her lover she would
be treated like a baby, and must be content with
a child's answer.
As you may suppose, she was desperately an-
gry. She lost no time iff hurrying to Mr. Sal-
terton for sympathy and advice ;' and with eager
lips and lighted eyes poured her whole peck of
troubles into his indulgent ear. She went to
him as a child to a parent, and told him all
that had happened. No one knows what the con-
fession cost her, but she wanted absolution for
the past, and counsel for the future, and wisely
began by making a clean breast.
I think that we are very often unfair toward
people whom we consult in our difficulties. You,
for instance, have been ill used, suppose, by A,
and have resented it more or less becomingly.
You bring me your version of the story, and ex-
pect my friendly sympathy, my entire acquies-
cence in your own conduct, and unqualified con-
demnation of A. And you are disappointed,
because I give an opinion with some reserve,
and don't express myself with indignant enthu-
siasm in your favor.
But remember : in the first place I may have
my doubts .about the merits of the case ; and
yet, without insincerity, decline informing you
of my suspicions. If I think you unreasonably
angry with A, I reflect, with some justice,' that
you may probably be still more so with me,
should I take his part. Again, I have no per-
sonal quarrel myself with your antagonist ; and
though I may think that he has not behaved to
you quite as well as he might, I don't intend to
give you the opportunity of telling him so from
inc. Moreover, it may so happen that should I
confess how exceedingly ill I think you have
been used, I should stand pledgee!, in your opin-
ion at least, to some active course of conduct, of
which I can not expect you to perceive the disad-
\
vantage. Possibly too, in blaming A, I might
be indirectly blaming myself. So that, if you
choose to force your confidence upon me, you
should recollect that there may be excellent rea-
sons which prevent me, in spite of our friendship,
from mixing myself up, with too much alacrity,
in the quarrel, and perhaps turning your little
duel with A into a triangular battle.
Could Helen only have known what was pass-
ing in the rector's mind, she would have
had no cause to be dissatisfied. Rumor, of
course, had been busy with the gross and extra-
ordinary affront which had been put upon a per-
son in Captain Hunsdon's position ; and the most
exciting accounts of the whole transaction were
in free circulation. All this had caused him
the deepest uneasiness, and Helen's unreserved
confidence was received with a feeling of thank-
fulness and relief. He was aware of the feud
which existed between the admiral and Lord St.
Margarets, and rightly guessed the leading mo-
tive which had induced the former to act as he
had done. He considered the admiral's con-
duct base, ungenerous, and unkind ; and his in-
dignation for he could be famously indignant
when he saw reason blazed hot and high upon
Helen's behalf.
Yet, what was he to say her ? To speak his
own thoughts to set ward against guardian
would be simply breach of duty, both as a cler-
gyman and a gentleman. He could only, in the
kindest and most considerate manner, set before
her the leading points of her position. During
the next three years, at all events, the admiral
had an unqualified right to her obedience. He
stood in her father's place ; and her father's will
was explicit upon one subject at least that of
discouraging an early marriage. She and Fer-
dinand wouldrt't be the battered old couple they
might possibly imagine, even were her bridal
morning postponed till twenty-one. Even an
additional two years would be nothing very seri-
ous. In the mean time she must wait and bo
patient.
" I know all that, Mr. Salterton," interrupted
Helen. " I could be as patient, I suppose, as
most people, if there were nothing but misfor-
tune the matter ; but you must see that, in a
thousand ways, I have been cruelly ill used.
One word would have been enough at the begin-
ning but to leave things to go on by themselves,
and to keep spies peeping without warning, and
then to do this at last, is enough to break one's
heart. I only know that he has forfeited all my
respect ; while, as to any sort of confidence
in his honor, that's gone and done for, long
ago !"
"I sec," observed the rector. "And if he
should, by any possibility, wish to be heard upon
his own account, you would rather that he held
his tongue ?"
" Certainly. I should wish to have nothing
more to say to him. I wouldn't sleep another
night in his house, if I could help it."
"And you would punish him, I suppose, if
you had the power ?"
90
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
"I should send him to jail directly," replied
Helen, apparently surprised at the question.
"And show him neither justice nor mercy?"
" Lots of justice, and very little mercy," re-
turned the young lady. " I sec what you mean,
Mr. Salterton. You want to show me what
might be said upon his account. No use at all !
When a person does me a plain downright
wrong, and says, 'beg pardon,' I'll shake hands
and forgive him, any day. When he's been mean
and malicious I'll forgive him, without shaking
hands. But when he's been both mean and
malicious, and wants to palaver afterward, and
talk about good intentions and all that sort of
thing, why that party goes to jail, quick, when
I'm Queen, and doesn't come out till long after
he's shockingly sorry. Do you think me very
wicked ?"
" Not in the least, my dear. I don't doubt
but that you have cause to be angry. Turn the
matter over coolly, and we'll talk again. Per-
haps I am rather too much of your mood to be
an useful guide at present. Only let us recol-
lect two things first, that to condemn a person
unheard, even if we could march him to the
tread-mill at once, is an incomplete and savage
sort of satisfaction ; secondly, that to give our-
selves the trouble of inquiring whether his con-
duct, looking at it in all possible lights, may
not admit of some sort of excuse, is to assume
a much worthier position than to sit scolding
from below, like spmebody who has been step-
ped upon. Isn't it so, Helen?"
"Perhaps. I dare say you arc right. Only,
you see, Mr. Salterton, I do so wish that all this
trouble had happened to somebody else !"
"So do I, with all my heart! What busi-
ness have you with any trouble at all ? Only,
since things are so ordered, you will have to
show how somebody else ought to behave.
Let us talk of this again another day."
I have preserved the above scraps of conversa-
tion entire, partly, perhaps, as being in some
degree characteristic of the parties partly, be-
cause, to a certain extent, it may have done
good in its way. People of Helen's tempera-
ment are much more easily guided than driven,
and it might not have been wise to challenge
her to argue the matter fairly out. A quiet
course of sympathy, without prejudice, as law-
yers say, to what might possibly be advanced
on the other side, was best calculated to calm
her mind, and allow it to work for good. Any
appeal to higher motives might probably, at the
moment, have been unsuccessful and mischiev-
ous. Unless religion be the ruling and habit-
ual guide of life and alas ! how few among us
dare suppose that it is so in their own case !
it is dragged into play at an immense disad-
vantage when its precepts are suggested as a
consolation to the spirit smarting under a direct
sense of injury and injustice. Passions must
calm, and reason in some degree regain her
balance before we can accept a divine arbitration,
and patiently regard the oppressor,' safe under
its eternal shield.
With Helen, a very long time, I am sorry to
say, was occupied in this cooling process. She
broke her whip, and vowed that she would never
mount Camilla again. All the admiral's ad-
vances were repelled with supreme disdain ;
j and his wife's daily invitations to tracts and
tea disrespectfully declined. She wandered
all day about the place in moody despair, wish-
i ing almost that she could only see her way out
of the dreadful labyrinth of life. That last,
one passionate hour with Ferdinand burned like
wild-fire within her brain : but he was gone
she knew not whither: she was controlled she -
scarcely knew by what invisible power : her
future, her fortune, and her freedom were in
the hands of one whom she deliberately regard-
ed as a tyrant and a villain. Existence had be-
come insupportable.
This could not last forever. One morning
she surprised the admiral and his wife by
suddenly assuming much of her old demeanor.
She actually volunteered conversation at break-
fastj caught^perch before luncheon, and quoted
one of her own tracts to Mrs. Mortlake, which
so delighted that lady, that Helen was in no
small danger of figuring, herself, in some future
page, as an instance of the efficacy of good advice
laid on thick. More than this, she confessed to
her instructress that she stood self-convicted of an
indolent and selfish life, and would like nothing
better than to be put in the way of doing
needle-work for charitable purposes. This was
adding fruit to flower ; and, though she was no
great hand at thread and thimble, her industry
was rewarded with all praise, and stimulated by
unlimited supplies of raw material.
Probably you may have already suspected the
secret of this mysterious change in Helen's be-
havior. If not, without expressing any opinion
whatever as to your perspicacity, I will proceed
to inform you. She had resolved to run away.
It was a wild, sudden determination, the re-
sult at first of a momentary and wayward im-
pulse ; but the idea throve and strengthened
the more it was reflected upon. Her life at
Riverwood had become simply intolerable, and
the prospect of liberty, excitement and adven-
ture, even to the very limited extent in which a
self-emancipated young lady could expect to rev-
el in such forbidden luxuries, had an intoxi-
cating charm for Helen. This, however, was
not all. If she could only get clear away for a
fortnight or three weeks, she knew that the con-
sternation produced by her disappearance would
be feebly described by the admiral's favorite
simile of "The Devil to Pay." Something
was certain to turn up. Very probably, as her
limited experience of Chancery procedure sug-
gested, her guardian would find himself in pre-
ciously hot water upon her account. Serve him
right for not taking better care of her. Nothing
would be more likely to set the Court going again
than the news that its ward was upon her travels
with nobody's leave least of all, her appointed
guardian's. Why, it might even end in her be-
ing removed from his custody altogether, and
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
91
handed over to Mr. Salterton, whom Sophy
Hunter's old brother had acutely indicated as
the next card in the pack. Perhaps it might
result in something better still who knew?
The Court of Chancery, as she was aware from
the newspapers, is perpetually reversing its own
decrees. Suppose it did so in the present in-
stance, when the whole story came before it
again. Wouldn't Ferdinand be required to
many her at once, or go back to prison ? How
was that, she wondered, as a dry point of law ?
At all events, the oppressive mystery by which
she felt surrounded would, somehow or another,
be infallibly cleared up. Questions would be
asked and answered ; and, come what might,
any thing was preferable to the hopeless, help-
less present.
I don't mean, in my capacity as a Chancery
barrister, to commit myself entirely to this view
of the case. But the scheme certainly had one
or two possible advantages ; always provided
that it could successfully be carried into effect.
How to get away, in the first place, and how
to dispose of herself when this was done, in the
second, were the chief points to be settled ; and
it is only doing Helen justice to say that these
problems were deliberately and skillfully worked
out.
Merely to escape from the Lawn was an op-
eration which presented no great difficulty.
Beyond a prohibition against leaving the grounds
unattended, and a pratty strict amount of sur-
veillance undertaken by Miss Crimp, she was at
liberty to do much as she pleased ; and there
were plenty of places where she could slip out
upon the high road whenever she thought prop-
er. This, however, although a step certainly,
was only a step in the direction of freedom.
Her only means of actual escape lay in avail-
ing herself of the railway ; and this was not
quite so easy. There were two stations with-
in reach ; one, as we are already aware, at St.
Mark's-on-the-Sea, the other some four miles
from the Lawn, at Bunnytail Bottom.
But at both of these stations she was per-
fectly well known to the authorities ; and she
suspected, probably not without reason, that they
might have received ftints from the admiral
which would lead to highly disagreeable results
if she walked in alone for a ticket.
A disguise was the obvious resource, and it
was with this end in view that she fell in so ami-
ably with Mrs. Mortlake's schemes, and stitched
clothes for poor people like a regular seamstress.
In a few weeks she had managed to provide her-
self, on the sly, with a print-gown, a colored pet-
ticoat, a plain check shawl, and close straw bon-
net ; partly her own handiwork, partly purloin-
ed from the charity-stores of her preceptress, to
which her diligence had obtained for her" free
admission. All these, together with a covered
basket containing sundry little matters, neither
necessarily nor unnecessarily to be mentioned,
she quietly smuggled away, and hid piecemeal
in one of the great cupboards of her house in
the garden, of which she carefully kept the key.
This was the secret of her whole scheme. When
the materials for disguise were complete, noth-
ing could be easier than to stroll out some after-
noon change her clothes in the summer-house,
leaving her usual dress snugly locked up, and
march off whither she listed. She determined,
farther, to carry away nothing whatever from
her dressing-room which could possibly be miss-
ed, so that the real meaning of her absence
should remain unsuspected as long as possible ;
and that, when search came to be made for her,
it should be assumed as certain that she had de-
par f cd wearing the identical costume in which
she had been last seen. This would of course
throw every body upon a wrong scent, and was
a conception for which she naturally gave her-
self credit.
As to how she should dispose of herself when
fairly launched upon the world, like a parlor-
maid unattached, her projects were perhaps a
little in the air. This part of the programme,
naturally, did not admit of being arranged quite
so artistically as the other. Indeed, if one
could map out every thing in the shape of
adventure beforehand, the " going in quest' 1
would be clear waste of traveling and time.
Nevertheless, Helen had a scheme of her own,
to begin with ; but, as I suppose you will not
close these pages without accompanying her to
the end of her rambles, I shall not lose ground
at present by anticipating what you may, in due
time, discover for yourself.
I ought to mention,, perhaps, that out of her
last instalment of pocket-money, Helen had
nearly twenty pounds at her command, which
seemed amply sufficient for her purpose. It is
true that she owed the greater part of this sum to
her milliner and other similar claimants; but
they would have to wait for their money. It
was an unlucky necessity. part of the fortune
of war. P
CHAPTER XXVI.
LORD ST. MARGARETS'S diplomacy had been
really a success. He had had a difficult game
! to play, and had played it thoroughly to his lik-
[ ing. In the first place, with all his aversion to
the alliance which his son was so anxious to
thrust upon him, he had never allowed one syl-
' lable to escape his lips which Ferdinand could
', by any possibility construe as exacting obedience,
1 or indicating any unwillingness to let him follow
up the object of his own choice. Lord St. Mar-
garets had known perfectly well, from the begin-
ning, that the match, for the time being, was out
i ofthe'question. The admiral, he was persuaded,
; would refuse his assent to any arrangement of
the kind, so long as his pleasure required to bo
consulted at all. But that piece of information
j he had been careful to allow his son to acquire
for himself. It was quito needless to .urge what
{ was absolute matter-of-fact, just as the sagacious
engineer leaves the enemy to blunder upon a
| bond fide battery without warning, while ho
92
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
makes every possible parade of works which
lie would rather should not be attempted at
all.
In the next place, his off-hand disparagement
of Helen and her possessions, so careless and in-
direct as to appear like mere good-natured criti-
cism, had its own time and purpose. That it
would have no immediate effect he was well
aware. But it would rest in his son's mind,
nevertheless. And when he found himself sud-
denly and rudely thwarted at Rivcrwood, then
was the hour when it might be expected to bear
its fruit. *
A man in the first bitterness of disappoint-
ment one who has beheld his darling object in
life either vanishing altogether, beyond reach
and hope, or drifting silently ahead into the shad-
ow and uncertain future, hates to be comforted
by those who would tell him that the prize, after
nil, was nothing worth. Why should people in-
sult his judgment and mock his misery at the
same time ? But, let him alone, and that is,
probably, the very consolation which will ulti-
mately spring up in his own mind. All this had
been foreseen by the thoughtful father, who had
scattered just sufficient encouragement for the
soothing growth, whenever it spontaneously
took place.
He was a little startled, certainly, shortly aft-
er his arrival in Grosvenor Square, by deceiving
a letter from Ferdinand dated "The Queen's
Prison," and informing him of all that had oc-
curred. Not but that it tickled him extremely,
in one sense ; but he felt vexed with his>son for
making such a fool of himself, and considered
that the Court had been hasty, and taken a
great liberty into the bargain. However, he
wrote a very kind note in reply, informing Fer-
dinand that he would take immediate steps to
procure his release, in order to get into any fresh
scrapes he thought p%per.
What these "immediate steps" were, you will
probably never know. Lord Chancellor Bacon,
they say, was open to arguments more tangible
than those employed in our " windy war," and
his wink was as good as his bond. No writer in
a penny paper, nowadays, would hazard such
imputation upon even an imaginary judge at
least when deciding between conflicting parties.
But Ferdinand's transgression might, in an in-
dulgent point of view, be looked upon as a mere
question of violated etiquette, and disposed of
without vindictive displeasure. And if his
father couldn't arrange thus much, why where
would have been the use of being Lord St. Mar-
garets at all, and as good a Conservative as the
chancellor ? .
In the mean time, having in disregard of Mr.
Jacobs's friendly caution so rapidly succeeded
in getting himself "quodded for nothing," or
rather for love, which in popular phraseology
means much the same thing, Ferdinand had am-
ple leisure to review his own conduct, and find
excuses, if he could, for what, considered in
calmer moments, looked far too much like rash
and reckless folly.
He would have given a great deal to have
been able to undo much of the past, both upon
Helen's account and his own. His father's so-
licitor could only inform him that his position
was not one to be trifled with. He stood com-
mitted to prison in downright earnest, and dur-
ing the pleasure of the Court. Beyond ques-
tion, all intercourse with Miss Fleetlands must
be suspended until that young lady attained
twenty-one ; and since it could serve no possible
purpose to remain where he was, merely to in-
dulge in the reflection that she was daily grow-
ing older, the sooner he made his submission,
and took leave of the Borough Road, the better.
The necessary steps should at once be taken.
Probably the chancellor might be disposed to
view the case indulgently. It was just one of
those matters which nobody could prophesy
about.
Shortly afterward, an intimation was received
from the Lord Chancellor, directing that Ferdi-
nand should attend at his private room in Lin-
coln's Inn, the following afternoon, at three
o'clock. Thither he was escorted in a cab.
Business was encroaching upon romance.
He was received with a degree of distant and
freezing gravity, which might have chilled even
the courage of a Victoria Cross. It was not un-
til after some moments of saturnine silence, that
his lordship condescended to appear aware of
his presence, and ultimately to address him ; and
when he did, it was in a low, icy tone, and in
syllables so far apart, that you might have
counted them easily.
He was grieved, he said, and surprised, to see
a person in Captain Hunsdon's high position,
wantonly encountering the displeasure of the
Court. For his conduct there could be no ex-
cuse. He had been warned, and had slighted
the warning. He had disobeyed, and it was for
the Court to weigh the circumstances of that act
of disobedience, and inflict commensurate pun-
ishment. One consideration alone, induced
him to stay his hand. Upon perusing certain
papers before him, he perceived a statement to
the effect that, in the event of his being dis-
charged from custody, it was intended that Cap-
tain Hunsdon should at once leave England to
join his regiment, then on foreign service.
With a proper assurance to that effect, with a
sufficient undertaking upon the part of Captain
Hunsdon that he would thenceforth hold no
communication whatever with the ward, until
she should attain the age of twenty-one years
and upon Captain Hunsdon's making due sub-
mission, and paying all costs of his commitment,
he was disposed to direct his discharge from
custody. His lordship trusted that a warning
so lenient would neither be misconstrued nor
forgotten. Captain Hunsdon might be re-
moved.
There was nothing for it but to grin and knock
under. Ferdinand would perhaps have been
pleased to hear that, just before he entered the
chancellor's room, Admiral Mortlake had quit-
ted it, after a "wigging" which would have as-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
tonished a midshipman, and for which he had
been expressly summoned up to town.
The Lord Chancellor in fact had told him, in
those peculiarly reassuring accents for which he
was famous, that he considered his conduct in
allowing Helen to appear in the hunting-field so
insufficiently attended and escorted, was a breach
of his duty, grave and scandalous ; that out of
regard for her, whom the Court would presume
to be innocent, he had directed the present pro-
ceedings to take place in his private room ; but
that, had it been otherwise, he should have vis-
ited him with marked censure at the bar of the
Court. He warned him against supposing that
he was himself the judge as to who might be
a proper match for his ward which it was for
a higher intelligence alone to determine ;
observed that he intended to consider at his lei-
sure, whether or not it was fit and proper that
farther inquiries in the matter should be direct-
ed, and concluded by pointedly desiring the ad-
miral to observe, that what had already befallen
Helen was nothing less than a marked calamity,
the result of most grievous negligence and to
pay all his own costs of the application.
After this benediction, the admiral jumped
into his cab, firing broadsides right and left all
the way to the station. Even the ticket-porters
themselves, those dreamy sentinels of the virgin
apron and the pewter badge, who see a little of
this sort of thing occasionally at the Court door,
roused up sufficiently to nudge one another, as
he drove away.
Selfish people have at least one considerable
pull over others, which need not be grudged
them, considering that in most respects they are
at no small disadvantage. Your thoroughly
selfish man generally has the credit to which
most of us aspire of knowing his own mind.
Nothing conduces more to this sort of self-ac-
quaintance than the caring very little what
other people may feel, and not a bit in the
world what they may think or say. It was Ad-
miral Mortlake's custom to make up his own
mind, and then act upon his resolution as in-
flexibly as if he had only his late ship's company
to deal with.
And it so happened that, just as Helen's little
preparations were upon the point of completion,
her guardian, one morning at breakfast, an-
nounced a plan which drove her either to put J
her project into execution without delay, or to
consign it to indefinite postponement.
It had occurred to him, while smoking his
afternoon pipe in the grim yew avenue, and med-
itating upon his late encounter with the keep-
er of Her Majesty's conscience, that a trip to
the Continent would be the very thing under ex-
isting circumstances. Helen had latterly begun
to behave so very much better, that she deserved
some reward. A month abroad so, in his abys-
mal ignorance of the female heart, he imag-
ined would be quite sufficient to change the
whole current of her thoughts, to fill her mind
with new ideas, and cause all recent trouble to
be regarded as a dream of the past. Paris cured
most people, and a round home, through the
pleasant roads of Normandy and Maine, would
settle the business.
To tell the truth, he rather wanted to get out
of the way himself. He couldn't think of Lin-
coln's Inn without choking. He had revenged
himself, after his fashion, upon Lord St. Mar-
garets, and found himself cut by the county.
People who had previously tolerated him as ec-
centric, now avoided him as cracked. Lord St.
Margarets, indeed, secretly chuckling over the
whole affair, lost no opportunity of referring to it
as an excellent joke, and declaring that it served
Ferdinand perfectly right, and would be the best
possible lesson to him against making promiscu-
ous acquaintance in future. But this was not
the popular view. Mortlake could not even
walk through the village without being saluted
by shrill cries of "Cotched another capting,
guv'nor?" and similar specimens of ju*venile wit.
Rough allusions to himself and his behavior
were chalked upon his park fence. Mr. Salter-
ton's studied silence upon the subject was a re-
proach in itself, while Sir Philip Chevy, and
young fellows of the Scatterley stamp, threw all
delicacy to the winds, and chaffed him in a free-
and-easy manner, which he felt plainly enough
was intended to be insulting. In short, he was
in a very bad position.
The proposition was a startling one to Helen.
The idea of the admiral, of all people, talking
of going to France was almost too extraordinary
to be credible. Under happier auspices, she
might have been delighted with such a change ;
but the prospect of traveling in such company
was not amusing, and she .felt an irrepressible-
misgiving that the proposal was intended to
cover some deep-laid scheme of which she her-
self was the object. A vague sense of insecuri-
ty tormented her. She felt that, once across
the Channel, she would be perfectly in her
guardian's power, and the story of a month's
trip might be really only a blind. Young ladies,
who had b?en even less imprudent than herself,
had been coaxed ^ into convents, and expiated
their incaution by life-long imprisonment in a
human menagerie. Was it possible that the
admiral had some intention of this kind, and
proposed to return and take possession of her
fortune, leaving her to the uncovenanted mer-
cies of a Lady Superior? Vague and childish
as were these alarms, they were sufficient to
induce her, at any risk, to put her scheme ef
escape into immediate execution.
This was Monday. On Thursday the admi-
ral had proposed to leave Riverwood, and take
the early train from St. Mark's to London.
" Wednesday must bo my day," thought Helen,
and proceeded to remark how very pleasant it
all would be, and to wonder when they might
expect to find themselves in Paris.
Upon the whole this sudden arrangement
seemed rather in her favor. Her plans were
already matured; her summer-house-hidden
disguise complete ; and the bustle of preparation
would probably render her task all the more easy.
91
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
Nor was it without a sensation of mischievous ' gage debt," began Mr. Twick, a jolly-looking,
delight that she reflected upon the strange con- chestnut-colored man of five-and-forty, with a
stcrnation which would follow her sudden and curly head. "And half a year's interest, less
inexplicable disappearance at such an unlucky income-tax, is seventy-three, two, six. You
moment ; and upon the fine unpacking which i had a fancy, sir, Clover tells me, for the money
would have to take place in the morning.
in cash so I've brought you three thousand-
Wednesday arrived at last; and although, to pounders. Not every day one has the chance
do Helen justice, she had never for one moment of handling a thoujpnd-pound note. Pretty
wavered in her determination, or allowed her paper, isn't it?"
mind to flinch from the enterprise, it must be I "Ha, ha!" growled the admiral. "You've
confessed that, as the hour drew near, her ex- had your laugh against me as 3 - ou came along,
citcment became almost uncontrollable. She I'll be bound. But money is money, Mr.
had determined to get away, if possible, about Twick, and if you'd lost what I've lost by trust-
half-past five o'clock, which would enable her ing to banks and clerks and all that sort of
to reach the railway station shortly after sunset; humbug, you'd do as I do keep a strong box
but, as the story of her travels belongs to of your own. Give you a week to see your way
another department of these pages, I shall at through that door," added he, glancing over his
present say no more of her movements than is j shoulder at the Ark. "Now you want a
absolutely necessary. Fortunately for her, the
house was in that outrageous state of bustle and
disorder which commonly precedes a journey
upon the part of people altogether new to road
and rail, and which is so highly amusing to
seasoned okl stagers like ourselves. Still more
fortunately, Mr. Salterton happened to be just
receipt, I suppose, ha?"
" And your execution of this reconveyance,
please," replied Mr. Twick, spreading his deed
upon the table ; " and then Clover and I will
look over my client's documents together. This
is the parcel ?"
"Those are the deeds, sir, as I received them.
then absent, upon a month's holiday. To have j Probably you will attest my signature. I de-
taken leave of him under the circumstances liver this as my act and deed. Is all square,
would have been more than embarrassing to sir, ha?"
Helen. It would have been impossible.
She had, as you may imagine, been at Mrs.
All right, sir." And the admiral, after
having carefully scanned the three thousand-
Mortlake's beck and call during the whole of- pound notes, and compared their numbers with
the forenoon. The good lady hated the pro-
jected journey more than can be told ; and
what with providing against every possible con-
tingency, and anticipating every conceivable
disaster, gave one the idea of a person booked
for the moon, and laying in traveling-stock at
short notice by the light of nature. In fact
Helen was called away from an agonizing dis-
cussion as to the best method of economizing
a list handed to him by Mr. Twick, enclosed
them in a great red leather pocket-book ; and
placing it upon one of the iron shelves of the
Ark, shut the door with a bang which made the
room shake.
" Safe investment," observed Mr. Clover with
a slimy smile.
"So I fancy, at all events," returned the
admiral dryly. " For the present, at least. I
space, as presented in the empty skull of a huge i have been advised to give matters a few weeks'
imperial, by a summons from her guardian to
his study below.
She had been sent for to rummage among the
book-shelves for an old road-book, or "itinera-
ry," of Northern France, which he had some
turn before making the reinvestment which I
purpose. Things are going down in the city."
" There was a wonderful safe, shown at the
exhibition of '62, by a man from Cork," re-
marked Mr. Twick, sorting his papers. "You
idea would be of use to them in their expedition. I should have seen it, admiral. You locked the
But while spendingagood deal of time upon her door, and then dropped the keys into a little
knees to no purpose, the front door bell sud- slit in the lid, which shut up of itself snap !
denly rang, and " Mr. Clover and Mr. Twick" and there you were, safe as a church."
were announced as visitors. "How the devil did you get it open again?"
"Don't go," said the admiral sharply, as inquired Mr. Clover, without taking his eyes off
Helen rose to leave the room. "Find the ' the table. Mr. Clover was a stubborn man of
book first, at all events, or we shall start with-
out it to a certainty. Ha ! Good-evening,
Clover. I am happy to see you, Mr. Twick."
It was evident that business of some sort was
about to be transacted, for a broad new parch-
ment deed, crackling like a bonfire, was unfold-
ed by Mr. Twick, and the admiral produced a
bundle of brown documents upon his part from
the recesses of the iron Ark. And then, bis-
business, and beyond a joke.
"Ah! that's just what lost him a medal.
The jury askedjthe very same question. Un-
lucky, wasn't it ?"
"Can you and Clover stay and drink a bot-
tle of port?" interposed the admiral. "We
dine at seven."
"Thank you, impossible! I have to be in
London again to-night. Directly I've looked
cuits and sherry were rung for, and an animated over these deeds of my client's with Clover, I
conversation took place, the purport of which must be off to St. Marks, and catch the six
was not clear to Helen.
" Three thousand pounds, we make the mort-
o'clock up train, if I can."
" Sorry for it. You shall give me a cast to
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
93
St. Marks in your carriage, if you will. I have
a matter to attend to there, which I quite forgot
this morning. We are off to the Continent, all
of us, to-morrow. Helen, tell Mrs. Mortlake
where I've gone, and ask her to put off dinner.
I shall be back by half-past seven to a second."
This was all in Helen's favor. Her guardian
would be out of the way, which was one good
thing ; while, by suppressing the message to his
wife, a great deal of bewilderment and mystifi-
cation would be introduced at the critical mo-
ment, which was still better. For the admiral
was a rigidly punctual man in the matter of his
meals. All sailors are so by habit. And to
find him missing at dinner-time, would be almost
enough to throw her own disappearance into the
shade, and make his wife believe that chaos was
come again.
The examination of the papers lasted some
quarter of an hour, during which the admiral
retired into an adjoining dressing-room to change
his coat. At last the documents were pro-
nounced satisfactory, and stuffed by Mr. Twick
into his great black leather bag. Another glass
of sherry was filled all round to clench the busi-
ness, and in two minutes more the post-chaise
was clattering through the lodge gates.
Helen looked at her watch. It was twenty
minutes past five. " Now or never !" thought
she, and was just leaving the room, when a sud-
den idea struck her.* It was one of those pre-
sentient impulses, which have occurred to most
of us at some period of our lives, and of which
it is impossible to give any reasonable account.
She walked straight into her guardian's dress-
ing-room, and examined the coat which he had
just taken off. Ajingle in the breast-pocket, in
which she had observed him deposit the keys of
the Ark, rewarded her curiosity. They were
actually there ! clean forgotten, and left behind !
Oh, man of Cork, you should have had this tale
to tell, when the jurors waxed so foolishly funny
over your invincible strong box.
With light, deliberate step, Helen proceeded
to the Ark, unlocked it, and put the red leather
book into her dress-pocket. She then refasten-
ed the door, replaced the keys exactly where she
had found them, gave one glance round the room,
and was gone.
I don't know that I am bound to account for
every action which I may happen to have to re-
cord. What on earth could have possessed her,
if I may be allowed "the vulgarism, to carry off
these bank notes, passes my comprehension al-
together. Whether it was a mild access of
kleptomania which, however, is commonly sup-
posed to molest ladies under circumstances to
which she had no pretension ; whether she in-
distinctly fancied that she was securing a "ma-
terial guarantee" for the restoration of thus
much of her fortune, at all events ; whether it
was sheer mischief, such as prompts the Gazza
Ladra to make away with silver spoons, which
are useless and out of place in her rubbishy nest,
I have not the smallest idea. My conjecture,
were I bound to conjecture at all, would be, that
she was simply bent upon making the greatest
row possible, and forcing on, at all hazards, a
general explanation. Felony was certainly a
strong measure ; but a young lady who has
been wronged, and is bent upon righting herself,
is not apt to stick at trifles.
Certainly, if she could only have been invisi-
bly present at Riverwood that evening, her sat-
isfaction ought to have been unbounded.
She had been missed, almost immediately aft-
er her departure, by the eve^-watchful Crimp,
who lost no time in informing Mrs. Mortlake of
her suspicions.
For a long time that lady was perfectly in-
credulous, and stubbornly refused to see any
thing remarkable in the story. Miss Flcetlands
was somewhere about the place, she was certain
perhaps in the shrubbery, the garden, or the
stables, and would re-appear in due time. Crimp
was talking nonsense !
But when another half hour had passed away,
and Helen was still unaccounted for, she was
obliged to confess that it was a strange business
altogether. A rigid examination of her bed-
room only made matters more perplexing than
ever. There was her trunk, half packed, just
as Crimp had left it in the morning. Her toilet-
table was exactly as usual. Not one single ar-
ticle even so much as a brush or comb had
been removed. Not one iota of wearing appar-
el was missing from its proper place. That she
had run away, seemed out of the question. Run
away, without any thing but what she actually
carried upon her back ! But where in the world
could she be ?
" May have made away with herself, you see,
mum," suggested Crimp, adopting an explana-
tion of absence which always suggests itself to
waiting-maids. " My aunt's mother, mum,
drowned herself, fourteen years come Michael-
mas, with nothing on but a strong calico che-
mise ; and she having to walk four miles, too, to
get to the water; and, what's more, was carried
eleven miles down stream before she was swal-
lowed up leastways, it was that distance before,
she was hooked out of the river by a strange
gentleman in a morriing punt, if you'll believe
me, mum, and she not able to swim no more
than me, which is the most amazing and fabu-
lous part of it all."
"Nonsense!" replied her mistress. "La-
dies don't make away with themselves."
"Then she may be pursuing of her captain,
mum, in a po-chay and pair, which, to my mind,
she is morally doing at this solemn moment.'*
As .Captain Hunsdon happened to be just then
in the very middle of the Bay of Biscay, this
supplementary suggestion was repressed with
equal brevity.
" I wish your master were nthomc," groaned
Mrs. Mortlake. " I wonder what keeps him out
on this particular evening !"
" Lassy me, mum ! Well, I thought of course
you knew. The admiral, mum, set out of his
own accord, an hour ago or more, in a glass conch
with two lawyers Lawyer Clover and another,
96
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
and drove right away down the St. Mark's Road.
Quite fearful fast they went, mum."
Mrs. Mortlake started at the news. Not of
course that she supposed he had eloped himself,
and smuggled off Helen, disguised as a couple
of solicitors ; but his going without leaving word
appeared exceedingly strange, and things seem-
ed to be tumbling into confusion around her,
like the difficulties of a dream.
" I can not understand it," she gasped at last,
subsiding into an arm-chair. " Crimp, let no-
bod)- in the house suppose that Miss Helen is
not in her room. Go about exactly as usual.
The admiral will certainly be home by dinner-
time. He will know what to do. At least I
hope so !"
But when dinner-time arrived and passed, and
the admiral was as scarce as his- ward, she really
felt that if the floor were to open under her it
would be more vexatious than surprising in such
a bewildering bouleversement.
Her husband returned at last, and entered his
study alone, by the garden door. He had already
missed his precious keys, and was annoyed to
the last degree at his own carelessness. Hastily
lighting a candle, he plunged into his dressing-
room, and was gratified by hearing their clink
in his coat pocket. To unlock the Ark, and
ascertain that all was secure, was the work of a
second. Imagine, if you can, his blast of rage
and execration at the sight of the empty shelf!
It was something too terrible for description.
His face turned absolute indigo ; and if he hadn't
torn open his necktie, to let the oaths out, he
would certainly have burst upon the spot. Who
the thief could have been he couldn't form the
slightest conjecture ; but oh, my goodness, if he
could only have caught him, then and there !
"Gone gone, ma'am!" he shouted, as his
wife came hurrying into the room. " Gone, since
I left home, not two hours ago !"
" Isn't it dreadful ?" exclaimed Mrs. Mortlake,
thinking, of course, that he referred to Helen.
" What in the world will become of us ? Where
did you see her last?"
" In this confounded safe, ma'am ; locked up
with this infernal key ! I left it in my pocket,
like a fool as I am, when I went across to St.
Mark's and'look there !" pointing to the empty
shelf.
" Why, surely you never locked her up there
when you went out!" cried the lady, looking
horrified in her turn. " What an awful thing
to do !"
' ' Of course I did ! What else do yon suppose
safes are made for? And why the plague do
you keep on calling it ' her,' like a Welsh wom-
an ?" retorted the admiral, thundering with rage.
" I'm talking of Helen !'' shrieked the lady.
" And I'm talking of a red leather pocket-
book, with three thousand-pound notes in it!
What about Helen ? She's not gone too is
she ?"
Avigorous explanation followed, duringwhich
each party endeavored to throw the blame of the
young lady's disappearance upon the other, with
| the result usual in such cases. The mystery of
j the pocket-book was however cleared up at once.
| It was morally certain that Helen must have
taken it, and almost equally so that it would
some day or other be accounted for. Indeed
the admiral leaned to the belief that she had
only removed it out of sheer mischief, and hidden
it somewhere about the place, not a very wel-
come piece of pleasantry, by the bye, considering
its contents.
As regarded Helen herself, he at once formed
a conjecture which, although incorrect in fact,
was plausible enough at the time. He fancied
that some deep-laid scheme, at the instigation
of Captain Hunsdon, was at the bottom of the
whole affair. Somebody had driven by in a
carnage, according to previous arrangement,
and picked Helen up ; while, probably through
some misunderstanding as to the time, or in the
confusion of the moment, she had been unable to
make the slightest preparation for her journey.
That, he fancied, would account for what was
otherwise inexplicable, and instantly addressed
himself to active measures.
Applauding Mrs. Mortlake for her previous
discretion, and desiring her upon no account to
allow the truth to be known in the house, but
to say that Miss Fleetlands had gone to bed
.with a severe headache, and was to be kept quiet,
as the only chance of being able to start in the
morning, he sent a servanfcoff at once, to procure
the immediate re-attendance of Mr. Clover. In
his note to that gentleman, he desired him to
telegraph to London for a couple of detectives
from Scotland Yard. In the mean time slops
and dry toast were ordered up stairs for Helen,
and the secret was kept with entire success.
As may well be supposed, the conference be-
tween the admiral and his solicitor, when the
latter arrived about ten, was long and anxious.
The predicament of the Chancery guardian of
a runaway ward is never a nice one ; for the
Court is apt to be horribly inquisitive in such
cases, and to overhaul the unlucky custodian
with a degree of acrimony which it would be
difficult to exaggerate. In the present instance
the admiral, who had no mind for another excur-
sion to Lincoln's Inn, had determined upon one
desperate course of proceeding not, as his legal
adviser warned him, free from very serious risk,
but still offering 'some chance of preserving
; Helen's name from the greatest possible scandal,
' and allowing her guardian, at the same time, to
creep undetected out of a most awkward scrape.
If, by any ingenuity, the servants could be so
far imposed upon as to believe that the morrow's
journey took place with Helen in company, the
story of her indiscretion might possibly be con-
cealed altogether. The detectives and Mr. Clover
could obviously do their work just as well, during
the admiral's absence, as if he were present at
Riverwood ; while to break off the journey at the
last moment, would be simply to invite every
body's curiosity, and probably ensure the discov-
ery of the truth within twenty-four hours. In
the mean time, should Helen be recaptured, she
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
97
could be quietly conveyed to London, and her
guardian telegraphed for at any moment. Noth-
ing compromising need ever transpire ; and they
must all take better care for the future.
Such was the plan of operations which it was
ultimately determined to adopt. The two ad-
vertisements, which you may recollect already to
have read, were at the same time sketched out
by the admiral, and ' ' settled" by Mr. Clover.
The first, you will remember, had reference to
the bank notes. The amount represented by
these securities was far too large to be trifled
with. Whatever might have become of the
pocket-book, its restoration was well worth the
one hundred and fifty pounds offered, irrespect-
ive of the fact that, if recovered at all, it might
not improbably lead to some trace of Helen
herself. The story of its having been lost upon
the high road was merely a fable, intended to
make matters easy, should it ever happen to
turn up.
The second, and descriptive, advertisement,
which had so serious an effect upon poor Peters-
feld, it was arranged should be suppressed until
the detectives had had a fair run. Guarded as
its terms intentionally were, they could scarcely
fail to excite an undesirable amount of general
curiosity. Besides, although the admiral would
at the moment readily have paid down five hun-
dred pounds, were that the only condition of
having his ward safely back again, he winced
exceedingly at the notion of handing over such
a sum, so long as there was the faintest hope of
obtaining his object at a less ruinous rate.
Nothing at present remains but to describe
the device by which the household were to be
deluded into the belief that Helen was actually
of the party next morning. It was the joint in-
vention of Mrs. Mortlake and her maid, and as
a specimen of what very superfine people might
stigmatize as low cunning, may be recorded.
Crimp, for her own part, undertook to leave
Helen's room in such a state that no house-maid
alive would suspect that she had not slept and
bathed as usual. And in the mean time she
carried so many messages down stairs from
Miss Helen, that although to serve her was the
delight of the servants' hall, people began to
think her exacting.
In the next place, a half-length figure, com-
posed of air cushions, traveling wraps, and the
like, was dressed up in Helen's hat and burnous
in the admiral's room.
' When the carriage was at the door, and after
Helen's trunk had been ostentatiously corded in
the hall, it was easy enough to get the servants
out of the way, while her bedroom door was
thrown open, and the figure handed by Mrs.
Mortlake and her maid into the farther corner
of the carriage, instantly followed by the lady ;
the admiral engaging the coachman's attention
upon the opposite side. The transaction, taking
place under the carriage portico, could not be
criticised from the windows, which was an ad-
vantage. In short, nothing could have been
more successful.
G
Nobody had the slightest suspicion as how
should they ? Tricks like these are easily play-
ed when no one is upon the alert, or concerned
in detecting them. Otherwise, you may de-
ceive children and white mice, but not the
fellow-creatures who live under your dining-
room. What you know, they know : make up
your mind to that.
During the drive to St. Mark's, Helen's effigy
was quietly dismantled ; and, while the.admiral
talked to the driver, Mrs. Mortlake and Crimp
walked into the station.
That coachman, honest fellow, could and
would have sworn, had need been, that he had
driven a gentleman, two ladies, and a maid to
the railway station upon that especial Thursday.
Every servant at Riverwood would have abetted
him in his involuntary perjury, and not only
pledged his or her oath to the effect that Helen
accompanied their master and mistress, but
sworn that they saw her in the carriage. So
much for humantestimony.
It had been arranged that they should arrive
at St. Mark's a little before the train started, in
order to give the admiral time for a flying in-
terview with Mr. Clover. In that gentleman's
office he found the two detectives, just arrived
from Lomlon, looking as like conjurers as they
could, and asking questions with rich gravity
like medical men. And here let me assure
you that you will hear no jnore of these worthies.
I never yet encountered a detective in a story
who was not about as much like the original as
an average Englishman is to. the John Bull of a
Paris novelist. I declare that sooner than meet
with such a character in a friend's book, I would
find one under my own bed.
It was then settled, for reasons hinted at in
the outset, that instead of inserting the names
of Mr. Clover's London agents Messrs. Talbot
& Castle in the advertisement, Mr. Blossshould
be the person to receive applications, and pay the
reward, if claimed.
It was Mr. Bloss, if yon remember, who, a
great many years ago, prepared the will which
made Colonel Fleetlands a millionaire ; who
wrote, upon old Ncttleton's death, to apprise him
of his good fortune ; and who had actually re-
ceived Helen herself at Southampton, upon her
first landing in England. Naturally, as Nct-
tleton's solicitor, he had been concerned with
Talbot & Castle in the administration of the
estate, and seemed the fittest person to fix upon
for the above purpose.
It was hastily arranged, at the same time,
that the Mortlakes should, by every jncans in
their power, while abroad, keep up the delusion
that Helen was in their company. It would be
as well, for instance, always to keep a room in
her name at hotels write messages home in
which she should be mentioned, etc., etc. But
there was then no leisure for details.
And so, while the flag waves, and the whistle
screams, and the train glides from the platform,
let us allow the curtain 16 descend upon the
Second Act of our drama.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
CHAPTER XXVII.
I DON'T mind telling that this is the first
time I ever found myself in the thick of a big
story, like the present. It has grown, in the
telling, to a length which I never intended, and,
like certain unruly plants, may not have grown
quite as straight as I could wish. When I
undertook, some chapters back, to make all
square, by bringing my account of Helen down
to the time at which Petersfeld thought fit to
set out in pursuit of her, I little expected to drift
away down- stream, till our friend, and all be-
longing to him, dropped clean out of sight. No
matter now. What is writ is writ : and critics
must live. Let us, however, return for one mo-
ment to the Albany.
We left Petersfeld, if you recollect, in about
the most dismal pickle in which a man could
well find himself. Dunned by his tailor, with-
out a penny to pay, and accepted by a young
lady to whom he ha'd never proposed, there was
only one thing to be done.
Tearing Mr. Bags's letter and Linda's delicate
little note severally into a thousand pieces, and
confounding the writers with fierce impartiality,
he hastily packed his portmanteau, sent for a
hansom, and set off at once for St. Mark's-on-
the-Sea. It was a pleasant place to stay at.
Mr. Maldon and his wife were civil and socia-
ble ; and, now that it was clear that Miss Fleet-
lands had not traveled with her friends to the
Continent, there was no reason why he should
not resume his search in good earnest. The
inveterate dislike which all young Englishmen
feel to being baffled, awoke with fresh force in
his mind ; and he vowed that, this time, it
should go hard, but he would succeed.
You may have forgotten, and are forgiven !f
you have, .that I myself, John Worsley, so far
from being a mere narrator of other people's
deeds, am an actor upon the boards. Indeed,
now I think of it, I don't see why I should not
have made a good deal more of my own part
from the very beginning. There is, however,
no. help for it now.
On my return from the country house where
I had been spending my Easter vacation, I lost
no time in calling at Paul's chambers in the Al-
bany, to hear, if possible, the latest news of his
adventures.
But I found his outer door closed, and at the
entrance-lodge I got no farther information than
that Mr. Petersfeld had left some days previ-
ously, in a hansom, saying that he was going
abroad.
Returning to Lincoln's Inn, the first person I
chanced to encounter, in crossing New Square,
was Mr. Buttermere himself, in his wig and
gown. Directly he saw me, he shouted rather
than called, ' ' Worsley Worsley ! I want to see
you at my chambers, immediately, if "you
please !"
He had just come out of court, and was evi-
dently desperately busy, with more than one con-
sultation-party waiting for him in his anteroom.
But he snubbed .his clerk for reminding him of
the fact, with a fiery brusqucrie which was quite
alarming, and bidding him get the gentlemen
to wait, led the way into his own room, and de-
sired me to take a seat.
" Now, Worsley," he began, flinging his wig
upon the table, " I want to know what has be-
come of your friend Petersfeld."
"Unfortunately, that is -just. the question
which I am unable to answer. I have this mo-
ment called at his rooms in the Albany, and
found them closed. The porters ^ell me that
he left, saying he was going abroad, some days
ago. Beyond that, I know nothing whatever of
his movements. As to where he may be at
present I have not even a conjecture."
" Went abroad !" exclaimed Mr. Buttermere,
who was fast losing his temper. " That's ex-
actly what I was told myself. Worsley, do you
mean to pledge me your honor, as a gentleman,
that you don't know where he is ?"
" I have already told you all I know on the
subject," returned I. "I suppose you do not
require me to pledge my honor to 'that state-
ment?"
" But, confound you ! I beg your pardon, I
mean confound him I thought you lived to-
gether. At all events, you told me so, and you
came to my house one night to dinner together.
Worsley, you see that I am annoyed, very seri-
ously annoyed, indeed. Here's this young fellow
been making all sorts of love to my youngest
daughter Linda, you know and sent her all
manner of letters and presents besides ; and
now, in one moment, I'm to be told he's gone
abroad ! Gone abroad, indeed ! without a word
to her or to me, or to any of us. Of course
the poor child is terribly cut up. That infernal
Mrs. Springletop has been spreading the news
of her engagement all over London, and boast-
ing that she managed it all. I only wish to
Heaven that something unholy would fly away
with her ! Gone abroad, indeed ! This won't
do, you knowl"
I had never suspected that the smooth, creamy
tones peculiar to Mr. Buttermere, could have
been exchanged for accents so ferocious, or ca-
pable of a clinching malediction, which it would
be irregular to produce in print.
"I am quite certain," I replied, after a mo-
ment's pause, " that my friend Petersfeld is per-
fectly incapable of trifling with the affections of
any young lady. That he should have done so
in the case of your daughter, whom he met' at
your own table, is; to me, simply incredible.
Of course I am not going to suggest an explana-
tion in his absence. But that you have mistaken
his conduct altogether, and are bringing a very
needless charge against him, I would stake my
existence. I am satisfied that when he turns '
up as he is certain to do before long he will
be able to justify himself."
" Satisfied, indeed ! It is I who have to be
satisfied; and as to justification, he shall justify
himself, by George! or I'll know the reason
why ! Worsley, I now give you a message for
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
99
him personally, and I call upon you to deliver
it."
" Mr. Buttermere, nothing has ever passed
between us to warrant you in making me your
messenger in this peremptory manner. If you
like to entrust any communication to me, I
will convey it to Petersfeld, next time I see him.
If not, you will probably allow me to withdraw
from an unpleasant conversation, respecting mat-
ters with which I have nothing whatever to do."
For a minute at least Buttermere looked at
me with a steady mistrustful gaze, drawing his
hand slowly over his chin. Then he took a
sheet of note-paper from the stand before him,
and began to write. Then he suddenly stopped
short, and offering his hand, said :
" Worsley, you must excuse me. I have be-
haved confoundedly ill. But Linda was my pet
my darling. Worsley, what I have to say can
equally well go by the post. Good-bye. I am
sorry that you should have seen me make such
a fool of myself."
There was something to me inexpressibly
touching in the emotion of my old friend, whom
I had always regarded as the rcry impersonation
of easy and unchangeable good humor. Alas,
there is in- this world as Lambro, that famous
sea-solicitor discovered in his day many
" A deep grief,
Beyond a single gentleman's beliefc"
Especially among people who have daughters to
marry.
" If you will send your letter to our chambers,
Mr. Buttermere," I rejoined, "you may de-
pend upon it that Petersfeld shall receive it
within an hour after I meet him in town. In
any event, the moment I ascertain his where-
abouts, he shall be informed that it is awaiting
him, and demands his instant attention. Good-
bye, sir."
"Good-bye, Worsley, Will you tell my
clerk as you pass, that I am disengaged, and de-
sire him to show in the first consultation?
Good-bye."
It occurred to me, before I reached Stone
Buildings, that there was at least a possibility of
Paul's beating up his old quarters, at the St.
Mark's Bay Hotel. In short, it seemed so far
from unlikely, that I wrote him a short note
there, mentioning in a few words, the subject
of the interview which I had just held, as well
as the letter which awaited him, and strongly
advising him to return to London at once.
In point of fact, as you already know, Peters-
fold, so far from having gone abroad, was all
this time indulging himself in economical re-
tirement at that sequestered watering-place,
little suspecting the trouble which ho was giv-
ing his friends.
He found his good-natured host and hostess,
Mr. and Mrs. Maldon, in excellent health and
spirits. The weather was fine, and the season
had opened well. There was more than one
visitor in the coffee-room, and business was go-
ing on, and the private apartments going off, at
a rate of which nobody could complain.
Paul had a grand scheme in his head for re-
commencing his search after Helen, and the
very day after his arrival took the precaution
| of dropping a line to Mr. Bloss, to inquire if
! he was quite sure that she was still at large. An
answer by return of post, brought him Mr.
Bloss's compliments, and an assurance that
the five hundred pounds still remained un-
claimed.
It began to strike him, however, before he
! had been more than a day or two in the hotel,
j that although nobody could be more civil or at-
I teative than were Mr. Maldon and his wife,
there was something in their manner not altogeth-
er as cordial as before. Nothing is more difficult
to analyze than the conduct of our acquaintance,
when, for some undisooverable reason, we are
obliged to suspect that they like us less than for-
merly. In Paul's case, the change in their be-
havior, although utterly indescribable in words,
was sufficiently marked to occasion him both
annoyance and surprise.
His landlord, however, was not a man to keep
things to himself, or to expend needless curiosi-
ty upon his customers for want of asking ques-
tions. So, a few days after Paul's arrival, dur-
ing a conversation respecting rifle-practice and
volunteering in general, he suddenly broke
ground.
" Seen Mr. Tobacco to-day, sir?" he inquired
mysteriously.
"Seen whom?" retorted Paul, puzzled.
"Oh, I recollect. The dirty little rascal you
told me was a spy. Not I ! By the way, it's
odd enough, but, do you know, the day I left
your house last, he got into the train after me
followed me all the way to London Bridge Sta-
tion and saw me off to Paris ! "
"I know he did," remarked Mr. Maldon
gravely, and with an oracular nod.
"Come, come, my good friend, what the
deuce is the matter with you ? Tell us what
you mean, and have done with it. Only don't
cock your head, and say 'I knew it,' like a
bully at the Old Bailey."
"Beg your pardon, sir, I'm sure," replied
Mr. Maldon, with the air of a man unwilling to
give offense " but the trouble seems to be about
those notes, sir ; ns you must surely know."
"Troubje! What trouble? What notes?
My good friend, pray don't equivocate, but speak
your mind at once, if you've got one."
"Well then, sir; as wo were saying in this
very parlor you and me and Mrs. Maldon to-
gether, not so many evenings back there were
three Thousand Pound notes lost by Admiral
Mortlake of Riverwood over yonder, in a red
leather pocket-book. Well, those notes were
not only advertised, ef course, to be brought to
the bank here, but two chaps inspectives, de-
tectors, or whatever one should call them were
sent down from London, just to rout out, as we
understood, all about these bank notes, and
makb plain, as it were, why they didn't turn
up. And a precious lot of questions they ask-
ed, to be sure ; as much about Miss Helen as
100
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
the notes, so I hear ns if she was likely to have
found them, poor young lady. Well, at last
they went away, leaving word that it was all
most uncommonly odd. ' No need to come all
the way from London to tell us that,' says we.
Well, and when they went away, they left that
little prowling chap behind them, what for I
don't know. Always drinking at the ' Six
Bells,' close by the bank, he is. Well, sir,
and when you went into the bank t'other morn-
ing, and asked Mr. Crackleton, the manager,
quite sudden, and as it were sagacious, about
these very notes ; and told him to take the conse-
quences, and all that sort of thing, if he didn't
let out all he knew before you left the counter,
why Mr. Crackleton, very naturally, I mean for
him, took it into his head that he should like to
know a little who yon might be thinking you
wouldn't likely have asked the question just for
the mere fun of the thing. I'm only telling
you, sir, simply what I hear, you know, and,
what with being church-warden, and all that, I
naturally do hear a good deal of what goes on up
at St. Mark's. And so, as I couldn't and
shouldn't have thought of giving Mr. Crackleton
any information about you, sir, even if, in fact,
I'd had any to give, and wouldn't hear him
mention the matter twice over, what does he do
but set this chap, Tobacco, to dodge about here,
rfnd track you all the way right up to London, till
he could lay the regulars on, don't you see?
That's what he was up to. Only you gave him
the slip. That you did ! They never expected
you were going foreign, not they, and didn't find
him money enough for that sort of travel. Be-
sides, ho can't talk FreHch, of course, or any
thing over the way ; npt even if he kept sober
on purpose to try. So you got away, don't you
see ? I'm told he cried like a, pump, all over
the platform, directly the train started."
" Go on," retorted Paul, severely.
" Well sir ever since you've been back here,
I've noticed him as it were snuffing about after
you. He ain't a pleasant follower to have about
one, is he? He asked me a question or two,
only last night; and said it might be worth a
ten-pound note to him yet, to keep his eye on
"yon."
"I don't know what he values his eye at.
Under ten pounds, I hope. Go on."
' ' Well, that's about all, sir. I'm sure I've
meant no offense. I'm sure it's all quite right.
I've made Mrs. Maldon quite clear as to that,
sir. She's of the same mind as I am. I know
it's all right, sir. I'll take my oath to that, as
soon as you like. Pray, sir, name something
that I can have the pleasure of doing for you."
" If you will have the goodness to let my
bill be made out within ten minutes, I shall be
obliged."
Poor Mr. Maldon ! He was absolutely un-
conscious of having done wrong. He had been
a little inquisitive to be sure ; and had told
Paul, unasked, what other people had said of
him. And yet he fancied that he was either
very roughly treated, or that Paul must be a per-
fect Claude Duval. So little was he versed in
mankind.
Still, it is only justice to Paul to observe
that, great as the provocation may have been,
it was aggravated in the sudden overthrow of
his grand scheme, which was thenceforth out of
the question. To go gossiping and ferreting
about, with Me. Tobacco at his heels doing as
much for him, would be too ridiculous. Be-
sides, it could end in nothing less than homi-
cide. It occurred to him, to be sure, that he
might go to the bank and explain, once for all,
who he was, and what little good could come of
dogging him. But the obvious retort would
be "You may be, as you say, Mr. Petersfeld
of the Albany, and we are quite willing to be-
lieve you respectable : but what made you ask
that extraordinary question about the bank
notes ? What business was it of yours ? You
must hare had some reason. Satisfy us as to
that, and we will let you alone and welcome."
And what answer was it possible for him to
give ? To tell the truth was out of the ques-
tion, while to invent an excuse, even if such in-
genuity couldhave been justifiable, w>as altogeth-
er beyond his power.
It was a severe blow. Was this to be the
end of all his vaunted energy and resolution, of
which we heard so much at first starting ?
Shouldering his knapsack, and informing his
conscience-stricken host that, under the circum-
stances of the case, it was impossible that he
should prolong his sojourn at St. Mark's Bay,
he marched straight for the railway station.
What he meant to do whether to return to
town at once, and send for the tailor and Linda
to divide him between them, or how otherwise
to dispose of himself, he had not made up his
mind. In short, he not only didn't know where
he was going, but, what is more remarkable, it
is quite certain that the fact never will be
known.
For, on his way up the long straggling street
already described, and when just opposite the
" Six Bells," there came a loud cheery shout
fro'm a small, stout man, who had just mounted
a copper-colored-pony before the door.
"Hoy! I sav, sir, how d'ye do how d'ye
do?".
"Well, much as usual, thank ye!" replied
Paul, taking the friendly inquiry for market
chaff. ' ' Remember mejdndly when you get
home!"
"No, but, hoy! hang it! Stop, won't you,
Mr. I forget your name ?"
" Why', you, Mr. Bunny tail !"
Paul was one of those lucky people who nev-
er seem to confuse names or faces, and have the
former always handy for use.
" Thank ye, sir, I'm sure, for recollecting me.
It was at Master Buttermere's we met last,
wasn't it? Something like a blow out, that
was ! Will you come across and see ns, sir,
now that you're close by ? Make my good
lady as happy as a Princess Royal, that would.
You'll do it, won't you ?"
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
101
Mr. Bunnytail called his fat wife his good
lady, and revered her as a bloated aristocrat,
in consequence of her connection with the But-
termeres. To be redolent of Harley Street, was
rank and precedence at Bunnytail Bottom.
There was no reason in the world why Paul
should not accept the good-natured invitation.
His time was his own, and Bunnytail Bottom
as good a base of operations as St. Mark's-on-
the-Sea. Better, in fact. Indeed, this meeting
seemed a piece of unusual good luck.
" Do you really mean, Mr. Bunnytail, that
you would offer me a night's lodging ? I was
just on my way to catch the next train for Lon-
don ; at least, that would have been the end of
it, for I've had about enough of St. Mark's.
But I'll leave London alone for to-day, and pay
you and Mrs. Bunnytail a visit with the great-
est possible pleasure."
" Come, that's kind now ! Lodging for the
night, indeed !" exclaimed the farmer, who ab-
sorbed ideas gradually, and to whom a moder-
ately long sentence was worse traveling than a
ploughed field. " Lodging for the night ?
that's good ! That would be a joke, indeed,
wouldn't it ? Say three weeks, Master Peters-
feld say a month. The longer the better.
That's to say if you should be spared so long ;
as it's hardly reasonable to hope you will."
"Spared so long!" echoed Petersfeld. "I
hope I'm not on my last legs yet ! Not got
any thing infectious down your way, I hope.
No cholera ?"
"Lord love you, no ! 'Twasn't that sort of
sparing I meant. But if somebody that I
mustn't name, I suppose leastways, only as
Venus, as my good lady would say could only
spare you, I'll be bound we won't quarrel about
any thing till you come to speak about starting.
My good lady, down yonder, has talked of noth-
ing but you for the last two days and mor6 ;
nothing whatever."
" Talked of me ! Very kind of her, I'm sure.
Why she should have taken the trouble to rec-
ollect my name at all, is more than I can im-
agine."
"Eh?" exclaimed the farmer, with a tre-
mendous wink. "Quite fay-, sir, quite fair;
ha, ha, ha ! But now let's see. Out with the
filly directly, Joe, and claj> the new saddle on.
Dust her down, Joe, and look alive. And then,
Joe, you step over to the Bottom with this gent's
knapsack. That's about the time of day, sir!
Won't my good lady be proud and happy," con-
tinued he, looking at Petersfeld with the sort
of honest pride which comes over anglers when
they regard a twenty-four pound salmon fairly
landed on the grass.
Just at that moment the postman passed,
and handed my letter to Petersfeld. " For you,
I think, sir ? It's directed to the St. Mark's
Bay Hotel. I believe you were staying there."
" Quite right, thank you. Oh, from Wors-
ley, I see. Wonder what the old boy's found
to write about!" And Paul thrust the note,
unopened, into bis breastpocket, for he was ex-
tremely curious to know what Mr. Bunnytail
meant.
"Aye, she's talked of you, off and on," re-
sumed the farmer, as they jogged along down a
by-street, ''ever since that day she met you at the
Zoological Gardens, you recollect, and you sent
her home half-seas over with cherry bounce.
Ever since that famous dinner at Master But-
termere's, when wo spoke, I remember, about
that handsome young woman as had run away,
and was going to be rewarded if any body could
find her. I'm not much of a reader, myself,
and I never saw the story in print. Not found
yet, sir, I suppose, is she?"
" Not that I'm aware of. By the way, Mr.
Bunnytail, you told me, if I was lucky enough
to find her myself, to bring her to Bunnytail
Bottom."
" So I did, sure enough, and so IMo. What
I mean, I say, Mr. Petersfeld, and what I say, I
mean. And welcome you are to do it any day.
Ah, yes : now I recollect the whole story. She
ran away because she didn't want to stay at
home wasn't that it? And they offered a re-
ward for her persecution. More shame for
them, I say. Oh, yes. You bring her to Bun-
nytail Bottom, and let's see if they'll persecute
her there. Not while I've a cart-whip and a
horse-pond on the premises. She'll be quite
company for you, Mr. Petersfeld, won't she ?
Oh, no! Bless me I forgot. That would
never do now, would it?"
"Really, Mr. Bunnytail, you are determined
to puzzle me. Come, that's no use ! You might
wink your eye out without making me any the
wiser. And, if your're bent upon poking me
off my horse with that big whip of yours why,
do it at once, and get it over."
" Eh?" chuckled the farmer, who was mani-
festly laboring under that tremendous amount
of internal pressure characteristic of pastoral
badinage. " Quite fair, sir, quite fair ! ha, ha,
ha!"
As there is nothing to which even the most
good-natured people, who have not been brought
up to it, feel a more wholesome aversion than
waggery of this description, Paul changed the
subject as soon as possible, and their talk ran
upon bullocks and barley, all the way to Bunny-
tail Bottom.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
I AM not going to put your patience to the
test by any labored description of the agricultu-
ral retreat, which for little le'ss than a century
had been the modest castle of Clan Bunnytail.
I will only say that the first coup d"<cil presented
a large, comfortable, rambling farm-house of the
olden style. Around and behind rose out-build-
ings, barns, granaries, stables, cow-sheds, and
piggywiggeries, upon the most extensive scale ;
and a grand rookery, too, from which the birds
hoornycd in airy chorus, as if celebrating the
new arrival.
102
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
This was all that Petersfeld was able to take
in at the moment, for he was immediately usher-
ed into the parlor. Much as Mr. Bunnytail
would have liked to have had the drawing-room
arrayed for reception, and his good lady adorned
to match, it was,clearly out of the question. It
would never have done to keep Petersfeld wait-
ing ; while to postpone the triumph of present-
ing him, was simply impossible.
Accordingly, with buoyant alacrity, Mr. Bun-
ny tail danced into the room, hustling Paul be-
fore him as if he had been caught stealing eggs.
" Mr. Petersfeld, madam ! Madam, Mr. Peters-
feld !" he exclaimed, with eager voice and spark-
ling eyes; and then, tucking his riding-whip
under his coat-tail, straightened himself up into
an attitude of profound yet respectful curiosity,
waiting to see how the " nobs" would behave.
Mrs. Bunflytail looked, strange to say, sever-
al layers larger in her own house than she had
appeared at the Buttermere dinner. Perhaps
the smallness of the parlor caused an apparent
difference. Perhaps the fact that instead of
being tightly girthed in, and properly saddled
and bridled, she was dressed in the loosest pos-
sible costume, out of which nevertheless she was,
in the most- unmistakable manner, bursting at
every seam. Perhaps she was still growing.
She reminded Paul, indeed, of the lobster at the
Zoological Gardens, when in the act of splitting
up his old shell, preparatory to starting a new
suit.
The three impish children sat at play on the
carpet, diverting themselves with sheep's knuck-
le bones. There is a base mediaeval game,
which it appears can be played with no nicer
materials. I fancy I remember it at school,
under the name of " dibs."
Whatever Mrs. Bunnytail may have been
doing when Paul entered the room,' she seemed
heartily ashamed of detection ; and tumbled a
large basket hastily into the corner before she
could collect herself sufficiently to recognize her
visitor.
" Mr. Petersfeld ?" she exclaimed at last,
as she arose amazed from her sofa with the air
of a person who gradually'becomes aware of an
apparition. " Mr. Petersfeld ? Is it possible ?
Oh, how truly kind to come all the way from
London, and bring us the good news yourself!"
And, before Paul had leisure even to imagine
a reply, the good lady, sailing across the floor,
had clasped him to her bosom, and imprinted
upon his expostulating lips half a dozen of such
smacking kisses as made the room ring again.
" And all in such a moment, too !" contin-
ued the lady. " Oh, I was happy to get Carlo's
letter ! Not but that I knew well enough what
was in the wind ; only it seemed almost too
good to be true. Jump up, you little rogues,
and kiss your new cousin ; and thank him for
coming here to day."
"Mrs. Bunnytail!" exclaimed Paul, as soon
as he could find breath to speak, "what is the
meaning of all this ? You must be dreaming ! "
A dreadful suspicion and then a certainty
had flashed upon his mind almost at the same
moment; and a dream of the night, long since
forgotten, was remembered with intolerable ac-
curacy.
" Dreaming, indeed ! Well done you, Paul.
Why, when you're Linda's husband, and that's
as good as done, shan't I be your aunt, and Bun-
nytail there, your uncle ? and won't these pre-
cious pets be all your own cousins ? Oh, what
a blessed thing relationship is isn't it, Paul,
my dear ?"
" Seems about the right way to take it, don't
it, nephey?" struck in Mr. Bunnytail, respect-
fully ; observing the blank look of utter and in-
dignant astonishment with which this rapid
sketch of a new position was accepted.
' ' But I have no sort of intention of marrying
Miss Linda Buttermere, or any body else," re-
torted Paul. " The whole thing's a delusion ;
and I wish to Heaven you'd let it alone !"
" Not marry my niece !" screamed Mrs. Bun-
nytail. "What are you going to do to her
then, Paul? What have I got ears to hear
for and eyes to read writing for and Carlo's
letter in my pocket for, if you ain't going to
marry her? Oh, Petersfeld, you astonish me
now, indeed."
"Hoity, toity !" chimed in her husband ; not
so much for the value of the remark, as from
fear of being twitted with "want of spirit," if
he said nothing at all.
" You will rue the day, and rue the hour,
when you did this, you know," continued the
lady, portentously.
" Damages, nephey," commented the- farmer,
with a grave roll of his head.
"Yes, you will indeed, Paul. This night
shall my sister Carlo learn what it is most
meet that she should know. But, Paul if I
may still call you Paul you're not in earnest,
are you, reajjy ? You're only playing off your
fun upon us, as I do hope and believe. Oh,
Paul, if you was to turn out a scoundrel, it would
break the whole set of hearts in our family."
"Mine, anynow," came from Mr. Bunnytail,
with a profound sniff.
What to do with our nerves when we don't
want them, is one of the grandest secrets in the
world. How to keep cool under red-hot press-
ure, and leisurely " take occasion by the hand"
instead of being run away with by ourselves, is a
problem very deep. Paul had gone through
his course at Hythe, and perhaps had picked it
up there. ' At any rate, with all his tendency to
impulsive and immediate action, he could some-
times be cool where coolness was indispensable,
and think in a critical moment. Just then, he
certainly had need of all his savoir faire. To
have stubbornly withstood this overwhelming
woman and her husband would have ended in
his being turned out of the house. Not that
this would have been any such irreparable ca-
lamity; but goodness only knew what was in
store for him in Harley Street, or how far Mrs.
Bunnytail might contrive to complicate mat-
ters.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
103
"If you would only allow me one moment
to explain, Mrs. Bunnytail," he said, "I feel
confident that we should understand each other.
You will listen to me, will you not?"
" Oh, if you want to explain," remarked Mrs.
Bunnytail, bridling loftily, " go on, Mr. Peters-
feld, as long as you please."
To a, certain order of minds, the idea of an
explanation is associated with a contrite atti-
tude, and a miserable hope of being forgiven.
"As long as you please, nephey," repeated
Mr. Bunnytail. "You shall speak the truth,
and the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
mind ; because, so help you, that's the law.
Will you take a nip of something, nephey, before
you confess? Beer brandy or gooseberry
wine ? Only put a name to it, nephey. It may
be a help, don't you see ?"
" Thank you, " replied Petersfeld, feeling very
much as if he were in the custody, of a couple
of orang-outangs, at their private residence in
Java, "I think I can get through it without as-
sistance. Of course, Mrs. Bunnytail, your sis-
ter, Mrs. Buttermere, is in the habit Of giving
you the very earliest information upon all points
of family interest ?"
" That she is, Peter I mean Paul," replied
the lady. "You may depend upon that. For
I say to her always, Carlo, say I Do you tell
me all that is right and proper I should know,
and behave true and handsome to me, as I to
you, and then all's fair and square between us.
But don't you think to play hide-and-seek with
me, because I don't stand that at any price ;
and -if I haven't news from you, to tell the
Shankers, and the Greens, and the Beestleys,
and the Swabstalls, and the rest of my neigh-
bors, why I'll invent for my credit sake. I
ain't going to have it whispered about that my
sister in Harley Street looks down upon me
from the top windows of her haughty mansion,
and that I don't know more of what goes on in-
side than the scullion in her kitchen."
"My good lady has the soul of a noblewom-
an, and well she may,'' remarked Mr. Bunny-
tail, admiringly.
" To be sure.
But do you know, Mrs. Bun-
nytail, that what you have just told me seems
to afford a simple explanation of the whole
matter."
" Not to me," interrupted the lady sharply.
" Not one bit of good your explaining, if I ain't
made happy and satisfied."
" Of course not. But I am sure you must
have observed that engagements of this kind,
always supposing them to exist at all, invariably
occupy some considerable time among the high-
er circles "
"Oh, yes!
That may be. But they always
come to the same thing in the end."
"Not always, Mrs. Bunnytail, as your expe-
rience of society will remind you. Now, my
dear madam," continued Petersfeld, "the fact,
I am confident, is this : Your sister, Mrs. But-
termere, in her anxiety to afford you the earliest
possible information upon an interesting subject,
has been slightly premature. She has told you
what she no doubt believed was, or would turn
out to be, the truth ; but before it was at all wise
to mention it even among relations. You would
not have done so by her, had the case been re-
versed." Your better judgment would have in-
duced yon to withhold all information upon so
delicate a subject even to a sister until there
could be no longer the possibility of mistake."
"Mistake, indeed!" cried Mrs. Bunnytail,
who was rapidly getting out of her depth.
" Why, as I said just now, what had I got eyes
to see for, and ears to hear for, in Harley Street,
let alone the Zoological Gardens, which was a
sight in itself ? Ah, you won't get out of that,
Paul, my man, in a hurry ! And what have I
got Carlo's letter in my pocket for at this very
moment? What's the meaning of this?" con-
tinued she, producing the document referred
to from some extraordinary marsupial cavity.
" How about half a dozen chemises trimmed
with Valenciennes lace, and as many with
worked edges ? How about six white petticoats,
all with rich flouncing, and colored skirts em-
broidered and braided ? How about silk stock-
ings and pocket-handkerchiefs, and all the rest
of it? What's Linda to be trussed for if she
ain't going to be married? Answer me that,
Ruil!"
Petersfeld grew desperate. The foolish mam-
ma had evidently made up her mind that he
was safely hooked ; and had not only imparted
the fact to her sister, but for fear of being
suspected of suppressing a material fact had
regaled her with the description of a possible
trousseau, for the edification of her country
friends.
" I tell you what, Mrs. Bunnytail," he ex-
claimed, without farther care or caution, " this
is going a little too far! Linda and I have
only met twice in our lives, and all the rest is
mistake and delusion. If you don't choose to
believe me, all I can say is that this moment I
leave your house. I'll go up in a balloon, or
down a mine, or right away to the end of Egypt,
and never come back till I hear Linda's married
and done for ! You're enough to drive a man
mad among you. Yes you may look as you
like, but I'll stand no more of this idiotic non-
sense; and so good-bye to you both."
"Good-bye, indeed! Not if B. does his
duty. B., do it like a man ! Don't let him
go. Stand up for your own niece. Fight for
her, B. !"
Fighting for any body was entirely out of Mr.
Bunnytail's line ; but standing as ho did in
ghostly and bodily fear of his wife, cs]>ccially
when invoked as a simple consonant, ho pre-
pared for the worst. Hoping something, per-
haps, from a little experimental demonstration,
he began by backing against his parlor door,
and saying "Wo ho!" like a carter.
" Come, come, my good friends, all this is
foolish. You don't think you are going to arrest
me, I suppose. Why not part without quarrel-
ling, if wo can ? Mr. Bunnytail, you appear
10-t
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
to be trying to sit down, which is impossible
upon a perpendicular surface. Hadn't you
better come back to your chair ?"
" B. ! why don't you seize him, before he
escapes ?" cried the good lady, at the top of her
voice.
"Madam, because I'm not so sure he'd let
me loose again," replied her husband, brushing
the wall behind him in all directions, with his
eyes fixed on Petersfeld, like a comet with tail
turned away from th,e sun. "My nephey's
blood's up. I can see that. Now, look here,
you two ! Can't we see a cool and kindly way
out of all this ? So long as nephey likes to stay
with us here, and the longer the better say we
both, why not promise to say nothing to no-
body ? Why should we? So long as he's safe
to hand, where 's the good of driving on matters ?
They'll come all right in the end, I'll be bound.
He's not up to the mark at present, madam,
our nephey ain't. That's clear as the day.
Look at him. Lean as a tree, with no red
about him anyhow. Let me feed him up here
for a fortnight, and he'll take off his hat to him-
self in a glass, that he will ! He's pining now :
nothing else. Won't be fit for trussing forever
so long. Come, madam, what do you say ?"
After considerable discussion, Mrs. Bunny-
tail was induced to promise that, so long as Paul
chose to consider himself as one of the family
at Bunnytail Bottom, and made no attempt to
elope without warning, she would refrain from
denouncing him to her sister in Harley Street.
Not that she gave her consent without mis-
givings of the most complicated description,
which were all volubly reviewed for Paul's
benefit. But her husband, who, to do him
justice, was animated by all good feeling, and
actuated by considerable good sense, ultimately
carried his point.
As for Paul, he certainly was to be pitied.
The humiliation of being pounced upon by a
farmer's wife, and finding himself after capture
a sort of prisoner on parole, was a horrible
absurdity, But what was he to do ? Was he
to allow himself to be driven out of the house,
as he had been out of the St. Mark's Bay Hotel,
by his own over-sensitiveness, and roam the
country like a wandering Jew? Was he to
permit this disastrous woman to write what she
liked of him to the Buttermeres, and not only
keep the dreadful question alive, but perhaps
render any satisfactory solution impossible?
Was he to give up his pursuit altogether, and
return to Stone Buildings a beaten man, with
his character for energy disposed of altogether,
in exchange for the consequences of a painful
and deplorable blunder?
He resolved to sacrifice every thing for a little
breathing-time, and with very bad grace at
must be confessed reaccepted the farmer's
hospitality, and consented to make himself at
home at Bunnytail Bottom.
The preliminaries of peace thus settled, were
ratified by the high contracting parties over a
tea of tremendous proportions. Story-tellers
are fond of making ill-natured fun of these rustic
hospitalities, and describing the amount of
home-made bread, reeking toast, and pig in all
its phases, forced upon the distended and per-
spiring guest. However, I can safely say that
all descriptions which I ever read, fall short of
a reality in which I was myself an actor.
Probably I have got hold of the wrong word.
I don't imagine that the Dean of Canterbury
would allow a man to be an actor (active) who
only sat impatiently still to be stuffed (passive).
But I declare that I left the table with some
thoughts of having myself stamped "proof,"
like a gun-barrel, since, after that, whatever
may happen to me, I am certain never to
burst.
Next morning Petersfeld was called out of
bed at cock-crow to behold the milking, and
the whole forenoon was devoted to a grand in-
spection of the farm and its belongings. Bunny-
tail was delighted with his visitor, and made
no secret of his contempt for the policy Avhich
had cut up the making of a first-rate farmer, to
manufacture nothing better than a limb of the
law.
Solomon, the bull, was first visited, praised
and patted, and his various points of excellence,
and noble pedigree, enlarged upon with unspar-
ing eloquence. And once set going, Bunny-
tail took care that Paul should know no rest,
until he was almost as well acquainted with the
stock and premises as he was himself. Like
Farmer Philip in the idyl, taking our young
friend remorselessly in tow,
" He led him through the short sweet-smelling lanes
Of his wheat suburb, babbling as he went.
He praised his land, his horses, his machines;
He praised his ploughs, his cows, his hogs, his doga ;
He praised his hens, his geese, his guinea-hens ;
His pigeons, who, in session on their roofs,
Approved him, bowing at their own deserts.
Then from the plaintive mother's teat he took
Her blind and shuddering puppies, naming each."
And so on, until another gluttonous bell an-
nounced the hour of noon, and that the board
was again covered, for more serious work than
ever.
Dinner over, Petersfeld was pleased to find
his host and hostess retire to their respective
arm-chairs, and begin to snore like a couple of
old-fashioned giants.
Availing himself of the welcome opportunity,
he lost no time in turning out for a quiet stroll.
"Oh, solitude, where are thy charms?" may
have been the song of Alexander Selkirk. To
any person undergoing a course of penal educa-
tion upon the "separate system," the absolute
immunity from interruption, and the liberty of
pursuing, in consequence, any desirable train
of thought to its utmost limit, may savor of
what gormands deprecate as toujours perdrix.
But as clothes to the cold, food to the famishing,
sleep to the weary, and balm to broken heads,
so is perfect loneliness to one who has been
bored to extinction, and escaped as by a mira-
cle. We seem to drift idly on, through sheets
of delicious calm, and the very sensation of ex-
istence becomes, in itself, enjoyable.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
But PetersfelJ had a great deal to think
about. Now or never was the time to put into
execution the grand scheme of which we have
already heard. What this scheme was, I need
hardly be at the trouble of telling you, for rea-
sons which you will discover for yourself, before
you have read five pages farther. I will only
say that it was based upon the fact that, by his
recent journey to Paris, he had ascertained, be-
yond all possibility of doubt, that Helen had not
left home with her friends, and that consequent-
ly he felt himself released from all obligation to
conduct his inquiries with the care and reticence
which he had scrupulously observed while that
question remained open. He knew, now, that
something was wrong somewhere, and that peo-
ple had been deliberately deceived. He there-
fore -considered himself at liberty to act upon
his own discretion, and cut, if he could, the
knot which appeared so difficult to untie, with-
out farther ceremony.
Just at that moment, while rummaging for
his cigar-case, he pulled out my still unopened
letter. Its contents horrified him. Matters
had been black enough before, but he had al-
ways trusted that the misconception, as between
himself and Linda, was one which Vould right
itself easily enough, and that he might at least
count upon Buttermere's practical good sense to
view the matter in its proper light, should it
ever become sufficiently serious to call for his
attention. But to find that the latter had al-
ready taken it up in such uncompromising ear-
nest, was a frightful fact, and seemed for the
moment to paralyze his energies altogether.
So this was the result of that fatal advertise-
ment !
Angry, irresolute, and in utter despair, he
wandered for hours about the country, wonder-
ing what was the best thing to be done. To
rush off instantly to London, and ask my own
advice, was his first impulse. To be sure, Mrs.
Bunnytail would consider him a deserter, and
send hue and cry after him by the evening post.
But that was of little consequence, as matters
stood. It might be more gracious, after all, to
go back for his knapsack, and wish his late en-
tertainers'a^proper good-bye. He had still plen-
ty of time. ' It was but little after three o'clock,
and it might be better not to arrive in London
before dark.
His meditations were interrupted, or rather
his attention distracted, by finding that he had
quifie inadvertently arrived at the boundary of
the Riverwood estate. He had approached it,
in fact, from a direction contrary to that which
ho had previously taken, and his proximity was
altogether a surprise. A low stone wall was
all tli at separated him from the pleasure-grounds,
and within little more than a hundred yards
from the road he could distinguish the tftiy
weathor-cock which surmounted Helen's sum-
mer-house, veering and twinkling in the sun.
Nothing could have been more disconcerting
at the moment. "It is well," he growled,
" that I should own myself a fool and an im-
postor, upon this particular spot. I have thrown
away both time and money in a pursuit which
none but a lunatic would have undertaken, and
I am justly punished by finding myself in a
scrape of which goodness only knows the end.
No matter ! I am awake at kst. I will clear
my mind of the whole of this egregious business
while I can. In that arbor I will stand and
swear the most solemn oath I can think of to
abandon this accursed chase forever, and tiy to
be wiser through time to come. Energy, in-
deed ! I hate the word. Mine has been the
energy of Milo if the comparison isn't too pre-
posterously in his favor. Let me only find my
hands loose again, and Worsley may thraSh me
like a donkey before I give another- kick with-
out reason. As to this Miss Fleetlands," con-
tinued he, striding leisurely over <lhe fence,
"from this moment I wash my hands of her
rights and wrongs. I only wish I had never
heard of her. Positively, if I found her at this
moment, sewn up in a sack, and labeled ' Con-
stantinople,' I wouldn't interfere unless I saw
them going to hang her upside down. So now,
then!"
As Paul reached the summer-house, the door
was quietly unlocked, and a young lady de-
scended the steps.
She was dressed in brown silk, with a purple
cloth jacket ; and her white straw hat, trimmed
with black velvet, was ornamented with a grey
grebe feather.
Paul staggered and started back.
He knew at once that it was Helen.
A sudden thrill shot through every fibre.
A sensation, such as few experience more
than once in a life-time, held him planted where
he stood.
As for Helen, she sprang fonvard, with a
half-uttered exclamation of delight ; and then,
violently trembling, drew back, cold and pale.
In the bewilderment of sudden meeting, and
amid the shadow of the yews, she had mistaken
Paul for Ferdinand.
CHAPTER XXIX.
AND how cajne Helen there ?
Fortunately for you, if you are disposed to
put the question, it is one which in due course
of story-telling must at once receive a solution.
We left her hurrying from her guardian's
room, toward that precious depository in the
garden, whither all materials for, as she hoped,
complete and impenetrable disguise had already
been so carefully transported. Once there, the
work of disfigurement was rapid enough. Her
usual dress was thrown off in a moment, and as
quickly locked up in a cupboard. And tin-
slops, which came out in exchange, not only
made- her look seriously old at once, but, having
been padded aftor the light of nature, pave her
a buxom aspect in the way of waist and shoul-
ders which at once rendered identification im-
possible.
106
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWAED.
A touch or so of color, rubbed on at random,
produced a result which was quite reassuring,
as examined in her pocket-mirror. To attach a
small bit of black sticking-plaster to one of her
front teeth was the next process ; but the result
was so hideously successful that feminine phi-
losophy gave way, and the experiment was
abandoned. However, when her bonnet was at
last tied tight under chin her shawl adjusted
house-maid fashion her basket on her arm,
and a pair of fat worsted gloves, which were a
feature in themselves, assumed, to make all
complete, she would have liked nothing better
than to drop a courtesy to the admiral himself.
Whatever may have been her sensations as
she stepped lightly over the stile which bound-
ed the Riverwood property, and marched for the
first time Ih her life an independent traveler
upon the Queen's highway, she started with un-
wavering pluck and resolution. It was too
late to look back ; and there was not much use
in looking forward, for that matter. Events
would have to shape themselves ; and so she
trudged straight to the Bunnytail Station, cer-
tain admonitory lines ringing warning as she
walked.
" 'Tis said that the Lion will turn and flee
From a maid in the pride of her purity,
But, anyhow, if she's a wi?e little thing,
She'll steer quite clear of the Beastly King !"
Luckily for her, the Lion happened not to be
abroad that evening, and she arrived within
view of the station without the necessity of ex-
changing a word with any one.
"Come along, Jess!" exclaimed a young
woman, in a weary tone, who was walking in
the same direction, upon the opposite s^de of
the road. "You keep up with me or you'll be
left behind."
"Can't, mother," replied Jess, with a shrill
sob. " It's the bundle won't come not me !"
"Well, you must make it. I've got the
child to earn-, and ever so much besides.
You'll hear the train-bell ring next ; and then
we shall be lost, and no mistake. 1 '
"Ain't much farther, mother, is it?"
' ' No. Not a step, scarcely. Can't you see
those lights yonder?"
"Can't see nothing over the bundle," gasped
the unfortunate mite, hugging the unwieldy
affair to her bosom, as if it had been the dearest
friend she had in the world.
"Poor little thing," exclaimed Helen, good- |
naturedly crossing the road. ' ' You carry my i
bag for me, and I'll carry the bundle. That
will be fair enough, won't it ?"
" Yes, thanky !" gasped Jess, delighted. "I'll
carry the bag for you, and no mistake."
" Don't do no such thing, ma'am," interposed
the mother. " It's not for the like of you to be
carrying our baggage. We'll do well enough,
and thank you all the same. It's not far to go,
now."
"Nonsense!" said Helen. "Who do you
take me for, I wonder. Poor people must help
one another."
"Well, it's very kind of you, I'm sure,
ma'am, but I'm afraid you'll find the bundle over-
heavy."
"What makes you call me ma'am?" de-
manded Helen, impatiently. " Can't you see
that I'm not a lady ? You are going by train,
I suppose. So am I.". It was rather too bad
to be detected by the first tramp she met.
Perhaps had her new acquaintance been
better np in poetry than she probably was, she
might have retorted, with the Seneschal of Ar-
tornish :
" Worship and birth to me are known
By look by bearing, and by tone:
Not by furred robe, or broidered zone."
But, having no such resource at command,
she merely murmured "No offense, miss, and
thank you kindly. Jess, little maid, mind and
carry careful. Don't you drop the bag what-
ever you do. Hush, baby darling, we're almost
home now."
" And we'll see daddy again there, won't we,
mother?" cried Jess, skipping along with the
bag. "You know you said we should see him
again, didn't you ?"
There was no answer to this question. The
baby was only rolled round and smothered with
kisses. It was not until they reached the
bridge over the line, that a quiet husky voice
said " Yes, we are going by the train. We
have a long way to travel."
''So have I, "observed Helen, gently. "How
far do you go to-night?"
"AH the way to Izzle'worth town."
"Just where I'm going myself."
"Is it, indeed!" exclaimed the young wom-
an. "But I dare say you'll travel not with
us. You go third-class too, though, perhaps,"
she added, nervously ; trusting that in this dar-
ing attempt to get right, she was not blunder-
ing beyond all possibility of forgiveness.
" Third-class ! yes, I'm going third-class,
like you," replied Helen, clutching eagerly at
any thing like companionship. "I've no mon-
ey to throw away, I assure you. Do you know
what the fare comes to?"
' ' Twelve shillings, ma'am, the full-sized tick-
et, and six shillings for Jess. Eighteen shil-
lings, with nothing in the world to show for it at
the other end. It's like flinging money all
about in the dirt, isn't it ? It's all the same to
them, I should say, whether I get in or not.
If I don't, where's their eighteen shillings?
If I do, what odds does it make to the train ?
If I'd got another eighteen shillings, I shouldn't
mind so much. But I haven't."
"Well, take a ticket for me," said Helen,
producing her money. "I'll mind Jess and
the traps. Say you want another ticket for
your sister, then they'll be sure to put us all
together, and it's lonely traveling without some
one to talk to."
Unhesitatingly committing herself to this
very shallow piece of strategy, the woman soon
returned with the tickets ; and, almost at the
same moment, a pair of calm expanding eyes,
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
107
devouring the dusk, appeared in the distance.
Helen held Jess tight by the hand, so that nei-
ther could run away. Then the bell rang ; the
train pulled up with a crash and a grind, looking
weird and large as train never looked before,
with lamps burning, and people smoking.
"Any one for Bunnytail ? Third-class, behind !
Now then, young woman, look alive!" And
the guard hustled Helen and her companions
into a third-class compartment, and blew his
whistle, before he shut the door with a bang.
" That's a nice steady man, and I should like
to give him a shilling," thought Helen. " He
can trust his own eyes. People like that give
no trouble."
I may as well notice here, by way of pa-
renthesis, that it was to this fortunate encoun-
ter upon the road that Helen was indebted for
the chief element of mystery which surrounded
her disappearance perhaps for making a suc-
cessful business of it at all.
The station-master at Bunnytail, in answer
to close and persistent interrogatories, was so
confident that nobody had left his station by that
particular train, which happened to be the latest
of the day, except two females with babies and
bundles, who took third-class tickets, that the
detectives gave up the rail theory altogether.
Oddly enough, at the St. Mark's Station they
fancied that they had got hold of a clue, which
they followed with profound sagacity as far as
St. Bees, where they overhauled the wrong lady,
and re-appeared in disgrace.
The journey passed quietly enough. There
were several people in the compartment, and
the only thing which struck Helen as remark-
able, was a sort of honost spontaneous friendli-
ness which is not cultivated in coupes and first-
class carriages. Nobody seemed to feel that a
remark needed an apology, or that the common-
est act of civility might be construed as an af-
front. On the contrary, an old lady, who at
once addressed the mother as " my dear," over-
flowed with valuable advice as to the nurture
and admonition of the baby ; while a working-
man, after offering Jess tobacco by way of in-
troduction, took her upon his lap and conjured
lollipops out of his trousers pocket. Indeed,
he seemed to have quite a quantity ff these
delicacies binned away somewhere about him,
for he gave them away right and left, and one
which he presented to Helen was speckled all
over with sawdust, and tasted of timber.
The story which the poor woman had to tell,
and which it seemed to be a relief to her to tell
again and again, was sad, not strange. Her
husband, a carpenter at St. Mark's, had died sud-
denly a few weeks before. In an instant the
blight and the shadow of death fell upon all that
he had left behind. Her home was broken up,
her furniture sold, and that "daily bread" for
which, I am afraid, too many of us pray like
parrots every morning, with about as much ear-
nestness as if asking that the sun may continue
to shine, and the earth to revolve as usual, was
no longer forthcoming for her children's meals.
In despair, she was making her way to her late
husband's father in Izzleworth not hoping
much, poor soul ; for "the more the merrier,"
is a welcome only heard in first-class company.
And three new mouths to be fed, fresh from a
third-class van, could only, as she was aware,
come down like a calamity upon a household in
which daily bread had not only to be prayed
for, but watched and worked for in good
earnest.
It was just as well for Helen that she caught
this glimpse of real trouble to compare with her
own dissatisfaction. Rarely in early life do we
make acquaintance with pain, mental or bodily.
And when the truth breaks upon us like a sur-
prise, and we learn the conditions under which
we actually live, we are ashamed of the fuss
which we used to make in our ignorance, and
understand that we have still an education to
complete.
"I suppose you'll go to your clergyman when
you get settled, shan't you ?" said Helen.
" What's his name ? How old is he ? Perhaps
he'll give you a lift."
" Doctor Orchard was our clergyman, ma'am,
when I left Izzleworth but that's six years ago.
I hope he's not dead too. He was a nice kind
old gentleman as ever lived."
"I think clergymen ought always to be old.
I've no patience with young ones. They are al-
ways conceited, and a great deal too fond of
their own opinion."
" Well, we must all have a beginning, ma'am,
mustn't we ? I'm sure I heard Dr. Orchard's
curate preach a wonderful sermon once about
Daniel in the lion's den. You should have
heard him, ma'am, when he come to the lions !"
"Very likely. I hope he did you good.
Curates are all very well in their way ; but as
to making a beginning, the worst of it is that
they make it at our expense. However, "con-
tinued Helen, much relieved by certain infor-
mation which she had just obtained, "that's a
matter which is no business of mine. Poor lit-
tle Jess ! you look as if you had had quite
enough of the train. How old is she ?"
"Five, ma'am. That is, she will be five
next Monday as ever is. Poor thing ! we used
to keep her birthday."
" I wish you would give her this from me on
Monday, will you ? I've rolled it up in this
piece of paper. Don't open it till then. It's
only a trifle, and you can spend it for her."
" Surely, ma'am ; and thank you kindly."
It was three sovereigns, which Helen, in gen-
erous disregard of the value of money, had pri-
vately extracted from her purse, and folded in
a neat little packet.
" Do you know, ma'am, I think this must be
Izzleworth. That's the factory, where all those
lights are. Yes, I should know the place any-
where. "
It is not likely that sho will over recognize it
anywhere else. But it is a strange sensation,
that of hurrying into ft new town for the first
time by lamp-light. Nothing seems absolutely
108
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
real. The shadowy buildings the changing
streets, the vague window-lights, the smoulder-
ing fires and outlying lantern-pickets on the Ijne
side, as the train pulls up, whirl past like pictures
in a dream, from which we suddenly recover
ourselves bright awake in time for the too prac-
tical rush and tussle upon the platform.
As Helen had no luggage to look after, she
lost no time in walking courageously into the
street. It had always been her project to apply
in the first instance to the clergyman of the place
at which she might happen to arrive, with a story
which, when it came to be subsequently sifted,
she hoped would be considered as a natural and
excusable fib. A clergyman, as she innocently
supposed, would hardly dismiss a friendless
young woman into the streets the last thing at
night. It would be almost his duty to see that
she was decently taken care of; and, if so, some-
thing might turn up in the morning. Moreover,
sjiould she find his ecclesiastical hospitality un-
satisfactory, what could be easier than to slip off
a hundred miles or so without notice, and try
the same experiment elsewhere. This seemed
quite a promising programme, combining all the
amusement of traveling with the advantages of
orthodox society. And, so long as her funds
lasted, there seemed no reason against its being
continued until her friends at Riverwood had
received a lesson which they would never forget.
It was delightful to think of the consternation
which must have already begun at the Lawn ;
but a certain nervous wish to find a roof over
her head left her no time to make the most of
the reflection.
Asking her way at the first baker's, she paced
rapidly along the street, for the shops were be- '
ing closed, and there was no time to be lost. :
The red leather note-case began to be a dreadful '.
weight upon her mind. She was heartily vexed j
with herself for having been willful enough to j
' take it, for not only did it seem certain that it '
would either crawl out of her pocket upon its ;
own hook or lead to her being robbed and mur-
dered at the first dark corner, but she had a
vague impression that people were sometimes !
stopped and questioned by constables when found
abroad at irregular hours, and searched in case !
they failed to give a fluent account of themsejves. |
And since it was morally impossible that any
piece of autobiology which she could offer at |
short notice would be considered satisfactory in the j
presence of these overwhelming documents, there
was nothing for it but to hope very heartily that
she might be left alone.
Fortunately such was the case. She only
fell in with one policeman, to whom she appealed
at once, by way of throwing him off his guard.
And when the youth pointed carelessly with his
thumb, and replied, '.'Orchard's? Two doors
down there left hand side," she experienced an
indescribable sensation of relief.
Izzleworth Vicarage, as seen in the dusk, was
a large, roomy, red-brick building, standing
well back from the road, and protected in that
direction by a broad belt of shrubbery. There
was a handsome glass porch before the door,
with a large bell-pull, which produced an unex-
pectedly loud noise in answer to Helen's modest
appeal.
A dreadful contingency at once flashed upon
"her mind. It might be opened by a footman !
That was a casualty upon which she had never
counted. To stand confronted with a footman
in her absurd disguise ; to be obliged to bandv
question and answer, and to be made the butt of
his hideous pleasantries, would be no common
scrape. But she was in for it now, whatever
might happen, since to retreat was out of the
question.
To her great joy the door was opened by a
florid old lady with a flat candlestick. All that
could be seen at the first glimpse was a hand-
some capj a little nose, a complexion which re-
minded j'ou of apples not gathered yesterday,
and a pair of twinkling eyes of the quick in-
quisitive order, which at once began playing
upon Helen from head to foot.
"Well. Now then. Who's this?"
"Is this Doctor Orchard's, ma'am?"
" Why, you've rung the bell. What made
you ring it for, if you didn't know that ? Yes,
it is Doctor Orchard's ! Now then. What is
it?"
"I should like to see Doctor Orchard, if you
please."
" If I please ! Suppose he's not at home. "
Helen's heart sunk within her, if that solu-
tion of a deplorable sensation be anatomically
admissible.
"I am very anxious indeed to see him. I
am in this town by mistake, and have nowhere
to turn. I only wish to ask if he could put me
in the way of obtaining shelter for the night.
I don't wan-t money, or any thing of that sort. "
" And how comes it that you are in this town
by mistake, and have nowhere to turn?" de-
manded the janitrix, allowing Helen to enter
the hall, but sun-eying her by such close candle-
light that it was just as well she had no whis-
kers to singe. "What shall I tell the doctor?
He's busy you see, now, and don't like being dis-
turbed. Only just look at the clock. You
couldn't possibly, I suppose, walk back to the
station, nd take the train for where you was
going, and where you ought, of course, to be by
rights before this ; and then we should have no
bother here, don't you see ? They're civil people
at the station, and you'll get a ticket for almost
anywhere, with nothing to pay, if you only
say that they've carried you wrong. That's
about what you'd better do, to my mind."
" Couldn't possibly," replied Helen. " Don't
know my way back in the dark, to begin with."
"Dark, indeed ! You'd have been more wel-
come if you'd come by day-light," snapped the
old lady. "Funny time to call, this is. Well,
wait there," she added, closing the door. N "I
must talk to the doctor, I suppose. What he'll
say, I'm sure I don't know."
Whatever the doctor may have said, the libra-
ry door was presently reopened, and Helen
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS EEWARD.
109
found herself in the presence of a burly, curly,
elderly gentleman with a rosy face and a benev-
olent eye, who looked up from the charity ser-
mon which he was in the act of preparing with
the air of one to whom interruptions come as
matters of course, and are disposed of as fast as
they happen.
"Well! What's the matter? Lost your
way on the rail is that it ?"
"Yes, sir, if you please, I have lost my way.
And I ventured to call here in hopes that you
might be able to direct me to some proper lodg-
ing for the night. I was never here before, and
I am alone. I really do not know what to do."
" Mrs. Nosegay," said the doctor.
"Sir," said the lady.
" Leave us for a few minutes, if you please."
Mrs. Nosegay, by turning one ear to her mas-
ter, and steadying the opposite eye upon Helen,
seemed anxious to afford either party the oppor-
tunity of providing her with some crumb af in-
formation to carry down stairs. But perceiving
that nothing whatever would be said while
she remained in the room, she shook eye and
ear into their regular places, and retired in dis-
pleasure.
Doctor Orchard looked Helen rather hard in
the face much harder and longer, indeed, than
she thought either necessary or gracious. Not,
of course, that upon calling at a strange house at
half-past tea at night you are to expect to be
bowed up stairs at once to the best bedroom, but
still the look was one of something more than
mere ordinary curiosity. There was, however,
nothing for it but to confront it as best she might,
and wonder to herself whether they could ever
possibly hata met before, and if she was going to
hear her own name pronounced directly.
At last, with a good-natured blink which was
not exactly a smile, but the cheerful arrange-
ment of countenance which comes over people
who have solved a riddle, or made a good specu-
lation, or otherwise brought intellect to bear to
some -purpose, he laid aside his pen, drew his
arm-chair toward- the fire, and said gravely and
gently :
"Tell me in two words* why you are here.
That is, if you can if you please, in short.
Don't be afraid. We will take care of you.
Just give me something to say to Mrs. Orchard.
Sit down, if you are tired. You shall have tea
directly."
Helen could have burst into tears upon the
spot. It was not the words themselves, but the
kind, deliberate, powerful manner in which they
were spoken, that upset her. She felt it impos-
sible to prevaricate, and yet to condense a satis-
factory answer into a few words was impossible.
"I had to quit my last place on a sudden,"
she answered, almost unconsciously. " Things
happened which obliged me to leave. It was no
fault of mine, I assure you. I have a very good
character."
"Let's look at it," said the doctor, holding
out his hand.
" Oh, I didn't mean a written one," cried Hel-
en, growing utterly bewildered ; conscious that the
fatigue and excitement of the day had been too
much for her, and that she was betraying herself
as fast as possible " I meant "
"I see! You meant a good conscience! Come,
that's a better thing still. Well, we will take
care of you for the night at all events. It hap-
pens luckily that we have a room vacant next
Mrs. Nosegay's, and she shall look after you.
Mrs. Nosegay, "continued he, as that lady re-ap-
peared with marvelous rapidity in answer to the
bell, "this young person is under your protec-
tion for the night. You will have the goodness
to make her very comfortable. I havo special
reasons for these orders. She will explain to me
to-morrow enough to enable me to forward her
to her destination. In the mean time, I have
forbidden her to explain any thing. She recjuires
rest now." And, with a courteous wave of his
hand, Helen found herself dismissed.
It is not to be supposed that any amount of
precept or exhortation would have bound Mrs.
Nosegay's tongue, or that under ordinary circum-
stances she would have gone to rest without such
an account of Helen's previous life and belong-
ings as would have done credit to the persever-
ance of a grand inquisitor. Luckily, however,
Helen was no sooner in the housekeeper's room,
than Mrs. Nosegay made the startling discovery
that she was " a real lady." Her hands betray-
ed her at once. Indeed she was no longer in
the mood for masquerade, even if she had been
enough of an actress to play out her assumed
character with success. And this discovery,
while it infinitely inflamed Mrs. Nosegay's curi-
osity, not only paralyzed all attempt to gratify it
in the usual manner, but made her so shy and
obsequious that it was a relief to both parties
when bed-time put an end to their conversa-
tion.
In short, Helen was shown into a tidy little
servant's room adjoining Mrs. Nosegay's own
dormitory, and, after all possible wants had been
most kindly and carefully provided for, was left
at last in peace and silence, to muse over the
events of the day.
And the more she thought about them, the
more unreal did the whole affair begin to seem.
It appeared a week, at least, since she had
changed her dress in the summer-house. Th6
railway journey seemed an episode of very dis-
tant date ; and the strangely considerate and
even cordial reception which, in spite of her dis-
figuring disguise, had been so readily accorded,
grew into an actual mystery before she fell asleep.
Something in his manner toward her seemed to
suggest that Doctor Orchard was influenced by
other motives than those of mere charitable good
nature but the elimination of that something
was a task beyond her power.
As a last precaution, she fastened the red
leather pocket-book by a ribbon just below her
knee, a little extra-careful device which perhaps
I have no business to mention, but the wisdom of
which appeared by its being found perfectly safe
in the morning.
110
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
CHAPTER XXX.
" SIR," said Doctor Johnson, one day, " what
n man has no right to ask, you may refuse to
communicate; and there is no other means of
preserving a secret but a flat denial. For, if
you are silent, or hesitate, or evade, it will be
held equivalent to confession."
A nice lot of liars we should all make, if we
gave in to this cool philosophy. But that some
speculation of the kind ran through Helen's brain
when she awoke next morning, and reflected
upon the account which she would probably be
expected to give of herself, is perhaps not the
less probable. A change, however, in one re-
spect seemed to be passing over her mind.
Doctor Orchard's kindness had made a deep im-
pression. A sense of the uselessness of all ef-
forts at concealment was gradually growing up,
as well as a sort of undefined consciousness that
results were being taken out of her own hands.
So she dressed ; and, after carefully securing
the pocket-book about her bosom, went down to
Mrs. Nosegay's breakfast.
It was ten by the chime of the hall-clock before
she received a summons to the library. Thither
Mrs. Nosegay attended her, all civility, and with
as much pride at having improved her costume
into something presentable, as if she had been
Helen's own waiting-maid.
The doctor was there in his arm-chair by the
fire, in just the same attitude, loose coat and
slippers as she had left him in the night before.
The same papers seemed littered upon the desk,
and he was playing with the pen which she had
last seen in his hand. It looked almost as if he
might have forgotten to go to bed.
" Good-morning! "he said, as Helen entered
the room, fixing upon her as he spoke the same
grave penetrating gaze which had disconcerted
her the evening before. ' ' I hope you have slept
well and been properly cared for. Let us see
now what we can do for you. There is no hurry
at all ; remember that. Remain here as long
as you please. But, if you wish to leave us, let
me know where you would like to be sent, and
I will see to your being properly packed up and
directed, at all events."
"I couldn't think of trespassing upon your
kindness any longer, sir. Now that it's day-
light, I can find my own way."
"Aye, but where? You came here last
night lost on the rail. Where do your father
and mother live ?"
' ' I never spoke to a father or mother in my
life,'' replied Helen. " I am alone. I told you
so."
" But your friends ? Don't resent questions.
I must help you, you know. It is my duty."
" My friends obliged me to leave them ; and
that is my whole story. I am not going back
to them at present. I choose to remain away."
" You choose to remain away ! And you
only eighteen last birthday," resumed the doc-
tor, with a more puzzled look than before.
"Eighteen," replied Helen, mechanically.
It seemed almost superfluous to acquiesce.
Doctor Orchard evidently knew all about her,
if he only chose to say so.
"This is a sad business very sad. I am
not quite unprepared for what you tell me ; but
we must consider what is best to be done. Ex-
cuse me if I leave you for ten minutes. I wish
to consult Mrs. Orchard in the next room."
Thus left to herself, Helen had leisure to look
about her. It was a handsome and almost lux-
uriously furnished study, opening into a small
conservatory. All around were massive book-
cases, filled with evidently costly volumes, and
what was particularly noticeable at first sight,
quite an array of busts-and heads some of mar-
ble, some of plaster, which stared you out of
countenance on all sides. The tops of the book-
cases were crowded with these silent effigies.
Others, more honored, were accommodated with
private brackets ; while little knots of heads ap-
peared to be conversing in all corners ; and two
or three, less favored still, were evidently hatch-
ing mischief under the table. Some of them at-
tracted Helen's girlish curiosity at once. They
seemed to be faces which she had seen some-
where, and ought to remember. The sensation
was not entirely pleasant.
It was upward of ten more than twenty
minutes before the doctor returned. " Come!"
he said, reinstating himself in his arm-chair,
"all is arranged. Nothing could suit better.
Sit down now, and listen to me."
The same indefinable sense of power which
had struck her the evening before, compelled
Helen to obey like a child. She was to be told
what to do. In fact, she had found a new
master.
"You have a secret a reservation," con-
tinued the doctor, "which you probably wish
to keep. I don't ask it. I should not listen to
it at this moment. Whenever you deliberately
wish for my advice, it shall be yours. In the
mean time, observe this. I am a father my-
self, and indeed have daughters much about
your own age. Whatever I should wish a man
to do by my own daughter, did she ever appeal
to him for aid in a difficulty, I will do by you.
You will be inquired after before long, I have
no doubt. In that case, I give you fair warn-
ing that I shall exercise my own discretion. I
shall do just as I should wish the man to do.
Until then I intend to place you in a situation
of safety, where you will be perfectly unmolest-
ed, and absolutely out of the way of inquisitive
people. Mrs. Orchard will explain all'particu-
lars, and convey you thither. To invite yon
to remain here would be agajnst your own in-
terest. We should only excite the curiosity
of all Izzleworth. Tell me simply, that yon
trust yourself in my hands until farther notice,
and I shall be satisfied."
"I do, indeed, sir!" replied Helen. "I
don't know how to thank you enough for^ all
your kindness. As to my secret that I will
tell you -with pleasure, at any moment. I
would rather do so, I assure you."
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
"Tell it me when yon find yourself per-
fectly free. Now let me take you to Mrs.
Orchard."
"But " began Helen, not knowing exactly
what she was going to say, yet overwhelmed
with irrepressible curiosity.
."But what?"
"I beg your pardon, sir! But it is impos-
sibfe to receive all this care and kindness with-
out a sensation which I don't know how to ex-
press. I have had a feeling too, ever since I
came into your house, that you knew all about
me every single thing. Do you really ? You
have not treated me like a stranger; *and I
can't understand it at all. It is like a dream
to find myself received as if I had actually come
by invitation. You won't mind my asking, will
you ? And how did you know that I was eight-
een last birthday ?"
"One must be a conjurer indeed, to guess
that mustn't one ?" returned the doctor, rub-
bing his hands and looking pleased all over.
"Ha, ha! Your question delights me more
than I can tell. Know all about you indeed !
I wouldn't have had you miss this .house for
twenty pounds. No, my dear young lady !
Seriously, I am not only at this moment in per-
fect ignorance of your name, but I have not the
slightest conception as to what part of the king-
dom you may come from. And, what is more,
I know for certain that, until last evening, I
never saw your face before."
"You know that!" exclaimed Helen, amazed.
" Certainly."
This made matters worse than ever. Doc-
tors of Divinity are ,not supposed to dabble in
a^iy thing very deep still less to entertain
familiars that " peep and mutter ;" and this neg-
ative assurance, so confidently given, sounded
more like necromancy than any thing else.
"Now you puzzle me quite. I could not
say tHat myself of any face in the world."
" Neither could I, if you mean that yon could
not speak so positively with reference to each
and every face which might come before you.
But you're wrong, I'll answer for it, in say-
ing that you couldn't do so with regard to any
face. Look at me, now. Did you ever see
me before? Don't think; but answer, yes or
no."
Helen looked for a moment at that round
plump rosy countenance, that keen twinkling
eye, bold forehead, and firm good-natured
mouth, and replied, " No. Not at least since
I was a child."
" Very well answered. I don't suppose yon
ever did. But if I wore the face of Frederic
the Great, for instance, the question would have
seemed ridiculous. You would have answered
that to have seen such a face and forgotten it
would be quite impossible. There would be
nothing to consider about nothing at all.
Did you ever hear of the great Philosopher of
Zurich?"
"No, sir, never."
" What ! Not of Jean Caspar Lavater ?"
Ill
" Oh, yes. Of course I've heard of Lavater.
He was a great phrenologist, wasn't he ?"
" He was the father of Physiognomy, the
sister science. I am one of his disciples. Physi-
ognomy has been my hobby, and I hope an in-
nocent one, for the last thirty years. I am at
last beginning to walk alone. All round the
room you see my teachers. Lavater was right
when he recommended above all things the
study of moulded busts. You can handle
them, turn them, examine and measure them,
entirely at your ease. That is your true edu-
cation. Of course in this, as in every other
science, infallibility is beyond our reach. We
aim high, it is true, but at a point which fools
only actually expect to strike. Nevertheless, I
can safely say that, during the last dozen years,
I have been deceived in my first estimate of
character from countenance very slightly and
very rarely never altogether."
"That does not make the matter less of a
mystery to me," replied Helen, smiling.
" There is no mystery about it! When one
considers the astounding fact, that among the
countless millions who swarm upon this earth,
there are as many bodies as minds ; that there
are no two human organizations precisely alike
certainly no two minds and when we add to
this that in our present stage of existence the
mind can only act through the agency of the
body, it is surely no extravagant conjecture that
external difference of face and figure may have
a certain relation a necessary analogy to the
internal difference of heart and mind. Is not
this much more reasonable than to suppose that
minds and bodies were distributed" chance-med-
ley ? But we know that they are not. ' What
treatment would that man deserve,' asks Lava-
ter himself, with indignation, ' who presumed
to assert that Leibnitz might have conceived the
Theodicea in a brain like that of a Laplander ;
or that Newton might have balanced the plan-
ets and divided the rays of the sun, in a head
resembling that of an Esquimau, who can
reckon no farther than six, and calls all beyond
it innumerable?' This, you will answer, is
merely a question of power. Granted : but it
is part of a principle. Come with me to Han-
well, and I will show you heads which never
could have held a responsible brain. Come to
Dartmoor or. Portland, and I will point out
skulls which couldn't possibly hold an honest
one. These are simple facts, which all experi-
ence not only warrants us in accepting, but
forces upon us, whether we will or no. Is there
then any clue to the nicer shades of character,
as printed upon the outward face? Unhesitat-
ingly we answer, yes. Every day's experience
convinces us that there is such a correspondence.
Every day, consciously or unconsciously, we
pass judgment accordingly. We speak of a
good and of a bad countenance. Wo say that
such a face expresses pride ; of another that us
owner must be morose and peevish. A third wo
declare looks sly, and a fourth benevolent.
One face talks to us of cheerful activity.'nnotlicr
112
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
only of brutal indolence. We could trust one
face : we doubt and detest the next. And we
are usually pretty much in the right, at least
in the more marked cases. Now, with this clue
in his hand, who would sit down contented?
What should we think of the man who, having
discovered that there was sense to be extracted
from a hieroglyphic, and having actually deci-
phered some half dozen lines, gave up all farther
attempts as useless, and declared that the rest
was either unintelligible altogether, or a mere
blind string of casual crooks and dots? The
physiognomist does not stop. He is not con-
tent with perceiving that one particular face un-
mistakably announces some special endowment
say sincerity, for instance without demajid-
ing why, and tracing the same quality in others
which to a casual observer would indicate noth-
ing of the kind. Neither is he content to deal
alone with those qualities which are in general
more boldly proclaimed upon the face. He re-
verses the process, and dissects the lineaments
of men remarkable for some especial gift wit,
judgment, eloquence, fortitude, or what not.
He traces at last some line, some curve, some
peculiarity of formation in lip or nose, eye or
forehead, common to these men in their several
classes. -He recognizes the same mark in a
stranger, and spares no pains to discover wheth-
er, in his case, it announces a like possession ;
if so,. lie continues his investigation, until what
was originally only conjecture, assumes the place
of an established fact, and he can congratulate
himself upon having added one link, at least, to
the noblest knowledge of mankind. This is a
most vague, 'imperfect sketch of what we physi-
ognomists venture to attempt. To indicate
even the bounds and borders of our science,
would be impossible in mere conversation.
Even Lavater avowedly wrote only in fragments,
and confessed himself incompetent for the fin-
ished task."
" I can't conceive how you could have formed
any opinion about me, in such a moment," per-
sisted Helen.
"The true physiognomist the man who has
learned to grasp a face at all decides always by
first impressions. That is one of Lavater's
golden rules. If I decide wrongly, it is not
because I have been precipitate, but because I
didn't understand my business. 4 Never mind
what I saw in your own case ; I saw enough to
justify me in acting as I did, and as I am doing.
I told you just now that I had never seen your
face before. I could safely say so, because if I
had I should have considered it with interest
made a mental note of it, in fact. I should
have liked to touch your head, too. Allow me to
do so now. Will you look toward the window ?"
"Ah, just as I should have expected," con-
tinued the doctor, dropping his fingers upon
Helen's brow, as if he had been striking chords
upon a piano. "All firm and sound, and bal-
anced welL Hey ? what have we here ? Ac-
quisitiveness, I declare and a little marked.
Not run away with the family spoons, I hope?"
Helen felt herself blush and tremble. The
red leather pocket-book which weighed upon her
bosom, in more senses than one, might be in-
quired about after the next pat.
"No. I was just able to resist that tempta-
tion," she said, trying to evade farther scrutiny.
"Ha, ha ! Combativeness, I declare. I had
not traveled quite so far down the parietal, but
I'll be bound there's no mistake about it. Don't
be affronted. Acquisitiveness is no bad point
in itself; without it, no one can take care of
their own, or even enjoy their property. You'll
ask me next, why I didn't find out this by phys-
iognomy. Well, we have two weapons : phys-
iognomy, like the rifle, which strikes at a dis-
tance. Phrenology, like the bayonet, which we
play with at close quarters, when we get the
chance. I should like to give you my views
upon the whole matter, but that is impossible
while Mrs. Orchard is waiting. Come along
with me, and in the mean time, allow me to thank
you for the pleasantest ride on my hobby I've
had for I don't know how long ! Stay, I forgot.
You have not told me your name, yet. Will
you do so ?"
Helen looked him in the face. Neither
could avoid laughing, as their eyes met.
' "Yes; that must be part of the bargain. It
is necessary that I should know it."
"I am Helen Fleetlands, sir."
"Thank you. The name is new to me. If
you like to call yourself Miss Brown for the
present, do so by all means. No one shall know
who you are through me, unless with your own
permission. Now, come along."
Mrs. Orchard, a nice, bright, bustling little
woman, received Helen with genuine good na-
ture, mixed with some slight shyness at the ir-
regular nature of the introduction.
" You've had a good lecture on physiognomy,
I'll answer for it, by this time ! I don't know
when I've seen my husband so pleased as when
he came up stairs last night and announced the
discovery he had made. Well, he has made
me promise to ask no questions, and you may
be sure I don't want to ask any ; but he is satis-
fied that you have reasons for wishing to remain
cachee at present, and has himself arranged a
plan which I should hope would suit you per-
fectly. When the doctor is satisfied, I am, of
course ; but indeed, there's no need to be a phys-
iognomist in your case"; at least, if there is,
I'm one myself!"
"You are very kind," said Helen. " I have
told Doctor Orchard that I am ready to explain
to him at any moment who I am, and how I
come to be here "
' ' Oh yes ! But you mustn't explain to me !
It would be as much as my place is worth to
listen. You have no other clothes with you, I
presume? I am obliged to ask the question."
"None at alk These are a disguise. I
made them myself."
"Hadn't you better employ somebody else,
next time?" asked the lady, laughing. "I am
afraid we must change them for you. But I am
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
113
forgetting what I was told to propose. Doctor
Orchard, you must know, has a sister who lives
some five miles from this a sad invalid, poor
thing. Her late companion was obliged to
leave her suddenly, only last week, and she is
miserable without one, and not yet suited. Now,
Doctor Orchard thought that if you liked to go
and stay with her for a week or so in short
until things took the right turn in your case, as
I dare say they will before long, it might be
pleasant for both parties. Any one whom her
brother sends, Miss Orchard will welcome gladly.
You will have no duties, except the attentions
which one naturally pays to the afflicted. As
to salary, you would of course resent the offer,
so that the favor will be upon your side. There
you will be perfectly safe and quiet, you see.
Will you go ?"
" That I will, most gladly. It is the very
thing, above all others, that I should have
wished for, had such a chance ever come into
my head."
" Then we will lose no time. I could drive
you over there; but that wouldn't do. Mrs.
Nosegay is too provoking; and if she had the
least idea that you weren't sent home again di-
rectly, wo should ' never hear the end of it.
What a pity it is that such chatter-boxes were
ever invented. Every chatter-box should have a
regular lock, and some steady person to keep
the key. That would be a capital plan, wouldn't
it? No, I must take you in the carriage to the
station. Then she'll think you've gone right
away by train, and forget all about you. I'll
send the carriage home, and go on with you to
Fell's Road, the first station out of Izzleworth,
and we'll take a fly across to King's Woodlands ;
not much more than a mile. That will do fa-
mously. And as to dress, why we must borrow
one from my eldest daughter, which will fit you
to a nicety. Not that it matters much as re-
gards Miss Orchard, for she's almost blind, poor
thing ; but the servants would talk, you know.
And I must lend you a box, mustn't I, or peo-
ple would wonder. When you get to King's
Woodlands you can make your own arrange-
ments. By the bye, Doctor Orchard specially
charged me to ask yon whether you had brought
any money with you. You see his physiognomy
couldn't tell him that!"
" Plenty, thank you. Enough for all possi-
ble-purposes."
"That is well. Then suppose we start in
half an hour."
I have no occasion to lengthen my story by
giving you an account of the house in which
before luncheon-time Helen found herself fairly
installed. It was simply a neat, quiet cottage
standing in its own grounds, just within sight
of the smoke and spires of Izzleworth. Miss
Orchard, several years older than her brother,
was, as Helen had been prepared to find, a sad
invalid ; almost helpless, and all but blind.
From Helen she required little, except the sen-
sation of her presence ; but the voice and man-
ner of her new companion struck her instantly,
H
and she sent word back to her brother that he
had found her a real treasure. He must have
been pleased, I should think, with this additional
testimony to the value of first impressions.
And now in comparative solitude, and relieved
from the fret and worry of Riverwood, Helen
had time to turn her thoughts inward, and re-
flect upon what her life had been upon the
strange position into which she had so unexpect-
edly stumbled upon all that might be going
on elsewhere, and upon the future that was to
be. Gradually, and to her own infinite confu-
sion, she recognized the stupendous folly of
which she had been guilty in plunging unpro-
tected and alone amid the eddies of this extra-
ordinary world. Vague glimpses haunted her
of what might have happened had her drifting
been less providentially directed. And the very
sensation of safety became so vivid and delight-
ful, that when poor Miss Orchard wanted her to
promise to remain with her so long as she lived,
and offered to settle two hundred pounds a year
upon her for life if she would strike the bargain,
she almost felt that in devotion to this lone and
ailing woman, it would be pleasant to repay the
great debt of gratitude which she owed to her
brother. And then she thought of Riverwood
Lawn, and her grim old guardian and his wife.
It never crossed her mind that they would have
left England in her absence indeed the journey
(I suppose for financial reasons) had always
been talked of as projected for her especial bene-
fit. There was a keen, malicious pleasure in
picturing the extravagant amount of wonder and
confusion which her disappearence must have
created ; but, as days passed on,, this reflection was
indulged in subject to one serious qualification.
When young ladies are lost, people usually
think it worth while to advertise. Helen was
quite aware of this, and fully prepared to be ad-
vertised for. Moreover, she guessed, and cor-
rectly, that Doctor Orchard would feel it his duty
to watch the papers upon her account. Every
morning she expected to see him appear with
the Times in his hand, and to be obliged to re-
count her whole story, in the hope that per-
chance he might be induced to regard matters
from her own point of view, and not insist on
packing her off instanter. But as day after day
went over her head, and to all appearance no
more notice was taken of her departure than
would have been vouchsafed in the case of the
kitchen cat, she became puzzled, impatient, and
at last quite angry. It had cost her a great
deal of trouble to manage her successful escape.
And now it positively seemed that if she had
ordered a post-chaise, and driven away in broad
day-light, nobody would have taken the trouble
to remonstrate. This was very provoking : but
furnished another reason for not going back in
a hurry.
Long and earnestly too she thought of Fer-
dinand, with the calm and happy trustfulness of
a young and ardent mind which has never known
the pangs of doubt, or the blight of disappointed
love. She knew that, for the time, correspond-
114
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
ence was impossible. But what of that ? She
was as confident as of her own existence, that
his heart turned to her as faithfully as her own
to him. A few weeks more, and, come what
might, a grand revolution in her prospects must
necessarily take place, and their next meeting
might not be so very far distant after all. All
was vague indeed and uncertain, but there was
a rosy dawn in the distance, and she must brave-
ly await its breaking.
Doctor Orchard, however, as time rolled on
began to wonder seriously. He could make
neither head nor tail of the business. There
was not the slightest doubt upon his mind but
that Helen was a young lady of birth and posi-
tion ; and that her absence should apparently be
treated with perfect indifference by those whose
duty it was to care for her, was to him most
unaccountable. The motive from which, as we
know, the advertisement respecting her had been
delayed, very naturally never occurred to him.
He searched files of all the London papers from
a date a week at least antecedent to that of Hel-
en's arrival, and continued his unsuccessful in-
vestigations day by day for a fortnight after-
ward, when he gave up the attempt in despair.
For some inscrutable reason she had been per-
mitted to depart in peace. He was ten times
upon the point of calling upon her to explain
every thing; but then the reflection occurred
to him that after all he had no right to force
her to gratify his own private curiosity. If her
friends didn't choose to inquire after her through
the ordinary channels, it was they who were
alone to blame. She was perfectly safe where
she was. He should be able to account for every
moment of her time. Moreover, and irregular
considerations of this kind will present them-
selves to the best constituted minds, it was quite
evident that her presence was new life to his
afflicted sister. No hireling either would or
could have done for her all that Helen did so
cheerfully and gracefully every day. So Doc-
tor Orchard at last resolved that, unless some-
thing were heard of Helen by a time which he
fixed in his own mind, he would allow matters
to remain as they were. When that period ar-
rived, he intended to point out to her the neces-
sity, for her own sake, of a full explanation.
In the mean time, having given up his daily
search in the papers, the advertisement which
gives its title to this volume never attracted
his attention ; and, but for an.accident, the whole
affair would have remained as great a mystery
as ever until the young lady herself thought
proper to solve the riddle.
CHAPTER XXXI.
ONE morning, while looking out of the break-
fast-room window at King's Woodlands, Helen
was surprised to see the doctor's great glittering
black spatterdashes striding hastily toward the
door. The doctor himself was evidently plunged
in thought, and carried a newspaper. There
was no need to guess at what had happened.
"Found, at last," thought Helen; "and a
precious time they've been about it !"
"Well, my dear young lady," he said, taking
Helen's hand between both of his own; "I
dare say you have your suspicions as to what
brings me here this morning."
"Well yes ;" replied Helen frankly, as she
glanced at the paper in his hand. A sort of
nervous sensation came over her for the mo-
ment ; for, do yon know that to read an adver-
tisement respecting yourself is one of the most
trying things in life. People really should think
twice before they advertise for one another.
' ' Ah, bother that paper ! It's almost a fort-
night old. I'm a dolt and a dunce not fit for
regular business of any sort or kind, I verily be-
lieve. But, come now, tell me this. You
didn't happen to leave any thing behind you at
Bunnytail Station, did you ? No trunk, parcel,
bonnet-box, or any thing else ?"
" Certainly not, Doctor Orchard ; and for a
very good reason."
" Ha, ha ! Well, now I'll tell you how the
whole thing came about. I chanced to be visit-
ing among some of the small houses in Izzle-
worth yesterday, when a poor woman, Mrs.
Feltham I think she calls herself, asked me who
the young lady might be whom she had seen in
my wife's carriage a week or so since. At last
I made out that she meant you, and then it all
came out. She met you that's her story
walking alone to Bunnytail Station. Yon
traveled here together ; and you gave her three
pounds when you parted, like a princess in dis-
guise, which naturally made her wonder why
you chose to cross the country third-class, in-
stead of staying at home to ride your camel.
Of course, I couldn't enlighten her upon that
point, and I was at first really perplexed as to
what I ought to do. I had neglected looking in
the paper of late, because, to tell the truth, I fan-
cied that for some strange reason or other your
friends didn't intend to inquire after you in that
way. However, upon going again to our read-
ing-room to consult the file, this was the very
first paper I chanced to lay my hand on. Will
you tell me whether that paragraph concerns
you or not ?"
We have read the advertisement ourselves al-
ready. Here it is once more :
"FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD! Disap-
peared lately, a YOUNG LADY, aged eighteen, or very
distinguished appearance. She is slender and of middle
height dark hair and eyes pale clear complexion, and ia
in manner peculiarly graceful and self-possessed. She had
with her a very considerable sum of money ; but, it is be-
lieved, no personal luggage whatever. She was dressed,
on leaving home, in a brown silk dress, purple cloth jacket,
white straw hat, trimmed with black velvet, and grebe
feather. Wore a curious oriental gold bracelet, plain
gold guard-chain, and watch by Rosenthal, Paris. Who-
ever will bring her to Mr. Bloss, solicitor, No. 14 New
Square, Lincoln's Inn, or give information leading to her
recovery, shall receive the above reward. Thursday,
May 1."
Helen read the passage from end to end, her
color heightening all the time.
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
115
"It must mean me, I suppose," she said at
last. " That was the dress I wore. I know
Mr. Bloss by name. I think he was my papa's
solicitor, or had something to do with the prop-
erty. But this is painful, Doctor Orchard
dreadfully painful."
"Not so pleasant as might be, I am afraid.
Nevertheless, since I, who never had the good
fortune to see you in a brown silk dress and
purple cloth jacket, or white straw hat trimmed
with black velvet, contrived to recognize the
portr^t at once, we must not quarrel with your
description. Now, you know, I have only one
course open. As a clergyman, a gentleman,
and a father, I am bound to take the matter out
of your hands. I do so from this moment.
Mr. Bloss, whose name I see here, is, I suppose,
.1 mere man of business. You have no fancy
for being carried to his office, I presume ?"
" Certainly not. Admiral Mortlake, of Riv-
erwood, is my guardian. I left his house the
veiy day upon which I arrived at yours. It is
no use talking about reasons now, but I fancied
that I had very good ones for acting as I did.
I am perfectly ready to go back."
"Good," replied the doctor, making a note
in his pocket-book. "This, then, is the course
which I propose. I shall write to the admiral
by to-night's post to apprise him of your safety,
and accompany you myself to Riverwood to-
morrow by the ten o'clock train. I do not ask
your acquiescence ; because, as I have already
told you, I mean to relieve you of all farther re-
sponsibility. But if you have any objections,
let me hear them."
"I couldn't think of allowing you to take such
a journey upon my account," replied Helen.
"I found my way here alone, and I can easily
take myself back."
" But it is my duty not to permit it. Your hav-
ing done a foolish thing once, is no reason for do-
ing it over again. Besides, you said something to
me, when you first came, about your friends
having obliged you to leave them. A regular
misunderstanding, I suppose ?"
' ' I had better tell you the whole story,
hadn't I?" said Helen. " I have often wished
to do so, and I shouldn't be happy in leaving
without letting you know all about me. I have
sometimes wondered that you should never have
asked."
" Hum ! Perhaps not from want of curiosi-
ty. Tell me now, however. I shall be delights
ed to listen."
In as few words as possible, Helen told her
tale ; sufficiently, at least, to show what had
been her leading motive in running away.
"And now, Doctor Orchard," she exclaimed,
as she concluded, "I am quite satisfied ! Five
hundred pounds ! My goodness, what a sum to
offer. Oh, I'll answer for it the admiral must
have been in the most dreadful fidget, before he
thought of giving that much. . Somebody must
have made him do it ; for he's a great deal too
stingy to have offered it out of his own head.
I really am quite delighted. There must have
been the most famous to-do, and the whole thing
will be cleared up now. Don't you think it
will?"
"I hope that every thing may turn out as
you wish ; but I am no lawyer, and do not suf-
ficiently understand your position to offer any
opinion. But, as regards your returning home
alone, you must recollect one thing. This ad-
vertisement has been read, as you may suppose,
by thousands upon thousands of people. Every
body in your neighborhood must be on the q ui
vive, with such an immense reward in the air.
You will be stopped before you reach Riverwood
Lawn, as surely as you stand upon that rug."
" I see you are determined to claim the re-
ward yourself," laughed Helen.
"Upon my honor, I think I deserve it a great
deal better than the first clown you may meet ;
who will pounce upon you with a great whoop,
and scamper away with you like a sack, making
the whole parish ring with the noise of his good
luck!"
"My good gracious me ! What a dreadful
position to be in to be liable to be taken up by
any body !"
" I am afraid it is exactly the position in
which you have placed yourself. However,
upon second thoughts, and after hearing your
story, I believe it may be as well that I should
not accompany you personally. I don't suppose
I should be over-welcome, and it might almost
look as if I came to have the pleasure of mag-
nanimously declining the reward. No, I won't
go ; but I will do what will answer equally
well. I'll send my gardener, David, along with
you. He'll travel second-class, so that you'll
know nothing about him ; but, in any emer-
gency, recollect that you're in his custody by
my written orders. When you reach home,
send him to the right-about without ceremony.
I think that will do."
" Dear Doctor Orchard, how very kind and
clever you are ! But, is it absolutely necessary
that you should write beforehand ? I would so
much rather return unexpectedly if I might."
And then came out all Helen's little plan.
She had set her heart upon reaching the sum-
mer-house unobserved, and there quietly array-
ing herself in the identical dress which she had
worn on leaving Riverwood, and which had
been so graphically described in the advertise-
ment. Then she proposed to walk boldly into
the house, as if she had never been away at all,
and take her chance of what might happen.
She had no fears as to the result. She intended
to be a helpless ward no longer. " Defiance,
not Defense !" was to be the watch-word of the
coming day.
The doctor good-naturedly yielded. "You
shall carry my letter yourself," he said. "A
letter must be written. You have no idea of
the care which is required in matters of this
kind. You have no conception of the awful
forfeit which this prank of yours might have
demanded. Don't think of that now ; but
submit to any thing rather than run such a risk
116
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
again. By the way, I quite forgot to ask how
about this ' very considerable sum of money, '
which I see mentioned in the paper ?"
" Ah, that was my folly. I did carry away
some bank notes, and they have been the plague
of my life ever since. I really did so out of the
merest mischief. My guardian } felt had been
wronging me for ever so long, and I thought it
only fair play to frighten him out of his wits.
Besides, I wanted my disappearance to make a
great row ; and I thought that every little would
help. But the notes are quite safe. They are
in my pocket at this moment."
" Oh dear me. The family spoons after all !
Well, this only makes it the more imperative
that no time should be lost, and no risks run.
Remember that these notes are really a danger-
ous possession. I don't know that it ought
to alter arrangements," continued the doctor
thoughtfully. "I don't know that it is my
business to inquire farther. But, for Heaven's
sake, be very careful. You might be arrested
at any moment upon a warrant for having them
about you. I almost wish you hadn't told me
this. Don't let us say any more about them.
Get them out of your own hands at the first
possible moment, whatever you do."
And the next morning saw Helen in the train.
There had been quite a sorrowful parting all
round. Miss Orchard was in despair, and
would have doubled her late generous offer, if
there had been any use in doing that. The
doctor felt as if he had been taking leave of a
daughter ; and Helen herself was conscious of
a sense of dislocation such as she could never have
imagined would have attended the severance
of so short an acquaintance. But partings are
the rule of this life ; although we only notice
them when they are painful.
"Write to me when you get home," said the
doctor. "Write at all events when you get
married. I must send you a souvenir. I think
it shall be myself in white wax. You didn't
notice me, I dare say, among the much better
company upon my book-shelves ?"
' ' Do send me your face, Doctor Orchard ! It
shall have the very best place in my room."
" You shall have it. Physiognomy forever !
People laugh at us physiognomists at us who
see them through and through ! Don't forget
David. He is in the next carriage. Give me
your hand once more. Let us hope that we
may meet again."
"We'll manage that much, some day, which
is better than hoping. You shall have a good
long letter before long. I am only sorry I can
not stay upon Miss Orchard's account."
In due time the train arrived at the Bunny-
tail Station. Followed by David, whojslouched
after her at a respectful distance, ready however
to do any amount of combat on her behalf
at the shortest notice, Helen reached the out-
skirts of her guardian's territory, which she re-
entered exactly at the same spot by which she
had quitted it, more than three weeks before.
"Thank you, David," she said. " You see
I am safe at last. You can tell the doctor that
you left me upon my own ground. I am vexed
that I can't ask you to the house. But you'll
find a little inn close to the station ; and you'll
have time to get some dinner before the next
train." And dropping five shillings into his
hand, she disappeared among the trees.
The cupboards were exactly as she had left
them. Nobody had thought of searching the
place, and the doors had never been unlocked.
In ten minutes' time her clothes were slipped
off, and she stood dressed in exactly the^ame
attire which she had worn on that memorable
Thursday afternoon. Had Paul arrived a trifle
earlier, he would have been too soon to catch
her in that costume perhaps too late to find
her in the other.
Agitated as she was at the moment, his sud-
den appearance upset her altogether. A mist
came over her eyes, and for an instant she
fancied that Ferdinand himself stood before her.
As she recognized a stranger, her heart after
one sharp bound seemed . to waver and then
stand still. She did not speak.
"Miss Fleetlands!" exclaimed Paul, unable
to contain himself in his astonishment.
"You know me ?" replied Helen, after an em-
barrassing pause. "Perhaps you were looking
for me," she added, with returning composure.
" I have read an advertisement relating to
you, Miss Fleetlands ; and of course recognized
you at once. I know perhaps more than I have
any business to know," continued he, stammer-
ing and blushing like a school-boy, " but I hope
that you will believe that I am entirely at your
disposal, and that you may implicitly count upon
my services, should there be any which I can pos-
sibly render."
"You have been amusing yourself with trying
to discover me, I suppose, ever since you saw the
advertisement," retorted Helen, with sudden dis-
pleasure.
" Not with any sordid motive, I assure you,
upon my honor. I am a gentleman a barrister
of Lincoln's Inn. I certainly amused myself,
as you say, by following up the announcement
which appeared in the Times, just as one might
try to solve a riddle. Your name was then ut-
terly unknown to me ; and I had not even the
remotest idea where you lived. It has so hap-
pened, however, that information has fallen in
my way which leads me most earnestly to wish
that I could serve you. My folly has already
cost me dear," concluded Petersfeld, with a dis-
mal recollection of the calamities of the past
fortnight, ' ' and if you tell me that I have now
arrived too late, I not only take my leave at once,
but with the solemn assurance that I will never
mention your name again to any human being."
No one could possibly doubt the perfect can-
dor and sincerity with which these words were
spoken. In fact, Paul's face was one which it
was impossible to distrust, even without the prac-
tice and penetration of Doctor Orchard.
" Thank you," replied Helen, more gracious-
ly. "But I am upon my guardian's own
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
117
grounds at this moment, In a few minutes al
this will be over."
" You are aware, I presume, that the admira
and Mrs. Mortlake are both abroad "
"Abroad!" echoed Helen. "Is it possibL
that they should have gone without me ? Are
you perfectly certain of this ? You must be mis
taken."
"Perfectly certain," replied Petersfeld, de
lighted to find that there was some prospect of
his being of use, after all. " They went abroad
on the 17th of last month the day after you lef
Riverwood, and have not yet returned. Some
servants remain. Otherwise the house is empty.'
" Good gracious, this is a nice business !" gasp
ed Helen in dismay. "I'm really very glac
that I met you. I wouldn't go home for all the
world in their absence. I must go to Mr. Sal-
terton at once. And yet that's just what I don't
want to do. It would spoil the whole thing, anc
look as if I flinched at the last moment. Be-
sides, it would not be right by him."
Naturally enough, she concluded that the serv-
ants left at home had, in all probability, received
orders to detain her should she ever venture to
return. That would be humiliating enough ;
but the unlucky pocket-book made matters a
thousand-fold worse. To have walked into the
drawing-room, triumphant at her successful es-
cape triumphant at having fulfilled her own
time, and returned of her own free-will, for all
that Scotland Yard and the Times newspaper
could do to the contrary ; and finally, to have
flung the unopened pocket-book upon the table,
a splendid trophy of ingenuity and magnanimity
combined, would have been a grand beginning.
But to be seized and searched, and have it taken
from her as if she had been a thief perhaps
even to be treated as one, was a terrible contin-
gency.
" Oh, by the bye, I quite forgot to mention one
thing," suddenly exclaimed Petersfeld. " You'll
think it very strange, but the servants in the
house yonder are all under the impression that
you are with the admiral and his wife on the
Continent. I am perfectly certain that none of
them have the least suspicion that you are miss-
ing."
"Impossible ! " cried Helen, opening her eyes.
" Why, they must all have known of it directly
I left home. There could have been no starting
in the morning, and I not missed."
"I assure you, however, that it is the fact.
I have not a conception as to how the business
was managed, but managed it undoubtedly was.
You know the St. Mark's Bay Hotel, f dare say.
Mr. and Mrs. Maldon's."
"Perfectly."
"Well, I was staying there lately, and we
talked about the admiral, and the people at Riv-
erwood, and both Mr. Maldon and his wife were
confident that you had been of the party. From
what I have heard, I have no doubt whatever
but that by some clever ruse, effected for some
particular purpose, a complete mystification was
accomplished. Indeed, that was what first
made me suspect that something or other must
be wrong, and ten times more anxious than ever
to get at the bottom of the whole affair. I saw
your guardian myself in Paris at the Grand Ho-
tel ; and what do you think he had not only
engaged a room for you, but had actually pro-
cured your name to be posted up in the bureau,
as if you were staying in the house. It's all part
of some regular plan, you may depend upon it."
Helen looked utterly bewildered. ' ' I think, "
she said at last, passing her hand slowly over her
brow, " I have some guess as to what his mo-
tive may have been. I fancy he may have been
liable to get into some shocking scrape with the
Court of Chancery, if it had been known that
he had lost me. If so, I'll answer for it, the
fright has done him good. At all events, I've
had traveling enough ; though, most assuredly,
I didn't get as far as Paris. If you are right in
thinking that the servants suppose that all is as
it should be, and that I am upon the Continent
at this moment, I shall have the pleasure of un-
deceiving them. I shall go to the house at once.
But one favor I will ask you to do me."
"Name it, my dear Miss Fleetlands!" ex-
claimed Paul, delighted beyond measure. "You
can not imagine the pleasure I shall have in be-
ing of service to you."
" It is an important service," rejoined Helen,
half hesitating, " and you will see the perfect
trust which I repose in your honor, directly I
name it. I took with me, when I left Riverwood,
a very large sum of money in bank notes "
" Three thousand-pound notes," interrupted
Paul. " They were advertised for. I have the
advertisement in my cigar-case. It appeared
immediately after you left home. 150 was of-
fered for their recovery."
" My goodness me!" exclaimed the young
lady, " what a hopeless tangle the whole thing
is, to be sure. However, since the notes were
all the time in my pocket, the one advertisement
was of about as much use as the other."
"Just as much."
" Well, then, what I want to say, is this. I
have the notes about me at this moment. Now
it may be quite true that the servants at River-
wood have been deceived, as you say ; but I'm
:onfident that there must be some one or other
about here who knows the whole story. Depend
upon it, there is some one on the lookout for
me upon the admiral's account. It is inconceiv-
able that it should be otherwise. Well, I
wouldn't for the whole world have these notes
bund upon me, and taken away, as it were, by
brce. That would be too ignominious. Nobody
ihall hand them over to the admiral except my-
self, or some one by my authority. Would yon
mind taking charge of them for me for the pres-
et ? Then I shall feel quite safe, and ready to
jrave and bear any thing. Will you do it ?"
continued Helen, producing the pocket-book. " I
eel that I can trust you, although I do not even
now your name."
"I will do anything in the world you please,"
eplied Petersfeld. " But this is indeed a great
118
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
piece of confidence to repose in a perfect
stranger."
"I must trust somebody," returned Helen,
impatiently. " I can't have this thing about me
any longer, and I won't carry it into that house,
as matters stand. Take it please do ! and
give me your address to write to, when I want
it again."
Paul produced his card. " There is my
name," he said, smiling. " You see the Albany
is my London address, but I am staying in this
neighborhood for the present. I will write down
the name of the place."
" What ! Are you staying with the Bunny-
tails?" asked Helen, surprised.
" You know them, do you ?"
" I know the farmer as a neighbor. I know
his wife by sight. How do you come to be.
there?"
There was evidently a compliment conveyed
in the question, and Paul congratulated himself
that he had not been indiscreet enough to trust
to the farmer's promised hospitality, and offer
Helen a shelter at the Bottom.
" I am there quite promiscuously at present.
Mrs. Bunnytail has a sister who married Mr.
Buttermere, a member of our bar. I chanced
to meet them one night at dinner at his house,
and only yesterday I encountered the farmer at
St. Mark's, who induced me to pay them a visit.
Mrs. Bunnytail is not fascinating."
" A fat, odious woman. Insupportable, I
should think. But you will take this pocket-
book, will you not ? Don't think me very rash
and foolish. I have been studying physiognomy
of late."
" It is very good of you to accept mine. For-
tunately, as perhaps you are aware, these notes
are stopped at the bank, and owing to their
amount, mere waste paper in my hands for all
practical purposes, so that I shan't be tempted
to run away with them."
" Ah ! I remember hearing my guardian
ask for their numbers, and all that sort of thing,
when he received them. Thank you very much.
They can, I think, cause you no trouble, since
no one except myself can possibly know that you
hold them. How long do you remain with the
Bunny tails?"
" Until I hear from you," replied Petersfeld
gallantly. " My time is at my own disposal.
Will you send me a line at any moment when
I can possibly be of use? I don't know
whether I could help you as a lawyer. To tell
the truth, it's just about the only capacity in
which I don't think I could. But at any rate,
do let me have the satisfaction of thinking that
you would send for me in any emergency, as
some atonement for my folly in pursuing an
enterprise with which I had nothing whatever
to do."
" If I find myself in distress, I will send for
you, Mr. Petersfeld !" replied Helen, gayly.
"But I shan't be killed and eaten up, at any
rate, until the notes are forthcoming. Now we
must part," and she held out her little hand.
As Paul grasped it with all the earnestness
necessary to explain his complete devotion to her
interests, there was a low rustle among the
neighboring yews. Some one was passing close
by ; in fact, the back of a black coat was indis-
tinctly visible.
" What's that, Mr. Petersfeld ? That was
not a dog."
"No," said Petersfeld, and started in pursuit.
He was much quicker than the intruder, who-
ever he was, but the latter knew the ground, and
dived through clipped hedges, and dodged round
statues, in a way which gave his pursuer no
chance.
"I have lost him," said Paul, returning dis-
comfited. " But I am sure I know the man.
You were quite right, Miss Fleetlands, in sus-
pecting that there was some one on the lookout
for you, upon the admiral's account. I have
seen that fellow lurking about for ever so long.
His name is Tobacco. He has gone in the direc-
tion of the house. Will you go there now ?"
"Yes. I am in for it, and can take care of
myself, now that my pockets are empty. But
I shouldn't mind if you would be good enough
to see me safe in-doors."
Gladly Petersfeld accompanied her within
sight of the garden entrance, and was rewarded
by the display of unfeigned astonishment with
which the house-maid who opened it, recognized
the apparition of her young mistress.
He had been right in his conjecture. It was
Mr. Tobacco himself who had vanished so con-
cisely. From the tap-room of the " Six Bells'*
he had observed Petersfeld leave St. Mark's the
evening before, in company with Farmer Bunny-
tail, and thought there could be no harm in
looking him up on the following day. And when
Paul set out upon his afternoon stroll, Mr. To-
bacco accompanied him at a wary distance, de-
lighted to find that his progress, although capri-
cious and irregular, and enlivened with an occa-
sional pipe, tended steadily in the direction of
Riverwood Lawn. He watched him enter the
grounds, and to his intense amazement, beheld
the meeting which took place, and which he
naturally considered must have been deliberately
planned and preconcerted. He could not man-
age to creep sufficiently within earshot to dis-
cover all that passed, but he ascertained enough
for his own private purposes. To have attempt-
ed to arrest Helen under such formidable escort,
would have been downright madness. To have
been detected among the bushes might have led
to a thrashing. So he crawled off at a critical
moment, in hopes of getting away unnoticed
altogether.
How Petersfeld got back to Bunnytail's I
don't suppose will ever be explained. His brain
seemed absolutely on fire. He had found the
lady of the advertisement. He had touched her
hand, looked in her hazel eyes, and been reward-
ed by her unbounded confidence. What would
he not have given for another interview, to have
heard from her own lips the whole strange story !
Whither had she been ? Where had she passed
FIVE HUNDKED POUNDS EEWARD.
123
universal blaze of sunshine, the crisp waves
leaped and glittered. The water was alive with
craft of all descriptions, and as we neared the
Jura, towering over all, the joyous roll of her
band, playing
" In the days we went a-gipaying,
, A long time ago !"
made the whole thing seem like some grand
party of pleasure. But there were bursting
hearts and weeping eyes on board the Jura, for
all that. The crowd and confusion was some-
thing wonderful. Shore-going people were being
seriously admonished of their boats alongside.
Leave-takings were going on in all directions.
Sheep and pigs, ducks, and cocks and hens,
were more plentiful than even at Bunnytail
Bottom.
I walked forward at once, knowing it to be a
matter of conscience with all young Englishmen,
the moment they find themselves on board a
steamer, to hurry to the bowsprit and fill their
pipes. As I expected, there was Petersfeld,
seated on a hen-coop, and offering biscuit to a
chicken opposite, with as much composure as if
he had been bound for Greenwich, with nothing
more serious than champagne and whitebait in
prospect at the end of his trip.
"Hollo, Worsley!" he exclaimed, starting up.
"My good fellow, what upon earth brings you
here? Did you get my letter?"
"Of course I did. Were you in hopes that
the postman would make a mistake?"
" What a fool I was to post it last night ! I
didn't mean you to have had thi trouble. I
thought we should have been off hours ago.
My good fellow, I hope you haven't come down
upon my account?"
"But I have come upon your account, and,
what's more, I have a boat to take you back
again. This ship sails in ten minutes. I tell
you candidly that I shall write you down a fool
if you sail in her. What business have you
here ? Do you mean to throw away all chances
of work, annoy your people at home, and get
yourself called ' eccentric' into the bargain
about the most damagaing adjective a man can
have tacked to feis name ? Nonsense ! Come
down the side with me. I've read your letter.
I understand your feelings perfectly. And I'll
undertake to satisfy you that I am right in what
I now call upon you to do. Recollect the suc-
cess you have just achieved. I declare, when
you first started, I should have liked to give a
hundred to one against your doing what you act-
ually did. It would be a real disappointment
to me now, to see you throw away your chances,
without giving yourself fair play. Come along.
By Jove, here's the mail-steamer actually along-
side."
"My dear Worsley," replied Paul, grasping
my hand, '_' I dare say you're quite right. I'd
take your advice with pleasure if I possibly
could. But I can't. I can't face Buttermerc.
I can't face the men at Lincoln's Inn. I can't
indeed, after all that has happened. Besides,
look here. That's my ticket for Alexandria-
just cost me thirty pounds down. Can't afford
to throw that into the sea, you know," concluded
he, with a forced laugh. " Thank you a hun-
dred times for coming. I shall always recollect
it. But, I say, you'll be too late. Hark !"
A clear hearty voice, distinct above all the
bustle, suddenly shouted
"Gun!"
There was a flash and a bang. A cloud of
silver smoke went whirling overhead in the sun-
shine. Fluttering dqwn from the mast-head
came a small blue and white flag. The band
stopped dead in the middle of a polka ; and,
after a moment's pause, struck up the National
Anthem.
The voyage had begun.
" Hullo, governor, we thought you'd given us
the slip," said my boatmen. " Another half
jiffy, and we should have had to cast off with-
out you."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
WHEN a castle of 'cards four stories high comes
tumbling flat upon the nursery-table, there is
something in the suddenness and completeness
of the disaster which makes even a good child
ready to cry. A great deal of pains has been
taken a great deal of ingenuity exerted.
Little fingers have been anxiously moistened
lips compressed and eyes curiously peeped
through, as the bright pagoda rose up square and
tall. In one moment, all is over. Time and
pains and trouble have all been thrown away.
The tower is a thing of the past. There is
nothing to show for it absolutely nothing.
Buttress, wall, and pinnacle, all are gone. Not
a trace of their existence, not a vestige of identity
need be looked for m the fallen pack.
I felt much in a child's mood myself as I re-
turned from Southampton. I had taken a good
deal of trouble, and put myself to no slight
amount of professional inconvenience, in order
to make the journey. Ten minutes on board
the Jura had been sufficient to send me home
again. And what had I done ? Absolutely
nothing. I might just as well have been in
court. Petersfeld was gone, and to attempt ex-
postulation upon paper was as I well knew
perfectly useless. A confused feeling that I had
some share of personal responsibility in the mat-
ter of his going, already annoyed me. An idea,
however, occurred while in the train, which I put
in execution directly I reached Stone Buildings.
I wrote a note to Buttermerc, and sent it across
by my clerk. This was what I said :
" MY DEAR SIR : Petersfeld left England for
Alexandria by P. & 0. Steamer to-day. I knew
nothing of his intention until I received a letter
from him this morning, when I immediately
started for Southampton, in hopes of bringing
him back. Unfortunately, my journey was un-
successful. I now venture to ask if you will al-
low me to have an interview with your daughter,
124
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
upon the subject which we discussed the other
day at your chambers. I should not make this
request without good grounds, and I believe you
know me well enough to trust to my discretion.
Yours faithfully, JOHN WORSLBT."
The reply was immediate.
<c DEAR WORSLET : I was hasty and incon-
siderate upon the occasion to which you refer,
and you have a right to every amends in my
power. Linda shall be prepared to receive you
in my study in Harley Street tomorrow after-
noon at five. Will that hour do ? I have the
most perfect confidence in your honor and
discretion, and shall not expect her to commu-
nicate one syllable of what may pass. Should
she wish to do so, it is understood that I am at
liberty to hear every thing. Yours truly,
"F. BUTTERMERE."
I was, of course, punctual. My visit had
evidently been arranged for, as I was ushered
at once, and without a word, into a small un-
tidy room upon the ground-floor, furnished with
two chairs, and an immense table littered with
books and papers. A pair of great shaded
lamps, like genii of the apartment, stood senti-
nels over the green-baize. Rakes of lamps they
looked, accustomed to sad hours, and to wink
and blink, and pledge one another in cannakins
of midnight oil, long after all the household,
except its laborious master, were warm in bed.
In a few moments Mrs. Buttermere, accom-
panied by Linda, entered the room. I will not
do the former the injustice of saying that she
seemed very doubtful as to the propriety of my
visit, and perfectly certain that I had acted most
audaciously in proposing it. I had only a
general perception that such was the case ; per-
haps as intuitive upon my part as it was polite-
ly veiled upon hers.
"Mr. Buttermere tells me that you wish to
see Linda alone," she remarked, after the usual
commonplace observations. " Shall I leave you
together? You will not be disturbed here, and
you will find tea in the drawing-room when you
have had your say. Linda, you must bring
Mr. Worsley up stairs."
"Mr. Buttermere was good enough to allow
me a moment's interview with Miss Buttermere, "
I replied, "and with her permission, I will
avail myself of your kindness, before joining
you in the drawing-room."
' ' Oh, by all means. I understand nothing of
the matter, but Mr. Buttermere's wish is quite
sufficient. " And with these words, rather dryly
spoken, the lady quitted the room.
I have seldom felt more keenly shocked than
when I looked at the poor child before me.
Oh that this should have been the little spark-
ling coquette of but a few evenings ago. The
pretty form^ the delicate features the rich
auburn hair impatient of its tiny bonnet these
were all there ; but there was pain and misery
written all >over her countenance ; there was
nervousness and almost terror in every quick
movement of her gloved hands.
"We have just come in from driving," she
said ; "I hope you have not been kept wait-
ing?"
I perceived that she spoke because she could
not help saying something. The excitement of
the moment was unendurable. I would have
given any thing to have known how best to
soothe it. I could only do my best.
"I have not waited a moment. I have only
just strolled down from Lincoln's Inn. I be-
lieve, Miss Buttermere, that I am here to take
a great weight off your mind ; at least, I sin-
cerely hope so. I am here, at all events, upon
the part of a friend of mine, to offer you the
most submissive apology which man can make
for having made your papa very angry, and
yourself, I fear, very unhappy, 'by one unfortu-
nate act of incaution. If he were not at this
moment probably somewhere off Finisterre, I
would bring him here to plead for himself."
" Oh, no, no, no, Mr. Worsley. It is I who
have done wrong. It is I who have made my-
self unhappy. It is I who have spoiled my
whole life, and learned what real misery is at
once and forever. It is I who ought to ask his
forgiveness ; it is, indeed. You don't know
all, I am sure."
" Pretty nearly so, I believe. It began with
a conversation about a certain Miss Fleetlands,
at your papa's dinner-table."
"Yes yes. At least not exactly. I had
made a most foolish wager with my sisters I
did not know how very wrong it was and I led
him to suppose that I knew something about
that young lady. In reality I knew nothing
only her name. I had happened to learn that
by the merest chance. I have never ventured
to say a word about this either to papa or
mamma ; it would have made them so dread-
fully angry. And a day or two afterward he
wrote me a letter, and sent me a bank note. I*
could not quite understand the letter; but I
felt certain that the money was never intended
for me."
" You were quite right. Tfte twenty pounds
was intended for his tailor. He put it into your
envelope by mistake. It is just the sort of
thing he is always doing."
Linda fairly sobbed. " I see it all now. I
see at last what I have done. Oh, why did I
ever go to Mrs. Springletop ! She is a friend
of mine, yon must know, Mr. Worsley ; and as
misfortune would have it, I went to her to talk
about the letter. I wanted advice, in short.
Well, she persuaded me that it could only have
one meaning, and made me lay out the money
on an emerald snake-bracelet, and write and
thank him for it, and so on ; and so it all came
about. Oh, how dreadful it seems now. Is
there any hope any help for me, do you
think ?"
"My dear Miss Buttermere, these little
contretemps happen every day. We will put
yours to rights at once. Your acquaintance
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
125
with our friend Petersfeld was, at all events, a
very short one."
" There was no acquaintance at all! That
was what made the whole thing seem so fright-
fully shocking. But, say what I would, I was
always met by the same answer, that I was only
a child, and that it was lucky I had people about
me who knew how to manage affairs. I am so
thankful to think it is all over. Will you take
back the bracelet ? Pray do. I will fetch it
directly."
" You shall give it me presently. He would
of course wish you to keep it ; but I agree with
you that it had better be returned. That is the
right course. And now, one word upon my
friend's behalf. He is in such perfect despair
at the annoyance which he has inflicted upon
you, that he has actually left the country, and
is at this moment upon his way to Egypt. He
has thrown up his chances at the bar probably
incensed his relations ; and will most certainly
never come back until he feels that you have
forgiven him."
"Forgiven him, indeed! He must forgive
me first ; or, rather, let me forgive and forget
myself, which I can never do."
"Upon my word, I never had such an im-
practicable pair of penitents to deal with in all
my life ! You're just as bad as he is. You
both tell me you can't forgive yourselves, so I
advise you to try what happens after forgiving
each other. However, I shall now know what
to say to him when I write by the next mail.
Now, my dear Miss Buttermere, I took the
liberty of asking for this interview in order that
this foolish entanglement might be cleared up
to yourself in the first instance. I was quite
right you see. If Mr. or Mrs. Buttermere had
known of the very innocent little trick which
brought it all about, a good deal of trouble
might have been saved. Every thing must now
be explained to them, and you may take my
word for it that they will be intensely relieved
upon learning the whole truth. There really is
nothing to be angry about, which is rather a
pity, after all the fuss that has been made.
Have I your permission to tell the whole story
to your father?"
"Papa has just come in," gasped Linda, in a
choking voice. "I heard his footstep in the
hall."
" Capital. Then we will get the business
over in no time. Allow me for one moment to
assume the freedom of an elder brother, and
beg you to ask him to join us."
" Well, Worsley," he said in his old cordial
tone, yet looking fagged and worn to the last
degree, "is the consultation over already, or am
I called in to assist? Can you give us any new
light upon the subject hey?"
" I hope so, at all events. You will scarcely
believe what a ridiculous little blunder lies at
the bottom of the whole affair. Your daugh-
ter will explain it all ; but, before she does so,
let me say one word. You remember, doubt-
less, an evening when I had the pleasure of din-
ing with yon, not very long ago. We talked,
if you recollect, of a young lady whose mysteri-
ous disappearance had just been announced in
the Times, and for whose recovery five hundred
pounds reward was offered. "
"To be sure we did. I remember the ad-
vertisement perfectly. It made Brindlebun
quite curious. What then ?" .
"Petersfeld was at that moment engaged in
trying to find her. He had taken up the pur-
suit simply upon seeing what we all saw in the
paper. He had been in Paris, upon that very
business, during the morning of the day when
he was last in tttis house."
"What on earth had he to do with her?
What do you mean, Worsley ? Are you going
to make him out non compos ? no brains not
accountable for his actions?"
" My dear sir ! He has found her."
"The deuce he has!" exclaimed Mr. Butter-
mere, as if using up his last ounce of breath.
" Went to work and found her, did he ? Most
extraordinary thing I ever heard of."
"I say the same. And now, to save Miss
Buttermere the trouble, I will try to explain
how, in the middle of his hot pursuit, he man-
aged to commit the most unlucky mistake which
has caused so much annoyance both here and
to himself.''
Step by step the confession was accomplished.
Buttermere took his seat upon the table, be-
tween the lamps, and listened with knitted
brows.
" So that Mrs. Springletop, confound her,
was at the bottom of it all! I almost. guessed
as much. And the bank note was never in-
tended for Linda ?"
"It was intended to pay for trousers. He
was writing to his tailor at the moment, and
put the bank note intended for him into the en-
velope addressed to your daughter. That's the
whole story."
" Upon my word, Worsley, I thank you
very heartily for all this. What's done, can't
be undone ; but we shall weather it somehow,
I suppose. And so Petersfeld has gone to the
Pyramids ?"
' ' Gone, in despair of ever being able to
show his face again in London. I have just
asked your daughter to send him her forgive-
ness; but, I tell you candidly, I don't think
even that will bring him back."
"Well, it's all a pity. The whole thing is
such a joke, if you look at it only in one aspect,
that it's hard not to be able to laugh at it.
Write to him, Worsley, and tell him to come
back. And so Linda really took him in this
clever fellow who found the lady at last!
Upon my honor, the whole thing is most extraor-
dinary. But there is no sting about it now.
We must manage to rub through. It will only
be a nine days' wonder, after all. These things
happen every week eh, Worsley ? If one
could only box Mrs. Springletop's ears ! But
as for you, darling, don't fret. It wasn't your
mistake. And, Worsley, I shake hands with
12G
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
yon, and thank .you with all my heart. We
shall rub through somehow. It was a mistake
altogether, from first to last. Mrs. Buttermere
and I must talk it over. And as you said just
now, Worsley, it will only be a nine days' won-
der, and we shall rub through perfectly. Yes,
darling, it was all a mistake a silly stupid mis-
take of people who ought to have guided you bet-
ter. We are all right now. We won't be too
hard upon poor Mr. Petersfeld. Don't let him
catch cold on the Pyramids, Worsley. You
have done us all a service to-day ; and, so far as
he is concerned, the past is dismissed, and we
hope that you will tell him so."
That self-same evening a letter, which you
will never read, followed Petersfeld to Alexan-
dria by the Marseilles mail, and an emerald-
headed snake slept in an iron box on the top-
most story of No. 9 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's
Inn.
Let us return to Helen.
Every one, I suppose, must remember certain
passages in their lives which have left behind
them the impression rather of a sort of nebu-
lous mist, than of a series of separate events, con-
nected, yet distinct. Some rush of circumstances,
unexpected and overwhelming, has blended
things in one perplexing maze, and we shrink
from the task of dissection, as from something
laborious, long, and hopeless.
Something of this sort was the case with
Helen after her return to Riverwood. A few
facts only stood out solid and certain, against a
general background of confusion.
' Mr. Bloss himself reached Riverwood the day
after her arrival, charged with the mission of
bringing her up to town. Upon this occasion
it appeared that her presence before the Lord
Chancellor was indispensable. Mr. Salterton
accompanied them. As her guardian next in
succession, it was rightly considered that he
would do well to be upon the spot, to accept the
office which would probably at once devolve
upon his hands.
Of Helen's meeting with the rector you must
forgive me if I do not speak. Something of its
purport you may, perhaps, presently learn. He
was kind for he never was otherwise. He was
loving for Helen was to him as his own
daughter. But let the interview itself remain
within the veil. It tore Helen's heart to think
of, afterward. The mere recollection was like
a rending of the very roots of pain. She was,
at last, conscious how grave had been her
fault how blind and inexcusable her folly.
But she is now in the train, and upon her
way to London.
It was the first time that Bloss and she had
met since the day when he received her a little
Indian baby in Southampton harbor, and es-
corted her to the very station from which they
were just departing. Events since then had
indeed run their mysterious round ; and one
may imagine the interest with which the jolly
old gentleman surveyed his fellow-passenger.
The latter, upon her part, listened with the
deepest interest to much that Mr. Bloss had to
tell. He could speak to her of her own papa,
when a bright and curly boy. He could talk
about the making of the will penned by his
own hand which had brought him wealth in
his dying hours ; wealth, alas, too long delay-
ed. He could say something about her Indian
birthplace, as it had been described to him by
his correspondent of the firm of Joy, Jingle &
Jump, and amused her with a description of her
own tiny self, as she first opened her eyes in his
face upon the deck of the mail-steamer.
" Oh, by the bye, Mr. Bloss," she said, after
these topics had been at last exhausted, "I
wonder if you know Mr. Petersfeld, the barris-
ter of Lincoln's Inn. I am afraid he got into
sad trouble about the bank notes which he was
so kind as to take charge of for me, and I was
really grieved. But that, I hope, is over now.
You can not think how kind and considerate he
was. I really almost wished that I had wanted
his assistance he seemed so burning to give
it."
"Ho, ho, ho!" chuckled Mr. Bloss. "My
dear Miss Fleetlands, it's a capital story, and I
ought to have told it you before. Yes, I do
know Mr. Petersfeld ; and, what's more, I am
indebted to yourself for the honor of his acquaint-
ance. You may well look surprised. Never
was such a droll affair known since the world
began. When your guardian, the admiral,
thought it right to advertise for you, he chose,
as you know, to put my name in the paper, as
the person to receive you in town. He pitched
upon me, you understand, as being the person
who first brought you to his house ; independ-
ently of which there were reasons for wishing
that his own London agents should not appear
in the matter. Had they done so, the chances
were that inquisitive people clerks especially
would have put two and two together, and your
name been discovered and blazoned right and
left in no time ; and this, to do him justice, he
spared no trouble to prevent. My own name
you see afforded nobody any clue whatever.
Well, the very morning that the advertisement
appeared, who should march into my office but
Mr. Petersfeld himself, just as I wasin the mid-
dle of my luncheon. ' Give me full particulars
of the young lady, Mr. Bloss, for I'm going
straight away to find her, as sure as you sit
there ! ' That's what he said, or something like
it. To tell you the truth it was our first
meeting you must remember I doubted whether
his head would ring quite sound if one tried it ;
but he came with the card of a very good friend
of mine, Mr. Worsley, and upon his account I
really told him all I dared. As to his finding
you, the idea never once entered my mind.
And that you should after all have encountered
each other in the strange way you did, just at
the critical moment, is almost more than
strange. Of course he might have claimed the
reward. "
"Is it paid yet?" inquired Mr. Salterton.
" Paid ! Lord bless you, no ! We shall
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
127
have claims from half a dozen quarters. When
the detectives abandoned Riverwood, they left
an agent of theirs, a dirty little understrap-
per of the name of Tobacco, to keep a lookout
upon their account. He seems to have put the
Riverwood constabulary upon the scent as to
the notes, at all events. Of course he will stand
out for his own. I have had other notices al-
ready. It is quite exceptional, in a case of this
kind, to find the reward pass peaceably into one
pocket. "
" I feel quite certain that Mr. Petersfeld
would have nothing to say to it," remarked
Helen.
" Not he ! Oh dear, no," chuckled Mr.
Bloss. " Not in his line at all. But now you
mention his name again, it reminds me of
another most singular fact. One never knows
exactly how these things get wind, but I had
this from the very best authority. Just fancy.
Since his visit to me that is to say while in
full pursuit of yourself he has managed to
snatch a hasty moment to get himself engaged
to one of the prettiest little girls in London a
daughter of one of the magnates of our Chan-
cery bar!"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Helen, laughing.
" That was really making use of spare minutes,
which, somebody says, is such an excellent hab-
it. What is her name her Christian name, I
mean ?"
"Oh, Linda Linda Buttermere. I have
admired her often, at her papa's dinners.
Charming little girl, indeed! Really Peters-
feld is a most remarkable young man. Never
knew any thing like his energy. One doesn't
know what he may not do next. I shall send
him a good heavy brief, I know, before he's a
week older !"
"Linda what a pretty name!" And for
the next thirty miles, Helen, with her usual im-
pulsive generosity, was considering what wed-
ding-present she should choose for Paul and
Linda, as some acknowledgment of the debt
which she felt she owed to the former.
London was reached at last, and Helen con-
ducted to a private hotel in Cork Street.
Thenceforth, for the next two days, all seemed
mist and confusion. There was an interview
with the Lord Chancellor, during which she was
seriously taken to task, and punished with a
lecture of which she too painfully admitted the
wisdom. And there was a formal reconcilia-
tion with her guardian, which took place in his
lordship's presence. It was not a very gracious
affair; but neither party could be expected to
feel quite at ease. To her great relief, nothing
whatever was said in her presence about the
notes, which had, as a matter of course, been
lodged at the Riverwood Branch Bank.
And now, resisting all temptation to encum-
ber my story with technical minutiae, I will only
add that the conclusion of the business was as
follows : Admiral Mortlake was ordered to pass
his accounts pay certain costs and hand over
Helen to Mr. Salterton, who was appointed
guardian in his room. Riverwood Rectory was
to be Helen's future home.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
" I HOPE, Mr. Salterton, it is understood that
these rewards are all to be paid out of my own
money; and that the admiral is never to be
troubled about any thing which he has received
upon my account," said Helen, a few days aft-
er she had taken up her abode at the Rectory.
"That must be an after-consideration, my
dear. For the next three years, the power to
bind or to loose lies neither- with you nor me."
Three years ! A desperately long time it
seemed, all things considered. Could it be pos-
sible that they had indeed to be faced ? Sad or
unprofitable they need not be. And yet, years
of discipline and penance Helen knew that she
had deserved. Wisely and bravely she resolved
to submit with patience, to trust to the endur-
ance of a love which was all in all to her in life,
and in the meanwhile, by genuine and unfail-
ing cheerfulness, to make Mr. Salterton rejoice
that he had found a daughter. The only hope
to which she permitted herself to cling was
that, some day or other, long perhaps before the
three years were expired, the prohibition against
letter-writing might be relaxed or withdrawn.
That was the real sting of the separation ; and,
to her, it seemed an unjust, a needless, and a
cruel measure. She could not understand why
she might not at least be allowed to correspond
with Ferdinand. If either she or he had been
actually in prison regular convicts at Penton-
ville that indulgence would not have been for-
bidden. However, there was no help for it.
She felt that she had much to be thankful for.
Mr. Salterton was always delightful ; and in his
sister, a quiet, lady-like person whom she had
scarcely more than known by sight in the years
during which the Rectory had been forbidden
ground, she began to discover the makings of
another friend.
In-doors, there was work in plenty. Out-of-
doors, Camilla neighed from her stall. She had
of course accompanied her mistress. Gigog-
gin, alas, was not there to attend her, and sad-
ly the old fellow was missed. One would
naturally have supposed that, after his conduct
in the matter of Helen's hnnting-field flirtation,
the admiral would have sent him about his
business in no time. But Gigoggin had lived
at Riverwood almost as lo'Ag as his master, and
was not to be parted with upon a single quar-
rel, however serious. So master and| man
fought it out between them, and matters went
on as before. The latter, we may be quite cer-
tain, would gladly have followed Helen to her
new home, but the admiral was obstinate and
inflexible. Not in that way, at least, should
Gigoggin, with his consent, enjoy the reward
of his duplicity. And, without the admiral's
formal acquiescence, Mr. Salterton. was firm in
128
FIVE HUNDEED POUNDS REWARD.
his refusal to allow the matter even to be dis-
cussed. It was a great sorrow to Helen, who,
independently of other and more recent consid-
erations, entertained a sincere regard for the
old friend of her childhood. But, like severer
troubles, it had to be borne.
So broke the morning of what appeared to be
a new era in Helen's life an era of quiet pro-
bation, and of hope deferred. Misty and doubt-
ful in its dawning, how immeasurably distant
appeared its close ! Would she ever live to
behold that hour to see matters finally at rest
the ravel of her life at last combed out
smooth and even ?
Never, in wildest dream of the night, came
a glimpse of the plan by which the knot was to
be so swiftly, so instantly disentangled.
One morning, scarcely three weeks after
Helen's arrival, a large old-fashioned carriage
drove up to the Rectory door. A tall, elderly
gentleman, of military air, with a white mus-
tache, and a golden - headed cane, gravely
alighted, and was ushered into the rector's
study.
"My dear Lord St. Margarets, is it possible
that I have the pleasure of seeing you again ?"
' ' You not only see me, Salterton, but you
see me with a favor to ask."
" A new sensation, I should think, if you are
in earnest. Am I to take my pupil back
again?"
"Why, no. I am not clear that I should
trust you with him a second time, " replied Lord
St. Margarets. "What do you say to his late
escapade ? I suppose you have heard the par-
ticulars."
" I have, and with infinite concern. Of
course, in one's own heart, one finds every ex-
cuse for a lad of his high spirit and perfect
courage, with such a girl as Helen before him.
But that he should have rushed right into the
jaws of the Chancery Lion, is upon all accounts
to be regretted. I was rejoiced to hear from
himself, however, that he was not in any sense
acting in defiance of your wishes in fact, that
he had some reason to suppose that, had he
succeeded, you would not have been seriously
displeased."
"Quite right. Quite^rue. He has acted
toward myself, thank God, with the most per-
fect honor and good faith. I have not a word to
say. Indeed, I take a great deal of the blame
upon my own shoulders. I have lived too much
for myself, Salterton. I have not held for him
the position in the county which I might and
ought to have done. But that is not the ques-
tion now. Never having had the pleasure of
Miss Fleetlands's acquaintance never, in fact,
having beheld her in my life the match was not
one of which I could be supposed to be person-
ally desirous. My relations with the admiral,
Iher guardian, were far fromcordial, and I could
riot help feeling that Ferdinand might, after all,
be acting upon impulse, without the considera-
tion which an affair of such extreme importance
demanded. Still, I was so anxious not to ap-
pear to thwart him at starting, which is worse
than useless in matters of this kind, that I fear
I left him in a position which was only too
likely to end as it did."
"Perhaps we have not seen the end yet," sug-
gested the rector, easily. " It is highly impor-
tant, upon Helen's account, that I should be
precisely aware of your views and wishes. That
her heart is entirely fixed upon Ferdinand lam
certain ; and that she will, if necessary, wait
with patience and courage three years and long-
er, I know quite well. But, since she lias been
in my house, we have never exchanged a syllable
upon the subject. I felt bound, in the first in-
stance, to learn the aspect in which you regarded
the match ; and I only deferred writing to you
upon the subject until you should have had time
to hear from Ferdinand upon his arrival out,
and matters had cooled down a little after the
late hurly-burly."
" My own views, Salterton, "replied Lord St.
Margarets gravely, "may depend much upon
j'our answer to a question which, among other
things, I came hither to put. I am come, as I
told you, to ask a favor ; but the question comes
first. If my son has done a foolish thing, I am
afraid your ward has shown herself more than
his match. You will appreciate the circum-
stances under which I now ask you to tell me
the whole story of her disappearance and return.
I give no credence whatever to rumor ; and, ex-
cept from rumor, I have heard nothing. Let
me understand, first, what we may suppose to
have been her object in leaving Rivenvood."
"To avoid remaining under the same roof
with people who had treated your son so scan-
dalously," replied the rector. "Helen was in-
dignant, and with some reason. I was away
from home at the time. They were upon the
point of starting for the Continent ; and the
poor child, with nobody to appeal to, was, I
verily believe, afraid of their company."
"Good," observed Lord St. Margarets, with
deliberate emphasis. " You will agree with me,
Salterton. The way in which they kidnapped
Ferdinand was simply scandalous. I am aware
that it was merely done to gratify an old feeling
against myself. But she did weH to distrust
them, after that. I admire her spirit. But the
world will ask for more."
"More is at their service. Helen left home
at five o'clock on the afternoon of the sixteenth
of April last ; and, from that moment to this,
not one half hour of her time is unaccounted
for. She traveled direct to Izzleworth in com-
pany with a Mrs. Feltham, a parishioner of St.
Mark's, whom she had met near the station.
On her arrival at Izzleworth, she very sensibly
inquired for the clergyman of the place ; and by
the greatest conceivable good fortune, if we are
to call it by no worthier name, found herself at
once in tho house of Dr. Orchard, the vicar.
Orchard is a well-known man. He was some
years my senior at Balliol, but I remember his
name and fame very distinctly. A little crotch-
ety, and given to physiognomy, or some hurr.-
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
129
bug of the kind ; but true and honorable to the
backbone. Fortunately the admiral has had
the good feeling to enclose to me a letter of his,
describing the events of Helen's stay with him,
and the sensation of love and admiration which
she contrived to excite in his family. I will
read it to you at once, if you have no objection."
"Good again," repeated Lord St. Margarets,
at the conclusion of the letter, "and there you
will agree with me, Salterton. Upon my honor,
I like her better than if she had stayed at home.
In fact, my good friend," continued the ex-em-
bassador, subsiding into a diplomatic attitude,
"I consider that this episode in her life may be
at once consigned to oblivion. Are we so far
agreed?"
"In so far that we may so consign it yes.
But not she, poor child. I felt it my duty to
point out to her, in all gentleness, the greatness
of her error, and I assure you I was frightened
when the thing broke upon her as a reality. Her
distress was agonizing."
"What a pity. Come, Salterton, I am ready
to say the word. Give me your honor that she
is the person to make Ferdinand happy you
know them both."
" I give you my honor that, in my opinion,
he will never meet with any one as likely to do
so. More than that, I tell you plainly, Lord St.
Margarets, that if he loses Helen he will lose
one in ten thousand."
" Good ! I consent. You may tell her that
at the age of twenty-three she is nineteen, or
nearly so, I think I shall with pleasure receive
her as the mistress of Saintswood, and retire
upon Grosvenor Square. Tell her that my mind
is quite clear upon that point."
"At the age of twenty -three ?" repeated the
rector, musingly.
' ' Twenty-three, of course. You don't seem
satisfied, Salterton. Isn't that the age specified
in her father's will ?"
" Otherwise her fortune goes over ? And the
Court would of course listen to no proposal
which might endanger one penny of it. Yes, I
believe you are right. But, my dear Lord St.
Margarets you are in earnest, I know, in your
consent is there no possibility of abridging this
deplorable this, I must say, shameful loss of
time and youth to both parties ? Five years !
Must they really wait five years ? Is it possible
that these, the best years of their lives, are to be
consumed in satisfying the injunction of a Court
of Equity ? Could any thing be more prepos-
terous ? If we are to be ridden over rough-shod
after this fashion, why not call things by their
right names, and have a High Court of Iniquity
at once?"
Lord St. Margarets never laughed. But
sometimes, when he was really amused, a curi-
ous smile would break at his lips, and then trav-
el quietly all over his countenance before it dis-
appeared. It came and went, upon this occa-
sion.
" Why, yes. Five years is a long time to
wait. I am not defending the system; but it
I
exists, and there is only one person in existence
who could strike off a single day."
"You mean the Lord Chancellor?"
' ' Most certainly not. Neither the Lord Chan-
cellor, nor Guy Fawkes, nor any body but your-
self. I told you that I came here with a favor
to ask. I am now ready to ask it. What do
you say to consenting that the marriage shall
take place, say a couple of months hence, just
with notice enough in fact to make proper prep-
aration?"
"Have I really any such power, my dear
lord?" exclaimed the rector, jumping out of his
chair.
' ' Certainly. I half suspected that you might
have found it no part of your duty as executor
to read your testator's will. Avail yourself of
the chance now ! Here is the copy with which
I persuaded my solicitor to furnish me."
"God bless me! Why, of course you are
right. Admiral Mortlake's veto has no longer
any effect. How could I have been so stupid as
not to perceive the fact ! "
" As not to recognize yourself as reigning
guardian ?" replied Lord St. Margarets with a
smile. " The king is dead long live the king !
Well, in that capacity I ask your consent."
" Stay one moment. Surely my consent as
guardian will not have the effect of annulling
the injunction which is at present hanging over
your son ?"
"It will not. But upon our joint application
to the court, I understand that it will be dissolved
as matter of course."
"But how as to Ferdinand? It is hardly a
month since he sailed. Are you about to sum-
mon him back at once ?"
" No need. He is at this moment in Gros-
venor Square."
Mr. Salterton returned to his seat. "No
more guessing upon my part, Lord St. Marga-
rets. I can not afford to be surprised at this rate.
Will you explain ?"
"The explanation is most simple. Fortu-
nately or unfortunately, Ferdinand chose to go
into a fever on the voyage out. I am not cer-
tain but that he was sent too soon before, in fact,
he was fit for traveling, but I suspect that other
things may have had -more to do with it. Be
that as it may, he was landed at the first port
touched at, and the military authorities there
sent him back by the next transport. They said
it was his only chance. He is now getting all
right, thank Heaven. I had ambitious dreams
for him once ; but after all that has happened, I
am content to see an augury in this last occur-
rence, and to accept it as the appointed termi-
nation of his professional career."
"And you have said all this, Lord St. Mar-
garets, without even seeing Helen?"
" Why, yes. I do not intend to be told that.
I was myself the victim of fascination. I be-
lieve in her good looks, and for the rest I trust
to you, Salterton. You have known her from
childhood, and I am satisfied. It seems to me
that Ferdinand's mind is quite cfcar upon one
130
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
point, and that's the great thing. Now you may
introduce me, if you will."
Helen had just come in from a gallop upon
C;imilla. You know how she looked upon these
occasions; and though recent events had stamped
her features with a trace of care and sadness,
they had perhaps given even more than they had
taken away. Without the slightest guess as to
who the stranger might be, she felt fascinated
by his commanding air and stately presence.
Wonderingly she allowed him to take her by both
hands, and look tenderly down upon her fair
young face. She stood bewildered under the
clear gaze of those calm grey eyes, and the curve
of that silken white mustache.
"You do not know me ?" he said.
"I do not indeed," replied Helen. "But
your face is not strange to me. At least, I think
not."
" It will never be strange, I hope. I am
Ferdinand's papa. He has asked me to be
yours."
Huzza !
At last we sail within earshot of wedding-bells.
Let us not linger now.
*******
" Helen," said Ferdinand, as they slowly walk-
ed their horses, side by side, beneath the waving
branches of a summer wood, " I have a surprise
for you to-morrow. Whom do you think you
will see?"
" That I can not possibly guess ! There are
so many people in the world."
"Your friend Petersfeld will be at Saints-
wood this evening. I made a point of calling
at his chambers when I was in town yesterday,
to thank him for his kindness to you. He is
really a thorough good fellow. Of course, we
fraternized immensely when I reminded him
that we had both gone to jail upon your account."
"You didn't bring that to his recollection, I
do hope," cried Helen, coloring. " It is not a
reflection which I am fond of, I assure you. What
did he say ?"
" Quoted an old Agamemnon chorus, which
I perfectly recollect Salterton trying to drive
into my head called you
" ' Tai> Sopiyanfipov up<f>tveiy.n T' ' EAENAN !'
I hope you appreciate the compliment. Tbv S"
7ra/u(/3o/vo, I asked him to come down to
Saintswood'and stay for our wedding ; and, now
I think of it, he shall be my best man. That
will be a capital climax to his adventures, won't
it?"
" Capital ! It was very kind of you to invite
him. I shall be delighted to see him again."
" You must know that he has been half over
Egypt since you saw him last."
"Egypt! Impossible."
" It is a fact. He only returned last Mon-
day."
"Well! as Mr. Bloss remarked in the train
the other day, his energy is something extraor-
dinary. I feel certain that he will become a
very great man."
"There is no doubt about that."
Let me interrupt the conversation. Wheth-
er or not my own letter to Petersfeld had any
effect in contributing to his rapid return, I do
not know. Probably another, which he re-
I ceived by the same (Marseilles) mail from his
; father, and which, consequently, reached him a
; few hours after he landed, may have had more
to do with it. The old gentleman wrote in a
! rage, informing his self-expatriating son that if
he chose to neglect his profession and waste his
time upon the banks of the Nile, he might make
up his mind to live upon the backsheesh of his
fellow-pilgrims ; Jbr not one English shilling
would ever be remitted in that direction.
" Now," resumed Helen, " I find that I must
have another brides-maid. Mr. Petersfeld is
engaged to be married to a Miss Linda Butter-
mere ; and if you take the one, I mean to lay
claim to the other. Could it possibly be man-
aged, do you think? Ferdinand, you must
really contrive it!"
"That I will, darling! My father will be
only too delighted with such an opportunity of
firing off his diplomacy. Nothing on earth
will please him more than to be told that it is
your wish, but that -we fear the thing is impos-
sible ! Hey ? Can't you fancy the grave twink-
le in his eye, and the tone with which he will
repeat the last word ? It will be a whole day's
employment to consider the proper scheme, ar-
range the exact means, and write the necessary
dispatches. And the best of it is, that he'll
succeed. You'll see!"
" It will realfy be great fun !"
"It will be a piece of luck, too, for Miss
Linda," laughed Ferdinand. "What do you
think that same prodigal father did when I went
up to town the other day ? Absolutely gave me
three hundred pounds to lay out upon lockets
for the brides-maids ! They are, of course, all
alike, with our initials intertwisted in brilliants.
I think you will be pleased with the mono-
gram."
" Three hundred pounds ! I never heard of
such a thing."
" Oh, and I forgot to tell you that the Gigog-
gin business is settled at last. The admiral
has given way, and allows him to follow you.
I suppose my father was right in insisting upon
a regular written character, just as if old Gi had
been a perfect stranger. Like Salterton, he
has a strong feeling about what he calls tam-
pering with other people's retainers. However,
all is right now. Your henchman is again
in your service."
"What! Another piece of good fortune!
Oh, Ferdinand, how very kind you all are. I
don't know how I should have managed with-
out Gi."
"I say much the same, for my own part.
In fact, I'm not so certain that I should have
been where I am without him," rejoined Fer-
dinand, gayly. " He won't find me ungrateful.
He is a made man for life."
The wedding was a brilliant affair. It took
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
131
place, of course, at Riverwood. I am not
ashamed to confess that few things would amuse
me more than to read a circumstantial account
of it written by a snob.
"And so," said Mr. Salterton, as Helen ap-
peared at their early breakfast - table on the
morning of the eventful day, "I find that Lord
St. Margarets has been considerate enough to
provide me with an accomplice upon this occa-
sion. I suppose he thought the knot would be
all the tighter for a pull at both ends."
"Indeed !" replied Helen, who felt just nerv-
ous enough to be glad of an indifferent matter
to talk about. " One of his friends, I sup-
pose."
" I expect him here presently. He said he
should ride over from Saintswood. He is a
man whom I remember well at Oxford, and
hadn't seen for years until yesterday. " And here
he comes, I believe."
There was a clatter of horse-hoofs along the
approach, and then a rattling ring at the front-
door bell. f
The door opened, and the visitor was an-
nounced.
"Doctor Orchard, sir."*-
"Ha! my dear Miss Fleetlands! You told
me that we should meet again ; but you didn't
tell me how very soon it was to be. That was
inconsiderate. I must have a kiss for my
journey ; and here are a thousand good wishes
in advance of to-day's business. Mrs. Orchard
sends the same. So does my sister. Three
thousand in all! My dear young lady, how
shall I ever thank you enough for coming to my
house ?"
" How can I ever thank you enough for com-
ing here to-day ?" returned Helen, ready to cry
with pleasure. "Do you know, Doctor Or-
chard, I scarcely felt as if my happiness could
have been added to; but you have made it
really run over."
"Oh, dear me! If we are to compliment
each other at this rate, we shall certainly .be
late for church. The good fortune is all upon
my part. Your gallant young bridegroom was
kind enough to write to me the other day, and
offer me his father's hospitality at Saintswood
for the wedding, in case I could manage to
come and lend a hand. What a princely place
it is ! Long and happily may you live to reign
over it. And now, Helen," continued the
doctor, taking her once more by the hand
" I'm always going to call you Helen, in future,
you know I congratulate you in earnest. You
have chosen well. There is no mistake about
it. That cross was not won by vulgar muscle,
nor by blind carelessness of danger, nor by the
instinct which makes all ^rue men happy to
fight. That glorious cross fell to a man whom
God had fashioned as one fit to win and wear
it ; and if that young fellow had touched his hat
to me at a stable-door, I should have taken off
mine to him in return. I should indeed. To
mistake that face would be to insult its Maker.
You are a heretic as to all this, Salterton ?"
" Open to conviction ; sine comburendo, if
possible. Not, I confess, upon the strength of
two individual instances, and those two Helen
and Ferdinand."
Doctor Orchard ought to have made his bar-
gain for at least ten more kisses before Helen
retired to her bridal toilette. He had indeed
made her love him dearly.
Of the wedding itself, one or two incidents are
all that I feel it at all desirable to. record. In
the first place the admiral made his appearance,
in accordance with a formal invitation. He
shook hands cordially with Lord St. Margarets,
as well as with the bride and bridegroom ; and
went home with a lighter heart than he had car-
ried for some years before.
Linda was not present. Diplomacy had
done its best, but had failed upon this occasion.
Shortly after the ceremony, Petersfeld found an
opportunity of approaching Helen.
" You must let me offer you this little talis-
man, Mrs. Hunsdon," he said, "with my warm-
est congratulations and good wishes. Will you
wear it sometimes for my sake ? I brought it
from Egypt. We can never be quite indifferent
to each other, I hope."
" Indeed, we can not, Mr. Petersfeld," replied
Helen, admiring the sparkling toy. " Thank
you very much indeed. Did it really come from
Egypt'? It shall always have a place on my chain.
It is a talisman for good, I hope but I am so
sorry that Linda could not be here."
" Come, Helen, we mustn't ask questions,"
said Captain Hunsdon, approaching. " Peters-
feld and I had a conversation last evening ; but
never mind that now. Petersfeld, I am going
to 'give you a commission. Will you undertake
it?"
" With pleasure."
" It is to convey this bridesmaid-locket to Miss
Buttermere. I trust to your honor to present
it personally. You will tell her, please, how
grieved we all were that she was unable to be
present, to wear it in her place."
"And tell her, from me," added Helen, " that
I hope she will be as much in love with her
talisman as I am with mine."
" Must I really " began Petersfeld.
" Certainly. It is in your charge."
There was no time for more.*; .There is not
much opportunity for private conversation upon
these occasions.
"Then I will carry it."
Petersfeld kept his promise like a man. But
I shall not tell you what passed at the interview.
I have special reasons for this reservation.
Whether or not, to use ladies' language, "any
thing came of it," every lady in the land is at
liberty to conjecture fof herself. And the lady
who guesses right will have read my story to
greater advantage than the lady who guesses
wrong.
THE END.
FRANKLIN SQUARE, NEW YORK, March i, 1868.
1868
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