GABRIEL LE NOIR.
Naught's had! all's spent!
When our desires are gained without content.
--Shakespeare.
"The colonel!" exclaimed the three men in a breath, as the door opened
and a tall, handsome and distinguished-looking gentleman, wrapped in a
black military cloak and having his black beaver pulled low over his
brow, strode into the room.
All arose upon their feet to greet him as though he had been a prince.
With a haughty wave of the hand, he bade them resume their seats, and
beckoning their leader, said:
"Donald, I would have a word with you!"
"At your command, colonel!" said the outlaw, rising and taking a candle
and leading the way into the adjoining room, the same in which fourteen
years before old Granny Grewell and the child had been detained.
Setting the candle upon the mantelpiece, Black Donald stood waiting for
the visitor to open the conversation, a thing that the latter seemed in
no hurry to do, for he began walking up and down the room in stern
silence.
"You seem disturbed, colonel," at length said the outlaw.
"I am disturbed--more than disturbed! I am suffering!"
"Suffering, colonel?"
"Aye, suffering! From what think you? The pangs of remorse!"
"Remorse! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" laughed the outlaw till all the rafters
rang.
"Aye, man, you may laugh; but I repeat that I am tortured with remorse!
And for what do you suppose? For those acts of self-preservation that
fanatics and fools would stigmatize as crimes? No, my good fellow, no!
but for one 'unacted crime!'"
"I told your honor so!" cried the outlaw, triumphantly.
"Donald, when I go to church, as I do constantly, I hear the preacher
prating of repentance; but man, I never knew the meaning of the word
until recently."
"And I can almost guess what it is that has enlightened your honor?"
said the outlaw.
"Yes, it is that miserable old woman and babe! Donald, in every vein of
my soul I repent not having silenced them both forever while they were
yet in my power!"
"Just so, colonel; the dead never come back, or if they do, are not
recognized as property holders in this world. I wish your honor had
taken my advice and sent that woman and child on a longer journey."
"Donald, I was younger then than now. I--shrank from bloodshed," said
the man in a husky voice.
"Bah! superstition! Bloodshed--blood is shed every day! 'We kill to
live!' say the butchers. So do we. Every creature preys upon some other
creature weaker than himself--the big beasts eat up the little
ones--artful men live on the simple! So be it! The world was made for
the strong and cunning! Let the weak and foolish look to themselves!"
said the outlaw, with a loud laugh.
While he spoke the visitor resumed his rapid, restless striding up and
down the room. Presently he came again to the side of the robber and
whispered:
"Donald, that girl has returned to the neighborhood, brought back by old
Warfield. My son met her in the woods a month ago, fell into
conversation with her, heard her history, or as much of it as she
herself knows. Her name is Capitola! She is the living image of her
mother! How she came under the notice of old Warfield--to what extent he
is acquainted with her birth and rights--what proofs may be in his
possession I know not. All that I have discovered after the strictest
inquiry that I was enabled to make, is this--that the old beggar woman
that died and was buried at Major Warfield's expense, was no other than
Nancy Grewell, returned--that the night before she died she sent for
Major Warfield and had a long talk with him, and that shortly afterward
the old scoundrel traveled to the north and brought home this girl!"
"Humph! it is an ugly business, your honor, especially with your honor's
little prejudice against----"
"Donald, this is no time for weakness! I have gone too far to stop!
Capitola must die!"
"That's so, colonel--the pity is that it wasn't found out fourteen years
ago. It is so much easier to pinch a baby's nose until it falls asleep
than to stifle a young girl's shrieks and cries--then the baby would not
have been missed--but the young girl will be sure to be inquired after."
"I know that there will be additional risk, but there shall be the
larger compensation, larger than your most sanguine hopes would suggest.
Donald, listen!" said the colonel, stooping and whispering low--"the day
that you bring me undeniable proofs that Capitola Le Noir is dead, you
finger one thousand dollars!"
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the outlaw, in angry scorn. "Capitola Le Noir is
the sole heiress of a fortune--in land, negroes, coal mines, iron
foundries, railway shares and bank stock of half a million of
dollars--and you ask me to get her out of your way for a thousand
dollars--I'll do it--you know I will! Ha, ha, ha!"
"Why, the government doesn't value your whole carcass at more than I
offer you for the temporary use of your hands, you villain!" frowned the
colonel.
"No ill names, your honor--between us they are like kicking guns--apt to
recoil!"
"You forget that you are in my power!"
"I remember that your honor is in mine! Ha, ha, ha! The day Black Donald
stands at the bar--the honorable Colonel Le Noir will probably be beside
him!"
"Enough of this! Confound you, do you take me for one of your pals?"
"No, your worship, my pals are too poor to hire their work done, but
then they are brave enough to do it themselves."
"Enough of this, I say! Name the price of this new service!"
"Ten thousand dollars--five thousand in advance--the remainder when the
deed is accomplished."
"Extortioner! Shameless, ruthless extortioner!"
"Your honor will fall into that vulgar habit of calling ill names. It
isn't worth while! It doesn't pay! If your honor doesn't like my terms,
you needn't employ me. What is certain is that I cannot work for less!"
"You take advantage of my necessities."
"Not at all; but the truth is, Colonel, that I am tired of this sort of
life, and wish to retire from active business. Besides, every man has
his ambition, and I have mine. I wish to emigrate to the glorious West,
settle, marry, turn my attention to politics, be elected to Congress,
then to the Senate, then to the Cabinet, then to the White House--for
success in which career, I flatter myself nature and education have
especially fitted me. Ten thousand dollars will give me a fair start!
Many a successful politician, your honor knows, has started on less
character and less capital!"
To this impudent slander the colonel made no answer. With his arms
folded and his head bowed upon his chest he walked moodily up and down
the length of the apartment. Then muttering, "Why should I hesitate?" he
came to the side of the outlaw and said:
"I agree to your terms--accomplish the work and the sum shall be yours.
Meet me here on to-morrow evening to receive the earnest money. In the
meantime, in order to make sure of the girl's identity, it will be
necessary for you to get sight of her beforehand, at her home, if
possible--find out her habits and her haunts--where she walks, or rides,
when she is most likely to be alone, and so on. Be very careful! A
mistake might be fatal."
"Your honor may trust me."
"And now good-by--remember, to-morrow evening," said the colonel, as,
wrapping himself closely in his dark cloak, and pulling his hat low over
his eyes, he passed out by the back passage door and left the house.
"Ha, ha, ha! Why does that man think it needful to look so villainous?
If I were to go about in such a bandit-like dress as that, every child I
met would take me for--what I am!" laughed Black Donald, returning to
his comrades.
During the next hour other members of the band dropped in until some
twenty men were collected together in the large kitchen around the long
table, where the remainder of the night was spent in revelry.