THE OUTLAW.
"He knew himself a villain, but he deemed
The rest no better than the thing he seemed;
And scorned the best as hypocrites, who hid,
Those deeds the bolder spirit plainly did.
He knew himself detested, but he knew
The hearts that loathed him crouched and dreaded, too.
Lone, wild and strange he stood, alike exempt
From all affection and from all contempt."
--BYRON.
That first day of her imprisonment seemed endless to Pet. She yawned
over her books, and dozed over the drawings, and fell asleep, wondering
what they were doing at home, and when they would come in search of her;
and dreamed she was creeping through some hole in the wall, making her
escape, and awoke to find herself crawling on all fours between the legs
of the table. It was the longest, dreariest day Pet had ever known. The
woman Marguerite did not make her appearance again, and Pet's meals were
served by a bright, bold-eyed lad, whom she plied with some fifty
questions or so in a breath; but as the boy was a Spaniard, and did not
speak nor understand a word of English, Miss Lawless did not gain much
by this. As there was no means of telling day from night, Pet would have
thought a week had elapsed but for the little clock that so slowly and
provokingly pointed out the lagging hours.
"This being taken captive and carried off to a romantic dungeon by a lot
of bearded outlaws is not what it's cracked up to be, after all," said
Pet, gaping fit to strain her jaws. "It's all very nice to read about in
story books, and see at the theater; but in real life, come to look at
it, it's the most horridly-slow affair ever was. Now, when I used to
read about the lovely princess being carried off by the fiery dragon (by
the way, I'd like to see a fiery dragon--I never _did_ see one yet), I
used to wish I had been in her place; but I know better now. She must
have had a horrid stupid time of it in that enchanted castle, until that
nice young man, the prince, came, and carried her off. Heigho! What a
pity I have no prince to come for _me_! Wonder if Ray Germaine's gone
yet--but, there! I don't care whether he is or not. He does not care two
pins whether he ever sees me again or not. Nobody cares about me, and
I'm nothing but a poor, abused, diabolical little wretch. Oh, yaw-w-w!
Lor'! how sleepy I am! I do wish somebody would come and talk to me,
even Rozzel Garnet, or that man with all the black whiskers, who was
impolite enough to call me names, or that wild, odd-looking outlaw
queen--anybody would be better than none. I'll blue-mould--I'll run to
seed--I'll turn to dust and ashes, if I'm kept here much longer; I know
I will!"
And, yawning repeatedly, Pet pitched her book impatiently across the
room, and, stretching herself on a lounge, in five minutes was sound
asleep.
The clock, striking ten, awoke her. She rubbed her eyes and looked
drowsily up, and the first object on which her eyes rested was the
motionless form of Rozzel Garnet, as he stood near, with folded arms,
gazing down upon her, with his usual sinister smile.
"Oh! you're here--are you?" said Pet, composedly, after her first
prolonged stare. "I must say, it shows a great deal of delicacy and
politeness on your part to enter a young lady's sleeping-apartment after
this fashion. What new mischief has your patron saint with the cloven
foot put you up to now?"
"Saucy as ever, little wasp! You should be careful how you talk now,
knowing you are in my power."
"Should I, indeed? Don't you think you see me afraid of you, Mr. Garnet?
Just fancy me, with my finger in my mouth and my eyes cast down,
trembling before any man, much less you! Ha, ha, ha! don't you hope you
may live to see it?"
"It is in my power to make you afraid of me! You are here a captive,
beyond all hope of escape--mind, beyond the power of heaven and earth to
free you. Say, then, beautiful dragon-fly, radiant little fay, how are
you to defy me? Your hour of triumph has passed, though you seem not to
know it. You have queened it right royally long enough. My turn has come
at last. I have conquered the conqueress, caged the eaglet, tamed the
wild queen of the kelpies, won the most beautiful, enchanting,
intoxicating fairy that ever inflamed the heart or set on fire the brain
of man."
"Yes--boast!" said Pet, getting up and composedly beginning to twine her
curls over her fingers. "But self-praise is no recommendation. If by all
those names you mean me, let me tell you not to be too sure even yet.
It's not right to cheer until you are out of the woods, you know, Mr.
Garnet; and, really, you're not such a lady-killer, after all, as you
think yourself. You can't hold fire without burning your fingers, Mr.
Garnet, as you'll find, if you attempt any nonsense with me. So, your
honor's worship, the best thing you can do is, to go off to your boon
companions, and mind your own business for the future, and leave me to
finish my nap."
"Sorry to refuse your polite request, Miss Lawless," he said, with a
sneer; "but, really, I cannot leave you to solitude and loneliness, this
way. As I have a number of things to talk over with you, and as you
have forgotten to ask me to sit down, I think I will just avail myself
of a friend's privilege, and take a seat myself."
And very nonchalantly the gentleman seated himself beside her on the
lounge. Pet sprung up with a rebound, as if she were a ball of
India-rubber, or had steel springs in her feet, and confronted him with
blazing cheeks and flashing eyes.
"You hateful, disagreeable, yellow old ogre," she burst out with; "keep
the seat to yourself, then, if you want it, but don't dare to come near
me again! Don't dare, I say!" And she stamped her foot, passionately,
like the little tempest that she was. "It's dangerous work playing with
chain-lightning, Mr. Rozzel Garnet; so be warned in time. I vow to Sam!
if I had a broomstick handy, I'd let you know what it is to put a
respectable young woman in a rage. You sit beside me, indeed! Faugh!
there is pollution in the very air you breathe!"
He turned for an instant, livid with anger; but to lose his temper was
not his _rôle_ now, and so gulping down the little draught of her
irritating words as best he might, he said:
"Ay! rave, and storm, and flash fire, my little tornado; but it will
avail you nothing. You but beat the air with your breath, though,
really, I do not know as it is useless, either, for you look so
dazzlingly beautiful in your roused wrath, my dear inflammation of the
heart, that you make me love you twice as much as ever."
"You love me indeed!" said Pet, contemptuously; "I don't see what awful
crime any of my forefathers have ever done, that I'm compelled to stand
up here, like patience on a monument, and listen to such stuff as that.
I won't listen to it! I'll go and call that woman, I declare I will, and
make her pack you off with a flea in your ear."
"Not so fast, my pretty one," said Garnet, with his usual cold smile, as
he put out his long arms and caught hold of Pet; "Madame Marguerite has
gone away, and may not be back to-night. The men have all gone, too, but
one, and he is lying under the table out there, dead drunk. How now, my
little flame of fire? Does this damp your courage any?"
For the first time, the conviction that she was completely in his power
thrilled through the heart of Pet, making her, for one moment, almost
dizzy with nameless apprehension. But the mocking, exulting eyes of his
everywhere bent tauntingly upon her, and the high spirit of the brave
girl flashed indignantly up; and, fixing her flashing black eyes full on
his face, she answered, boldly:
"No, it doesn't! Damp my courage, forsooth! Do you really suppose I am
afraid of you, Rozzel Garnet? of you, the most arrant, white-livered
coward God ever afflicted the earth with! Ha! ha! why, if you think so,
you are a greater fool than even I ever took you to be."
His teeth closed with a spasmodic snap; he half rose, in his fierce
rage, to his feet, as he hissed:
"Girl, take care! tempt me not too far, lest I make you feel what it is
to taunt me beyond endurance!"
"Barking dogs seldom bite, Mr. Garnet; little snarling curs, never."
"By heaven, girl, I will strangle you if you do not stop!" he shouted,
springing fiercely to his feet.
She took one step back, laid her hand on a carving-knife that had been
on the table since dinner-time, and looked up in his face with a
deriding smile.
In spite of himself, her dauntless spirit and bold daring struck him
with admiration. He looked at her for a moment, inwardly wondering that
so brave and fierce a spirit could exist in a form so slight and frail,
and then, with a long breath, he sunk back into his seat.
"That's right, Mr. Garnet: I see you have not lost all your reason yet,"
said Pet, quietly; "if you value a whole skin, it will be wise for you
to keep the length of the room between us. I don't threaten much, but
I'm apt to act when aroused."
"Miss Lawless, forgive my hasty temper. I did not come to threaten you,
to-night, but to set you at liberty," said Garnet, looking penitent.
"Humph! set me at liberty! I have my doubts about that," said Pet,
transfixing him with a long, unwinking stare.
"Nevertheless, it is true. To-night they are all gone--we are all alone;
say but the word, and in ten minutes you will be as free as the winds of
heaven."
"Worse and worse! Mr. Garnet, just look me in the eye, will you, and see
if you can discover any small mill-stones there? Do you really think
I'm green enough to believe you, now?"
"Miss Lawless, I swear to you I speak the truth. In ten minutes you may
leave this, free and unfettered, if you will."
"Well, I declare! Just let me catch my breath after that, will you? Mr.
Garnet, I have heard of Satan turning saint, but I never experienced it
before. So you'll set me free, will you? Well, I'm sure I feel
dreadfully obliged to you, though I don't know as I need to, since but
only for you I wouldn't be here at all. I'm quite willing to go, though,
and am ready to start at any moment."
"Wait one instant, Miss Petronilla. I will set you free, but on one
condition."
"Ah! I thought so! I was just thinking so, all along! And what might
that condition be, if a body may ask?" inquired Pet.
"That you become my wife!"
"Phew-w-w! Great guns and little ones! bombshells and hurricanes! Fire,
murder, and perdition generally! Your wife! Oh, ye gods and little
fishes! Hold me, somebody, or I'll go into the high-strikes."
"Girl, do you mock me?" passionately exclaimed Garnet, springing to his
feet.
"Mr. Garnet, my _dear_ sir, take things easy. It's the worst thing in
the world, for the constitution and by-laws, flaring up in this manner.
It might produce a rush of brains to the head, that would be the death
of you, if from nothing but the very novelty of having them there.
'Sh--sh! now; I see you are going to burst out with something naughty;
but don't--you really mus'n't speak of your kind friend and patron with
the tail and horns, to ears polite. Mock you! St. Judas Iscariot forbid!
I trust I have too much respect for your high and mighty majesty, to do
anything so impolite. Sit down, Mr. Garnet, and make your unhappy soul
as miserable as circumstances will allow. No, now that I've eased my
mind, I'd rather not get married just at present, thank you. I intend to
take the black veil some of these long-come-shorts, if I may be allowed
so strong an expression, and second-hand nuns are not so nice as they
might be. No, Mr. Garnet, I'm exceedingly obliged for your very
flattering offer; but I really must decline the high honor of sharing
your hand, heart, and tooth brush," said Pet, courtseying.
"And by all the fiends in flames, minion, you shall not decline it!"
shouted Garnet, maddened by her indescribably taunting tone. "By the
heaven above us you shall either be my wife or--"
"Well," said Pet, sitting down at the table, resting her elbows upon it,
dropping her chin in her hands, and staring at him as only she could
stare; "what? Why don't you go on? I never like to have a burst of
eloquence like that snapped short off in the middle like the stem of a
pipe; it spoils the effect!"
"Then, mad girl, you shall either be my wife, or share a worse fate."
"Well, Mr. Garnet, I don't like to contradict you; but if there can be a
worse fate than to have anything to do with you, I'd like to know
it--that's all.
"Then you will not consent!" he said, glaring on her like a tiger.
"Mr. Garnet, for goodness' sake don't make such an old goose of
yourself, asking silly questions!" said Pet, yawning. "I wish you would
go! I'm sleepy, and you look just now so much like a shanghai rooster
with the jaundice, that you'll give me the nightmare if you don't clear
out. Mr. Garnet, I don't want to be personal, but even the nicest young
men get tiresome after a while."
"Petronilla Lawless, take care! Have you no fear?"
"Well, no, I can't say that I have; at least, I don't stand very much in
awe of you, you know. I expect I ought to, but I don't. It's not my
fault, for I can't help it."
"Then, since fair means will not do, something else must!" exclaimed
Garnet, making a spring toward her, while his eyes were blazing with a
terrible light. But Pet was as quick as himself and seizing her
formidable weapon she darted back, and flourished it triumphantly,
exclaiming:
"Now for a game of hide-and-go-seek. Catch me if you can, Mr. Garnet;
but if you have any consideration for this clean floor, keep a
respectful distance. Blood-stains are not the easiest removed in the
world, especially such bad blood as yours; and this long knife and a
willing hand can make an ugly wound."
She had him at bay again. There was a fierce, red, dangerous light in
her flaming eyes, now; and a look of deep, steady determination in the
dark, wild little face. Rozzel Garnet perceptibly cooled down for a
moment; but then, as if maddened by her taunting, deriding smile, he
bounded toward her with the fearful spring of a wild beast, and had her
in his arms before she could elude his grasp.
But the bright-winged little wasp had its sting yet. Up flew the blue,
glittering knife, down it descended with all the force of her small arm;
but her aim was not sure, and it lodged in his shoulder.
With an awful oath, he seized her hands in his vise-like grip, and with
his other pulled out the knife. The wound was not deep, yet the blood
spurted up as he pulled it out, in his very face.
The sight seemed to rouse him to madness; and Pet writhed with pain in
his fierce grasp. She felt herself fainting. A dreadful weakness was
stealing through her frame; when as if sent by Heaven, a quick, heavy
step was heard without, and then a commanding voice calling:
"Hallo, Garnet! where are you?"
With a fierce imprecation of rage, the baffled villain hurled the nearly
swooning girl from him, and turned to leave the room, hissing in her
ear:
"Foiled again! But you are still in my power. By Heaven and all its
hosts, I will yet have my revenge!"
Pet dropped into a seat, and, feeling sick and giddy, bowed her head on
her hands. Never in her life before had she fully realized her own
weakness. What would all her boasted strength have availed her but for
that heavenly interposition? A moment ago, and she was as a child in the
grasp of a giant. What an escape she had had! How she blessed, in her
heart, he, whoever it might have been, who had saved her!
Pet's emotions, no matter of what nature, never lasted long. Ten minutes
now sufficed to make "Richard himself again;" and with a short but
fervent prayer of thanksgiving, she sat up, drew a long breath of
unspeakable relief, and began looking ruefully at her wrists, all black
and blue from his iron pressure.
"Natural bracelets!" said Pet, with a slight grimace of pain. "Jet and
azure. I can't say I approve of such violent love-making; it's
unpleasant and excites one--rather! However, 'the course of true love
never did run smooth,' according to that nice man, Mr. Shakespeare;
though I hope it isn't always as rough as the severe course I underwent
just now. Good gracious! What a tiger I have raised in that quondam
tutor of mine! Pretty instructor he was for youth, to be sure! But lo!
the curtain rises! What is to be the next scene, I wonder?"
As she spoke, the curtain was pushed aside, and a new actor appeared. He
walked over to the opposite side of the room, and leaning his elbow on a
sort of mantel, gazed with a look of careless curiosity on Pet.
From the moment that young lady laid her black eyes upon him, she gave a
violent start, and looked at him in utter amaze. For, save the disparity
in their years, and a certain devil-may-care recklessness that this man
had, she saw before her the living image of Ray Germaine!
The new-comer was a man apparently about forty years of age, with the
bold, handsome features, the flashing black eyes, and raven hair of Ray
Germaine. His face was bronzed by sun and wind many shades darker than
that of his young prototype; and in his coarse sailor's garb he looked
the very beau ideal of a bold, reckless buccaneer. And yet, withal, he
bore about him the same air of refinement Pet had noticed in the woman
Marguerite, as if both had originally belonged to a far different grade
of society than the branded outlaws to whom they now were joined.
But that likeness--that wonderful resemblance to Ray Germaine--it
completely upset Miss Lawless' nonchalance, as nothing in the world had
ever done before. There she sat and stared, unable to remove her eyes
from the dark, browned, handsome face that was turned toward her with a
look half-careless, half-admiring, and wholly amused.
The man was the first to break the silence.
"You are the young lady they brought here last night, I presume?" he
said, watching her curiously.
His voice, too, was like Ray's, and bespoke him, even if nothing else
had done so, above his calling--being those low, modulated tones that
can only be educated into a man.
Pet did not reply. She did not hear him; in fact, being still lost in
digesting her surprise at this astounding resemblance. He watched her
for a moment as if waiting for an answer, and then a smile broke over
his face. Pushing back his thick, clustering, raven hair, he said:
"Yes, look at me well, young lady. I presume you never saw an outlaw
with a price upon his head before. Is it to curiosity alone, or is it to
some concealed deformity, that I am indebted for that piercing
scrutiny?"
Pet was aroused now, and reddened slightly at his words and look. Then
her old impudence came back, and she answered quietly:
"No, you're not the only outlaw with a price upon his head I have ever
seen. I have just had the honor of holding an interview with one;
though, really, I don't think his head is worth a price above ten cents,
if that. I suppose I have the sublime happiness of beholding his
mightiness, the commander-in-chief of all the smugglers?"
"Even so! I have returned, you perceive, sooner than was expected; in
fact, solely upon your account. I heard you were here, and came to see
you."
"Indeed! Well, I hope you like me?" said Pet, pertly.
"Most decidedly," said the outlaw, passing his hand caressingly over his
whiskers; "so much, in fact, that if I were not a married man I should
be tempted to fall deplorably in love with you on the spot."
"Well, you'll greatly oblige me by doing nothing of the sort," said Pet.
"I have had enough of love to last me for one while. Love's not the
pleasantest thing in the world, judging by what I've seen of the
article; and with the blessing of Providence, I'm going to have nothing
whatever to do with it. May I ask the name of the gentleman whose
prisoner I have the unspeakable happiness of being?"
"Certainly. I am called, for want of a better, Captain Reginald."
"Captain Reginald what? That's not a whole name."
His brow darkened for a moment at some passing thought, then he replied:
"Never mind; it serves the purpose, and it's the only one I believe I
ever had a right to. I am afraid you find the solitude here rather
irksome--do you not?"
"Well, Captain Reginald, to be candid with you, it's not to say a place
where a body would like to spend their lives. There's no danger of one's
growing dissipated here, or anything that way, you know--which is, of
course, an advantage. And now, might I ask who the gentleman is who has
put himself to the very unnecessary trouble of having me carried off?
All the rest seem to be dumb on the subject, from some cause."
"I fear I will have to be dumb, too, my dear young lady; the gentleman
who has shown his good taste by falling in love with you does not wish
to be known at present. Can you not guess yourself?"
"Haven't the remotest idea, unless it be Rozzel Garnet, or Orlando
Toosypegs?"
"No--neither! Garnet, of course, brought you here, but he was paid to do
it by another--we outlaws do anything, from murder down, for money. As
for Toosypegs, or whatever the name may be, I haven't the pleasure of
knowing him; but I can assure you it is not he."
"Well, then, I give it up. I never was good at guessing, so I'll not
bother my brain about it. Is it high treason to ask how long I am to be
cooped up here in this under-ground hole?"
"Perhaps a fortnight, perhaps longer."
"Vipers and rattlesnakes!--two whole blessed weeks!--whew! Well, Mr.
Captain, all I have to say is that I'll be a melancholy case of
'accidental death' before half the time, and then I wish your patron,
whoever he may be, joy of his bargain."
"We will hope for better things, my dear young lady. By the way, I have
not heard your name yet--what is it?"
"Pet Lawless--better known to her unhappy friends as 'Imp, Elf, Firefly,
Nettle, Pepperpod,' and many other equally proper, appropriate and
suggestive names. 'Queen regent and mistress imperial to all the witches
and warlocks that ever rode on broomsticks,' and leaves a large and
disagreeable circle of friends to mourn her untimely loss. _Requiescat
in pace._"
All this Pet brought out at a breath, and so rapidly that the
smuggler-captain looked completely bewildered.
"Lawless!" he exclaimed. "I did not think--do you know Judge Lawless of
Heath Hill?" he asked abruptly.
"Slightly acquainted. They say I'm a daughter of his," said Pet,
composedly.
"His daughter? Young lady, are you jesting?"
"Well, I may be--quite unintentional on my part, though; if it sounds
funny, you're perfectly welcome to laugh at it till you're black in the
face. What was it?"
"You Judge Lawless's daughter?" said the astonished captain.
"Nothing is certain in this uncertain world, Captain Reginald. I've
always labored under that impression; if you know anything to the
contrary, I am quite willing to be convinced."
"Young lady, I wish you would be serious for one moment," said the
smuggler, knitting his dark brows. "If you are his daughter, there has
been a terrible mistake here. Did not Rozzel Garnet live at Heath Hill
for some years as the tutor of Miss Lawless?"
"Yes, sir, and he was sent about his business for wishing to teach her
some things not laid down in the books."
"Then he would know you at once. Oh! it's impossible you can be Miss
Lawless."
"Very well, if it affords you any consolation to think so, you are
perfectly welcome to your own opinion. Who am I then?"
"You were mistaken for, or rather you ought to be, a young lady, a
celebrated beauty who lives in a cottage somewhere on the heath."
"What! Erminie?"
"I really do not know the name. Is it possible you are not the one?"
"Well no, I rather think not. Though I may not be Pet Lawless; and as
you say I'm not, I won't dispute it--but I most decidedly am not Erminie
Germaine."
"Erminie who?" cried the outlaw, with a violent start.
"Germaine. Perhaps you object to that, too."
"Pardon me; the name is--" He paused and shaded his fine eyes for a
moment with his hand, then looking up, he added: "She was the one who
was to be brought here; if you are really Miss Lawless, then there has
been a tremendous mistake."
"Humph! it seems to me to have been a mistake all through. I shouldn't
wonder the least if it turns out to be some of Master Garnet's
handiwork. So they wanted to carry off Erminie? Now, I'm real glad I was
taken, if it had saved Minnie. It appears to have been a pretty piece of
business, from beginning to end."
"I shall put an end to this mystery," said the captain, starting up and
going to the door. "Marguerite," he said, lifting the screen, "send
Rozzel Garnet here."
"He has gone," replied the voice of the woman. "He went away the moment
you entered the room."
"Sold!" cried Pet, jumping up, and whirling round like a top in her
delight. "He has taken you all in--made April-fools of every mother's
son of you! Carried off me, Pet Lawless, for Erminie Germaine! He knew
he would be discovered, and now he has fled; and when you see last
night's wind again, you will see him. Oh! I declare if it's not the best
joke I have heard this month of Sundays!"
And overcome by the (to her) irresistibly ludicrous discovery, of how
the smugglers had been "sold" by one of themselves, Pet fell back,
laughing uproariously.