"do you know, that while I could have got you this money, I can cut you
out of it? Was it the loss of the money, think ye, that made the
wretched coward, your husband, shoot himself? No, it was conscience.
They were a pair of villains. I know that Gourlay had a secreted card,
whereby he was to blackleg Graeme, and that it was disappointment,
shame, and conscience, working all together, that made him draw the
trigger to end a villanous life. But the game is up," he continued, as
he rose and got hold of his hat; then standing erect and fearless, he
held out his finger, pointing to me--"Rymer!" he said impressively, but
with devilish calmness, "let your ears tingle as you think of me; it
will keep you in remembrance of a friend, who, when next he meets you,
will embrace you _cordially_--about the heart, you know. Good night!"
"And well gone," said the woman, as she heard the door slammed with a
noise that shook the crazy tenement. "Oh! I am so happy you have come to
relieve me of an engagement which I was ashamed of, and which would have
yielded me nothing; for their object was to force money out of your
friend, and then divide it between them."
"How did Rogers or Ruggieri find you out?" inquired I.
"I cannot tell; the nose of a bloodhound has a finer sense than a
sheep-dog's."
"And how did you come to know of the compact between the brothers?"
"They got unwary under wine drunk at that fir table. The doctor was the
medical attendant of Colonel Graeme, and this gave him means of working
upon his conscience; and I know they have been at this work for a time."
"But how did Ruggieri come to know about the ten of diamonds?"
"Oh, the card was found crumpled up under the table by Ruggieri
himself, who, with you, was present at the play. He has the card at this
moment. I have seen it. But this is the first time I ever heard of
Gourlay's intention to cheat. I will never believe that; but then I am
his widow, and may be too favourable to him, while Ruggieri was his
enemy, and may be too vindictive."
"And how was the colonel to be applied to, after his conscience was
wrought up to pay?"
"The doctor was to open the subject, and undertake to negotiate with me,
to whom he was to hand over the money--one penny of which I never would
have received."
"The matter is now in better hands," said I. "Will you be staunch and
firm in detailing all you know of the scheme?"
"Yes, though I should not receive a farthing."
"And you will be willing to go to the Moated Grange, and, if necessary,
swear to those things?"
"I will; and, sir, serious though the whole affair has been to me--for I
am poor, and have children--I sometimes wondered, if I did not laugh, at
the queer, far-brought, devilish designs of the doctor. Oh, he is a very
dragon that for cunning! I heard him say he would impress a painted
piece of paper on the child's back, so as to leave a mark, and swear it
was a mother's mark, graven by the hands of the Almighty. Oh the
blasphemy and wickedness of man!"
"Go, dress yourself," said I, "and come with me to the Grange."
"I will, if you can give me some minutes to get a neighbour to take
charge of George and Anne." And away she went to get this family
arrangement completed, while I sat panting with desire to free my friend
from the agony of his condition.
It was about seven o'clock of that same evening that Mrs. Gourlay and I
reached the Moated Grange. I got her shown into an ante-room, to wait
the issue of my interview with Graeme. It happened that the doctor and
he were together, and it even seemed as if they were converging towards
a medium state of confidence. I could observe from the looks of the
victim that he had been so far at least drawn into a recital of facts
(the nature of which it was not difficult for me to conjecture), for I
heard the word Gourlay fall from his lips, as the last of a sentence
which my entry had cut short. Indeed, I may as well state here that
Graeme afterwards admitted to me that when I entered he was in the midst
of a confession of the whole secret of the false play, to which
confession he had been first driven by his internal monitor; and
secondly, led or rather pulled on by the arch-ambidexter, whose game it
was to cheat the cheater, and get the money from him upon some pretence
of seeking out Mrs. Gourlay and paying the money to her. I was, in
short, in the very nick of time, and could hardly help smiling at the
strange part I was playing in what was, as I thought, one of those
serious melodramatic farces of which (in the Frenchman's sense) this
strange world of laughter and groans is made up.
"Dr. Rogers," said I, after the customary greetings, "it is well I have
found you. I picked up a poor woman by the way who lay under the seizure
of premature labour, and knowing the generosity of my friend, I brought
her here for succour and relief. She is in the green parlour, and, I
fear, in exigency. Come."
"May I see her?" said Graeme.
"Certainly, for a moment," said Rogers. "Ah! I rejoice at these
opportunities of employing the beneficence of our profession. Who knows
but I may bring into the world one who will change the aspect of a
hemisphere, and work out some great blessings to the human race!"
And following me, they arrived at the door of the green parlour. I
opened it. Rogers walked forward, Graeme followed, and I stood in the
midst of the three.
"Dr. Rogers--Mrs. Gourlay, an intimate friend of your brother, Signor
Ruggieri."
"Colonel Graeme--Mrs. Gourlay, the widow of that unfortunate man,
Ebenezer Gourlay."
To which Mrs. Gourlay responded by a curtsey, deep and respectful.
"I am master for the nonce. The door is locked, and Mrs. Gourlay must be
delivered of her child with the naevus of the ten of diamonds on its
back."
And she was delivered, but not with the assistance of the doctor. She
performed her part well. By a little drawing out, on my part, I got her
to tell her story; how she had got acquainted with the two brothers; how
they had laid their plans; how she came to know of the crumpled card,
and the use they were to make of it; the trick of the impression on the
child's back; the forcing of the money from the colonel on the pretence
of paying it to her, with her conviction that she would never handle a
penny of it.
During the period of this extraordinary recital, it was my part to watch
the countenances of the two listeners. Graeme sat as if bound to his
chair; every word of the woman seemed to work as a charm upon him,
relieving him of the conviction he had been impressed with, that he was
specially under the judgment of Heaven, without depriving him of the
consolation of a late penitence. Sometimes I caught his eye, and, I
fairly admit, I was wicked enough to indulge in a little mute
risibility to give him confidence in the conclusions he was fast drawing
from the somewhat garrulous narrative of the poor widow.
As for the doctor, he held out like a Milo. From the first moment he saw
the woman he knew that the game was up with him, but he knew also, what
all hardened sinners know, that they owe it to the cacodaimon they obey,
to deny everything to the last, as if they were afraid to show any
indication of what they consider the weakness of being good. We allowed
him to get quit upon the condition of silence on his part, for a prudent
forbearance on ours.
Mrs. Gourlay remained at the Grange for some time, whereby we had an
opportunity of further ascertaining all the details of the machination.
A sum of money was given to her, and Graeme's conscience was relieved,
as well by this retribution as by a conviction to which we both came,
that the game between him and Gourlay was rendered at least equal by the
fact which we had both reason to believe, as stated by Ruggieri, that
Gourlay himself intended to cheat, and that his death could be more
easily accounted for on that theory than on any other.
So far as peace could be brought to one truly penitent, that peace was
brought; and many a time since I have admired, in the happiness of the
family at the Grange, that exemplification of the promise of our blessed
faith, that there is no degree of guilt which may not be atoned for by
the heart that is contrite, and trusts to the mercy of Heaven through
the eternally-ordained source.
I may gratify a whim by informing the readers of the Border Tales that
the secret of the mark on the child's back was never communicated to
Mrs. Graeme. The nurse had told her of the fact of the strange
phenomenon, and she always clung to the belief that it was an omen of
good fortune to the boy. But under what mysterious conditions is the
chain of cause and effect kept up! The frequent allusion made by the
mother to the fact of the mark, drew her son's attention to the cards.
He early became fond of playing with them, as boys do. The early feeling
germinated, and became a kind of passion, and I have reason to believe
he became a gambler like his father, squandering away a great part of
his patrimony.
END OF VOL. XXII.