No sleep visited the eyes of Everard, Count Lieberg. He heard people
moving about, doors opened and closed, and various other sounds, for
near an hour. Then all was silent, and remained so for another hour.
At the end of that time he raised himself upon his elbow and listened,
struck his repeater, which gave him half-past one; lay down for about
a quarter of an hour more, with his head resting upon his hand, and
then started, at hearing sounds again. A muttered curse broke from his
lips, and he sat up, endeavouring to distinguish what could be the
occupation of the person who was watching, and busy at that "very
witching time of night." He could make nothing of it, however, for his
ear only caught a low whirring sort of sound, very much like that of a
watch running down. He thought he heard some people speaking or
whispering also in the court, and rising from his bed he threw on his
dressing-gown, drew back the curtain of his window, and looked out.
It was a bright and beautiful moonlight night as ever was seen. One
could almost distinguish the blades of green grass in the turfed court
below; but Lieberg could perceive nothing of any human being. He
found, indeed, that the penthouse of the large shed, which I have
mentioned as disfiguring the front of the building, came nearly up to
the window of his room; and he concluded that the noise he heard must
proceed from some of the early farm servants, busily at work in those
agricultural mysteries which he himself did not understand. By this
time, however, the sound had ceased, and another kind of noise
succeeded for a moment, which also came to an end, and then all was
quiet.
Silence maintained her reign for about a quarter of an hour, during
which time Lieberg gazed out upon a scene which was well calculated to
afford high and holy thoughts, had his been a breast to receive them.
The beautiful orb, which, like woman's love to man, follows this
earthly sphere through all its wandering course, was shining bright
and pure, in her highest glory. The green lawn, the dark yew trees,
the sloping upland, the well-trimmed hedges, caught the rays as they
fell, and deep shadows, like those which must ever fall to the eye of
memory over various spots in the past, when we look back from the end
of a long life, were cast over the turf from every rising object.
Round about, at a distance from their queen, in the blue heaven,--for
those that were near were swallowed up in her light,--the bright
attendant stars filled up the glory of the sky, and spoke to man's
heart of the majesty of that God who made a thousand worlds, and yet
bows himself to regard the lowest being on the earth.
Such, however, were not the thoughts with which Lieberg gazed. We
shall not, indeed, attempt to penetrate them; they were deep
inscrutable, and would do no good to the mind of any one. Suffice it,
that as his eye strayed upon the dark blue expanse, and seemed
shooting back rays to the bright orb above him, a dark shadow came
upon his brow, his lip curled, his head was raised higher than before,
his chest expanded, as if with some struggle within him. Indeed, it
would seem that he heard some warning voice, and succeeded in drowning
it in the clamour of pride and passion, for he muttered to himself as
he turned from the window--"So hypocrites would tell us, and so fools
would yield!"
He left the curtains open, and with a quiet and steady step, walked
towards the door. As he did so, however, and as his hand was actually
upon the lock to open it, he thought he heard a faint cry, and paused
for a minute to listen. "Busy imagination!" he said, finding the sound
was not repeated; and he opened the door.
All was dark, but the moonlight, which streamed through his room,
crossed the corridor and gave a faint light. There was a sudden step
heard in the passage, and Lieberg instantly drew back; but before he
could shut the door, or see what was coming, he received a heavy blow
upon the head, which struck him to the ground, and for a few minutes
deprived him of all thought and feeling. When he opened his eyes, one
of the candles on his dressing-table was lighted, and he saw two tall,
stout men, covered with smock frocks, each with a large piece of black
crape drawn over his face, busily engaged, the one in packing up
quietly all his dressing apparatus, at least that part of it which was
formed of silver or gold, whilst the other, who had, to say the truth,
opened various portmanteaus and carriage-boxes, without their master's
privity or consent, was examining a purse and a pocket-book by the
light of a candle.
Lieberg was a man of dauntless courage; and though there were two to
one against him, yet he strove to rise, trusting to his own powers to
enable him to contend successfully with the housebreakers, till he
received some assistance. The very first effort to move, however,
shewed him that his hands were tied tightly behind his back, and his
feet linked together, for which purpose two of his own silk
handkerchiefs had been employed. As soon as he found that such was the
case, he perceived that it was vain to make any effort; and he took
his resolution at once, lying as still as if he was dead, and only
watching the proceedings of the plunderers, through his half-closed
eyes.
After having examined the contents of the pocket-book, the man put it
in his pocket, saying to himself, "That will do!" He then proceeded to
aid his companion, and their arrangements were very soon made. The
larger articles were tied up in a towel; Lieberg's rings, watch, seal,
and various other trinkets, were disposed about their persons, and
then, shading again a dark lantern which they had brought with them,
they approached the door, leaving the candle burning on the table.
Lieberg closed his eyes completely, and lay quite still, though his
heart burnt within him; and had there been the slightest possibility
of success, had he been able to free himself, even in a degree, he
would have undoubtedly struggled up, at all risks, rather than remain
in a situation which wounded his pride perhaps more than anything that
had ever occurred to him in life.
He could hear, as he lay with his eyes shut, however, that the two men
stopped beside him; and the one said to the other--
"You've done for him, Harry!"
"No, I haven't!" exclaimed the other, in a loud, rough tone. "D--n his
heart and limbs, I have a great mind to do for him, though! He's only
stunned, like--see how he breathes! but if he were up to knowing why I
did it, I'd take and thrash him till I drove the soul out of his body.
I'll tell you what--this is the fellow that you heard of, who got hold
of the poor boy, and threatened to hang him for forgery, if he
wouldn't make his sister go into keeping with him. Now, that's what I
call being a rascal, indeed. These gentlefolks call you and I,
blackguards, and scamps, and criminals, and felons; now, I should like
to know who is the greatest rascal, who is the greatest felon--he or
I? I never take anything but a little money from those that can spare
it, but he--curse the pitiful mongrel--wants to take away a poor
girl's life and soul, and threatens to hang her brother if he wont
help him. If it were with all her own good will, I've nothing to
say; but to think to go to buy her with the price of her brother's
blood!--if that isn't a blackguard trick, I don't know what is. How it
happens that what you call gentlemen keep him amongst them, I can't
say; but I know if he were to come amongst us, we would kick him out.
But come along; if I stand looking at him any longer, I shall do a
something that I shall be sorry for. I don't like taking a man's life
in that way, unless he stands up to me; so come along, for I feel
inclined to put my foot upon him, and tread his dirty soul out, as I
would to a toad."
The next moment came the sound of receding steps, and then voices were
heard, speaking in another part of the house, and then doors opening
and shutting again, and what seemed tones of lamentation and
supplication. Those were followed by the banging-to of a heavy door,
and the sound of a key turned in the lock; and then all was still,
till what seemed the noise of distant cart-wheels came upon the air,
and silence resumed her sway again.
All these sounds Lieberg might have heard, and did hear as far as the
external organs were concerned, but his heart was moved with passions
far too strong for the mental ear to give heed to anything. Had it
been possible for his strong, clear mind to give way, it would have
yielded at that instant, when, lying bound and helpless, and forced to
counterfeit insensibility, he listened to the comments of a town-born
ruffian upon his own base conduct, and felt himself, in spite of all
the resistance of vanity, placed in a state of utter degradation both
in his own eyes and in those of the two men who had been gazing upon
him. There was no excess of frantic vehemence in which he could not
have indulged had he given way to the sensations of his heart; but,
instead of doing so, he lay perfectly still, concentrating all his
feelings within his own dark bosom, and continuing to shut his eyes,
as if to prevent the rage over which he brooded, from venting itself
by any of the senses whatsoever.
It required nearly an hour for his feelings to become tranquil in any
degree, and during that time everything remained quiet in the house,
while the calm, sweet dawn of day came gradually on, throwing warmer
and warmer tints into the room, till at length all was sunshine. As
soon as the day was bright and high, the ear of Lieberg caught the
sound of knocking and shaking, as if some persons at the top of the
house were locked in a room, and trying to make themselves heard. Then
came the voice of his own servant, Martini, exclaiming, with his
Italian accent--"Why have you locked me in? Some one let me out! My
master ordered me to go for the letters early. Let me out, I say!"
"We can't!" screamed a woman's voice, still further off; "they have
locked us in, too."
"They!" exclaimed the voice of Martini, again--"who the devil are
they?"
"The men who broke in, and robbed the house, and murdered my master
and the strange gentleman--I dare say," screamed the woman, who had
spoken before. "Lord have mercy upon us! I saw one of their black
faces"--and she plunged into a personal description of the
housebreakers, which was certainly borrowed very greatly from
imagination, although she had preserved judgment enough, as she said,
to lie still, pretending to be asleep, and do nothing but shiver while
the men were in the room. This was the lady who exercised the function
of cooking, which is a wakeful sort of profession, there arising a
kind of salamanderishness in the nature of a cook, from living
constantly in fiery atmospheres, which prevents her from giving way
more than is absolutely necessary to the cold and frozen state of
sleep. The housemaid, however, following the characteristics of
housemaids, had slept through the whole, and did not even wake with
the cook's shivering, although the latter was her bedfellow, and added
a number of thumps in the side to rouse her, as soon as she found
courage to move hand or foot. Not even did the shouted dialogue
between her close companion and Signor Martini disturb her slumbers,
and the conversation soon dropped.
At length, the notes of some early country-man, whistling gaily as he
went to his labour, caught Lieberg's ear, and he now raised his voice,
calling to his servant as loud as it was possible; and bidding him,
holla out of the window, and tell the man to break open the doors.
Fortunately, Martini's ears were quick, and he heard and distinguished
his master's orders. The window was thrown open, and several loud
shouts soon brought the country-man, who was passing along the road,
into the green court, and under Martini's window.
"What is the matter, master?" he cried. "What do you want? It seems
Master Carr has got you there in a cage, that you are chirping out so
early in the morning."
"I want to be let out," exclaimed Martini. "Break open the doors, and
let me out."
"No, no," said the man, "that wont do. We never meddle with any of
Master Carr's birds. He's a queer hand to deal with, and so I'll let
him alone."
He was actually stalking off, when the head of the cook popped out of
another window, and she exclaimed--"Master Turnbull--Master Turnbull!
break open the door, there's a dear heart! There have been robbers and
murderers in the house last night; and I don't doubt you'll find
master, with his throat cut, down stairs. Do break open the door,
there's a good soul, and let us out, for we are all locked in
together; though by the blessing of God, we are all alive!"
"I'll go and get somebody to help me," said the man, with a knowing
look--"the fellows may be there still. It would take them some time
to break open old Carr's strong box, I take it. No one ever got in
there easily. I'll go and get help--you wait there till I come!"
The poor cook had no choice except that of doing so, or throwing
herself down upon the top of the penthouse, and probably breaking her
legs; and the man began to walk away, with as slow a step as if he had
been following the plough. Fortune, however, decided that their state
of durance should not continue much longer; for no sooner had Master
Turnbull issued forth into the road again, than his eyes lighted upon
two labourers, coming leisurely up towards him. With their aid and
assistance he now determined to encounter all the powers of darkness
which might be found in Mr. Carr's house, and approached with a steady
purpose of breaking open the door, and restoring egress and regress to
the inhabitants. All violent proceedings, however, were spared him;
for, on coming nearer, he found that one of the windows, under the
shed which we have before mentioned, was wide open, a large hole
having been cut in the window shutter with a saw, and the sash having
been raised quietly by a hand introduced through the aperture.
One of the labourers made his way in by this entrance; but in the
meantime, Master Turnbull had been examining the door, and discovered
that, though it was locked, the key was on the outside. This he
turned, and, accompanied by the other peasant, entered by the ordinary
passage. The first thing that the three deliverers did, was to proceed
together to that part of the house from which they had heard
articulate sounds; and the door of the maid's room, as well as that of
the valet, was opened. Forth from their several apartments issued the
male tenant, in haste to set his master free--the cook, all alive to
look after her old gentleman, as she called him--and the housemaid,
still rubbing her eyes.
The countrymen followed as quick as it was in their nature, upon the
steps of Martini, to Count Lieberg's room, and arrived in time to see
the valet raise his master from the floor, and place him in a chair.
The floor of the room displayed a good deal of blood, which had flowed
from Lieberg's head, and Master Turnbull exclaimed--"Lackadaisy, that
is a bad cut!"
"Off my hands, off my hands, first!" exclaimed Lieberg, as Martini was
endeavouring to untie the tight knot round his ancles. "Cut it, cut
it! What matters the price of a handkerchief, in comparison with this
torture?"
The man took a knife from his pocket, and, solving these Gordian knots
in the Alexandrine fashion, set his master at liberty.
"Now, my men," cried Lieberg, "where can my servant find a
magistrate?"
"Oh, there's a magistrate at Bingley, master," replied Turnbull; "but
you can't get a surgeon nearer than Doncaster."
"Never mind a surgeon," said Lieberg; "never mind a surgeon, for me at
least. What has become of Mr. Carr and Miss Barham?"
"That we can't tell," replied one of the peasants; "the maids are gone
to see after them."
"Let us go too; though," replied Lieberg, "they would not hurt the
lady, and I do not think from what they said, that they have killed
the old man. But let us go and see--some one had better run for a
magistrate immediately. These fellows must be pursued at once."
As Lieberg spoke, he rose from the chair in which he had been placed;
but for some moments he could scarcely stand, and, motioning the rest
to leave him, he said--"Go quick, go quick! I must put on some more
clothes. Go with them, Martini, and bring me intelligence as soon as
may be."
The man obeyed at once, and Lieberg proceeded to dress himself, as
quickly as possible, though it was but slowly after all--for both his
arms and feet were cramped and swollen, from the tightness of the
ligatures which had bound them. As he proceeded, he paused two or
three times in thought, and once struck his hand vehemently upon the
dressing-table, saying--"Curses upon them!--Well, well, Martini," he
exclaimed, as the man entered the room; "what have you found?--what
has happened?"
There was a grin upon the man's countenance which assured Lieberg that
no life had been lost; and the Italian replied--"We found the old man,
sir, tied naked to the bed-post, cold, shivering, and miserable
enough, but he has contrived to warm himself since, for never did I
see a man in such a fury about his money and his plate? They have
cleared the whole house out, that is certain, and got some seven
thousand pounds, the old man says."
"They have got five or six hundred from me," said Lieberg. "But what
of Miss Barham?"
"Oh, she is very well, sir, I suppose," said the man, with a peculiar
expression of countenance. "I met her maid just now going to her room,
and she did not say that her mistress had been disturbed at all. The
truth is, sir," he added, approaching close to Lieberg, and speaking
in a low tone, "I did hear some noise in the night, but I did not know
what it might be, and thought it better to keep quiet, and take no
notice."
Lieberg shut his teeth hard, and clenched his hand with a frowning
brow; but he made no reply, and having dressed himself as far as was
necessary, issued forth and proceeded to the room of Mr. Carr. That
gentleman was coming out, with nothing but his stockings, breeches,
and a grey dressing gown on; and grasping Lieberg's arm, he dragged
him on towards the drawing-room, saying, "They have robbed me--they
have plundered me--they have ruined me, sir!"
Now there was nothing on earth that excited Lieberg's scorn and hatred
so much as to see a human being give way to passion or emotion, simply
because he had great powers of concealing his own; and the agony of
Mr. Carr, on account of his loss, only served to curl his companion's
lip with a contemptuous smile, and render all his movements, as if for
the contrast's sake, as cool, as self-possessed as possible.
While the old man, then, walked about the room in a state of
half-frenzied agitation, Lieberg calmly approached the table, and
after looking at him for a moment, with a cold, sneering, gaze, he
opened quietly the leaves of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and began to
turn over the engravings.
"Do you know, Mr. Carr," he said, in the tone of a connoisseur, "I
think they have made a very great mistake in representing Apollyon as
so fearfully ugly. Surely, if that good gentleman, who tempts us all,
be so frightful as he is here put down, we sinners must be men of good
stomachs to run after his sweet things so greedily."
Mr. Carr thought him perfectly insane; but Lieberg went on in the same
spirit--"He should be rendered very beautiful and attractive, powerful
certainly, and well armed, but still very charming; for we all of us
paint our own particular fiend as a pleasant, sweet personage. Now
you, for instance, never represent to yourself Mammon with horns and a
tail, and all this paraphernalia of episodical horrors, fangs, and
hoofs, and claws, and all that sort of a thing. I dare say, in your
eyes, he is a sweet little cherub, with a purse in his hand, as I
paint Asteroth to myself as a beautiful woman."
The miser gazed at him as if he had suddenly found himself in the
presence of a furious madman, and he exclaimed vehemently, in the
first excitement of passion, "Why I believe that you are Satan
himself! Is it not enough to drive me mad, to have lost seven thousand
pounds in one night, without having a stranger insulting me in my own
drawing-room, talking of Asteroth, and Mammon, and Apollyon, and all
the follies that ever were concocted in the brain of that half-drunken
idiot, John Bunyan?--Was it you that robbed me?--How should I know
that it was not?--I never saw you before--you may have had a hand in
it for aught I know!"
"It is very probable," answered Lieberg, "especially as there has been
another robbery committed in your house that you are not aware of, and
that to a large amount."
Mr. Carr instantly ran to a little old oak cabinet, and shook the door
to see if it had been opened. All was safe, however, and he exclaimed,
"Where?--how?--in what room?"
"In my room"--answered Lieberg; "that is to say, in the room where I
slept last night; and where, if I robbed you as you say, I committed
the folly of robbing myself also, to the amount of some six or seven
hundred pounds--It seems to me, Mr. Carr," he continued, in a quicker
but less ironical tone, "that this loss of yours has made you mad, and
that instead of thinking of recovering your property by pursuing these
men at once, with all the activity in your nature, you are, instead,
raving like an insane person. Why don't you saddle every horse in your
stable, and track the wheels of the cart in which they carried off
your goods and mine? I have already sent for a magistrate, and no time
ought to be lost in taking other measures."
"True--very true, Count!" said Mr. Carr, who, now that the first burst
of passion had passed, was coming to his senses again, and recollected
that it would not do to offend a guest, who was likely to hire his
manors--"I will send out some men directly. I beg your pardon, sir,
for being so violent, but this is a great loss.--We must despatch
people to the village, too, and after we have taken all sorts of
measures, we can just go over the manors together. But, dear me, what
shall I do about going to town with Miss Barham!--Hark!--what is that?
There is somebody calling me--they do not know where to find us.
Perhaps they have found some of the plate. It was very heavy, and the
men may have thrown it away. Here I am--here I am!" he continued,
putting his head out of the drawing-room door, "What do you want with
me? Have you found anything?"
"No, sir, no!" exclaimed the cook, running up with eager eyes. "We
have not found anything, but what is worse than finding anything in
this world, we can't find the young lady--we can't find Miss Barham!"
"God of Heaven!" exclaimed Lieberg, starting forward. "Can't find her?
Are there any signs of violence?"
"Oh, dear! Lord bless you, sir! they have murdered her!" exclaimed the
cook, with her eyes as big as saucers, while the housemaid gaped
behind, and Helen's maid appeared with the tears on her cheeks. "They
have murdered her, and taken away the body to bury it, like a dead
dog, in some field. I'll wager any money she saw them and screamed,
and they cut her throat. They would have cut mine, too, if I had
screamed, but I knew better."
"I declare I heard her scream in the night!" cried the housemaid; "but
I thought it was only a screech owl."
"Get along, you fool," said the cook, in reply, "you heard nothing at
all, not even yourself snoring."
"Let me pass!" said Lieberg, with his face as pale as death. "This
must be seen to at once."
He was confronted, however, by Helen's maid, who said, wiping the
tears from her eyes--"I don't think they have murdered my young lady,
sir, for the shoes and the gown that she wore last night are gone,
though everything else is left, even the combs for her hair. I think
she must have seen them, too, and they must have made her go away with
them for fear she should tell."
"Come with me--come with me!" cried Lieberg, and away he rushed to the
room where Helen had inhabited. He found everything as the girl had
described. There were no signs of any violence, but evident proof that
Miss Barham had quitted the place suddenly, and but half-dressed.
Nothing seemed to have been plundered, however; two rings which she
had worn were on the dressing-table; and the picture of her
grandfather, which she had spoken of to Mr. Carr on the preceding
evening, lay beside them, having been apparently taken out of the
lower part of a small dressing-case, on which was inscribed--"To Helen
Barham, from her affectionate Father." Her drawing-box was also on the
table, and beside it, a sketch which she had been drawing. Signs of
her mind were in everything about the room, and Lieberg gazed around
it with sensations such as he had never experienced before. He felt
that, for the first time he loved--passionately, strongly; and when
he thought of the fair being who had so lately tenanted that
chamber--whose spirit seemed to live in every object round him--of her
grace, her loveliness, her bright mind, her glowing heart; of his own
evil designs against her, and of her uncertain fate, of her being cast
into the hands of ruffians, and left entirely to their will and
disposal, he struck his hand against his brow, and then shook it
wildly in the air.
The moment after he had done so, his eye rested upon the form of Mr.
Carr, standing before him, with a bitter sneer upon his countenance.
"And so," said the old man, evidently finding his revenge in Lieberg's
agitation, "Mammon is a sweet little cherub--a sweet little cherub,
with a purse in his hand; and Asteroth is a beautiful lady! Well,
Count, you see, we have all our weaknesses, and I agree with you
perfectly that we should paint Apollyon good-looking, though powerful.
I do not know that you might not sit for the picture yourself."
"I will give five guineas to any man," exclaimed Lieberg, "who brings
me a saddle-horse to the door in half-an-hour."
"I will--I will!" said Mr. Carr, "and give you credit for the sum,
Count, for I believe they have taken your purse as well as mine."
"I have more that they did not find," answered Lieberg, abruptly.
"Quick with the horse then, sir! Every minute is precious. Let my
servant, when he returns, wait for me here. If I should not come till
to-morrow, let him have his food, Mr. Carr! You shall be paid. I know
the principles of your proceedings. Quick with the horse, I say!"
In less than a quarter of an hour the horse was brought round, and
Lieberg was upon its back. He tracked the marks of wheels for a long
way with the skill of a wild Indian, but at length they entered upon a
high road where they were lost amongst other traces. Lieberg chose his
direction after a moment's consideration, and then galloped on till he
came to a large town.