Such as we have described in the last chapter, were the fatal events
to which Sir Edward Digby had alluded in the few words he had spoken
to Zara Croyland; and it may be needless to explain to the reader,
that he had learned the tale from his servant just before he came down
to dinner.
Sir Robert Croyland, as we have shown, after some agitation and
hesitation, quitted the drawing-room to meet,--the first time for many
years--the son of a man, whom, at the instigation of others, he had
cruelly persecuted. He paused as soon as he got into the passage,
however, to summon courage, and to make up his mind as to the
demeanour which he should assume--always a vain and fruitless task;
for seldom, if ever, do circumstances allow any man to maintain the
aspect which he has predetermined to affect. Sir Robert Croyland
resolved to be cold, stately, and repulsive--to treat Sir Henry Leyton
as a perfect stranger, and if he alluded to their former intimacy, to
cut the conversation short by telling him that, as all the feelings of
those days were at an end, he did not wish to revive their memory in
any shape. He did not calculate, indeed, upon the peculiar state of
Leyton's mind, at the moment--nay, nor even upon the effect of his
former favourite's personal appearance upon himself; and when he
entered the library and saw the tall, powerful, dignified-looking man,
the pale, thoughtful, stern countenance, and the haughty air, he felt
all his predeterminations vain.
Leyton, on his part, had done the same as Sir Robert Croyland, and in
setting out from Woodchurch had made up his mind to see in the man he
went to visit, nothing but Edith's father--to treat him kindly,
gently, and with compassion for his weakness, rather than anger at his
faults; but as he rode along, and conversed with one who accompanied
him thither, the memory of much that Sir Robert Croyland had done in
former days, came painfully back upon him, and combining with his
treatment of Edith, raised up bitter and indignant feelings that he
could have wished to quell. The scenes which he had passed through
that day, too, had given a tone of sternness to his mind which was not
usual; and the few minutes he had waited in the library, when every
moment seemed of value, added impatience to his other sensations.
The baronet entered as firmly as he could, bowing his head and
motioning coldly to a chair. But Leyton did not sit down, gazing for
an instant on the countenance of Sir Robert, struck and astonished by
the change that he beheld. That steadfast gaze was painful to its
object, and sank his spirit still farther; but Leyton, the moment
after, began to speak; and the well-known tones of his clear, mellow
voice, awakened the recollection of the days when they were once
pleasant to hear.
"Sir Robert Croyland," he said, "I have come to you on business of
importance, in which it is necessary for you to act immediately in
your magisterial capacity."
"I have no clerk with me, sir," answered the baronet, in a hesitating
manner; "at this late hour, it is not usual, except under
circumstances----"
"The circumstances admit of no delay, Sir Robert Croyland," replied
Leyton. "As the nearest magistrate, I have applied to you in the first
instance; and have done so for many other reasons besides your being
the nearest magistrate."
"Well, sir, what is your application?" demanded Edith's father. "I
wish, indeed, you had applied to somebody else, at this time of night;
but I will do my duty--oh, yes, I will do my duty."
"That is all that is required, sir," answered the young officer. "My
application is for a warrant to search the house of one Richard
Radford; and I have to tender you, on oath, information that
customable goods, which have been introduced without the payment
of duty, are concealed on his premises.--One moment more, if you
please--I have also to apply to you, upon similar evidence, for a
warrant to search his house for his son, Richard Radford, charged with
murder; and, in the end, if you would allow me to advise you, you
would instantly mount your horse, and superintend the search
yourself."
There was a marked and peculiar emphasis on the last few words, which
Sir Robert Croyland did not understand. The manner was not agreeable
to him; but it was scarcely perhaps to be expected that it should be;
for there had been nothing in his own, to invite that kindly candour,
which opens heart to heart. All that had of late years passed between
him and Sir Henry Leyton, had been of a repulsive kind. For one
youthful error, he had not only repelled and shut his house against
the son, but he had persecuted, ruined, and destroyed the father, who
had no part in that fault. Every reason too, which he had given, every
motive he had assigned, for his anger at Henry Leyton's pretensions to
Edith's hand, he had set at nought, or forgotten in the case of him
whom he had chosen for her husband. Even now, although his manner was
wavering and timid, it was cold and harsh; and it was a hard thing for
Henry Leyton to assume the tone of kindness towards Sir Robert
Croyland, or to soften his demeanour towards him, with all the busy
memories of the past and the feelings of the present thronging upon
him, on his first return to the house where he had spent many happy
days in youth. I am painting a man, and nothing more; and he could
not, and did not overcome the sensations of human nature.
His words did not please Sir Robert Croyland, but they somewhat
alarmed him. Everything that was vague in his present situation,
did produce fear; but after a moment's thought, he replied,
coldly, "Oh dear no, sir, I do not see that it is at all necessary I
should go myself. I really think the application altogether
extraordinary, seeing that it comes from, I am led to imagine, the
lieutenant-colonel, commanding the ---- regiment of dragoons,
quartered in this district, who has no primary power, or authority, or
even duty in such affairs; but can only act as required by the
officers of Customs, to whom he is so far subordinate.--But still I am
ready to receive the informations tendered, and then shall decide in
regard to my own conduct, as the case may require."
"You are wrong in all respects, but one, Sir Robert Croyland,"
answered Leyton, at once; "I am empowered to act very differently from
any officer who has been in command here before me. If my powers are
beyond that which the law authorizes, those who gave them are
responsible to their country; but, for an extraordinary case,
extraordinary means are requisite; and as I require of you nothing but
what the law requires, I shall not pause to argue, whether I am
exactly the proper person to make the application. It might easily be
made by another, who is without: but I have reasons for what I am
doing--and reasons, believe me," he added, after a moment's pause and
reflection, "not unfriendly to Sir Robert Croyland."
Again his words and manner were peculiar. Sir Robert Croyland began to
feel some apprehension lest he might push his coldness too far. But he
did not see how he could change his tone; and he was proceeding, with
the same distant reserve, to repeat that he was ready to receive the
information in a formal manner, when Leyton suddenly interrupted him,
after a severe struggle with himself.
"Sir Robert Croyland," he said, "let us speak as friends. Let griefs
and complaints on both sides be forgotten for the moment; let us bury,
for the time, seven years in oblivion. Look upon me, if it be but for
a few minutes, as the Henry Leyton you knew before anything arose to
produce one ill feeling between us; for, believe me, I come to you
with kindly sentiments. Your own fate hangs in the balance at this
hour. I would decide it favourably for you, if you would let me.
But--you must shake off doubt and timidity; you must act boldly and
decidedly, and all will be well."
"I do not understand what you mean, sir," cried Sir Robert Croyland,
astonished at his change of tone, and without time to collect his
ideas, and calculate the probabilities. "My fate!--How can you affect
my fate?"
"More than you are aware," answered Leyton; "even now I affect your
fate, by giving you the choice of at once proceeding in the line of
your duty, against a bad man who has overruled your better nature, too
long,--by allowing you to conduct the search, which must be instituted
either by yourself or others.--In one word, Sir Robert Croyland, I
know all; and would serve you, if you would let me."
"You know all!" exclaimed Edith's father, in a dull, gloomy tone--"you
know all! she has told you, then! That explains it--that shows how she
retracted her consent--how she was willing to-day to sacrifice her
father. You have seen her--you have taught her her part!--Yes, she has
betrayed her parent's confidence."
Leyton could bear no more. Himself, he could have heard slandered
calmly; but he could not hear such words of her he loved: "It is
false!" he said; "she did not betray your confidence! She told me no
more than was needful to induce me to release her from bonds she was
too faithful and true to break. From her I have heard nothing
more--but from others I have heard all; and now, Sir Robert Croyland,
you have chosen your part, I have but to call in those who must lay
the required information. Our duty must be done, whatever be the
consequences; and as you reject the only means of saving yourself from
much grief--though, I trust, not the danger you apprehend--we must act
without you;" and he rose and walked towards the door.
"Stay, Leyton--stay!" cried Sir Robert Croyland, catching him eagerly
by the arm--"yet a moment--yet a moment. You say you know all. Do you
know all?--all?--everything?"
"All!--everything!" answered Leyton, firmly; "every word that was
spoken--every deed that was done--more than you know yourself."
"Then, at least, you know I am innocent," said the old man.
A calm but grave serenity took the place, on Sir Henry Leyton's
countenance, of the impetuous look with which he had last spoken.
"Innocent," he said, "of intentional murder; but not innocent of rash
and unnecessary anger; and, oh! Sir Robert Croyland--if I must say
it--most culpable in the consequences which you have suffered to flow
from one hasty act. Mark me; and see the result!--Your own dear child,
against your will, is in the hands of a man whom you hate and abhor.
You are anxious to make her the wife of a being you condemn and
despise! The child of the man that your own hand slew, is now lying a
corpse, murdered by him to whom you would give your daughter! Your own
life is----"
"What, Kate!--Kate Clare!" exclaimed Sir Robert Croyland, with a
sudden change coming over his countenance--"murdered by Richard
Radford!"
"By his own hand, after the most brutal usage," replied Leyton.
Sir Robert Croyland sprang to the bell, and rang it violently, then
threw open the door and called aloud--"My horse!--my horse!--saddle my
horse!--If it cost me land and living, life and honour, she shall be
avenged!" he added, turning to Leyton, and raising his head erect, the
first time for many years. "It is over--the folly, and the weakness,
and crime, are at an end. I have been bowed and broken; but there is a
spark of my former nature yet left. I vowed to God in Heaven, that I
would ever protect and be a father to that child, as an atonement--as
some--some compensation, however small; and I will keep my vow."
"Oh! Sir Robert," cried Leyton, taking his hand and pressing it in
his, "be ever thus, and how men will love and venerate you!"
The barrier was broken down--the chain which had so long bound him was
cast away; and Sir Robert returned Leyton's grasp with equal warmth.
"Harry," he said, "I have done you wrong; but I will do so no more. I
was driven--I was goaded along the road to all evil, like a beast
driven to the slaughter. But you have done wrong, too, young
man--yours was the first offence."
"It was," answered Leyton--"I own it--I did do wrong; and I will make
no excuse, though youth, and love as true as ever man felt, might
afford some. But let me assure you, that I have been willing to make
reparation--I have been willing to sacrifice all the brightest hope of
years to save you, even now. I assured Edith that I would, when she
told me the little she could venture to tell; but it was her misery
that withheld me--it was the life-long wretchedness, to which she was
doomed if I yielded, that made me resist. Nothing else on earth should
have stopped me; but now, Sir Robert, the prospect is more clear for
you."
"Nay, do not speak of that," replied Sir Robert Croyland; "I will
think of it no more--I have now chosen my path; and I will pursue it,
without looking at the consequences to myself. Let them come when they
must come; for once in life, I will do what is just and right."
"And by so doing, my dear sir, you will save yourself," answered
Leyton. "Moved by revenge--with no doubt whatsoever of his
motive--after a concealment of six years, this base man's accusation
will be utterly valueless. Your bare statement of the real
circumstances will be enough to dissipate every cloud. I shall require
that all his papers be seized; and I have many just reasons for
wishing that they should be in your hands."
"I understand you, Harry, and I thank you," said Sir Robert Croyland;
"but with my present feelings I would not----"
"You do not understand me fully, Sir Robert," replied Leyton. "I wish
you only to act as you will find just, right, and honourable, and wait
for the result. It will be, or I am much mistaken, more favourable to
you, personally, than you imagine. Now, as you have decided on the
true and upright course, let us lose no time in carrying it into
execution. I will call in the men who have to lay the information; and
when you have received it, I will place before you depositions which
will justify the most vigorous measures against both father and son.
In regard to the latter, I must act under your authority in my
military capacity, as I have no civil power there; but in regard to
the former, I am already called upon, by the officers of the revenue,
to aid them in entering his house by force, and searching it
thoroughly."
"Call them in, Harry--call them in!" replied Sir Robert Croyland;
"every man is justified by the law in apprehending a murderer. But you
shall have full authority.--Kate Clare!--How could this have
happened?"
"I will explain, as we ride on," answered Leyton, going to the door;
and speaking to one of the servants who was standing in the hall, he
added, "Desire Mr. Mowle to walk in, and bring the boy with him."
In another minute, Mowle entered the room with another man, holding by
the arm the boy Ray, whom the smugglers had chosen to denominate
Little Starlight. He came, apparently, unwillingly; for though ever
ready, for money, to spy and to inform secretly, he had a great
abhorrence of being brought publicly forward; and when on coming to
Mowle that evening with more information--he was detained and told he
must go before a magistrate, he had made every possible effort to
escape.
He was now somewhat surprised, on being brought forward after Mowle
had laid the information, to find that he was not questioned upon any
point affecting the smuggling transactions which had lately taken
place, as the evidence upon that subject was sufficient without his
testimony. But in regard to the proceedings of young Radford, and to
the place where he was concealed, he was interrogated closely. It was
all in vain, however. To obtain a straightforward answer from him was
impossible; and although Mowle repeated distinctly that the boy had
casually said, the murderer of poor Kate Clare had gone to his
father's house, Little Starlight lied and prevaricated at every word,
and impudently, though not unskilfully attempted to put another
meaning on his previous admission.
As time was wearing away, however, Sir Henry Leyton, at length,
interposed--"I think it is unnecessary, Sir Robert," he said, "to push
this inquiry further at present. As the whole house and premises must
be searched on other grounds, we shall discover the villain if he is
there. Mr. Mowle and I have adopted infallible means, I think, to
prevent his escaping from any point of the coast; and the magistrates
at every port were this evening furnished with such information that,
if they act with even a moderate degree of ability, he must be taken."
"Besides, sir," rejoined Mowle, "the frigate has come round; and she
will take care that, with this wind, not a boat big enough to carry
him over shall get out. We had better set out, your worship, if you
please; for if old Radford gets an inkling of what is going on, he
will double upon us some way."
"I am quite ready," said Sir Robert Croyland. "I will call my clerk to
accompany us as we go, in case of any further proceedings being
necessary. We must pass through the village where he lives."
With a firm step he moved towards the door; and, strange as it may
seem, though for six years, while supposing he was taking the only
means of self-preservation, he had lived in constant terror and
anxiety, he felt no fear, no trepidation now, when he had determined
to do what was right at every personal risk. An enfeebling spell
seemed to have been taken off his mind; and the lassitude of doubt and
indecision was gone. But such is almost always the result, even upon
the nerves of our corporeal frame, of a strong effort of mental
energy. It is one thing certainly to resolve, and another to do; but
the very act of resolution, if it be sincerely exerted, affords a
degree of vigour, which is sure to produce as great results as the
means at our disposal can accomplish. Energetic determination will
carry men through things that seem impossible, as a bold heart will
carry them over Alps, that, viewed from their base, appear
insurmountable.
Sir Robert Croyland did not venture into the drawing-room before he
went; but he told the butler, who was waiting in the hall, to inform
Sir Edward Digby and the family that he had been called away on
business, and feared he should not return till a late hour; and having
left this message, he went out upon the terrace. He found there a
number of persons assembled, with some twenty or thirty of the
dragoons. Five or six officers of the Customs were present, besides
Mowle; but the darkness was too great to admit of their faces being
seen; and Sir Robert Croyland mounted without speaking to any one. Sir
Henry Leyton paused for an instant to give orders, that the boy should
be taken back to Woodchurch, and kept there under a safe guard. He
then spoke a few words to Digby's servant, Somers, and springing on
his horse placed himself at Sir Robert Croyland's side.
The night was as dark as either of the two which had preceded it; the
same film of cloud covered the sky; not a star was to be seen; the
moon was far below the horizon; and slowly the whole party moved on,
two and two abreast, through the narrow lanes and tortuous roads of
that part of the country. It halted for a minute in the nearest
village, while Sir Robert Croyland stopped at his clerk's house, and
directed him to follow as fast as possible to Mr. Radford's; and then,
resuming their march, the dragoons, and those who accompanied them,
wound on for between four or five miles further, when, as they turned
the angle of a wood, some lights, apparently proceeding from the
windows of a house half way up a gentle slope, were seen shining out
in the midst of the darkness.
"Halt!" said Sir Henry Leyton; and before he proceeded to give his
orders, for effectually surrounding the house and grounds of Mr.
Radford, he gazed steadfastly for a moment or two upon the building
which contained her who was most dear to him, and whose heart he well
knew was at that moment wrung with the contention of many a painful
feeling. "I promised her I would bring her aid, dear girl," he
thought, "and so I have.--Thanks be to God, who has enabled me!"
Sir Robert Croyland, too, gazed--with very different feelings, it is
true, but still with a stern determination that was not shaken in the
least. It seemed, when he thought of Kate Clare, that he was atoning
to the spirit of the father, by seeking to avenge the child; and the
whole tale of her wrongs and death, which he had heard from Leyton, as
they came, had raised the desire of so doing almost to an enthusiasm.
Human passions and infirmities, indeed, will mingle with our best
feelings; and as he gazed upon Mr. Radford's house, and remembered all
that he had endured for the last six years, he said to himself, with
some bitterness, "That man shall now taste a portion of the same cup
he has forced upon others."
Sir Henry Leyton woke from his reverie sooner than his companion; and
turning his horse, he spoke for a few moments with Mowle, somewhat
longer with another person wrapped in a dark horseman's coat behind,
and then gave various distinct orders to the dragoons, who immediately
separated into small parties, and, taking different roads, placed
themselves in such positions as to command every approach to the
house. Then riding forward with Sir Robert Croyland, the officers of
Customs, and one or two soldiers, he turned up the little avenue which
led from the road, consulting with Edith's father as he went. At about
a couple of hundred yards from the house he paused, turning his head
and saying to Mowle, "You had better, I think, all dismount; and,
making fast the horses, get behind the nearest laurels and evergreens,
while Sir Robert and I ride on alone, and ask admission quietly. When
the door is opened, you can come up and make yourselves masters of the
servants till the search is over. I do not anticipate any resistance;
but if the young man be really here, it may be made."
He then rode on with the baronet at a quicker pace, the noise of their
horses' feet, as they trotted on and approached the great doors,
covering the sound of the movements of the party they left behind.
The house, to which the actual possessor had given the name of Radford
Hall, was an old-fashioned country mansion, and presented, like many
another building at that time, several large, iron hooks, standing out
from the brickwork on each side of the doorway, on which it was
customary for visitors on horseback to hang their rein while they rang
the bell, or till a servant could be called to take them to the
stable. Sir Robert Croyland was acquainted with this peculiarity
of the house, though Leyton was not, and he whispered to his
companion--"Let us hook up our horses, before we ring."
This was accordingly done; and then taking the long iron handle
of the bell, Leyton pulled it gently. A minute or two after, a step
sounded in the hall, and a servant appeared--a stout, red-faced,
shrewd-looking fellow, who at first held the great door only half
open. As soon, however, as he saw Sir Robert Croyland's face, he threw
it back, replying, in answer to the baronet's question as to whether
Mr. Radford was at home, "Yes, Sir Robert, he has been home this
hour."
Leyton had stood back, and, in the darkness, the man did not see him,
or took him for a groom; but when the young officer advanced, and the
uniform of the dragoon regiment became apparent, Mr. Radford's servant
suddenly stretched his hand towards the door again, as if about to
throw it violently to. But Leyton's strong grasp was on his shoulder
in a moment. "You are my prisoner," he said, in a low tone; "not a
word--not a syllable, if you would not suffer for it. No harm will
happen to you, if you are only quiet."
At the same moment, Mowle and the rest came running across the lawn,
and, giving the man into their hands, Leyton entered the house with
Sir Robert Croyland.