Involves a serious Catastrophe
The little race-course at Hampton was in the full tide and height of
its gaiety; the day as dazzling as day could be; the sun high in the
cloudless sky, and shining in its fullest splendour. Every gaudy colour
that fluttered in the air from carriage seat and garish tent top, shone
out in its gaudiest hues. Old dingy flags grew new again, faded gilding
was re-burnished, stained rotten canvas looked a snowy white, the very
beggars’ rags were freshened up, and sentiment quite forgot its charity
in its fervent admiration of poverty so picturesque.
It was one of those scenes of life and animation, caught in its very
brightest and freshest moments, which can scarcely fail to please;
for if the eye be tired of show and glare, or the ear be weary with a
ceaseless round of noise, the one may repose, turn almost where it
will, on eager, happy, and expectant faces, and the other deaden
all consciousness of more annoying sounds in those of mirth and
exhilaration. Even the sunburnt faces of gypsy children, half naked
though they be, suggest a drop of comfort. It is a pleasant thing to see
that the sun has been there; to know that the air and light are on them
every day; to feel that they ARE children, and lead children’s lives;
that if their pillows be damp, it is with the dews of Heaven, and not
with tears; that the limbs of their girls are free, and that they are
not crippled by distortions, imposing an unnatural and horrible penance
upon their sex; that their lives are spent, from day to day, at least
among the waving trees, and not in the midst of dreadful engines which
make young children old before they know what childhood is, and give
them the exhaustion and infirmity of age, without, like age, the
privilege to die. God send that old nursery tales were true, and that
gypsies stole such children by the score!
The great race of the day had just been run; and the close lines of
people, on either side of the course, suddenly breaking up and pouring
into it, imparted a new liveliness to the scene, which was again all
busy movement. Some hurried eagerly to catch a glimpse of the winning
horse; others darted to and fro, searching, no less eagerly, for the
carriages they had left in quest of better stations. Here, a little knot
gathered round a pea and thimble table to watch the plucking of some
unhappy greenhorn; and there, another proprietor with his confederates
in various disguises--one man in spectacles; another, with an eyeglass
and a stylish hat; a third, dressed as a farmer well to do in the world,
with his top-coat over his arm and his flash notes in a large leathern
pocket-book; and all with heavy-handled whips to represent most innocent
country fellows who had trotted there on horseback--sought, by loud and
noisy talk and pretended play, to entrap some unwary customer, while the
gentlemen confederates (of more villainous aspect still, in clean linen
and good clothes), betrayed their close interest in the concern by
the anxious furtive glance they cast on all new comers. These would be
hanging on the outskirts of a wide circle of people assembled round some
itinerant juggler, opposed, in his turn, by a noisy band of music,
or the classic game of ‘Ring the Bull,’ while ventriloquists holding
dialogues with wooden dolls, and fortune-telling women smothering the
cries of real babies, divided with them, and many more, the general
attention of the company. Drinking-tents were full, glasses began to
clink in carriages, hampers to be unpacked, tempting provisions to be
set forth, knives and forks to rattle, champagne corks to fly, eyes to
brighten that were not dull before, and pickpockets to count their gains
during the last heat. The attention so recently strained on one object
of interest, was now divided among a hundred; and look where you would,
there was a motley assemblage of feasting, laughing, talking, begging,
gambling, and mummery.
Of the gambling-booths there was a plentiful show, flourishing in all
the splendour of carpeted ground, striped hangings, crimson cloth,
pinnacled roofs, geranium pots, and livery servants. There were the
Stranger’s club-house, the Athenaeum club-house, the Hampton club-house,
the St James’s club-house, and half a mile of club-houses to play IN;
and there were ROUGE-ET-NOIR, French hazard, and other games to play AT.
It is into one of these booths that our story takes its way.
Fitted up with three tables for the purposes of play, and crowded with
players and lookers on, it was, although the largest place of the kind
upon the course, intensely hot, notwithstanding that a portion of the
canvas roof was rolled back to admit more air, and there were two doors
for a free passage in and out. Excepting one or two men who, each with a
long roll of half-crowns, chequered with a few stray sovereigns, in
his left hand, staked their money at every roll of the ball with a
business-like sedateness which showed that they were used to it, and had
been playing all day, and most probably all the day before, there was
no very distinctive character about the players, who were chiefly young
men, apparently attracted by curiosity, or staking small sums as part
of the amusement of the day, with no very great interest in winning or
losing. There were two persons present, however, who, as peculiarly good
specimens of a class, deserve a passing notice.
Of these, one was a man of six or eight and fifty, who sat on a chair
near one of the entrances of the booth, with his hands folded on the
top of his stick, and his chin appearing above them. He was a tall, fat,
long-bodied man, buttoned up to the throat in a light green coat, which
made his body look still longer than it was. He wore, besides, drab
breeches and gaiters, a white neckerchief, and a broad-brimmed white
hat. Amid all the buzzing noise of the games, and the perpetual passing
in and out of the people, he seemed perfectly calm and abstracted,
without the smallest particle of excitement in his composition. He
exhibited no indication of weariness, nor, to a casual observer, of
interest either. There he sat, quite still and collected. Sometimes, but
very rarely, he nodded to some passing face, or beckoned to a waiter to
obey a call from one of the tables. The next instant he subsided into
his old state. He might have been some profoundly deaf old gentleman,
who had come in to take a rest, or he might have been patiently waiting
for a friend, without the least consciousness of anybody’s presence, or
fixed in a trance, or under the influence of opium. People turned round
and looked at him; he made no gesture, caught nobody’s eye, let them
pass away, and others come on and be succeeded by others, and took no
notice. When he did move, it seemed wonderful how he could have seen
anything to occasion it. And so, in truth, it was. But there was not a
face that passed in or out, which this man failed to see; not a gesture
at any one of the three tables that was lost upon him; not a word,
spoken by the bankers, but reached his ear; not a winner or loser he
could not have marked. And he was the proprietor of the place.
The other presided over the ROUGE-ET-NOIR table. He was probably some
ten years younger, and was a plump, paunchy, sturdy-looking fellow, with
his under-lip a little pursed, from a habit of counting money inwardly
as he paid it, but with no decidedly bad expression in his face, which
was rather an honest and jolly one than otherwise. He wore no coat,
the weather being hot, and stood behind the table with a huge mound of
crowns and half-crowns before him, and a cash-box for notes. This game
was constantly playing. Perhaps twenty people would be staking at the
same time. This man had to roll the ball, to watch the stakes as they
were laid down, to gather them off the colour which lost, to pay those
who won, to do it all with the utmost dispatch, to roll the ball again,
and to keep this game perpetually alive. He did it all with a rapidity
absolutely marvellous; never hesitating, never making a mistake, never
stopping, and never ceasing to repeat such unconnected phrases as
the following, which, partly from habit, and partly to have something
appropriate and business-like to say, he constantly poured out with the
same monotonous emphasis, and in nearly the same order, all day long:
‘Rooge-a-nore from Paris! Gentlemen, make your game and back your
own opinions--any time while the ball rolls--rooge-a-nore from Paris,
gentlemen, it’s a French game, gentlemen, I brought it over myself, I
did indeed!--Rooge-a-nore from Paris--black wins--black--stop a minute,
sir, and I’ll pay you, directly--two there, half a pound there, three
there--and one there--gentlemen, the ball’s a rolling--any time, sir,
while the ball rolls!--The beauty of this game is, that you can double
your stakes or put down your money, gentlemen, any time while the ball
rolls--black again--black wins--I never saw such a thing--I never did,
in all my life, upon my word I never did; if any gentleman had
been backing the black in the last five minutes he must have won
five-and-forty pound in four rolls of the ball, he must indeed.
Gentlemen, we’ve port, sherry, cigars, and most excellent champagne.
Here, wai-ter, bring a bottle of champagne, and let’s have a dozen or
fifteen cigars here--and let’s be comfortable, gentlemen--and bring some
clean glasses--any time while the ball rolls!--I lost one hundred and
thirty-seven pound yesterday, gentlemen, at one roll of the ball, I
did indeed!--how do you do, sir?’ (recognising some knowing gentleman
without any halt or change of voice, and giving a wink so slight that
it seems an accident), ‘will you take a glass of sherry, sir?--here,
wai-ter! bring a clean glass, and hand the sherry to this gentleman--and
hand it round, will you, waiter?--this is the rooge-a-nore from Paris,
gentlemen--any time while the ball rolls!--gentlemen, make your game,
and back your own opinions--it’s the rooge-a-nore from Paris--quite a
new game, I brought it over myself, I did indeed--gentlemen, the ball’s
a-rolling!’
This officer was busily plying his vocation when half-a-dozen persons
sauntered through the booth, to whom, but without stopping either in his
speech or work, he bowed respectfully; at the same time directing, by
a look, the attention of a man beside him to the tallest figure in the
group, in recognition of whom the proprietor pulled off his hat. This
was Sir Mulberry Hawk, with whom were his friend and pupil, and a small
train of gentlemanly-dressed men, of characters more doubtful than
obscure.
The proprietor, in a low voice, bade Sir Mulberry good-day. Sir
Mulberry, in the same tone, bade the proprietor go to the devil, and
turned to speak with his friends.
There was evidently an irritable consciousness about him that he was an
object of curiosity, on this first occasion of showing himself in public
after the accident that had befallen him; and it was easy to perceive
that he appeared on the race-course, that day, more in the hope of
meeting with a great many people who knew him, and so getting over as
much as possible of the annoyance at once, than with any purpose of
enjoying the sport. There yet remained a slight scar upon his face,
and whenever he was recognised, as he was almost every minute by people
sauntering in and out, he made a restless effort to conceal it with his
glove; showing how keenly he felt the disgrace he had undergone.
‘Ah! Hawk,’ said one very sprucely-dressed personage in a Newmarket
coat, a choice neckerchief, and all other accessories of the most
unexceptionable kind. ‘How d’ye do, old fellow?’
This was a rival trainer of young noblemen and gentlemen, and the person
of all others whom Sir Mulberry most hated and dreaded to meet. They
shook hands with excessive cordiality.
‘And how are you now, old fellow, hey?’
‘Quite well, quite well,’ said Sir Mulberry.
‘That’s right,’ said the other. ‘How d’ye do, Verisopht? He’s a little
pulled down, our friend here. Rather out of condition still, hey?’
It should be observed that the gentleman had very white teeth, and that
when there was no excuse for laughing, he generally finished with the
same monosyllable, which he uttered so as to display them.
‘He’s in very good condition; there’s nothing the matter with him,’ said
the young man carelessly.
‘Upon my soul I’m glad to hear it,’ rejoined the other. ‘Have you just
returned from Brussels?’
‘We only reached town late last night,’ said Lord Frederick. Sir
Mulberry turned away to speak to one of his own party, and feigned not
to hear.
‘Now, upon my life,’ said the friend, affecting to speak in a whisper,
‘it’s an uncommonly bold and game thing in Hawk to show himself so soon.
I say it advisedly; there’s a vast deal of courage in it. You see he has
just rusticated long enough to excite curiosity, and not long enough for
men to have forgotten that deuced unpleasant--by-the-bye--you know the
rights of the affair, of course? Why did you never give those confounded
papers the lie? I seldom read the papers, but I looked in the papers for
that, and may I be--’
‘Look in the papers,’ interrupted Sir Mulberry, turning suddenly round,
‘tomorrow--no, next day, will you?’
‘Upon my life, my dear fellow, I seldom or never read the papers,’ said
the other, shrugging his shoulders, ‘but I will, at your recommendation.
What shall I look for?’
‘Good day,’ said Sir Mulberry, turning abruptly on his heel, and drawing
his pupil with him. Falling, again, into the loitering, careless pace at
which they had entered, they lounged out, arm in arm.
‘I won’t give him a case of murder to read,’ muttered Sir Mulberry with
an oath; ‘but it shall be something very near it if whipcord cuts and
bludgeons bruise.’
His companion said nothing, but there was something in his manner which
galled Sir Mulberry to add, with nearly as much ferocity as if his
friend had been Nicholas himself:
‘I sent Jenkins to old Nickleby before eight o’clock this morning. He’s
a staunch one; he was back with me before the messenger. I had it all
from him in the first five minutes. I know where this hound is to be met
with; time and place both. But there’s no need to talk; tomorrow will
soon be here.’
‘And wha-at’s to be done tomorrow?’ inquired Lord Frederick.
Sir Mulberry Hawk honoured him with an angry glance, but condescended
to return no verbal answer to this inquiry. Both walked sullenly on, as
though their thoughts were busily occupied, until they were quite clear
of the crowd, and almost alone, when Sir Mulberry wheeled round to
return.
‘Stop,’ said his companion, ‘I want to speak to you in earnest. Don’t
turn back. Let us walk here, a few minutes.’
‘What have you to say to me, that you could not say yonder as well as
here?’ returned his Mentor, disengaging his arm.
‘Hawk,’ rejoined the other, ‘tell me; I must know.’
‘MUST know,’ interrupted the other disdainfully. ‘Whew! Go on. If you
must know, of course there’s no escape for me. Must know!’
‘Must ask then,’ returned Lord Frederick, ‘and must press you for a
plain and straightforward answer. Is what you have just said only a
mere whim of the moment, occasioned by your being out of humour and
irritated, or is it your serious intention, and one that you have
actually contemplated?’
‘Why, don’t you remember what passed on the subject one night, when I
was laid up with a broken limb?’ said Sir Mulberry, with a sneer.
‘Perfectly well.’
‘Then take that for an answer, in the devil’s name,’ replied Sir
Mulberry, ‘and ask me for no other.’
Such was the ascendancy he had acquired over his dupe, and such the
latter’s general habit of submission, that, for the moment, the young
man seemed half afraid to pursue the subject. He soon overcame this
feeling, however, if it had restrained him at all, and retorted angrily:
‘If I remember what passed at the time you speak of, I expressed a
strong opinion on this subject, and said that, with my knowledge or
consent, you never should do what you threaten now.’
‘Will you prevent me?’ asked Sir Mulberry, with a laugh.
‘Ye-es, if I can,’ returned the other, promptly.
‘A very proper saving clause, that last,’ said Sir Mulberry; ‘and one
you stand in need of. Oh! look to your own business, and leave me to
look to mine.’
‘This IS mine,’ retorted Lord Frederick. ‘I make it mine; I will make it
mine. It’s mine already. I am more compromised than I should be, as it
is.’
‘Do as you please, and what you please, for yourself,’ said Sir
Mulberry, affecting an easy good-humour. ‘Surely that must content
you! Do nothing for me; that’s all. I advise no man to interfere in
proceedings that I choose to take. I am sure you know me better than
to do so. The fact is, I see, you mean to offer me advice. It is well
meant, I have no doubt, but I reject it. Now, if you please, we will
return to the carriage. I find no entertainment here, but quite the
reverse. If we prolong this conversation, we might quarrel, which would
be no proof of wisdom in either you or me.’
With this rejoinder, and waiting for no further discussion, Sir Mulberry
Hawk yawned, and very leisurely turned back.
There was not a little tact and knowledge of the young lord’s
disposition in this mode of treating him. Sir Mulberry clearly saw that
if his dominion were to last, it must be established now. He knew that
the moment he became violent, the young man would become violent too.
He had, many times, been enabled to strengthen his influence, when
any circumstance had occurred to weaken it, by adopting this cool and
laconic style; and he trusted to it now, with very little doubt of its
entire success.
But while he did this, and wore the most careless and indifferent
deportment that his practised arts enabled him to assume, he inwardly
resolved, not only to visit all the mortification of being compelled to
suppress his feelings, with additional severity upon Nicholas, but also
to make the young lord pay dearly for it, one day, in some shape or
other. So long as he had been a passive instrument in his hands, Sir
Mulberry had regarded him with no other feeling than contempt; but, now
that he presumed to avow opinions in opposition to his, and even to turn
upon him with a lofty tone and an air of superiority, he began to hate
him. Conscious that, in the vilest and most worthless sense of the term,
he was dependent upon the weak young lord, Sir Mulberry could the less
brook humiliation at his hands; and when he began to dislike him he
measured his dislike--as men often do--by the extent of the injuries he
had inflicted upon its object. When it is remembered that Sir Mulberry
Hawk had plundered, duped, deceived, and fooled his pupil in every
possible way, it will not be wondered at, that, beginning to hate him,
he began to hate him cordially.
On the other hand, the young lord having thought--which he very seldom
did about anything--and seriously too, upon the affair with Nicholas,
and the circumstances which led to it, had arrived at a manly and
honest conclusion. Sir Mulberry’s coarse and insulting behaviour on
the occasion in question had produced a deep impression on his mind; a
strong suspicion of his having led him on to pursue Miss Nickleby for
purposes of his own, had been lurking there for some time; he was really
ashamed of his share in the transaction, and deeply mortified by the
misgiving that he had been gulled. He had had sufficient leisure to
reflect upon these things, during their late retirement; and, at times,
when his careless and indolent nature would permit, had availed himself
of the opportunity. Slight circumstances, too, had occurred to increase
his suspicion. It wanted but a very slight circumstance to kindle his
wrath against Sir Mulberry. This his disdainful and insolent tone in
their recent conversation (the only one they had held upon the subject
since the period to which Sir Mulberry referred), effected.
Thus they rejoined their friends: each with causes of dislike against
the other rankling in his breast: and the young man haunted, besides,
with thoughts of the vindictive retaliation which was threatened against
Nicholas, and the determination to prevent it by some strong step, if
possible. But this was not all. Sir Mulberry, conceiving that he had
silenced him effectually, could not suppress his triumph, or forbear
from following up what he conceived to be his advantage. Mr. Pyke was
there, and Mr. Pluck was there, and Colonel Chowser, and other gentlemen
of the same caste, and it was a great point for Sir Mulberry to show
them that he had not lost his influence. At first, the young lord
contented himself with a silent determination to take measures for
withdrawing himself from the connection immediately. By degrees, he grew
more angry, and was exasperated by jests and familiarities which, a few
hours before, would have been a source of amusement to him. This did not
serve him; for, at such bantering or retort as suited the company, he
was no match for Sir Mulberry. Still, no violent rupture took place.
They returned to town; Messrs Pyke and Pluck and other gentlemen
frequently protesting, on the way thither, that Sir Mulberry had never
been in such tiptop spirits in all his life.
They dined together, sumptuously. The wine flowed freely, as indeed
it had done all day. Sir Mulberry drank to recompense himself for his
recent abstinence; the young lord, to drown his indignation; and the
remainder of the party, because the wine was of the best and they had
nothing to pay. It was nearly midnight when they rushed out, wild,
burning with wine, their blood boiling, and their brains on fire, to the
gaming-table.
Here, they encountered another party, mad like themselves. The
excitement of play, hot rooms, and glaring lights was not calculated to
allay the fever of the time. In that giddy whirl of noise and confusion,
the men were delirious. Who thought of money, ruin, or the morrow, in
the savage intoxication of the moment? More wine was called for, glass
after glass was drained, their parched and scalding mouths were cracked
with thirst. Down poured the wine like oil on blazing fire. And still
the riot went on. The debauchery gained its height; glasses were dashed
upon the floor by hands that could not carry them to lips; oaths were
shouted out by lips which could scarcely form the words to vent them
in; drunken losers cursed and roared; some mounted on the tables, waving
bottles above their heads and bidding defiance to the rest; some danced,
some sang, some tore the cards and raved. Tumult and frenzy reigned
supreme; when a noise arose that drowned all others, and two men,
seizing each other by the throat, struggled into the middle of the room.
A dozen voices, until now unheard, called aloud to part them. Those who
had kept themselves cool, to win, and who earned their living in such
scenes, threw themselves upon the combatants, and, forcing them asunder,
dragged them some space apart.
‘Let me go!’ cried Sir Mulberry, in a thick hoarse voice; ‘he struck
me! Do you hear? I say, he struck me. Have I a friend here? Who is this?
Westwood. Do you hear me say he struck me?’
‘I hear, I hear,’ replied one of those who held him. ‘Come away for
tonight!’
‘I will not, by G--,’ he replied. ‘A dozen men about us saw the blow.’
‘Tomorrow will be ample time,’ said the friend.
‘It will not be ample time!’ cried Sir Mulberry. ‘Tonight, at once,
here!’ His passion was so great, that he could not articulate, but stood
clenching his fist, tearing his hair, and stamping upon the ground.
‘What is this, my lord?’ said one of those who surrounded him. ‘Have
blows passed?’
‘ONE blow has,’ was the panting reply. ‘I struck him. I proclaim it
to all here! I struck him, and he knows why. I say, with him, let this
quarrel be adjusted now. Captain Adams,’ said the young lord, looking
hurriedly about him, and addressing one of those who had interposed,
‘let me speak with you, I beg.’
The person addressed stepped forward, and taking the young man’s arm,
they retired together, followed shortly afterwards by Sir Mulberry and
his friend.
It was a profligate haunt of the worst repute, and not a place in which
such an affair was likely to awaken any sympathy for either party, or
to call forth any further remonstrance or interposition. Elsewhere, its
further progress would have been instantly prevented, and time allowed
for sober and cool reflection; but not there. Disturbed in their orgies,
the party broke up; some reeled away with looks of tipsy gravity; others
withdrew noisily discussing what had just occurred; the gentlemen of
honour who lived upon their winnings remarked to each other, as they
went out, that Hawk was a good shot; and those who had been most noisy,
fell fast asleep upon the sofas, and thought no more about it.
Meanwhile, the two seconds, as they may be called now, after a long
conference, each with his principal, met together in another room. Both
utterly heartless, both men upon town, both thoroughly initiated in its
worst vices, both deeply in debt, both fallen from some higher estate,
both addicted to every depravity for which society can find some genteel
name and plead its most depraving conventionalities as an excuse, they
were naturally gentlemen of most unblemished honour themselves, and of
great nicety concerning the honour of other people.
These two gentlemen were unusually cheerful just now; for the affair was
pretty certain to make some noise, and could scarcely fail to enhance
their reputations.
‘This is an awkward affair, Adams,’ said Mr. Westwood, drawing himself
up.
‘Very,’ returned the captain; ‘a blow has been struck, and there is but
one course, OF course.’
‘No apology, I suppose?’ said Mr. Westwood.
‘Not a syllable, sir, from my man, if we talk till doomsday,’ returned
the captain. ‘The original cause of dispute, I understand, was some
girl or other, to whom your principal applied certain terms, which
Lord Frederick, defending the girl, repelled. But this led to a
long recrimination upon a great many sore subjects, charges, and
counter-charges. Sir Mulberry was sarcastic; Lord Frederick was excited,
and struck him in the heat of provocation, and under circumstances of
great aggravation. That blow, unless there is a full retraction on the
part of Sir Mulberry, Lord Frederick is ready to justify.’
‘There is no more to be said,’ returned the other, ‘but to settle the
hour and the place of meeting. It’s a responsibility; but there is a
strong feeling to have it over. Do you object to say at sunrise?’
‘Sharp work,’ replied the captain, referring to his watch; ‘however, as
this seems to have been a long time breeding, and negotiation is only a
waste of words, no.’
‘Something may possibly be said, out of doors, after what passed in the
other room, which renders it desirable that we should be off without
delay, and quite clear of town,’ said Mr. Westwood. ‘What do you say to
one of the meadows opposite Twickenham, by the river-side?’
The captain saw no objection.
‘Shall we join company in the avenue of trees which leads from Petersham
to Ham House, and settle the exact spot when we arrive there?’ said Mr
Westwood.
To this the captain also assented. After a few other preliminaries,
equally brief, and having settled the road each party should take to
avoid suspicion, they separated.
‘We shall just have comfortable time, my lord,’ said the captain, when
he had communicated the arrangements, ‘to call at my rooms for a case of
pistols, and then jog coolly down. If you will allow me to dismiss your
servant, we’ll take my cab; for yours, perhaps, might be recognised.’
What a contrast, when they reached the street, to the scene they had
just left! It was already daybreak. For the flaring yellow light within,
was substituted the clear, bright, glorious morning; for a hot, close
atmosphere, tainted with the smell of expiring lamps, and reeking with
the steams of riot and dissipation, the free, fresh, wholesome air. But
to the fevered head on which that cool air blew, it seemed to come laden
with remorse for time misspent and countless opportunities neglected.
With throbbing veins and burning skin, eyes wild and heavy, thoughts
hurried and disordered, he felt as though the light were a reproach, and
shrunk involuntarily from the day as if he were some foul and hideous
thing.
‘Shivering?’ said the captain. ‘You are cold.’
‘Rather.’
‘It does strike cool, coming out of those hot rooms. Wrap that cloak
about you. So, so; now we’re off.’
They rattled through the quiet streets, made their call at the captain’s
lodgings, cleared the town, and emerged upon the open road, without
hindrance or molestation.
Fields, trees, gardens, hedges, everything looked very beautiful; the
young man scarcely seemed to have noticed them before, though he had
passed the same objects a thousand times. There was a peace and serenity
upon them all, strangely at variance with the bewilderment and confusion
of his own half-sobered thoughts, and yet impressive and welcome. He had
no fear upon his mind; but, as he looked about him, he had less anger;
and though all old delusions, relative to his worthless late companion,
were now cleared away, he rather wished he had never known him than
thought of its having come to this.
The past night, the day before, and many other days and nights beside,
all mingled themselves up in one unintelligible and senseless whirl; he
could not separate the transactions of one time from those of another.
Now, the noise of the wheels resolved itself into some wild tune in
which he could recognise scraps of airs he knew; now, there was nothing
in his ears but a stunning and bewildering sound, like rushing water.
But his companion rallied him on being so silent, and they talked and
laughed boisterously. When they stopped, he was a little surprised to
find himself in the act of smoking; but, on reflection, he remembered
when and where he had taken the cigar.
They stopped at the avenue gate and alighted, leaving the carriage to
the care of the servant, who was a smart fellow, and nearly as well
accustomed to such proceedings as his master. Sir Mulberry and his
friend were already there. All four walked in profound silence up the
aisle of stately elm trees, which, meeting far above their heads, formed
a long green perspective of Gothic arches, terminating, like some old
ruin, in the open sky.
After a pause, and a brief conference between the seconds, they, at
length, turned to the right, and taking a track across a little meadow,
passed Ham House and came into some fields beyond. In one of these, they
stopped. The ground was measured, some usual forms gone through, the two
principals were placed front to front at the distance agreed upon, and
Sir Mulberry turned his face towards his young adversary for the first
time. He was very pale, his eyes were bloodshot, his dress disordered,
and his hair dishevelled. For the face, it expressed nothing but violent
and evil passions. He shaded his eyes with his hand; grazed at his
opponent, steadfastly, for a few moments; and, then taking the weapon
which was tendered to him, bent his eyes upon that, and looked up no
more until the word was given, when he instantly fired.
The two shots were fired, as nearly as possible, at the same instant. In
that instant, the young lord turned his head sharply round, fixed upon
his adversary a ghastly stare, and without a groan or stagger, fell down
dead.
‘He’s gone!’ cried Westwood, who, with the other second, had run up to
the body, and fallen on one knee beside it.
‘His blood on his own head,’ said Sir Mulberry. ‘He brought this upon
himself, and forced it upon me.’
‘Captain Adams,’ cried Westwood, hastily, ‘I call you to witness that
this was fairly done. Hawk, we have not a moment to lose. We must leave
this place immediately, push for Brighton, and cross to France with all
speed. This has been a bad business, and may be worse, if we delay
a moment. Adams, consult your own safety, and don’t remain here; the
living before the dead; goodbye!’
With these words, he seized Sir Mulberry by the arm, and hurried him
away. Captain Adams--only pausing to convince himself, beyond all
question, of the fatal result--sped off in the same direction, to
concert measures with his servant for removing the body, and securing
his own safety likewise.
So died Lord Frederick Verisopht, by the hand which he had loaded with
gifts, and clasped a thousand times; by the act of him, but for whom,
and others like him, he might have lived a happy man, and died with
children’s faces round his bed.
The sun came proudly up in all his majesty, the noble river ran its
winding course, the leaves quivered and rustled in the air, the birds
poured their cheerful songs from every tree, the short-lived butterfly
fluttered its little wings; all the light and life of day came on; and,
amidst it all, and pressing down the grass whose every blade bore twenty
tiny lives, lay the dead man, with his stark and rigid face turned
upwards to the sky.