FREE AT LAST.
An hour later a happy company, comprising the reunited husband and wife,
the happy lovers, and the lovely but now joyous and hopeful maidens, who
long had been held in captivity within that wonderful underground
palace, might be seen wending their way toward the large and commodious
inn where Madame Alroyd and Dora, also Mr. Ellerton, had taken rooms on
first entering the place.
Mine host’s face glowed all over with sympathy, delight, and genial
hospitality, as he welcomed so many illustrious people beneath his
comfortable roof.
It was not often that anything so interesting and exciting occurred in
the quiet village, a proof of which might be seen in this honest
landlord’s flurried manner, as he rushed hither and thither, giving an
order here, and countermanding one there. But at last all was right,
every one was comfortably settled, and every eye closed in sound and
peaceful slumber, and every heart forgetting in its gentle embrace the
thrilling events of the few hours previous.
The fated smugglers were left behind within the cavern, under a strong
and watchful guard, until morning, when they were handcuffed and chained
in pairs, and then sent from the place to be tried and sentenced by the
country’s laws, which for so many years they had boldly and successfully
defied.
The body of the squire was quietly interred in a wild and secluded spot
not far from the sea, the people refusing to allow so wicked a man to be
buried in their sacred grounds. A plain shaft of marble, bearing his
name, age, and the date of his death, was erected over his lonely grave,
and he was left to sleep even as he had lived—alone.
For a week after these events the hotel where our friends sojourned was
a scene of hilarity and joy, such as the wide old rooms had not
witnessed in many a year; then the gay and happy company broke up, and
all departed, to go their different ways.
The lovely captives, all except Vivien and Enid, were placed under the
care and protection of good old Father Francis, together with an
abundance of means, to be conveyed to their several homes, where all
arrived safely, as Vivien learned through loving letters received from
her affectionate and grateful charges. Having satisfactorily
accomplished the mission with which he was intrusted, the good father
returned to his former duties in a distant convent.
Dora claimed Vivien and Enid, declaring that they should accompany her
on the remainder of her tour, which she was unwilling to give up, though
madam would have preferred going straight home, after receiving such a
fearful fright.
Vivien consented to make one of their party, but Enid gravely shook her
head and said “no; she must go to her own home and attend to her
estates, which so long had lain without an owner. But,” she added,
trying to smile, though her heart was sad and heavy, “I will return and
get everything in order, and be prepared to receive you all when your
travels are ended, six months hence, and we will have a joyful reunion
before the final separation, and each return to his and her own
fireside.”
So it was agreed, and lovely Enid Chichester bade them all a tearful
farewell, and departed with Nina and Mr. Ellerton, who had promised to
see her safely within the halls of her ancestors, and then join his own
party in Paris, whither they had decided to go.
Poor Ralph was disconsolate enough at this arrangement, for he had come
to love the “sparkling little English Gem,” as they called her, with the
purest affection of his heart; but he had obtained a promise that she
would write to him, and he tried to content himself with that poor
consolation, resolving that when his six months’ probation—for he knew
she meant it as such by the look she gave him when she bade him
good-by—was over that he would tell his love, and win, if possible, the
beautiful Enid for his wife.
Madame Alroyd, Dora and Robert, Vivien and Fredrick Weimher (who had
discovered that he could not exist beyond the presence of the fair
Italian), Alfred Ellerton, with Rose, his wife, and Ralph, then all bade
a final farewell to Germany, and departed for gay, thoughtless, charming
Paris.
Vivien’s two uncles returned to their native country, to fair and lovely
Italy, with its sunny skies and fragrant vineyards, to prepare a home
for the idol of their hearts, where she was to dwell with them after the
promised reunion at Chichester Hall.