"There might be no harm in letting Miss Fanny know, but it must depend
upon whether she has got discretion or not," said Jerry. "If she is a
wise girl she will hold her tongue, and I daresay it will make her
happier to hear what you wish to tell her."
Susan at length gained her way, and, promising duly to caution Miss
Fanny to be prudent, set off.
Jerry and I sat talking over matters till Susan came back.
"I am thankful I went," she said. "I found Miss Fanny very ill, and I
have hopes that the news I gave her will restore her to health faster
than any doctor's stuff."
I told Jerry how I had hunted for the young lady's luggage, and had been
unable to find it, though she had told me the name of the inn where she
had left it; and I was sure she would not have spoken falsely.
"Is the landlord still alive?" asked Jerry.
"Yes; though well in years," I answered.
"Well, then, we will go along together, and see if we can make anything
out of him," said Jerry; and off we set. We went into the bar-room.
Fortunately no one was there, so we asked the landlord to come in and
have a quiet glass with a couple of old salts. He, nothing loath, came
at once, for he had been a sailor himself. I never saw anybody like
Jerry for leading on to a point he wanted to reach; he soon got talking
about the _Royal George_, then he asked the landlord if he remembered
the name of the young lady who came to his house the day before the
wreck with a little boy.
"No," said the landlord, "I don't remember her name, though I do her and
the little boy."
"Then you heard it?" said Jerry.
"Can't say but what I did," answered the landlord.
"Then can you tell me what the gentleman did with her luggage?" he
asked, looking the landlord full in the face. "Come, you know he bribed
you to stow it away, and say nothing about it if questions were asked."
I never saw anybody look so astonished as the landlord did when Jerry
said this.
"How should you know anything about it?" he asked.
"I know a good many things," answered Jerry, with a knowing look.
"Come, mate, tell us what Mr Biddulph Stafford paid you for stowing the
things away, and I will promise that it shall be doubled if you can find
them."
I did not know at the time that this was all a guess of Jerry's, but he
had hit the right nail on the head.
"Is it a bargain?" asked the landlord. "I suppose that Mr Biddulph
can't do me any harm?"
"It's a bargain, and I will see that you are not the sufferer," said
Jerry. "Come, what did he give you?"
"Ten pounds," answered the landlord.
"You shall have twenty; and that you may be sure of it, I will write out
the promise to pay you."
The landlord, thus taken by surprise, agreed; and Jerry, who followed
the wise plan of "striking while the iron is hot," made him then and
there bring pen and paper, when he wrote out an order on his
brother-in-law for twenty pounds. The landlord then begged that we
would come upstairs, and, going through a trapdoor in the roof, he let
down two small trunks, such as ladies might use for travelling. They
were both locked.
"There they are," said the landlord; "and the sooner you take them the
better. They have made me uncomfortable ever since they have been in
the house; I didn't like to destroy them, and I didn't know where to put
them. As it is so long since Mr Biddulph Stafford came here, I don't
suppose that he will trouble me again about them."
We waited till dark, and the landlord then getting us a boy to carry one
of the trunks, I shouldered the other, and we set off back to my house.
Though Susan was naturally curious to see their contents, we agreed that
we would not open them ourselves, but wait till Mrs Stafford could do
so, as she was more likely than anyone else to recognise their contents.
We then talked over what was best to be done. I was for telling
Captain Leslie, for I was sure that he had still as kind a feeling
towards Harry as ever, and that he had acted as he had done to prevent
him and his daughter from making what he considered an imprudent match.
Jerry at last came to agree with me, and he consented to write to Mr
Pengelley and ask his advice. Mr Pengelley thought as I did, that as
an old friend of Harry's the captain might be trusted; indeed, without
his assistance it would have been difficult to get Harry sent home. I
lost no time in hastening up to the captain, and told him everything; he
was, as I expected he would be, highly delighted.
"He is a noble young fellow, and I all along thought he was of gentle
birth, though he might not have a right to his father's name," he
exclaimed. "We will get him home without delay, for of course nothing
can be done till he arrives."
He promised to be cautious, so that Mr Biddulph Stafford should not get
an inkling of what we were about.
"I will accompany him myself and give him all the support in my power,
as the whole matter is as clear to me as noonday, and, whether his uncle
acknowledges him or not, he must win his case."
I told him that Jerry hoped he would not say anything to the rest of his
family.
"I will be discreet," he answered, "depend upon that."
I had a strong suspicion that the ladies soon knew all about it, though
for my part I was sure they would act wisely.
Jerry received a letter from Mr Pengelley, saying that he wished to see
him, and to bring the information he had gained. Bidding us, therefore,
good-bye, he set off to return home, taking the portraits of the young
lady and Harry with him.
After this there seemed nothing to be done but to wait till Harry's
return; Captain Leslie had written to request that he might be allowed
to come home on urgent family affairs, and there was no doubt but that
he would obtain leave to do so, and he would of course guess the object.
I spent a good part of each day with spyglass in hand, looking out for
fresh arrivals at Spithead. When either Susan or I went up to the
captain's, we were sure to find Miss Fanny at the telescope, which stood
on a stand in the bay window of the drawing-room, turned in the same
direction. At last one day I saw two frigates coming in round Saint
Helen's; the leading one had her fore-topmast shot away and her sails
and rigging much cut up; the second, which had the English colours
flying over the French, was in a far worse condition, her mainmast and
mizzen-topmast were gone, and her hull was severely battered. She was
evidently a prize to the first.
"I can't help hoping that yonder frigate is the _Vestal_; it's hard to
say positively, but she is, as far as I can judge from this distance,
wonderfully like her," I exclaimed to Susan. I hurried down to the
"hard," and, engaging a boat, put off and got alongside before any of
the Portsmouth boats. I soon found that I was right. The first person
I saw on stepping on deck was Harry himself; he hurried forward to shake
me by the hand.
"Father," he said, "we have had a glorious fight, and the captain has
been good enough to speak highly of me; after an hour's fighting,
broadside to broadside, we got foul of the enemy, and I had the honour
of leading the boarders."