MISS WHARTON'S MARRIAGE INTERRUPTED.
They were met by Miss Peyton, who acquainted them of the approaching
marriage of her eldest niece and Colonel Wellmere, and invited them to
be present. The gentlemen bowed; and the good aunt, with an inherent
love of propriety, went on to add that the acquaintance was of an old
date, and the attachment by no means a sudden thing; that the consent
to this sudden union of Sarah and Wellmere, and especially at a time
when the life of a member of the family was in imminent jeopardy,[93]
was given from a conviction that the unsettled state of the country
would probably prevent another opportunity to the lovers of meeting,
and a secret dread on the part of Mr. Wharton that the death of his
son might, by hastening his own, leave his remaining children without
a protector.
[Footnote 93: risk or danger.]
Miss Peyton now led them to the room where Lawton had left Sarah and
Colonel Wellmere, and awaited the nuptials.
Wellmere, offering Sarah his hand, led her before the divine, and the
ceremony began. The first words of this imposing office produced a
dead stillness in the apartment; and the minister of God was about to
proceed when a figure, gliding into the midst of the party, at once
put a stop to the ceremony. It was the peddler. His look was bitter
and ironical,[94] while a finger raised towards the divine seemed to
forbid the ceremony to go any further.
[Footnote 94: expressing one thing and meaning another.]
"Can Colonel Wellmere waste the precious moments here, when his wife
has crossed the ocean to meet him? The nights are long, and the moon
bright; a few hours will take him to the city."
Aghast at the suddenness of his extraordinary address, Wellmere for a
moment lost the command of his faculties. To Sarah, the countenance
of Birch, expressive as it was, produced no terror; but the instant
she recovered from the surprise of his interruption, she turned her
anxious gaze on the features of the man to whom she had pledged her
troth. They afforded the most terrible confirmation of all that the
peddler affirmed; the room whirled round, and she fell lifeless into
the arms of her aunt.
The confusion enabled the peddler to retreat with a rapidity that
would baffle pursuit, had any been attempted, and Wellmere stood with
every eye fixed on him, in ominous silence.
"'Tis false--'tis false as hell!" he cried, striking his forehead. "I
have ever denied her claim; nor will the laws of my country compel me
to acknowledge it."
"But what will conscience and the laws of God do?" asked Lawton.
"'Tis well, sir," said Wellmere, haughtily, and retreating towards the
door, "my situation protects you now; but a time may come--"
He had reached the entry, when a slight tap on his shoulder caused him
to turn his head; it was Captain Lawton, who, with a smile of peculiar
meaning, beckoned him to follow. They reached the stables before the
trooper spoke, when he cried aloud:
"Bring out Roanoke!"
His man appeared with the steed caparisoned[95] for its master.
Lawton, coolly throwing the bridle on the neck of the animal, took his
pistols from the holsters, and continued, "Here are weapons that have
seen good service before to-day--aye, and in honorable hands, sir. In
what better way can I serve my country than in exterminating a wretch
who would blast one of her fairest daughters?"
[Footnote 95: covered with a decorated cloth.]
"This injurious treatment shall meet its reward," cried the other,
seizing the offered weapon; "the blood lie on the head of him who
sought it!"
"Amen! but hold a moment, sir. You are now free, and the passports of
Washington are in your pocket; I give you the fire; if I fall, there
is a steed that will outstrip pursuit, and I advise you to retreat
without delay."
"Are you ready?" asked Wellmere, gnashing his teeth with rage.
"Stand forward, Tom, with the lights; fire!" Wellmere fired, and the
bullion flew from the epaulette of the trooper.
"Now the turn is mine," said Lawton, deliberately leveling his pistol.
"And mine!" shouted a voice as the weapon was struck from his hand.
"'Tis the mad Virginian!--fall on, my boys, and take him; this is a
prize not hoped for!"
Unarmed, and surprised as he was, Lawton's presence of mind did not
desert him; he felt that he was in the hands of those from whom he was
to expect no mercy; and, as four of the Skinners fell upon him at
once, he used his gigantic strength to the utmost.
The struggle was short but terrific; curses and the most dreadful
imprecations were uttered by the Skinners, who in vain called on more
of the band, who were gazing on the combat in nerveless horror, to
assist. A difficulty of breathing, from one of the combatants, was
heard, accompanied by the stifled moanings of a strangled man; and
directly one of the group arose from his feet, shaking himself free
from the wild grasp of the others. Both Wellmere and the servant of
Lawton had fled--the former to the stables, and the latter to give the
alarm, leaving all in darkness.
The figure that stood erect sprang into the saddle of the unheeded
charger; sparks of fire, issuing from the armed feet of the horse,
gave a momentary light by which the captain was seen dashing like the
wind towards the highway.
"He's off!" cried the leader, hoarse with rage and exhaustion;
"fire!--bring him down--fire, or you'll be too late!"
"He would not fall if you had killed him," muttered one; "I've known
these Virginians sit their horses with two or three balls through
them; aye, even after they were dead."
"A short half hour will bring down that canting sergeant and the guard
upon us," cried the leader. "'Twill be lucky if the guns don't turn
them out. Quick, to your posts, and fire the house in the chambers;
smoking ruins are good to cover evil deeds."
Wellmere availed himself of the opportunity, and stealing from the
stable with his own charger, he was able to gain the highway
unnoticed. For an instant he hesitated whether to ride towards the
point where he knew the guard was stationed and endeavor to rescue the
family, or, profiting by his liberty, to seek the royal army. Shame,
and a consciousness of guilt, determined him to take the latter
course, and he rode towards New York.
The report of the fire-arms first roused the family to the sense of a
new danger, and but a moment elapsed before the leader and one more of
the gang entered the room.