Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
MARCHDALE'S ATTEMPTED VILLANY, AND THE RESULT.
Varney
the vampyre left the dungeon of Charles Holland amid the grey ruins, with a
perfect confidence the young man would keep his word, and not attempt to escape
from that place until the time had elapsed which he had dictated to him.
And
well might he have that confidence, for having once given his word that he
would remain until he heard the clock strike two from a neighbouring church,
Charles Holland never dreamt for a moment of breaking it.
To be
sure it was a weary time to wait when liberty appeared before him; but he was
the soul of honour, and the least likely man in all the world to infringe in
the slightest upon the condition which he had, of his own free will, acceded
to.
Sir
Francis Varney walked rapidly until he came nearly to the outskirts of the
town, and then he slackened his pace, proceeding more cautiously, and looking
carefully about him, as if he feared to meet any one who might recognise him.
He
had not proceeded far in this manner, when he became conscious of the cautious
figure of a man gliding along in the opposite direction to that which he was
taking.
A
suspicion struck him, from the general appearance, that it was Marchdale, and
if so he wondered to see him abroad at such a time. Still he would not be quite
certain; but he hurried forward, so as to meet the advancing figure, and then
his suspicions were confirmed; and Marchdale, with some confusion in his looks
and manners, accosted him.
"Ah,
Sir Francis Varney," he said, "you are out late."—
"Why,
you know I should be out late," said Varney, "and you likewise know
the errand upon which I was to be out."
"Oh,
I recollect; you were to release your prisoner."—
"Yes,
I was."
"And
have you done so?"—
"Oh,
no."
"Oh,
indeed. I—I am glad you have taken better thoughts of it. Good night—good
night; we shall meet to-morrow."—
"Adieu,"
said Sir Francis Varney; and he watched the retreating figure of Marchdale, and
then he added, in a low tone to himself,—
"I
know his object well. His craven spirit shrinks at the notion, a probable
enough one, I will admit, that Charles Holland has recognised him, and that, if
once free, he would denounce him to the Bannerworths, holding him up to scorn
in his true colours, and bringing down upon his head, perhaps, something more
than detestation and contempt. The villain! he is going now to take the life of
the man whom he considers chained to the ground. Well, well, they must fight it
out together. Charles Holland is sufficiently free to take his own part,
although Marchdale little thinks that such is the case."
Marchdale
walked on for some little distance, and then he turned and looked after Sir
Francis Varney.
"Indeed!"
he said; "so you have not released him to-night, but I know well will do
so soon. I do not, for my part, admire this romantic generosity which sets a
fox free at the moment that he's the most dangerous. It's all very well to be
generous, but it is better to be just first, and that I consider means looking
after one's self first. I have a poniard here which will soon put an end to the
troubles of the prisoner in his dungeon—its edge is keen and sharp, and will
readily find a way to his heart."
He
walked on quite exultingly and carelessly now, for he had got into the open
country, and it was extremely unlikely that he would meet anybody on his road
to the ruins.
It
did not take many minutes, sharp walking now to bring him close to the spot
which he intended should become such a scene of treacherous slaughter, and just
then he heard from afar off something like the muttering of thunder, as if
Heaven itself was proclaiming its vengeance against the man who had come out to
slay one of its best and noblest creatures.
"What
is that'" said Marchdale, shrinking back a moment; "what is that—an
approaching storm? It must be so, for, now I recollect me, the sun set behind a
bank of clouds of a fiery redness, and as the evening drew in there was every
appearance in the heavens of some ensuing strife of the elements."
He
listened for a few moments, and fixed his eyes intently in the direction of the
horizon from where the muttering sounds had proceeded.
He
had not long to wait before he saw a bright flash of blue lightning, which for
one instant illumined the sky; then by the time he could have counted twelve
there came the thunder which the flash preceded, and he felt terribly anxious
to complete his enterprize, so that he might get back to the town and be safely
housed before the storm, which was evidently approaching, should burst upon
him.
"It
is sweeping on apace," he said; "why did I not come earlier?"
Even
as he spoke he plunged among the recesses of the ruins, and searching about for
the old stone which covered the entrance to the dungeon, he was surprised to
find it rolled from its place, and the aperture open.
"What
is the meaning of this?" he said; "how negligent of Sir Francis
Varney; or perhaps, after all, he was only jesting with me, and let the
prisoner go. If that should be the case, I am foiled indeed; but surely he
could not be so full of indiscretion."
Again
came a dazzling flash of lightning, which now, surrounded by the ruins as he
was, made him shrink back and cover his eyes for a moment; and then followed a
peal of thunder with not half the duration of time between it and the flash
which had characterized the previous electric phenomenon.
"The
storm approaches fast," said Marchdale; "I must get my work done
quickly, if indeed my victim be here, which I begin seriously to doubt."
He
descended the intricate winding passage to the vault below, which served the
purpose of a dungeon, and when he got very nearly into the depth of its
recesses, he called aloud, saying,—
"Ho!
what ho! is there any one here?"—"Yes," said Charles Holland,
who fancied it might be his former visitor returned. "Have you come to
repent of your purpose?"
"Ah!"
said Marchdale to himself, "Sir Francis, after all, has told me the
truth—the prisoner is still here."
The
light from without was not near sufficient to send the least ray into the
depths of that dungeon; so that Marchdale, when he entered the place, could see
nothing but an absolute blackness.
It
was not so, however, with Charles Holland, whose eyes had been now so long
accustomed to the place that he could see in it as if a dim twilight irradiated
it, and he at once, in his visitor, saw his worst foe, and not the man who had
comparatively set him free.
He
saw, too, that the hand of his visitor grasped a weapon, which Marchdale
thought that, favoured by the darkness, he might carry openly in perfect
security.
"Where
are you?" said Marchdale; "I cannot see you."—"Here!"
said Charles, "you may feel my grip;" and he sprung upon him in an
instant.
The
attack was so sudden and so utterly unexpected, that Marchdale was thrown
backwards, and the dagger wrested from his grasp, during the first impulse
which Charles Holland had thrown into his attack.
Moreover,
his head struck with such violence against the earthern floor, that it produced
a temporary confusion of his faculties, so that, had Charles Holland been so
inclined, he might, with Marchdale's own weapon, have easily taken his life.
The
young man did, on the impulse of the moment, raise it in his hand, but, on the
impulse of another thought, he cast it from him, exclaiming—
"No,
no! not that; I should be as bad as he, or nearly so. This villain has come to
murder me, but yet I will not take his life for the deed. What shall I do with
him? Ha! a lucky thought—chains!"
He
dragged Marchdale to the identical spot of earth on which he had lain so long;
and, as Sir Francis Varney had left the key of the padlock which bound the
chains together in it, he, in a few moments, had succeeded in placing the
villain Marchdale in the same durance from which he had himself shortly since
escaped.
"Remain
there," he said, "until some one comes to rescue you. I will not let
you starve to death, but I will give you a long fast; and, when I come again,
it shall be along with some of the Bannerworth family, to show them what a
viper they have fostered in their hearts."
Marchdale
was just sufficiently conscious now to feel all the realities of his situation.
In vain he attempted to rise from his prostrate position. The chains did their
duty, keeping down a villain with the same means that they had held in
ignominious confinement a true man.
He
was in a perfect agony, inasmuch as he considered that he would be allowed to
remain there to starve to death, thus achieving for himself a more horrible
death than any he had ever thought of inflicting.
"Villain!"
exclaimed Charles Holland, "you shall there remain; and, let you have what
mental sufferings you may, you richly deserve them."
He
heeded not the cries of Marchdale—he heeded not his imprecations any more than
he did his prayers; and the arch hypocrite used both in abundance. Charles was
but too happy once more to look upon the open sky, although it was then in
darkness, to heed anything that Marchdale, in the agony to which he was now
reduced, might feel inclined to say; and, after glancing around him for some
few moments, when he was free of the ruins, and inhaling with exquisite delight
the free air of the surrounding meadows, he saw, by the twinkling of the
lights, in which direction the town lay, and knowing that by taking a line in
that path, and then after a time diverging a little to the right, he should
come to Bannerworth Hall, he walked on, never in his whole life probably
feeling such an enjoyment of the mere fact of existence as at such a moment as
that of exquisite liberty.
Our
readers may with us imagine what it is to taste the free, fresh air of heaven,
after being long pent up, as he, Charles Holland, had been, in a damp, noisome
dungeon, teeming with unwholesome exhalations. They may well suppose with what
an amount of rapture he now found himself unrestrained in his movements by
those galling fetters which had hung for so long a period upon his youthful
limbs, and which, not unfrequently in the despair of his heart, he had thought
he should surely die in.
And
last, although not least in his dear esteem, did the rapturous thought of once
more looking in the sweet face of her he loved come cross him with a gush of
delight.
"Yes!"
he exclaimed, as he quickened his pace; "yes! I shall be able to tell
Flora Bannerworth how well and how truly I love her. I shall be able to tell
her that, in my weary and hideous imprisonment, the thought alone of her has
supported me."
As he
neared the Hall, he quickened his pace to such an extent, that soon he was
forced to pause altogether, as the exertion he had undertaken pretty plainly
told him that the imprisonment, scanty diet, and want of exercise, which had
been his portion for some time past, had most materially decreased his
strength.
His
limbs trembled, and a profuse perspiration bedewed his brow, although the night
was rather cold than otherwise.
"I
am very weak," he said; "and much I wonder now that I succeeded in
overcoming that villain Marchdale; who, if I had not done so, would most
assuredly have murdered me."
And
it was a wonder; for Marchdale was not an old man, although he might be
considered certainly as past the prime of life, and he was of a strong and
athletic build. But it was the suddenness of his attack upon him which had
given Charles Holland the great advantage, and had caused the defeat of the
ruffian who came bent on one of the most cowardly and dastardly murders that
could be committed—namely, upon an unoffending man, whom he supposed to be
loaded with chains, and incapable of making the least efficient resistance.
Charles
soon again recovered sufficient breath and strength to proceed towards the
Hall, and now warned, by the exhaustion which had come over him that he had not
really anything like strength enough to allow him to proceed rapidly, he walked
with slow and deliberate steps.
This
mode of proceeding was more favourable to reflection than the wild, rapid one
which he had at first adopted, and in all the glowing colours of youthful and
ingenious fancy did he depict to himself the surprise and the pleasure that
would beam in the countenance of his beloved Flora when she should find him
once again by her side.
Of
course, he, Charles, could know nothing of the contrivances which had been
resorted to, and which the reader may lay wholly to the charge of Marchdale, to
blacken his character, and to make him appear faithless to the love he had
professed.
Had he
known this, it is probable that indignation would have added wings to his
progress, and he would not have been able to proceed at the leisurely pace he
felt that his state of physical weakness dictated to him.
And
now he saw the topmost portion at Bannerworth Hall pushing out from amongst the
trees with which the ancient pile was so much surrounded, and the sight of the
home of his beloved revived him, and quickened the circulation of the warm
blood in his veins.