Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
AGAIN the scene changes. Our readers must accompany us once more
to the villa in the neighourhood of Upper Clapton.
It was the evening of the day on which was perpetrated the
dreadful deed related in the preceding chapter. The curtains were drawn over
the dining-room windows; a cheerful fire burned in the grate; and a lamp,
placed in the middle of the table, diffused a pleasant and mellowed light
around. An
air of comfort, almost amounting to luxury, pervaded that
apartment; and its general temperature was the better appreciated, as the wind
whistled without, and the rain pattered against the windows.
At the table, on which stood a dessert of delicious fruits,
conserves, cakes, and wines, sate Walter Sydney and George Montague.
They had now been acquainted nearly three months; and during
that period they had met often. Montague had, however, seldom called at the
villa, save when expressly invited by his friend Stephens: still, upon those
occasions, he and Walter were frequently alone for some time together. Thus,
while Stephens was examining into the economy of the stables, or superintending
improvements in the garden, Montague and that mysterious lady in man's attire,
were thrown upon their own resources to entertain each other.
The reader cannot be surprised if an attachment sprung up
between them. So far as that lovely woman was concerned, we can vouch that her
predilection towards George Montague was the sincere and pure sentiment of a
generous and affectionate heart. How worthy of such a passion his own feelings
on the subject might have been, must appear hereafter.
The masculine attire and habits which the lady had assumed,
had not destroyed the fine and endearing characteristics of her woman's heart.
She was at first struck by Montague's handsome person;- then his varied
conversation delighted her;- and, as he soon exerted all his powers to render
himself agreeable to the heroine of the villa, it was not long before he
completely won her heart.
The peculiarity of her position had taught her - and
necessarily so - to exercise an almost complete command over the expression of
her feelings. Thus, though an explanation had taken place between herself and
Montague, and a mutual avowal of affection made, Stephens remained without a
suspicion upon the subject.
On the evening when we again introduce our readers to the
villa, Montague was there by the express desire of Mr. Stephens; but this
latter individual had been detained by particular business elsewhere. Walter -
for so we must continue to call that mysterious being - and Montague had
therefore dined tête-à-tête; and they were now enjoying together the two or
three pleasant hours which succeed the most important meal of the day.
The plans of the lovers will be comprehended by means of the
ensuing conversation, better than if drily detailed in our own narrative
style:-
"Another fortnight - two short weeks only,"
said the lady "and "the end of this deception will have
arrived."
"Yes - another fortnight," echoed Montague;
"and everything will then be favourable to our wishes. The 26th of
November —"
"My poor brother, were he alive, would be of age on the
25th," observed the lady, mournfully.
"Of course - precisely!" ejaculated Montague.
"On the 26th, as I was saying, Stephens's plans will be realized; and you
will be worth ten thousand pounds."
"Oh! it is not so much for the money that I shall
welcome that day: but chiefly because it will be the last on which I shall be
doomed to wear this detestable disguise."
"And shall not I be supremely happy to leave this land
with you - to call you my own dear beloved wife - and to bear you away to the
sunny climes of the south of Europe, whore we may live in peace, happiness, and
tranquillity to the end of our days?"
"What a charming - what a delicious picture!"
ejaculated the lady, her bosom heaving with pleasurable emotions beneath the
tight frock which confined it. "But-oh! if the plans of Mr. Stephens
should fail;- and that they
might
fail, I am well assured, for he has often said to me,
Pray be circumspect, Walter: you
know not how much depends upon your discretion
!"
"Those plans
will
not
- cannot
fail!" cried Montague emphatically. "He has told me all
- and everything is so well arranged, so admirably provided for!"
"He has told you everything," said the lady,
reproachfully; "and he has told me nothing."
"And I dare not enlighten you."
"Oh! I would not hear the secret from your lips. I have
a confidence the most blind - the most devoted in Mr. Stephens; and I feel
convinced that he must have sound reasons for keeping me thus in the dark with
reference to the principal motives of the deception which I am sustaining. I
know, moreover - at least, he has declared most solemnly to me, and I believe
his word - that no portion of his plan militates against honour and integrity.
He is compelled to meet intrigue with intrigue; but all his proceedings are
justifiable. There can be no loss of character - no danger from the laws of the
country. In all this I am satisfied - because a man who has dons so much for me
and my poor deceased mother, would not lead me astray, nor involve me either in
disgrace or peril."
"You are right," said Montague. "Stephens is
incapable of deceiving you."
"And more than all that I have just said,"
continued Walter, "I am aware that there is an immense fortune at stake;
and that should the plans of Mr. Stephens fully succeed, I shall receive ten
thousand pounds as a means of comfortable subsistence for the remainder of my
life."
"And that sum, joined to what I possess, and to what
I shall have,
"
added Montague, "will enable
us to live in luxury in a foreign land. Oh! how happy shall I be when the time
arrives for me to clasp you in my arms - to behold you attired in the garb
which suits your sex, and in which I never yet have seen you dressed -
and to call you by the sacred and endearing name of WIFE! How beautiful must
you appear in those garments which -"
"Hush, George - no compliments!" cried the lady,
with a smile and a blush. "Wait until you see me dressed as you desire;
and, perhaps, then -
then,
you may whisper to me the soft and delicious language of
love."
The time-piece upon the mantel struck eleven: and Montague
rose to depart.
It was an awful night. The violence of the wind had
increased during the last hour; and the rain poured in torrents against the
windows.
"George, it is impossible that you can venture out in
such weather as this," said the lady, in a frank and ingenuous manner:
"one would not allow a dog to pass the door on such a night. Fortunately
there is a spare room in my humble abode; and that chamber is at your
service."
Walter rang the bell, and gave Louisa the necessary
instructions.
In another half-hour Montague was conducted to the apartment
provided for him, and Walter retired
to the luxurious and elegant
boudoir which we have before described.
The satin curtains were drawn over the casement against
which the rain beat with increasing fury: a cheerful fire actually roared in
the grate; and the thick carpet upon the floor, the inviting lounging-chair
close by the hearth, and the downy couch with its snow-white sheets and warm
clothing, completed the air of comfort which prevailed in that delicious
retreat. The vases of sweet flowers were no longer there, it was true; but a fragrant
odour of bergamot and lavender filled the boudoir. Nothing could be more
charming than this warm, perfumed, and voluptuous chamber - worthy of the
lovely and mysterious being who seemed the presiding divinity of that elysian
bower.
Walter threw herself into the easy-chair, and dismissed her
attendant, saying, "You may retire, Louisa,- I will undress myself without
your aid to-night; for as yet I do not feel inclined to sleep. I shall sit
here, before this cheerful fire, and indulge in the luxury of hopes and future
prospects, ere I retire to rest."
Louisa withdrew, and Walter then plunged into a delicious
reverie. The approaching emancipation from the thraldom of an assumed sex - her
affection for George Montague - and the anticipated possession of an ample
fortune to guard against the future, were golden visions not the less dazzling
for being waking ones.
Half an hour had passed away in this manner, when a strange
noise startled Walter in the midst of her meditations. She thought that she
heard a shutter close violently and a pane of glass smash to pieces almost at
the same moment. Alarm was for an instant depicted upon her countenance: she
then smiled, and, ashamed of the evanescent fear to which she had yielded, said
to herself, "It must be one of the shutters of the dining-room or parlour
down stairs, that has blown open."
Taking, the lamp in her hand she issued from the boudoir,
and hastily descended the stairs leading to the ground floor. In her way
thither she could hear, even amidst the howling of the wind, the loud barking
of the dogs in the rear of the villa.
The hall, as she crossed it, struck piercing cold, after the
genial warmth of the boudoir which she had just left. She cautiously entered
the parlour on the left hand of the front door: all was safe. Having satisfied
herself that the shutters in that apartment were securely closed and fastened,
she proceeded to the dining-room.
She opened the door, and was about to cross the threshold,
when - at that moment - the lamp was dashed from her hand by some one inside
the room; and the herself was instantly seized by two powerful arms, and
dragged into the apartment.
A piercing cry issued from her lips; and then a coarse and
hard hand was pressed violently on her mouth. Further utterance was thus
stopped.
"Here - Bill - Dick," said a gruff voice;
"give me a knife - I must settle this feller's hash - or I'm blessed if he
won't alarm the house."
"No more blood - no more blood!" returned another
voice, hastily, and with an accent of horror. "I had enough of that this
mornin'. Gag him, and tie him up in a heap."
"D—n him, do for him!" cried a third voice.
"Don't be such a cursed coward, Bill."
"Hold your jaw, will ye - and give me a knife,
Dick," said the first speaker who was no other than Tom the Cracksman.
"The fellow struggles furious - but I've got hold on him by the
throat."
Scarcely had these words issued from the lips of the
burglar, when the door was thrown open, and Montague entered the room.
He held a lamp in one hand, and a pistol in the other; and
it was easy to perceive that he had been alarmed in the midst of his repose,
for he had nothing on save his trousers and his shirt.
On the sudden appearance of an individual thus armed, Tom
the Cracksman exclaimed, "At him - down with him! We must make a
fight of it."
The light of the lamp, which Montague held in his hand,
streamed full upon the countenance and person of Walter Sydney, who was
struggling violently in the suffocating grasp of the Cracksman.
"Hell and furies!" ejaculated Dick Flairer,
dropping his dark lantern and a bunch of skeleton keys upon the floor, while
his face was suddenly distorted with an expression of indescribable horror,
then, in obedience to the natural impulse of his alarm, he rushed towards the
window, the shutters and casement of which had been forced open, leapt through
it, and disappeared amidst the darkness of the night.
Astonished by this strange event, Bill Bolter instantly
turned his eyes from Montague, whom he was at that moment about to attack,
towards the Cracksman and Walter Sydney.
The colour fled from the murderer's cheeks, as if a sudden
spell had fallen upon him: his teeth chattered - his knees trembled - and he
leant against the table for support.
There was the identical being whom four years and five
mouths before, they had hurled down the trap-door of the old house in Chick
Lane:- and who, that had ever met that fate as yet, had survived to tell the
tale?
For an instant the entire frame of the murderer was
convulsed with alarm: the apparition before him - the vision of his
assassinated wife - and the reminiscences of other deeds of the darkest dye,
came upon him with the force of a whirlwind. For an instant, we say, was he convulsed
with alarm; in another moment he yielded to his fears, and, profiting by his
companion's example, disappeared like an arrow through the window.
Amongst persons engaged in criminal pursuits, a panic-terror
is very catching. The Cracksman - formidable and daring as he was - suddenly
experienced an unknown and vague fear, when he perceived the horror and
unassumed alarm which had taken possession of his comrades. He loosened his
grasp upon his intended victim: Walter made a last desperate effort, and
released himself from the burglar's power.
"Approach me, and I will blow your brains out,"
cried Montague, pointing his pistol at the Cracksman.
Scarcely were these words uttered, when the burglar darted
forward, dashed the lamp from the hands of Montague, and effected his escape by
the window.
Montague rushed to the casement, and snapped the pistol
after him: the weapon only flashed in the pan.
Montague closed the window and fastened the shutters. He
then called Walter by name; and, receiving no answer, groped his way in the
dark towards the door.
His feet encountered an obstacle upon the carpet; he stooped
down and felt with his hands:- Walter Sydney had faintted.
Scarcely two minutes had elapsed since Montague had entered the room; for
the confusion and flight of the burglars had not occupied near so much time to
enact as to describe. The entire scene had moreover passed without any noise
calculated to disturb the household.
There were consequently no servants at hand to afford Walter
the succour which he required.
For a moment Montague hesitated what course to pursue; but,
after one instant's reflection, he took her in his arms, and carried her up
into her own enchanting and delicious boudoir.