Tales of the Wonder Club Volume III Part 31

As for our hostess, she went right off into hysterics, and Mr. Oldstone was not the only member of the club who was visibly affected.

A month had pa.s.sed over, and it was now time for the case of that memorable night to be tried at the a.s.sizes. Our host, the two serving men, and every member of the club had received a summons to appear as witnesses. Helen herself would have been obliged to put in an appearance, had not Dr. Bleedem signed a certificate that her state of health prevented her from attending. The greatest excitement prevailed when our artist appeared in court. Nearly all were prepossessed in his favour, and several women were overheard to express hopes that they would not hang so good-looking a man. The two serving men were then called, one after the other, and both deposed that their deceased master, Lord Scampford, had first drawn his sword on the gentleman, who was forced to act on the defensive.

The case was soon settled. The jury brought it in as justifiable homicide, and in spite of some ineffectual opposition on the part of the family of the defunct Lord Scampford, who wondered what had come of n.o.bility in these times, when a mere commoner like the defendant could waylay and a.s.sa.s.sinate a peer of the realm and get off unscathed, etc., etc. In spite, however, of all opposition, our artist was acquitted and left the court without a stain on his character, amid the cheers and congratulations of the crowd. As he left the court house he was accompanied to the "Headless Lady" by all the members of the club, who vied with each other in the cordiality of their welcome.

Many changes of importance had taken place of late. Our artist's relative had long since breathed his last, and he now slept with his fathers. His nephew had sat up with him to the end, and was chief mourner at his funeral. The will of deceased had been read, and our friend Vand.y.k.e McGuilp was known to have inherited his entire fortune, which was considerable, so that the once struggling limner was now little short of a millionaire.

A sudden change for the better had taken place in the health of our heroine, which now mended apace in a way that surprised the doctor.

Still, it was deemed advisable, for the present, to keep her in ignorance of her hero's arrival on the scene.

After some discussion on the subject, _i.e._, when her medical attendant p.r.o.nounced her out of all danger, it was generally agreed upon that considering the great confidence which had always existed between Mr.

Oldstone and the daughter of our host, that he should be the man entrusted to break the joyful news to the patient.

Our antiquary accordingly bent him to the task; so mounting the staircase, he tapped at the patient's door. On entering the chamber, he was greeted by a beaming smile from its fair occupant.

"Why! my pretty pet!" cried the old man, cheerily, "what a time it seems since I saw you last! Why! you _are_ pulled down, poor dear."

"Am I?" answered Helen. "I am feeling much better now, though; and I am getting tired of lying in bed all day. I feel quite well now, and want to get up."

"Don't do anything without Dr. Bleedem's permission," remonstrated Oldstone, "or you may throw yourself back, and then what should we all do without you?"

"Yes, Dr. Bleedem says I have been most seriously ill--that he has just rescued me from the jaws of death."

"Ah!" remarked the antiquary with a quiet smile, "and someone else rescued you quite lately from something very like the jaws of death--only worse," he added, in a low tone.

"Oh!" she cried, covering her face with her hands, as if to shut out some horrible vision; "don't mention those two villainous men, or I shall go mad."

"No, no; we won't mention them again. They have gone to their account at last--and--there, there, let us not judge, but try to forgive, as we ourselves would wish to be forgiven," said Oldstone.

"But what harm had I done them? Why should they--I mean, what did they want to do to me?" asked the girl, ingenuously.

"_Do_ to you, silly child! He! he! What all wicked men seek to do when they get the chance," replied her friend. "Let us not talk of them, but rather of the brave man who rescued you in the very nick of time from a living death."

"I understand nothing of their object, and I can't get anyone to explain to me; but I want to know more of the brave man who, at the risk of his own life, came to my a.s.sistance."

"Perhaps I can tell you something of _him_, too," said Oldstone, mysteriously. "Did you note him well?"

"Not I. How could I? I was half fainting when he carried me into the hall. Besides, he was so m.u.f.fled up in a cloak and hat that I was unable to see his face."

"True; neither could any of us--he was so successfully disguised. But we have discovered since who he was, for all that."

"Then you have seen him--spoken to him? Please convey him my most sincere thanks and blessings for his heroic conduct towards a perfect stranger."

"Perhaps you would like to thank him yourself--some day--when you are able to get up, and feel quite well again," suggested Oldstone.

"I suppose I ought," replied Helen. "I feel most grateful to him, I am sure; for don't I owe him my life? But I am so shy with strangers--and--and I don't know what to say," pleaded the girl. Then, at length, "Tell me what manner of man he is?"

"Oh! he's a gentleman," replied Oldstone; "you may depend upon that--and, what is more, he's young, and, _I_ think, very good-looking.

I am sure you would say so, too."

Here a knowing look came into the antiquary's face, which puzzled the patient, who, with eyes and mouth wide open, appeared to scan his countenance as if to read the very secrets of his soul. Then, like a Pythoness of old, suddenly inspired, she exclaimed, "I have it! In vain you try to keep it from me. Mr. McGuilp has returned. It was _he_----"

Oldstone marvelled at her penetration, but replied only by a succession of little nods of his head, fixing his eyes steadily, yet laughingly, upon her the while.

"I knew it; I knew it!" she exclaimed. "My dreams confirmed it. Oh, G.o.d be praised," and she clasped her hands in ecstasy.

"Calm yourself; calm yourself, my sweet one," began Oldstone, now seriously alarmed lest the patient should suffer a relapse, "What would Dr. Bleedem say to me if he knew I had been so precipitate?"

"Dr. Bleedem! Does _he_ then know of our----?"

"Oh! I never said anything to him about it, you may be sure. What I mean is--he wishes you to be spared all emotion, lest you should throw yourself back, and all his care be in vain."

"Oh! no fear of that," replied Helen. "I feel so much better since you told me. Stay!--if you have seen him, he is here. Perhaps in this very inn--tell me!"

"Well, not very far off, I dare say," said Oldstone, cautiously.

"Mr. Oldstone!" cried the girl, "you can hide nothing from me. I _know_ he is here, and I _insist_ upon seeing him."

"My dear! my dear! How can you? Just think! You must wait till you are well enough to get up," protested her friend and counsellor. "Dr.

Bleedem will decide all that."

"I want to see him _now_, _this instant_."

"What! In your bedroom!" exclaimed Oldstone. "My dear child! It's not proper."

"Then why do you come yourself, and Dr. Bleedem?"

"That is a very different matter? I am an old man, and Dr. Bleedem is your medical attendant," replied the antiquary. "Mr. McGuilp is young--and people _might_ talk."

"Nonsense! If you don't let me see him, I'll make myself ill and die,"

exclaimed the patient, petulantly.

The antiquary began to be alarmed, but tried to pacify her by saying he would see Dr. Bleedem, and consult with him as to what were best to be done.

As he did so, the doctor mounted the stairs. He came to administer a cordial.

"She seems much better now, doctor," remarked Mr. Oldstone.

Here a muttered consultation took place just outside the patient's door.

After which the physician entered the sick-room, and finding his patient's nerves somewhat excited, administered a calm soothing dose which sent her off into a peaceful sleep, while our antiquary sought his young protege, and explained that, owing to the patient having taken a composing draught, the doctor's advice was, that he had better postpone his visit till the morrow.

Our artist's disappointment at being refused an interview with his _inamorata_ after so long an absence may be imagined, but he was consoled in a measure by the doctor's promise that she would be well enough to see him on the following day. On one thing he had thoroughly made up his mind, and that was to ask her in marriage of her father. He had never ceased to love her all the time he had been absent, but up to the present he had no position to offer her. Were she to marry one of the many country b.u.mpkins who flocked around her, it would be affluence to what he could have offered her. He could not afford to have quarrelled with his only relative. The consequences would have been fatal. Now everything had changed. He was rich, and could afford to please himself. Therefore on the morrow he was resolved to speak to her father.

It will readily be imagined that our artist's return to his native land, to say nothing of the chain of events that followed--his heroism, his trial and acquittal, were events that could not be pa.s.sed over without celebration. Therefore it is needless to say that the evening was spent round the merry punch bowl, as usual on festive occasions.

Mr. Oldstone was again elected chairman, which post none of the members felt inclined to dispute with him. The evening opened with a congratulatory speech from the chairman, addressed to our artist, to which he replied with brevity and grace. To say that his health was drunk with the usual three times three would be superfluous.

Jack Hearty was called in to join in the toast and invited to take a seat, while our artist was called upon by the members of the club to give an account of his adventures among the brigands, which he did in a manner so graphic, and with such grace and easy command of language, that the company remained spellbound, drinking in every detail of his narrative, whether it were a description of natural scenery or climate--the dress or physiognomy of his captors--their att.i.tudes, their language, or what not. Nothing was forgotten. His trials and privations, his thoughts of home, and the friends he had left behind him. (He mentioned nothing of the girl he left behind him). Then he described the final tussle with the carabineers, and his subsequent rescue. Thus he rambled on in one continual flow of diction like a mill stream without interruption, carried away by his enthusiasm in such a manner as to leave no doubt in the minds of his hearers as to his having taken part himself in the adventures he described.