 Chapter 99 Vani the Vampire Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in a public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Vali Vani the Vampire Volume 2 The Baron becomes Master of Andiburi on the Mount and begins to congratulate himself, the Dream. It was a wonderful relief to Mr. Leek to find that the fact of a dead body having been found in the subterranean passage of Andiburi House was really no bar to the Baron possessing himself of those premises. Mr. Leek could not disguise from himself that to many persons it would have been a serious impediment and the very mystery in which that fare was still wrapped up would have made the impediment greater because people don't so much think of a murder which is all found out and for which the perpetrator suffers. But a murdered body found and yet no murderer keeps public curiosity upon the stretch and is almost certain destruction to house property. But now whether the Baron bought Andiburi House or rented it was much the same to Mr. Leek. For in the former case he got his percentage all at once and in the later acting as agent he got more but he got it by degrees. He waited therefore with some degree of feverish impatience to know which way that illustrious individual would make up his mind and when he said at length in his strange calm way that he would give 10,000 pounds for Andiburi on the Mount Mr. Leek wrote of in violent haste to the owner advising him to accept the same without delay and as the owner never intended again to set foot in Andiburi House and no one wanted money he wrote back again in as violent haste that he would take 10,000 pounds most certainly and wished the transaction concluded as quickly as it very well could be. Promising Mr. Leek which was a very gratifying thing to that gentleman not on account of the money as he himself said oh dear no but as a matter of feeling a handsome bonus in addition to his percentage if he quickly got the matter completed. Armed with this authority the agent showed an amount of generalship which must if he had been placed in the situation of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington have went for him all the continental battles. He went at once to the Baron and told him that he had received a letter from the owner of Andiburi on the Mount asking 10,500 pounds for their state but leaving it at his Mr. Leek's option to take 10,000 pounds if he choose. Now my Lord Baron said Mr. Leek business is business and I may as well put 250 pounds in my pocket and your Lordship put 250 pounds in yours as not. That is to say said the Baron that you are willing to sell your employers interest to me. Oh why it isn't exactly that you know my Lord only you know in these transactions everybody does the best he can for himself and I'm sure I should be very sorry if you thought that Mr. Leek interrupted the Baron you need have no delicacy with me whatever. I believe you to be as great a rogue as ever steeped. So you need make no excuses only of course you cannot expect me to assist you in your villainy that is quite out of the question. So you will understand that I declined giving more than the 10,000 pounds for Andiburi house and if that is not accepted in one hour from this time I will not have it at all. It's accepted now at once grown Mr. Leek who found that the Baron was too many for him. It's accepted at once my Lord and I beg that you will bury the past in what do you call it oblivion. Very good said the Baron. I presume if I give you a check for a thousand pounds as a deposit I may have possession at once while the deeds are preparing. Certainly my Lord Baron oh certainly the Baron then gave Mr. Leek and took his acknowledgement for the same a check for a thousand pounds on one of the most eminent banking houses in London. And in two hours from that time such was the celebrity and precision of his movements. He took possession of Andiburi house and engaged the man and woman who had been mining it to be his temporary servants until he could get up an establishment suitable to his rank and the place he inhabited. It would have been a strange sight to Mr. Leek and would have made him open his eyes a little bit wonder if he could have seen the Baron traversing the apartments of Andiburi house alone. And am I at last settled his head to himself as he stood in a large saloon. Am I at last settled in a home such as I can really call my own? And shall I not be hunted from it by my enemies? Let me consider. I will be quick in giving such an entertainment here that it shall be talked of for many a day to come. It shall be such an entertainment as shall present to me all of youth, beauty, rank and wealth that can be found in the neighborhood. And out of them I will choose someone who shall be the Baroness and for a time face the stately halls as their mistress. For a time yes. I have set only for a time. I wonder if there be a family vault to this property because if there be I may want to use it. In this purchase of Andiburi on the mount the ancient furniture of the place had been all included so that in truth the Baron had but to walk in and to find himself if he could make himself so quite at home. A costly bed chamber was prepared for him. The bed linen and furniture of which was sent by Mr. Lee from his own house and no doubt he fully intended to be well paid for the same. The Baron after about two hours spent in examination of his house sat down in one of the principal apartments and part took off a very slight repast. And after that folding his arms upon his bosom he seemed to give himself up to thought entirely. And from the smile that occasionally showed itself on his remarkable physiognomy it would seem that those thoughts of his were of a pleasant and felicitous character. Now one then too from a few ununsettled words that fell from his lips it would seem as if he were greatly felicitating himself upon something which he had achieved that was of a character to give him intense satisfaction. Perhaps it was the death of this singular man who called upon him that gave him so much pleasure. And we are inclined to think that was the case for after the commission of a murder such as that one of two feelings were pretty sure to possess him. Remorse might take possession of him and he might suffer much mental anguish in consequence of the deed or the object which he achieved by that death might be of such a nature as to become quite a subject of congratulation. So as whenever he thought upon it to give him the pleasantest and most delightful feelings. It looked very much as if this was the case as regarded the baron because it was as clear and evident as the sun at noon day that he had felt no degree of remorse or regret for that deed. And that as regards his consigns certainly the murder he had committed sat as easy upon it as anything well could. The evening was now drawing on and the large apartments of the ancient house began to be enveloped in gloom. But unlike the generality of persons who have committed crimes and whose consigns are charged with injustice the gathering gloom of night seemed to have no terror or whatever for the barons told me. But at length with something of a sense of wariness he rose and ran for attendance desiring to be shown to the bed chamber which had been prepared for his reception. It was a strange thing but it seemed to be customary with him not to undress when he retired to rest. But as he had done at the hotel he only took off a portion of his apparel and then cast himself upon the bed and in a few moments it seemed as if a deep repose crept over him. We may seem but in reality it was a disturbed and anxious sleep which the baron had and soon he began to toss his arms to and fro restlessly and to utter deep groans indicative of mental anguish. Occasionally likewise a muttered word or two scarcely articulately pronounced would come from his lips such as save me save me not yet not yet my doom. No no the moonlight the moonlight kill him strike him down. This state of mind continued for a considerable time until with a shrill cry he sprung to his feet and stood in an attitude of horror trembling in every limb and exhibiting a most horrible and frightful picture of mental distress. Then there came a loud knocking at his chamber door and the voice of the man Davis who had been alarmed at the strange shriek that had come from the baron's lips fell upon his ears. The sound of any human voice at such a time was like music to him. Are you ill sir? cried David. Are you ill? No no it was nothing but a dream, only a dream. And then he added to himself that it was a dream of such absolute horror that I shall dread to close my eyes and rest again. Lest once more so fearful a vision should greet me. It was a dream of frightful significance that it will live in my remembrance like a reality and be dreamed of again as such. He sat down and wiped the cold respiration from his brow. Then rising he walked with unsteady steps towards the window and throwing aside the mass of curtain which shut out the night without by making a still deeper night within a flood of beautiful and tender moonlight fell into the apartment. As the cold rays fell upon his face he breathed more freely and seemed more to revive beneath the influence than as if he had suddenly found the bright sunshine beaming upon him in all the repulgence of its midday glory. I'm better now he muttered. I'm much better now. What a fearful vision that was which came across my heated fancy. Welcome. Welcome beautiful moonbeams. Welcome. For deep in my very heart I feel your cheering influence now. The violent trembling which has seized him passed away and once more he resumed his wanted composure and calm hideousness of expression if we may be allowed the word. Now for some time he sat in silence and then in a low deep voice he spoke. It was a strange dream, a dream made up of strange fancies and strange impulses. I thought that I stood in a wall to chamber and that all round me depicted nothing but gloom and desolation. But as I there stood the chamber filled with hideous forms coming from where I knew not but still crowding, crowding in until the shadow of the nearest shade could not have found a place. And so they crushed me into the smallest possible space and there I stood with a hundred grinning faces close around me and in such a mad barraxism of terror that I would have given the world for escape from that dreadful thralldom. But they jibed at me filling my ears with striking noises and then at once there was a proposition. A proposition yelled out with striking vehemence by every voice. It was to place me in the tombs even as I was a living man. Heep mountains of earth upon him cried a voice and dow him with rare gift of immortality and then let him lie buried for thousands of years yet to come. There ceased upon me those gaunt and terrific forms and deep into the bowels of the earth I was hurried, a depth beyond all calculation. And when I thought my fate was sealed a change came over me and I found myself in one of the ice wells of this mansion, cold and deathlike, while a crowd of eager curious faces illumined by the light of torches gazed down upon me. But no one spoke and then they began to cast large fragments of the rocky cliff upon me. I called for aid and asked for death but still they proceeded to fill up the pit while I lay incapable of anything but agonized thought at the bottom of it. Then it was I presumed that in my despair I shook off that fearful slumber and awakened. He was silent and seemed much to rejoice in the moonbeams as they fell upon his face and after a time in order it would appear that he might feel more of their influence, he opened the window and stepped out upon a balcony which was immediately in front of it. The view that he now had was a beautiful one in the extreme, spreading far over in one direction, a beautiful tract of highly cultivated country and on the other as far as the eye could reach upon the boundless ocean on which the moonbeams fell with such beauty and power that still unpleasant as the waters were on that particular night. The sea looked like a sheet of radiant silver broken into gentle irregularities. It was a scene upon which a poet or a painter, but painters should be all poets, although poets may not be painters, while it gales with rapture and delight. One the slightest breath of air stirred the gentlest leaf upon a forestry, but such a calmness and such a serenity rained over all things that one might imagine oneself looking upon some new and beautiful world, the harmony of which had never yet been disturbed by the jarring sounds of elemental strife. Strange thoughts and feelings seemed to come over the barren, as he then looked upon that mild and placid scene without, and after a time he spoke, saying, And what do I struggle for now? What is it now but mere existence, that is the end and aim of all these anxious thoughts and feelings? Nothing more, nothing more but the mere liberty to breathe and to be anxious, the capacity to endure pain. That is what I live for, nothing else, nothing else in the wide world, for when and how can I expect that calm contentment of the soul which man takes such pains to cast from him, but which I know the full value of can ever be mine. Once more he cast his eyes round him, upon the great extent of cultivated country, and although he felt he could call the most of it, that lay immediately beneath his observation his own, it yet gave him but little gratification to do so. And probably he looked with about as much indifference upon his own possessions as anyone possibly could. This is a new career, he said, and something tells me that it is my last, so while it continues, I will not shrink from it, but on the contrary enjoy it, and I will endeavor to lose the recollection of those Tommy periods of my existence which have passed away in a complete round and whirl of what the world calls enjoyments and delights. I will spend large sums on brilliant entertainments, and this house, which they tell me has been so long deserted by everything in the shape of festivity and hilarity, shall once again ring with joyous laughter, and I will make an endeavor to forget what I am. He evidently dreaded again to lie down to repose, for after some time further spent in thought, and in the expression of the feelings that lay uppermost in his mind, he put on again that portion of his apparel which he had taken off. In this soft and pleasant moonlight, he said, which is so grateful to my senses, I will walk in the gardens of this mansion, and should a sense of weariness oppress me, I shall be able to find, no doubt, some pleasant spot where I can lie down to rest, and I shall not fear horrifying or anxious dreams when I can repose beneath the beams of the moon, which cool my fever brow. With a slow and stately step, he moved across the long and beautiful corridor from which his chamber opened, and then descending the grand staircase, and in that house a grand staircase it really was. He made his way across the hall, and undoing the fastening of a window which opened into a large and handsome conservatory, he passed through that again, and soon found himself in the extensive gardens of Androbury. Certainly if there be any side more chaste and beautiful than another, it is a highly cultivated and well-wooded garden by moonlight, and we cannot but admire the taste of the barren stormy earth, in preferring it even to the stately bed chamber he had so recently left, and which notwithstanding all the advantages and beauties that art could bestow upon it, could never hope to rival, or even to come near, the natural beauties of that highly cultivated piece of ground. And there are some flowers too that give out their sweetest odours to the night air, and some again that unfold their choicest beauties only when the sun has set, and the cold moonbeams can but look down upon them. When he got fairly into the garden, he found that there was a light gentle breeze playing among the shorter shrubs and flowers, but that it reached not high enough to stir the leaves of the trees. But it is extremely doubtful if, completely taken up as this man was, no doubt, with worldly pursuits, he did not, after the first few moments, completely forget the world of natural beauties by which he was surrounded. Folding his arms, he walked along the stately avenues with a solemn tread, and then, soon banishing from his mind those feelings of melancholy sadness which had oppressed him, he began evidently to indulge in dreams of felicity, which by the manner in which his book of them were evidently but dreams. What can I desire or want more than I have, he said, immense wealth, consequently immense power, golden opinions may always be purchased with gold, and what is there, then, really, to hinder me pursuing to the full the career which I have marked out to myself? Surely I can surround myself with all that is young and delightful and beautiful. Can I not make these halls equal with such laughter? That surely it must awaken even in my breast joyous emotions? Then there is the wine cup. Why should not that flow with rich abundance, gladdening the hearts of all, and adding even to genius, for the time, a new fire, and a more delightful expression of its thoughts and feelings? And music too! Surely I can have abundance of music to shed the witchery of its charms about me, and with these inducements and allurements, I must and will succeed in banishing reflection if I achieve no more. As he now stood and turned his eyes towards the east, he fancied he saw that the morning light was beginning faintly to show itself in the far-off horizon. Another day is coming, he said, and how much, how very much, might be done in a day? I will, with the assistance of that man, leak, who I can readily perceive is quite willing to bow down to any idol, provided it be of gold, to commence the career of festivities that I have set my heart upon. And we shall soon see how striking an alteration will take place in the halls of Antwery. He entered a small summer house, which was built in the garden, and through the stained glass of which the moon shone, with a variegated light, and there he sat down. And, after a time, tasted of that repose, which upon the bed of down, that he had left, and surrounded by all the costly litter of his handsome bed-chamber, he had coated in vain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Vali Vani the Vampire Volume 2 By Thomas Press Chapter 100 Mr. Leek speculates upon the Baron's matrimonial intentions. Mr. Leek pondered deeply over what the Baron had said to him regarding his intention to take unto himself a wife, and viewed the resolution in all its bearing, with a view of discovering in what way such a thing could be turned to account, and whether that account might not be managed to his own advantage, which was a matter than Mr. Leek very often considered of paramount importance to himself, as being the pivot upon which things moved. In Mr. Leek was certainly centred all those notions which usually rise from a desire to benefit oneself, and causing, as far as in him laid, all events to circle round him, when the least appeared to do so. I must make this move of the Baron's matrimonial alliance, redowned to my own advantage in some way or other, though I cannot precisely say in what way. But, if I have any hand in it, there must be a way, of that there can be no doubt. The only thing is to discover the way. Mr. Leek set himself steadily to consider the subject in all its various bearings, determined he would not give up the chase until he had discovered what was to be done. I have it, I have it, he muttered. I have it. Who can suggest anything better? I must have something to do in the suggestive style. I will persuade the Baron to invite someone with whom I can have a few words in private. I will have some few words in the way of a bargain with them. Yes, yes, I will do my best to make somebody else's fortune, but at the same time, they must do something for me in return. I must have a quick for my co, as the person say. They cannot preach the Gospel without they have a full stomach. For who can be pious and hungry at the same moment? I can't. My thoughts would be diverted, but the case holds good in every relation in life, even though whom I would benefit must benefit me. Else, I lose the natural desire I have to benefit them. This reciprocity is the motto I like to apply in cases of this kind, and very proper too. Thus did Mr. Leek argue the matter within his own mind, and then, having thus made a resolution, his next step was to consider how he should put it in practice. How he should be able to realize his hopes, and give life and being to the suggestions of his inventive faculties, which were usually of a practical nature. Well, well, he muttered. Let me see. It's difficult to say who is who nowadays, but that must not cause me to lose a chance, and I think I can make pretty sure of my bargain. I think if I undertake anything, I can go through it and not fail. I will have so much of security as will prove a bargain, and thus bring shame and disgrace upon them if they refuse to make good the conditions. Thus, Mr. Leek had an eye to the future, and the contingencies that might, under different circumstances, arise by any possibility. When like Mr. Leek do not often fail in their endeavours when they take a comprehensive view of any affair in which they might engage, and thus by contemplating it in all its various phases, ensure as much as maybe success to all their schemes. The next consideration that presented itself to Mr. Leek was the party. It was all very well to chalk out a plan of action, the mode in which a thing should be done, but it was another to adapt the tools to the occasion and make them subservient to the purpose he had in view. He did not choose his tools first, and then adapt his work. No, he saw his object and adapted the means to the end, and in considering this part of the affair, he came to the following resolution. I think I know who to pitch upon. My dad, Mr. Leek, to himself in a thoughtful tone. I. She has several children, and is a widow too. I know she is comparatively poor, and not too much troubled with compunction, or any absurd notions of delicacy upon this matter. I can tell her what I mean better than I could do a good many. Yes, I will go and visit her. I can come to an understanding at once. This was satisfactory, and he arose to quit the house, and proceeded to the residence of Mrs. Williams. The lady, who is accommodating this position, and whose desire to see her daughters well provided for, would cause her to bargain about matters that many would think too serious, and too much a matter of the affections to be permitted to be looked upon in the light of a mere affair of pounds, shillings and pens. Now, Mrs. Williams was a lady who possessed something very much like a gentile independence, which is a very mysterious matter, and one which puzzled many people to divine. No one can understand what a gentile independence means. It is one of those things that enables people to flit about, apparently comfortable in circumstances, with gentile clothes and fingers on which, nor marks of toil are observable, but which are white and soft, though often lean attenuated in consequence of privations. However, to return to Mrs. Williams, she was a widow, had several marriageable daughters, and was most anxious that they should be settled out in life, so that she might be sure of their future welfare. She was a sharp-sighted, clever woman in some respects, and in others, she was as women usually are, which is not saying much. The house that it occupied was on a pattern of neatness and gentility, and ornamented with women's work from one end to the other. The ladies were accomplished and well educated, and possessed of some personal charms, and they were not altogether unacquainted with the fact. Yes, yes, he muttered. I will go to Mrs. Williams, and there we can come to an immediate understanding. Helen Williams will, I think, stand a very good chance indeed. I must go and have some conversation with her, and learn her sentiments before I break ground with him, else she may try something without my aid on her own account. This was a laudable object, and was, but as he said, merely putting another person in the way of making a fortune, and putting something into his own pocket at the same time. Which was doing two good things at once. Charitable acts of the first class, because charity begins at home, and then it gives to one's neighbours when we have a surplus. It did not take Mr. Leek very long to reach the widow's house, and it was not without some degree of confidence that he rang the bell for admission, and when a servant appeared, he said, Is Mrs. Williams at home? Yes, sir, she is, and said the drudge. Do you want her? I wish to see her, else I should not have come here, replied Mr. Leek. Tell her Mr. Leek desires to speak with her. Very well, sir, said the girl, who left the hall, and then walked to the parlour in which Mrs. Williams was seated, and overheard all that was said in the passage. Mr. Leek, ma'am, said the girl. Tell Mr. Leek to walk in, said the lady, and in due form, Mr. Leek did walk in, introduced by the servant, who soon departed, leaving the two worthies in each other's presence. Good morning, Mrs. Williams. And good morning, Mr. Leek. This visit is unexpected, but valued. I'm happy to see you. Will you be seated? Thank you, said Leek. I will. Unexpected incidents give rise to other unexpected incidents. So you see, one event gives rise to another, and they follow each other in rapid succession. So they do, said Mrs. Williams. Well, said Mr. Leek, as if greatly relieved in mind, giving sound to something very much like a sigh. And how so? You find yourselves this variable well, eh, Mrs. Williams? As well as can be expected, you know, at my time of life. Your time of life? Upon my word. You are a young woman, and if I might hazard an opinion, one that knows small share of charms. Indeed, you are decidedly a beautiful woman, Mrs. Williams. Ah, Mr. Leek, I know you were too much a man of business to be given to flattery, but I'm afraid of you. There's no need, ma'am, I assure you. But how are your lovely daughters, in the enjoyment of good health and spirits? Yes, they are very well. I thank you, Mr. Leek. Very well indeed. They usually are. They are considered to enjoy very good health. That is a good thing, I'm sure. A very good thing about my word. They usually are well? Yes, they have very little that ails them. It will be a blessing to you when they are comfortably provisioned off under the protection of someone who will seek their future happiness as he own, said Mr. Leek. Why? As to that, said Mrs. Williams, I'm not so anxious as many might be. I love to see my children around about me. I love to be in their company and to know that no one can eluse them. That's very true, said Mr. Leek. And yet I have, I must say at times, a wish that I might, before I die, see them comfortably settled in life and their future happiness secured. Certainly, it's quite a mother's wish that it should be so, that her children might enter the world and that they might be provided for and subject to none of the disagreeable contingencies of life. Those are my feelings. I thought as much Mrs. Williams, have you heard of the Kurshaw slightly? Enquired Mr. Leek. Yes, I did hear there was a marriage in the family. Pray, is it true? It is. A good marriage? Yes, I believe a very good marriage, one in which a great deal of money is floating about from one to the other. Indeed, I hear the gentleman is very rich. How did they become acquainted with such a man? I did not think they had any friends who could have brought them into contact with such a person. A friend? said Leek. Indeed, why? As I said, I did not know they possessed such friends, but still I suppose there was some drawback. Either low bread, contracted friendships or some circumstances or other that caused him to settle there. I believe not, said Leek. And what is he then? Enquired Mrs. Williams. Why? He was a stronger in those parts. But he had an excellent fortune and was, according to all accounts, a very excellent match. How came they to find him out? Who introduced them to him? I should like to know such a person. Why, some friend? How were you disinterested of that friend? said Mrs. Williams. Not quite. It was a mutual understanding, I believe. How? Why, does the friend wanted money and the lady wanted a husband for her daughter? Well, I dare say she did, and I should have thought she was like to have dated long enough. And so she would. But an active man of business may have the means of pushing a family's fortune if they will but make it worth his while. It was in this manner the courier have made their fortune. And what did they do? Why, they pushed her daughter into certain company into which she was introduced by the man of business, not by himself. But he managed it so that she was introduced in a manner that made it appear as if they had no connection. And then he could exert himself in another manner and so contrived to serve them by spreading favourable reports. And that's how Mary Gershaw got her husband, is it? And quite Mrs. Williams with a serious air. Yes, it is indeed. How very immoral. Eh? Moral of a mother speculating in matrimonial affairs for her daughter. How could she expect that she could procure happiness for her when she uses such means? What better could she use? You mistake the motive of the affair altogether, Mrs. Williams. Give me leave to say, you do. Indeed. Yes, decidedly. Thus, you don't attempt to buy a daughter's happiness. You only pay an agent, that is all. But it can be no crime that that agent is engaged upon matters connected with the happiness of your daughter, which is the great object of a mother's care. Certainly, certainly how plain all that is, said Mrs. Williams. But I can't think it is exactly what I should do myself. Perhaps not, but I have exactly such a chance at this very moment. You, Mr. Leake. Yes, I have the means, I believe, of obtaining a good fortune for the daughter of a very respectable person, of the first respectability and with natural advantages in her favour. Such a one, if it were worth my while to lose time in carrying such an affair. Why then? The matter looks a little different to what it did. And certainly, who could object to do what was just and right? Exactly. Now, if you were desirous of seeing your daughter Helen, for instance, comfortably provided for, what would you give? Making it a suppositous case, what would you give to see your daughter happy and comfortable for life, with a good home over her head? A good deal? What? I cannot say, but of course that would depend much upon the value of such a price. But I would not hesitate at a trifle in such a matter as that. Come, what may? Well, this is really the best way to consider the affair in all its various branches. You become more satisfied in the end. Now, do you really think you would be able to tolerate such an attempt to benefit yourself and daughter? I do. Will you enter into particulars? Yes, Mr. League, whenever you please. I am willing to attend to your proposal and will be bound to anything I may say. For in matters of this kind, I must consider anything one may say or undertake as a debt of honour. Exactly. But what we agree to now, we must put in black and white, because by the by, we may not think of it so well as we should when we see it drawn up before one. Agreed? But what of this person? Why? I think if we were to agree, we would find this gentleman very rich and munificent and living in a princely style. He is, in fact, a man of rank, of title, in fact. Is that so? Yes, it is, I assure you, because I know him and have had business matters to do with him. Though a correct man, he is not at all nice about matters in which money is the chief ingredient. He pays 800 a year for rent, so you may guess he is not at all unlikely to give your daughter a handsome settlement. If he will have her? Exactly. If he have her, there is the contingency, of course, which, however, cannot affect you. Yes, it must, since my daughter does not obtain her husband. And you pay no money? If the benefit is contingent to you, it is to me also. I do not wish to bind you to anything that will cause you to be a loser under any circumstance. Very well said Mrs. Williams. Say what you please. There is pen, ink and paper. Make it out, and I will sign any memorandum you may please. Provided, it be of the complexion you have mentioned. I wish for no other. Mr. Leek accordingly sat down near a table and produced an agreement which was to give him a certain sum of money provided Helen Williams was married to the Baron. And who is he, my dear Mr. Leek? said the lady. There, said Leek, read that, and you will see his name. And as he spoke, he pushed the memorandum towards her, and she took it up and read it carefully over. And when she had so done, she signed it and returned it saying, So he is a Baron. Yes, I told you he was a man of rank and title. He did, and where will he live? At Andbury House. A fine place, I know it. A splendid and princely place it is too. You must have a large fortune there. It will be a splendid match for Helen. I wonder if there be any prospect of success. It appears almost too great a catch. I should say there was every prospect of success. But we must not let Helen know anything of our compact. I know her feelings so well, that I am fully persuaded that she would not acquies in the arrangement at all. Certainly, it may forever remain her own secret, with which no human being need be acquainted. That is precisely what I wish. But now, how are we to manage the introduction? That will be easy enough. I am glad of it. But how is it to be managed at all? Does. The Baron will give grand entertainments. And as he knows I am very well acquainted with the generality of the gentry about. He has asked me to point out those whom he might safely invite to his splendid banquets. Then you will have the kindness to invite us, said Mrs. Williams. I see through it now. I, a very good plan. Then you can say everything that is necessary. To be sure I can, and will, said Lee. Well, I am glad you have called about this today. For we have had some little scheming view, but unknown to the principal party concerned. However, as this one is in view, I shall prosecute no other. It would be dangerous to attempt two such speculations at once. Else, he would be unlikely to fill a promise even after he had gone some way towards doing so. I would run no risk in landing such a prize, said Mrs. Williams, who began to have a keen relish for the chance they had in view, such as they had not yet heard of from any quarter. Then I may fully rely upon your putting Helen forward upon every occasion that may present itself. You may, and in the meantime, keep as much to yourself as you can. You must profess to be unbounded in your admiration for all he says or does, and then you will obtain a preference for companionship, and every little is an aid in such matters. I shall be careful. And in the meantime, I will bid you good day, said Mr. Lee. End of chapter 100. The Baron made quick work of it, for in five days after the one in which he took Enderbury House, he gave his first entertainment. Money works wonders, and in the Baron's hands it seemed to have lost none of its magical power, for Enderbury House, in that time, was furnished like a palace, rich and costly worth of money. The House and Grounds were of most magnificent character, though they had been viewed as separate features, but when considered as one, as that which was part and parcel of the great whole, it was truly princely. Great care, labour, and expense had been exerted to make the mansion the home of the Lord of the Rings. The house and grounds were of most magnificent character, though they had been viewed as separate features, however an expense had been exerted to make the mansion one befitting the habitation of a prince, and the Baron himself was looked upon as little less than a prince, his disregard of money, his liberality, all concurred in making him looked upon as one of the most popular men in that neighbourhood. Indeed, none such as he had ever been seen or heard of in that quarter. He was safe to be considered as one of the grandees of the day. And Barry House was now a theme of conversation with everyone in the whole town. His magnificence, liberality, and all things connected with him were all well calculated to cause a feeling of prejudice to be made in his favour. When people saw the men that were at work, the loads of articles that were sent there, they were amazed and could hardly credit their senses. Then they all considered how very rich he must be to be able to spend so much in furniture, in hangings, in beautifying, and in ornamental work, which must have been very heavy. The Baron was fully determined to do all he had intended to do in the way of opening his first grand entertainment with great eclaire and in a manner that would take the whole country by surprise. The day came the house was finished, decorated, filled with servants and everything that could make it appear as though it had been for years in that state. It is surprising how soon a place can be made to lose all signs of its ever having been uninhabited, and the fact of human beings being in place soon wears away the look of desolation by which it is otherwise enveloped, but how much easier it must have been with ample means for a man like the Baron to cause such a house as that of Anterbury House to become what it was. The great wonder being not what was done with ample means, but the short time in which it had all been collected together, which was done with such hilarity and such small signs of bustle and disturbance that appears as if performed by the wand of a magician, so sudden and so quiet it was done comparatively. At the end of five days there was a number of invitations fairly written out and directed, by order of the Baron, to the principal inhabitants and gentry of the place to visit Anterbury House and partake of a grand banquet given by the Baron to them and his friends on that occasion. The day was named, and the information supplied by Mr. Leek to the Baron was of a character that to that individual was extremely valuable and of which he freely availed himself. It must not be imagined that the worthy Mr. Leek was in any way oblivious of the promise or obligation into which he had entered with Mrs. Williams, whose name he had taken very great care to insert in a list of invitations that the Baron had sent out. The evening arrived and the carriages drove up to the Anterbury House in rapid succession. There were a few or none of them who knew the Baron. They were all, however, anxious, most anxious to see who and what the Baron was who occupied the estate. The title and name sounded well, and that was what dwelt upon people's minds, and it made an impression upon them, and they freely accepted the invitations, especially when they inquired among themselves what was the extent of invitation had been issued, and they were confined wholly to the elite of the place. What was thought or said upon the occasion it would be difficult to say, because it was so various, and there were none who could in any way form an opinion at all that wore any appearance of probability about it. But there was a rumour spread about that he was a foreigner who had immense riches, desirous of marrying an English woman, and yet unable to obtain introductions in the usual way, or else he was merely acting in accordance with the customs and habits of his own country. The carriage-driver of Anterbury House was completely occupied by the strings of carriages that had taken up and set down for two hours or more as rapidly as they could. The fine apartments at Anterbury House contained that were destined to be used for the occasion were indeed a splendid suite of rooms, but now they were lit up with chandeliers and adorned with glasses and mirrors and pictures. As for the ornamental part of the mansion, it was superb. Nothing had been spared in expense, and by the way in which it was laid out it was evident that Baron was a man of taste and judgement, and had converted a nobleman's residence into a palace. The gentry came dashing up to the door. The place was crowded, and many were announced and met and welcomed by the Baron, who gave them a cordial and distinguished greeting. There were many persons present. They were astonished at the display of magnificence and wealth of the Baron. They were delighted by his reception of them, his conversation in general manners, and many, too, were much astonished by the splendid entertainment with which he had provided them. All that art or the season could produce was there, superb wines and liqueurs, fruits, to an extent they had never before contemplated a thought of. Anterbury House was without rival. The wines were good, and they warmed the blood, and curtsies and civilities of life were by the aid of alchemy of Old Port, splendid and sparkling champagne, cherries, burgundies, and other wines soon turned into friendships and cordialities. Baron said one of the guests, You have a superb place, and you certainly are the proper individual to own such a place. And why, my dear sir, inquired the Baron blandly. Because you have the taste and heart to decorate and array the place in a manner befitting an extent, and you have the hospitality of one of the ancients to the east. Ha ha, very good my dear sir, you are kind, very kind, but I must admit I do like to see neighbours act honestly and in good faith with each other. Besides, I am of opinion that man is a social animal and one who lives only in society. I cannot be a hermit. Right, if the world were all of your opinion and I believe they are, practice only is opposed, what a state of kindness and comfort we should all be in. I am sure of it. I, so am I, do you like music? I do, was the answer. Then you shall hear some, we shall have dance presently and there will be no heart that will be not beat in unison with a harmonious strain. I think they deserve not to be here in the centre of happiness if they did not. Ho, music there, said the Baron as he stamped on the floor of the Grand Saloon in which several hundred people stood. The call was answered by a loud crash of instrumental music that came suddenly and startingly upon the ears of the guest, but then it was followed by a lighter strain with a pretty but marked melody, such a one that it instantly communicated to those present the feeling of being participators and even actors in the scene that was about to be enacted upon the floor. It required but very little exertion to form the dance where everyone was willing and anxious to take their places. There was a slight degree of excitement in the procuring of partners. Here for a moment the Baron was at fault, but by some means they were not at that moment explained or even thought of. Mrs. Williams led the beautiful Helen past the spot at the moment. He had spoken to her before and it was well pleased with her. He perceived she was beautiful and amiable, her mother too was with her, and in another moment the Baron stepped forward saying, Madame, if the hand of your daughter is not already engaged, I beg respectively to claim it for the opening dance. Mrs. Williams cursed in condention saying in reply, Yes, my lord, my daughter is disengaged. Miss Williams said the Baron with much deference. May I request the honour of your hand. Helen Williams cursed, and she was not engaged and accepted his offer with a smile but with some diffidence. The Baron immediately led her to the top of the room, where by this time there was a perfect lane for them to pass through until they reached the top. All had taken their places by an instinctive sort of feeling that was almost universal in the ballroom. The signal was given, and then the Baron laid Helen down the first dance amidst the admiration of all and the envy of not a few. The giddy whirl of the dance, the throng of beauty and the sweet but gay notes of the bands added to the coup d'oeuvre of the scene, a scene of so much happiness and gaiety there were few who looked coldly upon it. The Baron himself appeared in the higher spirits, and with the greatest hospitality he sought to administer to the wants of his guests every moment that he could abstract from the present leadership of the dance. He visited one and then the other until he had made a fair round, and then found that the night was very far advanced and that in a short time he was convinced the daylight would come. The guests were well pleased with the splendour of the entertainment and the profusion that was there. Nothing was wanting. All were well pleased with the arrangements. Great care and great expense had gone to gratify and pleasure them, and it had succeeded indeed. If it had not, they would have been captures and ungrateful to an extreme. The guests, however, well pleased with their entertainment were still unable to bear up against the excitement and fatigue of pleasure for hours and the animal power fails. Indeed, there is no one sense which may not be exhausted by an overindulgence. Even hearing-wheel, as soon as any other, become invariably tied by listening too long to music, and even become unable to distinguish between the different melodies, and the guests began to flag and to pay more attention to the side tables and then to look drowsy, and some of the younger spirits appeared to have the dance to themselves. The baron now saw the proper moment had arrived for dismissing the company, and, causing the music to cease, he advanced in the middle of the room and waving his hand said, My honoured guests, the sun begins to peep over the hills, and the bright car of Phoebus rapidly ascends the sky, telling us that another day has begun. The happy mortals must part, and so must we. Let me thank you all for this kindness, for thus honouring my banquet with your presence, and let me hope it may be often thus. Often I say, yes, fair ladies, your presence will always be a distinguished honour. While I am a bachelor, I shall continue these fates once a fortnight regularly, until someone takes the arrangement of such matters out of my hands by legally assuming the title of Baroness. There was a long pause after this announcement, and then a sudden buzz of admiration which was heard on all sides, and the ladies looked at each other, the Baron, and the magnificent place they were in. We cannot tell what passed in their minds, but a shrewd guest might readily be formed, and to the performance of the task we leave the reader. There were many courtesies before the separation was effected, and an hour had passed before the Baron Stolmeyer of Stolzberg found himself alone. CHAPTER 102 The Wedding Feast The Admiral's Disappointment And now the day arrived at length, when Charles Holland was to call Flora Bannerworth his bride. On this most auspicious event, as may be well imagined, the Admiral was in his glory, and he declared his intention of dancing, if any very handsome young lady should ask him to be her partner at the ball, but not otherwise, for it had been agreed to have a ball in the evening. Jack Pringle, too, was restored completely to favour upon the occasion. Indeed, as far as the Admiral was concerned, he seemed to have granted a general amnesty to all offenders, because he was heard to say, Well, I really should not mind if any poor devil of a Frenchman was to come. He should know what good eating and drinking was for once in his life, or even that old vagabond, old bonny the vampire, what a fool he was to take himself off before the wedding, to be sure. Henry Bannerworth had undertaken to take off the old man's hand all the trouble connected with the actual ceremony, that is to say, letting the clergymen know and so on. Therefore he, the Admiral, had nothing at all upon his mind but the festivities that were to be gone into upon the occasion. The numerous guests recommended by the lawyer were invited to a breakfast, which was to be at one o'clock, while a favoured view, which, together with the family party made up altogether about eighteen persons, were to come to the wedding itself and to be actually present at the ceremony. The Admiral was rather annoyed at Jack Pringle about ten o'clock, looking very anxiously at the sky and shaking his head in a manner which seemed to indicate that he had something of importance on his mind. What's the deuces in the wind now? said the Admiral. You are always looking for foul weather you are and behind you. Oh, Sir Jack. I was only a considering what they calls the blessed aspect of the sky. And it seems to me that there is a sort of kind of look about things as says that there won't be no marriage at all today. No marriage? No, not a bit of it. I'm tolerably sure there won't. I was a-going on one of my numerous occasions to be married and there was just that there kind of look in the sky. And I wasn't. What kind of look, you lubber? I rather think after living afloat a matter of forty years and more I ought to know the looks of the sky rather and I don't see anything unusual in it. Don't you? Then I does and there won't be no marriage. Why, you infernal croaking swab, you are drunk or out of your senses, one of the two. I would bet my head to a bottle of rum that there will be a marriage. I don't mind, Sir Jack. Betting one bottle to twenty that there won't. Done then, done. And Jack, for once in a way you will find yourself regularly done, I can tell you. I know you have got some crotchet or other in your head by which you think you will get the better of the old man, but it won't do, for I won't stand any quibbling or loyal like sneaking out of it. Oh, I won't sneak out a bit, you shall see. It shall be all plain sailing and above board, I can tell you, Admiral. The old man rather puzzled himself to think what Jack could mean, but after a time he gave it up and forgot it, for his mind began to be too actively engaged upon what was going on to pay much attention to what he considered was some joke of Jack's, which would turn out to be a mere quibble of words, after all. The Admiral was right when he said there was no appearance of anything in the weather to indicate that any stop would be put to the festivity on that account, for a more pleasant and a more genial, delightful day for the occasion never shown out of the heavens. Indeed, if anything could have been considered as a gratifying omen of the future felicity which Charles Holland was likely to enjoy in the society of Blora Bannerworth, it was the aspect of that day. A day so replete with beauties that had it been picked out especially for that occasion it could not have been more gratifying or delightful. The house was a large and handsome one which the Admiral had taken, and since, of course, he considered it to be his own, he was from an early hour in the morning in a perpetual fidget and here and there and everywhere for the purpose of seeing that all the arrangements were complete for the day's proceedings. As may be well-supposed, he was a great hindrance to everybody and most especially the servants whom he had temporarily engaged wished him at the very devil for his interference. But, however, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, by ten o'clock everything was in a tolerable state of readiness and then the Admiral vociferously congratulated the first of the guests who arrived, for that was a great merit in the old man's eyes and although he did not know the person a bit, he almost terrified him by the cordiality of his greeting. That's right, he said. Take old time by the forelock and always be too soon instead of too late. I'll tell you some capital storage some of these days about the advantage of being a little too soon. But hello, here comes somebody else. Oh, God, we shall have them all here soon. Here, Jack Pringle, where are you? Here, cried Jack. Ah, don't you lorber bow. Pipo-lands among the flunkies. Aye, aye, sir, said Jack. Producing then a boat-swayne's whistle he blew a shrill call which pleased the Admiral for, as he said, that was the proper way to begin anything like an entertainment. People know they must be punctual at weddings and generally are tolerably so, with the exception of those persons who are never punctual at anything so that in a short time nearly the whole of those who had been invited to be present at the ceremony had arrived, and the hour was fast getting on towards that when the marriage was to take place. The Admiral would have been blind indeed if he had not perceived that there was a great deal of whispering going on among the Bannerworth family, and he got rather indignant and a little uneasy to know what it could all be about. But most of all he began to be annoyed at Jack Pringle for that individual's conduct was certainly of a peculiar and extraordinary character. Every now and then he would burst out into such an amazing roar of laughter, apparently at nothing, that it became seriously annoying to the old man, and finally, taking up a pair of nutcrackers that were upon the table, he gave Jack a hard rap upon the top of the head, as he said, Are you out of your senses? What are you going on about? Oh, nothing, said Jack. I was only a finking. Don't you recollect our wager? Yes, I do. You have laid me one bottle of rum to twenty that Charles and Flora won't be married today. Very good, said Jack. That's quite correct, and mind I owe you to it. Hold me to it. I'll owe you to it. I know well enough it's some stupid joke you have got hold of. Very good, said Jack. We shall see. The time crept on, and half past eleven o'clock came, and the guests were assembled in the drawing-room, whereby a special license the ceremony was to have been performed, and on the mantle-shelf of which there was a time-piece indicating the rapid arrival of the hour named for the ceremony. You know, Henry, said the Admiral, I left everything to you. I hope it's all correct now, and that you have not made any blunders. None-one-ever, I assure you, Admiral, I have arranged everything. But Flora has just told me that she wants to speak to you. Speak to me? Then why the deuce doesn't she speak? I suppose she can speak to me without asking or leave. Admiral, said Flora, I am extremely anxious to ask you if you will forgive me for something which may possibly annoy you a little, and which certainly I feel myself answerable for. What is it? You must promise to forgive me first. Well, well, of course. Of course I do. What is it? Then I must say I would rather not be married today. What? cried the Admiral. I told you so, shouted Jack. I saw it in the look of the clouds this morning. I never knew anybody get married when there was a light breeze blowing from the nor-east. You be quiet, said the Admiral. I'll be the death of you presently. What is the meaning of this, Flora? Is it not rather a cruel jest to say such a thing to me now? It is no jest, sir, but a fact. I must beg to be excused. And I, uncle, said Charles Harland, advancing, I'm of the same mind, and I join with Flora in begging that you will over the little disappointment this may occasion you. Little disappointment, cried the Admiral. Am I awake? Am I out of my senses? Jack, you rascal! Where am I? Can't say, cried Jack, but I think as thou you are about two points to the Suthard. Flora, speak again. You do not cannot mean to tell me that any foolish quarrel has interfered to prevent this union upon which I have set my heart. If you are not jesting, there must be some very special reason for this alteration of intention. There is, said Flora, as she looked the old man kindly in the face. There is a very special reason, sir, and one which I will mention to you at once, a reason which makes it next to impossible that the ceremony should proceed. The real fact is... Well, go on. Go on! That Charles and I were married a fortnight ago. Damn me, said the Admiral, if ever I was so taken in my life, a fortnight ago shiver my timbers. Go on, old Peppercaster, said Jack, only remember you owe me twenty bottles of rum. I won't look over it, said the Admiral. I won't and I can't. It's treating me ill, Flora. I tell you it's treating me ill. But you know you have looked over it, Admiral, said Flora. And I have your positive promise to forgive me. Besides, said Jack, she won't do so no more. And as far as I see's of these ear-things, it's a ducid good thing as we ain't bothered with any parson coming here this morning, casting up his eyes like a dying dolphin if you're outs with so much as a natural dam, or two. I can't stand such rubbish, not I. And it's my out-and-out opinion that we shall be all the merrier. And as for the old man, Jack's oratory was put to a stop by the Admiral seizing a piece of confectionery that was upon the table, and throwing it with such a dab in his face that he was half choked and covered with current jam, and he made such a spluttering that the guests could not keep their countenances no longer, but burst into a roar of laughter consequent upon that proceeding. And you too, Henry, said the Admiral, I suppose you were in the plot. Why, yes, said Henry, I rather think I was. The fact is, that Flora disliked the public marriage, although she looked forward with pleasure to the meeting with this pleasant party on the present occasion, so among us we all cast about for some means for securing the agreeable without the disagreeable, and so a fortnight ago they were married, quietly and privately, and I plead guilty. I thought as much, said the Admiral, I'll be hanged if I didn't, but now just answer me one question, Charles. A hundred, if you please, uncle. No, one will suffice. I want to know whether you were married in the name of Bell, or in the name of Holland. I took legal advice, uncle, as to the validity of my marriage in the name of Bell, and as I found that a man's marriage was quite legal, let him call himself whatever he pleases, and as I knew that it was your wish I should take the name of Bell. I was married in that name, and Flora now calls herself Mrs. Bell. Then I'll say no more about it," said the Admiral, but let it pass, so let's be as merry as possible, and first of all we will have a bumper all round to the bride. This affair, upon which Charles really had had some misgivings, being thus agreeably settled, there was certainly nothing to interfere with the hilarity of the meeting, and as there was an abundance of good cheer, and the guests had been selected judiciously, and were persons who could and would enjoy themselves, an extremely pleasant day was passed. For about an hour, perhaps only, the Admiral now and then exhibited some symptoms of indignation, and shook his head occasionally at Flora, but a smile from her soon restored him, and he did actually contrive to get through a quadril in some extraordinary manner, by almost knocking every lady down, and ending by falling sprawling himself. The only great interruption, and that lasted for nearly half an hour to the proceedings, arose from that incorrigible Jack Pringle, who as usual did not get a glass too much, but a whole bottle too much, and then an obscure idea seized him that it was absolutely impossible for him to avoid kissing all the ladies, as it was a wedding, or ought to have been a wedding. Blaming himself therefore very much for not having thought of it before, he made a wild rush into the drawing room, and commenced operations. A scene of confusion ensued which quite baffles description, and Jack had to be carried out at last by main force, thinking himself a very ill-used person, when he was only doing what was right and proper. The Admiral apologized to the ladies for Jack, calling their attention to the fact that he wasn't such a fool, as he looked, and that, after all, it wasn't a bad notion of Jack's, only that he had not said about it in the right way. Hell-some-diver! said the Admiral. I don't mind showing you how he ought to have done it. This, however, was universally declined, and that with so much decision, too, that the Admiral was forced to forego the generous intention. But long before the parties separated for the night, he admitted that it was just as well the marriage business had been all settled before, and it was shrewdly suspected, that from the fact of the Admiral singing Rule Britannia after he had gone to bed, he had just slightly exceeded the bounds of that moderation which he was always preaching to Jack. End of Chapter 102. Recording by Barony Chapter 103. Dr. Chillingworth makes urgent inquiries for the vampire, and the lawyer gives some advice concerning the Quaker. If the Bannerworth family and the Admiral were inclined to put up quietly with the loss of the large sum of money which Dr. Chillingworth fully believed that Barney the Vampire had gone off with, he could not fully divest himself of the idea that it was recoverable. When he went home, he succeeded in silencing the clamors of his wife by assuring her that his practice for half a dozen years would not at all be equal to what he should gain if he could successfully carry out what he was aiming for. And as everything to Mrs. Chillingworth resolved itself into a question of Pound's shillings and pens, she was tolerable well satisfied and consented to remain quiet more especially as he gave her sufficient to keep the household comfortably for some time while again left home. So thoroughly had he made up his mind not to let the matter rest that he carefully resolved the best means of setting about systematically to inquire Barney. He thought it impossible that he could have left the cottage home of the Bannerworths with such great secrecy that no one had observed him. He was too remarkable a man too in personal appearance to escape notice, and if anyone saw him with a grain of curiosity in their composition, they would be sure to look after him with speculative eyes as to who and what he was. The cottage had not many dwellings near it and the doctor thought it highly possible that if he visited them all and made proper inquiries, someone among their inhabitants might be able to tell him that such a man as Barney had been seen. Accordingly he commenced his tour and, as luck would have it, at the very second cottage he went to a woman stated that a tall, dark, singular-looking man had asked Leave to sit down for a few minutes and to be accommodated with a glass of water. Had he any parcel or bundle with him? asked Mr. Chillingworth. No, was the reply. He certainly had nothing of the kind that I could see and only seemed very weary and exhausted indeed. Do you know which direction he went in? I watched him from my cottage door and after looking about him for some few minutes he walked away slowly in the direction of the London Road. This was all the information that Dr. Chillingworth could obtain in that quarter, but it strengthened him in his own opinion that Barney had left that part of the country and proceeded to London, but with what motives or intentions could not be guessed even, although probably it was with an intention of finding a wider sphere of action. If, thought the doctor, he has gone on the London Road and walked, he must have stopped in the very weak state that he was within a very few miles for rest and refreshment, in which case I shall hear tidings of him if I take myself the same path. He pursued this plan and walked on, inquiring at the different ins that he passed but all in vain for such a man. No one had seen anybody resembling Barney, and the doctor, with a sense of great disappointment, was compelled himself to stop for rest at a roadside inn where the males and stagecoaches stopped to change horses. The landlord of the inn was a good-tempered, conversable man and was listening, with quiet complacency, to the rather long description of the personal appearance of the individual he sought that was given by Dr. Chillingworth when the male coach from London, which was proceeding to a very distant part of the country, stopped to change horses and the coachman came to the bar to take his usual glass of refreshment. While so engaged he heard something of what Dr. Chillingworth was saying and remarked to that gentleman. Do you mean, sir, a long fellow that looked as if he had been buried a month and dug up again? Well, said the doctor, he certainly had something of that appearance, but the man I am inquiring about disappeared last Thursday. The very day, sir, I was going up with the male when he hailed it and got up on the outside. He is the very man you may depend. I remember well enough his getting up, but somehow or another, when we got to London, he wasn't to be found. And so he had his ride as far as it went, and I have not the least idea of how far that was for nothing. I thank you for your information, and I have no doubt that it was the man I seek for, although he had a large sum of money with him, I think, yet it was not in an available shape to use, and I daresay he would not be very scrupulous about the means he adopted to avoid the inconvenience of any detention. Not he, sir, he wasn't very particular. I daresay he got down somewhere in London, most probably at Piccadilly, where there is always a crowd, and I draw up for about five minutes. I don't look to see who gets down or who stays up, so as regards that, he might take himself off easily enough if he liked. But you missed him? Yes, I did, when it was too late. Can you tell me who or what he is, sir? Yes, said Dr. Chillingworth. It was Barney, the vampire, of whom, no doubt, you have all heard so much, and who has made such a commotion in the countryside. The deuce it was, said the coachman, and I have actually had one of these creatures upon my coach, have I? I only wish I had known it, that's all. I would have pretty soon got rid of such a customer I would tell him. They don't suit me, those sort of gentry, but I'm off now. Good day, sir. I hope you may catch him. The coachman got upon his box and drove away, and Dr. Chillingworth began to think that unless he took a journey to London, which he was scarcely prepared to do, he must give up for a time the pursuit of Barney. Besides, he thought, and justly enough too, that even if he went to the metropolis in search of him, its extent would baffle all inquiry and make it almost impossible that it could be set about with any prospect of success. So he resolved, before he went any further in the matter, to urge the Admiral and the Bannerwurst once more upon the subject. He was firmly himself of opinion that something more, and that perhaps too of a very uncomfortable character regarding Barney, would soon be heard unless they could communicate to him in some manner and persuade him either to retire from England altogether or to lead a quiet life with a portion of the wealth he had acquired. It will be seen with what great pertinacity the Dr. Clung to that idea which to the Bannerwurst appeared such a very doubtful one, namely that Barney had really got possession of all the money which had been hidden by Mara Duke Bannerworth. But we must leave the doctor for the present inactive because he felt that, at the period of Flora's marriage, they would be too much occupied to give him the attention he required and therefore he determined to wait until that ceremony at all events was completely over. And now we may as well state at this juncture that the Admiral was quite as good as his word as regarded taking the advice of his friend, the lawyer, concerning the Quaker who still held possession of the Dear Brook estate. With all the indignation that he felt upon the matter he laid it before the man of law explaining how liberally Henry had dealt with him and what a very uncourteous reception they had met with. I am afraid, said the lawyer, that he may keep you out of it for a year or two unless you compromise with him. What do you mean by compromise? Just this, he knows very well, of course, that he cannot hold possession and he wants to be paid out, that's the whole of the affair. He considers that you may take friendly advice and that then you will be told how much shorter, cheaper and less vexatious a course it is to put up with almost any amount of imposition than to get involved in a lawsuit. That's all very fine, said the Admiral, but do you think I'd let that rascally Quaker have a farthing of my money? No, indeed I should think not. If he expects us to compromise he will be disappointed. Well then, if your determination is to proceed I will, if you like, take the necessary steps in the name of Mr. Henry Bannerworth. Do you know if he administered to his father's estate? No, I know very little about it, but you had better see him. Certainly, said the lawyer, that will be the best plan. I had better see him as you say and I daresay added the lawyer to himself. I shall find him more reasonable than you are by a great deal. The lawyer did see Henry, for he called upon him and so strongly advised him to compromise the matter with the Quaker, that Henry gave him full instructions to do as he pleased. Your title is so clear, said the lawyer, that it cannot prejudice you to make the offer or rather to allow me to make it for you. Besides, I will take care that it shall be made without prejudice and I daresay you will get possession pretty quickly of the Dear Brook estate. The lawyer wrote to the Quaker asking for the name of some solicitor who would act in his behalf and at once received an answer referring him to a Quaker attorney who was tolerably notorious for sharp practice and who was about as great a rogue as could be found in a profession somewhat notorious for such characters. The shortest plan and the best was that which was at once adopted by the admiral's friend the attorney for he went to town and saw the Quaker upon the subject. The result of their conference was that Mr. Shepard wanted to sum the equivalent to two years' rental of the premises he occupied before giving up possession of them and in reply one year was offered and there the matter rested for mutual consideration of the principles. Henry did not feel exactly disposed to do anything in the affair in actual defiance of the admiral so he resolved upon trying at all events to persuade him into the compromise if possible and the principle argument he intended using was that Flora had heard sufficient of the Deerbrook property and that it would be a thousand pities consequently to keep her out of possession of it since from what they had all seen of it they felt that it would be a very desirable residence indeed. The admiral's anger however had been so roused by the insolent conduct of the Quaker that it required great care and tact to introduce the subject to him in such a shape and Henry said about it not without clear of the result. I have seen admiral he said your friend the lawyer about the Deerbrook property and we shall not have possession in our lifetimes. What do you mean by that? Oh our ghosts may perhaps haunt its verdant shades but we shall all be dead long before the court of chancery decides in our favor for owning to the manner of my father's death some difficulties may be thrown in the way to protract time. What does he tell you so? Yes indeed he does admiral and then you see heaven knows how many clements may arise for the estate if it was known how recently we came by the title Deeds. The Deuce they would I can't say but there is some reason in that after all but what is to be done you can't say that the Quaker shepherd is to be allowed to retain possession of the Deerbrook estate just because there are some difficulties out of his clutches? Certainly not but the whole question resolves itself into what is the best means of accomplishing that object and the great difficulty seems to be this that he actually has possession which you have heard of course is nine points of the law and puts a man in such a position then he can give a great deal of trouble to anyone who is not so fortunately situated. Can he then I tell you what I'll do Henry I'll pretty soon alter that state of things but how can you Admiral by going and taking possession to be sure and if possession be indeed nine points of the law I don't see why we shouldn't have them I have taken a ship or two from an enemy when they have been under their own batteries and it ain't the most likely thing in the world that a Quaker who in the navy we call a wooden gun should stop me taking possession of the house I am quite sure said Henry that if you were to set about it you would do it there can be no doubt whatever upon that head but it's a very difficult thing to treat the law in that sort of way and you may depend there would be an amazing fuss made about it so much so indeed that some serious consequences might ensue and we should perhaps lose the estate altogether hang the estate it's the Quaker I want to serve out but you have served him out don't you recollect the kick you gave him why yes I certainly did give him a kick and a good one too you think it was a good one do you Henry well I must say I am very glad of that very glad of it it's some consolation that's quite clear and I think then after that admiral after feeling that you have served him out in that kind of manner and that he has put up with the degradation of having been kicked by you you might just as well forgo a little of your resentment and allow me to ascertain if I cannot make something like terms with him terms with a vagabond like that yes what say you to giving him a trifle and then let him go provided he clears out of the estate at once and gives us no further trouble I'd ten times rather kick him again why yes and I must confess he deserves kicking most certainly I admit all that that a greater scam you could not find but after all you see admiral it comes to a question of pounds shillings and pence nothing in the world makes a man like that suffer but touching his pocket very likely that you propose to put something into his pocket yes at first but it is to save the more as would easily be found and besides you see how he has been afraid to take any notice of your kicking him to be sure he has such fellows are always afraid you didn't expect he would take any notice did you and if you did I knew better afraid indeed ah to be sure that's just what he was likely to be afraid as a matter of course if you please sir said a servant coming into the admiral here is a gentleman wants to speak to you to me who the deuce can it be I wonder he says it's on particular business sir well well show him in here a mere youth was shown into the apartment who addressing the admiral said is your name bell to be sure it is and what of that nothing particular sir only I have the honor of serving this upon you and what the devil is it before this question was well out of the admiral's lips the lead had disappeared and when the old man unfolded the paper he found that it was a notice of action from shepherd the quaker on account of the assault which admiral bell had committed upon him and this is the fellow cried the admiral that you want me to compromise with no master Henry that won't do and since he has had the imprudence now to commence war with me he shall not find that I am backward in taking up the cudgels in my own defense I'll pretty soon let him know that he has got rather an obstinate bow to deal with and we will see how long he will find it worth his while to persevere Henry felt it once that this imprudent act of the quaker which no doubt was intended to hasten and facilitate a compromise placed it further off than ever and that in the admiral's present state of mind it was quite absurd to think of talking to him in anything like a peaceable strain for such could not be done the utmost that could be hoped was not actually give way to some act of violence and that he would at all events do nothing more than what the law allowed him to do in the matter this was what Henry did not feel quite sure of and he only hoped it end of chapter 103