 | CHAPTER VI.
The Conviction. Herman de Ruyter |  |
6. CHAPTER VI.
The Conviction.
When the convict had thus spoken he
turned to Madame de Ruyter, who, pale and
trembling had listened to their words, and
said to her.
`Madam, I should judge you were not very
glad to see me by your looks, but I am determined
to make my home here! What has
become of Herman's money?'
`It is all lost!' she answered faintly.
`Lost? I do not believe a word of it! How
lost?'
`The banker who had it in trust failed?'
`'Tis false! who was he?' he cried advancing,
and was about to lay his hand upon her;
but Herman's arm intervened and knocked
his upward, while he said to him in a very
positive tone,
`Speak to the lady, and lay not a finger upon
her!'
`Ah, younker, you are home here it seems!
what is the woman to you! She is my wife,
and I'll thank you to keep yourself at a distanced!'
`Who I am, you shall know in good time.
I shall see the lady is not rudely treated.
What you have to say, say to her, for the
hour is late!'
His father fixed on him a glance of rage and
hatred, but seeing the tall well-limbed young
man stand composed and resolute, he feared
the encounter with him, he meditated; and
then he remembered that he was without his
weapons.
`Well, I'll find time and a way to be quits
with you, young fellow,' he said sullenly.
`Now, wife, let us hear about the money you
put in bank for your son!'
`I have told you it was all gone! The
banker has failed and both Herman and I are
impoverished You see my abode. This
should convince you!'
The convict glanced his eyes around the
wretched abode, and then said—
`Very well, it may be so, but I doubt it.—
Who was this banker?'
`Mr. Waldeigh!'
`Oh, aye! I remember his name. I can
find out the truth of this matter for myself
then to-morrow. Where's Herman?'
`He, he went to sea two years ago,' answered
his mother catching Herman's cautioning
glance.
`Yes, so I heard! When do you look for
him home?'
`He wrote me he should be here about this
time!'
`Well, I'm glad he will find his money all
gone,' said Ruyter with an oath; `he is a confounded
high spirited fellow I'm told, and
don't fear the devil! I hope he'll come soon,
for when he finds he's poor he'll take easily to
training for the profession I follow; and I'd
like to have the teaching of the boy. If he's
so smart as I hear he is, he'll cut me all out!
Now, old woman what have you got for supper?'
`Nothing!'
`Nothing—I must have something. I
havn't eaten since my dinner, and that was a
slim affair. You may as well stir for I mean
to sup and lodge here to-night!' As he spoke
he was about to sit down in a chair, when
Herman removing it from behind him cast it
to the farther side of the room, saying at the
same time,
`Now, sir, if you have said all you wish to
this noble and virtuous lady whom you have
so long disgraced by your crimes, it is time
you should take your leave, for be assured
here this night you neither sup nor lodge!'
`Who the devil are you?' asked de Ruyter
after gazing with surprise upon him as he
stood eyeing him with calm and resolute eyes.
`I am the bearer of the name you have disgraced
and degraded! I am the inheritor of
your infamy. My name is Herman de Ruyter
like thine own!'
`What?' exclaimed the astonished father
starting back and fixing his confounded stare
upon the features of his son. `Are you Herman?
Are you my son?' and he trembled
with fear as he put the interrogation to the indignant
and stern young man.
`To my disgrace I am thy son, man of
crime! In me behold the child for whom it
was your duty to have lived an honorable and
virtuous life! But instead you turned your
red hand to guilt, and brought woe upon your
wife, my mother, and entailed dishonor upon
me! For this I might forgive you, but for
your wrongs to her I love and honor, I curse
deep wrongs you have done her, you would
now come crawling like the slimy serpent
from your filthy den of crime, and coiling
yourself upon her threshhold, poison all the
air around you! No!—I am here to be her
protector, and, if need be, her avenger! To
me you are only a convict of the State's prison!
As a father I never knew you or your
love! I have only known my mother.—
Therefore beware my vengeance, for no filial
emotion lies between it and thee! That thou
mightest hear me speak, and that I might
know all thy purpose towards my mother, I
brought thee here myself, lest you should
creep hither unawares and do mischief! I
thought it best you should see her in my presence.
You have seen her, and in the interview
betrayed to us both the deep depravity
of your base heart. Now, sir. the interview
is ended! From this moment be a stranger
to this lady! See her house again, dare to
lift a recognising look in the street, dare to
approach her in any way, and I swear to you
by the God that made me, that that hour shall
be your last!'
`Herman, Herman!' cried Mrs. de Ruyter
in the deepest anguish,
`Not one word to me, dear mother, now.—
Come, sir, take up your cap and leave this
place, and never cross its threshold again! I
shall watch your movements from this time
with a jealous eye. Leave the house, wretched
and guilty man! Seek your den and
never crawl from it again to meet the eyes of
the wife and son you have so deeply wronged!”
Thus speaking Herman opened the door.—
Abashed, humbled and subdued by fear, the
guilty wretch turned and silently left the
chamber and descended the stairs. He spake
not a word, nor even looked again upon the
face of her who had once been his wife; but
with his cap over his eyes and a shuffling,
crouching air he went out of the room. What
was in his heart will be better known in the
progress of the tale. Herman went before
him to unlock the outer door. His father
passed out into the open air. Neither of them
spoke. Herman locked the door after him and
then rejoined his mother, whom he found
fainting upon the floor, with Maria in her
night-dress bending over her.
In a few minutes their united efforts restor
ed her, and after a while Herman took his
leave promising to breakfast with them in the
morning. On his way up the street, he reflected
upon the course he had pursued with
reference to his father, and felt satisfied that
he had taken the only one which would effectually
protect his mother from his persecutions.
This subject was succeeded in his thoughts
by the lovely image of Maria. He thought
he had never seen her so beautiful as when
bending over her mother in her snowy night-dress,
her oval face looking sweetly and gently
forth from her narrow bordered cap. But
there was something in her look and manner
that troubled him. They were kind, frank,
sisterly; yet there was something wanting;
semething in her glance to answer to his own
deep loving one. She met his eye too freely,
too unreservedly, too openly. It was not that
timid, faltering glance which he looked for,
and which he felt she would manifest if she
thought of him with a tenderer love than a
sister's. Herman was troubled as he thought,
and vague surmises began to fill his bosom,
that possibly Maria never thought of him with
the same feelings with which he regarded her.
`Still,' said he impetuously within himself,
`still if she loves not me who else does she
love! Certainly, knowing I am not her brother,
she would never drive my image from her
breast to replace it by another! Yet I must
confess I tremble lest it should be so!'
At this stage of his reflection he reached
the door of the Saracen Head and entered.—
The tap was nearly deserted; but two or three
persons who were strangers drinking together
at a table near the fire-place. Dirk Dilley
was seated in her bar reading a newspaper.—
Her toilet was improved by a coquettish cap
worn upon the back of her head, and by fresh
curls on either check. She looked up on seeing
Herman enter as if expecting him, and
smiled.
`Ah,' said she with a smile, `so truant you
come back! I was getting jealous of that
pretty girl till I knew who she was! I heard
all about your affair from Wilk'. So you've
found your mother and sister! Well, I am
glad of it, for you can let me have some of
your company now! I was afraid they would
keep you; but Wilk' told me you'd soon be
in. Your supper is all ready in the little back
parlor, and let us go in to the table; for it is
going on to twelve o'clock. It isn't every
body I'd keep up so late for, Herman!'
`You are very good, Mrs. Wild—that is,
Mrs. Dilley!'
`Call me Isabel, as you did at first! Here
is the door through the bar. Betty stay in
the bar till those men have done drinking
what they have, and thou shut up!'
Thus giving her orders, the handsome
young hostess of Saracen's Head preceded
her guest into her tea-room in the rear of
the bar.
`Where is Wilkins?' asked Herman, looking
round.
`He is coming; for, as he begged hard, I
invited him to supper with us! Wilk' is a
good fellow, keep him under proper government.
It's the way I began with him at first,
when he came out of Sing Sing. If I had'nt
been firm as I was, he would have come into
my house and taken the helm!'
`As my father would have done. I have
seen him, but we met and parted as enemies!'
`Well you have a great deal to forgive,
Herman, if you forgive him at all,' said Dame
Dilley, placing the hot-water pot upon the
waiter. `Ah, here is Wilk' all in good time,'
she said, as she heard the tap door open. `I
knew his step! But it sounds as if he was in
bad humor!'
The next moment the door into the tearoom
from the bar opened, and Wild entered.
He smiled slightly, and expressed, in a brief
word or two, his gratification at finding Herman
there; and throwing aside his hat and
coat, he took a seat by the table at which
Herman had just placed himself. Wild's countenance
worked dark and gloomy, and he
seemed to find it difficult to enter into the
conversation as the supper progressed.
`What the deuce is the matter, Wilkins?'
asked dame Dilley, after looking at him
steadily.
`Well the truth is, I have met your father,
Herman, and he assures me that your property
is all gone by the board!'
`So it is. Waldeigh has become bankrupt!'
`You take it very coolly!'
`It would seem more coolly than you yourself,
Wild!'
`I — that is I feel confounded sorry for
you!' answered Wild, embarrassed; for the
news he had heard from Ruyter had dashed
his hopes to the ground of sharing the twenty
thousand dollars with Dirk Dilley. Her
countenance immediately fell; but she had
full command over its expression.
`Is it true, Herman?' she asked.
`So my mother tells me. I am sorry rather
on her account, than my own. But I have
a few hundred left.'
`Have you seen this Waldeigh?'
`No! But he is in the city!'
`I dont believe all is lost, Herman! I know
a way by which he can be compelled to disgorge;
for this same Waldeigh lives now in
good style in the upper part of Broadway!'
`In what way?'
`I cannot now explain. But if you will
promise to give me one quarter I get out of
him, I will undertake it!'
`I will do it,' answered Herman.
`The matter is then settled,' answered Wild
with a cheerful tone.
By and by Herman left the table, and was
shown to his room by Dame Dilley, who bade
him good night, but less frankly than she
would have done had he been worth the twenty
thousand dollars she was fishing for. She
closed the door and then returned quickly,
and with an anxious look to the tea-room,
where she had left Wild. On entering it she
closed the door carefully, and sitting down
fixed her eyes upon his face.
`Well, this game is up,' she said gloomily.
`No, Isabel,' answered the burglar-captain.
`I want to hear your plans?'
`And share in the spoils?'
`I do. Mr. Waldeigh, who was the trustee
of this money failed, it is true. But he
now lives in good style, and must have money.
I have no doubt that every dollar of Herman's
money is safe in his hands!'
`How will you get it, if it is?'
`By my genius,' Bel! I shall go the first
thing to-morrow and sound the premises. I
will have Waldeigh in my power in less than
twenty-four hours. You know I have four
good men I can trust. I shall want the
`Black Hole.'
`Ah, I see your plan. You are like yourself
again, Wild! The spirits of old times
has come over you! Now I will tell you what
I will do If this Waldeigh has the money
and you get it out of him, I will promise, if
you pay down half of it to me, to marry you!
`If I had half of it, I should choose a wife
where I liked best, Bel! But dont look dark
as I claim only a quarter of what I may get
Herman must have the balance!'
The widow reflected a few moments, and
then said, as if yielding,
`Well, Wild, as you say. Go to work and
when you have got the money we can talk
about its division! Now to your room, for its
after midnight. To-morrow night let me
know what you have done.
The burglar captain then took his leave after
taking a glass of brandy, which she offered
him. She let him out by a door into the
court, for his room was on the same gallery
with that occupied by Napes and Ruyter.
Seeing a light glimmering beneath the door of
their apartment, he knocked and giving his
name to Ruyter was admitted, and the door
closed upon him. In about twenty minutes
he came forth again, having detailed to both
his plan, with reference to Mr. Waldeigh, and
secured their aid; of Ruyter he was sure of
from the first, for he had learned the result of
the meeting between Ruyter and Herman,
from the lips of the former, when he saw him
outside the Saracen's Head on his return from
Madame de Ruyter's, though the convict did
not give him the account until he had first
cursed him for having introduced his son to
him under the name of Corney.
As Wild was taking his departure from their
chamber, after his secret interview with the
two, Ruyter said softly, so that Napes did not
hear,
`Does Herman lodge here to-night?'
`Yes.'
`Is he in bed?'
`Yes.'
`In what room!'
`Ah, do you mean him harm?' asked Wild,
quickly.
`No, by my soul. He is my boy. Only I
wished to know.
`He is in the first room on the lower floor!'
`Thank you! I dont mean him harm! good
night.'
Ruyter closed the door and waited till all
was still, and then taking his knife and pistol
up from the table, he wrapped his over-coat
around his shoulders and was going out, when
Napes, who had thrown himself upon the
bed, asked him where he was going so late?'
`A little private expedition of my own!' he
answered with a scowl.
`Well, don't disturb me when you come in!'
said Napes turning over sulkily with his face
against the wall.
The gray-bearded convict closed the door
noiselessly behind him, and descending the
stairs to the court-yard stood a moment to listen.
Finding all still he crossed it to the room
which Herman occupied. He came to the door
and looking through the key-hole saw that all
was dark.
He is safe there for to-night at least. Now
for my revenge on her!'
He turned quickly away and with a rapid
step proceeded to a sort of court-gate which
opened into a narrow alley. This being locked
on the inner side he easily opened and passing
forth into the alley, he was soon in the
street in front of the tavern. He now took his
way with a stealthy air towards the abode of
Madame de Ruyter. As he came to it he
paused beneath the window and listened. All
was still. He placed his hand upon the door
and found it fast.
`I know as good a way,' he said stooping
down and slipping aside the pannel which he
had loosened two hours before on being left
in the entry by Herman Looking carefully
round to see that he was not watched he pushed
his body through the opening, and disappeared
within.
| CHAPTER VI.
The Conviction. Herman de Ruyter | |