6. VI.
RUTHVEN'S RESOLUTION.
Toward midnight Lord Ruthven returned
from the governor's palace,
through the drenched streets, and, going
to his apartment in the Raleigh, aroused
Fergus, who was stretched asleep upon a
pallet in one corner of the chamber.
“Fergus! Fergus!” he said, feverishly.
“My lord,” was the cool response;
and Fergus, wide awake in a moment,
rose to his feet.
“Pack my trunks, Fergus,” said Lord
Ruthven, in the same agitated voice; “we
are going.”
“Yes, my lord.”
And the old servant calmly began to
collect the articles of his master's wardrobe,
carefully fold them, and deposit
them in two or three large travelling-trunks
which stood in a sort of closet.
“We are going,” repeated Lord Ruthven,
walking up and down the apartment.
“To Europe, my lord?”
“Yes.”
Fergus nodded.
“I am glad to go,” he said, “and at
once.”
“I have seen him again!”
“Him?”
“Him.”
Fergus made the same movement with
his head.
“Then he has not left this town?”
“No.”
“Your lordship met him?”
“Yes—to-night.”
“In the storm, my lord?”
“Yes; and wellnigh began the struggle—my
sword at his breast.”
And Lord Ruthven described his nocturnal
meeting with Innis.
Fergus listened, busily packing the
trunks meanwhile.
“Well,” he said, when Ruthven had
finished his narrative, “I think your
lordship acts wisely. This is no place
for you if he is here. I know not how
it is, but I grow more frightened day by
day. Your lordship is changing, and for
the worse; let us go.”
“Yes, yes! Mount your horse to-morrow,
ride to the port on James
River, and engage our passage to England.”
“I will do so, my lord, at dawn.”
And Fergus continued steadily to
pack the travelling-trunks.
Lord Ruthven walked up and down
the apartment for some time in gloomy
thought, then took his seat at a table,
and wrote for an hour; then, laying
down his pen, rested his forehead upon
his arms, crossed on the table, and either
reflected or slept.
Fergus continued to pack the trunks.
