98.
Chapter XCVIII.
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE QUAKER AT DEARBROOK.
The Quaker was a man of about middle age, and was duly attired in the
garb of the particular sect to which he belonged. There was about his
countenance all that affectation of calmness and abandonment of worldly
thoughts and desires which is mistaken by so many people for the reality of
self-denial, when, really, those who know this sect well, are perfectly aware
that there is not a more money-loving, grasping people on the face of the
earth.
After gravely motioning his visitors to be seated, Mr. Shepherd cast his
eyes up to the ceiling, as if he were muttering some prayer, and then he said,
—
"Verily, may I ask to what I am to attribute this visit from individuals
who, in this vale of unblessedness, are unknown to me."
"Certainly, sir," said Henry; "you are entitled, of course, at once, to
such an explanation of us. I have called upon you because I am the proprietor
of this estate, to know how it is that you became in possession of it, and
under what pretence you hold that possession?"
Mr. Shepherd slightly changed colour, and staggered back a pace or two
before he said, —
"The property is mine, but I naturally decline to produce my title to
any body who may ask for it. Thou mayest go, now; behind, thee is the door."
"Mr. Shepherd," said Henry, "I am fully in a conditon, as to means and
evidence both, to prove my title to the estate, and an action of ejectment
will soon force you from it; but I am unwilling, under any circumstances, to
do what I fully may do if anything short of that will answer my purpose. I
therefore give you fair notice, that if, upon my convincing you that I am the
owner of the estate, you go out quietly within fourteen days, I will make no
inquiry as to how long you have been here, and will say nothing whatever upon
the subject of rental owing to me on account of such occupation."
"I defy thee, friend," said the Quaker; "and if thou givest me any
trouble I shall put thee in Chancery, from whence thou wilt not get out for
the term of thy natural life; so I give thee due notice, and thou mayest
please thyself in the transaction; and again I tell thee the door is exactly
behind thee, out of which I beg to request thou shouldest at once walk."
"I tell you what, Mr. Quaker," said the admiral, who had with difficulty
restrained himself thus far, "I look upon you as one of the greatest humbugs
ever I came across, and that's saying a great deal, for in my time I have come
across some thumpers; and if we don't make you smart for this confounded
obstinancy, you wolf in sheep's clothing, we will know the reason why. If it
costs me a thousand pounds I will make you suffer for it."
"Thou mayest be damned, friend," said the Quaker; "possession is a great
number of points of the law, and, as I have it, I mean to keep it. I have a
friend who is in the law, and who will put thee as comfortably in Chancery,
and with as little expense to me as possible. This is a very charming estate,
and I have not the slighest intention of giving it up."
"But you must," said Charles, "give it up to the right owner. How can
you be so foolish as to run yourself to legal expenses for nothing?"
"Teach thy grandmother, young man, to suck eggs," said the Quaker. "I
wish thee all a remarkably good day, and thou mayest all return from whence
thou camest, and hang thyselves, if thou pleasest, for all I care; and having
made up my mind to live and die on this very pleasant property. I shall have
to put thee all into Chancery."
"Why, you canting thief!" said the admiral.
"Thou mayest be damned," said the Quaker. "In speaking so to thee, I use
the language which I am perfectly well aware thou wilt best understand; so I
say unto thee again, thou mayest be damned. Obediah, show these sinners off
the premises; and, should they refuse to go with that quickness that shall
seem to be fitting and proper, thou mayest urge them on with divers kicks on
their hinder persons, and thou mayst likewise call to thy aid, Towzer, the
large dog, to bite singularly great mouthfuls out of them."
The Quaker turned, and was walking in a very stately manner out of the
room, when the admiral stepped forward, and exhilarated his movements with
such a kick, that away he went as if he had been shot out of a gun.
"There, friend," said the admiral, "since you seem found of kicking, I
think that is a very good beginning. It strikes me you didn't know who you
had to deal with; and now, Mr. Obediah, it's your turn, and we'll manage
Towzer when we get outside."
"I think thee all the same, friend," said Obediah, "but would rather be
excused."
"Perhaps you would like your nose pulled instead, then?"
"No, friend, it is quite long enough already; and I shall take myself off
to the lower regions of these premises forthwith."
So saying, Obediah rushed from the room with great precipitancy, leaving,
most ceratinly, the admiral and his party masters of the field; and although
both Henry and Charles both disapproved of the assault which the admiral had
committed, they could not interfere for laughing, and, as they left the house,
which they did now of their own accord, Charles said,—
"Uncle, you may depend you will be pulled up to the quarter session."
"Damn the quarter session!" said the admiral. "Do you think I was going
to sit still, quietly, while that vagabond promised to kick me; but, as it is,
it's all up with coming to Dearbrook to live for one while to come; for, if he
is really as good as his word, and puts the matter into Chancery, there's an
end of it. I have heard it's like ducking in head foremost into a hollow
tree, with a wasp's nest at the bottom of it; you may kick, but I'll be damned
if you can get out."
"Well," said Henry, "I believe that's rather an apt illustration; but we
must do the best we can in such a case, and, in the meantime, seek out some
other place to reside in. Your friend, the little lawyer in the town, shall
have the case to conduct for us, and perhaps, after all, we shall defeat the
Quaker sooner than you imagine."
"I long to see the day come," said the admiral, "when that fellow will
have to troop out of the place; for, in all my life, I never did know such
confounded impudence as he treated us with."
"Never mind, never mind," said Charles; "the time must come, of course,
when this pleasant estate, to which we have taken such a fancy, will be ours;
and, until then, we shall have no difficulty whatever in finding some sweet
verdant spot, full of exquisite and natural beauties, which we can make a home
of well and easily, caring nothing for being a short time only kept from
possession of that which, of right, shall, in a short time, belong to us; and
there is one thing that I am rejoiced at, which is, that Flora has not seen
this place; so that she can have no regret about it, because she don't know of
its existence farther than by name, and it can hold no place in her
imagination which could make it a subject matter of regret."
When they reached the inn, they informed Mrs. Bannerworth and Flora of
the ill success of their enterprise, and of the obstinacy of the tenant of the
house; and on that evening they had a good laugh with each other about the
little scene that had occurred between the admiral and the Quaker; so that,
upon the whole, perhaps, they were quite as happy —for people can but laugh
and be merry —as if they had at once got possession of the Dearbrook estate
without any trouble or difficulty whatever.
They determined upon staying there for that night, although they might
have got fresh horses and gone back, if it had pleased them so to do; but
there was much to tempt them in the romantic scenery, around which they took a
stroll, when it was lit up by the sweet moonlight, and everything came out in
silvery relief, looking so beautiful and serene, so pensively quiet and so
admirable, that it was calculated to draw the mind entirely from all thought
of earthly matters, and to completely rid them of even the shadow of an
annoyance connected with that Dearbrook property which was so wrongfully
detained from them.
"It is at such seasons as this," said Flora, "that contentment steals
into the heart, and we really feel with how little we should be satisfied,
provided it be sufficient to insure those ordinary comforts of existence which
we all look for."
"It is, indeed," said Charles; "and you and I, Flora, would not repine if
our lot had been much more humble than it is, provided Heaven had left us
youth and love."
"Those, indeed," said Henry, "are dear possessions."
"Well, then," remarked the admiral, "you have got youth on your side, and
I once knew a worse looking fellow than even you are; so why don't you fall in
love with somebody at once?"
"Don't make so sure, uncle," said Flora archly, "that he has not."
The old admiral laughed —for he liked Flora to call him uncle, and
said, —
"You shall tell me all about it, Flora, some day when we are alone; but
not now, while these chaps are listening to every word we utter."
"I will," said Flora; "it's a grand secret of Henry's, which I am
determined to tell."
"That's very unkind of you," said Henry, "to say the least of it."
"Not at all. If your had trusted me, Henry, it would be quite another
thing; but as I found it out from my own natural sagacity, I cannot see that
I am bound in the slightest to bestow upon you any consolation on acount of
it, or to shew you any mercy on the subject."
"And she hopes," said Charles, "that that will be a lesson to you to tell
her upon another occasion everything whatever, without the slightest stint or
hindrance."
"I stand convicted," said Henry; "and my only consolation is, that I
don't mind a straw the admiral knowing all about it, and I meant to tell him
myself, as a matter of course."
"Did you?" said the admiral; "that's a very good attempt to get out of
it; but it won't answer exactly, Henry, with those who know better; so say no
more."
In such light and pleasant conversation they passed some time, until the
chill night air, grateful and pleasant as it was to the senses, made them
think it prudent to retire to the inn again.
After they had partaken of the evening meal, and Flora and Mrs.
Bannerworth had retired to rest, the gentlemen sat up, at the express desire
of the admiral, to talk over the affair upon which they were all in common so
deeply interested.
A general feeling of anxiety evidently pervaded all their minds to
ascertain something of the whereabouts or the fate of Varney, who had so very
mysteriously taken himself off at a time when they least of all expected he
would have executed such a manoeuvre.
"You all see," said the admiral, "that what is bred in the bone, as I
told you, will never be out of the flesh; and this vampyre fellow could not
possibly be quiet, you see, for long, but he must be at his old tricks."
"I do not know," said Charles Holland, "but I am rather inclined to think
that he has somehow become aware that he had become rather a trouble to us,
and so his pride, of which I think we have had evidence enough that he has a
large share of, took the alarm; and he went off as quick as he could."
"It may be so," said Henry; "and, of course, in the absence of anything
to the contrary, I feel inclined to give even Varney, the Vampyre, credit for
as much purity of motive as I can."
"That's all very well, in its way," said the admiral; "but you must
acknowledge that he did not leave in the most polite manner in the world; and
then I, for one, cannot exactly approve of his jumping upon Dr.
Chillingworth's back, from off a garden wall, as a cat would upon a mouse."
"Be liberal, uncle," said Charles, "and recollect that we are not quite
sure it was Varney, for the doctor declines to be positive upon the subject,
and he ought to know."
"Stuff," said the admiral; "the doctor knows well enough; but he is like
the man that threatened to kick the other for laughing at his wife—he said
he was sure he had done it, but if he had been d—-d sure, he would have
kicked him into the middle of next week."
"Certainly," said Charles, "the doctor seems quite clearly of opinion,
that whoever committed that assault upon him, did so with a full knowledge of
the worth of the picture, which he believes contained within its extra lining,
bank notes to a large amount."
"And which," said Henry, "after all, is but a supposition, and Varney,
after such an attempt to possess himself of such a treasure, if it was he that
made it, may be actually now a houseless wanderer; but I consider that such
has been the notoriety of his proceedings, that if he now attempts any vampyre
tricks, he very soon will be discovered, and we shall hear of him."
"From his own account," said Charles Holland, "he has not been the most
scrupulous person in the world with regard to the means by which he has, from
time to time, recruited an exhausted exchequer; and we can easily imagine that
this vampyre business of his would so terrify and paralyse people, that he
would have little difficulty in robbing a house under such circumstances."
"You may depend," added Charles, "that he has done one of two things. He
has either commenced a much more reckless career than ever he has yet
attempted, or he has gone away completely into obscurity, and will never be
heard of again. I sincerely myself hope that the latter is the case, for it
will be better for him, and better for everybody connected with him."
"Hang the fellow," said the admiral; "I should not like him to starve,
although he has given us so much trouble; and I hope that if anything very
queer happens to him, he will not scruple to let us know, and he shall not
positively want. But come, is it to be another tumbler a-piece, or to bed?"
Bed was voted, for such they knew was the admiral's wish, or he never
would have mentioned the alternative; and in the course of another half hour
the whole of these persons, in whose fate we profess to have so profound an
interest, were wrapped in repose.
We will now turn to a consideration of what this singular and mysterious
Baron Stolmuyer of Saltzburgh was about, for that he has some ulterior objects
in view, which, by no means, at present, shew themselves, we cannot doubt;
and, likewise, there can be no question but that very shortly some of his
views and projects will develop themselves.
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