VICTOR MOREDANT;

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 38, 1 April 1875, Page 7

VICTOR MOREDANT;

• '_ • y~n""” y3>!*y "y_ ;-„—-"• ■ : THE LOST SHIPS/ A TALE OF FIFTY YEARS AGO.j CHAP. XXXL VICTOR IS PLACED IN AN UNENVIABLE POSITION. When Julia proclaimed herself thus to Victor Moredant, though the tope was hushed and subdued, yet her air was firm, bold, almost defiant. His presence .there was as much a' surprise to her as her appearance had been to him,andthetooment she recognised him the thought flashed on her mind that the news of her marriage had brought him back to Beechwood. This was galling to her woman's disappointed spirit, and roused a feeling of bitterness in her nature prompting her to show before him a proud resolution in the face of her surrounding evils. Therefore, having revealed herself by throwing back her bonnet, avowing her past imposition and present circumstances as the wife of James Menzies, thus summoning up in a brief sentence her career of deception, she stood before him silent and erect, waiting for him to speak. It required no little strength of mind to enable her to do this, considering where and in what position she had left Menzies, and the danger of discovery involved in every moment's delay ; but when the pride of such a woman as Julia Hardinage is roused, its way must be taken, whatever the hazard.

It took ' Victor Moredant several moments to overcome his astonishment so far as to enable him to speak. When he did recover the ability, the questions which came to his. tongue were such as she must have anticipated. *' How came you here, and why this disguise T* " Can yon not divine. Do you know nothing-^-have you heard nothing — my husband is in great peril." " Yes, I know that."

" You do know it, then why wonder that lam here. When you came forward you saw I was about to take .yonder key. Does that fact not enlighten you V "Yonder key — the key of the door leading to the, secret chamber ? What would do you with it ?" " How dull you are. He must be concealed there ?" He ? who — Menzies V 1 tl Who else ? He had warning in time, and has been able to escape from Glasgow. It was I who thought of the secret chamber in the tower; it was I who suggested the plan of disguise for both of us. We have walked the distance on foot. We got into the house by the private entrance, which luckily was unfastened ; and now he is waiting below till I return with the key to lead him into his hiding place." " Good heavens ! you have not brought him here ?" exclaimed Victor, aghast. " I have. If you have heard the rumor of his crime you must know that hia life is in danger. Can you wonder then that I bethought of this only means of concealing him ?" " Surely you do not contemplate the possibility of his escape from the hands of justice," returned Victor, with incredulous wonder.

"He has escaped already. In the secret chamber he will be safe from capture, and when the pursuit and search for him are over, he will be able to travel to some more distant place. Meanwhile, he trusts to your father's friendship for present succor in his terrible strait."

"Mrs Menzies, this is impossible," cried Victor, now greatly alarmed. "It would bring ruin on my father were he to do what you wish. Know you not that he who connives at the concealment or escape of a criminal exposes himself to heavy penalities ?" " There is no danger. Not a soul knows that we are here."

> c Oh, what of that ? Tt is understood that he has married Olive Moredant, and Beechwood will be the first place where he will be sought." "He may be sought here, but he will not be found. The secret chamber is so secret as to defy every effort to discover it. I will remain in it with him. You or your father can easily supply us with foot, and I pledge you my word that we will depart as soon as possible. Hush;! I thought I heard a foot on the stair. Quick, give me the key ; if lam seen by any of the servants it will ruin all." She was moving forward to where tho key hung, but he stepped forward and stood in her way. ft I really cannot "allow such a desperate and ruinous step to be taken," he said. " You have not realised the i evil you would bring upon my father, or you would not propose anything so , certain to destroy him. It is a pure delusion to suppose that a search would not result in the hiding place being discovered, and, at all event?, ray father must not be subjected to this injury." " Merciful heaven I you will not be so inhuman as refuse ?" cried Julia. "Are you heartless enough, self^h' eiymgh to give a man up. to those who are-seeking for his life ? Victor Moredant, you would never be so cruel .or so hardened." - «It is natural for you to feel and desinrthis," returned Victor. " Yoju aie liis wife, and cannot hut tfisti {o,i

ihav(B7airmeps taken to ffi&bixch. JJbJiVe^ not the same reason to screen him. i T happen to hjaye a fuller knowledge bf his crimes than you imagine, and the^e is j nothing in Sis; case to one seeking to defraud justice, of its due,. still less, to run a great risk by taking means to conceal him." j ."'By which I understand that IVjTr Victor Moredant means to show his resentment, and take a mean revenge for the past," returned Julia, in a tone of passion.

v-_u -_ Resentment — revenge !" he echoed. " What mean you ?" " Oh, I have not forgot how you disliked James Menzies — how you were prejudiced against him. I, too, have incurred your displeasure since you learned the fraud of which I tried to make you the victim. And now the opportunity having come by which you can show your double spite, you don't mean to let it slip. Enjoy your triumph, sir. Gratify your feelings by proclaiming the presence of Menzies at Beechwood, denounce him to the authorities, aud have the extreme satisfaction of knowing that you sent him to the scaffold, and made me a widow. I may well curse the ill-luck which made you acquainted with our arrival. Had I seen your father instead of you, he would have proved more generous and merciful."

Victor was too much confounded by this passionate accusation to defend himself from its injustice till she had spent her breath in the utterance of these scornful words. He was shocked by the unexpected charge which they expressed. He saw, too, that though baseless as the wildest vision, it would have a color and a semblance of truth if he refused to allow Menzies the concealment she sought for him. His nature led him to scorn with infinite disdain the cherishing, still worse the gratification, of a feeling so mean and detestible as that which she had attributed to him ; and rather than take a course in which he could be misrepresented as being actuated by such, he would go against his judgment and make a great sacrifice. Whether she knew it or whether she did not, whether it was but a passionate outburst or a calculated stroke, Julia could not have wrought more skilfully towards her purpose than by using this foul weapon against him, "Mrs Menzies," he said, "I may say without egotism that I am incapable of anything so dastardly and contemptible as your words imply. Nevertheless as my refusal to allow you and Menzies to go into the secret chamber could easily be made to bear the construction you have put upon it, I will not only be silent and do nothing to betray his presence in that place, but I will take the whole responsibility upon myself. My father must not know it. His friendship for Menzies would probably cause him to incur ruin for his sake, but this, at least, I will not allow. If the choice is to be between misconstruction of motive and my father's destruction, I would denounce Menzies ten times over rather than have my father suffer the penalty of concealing him."

" There will be no penalty," cried Julia, eagerly catching hope now from his words.

" Most assuredly there is a penalty, and a heavy one, for aiding and abetting a criminal in fleeing from justice." " But it will not, cannot be known ; the hiding-place will never be discovered."

" I am not so sanguine of that as you are, but you have impelled me to run the risk/and to run it alone, so that if the officers come here in quest of Menzies my father may be able to say — what he fully believes — that he is not here, and should they find him I will bear the blame."

" Forgive me, Victor, if I judged you too harshly," said Julia, in a softened, even grateful tone. Then all at once she dropped and staggered against the wall in a helpless way, seeing which Victor catched at and supported her. "I am exhausted — worn-out," she murmured. "The long journey on foot has consumed my strength." "I do not wonder at it. The wonder rather is that you have been able to accomplish it. Come, I will go with you to the secret chamber, for I have never seen it, and when you are safely ensconced there I will bring you food. Fortunately for our purpose my father has a severe cold and keeps his room. Lean on me, for I see you are very weak."

When Julia felt, the youth's strong arm supporting her, her passionate heart was filled with a contrition wholly new to her, and she sobbed. "Oh, Victor," she murmured, "Ihave sinned, and am punished. My wicked deception merits your pity now, as much as your indignation." " And I do pity you," he rejoined. " But I am glad to see that you are not wholly false — you are at least true to your husband." | "I cannot wonder that this gives you surprise," she meekly replied, •" knowing, as you do, tho motive nnder which I'married liim, and how miserably my object has been baffled. "Yon think I would have been true to mjy ! character : had 1 1 abandoned him an t finding that he also, had deceived me., But at the .alter, even while I was deceiving him,' I resolved ito be'4;o him ; a. true wife, atidraow that he is in this

'Ttrait -T wWsSc^^-liim andlvorlpbrhim to the utmost." -'■■'-""

%Qome, ,i thought"Victor to~nimself, ';girl is so bad, after all. T&ere 4s:a.remnanr^f«a^;ue woman in her^Nanjd --of 'the got the

worst bargain, . Whiley : this •■;- tlj^i%t t ywa sC passing throu'gKhis-imnd'hp was i busy^i^ ting a lamp, but - his' hand, was "suddenly arrested by a foot on the stair. V

"Good heavens, some ;oho comes,"^ gasped Julia. "Is it Olive ?" .;

'*■' Hush ! Pass behind that curtain," whispered Victor. And as she did so he opened the door with the lamp in his hand, and went boldly forth oh the landing, just as the butler went past with a 'large tray. " Ah, Thomas/ you are going up with your master's supper, I suppose ?"

"Yes, sir j and. I have been down for a dozen of ; the old port he likes. Shall I serve your supper in the library, Mr Victor ?"

" Ay, do, and let me have a substantial one, for I am ravenously hungry. You can add a bottle oi that same old port you speak of." " Yes, sir."

" And you need not trouble yourself to remove the things to-night, for I may sit late. After bringing them up, you can go to bed when you choose." Victor tried not to look flustered while speaking to the man and giving these directions, but ' he was conscious that his face was red and flushed, and his heart was beating in a wild, confused way. The secret into which he was being plunged was foreign to his disposition, and he had yet to learn the art of deception, though one would have supposed he had practised it pretty well of late, seeing he had been for weeks and weeks assuming a false character in Mir Gilbert's, office and on board the Friends. There was just this difference, however that in the former case he was doing that of which he really disapproved. Thomas, however, observed not these signs of agitation in his young master, but trudged on with his supper tray to Mr Moredant's room, and Victor, after seeing him fairly out of sight, reentered the library, where Julia waited his appearance, in fearful suspense. Now that the light enabled him to have a view of her in her disguise, he could not forbear a smile at the strange aspect she presented — arrayed as she was in the old, faded shawl j the printed cotton gown, which had rendered much service to its former owner ; and the ancient bonnet, which must have once belonged to a woman of fourscore. Neither the time nor the circumstances, however, were favorable to merriment, and it was with a graye — even a troubled countenance that the youth accompanied her down the private stair, and so towards the lower regions of the mansion.

" May we not take Olive into our confidence ?" asked Julia, as they descended. " She, I know, would be faithful."

" Olive is not here. I have not seen her. She was gone ere I returned." " Gone — where has she gone to ?" " Nay, I know not. I suppose to the friends with whom she has been staying all the time. She would not eyeD give my father her address. But I mean to find her out soon, for I long to make her acquaintance." " Ah," said Julia, with a faint smile, " you could not love me, but you would have loved Olive- And now I think she said she has fallen in love with another. That's more evil I have done by my wickedness." " That result, at least, I suspect both of us will easily overlook," was Victor's quiet answer, for he thought of May, and could feel no regret for the cause which had blessed him with' her love."

At the door leading to the underground passage, in the very spot where Julia had left him, James Menzies lay upon the ground, shaking and" trembling with apprehension. Her long absence had excessively alarmed him, and in the darkness and his ignorance of the locality he could do nothing to help himself." "

" I thought you were never coming. I thought you had abandoned me," he muttered.

Victor felt an irrepressible loathing of soul as he gazed on the Wretched object which rose to its : f&et'at their approach — the dirty, squalid figure clad in the vestments of age, but showing •beneath the disguise tne pale, terrified face of James Menzies, He tried to feel pity for him, and he might, had the discovery of his crime brought him to . a state of sorrow, and repentance. But well Victor knew^that IVfehSsies felt neither-^it was but thei punishment he feared, was fleeing from it.

" Victor is to conceal us. Mr Moredant is to know nothing about it," lexplained Julia.

" I cannot allow my father to incur the risk, oi this," J added Victor, in a cold tone.

" Oh, Mr Victor, this is a terrible job," groaned Menzies j" I wish to G6d I had never had anything to do wiih it"

Ah! a wish oft repeated by the criminal "iiTthe^hionr of~defeoEiori/ but uttered then in vain." The regret is not on account of the crime itself, but for the dons^queho^C itsas{t>rought. Sp lon£ j as the prospect of a gain seemed «le(aj'/!| and the ch§npe^o£ discgvpry .small, theji commission ox ~ttie crime waVgreedily r i

continued in, with -no-care results 1 -to others; but now that ill is 'bToughfto '4i^tf^nd^Tfe-pnnTshment-threatened, the desire comes that it had never been committed — a desire in no way meritorious, but worthy onlyjof indignajfi^n|knd contempt. j y :^n^B^ch^S^eyyie feeling^jaised in '^Sn^o^^pj^^^J^^^S^^sn ke heafd^fr|^^^^ Kng /Jlle/kpswer^d never a^^^^ut^ppenedtthe door and gazed into? the black gulf of the underground passage, y The strong door of the secret;ohamber they foiihd ajar, and the chamber itself in precisely the same state in which Olive had left it. Victor-gazed curiously at its arrangements for secrecy especially at the machinery by which the opening in the 'oppsite wall was closed in ■■ ■ . --

" What can this be for ?" he asked, as he handled the chains and weights which hung from the roof. "It gives communication to the interior of the tower," answered Julia. " It was open when 1 first explored the place, otherwise I should^not have discovered the cell. I pulled one of the chains, and this wall closed in, I could not open it again, and imagined I was immured, when, fortunately, I discovered the other door and the passage by which we have come." The youth took hold of the chains one by one, and drew them with all his strength, but without effect, till he had seized the shortest, when the whirring sound was heard which Julia remembered, and the solid masonry parted asunder, and slowly revolved with creaking sound, making an aperture large enough to pass into the darkspace beyond. " Ah, I see," he observed. (< It is meant to give two ways of escape in case of pursuit. You should practise the working of the chains in case an emergency, should come." Julia watched him -closely as he reshut the opening, but Menzies threw himself on the couch in utter physica prostration. " Food, food,', he murmured, am faint with hunger." Victor motioned to Julia to rest herself also, and as she sank 1 wearily down by her husband's side the youth hastened away with the light; to return with a portion of the supper which with design and forethought he had told the butler, to serve for him in the library in special abundance. On the following morning, when Thomas removed the dishes, he held up his hands in astonishment at beholding the plates cleared of their contents, and the bottle of port nearly empty. Mr Victor has, no doubt, intimated that he was hungry, but the hunjgriest man that ever sat down to food could not have outdone the feast which Victor had performed. " Well, if he hasn't had the nightmare'precious heavy he knows himself," muttered the astonished butler.

"I

It would have astonished him more had he known that Victor had not ate a morsel of the food which he had given him the credit of devouring, and that he had passed the greater part of the night in the library fasting. . After conveying to the inmates of the secret chamber the provisions which had been served for himself, and shut them up in their concealment, he returned to the library to reflect on the situation of affairs, and on the singular position into which he had been forced. The whole had been so hurriedly brought upon him, that Jbe bad not obtained a moment's time for thought, and he felt that thought was eminently needed in the circumstances. It was not indeed required to show him what an unpleasand disagreeable task he had taken upon himself, for that he was strongly con seious of at the very moment when he accepted it; but he had not then estimated the immense difficulties he would have to encounter, or the extent of the personal sacrifice involved in the accomplishment of what he had engaged to do.

Not only his father, but every one else, must remain ignorant of the' presence of Menzies; and his wife at Beechwood. They might require to stay there for weeks. How was he to supply them with food without the knowledge of the servants ? Worse still/ 'it would keep him' littleelsethan a close prisoner at Beechwood; when he longed to be in Glasgow, where, indeed, he tad promised to May to return in a day or two. How was he .to; account to her for his absence r—hiow. explain the. reason which ikept him fyoin her? The very separation itself was a trial to his ardent affection. • . ; • .'/,•'.

, The lpnger he thought of the matter ; ■ the ; greater appeared 3ts^ difficulties'^ and unpleasantness, can'd the more unfeigned ly did he regret- having yielded to ; Julia'sentfeatiesl "Nay,:he remenibered . it, was not to. her entreaties, oiit to' her m.ul"lmpiatStionls , of motive, that he; had yielded." She hadcHaVa^teris^d^is reriiisal ascproceedirig frpm-rJersoS^i spite and resentnientj ! and v ;Jonj, Could japt "wound' the soul 'of Victor/ IVlpredant more than by ch§r^g r him with cherishing' feelings so. mean 1 and des picablp. To avoid . eyeu^he '^pearahce . of .them,he liiid -'been rmppHjea^-A^hg, &s it werißj'into" %x&p^\B^o^p^pM of the position o vpr the Wils/of i which he was now; meditating, y -.■,■■■. - -The keen J sehse of honor' which hsfd prpnipteA him tp^giye his. consent tp s fche ( jConbeali^ent of Menzies boMd Him f as" Simplicity 'tp^.beVtrue' to^hw iprpmisejarid :carry it out ia all ita integrator. But it y '■ .': - -\y * "'-y ; ?

- -was-dreadiul,- ljfc-wtis-TrnhareaDlo-to-'nnd* r : man"irbm r justice^ : -he " who- had-, aided J?0 materiallyiin'brihging his crime to light, and would be such a fatal witness against his associate M'Dougal. Thus reason, fe&ftag, everything combined to aggravate the evils of a position ; from:; which he- could, -however, have no escape, let him chafe and fume as he might j and. at the end of many hours' cogitation/ "when the morningsun streamed in at the eastern windows .he retired to his Jcouch only, the" more dissatisfied and depressed. Thomas, the butler, was right so far. Victor when he fell asleep did endure the most horrible nightmare, but ; it proceeded not from the cause which Thomas imagined. The phantoms which lay upon his breast like a load! of horror were not the .ghosts of the fowls j which had formed the staple of the i enormous supper, which he was supposed to have eaten, but the forms of j James Menzies and Julia Hardinage sitting upon him like weights of lead and defying all his vehement efforts to shake them off. The following day was got through better than he r anticipated. He was able to smuggle the necessary quantity of food to his secreted charge without J attracting attention, though, to avoid suspicion, he purchased a portion of it at the -village of Denburn, and had difficulty in pursuading the shopkeeper from whom he procured it to allow him | .to carry iv himself to Beechwood. " Hoots ! havers, Maister Victor, ye ! are no gaun tae carry' up thae things j tae the big hoose yersel'," exclaimed the j worthy women, in violent remonstrance j f< I could n a alloo that at nae rate. My . laddie, Johnnie, will just tak' them up and- gie them tae the hoosekeeper ; and proud am I tae sere sic a customer." " There is not the slighest need for troubling your boy, Mrs' Sandwich. I am going home at any rate, and will just take/them irihiy hand." "Trouble, Maister Victor ! Dod it's nae trouble ava I No a grane, for the errant wull keep Johnnie oot o' mischief, and, forbye, it disna set the like o' you, Maister Victor, tae be carryin' a paper parcel below yer oxter. Sac yell just leave it, and i "Not at all, Mrs Sandwich. 1 really ' am resolved on taking the parcel myself. There, say no more — not another word, I beg." And, in defiance of the well-meant but highly inconvenient intentions of the village merchant, Victor resolutely seized on the parcel and bore it away from the expectant hands of Johnnie, to whom he tossed a sixpence as a solace for his disappointment in not enjoying the hospitalities of the Beechwood kitchen. Needless to say, the parcel never reached tlie hands of the housekeeper, a different destination being intended for it. This is, however, but a specimen of the difficulties and annoyances which Victor had to meet and bear in the discharge of his singular and unwelcome duty, and the constant strain upon his ingenuity and watchfulness against discovery made him uneasy, anxious, and miserable. This was seen in his very countenance, and those about, him thought he was unwell, he. was so unlike 'his natural self— so -moody, grave, taciturn, and irritable. Yes, irritable, for he was not supported by the consciousness that the work under which he was suffering so much was a good work, On the contrary, he felt that it was a false and degrading thing to be screening such a scoundrel as Menzies, and it was really exasperating to be enduring so much in a cause so hateful. " I wish it was ended," he constantly said to himself. «« I wish this miserable state of things — this infernal and degrading bondage was over ; yet where or how is it to be terminated 1 They may desire to stay there for weeks and months/ but if they should I won't stand it. No; confound it if I do. Menzies must go from Beechwood soon, arid take his chances of capture, for I ' won't endure this slavery of body and soul for him or any one like him." ■ This di? something like this he muttered to himself as, on the third morning, of his galling guardianship, he entered the breakfast .room after supplying the inmates" of the secret chamber : with all things necessary for the day. ''Here ; heYouifd > his father in-a state of excitement, with" the 'Herald' in his ; .hand. ! These were not ihe days of, ,daily papers,. and this was ; the fii^st issuer of the ' Herald ' '.after the discovery of , . the sea-frauds and the' apprehension of . Mi'-Dougal. Jt contained a long account. of what was making a great /sensation in Gl'asg'owr— a sensation; whibh that day's '-would widen- . r and increase. ,It detailed the origin of the suspicion, which had arisen, and the manner in which the crimes had been brought to light, the circumstances-; attending M'Dou gab's capture, and the confession he had made, ending with the intimation that Menzies, having received warning by an anonymous letter, had escaped . j r tljat -search was being made for him everywhere, and j a large reward. offeredforr.sueh information as would lead' to i"his icap ture. " I'll read it to you while you take, your breakfast/ exclaimed Mr Mor^ dant, and read it he did, little dreaming* ; . what, speoial interest r it^hadyfor. ! hs&n&r/^HtoW^WH^ latter waited to . learn cwhatjconje^tures were' made 1 as to the whereabouts of Menzies.

~ViCtorbl« _ athed"a"lfttle"m6FeTr^lywl^ he found4iP to K^ n^^jposed_that Ihe-ifu^gifive-was-lurkihgr^nGlasgow/id that no idea was entertained that Ihe had made his way out of the city. " Where pan he be hiding, and what hassbe'co'me of that hussy, Julia ?" cried Mr Moredant, after he had made (lis first comments on the recital. " There's not a word said about his wife, but I should say the constables are watching her, pretty closely to see if she communicates with him. Don't you think so, Victor?"

t( I have no doubt every means will be taken to discover him," was all the youth ventured to observe. " And of course : they'll find him — sooner or later they'll find him. He'll not be ableto hold out of their clutches long. Mercy me, John M'Dougal in jail, and James Menzies under hiding, and both likely to be hung. What is the world coming to ? Who would have thought it? How little., did I suppose when I used to entertain them at Beechwood that they were, engaged in such desperate deeds./ "There is nothing like taking an honest, honorable, straightforward course at all times," remarked Victor. " When men make an idol of money they generally seek to obtain it by unlawful means. No object of earthly ambition, however laudable in itself should be unduly exalted." " Nor unduly lowered," returned his father, with a changed tone and a clouded face.

" Do you mean that observation to have a personal reference ?" asked Victor with a quiet gravity* " Yes, I do, for I think it specially applies to you., I. have not spoken. to you again about the sailor's daughter. Are you still determined to ruin yourself in that way ?" "If you mean, am I resolved on marrying May Blossom, my answer is Yes."

Mr Moredant groaned, and lay back in his seat with a gesture of despair. " May Blossom," he ejaculated, in a tone of disgust. "The very name smacks of Wapping." " Nay, I rather think it suggests the fragrance of hedgerows." " It's a name only fit for a dairymaid," was the snappish rejoinder, " But I suppose it is no use talking further on the subject. You are bent on taking your own way, and I am powerless to hinder you. I expect Olive will be turning up on 9of these days for the purpose, of relinquishing her share of Beechwood. It will rather astonish her, and delight her too, I fancy, to find that she is to have the half of the estate after all." "And who has a better right to it than the child of him who bought it ?" returned Victor, as he rose and walked out. He went to ramble in the park to enjoy there the fresh breeze and to think of May, for it was only in thinking of her that he lost in any degree the painful consciousness of his present trouble. Two days before, this, in a letter to Mr Gilbert, lie had enclosed one addressed to Jack Blossom, and asked the underwriter to forward it to Ship Row. It was only the outer envelope which was addressed to Jack. The letter itself was for" May. It breathed unalterable love, and mourned the fact that business of the most, urgent description would keep him from her side' for some time longer. {To be continued.)