Post Sir massingberd.

Otago Witness, Issue 652, 28 May 1864, Page 17

Post Sir massingberd.

[Fbost Chambbss'b Jourhali ]

CHAPTER VIII.— MEETING HIS MATCH.

Sir Massingberd's unlooked-for entrance into the drawing-room at the Dovecot had a result that must seem almost farcical to those who read it, but which to me, who dwelt among his trembling vassal?, and bad learned, day by day, to fear and hate liim more and more, had nothing iv it extraordinary. I, Peter Meredith, bolted straightway into the conservatory, and there ensconced myself within the shadow of an orange tree, while the Eev. Matthew Long left the room with equal celerity by the door. As for me, I confess that I was actuated by panic on my own account ; my tutor's apprehensions were aroused on behalf of another. The instant after he disappeared, I heard the lock of the library door shut into its staple, and knew that Marmaduke was in a friend's keeping, acd safe from any incursion of his uncle. I could see that Mr Gerard knew this too, for a gleam of pleasure passed over his face, and then left it determined, defiant, and almost mocking, as when he had first set eyes upon the intruder. There- was a fire in the otherwise darkening room, and from my place of concealment, I could watch the lineaments of both its inmates — and two more resolved and haughty countenances I had never beheld. •'Is it the custom of your respectable family, Sir Massingberd Heath," observed my host, "to force themselves into houses whose owners do not desire the honor of their presence ?" "It is their custom to hold their own, "sir," answered the baronet curtly ; " and I am come after my nephew." It is impossible to convey the effect which this audacious speech had upon rae, its unseen hearer ; unblushing, scornfully open as it was, an awful threat seemed to lie within it, and above all, a consciousness of the power to carry it into effect. Even Mr Gerard, who could have had no knowledge of the things that I knew, and had never heard the history of Grimjaw, seemed to feel a tremor as he listened. " Your nephew, sir, is not in a condition | to receive you," returned my host. Ik The consequences of seeing you might, I do not j hesitate to say, be fatal to him." "The opinion of his medical man is different," ob3ervtd Sir Massingberd with a sneer. "Dr Sitwell— a most estimable person, I should say, and endowed with excellent sense — has been so very kind as to ride over himself to Fairburn as soon | as he could leave his patient, in order to apprise me exactly how the matter stands. He recommends my seeing Marmaduke in j his lucid interval— 4 There is no knowing,' J said he, ' whether that may not be your i poor dear nephew's last. 1 " "Your poor dear nephew," repeated Mr Gerard with great distinctness. "Very dear, doubtless, but not what one would call poor, at least in the matter of expecta- • tions." "Poor or rich, sir," retorted the other, "he has been placed in my hands as being those most fitted to take care of him.'' Mr Gerard shrugged his shoulders, and smiled sardonically. " You seem to conceive that confidence misplaced, sir," continued the barnnct. "The want of your good opinion affiicts me beyond measure. lam aware that I fail to satisfy pious persons in some particulars, but that Mr Harvey Gerard's susceptibilities should be offended is indeed a serious consideration? it is as though the devil himself should cry * For shame!'" " Sir Massingberd Heath, you are under my roof, although unbidden and unwelcome," returned my host; "your ton»ue, therefore, is chartered, so far as I am concerned I could not. I confess, help my countenance, expressing some astonishment when you spoke of your fitness for the education of youth." There was a pause here for which 1 could not _ account, Sir Massingberd's eyes were riveted upon something on which the firelight danced and shone. I should very much misrepresent the baronet's character, and probably even exaggerate his capabilities, if I said he blushed, but certainly his countenance changed. Then he broke out fiercely : "I live as I choose, sir, and am answerable to no man, least of all to you. The parsons had their say, and have got their reply long ago, but am I also to be arraigned by" "You cannot justify yourself by any quarrel with me," interrupted Mr Gerard. I have, as you say, although not for the foolish reason you would mention, no right to be either your judge or accuser. But, Sir Massingberd, there h a God whom we nave both good cause to fear." . "So you make your own sermons, I P e l ceive! " excl »iroea the other bitterly. That is the reason, is it, why the good lolks never see you at church? Cant amuses me always; but religion out of your mouth is humorous indeed. Pray go on, sir, if my dear nephew can wait a Jittle, tor I should be sorry to miss him

altogether. You were affirming, I think, the existence of a God." 54 1 was about to urge," continued Mr Gerard with grave severity, " since howsoever persons differ on religious matters, fhey generally acknowledge a common Father, that if there is one crime more hateful to Him than another, it is the deliberate debauchery of the mind of youth. 1 had no intention of making any particular accusation, such as the sight of this flask seeing to have suggested to you. I know nothing — but what I guess— of its history. It has only been in my hands a very few minutes. The person by whose means it came into this house was, I believe, an old gip*y woman, and you are doubtless well aware how it got into her possession." Mr Gerard paused. Sir Massingberd who, though smiling scornfully, had been beating the groand with his foot, here observed with a forced calmness : "She is a liar ; she is a thief, and the mother of thieves." "Did she steal this flask?" inquired Mr Gerard regarding the other attentively. "It hag your crest upon it. She did not. Good. It was then, I suppose, only a gage ePamour of yours." A lurid light came over Sir Massingberd's evil face ; for a moment, I trembled for the man who dared td; speak such words to him, but almost instantly he recovered his usual cruel calm. " Your sagacity, Mr Gerard," returned he, "is truly admirable. Is it the result of experience or intuition ? or has this old ginger-faced harridan made you her favored confidant? With your fondness for all such vagabonds, I am well acquainted." " The reprobation of a man like you, Sir Massingberd, should be dearer than the praise of ordinary mortals ; but this matter does not concern myself in any way." The baronet muttered something between his set teeth. "Pshaw, man," continued Mr Gerard with unutterable scorn, "think not to frighten me. I am stronger than you, because lam richer ; you are is poor as those very vagabonds whom you despise ; your very existence depends upon the alms of a stranger. That you are unscrupulous in your revenges, Ido not doubt ; but you would have to deal in Harvey Gerard with ] one who only uses honorable weapons with | an honorable foe. If you do mo or mine a mischief, I swear to you that I would shoot you like a, dog." j The frame of the speaker shook with contemptuous passion : deiiant as was his j language, it fell far short of the disdain ! expressed in his tone and manner. It was not in. Sir Massingberd's nature to be overawed, but his truculent features no longer i maintained their grimriess— their cruel ' humor. He could not put aside a man like Gerard with a brutal jest. Ido not say that he wa« conscious of his own in- j feriority. but he knew that his opponent j not only did not fear, but actually despised j him. Tins was wormwood. ' j " [ am ashamed," continued Mr Gerard after a pause, "to have lost my temper with you, Sir Massingberd. upon my own account. I wish to have nothing in common with you, not even a quarrel. We were speaking of this gipsy woman, and you called her thief, and what not. Whatever may be her faults, however, it does not become you to dwell on them ; but for hor and her prompt assistance, your nephew would not at this moment be alive. Out of this very flask, she administered to him " So frightful an execration here broke from the baronet's lips, that I anticipated it to be the prelude to a personal assault upon my host. Mr Gerard, however, stood quietly sfirring the tire, with his eyes fixed firmly but calmly on those, of Sir Massingberd, just as a mad doctor mijiht regard a dangerous patient. " That is a very singular exclamation of Gratitude," observed Mr Gerard sardonically, "to one who has just performed you — or at least yours —so great a service. It rralJy seems as though you almost regretted that it was performed." A look of deadly hatred had now taken the place of all other expressions on the baronet's face. It forgot even to wear its sneer. _" I have been insulted enough, I think," said he, with a calmness more terrible than wrath. "Even as it is, I shall scarcely be able to requite you, though, be sure, I will do my best. But with respect to my errand, I am come here to see my nephew, and that I will do." " That you shall not do, Sir Massingberd, so surely as this house is mine." "And who shall prevent me?" exclaimed the barodet, contemptuously mea- [ Buring his foe from head to foot. i "Not I, air, indeed," returned Mr Ge- [ rard ; " but I will see my servants put you out of doors by force," and as he spoke, he kid his hand upon the bell. "Before night, then, I shall stand for Marmaduke, and he shall be carried back I to Fairburn, which, after all, is hia proper home, and be there nursed." " Nursed S" repeated my host hoarsely. " Nursed by the grave-digger, you mean."

Sir Massingberd turned livid and sat down ; then, as one who acts in his sleep, he passed his handkerchief once or twice across his forehead. '*' How dare you speak such things to me?'* said he, looking round about him. " To. hear you talk, one would think that I had tried to murder the boy." "•' I know you diil," cried Mr Gerard solemnly, kyiiig his finger upon the baronet's arm. "If your nephew Marmaduke dies, his blood is on your head." v I will tell you how. You might have suffered Mr Long to purchase a horse for the boy, a 9 he offered to do, and not have sent to London for a confirmed runaway." "He rode it half-a-dozen times without any harm," replied Sir Massingberd sullenly. "Yes, with a curb that would have tamed a wild horae fresh from the 1a5.30. But when you took that curb for the. keeper's pony — riding with gun in hand for the first time in your life — and sent your nephew forth upon that devil with a snaffle-bridle-*— nay, I have it yonder, air— don't lie ; you calculated that if what you wished should happen, all would be laid to chance : a change of bridles. is an accident like enough to happen ; lads are thrown j From horseback every day. See, I track ! your thoughts like slime. Base ruffian ; rise] begone from beneath this roof, false coward " Sir Massingberd started up lib? stung by an adder. "Yes, I say Coward! Heavens! that this creature should still feel the touch of shame! Be off, be ©ff; molest not any one within this house at peril of your life — Murderer — Murderer I" Without a word, without a glance of reply, Sic Massingberd seized his hat, and hurried from the room. I felt some alarm lest he should make some violent effort to visit Marn;iaduke ; but Mr Gerard's countenance gare me comfort. He stood quite still, listening with grim satisfaction to the baronet's retreating footsteps. They wore heard for an instant striding along the floor of the hall, and then were exchanged for the sounds his horse's hoofs urged to speed along the carriage-drive. Sir Massinjjberd Heath had met Tior once with his mateh — and more.