CHAPTER IV.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1375, 6 August 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER IV.

Early the next morning, a note was handed to Lionel as he was at breakfast. As the the address was written in a delicate female hand, his heart bounded within him. Then he opened it gently and read :

My dearest Lionel, — Edward Trent has found out all about us ; and I am in momentary expectation of being summoned to an irfterview with father in the study. It may be better, perhaps, to keep the affair quiet for a little time, so 1 will ask you to meet me to-night at eight o'clock at the White Coppice stile, which you know well, instead of at our usual time and place, and. we can then arrange our plans, secure from interference. 1 have so much to tell you. — Ever your affectionate. Gillian Ramsden.

The young man read this note a doeen times, and a dozen timeß imprinted his lips upon the paper, then folded it away carefully next his heart, arid waited for the long weary hours to pass until he should again be side by side with the being lie loved most in the world. It was a little strange, he thought, for Gillian to make an appointment at such a time and place, but he had such implicit confidance in her sense, that he knew that she must have some sufficient reason for so doing. In the meanwhile, tremendous news had shaken Europe from one end to the other. On the night of the 19th of March, Louis XVIII. had fled from Paris to Lille before the advance of Bonaparte from the south. On the 20th, Napoleon entered the Tuilleries; and by the middle of May, had, by incredible efforts, gathered around him an army of one hundred and thirty thousand men. The British Cabinot had met in hot haste ; recruiting officers were hard at work plying their vocation throughout the British empire, for the cream of the army, the veterans of the Peninsular, were frittering away their strength in unproductive campaigns against the Americans. Bonham was in a state of great excitement, for the headquarters of the county regiment was there, and the one topic of conversation on everybody's lips was its probable instant departure for the seat of war. Everyone indeed was smitten with the war-fever, although prayers for peace had been universal for long months past, and the" difficulty the, sergeants had to contend with was, not the bringing in of recruits, but the selection of the best men amongst the hundreds who < preseted themselves". Lionel had seen enough of war, and this abundance of fighting material gave him hope that his services with the Fenshire Regiment might be dispensed with ; for, with so dangerous an enemy as Edward Trent about, he dare not leave Gillian alone with a father prejudiced against her.

The long day at length drifted into night, and Lionel, full of joy and hope, started for the White Coppice to meet his beloved. He had not felt so careless and light-hearted since he had trod this same road, in the reverse direction, at the same hour of night, six years beforej when on his way to enlist ; and never before had nature seemed so beautiful as now, when the rising moon castf^all sorts of weird shadows over fields and hedges. White Coppice toe remembered well, as being reputed haunted, and therefore the goal of many secret expeditions undertaken by him and other adventurous youths in quest of the gray spirit of a murdered tramp. It was a great deal more than a coppice, being, in fact, an extensive corner of thick wood, almost impenetrable by daylight, absolutely Cimmerean at night, the favorite haunt of poachers, and, for the reason above stated, generally shunned by the superstitious country folk. When Lionel arrived there a few minutes before eight, he could not help wondering why Gillian should have named such a spot for a trysting place, so weird and uncanny it seemed in its absolute stillness and almost impenetrable gloom, rendered perhaps more solenhi by the pale light .of the m'oon_shining on the tall white columns of scattered beech trees. However, he swung himself on to the stile, which announced a faint path through the coppice, and sat listening for any sound which might herald the arrival of his love. Eight o'clock boomed simultaneously from the Hall stables and old Hingleton belfry. No Gillian. A quarterpast, half-past. Lionel grew impatient and suspicious, and was in the act of plunging boldly into the wood in the direction of the Hall, when a slight noise amongst the bushes arrested him. He remained motionless. The sound continued ; but Lionel knew the coppice to be a happy hunting ground for rabbits, and went forward ; then he heard a distinct low whistle, and muttering the word 'poachers,' he stooped, as if to screen himself from observation. Scarcely had had he done so, when he felt a heavy hand laid on his shoulder, and recognised in the moonlight the face of the man he had seen talking to Edward Trent in the lane. His first impulse was to shake him off roughly and demand his business ; but when he saw appear from the gloom like

so many phantoms half-a-dozen other wild-looking figures, he felt that, as he was unarmed, discretion was the better part of valour.

" Ha !" said the man ; "so your'e the chap as sneaks about and watches of us, and gets us lagged without showin' hisself, is you ; Just caught you proper, my young buck. And now, you'll jes' be one of us, and if we're lagged, you'll be lagged too, and get a taste of what you've caused a score of better men than you to get."

" I assure you" began Lionel, but was stopped short by a broad, unsavory hand being clapped over his mouth. "Hnsh, you fool! Don't yer twig the watchers ? Down you go. " Lionel looked in the direction indicated by his captor, and espied in the bright moonlight four men clad as keepers and armed with guns. His first idea was to shout for help, but he was forced down behind a bush by his powerful captor. Such precaution, however, was useless so far as the poachers were concerned, and with a loud shout the keepers bore down on the group. In a very few seconds, what was apparently a desperate fight was kept up. One of the poachers, mistaking Lionel for a keeper, commenced a violent attack upon him, and in self-defence lie was compelled to pick up a gun lying by and return blow for blow. This he did with some success, until a tremendous blow on the head, seemingly from behind, strotched him on the ground, and he fell senseless. When he recovered, he was in a rough cart, in company with two keepers, jogging paigfully along the road to Bonham. He was conscious of a throbbing pain in the head, and the moonlight shone upon dark patches on his clothes, which could only be blood.

"What am I brought like this for?" he asked. " Where are you takme me to?"

" What are yer brought along here for,r and where are we a-taking of you ?" repeated the keeper in a surly voice. " Why, you've been caught poachin', and we're a-takin' of you to Bonham lock-tip. You're a deep un, you are, and you've given us a dance for some weeks ; but you're ddhe for this time."

" But lam not a poacher. lam Lionel Gaskell, son of Squire Gaskell, who died five years ago, said Lionel.

" Well, you had better tell that to the justices at the sessions to-morrow, and see if they 11 believe it," said the man. "That ain't our business. We've found you with yer gun about you, along with Nehemiah Buck's gang ; and if yer can get out of it, yer can." So Lionel had to submit to be pushed into a dark, damp, evil-smelling hole known as Bonham lock-up. During the long hours of that night the young man had amplo time to put two and two together, and attribute the whole affair, not to accident, but to a mature plot of Edward Trent's. The missive he had so fondly kissed and pressed as coming from Gillian, no doubt was a forgery prepared by Trent. The consolation he had was that he would at any rate get justice done him on the morrow, and a fitting opportunity would be given him for proclaiming liis identity. Then, wearied with pain and loss of blood he fell asleep in the small hours of the morning, and was only awakened by the opening of his cell-door and the gruff announcement that he was wanted at the sessions house. The market place as he passed through was full of soldiers ; and that further news of great import had arrived was evident from the excitement everywhere prevalent, the unusual crowds, and the universal absence of all signs of business. He recognised a great many of his old companions in arms, but nobody noticed him, and lie passed- through the crowd in the -custody of a stalwart constable, followed by the two game keepers, without even attracting a remark concerning his woful appearance.

The sessions house was almost empty, and there were but two justices on the bench. One of them he did not know ; the other was Squire Ramsdon, whom he recognised from Gillian's description. Two or three cases of theft and drunkennesss were disposed of,,and he was placed at the bar.

" So you're one of those rascals who can find no better means of gaining a livlihood than stealing other people's game, are you 1 " said Squire Ramsden ; " aftd I am instructed that you are the leader of a desperate gang, after whom we have been for weeks past."

"-I am nothing of the kind," said Lionel, colouring up. "I am Lionel Gaskell, son of the late Squire Gaskell, o! Hingleton."

The ' other justice smiled, and said something about " brazen-faced impudence to pass off for a man who had been long dead ;" but Mr. Ramsden turned for a moment deadly pale, although lie managed to stammer out: "Nonsense, my man ; don't try to come that gibberish over us. — Keeper,detail the circumstances of his arrest." So the keeper related what we already know ; and when he had finished, Squire Ramsden, without giving Lionel a chance to reply, said : " Well, the case is clearly proved. This gun was found in your hand, and you had been using it violently. My brother justices and I are determined to stamp out this wholesale system of poaching, which has too long remained unchecked all about here ; and as a warning you are sentenced two to years' imprisonment. — Remove the prisoner. — Next case." *

" Sir, Mr. Ramsden 1" — began Lionel. "Remove the prisoner immediately, jailer," thundered the squire ; and Lione was about to be forcibly taken away when an officer in uniform stepped up to the bench, saying : " one moment, sir, if you will pardon my intrusion. This man whom you have just sentenced I recognise as John Hall, a corporal in my company. He is one of the best non-com-missioned officers*we have, and we sadly want non-coms. If you will allow him to exchange the jail for foreign service, I shall deem it a favour."

"Well, sir," said the squire, "as you know, it's an interference with the course of justice ; but under the circumstances, I accede to your request. — Prisoner, you are discharged."

The regiment was ordered to parade after dinner, at one o'clock, and to start soon after en route for London and Dover. Lionel would just have time to arrange matters at the inn, and to send off a note to Gillian, but no more. With another hour to spare, he could have posted over to Hingleton and contrived to bid her farewell ; as it was he could only inform her of his position, so that at unyrate she might get a passing glympse of him, Before they left the court, Lionel wen%u^|b the captain who had extricated him from his predicament, and said : " Captain, I have to thank you Cor your opportune kindness. If we

arrive home again, I hope that you willnot deem it presumption if I ask you to bear witness about my enlistment, in case T should wish to establish my identity as Lionel Gaskcll of Hingleton." The captain looked astonished at such an announcement from a man who ten minutes before had stood convicted of poaching. Lionel continued : "I was wrongfully arrested, through the agency of Lawyer Trent, who has conceived a deadly hatred to me because.l love the girl he wants to make his wife. "

"Why, " said the officer, "Lawyer Trent is engaged to Miss Ramsden of the Hall."

"•Tso sir ; he is not, and never has been. But I am."

" You — a corporal in a line regiment, engaged to Miss Ramsden !" exclaimed the captain.

"Why not, sir? I am as well born as she is, although I am but a corparal in a line regiment," said Lionel. "Atanyrate, sir, if we have the good-luck to come back, I hope you will bear out my assertion, which I intend to make publicly, about the circumstanoes of my enlistment."

"Certainly I will."

Lionel satute.d, and hastened to pay his reckoning at the inn, and once more to don his regimentals.

There was such excitement in Hingleton as had not been for many years, when it was known that the regiment would pass through the village on its way to the seat of war. Flags and decorations were brought out from closets and lumberrooms ; the country-folk came pouring in from all directions ; such business as the little town boasted was suspended, and long before the expected hour, every coign of advantage was occupied by a chattering, excited crowd. At the first crash of distant music, the excitement swelled into a loud murmur of •' Here they come !" and when a crowd of urchins, keeping step to the famous old air of "The Girl I left behind me, " swept round the corner of the street, popular feeling culuminated in a tremendous rolling volley of cheers. Long Tom of Chelmsford, brandishing his tremendous gold -knobbed staff, led the way, and was by no means, in his own estimation, the most insignificant feature in the pagant. To him succeeded the fifes and drums; then the gray-haired colonel on horseback ; and then the regiment, seven hundred strong, the sergeants with their pikes on the flanks, the tattered regimental colours, upon which were just distinguishable the Sphinx and the word "Badajos" in the midst, borne by two beardless youngsters, who had seen more service than their appearance warranted. Young men, the rank and file certainly were ; many of them mere boys ; but their square shoulders and sturdy limbs showed that they were of the right stuff, and every face bore an expression of joyful enthusiasm at the prospect of having another hit at the French.

The squire, Gillian, and Edward Trent were on the steps of the parson's house ; all three were looking for the same corporal of the same company, but with very different feelings. Lionel" saw Sweot Gillian long before she saw him ; and as he marched past, his earnest salute of departure was eagerly and tearfully returned by his betrothed. She saw no more: the brave young faces glowing in the bright May sun passed by rank after rank, the bay.onets glistened and swayed; the music grew fainter and fainter ; and when the last red coat was dimly visible in the cloud of dust raised by the tramp of many hundreds of feet, and the regiment had passed, she realised for the first time in her young life a sense of utter loneliness.

(To be Continued.)