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Varney the Vampire by Thomas Preskett Prest

T >> Thomas Preskett Prest >> Varney the Vampire




"Varney, the vampyre!" added the voice, and then both the doctor and his
companion recognised it, and saw the strange, haggard features, that now
they knew so well, confronting them. There was a pause of surprise, for
a moment or two, on the part of the doctor, and then he said, "Sir
Francis Varney, what brings you here? I conjure you to tell me, in the
name of common justice and common feeling, what brings you to this house
so frequently? You have dispossessed the family, whose property it is,
of it, and you have caused great confusion and dismay over a whole
county. I implore you now, not in the language of menace or as an enemy,
but as the advocate of the oppressed, and one who desires to see justice
done to all, to tell me what it is you require."

"There is no time now for explanation," said Varney, "if explanations
were my full and free intent. You wished to know what noise was that you
heard?"

"I did; can you inform me?"--"I can. The wild and lawless mob which you
and your friends first induced to interfere in affairs far beyond their
or your control, are now flushed with the desire of riot and of plunder.
The noise you hear is that of their advancing footsteps; they come to
destroy Bannerworth Hall."

"Can that be possible? The Bannerworth family are the sufferers from all
that has happened, and not the inflictors of suffering."--"Ay, be it so;
but he who once raises a mob has raised an evil spirit, which, in the
majority of cases, it requires a far more potent spell than he is master
of to quell again."

"It is so. That is a melancholy truth; but you address me, Sir Francis
Varney, as if I led on the mob, when in reality I have done all that lay
in my power, from the very first moment of their rising on account of
this affair, which, in the first instance, was your work, to prevent
them from proceeding to acts of violence."--"It may be so; but if you
have now any regard for your own safety you will quit this place. It
will too soon become the scene of a bloody contention. A large party of
dragoons are even now by another route coming towards it, and it will be
their duty to resist the aggressions of the mob; then should the rioters
persevere, you can guess the result."--"I can, indeed."

"Retire then while you may, and against the bad deeds of Sir Francis
Varney at all events place some of his good ones, that he may not seem
wholly without one redeeming trait."--"I am not accustomed," said the
doctor, "to paint the devil blacker than he really is; but yet the cruel
persecutions that the Bannerworth family have endured call aloud for
justice. You still, with a perseverance which shows you regardless of
what others suffer so that you compass your own ends, hover round a spot
which you have rendered desolate."

"Hark, sir; do you not hear the tramp of horses' feet?"--"I do."

The noise made by the feet of the insurgents was now almost drowned in
the louder and more rapid tramp of the horses' feet of the advancing
dragoons, and, in a few moments more, Sir Francis Varney waved his arm,
exclaiming,--

"They are here. Will you not consult your safety by flight?"--"No," said
Mr. Chillingworth's companion; "we prefer remaining here at the risk
even of whatever danger may accrue to us."

"Fools, would you die in a chance _melee_ between an infuriated populace
and soldiery?"--"Do not leave," whispered the ex-hangman to Mr.
Chillingworth; "do not leave, I pray you. He only wants to have the Hall
to himself."

There could be no doubt now of the immediate appearance of the cavalry,
and, before Sir Francis Varney could utter another word, a couple of the
foremost of the soldiers cleared the garden fence at a part where it was
low, and alighted not many feet from the summer-house in which this
short colloquy was taking place. Sir Francis Varney uttered a bitter
oath, and immediately disappeared in the gloom.

"What shall we do?" said the hangman.--"You can do what you like, but I
shall avow my presence to the military, and claim to be on their side in
the approaching contest, if it should come to one, which I sincerely
hope it will not."

The military detachment consisted of about twenty-five dragoons, who now
were all in the gardens. An order was given by the officer in command
for them to dismount, which was at once obeyed, and the horses were
fastened by their bridles to the various trees with which the place
abounded.

"They are going to oppose the mob on foot, with their carbines," said
the hangman; "there will be sad work here I am afraid."--"Well, at all
events," said Mr. Chillingworth, "I shall decline acting the part of a
spy here any longer; so here goes."

"Hilloa! a friend,--a friend here, in the summer-house!"

"Make it two friends," cried the hangman, "if you please, while you are
about it."

A couple of the dragoons immediately appeared, and the doctor, with his
companion, were marched, as prisoners, before the officer in command.

"What do you do here?" he said; "I was informed that the Hall was
deserted. Here, orderly, where is Mr. Adamson, the magistrate, who came
with me?"--"Close at hand sir, and he says he's not well."

"Well, or ill, he must come here, and do something with these people."

A magistrate of the district who had accompanied the troops, and been
accommodated with a seat behind one of the dragoons, which seemed very
much to have disagreed with him, for he was as pale as death, now
stepped forward.

"You know me, Mr. Adamson?" said the doctor; "I am Mr.
Chillingworth."--"Oh! yes; Lord bless you! how came you here?"

"Never mind that just now; you can vouch for my having no connection
with the rioters."--"Oh! dear, yes; certainly. This is a respectable
gentleman, Captain Richardson, and a personal friend of mine."

"Oh! very good."--"And I," said the doctor's companion, "am likewise a
respectable and useful member of society, and a great friend of Mr.
Chillingworth."

"Well, gentlemen," said the captain in command, "you may remain here, if
you like, and take the chances, or you may leave."

They intimated that they preferred remaining, and, almost at the moment
that they did so, a loud shout from many throats announced the near
approach of the mob.--"Now, Mr. Magistrate, if you please," said the
officer; "you will be so good as to tell the mob that I am here with my
troop, under your orders, and strongly advise them to be off while they
can, with whole skins, for if they persevere in attacking the place, we
must persevere in defending it; and, if they have half a grain of sense
among them, they can surely guess what the result of that will be."

"I will do the best I can, as Heaven is, my judge," said the magistrate,
"to produce a peaceable recall,--more no man can do."

"Hurrah! hurrah!"' shouted the mob, "down with the Vampyre! down with
the Hall!" and then one, more candid than his fellows, shouted,--"Down
with everything and everybody!"

"Ah!" remarked the officer; "that fellow now knows what he came about."

A great number of torches and links were lighted by the mob, but the
moment the glare of light fell upon the helmets and accoutrements of the
military, there was a pause of consternation on the part of the
multitude, and Mr. Adamson, urged on by the officer, who, it was
evident, by no means liked the service he was on, took advantage of the
opportunity, and, stepping forward, he said,--

"My good people, and fellow townsmen, let me implore you to listen to
reason, and go to your homes in peace. If you do not, but, on the
contrary, in defiance of law and good order, persist in attacking this
house, it will become my painful duty to read the riot act, and then the
military and you will have to fight it out together, which I beg you
will avoid, for you know that some of you will be killed, and a lot more
of you receive painful wounds. Now disperse, let me beg of you, at
once."

There seemed for a moment a disposition among the mob to give up the
contest, but there were others among them who were infuriated with
drink, and so regardless of all consequences. Those set up a shout of
"Down with the red coats; we are Englishmen, and will do what we like."
Some one then threw a heavy stone, which struck one of the soldiers, and
brought blood from his cheek. The officer saw it, but he said at once,--

"Stand firm, now, stand firm. No anger--steady."

"Twenty pounds for the man who threw that stone," said the
magistrate.--"Twenty pound ten for old Adamson, the magistrate," cried a
voice in the crowd, which, no doubt came from him who had cast the
missile.

Then, at least fifty stones were thrown, some of which hit the
magistrate, and the remainder came rattling upon the helmets of the
dragoons, like a hail shower.

"I warn you, and beg of you to go," said Mr. Adamson; "for the sake of
your wives and families, I beg of you not to pursue this desperate
game."

Loud cries now arose of "Down with the soldiers; down with the vampyre.
He's in Bannerworth Hall. Smoke him out." And then one or two links were
hurled among the dismounted dragoons. All this was put up with
patiently; and then again the mob were implored to leave, which being
answered by fresh taunts, the magistrate proceeded to read the riot act,
not one word of which was audible amid the tumult that prevailed.

"Put out all the lights," cried a voice among the mob. The order was
obeyed, and the same voice added; "they dare not fire on us. Come on:"
and a rush was made at the garden wall.

"Make ready--present," cried the officer. And then he added, in an under
tone, "above their heads, now--fire."

There was a blaze of light for a moment, a stunning noise, a shout of
dismay from the mob, and in another moment all was still.

"There," said Dr. Chillingworth, "that this is, at all events, a
bloodless victory."

"You may depend upon that," said his companion; "but is not there some
one yet remaining? Look there, do you not see a figure clambering over
the fence?"

"Yes, I do, indeed. Ah, they have him a prisoner, at all events. Those
two dragoons have him, fast enough; we shall now, perhaps, hear from
this fellow who is the actual ringleader in such an affair, which, but
for the pusillanimity of the mob, might have turned out to be really
most disastrous."

It was strange how one man should think it expedient to attack the
military post after the mob had been so completely routed at the first
discharge of fire-arms, but so it was. One man did make an attempt to
enter the garden, and it was so rapid and so desperate an one, that he
rather seemed to throw himself bodily at the fence, which separated it
from the meadows without, than to clamber over it, as any one under
ordinary circumstances, who might wish to effect an entrance by that
means, would have done.

He was no sooner, however, perceived, than a couple of the dismounted
soldiers stepped forward and made a prisoner of him.

"Good God!" exclaimed Mr. Chillingworth, as they approached nearer with
him. "Good God! what is the meaning of that? Do my eyes deceive me, or
are they, indeed, so blessed?"

"Blessed by what?" exclaimed the hangman.

"By a sight of the long lost, deeply regretted Charles Holland.
Charles--Charles, is that indeed you, or some unsubstantial form in your
likeness?"

Charles Holland, for it was, indeed, himself, heard the friendly voice
of the doctor, and he called out to him.

"Speak to me of Flora. Oh, speak to me of Flora, if you would not have
me die at once of suspense, and all the torture of apprehension."

"She lives and is well."

"Thank Heaven. Do with me what you please."

Dr. Chillingworth sprang forward, and addressing the magistrate, he
said,--

"Sir, I know this gentleman. He is no one of the rioters, but a dear
friend of the family of the Bannerworths. Charles Holland, what in the
name of Heaven had become of you so long, and what brought you here at
such a juncture as this?"

"I am faint," said Charles; "I--I only arrived as the crowd did. I had
not strength to fight my way through them, and was compelled to pause
until they had dispersed Can--can you give me water?"

"Here's something better," said one of the soldiers, as he handed a
flask to Charles, who partook of some of the contents, which greatly
revived him, indeed.

"I am better now," he said. "Thank you kindly. Take me into the house.
Good God! why is it made a point of attack? Where are Flora and Henry?
Are they all well? And my uncle? Oh! what must you all have thought of
my absence! But you cannot have endured a hundredth part of what I have
suffered. Let me look once again upon the face of Flora. Take me into
the house."

"Release him," said the officer, as he pointed to his head, and looked
significantly, as much as to say, "Some mad patient of yours, I
suppose."

"You are much mistaken, sir," said Dr. Chillingworth; "this gentleman
has been cruelly used, I have no doubt. He has, I am inclined to
believe, been made the victim, for a time, of the intrigues of that very
Sir Francis Varney, whose conduct has been the real cause of all the
serious disturbances that have taken place in the country."

"Confound Sir Francis Varney," muttered the officer; "he is enough to
set a whole nation by the ears. However, Mr. Magistrate, if you are
satisfied that this young man is not one of the rioters, I have, of
course, no wish to hold him a prisoner."

"I can take Mr. Chillingworth's word for more than that," said the
magistrate.

Charles Holland was accordingly released, and then the doctor, in
hurried accents, told him the principal outlines of what had occurred.

"Oh! take me to Flora," he said; "let me not delay another moment in
seeking her, and convincing her that I could not have been guilty of the
baseness of deserting her."

"Hark you, Mr. Holland, I have quite made up my mind that I will not
leave Bannerworth Hall yet; but you can go alone, and easily find them
by the directions which I will give you; only let me beg of you not to
go abruptly into the presence of Flora. She is in an extremely delicate
state of health, and although I do not take upon myself to say that a
shock of a pleasurable nature would prove of any paramount bad
consequence to her, yet it is as well not to risk it."

"I will be most careful, you may depend."

At this moment there was a loud ringing at the garden bell, and, when it
was answered by one of the dragoons, who was ordered to do so by his
officer, he came back, escorting no other than Jack Pringle, who had
been sent by the admiral to the Hall, but who had solaced himself so
much on the road with divers potations, that he did not reach it till
now, which was a full hour after the reasonable time in which he ought
to have gone the distance.

[Illustration]

Jack was not to say dumb, but he had had enough to give him a very jolly
sort of feeling of independence, and so he came along quarrelling with
the soldier all the way, the latter only laughing and keeping his temper
admirably well, under a great deal of provocation.

"Why, you land lubbers," cried Jack, "what do you do here, all of you, I
wonder! You are all wamphighers, I'll be bound, every one of you. You
mind me of marines, you do, and that's quite enough to turn a proper
seaman's stomach, any day in the week."

The soldier only laughed, and brought Jack up to the little group of
persons consisting of Dr. Chillingworth, the hangman, Charles Holland,
and the officer.

"Why, Jack Pringle," said Dr. Chillingworth, stepping before Charles, so
that Jack should not see him,--"why, Jack Pringle, what brings you
here?"

"A slight squall, sir, to the nor'west. Brought you something to eat."

Jack produced a bottle.

"To drink, you mean?"

"Well, it's all one; only in this here shape, you see, it goes down
better, I'm thinking, which does make a little difference somehow."

"How is the admiral?"

"Oh, he's as stupid as ever; Lord bless you, he'd be like a ship without
a rudder without me, and would go swaying about at the mercy of winds
and waves, poor old man. He's bad enough as it is, but if so be I wasn't
to give the eye to him as I does, bless my heart if I thinks as he'd be
above hatches long. Here's to you all."

Jack took the cork from the bottle he had with him, and there came from
it a strong odour of rum. Then he placed it to his lips, and was
enjoying the pleasant gurgle of the liquor down his throat, when Charles
stepped up to him, and laying hold of the lower end of the bottle, he
dragged it from his mouth, saying,--

"How dare you talk in the way you have of my uncle, you drunken,
mutinous rascal, and behind his back too!"

The voice of Charles Holland was as well known to Jack Pringle as that
of the admiral, and his intense astonishment at hearing himself so
suddenly addressed by one, of whose proximity he had not the least idea,
made some of the rum go, what is popularly termed, the wrong way, and
nearly choked him.

He reeled back, till he fell over some obstruction, and then down he sat
on a flower bed, while his eyes seemed ready to come out of his head.

"Avast heavings," he cried, "Who's that?"

"Come, come," said Charles Holland, "don't pretend you don't know me; I
will not have my uncle spoken of in a disrespectful manner by you."

"Well, shiver my timbers, if that ain't our nevey. Why, Charley, my boy,
how are you? Here we are in port at last. Won't the old commodore pipe
his eye, now. Whew! here's a go. I've found our nevey, after all."

"You found him," said Dr. Chillingworth; "now, that is as great a piece
of impudence as ever I heard in all my life. You mean that he has found
you, and found you out, too, you drunken fellow. Jack, you get worse and
worse every day."

"Ay, ay, sir."

"What, you admit it?"

"Ay, ay, sir. Now, Master Charley, I tell you what it is, I shall take
you off to your old uncle, you shore going sneak and you'll have to
report what cruise you've been upon all this while, leaving the ship to
look after itself. Lord love you all, if it hadn't been for me I don't
know what anybody would have done."

"I only know of the result," said Dr Chillingworth, "that would ensue,
if it were not for you, and that would consist in a great injury to the
revenue, in consequence of the much less consumption of rum and other
strong liquors."

"I'll be hanged up at the yard if I understands what you mean," said
Jack; "as if I ever drunk anything--I, of all people in the world. I am
ashamed of you. You are drunk."

Several of the dragoons had to turn aside to keep themselves from
laughing, and the officer himself could not forbear from a smile as be
said to the doctor,--

"Sir, you seem to have many acquaintances, and by some means or another
they all have an inclination to come here to-night. If, however, you
consider that you are bound to remain here from a feeling that the Hall
is threatened with any danger, you may dismiss that fear, for I shall
leave a picquet here all night."

"No, sir," replied Dr. Chillingworth, "it is not that I fear now, after
the manner in which they have been repulsed, any danger to the Hall from
the mob; but I have reasons for wishing to be in it or near it for some
time to come."

"As you please."

"Charles, do not wait for or accept the guidance of that drunken fellow,
but go yourself with a direction which I will write down for you in a
leaf of my pocket-book."

"Drunken fellow," exclaimed Jack, who had now scrambled to his feet,
"who do you call a drunken fellow?"

"Why you, unquestionably."

"Well, now, that is hard. Come along, nevey; I'll shew you where they
all are. I could walk a plank on any deck with any man in the service, I
could. Come along, my boy, come along."

"You can accept of him as a guide if you like, of course," said the
doctor; "he may be sober enough to conduct you."

"I think he can," said Charles. "Lead on, Jack; but mark me, I shall
inform my uncle of this intemperance, as well as of the manner in which
you let your tongue wag about him behind his back, unless you promise to
reform."

"He is long past all reformation," remarked Dr. Chillingworth; "it is
out of the question."

"And I am afraid my uncle will not have courage to attempt such an
ungrateful task, when there is so little chance of success," replied
Charles Holland, shaking the worthy doctor by the hand. "Farewell, for
the present, sir; the next time I see you, I hope we shall both be more
pleasantly situated."

"Come along, nevey," interrupted Jack Pringle; "now you've found your
way back, the first thing you ought to do, is to report yourself as
having come aboard. Follow me, and I'll soon show yer the port where the
old hulk's laid hisself up."

Jack walked on first, tolerably steady, if one may take into account his
divers deep potations, and Charles Holland, anticipating with delight
again looking upon the face of his much loved Flora, followed closely
behind him.

We can well imagine the world of delightful thoughts that came crowding
upon him when Jack, after rather a long walk, announced that they were
now very near the residence of the object of his soul's adoration.

We trust that there is not one of our readers who, for one moment, will
suppose that Charles Holland was the sort of man to leave even such a
villain and double-faced hypocrite as Marchdale, to starve amid the
gloomy ruins where he was immured.

Far from Charles's intentions was any such thing; but he did think that
a night passed there, with no other company than his own reflections,
would do him a world of good, and was, at all events, no very great
modicum of punishment for the rascality with which he had behaved.

Besides, even during that night there were refreshments in the shape of
bread and water, such as had been presented to Charles himself, within
Marchdale's reach as they had been within his.

That individual now, Charles thought, would have a good opportunity of
testing the quality of that kind of food, and of finding out what an
extremely light diet it was for a strong man to live upon.

But in the morning it was Charles's intention to take Henry Bannerworth
and the admiral with him to the ruins, and then and there release the
wretch from his confinement, on condition that he made a full confession
of his villanies before those persons.

Oh, how gladly would Marchdale have exchanged the fate which actually
befell him for any amount of personal humiliation, always provided that
it brought with it a commensurate amount of personal safety.

But that fate was one altogether undreamt of by Charles Holland, and
wholly without his control.

It was a fate which would have been his, but for the murderous purpose
which had brought Marchdale to the dungeon, and those happy accidents
which had enabled Charles to change places with him, and breathe the
free, cool, fresh air; while he left his enemy loaded with the same
chains that had encumbered his limbs so cruelly, and lying on that same
damp dungeon floor, which he thought would be his grave.

We mentioned that as Charles left the ruins, the storm, which had been
giving various indications of its coming, seemed to be rapidly
approaching.

It was one of these extremely local tempests which expend all their
principal fury over a small space of country; and, in this instance, the
space seemed to include little more than the river, and the few meadows
which immediately surrounded it, and lent it so much of its beauty.

Marchdale soon found that his cries were drowned by the louder voices of
the elements. The wailing of the wind among the ancient ruins was much
more full of sound than his cries; and, now and then, the full-mouthed
thunder filled the air with such a volume of roaring, and awakened so
many echoes among the ruins, that, had he possessed the voices of fifty
men, he could not have hoped to wage war with it.

And then, although we know that Charles Holland would have encountered
death himself, rather than he would have willingly left anything human
to expire of hunger in that dungeon, yet Marchdale, judging of others by
himself, felt by no means sure of any such thing, and, in his horror of
apprehension, fancied that that was just the sort of easy, and pleasant,
and complete revenge that it was in Charles Holland's power to take, and
just the one which would suggest itself, under the circumstances, to his
mind.

Could anything be possibly more full of horror than such a thought?
Death, let it come in any shape it may, is yet a most repulsive and
unwelcome guest; but, when it comes, so united with all that can add to
its terrors, it is enough to drive reason from its throne, and fill the
mind with images of absolute horror.

Tired of shrieking, for his parched lips and clogged tongue would
scarcely now permit him to utter a sound higher than a whisper.
Marchdale lay, listening to the furious storm without, in the last
abandonment of despair.

"Oh! what a death is this," he groaned. "Here, alone--all alone--and
starvation to creep on me by degrees, sapping life's energies one by
one. Already do I feel the dreadful sickening weakness growing on me.
Help, oh! help me Heav--no, no! Dare I call on Heaven to help me? Is
there no fiend of darkness who now will bid me a price for a human soul?
Is there not one who will do so--not one who will rescue me from the
horror that surrounds me, for Heaven will not? I dare not ask mercy
there."

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