Varney the Vampire by Thomas Preskett Prest

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"He knew I was engaged to a young woman in this country, and that I was
willing to work hard to save money to make up a comfortable home for us
both, and that I would not sail again, but that I intended to remain
ashore, and make up my mind to a shore life."

"Well, you would have a house then?"

"Exactly; and that's what I wished to do. Well, I made a small venture
in the cargo, and thought, by so doing, that I should have a chance of
realizing a sum of money that would put us both in a comfortable line of
business.

"Well, we went on very smoothly until we were coming back. We had
disposed of the cargo, and I had received some money, and this seemed to
cause our captain to hate me, because I had been successful; but I
thought there was something else in it than that, but I could not tell
what it was that made him so intolerably cross and tyrannous.

"Well, I found out, at length, he knew my intended wife. He knew her
very well, and at the same time he made every effort he could to induce
me to commit some act of disobedience and insubordination; but I would
not, for it seemed to me he was trying all he could to prevent my doing
my duty with anything like comfort.

"However, I learned the cause of all this afterwards. It was told me by
one of the crew.

"'Bill,' said my mate, 'look out for yourself.'

"'What's in the wind?' said I.

"'Only the captain has made a dead set at you, and you'll be a lucky man
if you escape.'

"'What's it all about?' said I. 'I cannot understand what he means. I
have done nothing wrong. I don't see why I should suddenly be treated in
this way.'

"'It's all about your girl, Bill.'

"'Indeed!' said I. 'What can that have to do with the captain? he knows
nothing of her.'

"'Oh, yes, he does,' he said. 'If it were not for you he would have the
girl himself.'

"'I see now,' said I.

"'Ay, and so can a blind man if you open his eyes; but he wants to make
you do wrong--to goad you on to do something that will give him the
power of disgracing you, and, perhaps, of punishing you.'

"'He won't do that,' said I.

"'I am glad to hear you say so, Bill; for, to my mind, he has made up
his mind to go the whole length against you. I can't make it out, unless
he wishes you were dead.'

"'I dare say he does,' said I; 'but I will take care I will live to
exact a reckoning when he comes ashore.'

"'That is the best; and when we are paid off, Bill, if you will take it
out of him, and pay him off, why, I don't care if I lend you a hand.'

"'We'll say more about that, Dick,' said I, 'when we get ashore and are
paid off. If we are overheard now, it will be said that we are
conspiring, or committing mutiny, or something of that sort.'

"'You are right, Bill,' he said--'you are right. We'll say no more about
this now, but you may reckon upon me when we are no longer under his
orders.'

"'Then there's no danger, you know.'

"Well, we said nothing about this, but I thought of it, and I had cause
enough, too, to think of it; for each day the captain grew more and more
tyrannous and brutal. I knew not what to do, but kept my resolution of
doing my duty in spite of all he could do, though I don't mind admitting
I had more than one mind to kill him and myself afterwards.

"However, I contrived to hold out for another week or two, and then we
came into port, and were released from his tyranny. I got paid off, and
then I met my messmate, and we had some talk about the matter.

"'The worst of it is,' said I, 'we shall have some difficulty to catch
him; and, if we can, I'll be sworn we shall give him enough to last him
for at least a voyage or two.'

"'He ought to have it smart,' said my messmate; 'and I know where he is
to be found.'

"'Do you?--at what hour?'

"'Late at night, when he may be met with as he comes from a house where
he spends his evenings."

"'That will be the best time in the world, when we shall have less
interference than at any other time in the day. But we'll have a turn
to-night if you will be with me, as he will be able to make too good a
defence to one. It will be a fight, and not a chastisement.'

"'It will. I will be with you; you know where to meet me. I shall be at
the old spot at the usual time, and then we will go.'

"We parted; and, in the evening, we both went together, and sought the
place where we should find him out, and set upon him to advantage.

"He was nearly two hours before he came; but when he did come, we
saluted him with a rap on the head, that made him hold his tongue; and
then we set to, and gave him such a tremendous drubbing, that we left
him insensible; but he was soon taken away by some watchmen, and we
heard that he was doing well; but he was dreadfully beaten; indeed, it
would take him some weeks before he could be about in his duties.

"He was fearfully enraged, and offered fifty pounds reward to any one
who could give him information as to who it was that assaulted him.

"I believe he had a pretty good notion of who it was; but he could not
swear to me; but still, seeing he was busying himself too much about me,
I at once walked away, and went on my way to another part of the
country."

"To get married?"

"Ay, and to get into business."

"Then, things are not quite so bad as I thought for at first."

"No--no, not so bad but what they might have been worse a great deal;
only I cannot go to sea any more, that's quite certain."

"You needn't regret that."

"I don't know."

"Why not know? Are you not going to be married?--ain't that much
better?"

"I can't say," replied the sailor; "there's no knowing how my bargain
may turn out; if she does well, why, then the cruising is over; but
nothing short of that will satisfy me; for if my wife is at all not what
I wish her to be, why, I shall be off to sea."

"I don't blame you, either; I would do so too, if it were possible; but
you see, we can't do so well on land as you do at sea; we can be
followed about from pillar to post, and no bounds set to our
persecution."

"That's true enough," said the other; "we can cut and run when we have
had enough of it. However, I must get to the village, as I shall sleep
there to-night, if I find my quarters comfortable enough."

"Come on, then, at once," said his companion; "it's getting dark now;
and you have no time to lose."

These two now got up, and walked away towards the village; and
Chillingworth arose also, and pursued his way towards the Hall, while he
remarked to himself,--

"Well--well, they have nothing to do with that affair at all events.
By-the-bye, I wonder what amount of females are deserted in the navy;
they certainly have an advantage over landsmen, in the respect of being
tied to tiresome partners; they can, at least, for a season, get a
release from their troubles, and be free at sea."

However, Mr. Chillingworth got to the Hall, and unobserved, for he had
been especially careful not to be seen; he had watched on all sides, and
no signs of a solitary human being had he seen, that could in any way
make the slightest observation upon him.

Indeed, he had sheltered himself from observation at every point of his
road, especially so when near Bannerworth Hall, where there were plenty
of corners to enable him to do so; and when he arrived there, he entered
at the usual spot, and then sat down a few moments in the bower.

"I will not sit here," he muttered. "I will go and have a watch at that
mysterious picture; there is the centre of attraction, be it what it
may."

As he spoke, he arose and walked into the house, and entered the same
apartment which has been so often mentioned to the reader.

Here he took a chair, and sat down full before the picture, and began to
contemplate it.

"Well, for a good likeness, I cannot say I ever saw anything more
unprepossessing. I am sure such a countenance as that could never have
won a female heart. Surely, it is more calculated to terrify the
imagination, than to soothe the affections of the timid and shrinking
female.

"However, I will have an inspection of the picture, and see if I can
make anything of it."

As he spoke, he put his hand upon the picture with the intention of
removing it, when it suddenly was thrust open, and a man stepped down.

The doctor was for a moment completely staggered, it was so utterly
unexpected, and he stepped back a pace or two in the first emotion of
his surprise; but this soon passed by, and he prepared to close with his
antagonist, which he did without speaking a word.

There was a fair struggle for more than two or three minutes, during
which the doctor struggled and fought most manfully; but it was evident
that Mr. Chillingworth had met with a man who was his superior in point
of strength, for he not only withstood the utmost force that
Chillingworth could bring against him, but maintained himself, and
turned his strength against the doctor.

Chillingworth panted with exertion, and found himself gradually losing
ground, and was upon the point of being thrown down at the mercy of his
adversary, who appeared to be inclined to take all advantages of him,
when an occurrence happened that altered the state of affairs
altogether.

While they were struggling, the doctor borne partially to the earth--but
yet struggling, suddenly his antagonist released his hold, and staggered
back a few paces.

"There, you swab--take that; I am yard-arm and yard-arm with you, you
piratical-looking craft--you lubberly, buccaneering son of a fish-fag."

Before, however, Jack Pringle, for it was he who came so opportunely to
the rescue of Doctor Chillingworth, could find time to finish the
sentence, he found himself assailed by the very man who, but a minute
before, he had, as he thought, placed _hors de combat_.

[Illustration]

A desperate fight ensued, and the stranger made the greatest efforts to
escape with the picture, but found he could not get off without a
desperate struggle. He was, at length, compelled to relinquish the hope
of carrying that off, for both Mr. Chillingworth and Jack Pringle were
engaged hand to hand; but the stranger struck Jack so heavy a blow on
the head, that made him reel a few yards, and then he escaped through
the window, leaving Jack and Mr. Chillingworth masters of the field, but
by no means unscathed by the conflict in which they had been engaged.

CHAPTER XCI.

THE GRAND CONSULTATION BROKEN UP BY MRS. CHILLINGWORTH, AND THE
DISAPPEARANCE OF VARNEY.

[Illustration]

Remarkable was the change that had taken place in the circumstances of
the Bannerworth family. From a state of great despondency, and, indeed,
absolute poverty, they had suddenly risen to comfort and independence.

It seemed as if the clouds that had obscured their destiny, had now,
with one accord, dissipated, and that a brighter day was dawning. Not
only had the circumstances of mental terror which had surrounded them
given way in a great measure to the light of truth and reflection, but
those pecuniary distresses which had pressed upon them for a time, were
likewise passing away, and it seemed probable that they would be in a
prosperous condition.

_The acquisition of the title deeds of the estate_, which they thought
had passed away from the family for ever, became to them, in their
present circumstances, an immense acquisition, and brought to their
minds a feeling of great contentment.

Many persons in their situation would have been extremely satisfied at
having secured so strong an interest in the mind of the old admiral, who
was very wealthy, and who, from what he had already said and done, no
doubt fully intended to provide handsomely for the Bannerworth family.

And not only had they this to look forward to, if they had chosen to
regard it as an advantage, but they knew that by the marriage of Flora
with Charles Holland she would have a fortune at her disposal, while he
(Charles) would be the last man in the world to demur at any reasonable
amount of it being lavished upon her mother and her brothers.

But all this did not suit the high and independent spirit of Henry
Bannerworth. He was one who would rather have eaten the dust that he
procured for himself by some meritorious exertion, than have feasted on
the most delicate viands placed before him from the resources of
another.

But now that he knew this small estate, the title deeds of which had
been so singularly obtained, had once really belonged to the family, but
had been risked and lost at the gaming-table, he had no earthly scruple
in calling such property again his own.

As to the large sum of money which Sir Francis Varney in his confessions
had declared to have found its way into the possession of Marmaduke
Bannerworth, Henry did not expect, and scarcely wished to become
possessed of wealth through so tainted a source.

"No," he said to himself frequently; "no--I care not if that wealth be
never forthcoming, which was so badly got possession of. Let it sink
into the earth, if, indeed, it be buried there; or let it rot in some
unknown corner of the old mansion. I care not for it."

In this view of the case he was not alone, for a family more unselfish,
or who cared so little for money, could scarcely have been found; but
Admiral Bell and Charles Holland argued now that they had a right to the
amount of money which Marmaduke Bannerworth had hidden somewhere, and
the old admiral reasoned upon it rather ingeniously, for he said,--

"I suppose you don't mean to dispute that the money belongs to somebody,
and in that case I should like to know who else it belonged to, if not
to you? How do you get over that, master Henry?"

"I don't attempt to get over it at all," said Henry; "all I say is, that
I do dislike the whole circumstances connected with it, and the manner
in which it was come by; and, now that we have a small independence, I
hope it will not be found. But, admiral, we are going to hold a family
consultation as to what we shall do, and what is to become of Varney. He
has convinced me of his relationship to our family, and, although his
conduct has certainly been extremely equivocal, he has made all the
amends in his power; and now, as he is getting old, I do not like to
throw him upon the wide world for a subsistence."

"You don't contemplate," said the admiral, "letting him remain with you,
do you?"

"No; that would be objectionable for a variety of reasons; and I could
not think of it for a moment."

"I should think not. The idea of sitting down to breakfast, dinner, tea,
and supper with a vampyre, and taking your grog with a fellow that sucks
other people's blood!"

"Really, admiral, you do not really still cling to the idea that Sir
Francis Varney is a vampyre."

"I really don't know; he clings to it himself, that's all I can say; and
I think, under those circumstances, I might as well give him the benefit
of his own proposition, and suppose that he is a vampyre."

"Really, uncle," said Charles Holland, "I did think that you had
discarded the notion."

"Did you? I have been thinking of it, and it ain't so desirable to be a
vampyre, I am sure, that any one should pretend to it who is not;
therefore, I take the fellow upon his own showing. He is a vampyre in
his own opinion, and so I don't see, for the life of me, why he should
not be so in ours."

"Well," said Henry, "waving all that, what are we to do with him?
Circumstances seem to have thrown him completely at our mercy. What are
we to do with him, and what is to become of him for the future?"

"I'll tell you what I'll do," said the admiral. "If he were ten times a
vampyre, there is some good in the fellow; and I will give him enough to
live upon if he will go to America and spend it. They will take good
care there that he sucks no blood out of them; for, although an American
would always rather lose a drop of blood than a dollar, they keep a
pretty sharp look out upon both."

"The proposal can be made to him," said Henry, "at all events. It is one
which I don't dislike, and probably one that he would embrace at once;
because he seems, to me, to have completely done with ambition, and to
have abandoned those projects concerning which, at one time, he took
such a world of trouble."

"Don't you trust to that," said the admiral. "What's bred in the bone
don't so easily get out of the flesh; and once or twice, when Master
Varney has been talking, I have seen those odd looking eyes of his flash
up for a moment, as if he were quite ready to begin his old capers
again, and alarm the whole country side."

"I must confess," said Charles Holland, that I myself have had the
impression once or twice that Varney was only subdued for a time, and
that, with a proper amount of provocation, he would become again a very
serious fellow, and to the full as troublesome as he has been."

"Do you doubt his sincerity?" said Henry.

"No, I do not do that, Henry: I think Varney fully means what he says;
but I think, at the same time, that he has for so long lead a strange,
wild, and reckless life, that he will find it very far from easy, if
indeed possible, to shake off his old habits and settle down quietly, if
not to say comfortably."

"I regret," said Henry, "that you have such an impression; but, while I
do so, I cannot help admitting that it is, to a considerable extent, no
more than a reasonable one; and perhaps, after all, my expectation that
Varney will give us no more trouble, only amounts to a hope that he will
not do so, and nothing more. But let us consider; there seems to be some
slight difference of opinion among us, as to whether we should take up
our residence at this new house of ours, which we did not know we owned,
at Dearbrook, or proceed to London, and there establish ourselves, or
again return to Bannerworth Hall, and, by a judicious expenditure of
some money, make that a more habitable place than it has been for the
last twenty years."

"Now, I'll tell you what," said the admiral, "I would do. It's quite out
of the question for any body to live long unless they see a ship; don't
you think so, Miss Flora?"

"Why, how can you ask Flora such a question, uncle," said Charles
Holland, "when you know she don't care a straw about ships, and only
looks upon admirals as natural curiosities?"

"Excepting one," said Flora, "and he is an admiral who is natural but no
curiosity, unless it he that you, can call him such because he is so
just and generous, and, as for ships, who can help admiring them; and if
Admiral Bell proposes that we live in some pleasant, marine villa by the
sea-coast, he shall have my vote and interest for the proceeding."

"Bravo! Huzza!" cried the admiral. "I tell you what it is, Master
Charley--you horse marine,--I have a great mind to cut you out, and have
Miss Flora myself."

"Don't, uncle," said Charles; "that would be so very cruel, after she
has promised me so faithfully. How do you suppose I should like it; come
now, be merciful."

At this moment, and before any one could make another remark, there came
rather a sharp ring at the garden-gate bell, and Henry exclaimed,--

"That's Mr. Chillingworth, and I am glad he has come in time to join our
conference. His advice is always valuable; and, moreover, I rather think
he will bring us some news worth the hearing."

The one servant who they had to wait upon them looked into the room, and
said,--"If you please, here is Mrs. Chillingworth."

"Mistress? you mean Mr."

"No; it is Mrs. Chillingworth and her baby."

"The devil!" said the admiral; "what can she want?"

"I'll come and let you know," said Mrs. Chillingworth, "what I want;"
and she darted into the room past the servant. "I'll soon let you know,
you great sea crab. I want my husband; and what with your vampyre, and
one thing and another, I haven't had him at home an hour for the past
three weeks. What am I to do? There is all his patients getting well as
fast as they can without him; and, when they find that out, do you think
they will take any more filthy physic? No, to be sure not; people ain't
such fools as to do anything of the sort."

"I'll tell you what we will do, ma'am," said the admiral; "we'll all get
ill at once, on purpose to oblige ye; and I'll begin by having the
measles."

"You are an old porpoise, and I believe it all owing to you that my
husband neglects his wife and family. What's vampyres to him, I should
like to know, that he should go troubling about them? I never heard of
vampyres taking draughts and pills."

"No, nor any body else that had the sense of a goose," said the admiral;
"but if it's your husband you want, ma'am, it's no use your looking for
him here, for here he is not."

"Then where is he? He is running after some of your beastly vampyres
somewhere, I'll be bound, and you know where to send for him."

"Then you are mistaken; for, indeed, we don't. We want him ourselves,
ma'am, and can't find him--that's the fact."

"It's all very well talking, sir, but if you were a married woman, with
a family about you, and the last at the breast, you'd feel very
different from what you do now."

"I'm d----d if I don't suppose I should," said the admiral; "but as for
the last, ma'am, I'd soon settle that. I'd wring its neck, and shove it
overboard."

"You would, you brute? It's quite clear to me you never had a child of
your own."

"Mrs. Chillingworth," said Henry, "I think you have no right to complain
to us of your domestic affairs. Where your husband goes, and what he
does, is at his own will and pleasure, and, really, I don't see that we
are to be made answerable as to whether he is at home or abroad; to say
nothing of the bad taste--and bad taste it most certainly is, of talking
of your private affairs to other people."

"Oh, dear!" said Mrs. Chillingworth; "that's your idea, is it, you
no-whiskered puppy?"

"Really, madam, I cannot see what my being destitute of whiskers has to
do with the affair; and I am inclined to think my opinion is quite as
good without them as with them."

"I will speak," said Flora, "to the doctor, when I see him."

"Will you, Miss Doll's-eyes? Oh, dear me! you'll speak to the doctor,
will you?"

"What on earth do you want?" said Henry. "For your husband's sake, whom
we all respect, we wish to treat you with every imaginable civility; but
we tell you, candidly, that he is not here, and, therefore, we cannot
conceive what more you can require of us."

"Oh, it's a row," said the admiral; "that's what she wants--woman like.
D----d a bit do they care what it's about as long as there's a
disturbance. And now, ma'am, will you sit down and have a glass of
grog?"

"No, I will not sit down; and all I can say is, that I look upon this
place as a den full of snakes and reptiles. That's my opinion; so I'll
not stay any longer; but, wishing that great judgments may some day come
home to you all, and that you may know what it is to be a mother, with
five babies, and one at the breast, I despise you all and leave you."

So saying, Mrs. Chillingworth walked from the place, feeling herself
highly hurt and offended at what had ensued; and they were compelled to
let her go just as she was, without giving her any information, for they
had a vivid recollection of the serious disturbance she had created on a
former occasion, when she had actually headed a mob, for the purpose of
hunting out Varney, the vampyre, from Bannerworth Hall, and putting an
end consequently, as she considered, to that set of circumstances which
kept the doctor so much from his house, to the great detriment of a not
very extensive practice.

"After all," said Flora, "Mrs. Chillingworth, although she is not the
most refined person in the world, is to be pitied."

"What!" cried the admiral; "Miss Doll's-eyes, are you taking her part?"

"Oh, that's nothing. She may call me what she likes."

"I believe she is a good wife to the doctor," said Henry,
"notwithstanding his little eccentricities; but suppose we now at once
make the proposal we were thinking of to Sir Francis Varney, and so get
him to leave England as quickly as possible and put an end to the
possibility of his being any more trouble to anybody."

"Agreed--agreed. It's the best thing that can be done, and it will be
something gained to get his consent at once."

"I'll run up stairs to him," said Charles, "and call him down at once. I
scarcely doubt for a moment his acquiescence in the proposal."

Charles Holland rose, and ran up the little staircase of the cottage to
the room which, by the kindness of the Bannerworth family, had been
devoted to the use of Varney. He had not been gone above two minutes,
when he returned, hastily, with a small scrap of paper in his hand,
which he laid before Henry, saying,--

"There, what think you of that?"

Henry, upon taking up the paper, saw written upon it the words,--

"_The Farewell of Varney the Vampyre_."

"He is gone," said Charles Holland. "The room is vacant. I saw at a
glance that he had removed his hat, and cloak, and all that belonged to
him. He's off, and at so short a warning, and in so abrupt a manner,
that I fear the worst."

"What can you fear?"

"I scarcely know what; but we have a right to fear everything and
anything from his most inexplicable being, whose whole conduct has been
of that mysterious nature, as to put him past all calculation as regards
his motives, his objects, or his actions. I must confess that I would
have hailed his departure from England with feelings of satisfaction;
but what he means now, by this strange manoeuvre, Heaven, and his own
singular intellect, can alone divine."