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 L I E> R.A FLY 
 
 OF THE 
 
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 LA BELLE MARIE 
 
 % $jtomanxe. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 OF 
 
 "SMUGGLERS AND FORESTERS,"* "LEWELL PASTURES," 
 "THE EARL'S CEDARS," Ac. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 L. BOOTH, 307, REGENT STREET, W. 
 
 1862. 
 
 r The rigid of translation reserved.']
 
 LONDON : 
 Stranof.ways \ni> w.m.den, Printers, 
 Castle St. Leicester Sq.
 
 853 
 
 Nl.l 
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TnE quiet-looking village of Lezant, niched 
 in the green hill-side, among the wildest 
 of the Cornish moors, woke up into the 
 strangest activity whenever — as was often 
 the case, forty or fifty years ago — from the 
 grassy heights which appeared to shut the 
 place in from the sea, a foreign vessel might 
 be seen, cautiously rounding the points of 
 f the neighbouring inlet. On the longest 
 i winter night, lights would sparkle all through 
 ^ the darkness from most of the cottages, seem- 
 ing as if suspended midway in air, so loftily 
 were they perched on the naps, or rocky 
 banks that overhung the valley. By day the 
 place was tranquil enough, and a stranger 
 might have imagined that its inhabitants 
 J had no more thriving and exciting occupa- 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 tion than tending the sheep on the downs, 
 or loading the lighters which came occasion- 
 ally into their port for a cargo of slate. But 
 at night, the quay and street were thronged 
 by people, more especially when the nights 
 were darkest, and the long boom of the thun- 
 dering rollers from the Atlantic burst upon 
 the ear, sounding as if the ocean-waves, in- 
 stead of breaking on the other side of the 
 great rounded promontory, were sweeping 
 beneath and undermining it. 
 
 At such times, Lezant was more than 
 usually alive. The wind roaring round the 
 sharp angles of the buildings, the wet, slip- 
 pery pathways, were no impediments to the 
 numerous foot-passengers. Every small 
 lighted window glimmered aloft, even while 
 the population seemed mostly abroad, chaffer- 
 ing, swearing, gossiping, stopping up the 
 steep, narrow thoroughfare, into which the 
 innumerable flights of steps, by-lanes, and 
 alleys, wound their devious way. 
 
 The entrance to the inlet was guarded by 
 bold bluffs of black carbonaceous rock, with 
 soft green turf crowning their rounded sum- 
 mits. High up along the polished edges of 
 the cliff ran the broad seamark left by the 
 last flood-tide that dashed against it. Mighty 
 hawsers lay stretched across the cove, ready 
 to cheek the swaying of vessels anchored
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 6 
 
 alongside of the small, but strongly-built 
 pier, which, with a few rude accommodations 
 for landing goods and passengers, and some 
 marine stores and workshops, constituted the 
 port or harbour of Lezant. The strength of 
 the chains and hooks used for fastening boats 
 at the landing-place showed how stormily the 
 waves at times set into the estuary. 
 
 Most of the houses in the upper village 
 were very old, and many of them tottering to 
 their fall ; but, close to the water, a new and 
 more neatly-finished building had lately been 
 erected. Near this spot a crowd of men and 
 boys were collected, on a stormy evening of 
 the month of April, looking at the workmen 
 engaged in setting up the sign denoting that 
 the place was intended for the entertain- 
 ment of the public. The new inn was not 
 popular at present, but its merits had not yet 
 been tested. Its situation was certainly more 
 convenient than that of the dilapidated, in- 
 commodious structure on the top of the hill, 
 which had hitherto satisfied the townspeople 
 and fishermen of Lezant, and would still have 
 gained their suffrages, if the matter had been 
 put to the vote. 
 
 Outside every door of the houses in the 
 main street were large bundles of furze and 
 firewood, brought in and dropped there by 
 carts from the country. Though the downs
 
 4 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 above the village rose high and bare, there 
 was abundance of timber in the deep hollows 
 among: the hills. The litter on the narrow 
 strip of side-pavement, formed by round stones 
 set close together, left hardly any room for 
 foot-passengers ; while the middle of the cause- 
 way was broken up by the transit of heavy 
 trucks during the winter, conveying slate for 
 shipment at the then comparatively sheltered 
 quay. Two blacksmiths' forges, at which 
 horses were standing, seemed in full play, and 
 the high wind scattered the sparks abroad as 
 they flew from the anvil. 
 
 Up this steep, stony street, a party of 
 three persons, who had just landed from a 
 boat belonging to a vessel in the offing, pro- 
 ceeded as fast as was possible, considering the 
 impediments in their path. One of them was 
 a female, and she was encumbered by a heavy 
 boat-cloak and an umbrella, which threatened 
 to turn inside-out as the gale caught it. 
 Though she was young and handsome, neither 
 of her companions offered to assist her, but 
 she battled good-huniourcdly with the blast, 
 drawing her skirts away from the brambles 
 and prickly furze against which the wind blew 
 them, and displaying momentarily a very 
 pretty slender foot and ankle, eased in neat 
 French boots, much too delicately soled for 
 the muddy, unflagged pavement of Lezant.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 5 
 
 Then, as the refractory umbrella resisted her 
 efforts to manage it, she laughed merrily, 
 shrugging her shoulders with a gesture which 
 was not English, and looking half-timiclly, 
 but with eager interest and curiosity, down 
 the dark, intricate passages between the 
 houses, leading to other, still more ruinous, 
 dwellings. Once only she paused, where a 
 wider aperture allowed her, now that she had 
 mounted so high, to get a glimpse of the sea, 
 and of a raking-masted schooner tossing on 
 its waves; her bright, dark eyes rilled with 
 tears, and she uttered one soft word in a 
 foreign language, almost under her breath; 
 but, low as it was, the man at her right hand 
 heard it. 
 
 " So, you're sorry to leave the schooner, 
 mistress ? though you 've had but a foul time 
 of it," said the rough, but kindly-natured 
 English sailor, who was mate of the vessel in 
 the offing. " I'd rather by far be at sen, 
 once we get a clear berth for the schooner to 
 roll in, than pitching and tumbling in the 
 ruts and mire of such a place as Lezant. 
 Ugh! what a hill it is! and look at the litter ! 
 They're more like pigs than Christians that 
 live here ; and hang me, if they were pork, 
 if I 'd like to eat them. It 's not going to be 
 a pleasant night for travelling through those
 
 C LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 dark lone woods that lie along the road 
 you 're bound for. Here is our inn, mistress : 
 you 'd best go in and dry yourself." 
 
 He pointed, as he spoke, to a large, ram- 
 bling stone building, with a deep porch stand- 
 ing out into the road, over the portal of which 
 three crowns were cut out roughlv, in strong 
 relief. 
 
 " I never heard of the Boscawen Arms 
 before to-night, but we all of us know our way 
 to the Three Crowns ; and I see no need to 
 set up another tap, when there 's such a good 
 one as Mother Brock's in the place. There 
 she is, in the door- way ! I '11 be bound she 
 don't keep customers waiting, though she 
 doesn't run after them, singing her own 
 praises, like those gentry on the quay. Holloa, 
 dame ! here 's company to see you. You '11 
 have to make much of visitors, now there 's 
 such opposition in the town. I '11 warrant, 
 you 've seen the schooner's masts already, and 
 looked for a call from us." 
 
 A middle-aged, robust woman, who had 
 come out into the porch with a light in her 
 hand, welcomed the men cordially as they 
 mounted the steep steps up the bank. She 
 then went nearer to the girl, who hung back, 
 as if tired and timid. 
 
 " Here's this young woman wants to go
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 7 
 
 to Woods to-night, dame. Is there any con- 
 veyance to hand?' asked the mate. " We 
 must look sharp to be aboard again." 
 
 " Well, come in, come in ! It won't hurt 
 you to warm yerselves, and take a glass of 
 something hot this windy night. It 's a long 
 time since I 've seen ye, Mr. Mabb," said the 
 landlady, hospitably ushering them over the 
 flags of a stone-paved passage into a large, 
 warm, comfortably-lighted room, which formed 
 the kitchen as well as the tap of the establish- 
 ment. " Going to Woods, is she, this time 
 of night ? That 's a queer thing to do ! I 
 hope some of the farm-people are coming to 
 fetch her. I Ve nobody here that would set 
 off on a dark night on such an errand. But 
 never mind, my dear, don't be frightened ! 
 Come in, and warm yourself. There's nothing 
 to hurt ye, alive or dead, at the Three Crowns ; 
 and you must be cold, coming fresh off the 
 water." 
 
 The young girl entered, not without hesi- 
 tation, the homely abode to which she was 
 invited, and followed the hostess into the tap- 
 room, where several men were drinking. As 
 the colour rose to her face, she looked strikingly 
 pretty. Bright black eyes lit up her dark, 
 but clear complexion. Her hair, which was 
 arranged after a foreign fashion, was very 
 smooth, notwithstanding the high wind with
 
 8 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 which she had been contending ; and her dress, 
 though plain, was of French material and make, 
 as was the silk mantle she wore under the 
 boat-cloak lent her by her companions. 
 
 Mrs. Brock took it from her civilly, and 
 hung it up to-dry; and the men lowered their 
 voices, and made room for the young lady to 
 come to the fire. 
 
 V Hang me if I didn't think we'd mis- 
 taken our moorings, when I saw a sign swing- 
 ing close to the water's edge!' said the mate 
 of the schooner, while Mrs. Brock's face grew 
 red with suppressed passion. "Why, it's 
 like a card-house, they've run it up so quick. 
 Will the walls hold, think ye?" 
 
 " Like enough not!' said the hostess, 
 contemptuously. " There 's more mud and 
 rubbish than stone and mortar in that house. 
 It must be pleasant to have all the town dirt 
 stream clown the street, right to your door, 
 when the autumn rains flood the gutters ; and 
 the sea-weed smelling enough to choke ye. 
 Folks had need to have neither eves nor no> 
 that go to a place down in a hole like that, 
 with the sea-water knee-deep in the cellars. 
 I'm surprised any one could think of such 
 folly. We've more custom than ever, since 
 the Boscawen Arms was opened. It 's an 
 insult to a gentleman's name to set it up 
 in that way for the boys to laugh at."
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 9 
 
 " It s very near all the good my lord 's 
 ever like to do thern. You needn't grudge 
 the poor devils their fine name!' said a man 
 drinking at the table, who held a small copy- 
 hold farm upon the moor near Camelford. 
 " What do you take, gentlemen ? There 's a 
 capital tap, and good brandy in the cellars. 
 I guess I need not tell you that," he added, 
 smiling, and lowering his tone. " Is not that 
 the schooner in the offing? Will Mynheer 
 be in Lezant to-nis;ht?" 
 
 " No, no, he '11 not laud ! He won't run 
 our beauty in on such a plaguy night as this 
 is like to be," said the mate, good-humoureclly. 
 " He's a tight hand, too, and we mustn't 
 outstay our time. Give us some ale, hot 
 and spiced, as Mrs. Brock knows how to 
 make it. We mustn't stop afterwards; but 
 the Captain said we were not to lose sight 
 of the young woman till she was in safe 
 hands." 
 
 " Well, she 's safe enough here," said Mrs. 
 Brock. " So, Mynheer sets store by her? 
 There 's not much of the Dutchwoman about 
 her, but she don't look English. What 
 country does she belong to ? " 
 
 " Oh, she 's half English ! at least her 
 mother was, and her name is not a new one 
 hereabouts. She 's kin to the Jerseyman, 
 Helier, at the farm down to Woods, and she
 
 10 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 is to go there to-night. Some one will be 
 here presently to fetch her." 
 
 " Well, it isn't many people travel that 
 road after dark. She 'd do well to put up 
 here, and wait till morning. There '11 be the 
 butter coming in then. It 's market-day to- 
 morrow, and she might go back in the cart. 
 There's no carriage set up yet in Lezant, 
 thank goodness ! though the new people talk 
 of keeping one. They'd be wise to see what 
 custom they have before they spend much more 
 of their money. I warrant, they did not count 
 the cost before they began building. Best let 
 ma'amselle sit with my old man till I get 
 her supper. He '11 find lots to entertain her 
 with. He's got Scripture verses at his finger- 
 ends, and she looks half a child. 'Twill do 
 her good to listen to him: I'm tired of it. 
 For all his talk of goodness, nothing comes of 
 it : it don't bring grist to the mill. He's not 
 done a stroke of work for nigh upon a score 
 of years, and yet he looks hearty." 
 
 The dame pushed back a curtain which 
 hung by rings from a heavy oaken beam across 
 the long room, dividing it into two unequal 
 parts, while at both ends fires were burning. 
 One side was all noise and tumult. — the clash 
 of idle merriment; — the other was singularly 
 quiet. An old man was sitting in the 
 chimney-corner, with a small table beside
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 11 
 
 him, on which lay a Bible and one or two 
 tattered hymn-books. He was not reading, 
 bat looking into the fire, and every now and 
 then striking the ashes from the bowl of the 
 short pipe he was smoking. In his youth he 
 must have been very handsome and powerfully 
 built, but for many years his right side had 
 been paralysed. The defects of his education 
 made him entirely dependent upon others, in 
 his infirmity, for amusement and instruction; 
 and he was often a sore incumbrance to his 
 brisk, active helpmate. 
 
 " Here 's a lady to sit with you, Simon ! 
 You know how to please the gentry. You 
 can get her to read your books to you, when 
 she *s a bit rested," Dame Brock shouted in 
 his ear. The old man, whose hearing was 
 not impaired, seemed confused and troubled 
 by her loud voice and bustling manner; but 
 he half rose as the girl approached, and re- 
 ceived her civilly. 
 
 She spoke to him kindly, in English, but 
 with a foreign accent and idiom. The old 
 man answered in monosyllables, then both 
 sat silent. 
 
 " And now, my masters, what more shall 
 I get you ? ' the hostess said cheerily, as 
 she went back, leaving the curtain half un- 
 drawn, that she might attend to the wants of 
 all her customers.
 
 12 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 " Where 's that lazy fellow, Andrew ? It's 
 a good thing there 's one person with a head 
 on her shoulders and a good pair of legs to 
 carry her through the day;' the work would 
 never be done else. Where's Andrew, I 
 say? 
 
 " Here, mother," answered a great, tall, 
 soldier-like man, emerging from a sort of trap- 
 door, with two jugs of foaming malt in his 
 hands, and stumping across the kitchen as 
 fast as one stout limb of his own and a wooden 
 leg would bring him. " What are you pitch- 
 ing into I for? There's feyther — give it he, 
 if you want some one to jaw at. I '11 be 
 hanged if I stand it. You may fetch the vale 
 yerself next time." 
 
 He stood sulkily at the table, on which he 
 had banged one of the jugs ; but he still kept 
 fast hold of the other, till he reached a great 
 pewter mug that was hanging on the wall, 
 rilled the measure, and drained it off at a 
 draught. 
 
 " That 's good liquor as ever was brewed I 
 I 'm ready to wallop the fellow that says the 
 Three Crowns doesn't give the best of every- 
 thing that's to be got for money. Holloa! 
 who's that lass talking to feyther? The old 
 chap knows a pretty face when he sees one. 
 Stand out of the way, old woman ! I want to 
 get a look at her."
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 13 
 
 " Be quiet, Andrew ; would you give the 
 house a bad name ? ' said his mother, her 
 face flushing angrily. " People will say decent 
 folk shouldn't put up at the Three Crowns, 
 if you use such language. The young woman 
 is going to Woods, and wants to be on the 
 road to-night. Are any of the farm-carts in 
 the yard ? I don't fancy," she added, with a 
 sneer, " that you '11 offer to take her." 
 
 The bully turned pale at the thought. " I 
 take her through those tarnation woods in 
 the dark ? I'd throw her into the Keeve 
 first ! What takes her there, of all places in 
 the world ? Did she come in the schooner ? " 
 
 "Yes; Mynheer gave her a passage, poor 
 soul ! She has lost her friends," said the 
 mate, in an undertone. " She didn't make 
 no work on board, though we were out in 
 rough weather, and the cabin was too full for 
 us to make her over-comfortable. Nothing 
 tries the temper more than sea-sickness, and 
 getting wet and cold with the salt-water 
 washing over the deck ; but she bore it like a 
 good one. I should wish to know she will be 
 in safe hands when we leave her." 
 
 " I don't envy any one that has got to put 
 up at Woods," said the landlady. " There 's 
 been a power of gentry there lately ; all the 
 clergy in the country sent for to lay the ghost ; 
 and who do you think they set to do it, but
 
 14 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 our poor feckless Parson ? People wondered 
 he chose to go, but I believe it was a silly 
 bravado. They drew lots, and the longest 
 fell to him ; but he '11 never do any good. 
 Words of power don't fall from his lips ; all 
 his congregation are leaving him. They should 
 have had the bishop and all his chaplains ; 
 and, even then, if the Evil One takes a fancy 
 to a place, as he has done to that old house at 
 Woods, you won't get him out of his snug 
 quarters in a hurry. There are some places 
 that never can be made quiet, and Woods is 
 one of them." 
 
 " Don't talk so fast, mother," said Andrew 
 Brock, uneasily. " W"e all know who it is that 
 walks at 'Oods, and Lance Fleming will be 
 here presently. He mightn't like it, and we 
 don't want to send customers to the new 
 inn. 
 
 " Hold your tongue, you saucy jackanapes ! 
 Don't name the new inn to me!' replied his 
 mother. " Mr. Helier is no such friend of 
 mine; no, nor of Lance Fleming's, for that 
 matter, and the place is his now. Why 
 should Lance quarrel with me for my gossip ? 
 I only say what all the country knows and is 
 talking about. 
 
 " Most people believe that there is a ghost 
 at Woods, and dozens of us have seen it," pur- 
 sued the landlady, stanchly. " There 's some
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 15 
 
 laugh and some cry out against it, but I never 
 knew any one that slept twice willingly in one 
 room of that old house. To be sure, there 
 are strange things that haunt those deep 
 woods ; the owls and the night-hawks screech 
 fearfully; still, if you're not timid, you get 
 accustomed to them, and to the cracking of the 
 old furniture and the wind in the chimneys : 
 but when a man sits up after midnight in 
 a haunted chamber and comes out with his 
 teeth chattering and his hair white, it stands 
 to reason that he has seen what made the flesh 
 creep upon his bones. I '11 be bound for it, 
 the Parson said his prayers more from his heart 
 than folks tell me he does in church, when he 
 was put to sleep in the room where that bloody 
 corpse was once laid out." 
 
 " Suppose you spin us a yarn, Dame 
 Brock," said the mate. " I 've heard, ever 
 since I was a boy, about the noises and queer 
 sights at Woods, and been shy of the place 
 myself when we 've anchored in the creek, and 
 had to carry Lord knows what through the 
 bushes ; but no one could tell exactly how the 
 house got its bad name. Was not a foul 
 murder committed there ? " 
 
 " Murder ! Yes, that 's the word ! If ever 
 there was a man who came foully to his end, 
 my masters, it was the last tenant of Woods," 
 answered Mrs. Brock. " There was plenty of
 
 16 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 proof; more than enough to hang the mur- 
 derer, as he would have swung for it, if he 
 had been one of our poor devils lifting a keg 
 through the woods, and in the dark, perhaps, 
 — with a little too much brandy to carry, his 
 hand unsteady, and the stars dancing before 
 his eyes — provoked to strike the man that 
 comes upon him and would take him off to 
 prison, or on board a man-of-war — strikes him, 
 I say, a blow that cuts deeper than he thinks 
 for. If there wasn't other sign of guilt, I 'd 
 read it in that poor frightened woman's face 
 — she that is another man's w T ife now, but was 
 brought home to Woods first by Lance Flem- 
 ing's father. I tell you, there icas murder, 
 and she knew it, and swooned away in court 
 when she should have given evidence. She 
 was young and pretty then, and people were 
 sorry for her; but there were lines in that 
 baby-face of hers that don't come for mere 
 sorrow — seams they are now, that will never 
 wear out of it. If his Reverence did not know 
 the truth before about the crime his brother 
 committed, he got it that night from the 
 ghost ! " 
 
 The superstitious sailors drew nearer to 
 the lights and the tire ; while the old man at 
 the farther end of the room laid his hand 
 upon the Bible, as a soldier might upon his 
 weapon.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 17 
 
 " Halt, mother ! " said the lame man, 
 impatiently. " That 's not a pleasant tale 
 you 've hit upon, and hang me if you tell it 
 agreeable ! You 've drove the old man to his 
 books, and gev me the horrors." 
 
 " Let the clame finish her story, you cow- 
 ard !' said the mate of the smuggling vessel. 
 " If she 's good enough to tell it, we 're not 
 afraid to listen. We 've a message from 
 our Captain to give to Lance ; and if he 's 
 coming here to-night, we may as well wait 
 for him." 
 
 The old man and the young girl were now 
 both listening ; the one with the curiosity of 
 youth, and some spice of superstitious terror ; 
 the other, with that weariness of his own 
 thoughts which the want of all occupation 
 engenders. 
 
 " You are welcome to my story, gentle- 
 men, though it 's no news to most among 
 you," said the landlady. " I was fresh come 
 to the place in those days, married, like a 
 young fool, to a man old enough to be my 
 father. Well, that's neither here nor there. 
 We must drink our malt as we've brewed it; 
 and I wish mine had been as good a tap as 
 the one I 've set before ye ! 
 
 " Mrs. Fleming was a younger woman 
 than I was, when her husband — he that 
 walks still, though he was laid underground 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 nigh upon a score of years ago — brought her 
 to Woods. He was a far-off cousin of Lord 
 Boscawen's, and had spent his money, 'twas 
 said, in racing and gaming, till he was forced 
 to leave the army, and the sale of his com- 
 mission paid his debts. He came here to 
 look after the property, and lived at the 
 Manor-house, which had been unoccupied 
 for years, by favour of his relations. Mrs. 
 Fleming was no lady, but one whom he had 
 married in his wild days : they quarrelled 
 constantly, and were not happy. Some said 
 she had jilted a person in her own line of life 
 to marry a gentleman ; but, however that 
 might be, she had cause enough for sorrow, 
 since the lonely ways of the place brought 
 back all his old faults, and he used to drink 
 himself half mad. 
 
 " His wife was not much of a companion 
 for him, no, nor yet a useful, eommonsense 
 body. She was a pretty, childish creature, 
 and when she came to church, our Parson's 
 brother, Colonel St. Erme, who was often 
 down at Lezant, used to pay her compliments 
 sometimes, people said, over the back of my 
 lord's high pew in the chancel, or when he 
 mounted heron her pillion at the church door, 
 behind her half-drunk, sulkv husband, or — 
 when he was too far gone in liquor to bring 
 her — one of the farm-servants.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 19 
 
 " Colonel St. Ernie was a fine figure of 
 a man — one of the king's equerries — with 
 powder in his hair, as they wore it then at 
 court, and fine cambric and lace in his cravats 
 and handkerchiefs. He was quite different 
 from any of the people hereabouts — his voice 
 had another kind of sound, and he was always 
 gay and generous, not a bit like our old drone 
 of a minister. I believe, sometimes, when he 
 rode home from hunting, the Colonel called 
 at the Grange, and stopped longer than he 
 should have done. Captain Fleming did not 
 like his visits : they had high words more 
 than once, and people talked more than was 
 pleasant about his wife and the Colonel. 
 
 " One day, when Mrs. Fleming and her 
 husband set out for church together, he 
 taunted her so that she cried, and then she 
 said her eyes were red and she was ashamed 
 to be seen, and would go back ; so he swore 
 at her, and let her. Colonel St. Erme was 
 not at church, either, that afternoon — no un- 
 common thing for him : he only went to look 
 about him, and make the girls forget their 
 books and their manners, staring at his pow- 
 dered hair, and the rings on his white fingers. 
 He was watched, and was seen sauntering on 
 the cliffs, and then to take a road through the 
 woods in company with the silly woman, 
 who afterwards confessed that she had left
 
 20 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 her husband to keep an appointment with 
 him. 
 
 " Fleming got home sooner than was ex- 
 pected, and a very dark frown came on his 
 brow when he heard his baby crying, and 
 was told by a person he had set as a spy over 
 his giddy wife that she had been seen with 
 the Colonel. I '11 warrant he drank deep that 
 evening, though he was alone. He was 
 always moody in his cups, and held himself 
 above the only company he was like to fall in 
 with. Many a poor fellow with a bad wife 
 has found more sociability and comfort in 
 our tap-room than under his own roof. The 
 Grange is a lone place, and on Sundays, the 
 few servants kept to do the farm work were 
 mostly taking a holiday. The housekeeper, 
 who was a steady body, and lives there still, 
 was away on a visit to her friends, and Mrs. 
 Fleming up-stairs with her little boy, when 
 the Captain left the house. 
 
 "The next morning his body was found at 
 the foot of the rocks, quite cold and stiff, 
 with the blood congealed that had flowed 
 from a wound in his side, made by the bullet 
 that pierced his heart. I believe, the doctor 
 who extracted the bullet has it labelled 
 among his curiosities at Camelford. All the 
 country was up about it, and when the matter 
 was sifted, and great rewards offered, two
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 21 
 
 men came forward to swear that, going along 
 the church-path on their own errand, they 
 saw in the bright moonlight Colonel St. Ernie 
 on the cliff with Fleming, who was very 
 abusive, brandishing his stick in the air as 
 if threatening to strike ; but the Colonel 
 wrenched it from him and pitched it over the 
 brow. It was found afterwards, not far from 
 where the body had fallen, with a bit of the 
 Colonel's rich lace frill sticking to the silver 
 knob on the handle. 
 
 " The men had business to perform in a 
 given time, and did not wait to see the end ; 
 but a lad belonging to this town, who was 
 setting a trap for a hare (more shame to him) 
 in the broken ground, heard a cry overhead 
 and something like a shot fired, and he, too, 
 said he had seen the Parson's brother come 
 out of the Rectory-gate, and go straight up 
 to the high cliff, where there is the fine look 
 out over the sea. 
 
 " Colonel St. Erme was arrested at his 
 brother's house, and charged with the murder. 
 He was dressing when the men went to 
 take him up, and his travelling pistols, 
 freshly cleaned, lay open in a case upon 
 the table. It came out in evidence that he 
 had ordered his valet to pack his trunks, as 
 he meant to leave Lezant next morning. 
 His counsel wanted to set up a plea for
 
 22 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the Colonel, that he had shot Fleming in self- 
 defence ; but that was not what he said him- 
 self. He was as haughtv and arrogant when 
 brought to his trial, as if his life had not been 
 hanging by a thread ; and declared, that after 
 listening to a few angry words he had passed 
 on, satisfied that Mr. Fleming was not in pos- 
 session of his senses, and had left him on the 
 cliff. There was great interest made to save 
 him : all his connexions were rich, powerful 
 people ; but the spirit of the country was 
 dead against him, and the jury found Colonel 
 St, Ernie guilty. He was taken from the 
 Court-house in a close carriage, that the mob 
 might not see him ; and kept in prison till 
 his sentence, which they managed to get 
 changed to transportation for life, was put 
 into execution. It ought to have been 
 death. 
 
 " Men have swung in chains for a less 
 matter, as those Sussex smugglers did, Harry 
 Mabb, on Silver Hill, for killing the gauger. 
 Yes, and French Jerry, as came with you 
 once, when you put up here, it was trans- 
 portation they gave him; and what for? — 
 just a clever trick he played the Revenue lads. 
 I don't see how folks can expect to Bleep 
 quietly in their beds at Woods, when justice 
 has not been done. No, and they won't nei- 
 ther ! while Fleming's murderer is, perhaps,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 23 
 
 making his fortune on the other side of the 
 herring-pond. 
 
 " What is the old man muttering ? He 
 don't believe the story ! No ! nor more, he 
 won't, and wouldn't if he'd seen it with his 
 own eyes, so long as Mary St. Erme told him 
 it was not right to credit it. She is more 
 than his lost senses to him — more than wife 
 or son ! Of course she denies it. She is the 
 murderer's daughter." 
 
 As his wife uttered Mary St. Ernie's name, 
 the old man's face changed. His countenance 
 lighted up, and he half raised his once powerful 
 frame, as though the bright angel whose pre- 
 sence at times stilled the hot fumes of passion 
 in that noisy room were about to enter. 
 
 " It's a queer tale," said the mate ; " and 
 I'm glad I've not got to sleep in that old bed 
 you speak of, after hearing it. I say, mess- 
 mate, when is the fellow from 'Oods coming? 
 We ought to be aboard our vessel." 
 
 A sharp sound woke the echoes of the 
 street, which had lately become quiet, as a 
 horse's hoofs clattered on the stony pavement, 
 and stopped at the inn-door. 
 
 " That 's Lance Fleming's bay mare. Have 
 done with your ghost-stories, mother ! ' said 
 Andrew Brock, roughly. "You've got a long 
 one in hand to-night, and we've had more 
 than enough of it."
 
 24 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 He stumped across the kitchen, as if to 
 greet the new-comer, but, changing his mind 
 half way, stopped, and busied himself with 
 removing the disorderly array of mugs and 
 platters upon the table, just as young Fleming 
 entered. 
 
 The son of the murdered man at Woods 
 was at least half a head taller than any one, 
 except the old landlord, in the tap-room of 
 the Three Crowns. If he had not stooped, 
 he would have struck his forehead against the 
 edge of the stone lintel of the door-frame ; but 
 the place and its ways were quite familiar to 
 him. Nevertheless, there was about his air 
 and person more than one distinguishing 
 mark that he was superior to the class with 
 which he chose to associate. 
 
 There were faces not unlike his, with fea- 
 tures finely cut, and even delicate, among the 
 portraits of Lord Boscawcn's ancestry that 
 hung in the gallery at Woods. Those faded 
 heirlooms, damp and mildewed, bore a de- 
 cided resemblance to the handsome youth, 
 who was, indeed, distantly related to the 
 Boscawen family ; but Lance was strong 
 and active, accustomed to hardy and some- 
 what lawless pursuits, and could pull an oar 
 when the black rocks of his native coast 
 were white with the foam- that flew over them 
 from the Atlantic. In dress and manner
 
 1 
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 25 
 
 he was a Cornish yeoman, with a dash of 
 the sailor. 
 
 He did not notice Dame Brock or the 
 younger woman, but went straight up to the 
 seamen belonging to the foreign vessel, who 
 both stood up, and, in their own independent 
 fashion, saluted him respectfully. 
 
 " Does Mynheer intend to land to-night ? 
 Has he brought anything for me?' he said, 
 rapidly. " What is your freight ? " 
 
 " A richer one than a prudent man like 
 our skipper would risk on Lezant quay, now 
 that there are new faces at the waterside 
 public. Times are altered, and we must trim 
 our sails as the wind blows," said the mate. 
 " There's a young woman bound for Woods, 
 and she wants to get along to-night. The 
 rest of the cargo can wait." 
 
 Lance lifted his usually downcast eyes, 
 which were shaded by long dark lashes, and 
 cast a shy glance at the girl, who, weary and 
 disheartened, remained quietly seated by the 
 old man, gazing, like him, silently into the 
 fire. Though there was nothing repulsive in 
 her appearance, the young man's glance did 
 not rest upon her for more than a moment. 
 He was quite unaccustomed to the society of 
 ladies, yet he saw immediately that, simple as 
 was her dress, his step-father's kinswoman was 
 of a gentler stamp than his own mother and 
 sisters.
 
 26 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Apparently, this conviction did not set 
 him at his ease. He said, coldly, — 
 
 , " She had better go on at once. There is 
 a cart in the town now. I expected something 
 to be landed from the schooner. I will tell 
 the driver to call here." 
 
 Then, turning again to the seamen, who 
 were now regaling themselves at his expense, 
 he questioned them, in a lower tone, respecting 
 the chances of their late trip, and their plans 
 for effecting a landing. 
 
 " The Curlew will be* in our waters next 
 week," he said. "Yes, or even sooner. She 
 has a new officer, and left Milford Haven for 
 Swansea ten days ago. With this wind we 
 may look for her at any moment." 
 
 He did not see the girl bend forward to 
 listen, or the bright colour that mounted to 
 her cheek as he spoke. 
 
 "Aye, aye, let her come! It's not the 
 first time we have given her the go-by," said 
 the sailor. " 'Tis true, she's got a fresh officer, 
 and new brooms sweep clean ; but La Belle 
 Marie has a captain that does not sleep at his 
 post !" 
 
 "I must see Mynheer to-night," said 
 Lance, as the men rose to leave the inn. 
 " Good night, Dame ! Shall I bring you a 
 silk dress or a Lyons shawl ? Both are to be 
 had on board La Belle Marie." 
 • He went out into the street, in earnest
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 27 
 
 talk with the sailors. Dame Brock now 
 busied herself with the young foreigner, per- 
 suading her to take some of the refreshment 
 which had stood un tasted before her, and 
 lending her a good warm cloak for the cold 
 night-journey. 
 
 At last, the wheels of the light cart grated 
 upon the stones, and the girl, though tired, 
 sprang up, eager for any change of quarters. 
 Nevertheless, it was with a sinking heart that 
 she saw the lights of the village, one after 
 another, disappear, and found herself travelling 
 slowly, along the dark country roads, towards 
 the old Manor Farm called Woods.
 
 28 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Reine Helier's temper was a cheerful one, 
 and she shook off the superstitious terrors 
 aroused by Dame Brock's imperfectly -under- 
 stood narrative before she had proceeded a 
 mile upon her way. Sometimes, indeed, she 
 started at the white ghostly patches of moon- 
 light falling on the steins of the beeches in 
 the hollows, and listened uneasily to the wail 
 of the streamlets imprisoned in the labyrinth 
 of bushes. Then, as the wind rushed wildly 
 over the barren surface of the Cornish moors, 
 the young French girl shivered and drew her 
 cloak around her ; but she had never, in all 
 probability, traversed alone and in darkness 
 so desolate a country. There was enough to 
 chill her in the thought that she was an 
 orphan, and must find a home far from her 
 birth-place, and among strangers. 
 
 The rude vehicle in which she was travel- 
 ling was open in front and at the back, with a 
 covering overhead. The driver sat on a plank
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 29 
 
 laid across the cart, at the farther end from 
 the corner Reine occupied, and whence, when- 
 ever the skies 'afforded light, she looked anxi- 
 ously out over the landscape. The shadows 
 of black clouds were driven across it by the 
 hurrying wind ; occasionally, rain pattered 
 among the leaves, but she did not feel it; 
 and, in a few moments, the moon came forth 
 again, silvering the wet foliage. Reine liked 
 to watch these changes, and to hear the 
 man speak kindly to his horse, though the 
 dialect he used was so peculiar that she only 
 knew from his tone of voice that the words 
 were encouraging. The hills were very steep, 
 and when the wind met them at the top of 
 the frequent ascents, the animal would stand 
 still, panting, as if scarcely able to contend 
 with the blast. After a kind word or two he 
 went on ; the cart jolting and tilting uncom- 
 fortably over the stony winding road. 
 
 It was in vain that the tired girl looked 
 out again and again for the lights of the house 
 which was to be her abode. Even when the 
 man, who had been walking by the side of the 
 horse up a steep rise, pointed with his whip 
 down an almost precipitous declivity, Reine 
 could perceive nothing. The trees seemed to 
 close in there more densely than in any other 
 direction, and not a spark gleamed through 
 the thicket. She heard plainly enough his
 
 30 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 brief communication that yonder was the turn 
 to 'Oocls ; but no change of position could 
 enable her to see anything ' resembling a 
 habitation. 
 
 At last it struck her that what she had 
 been taking for the tops of tall trees were the 
 high clustered chimneys of a house. There 
 was no curl of smoke visible against the grey . 
 sky, nor did the red light of fire or candle 
 gleam from the windows. But now that she 
 was close upon it, Reine faintly discerned 
 the walls and gables — almost as much covered 
 with ivy as a wood in summer with its leaves 
 — of the Manor Farm, tenanted by Mr. Helier. 
 Now that the trees in general were bare, the 
 building looked greener than the surrounding 
 plantations. 
 
 A light shone forth, at last, from an upper 
 window, and Reine fancied that she saw a pale 
 face taking cognisance of their arrival. The 
 driver did not go up to the front door, but 
 turning short off, went round the back of the 
 house into a spacious yard, begirt with barns 
 and offices, many of which appeared to be 
 ruinously out of repair. He leaped clown 
 from his rickety bench, and took out the piece 
 of wood which formed the back of the cart, for 
 Reine to get down more easily. Warm light 
 streamed out now from the door and window 
 of a kitchen, whence a woman of respectable
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 31 
 
 appearance came forth and invited her to 
 enter. 
 
 She did not keep Reine in the kitchen, 
 but led her through a long winding passage 
 to the part of the old house which was occu- 
 pied by Mr. Helier's family ; warning her by 
 the way of the odd steps up and down, which 
 seemed put there as snares to entrap the 
 unwary. As they went along, with the light 
 the woman carried in her hand flickering in the 
 strong draughts which seemed to come from 
 behind the tapestry, as if it masked unseen 
 apertures, Reine trembled as much with fear 
 as with cold. She would have given all she 
 was w r orth in the world to be back again in 
 France, or on board the schooner, with the 
 kind sailors and their captain- Even old 
 Simon Brock's nook, screened off from the 
 tap-room, was more inviting than the abode 
 of her unknown kinsman. 
 
 Reine lingered behind her companion, at 
 the risk of being left in darkness, to try to 
 get over the inclination she felt to weep. As 
 she stood still hesitating, while the woman, 
 who had preceded her with the light, had her 
 hand on the door of the room to which she 
 was showing her, something or some one 
 rushed past her in the darkness. Her already 
 thrilling nerves vibrated with the shock, and 
 she could not repress an ejaculation of terror;
 
 32 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 but it was faint compared with the groan or 
 gasp of apprehension which issued from the 
 form she could just see leaning against the 
 wall. 
 
 " Oh, Ciel ! Qui es tu?" was uttered in 
 broken accents of alarm, followed by sighs so 
 profound that they seemed to betoken bodily 
 as well as mental anguish. 
 
 " It's only the Master. Don't be scared, 
 Miss!' said the woman, returning and look- 
 ing sharply round. " Was it you that screamed? 
 People who live at 'Oods should have stouter 
 hearts than yours seems to be." 
 
 She passed Reine somewhat contemptu- 
 ously, and went towards the dark figure still 
 propped against the wall. Her tone of voice 
 was low as she spoke to him; but the girl 
 could trace in it scorn, if not loathing. It 
 was not as respectful as it ought to have been 
 to her master; but all the people at Woods 
 regarded Mr. Helier as no gentleman, and 
 treated him accordingly. Whatever repre- 
 sentations the woman might make were un- 
 availing. He remained where he was, and 
 she came back again, saying, Master had had 
 a start, and couldn't get over it. He would 
 be in the parlour presently. He was but 
 a poor creature, and she hoped Ma'amselle 
 wouldn't mind his crotchets. 
 
 Heine did not reply, and the next mo-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 33 
 
 raent she found herself in the presence of her 
 hostess and of the young girls, to whom, in 
 return for the home offered her at Woods, it 
 was implied, though not stipulated, that she 
 was to afford some instruction. Mrs. Helier, 
 a pale, nervous woman, received her stiffly; 
 her daughters, as shyly as a couple of wild 
 animals might have done. They shrank into 
 the farthest corner of the large, barely-fur- 
 nished parlour; from which they emerged 
 slowly, after a time, tempted by the bon-bons 
 Reine had brought for them, 
 
 The white face of his wife flushed when 
 Mr. Helier came into the room; and as the 
 colour rose to her thin temples, Reine began 
 to credit the assertion she had heard, that in 
 her youth she had been handsome. There 
 was little trace of beauty now; and none of 
 girlish animation or frivolity in that worn, 
 fretful countenance, seamed with lines of anx- 
 ious care. Mr. Helier was a dark, foreign- 
 looking man, very much sunburned. His 
 French accent brought tears to Reine's eyes, 
 as he bade her welcome. She declined all 
 offers of refreshment, explaining that she had 
 partaken of some while waiting at the Three 
 Crowns; and, after a brief, embarrassed con- 
 versation, she gladly retired for the night. 
 
 The young orphan was disposed to make 
 the best of the lot before her; and, with the 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 spring sunshine falling on the old house, un- 
 broken, save by the budding branches of the 
 trees, the home to which she had been trans- 
 ferred with much less care and consideration 
 than a bale of smuggled silks certainly appeared 
 to her under its least disagreeable aspect. 
 
 The old Grange belonging to the Bos- 
 cawens stood nearly at the head of a ravine, 
 stretching upward from the sea, and was 
 backed by the high ground of the moors. 
 Down from the heights came a sparkling, 
 dancing stream, dashing over ledges of slate 
 and granite; of which large boulders were 
 scattered about. The stream was visible for 
 a long way; since no hedgerows bordered the 
 open roads, or broke the free turf of those 
 grassy downs. A wide, unenclosed space, 
 dotted with grazing sheep, and, here and there, 
 a clump of thornbushes near the running 
 water, extended to the north and east of the 
 Manor-house. 
 
 When the rivulet entered the woods, 
 though it still brawled and dashed along its 
 pebbly bed, its aspect changed. Dark sha- 
 dows crossed it; almost impervious gloom 
 brooded over it; and its hurrying, foaming 
 current, was impeded by the growth of reeds 
 and rushes, fostered by the warm damp at- 
 mosphere. Yet still there were places, espe- 
 cially now when the trees were nearly leafless,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 35 
 
 where it broke out gladly into the sunlight. 
 Reine did not guess, as she impatiently watched 
 the swelling buds on the great trees, what 
 masses of gloomy darkness, when they were 
 in full leaf, those giant branches cast; and 
 how much more beautiful the woods were in 
 the spring, than in their full summer verdure. 
 She could wander about now as she liked; 
 but when the brambles grew stronger, and 
 stretched across from thicket to thicket, those 
 pleasant-looking openings of paths, which, in 
 general led nowhere, were choked up alto- 
 gether. 
 
 She had not as yet ventured to any great 
 distance from the house, and by far the densest 
 growth of brambly covert was that which filled 
 the hollow between it and the sea. The young 
 girls, her cousins, told her in that direction 
 the woods were impassable; and though she 
 did not quite believe them, and was especially 
 anxious to tread this prohibited ground, the 
 place was as yet so new to her, that she con- 
 tented herself with exploring the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the Manor. 
 
 The dwelling itself was a large quadran- 
 gular structure, in the Old English style, sur- 
 rounded by trees, which rendered it cold and 
 damp in autumn and winter; but which now, 
 in fine weather, only cast pleasant, flickering 
 shades on the grey, ivy and lichen-covered
 
 36 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 walls. The offices were very large, including 
 an extensive range of stabling, built long 
 ago by the present Lord Boscawen, who had 
 made the place his residence during the 
 hunting season, and had desecrated, it was 
 said, the ancient chapel, by converting it into 
 a harness-room. 
 
 In front, the view was circumscribed by 
 trees, which came so close to the house, that 
 very probably some of the mysterious noises 
 which alarmed the family were caused by 
 the grating of the boughs against the walls. 
 The wide avenue leading from the road to 
 the front-door was full of weeds ; and the 
 drive to the back of the mansion, cut up by 
 the farm-carts, sorely needed mending. All 
 that was beautiful about the place consisted 
 in the fine old wood around it, in the pic- 
 turesque style of the architecture ; and, at 
 the time of Reine's arrival, the bright April 
 sunshine falling over everything. 
 
 French in her lightheartedness and dcx- 
 terity, and in the taste which regulated her 
 simple costume, Reine Helier was seated in 
 one of the sunniest windows of the old house, 
 busy at her needlework, and Binging merrily. 
 The snatches of melody, interrupted while she 
 was considering how to fold the lappets of the 
 high-crowned Norman cap she was making, 
 went on afresh, like the carol of the birds out
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 37 
 
 of doors, busily occupied, also, in building 
 their nests in the old trees about the mansion. 
 The room was a large one, with some pieces 
 of quaint wood -carving round the mantel- 
 piece, and a stag's horns over the door. 
 Several faded pictures of the Boscawen family 
 — ladies in straw hats and a sort of shep- 
 herdess costume — hung on the walls. The 
 furniture was old and scanty, and seemed 
 rather to belong to a hall than to a sitting- 
 room; ponderous oak chairs, with elaborately - 
 carved backs, a threadbare carpet, covering 
 only part of the floor, and curtainless windows, 
 with thick stone mullions, through which the 
 light fell full on the bent head and shining 
 tresses of the young girl. 
 
 Though she had been only three days its 
 inmate, Reine, as she sat singing over her 
 light work, seemed quite at home in the old 
 Grange. Hers was the very nature to lighten 
 its gloom; the brave, honest spirit and glad- 
 some temper that laughed at difficulties, or 
 set steadily to work to overcome them. Her 
 recent domestic trials were not forgotten: over 
 that sunny brow there passed, from time to 
 time, shadows of regret for the lost — visible 
 clouds of misgiving about the uncertain future ; 
 but there was nothing of the misty, dreamy, 
 atmosphere of the North, obscuring Reine's 
 clear intellect. Her sorrows and trials were
 
 38 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 real; — they were not magnified by the me- 
 dium through which she viewed them; and 
 they were chequered by vivid anticipations of 
 enjoyment. 
 
 In spite of her French birth and educa- 
 tion, Reine had an obstinate partiality for 
 everything English. The song of the birds 
 in the thicket, the breath of the spring wind, 
 even the dismal tranquillity of AVoods, pleased 
 her, because they appeared to her natural to 
 the country in which she was come to reside. 
 There were strong emotions stirring in the 
 young girl's heart, which, even while she sat 
 alone, brought blushes to her cheek, and 
 bright light to her eye, as she looked upon 
 the homely features of English country life, 
 seen for the first time at the Manor Farm in 
 Cornwall. 
 
 For some time she was quite alone. The 
 children whom it had been understood that 
 she was to educate, were nowhere to be 
 found. Neither the master nor the mistress 
 of Woods promised to be a sociable com- 
 panion. Reine was left entirely to her own 
 resources for amusement. She rather liked 
 the feeling of solitude and freedom, so dif- 
 ferent from the picture she had formed to 
 herself of the life of a dependant. Never- 
 theless, she looked up brightly when Lance 
 Fleming, whom she not seen since the night
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 39 
 
 of her first arrival, came within view on the 
 road leading past the house towards the 
 stables. 
 
 He stopped short on seeing her, and 
 seemed inclined to retrace his steps. Reine's 
 half-saucy glance deterred him from approach- 
 ing her. In general, the wild girls at Woods, 
 with their frocks stained purple with black- 
 berries or green from kneeling on the grass, 
 ankle-deep in mud, and with dishevelled hair, 
 kept him in little awe ; but Lance felt that 
 he was no fitting associate for the foreign- 
 looking damsel, with her carefully-braided 
 locks and daintily-neat apparel. She was 
 busy with her work again, however; and 
 did not look up or take any further notice 
 of him. Lance was no scholar, and hardly 
 understood a word of any language but his 
 own ; yet he liked the sound of the light 
 foreign words she was singing. He came in 
 and sat down at the further end of the hall, 
 where it was in shadow. 
 
 Reine was the first to speak, though her 
 pride had been wounded by Lance's churlish 
 behaviour at their first meeting. 
 
 " The wind has changed/ 5 she said. 
 " Could not a vessel enter the port easily 
 now, and lie safe at her moorings under the 
 grand rocks? Is La Belle Marie gone?'
 
 40 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Lance came to the window, and looked 
 at the waving boughs opposite. He did not 
 answer her question. 
 
 " How came Mynheer to give you a pas- 
 sage?' he asked, suddenly. " He does not 
 often choose to have strangers on board. 
 Perhaps you have known him before?' 
 
 Reine's eyes filled with tears. 
 
 "Yes, and no!' she said. "He has 
 known those who loved me. We cannot be 
 strange to each other. In the sailing vessel 
 which he commands, where all obey him at 
 a w r ord, and his will is law, he was like a 
 father to me. I should be sorry," she added, 
 after a pause, "if he were to be in trouble 
 for bringing me to this place." 
 
 " No fear of that," said Lance. " La 
 Belle Marie is a swift sailer. If the Curlew 
 were rounding Arthur's Head, and the French 
 schooner off Lezant Point, she would spread 
 her wings like a bird, and be out of sight be- 
 fore the officer got his glass to bear upon her. 
 He has more than one lesson to learn from 
 experience before he catches Mynheer." 
 
 Reine worked on in silence for several 
 minutes. Meanwhile, a large water-spaniel, 
 which had come into the room with Lance, 
 went up to her, as if to claim acquaintance. 
 The animal was of a very staid demeanour,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 41 
 
 and looked as if he had been well cared for. 
 His curly hair was crisp and clean, as well 
 as remarkably fine. Reine bent over him 
 lovingly. 
 
 " Bouffe recollects me," she said, after she 
 had addressed a few French words to the 
 dog, which he seemed to understand per- 
 fectly. " We were friends on board the 
 schooner. Has Mynheer given him to you?' 
 
 " Yes. He brought him over for me 
 from France. That was what took me to 
 Lezant the other night. I expected the dog, 
 and Jacob Mohr is a man of his word. These 
 Bouffe clogs are rare, even in their own coun- 
 try, and can be trained to perform almost any 
 feat by land or water. This one has been 
 half worried already by the savage brutes in 
 the yard ; and though he showed fight, he 
 did not bark. He has been taught to hunt 
 his game silently." 
 
 Reine looked down compassionately at 
 the handsome animal, now coiled up content- 
 edly at her feet. " Ah, Bouffe, mon ami ! 
 we have both got to fight our way in the 
 world. We must be allies." 
 
 She said no more ; and Lance, who seldom 
 spoke six words to a female, was equally 
 silent. 
 
 " You were singing," he remarked, at 
 last. " Why do you leave off? I do not
 
 42 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 understand the words, but I like to hear you. 
 Besides, it must help you with your work." 
 
 " How is it that you do not speak French, 
 when your mother is married to a man who 
 is scarcely English ? You must hear it often. 
 Those foreign vessels, too — you seem to have 
 dealings with their crews and captains. I 
 wonder you have not learned the language/ 1 
 
 " I never liked a word I heard of it, be- 
 fore," said Lance. " But here and there I 
 catch your meaning. Those are the cries of 
 the hunters after the wolves, and some poor 
 mother has lost her child while the men of 
 the valley were on the mountains. There 
 now, you see, I have made out part of your 
 song. . Go on with it, I beg of you." 
 
 He walked away from the window, as he 
 spoke, and after a few minutes, during which 
 Reine remained silent, he left the room, but 
 he did not go far away. The girl, without 
 turning her head, could see him standing 
 under a clump of dark fir-trees near the 
 corner of the house. It was not possible for 
 Reine long to harbour an unkind thought. 
 She did not repeat the ballad he had asked 
 for ; but, after a short interval, she began 
 singing a sea-song, which she had often heard 
 on board La Belle Marie. 
 
 It was one the sailors had brought with 
 them from their homes in Brittany, and the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 43 
 
 sound of the sea- waves coming in upon the 
 sandy beaches was imitated in the refrain. 
 Then, the cry of the fishermen preparing their 
 boats, amid plaintive partings from their wives 
 and little ones. The boats are over the bar 
 now — out on the wild waters, with the moon 
 and stars dancing in bright reflections on 
 the calm surface of the waters ; and the men 
 sing a hymn to the Virgin as they cast 
 down their nets, praying for a full load ere 
 morning. 
 
 Lance saw, when, upon Reine's suddenly 
 stopping her song, he looked into the room, 
 that his step-father had come in, and was 
 sitting at the farther end, near the fireplace, 
 where logs were laid — not lit, but ready for 
 burning. The sun had gone round from that 
 side of the house ; and the corner, where Mr. 
 Helier sat, was in deep shadow. 
 
 There was very little cordiality between 
 the present occupant of Woods and his step- 
 son. Some years before this time, Lance had 
 broken the leading-strings in which his father- 
 in-law tried to hold him. He was free now, 
 and came and went as he liked. The Manor- 
 house could hardly be called his abode, he 
 spent so little of his time there, though he 
 chose to maintain a claim to the rude chamber, 
 which had been called his from his childhood, 
 by occasionally occupying it. No person in
 
 44 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the house, except Mr. Fleming's old servant, 
 who had admitted Reine, dared to question 
 the youth about these frequent absences. 
 
 Bouffe heard the low, indistinct whistle, 
 like the call of a bird, with which Lance 
 turned off down one of the paths towards the 
 sea, and followed his master. Reine worked 
 on, struggling with a feeling of oppression, 
 for which she hardly knew how to account. 
 She felt more alone, with that dark-browed, 
 silent man for her companion, than she had 
 done while she was singing her pleasant 
 Breton sonsrs in solitude. 
 
 Even when Mrs. Helier came in this sen- 
 sation did not wear off. All his family were 
 
 ■r 
 
 afraid of the taciturn master of Woods ; who, 
 though he had spent more than half his life 
 in England, had never been thoroughly na- 
 turalised. He was more of a foreigner in 
 manner, accent, and idiom, than his young 
 kinswoman, who had never visited this coun- 
 try before. Yet Reine, fond as she was of 
 sunny France, did not like him. He spoke 
 rarely, and took little heed of what passed ; 
 but his temper, when roused, was very vio- 
 lent. At present, he sat with his head resting 
 on his hands, and his elbows on the table, 
 apparently tired, perhaps sleeping. His wife 
 moved about stealthily, not to disturb him. 
 Reine began to think Woods a very dull
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 45 
 
 place ; but she worked on silently, as long as 
 the daylight lasted. 
 
 Just as the room was beginning to grow 
 really dark, a wild shriek rang through the 
 passages of the old house. Mr. Helier looked 
 up, his dark face pale with terror; and a 
 great white owl, disturbed from its nest in 
 the ruins of the old chapel, flew close past 
 the window, hooting, into the woods. 
 
 " Mon Dieu ! " he exclaimed ; " what sound 
 is that ? Are we never to be quiet ? Quel 
 tapage infernal ! Will no one rid us of these 
 horrors?" 
 
 " It is nothing, 55 said Reine, cheerfully, 
 after listening for a moment. " I hear laugh- 
 ing and talking; — the children are come in. 
 Shall I go and see?' 5 
 
 Mr. Helier's face, at first pallid, grew red 
 with anger, as childish voices and laughter 
 sounded nearer. 
 
 " Ah, ce n'est rien que les enfans ! " he 
 said, with concentrated fury. " I will teach 
 them how to play at that ! Restez ici. Let 
 no one stir till I come back. This all must 
 finish. 55 
 
 He went out hurriedly. Reine 5 s heart 
 quailed when she heard real sobs and shrieks 
 of pain in the passage. Presently, Mr. He- 
 lier, not looking like the same man, his coun- 
 tenance full of furious excitement, came in,
 
 46 LA BELLE MARTE. 
 
 dragging his eldest daughter by the wrist, 
 which was red with the pressure of his hard 
 fingers. 
 
 " Let me see/' he said, " which of you is 
 it that I am to punish? Will you play the 
 revenant again at Woods ? Was it Lance who 
 set you on?" 
 
 " No, no !" said both the terrified girls, in 
 a breath. " Lance is angry if we talk about 
 the ghost. He does not play with us. Oh, 
 father, please to let us go, and we will never 
 do it again ! *' 
 
 " Oh, you confess ! you are the troublers 
 of this house," said the irritated father, raising 
 his arm with such violent anger that Reine 
 hastily came to the rescue. As she moved 
 forward, the red marks on the girl's wrist, 
 which she was struggling to release, caught 
 the man's notice. He seemed half frightened 
 at his own rising passion, and made an effort 
 to subdue it. 
 
 " There, there ! that will do. Mademoi- 
 selle is kind enough to speak for yon. Zelie ! 
 Victoire ! Let me hear no more of these hor- 
 rible noises. I thought we should have been 
 quiet for a while. The house has been more 
 tranquil lately."' 
 
 He laid his head down again upon his 
 clasped hands, and slept or dozed till supper 
 was brought in ; but he complained of indis-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 47 
 
 position, and touched nothing. The girls, 
 wild, uncouth creatures, chattered together in 
 a corner, or pulled about Reine's work, tear- 
 ing the net, entangling the fine cotton, and 
 making destructive havoc with their long, list- 
 less fingers, which were never quiet. 
 
 Meanwhile, the wind rose, and sang round 
 the building with its thousand wild voices, as 
 it rustled among the branches, moaned in the 
 chimneys, or echoed loudly, each time a dis- 
 tant door opened, along the passages. Some- 
 times, one of the boughs of the tall elm -trees 
 nearest to the house swept across the window 
 from which Reine had retreated, and scuds of 
 rain rattled against the casement panes. It 
 was a dark, dreary night; and within, the 
 frightened children, their habitually pale, 
 timid mother, and the silent man, with his 
 face buried in his hands, were not more cheer- 
 ful than the ravings of the storm. 
 
 Lance Fleming's dog — the smuggling 
 Captain's present — crept after Reine to her 
 chamber, and she did not like to drive it 
 away. In the middle of the night she awoke, 
 with a strong sensation of terror. It was only 
 BoufTe, pulling at the cloak she had thrown 
 over the scantily-furnished couch. At the 
 same time, there was a dull sound of shuffling 
 feet in the long gallery: 
 
 For a moment, Reine thought of the re-
 
 48 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 ports she had heard of supernatural visitations 
 there ; but the dog's instinct might be trusted, 
 andBouffe seemed to know that friends rather 
 than enemies were outside. A long, low, most 
 unghostlike whistle settled the question, and 
 the girl got up, and putting the cloak round 
 her, crossed the floor, and opened the door 
 just wide enough to let out her dumb com- 
 panion. 
 
 She was sure that it was Lance who had 
 summoned the dog, and she fancied that he 
 said, " Thank you," and " Good night," in a 
 more civilised manner than might have been 
 expected. The night was fine, now, though 
 not clear ; and, as she looked from her window 
 over the woodland scenery, she could see a 
 star or two shining through the mist. No- 
 thing else was visible : the trees deepened 
 and darkened into a shadowy, indistinct mass; 
 and she was uncertain whether what she heard 
 was the faint, sighing sound of the wind 
 among the branches, or the distant murmur 
 of the sea. While she was trying to ascer- 
 tain this point, a bright light shot up high in 
 the west, and fell in a shower of sparks, like 
 shooting stars, across the dark grey sky. 
 
 Reine had watched the sailors of La Belle 
 Marie sending rockets aloft, as they declared, 
 for her amusement ; but, as she guessed, to 
 serve as signals to the smugglers along the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 49 
 
 coast. Her heart beat as she remembered 
 words spoken unguardedly in her hearing 
 when on board ; and, while the sparks went 
 out slowly, one after another, she longed to 
 know whether this was the concerted warning 
 that the Curlew, one of the smartest Revenue 
 cutters in the service, with her dashing young 
 Commander, Lieutenant Osborne, was on the 
 watch off the entrance of the harbour of 
 Lezant. 
 
 VOL. I. e
 
 50 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Lezant Church was unusually crowded the 
 next morning. That Sunday was the first 
 since the power of the Church, and the 
 prayers of its Minister, had been called upon 
 to quiet the nocturnal disturbances at Woods ; 
 and Mr. St. Ernie's congregation wanted to 
 see how their old Parson looked after his con- 
 flict with the ghost. 
 
 He was still in appearance the model of a 
 reverend divine — tall, slender, silver-haired — 
 with a voice like the sighing of the autumn 
 wind, as it came softened through the Par- 
 sonage evergreens, after lifting up its shrill 
 clarion-call upon the clifTs. When he now rose 
 up to address his more than ordinal ilv attentive 
 flock, some degree of pity was felt for him. 
 His bent form, white, trembling hands, and 
 feeble accents, showed that a change for the 
 worse had been wrought in him ; but Mr. St. 
 Ernie was not a man likely to reveal in his 
 sermon the tenor of the thoughts which had 
 occupied him, or the events which might have
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 51 
 
 diversified his existence during the past week. 
 The cool stream of his oratory flowed on un- 
 altered, rising and falling with just its old 
 cadences. For anything he told them, Life 
 might have been as unreal as the metaphors 
 and similes with which he decked it. 
 
 It was said bv the older inhabitants of 
 Lezant, that, when he first came among them, 
 Mr. St. Erme, though rather far-fetched and 
 obscure in his language, had been a somewhat 
 eloquent preacher. His own inner life was that 
 of a man possessed by strong though mystical 
 religious feelings ; but, whatever energies he 
 had once possessed, were now dead within 
 him. He had no sympathy with his flock : 
 early education and habits had placed him too 
 much above them ; and pride, wounded in its 
 tenderest point, made him shrink from con- 
 tact with those who were acquainted with the 
 nature of the sore hidden and rankling under 
 that cold, dignified exterior. 
 
 For nearly thirty years the incumbent of 
 this secluded parish, Reginald St. Erme, had 
 so contrived to exist that he was, if possible, 
 more ignorant of the spiritual requirements of 
 its inhabitants, than when, fresh from college 
 triumphs, he was first inducted to the living 
 on the presentation of its patron, Lord Bos- 
 cawen. He had then crossed the Bodmin 
 Moors with some dismay ; and he still looked 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 ILLINOIS LIBRARY;
 
 52 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 back upon the distant wavy heights which 
 shut him out from the civilised world, with 
 the feelings of a man who has endured a long 
 and painful exile. 
 
 Though he had spent more than half his 
 life among them, he yet felt himself a stranger 
 to the persons he encountered, whenever, as 
 was but rarely the case, he walked along the 
 busy thoroughfare of Lezant. In his own 
 church he was more at home; and, Sunday 
 after Sunday he ascended the pulpit, and 
 preached to those brawny mariners and fisher- 
 men sermons which would have been more 
 appropriate to some collegiate chapel. 
 
 No matter that, but a short half mile from 
 the church, lay that great, vasty deep, to which 
 so many of them went down in ships and 
 came back no more ! — that, on many a Sab- 
 bath, his harmonious but not forcible organ 
 of speech was overpowered by the eddying 
 wind and volleying thunder, and the hoarse 
 roar of the waves, as the drift of the Atlantic 
 set in against those iron-ribbed cliffs, beneath 
 which so many a gallant vessel, with its pre- 
 cious human freight, had gone to pieces. The 
 ocean-billows, the wind, the thunder — even 
 the minute-guns at sea — might, with their own 
 terrible innate signification, solemnise his dis- 
 course ; but no lesson was drawn from them 
 by the preacher. He was there, in the round
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 53 
 
 of accustomed duty, to perform for a certain 
 number of hours and minutes the services of 
 the Church, and deal forth some admonitory 
 precepts to the people ; and if wrecks on the 
 shore — as had been the case within the me- 
 mory of man — had left every bench empty, 
 he would have finished his exhortation. 
 
 The church stood outside the village, on 
 very high ground, facing the sea, which had 
 washed deep caverns in the cliff. All around, 
 tossed up and down, lay the undulating sur- 
 face of the Cornish moor; excepting where, 
 in a deeper, combe-like dip of the hill, screened 
 by thick plantations and shrubberies, but still 
 commanding a fine view of the sea and cliffs, 
 the Rectory-house and gardens retreated from 
 sight. 
 
 A happy life might have been spent under 
 the roof of Lezant Parsonage ; but Mr. St. 
 Erme's destiny was a perverse one. Disap- 
 pointed at an early age in what might have 
 softened a naturally peculiar disposition, he 
 had never married ; and the hopes he had 
 afterwards garnered up, and by which he had 
 set more store than should attach to any 
 earthly treasure or anticipation, had been 
 scattered, like the frail hawthorn and labur- 
 num blossoms that streamed over the moors 
 from the outside of his parterres, when the 
 wild sea -blasts whirled them away.
 
 54 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Often now, as the Rector paced slowly, 
 with failing step and downcast eyes, up and 
 clown that gravel walk which formed, winter 
 and summer, almost his only place for taking 
 exercise, he would hear, close behind or beside 
 him, a quicker, manlier footfall, not unlike his 
 own in the tread, but more firmly planted. 
 A voice which reminded him of home — of 
 that magic circle of affections which, once 
 broken, had never for him been re-created — 
 would speak words put together and pro- 
 nounced as only one person on earth had ever 
 uttered them. On those green cliffs, as he well 
 remembered, that handsome, stately form, so 
 often present to his thoughts, might have been 
 seen whiling away the hours which sometimes 
 hung heavily at Lezant Rectory. Never 
 did the bells of distant churches ring over 
 that wide expanse, without recalling the me- 
 mory of the day when he had watched anx- 
 iously every member of his wayward flock 
 appear and take his accustomed seat, without 
 seeing his brother enter the house of prayer. 
 
 At either end of a table covered with 
 snowy damask and old-fashioned French 
 china, in the sunny morning-room at Lezant 
 Parsonage, — eighteen years before the Sun- 
 day when Mr. St. Erme has been described 
 preaching to his turbulent parishioners, — the 
 Rector and his brother were seated at break-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 55 
 
 fast. Both were tall, handsome men, in the 
 prime of life; but the country clergyman 
 and magistrate, though, in fact, the younger 
 of the two, looked older than the man of 
 camps and courts. Colonel St. Ernie had 
 seen some hard service abroad, and now held 
 an appointment in the royal household. He 
 had married early, and been left a widower. 
 A very strong affection, by no means ostenta- 
 tiously brought forward, existed between the 
 brothers; they were alike fastidious, refined, 
 and haughty. Often, in public life, the cour- 
 tier and soldier met with jars and disappoint- 
 ments, which were confided only to his recluse 
 brother. 
 
 At such times the Cornish hermitage, 
 as he called it, smiled a pleasant welcome 
 to him; while to the quieter, but scarcely 
 more satisfied spirit of the dweller in the 
 wastes, these occasional visits appeared as 
 bright .spots marked strongly in the dull 
 calendar of the year's events. 
 
 Ever and anon the Rector glanced at his 
 sermon, which lay in its neat case on the 
 breakfast -table beside him; but still he lin- 
 gered, listening to anecdotes not much in 
 character with the text he had chosen for the 
 heading of his grave discourse. At another 
 moment he might have heard without pain 
 his brother's careless expressions; but, with
 
 56 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the holy calm of the Sabbath morning round 
 him, and the words of solemn preparation for 
 prayer almost on his lips, he longed to choose 
 some graver subject of conversation. The 
 fear, however, of giving offence, and putting 
 an end to the pleasant habit of frank, unre- 
 strained confidence, which thev had main- 
 tained from boyhood, for some time kept him 
 silent. 
 
 He was relieved when Colonel St. Erme, 
 rising from table, went to the window, and 
 stood admiring the landscape, as he always 
 did, winter or summer, when he came to 
 Lezant. There w T as, indeed, no season when 
 those verdant grounds, with the undulating 
 downs beyond, and brightly sparkling ocean, 
 were not beautiful; but the Rector, who was 
 not so ardent a lover of nature as his brother, 
 never enjoyed the place so much as when he 
 saw how greatly it ministered to the gratifica- 
 tion of his favourite guest. 
 
 He was a fine classical scholar, and longed 
 to tread the shores of Greece and Italy; but 
 there were no associations which interested 
 him, connected with the Cornish tors, and 
 the broad sweeps of the hills, heaved up in 
 masses, on which the light fell, broken by the 
 cloud shadows. 
 
 The travelled man of the world, conscious 
 that his present tranquil existence was but a
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 57 
 
 thing of the moment, which he could change 
 as soon as it palled upon him, professed him- 
 self never weary of gazing upon that glorious 
 prospect. 
 
 " Upon my word, Reginald, I envy you! 
 Lezant is the pleasantest place I know," 
 he ended with observing. " You must ex- 
 cuse me if I am a defaulter from church this 
 sunshiny afternoon. There is something po- 
 sitively irresistible in the aspect of those 
 cliffs." 
 
 " Do not stay away without a better 
 reason, Edmund," said his brother, affection- 
 ately. " Our one weekly service is not too 
 severe a task upon your powers of attention. 
 You will have plenty of time for a stroll on 
 the cliffs before it begins; or I will go with 
 you afterwards. It gives me pain to see the 
 ordinances of the Church neglected, especially 
 by one staying under my roof; and I am 
 sorry to say mine is but a scanty congrega- 
 tion. Besides, I have prepared my sermon 
 with much care; and I should like to have 
 one intelligent listener. I think it will in- 
 terest you." 
 
 " I am sorry that I cannot hear it this 
 afternoon. You must preach it pver again 
 some other Sunday for me. The fact is, 
 Reginald," he said, seeing that his brother 
 looked mortified, " Fleming and I have had a
 
 58 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 quarrel. He does me the honour to be jea- 
 lous, and swears I shall not speak to his 
 pretty wife. Now, I am not going to be 
 dictated to by him; and, at the same time, I 
 should not wish to be a party to a brawl at 
 your church-door: so the only plan I can 
 adopt is to keep away. He is hardly enough 
 of the gentleman for me to call him out; but 
 if he ill-uses Mrs. Fleming, as he has done 
 once or twice in my presence, I shall certainly 
 be constrained to teach him better manners." 
 
 " Do not interfere between them, Ed- 
 mund 1" said his brother, anxiously. "The 
 Flemings are a most unhappy couple. You 
 cannot mend, but may make matters worse. 
 Though he is distantly related to Lord Bos- 
 cawen, Fleming is fast losing every pretension 
 to be regarded as a gentleman. His habits are 
 low and intemperate. What pleasure can a per- 
 son like yourself derive from such society?' 
 
 " You are quite right, Reginald. Fleming 
 is%a brute!' Colonel St. Erme answered, with 
 strong indignation. " How shamefully he 
 treats his poor wife ! There was a red mark 
 yesterday on her wrist, which is not larger 
 than my Mary's. I should not like to know 
 how she came by it." 
 
 " She is a weak, vain coquette. I wonder 
 you name her in the same breath with your 
 little daughter!" said the Rector, gravely/
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 59 
 
 " Fleming's temper, especially when aggra- 
 vated, as it constantly is by intoxication, is 
 quite ungovernable. He will illtreat his wife 
 more and more, and probably insult you, if 
 you offer her attentions, which are considered 
 in quite another light in this parish from that 
 in which they probably appear to a man of 
 your gay habits. These people of Lezant are 
 no triflers, but a dogged, hardened race, ready 
 to impute to you a worse design than the 
 mere foolish flirtation into which her light 
 speech and conduct have led you. Connected 
 with this heartless amusement are a thousand 
 disagreeable contingencies for me, for you, 
 and, above all, for this poor, silly woman. 
 Give it up, I entreat you!" 
 
 Colonel St. Erme coloured. " You would 
 not have me own myself in the wrong, by 
 withdrawing attentions which are no more 
 than any pretty woman might claim as her 
 due? Let us say no more on the subject." 
 
 The Rector took up his sermon, and re- 
 treated to his study, while his brother left the 
 house and sauntered towards the cliffs, where 
 he often lay basking for hours in the sun- 
 shine. When he reached the summit of the 
 grassy promontory which overlooked the town 
 and the surrounding country, he threw him- 
 self down on the turf, and remained for some 
 time idly watching the different groups wend-
 
 60 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 ing their way to church, from farm-houses 
 hidden in nooks among the downs; masters 
 and mistresses, with their labourers and do- 
 mestics, the women riding, according to the 
 universal fashion in Cornwall, and merry 
 children running on in front. 
 
 When the latest laggard of the congrega- 
 tion had entered the portal of the sacred edi- 
 fice, Colonel St. Erme rose and walked for 
 some distance along the edge of the cliff, in 
 the direction of the Manor Farm. He had 
 not gone far, when, along the road he had 
 been watching, which wound with a tor- 
 tuous course through the valley, came the 
 pretty mistress of Woods, mounted on her 
 favourite horse, the best in her husband's 
 stables. She blushed when he accosted her, 
 and said that she was returning home by the 
 short bridle-path over the cliffs, on account 
 of having left her little boy ailing. Mr. 
 Fleming had said she ought to go to church; 
 but, when she got halfway, she felt so anxious 
 about Lance, that she had persuaded him to 
 let her go back. Whatever might have been 
 her previous intentions, her pace was slow, as 
 she rode with Colonel St. Ernie's hand upon 
 the rein of her horse, guiding him past the 
 dangerous gaps in the cliff to the gates of 
 Woods, where she took leave of him. 
 
 Colonel St. Erme returned to the Parson-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 61 
 
 as;e in time to dress for dinner. He did not 
 mention to his brother any intention he had 
 formed of leaving Lezant, but seemed to be 
 in good spirits, admiring, with his usual zest, 
 the moonlight view, which was even more 
 beautiful than the brilliant morning sunshine 
 had been. Whenever the Colonel was staying 
 with his brother, he lost no opportunity 
 of going out to enjoy such a spectacle ; 
 and now, the moon being at the full, he 
 possessed himself of the Rector's private key, 
 and went through the grounds to the summit 
 of the promontory. The light lay in golden 
 masses on the sea, while against the rocks, 
 which stood out blacker than ever by con- 
 trast, the tide rolled in thunderingly, filling 
 the curious caverns and inlets with which the 
 coast was indented. The broad surface of 
 the hills, heaved up in wild ridges and hol- 
 lows, gleamed white through mist ; and the 
 dark wooded chasm, in which the waterfalls 
 kept up a continual chant, brooded in un- 
 broken darkness. 
 
 At a late hour of that bright summer 
 night, Mrs. Fleming was sitting up nursing 
 her little boy in a room called, from its fur- 
 niture, the Walnut-wood Chamber, at the 
 old manor-house in the ravine. There was 
 a fire burning, for the place was damp at all 
 seasons, and the white moonbeams fell
 
 62 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 through the wide window upon the floor, 
 almost meeting the red reflection from the 
 hearth. She had gone to bed early, but had 
 risen when the child cried, and thrown upon 
 the iron dogs occupying the place of a 
 modern grate a large oak bough, which was 
 sparkling and crackling half way up the spa- 
 cious chimney. The young woman cowered 
 over the fire, crying silently ; for the last 
 words which had passed between Fleming 
 and herself had been angry ones, and she had 
 been forced to bear even harsher tokens of 
 his displeasure. He had gone out late, and 
 would probably return mad with drink ; — 
 she knew not that her life was safe in that 
 lone place, now that jealousy had kindled his 
 worst passions. 
 
 Very different words dwelt in her recol- 
 lection — kind, soothing, almost tender com- 
 pliments — flattering glances which had lately 
 been almost too familiar. Very bitterly she 
 contrasted those courtly adulations with her 
 husband's savage violence ; and yet hence- 
 forward, Fleming had told her, in terms which 
 she knew were no idle threats, that she was 
 not to hold speech with the Colonel. She 
 would be running a very terrible risk if she 
 again disobeyed him. 
 
 As the night wore on, she took stealthily 
 from a drawer in an old cabinet a very hand-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 63 
 
 some hunting-watch in a chased gold cover, 
 and, pressing the spring, made it repeat the 
 hour. She was dreadfully troubled in mind 
 about the safest mode of returning this costly 
 trinket to its owner. Colonel St. Erme had 
 lent it to her a few days previously, bidding 
 her, jestingly, keep better time at church ; 
 and hinting plainly that he should waylay her 
 in her homeward route, in case she preferred, 
 like himself, to watch the influx of the highest 
 tide of the year, instead of listening to the 
 Rector's sermon. 
 
 In her hurry to get ready, when Fleming 
 called her to accompany him, she had left 
 the watch behind her ; and now she trembled 
 at the idea of mentioning that she had it in 
 her possession. Hour after hour went by, 
 and at last she began to wonder that Fleming 
 did not come home. She looked from the 
 window, but all the woods were hushed ; not 
 an owl, nor a nighthawk, disturbed their 
 stillness. White waves of moonlight — deep 
 masses of shade — lay stretched out before 
 her. Then the child, when it heard her 
 moving, cried out, and the necessary task of 
 soothing it occupied her. Again the boy 
 dropped off to sleep ; but now a vaguer, 
 wilder fear, kept the mother watching. 
 Though unkindness had grown up between 
 her and her husband, who had taught her to
 
 64 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 dread him in his angry moods, and had now 
 left home in company she disliked, Phoebe 
 Fleming would have given the world to hear 
 his returning footstep ; but though she waited 
 up till daylight, he came not. 
 
 The next morning it was the same. 
 Search was made, and on the unfrequented 
 beach, over which, on the previous afternoon, 
 the great flood-tide of the year had swept, 
 the body of the unfortunate tenant of the 
 Grange was found by his servants. It was 
 supposed, at first, that he had met with an 
 accident, while returning home intoxicated 
 from the village. He had been seen to take 
 the path leading over Lezant headland, just 
 at the time when, as it was afterwards proved, 
 Colonel St. Erme let himself out upon the 
 cliff from the Parsonage garden. 
 
 The sentence which followed the verdict 
 of the Cornish jury would undoubtedly have 
 been carried into effect, and the utmost 
 penalty of the law endured by the convicted 
 murderer, had not a cooler and more dispas- 
 sionate judgment been formed elsewhere of a 
 case resting so entirely upon circumstantial 
 evidence. Mitigated, as it was, by the mercy 
 of the Crown, Colonel St. Ernie's doom 
 amounted to utter ruin and perpetual dis- 
 grace. It was with difficulty that he was 
 prevailed upon to admit even his brother to a
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 05 
 
 parting interview j and, when this painful leave- 
 taking was over, his chief desire became to 
 depart immediately for his allotted place of 
 exile. Degraded as he was to the rank of a 
 criminal, he considered the greatest benefit 
 which could accrue to his children and friends 
 would be that his existence should be abso- 
 lutely forgotten. If he had maintained during 
 his banishment any communication with his 
 family, it was kept profoundly secret. 
 
 Mr. St.Erme had never recovered from the 
 shock of his brother's trial and condemnation. 
 He retired at once from society, and buried 
 himself completely in the profound repose of 
 the Cornish Rectory. It would have been 
 better for him if this retreat, obscure as he 
 had always considered it, had been farther 
 removed from the scene of the dreadful catas- 
 trophe which blighted his life ; but he had 
 not energy enough left even to attempt to 
 negotiate an exchange of livings. When, 
 through the interest of friends, a very advan- 
 tageous proposal to that effect was made to 
 him, he declined it. 
 
 His nj^prbid feelings made him shrink 
 alike from new faces and from those to which 
 he was accustomed. Neither sympathy nor 
 compassion was agreeable to him. Even in 
 the fulfilment of the duties which devolved 
 upon him, he found no comfort. He had un« 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 6ft LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 dertaken the care of his unfortunate brother's 
 children, but when they were brought to him 
 he could not bear to look upon them. The 
 confiscation of Colonel St. Erme's property 
 had, of course, greatly altered their prospects ; 
 shame and disgrace must for the future at- 
 tend their lot in life ; mortifications beset 
 whatever path they might follow. In pur- 
 suance of these gloomy ideas, the boy was 
 sent abroad to receive his education at a 
 school in Brittany, while the girl dwelt in 
 unbroken seclusion beneath her uncle's roof. 
 His own disposition became every year 
 more harsh and misanthropical. For ever 
 dwelling on one intensely painful subject, his 
 mind narrowed as he contemplated it. An 
 austerity foreign in youth to his character 
 grew upon him. Nothing that was new or 
 entertaining found its way through his closed 
 doors. Year after year he revolved over and 
 over again the same thoughts, read the same 
 books, performed the same circumscribed 
 round of duties, and administered the same 
 formal charities. The overflowing kindnesses 
 which endear a pastor to his flock, the daily 
 offices of love, were not expected from the 
 Rector of Lezant. Nothing would have sur- 
 prised his parishioners more than to discover 
 that this silent, abstracted mortal, had so many 
 turbulent human emotions stirring within
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 67 
 
 him. He was regarded as a cold, eccentric 
 scholar, divided from them by learning, by 
 anchoritish habits, and by a morose, unsym- 
 pathetic humour. 
 
 The only link of connexion between the 
 Rector and his flock was the pale, fair girl, 
 who walked close beside him, on the Sunday 
 in question, past the latest lingerers in the 
 churchyard. Mary St. Erme had lived from 
 her earliest childhood at Lezant Parsonage. 
 Deprived by death of a mother's love in in- 
 fancy, and by a yet more cruel fate of a 
 father's care — separated from her only bro- 
 ther — there was nothing to make the young 
 girl's heart and mind expand in the chill 
 atmosphere of her uncle's dwelling. To him 
 she was but a painful memento of past suffer- 
 ings. He sometimes fancied the retrospect 
 would have been less bitter, if her pale face 
 did not constantly remind him of the blight 
 which had swept over all connected with his 
 unhappy brother. 
 
 Though he had never confided to her his 
 depth of grief, Mary St. Erme guessed the 
 trouble that lay hidden under that cold ex- 
 terior. In spite of the want of love from 
 which she had suffered, her own sympathies 
 were large and overflowing. The rude but 
 not heartless people of Lezant said that she 
 knew everybody's sorrows, and her presence 
 brought balm to many an aching heart.
 
 68 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Not that her own mind was at ease. A 
 very perturbed spirit looked out upon the 
 world from those deep -set eyes. As she 
 walked by her uncle's side, Sunday after Sun- 
 day, or listened to the dreamy flow of his elo- 
 quence, a deep compassion for the wants of 
 the congregation to whom he was so ill-suited 
 awoke within her. Even while she was spoken 
 of affectionately as one upon whom the hand 
 of the Almighty had been laid afflictingly, 
 and who was visited with that kind of mental 
 deficiency which, among the poor, is regarded 
 with reverence, Mary St. Erme was reading 
 their hearts. Debarred from other learning, 
 she studied the Scriptures, deriving from them 
 lessons which were tested by accurate per- 
 sonal observation. Gliding among them at 
 all hours — surrounded by a purity and holi- 
 ness which arose from her extreme simplicity 
 -she was as an angel of light to the vil- 
 
 lagers, counteracting the ill-effect which her 
 uncle's faulty discharge of his sacred duties 
 would otherwise have had upon them, and 
 throwing over his declining years the veil 
 which charity and mercy like hers alone can 
 spread. 
 
 From time immemorial there had been no 
 second service in the church ; and Mr. St. 
 Ernie was not a person to institute changes. 
 No one saw any more of him when, his light 
 Sunday duty performed, the gate of the Rec-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 69 
 
 tory garden closed behind him, and the ever- 
 greens hid him from view. As soon as the 
 congregation dispersed the public-houses in the 
 village were filled ; except when, as on the pre- 
 sent occasion, a crowd collected round one of 
 the numerous Methodist preachers, whom a 
 sudden revival from a state of almost hea- 
 thenish apathy had sent forth at that period 
 into the most distant corners of the land. At 
 the top of the main street, just opposite to 
 the Three Crowns, a Ranter was vehemently 
 holding forth. There was more substance in 
 what he told them, the sailors said, than in 
 the Parson's wishy-washy sermon. 
 
 " We shall have him turning Methody 
 next. Just look at the old fellow ! ' said the 
 lame soldier, contemptuously, pointing out 
 the fine, saint-like head of his father, Simon 
 Brock, as he sat by the small window of the 
 Three Crowns, listening to the preacher. " I 
 say, mother ! if you let this go on, he '11 be 
 for making the house into a Meeting. I '11 
 not stop, for one, if there 's anything of that 
 sort brewing. You 11 have your license taken 
 away, and lose the best of our customers. 
 You know what a row there was about the 
 new hymn-books — Methody psalms, people 
 called them. The Three Crowns is the ortho- 
 dox inn of the place, and I won't have new 
 fashions set up. Let the Boscawen Arms
 
 70 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 preach and pray ! We are a loyal public — 
 witness our sign — and hold by the Crown, 
 the Bishops, and the Corporation!' 
 
 "Hold your tongue, Andrew !' ; said his 
 mother. " What harm does the old man's 
 nonsense do you ? I wish you were half as 
 quiet. He 's praying in his heart now, poor 
 fellow ! and I 'm not going to hinder him. 
 It isn't to church you 've been yourself this 
 morning, you godless, irreverent sinner ! 
 though you've not lifted a hand to work. 
 Just listen to what the man 's saying. He 's 
 got a word of power, anyhow. Hark how 
 he 's hurling it out, right and left, against the 
 rich people 1 " 
 
 The dame went to the door, and stood 
 complacently listening to the preacher's de- 
 nunciations of a burning judgment against 
 the great men of the earth ; but when, 
 changing his subject, he inveighed against 
 drunkenness, she came quickly inside the 
 house. 
 
 " Let be!' she said. "He's going be- 
 yond his depth now. Folks must live ; and it's 
 neither Law nor Gospel to say they 're not to 
 eat and drink. Where would be the use of 
 keeping a public if that was forbidden ? I 
 won't have anybody in my house listen to 
 such trash. I say, old man, haven't you had 
 enough of it ? '
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 71 
 
 " Yes, yes; shut the window. It's not 
 what Miss Mary reads to me," said the old 
 man. " There was a word or two at first, but 
 he 's gone astray from his text, and talks 
 nothing but foolishness. I wonder, will she 
 come to me to-day ? I wish I could read a 
 bit for myself." 
 
 He turned over, disconsolately, the leaves 
 of the Bible, which, in his ignorance, was a 
 sealed book to him. Meanwhile, the preacher, 
 finding that his audience was thinning, moved 
 away, followed by some of the idle stragglers 
 of the place. 
 
 " He J s going to hold out before the Bos-, 
 cawen Arms — bless him ! — I '11 be bound for 
 it," said Mrs. Brock, grimly. " Much good 
 may it do them ! It 's dry work listening ; 
 and perhaps, let him say what he will, people 
 may drop in and take a glass. Well, I don't 
 grudge it them. Poor creatures, it 's little 
 business they 're like to get ! Not enough to 
 cover their outlay." 
 
 While Dame Brock was bustling about, 
 making preparations for the receipt of the cus- 
 tom which, later in the day, was sure to flock to 
 the place, there came past the crowded corner, 
 where the preacher was again holding forth, a 
 light, girlish form. Mary St. Erme had gone 
 fearlessly among the rough smuggling popu- 
 lation of Lezant from her childhood. In her
 
 72 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 bearing there was a mixture of simplicity, 
 purity, and refinement, which, while it raised 
 her above, did not separate her from them. 
 While fevers had crept from house to house 
 along the street, decimating the occupants of 
 the ill-ventilated dwellings, she had not feared 
 to visit them. Her calm, holy aspect rebuked 
 vice, and the boldest sinner doffed his cap, 
 and blessed her as she passed. There was no 
 swearing, or even loud speaking, among the 
 stragglers on the outskirts of the crowd, who 
 had been mocking at the enthusiast's fervour, 
 till she was out of hearing. 
 
 The hostess of the Three Crowns curt- 
 seyed to the young lady, who, passing by her 
 silently, went to the farther end of the long 
 room, where the old man, at this hour of the 
 Sabbath, usually looked for her coming. His 
 infirmities prevented his attending church, 
 but he dearly loved to have the Bible read to 
 him. No one ever intruded upon her when 
 Mary St. Ernie was thus engaged, though the 
 men of the village would sometimes gather 
 round the open door and listen. It was the 
 only time when, as Simon Brock often said, 
 his own house seemed to belong to liim. 
 
 There was no loud talking or jesting 
 anions; those in the outer room of the inn 
 now. The men, rough as they were, held 
 their breaths as the delicate girl came among
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 73 
 
 them. The church in the morning, especially 
 towards the close of Mr. St. Erme's long 
 sermon, had not been half so quiet. There 
 was something in the expression of those 
 spiritual eyes — in the light that sat throned 
 on that fair brow, which made the rudest 
 brawler hold his peace. One or two of the 
 more respectable of Dame Brock's customers 
 shrank out of sight, as if ashamed to be 
 caught in that place on the Lord's Day j but 
 no one actually left the house. Miss St. 
 Erme, however, looked at no one ; she seemed 
 only conscious of the presence of the old man, 
 to whom she spoke kindly, in a low tone, and 
 then took up the sacred volume to read to 
 him. 
 
 Not a single rude sound disturbed her. 
 Dame Brock folded her hands demurely in 
 her apron, and sat down, after giving a sound 
 cuff to her son, to prevent his rattling his 
 crutch upon the floor. The Three Crowms 
 seldom was so orderly. 
 
 Whether or not she was in reality con- 
 scious that others besides old Simon Brock 
 were listening, and that half the men about 
 the door were sailors, Mary's selection of a 
 chapter pleased her auditors. The perils of the 
 storm — to many of them a familiar theme — 
 when, firm in faith, Paul, a bound prisoner, en- 
 couraged the sailors to stand by the ship — the
 
 74 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 loss of all save life — the kindness of the bar- 
 barous islanders — interested the seamen. Her 
 clear, sweet voice seemed to fill the room as 
 the young girl read on, her own interest en- 
 thralled in the narrative, and feeling as only 
 those can feel who, living by the sea, look 
 daily on its solemn face, and have committed 
 what they love most on earth to its keeping. 
 
 " ' Except these abide in the ship ye can- 
 not be saved/ said the old man, dreamily, 
 when at last she paused. " Were not those 
 Paul's words ? I shall be saying them all the 
 day after you leave me. There are no such 
 words spoken here when you're gone, and I 
 can't find them for myself. Folks sit out 
 yonder, and say things that can't be right. 
 I 'd as lieve not hear them." 
 
 " That 's good reading," the dame re- 
 marked, when Miss St. Erme closed the book. 
 " His Reverence preached a fine discourse 
 this morning, I'm told. I wish it may do 
 them good that had the privilege of listening. 
 It isn't often I'm able to get so far; but I'm 
 not like some folk that attend his worship's 
 church by day, and then at night go to the 
 Meeting. I never had any opinion of con- 
 venticles and barn-preachers. If we don't 
 stand by the Establishment it 's not to be ex- 
 pected that the gentry should support us. 
 The old man is a deal quieter always when
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 75 
 
 the young lady has been reading to him. I 
 wish he heard it oftener." 
 
 " It 's the only thing in life I care for, 
 now/ 5 said the old man ; " and there 's but 
 one voice says the words rightly. I 've not 
 heard the Bible read in church since I got 
 crippled like — tied to my own chimney- 
 corner, where I 'm forced to see many things 
 go on that's contrary to the teaching of that 
 book. No, nor it doesn't please me to listen 
 to texts and citing of the Holy Scriptures, 
 from lips that are, maybe, chaffing and 
 swearing at other times. " 
 
 Dame Brock glanced at him with subdued 
 fury. 
 
 "Hark to his ungratefulness!' she said. 
 "Because I'm forced to look to the business 
 that he 's not been able to mind these eighteen 
 years, and can't read like his Reverence and 
 the young lady, I 'm to be told the Blessed 
 Book is not fit for the likes of me ! But I 'm 
 prepared for it. We must bear what is put 
 upon us, only doing our duty by the gentry 
 and the public, and see what comes of it. 
 Andrew, lad ! ' she exclaimed, sharply, " art 
 turned to stone? Look out, and tell us 
 what's going on down street ; it's not so quiet 
 as it was. What 's in the wind, now, I 
 wonder?" 
 
 The dame, unable to control her im-
 
 76 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 patience, stepped forth into the midst of the 
 crowd which had gathered in the porch. 
 
 "What is it, my masters?' she asked, 
 seeing their excitement. " Is there news 
 forward? This wind was sure to bring 
 vessels into port. Well, day or night we're 
 ready to receive them. There 's always some 
 one about and stirring at the Three 
 Crowns. We don't shut the shutters and 
 bar the doors at nine o'clock, like the Bos- 
 cawen Arms people. All are welcome to 
 enter." 
 
 " Yes, if they choose to come," said An- 
 drew, sullenly. " There 's word passed up 
 street the Boscawen has got a regular house- 
 warming. Every room's chock full." 
 
 Dame Brock's face turned crimson. " I'll 
 not believe it," she said. " Come in, you 
 fool ! What do you stand staring there for ? 
 Customers don't drop from the clouds. Come 
 in, I say. We've as many as we can serve 
 already." She curtseyed to Miss St. Ernie, 
 who had risen, and was taking leave of the 
 old man. " Wouldn't the young lady con- 
 descend to read us another chapter? I declare 
 it was quite edifying to see how they were all 
 listening. I don 't know what 's set them 
 wild. There's nothing like Scripture readings 
 to make people quiet." 
 
 The lame soldier took his mother bv the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 77 
 
 arm, and drew her out upon the nap, whence 
 a portion of the harbour was visible. " Look 
 out there/ 5 he said, pointing with his finger ; 
 " yonder, between the houses." 
 
 Tor once in her life Dame Brock's fluency 
 was checked, as her quick eye followed the 
 indication. Her usually ruddy complexion 
 grew a shade paler when she perceived a 
 vessel standing in, with the King's colours 
 flying. The men were all watching her. 
 
 While they stood silent, with some degree 
 of consternation imprinted on every coun- 
 tenance, Miss St. Erme glided through the 
 group at the inn door, stopping, as she passed, 
 for one single moment, to ask an old mariner 
 a question. She did not pause again till she 
 was on the high ground above every house in 
 the town, which commanded a view of the 
 open sea, and of the narrow entrance com- 
 monly called the Devil's Grip. A boat was 
 putting off from the newly-arrived vessel, and 
 she waited till the rowers threw up their oars 
 at the steps just below the new inn. Over 
 her fair young face, which bore the marks of 
 deep trouble, there passed a grievous expres- 
 sion of anxiety, and she lingered irresolutely 
 after she had raised the latch of a gate 
 opening into the churchyard, through which 
 there was a path to the Rectory garden. Mary
 
 78 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 St. Erme did not pass through, but walked 
 up and down the crowded resting-place of the 
 dead, with her blue, thoughtful eyes sadly 
 fixed on the emblems of mortality, the low 
 headstones deep sunk in grass on all sides of 
 her.
 
 79 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 While, for once in a way, the usually rude 
 and noisy inn kept by Dame Brock was 
 hushed into Sabbath stillness, the much more 
 orderly and respectable house of entertain- 
 ment by the waterside was a scene of bustling 
 confusion. Mary St. Erme's auditors would 
 hardly have listened so quietly, had it been 
 made known to them earlier that, between 
 the black precipitous walls of jagged rock, 
 which sank so sheer down into the water, that 
 a vessel of three hundred tons burthen could 
 thread that narrow strait, and ride safe at 
 anchor in the inlet, — a Government cutter, 
 with her tall straight mast visible at intervals 
 over the rounded tops of the steep bluffs, 
 was gliding swiftly into Lezant harbour. 
 
 The young officer in command of the 
 Curlew watched her progress with anxiety, 
 causing frequent soundings to be taken, and 
 carefully noting a small chart of the coast, to 
 which he was a stranger ; but the lead sank 
 deep into the clear dark water ; and, though
 
 80 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 it seemed as if those on board the vessel 
 might almost have touched the steep crags on 
 either hand, the information he had received 
 before leaving the Welsh port where he had 
 touched last turned out to be correct. Wind 
 and tide favouring, the passage, though re- 
 quiring caution, was perfectly practicable. 
 
 A crowd speedily collected on the quay, 
 while the Revenue cutter rounded the points 
 of the inlet, and, finally, as if satisfied with 
 her new quarters, anchored in the narrow 
 roadstead. 
 
 On this occasion the water-side inn was 
 destined to find favour in the eyes of the stran- 
 gers ; and the young couple lately established 
 there, whose feelings had been bitterly mortified 
 by the neglect displayed for the attractions of 
 their new sign and superior accommodation, 
 were gratified by seeing the officer just landed 
 from the cutter, direct his steps at once to the 
 open door of the Boscawen Arms. Having 
 ordered that refreshments should be supplied to 
 him, and looked with apparent satisfaction into 
 the small, neat parlour, freshly papered and car- 
 peted, to which one of the sailors had already 
 carried a writing case and valise, the voung man 
 came out into the half- finished porch, and 
 stood, with his cap pulled low over his brows, 
 to screen his eyes from the glaring sunshine, 
 
 J Do ' 
 
 gazing with much curiosity at the singular
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 81 
 
 features of the scenery, as if they were abso- 
 lutely new to him. 
 
 He was not left to the enjoyment of soli- 
 tary meditation for more than a few moments, 
 of which, judging by the attentiveness of his 
 survey, he probably made good use. Cus- 
 tomers were not plentiful at the new inn, 
 which had been set up on speculation by a 
 person who was not a native of the place. 
 Lieutenant Osborne had scarcely had time to 
 note down in his mental tablets the peculiar 
 formation of the rocky inlet, the promise of 
 shelter afforded by the little harbour, and the 
 contingencies which must render it at times 
 unapproachable, when a frank -looking, sailor- 
 like man came from the door of the tap-room, 
 which was quite separate from the dwelling- 
 house, and joined him, touching his cap as re- 
 spectfully as if he had been one of his own crew. 
 
 For some time the two seamen, for they 
 had both been brought up to the same pro- 
 fession, talked only of the nature of the har- 
 bour, and the shortness of the period taken 
 by the cutter to make her passage from 
 Swansea. The Lieutenant was evidently proud 
 of his vessel, and it was not the landlord's 
 interest to decry the goodly craft which had 
 brought custom to his door. The Curlew 
 having received her full meed of praise, the 
 Lieutenant turned his attention inland. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 " That is a good name," he said, looking 
 at the sign swinging over the road. " I hope 
 it brings you custom. Do any of the Bos- 
 cawen family reside in the place ? ' 
 
 The young sailor hesitated ; too frank to 
 utter a falsehood, yet unwilling to confess 
 how little benefit had been derived, hitherto, 
 from the patronage he had respectfully soli- 
 cited and been graciously promised by his 
 lordship's steward. 
 
 Not exactly, he said, in answer to the 
 officer's question. There were rumours that 
 the old place belonging to the Boscawens 
 might change hands. It was greatly to be 
 desired that the family should reside. Were 
 that to be the case, they would certainly pa- 
 tronise the only reputable inn at Lezant. 
 Until now, the accommodation for travellers 
 had been so bad, that the natural advantages 
 of the place were thrown away. Not one 
 tourist in a hundred turned off to visit 
 them. But times were mending. The port 
 had been improved, and the present road to 
 the quay completed. Great expense had 
 been incurred, but he and others had every 
 reason to hope for a good return for their 
 outlay. 
 
 The Lieutenant listened good-humouredly 
 to the young publican's account of his not 
 very flourishing prospects, which ended with
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 83 
 
 his saying that, when trade was slack in the 
 winter, he could always have a berth on board 
 one of his uncle's vessels. He had a coal- 
 yard at Swansea, and his boats often put in at 
 Lezant. It had been a help to his nephew to 
 get supplied with cheaper goods by water 
 than he could purchase, after the expense of 
 land-carriage to this remote spot. 
 
 " I am sure you are too honest a fellow to 
 get your goods, as I understand other persons 
 in your way of business do, at Lezant," said 
 the officer, quickly. " I am to watch all 
 comers and goers ; and, remember, I do not 
 do things by halves. If you serve the 
 Crown honestly, I think you will find it a 
 better trade than your opponents. The coast 
 will be more closely watched than it has been/ 3 
 
 " With all my heart, sir/ 3 the man an- 
 swered, looking at him cheerfully. " I have 
 been a sailor all my life, and though not in a 
 King's ship, more *s the pity, I believe I know 
 my duty to my country better than to deceive 
 the Government we live under. It sickens me 
 to see the tricks the people here play to get 
 things free of charge to the revenue, and 
 spending what they gain in drunkenness and 
 profanity. Why, if the place was kept as it 
 ought to be, what would hinder my lord's 
 steward holding a court at Lezant, instead of 
 at Camelford, when the rents are paid half- 
 yearly ? but there were such rows among the
 
 84 LA BELLE MARTE. 
 
 townspeople and tenantry, that no gentleman 
 would put up with the nuisance. Perhaps 
 we may all live to see it altered, and then 
 there 's no doubt the Boscawen Arms would 
 be the place. My lord's steward as good as 
 promised it." 
 
 He turned off to some of his various duties 
 in the house, leaving his wife, a young, hand- 
 some woman, with two pretty children cling- 
 ing to her skirts, to answer the stranger's 
 questions. 
 
 " I am afraid he is too sanguine," she 
 said, looking after him. " I almost wish we 
 had set up among our own friends at Swansea. 
 Lezant is a strange, wild place. Please pod, 
 we '11 do better soon. I should not mind, if 
 there was not so much malice in their hearts 
 against us." 
 
 Her eyes filled with tears, and the young 
 officer said kindly, — 
 
 " Have you no friends in the place ? I do 
 not see a single respectable habitation but 
 your own; still, I suppose there must be 
 others. Is the village hidden bv that great 
 headland? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. There are houses, plenty of them, 
 but not of a sort that I like," she answered. 
 " There are no respectable families in Lezant, 
 such as you might rxpect from the size of the 
 place; only poor fishing people — smugglers, 
 one and all."
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 85 
 
 " But you must have a clergyman/' said 
 the Lieutenant, looking at his watch. " Is 
 there any service, afternoon or evening, that I 
 could attend ? T always like to go to church 
 when I am on shore, and I saw the tower 
 peeping over the brow of the promontory. I 
 almost fancied I could hear the bells." 
 
 " No ; we have no bells here. I miss 
 them so ! But ours is a silent tower," said the 
 woman, mournfully. " It is a fine old build- 
 ing, and we have service ; once only, however. 
 You 're too late for it now, sir. There is a 
 story that our bells were lost when they were 
 just fresh cast, and sent down by Lord Bos- 
 cawen from London. Some say, they sound 
 in a storm from the water's depths now, but 
 not in such weather as this. You could not 
 have heard anything like church-bells off 
 Lezant Point this morning." 
 
 " Well, it might have been fancy," said 
 the officer, putting up his watch, and speak- 
 ing somewhat impatiently. " I think I have 
 read or heard your story. You have a clergy- 
 man, I suppose, if you have no bells, at this 
 goodly village of yours ? " 
 
 Something sharp in his tone made the 
 hostess think her new customer was displeased, 
 and she remembered what her husband often 
 told her, that it was bad policy to find fault 
 with the locality to which they wished to
 
 86 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 attract visitors. Nevertheless, she was some- 
 what perplexed what to say in favour of a 
 minister whom she scarcely knew by sight, 
 and who did so little for the encouragement 
 of sociability. 
 
 " There is a clergyman, of course, sir ; a 
 resident clergyman/' she added, warming a 
 little as she went on. " Ours is not like one of 
 those benighted places across the moors, where, 
 as I hear travellers say, the minister has put 
 up blocks of slate and granite to show the 
 road he has to take over the waste. North 
 and east of us there are some horrible places. 
 Mr. St. Erme is always at home — always to 
 be found. His house is away over the head- 
 land"; not so far if you take the footpath. 
 Morgan is going to put up a better stile for 
 ladies. If we had ladies lodging with us, 
 they would like to be handy for church. Mr. 
 St. Erme has lived a long time at Lezant. A 
 very fine dignified gentleman he is, too, in the 
 pulpit; and Miss St. Erme — not his daughter 
 — the poor gentleman was never married; — 
 she is often in Lezant — not so far as this, 
 most times ; the new building, perhaps, and 
 the work-people may have scared her; but 
 she goes about, and is adored among the vil- 
 lagers. She 's almost the only living thing 
 they do respect and speak about kindly/ 3 
 
 The Lieutenant's countenance brightened
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 87 
 
 up. " There is some grace left among your 
 rude neighbours," he said. " Can you find 
 some one to show me the footpath you men- 
 tioned ? I should like to see the church 
 
 nearer." 
 
 " Will you go with the gentleman, Owen?' 
 said the pretty young woman, drawing for- 
 ward the eldest of her shy children. " He 
 knows the way to church as well as any one, 
 and goes to say his catechism and hymns to 
 Miss Mary in the chancel, most Sundays, 
 before service." 
 
 The little fellow blushed like a rose, but 
 strode sturdily onward, crossing the street, 
 and taking his way through a narrow alley, 
 behind houses, to a steep flight of steps, 
 which, after a considerable ascent, ended on 
 the top of the cliff. A path across the fields 
 conducted thence to the church, a lonely 
 building, with a stone cross near it. The 
 trees in Mr. St. Ernie's grounds, though his 
 house was at some distance, hung over one end 
 of the palings that encircled the graveyard. 
 
 While the child, made happy by a small 
 present, retraced his way home, only lingering 
 for a moment or two to gather some flowers, 
 the officer stood still, gazing, with an altered 
 countenance, at the gate leading to the Rec- 
 tory. Just then, while his head was turned 
 away, a slight form, well known to every
 
 88 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 inhabitant of Lezant, came towards the spot 
 from the other side of the churchyard. At 
 the sight of a stranger in naval uniform, Mary 
 St. Ernie stopped abruptly. The next mo- 
 ment she glided on quickly, passing the little 
 child half-buried among the long grass ; and, 
 when Lieutenant Osborne turned round, the 
 fair apparition — for he had heard no footfall 
 — seemed, to his excited imagination, to have 
 sprung up from the earth. 
 
 Though the young girl was very beautiful, 
 there was something inexpressibly mournful 
 in her appearance. It was like the spring 
 landscape, with its leaves and flowers just 
 bursting into bloom, covered with the pitiless 
 snow. 
 
 Whether, as he saw that white face rise 
 up before him among the tombs, Osborne 
 really entertained for the moment an idea of 
 supernatural visitation, would be difficult to 
 say ; but his clear, youthful complexion, 
 bronzed by exposure to the weather, paled. 
 As the colour receded there might be traced 
 a marked resemblance in his manly aspect to 
 the shadowy form now clinging wildly to him. 
 As he felt her touch, the warm, living grasp 
 of her slender fingers, the young Lieutenant's 
 cold misgiving passed away ; but still he 
 looked down mournfully and silently on the 
 fair face resting on his bosom.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 89 
 
 " I would rather have met you anywhere 
 than here, Mary," he said at last, leading her 
 away from the graves towards the shelter of 
 the trees. " We sailors are always supersti- 
 tious. I hope it is not an evil omen. How 
 did you know me so quickly ?" 
 
 Mary St. Erme looked up in his handsome 
 face, to which the colour had returned. " I 
 cannot tell you that, Richard. Something 
 within me and around whispered that you 
 were near me. And then, you are like, very 
 like him." Her voice faltered. " Will not 
 every one in this place recognise you?' 
 
 " Not easily, with this changed name. I 
 wish it were otherwise, and that they all 
 might know me ! ' said the young officer, bit- 
 terly. " There has been a great mistake made, 
 Mary ; and now it is too late to rectify it. I 
 dare say I should find friends, not enemies, 
 here, if I were known. As it is, I live in dread 
 of a discovery which would ruin me in my 
 profession — all I have to live for. If you 
 knew me so quickly, others may, others will 
 detect me ; but how could I reject the offer 
 of employment which might bring us toge- 
 ther?" 
 
 " Do not walk so near the palings !' said 
 Mary, timidly, drawing her companion away 
 from the vicinity of her uncle's garden ; "and, 
 oh, Richard, do not speak so loudly ! There
 
 90 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 are such echoes from the hollows in these 
 downs, and at this hour of the afternoon rny 
 uncle is generally out of doors. Let us go 
 farther away." 
 
 The Lieutenant yielded to her wish, and 
 quitting the churchyard, she led him down by 
 a sequestered path to a combe among the 
 hills, rilled with trees, and sloping towards the 
 sea. As he followed her silently, the light 
 form hurrying between the stems of the sigh- 
 ing birches, scarcely rustling the withered 
 leaves by her tread, seemed once more to 
 glide before him like a spirit. At any mo- 
 ment he fancied it might vanish. 
 
 " Let me hold you nearer to me, Mary ! .1 
 scarcely believe that you are real,' 5 he said, 
 stopping her when the path widened, and 
 drawing her arm through his own. " Now 
 that I can feel as well as see you, I begin to 
 think myself not quite alone in this cold 
 English world of yours. Tell me, is there any 
 chance of my being acknowledged, if I pre- 
 sent myself at the Parsonage ? Am I always 
 to be an alien?" 
 
 Mary became, if possible, paler than before. 
 
 " You must not think of it at present," 
 she answered. " He is changed lately, and for 
 the worse. I never knew him so cold and 
 ungenial. Ever since that most unhappy day 
 when he went to Mr. Uelier's, — when the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 91 
 
 sight of the old house at Woods revived the 
 memory of the past — he has been unlike 
 himself. Till now, though not affectionate, 
 he has always been kind to me." 
 
 The tears ran down her cheeks, but the 
 young officer, deeply moved by a name which 
 she had uttered, scarcely heard the last words 
 of her agitated speech. 
 
 " Helier!" he said, while a bright, youth- 
 ful blush sprang to his cheek. " Why do you 
 couple that name with one so hateful to us ? 
 What has it to do with Woods?" 
 
 " Mr. Helier is the occupant of the Manor 
 Farm now," said Mary, mournfully. " That 
 is the name of Mrs. Fleming's second hus- 
 band. I have never heard it unconnected 
 with Lord Boscawen's property." 
 
 The young man walked along silently, 
 with his eyes cast down, and his thoughts 
 evidently far away. At length, recalling them 
 with an effort, and anxious to hear more, he 
 said, — 
 
 " But, Mary, you have not answered my 
 question: W T hat took him there? — to Woods ? 
 — Does he often go? — Is he acquainted with 
 Mr. Helier?" 
 
 " He knows about as little and as much of 
 him as he does of most of his parishioners," 
 said Mary, sadly. " He leads such a wretched 
 life ! — shut up from week to week ; — some-
 
 92 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 times, from Sunday to Sunday scarcely speak- 
 ing. When I hear his voice in church, each 
 time it sounds to me feebler. I hardly like to 
 tell you what took him to Woods. He did 
 not mention it to me ; but as I went about 
 the village, among the poor old sick people, I 
 heard his sad errand. That place which you 
 do not like me to name — where the Heliers 
 live — is accursed. I need not repeat the 
 cruel story ; but they say that, night after 
 night, the family are disturbed. Strange 
 sights, horrible noises, scare sleep from their 
 pillows. For myself, I fear the dead less than 
 I do the living. There are strange phantoms 
 walking the earth — spirits of evil, if you like 
 to call them so ; but they are bad passions 
 possessing men's hearts ; the love of mischief, 
 
 — of wickedness, — dark dreams brought on 
 by remorse for past crimes. These are the 
 things that stand by the bedsides, rack the 
 consciences and awaken the fears of guilty 
 men ; — not disembodied spirits ! ' 
 
 " You speak like one yourself," said the 
 young man, looking into the pale blue dreamy 
 eyes of the girl beside him. " For Heaven's 
 sake, enlighten me more perfectly. What 
 are these ghosts or evil spirits at Woods ? I 
 would rather hear of them at any other place ; 
 
 — and what had Mr. St. Ernie to do with 
 tliem ? "
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 93 
 
 " He thought himself called upon to do 
 battle against this evil thing/ 5 said Mary, 
 sadly, " and he went manfully to the conflict ; 
 but, oh, Richard, he came back so shaken, so 
 altered ! Except in the church, I have hardly 
 heard his voice since. He does not sleep or 
 eat, my poor uncle ! He is so terribly changed 
 that I dare not go near him. This is not the 
 time to expose him to what, I fear, would be 
 a severe trial." 
 
 " So be it, then ! " answered the young 
 man, sternly, while a dark shade passed over 
 his usually frank, hopeful face. " I have lived 
 alone so long, Mary, that family love cannot 
 be an essential point. Henceforth, as it has 
 been with me hitherto, I must exist without 
 it. I cannot expose you to gossip by inter- 
 views with a stranger. This must be our last, 
 as it is almost our first meeting. 
 
 The girl clung to him fondly. As he felt 
 the pressure of her small hands, his unwonted 
 sternness relaxed. He looked down upon her 
 tenderly, and bent his tall form, as if about to 
 impress a kiss upon her forehead. Mary St. 
 Errae did not shrink from him, but a slight 
 noise among the bushes in the hollow startled 
 the young man, and made him relinquish his 
 intention. 
 
 " Some one is w r atching us," he said. 
 " Wait for me, Mary." Then, plunging into
 
 94 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the brushwood, he came suddenly across an 
 ill-favoured man, halting in his gait, who had 
 the air of a disbanded soldier. 
 
 Richard Osborne's haughty looks, as he 
 demanded what he was lurking there for, 
 seemed considerably to alarm him. He looked 
 at the young officer's heated countenance with 
 earnest curiosity, and stumped away, saying 
 that he had lost himself in the thicket, and 
 was trying to find the way back to Lezant. 
 
 The Lieutenant did not assist him ; but, 
 after watching him out of sight, returned to 
 Miss St. Erme. 
 
 " This is a hint for us to be cautious," 
 he said. " That meddling fool will say in the 
 village that he saw us together. Tell me one 
 thing before we part, — In which direction lie 
 Lord Boscawen's woods? ' : 
 
 " Do not go there, Richard!" said Mary, 
 trembling. " It is an evil place for us. The 
 people who dwell there are wild and ill- 
 conducted. Let us avoid them." 
 
 The voung man did not, for a moment, 
 reply. 
 
 " I am not going there," he said ; " not, at 
 least, if I can help it. Should duty oblige, 
 I must be like the old man, your uncle — 
 I do not choose to call him mine, since he 
 seems inclined to disown the tie — and not 
 falter. Now, I am going back to the cutter.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 95 
 
 But, first tell me, where am I to look to- 
 night for the household lights at Woods ? I 
 shall not go the house, but I wish to see 
 them burning." 
 
 Mary St. Erme pointed with her finger 
 along the coast, as they stood on the high 
 ground near the church. 
 
 " It is further off than you can see from 
 here ; and it is a dark, unwholesome place, 
 choked up with trees. I doubt whether, from 
 any distant spot on land or sea, a light at 
 Woods can be discerned. A wild, black 
 creek runs up from the shore, and joins the 
 inland valley, formed by the course of a stream 
 which flows from the moor. This is all I can 
 tell vou, for I never walk in that direction : 
 but the seamen at the port will show you 
 where the woods come down to the beach." 
 
 Richard Osborne thanked her, gravely, 
 and walked away, not venturing upon a more 
 tender leave-taking than a firm, warm pres- 
 sure of her trembling hand. He did not 
 immediately return to the harbour, but walked 
 along the cliff, for a considerable distance, to 
 the top of one of its most commanding head- 
 lands ; then, throwing himself down upon the 
 turf, he took in, with a quick glance, every 
 creek and indentation of the shore. 
 
 Only a line darker than the rest marked 
 the situation of the farm at Woods. He saw
 
 96 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 where the brook came down from the moor, 
 and entered a deep combe, within which it 
 was entirely lost to sight. He conld not see 
 into the recesses of the valley ; nevertheless, 
 he looked for a long time towards the spot, 
 as if anxious to stamp its memory upon his 
 heart. Then he rose, and taking the short 
 cut by which the child had guided him, he 
 returned to the inn, and to his long-neglected 
 repast. An hour -afterwards he was on board 
 his cutter, watching the stars come out in the 
 clear sky, mirrored in the deep waters of the 
 narrow creek.
 
 97 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Curlew, closely watched by jealous- eyes, 
 remained for several days at her moorings in 
 the port of Lezant ; while her crew, with such 
 assistance as they could obtain on shore, were 
 busy rectifying some slight damage she was 
 said to have sustained in passing down the 
 Bristol Channel. The trade in slate, which 
 was very brisk, especially in the winter season, 
 when the prevailing winds came off the land 
 and did not ruffle the waves of the estuary, 
 often brought vessels to fetch their cargoes 
 from the small harbour. Near the water's 
 edge, as might be expected, craftsmen were 
 to be found capable of executing the repairs 
 needed for the rigging of the Revenue cutter. 
 The people of Lezant, however, more par- 
 ticularly those belonging to the old village, 
 who did not profit by the custom thus brought 
 to the place, regarded the proceedings of the 
 strangers with distrust ; declaring, as they 
 drank their measures of liquor at the Three 
 Crowns, the ordinary gathering -place of the 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 discontented, that the smart new vessel — if, 
 indeed, she wanted overhauling — would have 
 been better refitted at any other port than 
 the one wherein her commander had thought 
 fit to anchor. 
 
 Lieutenant Osborne did not appear to 
 trouble himself respecting any remarks that 
 might be made upon the subject. He passed 
 his time pleasantly enough, as it would seem, 
 superintending very diligently the little more 
 than nominal repairs which yet sufficed to 
 give employment to his men ; and then 
 spending the remainder of the lengthening 
 spring afternoons and evenings on shore. 
 He patronised the Boscawen Arms liberally, 
 and w T on golden opinions from the young 
 couple, who had previously begun to despond 
 as to the success of their speculation. Un- 
 doubtedly, it was a fair wind for the new 
 inn which had carried the cutter into the 
 harbour. 
 
 The young officer's chief amusement con- 
 sisted in long excursions, which he made on 
 foot and in plain clothes, to every point of 
 interest in the neighbourhood. He was quite 
 mistaken if he thought that these rambles did 
 not attract attention, or that his handsome 
 person was unrecognised. Morgan Price, 
 the landlord of the Boscawen Arms, and his 
 pretty, good-natured wife, often remonstrated
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 99 
 
 with him, telling him that it was foolhardy 
 to go alone, and stay out till dark night 
 on the cliffs and in the deep valleys, with 
 which the moor was indented. He was sure 
 to be an object of suspicion, perhaps of dis- 
 like, to the bad people who got their liveli- 
 hood by smuggling ; and stories were told of 
 evil deeds perpetrated by them, when dis- 
 turbed in their illegal practices ; but the 
 Lieutenant did not discontinue his solitary 
 walks, and his frank cheerfulness was not 
 diminished by any apparent consciousness of 
 danger. 
 
 One of the places he was most inclined 
 to frequent, and against which his friends at 
 the inn took the greatest pains to warn him, 
 was the course of the stream above the deep- 
 wooded hollow near Lord Boscawen's old 
 Manor-house. In whichever direction Richard 
 Osborne set forth, some secret instinct, either 
 in going or returning, was sure to lead him 
 past the gates of Woods. Nor did he exer- 
 cise as much discretion on this subject as on 
 some others ; for, while he never mentioned 
 the name of St. Erme, or alluded to his inter- 
 view with Mary, that of Helier was frequently 
 on his lips ; and he strove in every way, by 
 direct and indirect interrogatories, to obtain 
 the information he desired. 
 
 " The old inn is the place to hear about
 
 100 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Mr. Helier's family. — the Brocks have their 
 custom," said Morgan Price, in answer to 
 one of his guest's numerous questions. " Mr. 
 Helier of Woods never puts up here. I beg 
 your pardon, Captain, but, if I might venture 
 to advise, you wouldn't go near that place. 
 It was past ten o'clock when you came back 
 last night, and my dame was looking out up 
 street half a dozen times. It is not right to 
 be so venturesome." 
 
 The officer laughed, but his merriment 
 met with no response. 
 
 " They are a desperate gang, those Lezant 
 hill-folk, as we call them," continued the 
 young publican ; " and their dealings with 
 foreign vessels don't tend to make them 
 better. The less you go nigh them, the safer 
 for you. Keep down here by your vessel, 
 where you 're master ; on the quay, or at the 
 Boscawen Arms ; even on the open cliffs and 
 downs, where a man can see all round him, 
 and you '11 do well enough : but it 's not only 
 woman's nonsense when my wife says, that 
 among those combes and valleys up country 
 she would not answer for vour life." 
 
 " You think that the people at Woods 
 Farm have dealings with foreign vessels?" 
 said the Lieutenant, without noticing the 
 caution Price's words conveyed. " Do such 
 craft often put into your harbour? Have
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 101 
 
 there been any here lately ? The Custom- 
 house authorities had warning, before I left 
 Bristol, of a suspicious-looking schooner lurk- 
 ing in the Channel." 
 
 " Yes, yes ! sure enough, you 're on the 
 right tack, sir," said the landlord, significantly. 
 " La Belle Marie was off Lezant Point five 
 days ago, and she has not landed her cargo 
 yet. Perhaps, the Curlew was too near for 
 her to venture in, and it blew half a gale of 
 wind from the west. Only a boat pulled in 
 with a young girl, looking like a foreigner ; 
 at least, my Missus said the cut of her boots 
 and cloak was French ; and she, and two of 
 the sailors who came with her and left her, 
 passed our door. The men went off to their 
 vessel with Lance Fleming the same night/ 3 
 
 The Lieutenant listened attentively, and 
 his fair complexion flushed. " Lance Flem- 
 ing ! that is the son of the last occupant of 
 Lord Boscawen's farm ! ' he said, quickly. 
 " Does he live at Woods ? What became of 
 the foreign -looking young lady who landed 
 from the schooner ? " 
 
 Price answered the last question first. 
 " One of the farm-carts was in the town, and 
 took her up at the old inn. If she was any- 
 thing of a lady — and my wife did say she 
 looked like one — she must have found herself 
 in strange company at Mother Brock's.
 
 102 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 However, she did not stop there more than 
 an hour or so. She 's kin to Mr. Helier, who 
 calls himself a Jersey man, but is more French 
 than English; and she comes — so I hear — 
 to teach his daughters manners. They're a 
 queer rough lot to get among/ 5 
 
 The young man walked up and down the 
 small parlour uneasily, but he did not speak. 
 
 " As for young Fleming, about whom you 
 asked me a question, no one knows much of 
 him. He 's not a great deal at Woods, I 
 fancy. John Helier and he don't get on well 
 together. If there 's mischief astir, by land or 
 sea, he makes one in it. A wild chap, and a 
 daring one, too. But he 's out and out better 
 than his stepfather. People do say Mr. 
 Helier has tried to corrupt him and lead him 
 into bad company, and would be glad to be 
 rid of him on any terms. His mother is a 
 poor weak woman, and would make over 
 everything she has in the world to her hus- 
 band, though he uses her shamefully, if 
 Lance's rights did not stand in the way. 
 She was scared by her first husband's shock- 
 ing death, and has been hardly right in her 
 mind since ; and the two Helier girls are 
 half-witted. I don't envy the person who 
 has to teach them." 
 
 Richard Osborne, who had taken up his 
 cap, as if disinclined to listen to the story
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 103 
 
 to which the landlord alluded, stopped at the 
 last words. 
 
 " What will become of her amongst such 
 people? Poor Reine ! " he said, unconscious 
 that he was speaking aloud. " I mean,' 5 he 
 added, confusedly, aware of his mistake when 
 he saw Price look at him quickly, — " the 
 schooner, La Belle Marie. You think her 
 Captain, the cunning Dutchman, has dealings 
 with Mr. Helier ? It looks like it, since he 
 brought his kinswoman from Din an." 
 
 " They won't catch you napping," said 
 Price, approvingly. " So she came from 
 Dinan ! — the French schooner, I mean. I 
 thought you knew something more than the 
 rest of us about her. She 's often over here, 
 and my belief is, the people at the old inn 
 get all their goods, spirits, and tobacco, that 
 way ; yes, and silks and gloves, and many 
 fine things which ladies should be ashamed to 
 wear, without paying the Crown dues, but 
 which they do get duty-free up the country. 
 That raffish soldier with the wooden leg 
 travels about, when custom's slack at the 
 house, selling them to whoever will buy. 
 There must be capital hiding-places at Woods 
 — thickets that a dog could scarce creep 
 through, and slabs of slate and marble that 
 look as if nature had set them up on purpose 
 to cover secrets. Why, where the trade is con-
 
 104 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 cerned, the very graves are not held sacred. 
 There was a time when a great run had been 
 made. The Custom-house people got scent 
 of it, and were close upon the men, but 
 could find nothing ; and no wonder. They 
 couldn't disturb poor people burying their 
 dead in the churchyard up among the hills — 
 St. John's in the Wilderness, they call it. 
 There were the mourners, quite a train of 
 them, and the coffin ; but if they had looked 
 inside, or under some of the tombstones 
 which seemed as if they had not been dis- 
 placed for years and years, what would they 
 have found there but choice Havannah cigars, 
 and kegs of rum and brandy above proof ! 
 
 " One of the gaugers went prying about, 
 for he smelt a rat ; and what became of him 
 was never known. There was a story got 
 up that he had crossed the moors, and fallen 
 into Dozmare Pond. I 'd as soon believe he 
 was carried away by Tregeagle, the Cornish 
 giant ! Any way there 's a rent in the ground 
 much nearer the old church, that has gone by 
 the name of the Gauger's Hole to this day ; 
 and I've but little doubt, when they found 
 the poor fellow was likely to be troublesome, 
 they clapped him into it, and stopped the 
 pit with just such a slab of slate as lies here, 
 there, and everywhere about the moor. Half 
 these idle stories, which fly about the country
 
 if 
 
 If 
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 105 
 
 like wildfire, are hatched by the smugglers to 
 further their own aims and ends. I don't 
 believe the ghosts at Woods are anything but 
 strapping big fellows, each with a bale of silks 
 or a cask of spirits under his arm. They 
 don't want people to be free of the place. It 
 is Mr. Helier's interest to keep off intruders ; 
 and he wouldn't mind telling a lie or two, 
 I '11 be bound, and has done it a score of 
 times, to frighten folks off his premises 
 
 " I am inclined to think you are right, 
 said Osborne. " Last night, just as it was 
 getting dusk, it so chanced that I was passing 
 the gate of the broad avenue leading to the 
 old Manor-house. The place was dark and 
 still : such I imagine to be its character. As 
 I turned to go away, something that I saw 
 brought involuntarily to my mind the idle 
 stories you mention, and to which I had been 
 listening very recently. A tall dark thing — 
 I could scarcely for some time tell whether it 
 bore a human form — was rushing about 
 restlessly to and fro, between the tree stems. 
 I saw it several times before I felt certain that 
 it was a man, uttering strange moans, as if in 
 bodily pain. The noise in that wild place, 
 after all I had heard, sounded, I must confess, 
 unreal, unearthly. As quietly as I could, I 
 unfastened a small gate by the side of the 
 large one, and entered the avenue. The trees
 
 106 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 were set so close together, that it was only 
 in one place that any light penetrated, and 
 the ghost-like creature I was watching turned 
 and saw me, just as I came opposite the 
 opening. He had the advantage over me, 
 for the spot where he stood was in shadow. 
 All I could observe was a tall, dark, shrouded 
 form ; and it did not stop to question, but 
 fled or vanished so quickly, that I could 
 almost have believed it sank into the earth, 
 after uttering a wild crv of alarm. I have 
 thought since that these spectral sounds, and 
 the whole theatrical effect, might have been 
 got up to terrify me, as it certainly would 
 have done any timid person." 
 
 " You should not go there, Mr. Osborne ! ,: 
 said Price. " Harm will come of it, I lay my 
 life, if you do. Why, scarce a man in this 
 town would do what you did ; and I '11 be 
 bound most of them would say you had seen 
 the ghost. I 'm not superstitious myself, but 
 still I think it would be tempting Providence. 
 There 's something in these stories, take my 
 word for it ; and if it is not what they would 
 have us believe, it may be worse." 
 
 The landlord of the Boscawen Arms would 
 have been grievously disappointed if he had 
 known that the immediate result of his well- 
 meant expostulation was to take Lieutenant 
 Osborne more directly in the path of danger
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 107 
 
 than ever. That very afternoon, the inmates of 
 the taproom of the Three Crowns, and of the 
 tottering houses on the naps, watched the fair, 
 handsome youth take his fearless way past 
 their doors, and up among the wild hills that 
 shut in the upper village. As he strolled along, 
 glancing quickly from right to left, and now and 
 then whistling or humming the gay tune of a 
 French barcarolle, the men eyed him stealthily, 
 cursing his boldness, and wondering what 
 brought him and his swift-sailing vessel into 
 their waters. Above the town Osborne turned 
 off by short cuts, which were now familiar to 
 him, and crossed the down till he struck into 
 a path which brought him to the gates of 
 Woods. He did not go in, but after linger- 
 ing for a brief space gazing down the sombre 
 avenue, with here and there a narrow streak 
 of sunlight stealing across it, and the old 
 house at the farther end in deep shadow — 
 waiting long enough, in short, to observe that 
 no person was about — the young officer as- 
 cended towards the source of the stream which 
 came dashing down from the moor. 
 
 There was less animation in his gait, now, 
 and he did not sing or whistle. Something 
 of disappointment rested on his features, yet 
 still he walked on, keeping near the water, 
 until he came to the spot where the spring 
 gushed out of the side of the hill, nearly a
 
 108 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 couple of miles above the house he had passed. 
 A few bushes and tufts of gorse fringed the 
 pool formed by the first outbreak of the 
 water ; then its course narrowed, and became 
 defined by sharp ledges of slate .and steep 
 blocks of granite, over which clung brambles 
 and blackberry briers. He could trace the 
 brook all the way down till it plunged into 
 the dark chasm filled by Lord Boscawen's 
 woods. 
 
 On the open moor, just above the spring, 
 surrounded by crumbling walls and a few old 
 headstones, on which the inscriptions were 
 mostly effaced, stood a very ancient church, 
 built of granite, and roofed with pale bluish- 
 coloured slate. The services had long been 
 discontinued, but the sacred edifice was kept 
 standing, and some few families still buried 
 their dead in the small graveyard. Lance 
 Fleming's father — the man said to have been 
 murdered near Woods — lay under the green 
 turf freshened by the stream which passed 
 close under the angle of the wall nearest to 
 the chancel. On this tomb the inscription 
 was not obliterated, but it set forth onlv the 
 name and age of the deceased, and the date 
 of the year in which he perished. His widow 
 had not, like most other mourners, resorted to 
 Holy Writ for expressions commemorative of 
 her grief, of pious hope, or of the merits of the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 109 
 
 departed. Neither was there any account given 
 of the manner in which his life ended. In the 
 corner near his grave, some scathed-looking 
 willow and alder - bushes made a perpetual 
 sighing, as the wind, always strong upon the 
 moor, whistled among their branches, and the 
 tall flags through which the brook gushed 
 along, shivered in the blast. 
 
 The young man's countenance, grave pre- 
 viously, became sad as he looked at the tomb 
 and read the brief record engraven upon it. 
 He did not stop long, but with a sort of 
 shudder — for he was not as free from super- 
 stition as the landlord of the Boscawen Arms 
 — he came quickly out through the little gate 
 by which he had entered a few moments be- 
 fore, and stood with his usual earnest gaze 
 marking the flow of the stream downward, as 
 far as it continued within view, and the gene- 
 ral aspect of the wild hills spreading out on 
 every side. After his survey was over, he 
 walked on thoughtfully, alongside of a water- 
 course into which a portion of the brook was 
 artificially conducted, probably for the pur- 
 pose of supplying some of the works which in 
 this county, rich in mineral wealth, were sure 
 to be found at no remote distance. 
 
 Osborne had not gone far before he per- 
 ceived that his proceedings were closely 
 watched by a very old man riding a
 
 110 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 donkey, who had come down the opposite 
 side of the watercourse, apparently to meet 
 him. The young sailor was too true and 
 kind-hearted not to feel respect for age, and 
 he touched his cap, and bade the old fellow 
 good-day cordially, but without stopping. 
 After a little while, seeing that the runlet was 
 conducting him into a still more barren and 
 less interesting country, Osborne retraced his 
 steps. The man on the donkey turned about 
 also, following close, and keeping a sharp 
 look-out upon him. 
 
 The Lieutenant's curiosity was awakened, 
 and dismissing the sombre thoughts with 
 which, since leaving the churchyard, his mind 
 had been occupied, he slackened his pace, and 
 allowed the old man to overtake him. The 
 donkey trotted up briskly, incited by sound 
 kicks from its rider's heels, as well as by the 
 prospect of company, which is always agree- 
 able to dumb animals. At first, the old man's 
 dialect was so peculiar that Osborne hardly 
 understood his Cornish idiom ; but, as they 
 went on together, the difficulty lessened. 
 
 He was set, Osborne gathered from his 
 discourse, to mind the water, for which he 
 received a small salary from Lord Boscawen, 
 paid half-yearly by his steward. Not the 
 waste water, he said, contemptuously, as the 
 young sailor's eye followed the glad, free
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. Ill 
 
 current dashing along in its own wild way, 
 and flinging showers of foam on the daisies 
 and grass ; but that which was penned up 
 between sharp-pointed stones, and led down 
 by a sort of miniature canal to the neighbour- 
 ing works. That was worth looking after ! 
 and sometimes the shepherd lads used to play 
 tricks with it and stop it, till he was set on to 
 keep the channel clear of obstruction. 
 
 The place was so wild and lonely, with 
 no trace of man's toil or presence, save the 
 little church falling into ruin, the mouldering 
 gravestones and the narrow watercourse, that 
 the precautions thought necessary by the old 
 man appeared almost ludicrous. Osborne fan- 
 cied he must have misunderstood his account 
 of the nature of his employment, and ques- 
 tioned him farther, remarking at the same 
 time that a long residence in a foreign coun- 
 try, where he had received nearly the whole of 
 his education, made it difficult for him occa- 
 sionally to comprehend the dialects spoken in 
 various parts of England. 
 
 " I can make out what ye say tu I well 
 enooV' said the old man, wonderingly. "What 
 hinders ye to follow I? — It's good Saxon- 
 English ye speak — not the language of the 
 king that had a castle once on our earns, 
 and died by the Crooked River — down to 
 Sloven Bridge yonder. Ye be terrible plain-
 
 112 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 spoken — not like the foreigners tu 'Oods. I 
 can't tell what they say — feckless girls ! — not 
 if they screech tu I ; but his lordship, I 
 minded what he told I, when he fished the 
 brook, and you're just like he — just such 
 another. Were you reared in France, did ye 
 say, like the folks tu Helier's ?' : 
 
 The old man put his hand behind his ear, 
 as if he were troubled with deafness, but his 
 sharp looks did not seem to belong to one 
 so afflicted. Osborne answered with seeming 
 carelessness, which also was affected, — 
 
 " Are there any French people living at 
 Woods ? I dare say they would like to see a 
 person from their own country. A month 
 ago I was in Brittany." 
 
 " French people ? Aye, aye, if ye like 
 them! French enough, are they — tu 'Oods! 
 They eat snails, and frogs, and lizards out of 
 the green nooks in the walls ; ivats, we call 
 'em. There's the Master, he's too French for 
 I! — and the Missus — no one knows what she 
 is: then the ramshackle girls, they've French 
 names and French manners. They're the 
 scampishest creatures I ever see'd; my donkey 
 knows better. They were up at the water- 
 course only yesterday — bless 'em, pretty dears ! 
 and nothing would serve but they'd make 
 dirt puddings and choke up the channel. 
 Such a mess as they made of it; and throwing
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 113 
 
 pebbles and stones, and screeching with 
 laughter when I rode down upon them! The 
 young lady that was with 'em was more civil; 
 but we'd a hantle of trouble. She sat over by 
 the thorn-bush yonder," the old man went 
 on, his grey eyes twinkling as he perceived 
 how attentively Osborne was listening. " She 
 didn't speak French tu I, though, but Eng- 
 lish, mighty pretty; as well as I do, or you, 
 for that matter: but she said she'd come 
 from foreign parts lately; and more unlikely 
 things have happened than her liking to hear 
 something about them." 
 
 " Shall you see these ladies again?' said 
 Osborne, as he bestowed a handsome gratuity, 
 equal to a quarter of his lordship's salary, 
 upon the crafty old man, who eyed him and 
 the coin alternately with intense interest. 
 
 "Well, I might and I mightn't! I think 
 I'm like enough tu;' said he of the donkey, 
 when he saw the amount of the present. 
 " Which inn does your honour put up at? 
 I'm thinking it will be the Boscawen, if 
 you're stopping in the place." 
 
 Osborne hastily twisted off a leaf from his 
 pocket-book, and wrote a few words hurriedly 
 in pencil upon it. 
 
 " Can I trust you, my old friend, to give 
 this to the young lady you saw yesterday with 
 
 VOL. I. i
 
 114 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Mr. Helier's daughters?" he said, colouring. 
 " I do not wish to go to Woods at present, 
 and I may not be so fortunate as to meet her. 
 My commission will not interfere with your 
 charge of the water?" 
 
 " No, no! the water wastes off down to 
 'Oods; and though I don't make a point of 
 following it, I might ride after it now and 
 then. The ass will carry me, never fear, sir! 
 The young lady shall have the note, if you 
 give it tu I. It's useless folding it. How 
 would a poor fellow that can't read his book, 
 nor sign his name, make out the writing?' 1 
 
 The chance seemed too favourable to be 
 let slip by the young lover. Nevertheless, it 
 was not without some misgiving that Richard 
 Osborne watched the roguish leer in the old 
 man's eye, as he edged his donkey near 
 enough to receive the missive. Not feeling 
 inclined for further parley, he bade him good- 
 bye civilly; and this time, satisfied with his 
 day's work, his new friend did not try to 
 accompany him longer. 
 
 Osborne walked on quickly, somewhat 
 dissatisfied with himself for the step he had 
 taken; and fearing lest he should have ex- 
 posed Reine to misconstruction in her new 
 home. If, however, he might judge by his 
 faithfulness to Lord Boscawen, the strange
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 115 
 
 old fellow deserved to be trusted; for the 
 Lieutenant, whenever he looked back from his 
 path by the side of the water, could perceive 
 that its trusty guardian had moved on far 
 enough to keep him in sight; and the man 
 was sitting upon his donkey, relieved against 
 the sunset sky, when Osborne turned his 
 head for the last time before he desisted from 
 following the stream at the gates of Woods.
 
 116 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On the ascending slope at the back of the 
 Manor-house, partly sunny, partly shaded, 
 and surrounded by high old crumbling walls, 
 rent and riven, and then again knit together 
 by the growth of ivy, with which the lapse of 
 years had covered them, was what might once 
 have been a productive orchard; but the trees 
 now bore no other crop than long wreaths of 
 pendent moss. Here and there a bunch of 
 pink-and-white blossoms peeped through the 
 silvery beards^ of the ancient trees; but the 
 fruit never ripened; and when the wind rose 
 it played with the long grey fringes, and 
 whistled through the otherwise naked boughs, 
 with an eerie sound. 
 
 When the sun shone bright, and the grass 
 beneath was soft and green, as now, after the 
 winter rains, starred with daisies, and, at the 
 roots of the old grey trunks, with primroses 
 and violets, the place was warm and sheltered. 
 In the corner under the wall stood Leah 
 Scriven, the housekeeper's beehives; and the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 117 
 
 air was full of the sound of the busy insects' 
 humming. Showers of white blossoms, frail 
 as snow-flakes, hung lightly on the dark spikes 
 of some old blackthorn-bushes, which had 
 grown into straggling trees, shooting out their 
 branches wildly, and often pushing a way for 
 themselves through the wall; and springing 
 up in the niches of the stone- work, in the 
 corner where the hives were placed, grew 
 dark, rich-scented gillyflowers, round which 
 the bees were circling gladly. 
 
 Across the orchard, reaching from trunk 
 to trunk of the moss-grown apple-trees, were 
 rope lines, on which Reine was busily hang- 
 ing out her French caps, with their long lap- 
 pets edged with narrow lace, and her fine 
 muslin cuffs and collars. No wonder that, as 
 she placed them in the sunshine, the girl was 
 singing; or that the words which came to her 
 lips belonged, not to her present life, but to 
 the sunnier land she had quitted. Homely 
 as her occupation might appear, there was in 
 Reine's air and manner something that im- 
 parted to it a sentiment. Her quick move- 
 ments were all graceful, whether bending to 
 gather a flower, or stepping on a fallen stone 
 to reach the line. The lively, easily-roused 
 sensibilities of her nature, were called into 
 play by the warm sunshine, the incense- 
 bearing morning atmosphere, even by the
 
 118 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 touch of the delicate embroidery wrought by 
 the fingers of merry girls, like herself, in 
 Breton farms and cottages. 
 
 In her song, too, though it was a mirthful 
 one, there breathed at intervals a deeper tone; 
 her eyes, as they wandered over the nearer 
 view, seemed to grow darker, and then sud- 
 denly to dilate, as she fixed them on some 
 spot in the distance. It might be a birch- 
 stem standing out beyond its companions in 
 the thicket, a slab of slate or granite boulder, 
 such as frequently broke the long line of 
 woodland. Be the object what it might on 
 which her eye momentarily rested, Reine's 
 cheek would flush, her breath fail her; the 
 song stopped; and then, over the blushing 
 face and sparkling glance would come a 
 shadow, in the glad free tones a check, a 
 mournful fall, which told that the impatient 
 spirit was chafing over the disappointment 
 of some cherished expectation; one of those 
 many bright hopes of youth which the breath 
 of flowers and the warm gush of sunshine gift 
 with richer life, but which, in their over- 
 throw, make the bright things blooming 
 around the dreamer seem to perish with 
 them. 
 
 Unobservant as he was, on most occasions, 
 of the young guest at Woods, Lance Fleming 
 stopped to look at her, as Reine stood for a
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 119 
 
 moment with her hand over her eyes, gazing 
 wistfully out, as she had done twenty times 
 before, that morning, into the dusky wood- 
 land. Nothing was to be seen but the dark 
 boughs and trunks of the trees, closing in 
 thicker and thicker as the ground fell towards 
 the ravine. Lance had his hands full of busi- 
 ness — real, practical, unmistakeable, earnest 
 business, which could not well brook delay; 
 nevertheless, he did not pass the little gate 
 leading into the orchard, but stood hesitating, 
 looking at Reine as if more than half inclined 
 to speak to her. 
 
 " Eh bien?' said the girl, laughing, as 
 she broke off her song. " I beg your pardon ; 
 I forgot you do not understand me : but 
 everything comes to me in French this morn- 
 ing. This warm air is like Brittany. Will 
 you not find that great rough jacket too 
 sultry?" 
 
 The girl looked earnestly as she spoke 
 at Lance's seamanlike garb, and her eyes 
 again grew dark and thoughtful. 
 
 " Out to sea there is a roughish wind 
 blowing now/ 5 said Lance. " I dare say it 
 blew through and through your thin clothes 
 when you came in the schooner. What sort 
 of passage had you? I suppose Jacob Mohr 
 speaks French as well as that German gib- 
 berish. Had you any talk together ? ,;
 
 120 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 " Mynheer speaks our beautiful language 
 like a native," said Reine, her cheeks glowing 
 with animation at the mention of her absent 
 friend. " His vessel, of which he is so proud 
 — La Belle Marie — ah! she skims the seas 
 like a bird ! Well ! he built her on our 
 sandy dunes : the timbers of her keel were 
 laid in my father's yard. The pretty name 
 she bears he told me to give it to her, when 
 she was launched. Many times I have lis- 
 tened to tales he told me about this coast ; 
 which, he said, was like our own Armorique 
 — once, perhaps, they were united. Now, 
 the great sea flows between ; but there are 
 curious churches buried deep in shifting sands, 
 and forests submerged below 7 high-water mark ; 
 beaches raised by the action of the sea, and 
 left forty or fifty feet above its present level. 
 He has visited all countries, and can relate 
 wonders of what he has seen under the tropics, 
 and in those icy, northern regions, where day- 
 light lasts through what are the darkest hours 
 with us. Ah, he is a great traveller, le 
 Capitaine Mohr ! and he carries the same 
 kind heart with him everywhere." 
 
 Lance listened attentively. 
 
 " I never heard so much about Jacob 
 Mohr before," he answered ; " but I know 
 that he is a good fellow, though, generally, 
 he does not say a great deal. He brought
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 121 
 
 the dog for me at some trouble to himself, 
 when I wanted to have one of the breed. 
 What took him first to Brittany?' 
 
 " Ah ! that is a long while ago. I do 
 not think that I can tell you. Mynheer does 
 not like his affairs to be spoken about," said 
 the French girl, hesitating. " He was ac- 
 quainted with some of our people, and they 
 trusted him entirely. I believe he brought 
 a cargo of rich merchandise, which was con- 
 signed to my father. C'est assez ! I do not 
 comprehend these matters. Mynheer will 
 tell you himself what he thinks it proper you 
 should know." 
 
 " Good day, then ! ' said Lance, as he 
 turned to go. Some indefinable suspicion 
 made Reine draw nearer to him; when she 
 noticed, for the first time, a paper, which he 
 was twisting impatiently in his fingers. 
 
 " Qu'est-ce que c'est? 5 she said. " Let 
 me see that writing ! Is it French ? Ah ! 
 it is not worth while to take that to Cap- 
 tain Mohr. I will tell you the meaning 
 directly." 
 
 She put her hand over the gate, but Lance 
 held back. 
 
 " No, no!' he answered, "Mademoiselle, 
 no need to trouble you. This is one of our 
 smuggling secrets. Jacob Mohr must have 
 picked up French enough to read it. For
 
 122 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 my part, I wish there was no language spoken 
 or written but English." 
 
 He went off abruptly, forgetting to call 
 his dog, which was crouching at Reine's feet, 
 half hidden bv her dress ; for Bouffe had not 
 yet become attached to his new master, and 
 preferred her company. Lance was hardly 
 ever at home, and Reine was sorrv she had 
 not asked him for news of the cutter lying, 
 she had heard, in the port of Lezant. The 
 women of the family cared nothing about 
 such matters, and she felt afraid to question 
 her dark -browed, silent kinsman. 
 
 Mr. Helier, she knew, must have seen the 
 vessel, for he had attended market, and the 
 few persons who came on business to the 
 farm said that the village was full of talk 
 about the sailors ; but the master of the house 
 drew in his chair to the table as silently as 
 usual when he came home, and Reine, with 
 her heart beating and her colour rising and 
 going each moment, with the thoughts that 
 tried to frame themselves into speech, and 
 died away unuttered, wanted courage to put 
 any inquiry to him. 
 
 He went out again directly after the re- 
 past was finished ; and when she passed him 
 in the passage, on her way to her own room, 
 he looked strangely pale and haggard. The 
 old, faded, washed-out pictures of the Bos-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 123 
 
 cawens, staring down from the walls, were 
 not more ghastly. Nevertheless, could the 
 girl have guessed what the form was like 
 which, an hour before, had crossed his path 
 in the moonlit avenue, she would have faced 
 it fearlessly ! 
 
 If the young foreigner could not flatter 
 herself that she had made any impression 
 upon Lance Fleming, his dog was much more 
 open to the spell of her beauty and winning 
 wavs. One secret of her influence was, that 
 Reine always addressed him in French ; and 
 Bouffe would prick up his ears, and shake the 
 crisp curls of his coat, when he heard the 
 sound of her voice. She followed him now 
 by the side of the stream ; stopping sometimes, 
 and throwing in bits of stick and pebbles, 
 which the water-spaniel plunged after imme- 
 diately, and brought to her feet. 
 
 Though the dog would use all sorts of 
 mute intreaties to make her throw twigs and 
 branches into the running water, Bouffe never 
 enforced the argument by barking. He was 
 as silent as Mr. and Mrs. Helier; and con- 
 sidering the want of animation in the rest of 
 her companions, Reine often wished that the 
 dog would be more loquacious. Those lonely 
 woods, where her own footstep, rustling 
 among the leaves, was almost the only sound 
 heard, would have been enlivened by the
 
 124 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 short sharp yelp with which a spaniel chases 
 a rabbit; but the stream, rippling along its 
 pebbly bed, was more noisy than the smug- 
 gling Captain, Jacob Mohr's favourite. 
 
 In those dark depths of foliage Reine 
 Helier would wander for hours, feeling less 
 alone than in her kinsman's gloomy house. 
 There was one spot where an immense mass 
 of slate seemed to stop the water ; but the 
 stream had worn for itself a path under the 
 stone, and fell, with one bold leap, into a wil- 
 derness of brambles. The girl did not know 
 that in this wild place, years afterwards, 
 women would build for themselves, like the 
 wild birds, a nest of boughs, and leaves, and 
 sods ; and, having entered in, for whatever 
 strange grief or cruelty that might have 
 disturbed their reason, abide there till both 
 perished. There was no such tradition, then, 
 among the many strange tales told by the 
 peasantry about Bosca wen's Grange ; but 
 when she had got thus far, Reine stopped 
 and shuddered. The dampness of the atmo- 
 sphere, full of the spray from the cascade 
 which hung on every leaf, chilled her. 
 
 She would not have ventured farther, if 
 Bouffe had not sprung down a rocky step or 
 two in the bank, and looked back, as if asking 
 her to come with him; but she soon half 
 repented of her acquiescence. The brawl of
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 125 
 
 the stream, hidden from her by the boughs, 
 confused her, and she feared to miss her 
 footing on the rock, which was slippery from 
 the wet green moss covering its surface. 
 
 Aslant across the edge of the Keeve, or 
 bason of granite which received the prin- 
 cipal fall of the water, another slab had lodged, 
 which broke the line of the cascade, but the 
 stream found its way through a cleft in the 
 rocks, throwing sparkles and showers of foam 
 around. Reine, as she stood in the cool 
 shadow of the dell beneath, could not help 
 watching the dog scrambling along the ridges 
 of the bank, snuffing and scratching the soil, 
 and thrusting his nose into every interstice of 
 the rock, as if he were tracking some animal of 
 which he was in pursuit. Not the smallest live 
 creature, however, was visible. The cascade, 
 seen through the natural arch of rock, as it 
 fell into the Keeve, and then, like a thin va- 
 poury curtain, into the pool below, the wav- 
 ing of the branches overhead in the tangled 
 ravine, were the only moving objects within 
 view. 
 
 Reine had to call the dog several times 
 before he would give up his vain search. At 
 last, tired of the solitary aspect of the place, 
 almost frightened, she turned to retrace her 
 steps, when, as she mounted the steep ascent 
 among the bushes, she was startled by a cry
 
 126 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 of pain or terror, and then, mingling with the 
 rustling of the leaves and the sigh of the wind, 
 affrighted weeping. The dog had run quickly 
 on before her, and when she reached the top- 
 most step she saw that Bouffe had found his 
 master. 
 
 Close by the edge of the cascade, with the 
 green shadow of the water and the refracted 
 light sent back by the foliage which inter- 
 cepted the sunbeams, making her pale thin 
 face quite ghastly, was the youngest of Mr. 
 Helier's children, and with her the half- 
 brother, of whom both the girls stood in awe. 
 Lance's arm was passed round the little crea- 
 ture's waist. He was holding her forcibly, 
 and her struggles and entreaties showed that, 
 if he had let her go, she would have been out 
 of sight in an instant. 
 
 " Read it, I say, you stupid, foolish little 
 thing ! I don't want to hurt you ; ' Lance 
 was saying. " What harm will the green 
 water do you ? you should not have run down 
 here, if you were afraid of it. No, 1 have not 
 time for another chace. I won't let you 
 stir till you tell me what is written on this 
 paper." 
 
 " Oh, I can't, I won't ! Laissez-moi ! ' 
 exclaimed the child, trembling with passion or 
 terror. " Are those snakos ? — look how they 
 glide, and twist, and coil ! Oh, they must be
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 127 
 
 alive! This water is so cold — I wish I had 
 not come here — that you had not seen me. 
 Oh, how you hurt me ! " 
 
 " Listen to me, Victoire," said Lance, se- 
 riously. " Those are not snakes, but the 
 green flakes of the water gliding down a deep 
 dark pit. Must I throw you after them, or 
 will you translate to me the few French words 
 on this page ? You can do it, I know, if you 
 like. You and Zelie are chattering French 
 half the day to each other." 
 
 The child threw back her long disordered 
 hair from her eyes, which were red with cry- 
 ing. She seemed to have made up her mind 
 to obey her half-brother, and put her hand up 
 for the paper. As the shining gleam of the 
 cascade, almost underneath which she was 
 standing, fell on her wet cheeks, and glittered 
 in the mischievous beam that shot from under 
 her dark lashes, Reine saw that she was not 
 sincere. There was no goodness in that smile ; 
 nevertheless, it deceived the youth, and he let 
 go the paper. 
 
 In an instant, and with a gesture of pas- 
 sionate malice, the little girl flung it, with all 
 her might, after crumpling it up into a ball, 
 into the water. 
 
 " There — go ! — you will never plague me 
 more — no one can read the crooked letters — 
 the wild waters may make play with them.
 
 128 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 They are down, down in the deep hole, where 
 it is all darkness ! " 
 
 Reine's nature was so different from that 
 of the spiteful child, that the expression of an- 
 noyance on Lance's face would alone have 
 prompted her to wish that the writing he 
 wanted to decipher should not be destroyed. 
 But as she watched the fluttering scroll, some 
 other feeling, to herself inexplicable, made her 
 long to preserve it. Pointing to the paper, 
 she said to Bouffe the one word which acted 
 like magic when spoken by the Captain of La 
 Belle Marie — " Cherche!' and Bouffe, as he 
 would have sprung into the green sea-waves 
 that lashed the side of the schooner, clashed 
 into the watercourse, and arrested the paper, 
 just as it was gliding over the ledge. 
 
 Lance turned at the sound, and the mo- 
 ment his hold upon her was relaxed, Victoire, 
 clapping her hands for joy, fled from the spot. 
 Meanwhile, Bouffe, dripping with water, 
 brought his prize to Reine. 
 
 The girl's fingers trembled as she un- 
 wrapped and smoothed the paper. She held 
 it fast, and her cheek flushed joyfully when 
 she saw that only the outside was wetted. 
 
 " It is mine ! ' she said ; " why did I not 
 have it sooner ? Ah, Bouffe ! but for you I 
 should not hold it now. Why did Monsieur 
 Fleming not give me my letter ? '
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 129 
 
 " It is not a letter," said Lance, " only a 
 leaf torn out of a book — not meant for you, 
 nor perhaps for any one, but it is important to 
 us — to Captain Mohr, I mean. Will you tell 
 me, word for word, the meaning of what is 
 written here about the time when the Revenue 
 cutter is to sail out of harbour ? The rest is 
 nothing." 
 
 Reine's face flushed crimson, and then be- 
 came deadly pale, as she looked at the paper, 
 and read the few guarded words in which 
 Richard Osborne bade her meet hira on the 
 beach, near the ruins of Arthur's Castle, on the 
 evening of the day before the one on which 
 she became aware of the appointment. 
 
 " The Curlew — that is the vessel which 
 came into Lezant port last Sunday, — will sail 
 again with the flood-tide — la haute maree, — 
 Saturday — that is to-day, at six o'clock. 
 Why, that is this very afternoon ! — It is too 
 late. — Mechant ! why did I not get this 
 sooner?" 
 
 Lance laughed at her vehemence. 
 
 " That is enough for us," he said. " It is 
 sharp practice between Mynheer and the Re- 
 venue vessels. Half-an-hour would make all 
 the difference in landing the goods." 
 
 He left Reine standing, like the image of 
 despair, by the waterfall, and went quickly 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 back to the house, and to the portion of it 
 which had been his ever since his own father's 
 death or murder. 
 
 A broad flight of rough, uneven, wooden 
 steps led up to his bedroom, which, like the 
 rest at Woods, was large and comfortless. 
 Most of the articles it contained bespoke the 
 hardy, erratic habits of their possessor ; others 
 were entirely unconnected with his pursuits. 
 Great sacks of corn were piled up on the land- 
 ing, and in the corner next his door were 
 heavy cart-whips, and part of the broken tire 
 of the wheel of a waggon. Inside Lance's 
 apartment were miscellaneous stores — gar- 
 ments fitted for all weathers, tarpaulins for 
 boats, oars, guns, fishing-rods and imple- 
 ments, with a suspicious-looking keg, flanked 
 by an enormous jar of bran, out of which, 
 when he entered, Leah Scriven was filling a 
 copious measure, as she stood, with her back 
 to the door, half in and half out of a large 
 cupboard. 
 
 Lance took no notice of her, but began 
 hastily plunging into a hand-valise some arti- 
 cles of clothing which he extracted from a 
 drawer. The woman, turning round, watched 
 his every movement. 
 
 "Are you going away?" she said, coming 
 behind him, alter a few moments. " Let me
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 131 
 
 pack for you. What things do you want? 
 Why, Lance, you are but just come back to 
 us ! 
 
 " I have been here long enough," said 
 Lance. "Let me do it for myself; no one 
 else can tell what I want. Bid them saddle 
 the bay mare, and don't sit up. I shall not 
 be back to-night." 
 
 " Stay at home, my boy ! ' said Leah, 
 affectionately. " You do yourself no good by 
 these wanderings. Where have you been 
 these last three days?" 
 
 " On the sea," said Lance, pulling off his 
 neck-cloth, and dipping his face into a basin of 
 cold water. "If it were not for my mother, 
 I should not come back at all." 
 
 " There's some grace in that," said the 
 woman, regarding him compassionately, while 
 his handsome face glowed, more from anger 
 than from the immersion. " Shall I tie you 
 on a clean neckerchief? There's one I ironed 
 ready in the box. What are you fumbling 
 with it for? — pulling it all out of the creases ! 
 Let me fold it." 
 
 Leah's countenance changed as, snatching 
 the neck-tie from him unceremoniously, she 
 discovered the cause of his incapacity. Lance's 
 hand was cut and bleeding. 
 
 " Mercy on us, Master Lance ! ' she said, 
 half crying, " what have you gone and done
 
 132 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 to yourself? Why will you, a gentleman born, 
 choose to consort with your inferiors ? Be 
 sure you'll come to the wall. Look at your 
 fingers, that were straight and smooth like 
 his, and now are swelled like the louts in 
 the farmyard ! Have you been fighting with 
 them ? " 
 
 " Nonsense ! — it is nothing," said Lance, 
 impatiently. " One of the casks on board the 
 schooner got loose and bruised me. Now, 
 listen ! One of these nights you may very 
 likely hear noises. Don't be foolhardy, but 
 lock the French girl into her room if she 
 seems troubled with curiosity. No need, 
 either, to look too sharp after the cellar keys 
 and the stores in the larder. I may bring 
 company home with me/ 5 
 
 " Aye, aye ! like enough ; — that was said 
 like him/" the old woman answered mourn- 
 fully. " Only mind my words, Lance. I 
 should not care for sitting up ; no, nor for 
 seeing you spend your substance on what the 
 preacher says isn't bread, if the company you 
 brought home were gentlefolk. Your father, 
 in his best days, spent his money like a lord, 
 and he always had the look of one : so have 
 you, for that matter, when you don't neglect 
 yourself. There is not one of his lordship's 
 family in the gallery — your own blood rela- 
 tions — that mightn't be proud to own you,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 133 
 
 if you did not let yourself down to consort 
 with these smugglers, and the publicans who 
 deal with them. These Dutch skippers, smel- 
 ling of Hollands and Nantes ! Faugh, I won- 
 der at you ! When he was your age, your 
 father came down here with Lord Boscawen, 
 who was trying to raise a troop of yeomanry, 
 and not one of them rode like young Fleming. 
 He was a finer man than my lord bv half!' 
 
 " Enough of this, Leah ! — Don't speak to 
 me of my father!' said Lance. " He was a 
 different man before he died. I hate these 
 old stories. If it were not for the friends I 
 have made for myself, I should be a beggar. 
 Whence comes my independence — wealth 
 (for I have money) — but from these Dutch 
 skippers you despise ? Mynheer is more of a 
 gentleman than you think, and who knows 
 but I may be Lord Boscawen yet!' 
 
 He went out laughing, after letting the 
 woman, who had been his father's servant, 
 apply to his hand some homely unguent, for 
 which she again dived deep into the recesses 
 of the cupboard. 
 
 There was no sign of disturbance in 
 Reine's manner, except that her cheeks glowed, 
 and her eyes had a bright spark gleaming 
 under their long lashes, while she sat with 
 Leah during the afternoon, helping her to 
 finish her task of needlework. Leah must
 
 134 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 have been more or less than woman to be 
 able to resist all the efforts made to please 
 her. 
 
 Like most of the rooms on the ground- 
 floor of the old house, that where Reine and 
 the housekeeper were sitting together was 
 much darkened by trees, which, as the sun 
 declined, threw long shadows across the floor. 
 The rooks circled round their nests, cawing 
 noisily as they fed their young broods. The 
 large cuckoo-clock flew open, and the bird 
 came out to tell the hour. Reine looked up 
 when she heard it. 
 
 " Come ! it will do. We have worked for 
 a long time/' she said, crossing the room and 
 leaning over the woman's chair. " Your poor 
 eyes will ache. If there is more to be done, I 
 will sit up to-night and finish it. Let us now 
 take a little walk together. How Ions; is it 
 since you have been at Lezant ?' J 
 
 " Long enough, ma'amselle," said the 
 housekeeper, rubbing her eyes after she had 
 taken off her spectacles. " It must be the 
 glasses that try my sight. I never was much 
 of a walker. Let me see — 'tis nigh upon six 
 weeks since I were down to Lezant town. 
 Mrs. Brock owes for the butter; — but 'tis no 
 great matter." 
 
 " Would it not be better to settle it? See 
 how prettily the sunshine falls through the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 135 
 
 trees ! On the high ground it is light still 
 when here it is almost night. My eyes pain 
 me, too ! " said Reine, passing her white hand 
 over her brow. " Surely it is dark, this 
 evening, sooner than usual." 
 
 " No, no ; it is just the same," said the 
 woman, who was not ill-natured, looking at 
 her compassionately. " One day is like ano- 
 ther here. Well, it must be dull for a young 
 creature like you. I don't think you have 
 been out of these dark woods since you came. 
 It's no wonder if you're tired and want a 
 change; so, for once, I don't mind humouring 
 you." 
 
 Heine was soon ready, and had even to 
 wait for her companion while she put on her 
 Sunday gown and shawl, and her black silk 
 bonnet. The young French lady straightened 
 it for her, and pinned her on a fresh collar 
 with her usual nicety, in spite of her own im- 
 patience to set out. It was more difficult for 
 her to restrain her anxiety, and keep pace 
 with the elderly woman, who, as she had said, 
 was no great walker, when they got upon the 
 downs, and saw how fast the sun was declining 
 westward. By the time they reached the top 
 of the straggling street, one side' of it was in 
 deep shadow. 
 
 The light, which had partially gone off the 
 houses, shone full on the nap opposite the
 
 136 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 • 
 
 Three Crowns, where a blooming apple-tree, 
 covered with pink-and-white blossoms, stood 
 in the middle of a plot of garden -ground. 
 It was fit, the housekeeper said, for a crown 
 for a bride. 
 
 Mrs. Brock was standing at her door, and 
 curtseyed with much deference to Reine and 
 her companion. 
 
 " It 's but seldom we see you so far from 
 home, Mrs. Scriven. Surely, you give your- 
 self too little recreation. I hope the walk 's 
 not been too much for you. And the young 
 lady — I'm proud to see her. There's our 
 little account to settle for the butter, and 
 the inn is as quiet as your own parlour. I 'd 
 be happy to make you some tea, if you 'd 
 condescend to taste it." 
 
 Mrs. Scriven, though she declined the 
 proffered refreshment, went into the house 
 with the woman, while Reine sat down on 
 a stone seat in the porch. 
 
 Near the door a few persons were sitting 
 round a table conversing, but in so low a 
 tone that the girl outside heard nothing of 
 what they said. She was watching the small 
 portion of the harbour visible between the 
 houses, which just opened as if on purpose to 
 afford her a glimpse of the mast of the cutter. 
 The Curlew was not gone from Lezarit yet. 
 
 Presently, the talk of the men grew louder,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 137 
 
 and caught her attention. One of them was 
 saying,— 
 
 " So, the cutter is to float out with the 
 tide? She's got every stick about her taut 
 and trim, and is as smart as new paint can 
 make her. They 've split the ropes and 
 spliced them, six times over. I 'd give a good 
 deal to know what's kept her here so long/ 3 
 
 " It 's not such snug lying in Lezant port 
 when the wind sets up the creek, and the sea 
 is roaring through the blow-holes," observed 
 another. " Her officer 's a stranger, and don't 
 know the coast. I hear the Lieutenant spends 
 half his time on shore." 
 
 " He 's not much of an officer," said the 
 lame soldier, contemptuously. " Six foot two, 
 without shoes, did ye say, master? No, nor 
 five foot ten, either ! Our old Passon, though 
 he stoops, is a head taller. He 's nothing to 
 speak of in the way of being a gentleman. 
 Why, if he was the least like it, would he stop 
 down to the Boscawen, hand-and-glove with 
 that collier mate, Morgan Price? 'Taint 
 likely ! " 
 
 " Is it the schooner he's looking for?' 
 said a man, leaning over the table. " He 's 
 a-top of every hill in the country, spying out 
 to sea with his glass, and questions all he 
 comes across. There 's not a creek or cranny 
 he hasn't searched while the cutter was laid
 
 138 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 up. Mynheer will be tired of waiting, and go 
 back to Holland without landing his cargo. 55 
 
 " Never you fear, masters ! There 5 s other 
 fish for a fine young captain to fry besides 
 looking after smuggling schooners, 5 ' the lame 
 man remarked, significantly, as he set down a 
 fresh jug of foaming malt. " Every fod has 
 his lass, and the one he's courting lives like 
 a bird in a nest, t'other side of our old 
 Passon's evergreens. Don't let feyther hear 
 us — he 5 d say 5 twas downright blasphemy; 
 but, as sure as 1 5 m alive, I saw the Lieu- 
 tenant and Miss St. Erme walking together 
 in the hollow by Combe Pyne, last Sunday. 
 She was crying, too; and I won't swear he 
 didn't kiss her. Any way, he threatened to 
 lay his stick across my back for spying after 
 them. 55 
 
 The old man caught his son's jeering 
 accents, though low. He rose, with the aid of 
 his stick, and came to the opening left by the 
 curtain. 
 
 " I won't have such words spoken!' he 
 said. " Here, you, my old dame, and that 
 precious young rascal, Andrew, listen ! The 
 angels in heaven are not purer than my dear 
 young lady. If I were in my grave, 1 5 d rise 
 up when I heard her slandered. I '11 shut up 
 the public if this kind of talk goes on longer. 5 ' 
 
 " I wish the Lieutenant had cudgelled you,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 139 
 
 you graceless young reprobate ! ' said Dame 
 Brock, angrily. " Leave off fretting the old 
 man. What matters it to you or to me what 
 folks are courting, to make you speak against 
 the real gentry? Mr. St. Erme 's no great 
 customer, certainly ; but he don't go to the 
 Boscawen for what he wants. Let his 
 Reverence's family be ! " 
 
 " I don't care about him," answered the 
 soldier, vindictively; " but the man that 
 threatens me is my enemy. I 've my reasons 
 for watching the officer of the cutter ; and if I 
 find him with a lass, be she gentle or simple, 
 alone in dark woods, and get a stick laid 
 across my back for presuming to look at them, 
 I know what to think about it. I'm not the 
 only person that saw them together. They 
 were watched in the churchyard, and through 
 the combe in the hills. Folks say 'twas to see 
 her he dropped anchor in Lezant harbour, and 
 that he 's mortally afraid of the old Passon, 
 and daren't show himself at the house. That 
 doesn't look much like the gentleman ! He '11 
 get nobody but Morgan Price to speak to his 
 character in these parts." 
 
 The housekeeper was now ready, having 
 settled her business with Mrs. Brock; but 
 Reine had quite lost the eagerness she had 
 previously manifested to continue their walk. 
 She steadily refused to go to the new shop
 
 140 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 near the water-side, which was patronised by 
 the cutter people, and where, she was assured, 
 she could match her fine sewing-cotton ; 
 saying it was useless to try, and that it 
 was too late. Just then, there rose slowly 
 above the low buildings by the quay, seen 
 through the narrow opening between the 
 houses, the white sails of the vessel which had 
 lain for a week in the harbour, and was now 
 putting out to sea. 
 
 " You have no time to lose if you 'd like to 
 see the cutter sail out of the basin," said Dame 
 Brock, who had come into the porch. " It 's 
 no new sight to me ; but strangers think a 
 good deal of seeing the sailing-craft tack and 
 shift ballast as they creep out of the port. I 
 shouldn't wonder if they ran her on the rocks. 
 She is a Government vessel, and never was in 
 our waters before/' 
 
 " Trop tard ! " the French girl murmured, 
 as they left the inn : then, seeing that the gate 
 of the garden-ground on the nap stood open, 
 she ran up the slope, past the blooming apple- 
 tree, to the top of the bank, where a seat was 
 placed which afforded a view of the harbour. 
 Leah did not follow her ; and Reine stood 
 alone, watching, in the bitterness of her heart, 
 the vessel, which she knew to be her lover's, 
 dexterously threading the narrow strait, under 
 the gaze of numbers of the townspeople.
 
 LA BELLE MARTE. 141 
 
 Her breath came short when she saw the 
 waves clashing against the great rocks at the 
 mouth of the creek; but the Curlew passed 
 safely between them ; then, setting all the sail 
 she could carry, with wind and tide in her 
 favour, she scudded rapidly past the bluff 
 headlands towards Bude Haven.
 
 142 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 On the third evening following the departure 
 of the Revenue cutter the village of Lezant 
 woke up from its torpitude. Instead of idly 
 lounging on the naps, pipe in hand, or 
 skulking behind house-doors and window- 
 blinds, watching the Lieutenant as he passed, 
 with a quick, firm step, through their street, 
 the denizens of the place were all on the alert. 
 Boats were putting off and coming in with 
 no attempt at concealment; and men with 
 passions all on flame, ready to strike clown any 
 opposer of their lawless traffic, were helping 
 to unlade the goods, and passing them from 
 hand to hand. 
 
 These receivers of contraband articles — 
 for not one of the bales and casks had paid 
 duty to the Crown — were all from the upper 
 inland village, or from places far away among 
 the green hills ; stern, hardy peasantry from 
 scattered hamlets, or the more depraved in- 
 habitants of the crumbling dwellings perched 
 on the rocky terraces, and alongside of the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 143 
 
 rugged causeway which passed the door of 
 the Three Crowns. 
 
 The old hostelry had all the custom this 
 evening, and the new inn, recently so thronged, 
 was now dark and silent. Not a soul was to 
 be seen about the Boscawen Arms, and at an 
 earlv hour the shutters of the lower rooms 
 were put up, and the front door made fast. 
 Of all the riotous crowd on sea and land, 
 there was not likely to be one who would 
 cross the threshold which had been so popular 
 with the crew of the cutter. 
 
 It was better not to show themselves, the 
 young publican said to his trembling wife, as 
 she sat listening, with her baby in her arms, 
 to the wild uproar on the quay ; much the 
 best not to see what was going forward. If 
 they could not prevent it, they would at all 
 events keep a clear conscience, so as to be able 
 to show their faces honestly, and say they had 
 no share in that night's work, if the Lieutenant 
 questioned them about it. 
 
 Deeply shadowed by the black masses of 
 the slate rock westward of Lezant Point — close 
 in shore, so near that her crew were taking in 
 a cargo from the quarries worked in the pre- 
 cipitous face of the cliff — lay the French 
 schooner in which Reine Helier had crossed 
 the Channel. La Belle Marie floated easily 
 in the deep dark water beneath the headland.
 
 144 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 The last boat, from the town had left her side, 
 laden with the freight imported from foreign 
 countries, and the skipper was busily engaged 
 in filling his vessel with the fine blue slate, 
 which was in great request abroad, and which 
 also afforded a pretext for a far more profitable 
 traffic. His dealings with the proprietors of 
 the slate- works had been fair and honourable. 
 Every load of the stone lowered into the 
 schooner was paid for before it touched the 
 deck. Many a trader from Holland or Nantes 
 was less scrupulous in his business transac- 
 tions than the smuggler, Jacob Mohr. 
 
 The mists of evening, which hung over 
 the frowning cliffs, and almost hid the 
 schooner, were dispelled in her Captain's 
 cabin by a brightly burning lamp which 
 swung in its centre. All the appurtenances 
 on which the light flashed, as it oscillated 
 with the slow heaving of the vessel while the 
 tide floated beneath her, were plain, but ar- 
 ranged with much neatness. The only orna- 
 ments were a few Flemish paintings arranged 
 against the bulkheads, in blackened frames of 
 ancient oak, mostly Madonnas. There was 
 little variety of subject, and they were treated 
 after the somewhat hard, cold, unimpassioned 
 manner of the early school to which they be- 
 longed ; fair, frigid-looking women, more of 
 earth than heaven, with nothing beyond the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 145 
 
 mother's love expressed in their unimaginative 
 countenances. 
 
 In contrast with the devotional character 
 of the pictures, the Dutchman's cabin was 
 quaintly fitted up with articles which showed 
 him to be, like most of his nation, a lover of 
 order and comfort. Cups and basins of Nankin 
 and Japanese ware, such as amateurs would 
 delight to collect, and deep, richly-stained 
 tumblers and beakers of Bohemian glass, hung 
 from pegs, or were otherwise secured, so as to 
 swing safely in a gale. Scriptural subjects 
 again predominated in the designs presented 
 by the tilings of the stove, taken chiefly from 
 the history of the Saviour's birth. The stable 
 at Bethlehem, the young Virgin Mother re- 
 ceiving the kings or the shepherds, were re- 
 peated in the white and blue porcelain. So 
 constantly was the same idea recalled, that it 
 seemed, if strange, not impossible, that even 
 the name of the smuggler's vessel was chosen 
 from some early, sacred association, not quite 
 forgotten amidst the turmoil and hazard of 
 his actual life. 
 
 The man at home in the state cabin of 
 La Belle Marie — for nowhere else, it was 
 said, but on board his vessel did Jacob Mohr 
 willingly abide — was seated before his desk, 
 and occupied in making an arithmetical cal- 
 culation. Overhead, hurrying feet were passing 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 to and fro — heavy burthens were being de- 
 posited on the deck. The tramp of men laden 
 with her new cargo, mingled with the wash 
 of the waves against the ship's sides, and the 
 hoarse screaming of the gulls and puffins, 
 which, disturbed from their nests in the 
 crevices of the rocks, were circling angrily 
 round the raking masts of the schooner. 
 Jacob Mohr seemed satisfied that this vulgar 
 labour was in good hands, and did not 
 trouble himself farther than every now and 
 then to raise his head and listen. When he 
 had finished noting down the items of the 
 transaction just completed, the Dutchman 
 — as he was called by the sailors, though he 
 professed to be a Hamburg trader — shut up 
 the books, carefully wiped his pen, and placed 
 it in its accustomed niche near that where the 
 inkhorn was as securely deposited. His 
 figure, as he rose from his stooping attitude, 
 was taller than might have been supposed, and 
 prevented his keeping quite erect as he passed 
 under the beams. It was not stout, but firmly 
 knit, with an appearance of vigorous strength 
 in the well-turned limbs. His seaman's dress, 
 neat in cut and texture, fitted loosely, so as 
 to afford every joint and muscle free play. 
 Not a tinge of grey mingled with the black 
 locks, jetty as the walls of slate under which 
 his vessel lay. The upper lip was smooth,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 147 
 
 and the mouth, when closed, was firmly com- 
 pressed, and gave a marked expression of de- 
 cision «to the face, which was that of a man of 
 strong purposes and energetic resolution, ad- 
 vanced more than midway upon the journey 
 of life. 
 
 Perhaps the want of all affection and 
 pleasantness in his own home made Lance 
 Fleming — the only other person present — as 
 he watched the flickering lights reflected in 
 the porcelain walls of the stove, and petted 
 and played with his dog, lying stretched out 
 on the square of rich carpet at his feet, enjoy 
 the cheerful, well appointed cabin, and cordial 
 welcome of the foreigner. At all events, there 
 was something in his glance which caused the 
 features, contracted by the cares of business, to 
 relax, and Jacob Mohr said, good-humouredly, 
 
 " Come, you have been very patient. Let 
 us talk awhile. Bist ein braver Junker. Tell 
 me how you like the dog." 
 
 "Well enough; but he wants training. 
 At least, I have not the trick to manage him. 
 He runs too much after the petticoats." 
 
 " Ah ! — so ! — that is his fault ? It is a 
 weakness which has ruined many great souls. 
 You must not be too hard upon my dog," 
 said Mynheer, while a smile, which quite al- 
 tered their expression, flitted over his features. 
 " He will do his work well, none the worse for
 
 148 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 loving to follow the pretty maidens. There 
 was a young, handsome Haus-Frau where he 
 was reared ; she gave him milk ; he would 
 follow her to the world's end. If vou 
 
 w 
 
 have women at your house who are kind to 
 him, out of love for you, he will follow them 
 as he did his old mistress. That is not a bad 
 trait." 
 
 u There are not many persons who will 
 take the trouble to be kind to any favourite 
 of mine, at Woods," said Lance, gloomily. 
 " It is not for my sake, but because she knew 
 him on board your vessel, that the French 
 girl you brought over from Brittany entices 
 him away from me. She speaks his language, 
 too ; the dog has no English. How am I to 
 make him understand what I want him to do, 
 when I do not know a word of his lingo?' 
 
 " Ha ! Bouffe, old fellow, we are in a 
 difficulty!' said the Dutchman, pulling the 
 long ears of the spaniel, as it lay contentedly 
 on the carpet. " Why, you must get the 
 French girl to teach you, mot pour mot — see, 
 the dog pricks up its ears directly! — as she 
 read to you the Lieutenant's letter. Tausend 
 tonnen! you got through that dilemma; and 
 here we are, thanks to her assistance, with the 
 vessel lightened of its cargo, and a lawful 
 freight on board, which may defy the scrutiny 
 of all the Revenue cruisers in Christendom."
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 149 
 
 Lance moved uneasily in his chair. " I 
 don't think we behaved quite handsomely by 
 her. Poor girl ! how her eyes ran over when 
 she saw that the cutter was to leave so soon ! 
 But it could not be helped. It would not 
 suit us to have the Curlew in Lezant harbour, 
 and her officer walking up and down before 
 the gates at Woods, as if he were keeping 
 the watch on board one of the King's men-of- 
 war. Mr. Helier took him for a ghost. In the 
 moonlight he had an eerie look ; and, though 
 we make a mock of such things when we are 
 in gay company and broad sunshine, I can 
 tell you it needs a bold spirit, and a clearer 
 conscience than most of us possess, to stand the 
 odd noises there, and face the queer spectres 
 that come with the darkness ; some real, some 
 unreal — nothing but the wind, or the rats, or 
 other things that shall be nameless ; but now 
 and then making the flesh of the bravest of 
 us creep on his bones. Once, as you may 
 have heard, there was a foul murder clone 
 there j and I've often thought, when I've been 
 in my maddest humour, what would I do if 
 my own father's spirit were to meet me face 
 to face ! " 
 
 Lance Fleming's voice dropped as he 
 spoke, and his countenance became deadly 
 pale. The skipper answered like a man who 
 was a stranger to fear.
 
 150 LA BELLE MARTE. 
 
 " Good ! — Suppose he did? For the most 
 part, those who come from the grave visit us 
 on no idle errand. These poor souls from the 
 other world have some question to put or to 
 answer ; and, if the fools would stop to listen 
 or inquire, they might learn what would put 
 an end to much sorrow. I have heard these 
 ghosts at Woods accounted for. Some day 
 we will go together, and see if they will dare 
 to confront us ; the old Dutchman will not 
 run away. Ah ! we will see into this matter 
 presently." 
 
 " No, no ! best leave them alone," said 
 Lance, sullenly. " I am not going to say 
 
 whether I believe in them mvself : but there 
 
 t/ * 
 
 is not another person in the country-side but 
 holds that Woods is haunted. Let it stay so." 
 
 " Aye, aye," said the foreigner ; " Lass es 
 so stehen ! It is of no use troubling ourselves 
 to alter what another day may suit us best 
 just so. But, mark me, Junker! / am no 
 ghost. What makes Mr. Helier fear to have 
 dealings in person with me? I am very well 
 pleased with you, but it is my custom to 
 deal with principals. Half my cargo was 
 consigned to the master at Woods. Why is 
 he too proud to come on board my vessel ? 
 
 " Mr. Helier is not the owner of Woods, 
 answered Lance. " lie is only Lord Bos- 
 cawen's tenant, and is himself, as far as I 

 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 151 
 
 know, a man without fortune or resources. 
 Out of compassion, when my mother became 
 a widow, she was allowed to continue on the 
 farm, and then this man, who had been her 
 husband's bailiff, managed the land for her. 
 Two or three years afterwards she married 
 him. I have been kept ignorant of most 
 of the affairs of the family; but 1 am my 
 father's only son, and consequently his heir. 
 I believe Jean Helier tried to debase me, 
 that I might not know my rights. Now I 
 have shaken off my fetters, and made money. 
 It was I who bought the goods. Helier lias 
 no dealings now with the free-traders." 
 
 " Sehr gut," said the cautious Dutchman. 
 " Das ist recht! — that is all right. You are 
 the principal, and will sign the release when 
 the goods are safely delivered. I understand, 
 and will make a note of it. But why has 
 this man left off business ? His name was in 
 the books formerly." 
 
 " It may be so," said Lance, impatiently. 
 " I know nothing of his early history. Some- 
 times I fancy it has been one marked with 
 desperate crimes and stirring adventures. 
 Now, he is a silent, moody man, frightened 
 at his own shadow, crossed at times by starts 
 of temper, prompting him to acts of violence. 
 It is a trying thing to live with him." 
 
 The Dutchman strode across the cabin,
 
 152 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 and opening a locker took out a thin, long- 
 necked bottle, and two fine-stemmed glasses. 
 He filled one for himself, and pushed the 
 bottle over to Lance. 
 
 " Here is success to our venture, and may- 
 it not be the last ! Never fear ! it is strong, 
 but it is pure. Your head will be the steadier 
 for it, and I wish to drive these mists from 
 your brains. I want to know more about 
 this country, where, who knows, but I may 
 lay my bones ? unless, indeed, which I like 
 better, the sea, which has been my home for 
 many years, gives me a grave. I like these 
 bold, black rocks, sinking down into the 
 green waters. England suits me well. I 
 shall sail away, but I shall come back again, 
 and it will not be long first. Where shall 
 our next landing be?" 
 
 " Here away ! ' said Lance, pointing down 
 the long line of coast, but faintly visible 
 through the cabin window in the mists of the 
 falling night. " Beyond these bluffs there is 
 a long stretch of sandy beach, overhung by 
 lofty crags, from which it is dangerous, al- 
 most impossible to look. Men have met 
 their death by venturing near them after 
 dusk." 
 
 He paused abruptly. Mynheer took up 
 his words quickly, — 
 
 " Yes, that was very unlucky ! That was
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 153 
 
 the poor devil, what you call exciseman, who 
 wanted to spy out what was going on below. 
 I have heard of it from the sailors." 
 
 " No I ,; said Lance ; " that was accident. 
 What I refer to was the work of design. The 
 man was walking near the edge of the cliff; 
 some say he had been drinking hard, but 
 this was contradicted in the evidence. There 
 was a trial, and no one could prove that he 
 was not in fall possession of his senses. He 
 was walking, I say, close to the edge of that 
 mighty cliff, where it arches over the sea ; 
 not alone, but in company with one who was 
 known to be his enemy — a rich man, who, 
 with plenty of flocks and herds of his own, 
 envied him his pet lamb. These two met in 
 anger, and but one was seen again in life; 
 the other was found — his mangled remains, 
 at least — lying dashed to fragments at the 
 base of the cliffs, six hundred feet below.' 5 
 
 "That is not a pleasant tale, sapperment! 
 You are a gloomy nation/' said the Dutch- 
 man, after a momentary pause ; " and you 
 have cliffs and rocks that make a man's brain 
 turn only to stand upon them. It is better 
 in the even plains, by the willow-dykes of 
 Holland. But what for are you telling me 
 of this mischance, or murder? — though you 
 have not quite made it plain to me that the 
 man did not fall over for his own good will
 
 154 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 and pleasure — I mean, by accident. What 
 has it to do with the landing of our next 
 
 cargo 
 
 P" 
 
 Only this, that the sands cannot well be 
 overlooked, and that boats might pull in from 
 a vessel without attracting observation," said 
 Lance. " We make even death and murder 
 serve our purposes, and learn to think but 
 little of the one or the other. You might run 
 the boats in upon the strand, and I will have 
 people ready to carry the goods into the 
 ravine. Once there, I will defy the Custom- 
 house officers to find them." 
 
 " I will take thought upon it," said the 
 skipper. " What if the cutter got wind of 
 our intentions ? Though hid from eyes on 
 land, this shore you speak of may be watched 
 from the sea. I do not like to risk my pre- 
 cious vessel. You must get the French girl 
 to write a letter next time, and appoint her 
 lover to meet her up among the hills, far out 
 of our way." 
 
 The young man laughed. " That might 
 be managed," he said. "Now for a pull in 
 shore. Can you lend me a boat? My fel- 
 lows, I will be bound for it, are drinking at 
 the Three Crowns." 
 
 They mounted together the short ladder 
 staircase leading to the deck. When they 
 reached it, the smuggler cast a quick glance
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 155 
 
 in the direction indicated by Lance as favour- 
 able for a landing. 
 
 " That is the extreme point where the 
 strand terminates/ 5 said Lance, in a whisper. 
 " It was from that beetling precipice that the 
 man of whom I was speaking fell, shot 
 through the body, or was cast down head- 
 long. You can see where the cliff looms out 
 into the fog, with the gulls circling round it. 
 When the corpse was found, hundreds of the 
 cormorants that haunt these cliffs were con- 
 gregated screaming over it." 
 
 He shuddered and turned his head away, 
 but the Dutchman kept his eyes fixed on the 
 distant cliff, while he asked several questions 
 respecting the state of tide and wind when it 
 was safest to approach the shore, and the re- 
 turn he was to expect for his cargo ; — all of 
 the most practical kind. Then, with a sudden 
 change of manner, he said in an abrupt, de- 
 cided tone, — 
 
 " That is England ! I have not set foot 
 on your soil since I was first engaged in these 
 matters. It will be dark night soon. Let us 
 go ashore together." 
 
 He ordered a boat to be lowered, and 
 they were soon, with the mate and one other 
 sailor, pulling in the direction of the ravine 
 below the old house at Woods. 
 
 The men knew the skipper's humour, and
 
 156 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 bent silently over their oars. Impelled by 
 four strong arms, the boat rose and fell ra- 
 pidly over the long swells of the billows, 
 which in the calmest weather beat upon that 
 coast. Nevertheless, as Mynheer had fore- 
 told, it was dark when they reached the 
 shore. 
 
 Not a word was spoken among the party 
 as they made fast the boat, and leaving the 
 seaman in charge of her, the skipper and the 
 mate, with Lance Fleming, plunged at once 
 into the deep shadow of the woods that 
 fringed the banks of the stream, bending 
 over it so closely that only here and there a 
 stray gleam from the moon, which was rising 
 over the sea, was caught and reflected back 
 from the surface of the water. Lance went 
 first to show the way, followed by Mynheer ; 
 the mate bringing up the rear. 
 
 As they passed the Keeve, Lance pointed 
 out to the captain of the French vessel marks 
 in the stone walls, known to few, which showed 
 where the rock was hollowed out in cavities, 
 filled at present with valuable contraband 
 goods landed from the schooner. Mohr, how- 
 ever, scarcely seemed like the same steady- 
 going, serious trader, who had superintended 
 with so much vigilance the shipment of the 
 heavy freight of slate which had replaced her 
 late cargo on board the smuggling vessel.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 157 
 
 " Forward !' he said, impatiently. "The 
 goods are safe : I have washed my hands of 
 them. See you to that. Now, let us go to 
 your old house. It cannot be far off/ 3 
 
 Lance pushed his way through the path- 
 less labyrinth, parting the boughs with main 
 strength. The crashing sound guided the 
 men who followed him, for in the wood it was 
 pitch dark ; they could see nothing. 
 
 " Himmel und Holle! Have you wild 
 beasts in these dens and caves?" said the 
 Dutchman, as they stopped for a moment to 
 gain breath after a sharp ascent. " This is 
 more like an Indian jungle — a Hottentot 
 bush country — than an English wood. How 
 much more of it is there ?" 
 
 " We are almost through the worst," said 
 Lance. " My mother's house is not half-a- 
 mile off, but there is a tough conflict with 
 the boughs yet to come before we reach it. 
 You see, it is a capital hiding-place.' 5 
 
 " Aye, aye V said the mate. " The tubs 
 are safe enough. I only wish we had brought 
 more with us : but it was ticklish weather, and 
 it doesn't do to draw much water if you want 
 to creep along the coast unseen. Is that you, 
 Bouffe ? what 's afoot beside ourselves this 
 dark night ? The dog scents something." 
 
 The men stood still, looking through the 
 thin screen of brushwood, which now alone
 
 158 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 intervened between them and the neglected 
 pleasure-grounds belonging to the old Manor- 
 house. In the avenue which traversed the 
 domain they could hear the tread of a slow, 
 uncertain footstep. 
 
 " That is Mr. Helier!' said Lance, in a 
 whisper. " He often walks late, but a slight 
 thing frightens and drives him in. There is 
 no occasion for us to cross his path." 
 
 He would have drawn back, with the in- 
 tention of following a different track, but 
 Mynheer impatiently shook off his detaining 
 hand, and stepped forward into the avenue, 
 just where a white gush of moonlight streamed 
 through the trees. Either he disregarded the 
 presence of the timid master of Woods, or he 
 calculated on Lance's hint that he was easily 
 terrified. In the shadowy glimmering of the 
 moon-lighted avenue, Mohr's form seemed to 
 grow taller. It would have needed less than 
 that sudden apparition to scare the unhappy 
 being, who, from eve till daybreak, was the 
 sport of superstitious terrors. For one instant 
 he stood still, spell-bound; then, with a wild 
 cry for aid, he fled towards the house. 
 
 "That is the way!' said his step-son, 
 laughing. " You see, he is an arrant coward. 
 We shall not be troubled with him to-iiii^ht. 
 You have frightened him half out of his 
 senses. "
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 159 
 
 " That is my good friend, Mr. Helier of 
 Woods," said the Dutchman, composedly. " I 
 thought I was right. His name is in my 
 books. We have certainly had dealings to- 
 gether." 
 
 " He did not seem inclined to stop for 
 conversation," said Lance, still laughing. " A 
 groan — anything, nothing — suffices to drive 
 him indoors. There was no need to show 
 yourself." 
 
 " Did he take me for the ghost?' said 
 Mohr. " Ah, that is pleasant — that is just 
 as it should be! I do not think we should 
 be very good company, this Mr, Helier of 
 Woods, and I. Now, I can always get rid of 
 him." 
 
 " Nothing can be easier," answered Lance. 
 " There are parts of his own house in which 
 he has not set foot for years. A more abject 
 trembler does not breathe." 
 
 " Put me there!' said the Dutchman, 
 phlegmatically. " I will sleep in the bed, I 
 will breathe the air of the room which he dis- 
 affects so much. Mind, I am not timid! I 
 will sleep in that pleasant ghost-chamber at 
 Woods this very night. If there is anything 
 in those old stories, I should like to know the 
 truth. We will sift the matter thoroughly." 
 
 " You shall have it your own way," said 
 Lance, gravely. " All of us are not cowards,
 
 160 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 like Jean Helier; yet few, if any, would take 
 your place. Now, come on; the coast is 
 clear. Yonder is the house, and it is as dark 
 and silent as the grave." 
 
 They crossed the courtyard, whioh was 
 lighted only by the moon, and entered the 
 cheerless-looking mansion by a side-door, the 
 key of which was in Lance's possession. 
 
 Mynheer gazed about him curiously, as, 
 after striking a light, Lance guided him 
 through the dim passages of Lord Boscawen's 
 Grange. Not a door — not a figure on the 
 tapestry — not one of the mouldy old family 
 pictures — escaped his notice. 
 
 " Schlaf und Tod! 5 ' he said, at last. 
 " Yours is a quiet house, Herr Fleming! 
 Nothing stirs — yes, what have we here? — 
 Einen iVauen-Zimmer! — I will wager my life 
 something younger than the housekeeper you 
 told me of wakes or sleeps behind this closed 
 door." 
 
 He stopped abruptly, as Bouffe had done, 
 at an angle in the obscure passage. 
 
 " Yes, that is Mademoiselle Helier's cham- 
 ber. " She has quick ears, and does not go 
 to bed so early as the rest," said Lance, under 
 his breath. " Let us pass on. She has a 
 quiet conscience. We shall not frighten her 
 easily." 
 
 " I do not wish to terrify her — Fraulein
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 161 
 
 Reine!" — said the skipper, still lingering 
 near the door. " A pious, good Madchen, 
 who said her prayers and sang her hymns 
 when she sailed with us! What should she 
 fear? Might one not say good night? We 
 were compagnons de voyage." 
 
 " No, no! — come on! What are you 
 waiting for?" said Lance, impatiently. " Ma- 
 demoiselle Reine is, no doubt, asleep. We 
 saw no light on this side of the house when 
 we were below." 
 
 " She has struck a match since we have 
 been standing here/ 5 said Mynheer, pointing 
 to a faint gleam which came from under the 
 door. " Ah, her senses are very quick; she is 
 Trench; vive, alerte! — a mouse could not stir 
 without waking her. She is listening now!' 
 
 " So much the more reason for our moving 
 on," said Lance. " The French girl is not on 
 our side. She corresponds with the new Re- 
 venue officer. Probably, she is betrothed to 
 him. Richard Osborne will have an active 
 spy in our house, if she is as quick of ear and 
 eye as you say." 
 
 Jacob Mohr turned away from the young 
 girl's door as Lance spoke. " Ah, you do not 
 know. Who can tell the secrets of a woman's 
 heart?' he said, somewhat sentimentally. 
 " Kann seyn, oder kann nicht seyn. We shall 
 see." 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 They had left by this time the gallery 
 into which Reine's chamber opened, and en- 
 tered another of the winding passages that 
 abounded in the old house. It was full of 
 odd steps, and shelves, and crannies; and in 
 the thick walls there were strangely-shaped 
 recesses; one of which Lance pointed out to 
 Mynheer as the spot where tradition affirmed 
 that a child's coffin had been immured, the 
 form of the little walled-up niche having 
 doubtless given rise to the idea. 
 
 " These are your quarters, Mynheer," said 
 Lance, opening a door at the end of the pass- 
 age. " If your courage fails, I can put you 
 elsewhere. The room is not usually occupied ; 
 but Mr. St. Erme, the clergyman at Lezant, 
 slept here a month ago : or, rather, kept 
 watch, for the ghosts he professed to lay are 
 said to have given him an uneasy night. This 
 is the haunted chamber." 
 
 They entered, as Lance spoke, a large, 
 well-proportioned room, full of ancient fur- 
 niture, and, consequently, more comfortable 
 in aspect than most of the upper chambers at 
 Woods. Wardrobes and cabinets, which 
 creaked and groaned so as to annoy Mr. He- 
 lier's sensitive nerves, had been banished thi- 
 ther, and several dark old pictures, on which 
 he did not care to look, hung on the walls. 
 By daylight, it might be seen that in each of
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 163 
 
 these there was something of a repulsive na- 
 ture j but, at present, only their handsome 
 frames caught the eye. Mohr crossed the 
 floor, and gazed with strong interest round 
 him, at the velvet-canopied couch, the quaint 
 ebony cabinets and toilet ornaments, and , 
 the one gem of Italian art hanging over the 
 mantel-piece — a copy, probably, of one of 
 Raphael's matchless Madonnas. 
 
 " Heilige Mutter Gottes ! " he said, doffing 
 his cap, as he stood contemplating the pic- 
 ture, with his arms folded tightly across his 
 chest. " I should not fear to sleep on the 
 verge of the bottomless pit, with those saint- 
 like eyes watching over me! Nothing evil will 
 come near me to-night." 
 
 " Well, I think I can insure you against 
 living men, and, if your conscience is clear, 
 you are probably safe from ghostly terrors," 
 said Lance. " Mine has often reproached me 
 for many a boyish, practical joke played off 
 on my stepfather and Leah, as well as for 
 more mischievous stratagems to keep the 
 enemy from prying into our hiding-places. 
 But you are one of ourselves, and too sharp- 
 sighted to be taken in by the flash of an old 
 magic lantern on the wall, and the music of 
 Madame Fleming's Eolian harp. Though I 
 can account for a good many odd sights and 
 sounds, there are some, I can assure you, 
 about this old house, which baffle me."
 
 164 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Mohr answered, in his usual half-serious 
 manner, — 
 
 " I do not think I shall be afraid to rest 
 my head where your good parish-priest passed 
 the night ; though there have been deeds done 
 in some of these old places fit to make men 
 shudder, and even to rouse the dead — worse 
 than the tale of bloodshed and murder you 
 told me in my cabin. Men should not jest 
 in such a house as this." 
 
 He shook off impatiently the hand Lance 
 laid on his arm, as the youth tried to draw 
 him away to another apartment, where re- 
 freshments were laid out. When he was alone, 
 Mohr resumed his contemplation of the pic- 
 ture ; and, free from observation, his coun- 
 tenance bore marks of strong emotion. There 
 were tears in the eyes of the man, usually 
 self-possessed and stern, or at times full of a 
 sort of reckless gaiety — as he stood, with his 
 cap thrown off, gazing at that youthful, saint- 
 like face. After the manner of the great 
 master, the Holy Virgin was pourtrayed as a 
 calm, fair maiden, with hands meekly folded, 
 while, above her soft, light hair, a golden 
 glory was faintly indicated. 
 
 The skipper of La Belle Marie walked 
 slowly up and down the chamber, noting all 
 its contents. He took from a stand, where it 
 had reposed for years, an old repeating watch ; 
 and, after examining the works, which were
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 165 
 
 quite uninjured by time, wound it up care- 
 fully, making it strike the hour. Its clear 
 bell-like tone carried his thoughts back to a 
 far-distant time, and increased the gloom which 
 had gathered over him since he entered the 
 old house. 
 
 Fleming's murder, or, at least, circum- 
 stances connected with that event, became, 
 under the dismal influence of the locality, 
 strongly borne in upon his mind. In another 
 hemisphere, he had heard the story from lips 
 now silent, which had revealed to him other 
 details than those Lance had communicated, 
 and such, too, as were capable of a very 
 different construction. 
 
 As Mohr pondered over all he knew and 
 suspected in that haunted room, sleep became 
 an impossibility ; the hours of the night ap- 
 peared too precious to be wasted; and 
 trimming the hand-lamp Lance had set down, 
 the smuggling captain left the chamber, and 
 following the light sound of footsteps down 
 the passage, found his way without difficulty 
 to the part of the house occupied by Jean 
 Helier and his family.
 
 166 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The hours of that night had worn very 
 slowly away to the occupants of the small 
 room over the principal entrance, whence, on 
 her first arrival at Woods, Reine saw a pale 
 face looking down. This apartment, which 
 was not a sleeping chamber, belonged parti- 
 cularly to the master of the house : not that 
 he was partial to solitude, for no one could 
 dislike being alone more than Mr. Helier. 
 His unhappy, sickly wife, kept him company 
 in his long vigils, if other society was unat- 
 tainable ; and daylight often broke upon them 
 before their eyes had closed in slumber : 
 though they were, neither of them, strong 
 persons, and the woman's shrunken form was 
 bowed down, and her senses, never acute, 
 were chilled and dulled by fatigue and want 
 of rest. 
 
 On this occasion, Reine Helier enlivened the 
 gloomy couple by passing constantly in and out 
 of the scantily -furnished and dimly-lighted 
 chamber, at the top of the broad oak staircase
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 167 
 
 in the centre of the building, where they were 
 sitting up, long after the inmates of most 
 English farm-houses would be in their beds. 
 Mr. Helier had come in-doors at ten o'clock, 
 white and faint, shuddering with aguish cold ; 
 and the goodnatured French girl had offered 
 to make him some warm, comfortable tisane, 
 which might bring the life back to his chilled 
 frame. He had accepted her offer readily, 
 and the narrow but lofty room looked more 
 cheerful than usual, with the fire Reine had 
 lighted burning brightly in the grate, and the 
 rug she had dragged in from one of the dis- 
 used parlours laid down before the ancient, 
 sculptured chimneypiece. Her cousin was 
 sitting at one corner, sipping the fragrant be- 
 verage she had distilled for him from herbs ; 
 on the opposite side of the hearth stood a 
 large empty arm-chair, which Reine had placed 
 there for his wife. 
 
 Mrs. Helier, however, had preferred to sit 
 away from the fire, in a distant part of the 
 room. Her figure could only be dimly dis- 
 cerned when she lifted herself up from the 
 attitude of hopeless dejection into which she 
 had sunk. Hour after hour passed away un- 
 heeded ; and neither the husband nor the 
 wife proposed to go to rest. Mr. Helier 
 sat dozing by the burning logs ; while the 
 wretched partner of his life swayed herself
 
 168 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 backwards and forwards as was her wont, 
 disturbing him sometimes from his dreamy 
 tranquillity, which never amounted to sleep, 
 by the grating on the oak boards of the legs 
 of her chair, when she moved it incautiously 
 quicker than usual. 
 
 On the table lay Reine's neat work, with 
 a candle beside it. There was no other, light 
 save that cast by the flickering flames. Some- 
 thing more nearly approaching to a smile than 
 ordinary stirred the muscles of Mr. Helier's 
 face when she came back, having been away 
 for some time, and sat down quietly to her 
 occupation, after inquiring if he felt better. 
 He had thought that she was gone to rest, 
 and had left him with only that wearisome 
 companion, who was rocking herself dismally 
 in the back-ground. Though he hated it, he 
 fancied at times that absolute solitude would 
 have been preferable to her company. 
 
 Reine's voice, speaking the accents of his 
 never-forgotten native province — the well-re- 
 membered scent of the warm drink she had 
 prepared for him — the outline of her features, 
 which resembled the lineaments of sisters and 
 brothers of whom he had seen nothing for 
 years, comforted the lonely, broken-spirited 
 man, and warmed his heart. He liked to see 
 his young kinswoman, so full of life and ani- 
 mation, with her pleasant French manners
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 169 
 
 and neat appearance, sitting near him and 
 attending to his wants. 
 
 Reine was proceeding silently with her 
 work, when, as if coming from a remote 
 part of the house, a very distinct sound of 
 footsteps was heard in the passage. Mr. 
 Helier dropped the spoon with which he was 
 stirring his tisane, and sank back in his chair ; 
 while his wife ceased rocking, and leaned for- 
 ward in hers, peering with dim eyes out of 
 the gloom. The steps, meanwhile, came on, 
 and stopped at the room-door, of which the 
 handle was turned unhesitatingly. 
 
 In that haunted house, at the dead of 
 night, for the clock was on the stroke of 
 twelve — when the servants were long since 
 gone to rest, and the outer doors bolted and 
 barred, it was certainly somewhat startling to 
 hear that measured tread upon the passage- 
 floor. Still, if Mr. and Mrs. Helier had 
 possessed stronger nerves, it might have 
 struck them that there was nothing ghost-like 
 in the sound. It was a man's foot, firmly 
 planted, which was heard so audibly in the 
 corridor. 
 
 Reine had gone on with her work, without 
 showing any sign of terror. Perhaps the step 
 was familiar to her ear, for the colour rose 
 bright and warm to her face while she listened 
 to it. There might, on stormy nights, have
 
 170 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 been comfort in the sound of that regular foot- 
 fall overhead, as she lay awake in the little 
 state-cabin of the smuggling schooner. As 
 the door opened, she looked up brightly; 
 while Mr. Helier's head sank on his hands, 
 and a faint gasping sigh burst from his wife's 
 lips — the first utterance that had passed them 
 since nightfall. Reine welcomed the intruder 
 with a blush and a smile. 
 
 Mynheer came forward quickly. There 
 was nothing ghost-like in his figure, and he 
 too smiled when his eyes met Reine's beaming 
 glance. 
 
 " It is Captain Mohr," she said, anxious 
 to re-assure the trembling couple ; " the kind 
 friend who brought me over from Brittany. 
 He knows all our people. Cousin, will you 
 not bid him welcome ? ' 
 
 Mr. Helier recovered himself slowly. It 
 took him several moments to shake off the 
 deadly fear which had assailed him. Mean- 
 while, all was dark and silent at the other 
 end of the room. The monotonous sound of 
 the rocking had quite ceased, and Mrs. 
 Helier's form was invisible, as she lay sunk 
 back, with her head resting against the high 
 carved framework of her chair. The smuggler 
 did not at first speak to either of them, but 
 remained at the table conversing in a low 
 tone with Reine ; then, at her invitation, he
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 171 
 
 took the vacant chair near her, and beside 
 the hearth. 
 
 The master of the house roused himself to 
 look at him. As he gazed fixedly at the 
 sailor-like, powerfully-knit form opposite to 
 him, with the firelight glancing on the dark 
 handsome face, and glittering in the bold 
 eyes of the stranger, his courage returned, 
 and he said, with more self-possession and 
 courtesy than might have been expected from 
 him, — 
 
 " We are your debtors, Captain Mohr, for 
 bringing this good girl among us. See, she 
 has been nursing me to-night. To what do 
 I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit ? 
 Reine ! Monsieur wishes to drink your health. 
 Apportez du vin ! " 
 
 " Do not stir, Mademoiselle ! ' said Myn- 
 heer, laying his hand on her arm. " 1 have 
 done that already, each night since you ho- 
 noured my vessel by accepting a passage in her 
 to England. La Belle Marie is off the coast 
 now. When your visit is ended, you can 
 have your cabin. Say, shall it be so ? ' 
 
 The smuggling Captain cast a glance 
 round the chamber, and into the dim recess 
 whence now and then a sigh might he heard. 
 Very possibly he repented having brought the 
 pretty maiden from " la belle France " to such 
 a gloomy place.
 
 172 LA BELLE MARTE. 
 
 "No, no!" said Mr. Helier, in an agi- 
 tated tone. " I cannot part with Reine. She 
 has made herself necessary to us. AVas that 
 your business here ? ' 
 
 " Not entirely," said the foreigner. 
 "Mademoiselle has but to speak the word, 
 however, and I am at her service. I am glad 
 she has made friends already. Herr Fleming 
 brought me with him from my vessel. He is 
 gone to his rest now, and it is best he should 
 know nothing of this meeting. Now, to 
 business. My visit to him w T as made under 
 a false impression. The name of Helier de- 
 ceived me. It is on our books, and now I 
 find — the Junker tells me — that you have 
 given up taking any part in our ventures. 
 Why is this ? Has there been any failure on 
 our part, or have you so much wealth that 
 the gold burns your fingers ? Let us under- 
 stand each other." 
 
 A deep flush mounted to the cheeks which 
 a few moments before had been ghastly white, 
 as Mr. Helier heard the smuggling Captain's 
 question. 
 
 " Is the name on the books still ? ' he 
 answered. " I thought my old friends had 
 forgotten me." 
 
 " Ach, not so ! We have longer memories 
 than you think for," said Mohr. " Tausend 
 tonnen ! I am young — what you call junior
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 173 
 
 — in the firm myself; but I have looked into 
 these matters deeply. Your people are my 
 colleagues ; and I could tell you, going back 
 into the past, things that would astonish you, 
 and make your blood circulate more quick 
 than it seems to do now. Those were brisk 
 days when you and poor Gervase Helier kept 
 the Revenue-lads on the look-out, night after 
 night, and seldom failed to run a cargo ashore. 
 Brisk days, I say ! and they seem to have 
 answered well with you, mein freund, since 
 
 you live in a house fit for a lord, while he 
 
 ach wohl ! — I saw him not long after — it had 
 fared ill with your old comrade. Bah ! we 
 will not talk of that now. I am glad to see 
 you in better spirits. I only spoke of those 
 times to show you that the French Brothers 
 are still remembered among us." 
 
 "Merci!' said Helier, drawing a long 
 breath, as if recovering from deadly terror. 
 " Gervase is not in good odour here. Say no 
 more about him. He once put forward an 
 imprudent claim, which Lord Boscawen has 
 never forgiven. It might cost me his favour, 
 and my present comfortable position, if our old 
 connexion were mentioned. Still he was 
 mon frere bien aime! — your father's cousin, 
 Reine. When did Mynheer last see him ? ' 
 
 " Several years ago," said Mohr, sig- 
 nificantly. " He had another name, then ; 
 but he still answered more readily to the old
 
 174 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 one. Our house has correspondents in all 
 those distant islands. Even now our ware- 
 houses are full, and I have brought with me 
 to St. Malo a rich cargo. Not such goods as 
 Herr Fleming has taken off my hands ; but 
 excellent cigars, spices, and coffee. I have 
 the samples with me. The bulk of the 
 goods are in safe hiding. I shall run across 
 with them the first dark night after I get 
 back to France." 
 
 He drew out from the capacious pocket of 
 his rough coat, as he spoke, a packet which he 
 handed over to Mr. Helier, who examined it 
 with the air of a connoisseur in such matters. 
 
 " Ah, they are real Havannahs ! I brought 
 them myself from Cuba," said Mohr, as the 
 man opposite to him, animated and interested, 
 unfolded the papers in which the cigars were 
 wrapped. "Try one, you will not be dis- 
 appointed. Unless, indeed,' 5 he added, with 
 instinctive politeness scarcely to be expected 
 from one of his calling, " the odour is dis- 
 pleasing to these ladies." 
 
 It seemed strange that he should have 
 discovered the presence of the silent woman 
 at the far end of the chamber ; but perhaps 
 the eyes which had avoided the bright light of 
 the lamp in his own cabin, were stronger in 
 the dark old chamber at Woods. 
 
 " That does not signify," said Helier, 
 roughly. " Reine does not mind it, I will be
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 175 
 
 bound. But I am no smoker; I cannot bear 
 it. My head is not strong." 
 
 Mynheer lighted one of the cigars, and 
 the sweet perfume of the choice Indian weed 
 stole on the air. 
 
 " In my country," he said, " die Frauen 
 have their cigarettes, too. I mean," he added, 
 correcting himself, "in the lands where I 
 have lived long — the Moluccas — beyond 
 seas, in short — Dutch, Spanish — it is all 
 much the same to me. I am one citizen of 
 the world." 
 
 He puffed away gravely, speaking at in- 
 tervals, while the cloud diffused around him 
 partially obscured his features. Reine, mean- 
 while, had risen, and, after trimming the fire 
 and candle, was preparing to depart. 
 
 " Do not go, Fraulein ! I will throw the 
 cigar into the fire if it displeases you. See, 
 I am a foreigner — I do not quite understand 
 your customs. Of all the countries of the 
 globe, though I can speak her language, Eng- 
 land is the strangest. Ach ! we may live 
 years, and not see through the mists which 
 hang round this little island ! Stay, Made- 
 moiselle ! I want to set this small matter of 
 business plain before Mr. Helier. I will, if 
 he likes it, give him a chance to make a for- 
 tune. It' is on the cards, if he will play one 
 hand right. Shall I go on?"
 
 176 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 " Yes," said Helier ; " I have felt more 
 alive to-night than I have been for years. 
 The old times come over me. Ah, those 
 were merry days ! I am sorry Gervase paid 
 such a price for them. I am not sure that I 
 came off better ; only my punishment has 
 been slower. Assez, assez ! " he added, im- 
 patiently, as if rebuking himself for adverting 
 to his own unhappy state of mind. " What 
 were you going to say to me?" 
 
 " Only to propose that the next cargo 
 should be, in fact, consigned to you, as the 
 last was in name. Herr Fleming has not 
 chosen to give us his own. I do not quite 
 like such reservations. Here is the invoice — 
 is not that what you call it ? Will it suit you 
 to join us in this transaction ?" 
 
 Helier took the paper eagerly. His eye 
 ran quickly down the long list of goods. 
 
 " Yours is the very place to run such a 
 cargo aground ; yonder, on the beach where 
 I landed with the Junker, under the great 
 headland which has the £K>od old British Kind's 
 name. No one likes to go round it after dark. 
 There are bad tales afloat ; and, like this old 
 house where you live, which seems to me 
 right warm and pleasant, the shores of the 
 creek in the woods arc said to be haunted. 
 There was a man murdered there — pushed 
 off the cliff — years ago."
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 177 
 
 " Stop !" said Helier, while a deep sound 
 like weeping came from the end of the 
 chamber. 
 
 " It was her husband," he added, in 
 a whisper, leaning across the fireplace, and 
 pointing cautiously towards his wife. " Do 
 not speak on that subject." 
 
 " Recht wohl!" said the foreigner. " It 
 makes no odds. The place has a bad 
 name — that is all I will say — and suits 
 our purpose. Give me your hand upon the 
 bargain. You shall have the risk and the 
 profits, and you will find that Jacob Mohr 
 will not cheat you. Are you satisfied?' 
 
 He extended a brown, but well-formed 
 hand, to Mr. Helier, who slightly touched it. 
 The smuggler's grasp was firm as iron. 
 
 " Give us pens and ink, Mademoiselle," 
 said Mohr, reseating himself, as if not quite 
 pleased with his new colleague's manner. 
 " We will have it down in writing. I am, 
 above all things, a man of business, and like 
 to know what I have to trust to." 
 
 He drew up, in a stiff, foreign -looking 
 hand, an agreement, which he passed over to 
 Mr. Helier, who read it through carefully. 
 
 " I can find no objection to your terms," 
 he said. " All is fair and honourable. But 
 we must have a witness." 
 
 " Here is Mademoiselle," said the smug- 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 gler, affixing his own signature, and then 
 handing the paper to Mr. Helier. " I shall 
 like to see her pretty writing, and she will 
 not betray us." 
 
 " Do not depend Upon that !' said Reine, 
 her cheeks glowing, her eyes glittering. " I 
 will not put my name to that paper. You 
 must find another witness.' 5 
 
 Mr. Helier looked at her with surprise. 
 The smuggling Captain's glance was very 
 penetrating. 
 
 " She is extremely perverse!' her cousin 
 said, at last. " I think it is of no use to 
 argue with her; and, besides, she is too 
 young. What must we do? It would be 
 ill-advised to admit any one else into our 
 counsels." 
 
 " Well, we must trust each other," said 
 the smuggler. " It is no matter about wit- 
 nesses, since our affair is not one concerning 
 which we can go to law. Only I thought I 
 should like to have Mademoiselle's name at 
 the bottom of the paper. Now, I must bid 
 you good-night. It will soon be time for the 
 fowls — what you call cock-crow! I must 
 sleep." 
 
 Mr. Helier looked perplexed. 
 
 " We have seldom a guest here. The 
 rooms are not prepared, but we will do our 
 best. Where can you put Mynheer?'
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 179 
 
 He did not appeal to his silent wife, but 
 looked at Heine. 
 
 " Ah, I have a capital Schlafzimmer ! I 
 am happy as a king with the Heilige Jnngfrau 
 smiling upon me from the wall, and the sea, 
 that I so love, sounding at a distance. I 
 have the best room in your old house, my 
 good friend ! but it has not been often slept 
 in lately, I fancy. Still, it is not cold or 
 damp, and I prefer it." 
 
 " Does he mean the room that Mr. St. 
 Erme occupied last?" Mr. Helier said, turning 
 pale. "Anywhere but there — any other 
 would be better. See to it, Reine!' 
 
 " I like my room : there is nothing wrong 
 about it," said the foreigner, rising. " Made- 
 moiselle, perhaps, will have the goodness to 
 show me the way ; for it is far oft', and I lost 
 myself more than once in coming here. I do 
 not think I should find it again." 
 
 Reine lighted a small hand-lamp, which 
 she had brought with her from France, and 
 rose to accompany the stranger. Mr. Helier 
 had sunk back into his arm chair, and hardly 
 noticed his departure. His wife neither spoke 
 nor stirred. 
 
 " That is dull company !" said the skipper, 
 as the door closed behind them. " My child, 
 I do not like to leave you here. I will not 
 ask you to go with me now, because the 
 cutter is looking out for us, and you might
 
 180 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 be frightened. I shall not let the Lieutenant 
 set foot on my deck. He will be back to- 
 morrow, and we must make a quick passage 
 across the Channel. Shall I come again, and 
 fetch you away from these strange, grim 
 beings? You are like an angel among 
 demons ." 
 
 " No, merci ! ' said Reine, who had lis- 
 tened attentively. " Never mind me. This 
 man is of my own kindred, and will protect 
 me. Like yourself, I have no fears/ 5 
 
 The smuggler looked at her with strong 
 admiration. 
 
 "That is the spirit I love!' he said. 
 " Honest and true, tender and cheerful ! I 
 wish there were more like you in the world. 
 But be advised. That scowling man is not 
 trustworthy. Let me carry you back to 
 France ! " 
 
 "Leben Sie wohl!' said Reine, putting 
 the light in his hand, and laughing, as she 
 used one of the few expressions in his own 
 language, which she had caught during her 
 passage in the schooner. " That is the door 
 of your chamber. I can find my way in the 
 dark." 
 
 Then, in spite of an effort on his part to 
 detain her, she flitted along the gloomy pas- 
 sages of the haunted house, unappalled by 
 ghostly terrors, and found her way back safely 
 to her own sleeping chamber.
 
 181 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Richard Osborne, deceived by false inform- 
 ation, had spent two days looking out for the 
 schooner at the entrance of the Bristol Chan- 
 nel, and searching every creek among the 
 dreary, contorted rocks of the carboniferous 
 formation, with ribbon-like bands of rusty 
 slate, which meet the rolling waves where 
 the narrower sea opens off Hartland Point 
 to the broad Atlantic. Not a trace of La 
 Belle Marie, or her rich freight, had rewarded 
 him for his exertions. 
 
 He was furious at the disappointment, 
 especially when intelligence reached him from 
 a more trustworthy source that the landing 
 his heart was set upon interrupting, was in- 
 tended to take place at the very spot he had 
 so lately quitted. The wind was not in his fa- 
 vour, and it would take more time than suited 
 his impatience for the Curlew to beat up 
 against it along the coast. Having laid his 
 plans carefully, he profited by the quickest 
 conveyances then procurable, and found him-
 
 1S2 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 self, after a hurried journey, set down a few 
 miles from Lezant, alone, and meaning to 
 enter the town on foot, on the side farthest 
 from the sea. 
 
 The undulating surface of the downs lay 
 round him, dark and quiet. Those great, 
 green sheep-pastures, with, at intervals, a 
 track crossing them, or hollows filled with 
 trees and imprisoned waterfalls, were always 
 inexpressibly lonely. A few stars twinkled 
 faintly aloft, and no moon was visible. It 
 was a great contrast to the darkness and soli- 
 tude in which Osborne had been moving for 
 the last two hours, when the lights of Lezant 
 town came in sight. Every house on the 
 naps, as he approached the place, seemed to 
 be illuminated; and persons, intent on busi- 
 ness or pleasure, were rushing up and down 
 the street. The Three Crowns was in a per- 
 fect blaze : the red gleam, from fire and 
 candle, shining across the road. Higher up, 
 on the rising ground before the inn, where 
 Reine had stood to see the Curlew sail away, 
 a crowd of people were assembled. The 
 young officer remained for some time on the 
 dark hill-side above, watching their proceed- 
 ings, and then turned down a back lane, 
 leading, by a circuitous route, to the quay. 
 
 As he walked on, with his hat pulled 
 over his brows, and his rough coat, underneath
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 183 
 
 which a brace of loaded pistols was concealed, 
 buttoned up to his chin, Richard Osborne 
 knew well that he would have paid the forfeit 
 of discovery with his life. There were dozens 
 of people, not twenty yards from him, who 
 would have thought little, under such circum- 
 stances, of murder; but the throng in the 
 public street was too much taken up with the 
 night's work to heed the solitary foot-pas- 
 senger, who stopped repeatedly, in spite of 
 the danger he was incurring, whenever the 
 irregular openings between the houses allowed 
 him a glimpse of what was going forward. 
 
 In quite another direction, a solitary spark 
 shone out from amidst the Parsonage ever- 
 greens. It was the gleam of the lamp which 
 always burned so late in the Rector's study. 
 Richard had seen it as he crossed the down, 
 even before the windings of the hills brought 
 the lights of the town into view ; and with it 
 there had come upon him the recollection of 
 the white-haired, feeble man, to w T hom dark- 
 ness had been intolerable since his futile 
 attempt to exorcise the ghost at Woods had 
 subjected his weakened mind to the most 
 fearful visitations. 
 
 The by-way he had been threading, in 
 almost total darkness, brought Richard Os- 
 borne out into the road at the bottom of the 
 street of Lezant. He had not encountered
 
 184 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 one human being ; and crossing the main 
 causeway, he hurried on, still unobserved, 
 along a foot-track, equally solitary, conducting 
 to the back-gate of the premises belonging to 
 the Boscawen Arms, which was shut up, and, 
 as it had been from an early hour in the even- 
 ing, entirely dark and still. Nevertheless, when 
 the Lieutenant knocked at the kitchen-passage 
 door, it was opened to him immediately by 
 Morgan Price himself. 
 
 " All right, Sir ! " he said, without any 
 manifestation of surprise at seeing Osborne : 
 " I guessed you might think it right to come 
 back, and sat up for you. Come in at once. 
 Now that you know something of Lezant hill- 
 folk, I need hardly say that you run a great 
 risk." 
 
 " No matter," said the young officer, as 
 he stepped within the passage, while Price 
 fastened the door. " I shall be careful ; but 
 these fellows will not find it easy to gull me 
 again. Just let me have a light in my old 
 sitting-room. I must ask you, late as it is, 
 to sit up a little longer, or to lend me a latch- 
 key. There are lights in Mr. St. Erme's 
 house. He is a magistrate, is he not ? and 
 therefore bound to assist us. There is no 
 time to be lost ; and I mean to see him, if 
 possible, before I sleep." 
 
 " Best not, Sir : leave it till morning," said
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 185 
 
 the landlord, earnestly. " The people will be 
 separating soon, and you might meet some of 
 them straggling home. I would not advise 
 you to go out again." 
 
 The Lieutenant paid no attention to his 
 warning, but, taking the light from his hand, 
 went into the parlour which he had previously 
 occupied, and busied himself for a few minutes 
 in writing at the table. His face, through its 
 extreme gravity, looked older than it had done 
 when he first came to Lezant ; and the cloud 
 had not cleared off when he rose, and telling 
 Price that he should not be away more than 
 half-an-hour, left the house, which was shut 
 up again instantly. 
 
 Though he had seemed in haste, Richard 
 Osborne walked slowly along the path by 
 which, once before, Morgan Price's child had 
 conducted him to the church, which was close 
 to Mr. St. Ernie's dwelling. Perhaps the 
 slowness of his pace, and his apparent in- 
 attention to surrounding objects, prevented 
 his being much noticed ; for one or two per- 
 sons passed him on the way, but they did not 
 stop to look at him. His dress, though that 
 of a gentleman, was plain, and partially dis- 
 guised him. It was not at all like the careless 
 sailor's garb in which he had so often taken 
 his way through the street of Lezant. The 
 darkness also befriended him.
 
 186 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 He was so wrapped in thought that he 
 passed the gate into the churchyard, and had 
 to retrace his steps. Then, however, he roused 
 himself, when conscious of his mistake, and 
 his manner became firm and resolute. He 
 opened the small gate into Mr. St. Ernie's 
 grounds, which was merely on the latch, and, 
 following the windings of the gravel-path 
 leading from the church, came to a glass-door 
 close to the window, within which the light 
 was still burning. After searching for some 
 minutes he found a bell, which he pulled 
 gently, but decidedly, and waited the result. 
 
 Every one in the house, except its master, 
 was at rest. Never, at such an hour, were 
 the inmates of the Parsonage disturbed. It 
 was true that in Lezant, as in other places, 
 sharp attacks of illness, strokes of death, 
 came to manhood, old age, and infancy, at all 
 hours and at unexpected seasons ; but no one 
 thought, on such occasions, of troubling the 
 parson. Children went to their graves un- 
 baptized — old men dropped off to their last 
 repose, without its occurring to any one that it 
 was proper to send at midnight for the pastor 
 who had for so long a time allowed his flock 
 to go astray in the wilderness, satisfied with 
 summoning them together at stated intervals, 
 and visiting them only when compelled by 
 custom in the regular exercise of his vocation.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 187 
 
 This careless shepherd, nevertheless, was 
 awake, with all his senses in activity, when 
 Richard Osborne's summons broke upon his 
 vigils. So many sounds rang in his ear at 
 midnight — voices and steps, appeals and 
 threatenings, for which he could find no 
 natural cause — that he did not at first know 
 whether the sounds were real or fancied. The 
 next minute the bell was pulled a second 
 time, louder than before. 
 
 The Minister of Lezant was no coward. 
 He put aside his books, and, without a mo- 
 ment's hesitation, stepped into the passage, 
 and opened the glass-door into his garden, 
 which was never fastened till he retired to 
 rest. Very often he paced the walks of his 
 quiet territory half the night through, and 
 this mode of egress was left open for him. 
 
 Richard Osborne was standing in the 
 dark porch covered with honeysuckle, which 
 was emitting its fragrance in the night air. 
 His tall figure was all that could be distin- 
 guished. 
 
 " There is no one but myself stirring in 
 the house," Mr. St. Erme said. " What is 
 your business with me ? Can it not wait till 
 morning? " 
 
 " Not if you can listen to me now, Mr. 
 St. Erme," said Richard, baring his head re- 
 spectfully to the grey-haired clergyman. " I
 
 188 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 have undertaken an important duty, in which 
 you can aid me. You are a magistrate for 
 this county? " 
 
 Mr. St. Erme had stepped back, as if relieved 
 from any apprehension he might have enter- 
 tained respecting the character of his visitor, 
 when the gentlemanlike accent of the young 
 officer fell on his ear. " You are come, then," 
 he said, " on justice business? On that plea, 
 I invite you to enter." 
 
 He walked slowly into the study, as he 
 spoke, followed by Lieutenant Osborne. 
 
 As the light of the lamp shone upon the 
 frank, fair face, not untroubled by emotion, of 
 his guest, Mr. St. Erme became calmer and 
 colder. Osborne, on the contrary, was very 
 visibly agitated. 
 
 " Take time, Sir ! " said Mr. St. Erme, 
 politely pointing to a seat. " You have per- 
 haps hurried yourself in walking here. It is 
 late, but my occupations are not important. 
 Explain yourself at your leisure." 
 
 There was something so phlegmatic in his 
 air, that Osborne thrust down the emotion 
 which at first threatened to overpower him. 
 After a momentary pause, he said, — 
 
 " I will, then, open the business on which 
 I came to you without any preamble. You 
 are, I think, aware that I am an officer of His 
 Majesty's navy, at present in command of a
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 189 
 
 Revenue vessel off this coast. What else con- 
 cerns me is of no consequence : we will, 
 therefore, not touch upon it," he observed, 
 speaking quickly and bitterly. " You can, 
 if you doubt any of my assertions, examine 
 these documents. A very valuable cargo of 
 contraband articles has been landed to-night 
 on Lezant quay. Part of this property has 
 been concealed on the premises belonging to 
 the inn called the Three Crowns, in the upper 
 village. I wish to have a warrant to search 
 for it." 
 
 Mr. St. Erme had taken up and carefully 
 perused the papers handed over to him by the 
 Lieutenant. 
 
 " That is enough," he said, giving them 
 back. " It is extremely probable that your 
 impression is correct. Do you wish me to 
 accompany you on your errand to-morrow? 
 There may, perhaps, be some disturbance. 
 Lezant is an unruly place.'' 
 
 Osborne looked with respect at the fragile 
 but venerable form of the clergyman. 
 
 " I should be sorry to ask you to take any 
 step which might involve disagreeable conse- 
 quences. No doubt, your presence would im- 
 part to us additional authority ; but I am fully 
 prepared to meet any odds the people of 
 Lezant can bring against me. They will be 
 taken by surprise completely. Half the crew
 
 190 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 of my cutter will be here to-morrow ; and I 
 have written to the officer at the head of the 
 Customs at Camelford to come over with an 
 additional force to support me. I do not 
 apprehend any serious resistance." 
 
 " No doubt you are right," said Mr. St. 
 Erme. " Still, my support of the constituted 
 authorities has never been withheld. I shall 
 be with you in good time. You are at the 
 Boscawen Arms?" 
 
 " Yes," said Richard, struggling with 
 feelings which he controlled with difficulty. 
 " It is the only house in Lezant which, with- 
 out your authorisation, I can enter. In a 
 place like this, though, notwithstanding a 
 foreign education, all my affections are 
 English, I am compelled to lead the life of an 
 alien." 
 
 He looked round as he spoke. Truly, in 
 that ascetic man's study, there were but small 
 indications of comfort ; yet, in the searching, 
 melancholy glance which now surveyed it, 
 there was a yearning for those domestic ties 
 which the name and appearance of a home 
 suggest to one whose life is passed on the 
 turbulent waves. 
 
 Mr. St. Erme scarcely seemed to notice 
 the remark. " Now, I must bid you good 
 night," he said. " There is the warrant. I 
 am sorry that it is not in my power to offer
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 191 
 
 you any refreshment ; but my niece and all 
 my domestics are gone to their beds." 
 
 He rose, and let Richard out into the 
 night air, as he spoke. They did not shake 
 hands, but parted, as they had met, like 
 strangers. Reginald St. Erme, however, 
 watched with a pang at his heart the tall figure 
 receding slowly along the gravel-walk. 
 
 As usual, after a night of riotous uproar, 
 Lezant was profoundly quiet the next morning, 
 until it began to be whispered abroad that 
 • there were several strangers in the place. 
 The Lieutenant had not shown himself; but 
 from Camelford some of the Revenue police 
 had come down, and persons who were about 
 early had recognised two or three of the 
 seamen of the cutter. 
 
 Suspicion was kindled, and flew like wild- 
 fire up the street ; and a larger party than 
 usual met in the tap-room of the Three 
 Crowns, where Mrs. Brock and Andrew 
 ministered liberally to their entertainment. 
 
 What's in the wind now, Dame?" said 
 one of the most frequent customers at the old 
 inn. "Hast heard the news? I can make 
 nought of it. What 's brought the Excise 
 lads to our town? Wlvy, it's half full of 
 sailors. Is there mischief afoot?" 
 
 " Like enough," said the Dame, grimly. 
 " I told you last night you were not half
 
 192 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 careful. A fool and his money's soon parted, 
 and some of you seem not to know how to 
 make noise enough, when you're brawling in 
 the streets. Now, what's said here between 
 four walls, I'll engage goes no further." 
 
 " Let 'em come !' said Andrew, who had 
 by no means recovered from his excesses the 
 night before. " Why shouldn't they, when 
 all's safe? — aye, just as snug as the dead 
 bodies in the churchyard. But, I say, just 
 look ye, mother ! if there isn 't our old 
 Passon ! What 's brought him, I wonder ? 
 Is he come with bell and with book to bring 
 up the tubs ? He won't make much more 
 hand of it than he did of the ghost at 'Oods. 
 Why, who the deuce has he got with him, and 
 all the folks following ? It 's like a riot in the 
 street. Is he going to read the Act, think 
 ye ? What 's up with the people ?' 
 
 " Bide still, you lazy sot!' said his 
 mother, pushing him back into his chair. 
 " It 's difficult enough to make you get up 
 when you 're wanted. Be quiet, I say ! It 's 
 the Lieutenant and the Camelford Excise. It 's 
 nought to us. Let 'em pass by. I wont 
 have any guffawing and staring." 
 
 The men took the hint, and remained 
 sullenly at the table, drinking; but the pro- 
 cession did not pass by. It consisted of the 
 young officer of the Curlew in his uniform,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 193 
 
 Mr. St. Erme, several sailors belonging to the 
 cutter ,and half a dozen Revenue-service men, 
 followed by various idlers of the town ; and 
 it came to a full stop at the door of the Three 
 Crowns. 
 
 "What's your will, gentlemen? 5 said 
 Dame Brock, stepping forward, frightened at 
 heart, but with courtesy on her tongue. " It 's 
 a pleasure to see his Reverence looking so 
 well. Can I serve you with anything ? 
 We 've the best of liquors in our cellars." 
 
 " That is exactly the point I wish to as- 
 certain," said the Lieutenant. " I am sorry 
 to disturb you, Mrs. Brock ; but I have cer- 
 tain information that smuggled goods were 
 last night concealed on your premises ; and I 
 am legally empowered to search for such 
 articles of foreign produce as have not paid 
 duty to the Crown." 
 
 " Oh, come in, come in, Sir ! ' said Dame 
 Brock, furiously. " Don't stand outside, I 
 beg ! Have the floors up, if you like ! You 're 
 welcome to anything that 's under them. I'm 
 not going to fly in the face of the laws. This 
 is an orderly public-house. I 'm known to 
 all the country for a woman that pays tithe 
 and poor-rate, as our excellent Minister can 
 bear witness. You have not found any fault, 
 or the family, I hope, with the bacon or the 
 home-brewed ? ' she added, curtseying to 
 
 vol. I. o
 
 194 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the Rector. " I wish you were in better com- 
 pany this morning; but, anyhow, you're an 
 honourable gentleman. Come out, Simon ! 
 Here 's Mr. St. Erme, the Parson hisself, 
 come down to read a bit to you." 
 
 " No, Mrs. Brock, 55 said the clergyman, 
 gravely, while the old man sat in the chimney 
 corner smoking his pipe, without heeding the 
 noise outside, or his wife's objurgations. " I 
 am exceedingly sorry you have got yourself 
 into this trouble. Our business is with you 
 at the present moment, and I advise you to 
 let it proceed quietly. 55 
 
 " Oh, we won't have nothing like violence 
 here, Sir,' 5 said Dame Brock, looking round 
 at the sullen, cowed faces of the men at the 
 table, not one of whom had moved. " 1 5 m 
 not for offering opposition to an officer wearing 
 His Majesty's uniform, and a gentleman like 
 yourself, one of our own county magistrates. 
 There's every key I possess in the world. 
 You can search my house from garret to 
 cellar. The furniture 5 s old, Sir, but 1 5 m not 
 ashamed of it; and you'll find the beds clean. 
 If it's not over-tidy, you'll remember this 
 is a busy house, and I won't say you haven't 
 taken me completely by surprise. Walk in, I 
 beg of ye." 
 
 " There is no need to trouble you so 
 far," said Osborne. " If your garden gate is
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 195 
 
 locked, I will thank you for that key — no 
 other/' 
 
 " Oh, you wouldn't take all these people to 
 trample on my nice new-dug borders ! You 
 can see they 've been fresh tidied up, and the 
 seeds just shooting. What can you want 
 there?' cried the hostess, with well-feigned 
 astonishment. " Why, the cabbages and the 
 taturs are coming up beautiful, and the onions 
 springing ; there 's not such a crop in Lezant, 
 unless it be in his Reverence's garden. If 
 you '11 cast your eye over, Sir, you '11 see 
 nothing can have turned the mould since the 
 crops were put in." 
 
 "That seems true enough," said Mr. St. 
 Erme, looking into the plot of ground op- 
 posite. " Our apples are not half so pro- 
 mising." 
 
 Richard Osborne, however, did not forego 
 his purpose. He walked straight up to the 
 gate, and, finding it unfastened, went into the 
 garden, followed by his men. 
 
 By this time, the Three Crowns was emp- 
 tied of all its occupants, except old Simon 
 Brock. The landlady, with the ribbons of 
 her cap streaming, and her face paler than it 
 had been half an hour before, was already 
 across the road. 
 
 " There's neither bolt nor bar to stop ye!" 
 she exclaimed. "Who'd suppose gentlemen
 
 196 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 could want to disturb a poor woman's onion- 
 bed and radishes ? What will you do next ? 
 There's Heaven's favour on the fruit-trees. 
 Such a blossoming I haven't seen these ten 
 years. Sure, there 's nought else remarkable 
 in this little plot of ground. It's open to 
 the street, and every bit of it's took up. 
 We've scarce room to grow our cabbages and 
 carrots, as it is." 
 
 Mrs. Brock grew silent and uneasy, then 
 still more loquacious, when she saw the young 
 officer of the cutter walk steadily up to the 
 blooming tree at the upper extremity of the 
 garden, and stand still, after giving some rapid 
 directions to his men. 
 
 " This is more than mortal woman can 
 abide ! If Simon wasn't paralytic, ye durstn't 
 do it! Dig a trench round my apple-tree! 
 what for, I wonder? Why, it's the glory of 
 the town! I don't believe the people will 
 let ye do it. Don't ye see that the blossom's 
 just setting for fruit? Touch it, one of ye, at 
 your peril! You'll soon know what Lezant 
 folk are made of, if ye do. I'm ashamed 
 that anybody calling himself a gentleman and 
 an officer should think of giving such an 
 order. You'll think better of it, sir!' 
 
 " Dig on, my hearties ! ' said Osborne, 
 measuring with his cane a certain space on 
 each side of the blooming apple-tree. " Never
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 197 
 
 fear, Dame! We won't hurt your fruit. Not 
 a blossom shall be injured. It will flourish 
 just as well at the bottom of the hill, as 
 on the top; and His Majesty has a fancy 
 to transplant it. We all work under his 
 orders." 
 
 There was silence among the crowd. 
 Even Dame Brock's eloquence failed her. 
 The first sound was the ring of the men's 
 spades striking against metal. A deep trench, 
 equi-distant from the tree on all sides, had by 
 this time been excavated; and those who 
 chose to look in, could see that the tree was 
 planted in a large square box, clamped at the 
 corners with iron. 
 
 "Heave it out!' Osborne said. "Let 
 us see what kind of crop Dame Brock rears 
 under her apple-tree." 
 
 The sailors were provided with ropes, 
 and, after another half-hour of heavy labour, 
 the huge box was lifted up; and a large 
 cavity, now filled with bales and kegs, was 
 brought to light. More than a hundred 
 casks of French brandy were ready to flavour 
 the dame's cider sufficiently to warm it for 
 winter drinking. 
 
 Osborne at once took possession of the 
 property in the King's name; and warning 
 Mrs. Brock, in spite of her violent assevera- 
 tions of innocence, that a heavy fine would
 
 198 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 probably be laid upon her for harbouring 
 contraband articles, he superintended the 
 transfer of the goods to stores which he had 
 engaged for the purpose. 
 
 Not the slightest opposition was made to 
 his proceedings, as the men carried the bales 
 down to the water's edge and returned for 
 fresh loads; Osborne and the Rector remain- 
 ing all the time in the garden. Curses, deep, 
 but not loud, were on the lips of the smug- 
 glers, and vows of vengeance, not the less 
 deadly that they lacked the courage and 
 decision to break out into open resistance 
 against the formidable party assembled to 
 overawe them.
 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. St. Erme maintained his usual cold re- 
 serve, when he returned from Lezant, after 
 exciting the wonder of its gossips by his 
 public appearance, on a week-day, in the 
 main street. His interference caused less 
 anger than might have been expected among 
 his parishioners. His sympathies were known 
 not to be with them; and, though he did not 
 in general exert himself against the contra- 
 band traders, his principles and prejudices 
 were all in favour of the powers and autho- 
 rities established by law. 
 
 Several days had passed since the up- 
 rooting of the Dame's apple-tree brought to 
 light one of the most cunningly-contrived of 
 the smugglers' hiding-places. A smothered, 
 but very bitter sense of injury and humilia- 
 tion was at work, and might be traced in the 
 dogged, sullen faces, of the men on the quay. 
 The Boscawen Arms was more unpopular 
 than ever: and the sailors of the cutter pa- 
 trolled the street, by the water-side, in front
 
 200 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 of the storehouses that held the goods taken 
 on the premises of the Three Crowns. At 
 present, the wind prevailed which kept ves- 
 sels from entering the harbour; and, at this 
 season of the year, it often blew for many 
 weeks from the same quarter. 
 
 If the Rector had been more unpopular 
 than he really was, Mary would have been 
 his aegis. Never had the Parsonage been 
 more profoundly tranquil than during the 
 soft spring evenings at the close of May, 
 when Richard Osborne and his trusty sailors 
 were mounting guard over the Custom-house 
 stores; and the young officer was extending 
 his beat after nightfall, to see that all was 
 safe, as he walked with a quick step in the 
 dusk past the green groves and shrubberies 
 that overhung and encircled the clergyman's 
 dwelling. 
 
 Mary was almost as great a stranger to 
 her uncle as the rest of his parishioners. 
 The shy, austere Divine had never sought to 
 win her affection. Neither to her, nor to any 
 human being, did that proud, reserved nature, 
 unbend. 
 
 Yet still the young girl loved him. Every 
 shade which crossed that high, white, wrinkled 
 forehead, gave her pain. She saw it of late 
 marked by fresh lines of sorrow; the pale 
 complexion had grown still more faded; the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 201 
 
 tall form more bent. She heard his slow 
 tread at a more advanced hour of the morn- 
 ing, as he went to the couch, which, by his 
 worn appearance the next day, seemed to 
 have afforded him no rest. 
 
 Even his step showed the disorder of 
 his thoughts, as he paced up and down the 
 garden -walk; now quickly, as if goaded by 
 the reflections that preyed upon his mind; 
 now tardily, as if heavy with the weight of 
 years and care. Yet Reginald St. Erme, who 
 had for so long been irreverently styled by 
 his uncourteous flock, " our old Parson," was 
 not really an aged man. 
 
 That tall, wiry frame, still had strength 
 dwelling in its muscles; the trembling of 
 the hands, which gave such a semblance of 
 feebleness, arose more from feverish impa- 
 tience than from infirmity of constitution. 
 There might be — he sometimes feared there 
 were — long years of the life of which he 
 was weary, in store for him. The principles 
 which still warred against temptation, but 
 were hardly strong enough to maintain the 
 strife, wavered in yet darker moments, and 
 scarcely restrained this man of ascetic habits, 
 and outwardly unblemished life, from ab- 
 ruptly cutting short the thread of an exist- 
 ence, which seemed to him, in his bitterness
 
 202 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 of spirit, valueless to others and burdensome 
 to himself. 
 
 To one who, like Mary, watched him anx- 
 iously, there was a change, fraught with ter- 
 rible significancy, in the spirit of the discourses 
 which fell on the unlistening or wondering 
 ears of his congregation, like the thin mist 
 which hardly leaves behind it, when the sun 
 breaks forth, a trace of its having passed over 
 the earth. She listened with dread to the 
 frequent occurrence of phrases referring, dimly 
 indeed, to the spiritual agency of mysterious 
 supernatural powers, quite distinct from the 
 workings of Divine Providence. Some of the 
 elderly men, after trying to comprehend these 
 dreamy, rhapsodical harangues, went home 
 and said, Sure, the old Passon was crazed ; 
 they could make no meaning at all, now, out 
 of his long-winded sermons. Others, again, 
 declared that, even in the pulpit, he was fight- 
 ing with the Enemy ; not as he is wont to be 
 dealt with by divines of sound mind, but hold- 
 ing dialogues and controversies with the Evil 
 Spirit, in. which, it was the opinion of the vil- 
 lagers, that the Parson was like to come off 
 the worst. He was sore troubled, the old 
 women said, and made so many words about 
 the matter he had in hand, that they knew 
 less about it when he left off than when he
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 203 
 
 began. It was not Scripture truth he taught, 
 but just his own odd fancies ; more like what 
 might be found in a conjuring-book, than the 
 parables and allegories he used to expound to 
 them. 
 
 In their own home, his niece thought 
 there was another change, of a quite different 
 nature, in his manner. He would fix his eyes 
 upon her without speaking, but so wistfully 
 that she longed to throw her arms round his 
 neck, and ask him what she could do to ease 
 him of his troubles. His habitual reserve 
 made it impossible for her to venture upon 
 such demonstrations of affection. Never in 
 her whole life had she dared to break through 
 the bonds of their formal but not unkindly 
 intercourse. These pressed upon her most in 
 his presence. When he was shut up in his 
 own room she would form hardy resolutions, 
 and determine to put them into execution ; 
 but the moment she saw him again, the influ- 
 ence of early habit re-asserted its claim. 
 
 Often she stood at the door of his study, 
 with her hand upon the latch, not daring to 
 raise it, listening to his restless tread, as he 
 walked up and down, sometimes talking aloud, 
 though she knew him to be quite alone. Then • 
 came pauses, as if to allow the invisible guest 
 he had been addressing time to answer him. 
 Dead silence prevailed, unless he was speaking;
 
 204 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 yet when he raised his voice again, it seemed 
 to the anxious girl as though he were making 
 replies, or asking brief questions. 
 
 Mr. St. Erme and his niece were sitting 
 alone together, as was their wont, for some 
 hours of the evening, before he shut himself 
 in his study. Mary's heart beat when, as she 
 occasionally looked up from her work, she met 
 his gaze fixed upon her, with that earnest wist- 
 ful expression she had often seen in it of late. 
 He did not speak to her, but neither did he 
 avert his eyes when she raised her head. She 
 scarcely knew whether, in reality, his thoughts 
 might not be far away. 
 
 Hers was a face on which it was pleasant 
 to dwell; but in general its fair tint and re- 
 gularity of feature attracted little of his atten- 
 tion. He had not thought until now, when 
 circumstances gave weight to the considera- 
 tion, how much purity and goodness was ex- 
 pressed in the young girl's calm, somewhat 
 mournful countenance. 
 
 They had been silent for so long — habi- 
 tually, he was so chary of his words — that 
 Mary started when her uncle said, — 
 
 " The world has seemed to me peopled 
 with phantoms, lately ! This old house ap- 
 pears to be less our own than the property of 
 the dead. Is it only to me that the rooms, 
 the garden -walks, even the church, seem
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 205 
 
 haunted? Forms enter and take their once 
 accustomed places, without exciting wonder 
 or comment, although for years they have not 
 visited us. Is it because I live so much alone, 
 in prayer and meditation, among my books, 
 that these manifestations of the spiritual world 
 are accorded to me ? Are they never present 
 with you?" 
 
 He bent his head as he spoke and looked 
 at her fixedly, while a frown furrowed his 
 brow. 
 
 " You are not well, dear uncle Reginald," 
 said Mary, with affectionate respect. " Indeed, 
 I would be very still if you allowed me to be 
 oftener with you. Hour after hour, you are 
 shut up in your study, with sad thoughts, I 
 fear, for your companions. I, too, am dreary 
 enough, at times," she observed, while her 
 soft eyes filled with tears. " Strange fancies 
 — yearnings for the lost, fill my heart; but I 
 can hardly remember those dearest to me. I 
 think, if I could recall them more plainly, me- 
 mory would bring their images before me so 
 vividly that, like yourself, I should not know 
 whether they were real." 
 
 " Keep to that thought ! Let it be with 
 you constantly. You will see them sooner or 
 later. The dead are all around us, Mary," 
 said Mr. St. Erme, still bending forward, 
 while his voice, though low, thrilled through
 
 206 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the nerves of the listener. "I see them — I 
 hear their footsteps. You do not sit up late 
 enough, or wake as I do, when the drowsy 
 world is yet asleep. These appearances must 
 be courted. They are coy, and, if neglected, 
 soon vanish. Yes," he added, bitterly, " be- 
 fore we have learned what they come from the 
 world of spirits to tell us." 
 
 Mary listened to him, terrified by his 
 strange words, and the subdued excitement of 
 his manner. 
 
 " You are young," he said ; " fresh and 
 pure as the dewy grass on which I sometimes 
 trace the footprints of the invisible ones. 
 Oh ! if I could see with your eyes, hear 
 with your ears, clearer manifestations might 
 be granted to me ! Sorrow has deadened my 
 perceptions ; sins, many and grievous, clog 
 my faculties. Of late they have been very 
 dull — almost dead within me. Few, com- 
 paratively, distinct communications from the 
 unseen world, which lies but at a short dis- 
 tance from us — if, indeed, we are separated 
 thence by more than the gross material of the 
 body, in which our finer senses are shrouded 
 — hardly any record, I repeat, can be found 
 of a message from a departed spirit being 
 transmitted, except through the medium of a 
 youth or a maiden. It must be a fine organ 
 that can hear the voices breathing constantly
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 207 
 
 around us, unheard by dull mortal ears ; voices 
 which are saying, could they but make the 
 sound intelligible to us, what we would give 
 more than life to know/' 
 
 Terror at his apparent madness, pity, 
 holy and tender as an angel's, overcame Mary's 
 accustomed timidity. She drew nearer to her 
 uncle, and tried to take his hand, but he did 
 not respond to the mute caress. 
 
 " Let me suppose you acquainted/ 5 he 
 said, after a momentary pause, " with the 
 terrible features of your unhappy father's 
 destiny. Speak, if what I utter is unintelli- 
 gible ; but spare me as much as may be. A 
 month ago I went to the old Manor-house, 
 deep sunk among Lord Boscawen's woods. I 
 believed it to be my especial duty to set at 
 rest the evil reports that hung about the 
 place, and put an end to sights and sounds 
 which filled its inmates with horror. Mary, 
 what I saw and heard on that fearful night 
 made my hair whiter than eighteen years of 
 sorrow had done. I had always believed that 
 Fleming, in a fit of drunken delirium, had 
 with his own hand terminated his wretched 
 existence. I do not hold that conviction now. 
 I went in the strength of that confidence 
 which the fiercest trials had not shaken. I 
 had armed myself with spiritual weapons. 
 With the prayers of the Church — the armour
 
 208 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 to which I was accustomed — about me, I 
 betook myself to conflict with the Evil One. 
 In that battle I was overthrown.' 5 
 
 Mary's eyes dilated with terror. She 
 looked, with anguish in her young face, at 
 the convulsed features of her uncle, but she 
 did not interrupt him. 
 
 " By my own wish," Mr. St. Erme con- 
 tinued, " I was shut up, the door locked, 
 and I was left to pass the night in the ghost 
 chamber, as it is called — the haunted room at 
 Woods. I heard the wind whistling in the 
 corridors, the swaying of the close-set trees 
 round the old building, the creaking of the 
 branches, and the hooting of the owls ; and, 
 for some time, nothing more. My nerves 
 were stiller than is often the case now. The 
 usual manifestation of a spiritual presence did 
 not appear to me to be in the air. Suddenly, 
 when my mind was calmest and clearest, I 
 heard the sound of voices, now angry, now 
 mocking and bitterly derisive ; not in the 
 gallery, nor under the windows, but seem- 
 ingly close beside me. I rose and searched 
 the chamber, but, though I still heard those 
 waves of sound rising and Killing, I could see 
 no one, nor was I able to distinguish a single 
 word. I called upon the unearthly beings 
 who were, I began to think, around me, but 
 none responded. The same hellish gabble
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 209 
 
 filled the room, and my solemn adjurations 
 were disregarded; laughter and derision si- 
 lenced them. 
 
 " A great anguish fell upon me. I looked 
 upward, and my eyes were arrested by a pic- 
 ture which hung high over the mantel-piece. 
 The divine tranquillity of the Madonna's coun- 
 tenance seemed to reassure me. Had I been 
 a Roman Catholic, I should have prayed to 
 her for aid. The features somewhat reminded 
 me of your own." 
 
 He looked down, with more affection than 
 he was wont to display, on the young girl. 
 
 Mary did not speak, or for a moment 
 withdraw her gaze from his face. Her soul 
 seemed to have passed into his — her very life 
 to hang upon his w T ords. 
 
 " While my eyes were fixed upon the 
 painting, the canvas moved, and slowly the 
 image of the Virgin seemed drawn away, 
 revealing a gloomy aperture. As I looked 
 closely, there gradually loomed upon me from 
 the darkness a form and features which I 
 never can forget. They belonged, Mary, to 
 the man who was found lying, eighteen years 
 ago, murdered, or a suicide, at the foot of 
 Lezant Cliff. So menacing, so terrible was 
 his expression, that, for the first time that 
 night, my courage failed me; I could have 
 hidden myself in the earth to escape poor 
 
 vol. i. p
 
 210 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Fleming's glance. Pale as I had seen him 
 lying dead, when I was summoned to view 
 the corpse — when my quiet life was broken 
 in upon by a woe which has not yet worn 
 itself out — I saw him confront me. ' Speak!' 
 I said to the ghastly phantom. ' Tell me, in 
 the name of the Eternal Being, before whom 
 one day we must both stand, who did that 
 cruel deed?' but no answer came. The vision 
 lasted but for a moment, yet, while there, it 
 seemed to scorch my eyeballs ; I covered 
 them with my hands, involuntarily : when I 
 looked again, the picture of the Madonna was 
 in its place." 
 
 There was a dark rim round the girl's 
 eyes — unutterable agony in her glance. 
 The delusion, if it were one, under which 
 he laboured, seemed fast possessing her. 
 " Would that I had been there ! ' she said. 
 " Me, those foul fiends should not have de- 
 ceived. Why did you not call on him, my 
 father ? Surely, the spirits were all about you/ 5 
 
 Mr. St. Erme looked round him nervously 
 in the darkening twilight. " I did so," he 
 answered, in a whisper ; " I called upon Ed- 
 mund, and I thought, I fancied there was a 
 stir in the chamber; the air seemed cleft, 
 but my ears could not distinguish the sound. 
 Mary," he said, in a tone of anguish, 
 "as truly as you are now near me in the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 211 
 
 +■ 
 
 flesh, I believe that Edmund's tortured soul 
 was striving to make an intelligible utterance, 
 and that I was unfit to receive it. I have 
 been an unworthy minister of the Gospel. 
 There have been souls in this parish, aye, 
 even in my own family, lost through my 
 negligence. I tread upon the verge of the 
 spiritual world. Heroes, philosophers, poets, 
 the mighty spectres of past ages, visit me; 
 but those whom I most covet to approach 
 hold themselves aloof ; my own dead will not 
 come when I summon them ! And yet, Mary, 
 only a few nights since, as I was walking in 
 the garden, I heard, as plainly as I now hear 
 the breath part from your quivering lips, a 
 deep, impassioned, gasping sigh. Edmund 
 was near me then ; — I felt his presence, though 
 I did not with my bodily eyes see him ; — I 
 knew that he was only divided by a few brief 
 paces from me.'' 
 
 His tone was now so calm and quiet, that 
 Mary, for an instant, imagined that the belief 
 he expressed arose from some more real cause 
 than the strange flights of half- mad enthusiasm 
 to which she had been listening. 
 
 " Are you certain/ 5 she said, " that my 
 father is dead ? I never heard it before/ 5 
 
 Mr. St. Erme gazed at her compassion- 
 ately. "Believe it now," he answered. " Many 
 years ago, information was conveyed to me 
 from the highest quarter, that, in attempting
 
 212 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 to make his escape from his place of confine- 
 ment, my unfortunate brother perished. If I 
 had not known it earlier, that hour would 
 have told it to me. Nothing but his 
 being near me in the spirit could have so 
 stirred my inmost soul. Mary, it is thus that 
 friends we have lost manifest themselves to us 
 after death, imperfectly. We hear a footfall 
 — a sigh reaches us; but we hear no words; 
 they seem to touch us with their trailing gar- 
 ments ; our senses, inadequate as they are, 
 are filled with that mysterious presence ; and 
 then we are left in our restlessness alone, un- 
 satisfied, yearning for a fuller insight into 
 what has been so darkly revealed." 
 
 His countenance clouded over, and he 
 sighed deeply. Mary's usually calm, melan- 
 choly face, showed an extraordinary emotion. 
 Her eyes seemed irradiated ; the colour rose 
 warmly in her cheek, as she said, — 
 
 " It needs no message from the unseen 
 world to tell me what is stamped upon my 
 heart. Richard has the same perfect con- 
 fidence. Uncle, there is one fault upon my 
 conscience ; let me confess it to you. I have 
 seen my brother, contrary to your orders. 
 He is bent upon publicly establishing the 
 fact that my father was not guilty. Might 
 he not aid us?' 
 
 Mr. St. Erme remained silent for some 
 moments.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 213 
 
 " Do not ask roe to receive him, Mary. 
 Richard has disobeyed me. I believe his coming 
 to this place to be an ill-advised measure. 
 Much consideration has been shown to us; 
 and had I been consulted, this appointment, 
 for which, I have little doubt, he eagerly 
 sought, would have been given to another. 
 Yet the workings of Providence are mys- 
 terious. It may be as the means to an end 
 which, at present, I do not perceive, that you 
 have been brought together. But remember, 
 no human affection can sustain us in these 
 trials. Read the lives of women who have 
 been set apart — purged, as it were, by fire 
 and water — pierced through with the sharp 
 arrows of affliction, before they were fitted to 
 perform their allotted tasks. Let such be your 
 models. Pride, vanity, soft living, all must 
 be given up. The recipient of such commu- 
 nications as I w T ould have you hold yourself 
 in readiness to entertain, must be pure in 
 heart, and most strict in life. You are young; 
 as yet you have not been led into temptation. 
 It is possible that your father's innocence of 
 the dreadful crime he was accused of having 
 committed may be proved by you." 
 
 Mary promised to obey him. Long after 
 nightfall, they paced together, more lovingly 
 than had ever been the case, the pathways of 
 the Rector's garden, while the deep shadows
 
 214 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 unrolled themselves over land and sea; and 
 the girl sometimes started as the bats flew 
 past her face, and fancied that she heard, 
 close behind her, the sound of footsteps. 
 Mr. St. Erme, the floodgates of his mind once 
 opened, poured forth strange experiences, wild 
 theories, wistful regrets, until the garden-walks 
 seemed peopled with forms of those lost and 
 gone before, which were more real to him 
 than the substantial shapes of everyday life. 
 
 For many hours after she left her uncle, 
 Mary's thoughts were almost as wild and 
 wandering as his own. Her whole life was 
 a preparation for a holier state, and that 
 night the fervency of her prayers was doubled. 
 Graduallv, her emotions became subdued ; 
 and when the morning broke, and the early 
 sunbeams sparkled on the window of her 
 room, looking to the east, where she had slept 
 since she was a child, she was slumbering 
 peacefully, with tears glistening on her long 
 eyelashes, and as innocent an expression on 
 her young face as it had worn when, almost an 
 infant, she first wept herself to rest after 
 hearing, without understanding the misery 
 which had fallen upon her, that she was to 
 see no more of her kind, handsome, indulgent 
 father.
 
 215 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The young French girl had been very restless 
 ever since Jacob Mohr offered her a passage 
 back to France in the schooner. England 
 had by no means answered her expectations. 
 There were moments when she thought that 
 she had left all her life's happiness behind 
 her on the banks of the Ranee. The sha- 
 dowy woodland, through which, at first, bright 
 vistas of enjoyment seemed to open, now 
 closed in oppressively around her. She no 
 longer mistook the distant stems of the birch- 
 trees, as the wind swayed them to and fro, 
 for moving figures ; nor the shrill cries of the 
 jay and the plover for a seaman's whistle. 
 
 Even the farm life, in which Reine felt 
 disposed to take an active part, did not greatly 
 enliven her. Mrs. Helier left everything to 
 Leah ; and, except in upsetting the pails of 
 milk, and disturbing the pans of cream, of 
 which they were as fond as the cats that 
 followed them about, the girls showed no 
 disposition to take any share in what was
 
 216 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 going forward. They would torment the 
 cows till the patient animals turned upon the 
 impish creatures and drove them from the 
 yard ; or they set the dogs to chase the pigs, 
 and screamed with laughter when the little 
 savage terrier puppies worried the poor beasts 
 cruelly; but there was no gladness in their 
 mirth. Reine felt a cold shiver run through 
 her veins, when' she saw them heartlessly 
 sporting with the sufferings of dumb animals, 
 enjoying the cruel play of the cats with the 
 young birds and mice, and stringing the eggs 
 out of the rifled nests of the thrushes and 
 linnets. 
 
 In that house there was so much that 
 was ill or inadequately performed, that the 
 old servant, Leah, gradually grew to feel a 
 sort of respect for the young foreigner, who 
 got through more work in a day than the 
 mistress, with all her groaning and rocking, 
 would finish in a month. Reine's marvel- 
 lously neat French caps and aprons, the small 
 frillings and elaborate stitchings of her under- 
 clothing, the dexterity of her darning and 
 fitting, excited the woman's admiration, the 
 more especially because it was a department 
 in which she made no pretence of excelling. 
 Awful were the holes in the frocks and petti- 
 coats, and terrible the gaps in the cotton 
 stockings of the awkward girls, who lived a
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 217 
 
 wild life among bushes and briers, and never 
 thought of rectifying the injuries inflicted on 
 their garments by the sharp brambles. 
 
 Now and then, disgusted by her mis- 
 tress's tardiness, the woman, who had nursed 
 these children in infancy, without loving them, 
 would put some awkward stitches in their 
 clothes, which made the rents look more un- 
 sightly than before — like a hole in a quickset 
 hedge, stopped up with a barren network of 
 thorns. Bad as her work was, it caused the 
 articles thus mended to hang together during 
 the somewhat rough ordeal of the great 
 monthly wash ; but it was a wonder to see 
 the Breton lass restoring some delicate bit of 
 lace or muslin with stitches that could scarcely 
 be distinguished from the original fabric, and 
 getting over the ground as swiftly with her 
 fine cotton, as the gigantic strides and leaps 
 of the housekeeper's large needle could carry 
 her coarse thread. Reine's quick perception 
 soon taught her also to modulate her French 
 accent and idiom. She had picked up more 
 English, Leah said, in a fortnight, than her 
 master seemed likely to gain in a lifetime. 
 
 There had been a period when Mrs. 
 Helier's state of health and spirits was worse 
 than at present, and the children were, in 
 consequence, removed from her, and placed 
 abroad. Now she seemed, generally, like
 
 218 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the other inmates of Woods, according to 
 Leah, only half awake. Many a fine day 
 passed without her mistress's moving from her 
 chair. The girls, if they were not in mis- 
 chief, lay about in the sunny weather under 
 hayricks, sleeping away their time. No one 
 was busy but herself. The master did his 
 work with his eyes shut, and was cheated 
 right and left. He might have been a gentle- 
 man, by the way he left his business to 
 others; mooning about the fields with his 
 hands behind his back, and blinking like the 
 owls at the March dust, when other farmers 
 thought it worth a king's ransom. The land 
 was exhausted, and yielded nothing like a 
 decent crop. The cows were half-starved, 
 and allowed to feed on what they could pick 
 up. Their butter fetched less at Lezant than 
 that churned in other dairies; and the quan- 
 tity, what with waste and mismanagement, 
 was not half what it ought to be. 
 
 Reine thought of the old housekeeper's 
 grumbling remarks whenever the family were 
 assembled. The most simple task was too 
 difficult for the unskilled ringers of the girls; 
 and their mother would sit with a basket full 
 of untouched, homely, household needlework 
 before her, rocking herself in her chair, with 
 a dreary sound, as the bare oak flooring 
 responded to the movement. Mr. Helier de-
 
 LA. BELLE MARIE. 219 
 
 tested noise of all kinds, and would frown 
 and storm till his wife left off this, her soli- 
 tary recreation. Sometimes, in spite of her 
 abject fears of his temper, she would begin 
 again, unconsciously, swaying herself back- 
 ward and forward in some dim, far-off corner 
 of the large old room, till a violent objurgation 
 reduced her to absolute stillness. 
 
 Reine was perfectly at liberty to indulge 
 in her own sad thoughts during the rambles 
 she took with the children, who were nomi- 
 nally her charge, after the slight tasks she 
 tried to set them were over; for the wind, 
 perpetually sweeping over the moor, would 
 have been almost as easy to trace as to follow 
 the erratic course of these half-mad creatures. 
 They came back to her, however, occasionally, 
 panting and out of breath, with their thin, 
 fair hair dishevelled by the blast ; much in 
 the same manner that dogs, after ranging the 
 upland, come to their master's side to receive, 
 as it may happen, caress or chiding. 
 
 They were not bad guides, after all, for 
 every path was familiar to them ; and even 
 when out of sight, Reine heard their elfish 
 shrieks and laughter, as they alternately 
 played together and quarrelled, chased each 
 other over the downs, or hid themselves in 
 fun behind the tree-trunks in the woodland, 
 starting out and screaming wildly when 
 discovered.
 
 220 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Reine saw them far down below, on the 
 seashore, one day, when she came over the 
 green hill to the south-west of Woods, and 
 followed the course of a treeless defile, leading 
 to the coast. All her efforts to penetrate, in 
 that direction, the thicket which lined the 
 ravine, had been vain ; but when the girls 
 found how much she longed for a nearer view 
 of the blue water, they had shown her this 
 way down to the sands. Her heart beat as 
 she heard the long surging roll of the waves 
 dashing against the headlands, and saw the 
 cliffs extending, like frowning buttresses, far 
 as the eye could reach. 
 
 A streamlet flowed down the glen, be- 
 tween beds of moss and cresses, vividly green 
 and sparkling with moisture. Slabs of granite 
 chequered the turf; but the face of the cliffs 
 exposed to the Atlantic waves was black as 
 night, splintered and jagged by the perpetual 
 action of the ground-swell and heavy sea, as 
 well as hollowed into caverns, which, however, 
 owing to the depth of water close inland, 
 afforded no refuge or chance of escape to the 
 shipwrecked wretch thrown by those gloomy 
 billows, in their angry play, upon that awful 
 coast. Even now, in sunshine, and with a 
 soft spring wind blowing from the south, 
 the mighty rollers looked dark and threat- 
 ening, until they broke in white foam upon 
 the rocks, with a sound that swelled into
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 221 
 
 thunder as it was reverberated from the arched 
 recesses of the cliffs. 
 
 Standing out to sea, but connected with 
 a farther peninsula or island by an isthmus, 
 against which the stormy tides were con- 
 stantly making assault, was a great bluff, 
 whereon might be traced the remains of a 
 strong fortress. Nothing ornamental clung to 
 the dark stonework, which, as it jutted irregu- 
 larly above the turf, might have been taken for 
 slabs of slate. Not a sprig of ivy, no lichens 
 or mosses, hung on the walls of the unpro- 
 tected ruin, over which the cruel north-west 
 wind from the Atlantic had swept for cen- 
 turies; but popular tradition had preserved 
 many a tale and legend of the old Castle, 
 in which it was said the great British mo- 
 narch, with his band of trusty knights, had 
 feasted gaily, and whence he had gone forth, 
 with his good sword Escalibar at his side, to 
 the dreadful battle-field, from which he was 
 to return no more. 
 
 Reine was too much of a stranger in the 
 country to be well acquainted with its anti- 
 quities ; but the name of King Arthur's Castle 
 suggested part, at least, of its story to the 
 Breton girl. She mounted, not without diffi- 
 culty, the zigzag flight of broken steps con- 
 necting the island, on which some portion of 
 the fortress was still to be traced, with the
 
 222 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 bluff whereon parts of the portal arch, the 
 keep and outer wall, in their rude strength, 
 had defied the attacks of time. 
 
 Over the lonely ruin, black and bare, the 
 sea-birds were swooping, hardly to be scared 
 by the footfall of a human being, from a place 
 which must have seemed their own, so seldom 
 was it visited. As they took flight, the white 
 wings of the gulls brushed close past her ; their 
 hoarse screaming sounded in her ear ; while, 
 on all sides, the dash of the waves against the 
 dark masses of the rock bewildered Reine's 
 senses. She looked down to see how far off 
 the young girls had wandered, and beheld 
 them, like specks upon the beach, clambering 
 among the stones with which it was strewn. 
 Reine walked to the other side of the island, 
 and was gazing out upon the turbulent waters 
 which had worked such marvels, and wrought 
 into such stupendous shapes those black 
 towers and battlements of slate, when the 
 shadow of a man's figure, thrown across the 
 stone on which she was resting, showed that 
 Richard Osborne was leaning over her. 
 
 Reine did not turn or speak, though her 
 colour varied, and a bright gleam sparkled in 
 the eyes so sedulously averted. 
 
 " Ma mie, ma douce mie ! ,: said Osborne, 
 addressing her by the fond caressing term 
 once frequently used between them, and try-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 223 
 
 ing to take her hand. " Have you forgotten 
 me r 
 
 Reine turned her sparkling glance full 
 upon him. 
 
 "Yes!" she said. "England is different 
 from France. Those who were friends on the 
 banks of the Ranee, do not know each other 
 on these cold black cliffs. I am but following 
 the fashion of your country. I do not like its 
 manners, however," she continued, hurriedly, 
 as if to prevent his answering her. " Very 
 soon — in another month, perhaps — I shall 
 be gone. The Captain who brought me here, 
 will take me back to Brittany." 
 
 Osborne's countenance became grave as 
 he listened to her. 
 
 "You are going with that smuggling 
 rascal in La Belle Marie? with his crew — 
 Dutch, French, English, I know not what, — 
 but all vagabonds ! • Reine, that must not 
 be." 
 
 " How dare you contradict me ? ' said the 
 French girl, with vivacity. " What right 
 have you to prescribe to me the company I 
 shall keep, the friends I like to favour? 
 Once I thought as you do about the smug- 
 gling; but I have changed my mind now. 
 All people alter when their foot touches Eng- 
 lish soil. Why not I ? " 
 
 " I am not changed, Reine ! 5 said the
 
 224 LA BELLE MAIIIE. 
 
 young man, in a tone of deep feeling ; while, 
 at the same time, a degree of embarrassment, 
 caused by circumstances which he could not 
 confide to her, restrained the avowal of strong 
 affection hovering on his lips. " I wish I 
 could remove you at once from the place and 
 people among whom you have thrown your- 
 self; but my prospects are darker than ever. 
 At this moment I have not a home to offer 
 you. My very name — always obscure — is 
 scarcely my own. Will you not wait, be 
 constant, trust me, till I have carved out a 
 destiny which you may share ? " 
 
 " I would not trust you for one hour, one 
 minute ! ' said the girl, passionately. " Be- 
 fore the sun dipped into the sea — ere you 
 were half way to Lezant — you would have 
 betrayed, forgotten me — perhaps made my 
 name your sport. Go, Monsieur ! I release 
 you ; I give you back your troth-plight. Do 
 as you like ! The Breton girl will not keep 
 you an unwilling prisoner/ 3 
 
 She rose, and tried to pass him ; but 
 Osborne caught her hands, and held them 
 fast. 
 
 " Reine ! ' he said, " be patient with me. 
 It has not been in my power to seek you out 
 at Woods, and you failed in keeping the tryst 
 I had appointed. This is not the first time I 
 have visited Arthur's Castle."
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 225 
 
 " Ah, that was not my fault ! ' ' said Reine, 
 eagerly. " Your note was en retard — too 
 late. I did not get it till the evening when 
 your cutter sailed out of Lezant Harbour." 
 
 " So far, so good ! ' said the Lieutenant, 
 cheerfully. "No matter, since we have met 
 here at last. Chance has been kinder to me 
 than you are. Tell me, Reine ! did no 
 thought, no recollection, that we were to have 
 been at this spot together, bring you here 
 to-day ? }i 
 
 " No, no ! I thought you were gone. 
 News does not fly fast in those woods," said 
 Reine. "I would not have come here if I 
 had known you were in the country. Ces 
 enfans, where are they ? It was to oblige 
 them I came. Why, the cutter sailed on 
 Saturday ! " 
 
 " Yes ! ' said Osborne, frowning darkly. 
 " I was beguiled into the belief that the 
 smuggling schooner's cargo was to be landed 
 up the Channel; while, in reality, my de- 
 parture left this coast clear for their venture. 
 Reine, these are desperate scoundrels ! Sooner 
 or later, punishment will overtake them. I 
 must be vigilant and stern, and I believe they 
 will not escape me. When did the skipper 
 make you the offer you mentioned a few 
 minutes since ? Is he off the coast still ? " 
 
 Reine looked at him fixedly. " If you 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 think to learn the secrets of Jacob Mohr or 
 Lance Fleming from me," she said, firmly, 
 "you are mistaken. They are my friends. 
 I will not betray them." 
 
 " How can you call these lawless men 
 your friends, Reine ? ' said the young Lieu- 
 tenant. " Even your childhood in ' la belle 
 Prance ' may have taught you what smuggling 
 is, — the vices to which it leads. I have 
 heard you speak of them with horror." 
 
 " No matter ! " replied the young girl, 
 abruptly. " Jacob Mohr has been kind to 
 me. I was happy on board his vessel — more 
 so than I am likely to be again. I love every 
 plank of La Belle Marie — the little ship 
 which brought me to England. Ah, I was 
 without care then ! The waves rocked me to 
 sleep not less sound because her cargo had 
 not paid duty. I am glad he landed it 
 safely." 
 
 " Half was captured last week. The rest 
 will be ours shortly," said Osborne, in an 
 offended tone. " You may repeat my words 
 to your friends, if you like, Reine ; and depend 
 upon it, if they fall into my hands they shall 
 meet with small mercy. But be warned ! 
 You cannot break off this connexion too soon. 
 Neither Jacob Mohr nor Lance Fleming is to 
 be trusted. They have no law but their own 
 wild will. The house where you live is not
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 227 
 
 safe. I do not believe a word of the idle 
 stories about its being haunted by spirits. 
 One as guileless as yourself told me that the 
 consciences of bad men, troubled by crimes, 
 often woke such semblances; but neither is 
 that altogether my meaning. Woods has 
 been for years a hiding-place for smuggled 
 goods. One lot I unearthed a few nights 
 ago ; this soil will disgorge more before I 
 have done. Your host is weak in mind and 
 body ; he cannot protect you ; and the very 
 walls of your chamber may be lined and 
 perforated with secret passages and cavities. 
 You must not stay there. " 
 
 " That is not your business ! ' said Reine, 
 her colour rising angrily. " Les revenants — 
 what is it you call them ? — do not frighten 
 me ; nor am I apprehensive that the old pas- 
 sages and crumbling walls of the house where 
 I reside harbour living foes. My conscience 
 is tranquil, for I have no enemies, and do not 
 mean to defy those with whom I dwell. 
 Adieu ! That fair being, of whom you spoke 
 but now, will console you for losing me." 
 
 She darted away as she spoke, descending 
 quickly the rocky steps which she had mounted 
 with difficulty. Osborne followed her, but 
 she would not accept his offers of assistance. 
 
 The girls, who had been plucking the 
 starry trefoil which grew in the interstices of
 
 228 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the cliffs, and trying vainly to climb high 
 enough to reach the samphire clinging to the 
 rocks overhead, were sitting waiting for her, 
 picking up pebbles, and casting them out 
 to sea, in emulation which' could throw 
 farthest. 
 
 They stared at Osborne, but did not 
 speak. He saluted them coldly, hardly no- 
 ticing their strange appearance. Reine's 
 jealousy, which he was beginning to guess at, 
 pleased while it troubled him. He could not, 
 at the present moment, set her fears at rest; 
 but he rejoiced at discovering that the change 
 in her manner arose, not from faithlessness 
 or insensibility, but from believing herself 
 slighted for the sake of another. 
 
 " Farewell, then, Mademoiselle ! ' he said, 
 at last, after, with somewhat distracted 
 thoughts, he had striven in vain to con- 
 ciliate her. " You will own, some dav, that 
 you have misjudged me. I must wait till 
 that happy time arrives. I have only one 
 more request to urge, — Do not return to 
 France in La Belle Marie ! " 
 
 The girls looked up at him with their 
 sharp eyes, as he distinctly and slowly uttered 
 the last words. Reine would have given the 
 world to keep him near her, but pride re- 
 strained her. He lingered, held out his hand, 
 but she did not look up, and he left her.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 229 
 
 Reine's glance followed him involuntarily, 
 as he went by the course of the stream up 
 the valley at a quick firm pace, without once 
 looking back. She knew that he would stop 
 when he reached the bend in the hills which 
 must hide him from her view; but she did 
 not turn away her head, and he was satisfied 
 when he saw by her attitude that she was 
 watching him. He waved his hand; then 
 springing up the abrupt side of the down, he 
 pursued his way. Reine's thoughts accom- 
 panied his every footstep ; and, now that he 
 was gone, the recollection of his clear, truthful 
 eye and voice, seemed to convince her better 
 of his constancy than his words had done 
 while he was near her. When he was out of 
 sight, she got up, and followed by the girls, 
 who were weary and footsore after their 
 scramble among the sharp-pointed flints, she 
 went thoughtfully but with fewer jealous mis- 
 givings up the steep defile. The children 
 stole into the house furtively, to avoid a 
 scolding from Leah for their boots, spoiled by 
 the stones and sea -water, and torn and 
 draggled petticoats. Reine sat listening in 
 appearance to the housekeeper's chronicles of 
 the old British fortress that lay in ruins near 
 them, while in reality she was recalling every 
 syllable addressed to her by her lover. Leah 
 attributed her silence to weariness.
 
 230 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Richard Osborne, with his foreign asso- 
 ciations derived from his youth spent abroad, 
 felt more than ever like a stranger in his 
 native land as he walked back to Lezant. 
 Disappointed in the result of the interview 
 which at first promised so much — conscious 
 that his mysterious conduct might have given 
 Reine cause for jealousy, and shaken her belief 
 in his affection, the young officer slackened 
 his pace gradually, pausing and pondering as 
 he crossed the headlands and descended into the 
 dusky combes, over and through which led 
 the pathway that Morgan Price had warned 
 him was especially dangerous ground for him 
 to tread. 
 
 Lance Fleming did not see Reine at first, 
 when he went home that night, while she was 
 still sitting in a shadowy nook of the house- 
 keeper's warm, cheerful parlour. He lifted 
 the latch of the outer door suddenly, and 
 stayed for a few minutes talking to Leah, who 
 was anxious to know how Dame Brock and 
 the Lezant folk bore the loss of their share of 
 La Belle Marie's last cargo. 
 
 " Some say the bales are as much their 
 own as ever," said Lance ; " but they are 
 boasting fellows at the Three Crowns, and 
 will never show pluck enough for a fair fight 
 with the Excise. Andrew swears the stores 
 shall be set on fire, and the new brick and
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 231 
 
 mortar pulled to pieces, before a single article 
 is carried on board the cutter. At all events, 
 she cannot come round to take them off while 
 this south-east wind blows. Her officer is 
 very foolhardy. Would you believe it, Leah, 
 as I came from Lezant, where his name was 
 in every man's mouth, I saw the Lieutenant 
 coming alone over the headland — just cross- 
 ing that beetling cliff where my father met his 
 death ! " 
 
 He drew his breath hard, and stopped ab- 
 ruptly. Leah looked at him anxiously. " I 
 hope he came to no harm," she said. " What 
 put that thought in your head, Master Lance ? 
 It is an ill-omened place." 
 
 " He had a narrow escape," said Lance. 
 "I did not feel in charity with him myself, 
 and there were others not far off whose blood 
 was on fire after the loss of the kegs. They 
 would have made little scruple about jostling 
 against him in the dusk, and shoving him over 
 the cliff. 1 had no reason to be his friend. 
 For that matter, there were tales told in 
 Lezant market to-day that maddened me. 
 When he and the old Parson stood together 
 under Dame Brock's apple-tree — I don't 
 know what else brought our parish-priest out 
 of his cell — all Lezant was staring at them, 
 and finding out a likeness in their features. 
 Well, when I saw him coming over that blood-
 
 232 LA BELLE MARTE. 
 
 stained cliff, with that light, arrogant step of 
 his, as if the earth was not good enough to 
 tread upon, I believed those stories to be true. 
 Just so, perhaps, with that careless, dare-devil 
 air, the gay Colonel came upon my father. 
 True or false, there was a look in his face as 
 he fronted me on the headland which belongs 
 only to one family hereabouts. I mean, the 
 St. Errnes." 
 
 His voice lost its menacing tone as he 
 caught sight of Reine's pale, anguish-stricken 
 countenance. Lance stood in the doorway, 
 looking proud and animated, with a flush 
 upon his cheek and a light glittering in his 
 eye as he proceeded, — 
 
 " I will not say that I might not have 
 spoken my warning more civilly, when I told 
 the Lieutenant, if he valued his safety, to 
 make haste to his night's quarters ; but he 
 gave me back the discourtesy, whatever it was, 
 and we parted worse friends than before. He 
 walked on carelessly, stopping every now and 
 then to look out to sea, or towards the ravine 
 at Woods, and heeding neither the enemy he 
 had just made for himself behind his back, 
 nor half-a-dozen of the worst fellows in the 
 town, who were coming to meet us up the 
 pathway from the old inn. They were jeering 
 and threatening him, as soon as they saw what 
 man it was that stood in their way, and must
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 233 
 
 pass, unless lie bolted off the course, between 
 them and the most dangerous gap in the cliff. 
 I did not like their looks, and, though I had 
 been angry before, I went on quicker, to make 
 the game even. Six to one was unfair odds, 
 even though no doubt the officer carried 
 pistols. 
 
 " He had his hand inside the breast of his 
 coat, as if aware of his danger, and, leaving 
 off his musings, walked steadily on. Just as 
 the men went up the path with a run as if in 
 sport, but spreading themselves out so as to 
 take up the whole of the narrow space, the 
 small gate opening out upon the cliff from 
 Mr. St. Erme's grounds was unlocked, and 
 while the wind sent a gush of scent from the 
 Parson's May-trees on the air, a white form 
 came forth, and took her way through the 
 midst of us, to meet the Lieutenant. We all 
 of us knew her. It was Colonel St. Erme's 
 daughter." 
 
 Lance paused; — he seemed to be lost in 
 thought. " I believe that I never really looked 
 at her before," he said, slowly. " Why, Leah ! 
 the angels in heaven are not more beautiful. 
 She came among those half-drunk, mischie- 
 vously-inclined sinners, as unfearingly as if she 
 bore a charmed life, and nothing could harm 
 her. I scarcely think she saw them, though
 
 234 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 she did the best thing, had she guessed their 
 intentions, to save her brother. 
 
 " Yes," he went on, presently, " they are 
 both Colonel St. Ernie's children ! I knew it, 
 as they stood together on the cliff. The same 
 light, lofty gait, the same haughty eye, though 
 her glance is softened by religion and sorrow. 
 The men were in a noisy humour, but they all 
 shrank back abashed when the young lady 
 placed her small white ringers on the Lieu- 
 tenant's arm, and led him through the midst 
 of the angry brawlers. It was like a spirit of 
 light rebuking deeds of darkness. Richard 
 Osborne was safe from that instant. But he 
 should take care. She may not always stand 
 between him and the edge of the precipice." 
 
 Lance took down a candle from a shelf, 
 and, without bidding Reine or Leah good- 
 night, went to his own room. Both the 
 women noticed that a change had taken place 
 in his manner. There was more intelligence 
 in his handsome features, more dignity in the 
 carriage of the small, well-poised head. His 
 lounging, careless gait was steadied. The im- 
 pression produced by the past scene had evi- 
 dently roused the latent spirit of the man of 
 gentle blood within him. 
 
 " What ails the lad?' said Leah, wonder- 
 ingly. " He looks like one that has had a
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 235 
 
 philtre from the fairies ! That blast he spoke 
 of has bewitched him. There's nothing so 
 unwholesome as the smell of the hawthorn ; 
 if you bring it into a dwelling, it breeds 
 fevers. How his eyes glimmered ! and he 
 carried his head higher than his poor father 
 bore himself, before he began to take that 
 which sunk him. Lance is wild, too, but I 
 don't think he '11 follow in his footsteps." 
 
 Leah sighed as she went about her work ; 
 and Reine, glad to be alone, withdrew to her 
 own chamber. Very little ceremony was re- 
 quired to be observed in the family. Some- 
 times, for days, she did not see Mr. or Mrs. 
 Helier. The master had been more brisk 
 than usual that afternoon, Leah said, but had 
 tired himself riding about, and was gone to 
 bed early. Mrs. Helier was poorly, and had 
 not quitted her room. As for the children, 
 they were not fit to be seen, and she had put 
 them to bed as soon as she had caught sight 
 of them. 
 
 Reine, though she lay down, could not 
 sleep ; or, if slumber for a moment weighed 
 down her eyelids, she started up, imagining 
 Richard in the power of the smugglers, who 
 were hurling him from the edge of the beet- 
 ling headland. The young, warm-hearted girl 
 loved him the better for his misfortunes, if 
 Lance's assertion that he was the son of
 
 236 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Colonel St. Erme should prove to be correct. 
 She longed to speak comfort to him. Her own 
 harsh, ungentle behaviour was remembered 
 with compunction, contrasted with the quiet, 
 yet lofty bearing of the fair, delicate girl — so 
 like him, nevertheless, as to proclaim their 
 kindred — who had constrained even that 
 rude, lawless band to respect her presence, 
 and awed their vindictive passions into sub- 
 mission.
 
 237 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Leah Scriven's bees hummed cheerily un- 
 der the wall, where the hives stood in goodly 
 order ; and, in the breaches of the broken 
 stonework at the corner, a flourishing crop of 
 snapdragon and wild rockets had sprung up. 
 Reine, with a heart lighter than it had been 
 for the last fortnight, was singing, as she plied 
 her needle in the pleasant shade cast by the 
 old trees. Her sanguine fancies had once 
 more revived ; her ears were open to every 
 passing sound. Now that her jealous misgivings 
 were put to rest, it seemed as if some mys- 
 terious agency must be at work to bring to- 
 gether those a cruel fate had severed, and be- 
 tween whom the seeds of dissension had been 
 sown. 
 
 She was still sitting on the mossy bench un- 
 der the old apple-trees, when a small arched door 
 in the ivied wall opened, and Leah came into 
 the orchard. A vivid gleam of sunlight stole 
 through the portal, revealing glimpses of a paved 
 court beyond, strewn with stones and mortar,
 
 238 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 which had fallen from the most ancient portion 
 of the building. The high roofs and chimneys 
 of the Manor-house rose on the farther side, 
 above the mounds of rubbish, and one large 
 mullioned window, set in a lofty peaked gable, 
 looked down upon the dreary enclosure. 
 
 "Did you see anything, ma'amselle?' ! 
 Leah said, sharply, as she came back from 
 gathering herbs in the warm corner near the 
 beehives. " This is a dismal spot ; but it is 
 too early in the day to be fearful. What 
 makes you look at that old window so 
 long ?" 
 
 " Only because it is such a quaint, fanci- 
 ful bit of sculpture. We have many houses 
 in our French towns, which hang out their 
 upper windows over the narrow streets in that 
 fashion. It is not so triste to me here for 
 that reason. No, I see nothing to frighten 
 me; nothing but the swallows flying about, 
 and the tendrils of ivy waving in the breeze. 
 Is that only the wind I hear ? — how strangely 
 sweet it sounds !" 
 
 The women both listened, and Leah 
 turned somewhat pale, as a gush of low- 
 toned, indistinct melody seemed to issue from 
 the grey, shadowy wing of the ancient house. 
 It might be, as Heine had said, only the wind 
 sighing in the deep embrasures, and rustling 
 among the ivy leaves flapping against the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 239 
 
 wall, but the sound appeared more sustained 
 and thrilling. 
 
 " That is what my mother used to call the 
 French lady's song," Leah said, coming closer 
 to Reine, and speaking in a subdued whisper. 
 " Sometimes I think of what she used to tell 
 me about her, when I hear you singing your 
 scraps of music, which have no meaning to me, 
 about the place. Mother lived here while she 
 was a girl, in old Lord Boscawen's time — he 
 who built the great range of stables yonder, 
 that look as ruinous now as the rest. Nothing 
 prospers about some houses ; and part of the 
 material used was very ancient, and part un- 
 seasoned ; it was all done in a hurry, to please 
 my lord, who wanted to have his hunters 
 down, and couldn't wait. He was a daring, 
 wicked man, and thought of nothing but his 
 own pleasures, his hunting and shooting ; the 
 best horseman he was, I have heard, in his 
 day, in all the country side. He never kept 
 much company here ; there was a reason for 
 that — the poor young French lady that lived 
 with him, and saw nobody. Perhaps I ought 
 not to tell you about her; but it was more 
 than forty years ago, and my lord is a white- 
 haired old man, past fourscore ; so it will do 
 no harm if I say my say. Every one was 
 sorry for her ; she used to drive her white 
 ponies up and down the green lanes, and in
 
 240 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 lonely places, and still, folks say, you may 
 hear the sound of the wheels. When the 
 wind plays through the bars of that old win- 
 dow, it seems as if she might be sitting be- 
 hind the blind, as my mother would describe 
 her, playing the harpsichord, with her fingers, 
 and even her small thumb, covered with rings." 
 
 Reined countenance showed an unusual 
 degree of interest. "Eh bien ! this poor foreign 
 lady — what became of her ? Was she here 
 when the great fire was raging, which, you 
 told me the other day, burned down the 
 chapel and offices?" 
 
 " Yes, she was here then ; but, strange to 
 say, she was never seen afterwards. Some 
 thought my lord was tired of the connexion, 
 and fired the place to get rid of her ; others, 
 that he bribed the captain of a privateering 
 vessel to carry her away with him : men in 
 cloaks, jabbering French, were said to have 
 come about the place. Those were distracted 
 times. There was talk of an invasion. The 
 King's crown was scarce set fast on his head ; 
 and as for the revenue, 'twas but little he 
 got of it. The smuggling you've seen was 
 nothing to what went on then. 
 
 " My mother always believed that Madame 
 was taken off in one of the smuggling brigs 
 — armed vessels they were — that plied be- 
 tween our coast and the Channel Islands.
 
 LA. BELLE MARIE. 241 
 
 Any way, there was great fright and con- 
 fusion when the fire spread, that was caused 
 by one of the men who sat up late, waiting for 
 my lord, leaving a candle burning in the new 
 harness-room. It was not got under till the 
 flames reached the fine picture-gallery, and 
 destroyed the cases, not yet unpacked, which 
 had been sent over from Italy. His Lordship, 
 who was then a very strong, active man, 
 worked as hard as any one to save his 
 property. 
 
 " All that part of the building which had 
 been the old chapel was burnt, and Madame's 
 oratory, where she went to do penance and 
 talk to the priest. It lies in ruins ; but yonder, 
 over the archway, is the little closet where she 
 used to dress herself ; and chests full of her 
 fine clothes are mouldering away there now ; 
 French silks and satins, some of them as good 
 as new; and there are her fans and pomander 
 box, and her little high-heeled shoes, fit for a 
 fairy. 
 
 " That night, while the place was still in a 
 blaze from the fire, which has left its marks 
 to this day on some of the great oaks and 
 beeches, my mother, who was still-room-maid, 
 saw the foreign lady, dressed in black, with 
 her baby in her arms, come down the great 
 staircase, and through the hall, crying bitterly, 
 just as foolish people say she often passes by ; 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 but I never saw her. She let herself out into 
 the woods, and no living person, to my know- 
 ledge, ever saw her again. 
 
 " When mother told what she had seen, 
 people always said it must have been the lady's 
 ghost, but she never believed it. My lord 
 did not stay here long; he went away, and 
 only came back once, when nothing seemed 
 to please him. I mind that visit myself, 
 and how scared I used to be with the tales 
 about the house being haunted. He laughed 
 at first, and then grew angry, and moved from 
 room to room ; but, whether he saw anything 
 more than common, no mortal but himself 
 could tell. When he went away he gave his 
 cousin, Captain Fleming, leave to bide at the 
 Grange, and much good he hoped it would do 
 him. Master had married, and wanted a 
 house to live in ; so he took my lord at his 
 .word: but the place brought him ill-luck. 
 After his death, people talked more than ever 
 about the ghosts, and mixed up the old tales 
 about my lord and the French lady, and my 
 poor master's being made away with, till folks 
 could not sleep in their beds for terror ; and so 
 it has been ever since. I am afraid there have 
 been bad deeds done here, and not repented 
 of as they ought to be ; but if you've a clear 
 conscience, you may live at 'Oods comfortably 
 enough, as I have done, and never saw any-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 243 
 
 thing supernatural, all through the darkest 
 night, summer or winter." 
 
 The woman gathered up the savoury herbs 
 in her apron, and went in-doors ; while Reine, 
 who had let her work drop into her lap as 
 she listened to Leah's garrulous talk, remained 
 with her eyes dreamily fixed on the masses 
 of waving foliage, and with thoughts that 
 wandered from the gloomy mansion before 
 her, to pleasanter ideas connected with the 
 breezy woodland. 
 
 Trotting along the mossy path, which led 
 past the gate of the orchard, there came pre- 
 sently, on his donkey, the old man whom 
 Reine had seen in charge of the run of water 
 near the ruined church in the hollow of the 
 down. He rode on, peering about as if in 
 search of somebody, and stopped by the side 
 of the wall where it was broken away. Then 
 he went a little farther, and came to a stand- 
 still at the entrance of the enclosure, nodding 
 his head and making signs to the young girl, 
 as if he wished to speak to her. 
 
 Reine was too good-natured not to indulge 
 him. She went to the gate, and asked if she 
 should call Mrs. Scriven, or any one else, to 
 hear what he wanted. 
 
 "Be you the pretty ma'amselle down to 
 'Oods?' inquired the old man, mysteriously 
 pointing with his thumb to the corner of the
 
 244 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 grey house visible through the trees. " You 
 speak terrible fine English — be you hur, I 
 
 sa y • 
 
 " Yes ! " said Reine, laughing. " I came 
 from France last month. Is your errand to 
 mer 
 
 " Surely," answered her quaint interlo- 
 cutor, sitting easily on his donkey, after kick- 
 ing it to make it draw closer up to the gate. 
 " You be just like hur, for certain. Didn't 
 I see ye once with Helier's girls, them skittish 
 creatures that never go past without casting 
 sticks and stones to trouble the watercourse ? 
 They should learn better manners from ye. 
 Well, if you be the French young lady with 
 the dark hair and eyes that came in the 
 schooner, I 'm thinking I 've got a message 
 for ye. Do you know any gentleman that 's 
 staying at Lezant town? — not the church 
 town, mind ye, but down by the water-side 
 — at the Boscawen Arms? Would you like 
 to know where he is to be found? — where 
 he 's looking for you to meet him, this 
 
 evening: 
 
 P" 
 
 Reine hesitated. She did not quite like 
 the aspect of the cunning old fellow, as he 
 sat, with his eyes twinkling, Avatching her 
 keenly ; but she felt a great desire to know 
 where Richard was, and whether he were 
 really expecting her.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 245 
 
 " I owe ye a good turn," said the old 
 man. "I be poor, but honest ; and the 
 Lieutenant paid me for doing a bit of work 
 that didn't answer. Some way or other, I 
 lost his note : I suppose, while I was looking 
 after the water. You didn't ever happen to 
 get- it, did ye?" 
 
 " Yes," said Reine, taken by surprise ; 
 " but too late to be of use. Are you sure 
 that the same person bade you speak to me 
 nowr 
 
 " Well, he didn't exactly say it in so 
 many words; but he's waiting for ye — that 
 is, he will be by then ye get there — up among 
 the hills, where ye went once with the child- 
 ren. But you'd best not trouble to take them 
 along with ye. They make more work than 
 enough with their mischievous hands, and 
 won't ever let the runlet be. The Lieuten- 
 ant's going up to the old church at sundown ; 
 I can tell ye that; and he'll be sore angry if 
 there's nought there but the tombstones that 
 once had a brave lot of brandy under them ; 
 but, most ways, only corpses. It's not a 
 good place for him to bide in after dark. 
 There's the Gauger's Hole stopped with a 
 slate slab, not far off over the moor, and few 
 honest folk passing. You'd best not keep 
 him waiting." 
 
 He gave his beast a kick and a smart
 
 246 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 stroke with his cudgel, and rode on, leaving 
 Reine far from certain of his trustworthiness, 
 but unable to guess what motive he could 
 have for deceiving her. She did not look for 
 the young girls to be her companions ; but, 
 after waiting till the old man was out of sight, 
 she tied down her bonnet closely, and took her 
 way to the ruined chapel on the moor. 
 
 Though the walk was lonely, she was not 
 afraid of it, and she knew the road perfectly. 
 In fact, the stream would have guided her, 
 and she heard it rippling as she went some- 
 times along its bank ; at others, crossing 
 wide stretches of turf, and coming back to 
 the water. Though the sun was declining, 
 it was not yet near its setting, and she walked 
 slowly, gathering the blue harebells that 
 nodded on the hillocks, and stopping fre- 
 quently to look around her. 
 
 When she came to the angle of the church- 
 yard wall which inclosed Fleming's grave, 
 where the brook rippled among the flags, and 
 gushed with a mournful rhythm over the 
 broken fragments of stone that had fallen 
 into the water and impeded its course, Reine 
 paused to survey the spot with more interest 
 than it had previously excited. The young 
 Helier girls had pointed to it shudderingly, 
 as the grave of the murdered man whose 
 ghost still walked at Woods. Reine had not
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 247 
 
 wished, then, to approach more closely; but 
 now she went straight thither, upon entering 
 the enclosure ; making her way, not without 
 difficulty, through the weeds and rubbish 
 with which the neglected, solitary burial- 
 ground was encumbered. 
 
 The impressionable French girl's eyes 
 filled with tears as she looked at the low 
 headstone, with merely a name and date re- 
 corded upon it ; and thought of the misery 
 which had been caused to many by the event 
 that lonely tomb brought to her recollection. 
 She understood, now, Richard's allusion to his 
 own darkened prospects, and the obscurity 
 which he shrank from inviting her to share. 
 She could not accustom herself to the idea of 
 his new name j for so it appeared to her, as 
 she whispered it softly. Low as her tone 
 was, she fancied that the murmuring flags, 
 the gushing, melancholy flow of the water, 
 repeated the sound. 
 
 Reine rose up quickly, and went to the 
 other side of the church, where she could see 
 the sun going down upon the moor. The 
 long, sweeping lines of the distant prospect 
 were softened by the slanting gleams which, 
 far away, where the land fell lower, sparkled 
 and glittered on the western sea. She could 
 trace the path she had pursued, winding by 
 the side of the brook, and the dark hollow
 
 248 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 formed by the wooded ravine. The light 
 passed off the summit of the heights, though 
 she still saw a golden gleam upon the ocean. 
 She had waited nearly an hour, and the chill 
 of disappointed feelings was beginning to creep 
 over her, when a man's figure came in front 
 of the trees in the hollow. She watched it 
 pass the different windings of the stream and 
 cross the turf, cutting off every unnecessary 
 angle, till it reached the corner of the church- 
 yard wall where she had rested for a few 
 moments. Then she rose from her seat : the 
 next instant, Richard St. Erme was standing 
 beside her. 
 
 Reine did not struggle with the tender, 
 compassionate feelings which, while she waited 
 for his coming, had filled her heart. She 
 allowed him to draw her towards him ; and, 
 for the first time, he passed his arm round 
 her slender waist. He saw that she had 
 ceased to doubt or to misjudge him, before 
 they had interchanged a word with each 
 other. 
 
 " I scarcely hoped to find you here, Reine ; 
 but the old man, for once, told me truth/' 
 said the young officer, as they sat down to- 
 gether on some fragments of stone under the 
 window of the church. " lie shall not go 
 unrewarded ; nevertheless, I would not have 
 you trust him in general. What became of
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 249 
 
 the note I once confided to him for you ? I 
 believe that it gave information to the smug- 
 glers, of which they made good use." 
 
 " Certainly it did not reach my hands 
 through any channel you had chosen/' said 
 Reine. " One of the little girls at Woods 
 took it from her brother, who was teasing her 
 to translate it for him, and she threw it into 
 the waterfall. Bouffe, the dog that came over 
 with me from Prance, thought that it w T as 
 mine, and brought it to me/' 
 
 " He shall have a silver collar, with the 
 date and circumstance engraven upon it to 
 his honour," said Osborne, laughing. " Truly, 
 Reine, the dog is your most respectable com- 
 panion. I have every reason to believe this 
 meeting with you to-night among the hills to 
 be a trap laid for me by your precious friends 
 at Woods, and their associates at Lezant, who 
 contemplate availing themselves of my absence 
 to regain possession of the smuggled goods. 
 Only, this time they have reckoned without 
 their host." 
 
 " Ciel ! que tu es temeraire ? Your life is 
 not safe an hour from those men who are so 
 angry," said Reine. shivering. " On the cliff, 
 coming from Arthur's Castle, you were beset, 
 and would, perhaps, have been murdered, but 
 for Mademoiselle St. Erme's protection. Oh, 
 Richard, I shall always love her for saving
 
 250 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 you — now that I know she is your sister," she 
 added, with a blush and a smile. " But tell 
 me — what have you done with the goods? 
 Ah, you must not return to Lezant. Is the 
 Curlew off the coast ? " 
 
 " No," answered Richard. " Her move- 
 ments are retarded by this adverse wind ; but 
 there was in the port a collier brig. No one 
 suspected our intention. A strong guard, 
 night and day, kept the people of Lezant from 
 approaching the storehouses, while their con- 
 tents were privately removed and carried on 
 board the collier, which lifted her anchor and 
 sailed out of the harbour at two o'clock to-day. 
 My men all quitted the place before me. All 
 I regret in leaving that abominable town is, 
 that I shall not see the mortified faces of the 
 rogues who were determined to break open 
 the stores to-night, when they learn, as they will 
 do in time to prevent mischief, that they are 
 empty. Every cask and bale dug up in Dame 
 Brock's garden is on its way to Bristol.' 3 
 
 He looked so happy and triumphant that 
 Reine's fears passed away, and she joined in 
 the laugh with him. The old deserted ruin, 
 the murmuring rivulet as it wound among the 
 weeds and gravestones, had lost their usual 
 lugubrious aspect. The falling water, the 
 rustling flags and fern-leaves, sighed pleasantly 
 in the evening breeze.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 251 
 
 " Reine," said Richard, after a brief silence, 
 " you know me now — the stigma which rests 
 upon my name, and made me — unwillingly 
 indeed — consent to lay it aside: all this, I 
 care not how, has been revealed to you. I am 
 glad that it is so. Now, tell me — these 
 gloomy prospects, this obscurity, are they 
 too terrible for you to risk involving yourself 
 in my darkened fortunes ? Must I lay aside 
 even the hope that, when a brighter day dawns, 
 you will share in its prosperity, even as you 
 have taken part in my early troubles ? You 
 were the first, though you did not know their 
 origin, to soothe them." 
 
 Reine looked at him with eyes blinded by 
 tears. " Ah, it is I who am obscure," she 
 said. " Your friends would never consent to 
 our union. You are under a cloud, now ; but 
 it will pass off: while I, to my life's end, I 
 shall be but the daughter of the Breton trader. 
 It may be/ 5 she said, tremulously, " that in 
 his own dwelling-place, where he was known, 
 we were respected. You, in your lone child- 
 hood, found our house among the vineyards a 
 pleasant home ; but we are not of the same 
 class. You will think differently, when you 
 have been long in England, from what you 
 now do, when all things wear a strange, and 
 for the present, an unfavourable aspect. I
 
 252 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 will not let you pledge yourself to that which 
 you might hereafter repent." 
 
 " Not so — on my life, my honour ! ' said 
 Richard, with much agitation. " Reine, if I 
 win myself a name, as I intend to do, my 
 chief spur to exertion must be your love. See ! 
 this is not a cheerful trysting-place ; but here, 
 with the dead resting in their graves around 
 us, I swear to you solemnly that no other 
 woman shall ever be my wife. Will you not 
 say as much, Reine ? Could either of us love 
 another ? " 
 
 Whether the one soft word that rose to 
 her lips was in French or English, Richard 
 understood it. Reine stood up immediately. 
 
 " We must part now," she said, hurriedly. 
 " The sunlight is gone quite off the sea. 
 Where are you going to-night? Not to 
 Lezant, I trust? Your life would be in 
 peril." 
 
 " My road lies yonder,' 5 said Richard, 
 pointing along the track which wound past 
 the church, over the moor. " But I must see 
 you home first." 
 
 " No ! ' said Reine, decidedly. " I will 
 never say one word of kindness to you again, 
 if you go one step with me of the path that 
 leads to Lezant. What should harm me? It 
 is not dark, though the sun has set; and
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 253 
 
 I — I am not fearful. Now, go; you have 
 a long, dreary road before you, but I would 
 rather think of you travelling alone with the 
 stars to light you, than in that bad town, 
 with its idle, lawless people." 
 
 He walked by her side for a few moments, 
 but she would not allow him to go farther 
 than the gate leading out of the churchyard. 
 He stood with his arms folded, watching her 
 as she went swiftly and steadily on her way in 
 the twilight, with the brawling stream to keep 
 her company ; and then he turned off, cross- 
 ing the moor with a quick, manly tread, that 
 carried him in an hour's time to the road-side 
 inn, four miles from Lezant, by which the 
 night-coach passed on its way from Camelford 
 to Exeter.
 
 254 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The inmates of the houses in the main street 
 at Lezaut looked out with surprise, as Simon 
 Brock, the infirm landlord of the Three Crowns, 
 walked slowly and painfully, stick in hand, 
 past their different dwellings. Several persons 
 spoke to him, and the old man, probably glad 
 of a halt now and then, and always quiet and 
 civil, responded to their inquiries after his 
 health by saying he was better than he had 
 felt for many a day, and was going to have a 
 look at the harbour and the new buildings. He 
 did not refuse a helping hand when it was 
 offered by one of his neighbours, more inqui- 
 sitive or more good-natured than the rest ; but 
 the rough, steep bit of irregular paving once 
 passed over, he let go his friend's arm, thank- 
 ing him, and saying he could get along by 
 himself now. 
 
 There were not many people about on the 
 quay. No vessels had entered the port lately, 
 and it was the workmen's dinner-hour. The 
 old publican stood for a few minutes by the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 255 
 
 water-side, counting the boats, and watching 
 the waves as they broke against the sea-wall 
 close under his feet. Then he turned about, 
 and walked, with his usual feeble, halting gait, 
 but deliberately, as if acting on a pre-conceived 
 intention, across the road to the Boscawen 
 Arms. 
 
 The door of the new inn was shut. It 
 did not usually stand open, like the portal of 
 the old village hostelry. Simon Brock knocked 
 with the end of his walking-stick against the 
 oak panel, and obtained entrance immediately. 
 He did not take any notice of the pretty, fair- 
 haired child who stood, half-frightened, holding 
 the door ajar, but strode, with steps that still 
 sounded manly, across the flagged passage 
 into the tap-room, stooping his head as he 
 entered, more from habit than necessity. Time 
 had been when Simon Brock could not have 
 gone into any house in Lezant town, if he 
 carried himself perfectly upright. 
 
 Morgan Price's pretty, delicate wife, paler 
 than usual, and with a shawl wrapped about 
 her, was sitting in the bar, talking to a tall, 
 angular-looking personage, who turned round 
 sharply at the sound of footsteps in the pas- 
 sage. The young woman was struck with the 
 old man's venerable appearance, and set a 
 chair for him, asking what he would be 
 pleased to take. She did not know him in
 
 256 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the least; it was many a year since he had 
 been so far from his own fireside, and there 
 she was not likely to have seen him. 
 
 The person with whom she was speaking 
 stared at the old innkeeper, while Simon 
 Brock fumbled in his pocket for change, and 
 ordered a hot drink, which was prepared for 
 him immediately, and set attentively on a little 
 table near the fire, and close at his elbow. 
 The weariness he felt was excessive after his 
 long walk. He sat down, sighing, and me- 
 chanically lighted his pipe, puffing away, and 
 watching the smoke ascend, or knocking the 
 ashes from the bowl, as he bent towards the 
 flame without speaking, his withered, but 
 clear-complexioned face brightening in the 
 warm glow. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Brock !" said the 
 stranger, suddenly, while Mrs. Price flushed 
 up to her thin temples at the sound of that 
 name ; " it is a good step from your house : I 
 scarcely expected to see you here. Is the 
 Dame well? She keeps hearty, I am told, 
 and does not afford much help to the faculty. 
 Shall I give her a call as I pass by? 5 
 
 "She's well enough; nothing ever ails 
 her," said the old man, looking up. " I 
 beg your pardon, Sir, but I 'in mortal tired. 
 I 've not been on my legs so long these 
 eighteen year. You be the doctor from
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 257 
 
 Carnelford, that told me it would be next 
 door to a miracle if I ever set foot to the 
 ground again." 
 
 "Did I?' said the surgeon, laughing. 
 " Well, I am glad you have falsified my pro- 
 phecy. It was a bad case, though — com- 
 pound fracture ; wonderful every bone in your 
 skin was not broken. I thought it was, at 
 first. The case is down in my books ; and a 
 capital cure I made of it. A little infirm : 
 but what could you expect after such a fall ? 
 You Ve not been out on the cliffs stargazing 
 cf late, I fancy." 
 
 He laughed again. Mrs. Price looked 
 compassionately at the still handsome, but, as 
 she now perceived, disabled figure of the rival 
 publican. He took the glass she gave him 
 with his left hand, the right arm and side 
 having become paralysed, after the severe 
 accident he had met with. 
 
 " No, no ! ,: he said, with a groan ; " that 
 was the last time. I have scarcely been out 
 of my house since ; and I 'm not master 
 there. Things don't go on as I like to have 
 them, but it 's of no use complaining ; my 
 dame works hard and she chooses to have her 
 own way, and I can't hinder her. I never 
 get such a comforting glass as this, though 
 other folks say our tap's a good one; but 
 nought tastes good that's served to you 
 
 vol. i. s
 
 258 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 grudgingly. It 's a hard lot to bear ; a ran- 
 corous tongue is the worst of company." 
 
 He set the glass down, and again sat 
 looking into the fire. The Doctor turned 
 towards his patient. 
 
 "We shall have you ill again," he said, 
 " if you bustle about too much. When will 
 your husband be at home?" 
 
 " Oh, not yet awhile," answered the 
 young wife, with manifest anxiety. " He's 
 gone on business to Swansea, and I told him 
 'twas best not to hurry it over ; he '11 maybe 
 not come back this fortnight." 
 
 " Tell him the longer he can make it last 
 out the better ! " said Simon Brock, turning 
 towards her. " There are men in this place 
 that have bound themselves to kill him, as the 
 wicked Jews were banded together to murder 
 the blessed Apostle. The word has gone out, 
 I tell you, and he's not safe in this town, 
 neither by day nor yet by night ; you 'd best 
 send him word to keep away." 
 
 " Come, come! this must be exaggerated," 
 said the surgeon, seeing Mrs. Price turn deadly 
 pale at the warning. " You must tell your 
 customers at the Three Crowns, my master, 
 not to carry the joke too far; the law can 
 reach into the remotest corner of civilised 
 England. We must not have murder plotted 
 in broad daylight, even in Lezant. l)o you
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 259 
 
 mean to say that a man who neither meddles 
 nor makes — who pays rates and tithes and 
 taxes honestly — cannot carry on his lawful 
 traffic in your town without being in peril 
 of his life?" 
 
 " That 's the question, Sir. It 's differently 
 answered according as you put it. I 've heard 
 men say that Morgan Price did meddle and 
 make, and was an acting partner in the bales 
 and tubs being carried off by sea, that never 
 would have left this place by land. Yes, and 
 that he got a profit by it, which is to be laid 
 out in the goods he's bringing back with him." 
 
 "Indeed, my husband had no share in 
 shipping the Custom-house property that lay in 
 the stores by the water-side," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Price, in great alarm. " The Swansea brig was 
 only waiting for a wind in the harbour. I can't 
 think why the people in this place are so set 
 against us. As Dr. Lawrence says, we keep 
 to our business, and desire to have nothing to 
 do with them. I wish they minded their own 
 affairs, and would let us alone !" 
 
 The poor young woman burst into tears. 
 Pier situation in this unfriendly town was, at 
 present, lonely and unprotected enough ; yet 
 she dreaded, more than she could express, her 
 husband's return. She got up, and busied 
 herself in dusting the tumblers and mugs, 
 striving to disguise her emotion. 
 
 " Who is the young officer that has been
 
 2G0 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 staying with you?' said the surgeon. " I 
 have heard strange reports about him to-day. 
 Is it true that he is the nephew of your old 
 clergyman — a son, in fact, of the banished 
 man, Colonel St. Erme?" 
 
 " I 'm sure, Sir, I don't know ; it 's no 
 business of mine,' 3 said the young, timid 
 hostess. " Since I 've kept this inn, I 've 
 taken care to ask no questions. He 's a gen- 
 tleman, and a kind, good one, that would not 
 have said a word or done a deed that should 
 bring us into such trouble. He slept here, 
 and dined, and so forth, and paid for what he 
 had ; but Price had nothing to do with the 
 removal of the stores. They were carried down, 
 I believe, by the seamen belonging to the 
 cutter, and put on board the smack that sailed 
 last week ; at least, so I heard, but he never 
 mentioned it. Morgan did not lift a hand 
 from first to last, and knows no more about 
 the people of this place than the child yonder. 
 I wish with all my heart we had never come 
 here ! ' 
 
 "A son of Colonel St. Erme?" said the 
 old man, who had not heard a word she 
 uttered, so intently had he been pondering 
 over the last words pronounced in clear, em- 
 phatic tones by the surgeon. " That would 
 make him brother to Miss Mary : I mind her 
 father well." 
 
 "Do you, my old friend?" said the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 261 
 
 medical man. " That ugly fall you got just 
 at the time of his trial has not unsettled your 
 memory, then, altogether j and yet, from my 
 experience in cases like yours, I should sup- 
 pose that, while long-past events might stand 
 out clear and unforgotten, those occurring at 
 the time, or near about the period of your 
 accident, would be vague and indistinct. " 
 
 " I mind the Colonel well, I tell ye," per- 
 sisted the old man ; " better, much better, 
 than folks I have seen since. He was a fine 
 soldierly man ; but he always said, ' Brock ! 
 you 're half a head taller than I am.' That 's 
 what I mind most about him." 
 
 " Well, well ! there 's not much in that," 
 said Mr. Lawrence, laughing. " He might- 
 have said you would have been a capital 
 grenadier in that regiment of the King of 
 Prussia's, in which giants only were enrolled. 
 Colonel St. Erme was a fine-looking man. I 
 saw him at his trial, and those who did so are 
 not likely to forget it. To see a soldier, and 
 a brave one — a gentleman, and such a perfect 
 gentleman — stand in dock accused of a 
 heinous crime, was a remarkable event. I 
 have more than one memento of that day in 
 my museum at Camelford." 
 
 " Sure, Sir ! you cant think he was 
 guilty ? ' said Mrs. Price, who had by this 
 time somewhat recovered herself. " Not if
 
 262 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the Lieutenant is his son, and like him, as they 
 say. Why, my boys were not afraid of him, 
 and they 're the timidest little creatures ! He 
 wouldn't hurt a fly." 
 
 " Can't say, Mrs. Price ! can't say ! For- 
 tunately I am not called upon to pronounce 
 judgment in this case, which has been long 
 since decided. There was very strong 
 evidence against the Colonel, chiefly, how- 
 ever, if I recollect rightly, of a circumstantial 
 kind. The probabilities founded upon his 
 high birth and general character were cer- 
 tainly in his favour. So, this young officer is 
 said to be like him ? Has he left Lezant ? 
 I am sorry I did not make his acquaint- 
 ance." 
 
 " Yes, Sir ; he went away a week ago," 
 answered Mrs. Price. " I have heard that he 
 got great credit for seizing the smuggling 
 schooner's cargo, and sending it off without 
 bloodshed ; but the men of Lezant never will 
 forgive him, nor any one else they choose 
 in their wicked hearts to think had a share in 
 this matter. My husband left the morning 
 before, little guessing what trouble I should 
 be in, and T do not wish him to know it. I 
 am not much afraid for myself and the little 
 ones. Bad as they are, sure the people won't 
 harm women and children ; but this good 
 man is right in thinking, if they have a spite
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 263 
 
 against Morgan, his life would not be safe till 
 this ill-wind has blown over." 
 
 " Well, I don't think you are fit to be left 
 alone. Shall I speak to the officer of the 
 Customs at Camelford, or the magistrates at 
 the Town-hall, on Friday ? It is their duty 
 to protect you," said the Doctor, drawing on 
 his gloves and preparing to depart. " Mr. 
 Brock has done a good deed in giving you 
 this warning ; but I should like to inquire a 
 little more particularly into the nature of the 
 danger. What is it these bad subjects have 
 in contemplation ? " 
 
 He faced round as he spoke, and con- 
 fronted the old man, who was smoking his 
 pipe dreamily over the fire. 
 
 " Nay, I 've told ye enough, I think ! " 
 answered the landlord of the Three Crowns. 
 "There's a set of them banded together, and 
 I can tell ye, they think little of murder when 
 it comes in their way. Why, but for Miss 
 Mary, they would have hustled the Lieu- 
 tenant off the cliff! I mind the place — it's 
 not far off where I fell, and much steeper. 
 He 'd have gone down where there 's nought 
 but the gulls and puffins to heed his cries. 
 I mind them screeching. It has rung in my 
 ears o' nights often since." 
 
 "So! this is news to me!' said the 
 surgeon, reseating himself and drawing his
 
 264 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 chair nearer. " These neighbours of yours 
 tried to murder the young officer belonging 
 to the Revenue vessel, and Miss St. Enne 
 saved him ? How did she manage that ? ' 
 
 " I never heard them say what she did, 
 exactly," replied Simon Brock, thoughtfully. 
 " There 's a charm of holiness about her that 
 stops their wicked talk ; and I suppose she 
 heard the men cursing and swearing outside 
 the Parsonage shrubberies, and went to hinder 
 them from committing mischief. If it was as 
 you say, and the Lieutenant was her own 
 brother, Heaven put it in her heart to look 
 for him. I've not heard of it from herself; 
 she has not been at my house lately, and the 
 folks that come there are wickeder than ever. 
 I waited and waited, after I heard them 
 threatening this person and that, till at last 
 I was forced to go and give this bit of warning. 
 So now, dame, good-bye to ye." 
 
 The young woman thanked him, with tears 
 in her eyes, for the trouble he had taken. 
 She picked up his stick, and saw him to the 
 door, watching his slow progress up the 
 street for some moments before she came 
 back to her seat within the bar. 
 
 " That 's a curious old fellow ! ' said 
 Doctor Lawrence. " But he has done you a 
 good turn, probably at some cost to himself. 
 I don't envy him his reception when he gets
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 265 
 
 home. Now say, is there anything I can do 
 for you? Time runs on, and I must keep 
 moving. I shall see you again shortly." 
 
 The young landlady declined his offer to 
 represent her case to the local authorities. 
 " I don't think there is any real danger for 
 me, Sir ; and I wouldn't wish to incur more ■ 
 ill-will if I can help it. Price need never 
 know how unwell I have been, now that I am 
 about again ; and I shall write to urge his 
 staying away till the end of the month. He 
 is amongst his own people, and will like it. 
 By that time, it is to be hoped, those wicked 
 hill-folk will have got some other piece of 
 mischief in their heads. Perhaps the French 
 schooner may be back." 
 
 " Ah, by the way, that is what I wanted 
 to know ! ' said the surgeon, turning round 
 just as he got to the door. " Is that really 
 Jacob Mohr's vessel — the famous Dutch 
 skipper ? I wish to Heaven he would bring 
 me some tulips. I hear he has the choicest 
 cigars, spices, and coffee, and has picked up 
 some curious bits of china and Japan- work. 
 The man, in his way, is a perfect virtuoso. 
 Not, of course, that a sober citizen like my- 
 self would have dealings with such a character. 
 But have you any idea when his friends at 
 Lezant expect to see him again ? " 
 
 " Indeed, Sir, I cannot tell you," said Mrs.
 
 266 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 Price gravely. " It was only an idle word of 
 mine, that he might be on his way over, and 
 so give the people here something to think 
 about, instead of harming us in our business. 
 Lieutenant Osborne and the cutter people 
 put up here at the Boscawen ; ice have no 
 dealings with the smugglers. Their inn is 
 the Three Crowns. Dame Brock might tell 
 you what you wish to know. It is no affair 
 of ours." 
 
 " To be sure ! to be sure ! quite right ! of 
 course not," answered the Doctor. " It 's not 
 of the slightest consequence. I only asked 
 from mere curiosity. Look here, now ! if you 
 should be in any fresh trouble, just send for 
 me ; I shan't mind the ride, and there 's 
 generally something worth noting in these 
 popular tumults. In particular, if that young 
 Lieutenant should come here again, oblige me 
 by letting me know. I remember some 
 curious particulars about his father's trial; 
 and, in short, it is my hobby to like to know 
 a little of every stranger that comes into my 
 beat. I am nearly sure I saw this young 
 fellow on the top of the coach the other day ; 
 a likeness struck me, but I could not put the 
 face and the facts brought to my mind to- 
 gether. I should like to see him again." 
 
 Mrs. Price promised very readily to com- 
 ply with this request; and the Doctor, hur-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 267 
 
 rying off with alacrity, was soon riding his 
 strong bony horse, not unlike himself in the 
 build, up the steep street of Lezant. He 
 passed old Simon Brock proceeding very 
 slowly on his homeward way; and nodded 
 familiarly to Dame Brock, as she stood at 
 the door of the Three Crowns, with an 
 ominous frown upon her brow, looking out 
 for her husband. Dr. Lawrence, whose dis- 
 cretion, in spite of his boundless curiosity, was 
 unimpeachable, did not slacken his .pace to 
 speak to her. He felt by no means inclined 
 to inform the irascible matron, in whose com- 
 pany and underneath what roof he had lately 
 beheld old Simon. # 
 
 He rode swiftly over the moors in the 
 direction of his native town, where he had 
 resided during the greater part of his life, and 
 now, having risen to some eminence in his 
 profession, possessed one of the best houses 
 in the place. It was a wild and barren ride, 
 over green turf strewn with fragments of 
 granite — Brown Willy and Bow Tor rising 
 above the bold, free expanse through which 
 wind the Fowey and the Camel ; but the 
 Doctor enjoyed it, and would have felt cooped 
 up in a thickly-planted, cultivated country. 
 No one was better acquainted with the pecu- 
 liarities of the scenery and the habits of the 
 country-people than Dr. Lawrence, as they
 
 268 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 called him, though he had never taken out 
 his diploma. In his own odd way he was 
 a man of extensive information, and of some 
 scientific tastes and acquirements. 
 
 He had a large practice, principally among 
 the miners, and many a dark tragedy in those 
 wild and lawless districts had probably come 
 to his knowledge. Nothing would be said by 
 him about such cases to any living mortal, 
 but he never rested till he came to the bottom 
 of them. He had a way of asking shrewd 
 questions, fitter, perhaps, for a lawyer than 
 a physician ; but, if his patients unguardedly 
 betrayed more than was prudent, such revela- 
 tions were sacred. He locked them up in 
 the strong chest of his memory, and never let 
 them escape him ; nay, he w r ould take infinite 
 trouble to sift collateral facts, which might 
 have furnished important evidence in a court 
 of justice : but he made no use of them. Like 
 the stores of quaint objects which garnished 
 the shelves of his museum at Camelford, these 
 miscellaneous pieces of information, when once 
 collected by him, were generally valueless, 
 except to himself. 
 
 He had also in his recollection a vast mass 
 of anecdotes and details respecting former 
 patients and their maladies, with which, by 
 way of elucidating his plan of treatment, he 
 occasionally entertained those who needed his
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 269 
 
 services. In his gallery might be seen ana- 
 tomical subjects of the most unpleasing kind, 
 recalling to him operations skilfully performed ; 
 but from these his visitors generally turned 
 away. There were, besides, exceediugly rare 
 and interesting specimens of ores and fossils, 
 botanical curiosities, and antiquarian and other 
 relics, to each of which — in the Doctor's eye 
 and mind at least — was attached a legend of 
 the past or a story of more recent times, 
 which made him treasure them.
 
 270 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Outside the small but ancient borough of 
 Camelford — now disfranchised, but which 
 never, in its most prosperous days, included 
 more than a hundred houses — there stood, 
 among dreary hills, verging on the moor, a 
 solitary dwelling. A few fields, indifferently 
 cultivated, lay around, constituting a small 
 copyhold farm ; of which possession had lately 
 been taken, after paying the usual fees to the 
 lord of the manor, by persons little known in 
 the country. These people did not attend 
 church, fair, or market. The first, indeed, 
 was almost impossible, so considerable was the 
 distance from Lanteglos, the parish-church of 
 Camelford, which lay on the other side of the 
 town. The produce of the land was said to 
 be disposed of to the foreign traders who put 
 into the ports along the coast, and brought in 
 return supplies of various kinds for the use of 
 the family. 
 
 There was very little appearance of comfort 
 about the place. The stone walls looked cold
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 271 
 
 and bare, and the few trees growing in the 
 enclosure, though sheltered in some measure 
 by the house, were scathed and twisted by the 
 blast. A rough bridle-road passed close under 
 the palings in front, and wound away over 
 the granitic district which extended for miles 
 around — the very barrenness of desolation. 
 Broods of geese cackled and swam about 
 marshy, reed-covered ponds near the dwelling ; 
 while in the far distance Row Tor and Brown 
 Willy showed their majestic russet summits 
 over the grey expanse of the moorland. 
 
 At the door of this unpromising dwelling 
 the Doctor, whose practice carried him every- 
 where, knocked for admission, on the after- 
 noon of the same day on which he visited 
 Lezant. A man's voice, subdued in tone, 
 probably by sickness, bade him enter. He 
 seemed to know his way ; and passing the 
 doors, on either hand, of kitchen and parlour 
 which opened into the passage, Mr. Lawrence 
 went on to a room at the back, looking into 
 a plot of ground planted with cabbages and 
 potatoes, at the bottom of which flowed the 
 Camel — here but a shallow stream, rising in 
 a neighbouring hamlet ; whence the " crooked 
 river," whose waters, according to tradition, 
 once ran red with the blood of Arthur and his 
 bravest warriors, wound its way to the sea. 
 
 The face of the man sitting at the window
 
 272 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 of the inner room brightened at the sound of 
 approaching footsteps. " Come in! ,: he said 
 again, impatiently, as the Doctor paused for a 
 moment at the door. " There's nothing to 
 hinder you, and you 're sure not to interrupt 
 me. When shall I be up, and stirring again, 
 Sir? This shore life doesn't suit me.' 3 
 
 " Well, you had better not be in too great 
 a hurry," said the Doctor, with professional 
 caution, sitting down and feeling the pulse 
 that still beat feebly in the brawny wrist held 
 out to him. " Such a fever as we have 
 brought you through leaves its traces behind 
 for some time. I assure you we may consider 
 ourselves fortunate to have escaped so well. 
 Has anybody caught the infection ? ' 
 
 " No, no ! not a soul in the house has 
 sickened. Faugh, I wonder at it ! Those 
 dismal pools are enough to gender fevers. 
 There's always foul air creeping over them, 
 and the cackle of those confounded geese 
 a'most drives me mad. I 'd give more than 
 the pay I am likely to get for the next six 
 months to be afloat again. Have you heard 
 anything, sir," he added, lowering his tone, 
 " of our schooner?" 
 
 " She 's not expected back yet awhile. 
 You must have patience. This place seems safe 
 and quiet, though certainly not the cheerfullest 
 I ever saw ; still, it has its recommendations.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 273 
 
 You can creep out when your strength re- 
 turns, and walk about a bit, without much 
 danger of falling in with more company than 
 you like. I thought you might have heard 
 from Mynheer." 
 
 " Not I ! " answered the mate of La Belle 
 Marie, sullenly. " I don't believe the letters 
 come safe through that post-office at Camel- 
 ford. News gets abroad that is told only 
 under seal and cover ; and I ought to have 
 had word of the schooner by this time. There 
 are sharp eyes on the watch, and money 
 changing hands, too. I can tell you there is 
 better guard kept than formerly. You didn't 
 mention to anybody," he inquired, anxiously, 
 " who it was you were coming to see?'" 
 
 " My friend, I have lived long enough 
 in the world to learn the truth of the old 
 adage, '• Least said, soonest mended;' espe- 
 cially as regards professional visits. My 
 practice, as you well know, places me by the 
 bedsides of men — sick, perhaps dying — who 
 cannot keep guard over their lips. Secrets 
 have been revealed to me, alike in the houses 
 of great men and in wild cabins among the 
 hills, touching upon matters of life and death 
 — yes, and worth gold, too ; since large sums 
 have been offered for them ; but these will 
 die with me. Depend upon it, if there is, 
 as gossips say, a skeleton in every house, 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 the doctor, in most cases, knows where to 
 look for it !" 
 
 " I believe you/ 5 said the sailor. " You 
 must have heard some curious things in your 
 time; and I never knew of your blabbing. 
 Tt 's a comfort to meet with an honest 
 man, that can hold his tongue, once in a 
 way. 
 
 " So, honesty is your motto ! ' said the 
 surgeon. " For my part, I think most men 
 love roguery and mischief in some form or 
 other, and would rather, at any risk, get what 
 they want from the contraband trader, than 
 as good an article, at a fair price, at the shop 
 in the village. That is why we all look out 
 for La Belle Marie and her unlawful cargo. 
 I have a hankering, I confess, for those choice 
 cigars you told me Mynheer was to bring 
 over; and a tulip is the only flower I care 
 for. The Ilavannahs might lie hid under the 
 bulbs. Where is the skipper now ?' 
 
 " It 's difficult to say exactly," answered 
 the mate, cautiously. " Let 's talk of some- 
 thing else. How should I know, cooped up 
 as I am within four walls ? If one could only 
 have a whiff of the salt breeze, or a sight of 
 the blue water ! — but I've scarce breath to 
 fill my sails in this cranny among the hills. 
 Can't you set a craft to rights a bit quicker ? 
 By the time you 've been caulking the seams
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 275 
 
 and trimming the sails it ought to be out of 
 harbour." 
 
 " Come, come ! that was an uncommonly 
 ugly attack you called me in for. Don't be un- 
 grateful ! You are a different man from when 
 I first saw you — lightheaded with fever, and 
 had to take more blood from you than a man 
 sheds willingly, even in the best of causes. 
 It is a sure sign you are getting better when 
 you become impatient. I dare say, if truth 
 were told, you never were ill ten days in your 
 whole life before ; and, instead of acknow- 
 ledging this exemption with thankfulness, you 
 are ready to run your head against a stone 
 wall the first time such a calamity overtakes 
 you. By-the-bye, now you are in your right 
 senses, have you any notion what brought on 
 the complaint ? What had you been doing 
 with yourself on shore? Had you been 
 drinking ? I should judge you to be a sober 
 fellow, in general." 
 
 " Hang me, if I don't think it was the 
 air of the haunted house that disagreed with 
 me!' said the sailor. " I don't mind tell- 
 ing you that we — that is, Mynheer and I 
 
 had been up to Woods with Lance Fleming. 
 The skipper took it into his head to sleep 
 there, and sent me back, before daybreak, to 
 the schooner, to tell the boat's crew to pull 
 in and take him off the quay at Lezant, by
 
 276 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 five o'clock in the morning. Well ! it was 
 dark enough when I started, and colder than 
 I almost ever remember it ; or else the shiver- 
 ings were coming upon me. I hauled up, 
 more than once, and made a fresh tack, be- 
 fore I sot clear of the bushes. I was wet and 
 tired when I got on board and turned in ; 
 but what bothered me most was seeing people 
 come about my berth that I had not set eyes 
 on for years till that night — fellows that were 
 friends, too, once. I suppose it must have 
 been my coming across the Jerseyman — Mr. 
 Helier, as they call him here — that conjured 
 up such queer fancies." 
 
 " Helier of Woods? So, you and he 
 were allies once?" said the surgeon. " How 
 did that come to pass ? No one in this part 
 of the country is acquainted with his ante- 
 cedents. Where did you fall in with each 
 other?" 
 
 " Why, when I was a lad, there was a 
 brisk trade carried on along the Sussex coast, 
 and where I was reared, down to Hurst mon- 
 ceaux. Most of us had dealings with the 
 French Brothers, Jean and Gervase Helier. 
 Jerseymen they professed to be ; but, besides 
 their lingo, there was a foreign look about 
 their black muzzles. That poor, chicken- 
 hearted fellow, trembling at his own shadow 
 in the moonlight, was a perfect terror to the
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 277 
 
 Excise. Whatever he said he would do, that 
 he did ; aye, and did it well, too ! I '11 be 
 bound they tell of his daring deeds yet at 
 Rotherbridge, and down by the yew-trees in 
 Kingley Bottom ! 'Twas there he courted 
 Phcebe Bower, daughter of one of the Duke's 
 farmers, the prettiest girl in all the country 
 round. I've seen them together, making 
 love in the vale, when the morning sun 
 wasn't high enough to dry the dew on the 
 grass ; across which the dainty lass stole, 
 while her old father was asleep, to meet her 
 smuggling lover !" 
 
 " Bower?" said Mr. Lawrence, sharply. 
 " That was Mrs. Fleming's maiden name. I 
 did not know that she and her second hus- 
 band were such old acquaintances." 
 
 " Like enough not. Jean was a close 
 cbap, and Mistress Fleming might not be 
 over-fond of talking of her old sweetheart," 
 said the mate. " Her father, old Archdale 
 Bower, made short work of their wooing, for 
 he was a thorough Englishman, and hated all 
 foreigners. He locked Miss Phoebe up, and 
 spliced her out of hand — with a pretty for- 
 tune, too! — to a young soldier-officer quar- 
 tered at Chichester. Savage Jack was away 
 on one of his trips ; and the farmer, who was 
 rich enough to purchase the lugger ten times 
 over, swore he'd lay his daughter — and she
 
 278 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 was the only child he had — in churchyard 
 mould, sooner than she should marry the 
 fellow. Jean was sorely beneath her; but 
 he had a way with him that wiled the heart 
 out of a woman's bosom. Some said, it was 
 more through fear than fondness. Gervase 
 was a different man — frank, and free, and 
 pleasant-spoken. I 've known him dancing 
 the night through at fairs and wakes, when a 
 hundred pounds was set on his head ; but 
 they nabbed him at last off Pevensey, after a 
 hard fight, and he was shipped off for the 
 Colonies. 
 
 " There's nothing doing now, compared 
 to the business that w r as carried on in those 
 days by the great Sussex smugglers!' con- 
 tinued the mate. " Those deep - wooded 
 valleys, with hills that were almost mountains, 
 and close-banked lanes running; down to the 
 coast, were famous places. Then, the shore 
 was, generally speaking, more open, and we 
 knew how to manage to run a cargo upon it 
 and beach a boat on the shingle in the wildest 
 weather. Few could beat us at that ! As for 
 the Excisemen, we laughed at them, and car- 
 ried the goods away before their eyes. It was 
 seldom they ventured to interfere with us ; and 
 if it came to a hand-to-hand fight, ten to one 
 we got off the best. Now and then, the mili- 
 tary were called in, or one of the King's cutters
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 279 
 
 would land a boat-load or two of seamen ; but 
 most of the country-people were on our side, 
 and we generally left our mark behind us, 
 even if we were forced to abandon our cargo/ 5 
 
 " What could have changed this man 
 Helier's nature so completely ? He is of quite 
 a different constitution now," said the Doctor, 
 thoughtfully. " He is seldom seen beyond 
 his own premises, and he goes about his farm 
 with his eyes on the ground — cheated, so it is 
 said, by his own people as well as strangers. 
 It is a wonder Lord Boscawen's steward has 
 not displaced him. I thought your Captain's 
 colleagues were men [of a different stamp — 
 dare-devils, like Lance Fleming?' 
 
 " Jean Helier's name is the first on the 
 list now," said the mate of La Belle Marie, 
 pulling from his pocket a folded paper. " There 
 are the addresses of those with whom I am to 
 communicate freely. Mynheer wrote it him- 
 self at Woods. Part of our next cargo — the 
 most valuable half, too — is consigned to him. 
 I don't half like it. When once such a man 
 loses heart, his whole character changes — he 
 is as likely as not to turn informer. I scarce 
 knew him, groping about in the dark — bent 
 double like an old man — scared at our foot- 
 steps." 
 
 Mr. Lawrence looked curiously at the paper, 
 which the seaman held tight in his grasp. " I
 
 280 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 would not risk much on any venture in which 
 Jean Helier had a share. He is a slippery 
 fellow — a coward, perhaps a knave. I wonder 
 Captain Mohr trusts him." 
 
 " Oh, for that matter, Mvnheer has his 
 secrets ; but I made out that it was not the 
 first time they had been concerned together. 
 Jacob Mohr seemed quite at his ease in the 
 old house. Helier and he were like brothers 
 — yes, that was what he said that night when 
 he woke me up to send me back to the boat, 
 and I tried to put in a word for Lance Fleming, 
 who would not be best pleased at our having 
 dealings with his step-father." 
 
 " Brothers ! " said Mr. Lawrence, quickly. 
 " Are you sure that was Captain Mohr's ex- 
 pression ? That is a remarkable word." 
 
 . " Aye, aye ! — that was it — you may put it 
 down in the log-book," said the mate, laugh- 
 ing, as Mr. Lawrence made a hasty note in 
 his pocket-book. "If I wanted to pick a 
 brother out of the lot, hang me if it should be 
 Savage Jack ! But that was our skipper's 
 foreign way of speaking. Perhaps it did not 
 mean quite as much as brotherhood does in 
 English. " 
 
 " This man's brother — Gervase Helier, I 
 mean, the Sussex smuggler who was trans- 
 ported — did he never come back ? ' asked 
 the surgeon, after finishing his memorandum,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 2S1 
 
 still holding the pencil in his hand. " How 
 many years is it since you saw him ? ' 
 
 " Nigh upon twenty," answered the mate. 
 " For aught I know, he may be dead long 
 since, or changed past recollection. I 'm not 
 sure, if it had not been for the name, that 
 I should have minded Jean Helier's face when 
 he first came across me. I was but a lad in 
 those brisk days, and the o]d place at home 
 got too hot to hold me ; so, sooner than be 
 sent to serve in a King's ship for three years, 
 in the war time, I slung my hammock on 
 board a South-Sea whaler, and didn't come 
 back to England till the scent had got cold. 
 I 've been knocking about the high seas since, 
 off and on, till Mynheer took a fancy to the 
 cut of my jib, and offered me a berth on board 
 the schooner ; and I 've never tired of the 
 bargain till I found myself laid up, high and 
 dry, on this dung-heap, waiting for my com- 
 rades to take me off again." 
 
 " So, these two Heliers were the famous 
 French Brothers ? ' the surgeon repeated, as 
 he rose to take lea ye of his patient. " Bower, 
 too, Mrs. Fleming's maiden name ! I remem- 
 ber it well, and that her first husband ran 
 through the old Sussex farmer's money, which 
 she brought him as a marriage-portion, before 
 he left the army to settle at the Grange. How 
 strangely things come round ! I dare say, a
 
 282 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 hundred other facts will occur to my recollec- 
 tion. But you have talked long enough now, 
 and I have several visits to pay. Mind that 
 you keep close, and I will send you word if 
 there is any occasion for you to shift your 
 quarters before La Belle Marie comes back.' 3 
 He walked across the green to where his 
 horse was fastened, making fresh annotations 
 in his pocket-book as he went along. Whether 
 he was recording any new symptom of his 
 patient's malady, or the curious facts he had 
 just heard, was very doubtful, since his interest 
 in the cases he attended, and the circumstances 
 incidentally brought to his knowledge, was 
 about equal. Meanwhile, the seaman having 
 managed, with the aid of his crutches, to hobble 
 to the door, stood looking after the Doctor till 
 he was out of sight ; and then watched the 
 flocks of geese on the sedgy pools, with his 
 pale face turned towards the sea ; from which 
 direction, as the twilight closed in, the wind 
 blew strongly.
 
 283 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 As lie rode across the stony waste to visit his 
 outlying patients, Mr. Lawrence did not slacken 
 his pace, though the track was a faint one. 
 His sharp eyes knew every tint upon the 
 weather-stained rocks, and each gleam which 
 manifested itself where the low sunlight fell 
 upon pools of water. Tregeagle might, accord- 
 ing to old tradition, have been groaning over his 
 uncompleted task of ladling out the fluid ele- 
 ment with a limpet-shell, so hollow and un- 
 earthly were the shrieks and moans of the 
 wind that swept over the desolate plain — not 
 unlike the wail of a disappointed giant. 
 
 At last, the bridle-path struck the line of 
 the public road, just where an inn, or half- 
 way house, hung out its lights to attract tra- 
 vellers. It was a place frequented by miners 
 and moormen, where many a quaint tale of 
 Cornish tradition might be heard ; but these 
 were not new to the Camelford Doctor. Here, 
 too, occasionally, a tourist or sportsman would 
 put up for a night or two, submitting to mani- 

 
 284 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 fold inconveniences in order to cast a line in 
 the waters that descended from the hills, or to 
 wander through the wild scenery, rich in 
 mineral treasures and gloomy touches of Sal- 
 vator-like sublimity, existing to the artist's 
 eye in the savage heights of the great Tors, 
 and the deep, sterile valley that separated 
 Brown Willy from its yet more imposing 
 neighbour. 
 
 Mr. Lawrence gave his horse in charge to 
 the hostler, with many directions, to which the 
 man nodded assent. He then made his way 
 into the inn, looking, as if it were a thing of 
 habit with him, at the superscriptions on the 
 luggage which the Bodmin coach had set 
 down that afternoon. Without pausing, he 
 noted in his mind that a fire was burning in 
 the strangers' room, of which the door stood 
 open. His visit to the sick child, whom he 
 was attending, did not last long. Even for 
 a man of his hardy habits and daring courage, 
 it was getting to be a late hour for crossing 
 the moor ; but still, before he remounted and 
 rode away, he knew as much as the landlord 
 could tell him of the stray guest who had 
 arrived by the coach, and was gone out with 
 his hammer to geologise. 
 
 The wind was singing a yet wilder me- 
 lody now ; grey clouds were hurrying on 
 before it, charged with rain ; which, however,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 285 
 
 had not yet begun to fall. The Doctor but- 
 toned his overcoat ti^ht across his chest. It 
 was as unpleasant an evening for loitering as 
 could well be imagined; and yet he stopped 
 short when he heard, at a little distance, the 
 tap of a hammer, and saw, seated on a heap 
 of stones to the right of the track, the enthu- 
 siast in science who had taken up his quarters 
 at the Jamaica Inn. 
 
 In his time, Mr. Lawrence had been a 
 dabbler in most of the learned arts ; and, in 
 his museum at Camelford, specimens of the 
 crystalline felspar, opaque and transparent 
 mica, and grey quartz, which characterise the 
 granite of the Bodmin range, as well as of 
 the red lichen, Lecanora jperella, which clings 
 to the caverns and crevices of Row Tor, were 
 to be seen, with many another remarkable 
 production of nature ; but he was quite at a 
 loss to discover on what principle the stranger 
 before him was making his selection. 
 
 Curiosity was a predominant feature in the 
 character of the Camelford Esculapius ; and 
 the moment it struck him that the geologist 
 was not acting in conformity with the acknow- 
 ledged rules of science — that as he went on, 
 more diligently than before, splitting the 
 trumpery he had collected, he was, in fact, 
 throwing away what was best worth retaining, 
 and putting on one side what was absolutely
 
 286 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 worthless — Mr. Lawrence determined to get 
 to the bottom of what certainly appeared to 
 be an eccentric proceeding. 
 
 He rode nearer to the tourist, who was 
 attired in a loose grey suit, admirably adapted 
 for his occupation. He was so devoted to 
 his employment that he did not look up from 
 it, even when the hoofs of the Doctor's horse 
 struck upon the flints close to his position — 
 not until they stopped suddenly beside him. 
 
 " Good evening, Sir 1 Are you aware 
 that there is a storm coming up from the 
 west, and that the spot you have chosen for 
 your scientific operations is about as ugly an 
 one as a man could select, in which to be be- 
 nighted? Let me advise you to return to 
 your inn ; you may find it difficult to do so 
 an hour hence ; and I doubt your discovering 
 anything in that heap of rubbish to reward 
 you for your trouble, and for the ducking to 
 which you will be exposed, when those heavy 
 clouds break in rain and thunder." 
 
 The stranger thanked him good-humour- 
 edly for his advice, and rose at once as if to 
 depart, without taking the slightest heed of 
 the mineral treasures which, a moment or two 
 before, he had appeared to be laboriously col- 
 lecting. As the Doctor looked in his face, 
 which he did with his usual acuteness of 
 observation, the instant it was turned towards
 
 LA BELLE MARTE. 287 
 
 him, the features seemed not altogether un- 
 known to him ; but he could not immediately 
 recollect where he had lately seen that fair 
 though sunburned brow, on which the cap 
 was pulled low, the clear, blue, resolute eyes, 
 and firmly-cut mouth. 
 
 " The squall will pass over us. There 
 will be no rain to speak of on this side of 
 Brown Willy to-night," said the young man, 
 after surveying the sky attentively for an in- 
 stant. " Still, I will so far profit by your 
 warning as to postpone farther inquiries into 
 the secrets of nature till daylight.' 5 
 
 He laughed carelessly as he spoke, and 
 raised his cap as if in leave-taking, but the 
 Doctor did not ride away. 
 
 " You are well versed in the signs of the 
 weather," he said ; " but perhaps you have 
 studied them on a different element. If I am 
 not mistaken, you have learned the lesson at 
 sea. Now, I was born within five miles of 
 Brown Willy, and I know, by the way he is 
 putting on his night-cap, that there will be 
 rain — yes, Sir, heavy rain — in less than an 
 hour. Time will show which of us is right." 
 
 " Well, then, the best thing you can do is 
 to ride fast to your home, wherever that may 
 be. You have probably farther to go than I 
 have," said the young man, quickening his 
 pace, as if willing to shake off his companion.
 
 238 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 " I wish you good night, and a dry skin when 
 you get to your own gate." 
 
 " Our way is the same for a short dis- 
 tance, since I came out of my course to tell 
 you that the proper field for geological investi- 
 gations is the valley full of fragments, dry 
 bones, and fossils, which lies on the other side 
 of your inn. You are wasting your time here. 
 If you will do me the honour to pay me a 
 visit, I will show you specimens of what is 
 really valuable — relics of past ages — mineral 
 ores ; in fact, everything that a man like your- 
 self, if you are really a lover of science, would 
 most desire to see. My museum at Camel ford 
 has been the labour of a life — a labour of 
 love, too ! It would be a thousand pities if 
 you were to leave this part of the country 
 without seeing it." 
 
 He stooped down, as he spoke, and 
 handed a card to the stranger, who was 
 walking silently by his side, provoked at the 
 pertinacity with which his new acquaintance 
 had attached himself to him, but at heart too 
 much of the gentleman to repay his advances 
 with uuGraciousness. 
 
 " I am only passing through the country/ 
 he said. " To-morrow I may be gone. I 
 fear that it will not be in my power to accept 
 your kind invitation.' 3 
 
 " Young gentleman ! though you doubt
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 289 
 
 my skill about the weather (in proof of which 
 the rain is beginning to fall pretty thickly), I 
 shall bestow another piece of advice, unasked, 
 upon you — Never neglect an opportunity of 
 obtaining information. If it comes unsought, 
 so much the better ; and do not be deterred 
 by its not appearing, at first, to be exactly of 
 the nature you require. I dare say there are 
 a score of things in my museum that would 
 interest you : yes, even if you were not as 
 fervent a votary of science as I am willing to 
 give you credit for being. A man does not 
 take up his quarters at the Jamaica Inn for 
 nothing. On the other side, after practising 
 for more than forty years in a neighbourhood, 
 riding hither and thither, rough and smooth, 
 one like myself, if fit for aught, must know 
 something of the district — of the riches the 
 earth carries in its bosom — of the population 
 born upon its soil, many of whom he has 
 ushered into the world, or striven heart and 
 soul, by day and night, to keep above its sod. 
 The chances are, I say, that a stranger seeking 
 information — be it of what kind it may — 
 might learn something from such a person. 
 But I see you are in a hurry, and the rain is 
 coming down pretty sharply, I wish you 
 good-night, Sir ! " 
 
 The young stranger hesitated ; his manner 
 changed ; he extended his hand frankly, and 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 shook that of the surgeon, which was not 
 withheld from him. 
 
 " I think I should like to see your collec- 
 tion/ 5 he said. " You are quite right in your 
 opinion that the suggestions of an experienced 
 philosopher and naturalist like yourself are 
 not to be despised by a tyro in science, as I 
 confess myself to be. You know that I am an 
 ignoramus ; I saw it in your first glance. At 
 what time to-morrow shall I be most likely 
 to find you at home ? You are a busy man." 
 
 " Oh, come, come ! your time is just as 
 valuable as mine — perhaps more so, just 
 now. Well, the later the better. Candle- 
 light will do for the museum ; mine are not 
 daylight beauties. Any hour after sundown you 
 will find me at my house in the High Street, 
 at Camelford. Any one will show it to you, if 
 you do not know it already ; but I fancy you 
 have, like myself, a quick eye, and it is right 
 opposite to the inn at which the coach stops. 
 I am certain you had the box-seat, when the 
 Times changed horses at the King's Arms, last 
 Thursday fortnight." 
 
 The youm* man nodded, but did not 
 answer in words. The rain, pelting sharply in 
 his face, proved the truth of his new friend's 
 prophecy. Mr. Lawrence set himself firmly 
 in the saddle, and rode away in the teeth of 
 the blast, which blew more and more wildly.
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 291 
 
 He did not draw in his rein till the wet pave- 
 ment of the town was under the hoofs of his 
 good steed. 
 
 No one appeared to be sitting up for him, 
 except the groom, who led the brown horse 
 to his stable. There was, indeed, no woman 
 residing in the house ; for the surgeon held a 
 firm conviction that the sex was not to be 
 trusted, and he did not choose that feminine 
 fingers should meddle with his curiosities. 
 He always locked up his house, therefore, 
 when he went from home, and put the 
 key in his pocket. A light might now be 
 seen burning over the door of the surgery, 
 which was lower down the street, but the 
 Doctor's dwelling was dark and silent. He 
 undid the fastenings, fumbled about till he 
 found a tinder-box of a more scientific con- 
 struction than was common at that period, 
 lighted a lamp, and went up-stairs. 
 
 His mind must have been running upon 
 his museum ; for he went into the rooms so 
 called, which had once been attic chambers, 
 but were now thrown into one long gallery, 
 filled with the multifarious treasures he had 
 brought together, and classed somewhat arbi- 
 trarily, and after a fashion of his own. No 
 one but himself could have understood the 
 meaning of the arrangement, which was 
 governed, not by the nature of the objects,
 
 292 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 but by the time and mode of their coming 
 into his possession. The Doctor's memory was 
 never at fault, and he was sure to have a tale 
 to tell, generally quite as singular in its way 
 as the rare plant or specimen to which it be- 
 longed, of the manner in which he had dis- 
 covered each separate relic. 
 
 He had no one to speak to now ; but he 
 went silently and lovingly round the room, 
 slightly altering the position of some of his 
 mummies and skeletons, cases of minerals, 
 and Roman or British antiquities, as though 
 he were in expectation of a visitor to whom 
 he wished his really curious collection to be 
 shown to advantage. His next operation was 
 to make for himself, by means of a spirit- 
 lamp and a biggin, some intensely strong 
 coffee, the only beverage he ever drank ; and, 
 having provided himself with a quaint black- 
 s letter book, containing an historical and de- 
 scriptive survey of his native county, he sat 
 up poring over its pages, until the first beams 
 of day streamed in upon him through the sky- 
 lights by which the museum was illuminated. 
 
 Then he extinguished his lamp, and, as 
 was his constant practice, went to his bod 
 just when the other dwellers in the quiet 
 little country town were besjinnins to move 
 about. One of his inveterate crotchets was, 
 that no man needed more than three hours'
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 293 
 
 sleep ; and his was often broken, even during 
 the short period he allowed himself for repose. 
 
 The Doctor opened the street door him- 
 self for his guest, when, at a somewhat late 
 hour the following evening, the knocker was 
 lifted with a gentler hand than the geologist 
 had laid upon his hammer, when he sat tap- 
 ping away at the rocks on the moor. 
 
 " Come in, come in ! this way, if you 
 please. Honour to science ! I shall show 
 you up to the museum at once. Everything 
 is in order, and there is not a soul in the 
 house but myself ; no gossiping housemaids, 
 or garrulous housekeeper to prate of your 
 whereabouts. You can leave your cap be- 
 low." 
 
 The young man laughed as he took his 
 advice, hung his cap on a peg in the hall, and 
 sprang up the stairs with a light, active step. 
 
 " A sailor, every inch of him ! ' said the 
 surgeon, as he followed. "Not a bit like a 
 philosopher or a naturalist — knew it at a 
 glance. Besides, I had had a look at the 
 craft before. How came you to be sailing 
 under false colours, Lieutenant ?" 
 
 " A matter of duty, in which every loyal 
 subject is bound to assist me," said Osborne, 
 gravely. " I am sent down here to collect 
 information respecting the French schooner 
 which carries on such a daring traffic on this
 
 294 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 coast. Now it strikes me that you are a person 
 very likely to be able to obtain it for me." 
 
 " Can't say, exactly. Must not betray 
 professional secrets — point of honour — silent 
 as the grave. So you 've a commission to 
 execute touching La Belle Marie ? She has 
 not been in these waters this month past. 
 What made you think of dropping anchor at 
 the Jamaica Inn, of all places in the world?' 
 
 Osborne smiled at the Doctor's nautical 
 phraseology. " You cure your patients too 
 quickly," he answered. " When I found the 
 nest, the bird was flown. In plain language, 
 I had intelligence that the mate of the French 
 schooner, having met with an accident, or 
 caught a fever, which detained him after the 
 sailing of the vessel, was in hiding among the 
 bogs and morasses which lie between this town 
 and Row Tor. With some difficulty, I traced 
 him to his place of concealment, but I was a 
 day too late ; and the people who harboured 
 him swear their lodger was as honest a fellow 
 as ever breathed, and a patient of yours. He 
 has evaporated, however, suddenly and sus- 
 piciously. Had you any reason to expect 
 that he would depart so quickly, when you 
 visited him yesterday?" 
 
 " Who can tell which way the wind may 
 blow to-morrow? You a sailor, and not 
 know that, after counting the hours for weeks,
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 295 
 
 lying idle in some stupid harbour, you hear it 
 in a moment, as it comes whistling among the 
 shrouds, from the very quarter whence you 
 have so long desired that it should blow ! So 
 it is with a sick man's humour. To-day, 
 nothing can convince him that he is able to 
 walk a step. To-morrow, you hear that your 
 patient is off to market, or Helston Revel, or 
 gone back to his work at Wheal Maria. As 
 soon as that happens, if not before, I wash 
 my hands of him. His name is off my 
 books. Peace be to his ashes! Come, you 
 are neglecting: the interests of science shame- 
 fully. Allow me to do the honours of my 
 museum." 
 
 On this point it was evidently useless 
 to question the Doctor. His professional 
 scruples were enlisted in behalf of his patient ; 
 and it was far from impossible that the warn- 
 ing of impending danger, which had reached 
 the mate of La Belle Marie in time to prevent 
 Osborne's finding him at the farm-house on 
 the moor, came from his medical attendant. 
 The young Lieutenant walked slowly along 
 the gallery, looking, almost without seeing 
 them, at the various articles of virtu; and 
 listening, half unconsciously, to Mr. Law- 
 rence's learned dissertations. 
 
 Meanwhile, a shrewd observer was watch- 
 ing his movements. Not one change of ex-
 
 296 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 pression, not a single gesture of impatience, 
 escaped the surgeon's notice; and when Os- 
 borne stopped and took down from the shelf 
 a polished, blackthorn walking-stick, mounted 
 with silver, to which was attached a fragment 
 of discoloured, but once costly and delicate 
 lace, the Doctor remarked that his counte- 
 nance altered; and that he with difficulty 
 controlled his agitation. As he held the stick 
 in his hand, his fair complexion flushed, and 
 a deep furrow contracted his forehead, while 
 he read the inscription. 
 
 " These ferns are remarkably curious," 
 said Mr. Lawrence, coming close up to him, 
 and pretending to mistake the object which 
 his visitor was contemplating so intently. 
 
 " O-smunda Begalis, the royal flowering fern 
 — Asplenium Adiantam Nigrum, the Black 
 Maidenhair — Ah! you are wondering what 
 the connexion can be between these botanical 
 specimens and that Sussex thorn-cudgel; but 
 I have my own system of classification. As- 
 sociations of time and place regulate the dis- 
 position of my treasures. These ferns were 
 gathered in the ravine at Woods, a place that 
 lay more in my beat formerly than it has 
 done of late years. Any quack, run-about 
 doctor, serves the turn of its present inmates. 
 Though a miserable sufferer from hypochon- 
 driacal disease, Mr. Helier does not seek re-
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 297 
 
 lief from the faculty. I dare say he is right! 
 Physic is of little avail when the seat of the 
 malady is in the mind. I have not been 
 near the Manor-house for years: in fact, not 
 since Lord Boscawen's last visit; and there 
 is not much likelihood of my being called in 
 to attend upon him there again. Though 
 hale and hearty, his Lordship is past eighty, 
 and resides entirely abroad. 
 
 " In physical strength, Sir, we are not to 
 be compared with our grandfathers. Look at 
 the steady lives men lead now, and think what 
 was the existence of a person of fashion, when 
 drinking and gaming were in vogue! Lord 
 Boscawen is an instance of one who has 
 trifled with his health and strength, so as to 
 show that he must have a constitution of iron. 
 He had a serious attack — a very serious one 
 — at the time I allude to, five-and-twenty 
 years ago. He took no care of himself; 
 fever set in. The life he led was enough to 
 kill him. He was never alone, if he could 
 help it. His spirits were low, he said; it 
 was impossible to live in such a dull place, 
 without stimulants and company about him. 
 The air of Woods, he declared, was death to 
 him; he detested the place. When he was 
 hipped and malcontent, I have seen him sit 
 gazing at the red embers on the hearth, with
 
 298 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 his head full of fancies strong enough to 
 turn them into shapes of terror. A fire had 
 broken out at the Manor-house during a 
 former visit, which affected his nerves in a 
 way he never quite overcame. Some men 
 have been haunted in the same manner all 
 their lives, by a dread of robbers breaking 
 into the house; the consequence of a fright 
 in childhood. Lord Boscawen's monomania 
 was the fear of fire. In his wild orgies 
 he would turn pale, if he saw sparks flying 
 about; and carelessness on this head among 
 his domestics, who were a reckless band, 
 was severely punished. There was always a 
 watchman going round the passages at night; 
 a page lay in his Lordship's room; and often, 
 during his illness, have I ridden scores of 
 miles on his best hunters to visit my patients, 
 and return to sit up with him. Such was 
 the shattered state of his nerves that he 
 could not endure solitude. And yet, now, 
 he is as well as ever he was in his life. 
 He will live to be ninety, and see his de- 
 scendants drop into the grave before him. 
 Mark my words, Sir! he will survive all his 
 grand -children, as he has done his sons and 
 daughters." 
 
 " Forgive me, Sir," said Osborne, " but 
 I was about to make an inquiry concerning
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 299 
 
 this stick. It seems but an ordinary walking- 
 staff. May I ask what made you consider it 
 worthy of a place in your museum ?" 
 
 " That stick? I shall arrive at it pre- 
 sently/ 5 said Mr. Lawrence. " It was speak- 
 ing about the old house at Woods that led me 
 into mentioning the circumstances under which 
 his Lordship, as I was telling you, took an in- 
 veterate dislike to it. Though a free-thinker 
 — perhaps, on that account — superstitious 
 terrors beset him. He was out of health, and 
 had unpleasant associations connected with a 
 former residence at the Grange. In some 
 shape or other — indigestion — nightmare — 
 what you will — the familiar demon of the 
 place, got possession of him. He was not fit 
 to travel when he departed, but he was fairly 
 driven away by broken rest and frightful 
 dreams. When he left Woods, he gave his 
 cousin, Captain Fleming, leave to live at the 
 Manor-house, if — these were his words, not 
 mine — 'those damned ghosts would let him ! ' I 
 never heard that any spirits but foreign brandy 
 and other strong waters troubled poor Fleming. 
 They did him harm enough, and after his death 
 — a very tragical one — the place got a worse 
 name than ever. I think 1 need not tell you 
 the incidents connected with his untimely end. 
 They were in everybody's mouth at that time,
 
 300 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 and, though it is many years ago, the story is 
 not forgotten. That staff was brought forward 
 at Colonel St. Erme's trial, though not the in- 
 strument by which the murder, as it was pro- 
 nounced to be, was alleged to have been 
 committed." 
 
 Osborne looked up suddenly. His eyes met 
 the clear, penetrating gaze of the surgeon. 
 
 " It was a case/ 5 he said, " which, as I 
 have heard, rested entirely upon circumstantial 
 evidence/' 
 
 "Very true. I always thought that it 
 was the absence of any other person to whom 
 suspicion could reasonably attach, rather than 
 sufficiently conclusive evidence against him, 
 which led to Colonel St. Erme's conviction," 
 said Mr. Lawrence. " It is a singular coin- 
 cidence, but just before you came here this 
 evening, I was looking at that stick which 
 has attracted your attention so powerfully, 
 and thinking that, if there were any of Colonel 
 St. Erme's family now living, to whom it was 
 important to establish his innocence (the old 
 clergyman at Lezant and Miss Mary scarcely 
 seem to belong to the real, tangible world) 
 — if he had left a son, we will say — I 
 might be disposed to depart from a rule 
 I have laid down, and to make him the 
 sharer of my knowledge of a very remarkable
 
 LA BELLE MARIE. 301 
 
 fact connected with this story of Fleming's 
 murder, but which only came to my ears 
 last night. " 
 
 Osborne's agitation could no longer be 
 concealed. 
 
 " Break through your excellent rule of 
 caution for once," he said, "in my favour. 
 I am most deeply interested in this question. 
 At present, for professional reasons, I do not 
 wish to lay aside my incognito ; but less pene- 
 trating eyes than yours have seen through it. 
 As soon as possible, all disguise shall be done 
 away with. Be candid with me, I entreat ! ' 
 
 Mr. Lawrence still hesitated. "Well, I 
 do not think it can do harm to tell you 
 thus much. You must make out the links of 
 connexion for yourself; perhaps I have led 
 you to exaggerate the importance of the dis- 
 covery. Fleming's widow — the poor weak 
 woman who was Colonel St. Erme's supposed 
 attraction to the Grange — after her husband's 
 death married the farm-bailiff. This man, 
 Jean Helier, I find, was one of the famous 
 French Brothers, daring smugglers on the 
 coast of Sussex, where he wooed and won the 
 affections of Phcebe Bower, daughter of one 
 of the Duke's richest farmers. She mar- 
 ried Captain Fleming subsequently, and set- 
 tled at Woods, whither her old lover seems to
 
 302 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 have pursued her. After the commotion 
 caused by the murder and consequent pro- 
 ceedings subsided, this couple — these parted 
 lovers — came together; but the circumstance 
 of their former intimacy never transpired. 
 This is all I can tell you, and I shall not give 
 up my authority. Now then, if your inspec- 
 tion is over, I will offer you some coffee, and 
 we will both lock up our professional secrets 
 as carefully as I close my museum for the 
 night." 
 
 While he spoke, the Doctor began to shut 
 up his glass cases, and put away his coins and 
 medals in their separate drawers. He half 
 repented having diverged from his usual prac- 
 tice of confining his stores of information to 
 his own breast, when he saw the effect pro- 
 duced by his confidential communication on 
 young Osborne. As the blue, fiery eye lit, 
 and the fair cheek flushed with eager anima- 
 tion, he traced the strong family likeness, not 
 so much now to the dreamy, melancholy pastor 
 of Lezant and his kinswoman, Mary St. Errne, 
 as to her handsome father — the doomed exile. 
 
 " Ah ! they are an unlucky race !" he said 
 to himself, after letting his visitor out into 
 the moonlit street. " The old Rector is as 
 mad as a March hare, and the girl is scarcely 
 sane. I dare say this young fellow will get
 
 LA BELLE MAKIE. 303 
 
 into a scrape, and perhaps lose his commission 
 — pretty nearly all he has, I fancy. What a 
 world it is ! And what a fool you are, old 
 Lawrence, to be meddling and making with 
 what does not in the least concern you ! '' 
 
 In the deepest dell of the wooded ravine 
 which ran up into the coast, almost as far as 
 the old Manor-house, two hours before day- 
 break, next morning, a stirring scene was being 
 enacted. The officer of the Curlew had never 
 lost sight of the project he had formed to lay 
 hands on the other half of La Belle Marie's 
 cargo ; and full powers had been entrusted to 
 him for carrying out his purpose. The men 
 who accompanied him were all strangers, and 
 neither friend nor foe had been admitted to his 
 confidence ; but had the secret been guessed, 
 not all the drunken, riotous population of the 
 district, would have prevented the Lieutenant 
 carrying off his prize. 
 
 The red light of the lanterns fell upon the 
 cold clear stream that flowed over and under 
 the huge slab of slate that slanted across the 
 fall. The pale face of the young officer flushed 
 when he saw what a rich seizure had been 
 made, and he responded heartily to the wishes 
 of his zealous coadjutors that Jacob Mohr had 
 shared the fate of his goods. When the cave 
 by the waterfall had been completely cleared
 
 304 LA BELLE MARIE. 
 
 of every cask and bale stored there by Lance 
 and his confederates, Richard drew off his 
 men; and, leaving the spot to its almost un- 
 natural stillness, he walked beside the heavily- 
 laden wains, which, under a strong guard, 
 found their way through the country lanes to 
 the Court-house at Camelford. 
 
 end or VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Strange-ways am> Waldex, PBUOTB8, 
 
 28 Castle St. Leicester Sq. 



 

 

 
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