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 Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
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THE HERITAGE OF LANGDALE. 
 
 ^ ^Ol3tl. 
 
 MES. ALEXANDEE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the WOOING O't," "WHICH SHALL IT BE?" "eALPH 
 WILTON 'S WEIRD," ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON: 
 EICHAED BENTLEY AND SON, 
 
 X^xkh\x&\itx» in ©riinatj) to 'g)zx ^Tajjrsti) tlu Qucftr. 
 1877. 
 
 [All rights reserved.) 
 
I i 
 
THE HERITAGE OF LANGDALE, 
 
 HMjiO^O* 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ^/N^ DULL November afternoon was 
 ^^QJ lowering over the wild open country 
 DTiX^ and unsheltered coast-line of a 
 
 ^ 
 
 southern shire nearly a hundred and 
 sixty years ago. Long stretches of flat corn- 
 fields, rich in the evidence of roan's work and 
 Nature's bounty, now beautify what were 
 then wild marshy sands, with a melancholy 
 growth of dull green bent towards the sea, 
 and a sprinkling heather and wild flowers 
 nearer terra-firma. At one point the land 
 rose suddenly into a huge shapeless pro- 
 montory — rugged, rocky, precipitous towards 
 
 VOL. I. 1 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 the sea ; but rounded and covered with thick 
 green sward on the inner side. 
 
 Behind the shelter of this promontory lay 
 the only bit of woodland for miles around. 
 It nestled in a sort of semicircular valley, and 
 crept round the base of the promontory to the 
 west, w^here it grew, safe from nor' and sou' 
 easters, with some luxuriance. 
 
 A small river took its course from the 
 upper downs through this wood, widened as it 
 approached the foot of the promontory, by the 
 daily action of the tide. At low- water you 
 might safely ride across the sandy embouchure 
 to a wild lonely park, sparsely dotted with trees 
 and sloping gently upwards to where it met 
 the last straggling outposts of the wood, and 
 was crowned by a grey, weatherbeaten, melan- 
 choly pile known locally as " The Priory," 
 more accurately as Langdale Priory. It had 
 been long in the hands of mere caretakers, 
 for its last lord was on the losing side in the 
 game of politics, and had been an exile fur 
 some years before his death ; while the man 
 who, under the Government, administered the 
 estate, John Langley (half-brother on the 
 left-hand of the late lord), only paid rare and 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 unavoidable visits to the deserted residence. 
 Just now unwonted smoke-wreathes rose from 
 one or two of the chimneys, for the present 
 master had, a couple of months before, brought 
 thither a lady — a young lady — and her maid 
 or female attendant, respecting whom the 
 few neighbours had had much talk. She 
 was, they said, Langley's ward, the late 
 lord's dauofhter : and since her cominsf — ■ 
 although the Priory, instead of being, as now, 
 within little over a couple of hours by train 
 from the Metropolis, was at the end of a toil- 
 some, not to say dangerous, journey — John 
 Langley had visited it more than once, and 
 was, with his son, at the opening of this tale 
 aofaln an inmate of its sombre walls. 
 
 In the middle of the valley above mentioned 
 clustered the little ramblinpf vlllao-e which had, 
 as usual in early times, gathered in the 
 fostering neighbourhood of those " monks of 
 old" to whom we owe so much, and bore the 
 same name as the Priory, by the dependants 
 of which i^ was originally peopled. Its pre- 
 sent rude lounging population — half husband- 
 men, half smugglers — possessed more wealth 
 and comfort than the inhabitants of similar 
 
 1—2 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 villages farther inland. They were a slow 
 surly race, and constantly found time to 
 saunter up the Head, as it was familiarly 
 termed, with battered glasses under their 
 arms, to look out in a seemingly purposeless 
 manner. 
 
 This heavy November day then was gloom- 
 ing over the village green, on the edge of 
 which stood the village inn — a low wide- 
 spreading edifice of timber and rubble, with 
 an. irregular- tiled roof and narrow casements, 
 a large and very dirty stableyard at one side, 
 and in front a superb spreading oak, on a 
 branch of which hung the sign, a " Crown and 
 Sceptre." 
 
 A convenient bench surrounded the tree, 
 and on it sat two stout elderly men, one of 
 whom wore a white apron ; before them, 
 holding a tray on which was a foaming jug 
 of home-brewed and a couple of horns, stood 
 a buxom, red-cheeked, black-eyed woman in a 
 gay chintz dress drawn through the pocket- 
 holes over a grey woollen petticoat, v»^hile her 
 hair was hidden under a high-crowned white- 
 linen cap, tied round with a red ribbon. 
 
 These were mine host and hostess, with 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 their neighbour, a farmer and owner of the 
 village forge. 
 
 " Come, neighbour," said Mistress Merrick, 
 the hostess, *' another horn of malt, 'tis as 
 warm and thirsty a day as though it were 
 June." 
 
 " Ay, thirstier," added her husband ; " and 
 how my young sir from the Priory couid 
 have sat nigh a full hour in the sanded 
 parlour without so much as a cup of claret 
 passes me." 
 
 " How ?" asked the blacksmith, with open- 
 mouthed curiosity. " Hast thee th' young 
 Captain in there ?" with a backward motion 
 of his thumb. 
 
 " A.jy that we have," cried the hostess, 
 *' and a rare fine gentleman he is, with his 
 long fair hair all over powder, and such a 
 swoord by his side, not like old Pikeman's 
 cutlash, but long and thin like a big skewer. 
 Eh ! you could smell him right down the pas- 
 sage and oop the stair for sweet essences ! 
 and a right scornful gentleman — ain't he, 
 master ?" 
 
 " Ay, he is," returned Merrick, who was 
 diligently filling his pipe. *' No matter ; I 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 remember his grandmother, and she would 
 have done better to have married mj uncle 
 fair and honest than turn to what she did." 
 
 " I've heerd tell as how th' ould lord was 
 nigh marrying of her," said the blacksmith. 
 
 *' He was so ; my uncle used to tell that 
 the day was fixed and the ring ready, when 
 Captain Rupert, the ould lord's sailor brother 
 (him as quit the country years and years ago), 
 came back from sea, raging against such 
 madness," continued Merrick, after sundry 
 breaks to draw his pipe; " and so, you see, the 
 upshot was Master John Langley was born 
 out o' wedlock, and his brother, our late noble 
 lord, was his master." 
 
 " Master Langley and the young Captain 
 have been nigh ten days at the Priory this 
 turn," put in the hostess. " Ah ! 'tis sad 
 to see the old place deserted like, and the 
 young lady, my lord's only daughter, shut 
 up as if she were in prison." 
 
 "Hush, dame," said her husband. "What 
 is that to us ?" 
 
 *' But what has brought the Captain here ?" 
 asked the blacksmith. 
 
 '* Well, it's a queer business," said Merrick, 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 puffing as he spoke. ''You know that schooner 
 that has been cruising backard and forrard ? 
 Our folks call her the strange saiL The 
 crew has been in and out our place a bit- 
 honest open-handed chaps as you'd wish to 
 see — talking an odd sort of lingo." 
 
 " What sort be they V asked the black- 
 smith in a confidential tone. 
 
 " How should I know ? They takes their 
 liquor and pays for it ; that's all I have to 
 see to." 
 
 " Never mind, neighbour," interrupted 
 Mistress Merrick. '' The master may be 
 close if he chooses ; but I never see a craft 
 like that with a grand lady aboord before." 
 
 " Hush, hush, wife 1" said her husband 
 cautiously. 
 
 " Pooh !" she returned. " I am not going 
 to say more than will be the talk of the whole 
 village. Late last night a grand lady came 
 up with that funny man as gave master the 
 rum you liked so much — a queer fellow with 
 ringlets and earrings — my word, but she was 
 a fine big woman ! I never was so took 
 aback as when Gusuppy, as they call him, 
 said she wanted a room for the night. Any- 
 
S The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 way, we got one ready, and she was no ways 
 hard to please. Early this morning she had 
 the master up (which I wonder she did not 
 ask for me), and asked for a messenger imme- 
 diate, to take a note oop to the Captain — to 
 the Priory. Sure enough, oop he rode, over 
 an hour and a half ago, at hot speed ; and 
 this his wedding-day ! You know, he is to 
 wed my lord's daughter this afternoon. 
 Now 'tis past three, and there he sits, still 
 waiting for the lady. She went out to take 
 the air just before he came, and has never 
 come back. There's a strange tale for you ! 
 She is a foreigner, the lady is, for little 
 Gusuppy had to tell her every word we said 
 in some queer tongue — he is gone with 
 her." Mistress Merrick paused, out of 
 breath. 
 
 The blacksmith listened, open-mouthed, 
 while the host smoked in placid silence. The 
 former now broke into exclamations, and 
 slapping his huge brown hand energetically 
 on his knee, cried : 
 
 '* How d ye know 'tis not the Chevalier 
 himself?" 
 
 " Too big," returned the host sententiously ; 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 " and, neighbour Hartley, you needn't halloo 
 as if you were hailing a boat." 
 
 It may be here memtioned that this wild 
 and lonely coast was a favourite landing-place 
 for smugglers and Jacobite emissaries, and 
 that the population was rather disaffected, 
 though in a sleepy indifferent fashion, to the 
 House of Hanover, now feeling a trifle more 
 secure in its new place after the recent fruit- 
 less attempt of Mar in the Pretender's cause. 
 
 Further conjecture was, however, stopped 
 by the appearance, in the doorway of the inn, 
 of an apparition unusual in that part of the 
 country — viz., a fine gentleman. He was a 
 tall slight man, dressed in a suit of fine blue 
 cloth, laced with silver and decorated with 
 silver filigree buttons. His own long fair 
 hair, powdered and perfumed, lay upon his 
 shoulders, crowned by a three-cornered hat, 
 silver-laced and fringed with white feathers. 
 His air and style was that of an exquisite of 
 the period in a species of demi-toilette, if such 
 an expression can be applied to male attire. 
 Plain as was the suit, it was all in perfect 
 keeping, from the silver-laced hat to the silver- 
 edged cream-coloured gloves and silver-hilted 
 
10 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 rapier, Scave that his high riding-boots were 
 scarce in keeping with so much daintiness. 
 
 At sight of him, Merrick and the black- 
 smith rose, and the hostess laid her tray on 
 the bench, the better to bob a curtsy. The 
 gentleman held a large watch in his hand, on 
 which he looked with an expression of cold 
 displeasure in his handsome but contracted 
 face ; then turning his pale-blue scornful eyes 
 on the group opposite, said in slow discon- 
 tented tones : 
 
 *' My horse at once — I can stay no longer. 
 Tell the lady, if she returns, I shall be in 
 London before the week is out. Now then 
 my horse." 
 
 ** Ay, sir. I'll warrant I'll hasten them," 
 returned Merrick, laying down his pipe, and 
 walking towards the stables more speedily 
 than could have been expected from his size, 
 shouting, *' halloo ! — Joe, Nick, the Captain's 
 horse ! Look alive, you lubbers ! his honour 
 is waiting." Calling out as he went, he dis- 
 appeared into the yard, while Captain Langley 
 stood reading a small note, looking at it on 
 every side, as though not quite sure of the 
 writing ; then tearing it into the smallest frag- 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 11 
 
 ments with sudden impatience, he scattered 
 them in the heavy air, shouting as he did so : 
 
 '* What keeps those fellows with my horse ? 
 Am I to wait all day, you infernal lazy — '^ 
 He stopped short, for Merrick reappeared in 
 a state of great excitement. He held Joe — 
 a youth in shirt-sleeves, with a shock head — by 
 the collar, and with his disengaged hand 
 seemed to pommel him severely, while the 
 victim cried for mercy ; two other young men 
 in rough attire followed, gesticulating and 
 shouting. 
 
 " You careless good-for-nothing scamps," 
 cried Merrick, letting go the first sufferer to 
 seize another, *' to go for to lose his honour s 
 horse ! How dare you take your eyes off 
 
 him r 
 
 " What, what !" cried Captain Langley, 
 springing forward. '' What's this 1 — my 
 horse lost ?" 
 
 " Ay, sir ! Somehow these varmints have 
 let him slip his halter, and he has run off, 
 I'll flog the life out of you— I'll—" But the 
 Captain here drew forth the riding-whip, 
 which he held under his arm, and cut viciously 
 right and left with a concentrated fury, very 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 different from the host's noisy demonstra- 
 tion. 
 
 " I have no time to punish the dogs now," 
 exclaimed young Langley. " Come, saddle 
 the best hack you have got in that beastly 
 
 pigsty. By I'll make you pay for this 
 
 day's work !" 
 
 " But, good sir, worshipful sir !" cried the 
 hostess in visible trepidation, *' we have ne'er 
 a steed in the stable. Master's own bay mare 
 is gone with his Eeverence Parson Everard 
 two hours agone. He was sore pressed to ride 
 to Hythe, for Lord Dornton lies a-dying, and 
 sent this morning at speed for the parson." 
 
 " How ?" asked Langley, stepping back as 
 if stunned. '' The parson ridden away to 
 Hythe ! there is something wrong here ! How 
 did my horse get loose ?'' he continued in a 
 high-pitched voice, his face again darkening; 
 whereupon several loud voices in disjointed 
 exclamations explained how *' the halter was a 
 bit rotten," and " his honour would have his 
 beast tied in the yard, not put in the stable " 
 — so, " when th' ould donkey brayed sudden 
 like—" 
 
 " I suppose the brute has made his way 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 13 
 
 home," interrupted Captain Langley, " and I 
 must follow on foot ; but," with a deep im- 
 precation, *' you shall suffer for it." 
 
 " Shall I send to the Priory for a horse, 
 your honour ?" 
 
 '* Send to " retorted the fine gentleman 
 
 fiercely ; " I will get there sooner on foot ! 
 And hark'ee, master, it's like enough there's 
 some devilish scheme under all this — if so, 
 look to yourself" So saying, and again strik- 
 ing the men nearest him with his riding- whip, 
 he walked quickly away a few paces, then 
 paused, and turning, requested in less angry 
 tones to be informed if the first path to the 
 left, after leaving the village, did not lead by 
 a shorter way into the park. 
 
 *^ Ay, sir," answered Merrick, " after you 
 pass the bridge. You couldn't cross the 
 sands now, even on horseback ; the tide is at 
 the full." 
 
 " Ay, sir, about half a mile past my forge," 
 said the blacksmith, '' and I'll show — " But 
 his further utterance was checked by a sudden 
 backward step on the part of Merrick, which 
 brought the full weight of that ponderous 
 person on his tenderest toe. 
 
14 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 While tlie blacksmith held his foot, uttering 
 strong expressions of agony, Captain Harold 
 Langley, of His Majesty's Foot Guards, 
 marched off at a rapid pace — away — down the 
 straggling High Street, where the children 
 gazed wonderingly, and the dogs barked 
 angrily at him. Once he stopped at the forge 
 aforesaid, attracted by a rough stout pony 
 tethered there while the smith shod an old 
 grey mare. The owner of both, however, a 
 rugged red-headed countryman, stupid, but 
 not uncivil, wanted his cattle for himself, and 
 €Ould not be tempted to part with either, even 
 for half an hour. So with many a muttered 
 curse Harold Langley strode on. Now he 
 glanced at his huge gold repeater ; now at 
 the fast darkening sky. It was past three 
 o'clock, and the hour fixed for the ceremony 
 of his marriage, if so unceremonious an affair 
 €Ould be so termed. 
 
 Not that Harold Langley was an impatient 
 bridegroom. No ; a wife, according to the 
 fine gentleman theory, was " a mill-stone 
 about the neck," even though buoyed by rank 
 and wealth ; but in the present instance the 
 bride had neither: she was daughter of an 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 15 
 
 exiled despoiled malcontent, what was there to 
 gain from such an alliance ? Harold could not 
 fathom his father's motives for so peremptorily 
 desiring the marriage. However, as it was 
 only by consenting to it that he could get his 
 •debts paid, Captain Langley consented. 
 
 '' And she is such a strange little chit," he 
 thought ; " heeds me no more than if I were 
 a boor ! and yet she has had some cultivation 
 too in the French capital, and does not seem 
 altogether without wit ! Well, I will take 
 the conceit out of her by-and-by." Wherein 
 the gallant guardsman reckoned without his 
 host. The conceit was never taken out of a 
 woman by a man she does not love. The 
 power to humble and to crush is vested in 
 the hands of him who holds her heart ; and 
 he is seldom averse to exercise it. 
 
 While Harold Langley meditated and 
 cursed the mischance which occasioned his 
 long walk, his ill luck at play, his father, his 
 bride elect, and the fair dame whose billet of 
 that morning had led to his present position, 
 he advanced at good speed, having left all 
 signs of habitation behind. He now ap- 
 proached the little river before mentioned, 
 
16 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 just where its steep shrubby banks opened to 
 its embouchure. 
 
 " Directly she is my wife I will quit this 
 infernal den, and never return," was his mental 
 resolution as he passed the first outlying 
 clump of trees and underwood ; and as he 
 emerged from its shelter up rose behind him, 
 from the thicket, three figures — three strange- 
 looking men in sailor garb, with gold earrings, 
 and silk sashes of bright colours and foreign 
 texture. The first — a short, powerful, broad- 
 shouldered man — held a mass of drapery on his 
 left arm ; with a silent stealthy tread he 
 darted after the fine gentleman who had just 
 passed, and with one cast of the voluminous 
 cloak he carried enveloped him from head to 
 foot. 
 
 In vain the victim struggled and strove to 
 cry out. Thick entangling folds of cloth pre- 
 vented either effort ; and the two other des- 
 peradoes were quickly at hand to aid their 
 leader. Yet no very desperate motive seemed 
 to prompt their action. Their bronzed hard 
 countenances wore an expression of broad 
 amusement, and they called to each other in 
 a strange mixed dialect, in which even a few 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 17 
 
 English words were heard. "Your Excel- 
 lency had better keep quiet," said the leader 
 at last, as their prisoner made a sudden furious 
 effort. *' No harm is meant, so be quiet, 
 Caramba ! I did not think there was so much 
 force in so slim a chap ! Here, Nick, Antonio, 
 take his feet ; leave his head to me : I am 
 equal to the two of you any day ! Now bear 
 a hand ! — gently — all right ! Excellency, 
 don't take so out of yourself ! Steady oh !" 
 
 Slowly the group approached the edge of 
 the road where a footpath among the fern and 
 brushwood led to the waters edge. Very 
 oarefuUy they lifted their burden over the 
 rugged path, the leader loosening the cloak 
 which wrapped their prisoner to admit air, 
 informing him he might make as much noise 
 as he liked, it would avail him nothing ; and 
 so, though moving slowly, they were soon out 
 of sight — silence settling down once more 
 over the peaceful beauty of the scene. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
^zQ^-^ii^.^^ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ^^^ATEE in the evening of the same day 
 a middle-sized, middle-aged, square- 
 set man, dressed with studious 
 simplicity in a suit of black cloth 
 relieved by cut-steel buttons, in black- silk 
 stockings, with cut-steel shoe and knee 
 buckles, the sole indication of costliness, his 
 lace ruffles and cravatte, stood, his hands 
 crossed behind him, in the recess of one of 
 three windows which lighted a large room, 
 known to the dwellers in Langdale Priory as 
 the '' little dining-room," to distinguish it 
 from a wide banqueting hall on which it 
 opened. 
 
 The outlook was not inspiriting. The dull 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 1 9 
 
 daylight had ahnost faded, and the tide had 
 receded sufficiently to leave bare in their un- 
 sightliness masses of wet seaweed, black and 
 desolate-looking. The room itself looked 
 desolate, an island of carpet broke the surface 
 of pohshed oak near the fireplace, where the 
 remains of a wood fire glowed sullenl}^ A 
 heavy oaken table, a few high-backed chairs, 
 and a lar^e carved settle with a red cushion 
 made up the furniture, in addition to a worm- 
 eaten bufiet at one side of the projecting fire- 
 place. 
 
 The gentleman just described turned and 
 paced the room, evidently in deep and uneasy 
 thouofht. More than once he consulted his 
 watch, frowning portentously as he did so. 
 At length he approached the table and laid 
 his hand upon a bell which stood there. As 
 he did so, a puritanical-looking man, in sad- 
 coloured garments and hair cropped sullenly 
 straight across his brow, entered, and advanc- 
 ing deliberately to the table with a short bow, 
 or rather nod of the head, said in a harsh 
 voice : 
 
 " The clergyman has come." 
 
 " Indeed ! whom have they got ?" asked the 
 
 2—2 
 
20 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 other, who, it is scarce necessary to say, was 
 Mr. John Langley. 
 
 '' A gentleman from Thirlsmere, nigh eight 
 miles off. He is somewhat shook with hard 
 riding — shall I offer him a cup of ale ?" 
 
 " Wine, my good Simon, wine," returned 
 Mr. Langley ; *' and, Simon, it is strange my 
 son has not yet returned. Send instantly to 
 the inn — recall him ; some of our messengers 
 have surely now come back, and the tide is 
 low enough to cross the sands — half an hour 
 will bring him here. Meantime I will go 
 speak with my niece. She must have well- 
 nigh exhausted her patience ; it is full two 
 hours past the time appointed. I must 
 explain matters to her myself" 
 
 Simon, Langley's local factotum, withdrew, 
 and his master, or employer, paused uneasily, 
 his hand resting on the table. *' That mad 
 boy," he thought, '' to be drawn aside from 
 so important an affair by a billet from some 
 courtesan — some painted bit of villainy. Why 
 will he not be guided by me ! Why does he 
 not see things as I do ! With my bra ins and 
 his manners what might we not accomplish. 
 He is a fine lad, but a thoughtless." The 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 2] 
 
 father's grim square-jawed face relaxed as he 
 thought of the son, round whom his all of 
 human love was entwined. 
 
 As he thought, the door opened and two 
 female figures entered, apparently to Mr. 
 Langley's surprise. The elder was a tall 
 gaunt woman, not old, but quite past youth, 
 with a quantity of rough grey hair, over 
 which was tied a cap of thick white lace, 
 which yet produced little eflPect towards 
 softening her rugged face, with its wide 
 mouth and sharp grey eyes. Her dress of 
 lavender silk wns looped up over a petticoat 
 of some dark stuff, and her sinewy spare arms 
 were covered with black lace mittens to 
 where the ruffles of her sleeves met them. 
 On one of these strono- arms leant a creature 
 
 o 
 
 so widely different in aspect that, cold and 
 unimpressionable as he was, John Langley 
 paused a moment in silence, struck by the 
 contrast, as they approached. 
 
 A fair girl in earliest womanhood — a deli- 
 cate highbred-looking woman, whose every 
 movement suggested perfection of form . rather 
 below middle height, her profuse nut-brown 
 hair turned over a cushion in the regal fashion 
 
9 
 
 Tlie Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 of the times, adding to her height. Her 
 somewhat pallid face, wide across the brow 
 and tapering to the delicate chin, was lighted 
 by a pair of blue eyes so fringed with long 
 dark lashes that their colour w^as not easily 
 discernible ; her rosy mouth was perhaps 
 larger than it ought to be for the strict rule 
 of beauty, but so soft, so sensitively expres- 
 sive, none could wish it altered ; while a nez 
 retrousse saved the face from over sweetness. 
 She was clad in a long robe of white silk, the 
 square-cut lace-edged corsage of which was 
 ornamented with rosettes of violet and silver, 
 and wrapping herself shiveringly in a large 
 white- lace shawl or veil which partly covered 
 her head. As she clung to her companion a 
 fairer picture of a mother's or a lover's deli- 
 cate darling could scarce be seen. 
 
 Not such, however, she seemed to the 
 small, dark, restless eyes that gazed at her 
 from under John Langley's heavy brows. The 
 deer-like carriage of her head, the indescrib- 
 able nobility of her air were insults to him ; 
 her whole bearing and aspect a silent protest 
 on the side of that lemtimacv which, accord- 
 ing to his crooked theory, robbed him of his 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 23 
 
 rights. For was not he her father's eldest 
 brother — the rightful heir of the Langdale 
 Lands but for the leaving undone of a small 
 ceremony, which his parents had omitted. 
 This deadly sense of wrong, this poison of 
 envy, had w^arped him from boyhood. 
 
 Not all the frank friendliness and active 
 kindness of Reginald, the late lord, who had 
 died in exile scarce a year previously, could 
 soften his heart or relax the determination 
 which gradually formed itself in his mind to 
 possess himself of the heritage of Langdale. 
 The open-hearted Lord Langdale had little 
 ■dreamed of this ; he looked on John as his 
 mentor, his right hand. Nevertheless John's 
 influence never kept him out of certain mis- 
 chiefs — amongst them political plots, about 
 which the good Baron cared little, though his 
 unguarded participation in them led to his 
 compulsory flight. Through all Lord Langdale 
 believed in his brother, and to his care he be- 
 queathed his only child, Maud, who now 
 stopped opposite her uncle. 
 
 *' My fair niece," said he, taking her hand, 
 and carefully softening his tones, " I grieve 
 to tell you that your favourite parson, Everard, 
 
24 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 cannot attend you to-day — you must e'en 
 allow a stranger to tie the knot. An early 
 patron and fast friend of the Rector lies on his 
 deathbed, and sent craving the last consola- 
 tions of religion from our good parson, who 
 was compelled to obey the summons. Mean- 
 time my son, devoured with impatience, sent 
 messengers in some directions, and rode forth 
 himself to seek another clergyman, lest our 
 plans should be defeated. The messenger 
 has returned with a reverend gentleman, but 
 my son, not knowing the country, has probably 
 missed his way, for he has not yet returned." 
 
 "And Parson Everard cannot come! I am 
 so sorry !" said the young lady, whose pleasant 
 voice had a slightly foreign accent, while her 
 eyes filled with tears. " He has ever been so 
 kind to me ! Why did you send for a stranger ? 
 A day sooner or a day later would make no 
 difference." 
 
 " My dear young lady, to you perhaps ; 
 but you must make allowance for a lover's 
 impatience." 
 
 To which Mistress Maud replied by a sweet 
 saucy laugh, though her cheeks were pale 
 and her lashes wet. *' Harold a lover! Harold 
 
The Heritage of Laiigdale. 2^ 
 
 impatient ! Ah, ^ood uncle, you are a droll." 
 The young lady often made use of French 
 expressions. 
 
 " Madam," returned Langley, frowning, 
 "your mirth is unbecoming." 
 
 '' N" import e" she rejoined. *' Am I not 
 going to fulfil my promise, and wed your son ? 
 Will you not fulfil yours, and take me from 
 this weary dreary place ? I daresay we shall 
 do well enough as man and wife. My poor 
 dear father loved me so much. Surely, when 
 he is used to me, Harold will love me a 
 little ;" and turning her face quickly against 
 the arm of her attendant, who had stood mo- 
 tionless while her youDg mistress spoke, she 
 burst into tears. " There, uncle," she said, 
 brokenly yet defiantly ; " there ! which like 
 you best — my laughter or my weeping ?" 
 
 *' My young lady has been whimpersome 
 all day," said the gaunt woman in a rough 
 staccato voice, '** and faint like, which is but 
 natural. A cup of mulled claret now." 
 
 Mr. Langley rang the bell which lay on 
 the table with half-suppressed impatience ;. 
 but while he rang it Simon re-entered, and 
 announced that Captain Langley had arrived,. 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 and that he with the reverend gentleman were 
 even now waiting the bride in the chapeh 
 
 '* It is well !" cried Langley, greatly re- 
 lieved. ** Come, dear niece, let me lead you 
 to what wall be the securing of your comfort 
 for life." 
 
 Maud, her bosom still heaving with sobs, 
 and deadly pale, silently gave her hand. 
 
 "Stay close tome, Dorothy, dear Dorothy," 
 she whispered to her grim attendant, whereat 
 that individual nodded a sharp emphatic nod, 
 and the trio left the dining-room. 
 
 Crossing the large hall, they entered the 
 deserted chapel, which opened from it. Here 
 had been lavished a wealth of decorations 
 in the old monkish days, now neglected and 
 dilapidated. A paltry cloth covered the 
 communion-table, where once was the high 
 altar. The darkness of the chapel was 
 rendered painfully visible by the pale lustre 
 of a pair of huge wax-tapers placed upon the 
 table ; their light fell upon the clergyman in 
 a crumpled surplice, and on the long fair hair 
 and blue and silver suit of Captain Langley, 
 who had placed himself on one of the stone 
 recess seats to the left of the altar. He 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 27 
 
 rested his right elbow on his knee, and his 
 head on his hand, as if lost in thought or 
 absorbed in prayer, nor did he move till his 
 bride came in a line with him, when he rose 
 and took his place beside her. John Langley 
 fell back a step, while Dorothy pressed close. 
 Simon Evans, the caretaker, Mistress Margery, 
 the housekeeper, old Nicholas, the general 
 factotum, grouped themselves a few paces off; 
 while the lower servants, a reduced retinue, 
 crowded as near as they might. Then the 
 clergyman, a young, healthy, rosy-faced man, 
 opened the book, and began in a hasty mono- 
 tonous manner to read the solemn touching 
 service. 
 
 The bridegroom's responses were uttered 
 in a deep undertone, which the echoes of the 
 chapel blurred and rendered inarticulate ; 
 while the bride's were inaudible, even to her 
 faithful Dorothy. At the passage where the 
 ring is put on, the bridegroom drew from his 
 own finger, and placed upon the bride's, one 
 of a rich yellow colour and of extreme thick- 
 ness. Dorothy at this point thought she per- 
 ceived a certain failing about her young lady, 
 as though she would have fallen. The same 
 
2S The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 idea seemed to suggest itself to the bride- 
 groom, who passed his arm round her, and so 
 held her up till the last word was spoken. 
 Almost before the sound of the parson^s voice 
 ceased, the little head drooped forward, and 
 Maud lay insensible against her new-made 
 husband's breast. 
 
 " She is quite gone I" cried Dorothy. 
 
 " Way there !" said the bridegroom in his 
 deep undertone, and raising her in his arms 
 he carried the slight form swiftly through the 
 onlookers, bending his head down to gaze into 
 her face. 
 
 By the time Mr. Laugley and Dorothy 
 reached the dining-room, now almost in dark- 
 ness, he was supporting his bride by one of 
 the windows, which he had managed to throw 
 open, and still bending with an air of tender- 
 ness over her. 
 
 " The dear lamb ! is she coming to ?" ex- 
 claimed Dorothy as she approached. Maud 
 replied by languidly stretching out her arms 
 to her attendant. 
 
 The bridegroom immediately resigned the 
 fair pliant form to the waiting-woman, slipping 
 something into her hand at the same time, and 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 29 
 
 muttering in her ear, " Guard your mistress 
 well," drew away to make room for Mr. 
 Langley, who now pressed forward with in- 
 quiries for his daughter-in-law. 
 
 With unwonted care he inspected her re- 
 moval to her own room. Here Mistress 
 Dorothy laid her on her bed, insisting on 
 Mr. Langley and Dame Margery leaving the 
 room, ordered perfect quiet, and took her 
 station by the bedside. 
 
 A short space of complete silence ensued. 
 Then, to Dorothy's great surprise, a whisper, 
 low but distinct, came from her young lady's 
 tremulous lips : "Dorothy, are we quite alone 
 — quite safe ?" 
 
 " Yes, my precious lamb !" 
 
 " Then, Dorothy," continued Maud, raising 
 herself upon her elbow, " Harold has sent some 
 one to take his place. I am not married to 
 my uncle's son, but to some stranger." 
 
 " God bless you, my dear ! You lie down 
 and sleep. Do not excite yourself : you will 
 find it all right when you wake." 
 
 " No, Dorothy, I am not wandering. T 
 tell you," Maud spoke slowly and with 
 solemnity, "I never saw yonder gentleman 
 
so The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 before. I too thought it was Harold till he 
 took my hand to put on this ring. Then 
 something in his touch was so unlike Harold's ; 
 I looked up and saw a pair of brown eyes, and 
 a look in them something like my father's, only 
 sterner. My heart leaped, and then stood still. 
 I scarce remember anything more until I was 
 by the open window, and as you came up he 
 whispered, 'Keep faith with me till I can 
 claim you or release you/'' 
 
 "Dear heart!" cried the bewildered Dorothy, 
 '' what a tale is this. We know not what 
 desperado may have murdered the Captain, 
 and put on his clothes. Great powers I 
 "Why did you not cry aloud, or do something? 
 It is a terrible business !" 
 
 ''Dorothy," returned the young girl wearily, 
 *' I was so sick at heart to-day — so mad at my 
 own weakness in consentino;' to wed Harold 
 — so shamed at my own cowardice in fearing 
 to break from that consent, that I rejoiced to 
 feel the touch of another's hand ; and then, 
 when recovering, I feared to cry out, lest they 
 would not let the gentleman get forth with 
 life ; for I have read that in John Langley's 
 eyes I mortally fear. But, Dorothy, it is 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 terrible !'' she added, shuddering. " I am 
 wedded to I know not who ! Any wretch 
 might claim me, for I would scarce know 
 yonder gentleman again. But see," she con- 
 tinued, blushing and smiling, " he has taken 
 my breastknot," pointing to a vacant place 
 in the front of her dress, whence an ornament 
 had been somewhat roughly unfastened. 
 *' Nevertheless I am terrified," resumed the 
 young orphan. " Stay by me ; never leave 
 me, Dorothy, dear Dorothy! my only friend." 
 
 " Ay will I, while I have life !" cried 
 Dorothy, grasping her rough hair with both 
 hands in her distress. " Why am I standing 
 here when the country ought to be scoured to 
 find the poor young Captain or his remains V 
 and disregarding her mistress's entreaties not 
 to be left alone, she rushed hastily out of the 
 room. 
 
 Meantime Mr. Langley returned to the 
 dining-room, intending to discuss with Harold 
 the question of their journey to town and 
 certain future arrangements. 
 
 He found that apartment looking con- 
 siderably brighter than when he had left it. 
 A good fire had been made up, and candles 
 
32 The Heritage of Lang dale, 
 
 were lighting on the table, which was spread 
 for the evening meal ; but no Harold awaited 
 him. He summoned the butler, as old Ni- 
 cholas considered himself, and desired Captain 
 Langley should be told he wished to speak 
 with him. 
 
 " The Captain has just ridden forth, sir." 
 '* How ? Ridden forth ? Impossible !" 
 " 'Tis true, your honour. Directly Madam 
 Langley was carried to her chamber, the 
 Captain went straight to the stables, mounted 
 {for the men were all agog with the wedding, 
 and had not unsaddled his horse), and rode 
 away." 
 
 " Eode away !" echoed Langley, utterly 
 confounded. Here was an amount of con- 
 tumacious indifference for which he was 
 wholly unprepared. What could it mean ? 
 " Send Simon Evans to me," he said, after a 
 few moments' perplexed thought ; " and let 
 one of the stable-boys mount, and be ready to 
 carry a message directly." 
 
 Evans quickly obeyed his master's sum- 
 mons, and confirmed the butler's startling 
 intelligence; but Langley had hardly begun 
 to utter his susnicion that the recreant bride- 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 33 
 
 groom had been again lured to the village inn, 
 when the door was flung violently open, and 
 Dorothy entered, her whole aspect showing 
 utter dismay. 
 
 '' Sir ! sir ! it was not the Captain ! It 
 was another man altogether ! And you had 
 better raise the country, for it is my belief 
 your son has been ill-dealt by." 
 
 *' Woman, are you mad too ?" said Langley, 
 "with fierce impatience. 
 
 "Hear me," she returned, and then plunged 
 into a short repetition of Maud's story. 
 
 " Your mistress is raving — she wanders," 
 said Mr. Langley when she ceased. "A 
 : stranger pass himself on me as my own son I 
 Impossible !" 
 
 " It is a strange tale," observed Evans 
 dryly. " Pity it is that Captain Langley 
 •took himself away." 
 
 " Send to that accursed inn," cried Langley, 
 ivnfuriated out of his usual puritanical pre- 
 cision. " He is lurking there no doubt ; and 
 send also towards Hythe, and all round the 
 country. Dead or alive, I will have him 
 back ;" but Langley shivered slightly as he 
 VOL. I. 3 
 
34 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 spoke. Sneer as he would at the improba- 
 bility of Dorothy's tale, he could not re- 
 sist the dim horror that began to gnaw his 
 heart. 
 
 So the grooms mounted and rode in all 
 directions, the young clergyman proving a 
 valuable assistant ; but the night passed over, 
 and morning came, and noon also, but no 
 Harold. It was a period of intense anguish 
 to the grim self-controlled father ; that any 
 other than Harold had stood at the altar was 
 an idea he could not entertain. Who but 
 Harold had that long fair hair so peculiarly 
 worn ? And then the dress, the horse — both 
 were Harold's. About this absuid whim of 
 Maud's he did not trouble himself; but his 
 son's unaccountable absence, that was a tan- 
 gible terror. Now noon had again come round, 
 the country for miles had been searched in 
 vain, and a painful pause ensued. 
 
 Langley was debating with himself what 
 was next to be done, his hopes dying out, 
 his stern compressed nature refusing to suc- 
 cumb, when the clatter of horses' hoofs from 
 the courtyard struck his ear, then a confused 
 murmur of voices ; next the door of Mr. 
 
The Heritage of Laoigdale. 35 
 
 Langley's private room opened, and Harold 
 himself burst in. 
 
 Harold alive, and seemingly well, but dis- 
 ordered by hard riding, his face dark with 
 anger. 
 
 3—2 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 T the sight of his son, safe and sound, 
 grief and anxiety gave way in John 
 Langley's mind to supreme indig- 
 nation. 
 
 *' Harold," he exclaimed in an angry voice, 
 " what's this ? How dare you so insult your 
 bride and me ?" 
 
 " Give me some wine," cried Harold, throw- 
 ing aside his hat with a furious gesture. " I 
 have been hoaxed and bedeviled, and 'fore 
 Heaven I must have blood before I am 
 satisfied ! There is some hellish plot on 
 foot ! Where are the magistrates, and those 
 w^retched bumpkins who pretend to keep the 
 peace, and let pirates prowl about at their 
 pleasure V 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 37 
 
 " Harold, I cannot understand you. How- 
 can you explain your absence at such a 
 time T 
 
 Whereupon, with many oaths and ejacula- 
 tions, Harold recapitulated his misfortunes at 
 the village, making no secret of the motive 
 that lured him thither. About half-way back 
 he was, he said, set on by a large party of 
 ruffians, who muffled him in a cloak, carried 
 him some way, and then, in a lonely rift of 
 the rocks at the foot of the Head, compelled 
 him (by a pistol held to his ear) to strip him- 
 self of his outer garments. He was then 
 again muffled up, placed in a boat, rowed 
 some distance, and hoisted up the side of a 
 ship. *' Here," continued Harold, " I was set 
 free in a small richly-furnished cabin, where 
 they gave me an excellent supper and won- 
 derfully fine wine, and treated me well. This 
 morning they brought me my own clothes 
 again, the coat strained and spoilt, as if some 
 broad-shouldered brute had been forcing him- 
 self into it. I was blindfolded, put into a 
 boat, and rowed a good way. Again I was 
 lifted out, carried a few paces, and then 
 ordered to stand still, on pain of having my 
 
38 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 brains blown out. I waited patiently for 
 what seemed a long time, when the dead 
 silence was broken by the whinnying of a 
 horse close by. I tore off the bandages, found 
 myself quite alone, and the bay mare tethered 
 beside me. Of course I mounted, and find- 
 ing I was somewhere at the other side of the 
 village, rode here as fast as I could. Now 
 send for the parson, and let me make amends 
 to the fair Maud for—" 
 
 An exclamation from his father interrupted 
 him. 
 
 '* Harold, she is married ! Married to 
 some one in your clothes, with your hair, 
 Harold. There is more mischief under this 
 than at first sight seems. But, come now, 
 has not this been some drunken dream ? 
 Confess you have been drinking deep." 
 
 " Nonsense, sir !" returned the young man ; 
 " I might put the same question to you. How 
 is it that any one could persuade you into 
 believing him your son ?" 
 
 "Listen to me," returned Langley, and 
 proceeded to recount the occurrences of the 
 previous evening ; wheieupon Harold s fury 
 subsided into astonishment. 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 39 
 
 "There must be some infernal plot brewing 
 somewhere 1 What's your idea of the matter, 
 sir i 
 
 Mr. Langlev did not answer immediately. 
 He sat down beside his open bureau, and, 
 placing his elbows on it, leaned his face upon 
 his hands. Harold, looking to his father to 
 help him out of a difficulty, kept a respectful 
 silence — respectful only under such circum- 
 stances. At last Mr. Langley raised his head, 
 looking dark and stern, and speaking as if to 
 himself, observed : 
 
 '* The existence of that pardon is known to 
 more than I thouofht." 
 
 " How ? What pardon ?" asked the son, 
 drawing a chair opposite and gazing eagerly 
 at his parent. 
 
 Whereupon, with many injunctions to keep 
 the explanation strictly secret, Langley pro- 
 ceeded : 
 
 *' When Lord Langdale had been nearly 
 nine years banished, many friends of his — fur 
 he had them on both sides — exerted them- 
 selves to procure a remission of his disabilities, 
 especially St. John, who never quite broke 
 with St. Germains ; and it w^as this leniency 
 
40 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 which permitted me so long to manage this 
 estate, much of the revenues of which went 
 both to friends and foes ; comparatively little 
 falling to my share, I can assure you. How- 
 ever, it was generally believed that the late 
 queen died without granting the pardon, 
 sought for by Lord Langdale's friends. Now 
 I believe she did — Lan gdale so informed me ;. 
 if so, it must have been one of her last acts^ 
 But the document has never appeared. Lord 
 Langdale died somewhat suddenly, St. John 
 is in his turn an exile, and the only trace of 
 the pardon that has come to my knowledge 
 was through a rascally dismissed clerk from 
 Harley s office — a drunken fellow, who 
 wanted to extract money from me, declaring 
 he had possessed himself of the missing 
 pardon. I cannot think how this scoundrel 
 got hold of it, if he had ; for on my refusing 
 to give him attention till I saw the document 
 and held it in my hand, he promised to bring 
 it next day. He came in the evening certes,. 
 but in sorry plight, with a broken head and 
 quite beside himself. Some one, he said, had 
 knocked him down senseless, and robbed him 
 of the precious parchment. Nay, I believe 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 41 
 
 Lim. No man could have merely acted such 
 part. Moreover his head was sore hurt. 
 Since then I have striven in many ways to 
 gain intelligence, but have never succeeded in 
 obtaining the smallest clue." 
 
 " This is a strange history," said Harold, as 
 his father paused. " Why did you never tell 
 me these particulars before ?" 
 
 " Because, young sir, you are not over fond 
 of listening to my words, nor of keeping your 
 own counsel from your boon companions. 
 How was it you were so weak, so senseless, 
 as to be lured by a billet from some courte- 
 san to — " 
 
 " Pardon me, sir," interrupted Harold, with 
 his finest air ; "it was a lady of fashion and 
 reputation who so far honoured me with her 
 confidence. I had already made some way 
 in her good graces when your inexorable 
 cruelty carried me into these rude regions ; 
 and you can imagine my delight at receiving 
 a mysterious billet, purporting to be from the 
 divine creature." 
 
 " The divine creature is, I fancy, not spar- 
 ing of her favours, or your plotters could not 
 have known how to bait their trap so cun- 
 
42 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 niD^l}^" returned Langley sneeringly. " She 
 was well worth risking the loss of this goodly 
 heritage." 
 
 '^ Then why, sir, not confide this tale to me 
 before ? I should have been more circum- 
 spect." 
 
 *'I doubt It, Harold. Moreover it was not 
 necessary. By this marriage the lands of 
 Langdale were secured to you if the pardon is 
 ever discovered. They would be yours in 
 right of your wife, by the fiction of the law, 
 as well as the reality of primogeniture which 
 ouo'ht to be mine. You would never know the 
 
 o 
 
 galling sense of wrong and humiliation as I 
 have done — to feel my younger brother lord 
 it over me; to be compelled to lick the hand 
 that flung me obligations." 
 
 Langley paused, suddenly checking the 
 bitter words that rose to his lips. It was 
 seldom so much of the inner fire showed itself 
 above the calm of his exterior ; and Harold 
 felt proportionally impressed. 
 
 " Why," said he, elevating his arched eye- 
 brows, " I thought the Baron and yourself 
 were dear friends. Have I not seen his 
 letters ? He must have been a most unso- 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 43 
 
 phisticated rustic ! How was it lie loved you 
 so much ?" 
 
 "I was useful to hira. I have ever found 
 it wiser to loosen the stones in a wall than to 
 run my head agaiuvst it ! Then he always 
 prated of our being the last of a long line. 
 But Lord Lanofdale was a fool ! He stuck to 
 a failing cause, and was obliged to fly. Died 
 and left his only child to my care. Ay ! and 
 she is of the same sort — brimful of a careless 
 pride that flings favours as you do bones to 
 curs. I can read the haucrhty curve of her 
 soft-looking lips aright. Distrust of us lurks 
 in her heart. She must feel she is a beggar, 
 dependent on my bounty. She ought to be 
 at my feet in gratitude for the marriage I 
 have planned for her ; and yet she bears her- 
 self like a queen ! Why, Harold, she Jcjiew 
 you were not the man to whom she vowed 
 herself yesterday ; and yet she let him escape. 
 My son, she shall not escape us !" 
 
 *' This is a pleasant view of one's future 
 wife !" said Harold, shrugging his shoulders. 
 *' Think you she knew the fellow ?" 
 
 Langley thought a moment. " No !" he 
 said. *' The dismay of that unmanageable 
 
44 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 hag Dorothy proved that. She and Madam 
 Maud are one. No !" 
 
 " At any rate, sir, we are checkmated for 
 the present." 
 
 " Not so. This idle talk is breath wasted. 
 Who represented you yesterday ? that is the 
 question. I believe him to be some ad- 
 venturer who has got hold of the pardon and 
 wishes to entitle himself to this noble estate. 
 But no ! There is many a barrier to be sur- 
 mounted yet, Sir Stranger ! Listen, Harold, 
 We will make Parson Everard talk to Maud 
 and persuade her to go through the ceremony 
 with you. He is well aware how advan- 
 tageous the marriage would be to his old 
 friend's daughter — and therefore on our side. 
 Then we will carry her away to London. 
 I dare not trust her here, even were I able 
 to remain on guard myself — so bold, so 
 dexterous a villain would carry her oflP under 
 our very eyes ! Away, Harold ! dress your- 
 self in your best attire. Go ! play the heart- 
 broken lover — ply her well with flattery. 
 Come, Harold — she is fair— a dainty piece of 
 female flesh 1" 
 
 " True, sir !" said the fine gentleman, whose 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 4 5 
 
 equanimity was somewhat restored ; " but so 
 refrigerated a morsel that it would require a 
 real burning flame to warm her. And this I 
 have been accustomed to see offered on my 
 own shrine ! Besides, a helpless kidnapped 
 lover is a somewhat ridiculous object. How- 
 ever," he continued, with an oath, " Til do my 
 best to frustrate the scoundrel that entrapped 
 me. I marvel who he was ? some roystering 
 desperado. But I must own I was not badly 
 treated ; and — " raising his arm till the sleeve 
 touched his nose — " the fellow has a fair taste 
 in perfumes !" 
 
 Another day only added deeper shades to 
 the mystery surrounding these strange oc- 
 currences. The parson made his appearance 
 in a state of much bewilderment. On reach- 
 ing the principal inn at Hythe, he found that, 
 50 far from lying there on his deathbed, my 
 Lord Dornton had not visited the town for 
 more than six months, and was then supposed 
 to be in the North. 
 
 The worthy clergyman and his steed were 
 too weary to return the same night ; and 
 when he did, it was but to add his vague 
 
46 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 conjecture to Langley's, only, in his ignorance 
 of Langley's secret, they were still wider of 
 the mark. It was, he thought, a wild hoax on 
 the part of some of Harold's boon companions ; 
 and he earnestly, if a little prosily, entreated 
 that young man to reform — to quit his wild 
 courses now that he was about to enter into 
 the holy estate of matrimony — to live "cleanly 
 and like a gentleman," &c. &c. — advice for 
 which Mr. Langley thanked him with laborious 
 courtesy. But Langley's courtesy became 
 more difficult to maintain when he found 
 that the parson backed up Maud in her de- 
 cided refusal to go through the ceremony of 
 marriage once more. 
 
 " It would be making a mock of a sacred 
 rite," he said ; " take open and decided 
 steps to have the marriage already celebrated 
 declared null and void, then your way will be 
 clear ; but do not so unjustly by your ward as 
 to leave her a prey to dangerous claims." 
 
 Enraged as Langley w^as by these scruples, 
 the feelings roused by them were nothing 
 compared to the fury and hatred engendered 
 by Maud's conduct. She had been— or, as 
 Langley thought, pretended to be — unwell for 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 47 
 
 several days, and unabld to see any one save 
 Dorothy. Wlien at last she did appear, v^ith 
 pale cheeks, and heavy eyes, and lips that 
 trembled nervously as she spoke, Harold 
 felt a little moved to pity ; which, however, 
 soon vanished. Though bodily weak, a new 
 spirit seemed to have entered into her. In 
 vain Harold pressed his suit. In vain Mr. 
 Langley, giving way to her peremptory re- 
 fusal to entertain even an idea of repeating the 
 marriage, sought to draw from her a promise, 
 that so soon as the first ceremony was legally 
 set aside she would become Harold s wife. 
 
 "I know not how it is, uncle," she said in 
 reply to some strong remonstrances of his 
 one evening about a week after Harold's 
 mischance, as she sat half reclining on the 
 settle by the fire, which glowed and blazed, 
 casting a strong light on her slender figure 
 and black dress, and leaving Langley in 
 shadow; while Harold, ostentatiously perform- 
 ing the lover's part, sat on a low seat beside 
 her. They were gathered in the dining-room, 
 where she had reluctantly joined the father 
 and son at their evening meal for the first 
 time since her indisposition. '' I know not 
 
4S The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 how it is, but since I said, or heard, those 
 solemn words before God's altai% I feel I 
 cannot say them to Harold. No ! I cannot, I 
 will not," she added, with languid decision. 
 *' Why do you urge me to be your wife, 
 cousin V looking at him steadily ; *' you do 
 not care for me 1 every fine speech you make 
 tells me so ; and I do not fear to say I do 
 not care for you. It will not hurt you ! You 
 will find many a finer lady than I am ready 
 to wed you — / cannot." 
 
 *' What!" said Langley, with a coarse sneer. 
 " Has your vagrant fancy been caught by the 
 ruffian who personated my son ?" 
 
 " I have no fancies," she said sadly, yet 
 with dignity. " So far am I from entertaining 
 any, that I pray you — I call upon you, as my 
 guardian — to set me free from the terrible 
 bond that links me to I know not whom." 
 
 " And so I will, my ward, if you promise to 
 wed Harold the day that mock marriage is 
 dissolved,'' returned Langley grimly. 
 
 '' That I will not," cried Maud petulantly. 
 *' What am I ? What is it that makes you 
 thus persist ?" 
 
 " Ay, what indeed !" said Langley in a low 
 
Tlie Heritage of Langdale, 49 
 
 stern tone, while he rose and paced the room; 
 " what, save a desire to benefit your father's 
 daughter ? Girl, do you know that you are 
 a beggar, dependent on my bounty for the 
 food you eat, and the clothes you wear ; and 
 because few men will wed a penniless help- 
 less gentlewoman, I give you to my son, who, 
 out of chivalrous kindness to his kinswoman, 
 consents to take you ? Girl ! you should in 
 mere gratitude yield us both implicit obedi- 
 ence. What are you, insignificant isolated 
 atom, that you dare to cross my will ?" 
 
 Langley, feeling secure and unspeakably 
 infuriated, let go for a moment the reins of 
 his self-control. 
 
 " Hush, hush, father ! 'tis too harsh," cried 
 Harold, the instinct of good manner revolting 
 against this brutality. 
 
 But Maud, with the imprudent daring of 
 youth, rose from her seat and, confronting 
 her guardian, said, with a tinge of contempt in 
 her clear low voice : 
 
 *' I thank you. Master Langley ; but you 
 need not cumber yourself with me. There 
 are still those friends in France — from whom, 
 against their will, you took me — I wish to go 
 
 VOL. I. 4 
 
50 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 to them, if you are weary of returning to my 
 father's daughter something of the benefits 
 he bestowed — something of the generosity 
 which even admitted your claim to brother- 
 hood." 
 
 The moment the words passed Maud's lips 
 she felt that what she said had turned the 
 scale, and transformed her guardian into a 
 deadly implacable foe ; yet she stood gallantly 
 at bay, nor did her eye flinch from the en- 
 courjt.r with Langley's, turned on her with a 
 glance before which she might well quail. 
 
 " Well, madam, I thank you for your 
 candour ; but it does not lessen my deter- 
 mination to benetit you." He paused a 
 moment. " Two days hence we will start for 
 town ; and there I shall take the measures 
 necessary to dissolve one marriage and cele- 
 brate the other." 
 
 *' Call my woman — call Dorothy/' said the 
 young lady, with an air of command, to Harold; 
 ** and, gentlemen, I wish you both good- 
 night." 
 
 With a haughty bow, she swept past 
 Langley, her head erect and her step steady ; 
 hut when alone with Dorothy, in what 
 
The Heritage of Lanjdale. 51 
 
 -aofonies of tears she cluagf to her — how she 
 sobbed with rage and fear ! 
 
 " Can we not get away ? is there no 
 escape T 
 
 And Dorothy, with tenderest sympathy 
 and gruffest tones said: 
 
 *' God help yoa, my lamb ! there's no 
 escape for empty pockets/' 
 
 Wliile Langley, not a little startled, and 
 vexed too, at his own momentary want of self- 
 control, poured out a bumper of claret and 
 draining it, said, with a constrained smile : 
 
 " A vixen ! but we will tame her — eh, boy ? 
 Oome, you cannot deny that there is fire 
 beneath the snow !" 
 
 *' Ay, sir ; but somewhat volcanic." 
 
 4—2 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 HE Countess of Helmsford sat at her 
 
 toilette one foggy evening about the 
 
 be 
 
 mnnin 
 
 g 
 
 of th 
 
 e year. 
 
 The Countess was a great lady — a 
 beauty still — a wit — a politician — an institu- 
 tion of London life in the first quarter of the 
 eighteenth century. The dinners and card- 
 parties of Lady Helmsford were heavens of 
 fashion into which the outsiders strove for 
 admission with far more of purpose and un- 
 tiring application than they did to make 
 their "calHnor and election sure." The Coun- 
 tess was nobly born, nobly wed, and early 
 widowed. Tory by birth and early associa- 
 tion — Whig by choice — through a certain 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 53 
 
 cold clearness of intellect, which generally 
 guided her right, save when passion blinded 
 her with the gold dust of delusion. 
 
 She was a large voluptuously-formed wo- 
 man, with a pale olive complexion, and dusky 
 shading of the upper lip quite un-English. 
 
 A stately commanding woman, formed by 
 Nature for a great lady. And now she sat 
 before her toilette- table gazing intently on her 
 mirror, while with her own fair discriminating 
 hand she fixed the quaintly-cut patches con- 
 tained in a box held by an obsequious waiting- 
 woman on the plump and delicately-rouged 
 cheeks, which, one after the other, she turned 
 to the light of the wax- tapers in the girandole. 
 
 "There, Beville, I need add no more. In 
 truth, it is sad waste of labour and of time. 
 There is no one in town worth dressing for, 
 only worn-out old rakes and insipid young 
 ones. Ah, Beville, there is not one. Whig or 
 Tory, to compare with that splendid Spaniard 
 who dazzled us all in Paris last autumn/' 
 
 Lady Helmsford spoke to her maid with 
 the sort of contemptuous confidence tyrants 
 bestow on slaves they imagine too lowly to 
 j udge or to disapprove. 
 
54 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " Indeed, my lady, he was a proper man — 
 and a generous. Why, none of the mar- 
 quises or dukes who were courting your lady- 
 ship were half* as open-handed. But I warrant 
 he was a prince in his own country." 
 
 " That I cannot possibly answer for," re- 
 turned the great lady, with a short laugh. 
 " As like he was some bold wanderer from the 
 Spanish main, though he was recognised by 
 many of the Spanish grandees in Paris. No 
 matter, Beville ; there is a fire and manhood 
 in these carvers of their own fortune that 
 make them irresistible." 
 
 The Countess rose as she spoke, and slowly 
 paced to and fro. 
 
 " He was a gentleman too," she went on, 
 as if speaking to herself ** How sti'ange his 
 disappearance ! Just when I had won him 
 from that proud beautiful Marquise de Bois- 
 ville. And she was younger — years younger 
 than I am.'' 
 
 Again she seated herself before her glass, 
 and gazed at her own image intently. " Yes, 
 years younger. But she has neither my 
 passion nor my purpose, still there is mar- 
 vellous witchery in youth." She paused, and 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 55 
 
 struck her own brow lightly with her clenched 
 hand. ''Why can neither power nor will keep 
 back the growing shadows of age? Hateful 
 age ! Had I youth, Beville, he never would 
 have left me without a word — without a line ! 
 But I will not madden myself with these 
 thoughts. My latest fancy still reigns, be- 
 cause nothing has arisen to displace it. God 
 knows how willingly I would welcome a fresh 
 impression." 
 
 While the Countess spoke, Mistress Beville's 
 quick ear distinguished a low knock at the 
 door ; and softly opening it, she held a whis- 
 pered conference with some one outside. 
 
 "What's that, Beville?" called Lady 
 Helmsford imperiously. 
 
 ''There are two women below begging to have 
 speech with your ladyship," replied Biville. 
 
 " Two women ! Who and what are they 
 that I should admit them, and at this hour ?" 
 cried the Countess. 
 
 " They say they can only tell their business 
 to your ladyship." 
 
 " They must then. I am not at the beck 
 and call of every impostor that chooses to 
 apply to me.'' 
 
56 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 At this the messenger without departed, 
 but before ten minutes had . elapsed again 
 tapped at the door. This lime she handed a 
 scrap of paper to Mistress Beville, who, with a 
 curtsy presented it to her lady. The Coun- 
 tess, looking at it disdainfully, read the follow- 
 ing words : 
 
 " For God's sake, madam, do not refuse to 
 see your only sister s child. Maud Langley." 
 
 The Countess was standing in the middle 
 of the room as she glanced at these lines, and 
 she remained silent a few moments. A whole 
 gulf of years suddenly bridged over, as her 
 own stormy restless youth — her bright soft 
 sister — her frank, gallant, simple-minded 
 brother-in-law, once most dear to her — all 
 rose up out of the mists of time clear and 
 vivid. Her haughty face, however, did not 
 soften ; rather the small hand, with its fleshy 
 palm and slight long-nailed fingers, clutched 
 the paper with increasing tightness that im- 
 plied displeasure. 
 
 " Admit them," she said at length. She 
 remained standing for the few minutes that 
 intervened, the same dreamy outlook in her 
 eyes, though lip and brow were unrelaxed. _^j 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 57 
 
 Soon the door reopened, and two women, 
 wrapped in large cloaks with hoods which 
 almost covered their faces, entered. The 
 taller of the two stopped respectfully just 
 within the door ; the other advancing quickly 
 to Lady Helmsford, and throwing back her 
 hood showed the sweet arch face of Maud 
 Langley, so fair with the inexpressible beauty 
 of innocent youth that Lady Helmsford invo- 
 luntarily frowned. 
 
 " Do not reject a suppliant, madam," said 
 Maud, taking the Countess's disengaged hand 
 and kissing it, while she spoke entreatingly 
 and playfully ; poor spoiled pet as she had 
 been, she did not dream of rejection, specially 
 from a woman. Scarce remembering a mother, 
 she had always yearned for a mother's love, 
 and imagined a mother's sister, herself child- 
 less, must offer the nearest approach to that 
 tender relationship. The Countess still kept 
 silent, standing in the midst of her splendidly- 
 furnished and decorated dressing-room — the 
 picture of power and wealth — the long full 
 folds of her gorgeous silk rohe de chamhre 
 falling over her hoop to the floor, her jewelled 
 hand still in Maud's ; and Maud looking up, 
 
58 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 her soft brown hair disordered by the hood 
 she had just thrown back, smiling yet tear- 
 fully. 
 
 " And how am I to know you are my niece^ 
 young lady ?" asked the Countess at length, 
 slowly, reluctantly. 
 
 " Look on me, dear aunt ; and see this,'* 
 drawing from her pocket a small richly-bound 
 book, which she opened to show the Countess 
 her own writing on the fly-leaf. 
 
 "Yes," said Lady Helmsford, ''you are 
 like your mother. I do not doubt you are 
 Lord Langdale's daughter, so sit here by me, 
 and say why you have come. I understood 
 you were safe under John Langley's guardian- 
 ship, and had been, or were about to be, mar- 
 ried to his son — a very proper, and on his 
 part disinterested, arrangement — with which," 
 continued Lady Helmsford, lifting up her 
 hand to stop Maud from speaking, '* I did 
 not interfere, because for many years your 
 fdther and I were not friends. lie disliked 
 me much, and I always pay back what I 
 get." 
 
 " I have heard somewhat of this," returned 
 Maud, her eyes filling and terribly chilled by 
 
The Heritage of Lcmgdale. 59 
 
 her reception ; " but does not death obliterate 
 such bitterness ? Let me, however, tell my 
 tale — then reject me if you will." 
 
 In as few words as she could, Maud detailed 
 her removal fiom the neighbourhood of St. 
 Germain by John Langley ; her loneliness 
 and melancholy life at Langdale Priory ; her 
 reluctant consent to wed Harold — chiefly to 
 escape the monotony she found so oppressive ; 
 then • the mysterious substitution of a total 
 stranger for the intended bridegroom, and the 
 curious circumstances which ensued. *' Find- 
 ing that they could not induce me nor my good 
 friend Mr. Everard to consent to a repetition of 
 the marriage ceremony," sne continued, ''my 
 uncle was sore displeased, and some ^ve or 
 six weeks ago. my good Dorothy and I had 
 sudden orders to prepare to start with Mr. 
 Langley for London next day. We had a 
 long and toilsome journey. Since then we 
 have lodged in Mr. Langley s house ; and 
 every day, every day ! Harold persecutes me, 
 and says he loves me, though I read something 
 more akin to hatred in Ins eyes. And John 
 Langley is so smooth — so dark. Oh ! I have 
 a dread of evil more than I dare picture to 
 
60 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 myself! So at last Dorothy, with much pains- 
 taking, found you were in London, and where ; 
 and though I had no money, she had four 
 gold pieces that that gentleman gave her the 
 day of the marriage ; but they were not 
 English pieces and she had trouble to change 
 them. To-night John Langley dines with 
 Lord Berkeley, and a young girl came with 
 some needlework Dorothy had given her ; so 
 I wrapped myself in her cloak and stole out 
 in her place : Dorothy followed and called a 
 coach. I marvel how she escaped, for we 
 were well watched. But she turned the key 
 on the poor girl, and she will be prisoner there 
 till supper-time. And I am here to ask you 
 for safety — for life ! Oh, aunt — dear aunt, 
 do not send me back to those terrible men 
 again !" 
 
 Lady Helmsford had listened intently to 
 this recital, while her busy brain turned over 
 the material presented to it, contriving how 
 she might weave it into the warp and woof 
 of her own web. To reject her niece she saw 
 would never do, either for her character or 
 her influence ; she therefore said, more cordi- 
 ally than she had hitherto spoken : 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 61 
 
 *' No, child, no ! you shall remain under 
 my protection, at any rate until I have seen 
 and conferred with Mr. Langley. Beville, 
 let a chamber be prepared for my niece ; and 
 this person — your woman, I suppose T 
 
 " My nurse when I was but eight years 
 old — my friend ever since," said Maud, stretch- 
 ing out her hand to Dorothy. 
 
 " Ah ! Should you like her to share your 
 room ?" asked Lady Helmsford indifferently. 
 
 '' yes ! I am too frightened — too shaken 
 — to be left alone. But to-night I shall sleep 
 so peacefully — so safe — thanks to you, dear 
 aunt." 
 
 " It is well," returned the Countess. " I 
 am obliged to go out to-night ; but Beville 
 and the housekeeper will see that you are 
 properly attended to. You had better con- 
 duct Mistress Langley to the yellow drawing- 
 room ; and, Beville, be sure you send Chifferil 
 to me." 
 
 Beville conducted the fugitives to a com- 
 paratively small apartment, hung with amber 
 satin, and, like the rest of the mansion, richl}^ 
 furnished ; here, she said, supper should be 
 served, and then left them. 
 
62 The Ileintage of Lang dale. 
 
 *' At last, Dorothy, I feel safe," cried Maud, 
 throwing her arms round the stiff figure of 
 her humble friend. 
 
 ** And so you are, my bundle, anyhow for a 
 while ; though I like not yon Countess — she 
 is cold and hard. I wish we were back in 
 France, my child." 
 
 " Ah ! so do I. But now we have escaped 
 John Langley, perhaps we shall manage that 
 also," cried Maud hopefully. 
 
 " Perhaps," sighed Dorothy, not liking to 
 damp her young mistress, yet thinking to 
 herself, " And who will pay for the journey, 
 and how should we live T for she well knew 
 her beloved nursling was penniless and de- 
 pendent. 
 
 Meantime Mistress Beville returned to her 
 lady and reported Mr. Chifferil absent. 
 
 " Gone out ?" repeated the Countess, with 
 haughty incredulit}'. " Impossible ! Send 
 and search the house, lie has never dared 
 absent himself without leave before. It can- 
 not be." 
 
 But it was so. The favourite secretary, 
 the obedient right-hand man, was not to be 
 found. Now, when Lady Helmsford especially 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 63 
 
 wanted him for a mission of importance, 
 •Chifferil was absent without leave. 
 
 While this scene was being enacted at the 
 Countess of Helrasford's grand mansion, the 
 habitual frequenters of "Lamb's Coifee-house," 
 as an obscure tavern situated in a court of 
 the same name was called, were gradually 
 assembling. Lamb's Court was reached by 
 a short narrow passage, scarce wide enough 
 for two persons abreast, opening on the north 
 side of Holborn, a little east of the Bars, and 
 although obscure, was yet well known to a 
 large circle of curious patrons. Men who had 
 mystic signs of recognition, who used peculiar 
 phrases and swore strange oaths ; men to 
 whom money was a fluctuating possession, 
 being one month unaccountably flush of cash, 
 and another as unaccountably penniless. 
 Foreigners too resorted there, and travellers 
 of high and low degree. 
 
 The landlord was a huge sailor-like person- 
 age, with a grufi* voice and jovial manner. 
 He was a Guernsey man, whose long life (he 
 was now old) must have been a roving one, 
 
64 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 for his knowledge of foreign languages and 
 foreign moneys was remarkable, as was also 
 the excellence of the spirits, tobacco, and 
 coffee to be had at his establishment, while 
 Continental doings were generally reported at 
 "Lamb's" with unusual correctness. 
 
 The coffee-room was a large, low, not over 
 clean apartment, with a great projecting fire- 
 place. It opened into the court beneath the 
 overhanging upper story ; behind it were dark 
 passages and two or three chambers, as brown 
 and dingy as the general room, but possessing 
 a narrow and cautiously-m.arked outlet into a 
 miserable crooked lane at the back, which, 
 after many turnings, led to some famous 
 stables near Hatton Garden, where the hard- 
 ridden nags of the gentlemen of the road 
 found provender and repose. 
 
 This cold December night then, somewhere 
 about tlie same time that Maud Langley was 
 suing for her aunt's protection, the habitues of 
 " Lamb's," as it was familiarly termed, were 
 dropping in. They were not of a class easily 
 deterred by weather from rambling abroad — ■ 
 principally because they had no very settled 
 abodes ; " Lamb's " was about the nearest 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 65 
 
 approach most of them knew to home. They 
 were a motley crew, variable in spirits and 
 flactnatino- in attire. He who was last week 
 •in the lowest condition of toilette would next 
 appear radiant in powder, perfume, rings, lace, 
 
 • and braveries abundant. Of such chansfes 
 the frequenters of *' Lamb's " were far too well 
 ■bred to take notice. Moreover they knew 
 •each other to be ready to " draw " on the 
 
 smallest provocation, and that most of those 
 who " thereabouts did congrreofate " were no 
 mean masters of fence. 
 
 On this special evening five or six of the 
 graver and more staid customers were seated 
 -at the little tables with which the coffee-room 
 was furnished, in Continental fashion, drink- 
 ing coffee, chocolate, or more stimulating 
 ^beverages ; while a group of the latest arrivals 
 gathered round the fire. The loudest talker 
 amongst them was a stout broad-built man, 
 his flowing wig somewhat, awry, and showing 
 the rough grizzled hair beneath. His dress, 
 •of fine and showy material, had evidently been 
 ill-treated ; while his small bloodshot eye, 
 
 • coarse cruel mouth, and swaggering reckless 
 manner stamped him as one of those des- 
 
 VOL. I. 5 
 
66 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 peiadoes who, with nothing to lose, are ready 
 for any work from which honest men would 
 shrink. The others, evidently of the same 
 class, a shade better perhaps, were listening ; 
 and one gaunt, grey, old soldier-looking man, 
 of remarkable height, stood silent within the 
 shadow of the projecting fireplace. 
 
 "Yes, my bojs," the orator was saying, " I 
 was in grand company to-day. I had the 
 
 honour of a salute from the Duchess of B 
 
 on the Mall, and had a smile too from the 
 
 beautiful Mistress C . Ay ! she would 
 
 give me more than a smile if I asked for 
 it. But I am going to reform, to grow a 
 respectable loyal gentleman, nay, nobleman 
 rather. I am going to elope with an 
 heiress V 
 
 " With or without her consent ?" asked a 
 shrewd-looking fellow, considerably younger 
 than the first speaker. 
 
 " Consent — ten thousand devils ! yes. I 
 am married to her already, only it did not 
 suit me to set up housekeeping all at once. 
 Come you, Bill, Peter — wha-t's your name ? 
 Bring wine^ and good Nantes. You shall 
 drink my health, boys — and my bride's.'' 
 
TJoe Heritage of Langdale. Q7 
 
 " Name ! name !'' shouted the bystanders 
 boisterou.slv. 
 
 " Mistress Nathaniel Morley," returned the 
 gallant, giving his own appellation with such 
 an exaggerated air of dignity and importance 
 that a shout of laughter broke from his 
 hearers. 
 
 ^^ Nee what?" asked one of them. 
 
 *' What's that to you, who she was ? and 
 what she has is my business." 
 
 " Some publican's widow ?" suggested one. 
 
 " No, no, no !" shouted Morley. Then, sink- 
 ing his voice, he went on, " A high-born 
 beauteous lady. Fair, tender, sweet, scarfce 
 nineteen. And here's the wine ! Come, now 
 who will help a virtuous loving pair to escape 
 the toils of envious relatives and cruel guar- 
 dians? Come, you Hardy, Stephens^ Ellis, 
 you are of the right sort ! I want your help, 
 and helping me you shall get a lift your- 
 selves." 
 
 So saying he placed himself at a table in 
 the angle to the right of the fireplace, toler- 
 ably secure from intruders, where the men he 
 had invited sat down with him and seemed to 
 listen with profound attention to some propo- 
 
6"8 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 sition propounded by Morley with much ges- 
 ticulation and many oaths, which every now 
 and then rose articulate above the carefully- 
 subdued undertone of his speech. 
 
 Meantime some more customers had quietly 
 entered and called for what refreshment they 
 needed ; and the last comer, a little thin man 
 with spidery legs, a wizened face, and eager, 
 restless, light-grey eyes peering from beneath 
 a wig of disproportion ed magnitude, laid 
 aside a cloak from which he shook the half- 
 melted snow, and crept close to the fire, a 
 cup of chocolate in his hand. *' Give you 
 good-even, gentlemen," he said to those still 
 standing round. His precise voice and neat 
 prim dress looked in strange contrast to the 
 rest. A general " good- evening " was given 
 him in return, and after a few remarks on the 
 weather, the little man asked, " How is the 
 good host ? 1 have not been here for a long 
 time, and miss him from his accustomed 
 place." 
 
 " I believe the old gentleman is tolerably 
 well, but less active than he used to be," re- 
 plied one of the more respectable of the by- 
 standers. " He seldom honours us with his 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 69 
 
 presence now. He has scarce been in the 
 coffee-room since last autumn, when the 
 Spaniard used to be here." 
 
 *' Ah, indeed," returned the first speaker, 
 who appeared to be in a very fidgety and 
 expectant state, glancing at the door and 
 edging now nearer the fire, now nearer the 
 party engrossed by Morley's exposition of his 
 scheme. 
 
 " Ay," remarked one of the older habitues^ 
 *' that Spaniard was a great chum of the 
 host's. He always brought his coffee himself, 
 and used to take him into his own room, and 
 I'll warrant gave him no end of prime liquor." 
 
 ''And how long may it be since this 
 Spaniard was here ?" asked the gaunt man in 
 the chimney-nook, who had hitherto kept 
 silence, and now spoke with a peculiar tone 
 and accent — not foreio^n and not EoDrlish. 
 
 " Three months or more," said one. 
 
 "Not so long," insisted another. 
 
 " These Spaniards are slippery chaps," said 
 the gaunt man, carelessly rising as he spoke, 
 " Here to-day and gone to-morrow ;" so saying 
 he began to hum a rude ditty, and, boldly 
 striding up to Morley, startled him with a 
 
70 The Heritage of Lane/dale. 
 
 sudden heavy slap on the shoulder. " Hey, 
 old ratcatcher! Hast forgotten tliy com- 
 rade ? Come, let me share what's going. We 
 have had many a forage together, and I never 
 robbed you of your fair half What's going, 
 I say." 
 
 ** Why, it can't be ; but yes it is the 
 Blazer," cried Morley, starting up, but looking 
 more surprised than pleased. " I thought 
 you were dead and buried ; some said 
 drowned, bub I never believed that.'' 
 
 " Alive, man, alive ! to serve your fortunes, 
 if so be that they serve mine." 
 
 " Sit dow^n then," cried Morley more cor- 
 dially ; whereupon the gaunt man joined the 
 party in the angle, and soon absorbed the 
 larger share of the talk, to say nothing of his 
 full proportion of drink. 
 
 He had not long been thus engaged when 
 the outer door again opened to admit yet an- 
 other visitor — a tall figure wrapped in a wide 
 dark cloak, one corner of which was thrown 
 carelessly, yet not ungracefully, over the right, 
 shoulder ; a slouched hat of soft felt completed 
 the almost total concealment of his face and 
 figure. Yet was there something in his gait 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 71 
 
 and carriage that bespoke a status far above 
 the ordinary frequenters of '' Lamb's!" He 
 paused on reaching the centre of the room, 
 and bowino^, raised his hand to his hat 
 without removing it, as a sort of salutation 
 to the company, and called to one of the tap- 
 sters in a deep commanding tone, " Pedro ;" 
 whereupon the man, evidently recognising 
 the voice, came running up, bowed obse- 
 quiously, and asked some question in Spanish, 
 to which the other replied in the same lan- 
 guage ; at which the tapster disappeared 
 through an inner door. 
 
 The new comer then approached the fire, 
 and, addressing the little nervous chocolate- 
 drinker courteously, after some remarks on. 
 the weather, observed, " I have surely had 
 the pleasure of meeting you before — in 
 Paris r 
 
 *' Yes, certainly," said the little" man, 
 changing from one foot to the other so quickly 
 that the spoon rattled in the cnp he still 
 held. " I remember you well, sir, and it 
 gives me much satisfaction to renew the 
 acquaintance." 
 
 " Perhaps then you will do me the honour 
 
72 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 to sup. They cook one or two dishes very 
 passably here V 
 
 " Sh% your invitation is an honour not to 
 be declined," returned the precise gentleman, 
 and as he spoke the door by which the waiter 
 or tapster had disappeared reopened, and a 
 man of great girth and corpulence rolled rather 
 than walked into the room. 
 
 He was dark eyed, dark skinned, with a 
 broad, bold, honest face. This was the landlord, 
 Jacques, or, as he was more usually called, 
 Jack Robilliard. Disregarding all his other 
 guests, he at once made his way to the gentle- 
 man who had just invited the chocolate- 
 drinker to supper, and taking the hand held 
 out to him with the most profound respect, 
 they spoke together for a few minutes some- 
 what eagerly in French, interlarded with 
 some exclamations in Spanish. 
 
 " Aliens, Monsieur,^' said the gentleman at 
 length, laying his hand on his guest's shoulder, 
 " let's retire and enjoy our morsel in peace ;" 
 and he motioned Robilliard to lead the way. 
 
 The room into which the host ushered 
 them was destitute of carpet and very siri^ply 
 furnished. Nevertheless a blazing fire and 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 73 
 
 curtains of some thick red stuff gave it an 
 air of comfort a ad warmth most acceptable 
 on such a night. Near the fire stood a small 
 table, on which the tapster Peter was rapidly 
 setting forth the array requisite for a repast, 
 which was neater and even more ornamental 
 than could have been expected in such a 
 place. As soon as they entered he left the 
 room, and the host, closing the door, stood by 
 it in an attitude of respectful expectation. 
 The Spaniard, as he appeared to be, threw 
 off his cloak and hat with a gesture of 
 relief, and approaching the fire, spread his 
 hands to the flame, and then rubbing them 
 together, turned to face his guest and E.obil- 
 liard. He was a tall, though not specially 
 tall, man — of twenty-eight or thirty, broad 
 shouldered, though otherwise slight of make ; 
 simply dressed in dark claret-coloured cloth, 
 with heavy foreign-looking gold buttons. 
 The expression of his bronzed face was re- 
 solute and stern when in repose, and his 
 glance was especially keen and bold. His 
 hair — thick, curly, and almost black — was 
 worn without powder — simply tied back with 
 a ribbon, so as to form some approach to that 
 
74 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 indispensable appendage a queue; this and 
 a sliort, thick, dark moustache completed the 
 un-English aspect of his whole person. 
 
 '' Come, Master ChifFeril/' he said in 
 English, though with a slight foreign accent 
 — a pleasant smile lighting up his dark eyes 
 and softening his face. " Draw near the fire, 
 Master Chifferil. Bah !" he continued, as 
 he noticed the uneasy glance shot by the 
 little man in the direction of the host. " You 
 need not distrust Ptobilliard. He is - the 
 stanchest truest old dog between this and 
 the Antilles — as faithful to the Langleys as 
 myself or you." 
 
 " I am sure our worthy host deserves all 
 trust," returned Chifferil nervously; "but 
 these are troublous times, and if it be 
 known that /, the secretary of— no matter 
 who," checking himself, " come here at all, 
 why, I shall not only be undone myself, which 
 is small matter, but be of little further use to 
 you in this affair." 
 
 " Can he be of any use anyhow. Excel- 
 lency ?" asked Robilliard somewhat scornfully, 
 as he looked indignantly at the speaker. 
 
 " Ay, ay," returned the Spaniard, laughing ; 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 75 
 
 " do not be unmannerly, man. Remember, I 
 generally know what I am about, and Vv^e 
 want brains as well as thews and sinews. 
 Master ChifFeril does well to be prudent." 
 
 The host bowed. 
 
 " And how goes it with yourself, E-obilliard, 
 brave old boy V 
 
 '' Cheerily, sir, cheerily ; though time 
 begins to press somewhat heavily on me, and 
 men are not what they were. The King 
 over the water has fewer friends than ever. 
 Men come here from Lorraine and the Haofue 
 brimful of loyalty and devotion — phew ! a 
 week's contact with Londoners cools them 
 down mighty fast." 
 
 "That cannot be helped," returned the 
 Spaniard, gazing at the fire and speaking as 
 though to himself. " The Stuarts are a help- 
 less doomed race. I was born a Jacobite, 
 but time shows me they will not do. The 
 Hanover men — German boors though they be 
 • — are better kings for England. But come, 
 good host, let's have supper, and a bottle of 
 your rare Burgundy after, with -your own 
 good company to heighten its flavour." 
 
 There was kindly familiarity mingled with 
 
76 The Heritctf/e of Langdale. 
 
 command in the speaker's manner. Robil- 
 liard bowed, and was lea vino- the room whea 
 his evidently important guest called after 
 him in French : 
 
 '' There is a tall rusty-looking man among 
 the drinking party by the fireplace. Don't 
 let him go till I have spoken with him. I 
 think he is one I have long looked for." 
 
 " I'll see to him, Excellency ; I'll see to 
 him/' returned Robilliard, and turned away, 
 almost coming in collision with the waiter, 
 who now brought in an appetising supper — a 
 roast pheasant, an omelette, and one or two 
 small dainty foreign dishes, with a flask of 
 wine. Having duly set forth these viands he 
 departed. 
 
 ''Now then, Master Chifferil, let us fall 
 to," said the entertainer; "and while we 
 supply our bodies with sustenance you shall 
 satisfy my soul with news. Indeed, 'tis- 
 such a night I feared you would not attend 
 my summons." 
 
 " No, no, sir," cried Chifferil, seating him- 
 self and unfolding his napkin with alacrity, 
 while he spoke with a droll assumption of 
 energy. " No weather — nothing would have 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 77 
 
 kept me from the rendezvous. The hint in 
 jour letter of the plan afoot would have fired 
 me to face worse thino^s than a shower of 
 sleet, Monsieur de Monteiro." 
 
 " Per Dios 1 you are a man of mettle, 
 Master Chiffeiil. Tell me first how fares the 
 adorable Countess T 
 
 " Oh, well ; right well," mumbled Chifferil, 
 his mouth full of pheasant, ''and more impe- 
 rious than ever. By the blessing of Heaven 
 she had done with me rather earlier than 
 usual, and went to dress for a reception or a 
 card-party, or I should not have been here in 
 time for your appointment ; but I just slipped 
 out so soon as she summoned her woman, 
 and no one will know whether I am at home 
 or abroad." 
 
 "Cunninglymanaged," replied the Spaniard, 
 filling his guest's glass to the brim. '' And 
 does your noble mistress deign to remember 
 the strange caballero she used to notice in 
 Paris r 
 
 " I think so, I think so,'* said Chifferil 
 reflectively, ceasing to ply his knife and fork 
 for an instant. " It was only three or four 
 days back when she asked me, if amid the 
 
78 Tlie Heritage cf Langdale. 
 
 town gossip (her ladyship always looks to me 
 for tidings — all manner of things) if I had 
 heard ought of Don Juan di Monteiro, and I 
 answered, 'No!' He, he, he! I answered 
 ' No !'" the little man chuckled at the notion 
 of misleading his haughty mistress. 
 
 *' Well, I must renew my acquaintance 
 with the beautiful Countess ; for know, my 
 good Chifferil, I intend to employ her ser- 
 vices."" 
 
 " Employ my lady the Countess !" repeated 
 Chifieril, aghast at so daring a proposition. 
 *' Good lack ! sir, she is more like to employ 
 you." 
 
 " We shall see," returned the Don, with a 
 gay defiant laugh ; " and now what have you 
 gathered of John Langley ? What of his 
 lacquered fopling of a son V 
 
 " I only was able to find out last week. 
 They are in town." 
 
 "And the projected marriage — has that 
 been carried out ?" 
 
 As he asked this Monteiro filled himself a 
 bumper ; his expression had visibly changed 
 as he spoke of the Langleys, and he now 
 looked eagerly for Chifferil's answer. 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 7 9 
 
 " I think not ; I think not. Anyway, T 
 could gain no certain intelligence — save that 
 there is a young lady under Langley's care, 
 no doubt his ward, the late lord's daughter." 
 " The young Baroness Langdale 1" ex- 
 claimed Monteiro ; " a bumper to her, Chif- 
 feril I My lady's health ! — I have devoted 
 myself to her service for the present — and 
 confusion to her foes ! That base hound, 
 John Langley, shall never wed her to his son 
 — never !" 
 
 • ''Alack! honoured sir, I know not how 
 you can prevent it. John Langley is strong 
 and resolute, and stands well with men now 
 in power." 
 
 " Hear me," replied Monteiro, with a frown ; 
 *' but first tell me, what is it links you so 
 closely to the house of Langley T 
 
 " 'Tis an old and a long, tale, sir; but in 
 bygone days Lord Langdale was a good friend 
 to me in more ways than one. He saved a 
 fair young sister of mine from a sad fate, and 
 lifted us both out of the mire of poverty. I 
 was a clerk when John Langley was first 
 being noticed as a clever lawyer, and I always 
 mistrusted his friendship for my lord. Then 
 
80 21 le Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 Lord Langdale was forced to fly, and I heard 
 no more of him foi' years ; till, happening to 
 be in Paris with my lady nigh a year ago, I 
 managed to steal away to see him, and found 
 him near death, in a by-street of that gay 
 town ; for he was too poor to follow the 
 Chevalier to Lorraine. He knew me, and 
 was pleased I showed gratitude ; and so I 
 went once and ao-ain while he lasted. You 
 remember 'twas at his lodgings I first saw 
 you ; but you were too late — he had died 
 that morning." 
 
 '* Yes, it was most unfortunate," said Mon- 
 teiro, rising to pace the room. " How was 
 it," he asked after a short silence, " that Lady 
 Helmsford did not assume the guardianship 
 of her niece ?" 
 
 " There were many reasons," replied Chif- 
 feril sadly. " My lady hated the late lord 
 sore — she knew not of his death till a week 
 or more after ; and when she asked for her 
 niece, she had gone with a good lady, the 
 widow of one of King James's officers, w4io 
 had almost brought her up — none knew 
 whither, or my lady did not care to inquire. 
 Then word came that Lord Langdale had left 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 81 
 
 her to his bastard brother's care ; next that 
 John Langley had fetched her away to Eng* 
 land, and meant to wed her to his son. Now, 
 my respected host, will you condescend to 
 tell me wherefore you, a stranger, a foreigner, 
 take so much interest in this orphan ? Why 
 have you so fierce a hatred to John Langley ?" 
 
 " I will tell you," said Monteiro, again re- 
 plenishing Chifferil's glass. " But it is a long 
 tale. I too owe some duty, some gratitude, 
 to the house of Langdale. Have you ever 
 heard of an uncle of the late lord's — a certain 
 Rupert Langley ?" 
 
 " Yes, I have just heard his name." 
 
 " Well," continued the Spaniard, speaking 
 rapidly, " Rupert Langley was always a wild 
 and somewhat reckless gallant, and ever loved 
 the sea. While a lad of seventeen he was an 
 officer on board King James's own ship, when, 
 as Lord High Admiral of England, he fought 
 De Kuyter and his Dutchmen so fiercely off 
 Southwold Bay. For some time Rupert was 
 near the King's person ; but he was too honest 
 to cringe to priest or favourite — his favour 
 flagged. He fought a duello with a Catholic 
 noble, who had displeased some lady beloved 
 
 VOL. I. 6 
 
82 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 by him, and wounded Km adversary to death ; 
 so he was forbidden the Court. In disgust, 
 he took to a seafaring life, and became one of 
 the most famous rovers of the Spanish main 
 — a gentlenian rover, I had the honour of 
 serving under him from boyhood." 
 
 At this announcement Chifferil looked up 
 with a visible shiver. 
 
 *' Does that frighten you V said Monteiro, 
 laughing. *' Ah ! my good friend, I wish all 
 you landsmen were as honest fellows as the 
 brave buccaneers ! Let me tell you we have 
 our own code. Never did El Yeloz point a 
 gun at any vessel hearing the flag of Old 
 England. We certainly punished the Dutch 
 and the Portuguese, and sometimes had a 
 brush with a Frenchman ; but the Captain 
 was always true to his colours, and merciful 
 too — a saint, an angel of light, compared to 
 the old rovers of whom you have heard. But 
 to finish my tale. When his old commander's 
 troubles closed round him, Eupert Langley 
 could not refrain from coming to his help; for he 
 was at that time often to and fro the northern 
 ports of Spain, and learned what was going 
 on. He was, I have been told, present at 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 83 
 
 some of the fio^htiiio- in. Ireland, and aided 
 many of the fugitives to escape in his famous 
 ■cruiser to France and elsewhere. Then, as 
 liis King's cause seemed hopeless, he lefc these 
 latitudes ; nor did he revisit them for many 
 years — not till I had grown to be his lieu- 
 tenant and rio^ht-hand. Then, for reasons I 
 cannot go into now, he sent me to London 
 about three years ago. My mission was to 
 see Lord Langdale, his nephew, and deliver 
 into his own hand a letter. I was also to 
 seek out John Langley, on whom E/Upert 
 looked as a promising young man, devoted to 
 the family with which he had the honour to 
 be, even in a side way, connected." 
 
 ** Just so," put in Chifferil ; " that was the 
 character he bore when I knew^ him in his 
 struggling days — when my Lord Langdale, 
 who was many years his junior, had just come 
 into the estate, and begun to help him." 
 
 " The scoundrel !" muttered Monteiro. '' I 
 tell you, Master Chifferil, the gentlemen 
 rovers are holy saints compared to such a 
 man as this." 
 
 " Your honour is right," cried Chifferil, 
 with somewhat abject readiness. 
 
 6—2 
 
84 Tlie Heiitage of Langdale, 
 
 '* Well, I found Lord Langdale in exile ; 
 and John Langley sole representative of the 
 once potent house. He received me well ; 
 expressed much regard for his uncle ; but I 
 never quite took to the fellow. Nor did I 
 show the letter I had for Lord Lancrdale. I 
 accomplished little or nothing of the matter 
 on which I had been sent, and returned to- 
 my — my noble commander, who awaited me 
 at Brest. He was wroth with me for my 
 distrust ; and, faith ! I was a while in dis- 
 grace. Then I believe he contrived to com- 
 municate with Langley himself However, 
 the rising in Scotland was soon after talked 
 of; and Rupert Langley, ever hopeful of the 
 Stuart cause, threw himself heart and soul 
 into the undertaking. His idea was, to rouse 
 the people of the south coast at the same 
 time that Mar raised the standard in the 
 North. He thought he could count on the 
 Langdale men ; and, utterly deceived by 
 John Langley, fancied he could certainly 
 trust him. So, with a large store of arms and 
 ammunition, we sailed from Cherbourg, and 
 blood off and on between Hastings and 
 H} the. All suspicion being directed to the 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale, 85 
 
 ^orth, we were unmolested, and even sent a 
 boat ashore at Hye, according to some signal 
 my — Captain had agreed upon with John 
 Langley. We met a messenger from him, 
 who had a letter, the purport of which was 
 that, if we liked, we could land our cargo the 
 following night ; that he would find a place of 
 safety wherein to stow it ; and that all was 
 going well. I persuaded my noble friend and 
 patron not to take aught with him in the 
 first boat, simply to make sure of the ground. 
 Indeed, I strove hard to make him stay be- 
 hind ; but, alas ! I could not." The Spaniard 
 paused a moment, and bent his head on his 
 head on his hand. " Alas ! I could not," he 
 i-esumed. *' We landed on a pitch-dark night, 
 •and were received by an ambush — soldiers 
 placed to trap us ! However, they did not 
 -count on the sort of foe they roused : we 
 fought our way desperately back to the boat, 
 hwt not before the Captain was wounded — 
 shot by Langley himself !" 
 
 " How could you tell that in so dark a 
 night ?" asked Chifferil eagerly. 
 
 " Because it had been a dry autumn, and 
 the scene of our encounter was high up on 
 
S6 The Heritage of LaiigdaTe. 
 
 the beach, where furze-bushes and coarse 
 grass grew plentifully. These caught fire in 
 the fray, and blazing up, I distinctly saw 
 Langley level his pistol at our leader. He 
 fell, and though he rose again and managed, 
 with help, to reach the boat, he was dead 
 before we could convey him on board — dead I 
 the truest, the best! Well, Master John 
 Langley captured neither arms nor ammu- 
 nition, nor does he know if his victim lived 
 or died, nor that / witnessed the murder;, 
 but from that day I have vowed to revenge 
 the treachery. I could never bring John 
 Langley to justice, but I shall punish him 
 my own way. I was left in command of our 
 ship and crew, and was obliged to visit the 
 Bahamas before I could follow up my revered 
 commander's last injunction, to see and wara 
 Lord Langdale. When I did, it was too late — 
 he had breathed his last. Since I have not 
 been able to accomplish much, yet I have not 
 been quite idle." 
 
 *' This is indeed a curious history," said 
 ChifFeril, who had listened with deep yet un- 
 easy curiosity. 
 
 " But I have not quite finished," resumed 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 87 
 
 the Spaniard. " Rupert Langley had heard 
 in his last visit to France a rumour that the 
 late Queen had granted a pardon to Lord 
 Langdale, reinstating him in all his rights. 
 I have since ascertained this to be a fact, but 
 where the document is to be found, and in 
 whose possession, no one knows. If John 
 Langley has got hold of it, adieu to one 
 means of punishment. If it is above ground, 
 out of his possession, it will go hard but I 
 will contrive to find it" 
 
 "Dear! dear! I tremble to think of my 
 lord's young daughter being in that cruel 
 bad man's hands !'^ cried Chitferil. 
 
 " What think you are his designs on that 
 poor child ?" asked the other. 
 
 " My lady heard, when first we returned, 
 that he intended to marry her to his son, 
 young Captain Langley of the Guards." 
 
 " And why does not your lady prevent so 
 cruel a sacrifice ? The young lady has doubt- 
 less been well and tenderly nurtured, and to 
 give her a husband such as he — pah ! I am 
 no saint, but it turns me sick. It must not 
 be !" Monteiro spoke with some heat. 
 
 *' I fear me much that by this time it must 
 
88 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 be accomplished/' returned Cliifferil, with some 
 timidity. *'Nay, more, my noble mistress 
 wondered at the prudent Master Langley 
 being so ready to wed his son to the penniless 
 orphan of an exile, which — " 
 
 " Is a proof he knows the pardon exists," 
 interrupted Monteiro eagerly. 
 
 Chifferil nodded assent. 
 
 " Now then, my good friend Chifferil, my 
 scheme is to induce the Countess to adopt 
 and protect her niece. She must be told that 
 this pardon exists ; that, so far from being a 
 penniless orphan, Maud Langley is a peeress 
 and an heiress. She would not like to see her 
 niece wed to a nobody both by nature and 
 station." 
 
 "Ay, sir, it would be the right thing for 
 the young lady to be under the Countess's 
 charge ; but who will speak to her ? who will 
 care to * bell so fierce a cat ' V 
 
 '* I would if I thought it would mend mat- 
 ters," said Monteiro, as if to himself, '' but it 
 would not. Could you not manage, as pur- 
 veyor of news, to drop a hint that such a 
 rumour is whispered ? or, better still, suggest 
 to the fair orphan to claim her aunt's pro- 
 tection ?" 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 89 
 
 " I iniglit — I might," returned ChifFeril re- 
 hictantly. " But how, worthy sir, if the 
 marriage is itnfait accompli f 
 
 " I will blow the bridegroom's brains out," 
 cried Monteiro fiercely ; and then, catching a 
 glimpse of ChifFeril's dismayed expression, he 
 laughed. " However, I hope to accomplish my 
 designs without such clumsy work ; but time 
 presses. The best means that I can see to 
 induce the Countess to receive her niece is 
 for that young lady to throw herself on her 
 aunt's protection. The question is, how to 
 communicate with her ? Can you manage 
 it?" 
 
 " Hardly, sir, hardly," returned Chifferil, 
 with a slight shiver ; " and yet I will risk 
 somewhat ; yes" — with a sudden uprearing of 
 the head and stiffening of the back — " I will 
 not be overcome by any mean thought of self 
 I shall ascertain if the lady is really in town, 
 and then I shall soa:iehow let her know that 
 her best chance of safety is in flight. But 
 suppose this young Captain has taken her 
 fancy ? They do say he is a pretty fellow." 
 
 " Caramba 1" cried Monteiro, starting from 
 his seat impatiently to pace the floor once to 
 
90 The Heiitage of Langdale. 
 
 and fro. *' I did not think of that ! And 
 she is young', and has seen so Httle ;" reseating 
 himself *' If so, why, it will be the nearest 
 to a checkmate I can suffer. Eather than 
 her fancy should go astray for want of a 
 proper object, I would enter the lists with 
 Harold Langley myself I should have na 
 objection to a fair well-dowered English wife ;" 
 and he smiled with an air of gay coxcombry 
 that sat well on him. 
 
 " You wed the Lady of Langdale ! You, 
 a — " exclaimed the little secretary, almost 
 losing his head with horrified astonishment, 
 but pulling up before he uttered the objection- 
 able word. 
 
 " A freebooter you would say ! What 
 matter ? I have known as great ladies as 
 the young Baroness who thought none the 
 worse of me for my career ! And let me tell 
 you, my friend, that if she is not to my taste, 
 I would not seek her had she a kingdom for 
 her dowry. Beaufy," he went on, as he 
 filled his glass and raised it high, " beauty 
 and grace, and youth and tenderness ! What 
 are wealth and rank to these ? I'll never 
 wreck the joy of life by running my craft 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 91 
 
 among the shoals of greed. No 1 Let me wia 
 place and wealth with this and this " — touch- 
 ing his brow and sword-hilt — '' and all I 
 ask of the woman I love or will love is to be 
 charming." 
 
 " Time runs swiftly/' was Chifferil's answer 
 to this outburst. " 1 must soon return or I 
 may be asked for." 
 
 " First," cried Monteiro, " let us plan how 
 we may mask our operations. You undertake 
 to warn Mademoiselle Langley ?" 
 
 "I do — I do ! I am not without wit or 
 invention I assure you. He, he, he !" said 
 Chifferil, with a knowing nod. 
 
 " No doubt there is a mine of stratagem 
 under your peri\Adg," returned Monteiro 
 pleasantly, " so I leave that to you. But be- 
 tween ourselves there must be free and rapid 
 communication. Wait," he added, holding up 
 his hand for silence. He thouoht for a few 
 moments with knitted brow. " I have it," he 
 said at length ; " is there a corner or a cross- 
 ing suitable for a professional beggar near 
 your lady's mansion ? and is it unoccupied ?" 
 
 " Well, I can scarce say ; but beggars can 
 stroll everywhere." 
 
92 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 *' Then look in your walks for a lame 
 sailor with one arm, and a blue-and-white 
 checked kerchief round his head. He will 
 always address you as ' Senor.' In reply, ask 
 him what strain he likes ; and he shall answer, 
 * Rye.' Can 3^ou remember this ? Note it 
 down — the words only ; they will give no 
 clue to any save yourself To this man you 
 can give anything for me." 
 
 " This seems rare cunning," returned 
 Chifferil, rubbing his hands ; " and, respected 
 sir, 'tis my custom to take the exercise 
 requisite for my health during my lady's 
 breakfast (about ten o'clock) and in the after- 
 noon at four." 
 
 *' Ay, I shall keep it in mind. And you 
 must go ? Well, good Master Chifferil, had 
 you not better tell your lady you had met 
 me? that I asked much respecting her — that I 
 long to present myself to her ; and add any- 
 thing more you like. Above all, lose no time 
 in warning the young heiress. If I can help, 
 call upon me." 
 
 '' Good-night. I must away," said Chifferil, 
 rising with evident reluctance. " The way is 
 long, and later 'twill be dangerous." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 93 
 
 " Have you pistols ? No. Take one of mine 
 then," said his host carelessly. 
 
 " I thank you, sir — I do not love firearms. 
 The good Robilliard will perhaps let one of 
 his young men come with me into Holborn 
 and call a coach ?" 
 
 '' Ay, he shall ;" and Monteiro rang a bell 
 which lay on the mantelshelf It was 
 answered by the man Pedro, to whose care 
 Monteiro committed Chifferil, who parted 
 from his host with a curious mixture of 
 nervousness and cordiality. 
 
 As soon as he was alone Monteiro drew 
 near the fire and stood in deep thought, while 
 a soft dreamy expression relaxed tlie tension 
 of his bold bronzed flice. Then, again re- 
 plenishing his glass, and murmuring, "To her 
 sweet eyes," drained it. As he set down the 
 glass old Ptobilliard entered. 
 
 *' You are alone. Excellency ? Yon little 
 parched herring stayed long — what is he ?" 
 
 " A man who is useful to me now, Pto- 
 billiard ; and a better fellow than he looks. 
 But have you kept the fellow I mentioned to 
 you just now *?" 
 
 " I have, sir ; and he is an old friend who 
 wants sore to speak with you — here he is." 
 
94 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 Eobilliard stepped back as he spoke and 
 opened the door, whereupon the tall gaunt 
 old soldier before described, who claimed Mr. 
 Nathaniel Morley's acquaintance, entered, 
 bending his head as he passed the low door- 
 way and then stood upright in the strong fire- 
 light. 
 
 " D'Arcy !" exclaimed Monteiro, springing 
 forward to clasp his hand. " D'Arcy, by all 
 that's fortunate !" 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 
 j^.^^HE deep silent rage of John Lanorley, 
 ,^S, p^ on finding that Maud had escaped, 
 
 i 
 
 'i 
 
 on finding that Maud had escaped, 
 may be imagined. The anta- 
 gonism of nature between them 
 settled down on his side into a deep resentful 
 hatred. He longed to have that slender deli- 
 cate girl, who, in spite of her helplessness, 
 defied and exasperated him, to torture and to 
 oppress. But she had invoked a powerful 
 protectress in the well-known Countess of 
 Helmsford ; and, after some reflection, the 
 judicious Mr. Langley decided that his best 
 gamie was to win over a woman he dared not 
 attack. Could he get the Countess on his 
 side, all would go smoothly. How he cursed 
 
96 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 his own short-sightedness in refusing Maud's 
 request, when they first came to town, that 
 she should be permitted to visit Lady Hehns- 
 ford. Had John Langley dreamed there was 
 so much " go '' in that frail soft-voiced girl, he 
 would have assented, and secured the aunt's 
 co-operation, from the vantage ground of dis- 
 interested regard for the orphan of his bene- 
 factor. But still, why should he not now 
 succeed ? His plans and avowed motives 
 were just and reasonable ; and if Lady Helms- 
 ford agreed to his proposition for the young 
 orphan, all might go better than before Maud's 
 flight. Every day that rolled over, without 
 the discovery of that accursed '' jmrdon," 
 added to his security, though an unpleasant 
 conviction, which he could not shake off, 
 haunted him — a conviction that sooner or 
 later it would appear to confound 'his plans. 
 Having determined on his line of action, he 
 called for his valet and his chair, and prepared 
 to pay a state visit to the Countess of Helms- 
 ford. 
 
 He inquired for Captain Langley ; but that 
 gallant individual had not appeared since 
 the previous morning. Living in his own 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 97 
 
 lodgings, he was only a visitor at his father's 
 gloomy puritanical abode. 
 
 Chifferil had been summoned at an unusu- 
 ally early hour to his mistress's presence the 
 morninof after his interview with Monteiro. 
 She was walking up and down an apartment 
 adjoining her dressing-room, where she usually 
 dictated her letters, her rohe de chambre 
 of brocade sweeping behind her and being 
 impatiently, yet not ungracefully, kicked when 
 she turned in her restless pacing. 
 
 " Well, sir ! what insolent vagary is this ?" 
 she exclaimed, as the culprit bowed low before 
 her, and she paused, fixing her large black eyes 
 with scornful indignation upon him. ** How 
 can you account for your absence last night ? 
 ■ — an absence unknown to me." 
 
 *' I most humbly crave your ladyship's par- 
 don ; but knowing that your ladyship seldom, 
 nay, never requires my attendance after the 
 hour for dressing, and feeling somewhat op- 
 pressed with an aching head, I sallied forth 
 to seek refreshment by a short walk in the 
 open air." 
 
 '' Make your excuses shorter, sir. You 
 
 VOL. I. 7 
 
98 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 should have had your tale more pat. I do not 
 want a volume. More like you sought a tavern 
 to earn headache rather than to dissipate one.'^ 
 
 " I admit, honoured madam, there is a 
 measure of truth in your words ; for, in my 
 way, I met the Spanish gentleman who used 
 to visit your ladyship in Paris, and he invited 
 me to share a — a — cup of chocolate with him.'' 
 
 " Indeed !" said Lady Helmsford, the ex- 
 pression of her eye changing, though she 
 resolutely kept her frown unmoved. " When 
 I see the Don I shall tell him he must not 
 meddle with the discipline of my household, 
 nor teach my people to be as lax as himself ; 
 and," after a short pause, she went on, the 
 tone of her voice softening, " see you do not 
 trespass again. Now what news had Monsieur 
 de Monteiro ?" 
 
 " He gave me next to none, but was full 
 of inquiries for your ladyship — hoped you 
 had not quite forgotten him, and asked 
 anxiously if I thought you would receive him. 
 I did not venture reply positively, so he said 
 he would do himself the honour of waiting 
 upon you to-day or to-morrow — I can not re- 
 member which." 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 99 
 
 Lady Helmsford was silent for a few 
 moments, gazing away into some imaginary 
 distance, the lines of her face relaxing into 
 unwonted softness. 
 
 " A distinguished stranger is always sure 
 of a courteous reception at the hands of an 
 English gentlewoman," she said at length. 
 '^ Come, Chifferil, to work — I have a letter 
 of some importance to write to John Langley. 
 I suppose the gossips of the house have in- 
 formed you that Mistress Maud Langley, my 
 niece, took refuge here last night ? So I must 
 communicate with her guardian. She is a 
 foolish chit ; even after her long story I do 
 not see why she should fly her uncle because 
 he wished to wed her to his son. I have 
 seen the young gentleman, and he seems a 
 pretty cupidon enough ; besides, it is always 
 difficult to arrange a marriage for a portionless 
 girl. In short, I do not well understand this 
 man Langley wishing the marriage." 
 
 Chifferil smiled — a smile so preternaturally 
 knowing, that his imperious mistress cried : 
 
 " What do you grin at, man ? Speak out t 
 What do you know ?" 
 
 And partly from habitual obedience, partly 
 
 •7—9, 
 
100 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 in consequence of his conversation with Mon- 
 teiro, the secretary determined to speak. 
 
 " If a certain document could be found, 
 madam, the young lady would have a splendid 
 dowry ; and the prudent Master Langley no 
 doubt knows this well." 
 
 " How ! what do you mean ?" asked the 
 Countess, opening her great eyes. 
 
 " Surely your ladyship must have heard the 
 report current among certain friends of the 
 house, that her late Majesty, shortly before 
 her death, granted a full pardon to Lord Lang- 
 dale r 
 
 " No. I have heard nothing of it," said 
 Lady Helmsford, sitting down on a small sofa 
 or settee, and looking fixedly at Chifferil. " I 
 hope, sir, you have no vile Jacobite associates, 
 whereby you may compromise me ? How 
 came you to hear such chatter ? and having 
 heard, not to report it to me ?" 
 
 " It was among the people of the Marquise 
 de Boisville, in Paris, that the rumour first 
 reached me, and I would not dare to open a 
 family matter with your ladyship, concluding 
 you were better informed than myself^" added 
 Chiflferil, with becoming humility. 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale, 101 
 
 Lady Helmsford did not reply immediately. 
 She sat playing with the ribbons of her rohe 
 de chainhre, while a variety of complex con- 
 siderations crowded her busy brain. This 
 hint of Chifferil's came most opportunely. 
 Here was a key to all that was enigmatical in 
 John Langley's conduct. Her niece, then, was 
 a prize, and would be useful in extending 
 her own influence, and increasing her family 
 connections, against the drear days, when, 
 youth and charm and social success vanished, 
 she should want such ties to uphold her. A 
 bird s- eye view of the marriageable men of 
 rank in England presented itself before her, 
 and plan after plan flashed with lightning 
 rapidity across the field of thought. At length 
 rousing herself, she exclaimed, "Write, Chif- 
 feril," and began to dictate a letter to John 
 Langley. It was a composition of some 
 difficulty, and was altered and corrected over 
 and over again. But all this painstaking was 
 in vain, for just as the much-enduring 
 secretary approached something like a success- 
 ful termination, a footman announced that 
 Mr. John Langley was below, and begged 
 permission to see her ladyship. 
 
102 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 " Yes, I will see him if he can wait a while/' 
 The servant retired ; and Lady Helmsford, 
 taking the oft- corrected copy, slowly tore it 
 into minute shreds, while she meditated 
 what line she should adopt with the success- 
 ful politician who awaited her. Then, having 
 made up her mind, she rang for her maid and 
 went to complete her half-finished and ela- 
 borate toilette. 
 
 The moments which intervened before the 
 Countess appeared, formed a very uncomfort- 
 able half-hour to John Langley, as — sometimes 
 pacing the grand and lofty saloon, sometimes 
 resting uneasily in one of the velvet- covered 
 fauteuils — he awaited the great lady's coming. 
 The sensitive selfishness of Langley 's nature 
 made him peculiarly alive to the influence of 
 his unfortunate birth. Occupying a perch as 
 it were on the border-land between nobility 
 and plebeianism, he felt the exaggerated 
 pride of race natural to those who know 
 they have an uncertain claim to the ad- 
 vantage of good birth ; while, on the other 
 hand, his feelings were strongly coloured 
 by an envious hatred of those whose legiti- 
 mate rank placed them far above out of his 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale, 103 
 
 reach. Could he but preserve his son from 
 the mortifications which had been his mental 
 " daily bread " — his son, round whom centred 
 ^11 the human feeling of his narrow intense 
 nature — by securing for him the family 
 heritage, so that Langdale should continue in 
 Ms line — he felt he would not have lived and 
 lied and schemed in vain. John Langley 
 was a man of some ability and fair culture. 
 Indifferent as he was to the smaller graces of 
 life, he could not avoid feeling the effect pro- 
 duced by the splendid aspect of Lady Helms- 
 ford's drawing-room. The mirrors and consoles, 
 the rare china, the rich hangings, the delicate 
 miniatures in their quaint frames, which lay 
 upon some of the tables, the glow of mellow 
 colour, the patrician tone which pervaded 
 the atmosphere of the mansion — oppressed 
 and irritated him : there he was on sufferance. 
 
 " Nevertheless they shall not have every- 
 thing according to their fancy 1" he thought. 
 " Lord Langdale s will gives me legal power 
 over Maud. It shall go hard if I do not carry 
 out my designs." 
 
 The next moment a powdei'ed footman 
 threw open the double door, and Lady Helms- 
 
104 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 ford sailed into the room in all the mag- 
 nificence of her completed toilette. Her hair, 
 lightly powdered and festooned with lace and 
 ribbon, set off her rich complexion and large 
 tragic black eyes ; a sacqne of violet silk, edged 
 with costly white lace, fell from her stately 
 sloping shoulders to the ground, over a skirt 
 of pale-green satin brocaded in silver; a tight- 
 fitting stomacher and capacious hoop concealed 
 her decided tendency to embonpoint ; and 
 a pair of exquisitely-ntting, many-buttoned, 
 cream-coloured gloves reached to where the 
 elbow -rufiles of rich point finished her 
 sleeves. She held a long fan with jewelled 
 sticks ; and a narrow band of black velvet, 
 fastened with diamonds, clasped her throat. 
 John Langley, accustomed as he had been to 
 intercourse with great men, had seen little 
 or nothing of great ladies, and felt surprised 
 at the effect this gorgeous apparition pro- 
 duced upon him, especially as it is always 
 part of a nature like his to hold women 
 lightly as mere addenda to a man's state, or 
 as stepping-stones to fortune, if they possess 
 any. 
 
 As soon as Lady Helmsford reached the 
 
The Heiitage of Langdale. 105 
 
 first station (as an embroidered and gold 
 tabouret might be considered) she executed 
 an elaborate and profound curtsy with the 
 practised ease which neither hoop nor sacque 
 could embarass. Whereupon John Langley 
 performed a stiff though respectful bow. 
 
 With another curtsy, less elaborate than 
 the last, and a haughty though not un- 
 gracious smile. Lady Helmsford said, while 
 her visitor straightened himself from his 
 second reverence, *' I think, my good sir, I 
 have had the pleasure of seeing you be- 
 fore." 
 
 " Your ladyship does me honour. I was 
 once presented to you by Lord Langdale," he 
 returned, remembering with some bitterness 
 the scant favour with which he had been re- 
 ceived. 
 
 " Draw near the fire," said the Countess 
 condescendingly ; " the weather is chill." 
 
 She swept past him as she spoke, and took 
 her seat on a luxuriantly-cushioned settee 
 with her back to the light, pointing with her 
 fan, as she spoke, to an ottoman opposite. 
 
 " I have ventured to call upon your lady- 
 ship," began Langley in a grave harsh voice. 
 
106 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 " because of the rash and unadvised action of 
 my niece, Mistress Maud Langley, in quitting 
 my protection — " 
 
 " And seeking mine," interrupted Lady 
 Helmsford, with another smile, her clear high- 
 bred tones sounding as if they belonged to a 
 world different from Langley 's. " Of course 
 I expected to see you. Maud is a foolish 
 vapourish little chit ; but what did you do to 
 frighten her, good Master Langley V 
 
 '* I cannot say, save to propose what few 
 young women shrink from — a good husband." 
 
 " The young lady," returned Lady Helms- 
 ford, with slight emphasis, "said as much. 
 Surely there must be other circumstances 
 which offended her T 
 
 " None, madam ; none, upon my honour." 
 
 '*' And you are her guardian, sir, I have 
 been told." 
 
 " Your ladyship is correctly informed ; my 
 late brother appointed me her guardian." 
 
 " Your brother ? yes, to be sure. I 
 had forgotten the relationship. Well then, 
 Master Langley, what is the exact object of 
 your visit ?" 
 
 '* To remove my ward," he returned roughly. 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. , 107 
 
 stung by the tone with which she spoke of his 
 relationship. 
 
 "As you will," said the Countess, shrugging 
 her shoulders. " If/' again a gracious smile, 
 " you think / am not a fit protectress. But 
 do you not think she may slip from you again? 
 This is a strange tale of her wedding. She 
 had need be well looked to, or we know not 
 what may happen. Pray, sir, what steps 
 have you taken to free my niece, your ward, 
 from this extraordinary and unpleasant en- 
 tanglement 1" 
 
 Lady Helmsford's manner at once nettled 
 Langley, and put him in a difficulty. The 
 mysterious marriage was exactly what he did 
 not want to make a noise about. "What 
 might come out of a legal process respecting 
 it Heaven alone could tell. So, after an 
 instant's hesitation, and keeping his eyes on 
 the carpet, he replied : 
 
 " None, madam. It is a matter so diffi- 
 cult and unpleasant that, on consultation with 
 my lawyer, I resolved that the best way to 
 save talk and exposure would be to carry out 
 the intended marriage with my son. Then, if 
 the adventurer who personated him dared to 
 
108 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 claim the lady, there would be a real and con- 
 summated marriage to protect her against a 
 false one.'' 
 
 " There is some reason in what you say ; 
 but I think the young lady's objections would 
 nullify the plan. What did your son do ta 
 ojffend her ? for she had consented to be his- 
 wife." 
 
 " Nothing, madam, nothing ; 'tis nothing 
 but a weak girl's whim that causes all this 
 confusion and mars her own fortune." 
 
 " I am sure, Master Langley," returned the 
 Countess, with a faint tinge of contempt in her 
 accent, " I care not to embroil myself in her 
 squabbles with you. You are welcome to 
 take her back for me. 'Tis a pity you did 
 not come for counsel to me in the first place ; 
 nor can I help wishing you well out of this 
 curious piece of chicanery — this marriage. 
 By the way, my good sir, how is it that you, 
 a prudent man as you seem to be, wish to 
 wed your young son to a penniless girl, how- 
 ever high born — one with a tainted name 
 too?" 
 
 " I am as sincere an adherent of the House 
 of Hanover as your ladyship," replied John 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale, 109 
 
 Langley slowly, " still I can not consider the 
 name of Langley tainted, because the last 
 legitimate owner of it lost himself by a mis- 
 taken devotion to a wrong cause. As to the 
 rest, I am under deep obligations to the late 
 lord ; the least I can do is to provide for his 
 daughter in the best and most suitable man- 
 ner, and that is to give her for a husband my 
 own son, who is not contemptible either in 
 person or fortune, for I have ever been a 
 prudent and a saving man." 
 
 " I do not doubt it, my good Master 
 Langley," returned the Countess, with the 
 same insufferable tinge of condescension which 
 pervaded her tone unconsciously to herself all 
 through the interview. She intended to be 
 most genial and charming, concluding that a 
 man occupying John Langley's debatable 
 position would be ready to give solid pudding 
 in exchange for what crumbs of politeness 
 she thought fit to let fall from her lofty table. 
 She slightly mistook the character she had to 
 deal with. " Indeed, this mingling of pru- 
 dence and disinterestedness is rare ; and 
 though I have no special call to care for the 
 daughter of Lord Langdale, she is nevertheless 
 
110 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 my kinswoman, and I shall be pleased to have 
 her honourably provided for without cost to 
 myself. How strange is fortune, sir," con- 
 tinued the Countess, putting her head to one 
 side, with a fascinating smile and graceful air 
 of contemplation. " Were my niece now in 
 the position of which her father's folly robbed 
 her, we should all be fighting for the guardian- 
 ship of so rich an heiress." 
 
 '^ But as she is not," replied Langley, with 
 a quiet gravity which masked the cynicism of 
 his speech, ^' your ladyship is quite willing to 
 hand over the charge of her provision to 
 me { 
 
 The Countess laughed a refined, but 
 slightly scornful laugh. 
 
 *' Precisely so, my good sir. Just think 
 now, even if her late Majesty had been spared 
 from the realms above for a few months 
 longer, no doubt my lord's many friends might 
 have persuaded her to some act of clemency, 
 that would have reversed the present state of 
 afiairs. What an unreasonable tyrant is 
 death !" 
 
 " True, madam ; but one we should be ever 
 prepared to meet," said Langley solemnly; 
 
The Heritctge of Langdale. Ill 
 
 while he thought, " What does this accursed 
 woman know or suspect ?" 
 
 " No one can look on you, excellent Master 
 Langley, and doubt your preparation at all 
 points/' returned her ladyship, with a com- 
 plimentary inclination of the head ; while she 
 reflected, *' How cleverly the dog hides his 
 knowledge if he has any 1" 
 
 " Then madam, am I at liberty to remove 
 my ward V 
 
 " Nay, nay ; you take me too literally. I 
 am not so miserly as to throw all charges on 
 you, most prudent and generous sir. Would 
 it not be better for Mistress Langley to re- 
 main with me than under the roof of a gay 
 bachelor — widower, I mean — like yourself,, 
 especially pending the measures which you 
 must take in the Ecclesiastical Court to 
 sweep away this embarrassing cobweb of a 
 marriage ? You really must ! We of the 
 higher orders cannot afford to slight these 
 oppressive iron bands which hold our some- 
 what tottering society together." 
 
 " Madam," began Langley, and paused a 
 little embarrassed to choose his words. If 
 the Countess really meant to make common 
 
112 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 cause with him, it was a great gain ; if not, 
 would it any more be wise to show distrust ? 
 
 " Oh, I shall listen to no objections. 
 Master Langley," continued Lady Helrasford. 
 " You must repah' your error in not first seek- 
 ing me. The young lady shall remain in my 
 Louse ; and your pretty jpolissoii of a son 
 shall visit \imjiancee here as often as he likes; 
 and, finally, let the marriage take place in my 
 house, under my sanction," she concluded, 
 with slight but perceptible emphasis. 
 
 Langley, in spite of distrust and dislike, 
 was almost caught by this tempting offer. 
 
 " Your ladyship s countenance and sanction 
 are of high advantage," he said slowly. " But 
 my ward's circumstances are so peculiar that 
 I almost fear to trust her out of my sight ; for 
 her own sake, madam, for her own sake ! So 
 bold and dexterous a ruffian as he who per- 
 sonated my son might snap her up the first 
 moment she was alone. I would fain — " 
 
 " How, sir, can you think she would not be 
 safe, surrounded by my household, sheltered 
 by my protection ?" asked Lady Helmsford 
 haughtily. 
 
 " She is safe nowhere till my son can claim 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 113 
 
 a husband's rights/' returned John Langley 
 abruptly and sternly. 
 
 " Now can you form no conjecture who this 
 bold schemer is ?" asked Lady Helmsford, 
 drawing her fan through one hand after the 
 other, curiosity quenching dignity for the 
 moment. 
 
 *' None, madam ; none !" said Langley 
 shortly. 
 
 " Trust me, 'tis some fool who fancies her 
 an heiress !" exclaimed the Countess, her 
 head again to one side, and her great eyes 
 fixed searchingly, yet mockingly, pn him. 
 " But if so, why did he not carry her away V 
 
 " Ay, there is the marvel," said Langley 
 somewhat uneasily. *' I myself believe that 
 such had been his intention ; but the means 
 somehow or other failing, he executed but 
 half his scheme. '^ 
 
 "Come now, Master Langley, think you 
 not 'twas some old lover from France ? 
 What can you know of the young lady's life 
 there ?" 
 
 " I but know she was most carefully trained 
 by Madame Wandesforde, the widow of one of 
 the men who fought against King William at 
 
 VOL. I. 8 
 
114 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 the Boyne ; and though her husband was re- 
 bellious, she herself came of a godly Presby- 
 terian stock ; so your ladyship's niece has 
 been staidly and prudently brought up/' 
 
 " Poor child !" said Lady Helmsford, with 
 contemptuous pity. "Nevertheless, my friend, 
 lovers are subtle things, and will sometimes 
 slip in through prudence and care and godli- 
 ness ; and the girl is fair." 
 
 "She may be so," said Langley indifferently. 
 " I think of nought save what is due to her 
 father's daughter." 
 
 "Well, well. Master Langley, I am not 
 able to give you much longer time. How 
 will you decide ? Will you leave your ward 
 under my care ? You can reclaim her when 
 you will ; and Captain Langley shall have 
 due access, and be enabled to press his suit 
 under my sanction. Let me see : the day 
 after to-morrow will be Thursday. Yes, on 
 Thursday I receive in the evening. Let him 
 present himself; and, trust me, your ward 
 shall run no risk while with me." 
 
 John Langley hesitated yet a moment. It 
 was a tempting offer, and Harold would be 
 radiant with satisfaction at the invitation his 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 115 
 
 father was authorised to convey to him. This 
 thought outweighed the curious mixture of 
 distrust and enmity which the handsome con- 
 descending Countess inspired, and he said : 
 
 " The offer of your ladyship's sanction is 
 too valuable to be refused. I will e'en trust 
 my niece to your good care ; reserving to 
 myself the right to resume the guardianship 
 of her person when it seems necessary." 
 
 ** Of course, of course," said the Countess 
 airily, with a wave of her half-open fan ; while 
 she thought, " The low-bred Puritan ! he 
 should have grasped the honour of my co- 
 operation with both hands. Then we shall 
 see the gallant Captain on Thursday evening," 
 she said aloud. 
 
 " He will hold himself highly honoured in 
 obeying your ladyship's commands." 
 
 " And yourself, good Master Langley ?" 
 
 " These gay scenes are not for me," said he 
 grimly. "I am a worker too sombre to mix 
 with summer flies." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said the Countess, laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 "Meantime," continued Langley, rising, "I 
 will consult with my lawyer touching the late 
 
 8—2 
 
116 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 ceremony, and let your ladyship know the 
 result. I therefore " — bowing — " have the 
 honour to salute you, and say good-morning." 
 
 Another stiff respectful bow, to which the 
 Countess, also rising, performed a curtsy more 
 expressive of her own grandeur than respect 
 for her departed guest. 
 
 " I wish you a very good day, sir ; and 
 await your tidings." 
 
 As John Langley passed through the door 
 a footman entered. " Don Juan di Monteiro," 
 he said, "is awaiting your ladyship's permis- 
 sion to present himself." 
 
 "Indeed?" said the Countess, smiling 
 radiantly. " You may admit him." 
 
 She turned eagerly to the glass as the man 
 left the room, and hastily arranged the 
 lappets of her delicate lace cap, and the posi- 
 tion of the rose fastened among her rich dark 
 curls over the left ear ; and then stood ready 
 to receive her visitor. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ;;EANWHILE Maud Langley, little 
 dreaming that she was a bone of 
 contention amonof conflictinof in. 
 terests, enjoyed the first real repose 
 she had tasted since she had left Langdale and 
 the protection of the Rector s vicinity — a sense 
 of relief which was fully shared by her faithful 
 attendant. 
 
 A sumptuously-appointed bed-chamber and 
 sitting-room had been assigned to them, but 
 they had supped and breakfasted without any 
 intimation that Lady Helmsford remembered 
 she had guests. And now, the morning meal 
 being some time past, Maud felt strange and 
 unoccupied. 
 
118 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 " I wonder my aunt has not visited or sent 
 for me," said the young orphan pensively. 
 '^ Certainly, Dorothy, it is marvellously peace- 
 ful to feel that we are no longer prisoners in 
 John Langley's hands. Nevertheless I would 
 my noble kinswoman had given us a warmer 
 welcome." Maud hung her head dejectedly. 
 
 " Ay, my bird ; and I wish too we had 
 been able to bring a few of your clothes with 
 us. A few ! God knows the whole wardrobe 
 is scant enough. Beyond a change of linen, I 
 dared not cumber myself with aught. Now 
 if my lady the Countess would just send her 
 milliner and shoemaker, and all the rest of 
 them, to fit you out as becomes your rank, 
 and then present you to the King and get him 
 to hear your story, he would give you your 
 own again, I'll warrant, for all he is a Han- 
 over rat." 
 
 ** Hush, hush, dear Dorothy ! we must re- 
 member my aunt's politics. Heaven knows I 
 would gladly renounce wealth and rank if I 
 could but win peace and safety and a home. 
 Still it is hard to lose one's own, because my 
 dear father was loyal and true. The Queen 
 might have forgiven him his faithfulness ta 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 1 1 9 
 
 her father. Ah, Dorothy, what a desolate 
 year the last has been !" 
 
 "Ay, that it has, sweet bmb. But you 
 will win through yet, and find a brave good 
 husband. Ah, I wush I saw you safe and 
 free from that — that good-for-naught who 
 betrayed you into a mock marriage. No one 
 knows when he may turn up and give no end 
 of trouble." Dorothy lapsed into meditation, 
 thoughtfully rolling up the corner of her 
 apron with her strong bony hands. 
 
 " Of course it is frightful to be married to 
 — one knows not whom. But at least the 
 unknown has saved me from Harold. Oh, 
 Dorothy, what weakness and despair could 
 ever have driven me to consent to wedding 
 him? I cannot tell w^hat revulsion of the 
 soul has turned me so bitterly against Harold. 
 Oh ! I blush for my own impatience, the want 
 of fortitude that bent me to John Langley's 
 purpose. I would prefer death now to such a 
 union. Yes, I am grateful to that stranger. 
 Trust me, Dorothy, he will come and deliver 
 me yet — there was truth in his eyes." 
 
 " Truth, good Lord ! there is little truth 
 anywhere," returned Dorothy, with a porten- 
 
120 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 tous frown and shake of the head. Then, as 
 though absorbed in a more important matter, 
 she exclaimed, more to herself than to her 
 young mistress, " I am rarely ill off for 
 clothes — and lioio my lady's woman dresses. 
 Even for the sake of this dear lamb I would 
 like to ruffle it with the best of them. Let 
 me see !" plunging her hand and arm up to 
 the elbow into a profound pocket, and fishing 
 up a small leather bag, she emptied the con- 
 tents into her lap — a large and a small gold 
 piece, and sundry silver coins. '^ Good lack ! 
 that's all our fortune ; and even this we would 
 not have but for yon impostor. I am nigh 
 ashamed — " 
 
 A tap at the door interrupted her. On 
 permission being given a small and rather 
 fantastically-attired woman entered. Her 
 morning robe of gay-coloured chintz was 
 drawn through the pocket-holes with studied 
 negligence, so as to display a red quil£ed 
 petticoat beneath. Her angular and dark- 
 skinned face w^as brilliant with rouge and 
 profusely decorated with patches, its naturally 
 nervous anxious expression carefully subdued 
 into a languishing simpering air. Her pepper- 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale, 121 
 
 and-salt-coloured hair was tijrned back over a 
 small cusliion, above which a tiny lace cap 
 was tied with green ribbon, and a large red 
 bow was perched coquettishlj over one ear. 
 Curtsying low, she rose gracefully and stood 
 with the toe of her red-heeled shoe pointed 
 accurately in the fifth position. Maud rose 
 to receive her. 
 
 " Suffer me to present myself," she said, 
 with an affected lisp. "Mistress Letitia 
 Sparrow, dame de compagnie to the Countess 
 of Helmsford." 
 
 " I am happy to make your acquaintance," 
 replied Maud, returning her curtsy with the 
 punctilious politeness of the period, a move- 
 ment which elicited another, even deeper than 
 the first, from Mistress Letitia. 
 
 " The Countess desires her love and com- 
 pliments, and hopes you rested well. She 
 would have been to visit you earlier had she 
 not been occupied by business concerning 
 yourself, and she is now detained by a 
 foreigner of distinction. After his departure 
 she will come hither and herself inform you of 
 her interview with Master John Langley." 
 
 " I shall be truly glad to see her," replied 
 
122 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 Maud, feeling a sudden sense of comfort at 
 this indication of friendliness on the part of 
 her aunt. '' Will you not sit down T she 
 added, motioning her new acquaintance to a 
 chair. 
 
 " With your kind permission I will, for I 
 am further charged by the Countess to in- 
 quire if you were able to remove your ward- 
 robe ; and, if not, whether you wish the 
 assistance of her people to replenish it T 
 
 " I should indeed," said Maud, smiling and 
 blushing, " for save some trifles my good 
 Dorothy managed to put in her pocket, I 
 have nothing beyond the dress I wear." 
 
 " Great powers !" cried the dame de com- 
 pagnie, evidently and pleasurably excited, 
 *•' what destitution for a young lady of your 
 rank ! But my lady the Countess will supply 
 your every want ; you are indeed fortunate 
 to have such a protectress. Dear, dear I 
 there are mountains of business before us — 
 to say nothing of lingerie and lace, the choice 
 of robes and flowers is a serious matter. 
 Though indeed," to Dorothy, who stood by 
 in grim silence, '' Mistress Langley's exquisite 
 and varying complexion will greatly lessen 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 123< 
 
 our difficulties. Ah, dear lady, I can well 
 see by the elegance of your carriage and 
 address that you have resided in the polished 
 capital of France. I love that noble nation 
 for the sake of one justly dear to this widowed 
 heart." With a due regard to her rouge, 
 Mistress Sparrow put her handkerchief to her 
 eyes. 
 
 " Indeed," said Maud, with polite atten- 
 tion. 
 
 " But at present I must attend to the 
 affairs of real life," resumed the companion. 
 " On Thursday evening the Countess holds 
 her weekly reception, and it is her wish that 
 you should appear. You must therefore at 
 once decide on your costume and have it put 
 in hands. I have myself something of taste. 
 Let me then suggest a pea-green robe of 
 taffetas, corded with crimson, over a white 
 satin petticoat, garnished with Mechlin lace 
 and damask-roses. Methinks your beauteous 
 tint and delicate colour would thus enhance 
 themselves sevenfold." 
 
 An inarticulate growl of utter disapprobation 
 issued from the half-opened lips of Dorothy ; 
 and Maud hastened to reply, " You are most 
 
124 The Heritage of Langddle, 
 
 obliging, but as yet I wear slight mourning, 
 and I should not like to choose without my 
 aunt's approval." 
 
 *' But the time, dear lady, the precious 
 time," mterrupted Mistress Letitia, almost 
 starting from her chair with eagerness. *' The 
 dressmaker waits without with a goodly pile 
 of patterns." 
 
 " Let her enter then ; I can choose one 
 or two, and submit them to Lady Helms- 
 ford." 
 
 Whereupon the companion stepped quickly 
 to the door, and beckoning to some one out- 
 side returned, followed by a staid-looking 
 woman bearing a box, which, after a general 
 curtsy, she placed upon a table and opened. 
 
 Maud was too young and had fasted too 
 long from vanities of all kinds not to be 
 enchanted and occupied by the array spread 
 before her. Bich brocades, delicate taffetas, 
 bright chintzes, silks of every shade ; while 
 Mistress Sparrow, revelling in her occupation, 
 suggested and chattered, and held first one 
 shade and then another aofainst Maud's cheek 
 with surprising energy and volubiUty. Even 
 Dorothy was carried away by the excitement 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 125 
 
 of the moment, and so absorbed were the 
 whole party that the Countess entered unper- 
 ceived. She looked more stately and brilliant 
 in her completed toilette than before. More- 
 over there was a light in her eyes, a lurking 
 smile upon her lips, which bespoke a softer 
 and more tractable mood than was common 
 with her. She stood silent a moment, looking 
 fixedly at Maud, whose delicate profile was 
 distinct against the light of the window near 
 which she stood. 
 
 " Good-morrow, niece,^' she said at length 
 in kindlier tones than Maud had yet heard 
 from her lips ; at which, nevertheless, Mistress 
 Letitia Sparrow started as though she had 
 been caught in some delinquency ; and Maud, 
 colouring with anxiety, made a movement as 
 if to kiss the hand held out by her haughty 
 kinswoman, but Lady Helmsford checked 
 her, and pressed her lips an instant to her 
 niece's brow. 
 
 "I could not come before," she said quickly. 
 " And now, what have you done ? there is no 
 time to lose." 
 
 Seating herself, she rapidly turned over the 
 pile of patterns. 
 
126 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 " What may be your own fancy, Maud ? 
 Your name is Maud — is it not ?" 
 
 "Yes, madam," slie replied, longing with 
 almost sickening anxiety to hear of Lady 
 Helmsford's interview with Langley, yet not 
 daring to ask. " It seems to me this grey- 
 and-silver brocade is pretty, though I fear 
 costly." 
 
 " It is pretty, child, and will suit you 
 well. Come," to the dressmaker, " take this 
 young lady's measure. Cut the corsage low, 
 and do not spare your lace. Let the petticoat 
 be white silk with wild roses and silver leaves 
 dew dropped, for garniture." 
 
 The milliner curtsied low, and interrupted 
 now and then by sharp shrewd suggestions 
 from the Countess, soon measured the slender 
 proportions of the fair dehiitaiite ; then, as 
 if knowing the tendencies of her employer, 
 she hastily gathered her belongings together, 
 and with another low reverence departed. 
 
 " If I might be suffered to suggest," began 
 the companion in mincing tones, but was 
 immediately and relentlessly cut short by her 
 mistress, who exclaimed : 
 
 " There, there, Sparrow, do not chatter. 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 127 
 
 Leave us ; I wish to speak to iny niece 
 alone." 
 
 Mistress Sparrow immediately obeyed, and 
 Dorothy was slowly following, when Maud 
 cried : 
 
 " Let her stay, dear aunt ; she has long 
 been my only friend — my only comfort ; and 
 I keep nothing from her/' 
 
 The Countess nodded. 
 
 ** She seems safe, and 'tis immaterial at all 
 events ; but my companion is a chatterbox — 
 an ape, yet useful in some ways. Now hear 
 what I have done on your behalf to-day. '' 
 
 Maud clasped her hands in eager anxiety. 
 
 " I have had an interview with Master 
 Langley," continued the Countess, " and it 
 took all my skill to arrange matters with 
 him. He has no doubt, under your father's 
 will, a right to the guardianship of your per- 
 son and property (had you any). Moreover 
 he has powerful patrons to back him up. He 
 is evidently a useful tool to my Lord Berkeley 
 — and greater men still — nor is he unknown 
 to the King himself. Of course, if he chose to 
 enforce his rights, I could not resist. I 
 therefore treated him with friendly frankness; 
 
128 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 told Kim it was scarce fit for a young demoi- 
 selle to be alone under the roof of so gay a 
 widower as himself; offered to receive the 
 gallant officer, his son, as often as he wished 
 to visit his (^da-mmg fiancee ; and insinuated, 
 without committing myself, that the wedding 
 might take place with more propriety and 
 eclat under my auspices than his. All of 
 which I could see pleased while it embarrassed 
 him." 
 
 "Wedding !" repeated poor Maud in a 
 despairing voice. " Alas, dear aunt, I have 
 had enough of weddings. Ah ! for mercy's 
 sake do not sacrifice me to Harold Langley." 
 
 "Pooh, child !" returned the Countess, with 
 a sort of contemptuous good-humour. " Do 
 you think I should like my niece's husband 
 to carry the bar sinister on his scutcheon ? I 
 have other designs, but it would not do to 
 display them to Master Langley. Then this 
 strange mock marriage of yours ! We dis- 
 cussed that, and it is evident to me Langley 
 has some fears connected with it ; for when I 
 wished it to be openly and legally dealt with 
 and set aside, he hesitated, and was for 
 hastening your marriage with his son ; then 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 120 
 
 ieaving it to jour mysterious bridegroom to 
 urge the claim he could not uphold. There 
 is a mystery in all this, but I think I have a 
 key to the puzzle, and my next step shall be 
 to free you from the shackles of this ceremony, 
 -slight as they are." 
 
 *' I know not what you will think, my 
 honoured aunt," replied Maud, colouring and 
 looking down; "but I am in no great haste 
 to free myself. If it is a shackle, it is also 
 a protection, and seems to shield me from 
 Harold." 
 
 " Good Heavens !" cried Lady Helmsford, 
 frowning angrily, "you have not ft)rmed any 
 ^idicuious fanciful attachment to the ad- 
 venturer who substituted himself for Captain 
 Langley ? Speak ; describe him.'^ 
 
 " Indeed, I have no such fancy, madam," 
 said the fair girl, with a sweet frank laugh. 
 " Yet I confess there was something in the 
 gentleman's eyes that drew me lo him — a clear 
 truthfulness, like the expression of my dear 
 father ; and this is all I can tell of his looks. 
 I sliould not know him were we to meet, 
 ^unless indeed he bent over me and I saw but 
 .his eyes, as I did that day. Moreover, 
 
 VOL. I. 9 
 
130 The Heritage of Langddle. 
 
 madam, he asked me to have patience and 
 keep fijtith with him ; so, looking on him as a 
 deliverer, I would' fain w^ait a little time 
 longer, for I cannot but believe he will reap- 
 pear to set me free." 
 
 " Do not talk such childish nonsense to 
 me," said the Countess sternly. " He is pro- 
 bably some Jacobite adventurer steeped in 
 vice and crime ; and you must be watched 
 most carefully lest he spirit you away, and 
 then turn the knowledge he evidently pos- 
 sesses to his own benefit and your misery. If 
 J give you protection I expect obedience." 
 
 The tears stood in Maud's blue eyes at the 
 harsh and imperious tone assumed by her 
 aunt, even while her naturally high spirit rose 
 against it. 
 
 ** I will obey you from love, not for fear or 
 favour, dear aunt," she said, steadily ; "but 
 do I not also owe a duty to myself ?" 
 
 " Let us not split straws," said Lady 
 Helmsford, struck by her niece's firmness. 
 *' I daresay we shall understand each other 
 by-and-by. Meantime, if you trust me, I can 
 secure you a brighter destiny than you dream 
 of." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 131 
 
 ■ " Bright, alas !" cried the young orphan ; 
 but tears checked her further utterance. 
 
 "Come, come; I hate tears. Here, Betty, 
 Siasan — what is your name ? Look to your 
 mistress ; see that she has all she needs. I 
 have a thousand matters to attend to ; but 
 we shall meet at dinner, Maud. Cheer up, 
 child. Mind you look your best on Thursday. 
 By the way, Master Langiey will no doubt let 
 you have your belongings if you send for 
 them. Sparrow shall see to this ; they will 
 be a convenience ;" and, touching her young 
 niece's brow lightly with her lips, Lady 
 Helmsford swept away. 
 
 " Dear child !" cried Dorothy, approaching 
 the weeping girl, who had thrown herself 
 into a deep arm-chair as her ount left the 
 room. " Dry your tears ;" and she knelt 
 beside her young mistress. " I doubt if I 
 ever saw you in such grief even when we were 
 John Langiey 's prisoners. Now we are truly 
 in far better case. My lady the Countess is 
 light well disposed towards you, though a 
 rare high and mighty dame. She will keep 
 you safe enough I w^arrant, and not suffer 
 
 9—2 
 
132 The Heritage of Langdole, 
 
 much interference. Come, dry }our eyes, 
 and see you win your aunt's heart." 
 
 ''Think you she has one?" asked Maud, 
 suddenly removing the handkerchief from her 
 face, and trying to steady her voice. " / 
 know not what to think ; she attracts and 
 repels me. I could love, were it not that I 
 fear her. Yet why should 1 fear my mother's 
 sister? Ob, shame! that I, a Langley, should 
 fear anything. It is not death, dear Dorothy, 
 but life, I I'ear. My aunt is noble and beauti- 
 ful ; but, oh !" with a shudder, " she could be 
 cruel." 
 
 " Now you are vapourish, dear lamb. My 
 lady treats you like a princess — sends John 
 Langley tramping \Ahen he comes to claim 
 you, and yet all the thanks she has is to be 
 called cruel." 
 
 "Yes, I suppose I seem senseless; but I so 
 hoped she mi^ht be a mother to me, and she 
 has chilled and repulsed me. Nevertheless 
 I will not be despondent ; so fair a creature 
 mAist have some heart, and 1 will strive to 
 win her love. Why should she not love me, 
 Dorothy?'^ 
 
 " Ay, indeed — why not ? and she will, so 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 133 
 
 pluck up heait, my bird. And now I wonder 
 if I mio-ht go with the messenger to Master 
 Langlej's house, and gather our things to- 
 gether ?" 
 
 "King and ask," said Maud; "suppose we 
 ask to see Mistress Letitia Sparrow V 
 
 "Hum," returned Dorothy, with a con- 
 temptuous lifting of the ujDper lip, " she is a 
 daft-like creature, but I suppose will serve 
 our turn." 
 
 The bell was answered by an object that 
 somewhat scared the good waiting-woman — a 
 small negro boy of perhaps twelve, perhaps 
 fifteen, — Dorothy was quite incapable of judg- 
 ing the age of what seemed to her an imp of 
 darkness. Even Maud was a little startled 
 by so unusual an apparition. He was fan- 
 tastically attired in a striped crimson and 
 yellow silk garment not unlike in shape to a 
 modern blouse, girt round the waist by a 
 gold -embroidered belt, and clasp&d with what 
 looked like a gold clasp. His arms and legs 
 were bare, save for anklets and armlets of 
 rough massive gold ; his feet were defended 
 by a species of sandal, and his head covered 
 by a small white turban. 
 
134 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 A moment or two of surprised silence fol- 
 lowed his appearance as he stood grinning 
 from ear to ear — his ivory white teeth and 
 glistening eyes giving additional uncanniness 
 to his aspect. 
 
 " BJess us and save us! what's this?" 
 muttered Dorothy ahnost involuntarily. 
 
 ** Hush," said her mistress. 
 
 "Did missee ring?" exclaimed their strange 
 visitor in a rather soft and pleasant voice. 
 "I sink missee ring ; leastways Massa OhifFeril 
 he say lady ring — run, Gomez, run ; an' I 
 run. Did missee ring ?" ^. 
 
 This was gabbled with the utmost rapidity, 
 and then the speaker drew in his breath with 
 audible suction, though still grinning. 
 
 '' I rang," returned Maud, smiling, for she 
 found it impossible to resist the contagion of 
 his grins, or continuous grin ; whereupon he 
 burst into a loud chuckle, which he endea- 
 voured to suppress by clapping his black paws 
 over his mouth, "for all the world like a 
 monkey that had learned to talk," as Dorothy 
 in after years described him. " I rang to ask 
 if Mistress Sparrow is disengaged, and if she 
 could spare me a few minutes of her time." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 135 
 
 " Missee Sparrow ? O yes, I rim find him. 
 I know where ebery one is. I fetch Missee 
 Sparrow in three two minutes, but missee will 
 just not tell Massa Chlff I'se been in — don'tee, 
 now don'tee ?" and backing up this petition 
 with a series of impish chuckles, he made a 
 sudden bow so deep as to suggest total absence 
 of backbone, and disappeared, closing the door 
 with infinite precaution. 
 
 " Eh ! my dear young lady, what a monster 
 is this !" cried Dorothy, seizing her rough hair 
 in both hands. " Has my lady pressed the 
 devil and Tiis imps into her service ?" 
 
 " Do not be friofhtened," returned Maud 
 Langley. '' I have heard that it is a fashion 
 in England to have these black pages in great 
 households — nay, they are adopted sometimes 
 in France ; and no doubt my aunt is behind 
 in nothing that can add eclat to her establish- 
 ment." 
 
 " Bless us and save us!" began Dorothy, 
 when the door again opened and the grave loot- 
 man who had been " told off" to attend them 
 entered and stood silently awaiting orders. 
 Maud hastily signed to Dorothy to keep 
 silence, and repeated her request to speak 
 
136 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 with Mistress Sparrow, who obeyed the 
 summons so quickly that Dorothy had scarce 
 time to run through the gamut of astonish- 
 ment when she arrived. 
 
 " Too glad to be of the smallest service to- 
 my lady's charming relative," she said, draw- 
 ing in her head as if endeavouring to get her 
 chin inside the collarette of lace folded round 
 her throat, in reply to Maud's apology for 
 calling her. Having heard explained Dorothy's 
 wish to fetch the baggage herself from John 
 Langley's residence, and arranged that a 
 couple of stout serving-men should escort 
 Dorothy to protect and assist her, Mistress 
 Letitia said, with her soberest air, " I fear me 
 you have been somewhat startled by a strange 
 visitor ?" 
 
 "A little negro boy answered the bell,'* 
 replied Maud, who would not herself have 
 broached the suVjject. 
 
 "Ah! I thought so — though he only 
 laughed and turned head over heels when I 
 asked him," cried Letitia. " He is the veriest 
 plague that ever entered a house, and that 
 spoiled and indulged by my lady there's no 
 living with him." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 13/" 
 
 " Kud why, for pity's sake, does her lady- 
 ship keep such a little monster and make so 
 much of him T at^ked Dorothy, with irrepres- 
 sible curiosity. 
 
 ** I pray you pardon my good Dorothy's 
 indiscretion," said Maud prudently. 
 
 ** La ! my dear young lady," returned 
 Letitia, " there is no secret. The little mis- 
 chief was given to my lady in Paris by a 
 gentleman — he, he, he ! — a gentleman who 
 was quite the mode in Paris ; all the great 
 ladies were dying for love of him, though 
 none knew rightly w^hat he was. He was 
 indeed a splendid personage, though it was 
 said, or rather whispered, that he w^as a des- 
 perado, a buccaneer from the Spanish main, 
 but the great ladies liked him all the better, 
 ^ow our noble Countess was one of the most 
 splendid, if not the most splendid, of the 
 visitors in Paris last November ; but one 
 lady, the Marquise de Boisville, surpassed her 
 in one point. She had a negro, a tall fellow 
 dressed like Bluebeard, besides all the usual 
 lackeys, and my lady could not bear it, for 
 this great dame was madly in love with the 
 Spanish gentleman I have described to you^ 
 
138 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 but he affected my lady more than any one 
 else." The companion said this as though it 
 was a matter of personal pride. " And one 
 morning, after they had been at a masqued 
 ball together, he sent her this , little fellow, 
 dressed as you see him, in a cluiir, with a note 
 in which he said that he wished to see his 
 adorable lady as surpassing in equipage as she 
 w^as in grace and beauty. So, ever since, that 
 imp has been first favourite with his mistress. 
 She boxes him herself mayhap, but none else 
 dare touch him ; and from the first, because 
 the creature was chill — 'twas in November 
 last she had him — she let him crouch by her 
 fire, even when Don Juan di Monteiro was 
 with her." 
 
 Maud Langley opened her deep-blue eyes 
 wider and wider as Mistress Sparrow went on 
 — something in the tale w^ouncled and offended 
 her, she scarce knew why. 
 
 " Thus he runs hither and thither at his 
 own will," concluded the companion, " and is 
 cursed with the most itcliing curiosity, but 
 only half understanding what is said, he tries 
 to see evei'ything for himself Now, my dear 
 young lady, if your woman is ready, I will see 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 139 
 
 to her escort. It is not well to venture the 
 length of Great Queen Street after dai;k." 
 
 Dorothy rose and put on her cloak and hood. 
 
 " I will return straight to keep you com- 
 pany, sweet - lady," said Mistress Sparrow. 
 So saying she minced out of the room, 
 followed by Dorothy, who bestowed an ex- 
 pressive look and grimace on Maud as she 
 followed. 
 
 Mistress Sparrow was as good as her word, 
 and came back, more quickly than Maud 
 anticipated, armed with an embroidery-fram.e, 
 with which resting on her knee as a sem- 
 blance of occupation, she proceeded to pour 
 forth, in '' one weak, washy, everlasting flow," 
 a river of anecdotes and reminiscences and con- 
 jectures — general chatter — respecting her 
 lady's life and conversation in Paris and else- 
 where, and also that of her associates. Kam- 
 bling as v/as the discourse, her listener 
 gathered from it something of the charac- 
 teristics of the world to which she was about 
 to be introduced, nor did the glimpse afford 
 her much edification. 
 
 Maud Langley's training and education had 
 been curiously marbled by opposing influences. 
 
1 40 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 When Lo';d Lano'd<ile firs^ fornd li'rD.self iui 
 exile, widowed soon after his expatriation, 
 crippled in means and too honest and simple 
 to be much of a personage in the collection of 
 plotters, more or less astute, which composed 
 the Court of St. Germains, his greatest diffi- 
 culty was how to dispose of his little daughter 
 when he was glad to eke out his reduced 
 fortunes by accepting a commission from the 
 great Louis. 
 
 It was therefore with the utmost gratitude 
 he closed with an offer from the widow of an 
 Irish officer (who liad served James faithfully, 
 and died of his wounds in France after the 
 ruin of the Stuart cause in Ireland) to care 
 for his child. Madame Wandesforde, as she 
 was generally called, though deeply attached 
 to her Jacobite husband, was not a little 
 puritanical in the colour of her mind. She 
 belonged to a family of presbyterian settlers, 
 and her marriage had separated her from kith 
 and kin. Peculiarly alone in France, liking 
 neither the party with which she had become 
 associated nor the country she was compelled 
 to adopt, she attached herself with • all the 
 force of a strong grave nature to the little 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 141 
 
 gill committed to her charo-e. Under her 
 siletitlv watchful care Maud blossomed into 
 womanhood. 
 
 Kuowing little or nothing of the world 
 around her, and assimilating her protectress's 
 opinions, modified more or less by her own 
 individuality, naturally bright and daring, 
 full to the lips with life, loving, sensitive, 
 it was perhaps fortunate that Maud's erratic 
 inipulsive disposition should have been calmed 
 and regulated by the strict yet not unloving 
 discipline of Madame WandesforJe's somewhat 
 sombre routine. Nor was the heiress of 
 Langdale uninstructed in those accomplish- 
 ments and requirements suitable to a young 
 lady of high degree. Indeed, her education 
 was more than ordinarily solid and complete. 
 
 The retired life led by Madame Wandes- 
 forde and her charge permitted an amount of 
 reading rare in those days, and few girls of 
 tliat period were as familiar as Maud Langley 
 with the noble poetry of Spenser and Milton. 
 Thus a high if somewhat impossible standard 
 was created in her imaofi nation for the ideal 
 hero round whom the fancies of the least 
 fanciful girl gather. Warm and deep as had 
 
142 The Heiitage of Langdale. 
 
 been Madame Wandesforde's love for her hus- 
 band, she ever repented the act of disobedi- 
 ence which had resulted in her marriage and 
 her separation from her own people — an act 
 to which she attributed all her subsequent 
 misfortunes ; and no lesson Vvas more strictly 
 inculcated on her beloved pupil than obe- 
 dience to a father's will. Maud Langley, at 
 that undeveloped age when the kind Baron 
 died, would have accepted almost any hus- 
 band at her father's command. This training 
 had been all in John Langley 's favour when 
 seeking to bring about the marriage with his 
 son. It v»^as the instinctive irresistible con- 
 sciousness which grew upon her when Harold 
 tried to play the lover's part, that dislike, 
 nay, positive aversion, lurked under his seem- 
 ing, that made her shrink with unspeakable 
 dread from the idea of his ever possessing a 
 husband's power and authority over her. The 
 idea of some mystery which, unknown to her, 
 had its nucleus in her simple self, completed 
 the nervous terror which would have driven 
 her into a brain fever, had she not found 
 repose and partial deliverance in her aunt's 
 mansion. 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 143 
 
 The occasional visits of her handsome, 
 loving,, genial father were indeed sunny spots 
 in Maud's early existence. To go quite away 
 with him, to visit some of his French and 
 English friends, among the grandes dames 
 of Paris, was indeed a treat not less enjoyed 
 by the father, who, to speak truth, w^as 
 somewhat in awe of his daughter's grave 
 gouvernante. But by far the greater part of 
 Maud's girlhood was spent in a corner of a 
 partly decayed chateau near St. Germain's, 
 where, by the kindness of its noble French 
 owner, some of the humbler sufferers in the 
 Stuart cause were permitted to shelter. Here, 
 surrounded by evidences of poverty and dila- 
 pidation, her childhood glided into youth ; but 
 the poverty was never sordid, and the dilapi- 
 dation was picturesque. A vague perfume 
 of patrician bygone grandeur hung about the 
 noble desolate rooms and their scanty worm- 
 eaten furniture, still it was home to Maud ; 
 and, greatly to her advantage, the ample 
 retired gardens, now a wilderness, permitted 
 her more of free air and exercise than the 
 young ladies of that age often enjoyed. 
 
 But the return of her father, ill with cold 
 
144 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 and fever caught while serving with the troops 
 of France against the Archduke Charles, 
 brought the first grief to Maud which she 
 bad ever known. Mtev a lingering illness, 
 the thought and responsibility of which, as 
 by a forcing process, matured her into sudden 
 womanhood, Lord Langdale died ; and Maud, 
 penniless and alone, returned to the solemn 
 yet tender guardianship of her early friend ; 
 nor w^as the routine of her life broken for 
 many months, when John Langley made his 
 appearance armed with the authority con- 
 ferred upon him by her father's will, and then 
 she was forced, despairingly, to bid farewell 
 to all she had ever known of home and com- 
 panionship. Madame Wandesforde was not so 
 unfavourably impressed by Maud's kinsman 
 as she was herself; something in his grave 
 puritanical air conciliated the one and repelled 
 the other ; but it was a bitter blow to part 
 with Maud, and no small unselfishness on the 
 part of the lonely widow to let Dorothy 
 ac2ompany her to the unknown land whither 
 she was going — Dorothy, who had been nurse, 
 cook, lady's-maid, and butler so efficiently for 
 nine long years. 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 145 
 
 However, fate and John Langley were in- 
 exorable, and poor Madame Wandesforde's 
 sole consolation was the belief that Maud's 
 future, respecting which she had had many un- 
 easy thoughts, was provided for and secure. 
 
 Such had been the training and experience 
 of our delicate Maud, who now sat listening 
 with dim uneasy disapprobation to Mistress 
 Sparrow's revelations of life as she knew it. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 10 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 HE bitter weather of the last few 
 days had somewhat relaxed, and a 
 clear moon was shining on the grand 
 new mansions which partially sur- 
 rounded St. James's Square, rendering almost 
 unnecessary the flaring smoky torches borne 
 by the barefooted officious link-boys who 
 pressed round the Helmi^foid residence as the 
 fast-coming chairs and coaches announced the 
 usual reception. 
 
 Within, the whole suite of rooms occupying 
 the first floor were thrown open and lit up 
 ■with manifold wax-lights — one room being 
 well supplied with card-tables, while others 
 weie left free for the company to converse or 
 circulate as seemed best to them. 
 
The Heritage of Lcmgdale. 147 
 
 Above, in her own chamber, with a species 
 of fearful delight, Maud Langley essayed the 
 dress duly presented to her at the right mo- 
 inent by the milliner's obsequious apprentice. 
 Never before had the young orphan possessed 
 such a garment. Dorothy, who was no con- 
 temptible hairdresser, had turned her nut- 
 brown tresses in naturally-waved folds over a 
 low cushion, and gathered them into a loose 
 mass on her neck behind, all innocent of 
 powder, as was the delicate pensive face, 
 which so readily lit up into archness, of rouge 
 or patches. 
 
 When the ceremony was completed, and 
 the debutante fullj^ attired, from her white- 
 satin pointed high-heeled shoes with their 
 silver rosettes, to her ivory and lace fan (one 
 of her own few possessions), the sweep of her 
 robe and the folds of her petticoat duly dis- 
 posed, Dorothy and the dressmaker stood 
 aside and contemplated their work, one with 
 loud, the other with murmured, expressions 
 of admiration. 
 
 " At last, my lamb — at last I see you 
 clothed as your father's daughter ought to 
 be," cried Dorothy. 
 
 10—2 
 
148 The Heritage of Lmngdale. 
 
 " The young lady would Jend grace to any 
 garment," said the other. 
 
 Maud, smihnor and blushing, ^flanced at her 
 own imoge in the glass, and felt ashamed at 
 the thrill of exultation sent throuo^h her veins 
 by what she saw there. 
 
 "But now all is ready, what am I to do, 
 Dorothy? I hear carriages driving up, but I 
 dare not enter the salon alone, and I know 
 not where to find the Countess." 
 
 " Mistress Sparrow," began Dorothy, when 
 the door opened to admit that personage. 
 
 ** Ah ! you are ready — that is well," she- 
 exclaimed. " The Countess wishes you to be 
 in the drawing-room in good time. Ah, my 
 dear young lady, I protest you look like 
 some priceless pearl ! What exquisite taste ! 
 Yet I would opine that a thought more of 
 colour now ? Eh ! but my lady has somewhat 
 souibre taste ; she will have me in this grave 
 grey and black lace, Vv^hich is somewhat anti- 
 quated for me, albeit I am not exactly dans 
 ma premiere jennesse. But how can I re- 
 sist when her ladyship generously bestows 
 the robe ?" 
 
 Maud said with truth that she thought the- 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 149 
 
 costume most becoming ; and certainly the 
 companion looked many degrees better than 
 in the fantastic garb of her own choosing. 
 
 "Let us descend then/' said Mistress Letitia. 
 
 She led the way, and Maud could not but 
 •admire the brilliant aspect of Lady Helms- 
 ford's fine rooms. House and furniture were 
 of the newest fashion. The chairs, lounges, 
 and tabourets, framed in graceful sweeping 
 curves of carved and gilded wood, or dark and 
 highly-polished walnut and ebony, were 
 covered with richly-worked silk and satin ; 
 and though, to modern ideas, thev mio^ht be 
 too solid and weighty for convenience, they 
 were light and airy compared to the construc- 
 tions which preceded them thirty or forty 
 years before. The carpets were mellow in 
 tint and of Eastern manufacture ; and Indian 
 cabinets, Venetian looking-glasses, rare china, 
 feather screens, and rich hangings were 
 iijingled with splendid profusion among the 
 more ordinary furniture. These well-gar- 
 nished chambers began gradually to fill with 
 ^ variegated company. Ladies in rich dresses 
 of every hue ; courtly-looking men scarce less 
 richly attired in velvets and brocades, peri- 
 
150 The Heritage of Lcmgdale. 
 
 wig-ged, powdered, perfumed, lace-ruffled — all 
 moving and speaking with the trained stately 
 grace and eaSe peculiar to that period, which 
 somehow managed to produce so highly- 
 polished a surface on so coarse a grain. 
 
 Maud forgot even her own shyness in the 
 surprise and delight with which she gazed at 
 the animated scene before her. The dame 
 de compagnie had introduced her by a side- 
 door into the smaller of the drawing-rooms 
 thrown open that evening, and for some time 
 she did not see her aunt, who was in the first 
 room receiving her guests. Mistress Sparrow 
 had suggested that they should place them- 
 selves opposite a wide double door, through 
 which they could see the company arrive. 
 Maud therefore seated herself on a chair, the 
 carved and twisted back of which rose above 
 her head, and beside a high ebony cabinet, 
 which made an effective background to the 
 delicate elegance and refined colouring of her 
 form and dress. Mistress Letitia perched 
 herself on a tabouret by her side, from v.^hich 
 she frequently started in staccato style ta 
 perform deep curtsies to the various grand 
 ladies who deigned to bend their heads in 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 151 
 
 acknowledgmeat as they passed. The gentle- 
 men did not seem to recognise her, but both 
 cast frequent curious glances- at her com- 
 panion, as the appearance of such a distin- 
 guished-looking stranger in a society where 
 all were well known was an event. 
 
 •'' 'Tis a gay scene," said the companion, ob- 
 serving Maud's riveted attention. "I can 
 assure you there are no other receptions in 
 town that approach so near the brilliancy of a 
 Paris salon; but I daresay, fair Mistress 
 Maud, you know these better than I do.'' 
 
 "No indeed; I have ever been a recluse, 
 and never before beheld so good a company. 
 Surely the ladies are most lovely and the 
 gentlemen noble-looking, though a trifle 
 heavy. But I long to see Lady Helmsford 
 • — where is she T 
 
 " Oh, she stays near the entrance somewhat 
 longer than usual — he, he, he ! In short we 
 have had an agreeable surprise. The Spanish 
 gentleman I mentioned to you, the splendid 
 donor of that — that little black mischief, has 
 suddenly reappeared, and no doubt my lady 
 is pleased to offer him hospitality in her own 
 country. Now I will tell you some of the 
 
152 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 most celebrated people here. That tall 
 elegant lady in blue and silver, with a dia- 
 mond spray ia her hair, that is the beautiful 
 
 Lady B . The Duke of Wharton and 
 
 Lord Fitzmaurice have crossed svi^c^rds for her 
 sake. She looks somewhat sad to-night, but 
 that may be accounted for ; they say her 
 present favourite, Sir Harry Wilmington, is so 
 deep in debt and embarrassment of all kinds 
 that he has fled — only last week. And there 
 is Mrs. C , and Lady M. W ," etc. 
 
 The communicative Sparrow ran through a 
 dozen names, male and female, ending with a 
 gentleman in unusually simple attire — claret- 
 coloured velvet, with no garniture save gold 
 filigree buttons — handsome, jovial, and reso- 
 lute-looking, although his face was round and 
 rubicund ; and though well and stoutly made, 
 he was perhaps too short and thick for 
 dignity. 
 
 " There," whispered MistressLetitia,"lookat 
 that somewhat country-looking gentleman in 
 a tie wig, that is one of the celebrities ; that 
 is Mr. Walpole. My lady has the highest 
 opinion of his wits and parts ; she says he can 
 huy and sell all his opponents. We have but 
 
The. Heritage of Langckde. 153 
 
 a scant supply of remarkable men to-night. 
 Do you know, that sometimes the great Mr. 
 Pope, from Twickenham, honours her lady- 
 ship ; and many others I could name." 
 
 Maud li|tened and looked with amused 
 interest till a group presented itself which 
 set her heart bBatino: and brouo^ht the blood 
 to her cheek in a quick ebb and flow, leaving 
 it finally colourless. 
 
 Lady Helmsford advanced into the centre 
 of the large outer drawing-room with her 
 usual haughty grace, slowly waving her fan, 
 as she turned lier head slightly from side to 
 side, as if equally dividing her attention be- 
 tween her attendants. On her left hand was 
 a tall, slight, and foreign-looking man, his 
 dress contra.sting strongly with the gorgeous 
 colouring aiound him. It was entirely black 
 velvet, -unrelieved by anything save a costly 
 cravatte and ruffles of point d'Espagne, dia- 
 mond shoe and knee buckles, and a dazzling 
 solitaire among the folds of his lace cravatte ; 
 his own dark, nearly black, hair was brushed 
 back in loose waved curls, and gathered into 
 a natural queue by a large bow of black 
 ribbon ; his embroidered handkerchief was 
 
154 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 drawn through his diamond sword-hilt, on: 
 which he rested his left hand lightly. There 
 was an indescribable audacious grace, if such 
 a combination can be imaofined, about this 
 gentleman's aspect and carriage, that struck 
 all who looked upon him ; something in the 
 guarded yet daring expression of the eye, the 
 bronzed complexion, the free step that be- 
 spoke a life far different from the finikin fine 
 gentlemen by whom he was surrounded. 
 
 But striking as his appearance seemed to 
 all else, Maud Langley hardly saw him, her 
 attention was riveted on the figure at her 
 aunt's left hand. It was her half-dreaded 
 half-despised cousin Harold, radiant in an 
 amber satin brocade coat, plentifully laced 
 with gold ; his enormous cuffs, deep waist- 
 coat, red-heeled shoes all in the very highest 
 fashion. He too ventured to wear his own 
 fair hair, but it was })owdered and curled 
 most elaborately, and beneath it his hard, 
 pallid, but well-featured face and cold blue 
 eyes looked out on the world with a strain of 
 contempt under his self-satisfaction. 
 
 " I bring you Captain Langley," said the 
 Countess to her niece, "and cannot doubt 
 
'The Heritage of Lang dale. 155 
 
 but that you will be well pleased to receive 
 the gentleman ;" and the Countess turned to 
 listen to what the other cavalier was saying-, 
 and which was spoken with much earnestness 
 and an air of devotion. 
 
 Maud rose to receive Harold with puncti- 
 lious politeness, which she intended should 
 mark the distance to be observed between 
 them; but, fluttered by the sudden though 
 not unexpected encounter, she dropped her 
 fan. The gentleman in black velvet, who 
 had not seemed to glance in her direction, but 
 to be absorbed in his brilliant hostess, started 
 forward and caught up the fan ; bending low, 
 he presented it without raising his eyes to 
 Maud's ; and, returning to his place by Lady 
 Helmsford's side, finished his interrupted 
 sentence. All was done with such rapidity 
 that Maud had no time even to think of any 
 suitable phrase in which to reply to her aunt, 
 who, followed by the stranger, moved away 
 without further remark. 
 
 '' Do not leave me," whispered Maud 
 eagei'ly to Mistress Letitia, as Harold, with a 
 profound bow, addressed her. 
 
 *' I can scarce express to you, my most ador- 
 
15G The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 able cousin, the delight with which I re- 
 cognise your native beauty and elegance, so 
 suddenly developed by the fine taste of my 
 Lady Helmsford. Zounds, madam ! my 
 father and myself were crazed to oppose your 
 desire to be with your noble kinswoman, but 
 you must well know it was but a natural 
 jealousy that made me wish to keep a beau- 
 teous flower for my own eye alone." 
 
 " My word ! the gentleman speaks ele- 
 gantly," murmured the companion. 
 
 '' Indeed, sir," said Maud, with a smile and 
 a slight scorn of manner that became her 
 well, "I know nothing of the kind. How- 
 ever, I am content to receive you as a kins- 
 man.'' 
 
 " Alas ! and is that all ? but I shall venture 
 to hope that when time proves me to be not 
 quite unworthy your regard, I may be able to 
 efface the impression of that fatal day." He 
 stopped abruptly, a look of fierce anger for a 
 moment replacing the carefully set expression 
 of his features. 
 
 *' I pray you, Captain Langley, do not 
 recall such unhappy memories. I was grieved 
 for your sake." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 157 
 
 " Sweet obligingness, amiable condescen- 
 sion," returned the gallant Captain ; but there 
 was a bitter sneer on his lips, even while he 
 softened his voice to its sweetest tone. How- 
 ever, he wisely adopted hi^ fiancees hint, and 
 talked no longer on personal topics ; but as 
 Maud could not bo drawn into more than 
 monosyllabic replies, Captain Langley was 
 obliged to include the dame de compagnie 
 in his conversation, and so held forth in the 
 most approved fashionable slang, respect- 
 ing' drums, routs, rid ottos, actresses, great 
 ladies, and '*' Bold Bucks," who were then the 
 terror and admiration of the town under the 
 leadership of the celebrated Duke of Wharton 
 — much to the admiration of Mistress Sparrow, 
 and the bewilderment and weariness of 
 Maud. 
 
 At last the companion proposed that they 
 should adjourn to thetiard-ruom, that Mistress 
 Langley might see the whole suite. The move- 
 ment was a relief to Maud, although Captain 
 Langley constituted himself their attendant, 
 as if determined to display himself as an 
 accepted suitor ; but Lady Helmsford came 
 to the rescue. At the entrance of the card- 
 
158 llie lleritage of Langdale. 
 
 room, where numerous tables were occupied 
 by parties at whist, basset, and piquet, she 
 met the trio, and, with a quick glance at 
 Maud's pale downcast face, said : 
 
 " I was coming to seek you. Captain Lang- 
 ley. Her Grace of D wants a partner at 
 
 whist. I told her I felt sure Captain Langley 
 of the Guards played a good game. You 
 must verify my words, gallant sir. My niece 
 will excuse you — give me your arm." 
 
 Harold was by no means sorry to be 
 released from his ungracious task of playing 
 the lover to so unreciprocal a partner, es- 
 pecially to sit vis-a-vis to a Duchess for an 
 hour or more, although she was neither 
 young nor beautiful. 
 
 " You have done penance enough, child," 
 whispered Lady Helmsford, laughing as 
 Maud's face visibly brightened. "Go, Spar- 
 row, get her some tea. There are two or three 
 very pretty fellows asking to be presented to 
 you, but I do not see them now." She nodded 
 and passed on. 
 
 '' Exactly so, dear young lady, let us have 
 a dish of tea, I am faint for want of some," 
 cried Mistress Letitia, and she proceeded, not 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 159 
 
 without many checks, for the rooms were now- 
 crowded, to win her own and Maud's way to 
 an outer saloon, where at one side, on a long 
 beaufet, was set forth tea and coffee, and rich 
 cakes, buttered and sweet. 
 
 Here, amid the footmen who attended 
 under the direction of a stately butler, flitted 
 in and out, armed with a huge silver cake- 
 basket, the little black page who had so 
 startled Maud and her waiting- woman the 
 day before. The rich and varied scene, the 
 cill-pervading buzz of uni versa Italk, the 
 picturesque groups of ladies and their cava- 
 liers, more or less absorbed in each other, with 
 here and there a knot of sober elderly men, 
 evidently deep in political discussion, and a 
 sprinkling of bitter-looking dowagers, who, 
 from the animation of their talk, were no 
 doubt reiving some unfortunate character to 
 rags, — all was so new and strange to our fair 
 recluse that for a while she foro-ot her dread 
 of Harold and his father, and looked on 
 infinitely amused while she sipped her coffee, 
 unable to refrain from laun^hino^ as she watched 
 the little gaily-caparisoned negro flit here and 
 there, twining round hoops and ducking 
 
160 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 under gentlemen's arms, every now and then 
 refreshing himself by a large slice of cake, 
 putting his little black paw in among the 
 delicate cates deliberately and unblushingly, 
 without an attempt at concealment. 
 
 *' Why," she asked when he approached 
 with a sort of bow to offer her his basket, 
 " how darest thou devour these good things 
 without leave ?" She spoke instinctively in 
 French, but the little fellow 0!ily grinned, 
 showing a doul:)le row of the whitest teeth, 
 and shook his woolly pate. 
 
 "You speak no French then?" continued 
 Maud, who felt a sort of compassionate 
 curiosity towards this strange specimen of 
 humanity. 
 
 " No, missee, no ; I'se speak English and 
 Spanish." 
 
 " What would 3^0 ur lady say if she saw you 
 eatins: the cakes ?" 
 
 " Miladi laugh ! miladi give me lots of 
 cakes — heaps," raising his hand to show the 
 height of the imaginary heap. " Miladi very 
 good to Gomez, so Missee Belville and Missee 
 Sparrow they so mad ;" and again he grinned 
 delightedly. 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 161 
 
 "La! I wonder, my dear yoiing lady, 
 how you can care to talk to a creature like 
 that ! You surely cannot set a value on 
 him ?" cried Mistress Letitia. 
 
 " Indeed he interests me, poor little fel- 
 low," returned Maud, gaziui^ at liim as she 
 sipped her coffee. " It seems that he has no 
 friend save Lady Helmsford ; and then he is 
 human, and feels and suffers like ourselves, 
 though I can scarce think it of the little black 
 outlandish creature." 
 
 Here Gomez, who had been lookinor with 
 profound attention at the speaker, suddenly 
 broke into a lauo^h, as if he understood and 
 •^'^as considerably amused by the drift of the 
 speech. 
 
 " Me not black nigger, miss^ee — me brown. 
 'Sambo black nigger ; me am Gomez, not quite 
 black." 
 
 Maud smiled and coloured ; she was pecu- 
 liarly sensitive for the age she lived in, and 
 shrank from the idea of wounding even the 
 humblest of God's creatures. 
 
 " No, no, you are, as you say, brown. Will 
 you take my cup, little boy ?" 
 
 " Ay, ay, missee, and I'se come back again." 
 
 VOL. 1. 11 
 
1 1'2 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " Did you ever hear the like ?" cried Mis- 
 tress Sparrow, drawing herself up ; *' the crea- 
 ture tiilks as if he was your brother." 
 Maud laughed. 
 
 '* If these poor blacks are men — and we 
 must suppose they are — why, according to 
 very high authority, they are our brothers." 
 
 Mistress Sparrow raised her hands and eyes 
 in astonishment at such mental eccentricity ; 
 but Gomez seeing fit at that moment to cut a 
 species of caper, he upset not only the cake- 
 basket but the cotfee-cnp, in which sufficient 
 remained to make a hopeless stain on the 
 skirt of her handsome sober slate-grey silk. 
 
 " Now I know that was wilful — I know 
 it," almost whimpered the poor companion, 
 whose wrath was more apt to dissolve in tears 
 than explode in objurgations. *' One never 
 knows when he undo'stands or when he does 
 not, wicked imp ! I shall have rare work to 
 remove this stain." 
 
 " See, he is sorr}^," said Maud, pointing 
 •with her fan to the little fellow, who had 
 covered his face with his hands, and rocked 
 himself to and fro. 
 
 " Sorry T cried Mistress Letitia indignantly ; 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 163 
 
 and as she said it Gomez removed his hands, 
 revealing his face illumined with delighted 
 mirth. 
 
 Though vexed for poor Letitia's sake, 
 Maud could not repress a sympathetic smile ; 
 whereupon the little fellow assumed a graver 
 aspect, and turned to gather up the pieces of 
 cake which lay scattered about. In so doing, 
 he trod on the sacque of the lady who had 
 been pointed out to Maud as a celebrated 
 beauty. She was sipping her dish of tea and 
 talking to the dark foreign-looking gentleman 
 to whom the Countess had sho^vn such marked 
 attention. He immediately seized the offender 
 by the shoulder, addressing him in a foreign 
 tongue, which was not French. Maud could 
 not help being greatly impressed by the com- 
 plete change in Gomez's look and manner : 
 an expression of the profoundest reverence 
 and also of joy suddenly stilled his face ; he 
 clasped his hands together as if in prayer, and 
 his countenance fell as the gentleman con- 
 tinued evidently to rebuke him in his deep 
 sonorous tones. They were not near enough 
 to permit Maud to hear absolutely what 
 passed, but she could see that the lady put 
 
 11- 2 
 
164 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 some questions in a languid disdainful man- 
 ner ; then other gentlemen came up to pay 
 their ccuit, and the stranger, quietly stepping 
 back a | ace or t\A o, disentangled himselt from 
 the group, and, with an easy graceful bow, 
 said in excellent English, though with a slight 
 foreign accent : 
 
 " Ha^e I not the honour of addressing the 
 amiaMe Mistress Sparrow?" 
 
 **Why, yes, sir," she returned, much flat- 
 tered and fluttered by this address. *' I could 
 hardly have hoped that the modish Don di 
 Monteiro would, among the variety of his 
 acquaintances, have remembered a humble 
 individual like myself." 
 
 This then was her aunt's famous favourite, 
 on whose gay doings and doubtful antecedents 
 Mistress Letitia had so enlarged, Maud turned 
 her eyes upon him with some interest, but 
 he was at that moment bowing in acknow- 
 ledgment of the carefully-executed curtsy 
 with which Mistress Letitia accompanied her 
 speech, so did not meet them. 
 
 "You undervalue yourself, madam. I fear 
 that small ofiender has done yon an injury. 
 My Lady Helmsford does not rule him sufli- 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 165 
 
 ciently. A rope's end — I mean a flogging 
 now and then — would be well bestowed ; as 
 it is, he has lost his head." 
 
 " Yon are right, sir ; the mischief he has 
 done is not to be told ; and here is my lady s 
 niece ready to spoil him too — was quite upset 
 lest she had offended his darkness by calling 
 him black forsooth." 
 
 " Nay, dear Mistress Sparrow, you speak 
 somewhat strongly," said Maud, blushing, and 
 in her shyness slightly turning her head to 
 avoid the eyes bent upon her — a movement of 
 which Monteiro took advantage to gaze at 
 her figure and profile for a couple of instants, 
 as if his soul was in his eyes, yet was there 
 nothin>{ in the look that could offand ; rather 
 a thoughtful gravity. 
 
 ** Mademoiselle need not blush for consi- 
 deration bestowed on the wretched ; it shows 
 the true woman," he said in fair French. 
 
 " Certes, the wretchedness of this little 
 fellow is splendid," replied Maud, charmed 
 into animation by the sound of a language 
 associated with past happy days, and de- 
 lighted to speak it agam. 
 
 " At present," replied Monteiro ; " but how 
 
166 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 when his indulgent mistress wearies of him ? 
 When, how the grace of early j^outh gone, he 
 changes from a toy to a mere lackey ?" 
 
 " Ah ! Monsieur does my aunt hijustice. 
 She could never consign what was once 
 favoured to misery." 
 
 " You think so ? you think so ?" said the 
 Spaniard, with a tone of amused surprise that 
 somehow displeased Maud. 
 
 " I am sure," she said. " But I do not 
 think the French tongue is familiar to Mis- 
 tress Sparrow," she added, observing the state 
 of uneasiness to which her companion was 
 reduced by the continuance of a conversation 
 she could not understand. 
 
 Mistress Letitia had, in truth, been strictly 
 ordered by her imperious lady not to allow 
 Maud out of her sight, or to exchange a word 
 with any one of which she could not give 
 account, for Lady Helmsford, judging Maud 
 by the light of her own experience, had not 
 quite divested her mind of suspicions respect- 
 ing Maud's total innocence of the trick played 
 upon Harold Langley. 
 
 " You are right," returned Monteiro, and 
 continued in English, " how was it that I did 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 167 
 
 not meet you when I had the honour of know- 
 ing Lady Hehnsford in Paris last — Novem- 
 ber, was it not, Madame ?" to Letitia. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said that hidy, much reUeved to 
 iind herself able to share in the talk ; " but 
 Mistress Langley had not joined us then." 
 
 "Ah! only just from fair France, I pre- 
 fiume { 
 
 " Alas ! I have been nine weary months in 
 this cold country." 
 
 " Say rather noble country," exclaimed 
 Monteiro, looking keenly at her. ''' All men 
 who love justice and liberty would fain be 
 English." 
 
 " I am sure, su% you do us mighty honour," 
 cried Mistress Sparrow. 
 
 " Would you then be English ?" asked 
 Maud. 
 
 '' I am half-English in blood, whole English 
 in heart." 
 
 " Have I ever seen you in France with my 
 father V asked Maud, with a dreamy puzzled 
 look. 
 
 " Never, dear lady," replied Monteiro 
 quickly but kindly. " I have often heard 
 of your noble father, but never had the 
 
168 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 good fortune to know him. Wherefore, I 
 pray T 
 
 " Oh, I scarce know. I have met many 
 cavaHers with my dear father that for a mo- 
 ment I — " she paused. 
 
 " I was net one of them, alas 1 and I have 
 but lately come hither." 
 
 Farther talk was prevented by the approach 
 of Lady Helmsford, accompanied by a very 
 elegant though elderly gentleman, elaborately- 
 attired in light-blue velvet laced with silver,, 
 who also wore a diamond solitaire and knee 
 buckles, though less brilliant than those of 
 the Spaniard. 
 
 *' You here, Don Monteiro ?" cried Lady 
 Helmsford. " What have you done with your 
 charming partner at ombre ?" 
 
 " She found others more worthy her notice,. 
 and the excellent Madame Sparrow took pity 
 on me." 
 
 Lady Helmsford laughed contemptu- 
 ously. 
 
 " Here, Maud, is a gentleman who begs to 
 be presented to you," said her ladyship care- 
 lessly. " My Lord Viscount Chedworth — my 
 niece Mistress Langley. I fear me much you 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale, 169 
 
 will find but a shy recluse, my lord. Come, 
 Don Juan, mj guests are all employed. I 
 will give you your revenge at piquet. 
 Where was our last party, in Paris ? I mean 
 when you lost — " 
 
 " Ah, Madame ! I lost all to you long ago," 
 exclaimed Monteiro, with a look of admiration, 
 as he offered his hand to lead her to the card- 
 room. 
 
 Mistress Sparrow could not resist giving 
 Maud a little significant tap of her fan while my 
 Lord Chedworth, with flowery circumlocution, 
 was informing her that the grape was never 
 so lovely or delicious as before the dew was 
 evaporated by the glare of broad daylight. 
 Long did the nobleman hold forth, as he had 
 the highest opinion of his own eloquence, 
 parts, and wit. To Maud he was simply a 
 very funny long-winded old gentleman, to 
 whom she nevertheless listened with a gentle 
 deference due to his years, occasionally giving 
 pointed answers, and unconsciously complet- 
 ing the conquest which her grace and distin- 
 guished appearance had begun. 
 
 " Is it not late ? Might we not retire ?" 
 she whispered to Letitia. 
 
170 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " no, not yet ; I must speak with the 
 Countess first." 
 
 The companion knew better than to intrude 
 upon her ladyship when engaged at play with 
 the highly -favoured Don, so Maud had to 
 endure my Lord Chedworth's compliaients 
 and assiduities for, w^hat seemed to her, a 
 long time. The rooms now began to thin, 
 and Harold, released from his whist with a 
 Duchess, came to perform his part as an ac- 
 cepted lover, the result of which was that 
 Maud bestowed an amount of attention on 
 her elderly admirer, which elevated him into 
 a state of buoyant delight such as he had not 
 known for years. Albeit her upbringing 
 had been staid and severe, nature w^as too 
 strong in Maud Langley not to derive a sense 
 of amused enjoyment from seeing the be- 
 wilderment of her suitor, on finding that the 
 prize he thought his own might possibly be 
 sought by another. She remembered the 
 careless hauteur of his advances at Langdale, 
 when, unspeakably desolate and cast down, 
 she would no doubt have responded to his 
 addresses had he been tender and sympa- 
 thetic. Now, somewhat giddy and elated by 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 171 
 
 the new scene into which she was plunged 
 and the sort of adulation offered to her, she 
 turned aside his fine speeches with a playful 
 malice which, uncertain as he felt of his foot- 
 ing in that grand society, filled Harold's 
 narrow mind with bitterest resentment. 
 
 At last even Maud's pertinacious attend- 
 ants felt compelled to make profound bows 
 and depart, for the company had all gone. 
 
 " Farewell for the present, my beautiful 
 one," cried Harold, with insolent affectation. 
 
 ** It would better become you, sir," returned 
 Maud gravely, " not to use the possessive 
 case." 
 
 '' Why pretend to conceal what must soon 
 be known ?" exclaimed Harold. 
 
 " Methinks, sir," observed Lord Chedworth, 
 *' if the chance of so great a happiness is yours, 
 you will best show your merit by religiously 
 obeying the lightest wishes of the lady who 
 honours you by expressing them." 
 
 '•'The advice of one whose expeiience must 
 spread over a long period is of undoubted 
 value," was the insolent rejoinder as Harold, 
 with one more deep bow, turned sharply 
 round and left the house. 
 
172 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " Forgive me, madam, but I could not re« 
 frain mjself." 
 
 " I have nothing to forgive, my lord,'' said 
 Maud. *' My kinsman's breeding is scarce 
 thorough." 
 
 Lord Chedworth opened his lips as ifto- 
 speak, then checking himself, bade Maud and 
 her companion a ceremonious good-night. 
 
 " Well, dear Mistress Langley," cried the 
 companion almost before he was out of 
 hearing, " you have made a success to-night. 
 Poor Lord Chedworth ! I was terrified for a 
 moment lest Captain Langley would send 
 him a cartel. His lordship is evidently quite 
 f iscinated. J am sure my lady ought to be 
 quite pleased to find how worthy in every 
 way-" 
 
 '* Oh, dear Mistress Sparrow, say no more," 
 cried Maud, on whom the reaction of her un- 
 wonted excitement had already set in; "I 
 know not what has possessed me this evening, 
 but I fear I have been too bold, too talkative. 
 Ah, if dear Madame Wandesforde were here 
 what a lecture 1 should have ere I slept." 
 
 " Well, it is time vou were in bed now,"' 
 said Letitia, who had greatly enjoyed the 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 173 
 
 amount of attention reflected on her during 
 the evening ; " every one is gone. But I 
 daresay you will find the Countess in the 
 farther drawing-room ; if you bid her good- 
 night you can retire." 
 
 Maud was glad to obey, as she longed for 
 silence and repose ; so, treading lightly, she 
 passed through the deserted card-room, from 
 which the servants were already removing the 
 tables, and, entering the inner apartment, 
 stopped short overwhelmed with confusion 
 and a most painful sense of being utterly 
 in the way. Lady Helmsford was seated in 
 a large fauteuil, leaning against one side, in 
 an attitude of languor and repose ; and a sorb 
 of low ottoman at her feet, reclined rather 
 than sat Don Juan di Monteiro, apparently 
 engrossed in the examination of the rings on 
 her ladyship's fair hand, which lay in his. It 
 was impossible to retreat unseen, and Maud 
 stood still, her face and throat dyed with the 
 deep blush of shame and embarrassment. 
 
 It was but a moment, yet it seemed an age. 
 A quick frown darkened Lady Helmsford s 
 brow as her eyes met Maud's, but it was 
 smoothed away in an instant. 
 
174 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 " Come here, dear child," she said in her 
 sweetest voice and without moving, " you 
 want to say good-night. Well, Monsieur, 
 and do you think my ring as fine a brilliant 
 as vour own ?" 
 
 Monteiro sprang quickly to his feet as she 
 spoke, and stood aside with a look of annoy- 
 ance ; while Maud, scarce knowing what she 
 did, came forward and received an ice-cold 
 kiss upon her brow, returned a curtsy to 
 Monteiro's salute, and* quickly retreated, all 
 trembling and scared, to take refuge with 
 Dorothy and darkness. 
 
 Half an hour after the Spanish stranger — 
 last of all the guests to depart — was putting 
 on his cloak and hat in the hall, when a side- 
 door opened, and Chifferil, pale and worn- 
 looking, came up to him. 
 
 *' One word," he said. 
 
 " I will come outside." 
 
 They stood on the doorstep, safe from 
 listeners. 
 
 " You have had my letters T asked Chifferil 
 eagerly. 
 
 " I have." 
 
 "Is this not a strange and unpleasant 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 175 
 
 tale — of the marriage ?" continued the 
 secretary. 
 
 " Most strange ; it shows some deep plot. 
 ChifFeril, I believe you are an honest fellow. 
 You must help me heart and hand to save 
 this fair girl from the crafty designs that 
 threaten her ; above all, from the impostor 
 who will seek to force this mock marriage on 
 her." 
 
 '^ I am indeed at your service for her sake. 
 Has my lady said aught to you ?" 
 
 " Of the marriage ? No. Now go in ; you 
 w^ill be observed. Keep me informed of 
 everything, Chifferil — everything !" 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HAT a wonderful world this is into 
 which we have fallen or ascended, 
 my Dorothy," said Maud one 
 morning a few days after the re- 
 ception above described, as she laid aside a 
 piece of embroidery on which she had been 
 working for nearly an hour in unusual 
 silence. 
 
 *' Ay, it is honey," returned Dorothy, who 
 was diligently darning her own stockings in 
 a cosy corner near the fire ; "bat 'tis a fine 
 one, and you are among your own sort. I am 
 sure we ought to be happy and contented, for 
 we are well entertained." 
 
 " Yet your voice sounds more like misery 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 177 
 
 than contentment," returned Maud, laughing 
 as she walked to one of the windows which 
 looked upon the square and drew back the 
 curtains, for the morning was dull. 
 
 They were in the small sitting-room, into 
 which their sleeping apartment opened, and 
 where Maud's time was chiefly passed ; for 
 she found her aunt did not choose to have her 
 companionship save when she sent for her— 
 a state of ceremony which chilled poor Maud 
 to the heart, yearning as she was to give and 
 receive affection. 
 
 "Your voice bespoke neither happiness nor 
 contentment," she repeated as Dorothy kept 
 silence. " Come, dear nurse, as I used to call 
 you, open your heart to me. I have seen a 
 gloom in your eyes all yesterday ; what is 
 it?" 
 
 " Well," said Dorothy, drawing the stocking 
 on which she was engaged somewhat vehe- 
 mently off her hand, and turning both her 
 capacious pockets inside out with a sudden 
 jerk, "that's not a cheerful condition, is it? 
 I haven't a sous, not one. I was obliged to 
 give drink- money to those two fellows who 
 came with me to fetch our mails from yon 
 
 VOL. I. 12 
 
178 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 prison-house, and to get a pair of shoes for 
 myself. I could not go barefoot in a house 
 like this ; and now I haven't as much as would 
 buy a plenishing of snuff for this tahatiere ;" 
 and she touched a silver box that lay beside 
 her. 
 
 *' Ah, this is certainly grievous ; but then 
 we have everything we want, and have well- 
 nigh no need for money," cried Maud, with 
 the easiness of heedless youth. 
 
 *' No need for money !" almost shrieked 
 Dorothy. " You might as well say no need 
 for eyes or ears. The penniless are helpless 
 — blind and naked and miserable." 
 
 " Alas ! dear old friend," said Maud sadly 
 as she came and sat low down on a stool at 
 Dorothy's feet. "How can I help it ? How 
 often has John Langley told me that I was a 
 beggar; that I owed everything to his 
 b(junly ; and now I am my aunt's debtor. 
 "Wby is it that both make their gifts so bitter ? 
 I am not foolishly proud ; I would gladly 
 accept benefits from my own kin, as I would 
 gladl}^ bestow them ; but it is hard to take 
 what is grudgingly given. Why is it that 
 none in England seem to love me ? John 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 179 
 
 Langley laboriously bid his hatred. Harold" 
 — she shuddered. "God's blessing be upon the 
 man, be he who and what he may, that saved 
 me from him," she added, with sudden vehe- 
 mence; ''and," in a quieter tone, "wherefore I 
 know not, but my aunt does not love me, at 
 least not yet. Ah, I did so hope to find a 
 mother in her ; nevertheless she is not 
 unkind; but oh ! would to God we were in 
 the dear old home in France." 
 
 Hiding her face in Dorothy's lap, she 
 yielded for a few moments to an irrepressible 
 flood of tears. 
 
 " My lamb, my honey dear !" cried Dorothy 
 in great distress, "you must not spoil your 
 eyes. Bless us and save us ! in a bare half- 
 hour you'll have to dress and go down to my 
 lady's levee. Here, dry them up ; I am an 
 omadhawn to talk to you like that." Dorothy 
 was of Irish extraction, and sometimes gar- 
 nished her speech with strange expressions. 
 " All will come right by-and-by. No one 
 seems to love you forsooth 1 Why, that quare 
 little soul, Mistress Sparrow ! (Faith, I would 
 rather be alone on the house-top than lead the 
 life she does 1) but Mistress Sparrow saj/s every 
 
 12—2 
 
180 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 one is in love with you. You just open them 
 lovely eyes o' yours, and pick out a real noble- 
 man, and v^e will snap our fingers at uncles and 
 aunts ! And don't 3^ou be downhearted. I've 
 just dropped a hint to Master Chifferil, who 
 seems a decent sort of creature" — she said^'cra- 
 ture " — *' he is my lady's secretary and mighty 
 polite. T just ses to him, * I suppose now the 
 Countess has in a manner of speaking adopted 
 my young lady, she will give her a trifle of 
 pin-money. It's mighty uncomfortable not to 
 have a farthing,' ses I; * and them dirty 
 devils of Whigs haven't left Lord Langdale's 
 daughter a rap.'" 
 
 •' Did you say all this ?" cried Maud dis- 
 mayed, raising her head to look in her nurse's 
 face. *' Why, Dorothy, my aunt will think me 
 a beggar indeed if this man repeats these 
 words. No, Dorothy, what I want I will ask 
 my aunt myself; I want no go-betweens.'' 
 She rose up and stood by the fire looking very- 
 grave. 
 
 " Ain't I the unfortunate woman to vex 
 you ?" cried Dorothy, first giving a tug to her 
 hair and then resuming her stocking ; " but 
 anyhow, ye needn't fret, for though Master 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale, 181 
 
 Chifferil bowed and made a grand speech as 
 •what he wouldn't do for you, I'll engage he'd 
 never dare open his lips to my lady about it. 
 He is the most frightened little sinner I ever 
 looked on. Sure I only spoke because I hate 
 to see you without a penny in your pocket ; 
 and I am always miserable when my own are 
 empty. But come, my jewel, it is time for 
 you to dress yourself." 
 
 But Maud Langley did not heed her ; she 
 stood lost in thought, gazing at the fire. A 
 train of most unpleasant reflections had been 
 set in motion by Dorothy's words. The 
 novelty and variety of her life since she had 
 come under her aunt's roof had so dazzled and 
 amused her, that save for some occasional 
 shuddering fits when she thought of Harold, 
 and the uncertainty which hung about her 
 relations to him, she had for a while forgotten 
 the painful mystery and dependence which 
 enthralled her. Now her circumstances seemed 
 to stand out before her mind's eye, in deepest 
 blackness against the immediate brilliancy of 
 her surroundings. She most dreaded the 
 relative who alone had legal authority, which 
 yet gave her no claim upon him. She was 
 
1S2 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 penniless, and forbidden by her station and 
 the prejudices of tbe age to earn her bread, 
 even if she knew how. She was loaded wdth 
 gifts by her aunt, who seemed scarce conscious 
 of giving, and yet she distrusted that noble 
 lady — much as she admired her. Not even 
 to her beloved Dorothy had she betrayed the 
 little scene she had witnessed on the night of 
 lier aunt's reception. 
 
 The dexterity of the Countess had almost 
 dispersed the unpleasant doubts and suspicions 
 which had been roused in Maud's innocent 
 heart. Nevertheless, even alone as she thought 
 over the occurrence, she felt the colour rise in 
 her cheek when the recollection of her aunt's 
 look, as she bent towards the Spaniard loung- 
 ing so carelessly at her feet, came back like a 
 revelation of what she had never before 
 dreamed of. No ! she felt, in spite of her at- 
 tempts to reason away the impression, as if 
 she were the depositary of a disgraceful secret, 
 and not even to her trusty Dorothy would she 
 breathe a syllable of what she had seen. In 
 addition to the view of such conduct natural 
 ta a girl gravely, even severely, brought up, 
 to Maud the beautiful Countess of Helms- 
 
Tlie Heritage of Lang dale, 183 
 
 ford, at thirty-five, or possibly forty, sesmsd 
 an elderly woman, in whom amatory follies 
 were, to say the least, unbecoming ; and it 
 pained her infinitely to doubt the discretion 
 of one she longed to respect. Nor did the 
 handsome Monteiro fare better in her esti- 
 mation. Dark and bronzed as he was, ho was 
 evidently a young man — years younger than 
 the Countess. It was no doubt some imper- 
 tinent folly of this audacious stranger which 
 had betrayed her aunt into so unsuitable 
 a position. And she would have expected 
 better thinofs of him, sliofht as had been the 
 conversation that passed between them. He 
 seemed so real, so courteous, so free from the 
 complimentary absurdities that moved her 
 mirth in others. Stranger though he was, she 
 was grieved to be so disappointed in Don Juan 
 di Monteiro, though indeed Mistress Spar- 
 row's account might have prepared her for 
 this or anything. Thus pondering sadly and 
 nervously, Maud obeyed a second summons 
 from Dorothy, and submitted to the solemn 
 process of having her hair dressed. 
 
 Below stairs, in her study or writing-room, 
 the Countess dictated letters and looked over 
 
184 The Heritage of Lang dale, 
 
 accounts, with the assistance of Chifferil. She 
 was attired in an elaborate dishabille, of which 
 maize-colour and crimson were the prevailing 
 tints ; her profuse tresses loosely rolled up in 
 preparation for the public hairdressing which 
 was soon to ensue. 
 
 " I cannot make up my mind, Chifferil,'' she 
 said, looking from a paper on which she had 
 been scribbling some figures, to the little 
 secretary, who sat opposite her. " I cannot 
 make up my mind whether to buy some more 
 stock or to sell what I have. Craggs and 
 Stanhope both advise me to buy — they say it 
 is the most certain success. The Duke as- 
 sures me it will fail ; nor does Mr. Walpole 
 like it much. Then the price is monstrously 
 high ; even if I sell out now, I shall have done 
 well. The question will be — how to dispose 
 of my capital. Eh, Chifferil ! if I sell my 
 South Sea stock I will only buy or lend on 
 land." 
 
 " Your ladyship reasons well," replied 
 Chifferil ; " and I doubt not there are abun- 
 dance of impecunious young heirs who would 
 give you first-rate security." 
 
 "I think I must sell — I think I must," said 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 185 
 
 Lady HeJmsford thoughtfully. " I have not 
 •done badly, Chifferil." 
 
 ** No, indeed, madam ! few have yonr lady- 
 ship's head for business matters — money 
 matters especially — and few dream of your 
 success." 
 
 '' The fewer the better, ChifFeril, the fewer 
 the better. I have ever known and felt that 
 money is power.'' Instinctively the white 
 jewelled hand that lay on the paper before 
 her closed fast, as the Countess again seemed 
 absorbed in thought. " Yes, money can buy 
 nearly everything — nearly. I think I will 
 sell, Chifferil ; I value Mr. Wal pole's opinion 
 much. Write — write to my broker to call 
 here to-morrow early. I must instruct him 
 myself." 
 
 A silence ensued, during which Chifferil's 
 pen scratched quickly over the paper. He 
 then presented an account-book, over which 
 his mistress looked with some attention. The 
 Countess of Helmsford had a strong organis- 
 ing and financial faculty, and liked to hold 
 all wires that worked her life in her own hand. 
 
 " It is well," she said, returning it to him. 
 " The amount is about the averaofe." 
 
186 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 Chifferil cleared his throat somewhat ner- 
 vously. '* Have you any commands, madam, 
 touching the young lady, your ladyship's 
 niece { 
 
 " How ! what do you mean ?" cried the 
 Countess, roused to sudden attention and 
 suspicion. " You are spUtting your pen, and 
 ■writhing like an impaled worm — say out what 
 you have to say." 
 
 " Nothing — nothing that need offend your 
 ladyship. Only I presume Master Langley 
 makes the young Baroness — young lady, I 
 mean — no allowance, so, perhaps — a — " 
 
 *' Well, sir ! perhaps I will ? On my word, 
 Chifferil, you forget yourself. What has 
 Mistress Maud Langley given you to plead 
 her cause ? She had better ask me herself" 
 
 " I solemnly and truly protest, honoured 
 madam, I have never spoken to the young 
 lady." 
 
 " I think I know that, still I do not under- 
 stand your partisanship. Remember, if I 
 find my servants adopting my niece's service 
 I will soon quit me of 3'ou all, and send her 
 back to her bastard uncle." 
 
 " Who will no doubt be too thankful to 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 187 
 
 grasp the heiress he dispossesses/' said Chif- 
 feril meekly, yet bearing himself with unusual 
 pluck under his mistress's rebuke. 
 
 " True — she may be a rich prize one day, 
 and it is as well I should have the disposal of 
 her. I will speak to Craggs and Sunderland 
 repecting that pardon ; even if it does not 
 exist, another might be made out, and the 
 attainder reversed. In the meantime, Chifferil, 
 she shall have all she wants, save money. Of 
 that — not a sou ! With money in her purse 
 I could never be sure of her. Talk of bolts 
 and bars and duno^eons, there's no such 
 shackle as your empty pocket." 
 
 '* Has the young lady any notion . of her 
 real state ?'' 
 
 "You mean that she may one day claim 
 her father's lands ? No ; and she had better 
 not — she would grow insolent. 'T would be 
 but human nature ; and that would trouble 
 me. I shall but look round me and mature 
 my plans ; then, whether John Langley likes 
 or not, I shall appeal to the Ejclesiastical 
 Court to undo this foolish marriage." 
 
 " Tis a trying situation for the young 
 lady." 
 
188 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " It is, it is ! and nothing proves to me so 
 strongly the existence of the pardon as this 
 attempt on the part of some bold adventurer 
 — probably penniless and low-born — so I shall 
 keep her by me till I can decide what to do. 
 If John Langle^'- gets her he shall get nothing 
 €lse. Now, ChifFeril, I think I have seen to 
 everything and given you due instructions. I 
 must to my dressing-room. Signors Andrea 
 and Martinez, the new singers, desire that I 
 should hear them in a duet, and it is the hour 
 I appointed. Be careful, ChifFeril, I will have 
 no second influence in my household." 
 
 The secretary rose to bow as she left the 
 room, and remained standing in thought, with 
 a somewhat woebegone expression of coun- 
 tenance. " It is a terrible tanorle," he thought, 
 indeed almost muttered ; "the odds against 
 that poor child's happiness and rights are 
 tremendous. She wants a powerful friend, 
 and where is that to be found ? The Spaniard 
 is well-intentioned, but what can he, a 
 stranger and a sort of adventurer, do ?" 
 
 ChifFeril shook his head, sorted his papers 
 rapidly, closed and locked a bureau which 
 stood open behind him, and, pausing to listen 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 18^ 
 
 to the sound of an arrival, went softly and 
 quickly downstairs, where, in the hall, he 
 encountered Monteiro, who had just come in. 
 They greeted each other with ceremonious 
 politeness, and, after a few studied sentences, 
 shook hands and parted, Monteiro following 
 a footman who requested him to walk up- 
 stairs. 
 
 He was ushered into a smaller apartment 
 than he had yet seen, nevertheless it was 
 extremely elegant. Panelled in rose-coloured 
 sa,tin with white lace curtains, and warmed 
 by a glowing fire of mixed wood and coal. 
 At the faither side from the windows was 
 set forth an elaborate dressing-table covered 
 with exquisite china and silver articles fur the 
 toilette, and having at the back a large mirror 
 surmounted by a coronet and draped with 
 lace festooned by rose-coloured ribbons. A 
 number of chairs were ranged at mid-distance 
 between the door and the fire, but the cham- 
 ber was untenanted. 
 
 " My lady will be here directly," said the 
 lackey, giving Monteiro a chair and the fire 
 an unnecessary poking. 
 
 The moment he was alone Don Juan drew 
 
190 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 a small slip of paper from beneath his waist- 
 coat, and read it over with quick eager eyes; 
 then stooping, held it to the fire till the last 
 line w^as consumed, watching the flaky feathery 
 fragments float up the chimney with grave 
 preoccupation, nor did he move for some mo- 
 ments till the rustle of a silk skirt attracted 
 his attention. He turned, and stood face to 
 face with Lady Helmsford. 
 
 Her ladyship's dishabille was most careful 
 and becoming. Her long black hair was 
 brushed back, and lay thick and heavy on 
 her neck ; rouge and patches and the whole 
 paraphernalia of beauty's armoury were duly 
 and admirably set forth, yet a heavy cloud 
 darkened the brow of Venus. At sight of 
 her Monteiro, dismissing his gravity, ad- 
 vanced with a gay smile and debonair 
 manner. Taking her hand, he raised it 
 with a familiar and caressino^ U'esture to his 
 lips. 
 
 " How goes it, ma belle V he said plea- 
 santly. *' Here are thirty-six long hours that 
 I have not had a chance of basking in the 
 sunshine of your smile." 
 
 " And who have you to blame for that. 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 191 
 
 sir T said Lady Helmsford, withdrawing her 
 hand with an air of displeasure. 
 
 *' I can scarcely tell," returned Monteiro, 
 still smiling genially, and attempting to lead 
 her to a seat. " Adverse circumstances and 
 your own indecision, fair lady." 
 
 " How my indecision ? Did I not give 
 you a clue to my disguise for last night*s 
 masque ?" 
 
 " Dios!" cried Don Juan. " The mists and 
 fogs of this rainy capital must have dulled 
 me, for I did not understand. I thought you 
 avoided the explanation I sought; and so, 
 not feeling over well treated, I went with 
 Don Balthasar di Castro — one of the Spanish 
 secretaries, a far-off cousin of mine — down the 
 river to have a look at the shipping, which 
 always interests me. We dined at the ' Folly 
 House' at Blackball, and had our coffee and 
 chasse at that curious floating tavern on the 
 river, and then, and then — oh ! I scarce know 
 what became of us after. At any rate, I 
 strove to console myself for not daring to go 
 to the masquerade. I thought your hesita- 
 tion and — " 
 
 *' Juan," said the Countess, seating herself 
 
192 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 beside but not in front of the dressing-table, 
 and looking at him sternly and sadly, a quiver 
 in her proud lip, " you are in some way 
 changed. Had you cared to meet me last 
 night you would have understood and acted 
 on my hint. You cannot deceive me — there 
 is some new influence at work ; you do not 
 confide in me ; you have never explained your 
 unexpected presence here. Foolish boy !" 
 she went on, stretching out her hand and 
 drawing him to her, while he slowly knelt 
 beside her with the air of not quite readily 
 yielding to the caressing motion with which 
 she laid one arm over his shoulder. " Foolish 
 boj? ! whatever scheme 3^ou have on foot, am 
 /, an ally, to be lightly dispensed with ? 
 Though I am not so very much your senior," 
 she sighed, '' circumstances have been at 
 once cruel and kind to me. I have some 
 power, much experience, and I have none to 
 love. Juan, I would do much for you." 
 There was wonderful tenderness in these 
 words, and they seemed to rouse her hearer, 
 though not exactly in the way she would 
 have liked. 
 
 " You would do much for me," he repeated 
 
Tlie Heritage of Lang dale. 193 
 
 quickly, his liold of her hand tightening 
 almost painfully while he looked up full in 
 her face, an eager sparkle in his own clear 
 dark-brown eyes, which seemed for a moment 
 to search into her soul; but the keen awakened 
 look passed rapidly, and was replaced by his 
 ordinary expression of careless gallantry, 
 " You are always benevolent, dearest lady," 
 he continued, " and I do not think the dif- 
 ference of our years so great that you can 
 treat me as a favourite page — eh, Madame? 
 Faith, I have left boyhood far behind ; but 
 how can you say you have none to love when 
 so many love you ? and now fortune, or Pro- 
 vidence, if you will, has sent you a fair and 
 tender flower to cherish, who will no doubt 
 give you a sister's love" — he was going to say 
 a daughter s. 
 
 " What do you mean ?" exclaimed Lady 
 Plelmsford, putting him from her and knitting 
 her brows ; *' my niece, that pale colourless 
 girl you have seen here once or twice ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma belle. She is your niece, is 
 she not?" he replied, with a mischievous 
 smile. " All appertaining to you must be 
 lovely." 
 
 VOL. I. 13 
 
194 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 The Countess was silent. It was hard to 
 her proud indulged nature to feign. 
 
 " I do not love her," she said slowly. " I 
 have seldom loved women, and her mother 
 wTonged me ; besides, there is not much to 
 love in her." 
 
 *' Perhaps not," returned Monteiro pru- 
 dently ; and taking advantage of the lady's 
 slightly repellant gesture, he rose and drew a 
 chair near her. *' But tell me, how was it I 
 never saw her with you in Paris ?" 
 
 " Because she was not there. It is scarce 
 ten days since she took refuge here from her 
 uncle, John Langley." 
 
 '' And who may he be that dares to inter- 
 fere with Lady Helmsford's niece ?" Mon- 
 teiro looked sharply at her for an instant as 
 he spoke. 
 
 " Oh ! a left-hand brother of the late lord ; 
 a back-door politician — a useful, ambitious, 
 clever, resolute dog. He is known to most of 
 the Ministers, and is secretary to my Lord 
 Berkeley, who has been lately made First Lord 
 of the Admiralty. They say he will be re- 
 turned for S at the next vacancy. In- 
 deed, I wonder the lands of Langdale have 
 not been ere this formally made over to him." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 195 
 
 '' Wherefore does your niece fear him ?" 
 " He wants her to wed his son." 
 " Surely he is no match for her ?" 
 ** I am not sure. She is, poor child, a 
 dependant on my bounty or John Langley's, 
 still I think I shall find her a better match 
 than his son. My Lord Chedworth seems 
 much struck. I think he might do. These 
 old rakes," continued her ladyship, laughing, 
 "like callow fledglings — boys" — with a co- 
 quettish glance and toss of the head — " have 
 better taste." 
 
 Monteiro smiled a little constrainedly. 
 "They have, Madame," he said. "And so 
 you intend to wed her to Lord Chedworth ?" 
 " Perhaps," she replied. " But in truth 
 there is a slight obstacle to be removed first. 
 She has already gone through the marriage 
 ceremony." 
 
 " Indeed !" cried Don Juan. 
 " Yes. It is too long a story to tell you 
 now, for we shall soon be interrupted, but it 
 is a most romantic one. She does not know, 
 or says she does not know, the bridegroom, 
 yet is not quite willing to have the marriage 
 broken, but it shall be — it shall be." The 
 
 1 3—2 
 
196 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 Countess waved her hand as if her will must 
 be law. 
 
 " For a penniless dependant this young lady 
 seems to have no lack of suitors," observed 
 Monteiro carelessly. 
 
 *' Ah ! there is a mystery in that," cried 
 the Countess, '' which I may tell you one 
 day ; as it is, this marriage must be a great 
 secret for many reasons. See, I trust you 
 more than you do me, Juan. Why are you 
 so changed ?" 
 
 "It is but your fancy, dear and beautiful 
 friend. As to me, I only seek a small favour 
 from the King, of which there is no need 
 of speaking now, as his Majesty is still in 
 Hanover." 
 
 ** When he returns I may perhaps be of 
 use to you then, dear Juan," exclaimed the 
 Countess. " If so, command me." 
 
 " Oh ! how can I sufficiently thank you for 
 your friendsliip ?" cried Monteiro, and rising, 
 he approached, bent over her, and pressed his 
 lips to her brow. 
 
 " Monteiro," said Lady Helmsford in a 
 warning tone, while she coloured painfully 
 even through her rouge ; at the same moment 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 197 
 
 a cautious tap was heard at the door. 
 ''Enter," said the Countess instantly. The 
 audacious Spaniard with an undisturbed 
 countenance turned to meet the intruder, 
 who was Mistress Letitia Sparrow. 
 
 *' Pardon me ; but the musicians and the 
 hairdresser await your ladyship's permission 
 to ascend." 
 
 *' Admit them/' returned Lady Helmsford 
 mechanically. She was lost in displeasing 
 thought — the handsome gallant Spaniard ivas 
 changed. It was strange that he preferred 
 the brow to the full red lips so near it. If 
 she had a rival, Lady Helmsford felt it was 
 some one not of the society to which both 
 belonged. She had watched well ; for, thanks 
 to her own notice and that of the Spanish 
 Embassy, Monteiro was everywhere, and she 
 had exulted in his evident disregard of beauties 
 — dark or fair, married or single — all his 
 public attention seemed riveted on herself 
 Now he was talking as genially, as courteously, 
 to the insignificant companion as ever he did 
 to her own high mightiness. 
 
 But the servants had ushered in first the 
 French coiffeur, who, after a profusion of 
 
198 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 bows, took a lace and muslin peignoir from 
 Beville, her ladyship's woman, which he care- 
 fully disposed over her ladyship's shoulders, 
 and proceeded at once to twist and torture 
 her ladyship's long black tresses. The musi- 
 cians came next — a new tenor and a barytone 
 fresh from Venice. The men who served as 
 the mediums of these important organs were 
 — one, large, fleshy, animal-looking; the other, 
 thin, dark, eager, wiry — both were decently 
 but plainly clad ; and they were accompanied 
 by a tall, lank, poverty-stricken violinist. The 
 Countess collected herself, and received the 
 trio with grace and suavity. 
 
 '^ I think, my good Sparrow," she said, " I 
 need not trouble my niece — " 
 
 But the opening door admitted Maud 
 Langley even as she spoke, and, after a short 
 struggle with a frown, her ladyship succeeded 
 in smiling on the new comer, who, gliding 
 gracefully in, curtsied to her aunt, and took 
 her seat against the fire. 
 
 '' Do you not see Don Monteiro, child?" said 
 the Countess. 
 
 "I have already acknowledged him, madam," 
 returned Maud, a faint colour stealing up 
 
Ths Heritage of Langdale, 199 
 
 into her cheek, and then fading slowly 
 away. 
 
 The musicians ranged themselves almost 
 against the wall opposite the fireplace, and 
 opened the music-book which they shared, 
 the violinist looking on from behind and 
 tuning his instrument. 
 
 Then Lord Viscount Chedworth, Captain 
 Langley, and the Eeverend Joseph Miles were 
 announced in quick succession. Each new 
 arrival bowed low to Lady Helmsford and 
 turned some elaborate compliment, but seemed 
 to regard hairdressing as too sacred a rite to 
 be interrupted. 
 
 "I think we are quite ready, Signer. Eogers," 
 to the servant, ''admit no other visitor till 
 this song is finished," said Lady Helmsford. 
 
 Whereupon "the singing men" opened 
 their mouths and poured forth a rich melody, 
 their voices blending deliciously. 
 
 Lord Chedworth, with many whispered 
 flowery phrases, had seated himself on one side 
 of Maud. Harold Langley stood at the other, 
 in an elegant attitude. Opposite, and partly 
 behind the Countess, sat Mistress Sparrow 
 and Monteiro, who had drawn his chair side- 
 
200 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 ways and was resting his arm on the back of 
 it. His suit of dark bkie, relieved by cut- 
 steel buttons, his unpowdered hair and bronzed 
 earnest face, being in strong contrast to the 
 petit-maitre finery of the other men, though 
 his costly lace and rich sword-hilt gave an air 
 of distinction to his otherwise simple attire. 
 On this side also sat the clergyman, who was 
 a well-known preacher of liberal habits, with, it 
 was supposed, an eye to a bishopric. Meantime 
 the singers sang, and the rich notes thrilled 
 through Maud's frame with a sort of painful de- 
 light. Never had she heard such music before ! 
 it woke up all the echoes in memory's cavern 
 ■ — the loved and lost came back to her with 
 inexpressible tender sadness in their well- 
 remembered looks ; her heart swelled ; and 
 though she shrank from showing the emotion 
 she could not restrain — the great tears would 
 gather in her eyes and well over ; h^r only 
 shelter was her large fan, which she opened 
 and contrived to hold between herself and 
 Harold, as if to shade her face from the fire, 
 looking steadily on the carpet, her hand now 
 and then stealing up with her handkerchief 
 to catch the falling drops. At last the song 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 201 
 
 ceased with some notes long drawn out and 
 dying away in honeyed sweetness; then, raising 
 her eyes, Maud encountered Monteiro's fixed 
 upon her with a look so kindly, so expressive 
 of sympathy, that, in spite of her doubts and 
 disapprobation, a warm impulse of friendliness 
 and gratitude throbbed for a beat or two 
 through her heart. Perfectly frank and 
 natural, she did not hesitate to give him an 
 answering smile that brought him to her side, 
 and made Lady Helmsford nearly drag the 
 curl on which he was engaged out the coif- 
 feur s hands, so suddenly did she turn her 
 head at this movement. 
 
 '' Such music is rare, Mademoiselle," said 
 Monteiro in French, *' and very delicious. I 
 have heard Signer Andrea before, but never 
 to such advantage. Have you been to the 
 opera here or in Paris ?" 
 
 '' No, Monsieur," returned Maud, brighten- 
 ing up, her deep-blue eyes and wet lashes 
 looking to her interrogator like violets steeped 
 in dew ; *' I have been nowhere, and seen 
 nothing. I always lived in a a old chateau 
 near St. Germain s — and I wish I were there 
 now." 
 
202 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 '' Bat you would not liave such excellent 
 music there T 
 
 '^ Ah no ; but I should have all the music 
 makes me lonof for." 
 
 " What ! could all your world be contained 
 within the walls of an old chateau ? 'Twould 
 be a small universe for a noble lady." 
 
 " So I thought once ; now I would fain go- 
 back there/' 
 
 Maud felt somehow that in speaking 
 French with the Spaniard she was transgress- 
 ing and mortally offending her aunt, though 
 it would have sorely puzzled her to account 
 for the conviction ; yet the temptation was 
 too great to be resisted. She noticed, how- 
 ever, that, although fairly fluent, the Don's 
 French was neither so easy nor so correct as 
 his English. He continued to talk with her 
 for a few minutes, conveying she knew not 
 what of sympathy and comprehension that 
 was very delightful. 
 
 Then Lady Helmsford exclaimed : 
 
 " Come, come, Don Juan, you must not 
 make my niece forget her manners in showing 
 your own command of tonpfues." 
 
 " I am justly rebuked," he replied, turning 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 203 
 
 to the Countess ; *' but you must not say I 
 have command of French — it has never become 
 easy to me. Spanish is a far finer language. 
 I wish yoQ would let me teach you Spanish, 
 Madame. Yours is just the mouth for its rich 
 sonorous syllables." 
 
 " La, my Lady Helmsford would be weary at 
 such a task," simpered Mistress Letitia, whose 
 observations seldom obtained much attention. 
 
 The servants now brought in tea, coffee, 
 and chocolate ; and while Lord Ched worth 
 told Maud of some exquisite china he had 
 lately purchased, and spoke of making a party 
 to display it and his house in Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields to Lady Helmsford and herself, Harold^ 
 feeling himself less prominent than he liked 
 to be, prepared and presented a dish of tea 
 to Maud ; at the same moment Monteiro 
 offered her a cup of coffee. 
 
 *' Thank you, cousin," she said, but she 
 took the coffee. 
 
 " I see," remarked Harold, solacing himself 
 with the rejected tea, " that, like most ladies, 
 you think a French dog better than an 
 English lion. Coffee represents France with 
 you." 
 
204 Tlie Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " Do not so traduqe Mistress Langley," ex- 
 claimed Monteiro ; " surely she is patriotic." 
 
 " Patriotism is not a modern virtue," said 
 Lord Chedworth. 
 
 " It is a thing Puritans and malcontents 
 and adventurers prate of," said Harold rudely, 
 with a slight emphasis on the last epithet. 
 
 *' And would-be men of fashion affect to 
 despise," returned Monteiro calmly. '' Eng- 
 lishmen can afford to be patriotic ; they have 
 a country as well as a king ; an individual 
 existence as well as the faint shadow of some 
 great general or statesman's glory which their 
 own blood and gold has built up. Every 
 Englishman, so far as I can make out, seems 
 to have his own lien on the rights and 
 liberties of England.'' 
 
 " Really, sir, you would be an acquisition in 
 our House of Commons," said Lord Ched- 
 worth, smiling not unkindly. " I see you are 
 a Whig by nature." 
 
 "Ptather by adoption," replied' the Don. 
 *' I know no more enviable position than that 
 of a member of your great governing house." 
 
 " 'Tis a goodly heritage doubtless," returned 
 Lord Chedworth. 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 205 
 
 " Ay, my lord, but it is the non-hereditary 
 house which governs." 
 
 " Really, Don Monteiro, you are a philo- 
 sophic politician rather than what I have ever 
 thought you — a man of pleas ure,'' remarked 
 the Countess languidly. 
 
 " Ay, Madame, I love pleasure ; but what 
 man would be content with the sugared 
 water of mere enjoyment when he can quaff 
 the wine of action and work. That is why I 
 would not only be half but whole English. 
 In this country all men may have a career — 
 privilege and legislative rights are not limited 
 to a handful of nobles ; and the future of 
 England, as the limits that now exist stretch 
 like widening circles on a lake wherein a 
 stone has been dropped, will be magnificent." 
 
 The Don stopped abruptly and stood a 
 moment in thought, as if he had forgotten 
 himself and his surroundinos. 
 
 " But the mother's blood does not consti- 
 tute you English," said Harold coldly. 
 
 *' A father's does," retorted Monteiro. 
 
 " Pardon me," returned Harold, with his 
 best air ; *^ your name ?" 
 
 " You too would have assumed your 
 
206 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 mother's name had it brought her wealth with 
 it," said Monteiro curtly. 
 
 '* But, my dear Don Juan," cried the 
 Countess, who now stood up and, dismissing 
 the hairdresser, handed her peignoir to her 
 maid ; '' you are of strange opinions. Would 
 you have the nobility share their privileges 
 with the commonalty ?" 
 
 *' Yes, dear Countess ; it is this circulation 
 of the free air of discussion and widespread 
 political rights that keep your constitution 
 sound and safe, at least compared with other 
 countries. Perhaps my ideas of brotherhood 
 are somewhat peculiar ; for, having passed my 
 early youth where all white men were more 
 or less noble and privileged, and black men 
 formed the working order, I do not under- 
 stand the disdain with which, in these 
 countries, each class looks down on the one 
 beneath it." 
 
 " I suppose the Don alludes to the Spanish 
 main, where large numbers of blacks are em- 
 ployed on board the pirate vessels," said 
 Harold sneeringly, as he took a pinch of 
 scented snuff. 
 
 '' Spanish America," returned Monteiro 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 207 
 
 gravely, " where they are even more largely 
 employed than aboard the craft you men- 
 tion." 
 
 " Pray, Messieurs,'' exclaimed the Coun- 
 tess, who did not like the tone of either 
 gentlemen, and addressing the musicians — 
 " pray delight our ears with another exquisite 
 melody." 
 
 This time the tenor poured forth a melan- 
 choly ditty, but it did not affect Maud like 
 the first. Nevertheless she noticed that 
 Monteiro so placed himself as to intercept the 
 ^yes of those on his side of the room, so that 
 had she again been moved to tears she would 
 have escaped notice. 
 
 This greatly altered her opinion of the 
 audacious Spaniard ; and as she looked with 
 genuine admiration at her graceful well-pre- 
 served aunt, she told herself that it was quite 
 possible she might be loved and sought ; so 
 perhaps Don Monteiro and she might marry 
 after all, and, thought the fair girl with a 
 sigh, " I am sure he would be a kind kinsman 
 to me." 
 
 The song over, Lady Helmsford directed the 
 butler to offer the singers refreshment, and, 
 
208 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 after many bows, they were conducted from 
 the room. 
 
 During this movement Maud crossed to 
 where Mistress^ Sparrow was sitting by her- 
 self, and in so doing she dropped her glove. 
 Lady Helmsford's back was towards them as 
 she acknowledged the musician's reverences, 
 when Monteiro hastily snatched it from the 
 ground and, with a rapid expressive gesture, 
 pressed it to his lips before handing it to her. 
 This action upset Maud's theories for a few 
 moments ; not that it conveyed so much in 
 those days of exaggerated gallantry as it 
 would now, but the look with which it was 
 accompanied dwelt long in her memory. 
 Covered with blushes, she took refuge with 
 the amiable Letitia, who was not a little scared. 
 
 *' La, my dear. Monsieur di Monteiro will 
 get you into sore trouble if he does not 
 heed," she whispered — an observation v/hich 
 completed Maud's annoyance and confu- 
 sion. 
 
 The remainder of the levee was a painful in- 
 distinct picture to her. She heard Monteiro 
 call the little negro to him, and speak for a 
 while in Spanish with a very impressive 
 
Tlie Heritage of Langdale. 20i) 
 
 manner. She was vaguely conscious that 
 Lord Chedworth invited the Countess and 
 herself to an entertainment, including all pre- 
 sent in the invitation — whicK Harold accepted 
 and Monteiro declined. She did not attempt 
 to resist when Mistress Sparrow, giving up 
 her seat to Harold, left her to listen to his 
 forced compliments and vapid talk, which only 
 warmed into animation when he indulged in 
 some vehement abuse of the Spaniard ; who 
 was, he said, a desperado, an adventurer, a 
 cut-throat buccaneer ; that my lady had 
 better take care of her jewels, and the butler 
 of his plate ; that he, Harold, would speak to 
 his father to ascertain through the gentlemen 
 of the Spanish embassy who the fellow really 
 was. 
 
 " For I have a right, fairest creature," he 
 concluded, '' to know who is admitted to your 
 society." 
 
 " I think, Harold, you had better leave 
 Lady Helmsford to choose my society ; she 
 would soon order you away if you inter- 
 fered." 
 
 " And then my father would soon remove 
 you," returned Harold in an overbearing 
 
 VOL. I. 14 
 
210 The Hentage of Langdale. 
 
 tone. " Great as my lady the Countess may 
 be, she is not your legal guardian." 
 
 Maud at this rose ; and, having now be- 
 come somewhat familiar with the geography 
 of the mansion, silently and softly passed 
 through a door which opened behind the or- 
 namented toilette-table into Lady Helms- 
 ford's real dressing-room, and thence up- 
 stairs to her own chamber, even while Lord 
 Chedworth was making his adieux. 
 
 " Charming Countess, I kiss your hands. 
 Don Monteiro, I am gratified by your ad- 
 miration of my country ; find a rich English 
 wife, and settle here. We will gladly adopt 
 
 you." 
 
 '''Tis just what I most desire," said 
 Monteiro, with a gay jovial laugh. 
 "English women are the loveliest and the 
 best !" 
 
 *' You see the fairest specimens herey' said 
 the courtly nobleman. *' Mistress Langley, I 
 — ah ! she is gone." 
 
 '* Grone," echoed Lady Helmsford. '' Spar- 
 row, go and see if she is in her chamber." 
 
 " Pray, Madame, can you tell me if a certain 
 gentleman of some importance called Sir 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 211 
 
 Stephen Compton is in town ?" asked Mon- 
 teiro. 
 
 *' Compton T repeated the Countess. " I 
 seem to know something of the name, but 
 what I cannot tell." 
 
 " Sir Stephen Compton," said Lord Ched- 
 worth. '* yes ! He is a somewhat won- 
 derful instance of revived fortunes. Does 
 not your ladyship remember he had run 
 through his property a long time ago, and 
 was appointed governor of one of the Ameri- 
 can provinces almost for charity. Why, he 
 even took his daughters out there. About 
 two years since he came back in better case, 
 daughters and all. He is one of the very few 
 Englishmen who can speak German, having 
 been at Zell and Hanover in his youth ; and 
 he was at once taken into favour by our 
 German sovereign — very great favour. He 
 is away with his Majesty in Hanover now, 
 and will return with him — when is it ? In 
 March is he not expected ?" 
 
 "March !" echoed Monteiro ; " and it is now 
 the beginning of February — over a month 
 then." 
 
 But Lord Chedworth was repeating his 
 
 14—2 
 
212 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 adieux, and did not heed. No sooner had he 
 bowed himself away than Lady Helmsford, 
 turning sharply to Harold, said pointedly : 
 
 "I wish you a very good-day, sir." 
 
 It required some nerve to stand to your 
 guns when charged by the Countess, but 
 Harold Langley's was not deficient. 
 
 " I hoped for a word or two with you alone, 
 madam," he said. 
 
 " Not now," she returned abruptly ; " on 
 some other occasion." 
 
 "I hope your ladyship will find the oc- 
 casion soon," he returned stoutly ; "as the 
 matter concerns my fair cousin, my be- 
 trothed." 
 
 ''Indeed!" said the Countess haughtily. 
 *' Then if you are hurried, write your 
 communications. I wish you good-morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Harold felt compelled to retreat. 
 
 Lady Helmsford paused till the door had 
 safely closed upon him, and then, turning 
 from Monteiro, swept to and fro for a few 
 moments in angry silence. 
 
 " That girl," she said at length ; *' that girl 
 — she was sent hither to torment me. Why 
 
The Heritage of Langdcde, 213 
 
 should I plague myself with her and her 
 troubles. I will send her back to John 
 Langley, and clear my house of her followers. 
 There is some influence about her malignant 
 to me." 
 
 ** What !" exclaimed Monteiro, who wap, 
 watching her carefully ; " the brilliant Lady 
 Helmsford, the esprit fort par excellence, 
 superstitious ? Impossible !" 
 
 " Well, if not superstitious, objecting to be 
 worried with the airs and graces of that in- 
 sufferable coxcomb." 
 
 " That is another matter," said Monteiro. 
 
 *' I tell you, Juan, I will finish this, and 
 wed her to Lord Ched worth." 
 
 " Tt would doubtless be your best course. 
 And now farewell, dear lady, till to-night or 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " What, going already ?" 
 
 *' I must, ma belle. I have an appoint- 
 ment." 
 
 '' An appointment ?" 
 
 "Oh, business — business of the severest 
 description." 
 
 " But we meet to-night at the Duchess's 
 ridotto r 
 
214 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 " Without fail. And your niece, dare you 
 leave her behind ?" 
 
 " Why do you ask ?" with a startled look. 
 
 " Oh, lest the bold Captain Langley spirit 
 her away.'* 
 
 " Pooh, pooh ! He dare not." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HE iDorning after Lady Helmsford's 
 
 levee, John Langley was still sitting 
 at his breakfast-table, although it 
 was later than his usual time for 
 leaving the house. 
 
 The residence of the respectable Master Lang- 
 ley^ the capable secretary of my Lord Berkeley, 
 was situated in Great Queen Street — an ex- 
 cellent position. The house was substantial 
 and convenient, and had passed into Master 
 Langley 's hands at small cost, in part pay- 
 ment of a debt incurred by the spendthrift 
 son of a nobleman. Master Langley had early 
 begun to lay the foundation of his fortunes by 
 lending, first small, and then larger, sums to 
 
216 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 the impecunious boon companions of his 
 brother, and those to whom tliey introduced 
 him. 
 
 He was, as usual, dressed with precise 
 neatness, though with careful solid simplicity. 
 The dining-room in which he sat was heavily 
 furnished, with the massive chairs and 
 cabinets of fifty years before, jQt all things 
 bore a cared-for aspect, as if a rigid discipUne 
 regulated the establishment. 
 
 Master Langley had been reading the Daily 
 Courant, and laid it down to reperuse a 
 letter which lay open before him ; this was in 
 its turn put aside, and Langley sat for a few 
 minutes looking in a somewhat expectant 
 manner at the door. 
 
 It opened at last to admit Harold, who 
 entered, dressed in the uniform of his regi- 
 ment — the Coldstream Guards. 
 
 " Well, sir, you are late ?" 
 
 '' Could not help it, sir ; I was on duty this 
 morning. His Eoyal Highness the Prince 
 of Wales did us the honour of an early in- 
 spection." 
 
 " Indeed ! Anyhow, Harold, I am glad to 
 have an opportunity of discussing matters 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 217 
 
 with you. Albeit I must soon be at the 
 Admiralty. It is as hard to catch you as if 
 you were First Minister." 
 
 ''' I was coming to see you to-day, sir, even 
 if you had not sent for me." 
 
 " Indeed, Harold ! Then you want some- 
 thing T 
 
 '*Yes, father; I want you to fulfil your 
 promise. Gad ! I am ashamed, after the certain 
 promises / made to all my tradespeople, to 
 have them still dunning and hunting me. 
 Come, sir ! you know you said you would set 
 me right if I would wed your niece. I am 
 ready to keep my word — why will you not 
 keep yours T 
 
 "■ When you are Maud Langley's husband 
 you shall not have a debt in the world ; till 
 you are, boy, I do not feel sure of you. You 
 do not like the girl, and you can be so easily 
 drawn away by any whim or fancy that crosses 
 you, I dare not relax the slightest precaution 
 in the difficult game we are playing." 
 
 ** On my honour, sir," said Harold earnestly, 
 " I am quite as anxious for the marriage as 
 you can possibly be ; but, zounds ! if you will 
 not satisfy my creditors, I fear I shall very 
 
218 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 soon be where I can neither make nor mar 
 your plots/' 
 
 *' You mean you will be in the King's Bench? 
 Tush ! you shall not, my son ; I will see to 
 that. Meantime tell me how you prosper. 
 Is my Lady Helmsford gracious ? Is Mistress 
 Maud more propitious ? How do you stand V 
 
 "Well, in truth I hardly know ! The 
 Countess is — I cannot say I have aught to 
 complain of, yet she makes me feel wondrous 
 small; and I cannot help conjecturing that 
 she would throw us over at any moment. 
 Madam Maud herself is just the devil's own 
 mixture of sweet coldness and polished pride." 
 Harold frowned uncomfortably. ** I like not 
 the company round her. There is an old 
 spindleshanks who is ready to fall at her feet 
 — do you know him, sir ? — Lord Ched worth ?" 
 
 " I do, I do," returned Master Langley, 
 with much interest. " A wealthy and indepen- 
 dent nobleman — a dangerous rival, Harold." 
 
 Harold laughed contemptuously. 
 
 ** There is another man whom I should fear 
 much more, only he is evidently the Countess's 
 lover — and trust her to take care of him — a 
 stranger, an adventurer. I wish you could 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 219 
 
 make out something respecting him — a Don 
 Juan di Monteiro. He is evidently well- 
 known to the Spanish Ambassador ; but there 
 is something about the fellow I abhor and 
 distrust." 
 
 "If he is an adventurer/' said Master Lang- 
 ley slowly, "he will seek to wed with the rich 
 widow rather than the penniless spinster. I 
 will, however, ^make inquiries. But Lord 
 Chedworth, he is more dangerous. He is 
 quite rich enough to indulge fancy ; and by 
 the ordinary law of such matters, the pardon 
 is much more likely to be discovered for the 
 benefit of the Viscountess Chedworth than 
 for the poor orphan. I wish, Harold, we had 
 not brought that troublesome piece of female 
 flesh to town. Her escape to Lady Helms- 
 ford was a most crooked bit of ill-fortune ; 
 we could have managed her better at Lang- 
 dale." 
 
 "There was that parson in the way there." 
 
 " The parson was easier to deal with than 
 the Countess." 
 
 " Ay, sir. But why do we hesitate and 
 delay in this fashion ? Take heart of grace, 
 sir, and lose no time in breaking this accursed 
 
220 Hie Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 marriage. It is impossible any harm can 
 come of your taking action. 'Tis your duty, 
 as Maud's guardian ; then resume the cus- 
 tody of her person. Even if the pardon 
 is produced, you are none the less her 
 guardian — she will not be of age for two 
 years." 
 
 " There is reason in what you say, Harold ; 
 yet I would that she were in my hands 
 again." 
 
 " Upon my soul !" cried the young guards- 
 man, " the play is scarce w^orth the candle. 
 What a troublesome coil the whole thing is I 
 I do not think I would care follow it up were 
 it not to spite and outwit the scoundrel who 
 trapped me." 
 
 " You foolish boy ! Maud Langley is the 
 best and the greatest match for you. I have 
 sworn that you shall be Lord of Langdale. 
 Pardon or no pardon, vv^ed her ! Once she is 
 your wife, I could with a good grace plead 
 for the reversal of the attainder. She must 
 be in our hands again, and soon." Master 
 Langley paused, looked keenly at his son, and 
 continued in a lower tone, but with cynical 
 calmness : *' I have the outline of a romantic 
 
The Hei'itage of Langdale. 221 
 
 plot in my head. Why should you not, in 
 the ardour of your passion for your fair 
 cousin, take advantage of the fear which 
 possesses us all, lest the impostor who per- 
 sonated you carry her away, and elope with 
 her yourself — of course, without my know- 
 ledge. The unknown bridegroom would get 
 the credit of the raid ; and when, after a week 
 or so passed alone with you, you bring her 
 back to ask my paternal blessing, she would 
 be ready enough to allow the legalising of one 
 marriage and the rupture of the other." 
 
 '' Tore heaven ! 'tis a rare scheme, and a 
 villainous one," cried Harold. " Why, sir, 
 you will compose^ a poem next! Yet I do 
 not see why my young lady should object to 
 me. I will make her as good a husband as 
 she need desire. But what prompted so ex- 
 cellent a device ?" 
 
 '' I can scarce take time to tell you now, 
 Harold. Only yesterday I met the poor 
 wretch who first brought me news that the 
 pardon existed. He looked indeed miserable, 
 and without waiting to be asked I gave him 
 an alms ; whereupon, with many thanks, 
 he begged to speak with me — he said he had 
 
222 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 been seeking me. It seems he has been re- 
 duced to carry a chair or hold a link, and in 
 some way has heard of a scheme to carry off 
 the Langdale orphan. It seems one of the 
 commoner sort of Jacobites, who infest some 
 tavern behind Holborn, is the man who per- 
 sonated the bridegroom on that unlucky day. 
 I imagine he performed his part at the bid- 
 ding of some one else, and now he is inclined 
 to turn the scheme to his own advantage ; but 
 it also seems that he is unable to act for want 
 of funds, and that the fact of young Mistress 
 Langley being under Lady Helmsford's roof 
 is a difficulty. Were she under mine, Harold, 
 how simple the affair would be. However, 
 if the would-be gallant is poor, he can be 
 bought. I will contrive an interview and 
 sound him." 
 
 " Tis a strange invention," replied Harold, 
 with a sort of reluctant admiration. '' I dare- 
 say we will end by being a fair specimen of a 
 fashionable couple, Mistress Maud and my- 
 self. But I wish it was beautiful Kitty 
 Barlow I was to run away with/' 
 
 " Pshaw 1" exclaimed his father, with 
 supreme contempt. "In a question of mar- 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 223 
 
 riage I imagine one woman is as good as 
 another. Yet I remember having to struggle 
 with myself. When I was young I w^as sorely 
 tempted to marry a pretty humble lass, but 
 I resisted, my son, I resisted. Now be wary 
 and adroit, play the lover cunningly. I will 
 see to the matter I have indicated. I would 
 have . you wed before his Majesty returns. 
 Lord Sunderland is my friend, so is Craggs — 
 I can count on my Lord Berkeley, and 'twill 
 go hard if sympathy with a dispossessed 
 orphan and a pair of true lovers will not 
 induce them to settle the heritage of Lang- 
 dale in the new and the right line.'' 
 
 " Zounds, sir ! you ought to be Prime 
 Minister yourself," cried Harold ; " and Snip- 
 pet, my confiding tailor, and Truefit, and the 
 rest of the pack that are in full cry, you'll 
 give them something to worry on — -just to 
 keep them quiet ? On my word I am at your 
 service ?" 
 
 " I believe it, Harold — so make your mind 
 easy on that point. Sup with me to-night, I 
 shall have more to say ; my time is now at 
 an end." 
 
 Harold rose and walked to the fireplace. 
 
224 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 He leant against the mantelpiece for a 
 moment in silence, and then exclaimed : 
 
 " By I'll be glad when the play is 
 
 played out ! It will take no small amount of 
 courage to face Maud Langley when her 
 blood is up — " 
 
 '* Afraid ?" said his father contemptuously — ■ 
 *^ afraid of a girl who will probably turn from 
 indifference to doating when she finds what 
 you have dared and done for her ?" 
 
 " Well, 'tis as like she will as not." 
 
 "And the sooner we take action the 
 better," continued John Langley, with unusual 
 animation. *' For if any entanglement occurs 
 between my ward and Lord Ched worth 'twill 
 increase our difficulties tenfold." 
 
 " He is a fantastic scarecrow to fear as a 
 rival." 
 
 " A scarecrow with ten or fifteen thousand 
 a year must always be formidable. But good- 
 morrow to you, Harold, I am already late ;" 
 and, formal even in his intercourse with his 
 son, Master Langley bowed and left the room. 
 
 Harold walked restlessly to and fro for a 
 while, with an uneasy expression of counte- 
 nance. At last he rang, and asked the 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 225 
 
 servant who appeared if he could bring him 
 some brandy. 
 
 ** Indeed I cannot, sir. I doubt if there's 
 any spirits in the house, and your worshipful 
 father always carries the keys himself. A 
 cup of ale now — ^' 
 
 " Bring it !" interrupted Harold, again rest- 
 ing against the mantelpiece. The man went 
 and came back quickly, bearing a jug and 
 glass. He poured out the desired beverage, 
 frothing it up to the best of his ability. 
 Harold took a hasty draught and then set 
 down the glass with a grimace of unspeakable 
 disgust. 
 
 "'Sblood !" he exclaimed, ''if my father can 
 brew such inventions over rot-gut tipple like 
 this, gad ! he'd outplot the College of Jesuits 
 with a bottle of Burgundy." 
 
 So saying he seized his feathered hat and 
 hastily left the house. 
 
 The gay guardsman swaggered down Long 
 Acre, and turiiinnr into "Leicester Fields," he 
 sauntered past the residence of the Prince of 
 Wales — greeting some acquaintance as he 
 went — intending to call upon a brother officer 
 and ascertain if he was inclined to accompany 
 
 VOL. I. 15 
 
226 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 Lini to the famous cock -pit at Westminster,, 
 to see if any sport was going on. At the 
 corner of the Haymarket a tall gaunt man in 
 high boots, a suit of crimson cloth much 
 rubbed and stained, but surmounted by a 
 handscmely-laced beaver, coming from an 
 opposite direction, and apparently in deep 
 thought, ran against him, 
 
 " Gad's blood, sir! don't you see where you 
 are going ?" cried the insolent fine gentleman, 
 who felt both anxious and consequently 
 irritable for more reasons than one. 
 
 " Begad I do — when there's anything worth 
 seeing," retorted the other, with a peculiar ac- 
 cent and an air of the profoundest contempt. 
 
 This completely overset the small balance 
 of self-control which the previous night's 
 carouse and the morning's conversation had 
 left Harold ; and telling the gaunt man to 
 " Clear the way, for a presumptuous cut- 
 throat !" he attempted to pass on. 
 
 " Oh ! I'm a cut-throat, am I ? Well, you 
 ought to know who is and who isn't, seeing 
 you wear the butcher's livery." 
 
 ^^'S'death, sir!" cried Harold, "I'll make 
 you eat your words." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 227 
 
 ** Here's a knife to cut them then," replied 
 the other, drawing his long rapier, and still 
 preserving his cool contemptuous tone ; " out 
 with your toasting-fork, young gentleman, 
 and I'll give you a lesson in carte and tierce." 
 
 The passers-by paused, delighted. "A fight 
 between two bloods," they said to each other. 
 " I'll back the young 'un.'' " No. no, Long- 
 shanks looks as if he knew how to handle his 
 blade." 
 
 They gathered round and formed a ring at 
 the first sound of the steel, for Harold Lang- 
 ley had flashed out his sword before his 
 adversary had ceased speaking. 
 
 " Well parried," said the gaunt man after 
 the first few passes. *' A clever seconde. 
 Faith ! you've had a French master of fence, 
 don't be in a hurry," as Harold pressed on 
 him furiously. 
 
 The lookers-on applauded. The few women 
 of the better class who happened to be 
 amonofst them uttered small shrieks and ex- 
 clamations, yet nevertheless held back their 
 hoods to gaze wdth immense interest at the 
 conflict. As the crowd increased, a sm ill neatly- 
 dressed man, wrapped in a comfortable cloak 
 
 15—2 
 
:228 The Heritage of Lang dale, 
 
 and having an air of the severest respectability, 
 was pushed to the front, evidently against 
 his will, as he was endeavouring to cross to 
 the opposite side of the Hay market by skirt- 
 ing the scene of the fray. 
 
 *' 'Tis a disgrace to a civilised people," he 
 murmured, " to have these brawls in their 
 streets. Certes, gentlemen, ye should separate 
 the com^batants rather than encourage them 
 by on-looking." 
 
 His words, however, fell unheeded b}^ those 
 nearest him, and he himself, with a sudden 
 exclamation, paused, seeojingly struck with 
 the same interest as the rest. 
 
 **'Tis he himself— Captaiii Langley," he said 
 aloud ; *' now would my lady be well pleased 
 were he just slightly disabled for a time." This 
 he thought ; but as he thought the tall rusty 
 man, with a smart cut over the point and dex- 
 terous turn of his powerful wrist, sent Harold's 
 rapier flying out of his grasp. 
 
 The successful swordsman immediately 
 picked it up, and presenting it with an air of 
 chivalrous politeness to his antagonist, said : 
 
 " Well fought, sir ! you have been fairly 
 trained, though scarce in so high a school as 
 
The Heritaje of Langdale. 229 
 
 myself. Now go home, and the next time a 
 decent man chances to run against you, keep 
 a civil tongue in your head." Lifting his hat, 
 he replaced it with a fierce cock over his left 
 eye, and strode solemnly away. 
 
 The little crowd speedily dispersed, the 
 women, as they passed on, declaring the 
 young officer to be a "pretty fellow," and 
 hoping the rusty man had not hurt him with 
 the cruel sharp twist he had given his hand. 
 Harold himself, rather restored to equanimity 
 by this outlet to his ill-humour, sheathed his 
 sword and went his way. 
 
 Meantime the small gentleman (Chifferil> 
 in short) picked his way down the Haymarket 
 and through the labyrinth of narrow streets 
 which then covered the site of Trafalgar 
 Square, and turned down Salisbury Street, 
 quickening his steps along the Strand, 
 where he curiously examined the numbers of 
 the houses, and finally knocked at a door. 
 It was opened by a stout buxom female, in a 
 puce-coloured dress of some warm woollen 
 stuff, and cherry ribbons in her cap. 
 
 "Is a gentleman — a — Don Juan di Monteiro 
 lodging here ?" 
 
230 Tlie Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 "Yes, sir," returned the woman. "Pray 
 walk in. The Don is even now engaged ; but 
 I am sure he will receive you ; follow me if 
 you please." She led the way up an ex- 
 tremely dark but wide staircase to a landing 
 above, off which two or three doors opened. 
 Knocking at one, and pausing in vain for an 
 answer, she opened and ushered in Chifferil. 
 
 The room was panelled in oak, and contained 
 nothing save massive chairs, a table, and a 
 sideboard of the same description, on which 
 stood some foreign-looking bottles and glasses. 
 The fire had burned low, and the light was 
 scant, although it was but just mid-day. 
 Another door, nearly opposite the first, was 
 partially open, and, again tapping at this, the 
 landlady entered and spoke to some one within. 
 In a few minutes she returned. 
 
 " You may enter, sir," she said ; and Chif- 
 feril entered. 
 
 He found himself in a much warmer, lighter, 
 larger room than the ante-chamber. The 
 furniture, indeed, was plain and heavy ; but 
 a large fire, one or two skins of bear or tiger 
 on the oaken floor, a cloak and rapier on a 
 chair, a mask and gloves, with strange out- 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 231 
 
 landish pipes lying about, and one or two 
 richly-decorated coffers or sroall cabinets, gave 
 a comfortable inhabited look to the apart- 
 ment. 
 
 Don Monteiro was lounging in a deep arm- 
 chair, wrapped in a long loose dressing-robe 
 of deep blue, bordered with a curious pattern 
 of various well-blended colours, but strange 
 workmanship, the like of which little Ghifferil 
 had never seen before ; and he had the sort of 
 observant faculty that would have been invalu- 
 able to a man- milliner. Opposite to the Don, 
 his long legs stretched out towards the fire, 
 his long arms resting on the table, his hat on 
 the ground beside him, sat the very man who 
 had just had the duello with Captain Langley. 
 The sight of him made the precise secretary 
 feel rather uncomfortable. His aspect was 
 not indeed very reassuring — a face long 
 and thin enoutrh for the Knio^ht of La Mancba, 
 a large hooked nose, a wide mouth, with a 
 deep scar extending from one corner almost to 
 the right ear, stern, sunken, glittering dark 
 eyes, looking like caverns under their heavy 
 shaggy brows — and yet, withal, a certain ex- 
 pression of grim humour over all. 
 
232 The Heritage of La7i(jdale. 
 
 Monteiro rose courteously to greet ChifFeril' 
 with a pleasant smile. 
 
 ''What an admirably punctual fellow you 
 are," he said ; " and that too when you are by 
 no means your own master." 
 
 " Perhaps 'tis because I am compelled to be 
 j30 very punctual on the one side that I keep 
 such good time on the other," said the secre- 
 tary, laying aside his hat and cloak, taking 
 the seat offered him near the fire and rubbing 
 his thin hands. 
 
 " This," said Monteiro, weaving his hand) 
 with a kind of respectful gravity towards 
 his other visitor, " is my good friend Don 
 Hyacinth D'Arcy. I did not think of your 
 meeting to-day ; but I am glad you have, for 
 he is, like ourselves, willing to devote himself 
 to the service of Lord Langdale's daughter." 
 
 " Indeed 1" said Chifferil, with a slight 
 cough ; " I'm sure I am much gratified to 
 make the gentleman's acquaintance." 
 
 "Sir, your most obedient," returned D'Arcy, 
 gathering up his long limbs as he rose and 
 made a bow. 
 
 " You would have scarce met this morning,'* 
 resumed Monteiro, laughing, "had not mj 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 233 
 
 peppery friend paused on his road here to in- 
 dulge his inveterate love of fighting, and 
 exceeded that strict punctuality you so 
 admirably observe." 
 
 '' It took me but a bare ten minutes to give 
 a lesson to a very smart young gentleman in 
 the noble art of fencing." 
 
 "D'Arcy, my friend, I v^ill take it as a 
 personal favour if you will keep out of broils 
 for a month." 
 
 " A month, noble Captain ! that is a long 
 spell." 
 
 " Yes, a whole month !" 
 
 *' I should imagine the gallant gentleman 
 was indeed an adept," said Chifferil, with a 
 complimentary smirk. " He made the young 
 Captain's sword fly from his grasp as if by 
 the touch of a necrofnancer." 
 
 " Captain ! what Captain ?" cried Monteiro, 
 looking up with surprise. *' Were you pre- 
 sent, Chifferil ?" 
 
 "Yes, sir; by mere accident, walking here 
 through the Haymarket. This gentleman's 
 antagonist was no less than Captain Langley/' 
 
 " Begad ! he has a mighty nate notion of 
 fence," said D'Arcy gravely. 
 
234 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 " This is curious/' said Monteiro ; '' that 
 accident should have pitted you against the 
 son of the usurper — the man on whom he 
 would bestow the young Baroness." 
 
 '' Ye don't tell me so," cried D'Arcy, with 
 much animation. "Be the powers, if I had 
 known that I'd have let daylight into him !" 
 
 " Better not," said Monteiro, with an air of 
 calm reflection; "you might possibly have 
 let in a little too much ! and I do not want 
 unnecessary bloodshed. Now, D'Arcy, you 
 can tell us what you had begun when Master 
 Chifferil came in. I will answer for his 
 fidelity/' 
 
 D'Arcy turned in his seat and contemplated 
 Chifferil in a somewhat appalling manner for a 
 minute or two in silence, and then said in a 
 tone of grave approbation, " I thought you 
 were of the right sort the night I seen ye 
 rattlin' the tay-cup at Lamb's. Ye didn't see 
 me, but I see more than most — " 
 
 " What ! do you recognise me," cried 
 Chifferil, evidently discomfited. 
 
 " You were a bird of too different a feather 
 from the rest not to be noticed," returned 
 D'Arcy carelessly. 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 235 
 
 " Come, come," said Monteiro, with some 
 impatience ; '^you can trust each other, so do 
 not lose time; your news, D'Arcy, your 
 news ?" 
 
 " Well, Excellency, there's not much ; the 
 grand plot hangs fire for want of ammunition. 
 That blethering brute Morley pretends he is 
 in communication with the young lady, and 
 waits her signal to carry her off." 
 
 '' The lying hound!" cried Monteiro. " His 
 audacity makes one laugh." 
 
 " Elliott and Stephens and the others they 
 believe him, and I seem to do the same, but 
 I see he is dashed by something. I fancy he 
 don't like to meddle with her while she is 
 with Lady Helmsford ; and, besides, he has no 
 funds." 
 
 ** Will you be so considerate as to enlighten 
 my ignorance ?" said Chifferil imploringly, as 
 he fidgeted on the edge of his chair with 
 nervous curiosity. 
 
 " The key of the riddle is, shortly, this," re- 
 turned Monteiro. " It seems a gang of these 
 desperadoes have got scent that some docu- 
 ment exists by which the young Baroness may 
 be restored to her rights, and Morley declares 
 
236 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 be is the man that substituted himself for 
 the bridegroom at yonder mysterious marriage, 
 so he has engaged a choice party, our friend 
 here and others," with a wave of the hand to 
 D'Arcy, *' to assist him in carrying off the 
 bride. The attempt was to have been made 
 as the party travelled up from Langdale, but 
 it seems the enterprising Morley had not very 
 correct information, and the lady was safely 
 lodged in Lady Helmsford's house before he 
 was well aware they had left the countr3\ 
 Now fresh difficulties arise. Mistress Langley 
 is so well guarded, and the dog's pockets are 
 so low, he can do nothing." 
 
 "I myself think he is inclined to back out 
 of the undertaking, but doesn't like to say so, 
 and tells us a cock and a bull story about 
 waiting for notice of the young lady's own 
 wishes." 
 
 " How mean you ?" cried poor little Chifferil, 
 starting from his seat in his terror and dis- 
 tress, as the comprehension of this plot grew 
 upon him. " One of those foul knaves I saw 
 at Lamb's carry off fair gentle Mistress 
 Langley ? Oh, sir ! Spaniard or whatever you 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 237 
 
 nniy be, you, sure, are too much of a Christian 
 to permit this ?" 
 
 Monteiro looked at him curiously. " I see 
 you are stanch, Chifferil," he s \id. " Make 
 your mind easy, not a hair of her head shall 
 be touched." 
 
 " Be the powers, no !" growled D'Arcy. 
 "There will be wigs on the green first." 
 
 ''More," added Monteiro. '-'It shall g^o 
 hard but I will keep even from passing 
 fear." 
 
 " Would it not be best to warn my lady ?" 
 asked Chififeril anxiously. " She is somewhat 
 kittle to deal with, but ehe would let no one 
 touch her niece, unless indeed — " ChifFeril 
 paused abruptly. 
 
 Monteiro noticed the pause, and turned an 
 earnest questioning look upon him. "Rest 
 tranquil," he said. '' My trusty friend here 
 wull keep me informed of all that goes on ; and 
 you, ChifFeril, will let me know all that passes 
 at Lady Helmsford's. I think amongst us 
 we shall be able to guard the heiress of Lang- 
 dale from harm till she can claim her own." 
 
 " The marvel to me," said Chifferil, who had 
 resumed his seat, " is, how any great hulking 
 
238 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 fellow, as most of those at Lamb's seemed to 
 be, could manage to get into that slim yanng 
 Captain's clothes. Mistress Dorothy tells 
 me he forced the Captain to change clothes 
 with him." 
 
 " 'Tis very hard to get at the truth of the 
 matter," replied Monteiro. " All our task is 
 to save the young lady from the disastrous 
 consequences which might arise from this ex- 
 traordinary marriage. You see, if any villain 
 carried her oif under the pretext of being her 
 husband, he could not be punished, for she is 
 certainly wed ; and it seems no one knows 
 who the bridegroom is, not even the bride. 
 Faith, it is most strange." 
 
 " Will the excellent Don Hyacinth (T think 
 your honour called him) excuse me, but I 
 have a matter for your private ear," said 
 Chifferil, with extreme and cautious politeness. 
 '•' And I am somewhat pressed for time. My 
 lady ordered me to attend Mistress Langley, 
 ^vho with much entreaty hath obtained per- 
 mission from the Countess to take a little 
 exercise on the Mall this afternoon with her 
 woman, and the hour is now nigh." 
 
 *' To walk abroad ! this is imprudent," cried 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 239 
 
 Monteiro, with some uneasiness. " D'Arcy, 
 have you breakfasted ?'* 
 
 '* So long ago, Excellency, that I begin to 
 think of my dinner." 
 
 Monteiro started from his seat and called 
 aloud, "Victor." An unmistakably French 
 valet, his hair in papers, came swiftly at the 
 summons. '' Take this gentleman, Victor, and 
 see that he has refreshment — dinner, wine, all 
 that he needs," said Monteiro in French. It 
 was evident from his brigrhteninof countenance 
 that D'Arcy understood the drift of the 
 speech. 
 
 " Go, amigo ! stow away as much pro- 
 vision as you conveniently can in the shortest 
 time, and then you must away to the Mall. 
 Watch for Master Chlfferil ; notice the lady 
 with him, and be ready to aid him and her in 
 case of need. Stay. I shall probably pass 
 that way myself, why should I not — " Mun- 
 teiro paused abruptly, and seemed lost in 
 thought for a moment ; then exclaiming, 
 " Go r waved the valet and L)Arcy from the 
 room. 
 
 "Now," he exclaimed quickly, "your pri- 
 vate business, good Cliifferil ?" 
 
240 Tlie Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 " To deliver this," he replied, drawing a 
 letter from his pocket, " and to receive your 
 answer ; had it not been for this missive, I 
 should have been less punctual. '^ 
 
 Don Juan seized the perfumed delicate 
 paper, and, tearing it open, glanced at the 
 contents ; then, we regret to say, threw it 
 across the table with an impatient oath. 
 
 " Tis the Devil's own coil," he said in an. 
 irritable manner, and sat thinkino^ for a few 
 minutes. " How the consequences of a man's 
 folly or weakness are sure to pursue him 1" he 
 exclaimed at leno-th ; and, risino- he ao^ain 
 took up the letter, reperused it, and drawing 
 forth writing materials from a cabinet, he 
 rapidly traced some lines, folded and directed 
 the paper : committing the letter he had just 
 written to ChitFeril, and the one he had re- 
 ceived to the flames. " Now tell me," he 
 said, drawing his chair close to the secretary's, 
 and speaking in a low tone, " what doubt 
 crossed your mind just now when, speaking of 
 Lady Helmsford's care for her niece, you 
 added ' unless,' and hesitated ? Surely, as a 
 woman, she must wish to shelter so fair and 
 helpless a creature from harm ?" 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 241 
 
 " Indeed, sir, I trust you much, or I would 
 not say this ; in some things niy lady is — 
 well, a trifle cruel. I know she hated Lord 
 Langdale ; they say for preferring her younger 
 sister to herself. I do not think she loves 
 Mistress Maud ; though 'tis enough to melt 
 the stoniest heart to see how that sweet 
 joung lady strives to win her love ! and 
 my lady has her times of relenting ; but, re- 
 spected sir, if I might offer my humble 
 counsel, I would say, you should walk in the 
 Mall this afternoon, do not join the young 
 lady and Mistress Dorothy ; it might be 
 noticed, it might — " The good little secretary's 
 words died nervously away as he watched 
 the heavy frown gather on Monteiro's brow. 
 
 " But I will !" cried that gentleman, laying 
 his hand somewhat heavily on Chifforil's 
 shoulder. '^ If a dozen fiends, male and 
 female, stood in the way, I will ! Why should 
 Inotr 
 
 '' Oh, as your worship pleases ; only I 
 thought — only I feared — " 
 
 " Cheer up, man," said Monteiro, rising, 
 his brow clearing and a pleasant smile light- 
 ing up his countenance. *' There is more to 
 
 VOL. I. 16 
 
242 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 hope than to fear ; every day that passes 
 brings us nearer the deliverance I seek for my 
 Lady Maud; but also, I grant, makes the 
 dangers for her more dangerous : of these the 
 worst is John Langley and his son. Now, 
 good Chifferil, begone ! I must dress and go 
 forth." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 f"^-^^! HE long imprisonment, first in Lang- 
 )^6| \$)M ley's residence, and then in her 
 ■t^^^ aunt's, had affected Maud much. 
 She had been more used to free air 
 and exercise than the generality of young 
 ladies at the period of this tale, and she now 
 pined for a little liberty. The morning after 
 the levee her aunt, being in unusual good 
 temper, had invited her niece to breakfast, 
 and abused Harold Langley in no measured 
 terms ; nevertheless informing her dismayed 
 listener that, if the worst came to the worst, 
 it would be better to marry him than sink 
 into a dame de conipagnie, "like Sparrow," 
 concluded the Countess ; *' for, of course, I 
 
 IG— 2 
 
244 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 may marry myself — it is not at all impro- 
 bable ; and then you could not expect me to 
 provide for you." 
 
 "Indeed, I do not, dear aunt," returned 
 Maud, smiling ; and, prompted by her sincere 
 admiration, she added, " I am sure you are fair 
 enough to be sought by many ; and I hope 
 you will wed happily some one who will be 
 brighter and more debonair than an English- 
 man pur sang.'' Maud spoke archly, for her 
 aunt's words, coupled with what she had her- 
 self noticed, convinced her that Lady Helms- 
 ford had agreed to marry the Spaniard. 
 
 The Countess looked up quickly, but Maud's 
 expression told her she spoke in perfectly 
 good faith ; so with unwonted graciousness 
 she replied, " You are a silly chit to form any 
 conjectures." Yet the conjecture pleased 
 Lady Helmsford. 
 
 *' What you should do with Dorothy and 
 myself, sweet Countess," resumed Maud, " is 
 to send us both back to France — back to my 
 good dear Madame Wandesforde. It never 
 seemed to cost anything to live there, and I 
 can embroider and mend lace ; and help my- 
 self perhaps thus." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 245 
 
 *' My niece, Lord Langdale's daughter, 
 work for her bread ! What a preposterous 
 idea !" cried ray lady. 
 
 "Alas ! madam, Lord Lanord ale's dauo^hter 
 must eat ; but think of my return to France 
 as possible, dear aunt, and perhaps it will 
 become so." 
 
 " Foolish child, there is a better destiny in 
 store for you, Maud, do you know I believe 
 you are at this moment Baroness Langdale ? 
 Does that not move you ?" 
 
 " Not much, madam." 
 
 " I am certain your father's attainder was 
 reversed : hence the desire of John Langley 
 to wed you to his son. Trust me he knows 
 your rights !" 
 
 "Well, if he will set me free, and give me 
 wherewithal to live, however humbly, where 
 I was once so happy, he may take my rights." 
 
 " I did not think you could be so tame and 
 spiritless, Maud," cried the Countess con- 
 temptuously. 
 
 " I am ! I have suffered so much — so 
 much ! but there is one fav'-our you might 
 grant me, my aunt." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
246 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 '^ Give me leave to walk out. With 
 Dorothy, and in my hood, I should be safe 
 £^nd unnoticed enough. It is so bright and 
 mild to-day." 
 
 The Countess demurred ; but bein^ for 
 sundry reasons in a good mood, and Maud 
 warmly pressing her prayer, she at length 
 acceded. With great delight the pretty pri- 
 soner flew to her humble friend. 
 
 " Dorothy, dear Dorothy, set forth my 
 hood and warm muffler. My aunt says we 
 may walk forth to-day about one. When 
 Master Chifferil returns from some errand, and 
 ean go with us into the Mall, dear Dorothy." 
 
 ** Eh, my bird ! I am glad, for it is weary 
 work being mewed up here. I will go and 
 fetch your thicker shoes ; they are in one of 
 the mails in my chamber." 
 
 Dorothy accordingly trotted off, and Maud 
 went into her bedroom, which w^as within her 
 small study or sitting-room, to don a warmer 
 skirt than what she wore. Then remember- 
 ing she had left a favourite fan in the outer 
 apartment, she thought she would lay it safe 
 in a drawer before she went out. It was not 
 where she thought she had seen it, but lying 
 
TTie Heritage of Langdale. 247 
 
 •on the spinnet on which she had been playing 
 before going to breakfast with her aunt, and 
 which helped to while away many moments 
 that would otherwise have hung heavily. 
 The fan was partly open, and on seeking to 
 •close it something hindered her. She looked, 
 and saw a small folded paper slipped between 
 the sticks of the fan. She withdrew and 
 unfolded it. It was covered with small square 
 characters, more like printing than writing. 
 After a moment's bewilderment Maud read 
 as follows : 
 
 " Madam, — He who ventured to usurp 
 your bridegroom's place implores you to trust 
 him yet awhile. Hold still to the marriage, 
 and on the faith of a gentleman it shall in no 
 way hamper you when you no longer need a 
 shield. For your own sake, for mine, keep 
 this communication a secret, and believe ever 
 in the devotion of your husband." 
 
 Twice did Maud read this through before 
 lier great astonishment permitted her tho- 
 Toughly to understand its sense. The effect 
 the mysterious billet produced was bewilder- 
 
248 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 ing. How did it come thei^e ? Her fan had 
 lain on the table she was certain when she 
 had been in the room a few minutes before ; 
 the door had been open, and she had heard 
 no sound of any one entering. It was most 
 mysterious, and gave her a strange creepy 
 sensation of being wrapped round by some 
 shadowy guardianship which alarmed more 
 than it assured her. 
 
 She read the lines over again, and trembled 
 with a sensation which was not all horror at 
 the idea of her unknown husband. Would 
 he indeed prove a faithful friend, or would he 
 be a self-interested persecutor ? Whoever and 
 whatever he was, he could not be so abhorrent 
 as Harold, from whom he had saved her, and 
 she would certainly obey his injunction so far 
 as for the present to cling to her marriage as 
 to a shield. 
 
 But how could this mysterious man have 
 found means to transmit a billet to her in her 
 aunt's strictly-ordered household ? Certainly 
 it must be kept a secret, or her aunt would 
 rave the house down, bub to Dorothy she 
 must speak ; the secret all to herself was 
 more than she could bear. Ah ! what straits. 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 249 
 
 was she in ! none could deliver her save one. 
 The poor young creature sank on her knees 
 and prayed fervently for guidance and pro- 
 tection. She was still in an attitude of de- 
 votion when Dorothy returned with the shoes 
 she sought in her hand. She stopped in re- 
 spectful silence, but with a look of surprise. 
 Maud instantly arose. 
 
 '•' Come with me, Dorothy," she said in a 
 suppressed tone, and drew her into the bed- 
 chamber, closing the door with much pre- 
 caution. " Sit there, dear Dorothy," she 
 whispered, drawing a chair into the window, 
 and then kneelino^ down beside her humble 
 fiiend; "promise me, Dorothy, that you will 
 never breathe a word of what I am going to 
 tell you." 
 
 " Me ? Oh, never, my darling !" 
 
 '' To no one ?" 
 
 " Never shall it cross my lips." 
 
 " Then Dorothy do not scream or call out. 
 E-ead that ; I found it between the sticks of 
 my fan." 
 
 With considerable help from her mistress 
 Dorothy obeyed, Maud having passed one 
 arm through hers, and holding the letter in 
 
250 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 the other hand. The moment they reached 
 the word " husband" Dorothy's mouth opened, 
 and Maud instantly dropped the paper and 
 clapped her hand upon it. '' Your promise, 
 good nurse !" 
 
 " The villain !" exclaimed Dorothy in a 
 vehement whisper. *' How ? what next? we 
 will not venture to sleep in our beds ! Why, 
 dear lamb, he must be Satan himself, to get 
 a billet introduced into this house ! Now 
 who was the messenger ? Truscott, the second 
 footman ? he is too timorsome a chap ; or 
 Betty ? no — her fingers are too clumsy to 
 slip it in between your fan sticks. Could it 
 be Master Chifferil V 
 
 " My aunt's trusted secretary ? Impossible ! 
 How could you think of him ?" 
 
 " Because he is a quare little fellow ; but 
 somehow he seems to have known my lord 
 your father, and to have loved him well. This 
 he tells me secretly — for he is vastly polite — 
 and has once and ao-ain invited me to take a 
 
 o 
 
 dish of tea in his private sitting-room, which 
 has as ^ne a plenishing as would make poor 
 dear Madame Wandesforde's empty salon look 
 like a palace was it there ; and — but I'll tell 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 251 
 
 you by-and-bj. Dear heart ! we must to my 
 lady at once. I almost fear to stir." 
 
 " Dorothy," said her mistress, starting to 
 her feet and speaking with an air of authority 
 marvellous in one so young, " did I not say 
 no word of this was to be breathed to mortal ? 
 This gentleman means me well. See, he says 
 the marriage shall not hamper me. He, it 
 seems to me, seeks only to save me from John 
 Langley. Ah ! there lies my real danger. I 
 cannot tell why it is, Dorothy, but I do trust 
 this gentleman. There was something in his 
 look, dimly as I perceived it, that reminded 
 me of my father." 
 
 " Ah ! my darlin', what witchcraft is this. 
 Trust me, he only wants to secure the heiress 
 of Langdale, for you are the heiress, from 
 what Master Chifferil says, I'm sure." 
 
 " There is perhaps some truth in the tale," 
 said Maud thoughtfully. 
 
 "Ay, is there ! so come — come to my lady 
 at once ; she is not gone out yet — she will 
 circumvent the biggest blackguard amongst 
 them." 
 
 " No, Dorothy ! nothing will tempt me to 
 disobey the injunction of this letter, and I 
 
252 Tlie Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 will send you from me and never see your 
 face again if you dare — if you are so base as 
 to betray what I have confided to you. Do 
 not make me miserable, Dorothy." 
 
 '' Well, well ! there ! Sure I wouldn't vex 
 you for my life, but if mischief conies of it 
 won't I be massacreed with abuse." 
 
 " But no harm can come — I do not want 
 really to marry this gentleman." Maud 
 laughed and blushed. " It does not seem he 
 wants to marry me. I only want to keep 
 free and quiet till something which this 
 gentleman evidently looks to as likely to be a 
 deliverance occurs. Meantime I may win 
 upon my aunt, and at any rate she will not 
 for very shame send me back to John 
 Langley." 
 
 " I suppose so — I suppose so," said Dorothy 
 dejectedly ; " anyhow you must don your 
 cloak, for if my lady says we are to go out, 
 out we must go." 
 
 " Dorothy," asked Maud thoughtfully, 
 " why do you think Master Chifferil believes 
 that I am Baroness Lanordale ?" 
 
 " Core of my heart," cried the waiting- 
 woman, with much glee, " he has of his own 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 253 
 
 free will given me six gold pieces, to be re- 
 paid when you receive the rents of Langdale. 
 He says he lends them for love of my lord ! 
 but I am sure if his love is great, his belief 
 must be a deal greater, or he would never 
 trust me. Now there is my secret. If I 
 have money, that's for us both ; and my 
 heart has been as light as a cricket since I 
 felt there wasn't room for the devil to dance 
 in my pocket." 
 
 " I doubt if you should take this, Doro- 
 
 thy r 
 
 *' Ah, honeybird ! you keep your secret 
 and I'll keep mine. When you come into 
 your own you'll pay him back with interest." 
 
 " Indeed will I, dear good nurse ; and this 
 gentleman too. If he is, as you say, a needy 
 adventurer, may I not reward him for his 
 services and send him away. Strange to spea,k 
 thus of my * husband.' " 
 
 ".Your husband ! never name him so. Faith 
 he will not readily let you go." 
 
 Having carefully burned the billet of her 
 unknown bridegroom, Maud, though still 
 trembling with the fear and excitement it had 
 caused, completed her outdoor costume, and 
 
254 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 sent to inquire if Lady Helmsford wished to 
 see her before she set forth. 
 
 Her ladyship, however, had already gone 
 out in her chair to attend the Princess of 
 Wales's morning reception, for to her court in 
 Leicester House all of beauty and fashion 
 then attached themselves. Mistress Letitia 
 Sparrow was the bearer of this intelligence, 
 and presented herself also in outdoor garb. 
 
 " My Lady Helmsford," she said, with her 
 usual smiling politeness, " had imposed upon 
 her the agreeable task of accompanying the 
 charming Mistress Langley in her proposed 
 promenade, and she could take her woman or 
 not as she thought fit. Master Chifferil 
 would also escort them, and two of her lady- 
 ship's footmen follow after." 
 
 " In truth w^e shall be a small army," said 
 Maud, laughing, but feeling the charm of the 
 excursion gone when it necessitated so cum- 
 brous an array. " Surely my good aunt is 
 over careful.'' 
 
 "Such is her will," returned Mistress 
 Letitia, " let us descend." 
 
 Li the hall they found Chifferil, his large 
 wig even more carefully curled and powdered 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 255 
 
 than usual ; also the attendynt lackeys, armed 
 with long staflPs ; and over the large fire which 
 M^armed the entrance cowered the little negro. 
 
 Chifferil, who was standing hat in hand 
 beside the fire in front of a large chair, bowed 
 when Maud stepped from the stairs on the 
 pathway of crimson carpet laid across the 
 grey-and-blaciv marble pavement of the hall. 
 The black boy grinned an acknowledgment. 
 As the party passed him Chifferil uttered a 
 little speech which he had composed for the 
 occasion. " He was," he said, " deeply 
 honoured by being permitted to form the 
 escort of a noble young Iddy so justly dear to 
 them all. It was not fur him to intrude, he 
 would therefore follow with the excellent 
 Mistress Dorothy." So saying he stepped 
 forward in a dignified manner, but, alas ! left 
 his wig behind him, attached to the fender by 
 a long piece of twine \Ahich had been ingeni- 
 ously knotted to his queue. 
 
 Chifferil's long uneven pate, destitute of 
 hair, stood confessed, and he hi nj self marvel- 
 lously altered by the loss of all the dignity 
 which went with the wig, looked like a little, 
 eager, wizened lunatic. 
 
256 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " Look now ! if that isn't his work may I 
 never drink another dish of tay/' cried 
 Dorothy indignantly, pointing to Gomez, who 
 had suddenly assumed a look of preternatural 
 gravity, and seizing the twine with both her 
 strong hands she snapped it and replaced the 
 wig on its owner's head with an energetic 
 sympathy that sent it over his eyes. 
 
 '' You are an ill-conditioned ill-conducted 
 ape," said the little secretary, with solemn 
 disapprobation. " I shall myself inform my 
 lady of your misdemeanour." 
 
 " It wasn't me at all, Massa Chifferil," cried 
 the imp ; " 'twas Tom dere — see him laugh 
 hard as ever he can !" 
 
 " You little lying rascal !" muttered the 
 man. "Don't believe him, Master Chifferil," 
 he continued aloud; ** he did it himself." 
 
 " If you see me why for no tell massa ?" 
 chuckled Gomez. 
 
 '' You ought to have your little black 
 soul flogged out of you," cried the footman. 
 
 Gomez made a grimace at him. 
 
 " You should indeed be punished," said 
 Maud gravely. *' But come. Mistress Sparrow, 
 we shall lose the sunshine." 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 257 
 
 It was like a draught of new life to Maud 
 when she stepped into the open air, and, fol- 
 lowing the guidance of the companion, found 
 herself in what was then, as now, the famous 
 Mall of St. James's. 
 
 It was a lovely winter's day. Although 
 the frost was severe, the absence of wind and 
 a bright sun made the temperature agreeable. 
 The branches of the trees, beautiful and 
 jewelled by their sparkling vesture ; the hard 
 smooth ground ; the clear exhilarating atmo- 
 sphere — made exercise a delight; and the new- 
 ness of everything was a source of the keenest 
 pleasure to Maud. It was not exactly the 
 fashionable hour, still numbers of well-dressed 
 persons were about. The large hats of the 
 humbler women ; the rich sacques and lace- 
 trimmed hoods of the great ladies ; the liveries 
 of the servants who attended them ; the 
 varied aspect of the gentlemen in their wide- 
 skirted coats, abundant lace, and braveries of 
 all descriptions — all were strange to her. In 
 France she had never seen anything grander 
 than a state visit of some French noble to the 
 rather decayed and melancholy Court of St. 
 Germain ; and even that was amongst her 
 VOL. I. 17 
 
258 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 oldest memories. But the aDimation, the 
 wealth and comfort which all the surround- 
 ings of the scene in which she found herself 
 indicated, greatly surprised and interested 
 her. She would have much preferred view- 
 ing it alone with Dorothy, but Mistress 
 Sparrow was not without her uses ; she could 
 explain and account for much which would have 
 puzzled both herself and her faithful friend. 
 
 *' My lady strictly charged me not to ven- 
 ture amid yon crowd that gathers round the 
 skaters on Rosamond's pool — 'tis there most 
 of the folks are hurrying ; let us turn and 
 walk up towards the old Mulberry Gardens, 
 where his Grace of Buckingham's new house 
 stands." 
 
 "As you will," said Maud; "'tis all de- 
 lightful to me." 
 
 " But you have surely seen Versailles and 
 the Tuileries ? and we have nothing so fine 
 here," returned Mistress Sparrow. 
 
 •'* I have seen the Tuileries — not Versailles ; 
 but there do not seem to be nearly so many 
 peoplenor such rich attire in France. Then, 
 dear Mistress Sparrow, I lived ever in the 
 old Chateau Chanlaire, and saw nothing." 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 259 
 
 "Yet you wish to return. Well, I do not 
 wonder at it ; for as I was once on the point 
 of telling you — " 
 
 Whereupon Mistress Sparrow plunged into 
 a history of her early attachment to a French 
 cavalier who had been killed while fio-htino- 
 for somebody somewhere. The party had 
 nearly reached Buckingham House when her 
 attention was attracted by some passing celeb- 
 rity, and, turning to look after him, she ex- 
 claimed, in alarm : 
 
 *' Master Chifferil, those men have disap- 
 peared ; I can see no sign of them." 
 
 The missing attendants had in fact slipped 
 ■away to have a peep at the skating, and, for 
 the moment, were nowhere to be seen. 
 
 ''I shall go in search of the careless fel- 
 lows," exclaimed the secretary, making as if 
 to turn back. 
 
 " Oh, gracious powers, no, good Master Chif- 
 feril," cried Mistress Sparrow. " What, leave 
 us three women alone ! and see there is a 
 most suspicious-looking desperado lounging 
 iilong by the rails near the water. We will 
 all turn together, and see if we cannot meet 
 them." 
 
 17—2 
 
260 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 The suspicious individual pointed out was 
 a tall, gaunt, soldiery-looking man in a rusty- 
 red suit and a smart feathered hat. 
 
 *' Ahem ! I see nought objectionable in yon 
 fellow,'' said Chifferil, recognising him ; " but 
 we will turn as you propose, if Mistress Lang- 
 ley so pleases." 
 
 Maud was ready to walk in any direction. 
 
 *' How does this please you, Dorothy V she 
 asked. 
 
 '' Oh right well, madam ; 'tis a grand place. 
 I should not mind if you had a house of your 
 own close by. 'Tis ever so much gayer than 
 all I have ever seen before." 
 
 The upper part of the Mall was less-crowded 
 than where they had entered upon it ; and as 
 they retraced their steps they observed a 
 gentleman advancing to meet them — a gentle- 
 man in a black suit laced with gold, a broad 
 sword belt over the right shoulder, and a real 
 fighting sword depending therefrom ; high 
 boots and a hat gold laced and fringed with 
 feathers completed his costume. 
 
 '' Sure," exclaimed Mistress Sparrow in 
 some perturbation, " 'tis no other than the 
 Don himself -now this is unfortunate." 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 261 
 
 It was Don Juan di Monteiro who came 
 straight towards them, and, raising his hat 
 with courtly grace, greeted Maud and her 
 companions. 
 
 '' Where is the beautiful Countess V he 
 asked, after they had exchanged ceremonious 
 salutations. 
 
 " My aunt has gone to attend the Princess's 
 reception." 
 
 "Where, sir, I understood you were to be 
 presented," simpered Letitia. 
 
 ''There was a talk of it," said Monteiro 
 carelessly, " but I have been warned to steer 
 clear of Leicester House if I expect favour at 
 St. James's. If you are going down the Park 
 permit me to join you. You have but a slender 
 escort considering the value of the convoy." 
 
 So saying, and while listening politely to 
 Mistress Sparrow's elaborate explanation of 
 the footmen's disappearance, Monteiro man- 
 aged to place himself betv^een Maud and the 
 dame de compagnie. 
 
 " 'Tis a gay scene, Mademoiselle, and better 
 than being mewed up in Great Queen Street," 
 he said, looking at her with eyes half closed 
 so as to veil their expression. " Madame la 
 
262 Tlie Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 Comtesse has told me of your escape ; am I 
 indiscreet in referring to it ?" 
 
 ** no," replied Maud, with a bright smile ; 
 *' every one knows everything concerning me 
 — at least nearly everything. My life has- 
 hitherto been so simple, I feel amazed to find 
 anything like difficulty or danger in it." 
 
 " Your life ought to be pure and fair, like 
 yourself," said the Spaniard, with a slight sigh. 
 " I must say I marvel that your kinsman — I 
 mean the young one — is not man enough to 
 take sides with you against his father, though 
 I confess 'twould be no small exercise of 
 virtue." 
 
 " You are too partial, sir ; but Captain 
 Langley would be less bitter against me were it 
 not for his father. I fear me I forget my aunt's 
 directions. Let us talk of something else." 
 
 *' I was the original transgressor," said the 
 Don, smiling with a peculiarly soft caressing 
 expression. " So pardon me." 
 
 Here Mistress Sparrow, who did not at all 
 like being left out of the conversation, ex- 
 claimed, " Don't you find this climate some- 
 what biting. Monsieur, after the more sunny 
 regions of Spain ?" 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 263 
 
 " I have never resided very long in Spain/' 
 he returned, " though I have frequently 
 visited the country ; but / find the climate 
 of England more invigorating than chilling." 
 
 '' Is it not unusual for a foreigner to like 
 this land so well ?" asked Maud. 
 
 " I do not call myself a foreigner exactly/' 
 replied .Monteiro in French; "and I am 
 envious of the name of Englishman." 
 
 *' I too fancied I loved England much till 
 J came here/' answered Maud. "Now I 
 greatly long to return to my old home in 
 France — if it still exists — for I have never 
 had any tidings since I left, nor have I been 
 permitted to write." 
 
 ''That was cruel/' returned Monteiro. 
 " particularly to those you left behind. Tell 
 me what charm had your life in France that 
 you remember it so fondly T 
 
 " The charm of home and safety, which I 
 have never known since. Ah ! Monsieur de 
 Monteiro, I was absolutely sinful in my long- 
 ings for change — in my weariness of the 
 peaceful quiet in that old chateau. I lived 
 with such a kind grave lady, who was never 
 angry and never hurried. I had books and 
 
264 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 work and endless occupation ; and a great 
 wide garden wliere I could roam at will, 
 without all this wearisome following," waving 
 her hand towards Mistress Sparrow, then scold- 
 ing the two footmen, who had reappeared ; 
 " and dear little children to play with, belong- 
 ing to a widowed French lady who lived in 
 the rooms over us. Then my dear father used 
 to come at times like sunshine, and I had 
 Dorothy ; and I was so free ! Now I have 
 desolation." 
 
 To pour out her heart in French was too 
 great a temptation. The grave sympathy 
 and absorbed attention of her listener led her 
 on. She could not, and did not try to 
 account for her readiness to confide so readily 
 in this stranger. But the simplicity and 
 earnestness of his speech and manner, con- 
 trasted with the flowery affectations of all 
 the other men who surrounded her aunt, 
 drew her to him unconsciously but powerfully. 
 
 " Yet," returned Monteiro, *'it was a homely 
 house for Lord Langdale's daughter." 
 
 " How sweet was the homeliness," ex- 
 claimed Maud. " Ah, sir, you are a dear 
 friend of my aunt ; she would no doubt grant 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 265 
 
 much to you. Intercede for me ! pray her to 
 send me back to France. I want to hve my 
 own life — not to be a shuttlecock between 
 contending players whose game I cannot 
 understand." 
 
 Poor Maud thought she had made a happy 
 hit in thus endeavouring to secure the interest 
 of Lady Plelmsford's favourite. 
 
 " Sweet Mistress Langley," returned Mon- 
 teiro, v/ith much seriousness, and in English, 
 " you are under a mistake ; the Countess of 
 Helmsford was gracious enough to notice me 
 in Paris because she likes novelty. She is 
 hospitable to me here because she is courteous 
 to strangers, but I am no more to her than 
 she is to me. I dare not presume to intrude 
 myself in her councils, or offer even an opinion 
 on her affairs, otherwise I should in this, as 
 in all things, be at your service." 
 
 Maud's large blue eyes turned on him with 
 a look of bewildered surprise. Of all those 
 she had met since parting with her beloved 
 protectress, none had seemed to her so deserv- 
 ing of belief as this mysterious Spaniard who 
 always spoke to her with a grave respect, 
 different from the jovial ease of his manner 
 
266 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 to others. And yet how could she doubt the 
 evidence of her own eyes — the meaning of 
 Mistress Sparrow's innuendoes ? She had 
 begun to think that, in spite of some disparity 
 of years, the Countess intended to marry 
 Monteiro ; and now he seriously disclaimed 
 any title to interest or influence with her. 
 It was more than she could understand. 
 
 " I must believe you, I suppose," she said 
 slowly. 
 
 '' You may ; I speak truth," returned the 
 Don impressively. 
 
 *' My dear young lady," exclaimed Mistress 
 Sparrow, who had returned from catechising 
 the footmen, " do you not think you have 
 prolonged your promenade sufficiently ?" 
 
 '* Noj indeed, good Mistress Sparrow," said 
 Maud. '' Think how long I have been a 
 prisoner ! one more turn I pray you — so far 
 as yonder mansion." 
 
 "You must not deny Mistress Langley's 
 request," observed Monteiro, " nor to me the 
 honour of accompanying you." 
 
 " Indeed, sir," said Mistress Letitia, with a 
 curtsy and a simper, " I am not so hard- 
 hearted ; but, in return, may I pray you to 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 2G7 
 
 speak English. I am not now so familiar 
 with the French tongue as, alas ! I once was ; 
 and besides, a gallant gentleman will under- 
 stand how great a charge the guardianship 
 of a young lady like Mistress Langley must 
 be ; therefore — " 
 
 "You would like to hear all that is ad- 
 dressed to her by those fortunate cavaliers to 
 whom she deigns to speak," put in Monteiro, 
 laughing as she hesitated. " 'Tis but natural, 
 so we will e'en grant each other's petition." 
 
 The remainder of the promenade was very 
 agreeable, despite Maud's doubts. Don Juan 
 talked well and freelv of traveHins: and the 
 wonders of distant lands, of which he appeared 
 to have seen much ; Mistress Sparrow fre- 
 quently interrupting with notes of interroga- 
 tion and admiration, while Maud from time to 
 time made observations in her soft low tones, 
 v^hich always seemed to charm Monteiro, and 
 incite him to fuller and warmer descrip- 
 tions. 
 
 At length they separated, Monteiro accom- 
 panying them to the entrance of St. James's 
 Square and then returning to the Park^ 
 where, for some time, he walked to and fro in 
 
1^68 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 one of the more secluded parts — rapidly — 
 restlessly. 
 
 This pale fair girl was indeed the victim of 
 a cruel fate ! Almost all the women he had 
 known and toyed with, and fancied and for- 
 gotten, were at the best but goodnatured or 
 €asy^ tempered ; while the most of them were 
 too whimsical to permit of much reliance, 
 either on their goodnature or their easy temper ; 
 and all would have found in rank — a brilliant 
 equipage, jewels, finery — a consolation for most 
 sentimental grievances. Here, however, was 
 metal, not only more attractive, but purer, 
 finer, and of a truer ring. No vulgar show, 
 no commonplace passion, could satisfy Maud 
 Langley's soul or v/in her. No ; the success 
 of John Langley's schemes meant worse than 
 death to her — a life-long agony, if she 
 lived. 
 
 " How sweet and fair and noble she is," 
 thought the fiery Spaniard as he walked along 
 near the water where the merry monarch was 
 wont to feed his feathered favourites. 
 
 " God ! what a difference between her life 
 and mine. And yet — and yet she inclines to 
 trust me, to seek my help. Ay, she shall 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 269 
 
 have it. Before that accursed hound destroys- 
 her life I'll take his and his son's too ; it 
 would be a simple act of duty. And she 
 yearns for that gloomy shattered home in 
 France, when scarce any cage could be lovely 
 enough for so beauteous a bird. Yes, I will 
 go to old Pantaloon's gathering. She asked 
 me at parting why I refused Lord Ched- 
 worth's entertainment. I will go. If she will 
 but trust me, if I can but prove — " 
 
 *' How long is your Excellency going to walk 
 the deck there this chill evening ?" asked the 
 tall man with the crimson suit whose doubt- 
 ful seeming had alarmed Mistress Sparrow. 
 
 He had for some time been watching Mon- 
 teiro's rapid pacing to and fro, and now ap- 
 proached him. 
 
 " Begone !" was the courteous reply. " Do 
 not intrude yourself on my meditations." 
 
 "All right, my noble Captain, but the 
 shades of night are beginning to gather, and 
 this is not too safe a place they say when 
 day is done." 
 
 " "Well, well, I'll away," said Monteiro, 
 rousing himself; *' I cannot afford to come to 
 harm yet, D'Arcy ; I have work to do. Come, 
 
270 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 my brave old comrade, let's be careful of our 
 •precious skins for the next few weeks. After 
 that, perhaps adieu to old England for ever !" 
 
 "What, after striving so hard to come here 
 and turn Englishman T cried D'Arcy. 
 
 " It is impossible to say what side of the 
 dice fortune may turn up ; meantime let's get 
 into Pall Mall, find a coach, and drive to 
 Lamb's. I needs must see Eobilliard. " 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
 HE Countess of Helmsford had al- 
 ready returned from the royal re- 
 ception when Maud and her escort 
 reached home. She was, they were 
 informed, somewhat indisposed, and desired 
 that Mistress Sparrow should be sent to her 
 immediately on her entrance. Something in 
 poor Letitia's expression, on the receipt of this 
 command, suggested to Maud that her antici- 
 pations were not agreeable. 
 
 " I must not suppress the fact that our dis- 
 tinguished acquaintance, Don Juan di Mon- 
 teiro, joined us in the Park," she whispered 
 before obeying the summons. 
 
 " Wherefore should you ?" asked Maud in 
 
272 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 some surprise. '' I am surely permitted to 
 converse with those to whom my aunt intro- 
 duces me/' 
 
 "No doubt, no doubt," whispered Letitia 
 hastily ; " but 'tis as well we tell the same 
 tale ;" and she ran quickly upstairs. 
 
 Maud looked after her, with an unpleasant 
 astonishment, and, mounting to her own 
 apartments, laid aside her walking dress, and, 
 in spite of the agitation which she had suf- 
 fered in the morning, enjoyed the slight feeling 
 of fatigue which her unusual exercise pro- 
 duced, also the variety of talking over what 
 they had seen with Dorothy. 
 
 But more than this did the young orphan 
 like the hour of quiet which followed their 
 dinner, which was served soon after their 
 return (for Maud had never yet dined, save 
 by invitation, with Lady Helmsford). 
 
 Good Dorothy was wont to retire after 
 dinner to the inner chamber — to read, she said, 
 the evening prayers, which she preferred to 
 do in private, but Maud shrewdly suspected 
 that her devotions were paid to the soothing 
 god of sleep. 
 
 Then alone, in the gathering twilight, by 
 
The Heritage of Langclale. 273 
 
 the red glow of the fire, did Maud Langley 
 brood over the letter she had that day so 
 mysteriously received. With all her thoughts 
 turned inward, she recalled the vivid yet con- 
 fused memories of the wedding-day at Lang- 
 dale. Who could the bridegroom be ? When 
 should she see him ? What would he be like ? 
 He was a friend — of that she felt sure, be- 
 cause he was an enemy of the Langleys. 
 Half unconsciously to herself, she had grown 
 to look upon her unknown husband as a 
 deliverer, but when would he show himself? 
 Would he prove to be some high-minded 
 gentleman whom she could indeed love and 
 look up to and pass her life with ? How she 
 wished he might be such a one. The interest 
 of these speculations nearly banished from 
 her mind the sort of painful surprise with 
 which she had listened to Monteiro's solemn 
 declaration that he was no more than a com- 
 mon acquaintance to Lady Helmsford, and 
 also a strange feeling, half attraction, half 
 distrust, that always affected her when she 
 met his eyes. She liked him and she did 
 not, but such doubts vanished before the 
 absorbing interest that hung round her hus- 
 VOL. I. 18 
 
274 The Heritage of Lcmgdale. 
 
 band. " Her husband !" the very word was 
 enough to raise a hundred contradictory 
 emotions in a young girl's heart, chief of 
 which was an intense longing that he might 
 be good and kind, and that with him she 
 might find real protection. 
 
 " Alone and in the dark !" said Lady 
 Helmsford's voice close to her. The Coun- 
 tess had entered softly and unperceived, 
 having paused for a few moments to mark 
 how deeply her niece was wrapped in thought. 
 
 " My aunt ! I did not hear you," cried 
 Maud, starting up, her heart beating fast at 
 this sudden recall to reality. 
 
 " No ! indeed ! Now I wonder where your 
 thoughts were ? But of course you will not 
 tell me." 
 
 Maud blushed and was silent for a moment ; 
 and then, with the generous hope of winning 
 her aunt's confidence and liking, exclaimed : 
 
 " Yes, madam, I will, even if you disap- 
 prove, for you must own it is but natural that 
 I should often think of that — that strange 
 marriage and the gentleman who took Harold's 
 place." 
 
 " Indeed !" returned Lady Helmsford in a 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 275 
 
 peculiar tone. " Why do you always speak 
 of that adventurer as 'a gentleman'? He 
 most probably was some robber or smuggler 
 (they say the coast near Langdale is infested 
 with such), bribed to spite your guardian. 
 It w^as scarce the act of a gentleman." 
 
 *' And yet he is, dear aunt. I cannot say 
 why I feel it, but he is a gentleman." 
 
 "We need not argue the matter," re- 
 turned the Countess carelessly. *' I have 
 something of importance to speak of Ring 
 for lights." 
 
 Maud obeyed, and Lady Helms ford threw 
 herself into a deep lounging chair with an air 
 of weariness, preserving an unbroken silence 
 till her order was obeyed, and Maud then 
 perceived that she did indeed look ill. Her 
 rouge had not been as yet laid on for the 
 evening toilette ; her hair was coiled into a 
 knot, and she was in real comfortable disha- 
 bille, still no dress could alter the fact that 
 she was a handsome woman. It was the 
 haggard distressed look of her eyes that 
 struck Maud with surprise and pity. 
 
 " You are ill — you have been suffering," 
 she exclaimed tenderly, venturing to take 
 
 IS— 2 
 
276 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 her aunt's hand. " Why did you not send for 
 me ?" 
 
 Lady Helmsford's dark eyes looked eagerly 
 — almost fiercely — into Maud's, as if she would 
 fain have read the very secrets of her heart ; 
 then she smiled more softly and kindly than 
 usual. 
 
 "You are like your mother, Maud," she 
 said dreamily. "You ought to have been 
 born in a different station. You are a home- 
 bird, scarce fit to fill a great lady's part. You 
 have neither the spirit, nor the wit, nor the 
 hardness it requires." 
 
 " I am not ambitious, my aunt," returned 
 Maud, drawing herself up with a haughty 
 look and gesture that became her well ; "but 
 I trust God will give me grace to do my duty 
 in whatever station of life He sees fit to allot 
 me." 
 
 "Well, child," resumed Lady Helmsford, 
 *' it is of that station I have come to speak 
 with you. Your position is doubtful, dan- 
 gerous, unbecoming. As yet I think the 
 gossips have not had scent of the delicious 
 morsel this Langdale marriage would be to 
 them. When they do, you will not have a 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 277 
 
 rag of reputation left ; the sooner this obstacle 
 to your settlement in life is swept away and 
 you are protected by a noble and honourable 
 alliance the better. I do not wish to put any 
 force on your inclinations, nor do I see any 
 advantage in a marriage with the left-hand 
 line of your family, so the sooner you wed 
 some powerful personage the sooner you will 
 be safe from your uncle. Whether he likes 
 it or not, I shall at once take steps to set you 
 free. I have seen my lawyer to-day respect- 
 ing the necessary measures. No time must 
 be lost." 
 
 *' But, madam — dear aunt," cried Maud, 
 who had listened to this speech with a vary- 
 ing colour and beating heart, " I am already 
 guarded from John Langley. He dare not 
 take me from you ; he cannot force me to go 
 through the marriage ceremony again with 
 his son. Trying and doubtful as my condition 
 is, I would rather bear it awhile and see if 
 this gentleman — my husband, as I must call 
 him — will not reappear as he promised, and 
 set me free." 
 
 The Countess drew Maud to her, gently 
 pressing her shoulder till the girl slowly bent 
 her knee beside her. 
 
278 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " Foolish cliild ! you do not dream the 
 daring wickedness of which avaricious and 
 resolute men are capable. Tell me, what do 
 you remember of this man ?" And the Coun- 
 tess looked searchingly into her face while she 
 answered : 
 
 *' In truth scarce anything, save that his 
 eyes had a kindly look that somehow vaguely 
 reminded me of my father." 
 
 " Your father ! he was a thorough English- 
 man : fair, florid, grey-eyed. "What more ? 
 What did he say V 
 
 ^' Only in a sort of deep whisper, * Keep 
 faith with me, till I can claim you or release 
 you. 
 
 " And his voice — was it that of a gentle- 
 man ?" 
 
 '' I could not say what it sounded like. I 
 seemed to gather the sense of the words with- 
 out almost hearing the sound." 
 
 "This is the strangest part of all — the im- 
 pression he seems to have left upon you. 
 Maud, are you weak and fanciful enough to 
 imagine you love this dim ghost of a husband?" 
 
 *'I cannot tell, madam," returned Maud, 
 blushing deeply even while she spoke calmly 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 279 
 
 and candidly. '' If he proves a worthy gentle- 
 man — anxious to do me a service for my 
 father's sake — why should I not ?" 
 
 •' And if he turns out a rude swashbuckler, 
 you will find it troublesome and costly to quit 
 you of him." 
 
 " Such a one will not seek a portionless 
 demoiselle." 
 
 "Ay ; but trust me, this man is some adven- 
 turer who knows you are the heiress of Lang- 
 dale. Nay more, he probably holds the 
 pardon, and only waits some fitting oppor- 
 tunity to seize you and the estate also. No, 
 Maud ; on Monday my lawyer shall open the 
 preliminaries of a suit in the Ecclesiastical 
 Court." 
 
 " So far as the lack of my consent will go 
 to hinder the proceedings, count upon it, 
 madam," returned Maud, with much spirit, 
 and raising her large blue eyes fearlessly to 
 an encounter with her aunt's black ones. 
 
 After an instant's silence Lady Helmsford 
 relaxed into an amused smile. 
 
 *' I think, young lady, I was over quick to 
 decide on your want of spirit. Then you 
 have seen none in all the fair company which 
 
2S0 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 gathers round me to drive this dream of yours 
 out of your mind V and the Countess looked 
 keenly at her. 
 
 " None, madam," replied Maud simply, 
 meeting the look with the calmness of truth. 
 
 " And this man has never attempted to 
 communicate with you ? But no, in my house- 
 hold nothing occurs without my knowledge. 
 You are quite sure, Maud, that no one has 
 disturbed this fancy of yours," still gazing at 
 her. 
 
 " Noj^madam — in truth none," said Maud, 
 infinitely relieved to find her aunt did not 
 press the first question. 
 
 " It is well," observed the Countess, with a 
 slight sigh. " Be watchful, child, of your 
 heart or fancy, or whatever plays us weak 
 women such vile tricks. All our sorrows, all 
 our failures, come from what moralists, like 
 my pleasant breakfast companions, the ' Spec- 
 tator ' and ' Tatler,' term our ' nobler parts.' 
 Look at the enormous power a woman wields 
 over a man she does not love, and who loves 
 her ! Once give liini the mastery and you 
 have lost your compass — chaos is come again ; 
 you can no longer rule your life ; you sink into 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 281 
 
 a degrading slavery from which nothing can 
 release you, save, perhaps, change." 
 
 " Yet, madam, when he whom you love 
 loves and respects you in return, life must be 
 very sweet," said Maud, smiling. 
 
 " The dream of a novice ! Men never 
 value or respect that which they have abso- 
 lutely won." 
 
 '' Ah, do not say so," exclaimed the novice 
 imploringly. 
 
 " Yes, so it is. Child, there is something 
 about you I could almost love ; be guided by 
 me and I will place you well. Rank and 
 riches are substantial joys ; and many a plea- 
 sant morsel of forbidden fruit can be hidden 
 away among their ample draperies." 
 
 '' Love me then, dear aunt ! do love me ! 
 I only ask to be allowed to love you ;" and 
 Maud kissed her hand. 
 
 Lady Helmsford smiled, but withdrew it 
 coldly, as if a little ashamed of her previous- 
 softness. 
 
 *' Sit by me," she said, " I have yet a word 
 or two which will prove my care for you, be- 
 fore I go to dress for the everlasting round 
 from which I cannot escape. That Spanish 
 
282 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 gentleman, who joined you in the Park to-day 
 — be sparing of your notice to him. He is — 
 well — he is scarce sober enough to be a young 
 lady's cavalier. He led a wild life in Paris. 
 They say he carried off a nun, and fought and 
 gambled and drank hard, and much else 
 unfit for your ears." 
 
 " Indeed, madam ; I grieve to hear it," 
 cried Maud with candour, though colouring 
 brightly. " He seemed to me a grave and 
 kindly gentleman. But might not the un- 
 happy nun have been secluded against her 
 will, and his but an act of chivalry to restore 
 Jier to her friends," added the fair advocate, 
 her Protestant prejudices coming to her aid. 
 
 The Countess laughed contemptuously. 
 
 *' In truth yours is a lively fancy. Mistress 
 Langley, indulge it as you will ; but heed my 
 warning, as few words as civility warrants 
 wdth Don Juan di Monteiro," concluded Lady 
 Helmsford in her most imperious manner. 
 
 " Of course, dear aunt, your word in most 
 things is my law ; only I marvel you permit 
 this gentleman the entree of your house." 
 
 " That is my affair ; I can meddle with 
 much you ought not to handle. I may be of 
 
TIlg Heritage of Langdale. 283 
 
 use to the young man, and lead him into 
 better courses ; 'tis enough for you to obey." 
 
 The Countess spoke angrily, and rose as she 
 spoke. 
 
 " It is," said Maud simply. 
 
 *' I wish you good-evening then," said Lady 
 Helmsford. " To-morrow you must choose 
 your dress for Lord Ched worth's party. 
 While under my protection you must look 
 worthy of it," 
 
 And her ladyship swept away with very 
 little show of the love she had half promised. 
 
 *' Dorothy, are you there, Dorothy ?" said 
 Maud, opening the door into her bed-chamber; 
 whereupon the excellent woman nearly fell 
 forward on her face. 
 
 " Ah, my bird, to be sure I am, and heard 
 every word. She is a great lady entirely, 
 and knows a power about the men. I declare 
 she means well by you. Now don't be speak- 
 ing a word to that dark devil of a Spaniard ; 
 don't ye see my lady wants to guide him in 
 the right road all by herself, and you are not 
 to have a finger in it — mind that now !" 
 
 " Dorothy, how can you talk thus ? Do 
 you think I care to speak with Monsieur di 
 
284 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 Monteiro ? certainly not. It will be painful 
 to me to exchange a word with him after all 
 these loourparlers.'^ 
 
 '' Well, well, don't pain your>self ; and now 
 I'll just go and see if there is any signs of a 
 dish of tea — for I'm that thirsty !" 
 
 A few days after this conversation, which 
 gave Maud ample food for thought, business 
 was at its full tide — in those days never very 
 full compared to the high-water mark attained 
 in these later times — in the various depart- 
 ments of his Majesty's Treasury. It was 
 past noon ; a dull drizzle had replaced the 
 bright clear frost of the week before. But 
 weather did not much affect the visitors whose 
 business lay with the officials employed in 
 that soHd unpretending edifice. Seekers for 
 favours, drivers of hard bargains, men with 
 saleable morsels of intelligence and hints of 
 foreign politics came whether it rained or 
 shone ; among them, in his own chair — for he 
 avoided the pretension implied by an equipage 
 — came John Langley. He was evidently 
 known, for a porter at once threw open an 
 inner door and ushered him into a large room 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 285 
 
 where several clerks sat writing at fixed desks. 
 Mr. Langley walked to the upper end, where 
 a grave elderly man, evidently the head of the 
 department, had a chair and desk all to him- 
 self by the fire. 
 
 ** Good-morning, Mr. Langley," said the 
 gentleman, rising. " Can I do any for you, 
 Sir { 
 
 " I thank you, sir ; I am here to see my 
 Lord Sunderland on the part of Lord Berke- 
 ley." 
 
 *' I shall let him know directly," returned 
 the other. '' At present Mr. Aislabie is with 
 my lord. 'Tis a — unpleasant weather. Will 
 you look at the paper, Mr. Langley V 
 
 Mr. Langley accepted it, more to avoid con- 
 versation than to seek news. Soon the sound 
 of closing doors induced one of the clerks to 
 look through a square of glass at the end of 
 the room 
 
 " Mr. Aislabie's going out, sir," said the 
 young man. 
 
 " Oh, very well. Jenkins, go up and say 
 Mr. Langley of the Admiralty waits on his 
 lordship. By appointment, sir ?" to Lang- 
 ley. 
 
286 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 " By appointment. " 
 
 In a few minutes the messenger returned 
 and asked Langley to follow him upstairs. 
 Passing through the ante-chamber with a 
 slight civil bow to a secretary who was hard 
 at wT)rk amid a mass of papers, Langley was 
 ushered into the great man's presence. 
 
 In a large, square, comfortably but by no 
 means luxuriously furnished room, and with 
 his back to the fire, stood Lord Sunderland. 
 A tall handsome man of stately presence, 
 richly dressed in crimson velvet embroidered 
 with gold, and looking graciously down on the 
 plain dark figure which entered out of a mag- 
 nificenu curled periwig. John Langley bowed 
 low, but not too low ; with all his faults he 
 possessed a backbone, and to that quality 
 much of his success was due. 
 
 " Well, sir, you bring me a note from my 
 Lord Berkeley ?" 
 
 " I do, my lord ; and I am to supplement 
 the information it contains by answering any 
 questions you wish to put." 
 
 Lord Sunderland hastily read the letter, 
 and then, seating himself at his writing-table, 
 across which lay his rapier, which he appeared 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 287 
 
 to have laid aside for greater ease, reperused 
 the paper more carefully^ and, drawing to him 
 pen and paper, said : 
 
 " Sit down, my good sir ; a little talk will 
 make this clearer," at once plunged into details 
 respecting the Admiralty and the estimates 
 for the navy, with the jobbing which there- 
 unto, as a matter of course, appertained, that 
 would make the ears of the least democratic 
 and reforming of modern members tingle, and 
 his hair stand on end. 
 
 After more than half an hour thus occupied, 
 Lord Sunderland rose and resumed his former 
 position on the hearthrug. 
 
 '*' I am obliged to you, sir," he said after a 
 few minutes' silence. '' You have made these 
 matters plain. I congratulate my Lord 
 Berkeley on the qualities of his secretary." 
 
 Another pause, during which Langley also 
 rose and bowed, but kept his position beside 
 the writing-table. The silence continuing, 
 Langley broke it by observing : 
 
 " Lord Berkeley was good enough to pro- 
 mise his intercession with your lordship for a 
 few moments of your valuable time on a 
 jDcrsonal topic." 
 
288 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 "He has asked me to hear you, sir," re- 
 turned the Minister. " Speak on," glancing 
 at the clock as he said it. 
 
 " Your lordship is probably aware that I 
 am commissioned to manage the estate of the 
 late Lord Langdale, who was attainded and 
 fled the country some eight or nine years 
 ago." 
 
 ''Yes, now you mention it I remember," 
 said Lord Sunderland. 
 
 " I find a belief exists among some friends 
 of the family that her late Majesty' — in- 
 fluenced no doubt by my Lord Bolingbroke — 
 granted a pardon or reversal of the attainder 
 very shortly before her death, but I have in 
 vain made inquiry for it — it has disappeared 
 if it ever existed." 
 
 *' Somewhat unusual, Mr. Langley." 
 
 " Yes, my lord ; but things were confused 
 on the arrival of his Majesty, and the reins of 
 government were in hands less firm and clean 
 than at present." 
 
 Lord Sunderland smiled slightly. " Well, 
 
 sir r 
 
 " Lord Langdale bequeathed his only child, 
 an orphan daughter, to my guardianship, I 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 289 
 
 presume as a provision for the poor young 
 lady, who is left penniless. She is now under 
 my care. T have also, my lord, a son — now 
 a captain in his Majesty's Guards — and if it 
 be permitted to a parent so to say, a promis- 
 ing young officer. He wishes to wed his 
 cousin, nor would I willingly oppose his 
 choice. My object, therefore, in troubling 
 your lordship is to ascertain what chance 
 there is of the disabilities affecting young 
 Mistress Langley's rights being removed, even 
 if the pardon supposed to have been granted 
 by the late queen is irretrievably lost." 
 
 " I understand," returned the Minister. 
 " You wish to secure the Langdale property 
 for your son — it is but natural." 
 
 *' It is an ungracious task to urge one's own 
 deserts," resumed Langley in his strong, 
 harsh, inflexible voice, which sounded like a 
 species of guarantee for his honesty by its 
 very unpleasantness, " but I must venture 
 to remind your lordship that I was lucky 
 enough to be able to prove my own loyalty, 
 and to do the country some service, owing to 
 my fortunate presence on the south coast, 
 when an attempt was made by some ill-dis- 
 
 VOL. I. 19 
 
290 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 posed persons to land and foment disturbance, 
 near Rye, about two years ago, when — " 
 
 " Yes, yes — I remember it/' 
 
 " Mr. Walpole, your lordship's predecessor, 
 was good enough to thank me personally ; and 
 I need not say that the House of Hanover 
 would have in myself and my son devoted 
 adherents." 
 
 " Not a bad substitute for the original 
 stock — though if I remember aright the late 
 Lord Langdale was by no means a bitter 
 Jacobite. Foolish fellows these men, who 
 lose their all for so worthless a cause. Well, 
 Mr. Langley, I am not averse to your request ; 
 but 1 must inquire into this question of the 
 missing pardon. I have heard something 
 germane to the matter lately, which, in the 
 press of business, has escaped my notice ; 
 your speech has recalled it. I will make 
 inquiries. Believe me I shall be happy if it 
 is any way within my power to befriend so 
 loyal a servant of the crown ;" and the Minister 
 bowed as if the audience was ended. 
 
 But John Langley was not to be got rid of 
 so easily. *' Your lordship must excuse me, 
 this succession to the Langdale estates is a 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 291 
 
 matter I have much at heart. What may be 
 the nature of the information which has 
 reached you respecting them 1" 
 
 " Odds my life !" cried Lord Sunderland 
 impatiently, *' I cannot tell — I know some- 
 thing has been writ me, but nothing much or 
 I should remember. Of this, however, assure 
 yourself, that I am on your side ; for it seems 
 to me a fair and honourable settlement that 
 your son, who, but for a slight difficulty," 
 said the great man pleasantly, "would be 
 heir of Langdale, and the fair lady (I suppose 
 she is fair ?), who, but for another difficulty, 
 would be heiress, should unite their difficulties 
 and achieve successful possession. I shall 
 have instant inquiry made and lay the matter 
 before the King in one shape or another. 
 His Majesty returns in four or five weeks. I 
 imagine Mr. Secretary Craggs waits below." 
 
 Even John Langley was obliged to make 
 his bow and his exit on this. '* In four or 
 five weeks," he muttered to himself as he 
 descended the stair. " She must be Harold's 
 wife before that time. The favour leans to 
 Lord Langdale's daughter, Jacobite and rebel 
 though he was ; these nobles cling to each 
 
 19—2 
 
292 The Heritage of Lcmgdale. 
 
 other marvellously — still they shall one day 
 open their ranks to receive my son." 
 
 Re-entering his chair, Mr. Langley was car- 
 ried over the short space intervening between 
 the Treasury and Wallingford House, and, 
 after a brief interview with the First Lord of 
 the Admiralty, proceeded to his own resi- 
 dence. 
 
 His first inquiry was for his son, but 
 Captain Langley had not called that morn- 
 ing. 
 
 ** Lay another cover at dinner, and, Math- 
 ews," to the single man-servant who attended 
 to him indoors, "fetch me a light. I will 
 see if there are a few bottles of Burgundy 
 left in the cellar. Captain Langley is accus- 
 tomed to fine wines in the great houses where 
 he is entertained. He must not lack them 
 when he dines at home." 
 
 More than an hour elapsed before the 
 expected guest appeared ; but John Langley 
 had sufficient employment in re-reading 
 sundry letters ; looking over accounts, and 
 making calculations, to prevent it seeming 
 long. 
 
 His usual dinner-hour was past, however. 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 293 
 
 when Harold arrived, driving up in a hackney- 
 coach. 
 
 " Late as usual, Harold," said his father, as 
 he sauntered in, his pale face, languid air, and 
 depressed expression presenting an unpro- 
 mising aspect for the discussion his father 
 had planned. 
 
 " I am sorry, sir, but it is really unavoid- 
 able." Throwing his hat on the sideboard, he 
 sat down by the fire, and stretching out his 
 legs, thrust his hands into his breeches 
 pockets, looking a picture of weariness and 
 disgust. 
 
 "I fear, Harold, that all is not well with 
 you. Have you been losing at play ?" 
 
 " No. sir, the cockpit this time ; that fel- 
 low, Sir Eustace Blount, has the devil's own 
 luck. The bird I backed was within an ace 
 of winning, when — " he rushed into a 
 description of the fortunes of the fight, which 
 would no doubt be as uninteresting to my 
 reader as to his listener, and a good deal more 
 unintelligible. 
 
 "And the upshot of all this, Harold, is, 
 I suppose, that you have lost a round sum V 
 
 "T confess I have been hit." 
 
294 The Heritage of Langdale, 
 
 " Hit hard, Harold ? what will cover it — 
 two figures T 
 
 " No/' returned the prodigal shame- 
 lessly ; "it is a hundred and seventy this 
 time." 
 
 John Langley continued to fold and arrange 
 his papers with an unmoved face. 
 
 "Listen to me, Harold," he said quietly, 
 but with a cold decision in his tone that 
 woke up the young roue very effectually. 
 " I have taken my resolution. I shall pay 
 this money for you as I have done before ; but 
 take warning, hitherto I have had no object 
 in life save yourself I am willing to run 
 some risk to give you a great position ; if you 
 are capable of exerting some self-control — of 
 choosing between idiotic pleasures and sub- 
 stantial advancement — prove it now. If not, 
 I shall make the wrench at once, and re- 
 nounce you. I am young enough to make new 
 ties, and could choose a partner in a higher 
 grade of life than your mother, Harold, 
 though she came of a good City stock. Now 
 do not let us drift into an unpleasant tone of 
 conversation. Your future is in your hands. 
 No words— no protestations, Harold. I mean 
 
The Heritage of Langdale. 295 
 
 what I say, show me that you meaD obe- 
 dience." 
 
 He rose and rang. 
 
 " Dinner immediately," said Mr. Langley. 
 Then, with a change of voice and manner, he 
 added, ''I have not done a bad day's work, 
 nor a bad week's work since I saw you, Harold. 
 It is nigh a week since you supped ^vith me, 
 is it not r 
 
 " Eight days, sir," returned Harold, con- 
 siderably struck by his father's speech and 
 manner. " Then you had accomplished but 
 little." 
 
 " Well, the report after dinner." 
 
 This was soon announced, and the operation 
 of eating it considerably invigorated Harold, 
 who cheered up sufficiently to repeat some of 
 the gossip and smart sayings of the coffee- 
 house and the green-room, detailing the great 
 mansions where he had been received, and 
 the great ladies by whom he had been gra- 
 ciously noticed. " And to-night," he wound 
 up, " I am to accompany my Lady Helmsford 
 and dainty Mistress Langley to a select drum 
 at my Lord Chedworth's — only a few parti- 
 cular stars of the highest fashion are invited." 
 
296 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 " I thought the drum was a woman's 
 entertainment," said John Langley, watching 
 impatiently the removing of the dishes and 
 the approach of the moment when he would 
 be alone with his son. 
 
 " 'Tis so in ordinary cases, my dear sir, but 
 on this occasion it is a sort of petit sowper, to 
 permit my lady and her niece to examine his 
 lordship's rare china and pictures." 
 
 '^ Her niece," quoth John Langley scorn- 
 fully ; " my niece you should say ! There, 
 Mathews, leave the wine beside Captain 
 Langley, I prefer this claret — that will do — 
 you need not wait. Fill your glass, Harold. 
 You seldom tasted finer vintage. Now, my 
 son, I will detail my doings since we. met. 
 I have this day spoken with Lord Sunder- 
 land — " and he proceeded to recapitulate 
 his conversation in that interview. 
 
 " His lordship speaks fair," observed 
 Harold ; " but how about those queer cus- 
 tomers in Lamb's Court ? You had not suc- 
 ceeded in opening communications with them 
 when I last saw you." 
 
 " I have since, and they are a dangerous 
 lot to meddle with ; still the chief among them 
 
The Heritage of Lang dale. 297 
 
 is not unknown to me. I think I can con- 
 trive to make liim work with a rope round 
 his neck. I have not given him a hint who I 
 am. He thinks me an agent for some one 
 considerably above myself. I only saw him 
 the night before last at a somewhat villainous 
 inn near Hatton Garden. He is cautious, 
 and will not commit himself as to the amount 
 of knowledge he possesses respecting the 
 marriage. I do not believe he was the 
 impostor himself, but rather his employe; 
 and there is some scheme afoot for carrying 
 off Maud — so much I can make out; also 
 that this man is open to the highest bidder. 
 I am making a few inquiries, and I rather 
 think he will turn out to be a certain Morley 
 (he now calls himself Strange) who a couple 
 of years back was taken when endeavour- 
 ing to break into a nobleman's house near 
 Kensington — taken with all his tools — and 
 had a fight in which he killed one of the 
 watch and got away. If so, he is our bond- 
 man." 
 
 " A creditable associate. Well, sir, what 
 conclusion have you arrived at ?" 
 
 " I have not absolutely concluded anything; 
 
298 The Heritage of Lang dale. 
 
 but the man is needy and in my grasp, and I 
 shall conclude with him that he shall hire a 
 carriage and horses, necessary ruffians, and all 
 requisites to aid an ardent lover, name un- 
 known, and hold them in readiness at a cer- 
 tain place appointed, to be forthcoming at any 
 moment within the next fifteen days. Maud 
 Langley must be your wife before the King 
 returns, the rest is in your hands ; / must 
 not appear. You know the going out and 
 the coming in of the noble company amid 
 which you live. Lay your plans; I shall 
 give you a sign by which Master Strange 
 will know you — wear a mask, and for ten 
 days or so the unknown bridegroom will 
 have the credit of having carried off his 
 bride ; you, meantime, will be absent on 
 business. When you return the laugh will 
 be on your side, and I shall be greatly 
 displeased by such headstrong impru- 
 dence." 
 
 " I think I understand the game, sir,'' 
 returned the son, "and am the more inclined 
 to play it, for I can see Lady Helmsford, with 
 all her smooth civility, does not intend to 
 have me for her nephew-in-law ; and Mistress 
 
The Heritage of Langdale, 299 
 
 Maud endures me," Harold concluded, with a 
 bitter laugh. 
 
 " Then she shall have something more than 
 she dreams of to endure," returned Langley, 
 with an unpleasant look. *'We will not 
 allow our plans to be baffled by the sickly 
 fancy of a girl who does not know what is 
 ofood for her." 
 
 '* I imagine it grows late," said Harold 
 moodily, " and I have to dress for my Lord 
 Chedworth's entertainment. Why will you 
 not sometimes come out of your shell, sir, and 
 view the great world ?" 
 
 " The great world !" echoed Langley, with 
 unutterable scorn ; " the puppet world, the 
 strings f which I, and men like me, pnll — 
 no ; I don't wish to mix with fine ladies and 
 macaronies ; there is no place for me amongst 
 them ; yet they have their uses — they have 
 their uses." 
 
 " Then to-morrow," said Harold, rising. 
 
 "To-morrow," answered his father, "I will 
 finally arrange all particulars, and you must 
 decide the moment of action." 
 
 " By the way, sir, have you discovered any- 
 
300 The Heritage of Langdale. 
 
 thing respecting that confounded Don Juan 
 di Monteiro ?" 
 
 *'No; I have forgotten him. He is no- 
 thing to us, let the Countess of Helmsford 
 exalt him as she will." 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 BiLLIXG AND SONS, PEINTEBS, GUILDFOED, 8UBEBY. 
 
 r