第49章 Volume 2(13)

Not a second was to be lost.I passed through the door,which was only closed,and moved as rapidly as I could,consistently with stillness,along the lobby.

Before I had gone many yards,I heard the door through which I had just passed double-locked on the inside.I glided down the stairs in terror,lest,at every corner,I should meet the murderer or one of his accomplices.

I reached the hall,and listened for a moment to ascertain whether all was silent around;no sound was audible.The parlour windows opened on the park,and through one of them I might,I thought,easily effect my escape.Accordingly,I hastily entered;but,to my consternation,a candle was burning in the room,and by its light I saw a figure seated at the dinner-table,upon which lay glasses,bottles,and the other accompaniments of a drinking-party.Two or three chairs were placed about the table irregularly,as if hastily abandoned by their occupants.

A single glance satisfied me that the figure was that of my French attendant.

She was fast asleep,having probably drank deeply.There was something malignant and ghastly in the calmness of this bad woman's features,dimly illuminated as they were by the flickering blaze of the candle.A knife lay upon the table,and the terrible thought struck me--'Should I kill this sleeping accomplice in the guilt of the murderer,and thus secure my retreat?'

Nothing could be easier--it was but to draw the blade across her throat--the work of a second.An instant's pause,however,corrected me.'No,'thought I,'the God who has conducted me thus far through the valley of the shadow of death,will not abandon me now.I will fall into their hands,or I will escape hence,but it shall be free from the stain of blood.His will be done.'

I felt a confidence arising from this reflection,an assurance of protection which I cannot describe.There was no other means of escape,so I advanced,with a firm step and collected mind,to the window.I noiselessly withdrew the bars and unclosed the shutters--I pushed open the casement,and,without waiting to look behind me,I ran with my utmost speed,scarcely feeling the ground under me,down the avenue,taking care to keep upon the grass which bordered it.

I did not for a moment slack my speed,and I had now gained the centre point between the park-gate and the mansion-house.Here the avenue made a wider circuit,and in order to avoid delay,Idirected my way across the smooth sward round which the pathway wound,intending,at the opposite side of the flat,at a point which I distinguished by a group of old birch-trees,to enter again upon the beaten track,which was from thence tolerably direct to the gate.

I had,with my utmost speed,got about half way across this broad flat,when the rapid treading of a horse's hoofs struck upon my ear.My heart swelled in my bosom as though I would smother.The clattering of galloping hoofs approached--I was pursued--they were now upon the sward on which I was running--there was not a bush or a bramble to shelter me--and,as if to render escape altogether desperate,the moon,which had hitherto been obscured,at this moment shone forth with a broad clear light,which made every object distinctly visible.

The sounds were now close behind me.

I felt my knees bending under me,with the sensation which torments one in dreams.I reeled--I stumbled--I fell--and at the same instant the cause of my alarm wheeled past me at full gallop.It was one of the young fillies which pastured loose about the park,whose frolics had thus all but maddened me with terror.I scrambled to my feet,and rushed on with weak but rapid steps,my sportive companion still galloping round and round me with many a frisk and fling,until,at length,more dead than alive,Ireached the avenue-gate and crossed the stile,I scarce knew how.

I ran through the village,in which all was silent as the grave,until my progress was arrested by the hoarse voice of a sentinel,who cried:'Who goes there?'I felt that I was now safe.I turned in the direction of the voice,and fell fainting at the soldier's feet.When I came to myself;Iwas sitting in a miserable hovel,surrounded by strange faces,all bespeaking curiosity and compassion.

Many soldiers were in it also:indeed,as I afterwards found,it was employed as a guard-room by a detachment of troops quartered for that night in the town.In a few words I informed their officer of the circumstances which had occurred,describing also the appearance of the persons engaged in the murder;and he,without loss of time,proceeded to the mansion-house of Carrickleigh,taking with him a party of his men.But the villains had discovered their mistake,and had effected their escape before the arrival of the military.

The Frenchwoman was,however,arrested in the neighbourhood upon the next day.She was tried and condemned upon the ensuing assizes;and previous to her execution,confessed that 'SHE HAD AHAND IN MAKING HUGH TISDAL'S BED.'She had been a housekeeper in the castle at the time,and a kind of chere amie of my uncle's.She was,in reality,able to speak English like a native,but had exclusively used the French language,I suppose to facilitate her disguise.She died the same hardened wretch which she had lived,confessing her crimes only,as she alleged,that her doing so might involve Sir Arthur T--n,the great author of her guilt and misery,and whom she now regarded with unmitigated detestation.

With the particulars of Sir Arthur's and his son's escape,as far as they are known,you are acquainted.You are also in possession of their after fate--the terrible,the tremendous retribution which,after long delays of many years,finally overtook and crushed them.Wonderful and inscrutable are the dealings of God with His creatures.