Cruel as the grave
"Oh! if you are able and willing to furnish a private conveyance for the
journey, and place it as you say at my own exclusive orders, I shall be
happy to take the lady down that way, rather than expose her in a public
stage coach."
"Thanks. I have a wagon and horses here at livery. They can be put to
use at a few minutes' notice. So, if you prefer, you can start at once
upon this journey, and make some twenty-five or thirty miles before
night."
"Let us see the team first, and then we shall be able to judge," said
the officer.
And after a few minutes' conversation it was arranged that Sybil should
be left in charge of the second officer, and that Mr. Purley should go
with Mr. Berners to the livery stable to look at the horses and wagon.
These two went out together, and Purley took the precaution to lock the
door and put the key in his pocket.
"Why have you done that?" inquired Lyon, reproachfully.
"Because women are irrational and impulsive. I have always found them
so! She might suddenly cut and run; and although it wouldn't be a bit
of use, you know, because she would be sure to be retaken in an hour or
less time; yet, you see, it would cause a fuss, and be very unpleasant
to me and you and her and everybody."
"I see," said Mr. Berners, with a sigh, acknowledging the truth of the
position.
Meanwhile Sybil sat, absorbed in despair, and guarded by the second
officer. Suddenly she heard her name softly murmured, and she looked up.
The young bailiff stood before her. He was a sturdy looking young
fellow, swarthy skinned, black haired, and black bearded.
"Miss Sybil, don't you know me? I beg your pardon! Mrs. Berners, don't
you know me?" he inquired in a low tone, as if fearful of being heard.
Sybil looked at him in surprise, and answered hesitatingly:
"N-no.
"You forget people that you have been good to; but they don't forget
you. Try to recollect me, Miss Sybil--Mrs. Berners."
"Your face seems familiar; but--"
"But you don't recollect it? Well, may be you may remember names better
than faces. Have you any memory of a poor boy you used to help, named
Bob Munson?"
"Bob Munson--oh, is it you? I know you now. But it has been so long
since I saw you!" eagerly exclaimed Sybil.
"Eight years, Mrs. Berners; and I have been fighting the Indians on the
frontier all that time. But I got my discharge, and came back with
Captain Pendleton. You know it was him as I went out with, when he was a
third lieutenant in the infantry. I 'listed out of liking for him, and
we was together from one fort to another all these years, until Captain
Pendleton got a long leave, and come home. I couldn't get leave, but the
Captain got my discharge. And when he goes back to his regiment, I mean
to enlist again and go with him."
"But how came you to be a sheriff's officer? and oh, above all, how
_could_ you come to take _me?_" reproachfully inquired Sybil.
"Oh, Miss--I mean, Madam,--can't you guess in your heart? When all the
bailiffs throwed up their places rather than serve a warrant on you, and
Mr. Purley, who was a stranger, got an appointment and kept it, they
wanted another man. And then my captain said to me, 'Munson, apply for
the place; I will back you. And then if you get it, you will have an
opportunity of serving, and perhaps freeing, Mrs. Berners.' And a great
deal more he said, to the same purpose, Ma'am; and so I did apply for
the situation, and got it. And now, Madam, I am here to help you with my
life, if necessary," added the young man, ardently.
"Give me your hand. God bless you, Bob! Help me all you can. I _ought_
to be helped, for I am innocent," said Sybil, earnestly.
"Don't I know it? Don't everybody with any sense know it? Don't even old
Purley know it, ever since he first clapped eyes on your face?"
"Heaven grant that all may soon!" prayed Sybil.
"They will be sure to, Miss--I mean Madam."
"Bob tell me: how was it that we were found out?"
"Well, you see, Miss--Ma'am--when you were at Dunville, where you was
said to have staid all night, there was a fellow there who had a habit
for which he ought to be hung--of looking through the key-holes and
watching ladies when they thought themselves unseen. And this fellow saw
you take off your red wig."
"And so discovered and denounced me?"
"No, he didn't, Ma'am; he didn't even suspect who you was. He took you
for a circus woman. And as for reporting what he had seen to anybody in
that house, it would have been as much as his life was worth. Old
Colonel Purley--he's a uncle of our bailiff--old Colonel Purley would
have peeled the skin offen his body, if he had a-known he had done such
a mean thing in his tavern."
"Then how--"
"I'll tell you, Ma'am. It was this way. That fellow which, his name was
Batkin, was on his way to Blackville. And all along the road he kept
telling the yarn about the beautiful black-haired young lady he had
seen, and who had disfigured herself by wearing of a red wig; and of
course he raised suspicions there. And when he was questioned farther,
he described the wagon and horses, and the man and the woman, so
accurately that the authorities thought it worth while to take the
description down; and old Purley has it in his pocket along with the
warrant. And then, as I told you, the bailiffs all resigned rather than
go after you; and old Purley had to be appointed. And I applied, and got
appointed too, only to help you!"
"Heaven reward you for the kind thought! But, Bob, there were some of
the old set found who were willing to take me; for they went to
Annapolis after me, armed with warrant for my arrest."
"Yes; them two: Smith and Jones! Sink 'em! I've swore a oath to thrash
'em both within an inch of their lives the first time I set eyes on
them! Well, they didn't find you, Satan burn 'em! that's one comfort."
"How was it that you found us?"
"Oh, Miss Sybil--Mrs. Berners, I should say--we did it easy when we once
had got the clue. We went first to Dunville to inquire after the
gray-bearded man and his red-headed daughter, and we learned the road
you had taken, and followed you from stage to stage until we got to
Norfolk. There we inquired in the neighborhood of the market, and found
where you had put up. Then, at the 'Farmers' Hotel,' we were told, you
had left for home that afternoon. Of course we knew _that_ was a ruse.
We knew that if you had left, it was for the deck of some outward bound
ship. So we inquired, and found out that the Enterprise was to sail in
the morning. And we staid at this house all night, and boarded the ship
this morning as you saw."
"Oh, Bob! if you could have delayed for a half hour, the ship would have
sailed, and I should have been free!" sighed Sybil.
"I did all I could to make a delay. I put laudanum in his coffee last
night. I was afraid to put in too much for fear of killing him, so I
suppose I didn't put in enough, for he laid wide awake all night."
"Ah, yes! that would be the effect of an under-dose of laudanum."
"Well then, Ma'am, I put back our watches a whole hour. But, bless you,
he didn't go by the watches, he went by the sun; and as soon as it was
light he was up, and he sent me down to order an early breakfast. And
then I got a chance to put laudanum in his coffee again, and this time I
overdid it and put in too much, for he tasted something wrong, and he
said it was vile stuff, and he wouldn't drink it! No, Miss--Ma'am, I
didn't neglect no means to let you get clean off. But you see it was no
go this time; and I had to help old Purley to arrest you. I'm glad you
didn't know me, hows'ever. And I would advise you not to know me at all
whenever old Purley is about. Keep dark, Miss Sybil, and I'll find a way
to get you off. I haven't been hiding and seeking and hunting among the
red-skins these eight years for nothing. Hish-sh! Here they come,"
whispered Bob Munson, creeping away to the other end of the room, and
putting himself on guard.
The elder officer unlocked the door, and entered, followed by Mr.
Berners. He announced that the wagon was at the door, and that they
were ready to start on the return journey. And then Purley gave his arm
to Sybil, and led her to the wagon, and placed her on the back seat,
while Mr. Berners and Bob Munson lingered behind, the former to gather
up Sybil's little personal effects, and the latter to settle the hotel
bill. But there was no opportunity, among the crowd of guests and
servants, for Munson to make his friendly intentions known to Mr.
Berners by any other means than a significant look and a pressure of the
hand, which Lyon Berners could not more than half understand. He felt,
however, that in his younger officer he and his unhappy wife had a
friend. They went out together, followed closely by the hostler, who
wanted his own fee; but both Mr. Berners and Bob Munson were too much
annoyed by his presence to feel like rewarding his attendance.
Lyon Berners mounted to the seat beside his wife, and Bob Munson to that
beside Purley, who held the reins. And in this manner they set out on
their return journey.
They crossed the ferry without attracting particular attention.
CHAPTER XXXII.
A DESPERATE VENTURE
I have set my life upon a cast.
And I will stand the hazard of the die.--SHAKESPEARE.
It was yet so early in the morning that they drove ten miles out to a
small village on the road before they thought of breakfast. There Mr.
Berners reminded the officer in charge that Sybil had not yet broken her
fast. Whereupon Purley drew up before the one little tavern of the
place, alighted, and assisted his charge to alight, and then keeping
fast hold of her arm, led her into the house, and ordered breakfast.
While the meal was being got ready he kept his party of four well
together in the sitting-room where they waited. And as soon as breakfast
was over, they all reentered the wagon and resumed their journey. They
travelled twenty miles before stopping to dine at a lonely roadside
tavern, where again Purley watched his charge with such vigilance that
she had no opportunity to speak privately either to her husband or their
friend. Still she hoped this opportunity would be afforded when they
should stop for the night. After an hour's rest they went on again,
travelling with moderate haste all the afternoon. They made fifteen more
miles before sunset, and then, having driven forty-five miles that day,
and finding their horses very tired, they determined to put up for the
night at a small hamlet, whose comfortable little hotel promised rest
and refreshment.
Still Purley kept close to his charge. They all had supper in a private
sitting-room. And when that meal was over and the hour for retirement
arrived, Purley himself accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Berners to their
bedroom to see that it was secure. It was a front chamber, on the upper
floor, with two front windows overlooking the village street, and but
one door, which opened upon the passage.
"That is all safe," said Purley, casting a glance around. "So I may
leave you two alone here together, where no doubt, you are glad enough
to be. But I'm sorry to say I must turn the key on you; not that I have
any right to lock you up, sir, without your consent; but of course you
_will_ consent to that, for the sake of staying with your wife."
"Of course I will; and thank you for the privilege," answered Mr.
Berners.
"All right then. Good-night to you both," said Purley, closing and
locking the door, and withdrawing the key.
And then he took a farther precaution for the security of his charge, by
ordering a mattress to be brought and laid down before that chamber
door. And there he and his companion stretched themselves to rest like a
pair of watch dogs.