“Don’t say so! Charley, eh? Ah! he always was fond of fast living! That’s what comes of going beyond one’s means. I have learned that long ago. Poor fellow! confessed it, eh? Well, he was an ass and no mistake. His prospects are gone, and no mistake. Not half-a-dozen Sir Richard Warbecks will ever re-instate him again. But about our business, Sir Andrew. As I was saying, I am devilish short, upon my word; haven’t a coin in the world, and the ‘old man’ refuses to come up; I have asked him. I shall be rich, as you know, one of these days. Now these two young Warbecks are out of the way, old Sir Richard is sure to make me his heir.”
“Ah, it is a great pity! So much comes of living beyond one’s means. What would you have done, Phillip, if I were to have let those prettily executed pieces of paper signed by you in your father’s name have gone floating about, eh?” said old Sir Andrew, grinning.
“Oh, never mind all that, you know. I am an altered man now, you see. I am going to marry and settle shortly. I have sown all my wild oats, and shall prove an exemplary member of society, you know—a member of parliament, or something of that sort, see if I don’t. But how about the ships Eclipse and Racehorse? Didn’t my father insure them in your office? I thought so—for £500,000, I believe. Lord! they tell me they have splendid cargoes of silks and teas on board. The last we heard of them they were sailing in company and had put into Pernambuco for water and supplies. The ‘old man’ will make a pretty penny by that ‘spec.,’ see if he don’t, and then I may expect him to sign my marriage contract. But, in the meantime, good Sir Andrew, let me have a thousand or two—say £5,000; that ain’t much, you know. I want it for a special purpose. Come, open your heart for once, old fellow, you’ll be my father-in-law soon, I hope.”
Sir Andrew, the old usurer, did open his heart, and in view of the expected marriage between Phillip and Fanny, his only daughter, let the intended husband have the amount he required.
Phillip passed a few moments with his “intended,” in the garden, but left the house suddenly. But why did he leave his intended bride so hurriedly?
The reason was this:
While with one arm round Fanny’s waist he was poring soft nothings in the ear of his intended bride, and forgetful for the moment of all the villany and ruin he had committed in the world, the startled maiden screamed aloud in horror.
Phillip, drawing his sword, and, while supporting the fainting maid, turned suddenly, and, to his amazement, beheld within a few feet of him the “Phantom legs.”
The blood was frozen in his heart as he heard the ominous words,
“Phillip Redgill, I follow you forever.” (See cut in No. 6).