“Daly—Bagenal Daly, I hope and trust!” exclaimed Darcy, as he stood straining his eyes to catch the moving object.
“I think not; the horses do not look like posters. Heaven grant we have no visitors at such a time as this!”
The carriage, although clearly visible the moment before, was now concealed from view by an angle of the wood, nor would it again be in sight before reaching the abbey.
“Your mother's indisposition is reason sufficient not to receive them,” said Darcy, almost sternly. “I would not continue the part I have played during the last week, no, not for an hour longer, to be assured of rescue from every difficulty. The duplicity went nigh to break my heart; ay, and it would have done so, or driven me mad, had the effort been sustained any further.”
“You did not expect any one, did you?” asked Lionel, eagerly.
“Not one; there's a mass of letters, with invitations and civil messages, there on the table, but no proffered visits among them.”
Lionel walked to the table and turned over the various notes which lay along with newspapers and pamphlets scattered about.
“Ay,” muttered the Knight, in a low tone, “they read strangely now, these plans of pleasure and festivity, when ruin is so near us; the kind pressings to spend a week here, and a fortnight there. It reminds me, Lionel,”—and here a smile of sad but sweet melancholy passed across his features,—“it reminds me of the old story they tell of my grand-uncle Robert. He commanded the 'Dreadnought,' under Drake, at Cape St. Vincent, and at the close of a very sharp action was signalled to come on board the admiral's vessel to dinner. The poor 'Dreadnought' was like a sieve, the sea running in and out through her shot-holes, and her sails hanging like rags around her, her deck covered with wounded, and slippery with gore. Captain Darcy, however, hastened to obey the command of his superior, changed his dress and ordered his boat to be manned; but this was no easy matter, there was scarcely a boat's crew to be had without taking away the men necessary to work the ship. The difficulty soon became more pressing, for a plank had suddenly sprung from a double-headed shot, and all the efforts of the pumps could not keep the vessel afloat, with a heavy sea rolling at the same time.
“'The admiral's signal is repeated, sir,' said the lieutenant on duty.
“'Very well, Mr. Hay; keep her before the wind,' was the answer.