“Now I have not one lingering doubt. What Learmont hinted of this magistrate is true. I have but one friend, and that is the rich squire.”
“The impertinent scoundrel, to accost me!” said Sir Francis, striding homewards in a great fume. “’Twas never so out of temper in my life. I have no doubt now whatever, but that he is a mere creature of Learmont’s. Thank Heaven! Ada, you are saved.”
Sir Francis proceeded home as quickly as he could; but as he neared his own door, the thought came over him of how he was to inform Ada of the discovery he had made; for although his own suspicions were strong against Learmont, and the scraps of paper he had procured from poor had supplied some wanting links in the chain of his conjectures, he had abstained from fully explaining to Ada sufficient to make her now comprehend why Albert’s engagement with the rich squire should place such an insurmountable barrier between them.
“She must now know, all,” he thought, “and perhaps it is far better that she should, as at all events she will, in her own thoughts, be better able to separate her friends from her enemies. I will now, however, plan another watch upon the squire’s house, in order to ascertain if this young spark is in any communication with Jacob Gray, or only an agent of the squire’s. He may be playing some complicated game of villany that, after all, may assist me.”
CHAPTER XCVII.
The Visit to Gray’s House.—Learmont’s Exultation.
While Albert Seyton was absent on his errand of following Jacob Gray, Learmont was a prey to the keenest anxiety, and he could neither sit nor walk for any length of time, such was the exquisite agony of mind he suffered at the thought that, after all, the young man might fail in his mission, either from want of tact or from over-forwardness. The first supposition of failure presented itself to the squire’s mind in by no means such disagreeable colours as the last; for, even admitting that the wily Jacob Gray should on this one occasion succeed in eluding Albert’s pursuit, there would arise many other opportunities for renewing the same plan of operations with greater chances of success, because with greater experience; but should Jacob Gray once catch a glance of Albert Seyton, all hope of successfully tracing him to his house, through the means of the young lovers would be at an end.
As minute after minute winged their heavy flight, Learmont’s mental fever increased, until it became, at length, almost insupportable. He strode to and fro in his apartment with hasty steps; then he threw himself into a chair; then he would raise a cup of wine to his lips, but to lay it down again untasted, as he thought to himself,—
“No, I must keep my mind now clear and active; for should he be successful, I shall have need of my mental energy to turn the occasion to advantage. Jacob Gray, even when discovered, is not destroyed. It is one thing to track the fox to his lair, and another to kill him. There will yet remain much to be done, even if my most sanguine hopes are realised through the instrumentality of Albert Seyton.”
The thought then crossed his mind of parading through the various rooms of his mansion in order to divert the anxiety that was preying upon him; and taking a light in his hand, he commenced a tour somewhat similar to the one he had undertaken when first he arrived in London, only that he was now alone and the freshness of his enjoyment of all the glitter and splendour which surrounded him on every side was worn off.