John now arrived and in his grandfather’s hearing simply related his adventure in search of the horse. Mr. De Lancaster was much less reserved upon this subject than he had been on that of the ring. He even declared that the wretch, who had been guilty of so barbarous and malevolent an action was not fit to live: he would give twice the value of the animal to discover the perpetrator, and Davis immediately proposed to issue hand bills, offering a liberal reward for that discovery. To this measure the old gentleman in the warmth of his resentment gave no opposition, and one hundred pounds was determined upon as the premium for information.
As soon as our young hero found himself alone with his friend and tutor Wilson, he avowed the most unreserved suspicion of Sir David Owen—Could there be any doubt, he demanded, if the wretch, who would not give the horse the shelter of his stable, could have been any other than the contriver, if not the actual perpetrator, of the cruelty, that had been practised upon him? was there any name too bad for such a spiteful rascal; he would post him upon every whipping post and stocks, in every ale-house, barber’s shop and blacksmith’s shed throughout the county: he would set a hundred men to work, and erect a pyramid of stones upon the horse’s grave, that should perpetuate his infamy to ages.
Heyday, exclaimed Wilson; you are very fertile in devising methods of revenge, and seem to forget, that you have neither yet brought conviction to the criminal, or, if you had, that the law will put the power of punishment into your hands; can you not recollect how much more noble it is, how much more becoming of a christian and a gentleman, to forgive than to revenge a wrong? I must wonder where you found that bitterness of spirit, that would prompt you to entail a never ending animosity upon your respective families. Can you suppose your grandfather, your aunt or your parents could be reconciled to such a proceeding? Certainly not. I am persuaded therefore you will dismiss all meditations of so revengeful a nature, and wait the event of the measures, which Davis has in hand for discovering the offender, and in the meantime, recollect that if you cannot absolutely avoid entertaining a suspicion, you can at least abstain from publishing it.
I have abstained, he replied, except towards you to whom I open all my heart; but as I am persuaded that the perpetrator of this scandalous action, if ever he is traced to conviction, will be found in the person of him, whom I suspect, before that happens I wish you would contrive to take or send me out of the way; for unless I were to imprison myself in the castle, I might chance to cross upon that unworthy gentleman in my excursions, and indeed, my good sir, I am far from sure, that I should be capable of that self command and forbearance, which you recommend to me.
It is to be presumed the substance of this conversation was reported at head quarters, for the next morning John was summoned before his grandfather and his aunt in the library, when the former of these addressed him in the following terms.
John De Lancaster and my grandson, attend to what I am about to say to you—I would have you to understand and remember that revenge is not amongst the attributes of a hero, or the virtues of a christian. It behoves me therefore to caution you against it: I hold it as my indispensible duty to apprise you of what is expected from a gentleman of your pure and unpolluted descent through successive generations from times of the remotest antiquity to the present moment, in which you are standing before me, the last and only hope, whereon I rest my fortune and my name. You conceive yourself injured and affronted by a rash and inconsiderate young man, your senior by some few years, who now inherits the title and estate of my late friend and neighbour Sir Owen ap Owen: upon this suspicion, for it amounts to nothing more, you meditate revenge. Are you quite convinced you can with honour own yourself affronted by him? I will not speak degradingly of any person’s family, whether it be Spanish, or whether it be Jewish; but to one, or to the other, of these we must resort for the pedigree of Sir David’s mother. I draw no inference from this; I leave it with you for your consideration. Recollect yourself however, my dear child; compute your age, your strength, and, if there were no other bar to your resentment, how are you to execute it? Puerile resentment—What is that? A boyish scuffle it may be; an interchange perhaps of blows; and what is the result of blows?—Eternal enmity—Can the spirit of a De Lancaster endure a blow? Impossible. Sacred and inviolable as the oath of the young Hannibal against Rome, would be his resolution to avenge himself upon the giver of that blow.
Ah, sir, sir! exclaimed Cecilia, are you not going from your point, and justifying what you truly said was not fitting either for a hero or a christian? I beg you will allow me to send my nephew out of the room, for I have something to impart to you, that I would not wish him to hear.
John, who knew too well what his aunt alluded to, instantly left the room; but the words were irrevocable; the fatal authority, so congenial with his feeling, had sunk into his heart never to be eradicated.
As soon as he was gone Cecilia apologized to her father for the interruption she had been guilty of; she said, that knowing, as she did, that her nephew had for a considerable time past harboured resentment against young Owen for a blow, she could not but regret that he should hear a justification of his resentment from such high authority as she feared would outweigh any thing, that his tutor could advise against it.
Whether this remark, which was confessedly not very politic on the part of poor alarmed Cecilia, or the consciousness of having overshot his argument, piqued and disconcerted the good old man, certain it is he did not receive his daughter’s apology with his usual suavity and candour, but coldly answered that he was not bound to revoke his opinions merely because they might not chance to conform with those of Mr. Wilson; and least of all, said he, should I have suspected that you, Cecilia, who have ever shewn such deference to my authority, should be alarmed lest it might outweigh that of any other person.