The horse is dead; in that state he was found by my grandson and his servant on the heath.
You will permit us to ask, said one of the party, if there were not marks of violence upon the carcase; in short, sir, was not the horse hamstrung upon all his legs?
I am told he was.
Was there any enquiry made as to the perpetrator, or perpetrators, of that butchery?
I am constrained to say there was. Lawyer Davis made enquiry.
And when lawyer Davis traced out the perpetrators of that most shameful act, have the goodness to inform us whether he did, or did not, find evidence to implicate Sir David Owen as a party in the act itself.
Let lawyer Davis answer that himself, replied De Lancaster in a firm tone of voice; I decline it, and you must excuse me.
We shall refer ourselves to lawyer Davis, said the spokesman, and we hope you will permit your grandson and his servant to attend on the occasion. If we find Sir David Owen guilty on the charge, this will be no country for him to live in; at least he cannot live in it with us. In the mean time we thank you, worthy sir, for your very handsome reception of us, and shall be ever forward to bear testimony to your candour and delicacy towards the character of a most unhappy young man, if our fears prove true. We are sensible, Mr. De Lancaster, you could have said much more, and we know that it was honour alone, that extorted from you what you did say, and generosity, that suppressed what you did not say.
The party were now rising to take their leave, when the old gentleman entreated their patience for a few minutes—we have been discoursing, he said, upon a very unpleasant subject. The young man, who now wears the title of my departed friend, is just entering on the world, and being native of another country, and not educated amongst us, may perhaps have been betrayed into some irregularities, that cannot stand a rigid scrutiny; I will venture therefore to submit to you, whether it may not be advisable to let this affair pass over without any further investigation, assured as you may be, that the charge shall never be stirred by me, or any one of my family.
To this Sir Arthur Floyd made answer as follows—What you have now proposed to us, Mr. De Lancaster, is a proof of that candour and benignity, which have ever marked your character; but you know full well what has long been the state of party interests in this county, and to which side we have hitherto adhered; you must also be aware that the day is not far off, when probably we must again declare ourselves: It behoves us therefore to be made secure of the honour and character of that gentleman, young although he is, on whom that consequence and leading interest have devolved, which we have been accustomed to look up to. We must therefore in our own justification decline your generous proposal, which we are convinced you would not have made, had you not been satisfied, or suspicious at least, of the young man’s criminality.