"Never! I swear it—never, never! I am vowed and betrothed. If you stay longer, I shall die! Oh, have pity on me, and go: have pity on me, for my father's sake,—pity, pity!"
These wild and hysterical expressions were concluded by a shriek; for at that moment the ill-fated girl, who had been all the while struggling, though feebly, to make her way into the little saloon, beheld Miss Falconer, followed by her father and the young lieutenant, rush into it. As she screamed, she burst from the grasp of the impassioned lover, and, running forwards, threw herself into the Captain's arms.
"Oh, the hound! the villain!" cried the veteran; "he has been killing her! Shoot him down, run him through, knock him on the head! Here, you Aunt Rachel! Phoebe! Daphne! Dick! Soph! and the squad of you! Oh lord, Harry, my dear, the dog has murdered her!"
"No, father, no, no, no!" cried the maiden, clinging, almost in convulsions, to his neck; "I am very well, father,—a bat flew in my face,—a snake came into the garden, and I don't know what! But it is very foolish, father,—I am always very foolish!" And with these incoherent expressions, in which even the whirl and tumult of a suffering heart could not repress an instinctive effort to distract notice from the young man in the garden, she fell into a state of pitiable prostration, which engaged the whole attention of her father and kinswoman.
CHAPTER III.
|
Will you walk out, sir? And if I do not beat thee presently Into as sound belief as sense can give thee, Brick me into the wall there for a chimney-piece, And say,—I was one o' th' Cæsars, done by a seal-cutter. RULE A WIFE AND HAVE A WIFE. |
In the meanwhile, Herman,—or Hyland Gilbert, as he must now be called,—(so soon as he beheld the maiden, wooed so wildly and vainly, fly to her parent for refuge,) turned from the illuminated path, and taking advantage of his previous knowledge of the garden, soon succeeded in making his way out of it, and, as he thought, without being observed. He hurried through the park, torn by a tempest of passions, and had almost reached the gate, when he was suddenly roused by a tap on the shoulder, which brought him to a stand. The moon had set, and the light of the stars, breaking through ragged clouds, was not sufficient to make him acquainted with the visage of the intruder; but the first word of the salutation that accompanied the touch, told him he was now confronted with his rival.
"An excellent good night to you, my fine hail-fellow-well-met!" cried Harry Falconer; "you'll be jogging, will you? A word in your ear: there's star-light enough to be civil by, soft moist grass for sleeping on, and, gad's my life, as good barren clay at your feet as ever gentleman rotted under. Now you may be surprised to hear it, but I have the prettiest pair of pistols in my pocket that were ever made for a lady's finger; somewhat dwarfish, to be sure—but, egad, as good, at six paces, for blowing one's brains out, as a battering piece at point-blank distance. So douse kit, as the cobbler says, and let's begin.—Harkee, sir, no skulking! Don't put me to the painful necessity of calling hard names. No sneaking!"
"You are a fool," said Hyland, sternly. "If you will renew your quarrel, come to me in the morning."