Within a few days, Mr. Runnington, by duly completing special bail in the two actions of Quirk and Others v. Aubrey, and Titmouse v. Aubrey, had relieved Mr. Aubrey from all grounds of immediate personal apprehension for several months to come—in fact, for at least half a year; and on quitting Vivian Street, one evening, after announcing this satisfactory result of his labors, he slipped into Mr. Aubrey's hand, as he took leave of him at the door, a letter, which he desired Mr. Aubrey to read, and if he thought it worth while, to answer—at his leisure. Guess the emotions of lively gratitude with which he perused the following:—
"Lincoln's Inn.
"My dear Sir,—You have once or twice, lately, been so kind as to express yourself obliged by the little professional services which I have recently rendered you in the ordinary course of practice. Permit me, in my turn, then, to ask a great favor of you; and, knowing your refined and exquisite sensibility, I make the request with some little apprehension, lest I should in any way wound it. I earnestly beg that you will accept a trifling loan of three hundred pounds, to be repaid as soon as you may be enabled to do so with perfect convenience to yourself. If, unhappily for yourself, that time should never arrive, believe me, you will not occasion me the slightest imaginable inconvenience; for a long and successful practice has made me, many years since, independent of my profession, and of the world; as will, I am confident, be the case with you, should Providence spare your life. I happen to have been aware that, but for recent occurrences, it was your intention, about this time, to have commenced a second year's study, with either Mr. Crystal, or Mr. Mansfield the conveyancer.
You will now, I trust, carry your intention into effect, without delay. I should venture to suggest, that at this period of the year, when the gentlemen of the common-law bar quit town for the circuit, (as will be the case within a few weeks with Mr. Crystal,) it would hardly answer your purpose to enter the chambers of a gentleman in that department; but that, as conveyancers remain very much longer in town, you will find it answer your purpose immediately to enter the chambers of Mr. Mansfield, and reoccupy your mind with those invigorating and invaluable studies in which you have already made, as I hear, so great a progress; and which will serve to divert your thoughts from those wretched objects on which otherwise they will be too apt to dwell.
"You will find that I have this day paid in to your credit, at your bankers, the sum of £300. And believe me to remain, my dear sir—Ever your most sincere and faithful friend,
"C. Runnington.
"P. S.—Do not give yourself one moment's concern about the expense of the recent proceedings, which is, I assure you, very trifling."
Mr. Aubrey read this letter with heartfelt gratitude; and permitted no morbid fastidiousness to interfere with his determination to avail himself of the generous and opportune assistance of Mr. Runnington; resolving, moreover, to profit by his very judicious suggestions as to the course of his study, and to commence, as soon as possible, his attendance at the chambers of Mr. Mansfield. Thus suddenly relieved, for a considerable and a definite interval, from the tremendous pressure to which he had been latterly subject, he, and indeed Mrs. Aubrey and Kate, experienced great buoyancy and exhilaration of spirits.
Could, however, their sense of tranquillity and security be otherwise than short-lived? What sort of a prospect was that before them? Terrifying and hopeless indeed. As daily melted away the precious interval between the present time and the dreadful month of November—midst whose gloomy haze was visible to his shuddering eyes the dismal porch of a prison, where he must be either immured for his life, or its greater portion, or avail himself of the bitter ignominious immunity afforded by the insolvent laws—the hearts of all of them sank to their former depth of oppression. Still, resolved to work while it was day, he addressed himself to his studies with redoubled energy, and of course made proportionate advances. But all this suffering—all this exertion, mental and physical—began to leave visible traces in his worn and emaciated appearance; and I grieve to add, that the same cause not a little impaired the beauty and injured the spirits of the devoted and incomparable women whom Heaven had given to him, like angels, for his companions.
Such being the footing upon which matters stood between Mr. Delamere and Kate Aubrey, what chance had Mr. Gammon of obtaining the bright object upon which he had set his dark and baleful eye, and to secure which he was racking his brain, and devising such intricate schemes of deliberate and cruel villany? As well might he have sighed after the planet Venus—sweet star of eve!—as sought to grasp Kate Aubrey within his arms!—Yet full before his mind's eye stood ever her image—though one would have thought that there was sufficient in his own circumstances to occupy every spare thought and feeling. Suppose the action for the bribery penalties should go against him, and he should be at once fixed with a liability for some five thousand pounds, including debt and costs? And more than that sum he had recently lost in a speculation in foreign stock, besides standing in a very precarious position with respect to certain of the many speculations in which he had launched both himself and others. Under these circumstances, it became hourly of greater importance to him to secure the annuity of £2,000 on the Yatton property, which he had with such difficulty extorted from Titmouse. He resolved, moreover, to try the experiment of raising money on the bond of Lord De la Zouch; and it also occurred to him, as possible, that even if he should fail in the main object which he had proposed to himself, in his artful and oppressive proceedings against Aubrey, yet they might be the means of bringing forward friends to extricate him from his difficulties, by discharging the sums for which he was liable. It was, therefore, not till he had set into train the various matters which have been laid before the reader, that he set off on a hurried visit to Yorkshire, in order to ascertain the state of Lady Stratton's affairs; to make arrangements for collecting the evidence against the impending trials for bribery; and carry into effect some preliminary measures for augmenting the whole of the Yatton rent-roll, by nearly £2,000 a-year. His first interview with Mr. Parkinson apprised him distinctly of the exceedingly precarious nature of the alleged intestacy of Lady Stratton. Good Mr. Parkinson was no match for Mr. Gammon, but would have been much more nearly so if he could have done but one thing—held his tongue: but he was a good-natured, easy-tempered chatterer, and Gammon always extracted from him, in a few moments, whatever he knew upon any subject. 'T was thus that he succeeded in obtaining conclusive evidence of the intestacy; for Gammon discovered that the unexecuted draft of the intended will had never been seen by Lady Stratton, or read over to her; but had been drawn up by Mr. Parkinson himself, a day or two after receiving her Ladyship's instructions;—that those instructions, moreover, had been merely oral.
"It is one of the most melancholy cases I ever met with!" exclaimed Gammon, with a sigh. "I suppose the reverses of the Aubrey family frequently formed a subject of her Ladyship's conversation?"
"Oh, she has talked with me for hours together—and even very shortly before her last illness!"