Then we were left alone, with the blood upon the grass and the dead horse lying beside us.
Sir Miles took my lord’s sword from him, wiped it on the turf, and restored it to him.
“Come,” he said, “we must consider what to do.”
“There is nothing to do,” said Lord Chudleigh, “except to take Miss Pleydell home again.”
“Pardon me, my lord,” Sir Miles interposed; “if ever I saw mischief written on any man’s face, it was written on the face of that boy. A brave lad, too, and would have driven to the death at his master’s command.”
“How can he do harm?” I asked. “Why, Sir Miles, you are witness; you saw Will Levett with his cudgel rush upon his lordship, who but drew in self-defence. I am another witness. I hope the simple words of such as you and I would be believed before the oath of a stable-lad.”
“I suppose they would,” he replied. “Meantime, there is the fact, known to all the company at the Wells, that both you and I, Lord Chudleigh, had publicly informed this unhappy young man, that, under certain circumstances, we would run him through. The circumstances have happened, and we have run him through. This complication may be unfortunate as regards the minds of that pig-headed institution, a coroner’s inquest.”
“Sir!” cried my lord, “do you suppose—would you have me believe—that this affair might be construed into anything but an act of self-defence?”
“I do indeed,” he replied gravely; “and so deeply do I feel it, that I would counsel a retreat into some place where we shall not be suspected, for such a time as may be necessary. If the worst happens, and the man dies, your lordship may surrender yourself—but in London—not to a country bench. If the man recovers, well and good; you can go abroad again.”
At first my lord would hear nothing of such a plan. Why should he run away? Was it becoming for a man to fly from the laws of his country? Then I put in a word, pointing out that it was one thing for a case to be tried before a jury of ignorant, prejudiced men upon an inquest, and another thing altogether for the case to be tried by a dispassionate and unprejudiced jury. I said, too, that away from this place, the circumstances of the case, the brutal assault upon Solomon Stallabras, whose ribs, it appeared, were broken, as well as his collar-bone, the ferocious treatment of Nancy by her own brother, and my forcible abduction in open daylight, would certainly be considered provocation enough for anything, and a justification (combined with the other circumstances) of the homicide, if unhappily Will should die.