Barnaby Rudge ....................................................................................................................................................1

Charles Dickens.......................................................................................................................................1

PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................2

Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................................................4

Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................................13

Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................................19

Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................................................23

Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................................................29

Chapter 6 ................................................................................................................................................32

Chapter 7 ................................................................................................................................................38

Chapter 8 ................................................................................................................................................42

Chapter 9 ................................................................................................................................................48

Chapter 10 ..............................................................................................................................................51

Chapter 11 ..............................................................................................................................................58

Chapter 12 ..............................................................................................................................................61

Chapter 13 ..............................................................................................................................................66

Chapter 14 ..............................................................................................................................................72

Chapter 15 ..............................................................................................................................................75

Chapter 16 ..............................................................................................................................................81

Chapter 17 ..............................................................................................................................................84

Chapter 18 ..............................................................................................................................................91

Chapter 19 ..............................................................................................................................................94

Chapter 20 ............................................................................................................................................100

Chapter 21 ............................................................................................................................................103

Chapter 22 ............................................................................................................................................108

Chapter 23 ............................................................................................................................................112

Chapter 24 ............................................................................................................................................118

Chapter 25 ............................................................................................................................................122

Chapter 26 ............................................................................................................................................127

Chapter 27 ............................................................................................................................................130

Chapter 28 ............................................................................................................................................137

Chapter 29 ............................................................................................................................................140

Chapter 30 ............................................................................................................................................147

Chapter 31 ............................................................................................................................................149

Chapter 32 ............................................................................................................................................155

Chapter 33 ............................................................................................................................................158

Chapter 34 ............................................................................................................................................164

Chapter 35 ............................................................................................................................................168

Chapter 36 ............................................................................................................................................175

Chapter 37 ............................................................................................................................................178

Chapter 38 ............................................................................................................................................184

Chapter 39 ............................................................................................................................................188

Chapter 40 ............................................................................................................................................193

Chapter 41 ............................................................................................................................................198

Chapter 42 ............................................................................................................................................204

Chapter 43 ............................................................................................................................................207

Chapter 44 ............................................................................................................................................213

Chapter 45 ............................................................................................................................................216

Chapter 46 ............................................................................................................................................222

Chapter 47 ............................................................................................................................................226

Chapter 48 ............................................................................................................................................231

Chapter 49 ............................................................................................................................................236

Chapter 50 ............................................................................................................................................241

Chapter 51 ............................................................................................................................................245

Chapter 52 ............................................................................................................................................251

Chapter 53 ............................................................................................................................................255

Chapter 54 ............................................................................................................................................260

Chapter 55 ............................................................................................................................................264

Chapter 56 ............................................................................................................................................269

Chapter 57 ............................................................................................................................................273

Chapter 58 ............................................................................................................................................279

Chapter 59 ............................................................................................................................................283

Chapter 60 ............................................................................................................................................289

Chapter 61 ............................................................................................................................................292

Chapter 62 ............................................................................................................................................296

Chapter 63 ............................................................................................................................................302

Chapter 64 ............................................................................................................................................307

Chapter 65 ............................................................................................................................................312

Chapter 66 ............................................................................................................................................317

Chapter 67 ............................................................................................................................................321

Chapter 68 ............................................................................................................................................326

Chapter 69 ............................................................................................................................................329

Chapter 70 ............................................................................................................................................336

Chapter 71 ............................................................................................................................................339

Chapter 72 ............................................................................................................................................346

Chapter 73 ............................................................................................................................................349

Chapter 74 ............................................................................................................................................355

Chapter 75 ............................................................................................................................................359

Chapter 76 ............................................................................................................................................365

Chapter 77 ............................................................................................................................................368

Chapter 78 ............................................................................................................................................374

Chapter 79 ............................................................................................................................................378

Chapter 80 ............................................................................................................................................383

Chapter 81 ............................................................................................................................................387

Chapter the Last...................................................................................................................................392

The late Mr Waterton having, some time ago, expressed his opinion that ravens are gradually becoming

extinct in England, I offered the few following words about my experience of these birds.

The raven in this story is a compound of two great originals, of whom I was, at different times, the proud

possessor. The first was in the bloom of his youth, when he was discovered in a modest retirement in London,

by a friend of mine, and given to me. He had from the first, as Sir Hugh Evans says of Anne Page, 'good

gifts', which he improved by study and attention in a most exemplary manner. He slept in a stablegenerally

on horsebackand so terrified a Newfoundland dog by his preternatural sagacity, that he has been known,

by the mere superiority of his genius, to walk off unmolested with the dog's dinner, from before his face. He

was rapidly rising in acquirements and virtues, when, in an evil hour, his stable was newly painted. He

observed the workmen closely, saw that they were careful of the paint, and immediately burned to possess it.

On their going to dinner, he ate up all they had left behind, consisting of a pound or two of white lead; and

While I was yet inconsolable for his loss, another friend of mine in Yorkshire discovered an older and more

gifted raven at a village publichouse, which he prevailed upon the landlord to part with for a consideration,

and sent up to me. The first act of this Sage, was, to administer to the effects of his predecessor, by

disinterring all the cheese and halfpence he had buried in the gardena work of immense labour and

research, to which he devoted all the energies of his mind. When he had achieved this task, he applied

himself to the acquisition of stable language, in which he soon became such an adept, that he would perch

outside my window and drive imaginary horses with great skill, all day. Perhaps even I never saw him at his

best, for his former master sent his duty with him, 'and if I wished the bird to come out very strong, would I

be so good as to show him a drunken man'which I never did, having (unfortunately) none but sober people

But I could hardly have respected him more, whatever the stimulating influences of this sight might have

been. He had not the least respect, I am sorry to say, for me in return, or for anybody but the cook; to whom

he was attachedbut only, I fear, as a Policeman might have been. Once, I met him unexpectedly, about

halfamile from my house, walking down the middle of a public street, attended by a pretty large crowd,

and spontaneously exhibiting the whole of his accomplishments. His gravity under those trying

circumstances, I can never forget, nor the extraordinary gallantry with which, refusing to be brought home, he

defended himself behind a pump, until overpowered by numbers. It may have been that he was too bright a

genius to live long, or it may have been that he took some pernicious substance into his bill, and thence into

his mawwhich is not improbable, seeing that he newpointed the greater part of the gardenwall by

digging out the mortar, broke countless squares of glass by scraping away the putty all round the frames, and

tore up and swallowed, in splinters, the greater part of a wooden staircase of six steps and a landingbut

after some three years he too was taken ill, and died before the kitchen fire. He kept his eye to the last upon

the meat as it roasted, and suddenly. turned over on his back with a sepulchral cry of 'Cuckoo!' Since then I

No account of the Gordon Riots having been to my knowledge introduced into any Work of Fiction, and the

subject presenting very extraordinary and remarkable features, I was led to project this Tale.

It is unnecessary to say, that those shameful tumults, while they reflect indelible disgrace upon the time in

which they occurred, and all who had act or part in them, teach a good lesson. That what we falsely call a

religious cry is easily raised by men who have no religion, and who in their daily practice set at nought the

commonest principles of right and wrong; that it is begotten of intolerance and persecution; that it is

senseless, besotted, inveterate and unmerciful; all History teaches us. But perhaps we do not know it in our

hearts too well, to profit by even so humble an example as the 'No Popery' riots of Seventeen Hundred and

However imperfectly those disturbances are set forth in the following pages, they are impartially painted by

one who has no sympathy with the Romish Church, though he acknowledges, as most men do, some

In the description of the principal outrages, reference has been had to the best authorities of that time, such as

they are; the account given in this Tale, of all the main features of the Riots, is substantially correct.

Mr Dennis's allusions to the flourishing condition of his trade in those days, have their foundation in Truth,

and not in the Author's fancy. Any file of old Newspapers, or odd volume of the Annual Register, will prove

Even the case of Mary Jones, dwelt upon with so much pleasure by the same character, is no effort of

invention. The facts were stated, exactly as they are stated here, in the House of Commons. Whether they

afforded as much entertainment to the merry gentlemen assembled there, as some other most affecting

circumstances of a similar nature mentioned by Sir Samuel Romilly, is not recorded.

That the case of Mary Jones may speak the more emphatically for itself, I subjoin it, as related by SIR

WILLIAM MEREDITH in a speech in Parliament, 'on Frequent Executions', made in 1777.

'Under this act,' the Shoplifting Act, 'one Mary Jones was executed, whose case I shall just mention; it was

at the time when press warrants were issued, on the alarm about Falkland Islands. The woman's husband was

pressed, their goods seized for some debts of his, and she, with two small children, turned into the streets

abegging. It is a circumstance not to be forgotten, that she was very young (under nineteen), and most

remarkably handsome. She went to a linendraper's shop, took some coarse linen off the counter, and slipped

it under her cloak; the shopman saw her, and she laid it down: for this she was hanged. Her defence was (I

have the trial in my pocket), "that she had lived in credit, and wanted for nothing, till a pressgang came and

stole her husband from her; but since then, she had no bed to lie on; nothing to give her children to eat; and

they were almost naked; and perhaps she might have done something wrong, for she hardly knew what she

did." The parish officers testified the truth of this story; but it seems, there had been a good deal of

shoplifting about Ludgate; an example was thought necessary; and this woman was hanged for the comfort

and satisfaction of shopkeepers in Ludgate Street. When brought to receive sentence, she behaved in such a

frantic manner, as proved her mind to he in a distracted and desponding state; and the child was sucking at

In the year 1775, there stood upon the borders of Epping Forest, at a distance of about twelve miles from

Londonmeasuring from the Standard in Cornhill,' or rather from the spot on or near to which the Standard

used to be in days of yorea house of public entertainment called the Maypole; which fact was

demonstrated to all such travellers as could neither read nor write (and at that time a vast number both of

travellers and stayathomes were in this condition) by the emblem reared on the roadside over against the

house, which, if not of those goodly proportions that Maypoles were wont to present in olden times, was a

fair young ash, thirty feet in height, and straight as any arrow that ever English yeoman drew.

The Maypoleby which term from henceforth is meant the house, and not its signthe Maypole was an old

building, with more gable ends than a lazy man would care to count on a sunny day; huge zigzag chimneys,

out of which it seemed as though even smoke could not choose but come in more than naturally fantastic

shapes, imparted to it in its tortuous progress; and vast stables, gloomy, ruinous, and empty. The place was

said to have been built in the days of King Henry the Eighth; and there was a legend, not only that Queen

Elizabeth had slept there one night while upon a hunting excursion, to wit, in a certain oakpanelled room

with a deep bay window, but that next morning, while standing on a mounting block before the door with one

foot in the stirrup, the virgin monarch had then and there boxed and cuffed an unlucky page for some neglect

of duty. The matteroffact and doubtful folks, of whom there were a few among the Maypole customers, as

unluckily there always are in every little community, were inclined to look upon this tradition as rather

apocryphal; but, whenever the landlord of that ancient hostelry appealed to the mounting block itself as

evidence, and triumphantly pointed out that there it stood in the same place to that very day, the doubters

never failed to be put down by a large majority, and all true believers exulted as in a victory.

Whether these, and many other stories of the like nature, were true or untrue, the Maypole was really an old

house, a very old house, perhaps as old as it claimed to be, and perhaps older, which will sometimes happen

with houses of an uncertain, as with ladies of a certain, age. Its windows were old diamondpane lattices, its

floors were sunken and uneven, its ceilings blackened by the hand of time, and heavy with massive beams.

Over the doorway was an ancient porch, quaintly and grotesquely carved; and here on summer evenings the

more favoured customers smoked and drankay, and sang many a good song too, sometimesreposing on

two grimlooking highbacked settles, which, like the twin dragons of some fairy tale, guarded the entrance

In the chimneys of the disused rooms, swallows had built their nests for many a long year, and from earliest

spring to latest autumn whole colonies of sparrows chirped and twittered in the eaves. There were more

pigeons about the dreary stableyard and outbuildings than anybody but the landlord could reckon up. The

wheeling and circling flights of runts, fantails, tumblers, and pouters, were perhaps not quite consistent with

the grave and sober character of the building, but the monotonous cooing, which never ceased to be raised by

some among them all day long, suited it exactly, and seemed to lull it to rest. With its overhanging stories,

drowsy little panes of glass, and front bulging out and projecting over the pathway, the old house looked as if

it were nodding in its sleep. Indeed, it needed no very great stretch of fancy to detect in it other resemblances

to humanity. The bricks of which it was built had originally been a deep dark red, but had grown yellow and

discoloured like an old man's skin; the sturdy timbers had decayed like teeth; and here and there the ivy, like

a warm garment to comfort it in its age, wrapt its green leaves closely round the timeworn walls.

It was a hale and hearty age though, still: and in the summer or autumn evenings, when the glow of the

setting sun fell upon the oak and chestnut trees of the adjacent forest, the old house, partaking of its lustre,

The evening with which we have to do, was neither a summer nor an autumn one, but the twilight of a day in

March, when the wind howled dismally among the bare branches of the trees, and rumbling in the wide

chimneys and driving the rain against the windows of the Maypole Inn, gave such of its frequenters as

chanced to be there at the moment an undeniable reason for prolonging their stay, and caused the landlord to

prophesy that the night would certainly clear at eleven o'clock precisely,which by a remarkable

The name of him upon whom the spirit of prophecy thus descended was John Willet, a burly, largeheaded

man with a fat face, which betokened profound obstinacy and slowness of apprehension, combined with a

very strong reliance upon his own merits. It was John Willet's ordinary boast in his more placid moods that if

he were slow he was sure; which assertion could, in one sense at least, be by no means gainsaid, seeing that

he was in everything unquestionably the reverse of fast, and withal one of the most dogged and positive

fellows in existencealways sure that what he thought or said or did was right, and holding it as a thing

quite settled and ordained by the laws of nature and Providence, that anybody who said or did or thought

Mr Willet walked slowly up to the window, flattened his fat nose against the cold glass, and shading his eyes

that his sight might not be affected by the ruddy glow of the fire, looked abroad. Then he walked slowly back

to his old seat in the chimneycorner, and, composing himself in it with a slight shiver, such as a man might

give way to and so acquire an additional relish for the warm blaze, said, looking round upon his guests:

'It'll clear at eleven o'clock. No sooner and no later. Not before and not arterwards.'

'How do you make out that?' said a little man in the opposite corner. 'The moon is past the full, and she rises

John looked sedately and solemnly at his questioner until he had brought his mind to bear upon the whole of

his observation, and then made answer, in a tone which seemed to imply that the moon was peculiarly his

'Never you mind about the moon. Don't you trouble yourself about her. You let the moon alone, and I'll let

Again John waited leisurely until the observation had thoroughly penetrated to his brain, and then replying,

'No offence as YET,' applied a light to his pipe and smoked in placid silence; now and then casting a sidelong

look at a man wrapped in a loose riding coat with huge cuffs ornamented with tarnished silver lace and large

metal buttons, who sat apart from the regular frequenters of the house, and wearing a hat flapped over his

face, which was still further shaded by the hand on which his forehead rested, looked unsociable enough.

There was another guest, who sat, booted and spurred, at some distance from the fire also, and whose

thoughtsto judge from his folded arms and knitted brows, and from the untasted liquor before himwere

occupied with other matters than the topics under discussion or the persons who discussed them. This was a

young man of about eightandtwenty, rather above the middle height, and though of somewhat slight figure,

gracefully and strongly made. He wore his own dark hair, and was accoutred in a riding dress, which together

with his large boots (resembling in shape and fashion those worn by our Life Guardsmen at the present day),

showed indisputable traces of the bad condition of the roads. But travel stained though he was, he was well

and even richly attired, and without being overdressed looked a gallant gentleman.

Lying upon the table beside him, as he had carelessly thrown them down, were a heavy ridingwhip and a

slouched hat, the latter worn no doubt as being best suited to the inclemency of the weather. There, too, were

a pair of pistols in a holstercase, and a short ridingcloak. Little of his face was visible, except the long dark

lashes which concealed his downcast eyes, but an air of careless ease and natural gracefulness of demeanour

pervaded the figure, and seemed to comprehend even those slight accessories, which were all handsome, and

Towards this young gentleman the eyes of Mr Willet wandered but once, and then as if in mute inquiry

whether he had observed his silent neighbour. It was plain that John and the young gentleman had often met

before. Finding that his look was not returned, or indeed observed by the person to whom it was addressed,

John gradually concentrated the whole power of his eyes into one focus, and brought it to bear upon the man

in the flapped hat, at whom he came to stare in course of time with an intensity so remarkable, that it affected

his fireside cronies, who all, as with one accord, took their pipes from their lips, and stared with open mouths

The sturdy landlord had a large pair of dull fishlike eyes, and the little man who had hazarded the remark

about the moon (and who was the parishclerk and bellringer of Chigwell, a village hard by) had little

round black shiny eyes like beads; moreover this little man wore at the knees of his rusty black breeches, and

on his rusty black coat, and all down his long flapped waistcoat, little queer buttons like nothing except his

eyes; but so like them, that as they twinkled and glistened in the light of the fire, which shone too in his bright

shoebuckles, he seemed all eyes from head to foot, and to be gazing with every one of them at the unknown

customer. No wonder that a man should grow restless under such an inspection as this, to say nothing of the

eyes belonging to short Tom Cobb the general chandler and postoffice keeper, and long Phil Parkes the

ranger, both of whom, infected by the example of their companions, regarded him of the flapped hat no less

The stranger became restless; perhaps from being exposed to this raking fire of eyes, perhaps from the nature

of his previous meditationsmost probably from the latter cause, for as he changed his position and looked

hastily round, he started to find himself the object of such keen regard, and darted an angry and suspicious

glance at the fireside group. It had the effect of immediately diverting all eyes to the chimney, except those of

John Willet, who finding himself as it were, caught in the fact, and not being (as has been already observed)

of a very ready nature, remained staring at his guest in a particularly awkward and disconcerted manner.

Well. There was not much in well. It was not a long speech. 'I thought you gave an order,' said the landlord,

The stranger took off his hat, and disclosed the hard features of a man of sixty or thereabouts, much

weatherbeaten and worn by time, and the naturally harsh expression of which was not improved by a dark

handkerchief which was bound tightly round his head, and, while it served the purpose of a wig, shaded his

forehead, and almost hid his eyebrows. If it were intended to conceal or divert attention from a deep gash,

now healed into an ugly seam, which when it was first inflicted must have laid bare his cheekbone, the object

was but indifferently attained, for it could scarcely fail to be noted at a glance. His complexion was of a

cadaverous hue, and he had a grizzly jagged beard of some three weeks' date. Such was the figure (very

meanly and poorly clad) that now rose from the seat, and stalking across the room sat down in a corner of the

chimney, which the politeness or fears of the little clerk very readily assigned to him.

'Do you suppose highwaymen don't dress handsomer than that?' replied Parkes. 'It's a better business than you

think for, Tom, and highwaymen don't need or use to be shabby, take my word for it.'

Meanwhile the subject of their speculations had done due honour to the house by calling for some drink,

which was promptly supplied by the landlord's son Joe, a broadshouldered strapping young fellow of

twenty, whom it pleased his father still to consider a little boy, and to treat accordingly. Stretching out his

hands to warm them by the blazing fire, the man turned his head towards the company, and after running his

'Publichouse, father!' exclaimed Joe, 'where's the publichouse within a mile or so of the Maypole? He

means the great housethe Warrennaturally and of course. The old red brick house, sir, that stands in its

'And that fifteen or twenty years ago stood in a park five times as broad, which with other and richer property

has bit by bit changed hands and dwindled awaymore's the pity!' pursued the young man.

'Maybe,' was the reply. 'But my question related to the owner. What it has been I don't care to know, and what

The heirapparent to the Maypole pressed his finger on his lips, and glancing at the young gentleman already

noticed, who had changed his attitude when the house was first mentioned, replied in a lower tone:

'The owner's name is Haredale, Mr Geoffrey Haredale, and'again he glanced in the same direction as

Paying as little regard to this admonitory cough, as to the significant gesture that had preceded it, the stranger

'I turned out of my way coming here, and took the footpath that crosses the grounds. Who was the young lady

'Why, how should I know, honest man?' replied Joe, contriving in the course of some arrangements about the

hearth, to advance close to his questioner and pluck him by the sleeve, 'I didn't see the young lady, you know.

'You're used to it?' said Joe, catching at anything which seemed to promise a diversion of the subject.

'Pretty well,' returned the other. 'About the young ladyhas Mr Haredale a daughter?'

'No, no,' said the young fellow fretfully, 'he's a single gentlemanhe'sbe quiet, can't you, man? Don't you

Regardless of this whispered remonstrance, and affecting not to hear it, his tormentor provokingly continued:

'Single men have had daughters before now. Perhaps she may be his daughter, though he is not married.'

'What do you mean?' said Joe, adding in an undertone as he approached him again, 'You'll come in for it

'I mean no harm'returned the traveller boldly, 'and have said none that I know of. I ask a few

questionsas any stranger may, and not unnaturallyabout the inmates of a remarkable house in a

neighbourhood which is new to me, and you are as aghast and disturbed as if I were talking treason against

King George. Perhaps you can tell me why, sir, for (as I say) I am a stranger, and this is Greek to me?'

The latter observation was addressed to the obvious cause of Joe Willet's discomposure, who had risen and

was adjusting his riding cloak preparatory to sallying abroad. Briefly replying that he could give him no

information, the young man beckoned to Joe, and handing him a piece of money in payment of his reckoning,

hurried out attended by young Willet himself, who taking up a candle followed to light him to the

While Joe was absent on this errand, the elder Willet and his three companions continued to smoke with

profound gravity, and in a deep silence, each having his eyes fixed on a huge copper boiler that was

suspended over the fire. After some time John Willet slowly shook his head, and thereupon his friends slowly

shook theirs; but no man withdrew his eyes from the boiler, or altered the solemn expression of his

At length Joe returnedvery talkative and conciliatory, as though with a strong presentiment that he was

'Such a thing as love is!' he said, drawing a chair near the fire, and looking round for sympathy. 'He has set

off to walk to London,all the way to London. His nag gone lame in riding out here this blessed afternoon,

and comfortably littered down in our stable at this minute; and he giving up a good hot supper and our best

bed, because Miss Haredale has gone to a masquerade up in town, and he has set his heart upon seeing her! I

don't think I could persuade myself to do that, beautiful as she is,but then I'm not in love (at least I don't

'Rather,' replied Joe. 'He'll never be more in love, and may very easily be less.'

'Putting himself forward and wringing the very nose off his own father's face!' exclaimed the parishclerk,

'Silence, sir!' returned his father, 'what do you mean by talking, when you see people that are more than two

or three times your age, sitting still and silent and not dreaming of saying a word?'

'Ah to be sure!' muttered Parkes, nodding gravely to the other two who nodded likewise, observing under

'The proper time's no time, sir,' repeated John Willet; 'when I was your age I never talked, I never wanted to

'And you'd find your father rather a tough customer in argeyment, Joe, if anybody was to try and tackle him,'

'For the matter o' that, Phil!' observed Mr Willet, blowing a long, thin, spiral cloud of smoke out of the corner

of his mouth, and staring at it abstractedly as it floated away; 'For the matter o' that, Phil, argeyment is a gift

of Natur. If Natur has gifted a man with powers of argeyment, a man has a right to make the best of 'em, and

has not a right to stand on false delicacy, and deny that he is so gifted; for that is a turning of his back on

Natur, a flouting of her, a slighting of her precious caskets, and a proving of one's self to be a swine that isn't

The landlord pausing here for a very long time, Mr Parkes naturally concluded that he had brought his

discourse to an end; and therefore, turning to the young man with some austerity, exclaimed:

'You hear what your father says, Joe? You wouldn't much like to tackle him in argeyment, I'm thinking, sir.'

'IF,' said John Willet, turning his eyes from the ceiling to the face of his interrupter, and uttering the

monosyllable in capitals, to apprise him that he had put in his oar, as the vulgar say, with unbecoming and

irreverent haste; 'IF, sir, Natur has fixed upon me the gift of argeyment, why should I not own to it, and rather

glory in the same? Yes, sir, I AM a tough customer that way. You are right, sir. My toughness has been

proved, sir, in this room many and many a time, as I think you know; and if you don't know,' added John,

putting his pipe in his mouth again, 'so much the better, for I an't proud and am not going to tell you.'

A general murmur from his three cronies, and a general shaking of heads at the copper boiler, assured John

Willet that they had had good experience of his powers and needed no further evidence to assure them of his

superiority. John smoked with a little more dignity and surveyed them in silence.

'It's all very fine talking,' muttered Joe, who had been fidgeting in his chair with divers uneasy gestures. 'But

'Silence, sir!' roared his father. 'No, you never are. When your opinion's wanted, you give it. When you're

spoke to, you speak. When your opinion's not wanted and you're not spoke to, don't you give an opinion and

don't you speak. The world's undergone a nice alteration since my time, certainly. My belief is that there an't

any boys leftthat there isn't such a thing as a boythat there's nothing now between a male baby and a

manand that all the boys went out with his blessed Majesty King George the Second.'

'That's a very true observation, always excepting the young princes,' said the parishclerk, who, as the

representative of church and state in that company, held himself bound to the nicest loyalty. 'If it's godly and

righteous for boys, being of the ages of boys, to behave themselves like boys, then the young princes must be

'Very good,' said Mr Willet. 'According to the constitution of mermaids, so much of a mermaid as is not a

woman must be a fish. According to the constitution of young princes, so much of a young prince (if

anything) as is not actually an angel, must be godly and righteous. Therefore if it's becoming and godly and

righteous in the young princes (as it is at their ages) that they should be boys, they are and must be boys, and

This elucidation of a knotty point being received with such marks of approval as to put John Willet into a

good humour, he contented himself with repeating to his son his command of silence, and addressing the

'If you had asked your questions of a grownup personof me or any of these gentlemenyou'd have had

some satisfaction, and wouldn't have wasted breath. Miss Haredale is Mr Geoffrey Haredale's niece.'

The cronies nodded to each other, and Mr Parkes remarked in an undertone, shaking his head meanwhile as

who should say, 'let no man contradict me, for I won't believe him,' that John Willet was in amazing force

The stranger suffered a short pause to elapse, and then asked abruptly, 'What do you mean?'

'More than you think for, friend,' returned John Willet. 'Perhaps there's more meaning in them words than you

'Perhaps there is,' said the strange man, gruffly; 'but what the devil do you speak in such mysteries for? You

tell me, first, that a man is not alive, nor yet deadthen, that he's not dead in a common sort of waythen,

that you mean a great deal more than I think for. To tell you the truth, you may do that easily; for so far as I

'That,' returned the landlord, a little brought down from his dignity by the stranger's surliness, 'is a Maypole

story, and has been any time these fourandtwenty years. That story is Solomon Daisy's story. It belongs to

the house; and nobody but Solomon Daisy has ever told it under this roof, or ever shallthat's more.'

The man glanced at the parishclerk, whose air of consciousness and importance plainly betokened him to be

the person referred to, and, observing that he had taken his pipe from his lips, after a very long whiff to keep

it alight, and was evidently about to tell his story without further solicitation, gathered his large coat about

him, and shrinking further back was almost lost in the gloom of the spacious chimneycorner, except when

the flame, struggling from under a great faggot, whose weight almost crushed it for the time, shot upward

with a strong and sudden glare, and illumining his figure for a moment, seemed afterwards to cast it into

By this flickering light, which made the old room, with its heavy timbers and panelled walls, look as if it

were built of polished ebonythe wind roaring and howling without, now rattling the latch and creaking the

hinges of the stout oaken door, and now driving at the casement as though it would beat it inby this light,

Here he came to a dead stop, and made so long a pause that even John Willet grew impatient and asked why

'Cobb,' said Solomon Daisy, dropping his voice and appealing to the postoffice keeper; 'what day of the

'Of March,' said the clerk, bending forward, 'the nineteenth of March; that's very strange.'

'It was Mr Reuben Haredale, Mr Geoffrey's elder brother, that twentytwo years ago was the owner of the

Warren, which, as Joe has saidnot that you remember it, Joe, for a boy like you can't do that, but because

you have often heard me say sowas then a much larger and better place, and a much more valuable

property than it is now. His lady was lately dead, and he was left with one childthe Miss Haredale you

Although the speaker addressed himself to the man who had shown so much curiosity about this same family,

and made a pause here as if expecting some exclamation of surprise or encouragement, the latter made no

remark, nor gave any indication that he heard or was interested in what was said. Solomon therefore turned to

his old companions, whose noses were brightly illuminated by the deep red glow from the bowls of their

pipes; assured, by long experience, of their attention, and resolved to show his sense of such indecent

'Mr Haredale,' said Solomon, turning his back upon the strange man, 'left this place when his lady died,

feeling it lonely like, and went up to London, where he stopped some months; but finding that place as lonely

as thisas I suppose and have always heard sayhe suddenly came back again with his little girl to the

Warren, bringing with him besides, that day, only two women servants, and his steward, and a gardener.'

Mr Daisy stopped to take a whiff at his pipe, which was going out, and then proceededat first in a snuffling

tone, occasioned by keen enjoyment of the tobacco and strong pulling at the pipe, and afterwards with

'Bringing with him two women servants, and his steward, and a gardener. The rest stopped behind up in

London, and were to follow next day. It happened that that night, an old gentleman who lived at Chigwell

Row, and had long been poorly, deceased, and an order came to me at half after twelve o'clock at night to go

There was a movement in the little group of listeners, sufficiently indicative of the strong repugnance any one

of them would have felt to have turned out at such a time upon such an errand. The clerk felt and understood

'It WAS a dreary thing, especially as the gravedigger was laid up in his bed, from long working in a damp

soil and sitting down to take his dinner on cold tombstones, and I was consequently under obligation to go

alone, for it was too late to hope to get any other companion. However, I wasn't unprepared for it; as the old

gentleman had often made it a request that the bell should be tolled as soon as possible after the breath was

out of his body, and he had been expected to go for some days. I put as good a face upon it as I could, and

muffling myself up (for it was mortal cold), started out with a lighted lantern in one hand and the key of the

At this point of the narrative, the dress of the strange man rustled as if he had turned himself to hear more

distinctly. Slightly pointing over his shoulder, Solomon elevated his eyebrows and nodded a silent inquiry to

Joe whether this was the case. Joe shaded his eyes with his hand and peered into the corner, but could make

'It was just such a night as this; blowing a hurricane, raining heavily, and very darkI often think now,

darker than I ever saw it before or since; that may be my fancy, but the houses were all close shut and the

folks in doors, and perhaps there is only one other man who knows how dark it really was. I got into the

church, chained the door back so that it should keep ajarfor, to tell the truth, I didn't like to be shut in there

aloneand putting my lantern on the stone seat in the little corner where the bellrope is, sat down beside it

'I sat down to trim the candle, and when I had done so I could not persuade myself to get up again, and go

about my work. I don't know how it was, but I thought of all the ghost stories I had ever heard, even those

that I had heard when I was a boy at school, and had forgotten long ago; and they didn't come into my mind

one after another, but all crowding at once, like. I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a

certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the

ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning. This made me think how many people I had

known, were buried between the churchdoor and the churchyard gate, and what a dreadful thing it would be

to have to pass among them and know them again, so earthy and unlike themselves. I had known all the

niches and arches in the church from a child; still, I couldn't persuade myself that those were their natural

shadows which I saw on the pavement, but felt sure there were some ugly figures hiding among 'em and

peeping out. Thinking on in this way, I began to think of the old gentleman who was just dead, and I could

have sworn, as I looked up the dark chancel, that I saw him in his usual place, wrapping his shroud about him

and shivering as if he felt it cold. All this time I sat listening and listening, and hardly dared to breathe. At

length I started up and took the bellrope in my hands. At that minute there rangnot that bell, for I had

'I heard the ringing of another bell, and a deep bell too, plainly. It was only for an instant, and even then the

wind carried the sound away, but I heard it. I listened for a long time, but it rang no more. I had heard of

corpse candles, and at last I persuaded myself that this must be a corpse bell tolling of itself at midnight for

the dead. I tolled my bellhow, or how long, I don't knowand ran home to bed as fast as I could touch the

'I was up early next morning after a restless night, and told the story to my neighbours. Some were serious

and some made light of it; I don't think anybody believed it real. But, that morning, Mr Reuben Haredale was

found murdered in his bedchamber; and in his hand was a piece of the cord attached to an alarmbell outside

the roof, which hung in his room and had been cut asunder, no doubt by the murderer, when he seized it.

'A bureau was found opened, and a cashbox, which Mr Haredale had brought down that day, and was

supposed to contain a large sum of money, was gone. The steward and gardener were both missing and both

suspected for a long time, but they were never found, though hunted far and wide. And far enough they might

have looked for poor Mr Rudge the steward, whose bodyscarcely to be recognised by his clothes and the

watch and ring he worewas found, months afterwards, at the bottom of a piece of water in the grounds,

with a deep gash in the breast where he had been stabbed with a knife. He was only partly dressed; and

people all agreed that he had been sitting up reading in his own room, where there were many traces of blood,

Everybody now knew that the gardener must be the murderer, and though he has never been heard of from

that day to this, he will be, mark my words. The crime was committed this day twoandtwenty yearson

the nineteenth of March, one thousand seven hundred and fiftythree. On the nineteenth of March in some

yearno matter whenI know it, I am sure of it, for we have always, in some strange way or other, been

brought back to the subject on that day ever sinceon the nineteenth of March in some year, sooner or later,

'A strange story!' said the man who had been the cause of the narration.'Stranger still if it comes about as

A question so unexpected, nettled Solomon Daisy not a little. By dint of relating the story very often, and

ornamenting it (according to village report) with a few flourishes suggested by the various hearers from time

to time, he had come by degrees to tell it with great effect; and 'Is that all?' after the climax, was not what he

'I think so too. My horse, young man! He is but a hack hired from a roadside posting house, but he must carry

'Tonight,' returned the other. 'What do you stare at? This tavern would seem to be a house of call for all the

At this remark, which evidently had reference to the scrutiny he had undergone, as mentioned in the

foregoing chapter, the eyes of John Willet and his friends were diverted with marvellous rapidity to the

copper boiler again. Not so with Joe, who, being a mettlesome fellow, returned the stranger's angry glance

'It is not a very bold thing to wonder at your going on tonight. Surely you have been asked such a harmless

question in an inn before, and in better weather than this. I thought you mightn't know the way, as you seem

'I'llhumph!I'll find it,' replied the nian, waving his hand and turning on his heel. 'Landlord, take the

John Willet did as he was desired; for on that point he was seldom slow, except in the particulars of giving

change, and testing the goodness of any piece of coin that was proffered to him, by the application of his

teeth or his tongue, or some other test, or in doubtful cases, by a long series of tests terminating in its

rejection. The guest then wrapped his garments about him so as to shelter himself as effectually as he could

from the rough weather, and without any word or sign of farewell betook himself to the stableyard. Here Joe

(who had left the room on the conclusion of their short dialogue) was protecting himself and the horse from

'He's pretty much of my opinion,' said Joe, patting the horse upon the neck. 'I'll wager that your stopping here

'He and I are of different opinions, as we have been more than once on our way here,' was the short reply.

'So I was thinking before you came out, for he has felt your spurs, poor beast.'

'You'll know me again, I see,' he said, marking the young fellow's earnest gaze, when he had sprung into the

'The man's worth knowing, master, who travels a road he don't know, mounted on a jaded horse, and leaves

'Use the first less too, and keep their sharpness for your sweethearts, boy,' said the man.

So saying he shook his hand from the bridle, struck him roughly on the head with the butt end of his whip,

and galloped away; dashing through the mud and darkness with a headlong speed, which few badly mounted

horsemen would have cared to venture, even had they been thoroughly acquainted with the country; and

which, to one who knew nothing of the way he rode, was attended at every step with great hazard and danger.

The roads, even within twelve miles of London, were at that time ill paved, seldom repaired, and very badly

made. The way this rider traversed had been ploughed up by the wheels of heavy waggons, and rendered

rotten by the frosts and thaws of the preceding winter, or possibly of many winters. Great holes and gaps had

been worn into the soil, which, being now filled with water from the late rains, were not easily

distinguishable even by day; and a plunge into any one of them might have brought down a surerfooted

horse than the poor beast now urged forward to the utmost extent of his powers. Sharp flints and stones rolled

from under his hoofs continually; the rider could scarcely see beyond the animal's head, or farther on either

side than his own arm would have extended. At that time, too, all the roads in the neighbourhood of the

metropolis were infested by footpads or highwaymen, and it was a night, of all others, in which any evil

disposed person of this class might have pursued his unlawful calling with little fear of detection.

Still, the traveller dashed forward at the same reckless pace, regardless alike of the dirt and wet which flew

about his head, the profound darkness of the night, and the probability of encountering some desperate

characters abroad. At every turn and angle, even where a deviation from the direct course might have been

least expected, and could not possibly be seen until he was close upon it, he guided the bridle with an

unerring hand, and kept the middle of the road. Thus he sped onward, raising himself in the stirrups, leaning

his body forward until it almost touched the horse's neck, and flourishing his heavy whip above his head with

There are times when, the elements being in unusual commotion, those who are bent on daring enterprises, or

agitated by great thoughts, whether of good or evil, feel a mysterious sympathy with the tumult of nature, and

are roused into corresponding violence. In the midst of thunder, lightning, and storm, many tremendous deeds

have been committed; men, selfpossessed before, have given a sudden loose to passions they could no

longer control. The demons of wrath and despair have striven to emulate those who ride the whirlwind and

direct the storm; and man, lashed into madness with the roaring winds and boiling waters, has become for the

Whether the traveller was possessed by thoughts which the fury of the night had heated and stimulated into a

quicker current, or was merely impelled by some strong motive to reach his journey's end, on he swept more

like a hunted phantom than a man, nor checked his pace until, arriving at some cross roads, one of which led

by a longer route to the place whence he had lately started, he bore down so suddenly upon a vehicle which

was coming towards him, that in the effort to avoid it he wellnigh pulled his horse upon his haunches, and

'A friend!' repeated the voice. 'Who calls himself a friend and rides like that, abusing Heaven's gifts in the

shape of horseflesh, and endangering, not only his own neck (which might be no great matter) but the necks

'You have a lantern there, I see,' said the traveller dismounting, 'lend it me for a moment. You have wounded

'Wounded him!' cried the other, 'if I haven't killed him, it's no fault of yours. What do you mean by galloping

'Give me the light,' returned the traveller, snatching it from his hand, 'and don't ask idle questions of a man

'If you had said you were in no mood for talking before, I should perhaps have been in no mood for lighting,'

said the voice. 'Hows'ever as it's the poor horse that's damaged and not you, one of you is welcome to the

The traveller returned no answer to this speech, but holding the light near to his panting and reeking beast,

examined him in limb and carcass. Meanwhile, the other man sat very composedly in his vehicle, which was

a kind of chaise with a depository for a large bag of tools, and watched his proceedings with a careful eye.

The lookeron was a round, redfaced, sturdy yeoman, with a double chin, and a voice husky with good

living, good sleeping, good humour, and good health. He was past the prime of life, but Father Time is not

always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those

who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and

spirits young and in full vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand

in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a wellspent life.

The person whom the traveller had so abruptly encountered was of this kind: bluff, hale, hearty, and in a

green old age: at peace with himself, and evidently disposed to be so with all the world. Although muffled up

in divers coats and handkerchiefsone of which, passed over his crown, and tied in a convenient crease of

his double chin, secured his threecornered hat and bobwig from blowing off his headthere was no

disguising his plump and comfortable figure; neither did certain dirty fingermarks upon his face give it any

other than an odd and comical expression, through which its natural good humour shone with undiminished

'He is not hurt,' said the traveller at length, raising his head and the lantern together.

'You have found that out at last, have you?' rejoined the old man. 'My eyes have seen more light than yours,

'Mean! I could have told you he wasn't hurt, five minutes ago. Give me the light, friend; ride forward at a

In handing up the lantern, the man necessarily cast its rays full on the speaker's face. Their eyes met at the

'Did you never see a locksmith before, that you start as if you had come upon a ghost?' cried the old man in

the chaise, 'or is this,' he added hastily, thrusting his hand into the tool basket and drawing out a hammer, 'a

scheme for robbing me? I know these roads, friend. When I travel them, I carry nothing but a few shillings,

and not a crown's worth of them. I tell you plainly, to save us both trouble, that there's nothing to be got from

me but a pretty stout arm considering my years, and this tool, which, mayhap from long acquaintance with, I

can use pretty briskly. You shall not have it all your own way, I promise you, if you play at that game. With

'Then what and who are you?' returned the locksmith. 'You know my name, it seems. Let me know yours.'

'I have not gained the information from any confidence of yours, but from the inscription on your cart which

'You have better eyes for that than you had for your horse, then,' said Varden, descending nimbly from his

While the locksmith alighted, the traveller had regained his saddle, from which he now confronted the old

man, who, moving as the horse moved in chafing under the tightened rein, kept close beside him.

'No masquerading tricks,' said the locksmith, 'and tales at the club tomorrow, how Gabriel Varden was

Finding that further resistance would only involve him in a personal struggle with an antagonist by no means

to be despised, the traveller threw back his coat, and stooping down looked steadily at the locksmith.

Perhaps two men more powerfully contrasted, never opposed each other face to face. The ruddy features of

the locksmith so set off and heightened the excessive paleness of the man on horseback, that he looked like a

bloodless ghost, while the moisture, which hard riding had brought out upon his skin, hung there in dark and

heavy drops, like dews of agony and death. The countenance of the old locksmith lighted up with the smile of

one expecting to detect in this unpromising stranger some latent roguery of eye or lip, which should reveal a

familiar person in that arch disguise, and spoil his jest. The face of the other, sullen and fierce, but shrinking

too, was that of a man who stood at bay; while his firmly closed jaws, his puckered mouth, and more than all

a certain stealthy motion of the hand within his breast, seemed to announce a desperate purpose very foreign

'I don't,' said Gabriel; 'to be plain with you, friend, you don't carry in your countenance a letter of

'I will, at any cost,' rejoined the traveller. 'In proof of it, lay this to heartthat you were never in such peril of

your life as you have been within these few moments; when you are within five minutes of breathing your

With that he put spurs to his horse, and rode away; at first plashing heavily through the mire at a smart trot,

but gradually increasing in speed until the last sound of his horse's hoofs died away upon the wind; when he

was again hurrying on at the same furious gallop, which had been his pace when the locksmith first

Gabriel Varden remained standing in the road with the broken lantern in his hand, listening in stupefied

silence until no sound reached his ear but the moaning of the wind, and the fastfalling rain; when he struck

himself one or two smart blows in the breast by way of rousing himself, and broke into an exclamation of

'What in the name of wonder can this fellow be! a madman? a highwayman? a cutthroat? If he had not

scoured off so fast, we'd have seen who was in most danger, he or I. I never nearer death than I have been

tonight! I hope I may be no nearer to it for a score of years to comeif so, I'll be content to be no farther

Gabriel resumed his seat, and looked wistfully up the road by which the traveller had come; murmuring in a

'The Maypoletwo miles to the Maypole. I came the other road from the Warren after a long day's work at

locks and bells, on purpose that I should not come by the Maypole and break my promise to Martha by

looking inthere's resolution! It would be dangerous to go on to London without a light; and it's four miles,

and a good half mile besides, to the HalfwayHouse; and between this and that is the very place where one

needs a light most. Two miles to the Maypole! I told Martha I wouldn't; I said I wouldn't, and I

Repeating these two last words very often, as if to compensate for the little resolution he was going to show

by piquing himself on the great resolution he had shown, Gabriel Varden quietly turned back, determining to

When he got to the Maypole, however, and Joe, responding to his wellknown hail, came running out to the

horse's head, leaving the door open behind him, and disclosing a delicious perspective of warmth and

brightnesswhen the ruddy gleam of the fire, streaming through the old red curtains of the common room,

seemed to bring with it, as part of itself, a pleasant hum of voices, and a fragrant odour of steaming grog and

rare tobacco, all steeped as it were in the cheerful glowwhen the shadows, flitting across the curtain,

showed that those inside had risen from their snug seats, and were making room in the snuggest corner (how

well he knew that corner!) for the honest locksmith, and a broad glare, suddenly streaming up, bespoke the

goodness of the crackling log from which a brilliant train of sparks was doubtless at that moment whirling up

the chimney in honour of his comingwhen, superadded to these enticements, there stole upon him from the

distant kitchen a gentle sound of frying, with a musical clatter of plates and dishes, and a savoury smell that

made even the boisterous wind a perfumeGabriel felt his firmness oozing rapidly away. He tried to look

stoically at the tavern, but his features would relax into a look of fondness. He turned his head the other way,

and the cold black country seemed to frown him off, and drive him for a refuge into its hospitable arms.

'The merciful man, Joe,' said the locksmith, 'is merciful to his beast. I'll get out for a little while.'

And how natural it was to get out! And how unnatural it seemed for a sober man to be plodding wearily along

through miry roads, encountering the rude buffets of the wind and pelting of the rain, when there was a clean

floor covered with crisp white sand, a well swept hearth, a blazing fire, a table decorated with white cloth,

bright pewter flagons, and other tempting preparations for a well cooked mealwhen there were these

things, and company disposed to make the most of them, all ready to his hand, and entreating him to

Such were the locksmith's thoughts when first seated in the snug corner, and slowly recovering from a

pleasant defect of vision pleasant, because occasioned by the wind blowing in his eyeswhich made it a

matter of sound policy and duty to himself, that he should take refuge from the weather, and tempted him, for

the same reason, to aggravate a slight cough, and declare he felt but poorly. Such were still his thoughts more

than a full hour afterwards, when, supper over, he still sat with shining jovial face in the same warm nook,

listening to the cricketlike chirrup of little Solomon Daisy, and bearing no unimportant or slightly respected

'I wish he may be an honest man, that's all,' said Solomon, winding up a variety of speculations relative to the

stranger, concerning whom Gabriel had compared notes with the company, and so raised a grave discussion;

'No. He struck me with his whip, the coward, when he was mounted and I afoot, and I should be better

'No good, Mr Varden. You may shake your head, father, but I say no good, and will say no good, and I would

say no good a hundred times over, if that would bring him back to have the drubbing he deserves.'

'I won't, father. It's all along of you that he ventured to do what he did. Seeing me treated like a child, and put

down like a fool, HE plucks up a heart and has a fling at a fellow that he thinksand may well think

toohasn't a grain of spirit. But he's mistaken, as I'll show him, and as I'll show all of you before long.'

'Father,' returned Joe, 'I know what I say and mean, wellbetter than you do when you hear me. I can bear

with you, but I cannot bear the contempt that your treating me in the way you do, brings upon me from others

every day. Look at other young men of my age. Have they no liberty, no will, no right to speak? Are they

obliged to sit mumchance, and to be ordered about till they are the laughingstock of young and old? I am a

byeword all over Chigwell, and I sayand it's fairer my saying so now, than waiting till you are dead, and I

have got your moneyI say, that before long I shall be driven to break such bounds, and that when I do, it

John Willet was so amazed by the exasperation and boldness of his hopeful son, that he sat as one

bewildered, staring in a ludicrous manner at the boiler, and endeavouring, but quite ineffectually, to collect

his tardy thoughts, and invent an answer. The guests, scarcely less disturbed, were equally at a loss; and at

length, with a variety of muttered, halfexpressed condolences, and pieces of advice, rose to depart; being at

The honest locksmith alone addressed a few words of coherent and sensible advice to both parties, urging

John Willet to remember that Joe was nearly arrived at man's estate, and should not be ruled with too tight a

hand, and exhorting Joe himself to bear with his father's caprices, and rather endeavour to turn them aside by

temperate remonstrance than by illtimed rebellion. This advice was received as such advice usually is. On

John Willet it made almost as much impression as on the sign outside the door, while Joe, who took it in the

best part, avowed himself more obliged than he could well express, but politely intimated his intention

'You have always been a very good friend to me, Mr Varden,' he said, as they stood without, in the porch, and

the locksmith was equipping himself for his journey home; 'I take it very kind of you to say all this, but the

'Nor milestones much,' replied Joe. 'I'm little better than one here, and see as much of the world.'

'Then, what would you do, Joe?' pursued the locksmith, stroking his chin reflectively. 'What could you be?

'A bad thing to trust to, Joe. I don't like it. I always tell my girl when we talk about a husband for her, never to

trust to chance, but to make sure beforehand that she has a good man and true, and then chance will neither

make her nor break her. What are you fidgeting about there, Joe? Nothing gone in the harness, I hope?'

'No no,' said Joefinding, however, something very engrossing to do in the way of strapping and

'I hope,' said Joe after some hesitation, 'that you won't tell this story against methis of my having been beat

like the boy they'd make of meat all events, till I have met this man again and settled the account. It'll be a

'Why who should I tell it to?' returned Gabriel. 'They know it here, and I'm not likely to come across anybody

'That's true enough,' said the young fellow with a sigh. 'I quite forgot that. Yes, that's true!'

So saying, he raised his face, which was very red,no doubt from the exertion of strapping and buckling as

aforesaid,and giving the reins to the old man, who had by this time taken his seat, sighed again and bade

'Good night!' cried Gabriel. 'Now think better of what we have just been speaking of; and don't be rash,

there's a good fellow! I have an interest in you, and wouldn't have you cast yourself away. Good night!'

Returning his cheery farewell with cordial goodwill, Joe Willet lingered until the sound of wheels ceased to

vibrate in his ears, and then, shaking his head mournfully, reentered the house.

Gabriel Varden went his way towards London, thinking of a great many things, and most of all of flaming

terms in which to relate his adventure, and so account satisfactorily to Mrs Varden for visiting the Maypole,

despite certain solemn covenants between himself and that lady. Thinking begets, not only thought, but

drowsiness occasionally, and the more the locksmith thought, the more sleepy he became.

A man may be very soberor at least firmly set upon his legs on that neutral ground which lies between the

confines of perfect sobriety and slight tipsinessand yet feel a strong tendency to mingle up present

circumstances with others which have no manner of connection with them; to confound all consideration of

persons, things, times, and places; and to jumble his disjointed thoughts together in a kind of mental

kaleidoscope, producing combinations as unexpected as they are transitory. This was Gabriel Varden's state,

as, nodding in his dog sleep, and leaving his horse to pursue a road with which he was well acquainted, he got

over the ground unconsciously, and drew nearer and nearer home. He had roused himself once, when the

horse stopped until the turnpike gate was opened, and had cried a lusty 'good night!' to the toll keeper; but

then he awoke out of a dream about picking a lock in the stomach of the Great Mogul, and even when he did

wake, mixed up the turnpike man with his motherinlaw who had been dead twenty years. It is not

surprising, therefore, that he soon relapsed, and jogged heavily along, quite insensible to his progress.

And, now, he approached the great city, which lay outstretched before him like a dark shadow on the ground,

reddening the sluggish air with a deep dull light, that told of labyrinths of public ways and shops, and swarms

of busy people. Approaching nearer and nearer yet, this halo began to fade, and the causes which produced it

slowly to develop themselves. Long lines of poorly lighted streets might be faintly traced, with here and there

a lighter spot, where lamps were clustered round a square or market, or round some great building; after a

time these grew more distinct, and the lamps themselves were visible; slight yellow specks, that seemed to be

rapidly snuffed out, one by one, as intervening obstacles hid them from the sight. Then, sounds arosethe

striking of church clocks, the distant bark of dogs, the hum of traffic in the streets; then outlines might be

tracedtall steeples looming in the air, and piles of unequal roofs oppressed by chimneys; then, the noise

swelled into a louder sound, and forms grew more distinct and numerous still, and Londonvisible in the

The locksmith, however, all unconscious of its near vicinity, still jogged on, half sleeping and half waking,

For a moment or two he looked about him like a man who had been transported to some strange country in

his sleep, but soon recognising familiar objects, rubbed his eyes lazily and might have relapsed again, but that

the cry was repeatednot once or twice or thrice, but many times, and each time, if possible, with increased

vehemence. Thoroughly aroused, Gabriel, who was a bold man and not easily daunted, made straight to the

The matter indeed looked sufficiently serious, for, coming to the place whence the cries had proceeded, he

descried the figure of a man extended in an apparently lifeless state upon the pathway, and, hovering round

him, another person with a torch in his hand, which he waved in the air with a wild impatience, redoubling

The bearer of the torch shook his long loose hair back from his eyes, and thrusting his face eagerly into that

He noddednot once or twice, but a score of times, and that with a fantastic exaggeration which would have

kept his head in motion for an hour, but that the locksmith held up his finger, and fixing his eye sternly upon

'Steel, steel, steel!' he replied fiercely, imitating with his hand the thrust of a sword.

'Oh!' said the old man, bending over the body and looking round as he spoke into Barnaby's pale face,

strangely lighted up by something that was NOT intellect. 'The robber made off that way, did he? Well, well,

never mind that just now. Hold your torch this waya little farther offso. Now stand quiet, while I try to

With these words, he applied himself to a closer examination of the prostrate form, while Barnaby, holding

the torch as he had been directed, looked on in silence, fascinated by interest or curiosity, but repelled

nevertheless by some strong and secret horror which convulsed him in every nerve.

As he stood, at that moment, half shrinking back and half bending forward, both his face and figure were full

in the strong glare of the link, and as distinctly revealed as though it had been broad day. He was about

threeandtwenty years old, and though rather spare, of a fair height and strong make. His hair, of which he

had a great profusion, was red, and hanging in disorder about his face and shoulders, gave to his restless

looks an expression quite unearthlyenhanced by the paleness of his complexion, and the glassy lustre of

his large protruding eyes. Startling as his aspect was, the features were good, and there was something even

plaintive in his wan and haggard aspect. But, the absence of the soul is far more terrible in a living man than

His dress was of green, clumsily trimmed here and thereapparently by his own handswith gaudy lace;

brightest where the cloth was most worn and soiled, and poorest where it was at the best. A pair of tawdry

ruffles dangled at his wrists, while his throat was nearly bare. He had ornamented his hat with a cluster of

peacock's feathers, but they were limp and broken, and now trailed negligently down his back. Girt to his side

was the steel hilt of an old sword without blade or scabbard; and some particoloured ends of ribands and poor

glass toys completed the ornamental portion of his attire. The fluttered and confused disposition of all the

motley scraps that formed his dress, bespoke, in a scarcely less degree than his eager and unsettled manner,

the disorder of his mind, and by a grotesque contrast set off and heightened the more impressive wildness of

'Barnaby,' said the locksmith, after a hasty but careful inspection, 'this man is not dead, but he has a wound in

'Hush!' said Barnaby, laying his fingers upon his lips. 'He went out today a wooing. I wouldn't for a light

guinea that he should never go a wooing again, for, if he did, some eyes would grow dim that are now as

bright assee, when I talk of eyes, the stars come out! Whose eyes are they? If they are angels' eyes, why do

they look down here and see good men hurt, and only wink and sparkle all the night?'

'Now Heaven help this silly fellow,' murmured the perplexed locksmith; 'can he know this gentleman? His

mother's house is not far off; I had better see if she can tell me who he is. Barnaby, my man, help me to put

'I can't touch him!' cried the idiot falling back, and shuddering as with a strong spasm; he's bloody!'

'It's in his nature, I know,' muttered the locksmith, 'it's cruel to ask him, but I must have help. Barnabygood

Barnabydear Barnabyif you know this gentleman, for the sake of his life and everybody's life that loves

'Cover him then, wrap him closedon't let me see itsmell it hear the word. Don't speak the

'No, no, I'll not. There, you see he's covered now. Gently. Well done, well done!'

They placed him in the carriage with great ease, for Barnaby was strong and active, but all the time they were

so occupied he shivered from head to foot, and evidently experienced an ecstasy of terror.

This accomplished, and the wounded man being covered with Varden's own greatcoat which he took off for

the purpose, they proceeded onward at a brisk pace: Barnaby gaily counting the stars upon his fingers, and

Gabriel inwardly congratulating himself upon having an adventure now, which would silence Mrs Varden on

In the venerable suburbit was a suburb onceof Clerkenwell, towards that part of its confines which is

nearest to the Charter House, and in one of those cool, shady Streets, of which a few, widely scattered and

dispersed, yet remain in such old parts of the metropolis,each tenement quietly vegetating like an ancient

citizen who long ago retired from business, and dozing on in its infirmity until in course of time it tumbles

down, and is replaced by some extravagant young heir, flaunting in stucco and ornamental work, and all the

vanities of modern days,in this quarter, and in a street of this description, the business of the present

At the time of which it treats, though only sixandsixty years ago, a very large part of what is London now

had no existence. Even in the brains of the wildest speculators, there had sprung up no long rows of streets

connecting Highgate with Whitechapel, no assemblages of palaces in the swampy levels, nor little cities in

the open fields. Although this part of town was then, as now, parcelled out in streets, and plentifully peopled,

it wore a different aspect. There were gardens to many of the houses, and trees by the pavement side; with an

air of freshness breathing up and down, which in these days would be sought in vain. Fields were nigh at

hand, through which the New River took its winding course, and where there was merry haymaking in the

summer time. Nature was not so far removed, or hard to get at, as in these days; and although there were busy

trades in Clerkenwell, and working jewellers by scores, it was a purer place, with farmhouses nearer to it

than many modern Londoners would readily believe, and lovers' walks at no great distance, which turned into

squalid courts, long before the lovers of this age were born, or, as the phrase goes, thought of.

In one of these streets, the cleanest of them all, and on the shady side of the wayfor good housewives know

that sunlight damages their cherished furniture, and so choose the shade rather than its intrusive glarethere

stood the house with which we have to deal. It was a modest building, not very straight, not large, not tall; not

boldfaced, with great staring windows, but a shy, blinking house, with a conical roof going up into a peak

over its garret window of four small panes of glass, like a cocked hat on the head of an elderly gentleman

with one eye. It was not built of brick or lofty stone, but of wood and plaster; it was not planned with a dull

and wearisome regard to regularity, for no one window matched the other, or seemed to have the slightest

The shopfor it had a shopwas, with reference to the first floor, where shops usually are; and there all

resemblance between it and any other shop stopped short and ceased. People who went in and out didn't go

up a flight of steps to it, or walk easily in upon a level with the street, but dived down three steep stairs, as

into a cellar. Its floor was paved with stone and brick, as that of any other cellar might be; and in lieu of

window framed and glazed it had a great black wooden flap or shutter, nearly breast high from the ground,

which turned back in the daytime, admitting as much cold air as light, and very often more. Behind this

shop was a wainscoted parlour, looking first into a paved yard, and beyond that again into a little terrace

garden, raised some feet above it. Any stranger would have supposed that this wainscoted parlour, saving for

the door of communication by which he had entered, was cut off and detached from all the world; and indeed

most strangers on their first entrance were observed to grow extremely thoughtful, as weighing and pondering

in their minds whether the upper rooms were only approachable by ladders from without; never suspecting

that two of the most unassuming and unlikely doors in existence, which the most ingenious mechanician on

earth must of necessity have supposed to be the doors of closets, opened out of this roomeach without the

smallest preparation, or so much as a quarter of an inch of passageupon two dark winding flights of stairs,

the one upward, the other downward, which were the sole means of communication between that chamber

With all these oddities, there was not a neater, more scrupulously tidy, or more punctiliously ordered house,

in Clerkenwell, in London, in all England. There were not cleaner windows, or whiter floors, or brighter

Stoves, or more highly shining articles of furniture in old mahogany; there was not more rubbing, scrubbing,

burnishing and polishing, in the whole street put together. Nor was this excellence attained without some cost

and trouble and great expenditure of voice, as the neighbours were frequently reminded when the good lady

of the house overlooked and assisted in its being put to rights on cleaning dayswhich were usually from

Leaning against the doorpost of this, his dwelling, the locksmith stood early on the morning after he had met

with the wounded man, gazing disconsolately at a great wooden emblem of a key, painted in vivid yellow to

resemble gold, which dangled from the housefront, and swung to and fro with a mournful creaking noise, as

if complaining that it had nothing to unlock. Sometimes, he looked over his shoulder into the shop, which

was so dark and dingy with numerous tokens of his trade, and so blackened by the smoke of a little forge,

near which his 'prentice was at work, that it would have been difficult for one unused to such espials to have

distinguished anything but various tools of uncouth make and shape, great bunches of rusty keys, fragments

of iron, halffinished locks, and such like things, which garnished the walls and hung in clusters from the

After a long and patient contemplation of the golden key, and many such backward glances, Gabriel stepped

into the road, and stole a look at the upper windows. One of them chanced to be thrown open at the moment,

and a roguish face met his; a face lighted up by the loveliest pair of sparkling eyes that ever locksmith looked

upon; the face of a pretty, laughing, girl; dimpled and fresh, and healthfulthe very impersonation of

'Hush!' she whispered, bending forward and pointing archly to the window underneath. 'Mother is still

'Still, my dear,' returned the locksmith in the same tone. 'You talk as if she had been asleep all night, instead

of little more than half an hour. But I'm very thankful. Sleep's a blessingno doubt about it.' The last few

'How cruel of you to keep us up so late this morning, and never tell us where you were, or send us word!' said

'Ah Dolly, Dolly!' returned the locksmith, shaking his head, and smiling, 'how cruel of you to run upstairs to

bed! Come down to breakfast, madcap, and come down lightly, or you'll wake your mother. She must be

Keeping these latter words to himself, and returning his daughter's nod, he was passing into the workshop,

with the smile she had awakened still beaming on his face, when he just caught sight of his 'prentice's brown

paper cap ducking down to avoid observation, and shrinking from the window back to its former place, which

'Listening again, Simon!' said Gabriel to himself. 'That's bad. What in the name of wonder does he expect the

girl to say, that I always catch him listening when SHE speaks, and never at any other time! A bad habit, Sim,

a sneaking, underhanded way. Ah! you may hammer, but you won't beat that out of me, if you work at it till

So saying, and shaking his head gravely, he reentered the workshop, and confronted the subject of these

'There's enough of that just now,' said the locksmith. 'You needn't make any more of that confounded clatter.

'Sir,' said Sim, looking up with amazing politeness, and a peculiar little bow cut short off at the neck, 'I shall

'I suppose,' muttered Gabriel, 'that's out of the 'Prentice's Garland or the 'Prentice's Delight, or the 'Prentice's

Warbler, or the Prentice's Guide to the Gallows, or some such improving textbook. Now he's going to

Quite unconscious that his master was looking on from the dark corner by the parlour door, Sim threw off the

paper cap, sprang from his seat, and in two extraordinary steps, something between skating and minuet

dancing, bounded to a washing place at the other end of the shop, and there removed from his face and hands

all traces of his previous workpractising the same step all the time with the utmost gravity. This done, he

drew from some concealed place a little scrap of lookingglass, and with its assistance arranged his hair, and

ascertained the exact state of a little carbuncle on his nose. Having now completed his toilet, he placed the

fragment of mirror on a low bench, and looked over his shoulder at so much of his legs as could be reflected

Sim, as he was called in the locksmith's family, or Mr Simon Tappertit, as he called himself, and required all

men to style him out of doors, on holidays, and Sundays out,was an oldfashioned, thinfaced,

sleekhaired, sharpnosed, smalleyed little fellow, very little more than five feet high, and thoroughly

convinced in his own mind that he was above the middle size; rather tall, in fact, than otherwise. Of his

figure, which was well enough formed, though somewhat of the leanest, he entertained the highest

admiration; and with his legs, which, in kneebreeches, were perfect curiosities of littleness, he was

enraptured to a degree amounting to enthusiasm. He also had some majestic, shadowy ideas, which had never

been quite fathomed by his intimate friends, concerning the power of his eye. Indeed he had been known to

go so far as to boast that he could utterly quell and subdue the haughtiest beauty by a simple process, which

he termed 'eyeing her over;' but it must be added, that neither of this faculty, nor of the power he claimed to

have, through the same gift, of vanquishing and heaving down dumb animals, even in a rabid state, had he

ever furnished evidence which could be deemed quite satisfactory and conclusive.

It may be inferred from these premises, that in the small body of Mr Tappertit there was locked up an

ambitious and aspiring soul. As certain liquors, confined in casks too cramped in their dimensions, will

ferment, and fret, and chafe in their imprisonment, so the spiritual essence or soul of Mr Tappertit would

sometimes fume within that precious cask, his body, until, with great foam and froth and splutter, it would

force a vent, and carry all before it. It was his custom to remark, in reference to any one of these occasions,

that his soul had got into his head; and in this novel kind of intoxication many scrapes and mishaps befell

him, which he had frequently concealed with no small difficulty from his worthy master.

Sim Tappertit, among the other fancies upon which his before mentioned soul was for ever feasting and

regaling itself (and which fancies, like the liver of Prometheus, grew as they were fed upon), had a mighty

notion of his order; and had been heard by the servantmaid openly expressing his regret that the 'prentices

no longer carried clubs wherewith to mace the citizens: that was his strong expression. He was likewise

reported to have said that in former times a stigma had been cast upon the body by the execution of George

Barnwell, to which they should not have basely submitted, but should have demanded him of the

legislature temperately at first; then by an appeal to arms, if necessaryto be dealt with as they in their

wisdom might think fit. These thoughts always led him to consider what a glorious engine the 'prentices

might yet become if they had but a master spirit at their head; and then he would darkly, and to the terror of

his hearers, hint at certain reckless fellows that he knew of, and at a certain Lion Heart ready to become their

In respect of dress and personal decoration, Sim Tappertit was no less of an adventurous and enterprising

character. He had been seen, beyond dispute, to pull off ruffles of the finest quality at the corner of the street

on Sunday nights, and to put them carefully in his pocket before returning home; and it was quite notorious

that on all great holiday occasions it was his habit to exchange his plain steel kneebuckles for a pair of

glittering paste, under cover of a friendly post, planted most conveniently in that same spot. Add to this that

he was in years just twenty, in his looks much older, and in conceit at least two hundred; that he had no

objection to be jested with, touching his admiration of his master's daughter; and had even, when called upon

at a certain obscure tavern to pledge the lady whom he honoured with his love, toasted, with many winks and

leers, a fair creature whose Christian name, he said, began with a D;and as much is known of Sim

Tappertit, who has by this time followed the locksmith in to breakfast, as is necessary to be known in making

It was a substantial meal; for, over and above the ordinary tea equipage, the board creaked beneath the weight

of a jolly round of beef, a ham of the first magnitude, and sundry towers of buttered Yorkshire cake, piled

slice upon slice in most alluring order. There was also a goodly jug of wellbrowned clay, fashioned into the

form of an old gentleman, not by any means unlike the locksmith, atop of whose bald head was a fine white

froth answering to his wig, indicative, beyond dispute, of sparkling homebrewed ale. But, better far than fair

homebrewed, or Yorkshire cake, or ham, or beef, or anything to eat or drink that earth or air or water can

supply, there sat, presiding over all, the locksmith's rosy daughter, before whose dark eyes even beef grew

Fathers should never kiss their daughters when young men are by. It's too much. There are bounds to human

endurance. So thought Sim Tappertit when Gabriel drew those rosy lips to histhose lips within Sim's reach

from day to day, and yet so far off. He had a respect for his master, but he wished the Yorkshire cake might

'Father,' said the locksmith's daughter, when this salute was over, and they took their seats at table, 'what is

'AyMr Edward. And beside him, Barnaby, calling for help with all his might. It was well it happened as it

did; for the road's a lonely one, the hour was late, and, the night being cold, and poor Barnaby even less

sensible than usual from surprise and fright, the young gentleman might have met his death in a very short

'I dread to think of it!' cried his daughter with a shudder. 'How did you know him?'

'Know him!' returned the locksmith. 'I didn't know himhow could I? I had never seen him, often as I had

heard and spoken of him. I took him to Mrs Rudge's; and she no sooner saw him than the truth came out.'

'Miss Emma, fatherIf this news should reach her, enlarged upon as it is sure to be, she will go distracted.'

'Why, lookye there again, how a man suffers for being good natured,' said the locksmith. 'Miss Emma was

with her uncle at the masquerade at Carlisle House, where she had gone, as the people at the Warren told me,

sorely against her will. What does your blockhead father when he and Mrs Rudge have laid their heads

together, but goes there when he ought to be abed, makes interest with his friend the doorkeeper, slips him on

'And like himself to do so!' cried the girl, putting her fair arm round his neck, and giving him a most

'Like himself!' repeated Gabriel, affecting to grumble, but evidently delighted with the part he had taken, and

with her praise. 'Very like himselfso your mother said. However, he mingled with the crowd, and prettily

worried and badgered he was, I warrant you, with people squeaking, "Don't you know me?" and "I've found

you out," and all that kind of nonsense in his ears. He might have wandered on till now, but in a little room

there was a young lady who had taken off her mask, on account of the place being very warm, and was sitting

'And that was she,' replied the locksmith; 'and I no sooner whispered to her what the matter wasas softly,

Doll, and with nearly as much art as you could have used yourselfthan she gives a kind of scream and

'What did you dowhat happened next?' asked his daughter. 'Why, the masks came flocking round, with a

general noise and hubbub, and I thought myself in luck to get clear off, that's all,' rejoined the locksmith.

'What happened when I reached home you may guess, if you didn't hear it. Ah! Well, it's a poor heart that

This Toby was the brown jug of which previous mention has been made. Applying his lips to the worthy old

gentleman's benevolent forehead, the locksmith, who had all this time been ravaging among the eatables, kept

them there so long, at the same time raising the vessel slowly in the air, that at length Toby stood on his head

upon his nose, when he smacked his lips, and set him on the table again with fond reluctance.

Although Sim Tappertit had taken no share in this conversation, no part of it being addressed to him, he had

not been wanting in such silent manifestations of astonishment, as he deemed most compatible with the

favourable display of his eyes. Regarding the pause which now ensued, as a particularly advantageous

opportunity for doing great execution with them upon the locksmith's daughter (who he had no doubt was

looking at him in mute admiration), he began to screw and twist his face, and especially those features, into

such extraordinary, hideous, and unparalleled contortions, that Gabriel, who happened to look towards him,

'Why, what the devil's the matter with the lad?' cried the locksmith. 'Is he choking?'

'Who? Why, you,' returned his master. 'What do you mean by making those horrible faces over your

'Faces are matters of taste, sir,' said Mr Tappertit, rather discomfited; not the less so because he saw the

'Sim,' rejoined Gabriel, laughing heartily. 'Don't be a fool, for I'd rather see you in your senses. These young

fellows,' he added, turning to his daughter, 'are always committing some folly or another. There was a quarrel

between Joe Willet and old John last night though I can't say Joe was much in fault either. He'll be missing

one of these mornings, and will have gone away upon some wildgoose errand, seeking his fortune.Why,

what's the matter, Doll? YOU are making faces now. The girls are as bad as the boys every bit!'

'It's the tea,' said Dolly, turning alternately very red and very white, which is no doubt the effect of a slight

Mr Tappertit looked immensely big at a quartern loaf on the table, and breathed hard.

'Is that all?' returned the locksmith. 'Put some more milk in it. Yes, I am sorry for Joe, because he is a

likely young fellow, and gains upon one every time one sees him. But he'll start off, you'll find. Indeed he

But, before his daughter could make him any answer, she was taken with a troublesome cough, and it was

such a very unpleasant cough, that, when she left off, the tears were starting in her bright eyes. The

goodnatured locksmith was still patting her on the back and applying such gentle restoratives, when a

message arrived from Mrs Varden, making known to all whom it might concern, that she felt too much

indisposed to rise after her great agitation and anxiety of the previous night; and therefore desired to be

immediately accommodated with the little black teapot of strong mixed tea, a couple of rounds of buttered

toast, a middlingsized dish of beef and ham cut thin, and the Protestant Manual in two volumes post octavo.

Like some other ladies who in remote ages flourished upon this globe, Mrs Varden was most devout when

most illtempered. Whenever she and her husband were at unusual variance, then the Protestant Manual was

Knowing from experience what these requests portended, the triumvirate broke up; Dolly, to see the orders

executed with all despatch; Gabriel, to some outofdoor work in his little chaise; and Sim, to his daily duty

in the workshop, to which retreat he carried the big look, although the loaf remained behind.

Indeed the big look increased immensely, and when he had tied his apron on, became quite gigantic. It was

not until he had several times walked up and down with folded arms, and the longest strides be could take,

and had kicked a great many small articles out of his way, that his lip began to curl. At length, a gloomy

derision came upon his features, and he smiled; uttering meanwhile with supreme contempt the monosyllable

'I eyed her over, while he talked about the fellow,' he said, 'and that was of course the reason of her being

He walked up and down again much quicker than before, and if possible with longer strides; sometimes

stopping to take a glance at his legs, and sometimes to jerk out, and cast from him, another 'Joe!' In the course

of a quarter of an hour or so he again assumed the paper cap and tried to work. No. It could not be done.

'I'll do nothing today,' said Mr Tappertit, dashing it down again, 'but grind. I'll grind up all the tools.

Whirrrrr. The grindstone was soon in motion; the sparks were flying off in showers. This was the

'Something will come of this!' said Mr Tappertit, pausing as if in triumph, and wiping his heated face upon

As soon as the business of the day was over, the locksmith sallied forth, alone, to visit the wounded

gentleman and ascertain the progress of his recovery. The house where he had left him was in a bystreet in

Southwark, not far from London Bridge; and thither he hied with all speed, bent upon returning with as little

The evening was boisterousscarcely better than the previous night had been. It was not easy for a stout

man like Gabriel to keep his legs at the street corners, or to make head against the high wind, which often

fairly got the better of him, and drove him back some paces, or, in defiance of all his energy, forced him to

take shelter in an arch or doorway until the fury of the gust was spent. Occasionally a hat or wig, or both,

came spinning and trundling past him, like a mad thing; while the more serious spectacle of falling tiles and

slates, or of masses of brick and mortar or fragments of stonecoping rattling upon the pavement near at

hand, and splitting into fragments, did not increase the pleasure of the journey, or make the way less dreary.

'A trying night for a man like me to walk in!' said the locksmith, as he knocked softly at the widow's door. 'I'd

'Who's there?' demanded a woman's voice from within. Being answered, it added a hasty word of welcome,

She was about fortyperhaps two or three years olderwith a cheerful aspect, and a face that had once

been pretty. It bore traces of affliction and care, but they were of an old date, and Time had smoothed them.

Any one who had bestowed but a casual glance on Barnaby might have known that this was his mother, from

the strong resemblance between them; but where in his face there was wildness and vacancy, in hers there

One thing about this face was very strange and startling. You could not look upon it in its most cheerful

mood without feeling that it had some extraordinary capacity of expressing terror. It was not on the surface. It

was in no one feature that it lingered. You could not take the eyes or mouth, or lines upon the cheek, and say,

if this or that were otherwise, it would not be so. Yet there it always lurkedsomething for ever dimly seen,

but ever there, and never absent for a moment. It was the faintest, palest shadow of some look, to which an

instant of intense and most unutterable horror only could have given birth; but indistinct and feeble as it was,

it did suggest what that look must have been, and fixed it in the mind as if it had had existence in a dream.

More faintly imaged, and wanting force and purpose, as it were, because of his darkened intellect, there was

this same stamp upon the son. Seen in a picture, it must have had some legend with it, and would have

haunted those who looked upon the canvas. They who knew the Maypole story, and could remember what the

widow was, before her husband's and his master's murder, understood it well. They recollected how the

change had come, and could call to mind that when her son was born, upon the very day the deed was known,

'God save you, neighbour!' said the locksmith, as he followed her, with the air of an old friend, into a little

'And you,' she answered smiling. 'Your kind heart has brought you here again. Nothing will keep you at

'Tut, tut,' returned the locksmith, rubbing his hands and warming them. 'You women are such talkers. What of

'He is sleeping now. He was very restless towards daylight, and for some hours tossed and tumbled sadly. But

the fever has left him, and the doctor says he will soon mend. He must not be removed until tomorrow.'

'Yes. Old Mr Chester has been here ever since we sent for him, and had not been gone many minutes when

'Come. That's better than nothing!' replied the locksmith. 'Who was the bearer?'

'Barnaby's a jewel!' said Varden; 'and comes and goes with ease where we who think ourselves much wiser

'Thank Heaven he is in his bed; having been up all night, as you know, and on his feet all day. He was quite

tired out. Ah, neighbour, if I could but see him oftener soif I could but tame down that terrible

'In good time,' said the locksmith, kindly, 'in good timedon't be downhearted. To my mind he grows

The widow shook her head. And yet, though she knew the locksmith sought to cheer her, and spoke from no

conviction of his own, she was glad to hear even this praise of her poor benighted son.

'He will be a 'cute man yet,' resumed the locksmith. 'Take care, when we are growing old and foolish,

Barnaby doesn't put us to the blush, that's all. But our other friend,' he added, looking under the table and

about the floor'sharpest and cunningest of all the sharp and cunning oneswhere's he?'

'Ah! He's a knowing blade!' said Varden, shaking his head. 'I should be sorry to talk secrets before him. Oh!

He's a deep customer. I've no doubt he can read, and write, and cast accounts if he chooses. What was that?

'No,' returned the widow. 'It was in the street, I think. Hark! Yes. There again! 'Tis some one knocking softly

They had been speaking in a low tone, for the invalid lay overhead, and the walls and ceilings being thin and

poorly built, the sound of their voices might otherwise have disturbed his slumber. The party without,

whoever it was, could have stood close to the shutter without hearing anything spoken; and, seeing the light

through the chinks and finding all so quiet, might have been persuaded that only one person was there.

'No, no,' she returned hastily. 'Such visitors have never come to this poor dwelling. Do you stay here. You're

'Why?' said the locksmith, unwillingly relinquishing the candle he had caught up from the table.

'BecauseI don't know whybecause the wish is so strong upon me,' she rejoined. 'There againdo not

Gabriel looked at her, in great surprise to see one who was usually so mild and quiet thus agitated, and with

so little cause. She left the room and closed the door behind her. She stood for a moment as if hesitating, with

her hand upon the lock. In this short interval the knocking came again, and a voice close to the windowa

voice the locksmith seemed to recollect, and to have some disagreeable association withwhispered 'Make

The words were uttered in that low distinct voice which finds its way so readily to sleepers' ears, and wakes

them in a fright. For a moment it startled even the locksmith; who involuntarily drew back from the window,

The wind rumbling in the chimney made it difficult to hear what passed, but he could tell that the door was

opened, that there was the tread of a man upon the creaking boards, and then a moment's silencebroken by

a suppressed something which was not a shriek, or groan, or cry for help, and yet might have been either or

He rushed out upon the instant. There, at last, was that dreadful lookthe very one he seemed to know so

well and yet had never seen beforeupon her face. There she stood, frozen to the ground, gazing with

starting eyes, and livid cheeks, and every feature fixed and ghastly, upon the man he had encountered in the

dark last night. His eyes met those of the locksmith. It was but a flash, an instant, a breath upon a polished

The locksmith was upon himhad the skirts of his streaming garment almost in his graspwhen his arms

'The other way! I see him now,' rejoined the locksmith, pointing 'yondertherethere is his shadow

'Come back, come back!' exclaimed the woman, clasping him; 'Do not touch him on your life. I charge you,

'No matter what it means, don't ask, don't speak, don't think about it. He is not to be followed, checked, or

The old man looked at her in wonder, as she writhed and clung about him; and, borne down by her passion,

suffered her to drag him into the house. It was not until she had chained and doublelocked the door, fastened

every bolt and bar with the heat and fury of a maniac, and drawn him back into the room, that she turned

upon him, once again, that stony look of horror, and, sinking down into a chair, covered her face, and

Beyond all measure astonished by the strange occurrences which had passed with so much violence and

rapidity, the locksmith gazed upon the shuddering figure in the chair like one half stupefied, and would have

'Not for the world,' she rejoined, motioning to him with her trembling hand, and holding her face averted. 'It

'Neighbour,' said the locksmith, after a pause. 'Is this fair, or reasonable, or just to yourself? Is it like you,

who have known me so long and sought my advice in all matterslike you, who from a girl have had a

'I have need of them,' she replied. 'I am growing old, both in years and care. Perhaps that, and too much trial,

'How can I see what I have seen, and hold my peace!' returned the locksmith. 'Who was that man, and why

She was silent, but held to the chair as though to save herself from falling on the ground.

'I take the licence of an old acquaintance, Mary,' said the locksmith, 'who has ever had a warm regard for you,

and maybe has tried to prove it when he could. Who is this illfavoured man, and what has he to do with

you? Who is this ghost, that is only seen in the black nights and bad weather? How does he know, and why

does he haunt, this house, whispering through chinks and crevices, as if there was that between him and you,

'You do well to say he haunts this house,' returned the widow, faintly. 'His shadow has been upon it and me,

in light and darkness, at noonday and midnight. And now, at last, he has come in the body!'

'But he wouldn't have gone in the body,' returned the locksmith with some irritation, 'if you had left my arms

'It is one,' she answered, rising as she spoke, 'that must remain for ever as it is. I dare not say more than that.'

'Do not press me,' she replied. 'I am sick and faint, and every faculty of life seems dead within

Gabriel, who had stepped forward to render her assistance, fell back as she made this hasty exclamation, and

'Let me go my way alone,' she said in a low voice, 'and let the hands of no honest man touch mine tonight.'

When she had tottered to the door, she turned, and added with a stronger effort, 'This is a secret, which, of

necessity, I trust to you. You are a true man. As you have ever been good and kind to me,keep it. If any

noise was heard above, make some excusesay anything but what you really saw, and never let a word or

look between us, recall this circumstance. I trust to you. Mind, I trust to you. How much I trust, you never can

Casting her eyes upon him for an instant, she withdrew, and left him there alone.

Gabriel, not knowing what to think, stood staring at the door with a countenance full of surprise and dismay.

The more he pondered on what had passed, the less able he was to give it any favourable interpretation. To

find this widow woman, whose life for so many years had been supposed to be one of solitude and retirement,

and who, in her quiet suffering character, had gained the good opinion and respect of all who knew herto

find her linked mysteriously with an illomened man, alarmed at his appearance, and yet favouring his

escape, was a discovery that pained as much as startled him. Her reliance on his secrecy, and his tacit

acquiescence, increased his distress of mind. If he had spoken boldly, persisted in questioning her, detained

her when she rose to leave the room, made any kind of protest, instead of silently compromising himself, as

'Why did I let her say it was a secret, and she trusted it to me!' said Gabriel, putting his wig on one side to

scratch his head with greater ease, and looking ruefully at the fire. 'I have no more readiness than old John

himself. Why didn't I say firmly, "You have no right to such secrets, and I demand of you to tell me what this

means," instead of standing gaping at her, like an old moon calf as I am! But there's my weakness. I can be

obstinate enough with men if need be, but women may twist me round their fingers at their pleasure.'

He took his wig off outright as he made this reflection, and, warming his handkerchief at the fire began to rub

'And yet,' said the locksmith, softening under this soothing process, and stopping to smile, 'it MAY be

nothing. Any drunken brawler trying to make his way into the house, would have alarmed a quiet soul like

her. But then'and here was the vexation'how came it to be that man; how comes he to have this

influence over her; how came she to favour his getting away from me; and, more than all, how came she not

to say it was a sudden fright, and nothing more? It's a sad thing to have, in one minute, reason to mistrust a

person I have known so long, and an old sweetheart into the bargain; but what else can I do, with all this upon

'Ay!' he cried, looking in and nodding. 'Sure enough it's Barnabyhow did you guess?'

'Oho!' cried Barnaby, glancing over his shoulder, 'He's a merry fellow, that shadow, and keeps close to me,

though I AM silly. We have such pranks, such walks, such runs, such gambols on the grass! Sometimes he'll

be half as tall as a church steeple, and sometimes no bigger than a dwarf. Now, he goes on before, and now

behind, and anon he'll be stealing on, on this side, or on that, stopping whenever I stop, and thinking I can't

see him, though I have my eye on him sharp enough. Oh! he's a merry fellow. Tell meis he silly too? I

'Because be never tires of mocking me, but does it all day long. Why don't you come?'

'Upstairs. He wants you. Staywhere's HIS shadow? Come. You're a wise man; tell me that.'

'He has changed shadows with a woman,' the idiot whispered in his ear, and then fell back with a look of

triumph. 'Her shadow's always with him, and his with her. That's sport I think, eh?'

'I know what you want to say. I know!' he replied, keeping away from him. 'But I'm cunning, I'm silent. I only

say so much to youare you ready?' As he spoke, he caught up the light, and waved it with a wild laugh

'Softlygently,' said the locksmith, exerting all his influence to keep him calm and quiet. 'I thought you had

'So I HAVE been asleep,' he rejoined, with widelyopened eyes. 'There have been great faces coming and

goingclose to my face, and then a mile awaylow places to creep through, whether I would or nohigh

churches to fall down fromstrange creatures crowded up together neck and heels, to sit upon the

'I dreamed,' said Barnaby, passing his arm through Varden's, and peering close into his face as he answered in

a whisper, 'I dreamed just now that somethingit was in the shape of a manfollowed me came softly

after mewouldn't let me bebut was always hiding and crouching, like a cat in dark corners, waiting till I

should pass; when it crept out and came softly after me.Did you ever see me run?'

'You never saw me run as I did in this dream. Still it came creeping on to worry me. Nearer, nearer, nearerI

ran faster leapedsprung out of bed, and to the windowand there, in the street belowbut he is

'What in the street below, Barnaby?' said Varden, imagining that he traced some connection between this

Barnaby looked into his face, muttered incoherently, waved the light above his head again, laughed, and

drawing the locksmith's arm more tightly through his own, led him up the stairs in silence.

They entered a homely bedchamber, garnished in a scanty way with chairs, whose spindleshanks bespoke

their age, and other furniture of very little worth; but clean and neatly kept. Reclining in an easychair before

the fire, pale and weak from waste of blood, was Edward Chester, the young gentleman who had been the

first to quit the Maypole on the previous night, and who, extending his hand to the locksmith, welcomed him

'Say no more, sir, say no more,' said Gabriel. 'I hope I would have done at least as much for any man in such

a strait, and most of all for you, sir. A certain young lady,' he added, with some hesitation, 'has done us many

a kind turn, and we naturally feelI hope I give you no offence in saying this, sir?'

The young man smiled and shook his head; at the same time moving in his chair as if in pain.

'It's no great matter,' he said, in answer to the locksmith's sympathising look, 'a mere uneasiness arising at

least as much from being cooped up here, as from the slight wound I have, or from the loss of blood. Be

'If I may make so bold, Mr Edward, as to lean upon your chair,' returned the locksmith, accommodating his

action to his speech, and bending over him, 'I'll stand here for the convenience of speaking low. Barnaby is

not in his quietest humour tonight, and at such times talking never does him good.'

They both glanced at the subject of this remark, who had taken a seat on the other side of the fire, and,

'Pray, tell me, sir,' said Varden, dropping his voice still lower, 'exactly what happened last night. I have my

'And walked homeward alone, until I had nearly reached the place where you found me, when I heard the

'Indeed, yesbehind me. It was a single rider, who soon overtook me, and checking his horse, inquired the

'You were on the alert, sir, knowing how many highwaymen there are, scouring the roads in all directions?'

'I was, but I had only a stick, having imprudently left my pistols in their holstercase with the landlord's son.

I directed him as he desired. Before the words had passed my lips, he rode upon me furiously, as if bent on

trampling me down beneath his horse's hoofs. In starting aside, I slipped and fell. You found me with this

stab and an ugly bruise or two, and without my pursein which he found little enough for his pains. And

now, Mr Varden,' he added, shaking the locksmith by the hand, 'saving the extent of my gratitude to you, you

'Except,' said Gabriel, bending down yet more, and looking cautiously towards their silent neighhour, 'except

in respect of the robber himself. What like was he, sir? Speak low, if you please. Barnaby means no harm, but

I have watched him oftener than you, and I know, little as you would think it, that he's listening now.'

It required a strong confidence in the locksmith's veracity to lead any one to this belief, for every sense and

faculty that Barnahy possessed, seemed to be fixed upon his game, to the exclusion of all other things.

Something in the young man's face expressed this opinion, for Gabriel repeated what he had just said, more

earnestly than before, and with another glance towards Barnaby, again asked what like the man was.

'The night was so dark,' said Edward, 'the attack so sudden, and he so wrapped and muffled up, that I can

'Don't mention his name, sir,' returned the locksmith, following his look towards Barnaby; 'I know HE saw

'All I remember is,' said Edward, 'that as he checked his horse his hat was blown off. He caught it, and

replaced it on his head, which I observed was bound with a dark handkerchief. A stranger entered the

Maypole while I was there, whom I had not seenfor I had sat apart for reasons of my ownand when I

rose to leave the room and glanced round, he was in the shadow of the chimney and hidden from my sight.

But, if he and the robber were two different persons, their voices were strangely and most remarkably alike;

'It is as I feared. The very man was here tonight,' thought the locksmith, changing colour. 'What dark history

'Halloa!' cried a hoarse voice in his ear. 'Halloa, halloa, halloa! Bow wow wow. What's the matter here!

The speakerwho made the locksmith start as if he had been some supernatural agentwas a large raven,

who had perched upon the top of the easychair, unseen by him and Edward, and listened with a polite

attention and a most extraordinary appearance of comprehending every word, to all they had said up to this

point; turning his head from one to the other, as if his office were to judge between them, and it were of the

'Look at him!' said Varden, divided between admiration of the bird and a kind of fear of him. 'Was there ever

The raven, with his head very much on one side, and his bright eye shining like a diamond, preserved a

thoughtful silence for a few seconds, and then replied in a voice so hoarse and distant, that it seemed to come

'Halloa, halloa, halloa! What's the matter here! Keep up your spirits. Never say die. Bow wow wow. I'm a

devil, I'm a devil, I'm a devil. Hurrah!'And then, as if exulting in his infernal character, he began to

'I more than half believe he speaks the truth. Upon my word I do,' said Varden. 'Do you see how he looks at

To which the bird, balancing himself on tiptoe, as it were, and moving his body up and down in a sort of

grave dance, rejoined, 'I'm a devil, I'm a devil, I'm a devil,' and flapped his wings against his sides as if he

were bursting with laughter. Barnaby clapped his hands, and fairly rolled upon the ground in an ecstasy of

'Strange companions, sir,' said the locksmith, shaking his head, and looking from one to the other. 'The bird

'Strange indeed!' said Edward, holding out his forefinger to the raven, who, in acknowledgment of the

'A mere boy, sir,' replied the locksmith. 'A hundred and twenty, or thereabouts. Call him down, Barnaby, my

'Call him!' echoed Barnaby, sitting upright upon the floor, and staring vacantly at Gabriel, as he thrust his hair

back from his face. 'But who can make him come! He calls me, and makes me go where he will. He goes on

before, and I follow. He's the master, and I'm the man. Is that the truth, Grip?'

The raven gave a short, comfortable, confidential kind of croak;a most expressive croak, which seemed to

say, 'You needn't let these fellows into our secrets. We understand each other. It's all right.'

'I make HIM come?' cried Barnaby, pointing to the bird. 'Him, who never goes to sleep, or so much as

winks!Why, any time of night, you may see his eyes in my dark room, shining like two sparks. And every

night, and all night too, he's broad awake, talking to himself, thinking what he shall do tomorrow, where we

shall go, and what he shall steal, and hide, and bury. I make HIM come! Ha ha ha!'

On second thoughts, the bird appeared disposed to come of himself. After a short survey of the ground, and a

few sidelong looks at the ceiling and at everybody present in turn, he fluttered to the floor, and went to

Barnabynot in a hop, or walk, or run, but in a pace like that of a very particular gentleman with

exceedingly tight boots on, trying to walk fast over loose pebbles. Then, stepping into his extended hand, and

condescending to be held out at arm's length, he gave vent to a succession of sounds, not unlike the drawing

of some eight or ten dozen of long corks, and again asserted his brimstone birth and parentage with great

The locksmith shook his headperhaps in some doubt of the creature's being really nothing but a

birdperhaps in pity for Bamaby, who by this time had him in his arms, and was rolling about, with him, on

the ground. As he raised his eyes from the poor fellow he encountered those of his mother, who had entered

She was quite white in the face, even to her lips, but had wholly subdued her emotion, and wore her usual

quiet look. Varden fancied as he glanced at her that she shrunk from his eye; and that she busied herself about

It was time he went to bed, she said. He was to be removed to his own home on the morrow, and he had

already exceeded his time for sitting up, by a full hour. Acting on this hint, the locksmith prepared to take his

'By the bye,' said Edward, as he shook him by the hand, and looked from him to Mrs Rudge and back again,

'what noise was that below? I heard your voice in the midst of it, and should have inquired before, but our

The locksmith looked towards her, and bit his lip. She leant against the chair, and bent her eyes upon the

'Some mad or drunken fellow, sir,' Varden at length made answer, looking steadily at the widow as he

She breathed more freely, but stood quite motionless. As the locksmith said 'Good night,' and Barnaby caught

up the candle to light him down the stairs, she took it from him, and charged him with more haste and

earnestness than so slight an occasion appeared to warrantnot to stir. The raven followed them to satisfy

himself that all was right below, and when they reached the street door, stood on the bottom stair drawing

With a trembling hand she unfastened the chain and bolts, and turned the key. As she had her hand upon the

'I have told a lie tonight, for your sake, Mary, and for the sake of bygone times and old acquaintance, when I

would scorn to do so for my own. I hope I may have done no harm, or led to none. I can't help the suspicions

you have forced upon me, and I am loth, I tell you plainly, to leave Mr Edward here. Take care he comes to

no hurt. I doubt the safety of this roof, and am glad he leaves it so soon. Now, let me go.'

For a moment she hid her face in her hands and wept; but resisting the strong impulse which evidently moved

her to reply, opened the doorno wider than was sufficient for the passage of his body and motioned him

away. As the locksmith stood upon the step, it was chained and locked behind him, and the raven, in

'In league with that illlooking figure that might have fallen from a gibbethe listening and hiding

hereBarnaby first upon the spot last nightcan she who has always borne so fair a name be guilty of such

crimes in secret!' said the locksmith, musing. 'Heaven forgive me if I am wrong, and send me just thoughts;

but she is poor, the temptation may be great, and we daily hear of things as strange.Ay, bark away, my

Mrs Varden was a lady of what is commonly called an uncertain tempera phrase which being interpreted

signifies a temper tolerably certain to make everybody more or less uncomfortable. Thus it generally

happened, that when other people were merry, Mrs Varden was dull; and that when other people were dull,

Mrs Varden was disposed to be amazingly cheerful. Indeed the worthy housewife was of such a capricious

nature, that she not only attained a higher pitch of genius than Macbeth, in respect of her ability to be wise,

amazed, temperate and furious, loyal and neutral in an instant, but would sometimes ring the changes

backwards and forwards on all possible moods and flights in one short quarter of an hour; performing, as it

were, a kind of triple bob major on the peal of instruments in the female belfry, with a skilfulness and rapidity

It had been observed in this good lady (who did not want for personal attractions, being plump and buxom to

look at, though like her fair daughter, somewhat short in stature) that this uncertainty of disposition

strengthened and increased with her temporal prosperity; and divers wise men and matrons, on friendly terms

with the locksmith and his family, even went so far as to assert, that a tumble down some halfdozen rounds

in the world's laddersuch as the breaking of the bank in which her husband kept his money, or some little

fall of that kindwould be the making of her, and could hardly fail to render her one of the most agreeable

companions in existence. Whether they were right or wrong in this conjecture, certain it is that minds, like

bodies, will often fall into a pimpled illconditioned state from mere excess of comfort, and like them, are

often successfully cured by remedies in themselves very nauseous and unpalatable.

Mrs Varden's chief aider and abettor, and at the same time her principal victim and object of wrath, was her

single domestic servant, one Miss Miggs; or as she was called, in conformity with those prejudices of society

which lop and top from poor hand maidens all such genteel excrescencesMiggs. This Miggs was a tall

young lady, very much addicted to pattens in private life; slender and shrewish, of a rather uncomfortable

figure, and though not absolutely illlooking, of a sharp and acid visage. As a general principle and abstract

proposition, Miggs held the male sex to be utterly contemptible and unworthy of notice; to be fickle, false,

base, sottish, inclined to perjury, and wholly undeserving. When particularly exasperated against them

(which, scandal said, was when Sim Tappertit slighted her most) she was accustomed to wish with great

emphasis that the whole race of women could but die off, in order that the men might be brought to know the

real value of the blessings by which they set so little store; nay, her feeling for her order ran so high, that she

sometimes declared, if she could only have good security for a fair, round numbersay ten thousandof

young virgins following her example, she would, to spite mankind, hang, drown, stab, or poison herself, with

It was the voice of Miggs that greeted the locksmith, when he knocked at his own house, with a shrill cry of

What, already, sir!' said Miggs, opening the door with a look of surprise. 'We were just getting on our

Miggs said this with an air of uncommon candour and concern; but the parlourdoor was standing open, and

as Gabriel very well knew for whose ears it was designed, he regarded her with anything but an approving

'Master's come home, mim,' cried Miggs, running before him into the parlour. 'You was wrong, mim, and I

was right. I thought he wouldn't keep us up so late, two nights running, mim. Master's always considerate so

far. I'm so glad, mim, on your account. I'm a little'here Miggs simpered'a little sleepy myself; I'll own it

now, mim, though I said I wasn't when you asked me. It ain't of no consequence, mim, of course.'

'You had better,' said the locksmith, who most devoutly wished that Barnaby's raven was at Miggs's ankles,

'Thanking you kindly, sir,' returned Miggs, 'I couldn't take my rest in peace, nor fix my thoughts upon my

prayers, otherways than that I knew mistress was comfortable in her bed this night; by rights she ought to

'You're talkative, mistress,' said Varden, pulling off his greatcoat, and looking at her askew.

'Taking the hint, sir,' cried Miggs, with a flushed face, 'and thanking you for it most kindly, I will make bold

to say, that if I give offence by having consideration for my mistress, I do not ask your pardon, but am

Here Mrs Varden, who, with her countenance shrouded in a large nightcap, had been all this time intent upon

the Protestant Manual, looked round, and acknowledged Miggs's championship by commanding her to hold

Every little bone in Miggs's throat and neck developed itself with a spitefulness quite alarming, as she

'How do you find yourself now, my dear?' said the locksmith, taking a chair near his wife (who had resumed

'You're very anxious to know, an't you?' returned Mrs Varden, with her eyes upon the print. 'You, that have

Mrs Varden turned over to the next page; then went back again to the bottom line over leaf to be quite sure of

the last words; and then went on reading with an appearance of the deepest interest and study.

'My dear Martha,' said the locksmith, 'how can you say such things, when you know you don't mean them? If

you were dying! Why, if there was anything serious the matter with you, Martha, shouldn't I be in constant

'Yes!' cried Mrs Varden, bursting into tears, 'yes, you would. I don't doubt it, Varden. Certainly you would.

That's as much as to tell me that you would be hovering round me like a vulture, waiting till the breath was

Miggs groaned in sympathya little short groan, checked in its birth, and changed into a cough. It seemed to

say, 'I can't help it. It's wrung from me by the dreadful brutality of that monster master.'

'But you'll break my heart one of these days,' added Mrs Varden, with more resignation, 'and then we shall

both be happy. My only desire is to see Dolly comfortably settled, and when she is, you may settle ME as

Poor Gabriel twisted his wig about in silence for a long time, and then said mildly, 'Has Dolly gone to bed?'

'Your master speaks to you,' said Mrs Varden, looking sternly over her shoulder at Miss Miggs in waiting.

'Did you hear me, Miggs?' cried the obdurate lady, stamping her foot upon the ground. 'YOU are beginning to

At this cruel rebuke, Miggs, whose tears were always ready, for large or small parties, on the shortest notice

and the most reasonable terms, fell a crying violently; holding both her hands tight upon her heart meanwhile,

as if nothing less would prevent its splitting into small fragments. Mrs Varden, who likewise possessed that

faculty in high perfection, wept too, against Miggs; and with such effect that Miggs gave in after a time, and,

except for an occasional sob, which seemed to threaten some remote intention of breaking out again, left her

mistress in possession of the field. Her superiority being thoroughly asserted, that lady soon desisted

The relief was so great, and the fatiguing occurrences of last night so completely overpowered the locksmith,

that he nodded in his chair, and would doubtless have slept there all night, but for the voice of Mrs Varden,

'If I am ever,' said Mrs V.not scolding, but in a sort of monotonous remonstrance'in spirits, if I am ever

cheerful, if I am ever more than usually disposed to be talkative and comfortable, this is the way I am treated.'

'Such spirits as you was in too, mim, but half an hour ago!' cried Miggs. 'I never see such company!'

'Because,' said Mrs Varden, 'because I never interfere or interrupt; because I never question where anybody

comes or goes; because my whole mind and soul is bent on saving where I can save, and labouring in this

'Martha,' urged the locksmith, endeavouring to look as wakeful as possible, 'what is it you complain of? I

'What do I complain of!' retorted his wife. 'Is it a chilling thing to have one's husband sulking and falling

asleep directly he comes hometo have him freezing all one's warmheartedness, and throwing cold water

over the fireside? Is it natural, when I know he went out upon a matter in which I am as much interested as

anybody can be, that I should wish to know all that has happened, or that he should tell me without my

'I am very sorry, Martha,' said the goodnatured locksmith. 'I was really afraid you were not disposed to talk

'No, Varden,' returned his wife, rising with dignity. 'I dare say thank you! I'm not a child to be corrected

one minute and petted the nextI'm a little too old for that, Varden. Miggs, carry the light.YOU can be

Miggs, who, to this moment, had been in the very depths of compassionate despondency, passed instantly

into the liveliest state conceivable, and tossing her head as she glanced towards the locksmith, bore off her

'Now, who would think,' thought Varden, shrugging his shoulders and drawing his chair nearer to the fire,

'that that woman could ever be pleasant and agreeable? And yet she can be. Well, well, all of us have our

faults. I'll not be hard upon hers. We have been man and wife too long for that.'

He dozed againnot the less pleasantly, perhaps, for his hearty temper. While his eyes were closed, the door

leading to the upper stairs was partially opened; and a head appeared, which, at sight of him, hastily drew

'I wish,' murmured Gabriel, waking at the noise, and looking round the room, 'I wish somebody would marry

Miggs. But that's impossible! I wonder whether there's any madman alive, who would marry Miggs!'

This was such a vast speculation that he fell into a doze again, and slept until the fire was quite burnt out. At

last he roused himself; and having doublelocked the streetdoor according to custom, and put the key in his

He had not left the room in darkness many minutes, when the head again appeared, and Sim Tappertit

'What the devil business has he to stop up so late!' muttered Sim, passing into the workshop, and setting it

down upon the forge. 'Here's half the night gone already. There's only one good that has ever come to me, out

of this cursed old rusty mechanical trade, and that's this piece of ironmongery, upon my soul!'

As he spoke, he drew from the right hand, or rather right leg pocket of his smalls, a clumsy largesized key,

which he inserted cautiously in the lock his master had secured, and softly opened the door. That done, he

replaced his piece of secret workmanship in his pocket; and leaving the lamp burning, and closing the door

carefully and without noise, stole out into the streetas little suspected by the locksmith in his sound deep

Clear of the locksmith's house, Sim Tappertit laid aside his cautious manner, and assuming in its stead that of

a ruffling, swaggering, roving blade, who would rather kill a man than otherwise, and eat him too if needful,

Half pausing for an instant now and then to smite his pocket and assure himself of the safety of his master

key, he hurried on to Barbican, and turning into one of the narrowest of the narrow streets which diverged

from that centre, slackened his pace and wiped his heated brow, as if the termination of his walk were near at

It was not a very choice spot for midnight expeditions, being in truth one of more than questionable character,

and of an appearance by no means inviting. From the main street he had entered, itself little better than an

alley, a lowbrowed doorway led into a blind court, or yard, profoundly dark, unpaved, and reeking with

stagnant odours. Into this illfavoured pit, the locksmith's vagrant 'prentice groped his way; and stopping at a

house from whose defaced and rotten front the rude effigy of a bottle swung to and fro like some gibbeted

malefactor, struck thrice upon an iron grating with his foot. After listening in vain for some response to his

A further delay ensued, but it was not of long duration. The ground seemed to open at his feet, and a ragged

'Yes,' replied Mr Tappertit haughtily, descending as he spoke, 'who should it be?'

'It's so late, we gave you up,' returned the voice, as its owner stopped to shut and fasten the grating. 'You're

'Lead on,' said Mr Tappertit, with a gloomy majesty, 'and make remarks when I require you. Forward!'

This latter word of command was perhaps somewhat theatrical and unnecessary, inasmuch as the descent was

by a very narrow, steep, and slippery flight of steps, and any rashness or departure from the beaten track must

have ended in a yawning waterbutt. But Mr Tappertit being, like some other great commanders, favourable

to strong effects, and personal display, cried 'Forward!' again, in the hoarsest voice he could assume; and led

the way, with folded arms and knitted brows, to the cellar down below, where there was a small copper fixed

in one corner, a chair or two, a form and table, a glimmering fire, and a trucklebed, covered with a ragged

The captain nodded. Then, throwing off his outer coat, he stood composed in all his dignity, and eyed his

'Nothing particular,' replied the other, stretching himselfand he was so long already that it was quite

'No matter,' was all the captain deigned to say in answer. 'Is the room prepared?'

There was no doubt respecting the particular amusement in which these heedless spirits were indulging, for

even in the close and stifling atmosphere of the vault, the noise sounded like distant thunder. It certainly

appeared, at first sight, a singular spot to choose, for that or any other purpose of relaxation, if the other

cellars answered to the one in which this brief colloquy took place; for the floors were of sodden earth, the

walls and roof of damp bare brick tapestried with the tracks of snails and slugs; the air was sickening, tainted,

and offensive. It seemed, from one strong flavour which was uppermost among the various odours of the

place, that it had, at no very distant period, been used as a storehouse for cheeses; a circumstance which,

while it accounted for the greasy moisture that hung about it, was agreeably suggestive of rats. It was

naturally damp besides, and little trees of fungus sprung from every mouldering corner.

The proprietor of this charming retreat, and owner of the ragged head before mentionedfor he wore an old

tiewig as bare and frowzy as a stunted hearthbroomhad by this time joined them; and stood a little apart,

rubbing his hands, wagging his hoary bristled chin, and smiling in silence. His eyes were closed; but had they

been wide open, it would have been easy to tell, from the attentive expression of the face he turned towards

thempale and unwholesome as might be expected in one of his underground existenceand from a certain

'Even Stagg hath been asleep,' said the long comrade, nodding towards this person.

'Sound, captain, sound!' cried the blind man; 'what does my noble captain drinkis it brandy, rum,

usquebaugh? Is it soaked gunpowder, or blazing oil? Give it a name, heart of oak, and we'd get it for you, if it

'See,' said Mr Tappertit haughtily, 'that it's something strong, and comes quick; and so long as you take care

'Boldly said, noble captain!' rejoined the blind man. 'Spoken like the 'Prentices' Glory. Ha, ha! From the

'I'll tell you what, my fine feller,' said Mr Tappertit, eyeing the host over as he walked to a closet, and took

out a bottle and glass as carelessly as if he had been in full possession of his sight, 'if you make that row,

'He's got his eyes on me!' cried Stagg, stopping short on his way back, and affecting to screen his face with

the bottle. 'I feel 'em though I can't see 'em. Take 'em off, noble captain. Remove 'em, for they pierce like

Mr Tappertit smiled grimly at his comrade; and twisting out one more looka kind of ocular screwunder

the influence of which the blind man feigned to undergo great anguish and torture, bade him, in a softened

'I obey you, captain,' cried Stagg, drawing close to him and filling out a bumper without spilling a drop, by

reason that he held his little finger at the brim of the glass, and stopped at the instant the liquor touched it,

'drink, noble governor. Death to all masters, life to all 'prentices, and love to all fair damsels. Drink, brave

Mr Tappertit condescended to take the glass from his outstretched hand. Stagg then dropped on one knee, and

'That I had but eyes!' he cried, 'to behold my captain's symmetrical proportions! That I had but eyes, to look

'Get out!' said Mr Tappertit, glancing downward at his favourite limbs. 'Go along, will you, Stagg!'

'When I touch my own afterwards,' cried the host, smiting them reproachfully, 'I hate 'em. Comparatively

speaking, they've no more shape than wooden legs, beside these models of my noble captain's.'

'Yours!' exclaimed Mr Tappertit. 'No, I should think not. Don't talk about those precious old toothpicks in the

same breath with mine; that's rather too much. Here. Take the glass. Benjamin. Lead on. To business!'

With these words, he folded his arms again; and frowning with a sullen majesty, passed with his companion

through a little door at the upper end of the cellar, and disappeared; leaving Stagg to his private meditations.

The vault they entered, strewn with sawdust and dimly lighted, was between the outer one from which they

had just come, and that in which the skittleplayers were diverting themselves; as was manifested by the

increased noise and clamour of tongues, which was suddenly stopped, however, and replaced by a dead

silence, at a signal from the long comrade. Then, this young gentleman, going to a little cupboard, returned

with a thighbone, which in former times must have been part and parcel of some individual at least as long

as himself, and placed the same in the hands of Mr Tappertit; who, receiving it as a sceptre and staff of

authority, cocked his threecornered hat fiercely on the top of his head, and mounted a large table, whereon a

chair of state, cheerfully ornamented with a couple of skulls, was placed ready for his reception.

He had no sooner assumed this position, than another young gentleman appeared, bearing in his arms a huge

clasped book, who made him a profound obeisance, and delivering it to the long comrade, advanced to the

table, and turning his back upon it, stood there Atlaswise. Then, the long comrade got upon the table too;

and seating himself in a lower chair than Mr Tappertit's, with much state and ceremony, placed the large book

on the shoulders of their mute companion as deliberately as if he had been a wooden desk, and prepared to

When the long comrade had made these preparations, he looked towards Mr Tappertit; and Mr Tappertit,

flourishing the bone, knocked nine times therewith upon one of the skulls. At the ninth stroke, a third young

gentleman emerged from the door leading to the skittle ground, and bowing low, awaited his commands.

The 'prentice made answer that a stranger was in attendance, who claimed admission into that secret society

of 'Prentice Knights, and a free participation in their rights, privileges, and immunities. Thereupon Mr

Tappertit flourished the bone again, and giving the other skull a prodigious rap on the nose, exclaimed 'Admit

him!' At these dread words the 'prentice bowed once more, and so withdrew as he had come.

There soon appeared at the same door, two other 'prentices, having between them a third, whose eyes were

bandaged, and who was attired in a bagwig, and a broadskirted coat, trimmed with tarnished lace; and who

was girded with a sword, in compliance with the laws of the Institution regulating the introduction of

candidates, which required them to assume this courtly dress, and kept it constantly in lavender, for their

convenience. One of the conductors of this novice held a rusty blunderbuss pointed towards his ear, and the

other a very ancient sabre, with which he carved imaginary offenders as he came along in a sanguinary and

As this silent group advanced, Mr Tappertit fixed his hat upon his head. The novice then laid his hand upon

his breast and bent before him. When he had humbled himself sufficiently, the captain ordered the bandage to

'Ha!' said the captain, thoughtfully, when he had concluded this ordeal. 'Proceed.'

The long comrade read aloud as follows:'Mark Gilbert. Age, nineteen. Bound to Thomas Curzon, hosier,

Golden Fleece, Aldgate. Loves Curzon's daughter. Cannot say that Curzon's daughter loves him. Should think

'Write Curzon down, Denounced,' said the captain. 'Put a black cross against the name of Curzon.'

'So please you,' said the novice, 'that's not the worsthe calls his 'prentice idle dog, and stops his beer unless

he works to his liking. He gives Dutch cheese, too, eating Cheshire, sir, himself; and Sundays out, are only

'This,' said Mr Tappert;t gravely, 'is a flagrant case. Put two black crosses to the name of Curzon.'

'If the society,' said the novice, who was an illlooking, one sided, shambling lad, with sunken eyes set

close together in his head'if the society would burn his house downfor he's not insuredor beat him as

he comes home from his club at night, or help me to carry off his daughter, and marry her at the Fleet,

Mr Tappertit waved his grizzly truncheon as an admonition to him not to interrupt, and ordered three black

'Which means,' he said in gracious explanation, 'vengeance, complete and terrible. 'Prentice, do you love the

To which the novice (being to that end instructed by his attendant sponsors) replied 'I do!'

'The Church, the State, and everything establishedbut the masters?' quoth the captain.

Having said it, he listened meekly to the captain, who in an address prepared for such occasions, told him

how that under that same Constitution (which was kept in a strong box somewhere, but where exactly he

could not find out, or he would have endeavoured to procure a copy of it), the 'prentices had, in times gone

by, had frequent holidays of right, broken people's heads by scores, defied their masters, nay, even achieved

some glorious murders in the streets, which privileges had gradually been wrested from them, and in all

which noble aspirations they were now restrained; how the degrading checks imposed upon them were

unquestionably attributable to the innovating spirit of the times, and how they united therefore to resist all

change, except such change as would restore those good old English customs, by which they would stand or

fall. After illustrating the wisdom of going backward, by reference to that sagacious fish, the crab, and the not

unfrequent practice of the mule and donkey, he described their general objects; which were briefly vengeance

on their Tyrant Masters (of whose grievous and insupportable oppression no 'prentice could entertain a

moment's doubt) and the restoration, as aforesaid, of their ancient rights and holidays; for neither of which

objects were they now quite ripe, being barely twenty strong, but which they pledged themselves to pursue

with fire and sword when needful. Then he described the oath which every member of that small remnant of a

noble body took, and which was of a dreadful and impressive kind; binding him, at the bidding of his chief,

to resist and obstruct the Lord Mayor, swordbearer, and chaplain; to despise the authority of the sheriffs;

and to hold the court of aldermen as nought; but not on any account, in case the fulness of time should bring a

general rising of 'prentices, to damage or in any way disfigure Temple Bar, which was strictly constitutional

and always to be approached with reverence. Having gone over these several heads with great eloquence and

force, and having further informed the novice that this society had its origin in his own teeming brain,

stimulated by a swelling sense of wrong and outrage, Mr Tappertit demanded whether he had strength of

heart to take the mighty pledge required, or whether he would withdraw while retreat was yet in his power.

To this the novice made rejoinder, that he would take the vow, though it should choke him; and it was

accordingly administered with many impressive circumstances, among which the lighting up of the two

skulls with a candleend inside of each, and a great many flourishes with the bone, were chiefly conspicuous;

not to mention a variety of grave exercises with the blunderbuss and sabre, and some dismal groaning by

unseen 'prentices without. All these dark and direful ceremonies being at length completed, the table was put

aside, the chair of state removed, the sceptre locked up in its usual cupboard, the doors of communication

between the three cellars thrown freely open, and the 'Prentice Knights resigned themselves to merriment.

But Mr Tappertit, who had a soul above the vulgar herd, and who, on account of his greatness, could only

afford to be merry now and then, threw himself on a bench with the air of a man who was faint with dignity.

He looked with an indifferent eye, alike on skittles, cards, and dice, thinking only of the locksmith's daughter,

'My noble captain neither games, nor sings, nor dances,' said his host, taking a seat beside him. 'Drink, gallant

Mr Tappertit drained the proffered goblet to the dregs; then thrust his hands into his pockets, and with a

lowering visage walked among the skittles, while his followers (such is the influence of superior genius)

'If I had been born a corsair or a pirate, a brigand, genteel highwayman or patriotand they're the same

thing,' thought Mr Tappertit, musing among the ninepins, 'I should have been all right. But to drag out a

ignoble existence unbeknown to mankind in generalpatience! I will be famous yet. A voice within me

keeps on whispering Greatness. I shall burst out one of these days, and when I do, what power can keep me

'The novice,' pursued Mr Tappertit, not exactly in a voice of thunder, for his tones, to say the truth were rather

'Here, noble captain!' cried Stagg. 'One stands beside me who I feel is a stranger.'

'Have you,' said Mr Tappertit, letting his gaze fall on the party indicated, who was indeed the new knight, by

this time restored to his own apparel; 'Have you the impression of your streetdoor key in wax?'

The long comrade anticipated the reply, by producing it from the shelf on which it had been deposited.

'Good,' said Mr Tappertit, scrutinising it attentively, while a breathless silence reigned around; for he had

constructed secret doorkeys for the whole society, and perhaps owed something of his influence to that

mean and trivial circumstanceon such slight accidents do even men of mind depend!'This is easily

With that, he beckoned the new knight apart, and putting the pattern in his pocket, motioned to him to walk

'And so,' he said, when they had taken a few turns up and down, youyou love your master's daughter?'

'Have you,' rejoined Mr Tappertit, catching him by the wrist, and giving him a look which would have been

expressive of the most deadly malevolence, but for an accidental hiccup that rather interfered with it; 'have

'It is enough,' cried Mr Tappertit hastily, 'we understand each other. We are observed. I thank you.'

So saying, he cast him off again; and calling the long comrade aside after taking a few hasty turns by himself,

bade him immediately write and post against the wall, a notice, proscribing one Joseph Willet (commonly

known as Joe) of Chigwell; forbidding all 'Prentice Knights to succour, comfort, or hold communion with

him; and requiring them, on pain of excommunication, to molest, hurt, wrong, annoy, and pick quarrels with

the said Joseph, whensoever and wheresoever they, or any of them, should happen to encounter him.

Having relieved his mind by this energetic proceeding, he condescended to approach the festive board, and

warming by degrees, at length deigned to preside, and even to enchant the company with a song. After this,

he rose to such a pitch as to consent to regale the society with a hornpipe, which be actually performed to the

music of a fiddle (played by an ingenious member) with such surpassing agility and brilliancy of execution,

that the spectators could not be sufficiently enthusiastic in their admiration; and their host protested, with

tears in his eyes, that he had never truly felt his blindness until that moment.

But the host withdrawingprobably to weep in secretsoon returned with the information that it wanted

little more than an hour of day, and that all the cocks in Barbican had already begun to crow, as if their lives

depended on it. At this intelligence, the 'Prentice Knights arose in haste, and marshalling into a line, filed off

one by one and dispersed with all speed to their several homes, leaving their leader to pass the grating last.

'Good night, noble captain,' whispered the blind man as he held it open for his passage out; 'Farewell, brave

general. Bye, bye, illustrious commander. Good luck go with you for aconceited, bragging, emptyheaded,

With which parting words, coolly added as he listened to his receding footsteps and locked the grate upon

himself, he descended the steps, and lighting the fire below the little copper, prepared, without any assistance,

for his daily occupation; which was to retail at the areahead above pennyworths of broth and soup, and

savoury puddings, compounded of such scraps as were to be bought in the heap for the least money at Fleet

Market in the evening time; and for the sale of which he had need to have depended chiefly on his private

connection, for the court had no thoroughfare, and was not that kind of place in which many people were

Chronicler's are privileged to enter where they list, to come and go through keyholes, to ride upon the wind,

to overcome, in their soarings up and down, all obstacles of distance, time, and place. Thrice blessed be this

last consideration, since it enables us to follow the disdainful Miggs even into the sanctity of her chamber,

Miss Miggs, having undone her mistress, as she phrased it (which means, assisted to undress her), and having

seen her comfortably to bed in the back room on the first floor, withdrew to her own apartment, in the attic

story. Notwithstanding her declaration in the locksmith's presence, she was in no mood for sleep; so, putting

her light upon the table and withdrawing the little window curtain, she gazed out pensively at the wild night

Perhaps she wondered what star was destined for her habitation when she had run her little course below;

perhaps speculated which of those glimmering spheres might be the natal orb of Mr Tappertit; perhaps

marvelled how they could gaze down on that perfidious creature, man, and not sicken and turn green as

chemists' lamps; perhaps thought of nothing in particular. Whatever she thought about, there she sat, until her

attention, alive to anything connected with the insinuating 'prentice, was attracted by a noise in the next room

to her ownhis room; the room in which he slept, and dreamedit might be, sometimes dreamed of her.

That he was not dreaming now, unless he was taking a walk in his sleep, was clear, for every now and then

there came a shuffling noise, as though he were engaged in polishing the whitewashed wall; then a gentle

creaking of his door; then the faintest indication of his stealthy footsteps on the landingplace outside. Noting

this latter circumstance, Miss Miggs turned pale and shuddered, as mistrusting his intentions; and more than

once exclaimed, below her breath, 'Oh! what a Providence it is, as I am bolted in!'which, owing doubtless

to her alarm, was a confusion of ideas on her part between a bolt and its use; for though there was one on the

Miss Miggs's sense of hearing, however, having as sharp an edge as her temper, and being of the same

snappish and suspicious kind, very soon informed her that the footsteps passed her door, and appeared to

have some object quite separate and disconnected from herself. At this discovery she became more alarmed

than ever, and was about to give utterance to those cries of 'Thieves!' and 'Murder!' which she had hitherto

restrained, when it occurred to her to look softly out, and see that her fears had some good palpable

Looking out accordingly, and stretching her neck over the handrail, she descried, to her great amazement, Mr

Tappertit completely dressed, stealing downstairs, one step at a time, with his shoes in one hand and a lamp

in the other. Following him with her eyes, and going down a little way herself to get the better of an

intervening angle, she beheld him thrust his head in at the parlourdoor, draw it back again with great

swiftness, and immediately begin a retreat upstairs with all possible expedition.

'Here's mysteries!' said the damsel, when she was safe in her own room again, quite out of breath. 'Oh,

The prospect of finding anybody out in anything, would have kept Miss Miggs awake under the influence of

henbane. Presently, she heard the step again, as she would have done if it had been that of a feather endowed

with motion and walking down on tiptoe. Then gliding out as before, she again beheld the retreating figure of

the 'prentice; again he looked cautiously in at the parlourdoor, but this time instead of retreating, he passed

Miggs was back in her room, and had her head out of the window, before an elderly gentleman could have

winked and recovered from it. Out he came at the streetdoor, shut it carefully behind him, tried it with his

knee, and swaggered off, putting something in his pocket as he went along. At this spectacle Miggs cried

'Gracious!' again, and then 'Goodness gracious!' and then 'Goodness gracious me!' and then, candle in hand,

went downstairs as he had done. Coming to the workshop, she saw the lamp burning on the forge, and

'Why I wish I may only have a walking funeral, and never be buried decent with a mourningcoach and

feathers, if the boy hasn't been and made a key for his own self!' cried Miggs. 'Oh the little villain!'

This conclusion was not arrived at without consideration, and much peeping and peering about; nor was it

unassisted by the recollection that she had on several occasions come upon the 'prentice suddenly, and found

him busy at some mysterious occupation. Lest the fact of Miss Miggs calling him, on whom she stooped to

cast a favourable eye, a boy, should create surprise in any breast, it may be observed that she invariably

affected to regard all male bipeds under thirty as mere chits and infants; which phenomenon is not unusual in

ladies of Miss Miggs's temper, and is indeed generally found to be the associate of such indomitable and

Miss Miggs deliberated within herself for some little time, looking hard at the shopdoor while she did so, as

though her eyes and thoughts were both upon it; and then, taking a sheet of paper from a drawer, twisted it

into a long thin spiral tube. Having filled this instrument with a quantity of small coaldust from the forge,

she approached the door, and dropping on one knee before it, dexterously blew into the keyhole as much of

these fine ashes as the lock would hold. When she had filled it to the brim in a very workmanlike and skilful

'There!' cried Miggs, rubbing her hands, 'now let's see whether you won't be glad to take some notice of me,

mister. He, he, he! You'll have eyes for somebody besides Miss Dolly now, I think. A fatfaced puss she is,

As she uttered this criticism, she glanced approvingly at her small mirror, as who should say, I thank my stars

that can't be said of me!as it certainly could not; for Miss Miggs's style of beauty was of that kind which

'I don't go to bed this night!' said Miggs, wrapping herself in a shawl, and drawing a couple of chairs near the

window, flouncing down upon one, and putting her feet upon the other, 'till you come home, my lad. I

With that, and with an expression of face in which a great number of opposite ingredients, such as mischief,

cunning, malice, triumph, and patient expectation, were all mixed up together in a kind of physiognomical

punch, Miss Miggs composed herself to wait and listen, like some fair ogress who had set a trap and was

She sat there, with perfect composure, all night. At length, just upon break of day, there was a footstep in the

street, and presently she could hear Mr Tappertit stop at the door. Then she could make out that he tried his

keythat he was blowing into it that he knocked it on the nearest post to beat the dust outthat he took it

under a lamp to look at itthat he poked bits of stick into the lock to clear itthat he peeped into the

keyhole, first with one eye, and then with the otherthat he tried the key again that he couldn't turn it, and

what was worse, couldn't get it out that he bent itthat then it was much less disposed to come out than

beforethat he gave it a mighty twist and a great pull, and then it came out so suddenly that he staggered

backwardsthat he kicked the doorthat he shook itfinally, that he smote his forehead, and sat down on

When this crisis had arrived, Miss Miggs, affecting to be exhausted with terror, and to cling to the

windowsill for support, put out her nightcap, and demanded in a faint voice who was there.

Mr Tappertit cried 'Hush!' and, backing to the road, exhorted her in frenzied pantomime to secrecy and

'Then,' said Miggs, more faintly than before, 'it's fire. Where is it, sir? It's near this room, I know. I've a good

conscience, sir, and would much rather die than go down a ladder. All I wish is, respecting my love to my

married sister, Golden Lion Court, number twentysivin, second bellhandle on the righthand door post.'

'Oh! what about him!' cried Miggs, clasping her hands. 'Is he in any danger? Is he in the midst of flames and

'Why I'm here, an't I?' rejoined Mr Tappertit, knocking himself on the breast. 'Don't you see me? What a fool

'There!' cried Miggs, unmindful of this compliment. 'Whyso it Goodness, what is the meaning ofIf

'No, no!' cried Mr Tappertit, standing on tiptoe, as if by that means he, in the street, were any nearer being

able to stop the mouth of Miggs in the garret. 'Don't!I've been out without leave, and something or

another's the matter with the lock. Come down, and undo the shop window, that I may get in that way.'

'I dursn't do it, Simmun,' cried Miggsfor that was her pronunciation of his Christian name. 'I dursn't do it,

indeed. You know as well as anybody, how particular I am. And to come down in the dead of night, when the

house is wrapped in slumbers and weiled in obscurity.' And there she stopped and shivered, for her modesty

'But Miggs,' cried Mr Tappertit, getting under the lamp, that she might see his eyes. 'My darling Miggs'

'That I love so much, and never can help thinking of,' and it is impossible to describe the use he made of

'Oh Simmun,' cried Miggs, 'this is worse than all. I know if I come down, you'll go, and'

'And try,' said Miggs, hysterically, 'to kiss me, or some such dreadfulness; I know you will!'

'I swear I won't,' said Mr Tappertit, with remarkable earnestness. 'Upon my soul I won't. It's getting broad

day, and the watchman's waking up. Angelic Miggs! If you'll only come and let me in, I promise you

Miss Miggs, whose gentle heart was touched, did not wait for the oath (knowing how strong the temptation

was, and fearing he might forswear himself), but tripped lightly down the stairs, and with her own fair hands

drew back the rough fastenings of the workshop window. Having helped the wayward 'prentice in, she faintly

articulated the words 'Simmun is safe!' and yielding to her woman's nature, immediately became insensible.

'I knew I should quench her,' said Sim, rather embarrassed by this circumstance. 'Of course I was certain it

would come to this, but there was nothing else to be doneif I hadn't eyed her over, she wouldn't have come

down. Here. Keep up a minute, Miggs. What a slippery figure she is! There's no holding her, comfortably. Do

As Miggs, however, was deaf to all entreaties, Mr Tappertit leant her against the wall as one might dispose of

a walkingstick or umbrella, until he had secured the window, when he took her in his arms again, and, in

short stages and with great difficultyarising from her being tall and his being short, and perhaps in some

degree from that peculiar physical conformation on which he had already remarkedcarried her upstairs,

and planting her, in the same umbrella and walkingstick fashion, just inside her own door, left her to her

'He may be as cool as he likes,' said Miss Miggs, recovering as soon as she was left alone; 'but I'm in his

It was on one of those mornings, common in early spring, when the year, fickle and changeable in its youth

like all other created things, is undecided whether to step backward into winter or forward into summer, and

in its uncertainty inclines now to the one and now to the other, and now to both at oncewooing summer in

the sunshine, and lingering still with winter in the shadeit was, in short, on one of those mornings, when it

is hot and cold, wet and dry, bright and lowering, sad and cheerful, withering and genial, in the compass of

one short hour, that old John Willet, who was dropping asleep over the copper boiler, was roused by the

sound of a horse's feet, and glancing out at window, beheld a traveller of goodly promise, checking his bridle

He was none of your flippant young fellows, who would call for a tankard of mulled ale, and make

themselves as much at home as if they had ordered a hogshead of wine; none of your audacious young

swaggerers, who would even penetrate into the barthat solemn sanctuaryand, smiting old John upon the

back, inquire if there was never a pretty girl in the house, and where he hid his little chambermaids, with a

hundred other impertinences of that nature; none of your freeandeasy companions, who would scrape their

boots upon the firedogs in the common room, and be not at all particular on the subject of spittoons; none of

your unconscionable blades, requiring impossible chops, and taking unheardof pickles for granted. He was a

staid, grave, placid gentleman, something past the prime of life, yet upright in his carriage, for all that, and

slim as a greyhound. He was wellmounted upon a sturdy chestnut cob, and had the graceful seat of an

experienced horseman; while his riding gear, though free from such fopperies as were then in vogue, was

handsome and well chosen. He wore a ridingcoat of a somewhat brighter green than might have been

expected to suit the taste of a gentleman of his years, with a short, black velvet cape, and laced pocketholes

and cuffs, all of a jaunty fashion; his linen, too, was of the finest kind, worked in a rich pattern at the wrists

and throat, and scrupulously white. Although he seemed, judging from the mud he had picked up on the way,

to have come from London, his horse was as smooth and cool as his own irongrey periwig and pigtail.

Neither man nor beast had turned a single hair; and saving for his soiled skirts and spatterdashes, this

gentleman, with his blooming face, white teeth, exactlyordered dress, and perfect calmness, might have

come from making an elaborate and leisurely toilet, to sit for an equestrian portrait at old John Willet's gate.

It must not be supposed that John observed these several characteristics by other than very slow degrees, or

that he took in more than half a one at a time, or that he even made up his mind upon that, without a great

deal of very serious consideration. Indeed, if he had been distracted in the first instance by questionings and

orders, it would have taken him at the least a fortnight to have noted what is here set down; but it happened

that the gentleman, being struck with the old house, or with the plump pigeons which were skimming and

curtseying about it, or with the tall maypole, on the top of which a weathercock, which had been out of order

for fifteen years, performed a perpetual walk to the music of its own creaking, sat for some little time looking

round in silence. Hence John, standing with his hand upon the horse's bridle, and his great eyes on the rider,

and with nothing passing to divert his thoughts, had really got some of these little circumstances into his

'A quaint place this,' said the gentlemanand his voice was as rich as his dress. 'Are you the landlord?'

'You can give my horse good stabling, can you, and me an early dinner (I am not particular what, so that it be

cleanly served), and a decent room of which there seems to be no lack in this great mansion,' said the

'You can have, sir,' returned John with a readiness quite surprising, 'anything you please.'

'It's well I am easily satisfied,' returned the other with a smile, 'or that might prove a hardy pledge, my friend.'

And saying so, he dismounted, with the aid of the block before the door, in a twinkling.

'Halloa there! Hugh!' roared John. 'I ask your pardon, sir, for keeping you standing in the porch; but my son

has gone to town on business, and the boy being, as I may say, of a kind of use to me, I'm rather put out when

he's away. Hugh!a dreadful idle vagrant fellow, sir, half a gipsy, as I thinkalways sleeping in the sun in

summer, and in the straw in winter time, sirHugh! Dear Lord, to keep a gentleman a waiting here through

'Possibly he is,' returned the other. 'I should think if he were living, he would have heard you by this time.'

'In his fits of laziness, he sleeps so desperate hard,' said the distracted host, 'that if you were to fire off

The guest made no remark upon this novel cure for drowsiness, and recipe for making people lively, but, with

his hands clasped behind him, stood in the porch, very much amused to see old John, with the bridle in his

hand, wavering between a strong impulse to abandon the animal to his fate, and a half disposition to lead him

'Pillory the fellow, here he is at last!' cried John, in the very height and zenith of his distress. 'Did you hear

The figure he addressed made no answer, but putting his hand upon the saddle, sprung into it at a bound,

'Brisk enough, sir!' replied John, looking at the place where the horse had been, as if not yet understanding

quite, what had become of him. 'He melts, I think. He goes like a drop of froth. You look at him, and there he

Having, in the absence of any more words, put this sudden climax to what he had faintly intended should be a

long explanation of the whole life and character of his man, the oracular John Willet led the gentleman up his

It was spacious enough in all conscience, occupying the whole depth of the house, and having at either end a

great bay window, as large as many modern rooms; in which some few panes of stained glass, emblazoned

with fragments of armorial bearings, though cracked, and patched, and shattered, yet remained; attesting, by

their presence, that the former owner had made the very light subservient to his state, and pressed the sun

itself into his list of flatterers; bidding it, when it shone into his chamber, reflect the badges of his ancient

But those were old days, and now every little ray came and went as it would; telling the plain, bare, searching

truth. Although the best room of the inn, it had the melancholy aspect of grandeur in decay, and was much

too vast for comfort. Rich rustling hangings, waving on the walls; and, better far, the rustling of youth and

beauty's dress; the light of women's eyes, outshining the tapers and their own rich jewels; the sound of gentle

tongues, and music, and the tread of maiden feet, had once been there, and filled it with delight. But they

were gone, and with them all its gladness. It was no longer a home; children were never born and bred there;

the fireside had become mercenarya something to be bought and solda very courtezan: let who would

die, or sit beside, or leave it, it was still the sameit missed nobody, cared for nobody, had equal warmth

and smiles for all. God help the man whose heart ever changes with the world, as an old mansion when it

No effort had been made to furnish this chilly waste, but before the broad chimney a colony of chairs and

tables had been planted on a square of carpet, flanked by a ghostly screen, enriched with figures, grinning and

grotesque. After lighting with his own hands the faggots which were heaped upon the hearth, old John

withdrew to hold grave council with his cook, touching the stranger's entertainment; while the guest himself,

seeing small comfort in the yet unkindled wood, opened a lattice in the distant window, and basked in a

Leaving the window now and then, to rake the crackling logs together, or pace the echoing room from end to

end, he closed it when the fire was quite burnt up, and having wheeled the easiest chair into the warmest

He wanted pen, ink, and paper. There was an old standish on the mantelshelf containing a dusty apology for

all three. Having set this before him, the landlord was retiring, when he motioned him to stay.

'There's a house not far from here,' said the guest when he had written a few lines, 'which you call the

As this was said in the tone of one who knew the fact, and asked the question as a thing of course, John

contented himself with nodding his head in the affirmative; at the same time taking one hand out of his

'I want this note'said the guest, glancing on what he had written, and folding it, 'conveyed there without

This was disconcerting; for Joe being out, and Hugh engaged in rubbing down the chestnut cob, he designed

sending on the errand, Barnaby, who had just then arrived in one of his rambles, and who, so that he thought

'Why the truth is,' said John after a long pause, 'that the person who'd go quickest, is a sort of natural, as one

may say, sir; and though quick of foot, and as much to be trusted as the post itself, he's not good at talking,

'You don't,' said the guest, raising his eyes to John's fat face, 'you don't meanwhat's the fellow's

'Yes, I do,' returned the landlord, his features turning quite expressive with surprise.

'How comes he to be here?' inquired the guest, leaning back in his chair; speaking in the bland, even tone,

from which he never varied; and with the same soft, courteous, neverchanging smile upon his face. 'I saw

'He's, for ever, here one hour, and there the next,' returned old John, after the usual pause to get the question

in his mind. 'Sometimes he walks, and sometimes runs. He's known along the road by everybody, and

sometimes comes here in a cart or chaise, and sometimes riding double. He comes and goes, through wind,

'He goes often to the Warren, does he not?' said the guest carelessly. 'I seem to remember his mother telling

me something to that effect yesterday. But I was not attending to the good woman much.'

'You're right, sir,' John made answer, 'he does. His father, sir, was murdered in that house.'

'So I have heard,' returned the guest, taking a gold toothpick from his pocket with the same sweet smile. 'A

'Very,' said John with a puzzled look, as if it occurred to him, dimly and afar off, that this might by possibility

'All the circumstances after a murder,' said the guest soliloquising, 'must be dreadfully unpleasantso much

bustle and disturbanceno reposea constant dwelling upon one subjectand the running in and out, and

up and down stairs, intolerable. I wouldn't have such a thing happen to anybody I was nearly interested in, on

any account. 'Twould be enough to wear one's life out.You were going to say, friend' he added, turning

'Only that Mrs Rudge lives on a little pension from the family, and that Barnaby's as free of the house as any

'Oh yes,' replied the guest. 'Oh certainly. Let him do it by all means. Please to bring him here that I may

charge him to be quick. If he objects to come you may tell him it's Mr Chester. He will remember my name, I

John was so very much astonished to find who his visitor was, that he could express no astonishment at all,

by looks or otherwise, but left the room as if he were in the most placid and imperturbable of all possible

conditions. It has been reported that when he got downstairs, he looked steadily at the boiler for ten minutes

by the clock, and all that time never once left off shaking his head; for which statement there would seem to

be some ground of truth and feasibility, inasmuch as that interval of time did certainly elapse, before he

Barnaby laughed, and looked at the landlord as though he would say, 'You hear him?' John, who was greatly

shocked at this breach of decorum, clapped his finger to his nose, and shook his head in mute remonstrance.

'He knows him, sir,' said John, frowning aside at Barnaby, 'as well as you or I do.'

'I haven't the pleasure of much acquaintance with the gentleman,' returned his guest. 'YOU may have. Limit

Although this was said with the same easy affability, and the same smile, John felt himself put down, and

laying the indignity at Barnaby's door, determined to kick his raven, on the very first opportunity.

'Give that,' said the guest, who had by this time sealed the note, and who beckoned his messenger towards

him as he spoke, 'into Mr Haredale's own hands. Wait for an answer, and bring it back to me here. If you

should find that Mr Haredale is engaged just now, tell himcan he remember a message, landlord?'

John merely pointed to him as he stood with his head bent forward, and his earnest gaze fixed closely on his

'Tell him then, Barnaby, should he be engaged,' said Mr Chester, 'that I shall be glad to wait his convenience

here, and to see him (if he will call) at any time this evening.At the worst I can have a bed here, Willet, I

Old John, immensely flattered by the personal notoriety implied in this familiar form of address, answered,

with something like a knowing look, 'I should believe you could, sir,' and was turning over in his mind

various forms of eulogium, with the view of selecting one appropriate to the qualities of his best bed, when

his ideas were put to flight by Mr Chester giving Barnaby the letter, and bidding him make all speed away.

'Speed!' said Barnaby, folding the little packet in his breast, 'Speed! If you want to see hurry and mystery,

With that, he put his hand, very much to John Willet's horror, on the guest's fine broadcloth sleeve, and led

'Look down there,' he said softly; 'do you mark how they whisper in each other's ears; then dance and leap, to

make believe they are in sport? Do you see how they stop for a moment, when they think there is no one

looking, and mutter among themselves again; and then how they roll and gambol, delighted with the mischief

they've been plotting? Look at 'em now. See how they whirl and plunge. And now they stop again, and

whisper, cautiously togetherlittle thinking, mind, how often I have lain upon the grass and watched them. I

'They are only clothes,' returned the guest, 'such as we wear; hanging on those lines to dry, and fluttering in

'Clothes!' echoed Barnaby, looking close into his face, and falling quickly back. 'Ha ha! Why, how much

better to be silly, than as wise as you! You don't see shadowy people there, like those that live in sleepnot

you. Nor eyes in the knotted panes of glass, nor swift ghosts when it blows hard, nor do you hear voices in

the air, nor see men stalking in the skynot you! I lead a merrier life than you, with all your cleverness.

You're the dull men. We're the bright ones. Ha! ha! I'll not change with you, clever as you are,not I!'

'A strange creature, upon my word!' said the guest, pulling out a handsome box, and taking a pinch of snuff.

'He wants imagination,' said Mr Willet, very slowly, and after a long silence; 'that's what he wants. I've tried

to instil it into him, many and many's the time; but'John added this in confidence 'he an't made for it;

To record that Mr Chester smiled at John's remark would be little to the purpose, for he preserved the same

conciliatory and pleasant look at all times. He drew his chair nearer to the fire though, as a kind of hint that

he would prefer to be alone, and John, having no reasonable excuse for remaining, left him to himself.

Very thoughtful old John Willet was, while the dinner was preparing; and if his brain were ever less clear at

one time than another, it is but reasonable to suppose that he addled it in no slight degree by shaking his head

so much that day. That Mr Chester, between whom and Mr Haredale, it was notorious to all the

neighbourhood, a deep and bitter animosity existed, should come down there for the sole purpose, as it

seemed, of seeing him, and should choose the Maypole for their place of meeting, and should send to him

express, were stumbling blocks John could not overcome. The only resource he had, was to consult the boiler,

But Barnaby delayed beyond all precedent. The visitor's dinner was served, removed, his wine was set, the

fire replenished, the hearth clean swept; the light waned without, it grew dusk, became quite dark, and still no

Barnaby appeared. Yet, though John Willet was full of wonder and misgiving, his guest sat crosslegged in

the easychair, to all appearance as little ruffled in his thoughts as in his dressthe same calm, easy, cool

'Barnaby's late,' John ventured to observe, as he placed a pair of tarnished candlesticks, some three feet high,

'He is rather so,' replied the guest, sipping his wine. 'He will not be much longer, I dare say.'

'As your roads bear no very good character, if I may judge from my son's mishap, though,' said Mr Chester,

'and as I have no fancy to be knocked on the headwhich is not only disconcerting at the moment, but

places one, besides, in a ridiculous position with respect to the people who chance to pick one upI shall

'Such a bed, sir,' returned John Willet; 'ay, such a bed as few, even of the gentry's houses, own. A fixter here,

sir. I've heard say that bedstead is nigh two hundred years of age. Your noble sona fine young

'Upon my life, a recommendation!' said the guest, shrugging his shoulders and wheeling his chair nearer to

the fire. 'See that it be well aired, Mr Willet, and let a blazing fire be lighted there at once. This house is

John raked the faggots up again, more from habit than presence of mind, or any reference to this remark, and

was about to withdraw, when a bounding step was heard upon the stair, and Barnaby came panting in.

'He'll have his foot in the stirrup in an hour's time,' he cried, advancing. 'He has been riding hard all dayhas

just come home but will be in the saddle again as soon as he has eat and drank, to meet his loving friend.'

'Was that his message?' asked the visitor, looking up, but without the smallest discomposureor at least

'All but the last words,' Barnaby rejoined. 'He meant those. I saw that, in his face.'

'This for your pains,' said the other, putting money in his hand, and glancing at him steadfastly.' This for your

'For Grip, and me, and Hugh, to share among us,' he rejoined, putting it up, and nodding, as he counted it on

his fingers. 'Grip one, me two, Hugh three; the dog, the goat, the catswell, we shall spend it pretty soon, I

He bent eagerly down on one knee, and gazed intently at the smoke, which was rolling up the chimney in a

thick black cloud. John Willet, who appeared to consider himself particularly and chiefly referred to under

the term wise men, looked that way likewise, and with great solidity of feature.

'Now, where do they go to, when they spring so fast up there,' asked Barnaby; 'eh? Why do they tread so

closely on each other's heels, and why are they always in a hurrywhich is what you blame me for, when I

only take pattern by these busy folk about me? More of 'em! catching to each other's skirts; and as fast as they

go, others come! What a merry dance it is! I would that Grip and I could frisk like that!'

'What has he in that basket at his back?' asked the guest after a few moments, during which Barnaby was still

'In this?' he answered, jumping up, before John Willet could reply shaking it as he spoke, and stooping his

'Here's money!' said Barnaby, chinking it in his hand, 'money for a treat, Grip!'

'Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!' replied the raven, 'keep up your spirits. Never say die. Bow, wow, wow!'

Mr Willet, who appeared to entertain strong doubts whether a customer in a laced coat and fine linen could be

supposed to have any acquaintance even with the existence of such unpolite gentry as the bird claimed to

belong to, took Barnaby off at this juncture, with the view of preventing any other improper declarations, and

There was great news that night for the regular Maypole customers, to each of whom, as he straggled in to

occupy his allotted seat in the chimneycorner, John, with a most impressive slowness of delivery, and in an

apoplectic whisper, communicated the fact that Mr Chester was alone in the large room upstairs, and was

waiting the arrival of Mr Geoffrey Haredale, to whom he had sent a letter (doubtless of a threatening nature)

For a little knot of smokers and solemn gossips, who had seldom any new topics of discussion, this was a

perfect Godsend. Here was a good, darklooking mystery progressing under that very roof brought home

to the fireside, as it were, and enjoyable without the smallest pains or trouble. It is extraordinary what a zest

and relish it gave to the drink, and how it heightened the flavour of the tobacco. Every man smoked his pipe

with a face of grave and serious delight, and looked at his neighbour with a sort of quiet congratulation. Nay,

it was felt to be such a holiday and special night, that, on the motion of little Solomon Daisy, every man

(including John himself) put down his sixpence for a can of flip, which grateful beverage was brewed with all

despatch, and set down in the midst of them on the brick floor; both that it might simmer and stew before the

fire, and that its fragrant steam, rising up among them, and mixing with the wreaths of vapour from their

pipes, might shroud them in a delicious atmosphere of their own, and shut out all the world. The very

furniture of the room seemed to mellow and deepen in its tone; the ceiling and walls looked blacker and more

highly polished, the curtains of a ruddier red; the fire burnt clear and high, and the crickets in the hearthstone

There were present two, however, who showed but little interest in the general contentment. Of these, one

was Barnaby himself, who slept, or, to avoid being beset with questions, feigned to sleep, in the

chimneycorner; the other, Hugh, who, sleeping too, lay stretched upon the bench on the opposite side, in the

The light that fell upon this slumbering form, showed it in all its muscular and handsome proportions. It was

that of a young man, of a hale athletic figure, and a giant's strength, whose sunburnt face and swarthy throat,

overgrown with jet black hair, might have served a painter for a model. Loosely attired, in the coarsest and

roughest garb, with scraps of straw and hayhis usual bed clinging here and there, and mingling with his

uncombed locks, he had fallen asleep in a posture as careless as his dress. The negligence and disorder of the

whole man, with something fierce and sullen in his features, gave him a picturesque appearance, that attracted

the regards even of the Maypole customers who knew him well, and caused Long Parkes to say that Hugh

'That's it, sir,' replied John Willet. 'He's not often in the house, you know. He's more at his ease among horses

Following up this opinion with a shrug that seemed meant to say, 'we can't expect everybody to be like us,'

John put his pipe into his mouth again, and smoked like one who felt his superiority over the general run of

'That chap, sir,' said John, taking it out again after a time, and pointing at him with the stem, 'though he's got

all his faculties about himbottled up and corked down, if I may say so, somewheres or another'

'Very good!' said Parkes, nodding his head. 'A very good expression, Johnny. You'll be a tackling somebody

'Take care,' said Mr Willet, not at all grateful for the compliment, 'that I don't tackle you, sir, which I shall

certainly endeavour to do, if you interrupt me when I'm making observations. That chap, I was a saying,

though he has all his faculties about him, somewheres or another, bottled up and corked down, has no more

The three friends shook their heads at each other; saying by that action, without the trouble of opening their

'Why hasn't he?' said John, gently striking the table with his open hand. 'Because they was never drawed out

of him when he was a boy. That's why. What would any of us have been, if our fathers hadn't drawed our

faculties out of us? What would my boy Joe have been, if I hadn't drawed his faculties out of him?Do you

'Consequently, then,' said Mr Willet, 'that chap, whose mother was hung when he was a little boy, along with

six others, for passing bad notesand it's a blessed thing to think how many people are hung in batches

every six weeks for that, and such like offences, as showing how wide awake our government isthat chap

that was then turned loose, and had to mind cows, and frighten birds away, and what not, for a few pence to

live on, and so got on by degrees to mind horses, and to sleep in course of time in lofts and litter, instead of

under haystacks and hedges, till at last he come to be hostler at the Maypole for his board and lodging and a

annual triflethat chap that can't read nor write, and has never had much to do with anything but animals,

and has never lived in any way but like the animals he has lived among, IS a animal. And,' said Mr Willet,

'Willet,' said Solomon Daisy, who had exhibited some impatience at the intrusion of so unworthy a subject on

their more interesting theme, 'when Mr Chester come this morning, did he order the large room?'

'He signified, sir,' said John, 'that he wanted a large apartment. Yes. Certainly.'

'Why then, I'll tell you what,' said Solomon, speaking softly and with an earnest look. 'He and Mr Haredale

Everybody looked at Mr Willet, after this alarming suggestion. Mr Willet looked at the fire, weighing in his

own mind the effect which such an occurrence would be likely to have on the establishment.

'Well,' said John, 'I don't knowI am sureI remember that when I went up last, he HAD put the lights

'It's as plain,' returned Solomon, 'as the nose on Parkes's face' Mr Parkes, who had a large nose, rubbed it,

and looked as if he considered this a personal allusion'they'll fight in that room. You know by the

newspapers what a common thing it is for gentlemen to fight in coffeehouses without seconds. One of 'em

'Inclosing a slip of paper with the measure of his sword upon it, I'll bet a guinea,' answered the little man.

'We know what sort of gentleman Mr Haredale is. You have told us what Barnaby said about his looks, when

The flip had had no flavour till now. The tobacco had been of mere English growth, compared with its

present taste. A duel in that great old rambling room upstairs, and the best bed ordered already for the

'Heaven knows. Perhaps both,' returned Solomon. 'The gentlemen wear swords, and may easily have pistols

in their pocketsmost likely have, indeed. If they fire at each other without effect, then they'll draw, and go

A shade passed over Mr Willet's face as he thought of broken windows and disabled furniture, but bethinking

himself that one of the parties would probably be left alive to pay the damage, he brightened up again.

'And then,' said Solomon, looking from face to face, 'then we shall have one of those stains upon the floor

that never come out. If Mr Haredale wins, depend upon it, it'll be a deep one; or if he loses, it will perhaps be

deeper still, for he'll never give in unless he's beaten down. We know him better, eh?'

'As to its ever being got out again,' said Solomon, 'I tell you it never will, or can be. Why, do you know that it

'Yes, sureyes. It's only known by very few. It has been whispered about though, for all that. They planed

the board away, but there it was. They went deep, but it went deeper. They put new boards down, but there

was one great spot that came through still, and showed itself in the old place. Andharkyedraw

nearerMr Geoffrey made that room his study, and sits there, always, with his foot (as I have heard) upon it;

and he believes, through thinking of it long and very much, that it will never fade until he finds the man who

As this recital ended, and they all drew closer round the fire, the tramp of a horse was heard without.

The sleeper staggered to his feet, and hurried after him. John quickly returned, ushering in with great

attention and deference (for Mr Haredale was his landlord) the longexpected visitor, who strode into the

room clanking his heavy boots upon the floor; and looking keenly round upon the bowing group, raised his

'You have a stranger here, Willet, who sent to me,' he said, in a voice which sounded naturally stern and deep.

With that, he signed to the landlord to go on before; and went clanking out, and up the stairs; old John, in his

agitation, ingeniously lighting everything but the way, and making a stumble at every second step.

'Stop!' he said, when they reached the landing. 'I can announce myself. Don't wait.'

He laid his hand upon the door, entered, and shut it heavily. Mr Willet was by no means disposed to stand

there listening by himself, especially as the walls were very thick; so descended, with much greater alacrity

There was a brief pause in the stateroom of the Maypole, as Mr Haredale tried the lock to satisfy himself

that he had shut the door securely, and, striding up the dark chamber to where the screen inclosed a little

patch of light and warmth, presented himself, abruptly and in silence, before the smiling guest.

If the two had no greater sympathy in their inward thoughts than in their outward bearing and appearance, the

meeting did not seem likely to prove a very calm or pleasant one. With no great disparity between them in

point of years, they were, in every other respect, as unlike and far removed from each other as two men could

well be. The one was softspoken, delicately made, precise, and elegant; the other, a burly squarebuilt man,

negligently dressed, rough and abrupt in manner, stern, and, in his present mood, forbidding both in look and

speech. The one preserved a calm and placid smile; the other, a distrustful frown. The newcomer, indeed,

appeared bent on showing by his every tone and gesture his determined opposition and hostility to the man he

had come to meet. The guest who received him, on the other hand, seemed to feel that the contrast between

them was all in his favour, and to derive a quiet exultation from it which put him more at his ease than ever.

'Haredale,' said this gentleman, without the least appearance of embarrassment or reserve, 'I am very glad to

'Let us dispense with compliments. They are misplaced between us,' returned the other, waving his hand, 'and

say plainly what we have to say. You have asked me to meet you. I am here. Why do we stand face to face

'Good or bad, sir, I am,' returned the other, leaning his arm upon the chimneypiece, and turning a haughty

look upon the occupant of the easychair, 'the man I used to be. I have lost no old likings or dislikings; my

memory has not failed me by a hair'sbreadth. You ask me to give you a meeting. I say, I am here.'

'Our meeting, Haredale,' said Mr Chester, tapping his snuffbox, and following with a smile the impatient

gesture he had made perhaps unconsciouslytowards his sword, 'is one of conference and peace, I hope?'

'I have come here,' returned the other, 'at your desire, holding myself bound to meet you, when and where you

would. I have not come to bandy pleasant speeches, or hollow professions. You are a smooth man of the

world, sir, and at such play have me at a disadvantage. The very last man on this earth with whom I would

enter the lists to combat with gentle compliments and masked faces, is Mr Chester, I do assure you. I am not

'You do me a great deal of honour Haredale,' returned the other, most composedly, 'and I thank you. I will be

'So resolved am I to hold this course,' returned the other, tasting his wine with great deliberation; 'that I have

determined not to quarrel with you, and not to be betrayed into a warm expression or a hasty word.'

'There again,' said Mr Haredale, 'you have me at a great advantage. Your selfcommand'

'Is not to be disturbed, when it will serve my purpose, you would say'rejoined the other, interrupting him

with the same complacency. 'Granted. I allow it. And I have a purpose to serve now. So have you. I am sure

our object is the same. Let us attain it like sensible men, who have ceased to be boys some time. Do you

'I will stand,' returned Mr Haredale impatiently, 'on this dismantled, beggared hearth, and not pollute it, fallen

'You are wrong, Haredale,' said the other, crossing his legs, and smiling as he held his glass up in the bright

glow of the fire. 'You are really very wrong. The world is a lively place enough, in which we must

accommodate ourselves to circumstances, sail with the stream as glibly as we can, be content to take froth for

substance, the surface for the depth, the counterfeit for the real coin. I wonder no philosopher has ever

established that our globe itself is hollow. It should be, if Nature is consistent in her works.'

'I should say,' he returned, sipping his wine, 'there could be no doubt about it. Well; we, in trifling with this

jingling toy, have had the illluck to jostle and fall out. We are not what the world calls friends; but we are as

good and true and loving friends for all that, as nine out of every ten of those on whom it bestows the title.

You have a niece, and I a sona fine lad, Haredale, but foolish. They fall in love with each other, and form

what this same world calls an attachment; meaning a something fanciful and false like the rest, which, if it

took its own free time, would break like any other bubble. But it may not have its own free timewill not, if

they are left aloneand the question is, shall we two, because society calls us enemies, stand aloof, and let

them rush into each other's arms, when, by approaching each other sensibly, as we do now, we can prevent it,

'I love my niece,' said Mr Haredale, after a short silence. 'It may sound strangely in your ears; but I love her.'

'Strangely, my good fellow!' cried Mr Chester, lazily filling his glass again, and pulling out his toothpick.

'Not at all. I like Ned tooor, as you say, love himthat's the word among such near relations. I'm very

fond of Ned. He's an amazingly good fellow, and a handsome fellowfoolish and weak as yet; that's all. But

the thing is, Haredalefor I'll be very frank, as I told you I would at firstindependently of any dislike that

you and I might have to being related to each other, and independently of the religious differences between

usand damn it, that's importantI couldn't afford a match of this description. Ned and I couldn't do it. It's

'Curb your tongue, in God's name, if this conversation is to last,' retorted Mr Haredale fiercely. 'I have said I

love my niece. Do you think that, loving her, I would have her fling her heart away on any man who had your

'You see,' said the other, not at all disturbed, 'the advantage of being so frank and open. Just what I was about

to add, upon my honour! I am amazingly attached to Nedquite doat upon him, indeedand even if we

could afford to throw ourselves away, that very objection would be quite insuperable.I wish you'd take

'Mark me,' said Mr Haredale, striding to the table, and laying his hand upon it heavily. 'If any man

believespresumes to think that I, in word or deed, or in the wildest dream, ever entertained remotely the

idea of Emma Haredale's favouring the suit of any one who was akin to youin any wayI care not

'Haredale,' returned the other, rocking himself to and fro as in assent, and nodding at the fire, 'it's extremely

manly, and really very generous in you, to meet me in this unreserved and handsome way. Upon my word,

those are exactly my sentiments, only expressed with much more force and power than I could useyou

'While I would restrain her from all correspondence with your son, and sever their intercourse here, though it

should cause her death,' said Mr Haredale, who had been pacing to and fro, 'I would do it kindly and tenderly

if I can. I have a trust to discharge, which my nature is not formed to understand, and, for this reason, the bare

fact of there being any love between them comes upon me tonight, almost for the first time.'

'I am more delighted than I can possibly tell you,' rejoined Mr Chester with the utmost blandness, 'to find my

own impression so confirmed. You see the advantage of our having met. We understand each other. We quite

agree. We have a most complete and thorough explanation, and we know what course to take.Why don't

'Pray who,' said Mr Haredale, 'have aided Emma, or your son? Who are their gobetweens, and agentsdo

'All the good people hereaboutsthe neighbourhood in general, I think,' returned the other, with his most

'You are surprised? I am glad of that, for I was rather so myself. Yes. I wrung that from his mothera very

decent sort of woman from whom, indeed, I chiefly learnt how serious the matter had become, and so

determined to ride out here today, and hold a parley with you on this neutral ground.You're stouter than

'Our business, I presume, is nearly at an end,' said Mr Haredale, with an expression of impatience he was at

no pains to conceal. 'Trust me, Mr Chester, my niece shall change from this time. I will appeal,' he added in a

'I shall do the same by Ned,' said Mr Chester, restoring some errant faggots to their places in the grate with

the toe of his boot. 'If there is anything real in this world, it is those amazingly fine feelings and those natural

obligations which must subsist between father and son. I shall put it to him on every ground of moral and

religious feeling. I shall represent to him that we cannot possibly afford itthat I have always looked

forward to his marrying well, for a genteel provision for myself in the autumn of lifethat there are a great

many clamorous dogs to pay, whose claims are perfectly just and right, and who must be paid out of his

wife's fortune. In short, that the very highest and most honourable feelings of our nature, with every

consideration of filial duty and affection, and all that sort of thing, imperatively demand that he should run

'And break her heart as speedily as possible?' said Mr Haredale, drawing on his glove.

'There Ned will act exactly as he pleases,' returned the other, sipping his wine; 'that's entirely his affair. I

wouldn't for the world interfere with my son, Haredale, beyond a certain point. The relationship between

father and son, you know, is positively quite a holy kind of bond.WON'T you let me persuade you to take

one glass of wine? Well! as you please, as you please,' he added, helping himself again.

'Chester,' said Mr Haredale, after a short silence, during which he had eyed his smiling face from time to time

intently, 'you have the head and heart of an evil spirit in all matters of deception.'

'If now,' pursued Mr Haredale, 'we should find it difficult to separate these young people, and break off their

intercourseif, for instance, you find it difficult on your side, what course do you intend to take?'

'Nothing plainer, my good fellow, nothing easier,' returned the other, shrugging his shoulders and stretching

himself more comfortably before the fire. 'I shall then exert those powers on which you flatter me so

highlythough, upon my word, I don't deserve your compliments to their full extentand resort to a few

'In short, justifying the means by the end, we are, as a last resource for tearing them asunder, to resort to

'Oh dear no. Fie, fie!' returned the other, relishing a pinch of snuff extremely. 'Not lying. Only a little

'I wish,' said Mr Haredale, moving to and fro, and stopping, and moving on again, like one who was ill at

ease, 'that this could have been foreseen or prevented. But as it has gone so far, and it is necessary for us to

act, it is of no use shrinking or regretting. Well! I shall second your endeavours to the utmost of my power.

There is one topic in the whole wide range of human thoughts on which we both agree. We shall act in

'Are you going?' said Mr Chester, rising with a graceful indolence. 'Let me light you down the stairs.'

'Pray keep your seat,' returned the other drily, 'I know the way. So, waving his hand slightly, and putting on

his hat as he turned upon his heel, he went clanking out as he had come, shut the door behind him, and

'Pah! A very coarse animal, indeed!' said Mr Chester, composing himself in the easychair again. 'A rough

John Willet and his friends, who had been listening intently for the clash of swords, or firing of pistols in the

great room, and had indeed settled the order in which they should rush in when summonedin which

procession old John had carefully arranged that he should bring up the rearwere very much astonished to

see Mr Haredale come down without a scratch, call for his horse, and ride away thoughtfully at a footpace.

After some consideration, it was decided that he had left the gentleman above, for dead, and had adopted this

As this conclusion involved the necessity of their going upstairs forthwith, they were about to ascend in the

order they had agreed upon, when a smart ringing at the guest's bell, as if he had pulled it vigorously,

overthrew all their speculations, and involved them in great uncertainty and doubt. At length Mr Willet

agreed to go upstairs himself, escorted by Hugh and Barnaby, as the strongest and stoutest fellows on the

premises, who were to make their appearance under pretence of clearing away the glasses.

Under this protection, the brave and broadfaced John boldly entered the room, half a foot in advance, and

received an order for a bootjack without trembling. But when it was brought, and he leant his sturdy

shoulder to the guest, Mr Willet was observed to look very hard into his boots as he pulled them off, and, by

opening his eyes much wider than usual, to appear to express some surprise and disappointment at not finding

them full of blood. He took occasion, too, to examine the gentleman as closely as he could, expecting to

discover sundry loopholes in his person, pierced by his adversary's sword. Finding none, however, and

observing in course of time that his guest was as cool and unruffled, both in his dress and temper, as he had

been all day, old John at last heaved a deep sigh, and began to think no duel had been fought that night.

'And now, Willet,' said Mr Chester, 'if the room's well aired, I'll try the merits of that famous bed.'

'The room, sir,' returned John, taking up a candle, and nudging Barnaby and Hugh to accompany them, in

case the gentleman should unexpectedly drop down faint or dead from some internal wound, 'the room's as

warm as any toast in a tankard. Barnaby, take you that other candle, and go on before. Hugh! Follow up, sir,

In this orderand still, in his earnest inspection, holding his candle very close to the guest; now making him

feel extremely warm about the legs, now threatening to set his wig on fire, and constantly begging his pardon

with great awkwardness and embarrassmentJohn led the party to the best bedroom, which was nearly as

large as the chamber from which they had come, and held, drawn out near the fire for warmth, a great old

spectral bedstead, hung with faded brocade, and ornamented, at the top of each carved post, with a plume of

feathers that had once been white, but with dust and age had now grown hearselike and funereal.

'Good night, my friends,' said Mr Chester with a sweet smile, seating himself, when he had surveyed the

room from end to end, in the easychair which his attendants wheeled before the fire. 'Good night! Barnaby,

Barnaby nodded. 'He has some nonsense that he calls his prayers, sir,' returned old John, officiously. 'I'm

'Not I,' he answered. 'I know his'pointing to Barnaby'they're well enough. He sings 'em sometimes in the

'He's quite a animal, sir,' John whispered in his ear with dignity. 'You'll excuse him, I'm sure. If he has any

soul at all, sir, it must be such a very small one, that it don't signify what he does or doesn't in that way. Good

The guest rejoined 'God bless you!' with a fervour that was quite affecting; and John, beckoning his guards to

go before, bowed himself out of the room, and left him to his rest in the Maypole's ancient bed.

If Joseph Willet, the denounced and proscribed of 'prentices, had happened to be at home when his father's

courtly guest presented himself before the Maypole doorthat is, if it had not perversely chanced to be one

of the halfdozen days in the whole year on which he was at liberty to absent himself for as many hours

without question or reproachhe would have contrived, by hook or crook, to dive to the very bottom of Mr

Chester's mystery, and to come at his purpose with as much certainty as though he had been his confidential

adviser. In that fortunate case, the lovers would have had quick warning of the ills that threatened them, and

the aid of various timely and wise suggestions to boot; for all Joe's readiness of thought and action, and all his

sympathies and good wishes, were enlisted in favour of the young people, and were staunch in devotion to

their cause. Whether this disposition arose out of his old prepossessions in favour of the young lady, whose

history had surrounded her in his mind, almost from his cradle, with circumstances of unusual interest; or

from his attachment towards the young gentleman, into whose confidence he had, through his shrewdness and

alacrity, and the rendering of sundry important services as a spy and messenger, almost imperceptibly glided;

whether they had their origin in either of these sources, or in the habit natural to youth, or in the constant

badgering and worrying of his venerable parent, or in any hidden little love affair of his own which gave him

something of a fellowfeeling in the matter, it is needless to inquireespecially as Joe was out of the way,

and had no opportunity on that particular occasion of testifying to his sentiments either on one side or the

It was, in fact, the twentyfifth of March, which, as most people know to their cost, is, and has been time out

of mind, one of those unpleasant epochs termed quarterdays. On this twentyfifth of March, it was John

Willet's pride annually to settle, in hard cash, his account with a certain vintner and distiller in the city of

London; to give into whose hands a canvas bag containing its exact amount, and not a penny more or less,

was the end and object of a journey for Joe, so surely as the year and day came round.

This journey was performed upon an old grey mare, concerning whom John had an indistinct set of ideas

hovering about him, to the effect that she could win a plate or cup if she tried. She never had tried, and

probably never would now, being some fourteen or fifteen years of age, short in wind, long in body, and

rather the worse for wear in respect of her mane and tail. Notwithstanding these slight defects, John perfectly

gloried in the animal; and when she was brought round to the door by Hugh, actually retired into the bar, and

'There's a bit of horseflesh, Hugh!' said John, when he had recovered enough selfcommand to appear at the

There was bone enough beyond all doubt; and so Hugh seemed to think, as he sat sideways in the saddle,

lazily doubled up with his chin nearly touching his knees; and heedless of the dangling stirrups and loose

'Mind you take good care of her, sir,' said John, appealing from this insensible person to his son and heir, who

'I should be puzzled to do that, I think, father,' Joe replied, casting a disconsolate look at the animal.

'None of your impudence, sir, if you please,' retorted old John. 'What would you ride, sir? A wild ass or zebra

would be too tame for you, wouldn't he, eh sir? You'd like to ride a roaring lion, wouldn't you, sir, eh sir?

Hold your tongue, sir.' When Mr Willet, in his differences with his son, had exhausted all the questions that

occurred to him, and Joe had said nothing at all in answer, he generally wound up by bidding him hold his

'And what does the boy mean,' added Mr Willet, after he had stared at him for a little time, in a species of

stupefaction, 'by cocking his hat, to such an extent! Are you going to kill the wintner, sir?'

'With a milintary air, too!' said Mr Willet, surveying him from top to toe; 'with a swaggering, fireeating,

bilingwater drinking sort of way with him! And what do you mean by pulling up the crocuses and

'It's only a little nosegay,' said Joe, reddening. 'There's no harm in that, I hope?'

'You're a boy of business, you are, sir!' said Mr Willet, disdainfully, 'to go supposing that wintners care for

'I don't suppose anything of the kind,' returned Joe. 'Let them keep their red noses for bottles and tankards.

'I don't know, and to say the truth, I don't care,' said Joe. 'Come, father, give me the money, and in the name

'There it is, sir,' replied John; 'and take care of it; and mind you don't make too much haste back, but give the

'And don't you score up too much at the Black Lion,' said John. 'Mind that too.'

'Then why don't you let me have some money of my own?' retorted Joe, sorrowfully; 'why don't you, father?

What do you send me into London for, giving me only the right to call for my dinner at the Black Lion,

which you're to pay for next time you go, as if I was not to be trusted with a few shillings? Why do you use

'Let him have money!' cried John, in a drowsy reverie. 'What does he call moneyguineas? Hasn't he got

'Yes, sir,' returned John, 'one and sixpence. When I was your age, I had never seen so much money, in a heap.

A shilling of it is in case of accidentsthe mare casting a shoe, or the like of that. The other sixpence is to

spend in the diversions of London; and the diversion I recommend is going to the top of the Monument, and

sitting there. There's no temptation there, sirno drinkno young womenno bad characters of any

sortnothing but imagination. That's the way I enjoyed myself when I was your age, sir.'

To this, Joe made no answer, but beckoning Hugh, leaped into the saddle and rode away; and a very stalwart,

manly horseman he looked, deserving a better charger than it was his fortune to bestride. John stood staring

after him, or rather after the grey mare (for he had no eyes for her rider), until man and beast had been out of

sight some twenty minutes, when he began to think they were gone, and slowly reentering the house, fell

The unfortunate grey mare, who was the agony of Joe's life, floundered along at her own will and pleasure

until the Maypole was no longer visible, and then, contracting her legs into what in a puppet would have been

looked upon as a clumsy and awkward imitation of a canter, mended her pace all at once, and did it of her

own accord. The acquaintance with her rider's usual mode of proceeding, which suggested this improvement

in hers, impelled her likewise to turn up a byeway, leadingnot to London, but through lanes running

parallel with the road they had come, and passing within a few hundred yards of the Maypole, which led

finally to an inclosure surrounding a large, old, redbrick mansionthe same of which mention was made as

the Warren in the first chapter of this history. Coming to a dead stop in a little copse thereabout, she suffered

her rider to dismount with right goodwill, and to tie her to the trunk of a tree.

'Stay there, old girl,' said Joe, 'and let us see whether there's any little commission for me today.' So saying,

he left her to browze upon such stunted grass and weeds as happened to grow within the length of her tether,

The pathway, after a very few minutes' walking, brought him close to the house, towards which, and

especially towards one particular window, he directed many covert glances. It was a dreary, silent building,

with echoing courtyards, desolated turretchambers, and whole suites of rooms shut up and mouldering to

The terracegarden, dark with the shade of overhanging trees, had an air of melancholy that was quite

oppressive. Great iron gates, disused for many years, and red with rust, drooping on their hinges and

overgrown with long rank grass, seemed as though they tried to sink into the ground, and hide their fallen

state among the friendly weeds. The fantastic monsters on the walls, green with age and damp, and covered

here and there with moss, looked grim and desolate. There was a sombre aspect even on that part of the

mansion which was inhabited and kept in good repair, that struck the beholder with a sense of sadness; of

something forlorn and failing, whence cheerfulness was banished. It would have been difficult to imagine a

bright fire blazing in the dull and darkened rooms, or to picture any gaiety of heart or revelry that the

frowning walls shut in. It seemed a place where such things had been, but could be no morethe very ghost

Much of this decayed and sombre look was attributable, no doubt, to the death of its former master, and the

temper of its present occupant; but remembering the tale connected with the mansion, it seemed the very

place for such a deed, and one that might have been its predestined theatre years upon years ago. Viewed with

reference to this legend, the sheet of water where the steward's body had been found appeared to wear a black

and sullen character, such as no other pool might own; the bell upon the roof that had told the tale of murder

to the midnight wind, became a very phantom whose voice would raise the listener's hair on end; and every

leafless bough that nodded to another, had its stealthy whispering of the crime.

Joe paced up and down the path, sometimes stopping in affected contemplation of the building or the

prospect, sometimes leaning against a tree with an assumed air of idleness and indifference, but always

keeping an eye upon the window he had singled out at first. After some quarter of an hour's delay, a small

white hand was waved to him for an instant from this casement, and the young man, with a respectful bow,

departed; saying under his breath as he crossed his horse again, 'No errand for me today!'

But the air of smartness, the cock of the hat to which John Willet had objected, and the spring nosegay, all

betokened some little errand of his own, having a more interesting object than a vintner or even a locksmith.

So, indeed, it turned out; for when he had settled with the vintnerwhose place of business was down in

some deep cellars hard by Thames Street, and who was as purplefaced an old gentleman as if he had all his

life supported their arched roof on his headwhen he had settled the account, and taken the receipt, and

declined tasting more than three glasses of old sherry, to the unbounded astonishment of the purplefaced

vintner, who, gimlet in hand, had projected an attack upon at least a score of dusty casks, and who stood

transfixed, or morally gimleted as it were, to his own wallwhen he had done all this, and disposed besides

of a frugal dinner at the Black Lion in Whitechapel; spurning the Monument and John's advice, he turned his

steps towards the locksmith's house, attracted by the eyes of blooming Dolly Varden.

Joe was by no means a sheepish fellow, but, for all that, when he got to the corner of the street in which the

locksmith lived, he could by no means make up his mind to walk straight to the house. First, he resolved to

stroll up another street for five minutes, then up another street for five minutes more, and so on until he had

lost full half an hour, when he made a bold plunge and found himself with a red face and a beating heart in

'Joe Willet, or his ghost?' said Varden, rising from the desk at which he was busy with his books, and looking

at him under his spectacles. 'Which is it? Joe in the flesh, eh? That's hearty. And how are all the Chigwell

'Well, well!' said the locksmith. 'We must be patient, Joe, and bear with old folks' foibles. How's the mare,

Joe? Does she do the four miles an hour as easily as ever? Ha, ha, ha! Does she, Joe? Eh!What have we

'No, no,' said Gabriel, dropping his voice, and shaking his head, 'not Dolly. Give 'em to her mother, Joe. A

great deal better give 'em to her mother. Would you mind giving 'em to Mrs Varden, Joe?'

'Oh no, sir,' Joe replied, and endeavouring, but not with the greatest possible success, to hide his

'That's right,' said the locksmith, patting him on the back. 'It don't matter who has 'em, Joe?'

'Come in,' said Gabriel. 'I have just been called to tea. She's in the parlour.'

'She,' thought Joe. 'Which of 'em I wonderMrs or Miss?' The locksmith settled the doubt as neatly as if it

had been expressed aloud, by leading him to the door, and saying, 'Martha, my dear, here's young Mr Willet.'

Now, Mrs Varden, regarding the Maypole as a sort of human mantrap, or decoy for husbands; viewing its

proprietor, and all who aided and abetted him, in the light of so many poachers among Christian men; and

believing, moreover, that the publicans coupled with sinners in Holy Writ were veritable licensed victuallers;

was far from being favourably disposed towards her visitor. Wherefore she was taken faint directly; and

being duly presented with the crocuses and snowdrops, divined on further consideration that they were the

occasion of the languor which had seized upon her spirits. 'I'm afraid I couldn't bear the room another

minute,' said the good lady, 'if they remained here. WOULD you excuse my putting them out of window?'

Joe begged she wouldn't mention it on any account, and smiled feebly as he saw them deposited on the sill

outside. If anybody could have known the pains he had taken to make up that despised and misused bunch of

'I feel it quite a relief to get rid of them, I assure you,' said Mrs Varden. 'I'm better already.' And indeed she

Joe expressed his gratitude to Providence for this favourable dispensation, and tried to look as if he didn't

'You're the cruellest and most inconsiderate people in the world,' said Mrs Varden, bridling. 'I wonder old Mr

Willet, having been a married man himself, doesn't know better than to conduct himself as he does. His doing

it for profit is no excuse. I would rather pay the money twenty times over, and have Varden come home like a

respectable and sober tradesman. If there is one character,' said Mrs Varden with great emphasis, 'that offends

'Come, Martha, my dear,' said the locksmith cheerily, 'let us have tea, and don't let us talk about sots. There

'I dare say he does not,' said Mrs Varden; 'and I dare say you do not, Varden. It's a very unpleasant subiect, I

have no doubt, though I won't say it's personal'Miggs coughed'whatever I may be forced to

think'Miggs sneezed expressively. 'You never will know, Varden, and nobody at young Mr Willet's

ageyou'll excuse me, sircan be expected to know, what a woman suffers when she is waiting at home

under such circumstances. If you don't believe me, as I know you don't, here's Miggs, who is only too often a

'Oh! she were very bad the other night, sir, indeed she were, said Miggs. 'If you hadn't the sweetness of an

'Begging your pardon, mim,' returned Miggs, with shrill rapidity, 'such was not my intentions, and such I

'Answering me, Miggs, and providing yourself,' retorted her mistress, looking round with dignity, 'is one and

the same thing. How dare you speak of angels in connection with your sinful fellowbeingsmere'said

Mrs Varden, glancing at herself in a neighbouring mirror, and arranging the ribbon of her cap in a more

'I did not intend, mim, if you please, to give offence,' said Miggs, confident in the strength of her compliment,

and developing strongly in the throat as usual, 'and I did not expect it would be took as such. I hope I know

my own unworthiness, and that I hate and despise myself and all my fellowcreatures as every practicable

'You'll have the goodness, if you please,' said Mrs Varden, loftily, 'to step upstairs and see if Dolly has

finished dressing, and to tell her that the chair that was ordered for her will be here in a minute, and that if she

keeps it waiting, I shall send it away that instant.I'm sorry to see that you don't take your tea, Varden, and

that you don't take yours, Mr Joseph; though of course it would be foolish of me to expect that anything that

This pronoun was understood in the plural sense, and included both gentlemen, upon both of whom it was

rather hard and undeserved, for Gabriel had applied himself to the meal with a very promising appetite, until

it was spoilt by Mrs Varden herself, and Joe had as great a liking for the female society of the locksmith's

But he had no opportunity to say anything in his own defence, for at that moment Dolly herself appeared, and

struck him quite dumb with her beauty. Never had Dolly looked so handsome as she did then, in all the glow

and grace of youth, with all her charms increased a hundredfold by a most becoming dress, by a thousand

little coquettish ways which nobody could assume with a better grace, and all the sparkling expectation of

that accursed party. It is impossible to tell how Joe hated that party wherever it was, and all the other people

And she hardly looked at himno, hardly looked at him. And when the chair was seen through the open

door coming blundering into the workshop, she actually clapped her hands and seemed glad to go. But Joe

gave her his armthere was some comfort in thatand handed her into it. To see her seat herself inside,

with her laughing eyes brighter than diamonds, and her handsurely she had the prettiest hand in the

worldon the ledge of the open window, and her little finger provokingly and pertly tilted up, as if it

wondered why Joe didn't squeeze or kiss it! To think how well one or two of the modest snowdrops would

have become that delicate bodice, and how they were lying neglected outside the parlour window! To see

how Miggs looked on with a face expressive of knowing how all this loveliness was got up, and of being in

the secret of every string and pin and hook and eye, and of saying it ain't half as real as you think, and I could

look quite as well myself if I took the pains! To hear that provoking precious little scream when the chair was

hoisted on its poles, and to catch that transient but nottobeforgotten vision of the happy face within

what torments and aggravations, and yet what delights were these! The very chairmen seemed favoured rivals

There never was such an alteration in a small room in a small time as in that parlour when they went back to

finish tea. So dark, so deserted, so perfectly disenchanted. It seemed such sheer nonsense to be sitting tamely

there, when she was at a dance with more lovers than man could calculate fluttering about herwith the

whole party doting on and adoring her, and wanting to marry her. Miggs was hovering about too; and the fact

of her existence, the mere circumstance of her ever having been born, appeared, after Dolly, such an

unaccountable practical joke. It was impossible to talk. It couldn't be done. He had nothing left for it but to

stir his tea round, and round, and round, and ruminate on all the fascinations of the locksmith's lovely

Gabriel was dull too. It was a part of the certain uncertainty of Mrs Varden's temper, that when they were in

'I need have a cheerful disposition, I am sure,' said the smiling housewife, 'to preserve any spirits at all; and

'Ah, mim,' sighed Miggs, 'begging your pardon for the interruption, there an't a many like you.'

'Take away, Miggs,' said Mrs Varden, rising, 'take away, pray. I know I'm a restraint here, and as I wish

'No, no, Martha,' cried the locksmith. 'Stop here. I'm sure we shall be very sorry to lose you, eh Joe!' Joe

'Thank you, Varden, my dear,' returned his wife; 'but I know your wishes better. Tobacco and beer, or spirits,

have much greater attractions than any I can boast of, and therefore I shall go and sit upstairs and look out of

window, my love. Good night, Mr Joseph. I'm very glad to have seen you, and I only wish I could have

provided something more suitable to your taste. Remember me very kindly if you please to old Mr Willet,

and tell him that whenever he comes here I have a crow to pluck with him. Good night!'

Having uttered these words with great sweetness of manner, the good lady dropped a curtsey remarkable for

And it was for this Joe had looked forward to the twentyfifth of March for weeks and weeks, and had

gathered the flowers with so much care, and had cocked his hat, and made himself so smart! This was the end

of all his bold determination, resolved upon for the hundredth time, to speak out to Dolly and tell her how he

loved her! To see her for a minutefor but a minuteto find her going out to a party and glad to go; to be

looked upon as a common pipe smoker, beerbibber, spiritguzzler, and tosspot! He bade farewell to his

friend the locksmith, and hastened to take horse at the Black Lion, thinking as he turned towards home, as

many another Joe has thought before and since, that here was an end to all his hopesthat the thing was

impossible and never could bethat she didn't care for himthat he was wretched for lifeand that the

only congenial prospect left him, was to go for a soldier or a sailor, and get some obliging enemy to knock

Joe Willet rode leisurely along in his desponding mood, picturing the locksmith's daughter going down long

countrydances, and poussetting dreadfully with bold strangerswhich was almost too much to bearwhen

he heard the tramp of a horse's feet behind him, and looking back, saw a wellmounted gentleman advancing

at a smart canter. As this rider passed, he checked his steed, and called him of the Maypole by his name. Joe

'I thought it was you, sir,' he said, touching his hat. 'A fair evening, sir. Glad to see you out of doors again.'

The gentleman smiled and nodded. 'What gay doings have been going on today, Joe? Is she as pretty as

'If I coloured at all, Mr Edward,' said Joe, 'which I didn't know I did, it was to think I should have been such a

fool as ever to have any hope of her. She's as far out of my reach asas Heaven is.'

'Well, Joe, I hope that's not altogether beyond it,' said Edward, goodhumouredly. 'Eh?'

'Ah!' sighed Joe. 'It's all very fine talking, sir. Proverbs are easily made in cold blood. But it can't be helped.

'Yes. As I am not quite strong yet, I shall stay there tonight, and ride home coolly in the morning.'

'If you're in no particular hurry,' said Joe after a short silence, 'and will bear with the pace of this poor jade, I

shall be glad to ride on with you to the Warren, sir, and hold your horse when you dismount. It'll save you

having to walk from the Maypole, there and back again. I can spare the time well, sir, for I am too soon.'

'And so am I,' returned Edward, 'though I was unconsciously riding fast just now, in compliment I suppose to

the pace of my thoughts, which were travelling post. We will keep together, Joe, willingly, and be as good

company as may be. And cheer up, cheer up, think of the locksmith's daughter with a stout heart, and you

Joe shook his head; but there was something so cheery in the buoyant hopeful manner of this speech, that his

spirits rose under its influence, and communicated as it would seem some new impulse even to the grey mare,

who, breaking from her sober amble into a gentle trot, emulated the pace of Edward Chester's horse, and

It was a fine dry night, and the light of a young moon, which was then just rising, shed around that peace and

tranquillity which gives to evening time its most delicious charm. The lengthened shadows of the trees,

softened as if reflected in still water, threw their carpet on the path the travellers pursued, and the light wind

stirred yet more softly than before, as though it were soothing Nature in her sleep. By little and little they

'The Maypole lights are brilliant tonight,' said Edward, as they rode along the lane from which, while the

'Brilliant indeed, sir,' returned Joe, rising in his stirrups to get a better view. 'Lights in the large room, and a

fire glimmering in the best bedchamber? Why, what company can this be for, I wonder!'

'Some benighted horseman wending towards London, and deterred from going on tonight by the marvellous

'He must be a horseman of good quality to have such accommodations. Your bed too, sir!'

'No matter, Joe. Any other room will do for me. But comethere's nine striking. We may push on.'

They cantered forward at as brisk a pace as Joe's charger could attain, and presently stopped in the little copse

where he had left her in the morning. Edward dismounted, gave his bridle to his companion, and walked with

A female servant was waiting at a side gate in the gardenwall, and admitted him without delay. He hurried

along the terracewalk, and darted up a flight of broad steps leading into an old and gloomy hall, whose walls

were ornamented with rusty suits of armour, antlers, weapons of the chase, and suchlike garniture. Here he

paused, but not long; for as he looked round, as if expecting the attendant to have followed, and wondering

she had not done so, a lovely girl appeared, whose dark hair next moment rested on his breast. Almost at the

same instant a heavy hand was laid upon her arm, Edward felt himself thrust away, and Mr Haredale stood

He regarded the young man sternly without removing his hat; with one hand clasped his niece, and with the

other, in which he held his ridingwhip, motioned him towards the door. The young man drew himself up,

'This is well done of you, sir, to corrupt my servants, and enter my house unbidden and in secret, like a thief!'

'Miss Haredale's presence,' returned the young man, 'and your relationship to her, give you a licence which, if

you are a brave man, you will not abuse. You have compelled me to this course, and the fault is yoursnot

'It is neither generous, nor honourable, nor the act of a true man, sir,' retorted the other, 'to tamper with the

affections of a weak, trusting girl, while you shrink, in your unworthiness, from her guardian and protector,

and dare not meet the light of day. More than this I will not say to you, save that I forbid you this house, and

'It is neither generous, nor honourable, nor the act of a true man to play the spy,' said Edward. 'Your words

'You will find,' said Mr Haredale, calmly, 'your trusty gobetween in waiting at the gate by which you

entered. I have played no spy's part, sir. I chanced to see you pass the gate, and followed. You might have

heard me knocking for admission, had you been less swift of foot, or lingered in the garden. Please to

withdraw. Your presence here is offensive to me and distressful to my niece.' As he said these words, he

passed his arm about the waist of the terrified and weeping girl, and drew her closer to him; and though the

habitual severity of his manner was scarcely changed, there was yet apparent in the action an air of kindness

'Mr Haredale,' said Edward, 'your arm encircles her on whom I have set my every hope and thought, and to

purchase one minute's happiness for whom I would gladly lay down my life; this house is the casket that

holds the precious jewel of my existence. Your niece has plighted her faith to me, and I have plighted mine to

her. What have I done that you should hold me in this light esteem, and give me these discourteous words?'

'You have done that, sir,' answered Mr Haredale, 'which must he undone. You have tied a lover'knot here

which must be cut asunder. Take good heed of what I say. Must. I cancel the bond between ye. I reject you,

'Words of purpose and meaning, as you will find,' replied the other. 'Lay them to heart.'

'Lay you then, these,' said Edward. 'Your cold and sullen temper, which chills every breast about you, which

turns affection into fear, and changes duty into dread, has forced us on this secret course, repugnant to our

nature and our wish, and far more foreign, sir, to us than you. I am not a false, a hollow, or a heartless man;

the character is yours, who poorly venture on these injurious terms, against the truth, and under the shelter

whereof I reminded you just now. You shall not cancel the bond between us. I will not abandon this pursuit. I

rely upon your niece's truth and honour, and set your influence at nought. I leave her with a confidence in her

pure faith, which you will never weaken, and with no concern but that I do not leave her in some gentler

With that, he pressed her cold hand to his lips, and once more encountering and returning Mr Haredale's

A few words to Joe as he mounted his horse sufficiently explained what had passed, and renewed all that

young gentleman's despondency with tenfold aggravation. They rode back to the Maypole without

Old John, who had peeped from behind the red curtain as they rode up shouting for Hugh, was out directly,

'He's comfortable in bedthe best bed. A thorough gentleman; the smilingest, affablest gentleman I ever had

'What does he mean?' said Edward, looking with a mixture of alarm and doubt, at Joe.

'What DO you mean?' said Joe. 'Don't you see Mr Edward doesn't understand, father?'

'Why, didn't you know of it, sir?' said John, opening his eyes wide. 'How very singular! Bless you, he's been

here ever since noon today, and Mr Haredale has been having a long talk with him, and hasn't been gone an

'Yes, sir, he told me soa handsome, slim, upright gentleman, in greenandgold. In your old room up

yonder, sir. No doubt you can go in, sir,' said John, walking backwards into the road and looking up at the

Edward glanced at the window also, and hastily murmuring that he had changed his mindforgotten

somethingand must return to London, mounted his horse again and rode away; leaving the Willets, father

At noon next day, John Willet's guest sat lingering over his breakfast in his own home, surrounded by a

variety of comforts, which left the Maypole's highest flight and utmost stretch of accommodation at an

infinite distance behind, and suggested comparisons very much to the disadvantage and disfavour of that

In the broad oldfashioned windowseatas capacious as many modern sofas, and cushioned to serve the

purpose of a luxurious setteein the broad oldfashioned windowseat of a roomy chamber, Mr Chester

lounged, very much at his ease, over a wellfurnished breakfast table. He had exchanged his ridingcoat for

a handsome morning gown, his boots for slippers; had been at great pains to atone for the having been

obliged to make his toilet when he rose without the aid of dressingcase and tiring equipage; and, having

gradually forgotten through these means the discomforts of an indifferent night and an early ride, was in a

The situation in which he found himself, indeed, was particularly favourable to the growth of these feelings;

for, not to mention the lazy influence of a late and lonely breakfast, with the additional sedative of a

newspaper, there was an air of repose about his place of residence peculiar to itself, and which hangs about it,

even in these times, when it is more bustling and busy than it was in days of yore.

There are, still, worse places than the Temple, on a sultry day, for basking in the sun, or resting idly in the

shade. There is yet a drowsiness in its courts, and a dreamy dulness in its trees and gardens; those who pace

its lanes and squares may yet hear the echoes of their footsteps on the sounding stones, and read upon its

gates, in passing from the tumult of the Strand or Fleet Street, 'Who enters here leaves noise behind.' There is

still the plash of falling water in fair Fountain Court, and there are yet nooks and corners where dunhaunted

students may look down from their dusty garrets, on a vagrant ray of sunlight patching the shade of the tall

houses, and seldom troubled to reflect a passing stranger's form. There is yet, in the Temple, something of a

clerkly monkish atmosphere, which public offices of law have not disturbed, and even legal firms have failed

to scare away. In summer time, its pumps suggest to thirsty idlers, springs cooler, and more sparkling, and

deeper than other wells; and as they trace the spillings of full pitchers on the heated ground, they snuff the

freshness, and, sighing, cast sad looks towards the Thames, and think of baths and boats, and saunter on,

It was in a room in Paper Buildingsa row of goodly tenements, shaded in front by ancient trees, and

looking, at the back, upon the Temple Gardensthat this, our idler, lounged; now taking up again the paper

he had laid down a hundred times; now trifling with the fragments of his meal; now pulling forth his golden

toothpick, and glancing leisurely about the room, or out at window into the trim garden walks, where a few

early loiterers were already pacing to and fro. Here a pair of lovers met to quarrel and make up; there a

darkeyed nurserymaid had better eyes for Templars than her charge; on this hand an ancient spinster, with

her lapdog in a string, regarded both enormities with scornful sidelong looks; on that a weazen old gentleman,

ogling the nurserymaid, looked with like scorn upon the spinster, and wondered she didn't know she was no

longer young. Apart from all these, on the river's margin two or three couple of businesstalkers walked

slowly up and down in earnest conversation; and one young man sat thoughtfully on a bench, alone.

'Ned is amazingly patient!' said Mr Chester, glancing at this last named person as he set down his teacup

and plied the golden toothpick, 'immensely patient! He was sitting yonder when I began to dress, and has

'Really, as if he had heard me,' said the father, resuming his newspaper with a yawn. 'Dear Ned!'

Presently the roomdoor opened, and the young man entered; to whom his father gently waved his hand, and

'Surely, Ned. I am always at leisure. You know my constitution. Have you breakfasted?'

'What a very early dog!' cried his father, contemplating him from behind the toothpick, with a languid smile.

'The truth is,' said Edward, bringing a chair forward, and seating himself near the table, 'that I slept but ill last

night, and was glad to rise. The cause of my uneasiness cannot but be known to you, sir; and it is upon that I

'My dear boy,' returned his father, 'confide in me, I beg. But you know my constitutiondon't be prosy,

'Don't say you will, my good fellow,' returned his father, crossing his legs, 'or you certainly will not. You are

'Plainly this, then,' said the son, with an air of great concern, 'that I know where you were last nightfrom

'You don't say so!' cried his father. 'I am delighted to hear it. It saves us the worry, and terrible wear and tear

of a long explanation, and is a great relief for both. At the very house! Why didn't you come up? I should

'I knew that what I had to say would be better said after a night's reflection, when both of us were cool,'

''Fore Gad, Ned,' rejoined the father, 'I was cool enough last night. That detestable Maypole! By some

infernal contrivance of the builder, it holds the wind, and keeps it fresh. You remember the sharp east wind

that blew so hard five weeks ago? I give you my honour it was rampant in that old house last night, though

'I was about to say, Heaven knows how seriously and earnestly, that you have made me wretched, sir. Will

'My dear Ned,' said his father, 'I will hear you with the patience of an anchorite. Oblige me with the milk.'

'I saw Miss Haredale last night,' Edward resumed, when he had complied with this request; 'her uncle, in her

presence, immediately after your interview, and, as of course I know, in consequence of it, forbade me the

house, and, with circumstances of indignity which are of your creation I am sure, commanded me to leave it

'For his manner of doing so, I give you my honour, Ned, I am not accountable,' said his father. 'That you must

excuse. He is a mere boor, a log, a brute, with no address in life.Positively a fly in the jug. The first I have

'Father,' said the young man, stopping at length before him, 'we must not trifle in this matter. We must not

deceive each other, or ourselves. Let me pursue the manly open part I wish to take, and do not repel me by

'Whether I am indifferent or no,' returned the other, 'I leave you, my dear boy, to judge. A ride of twentyfive

or thirty miles, through miry roadsa Maypole dinnera teteatete with Haredale, which, vanity apart,

was quite a Valentine and Orson businessa Maypole beda Maypole landlord, and a Maypole retinue of

idiots and centaurs;whether the voluntary endurance of these things looks like indifference, dear Ned, or

like the excessive anxiety, and devotion, and all that sort of thing, of a parent, you shall determine for

'I wish you to consider, sir,' said Edward, 'in what a cruel situation I am placed. Loving Miss Haredale as I

'My dear fellow,' interrupted his father with a compassionate smile, 'you do nothing of the kind. You don't

know anything about it. There's no such thing, I assure you. Now, do take my word for it. You have good

sense, Ned,great good sense. I wonder you should be guilty of such amazing absurdities. You really

'I repeat,' said his son firmly, 'that I love her. You have interposed to part us, and have, to the extent I have

just now told you of, succeeded. May I induce you, sir, in time, to think more favourably of our attachment,

'My dear Ned,' returned his father, taking a pinch of snuff and pushing his box towards him, 'that is my

'The time that has elapsed,' rejoined his son, 'since I began to know her worth, has flown in such a dream that

until now I have hardly once paused to reflect upon my true position. What is it? From my childhood I have

been accustomed to luxury and idleness, and have been bred as though my fortune were large, and my

expectations almost without a limit. The idea of wealth has been familiarised to me from my cradle. I have

been taught to look upon those means, by which men raise themselves to riches and distinction, as being

beyond my heeding, and beneath my care. I have been, as the phrase is, liberally educated, and am fit for

nothing. I find myself at last wholly dependent upon you, with no resource but in your favour. In this

momentous question of my life we do not, and it would seem we never can, agree. I have shrunk instinctively

alike from those to whom you have urged me to pay court, and from the motives of interest and gain which

have rendered them in your eyes visible objects for my suit. If there never has been thus much

plainspeaking between us before, sir, the fault has not been mine, indeed. If I seem to speak too plainly now,

it is, believe me father, in the hope that there may be a franker spirit, a worthier reliance, and a kinder

'My good fellow,' said his smiling father, 'you quite affect me. Go on, my dear Edward, I beg. But remember

your promise. There is great earnestness, vast candour, a manifest sincerity in all you say, but I fear I observe

'I am very sorry, too, Ned, but you know that I cannot fix my mind for any long period upon one subject. If

you'll come to the point at once, I'll imagine all that ought to go before, and conclude it said. Oblige me with

'What I would say then, tends to this,' said Edward. 'I cannot bear this absolute dependence, sir, even upon

you. Time has been lost and opportunity thrown away, but I am yet a young man, and may retrieve it. Will

you give me the means of devoting such abilities and energies as I possess, to some worthy pursuit? Will you

let me try to make for myself an honourable path in life? For any term you please to namesay for five

years if you willI will pledge myself to move no further in the matter of our difference without your fall

concurrence. During that period, I will endeavour earnestly and patiently, if ever man did, to open some

prospect for myself, and free you from the burden you fear I should become if I married one whose worth and

beauty are her chief endowments. Will you do this, sir? At the expiration of the term we agree upon, let us

discuss this subject again. Till then, unless it is revived by you, let it never be renewed between us.'

'My dear Ned,' returned his father, laying down the newspaper at which he had been glancing carelessly, and

throwing himself back in the windowseat, 'I believe you know how very much I dislike what are called

family affairs, which are only fit for plebeian Christmas days, and have no manner of business with people of

our condition. But as you are proceeding upon a mistake, Ned altogether upon a mistakeI will conquer

my repugnance to entering on such matters, and give you a perfectly plain and candid answer, if you will do

Edward having obeyed him, he took an elegant little knife from his pocket, and paring his nails, continued:

'You have to thank me, Ned, for being of good family; for your mother, charming person as she was, and

almost brokenhearted, and so forth, as she left me, when she was prematurely compelled to become

'Quite right, Ned; perfectly so. He stood high at the bar, had a great name and great wealth, but having risen

from nothingI have always closed my eyes to the circumstance and steadily resisted its contemplation, but

I fear his father dealt in pork, and that his business did once involve cowheel and sausageshe wished to

marry his daughter into a good family. He had his heart's desire, Ned. I was a younger son's younger son, and

I married her. We each had our object, and gained it. She stepped at once into the politest and best circles,

and I stepped into a fortune which I assure you was very necessary to my comfortquite indispensable.

Now, my good fellow, that fortune is among the things that have been. It is gone, Ned, and has been

'Are you indeed?' cried his father, raising his eyelids in a languishing surprise. 'So much! Then I should say,

Ned, that as nearly as I remember, its skirts vanished from human knowledge, about eighteen or nineteen

years ago. It was about that time when I came to live in these chambers (once your grandfather's, and

bequeathed by that extremely respectable person to me), and commenced to live upon an inconsiderable

'Not in the slightest degree, I assure you,' returned his father with great composure. 'These family topics are

so extremely dry, that I am sorry to say they don't admit of any such relief. It is for that reason, and because

they have an appearance of business, that I dislike them so very much. Well! You know the rest. A son, Ned,

unless he is old enough to be a companionthat is to say, unless he is some two or three and twentyis not

the kind of thing to have about one. He is a restraint upon his father, his father is a restraint upon him, and

they make each other mutually uncomfortable. Therefore, until within the last four years or so I have a

poor memory for dates, and if I mistake, you will correct me in your own mindyou pursued your studies at

a distance, and picked up a great variety of accomplishments. Occasionally we passed a week or two together

here, and disconcerted each other as only such near relations can. At last you came home. I candidly tell you,

my dear boy, that if you had been awkward and overgrown, I should have exported you to some distant part

'No you don't, Ned,' said his father coolly; 'you are mistaken, I assure you. I found you a handsome,

prepossessing, elegant fellow, and I threw you into the society I can still command. Having done that, my

dear fellow, I consider that I have provided for you in life, and rely upon your doing something to provide for

'My meaning, Ned, is obviousI observe another fly in the cream jug, but have the goodness not to take it

out as you did the first, for their walk when their legs are milky, is extremely ungraceful and

disagreeablemy meaning is, that you must do as I did; that you must marry well and make the most of

'What in the devil's name, Ned, would you be!' returned the father. 'All men are fortunehunters, are they

not? The law, the church, the court, the campsee how they are all crowded with fortune hunters, jostling

each other in the pursuit. The stockexchange, the pulpit, the countinghouse, the royal drawingroom, the

senate,what but fortunehunters are they filled with? A fortune hunter! Yes. You ARE one; and you

would be nothing else, my dear Ned, if you were the greatest courtier, lawyer, legislator, prelate, or merchant,

in existence. If you are squeamish and moral, Ned, console yourself with the reflection that at the very worst

your fortunehunting can make but one person miserable or unhappy. How many people do you suppose

these other kinds of huntsmen crush in following their sporthundreds at a step? Or thousands?'

'I am quite charmed,' said the father rising, and walking slowly to and frostopping now and then to glance

at himself in the mirror, or survey a picture through his glass, with the air of a connoisseur, 'that we have had

this conversation, Ned, unpromising as it was. It establishes a confidence between us which is quite

delightful, and was certainly necessary, though how you can ever have mistaken our positions and designs, I

confess I cannot understand. I conceived, until I found your fancy for this girl, that all these points were

'I knew you were embarrassed, sir,' returned the son, raising his head for a moment, and then falling into his

former attitude, 'but I had no idea we were the beggared wretches you describe. How could I suppose it, bred

as I have been; witnessing the life you have always led; and the appearance you have always made?'

'My dear child,' said the father'for you really talk so like a child that I must call you oneyou were bred

upon a careful principle; the very manner of your education, I assure you, maintained my credit surprisingly.

As to the life I lead, I must lead it, Ned. I must have these little refinements about me. I have always been

used to them, and I cannot exist without them. They must surround me, you observe, and therefore they are

here. With regard to our circumstances, Ned, you may set your mind at rest upon that score. They are

desperate. Your own appearance is by no means despicable, and our joint pocketmoney alone devours our

'Why have I never known this before? Why have you encouraged me, sir, to an expenditure and mode of life

'My good fellow,' returned his father more compassionately than ever, 'if you made no appearance, how could

you possibly succeed in the pursuit for which I destined you? As to our mode of life, every man has a right to

live in the best way he can; and to make himself as comfortable as he can, or he is an unnatural scoundrel.

Our debts, I grant, are very great, and therefore it the more behoves you, as a young man of principle and

'The villain's part,' muttered Edward, 'that I have unconsciously played! I to win the heart of Emma Haredale!

'I am glad you see, Ned,' returned his father, 'how perfectly self evident it is, that nothing can be done in that

quarter. But apart from this, and the necessity of your speedily bestowing yourself on another (as you know

you could tomorrow, if you chose), I wish you'd look upon it pleasantly. In a religious point of view alone,

how could you ever think of uniting yourself to a Catholic, unless she was amazingly rich? You ought to be

so very Protestant, coming of such a Protestant family as you do. Let us be moral, Ned, or we are nothing.

Even if one could set that objection aside, which is impossible, we come to another which is quite conclusive.

The very idea of marrying a girl whose father was killed, like meat! Good God, Ned, how disagreeable!

Consider the impossibility of having any respect for your fatherinlaw under such unpleasant

circumstancesthink of his having been "viewed" by jurors, and "sat upon" by coroners, and of his very

doubtful position in the family ever afterwards. It seems to me such an indelicate sort of thing that I really

think the girl ought to have been put to death by the state to prevent its happening. But I tease you perhaps.

You would rather be alone? My dear Ned, most willingly. God bless you. I shall be going out presently, but

we shall meet tonight, or if not tonight, certainly tomorrow. Take care of yourself in the mean time, for

both our sakes. You are a person of great consequence to me, Nedof vast consequence indeed. God bless

With these words, the father, who had been arranging his cravat in the glass, while he uttered them in a

disconnected careless manner, withdrew, humming a tune as he went. The son, who had appeared so lost in

thought as not to hear or understand them, remained quite still and silent. After the lapse of half an hour or so,

the elder Chester, gaily dressed, went out. The younger still sat with his head resting on his hands, in what

A series of pictures representing the streets of London in the night, even at the comparatively recent date of

this tale, would present to the eye something so very different in character from the reality which is witnessed

in these times, that it would be difficult for the beholder to recognise his most familiar walks in the altered

They were, one and all, from the broadest and best to the narrowest and least frequented, very dark. The oil

and cotton lamps, though regularly trimmed twice or thrice in the long winter nights, burnt feebly at the best;

and at a late hour, when they were unassisted by the lamps and candles in the shops, cast but a narrow track

of doubtful light upon the footway, leaving the projecting doors and housefronts in the deepest gloom.

Many of the courts and lanes were left in total darkness; those of the meaner sort, where one glimmering light

twinkled for a score of houses, being favoured in no slight degree. Even in these places, the inhabitants had

often good reason for extinguishing their lamp as soon as it was lighted; and the watch being utterly

inefficient and powerless to prevent them, they did so at their pleasure. Thus, in the lightest thoroughfares,

there was at every turn some obscure and dangerous spot whither a thief might fly or shelter, and few would

care to follow; and the city being belted round by fields, green lanes, waste grounds, and lonely roads,

dividing it at that time from the suburbs that have joined it since, escape, even where the pursuit was hot, was

It is no wonder that with these favouring circumstances in full and constant operation, street robberies, often

accompanied by cruel wounds, and not unfrequently by loss of life, should have been of nightly occurrence in

the very heart of London, or that quiet folks should have had great dread of traversing its streets after the

shops were closed. It was not unusual for those who wended home alone at midnight, to keep the middle of

the road, the better to guard against surprise from lurking footpads; few would venture to repair at a late hour

to Kentish Town or Hampstead, or even to Kensington or Chelsea, unarmed and unattended; while he who

had been loudest and most valiant at the suppertable or the tavern, and had but a mile or so to go, was glad

There were many other characteristicsnot quite so disagreeable about the thoroughfares of London then,

with which they had been long familiar. Some of the shops, especially those to the eastward of Temple Bar,

still adhered to the old practice of hanging out a sign; and the creaking and swinging of these boards in their

iron frames on windy nights, formed a strange and mournfal concert for the ears of those who lay awake in

bed or hurried through the streets. Long stands of hackneychairs and groups of chairmen, compared with

whom the coachmen of our day are gentle and polite, obstructed the way and filled the air with clamour;

nightcellars, indicated by a little stream of light crossing the pavement, and stretching out halfway into the

road, and by the stifled roar of voices from below, yawned for the reception and entertainment of the most

abandoned of both sexes; under every shed and bulk small groups of linkboys gamed away the earnings of

the day; or one more weary than the rest, gave way to sleep, and let the fragment of his torch fall hissing on

Then there was the watch with staff and lantern crying the hour, and the kind of weather; and those who woke

up at his voice and turned them round in bed, were glad to hear it rained, or snowed, or blew, or froze, for

very comfort's sake. The solitary passenger was startled by the chairmen's cry of 'By your leave there!' as two

came trotting past him with their empty vehiclecarried backwards to show its being disengagedand

hurried to the nearest stand. Many a private chair, too, inclosing some fine lady, monstrously hooped and

furbelowed, and preceded by runningfootmen bearing flambeauxfor which extinguishers are yet

suspended before the doors of a few houses of the better sortmade the way gay and light as it danced

along, and darker and more dismal when it had passed. It was not unusual for these running gentry, who

carried it with a very high hand, to quarrel in the servants' hall while waiting for their masters and mistresses;

and, falling to blows either there or in the street without, to strew the place of skirmish with hairpowder,

fragments of bagwigs, and scattered nosegays. Gaming, the vice which ran so high among all classes (the

fashion being of course set by the upper), was generally the cause of these disputes; for cards and dice were

as openly used, and worked as much mischief, and yielded as much excitement below stairs, as above. While

incidents like these, arising out of drums and masquerades and parties at quadrille, were passing at the west

end of the town, heavy stagecoaches and scarce heavier waggons were lumbering slowly towards the city, the

coachmen, guard, and passengers, armed to the teeth, and the coacha day or so perhaps behind its time, but

that was nothingdespoiled by highwaymen; who made no scruple to attack, alone and singlehanded, a

whole caravan of goods and men, and sometimes shot a passenger or two, and were sometimes shot

themselves, as the case might be. On the morrow, rumours of this new act of daring on the road yielded

matter for a few hours' conversation through the town, and a Public Progress of some fine gentleman

(halfdrunk) to Tyburn, dressed in the newest fashion, and damning the ordinary with unspeakable gallantry

and grace, furnished to the populace, at once a pleasant excitement and a wholesome and profound example.

Among all the dangerous characters who, in such a state of society, prowled and skulked in the metropolis at

night, there was one man from whom many as uncouth and fierce as he, shrunk with an involuntary dread.

Who he was, or whence he came, was a question often asked, but which none could answer. His name was

unknown, he had never been seen until within about eight days or thereabouts, and was equally a stranger to

the old ruffians, upon whose haunts he ventured fearlessly, as to the young. He could be no spy, for he never

removed his slouched hat to look about him, entered into conversation with no man, heeded nothing that

passed, listened to no discourse, regarded nobody that came or went. But so surely as the dead of night set in,

so surely this man was in the midst of the loose concourse in the nightcellar where outcasts of every grade

He was not only a spectre at their licentious feasts; a something in the midst of their revelry and riot that

chilled and haunted them; but out of doors he was the same. Directly it was dark, he was abroadnever in

company with any one, but always alone; never lingering or loitering, but always walking swiftly; and

looking (so they said who had seen him) over his shoulder from time to time, and as he did so quickening his

pace. In the fields, the lanes, the roads, in all quarters of the towneast, west, north, and souththat man

was seen gliding on like a shadow. He was always hurrying away. Those who encountered him, saw him steal

This constant restlessness, and flitting to and fro, gave rise to strange stories. He was seen in such distant and

remote places, at times so nearly tallying with each other, that some doubted whether there were not two of

them, or moresome, whether he had not unearthly means of travelling from spot to spot. The footpad

hiding in a ditch had marked him passing like a ghost along its brink; the vagrant had met him on the dark

highroad; the beggar had seen him pause upon the bridge to look down at the water, and then sweep on

again; they who dealt in bodies with the surgeons could swear he slept in churchyards, and that they had

beheld him glide away among the tombs on their approach. And as they told these stories to each other, one

who had looked about him would pull his neighbour by the sleeve, and there he would be among them.

At last, one manhe was one of those whose commerce lay among the gravesresolved to question this

strange companion. Next night, when he had eat his poor meal voraciously (he was accustomed to do that,

they had observed, as though he had no other in the day), this fellow sat down at his elbow.

'Blacker than last, though that was pitchy too. Didn't I pass you near the turnpike in the Oxford Road?'

'Come, come, master,' cried the fellow, urged on by the looks of his comrades, and slapping him on the

shoulder; 'be more companionable and communicative. Be more the gentleman in this good company. There

are tales among us that you have sold yourself to the devil, and I know not what.'

'We all have, have we not?' returned the stranger, looking up. 'If we were fewer in number, perhaps he would

'It goes rather hard with you, indeed,' said the fellow, as the stranger disclosed his haggard unwashed face,

and torn clothes. 'What of that? Be merry, master. A stave of a roaring song now'

'Sing you, if you desire to hear one,' replied the other, shaking him roughly off; 'and don't touch me if you're a

prudent man; I carry arms which go off easilythey have done so, before nowand make it dangerous for

'Yes,' returned the other, rising and turning upon him, and looking fiercely round as if in apprehension of a

His voice, and look, and bearingall expressive of the wildest recklessness and desperationdaunted while

they repelled the bystanders. Although in a very different sphere of action now, they were not without much

'I am what you all are, and live as you all do,' said the man sternly, after a short silence. 'I am in hiding here

like the rest, and if we were surprised would perhaps do my part with the best of ye. If it's my humour to be

left to myself, let me have it. Otherwise,'and here he swore a tremendous oath'there'll be mischief done

A low murmur, having its origin perhaps in a dread of the man and the mystery that surrounded him, or

perhaps in a sincere opinion on the part of some of those present, that it would be an inconvenient precedent

to meddle too curiously with a gentleman's private affairs if he saw reason to conceal them, warned the

fellow who had occasioned this discussion that he had best pursue it no further. After a short time the strange

man lay down upon a bench to sleep, and when they thought of him again, they found he was gone.

Next night, as soon as it was dark, he was abroad again and traversing the streets; he was before the

locksmith's house more than once, but the family were out, and it was close shut. This night he crossed

London Bridge and passed into Southwark. As he glided down a bye street, a woman with a little basket on

her arm, turned into it at the other end. Directly he observed her, he sought the shelter of an archway, and

stood aside until she had passed. Then he emerged cautiously from his hidingplace, and followed.

She went into several shops to purchase various kinds of household necessaries, and round every place at

which she stopped he hovered like her evil spirit; following her when she reappeared. It was nigh eleven

o'clock, and the passengers in the streets were thinning fast, when she turned, doubtless to go home. The

She turned into the same bye street in which he had seen her first, which, being free from shops, and narrow,

was extremely dark. She quickened her pace here, as though distrustful of being stopped, and robbed of such

trifling property as she carried with her. He crept along on the other side of the road. Had she been gifted with

the speed of wind, it seemed as if his terrible shadow would have tracked her down.

At length the widowfor she it wasreached her own door, and, panting for breath, paused to take the key

from her basket. In a flush and glow, with the haste she had made, and the pleasure of being safe at home, she

stooped to draw it out, when, raising her head, she saw him standing silently beside her: the apparition of a

His hand was on her mouth, but that was needless, for her tongue clove to its roof, and her power of utterance

was gone. 'I have been looking for you many nights. Is the house empty? Answer me. Is any one inside?'

She seemed to indicate that there was no one there. He took the key, unlocked the door, carried her in, and

It was a chilly night, and the fire in the widow's parlour had burnt low. Her strange companion placed her in a

chair, and stooping down before the halfextinguished ashes, raked them together and fanned them with his

hat. From time to time he glanced at her over his shoulder, as though to assure himself of her remaining quiet

and making no effort to depart; and that done, busied himself about the fire again.

It was not without reason that he took these pains, for his dress was dank and drenched with wet, his jaws

rattled with cold, and he shivered from head to foot. It had rained hard during the previous night and for some

hours in the morning, but since noon it had been fine. Wheresoever he had passed the hours of darkness, his

condition sufficiently betokened that many of them had been spent beneath the open sky. Besmeared with

mire; his saturated clothes clinging with a damp embrace about his limbs; his beard unshaven, his face

unwashed, his meagre cheeks worn into deep hollows,a more miserable wretch could hardly be, than this

man who now cowered down upon the widow's hearth, and watched the struggling flame with bloodshot

She had covered her face with her hands, fearing, as it seemed, to look towards him. So they remained for

'Give me meat and drink,' he answered sullenly, 'or I dare do more than that. The very marrow in my bones is

cold, with wet and hunger. I must have warmth and food, and I will have them here.'

'The will was not wanting. There was one came upon me and raised the hueandcry', that it would have

'You thrust your sword at HIM!' cried the widow, looking upwards. 'You hear this man! you hear and saw!'

He looked at her, as, with her head thrown back, and her hands tight clenched together, she uttered these

words in an agony of appeal. Then, starting to his feet as she had done, he advanced towards her.

'Beware!' she cried in a suppressed voice, whose firmness stopped him midway. 'Do not so much as touch me

'Hear me,' he replied, menacing her with his hand. 'I, that in the form of a man live the life of a hunted beast;

that in the body am a spirit, a ghost upon the earth, a thing from which all creatures shrink, save those curst

beings of another world, who will not leave me;I am, in my desperation of this night, past all fear but that

of the hell in which I exist from day to day. Give the alarm, cry out, refuse to shelter me. I will not hurt you.

But I will not be taken alive; and so surely as you threaten me above your breath, I fall a dead man on this

floor. The blood with which I sprinkle it, be on you and yours, in the name of the Evil Spirit that tempts men

As he spoke, he took a pistol from his breast, and firmly clutched it in his hand.

'Remove this man from me, good Heaven!' cried the widow. 'In thy grace and mercy, give him one minute's

'It has no such purpose,' he said, confronting her. 'It is deaf. Give me to eat and drink, lest I do that it cannot

'I will promise nothing,' he rejoined, seating himself at the table, 'nothing but thisI will execute my threat if

She rose at length, and going to a closet or pantry in the room, brought out some fragments of cold meat and

bread and put them on the table. He asked for brandy, and for water. These she produced likewise; and he ate

and drank with the voracity of a famished hound. All the time he was so engaged she kept at the uttermost

distance of the chamber, and sat there shuddering, but with her face towards him. She never turned her back

upon him once; and although when she passed him (as she was obliged to do in going to and from the

cupboard) she gathered the skirts of her garment about her, as if even its touching his by chance were horrible

to think of, still, in the midst of all this dread and terror, she kept her face towards his own, and watched his

His repast endedif that can be called one, which was a mere ravenous satisfying of the calls of hungerhe

moved his chair towards the fire again, and warming himself before the blaze which had now sprung brightly

'I am an outcast, to whom a roof above his head is often an uncommon luxury, and the food a beggar would

'Oneit is no matter who. You had best begone, or he may find you here. Why do you linger?'

'For warmth,' he replied, spreading out his hands before the fire. 'For warmth. You are rich, perhaps?'

'At least you are not penniless. You have some money. You were making purchases tonight.'

She stepped to the table and laid it down. He reached across, took it up, and told the contents into his hand.

'Take what there is, take all, take more if more were there, but go before it is too late. I have heard a wayward

'Do not stop to ask. I will not answer. Much as I dread to touch you, I would drag you to the door if I

possessed the strength, rather than you should lose an instant. Miserable wretch! fly from this place.'

'If there are spies without, I am safer here,' replied the man, standing aghast. 'I will remain here, and will not

'It is too late!' cried the widow, who had listened for the step, and not to him. 'Hark to that foot upon the

As she said this wildly, there came a heavy knocking at the door. He looked at her, and she at him.

'Let him come in,' said the man, hoarsely. 'I fear him less than the dark, houseless night. He knocks again. Let

'The dread of this hour,' returned the widow, 'has been upon me all my life, and I will not. Evil will fall upon

him, if you stand eye to eye. My blighted boy! Oh! all good angels who know the truth hear a poor

'He rattles at the shutters!' cried the man. 'He calls you. That voice and cry! It was he who grappled with me

She had sunk upon her knees, and so knelt down, moving her lips, but uttering no sound. As he gazed upon

her, uncertain what to do or where to turn, the shutters flew open. He had barely time to catch a knife from

the table, sheathe it in the loose sleeve of his coat, hide in the closet, and do all with the lightning's speed,

'Why, who can keep out Grip and me!' he cried, thrusting in his head, and staring round the room. 'Are you

She stammered some excuse and tendered him her hand. But Barnaby sprung lightly in without assistance,

'We have been afield, motherleaping ditches, scrambling through hedges, running down steep banks, up

and away, and hurrying on. The wind has been blowing, and the rushes and young plants bowing and bending

to it, lest it should do them harm, the cowardsand Gripha ha ha!brave Grip, who cares for nothing,

and when the wind rolls him over in the dust, turns manfully to bite itGrip, bold Grip, has quarrelled with

every little bowing twigthinking, he told me, that it mocked himand has worried it like a bulldog. Ha ha

The raven, in his little basket at his master's back, hearing this frequent mention of his name in a tone of

exultation, expressed his sympathy by crowing like a cock, and afterwards running over his various phrases

of speech with such rapidity, and in so many varieties of hoarseness, that they sounded like the murmurs of a

'He takes such care of me besides!' said Barnaby. 'Such care, mother! He watches all the time I sleep, and

when I shut my eyes and makebelieve to slumber, he practises new learning softly; but he keeps his eye on

me the while, and if he sees me laugh, though never so little, stops directly. He won't surprise me till he's

The raven crowed again in a rapturous manner which plainly said, 'Those are certainly some of my

characteristics, and I glory in them.' In the meantime, Barnaby closed the window and secured it, and coming

to the fireplace, prepared to sit down with his face to the closet. But his mother prevented this, by hastily

'How pale you are tonight!' said Barnaby, leaning on his stick. 'We have been cruel, Grip, and made her

Anxious in good truth, and sick at heart! The listener held the door of his hidingplace open with his hand,

and closely watched her son. Gripalive to everything his master was unconscious of had his head out of

'He flaps his wings,' said Barnaby, turning almost quickly enough to catch the retreating form and closing

door, 'as if there were strangers here, but Grip is wiser than to fancy that. Jump then!'

Accepting this invitation with a dignity peculiar to himself, the bird hopped up on his master's shoulder, from

that to his extended hand, and so to the ground. Barnaby unstrapping the basket and putting it down in a

corner with the lid open, Grip's first care was to shut it down with all possible despatch, and then to stand

upon it. Believing, no doubt, that he had now rendered it utterly impossible, and beyond the power of mortal

man, to shut him up in it any more, he drew a great many corks in triumph, and uttered a corresponding

'Mother!' said Barnaby, laying aside his hat and stick, and returning to the chair from which he had risen, 'I'll

'You mustn't tell,' said Barnaby, holding up his finger, 'for it's a secret, mind, and only known to me, and

Grip, and Hugh. We had the dog with us, but he's not like Grip, clever as he is, and doesn't guess it yet, I'll

'There'sthere's none of this about, is there?' he answered in a whisper, drawing closer to her and clasping

the mark upon his wrist. 'I am afraid there is, somewhere. You make my hair stand on end, and my flesh

creep. Why do you look like that? Is it in the room as I have seen it in my dreams, dashing the ceiling and the

He fell into a shivering fit as he put the question, and shutting out the light with his hands, sat shaking in

every limb until it had passed away. After a time, he raised his head and looked about him.

'There has been nothing here,' rejoined his mother, soothing him. 'Nothing indeed, dear Barnaby. Look! You

He gazed at her vacantly, and, becoming reassured by degrees, burst into a wild laugh.

'But let us see,' he said, thoughtfully. 'Were we talking? Was it you and me? Where have we been?'

'Aye, but Hugh, and I,' said Barnaby,'that's it. Maypole Hugh, and I, you know, and Gripwe have been

lying in the forest, and among the trees by the road side, with a dark lantern after night came on, and the dog

'The robber; him that the stars winked at. We have waited for him after dark these many nights, and we shall

He twisted his handkerchief round his head, pulled his hat upon his brow, wrapped his coat about him, and

stood up before her: so like the original he counterfeited, that the dark figure peering out behind him might

'Ha ha ha! We shall have him,' he cried, ridding himself of the semblance as hastily as he had assumed it.

'You shall see him, mother, bound hand and foot, and brought to London at a saddle girth; and you shall

hear of him at Tyburn Tree if we have luck. So Hugh says. You're pale again, and trembling. And why DO

'It is nothing,' she answered. 'I am not quite well. Go you to bed, dear, and leave me here.'

'To bed!' he answered. 'I don't like bed. I like to lie before the fire, watching the prospects in the burning

coalsthe rivers, hills, and dells, in the deep, red sunset, and the wild faces. I am hungry too, and Grip has

The raven flapped his wings, and, croaking his satisfaction, hopped to the feet of his master, and there held

his bill open, ready for snapping up such lumps of meat as he should throw him. Of these he received about a

But it appearing for a certainty that no more was to be had, he retreated with his store; and disgorging the

morsels one by one from his pouch, hid them in various cornerstaking particular care, however, to avoid

the closet, as being doubtful of the hidden man's propensities and power of resisting temptation. When he had

concluded these arrangements, he took a turn or two across the room with an elaborate assumption of having

nothing on his mind (but with one eye hard upon his treasure all the time), and then, and not till then, began

Barnaby, for his part, having pressed his mother to eat in vain, made a hearty supper too. Once during the

progress of his meal, he wanted more bread from the closet and rose to get it. She hurriedly interposed to

prevent him, and summoning her utmost fortitude, passed into the recess, and brought it out herself.

'Mother,' said Barnaby, looking at her steadfastly as she sat down beside him after doing so; 'is today my

'Today!' she answered. 'Don't you recollect it was but a week or so ago, and that summer, autumn, and

'I remember that it has been so till now,' said Barnaby. 'But I think today must be my birthday too, for all

She asked him why? 'I'll tell you why,' he said. 'I have always seen youI didn't let you know it, but I

haveon the evening of that day grow very sad. I have seen you cry when Grip and I were most glad; and

look frightened with no reason; and I have touched your hand, and felt that it was coldas it is now. Once,

mother (on a birthday that was, also), Grip and I thought of this after we went upstairs to bed, and when it

was midnight, striking one o'clock, we came down to your door to see if you were well. You were on your

knees. I forget what it was you said. Grip, what was it we heard her say that night?'

'No, no,' said Barnaby. 'But you said something in a prayer; and when you rose and walked about, you looked

(as you have done ever since, mother, towards night on my birthday) just as you do now. I have found that

out, you see, though I am silly. So I say you're wrong; and this must be my birthdaymy birthday, Grip!'

The bird received this information with a crow of such duration as a cock, gifted with intelligence beyond all

others of his kind, might usher in the longest day with. Then, as if he had well considered the sentiment, and

regarded it as apposite to birthdays, he cried, 'Never say die!' a great many times, and flapped his wings for

The widow tried to make light of Barnaby's remark, and endeavoured to divert his attention to some new

subject; too easy a task at all times, as she knew. His supper done, Barnaby, regardless of her entreaties,

stretched himself on the mat before the fire; Grip perched upon his leg, and divided his time between dozing

in the grateful warmth, and endeavouring (as it presently appeared) to recall a new accomplishment he had

A long and profound silence ensued, broken only by some change of position on the part of Barnaby, whose

eyes were still wide open and intently fixed upon the fire; or by an effort of recollection on the part of Grip,

who would cry in a low voice from time to time, 'Polly put the ket' and there stop short, forgetting the

After a long interval, Barnaby's breathing grew more deep and regular, and his eyes were closed. But even

then the unquiet spirit of the raven interposed. 'Polly put the ket' cried Grip, and his master was broad

At length Barnaby slept soundly, and the bird with his bill sunk upon his breast, his breast itself puffed out

into a comfortable aldermanlike form, and his bright eye growing smaller and smaller, really seemed to be

subsiding into a state of repose. Now and then he muttered in a sepulchral voice, 'Polly put the ket' but

The widow, scarcely venturing to breathe, rose from her seat. The man glided from the closet, and

'tle on,' cried Grip, suddenly struck with an idea and very much excited. 'tle on. Hurrah! Polly put the

kettle on, we'll all have tea; Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! I'm a devil,

I'm a devil, I'm a kettle on, Keep up your spirits, Never say die, Bow, wow, wow, I'm a devil, I'm a kettle,

But even this failed to awaken the sleeper. He turned over towards the fire, his arm fell to the ground, and his

head drooped heavily upon it. The widow and her unwelcome visitor gazed at him and at each other for a

'I have taught him nothing that you heard tonight. Depart instantly, or I will rouse him.'

'I dare do anything, I have told you. He knows me well, it seems. At least I will know him.'

'Would you kill him in his sleep?' cried the widow, throwing herself between them.

'Woman,' he returned between his teeth, as he motioned her aside, 'I would see him nearer, and I will. If you

With that he advanced, and bending down over the prostrate form, softly turned back the head and looked

into the face. The light of the fire was upon it, and its every lineament was revealed distinctly. He

'Observe,' he whispered in the widow's ear: 'In him, of whose existence I was ignorant until tonight, I have

you in my power. Be careful how you use me. Be careful how you use me. I am destitute and starving, and a

'There is a meaning in them, and I see you fathom it to its very depth. You have anticipated it for years; you

He pointed, as he left her, to the slumbering form, and stealthily withdrawing, made his way into the street.

She fell on her knees beside the sleeper, and remained like one stricken into stone, until the tears which fear

'Oh Thou,' she cried, 'who hast taught me such deep love for this one remnant of the promise of a happy life,

out of whose affliction, even, perhaps the comfort springs that he is ever a relying, loving child to menever

growing old or cold at heart, but needing my care and duty in his manly strength as in his cradletimehelp

him, in his darkened walk through this sad world, or he is doomed, and my poor heart is broken!'

Gliding along the silent streets, and holding his course where they were darkest and most gloomy, the man

who had left the widow's house crossed London Bridge, and arriving in the City, plunged into the backways,

lanes, and courts, between Cornhill and Smithfield; with no more fixedness of purpose than to lose himself

It was the dead time of the night, and all was quiet. Now and then a drowsy watchman's footsteps sounded on

the pavement, or the lamplighter on his rounds went flashing past, leaving behind a little track of smoke

mingled with glowing morsels of his hot red link. He hid himself even from these partakers of his lonely

walk, and, shrinking in some arch or doorway while they passed, issued forth again when they were gone and

To be shelterless and alone in the open country, hearing the wind moan and watching for day through the

whole long weary night; to listen to the falling rain, and crouch for warmth beneath the lee of some old barn

or rick, or in the hollow of a tree; are dismal thingsbut not so dismal as the wandering up and down where

shelter is, and beds and sleepers are by thousands; a houseless rejected creature. To pace the echoing stones

from hour to hour, counting the dull chimes of the clocks; to watch the lights twinkling in chamber windows,

to think what happy forgetfulness each house shuts in; that here are children coiled together in their beds,

here youth, here age, here poverty, here wealth, all equal in their sleep, and all at rest; to have nothing in

common with the slumbering world around, not even sleep, Heaven's gift to all its creatures, and be akin to

nothing but despair; to feel, by the wretched contrast with everything on every hand, more utterly alone and

cast away than in a trackless desert; this is a kind of suffering, on which the rivers of great cities close full

The miserable man paced up and down the streetsso long, so wearisome, so like each otherand often

cast a wistful look towards the east, hoping to see the first faint streaks of day. But obdurate night had yet

One house in a back street was bright with the cheerful glare of lights; there was the sound of music in it too,

and the tread of dancers, and there were cheerful voices, and many a burst of laughter. To this placeto be

near something that was awake and gladhe returned again and again; and more than one of those who left

it when the merriment was at its height, felt it a check upon their mirthful mood to see him flitting to and fro

like an uneasy ghost. At last the guests departed, one and all; and then the house was close shut up, and

His wanderings brought him at one time to the city jail. Instead of hastening from it as a place of ill omen,

and one he had cause to shun, he sat down on some steps hard by, and resting his chin upon his hand, gazed

upon its rough and frowning walls as though even they became a refuge in his jaded eyes. He paced it round

and round, came back to the same spot, and sat down again. He did this often, and once, with a hasty

movement, crossed to where some men were watching in the prison lodge, and had his foot upon the steps as

though determined to accost them. But looking round, he saw that the day began to break, and failing in his

He was soon in the quarter he had lately traversed, and pacing to and fro again as he had done before. He was

passing down a mean street, when from an alley close at hand some shouts of revelry arose, and there came

straggling forth a dozen madcaps, whooping and calling to each other, who, parting noisily, took different

Hoping that some low place of entertainment which would afford him a safe refuge might be near at hand, he

turned into this court when they were all gone, and looked about for a halfopened door, or lighted window,

or other indication of the place whence they had come. It was so profoundly dark, however, and so

illfavoured, that he concluded they had but turned up there, missing their way, and were pouring out again

when he observed them. With this impression, and finding there was no outlet but that by which he had

entered, he was about to turn, when from a grating near his feet a sudden stream of light appeared, and the

sound of talking came. He retreated into a doorway to see who these talkers were, and to listen to them.

The light came to the level of the pavement as he did this, and a man ascended, bearing in his hand a torch.

This figure unlocked and held open the grating as for the passage of another, who presently appeared, in the

form of a young man of small stature and uncommon selfimportance, dressed in an obsolete and very gaudy

'Good night, noble captain,' said he with the torch. 'Farewell, commander. Good luck, illustrious general!'

In return to these compliments the other bade him hold his tongue, and keep his noise to himself, and laid

upon him many similar injunctions, with great fluency of speech and sternness of manner.

'Commend me, captain, to the stricken Miggs,' returned the torch bearer in a lower voice. 'My captain flies

at higher game than Miggses. Ha, ha, ha! My captain is an eagle, both as respects his eye and soaring wings.

'What a fool you are, Stagg!' said Mr Tappertit, stepping on the pavement of the court, and brushing from his

'His precious limbs!' cried Stagg, clasping one of his ankles. 'Shall a Miggs aspire to these proportions! No,

no, my captain. We will inveigle ladies fair, and wed them in our secret cavern. We will unite ourselves with

'I'll tell you what, my buck,' said Mr Tappertit, releasing his leg; 'I'll trouble you not to take liberties, and not

to broach certain questions unless certain questions are broached to you. Speak when you're spoke to on

particular subjects, and not otherways. Hold the torch up till I've got to the end of the court, and then kennel

'Obey then,' said Mr Tappertit haughtily. 'Gentlemen, lead on!' With which word of command (addressed to

an imaginary staff or retinue) he folded his arms, and walked with surpassing dignity down the court.

His obsequious follower stood holding the torch above his head, and then the observer saw for the first time,

from his place of concealment, that he was blind. Some involuntary motion on his part caught the quick ear of

the blind man, before he was conscious of having moved an inch towards him, for he turned suddenly and

'A stranger!' rejoined the blind man. 'Strangers are not my friends. What do you do there?'

'I saw your company come out, and waited here till they were gone. I want a lodging.'

'A lodging at this time!' returned Stagg, pointing towards the dawn as though he saw it. 'Do you know the day

'I know it,' rejoined the other, 'to my cost. I have been traversing this ironhearted town all night.'

'You had better traverse it again,' said the blind man, preparing to descend, 'till you find some lodgings

'I'll beat this light about that hangdog face of yours (for hangdog it is, if it answers to your voice), and rouse

the neighbourhood besides, if you detain me,' said the blind man. 'Let me go. Do you hear?'

'Do YOU hear!' returned the other, chinking a few shillings together, and hurriedly pressing them into his

hand. 'I beg nothing of you. I will pay for the shelter you give me. Death! Is it much to ask of such as you! I

have come from the country, and desire to rest where there are none to question me. I am faint, exhausted,

worn out, almost dead. Let me lie down, like a dog, before your fire. I ask no more than that. If you would be

'If a gentleman has been unfortunate on the road,' muttered Stagg, yielding to the other, who, pressing on him,

'I will pay you with all I have. I am just now past the want of food, God knows, and wish but to purchase

The blind man complied after a moment's hesitation, and they descended together. The dialogue had passed

as hurriedly as the words could be spoken, and they stood in his wretched room before he had had time to

'May I see where that door leads to, and what is beyond?' said the man, glancing keenly round. 'You will not

He bade him lead the way, and, by the light of the torch which his conductor held up for the purpose,

inspected all three cellars narrowly. Assured that the blind man had spoken truth, and that he lived there

alone, the visitor returned with him to the first, in which a fire was burning, and flung himself with a deep

His host pursued his usual occupation without seeming to heed him any further. But directly he fell

asleepand he noted his falling into a slumber, as readily as the keenestsighted man could have donehe

knelt down beside him, and passed his hand lightly but carefully over his face and person.

His sleep was checkered with starts and moans, and sometimes with a muttered word or two. His hands were

clenched, his brow bent, and his mouth firmly set. All this, the blind man accurately marked; and as if his

curiosity were strongly awakened, and he had already some inkling of his mystery, he sat watching him, if the

Dolly Varden's pretty little head was yet bewildered by various recollections of the party, and her bright eyes

were yet dazzled by a crowd of images, dancing before them like motes in the sunbeams, among which the

effigy of one partner in particular did especially figure, the same being a young coachmaker (a master in his

own right) who had given her to understand, when he handed her into the chair at parting, that it was his fixed

resolve to neglect his business from that time, and die slowly for the love of her Dolly's head, and eyes,

and thoughts, and seven senses, were all in a state of flutter and confusion for which the party was

accountable, although it was now three days old, when, as she was sitting listlessly at breakfast, reading all

manner of fortunes (that is to say, of married and flourishing fortunes) in the grounds of her teacup, a step

was heard in the workshop, and Mr Edward Chester was descried through the glass door, standing among the

rusty locks and keys, like love among the rosesfor which apt comparison the historian may by no means

take any credit to himself, the same being the invention, in a sentimental mood, of the chaste and modest

Miggs, who, beholding him from the doorsteps she was then cleaning, did, in her maiden meditation, give

The locksmith, who happened at the moment to have his eyes thrown upward and his head backward, in an

intense communing with Toby, did not see his visitor, until Mrs Varden, more watchful than the rest, had

desired Sim Tappertit to open the glass door and give him admissionfrom which untoward circumstance

the good lady argued (for she could deduce a precious moral from the most trifling event) that to take a

draught of small ale in the morning was to observe a pernicious, irreligious, and Pagan custom, the relish

whereof should be left to swine, and Satan, or at least to Popish persons, and should be shunned by the

righteous as a work of sin and evil. She would no doubt have pursued her admonition much further, and

would have founded on it a long list of precious precepts of inestimable value, but that the young gentleman

standing by in a somewhat uncomfortable and discomfited manner while she read her spouse this lecture,

'I'm sure you'll excuse me, sir,' said Mrs Varden, rising and curtseying. 'Varden is so very thoughtless, and

Mr Tappertit obeyed again, still under protest; and betaking himself to the workshop, began seriously to fear

In the meantime, Edward returned suitable replies to Mrs Varden's courtesies, and that lady brightened up

very much; so that when he accepted a dish of tea from the fair hands of Dolly, she was perfectly agreeable.

'I am sure if there's anything we can do,Varden, or I, or Dolly either,to serve you, sir, at any time, you

'I am much obliged to you, I am sure,' returned Edward. 'You encourage me to say that I have come here now,

'It occurred to me that probably your fair daughter might be going to the Warren, either today or

tomorrow,' said Edward, glancing at Dolly; 'and if so, and you will allow her to take charge of this letter,

ma'am, you will oblige me more than I can tell you. The truth is, that while I am very anxious it should reach

its destination, I have particular reasons for not trusting it to any other conveyance; so that without your help,

'She was not going that way, sir, either today, or tomorrow, nor indeed all next week,' the lady graciously

rejoined, 'but we shall be very glad to put ourselves out of the way on your account, and if you wish it, you

may depend upon its going today. You might suppose,' said Mrs Varden, frowning at her husband, 'from

Varden's sitting there so glum and silent, that he objected to this arrangement; but you must not mind that, sir,

if you please. It's his way at home. Out of doors, he can be cheerful and talkative enough.'

Now, the fact was, that the unfortunate locksmith, blessing his stars to find his helpmate in such good

humour, had been sitting with a beaming face, hearing this discourse with a joy past all expression.

'Oh yes, I dare say,' interrupted Mrs Varden, with a smile of mingled scorn and pleasantry. 'Very dear! We all

'No, but my good soul,' said Gabriel, 'you are quite mistaken. You are indeed. I was delighted to find you so

kind and ready. I waited, my dear, anxiously, I assure you, to hear what you would say.'

'You waited anxiously,' repeated Mrs V. 'Yes! Thank you, Varden. You waited, as you always do, that I

might bear the blame, if any came of it. But I am used to it,' said the lady with a kind of solemn titter, 'and

'Let me give you MY word, my dear,' interposed his wife with a Christian smile, 'that such discussions as

these between married people, are much better left alone. Therefore, if you please, Varden, we'll drop the

subject. I have no wish to pursue it. I could. I might say a great deal. But I would rather not. Pray don't say

'Nor did I begin it, Martha,' added the locksmith, goodhumouredly, 'I must say that.'

'You did not begin it, Varden!' exclaimed his wife, opening her eyes very wide and looking round upon the

company, as though she would say, You hear this man! 'You did not begin it, Varden! But you shall not say I

'Oh yes,' rejoined his wife, 'quite. If you like to say Dolly began it, my dear, I shall not contradict you. I know

my duty. I need know it, I am sure. I am often obliged to bear it in mind, when my inclination perhaps would

be for the moment to forget it. Thank you, Varden.' And so, with a mighty show of humility and forgiveness,

she folded her hands, and looked round again, with a smile which plainly said, 'If you desire to see the first

This little incident, illustrative though it was of Mrs Varden's extraordinary sweetness and amiability, had so

strong a tendency to check the conversation and to disconcert all parties but that excellent lady, that only a

few monosyllables were uttered until Edward withdrew; which he presently did, thanking the lady of the

house a great many times for her condescension, and whispering in Dolly's ear that he would call on the

morrow, in case there should happen to be an answer to the notewhich, indeed, she knew without his

telling, as Barnaby and his friend Grip had dropped in on the previous night to prepare her for the visit which

Gabriel, who had attended Edward to the door, came back with his hands in his pockets; and, after fidgeting

about the room in a very uneasy manner, and casting a great many sidelong looks at Mrs Varden (who with

the calmest countenance in the world was five fathoms deep in the Protestant Manual), inquired of Dolly how

she meant to go. Dolly supposed by the stagecoach, and looked at her lady mother, who finding herself

silently appealed to, dived down at least another fathom into the Manual, and became unconscious of all

'I am sorry, my dear, you have such an objection to the Maypole and old John, for otherways as it's a very

fine morning, and Saturday's not a busy day with us, we might have all three gone to Chigwell in the chaise,

Mrs Varden immediately closed the Manual, and bursting into tears, requested to be led upstairs.

To which Martha rejoined, 'Oh! don't speak to me,' and protested in agony that if anybody had told her so, she

'But, Martha,' said Gabriel, putting himself in the way as she was moving off with the aid of Dolly's shoulder,

'wouldn't have believed what? Tell me what's wrong now. Do tell me. Upon my soul I don't know. Do you

know, child? Damme!' cried the locksmith, plucking at his wig in a kind of frenzy, 'nobody does know, I

'Miggs,' said Mrs Varden faintly, and with symptoms of approaching incoherence, 'is attached to me, and that

is sufficient to draw down hatred upon her in this house. She is a comfort to me, whatever she may be to

'She's no comfort to me,' cried Gabriel, made bold by despair. 'She's the misery of my life. She's all the

'She's considered so, I have no doubt,' said Mrs Varden. 'I was prepared for that; it's natural; it's of a piece

with the rest. When you taunt me as you do to my face, how can I wonder that you taunt her behind her back!'

And here the incoherence coming on very strong, Mrs Varden wept, and laughed, and sobbed, and shivered,

and hiccoughed, and choked; and said she knew it was very foolish but she couldn't help it; and that when she

was dead and gone, perhaps they would be sorry for itwhich really under the circumstances did not appear

quite so probable as she seemed to thinkwith a great deal more to the same effect. In a word, she passed

with great decency through all the ceremonies incidental to such occasions; and being supported upstairs, was

deposited in a highly spasmodic state on her own bed, where Miss Miggs shortly afterwards flung herself

The philosophy of all this was, that Mrs Varden wanted to go to Chigwell; that she did not want to make any

concession or explanation; that she would only go on being implored and entreated so to do; and that she

would accept no other terms. Accordingly, after a vast amount of moaning and crying upstairs, and much

damping of foreheads, and vinegaring of temples, and hartshorning of noses, and so forth; and after most

pathetic adjurations from Miggs, assisted by warm brandyandwater not overweak, and divers other

cordials, also of a stimulating quality, administered at first in teaspoonfuls and afterwards in increasing doses,

and of which Miss Miggs herself partook as a preventive measure (for fainting is infectious); after all these

remedies, and many more too numerous to mention, but not to take, had been applied; and many verbal

consolations, moral, religious, and miscellaneous, had been superadded thereto; the locksmith humbled

'If it's only for the sake of peace and quietness, father,' said Dolly, urging him to go upstairs.

'Oh, Doll, Doll,' said her goodnatured father. 'If you ever have a husband of your own'

'Well, WHEN you have,' said the locksmith, 'never faint, my darling. More domestic unhappiness has

come of easy fainting, Doll, than from all the greater passions put together. Remember that, my dear, if you

would be really happy, which you never can be, if your husband isn't. And a word in your ear, my precious.

With this advice he kissed his blooming daughter on the cheek, and slowly repaired to Mrs Varden's room;

where that lady, lying all pale and languid on her couch, was refreshing herself with a sight of her last new

bonnet, which Miggs, as a means of calming her scattered spirits, displayed to the best advantage at her

'Here's master, mim,' said Miggs. 'Oh, what a happiness it is when man and wife come round again! Oh

gracious, to think that him and her should ever have a word together!' In the energy of these sentiments,

which were uttered as an apostrophe to the Heavens in general, Miss Miggs perched the bonnet on the top of

'I can't help it,' cried Miggs. 'I couldn't, if I was to be drownded in 'em. She has such a forgiving spirit! She'll

forget all that has passed, and go along with you, sirOh, if it was to the world's end, she'd go along with

Mrs Varden with a faint smile gently reproved her attendant for this enthusiasm, and reminded her at the

'Oh no, you're not, mim, indeed you're not,' said Miggs; 'I repeal to master; master knows you're not, mim.

The hair, and motion of the shay, will do you good, mim, and you must not give way, you must not raly. She

must keep up, mustn't she, sir, for all out sakes? I was a telling her that, just now. She must remember us,

even if she forgets herself. Master will persuade you, mim, I'm sure. There's Miss Dolly's agoing you know,

and master, and you, and all so happy and so comfortable. Oh!' cried Miggs, turning on the tears again,

previous to quitting the room in great emotion, 'I never see such a blessed one as she is for the forgiveness of

her spirit, I never, never, never did. Not more did master neither; no, nor no onenever!'

For five minutes or thereabouts, Mrs Varden remained mildly opposed to all her husband's prayers that she

would oblige him by taking a day's pleasure, but relenting at length, she suffered herself to be persuaded, and

granting him her free forgiveness (the merit whereof, she meekly said, rested with the Manual and not with

her), desired that Miggs might come and help her dress. The handmaid attended promptly, and it is but justice

to their joint exertions to record that, when the good lady came downstairs in course of time, completely

decked out for the journey, she really looked as if nothing had happened, and appeared in the very best health

As to Dolly, there she was again, the very pink and pattern of good looks, in a smart little cherrycoloured

mantle, with a hood of the same drawn over her head, and upon the top of that hood, a little straw hat

trimmed with cherrycoloured ribbons, and worn the merest trifle on one sidejust enough in short to make

it the wickedest and most provoking headdress that ever malicious milliner devised. And not to speak of the

manner in which these cherrycoloured decorations brightened her eyes, or vied with her lips, or shed a new

bloom on her face, she wore such a cruel little muff, and such a heartrending pair of shoes, and was so

surrounded and hemmed in, as it were, by aggravations of all kinds, that when Mr Tappettit, holding the

horse's head, saw her come out of the house alone, such impulses came over him to decoy her into the chaise

and drive off like mad, that he would unquestionably have done it, but for certain uneasy doubts besetting

him as to the shortest way to Gretna Green; whether it was up the street or down, or up the righthand turning

or the left; and whether, supposing all the turnpikes to be carried by storm, the blacksmith in the end would

marry them on credit; which by reason of his clerical office appeared, even to his excited imagination, so

unlikely, that he hesitated. And while he stood hesitating, and looking postchaisesandsix at Dolly, out

came his master and his mistress, and the constant Miggs, and the opportunity was gone for ever. For now the

chaise creaked upon its springs, and Mrs Varden was inside; and now it creaked again, and more than ever,

and the locksmith was inside; and now it bounded once, as if its heart beat lightly, and Dolly was inside; and

now it was gone and its place was empty, and he and that dreary Miggs were standing in the street together.

The hearty locksmith was in as good a humour as if nothing had occurred for the last twelve months to put

him out of his way, Dolly was all smiles and graces, and Mrs Varden was agreeable beyond all precedent. As

they jogged through the streets talking of this thing and of that, who should be descried upon the pavement

but that very coachmaker, looking so genteel that nobody would have believed he had ever had anything to

do with a coach but riding in it, and bowing like any nobleman. To be sure Dolly was confused when she

bowed again, and to be sure the cherrycoloured ribbons trembled a little when she met his mournful eye,

which seemed to say, 'I have kept my word, I have begun, the business is going to the devil, and you're the

cause of it.' There he stood, rooted to the ground: as Dolly said, like a statue; and as Mrs Varden said, like a

pump; till they turned the corner: and when her father thought it was like his impudence, and her mother

But on they went, not the less merrily for this, and there was the locksmith in the incautious fulness of his

heart 'pullingup' at all manner of places, and evincing a most intimate acquaintance with all the taverns on

the road, and all the landlords and all the landladies, with whom, indeed, the little horse was on equally

friendly terms, for he kept on stopping of his own accord. Never were people so glad to see other people as

these landlords and landladies were to behold Mr Varden and Mrs Varden and Miss Varden; and wouldn't

they get out, said one; and they really must walk upstairs, said another; and she would take it ill and be quite

certain they were proud if they wouldn't have a little taste of something, said a third; and so on, that it was

really quite a Progress rather than a ride, and one continued scene of hospitality from beginning to end. It was

pleasant enough to be held in such esteem, not to mention the refreshments; so Mrs Varden said nothing at

the time, and was all affability and delightbut such a body of evidence as she collected against the

unfortunate locksmith that day, to be used thereafter as occasion might require, never was got together for

In course of timeand in course of a pretty long time too, for these agreeable interruptions delayed them not

a little,they arrived upon the skirts of the Forest, and riding pleasantly on among the trees, came at last to

the Maypole, where the locksmith's cheerful 'Yoho!' speedily brought to the porch old John, and after him

young Joe, both of whom were so transfixed at sight of the ladies, that for a moment they were perfectly

It was only for a moment, however, that Joe forgot himself, for speedily reviving he thrust his drowsy father

asideto Mr Willet's mighty and inexpressible indignationand darting out, stood ready to help them to

alight. It was necessary for Dolly to get out first. Joe had her in his arms;yes, though for a space of time no

longer than you could count one in, Joe had her in his arms. Here was a glimpse of happiness!

It would be difficult to describe what a flat and commonplace affair the helping Mrs Varden out afterwards

was, but Joe did it, and did it too with the best grace in the world. Then old John, who, entertaining a dull and

foggy sort of idea that Mrs Varden wasn't fond of him, had been in some doubt whether she might not have

come for purposes of assault and battery, took courage, hoped she was well, and offered to conduct her into

the house. This tender being amicably received, they marched in together; Joe and Dolly followed,

Old John would have it that they must sit in the bar, and nobody objecting, into the bar they went. All bars

are snug places, but the Maypole's was the very snuggest, cosiest, and completest bar, that ever the wit of

man devised. Such amazing bottles in old oaken pigeonholes; such gleaming tankards dangling from pegs at

about the same inclination as thirsty men would hold them to their lips; such sturdy little Dutch kegs ranged

in rows on shelves; so many lemons hanging in separate nets, and forming the fragrant grove already

mentioned in this chronicle, suggestive, with goodly loaves of snowy sugar stowed away hard by, of punch,

idealised beyond all mortal knowledge; such closets, such presses, such drawers full of pipes, such places for

putting things away in hollow windowseats, all crammed to the throat with eatables, drinkables, or savoury

condiments; lastly, and to crown all, as typical of the immense resources of the establishment, and its

It is a poor heart that never rejoicesit must have been the poorest, weakest, and most watery heart that ever

beat, which would not have warmed towards the Maypole bar. Mrs Varden's did directly. She could no more

have reproached John Willet among those household gods, the kegs and bottles, lemons, pipes, and cheese,

than she could have stabbed him with his own bright carvingknife. The order for dinner tooit might have

soothed a savage. 'A bit of fish,' said John to the cook, 'and some lamb chops (breaded, with plenty of

ketchup), and a good salad, and a roast spring chicken, with a dish of sausages and mashed potatoes, or

something of that sort.' Something of that sort! The resources of these inns! To talk carelessly about dishes,

which in themselves were a firstrate holiday kind of dinner, suitable to one's weddingday, as something of

that sort: meaning, if you can't get a spring chicken, any other trifle in the way of poultry will dosuch as a

peacock, perhaps! The kitchen too, with its great broad cavernous chimney; the kitchen, where nothing in the

way of cookery seemed impossible; where you could believe in anything to eat, they chose to tell you of. Mrs

Varden returned from the contemplation of these wonders to the bar again, with a head quite dizzy and

bewildered. Her housekeeping capacity was not large enough to comprehend them. She was obliged to go to

Dolly in the meanwhile, whose gay heart and head ran upon other matters, passed out at the garden door, and

glancing back now and then (but of course not wondering whether Joe saw her), tripped away by a path

across the fields with which she was well acquainted, to discharge her mission at the Warren; and this

deponent hath been informed and verily believes, that you might have seen many less pleasant objects than

the cherrycoloured mantle and ribbons, as they went fluttering along the green meadows in the bright light

The proud consciousness of her trust, and the great importance she derived from it, might have advertised it

to all the house if she had had to run the gauntlet of its inhabitants; but as Dolly had played in every dull

room and passage many and many a time, when a child, and had ever since been the humble friend of Miss

Haredale, whose fostersister she was, she was as free of the building as the young lady herself. So, using no

greater precaution than holding her breath and walking on tiptoe as she passed the library door, she went

It was the liveliest room in the building. The chamber was sombre like the rest for the matter of that, but the

presence of youth and beauty would make a prison cheerful (saving alas! that confinement withers them), and

lend some charms of their own to the gloomiest scene. Birds, flowers, books, drawing, music, and a hundred

such graceful tokens of feminine loves and cares, filled it with more of life and human sympathy than the

whole house besides seemed made to hold. There was heart in the room; and who that has a heart, ever fails

Dolly had one undoubtedly, and it was not a tough one either, though there was a little mist of coquettishness

about it, such as sometimes surrounds that sun of life in its morning, and slightly dims its lustre. Thus, when

Emma rose to greet her, and kissing her affectionately on the cheek, told her, in her quiet way, that she had

been very unhappy, the tears stood in Dolly's eyes, and she felt more sorry than she could tell; but next

moment she happened to raise them to the glass, and really there was something there so exceedingly

'I have heard about it, miss,' said Dolly, 'and it's very sad indeed, but when things are at the worst they are

'Why, I don't see how they can very well be more unpromising than they are; I really don't,' said Dolly. 'And I

Dolly nodded and smiled, and feeling in her pockets (there were pockets in those days) with an affectation of

not being able to find what she wanted, which greatly enhanced her importance, at length produced the letter.

As Emma hastily broke the seal and became absorbed in its contents, Dolly's eyes, by one of those strange

accidents for which there is no accounting, wandered to the glass again. She could not help wondering

It was a long lettera very long letter, written close on all four sides of the sheet of paper, and crossed

afterwards; but it was not a consolatory letter, for as Emma read it she stopped from time to time to put her

handkerchief to her eyes. To be sure Dolly marvelled greatly to see her in so much distress, for to her

thinking a love affair ought to be one of the best jokes, and the slyest, merriest kind of thing in life. But she

set it down in her own mind that all this came from Miss Haredale's being so constant, and that if she would

only take on with some other young gentleman just in the most innocent way possible, to keep her first

'I am sure that's what I should do if it was me,' thought Dolly. 'To make one's sweetheart miserable is well

enough and quite right, but to be made miserable one's self is a little too much!'

However it wouldn't do to say so, and therefore she sat looking on in silence. She needed a pretty

considerable stretch of patience, for when the long letter had been read once all through it was read again, and

when it had been read twice all through it was read again. During this tedious process, Dolly beguiled the

time in the most improving manner that occurred to her, by curling her hair on her fingers, with the aid of the

Everything has an end. Even young ladies in love cannot read their letters for ever. In course of time the

But as this promised to be a work of time likewise, Emma said she would put it off until after dinner, and that

Dolly must dine with her. As Dolly had made up her mind to do so beforehand, she required very little

pressing; and when they had settled this point, they went to walk in the garden.

They strolled up and down the terrace walks, talking incessantly at least, Dolly never left off onceand

making that quarter of the sad and mournful house quite gay. Not that they talked loudly or laughed much,

but they were both so very handsome, and it was such a breezy day, and their light dresses and dark curls

appeared so free and joyous in their abandonment, and Emma was so fair, and Dolly so rosy, and Emma so

delicately shaped, and Dolly so plump, andin short, there are no flowers for any garden like such flowers,

let horticulturists say what they may, and both house and garden seemed to know it, and to brighten up

After this, came the dinner and the letter writing, and some more talking, in the course of which Miss

Haredale took occasion to charge upon Dolly certain flirtish and inconstant propensities, which accusations

Dolly seemed to think very complimentary indeed, and to be mightily amused with. Finding her quite

incorrigible in this respect, Emma suffered her to depart; but not before she had confided to her that important

and neversufficientlytobetaken careof answer, and endowed her moreover with a pretty little bracelet

as a keepsake. Having clasped it on her arm, and again advised her half in jest and half in earnest to amend

her roguish ways, for she knew she was fond of Joe at heart (which Dolly stoutly denied, with a great many

haughty protestations that she hoped she could do better than that indeed! and so forth), she bade her

farewell; and after calling her back to give her more supplementary messages for Edward, than anybody with

tenfold the gravity of Dolly Varden could be reasonably expected to remember, at length dismissed her.

Dolly bade her good bye, and tripping lightly down the stairs arrived at the dreaded library door, and was

about to pass it again on tiptoe, when it opened, and behold! there stood Mr Haredale. Now, Dolly had from

her childhood associated with this gentleman the idea of something grim and ghostly, and being at the

moment consciencestricken besides, the sight of him threw her into such a flurry that she could neither

acknowledge his presence nor run away, so she gave a great start, and then with downcast eyes stood still and

'Come here, girl,' said Mr Haredale, taking her by the hand. 'I want to speak to you.'

'If you please, sir, I'm in a hurry,' faltered Dolly, 'andyou have frightened me by coming so suddenly upon

'Immediately,' said Mr Haredale, who had by this time led her into the room and closed the door. You shall

'Yes, sir, just this minute.Father's waiting for me, sir, if you'll please to have the goodness'

I know. I know,' said Mr Haredale. 'Answer me a question. What did you bring here today?'

Dolly hesitated for a little while, and somewhat emboldened by his manner, said at last, 'Well then, sir. It was

Dolly hesitated again, and not being able to decide upon any other course of action, burst into tears.

'You alarm yourself without cause,' said Mr Haredale. 'Why are you so foolish? Surely you can answer me.

You know that I have but to put the question to Emma and learn the truth directly. Have you the answer with

Dolly had what is popularly called a spirit of her own, and being now fairly at bay, made the best of it.

'Yes, sir,' she rejoined, trembling and frightened as she was. 'Yes, sir, I have. You may kill me if you please,

'I commend your firmness and your plainspeaking,' said Mr Haredale. 'Rest assured that I have as little

desire to take your letter as your life. You are a very discreet messenger and a good girl.'

Not feeling quite certain, as she afterwards said, whether he might not be 'coming over her' with these

compliments, Dolly kept as far from him as she could, cried again, and resolved to defend her pocket (for the

'I have some design,' said Mr Haredale after a short silence, during which a smile, as he regarded her, had

struggled through the gloom and melancholy that was natural to his face, 'of providing a companion for my

niece; for her life is a very lonely one. Would you like the office? You are the oldest friend she has, and the

'I don't know, sir,' answered Dolly, not sure but he was bantering her; 'I can't say. I don't know what they

'If your friends had no objection, would you have any?' said Mr Haredale. 'Come. There's a plain question;

'None at all that I know of sir,' replied Dolly. 'I should be very glad to be near Miss Emma of course, and

'That's well,' said Mr Haredale. 'That is all I had to say. You are anxious to go. Don't let me detain you.'

Dolly didn't let him, nor did she wait for him to try, for the words had no sooner passed his lips than she was

The first thing to be done, of course, when she came to herself and considered what a flurry she had been in,

was to cry afresh; and the next thing, when she reflected how well she had got over it, was to laugh heartily.

The tears once banished gave place to the smiles, and at last Dolly laughed so much that she was fain to lean

against a tree, and give vent to her exultation. When she could laugh no longer, and was quite tired, she put

her headdress to rights, dried her eyes, looked back very merrily and triumphantly at the Warren chimneys,

The twilight had come on, and it was quickly growing dusk, but the path was so familiar to her from frequent

traversing that she hardly thought of this, and certainly felt no uneasiness at being left alone. Moreover, there

was the bracelet to admire; and when she had given it a good rub, and held it out at arm's length, it sparkled

and glittered so beautifully on her wrist, that to look at it in every point of view and with every possible turn

of the arm, was quite an absorbing business. There was the letter too, and it looked so mysterious and

knowing, when she took it out of her pocket, and it held, as she knew, so much inside, that to turn it over and

over, and think about it, and wonder how it began, and how it ended, and what it said all through, was another

matter of constant occupation. Between the bracelet and the letter, there was quite enough to do without

As she passed through a wicketgate to where the path was narrow, and lay between two hedges garnished

here and there with trees, she heard a rustling close at hand, which brought her to a sudden stop. She listened.

All was very quiet, and she went on againnot absolutely frightened, but a little quicker than before

perhaps, and possibly not quite so much at her ease, for a check of that kind is startling.

She had no sooner moved on again, than she was conscious of the same sound, which was like that of a

person tramping stealthily among bushes and brushwood. Looking towards the spot whence it appeared to

come, she almost fancied she could make out a crouching figure. She stopped again. All was quiet as before.

On she went once moredecidedly faster nowand tried to sing softly to herself. It must he the wind.

But how came the wind to blow only when she walked, and cease when she stood still? She stopped

involuntarily as she made the reflection, and the rustling noise stopped likewise. She was really frightened

now, and was yet hesitating what to do, when the bushes crackled and snapped, and a man came plunging

It was for the moment an inexpressible relief to Dolly, to recognise in the person who forced himself into the

path so abruptly, and now stood directly in her way, Hugh of the Maypole, whose name she uttered in a tone

'Was it you?' she said, 'how glad I am to see you! and how could you terrify me so!'

In answer to which, he said nothing at all, but stood quite still, looking at her.

Hugh nodded, and muttered something to the effect that he had been waiting for her, and had expected her

The rough bearing of this fellow, and his wild, uncouth appearance, had often filled the girl with a vague

apprehension even when other people were by, and had occasioned her to shrink from him involuntarily. The

having him for an unbidden companion in so solitary a place, with the darkness fast gathering about them,

If his manner had been merely dogged and passively fierce, as usual, she would have had no greater dislike to

his company than she always feltperhaps, indeed, would have been rather glad to have had him at hand.

But there was something of coarse bold admiration in his look, which terrified her very much. She glanced

timidly towards him, uncertain whether to go forward or retreat, and he stood gazing at her like a handsome

satyr; and so they remained for some short time without stirring or breaking silence. At length Dolly took

'Why do you spend so much breath in avoiding me?' said Hugh, accommodating his pace to hers, and keeping

'I wish to get back as quickly as I can, and you walk too near me, answered Dolly.'

'Too near!' said Hugh, stooping over her so that she could feel his breath upon her forehead. 'Why too near?

'I am proud to no one. You mistake me,' answered Dolly. 'Fall back, if you please, or go on.'

'Nay, mistress,' he rejoined, endeavouring to draw her arm through his, 'I'll walk with you.'

She released herself and clenching her little hand, struck him with right good will. At this, Maypole Hugh

burst into a roar of laughter, and passing his arm about her waist, held her in his strong grasp as easily as if

'Ha ha ha! Well done, mistress! Strike again. You shall beat my face, and tear my hair, and pluck my beard

up by the roots, and welcome, for the sake of your bright eyes. Strike again, mistress. Do. Ha ha ha! I like it.'

'Let me go,' she cried, endeavouring with both her hands to push him off. 'Let me go this moment.'

'You had as good be kinder to me, Sweetlips,' said Hugh. 'You had, indeed. Come. Tell me now. Why are you

always so proud? I don't quarrel with you for it. I love you when you're proud. Ha ha ha! You can't hide your

She gave him no answer, but as he had not yet checked her progress, continued to press forward as rapidly as

she could. At length, between the hurry she had made, her terror, and the tightness of his embrace, her

'Hugh,' cried the panting girl, 'good Hugh; if you will leave me I will give you anythingeverything I

'You had best not,' he answered. 'Harkye, little dove, you had best not. All about here know me, and what I

dare do if I have a mind. If ever you are going to tell, stop when the words are on your lips, and think of the

mischief you'll bring, if you do, upon some innocent heads that you wouldn't wish to hurt a hair of. Bring

trouble on me, and I'll bring trouble and something more on them in return. I care no more for them than for

so many dogs; not so muchwhy should I? I'd sooner kill a man than a dog any day. I've never been sorry

There was something so thoroughly savage in the manner of these expressions, and the looks and gestures by

which they were accompanied, that her great fear of him gave her new strength, and enabled her by a sudden

effort to extricate herself and run fleetly from him. But Hugh was as nimble, strong, and swift of foot, as any

man in broad England, and it was but a fruitless expenditure of energy, for he had her in his encircling arms

'Softly, darlinggentlywould you fly from rough Hugh, that loves you as well as any drawingroom

'A fine for crying out,' said Hugh. 'Ha ha ha! A fine, pretty one, from your lips. I pay myself! Ha ha ha!'

'Help! help! help!' As she shrieked with the utmost violence she could exert, a shout was heard in answer, and

Her assailant paused, and stood irresolute for a moment, but the shouts drawing nearer and coming quick

upon them, forced him to a speedy decision. He released her, whispered with a menacing look, 'Tell HIM:

and see what follows!' and leaping the hedge, was gone in an instant. Dolly darted off, and fairly ran into Joe

'What is the matter? are you hurt? what was it? who was it? where is he? what was he like?' with a great

many encouraging expressions and assurances of safety, were the first words Joe poured forth. But poor little

Dolly was so breathless and terrified that for some time she was quite unable to answer him, and hung upon

Joe had not the smallest objection to have her hanging on his shoulder; no, not the least, though it crushed the

cherrycoloured ribbons sadly, and put the smart little hat out of all shape. But he couldn't bear to see her cry;

it went to his very heart. He tried to console her, bent over her, whispered to hersome say kissed her, but

that's a fable. At any rate he said all the kind and tender things he could think of and Dolly let him go on and

didn't interrupt him once, and it was a good ten minutes before she was able to raise her head and thank him.

A man whose person was unknown to her had followed her, she answered; he began by begging, and went on

to threats of robbery, which he was on the point of carrying into execution, and would have executed, but for

Joe's timely aid. The hesitation and confusion with which she said this, Joe attributed to the fright she had

'Stop when the words are on your lips.' A hundred times that night, and very often afterwards, when the

disclosure was rising to her tongue, Dolly thought of that, and repressed it. A deeply rooted dread of the man;

the conviction that his ferocious nature, once roused, would stop at nothing; and the strong assurance that if

she impeached him, the full measure of his wrath and vengeance would be wreaked on Joe, who had

preserved her; these were considerations she had not the courage to overcome, and inducements to secrecy

Joe, for his part, was a great deal too happy to inquire very curiously into the matter; and Dolly being yet too

tremulous to walk without assistance, they went forward very slowly, and in his mind very pleasantly, until

the Maypole lights were near at hand, twinkling their cheerful welcome, when Dolly stopped suddenly and

'That I was carryingI had it in my hand. My bracelet too,' she said, clasping her wrist. 'I have lost them

'Either I dropped them then, or they were taken from me,' answered Dolly, vainly searching her pocket and

rustling her dress. 'They are gone, both gone. What an unhappy girl I am!' With these words poor Dolly, who

to do her justice was quite as sorry for the loss of the letter as for her bracelet, fell acrying again, and

Joe tried to comfort her with the assurance that directly he had housed her in the Maypole, he would return to

the spot with a lantern (for it was now quite dark) and make strict search for the missing articles, which there

was great probability of his finding, as it was not likely that anybody had passed that way since, and she was

not conscious that they had been forcibly taken from her. Dolly thanked him very heartily for this offer,

though with no great hope of his quest being successful; and so with many lamentations on her side, and

many hopeful words on his, and much weakness on the part of Dolly and much tender supporting on the part

of Joe, they reached the Maypole bar at last, where the locksmith and his wife and old John were yet keeping

Mr Willet received the intelligence of Dolly's trouble with that surprising presence of mind and readiness of

speech for which he was so eminently distinguished above all other men. Mrs Varden expressed her

sympathy for her daughter's distress by scolding her roundly for being so late; and the honest locksmith

divided himself between condoling with and kissing Dolly, and shaking hands heartily with Joe, whom he

In reference to this latter point, old John was far from agreeing with his friend; for besides that he by no

means approved of an adventurous spirit in the abstract, it occurred to him that if his son and heir had been

seriously damaged in a scuffle, the consequences would assuredly have been expensive and inconvenient, and

might perhaps have proved detrimental to the Maypole business. Wherefore, and because he looked with no

favourable eye upon young girls, but rather considered that they and the whole female sex were a kind of

nonsensical mistake on the part of Nature, he took occasion to retire and shake his head in private at the

boiler; inspired by which silent oracle, he was moved to give Joe various stealthy nudges with his elbow, as a

parental reproof and gentle admonition to mind his own business and not make a fool of himself.

Joe, however, took down the lantern and lighted it; and arming himself with a stout stick, asked whether

'He's lying asleep before the kitchen fire, sir,' said Mr Willet. 'What do you want him for?'

'I want him to come with me to look after this bracelet and letter,' answered Joe. 'Halloa there! Hugh!'

Dolly turned pale as death, and felt as if she must faint forthwith. After a few moments, Hugh came

staggering in, stretching himself and yawning according to custom, and presenting every appearance of

'Here, sleepyhead,' said Joe, giving him the lantern. 'Carry this, and bring the dog, and that small cudgel of

'What fellow?' returned Joe, who was in a state of great valour and bustle; 'a fellow you ought to know of and

be more alive about. It's well for the like of you, lazy giant that you are, to be snoring your time away in

chimneycorners, when honest men's daughters can't cross even our quiet meadows at nightfall without being

'They never rob me,' cried Hugh with a laugh. 'I have got nothing to lose. But I'd as lief knock them at head as

'And what was he like, mistress?' said Hugh with a glance at young Willet, so slight and momentary that the

'His dress,' said Hugh, looking at her keenly, 'likelike any of ours now? I know all the people hereabouts,

Dolly faltered and turned paler yet; then answered that he was wrapped in a loose coat and had his face

'You wouldn't know him if you saw him then, belike?' said Hugh with a malicious grin.

'I should not,' answered Dolly, bursting into tears again. 'I don't wish to see him. I can't bear to think of him. I

can't talk about him any more. Don't go to look for these things, Mr Joe, pray don't. I entreat you not to go

'Not to go with me!' cried Hugh. 'I'm too rough for them all. They're all afraid of me. Why, bless you

mistress, I've the tenderest heart alive. I love all the ladies, ma'am,' said Hugh, turning to the locksmith's wife.

Mrs Varden opined that if he did, he ought to be ashamed of himself; such sentiments being more consistent

(so she argued) with a benighted Mussulman or wild Islander than with a stanch Protestant. Arguing from this

imperfect state of his morals, Mrs Varden further opined that he had never studied the Manual. Hugh

admitting that he never had, and moreover that he couldn't read, Mrs Varden declared with much severity,

that he ought to he even more ashamed of himself than before, and strongly recommended him to save up his

pocketmoney for the purchase of one, and further to teach himself the contents with all convenient

diligence. She was still pursuing this train of discourse, when Hugh, somewhat unceremoniously and

irreverently, followed his young master out, and left her to edify the rest of the company. This she proceeded

to do, and finding that Mr Willet's eyes were fixed upon her with an appearance of deep attention, gradually

addressed the whole of her discourse to him, whom she entertained with a moral and theological lecture of

considerable length, in the conviction that great workings were taking place in his spirit. The simple truth

was, however, that Mr Willet, although his eyes were wide open and he saw a woman before him whose head

by long and steady looking at seemed to grow bigger and bigger until it filled the whole bar, was to all other

intents and purposes fast asleep; and so sat leaning back in his chair with his hands in his pockets until his

son's return caused him to wake up with a deep sigh, and a faint impression that he had been dreaming about

pickled pork and greens a vision of his slumbers which was no doubt referable to the circumstance of Mrs

Varden's having frequently pronounced the word 'Grace' with much emphasis; which word, entering the

portals of Mr Willet's brain as they stood ajar, and coupling itself with the words 'before meat,' which were

there ranging about, did in time suggest a particular kind of meat together with that description of vegetable

The search was wholly unsuccessful. Joe had groped along the path a dozen times, and among the grass, and

in the dry ditch, and in the hedge, but all in vain. Dolly, who was quite inconsolable for her loss, wrote a note

to Miss Haredale giving her the same account of it that she had given at the Maypole, which Joe undertook to

deliver as soon as the family were stirring next day. That done, they sat down to tea in the bar, where there

was an uncommon display of buttered toast, andin order that they might not grow faint for want of

sustenance, and might have a decent halting place or halfway house between dinner and suppera few

savoury trifles in the shape of great rashers of broiled ham, which being well cured, done to a turn, and

Mrs Varden was seldom very Protestant at meals, unless it happened that they were underdone, or overdone,

or indeed that anything occurred to put her out of humour. Her spirits rose considerably on beholding these

goodly preparations, and from the nothingness of good works, she passed to the somethingness of ham and

toast with great cheerfulness. Nay, under the influence of these wholesome stimulants, she sharply reproved

her daughter for being low and despondent (which she considered an unacceptable frame of mind), and

remarked, as she held her own plate for a fresh supply, that it would be well for Dolly, who pined over the

loss of a toy and a sheet of paper, if she would reflect upon the voluntary sacrifices of the missionaries in

The proceedings of such a day occasion various fluctuations in the human thermometer, and especially in

instruments so sensitively and delicately constructed as Mrs Varden. Thus, at dinner Mrs V. stood at summer

heat; genial, smiling, and delightful. After dinner, in the sunshine of the wine, she went up at least

halfadozen degrees, and was perfectly enchanting. As its effect subsided, she fell rapidly, went to sleep for

an hour or so at temperate, and woke at something below freezing. Now she was at summer heat again, in the

shade; and when tea was over, and old John, producing a bottle of cordial from one of the oaken cases,

insisted on her sipping two glasses thereof in slow succession, she stood steadily at ninety for one hour and a

quarter. Profiting by experience, the locksmith took advantage of this genial weather to smoke his pipe in the

porch, and in consequence of this prudent management, he was fully prepared, when the glass went down

The horse was accordingly put in, and the chaise brought round to the door. Joe, who would on no account be

dissuaded from escorting them until they had passed the most dreary and solitary part of the road, led out the

grey mare at the same time; and having helped Dolly into her seat (more happiness!) sprung gaily into the

saddle. Then, after many good nights, and admonitions to wrap up, and glancing of lights, and handing in of

cloaks and shawls, the chaise rolled away, and Joe trotted beside iton Dolly's side, no doubt, and pretty

It was a fine bright night, and for all her lowness of spirits Dolly kept looking up at the stars in a manner so

bewitching (and SHE knew it!) that Joe was clean out of his senses, and plainly showed that if ever a man

werenot to say over head and ears, but over the Monument and the top of Saint Paul's in love, that man

was himself. The road was a very good one; not at all a jolting road, or an uneven one; and yet Dolly held the

side of the chaise with one little hand, all the way. If there had been an executioner behind him with an

uplifted axe ready to chop off his head if he touched that hand, Joe couldn't have helped doing it. From

putting his own hand upon it as if by chance, and taking it away again after a minute or so, he got to riding

along without taking it off at all; as if he, the escort, were bound to do that as an important part of his duty,

and had come out for the purpose. The most curious circumstance about this little incident was, that Dolly

didn't seem to know of it. She looked so innocent and unconscious when she turned her eyes on Joe, that it

She talked though; talked about her fright, and about Joe's coming up to rescue her, and about her gratitude,

and about her fear that she might not have thanked him enough, and about their always being friends from

that time forthand about all that sort of thing. And when Joe said, not friends he hoped, Dolly was quite

surprised, and said not enemies she hoped; and when Joe said, couldn't they be something much better than

either, Dolly all of a sudden found out a star which was brighter than all the other stars, and begged to call his

attention to the same, and was ten thousand times more innocent and unconscious than ever.

In this manner they travelled along, talking very little above a whisper, and wishing the road could be

stretched out to some dozen times its natural lengthat least that was Joe's desirewhen, as they were

getting clear of the forest and emerging on the more frequented road, they heard behind them the sound of a

horse's feet at a round trot, which growing rapidly louder as it drew nearer, elicited a scream from Mrs

Varden, and the cry 'a friend!' from the rider, who now came panting up, and checked his horse beside them.

'I come to ride back with you,' he answered, glancing covertly at the locksmith's daughter. 'HE sent me.

'My father!' said poor Joe; adding under his breath, with a very unfilial apostrophe, 'Will he never think me

'Aye!' returned Hugh to the first part of the inquiry. 'The roads are not safe just now, he says, and you'd better

Hugh complied, and they went on again. It was his whim or humour to ride immediately before the chaise,

and from this position he constantly turned his head, and looked back. Dolly felt that he looked at her, but she

averted her eyes and feared to raise them once, so great was the dread with which he had inspired her.

This interruption, and the consequent wakefulness of Mrs Varden, who had been nodding in her sleep up to

this point, except for a minute or two at a time, when she roused herself to scold the locksmith for

audaciously taking hold of her to prevent her nodding herself out of the chaise, put a restraint upon the

whispered conversation, and made it difficult of resumption. Indeed, before they had gone another mile,

Gabriel stopped at his wife's desire, and that good lady protested she would not hear of Joe's going a step

further on any account whatever. It was in vain for Joe to protest on the other hand that he was by no means

tired, and would turn back presently, and would see them safely past such a point, and so forth. Mrs Varden

'Good night,' said Dolly. She would have added, 'Take care of that man, and pray don't trust him,' but he had

turned his horse's head, and was standing close to them. She had therefore nothing for it but to suffer Joe to

give her hand a gentle squeeze, and when the chaise had gone on for some distance, to look back and wave it,

as he still lingered on the spot where they had parted, with the tall dark figure of Hugh beside him.

What she thought about, going home; and whether the coachmaker held as favourable a place in her

meditations as he had occupied in the morning, is unknown. They reached home at lastat last, for it was a

long way, made none the shorter by Mrs Varden's grumbling. Miggs hearing the sound of wheels was at the

'Here they are, Simmun! Here they are!' cried Miggs, clapping her hands, and issuing forth to help her

mistress to alight. 'Bring a chair, Simmun. Now, an't you the better for it, mim? Don't you feel more yourself

than you would have done if you'd have stopped at home? Oh, gracious! how cold you are! Goodness me, sir,

'I can't help it, my good girl. You had better take her in to the fire,' said the locksmith.

'Master sounds unfeeling, mim,' said Miggs, in a tone of commiseration, 'but such is not his intentions, I'm

sure. After what he has seen of you this day, I never will believe but that he has a deal more affection in his

heart than to speak unkind. Come in and sit yourself down by the fire; there's a good deardo.'

Mrs Varden complied. The locksmith followed with his hands in his pockets, and Mr Tappertit trundled off

'Martha, my dear,' said the locksmith, when they reached the parlour, 'if you'll look to Dolly yourself or let

somebody else do it, perhaps it will be only kind and reasonable. She has been frightened, you know, and is

In fact, Dolly had thrown herself upon the sofa, quite regardless of all the little finery of which she had been

so proud in the morning, and with her face buried in her hands was crying very much.

At first sight of this phenomenon (for Dolly was by no means accustomed to displays of this sort, rather

learning from her mother's example to avoid them as much as possible) Mrs Varden expressed her belief that

never was any woman so beset as she; that her life was a continued scene of trial; that whenever she was

disposed to be well and cheerful, so sure were the people around her to throw, by some means or other, a

damp upon her spirits; and that, as she had enjoyed herself that day, and Heaven knew it was very seldom she

did enjoy herself so she was now to pay the penalty. To all such propositions Miggs assented freely. Poor

Dolly, however, grew none the better for these restoratives, but rather worse, indeed; and seeing that she was

really ill, both Mrs Varden and Miggs were moved to compassion, and tended her in earnest.

But even then, their very kindness shaped itself into their usual course of policy, and though Dolly was in a

swoon, it was rendered clear to the meanest capacity, that Mrs Varden was the sufferer. Thus when Dolly

began to get a little better, and passed into that stage in which matrons hold that remonstrance and argument

may be successfully applied, her mother represented to her, with tears in her eyes, that if she had been

flurried and worried that day, she must remember it was the common lot of humanity, and in especial of

womankind, who through the whole of their existence must expect no less, and were bound to make up their

minds to meek endurance and patient resignation. Mrs Varden entreated her to remember that one of these

days she would, in all probability, have to do violence to her feelings so far as to be married; and that

marriage, as she might see every day of her life (and truly she did) was a state requiring great fortitude and

forbearance. She represented to her in lively colours, that if she (Mrs V.) had not, in steering her course

through this vale of tears, been supported by a strong principle of duty which alone upheld and prevented her

from drooping, she must have been in her grave many years ago; in which case she desired to know what

would have become of that errant spirit (meaning the locksmith), of whose eye she was the very apple, and in

Miss Miggs also put in her word to the same effect. She said that indeed and indeed Miss Dolly might take

pattern by her blessed mother, who, she always had said, and always would say, though she were to be

hanged, drawn, and quartered for it next minute, was the mildest, amiablest, forgivingestspirited,

longestsufferingest female as ever she could have believed; the mere narration of whose excellencies had

worked such a wholesome change in the mind of her own sisterinlaw, that, whereas, before, she and her

husband lived like cat and dog, and were in the habit of exchanging brass candlesticks, potlids, flatirons,

and other such strong resentments, they were now the happiest and affectionatest couple upon earth; as could

be proved any day on application at Golden Lion Court, number twentysivin, second bellhandle on the

right hand doorpost. After glancing at herself as a comparatively worthless vessel, but still as one of some

desert, she besought her to bear in mind that her aforesaid dear and only mother was of a weakly constitution

and excitable temperament, who had constantly to sustain afflictions in domestic life, compared with which

thieves and robbers were as nothing, and yet never sunk down or gave way to despair or wrath, but, in

prizefighting phraseology, always came up to time with a cheerful countenance, and went in to win as if

nothing had happened. When Miggs finished her solo, her mistress struck in again, and the two together

performed a duet to the same purpose; the burden being, that Mrs Varden was persecuted perfection, and Mr

Varden, as the representative of mankind in that apartment, a creature of vicious and brutal habits, utterly

insensible to the blessings he enjoyed. Of so refined a character, indeed, was their talent of assault under the

mask of sympathy, that when Dolly, recovering, embraced her father tenderly, as in vindication of his

goodness, Mrs Varden expressed her solemn hope that this would be a lesson to him for the remainder of his

life, and that he would do some little justice to a woman's nature ever afterwardsin which aspiration Miss

Miggs, by divers sniffs and coughs, more significant than the longest oration, expressed her entire

But the great joy of Miggs's heart was, that she not only picked up a full account of what had happened, but

had the exquisite delight of conveying it to Mr Tappertit for his jealousy and torture. For that gentleman, on

account of Dolly's indisposition, had been requested to take his supper in the workshop, and it was conveyed

'Oh Simmun!' said the young lady, 'such goings on today! Oh, gracious me, Simmun!'

Mr Tappertit, who was not in the best of humours, and who disliked Miss Miggs more when she laid her hand

on her heart and panted for breath than at any other time, as her deficiency of outline was most apparent

under such circumstances, eyed her over in his loftiest style, and deigned to express no curiosity whatever.

'I never heard the like, nor nobody else,' pursued Miggs. 'The idea of interfering with HER. What people can

Finding there was a lady in the case, Mr Tappertit haughtily requested his fair friend to be more explicit, and

'Why, that Dolly,' said Miggs, with an extremely sharp emphasis on the name. 'But, oh upon my word and

'Woman!' said Mr Tappertit, jumping off the counter on which he was seated; 'beware!'

'My stars, Simmun!' cried Miggs, in affected astonishment. 'You frighten me to death! What's the matter?'

'There are strings,' said Mr Tappertit, flourishing his breadand cheese knife in the air, 'in the human heart

'Huff or no huff,' said Mr Tappertit, detaining her by the wrist. 'What do you mean, Jezebel? What were you

Notwithstanding this uncivil exhortation, Miggs gladly did as she was required; and told him how that their

young mistress, being alone in the meadows after dark, had been attacked by three or four tall men, who

would have certainly borne her away and perhaps murdered her, but for the timely arrival of Joseph Willet,

who with his own single hand put them all to flight, and rescued her; to the lasting admiration of his

fellowcreatures generally, and to the eternal love and gratitude of Dolly Varden.

'Very good,' said Mr Tappertit, fetching a long breath when the tale was told, and rubbing his hair up till it

'I tell you,' said the 'prentice, 'his days are numbered. Leave me. Get along with you.'

Miggs departed at his bidding, but less because of his bidding than because she desired to chuckle in secret.

When she had given vent to her satisfaction, she returned to the parlour; where the locksmith, stimulated by

quietness and Toby, had become talkative, and was disposed to take a cheerful review of the occurrences of

the day. But Mrs Varden, whose practical religion (as is not uncommon) was usually of the retrospective

order, cut him short by declaiming on the sinfulness of such junketings, and holding that it was high time to

go to bed. To bed therefore she withdrew, with an aspect as grim and gloomy as that of the Maypole's own

Twilight had given place to night some hours, and it was high noon in those quarters of the town in which 'the

world' condescended to dwellthe world being then, as now, of very limited dimensions and easily

lodgedwhen Mr Chester reclined upon a sofa in his dressingroom in the Temple, entertaining himself

He was dressing, as it seemed, by easy stages, and having performed half the journey was taking a long rest.

Completely attired as to his legs and feet in the trimmest fashion of the day, he had yet the remainder of his

toilet to perform. The coat was stretched, like a refined scarecrow, on its separate horse; the waistcoat was

displayed to the best advantage; the various ornamental articles of dress were severally set out in most

alluring order; and yet he lay dangling his legs between the sofa and the ground, as intent upon his book as if

'Upon my honour,' he said, at length raising his eyes to the ceiling with the air of a man who was reflecting

seriously on what he had read; 'upon my honour, the most masterly composition, the most delicate thoughts,

the finest code of morality, and the most gentlemanly sentiments in the universe! Ah Ned, Ned, if you would

but form your mind by such precepts, we should have but one common feeling on every subject that could

This apostrophe was addressed, like the rest of his remarks, to empty air: for Edward was not present, and the

'My Lord Chesterfield,' he said, pressing his hand tenderly upon the book as he laid it down, 'if I could but

have profited by your genius soon enough to have formed my son on the model you have left to all wise

fathers, both he and I would have been rich men. Shakespeare was undoubtedly very fine in his way; Milton

good, though prosy; Lord Bacon deep, and decidedly knowing; but the writer who should be his country's

'I thought I was tolerably accomplished as a man of the world,' he continued, 'I flattered myself that I was

pretty well versed in all those little arts and graces which distinguish men of the world from boors and

peasants, and separate their character from those intensely vulgar sentiments which are called the national

character. Apart from any natural prepossession in my own favour, I believed I was. Still, in every page of

this enlightened writer, I find some captivating hypocrisy which has never occurred to me before, or some

superlative piece of selfishness to which I was utterly a stranger. I should quite blush for myself before this

stupendous creature, if remembering his precepts, one might blush at anything. An amazing man! a nobleman

indeed! any King or Queen may make a Lord, but only the Devil himselfand the Gracescan make a

Men who are thoroughly false and hollow, seldom try to hide those vices from themselves; and yet in the

very act of avowing them, they lay claim to the virtues they feign most to despise. 'For,' say they, 'this is

honesty, this is truth. All mankind are like us, but they have not the candour to avow it.' The more they affect

to deny the existence of any sincerity in the world, the more they would be thought to possess it in its boldest

shape; and this is an unconscious compliment to Truth on the part of these philosophers, which will turn the

Mr Chester, having extolled his favourite author, as above recited, took up the book again in the excess of his

admiration and was composing himself for a further perusal of its sublime morality, when he was disturbed

by a noise at the outer door; occasioned as it seemed by the endeavours of his servant to obstruct the entrance

'A late hour for an importunate creditor,' he said, raising his eyebrows with as indolent an expression of

wonder as if the noise were in the street, and one with which he had not the smallest possible concern. 'Much

after their accustomed time. The usual pretence I suppose. No doubt a heavy payment to make up tomorrow.

Poor fellow, he loses time, and time is money as the good proverb saysI never found it out though. Well.

'A man, sir,' replied the servant, who was to the full as cool and negligent in his way as his master, 'has

brought home the riding whip you lost the other day. I told him you were out, but he said he was to wait

'He was quite right,' returned his master, 'and you're a blockhead, possessing no judgment or discretion

whatever. Tell him to come in, and see that he rubs his shoes for exactly five minutes first.'

The man laid the whip on a chair, and withdrew. The master, who had only heard his foot upon the ground

and had not taken the trouble to turn round and look at him, shut his book, and pursued the train of ideas his

'If time were money,' he said, handling his snuffbox, 'I would compound with my creditors, and give

themlet me seehow much a day? There's my nap after dinneran hourthey're extremely welcome to

that, and to make the most of it. In the morning, between my breakfast and the paper, I could spare them

another hour; in the evening before dinner say another. Three hours a day. They might pay themselves in

calls, with interest, in twelve months. I think I shall propose it to them. Ah, my centaur, are you there?'

'Here I am,' replied Hugh, striding in, followed by a dog, as rough and sullen as himself; 'and trouble enough

I've had to get here. What do you ask me to come for, and keep me out when I DO come?'

'My good fellow,' returned the other, raising his head a little from the cushion and carelessly surveying him

from top to toe, 'I am delighted to see you, and to have, in your being here, the very best proof that you are

'Please yourself my good fellow,' returned Mr Chester rising, slowly pulling off the loose robe he wore, and

Having said this in the politest and blandest tone possible, he went on dressing, and took no further notice of

his guest, who stood in the same spot as uncertain what to do next, eyeing him sulkily from time to time.

'My worthy creature,' returned Mr Chester, 'you are a little ruffled and out of humour. I'll wait till you're quite

This behaviour had its intended effect. It humbled and abashed the man, and made him still more irresolute

and uncertain. Hard words he could have returned, violence he would have repaid with interest; but this cool,

complacent, contemptuous, selfpossessed reception, caused him to feel his inferiority more completely than

the most elaborate arguments. Everything contributed to this effect. His own rough speech, contrasted with

the soft persuasive accents of the other; his rude bearing, and Mr Chester's polished manner; the disorder and

negligence of his ragged dress, and the elegant attire he saw before him; with all the unaccustomed luxuries

and comforts of the room, and the silence that gave him leisure to observe these things, and feel how ill at

ease they made him; all these influences, which have too often some effect on tutored minds and become of

almost resistless power when brought to bear on such a mind as his, quelled Hugh completely. He moved by

little and little nearer to Mr Chester's chair, and glancing over his shoulder at the reflection of his face in the

glass, as if seeking for some encouragement in its expression, said at length, with a rough attempt at

'Speak you,' said Mr Chester, 'speak you, good fellow. I have spoken, have I not? I am waiting for you.'

'Why, look'ee, sir,' returned Hugh with increased embarrassment, 'am I the man that you privately left your

whip with before you rode away from the Maypole, and told to bring it back whenever he might want to see

'No doubt the same, or you have a twin brother,' said Mr Chester, glancing at the reflection of his anxious

'Then I have come, sir,' said Hugh, 'and I have brought it back, and something else along with it. A letter, sir,

it is, that I took from the person who had charge of it.' As he spoke, he laid upon the dressingtable, Dolly's

'Did you obtain this by force, my good fellow?' said Mr Chester, casting his eye upon it without the least

'Yes,' said the other, in a drawling manner, for he was fixing a very small patch of sticking plaster on a very

'I think,' said Mr Chester, in the same easy tone, and smiling twice or thrice to try if the patch adhered'I

think there was something else. I have heard a trifle of jewellery spoken ofa mere triflea thing of such

little value, indeed, that you may have forgotten it. Do you remember anything of the kindsuch as a

Hugh with a muttered oath thrust his hand into his breast, and drawing the bracelet forth, wrapped in a scrap

of hay, was about to lay it on the table likewise, when his patron stopped his hand and bade him put it up

'You took that for yourself my excellent friend,' he said, 'and may keep it. I am neither a thief nor a receiver.

Don't show it to me. You had better hide it again, and lose no time. Don't let me see where you put it either,'

'You're not a receiver!' said Hugh bluntly, despite the increasing awe in which he held him. 'What do you call

'I call that quite another thing,' said Mr Chester coolly. 'I shall prove it presently, as you will see. You are

He obeyed. His patron followed him with his eyes, and when his back was turned, smiled as he had never

done when he stood beside the mirror. On his return he filled the glass, and bade him drink. That dram

'As many as you like to give me. Pour on. Fill high. A bumper with a bead in the middle! Give me enough of

this,' he added, as he tossed it down his hairy throat, 'and I'll do murder if you ask me!'

'As I don't mean to ask you, and you might possibly do it without being invited if you went on much further,'

said Mr Chester with great composure, we will stop, if agreeable to you, my good friend, at the next glass.

'I always am when I can get it,' cried Hugh boisterously, waving the empty glass above his head, and

throwing himself into a rude dancing attitude. 'I always am. Why not? Ha ha ha! What's so good to me as

this? What ever has been? What else has kept away the cold on bitter nights, and driven hunger off in starving

times? What else has given me the strength and courage of a man, when men would have left me to die, a

puny child? I should never have had a man's heart but for this. I should have died in a ditch. Where's he who

when I was a weak and sickly wretch, with trembling legs and fading sight, bade me cheer up, as this did? I

'You are an exceedingly cheerful young man,' said Mr Chester, putting on his cravat with great deliberation,

and slightly moving his head from side to side to settle his chin in its proper place. 'Quite a boon companion.'

'Do you see this hand, master,' said Hugh, 'and this arm?' baring the brawny limb to the elbow. 'It was once

mere skin and bone, and would have been dust in some poor churchyard by this time, but for the drink.'

'I should never have been spirited up to take a kiss from the proud little beauty, master, but for the drink,'

cried Hugh. 'Ha ha ha! It was a good one. As sweet as honeysuckle, I warrant you. I thank the drink for it. I'll

'You are such a promising fellow,' said his patron, putting on his waistcoat with great nicety, and taking no

heed of this request, 'that I must caution you against having too many impulses from the drink, and getting

'At any rate,' said Mr Chester, 'you are young enough to escape what I may call a natural death for some years

to come. How can you trust yourself in my hands on so short an acquaintance, with a halter round your neck?

Hugh fell back a pace or two and surveyed him with a look of mingled terror, indignation, and surprise.

Regarding himself in the glass with the same complacency as before, and speaking as smoothly as if he were

'Robbery on the king's highway, my young friend, is a very dangerous and ticklish occupation. It is pleasant, I

have no doubt, while it lasts; but like many other pleasures in this transitory world, it seldom lasts long. And

really if in the ingenuousness of youth, you open your heart so readily on the subject, I am afraid your career

'Who?' said Mr Chester, wheeling sharply round, and looking full at him for the first time. 'I didn't hear you.

'Who was it? I am curious to know,' said Mr Chester, with surpassing affability. 'Some rustic beauty perhaps?

But be cautious, my good friend. They are not always to be trusted. Do take my advice now, and be careful of

yourself.' With these words he turned to the glass again, and went on with his toilet.

Hugh would have answered him that he, the questioner himself had set him on, but the words stuck in his

throat. The consummate art with which his patron had led him to this point, and managed the whole

conversation, perfectly baffled him. He did not doubt that if he had made the retort which was on his lips

when Mr Chester turned round and questioned him so keenly, he would straightway have given him into

custody and had him dragged before a justice with the stolen property upon him; in which case it was as

certain he would have been hung as it was that he had been born. The ascendency which it was the purpose of

the man of the world to establish over this savage instrument, was gained from that time. Hugh's submission

was complete. He dreaded him beyond description; and felt that accident and artifice had spun a web about

him, which at a touch from such a masterhand as his, would bind him to the gallows.

With these thoughts passing through his mind, and yet wondering at the very same time how he who came

there rioting in the confidence of this man (as he thought), should be so soon and so thoroughly subdued,

Hugh stood cowering before him, regarding him uneasily from time to time, while he finished dressing.

When he had done so, he took up the letter, broke the seal, and throwing himself back in his chair, read it

'Very neatly worded upon my life! Quite a woman's letter, full of what people call tenderness, and

As he spoke, he twisted it up, and glancing lazily round at Hugh as though he would say 'You see this?' held

it in the flame of the candle. When it was in a full blaze, he tossed it into the grate, and there it smouldered

'It was directed to my son,' he said, turning to Hugh, 'and you did quite right to bring it here. I opened it on

my own responsibility, and you see what I have done with it. Take this, for your trouble.'

Hugh stepped forward to receive the piece of money he held out to him. As he put it in his hand, he added:

'If you should happen to find anything else of this sort, or to pick up any kind of information you may think I

This was said with a smile which impliedor Hugh thought it did 'fail to do so at your peril!' He

'And don't,' said his patron, with an air of the very kindest patronage, 'don't be at all downcast or uneasy

respecting that little rashness we have been speaking of. Your neck is as safe in my hands, my good fellow, as

though a baby's fingers clasped it, I assure you.Take another glass. You are quieter now.'

Hugh accepted it from his hand, and looking stealthily at his smiling face, drank the contents in silence.

'Don't youha, ha!don't you drink to the drink any more?' said Mr Chester, in his most winning manner.

'To you, sir,' was the sullen answer, with something approaching to a bow. 'I drink to you.'

'Thank you. God bless you. By the bye, what is your name, my good soul? You are called Hugh, I know, of

'A very strange fellow! Do you mean that you never knew one, or that you don't choose to tell it? Which?'

'I'd tell it if I could,' said Hugh, quickly. 'I can't. I have been always called Hugh; nothing more. I never knew,

nor saw, nor thought about a father; and I was a boy of sixthat's not very oldwhen they hung my mother

up at Tyburn for a couple of thousand men to stare at. They might have let her live. She was poor enough.'

'How very sad!' exclaimed his patron, with a condescending smile. 'I have no doubt she was an exceedingly

'Faithful, I dare say?' rejoined his patron, looking at him through his glass; 'and immensely clever? Virtuous

'Such a dog as that, and one of the same breed, was the only living thing except me that howled that day,' said

Hugh. 'Out of the two thousand oddthere was a larger crowd for its being a womanthe dog and I alone

had any pity. If he'd have been a man, he'd have been glad to be quit of her, for she had been forced to keep

him lean and halfstarved; but being a dog, and not having a man's sense, he was sorry.'

'It was dull of the brute, certainly,' said Mr Chester, 'and very like a brute.'

Hugh made no rejoinder, but whistling to his dog, who sprung up at the sound and came jumping and

'Good night; he returned. 'Remember; you're safe with mequite safe. So long as you deserve it, my good

fellow, as I hope you always will, you have a friend in me, on whose silence you may rely. Now do be careful

of yourself, pray do, and consider what jeopardy you might have stood in. Good night! bless you!'

Hugh truckled before the hidden meaning of these words as much as such a being could, and crept out of the

door so submissively and subservientlywith an air, in short, so different from that with which he had

'And yet,' he said, as he took a pinch of snuff, 'I do not like their having hanged his mother. The fellow has a

fine eye, and I am sure she was handsome. But very probably she was coarsered nosed perhaps, and had

With this comforting reflection, he put on his coat, took a farewell glance at the glass, and summoned his

'Foh!' said Mr Chester. 'The very atmosphere that centaur has breathed, seems tainted with the cart and

ladder. Here, Peak. Bring some scent and sprinkle the floor; and take away the chair he sat upon, and air it;

The man obeyed; and the room and its master being both purified, nothing remained for Mr Chester but to

demand his hat, to fold it jauntily under his arm, to take his seat in the chair and be carried off; humming a

How the accomplished gentleman spent the evening in the midst of a dazzling and brilliant circle; how he

enchanted all those with whom he mingled by the grace of his deportment, the politeness of his manner, the

vivacity of his conversation, and the sweetness of his voice; how it was observed in every corner, that Chester

was a man of that happy disposition that nothing ruffled him, that he was one on whom the world's cares and

errors sat lightly as his dress, and in whose smiling face a calm and tranquil mind was constantly reflected;

how honest men, who by instinct knew him better, bowed down before him nevertheless, deferred to his

every word, and courted his favourable notice; how people, who really had good in them, went with the

stream, and fawned and flattered, and approved, and despised themselves while they did so, and yet had not

the courage to resist; how, in short, he was one of those who are received and cherished in society (as the

phrase is) by scores who individually would shrink from and be repelled by the object of their lavish regard;

are things of course, which will suggest themselves. Matter so commonplace needs but a passing glance, and

The despisers of mankindapart from the mere fools and mimics, of that creedare of two sorts. They who

believe their merit neglected and unappreciated, make up one class; they who receive adulation and flattery,

knowing their own worthlessness, compose the other. Be sure that the coldesthearted misanthropes are ever

Mr Chester sat up in bed next morning, sipping his coffee, and remembering with a kind of contemptuous

satisfaction how he had shone last night, and how he had been caressed and courted, when his servant

brought in a very small scrap of dirty paper, tightly sealed in two places, on the inside whereof was inscribed

in pretty large text these words: 'A friend. Desiring of a conference. Immediate. Private. Burn it when you've

'Where in the name of the Gunpowder Plot did you pick up this?' said his master.

With nothing more threatening about him, it appeared, than a leather apron and a dirty face. 'Let him come

in.' In he cameMr Tappertit; with his hair still on end, and a great lock in his hand, which he put down on

the floor in the middle of the chamber as if he were about to go through some performances in which it was a

'Sir,' said Mr Tappertit with a low bow, 'I thank you for this condescension, and am glad to see you. Pardon

the menial office in which I am engaged, sir, and extend your sympathies to one, who, humble as his

Mr Chester held the bedcurtain farther back, and looked at him with a vague impression that he was some

maniac, who had not only broken open the door of his place of confinement, but had brought away the lock.

'You have heard, sir,' said Mr Tappertit, laying his hand upon his breast, 'of G. Varden Locksmith and

bellhanger and repairs neatly executed in town and country, Clerkenwell, London?'

'Ahem!' said Mr Tappertit. 'Would you permit me to shut the door, sir, and will you further, sir, give me your

Mr Chester laid himself calmly down in bed again, and turning a perfectly undisturbed face towards the

strange apparition, which had by this time closed the door, begged him to speak out, and to be as rational as

'In the first place, sir,' said Mr Tappertit, producing a small pockethandkerchief and shaking it out of the

folds, 'as I have not a card about me (for the envy of masters debases us below that level) allow me to offer

the best substitute that circumstances will admit of. If you will take that in your own hand, sir, and cast your

eye on the righthand corner,' said Mr Tappertit, offering it with a graceful air, 'you will meet with my

'Thank you,' answered Mr Chester, politely accepting it, and turning to some bloodred characters at one end.

'Without the numbers, sir, that is my name,' replied the 'prentice. 'They are merely intended as directions to

the washerwoman, and have no connection with myself or family. YOUR name, sir,' said Mr Tappertit,

looking very hard at his nightcap, 'is Chester, I suppose? You needn't pull it off, sir, thank you. I observe E.

'Pray, Mr Tappertit,' said Mr Chester, 'has that complicated piece of ironmongery which you have done me

the favour to bring with you, any immediate connection with the business we are to discuss?'

'It has not, sir,' rejoined the 'prentice. 'It's going to be fitted on a ware'usdoor in Thames Street.'

'Perhaps, as that is the case,' said Mr Chester, 'and as it has a stronger flavour of oil than I usually refresh my

During the whole of this dialogue, Mr Chester had suffered nothing but his smile of unvarying serenity and

politeness to appear upon his face. Sim Tappertit, who had far too good an opinion of himself to suspect that

anybody could be playing upon him, thought within himself that this was something like the respect to which

he was entitled, and drew a comparison from this courteous demeanour of a stranger, by no means favourable

'From what passes in our house,' said Mr Tappertit, 'I am aware, sir, that your son keeps company with a

'Thank you, sir,' replied the 'prentice. 'I'm glad to hear you say so. He's very proud, sir, is your son; very

'I am afraid he IS haughty,' said Mr Chester. 'Do you know I was really afraid of that before; and you confirm

'To recount the menial offices I've had to do for your son, sir,' said Mr Tappertit; 'the chairs I've had to hand

him, the coaches I've had to call for him, the numerous degrading duties, wholly unconnected with my

indenters, that I've had to do for him, would fill a family Bible. Besides which, sir, he is but a young man

himself and I do not consider "thank'ee Sim," a proper form of address on those occasions.'

'I thank you for your good opinion, sir,' said Sim, much gratified, 'and will endeavour so to do. Now sir, on

this account (and perhaps for another reason or two which I needn't go into) I am on your side. And what I

tell you is thisthat as long as our people go backwards and forwards, to and fro, up and down, to that there

jolly old Maypole, lettering, and messaging, and fetching and carrying, you couldn't help your son keeping

company with that young lady by deputy,not if he was minded night and day by all the Horse Guards, and

'Now, sir, I am a coming to the point. You will inquire of me, "how is this to he prevented?" I'll tell you how.

'No, no, I'm serious,' rejoined the 'prentice, 'I am, upon my soul. If an honest, civil, smiling gentleman like

you, was to talk but ten minutes to our old womanthat's Mrs Vardenand flatter her up a bit, you'd gain

her over for ever. Then there's this point got that her daughter Dolly,'here a flush came over Mr

Tappertit's face'wouldn't be allowed to be a gobetween from that time forward; and till that point's got,

'Wait a minute,' said Sim, folding his arms with a dreadful calmness. 'Now I come to THE point. Sir, there is

a villain at that Maypole, a monster in human shape, a vagabond of the deepest dye, that unless you get rid of

and have kidnapped and carried off at the very leastnothing less will dowill marry your son to that

young woman, as certainly and as surely as if he was the Archbishop of Canterbury himself. He will, sir, for

the hatred and malice that he bears to you; let alone the pleasure of doing a bad action, which to him is its

own reward. If you knew how this chap, this Joseph Willetthat's his namecomes backwards and

forwards to our house, libelling, and denouncing, and threatening you, and how I shudder when I hear him,

you'd hate him worse than I do, worse than I do, sir,' said Mr Tappertit wildly, putting his hair up

straighter, and making a crunching noise with his teeth; 'if sich a thing is possible.'

'Private vengeance, sir, or public sentiment, or both combined destroy him,' said Mr Tappertit. 'Miggs says

so too. Miggs and me both say so. We can't bear the plotting and undermining that takes place. Our souls

recoil from it. Barnaby Rudge and Mrs Rudge are in it likewise; but the villain, Joseph Willet, is the

ringleader. Their plottings and schemes are known to me and Miggs. If you want information of 'em, apply to

With these words, Mr Tappertit, who seemed to expect no reply, and to hold it as a necessary consequence of

his eloquence that his hearer should be utterly stunned, dumbfoundered, and overwhelmed, folded his arms so

that the palm of each hand rested on the opposite shoulder, and disappeared after the manner of those

'That fellow,' said Mr Chester, relaxing his face when he was fairly gone, 'is good practice. I HAVE some

command of my features, beyond all doubt. He fully confirms what I suspected, though; and blunt tools are

sometimes found of use, where sharper instruments would fail. I fear I may be obliged to make great havoc

With that he fell into a quiet slumber:subsided into such a gentle, pleasant sleep, that it was quite infantine.

Leaving the favoured, and wellreceived, and flattered of the world; him of the world most worldly, who

never compromised himself by an ungentlemanly action, and never was guilty of a manly one; to lie

smilingly asleepfor even sleep, working but little change in his dissembling face, became with him a piece

of cold, conventional hypocrisywe follow in the steps of two slow travellers on foot, making towards

The widow, to whom each painful mile seemed longer than the last, toiled wearily along; while Barnaby,

yielding to every inconstant impulse, fluttered here and there, now leaving her far behind, now lingering far

behind himself, now darting into some bylane or path and leaving her to pursue her way alone, until he

stealthily emerged again and came upon her with a wild shout of merriment, as his wayward and capricious

nature prompted. Now he would call to her from the topmost branch of some high tree by the roadside; now

using his tall staff as a leapingpole, come flying over ditch or hedge or fivebarred gate; now run with

surprising swiftness for a mile or more on the straight road, and halting, sport upon a patch of grass with Grip

till she came up. These were his delights; and when his patient mother heard his merry voice, or looked into

his flushed and healthy face, she would not have abated them by one sad word or murmur, though each had

been to her a source of suffering in the same degree as it was to him of pleasure.

It is something to look upon enjoyment, so that it be free and wild and in the face of nature, though it is but

the enjoyment of an idiot. It is something to know that Heaven has left the capacity of gladness in such a

creature's breast; it is something to be assured that, however lightly men may crush that faculty in their

fellows, the Great Creator of mankind imparts it even to his despised and slighted work. Who would not

rather see a poor idiot happy in the sunlight, than a wise man pining in a darkened jail!

Ye men of gloom and austerity, who paint the face of Infinite Benevolence with an eternal frown; read in the

Everlasting Book, wide open to your view, the lesson it would teach. Its pictures are not in black and sombre

hues, but bright and glowing tints; its musicsave when ye drown itis not in sighs and groans, but songs

and cheerful sounds. Listen to the million voices in the summer air, and find one dismal as your own.

Remember, if ye can, the sense of hope and pleasure which every glad return of day awakens in the breast of

all your kind who have not changed their nature; and learn some wisdom even from the witless, when their

hearts are lifted up they know not why, by all the mirth and happiness it brings.

The widow's breast was full of care, was laden heavily with secret dread and sorrow; but her boy's gaiety of

heart gladdened her, and beguiled the long journey. Sometimes he would bid her lean upon his arm, and

would keep beside her steadily for a short distance; but it was more his nature to be rambling to and fro, and

she better liked to see him free and happy, even than to have him near her, because she loved him better than

She had quitted the place to which they were travelling, directly after the event which had changed her whole

existence; and for two andtwenty years had never had courage to revisit it. It was her native village. How

Twoandtwenty years. Her boy's whole life and history. The last time she looked back upon those roofs

among the trees, she carried him in her arms, an infant. How often since that time had she sat beside him

night and day, watching for the dawn of mind that never came; how had she feared, and doubted, and yet

hoped, long after conviction forced itself upon her! The little stratagems she had devised to try him, the little

tokens he had given in his childish waynot of dulness but of something infinitely worse, so ghastly and

unchildlike in its cunningcame back as vividly as if but yesterday had intervened. The room in which they

used to be; the spot in which his cradle stood; he, old and elfinlike in face, but ever dear to her, gazing at her

with a wild and vacant eye, and crooning some uncouth song as she sat by and rocked him; every

circumstance of his infancy came thronging back, and the most trivial, perhaps, the most distinctly.

His older childhood, too; the strange imaginings he had; his terror of certain senseless thingsfamiliar

objects he endowed with life; the slow and gradual breaking out of that one horror, in which, before his birth,

his darkened intellect began; how, in the midst of all, she had found some hope and comfort in his being

unlike another child, and had gone on almost believing in the slow development of his mind until he grew a

man, and then his childhood was complete and lasting; one after another, all these old thoughts sprung up

She took his arm and they hurried through the village street. It was the same as it was wont to be in old times,

yet different too, and wore another air. The change was in herself, not it; but she never thought of that, and

The people all knew Barnaby, and the children of the place came flocking round himas she remembered to

have done with their fathers and mothers round some silly beggarman, when a child herself. None of them

knew her; they passed each wellremembered house, and yard, and homestead; and striking into the fields,

The Warren was the end of their journey. Mr Haredale was walking in the garden, and seeing them as they

'At length you have mustered heart to visit the old place,' he said to the widow. 'I am glad you have.'

'You mean,' said Mr Haredale, regarding her with some surprise, 'that having made this effort, you are

resolved not to persevere and are determined to relapse? This is unworthy of you. I have often told you, you

should return here. You would be happier here than elsewhere, I know. As to Barnaby, it's quite his home.'

'And Grip's,' said Barnaby, holding the basket open. The raven hopped gravely out, and perching on his

shoulder and addressing himself to Mr Haredale, criedas a hint, perhaps, that some temperate refreshment

'Hear me, Mary,' said Mr Haredale kindly, as he motioned her to walk with him towards the house. 'Your life

has been an example of patience and fortitude, except in this one particular which has often given me great

pain. It is enough to know that you were cruelly involved in the calamity which deprived me of an only

brother, and Emma of her father, without being obliged to suppose (as I sometimes am) that you associate us

'Indeed,' said Mr Haredale, 'I think you do. I almost believe that because your husband was bound by so many

ties to our relation, and died in his service and defence, you have come in some sort to connect us with his

'Alas!' she answered. 'You little know my heart, sir. You little know the truth!'

'It is natural you should do so; it is very probable you may, without being conscious of it,' said Mr Haredale,

speaking more to himself than her. 'We are a fallen house. Money, dispensed with the most lavish hand,

would be a poor recompense for sufferings like yours; and thinly scattered by hands so pinched and tied as

ours, it becomes a miserable mockery. I feel it so, God knows,' he added, hastily. 'Why should I wonder if she

'You do me wrong, dear sir, indeed,' she rejoined with great earnestness; 'and yet when you come to hear

'I shall find my doubts confirmed?' he said, observing that she faltered and became confused. 'Well!'

He quickened his pace for a few steps, but fell back again to her side, and said:

'A curse,' he muttered, 'upon the wretched state of us proud beggars, from whom the poor and rich are equally

at a distance; the one being forced to treat us with a show of cold respect; the other condescending to us in

their every deed and word, and keeping more aloof, the nearer they approach us.Why, if it were pain to

you (as it must have been) to break for this slight purpose the chain of habit forged through twoandtwenty

'There was not time, sir,' she rejoined. 'I took my resolution but last night, and taking it, felt that I must not

They had by this time reached the house. Mr Haredale paused for a moment, and looked at her as if surprised

by the energy of her manner. Observing, however, that she took no heed of him, but glanced up, shuddering,

at the old walls with which such horrors were connected in her mind, he led her by a private stair into his

The young lady, seeing who approached, hastily rose and laid aside her book, and with many kind words, and

not without tears, gave her a warm and earnest welcome. But the widow shrunk from her embrace as though

'It is the return to this place after so long an absence,' said Emma gently. 'Pray ring, dear uncleor

'Not for the world,' she cried. 'It would have another tasteI could not touch it. I want but a minute's rest.

Miss Haredale stood beside her chair, regarding her with silent pity. She remained for a little time quite still;

then rose and turned to Mr Haredale, who had sat down in his easy chair, and was contemplating her with

The tale connected with the mansion borne in mind, it seemed, as has been already said, the chosen theatre

for such a deed as it had known. The room in which this group were now assembledhard by the very

chamber where the act was donedull, dark, and sombre; heavy with wormeaten books; deadened and shut

in by faded hangings, muffling every sound; shadowed mournfully by trees whose rustling boughs gave ever

and anon a spectral knocking at the glass; wore, beyond all others in the house, a ghostly, gloomy air. Nor

were the group assembled there, unfitting tenants of the spot. The widow, with her marked and startling face

and downcast eyes; Mr Haredale stern and despondent ever; his niece beside him, like, yet most unlike, the

picture of her father, which gazed reproachfully down upon them from the blackened wall; Barnaby, with his

vacant look and restless eye; were all in keeping with the place, and actors in the legend. Nay, the very raven,

who had hopped upon the table and with the air of some old necromancer appeared to be profoundly studying

a great folio volume that lay open on a desk, was strictly in unison with the rest, and looked like the

'I scarcely know,' said the widow, breaking silence, 'how to begin. You will think my mind disordered.'

'The whole tenor of your quiet and reproachless life since you were last here,' returned Mr Haredale, mildly,

'shall bear witness for you. Why do you fear to awaken such a suspicion? You do not speak to strangers. You

have not to claim our interest or consideration for the first time. Be more yourself. Take heart. Any advice or

'What if I came, sir,' she rejoined, 'I who have but one other friend on earth, to reject your aid from this

moment, and to say that henceforth I launch myself upon the world, alone and unassisted, to sink or swim as

'You would have, if you came to me for such a purpose,' said Mr Haredale calmly, 'some reason to assign for

conduct so extraordinary, whichif one may entertain the possibility of anything so wild and

'That, sir,' she answered, 'is the misery of my distress. I can give no reason whatever. My own bare word is all

that I can offer. It is my duty, my imperative and bounden duty. If I did not discharge it, I should be a base

and guilty wretch. Having said that, my lips are sealed, and I can say no more.'

As though she felt relieved at having said so much, and had nerved herself to the remainder of her task, she

'Heaven is my witness, as my own heart isand yours, dear young lady, will speak for me, I knowthat I

have lived, since that time we all have bitter reason to remember, in unchanging devotion, and gratitude to

this family. Heaven is my witness that go where I may, I shall preserve those feelings unimpaired. And it is

my witness, too, that they alone impel me to the course I must take, and from which nothing now shall turn

'In this world, sir,' she replied, 'they may, perhaps, never be explained. In another, the Truth will be

discovered in its own good time. And may that time,' she added in a low voice, 'be far distant!'

'Let me be sure,' said Mr Haredale, 'that I understand you, for I am doubtful of my own senses. Do you mean

that you are resolved voluntarily to deprive yourself of those means of support you have received from us so

longthat you are determined to resign the annuity we settled on you twenty years agoto leave house, and

home, and goods, and begin life anewand this, for some secret reason or monstrous fancy which is

incapable of explanation, which only now exists, and has been dormant all this time? In the name of God,

'As I am deeply thankful,' she made answer, 'for the kindness of those, alive and dead, who have owned this

house; and as I would not have its roof fall down and crush me, or its very walls drip blood, my name being

spoken in their hearing; I never will again subsist upon their bounty, or let it help me to subsistence. You do

not know,' she added, suddenly, 'to what uses it may be applied; into what hands it may pass. I do, and I

'They did. They rest with me no longer. It may beit ISdevoted to purposes that mock the dead in their

graves. It never can prosper with me. It will bring some other heavy judgement on the head of my dear son,

'What words are these!' cried Mr Haredale, regarding her with wonder. 'Among what associates have you

'I am guilty, and yet innocent; wrong, yet right; good in intention, though constrained to shield and aid the

bad. Ask me no more questions, sir; but believe that I am rather to be pitied than condemned. I must leave my

house tomorrow, for while I stay there, it is haunted. My future dwelling, if I am to live in peace, must be a

secret. If my poor boy should ever stray this way, do not tempt him to disclose it or have him watched when

he returns; for if we are hunted, we must fly again. And now this load is off my mind, I beseech youand

you, dear Miss Haredale, tooto trust me if you can, and think of me kindly as you have been used to do. If

I die and cannot tell my secret even then (for that may come to pass), it will sit the lighter on my breast in that

hour for this day's work; and on that day, and every day until it comes, I will pray for and thank you both, and

With that, she would have left them, but they detained her, and with many soothing words and kind

entreaties, besought her to consider what she did, and above all to repose more freely upon them, and say

what weighed so sorely on her mind. Finding her deaf to their persuasions, Mr Haredale suggested, as a last

resource, that she should confide in Emma, of whom, as a young person and one of her own sex, she might

stand in less dread than of himself. From this proposal, however, she recoiled with the same indescribable

repugnance she had manifested when they met. The utmost that could be wrung from her was, a promise that

she would receive Mr Haredale at her own house next evening, and in the mean time reconsider her

determination and their dissuasionsthough any change on her part, as she told them, was quite hopeless.

This condition made at last, they reluctantly suffered her to depart, since she would neither eat nor drink

within the house; and she, and Barnaby, and Grip, accordingly went out as they had come, by the private stair

It was remarkable in the raven that during the whole interview he had kept his eye on his book with exactly

the air of a very sly human rascal, who, under the mask of pretending to read hard, was listening to

everything. He still appeared to have the conversation very strongly in his mind, for although, when they

were alone again, he issued orders for the instant preparation of innumerable kettles for purposes of tea, he

was thoughtful, and rather seemed to do so from an abstract sense of duty, than with any regard to making

They were to return by the coach. As there was an interval of full two hours before it started, and they needed

rest and some refreshment, Barnaby begged hard for a visit to the Maypole. But his mother, who had no wish

to be recognised by any of those who had known her long ago, and who feared besides that Mr Haredale

might, on second thoughts, despatch some messenger to that place of entertainment in quest of her, proposed

to wait in the churchyard instead. As it was easy for Barnaby to buy and carry thither such humble viands as

they required, he cheerfully assented, and in the churchyard they sat down to take their frugal dinner.

Here again, the raven was in a highly reflective state; walking up and down when he had dined, with an air of

elderly complacency which was strongly suggestive of his having his hands under his coattails; and

appearing to read the tombstones with a very critical taste. Sometimes, after a long inspection of an epitaph,

he would strop his beak upon the grave to which it referred, and cry in his hoarse tones, 'I'm a devil, I'm a

devil, I'm a devil!' but whether he addressed his observations to any supposed person below, or merely threw

It was a quiet pretty spot, but a sad one for Barnaby's mother; for Mr Reuben Haredale lay there, and near the

vault in which his ashes rested, was a stone to the memory of her own husband, with a brief inscription

recording how and when he had lost his life. She sat here, thoughtful and apart, until their time was out, and

Barnaby, who had been sleeping on the grass, sprung up quickly at the sound; and Grip, who appeared to

understand it equally well, walked into his basket straightway, entreating society in general (as though he

intended a kind of satire upon them in connection with churchyards) never to say die on any terms. They

It went round by the Maypole, and stopped at the door. Joe was from home, and Hugh came sluggishly out to

hand up the parcel that it called for. There was no fear of old John coming out. They could see him from the

coachroof fast asleep in his cosy bar. It was a part of John's character. He made a point of going to sleep at

the coach's time. He despised gadding about; he looked upon coaches as things that ought to be indicted; as

disturbers of the peace of mankind; as restless, bustling, busy, hornblowing contrivances, quite beneath the

dignity of men, and only suited to giddy girls that did nothing but chatter and go ashopping. 'We know

nothing about coaches here, sir,' John would say, if any unlucky stranger made inquiry touching the offensive

vehicles; 'we don't book for 'em; we'd rather not; they're more trouble than they're worth, with their noise and

rattle. If you like to wait for 'em you can; but we don't know anything about 'em; they may call and they may

notthere's a carrierhe was looked upon as quite good enough for us, when I was a boy.'

She dropped her veil as Hugh climbed up, and while he hung behind, and talked to Barnaby in whispers. But

neither he nor any other person spoke to her, or noticed her, or had any curiosity about her; and so, an alien,

she visited and left the village where she had been born, and had lived a merry child, a comely girl, a happy

wifewhere she had known all her enjoyment of life, and had entered on its hardest sorrows.

'And you're not surprised to hear this, Varden?' said Mr Haredale. 'Well! You and she have always been the

'I ask your pardon, sir,' rejoined the locksmith. 'I didn't say I understood her. I wouldn't have the presumption

to say that of any woman. It's not so easily done. But I am not so much surprised, sir, as you expected me to

'I have seen, sir,' returned the locksmith with evident reluctance, 'I have seen in connection with her,

something that has filled me with distrust and uneasiness. She has made bad friends, how, or when, I don't

know; but that her house is a refuge for one robber and cutthroat at least, I am certain. There, sir! Now it's

'My own eyes, sir, are my witnesses, and for her sake I would be willingly halfblind, if I could but have the

pleasure of mistrusting 'em. I have kept the secret till now, and it will go no further than yourself, I know; but

I tell you that with my own eyesbroad awakeI saw, in the passage of her house one evening after dark,

the highwayman who robbed and wounded Mr Edward Chester, and on the same night threatened me.'

'Sir,' returned the locksmith, 'she herself prevented meheld me, with all her strength, and hung about me

until he had got clear off.' And having gone so far, he related circumstantially all that had passed upon the

This dialogue was held in a low tone in the locksmith's little parlour, into which honest Gabriel had shown his

visitor on his arrival. Mr Haredale had called upon him to entreat his company to the widow's, that he might

have the assistance of his persuasion and influence; and out of this circumstance the conversation had arisen.

'I forbore,' said Gabriel, 'from repeating one word of this to anybody, as it could do her no good and might do

her great harm. I thought and hoped, to say the truth, that she would come to me, and talk to me about it, and

tell me how it was; but though I have purposely put myself in her way more than once or twice, she has never

touched upon the subjectexcept by a look. And indeed,' said the goodnatured locksmith, 'there was a good

deal in the look, more than could have been put into a great many words. It said among other matters "Don't

ask me anything" so imploringly, that I didn't ask her anything. You'll think me an old fool, I know, sir. If it's

'I am greatly disturbed by what you tell me,' said Mr Haredale, after a silence. 'What meaning do you attach

The locksmith shook his head, and looked doubtfully out of window at the failing light.

'She may have done so, in the fear that it would lead, if known, to some objection or estrangement. Suppose

she married incautiously it is not improbable, for her existence has been a lonely and monotonous one for

many yearsand the man turned out a ruffian, she would be anxious to screen him, and yet would revolt

from his crimes. This might be. It bears strongly on the whole drift of her discourse yesterday, and would

quite explain her conduct. Do you suppose Barnaby is privy to these circumstances?'

'Quite impossible to say, sir,' returned the locksmith, shaking his head again: 'and next to impossible to find

out from him. If what you suppose is really the case, I tremble for the lada notable person, sir, to put to bad

'It is not possible, Varden,' said Mr Haredale, in a still lower tone of voice than he had spoken yet, 'that we

have been blinded and deceived by this woman from the beginning? It is not possible that this connection was

'Good God, sir,' cried Gabriel, interrupting him, 'don't entertain such dark thoughts for a moment.

Fiveandtwenty years ago, where was there a girl like her? A gay, handsome, laughing, brighteyed

damsel! Think what she was, sir. It makes my heart ache now, even now, though I'm an old man, with a

woman for a daughter, to think what she was and what she is. We all change, but that's with Time; Time does

his work honestly, and I don't mind him. A fig for Time, sir. Use him well, and he's a hearty fellow, and

scorns to have you at a disadvantage. But care and suffering (and those have changed her) are devils,

sirsecret, stealthy, undermining devils who tread down the brightest flowers in Eden, and do more

havoc in a month than Time does in a year. Picture to yourself for one minute what Mary was before they

went to work with her fresh heart and facedo her that justiceand say whether such a thing is possible.'

'You're a good fellow, Varden,' said Mr Haredale, 'and are quite right. I have brooded on that subject so long,

'It isn't, sir,' cried the locksmith with brightened eyes, and sturdy, honest voice; 'it isn't because I courted her

before Rudge, and failed, that I say she was too good for him. She would have been as much too good for me.

But she WAS too good for him; he wasn't free and frank enough for her. I don't reproach his memory with it,

poor fellow; I only want to put her before you as she really was. For myself, I'll keep her old picture in my

mind; and thinking of that, and what has altered her, I'll stand her friend, and try to win her back to peace.

And damme, sir,' cried Gabriel, 'with your pardon for the word, I'd do the same if she had married fifty

highwaymen in a twelvemonth; and think it in the Protestant Manual too, though Martha said it wasn't, tooth

If the dark little parlour had been filled with a dense fog, which, clearing away in an instant, left it all

radiance and brightness, it could not have been more suddenly cheered than by this outbreak on the part of

the hearty locksmith. In a voice nearly as full and round as his own, Mr Haredale cried 'Well said!' and bade

him come away without more parley. The locksmith complied right willingly; and both getting into a

They alighted at the street corner, and dismissing their conveyance, walked to the house. To their first knock

at the door there was no response. A second met with the like result. But in answer to the third, which was of

a more vigorous kind, the parlour windowsash was gently raised, and a musical voice cried:

'Haredale, my dear fellow, I am extremely glad to see you. How very much you have improved in your

appearance since our last meeting! I never saw you looking better. HOW do you do?'

Mr Haredale turned his eyes towards the casement whence the voice proceeded, though there was no need to

do so, to recognise the speaker, and Mr Chester waved his hand, and smiled a courteous welcome.

'The door will be opened immediately,' he said. 'There is nobody but a very dilapidated female to perform

such offices. You will excuse her infirmities? If she were in a more elevated station of society, she would be

gouty. Being but a hewer of wood and drawer of water, she is rheumatic. My dear Haredale, these are natural

Mr Haredale, whose face resumed its lowering and distrustful look the moment he heard the voice, inclined

'Not opened yet,' said Mr Chester. 'Dear me! I hope the aged soul has not caught her foot in some unlucky

Mr Haredale entered, followed by the locksmith. Turning with a look of great astonishment to the old woman

who had opened the door, he inquired for Mrs Rudgefor Barnaby. They were both gone, she replied,

wagging her ancient head, for good. There was a gentleman in the parlour, who perhaps could tell them more.

'Pray, sir,' said Mr Haredale, presenting himself before this new tenant, 'where is the person whom I came

'Your trifling is illtimed,' retorted the other in a suppressed tone and voice, 'and its subject illchosen.

Reserve it for those who are your friends, and do not expend it on me. I lay no claim to the distinction, and

'My dear, good sir,' said Mr Chester, 'you are heated with walking. Sit down, I beg. Our friend is'

'Is but a plain honest man,' returned Mr Haredale, 'and quite unworthy of your notice.'

'A worthy English yeoman!' said Mr Chester. 'A most worthy yeoman, of whom I have frequently heard my

son Neddarling fellow speak, and have often wished to see. Varden, my good friend, I am glad to know

you. You wonder now,' he said, turning languidly to Mr Haredale, 'to see me here. Now, I am sure you do.'

'The mystery is solved in a moment,' said Mr Chester; 'in a moment. Will you step aside with me one instant.

You remember our little compact in reference to Ned, and your dear niece, Haredale? You remember the list

of assistants in their innocent intrigue? You remember these two people being among them? My dear fellow,

'Bought them off,' returned his smiling friend. 'I have found it necessary to take some active steps towards

setting this boy and girl attachment quite at rest, and have begun by removing these two agents. You are

surprised? Who CAN withstand the influence of a little money! They wanted it, and have been bought off.

'My dear fellowand you must permit me to say again, that you never looked so young; so positively boyish

as you do tonightthe Lord knows where; I believe Columbus himself wouldn't find them. Between you

and me they have their hidden reasons, but upon that point I have pledged myself to secrecy. She appointed to

see you here tonight, I know, but found it inconvenient, and couldn't wait. Here is the key of the door. I am

afraid you'll find it inconveniently large; but as the tenement is yours, your good nature will excuse that,

Mr Haredale stood in the widow's parlour with the doorkey in his hand, gazing by turns at Mr Chester and at

Gabriel Varden, and occasionally glancing downward at the key as in the hope that of its own accord it would

unlock the mystery; until Mr Chester, putting on his hat and gloves, and sweetly inquiring whether they were

'No,' he said. 'Our roads divergewidely, as you know. For the present, I shall remain here.'

'You will be hipped, Haredale; you will be miserable, melancholy, utterly wretched,' returned the other. 'It's a

place of the very last description for a man of your temper. I know it will make you very miserable.'

'Let it,' said Mr Haredale, sitting down; 'and thrive upon the thought. Good night!'

Feigning to be wholly unconscious of the abrupt wave of the hand which rendered this farewell tantamount to

a dismissal, Mr Chester retorted with a bland and heartfelt benediction, and inquired of Gabriel in what

'Yours, sir, would be too much honour for the like of me,' replied the locksmith, hesitating.

'I wish you to remain here a little while, Varden,' said Mr Haredale, without looking towards them. 'I have a

'I will not intrude upon your conference another moment,' said Mr Chester with inconceivable politeness.

'May it be satisfactory to you both! God bless you!' So saying, and bestowing upon the locksmith a most

'A deplorably constituted creature, that rugged person,' he said, as he walked along the street; 'he is an

atrocity that carries its own punishment along with ita bear that gnaws himself. And here is one of the

inestimable advantages of having a perfect command over one's inclinations. I have been tempted in these

two short interviews, to draw upon that fellow, fifty times. Five men in six would have yielded to the

impulse. By suppressing mine, I wound him deeper and more keenly than if I were the best swordsman in all

Europe, and he the worst. You are the wise man's very last resource,' he said, tapping the hilt of his weapon;

'we can but appeal to you when all else is said and done. To come to you before, and thereby spare our

adversaries so much, is a barbarian mode of warfare, quite unworthy of any man with the remotest

He smiled so very pleasantly as he communed with himself after this manner, that a beggar was emboldened

to follow for alms, and to dog his footsteps for some distance. He was gratified by the circumstance, feeling it

complimentary to his power of feature, and as a reward suffered the man to follow him until he called a chair,

'Which is as easy as cursing,' he wisely added, as he took his seat, 'and more becoming to the face.To

Clerkenwell, my good creatures, if you please!' The chairmen were rendered quite vivacious by having such a

Alighting at a certain point he had indicated to them upon the road, and paying them something less than they

expected from a fare of such gentle speech, he turned into the street in which the locksmith dwelt, and

presently stood beneath the shadow of the Golden Key. Mr Tappertit, who was hard at work by lamplight, in

a corner of the workshop, remained unconscious of his presence until a hand upon his shoulder made him

'Industry,' said Mr Chester, 'is the soul of business, and the keystone of prosperity. Mr Tappertit, I shall

'Sir,' returned the 'prentice, laying down his hammer, and rubbing his nose on the back of a very sooty hand, 'I

scorn the Lord Mayor and everything that belongs to him. We must have another state of society, sir, before

'The better, Mr Tappertit, for looking into your ingenuous face once more. I hope you are well.'

'I am as well, sir,' said Sim, standing up to get nearer to his ear, and whispering hoarsely, 'as any man can be

under the aggrawations to which I am exposed. My life's a burden to me. If it wasn't for wengeance, I'd play

'Sir,' returned Sim, eyeing him over with a look of concentrated expression,'she is. Did you wish to see

'Then come this way, sir,' said Sim, wiping his face upon his apron. 'Follow me, sir.Would you permit me

Mr Tappertit raised himself on tiptoe, applied his lips to Mr Chester's ear, drew back his head without saying

anything, looked hard at him, applied them to his ear again, again drew back, and finally whispered'The

Having said that much, he beckoned the visitor with a mysterious aspect to follow him to the parlourdoor,

'And not Mr Ed'dard, mind,' said Sim, looking into the door again, and adding this by way of postscript in his

'But do not let his father,' said Mr Chester, advancing hat in hand, as he observed the effect of this last

explanatory announcement, 'do not let his father be any check or restraint on your domestic occupations, Miss

'Oh! Now! There! An't I always asaying it!' exclaimed Miggs, clapping her hands. 'If he an't been and took

Missis for her own daughter. Well, she DO look like it, that she do. Only think of that, mim!'

'Is it possible,' said Mr Chester in his softest tones, 'that this is Mrs Varden! I am amazed. That is not your

'Ah, Mrs Varden!' cried the visitor. 'Ah, ma'amhumanity is indeed a happy lot, when we can repeat

ourselves in others, and still be young as they. You must allow me to salute youthe custom of the country,

Dolly showed some reluctance to perform this ceremony, but was sharply reproved by Mrs Varden, who

insisted on her undergoing it that minute. For pride, she said with great severity, was one of the seven deadly

sins, and humility and lowliness of heart were virtues. Wherefore she desired that Dolly would be kissed

immediately, on pain of her just displeasure; at the same time giving her to understand that whatever she saw

her mother do, she might safely do herself, without being at the trouble of any reasoning or reflection on the

subjectwhich, indeed, was offensive and undutiful, and in direct contravention of the church catechism.

Thus admonished, Dolly complied, though by no means willingly; for there was a broad, bold look of

admiration in Mr Chester's face, refined and polished though it sought to be, which distressed her very much.

As she stood with downcast eyes, not liking to look up and meet his, he gazed upon her with an approving

'My friend Gabriel (whose acquaintance I only made this very evening) should be a happy man, Mrs Varden.'

'Master has no intentions, sir,' murmured Miggs as she sidled up to him, 'but to be as grateful as his natur will

let him, for everythink he owns which it is in his powers to appreciate. But we never, sir'said Miggs,

looking sideways at Mrs Varden, and interlarding her discourse with a sigh'we never know the full value

of SOME wines and figtrees till we lose 'em. So much the worse, sir, for them as has the slighting of 'em on

their consciences when they're gone to be in full blow elsewhere.' And Miss Miggs cast up her eyes to signify

As Mrs Varden distinctly heard, and was intended to hear, all that Miggs said, and as these words appeared to

convey in metaphorical terms a presage or foreboding that she would at some early period droop beneath her

trials and take an easy flight towards the stars, she immediately began to languish, and taking a volume of the

Manual from a neighbouring table, leant her arm upon it as though she were Hope and that her Anchor. Mr

Chester perceiving this, and seeing how the volume was lettered on the back, took it gently from her hand,

'My favourite book, dear madam. How often, how very often in his early lifebefore he can

remember'(this clause was strictly true) 'have I deduced little easy moral lessons from its pages, for my

'You're a mother, Mrs Varden,' said Mr Chester, taking a pinch of snuff, 'and you know what I, as a father,

feel, when he is praised. He gives me some uneasinessmuch uneasinesshe's of a roving nature,

ma'amfrom flower to flowerfrom sweet to sweetbut his is the butterfly time of life, and we must not

He glanced at Dolly. She was attending evidently to what he said. Just what he desired!

'The only thing I object to in this little trait of Ned's, is,' said Mr Chester, 'and the mention of his name

reminds me, by the way, that I am about to beg the favour of a minute's talk with you alonethe only thing I

object to in it, is, that it DOES partake of insincerity. Now, however I may attempt to disguise the fact from

myself in my affection for Ned, still I always revert to this that if we are not sincere, we are nothing.

'and Protestant above all things. Let us be sincere and Protestant, strictly moral, strictly just (though always

with a leaning towards mercy), strictly honest, and strictly true, and we gainit is a slight point, certainly,

but still it is something tangible; we throw up a groundwork and foundation, so to speak, of goodness, on

Now, to be sure, Mrs Varden thought, here is a perfect character. Here is a meek, righteous, thoroughgoing

Christian, who, having mastered all these qualities, so difficult of attainment; who, having dropped a pinch of

salt on the tails of all the cardinal virtues, and caught them every one; makes light of their possession, and

pants for more morality. For the good woman never doubted (as many good men and women never do), that

this slighting kind of profession, this setting so little store by great matters, this seeming to say, 'I am not

proud, I am what you hear, but I consider myself no better than other people; let us change the subject,

pray'was perfectly genuine and true. He so contrived it, and said it in that way that it appeared to have been

Aware of the impression he had madefew men were quicker than he at such discoveriesMr Chester

followed up the blow by propounding certain virtuous maxims, somewhat vague and general in their nature,

doubtless, and occasionally partaking of the character of truisms, worn a little out at elbow, but delivered in

so charming a voice and with such uncommon serenity and peace of mind, that they answered as well as the

best. Nor is this to be wondered at; for as hollow vessels produce a far more musical sound in falling than

those which are substantial, so it will oftentimes be found that sentiments which have nothing in them make

Mr Chester, with the volume gently extended in one hand, and with the other planted lightly on his breast,

talked to them in the most delicious manner possible; and quite enchanted all his hearers, notwithstanding

their conflicting interests and thoughts. Even Dolly, who, between his keen regards and her eyeing over by

Mr Tappertit, was put quite out of countenance, could not help owning within herself that he was the

sweetestspoken gentleman she had ever seen. Even Miss Miggs, who was divided between admiration of

Mr Chester and a mortal jealousy of her young mistress, had sufficient leisure to be propitiated. Even Mr

Tappertit, though occupied as we have seen in gazing at his heart's delight, could not wholly divert his

thoughts from the voice of the other charmer. Mrs Varden, to her own private thinking, had never been so

improved in all her life; and when Mr Chester, rising and craving permission to speak with her apart, took her

by the hand and led her at arm's length upstairs to the best sittingroom, she almost deemed him something

'You guess my object?' said Mr Chester, drawing a chair towards her. 'You divine my purpose? I am an

'Thank you,' returned Mr Chester, tapping his snuffbox lid. 'Heavy moral responsibilities rest with parents,

Mrs Varden slightly raised her hands, shook her head, and looked at the ground as though she saw straight

through the globe, out at the other end, and into the immensity of space beyond.

'I may confide in you,' said Mr Chester, 'without reserve. I love my son, ma'am, dearly; and loving him as I

do, I would save him from working certain misery. You know of his attachment to Miss Haredale. You have

abetted him in it, and very kind of you it was to do so. I am deeply obliged to youmost deeply obliged to

you for your interest in his behalf; but my dear ma'am, it is a mistaken one, I do assure you.'

'Sorry, my dear ma'am,' he interposed. 'Never be sorry for what is so very amiable, so very good in intention,

so perfectly like yourself. But there are grave and weighty reasons, pressing family considerations, and apart

even from these, points of religious difference, which interpose themselves, and render their union

impossible; utterly impossible. I should have mentioned these circumstances to your husband; but he

hasyou will excuse my saying this so freelyhe has NOT your quickness of apprehension or depth of

moral sense. What an extremely airy house this is, and how beautifully kept! For one like myselfa

widower so long these tokens of female care and superintendence have inexpressible charms.'

Mrs Varden began to think (she scarcely knew why) that the young Mr Chester must be in the wrong and the

'My son Ned,' resumed her tempter with his most winning air, 'has had, I am told, your lovely daughter's aid,

'Much more than mine, sir,' said Mrs Varden; 'a great deal more. I have often had my doubts. It's a'

'A bad example,' suggested Mr Chester. 'It is. No doubt it is. Your daughter is at that age when to set before

her an encouragement for young persons to rebel against their parents on this most important point, is

particularly injudicious. You are quite right. I ought to have thought of that myself, but it escaped me, I

confessso far superior are your sex to ours, dear madam, in point of penetration and sagacity.'

Mrs Varden looked as wise as if she had really said something to deserve this complimentfirmly believed

'My dear ma'am,' said Mr Chester, 'you embolden me to be plain with you. My son and I are at variance on

this point. The young lady and her natural guardian differ upon it, also. And the closing point is, that my son

is bound by his duty to me, by his honour, by every solemn tie and obligation, to marry some one else.'

'My dear madam, brought up, educated, and trained, expressly for that purpose. Expressly for that

'I am her fostermother, and should knowthe best young lady in the world,' said Mrs Varden.

'I have not the smallest doubt of it. I am sure she is. And you, who have stood in that tender relation towards

her, are bound to consult her happiness. Now, can Ias I have said to Haredale, who quite agreescan I

possibly stand by, and suffer her to throw herself away (although she IS of a Catholic family), upon a young

fellow who, as yet, has no heart at all? It is no imputation upon him to say he has not, because young men

who have plunged deeply into the frivolities and conventionalities of society, very seldom have. Their hearts

never grow, my dear ma'am, till after thirty. I don't believe, no, I do NOT believe, that I had any heart myself

'Oh sir,' said Mrs Varden, 'I think you must have had. It's impossible that you, who have so much now, can

'I hope,' he answered, shrugging his shoulders meekly, 'I have a little; I hope, a very littleHeaven knows!

But to return to Ned; I have no doubt you thought, and therefore interfered benevolently in his behalf, that I

objected to Miss Haredale. How very natural! My dear madam, I object to himto himemphatically to

'He has, if he honourably fulfils this solemn obligation of which I have told youand he must be

honourable, dear Mrs Varden, or he is no son of minea fortune within his reach. He is of most expensive,

ruinously expensive habits; and if, in a moment of caprice and wilfulness, he were to marry this young lady,

and so deprive himself of the means of gratifying the tastes to which he has been so long accustomed, he

wouldmy dear madam, he would break the gentle creature's heart. Mrs Varden, my good lady, my dear

soul, I put it to youis such a sacrifice to be endured? Is the female heart a thing to be trifled with in this

'Truly,' thought Mrs Varden, 'this gentleman is a saint. But,' she added aloud, and not unnaturally, 'if you take

'The very point,' said Mr Chester, not at all abashed, 'to which I wished to lead you. A marriage with my son,

whom I should be compelled to disown, would be followed by years of misery; they would be separated, my

dear madam, in a twelvemonth. To break off this attachment, which is more fancied than real, as you and I

know very well, will cost the dear girl but a few tears, and she is happy again. Take the case of your own

daughter, the young lady downstairs, who is your breathing image'Mrs Varden coughed and

simpered'there is a young man (I am sorry to say, a dissolute fellow, of very indifferent character) of

'There is a young man of the name of Joseph Willet, sir,' said Mrs Varden, folding her hands loftily.

'That's he,' cried Mr Chester. 'Suppose this Joseph Willet now, were to aspire to the affections of your

'It would be like his impudence,' interposed Mrs Varden, bridling, 'to dare to think of such a thing!'

'My dear madam, that's the whole case. I know it would be like his impudence. It is like Ned's impudence to

do as he has done; but you would not on that account, or because of a few tears from your beautiful daughter,

refrain from checking their inclinations in their birth. I meant to have reasoned thus with your husband when

'My husband,' said Mrs Varden, interposing with emotion, 'would be a great deal better at home than going to

Mrs Rudge's so often. I don't know what he does there. I don't see what occasion he has to busy himself in her

'If I don't appear to express my concurrence in those last sentiments of yours,' returned Mr Chester, 'quite so

strongly as you might desire, it is because his being there, my dear madam, and not proving conversational,

led me hither, and procured me the happiness of this interview with one, in whom the whole management,

With that he took Mrs Varden's hand again, and having pressed it to his lips with the highflown gallantry of

the daya little burlesqued to render it the more striking in the good lady's unaccustomed eyesproceeded

in the same strain of mingled sophistry, cajolery, and flattery, to entreat that her utmost influence might be

exerted to restrain her husband and daughter from any further promotion of Edward's suit to Miss Haredale,

and from aiding or abetting either party in any way. Mrs Varden was but a woman, and had her share of

vanity, obstinacy, and love of power. She entered into a secret treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive,

with her insinuating visitor; and really did believe, as many others would have done who saw and heard him,

that in so doing she furthered the ends of truth, justice, and morality, in a very uncommon degree.

Overjoyed by the success of his negotiation, and mightily amused within himself, Mr Chester conducted her

downstairs in the same state as before; and having repeated the previous ceremony of salutation, which also

as before comprehended Dolly, took his leave; first completing the conquest of Miss Miggs's heart, by

'Oh, mim,' said Miggs, returning with the candle. 'Oh gracious me, mim, there's a gentleman! Was there ever

such an angel to talk as he isand such a sweetlooking man! So upright and noble, that he seems to despise

the very ground he walks on; and yet so mild and condescending, that he seems to say "but I will take notice

on it too." And to think of his taking you for Miss Dolly, and Miss Dolly for your sisterOh, my goodness

Mrs Varden reproved her handmaid for this vainspeaking; but very gently and mildlyquite smilingly

indeedremarking that she was a foolish, giddy, lightheaded girl, whose spirits carried her beyond all

bounds, and who didn't mean half she said, or she would be quite angry with her.

'For my part,' said Dolly, in a thoughtful manner, 'I half believe Mr Chester is something like Miggs in that

respect. For all his politeness and pleasant speaking, I am pretty sure he was making game of us, more than

'If you venture to say such a thing again, and to speak ill of people behind their backs in my presence, miss,'

said Mrs Varden, 'I shall insist upon your taking a candle and going to bed directly. How dare you, Dolly? I'm

astonished at you. The rudeness of your whole behaviour this evening has been disgraceful. Did anybody

ever hear,' cried the enraged matron, bursting into tears, 'of a daughter telling her own mother she has been

Repairing to a noted coffeehouse in Covent Garden when he left the locksmith's, Mr Chester sat long over a

late dinner, entertaining himself exceedingly with the whimsical recollection of his recent proceedings, and

congratulating himself very much on his great cleverness. Influenced by these thoughts, his face wore an

expression so benign and tranquil, that the waiter in immediate attendance upon him felt he could almost

have died in his defence, and settled in his own mind (until the receipt of the bill, and a very small fee for

very great trouble disabused it of the idea) that such an apostolic customer was worth halfadozen of the

A visit to the gamingtablenot as a heated, anxious venturer, but one whom it was quite a treat to see

staking his two or three pieces in deference to the follies of society, and smiling with equal benevolence on

winners and losersmade it late before he reached home. It was his custom to bid his servant go to bed at his

own time unless he had orders to the contrary, and to leave a candle on the common stair. There was a lamp

on the landing by which he could always light it when he came home late, and having a key of the door about

He opened the glass of the dull lamp, whose wick, burnt up and swollen like a drunkard's nose, came flying

off in little carbuncles at the candle's touch, and scattering hot sparks about, rendered it matter of some

difficulty to kindle the lazy taper; when a noise, as of a man snoring deeply some steps higher up, caused him

to pause and listen. It was the heavy breathing of a sleeper, close at hand. Some fellow had lain down on the

open staircase, and was slumbering soundly. Having lighted the candle at length and opened his own door, he

softly ascended, holding the taper high above his head, and peering cautiously about; curious to see what kind

With his head upon the landing and his great limbs flung over half adozen stairs, as carelessly as though he

were a dead man whom drunken bearers had thrown down by chance, there lay Hugh, face uppermost, his

long hair drooping like some wild weed upon his wooden pillow, and his huge chest heaving with the sounds

He who came upon him so unexpectedly was about to break his rest by thrusting him with his foot, when,

glancing at his upturned face, he arrested himself in the very action, and stooping down and shading the

candle with his hand, examined his features closely. Close as his first inspection was, it did not suffice, for he

passed the light, still carefully shaded as before, across and across his face, and yet observed him with a

While he was thus engaged, the sleeper, without any starting or turning round, awoke. There was a kind of

fascination in meeting his steady gaze so suddenly, which took from the other the presence of mind to

withdraw his eyes, and forced him, as it were, to meet his look. So they remained staring at each other, until

Mr Chester at last broke silence, and asked him in a low voice, why he lay sleeping there.

'I thought,' said Hugh, struggling into a sitting posture and gazing at him intently, still, 'that you were a part of

'Thethe cold, I suppose,' he growled, as he shook himself and rose. 'I hardly know where I am yet.'

'Ay, I know you,' he answered. 'I was dreaming of youwe're not where I thought we were. That's a

He looked round him as he spoke, and in particular looked above his head, as though he half expected to be

standing under some object which had had existence in his dream. Then he rubbed his eyes and shook himself

Mr Chester lighted the candles which stood upon his dressingtable, and wheeling an easychair towards the

fire, which was yet burning, stirred up a cheerful blaze, sat down before it, and bade his uncouth visitor

'You have been drinking again, my fine fellow,' he said, as Hugh went down on one knee, and did as he was

'As I'm alive, master, I've walked the twelve long miles, and waited here I don't know how long, and had no

'And can you do nothing better, my pleasant friend, than fall asleep, and shake the very building with your

snores?' said Mr Chester. 'Can't you dream in your straw at home, dull dog as you are, that you need come

'And harkee, my dear young gentleman,' said Mr Chester, as he put them on, 'the next time you dream, don't

let it be of me, but of some dog or horse with whom you are better acquainted. Fill the glass onceyou'll

Hugh obeyed again even more zealouslyand having done so, presented himself before his patron.

'There was news today,' returned Hugh. 'Your son was at our housecame down on horseback. He tried to

see the young woman, but couldn't get sight of her. He left some letter or some message which our Joe had

charge of, but he and the old one quarrelled about it when your son had gone, and the old one wouldn't let it

be delivered. He says (that's the old one does) that none of his people shall interfere and get him into trouble.

'and stole the bracelet from upon the king's highway,' said Mr Chester, composedly. 'Yes; what of her?'

'She wrote a note at our house to the young woman, saying she lost the letter I brought to you, and you burnt.

Our Joe was to carry it, but the old one kept him at home all next day, on purpose that he shouldn't. Next

'You didn't deliver it then, my good friend?' said Mr Chester, twirling Dolly's note between his finger and

'I supposed you'd want to have it,' retorted Hugh. 'Burn one, burn all, I thought.'

'My devilmaycare acquaintance,' said Mr Chester'really if you do not draw some nicer distinctions, your

career will be cut short with most surprising suddenness. Don't you know that the letter you brought to me,

was directed to my son who resides in this very place? And can you descry no difference between his letters

'If you don't want it,' said Hugh, disconcerted by this reproof, for he had expected high praise, 'give it me

'I shall deliver it,' returned his patron, putting it away after a moment's consideration, 'myself. Does the young

'If the weather should be fine, I may throw myself in her way to morrow, perhaps,' said Mr Chester, as

coolly as if she were one of his ordinary acquaintance. 'Mr Hugh, if I should ride up to the Maypole door, you

will do me the favour only to have seen me once. You must suppress your gratitude, and endeavour to forget

my forbearance in the matter of the bracelet. It is natural it should break out, and it does you honour; but

when other folks are by, you must, for your own sake and safety, be as like your usual self as though you

owed me no obligation whatever, and had never stood within these walls. You comprehend me?'

Hugh understood him perfectly. After a pause he muttered that he hoped his patron would involve him in no

trouble about this last letter; for he had kept it back solely with the view of pleasing him. He was continuing

in this strain, when Mr Chester with a most beneficent and patronising air cut him short by saying:

'My good fellow, you have my promise, my word, my sealed bond (for a verbal pledge with me is quite as

good), that I will always protect you so long as you deserve it. Now, do set your mind at rest. Keep it at ease,

I beg of you. When a man puts himself in my power so thoroughly as you have done, I really feel as though

he had a kind of claim upon me. I am more disposed to mercy and forbearance under such circumstances than

I can tell you, Hugh. Do look upon me as your protector, and rest assured, I entreat you, that on the subject of

that indiscretion, you may preserve, as long as you and I are friends, the lightest heart that ever beat within a

human breast. Fill that glass once more to cheer you on your road homewardsI am really quite ashamed to

'They think,' said Hugh, when he had tossed the liquor down, 'that I am sleeping soundly in the stable. Ha ha

'You are a most convivial fellow,' returned his friend, 'and I love your humour of all things. Good night! Take

It was remarkable that during the whole interview, each had endeavoured to catch stolen glances of the

other's face, and had never looked full at it. They interchanged one brief and hasty glance as Hugh went out,

averted their eyes directly, and so separated. Hugh closed the double doors behind him, carefully and without

noise; and Mr Chester remained in his easychair, with his gaze intently fixed upon the fire.

'Well!' he said, after meditating for a long timeand said with a deep sigh and an uneasy shifting of his

attitude, as though he dismissed some other subject from his thoughts, and returned to that which had held

possession of them all the daythe plot thickens; I have thrown the shell; it will explode, I think, in

eightandforty hours, and should scatter these good folks amazingly. We shall see!'

He went to bed and fell asleep, but had not slept long when he started up and thought that Hugh was at the

outer door, calling in a strange voice, very different from his own, to be admitted. The delusion was so strong

upon him, and was so full of that vague terror of the night in which such visions have their being, that he

rose, and taking his sheathed sword in his hand, opened the door, and looked out upon the staircase, and

towards the spot where Hugh had lain asleep; and even spoke to him by name. But all was dark and quiet, and

creeping back to bed again, he fell, after an hour's uneasy watching, into a second sleep, and woke no more

The thoughts of worldly men are for ever regulated by a moral law of gravitation, which, like the physical

one, holds them down to earth. The bright glory of day, and the silent wonders of a starlit night, appeal to

their minds in vain. There are no signs in the sun, or in the moon, or in the stars, for their reading. They are

like some wise men, who, learning to know each planet by its Latin name, have quite forgotten such small

heavenly constellations as Charity, Forbearance, Universal Love, and Mercy, although they shine by night

and day so brightly that the blind may see them; and who, looking upward at the spangled sky, see nothing

It is curious to imagine these people of the world, busy in thought, turning their eyes towards the countless

spheres that shine above us, and making them reflect the only images their minds contain. The man who lives

but in the breath of princes, has nothing his sight but stars for courtiers' breasts. The envious man beholds his

neighbours' honours even in the sky; to the money hoarder, and the mass of worldly folk, the whole great

universe above glitters with sterling coinfresh from the mintstamped with the sovereign's

headcoming always between them and heaven, turn where they may. So do the shadows of our own

desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed.

Everything was fresh and gay, as though the world were but that morning made, when Mr Chester rode at a

tranquil pace along the Forest road. Though early in the season, it was warm and genial weather; the trees

were budding into leaf, the hedges and the grass were green, the air was musical with songs of birds, and high

above them all the lark poured out her richest melody. In shady spots, the morning dew sparkled on each

young leaf and blade of grass; and where the sun was shining, some diamond drops yet glistened brightly, as

in unwillingness to leave so fair a world, and have such brief existence. Even the light wind, whose rustling

was as gentle to the ear as softlyfalling water, had its hope and promise; and, leaving a pleasant fragrance in

its track as it went fluttering by, whispered of its intercourse with Summer, and of his happy coming.

The solitary rider went glancing on among the trees, from sunlight into shade and back again, at the same

even pacelooking about him, certainly, from time to time, but with no greater thought of the day or the

scene through which he moved, than that he was fortunate (being choicely dressed) to have such favourable

weather. He smiled very complacently at such times, but rather as if he were satisfied with himself than with

anything else: and so went riding on, upon his chestnut cob, as pleasant to look upon as his own horse, and

probably far less sensitive to the many cheerful influences by which he was surrounded.

In the course of time, the Maypole's massive chimneys rose upon his view: but he quickened not his pace one

jot, and with the same cool gravity rode up to the tavern porch. John Willet, who was toasting his red face

before a great fire in the bar, and who, with surpassing foresight and quickness of apprehension, had been

thinking, as he looked at the blue sky, that if that state of things lasted much longer, it might ultimately

become necessary to leave off fires and throw the windows open, issued forth to hold his stirrup; calling

'Oh, you're here, are you, sir?' said John, rather surprised by the quickness with which he appeared. 'Take this

here valuable animal into the stable, and have more than particular care of him if you want to keep your

'But you have a son,' returned Mr Chester, giving his bridle to Hugh as he dismounted, and acknowledging

his salute by a careless motion of his hand towards his hat. 'Why don't you make HIM useful?'

'Why, the truth is, sir,' replied John with great importance, 'that my sonwhat, you're alistening are you,

'Who's listening?' returned Hugh angrily. 'A treat, indeed, to hear YOU speak! Would you have me take him

'Walk him up and down further off then, sir,' cried old John, 'and when you see me and a noble gentleman

entertaining ourselves with talk, keep your distance. If you don't know your distance, sir,' added Mr Willet,

after an enormously long pause, during which he fixed his great dull eyes on Hugh, and waited with

exemplary patience for any little property in the way of ideas that might come to him, 'we'll find a way to

Hugh shrugged his shoulders scornfully, and in his reckless swaggering way, crossed to the other side of the

little green, and there, with the bridle slung loosely over his shoulder, led the horse to and fro, glancing at his

master every now and then from under his bushy eyebrows, with as sinister an aspect as one would desire to

Mr Chester, who, without appearing to do so, had eyed him attentively during this brief dispute, stepped into

'Strange enough to look at, sir, certainly,' answered the host; 'but out of doors; for horses, dogs, and the likes

of that; there an't a better man in England than is that Maypole Hugh yonder. He an't fit for indoors,' added

Mr Willet, with the confidential air of a man who felt his own superior nature. 'I do that; but if that chap had

'He's an active fellow now, I dare swear,' said Mr Chester, in a musing tone, which seemed to suggest that he

'Active, sir!' retorted John, with quite an expression in his face; 'that chap! Hallo there! You, sir! Bring that

horse here, and go and hang my wig on the weathercock, to show this gentleman whether you're one of the

Hugh made no answer, but throwing the bridle to his master, and snatching his wig from his head, in a

manner so unceremonious and hasty that the action discomposed Mr Willet not a little, though performed at

his own special desire, climbed nimbly to the very summit of the maypole before the house, and hanging the

wig upon the weathercock, sent it twirling round like a roasting jack. Having achieved this performance, he

cast it on the ground, and sliding down the pole with inconceivable rapidity, alighted on his feet almost as

'There, sir,' said John, relapsing into his usual stolid state, 'you won't see that at many houses, besides the

Maypole, where there's good accommodation for man and beastnor that neither, though that with him is

This last remark bore reference to his vaulting on horseback, as upon Mr Chester's first visit, and quickly

'That with him is nothing,' repeated Mr Willet, brushing his wig with his wrist, and inwardly resolving to

distribute a small charge for dust and damage to that article of dress, through the various items of his guest's

bill; 'he'll get out of a'most any winder in the house. There never was such a chap for flinging himself about

and never hurting his bones. It's my opinion, sir, that it's pretty nearly allowing to his not having any

imagination; and that if imagination could be (which it can't) knocked into him, he'd never be able to do it

'True, Willet, true,' said his visitor, turning again towards the landlord with his accustomed serenity of face.

It has been reported that Mr Willet, previously to making answer, winked. But as he was never known to be

guilty of such lightness of conduct either before or afterwards, this may be looked upon as a malicious

invention of his enemiesfounded, perhaps, upon the undisputed circumstance of his taking his guest by the

third breast button of his coat, counting downwards from the chin, and pouring his reply into his ear:

'Sir,' whispered John, with dignity, 'I know my duty. We want no lovemaking here, sir, unbeknown to

parents. I respect a certain young gentleman, taking him in the light of a young gentleman; I respect a certain

young lady, taking her in the light of a young lady; but of the two as a couple, I have no knowledge, sir, none

'I thought I saw him looking through the corner window but this moment,' said Mr Chester, who naturally

'No doubt you did, sir,' returned John. 'He is upon his patrole of honour, sir, not to leave the premises. Me and

some friends of mine that use the Maypole of an evening, sir, considered what was best to be done with him,

to prevent his doing anything unpleasant in opposing your desires; and we've put him on his patrole. And

what's more, sir, he won't be off his patrole for a pretty long time to come, I can tell you that.'

When he had communicated this bright idea, which had its origin in the perusal by the village cronies of a

newspaper, containing, among other matters, an account of how some officer pending the sentence of some

courtmartial had been enlarged on parole, Mr Willet drew back from his guest's ear, and without any visible

alteration of feature, chuckled thrice audibly. This nearest approach to a laugh in which he ever indulged (and

that but seldom and only on extreme occasions), never even curled his lip or effected the smallest change

inno, not so much as a slight wagging ofhis great, fat, double chin, which at these times, as at all others,

remained a perfect desert in the broad map of his face; one changeless, dull, tremendous blank.

Lest it should be matter of surprise to any, that Mr Willet adopted this bold course in opposition to one whom

he had often entertained, and who had always paid his way at the Maypole gallantly, it may be remarked that

it was his very penetration and sagacity in this respect, which occasioned him to indulge in those unusual

demonstrations of jocularity, just now recorded. For Mr Willet, after carefully balancing father and son in his

mental scales, had arrived at the distinct conclusion that the old gentleman was a better sort of a customer

than the young one. Throwing his landlord into the same scale, which was already turned by this

consideration, and heaping upon him, again, his strong desires to run counter to the unfortunate Joe, and his

opposition as a general principle to all matters of love and matrimony, it went down to the very ground

straightway, and sent the light cause of the younger gentleman flying upwards to the ceiling. Mr Chester was

not the kind of man to be by any means dimsighted to Mr Willet's motives, but he thanked him as graciously

as if he had been one of the most disinterested martyrs that ever shone on earth; and leaving him, with many

complimentary reliances on his great taste and judgment, to prepare whatever dinner he might deem most

Dressed with more than his usual elegance; assuming a gracefulness of manner, which, though it was the

result of long study, sat easily upon him and became him well; composing his features into their most serene

and prepossessing expression; and setting in short that guard upon himself, at every point, which denoted that

he attached no slight importance to the impression he was about to make; he entered the bounds of Miss

Haredale's usual walk. He had not gone far, or looked about him long, when he descried coming towards him,

a female figure. A glimpse of the form and dress as she crossed a little wooden bridge which lay between

them, satisfied him that he had found her whom he desired to see. He threw himself in her way, and a very

He raised his hat from his head, and yielding the path, suffered her to pass him. Then, as if the idea had but

that moment occurred to him, he turned hastily back and said in an agitated voice:

She stopped in some confusion at being so unexpectedly accosted by a stranger; and answered 'Yes.'

'Something told me,' he said, LOOKING a compliment to her beauty, 'that it could be no other. Miss

Haredale, I bear a name which is not unknown to youwhich it is a pride, and yet a pain to me to know,

sounds pleasantly in your ears. I am a man advanced in life, as you see. I am the father of him whom you

honour and distinguish above all other men. May I for weighty reasons which fill me with distress, beg but a

Who that was inexperienced in deceit, and had a frank and youthful heart, could doubt the speaker's

truthcould doubt it too, when the voice that spoke, was like the faint echo of one she knew so well, and so

much loved to hear? She inclined her head, and stopping, cast her eyes upon the ground.

'A little more apartamong these trees. It is an old man's hand, Miss Haredale; an honest one, believe me.'

She put hers in it as he said these words, and suffered him to lead her to a neighbouring seat.

'You alarm me, sir,' she said in a low voice. 'You are not the bearer of any ill news, I hope?'

'Of none that you anticipate,' he answered, sitting down beside her. 'Edward is wellquite well. It is of him I

She bowed her head again, and made as though she would have begged him to proceed; but said nothing.

'I am sensible that I speak to you at a disadvantage, dear Miss Haredale. Believe me that I am not so forgetful

of the feelings of my younger days as not to know that you are little disposed to view me with favour. You

'I have never, sir,'she interposed with an altered manner and a firmer voice; 'I have never heard you spoken

of in harsh or disrespectful terms. You do a great wrong to Edward's nature if you believe him capable of any

'Nor is it my uncle's nature either,' she replied, with a heightened colour in her cheek. 'It is not his nature to

She rose as she spoke, and would have left him; but he detained her with a gentle hand, and besought her in

such persuasive accents to hear him but another minute, that she was easily prevailed upon to comply, and so

'And it is,' said Mr Chester, looking upward, and apostrophising the air; 'it is this frank, ingenuous, noble

She turned towards him quickly, and with a scornful look and flashing eyes. There were tears in Mr Chester's

eyes, but he dashed them hurriedly away, as though unwilling that his weakness should be known, and

'I never until now,' he said, 'believed, that the frivolous actions of a young man could move me like these of

my own son. I never knew till now, the worth of a woman's heart, which boys so lightly win, and lightly fling

away. Trust me, dear young lady, that I never until now did know your worth; and though an abhorrence of

deceit and falsehood has impelled me to seek you out, and would have done so had you been the poorest and

least gifted of your sex, I should have lacked the fortitude to sustain this interview could I have pictured you

Oh! If Mrs Varden could have seen the virtuous gentleman as he said these words, with indignation sparkling

from his eyesif she could have heard his broken, quavering voiceif she could have beheld him as he

stood bareheaded in the sunlight, and with unwonted energy poured forth his eloquence!

With a haughty face, but pale and trembling too, Emma regarded him in silence. She neither spoke nor

'I throw off,' said Mr Chester, 'the restraint which natural affection would impose on some men, and reject all

bonds but those of truth and duty. Miss Haredale, you are deceived; you are deceived by your unworthy

'I have ever opposed his professions of love for you; you will do me the justice, dear Miss Haredale, to

remember that. Your uncle and myself were enemies in early life, and if I had sought retaliation, I might have

found it here. But as we grow older, we grow wiserbitter, I would fain hopeand from the first, I have

opposed him in this attempt. I foresaw the end, and would have spared you, if I could.'

'Speak plainly, sir,' she faltered. 'You deceive me, or are deceived yourself. I do not believe youI

'First,' said Mr Chester, soothingly, 'for there may be in your mind some latent angry feeling to which I would

not appeal, pray take this letter. It reached my hands by chance, and by mistake, and should have accounted

to you (as I am told) for my son's not answering some other note of yours. God forbid, Miss Haredale,' said

the good gentleman, with great emotion, 'that there should be in your gentle breast one causeless ground of

quarrel with him. You should know, and you will see, that he was in no fault here.'

There appeared something so very candid, so scrupulously honourable, so very truthful and just in this course

something which rendered the upright person who resorted to it, so worthy of beliefthat Emma's heart, for

'I would,' said Mr Chester, leaning over her, and speaking in mild and quite venerable accents; 'I would, dear

girl, it were my task to banish, not increase, those tokens of your grief. My son, my erring son,I will not

call him deliberately criminal in this, for men so young, who have been inconstant twice or thrice before, act

without reflection, almost without a knowledge of the wrong they do,will break his plighted faith to you;

has broken it even now. Shall I stop here, and having given you this warning, leave it to be fulfilled; or shall I

'You will go on, sir,' she answered, 'and speak more plainly yet, in justice both to him and me.'

'My dear girl,' said Mr Chester, bending over her more affectionately still; 'whom I would call my daughter,

but the Fates forbid, Edward seeks to break with you upon a false and most unwarrantable pretence. I have it

on his own showing; in his own hand. Forgive me, if I have had a watch upon his conduct; I am his father; I

had a regard for your peace and his honour, and no better resource was left me. There lies on his desk at this

present moment, ready for transmission to you, a letter, in which he tells you that our povertyour poverty;

his and mine, Miss Haredale forbids him to pursue his claim upon your hand; in which he offers,

voluntarily proposes, to free you from your pledge; and talks magnanimously (men do so, very commonly, in

such cases) of being in time more worthy of your regardand so forth. A letter, to be plain, in which he not

only jilts youpardon the word; I would summon to your aid your pride and dignitynot only jilts you, I

fear, in favour of the object whose slighting treatment first inspired his brief passion for yourself and gave it

She glanced proudly at him once more, as by an involuntary impulse, and with a swelling breast rejoined, 'If

what you say be true, he takes much needless trouble, sir, to compass his design. He's very tender of my

'The truth of what I tell you, dear young lady,' he replied, 'you will test by the receipt or nonreceipt of the

letter of which I speak. Haredale, my dear fellow, I am delighted to see you, although we meet under singular

At these words the young lady raised her eyes, which were filled with tears; and seeing that her uncle indeed

stood before them, and being quite unequal to the trial of hearing or of speaking one word more, hurriedly

withdrew, and left them. They stood looking at each other, and at her retreating figure, and for a long time

'What does this mean? Explain it,' said Mr Haredale at length. 'Why are you here, and why with her?'

'My dear friend,' rejoined the other, resuming his accustomed manner with infinite readiness, and throwing

himself upon the bench with a weary air, 'you told me not very long ago, at that delightful old tavern of which

you are the esteemed proprietor (and a most charming establishment it is for persons of rural pursuits and in

robust health, who are not liable to take cold), that I had the head and heart of an evil spirit in all matters of

deception. I thought at the time; I really did think; you flattered me. But now I begin to wonder at your

discernment, and vanity apart, do honestly believe you spoke the truth. Did you ever counterfeit extreme

ingenuousness and honest indignation? My dear fellow, you have no conception, if you never did, how faint

Mr Haredale surveyed him with a look of cold contempt. 'You may evade an explanation, I know,' he said,

'Not at all. Not at all, my good fellow. You shall not wait a moment,' returned his friend, as he lazily crossed

his legs. 'The simplest thing in the world. It lies in a nutshell. Ned has written her a lettera boyish, honest,

sentimental composition, which remains as yet in his desk, because he hasn't had the heart to send it. I have

taken a liberty, for which my parental affection and anxiety are a sufficient excuse, and possessed myself of

the contents. I have described them to your niece (a most enchanting person, Haredale; quite an angelic

creature), with a little colouring and description adapted to our purpose. It's done. You may be quite easy. It's

all over. Deprived of their adherents and mediators; her pride and jealousy roused to the utmost; with nobody

to undeceive her, and you to confirm me; you will find that their intercourse will close with her answer. If she

receives Ned's letter by tomorrow noon, you may date their parting from tomorrow night. No thanks, I

beg; you owe me none. I have acted for myself; and if I have forwarded our compact with all the ardour even

'I curse the compact, as you call it, with my whole heart and soul,' returned the other. 'It was made in an evil

hour. I have bound myself to a lie; I have leagued myself with you; and though I did so with a righteous

motive, and though it cost me such an effort as haply few men know, I hate and despise myself for the deed.'

'I AM warm. I am maddened by your coldness. 'Death, Chester, if your blood ran warmer in your veins, and

there were no restraints upon me, such as those that hold and drag me backwell; it is done; you tell me so,

and on such a point I may believe you. When I am most remorseful for this treachery, I will think of you and

your marriage, and try to justify myself in such remembrances, for having torn asunder Emma and your son,

Mr Chester kissed his hand gracefully; and with the same tranquil face he had preserved throughouteven

when he had seen his companion so tortured and transported by his passion that his whole frame was

shakenlay in his lounging posture on the seat and watched him as he walked away.

'My scapegoat and my drudge at school,' he said, raising his head to look after him; 'my friend of later days,

who could not keep his mistress when he had won her, and threw me in her way to carry off the prize; I

triumph in the present and the past. Bark on, ill favoured, illconditioned cur; fortune has ever been with

The spot where they had met, was in an avenue of trees. Mr Haredale not passing out on either hand, had

walked straight on. He chanced to turn his head when at some considerable distance, and seeing that his late

companion had by that time risen and was looking after him, stood still as though he half expected him to

'It MAY come to that one day, but not yet,' said Mr Chester, waving his hand, as though they were the best of

friends, and turning away. 'Not yet, Haredale. Life is pleasant enough to me; dull and full of heaviness to you.

No. To cross swords with such a manto indulge his humour unless upon extremitywould be weak

For all that, he drew his sword as he walked along, and in an absent humour ran his eye from hilt to point full

twenty times. But thoughtfulness begets wrinkles; remembering this, he soon put it up, smoothed his

contracted brow, hummed a gay tune with greater gaiety of manner, and was his unruffled self again.

A homely proverb recognises the existence of a troublesome class of persons who, having an inch conceded

them, will take an ell. Not to quote the illustrious examples of those heroic scourges of mankind, whose

amiable path in life has been from birth to death through blood, and fire, and ruin, and who would seem to

have existed for no better purpose than to teach mankind that as the absence of pain is pleasure, so the earth,

purged of their presence, may be deemed a blessed placenot to quote such mighty instances, it will be

Old John having long encroached a good standard inch, full measure, on the liberty of Joe, and having

snipped off a Flemish ell in the matter of the parole, grew so despotic and so great, that his thirst for conquest

knew no bounds. The more young Joe submitted, the more absolute old John became. The ell soon faded into

nothing. Yards, furlongs, miles arose; and on went old John in the pleasantest manner possible, trimming off

an exuberance in this place, shearing away some liberty of speech or action in that, and conducting himself in

his small way with as much high mightiness and majesty, as the most glorious tyrant that ever had his statue

As great men are urged on to the abuse of power (when they need urging, which is not often), by their

flatterers and dependents, so old John was impelled to these exercises of authority by the applause and

admiration of his Maypole cronies, who, in the intervals of their nightly pipes and pots, would shake their

heads and say that Mr Willet was a father of the good old English sort; that there were no newfangled

notions or modern ways in him; that he put them in mind of what their fathers were when they were boys;

that there was no mistake about him; that it would be well for the country if there were more like him, and

more was the pity that there were not; with many other original remarks of that nature. Then they would

condescendingly give Joe to understand that it was all for his good, and he would be thankful for it one day;

and in particular, Mr Cobb would acquaint him, that when he was his age, his father thought no more of

giving him a parental kick, or a box on the ears, or a cuff on the head, or some little admonition of that sort,

than he did of any other ordinary duty of life; and he would further remark, with looks of great significance,

that but for this judicious bringing up, he might have never been the man he was at that present speaking;

which was probable enough, as he was, beyond all question, the dullest dog of the party. In short, between

old John and old John's friends, there never was an unfortunate young fellow so bullied, badgered, worried,

fretted, and browbeaten; so constantly beset, or made so tired of his life, as poor Joe Willet.

This had come to be the recognised and established state of things; but as John was very anxious to flourish

his supremacy before the eyes of Mr Chester, he did that day exceed himself, and did so goad and chafe his

son and heir, that but for Joe's having made a solemn vow to keep his hands in his pockets when they were

not otherwise engaged, it is impossible to say what he might have done with them. But the longest day has an

end, and at length Mr Chester came downstairs to mount his horse, which was ready at the door.

As old John was not in the way at the moment, Joe, who was sitting in the bar ruminating on his dismal fate

and the manifold perfections of Dolly Varden, ran out to hold the guest's stirrup and assist him to mount. Mr

Chester was scarcely in the saddle, and Joe was in the very act of making him a graceful bow, when old John

'None of that, sir,' said John, 'none of that, sir. No breaking of patroles. How dare you come out of the door,

sir, without leave? You're trying to get away, sir, are you, and to make a traitor of yourself again? What do

'Let me go, father,' said Joe, imploringly, as he marked the smile upon their visitor's face, and observed the

'Who wants to get away!' cried John, shaking him. 'Why you do, sir, you do. You're the boy, sir,' added John,

collaring with one band, and aiding the effect of a farewell bow to the visitor with the other, 'that wants to

sneak into houses, and stir up differences between noble gentlemen and their sons, are you, eh? Hold your

Joe made no effort to reply. It was the crowning circumstance of his degradation. He extricated himself from

his father's grasp, darted an angry look at the departing guest, and returned into the house.

'But for her,' thought Joe, as he threw his arms upon a table in the common room, and laid his head upon

them, 'but for Dolly, who I couldn't bear should think me the rascal they would make me out to be if I ran

It being evening by this time, Solomon Daisy, Tom Cobb, and Long Parkes, were all in the common room

too, and had from the window been witnesses of what had just occurred. Mr Willet joining them soon

afterwards, received the compliments of the company with great composure, and lighting his pipe, sat down

'We'll see, gentlemen,' said John, after a long pause, 'who's the master of this house, and who isn't. We'll see

'And quite right too,' assented Solomon Daisy with some approving nods; 'quite right, Johnny. Very good,

John slowly brought his eyes to bear upon him, looked at him for a long time, and finally made answer, to the

unspeakable consternation of his hearers, 'When I want encouragement from you, sir, I'll ask you for it. You

let me alone, sir. I can get on without you, I hope. Don't you tackle me, sir, if you please.'

'Very good, sir,' said John, more than usually obstinate after his late success. 'Never mind, sir. I can stand

pretty firm of myself, sir, I believe, without being shored up by you.' And having given utterance to this

retort, Mr Willet fixed his eyes upon the boiler, and fell into a kind of tobaccotrance.

The spirits of the company being somewhat damped by this embarrassing line of conduct on the part of their

host, nothing more was said for a long time; but at length Mr Cobb took upon himself to remark, as he rose to

knock the ashes out of his pipe, that he hoped Joe would thenceforth learn to obey his father in all things; that

he had found, that day, he was not one of the sort of men who were to be trifled with; and that he would

'I'd recommend you, in return,' said Joe, looking up with a flushed face, 'not to talk to me.'

'Hold your tongue, sir,' cried Mr Willet, suddenly rousing himself, and turning round.

'I won't, father,' cried Joe, smiting the table with his fist, so that the jugs and glasses rung again; 'these things

are hard enough to bear from you; from anybody else I never will endure them any more. Therefore I say, Mr

'Why, who are you,' said Mr Cobb, sneeringly, 'that you're not to be talked to, eh, Joe?'

To which Joe returned no answer, but with a very ominous shake of the head, resumed his old position, which

he would have peacefully preserved until the house shut up at night, but that Mr Cobb, stimulated by the

wonder of the company at the young man's presumption, retorted with sundry taunts, which proved too much

for flesh and blood to bear. Crowding into one moment the vexation and the wrath of years, Joe started up,

overturned the table, fell upon his long enemy, pummelled him with all his might and main, and finished by

driving him with surprising swiftness against a heap of spittoons in one corner; plunging into which, head

foremost, with a tremendous crash, he lay at full length among the ruins, stunned and motionless. Then,

without waiting to receive the compliments of the bystanders on the victory be had won, he retreated to his

own bedchamber, and considering himself in a state of siege, piled all the portable furniture against the door

'I have done it now,' said Joe, as he sat down upon his bedstead and wiped his heated face. 'I knew it would

come at last. The Maypole and I must part company. I'm a roving vagabondshe hates me for

Pondering on his unhappy lot, Joe sat and listened for a long time, expecting every moment to hear their

creaking footsteps on the stairs, or to be greeted by his worthy father with a summons to capitulate

unconditionally, and deliver himself up straightway. But neither voice nor footstep came; and though some

distant echoes, as of closing doors and people hurrying in and out of rooms, resounding from time to time

through the great passages, and penetrating to his remote seclusion, gave note of unusual commotion

downstairs, no nearer sound disturbed his place of retreat, which seemed the quieter for these faroff noises,

It came on darker and darker. The oldfashioned furniture of the chamber, which was a kind of hospital for

all the invalided movables in the house, grew indistinct and shadowy in its many shapes; chairs and tables,

which by day were as honest cripples as need be, assumed a doubtful and mysterious character; and one old

leprous screen of faded India leather and gold binding, which had kept out many a cold breath of air in days

of yore and shut in many a jolly face, frowned on him with a spectral aspect, and stood at full height in its

allotted corner, like some gaunt ghost who waited to be questioned. A portrait opposite the windowa

queer, old greyeyed general, in an oval frameseemed to wink and doze as the light decayed, and at length,

when the last faint glimmering speck of day went out, to shut its eyes in good earnest, and fall sound asleep.

There was such a hush and mystery about everything, that Joe could not help following its example; and so

went off into a slumber likewise, and dreamed of Dolly, till the clock of Chigwell church struck two.

Still nobody came. The distant noises in the house had ceased, and out of doors all was quiet; save for the

occasional barking of some deepmouthed dog, and the shaking of the branches by the night wind. He gazed

mournfully out of window at each wellknown object as it lay sleeping in the dim light of the moon; and

creeping back to his former seat, thought about the late uproar, until, with long thinking of, it seemed to have

occurred a month ago. Thus, between dozing, and thinking, and walking to the window and looking out, the

night wore away; the grim old screen, and the kindred chairs and tables, began slowly to reveal themselves in

their accustomed forms; the greyeyed general seemed to wink and yawn and rouse himself; and at last he

was broad awake again, and very uncomfortable and cold and haggard he looked, in the dull grey light of

The sun had begun to peep above the forest trees, and already flung across the curling mist bright bars of

gold, when Joe dropped from his window on the ground below, a little bundle and his trusty stick, and

It was not a very difficult task; for there were so many projections and gable ends in the way, that they

formed a series of clumsy steps, with no greater obstacle than a jump of some few feet at last. Joe, with his

stick and bundle on his shoulder, quickly stood on the firm earth, and looked up at the old Maypole, it might

He didn't apostrophise it, for he was no great scholar. He didn't curse it, for he had little illwill to give to

anything on earth. He felt more affectionate and kind to it than ever he had done in all his life before, so said

He walked along at a brisk pace, big with great thoughts of going for a soldier and dying in some foreign

country where it was very hot and sandy, and leaving God knows what unheardof wealth in prizemoney to

Dolly, who would be very much affected when she came to know of it; and full of such youthful visions,

which were sometimes sanguine and sometimes melancholy, but always had her for their main point and

centre, pushed on vigorously until the noise of London sounded in his ears, and the Black Lion hove in sight.

It was only eight o'clock then, and very much astonished the Black Lion was, to see him come walking in

with dust upon his feet at that early hour, with no grey mare to bear him company. But as he ordered

breakfast to be got ready with all speed, and on its being set before him gave indisputable tokens of a hearty

appetite, the Lion received him, as usual, with a hospitable welcome; and treated him with those marks of

distinction, which, as a regular customer, and one within the freemasonry of the trade, he had a right to claim.

This Lion or landlord,for he was called both man and beast, by reason of his having instructed the artist

who painted his sign, to convey into the features of the lordly brute whose effigy it bore, as near a counterpart

of his own face as his skill could compass and devise,was a gentleman almost as quick of apprehension,

and of almost as subtle a wit, as the mighty John himself. But the difference between them lay in this: that

whereas Mr Willet's extreme sagacity and acuteness were the efforts of unassisted nature, the Lion stood

indebted, in no small amount, to beer; of which he swigged such copious draughts, that most of his faculties

were utterly drowned and washed away, except the one great faculty of sleep, which he retained in surprising

perfection. The creaking Lion over the housedoor was, therefore, to say the truth, rather a drowsy, tame, and

feeble lion; and as these social representatives of a savage class are usually of a conventional character (being

depicted, for the most part, in impossible attitudes and of unearthly colours), he was frequently supposed by

the more ignorant and uninformed among the neighbours, to be the veritable portrait of the host as he

'What noisy fellow is that in the next room?' said Joe, when he had disposed of his breakfast, and had washed

Joe started involuntarily. Here was the very thing he had been dreaming of, all the way along.

'And I wish,' said the Lion, 'he was anywhere else but here. The party make noise enough, but don't call for

much. There's great cry there, Mr Willet, but very little wool. Your father wouldn't like 'em, I know.'

Perhaps not much under any circumstances. Perhaps if he could have known what was passing at that

'Is he recruiting for afor a fine regiment?' said Joe, glancing at a little round mirror that hung in the bar.

'I believe he is,' replied the host. 'It's much the same thing, whatever regiment he's recruiting for. I'm told

there an't a deal of difference between a fine man and another one, when they're shot through and through.'

'No,' the Lion answered, 'not all. Those that aresupposing it's done easyare the best off in my opinion.'

'No,' returned the Lion, with supreme indifference. 'I don't. You're right in that, Mr Willet. When Glory

comes here, and calls for anything to drink and changes a guinea to pay for it, I'll give it him for nothing. It's

These remarks were not at all comforting. Joe walked out, stopped at the door of the next room, and listened.

The serjeant was describing a military life. It was all drinking, he said, except that there were frequent

intervals of eating and lovemaking. A battle was the finest thing in the worldwhen your side won it

and Englishmen always did that. 'Supposing you should be killed, sir?' said a timid voice in one corner. 'Well,

sir, supposing you should be,' said the serjeant, 'what then? Your country loves you, sir; his Majesty King

George the Third loves you; your memory is honoured, revered, respected; everybody's fond of you, and

grateful to you; your name's wrote down at full length in a book in the War Office. Damme, gentlemen, we

Joe walked into the room. A group of halfadozen fellows had gathered together in the taproom, and were

listening with greedy ears. One of them, a carter in a smockfrock, seemed wavering and disposed to enlist.

The rest, who were by no means disposed, strongly urged him to do so (according to the custom of mankind),

backed the serjeant's arguments, and grinned among themselves. 'I say nothing, boys,' said the serjeant, who

sat a little apart, drinking his liquor. 'For lads of spirit'here he cast an eye on Joe'this is the time. I don't

want to inveigle you. The king's not come to that, I hope. Brisk young blood is what we want; not milk and

water. We won't take five men out of six. We want top sawyers, we do. I'm not agoing to tell tales out of

school, but, damme, if every gentleman's son that carries arms in our corps, through being under a cloud and

having little differences with his relations, was counted up'here his eye fell on Joe again, and so

'You're a gentleman, by G!' was his first remark, as he slapped him on the back. 'You're a gentleman in

Joe didn't exactly do that, but he shook hands with him, and thanked him for his good opinion.

'You want to serve,' said his new friend. 'You shall. You were made for it. You're one of us by nature. What'll

'Nothing just now,' replied Joe, smiling faintly. 'I haven't quite made up my mind.'

'A mettlesome fellow like you, and not made up his mind!' cried the serjeant. 'Herelet me give the bell a

'You're right so far'answered Joe, 'for if you pull the bell here, where I'm known, there'll be an end of my

'I do,' replied the serjeant with an oath, 'and a finer young fellow or one better qualified to serve his king and

'Thank you,' said Joe, 'I didn't ask you for want of a compliment, but thank you all the same. Do I look like a

The serjeant rejoined with many choice asseverations that he didn't; and that if his (the serjeant's) own father

were to say he did, he would run the old gentleman through the body cheerfully, and consider it a meritorious

Joe expressed his obligations, and continued, 'You can trust me then, and credit what I say. I believe I shall

enlist in your regiment tonight. The reason I don't do so now is, because I don't want until tonight, to do

His friend replied with some unwillingness, and after much ineffectual entreaty having for its object the

immediate settlement of the business, that his quarters would be at the Crooked Billet in Tower Street; where

he would be found waking until midnight, and sleeping until breakfast time tomorrow.

'And if I do comewhich it's a million to one, I shallwhen will you take me out of London?' demanded

'Tomorrow morning, at half after eight o'clock,' replied the serjeant. 'You'll go abroada country where it's

'To go abroad,' said Joe, shaking hands with him, 'is the very thing I want. You may expect me.'

'You're the kind of lad for us,' cried the serjeant, holding Joe's hand in his, in the excess of his admiration.

'You're the boy to push your fortune. I don't say it because I bear you any envy, or would take away from the

credit of the rise you'll make, but if I had been bred and taught like you, I'd have been a colonel by this time.'

'Tush, man!' said Joe, 'I'm not so young as that. Needs must when the devil drives; and the devil that drives

He had very little money in his pocket; so little indeed, that after paying for his breakfast (which he was too

honest and perhaps too proud to score up to his father's charge) he had but a penny left. He had courage,

notwithstanding, to resist all the affectionate importunities of the serjeant, who waylaid him at the door with

many protestations of eternal friendship, and did in particular request that he would do him the favour to

accept of only one shilling as a temporary accommodation. Rejecting his offers both of cash and credit, Joe

walked away with stick and bundle as before, bent upon getting through the day as he best could, and going

down to the locksmith's in the dusk of the evening; for it should go hard, he had resolved, but he would have

He went out by Islington and so on to Highgate, and sat on many stones and gates, but there were no voices

in the bells to bid him turn. Since the time of noble Whittington, fair flower of merchants, bells have come to

have less sympathy with humankind. They only ring for money and on state occasions. Wanderers have

increased in number; ships leave the Thames for distant regions, carrying from stem to stern no other cargo;

the bells are silent; they ring out no entreaties or regrets; they are used to it and have grown worldly.

Joe bought a roll, and reduced his purse to the condition (with a difference) of that celebrated purse of

Fortunatus, which, whatever were its favoured owner's necessities, had one unvarying amount in it. In these

real times, when all the Fairies are dead and buried, there are still a great many purses which possess that

quality. The sumtotal they contain is expressed in arithmetic by a circle, and whether it be added to or

multiplied by its own amount, the result of the problem is more easily stated than any known in figures.

Evening drew on at last. With the desolate and solitary feeling of one who had no home or shelter, and was

alone utterly in the world for the first time, he bent his steps towards the locksmith's house. He had delayed

till now, knowing that Mrs Varden sometimes went out alone, or with Miggs for her sole attendant, to

lectures in the evening; and devoutly hoping that this might be one of her nights of moral culture.

He had walked up and down before the house, on the opposite side of the way, two or three times, when as he

returned to it again, he caught a glimpse of a fluttering skirt at the door. It was Dolly'sto whom else could

it belong? no dress but hers had such a flow as that. He plucked up his spirits, and followed it into the

His darkening the door caused her to look round. Oh that face! 'If it hadn't been for that,' thought Joe, 'I

should never have walked into poor Tom Cobb. She's twenty times handsomer than ever. She might marry a

He didn't say this. He only thought itperhaps looked it also. Dolly was glad to see him, and was SO sorry

her father and mother were away from home. Joe begged she wouldn't mention it on any account.

Dolly hesitated to lead the way into the parlour, for there it was nearly dark; at the same time she hesitated to

stand talking in the workshop, which was yet light and open to the street. They had got by some means, too,

before the little forge; and Joe having her hand in his (which he had no right to have, for Dolly only gave it

him to shake), it was so like standing before some homely altar being married, that it was the most

'I have come,' said Joe, 'to say goodbyeto say goodbye for I don't know how many years; perhaps for

Now this was exactly what he should not have said. Here he was, talking like a gentleman at large who was

free to come and go and roam about the world at pleasure, when that gallant coachmaker had vowed but the

night before that Miss Varden held him bound in adamantine chains; and had positively stated in so many

words that she was killing him by inches, and that in a fortnight more or thereabouts he expected to make a

Dolly released her hand and said 'Indeed!' She remarked in the same breath that it was a fine night, and in

Dolly was more sorry than she could tell, that he should have taken so much trouble. It was such a long way,

and he must have such a deal to do. And how WAS Mr Willetthat dear old gentleman

All! Good gracious, what did the man expect! She was obliged to take her apron in her hand and run her eyes

along the hem from corner to corner, to keep herself from laughing in his face;not because his gaze

Joe had small experience in love affairs, and had no notion how different young ladies are at different times;

he had expected to take Dolly up again at the very point where he had left her after that delicious evening

ride, and was no more prepared for such an alteration than to see the sun and moon change places. He had

buoyed himself up all day with an indistinct idea that she would certainly say 'Don't go,' or 'Don't leave us,' or

'Why do you go?' or 'Why do you leave us?' or would give him some little encouragement of that sort; he had

even entertained the possibility of her bursting into tears, of her throwing herself into his arms, of her falling

down in a fainting fit without previous word or sign; but any approach to such a line of conduct as this, had

Dolly in the meanwhile, turned to the corners of her apron, and measured the sides, and smoothed out the

wrinkles, and was as silent as he. At last after a long pause, Joe said goodbye. 'Goodbye'said

Dollywith as pleasant a smile as if he were going into the next street, and were coming back to supper;

'Come,' said Joe, putting out both hands, 'Dolly, dear Dolly, don't let us part like this. I love you dearly, with

all my heart and soul; with as much truth and earnestness as ever man loved woman in this world, I do

believe. I am a poor fellow, as you knowpoorer now than ever, for I have fled from home, not being able

to bear it any longer, and must fight my own way without help. You are beautiful, admired, are loved by

everybody, are well off and happy; and may you ever be so! Heaven forbid I should ever make you

otherwise; but give me a word of comfort. Say something kind to me. I have no right to expect it of you, I

know, but I ask it because I love you, and shall treasure the slightest word from you all through my life.

No. Nothing. Dolly was a coquette by nature, and a spoilt child. She had no notion of being carried by storm

in this way. The coachmaker would have been dissolved in tears, and would have knelt down, and called

himself names, and clasped his hands, and beat his breast, and tugged wildly at his cravat, and done all kinds

of poetry. Joe had no business to be going abroad. He had no right to be able to do it. If he was in adamantine

'I have said goodbye,' said Dolly, 'twice. Take your arm away directly, Mr Joseph, or I'll call Miggs.'

'I'll not reproach you,' answered Joe, 'it's my fault, no doubt. I have thought sometimes that you didn't quite

despise me, but I was a fool to think so. Every one must, who has seen the life I have ledyou most of all.

He was gone, actually gone. Dolly waited a little while, thinking he would return, peeped out at the door,

looked up the street and down as well as the increasing darkness would allow, came in again, waited a little

longer, went upstairs humming a tune, bolted herself in, laid her head down on her bed, and cried as if her

heart would break. And yet such natures are made up of so many contradictions, that if Joe Willet had come

back that night, next day, next week, next month, the odds are a hundred to one she would have treated him in

the very same manner, and have wept for it afterwards with the very same distress.

She had no sooner left the workshop than there cautiously peered out from behind the chimney of the forge, a

face which had already emerged from the same concealment twice or thrice, unseen, and which, after

satisfying itself that it was now alone, was followed by a leg, a shoulder, and so on by degrees, until the form

of Mr Tappertit stood confessed, with a brownpaper cap stuck negligently on one side of its head, and its

'Have my ears deceived me,' said the 'prentice, 'or do I dream! am I to thank thee, Fortun', or to cus

He gravely descended from his elevation, took down his piece of lookingglass, planted it against the wall

'If they're a dream,' said Sim, 'let sculptures have such wisions, and chisel 'em out when they wake. This is

reality. Sleep has no such limbs as them. Tremble, Willet, and despair. She's mine! She's mine!'

With these triumphant expressions, he seized a hammer and dealt a heavy blow at a vice, which in his mind's

eye represented the sconce or head of Joseph Willet. That done, he burst into a peal of laughter which startled

Miss Miggs even in her distant kitchen, and dipping his head into a bowl of water, had recourse to a jack

towel inside the closet door, which served the double purpose of smothering his feelings and drying his face.

Joe, disconsolate and downhearted, but full of courage too, on leaving the locksmith's house made the best

of his way to the Crooked Billet, and there inquired for his friend the serjeant, who, expecting no man less,

received him with open arms. In the course of five minutes after his arrival at that house of entertainment, he

was enrolled among the gallant defenders of his native land; and within half an hour, was regaled with a

steaming supper of boiled tripe and onions, prepared, as his friend assured him more than once, at the express

command of his most Sacred Majesty the King. To this meal, which tasted very savoury after his long

fasting, he did ample justice; and when he had followed it up, or down, with a variety of loyal and patriotic

toasts, he was conducted to a straw mattress in a loft over the stable, and locked in there for the night.

The next morning, he found that the obliging care of his martial friend had decorated his hat with sundry

particoloured streamers, which made a very lively appearance; and in company with that officer, and three

other military gentlemen newly enrolled, who were under a cloud so dense that it only left three shoes, a boot,

and a coat and a half visible among them, repaired to the riverside. Here they were joined by a corporal and

four more heroes, of whom two were drunk and daring, and two sober and penitent, but each of whom, like

Joe, had his dusty stick and bundle. The party embarked in a passageboat bound for Gravesend, whence

they were to proceed on foot to Chatham; the wind was in their favour, and they soon left London behind

Misfortunes, saith the adage, never come singly. There is little doubt that troubles are exceedingly gregarious

in their nature, and flying in flocks, are apt to perch capriciously; crowding on the heads of some poor wights

until there is not an inch of room left on their unlucky crowns, and taking no more notice of others who offer

as good restingplaces for the soles of their feet, than if they had no existence. It may have happened that a

flight of troubles brooding over London, and looking out for Joseph Willet, whom they couldn't find, darted

down haphazard on the first young man that caught their fancy, and settled on him instead. However this may

be, certain it is that on the very day of Joe's departure they swarmed about the ears of Edward Chester, and

did so buzz and flap their wings, and persecute him, that he was most profoundly wretched.

It was evening, and just eight o'clock, when he and his father, having wine and dessert set before them, were

left to themselves for the first time that day. They had dined together, but a third person had been present

during the meal, and until they met at table they had not seen each other since the previous night.

Edward was reserved and silent. Mr Chester was more than usually gay; but not caring, as it seemed, to open

a conversation with one whose humour was so different, he vented the lightness of his spirit in smiles and

sparkling looks, and made no effort to awaken his attention. So they remained for some time: the father lying

on a sofa with his accustomed air of graceful negligence; the son seated opposite to him with downcast eyes,

'My dear Edward,' said Mr Chester at length, with a most engaging laugh, 'do not extend your drowsy

influence to the decanter. Suffer THAT to circulate, let your spirits be never so stagnant.'

'You do wrong not to fill your glass,' said Mr Chester, holding up his own before the light. 'Wine in

moderationnot in excess, for that makes men uglyhas a thousand pleasant influences. It brightens the

eye, improves the voice, imparts a new vivacity to one's thoughts and conversation: you should try it, Ned.'

'My good fellow,' interposed the parent hastily, as he set down his glass, and raised his eyebrows with a

startled and horrified expression, 'for Heaven's sake don't call me by that obsolete and ancient name. Have

some regard for delicacy. Am I grey, or wrinkled, do I go on crutches, have I lost my teeth, that you adopt

'I was about to speak to you from my heart, sir,' returned Edward, 'in the confidence which should subsist

'Now DO, Ned, DO not,' said Mr Chester, raising his delicate hand imploringly, 'talk in that monstrous

manner. About to speak from your heart. Don't you know that the heart is an ingenious part of our

formationthe centre of the bloodvessels and all that sort of thingwhich has no more to do with what

you say or think, than your knees have? How can you be so very vulgar and absurd? These anatomical

allusions should be left to gentlemen of the medical profession. They are really not agreeable in society. You

'Well! there are no such things to wound, or heal, or have regard for. I know your creed, sir, and will say no

'There again,' said Mr Chester, sipping his wine, 'you are wrong. I distinctly say there are such things. We

know there are. The hearts of animalsof bullocks, sheep, and so forthare cooked and devoured, as I am

told, by the lower classes, with a vast deal of relish. Men are sometimes stabbed to the heart, shot to the heart;

but as to speaking from the heart, or to the heart, or being warm hearted, or coldhearted, or

brokenhearted, or being all heart, or having no heartpah! these things are nonsense, Ned.'

'No doubt, sir,' returned his son, seeing that he paused for him to speak. 'No doubt.'

'There's Haredale's niece, your late flame,' said Mr Chester, as a careless illustration of his meaning. 'No

doubt in your mind she was all heart once. Now she has none at all. Yet she is the same person, Ned, exactly.'

'She is a changed person, sir,' cried Edward, reddening; 'and changed by vile means, I believe.'

'You have had a cool dismissal, have you?' said his father. 'Poor Ned! I told you last night what would

'She has been tampered with, and most treacherously deceived,' cried Edward, rising from his seat. 'I never

will believe that the knowledge of my real position, given her by myself, has worked this change. I know she

is beset and tortured. But though our contract is at an end, and broken past all redemption; though I charge

upon her want of firmness and want of truth, both to herself and me; I do not now, and never will believe, that

'You make me blush,' returned his father gaily, 'for the folly of your nature, in whichbut we never know

ourselvesI devoutly hope there is no reflection of my own. With regard to the young lady herself, she has

done what is very natural and proper, my dear fellow; what you yourself proposed, as I learn from Haredale;

and what I predictedwith no great exercise of sagacityshe would do. She supposed you to be rich, or at

least quite rich enough; and found you poor. Marriage is a civil contract; people marry to better their worldly

condition and improve appearances; it is an affair of house and furniture, of liveries, servants, equipage, and

so forth. The lady being poor and you poor also, there is an end of the matter. You cannot enter upon these

considerations, and have no manner of business with the ceremony. I drink her health in this glass, and

respect and honour her for her extreme good sense. It is a lesson to you. Fill yours, Ned.'

'It is a lesson,' returned his son, 'by which I hope I may never profit, and if years and experience impress it

'On men whom the world and its hypocrisy have spoiled,' said Edward warmly, 'Heaven keep me from its

'Come, sir,' returned his father, raising himself a little on the sofa, and looking straight towards him; 'we have

had enough of this. Remember, if you please, your interest, your duty, your moral obligations, your filial

affections, and all that sort of thing, which it is so very delightful and charming to reflect upon; or you will

'I shall never repent the preservation of my selfrespect, sir,' said Edward. 'Forgive me if I say that I will not

sacrifice it at your bidding, and that I will not pursue the track which you would have me take, and to which

His father rose a little higher still, and looking at him as though curious to know if he were quite resolved and

earnest, dropped gently down again, and said in the calmest voiceeating his nuts meanwhile,

'Edward, my father had a son, who being a fool like you, and, like you, entertaining low and disobedient

sentiments, he disinherited and cursed one morning after breakfast. The circumstance occurs to me with a

singular clearness of recollection this evening. I remember eating muffins at the time, with marmalade. He

led a miserable life (the son, I mean) and died early; it was a happy release on all accounts; he degraded the

family very much. It is a sad circumstance, Edward, when a father finds it necessary to resort to such strong

'It is,' replied Edward, 'and it is sad when a son, proffering him his love and duty in their best and truest sense,

finds himself repelled at every turn, and forced to disobey. Dear father,' he added, more earnestly though in a

gentler tone, 'I have reflected many times on what occurred between us when we first discussed this subject.

Let there be a confidence between us; not in terms, but truth. Hear what I have to say.'

'As I anticipate what it is, and cannot fail to do so, Edward,' returned his father coldly, 'I decline. I couldn't

possibly. I am sure it would put me out of temper, which is a state of mind I can't endure. If you intend to mar

my plans for your establishment in life, and the preservation of that gentility and becoming pride, which our

family have so long sustainedif, in short, you are resolved to take your own course, you must take it, and

'The curse may pass your lips,' said Edward, 'but it will be but empty breath. I do not believe that any man on

earth has greater power to call one down upon his fellowleast of all, upon his own childthan he has to

make one drop of rain or flake of snow fall from the clouds above us at his impious bidding. Beware, sir,

'You are so very irreligious, so exceedingly undutiful, so horribly profane,' rejoined his father, turning his

face lazily towards him, and cracking another nut, 'that I positively must interrupt you here. It is quite

impossible we can continue to go on, upon such terms as these. If you will do me the favour to ring the bell,

the servant will show you to the door. Return to this roof no more, I beg you. Go, sir, since you have no

Edward left the room without another word or look, and turned his back upon the house for ever.

The father's face was slightly flushed and heated, but his manner was quite unchanged, as he rang the bell

'Were there more than one, dolt, that you ask the question?If that gentleman should send here for his

wardrobe, let him have it, do you hear? If he should call himself at any time, I'm not at home. You'll tell him

So, it soon got whispered about, that Mr Chester was very unfortunate in his son, who had occasioned him

great grief and sorrow. And the good people who heard this and told it again, marvelled the more at his

equanimity and even temper, and said what an amiable nature that man must have, who, having undergone so

much, could be so placid and so calm. And when Edward's name was spoken, Society shook its head, and

laid its finger on its lip, and sighed, and looked very grave; and those who had sons about his age, waxed

wrathful and indignant, and hoped, for Virtue's sake, that he was dead. And the world went on turning round,

One wintry evening, early in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty, a keen north wind

arose as it grew dark, and night came on with black and dismal looks. A bitter storm of sleet, sharp, dense,

and icycold, swept the wet streets, and rattled on the trembling windows. Signboards, shaken past endurance

in their creaking frames, fell crashing on the pavement; old tottering chimneys reeled and staggered in the

blast; and many a steeple rocked again that night, as though the earth were troubled.

It was not a time for those who could by any means get light and warmth, to brave the fury of the weather. In

coffeehouses of the better sort, guests crowded round the fire, forgot to be political, and told each other with

a secret gladness that the blast grew fiercer every minute. Each humble tavern by the waterside, had its

group of uncouth figures round the hearth, who talked of vessels foundering at sea, and all hands lost; related

many a dismal tale of shipwreck and drowned men, and hoped that some they knew were safe, and shook

their heads in doubt. In private dwellings, children clustered near the blaze; listening with timid pleasure to

tales of ghosts and goblins, and tall figures clad in white standing by bedsides, and people who had gone to

sleep in old churches and being overlooked had found themselves alone there at the dead hour of the night:

until they shuddered at the thought of the dark rooms upstairs, yet loved to hear the wind moan too, and

hoped it would continue bravely. From time to time these happy indoor people stopped to listen, or one held

up his finger and cried 'Hark!' and then, above the rumbling in the chimney, and the fast pattering on the

glass, was heard a wailing, rushing sound, which shook the walls as though a giant's hand were on them; then

a hoarse roar as if the sea had risen; then such a whirl and tumult that the air seemed mad; and then, with a

lengthened howl, the waves of wind swept on, and left a moment's interval of rest.

Cheerily, though there were none abroad to see it, shone the Maypole light that evening. Blessings on the

reddeep, ruby, glowing redold curtain of the window; blending into one rich stream of brightness, fire

and candle, meat, drink, and company, and gleaming like a jovial eye upon the bleak waste out of doors!

Within, what carpet like its crunching sand, what music merry as its crackling logs, what perfume like its

kitchen's dainty breath, what weather genial as its hearty warmth! Blessings on the old house, how sturdily it

stood! How did the vexed wind chafe and roar about its stalwart roof; how did it pant and strive with its wide

chimneys, which still poured forth from their hospitable throats, great clouds of smoke, and puffed defiance

in its face; how, above all, did it drive and rattle at the casement, emulous to extinguish that cheerful glow,

The profusion too, the rich and lavish bounty, of that goodly tavern! It was not enough that one fire roared

and sparkled on its spacious hearth; in the tiles which paved and compassed it, five hundred flickering fires

burnt brightly also. It was not enough that one red curtain shut the wild night out, and shed its cheerful

influence on the room. In every saucepan lid, and candlestick, and vessel of copper, brass, or tin that hung

upon the walls, were countless ruddy hangings, flashing and gleaming with every motion of the blaze, and

offering, let the eye wander where it might, interminable vistas of the same rich colour. The old oak

wainscoting, the beams, the chairs, the seats, reflected it in a deep, dull glimmer. There were fires and red

curtains in the very eyes of the drinkers, in their buttons, in their liquor, in the pipes they smoked.

Mr Willet sat in what had been his accustomed place five years before, with his eyes on the eternal boiler;

and had sat there since the clock struck eight, giving no other signs of life than breathing with a loud and

constant snore (though he was wide awake), and from time to time putting his glass to his lips, or knocking

the ashes out of his pipe, and filling it anew. It was now halfpast ten. Mr Cobb and long Phil Parkes were

his companions, as of old, and for two mortal hours and a half, none of the company had pronounced one

Whether people, by dint of sitting together in the same place and the same relative positions, and doing

exactly the same things for a great many years, acquire a sixth sense, or some unknown power of influencing

each other which serves them in its stead, is a question for philosophy to settle. But certain it is that old John

Willet, Mr Parkes, and Mr Cobb, were one and all firmly of opinion that they were very jolly

companionsrather choice spirits than otherwise; that they looked at each other every now and then as if

there were a perpetual interchange of ideas going on among them; that no man considered himself or his

neighbour by any means silent; and that each of them nodded occasionally when he caught the eye of another,

as if he would say, 'You have expressed yourself extremely well, sir, in relation to that sentiment, and I quite

The room was so very warm, the tobacco so very good, and the fire so very soothing, that Mr Willet by

degrees began to doze; but as he had perfectly acquired, by dint of long habit, the art of smoking in his sleep,

and as his breathing was pretty much the same, awake or asleep, saving that in the latter case he sometimes

experienced a slight difficulty in respiration (such as a carpenter meets with when he is planing and comes to

a knot), neither of his companions was aware of the circumstance, until he met with one of these impediments

Neither of them said any more until Mr Willet came to another knot one of surpassing obduracywhich

bade fair to throw him into convulsions, but which he got over at last without waking, by an effort quite

Mr Parkes, who was possibly a hardsleeper himself, replied with some disdain, 'Not a bit on it;' and directed

his eyes towards a handbill pasted over the chimneypiece, which was decorated at the top with a woodcut

representing a youth of tender years running away very fast, with a bundle over his shoulder at the end of a

stick, andto carry out the ideaa fingerpost and a milestone beside him. Mr Cobb likewise turned his

eyes in the same direction, and surveyed the placard as if that were the first time he had ever beheld it. Now,

this was a document which Mr Willet had himself indited on the disappearance of his son Joseph, acquainting

the nobility and gentry and the public in general with the circumstances of his having left his home;

describing his dress and appearance; and offering a reward of five pounds to any person or persons who

would pack him up and return him safely to the Maypole at Chigwell, or lodge him in any of his Majesty's

jails until such time as his father should come and claim him. In this advertisement Mr Willet had obstinately

persisted, despite the advice and entreaties of his friends, in describing his son as a 'young boy;' and

furthermore as being from eighteen inches to a couple of feet shorter than he really was; two circumstances

which perhaps accounted, in some degree, for its never having been productive of any other effect than the

transmission to Chigwell at various times and at a vast expense, of some fiveandforty runaways varying

Mr Cobb and Mr Parkes looked mysteriously at this composition, at each other, and at old John. From the

time he had pasted it up with his own hands, Mr Willet had never by word or sign alluded to the subject, or

encouraged any one else to do so. Nobody had the least notion what his thoughts or opinions were, connected

with it; whether he remembered it or forgot it; whether he had any idea that such an event had ever taken

place. Therefore, even while he slept, no one ventured to refer to it in his presence; and for such sufficient

Mr Willet had got by this time into such a complication of knots, that it was perfectly clear he must wake or

'If he don't come in five minutes,' said John, 'I shall have supper without him.'

The antecedent of this pronoun had been mentioned for the last time at eight o'clock. Messrs Parkes and Cobb

being used to this style of conversation, replied without difficulty that to be sure Solomon was very late, and

'He an't blown away, I suppose,' said Parkes. 'It's enough to carry a man of his figure off his legs, and easy

too. Do you hear it? It blows great guns, indeed. There'll be many a crash in the Forest tonight, I reckon, and

'It won't break anything in the Maypole, I take it, sir,' returned old John. 'Let it try. I give it leavewhat's

'The wind,' cried Parkes. 'It's howling like a Christian, and has been all night long.'

'Did you ever, sir,' asked John, after a minute's contemplation, 'hear the wind say "Maypole"?'

'Very good, sir,' said Mr Willet, perfectly unmoved; 'then if that was the wind just now, and you'll wait a little

Mr Willet was right. After listening for a few moments, they could clearly hear, above the roar and tumult out

of doors, this shout repeated; and that with a shrillness and energy, which denoted that it came from some

person in great distress or terror. They looked at each other, turned pale, and held their breath. No man

It was in this emergency that Mr Willet displayed something of that strength of mind and plenitude of mental

resource, which rendered him the admiration of all his friends and neighbours. After looking at Messrs Parkes

and Cobb for some time in silence, he clapped his two hands to his cheeks, and sent forth a roar which made

the glasses dance and rafters ringa longsustained, discordant bellow, that rolled onward with the wind,

and startling every echo, made the night a hundred times more boisterousa deep, loud, dismal bray, that

sounded like a human gong. Then, with every vein in his head and face swollen with the great exertion, and

his countenance suffused with a lively purple, he drew a little nearer to the fire, and turning his back upon it,

'If that's any comfort to anybody, they're welcome to it. If it an't, I'm sorry for 'em. If either of you two

gentlemen likes to go out and see what's the matter, you can. I'm not curious, myself.'

While he spoke the cry drew nearer and nearer, footsteps passed the window, the latch of the door was raised,

it opened, was violently shut again, and Solomon Daisy, with a lighted lantern in his hand, and the rain

A more complete picture of terror than the little man presented, it would be difficult to imagine. The

perspiration stood in beads upon his face, his knees knocked together, his every limb trembled, the power of

articulation was quite gone; and there he stood, panting for breath, gazing on them with such livid ashy looks,

that they were infected with his fear, though ignorant of its occasion, and, reflecting his dismayed and

horrorstricken visage, stared back again without venturing to question him; until old John Willet, in a fit of

temporary insanity, made a dive at his cravat, and, seizing him by that portion of his dress, shook him to and

'Tell us what's the matter, sir,' said John, 'or I'll kill you. Tell us what's the matter, sir, or in another second I'll

have your head under the biler. How dare you look like that? Is anybody a following of you? What do you

Mr Willet, in his frenzy, was so near keeping his word to the very letter (Solomon Daisy's eyes already

beginning to roll in an alarming manner, and certain guttural sounds, as of a choking man, to issue from his

throat), that the two bystanders, recovering in some degree, plucked him off his victim by main force, and

placed the little clerk of Chigwell in a chair. Directing a fearful gaze all round the room, he implored them in

a faint voice to give him some drink; and above all to lock the housedoor and close and bar the shutters of

the room, without a moment's loss of time. The latter request did not tend to reassure his hearers, or to fill

them with the most comfortable sensations; they complied with it, however, with the greatest expedition; and

having handed him a bumper of brandyandwater, nearly boiling hot, waited to hear what he might have to

'Oh, Johnny,' said Solomon, shaking him by the hand. 'Oh, Parkes. Oh, Tommy Cobb. Why did I leave this

house tonight! On the nineteenth of Marchof all nights in the year, on the nineteenth of March!'

They all drew closer to the fire. Parkes, who was nearest to the door, started and looked over his shoulder. Mr

Willet, with great indignation, inquired what the devil he meant by thatand then said, 'God forgive me,' and

'When I left here tonight,' said Solomon Daisy, 'I little thought what day of the month it was. I have never

gone alone into the church after dark on this day, for sevenandtwenty years. I have heard it said that as we

keep our birthdays when we are alive, so the ghosts of dead people, who are not easy in their graves, keep the

'I might have known,' he said, 'what night it was, by the foul weather. There's no such night in the whole year

round as this is, always. I never sleep quietly in my bed on the nineteenth of March.'

Solomon Daisy raised his glass to his lips; put it down upon the floor with such a trembling hand that the

'Have I ever said that we are always brought back to this subject in some strange way, when the nineteenth of

this month comes round? Do you suppose it was by accident, I forgot to wind up the church clock? I never

forgot it at any other time, though it's such a clumsy thing that it has to be wound up every day. Why should

'I made as much haste down there as I could when I went from here, but I had to go home first for the keys;

and the wind and rain being dead against me all the way, it was pretty well as much as I could do at times to

keep my legs. I got there at last, opened the churchdoor, and went in. I had not met a soul all the way, and

you may judge whether it was dull or not. Neither of you would bear me company. If you could have known

'The wind was so strong, that it was as much as I could do to shut the churchdoor by putting my whole

weight against it; and even as it was, it burst wide open twice, with such strength that any of you would have

sworn, if you had been leaning against it, as I was, that somebody was pushing on the other side. However, I

got the key turned, went into the belfry, and wound up the clockwhich was very near run down, and would

'As I took up my lantern again to leave the church, it came upon me all at once that this was the nineteenth of

March. It came upon me with a kind of shock, as if a hand had struck the thought upon my forehead; at the

very same moment, I heard a voice outside the towerrising from among the graves.'

Here old John precipitately interrupted the speaker, and begged that if Mr Parkes (who was seated opposite to

him and was staring directly over his head) saw anything, he would have the goodness to mention it. Mr

Parkes apologised, and remarked that he was only listening; to which Mr Willet angrily retorted, that his

listening with that kind of expression in his face was not agreeable, and that if he couldn't look like other

people, he had better put his pockethandkerchief over his head. Mr Parkes with great submission pledged

himself to do so, if again required, and John Willet turning to Solomon desired him to proceed. After waiting

until a violent gust of wind and rain, which seemed to shake even that sturdy house to its foundation, had

'Never tell me that it was my fancy, or that it was any other sound which I mistook for that I tell you of. I

heard the wind whistle through the arches of the church. I heard the steeple strain and creak. I heard the rain

as it came driving against the walls. I felt the bells shake. I saw the ropes sway to and fro. And I heard that

'I don't know what; I don't know that it spoke. It gave a kind of cry, as any one of us might do, if something

dreadful followed us in a dream, and came upon us unawares; and then it died off: seeming to pass quite

'I don't see much in that,' said John, drawing a long breath, and looking round him like a man who felt

'What more do you mean to say, sir, is to come?' asked John, pausing in the act of wiping his face upon his

'When I opened the churchdoor to come out,' said the little man, with an expression of face which bore

ample testimony to the sincerity of his conviction, 'when I opened the churchdoor to come out, which I did

suddenly, for I wanted to get it shut again before another gust of wind came up, there crossed meso close,

that by stretching out my finger I could have touched itsomething in the likeness of a man. It was

bareheaded to the storm. It turned its face without stopping, and fixed its eyes on mine. It was a ghost a

In the excess of his emotion (for he fell back trembling in his chair, and waved his hand as if entreating them

to question him no further), his answer was lost on all but old John Willet, who happened to be seated close

'Who!' cried Parkes and Tom Cobb, looking eagerly by turns at Solomon Daisy and at Mr Willet. 'Who was

'Gentlemen,' said Mr Willet after a long pause, 'you needn't ask. The likeness of a murdered man. This is the

'If you'll take my advice,' said John, 'we had better, one and all, keep this a secret. Such tales would not be

liked at the Warren. Let us keep it to ourselves for the present time at all events, or we may get into trouble,

and Solomon may lose his place. Whether it was really as he says, or whether it wasn't, is no matter. Right or

wrong, nobody would believe him. As to the probabilities, I don't myself think,' said Mr Willet, eyeing the

corners of the room in a manner which showed that, like some other philosophers, he was not quite easy in

his theory, 'that a ghost as had been a man of sense in his lifetime, would be out awalking in such

But this heretical doctrine was strongly opposed by the other three, who quoted a great many precedents to

show that bad weather was the very time for such appearances; and Mr Parkes (who had had a ghost in his

family, by the mother's side) argued the matter with so much ingenuity and force of illustration, that John was

only saved from having to retract his opinion by the opportune appearance of supper, to which they applied

themselves with a dreadful relish. Even Solomon Daisy himself, by dint of the elevating influences of fire,

lights, brandy, and good company, so far recovered as to handle his knife and fork in a highly creditable

manner, and to display a capacity both of eating and drinking, such as banished all fear of his having

Supper done, they crowded round the fire again, and, as is common on such occasions, propounded all

manner of leading questions calculated to surround the story with new horrors and surprises. But Solomon

Daisy, notwithstanding these temptations, adhered so steadily to his original account, and repeated it so often,

with such slight variations, and with such solemn asseverations of its truth and reality, that his hearers were

(with good reason) more astonished than at first. As he took John Willet's view of the matter in regard to the

propriety of not bruiting the tale abroad, unless the spirit should appear to him again, in which case it would

be necessary to take immediate counsel with the clergyman, it was solemnly resolved that it should be hushed

up and kept quiet. And as most men like to have a secret to tell which may exalt their own importance, they

As it was by this time growing late, and was long past their usual hour of separating, the cronies parted for

the night. Solomon Daisy, with a fresh candle in his lantern, repaired homewards under the escort of long Phil

Parkes and Mr Cobb, who were rather more nervous than himself. Mr Willet, after seeing them to the door,

returned to collect his thoughts with the assistance of the boiler, and to listen to the storm of wind and rain,

Before old John had looked at the boiler quite twenty minutes, he got his ideas into a focus, and brought them

to bear upon Solomon Daisy's story. The more he thought of it, the more impressed he became with a sense

of his own wisdom, and a desire that Mr Haredale should be impressed with it likewise. At length, to the end

that he might sustain a principal and important character in the affair; and might have the start of Solomon

and his two friends, through whose means he knew the adventure, with a variety of exaggerations, would be

known to at least a score of people, and most likely to Mr Haredale himself, by breakfasttime tomorrow;

'He's my landlord,' thought John, as he took a candle in his hand, and setting it down in a corner out of the

wind's way, opened a casement in the rear of the house, looking towards the stables. 'We haven't met of late

years so often as we used to dochanges are taking place in the familyit's desirable that I should stand as

well with them, in point of dignity, as possiblethe whispering about of this here tale will anger himit's

good to have confidences with a gentleman of his natur', and set one'sself right besides. Halloa there!

When he had repeated this shout a dozen times, and startled every pigeon from its slumbers, a door in one of

the ruinous old buildings opened, and a rough voice demanded what was amiss now, that a man couldn't even

'What! Haven't you sleep enough, growler, that you're not to be knocked up for once?' said John.

'No,' replied the voice, as the speaker yawned and shook himself. 'Not half enough.'

'I don't know how you CAN sleep, with the wind a bellowsing and roaring about you, making the tiles fly like

a pack of cards,' said John; 'but no matter for that. Wrap yourself up in something or another, and come here,

Hugh, with much low growling and muttering, went back into his lair; and presently reappeared, carrying a

lantern and a cudgel, and enveloped from head to foot in an old, frowzy, slouching horse cloth. Mr Willet

received this figure at the backdoor, and ushered him into the bar, while he wrapped himself in sundry

greatcoats and capes, and so tied and knotted his face in shawls and handkerchiefs, that how he breathed was

'You don't take a man out of doors at near midnight in such weather, without putting some heart into him, do

'Yes I do, sir,' returned Mr Willet. 'I put the heart (as you call it) into him when he has brought me safe home

again, and his standing steady on his legs an't of so much consequence. So hold that light up, if you please,

Hugh obeyed with a very indifferent grace, and a longing glance at the bottles. Old John, laying strict

injunctions on his cook to keep the doors locked in his absence, and to open to nobody but himself on pain of

The way was wet and dismal, and the night so black, that if Mr Willet had been his own pilot, he would have

walked into a deep horsepond within a few hundred yards of his own house, and would certainly have

terminated his career in that ignoble sphere of action. But Hugh, who had a sight as keen as any hawk's, and,

apart from that endowment, could have found his way blindfold to any place within a dozen miles, dragged

old John along, quite deaf to his remonstrances, and took his own course without the slightest reference to, or

notice of, his master. So they made head against the wind as they best could; Hugh crushing the wet grass

beneath his heavy tread, and stalking on after his ordinary savage fashion; John Willet following at arm's

length, picking his steps, and looking about him, now for bogs and ditches, and now for such stray ghosts as

might be wandering abroad, with looks of as much dismay and uneasiness as his immovable face was capable

At length they stood upon the broad gravelwalk before the Warren house. The building was profoundly

dark, and none were moving near it save themselves. From one solitary turretchamber, however, there shone

a ray of light; and towards this speck of comfort in the cold, cheerless, silent scene, Mr Willet bade his pilot

'The old room,' said John, looking timidly upward; 'Mr Reuben's own apartment, God be with us! I wonder

'Why, where else should he sit?' asked Hugh, holding the lantern to his breast, to keep the candle from the

'Snug!' said John indignantly. 'You have a comfortable idea of snugness, you have, sir. Do you know what

'Why, what is it the worse for that!' cried Hugh, looking into John's fat face. 'Does it keep out the rain, and

snow, and wind, the less for that? Is it less warm or dry, because a man was killed there? Ha, ha, ha! Never

Mr Willet fixed his dull eyes on his follower, and beganby a species of inspirationto think it just barely

possible that he was something of a dangerous character, and that it might be advisable to get rid of him one

of these days. He was too prudent to say anything, with the journey home before him; and therefore turned to

the iron gate before which this brief dialogue had passed, and pulled the handle of the bell that hung beside it.

The turret in which the light appeared being at one corner of the building, and only divided from the path by

one of the garden walks, upon which this gate opened, Mr Haredale threw up the window directly, and

'Begging pardon, sir,' said John, 'I knew you sat up late, and made bold to come round, having a word to say

Mr Haredale closed the window, and withdrew. He presently appeared at a door in the bottom of the turret,

'Nothing to speak of, sir,' said John; 'an idle tale, I thought you ought to know of; nothing more.'

'Let your man go forward with the lantern, and give me your hand. The stairs are crooked and narrow. Gently

Hugh, who had already reached the turret, held it more steadily, and ascended first, turning round from time

to time to shed his light downward on the steps. Mr Haredale following next, eyed his lowering face with no

great favour; and Hugh, looking down on him, returned his glances with interest, as they climbed the winding

It terminated in a little anteroom adjoining that from which they had seen the light. Mr Haredale entered

first, and led the way through it into the latter chamber, where he seated himself at a writingtable from

'Come in,' he said, beckoning to old John, who remained bowing at the door. 'Not you, friend,' he added

'Why, sir,' returned John, elevating his eyebrows, and lowering his voice to the tone in which the question had

'Don't be too sure of that,' said Mr Haredale, looking towards him as he spoke. 'I doubt it. He has an evil eye.'

'There's no imagination in his eye,' returned Mr Willet, glancing over his shoulder at the organ in question,

'There is no good there, be assured,' said Mr Haredale. 'Wait in that little room, friend, and close the door

Hugh shrugged his shoulders, and with a disdainful look, which showed, either that he had overheard, or that

he guessed the purport of their whispering, did as he was told. When he was shut out, Mr Haredale turned to

John, and bade him go on with what he had to say, but not to speak too loud, for there were quick ears

Thus cautioned, Mr Willet, in an oily whisper, recited all that he had heard and said that night; laying

particular stress upon his own sagacity, upon his great regard for the family, and upon his solicitude for their

peace of mind and happiness. The story moved his auditor much more than he had expected. Mr Haredale

often changed his attitude, rose and paced the room, returned again, desired him to repeat, as nearly as he

could, the very words that Solomon had used, and gave so many other signs of being disturbed and ill at ease,

'You did quite right,' he said, at the end of a long conversation, 'to bid them keep this story secret. It is a

foolish fancy on the part of this weakbrained man, bred in his fears and superstition. But Miss Haredale,

though she would know it to be so, would be disturbed by it if it reached her ears; it is too nearly connected

with a subject very painful to us all, to be heard with indifference. You were most prudent, and have laid me

This was equal to John's most sanguine expectations; but he would have preferred Mr Haredale's looking at

him when he spoke, as if he really did thank him, to his walking up and down, speaking by fits and starts,

often stopping with his eyes fixed on the ground, moving hurriedly on again, like one distracted, and seeming

This, however, was his manner; and it was so embarrassing to John that he sat quite passive for a long time,

not knowing what to do. At length he rose. Mr Haredale stared at him for a moment as though he had quite

forgotten his being present, then shook hands with him, and opened the door. Hugh, who was, or feigned to

be, fast asleep on the antechamber floor, sprang up on their entrance, and throwing his cloak about him,

'Drink! He'd drink the Thames up, if it was strong enough, sir, replied John Willet. 'He'll have something

'Nay. Half the distance is done,' said Hugh. 'What a hard master you are! I shall go home the better for one

As John made no reply, Mr Haredale brought out a glass of liquor, and gave it to Hugh, who, as he took it in

'What do you mean by splashing your drink about a gentleman's house, sir?' said John.

'I'm drinking a toast,' Hugh rejoined, holding the glass above his head, and fixing his eyes on Mr Haredale's

face; 'a toast to this house and its master.' With that he muttered something to himself, and drank the rest, and

John was a good deal scandalised by this observance, but seeing that Mr Haredale took little heed of what

Hugh said or did, and that his thoughts were otherwise employed, he offered no apology, and went in silence

down the stairs, across the walk, and through the gardengate. They stopped upon the outer side for Hugh to

hold the light while Mr Haredale locked it on the inner; and then John saw with wonder (as he often

afterwards related), that he was very pale, and that his face had changed so much and grown so haggard since

They were in the open road again, and John Willet was walking on behind his escort, as he had come,

thinking very steadily of what be had just now seen, when Hugh drew him suddenly aside, and almost at the

same instant three horsemen swept pastthe nearest brushed his shoulder even thenwho, checking their

When John Willet saw that the horsemen wheeled smartly round, and drew up three abreast in the narrow

road, waiting for him and his man to join them, it occurred to him with unusual precipitation that they must

be highwaymen; and had Hugh been armed with a blunderbuss, in place of his stout cudgel, he would

certainly have ordered him to fire it off at a venture, and would, while the word of command was obeyed,

have consulted his own personal safety in immediate flight. Under the circumstances of disadvantage,

however, in which he and his guard were placed, he deemed it prudent to adopt a different style of

generalship, and therefore whispered his attendant to address them in the most peaceable and courteous

terms. By way of acting up to the spirit and letter of this instruction, Hugh stepped forward, and flourishing

his staff before the very eyes of the rider nearest to him, demanded roughly what he and his fellows meant by

so nearly galloping over them, and why they scoured the king's highway at that late hour of night.

The man whom be addressed was beginning an angry reply in the same strain, when be was checked by the

horseman in the centre, who, interposing with an air of authority, inquired in a somewhat loud but not harsh

'Nay, brother,' said the same person, 'you're but a churlish Englishman, if Englishman you bewhich I

should much doubt but for your tongue. Your companion, I am sure, will answer me more civilly. How say

'I say it IS the London road, sir,' answered John. 'And I wish,' he added in a subdued voice, as he turned to

Hugh, 'that you was in any other road, you vagabond. Are you tired of your life, sir, that you go atrying to

provoke three great neckornothing chaps, that could keep on running over us, back'ards and for'ards, till

we was dead, and then take our bodies up behind 'em, and drown us ten miles off?'

'Why, from here, sir,' answered John, persuasively, 'it's thirteen very easy mile.'

The adjective was thrown in, as an inducement to the travellers to ride away with all speed; but instead of

having the desired effect, it elicited from the same person, the remark, 'Thirteen miles! That's a long

'Pray,' said the gentleman, 'are there any inns hereabouts?' At the word 'inns,' John plucked up his spirit in a

surprising manner; his fears rolled off like smoke; all the landlord stirred within him.

'There are no inns,' rejoined Mr Willet, with a strong emphasis on the plural number; 'but there's a Innone

Innthe Maypole Inn. That's a Inn indeed. You won't see the like of that Inn often.'

'About a mile'John was going to add that it was the easiest mile in all the world, when the third rider, who

'And have you one excellent bed, landlord? Hem! A bed that you can recommenda bed that you are sure is

well aireda bed that has been slept in by some perfectly respectable and unexceptionable person?'

'We don't take in no tagrag and bobtail at our house, sir,' answered John. 'And as to the bed itself'

'Say, as to three beds,' interposed the gentleman who had spoken before; 'for we shall want three if we stay,

'No, no, my lord; you are too good, you are too kind; but your life is of far too much importance to the nation

in these portentous times, to be placed upon a level with one so useless and so poor as mine. A great cause,

my lord, a mighty cause, depends on you. You are its leader and its champion, its advanced guard and its van.

It is the cause of our altars and our homes, our country and our faith. Let ME sleep on a chairthe

carpetanywhere. No one will repine if I take cold or fever. Let John Grueby pass the night beneath the

open skyno one will repine for HIM. But forty thousand men of this our island in the wave (exclusive of

women and children) rivet their eyes and thoughts on Lord George Gordon; and every day, from the rising up

of the sun to the going down of the same, pray for his health and vigour. My lord,' said the speaker, rising in

his stirrups, 'it is a glorious cause, and must not be forgotten. My lord, it is a mighty cause, and must not be

'It IS a holy cause,' exclaimed his lordship, lifting up his hat with great solemnity. 'Amen.'

'John Grueby,' said the longwinded gentleman, in a tone of mild reproof, 'his lordship said Amen.'

'You surprise me, Grueby,' said the gentleman. 'At a crisis like the present, when Queen Elizabeth, that

maiden monarch, weeps within her tomb, and Bloody Mary, with a brow of gloom and shadow, stalks

'Oh, sir,' cied the man, gruffly, 'where's the use of talking of Bloody Mary, under such circumstances as the

present, when my lord's wet through, and tired with hard riding? Let's either go on to London, sir, or put up at

once; or that unfort'nate Bloody Mary will have more to answer forand she's done a deal more harm in her

By this time Mr Willet, who had never beard so many words spoken together at one time, or delivered with

such volubility and emphasis as by the longwinded gentleman; and whose brain, being wholly unable to

sustain or compass them, had quite given itself up for lost; recovered so far as to observe that there was ample

accommodation at the Maypole for all the party: good beds; neat wines; excellent entertainment for man and

beast; private rooms for large and small parties; dinners dressed upon the shortest notice; choice stabling, and

a lockup coachhouse; and, in short, to run over such recommendatory scraps of language as were painted

up on various portions of the building, and which in the course of some forty years he had learnt to repeat

with tolerable correctness. He was considering whether it was at all possible to insert any novel sentences to

the same purpose, when the gentleman who had spoken first, turning to him of the long wind, exclaimed,

'What say you, Gashford? Shall we tarry at this house he speaks of, or press forward? You shall decide.'

'I would submit, my lord, then,' returned the person he appealed to, in a silky tone, 'that your health and

spiritsso important, under Providence, to our great cause, our pure and truthful cause' here his lordship

pulled off his hat again, though it was raining hard'require refreshment and repose.'

'Go on before, landlord, and show the way,' said Lord George Gordon; 'we will follow at a footpace.'

'If you'll give me leave, my lord,' said John Grueby, in a low voice, 'I'll change my proper place, and ride

before you. The looks of the landlord's friend are not over honest, and it may be as well to be cautious with

'John Grueby is quite right,' interposed Mr Gashford, falling back hastily. 'My lord, a life so precious as yours

must not be put in peril. Go forward, John, by all means. If you have any reason to suspect the fellow, blow

John made no answer, but looking straight before him, as his custom seemed to be when the secretary spoke,

bade Hugh push on, and followed close behind him. Then came his lordship, with Mr Willet at his bridle rein;

and, last of all, his lordship's secretaryfor that, it seemed, was Gashford's office.

Hugh strode briskly on, often looking back at the servant, whose horse was close upon his heels, and glancing

with a leer at his bolster case of pistols, by which he seemed to set great store. He was a squarebuilt,

strongmade, bullnecked fellow, of the true English breed; and as Hugh measured him with his eye, he

measured Hugh, regarding him meanwhile with a look of bluff disdain. He was much older than the Maypole

man, being to all appearance fiveand forty; but was one of those selfpossessed, hardheaded,

imperturbable fellows, who, if they are ever beaten at fisticuffs, or other kind of warfare, never know it, and

'If I led you wrong now,' said Hugh, tauntingly, 'you'dha ha ha! you'd shoot me through the head, I

John Grueby took no more notice of this remark than if he had been deaf and Hugh dumb; but kept riding on

'Did you ever try a fall with a man when you were young, master?' said Hugh. 'Can you make any play at

John Grueby looked at him sideways with the same contented air, but deigned not a word in answer.

'Like this?' said Hugh, giving his cudgel one of those skilful flourishes, in which the rustic of that time

'Or that,' returned John Grueby, beating down his guard with his whip, and striking him on the head with

its butt end. 'Yes, I played a little once. You wear your hair too long; I should have cracked your crown if it

It was a pretty smart, loudsounding rap, as it was, and evidently astonished Hugh; who, for the moment,

seemed disposed to drag his new acquaintance from his saddle. But his face betokening neither malice,

triumph, rage, nor any lingering idea that he had given him offence; his eyes gazing steadily in the old

direction, and his manner being as careless and composed as if he had merely brushed away a fly; Hugh was

so puzzled, and so disposed to look upon him as a customer of almost supernatural toughness, that he merely

laughed, and cried 'Well done!' then, sheering off a little, led the way in silence.

Before the lapse of many minutes the party halted at the Maypole door. Lord George and his secretary

quickly dismounting, gave their horses to their servant, who, under the guidance of Hugh, repaired to the

stables. Right glad to escape from the inclemency of the night, they followed Mr Willet into the common

room, and stood warming themselves and drying their clothes before the cheerful fire, while he busied

As he bustled in and out of the room, intent on these arrangements, he had an opportunity of observing the

two travellers, of whom, as yet, he knew nothing but the voice. The lord, the great personage who did the

Maypole so much honour, was about the middle height, of a slender make, and sallow complexion, with an

aquiline nose, and long hair of a reddish brown, combed perfectly straight and smooth about his ears, and

slightly powdered, but without the faintest vestige of a curl. He was attired, under his greatcoat, in a full suit

of black, quite free from any ornament, and of the most precise and sober cut. The gravity of his dress,

together with a certain lankness of cheek and stiffness of deportment, added nearly ten years to his age, but

his figure was that of one not yet past thirty. As he stood musing in the red glow of the fire, it was striking to

observe his very bright large eye, which betrayed a restlessness of thought and purpose, singularly at variance

with the studied composure and sobriety of his mien, and with his quaint and sad apparel. It had nothing

harsh or cruel in its expression; neither had his face, which was thin and mild, and wore an air of melancholy;

but it was suggestive of an indefinable uneasiness; which infected those who looked upon him, and filled

them with a kind of pity for the man: though why it did so, they would have had some trouble to explain.

Gashford, the secretary, was taller, angularly made, high shouldered, bony, and ungraceful. His dress, in

imitation of his superior, was demure and staid in the extreme; his manner, formal and constrained. This

gentleman had an overhanging brow, great hands and feet and ears, and a pair of eyes that seemed to have

made an unnatural retreat into his head, and to have dug themselves a cave to hide in. His manner was

smooth and humble, but very sly and slinking. He wore the aspect of a man who was always lying in wait for

something that WOULDN'T come to pass; but he looked patientvery patientand fawned like a spaniel

dog. Even now, while he warmed and rubbed his hands before the blaze, he had the air of one who only

presumed to enjoy it in his degree as a commoner; and though he knew his lord was not regarding him, he

looked into his face from time to time, and with a meek and deferential manner, smiled as if for practice.

Such were the guests whom old John Willet, with a fixed and leaden eye, surveyed a hundred times, and to

whom he now advanced with a state candlestick in each hand, beseeching them to follow him into a worthier

chamber. 'For my lord,' said Johnit is odd enough, but certain people seem to have as great a pleasure in

pronouncing titles as their owners have in wearing them'this room, my lord, isn't at all the sort of place for

your lordship, and I have to beg your lordship's pardon for keeping you here, my lord, one minute.'

With this address, John ushered them upstairs into the state apartment, which, like many other things of state,

was cold and comfortless. Their own footsteps, reverberating through the spacious room, struck upon their

hearing with a hollow sound; and its damp and chilly atmosphere was rendered doubly cheerless by contrast

It was of no use, however, to propose a return to the place they had quitted, for the preparations went on so

briskly that there was no time to stop them. John, with the tall candlesticks in his hands, bowed them up to

the fireplace; Hugh, striding in with a lighted brand and pile of firewood, cast it down upon the hearth, and

set it in a blaze; John Grueby (who had a great blue cockade in his hat, which he appeared to despise

mightily) brought in the portmanteau he had carried on his horse, and placed it on the floor; and presently all

three were busily engaged in drawing out the screen, laying the cloth, inspecting the beds, lighting fires in the

bedrooms, expediting the supper, and making everything as cosy and as snug as might be, on so short a

notice. In less than an hour's time, supper had been served, and ate, and cleared away; and Lord George and

his secretary, with slippered feet, and legs stretched out before the fire, sat over some hot mulled wine

'So ends, my lord,' said Gashford, filling his glass with great complacency, 'the blessed work of a most

'Ah!'and here the secretary clasped his hands'a blessed yesterday indeed! The Protestants of Suffolk are

godly men and true. Though others of our countrymen have lost their way in darkness, even as we, my lord,

'Move them, my lord! Move them! They cried to be led on against the Papists, they vowed a dreadful

'Yesoh surelyby angels, no doubt,' said Lord George, thrusting his hands into his pockets, taking them

out again to bite his nails, and looking uncomfortably at the fire. 'Of course by angelseh Gashford?'

'NoNo,' returned his lord. 'No. Why should I? I suppose it would be decidedly irreligious to doubt

itwouldn't it, Gashford? Though there certainly were,' he added, without waiting for an answer, 'some

'When you warmed,' said the secretary, looking sharply at the other's downcast eyes, which brightened slowly

as he spoke; 'when you warmed into that noble outbreak; when you told them that you were never of the

lukewarm or the timid tribe, and bade them take heed that they were prepared to follow one who would lead

them on, though to the very death; when you spoke of a hundred and twenty thousand men across the Scottish

border who would take their own redress at any time, if it were not conceded; when you cried "Perish the

Pope and all his base adherents; the penal laws against them shall never be repealed while Englishmen have

hearts and hands"and waved your own and touched your sword; and when they cried "No Popery!" and

you cried "No; not even if we wade in blood," and they threw up their hats and cried "Hurrah! not even if we

wade in blood; No Popery! Lord George! Down with the Papists Vengeance on their heads:" when this

was said and done, and a word from you, my lord, could raise or still the tumultah! then I felt what

greatness was indeed, and thought, When was there ever power like this of Lord George Gordon's!'

'It's a great power. You're right. It is a great power!' he cried with sparkling eyes. 'Butdear Gashforddid I

'And I told them what you say, about the one hundred and forty thousand men in Scotland, did I!' he asked

'And that's ours,' he rejoined, moving uneasily in his seat, and biting his nails as though he would pare them

to the quick. 'There can be no doubt of ours being the true one. You feel as certain of that as I do, Gashford,

'Does my lord ask ME,' whined Gashford, drawing his chair nearer with an injured air, and laying his broad

flat hand upon the table; 'ME,' he repeated, bending the dark hollows of his eyes upon him with an

unwholesome smile, 'who, stricken by the magic of his eloquence in Scotland but a year ago, abjured the

errors of the Romish church, and clung to him as one whose timely hand had plucked me from a pit?'

'True. NoNo. II didn't mean it,' replied the other, shaking him by the hand, rising from his seat, and

pacing restlessly about the room. 'It's a proud thing to lead the people, Gashford,' he added as he made a

'Ay, to be sure. They may cough and jeer, and groan in Parliament, and call me fool and madman, but which

of them can raise this human sea and make it swell and roar at pleasure? Not one.'

'Which of them can say for his honesty, what I can say for mine; which of them has refused a minister's bribe

of one thousand pounds a year, to resign his seat in favour of another? Not one.'

'Not one,' repeated Gashford againtaking the lion's share of the mulled wine between whiles.

'And as we are honest, true, and in a sacred cause, Gashford,' said Lord George with a heightened colour and

in a louder voice, as he laid his fevered hand upon his shoulder, 'and are the only men who regard the mass of

people out of doors, or are regarded by them, we will uphold them to the last; and will raise a cry against

these unEnglish Papists which shall reecho through the country, and roll with a noise like thunder. I will be

It would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the excited manner in which he gave these answers to the

secretary's promptings; of the rapidity of his utterance, or the violence of his tone and gesture; in which,

struggling through his Puritan's demeanour, was something wild and ungovernable which broke through all

restraint. For some minutes he walked rapidly up and down the room, then stopping suddenly, exclaimed,

'I shone with a reflected light, my lord,' replied the humble secretary, laying his hand upon his heart. 'I did my

'You did well,' said his master, 'and are a great and worthy instrument. If you will ring for John Grueby to

carry the portmanteau into my room, and will wait here while I undress, we will dispose of business as usual,

'Too tired, my lord!But this is his consideration! Christian from head to foot.' With which soliloquy, the

secretary tilted the jug, and looked very hard into the mulled wine, to see how much remained.

John Willet and John Grueby appeared together. The one bearing the great candlesticks, and the other the

portmanteau, showed the deluded lord into his chamber; and left the secretary alone, to yawn and shake

'Now, Mr Gashford sir,' said John Grueby in his ear, after what appeared to him a moment of

'Oh. Very good, John,' was his mild reply. 'Thank you, John. Nobody need sit up. I know my room.'

'I hope you're not agoing to trouble your head tonight, or my lord's head neither, with anything more about

'I said you might go to bed, John,' returned the secretary. 'You didn't hear me, I think.'

'Between Bloody Marys, and blue cockades, and glorious Queen Besses, and no Poperys, and Protestant

associations, and making of speeches,' pursued John Grueby, looking, as usual, a long way off, and taking no

notice of this hint, 'my lord's half off his head. When we go out o' doors, such a set of ragamuffins comes a

shouting after us, "Gordon forever!" that I'm ashamed of myself and don't know where to look. When we're

indoors, they come a roaring and screaming about the house like so many devils; and my lord instead of

ordering them to be drove away, goes out into the balcony and demeans himself by making speeches to 'em,

and calls 'em "Men of England," and "Fellowcountrymen," as if he was fond of 'em and thanked 'em for

coming. I can't make it out, but they're all mixed up somehow or another with that unfort'nate Bloody Mary,

and call her name out till they're hoarse. They're all Protestants tooevery man and boy among 'em: and

Protestants are very fond of spoons, I find, and silverplate in general, whenever areagates is left open

accidentally. I wish that was the worst of it, and that no more harm might be to come; but if you don't stop

these ugly customers in time, Mr Gashford (and I know you; you're the man that blows the fire), you'll find

'em grow a little bit too strong for you. One of these evenings, when the weather gets warmer and Protestants

are thirsty, they'll be pulling London down,and I never heard that Bloody Mary went as far as THAT.'

Gashford had vanished long ago, and these remarks had been bestowed on empty air. Not at all discomposed

by the discovery, John Grueby fixed his hat on, wrongside foremost that he might be unconscious of the

shadow of the obnoxious cockade, and withdrew to bed; shaking his head in a very gloomy and prophetic

Gashford, with a smiling face, but still with looks of profound deference and humility, betook himself

towards his master's room, smoothing his hair down as he went, and humming a psalm tune. As he

approached Lord George's door, he cleared his throat and hummed more vigorously.

There was a remarkable contrast between this man's occupation at the moment, and the expression of his

countenance, which was singularly repulsive and malicious. His beetling brow almost obscured his eyes; his

lip was curled contemptuously; his very shoulders seemed to sneer in stealthy whisperings with his great

'Hush!' he muttered softly, as he peeped in at the chamberdoor. 'He seems to be asleep. Pray Heaven he is!

Too much watching, too much care, too much thoughtah! Lord preserve him for a martyr! He is a saint, if

Placing his light upon a table, he walked on tiptoe to the fire, and sitting in a chair before it with his back

'The saviour of his country and his country's religion, the friend of his poor countrymen, the enemy of the

proud and harsh; beloved of the rejected and oppressed, adored by forty thousand bold and loyal English

heartswhat happy slumbers his should be!' And here he sighed, and warmed his hands, and shook his head

as men do when their hearts are full, and heaved another sigh, and warmed his hands again.

'Why, Gashford?' said Lord George, who was lying broad awake, upon his side, and had been staring at him

'Mymy lord,' said Gashford, starting and looking round as though in great surprise. 'I have disturbed you!'

'Not sleeping!' he repeated, with assumed confusion. 'What can I say for having in your presence given

utterance to thoughtsbut they were sincerethey were sincere!' exclaimed the secretary, drawing his

sleeve in a hasty way across his eyes; 'and why should I regret your having heard them?'

'Gashford,' said the poor lord, stretching out his hand with manifest emotion. 'Do not regret it. You love me

Gashford made no reply, but grasped the hand and pressed it to his lips. Then rising, and taking from the

trunk a little desk, he placed it on a table near the fire, unlocked it with a key he carried in his pocket, sat

down before it, took out a pen, and, before dipping it in the inkstand, sucked itto compose the fashion of

'How do our numbers stand since last enrollingnight?' inquired Lord George. 'Are we really forty thousand

strong, or do we still speak in round numbers when we take the Association at that amount?'

'Our total now exceeds that number by a score and three,' Gashford replied, casting his eyes upon his papers.

'Not VERY improving; but there is some manna in the wilderness, my lord. Hem! On Friday night the

widows' mites dropped in. "Forty scavengers, three and fourpence. An aged pewopener of St Martin's

parish, sixpence. A bellringer of the established church, sixpence. A Protestant infant, newly born, one

halfpenny. The United Link Boys, three shillingsone bad. The antipopish prisoners in Newgate, five and

'That Dennis,' said his lordship, 'is an earnest man. I marked him in the crowd in Welbeck Street, last Friday.'

'A good man,' rejoined the secretary, 'a staunch, sincere, and truly zealous man.'

'He should be encouraged,' said Lord George. 'Make a note of Dennis. I'll talk with him.'

'"The Friends of Reason, halfaguinea. The Friends of Liberty, halfaguinea. The Friends of Peace,

halfaguinea. The Friends of Charity, halfaguinea. The Friends of Mercy, halfaguinea. The Associated

'The United Bulldogs,' said Lord George, biting his nails most horribly, 'are a new society, are they not?'

'Formerly the 'Prentice Knights, my lord. The indentures of the old members expiring by degrees, they

changed their name, it seems, though they still have 'prentices among them, as well as workmen.'

'I remember him. The little man, who sometimes brings an elderly sister to our meetings, and sometimes

another female too, who is conscientious, I have no doubt, but not wellfavoured?'

'One of the foremost among them all, my lord. He snuffs the battle from afar, like the warhorse. He throws

his hat up in the street as if he were inspired, and makes most stirring speeches from the shoulders of his

'Make a note of Tappertit,' said Lord George Gordon. 'We may advance him to a place of trust.'

'That,' rejoined the secretary, doing as he was told, 'is all except Mrs Varden's box (fourteenth time of

opening), seven shillings and sixpence in silver and copper, and halfaguinea in gold; and Miggs (being the

'The name is entered on the list as a woman,' replied the secretary. 'I think she is the tall spare female of

whom you spoke just now, my lord, as not being wellfavoured, who sometimes comes to hear the

The secretary nodded, and rubbed the bridge of his nose with the feather of his pen.

'She is a zealous sister,' said Lord George. 'Her collection goes on prosperously, and is pursued with fervour.

'A malignant,' returned the secretary, folding up his papers. 'Unworthy such a wife. He remains in outer

'You don't think,' he turned restlessly in his bed as he spoke, 'these people will desert me, when the hour

arrives? I have spoken boldly for them, ventured much, suppressed nothing. They'll not fall off, will they?'

'No fear of that, my lord,' said Gashford, with a meaning look, which was rather the involuntary expression of

his own thoughts than intended as any confirmation of his words, for the other's face was turned away. 'Be

'Nor,' he said with a more restless motion than before, 'of their but they CAN sustain no harm from

leaguing for this purpose. Right is on our side, though Might may be against us. You feel as sure of that as

The secretary was beginning with 'You do not doubt,' when the other interrupted him, and impatiently

'Doubt. No. Who says I doubt? If I doubted, should I cast away relatives, friends, everything, for this unhappy

country's sake; this unhappy country,' he cried, springing up in bed, after repeating the phrase 'unhappy

country's sake' to himself, at least a dozen times, 'forsaken of God and man, delivered over to a dangerous

confederacy of Popish powers; the prey of corruption, idolatry, and despotism! Who says I doubt? Am I

'I am. I will be. I say again, I will be: to the block. Who says as much! Do you? Does any man alive?'

The secretary drooped his head with an expression of perfect acquiescence in anything that had been said or

Although there was something very ludicrous in his vehement manner, taken in conjunction with his meagre

aspect and ungraceful presence, it would scarcely have provoked a smile in any man of kindly feeling; or

even if it had, he would have felt sorry and almost angry with himself next moment, for yielding to the

impulse. This lord was sincere in his violence and in his wavering. A nature prone to false enthusiasm, and

the vanity of being a leader, were the worst qualities apparent in his composition. All the rest was

weaknesssheer weakness; and it is the unhappy lot of thoroughly weak men, that their very sympathies,

affections, confidencesall the qualities which in better constituted minds are virtuesdwindle into foibles,

Gashford, with many a sly look towards the bed, sat chuckling at his master's folly, until his deep and heavy

breathing warned him that he might retire. Locking his desk, and replacing it within the trunk (but not before

he had taken from a secret lining two printed handbills), he cautiously withdrew; looking back, as he went, at

the pale face of the slumbering man, above whose head the dusty plumes that crowned the Maypole couch,

Stopping on the staircase to listen that all was quiet, and to take off his shoes lest his footsteps should alarm

any light sleeper who might be near at hand, he descended to the ground floor, and thrust one of his bills

beneath the great door of the house. That done, he crept softly back to his own chamber, and from the

window let another fallcarefully wrapt round a stone to save it from the windinto the yard below.

They were addressed on the back 'To every Protestant into whose hands this shall come,' and bore within

'Men and Brethren. Whoever shall find this letter, will take it as a warning to join, without delay, the friends

of Lord George Gordon. There are great events at hand; and the times are dangerous and troubled. Read this

carefully, keep it clean, and drop it somewhere else. For King and Country. Union.'

'More seed, more seed,' said Gashford as he closed the window. 'When will the harvest come!'

To surround anything, however monstrous or ridiculous, with an air of mystery, is to invest it with a secret

charm, and power of attraction which to the crowd is irresistible. False priests, false prophets, false doctors,

false patriots, false prodigies of every kind, veiling their proceedings in mystery, have always addressed

themselves at an immense advantage to the popular credulity, and have been, perhaps, more indebted to that

resource in gaining and keeping for a time the upper hand of Truth and Common Sense, than to any

halfdozen items in the whole catalogue of imposture. Curiosity is, and has been from the creation of the

world, a masterpassion. To awaken it, to gratify it by slight degrees, and yet leave something always in

suspense, is to establish the surest hold that can be had, in wrong, on the unthinking portion of mankind.

If a man had stood on London Bridge, calling till he was hoarse, upon the passersby, to join with Lord

George Gordon, although for an object which no man understood, and which in that very incident had a

charm of its own,the probability is, that he might have influenced a score of people in a month. If all

zealous Protestants had been publicly urged to join an association for the avowed purpose of singing a hymn

or two occasionally, and hearing some indifferent speeches made, and ultimately of petitioning Parliament

not to pass an act for abolishing the penal laws against Roman Catholic priests, the penalty of perpetual

imprisonment denounced against those who educated children in that persuasion, and the disqualification of

all members of the Romish church to inherit real property in the United Kingdom by right of purchase or

descent,matters so far removed from the business and bosoms of the mass, might perhaps have called

together a hundred people. But when vague rumours got abroad, that in this Protestant association a secret

power was mustering against the government for undefined and mighty purposes; when the air was filled

with whispers of a confederacy among the Popish powers to degrade and enslave England, establish an

inquisition in London, and turn the pens of Smithfield market into stakes and cauldrons; when terrors and

alarms which no man understood were perpetually broached, both in and out of Parliament, by one enthusiast

who did not understand himself, and bygone bugbears which had lain quietly in their graves for centuries,

were raised again to haunt the ignorant and credulous; when all this was done, as it were, in the dark, and

secret invitations to join the Great Protestant Association in defence of religion, life, and liberty, were

dropped in the public ways, thrust under the housedoors, tossed in at windows, and pressed into the hands of

those who trod the streets by night; when they glared from every wall, and shone on every post and pillar, so

that stocks and stones appeared infected with the common fear, urging all men to join together blindfold in

resistance of they knew not what, they knew not why;then the mania spread indeed, and the body, still

So said, at least, in this month of March, 1780, Lord George Gordon, the Association's president. Whether it

was the fact or otherwise, few men knew or cared to ascertain. It had never made any public demonstration;

had scarcely ever been heard of, save through him; had never been seen; and was supposed by many to be the

mere creature of his disordered brain. He was accustomed to talk largely about numbers of menstimulated,

as it was inferred, by certain successful disturbances, arising out of the same subject, which had occurred in

Scotland in the previous year; was looked upon as a crackedbrained member of the lower house, who

attacked all parties and sided with none, and was very little regarded. It was known that there was discontent

abroadthere always is; he had been accustomed to address the people by placard, speech, and pamphlet,

upon other questions; nothing had come, in England, of his past exertions, and nothing was apprehended

from his present. Just as he has come upon the reader, he had come, from time to time, upon the public, and

been forgotten in a day; as suddenly as he appears in these pages, after a blank of five long years, did he and

his proceedings begin to force themselves, about this period, upon the notice of thousands of people, who had

mingled in active life during the whole interval, and who, without being deaf or blind to passing events, had

'My lord,' said Gashford in his ear, as he drew the curtains of his bed betimes; 'my lord!'

'The clock has struck nine,' returned the secretary, with meekly folded hands. 'You have slept well? I hope

'To say the truth, I have slept so soundly,' said Lord George, rubbing his eyes and looking round the room,

'I dreamed that we were Jews, Gashford. You and Iboth of us Jews with long beards.'

'I suppose we might,' returned the other, very quickly. 'Eh? You really think so, Gashford?'

'Hope!' he echoed, interrupting him. 'Why do you say, you hope? There's no harm in thinking of such things.'

'"Called, and chosen, and faithful,"' said Gashford, taking up Lord George's watch which lay upon a chair,

It was the slightest action possible, not obtruded on his notice, and apparently the result of a moment's

absence of mind, not worth remark. But as the words were uttered, Lord George, who had been going on

impetuously, stopped short, reddened, and was silent. Apparently quite unconscious of this change in his

demeanour, the wily Secretary stepped a little apart, under pretence of pulling up the windowblind, and

'The holy cause goes bravely on, my lord. I was not idle, even last night. I dropped two of the handbills

before I went to bed, and both are gone this morning. Nobody in the house has mentioned the circumstance of

finding them, though I have been downstairs full halfanhour. One or two recruits will be their first fruit, I

predict; and who shall say how many more, with Heaven's blessing on your inspired exertions!'

'It was a famous device in the beginning,' replied Lord George; 'an excellent device, and did good service in

Scotland. It was quite worthy of you. You remind me not to be a sluggard, Gashford, when the vineyard is

menaced with destruction, and may be trodden down by Papist feet. Let the horses be saddled in

He said this with a heightened colour, and in a tone of such enthusiasm, that the secretary deemed all further

'Dreamed he was a Jew,' he said thoughtfully, as he closed the bedroom door. 'He may come to that before

he dies. It's like enough. Well! After a time, and provided I lost nothing by it, I don't see why that religion

shouldn't suit me as well as any other. There are rich men among the Jews; shaving is very

troublesome;yes, it would suit me well enough. For the present, though, we must be Christian to the core.

Our prophetic motto will suit all creeds in their turn, that's a comfort.' Reflecting on this source of

Lord George was quickly dressed (for his plain toilet was easily made), and as he was no less frugal in his

repasts than in his Puritan attire, his share of the meal was soon dispatched. The secretary, however, more

devoted to the good things of this world, or more intent on sustaining his strength and spirits for the sake of

the Protestant cause, ate and drank to the last minute, and required indeed some three or four reminders from

John Grueby, before he could resolve to tear himself away from Mr Willet's plentiful providing.

At length he came downstairs, wiping his greasy mouth, and having paid John Willet's bill, climbed into his

saddle. Lord George, who had been walking up and down before the house talking to himself with earnest

gestures, mounted his horse; and returning old John Willet's stately bow, as well as the parting salutation of a

dozen idlers whom the rumour of a live lord being about to leave the Maypole had gathered round the porch,

If Lord George Gordon had appeared in the eyes of Mr Willet, overnight, a nobleman of somewhat quaint

and odd exterior, the impression was confirmed this morning, and increased a hundredfold. Sitting bolt

upright upon his bony steed, with his long, straight hair, dangling about his face and fluttering in the wind;

his limbs all angular and rigid, his elbows stuck out on either side ungracefully, and his whole frame jogged

and shaken at every motion of his horse's feet; a more grotesque or more ungainly figure can hardly be

conceived. In lieu of whip, he carried in his hand a great goldheaded cane, as large as any footman carries in

these days, and his various modes of holding this unwieldy weaponnow upright before his face like the

sabre of a horsesoldier, now over his shoulder like a musket, now between his finger and thumb, but always

in some uncouth and awkward fashioncontributed in no small degree to the absurdity of his appearance.

Stiff, lank, and solemn, dressed in an unusual manner, and ostentatiously exhibitingwhether by design or

accidentall his peculiarities of carriage, gesture, and conduct, all the qualities, natural and artificial, in

which he differed from other men; he might have moved the sternest lookeron to laughter, and fully

provoked the smiles and whispered jests which greeted his departure from the Maypole inn.

Quite unconscious, however, of the effect he produced, he trotted on beside his secretary, talking to himself

nearly all the way, until they came within a mile or two of London, when now and then some passenger went

by who knew him by sight, and pointed him out to some one else, and perhaps stood looking after him, or

cried in jest or earnest as it might be, 'Hurrah Geordie! No Popery!' At which he would gravely pull off his

hat, and bow. When they reached the town and rode along the streets, these notices became more frequent;

some laughed, some hissed, some turned their heads and smiled, some wondered who he was, some ran along

the pavement by his side and cheered. When this happened in a crush of carts and chairs and coaches, he

would make a dead stop, and pulling off his hat, cry, 'Gentlemen, No Popery!' to which the gentlemen would

respond with lusty voices, and with three times three; and then, on he would go again with a score or so of the

raggedest, following at his horse's heels, and shouting till their throats were parched.

The old ladies toothere were a great many old ladies in the streets, and these all knew him. Some of

themnot those of the highest rank, but such as sold fruit from baskets and carried burdensclapped their

shrivelled hands, and raised a weazen, piping, shrill 'Hurrah, my lord.' Others waved their hands or

handkerchiefs, or shook their fans or parasols, or threw up windows and called in haste to those within, to

come and see. All these marks of popular esteem, he received with profound gravity and respect; bowing very

low, and so frequently that his hat was more off his head than on; and looking up at the houses as he passed

along, with the air of one who was making a public entry, and yet was not puffed up or proud.

So they rode (to the deep and unspeakable disgust of John Grueby) the whole length of Whitechapel,

Leadenhall Street, and Cheapside, and into St Paul's Churchyard. Arriving close to the cathedral, he halted;

spoke to Gashford; and looking upward at its lofty dome, shook his head, as though he said, 'The Church in

Danger!' Then to be sure, the bystanders stretched their throats indeed; and he went on again with mighty

So along the Strand, up Swallow Street, into the Oxford Road, and thence to his house in Welbeck Street,

near Cavendish Square, whither he was attended by a few dozen idlers; of whom he took leave on the steps

with this brief parting, 'Gentlemen, No Popery. Good day. God bless you.' This being rather a shorter address

than they expected, was received with some displeasure, and cries of 'A speech! a speech!' which might have

been complied with, but that John Grueby, making a mad charge upon them with all three horses, on his way

to the stables, caused them to disperse into the adjoining fields, where they presently fell to pitch and toss,

In the afternoon Lord George came forth again, dressed in a black velvet coat, and trousers and waistcoat of

the Gordon plaid, all of the same Quaker cut; and in this costume, which made him look a dozen times more

strange and singular than before, went down on foot to Westminster. Gashford, meanwhile, bestirred himself

in business matters; with which he was still engaged when, shortly after dusk, John Grueby entered and

'Here! come in!' growled John to somebody without; 'You're a Protestant, an't you?'

'You've the looks of it,' said John Grueby. 'I'd have known you for one, anywhere.' With which remark he

The man who now confronted Gashford, was a squat, thickset personage, with a low, retreating forehead, a

coarse shock head of hair, and eyes so small and near together, that his broken nose alone seemed to prevent

their meeting and fusing into one of the usual size. A dingy handkerchief twisted like a cord about his neck,

left its great veins exposed to view, and they were swollen and starting, as though with gulping down strong

passions, malice, and illwill. His dress was of threadbare velveteena faded, rusty, whitened black, like the

ashes of a pipe or a coal fire after a day's extinction; discoloured with the soils of many a stale debauch, and

reeking yet with pothouse odours. In lieu of buckles at his knees, he wore unequal loops of packthread; and

in his grimy hands he held a knotted stick, the knob of which was carved into a rough likeness of his own vile

face. Such was the visitor who doffed his threecornered hat in Gashford's presence, and waited, leering, for

'I see my lord down yonder' cried the man, with a jerk of his thumb towards the quarter that he spoke of,

'and he says to me, says my lord, "If you've nothing to do, Dennis, go up to my house and talk with Muster

Gashford." Of course I'd nothing to do, you know. These an't my working hours. Ha ha! I was ataking the

air when I see my lord, that's what I was doing. I takes the air by night, as the howls does, Muster Gashford.'

And sometimes in the daytime, eh?' said the secretary'when you go out in state, you know.'

'Ha ha!' roared the fellow, smiting his leg; 'for a gentleman as 'ull say a pleasant thing in a pleasant way, give

me Muster Gashford agin' all London and Westminster! My lord an't a bad 'un at that, but he's a fool to you.

'And have your carriage,' said the secretary; 'and your chaplain, eh? and all the rest of it?'

'You'll be the death of me,' cried Dennis, with another roar, 'you will. But what's in the wind now, Muster

Gashford,' he asked hoarsely, 'Eh? Are we to be under orders to pull down one of them Popish chapelsor

'Hush!' said the secretary, suffering the faintest smile to play upon his face. 'Hush! God bless me, Dennis! We

'I know, bless you,' returned the man, thrusting his tongue into his cheek; 'I entered a' purpose, didn't I!'

'No doubt,' said Gashford, smiling as before. And when he said so, Dennis roared again, and smote his leg

still harder, and falling into fits of laughter, wiped his eyes with the corner of his neckerchief, and cried,

'Lord George and I were talking of you last night,' said Gashford, after a pause. 'He says you are a very

'So I do,' and he confirmed it with a good round oath. 'Lookye here, Muster Gashford,' said the fellow, laying

his hat and stick upon the floor, and slowly beating the palm of one hand with the fingers of the other;

'Observe. I'm a constitutional officer that works for my living, and does my work creditable. Do I, or do I

'Very good. Stop a minute. My work, is sound, Protestant, constitutional, English work. Is it, or is it not?'

'Nor dead neither. Parliament says this heresays Parliament, "If any man, woman, or child, does anything

which goes again a certain number of our acts"how many hanging laws may there be at this present time,

'I don't exactly know how many,' replied Gashford, leaning back in his chair and yawning; 'a great number

'Well, say fifty. Parliament says, "If any man, woman, or child, does anything again any one of them fifty

acts, that man, woman, or child, shall be worked off by Dennis." George the Third steps in when they number

very strong at the end of a sessions, and says, "These are too many for Dennis. I'll have half for myself and

Dennis shall have half for himself;" and sometimes he throws me in one over that I don't expect, as he did

three year ago, when I got Mary Jones, a young woman of nineteen who come up to Tyburn with a infant at

her breast, and was worked off for taking a piece of cloth off the counter of a shop in Ludgate Hill, and

putting it down again when the shopman see her; and who had never done any harm before, and only tried to

do that, in consequence of her husband having been pressed three weeks previous, and she being left to beg,

with two young childrenas was proved upon the trial. Ha ha!Well! That being the law and the practice

'And in times to come,' pursued the hangman, 'if our grandsons should think of their grandfathers' times, and

find these things altered, they'll say, "Those were days indeed, and we've been going down hill ever since."

'Well then, look here,' said the hangman. 'If these Papists gets into power, and begins to boil and roast instead

of hang, what becomes of my work! If they touch my work that's a part of so many laws, what becomes of the

laws in general, what becomes of the religion, what becomes of the country!Did you ever go to church,

'Well,' said the ruffian, 'I've been oncetwice, counting the time I was christenedand when I heard the

Parliament prayed for, and thought how many new hanging laws they made every sessions, I considered that I

was prayed for. Now mind, Muster Gashford,' said the fellow, taking up his stick and shaking it with a

ferocious air, 'I mustn't have my Protestant work touched, nor this here Protestant state of things altered in no

degree, if I can help it; I mustn't have no Papists interfering with me, unless they come to be worked off in

course of law; I mustn't have no biling, no roasting, no fryingnothing but hanging. My lord may well call

me an earnest fellow. In support of the great Protestant principle of having plenty of that, I'll,' and here he

beat his club upon the ground, 'burn, fight, killdo anything you bid me, so that it's bold and

devilishthough the end of it was, that I got hung myself.There, Muster Gashford!'

He appropriately followed up this frequent prostitution of a noble word to the vilest purposes, by pouring out

in a kind of ecstasy at least a score of most tremendous oaths; then wiped his heated face upon his

Gashford had leant back in his chair, regarding him with eyes so sunken, and so shadowed by his heavy

brows, that for aught the hangman saw of them, he might have been stone blind. He remained smiling in

'You are indeed an earnest fellow, Dennisa most valuable fellow the staunchest man I know of in our

ranks. But you must calm yourself; you must be peaceful, lawful, mild as any lamb. I am sure you will be

'Ay, ay, we shall see, Muster Gashford, we shall see. You won't have to complain of me,' returned the other,

'I am sure I shall not,' said the secretary in the same mild tone, and with the same emphasis. 'We shall have,

we think, about next month, or May, when this Papist relief bill comes before the house, to convene our

whole body for the first time. My lord has thoughts of our walking in procession through the streetsjust as

an innocent display of strengthand accompanying our petition down to the door of the House of

'We shall have to draw up in divisions, our numbers being so large; and, I believe I may venture to say,'

resumed Gashford, affecting not to hear the interruption, 'though I have no direct instructions to that

effectthat Lord George has thought of you as an excellent leader for one of these parties. I have no doubt

'You would be cool, I know,' pursued the secretary, still smiling, and still managing his eyes so that he could

watch him closely, and really not be seen in turn, 'obedient to orders, and perfectly temperate. You would

'I'd lead them, Muster Gashford,'the hangman was beginning in a reckless way, when Gashford started

forward, laid his finger on his lips, and feigned to write, just as the door was opened by John Grueby.

'Some other room, John,' cried Gashford in his blandest voice. 'I am engaged just now.'

But John had brought this new visitor to the door, and he walked in unbidden, as the words were uttered;

The secretary put his hand before his eyes to shade them from the glare of the lamp, and for some moments

looked at Hugh with a frowning brow, as if he remembered to have seen him lately, but could not call to mind

where, or on what occasion. His uncertainty was very brief, for before Hugh had spoken a word, he said, as

'Ay, ay, I recollect. It's quite right, John, you needn't wait. Don't go, Dennis.'

'Yours, friend,' returned the secretary in his smoothest manner. 'What brings YOU here? We left nothing

Hugh gave a short laugh, and thrusting his hand into his breast, produced one of the handbills, soiled and

dirty from lying out of doors all night, which he laid upon the secretary's desk after flattening it upon his

'What is this!' said Gashford, turning it over with an air of perfectly natural surprise. 'Where did you get it

A little disconcerted by this reception, Hugh looked from the secretary to Dennis, who had risen and was

standing at the table too, observing the stranger by stealth, and seeming to derive the utmost satisfaction from

his manners and appearance. Considering himself silently appealed to by this action, Mr Dennis shook his

head thrice, as if to say of Gashford, 'No. He don't know anything at all about it. I know he don't. I'll take my

oath he don't;' and hiding his profile from Hugh with one long end of his frowzy neckerchief, nodded and

'It tells the man that finds it, to come here, don't it?' asked Hugh. 'I'm no scholar, myself, but I showed it to a

'It certainly does,' said Gashford, opening his eyes to their utmost width; 'really this is the most remarkable

circumstance I have ever known. How did you come by this piece of paper, my good friend?'

Whether Hugh heard him, or saw by his manner that he was being played upon, or perceived the secretary's

'Here!' he said, stretching out his hand and taking it back; 'never mind the bill, or what it says, or what it don't

say. You don't know anything about it, master,no more do I,no more does he,' glancing at Dennis. 'None

of us know what it means, or where it comes from: there's an end of that. Now I want to make one against the

Catholics, I'm a NoPopery man, and ready to be sworn in. That's what I've come here for.'

'Put him down on the roll, Muster Gashford,' said Dennis approvingly. 'That's the way to go to workright

'My sentiments all over!' rejoined the hangman. 'This is the sort of chap for my division, Muster Gashford.

Down with him, sir. Put him on the roll. I'd stand godfather to him, if he was to be christened in a bonfire,

With these and other expressions of confidence of the like flattering kind, Mr Dennis gave him a hearty slap

'It's all the same!' cried Dennis. 'It's all right. Down with him, Muster Gashford. Down with everybody, down

with everything! Hurrah for the Protestant religion! That's the time of day, Muster Gashford!'

The secretary regarded them both with a very favourable expression of countenance, while they gave loose to

these and other demonstrations of their patriotic purpose; and was about to make some remark aloud, when

Dennis, stepping up to him, and shading his mouth with his hand, said, in a hoarse whisper, as he nudged him

'Don't split upon a constitutional officer's profession, Muster Gashford. There are popular prejudices, you

know, and he mightn't like it. Wait till he comes to be more intimate with me. He's a finebuilt chap, an't he?'

'Did you ever, Muster Gashford,' whispered Dennis, with a horrible kind of admiration, such as that with

which a cannibal might regard his intimate friend, when hungry,'did you everand here he drew still

closer to his ear, and fenced his mouth with both his open bands'see such a throat as his? Do but cast your

The secretary assented to this proposition with the best grace he could assumeit is difficult to feign a true

professional relish: which is eccentric sometimesand after asking the candidate a few unimportant

questions, proceeded to enrol him a member of the Great Protestant Association of England. If anything

could have exceeded Mr Dennis's joy on the happy conclusion of this ceremony, it would have been the

rapture with which he received the announcement that the new member could neither read nor write: those

two arts being (as Mr Dennis swore) the greatest possible curse a civilised community could know, and

militating more against the professional emoluments and usefulness of the great constitutional office he had

the honour to hold, than any adverse circumstances that could present themselves to his imagination.

The enrolment being completed, and Hugh having been informed by Gashford, in his peculiar manner, of the

peaceful and strictly lawful objects contemplated by the body to which he now belonged during which

recital Mr Dennis nudged him very much with his elbow, and made divers remarkable facesthe secretary

gave them both to understand that he desired to be alone. Therefore they took their leaves without delay, and

'That's social,' said his new friend. 'Which way shall we take? Shall we go and have a look at doors that we

Hugh answering in the affirmative, they went slowly down to Westminster, where both houses of Parliament

were then sitting. Mingling in the crowd of carriages, horses, servants, chairmen, linkboys, porters, and

idlers of all kinds, they lounged about; while Hugh's new friend pointed out to him significantly the weak

parts of the building, how easy it was to get into the lobby, and so to the very door of the House of

Commons; and how plainly, when they marched down there in grand array, their roars and shouts would be

heard by the members inside; with a great deal more to the same purpose, all of which Hugh received with

He told him, too, who some of the Lords and Commons were, by name, as they came in and out; whether

they were friendly to the Papists or otherwise; and bade him take notice of their liveries and equipages, that

he might be sure of them, in case of need. Sometimes he drew him close to the windows of a passing

carriage, that he might see its master's face by the light of the lamps; and, both in respect of people and

localities, he showed so much acquaintance with everything around, that it was plain he had often studied

there before; as indeed, when they grew a little more confidential, he confessed he had.

Perhaps the most striking part of all this was, the number of peoplenever in groups of more than two or

three togetherwho seemed to be skulking about the crowd for the same purpose. To the greater part of

these, a slight nod or a look from Hugh's companion was sufficient greeting; but, now and then, some man

would come and stand beside him in the throng, and, without turning his head or appearing to communicate

with him, would say a word or two in a low voice, which he would answer in the same cautious manner.

Then they would part, like strangers. Some of these men often reappeared again unexpectedly in the crowd

close to Hugh, and, as they passed by, pressed his hand, or looked him sternly in the face; but they never

It was remarkable, too, that whenever they happened to stand where there was any press of people, and Hugh

chanced to be looking downward, he was sure to see an arm stretched outunder his own perhaps, or

perhaps across himwhich thrust some paper into the hand or pocket of a bystander, and was so suddenly

withdrawn that it was impossible to tell from whom it came; nor could he see in any face, on glancing

quickly round, the least confusion or surprise. They often trod upon a paper like the one he carried in his

breast, but his companion whispered him not to touch it or to take it up,not even to look towards it,so

When they had paraded the street and all the avenues of the building in this manner for near two hours, they

turned away, and his friend asked him what he thought of what he had seen, and whether he was prepared for

a good hot piece of work if it should come to that. The hotter the better,' said Hugh, 'I'm prepared for

anything.''So am I,' said his friend, 'and so are many of us; and they shook hands upon it with a great oath,

As they were thirsty by this time, Dennis proposed that they should repair together to The Boot, where there

was good company and strong liquor. Hugh yielding a ready assent, they bent their steps that way with no

This Boot was a lone house of public entertainment, situated in the fields at the back of the Foundling

Hospital; a very solitary spot at that period, and quite deserted after dark. The tavern stood at some distance

from any high road, and was approachable only by a dark and narrow lane; so that Hugh was much surprised

to find several people drinking there, and great merriment going on. He was still more surprised to find

among them almost every face that had caught his attention in the crowd; but his companion having

whispered him outside the door, that it was not considered good manners at The Boot to appear at all curious

Before putting his lips to the liquor which was brought for them, Dennis drank in a loud voice the health of

Lord George Gordon, President of the Great Protestant Association; which toast Hugh pledged likewise, with

corresponding enthusiasm. A fiddler who was present, and who appeared to act as the appointed minstrel of

the company, forthwith struck up a Scotch reel; and that in tones so invigorating, that Hugh and his friend

(who had both been drinking before) rose from their seats as by previous concert, and, to the great admiration

The applause which the performance of Hugh and his new friend elicited from the company at The Boot, had

not yet subsided, and the two dancers were still panting from their exertions, which had been of a rather

extreme and violent character, when the party was reinforced by the arrival of some more guests, who, being

a detachment of United Bulldogs, were received with very flattering marks of distinction and respect.

The leader of this small partyfor, including himself, they were but three in numberwas our old

acquaintance, Mr Tappertit, who seemed, physically speaking, to have grown smaller with years (particularly

as to his legs, which were stupendously little), but who, in a moral point of view, in personal dignity and

selfesteem, had swelled into a giant. Nor was it by any means difficult for the most unobservant person to

detect this state of feeling in the quondam 'prentice, for it not only proclaimed itself impressively and beyond

mistake in his majestic walk and kindling eye, but found a striking means of revelation in his turnedup nose,

which scouted all things of earth with deep disdain, and sought communion with its kindred skies.

Mr Tappertit, as chief or captain of the Bulldogs, was attended by his two lieutenants; one, the tall comrade

of his younger life; the other, a 'Prentice Knight in days of yoreMark Gilbert, bound in the olden time to

Thomas Curzon of the Golden Fleece. These gentlemen, like himself, were now emancipated from their

'prentice thraldom, and served as journeymen; but they were, in humble emulation of his great example, bold

and daring spirits, and aspired to a distinguished state in great political events. Hence their connection with

the Protestant Association of England, sanctioned by the name of Lord George Gordon; and hence their

'Gentlemen!' said Mr Tappertit, taking off his hat as a great general might in addressing his troops. 'Well met.

'My duty called me to the Lobby when our shop shut up; and I saw him there, sir,' Mr Tappertit replied, as he

'Lively, master, lively,' said the fellow. 'Here's a new brother, regularly put down in black and white by

Muster Gashford; a credit to the cause; one of the stickatnothing sort; one arter my own heart. D'ye see

him? Has he got the looks of a man that'll do, do you think?' he cried, as he slapped Hugh on the back.

'Looks or no looks,' said Hugh, with a drunken flourish of his arm, 'I'm the man you want. I hate the Papists,

every one of 'em. They hate me and I hate them. They do me all the harm they can, and I'll do them all the

'Was there ever,' said Dennis, looking round the room, when the echo of his boisterous voice bad died away;

'was there ever such a game boy! Why, I mean to say, brothers, that if Muster Gashford had gone a hundred

mile and got together fifty men of the common run, they wouldn't have been worth this one.'

The greater part of the company implicitly subscribed to this opinion, and testified their faith in Hugh by

nods and looks of great significance. Mr Tappertit sat and contemplated him for a long time in silence, as if

he suspended his judgment; then drew a little nearer to him, and eyed him over more carefully; then went

'It's like you may,' said Hugh, in his careless way. 'I don't know; shouldn't wonder.'

'No, but it's very easily settled,' returned Sim. 'Look at me. Did you ever see ME before? You wouldn't be

likely to forget it, you know, if you ever did. Look at me. Don't be afraid; I won't do you any harm. Take a

The encouraging way in which Mr Tappertit made this request, and coupled it with an assurance that he

needn't be frightened, amused Hugh mightilyso much indeed, that be saw nothing at all of the small man

before him, through closing his eyes in a fit of hearty laughter, which shook his great broad sides until they

'Come!' said Mr Tappertit, growing a little impatient under this disrespectful treatment. 'Do you know me,

'And yet I'd have wagered a sevenshilling piece," said Mr Tappertit, folding his arms, and confronting him

with his legs wide apart and firmly planted on the ground, 'that you once were hostler at the Maypole.'

'And so you were, too,' said Mr Tappertit, pushing him away with a condescending playfulness. 'When did

'An't it?' said Mr Tappertit. 'Are you sure of that? You remember G. Varden, don't you?'

Certainly Hugh did, and he remembered D. Varden too; but that he didn't tell him.

'You remember coming down there, before I was out of my time, to ask after a vagabond that had bolted off,

and left his disconsolate father a prey to the bitterest emotions, and all the rest of it don't you?' said Mr

'Saw me there!' said Mr Tappertit. 'Yes, I should think you did see me there. The place would be troubled to

go on without me. Don't you remember my thinking you liked the vagabond, and on that account going to

quarrel with you; and then finding you detested him worse than poison, going to drink with you? Don't you

'You speak like a man,' said Mr Tappertit, 'and I'll shake hands with you.' With these conciliatory expressions

he suited the action to the word; and Hugh meeting his advances readily, they performed the ceremony with a

'I find,' said Mr Tappertit, looking round on the assembled guests, 'that brother What'shisname and I are

'Not a syllable,' replied Hugh. 'I never want to. I don't believe I ever shall. He's dead long ago, I hope.'

'It's to be hoped, for the sake of mankind in general and the happiness of society, that he is,' said Mr

Tappertit, rubbing his palm upon his legs, and looking at it between whiles. 'Is your other hand at all cleaner?

Much the same. Well, I'll owe you another shake. We'll suppose it done, if you've no objection.'

Hugh laughed again, and with such thorough abandonment to his mad humour, that his limbs seemed

dislocated, and his whole frame in danger of tumbling to pieces; but Mr Tappertit, so far from receiving this

extreme merriment with any irritation, was pleased to regard it with the utmost favour, and even to join in it,

so far as one of his gravity and station could, with any regard to that decency and decorum which men in high

Mr Tappertit did not stop here, as many public characters might have done, but calling up his brace of

lieutenants, introduced Hugh to them with high commendation; declaring him to be a man who, at such times

as those in which they lived, could not be too much cherished. Further, he did him the honour to remark, that

he would be an acquisition of which even the United Bulldogs might be proud; and finding, upon sounding

him, that he was quite ready and willing to enter the society (for he was not at all particular, and would have

leagued himself that night with anything, or anybody, for any purpose whatsoever), caused the necessary

preliminaries to be gone into upon the spot. This tribute to his great merit delighted no man more than Mr

Dennis, as he himself proclaimed with several rare and surprising oaths; and indeed it gave unmingled

'Make anything you like of me!' cried Hugh, flourishing the can he had emptied more than once. 'Put me on

any duty you please. I'm your man. I'll do it. Here's my captainhere's my leader. Ha ha ha! Let him give me

the word of command, and I'll fight the whole Parliament House singlehanded, or set a lighted torch to the

King's Throne itself!' With that, he smote Mr Tappertit on the back, with such violence that his little body

seemed to shrink into a mere nothing; and roared again until the very foundlings near at hand were startled in

In fact, a sense of something whimsical in their companionship seemed to have taken entire possession of his

rude brain. The bare fact of being patronised by a great man whom he could have crushed with one hand,

appeared in his eyes so eccentric and humorous, that a kind of ferocious merriment gained the mastery over

him, and quite subdued his brutal nature. He roared and roared again; toasted Mr Tappertit a hundred times;

declared himself a Bulldog to the core; and vowed to be faithful to him to the last drop of blood in his veins.

All these compliments Mr Tappertit received as matters of course flattering enough in their way, but

entirely attributable to his vast superiority. His dignified selfpossession only delighted Hugh the more; and

in a word, this giant and dwarf struck up a friendship which bade fair to be of long continuance, as the one

held it to be his right to command, and the other considered it an exquisite pleasantry to obey. Nor was Hugh

by any means a passive follower, who scrupled to act without precise and definite orders; for when Mr

Tappertit mounted on an empty cask which stood by way of rostrum in the room, and volunteered a speech

upon the alarming crisis then at hand, he placed himself beside the orator, and though he grinned from ear to

ear at every word he said, threw out such expressive hints to scoffers in the management of his cudgel, that

those who were at first the most disposed to interrupt, became remarkably attentive, and were the loudest in

It was not all noise and jest, however, at The Boot, nor were the whole party listeners to the speech. There

were some men at the other end of the room (which was a long, lowroofed chamber) in earnest conversation

all the time; and when any of this group went out, fresh people were sure to come in soon afterwards and sit

down in their places, as though the others had relieved them on some watch or duty; which it was pretty clear

they did, for these changes took place by the clock, at intervals of half an hour. These persons whispered very

much among themselves, and kept aloof, and often looked round, as jealous of their speech being overheard;

some two or three among them entered in books what seemed to be reports from the others; when they were

not thus employed) one of them would turn to the newspapers which were strewn upon the table, and from

the St James's Chronicle, the Herald, Chronicle, or Public Advertiser, would read to the rest in a low voice

some passage having reference to the topic in which they were all so deeply interested. But the great

attraction was a pamphlet called The Thunderer, which espoused their own opinions, and was supposed at

that time to emanate directly from the Association. This was always in request; and whether read aloud, to an

eager knot of listeners, or by some solitary man, was certain to be followed by stormy talking and excited

In the midst of all his merriment, and admiration of his captain, Hugh was made sensible by these and other

tokens, of the presence of an air of mystery, akin to that which had so much impressed him out of doors. It

was impossible to discard a sense that something serious was going on, and that under the noisy revel of the

public house, there lurked unseen and dangerous matter. Little affected by this, however, he was perfectly

satisfied with his quarters and would have remained there till morning, but that his conductor rose soon after

midnight, to go home; Mr Tappertit following his example, left him no excuse to stay. So they all three left

the house together: roaring a NoPopery song until the fields resounded with the dismal noise.

Cheer up, captain!' cried Hugh, when they had roared themselves out of breath. 'Another stave!'

Mr Tappertit, nothing loath, began again; and so the three went staggering on, arminarm, shouting like

madmen, and defying the watch with great valour. Indeed this did not require any unusual bravery or

boldness, as the watchmen of that time, being selected for the office on account of excessive age and

extraordinary infirmity, had a custom of shutting themselves up tight in their boxes on the first symptoms of

disturbance, and remaining there until they disappeared. In these proceedings, Mr Dennis, who had a gruff

voice and lungs of considerable power, distinguished himself very much, and acquired great credit with his

'What a queer fellow you are!' said Mr Tappertit. 'You're so precious sly and close. Why don't you ever tell

'Answer the captain instantly,' cried Hugh, beating his hat down on his head; 'why don't you ever tell what

'I'm of as genteel a calling, brother, as any man in Englandas light a business as any gentleman could

'No. Natural genius,' said Mr Dennis. 'No 'prenticing. It come by natur'. Muster Gashford knows my calling.

Look at that hand of minemany and many a job that hand has done, with a neatness and dexterity, never

known afore. When I look at that hand,' said Mr Dennis, shaking it in the air, 'and remember the helegant bits

of work it has turned off, I feel quite molloncholy to think it should ever grow old and feeble. But sich is life!'

He heaved a deep sigh as he indulged in these reflections, and putting his fingers with an absent air on Hugh's

throat, and particularly under his left ear, as if he were studying the anatomical development of that part of

'Yes,' rejoined Dennis; 'yesI may call myself a artista fancy workmanart improves natur'that's my

'And what do you call this?' said Mr Tappertit taking his stick out of his hand.

'I!' repeated Dennis, gazing fondly on his image. 'I wish I had the talent. That was carved by a friend of mine,

as is now no more. The very day afore he died, he cut that with his pocket knife from memory! "I'll die

game," says my friend, "and my last moments shall be dewoted to making Dennis's picter." That's it.'

'It WAS a queer fancy,' rejoined the other, breathing on his fictitious nose, and polishing it with the cuff of

his coat, 'but he was a queer subject altogethera kind of gipsyone of the finest, standup men, you ever

see. Ah! He told me some things that would startle you a bit, did that friend of mine, on the morning when he

'Yes,' he answered with a curious look, 'I was there. Oh! yes certainly, I was there. He wouldn't have gone off

half as comfortable without me. I had been with three or four of his family under the same circumstances.

'They must have been fond of you,' remarked Mr Tappertit, looking at him sideways.

'I don't know that they was exactly fond of me,' said Dennis, with a little hesitation, 'but they all had me near

'em when they departed. I come in for their wardrobes too. This very handkecher that you see round my neck,

Mr Tappertit glanced at the article referred to, and appeared to think that the deceased's ideas of dress were of

a peculiar and by no means an expensive kind. He made no remark upon the point, however, and suffered his

'These smalls,' said Dennis, rubbing his legs; 'these very smalls they belonged to a friend of mine that's left

off sich incumbrances for ever: this coat tooI've often walked behind this coat, in the street, and wondered

whether it would ever come to me: this pair of shoes have danced a hornpipe for another man, afore my eyes,

full halfadozen times at least: and as to my hat,' he said, taking it off, and whirling it round upon his

fist'Lord! I've seen this hat go up Holborn on the box of a hackneycoachah, many and many a day!'

'You don't mean to say their old wearers are ALL dead, I hope?' said Mr Tappertit, falling a little distance

There was something so very ghastly in this circumstance, and it appeared to account, in such a very strange

and dismal manner, for his faded dresswhich, in this new aspect, seemed discoloured by the earth from

gravesthat Mr Tappertit abruptly found he was going another way, and, stopping short, bade him good

night with the utmost heartiness. As they happened to be near the Old Bailey, and Mr Dennis knew there

were turnkeys in the lodge with whom he could pass the night, and discuss professional subjects of common

interest among them before a rousing fire, and over a social glass, he separated from his companions without

any great regret, and warmly shaking hands with Hugh, and making an early appointment for their meeting at

'That's a strange sort of man,' said Mr Tappertit, watching the hackneycoachman's hat as it went bobbing

down the street. 'I don't know what to make of him. Why can't he have his smalls made to order, or wear live

'He's a lucky man, captain,' cried Hugh. 'I should like to have such friends as his.'

'I hope he don't get 'em to make their wills, and then knock 'em on the head,' said Mr Tappertit, musing. 'But

'I quite forgot,' said Hugh, who had started at the striking of a neighbouring clock. 'I have somebody to see

tonightI must turn back directly. The drinking and singing put it out of my head. It's well I remembered

Mr Tappertit looked at him as though he were about to give utterance to some very majestic sentiments in

reference to this act of desertion, but as it was clear, from Hugh's hasty manner, that the engagement was one

of a pressing nature, he graciously forbore, and gave him his permission to depart immediately, which Hugh

'England in blood first!' cried his desperate leader. Whereat Hugh cheered and laughed, and ran off like a

'That man will prove a credit to my corps,' said Simon, turning thoughtfully upon his heel. 'And let me see. In

an altered state of societywhich must ensue if we break out and are victorious when the locksmith's

child is mine, Miggs must be got rid of somehow, or she'll poison the teakettle one evening when I'm out.

He might marry Miggs, if he was drunk enough. It shall be done. I'll make a note of it.'

Little thinking of the plan for his happy settlement in life which had suggested itself to the teeming brain of

his provident commander, Hugh made no pause until Saint Dunstan's giants struck the hour above him, when

he worked the handle of a pump which stood hard by, with great vigour, and thrusting his head under the

spout, let the water gush upon him until a little stream ran down from every uncombed hair, and he was wet

to the waist. Considerably refreshed by this ablution, both in mind and body, and almost sobered for the time,

he dried himself as he best could; then crossed the road, and plied the knocker of the Middle Temple gate.

The nightporter looked through a small grating in the portal with a surly eye, and cried 'Halloa!' which

After a little growling on the other side, the gate was opened, and he passed in: undergoing a close inspection

Eyeing him with suspicious looks, the man, with key and lantern, walked on at his side, and attended him to

Sir John Chester's door, at which Hugh gave one knock, that echoed through the dark staircase like a ghostly

Before the man had time to answer, a footstep was heard within, a light appeared, and Sir John, in his

'I ask your pardon, Sir John,' said the porter, pulling off his hat. 'Here's a young man says he wants to speak to

'Aha!' cried Sir John, raising his eyebrows. 'It's you, messenger, is it? Go in. Quite right, friend. I commend

To be commended, thanked, Godblessed, and bade good night by one who carried 'Sir' before his name, and

wrote himself M.P. to boot, was something for a porter. He withdrew with much humility and reverence. Sir

John followed his late visitor into the dressing room, and sitting in his easychair before the fire, and

moving it so that he could see him as he stood, hat in hand, beside the door, looked at him from head to foot.

The old face, calm and pleasant as ever; the complexion, quite juvenile in its bloom and clearness; the same

smile; the wonted precision and elegance of dress; the white, wellordered teeth; the delicate hands; the

composed and quiet manner; everything as it used to be: no mark of age or passion, envy, hate, or discontent:

He wrote himself M.P.but how? Why, thus. It was a proud family more proud, indeed, than wealthy. He

had stood in danger of arrest; of bailiffs, and a jaila vulgar jail, to which the common people with small

incomes went. Gentlemen of ancient houses have no privilege of exemption from such cruel lawsunless

they are of one great house, and then they have. A proud man of his stock and kindred had the means of

sending him there. He offerednot indeed to pay his debts, but to let him sit for a close borough until his

own son came of age, which, if he lived, would come to pass in twenty years. It was quite as good as an

Insolvent Act, and infinitely more genteel. So Sir John Chester was a member of Parliament.

But how Sir John? Nothing so simple, or so easy. One touch with a sword of state, and the transformation

was effected. John Chester, Esquire, M.P., attended courtwent up with an addressheaded a deputation.

Such elegance of manner, so many graces of deportment, such powers of conversation, could never pass

unnoticed. Mr was too common for such merit. A man so gentlemanly should have been but Fortune is

capriciousborn a Duke: just as some dukes should have been born labourers. He caught the fancy of the

king, knelt down a grub, and rose a butterfly. John Chester, Esquire, was knighted and became Sir John.

'I thought when you left me this evening, my esteemed acquaintance,' said Sir John after a pretty long silence,

'And so you have?' he retorted, glancing at his watch. 'Is that what you would say?'

Instead of replying, Hugh changed the leg on which he leant, shuffled his cap from one hand to the other,

looked at the ground, the wall, the ceiling, and finally at Sir John himself; before whose pleasant face he

'And how have you been employing yourself in the meanwhile?' quoth Sir John, lazily crossing his legs.

'No harm at all, master,' growled Hugh, with humility. 'I have only done as you ordered.'

'Well then,' said Hugh uneasily, 'as you advised, or said I ought, or said I might, or said that you would do, if

Something like an expression of triumph in the perfect control he had established over this rough instrument

appeared in the knight's face for an instant; but it vanished directly, as he saidparing his nails while

'When you say I ordered you, my good fellow, you imply that I directed you to do something for

mesomething I wanted done something for my own ends and purposesyou see? Now I am sure I

needn't enlarge upon the extreme absurdity of such an idea, however unintentional; so please' and here he

'I meant to give you no offence,' said Hugh. 'I don't know what to say. You catch me up so very short.'

'You will be caught up much shorter, my good friendinfinitely shorterone of these days, depend upon it,'

replied his patron calmly. 'Bythebye, instead of wondering why you have been so long, my wonder should

'You know, master,' said Hugh, 'that I couldn't read the bill I found, and that supposing it to be something

'No one that I could trust with secrets, master. Since Barnaby Rudge was lost sight of for good and alland

'I have come to and fro, master, all through that time, when there was anything to tell, because I knew that

you'd be angry with me if I stayed away,' said Hugh, blurting the words out, after an embarrassed silence;

'and because I wished to please you if I could, and not to have you go against me. There. That's the true

'You are a specious fellow,' returned Sir John, fixing his eyes upon him, 'and carry two faces under your

hood, as well as the best. Didn't you give me in this room, this evening, any other reason; no dislike of

anybody who has slighted you lately, on all occasions, abused you, treated you with rudeness; acted towards

'To be sure I did!' cried Hugh, his passion rising, as the other meant it should; 'and I say it all over now, again.

I'd do anything to have some revenge on himanything. And when you told me that he and all the Catholics

would suffer from those who joined together under that handbill, I said I'd make one of 'em, if their master

was the devil himself. I AM one of 'em. See whether I am as good as my word and turn out to be among the

foremost, or no. I mayn't have much head, master, but I've head enough to remember those that use me ill.

You shall see, and so shall he, and so shall hundreds more, how my spirit backs me when the time comes. My

bark is nothing to my bite. Some that I know had better have a wild lion among 'em than me, when I am fairly

The knight looked at him with a smile of far deeper meaning than ordinary; and pointing to the old cupboard,

followed him with his eyes while he filled and drank a glass of liquor; and smiled when his back was turned,

'You are in a blustering mood, my friend,' he said, when Hugh confronted him again.

'Not I, master!' cried Hugh. 'I don't say half I mean. I can't. I haven't got the gift. There are talkers enough

'Oh! you have joined those fellows then?' said Sir John, with an air of most profound indifference.

'Yes. I went up to the house you told me of; and got put down upon the muster. There was another man there,

'So I have heard,' replied Sir John, carelessly. 'You don't happen to know his trade, do you?'

'Ha ha!' laughed Sir John. 'A strange fancya weakness with some personsyou'll know it one day, I dare

'Quite natural! And have been drinking together, eh?' pursued Sir John. 'Did you say what place you went to

Hugh had not said or thought of saying, but he told him; and this inquiry being followed by a long train of

questions, he related all that had passed both in and out of doors, the kind of people he had seen, their

numbers, state of feeling, mode of conversation, apparent expectations and intentions. His questioning was so

artfully contrived, that he seemed even in his own eyes to volunteer all this information rather than to have it

wrested from him; and he was brought to this state of feeling so naturally, that when Mr Chester yawned at

length and declared himself quite wearied out, he made a rough kind of excuse for having talked so much.

'Thereget you gone,' said Sir John, holding the door open in his hand. 'You have made a pretty evening's

work. I told you not to do this. You may get into trouble. You'll have an opportunity of revenging yourself on

your proud friend Haredale, though, and for that, you'd hazard anything, I suppose?'

'I would,' retorted Hugh, stopping in his passage out and looking back; 'but what do I risk! What do I stand a

chance of losing, master? Friends, home? A fig for 'em all; I have none; they are nothing to me. Give me a

good scuffle; let me pay off old scores in a bold riot where there are men to stand by me; and then use me as

'Drop it again as you go along; it's as well not to keep such things about you.'

Hugh nodded, and touching his cap with an air of as much respect as he could summon up, departed.

Sir John, fastening the doors behind him, went back to his dressingroom, and sat down once again before

'This happens fortunately,' he said, breaking into a smile, 'and promises well. Let me see. My relative and I,

who are the most Protestant fellows in the world, give our worst wishes to the Roman Catholic cause; and to

Saville, who introduces their bill, I have a personal objection besides; but as each of us has himself for the

first article in his creed, we cannot commit ourselves by joining with a very extravagant madman, such as this

Gordon most undoubtedly is. Now really, to foment his disturbances in secret, through the medium of such a

very apt instrument as my savage friend here, may further our real ends; and to express at all becoming

seasons, in moderate and polite terms, a disapprobation of his proceedings, though we agree with him in

principle, will certainly be to gain a character for honesty and uprightness of purpose, which cannot fail to do

us infinite service, and to raise us into some importance. Good! So much for public grounds. As to private

considerations, I confess that if these vagabonds WOULD make some riotous demonstration (which does not

appear impossible), and WOULD inflict some little chastisement on Haredale as a not inactive man among

his sect, it would be extremely agreeable to my feelings, and would amuse me beyond measure. Good again!

When he came to this point, he took a pinch of snuff; then beginning slowly to undress, he resumed his

'I fear, I DO fear exceedingly, that my friend is following fast in the footsteps of his mother. His intimacy

with Mr Dennis is very ominous. But I have no doubt he must have come to that end any way. If I lend him a

helping hand, the only difference is, that he may, upon the whole, possibly drink a few gallons, or puncheons,

or hogsheads, less in this life than he otherwise would. It's no business of mine. It's a matter of very small

From the workshop of the Golden Key, there issued forth a tinkling sound, so merry and goodhumoured,

that it suggested the idea of some one working blithely, and made quite pleasant music. No man who

hammered on at a dull monotonous duty, could have brought such cheerful notes from steel and iron; none

but a chirping, healthy, honesthearted fellow, who made the best of everything, and felt kindly towards

everybody, could have done it for an instant. He might have been a coppersmith, and still been musical. If he

had sat in a jolting waggon, full of rods of iron, it seemed as if he would have brought some harmony out of

Tink, tink, tinkclear as a silver bell, and audible at every pause of the streets' harsher noises, as though it

said, 'I don't care; nothing puts me out; I am resolved to he happy.' Women scolded, children squalled, heavy

carts went rumbling by, horrible cries proceeded from the lungs of hawkers; still it struck in again, no higher,

no lower, no louder, no softer; not thrusting itself on people's notice a bit the more for having been outdone

It was a perfect embodiment of the still small voice, free from all cold, hoarseness, huskiness, or

unhealthiness of any kind; foot passengers slackened their pace, and were disposed to linger near it;

neighbours who had got up splenetic that morning, felt good humour stealing on them as they heard it, and

by degrees became quite sprightly; mothers danced their babies to its ringing; still the same magical tink,

Who but the locksmith could have made such music! A gleam of sun shining through the unsashed window,

and chequering the dark workshop with a broad patch of light, fell full upon him, as though attracted by his

sunny heart. There he stood working at his anvil, his face all radiant with exercise and gladness, his sleeves

turned up, his wig pushed off his shining foreheadthe easiest, freest, happiest man in all the world. Beside

him sat a sleek cat, purring and winking in the light, and falling every now and then into an idle doze, as from

excess of comfort. Toby looked on from a tall bench hard by; one beaming smile, from his broad nutbrown

face down to the slackbaked buckles in his shoes. The very locks that hung around had something jovial in

their rust, and seemed like gouty gentlemen of hearty natures, disposed to joke on their infirmities. There was

nothing surly or severe in the whole scene. It seemed impossible that any one of the innumerable keys could

fit a churlish strongbox or a prisondoor. Cellars of beer and wine, rooms where there were fires, books,

gossip, and cheering laughter these were their proper sphere of action. Places of distrust and cruelty, and

Tink, tink, tink. The locksmith paused at last, and wiped his brow. The silence roused the cat, who, jumping

softly down, crept to the door, and watched with tiger eyes a birdcage in an opposite window. Gabriel lifted

Then, as he stood upright, with his head flung back, and his portly chest thrown out, you would have seen

that Gabriel's lower man was clothed in military gear. Glancing at the wall beyond, there might have been

espied, hanging on their several pegs, a cap and feather, broadsword, sash, and coat of scarlet; which any man

learned in such matters would have known from their make and pattern to be the uniform of a serjeant in the

As the locksmith put his mug down, empty, on the bench whence it had smiled on him before, he glanced at

these articles with a laughing eye, and looking at them with his head a little on one side, as though he would

'Time was, now, I remember, when I was like to run mad with the desire to wear a coat of that colour. If any

one (except my father) had called me a fool for my pains, how I should have fired and fumed! But what a fool

'Ah!' sighed Mrs Varden, who had entered unobserved. 'A fool indeed. A man at your time of life, Varden,

'Why, what a ridiculous woman you are, Martha,' said the locksmith, turning round with a smile.

'Certainly,' replied Mrs V. with great demureness. 'Of course I am. I know that, Varden. Thank you.'

'Yes,' said his wife, 'I know what you mean. You speak quite plain enough to be understood, Varden. It's very

'Tut, tut, Martha,' rejoined the locksmith; 'don't take offence at nothing. I mean, how strange it is of you to run

down volunteering, when it's done to defend you and all the other women, and our own fireside and

Mrs Varden looked at the ceiling, as in expectation that the consequence of this profanity would be the

immediate descent of the fourpost bedstead on the second floor, together with the best sittingroom on the

first; but no visible judgment occurring, she heaved a deep sigh, and begged her husband, in a tone of

resignation, to go on, and by all means to blaspheme as much as possible, because he knew she liked it.

The locksmith did for a moment seem disposed to gratify her, but he gave a great gulp, and mildly rejoined:

'I was going to say, what on earth do you call it unchristian for? Which would be most unchristian,

Marthato sit quietly down and let our houses be sacked by a foreign army, or to turn out like men and drive

'em off? Shouldn't I be a nice sort of a Christian, if I crept into a corner of my own chimney and looked on

When he said 'or you,' Mrs Varden, despite herself, relaxed into a smile. There was something complimentary

'As that!' repeated the locksmith. 'Well, that would be the state of things directly. Even Miggs would go.

Some black tambourine player, with a great turban on, would be bearing HER off, and, unless the

tambourineplayer was proof against kicking and scratching, it's my belief he'd have the worst of it. Ha ha

ha! I'd forgive the tambourineplayer. I wouldn't have him interfered with on any account, poor fellow.' And

here the locksmith laughed again so heartily, that tears came into his eyesmuch to Mrs Varden's

indignation, who thought the capture of so sound a Protestant and estimable a private character as Miggs by a

The picture Gabriel had drawn, indeed, threatened serious consequences, and would indubitably have led to

them, but luckily at that moment a light footstep crossed the threshold, and Dolly, running in, threw her arms

'Here she is at last!' cried Gabriel. 'And how well you look, Doll, and how late you are, my darling!'

How well she looked? Well? Why, if he had exhausted every laudatory adjective in the dictionary, it wouldn't

have been praise enough. When and where was there ever such a plump, roguish, comely, brighteyed,

enticing, bewitching, captivating, maddening little puss in all this world, as Dolly! What was the Dolly of

five years ago, to the Dolly of that day! How many coachmakers, saddlers, cabinetmakers, and professors of

other useful arts, had deserted their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and, most of all, their cousins, for the

love of her! How many unknown gentlemensupposed to be of mighty fortunes, if not titleshad waited

round the corner after dark, and tempted Miggs the incorruptible, with golden guineas, to deliver offers of

marriage folded up in loveletters! How many disconsolate fathers and substantial tradesmen had waited on

the locksmith for the same purpose, with dismal tales of how their sons had lost their appetites, and taken to

shut themselves up in dark bedrooms, and wandering in desolate suburbs with pale faces, and all because of

Dolly Varden's loveliness and cruelty! How many young men, in all previous times of unprecedented

steadiness, had turned suddenly wild and wicked for the same reason, and, in an ecstasy of unrequited love,

taken to wrench off doorknockers, and invert the boxes of rheumatic watchmen! How had she recruited the

king's service, both by sea and land, through rendering desperate his loving subjects between the ages of

eighteen and twentyfive! How many young ladies had publicly professed, with tears in their eyes, that for

their tastes she was much too short, too tall, too bold, too cold, too stout, too thin, too fair, too darktoo

everything but handsome! How many old ladies, taking counsel together, had thanked Heaven their daughters

were not like her, and had hoped she might come to no harm, and had thought she would come to no good,

and had wondered what people saw in her, and had arrived at the conclusion that she was 'going off' in her

looks, or had never come on in them, and that she was a thorough imposition and a popular mistake!

And yet here was this same Dolly Varden, so whimsical and hard to please that she was Dolly Varden still,

all smiles and dimples and pleasant looks, and caring no more for the fifty or sixty young fellows who at that

very moment were breaking their hearts to marry her, than if so many oysters had been crossed in love and

Dolly hugged her father as has been already stated, and having hugged her mother also, accompanied both

into the little parlour where the cloth was already laid for dinner, and where Miss Miggs a trifle more rigid

and bony than of yorereceived her with a sort of hysterical gasp, intended for a smile. Into the hands of

that young virgin, she delivered her bonnet and walking dress (all of a dreadful, artful, and designing kind),

and then said with a laugh, which rivalled the locksmith's music, 'How glad I always am to be at home again!'

'And how glad we always are, Doll,' said her father, putting back the dark hair from her sparkling eyes, 'to

If there had been anybody of the male kind there to see her do it but there was notit was a mercy.

'I don't like your being at the Warren,' said the locksmith, 'I can't bear to have you out of my sight. And what

'What news there is, I think you know already,' replied his daughter. 'I am sure you do though.'

'Come, come,' said Dolly, 'you know very well. I want you to tell me why Mr Haredaleoh, how gruff he is

again, to be sure!has been away from home for some days past, and why he is travelling about (we know

he IS travelling, because of his letters) without telling his own niece why or wherefore.'

'I don't know that,' said Dolly; 'but I do, at any rate. Do tell me. Why is he so secret, and what is this ghost

story, which nobody is to tell Miss Emma, and which seems to be mixed up with his going away? Now I see

'What the story means, or is, or has to do with it, I know no more than you, my dear,' returned the locksmith,

'except that it's some foolish fear of little Solomon'swhich has, indeed, no meaning in it, I suppose. As to

'As I believe,' resumed the locksmith, pinching her cheek, 'on business, Doll. What it may be, is quite another

matter. Read Blue Beard, and don't be too curious, pet; it's no business of yours or mine, depend upon that;

Dolly might have remonstrated against this summary dismissal of the subject, notwithstanding the appearance

of dinner, but at the mention of Blue Beard Mrs Varden interposed, protesting she could not find it in her

conscience to sit tamely by, and hear her child recommended to peruse the adventures of a Turk and

Mussulmanfar less of a fabulous Turk, which she considered that potentate to be. She held that, in such

stirring and tremendous times as those in which they lived, it would be much more to the purpose if Dolly

became a regular subscriber to the Thunderer, where she would have an opportunity of reading Lord George

Gordon's speeches word for word, which would be a greater comfort and solace to her, than a hundred and

fifty Blue Beards ever could impart. She appealed in support of this proposition to Miss Miggs, then in

waiting, who said that indeed the peace of mind she had derived from the perusal of that paper generally, but

especially of one article of the very last week as ever was, entitled 'Great Britain drenched in gore,' exceeded

all belief; the same composition, she added, had also wrought such a comforting effect on the mind of a

married sister of hers, then resident at Golden Lion Court, number twentysivin, second bellhandle on the

righthand doorpost, that, being in a delicate state of health, and in fact expecting an addition to her family,

she had been seized with fits directly after its perusal, and had raved of the Inquisition ever since; to the great

improvement of her husband and friends. Miss Miggs went on to say that she would recommend all those

whose hearts were hardened to hear Lord George themselves, whom she commended first, in respect of his

steady Protestantism, then of his oratory, then of his eyes, then of his nose, then of his legs, and lastly of his

figure generally, which she looked upon as fit for any statue, prince, or angel, to which sentiment Mrs Varden

Mrs Varden having cut in, looked at a box upon the mantelshelf, painted in imitation of a very redbrick

dwellinghouse, with a yellow roof; having at top a real chimney, down which voluntary subscribers dropped

their silver, gold, or pence, into the parlour; and on the door the counterfeit presentment of a brass plate,

whereon was legibly inscribed 'Protestant Association:'and looking at it, said, that it was to her a source of

poignant misery to think that Varden never had, of all his substance, dropped anything into that temple, save

once in secretas she afterwards discoveredtwo fragments of tobaccopipe, which she hoped would not

be put down to his last account. That Dolly, she was grieved to say, was no less backward in her

contributions, better loving, as it seemed, to purchase ribbons and such gauds, than to encourage the great

cause, then in such heavy tribulation; and that she did entreat her (her father she much feared could not be

moved) not to despise, but imitate, the bright example of Miss Miggs, who flung her wages, as it were, into

the very countenance of the Pope, and bruised his features with her quarter's money.

'Oh, mim,' said Miggs, 'don't relude to that. I had no intentions, mim, that nobody should know. Such

sacrifices as I can make, are quite a widder's mite. It's all I have,' cried Miggs with a great burst of tearsfor

with her they never came on by degrees'but it's made up to me in other ways; it's well made up.'

This was quite true, though not perhaps in the sense that Miggs intended. As she never failed to keep her

selfdenial full in Mrs Varden's view, it drew forth so many gifts of caps and gowns and other articles of

dress, that upon the whole the redbrick house was perhaps the best investment for her small capital she

could possibly have hit upon; returning her interest, at the rate of seven or eight per cent in money, and fifty

'You needn't cry, Miggs,' said Mrs Varden, herself in tears; 'you needn't be ashamed of it, though your poor

Miggs howled at this remark, in a peculiarly dismal way, and said she knowed that master hated her. That it

was a dreadful thing to live in families and have dislikes, and not give satisfactions. That to make divisions

was a thing she could not abear to think of, neither could her feelings let her do it. That if it was master's

wishes as she and him should part, it was best they should part, and she hoped he might be the happier for it,

and always wished him well, and that he might find somebody as would meet his dispositions. It would be a

hard trial, she said, to part from such a missis, but she could meet any suffering when her conscience told her

she was in the rights, and therefore she was willing even to go that lengths. She did not think, she added, that

she could long survive the separations, but, as she was hated and looked upon unpleasant, perhaps her dying

as soon as possible would be the best endings for all parties. With this affecting conclusion, Miss Miggs shed

'Can you bear this, Varden?' said his wife in a solemn voice, laying down her knife and fork.

'Why, not very well, my dear,' rejoined the locksmith, 'but I try to keep my temper.'

'Don't let there be words on my account, mim,' sobbed Miggs. 'It's much the best that we should part. I

wouldn't stayoh, gracious me!and make dissensions, not for a annual gold mine, and found in tea and

Lest the reader should be at any loss to discover the cause of Miss Miggs's deep emotion, it may be

whispered apart that, happening to be listening, as her custom sometimes was, when Gabriel and his wife

conversed together, she had heard the locksmith's joke relative to the foreign black who played the

tambourine, and bursting with the spiteful feelings which the taunt awoke in her fair breast, exploded in the

manner we have witnessed. Matters having now arrived at a crisis, the locksmith, as usual, and for the sake of

'What are you crying for, girl?' he said. 'What's the matter with you? What are you talking about hatred for? I

don't hate you; I don't hate anybody. Dry your eyes and make yourself agreeable, in Heaven's name, and let

The allied powers deeming it good generalship to consider this a sufficient apology on the part of the enemy,

and confession of having been in the wrong, did dry their eyes and take it in good part. Miss Miggs observed

that she bore no malice, no not to her greatest foe, whom she rather loved the more indeed, the greater

persecution she sustained. Mrs Varden approved of this meek and forgiving spirit in high terms, and

incidentally declared as a closing article of agreement, that Dolly should accompany her to the Clerkenwell

branch of the association, that very night. This was an extraordinary instance of her great prudence and

policy; having had this end in view from the first, and entertaining a secret misgiving that the locksmith (who

was bold when Dolly was in question) would object, she had backed Miss Miggs up to this point, in order

that she might have him at a disadvantage. The manoeuvre succeeded so well that Gabriel only made a wry

face, and with the warning he had just had, fresh in his mind, did not dare to say one word.

The difference ended, therefore, in Miggs being presented with a gown by Mrs Varden and halfacrown by

Dolly, as if she had eminently distinguished herself in the paths of morality and goodness. Mrs V., according

to custom, expressed her hope that Varden would take a lesson from what had passed and learn more

generous conduct for the time to come; and the dinner being now cold and nobody's appetite very much

improved by what had passed, they went on with it, as Mrs Varden said, 'like Christians.'

As there was to be a grand parade of the Royal East London Volunteers that afternoon, the locksmith did no

more work; but sat down comfortably with his pipe in his mouth, and his arm round his pretty daughter's

waist, looking lovingly on Mrs V., from time to time, and exhibiting from the crown of his head to the sole of

his foot, one smiling surface of good humour. And to be sure, when it was time to dress him in his

regimentals, and Dolly, hanging about him in all kinds of graceful winning ways, helped to button and buckle

and brush him up and get him into one of the tightest coats that ever was made by mortal tailor, he was the

'What a handy jade it is!' said the locksmith to Mrs Varden, who stood by with folded handsrather proud of

her husband toowhile Miggs held his cap and sword at arm's length, as if mistrusting that the latter might

run some one through the body of its own accord; 'but never marry a soldier, Doll, my dear.'

Dolly didn't ask why not, or say a word, indeed, but stooped her head down very low to tie his sash.

'I never wear this dress,' said honest Gabriel, 'but I think of poor Joe Willet. I loved Joe; he was always a

Dolly laughednot like herself at allthe strangest little laugh that could beand held her head down

'Poor Joe!' resumed the locksmith, muttering to himself; 'I always wish he had come to me. I might have

made it up between them, if he had. Ah! old John made a great mistake in his way of acting by that lada

What an illmade sash it was! There it was, loose again and trailing on the ground. Dolly was obliged to

'Never mind young Willet, Varden,' said his wife frowning; 'you might find some one more deserving to talk

'Nay, Martha,' cried the locksmith, 'don't let us bear too hard upon him. If the lad is dead indeed, we'll deal

'A runaway, my dear, but not a vagabond,' returned the locksmith in a gentle tone. 'He behaved himself well,

did Joealwaysand was a handsome, manly fellow. Don't call him a vagabond, Martha.'

'He tried hard to gain your good opinion, Martha, I can tell you,' said the locksmith smiling, and stroking his

chin. 'Ah! that he did. It seems but yesterday that he followed me out to the Maypole door one night, and

begged me not to say how like a boy they used himsay here, at home, he meant, though at the time, I

recollect, I didn't understand. "And how's Miss Dolly, sir?" says Joe,' pursued the locksmith, musing

'What's the matter now?' said Gabriel, turning sharply to her, 'Why, if here an't Miss Dolly,' said the

handmaid, stooping down to look into her face, 'agiving way to floods of tears. Oh mim! oh sir. Raly it's

give me such a turn,' cried the susceptible damsel, pressing her hand upon her side to quell the palpitation of

The locksmith, after glancing at Miss Miggs as if he could have wished to have a feather brought straightway,

looked on with a broad stare while Dolly hurried away, followed by that sympathising young woman: then

turning to his wife, stammered out, 'Is Dolly ill? Have I done anything? Is it my fault?'

'What have I done?' said poor Gabriel. 'It was agreed that Mr Edward's name was never to be mentioned, and

Mrs Varden merely replied that she had no patience with him, and bounced off after the other two. The

unfortunate locksmith wound his sash about him, girded on his sword, put on his cap, and walked out.

'I am not much of a dab at my exercise,' he said under his breath, 'but I shall get into fewer scrapes at that

work than at this. Every man came into the world for something; my department seems to be to make every

But he forgot it before he reached the end of the street, and went on with a shining face, nodding to the

The Royal East London Volunteers made a brilliant sight that day: formed into lines, squares, circles,

triangles, and what not, to the beating of drums, and the streaming of flags; and performed a vast number of

complex evolutions, in all of which Serjeant Varden bore a conspicuous share. Having displayed their

military prowess to the utmost in these warlike shows, they marched in glittering order to the Chelsea Bun

House, and regaled in the adjacent taverns until dark. Then at sound of drum they fell in again, and returned

The homeward march being somewhat tardy,owing to the un soldierlike behaviour of certain corporals,

who, being gentlemen of sedentary pursuits in private life and excitable out of doors, broke several windows

with their bayonets, and rendered it imperative on the commanding officer to deliver them over to a strong

guard, with whom they fought at intervals as they came along,it was nine o'clock when the locksmith

reached home. A hackneycoach was waiting near his door; and as he passed it, Mr Haredale looked from the

'The sight of you is good for sore eyes, sir,' said the locksmith, stepping up to him. 'I wish you had walked in

'There is nobody at home, I find,' Mr Haredale answered; 'besides, I desired to be as private as I could.'

'Humph!' muttered the locksmith, looking round at his house. 'Gone with Simon Tappertit to that precious

Mr Haredale invited him to come into the coach, and, if he were not tired or anxious to go home, to ride with

him a little way that they might have some talk together. Gabriel cheerfully complied, and the coachman

'Varden,' said Mr Haredale, after a minute's pause, 'you will be amazed to hear what errand I am on; it will

'I have no doubt it's a reasonable one, sir, and has a meaning in it,' replied the locksmith; 'or it would not be

'Bringing no news of Barnaby, or his mother?' said the locksmith dubiously. 'Ah! you needn't shake your

head, sir. It was a wild goose chase. I feared that, from the first. You exhausted all reasonable means of

discovery when they went away. To begin again after so long a time has passed is hopeless, sirquite

'Why, where are they?' he returned impatiently. 'Where can they be? Above ground?'

'God knows,' rejoined the locksmith, 'many that I knew above it five years ago, have their beds under the

grass now. And the world is a wide place. It's a hopeless attempt, sir, believe me. We must leave the

discovery of this mystery, like all others, to time, and accident, and Heaven's pleasure.'

'Varden, my good fellow,' said Mr Haredale, 'I have a deeper meaning in my present anxiety to find them out,

than you can fathom. It is not a mere whim; it is not the casual revival of my old wishes and desires; but an

earnest, solemn purpose. My thoughts and dreams all tend to it, and fix it in my mind. I have no rest by day

His voice was so altered from its usual tones, and his manner bespoke so much emotion, that Gabriel, in his

wonder, could only sit and look towards him in the darkness, and fancy the expression of his face.

'Do not ask me,' continued Mr Haredale, 'to explain myself. If I were to do so, you would think me the victim

of some hideous fancy. It is enough that this is so, and that I cannotno, I can notlie quietly in my bed,

'Since when, sir,' said the locksmith after a pause, 'has this uneasy feeling been upon you?'

Mr Haredale hesitated for some moments, and then replied: 'Since the night of the storm. In short, since the

As though he feared that Varden might express surprise, or reason with him, he hastily went on:

'You will think, I know, I labour under some delusion. Perhaps I do. But it is not a morbid one; it is a

wholesome action of the mind, reasoning on actual occurrences. You know the furniture remains in Mrs

Rudge's house, and that it has been shut up, by my orders, since she went away, save once aweek or so,

when an old neighbour visits it to scare away the rats. I am on my way there now.'

'To pass the night there,' he replied; 'and not tonight alone, but many nights. This is a secret which I trust to

you in case of any unexpected emergency. You will not come, unless in case of strong necessity, to me; from

dusk to broad day I shall be there. Emma, your daughter, and the rest, suppose me out of London, as I have

been until within this hour. Do not undeceive them. This is the errand I am bound upon. I know I may confide

With that, as if to change the theme, he led the astounded locksmith back to the night of the Maypole

highwayman, to the robbery of Edward Chester, to the reappearance of the man at Mrs Rudge's house, and to

all the strange circumstances which afterwards occurred. He even asked him carelessly about the man's

height, his face, his figure, whether he was like any one he had ever seenlike Hugh, for instance, or any

man he had known at any timeand put many questions of that sort, which the locksmith, considering them

as mere devices to engage his attention and prevent his expressing the astonishment he felt, answered pretty

At length, they arrived at the corner of the street in which the house stood, where Mr Haredale, alighting,

dismissed the coach. 'If you desire to see me safely lodged,' he said, turning to the locksmith with a gloomy

Gabriel, to whom all former marvels had been nothing in comparison with this, followed him along the

narrow pavement in silence. When they reached the door, Mr Haredale softly opened it with a key he had

about him, and closing it when Varden entered, they were left in thorough darkness.

They groped their way into the groundfloor room. Here Mr Haredale struck a light, and kindled a pocket

taper he had brought with him for the purpose. It was then, when the flame was full upon him, that the

locksmith saw for the first time how haggard, pale, and changed he looked; how worn and thin he was; how

perfectly his whole appearance coincided with all that he had said so strangely as they rode along. It was not

an unnatural impulse in Gabriel, after what he had heard, to note curiously the expression of his eyes. It was

perfectly collected and rational; so much so, indeed, that he felt ashamed of his momentary suspicion, and

drooped his own when Mr Haredale looked towards him, as if he feared they would betray his thoughts.

'Will you walk through the house?' said Mr Haredale, with a glance towards the window, the crazy shutters of

There was a kind of awe about the place, which would have rendered it difficult to speak in any other

Everything was just as they had seen it last. There was a sense of closeness from the exclusion of fresh air,

and a gloom and heaviness around, as though long imprisonment had made the very silence sad. The homely

hangings of the beds and windows had begun to droop; the dust lay thick upon their dwindling folds; and

damps had made their way through ceiling, wall, and floor. The boards creaked beneath their tread, as if

resenting the unaccustomed intrusion; nimble spiders, paralysed by the taper's glare, checked the motion of

their hundred legs upon the wall, or dropped like lifeless things upon the ground; the deathwatch ticked; and

As they looked about them on the decaying furniture, it was strange to find how vividly it presented those to

whom it had belonged, and with whom it was once familiar. Grip seemed to perch again upon his

highbacked chair; Barnaby to crouch in his old favourite corner by the fire; the mother to resume her usual

seat, and watch him as of old. Even when they could separate these objects from the phantoms of the mind

which they invoked, the latter only glided out of sight, but lingered near them still; for then they seemed to

lurk in closets and behind the doors, ready to start out and suddenly accost them in wellremembered tones.

They went downstairs, and again into the room they had just now left. Mr Haredale unbuckled his sword and

laid it on the table, with a pair of pocket pistols; then told the locksmith he would light him to the door.

'But this is a dull place, sir,' said Gabriel lingering; 'may no one share your watch?'

He shook his head, and so plainly evinced his wish to be alone, that Gabriel could say no more. In another

moment the locksmith was standing in the street, whence he could see that the light once more travelled

upstairs, and soon returning to the room below, shone brightly through the chinks of the shutters.

If ever man were sorely puzzled and perplexed, the locksmith was, that night. Even when snugly seated by

his own fireside, with Mrs Varden opposite in a nightcap and nightjacket, and Dolly beside him (in a most

distracting dishabille) curling her hair, and smiling as if she had never cried in all her life and never could

even then, with Toby at his elbow and his pipe in his mouth, and Miggs (but that perhaps was not much)

falling asleep in the background, he could not quite discard his wonder and uneasiness. So in his

dreamsstill there was Mr Haredale, haggard and careworn, listening in the solitary house to every sound

that stirred, with the taper shining through the chinks until the day should turn it pale and end his lonely

Next morning brought no satisfaction to the locksmith's thoughts, nor next day, nor the next, nor many others.

Often after nightfall he entered the street, and turned his eyes towards the wellknown house; and as surely

as he did so, there was the solitary light, still gleaming through the crevices of the windowshutter, while all

within was motionless, noiseless, cheerless, as a grave. Unwilling to hazard Mr Haredale's favour by

disobeying his strict injunction, he never ventured to knock at the door or to make his presence known in any

way. But whenever strong interest and curiosity attracted him to the spotwhich was not seldomthe light

If he could have known what passed within, the knowledge would have yielded him no clue to this

mysterious vigil. At twilight, Mr Haredale shut himself up, and at daybreak he came forth. He never missed a

night, always came and went alone, and never varied his proceedings in the least degree.

The manner of his watch was this. At dusk, he entered the house in the same way as when the locksmith bore

him company, kindled a light, went through the rooms, and narrowly examined them. That done, he returned

to the chamber on the groundfloor, and laying his sword and pistols on the table, sat by it until morning.

He usually had a book with him, and often tried to read, but never fixed his eyes or thoughts upon it for five

minutes together. The slightest noise without doors, caught his ear; a step upon the pavement seemed to make

He was not without some refreshment during the long lonely hours; generally carrying in his pocket a

sandwich of bread and meat, and a small flask of wine. The latter diluted with large quantities of water, he

drank in a heated, feverish way, as though his throat were dried; but he scarcely ever broke his fast, by so

If this voluntary sacrifice of sleep and comfort had its origin, as the locksmith on consideration was disposed

to think, in any superstitious expectation of the fulfilment of a dream or vision connected with the event on

which he had brooded for so many years, and if he waited for some ghostly visitor who walked abroad when

men lay sleeping in their beds, he showed no trace of fear or wavering. His stern features expressed inflexible

resolution; his brows were puckered, and his lips compressed, with deep and settled purpose; and when he

started at a noise and listened, it was not with the start of fear but hope, and catching up his sword as though

the hour had come at last, he would clutch it in his tight clenched hand, and listen with sparkling eyes and

These disappointments were numerous, for they ensued on almost every sound, but his constancy was not

shaken. Still, every night he was at his post, the same stern, sleepless, sentinel; and still night passed, and

This went on for weeks; he had taken a lodging at Vauxhall in which to pass the day and rest himself; and

from this place, when the tide served, he usually came to London Bridge from Westminster by water, in order

One evening, shortly before twilight, he came his accustomed road upon the river's bank, intending to pass

through Westminster Hall into Palace Yard, and there take boat to London Bridge as usual. There was a

pretty large concourse of people assembled round the Houses of Parliament, looking at the members as they

entered and departed, and giving vent to rather noisy demonstrations of approval or dislike, according to their

known opinions. As he made his way among the throng, he heard once or twice the NoPopery cry, which

was then becoming pretty familiar to the ears of most men; but holding it in very slight regard, and observing

that the idlers were of the lowest grade, he neither thought nor cared about it, but made his way along, with

There were many little knots and groups of persons in Westminster Hall: some few looking upward at its

noble ceiling, and at the rays of evening light, tinted by the setting sun, which streamed in aslant through its

small windows, and growing dimmer by degrees, were quenched in the gathering gloom below; some, noisy

passengers, mechanics going home from work, and otherwise, who hurried quickly through, waking the

echoes with their voices, and soon darkening the small door in the distance, as they passed into the street

beyond; some, in busy conference together on political or private matters, pacing slowly up and down with

eyes that sought the ground, and seeming, by their attitudes, to listen earnestly from head to foot. Here, a

dozen squabbling urchins made a very Babel in the air; there, a solitary man, half clerk, half mendicant,

paced up and down with hungry dejection in his look and gait; at his elbow passed an errandlad, swinging

his basket round and round, and with his shrill whistle riving the very timbers of the roof; while a more

observant schoolboy, halfway through, pocketed his ball, and eyed the distant beadle as he came looming

on. It was that time of evening when, if you shut your eyes and open them again, the darkness of an hour

appears to have gathered in a second. The smoothworn pavement, dusty with footsteps, still called upon the

lofty walls to reiterate the shuffle and the tread of feet unceasingly, save when the closing of some heavy

door resounded through the building like a clap of thunder, and drowned all other noises in its rolling sound.

Mr Haredale, glancing only at such of these groups as he passed nearest to, and then in a manner betokening

that his thoughts were elsewhere, had nearly traversed the Hall, when two persons before him caught his

attention. One of these, a gentleman in elegant attire, carried in his hand a cane, which he twirled in a jaunty

manner as he loitered on; the other, an obsequious, crouching, fawning figure, listened to what he saidat

times throwing in a humble word himselfand, with his shoulders shrugged up to his ears, rubbed his hands

submissively, or answered at intervals by an inclination of the head, halfway between a nod of

In the abstract there was nothing very remarkable in this pair, for servility waiting on a handsome suit of

clothes and a canenot to speak of gold and silver sticks, or wands of officeis common enough. But there

was that about the welldressed man, yes, and about the other likewise, which struck Mr Haredale with no

pleasant feeling. He hesitated, stopped, and would have stepped aside and turned out of his path, but at the

moment, the other two faced about quickly, and stumbled upon him before he could avoid them.

The gentleman with the cane lifted his hat and had begun to tender an apology, which Mr Haredale had begun

as hastily to acknowledge and walk away, when he stopped short and cried, 'Haredale! Gad bless me, this is

'My dear friend,' cried the other, detaining him, 'why such great speed? One minute, Haredale, for the sake of

'I am in haste,' he said. 'Neither of us has sought this meeting. Let it be a brief one. Good night!'

'Fie, fie!' replied Sir John (for it was he), 'how very churlish! We were speaking of you. Your name was on

my lipsperhaps you heard me mention it? No? I am sorry for that. I am really sorry.You know our

The friend, plainly very ill at ease, had made bold to press Sir John's arm, and to give him other significant

hints that he was desirous of avoiding this introduction. As it did not suit Sir John's purpose, however, that it

should be evaded, he appeared quite unconscious of these silent remonstrances, and inclined his hand towards

The friend, therefore, had nothing for it, but to muster up the pleasantest smile he could, and to make a

conciliatory bow, as Mr Haredale turned his eyes upon him. Seeing that he was recognised, he put out his

hand in an awkward and embarrassed manner, which was not mended by its contemptuous rejection.

'Mr Gashford!' said Haredale, coldly. 'It is as I have heard then. You have left the darkness for the light, sir,

and hate those whose opinions you formerly held, with all the bitterness of a renegade. You are an honour,

sir, to any cause. I wish the one you espouse at present, much joy of the acquisition it has made.'

The secretary rubbed his hands and bowed, as though he would disarm his adversary by humbling himself

before him. Sir John Chester again exclaimed, with an air of great gaiety, 'Now, really, this is a most

'Mr Haredale,' said Gashford, stealthily raising his eyes, and letting them drop again when they met the

other's steady gaze, is too conscientious, too honourable, too manly, I am sure, to attach unworthy motives to

an honest change of opinions, even though it implies a doubt of those he holds himself. Mr Haredale is too

'Yes, sir?' he rejoined with a sarcastic smile, finding the secretary stopped. 'You were saying'

Gashford meekly shrugged his shoulders, and looking on the ground again, was silent.

'No, but let us really,' interposed Sir John at this juncture, 'let us really, for a moment, contemplate the very

remarkable character of this meeting. Haredale, my dear friend, pardon me if I think you are not sufficiently

impressed with its singularity. Here we stand, by no previous appointment or arrangement, three old

schoolfellows, in Westminster Hall; three old boarders in a remarkably dull and shady seminary at Saint

Omer's, where you, being Catholics and of necessity educated out of England, were brought up; and where I,

being a promising young Protestant at that time, was sent to learn the French tongue from a native of Paris!'

'Add to the singularity, Sir John,' said Mr Haredale, 'that some of you Protestants of promise are at this

moment leagued in yonder building, to prevent our having the surpassing and unheardof privilege of

teaching our children to read and writeherein this land, where thousands of us enter your service every

year, and to preserve the freedom of which, we die in bloody battles abroad, in heaps: and that others of you,

to the number of some thousands as I learn, are led on to look on all men of my creed as wolves and beasts of

prey, by this man Gashford. Add to it besides the bare fact that this man lives in society, walks the streets in

broad dayI was about to say, holds up his head, but that he does not and it will be strange, and very

'Oh! you are hard upon our friend,' replied Sir John, with an engaging smile. 'You are really very hard upon

'Let him go on, Sir John,' said Gashford, fumbling with his gloves. 'Let him go on. I can make allowances, Sir

John. I am honoured with your good opinion, and I can dispense with Mr Haredale's. Mr Haredale is a

'You have so much of my favour, sir,' retorted Mr Haredale, with a bitter glance at the third party in their

conversation, 'that I am glad to see you in such good company. You are the essence of your great Association,

'Now, there you mistake,' said Sir John, in his most benignant way. 'Therewhich is a most remarkable

circumstance for a man of your punctuality and exactness, Haredaleyou fall into error. I don't belong to the

body; I have an immense respect for its members, but I don't belong to it; although I am, it is certainly true,

the conscientious opponent of your being relieved. I feel it my duty to be so; it is a most unfortunate

necessity; and cost me a bitter struggle.Will you try this box? If you don't object to a trifling infusion of a

'I ask your pardon, Sir John,' said Mr Haredale, declining the proffer with a motion of his hand, 'for having

ranked you among the humble instruments who are obvious and in all men's sight. I should have done more

justice to your genius. Men of your capacity plot in secrecy and safety, and leave exposed posts to the duller

'Don't apologise, for the world,' replied Sir John sweetly; 'old friends like you and I, may be allowed some

Gashford, who had been very restless all this time, but had not once looked up, now turned to Sir John, and

ventured to mutter something to the effect that he must go, or my lord would perhaps be waiting.

'Don't distress yourself, good sir,' said Mr Haredale, 'I'll take my leave, and put you at your ease' which he

was about to do without ceremony, when he was stayed by a buzz and murmur at the upper end of the hall,

and, looking in that direction, saw Lord George Gordon coming in, with a crowd of people round him.

There was a lurking look of triumph, though very differently expressed, in the faces of his two companions,

which made it a natural impulse on Mr Haredale's part not to give way before this leader, but to stand there

while he passed. He drew himself up and, clasping his hands behind him, looked on with a proud and

scornful aspect, while Lord George slowly advanced (for the press was great about him) towards the spot

He had left the House of Commons but that moment, and had come straight down into the Hall, bringing with

him, as his custom was, intelligence of what had been said that night in reference to the Papists, and what

petitions had been presented in their favour, and who had supported them, and when the bill was to be

brought in, and when it would be advisable to present their own Great Protestant petition. All this he told the

persons about him in a loud voice, and with great abundance of ungainly gesture. Those who were nearest

him made comments to each other, and vented threats and murmurings; those who were outside the crowd

cried, 'Silence,' and Stand back,' or closed in upon the rest, endeavouring to make a forcible exchange of

places: and so they came driving on in a very disorderly and irregular way, as it is the manner of a crowd to

When they were very near to where the secretary, Sir John, and Mr Haredale stood, Lord George turned

round and, making a few remarks of a sufliciently violent and incoherent kind, concluded with the usual

sentiment, and called for three cheers to back it. While these were in the act of being given with great energy,

he extricated himself from the press, and stepped up to Gashford's side. Both he and Sir John being well

known to the populace, they fell back a little, and left the four standing together.

'Mr Haredale, Lord George,' said Sir John Chester, seeing that the nobleman regarded him with an inquisitive

look. 'A Catholic gentleman unfortunatelymost unhappily a Catholicbut an esteemed acquaintance of

'I should have known that, had I been ignorant of his lordship's person,' said Mr Haredale. 'I hope there is but

one gentleman in England who, addressing an ignorant and excited throng, would speak of a large body of his

fellowsubjects in such injurious language as I heard this moment. For shame, my lord, for shame!'

'I cannot talk to you, sir,' replied Lord George in a loud voice, and waving his hand in a disturbed and agitated

'We have much in commonmany thingsall that the Almighty gave us,' said Mr Haredale; 'and common

charity, not to say common sense and common decency, should teach you to refrain from these proceedings.

If every one of those men had arms in their hands at this moment, as they have them in their heads, I would

'I don't hear you, sir,' he replied in the same manner as before; 'I can't hear you. It is indifferent to me what

you say. Don't retort, Gashford,' for the secretary had made a show of wishing to do so; 'I can hold no

As he said this, he glanced at Sir John, who lifted his hands and eyebrows, as if deploring the intemperate

conduct of Mr Haredale, and smiled in admiration of the crowd and of their leader.

Lord George replied by laying his hand upon the shoulder of his cringing secretary, and viewing him with a

'This man,' said Mr Haredale, eyeing him from top to toe, 'who in his boyhood was a thief, and has been from

that time to this, a servile, false, and truckling knave: this man, who has crawled and crept through life,

wounding the hands he licked, and biting those he fawned upon: this sycophant, who never knew what

honour, truth, or courage meant; who robbed his benefactor's daughter of her virtue, and married her to break

her heart, and did it, with stripes and cruelty: this creature, who has whined at kitchen windows for the

broken food, and begged for halfpence at our chapel doors: this apostle of the faith, whose tender conscience

cannot bear the altars where his vicious life was publicly denouncedDo you know this man?'

'Let Mr Haredale go on,' said Gashford, upon whose unwholesome face the perspiration had broken out

during this speech, in blotches of wet; 'I don't mind him, Sir John; it's quite as indifferent to me what he says,

as it is to my lord. If he reviles my lord, as you have heard, Sir John, how can I hope to escape?'

'Is it not enough, my lord,' Mr Haredale continued, 'that I, as good a gentleman as you, must hold my

property, such as it is, by a trick at which the state connives because of these hard laws; and that we may not

teach our youth in schools the common principles of right and wrong; but must we be denounced and ridden

by such men as this! Here is a man to head your NoPopery cry! For shame. For shame!'

The infatuated nobleman had glanced more than once at Sir John Chester, as if to inquire whether there was

any truth in these statements concerning Gashford, and Sir John had as often plainly answered by a shrug or

look, 'Oh dear me! no.' He now said, in the same loud key, and in the same strange manner as before:

'I have nothing to say, sir, in reply, and no desire to hear anything more. I beg you won't obtrude your

conversation, or these personal attacks, upon me. I shall not be deterred from doing my duty to my country

and my countrymen, by any such attempts, whether they proceed from emissaries of the Pope or not, I assure

They had walked on a few paces while speaking, and were now at the Halldoor, through which they passed

together. Mr Haredale, without any leavetaking, turned away to the river stairs, which were close at hand,

But the throng of peoplethe foremost of whom had heard every word that Lord George Gordon said, and

among all of whom the rumour had been rapidly dispersed that the stranger was a Papist who was bearding

him for his advocacy of the popular causecame pouring out pellmell, and, forcing the nobleman, his

secretary, and Sir John Chester on before them, so that they appeared to be at their head, crowded to the top

of the stairs where Mr Haredale waited until the boat was ready, and there stood still, leaving him on a little

They were not silent, however, though inactive. At first some indistinct mutterings arose among them, which

were followed by a hiss or two, and these swelled by degrees into a perfect storm. Then one voice said,

'Down with the Papists!' and there was a pretty general cheer, but nothing more. After a lull of a few

moments, one man cried out, 'Stone him;' another, 'Duck him;' another, in a stentorian voice, 'No Popery!'

This favourite cry the rest reechoed, and the mob, which might have been two hundred strong, joined in a

Mr Haredale had stood calmly on the brink of the steps, until they made this demonstration, when he looked

round contemptuously, and walked at a slow pace down the stairs. He was pretty near the boat, when

Gashford, as if without intention, turned about, and directly afterwards a great stone was thrown by some

hand, in the crowd, which struck him on the head, and made him stagger like a drunken man.

The blood sprung freely from the wound, and trickled down his coat. He turned directly, and rushing up the

Not a soul moved; except some in the rear who slunk off, and, escaping to the other side of the way, looked

'Who did that?' he repeated. 'Show me the man who did it. Dog, was it you? It was your deed, if not your

He threw himself on Gashford as he said the words, and hurled him to the ground. There was a sudden

motion in the crowd, and some laid hands upon him, but his sword was out, and they fell off again.

'My lordSir John,'he cried, 'draw, one of youyou are responsible for this outrage, and I look to you.

Draw, if you are gentlemen.' With that he struck Sir John upon the breast with the flat of his weapon, and

with a burning face and flashing eyes stood upon his guard; alone, before them all.

For an instant, for the briefest space of time the mind can readily conceive, there was a change in Sir John's

smooth face, such as no man ever saw there. The next moment, he stepped forward, and laid one hand on Mr

'My dear friend, my good Haredale, you are blinded with passion it's very natural, extremely naturalbut

'I know them all, sir, I can distinguish well' he retorted, almost mad with rage. 'Sir John, Lord Georgedo

'Never mind, sir,' said a man, forcing his way between and pushing him towards the stairs with friendly

violence, 'never mind asking that. For God's sake, get away. What CAN you do against this number? And

there are as many more in the next street, who'll be round dfrectly,'indeed they began to pour in as he said

the words'you'd be giddy from that cut, in the first heat of a scuffle. Now do retire, sir, or take my word for

it you'll be worse used than you would be if every man in the crowd was a woman, and that woman Bloody

Mr Haredale, who began to turn faint and sick, felt how sensible this advice was, and descended the steps

with his unknown friend's assistance. John Grueby (for John it was) helped him into the boat, and giving her

a shove off, which sent her thirty feet into the tide, bade the waterman pull away like a Briton; and walked up

There was at first a slight disposition on the part of the mob to resent this interference; but John looking

particularly strong and cool, and wearing besides Lord George's livery, they thought better of it, and

contented themselves with sending a shower of small missiles after the boat, which plashed harmlessly in the

water; for she had by this time cleared the bridge, and was darting swiftly down the centre of the stream.

From this amusement, they proceeded to giving Protestant knocks at the doors of private houses, breaking a

few lamps, and assaulting some stray constables. But, it being whispered that a detachment of Life Guards

had been sent for, they took to their heels with great expedition, and left the street quite clear.

When the concourse separated, and, dividing into chance clusters, drew off in various directions, there still

remained upon the scene of the late disturbance, one man. This man was Gashford, who, bruised by his late

fall, and hurt in a much greater degree by the indignity he had undergone, and the exposure of which he had

It was not the secretary's nature to waste his wrath in words. While he vented the froth of his malevolence in

those effusions, he kept a steady eye on two men, who, having disappeared with the rest when the alarm was

spread, had since returned, and were now visible in the moonlight, at no great distance, as they walked to and

He made no move towards them, but waited patiently on the dark side of the street, until they were tired of

strolling backwards and forwards and walked away in company. Then he followed, but at some distance:

keeping them in view, without appearing to have that object, or being seen by them.

They went up Parliament Street, past Saint Martin's church, and away by Saint Giles's to Tottenham Court

Road, at the back of which, upon the western side, was then a place called the Green Lanes. This was a

retired spot, not of the choicest kind, leading into the fields. Great heaps of ashes; stagnant pools, overgrown

with rank grass and duckweed; broken turnstiles; and the upright posts of palings long since carried off for

firewood, which menaced all heedless walkers with their jagged and rusty nails; were the leading features of

the landscape: while here and there a donkey, or a ragged horse, tethered to a stake, and cropping off a

wretched meal from the coarse stunted turf, were quite in keeping with the scene, and would have suggested

(if the houses had not done so, sufficiently, of themselves) how very poor the people were who lived in the

crazy huts adjacent, and how foolhardy it might prove for one who carried money, or wore decent clothes, to

Poverty has its whims and shows of taste, as wealth has. Some of these cabins were turreted, some had false

windows painted on their rotten walls; one had a mimic clock, upon a crazy tower of four feet high, which

screened the chimney; each in its little patch of ground had a rude seat or arbour. The population dealt in

bones, in rags, in broken glass, in old wheels, in birds, and dogs. These, in their several ways of stowage,

filled the gardens; and shedding a perfume, not of the most delicious nature, in the air, filled it besides with

Into this retreat, the secretary followed the two men whom he had held in sight; and here he saw them safely

lodged, in one of the meanest houses, which was but a room, and that of small dimensions. He waited

without, until the sound of their voices, joined in a discordant song, assured him they were making merry;

and then approaching the door, by means of a tottering plank which crossed the ditch in front, knocked at it

'Muster Gashfordl' said the man who opened it, taking his pipe from his mouth, in evident surprise. 'Why,

Gashford required no second invitation, and entered with a gracious air. There was a fire in the rusty grate

(for though the spring was pretty far advanced, the nights were cold), and on a stool beside it Hugh sat

smoking. Dennis placed a chair, his only one, for the secretary, in front of the hearth; and took his seat again

'What's in the wind now, Muster Gashford?' he said, as he resumed his pipe, and looked at him askew. 'Any

'Oh, nothing, nothing,' rejoined the secretary, with a friendly nod to Hugh. 'We have broken the ice, though.

'Nor me neither!' cried Hugh. 'Give us something to do with life in itwith life in it, master. Ha, ha!'

'Why, you wouldn't,' said the secretary, with his worst expression of face, and in his mildest tones, 'have

'Brave fellows!' said the secretary, in as pastorlike a voice as if he were commending them for some

uncommon act of valour and generosity. 'By the bye'and here he stopped and warmed his hands: then

Mr Dennis coughed and shook his head, as who should say, 'A mystery indeed!' Hugh sat and smoked in

'It was well done!' said the secretary, warming his hands again. 'I should like to know that man.'

'Would you?' said Dennis, after looking at his face to assure himself that he was serious. 'Would you like to

'Why then, Lord love you,' said the hangman, in his hoarest chuckle, as he pointed with his pipe to Hugh,

'there he sits. That's the man. My stars and halters, Muster Gashford,' he added in a whisper, as he drew his

stool close to him and jogged him with his elbow, 'what a interesting blade he is! He wants as much holding

in as a thoroughbred bulldog. If it hadn't been for me today, he'd have had that 'ere Roman down, and

'And why not?' cried Hugh in a surly voice, as he overheard this last remark. 'Where's the good of putting

'Ah!' retorted Dennis, shaking his head, with a kind of pity for his friend's ingenuous youth; 'but suppose the

iron an't hot, brother! You must get people's blood up afore you strike, and have 'em in the humour. There

wasn't quite enough to provoke 'em to day, I tell you. If you'd had your way, you'd have spoilt the fun to

'Dennis is quite right,' said Gashford, smoothly. 'He is perfectly correct. Dennis has great knowledge of the

'I ought to have, Muster Gashford, seeing what a many people I've helped out of it, eh?' grinned the hangman,

The secretary laughed at this jest as much as Dennis could desire, and when he had done, said, turning to

'Dennis's policy was mine, as you may have observed. You saw, for instance, how I fell when I was set upon.

'No, by the Lord Harry!' cried Dennis with a noisy laugh, 'you went down very quiet, Muster Gashfordand

very flat besides. I thinks to myself at the time "it's all up with Muster Gashford!" I never see a man lay flatter

nor more stillwith the life in himthan you did today. He's a rough 'un to play with, is that 'ere Papist,

The secretary's face, as Dennis roared with laughter, and turned his wrinkled eyes on Hugh who did the like,

might have furnished a study for the devil's picture. He sat quite silent until they were serious again, and then

'We are very pleasant here; so very pleasant, Dennis, that but for my lord's particular desire that I should sup

with him, and the time being very near at hand, I should he inclined to stay, until it would be hardly safe to go

homeward. I come upon a little businessyes, I doas you supposed. It's very flattering to you; being this.

If we ever should be obligedand we can't tell, you knowthis is a very uncertain world'

'I believe you, Muster Gashford,' interposed the hangman with a grave nod. 'The uncertainties as I've seen in

reference to this here state of existence, the unexpected contingencies as have come about!Oh my eye!'

Feeling the subject much too vast for expression, he puffed at his pipe again, and looked the rest.

'I say,' resumed the secretary, in a slow, impressive way; 'we can't tell what may come to pass; and if we

should be obliged, against our wills, to have recourse to violence, my lord (who has suffered terribly today,

as far as words can go) consigns to you twobearing in mind my recommendation of you both, as good

staunch men, beyond all doubt and suspicionthe pleasant task of punishing this Haredale. You may do as

you please with him, or his, provided that you show no mercy, and no quarter, and leave no two beams of his

house standing where the builder placed them. You may sack it, burn it, do with it as you like, but it must

come down; it must be razed to the ground; and he, and all belonging to him, left as shelterless as newborn

infants whom their mothers have exposed. Do you understand me?' said Gashford, pausing, and pressing his

'Understand you, master!' cried Hugh. 'You speak plain now. Why, this is hearty!'

'I knew you would like it,' said Gashford, shaking him by the hand; 'I thought you would. Good night! Don't

rise, Dennis: I would rather find my way alone. I may have to make other visits here, and it's pleasant to come

He was gone, and had shut the door behind him. They looked at each other, and nodded approvingly: Dennis

'I've heerd it said of Muster Gashford,' said the hangman, 'that he'd a surprising memory and wonderful

Hugh readily compliedpouring no liquor on the floor when he drank this toastand they pledged the

While the worst passions of the worst men were thus working in the dark, and the mantle of religion, assumed

to cover the ugliest deformities, threatened to become the shroud of all that was good and peaceful in society,

a circumstance occurred which once more altered the position of two persons from whom this history has

In a small English country town, the inhabitants of which supported themselves by the labour of their hands

in plaiting and preparing straw for those who made bonnets and other articles of dress and ornament from that

material,concealed under an assumed name, and living in a quiet poverty which knew no change, no

pleasures, and few cares but that of struggling on from day to day in one great toil for bread,dwelt Barnaby

and his mother. Their poor cottage had known no stranger's foot since they sought the shelter of its roof five

years before; nor had they in all that time held any commerce or communication with the old world from

which they had fled. To labour in peace, and devote her labour and her life to her poor son, was all the widow

sought. If happiness can be said at any time to be the lot of one on whom a secret sorrow preys, she was

happy now. Tranquillity, resignation, and her strong love of him who needed it so much, formed the small

For Barnaby himself, the time which had flown by, had passed him like the wind. The daily suns of years had

shed no brighter gleam of reason on his mind; no dawn had broken on his long, dark night. He would sit

sometimesoften for days together on a low seat by the fire or by the cottage door, busy at work (for he had

learnt the art his mother plied), and listening, God help him, to the tales she would repeat, as a lure to keep

him in her sight. He had no recollection of these little narratives; the tale of yesterday was new to him upon

the morrow; but he liked them at the moment; and when the humour held him, would remain patiently within

doors, hearing her stories like a little child, and working cheerfully from sunrise until it was too dark to see.

At other times,and then their scanty earnings were barely sufficient to furnish them with food, though of

the coarsest sort, he would wander abroad from dawn of day until the twilight deepened into night. Few in

that place, even of the children, could be idle, and he had no companions of his own kind. Indeed there were

not many who could have kept up with him in his rambles, had there been a legion. But there were a score of

vagabond dogs belonging to the neighbours, who served his purpose quite as well. With two or three of these,

or sometimes with a full halfdozen barking at his heels, he would sally forth on some long expedition that

consumed the day; and though, on their return at nightfall, the dogs would come home limping and

sorefooted, and almost spent with their fatigue, Barnaby was up and off again at sunrise with some new

attendants of the same class, with whom he would return in like manner. On all these travels, Grip, in his

little basket at his master's back, was a constant member of the party, and when they set off in fine weather

Their pleasures on these excursions were simple enough. A crust of bread and scrap of meat, with water from

the brook or spring, sufficed for their repast. Barnaby's enjoyments were, to walk, and run, and leap, till he

was tired; then to lie down in the long grass, or by the growing corn, or in the shade of some tall tree, looking

upward at the light clouds as they floated over the blue surface of the sky, and listening to the lark as she

poured out her brilliant song. There were wildflowers to pluckthe bright red poppy, the gentle harebell,

the cowslip, and the rose. There were birds to watch; fish; ants; worms; hares or rabbits, as they darted across

the distant pathway in the wood and so were gone: millions of living things to have an interest in, and lie in

wait for, and clap hands and shout in memory of, when they had disappeared. In default of these, or when

they wearied, there was the merry sunlight to hunt out, as it crept in aslant through leaves and boughs of trees,

and hid far downdeep, deep, in hollow places like a silver pool, where nodding branches seemed to

bathe and sport; sweet scents of summer air breathing over fields of beans or clover; the perfume of wet

leaves or moss; the life of waving trees, and shadows always changing. When these or any of them tired, or in

excess of pleasing tempted him to shut his eyes, there was slumber in the midst of all these soft delights, with

the gentle wind murmuring like music in his ears, and everything around melting into one delicious dream.

Their hutfor it was little morestood on the outskirts of the town, at a short distance from the high road,

but in a secluded place, where few chance passengers strayed at any season of the year. It had a plot of

gardenground attached, which Barnaby, in fits and starts of working, trimmed, and kept in order. Within

doors and without, his mother laboured for their common good; and hail, rain, snow, or sunshine, found no

Though so far removed from the scenes of her past life, and with so little thought or hope of ever visiting

them again, she seemed to have a strange desire to know what happened in the busy world. Any old

newspaper, or scrap of intelligence from London, she caught at with avidity. The excitement it produced was

not of a pleasurable kind, for her manner at such times expressed the keenest anxiety and dread; but it never

faded in the least degree. Then, and in stormy winter nights, when the wind blew loud and strong, the old

expression came into her face, and she would be seized with a fit of trembling, like one who had an ague. But

Barnaby noted little of this; and putting a great constraint upon herself, she usually recovered her accustomed

Grip was by no means an idle or unprofitable member of the humble household. Partly by dint of Barnaby's

tuition, and partly by pursuing a species of selfinstruction common to his tribe, and exerting his powers of

observation to the utmost, he had acquired a degree of sagacity which rendered him famous for miles round.

His conversational powers and surprising performances were the universal theme: and as many persons came

to see the wonderful raven, and none left his exertions unrewardedwhen he condescended to exhibit, which

was not always, for genius is capricioushis earnings formed an important item in the common stock.

Indeed, the bird himself appeared to know his value well; for though he was perfectly free and unrestrained in

the presence of Barnaby and his mother, he maintained in public an amazing gravity, and never stooped to

any other gratuitous performances than biting the ankles of vagabond boys (an exercise in which he much

delighted), killing a fowl or two occasionally, and swallowing the dinners of various neighbouring dogs, of

Time had glided on in this way, and nothing had happened to disturb or change their mode of life, when, one

summer's night in June, they were in their little garden, resting from the labours of the day. The widow's work

was yet upon her knee, and strewn upon the ground about her; and Barnaby stood leaning on his spade,

'A brave evening, mother! If we had, chinking in our pockets, but a few specks of that gold which is piled up

'We are better as we are,' returned the widow with a quiet smile. 'Let us be contented, and we do not want and

'Ay!' said Barnaby, resting with crossed arms on his spade, and looking wistfully at the sunset, that's well

enough, mother; but gold's a good thing to have. I wish that I knew where to find it. Grip and I could do much

'What! A world of things. We'd dress finelyyou and I, I mean; not Gripkeep horses, dogs, wear bright

colours and feathers, do no more work, live delicately and at our ease. Oh, we'd find uses for it, mother, and

uses that would do us good. I would I knew where gold was buried. How hard I'd work to dig it up!'

'You do not know,' said his mother, rising from her seat and laying her hand upon his shoulder, 'what men

have done to win it, and how they have found, too late, that it glitters brightest at a distance, and turns quite

'Ay, ay; so you say; so you think,' he answered, still looking eagerly in the same direction. 'For all that,

'Do you not see,' she said, 'how red it is? Nothing bears so many stains of blood, as gold. Avoid it. None have

such cause to hate its name as we have. Do not so much as think of it, dear love. It has brought such misery

and suffering on your head and mine as few have known, and God grant few may have to undergo. I would

rather we were dead and laid down in our graves, than you should ever come to love it.'

For a moment Barnaby withdrew his eyes and looked at her with wonder. Then, glancing from the redness in

the sky to the mark upon his wrist as if he would compare the two, he seemed about to question her with

earnestness, when a new object caught his wandering attention, and made him quite forgetful of his purpose.

This was a man with dusty feet and garments, who stood, bare headed, behind the hedge that divided their

patch of garden from the pathway, and leant meekly forward as if he sought to mingle with their

conversation, and waited for his time to speak. His face was turned towards the brightness, too, but the light

'A blessing on those voices!' said the wayfarer. 'I feel the beauty of the night more keenly, when I hear them.

They are like eyes to me. Will they speak again, and cheer the heart of a poor traveller?'

'None but that,' he answered, pointing with his staff towards the sun; 'and sometimes a milder one at night,

'A weary way and long,' rejoined the traveller as he shook his head. 'A weary, weary, way. I struck my stick

just now upon the bucket of your wellbe pleased to let me have a draught of water, lady.'

'Your speech is soft and gentle, and I judge by that,' replied the man. 'The coarsest stuffs and finest silks,

'Come round this way,' said Barnaby, who had passed out at the gardengate and now stood close beside him.

'Put your hand in mine. You're blind and always in the dark, eh? Are you frightened in the dark? Do you see

Barnaby looked curiously at his eyes, and touching them with his fingers, as an inquisitive child might, led

'You have come a long distance, 'said the widow, meeting him at the door. 'How have you found your way so

'Use and necessity are good teachers, as I have heardthe best of any,' said the blind man, sitting down upon

the chair to which Barnaby had led him, and putting his hat and stick upon the red tiled floor. 'May neither

'Maybe, maybe,' returned the blind man with a sigh, and yet with something of a smile upon his face, 'that's

likely. Handposts and milestones are dumb, indeed, to me. Thank you the more for this rest, and this

As he spoke, he raised the mug of water to his mouth. It was clear, and cold, and sparkling, but not to his

taste nevertheless, or his thirst was not very great, for he only wetted his lips and put it down again.

He wore, hanging with a long strap round his neck, a kind of scrip or wallet, in which to carry food. The

widow set some bread and cheese before him, but he thanked her, and said that through the kindness of the

charitable he had broken his fast once since morning, and was not hungry. When he had made her this reply,

he opened his wallet, and took out a few pence, which was all it appeared to contain.

'Might I make bold to ask,' he said, turning towards where Barnaby stood looking on, 'that one who has the

gift of sight, would lay this out for me in bread to keep me on my way? Heaven's blessing on the young feet

Barnaby looked at his mother, who nodded assent; in another moment he was gone upon his charitable

errand. The blind man sat listening with an attentive face, until long after the sound of his retreating footsteps

was inaudible to the widow, and then said, suddenly, and in a very altered tone:

'There are various degrees and kinds of blindness, widow. There is the connubial blindness, ma'am, which

perhaps you may have observed in the course of your own experience, and which is a kind of wilful and

selfbandaging blindness. There is the blindness of party, ma'am, and public men, which is the blindness of a

mad bull in the midst of a regiment of soldiers clothed in red. There is the blind confidence of youth, which is

the blindness of young kittens, whose eyes have not yet opened on the world; and there is that physical

blindness, ma'am, of which I am, contrairy to my own desire, a most illustrious example. Added to these,

ma'am, is that blindness of the intellect, of which we have a specimen in your interesting son, and which,

having sometimes glimmerings and dawnings of the light, is scarcely to be trusted as a total darkness.

Therefore, ma'am, I have taken the liberty to get him out of the way for a short time, while you and I confer

together, and this precaution arising out of the delicacy of my sentiments towards yourself, you will excuse

Having delivered himself of this speech with many flourishes of manner, he drew from beneath his coat a flat

stone bottle, and holding the cork between his teeth, qualified his mug of water with a plentiful infusion of

the liquor it contained. He politely drained the bumper to her health, and the ladies, and setting it down

'I am a citizen of the world, ma'am,' said the blind man, corking his bottle, 'and if I seem to conduct myself

with freedom, it is therefore. You wonder who I am, ma'am, and what has brought me here. Such experience

of human nature as I have, leads me to that conclusion, without the aid of eyes by which to read the

movements of your soul as depicted in your feminine features. I will satisfy your curiosity immediately,

ma'am; immediately.' With that he slapped his bottle on its broad back, and having put it under his garment as

before, crossed his legs and folded his hands, and settled himself in his chair, previous to proceeding any

The change in his manner was so unexpected, the craft and wickedness of his deportment were so much

aggravated by his conditionfor we are accustomed to see in those who have lost a human sense, something

in its place almost divineand this alteration bred so many fears in her whom he addressed, that she could

not pronounce one word. After waiting, as it seemed, for some remark or answer, and waiting in vain, the

'Madam, my name is Stagg. A friend of mine who has desired the honour of meeting with you any time these

five years past, has commissioned me to call upon you. I should be glad to whisper that gentleman's name in

your ear.Zounds, ma'am, are you deaf? Do you hear me say that I should be glad to whisper my friend's

'You need not repeat it,' said the widow, with a stifled groan; 'I see too well from whom you come.'

'But as a man of honour, ma'am,' said the blind man, striking himself on the breast, 'whose credentials must

not be disputed, I take leave to say that I WILL mention that gentleman's name. Ay, ay,' he added, seeming to

catch with his quick ear the very motion of her hand, 'but not aloud. With your leave, ma'am, I desire the

She moved towards him, and stooped down. He muttered a word in her ear; and, wringing her hands, she

paced up and down the room like one distracted. The blind man, with perfect composure, produced his bottle

again, mixed another glassful; put it up as before; and, drinking from time to time, followed her with his face

'You are slow in conversation, widow,' he said after a time, pausing in his draught. 'We shall have to talk

'We are poor, widow, we are poor,' he retorted, stretching out his right hand, and rubbing his thumb upon its

'Comparisons are odious,' said the blind man. 'I don't know, I don't care. I say that we are poor. My friend's

circumstances are indifferent, and so are mine. We must have our rights, widow, or we must be bought off.

She still walked wildly to and fro. At length, stopping abruptly before him, she said:

'Very good,' he replied, crossing his legs again, for he had made as though he would rise and walk to the

door. 'As you please, widow. His presence is not necessary that I know of. But both he and I must live; to

live, we must eat and drink; to eat and drink, we must have money:I say no more.'

'Do you know how pinched and destitute I am?' she retorted. 'I do not think you do, or can. If you had eyes,

and could look around you on this poor place, you would have pity on me. Oh! let your heart be softened by

'Beside the question, ma'am, beside the question. I have the softest heart in the world, but I can't live upon

it. Many a gentleman lives well upon a soft head, who would find a heart of the same quality a very great

drawback. Listen to me. This is a matter of business, with which sympathies and sentiments have nothing to

do. As a mutual friend, I wish to arrange it in a satisfactory manner, if possible; and thus the case stands.If

you are very poor now, it's your own choice. You have friends who, in case of need, are always ready to help

you. My friend is in a more destitute and desolate situation than most men, and, you and he being linked

together in a common cause, he naturally looks to you to assist him. He has boarded and lodged with me a

long time (for as I said just now, I am very softhearted), and I quite approve of his entertaining this opinion.

You have always had a roof over your head; he has always been an outcast. You have your son to comfort

and assist you; he has nobody at all. The advantages must not be all one side. You are in the same boat, and

'The only way of doing this, is by making up a little purse now and then for my friend; and that's what I

advise. He bears you no malice that I know of, ma'am: so little, that although you have treated him harshly

more than once, and driven him, I may say, out of doors, he has that regard for you that I believe even if you

disappointed him now, he would consent to take charge of your son, and to make a man of him.'

He laid a great stress on these latter words, and paused as if to find out what effect they had produced. She

'He is a likely lad,' said the blind man, thoughtfully, 'for many purposes, and not illdisposed to try his

fortune in a little change and bustle, if I may judge from what I heard of his talk with you tonight.Come.

In a word, my friend has pressing necessity for twenty pounds. You, who can give up an annuity, can get that

sum for him. It's a pity you should be troubled. You seem very comfortable here, and it's worth that much to

remain so. Twenty pounds, widow, is a moderate demand. You know where to apply for it; a post will bring

'Don't say anything hastily; you might be sorry for it. Think of it a little while. Twenty poundsof other

people's moneyhow easy! Turn it over in your mind. I'm in no hurry. Night's coming on, and if I don't

sleep here, I shall not go far. Twenty pounds! Consider of it, ma'am, for twenty minutes; give each pound a

minute; that's a fair allowance. I'll enjoy the air the while, which is very mild and pleasant in these parts.'

With these words he groped his way to the door, carrying his chair with him. Then seating himself, under a

spreading honeysuckle, and stretching his legs across the threshold so that no person could pass in or out

without his knowledge, he took from his pocket a pipe, flint, steel and tinderbox, and began to smoke. It was

a lovely evening, of that gentle kind, and at that time of year, when the twilight is most beautiful. Pausing

now and then to let his smoke curl slowly off, and to sniff the grateful fragrance of the flowers, he sat there at

his easeas though the cottage were his proper dwelling, and he had held undisputed possession of it all his

When Barnaby returned with the bread, the sight of the pious old pilgrim smoking his pipe and making

himself so thoroughly at home, appeared to surprise even him; the more so, as that worthy person, instead of

putting up the loaf in his wallet as a scarce and precious article, tossed it carelessly on the table, and

The water stood in Barnaby's eyes as he coughed from the strength of the draught, and answered in the

'Drink some more,' said the blind man; 'don't be afraid of it. You don't taste anything like that, often, eh?'

'Too poor?' returned the blind man with a sigh. 'Ay. That's bad. Your mother, poor soul, would be happier if

'Why, so I tell herthe very thing I told her just before you came tonight, when all that gold was in the

sky,' said Barnaby, drawing his chair nearer to him, and looking eagerly in his face. 'Tell me. Is there any way

'Ay, ay?' he returned. 'Do you say so? What are they?Nay, mother, it's for your sake I ask; not mine;for

The blind man turned his face, on which there was a smile of triumph, to where the widow stood in great

'By stayathomes!' cried Barnaby, plucking at his sleeve. 'But I am not one. Now, there you mistake. I am

often out before the sun, and travel home when he has gone to rest. I am away in the woods before the day

has reached the shady places, and am often there when the bright moon is peeping through the boughs, and

looking down upon the other moon that lives in the water. As I walk along, I try to find, among the grass and

moss, some of that small money for which she works so hard and used to shed so many tears. As I lie asleep

in the shade, I dream of itdream of digging it up in heaps; and spying it out, hidden under bushes; and

seeing it sparkle, as the dewdrops do, among the leaves. But I never find it. Tell me where it is. I'd go there,

if the journey were a whole year long, because I know she would be happier when I came home and brought

The blind man passed his hand lightly over the poor fellow's face, and finding that his elbows were planted

on the table, that his chin rested on his two hands, that he leaned eagerly forward, and that his whole manner

expressed the utmost interest and anxiety, paused for a minute as though he desired the widow to observe this

'It's in the world, bold Barnaby, the merry world; not in solitary places like those you pass your time in, but in

'Good! good!' cried Barnaby, rubbing his hands. 'Yes! I love that. Grip loves it too. It suits us both. That's

'The kind of places,' said the blind man, 'that a young fellow likes, and in which a good son may do more

for his mother, and himself to boot, in a month, than he could here in all his life that is, if he had a friend,

'You hear this, mother?' cried Barnaby, turning to her with delight. 'Never tell me we shouldn't heed it, if it

lay shining at out feet. Why do we heed it so much now? Why do you toil from morning until night?'

'Surely,' said the blind man, 'surely. Have you no answer, widow? Is your mind,' he slowly added, 'not made

'Lay your hand upon my sleeve,' said Stagg, arising from the table; 'and lead me where you will. Courage,

bold Barnaby. We'll talk more of this: I've a fancy for you. Wait there till I come back. Now, widow.'

'You are a fit agent,' she said, in a half breathless manner, 'and well represent the man who sent you here.'

'I'll tell him that you said so,' Stagg retorted. 'He has a regard for you, and will respect me the more (if

'Why do you stop?' returned the blind man calmly, after a long pause. 'Do I know that a word from you would

place my friend in the last position of the dance of life? Yes, I do. What of that? It will never be spoken,

'Quiteso sure, that I don't come here to discuss the question. I say we must have our rights, or we must be

bought off. Keep to that point, or let me return to my young friend, for I have an interest in the lad, and desire

to put him in the way of making his fortune. Bah! you needn't speak,' he added hastily; 'I know what you

would say: you have hinted at it once already. Have I no feeling for you, because I am blind? No, I have not.

Why do you expect me, being in darkness, to be better than men who have their sightwhy should you? Is

the hand of Heaven more manifest in my having no eyes, than in your having two? It's the cant of you folks

to be horrified if a blind man robs, or lies, or steals; oh yes, it's far worse in him, who can barely live on the

few halfpence that are thrown to him in streets, than in you, who can see, and work, and are not dependent on

the mercies of the world. A curse on you! You who have five senses may be wicked at your pleasure; we who

have four, and want the most important, are to live and be moral on our affliction. The true charity and justice

He paused a moment when he had said these words, and caught the sound of money, jingling in her hand.

'Well?' he cried, quickly resuming his former manner. 'That should lead to something. The point, widow?'

'First answer me one question,' she replied. 'You say he is close at hand. Has he left London?'

'Yes, for good. The truth is, widow, that his making a longer stay there might have had disagreeable

'Listen,' said the widow, telling some money out, upon a bench beside them. 'Count.'

He put out his hand for one of the coins; felt it carefully, put it between his teeth, rung it on the bench; and

'These have been scraped together and laid by, lest sickness or death should separate my son and me. They

have been purchased at the price of much hunger, hard labour, and want of rest. If you CAN take

themdoon condition that you leave this place upon the instant, and enter no more into that room, where

'Six guineas,' said the blind man, shaking his head, 'though of the fullest weight that were ever coined, fall

'For such a sum, as you know, I must write to a distant part of the country. To do that, and receive an answer,

'A week. Return on this day week, at the same hour, but not to the house. Wait at the corner of the lane.'

'Where else can I take refuge? Is it not enough that you have made a beggar of me, and that I have sacrificed

'Humph!' said the blind man, after some consideration. 'Set me with my face towards the point you speak of,

'On this day week at sunset. And think of him within doors.For the present, good night.'

She made him no answer, nor did he stop for any. He went slowly away, turning his head from time to time,

and stopping to listen, as if he were curious to know whether he was watched by any one. The shadows of

night were closing fast around, and he was soon lost in the gloom. It was not, however, until she had

traversed the lane from end to end, and made sure that he was gone, that she re entered the cottage, and

'Gone!' he cried, starting up. 'I must have more talk with him. Which way did he take?'

'I don't know,' she answered, folding her arms about him. 'You must not go out tonight. There are ghosts and

'Yes! Tomorrow morning at sunrise. We must travel to London; lose ourselves in that wide placethere

would be some trace of us in any other townthen travel on again, and find some new abode.'

Little persuasion was required to reconcile Barnaby to anything that promised change. In another minute, he

was wild with delight; in another, full of grief at the prospect of parting with his friends the dogs; in another,

wild again; then he was fearful of what she had said to prevent his wandering abroad that night, and full of

terrors and strange questions. His lightheartedness in the end surmounted all his other feelings, and lying

down in his clothes to the end that he might be ready on the morrow, he soon fell fast asleep before the poor

His mother did not close her eyes, but sat beside him, watching. Every breath of wind sounded in her ears like

that dreaded footstep at the door, or like that hand upon the latch, and made the calm summer night, a night of

horror. At length the welcome day appeared. When she had made the little preparations which were needful

for their journey, and had prayed upon her knees with many tears, she roused Barnaby, who jumped up gaily

His clothes were few enough, and to carry Grip was a labour of love. As the sun shed his earliest beams upon

the earth, they closed the door of their deserted home, and turned away. The sky was blue and bright. The air

was fresh and filled with a thousand perfumes. Barnaby looked upward, and laughed with all his heart.

But it was a day he usually devoted to a long ramble, and one of the dogsthe ugliest of them allcame

bounding up, and jumping round him in the fulness of his joy. He had to bid him go back in a surly tone, and

his heart smote him while he did so. The dog retreated; turned with a halfincredulous, halfimploring look;

It was the last appeal of an old companion and a faithful friend cast off. Barnaby could bear no more, and

'Oh mother, mother, how mournful he will be when he scratches at the door, and finds it always shut!'

There was such a sense of home in the thought, that though her own eyes overflowed she would not have

obliterated the recollection of it, either from her own mind or from his, for the wealth of the whole wide

In the exhaustless catalogue of Heaven's mercies to mankind, the power we have of finding some germs of

comfort in the hardest trials must ever occupy the foremost place; not only because it supports and upholds us

when we most require to be sustained, but because in this source of consolation there is something, we have

reason to believe, of the divine spirit; something of that goodness which detects amidst our own evil doings, a

redeeming quality; something which, even in our fallen nature, we possess in common with the angels; which

had its being in the old time when they trod the earth, and lingers on it yet, in pity.

How often, on their journey, did the widow remember with a grateful heart, that out of his deprivation

Barnaby's cheerfulness and affection sprung! How often did she call to mind that but for that, he might have

been sullen, morose, unkind, far removed from hervicious, perhaps, and cruel! How often had she cause

for comfort, in his strength, and hope, and in his simple nature! Those feeble powers of mind which rendered

him so soon forgetful of the past, save in brief gleams and flashes,even they were a comfort now. The

world to him was full of happiness; in every tree, and plant, and flower, in every bird, and beast, and tiny

insect whom a breath of summer wind laid low upon the ground, he had delight. His delight was hers; and

where many a wise son would have made her sorrowful, this poor lighthearted idiot filled her breast with

Their stock of money was low, but from the hoard she had told into the blind man's hand, the widow had

withheld one guinea. This, with the few pence she possessed besides, was to two persons of their frugal

habits, a goodly sum in bank. Moreover they had Grip in company; and when they must otherwise have

changed the guinea, it was but to make him exhibit outside an alehouse door, or in a village street, or in the

grounds or gardens of a mansion of the better sort, and scores who would have given nothing in charity, were

One dayfor they moved slowly, and although they had many rides in carts and waggons, were on the road

a weekBarnaby, with Grip upon his shoulder and his mother following, begged permission at a trim lodge

to go up to the great house, at the other end of the avenue, and show his raven. The man within was inclined

to give them admittance, and was indeed about to do so, when a stout gentleman with a long whip in his

hand, and a flushed face which seemed to indicate that he had had his morning's draught, rode up to the gate,

and called in a loud voice and with more oaths than the occasion seemed to warrant to have it opened

'Who hast thou got here?' said the gentleman angrily, as the man threw the gate wide open, and pulled off his

'Vagrants,' said the gentleman, 'vagrants and vagabonds. Thee wish to be made acquainted with the cage, dost

She told him in a timid manner,for he was very loud, hoarse, and redfaced,and besought him not to be

'Don't he too sure of that,' replied the gentleman, 'we don't allow vagrants to roam about this place. I know

what thou want'st stray linen drying on hedges, and stray poultry, eh? What hast got in that basket, lazy

'Grip, Grip, GripGrip the clever, Grip the wicked, Grip the knowingGrip, Grip, Grip,' cried the raven,

whom Barnaby had shut up on the approach of this stern personage. 'I'm a devil I'm a devil I'm a devil, Never

Barnaby, thus condescendingly addressed, produced his bird, but not without much fear and trembling, and

set him down upon the ground; which he had no sooner done than Grip drew fifty corks at least, and then

began to dance; at the same time eyeing the gentleman with surprising insolence of manner, and screwing his

head so much on one side that he appeared desirous of screwing it off upon the spot.

The corkdrawing seemed to make a greater impression on the gentleman's mind, than the raven's power of

speech, and was indeed particularly adapted to his habits and capacity. He desired to have that done again,

but despite his being very peremptory, and notwithstanding that Barnaby coaxed to the utmost, Grip turned a

'Bring him along,' said the gentleman, pointing to the house. But Grip, who had watched the action,

anticipated his master, by hopping on before them;constantly flapping his wings, and screaming 'cook!'

meanwhile, as a hint perhaps that there was company coming, and a small collation would be acceptable.

Barnaby and his mother walked on, on either side of the gentleman on horseback, who surveyed each of them

from time to time in a proud and coarse manner, and occasionally thundered out some question, the tone of

which alarmed Barnaby so much that he could find no answer, and, as a matter of course, could make him no

reply. On one of these occasions, when the gentleman appeared disposed to exercise his horsewhip, the

widow ventured to inform him in a low voice and with tears in her eyes, that her son was of weak mind.

'An idiot, eh?' said the gentleman, looking at Barnaby as he spoke. 'And how long hast thou been an idiot?'

'She knows,' was Barnaby's timid answer, pointing to his mother 'Ialways, I believe.'

'I don't believe it,' cried the gentleman, 'not a bit of it. It's an excuse not to work. There's nothing like flogging

to cure that disorder. I'd make a difference in him in ten minutes, I'll be bound.'

'Heaven has made none in more than twice ten years, sir,' said the widow mildly.

'Then why don't you shut him up? we pay enough for county institutions, damn 'em. But thou'd rather drag

Now, this gentleman had various endearing appellations among his intimate friends. By some he was called 'a

country gentleman of the true school,' by some 'a fine old country gentleman,' by some 'a sporting gentleman,'

by some 'a thoroughbred Englishman,' by some 'a genuine John Bull;' but they all agreed in one respect, and

that was, that it was a pity there were not more like him, and that because there were not, the country was

going to rack and ruin every day. He was in the commission of the peace, and could write his name almost

legibly; but his greatest qualifications were, that he was more severe with poachers, was a better shot, a

harder rider, had better horses, kept better dogs, could eat more solid food, drink more strong wine, go to bed

every night more drunk and get up every morning more sober, than any man in the county. In knowledge of

horseflesh he was almost equal to a farrier, in stable learning he surpassed his own head groom, and in

gluttony not a pig on his estate was a match for him. He had no seat in Parliament himself, but he was

extremely patriotic, and usually drove his voters up to the poll with his own hands. He was warmly attached

to church and state, and never appointed to the living in his gift any but a threebottle man and a firstrate

foxhunter. He mistrusted the honesty of all poor people who could read and write, and had a secret jealousy

of his own wife (a young lady whom he had married for what his friends called 'the good old English reason,'

that her father's property adjoined his own) for possessing those accomplishments in a greater degree than

himself. In short, Barnaby being an idiot, and Grip a creature of mere brute instinct, it would be very hard to

He rode up to the door of a handsome house approached by a great flight of steps, where a man was waiting

to take his horse, and led the way into a large hall, which, spacious as it was, was tainted with the fumes of

last night's stale debauch. Greatcoats, riding whips, bridles, topboots, spurs, and such gear, were strewn

about on all sides, and formed, with some huge stags' antlers, and a few portraits of dogs and horses, its

Throwing himself into a great chair (in which, by the bye, he often snored away the night, when he had been,

according to his admirers, a finer country gentleman than usual) he bade the man to tell his mistress to come

down: and presently there appeared, a little flurried, as it seemed, by the unwonted summons, a lady much

younger than himself, who had the appearance of being in delicate health, and not too happy.

'Here! Thou'st no delight in following the hounds as an Englishwoman should have,' said the gentleman. 'See

The lady smiled, sat down at a little distance from him, and glanced at Barnaby with a look of pity.

'He's an idiot, the woman says,' observed the gentleman, shaking his head; 'I don't believe it.'

'What's the use of asking HER?' said the gentleman, thrusting his hands into his breeches pockets. 'She'll tell

thee so, of course. Most likely he's hired, at so much a day. There. Get on. Make him do something.'

Grip having by this time recovered his urbanity, condescended, at Barnaby's solicitation, to repeat his various

phrases of speech, and to go through the whole of his performances with the utmost success. The corks, and

the never say die, afforded the gentleman so much delight that he demanded the repetition of this part of the

entertainment, until Grip got into his basket, and positively refused to say another word, good or bad. The

lady too, was much amused with him; and the closing point of his obstinacy so delighted her husband that he

'His price,' said the gentleman, rattling the money in his pockets, 'what dost want for him? How much?'

'He's not to be sold,' replied Barnaby, shutting up the basket in a great hurry, and throwing the strap over his

'Thou seest how much of an idiot he is, booklearner,' said the gentleman, looking scornfully at his wife. 'He

'He is my son's constant companion,' said the widow. 'He is not to be sold, sir, indeed.'

'Not to be sold!' cried the gentleman, growing ten times redder, hoarser, and louder than before. 'Not to be

'Indeed no,' she answered. 'We have never thought of parting with him, sir, I do assure you.'

He was evidently about to make a very passionate retort, when a few murmured words from his wife

'We can hardly expect them to sell the bird, against their own desire,' she faltered. 'If they prefer to keep

'Prefer to keep him!' he echoed. 'These people, who go tramping about the country apilfering and

vagabondising on all hands, prefer to keep a bird, when a landed proprietor and a justice asks his price! That

old woman's been to school. I know she has. Don't tell me no,' he roared to the widow, 'I say, yes.'

Barnaby's mother pleaded guilty to the accusation, and hoped there was no harm in it.

'No harm!' said the gentleman. 'No. No harm. No harm, ye old rebel, not a bit of harm. If my clerk was here,

I'd set ye in the stocks, I would, or lay ye in jail for prowling up and down, on the lookout for petty

larcenies, ye limb of a gipsy. Here, Simon, put these pilferers out, shove 'em into the road, out with 'em! Ye

don't want to sell the bird, ye that come here to beg, don't ye? If they an't out in doublequick, set the dogs

They waited for no further dismissal, but fled precipitately, leaving the gentleman to storm away by himself

(for the poor lady had already retreated), and making a great many vain attempts to silence Grip, who, excited

by the noise, drew corks enough for a city feast as they hurried down the avenue, and appeared to

congratulate himself beyond measure on having been the cause of the disturbance. When they had nearly

reached the lodge, another servant, emerging from the shrubbery, feigned to be very active in ordering them

off, but this man put a crown into the widow's hand, and whispering that his lady sent it, thrust them gently

This incident only suggested to the widow's mind, when they halted at an alehouse some miles further on, and

heard the justice's character as given by his friends, that perhaps something more than capacity of stomach

and tastes for the kennel and the stable, were required to form either a perfect country gentleman, a

thoroughbred Englishman, or a genuine John Bull; and that possibly the terms were sometimes

misappropriated, not to say disgraced. She little thought then, that a circumstance so slight would ever

influence their future fortunes; but time and experience enlightened her in this respect.

'Mother,' said Barnaby, as they were sitting next day in a waggon which was to take them within ten miles of

the capital, 'we're going to London first, you said. Shall we see that blind man there?'

She was about to answer 'Heaven forbid!' but checked herself, and told him No, she thought not; why did he

'He's a wise man,' said Barnaby, with a thoughtful countenance. 'I wish that we may meet with him again.

What was it that he said of crowds? That gold was to be found where people crowded, and not among the

trees and in such quiet places? He spoke as if he loved it; London is a crowded place; I think we shall meet

'Because,' said Barnaby, looking wistfully at her, 'he talked to me about gold, which is a rare thing, and say

what you will, a thing you would like to have, I know. And because he came and went away so

strangelyjust as whiteheaded old men come sometimes to my bed's foot in the night, and say what I can't

remember when the bright day returns. He told me he'd come back. I wonder why he broke his word!'

'But you never thought of being rich or gay, before, dear Barnaby. You have always been contented.'

He laughed and bade her say that again, then cried, 'Ay ayoh yes,' and laughed once more. Then something

passed that caught his fancy, and the topic wandered from his mind, and was succeeded by another just as

But it was plain from what he had said, and from his returning to the point more than once that day, and on

the next, that the blind man's visit, and indeed his words, had taken strong possession of his mind. Whether

the idea of wealth had occurred to him for the first time on looking at the golden clouds that eveningand

images were often presented to his thoughts by outward objects quite as remote and distant; or whether their

poor and humble way of life had suggested it, by contrast, long ago; or whether the accident (as he would

deem it) of the blind man's pursuing the current of his own remarks, had done so at the moment; or he had

been impressed by the mere circumstance of the man being blind, and, therefore, unlike any one with whom

he had talked before; it was impossible to tell. She tried every means to discover, but in vain; and the

It filled her with uneasiness to find him harping on this string, but all that she could do, was to lead him

quickly to some other subject, and to dismiss it from his brain. To caution him against their visitor, to show

any fear or suspicion in reference to him, would only be, she feared, to increase that interest with which

Barnaby regarded him, and to strengthen his desire to meet him once again. She hoped, by plunging into the

crowd, to rid herself of her terrible pursuer, and then, by journeying to a distance and observing increased

They reached, in course of time, their haltingplace within ten miles of London, and lay there for the night,

after bargaining to be carried on for a trifle next day, in a light van which was returning empty, and was to

start at five o'clock in the morning. The driver was punctual, the road goodsave for the dust, the weather

being very hot and dryand at seven in the forenoon of Friday the second of June, one thousand seven

hundred and eighty, they alighted at the foot of Westminster Bridge, bade their conductor farewell, and stood

alone, together, on the scorching pavement. For the freshness which night sheds upon such busy

thoroughfares had already departed, and the sun was shining with uncommon lustre.

Uncertain where to go next, and bewildered by the crowd of people who were already astir, they sat down in

one of the recesses on the bridge, to rest. They soon became aware that the stream of life was all pouring one

way, and that a vast throng of persons were crossing the river from the Middlesex to the Surrey shore, in

unusual haste and evident excitement. They were, for the most part, in knots of two or three, or sometimes

halfadozen; they spoke little togethermany of them were quite silent; and hurried on as if they had one

They were surprised to see that nearly every man in this great concourse, which still came pouring past,

without slackening in the least, wore in his hat a blue cockade; and that the chance passengers who were not

so decorated, appeared timidly anxious to escape observation or attack, and gave them the wall as if they

would conciliate them. This, however, was natural enough, considering their inferiority in point of numbers;

for the proportion of those who wore blue cockades, to those who were dressed as usual, was at least forty or

fifty to one. There was no quarrelling, however: the blue cockades went swarming on, passing each other

when they could, and making all the speed that was possible in such a multitude; and exchanged nothing

more than looks, and very often not even those, with such of the passersby as were not of their number.

At first, the current of people had been confined to the two pathways, and but a few more eager stragglers

kept the road. But after half an hour or so, the passage was completely blocked up by the great press, which,

being now closely wedged together, and impeded by the carts and coaches it encountered, moved but slowly,

After the lapse of nearly two hours, the numbers began to diminish visibly, and gradually dwindling away, by

little and little, left the bridge quite clear, save that, now and then, some hot and dusty man, with the cockade

in his hat, and his coat thrown over his shoulder, went panting by, fearful of being too late, or stopped to ask

which way his friends had taken, and being directed, hastened on again like one refreshed. In this

comparative solitude, which seemed quite strange and novel after the late crowd, the widow had for the first

time an opportunity of inquiring of an old man who came and sat beside them, what was the meaning of that

'Why, where have you come from,' he returned, 'that you haven't heard of Lord George Gordon's great

association? This is the day that he presents the petition against the Catholics, God bless him!'

'What have they to do with it!' the old man replied. 'Why, how you talk! Don't you know his lordship has

declared he won't present it to the house at all, unless it is attended to the door by forty thousand good and

'And they're mustering yonder, as I am told,' resumed the old man, 'nigh upon a hundred thousand strong. Ah!

Let Lord George alone. He knows his power. There'll be a good many faces inside them three windows over

there,' and he pointed to where the House of Commons overlooked the river, 'that'll turn pale when good Lord

George gets up this afternoon, and with reason too! Ay, ay. Let his lordship alone. Let him alone. HE knows!'

And so, with much mumbling and chuckling and shaking of his forefinger, he rose, with the assistance of his

'You don't know,' she urged, 'what mischief they may do, where they may lead you, what their meaning is.

'For your sake!' he cried, patting her hand. 'Well! It IS for your sake, mother. You remember what the blind

man said, about the gold. Here's a brave crowd! Come! Or wait till I come backyes, yes, wait here.'

She tried with all the earnestness her fears engendered, to turn him from his purpose, but in vain. He was

stooping down to buckle on his shoe, when a hackneycoach passed them rather quickly, and a voice inside

'Speak for yourself, woman,' said the man within the coach, coldly. 'Leave the young man to his choice; he's

old enough to make it, and to snap your apronstrings. He knows, without your telling, whether he wears the

Barnaby, trembling with impatience, cried, 'Yes! yes, yes, I do,' as he had cried a dozen times already. The

man threw him a cockade, and crying, 'Make haste to St George's Fields,' ordered the coachman to drive on

With hands that trembled with his eagerness to fix the bauble in his hat, Barnaby was adjusting it as he best

could, and hurriedly replying to the tears and entreaties of his mother, when two gentlemen passed on the

opposite side of the way. Observing them, and seeing how Barnaby was occupied, they stopped, whispered

'Why are you sitting here?' said one of them, who was dressed in a plain suit of black, wore long lank hair,

'I am going, sir,' replied Barnaby, finishing his task, and putting his hat on with an air of pride. 'I shall be

'Say "my lord," young man, when his lordship does you the honour of speaking to you,' said the second

gentleman mildly. 'If you don't know Lord George Gordon when you see him, it's high time you should.'

'Nay, Gashford,' said Lord George, as Barnaby pulled off his hat again and made him a low bow, 'it's no great

matter on a day like this, which every Englishman will remember with delight and pride. Put on your hat,

friend, and follow us, for you lag behind and are late. It's past ten now. Didn't you know that the hour for

'You might have known it, friend,' said Gashford, 'it was perfectly understood. How came you to be so ill

'He cannot tell you, sir,' the widow interposed. 'It's of no use to ask him. We are but this morning come from

'The cause has taken a deep root, and has spread its branches far and wide,' said Lord George to his secretary.

'You do not understand me, my lord,' said the widow. 'Pardon me, but you cruelly mistake my meaning. We

know nothing of these matters. We have no desire or right to join in what you are about to do. This is my son,

my poor afflicted son, dearer to me than my own life. In mercy's name, my lord, go your way alone, and do

'My good woman,' said Gashford, 'how can you!Dear me!What do you mean by tempting, and by

danger? Do you think his lordship is a roaring lion, going about and seeking whom he may devour? God

'No, no, my lord, forgive me,' implored the widow, laying both her hands upon his breast, and scarcely

knowing what she did, or said, in the earnestness of her supplication, 'but there are reasons why you should

hear my earnest, mother's prayer, and leave my son with me. Oh do! He is not in his right senses, he is not,

'It is a bad sign of the wickedness of these times,' said Lord George, evading her touch, and colouring deeply,

'that those who cling to the truth and support the right cause, are set down as mad. Have you the heart to say

'I am astonished at you!' said Gashford, with a kind of meek severity. 'This is a very sad picture of female

'He has surely no appearance,' said Lord George, glancing at Barnaby, and whispering in his secretary's ear,

'of being deranged? And even if he had, we must not construe any trifling peculiarity into madness. Which of

'Not one,' replied the secretary; 'in that case, the greater the zeal, the truth, and talent; the more direct the call

from above; the clearer would be the madness. With regard to this young man, my lord,' he added, with a lip

that slightly curled as he looked at Barnaby, who stood twirling his hat, and stealthily beckoning them to

'And you desire to make one of this great body?' said Lord George, addressing him; 'and intended to make

'Yesyes,' said Barnaby, with sparkling eyes. 'To be sure I did! I told her so myself.'

'I see,' replied Lord George, with a reproachful glance at the unhappy mother. 'I thought so. Follow me and

Barnaby kissed his mother tenderly on the cheek, and bidding her be of good cheer, for their fortunes were

both made now, did as he was desired. She, poor woman, followed toowith how much fear and grief it

They passed quickly through the Bridge Road, where the shops were all shut up (for the passage of the great

crowd and the expectation of their return had alarmed the tradesmen for their goods and windows), and

where, in the upper stories, all the inhabitants were congregated, looking down into the street below, with

faces variously expressive of alarm, of interest, expectancy, and indignation. Some of these applauded, and

some hissed; but regardless of these interruptionsfor the noise of a vast congregation of people at a little

distance, sounded in his ears like the roaring of the seaLord George Gordon quickened his pace, and

They were really fields at that time, and of considerable extent. Here an immense multitude was collected,

bearing flags of various kinds and sizes, but all of the same colourblue, like the cockadessome sections

marching to and fro in military array, and others drawn up in circles, squares, and lines. A large portion, both

of the bodies which paraded the ground, and of those which remained stationary, were occupied in singing

hymns or psalms. With whomsoever this originated, it was well done; for the sound of so many thousand

voices in the air must have stirred the heart of any man within him, and could not fail to have a wonderful

Scouts had been posted in advance of the great body, to give notice of their leader's coming. These falling

back, the word was quickly passed through the whole host, and for a short interval there ensued a profound

and deathlike silence, during which the mass was so still and quiet, that the fluttering of a banner caught the

eye, and became a circumstance of note. Then they burst into a tremendous shout, into another, and another;

'Gashford!' cried Lord George, pressing his secretary's arm tight within his own, and speaking with as much

emotion in his voice, as in his altered face, 'I arn called indeed, now. I feel and know it. I am the leader of a

host. If they summoned me at this moment with one voice to lead them on to death, I'd do itYes, and fall

'It is a proud sight,' said the secretary. 'It is a noble day for England, and for the great cause throughout the

'What are you doing?' cried his master, catching him by both hands; for he had made a show of kneeling at

his feet. 'Do not unfit me, dear Gashford, for the solemn duty of this glorious day' the tears stood in the

eyes of the poor gentleman as he said the words.'Let us go among them; we have to find a place in some

Gashford slid his cold insidious palm into his master's grasp, and so, hand in hand, and followed still by

They had by this time taken to their singing again, and as their leader passed between their ranks, they raised

their voices to their utmost. Many of those who were banded together to support the religion of their country,

even unto death, had never heard a hymn or psalm in all their lives. But these fellows having for the most part

strong lungs, and being naturally fond of singing, chanted any ribaldry or nonsense that occurred to them,

feeling pretty certain that it would not be detected in the general chorus, and not caring much if it were. Many

of these voluntaries were sung under the very nose of Lord George Gordon, who, quite unconscious of their

burden, passed on with his usual stiff and solemn deportment, very much edified and delighted by the pious

So they went on and on, up this line, down that, round the exterior of this circle, and on every side of that

hollow square; and still there were lines, and squares, and circles out of number to review. The day being

now intensely hot, and the sun striking down his fiercest rays upon the field, those who carried heavy banners

began to grow faint and weary; most of the number assembled were fain to pull off their neckcloths, and

throw their coats and waistcoats open; and some, towards the centre, quite overpowered by the excessive

heat, which was of course rendered more unendurable by the multitude around them, lay down upon the

grass, and offered all they had about them for a drink of water. Still, no man left the ground, not even of those

who were so distressed; still Lord George, streaming from every pore, went on with Gashford; and still

They had arrived at the top of a long line of some eight hundred men in single file, and Lord George had

turned his head to look back, when a loud cry of recognitionin that peculiar and half stifled tone which a

voice has, when it is raised in the open air and in the midst of a great concourse of personswas heard, and a

man stepped with a shout of laughter from the rank, and smote Barnaby on the shoulders with his heavy hand.

'How now!' he cried. 'Barnaby Rudge! Why, where have you been hiding for these hundred years?'

Barnaby had been thinking within himself that the smell of the trodden grass brought back his old days at

cricket, when he was a young boy and played on Chigwell Green. Confused by this sudden and boisterous

address, he stared in a bewildered manner at the man, and could scarcely say 'What! Hugh!'

'Hugh!' echoed the other; 'ay, HughMaypole Hugh! You remember my dog? He's alive now, and will know

'Know him, my lord! as well as I know my own right hand. My captain knows him. We all know him.'

'It hasn't in it a better, nor a nimbler, nor a more active man, than Barnaby Rudge,' said Hugh. 'Show me the

man who says it has! Fall in, Barnaby. He shall march, my lord, between me and Dennis; and he shall carry,'

he added, taking a flag from the hand of a tired man who tendered it, 'the gayest silken streamer in this valiant

'In the name of God, no!' shrieked the widow, darting forward. 'Barnabymy lordseehe'll come

'Women in the field!' cried Hugh, stepping between them, and holding her off. 'Holloa! My captain there!'

'What's the matter here?' cried Simon Tappertit, bustling up in a great heat. 'Do you call this order?'

'Nothing like it, captain,' answered Hugh, still holding her back with his outstretched hand. 'It's against all

orders. Ladies are carrying off our gallant soldiers from their duty. The word of command, captain! They're

She was thrown to the ground; the whole field was in motion; Barnaby was whirled away into the heart of a

The mob had been divided from its first assemblage into four divisions; the London, the Westminster, the

Southwark, and the Scotch. Each of these divisions being subdivided into various bodies, and these bodies

being drawn up in various forms and figures, the general arrangement was, except to the few chiefs and

leaders, as unintelligible as the plan of a great battle to the meanest soldier in the field. It was not without its

method, however; for, in a very short space of time after being put in motion, the crowd had resolved itself

into three great parties, and were prepared, as had been arranged, to cross the river by different bridges, and

At the head of that division which had Westminster Bridge for its approach to the scene of action, Lord

George Gordon took his post; with Gashford at his right hand, and sundry ruffians, of most unpromising

appearance, forming a kind of staff about him. The conduct of a second party, whose route lay by Blackfriars,

was entrusted to a committee of management, including perhaps a dozen men: while the third, which was to

go by London Bridge, and through the main streets, in order that their numbers and their serious intentions

might be the better known and appreciated by the citizens, were led by Simon Tappertit (assisted by a few

subalterns, selected from the Brotherhood of United Bulldogs), Dennis the hangman, Hugh, and some others.

The word of command being given, each of these great bodies took the road assigned to it, and departed on

its way, in perfect order and profound silence. That which went through the City greatly exceeded the others

in number, and was of such prodigious extent that when the rear began to move, the front was nearly four

miles in advance, notwithstanding that the men marched three abreast and followed very close upon each

At the head of this party, in the place where Hugh, in the madness of his humour, had stationed him, and

walking between that dangerous companion and the hangman, went Barnaby; as many a man among the

thousands who looked on that day afterwards remembered well. Forgetful of all other things in the ecstasy of

the moment, his face flushed and his eyes sparkling with delight, heedless of the weight of the great banner

he carried, and mindful only of its flashing in the sun and rustling in the summer breeze, on he went, proud,

happy, elated past all telling:the only lighthearted, undesigning creature, in the whole assembly.

'What do you think of this?' asked Hugh, as they passed through the crowded streets, and looked up at the

windows which were thronged with spectators. 'They have all turned out to see our flags and streamers? Eh,

Barnaby? Why, Barnaby's the greatest man of all the pack! His flag's the largest of the lot, the brightest too.

There's nothing in the show, like Barnaby. All eyes are turned on him. Ha ha ha!'

'Don't make that din, brother,' growled the hangman, glancing with no very approving eyes at Barnaby as he

spoke: 'I hope he don't think there's nothing to be done, but carrying that there piece of blue rag, like a boy at

a breaking up. You're ready for action I hope, eh? You, I mean,' he added, nudging Barnaby roughly with his

Barnaby had been gazing at his flag, and looked vacantly from his questioner to Hugh.

'He don't understand your way,' said the latter. 'Here, I'll explain it to him. Barnaby old boy, attend to me.'

'I'll attend,' said Barnaby, looking anxiously round; 'but I wish I could see her somewhere.'

'See who?' demanded Dennis in a gruff tone. 'You an't in love I hope, brother? That an't the sort of thing for

'She would be proud indeed to see me now, eh Hugh?' said Barnaby. 'Wouldn't it make her glad to see me at

the head of this large show? She'd cry for joy, I know she would. Where CAN she be? She never sees me at

'Why, what palaver's this?' asked Mr Dennis with supreme disdain. 'We an't got no sentimental members

'And have I combined myself with this here section, and turned out on this here memorable day, to hear men

talk about their mothers!' growled Mr Dennis with extreme disgust. 'The notion of a man's sweetheart's bad

enough, but a man's mother!'and here his disgust was so extreme that he spat upon the ground, and could

'Barnaby's right,' cried Hugh with a grin, 'and I say it. Lookee, bold lad. If she's not here to see, it's because

I've provided for her, and sent halfadozen gentlemen, every one of 'em with a blue flag (but not half as fine

as yours), to take her, in state, to a grand house all hung round with gold and silver banners, and everything

'Ay!' said Barnaby, his face beaming with delight: 'have you indeed? That's a good hearing. That's fine! Kind

'But nothing to what will come, bless you,' retorted Hugh, with a wink at Dennis, who regarded his new

'Nothing at all,' said Hugh. 'Money, cocked hats and feathers, red coats and gold lace; all the fine things there

are, ever were, or will be; will belong to us if we are true to that noble gentleman the best man in the

worldcarry our flags for a few days, and keep 'em safe. That's all we've got to do.'

'Is that all?' cried Barnaby with glistening eyes, as he clutched his pole the tighter; 'I warrant you I keep this

one safe, then. You have put it in good hands. You know me, Hugh. Nobody shall wrest this flag away.'

'Well said!' cried Hugh. 'Ha ha! Nobly said! That's the old stout Barnaby, that I have climbed and leaped

with, many and many a dayI knew I was not mistaken in Barnaby.Don't you see, man,' he added in a

whisper, as he slipped to the other side of Dennis, 'that the lad's a natural, and can be got to do anything, if

you take him the right way? Letting alone the fun he is, he's worth a dozen men, in earnest, as you'd find if

you tried a fall with him. Leave him to me. You shall soon see whether he's of use or not.'

Mr Dennis received these explanatory remarks with many nods and winks, and softened his behaviour

towards Barnaby from that moment. Hugh, laying his finger on his nose, stepped back into his former place,

It was between two and three o'clock in the afternoon when the three great parties met at Westminster, and,

uniting into one huge mass, raised a tremendous shout. This was not only done in token of their presence, but

as a signal to those on whom the task devolved, that it was time to take possession of the lobbies of both

Houses, and of the various avenues of approach, and of the gallery stairs. To the lastnamed place, Hugh and

Dennis, still with their pupil between them, rushed straightway; Barnaby having given his flag into the hands

of one of their own party, who kept them at the outer door. Their followers pressing on behind, they were

borne as on a great wave to the very doors of the gallery, whence it was impossible to retreat, even if they had

been so inclined, by reason of the throng which choked up the passages. It is a familiar expression in

describing a great crowd, that a person might have walked upon the people's heads. In this case it was

actually done; for a boy who had by some means got among the concourse, and was in imminent danger of

suffocation, climbed to the shoulders of a man beside him and walked upon the people's hats and heads into

the open street; traversing in his passage the whole length of two staircases and a long gallery. Nor was the

swarm without less dense; for a basket which had been tossed into the crowd, was jerked from head to head,

and shoulder to shoulder, and went spinning and whirling on above them, until it was lost to view, without

Through this vast throng, sprinkled doubtless here and there with honest zealots, but composed for the most

part of the very scum and refuse of London, whose growth was fostered by bad criminal laws, bad prison

regulations, and the worst conceivable police, such of the members of both Houses of Parliament as had not

taken the precaution to be already at their posts, were compelled to fight and force their way. Their carriages

were stopped and broken; the wheels wrenched off; the glasses shivered to atoms; the panels beaten in;

drivers, footmen, and masters, pulled from their seats and rolled in the mud. Lords, commoners, and reverend

bishops, with little distinction of person or party, were kicked and pinched and hustled; passed from hand to

hand through various stages of illusage; and sent to their fellowsenators at last with their clothes hanging

in ribands about them, their bagwigs torn off, themselves speechless and breathless, and their persons covered

with the powder which had been cuffed and beaten out of their hair. One lord was so long in the hands of the

populace, that the Peers as a body resolved to sally forth and rescue him, and were in the act of doing so,

when he happily appeared among them covered with dirt and bruises, and hardly to be recognised by those

who knew him best. The noise and uproar were on the increase every moment. The air was filled with

execrations, hoots, and howlings. The mob raged and roared, like a mad monster as it was, unceasingly, and

Within doors, matters were even yet more threatening. Lord George preceded by a man who carried the

immense petition on a porter's knot through the lobby to the door of the House of Commons, where it was

received by two officers of the house who rolled it up to the table ready for presentationhad taken his seat

at an early hour, before the Speaker went to prayers. His followers pouring in at the same time, the lobby and

all the avenues were immediately filled, as we have seen. Thus the members were not only attacked in their

passage through the streets, but were set upon within the very walls of Parliament; while the tumult, both

within and without, was so great, that those who attempted to speak could scarcely hear their own voices: far

less, consult upon the course it would be wise to take in such extremity, or animate each other to dignified

and firm resistance. So sure as any member, just arrived, with dress disordered and dishevelled hair, came

struggling through the crowd in the lobby, it yelled and screamed in triumph; and when the door of the

House, partially and cautiously opened by those within for his admission, gave them a momentary glimpse of

the interior, they grew more wild and savage, like beasts at the sight of prey, and made a rush against the

portal which strained its locks and bolts in their staples, and shook the very beams.

The strangers' gallery, which was immediately above the door of the House, had been ordered to be closed on

the first rumour of disturbance, and was empty; save that now and then Lord George took his seat there, for

the convenience of coming to the head of the stairs which led to it, and repeating to the people what had

passed within. It was on these stairs that Barnaby, Hugh, and Dennis were posted. There were two flights,

short, steep, and narrow, running parallel to each other, and leading to two little doors communicating with a

low passage which opened on the gallery. Between them was a kind of well, or unglazed skylight, for the

admission of light and air into the lobby, which might be some eighteen or twenty feet below.

Upon one of these little staircasesnot that at the head of which Lord George appeared from time to time,

but the otherGashford stood with his elbow on the bannister, and his cheek resting on his hand, with his

usual crafty aspect. Whenever he varied this attitude in the slightest degreeso much as by the gentlest

motion of his armthe uproar was certain to increase, not merely there, but in the lobby below; from which

place no doubt, some man who acted as fugleman to the rest, was constantly looking up and watching him.

'Order!' cried Hugh, in a voice which made itself heard even above the roar and tumult, as Lord George

The noise continued, notwithstanding his appearance, until Gashford looked round. There was silence

immediatelyeven among the people in the passages without, and on the other staircases, who could neither

see nor hear, but to whom, notwithstanding, the signal was conveyed with marvellous rapidity.

'Gentlemen,' said Lord George, who was very pale and agitated, we must be firm. They talk of delays, but we

must have no delays. They talk of taking your petition into consideration next Tuesday, but we must have it

considered now. Present appearances look bad for our success, but we must succeed and will!'

'We must succeed and will!' echoed the crowd. And so among their shouts and cheers and other cries, he

bowed to them and retired, and presently came back again. There was another gesture from Gashford, and a

'I am afraid,' he said, this time, 'that we have little reason, gentlemen, to hope for any redress from the

proceedings of Parliament. But we must redress our own grievances, we must meet again, we must put our

This speech being a little more temperate than the last, was not so favourably received. When the noise and

exasperation were at their height, he came back once more, and told them that the alarm had gone forth for

many miles round; that when the King heard of their assembling together in that great body, he had no doubt,

His Majesty would send down private orders to have their wishes complied with; andwith the manner of

his speech as childish, irresolute, and uncertain as his matterwas proceeding in this strain, when two

gentlemen suddenly appeared at the door where he stood, and pressing past him and coming a step or two

The boldness of this action quite took them by surprise. They were not the less disconcerted, when one of the

gentlemen, turning to Lord George, spoke thusin a loud voice that they might hear him well, but quite

'You may tell these people, if you please, my lord, that I am General Conway of whom they have heard; and

that I oppose this petition, and all their proceedings, and yours. I am a soldier, you may tell them, and I will

protect the freedom of this place with my sword. You see, my lord, that the members of this House are all in

arms today; you know that the entrance to it is a narrow one; you cannot be ignorant that there are men

within these walls who are determined to defend that pass to the last, and before whom many lives must fall if

'And my Lord George,' said the other gentleman, addressing him in like manner, 'I desire them to hear this,

from meColonel Gordon your near relation. If a man among this crowd, whose uproar strikes us deaf,

crosses the threshold of the House of Commons, I swear to run my sword that momentnot into his, but into

With that, they stepped back again, keeping their faces towards the crowd; took each an arm of the misguided

nobleman; drew him into the passage, and shut the door; which they directly locked and fastened on the

This was so quickly done, and the demeanour of both gentlemenwho were not young men eitherwas so

gallant and resolute, that the crowd faltered and stared at each other with irresolute and timid looks. Many

tried to turn towards the door; some of the faintest hearted cried they had best go back, and called to those

behind to give way; and the panic and confusion were increasing rapidly, when Gashford whispered Hugh.

'What now!' Hugh roared aloud, turning towards them. 'Why go back? Where can you do better than here,

boys! One good rush against these doors and one below at the same time, will do the business. Rush on, then!

As to the door below, let those stand back who are afraid. Let those who are not afraid, try who shall be the

Without the delay of an instant, he threw himself headlong over the bannisters into the lobby below. He had

hardly touched the ground when Barnaby was at his side. The chaplain's assistant, and some members who

were imploring the people to retire, immediately withdrew; and then, with a great shout, both crowds threw

At that moment, when a second onset must have brought them into collision with those who stood on the

defensive within, in which case great loss of life and bloodshed would inevitably have ensued,the

hindmost portion of the crowd gave way, and the rumour spread from mouth to mouth that a messenger had

been despatched by water for the military, who were forming in the street. Fearful of sustaining a charge in

the narrow passages in which they were so closely wedged together, the throng poured out as impetuously as

they had flocked in. As the whole stream turned at once, Barnaby and Hugh went with it: and so, fighting and

struggling and trampling on fallen men and being trampled on in turn themselves, they and the whole mass

floated by degrees into the open street, where a large detachment of the Guards, both horse and foot, came

hurrying up; clearing the ground before them so rapidly that the people seemed to melt away as they

The word of command to halt being given, the soldiers formed across the street; the rioters, breathless and

exhausted with their late exertions, formed likewise, though in a very irregular and disorderly manner. The

commanding officer rode hastily into the open space between the two bodies, accompanied by a magistrate

and an officer of the House of Commons, for whose accommodation a couple of troopers had hastily

In the first rank of the insurgents, Barnaby and Hugh stood side by side. Somebody had thrust into Barnaby's

hands when he came out into the street, his precious flag; which, being now rolled up and tied round the pole,

looked like a giant quarterstaff as he grasped it firmly and stood upon his guard. If ever man believed with

his whole heart and soul that he was engaged in a just cause, and that he was bound to stand by his leader to

After an ineffectual attempt to make himself heard, the magistrate gave the word and the Horse Guards came

riding in among the crowd. But, even then, he galloped here and there, exhorting the people to disperse; and,

although heavy stones were thrown at the men, and some were desperately cut and bruised, they had no

orders but to make prisoners of such of the rioters as were the most active, and to drive the people back with

the flat of their sabres. As the horses came in among them, the throng gave way at many points, and the

Guards, following up their advantage, were rapidly clearing the ground, when two or three of the foremost,

who were in a manner cut off from the rest by the people closing round them, made straight towards Barnaby

and Hugh, who had no doubt been pointed out as the two men who dropped into the lobby: laying about them

now with some effect, and inflicting on the more turbulent of their opponents, a few slight flesh wounds,

under the influence of which a man dropped, here and there, into the arms of his fellows, amid much

At the sight of gashed and bloody faces, seen for a moment in the crowd, then hidden by the press around

them, Barnaby turned pale and sick. But he stood his ground, and grasping his pole more firmly yet, kept his

eye fixed upon the nearest soldiernodding his head meanwhile, as Hugh, with a scowling visage,

The soldier came spurring on, making his horse rear as the people pressed about him, cutting at the hands of

those who would have grasped his rein and forced his charger back, and waving to his comrades to

followand still Barnaby, without retreating an inch, waited for his coming. Some called to him to fly, and

some were in the very act of closing round him, to prevent his being taken, when the pole swept into the air

Then, he and Hugh turned and fled, the crowd opening to let them pass, and closing up again so quickly that

there was no clue to the course they had taken. Panting for breath, hot, dusty, and exhausted with fatigue,

they reached the riverside in safety, and getting into a boat with all despatch were soon out of any immediate

As they glided down the river, they plainly heard the people cheering; and supposing they might have forced

the soldiers to retreat, lay upon their oars for a few minutes, uncertain whether to return or not. But the crowd

passing along Westminster Bridge, soon assured them that the populace were dispersing; and Hugh rightly

guessed from this, that they had cheered the magistrate for offering to dismiss the military on condition of

their immediate departure to their several homes, and that he and Barnaby were better where they were. He

advised, therefore, that they should proceed to Blackfriars, and, going ashore at the bridge, make the best of

their way to The Boot; where there was not only good entertainment and safe lodging, but where they would

certainly be joined by many of their late companions. Barnaby assenting, they decided on this course of

They landed at a critical time, and fortunately for themselves at the right moment. For, coming into Fleet

Street, they found it in an unusual stir; and inquiring the cause, were told that a body of Horse Guards had

just galloped past, and that they were escorting some rioters whom they had made prisoners, to Newgate for

safety. Not at all illpleased to have so narrowly escaped the cavalcade, they lost no more time in asking

questions, but hurried to The Boot with as much speed as Hugh considered it prudent to make, without

They were among the first to reach the tavern, but they had not been there many minutes, when several

groups of men who had formed part of the crowd, came straggling in. Among them were Simon Tappertit and

Mr Dennis; both of whom, but especially the latter, greeted Barnaby with the utmost warmth, and paid him

'Which,' said Dennis, with an oath, as he rested his bludgeon in a corner with his hat upon it, and took his seat

at the same table with them, 'it does me good to think of. There was a opportunity! But it led to nothing. For

my part, I don't know what would. There's no spirit among the people in these here times. Bring something to

'On what account?' asked Mr Tappertit, who had been quenching his fiery face in a halfgallon can. 'Don't

'Give me security that it an't a ending,' rejoined the hangman. 'When that soldier went down, we might have

made London ours; but no;we stand, and gape, and look onthe justice (I wish he had had a bullet in each

eye, as he would have had, if we'd gone to work my way) says, "My lads, if you'll give me your word to

disperse, I'll order off the military," our people sets up a hurrah, throws up the game with the winning cards in

their hands, and skulks away like a pack of tame curs as they are. Ah,' said the hangman, in a tone of deep

disgust, 'it makes me blush for my feller creeturs. I wish I had been born a ox, I do!'

'You'd have been quite as agreeable a character if you had been, I think,' returned Simon Tappertit, going out

'Don't be too sure of that,' rejoined the hangman, calling after him; 'if I was a horned animal at the present

moment, with the smallest grain of sense, I'd toss every man in this company, excepting them two,' meaning

With which mournful review of their proceedings, Mr Dennis sought consolation in cold boiled beef and

beer; but without at all relaxing the grim and dissatisfied expression of his face, the gloom of which was

The company who were thus libelled might have retaliated by strong words, if not by blows, but they were

dispirited and worn out. The greater part of them had fasted since morning; all had suffered extremely from

the excessive heat; and between the day's shouting, exertion, and excitement, many had quite lost their

voices, and so much of their strength that they could hardly stand. Then they were uncertain what to do next,

fearful of the consequences of what they had done already, and sensible that after all they had carried no

point, but had indeed left matters worse than they had found them. Of those who had come to The Boot,

many dropped off within an hour; such of them as were really honest and sincere, never, after the morning's

experience, to return, or to hold any communication with their late companions. Others remained but to

refresh themselves, and then went home desponding; others who had theretofore been regular in their

attendance, avoided the place altogether. The halfdozen prisoners whom the Guards had taken, were

magnified by report into halfahundred at least; and their friends, being faint and sober, so slackened in

their energy, and so drooped beneath these dispiriting influences, that by eight o'clock in the evening, Dennis,

Hugh, and Barnaby, were left alone. Even they were fast asleep upon the benches, when Gashford's entrance

'Why, where should we be, Muster Gashford!' Dennis rejoined as he rose into a sitting posture.

'Oh nowhere, nowhere,' he returned with excessive mildness. 'The streets are filled with blue cockades. I

'Oh dear, no. Not I. No orders, my good fellow. What orders should I have? You are not in my service.'

'The cause!' repeated the secretary, looking at him in a sort of abstraction. 'There is no cause. The cause is

'Oh yes. You have heard, I suppose? The petition is rejected by a hundred and ninetytwo, to six. It's quite

final. We might have spared ourselves some trouble. That, and my lord's vexation, are the only circumstances

As he said this, he took a penknife from his pocket, and putting his hat upon his knee, began to busy himself

in ripping off the blue cockade which he had worn all day; at the same time humming a psalm tune which had

His two adherents looked at each other, and at him, as if they were at a loss how to pursue the subject. At

length Hugh, after some elbowing and winking between himself and Mr Dennis, ventured to stay his hand,

'Because,' said the secretary, looking up with something between a snarl and a smile; 'because to sit still and

'Nothing,' returned Gashford, shrugging his shoulders, 'nothing. When my lord was reproached and

threatened for standing by you, I, as a prudent man, would have had you do nothing. When the soldiers were

trampling you under their horses' feet, I would have had you do nothing. When one of them was struck down

by a daring hand, and I saw confusion and dismay in all their faces, I would have had you do nothingjust

what you did, in short. This is the young man who had so little prudence and so much boldness. Ah! I am

'In case there should be a proclamation out tomorrow, offering five hundred pounds, or some such trifle, for

his apprehension; and in case it should include another man who dropped into the lobby from the stairs

'Fire and fury, master!' cried Hugh, starting up. 'What have we done, that you should talk to us like this!'

'Nothing,' returned Gashford with a sneer. 'If you are cast into prison; if the young man' here he looked

hard at Barnaby's attentive face'is dragged from us and from his friends; perhaps from people whom he

loves, and whom his death would kill; is thrown into jail, brought out and hanged before their eyes; still, do

'Where? To do what?' said Gashford, slipping past him, and standing with his back against it.

'Anywhere! Anything!' cried Hugh. 'Stand aside, master, or the window will serve our turn as well. Let us

'Ha ha ha! You are of suchof such an impetuous nature,' said Gashford, changing his manner for one of the

utmost good fellowship and the pleasantest raillery; 'you are such an excitable creature but you'll drink

'Oh, yescertainly,' growled Dennis, drawing his sleeve across his thirsty lips. 'No malice, brother. Drink

Hugh wiped his heated brow, and relaxed into a smile. The artful secretary laughed outright.

'Some liquor here! Be quick, or he'll not stop, even for that. He is a man of such desperate ardour!' said the

smooth secretary, whom Mr Dennis corroborated with sundry nods and muttered oaths'Once roused, he is

Hugh poised his sturdy arm aloft, and clapping Barnaby on the back, bade him fear nothing. They shook

hands togetherpoor Barnaby evidently possessed with the idea that he was among the most virtuous and

'I hear,' he said smoothly, as he stood among them with a great measure of liquor in his hand, and filled their

glasses as quickly and as often as they chose, 'I hearbut I cannot say whether it be true or falsethat the

men who are loitering in the streets to night are half disposed to pull down a Romish chapel or two, and that

they only want leaders. I even heard mention of those in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and in Warwick

'To do nothing, rnaster, eh?' cried Hugh. 'No jails and halter for Barnaby and me. They must be frightened

'A most impetuous fellow!' cried the secretary. 'Ha ha! A courageous, boisterous, most vehement fellow! A

There was no need to finish the sentence, for they had rushed out of the house, and were far beyond hearing.

He stopped in the middle of a laugh, listened, drew on his gloves, and, clasping his hands behind him, paced

the deserted room for a long time, then bent his steps towards the busy town, and walked into the streets.

They were filled with people, for the rumour of that day's proceedings had made a great noise. Those persons

who did not care to leave home, were at their doors or windows, and one topic of discourse prevailed on

every side. Some reported that the riots were effectually put down; others that they had broken out again:

some said that Lord George Gordon had been sent under a strong guard to the Tower; others that an attempt

had been made upon the King's life, that the soldiers had been again called out, and that the noise of musketry

in a distant part of the town had been plainly heard within an hour. As it grew darker, these stories became

more direful and mysterious; and often, when some frightened passenger ran past with tidings that the rioters

were not far off, and were coming up, the doors were shut and barred, lower windows made secure, and as

Gashford walked stealthily about, listening to all he heard, and diffusing or confirming, whenever he had an

opportunity, such false intelligence as suited his own purpose; and, busily occupied in this way, turned into

Holborn for the twentieth time, when a great many women and children came flying along the streetoften

panting and looking backand the confused murmur of numerous voices struck upon his ear. Assured by

these tokens, and by the red light which began to flash upon the houses on either side, that some of his friends

were indeed approaching, he begged a moment's shelter at a door which opened as he passed, and running

They had torches among them, and the chief faces were distinctly visible. That they had been engaged in the

destruction of some building was sufficiently apparent, and that it was a Catholic place of worship was

evident from the spoils they bore as trophies, which were easily recognisable for the vestments of priests, and

rich fragments of altar furniture. Covered with soot, and dirt, and dust, and lime; their garments torn to rags;

their hair hanging wildly about them; their hands and faces jagged and bleeding with the wounds of rusty

nails; Barnaby, Hugh, and Dennis hurried on before them all, like hideous madmen. After them, the dense

throng came fighting on: some singing; some shouting in triumph; some quarrelling among themselves; some

menacing the spectators as they passed; some with great wooden fragments, on which they spent their rage as

if they had been alive, rending them limb from limb, and hurling the scattered morsels high into the air; some

in a drunken state, unconscious of the hurts they had received from falling bricks, and stones, and beams; one

borne upon a shutter, in the very midst, covered with a dingy cloth, a senseless, ghastly heap. Thusa vision

of coarse faces, with here and there a blot of flaring, smoky light; a dream of demon heads and savage eyes,

and sticks and iron bars uplifted in the air, and whirled about; a bewildering horror, in which so much was

seen, and yet so little, which seemed so long, and yet so short, in which there were so many phantoms, not to

be forgotten all through life, and yet so many things that could not be observed in one distracting glimpseit

As it passed away upon its work of wrath and ruin, a piercing scream was heard. A knot of persons ran

towards the spot; Gashford, who just then emerged into the street, among them. He was on the outskirts of the

little concourse, and could not see or hear what passed within; but one who had a better place, informed him

'Is that all?' said the secretary, turning his face homewards. 'Well! I think this looks a little more like

Promising as these outrages were to Gashford's view, and much like business as they looked, they extended

that night no farther. The soldiers were again called out, again they took halfadozen prisoners, and again

the crowd dispersed after a short and bloodless scuffle. Hot and drunken though they were, they had not yet

broken all bounds and set all law and government at defiance. Something of their habitual deference to the

authority erected by society for its own preservation yet remained among them, and had its majesty been

vindicated in time, the secretary would have had to digest a bitter disappointment.

By midnight, the streets were clear and quiet, and, save that there stood in two parts of the town a heap of

nodding walls and pile of rubbish, where there had been at sunset a rich and handsome building, everything

wore its usual aspect. Even the Catholic gentry and tradesmen, of whom there were many resident in different

parts of the City and its suburbs, had no fear for their lives or property, and but little indignation for the

wrong they had already sustained in the plunder and destruction of their temples of worship. An honest

confidence in the government under whose protection they had lived for many years, and a wellfounded

reliance on the good feeling and right thinking of the great mass of the community, with whom,

notwithstanding their religious differences, they were every day in habits of confidential, affectionate, and

friendly intercourse, reassured them, even under the excesses that had been committed; and convinced them

that they who were Protestants in anything but the name, were no more to be considered as abettors of these

disgraceful occurrences, than they themselves were chargeable with the uses of the block, the rack, the

The clock was on the stroke of one, when Gabriel Varden, with his lady and Miss Miggs, sat waiting in the

little parlour. This fact; the toppling wicks of the dull, wasted candles; the silence that prevailed; and, above

all, the nightcaps of both maid and matron, were sufficient evidence that they had been prepared for bed some

If any other corroborative testimony had been required, it would have been abundantly furnished in the

actions of Miss Miggs, who, having arrived at that restless state and sensitive condition of the nervous system

which are the result of long watching, did, by a constant rubbing and tweaking of her nose, a perpetual

change of position (arising from the sudden growth of imaginary knots and knobs in her chair), a frequent

friction of her eyebrows, the incessant recurrence of a small cough, a small groan, a gasp, a sigh, a sniff, a

spasmodic start, and by other demonstrations of that nature, so file down and rasp, as it were, the patience of

the locksmith, that after looking at her in silence for some time, he at last broke out into this apostrophe:

'Miggs, my good girl, go to beddo go to bed. You're really worse than the dripping of a hundred

waterbutts outside the window, or the scratching of as many mice behind the wainscot. I can't bear it. Do go

'You haven't got nothing to untie, sir,' returned Miss Miggs, 'and therefore your requests does not surprise me.

But missis hasand while you sit up, mim'she added, turning to the locksmith's wife, 'I couldn't, no, not if

twenty times the quantity of cold water was aperiently running down my back at this moment, go to bed with

Having spoken these words, Miss Miggs made divers efforts to rub her shoulders in an impossible place, and

shivered from head to foot; thereby giving the beholders to understand that the imaginary cascade was still in

full flow, but that a sense of duty upheld her under that and all other sufferings, and nerved her to endurance.

Mrs Varden being too sleepy to speak, and Miss Miggs having, as the phrase is, said her say, the locksmith

But to be quiet with such a basilisk before him was impossible. If he looked another way, it was worse to feel

that she was rubbing her cheek, or twitching her ear, or winking her eye, or making all kinds of extraordinary

shapes with her nose, than to see her do it. If she was for a moment free from any of these complaints, it was

only because of her foot being asleep, or of her arm having got the fidgets, or of her leg being doubled up

with the cramp, or of some other horrible disorder which racked her whole frame. If she did enjoy a moment's

ease, then with her eyes shut and her mouth wide open, she would be seen to sit very stiff and upright in her

chair; then to nod a little way forward, and stop with a jerk; then to nod a little farther forward, and stop with

another jerk; then to recover herself; then to come forward againlowerlowerlower by very slow

degrees, until, just as it seemed impossible that she could preserve her balance for another instant, and the

locksmith was about to call out in an agony, to save her from dashing down upon her forehead and fracturing

her skull, then all of a sudden and without the smallest notice, she would come upright and rigid again with

her eyes open, and in her countenance an expression of defiance, sleepy but yet most obstinate, which plainly

said, 'I've never once closed 'em since I looked at you last, and I'll take my oath of it!'

At length, after the clock had struck two, there was a sound at the street door, as if somebody had fallen

against the knocker by accident. Miss Miggs immediately jumping up and clapping her hands, cried with a

drowsy mingling of the sacred and profane, 'Ally Looyer, mim! there's Simmuns's knock!'

'Me!' cried the wellknown voice of Mr Tappertit. Gabriel opened the door, and gave him admission.

He did not cut a very insinuating figure, for a man of his stature suffers in a crowd; and having been active in

yesterday morning's work, his dress was literally crushed from head to foot: his hat being beaten out of all

shape, and his shoes trodden down at heel like slippers. His coat fluttered in strips about him, the buckles

were torn away both from his knees and feet, half his neckerchief was gone, and the bosom of his shirt was

rent to tatters. Yet notwithstanding all these personal disadvantages; despite his being very weak from heat

and fatigue; and so begrimed with mud and dust that he might have been in a case, for anything of the real

texture (either of his skin or apparel) that the eye could discern; he stalked haughtily into the parlour, and

throwing himself into a chair, and endeavouring to thrust his hands into the pockets of his smallclothes,

which were turned inside out and displayed upon his legs, like tassels, surveyed the household with a gloomy

'Simon,' said the locksmith gravely, 'how comes it that you return home at this time of night, and in this

condition? Give me an assurance that you have not been among the rioters, and I am satisfied.'

'Sir,' replied Mr Tappertit, with a contemptuous look, 'I wonder at YOUR assurance in making such

'As a general principle, and in the most offensive sense of the words, sir,' returned his journeyman with great

selfpossession, 'I consider you a liar. In that last observation you have unintentionallyunintentionally,

'Martha,' said the locksmith, turning to his wife, and shaking his head sorrowfully, while a smile at the absurd

figure beside him still played upon his open face, 'I trust it may turn out that this poor lad is not the victim of

the knaves and fools we have so often had words about, and who have done so much harm today. If he has

'He has been at neither, sir,' cried Mr Tappertit in a loud voice, which he suddenly dropped into a whisper as

'I am glad of it, with all my heart,' said the locksmith in a serious tone; 'for if he had been, and it could be

proved against him, Martha, your Great Association would have been to him the cart that draws men to the

Mrs Varden was too much scared by Simon's altered manner and appearance, and by the accounts of the

rioters which had reached her ears that night, to offer any retort, or to have recourse to her usual matrimonial

'He was not at Duke Street, or at Warwick Street, G. Varden,' said Simon, sternly; 'but he WAS at

Westminster. Perhaps, sir, he kicked a county member, perhaps, sir, he tapped a lordyou may stare, sir, I

repeat itblood flowed from noses, and perhaps he tapped a lord. Who knows? This,' he added, putting his

hand into his waistcoatpocket, and taking out a large tooth, at the sight of which both Miggs and Mrs

'Now, I would rather,' said the locksmith hastily, 'have paid five hundred pounds, than had this come to pass.

'I know it, sir,' replied his journeyman, 'and it is my glory. I was there, everybody saw me there. I was

The locksmith, really disturbed and agitated, paced to and fro in silenceglancing at his former 'prentice

'Get to bed, and sleep for a couple of hours that you may wake penitent, and with some of your senses about

you. Be sorry for what you have done, and we will try to save you. If I call him by five o'clock,' said Varden,

turning hurriedly to his wife, and he washes himself clean and changes his dress, he may get to the Tower

Stairs, and away by the Gravesend tideboat, before any search is made for him. From there he can easily get

on to Canterbury, where your cousin will give him work till this storm has blown over. I am not sure that I do

right in screening him from the punishment he deserves, but he has lived in this house, man and boy, for a

dozen years, and I should be sorry if for this one day's work he made a miserable end. Lock the frontdoor,

Miggs, and show no light towards the street when you go upstairs. Quick, Simon! Get to bed!'

'And do you suppose, sir,' retorted Mr Tappertit, with a thickness and slowness of speech which contrasted

forcibly with the rapidity and earnestness of his kindhearted master'and do you suppose, sir, that I am

'Whatever you please, Sim, but get to bed. Every minute is of consequence. The light here, Miggs!'

Mr Tappertit stood upon his feet, and pushing his chair away to show that he needed no assistance, answered,

swaying himself to and fro, and managing his head as if it had no connection whatever with his body:

'Oh Simmun!' ejaculated that young lady in a faint voice. 'Oh mim! Oh sir! Oh goodness gracious, what a turn

'This family may ALL be smothered, sir,' returned Mr Tappertit, after glancing at her with a smile of

ineffable disdain, 'excepting Mrs V. I have come here, sir, for her sake, this night. Mrs Varden, take this piece

With these words he held out at arm's length, a dirty, crumpled scrap of writing. The locksmith took it from

'All good friends to our cause, I hope will be particular, and do no injury to the property of any true

Protestant. I am well assured that the proprietor of this house is a staunch and worthy friend to the cause.

'Something that'll do you good service, young feller,' replied his journeyman, 'as you'll find. Keep that safe,

and where you can lay your hand upon it in an instant. And chalk "No Popery" on your door tomorrow

'This is a genuine document,' said the locksmith, 'I know, for I have seen the hand before. What threat does it

'A fiery devil,' retorted Sim; 'a flaming, furious devil. Don't you put yourself in its way, or you're done for,

But here the two women threw themselves in his wayespecially Miss Miggs, who fell upon him with such

fervour that she pinned him against the walland conjured him in moving words not to go forth till he was

sober; to listen to reason; to think of it; to take some rest, and then determine.

'I tell you,' said Mr Tappertit, 'that my mind is made up. My bleeding country calls me and I go! Miggs, if

Miss Miggs, still clinging to the rebel, screamed once vociferouslybut whether in the distraction of her

'Release me,' said Simon, struggling to free himself from her chaste, but spiderlike embrace. 'Let me go! I

have made arrangements for you in an altered state of society, and mean to provide for you comfortably in

'Oh Simmun!' cried Miss Miggs. 'Oh my blessed Simmun! Oh mim! what are my feelings at this conflicting

Of a rather turbulent description, it would seem; for her nightcap had been knocked off in the scuffle, and she

was on her knees upon the floor, making a strange revelation of blue and yellow curl papers, straggling

locks of hair, tags of staylaces, and strings of it's impossible to say what; panting for breath, clasping her

hands, turning her eyes upwards, shedding abundance of tears, and exhibiting various other symptoms of the

'I leave,' said Simon, turning to his master, with an utter disregard of Miggs's maidenly affliction, 'a box of

things upstairs. Do what you like with 'em. I don't want 'em. I'm never coming back here, any more. Provide

yourself, sir, with a journeyman; I'm my country's journeyman; henceforward that's MY line of business.'

'Be what you like in two hours' time, but now go up to bed,' returned the locksmith, planting himself in the

'I hear you, and defy you, Varden,' rejoined Simon Tappertit. 'This night, sir, I have been in the country,

planning an expedition which shall fill your bellhanging soul with wonder and dismay. The plot demands

'I'll knock you down if you come near the door,' replied the locksmith. 'You had better go to bed!'

Simon made no answer, but gathering himself up as straight as he could, plunged head foremost at his old

master, and the two went driving out into the workshop together, plying their hands and feet so briskly that

It would have been easy for Varden to knock his old 'prentice down, and bind him hand and foot; but as he

was loth to hurt him in his then defenceless state, he contented himself with parrying his blows when he

could, taking them in perfect good part when he could not, and keeping between him and the door, until a

favourable opportunity should present itself for forcing him to retreat up stairs, and shutting him up in his

own room. But, in the goodness of his heart, he calculated too much upon his adversary's weakness, and

forgot that drunken men who have lost the power of walking steadily, can often run. Watching his time,

Simon Tappertit made a cunning show of falling back, staggered unexpectedly forward, brushed past him,

opened the door (he knew the trick of that lock well), and darted down the street like a mad dog. The

locksmith paused for a moment in the excess of his astonishment, and then gave chase.

It was an excellent season for a run, for at that silent hour the streets were deserted, the air was cool, and the

flying figure before him distinctly visible at a great distance, as it sped away, with a long gaunt shadow

following at its heels. But the short winded locksmith had no chance against a man of Sim's youth and spare

figure, though the day had been when he could have run him down in no time. The space between them

rapidly increased, and as the rays of the rising sun streamed upon Simon in the act of turning a distant corner,

Gabriel Varden was fain to give up, and sit down on a doorstep to fetch his breath. Simon meanwhile,

without once stopping, fled at the same degree of swiftness to The Boot, where, as he well knew, some of his

company were lying, and at which respectable hostelryfor he had already acquired the distinction of being

in great peril of the lawa friendly watch had been expecting him all night, and was even now on the

'Go thy ways, Sim, go thy ways,' said the locksmith, as soon as he could speak. 'I have done my best for thee,

So saying, and shaking his head in a very sorrowful and disconsolate manner, he turned back, and soon

reentered his own house, where Mrs Varden and the faithful Miggs had been anxiously expecting his return.

Now Mrs Varden (and by consequence Miss Miggs likewise) was impressed with a secret misgiving that she

had done wrong; that she had, to the utmost of her small means, aided and abetted the growth of disturbances,

the end of which it was impossible to foresee; that she had led remotely to the scene which had just passed;

and that the locksmith's time for triumph and reproach had now arrived indeed. And so strongly did Mrs

Varden feel this, and so crestfallen was she in consequence, that while her husband was pursuing their lost

journeyman, she secreted under her chair the little redbrick dwellinghouse with the yellow roof, lest it

should furnish new occasion for reference to the painful theme; and now hid the same still more, with the

But it happened that the locksmith had been thinking of this very article on his way home, and that, coming

Mrs Varden had no resource but to produce it, which she did with many tears, and broken protestations that if

'Yes, yes,' said Varden, 'of courseI know that. I don't mean to reproach you, my dear. But recollect from

this time that all good things perverted to evil purposes, are worse than those which are naturally bad. A

thoroughly wicked woman, is wicked indeed. When religion goes wrong, she is very wrong, for the same

So he dropped the redbrick dwellinghouse on the floor, and setting his heel upon it, crushed it into pieces.

The halfpence, and sixpences, and other voluntary contributions, rolled about in all directions, but nobody

'That,' said the locksmith, 'is easily disposed of, and I would to Heaven that everything growing out of the

'It happens very fortunately, Varden,' said his wife, with her handkerchief to her eyes, 'that in case any more

'That in case any should occur, we have the piece of paper which that poor misguided young man brought.'

'Ay, to be sure,' said the locksmith, turning quickly round. 'Where is that piece of paper?'

Mrs Varden stood aghast as he took it from her outstretched band, tore it into fragments, and threw them

'Use it!' cried the locksmith. No! Let them come and pull the roof about our ears; let them burn us out of

house and home; I'd neither have the protection of their leader, nor chalk their howl upon my door, though,

for not doing it, they shot me on my own threshold. Use it! Let them come and do their worst. The first man

who crosses my doorstep on such an errand as theirs, had better be a hundred miles away. Let him look to it.

The others may have their will. I wouldn't beg or buy them off, if, instead of every pound of iron in the place,

there was a hundred weight of gold. Get you to bed, Martha. I shall take down the shutters and go to work.'

'Ay,' replied the locksmith cheerily, 'so early. Come when they may, they shall not find us skulking and

hiding, as if we feared to take our portion of the light of day, and left it all to them. So pleasant dreams to

With that he gave his wife a hearty kiss, and bade her delay no longer, or it would be time to rise before she

lay down to rest. Mrs Varden quite amiably and meekly walked upstairs, followed by Miggs, who, although a

good deal subdued, could not refrain from sundry stimulative coughs and sniffs by the way, or from holding

A mob is usually a creature of very mysterious existence, particularly in a large city. Where it comes from or

whither it goes, few men can tell. Assembling and dispersing with equal suddenness, it is as difficult to

follow to its various sources as the sea itself; nor does the parallel stop here, for the ocean is not more fickle

The people who were boisterous at Westminster upon the Friday morning, and were eagerly bent upon the

work of devastation in Duke Street and Warwick Street at night, were, in the mass, the same. Allowing for

the chance accessions of which any crowd is morally sure in a town where there must always be a large

number of idle and profligate persons, one and the same mob was at both places. Yet they spread themselves

in various directions when they dispersed in the afternoon, made no appointment for reassembling, had no

definite purpose or design, and indeed, for anything they knew, were scattered beyond the hope of future

At The Boot, which, as has been shown, was in a manner the head quarters of the rioters, there were not,

upon this Friday night, a dozen people. Some slept in the stable and outhouses, some in the common room,

some two or three in beds. The rest were in their usual homes or haunts. Perhaps not a score in all lay in the

adjacent fields and lanes, and under haystacks, or near the warmth of brickkilns, who had not their

accustomed place of rest beneath the open sky. As to the public ways within the town, they had their ordinary

nightly occupants, and no others; the usual amount of vice and wretchedness, but no more.

The experience of one evening, however, had taught the reckless leaders of disturbance, that they had but to

show themselves in the streets, to be immediately surrounded by materials which they could only have kept

together when their aid was not required, at great risk, expense, and trouble. Once possessed of this secret,

they were as confident as if twenty thousand men, devoted to their will, had been encamped about them, and

assumed a confidence which could not have been surpassed, though that had really been the case. All day,

Saturday, they remained quiet. On Sunday, they rather studied how to keep their men within call, and in full

'I hope,' said Dennis, as, with a loud yawn, he raised his body from a heap of straw on which he had been

sleeping, and supporting his head upon his hand, appealed to Hugh on Sunday morning, 'that Muster

'It's not his way to let matters drop, you may be sure of that,' growled Hugh in answer. 'I'm in no humour to

stir yet, though. I'm as stiff as a dead body, and as full of ugly scratches as if I had been fighting all day

'You've so much enthusiasm, that's it,' said Dennis, looking with great admiration at the uncombed head,

matted beard, and torn hands and face of the wild figure before him; 'you're such a devil of a fellow. You hurt

yourself a hundred times more than you need, because you will be foremost in everything, and will do more

'For the matter of that,' returned Hugh, shaking back his ragged hair and glancing towards the door of the

stable in which they lay; 'there's one yonder as good as me. What did I tell you about him? Did I say he was

Mr Dennis rolled lazily over upon his breast, and resting his chin upon his hand in imitation of the attitude in

'Ay, ay, you knew him, brother, you knew him. But who'd suppose to look at that chap now, that he could be

the man he is! Isn't it a thousand cruel pities, brother, that instead of taking his nat'ral rest and qualifying

himself for further exertions in this here honourable cause, he should be playing at soldiers like a boy? And

his cleanliness too!' said Mr Dennis, who certainly had no reason to entertain a fellow feeling with anybody

who was particular on that score; 'what weaknesses he's guilty of; with respect to his cleanliness! At five

o'clock this morning, there he was at the pump, though any one would think he had gone through enough, the

day before yesterday, to be pretty fast asleep at that time. But nowhen I woke for a minute or two, there he

was at the pump, and if you'd seen him sticking them peacock's feathers into his hat when he'd done

washingah! I'm sorry he's such a imperfect character, but the best on us is incomplete in some pint of view

The subject of this dialogue and of these concluding remarks, which were uttered in a tone of philosophical

meditation, was, as the reader will have divined, no other than Barnaby, who, with his flag in hand, stood

sentry in the little patch of sunlight at the distant door, or walked to and fro outside, singing softly to himself;

and keeping time to the music of some clear church bells. Whether he stood still, leaning with both hands on

the flagstaff, or, bearing it upon his shoulder, paced slowly up and down, the careful arrangement of his poor

dress, and his erect and lofty bearing, showed how high a sense he had of the great importance of his trust,

and how happy and how proud it made him. To Hugh and his companion, who lay in a dark corner of the

gloomy shed, he, and the sunlight, and the peaceful Sabbath sound to which he made response, seemed like a

bright picture framed by the door, and set off by the stable's blackness. The whole formed such a contrast to

themselves, as they lay wallowing, like some obscene animals, in their squalor and wickedness on the two

heaps of straw, that for a few moments they looked on without speaking, and felt almost ashamed.

'Ah!'said Hugh at length, carrying it off with a laugh: 'He's a rare fellow is Barnaby, and can do more, with

less rest, or meat, or drink, than any of us. As to his soldiering, I put him on duty there.'

'Then there was a object in it, and a proper good one too, I'll be sworn,' retorted Dennis with a broad grin, and

'Why, you see,' said Hugh, crawling a little nearer to him, 'that our noble captain yonder, came in yesterday

Dennis looked to where Simon Tappertit lay coiled upon a truss of hay, snoring profoundly, and nodded.

'And our noble captain,' continued Hugh with another laugh, 'our noble captain and I, have planned for

'Ay, against the Papistsagainst one of 'em at least, that some of us, and I for one, owe a good heavy grudge

'Not Muster Gashford's friend that he spoke to us about in my house, eh?' said Dennis, brimfull of pleasant

'That's your sort,' cried Mr Dennis, gaily shaking hands with him, 'that's the kind of game. Let's have revenges

and injuries, and all that, and we shall get on twice as fast. Now you talk, indeed!'

'Ha ha ha! The captain,' added Hugh, 'has thoughts of carrying off a woman in the bustle, andha ha

Mr Dennis received this part of the scheme with a wry face, observing that as a general principle he objected

to women altogether, as being unsafe and slippery persons on whom there was no calculating with any

certainty, and who were never in the same mind for fourandtwenty hours at a stretch. He might have

expatiated on this suggestive theme at much greater length, but that it occurred to him to ask what connection

existed between the proposed expedition and Barnaby's being posted at the stabledoor as sentry; to which

'Why, the people we mean to visit, were friends of his, once upon a time, and I know that much of him to feel

pretty sure that if he thought we were going to do them any harm, he'd be no friend to our side, but would

lend a ready hand to the other. So I've persuaded him (for I know him of old) that Lord George has picked

him out to guard this place tomorrow while we're away, and that it's a great honourand so he's on duty

now, and as proud of it as if he was a general. Ha ha! What do you say to me for a careful man as well as a

'About that,' said Hugh, 'you shall hear all particulars from me and the great captain conjointly and both

togetherfor see, he's waking up. Rouse yourself, lionheart. Ha ha! Put a good face upon it, and drink

again. Another hair of the dog that bit you, captain! Call for drink! There's enough of gold and silver cups and

candlesticks buried underneath my bed,' he added, rolling back the straw, and pointing to where the ground

was newly turned, 'to pay for it, if it was a score of casks full. Drink, captain!'

Mr Tappertit received these jovial promptings with a very bad grace, being much the worse, both in mind and

body, for his two nights of debauch, and but indifferently able to stand upon his legs. With Hugh's assistance,

however, he contrived to stagger to the pump; and having refreshed himself with an abundant draught of cold

water, and a copious shower of the same refreshing liquid on his head and face, he ordered some rum and

milk to be served; and upon that innocent beverage and some biscuits and cheese made a pretty hearty meal.

That done, he disposed himself in an easy attitude on the ground beside his two companions (who were

carousing after their own tastes), and proceeded to enlighten Mr Dennis in reference to tomorrow's project.

That their conversation was an interesting one, was rendered manifest by its length, and by the close attention

of all three. That it was not of an oppressively grave character, but was enlivened by various pleasantries

arising out of the subject, was clear from their loud and frequent roars of laughter, which startled Barnaby on

his post, and made him wonder at their levity. But he was not summoned to join them, until they had eaten,

and drunk, and slept, and talked together for some hours; not, indeed, until the twilight; when they informed

him that they were about to make a slight demonstration in the streetsjust to keep the people's hands in, as

it was Sunday night, and the public might otherwise be disappointedand that he was free to accompany

Without the slightest preparation, saving that they carried clubs and wore the blue cockade, they sallied out

into the streets; and, with no more settled design than that of doing as much mischief as they could, paraded

them at random. Their numbers rapidly increasing, they soon divided into parties; and agreeing to meet

byandby, in the fields near Welbeck Street, scoured the town in various directions. The largest body, and

that which augmented with the greatest rapidity, was the one to which Hugh and Barnaby belonged. This took

its way towards Moorfields, where there was a rich chapel, and in which neighbourhood several Catholic

Beginning with the private houses so occupied, they broke open the doors and windows; and while they

destroyed the furniture and left but the bare walls, made a sharp search for tools and engines of destruction,

such as hammers, pokers, axes, saws, and such like instruments. Many of the rioters made belts of cord, of

handkerchiefs, or any material they found at hand, and wore these weapons as openly as pioneers upon a

fieldday. There was not the least disguise or concealmentindeed, on this night, very little excitement or

hurry. From the chapels, they tore down and took away the very altars, benches, pulpits, pews, and flooring;

from the dwellinghouses, the very wainscoting and stairs. This Sunday evening's recreation they pursued

like mere workmen who had a certain task to do, and did it. Fifty resolute men might have turned them at any

moment; a single company of soldiers could have scattered them like dust; but no man interposed, no

authority restrained them, and, except by the terrified persons who fled from their approach, they were as

little heeded as if they were pursuing their lawful occupations with the utmost sobriety and good conduct.

In the same manner, they marched to the place of rendezvous agreed upon, made great fires in the fields, and

reserving the most valuable of their spoils, burnt the rest. Priestly garments, images of saints, rich stuffs and

ornaments, altarfurniture and household goods, were cast into the flames, and shed a glare on the whole

country round; but they danced and howled, and roared about these fires till they were tired, and were never

As the main body filed off from this scene of action, and passed down Welbeck Street, they came upon

Gashford, who had been a witness of their proceedings, and was walking stealthily along the pavement.

'What would you have?' said Hugh. 'Fevers are never at their height at once. They must get on by degrees.'

'I would have you,' said Gashford, pinching his arm with such malevolence that his nails seemed to meet in

the skin; 'I would have you put some meaning into your work. Fools! Can you make no better bonfires than

'A little patience, master,' said Hugh. 'Wait but a few hours, and you shall see. Look for a redness in the sky,

With that, he fell back into his place beside Barnaby; and when the secretary looked after him, both were lost

The next day was ushered in by merry peals of bells, and by the firing of the Tower guns; flags were hoisted

on many of the church steeples; the usual demonstrations were made in honour of the anniversary of the

King's birthday; and every man went about his pleasure or business as if the city were in perfect order, and

there were no halfsmouldering embers in its secret places, which, on the approach of night, would kindle up

again and scatter ruin and dismay abroad. The leaders of the riot, rendered still more daring by the success of

last night and by the booty they had acquired, kept steadily together, and only thought of implicating the mass

of their followers so deeply that no hope of pardon or reward might tempt them to betray their more notorious

Indeed, the sense of having gone too far to be forgiven, held the timid together no less than the bold. Many

who would readily have pointed out the foremost rioters and given evidence against them, felt that escape by

that means was hopeless, when their every act had been observed by scores of people who had taken no part

in the disturbances; who had suffered in their persons, peace, or property, by the outrages of the mob; who

would be most willing witnesses; and whom the government would, no doubt, prefer to any King's evidence

that might be offered. Many of this class had deserted their usual occupations on the Saturday morning; some

had been seen by their employers active in the tumult; others knew they must be suspected, and that they

would be discharged if they returned; others had been desperate from the beginning, and comforted

themselves with the homely proverb, that, being hanged at all, they might as well be hanged for a sheep as a

lamb. They all hoped and believed, in a greater or less degree, that the government they seemed to have

paralysed, would, in its terror, come to terms with them in the end, and suffer them to make their own

conditions. The least sanguine among them reasoned with himself that, at the worst, they were too many to be

all punished, and that he had as good a chance of escape as any other man. The great mass never reasoned or

thought at all, but were stimulated by their own headlong passions, by poverty, by ignorance, by the love of

One other circumstance is worthy of remark; and that is, that from the moment of their first outbreak at

Westminster, every symptom of order or preconcerted arrangement among them vanished. When they

divided into parties and ran to different quarters of the town, it was on the spontaneous suggestion of the

moment. Each party swelled as it went along, like rivers as they roll towards the sea; new leaders sprang up

as they were wanted, disappeared when the necessity was over, and reappeared at the next crisis. Each tumult

took shape and form from the circumstances of the moment; sober workmen, going home from their day's

labour, were seen to cast down their baskets of tools and become rioters in an instant; mere boys on errands

did the like. In a word, a moral plague ran through the city. The noise, and hurry, and excitement, had for

hundreds and hundreds an attraction they had no firmness to resist. The contagion spread like a dread fever:

an infectious madness, as yet not near its height, seized on new victims every hour, and society began to

It was between two and three o'clock in the afternoon when Gashford looked into the lair described in the last

He was out, Barnaby told him; had gone out more than an hour ago; and had not yet returned.

'Dennis!' said the smiling secretary, in his smoothest voice, as he sat down crosslegged on a barrel, 'Dennis!'

The hangman struggled into a sitting posture directly, and with his eyes wide open, looked towards him.

'How do you do, Dennis?' said Gashford, nodding. 'I hope you have suffered no inconvenience from your late

'I always will say of you, Muster Gashford,' returned the hangman, staring at him, 'that that 'ere quiet way of

yours might almost wake a dead man. It is,' he added, with a muttered oathstill staring at him in a

'Distinct!' he answered, scratching his head, and keeping his eyes upon the secretary's face; 'I seem to hear it,

'I am very glad your sense of hearing is so sharp, and that I succeed in making myself so intelligible,' said

Mr Dennis looked round as in expectation of beholding him asleep upon his bed of straw; then remembering

'I can't say where he is, Muster Gashford, I expected him back afore now. I hope it isn't time that we was

'Nay,' said the secretary, 'who should know that as well as you? How can I tell you, Dennis? You are perfect

master of your own actions, you know, and accountable to nobodyexcept sometimes to the law, eh?'

Dennis, who was very much baffled by the cool matterofcourse manner of this reply, recovered his

selfpossession on his professional pursuits being referred to, and pointing towards Barnaby, shook his head

'Ah! Do hush about that, Muster Gashford,' said the hangman in a low voice, 'pop'lar prejudicesyou always

'I hear him coming,' he answered: 'Hark! Do you mark that? That's his foot! Bless you, I know his step, and

his dog's too. Tramp, tramp, pitpat, on they come together, and, ha ha ha!and here they are!' he cried,

joyfully welcoming Hugh with both hands, and then patting him fondly on the back, as if instead of being the

rough companion he was, he had been one of the most prepossessing of men. 'Here he is, and safe too! I am

'I'm a Turk if he don't give me a warmer welcome always than any man of sense,' said Hugh, shaking hands

with him with a kind of ferocious friendship, strange enough to see. 'How are you, boy?'

'Hearty!' cried Barnaby, waving his hat. 'Ha ha ha! And merrry too, Hugh! And ready to do anything for the

good cause, and the right, and to help the kind, mild, palefaced gentlemanthe lord they used so illeh,

'Ay!' returned his friend, dropping his hand, and looking at Gashford for an instant with a changed expression

'So would you have been, master,' said Hugh, wiping his face, 'if you'd been running here as fast as I have.'

'You don't?' cried Gashford, raising his eyebrows with an exclamation of surprise. 'Dear me! Come; then I

AM the first to make you acquainted with your distinguished position, after all. Do you see the King's Arms

atop?' he smilingly asked, as he took a large paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and held it out for Hugh's

'I told you, the first time I saw you, that I couldn't read,' said Hugh, impatiently. 'What in the Devil's name's

'It is a proclamation from the King in Council,' said Gashford, 'dated today, and offering a reward of five

hundred poundsfive hundred pounds is a great deal of money, and a large temptation to some peopleto

any one who will discover the person or persons most active in demolishing those chapels on Saturday night.'

'Truly I might have known you did,' said Gashford, smiling, and folding up the document again. 'Your friend,

'My friend!' stammered Hugh, with an unsuccessful effort to appear surprised. 'What friend?'

'Tut tutdo you suppose I don't know where you have been?' retorted Gashford, rubbing his hands, and

beating the back of one on the palm of the other, and looking at him with a cunning eye. 'How dull you think

'You have also heard from him, no doubt,' resumed the secretary, after a moment's pause, 'that the rioters who

have been taken (poor fellows) are committed for trial, and that some very active witnesses have had the

temerity to appear against them. Among others' and here he clenched his teeth, as if he would suppress by

force some violent words that rose upon his tongue; and spoke very slowly. 'Among others, a gentleman who

Hugh would have prevented his uttering the word, but it was out already. Hearing the name, Barnaby turned

'Duty, duty, bold Barnaby!' cried Hugh, assuming his wildest and most rapid manner, and thrusting into his

hand his staff and flag which leant against the wall. 'Mount guard without loss of time, for we are off upon

our expedition. Up, Dennis, and get ready! Take care that no one turns the straw upon my bed, brave

Barnaby; we know what's underneath iteh? Now, master, quick! What you have to say, say speedily, for

the little captain and a cluster of 'em are in the fields, and only waiting for us. Sharp's the word, and strike's

Barnaby was not proof against this bustle and despatch. The look of mingled astonishtnent and anger which

had appeared in his face when he turned towards them, faded from it as the words passed from his memory,

like breath from a polished mirror; and grasping the weapon which Hugh forced upon him, he proudly took

'He's as quick sometimesI don't mean with his hands, for that you know, but with his headas you or any

man,' said Hugh. 'Dennis, it's time we were going; they're waiting for us; I came to tell you. Reach me my

stick and belt. Here! Lend a hand, master. Fling this over my shoulder, and buckle it behind, will you?'

'There is, is there?' said Gashford. He said it with such a provoking assumption of ignorance, that Hugh,

'Is there! You know there is! Who knows better than you, master, that the first great step to be taken is to

make examples of these witnesses, and frighten all men from appearing against us or any of our body, any

'There's one we know of,' returned Gashford, with an expressive smile, 'who is at least as well informed upon

'If we mean the same gentleman, as I suppose we do,' Hugh rejoined softly, 'I tell you thishe's as good and

quick information about everything as' here he paused and looked round, as if to make sure that the person

in question was not within hearing, 'as Old Nick himself. Have you done that, master? How slow you are!'

'It's quite fast now,' said Gashford, rising. 'I sayyou didn't find that your friend disapproved of today's

little expedition? Ha ha ha! It is fortunate it jumps so well with the witness policy; for, once planned, it must

Gashford paused a moment, struggling with his caution and his malice; then putting himself between the two

'Do not, my good friendsI am sure you will notforget our talk one nightin your house, Dennisabout

this person. No mercy, no quarter, no two beams of his house to be left standing where the builder placed

them! Fire, the saying goes, is a good servant, but a bad master. Makes it HIS master; he deserves no better.

But I am sure you will be firm, I am sure you will be very resolute, I am sure you will remember that he

thirsts for your lives, and those of all your brave companions. If you ever acted like staunch fellows, you will

The two looked at him, and at each other; then bursting into a roar of laughter, brandished their staves above

When they had been gone a little time, Gashford followed. They were yet in sight, and hastening to that part

of the adjacent fields in which their fellows had already mustered; Hugh was looking back, and flourishing

his hat to Barnaby, who, delighted with his trust, replied in the same way, and then resumed his pacing up

and down before the stabledoor, where his feet had worn a path already. And when Gashford himself was

far distant, and looked back for the last time, he was still walking to and fro, with the same measured tread;

the most devoted and the blithest champion that ever maintained a post, and felt his heart lifted up with a

Smiling at the simplicity of the poor idiot, Gashford betook himself to Welbeck Street by a different path

from that which he knew the rioters would take, and sitting down behind a curtain in one of the upper

windows of Lord George Gordon's house, waited impatiently for their coming. They were so long, that

although he knew it had been settled they should come that way, he had a misgiving they must have changed

their plans and taken some other route. But at length the roar of voices was heard in the neighbouring fields,

However, they were not all, nor nearly all, in one body, but were, as he soon found, divided into four parties,

each of which stopped before the house to give three cheers, and then went on; the leaders crying out in what

direction they were going, and calling on the spectators to join them. The first detachment, carrying, by way

of banners, some relics of the havoc they had made in Moorfields, proclaimed that they were on their way to

Chelsea, whence they would return in the same order, to make of the spoil they bore, a great bonfire, near at

hand. The second gave out that they were bound for Wapping, to destroy a chapel; the third, that their place

of destination was East Smithfield, and their object the same. All this was done in broad, bright, summer day.

Gay carriages and chairs stopped to let them pass, or turned back to avoid them; people on foot stood aside in

doorways, or perhaps knocked and begged permission to stand at a window, or in the hall, until the rioters

had passed: but nobody interfered with them; and when they had gone by, everything went on as usual.

There still remained the fourth body, and for that the secretary looked with a most intense eagerness. At last it

came up. It was numerous, and composed of picked men; for as he gazed down among them, he recognised

many upturned faces which he knew wellthose of Simon Tappertit, Hugh, and Dennis in the front, of

course. They halted and cheered, as the others had done; but when they moved again, they did not, like them,

proclaim what design they had. Hugh merely raised his hat upon the bludgeon he carried, and glancing at a

Gashford followed the direction of his glance instinctively, and saw, standing on the pavement, and wearing

the blue cockade, Sir John Chester. He held his hat an inch or two above his head, to propitiate the mob; and,

resting gracefully on his cane, smiling pleasantly, and displaying his dress and person to the very best

advantage, looked on in the most tranquil state imaginable. For all that, and quick and dexterous as he was,

Gashford had seen him recognise Hugh with the air of a patron. He had no longer any eyes for the crowd, but

He stood in the same place and posture until the last man in the concourse had turned the corner of the street;

then very deliberately took the blue cockade out of his hat; put it carefully in his pocket, ready for the next

emergency; refreshed himself with a pinch of snuff; put up his box; and was walking slowly off, when a

passing carriage stopped, and a lady's hand let down the glass. Sir John's hat was off again immediately. After

a minute's conversation at the carriagewindow, in which it was apparent that he was vastly entertaining on

The secretary smiled, but he had other thoughts to dwell upon, and soon dismissed the topic. Dinner was

brought him, but he sent it down untasted; and, in restless pacings up and down the room, and constant

glances at the clock, and many futile efforts to sit down and read, or go to sleep, or look out of the window,

consumed four weary hours. When the dial told him thus much time had crept away, he stole upstairs to the

top of the house, and coming out upon the roof sat down, with his face towards the east.

Heedless of the fresh air that blew upon his heated brow, of the pleasant meadows from which he turned, of

the piles of roofs and chimneys upon which he looked, of the smoke and rising mist he vainly sought to

pierce, of the shrill cries of children at their evening sports, the distant hum and turmoil of the town, the

cheerful country breath that rustled past to meet it, and to droop, and die; he watched, and watched, till it was

dark save for the specks of light that twinkled in the streets below and far away and, as the darkness

'Nothing but gloom in that direction, still!' he muttered restlessly. 'Dog! where is the redness in the sky, you

Rumours of the prevailing disturbances had, by this time, begun to be pretty generally circulated through the

towns and villages round London, and the tidings were everywhere received with that appetite for the

marvellous and love of the terrible which have probably been among the natural characteristics of mankind

since the creation of the world. These accounts, however, appeared, to many persons at that dayas they

would to us at the present, but that we know them to be matter of historyso monstrous and improbable, that

a great number of those who were resident at a distance, and who were credulous enough on other points,

were really unable to bring their minds to believe that such things could be; and rejected the intelligence they

Mr Willetnot so much, perhaps, on account of his having argued and settled the matter with himself, as by

reason of his constitutional obstinacywas one of those who positively refused to entertain the current topic

for a moment. On this very evening, and perhaps at the very time when Gashford kept his solitary watch, old

John was so red in the face with perpetually shaking his head in contradiction of his three ancient cronies and

pot companions, that he was quite a phenomenon to behold, and lighted up the Maypole Porch wherein they

'Do you think, sir,' said Mr Willet, looking hard at Solomon Daisyfor it was his custom in cases of

personal altercation to fasten upon the smallest man in the party'do you think, sir, that I'm a born fool?'

'No, no, Johnny,' returned Solomon, looking round upon the little circle of which he formed a part: 'We all

Mr Cobb and Mr Parkes shook their heads in unison, muttering, 'No, no, Johnny, not you!' But as such

compliments had usually the effect of making Mr Willet rather more dogged than before, he surveyed them

'Then what do you mean by coming here, and telling me that this evening you're agoing to walk up to

London togetheryou three youand have the evidence of your own senses? An't,' said Mr Willet,

putting his pipe in his mouth with an air of solemn disgust, 'an't the evidence of MY senses enough for you?'

'You haven't got it, sir?' repeated Mr Willet, eyeing him from top to toe. 'You haven't got it, sir? You HAVE

got it, sir. Don't I tell you that His blessed Majesty King George the Third would no more stand a rioting and

rollicking in his streets, than he'd stand being crowed over by his own Parliament?'

'Yes, Johnny, but that's your sensenot your senses,' said the adventurous Mr Parkes.

'How do you know? 'retorted John with great dignity. 'You're a contradicting pretty free, you are, sir. How do

Mr Parkes, finding himself in the position of having got into metaphysics without exactly seeing his way out

of them, stammered forth an apology and retreated from the argument. There then ensued a silence of some

ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, at the expiration of which period Mr Willet was observed to rumble and

shake with laughter, and presently remarked, in reference to his late adversary, 'that he hoped he had tackled

him enough.' Thereupon Messrs Cobb and Daisy laughed, and nodded, and Parkes was looked upon as

'Do you suppose if all this was true, that Mr Haredale would be constantly away from home, as he is?' said

John, after another silence. 'Do you think he wouldn't be afraid to leave his house with them two young

'Ay, but then you know,' returned Solomon Daisy, 'his house is a goodish way out of London, and they do say

that the rioters won't go more than two miles, or three at the farthest, off the stones. Besides, you know, some

of the Catholic gentlefolks have actually sent trinkets and suchlike down here for safetyat least, so the

'The story goes!' said Mr Willet testily. 'Yes, sir. The story goes that you saw a ghost last March. But nobody

'Well!' said Solomon, rising, to divert the attention of his two friends, who tittered at this retort: 'believed or

disbelieved, it's true; and true or not, if we mean to go to London, we must be going at once. So shake hands,

'I shall shake hands,' returned the landlord, putting his into his pockets, 'with no man as goes to London on

The three cronies were therefore reduced to the necessity of shaking his elbows; having performed that

ceremony, and brought from the house their hats, and sticks, and greatcoats, they bade him good night and

departed; promising to bring him on the morrow full and true accounts of the real state of the city, and if it

John Willet looked after them, as they plodded along the road in the rich glow of a summer evening; and

knocking the ashes out of his pipe, laughed inwardly at their folly, until his sides were sore. When he had

quite exhausted himselfwhich took some time, for he laughed as slowly as he thought and spokehe sat

himself comfortably with his back to the house, put his legs upon the bench, then his apron over his face, and

How long he slept, matters not; but it was for no brief space, for when he awoke, the rich light had faded, the

sombre hues of night were falling fast upon the landscape, and a few bright stars were already twinkling

overhead. The birds were all at roost, the daisies on the green had closed their fairy hoods, the honeysuckle

twining round the porch exhaled its perfume in a twofold degree, as though it lost its coyness at that silent

time and loved to shed its fragrance on the night; the ivy scarcely stirred its deep green leaves. How tranquil,

Was there no sound in the air, besides the gentle rustling of the trees and the grasshopper's merry chirp?

Hark! Something very faint and distant, not unlike the murmuring in a seashell. Now it grew louder, fainter

now, and now it altogether died away. Presently, it came again, subsided, came once more, grew louder,

fainterswelled into a roar. It was on the road, and varied with its windings. All at once it burst into a

It is questionable whether old John Willet, even then, would have thought of the rioters but for the cries of his

cook and housemaid, who ran screaming upstairs and locked themselves into one of the old

garrets,shrieking dismally when they had done so, by way of rendering their place of refuge perfectly

secret and secure. These two females did afterwards depone that Mr Willet in his consternation uttered but

one word, and called that up the stairs in a stentorian voice, six distinct times. But as this word was a

monosyllable, which, however inoffensive when applied to the quadruped it denotes, is highly reprehensible

when used in connection with females of unimpeachable character, many persons were inclined to believe

that the young women laboured under some hallucination caused by excessive fear; and that their ears

Be this as it may, John Willet, in whom the very uttermost extent of dullheaded perplexity supplied the

place of courage, stationed himself in the porch, and waited for their coming up. Once, it dimly occurred to

him that there was a kind of door to the house, which had a lock and bolts; and at the same time some

shadowy ideas of shutters to the lower windows, flitted through his brain. But he stood stock still, looking

down the road in the direction in which the noise was rapidly advancing, and did not so much as take his

He had not to wait long. A dark mass, looming through a cloud of dust, soon became visible; the mob

quickened their pace; shouting and whooping like savages, they came rushing on pell mell; and in a few

'Halloa!' cried a voice he knew, as the man who spoke came cleaving through the throng. 'Where is he? Give

Mr Willet looked at him, and saw it was Hugh; but he said nothing, and thought nothing.

'These lads are thirsty and must drink!' cried Hugh, thrusting him back towards the house. 'Bustle, Jack,

bustle. Show us the best the very bestthe overproof that you keep for your own drinking, Jack!'

'He says "Who's to pay?"' cried Hugh, with a roar of laughter which was loudly echoed by the crowd. Then

John stared round at the mass of facessome grinning, some fierce, some lighted up by torches, some

indistinct, some dusky and shadowy: some looking at him, some at his house, some at each otherand while

he was, as he thought, in the very act of doing so, found himself, without any consciousness of having

moved, in the bar; sitting down in an armchair, and watching the destruction of his property, as if it were

some queer play or entertainment, of an astonishing and stupefying nature, but having no reference to

Yes. Here was the barthe bar that the boldest never entered without special invitationthe sanctuary, the

mystery, the hallowed ground: here it was, crammed with men, clubs, sticks, torches, pistols; filled with a

deafening noise, oaths, shouts, screams, hootings; changed all at once into a beargarden, a madhouse, an

infernal temple: men darting in and out, by door and window, smashing the glass, turning the taps, drinking

liquor out of China punchbowls, sitting astride of casks, smoking private and personal pipes, cutting down

the sacred grove of lemons, hacking and hewing at the celebrated cheese, breaking open inviolable drawers,

putting things in their pockets which didn't belong to them, dividing his own money before his own eyes,

wantonly wasting, breaking, pulling down and tearing up: nothing quiet, nothing private: men

everywhereabove, below, overhead, in the bedrooms, in the kitchen, in the yard, in the

stablesclambering in at windows when there were doors wide open; dropping out of windows when the

stairs were handy; leaping over the bannisters into chasms of passages: new faces and figures presenting

themselves every instantsome yelling, some singing, some fighting, some breaking glass and crockery,

some laying the dust with the liquor they couldn't drink, some ringing the bells till they pulled them down,

others beating them with pokers till they beat them into fragments: more men stillmore, more,

moreswarming on like insects: noise, smoke, light, darkness, frolic, anger, laughter, groans, plunder, fear,

Nearly all the time while John looked on at this bewildering scene, Hugh kept near him; and though he was

the loudest, wildest, most destructive villain there, he saved his old master's bones a score of times. Nay, even

when Mr Tappertit, excited by liquor, came up, and in assertion of his prerogative politely kicked John Willet

on the shins, Hugh bade him return the compliment; and if old John had had sufficient presence of mind to

understand this whispered direction, and to profit by it, he might no doubt, under Hugh's protection, have

At length the band began to reassemble outside the house, and to call to those within, to join them, for they

were losing time. These murmurs increasing, and attaining a high pitch, Hugh, and some of those who yet

lingered in the bar, and who plainly were the leaders of the troop, took counsel together, apart, as to what was

to be done with John, to keep him quiet until their Chigwell work was over. Some proposed to set the house

on fire and leave him in it; others, that he should be reduced to a state of temporary insensibility, by knocking

on the head; others, that he should be sworn to sit where he was until tomorrow at the same hour; others

again, that he should be gagged and taken off with them, under a sufficient guard. All these propositions

being overruled, it was concluded, at last, to bind him in his chair, and the word was passed for Dennis.

'Look'ee here, Jack!' said Hugh, striding up to him: 'We are going to tie you, hand and foot, but otherwise you

John Willet looked at another man, as if he didn't know which was the speaker, and muttered something

'You won't be hurt I tell you, Jackdo you hear me?' roared Hugh, impressing the assurance upon him by

means of a heavy blow on the back. 'He's so dead scared, he's woolgathering, I think. Give him a drop of

A glass of liquor being passed forward, Hugh poured the contents down old John's throat. Mr Willet feebly

smacked his lips, thrust his hand into his pocket, and inquired what was to pay; adding, as he looked vacantly

'He's out of his senses for the time, it's my belief,' said Hugh, after shaking him, without any visible effect

The word was again passed, and presently Mr Dennis, with a long cord bound about his middle, something

after the manner of a friar, came hurrying in, attended by a bodyguard of halfadozen of his men.

'Come! Be alive here!' cried Hugh, stamping his foot upon the ground. 'Make haste!'

Dennis, with a wink and a nod, unwound the cord from about his person, and raising his eyes to the ceiling,

looked all over it, and round the walls and cornice, with a curious eye; then shook his head.

'Move, man, can't you!' cried Hugh, with another impatient stamp of his foot. 'Are we to wait here, till the cry

'It's all very fine talking, brother,' answered Dennis, stepping towards him; 'but unless' and here he

whispered in his ear 'unless we do it over the door, it can't be done at all in this here room.'

Hugh made no answer, but snatching the rope from his companion's hand, proceeded to bind old John

himself; but his very first move was so bungling and unskilful, that Mr Dennis entreated, almost with tears in

his eyes, that he might be permitted to perform the duty. Hugh consenting, be achieved it in a twinkling.

'There,' he said, looking mournfully at John Willet, who displayed no more emotion in his bonds than he had

shown out of them. 'That's what I call pretty and workmanlike. He's quite a picter now. But, brother, just a

word with younow that he's ready trussed, as one may say, wouldn't it be better for all parties if we was to

work him off? It would read uncommon well in the newspapers, it would indeed. The public would think a

Hugh, inferring what his companion meant, rather from his gestures than his technical mode of expressing

himself (to which, as he was ignorant of his calling, he wanted the clue), rejected this proposition for the

second time, and gave the word 'Forward!' which was echoed by a hundred voices from without.

'To the Warren!' shouted Dennis as he ran out, followed by the rest. 'A witness's house, my lads!'

A loud yell followed, and the whole throng hurried off, mad for pillage and destruction. Hugh lingered

behind for a few moments to stimulate himself with more drink, and to set all the taps running, a few of

which had accidentally been spared; then, glancing round the despoiled and plundered room, through whose

shattered window the rioters had thrust the Maypole itself,for even that had been sawn down,lighted a

torch, clapped the mute and motionless John Willet on the back, and waving his light above his head, and

John Willet, left alone in his dismantled bar, continued to sit staring about him; awake as to his eyes,

certainly, but with all his powers of reason and reflection in a sound and dreamless sleep. He looked round

upon the room which had been for years, and was within an hour ago, the pride of his heart; and not a muscle

of his face was moved. The night, without, looked black and cold through the dreary gaps in the casement;

the precious liquids, now nearly leaked away, dripped with a hollow sound upon the floor; the Maypole

peered ruefully in through the broken window, like the bowsprit of a wrecked ship; the ground might have

been the bottom of the sea, it was so strewn with precious fragments. Currents of air rushed in, as the old

doors jarred and creaked upon their hinges; the candles flickered and guttered down, and made long

windingsheets; the cheery deepred curtains flapped and fluttered idly in the wind; even the stout Dutch

kegs, overthrown and lying empty in dark corners, seemed the mere husks of good fellows whose jollity had

departed, and who could kindle with a friendly glow no more. John saw this desolation, and yet saw it not. He

was perfectly contented to sit there, staring at it, and felt no more indignation or discomfort in his bonds than

if they had been robes of honour. So far as he was personally concerned, old Time lay snoring, and the world

Save for the dripping from the barrels, the rustling of such light fragments of destruction as the wind affected,

and the dull creaking of the open doors, all was profoundly quiet: indeed, these sounds, like the ticking of the

deathwatch in the night, only made the silence they invaded deeper and more apparent. But quiet or noisy, it

was all one to John. If a train of heavy artillery could have come up and commenced ball practice outside the

window, it would have been all the same to him. He was a long way beyond surprise. A ghost couldn't have

By and by he heard a footstepa hurried, and yet cautious footstepcoming on towards the house. It

stopped, advanced again, then seemed to go quite round it. Having done that, it came beneath the window,

It was strongly relieved against the darkness outside by the glare of the guttering candles. A pale, worn,

withered face; the eyes but that was owing to its gaunt conditionunnaturally large and bright; the hair, a

grizzled black. It gave a searching glance all round the room, and a deep voice said:

John made no sign, though the question was repeated twice, and he heard it distinctly. After a moment's

pause, the man got in at the window. John was not at all surprised at this, either. There had been so much

getting in and out of window in the course of the last hour or so, that he had quite forgotten the door, and

The man wore a large, dark, faded cloak, and a slouched hat; he walked up close to John, and looked at him.

Some wandering speculations relative to the fashion of the stranger's boots, got into Mr Willet's mind by

some accident or other, but they got out again in a hurry, and left him in his former state.

'You would do well to speak,' said the man; 'you may keep a whole skin, though you have nothing else left

'That!' said John, finding his voice all at once, and nodding with perfect good faithhe couldn't point; he

'You lie!' said the man angrily, and with a threatening gesture. 'I came that way. You would betray me.'

It was so evident that John's imperturbability was not assumed, but was the result of the late proceedings

under his roof, that the man stayed his hand in the very act of striking him, and turned away.

John looked after him without so much as a twitch in a single nerve of his face. He seized a glass, and

holding it under one of the little casks until a few drops were collected, drank them greedily off; then

throwing it down upon the floor impatiently, he took the vessel in his hands and drained it into his throat.

Some scraps of bread and meat were scattered about, and on these he fell next; eating them with voracity, and

pausing every now and then to listen for some fancied noise outside. When he had refreshed himself in this

manner with violent haste, and raised another barrel to his lips, he pulled his hat upon his brow as though he

Mr Willet indistinctly remembered to have heard the rioters calling to them to throw the key of the room in

which they were, out of window, for their keeping. He therefore replied, 'Locked up.'

'Well for them if they remain quiet, and well for you if you do the like,' said the man. 'Now show me the way

This time Mr Willet indicated it correctly. The man was hurrying to the door, when suddenly there came

towards them on the wind, the loud and rapid tolling of an alarmbell, and then a bright and vivid glare

It was not the sudden change from darkness to this dreadful light, it was not the sound of distant shrieks and

shouts of triumph, it was not this dread invasion of the serenity and peace of night, that drove the man back as

though a thunderbolt had struck him. It was the Bell. If the ghastliest shape the human mind has ever pictured

in its wildest dreams had risen up before him, he could not have staggered backward from its touch, as he did

from the first sound of that loud iron voice. With eyes that started from his head, his limbs convulsed, his

face most horrible to see, he raised one arm high up into the air, and holding something visionary back and

down, with his other hand, drove at it as though he held a knife and stabbed it to the heart. He clutched his

hair, and stopped his ears, and travelled madly round and round; then gave a frightful cry, and with it rushed

away: still, still, the Bell tolled on and seemed to follow himlouder and louder, hotter and hotter yet. The

glare grew brighter, the roar of voices deeper; the crash of heavy bodies falling, shook the air; bright streams

of sparks rose up into the sky; but louder than them all rising faster far, to Heavena million times more

fierce and furiouspouring forth dreadful secrets after its long silence speaking the language of the

What hunt of spectres could surpass that dread pursuit and flight! Had there been a legion of them on his

track, he could have better borne it. They would have had a beginning and an end, but here all space was full.

The one pursuing voice was everywhere: it sounded in the earth, the air; shook the long grass, and howled

among the trembling trees. The echoes caught it up, the owls hooted as it flew upon the breeze, the

nightingale was silent and hid herself among the thickest boughs: it seemed to goad and urge the angry fire,

and lash it into madness; everything was steeped in one prevailing red; the glow was everywhere; nature was

drenched in blood: still the remorseless crying of that awful voicethe Bell, the Bell!

It ceased; but not in his ears. The knell was at his heart. No work of man had ever voice like that which

sounded there, and warned him that it cried unceasingly to Heaven. Who could hear that hell, and not know

what it said! There was murder in its every notecruel, relentless, savage murderthe murder of a

confiding man, by one who held his every trust. Its ringing summoned phantoms from their graves. What face

was that, in which a friendly smile changed to a look of half incredulous horror, which stiffened for a moment

into one of pain, then changed again into an imploring glance at Heaven, and so fell idly down with upturned

eyes, like the dead stags' he had often peeped at when a little child: shrinking and shudderingthere was a

dreadful thing to think of now!and clinging to an apron as he looked! He sank upon the ground, and

grovelling down as if he would dig himself a place to hide in, covered his face and ears: but no, no, no,a

hundred walls and roofs of brass would not shut out that bell, for in it spoke the wrathful voice of God, and

While he rushed up and down, not knowing where to turn, and while he lay crouching there, the work went

briskly on indeed. When they left the Maypole, the rioters formed into a solid body, and advanced at a quick

pace towards the Warren. Rumour of their approach having gone before, they found the gardendoors fast

closed, the windows made secure, and the house profoundly dark: not a light being visible in any portion of

the building. After some fruitless ringing at the bells, and beating at the iron gates, they drew off a few paces

Very little conference was needed, when all were bent upon one desperate purpose, infuriated with liquor,

and flushed with successful riot. The word being given to surround the house, some climbed the gates, or

dropped into the shallow trench and scaled the garden wall, while others pulled down the solid iron fence,

and while they made a breach to enter by, made deadly weapons of the bars. The house being completely

encircled, a small number of men were despatched to break open a toolshed in the garden; and during their

absence on this errand, the remainder contented themselves with knocking violently at the doors, and calling

No answer being returned to this repeated summons, and the detachment who had been sent away, coming

back with an accession of pickaxes, spades, and hoes, they,together with those who had such arms already,

or carried (as many did) axes, poles, and crowbars, struggled into the foremost rank, ready to beset the

doors and windows. They had not at this time more than a dozen lighted torches among them; but when these

preparations were completed, flaming links were distributed and passed from hand to hand with such rapidity,

that, in a minute's time, at least twothirds of the whole roaring mass bore, each man in his hand, a blazing

brand. Whirling these about their heads they raised a loud shout, and fell to work upon the doors and

Amidst the clattering of heavy blows, the rattling of broken glass, the cries and execrations of the mob, and

all the din and turmoil of the scene, Hugh and his friends kept together at the turretdoor where Mr Haredale

had last admitted him and old John Willet; and spent their united force on that. It was a strong old oaken

door, guarded by good bolts and a heavy bar, but it soon went crashing in upon the narrow stairs behind, and

made, as it were, a platform to facilitate their tearing up into the rooms above. Almost at the same moment, a

dozen other points were forced, and at every one the crowd poured in like water.

A few armed servantmen were posted in the hall, and when the rioters forced an entrance there, they fired

some halfadozen shots. But these taking no effect, and the concourse coming on like an army of devils,

they only thought of consulting their own safety, and retreated, echoing their assailants' cries, and hoping in

the confusion to be taken for rioters themselves; in which stratagem they succeeded, with the exception of

one old man who was never heard of again, and was said to have had his brains beaten out with an iron bar

(one of his fellows reported that he had seen the old man fall), and to have been afterwards burnt in the

The besiegers being now in complete possession of the house, spread themselves over it from garret to cellar,

and plied their demon labours fiercely. While some small parties kindled bonfires underneath the windows,

others broke up the furniture and cast the fragments down to feed the flames below; where the apertures in

the wall (windows no longer) were large enough, they threw out tables, chests of drawers, beds, mirrors,

pictures, and flung them whole into the fire; while every fresh addition to the blazing masses was received

with shouts, and howls, and yells, which added new and dismal terrors to the conflagration. Those who had

axes and had spent their fury on the movables, chopped and tore down the doors and window frames, broke

up the flooring, hewed away the rafters, and buried men who lingered in the upper rooms, in heaps of ruins.

Some searched the drawers, the chests, the boxes, writingdesks, and closets, for jewels, plate, and money;

while others, less mindful of gain and more mad for destruction, cast their whole contents into the courtyard

without examination, and called to those below, to heap them on the blaze. Men who had been into the

cellars, and had staved the casks, rushed to and fro stark mad, setting fire to all they sawoften to the

dresses of their own friendsand kindling the building in so many parts that some had no time for escape,

and were seen, with drooping hands and blackened faces, hanging senseless on the windowsills to which

they had crawled, until they were sucked and drawn into the burning gulf. The more the fire crackled and

raged, the wilder and more cruel the men grew; as though moving in that element they became fiends, and

The burning pile, revealing rooms and passages red hot, through gaps made in the crumbling walls; the

tributary fires that licked the outer bricks and stones, with their long forked tongues, and ran up to meet the

glowing mass within; the shining of the flames upon the villains who looked on and fed them; the roaring of

the angry blaze, so bright and high that it seemed in its rapacity to have swallowed up the very smoke; the

living flakes the wind bore rapidly away and hurried on with, like a storm of fiery snow; the noiseless

breaking of great beams of wood, which fell like feathers on the heap of ashes, and crumbled in the very act

to sparks and powder; the lurid tinge that overspread the sky, and the darkness, very deep by contrast, which

prevailed around; the exposure to the coarse, common gaze, of every little nook which usages of home had

made a sacred place, and the destruction by rude hands of every little household favourite which old

associations made a dear and precious thing: all this taking placenot among pitying looks and friendly

murmurs of compassion, but brutal shouts and exultations, which seemed to make the very rats who stood by

the old house too long, creatures with some claim upon the pity and regard of those its roof had

sheltered:combined to form a scene never to be forgotten by those who saw it and were not actors in the

And who were they? The alarmbell rangand it was pulled by no faint or hesitating handsfor a long

time; but not a soul was seen. Some of the insurgents said that when it ceased, they heard the shrieks of

women, and saw some garments fluttering in the air, as a party of men bore away no unresisting burdens. No

one could say that this was true or false, in such an uproar; but where was Hugh? Who among them had seen

him, since the forcing of the doors? The cry spread through the body. Where was Hugh!

'Here!' he hoarsely cried, appearing from the darkness; out of breath, and blackened with the smoke. 'We

have done all we can; the fire is burning itself out; and even the corners where it hasn't spread, are nothing

but heaps of ruins. Disperse, my lads, while the coast's clear; get back by different ways; and meet as usual!'

With that, he disappeared again,contrary to his wont, for he was always first to advance, and last to go

It was not an easy task to draw off such a throng. If Bedlam gates had been flung wide open, there would not

have issued forth such maniacs as the frenzy of that night had made. There were men there, who danced and

trampled on the beds of flowers as though they trod down human enemies, and wrenched them from the

stalks, like savages who twisted human necks. There were men who cast their lighted torches in the air, and

suffered them to fall upon their heads and faces, blistering the skin with deep unseemly burns. There were

men who rushed up to the fire, and paddled in it with their hands as if in water; and others who were

restrained by force from plunging in, to gratify their deadly longing. On the skull of one drunken ladnot

twenty, by his lookswho lay upon the ground with a bottle to his mouth, the lead from the roof came

streaming down in a shower of liquid fire, white hot; melting his head like wax. When the scattered parties

were collected, men living yet, but singed as with hot ironswere plucked out of the cellars, and carried

off upon the shoulders of others, who strove to wake them as they went along, with ribald jokes, and left

them, dead, in the passages of hospitals. But of all the howling throng not one learnt mercy from, or sickened

at, these sights; nor was the fierce, besotted, senseless rage of one man glutted.

Slowly, and in small clusters, with hoarse hurrahs and repetitions of their usual cry, the assembly dropped

away. The last few red eyed stragglers reeled after those who had gone before; the distant noise of men

calling to each other, and whistling for others whom they missed, grew fainter and fainter; at length even

Silence indeed! The glare of the flames had sunk into a fitful, flashing light; and the gentle stars, invisible till

now, looked down upon the blackening heap. A dull smoke hung upon the ruin, as though to hide it from

those eyes of Heaven; and the wind forbore to move it. Bare walls, roof open to the skychambers, where

the beloved dead had, many and many a fair day, risen to new life and energy; where so many dear ones had

been sad and merry; which were connected with so many thoughts and hopes, regrets and changesall gone.

Nothing left but a dull and dreary blanka smouldering heap of dust and ashesthe silence and solitude of

The Maypole cronies, little drearning of the change so soon to come upon their favourite haunt, struck

through the Forest path upon their way to London; and avoiding the main road, which was hot and dusty,

kept to the bypaths and the fields. As they drew nearer to their destination, they began to make inquiries of

the people whom they passed, concerning the riots, and the truth or falsehood of the stories they had heard.

The answers went far beyond any intelligence that had spread to quiet Chigwell. One man told them that that

afternoon the Guards, conveying to Newgate some rioters who had been reexamined, had been set upon by

the mob and compelled to retreat; another, that the houses of two witnesses near Clare Market were about to

be pulled down when he came away; another, that Sir George Saville's house in Leicester Fields was to be

burned that night, and that it would go hard with Sir George if he fell into the people's hands, as it was he

who had brought in the Catholic bill. All accounts agreed that the mob were out, in stronger numbers and

more numerous parties than had yet appeared; that the streets were unsafe; that no man's house or life was

worth an hour's purchase; that the public consternation was increasing every moment; and that many families

had already fled the city. One fellow who wore the popular colour, damned them for not having cockades in

their hats, and bade them set a good watch tomorrow night upon their prison doors, for the locks would have

a straining; another asked if they were fireproof, that they walked abroad without the distinguishing mark of

all good and true men;and a third who rode on horseback, and was quite alone, ordered them to throw each

man a shilling, in his hat, towards the support of the rioters. Although they were afraid to refuse compliance

with this demand, and were much alarmed by these reports, they agreed, having come so far, to go forward,

and see the real state of things with their own eyes. So they pushed on quicker, as men do who are excited by

portentous news; and ruminating on what they had heard, spoke little to each other.

It was now night, and as they came nearer to the city they had dismal confirmation of this intelligence in three

great fires, all close together, which burnt fiercely and were gloomily reflected in the sky. Arriving in the

immediate suburbs, they found that almost every house had chalked upon its door in large characters 'No

Popery,' that the shops were shut, and that alarm and anxiety were depicted in every face they passed.

Noting these things with a degree of apprehension which neither of the three cared to impart, in its full extent,

to his companions, they came to a turnpikegate, which was shut. They were passing through the turnstile on

the path, when a horseman rode up from London at a hard gallop, and called to the tollkeeper in a voice of

The adjuration was so earnest and vehement, that the man, with a lantern in his hand, came running

outtollkeeper though he was and was about to throw the gate open, when happening to look behind

At this, the three turned their heads, and saw in the distance straight in the direction whence they had

comea broad sheet of flame, casting a threatening light upon the clouds, which glimmered as though the

'My mind misgives me,' said the horseman, 'or I know from what far building those flames come. Don't stand

'Sir,' cried the man, laying his hand upon his horse's bridle as he let him through: 'I know you now, sir; be

advised by me; do not go on. I saw them pass, and know what kind of men they are. You will be murdered.'

'So be it!' said the horseman, looking intently towards the fire, and not at him who spoke.

'But sirsir,' cried the man, grasping at his rein more tightly yet, 'if you do go on, wear the blue riband.

Here, sir,' he added, taking one from his own hat, 'it's necessity, not choice, that makes me wear it; it's love of

'Do!' cried the three friends, pressing round his horse. 'Mr Haredaleworthy sirgood gentlemanpray be

'Who's that?' cried Mr Haredale, stooping down to look. 'Did I hear Daisy's voice?'

'You did, sir,' cried the little man. 'Do be persuaded, sir. This gentleman says very true. Your life may hang

'Put that riband in your hat. If we meet the rioters, swear that I took you prisoner for wearing it. I will tell

them so with my own lips; for as I hope for mercy when I die, I will take no quarter from them, nor shall they

have quarter from me, if we come hand to hand tonight. Up herebehind mequick! Clasp me tight round

In an instant they were riding away, at full gallop, in a dense cloud of dust, and speeding on, like hunters in a

It was well the good horse knew the road he traversed, for never onceno, never once in all the

journeydid Mr Haredale cast his eyes upon the ground, or turn them, for an instant, from the light towards

which they sped so madly. Once he said in a low voice, 'It is my house,' but that was the only time he spoke.

When they came to dark and doubtful places, he never forgot to put his hand upon the little man to hold him

more securely in his seat, but he kept his head erect and his eyes fixed on the fire, then, and always.

The road was dangerous enough, for they went the nearest way headlongfar from the highwayby

lonely lanes and paths, where waggonwheels had worn deep ruts; where hedge and ditch hemmed in the

narrow strip of ground; and tall trees, arching overhead, made it profoundly dark. But on, on, on, with neither

stop nor stumble, till they reached the Maypole door, and could plainly see that the fire began to fade, as if

'Downfor one momentfor but one moment,' said Mr Haredale, helping Daisy to the ground, and

Crying to him distractedly, he rushed into the bar.The landlord bound and fastened to his chair; the place

dismantled, stripped, and pulled about his ears;nobody could have taken shelter here.

He was a strong man, accustomed to restrain himself, and suppress his strong emotions; but this preparation

for what was to follow though he had seen that fire burning, and knew that his house must be razed to the

groundwas more than he could bear. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, and turned away

'Johnny, Johnny,' said Solomonand the simplehearted fellow cried outright, and wrung his hands'Oh

dear old Johnny, here's a change! That the Maypole bar should come to this, and we should live to see it! The

Pointing to Mr Haredale as he said these words, little Solomon Daisy put his elbows on the back of Mr

While Solomon was speaking, old John sat, mute as a stockfish, staring at him with an unearthly glare, and

displaying, by every possible symptom, entire and complete unconsciousness. But when Solomon was silent

again, John followed,with his great round eyes, the direction of his looks, and did appear to have some

'You know us, don't you, Johnny?' said the little clerk, rapping himself on the breast. 'Daisy, you

Mr Willet reflected for a few moments, and then muttered, as it were mechanically: 'Let us sing to the praise

'Yes, to be sure,' cried the little man, hastily; 'that's it that's me, Johnny. You're all right now, an't you? Say

'All right?' pondered Mr Willet, as if that were a matter entirely between himself and his conscience. 'All

'They haven't been misusing you with sticks, or pokers, or any other blunt instrumentshave they, Johnny?'

asked Solomon, with a very anxious glance at Mr Willet's head. 'They didn't beat you, did they?'

John knitted his brow; looked downwards, as if he were mentally engaged in some arithmetical calculation;

then upwards, as if the total would not come at his call; then at Solomon Daisy, from his eyebrow to his

shoebuckle; then very slowly round the bar. And then a great, round, leadenlooking, and not at all

transparent tear, came rolling out of each eye, and he said, as he shook his head:

'No, no, no, don't say that, Johnny,' whimpered his little friend. 'It's very, very bad, but not quite so bad as

'Look'ee here, sir!' cried John, turning his rueful eyes on Mr Haredale, who had dropped on one knee, and

was hastily beginning to untie his bonds. 'Look'ee here, sir! The very Maypolethe old dumb

Maypolestares in at the winder, as if it said, "John Willet, John Willet, let's go and pitch ourselves in the

'Don't, Johnny, don't,' cried his friend: no less affected with this mournful effort of Mr Willet's imagination,

than by the sepulchral tone in which he had spoken of the Maypole. 'Please don't, Johnny!'

'Your loss is great, and your misfortune a heavy one,' said Mr Haredale, looking restlessly towards the door:

'and this is not a time to comfort you. If it were, I am in no condition to do so. Before I leave you, tell me one

thing, and try to tell me plainly, I implore you. Have you seen, or heard of Emma?'

'They rode away, I trust in Heaven, before these dreadful scenes began,' said Mr Haredale, who, between his

agitation, his eagerness to mount his horse again, and the dexterity with which the cords were tied, had

'You didn't,' said John, looking about, as though he had lost his pockethandkerchief, or some such slight

'Willet!' cried Mr Haredale. Solomon dropped the knife, and instantly becoming limp from head to foot,

'Because,' said John, not at all regarding them, 'a dead man called a little time ago, on his way yonder. I

could have told you what name was on the plate, if he had brought his coffin with him, and left it behind. If

His landlord, who had listened to these words with breathless attention, started that moment to his feet; and,

without a word, drew Solomon Daisy to the door, mounted his horse, took him up behind again, and flew

rather than galloped towards the pile of ruins, which that day's sun had shone upon, a stately house. Mr Willet

stared after them, listened, looked down upon himself to make quite sure that he was still unbound, and,

without any manifestation of impatience, disappointment, or surprise, gently relapsed into the condition from

Mr Haredale tied his horse to the trunk of a tree, and grasping his companion's arm, stole softly along the

footpath, and into what had been the garden of his house. He stopped for an instant to look upon its smoking

walls, and at the stars that shone through roof and floor upon the heap of crumbling ashes. Solomon glanced

timidly in his face, but his lips were tightly pressed together, a resolute and stern expression sat upon his

He drew his sword; felt for a moment in his breast, as though he carried other arms about him; then grasping

Solomon by the wrist again, went with a cautious step all round the house. He looked into every doorway and

gap in the wall; retraced his steps at every rustling of the air among the leaves; and searched in every

shadowed nook with outstretched hands. Thus they made the circuit of the building: but they returned to the

spot from which they had set out, without encountering any human being, or finding the least trace of any

After a short pause, Mr Haredale shouted twice or thrice. Then cried aloud, 'Is there any one in hiding here,

who knows my voice! There is nothing to fear now. If any of my people are near, I entreat them to answer!'

He called them all by name; his voice was echoed in many mournful tones; then all was silent as before.

They were standing near the foot of the turret, where the alarm bell hung. The fire had raged there, and the

floors had been sawn, and hewn, and beaten down, besides. It was open to the night; but a part of the staircase

still remained, winding upward from a great mound of dust and cinders. Fragments of the jagged and broken

steps offered an insecure and giddy footing here and there, and then were lost again, behind protruding angles

of the wall, or in the deep shadows cast upon it by other portions of the ruin; for by this time the moon had

As they stood here, listening to the echoes as they died away, and hoping in vain to hear a voice they knew,

some of the ashes in this turret slipped and rolled down. Startled by the least noise in that melancholy place,

Solomon looked up in his companion's face, and saw that he had turned towards the spot, and that he watched

He covered the little man's mouth with his hand, and looked again. Instantly, with kindling eyes, he bade him

on his life keep still, and neither speak nor move. Then holding his breath, and stooping down, he stole into

Terrified to be left there by himself, under such desolate circumstances, and after all he had seen and heard

that night, Solomon would have followed, but there had been something in Mr Haredale's manner and his

look, the recollection of which held him spellbound. He stood rooted to the spot; and scarcely venturing to

Again the ashes slipped and rolledvery, very softlyagainand then again, as though they crumbled

underneath the tread of a stealthy foot. And now a figure was dimly visible; climbing very softly; and often

stopping to look down; now it pursued its difficult way; and now it was hidden from the view again.

It emerged once more, into the shadowy and uncertain lighthigher now, but not much, for the way was

steep and toilsome, and its progress very slow. What phantom of the brain did he pursue; and why did he look

down so constantly? He knew he was alone. Surely his mind was not affected by that night's loss and agony.

He was not about to throw himself headlong from the summit of the tottering wall. Solomon turned sick, and

clasped his hands. His limbs trembled beneath him, and a cold sweat broke out upon his pallid face.

If he complied with Mr Haredale's last injunction now, it was because he had not the power to speak or move.

He strained his gaze, and fixed it on a patch of moonlight, into which, if he continued to ascend, he must soon

Again the ashes slipped and crumbled; some stones rolled down, and fell with a dull, heavy sound upon the

ground below. He kept his eyes upon the piece of moonlight. The figure was coming on, for its shadow was

The horrorstricken clerk uttered a scream that pierced the air, and cried, 'The ghost! The ghost!'

Long before the echo of his cry had died away, another form rushed out into the light, flung itself upon the

foremost one, knelt down upon its breast, and clutched its throat with both hands.

'Villain!' cried Mr Haredale, in a terrible voicefor it was he. 'Dead and buried, as all men supposed through

your infernal arts, but reserved by Heaven for thisat lastat last I have you. You, whose hands are red

with my brother's blood, and that of his faithful servant, shed to conceal your own atrocious guiltYou,

Rudge, double murderer and monster, I arrest you in the name of God, who has delivered you into my hands.

No. Though you had the strength of twenty men,' he added, as the murderer writhed and struggled, you could

Barnaby, armed as we have seen, continued to pace up and down before the stabledoor; glad to be alone

again, and heartily rejoicing in the unaccustomed silence and tranquillity. After the whirl of noise and riot in

which the last two days had been passed, the pleasures of solitude and peace were enhanced a thousandfold.

He felt quite happy; and as he leaned upon his staff and mused, a bright smile overspread his face, and none

Had he no thoughts of her, whose sole delight he was, and whom he had unconsciously plunged in such bitter

sorrow and such deep affliction? Oh, yes. She was at the heart of all his cheerful hopes and proud reflections.

It was she whom all this honour and distinction were to gladden; the joy and profit were for her. What delight

it gave her to hear of the bravery of her poor boy! Ah! He would have known that, without Hugh's telling

him. And what a precious thing it was to know she lived so happily, and heard with so much pride (he

pictured to himself her look when they told her) that he was in such high esteem: bold among the boldest, and

trusted before them all! And when these frays were over, and the good lord had conquered his enemies, and

they were all at peace again, and he and she were rich, what happiness they would have in talking of these

troubled times when he was a great soldier: and when they sat alone together in the tranquil twilight, and she

had no longer reason to be anxious for the morrow, what pleasure would he have in the reflection that this

was his doinghispoor foolish Barnaby's; and in patting her on the cheek, and saying with a merry laugh,

With a lighter heart and step, and eyes the brighter for the happy tear that dimmed them for a moment,

Barnaby resumed his walk; and singing gaily to himself, kept guard upon his quiet post.

His comrade Grip, the partner of his watch, though fond of basking in the sunshine, preferred today to walk

about the stable; having a great deal to do in the way of scattering the straw, hiding under it such small

articles as had been casually left about, and haunting Hugh's bed, to which he seemed to have taken a

particular attachment. Sometimes Barnaby looked in and called him, and then he came hopping out; but he

merely did this as a concession to his master's weakness, and soon returned again to his own grave pursuits:

peering into the straw with his bill, and rapidly covering up the place, as if, Midaslike, he were whispering

secrets to the earth and burying them; constantly busying himself upon the sly; and affecting, whenever

Barnaby came past, to look up in the clouds and have nothing whatever on his mind: in short, conducting

himself, in many respects, in a more than usually thoughtful, deep, and mysterious manner.

As the day crept on, Barnaby, who had no directions forbidding him to eat and drink upon his post, but had

been, on the contrary, supplied with a bottle of beer and a basket of provisions, determined to break his fast,

which he had not done since morning. To this end, he sat down on the ground before the door, and putting his

This call, the bird obeyed with great alacrity; crying, as he sidled up to his master, 'I'm a devil, I'm a Polly,

I'm a kettle, I'm a Protestant, No Popery!' Having learnt this latter sentiment from the gentry among whom he

'Well said, Grip!' cried his master, as he fed him with the daintiest bits. 'Well said, old boy!'

'Never say die, bow wow wow, keep up your spirits, Grip Grip Grip, Holloa! We'll all have tea, I'm a

The raven, placing his head upon the ground, looked at his master sideways, as though he would have said,

'Say that again!' Perfectly understanding his desire, Barnaby repeated the phrase a great many times. The bird

listened with profound attention; sometimes repeating the popular cry in a low voice, as if to compare the

two, and try if it would at all help him to this new accomplishment; sometimes flapping his wings, or

barking; and sometimes in a kind of desperation drawing a multitude of corks, with extraordinary

Barnaby was so intent upon his favourite, that he was not at first aware of the approach of two persons on

horseback, who were riding at a footpace, and coming straight towards his post. When he perceived them,

however, which he did when they were within some fifty yards of him, he jumped hastily up, and ordering

Grip within doors, stood with both hands on his staff, waiting until he should know whether they were friends

He had hardly done so, when he observed that those who advanced were a gentleman and his servant; almost

at the same moment he recognised Lord George Gordon, before whom he stood uncovered, with his eyes

'Good day!' said Lord George, not reining in his horse until he was close beside him. 'Well!'

'All quiet, sir, all safe!' cried Barnaby. 'The rest are away they went by that paththat one. A grand party!'

'Oh! They left me here to watchto mount guardto keep everything secure till they come back. I'll do it,

sir, for your sake. You're a good gentleman; a kind gentlemanay, you are. There are many against you, but

'What's that?' said Lord Georgepointing to the raven who was peeping out of the stabledoorbut still

'Why, don't you know!' retorted Barnaby, with a wondering laugh. 'Not know what HE is! A bird, to be sure.

'Though, indeed,' added Barnaby, laying his hand upon the neck of Lord George's horse, and speaking softly:

'you had good reason to ask me what he is, for sometimes it puzzles meand I am used to himto think

he's only a bird. He's my brother, Grip isalways with mealways talkingalways merryeh, Grip?'

The raven answered by an affectionate croak, and hopping on his master's arm, which he held downward for

that purpose, submitted with an air of perfect indifference to be fondled, and turned his restless, curious eye,

Lord George, biting his nails in a discomfited manner, regarded Barnaby for some time in silence; then

'Diddid it seem to you that his manner was at all wild or strange?' Lord George demanded, faltering.

'And why do you think him mad, sir?' said his master, speaking in a peevish tone. 'Don't use that word too

'My lord,' John Grueby answered, 'look at his dress, look at his eyes, look at his restless way, hear him cry

'So because one man dresses unlike another,' returned his angry master, glancing at himself; 'and happens to

differ from other men in his carriage and manner, and to advocate a great cause which the corrupt and

'Mr Gashford, I find, was right,' said Lord George; 'I thought him prejudiced, though I ought to have known a

'I shall never have Mr Gashford's good word, my lord,' replied John, touching his hat respectfully, 'and I don't

'You are an illconditioned, most ungrateful fellow,' said Lord George: 'a spy, for anything I know. Mr

Gashford is perfectly correct, as I might have felt convinced he was. I have done wrong to retain you in my

service. It is a tacit insult to him as my choice and confidential friend to do so, remembering the cause you

sided with, on the day he was maligned at Westminster. You will leave me tonightnay, as soon as we

'If it comes to that, I say so too, my lord. Let Mr Gashford have his will. As to my being a spy, my lord, you

know me better than to believe it, I am sure. I don't know much about causes. My cause is the cause of one

'You have said quite enough,' returned Lord George, motioning him to go back. 'I desire to hear no more.'

'If you'll let me have another word, my lord,' returned John Grueby, 'I'd give this silly fellow a caution not to

stay here by himself. The proclamation is in a good many hands already, and it's well known that he was

concerned in the business it relates to. He had better get to a place of safety if he can, poor creature.'

'You hear what this man says?' cried Lord George, addressing Barnaby, who had looked on and wondered

while this dialogue passed. 'He thinks you may be afraid to remain upon your post, and are kept here perhaps

'I think, young man,' said John, in explanation, 'that the soldiers may turn out and take you; and that if they

do, you will certainly be hung by the neck till you're deaddeaddead. And I think you had better go from

'He's a coward, Grip, a coward!' cried Barnaby, putting the raven on the ground, and shouldering his staff.

'Ay!' said Lord George, 'let them! Let us see who will venture to attack a power like ours; the solemn league

of a whole people. THIS a madman! You have said well, very well. I am proud to be the leader of such men

Bamaby's heart swelled within his bosom as he heard these words. He took Lord George's hand and carried it

to his lips; patted his horse's crest, as if the affection and admiration he had conceived for the man extended

to the animal he rode; then unfurling his flag, and proudly waving it, resumed his pacing up and down.

Lord George, with a kindling eye and glowing cheek, took off his hat, and flourishing it above his head, bade

him exultingly Farewell!then cantered off at a brisk pace; after glancing angrily round to see that his

servant followed. Honest John set spurs to his horse and rode after his master, but not before he had again

warned Barnaby to retreat, with many significant gestures, which indeed he continued to make, and Barnaby

to resist, until the windings of the road concealed them from each other's view.

Left to himself again with a still higher sense of the importance of his post, and stimulated to enthusiasm by

the special notice and encouragement of his leader, Barnaby walked to and fro in a delicious trance rather

than as a waking man. The sunshine which prevailed around was in his mind. He had but one desire

The day wore on; its heat was gently giving place to the cool of evening; a light wind sprung up, fanning his

long hair, and making the banner rustle pleasantly above his head. There was a freedom and freshness in the

sound and in the time, which chimed exactly with his mood. He was happier than ever.

He was leaning on his staff looking towards the declining sun, and reflecting with a smile that he stood

sentinel at that moment over buried gold, when two or three figures appeared in the distance, making towards

the house at a rapid pace, and motioning with their hands as though they urged its inmates to retreat from

some approaching danger. As they drew nearer, they became more earnest in their gestures; and they were no

sooner within hearing, than the foremost among them cried that the soldiers were coming up.

At these words, Barnaby furled his flag, and tied it round the pole. His heart beat high while he did so, but he

had no more fear or thought of retreating than the pole itself. The friendly stragglers hurried past him, after

giving him notice of his danger, and quickly passed into the house, where the utmost confusion immediately

prevailed. As those within hastily closed the windows and the doors, they urged him by looks and signs to fly

without loss of time, and called to him many times to do so; but he only shook his head indignantly in

answer, and stood the firmer on his post. Finding that he was not to be persuaded, they took care of

themselves; and leaving the place with only one old woman in it, speedily withdrew.

As yet there had been no symptom of the news having any better foundation than in the fears of those who

brought it, but The Boot had not been deserted five minutes, when there appeared, coming across the fields, a

body of men who, it was easy to see, by the glitter of their arms and ornaments in the sun, and by their

orderly and regular mode of advancingfor they came on as one manwere soldiers. In a very little time,

Barnaby knew that they were a strong detachment of the Foot Guards, having along with them two gentlemen

in private clothes, and a small party of Horse; the latter brought up the rear, and were not in number more

They advanced steadily; neither quickening their pace as they came nearer, nor raising any cry, nor showing

the least emotion or anxiety. Though this was a matter of course in the case of regular troops, even to

Barnaby, there was something particularly impressive and disconcerting in it to one accustomed to the noise

and tumult of an undisciplined mob. For all that, he stood his ground not a whit the less resolutely, and

Presently, they marched into the yard, and halted. The commandingofficer despatched a messenger to the

horsemen, one of whom came riding back. Some words passed between them, and they glanced at Barnaby;

who well remembered the man he had unhorsed at Westminster, and saw him now before his eyes. The man

being speedily dismissed, saluted, and rode back to his comrades, who were drawn up apart at a short

The officer then gave the word to prime and load. The heavy ringing of the musketstocks upon the ground,

and the sharp and rapid rattling of the ramrods in their barrels, were a kind of relief to Batnahy, deadly

though he knew the purport of such sounds to be. When this was done, other commands were given, and the

soldiers instantaneously formed in single file all round the house and stables; completely encircling them in

every part, at a distance, perhaps, of some halfdozen yards; at least that seemed in Barnaby's eyes to be

about the space left between himself and those who confronted him. The horsemen remained drawn up by

The two gentlemen in private clothes who had kept aloof, now rode forward, one on either side the officer.

The proclamation having been produced and read by one of them, the officer called on Barnaby to surrender.

He made no answer, but stepping within the door, before which he had kept guard, held his pole crosswise to

protect it. In the midst of a profound silence, he was again called upon to yield.

Still he offered no reply. Indeed he had enough to do, to run his eye backward and forward along the

halfdozen men who immediately fronted him, and settle hurriedly within himself at which of them he would

strike first, when they pressed on him. He caught the eye of one in the centre, and resolved to hew that fellow

Again there was a dead silence, and again the same voice called upon him to deliver himself up.

Next moment he was back in the stable, dealing blows about him like a madman. Two of the men lay

stretched at his feet: the one he had marked, dropped firsthe had a thought for that, even in the hot blood

and hurry of the struggle. Another blowanother! Down, mastered, wounded in the breast by a heavy blow

from the buttend of a gun (he saw the weapon in the act of falling)breathlessand a prisoner.

An exclamation of surprise from the officer recalled him, in some degree, to himself. He looked round. Grip,

after working in secret all the afternoon, and with redoubled vigour while everybody's attention was

distracted, had plucked away the straw from Hugh's bed, and turned up the loose ground with his iron bill.

The hole had been recklessly filled to the brim, and was merely sprinkled with earth. Golden cups, spoons,

They brought spades and a sack; dug up everything that was hidden there; and carried away more than two

men could lift. They handcuffed him and bound his arms, searched him, and took away all he had. Nobody

questioned or reproached him, or seemed to have much curiosity about him. The two men he had stunned,

were carried off by their companions in the same businesslike way in which everything else was done.

Finally, he was left under a guard of four soldiers with fixed bayonets, while the officer directed in person the

This was soon completed. The soldiers formed again in the yard; he was marched out, with his guard about

him; and ordered to fall in, where a space was left. The others closed up all round, and so they moved away,

When they came into the streets, he felt he was a sight; and looking up as they passed quickly along, could

see people running to the windows a little too late, and throwing up the sashes to look after him. Sometimes

he met a staring face beyond the heads about him, or under the arms of his conductors, or peering down upon

him from a waggontop or coachbox; but this was all he saw, being surrounded by so many men. The very

noises of the streets seemed muffled and subdued; and the air came stale and hot upon him, like the sickly

Tramp, tramp. Tramp, tramp. Heads erect, shoulders square, every man stepping in exact timeall so

orderly and regularnobody looking at himnobody seeming conscious of his presence,he could hardly

believe he was a Prisoner. But at the word, though only thought, not spoken, he felt the handcuffs galling his

wrists, the cord pressing his arms to his sides: the loaded guns levelled at his head; and those cold, bright,

sharp, shining points turned towards him: the mere looking down at which, now that he was bound and

They were not long in reaching the barracks, for the officer who commanded the party was desirous to avoid

rousing the people by the display of military force in the streets, and was humanely anxious to give as little

opportunity as possible for any attempt at rescue; knowing that it must lead to bloodshed and loss of life, and

that if the civil authorities by whom he was accompanied, empowered him to order his men to fire, many

innocent persons would probably fall, whom curiosity or idleness had attracted to the spot. He therefore led

the party briskly on, avoiding with a merciful prudence the more public and crowded thoroughfares, and

pursuing those which he deemed least likely to be infested by disorderly persons. This wise proceeding not

only enabled them to gain their quarters without any interruption, but completely baffled a body of rioters

who had assembled in one of the main streets, through which it was considered certain they would pass, and

who remained gathered together for the purpose of releasing the prisoner from their hands, long after they

had deposited him in a place of security, closed the barrackgates, and set a double guard at every entrance

Arrived at this place, poor Barnaby was marched into a stone floored room, where there was a very

powerful smell of tobacco, a strong thorough draught of air, and a great wooden bedstead, large enough for a

score of men. Several soldiers in undress were lounging about, or eating from tin cans; military

accoutrements dangled on rows of pegs along the whitewashed wall; and some half dozen men lay fast

asleep upon their backs, snoring in concert. After remaining here just long enough to note these things, he

was marched out again, and conveyed across the paradeground to another portion of the building.

Perhaps a man never sees so much at a glance as when he is in a situation of extremity. The chances are a

hundred to one, that if Barnaby had lounged in at the gate to look about him, he would have lounged out

again with a very imperfect idea of the place, and would have remembered very little about it. But as he was

taken handcuffed across the gravelled area, nothing escaped his notice. The dry, arid look of the dusty square,

and of the bare brick building; the clothes hanging at some of the windows; and the men in their shirtsleeves

and braces, lolling with half their bodies out of the others; the green sunblinds at the officers' quarters, and

the little scanty trees in front; the drummerboys practising in a distant courtyard; the men at drill on the

parade; the two soldiers carrying a basket between them, who winked to each other as he went by, and slily

pointed to their throats; the spruce serjeant who hurried past with a cane in his hand, and under his arm a

clasped book with a vellum cover; the fellows in the ground floor rooms, furbishing and brushing up their

different articles of dress, who stopped to look at him, and whose voices as they spoke together echoed loudly

through the empty galleries and passages; everything, down to the stand of muskets before the

guardhouse, and the drum with a pipeclayed belt attached, in one corner, impressed itself upon his

observation, as though he had noticed them in the same place a hundred times, or had been a whole day

He was taken into a small paved back yard, and there they opened a great door, plated with iron, and pierced

some five feet above the ground with a few holes to let in air and light. Into this dungeon he was walked

straightway; and having locked him up there, and placed a sentry over him, they left him to his meditations.

The cell, or black hole, for it had those words painted on the door, was very dark, and having recently

accommodated a drunken deserter, by no means clean. Barnaby felt his way to some straw at the farther end,

and looking towards the door, tried to accustom himself to the gloom, which, coming from the bright

There was a kind of portico or colonnade outside, and this obstructed even the little light that at the best could

have found its way through the small apertures in the door. The footsteps of the sentinel echoed

monotonously as he paced its stone pavement to and fro (reminding Barnaby of the watch he had so lately

kept himself); and as he passed and repassed the door, he made the cell for an instant so black by the

interposition of his body, that his going away again seemed like the appearance of a new ray of light, and was

When the prisoner had sat sometime upon the ground, gazing at the chinks, and listening to the advancing

and receding footsteps of his guard, the man stood still upon his post. Barnaby, quite unable to think, or to

speculate on what would be done with him, had been lulled into a kind of doze by his regular pace; but his

stopping roused him; and then he became aware that two men were in conversation under the colonnade, and

How long they had been talking there, he could not tell, for he had fallen into an unconsciousness of his real

position, and when the footsteps ceased, was answering aloud some question which seemed to have been put

to him by Hugh in the stable, though of the fancied purport, either of question or reply, notwithstanding that

he awoke with the latter on his lips, he had no recollection whatever. The first words that reached his ears,

'Why where would you have him go! Damme, he's not as safe anywhere as among the king's troops, is he?

What WOULD you do with him? Would you hand him over to a pack of cowardly civilians, that shake in

their shoes till they wear the soles out, with trembling at the threats of the ragamuffins he belongs to?'

'True enough!I'll tell you what. I wish, Tom Green, that I was a commissioned instead of a

noncommissioned officer, and that I had the command of two companiesonly two companiesof my

own regiment. Call me out to stop these riotsgive me the needful authority, and halfadozen rounds of

'Ay!' said the other voice. 'That's all very well, but they won't give the needful authority. If the magistrate

Not very well knowing, as it seemed, how to overcome this difficulty, the other man contented himself with

'Where's the use of a magistrate?' returned the other voice. 'What's a magistrate in this case, but an

impertinent, unnecessary, unconstitutional sort of interference? Here's a proclamation. Here's a man referred

to in that proclamation. Here's proof against him, and a witness on the spot. Damme! Take him out and shoot

'Tonight at eight o'clock,' returned the other. 'Mark what follows. The magistrate commits him to Newgate.

Our people take him to Newgate. The rioters pelt our people. Our people retire before the rioters. Stones are

thrown, insults are offered, not a shot's fired. Why? Because of the magistrates. Damn the magistrates!'

When he had in some degree relieved his mind by cursing the magistrates in various other forms of speech,

the man was silent, save for a low growling, still having reference to those authorities, which from time to

Barnaby, who had wit enough to know that this conversation concerned, and very nearly concerned, himself,

remained perfectly quiet until they ceased to speak, when he groped his way to the door, and peeping through

the airholes, tried to make out what kind of men they were, to whom he had been listening.

The one who condemned the civil power in such strong terms, was a serjeantengaged just then, as the

streaming ribands in his cap announced, on the recruiting service. He stood leaning sideways against a pillar

nearly opposite the door, and as he growled to himself, drew figures on the pavement with his cane. The other

man had his back towards the dungeon, and Barnaby could only see his form. To judge from that, he was a

gallant, manly, handsome fellow, but he had lost his left arm. It had been taken off between the elbow and the

It was probably this circumstance which gave him an interest beyond any that his companion could boast of,

and attracted Barnaby's attention. There was something soldierly in his bearing, and he wore a jaunty cap and

jacket. Perhaps he had been in the service at one time or other. If he had, it could not have been very long

'Well, well,' he said thoughtfully; 'let the fault be where it may, it makes a man sorrowful to come back to old

'I suppose the pigs will join 'em next,' said the serjeant, with an imprecation on the rioters, 'now that the birds

'Go to the guardhouse, and see. You'll find a bird there, that's got their cry as pat as any of 'em, and bawls

"No Popery," like a manor like a devil, as he says he is. I shouldn't wonder. The devil's loose in London

somewhere. Damme if I wouldn't twist his neck round, on the chance, if I had MY way.'

The young man had taken two or three steps away, as if to go and see this creature, when he was arrested by

'It's mine,' he called out, half laughing and half weeping'my pet, my friend Grip. Ha ha ha! Don't hurt him,

he has done no harm. I taught him; it's my fault. Let me have him, if you please. He's the only friend I have

left now. He'll not dance, or talk, or whistle for you, I know; but he will for me, because he knows me and

loves methough you wouldn't think itvery well. You wouldn't hurt a bird, I'm sure. You're a brave

soldier, sir, and wouldn't harm a woman or a childno, no, nor a poor bird, I'm certain.'

This latter adjuration was addressed to the serjeant, whom Barnaby judged from his red coat to be high in

office, and able to seal Grip's destiny by a word. But that gentleman, in reply, surlily damned him for a thief

and rebel as he was, and with many disinterested imprecations on his own eyes, liver, blood, and body,

assured him that if it rested with him to decide, he would put a final stopper on the bird, and his master too.

'You talk boldly to a caged man,' said Barnaby, in anger. 'If I was on the other side of the door and there were

none to part us, you'd change your noteay, you may toss your headyou would! Kill the birddo. Kill

anything you can, and so revenge yourself on those who with their bare hands untied could do as much to

Having vented his defiance, he flung himself into the furthest corner of his prison, and muttering, 'Good bye,

Gripgood bye, dear old Grip!' shed tears for the first time since he had been taken captive; and hid his face

He had had some fancy at first, that the onearmed man would help him, or would give him a kind word in

answer. He hardly knew why, but he hoped and thought so. The young fellow had stopped when he called

out, and checking himself in the very act of turning round, stood listening to every word he said. Perhaps he

built his feeble trust on this; perhaps on his being young, and having a frank and honest manner. However

that might be, he built on sand. The other went away directly he had finished speaking, and neither answered

him, nor returned. No matter. They were all against him here: he might have known as much. Good bye, old

After some time, they came and unlocked the door, and called to him to come out. He rose directly, and

complied, for he would not have THEM think he was subdued or frightened. He walked out like a man, and

None of them returned his gaze or seemed to notice it. They marched him back to the parade by the way they

had brought him, and there they halted, among a body of soldiers, at least twice as numerous as that which

had taken him prisoner in the afternoon. The officer he had seen before, bade him in a few brief words take

notice that if he attempted to escape, no matter how favourable a chance he might suppose he had, certain of

the men had orders to fire upon him, that moment. They then closed round him as before, and marched him

In the same unbroken order they arrived at Bow Street, followed and beset on all sides by a crowd which was

continually increasing. Here he was placed before a blind gentleman, and asked if he wished to say anything.

Not he. What had he got to tell them? After a very little talking, which he was careless of and quite

He went out into the street, so surrounded and hemmed in on every side by soldiers, that he could see

nothing; but he knew there was a great crowd of people, by the murmur; and that they were not friendly to the

soldiers, was soon rendered evident by their yells and hisses. How often and how eagerly he listened for the

voice of Hugh! There was not a voice he knew among them all. Was Hugh a prisoner too? Was there no

As they came nearer and nearer to the prison, the hootings of the people grew more violent; stones were

thrown; and every now and then, a rush was made against the soldiers, which they staggered under. One of

them, close before him, smarting under a blow upon the temple, levelled his musket, but the officer struck it

upwards with his sword, and ordered him on peril of his life to desist. This was the last thing he saw with any

distinctness, for directly afterwards he was tossed about, and beaten to and fro, as though in a tempestuous

sea. But go where he would, there were the same guards about him. Twice or thrice he was thrown down, and

so were they; but even then, he could not elude their vigilance for a moment. They were up again, and had

closed about him, before he, with his wrists so tightly bound, could scramble to his feet. Fenced in, thus, he

felt himself hoisted to the top of a low flight of steps, and then for a moment he caught a glimpse of the

fighting in the crowd, and of a few red coats sprinkled together, here and there, struggling to rejoin their

fellows. Next moment, everything was dark and gloomy, and he was standing in the prison lobby; the centre

A smith was speedily in attendance, who riveted upon him a set of heavy irons. Stumbling on as well as he

could, beneath the unusual burden of these fetters, he was conducted to a strong stone cell, where, fastening

the door with locks, and bolts, and chains, they left him, well secured; having first, unseen by him, thrust in

Grip, who, with his head drooping and his deep black plumes rough and rumpled, appeared to comprehend

It is necessary at this juncture to return to Hugh, who, having, as we have seen, called to the rioters to

disperse from about the Warren, and meet again as usual, glided back into the darkness from which he had

He paused in the copse which sheltered him from the observation of his mad companions, and waited to

ascertain whether they drew off at his bidding, or still lingered and called to him to join them. Some few, he

saw, were indisposed to go away without him, and made towards the spot where he stood concealed as

though they were about to follow in his footsteps, and urge him to come back; but these men, being in their

turn called to by their friends, and in truth not greatly caring to venture into the dark parts of the grounds,

where they might be easily surprised and taken, if any of the neighbours or retainers of the family were

watching them from among the trees, soon abandoned the idea, and hastily assembling such men as they

When he was satisfied that the great mass of the insurgents were imitating this example, and that the ground

was rapidly clearing, he plunged into the thickest portion of the little wood; and, crashing the branches as he

went, made straight towards a distant light: guided by that, and by the sullen glow of the fire behind him.

As he drew nearer and nearer to the twinkling beacon towards which he bent his course, the red glare of a few

torches began to reveal itself, and the voices of men speaking together in a subdued tone broke the silence

which, save for a distant shouting now and then, already prevailed. At length he cleared the wood, and,

springing across a ditch, stood in a dark lane, where a small body of ill looking vagabonds, whom he had

They were gathered round an old postchaise or chariot, driven by one of themselves, who sat postilionwise

upon the near horse. The blinds were drawn up, and Mr Tappertit and Dennis kept guard at the two windows.

The former assumed the command of the party, for he challenged Hugh as he advanced towards them; and

when he did so, those who were resting on the ground about the carriage rose to their feet and clustered round

'Right enough,' replied Hugh, in the same tone. 'They're dispersing nowhad begun before I came away.'

'Clear enough before our men, I take it,' said Hugh. 'There are not many who, knowing of their work over

Everybody had some plunder from the cellar; halfadozen flasks and bottles were offered directly. He

selected the largest, and putting it to his mouth, sent the wine gurgling down his throat. Having emptied it, he

threw it down, and stretched out his hand for another, which he emptied likewise, at a draught. Another was

given him, and this he half emptied too. Reserving what remained to finish with, he asked:

'Have you got anything to eat, any of you? I'm as ravenous as a hungry wolf. Which of you was in the

'I was, brother,' said Dennis, pulling off his hat, and fumbling in the crown. 'There's a matter of cold venison

'Do!' cried Hugh, seating himself on the pathway. 'Bring it out! Quick! Show a light here, and gather round!

Entering into his boisterous humour, for they all had drunk deeply, and were as wild as he, they crowded

about him, while two of their number who had torches, held them up, one on either side of him, that his

banquet might not be despatched in the dark. Mr Dennis, having by this time succeeded in extricating from

his hat a great mass of pasty, which had been wedged in so tightly that it was not easily got out, put it before

him; and Hugh, having borrowed a notched and jagged knife from one of the company, fell to work upon it

'I should recommend you to swallow a little fire every day, about an hour afore dinner, brother,' said Dennis,

Hugh looked at him, and at the blackened faces by which he was surrounded, and, stopping for a moment to

'Why, isn't a man allowed to regale himself, noble captain,' retorted his lieutenant, parting the men who stood

between them, with his knife, that he might see him,'to regale himself a little bit after such work as mine?

What a hard captain! What a strict captain! What a tyrannical captain! Ha ha ha!'

'I wish one of you fellers would hold a bottle to his mouth to keep him quiet,' said Simon, 'unless you want

'And what if they are down upon us!' retorted Hugh. 'Who cares? Who's afraid? Let 'em come, I say, let 'em

come. The more, the merrier. Give me bold Barnaby at my side, and we two will settle the military, without

But as the majority of those present were by no means anxious for a second engagement that night, being

already weary and exhausted, they sided with Mr Tappertit, and pressed him to make haste with his supper,

for they had already delayed too long. Knowing, even in the height of his frenzy, that they incurred great

danger by lingering so near the scene of the late outrages, Hugh made an end of his meal without more

remonstrance, and rising, stepped up to Mr Tappertit, and smote him on the back.

'Now then,' he cried, 'I'm ready. There are brave birds inside this cage, eh? Delicate birds,tender, loving,

He thrust the little man aside as he spoke, and mounting on the steps, which were half let down, pulled down

'Ha ha ha! and did you scratch, and pinch, and struggle, pretty mistress?' he cried, as he grasped a little hand

that sought in vain to free itself from his grip: 'you, so brighteyed, and cherrylipped, and daintily made?

But I love you better for it, mistress. Ay, I do. You should stab me and welcome, so that it pleased you, and

you had to cure me afterwards. I love to see you proud and scornful. It makes you handsomer than ever; and

'Come!' said Mr Tappertit, who had waited during this speech with considerable impatience. 'There's enough

The little hand seconded this admonition by thrusting Hugh's great head away with all its force, and drawing

up the blind, amidst his noisy laughter, and vows that he must have another look, for the last glimpse of that

sweet face had provoked him past all bearing. However, as the suppressed impatience of the party now broke

out into open murmurs, he abandoned this design, and taking his seat upon the bar, contented himself with

tapping at the front windows of the carriage, and trying to steal a glance inside; Mr Tappertit, mounting the

steps and hanging on by the door, issued his directions to the driver with a commanding voice and attitude;

the rest got up behind, or ran by the side of the carriage, as they could; some, in imitation of Hugh,

endeavoured to see the face he had praised so highly, and were reminded of their impertinence by hints from

the cudgel of Mr Tappertit. Thus they pursued their journey by circuitous and winding roads; preserving,

except when they halted to take breath, or to quarrel about the best way of reaching London, pretty good

In the mean time, Dollybeautiful, bewitching, captivating little Dollyher hair dishevelled, her dress torn,

her dark eyelashes wet with tears, her bosom heavingher face, now pale with fear, now crimsoned with

indignationher whole self a hundred times more beautiful in this heightened aspect than ever she had been

before vainly strove to comfort Emma Haredale, and to impart to her the consolation of which she stood in

so much need herself. The soldiers were sure to come; they must be rescued; it would be impossible to

convey them through the streets of London when they set the threats of their guards at defiance, and shrieked

to the passengers for help. If they did this when they came into the more frequented ways, she was

certainshe was quite certainthey must be released. So poor Dolly said, and so poor Dolly tried to think;

but the invariable conclusion of all such arguments was, that Dolly burst into tears; cried, as she wrung her

hands, what would they do or think, or who would comfort them, at home, at the Golden Key; and sobbed

Miss Haredale, whose feelings were usually of a quieter kind than Dolly's, and not so much upon the surface,

was dreadfully alarmed, and indeed had only just recovered from a swoon. She was very pale, and the hand

which Dolly held was quite cold; but she bade her, nevertheless, remember that, under Providence, much

must depend upon their own discretion; that if they remained quiet and lulled the vigilance of the ruffians into

whose hands they had fallen, the chances of their being able to procure assistance when they reached the

town, were very much increased; that unless society were quite unhinged, a hot pursuit must be immediately

commenced; and that her uncle, she might be sure, would never rest until he had found them out and rescued

them. But as she said these latter words, the idea that he had fallen in a general massacre of the Catholics that

nightno very wild or improbable supposition after what they had seen and undergonestruck her dumb;

and, lost in the horrors they had witnessed, and those they might be yet reserved for, she sat incapable of

thought, or speech, or outward show of grief: as rigid, and almost as white and cold, as marble.

Oh, how many, many times, in that long ride, did Dolly think of her old lover,poor, fond, slighted Joe!

How many, many times, did she recall that night when she ran into his arms from the very man now

projecting his hateful gaze into the darkness where she sat, and leering through the glass in monstrous

admiration! And when she thought of Joe, and what a brave fellow he was, and how he would have rode

boldly up, and dashed in among these villains now, yes, though they were double the numberand here she

clenched her little hand, and pressed her foot upon the groundthe pride she felt for a moment in having

won his heart, faded in a burst of tears, and she sobbed more bitterly than ever.

As the night wore on, and they proceeded by ways which were quite unknown to themfor they could

recognise none of the objects of which they sometimes caught a hurried glimpsetheir fears increased; nor

were they without good foundation; it was not difficult for two beautiful young women to find, in their being

borne they knew not whither by a band of daring villains who eyed them as some among these fellows did,

reasons for the worst alarm. When they at last entered London, by a suburb with which they were wholly

unacquainted, it was past midnight, and the streets were dark and empty. Nor was this the worst, for the

carriage stopping in a lonely spot, Hugh suddenly opened the door, jumped in, and took his seat between

It was in vain they cried for help. He put his arm about the neck of each, and swore to stifle them with kisses

'I come here to keep you quiet,' he said, 'and that's the means I shall take. So don't be quiet, pretty

They were proceeding at a rapid pace, and apparently with fewer attendants than before, though it was so

dark (the torches being extinguished) that this was mere conjecture. They shrunk from his touch, each into the

farthest corner of the carriage; but shrink as Dolly would, his arm encircled her waist, and held her fast. She

neither cried nor spoke, for terror and disgust deprived her of the power; but she plucked at his hand as

though she would die in the effort to disengage herself; and crouching on the ground, with her head averted

and held down, repelled him with a strength she wondered at as much as he. The carriage stopped again.

'Lift this one out,' said Hugh to the man who opened the door, as he took Miss Haredale's hand, and felt how

'So much the better,' growled Dennisit was that amiable gentleman. 'She's quiet. I always like 'em to faint,

'I don't know till I try. I ought to be able to; I've lifted up a good many in my time,' said the hangman. 'Up

then! She's no small weight, brother; none of these here fine gals are. Up again! Now we have her.'

Having by this time hoisted the young lady into his arms, he staggered off with his burden.

'Look ye, pretty bird,' said Hugh, drawing Dolly towards him. 'Remember what I told youa kiss for every

cry. Scream, if you love me, darling. Scream once, mistress. Pretty mistress, only once, if you love me.'

Thrusting his face away with all her force, and holding down her head, Dolly submitted to be carried out of

the chaise, and borne after Miss Haredale into a miserable cottage, where Hugh, after hugging her to his

Poor Dolly! Do what she would, she only looked the better for it, and tempted them the more. When her eyes

flashed angrily, and her ripe lips slightly parted, to give her rapid breathing vent, who could resist it? When

she wept and sobbed as though her heart would break, and bemoaned her miseries in the sweetest voice that

ever fell upon a listener's ear, who could be insensible to the little winning pettishness which now and then

displayed itself, even in the sincerity and earnestness of her grief? When, forgetful for a moment of herself, as

she was now, she fell on her knees beside her friend, and bent over her, and laid her cheek to hers, and put her

arms about her, what mortal eyes could have avoided wandering to the delicate bodice, the streaming hair, the

neglected dress, the perfect abandonment and unconsciousness of the blooming little beauty? Who could look

on and see her lavish caresses and endearments, and not desire to be in Emma Haredale's place; to be either

'I tell you what it is, young women,' said Mr Dennis, 'I an't much of a lady's man myself, nor am I a party in

the present business further than lending a willing hand to my friends: but if I see much more of this here sort

of thing, I shall become a principal instead of a accessory. I tell you candid.'

'Murdered!' cried Dennis, sitting down upon a stool, and regarding her with great favour. 'Why, my dear,

who'd murder sich chickabiddies as you? If you was to ask me, now, whether you was brought here to be

And here he exchanged a grin with Hugh, who removed his eyes from Dolly for the purpose.

'No, no,' said Dennis, 'there'll be no murdering, my pets. Nothing of that sort. Quite the contrairy.'

'You are an older man than your companion, sir,' said Emma, trembling. 'Have you no pity for us? Do you not

'I do indeed, my dear,' retorted Dennis. 'It would be very hard not to, with two such specimens afore my eyes.

He shook his head waggishly, leered at Hugh again, and laughed very much, as if he had said a noble thing,

'There'll be no murdering, my dear. Not a bit on it. I tell you what though, brother,' said Dennis, cocking his

hat for the convenience of scratching his head, and looking gravely at Hugh, 'it's worthy of notice, as a proof

of the amazing equalness and dignity of our law, that it don't make no distinction between men and women.

I've heerd the judge say, sometimes, to a highwayman or housebreaker as had tied the ladies neck and

heelsyou'll excuse me making mention of it, my darlingsand put 'em in a cellar, that he showed no

consideration to women. Now, I say that there judge didn't know his business, brother; and that if I had been

that there highwayman or housebreaker, I should have made answer: "What are you a talking of, my lord? I

showed the women as much consideration as the law does, and what more would you have me do?" If you

was to count up in the newspapers the number of females as have been worked off in this here city alone, in

the last ten year,' said Mr Dennis thoughtfully, 'you'd be surprised at the totalquite amazed, you would.

There's a dignified and equal thing; a beautiful thing! But we've no security for its lasting. Now that they've

begun to favour these here Papists, I shouldn't wonder if they went and altered even THAT, one of these

The subject, perhaps from being of too exclusive and professional a nature, failed to interest Hugh as much as

his friend had anticipated. But he had no time to pursue it, for at this crisis Mr Tappertit entered precipitately;

at sight of whom Dolly uttered a scream of joy, and fairly threw herself into his arms.

'I knew it, I was sure of it!' cried Dolly. 'My dear father's at the door. Thank God, thank God! Bless you, Sim.

Simon Tappertit, who had at first implicitly believed that the locksmith's daughter, unable any longer to

suppress her secret passion for himself, was about to give it full vent in its intensity, and to declare that she

was his for ever, looked extremely foolish when she said these words;the more so, as they were received

by Hugh and Dennis with a loud laugh, which made her draw back, and regard him with a fixed and earnest

'Miss Haredale,' said Sim, after a very awkward silence, 'I hope you're as comfortable as circumstances will

permit of. Dolly Varden, my darlingmy own, my lovely oneI hope YOU'RE pretty comfortable

Poor little Dolly! She saw how it was; hid her face in her hands; and sobbed more bitterly than ever.

'You meet in me, Miss V.,' said Simon, laying his hand upon his breast, 'not a 'prentice, not a workman, not a

slave, not the wictim of your father's tyrannical behaviour, but the leader of a great people, the captain of a

noble band, in which these gentlemen are, as I may say, corporals and serjeants. You behold in me, not a

private individual, but a public character; not a mender of locks, but a healer of the wounds of his unhappy

country. Dolly V., sweet Dolly V., for how many years have I looked forward to this present meeting! For

how many years has it been my intention to exalt and ennoble you! I redeem it. Behold in me, your husband.

As he said these words he advanced towards her. Dolly retreated till she could go no farther, and then sank

down upon the floor. Thinking it very possible that this might be maiden modesty, Simon essayed to raise

her; on which Dolly, goaded to desperation, wound her hands in his hair, and crying out amidst her tears that

he was a dreadful little wretch, and always had been, shook, and pulled, and beat him, until he was fain to call

for help, most lustily. Hugh had never admired her half so much as at that moment.

'She's in an excited state tonight,' said Simon, as he smoothed his rumpled feathers, 'and don't know when

she's well off. Let her be by herself till tomorrow, and that'll bring her down a little. Carry her into the next

Hugh had her in his arms directly. It might be that Mr Tappertit's heart was really softened by her distress, or

it might be that he felt it in some degree indecorous that his intended bride should be struggling in the grasp

of another man. He commanded him, on second thoughts, to put her down again, and looked moodily on as

she flew to Miss Haredale's side, and clinging to her dress, hid her flushed face in its folds.

'They shall remain here together till tomorrow,' said Simon, who had now quite recovered his dignity'till

'Nothing, captain, nothing,' Hugh rejoined; and as he spoke, and clapped his hand upon the shoulder of the

Mr Tappertit surveyed him from head to foot with lofty scorn (this only made him laugh the more), and

'You'll take notice, ladies, that this place is well watched on every side, and that the least noise is certain to be

attended with unpleasant consequences. You'll hearboth of youmore of our intentions tomorrow. In the

mean time, don't show yourselves at the window, or appeal to any of the people you may see pass it; for if

you do, it'll be known directly that you come from a Catholic house, and all the exertions our men can make,

With this last caution, which was true enough, he turned to the door, followed by Hugh and Dennis. They

paused for a moment, going out, to look at them clasped in each other's arms, and then left the cottage;

fastening the door, and setting a good watch upon it, and indeed all round the house.

'I say,' growled Dennis, as they walked away in company, 'that's a dainty pair. Muster Gashford's one is as

'I wouldn't like to be HIM, then (as you don't like names), when he breaks it out to her; that's all,' said Dennis.

'She's one of them fine, blackeyed, proud gals, as I wouldn't trust at such times with a knife too near 'em.

I've seen some of that sort, afore now. I recollect one that was worked off, many year agoand there was a

gentleman in that case toothat says to me, with her lip a trembling, but her hand as steady as ever I see one:

"Dennis, I'm near my end, but if I had a dagger in these fingers, and he was within my reach, I'd strike him

Hugh looked, for a moment, as though he would have made some further inquiry into this incoherent

recollection; but Simon Tappertit, who had been meditating deeply, gave his thoughts a new direction.

'Hugh!' said Sim. 'You have done well today. You shall be rewarded. So have you, Dennis.There's no

'Nno,' returned that gentleman, stroking his grizzly beard, which was some two inches long. 'None in

'Very good,' said Sim; 'then we'll find some other way of making it up to you. As to you, old boy'he turned

to Hugh'you shall have Miggs (her that I promised you, you know) within three days. Mind. I pass my

Hugh thanked him heartily; and as he did so, his laughing fit returned with such violence that he was obliged

to hold his side with one hand, and to lean with the other on the shoulder of his small captain, without whose

The three worthies turned their faces towards The Boot, with the intention of passing the night in that place of

rendezvous, and of seeking the repose they so much needed in the shelter of their old den; for now that the

mischief and destruction they had purposed were achieved, and their prisoners were safely bestowed for the

night, they began to be conscious of exhaustion, and to feel the wasting effects of the madness which had led

Notwithstanding the lassitude and fatigue which oppressed him now, in common with his two companions,

and indeed with all who had taken an active share in that night's work, Hugh's boisterous merriment broke out

afresh whenever he looked at Simon Tappertit, and vented itselfmuch to that gentleman's indignationin

such shouts of laughter as bade fair to bring the watch upon them, and involve them in a skirmish, to which in

their present wornout condition they might prove by no means equal. Even Mr Dennis, who was not at all

particular on the score of gravity or dignity, and who had a great relish for his young friend's eccentric

humours, took occasion to remonstrate with him on this imprudent behaviour, which he held to be a species

of suicide, tantamount to a man's working himself off without being overtaken by the law, than which he

Not abating one jot of his noisy mirth for these remonstrances, Hugh reeled along between them, having an

arm of each, until they hove in sight of The Boot, and were within a field or two of that convenient tavern. He

happened by great good luck to have roared and shouted himself into silence by this time. They were

proceeding onward without noise, when a scout who had been creeping about the ditches all night, to warn

any stragglers from encroaching further on what was now such dangerous ground, peeped cautiously from his

Because (the scout replied) the house was filled with constables and soldiers; having been surprised that

afternoon. The inmates had fled or been taken into custody, he could not say which. He had prevented a great

many people from approaching nearer, and he believed they had gone to the markets and such places to pass

the night. He had seen the distant fires, but they were all out now. He had heard the people who passed and

repassed, speaking of them too, and could report that the prevailing opinion was one of apprehension and

dismay. He had not heard a word of Barnaby didn't even know his namebut it had been said in his

hearing that some man had been taken and carried off to Newgate. Whether this was true or false, he could

The three took counsel together, on hearing this, and debated what it might be best to do. Hugh, deeming it

possible that Barnaby was in the hands of the soldiers, and at that moment under detention at The Boot, was

for advancing stealthily, and firing the house; but his companions, who objected to such rash measures unless

they had a crowd at their backs, represented that if Barnaby were taken he had assuredly been removed to a

stronger prison; they would never have dreamed of keeping him all night in a place so weak and open to

attack. Yielding to this reasoning, and to their persuasions, Hugh consented to turn back and to repair to Fleet

Market; for which place, it seemed, a few of their boldest associates had shaped their course, on receiving the

Feeling their strength recruited and their spirits roused, now that there was a new necessity for action, they

hurried away, quite forgetful of the fatigue under which they had been sinking but a few minutes before; and

Fleet Market, at that time, was a long irregular row of wooden sheds and penthouses, occupying the centre of

what is now called Farringdon Street. They were jumbled together in a most unsightly fashion, in the middle

of the road; to the great obstruction of the thoroughfare and the annoyance of passengers, who were fain to

make their way, as they best could, among carts, baskets, barrows, trucks, casks, bulks, and benches, and to

jostle with porters, hucksters, waggoners, and a motley crowd of buyers, sellers, pick pockets, vagrants, and

idlers. The air was perfumed with the stench of rotten leaves and faded fruit; the refuse of the butchers' stalls,

and offal and garbage of a hundred kinds. It was indispensable to most public conveniences in those days,

that they should be public nuisances likewise; and Fleet Market maintained the principle to admiration.

To this place, perhaps because its sheds and baskets were a tolerable substitute for beds, or perhaps because it

afforded the means of a hasty barricade in case of need, many of the rioters had straggled, not only that night,

but for two or three nights before. It was now broad day, but the morning being cold, a group of them were

gathered round a fire in a publichouse, drinking hot purl, and smoking pipes, and planning new schemes for

Hugh and his two friends being known to most of these men, were received with signal marks of approbation,

and inducted into the most honourable seats. The roomdoor was closed and fastened to keep intruders at a

'The soldiers have taken possession of The Boot, I hear,' said Hugh. 'Who knows anything about it?'

Several cried that they did; but the majority of the company having been engaged in the assault upon the

Warren, and all present having been concerned in one or other of the night's expeditions, it proved that they

knew no more than Hugh himself; having been merely warned by each other, or by the scout, and knowing

'We left a man on guard there today,' said Hugh, looking round him, 'who is not here. You know who it

isBarnaby, who brought the soldier down, at Westminster. Has any man seen or heard of him?'

They shook their heads, and murmured an answer in the negative, as each man looked round and appealed to

his fellow; when a noise was heard without, and a man was heard to say that he wanted Hughthat he must

The door was accordingly unlocked and opened. A onearmed man, with his head and face tied up with a

bloody cloth, as though he had been severely beaten, his clothes torn, and his remaining hand grasping a thick

'Here he is,' replied the person he inquired for. 'I am Hugh. What do you want with me?'

'Yes. He's taken. He's in one of the strong cells in Newgate. He defended himself as well as he could, but was

'On his way to prison, where he was taken by a party of soldiers. They took a byroad, and not the one we

expected. I was one of the few who tried to rescue him, and he called to me, and told me to tell Hugh where

He pointed to his dress and to his bandaged head, and still panting for breath, glanced round the room; then

'I know you by sight,' he said, 'for I was in the crowd on Friday, and on Saturday, and yesterday, but I didn't

know your name. You're a bold fellow, I know. So is he. He fought like a lion tonight, but it was of no use. I

Again he glanced inquisitively round the room or seemed to do so, for his face was nearly hidden by the

bandageand again facing sharply towards Hugh, grasped his stick as if he half expected to be set upon, and

If he had any such apprehension, however, he was speedily reassured by the demeanour of all present. None

thought of the bearer of the tidings. He was lost in the news he brought. Oaths, threats, and execrations, were

vented on all sides. Some cried that if they bore this tamely, another day would see them all in jail; some, that

they should have rescued the other prisoners, and this would not have happened. One man cried in a loud

voice, 'Who'll follow me to Newgate!' and there was a loud shout and general rush towards the door.

But Hugh and Dennis stood with their backs against it, and kept them back, until the clamour had so far

subsided that their voices could be heard, when they called to them together that to go now, in broad day,

would be madness; and that if they waited until night and arranged a plan of attack, they might release, not

'Not that jail alone,' cried Hugh, 'but every jail in London. They shall have no place to put their prisoners in.

We'll burn them all down; make bonfires of them every one! Here!' he cried, catching at the hangman's hand.

'Let all who're men here, join with us. Shake hands upon it. Barnaby out of jail, and not a jail left standing!

Every man there. And they swore a great oath to release their friends from Newgate next night; to force the

On that same nightevents so crowd upon each other in convulsed and distracted times, that more than the

stirring incidents of a whole life often become compressed into the compass of fourand twenty hourson

that same night, Mr Haredale, having strongly bound his prisoner, with the assistance of the sexton, and

forced him to mount his horse, conducted him to Chigwell; bent upon procuring a conveyance to London

from that place, and carrying him at once before a justice. The disturbed state of the town would be, he knew,

a sufficient reason for demanding the murderer's committal to prison before daybreak, as no man could

answer for the security of any of the watchhouses or ordinary places of detention; and to convey a prisoner

through the streets when the mob were again abroad, would not only be a task of great danger and hazard, but

would be to challenge an attempt at rescue. Directing the sexton to lead the horse, he walked close by the

murderer's side, and in this order they reached the village about the middle of the night.

The people were all awake and up, for they were fearful of being burnt in their beds, and sought to comfort

and assure each other by watching in company. A few of the stoutesthearted were armed and gathered in a

body on the green. To these, who knew him well, Mr Haredale addressed himself, briefly narrating what had

happened, and beseeching them to aid in conveying the criminal to London before the dawn of day.

But not a man among them dared to help him by so much as the motion of a finger. The rioters, in their

passage through the village, had menaced with their fiercest vengeance, any person who should aid in

extinguishing the fire, or render the least assistance to him, or any Catholic whomsoever. Their threats

extended to their lives and all they possessed. They were assembled for their own protection, and could not

endanger themselves by lending any aid to him. This they told him, not without hesitation and regret, as they

kept aloof in the moonlight and glanced fearfully at the ghostly rider, who, with his head drooping on his

Finding it impossible to persuade them, and indeed hardly knowing how to do so after what they had seen of

the fury of the crowd, Mr Haredale besought them that at least they would leave him free to act for himself,

and would suffer him to take the only chaise and pair of horses that the place afforded. This was not acceded

to without some difficulty, but in the end they told him to do what he would, and go away from them in

Leaving the sexton at the horse's bridle, he drew out the chaise with his own hands, and would have

harnessed the horses, but that the postboy of the villagea softhearted, goodfornothing, vagabond kind

of fellowwas moved by his earnestness and passion, and, throwing down a pitchfork with which he was

armed, swore that the rioters might cut him into mincemeat if they liked, but he would not stand by and see

an honest gentleman who had done no wrong, reduced to such extremity, without doing what he could to help

him. Mr Haredale shook him warmly by the hand, and thanked him from his heart. In five minutes' time the

chaise was ready, and this good scapegrace in his saddle. The murderer was put inside, the blinds were drawn

up, the sexton took his seat upon the bar, Mr Haredale mounted his horse and rode close beside the door; and

The consternation was so extreme that even the horses which had escaped the flames at the Warren, could

find no friends to shelter them. They passed them on the road, browsing on the stunted grass; and the driver

told them, that the poor beasts had wandered to the village first, but had been driven away, lest they should

Nor was this feeling confined to such small places, where the people were timid, ignorant, and unprotected.

When they came near London they met, in the grey light of morning, more than one poor Catholic family

who, terrified by the threats and warnings of their neighbours, were quitting the city on foot, and who told

them they could hire no cart or horse for the removal of their goods, and had been compelled to leave them

behind, at the mercy of the crowd. Near Mile End they passed a house, the master of which, a Catholic

gentleman of small means, having hired a waggon to remove his furniture by midnight, had had it all brought

down into the street, to wait the vehicle's arrival, and save time in the packing. But the man with whom he

made the bargain, alarmed by the fires that night, and by the sight of the rioters passing his door, had refused

to keep it: and the poor gentleman, with his wife and servant and their little children, were sitting trembling

among their goods in the open street, dreading the arrival of day and not knowing where to turn or what to do.

It was the same, they heard, with the public conveyances. The panic was so great that the mails and

stagecoaches were afraid to carry passengers who professed the obnoxious religion. If the drivers knew

them, or they admitted that they held that creed, they would not take them, no, though they offered large

sums; and yesterday, people had been afraid to recognise Catholic acquaintance in the streets, lest they should

be marked by spies, and burnt out, as it was called, in consequence. One mild old man a priest, whose

chapel was destroyed; a very feeble, patient, inoffensive creaturewho was trudging away, alone, designing

to walk some distance from town, and then try his fortune with the coaches, told Mr Haredale that he feared

he might not find a magistrate who would have the hardihood to commit a prisoner to jail, on his complaint.

But notwithstanding these discouraging accounts they went on, and reached the Mansion House soon after

Mr Haredale threw himself from his horse, but he had no need to knock at the door, for it was already open,

and there stood upon the step a portly old man, with a very red, or rather purple face, who with an anxious

expression of countenance, was remonstrating with some unseen personage upstairs, while the porter essayed

to close the door by degrees and get rid of him. With the intense impatience and excitement natural to one in

his condition, Mr Haredale thrust himself forward and was about to speak, when the fat old gentleman

'My good sir,' said he, 'pray let me get an answer. This is the sixth time I have been here. I was here five

times yesterday. My house is threatened with destruction. It is to be burned down to night, and was to have

been last night, but they had other business on their hands. Pray let me get an answer.'

'My good sir,' returned Mr Haredale, shaking his head, 'my house is burned to the ground. But heaven forbid

'Now, you hear this, my lord?'said the old gentleman, calling up the stairs, to where the skirt of a

dressinggown fluttered on the landingplace. 'Here is a gentleman here, whose house was actually burnt

'Dear me, dear me,' replied a testy voice, 'I am very sorry for it, but what am I to do? I can't build it up again.

The chief magistrate of the city can't go and be a rebuilding of people's houses, my good sir. Stuff and

'But the chief magistrate of the city can prevent people's houses from having any need to be rebuilt, if the

chief magistrate's a man, and not a dummycan't he, my lord?' cried the old gentleman in a choleric manner.

'You are disrespectable, sir,' said the Lord Mayor'leastways, disrespectful I mean.'

'Disrespectful, my lord!' returned the old gentleman. 'I was respectful five times yesterday. I can't be

respectful for ever. Men can't stand on being respectful when their houses are going to be burnt over their

heads, with them in 'em. What am I to do, my lord? AM I to have any protection!'

'I told you yesterday, sir,' said the Lord Mayor, 'that you might have an alderman in your house, if you could

'What the devil's the good of an alderman?' returned the choleric old gentleman.

'Oh Lord ha' mercy!' whimpered the old gentleman, as he wiped his forehead in a state of ludicrous distress,

'to think of sending an alderman to awe a crowd! Why, my lord, if they were even so many babies, fed on

'Then what,' returned the old gentleman, 'what am I to do? Am I a citizen of England? Am I to have the

'I don't know, I am sure,' said the Lord Mayor; 'what a pity it is you're a Catholic! Why couldn't you be a

Protestant, and then you wouldn't have got yourself into such a mess? I'm sure I don't know what's to be

done.There are great people at the bottom of these riots.Oh dear me, what a thing it is to be a public

character! You must look in again in the course of the day.Would a javelin man do?Or there's

Philips the constable,HE'S disengaged,he's not very old for a man at his time of life, except in his legs,

and if you put him up at a window he'd look quite young by candle light, and might frighten 'em very

'Stop!' cried Mr Haredale, pressing the door open as the porter strove to shut it, and speaking rapidly, 'My

Lord Mayor, I beg you not to go away. I have a man here, who committed a murder eight andtwenty years

ago. Halfadozen words from me, on oath, will justify you in committing him to prison for reexamination.

I only seek, just now, to have him consigned to a place of safety. The least delay may involve his being

'Oh dear me!' cried the Lord Mayor. 'God bless my souland body oh Lor!well I!there are great

'My lord,' said Mr Haredale, 'the murdered gentleman was my brother; I succeeded to his inheritance; there

were not wanting slanderous tongues at that time, to whisper that the guilt of this most foul and cruel deed

was minemine, who loved him, as he knows, in Heaven, dearly. The time has come, after all these years of

gloom and misery, for avenging him, and bringing to light a crime so artful and so devilish that it has no

parallel. Every second's delay on your part loosens this man's bloody hands again, and leads to his escape.

'Oh dear me!' cried the chief magistrate; 'these an't business hours, you knowI wonder at youhow

ungentlemanly it is of you you mustn'tyou really mustn't.And I suppose you are a Catholic too?'

'God bless my soul, I believe people turn Catholics a'purpose to vex and worrit me,' cried the Lord Mayor. 'I

wish you wouldn't come here; they'll be setting the Mansion House afire next, and we shall have you to thank

for it. You must lock your prisoner up, sirgive him to a watchmanandcall again at a proper time.

Before Mr Haredale could answer, the sharp closing of a door and drawing of its bolts, gave notice that the

Lord Mayor had retreated to his bedroom, and that further remonstrance would be unavailing. The two clients

'That's the way he puts me off,' said the old gentleman, 'I can get no redress and no help. What are you going

'I feel for you, I assure youand well I may, for we are in a common cause,' said the old gentleman. 'I may

not have a house to offer you tonight; let me tender it while I can. On second thoughts though,' he added,

putting up a pocketbook he had produced while speaking, 'I'll not give you a card, for if it was found upon

you, it might get you into trouble. Langdalethat's my namevintner and distillerHolborn Hillyou're

Mr Haredale bowed, and rode off, close beside the chaise as before; determining to repair to the house of Sir

John Fielding, who had the reputation of being a bold and active magistrate, and fully resolved, in case the

rioters should come upon them, to do execution on the murderer with his own hands, rather than suffer him to

They arrived at the magistrate's dwelling, however, without molestation (for the mob, as we have seen, were

then intent on deeper schemes), and knocked at the door. As it had been pretty generally rumoured that Sir

John was proscribed by the rioters, a body of thieftakers had been keeping watch in the house all night. To

one of them Mr Haredale stated his business, which appearing to the man of sufficient moment to warrant his

No time was lost in committing the murderer to Newgate; then a new building, recently completed at a vast

expense, and considered to be of enormous strength. The warrant being made out, three of the thieftakers

bound him afresh (he had been struggling, it seemed, in the chaise, and had loosened his manacles); gagged

him lest they should meet with any of the mob, and he should call to them for help; and seated themselves,

along with him, in the carriage. These men being all well armed, made a formidable escort; but they drew up

the blinds again, as though the carriage were empty, and directed Mr Haredale to ride forward, that he might

The wisdom of this proceeding was sufficiently obvious, for as they hurried through the city they passed

among several groups of men, who, if they had not supposed the chaise to be quite empty, would certainly

have stopped it. But those within keeping quite close, and the driver tarrying to be asked no questions, they

reached the prison without interruption, and, once there, had him out, and safe within its gloomy walls, in a

With eager eyes and strained attention, Mr Haredale saw him chained, and locked and barred up in his cell.

Nay, when he had left the jail, and stood in the free street, without, he felt the iron plates upon the doors, with

his hands, and drew them over the stone wall, to assure himself that it was real; and to exult in its being so

strong, and rough, and cold. It was not until he turned his back upon the jail, and glanced along the empty

streets, so lifeless and quiet in the bright morning, that he felt the weight upon his heart; that he knew he was

tortured by anxiety for those he had left at home; and that home itself was but another bead in the long rosary

The prisoner, left to himself, sat down upon his bedstead: and resting his elbows on his knees, and his chin

upon his hands, remained in that attitude for hours. It would be hard to say, of what nature his reflections

were. They had no distinctness, and, saving for some flashes now and then, no reference to his condition or

the train of circumstances by which it had been brought about. The cracks in the pavement of his cell, the

chinks in the wall where stone was joined to stone, the bars in the window, the iron ring upon the

floor,such things as these, subsiding strangely into one another, and awakening an indescribable kind of

interest and amusement, engrossed his whole mind; and although at the bottom of his every thought there was

an uneasy sense of guilt, and dread of death, he felt no more than that vague consciousness of it, which a

sleeper has of pain. It pursues him through his dreams, gnaws at the heart of all his fancied pleasures, robs the

banquet of its taste, music of its sweetness, makes happiness itself unhappy, and yet is no bodily sensation,

but a phantom without shape, or form, or visible presence; pervading everything, but having no existence;

recognisable everywhere, but nowhere seen, or touched, or met with face to face, until the sleep is past, and

After a long time the door of his cell opened. He looked up; saw the blind man enter; and relapsed into his

Guided by his breathing, the visitor advanced to where he sat; and stopping beside him, and stretching out his

The prisoner shuffled with his feet upon the ground in turning his body from him, but made no other answer.

'How were you taken?' he asked. 'And where? You never told me more than half your secret. No matter; I

know it now. How was it, and where, eh?' he asked again, coming still nearer to him.

'Because I went there to avoid the man I stumbled on,' he answered. 'Because I was chased and driven there,

by him and Fate. Because I was urged to go there, by something stronger than my own will. When I found

him watching in the house she used to live in, night after night, I knew I never could escape himnever! and

He shivered; muttered that it was very cold; paced quickly up and down the narrow cell; and sitting down

'You were saying,' said the blind man, after another pause, 'that when you heard the Bell'

The blind man turned a wistful and inquisitive face towards him, but he continued to speak, without noticing

'I went to Chigwell, in search of the mob. I have been so hunted and beset by this man, that I knew my only

hope of safety lay in joining them. They had gone on before; I followed them when it left off.'

'The Bell. They had quitted the place. I hoped that some of them might be still lingering among the ruins, and

was searching for them when I heard' he drew a long breath, and wiped his forehead with his sleeve'his

'No matter what. I don't know. I was then at the foot of the turret, where I did the'

'Ay,' said the blind man, nodding his head with perfect composure, 'I understand.'

'I climbed the stair, or so much of it as was left; meaning to hide till he had gone. But he heard me; and

'You might have hidden in the wall, and thrown him down, or stabbed him,' said the blind man.

'Might I? Between that man and me, was one who led him onI saw it, though he did notand raised above

his head a bloody hand. It was in the room above that HE and I stood glaring at each other on the night of the

murder, and before he fell he raised his hand like that, and fixed his eyes on me. I knew the chase would end

He groaned, and rocked himself, and looking up for the first time, said, in a low, hollow voice:

'Eightandtwenty years! Eightandtwenty years! He has never changed in all that time, never grown older,

nor altered in the least degree. He has been before me in the dark night, and the broad sunny day; in the

twilight, the moonlight, the sunlight, the light of fire, and lamp, and candle; and in the deepest gloom. Always

the same! In company, in solitude, on land, on shipboard; sometimes leaving me alone for months, and

sometimes always with me. I have seen him, at sea, come gliding in the dead of night along the bright

reflection of the moon in the calm water; and I have seen him, on quays and marketplaces, with his hand

uplifted, towering, the centre of a busy crowd, unconscious of the terrible form that had its silent stand among

them. Fancy! Are you real? Am I? Are these iron fetters, riveted on me by the smith's hammer, or are they

'Fancy! Do I fancy that I killed him? Do I fancy that as I left the chamber where he lay, I saw the face of a

man peeping from a dark door, who plainly showed me by his fearful looks that he suspected what I had

done? Do I remember that I spoke fairly to himthat I drew nearernearer yetwith the hot knife in my

sleeve? Do I fancy how HE died? Did he stagger back into the angle of the wall into which I had hemmed

him, and, bleeding inwardly, stand, not fail, a corpse before me? Did I see him, for an instant, as I see you

The blind man, who knew that he had risen, motioned him to sit down again upon his bedstead; but he took

'It was then I thought, for the first time, of fastening the murder upon him. It was then I dressed him in my

clothes, and dragged him down the backstairs to the piece of water. Do I remember listening to the bubbles

that came rising up when I had rolled him in? Do I remember wiping the water from my face, and because the

'Did I go home when I had done? And oh, my God! how long it took to do! Did I stand before my wife, and

tell her? Did I see her fall upon the ground; and, when I stooped to raise her, did she thrust me back with a

force that cast me off as if I had been a child, staining the hand with which she clasped my wrist? Is THAT

'Did she go down upon her knees, and call on Heaven to witness that she and her unborn child renounced me

from that hour; and did she, in words so solemn that they turned me coldme, fresh from the horrors my

own hands had madewarn me to fly while there was time; for though she would be silent, being my

wretched wife, she would not shelter me? Did I go forth that night, abjured of God and man, and anchored

deep in hell, to wander at my cable's length about the earth, and surely be drawn down at last?'

'Why is blood red? I could no more help it, than I could live without breath. I struggled against the impulse,

but I was drawn back, through every difficult and adverse circumstance, as by a mighty engine. Nothing

could stop me. The day and hour were none of my choice. Sleeping and waking, I had been among the old

haunts for yearshad visited my own grave. Why did I come back? Because this jail was gaping for me, and

'MY secret? MINE? It was a secret, any breath of air could whisper at its will. The stars had it in their

twinkling, the water in its flowing, the leaves in their rustling, the seasons in their return. It lurked in

strangers' faces, and their voices. Everything had lips on which it always trembled.MY secret!'

'The act was not mine. I did it, but it was not mine. I was forced at times to wander round, and round, and

round that spot. If you had chained me up when the fit was on me, I should have broken away, and gone

there. As truly as the loadstone draws iron towards it, so he, lying at the bottom of his grave, could draw me

near him when he would. Was that fancy? Did I like to go there, or did I strive and wrestle with the power

The blind man shrugged his shoulders, and smiled incredulously. The prisoner again resumed his old attitude,

'I suppose then,' said his visitor, at length breaking silence, 'that you are penitent and resigned; that you desire

to make peace with everybody (in particular, with your wife who has brought you to this); and that you ask

no greater favour than to be carried to Tyburn as soon as possible? That being the case, I had better take my

'Have I not told you,' said the other fiercely, 'that I have striven and wrestled with the power that brought me

here? Has my whole life, for eightandtwenty years, been one perpetual struggle and resistance, and do you

'That's better said. That's better spoken, Rudgebut I'll not call you that againthan anything you have said

yet,' returned the blind man, speaking more familiarly, and laying his hands upon his arm. 'Lookye,I never

killed a man myself, for I have never been placed in a position that made it worth my while. Farther, I am not

an advocate for killing men, and I don't think I should recommend it or like itfor it's very

hazardousunder any circumstances. But as you had the misfortune to get into this trouble before I made

your acquaintance, and as you have been my companion, and have been of use to me for a long time now, I

overlook that part of the matter, and am only anxious that you shouldn't die unnecessarily. Now, I do not

'What else is left me?' returned the prisoner. 'To eat my way through these walls with my teeth?'

'Something easier than that,' returned his friend. 'Promise me that you will talk no more of these fancies of

'Your worthy lady with the tender conscience; your scrupulous, virtuous, punctilious, but not blindly

'That's natural enough. If she had taken her annuity as usual, you would not have been here, and we should

have been better off. But that's apart from the business. She's in London. Scared, as I suppose, and have no

doubt, by my representation when I waited upon her, that you were close at hand (which I, of course, urged

only as an inducement to compliance, knowing that she was not pining to see you), she left that place, and

'From my friend the noble captainthe illustrious generalthe bladder, Mr Tappertit. I learnt from him the

last time I saw him, which was yesterday, that your son who is called Barnabynot after his father, I

'You are impatient,' said the blind man, calmly; 'it's a good sign, and looks like lifethat your son

Barnaby had been lured away from her by one of his companions who knew him of old, at Chigwell; and that

'And what is that to me? If father and son be hanged together, what comfort shall I find in that?'

'Staystay, my friend,' returned the blind man, with a cunning look, 'you travel fast to journeys' ends.

Suppose I track my lady out, and say thus much: "You want your son, ma'amgood. I, knowing those who

tempt him to remain among them, can restore him to you, ma'amgood. You must pay a price, ma'am, for

his restorationgood again. The price is small, and easy to be paid dear ma'am, that's best of all."'

'Very likely, she may reply in those words. "No mockery at all," I answer: "Madam, a person said to be your

husband (identity is difficult of proof after the lapse of many years) is in prison, his life in perilthe charge

against him, murder. Now, ma'am, your husband has been dead a long, long time. The gentleman never can

be confounded with him, if you will have the goodness to say a few words, on oath, as to when he died, and

how; and that this person (who I am told resembles him in some degree) is no more he than I am. Such

testimony will set the question quite at rest. Pledge yourself to me to give it, ma' am, and I will undertake to

keep your son (a fine lad) out of harm's way until you have done this trifling service, when he shall he

delivered up to you, safe and sound. On the other hand, if you decline to do so, I fear he will be betrayed, and

handed over to the law, which will assuredly sentence him to suffer death. It is, in fact, a choice between his

life and death. If you refuse, he swings. If you comply, the timber is not grown, nor the hemp sown, that shall

'A gleam!' returned his friend, 'a noonblaze; a full and glorious daylight. Hush! I hear the tread of distant

'As soon as I do. I should hope, tomorrow. They are coming to say that our time for talk is over. I hear the

jingling of the keys. Not another word of this just now, or they may overhear us.'

As he said these words, the lock was turned, and one of the prison turnkeys appearing at the door, announced

'So soon!' said Stagg, meekly. 'But it can't be helped. Cheer up, friend. This mistake will soon be set at rest,

and then you are a man again! If this charitable gentleman will lead a blind man (who has nothing in return

but prayers) to the prisonporch, and set him with his face towards the west, he will do a worthy deed. Thank

So saying, and pausing for an instant at the door to turn his grinning face towards his friend, he departed.

When the officer had seen him to the porch, he returned, and again unlocking and unbarring the door of the

cell, set it wide open, informing its inmate that he was at liberty to walk in the adjacent yard, if he thought

The prisoner answered with a sullen nod; and being left alone again, sat brooding over what he had heard,

and pondering upon the hopes the recent conversation had awakened; gazing abstractedly, the while he did

so, on the light without, and watching the shadows thrown by one wall on another, and on the stonepaved

It was a dull, square yard, made cold and gloomy by high walls, and seeming to chill the very sunlight. The

stone, so bare, and rough, and obdurate, filled even him with longing thoughts of meadowland and trees;

and with a burning wish to be at liberty. As he looked, he rose, and leaning against the doorpost, gazed up at

the bright blue sky, smiling even on that dreary home of crime. He seemed, for a moment, to remember lying

on his back in some sweetscented place, and gazing at it through moving branches, long ago.

His attention was suddenly attracted by a clanking soundhe knew what it was, for he had startled himself

by making the same noise in walking to the door. Presently a voice began to sing, and he saw the shadow of a

figure on the pavement. It stoppedwas silent all at once, as though the person for a moment had forgotten

where he was, but soon rememberedand so, with the same clanking noise, the shadow disappeared.

He walked out into the court and paced it to and fro; startling the echoes, as he went, with the harsh jangling

He had not taken halfadozen turns up and down the yard, when, standing still to observe this door, he

heard the clanking sound again. A face looked out of the grated windowhe saw it very dimly, for the cell

was dark and the bars were heavyand directly afterwards, a man appeared, and came towards him.

For the sense of loneliness he had, he might have been in jail a year. Made eager by the hope of

They stood face to face, staring at each other. He shrinking and cowed, despite himself; Barnahy struggling

with his imperfect memory, and wondering where he had seen that face before. He was not uncertain long,

for suddenly he laid hands upon him, and striving to bear him to the ground, cried:

He said nothing in reply at first, but held down his head, and struggled with him silently. Finding the younger

man too strong for him, he raised his face, looked close into his eyes, and said,

God knows what magic the name had for his ears; but Barnaby released his hold, fell back, and looked at him

aghast. Suddenly he sprung towards him, put his arms about his neck, and pressed his head against his cheek.

Yes, yes, he was; he was sure he was. But where had he been so long, and why had he left his mother by

herself, or worse than by herself, with her poor foolish boy? And had she really been as happy as they said?

And where was she? Was she near there? She was not happy now, and he in jail? Ah, no.

Not a word was said in answer; but Grip croaked loudly, and hopped about them, round and round, as if

During the whole of this day, every regiment in or near the metropolis was on duty in one or other part of the

town; and the regulars and militia, in obedience to the orders which were sent to every barrack and station

within twentyfour hours' journey, began to pour in by all the roads. But the disturbance had attained to such

a formidable height, and the rioters had grown, with impunity, to be so audacious, that the sight of this great

force, continually augmented by new arrivals, instead of operating as a check, stimulated them to outrages of

greater hardihood than any they had yet committed; and helped to kindle a flame in London, the like of which

All yesterday, and on this day likewise, the commanderinchief endeavoured to arouse the magistrates to a

sense of their duty, and in particular the Lord Mayor, who was the faintesthearted and most timid of them

all. With this object, large bodies of the soldiery were several times despatched to the Mansion House to

await his orders: but as he could, by no threats or persuasions, be induced to give any, and as the men

remained in the open street, fruitlessly for any good purpose, and thrivingly for a very bad one; these laudable

attempts did harm rather than good. For the crowd, becoming speedily acquainted with the Lord Mayor's

temper, did not fail to take advantage of it by boasting that even the civil authorities were opposed to the

Papists, and could not find it in their hearts to molest those who were guilty of no other offence. These vaunts

they took care to make within the hearing of the soldiers; and they, being naturally loth to quarrel with the

people, received their advances kindly enough: answering, when they were asked if they desired to fire upon

their countrymen, 'No, they would be damned if they did;' and showing much honest simplicity and good

nature. The feeling that the military were No Popery men, and were ripe for disobeying orders and joining

the mob, soon became very prevalent in consequence. Rumours of their disaffection, and of their leaning

towards the popular cause, spread from mouth to mouth with astonishing rapidity; and whenever they were

drawn up idly in the streets or squares, there was sure to be a crowd about them, cheering and shaking hands,

By this time, the crowd was everywhere; all concealment and disguise were laid aside, and they pervaded the

whole town. If any man among them wanted money, he had but to knock at the door of a dwellinghouse, or

walk into a shop, and demand it in the rioters name; and his demand was instantly complied with. The

peaceable citizens being afraid to lay hands upon them, singly and alone, it may be easily supposed that when

gathered together in bodies, they were perfectly secure from interruption. They assembled in the streets,

traversed them at their will and pleasure, and publicly concerted their plans. Business was quite suspended;

the greater part of the shops were closed; most of the houses displayed a blue flag in token of their adherence

to the popular side; and even the Jews in Houndsditch, Whitechapel, and those quarters, wrote upon their

doors or windowshutters, 'This House is a True Protestant.' The crowd was the law, and never was the law

It was about six o'clock in the evening, when a vast mob poured into Lincoln's Inn Fields by every avenue,

and dividedevidently in pursuance of a previous designinto several parties. It must not be understood

that this arrangement was known to the whole crowd, but that it was the work of a few leaders; who,

mingling with the men as they came upon the ground, and calling to them to fall into this or that parry,

effected it as rapidly as if it had been determined on by a council of the whole number, and every man had

It was perfectly notorious to the assemblage that the largest body, which comprehended about twothirds of

the whole, was designed for the attack on Newgate. It comprehended all the rioters who had been

conspicuous in any of their former proceedings; all those whom they recommended as daring hands and fit

for the work; all those whose companions had been taken in the riots; and a great number of people who were

relatives or friends of felons in the jail. This last class included, not only the most desperate and utterly

abandoned villains in London, but some who were comparatively innocent. There was more than one woman

there, disguised in man's attire, and bent upon the rescue of a child or brother. There were the two sons of a

man who lay under sentence of death, and who was to be executed along with three others, on the next day

but one. There was a great parry of boys whose fellowpickpockets were in the prison; and at the skirts of all,

a score of miserable women, outcasts from the world, seeking to release some other fallen creature as

miserable as themselves, or moved by a general sympathy perhapsGod knowswith all who were without

Old swords, and pistols without ball or powder; sledgehammers, knives, axes, saws, and weapons pillaged

from the butchers' shops; a forest of iron bars and wooden clubs; long ladders for scaling the walls, each

carried on the shoulders of a dozen men; lighted torches; tow smeared with pitch, and tar, and brimstone;

staves roughly plucked from fence and paling; and even crutches taken from crippled beggars in the streets;

composed their arms. When all was ready, Hugh and Dennis, with Simon Tappertit between them, led the

Instead of going straight down Holborn to the jail, as all expected, their leaders took the way to Clerkenwell,

and pouring down a quiet street, halted before a locksmith's housethe Golden Key.

'Beat at the door,' cried Hugh to the men about him. 'We want one of his craft tonight. Beat it in, if no one

The shop was shut. Both door and shutters were of a strong and sturdy kind, and they knocked without effect.

But the impatient crowd raising a cry of 'Set fire to the house!' and torches being passed to the front, an upper

'Ask no questions of us, old man,' retorted Hugh, waving his comrades to be silent, 'but come down, and

'Want me!' cried the locksmith, glancing at the regimental dress he wore: 'Ay, and if some that I could name

possessed the hearts of mice, ye should have had me long ago. Mark me, my ladand you about him do the

same. There are a score among ye whom I see now and know, who are dead men from this hour. Begone! and

'Stop!' cried the locksmith, in a voice that made them falter presenting, as he spoke, a gun. 'Let an old man

The young fellow who held the light, and who was stooping down before the door, rose hastily at these

words, and fell back. The locksmith ran his eye along the upturned faces, and kept the weapon levelled at the

threshold of his house. It had no other rest than his shoulder, but was as steady as the house itself.

'Let the man who does it, take heed to his prayers,' he said firmly; 'I warn him.'

Snatching a torch from one who stood near him, Hugh was stepping forward with an oath, when he was

arrested by a shrill and piercing shriek, and, looking upward, saw a fluttering garment on the house top.

There was another shriek, and another, and then a shrill voice cried, 'Is Simmun below!' At the same moment

a lean neck was stretched over the parapet, and Miss Miggs, indistinctly seen in the gathering gloom of

evening, screeched in a frenzied manner, 'Oh! dear gentlemen, let me hear Simmuns's answer from his own

Mr Tappertit, who was not at all flattered by this compliment, looked up, and bidding her hold her peace,

ordered her to come down and open the door, for they wanted her master, and would take no denial.

'Hold your nonsense, will you!' retorted Mr Tappertit; 'and come down and open the door.G. Varden, drop

'Don't mind his gun,' screamed Miggs. 'Simmun and gentlemen, I poured a mug of tablebeer right down the

'It wouldn't go off, not if you was to load it up to the muzzle,' screamed Miggs. 'Simmun and gentlemen, I'm

locked up in the front attic, through the little door on the right hand when you think you've got to the very top

of the stairsand up the flight of corner steps, being careful not to knock your heads against the rafters, and

not to tread on one side in case you should fall into the twopair bedroom through the lath and plasture,

which do not bear, but the contrairy. Simmun and gentlemen, I've been locked up here for safety, but my

endeavours has always been, and always will be, to be on the right sidethe blessed side and to prenounce

the Pope of Babylon, and all her inward and her outward workings, which is Pagin. My sentiments is of little

consequences, I know,' cried Miggs, with additional shrillness, 'for my positions is but a servant, and as sich,

of humilities, still I gives expressions to my feelings, and places my reliances on them which entertains my

Without taking much notice of these outpourings of Miss Miggs after she had made her first announcement in

relation to the gun, the crowd raised a ladder against the window where the locksmith stood, and

notwithstanding that he closed, and fastened, and defended it manfully, soon forced an entrance by shivering

the glass and breaking in the frames. After dealing a few stout blows about him, he found himself

defenceless, in the midst of a furious crowd, which overflowed the room and softened off in a confused heap

They were very wrathful with him (for he had wounded two men), and even called out to those in front, to

bring him forth and hang him on a lamppost. But Gabriel was quite undaunted, and looked from Hugh and

'You have robbed me of my daughter,' said the locksmith, 'who is far dearer to me than my life; and you may

take my life, if you will. I bless God that I have been enabled to keep my wife free of this scene; and that He

'And a wery game old gentleman you are,' said Mr Dennis, approvingly; 'and you express yourself like a man.

What's the odds, brother, whether it's a lamppost tonight, or a feather bed ten year to come, eh?'

'For my part,' said the hangman, who particularly favoured the lamppost suggestion, 'I honour your

principles. They're mine exactly. In such sentiments as them,' and here he emphasised his discourse with an

oath, 'I'm ready to meet you or any man halfway. Have you got a bit of cord anywheres handy? Don't put

'Don't be a fool, master,' whispered Hugh, seizing Varden roughly by the shoulder; 'but do as you're bid.

'I'll do nothing at your request, or that of any scoundrel here,' returned the locksmith. 'If you want any service

from me, you may spare yourselves the pains of telling me what it is. I tell you, beforehand, I'll do nothing

Mr Dennis was so affected by this constancy on the part of the staunch old man, that he protestedalmost

with tears in his eyes that to baulk his inclinations would be an act of cruelty and hard dealing to which he,

for one, never could reconcile his conscience. The gentleman, he said, had avowed in so many words that he

was ready for working off; such being the case, he considered it their duty, as a civilised and enlightened

crowd, to work him off. It was not often, he observed, that they had it in their power to accommodate

themselves to the wishes of those from whom they had the misfortune to differ. Having now found an

individual who expressed a desire which they could reasonably indulge (and for himself he was free to

confess that in his opinion that desire did honour to his feelings), he hoped they would decide to accede to his

proposition before going any further. It was an experiment which, skilfully and dexterously performed, would

be over in five minutes, with great comfort and satisfaction to all parties; and though it did not become him

(Mr Dennis) to speak well of himself he trusted he might be allowed to say that he had practical knowledge

of the subject, and, being naturally of an obliging and friendly disposition, would work the gentleman off

These remarks, which were addressed in the midst of a frightful din and turmoil to those immediately about

him, were received with great favour; not so much, perhaps, because of the hangman's eloquence, as on

account of the locksmith's obstinacy. Gabriel was in imminent peril, and he knew it; but he preserved a steady

silence; and would have done so, if they had been debating whether they should roast him at a slow fire.

As the hangman spoke, there was some stir and confusion on the ladder; and directly he was silentso

immediately upon his holding his peace, that the crowd below had no time to learn what he had been saying,

The locksmith turned, with a start, towards the place from which the words had come, and looked hurriedly at

'Pay no respect to my grey hair, young man,' he said, answering the voice and not any one he saw. 'I don't ask

it. My heart is green enough to scorn and despise every man among you, band of robbers that you are!'

This incautious speech by no means tended to appease the ferocity of the crowd. They cried again to have

him brought out; and it would have gone hard with the honest locksmith, but that Hugh reminded them, in

'So, tell him what we want,' he said to Simon Tappertit, 'and quickly. And open your ears, master, if you

Gabriel folded his arms, which were now at liberty, and eyed his old 'prentice in silence.

'I know you are,' returned the locksmith. 'You never said a truer word than that.'

'To burn it down, I mean,' said Simon, 'and force the gates, and set the prisoners at liberty. You helped to

'I did,' said the locksmith. 'You owe me no thanks for thatas you'll find before long.'

'Yes; for you know, and I don't. You must come along with us, and pick it with your own hands.'

'When I do,' said the locksmith quietly, 'my hands shall drop off at the wrists, and you shall wear them,

'We'll see that,' cried Hugh, interposing, as the indignation of the crowd again burst forth. 'You fill a basket

with the tools he'll want, while I bring him downstairs. Open the doors below, some of you. And light the

great captain, others! Is there no business afoot, my lads, that you can do nothing but stand and grumble?'

They looked at one another, and quickly dispersing, swarmed over the house, plundering and breaking,

according to their custom, and carrying off such articles of value as happened to please their fancy. They had

no great length of time for these proceedings, for the basket of tools was soon prepared and slung over a

man's shoulders. The preparations being now completed, and everything ready for the attack, those who were

pillaging and destroying in the other rooms were called down to the workshop. They were about to issue

forth, when the man who had been last upstairs, stepped forward, and asked if the young woman in the garret

(who was making a terrible noise, he said, and kept on screaming without the least cessation) was to be

For his own part, Simon Tappertit would certainly have replied in the negative, but the mass of his

companions, mindful of the good service she had done in the matter of the gun, being of a different opinion,

he had nothing for it but to answer, Yes. The man, accordingly, went back again to the rescue, and presently

As the young lady had given no tokens of consciousness on their way downstairs, the bearer reported her

either dead or dying; and being at some loss what to do with her, was looking round for a convenient bench

or heap of ashes on which to place her senseless form, when she suddenly came upon her feet by some

mysterious means, thrust back her hair, stared wildly at Mr Tappertit, cried, 'My Simmuns's life is not a

wictim!' and dropped into his arms with such promptitude that he staggered and reeled some paces back,

'Oh bother!' said Mr Tappertit. 'Here. Catch hold of her, somebody. Lock her up again; she never ought to

'My Simmun!' cried Miss Miggs, in tears, and faintly. 'My for ever, ever blessed Simmun!'

'Hold up, will you,' said Mr Tappertit, in a very unresponsive tone, 'I'll let you fall if you don't. What are you

'Promised! Well, and I'll keep my promise,' answered Simon, testily. 'I mean to provide for you, don't I?

'Where am I to go? What is to become of me after my actions of this night!' cried Miggs. 'What

'I wish you was in the silent tombses, I do,' cried Mr Tappertit, 'and boxed up tight, in a good strong one.

Here,' he cried to one of the bystanders, in whose ear he whispered for a moment: 'Take her off, will you.

The fellow nodded; and taking her in his arms, notwithstanding her broken protestations, and her struggles

(which latter species of opposition, involving scratches, was much more difficult of resistance), carried her

away. They who were in the house poured out into the street; the locksmith was taken to the head of the

crowd, and required to walk between his two conductors; the whole body was put in rapid motion; and

without any shouts or noise they bore down straight on Newgate, and halted in a dense mass before the

Breaking the silence they had hitherto preserved, they raised a great cry as soon as they were ranged before

the jail, and demanded to speak to the governor. This visit was not wholly unexpected, for his house, which

fronted the street, was strongly barricaded, the wicketgate of the prison was closed up, and at no loophole or

grating was any person to be seen. Before they had repeated their summons many times, a man appeared

Some said one thing, some another, and some only groaned and hissed. It being now nearly dark, and the

house high, many persons in the throng were not aware that any one had come to answer them, and continued

their clamour until the intelligence was gradually diffused through the whole concourse. Ten minutes or more

elapsed before any one voice could be heard with tolerable distinctness; during which interval the figure

remained perched alone, against the summerevening sky, looking down into the troubled street.

'Of course he is, brother,' whispered Dennis. But Hugh, without minding him, took his answer from the man

'I have a good many people in my custody.' He glanced downward, as he spoke, into the jail: and the feeling

that he could see into the different yards, and that he overlooked everything which was hidden from their

view by the rugged walls, so lashed and goaded the mob, that they howled like wolves.

'If you don't throw the doors open, we shall break 'em down,' said Hugh; 'for we will have the rioters out.'

'All I can do, good people,' Akerman replied, 'is to exhort you to disperse; and to remind you that the

consequences of any disturbance in this place, will be very severe, and bitterly repented by most of you, when

He made as though he would retire when he said these words, but he was checked by the voice of the

'I will hear no more from any of you,' replied the governor, turning towards the speaker, and waving his hand.

'But I am not one of them,' said Gabriel. 'I am an honest man, Mr Akerman; a respectable

'Brought here by forcebrought here to pick the lock of the great door for them,' rejoined the locksmith.

'Bear witness for me, Mr Akerman, that I refuse to do it; and that I will not do it, come what may of my

'None, Mr Akerman. You'll do your duty, and I'll do mine. Once again, you robbers and cutthroats,' said the

locksmith, turning round upon them, 'I refuse. Ah! Howl till you're hoarse. I refuse.'

'Staystay!' said the jailer, hastily. 'Mr Varden, I know you for a worthy man, and one who would do no

'Upon compulsion, sir,' interposed the locksmith, who felt that the tone in which this was said, conveyed the

speaker's impression that he had ample excuse for yielding to the furious multitude who beset and hemmed

him in, on every side, and among whom he stood, an old man, quite alone; 'upon compulsion, sir, I'll do

'Do you know what the guilt of murder is, and that by keeping that honest tradesman at your side you

'We know it very well,' he answered, 'for what else did we bring him here? Let's have our friends, master, and

'You see how it is, sir?' cried Varden. 'Keep 'em out, in King George's name. Remember what I have said.

There was no more parley. A shower of stones and other missiles compelled the keeper of the jail to retire;

and the mob, pressing on, and swarming round the walls, forced Gabriel Varden close up to the door.

In vain the basket of tools was laid upon the ground before him, and he was urged in turn by promises, by

blows, by offers of reward, and threats of instant death, to do the office for which they had brought him there.

He had never loved his life so well as then, but nothing could move him. The savage faces that glared upon

him, look where he would; the cries of those who thirsted, like wild animals, for his blood; the sight of men

pressing forward, and trampling down their fellows, as they strove to reach him, and struck at him above the

heads of other men, with axes and with iron bars; all failed to daunt him. He looked from man to man, and

face to face, and still, with quickened breath and lessening colour, cried firmly, 'I will not!'

Dennis dealt him a blow upon the face which felled him to the ground. He sprung up again like a man in the

They struggled together. Some cried 'Kill him,' and some (but they were not near enough) strove to trample

him to death. Tug as he would at the old man's wrists, the hangman could not force him to unclench his

'Is this all the return you make me, you ungrateful monster?' he articulated with great difficulty, and with

'Give me my daughter!' cried the locksmith, who was now as fierce as those who gathered round him: 'Give

He was down again, and up, and down once more, and buffeting with a score of them, who bandied him from

hand to hand, when one tall fellow, fresh from a slaughterhouse, whose dress and great thigh boots smoked

hot with grease and blood, raised a poleaxe, and swearing a horrible oath, aimed it at the old man's

uncovered head. At that instant, and in the very act, he fell himself, as if struck by lightning, and over his

body a onearmed man came darting to the locksmith's side. Another man was with him, and both caught the

'Leave him to us!' they cried to Hughstruggling, as they spoke, to force a passage backward through the

crowd. 'Leave him to us. Why do you waste your whole strength on such as he, when a couple of men can

finish him in as many minutes! You lose time. Remember the prisoners! remember Barnaby!'

The cry ran through the mob. Hammers began to rattle on the walls; and every man strove to reach the prison,

and be among the foremost rank. Fighting their way through the press and struggle, as desperately as if they

were in the midst of enemies rather than their own friends, the two men retreated with the locksmith between

And now the strokes began to fall like hail upon the gate, and on the strong building; for those who could not

reach the door, spent their fierce rage on anythingeven on the great blocks of stone, which shivered their

weapons into fragments, and made their hands and arms to tingle as if the walls were active in their stout

resistance, and dealt them back their blows. The clash of iron ringing upon iron, mingled with the deafening

tumult and sounded high above it, as the great sledgehammers rattled on the nailed and plated door: the

sparks flew off in showers; men worked in gangs, and at short intervals relieved each other, that all their

strength might be devoted to the work; but there stood the portal still, as grim and dark and strong as ever,

While some brought all their energies to bear upon this toilsome task; and some, rearing ladders against the

prison, tried to clamber to the summit of the walls they were too short to scale; and some again engaged a

body of police a hundred strong, and beat them back and trod them under foot by force of numbers; others

besieged the house on which the jailer had appeared, and driving in the door, brought out his furniture, and

piled it up against the prisongate, to make a bonfire which should burn it down. As soon as this device was

understood, all those who had laboured hitherto, cast down their tools and helped to swell the heap; which

reached halfway across the street, and was so high, that those who threw more fuel on the top, got up by

ladders. When all the keeper's goods were flung upon this costly pile, to the last fragment, they smeared it

with the pitch, and tar, and rosin they had brought, and sprinkled it with turpentine. To all the woodwork

round the prisondoors they did the like, leaving not a joist or beam untouched. This infernal christening

performed, they fired the pile with lighted matches and with blazing tow, and then stood by, awaiting the

The furniture being very dry, and rendered more combustible by wax and oil, besides the arts they had used,

took fire at once. The flames roared high and fiercely, blackening the prisonwall, and twining up its loftly

front like burning serpents. At first they crowded round the blaze, and vented their exultation only in their

looks: but when it grew hotter and fiercerwhen it crackled, leaped, and roared, like a great furnacewhen

it shone upon the opposite houses, and lighted up not only the pale and wondering faces at the windows, but

the inmost corners of each habitation when through the deep red heat and glow, the fire was seen sporting

and toying with the door, now clinging to its obdurate surface, now gliding off with fierce inconstancy and

soaring high into the sky, anon returning to fold it in its burning grasp and lure it to its ruinwhen it shone

and gleamed so brightly that the church clock of St Sepulchre's so often pointing to the hour of death, was

legible as in broad day, and the vane upon its steepletop glittered in the unwonted light like something

richly jewelled when blackened stone and sombre brick grew ruddy in the deep reflection, and windows

shone like burnished gold, dotting the longest distance in the fiery vista with their specks of

brightnesswhen wall and tower, and roof and chimneystack, seemed drunk, and in the flickering glare

appeared to reel and stagger when scores of objects, never seen before, burst out upon the view, and things

the most familiar put on some new aspectthen the mob began to join the whirl, and with loud yells, and

shouts, and clamour, such as happily is seldom heard, bestirred themselves to feed the fire, and keep it at its

Although the heat was so intense that the paint on the houses over against the prison, parched and crackled

up, and swelling into boils, as it were from excess of torture, broke and crumbled away; although the glass

fell from the windowsashes, and the lead and iron on the roofs blistered the incautious hand that touched

them, and the sparrows in the eaves took wing, and rendered giddy by the smoke, fell fluttering down upon

the blazing pile; still the fire was tended unceasingly by busy hands, and round it, men were going always.

They never slackened in their zeal, or kept aloof, but pressed upon the flames so hard, that those in front had

much ado to save themselves from being thrust in; if one man swooned or dropped, a dozen struggled for his

place, and that although they knew the pain, and thirst, and pressure to be unendurable. Those who fell down

in faintingfits, and were not crushed or burnt, were carried to an innyard close at hand, and dashed with

water from a pump; of which buckets full were passed from man to man among the crowd; but such was the

strong desire of all to drink, and such the fighting to be first, that, for the most part, the whole contents were

Meanwhile, and in the midst of all the roar and outcry, those who were nearest to the pile, heaped up again

the burning fragments that came toppling down, and raked the fire about the door, which, although a sheet of

flame, was still a door fast locked and barred, and kept them out. Great pieces of blazing wood were passed,

besides, above the people's heads to such as stood about the ladders, and some of these, climbing up to the

topmost stave, and holding on with one hand by the prison wall, exerted all their skill and force to cast these

firebrands on the roof, or down into the yards within. In many instances their efforts were successful; which

occasioned a new and appalling addition to the horrors of the scene: for the prisoners within, seeing from

between their bars that the fire caught in many places and thrived fiercely, and being all locked up in strong

cells for the night, began to know that they were in danger of being burnt alive. This terrible fear, spreading

from cell to cell and from yard to yard, vented itself in such dismal cries and wailings, and in such dreadful

shrieks for help, that the whole jail resounded with the noise; which was loudly heard even above the

shouting of the mob and roaring of the flames, and was so full of agony and despair, that it made the boldest

It was remarkable that these cries began in that quarter of the jail which fronted Newgate Street, where, it was

well known, the men who were to suffer death on Thursday were confined. And not only were these four who

had so short a time to live, the first to whom the dread of being burnt occurred, but they were, throughout, the

most importunate of all: for they could be plainly heard, notwithstanding the great thickness of the walls,

crying that the wind set that way, and that the flames would shortly reach them; and calling to the officers of

the jail to come and quench the fire from a cistern which was in their yard, and full of water. Judging from

what the crowd outside the walls could hear from time to time, these four doomed wretches never ceased to

call for help; and that with as much distraction, and in as great a frenzy of attachment to existence, as though

each had an honoured, happy life before him, instead of eightandforty hours of miserable imprisonment,

But the anguish and suffering of the two sons of one of these men, when they heard, or fancied that they

heard, their father's voice, is past description. After wringing their hands and rushing to and fro as if they

were stark mad, one mounted on the shoulders of his brother, and tried to clamber up the face of the high

wall, guarded at the top with spikes and points of iron. And when he fell among the crowd, he was not

deterred by his bruises, but mounted up again, and fell again, and, when he found the feat impossible, began

to beat the stones and tear them with his hands, as if he could that way make a breach in the strong building,

and force a passage in. At last, they cleft their way among the mob about the door, though many men, a dozen

times their match, had tried in vain to do so, and were seen, inyes, inthe fire, striving to prize it down,

Nor were they alone affected by the outcry from within the prison. The women who were looking on,

shrieked loudly, beat their hands together, stopped their ears; and many fainted: the men who were not near

the walls and active in the siege, rather than do nothing, tore up the pavement of the street, and did so with a

haste and fury they could not have surpassed if that had been the jail, and they were near their object. Not one

living creature in the throng was for an instant still. The whole great mass were mad.

A shout! Another! Another yet, though few knew why, or what it meant. But those around the gate had seen it

slowly yield, and drop from its topmost hinge. It hung on that side by but one, but it was upright still, because

of the bar, and its having sunk, of its own weight, into the heap of ashes at its foot. There was now a gap at

the top of the doorway, through which could be descried a gloomy passage, cavernous and dark. Pile up the

It burnt fiercely. The door was redhot, and the gap wider. They vainly tried to shield their faces with their

hands, and standing as if in readiness for a spring, watched the place. Dark figures, some crawling on their

hands and knees, some carried in the arms of others, were seen to pass along the roof. It was plain the jail

could hold out no longer. The keeper, and his officers, and their wives and children, were escaping. Pile up

The door sank down again: it settled deeper in the cinders totteredyieldedwas down!

As they shouted again, they fell back, for a moment, and left a clear space about the fire that lay between

them and the jail entry. Hugh leapt upon the blazing heap, and scattering a train of sparks into the air, and

making the dark lobby glitter with those that hung upon his dress, dashed into the jail.

The hangman followed. And then so many rushed upon their track, that the fire got trodden down and thinly

strewn about the street; but there was no need of it now, for, inside and out, the prison was in flames.

During the whole course of the terrible scene which was now at its height, one man in the jail suffered a

degree of fear and mental torment which had no parallel in the endurance, even of those who lay under

When the rioters first assembled before the building, the murderer was roused from sleepif such slumbers

as his may have that blessed nameby the roar of voices, and the struggling of a great crowd. He started up

After a short interval of silence the noise burst out again. Still listening attentively, he made out, in course of

time, that the jail was besieged by a furious multitude. His guilty conscience instantly arrayed these men

against himself, and brought the fear upon him that he would be singled out, and torn to pieces.

Once impressed with the terror of this conceit, everything tended to confirm and strengthen it. His double

crime, the circumstances under which it had been committed, the length of time that had elapsed, and its

discovery in spite of all, made him, as it were, the visible object of the Almighty's wrath. In all the crime and

vice and moral gloom of the great pesthouse of the capital, he stood alone, marked and singled out by his

great guilt, a Lucifer among the devils. The other prisoners were a host, hiding and sheltering each othera

crowd like that without the walls. He was one man against the whole united concourse; a single, solitary,

lonely man, from whom the very captives in the jail fell off and shrunk appalled.

It might be that the intelligence of his capture having been bruited abroad, they had come there purposely to

drag him out and kill him in the street; or it might be that they were the rioters, and, in pursuance of an old

design, had come to sack the prison. But in either case he had no belief or hope that they would spare him.

Every shout they raised, and every sound they made, was a blow upon his heart. As the attack went on, he

grew more wild and frantic in his terror: tried to pull away the bars that guarded the chimney and prevented

him from climbing up: called loudly on the turnkeys to cluster round the cell and save him from the fury of

the rabble; or put him in some dungeon underground, no matter of what depth, how dark it was, or loathsome,

or beset with rats and creeping things, so that it hid him and was hard to find.

But no one came, or answered him. Fearful, even while he cried to them, of attracting attention, he was silent.

By and bye, he saw, as he looked from his grated window, a strange glimmering on the stone walls and

pavement of the yard. It was feeble at first, and came and went, as though some officers with torches were

passing to and fro upon the roof of the prison. Soon it reddened, and lighted brands came whirling down,

spattering the ground with fire, and burning sullenly in corners. One rolled beneath a wooden bench, and set

it in a blaze; another caught a waterspout, and so went climbing up the wall, leaving a long straight track of

fire behind it. After a time, a slow thick shower of burning fragments, from some upper portion of the prison

which was blazing nigh, began to fall before his door. Remembering that it opened outwards, he knew that

every spark which fell upon the heap, and in the act lost its bright life, and died an ugly speck of dust and

rubbish, helped to entomb him in a living grave. Still, though the jail resounded with shrieks and cries for

help,though the fire bounded up as if each separate flame had had a tiger's life, and roared as though, in

every one, there were a hungry voicethough the heat began to grow intense, and the air suffocating, and

the clamour without increased, and the danger of his situation even from one merciless element was every

moment more extreme,still he was afraid to raise his voice again, lest the crowd should break in, and

should, of their own ears or from the information given them by the other prisoners, get the clue to his place

of confinement. Thus fearful alike, of those within the prison and of those without; of noise and silence; light

and darkness; of being released, and being left there to die; he was so tortured and tormented, that nothing

man has ever done to man in the horrible caprice of power and cruelty, exceeds his selfinflicted punishment.

Now, now, the door was down. Now they came rushing through the jail, calling to each other in the vaulted

passages; clashing the iron gates dividing yard from yard; beating at the doors of cells and wards; wrenching

off bolts and locks and bars; tearing down the doorposts to get men out; endeavouring to drag them by main

force through gaps and windows where a child could scarcely pass; whooping and yelling without a moment's

rest; and running through the heat and flames as if they were cased in metal. By their legs, their arms, the hair

upon their heads, they dragged the prisoners out. Some threw themselves upon the captives as they got

towards the door, and tried to file away their irons; some danced about them with a frenzied joy, and rent

their clothes, and were ready, as it seemed, to tear them limb from limb. Now a party of a dozen men came

darting through the yard into which the murderer cast fearful glances from his darkened window; dragging a

prisoner along the ground whose dress they had nearly torn from his body in their mad eagerness to set him

free, and who was bleeding and senseless in their hands. Now a score of prisoners ran to and fro, who had

lost themselves in the intricacies of the prison, and were so bewildered with the noise and glare that they

knew not where to turn or what to do, and still cried out for help, as loudly as before. Anon some famished

wretch whose theft had been a loaf of bread, or scrap of butcher's meat, came skulking past, barefooted

going slowly away because that jail, his house, was burning; not because he had any other, or had friends to

meet, or old haunts to revisit, or any liberty to gain, but liberty to starve and die. And then a knot of

highwaymen went trooping by, conducted by the friends they had among the crowd, who muffled their fetters

as they went along, with handkerchiefs and bands of hay, and wrapped them in coats and cloaks, and gave

them drink from bottles, and held it to their lips, because of their handcuffs which there was no time to

remove. All this, and Heaven knows how much more, was done amidst a noise, a hurry, and distraction, like

nothing that we know of, even in our dreams; which seemed for ever on the rise, and never to decrease for the

He was still looking down from his window upon these things, when a band of men with torches, ladders,

axes, and many kinds of weapons, poured into the yard, and hammering at his door, inquired if there were

any prisoner within. He left the window when he saw them coming, and drew back into the remotest corner

of the cell; but although he returned them no answer, they had a fancy that some one was inside, for they

presently set ladders against it, and began to tear away the bars at the casement; not only that, indeed, but

As soon as they had made a breach at the window, large enough for the admission of a man's head, one of

them thrust in a torch and looked all round the room. He followed this man's gaze until it rested on himself,

In the general surprise and wonder, they were used to this; without saying anything more, they enlarged the

breach until it was large enough to admit the body of a man, and then came dropping down upon the floor,

one after another, until the cell was full. They caught him up among them, handed him to the window, and

those who stood upon the ladders passed him down upon the pavement of the yard. Then the rest came out,

one after another, and, bidding him fly, and lose no time, or the way would be choked up, hurried away to

It seemed not a minute's work from first to last. He staggered to his feet, incredulous of what had happened,

when the yard was filled again, and a crowd rushed on, hurrying Barnaby among them. In another

minutenot so much: another minute! the same instant, with no lapse or interval between!he and his son

were being passed from hand to hand, through the dense crowd in the street, and were glancing backward at a

From the moment of their first entrance into the prison, the crowd dispersed themselves about it, and

swarmed into every chink and crevice, as if they had a perfect acquaintance with its innermost parts, and bore

in their minds an exact plan of the whole. For this immediate knowledge of the place, they were, no doubt, in

a great degree, indebted to the hangman, who stood in the lobby, directing some to go this way, some that,

and some the other; and who materially assisted in bringing about the wonderful rapidity with which the

But this functionary of the law reserved one important piece of intelligence, and kept it snugly to himself.

When he had issued his instructions relative to every other part of the building, and the mob were dispersed

from end to end, and busy at their work, he took a bundle of keys from a kind of cupboard in the wall, and

going by a kind of passage near the chapel (it joined the governors house, and was then on fire), betook

himself to the condemned cells, which were a series of small, strong, dismal rooms, opening on a low gallery,

guarded, at the end at which he entered, by a strong iron wicket, and at its opposite extremity by two doors

and a thick grate. Having double locked the wicket, and assured himself that the other entrances were well

secured, he sat down on a bench in the gallery, and sucked the head of his stick with the utmost complacency,

It would have been strange enough, a man's enjoying himself in this quiet manner, while the prison was

burning, and such a tumult was cleaving the air, though he had been outside the walls. But here, in the very

heart of the building, and moreover with the prayers and cries of the four men under sentence sounding in his

ears, and their hands, stretched our through the gratings in their cell doors, clasped in frantic entreaty before

his very eyes, it was particularly remarkable. Indeed, Mr Dennis appeared to think it an uncommon

circumstance, and to banter himself upon it; for he thrust his hat on one side as some men do when they are in

a waggish humour, sucked the head of his stick with a higher relish, and smiled as though he would say,

'Dennis, you're a rum dog; you're a queer fellow; you're capital company, Dennis, and quite a character!'

He sat in this way for some minutes, while the four men in the cells, who were certain that somebody had

entered the gallery, but could not see who, gave vent to such piteous entreaties as wretches in their miserable

condition may be supposed to have been inspired with: urging, whoever it was, to set them at liberty, for the

love of Heaven; and protesting, with great fervour, and truly enough, perhaps, for the time, that if they

escaped, they would amend their ways, and would never, never, never again do wrong before God or man,

but would lead penitent and sober lives, and sorrowfully repent the crimes they had committed. The terrible

energy with which they spoke, would have moved any person, no matter how good or just (if any good or just

person could have strayed into that sad place that night), to have set them at liberty: and, while he would have

left any other punishment to its free course, to have saved them from this last dreadful and repulsive penalty;

which never turned a man inclined to evil, and has hardened thousands who were half inclined to good.

Mr Dennis, who had been bred and nurtured in the good old school, and had administered the good old laws

on the good old plan, always once and sometimes twice every six weeks, for a long time, bore these appeals

with a deal of philosophy. Being at last, however, rather disturbed in his pleasant reflection by their

At this they all cried together that they were to be hanged on the next day but one; and again implored his aid.

'Aid! For what!' said Mr Dennis, playfully rapping the knuckles of the hand nearest him.

'Oh, certainly,' said Mr Dennis, winking at the wall in the absence of any friend with whom he could humour

'I tell you what it is,' said the hangman, gravely; 'I'm afraid, my friend, that you're not in that 'ere state of mind

that's suitable to your condition, then; you're not agoing to be released: don't think itWill you leave off

He followed up this reproof by rapping every set of knuckles one after the other, and having done so,

'You've had law,' he said, crossing his legs and elevating his eyebrows: 'laws have been made a' purpose for

you; a wery handsome prison's been made a' purpose for you; a parson's kept a purpose for you; a

constitootional officer's appointed a' purpose for you; carts is maintained a' purpose for youand yet you're

'So well as I can make out,' said Mr Dennis, in a tone of mingled badinage and remonstrance, 'there's not a

man among you. I begin to think I'm on the opposite side, and among the ladies; though for the matter of that,

I've seen a many ladies face it out, in a manner that did honour to the sex.You in number two, don't grind

them teeth of yours. Worse manners,' said the hangman, rapping at the door with his stick, 'I never see in this

After pausing for a moment to hear if anything could be pleaded in justification, Mr Dennis resumed in a sort

'Now look'ee here, you four. I'm come here to take care of you, and see that you an't burnt, instead of the

other thing. It's no use your making any noise, for you won't be found out by them as has broken in, and

you'll only be hoarse when you come to the speeches,which is a pity. What I say in respect to the speeches

always is, "Give it mouth." That's my maxim. Give it mouth. I've heerd,' said the hangman, pulling off his hat

to take his handkerchief from the crown and wipe his face, and then putting it on again a little more on one

side than before, 'I've heerd a eloquence on them boardsyou know what boards I meanand have heerd a

degree of mouth given to them speeches, that they was as clear as a bell, and as good as a play. There's a

pattern! And always, when a thing of this natur's to come off, what I stand up for, is, a proper frame of mind.

Let's have a proper frame of mind, and we can go through with it, creditablepleasant sociable. Whatever

you do (and I address myself in particular, to you in the furthest), never snivel. I'd sooner by half, though I

lose by it, see a man tear his clothes a' purpose to spile 'em before they come to me, than find him snivelling.

While the hangman addressed them to this effect, in the tone and with the air of a pastor in familiar

conversation with his flock, the noise had been in some degree subdued; for the rioters were busy in

conveying the prisoners to the Sessions House, which was beyond the main walls of the prison, though

connected with it, and the crowd were busy too, in passing them from thence along the street. But when he

had got thus far in his discourse, the sound of voices in the yard showed plainly that the mob had returned

and were coming that way; and directly afterwards a violent crashing at the grate below, gave note of their

It was in vain the hangman ran from door to door, and covered the grates, one after another, with his hat, in

futile efforts to stifle the cries of the four men within; it was in vain he dogged their outstretched hands, and

beat them with his stick, or menaced them with new and lingering pains in the execution of his office; the

place resounded with their cries. These, together with the feeling that they were now the last men in the jail,

so worked upon and stimulated the besiegers, that in an incredibly short space of time they forced the strong

grate down below, which was formed of iron rods two inches square, drove in the two other doors, as if they

had been but deal partitions, and stood at the end of the gallery with only a bar or two between them and the

'Halloa!' cried Hugh, who was the first to look into the dusky passage: 'Dennis before us! Well done, old boy.

'Four devils!' cried the hangman. 'Don't you know they're left for death on Thursday? Don't you respect the

'Is this a time for joking?' cried Hugh. 'Do you hear 'em? Pull away these bars that have got fixed between the

'Brother,' said the hangman, in a low voice, as he stooped under pretence of doing what Hugh desired, but

only looked up in his face, 'can't you leave these here four men to me, if I've the whim! You do what you like,

and have what you like of everything for your share,give me my share. I want these four men left alone, I

'You can turn the crowd if you like, you know that well enough, brother,' said the hangman, slowly. 'What!

'You won't let these men alone, and leave 'em to me? You've no respect for nothinghaven't you?' said the

hangman, retreating to the door by which he had entered, and regarding his companion with a scowl. 'You

'No matter where I'm going,' rejoined the hangman, looking in again at the iron wicket, which he had nearly

With that, he shook his likeness at Hugh, and giving him a grin, compared with which his usual smile was

Hugh paused no longer, but goaded alike by the cries of the convicts, and by the impatience of the crowd,

warned the man immediately behind himthe way was only wide enough for one abreastto stand back,

and wielded a sledgehammer with such strength, that after a few blows the iron bent and broke, and gave

It the two sons of one of these men, of whom mention has been made, were furious in their zeal before, they

had now the wrath and vigour of lions. Calling to the man within each cell, to keep as far back as he could,

lest the axes crashing through the door should wound him, a party went to work upon each one, to beat it in

by sheer strength, and force the bolts and staples from their hold. But although these two lads had the weakest

party, and the worst armed, and did not begin until after the others, having stopped to whisper to him through

the grate, that door was the first open, and that man was the first out. As they dragged him into the gallery to

knock off his irons, he fell down among them, a mere heap of chains, and was carried out in that state on

The release of these four wretched creatures, and conveying them, astounded and bewildered, into the streets

so full of lifea spectacle they had never thought to see again, until they emerged from solitude and silence

upon that last journey, when the air should be heavy with the pentup breath of thousands, and the streets and

houses should be built and roofed with human faces, not with bricks and tiles and stoneswas the crowning

horror of the scene. Their pale and haggard looks and hollow eyes; their staggering feet, and hands stretched

out as if to save themselves from falling; their wandering and uncertain air; the way they heaved and gasped

for breath, as though in water, when they were first plunged into the crowd; all marked them for the men. No

need to say 'this one was doomed to die;' for there were the words broadly stamped and branded on his face.

The crowd fell off, as if they had been laid out for burial, and had risen in their shrouds; and many were seen

to shudder, as though they had been actually dead men, when they chanced to touch or brush against their

At the bidding of the mob, the houses were all illuminated that nightlighted up from top to bottom as at a

time of public gaiety and joy. Many years afterwards, old people who lived in their youth near this part of the

city, remembered being in a great glare of light, within doors and without, and as they looked, timid and

frightened children, from the windows, seeing a FACE go by. Though the whole great crowd and all its other

terrors had faded from their recollection, this one object remained; alone, distinct, and well remembered.

Even in the unpractised minds of infants, one of these doomed men darting past, and but an instant seen, was

an image of force enough to dim the whole concourse; to find itself an allabsorbing place, and hold it ever

When this last task had been achieved, the shouts and cries grew fainter; the clank of fetters, which had

resounded on all sides as the prisoners escaped, was heard no more; all the noises of the crowd subsided into

a hoarse and sullen murmur as it passed into the distance; and when the human tide had rolled away, a

melancholy heap of smoking ruins marked the spot where it had lately chafed and roared.

Although he had had no rest upon the previous night, and had watched with little intermission for some

weeks past, sleeping only in the day by starts and snatches, Mr Haredale, from the dawn of morning until

sunset, sought his niece in every place where he deemed it possible she could have taken refuge. All day

long, nothing, save a draught of water, passed his lips; though he prosecuted his inquiries far and wide, and

In every quarter he could think of; at Chigwell and in London; at the houses of the tradespeople with whom

he dealt, and of the friends he knew; he pursued his search. A prey to the most harrowing anxieties and

apprehensions, he went from magistrate to magistrate, and finally to the Secretary of State. The only comfort

he received was from this minister, who assured him that the Government, being now driven to the exercise

of the extreme prerogatives of the Crown, were determined to exert them; that a proclamation would probably

be out upon the morrow, giving to the military, discretionary and unlimited power in the suppression of the

riots; that the sympathies of the King, the Administration, and both Houses of Parliament, and indeed of all

good men of every religious persuasion, were strongly with the injured Catholics; and that justice should be

done them at any cost or hazard. He told him, moreover, that other persons whose houses had been burnt, had

for a time lost sight of their children or their relatives, but had, in every case, within his knowledge,

succeeded in discovering them; that his complaint should be remembered, and fully stated in the instructions

given to the officers in command, and to all the inferior myrmidons of justice; and that everything that could

Grateful for this consolation, feeble as it was in its reference to the past, and little hope as it afforded him in

connection with the subject of distress which lay nearest to his heart; and really thankful for the interest the

minister expressed, and seemed to feel, in his condition; Mr Haredale withdrew. He found himself, with the

night coming on, alone in the streets; and destitute of any place in which to lay his head.

He entered an hotel near Charing Cross, and ordered some refreshment and a bed. He saw that his faint and

worn appearance attracted the attention of the landlord and his waiters; and thinking that they might suppose

him to be penniless, took out his purse, and laid it on the table. It was not that, the landlord said, in a faltering

voice. If he were one of those who had suffered by the rioters, he durst not give him entertainment. He had a

family of children, and had been twice warned to be careful in receiving guests. He heartily prayed his

Nothing. No man felt that more sincerely than Mr Haredale. He told the man as much, and left the house.

Feeling that he might have anticipated this occurrence, after what he had seen at Chigwell in the morning,

where no man dared to touch a spade, though he offered a large reward to all who would come and dig

among the ruins of his house, he walked along the Strand; too proud to expose himself to another refusal, and

of too generous a spirit to involve in distress or ruin any honest tradesman who might be weak enough to give

him shelter. He wandered into one of the streets by the side of the river, and was pacing in a thoughtful

manner up and down, thinking of things that had happened long ago, when he heard a servantman at an

upper window call to another on the opposite side of the street, that the mob were setting fire to Newgate.

To Newgate! where that man was! His failing strength returned, his energies came back with tenfold vigour,

on the instant. If it were possibleif they should set the murderer freewas he, after all he had undergone,

to die with the suspicion of having slain his own brother, dimly gathering about him

He had no consciousness of going to the jail; but there he stood, before it. There was the crowd wedged and

pressed together in a dense, dark, moving mass; and there were the flames soaring up into the air. His head

turned round and round, lights flashed before his eyes, and he struggled hard with two men.

'Nay, nay,' said one. 'Be more yourself, my good sir. We attract attention here. Come away. What can you do

'The gentleman's always for doing something,' said the other, forcing him along as he spoke. 'I like him for

They had by this time got him into a court, hard by the prison. He looked from one to the other, and as he

tried to release himself, felt that he tottered on his feet. He who had spoken first, was the old gentleman

whom he had seen at the Lord Mayor's. The other was John Grueby, who had stood by him so manfully at

'On the skirts of the crowd,' returned the distiller; 'but come with us. Pray come with us. You seem to know

'He'll tell you then,' returned the old gentleman, 'that I am a man to be trusted. He's my servant. He was lately

(as you know, I have no doubt) in Lord George Gordon's service; but he left it, and brought, in pure goodwill

to me and others, who are marked by the rioters, such intelligence as he had picked up, of their designs.'

'On one condition, please, sir,' said John, touching his hat. No evidence against my lorda misled

'The condition will be observed, of course,' rejoined the old distiller. 'It's a point of honour. But come with us,

John Grueby added no entreaties, but he adopted a different kind of persuasion, by putting his arm through

one of Mr Haredale's, while his master took the other, and leading him away with all speed.

Sensible, from a strange lightness in his head, and a difficulty in fixing his thoughts on anything, even to the

extent of bearing his companions in his mind for a minute together without looking at them, that his brain

was affected by the agitation and suffering through which he had passed, and to which he was still a prey, Mr

Haredale let them lead him where they would. As they went along, he was conscious of having no command

The distiller lived, as he had told him when they first met, on Holborn Hill, where he had great storehouses

and drove a large trade. They approached his house by a back entrance, lest they should attract the notice of

the crowd, and went into an upper room which faced towards the street; the windows, however, in common

with those of every other room in the house, were boarded up inside, in order that, out of doors, all might

They laid him on a sofa in this chamber, perfectly insensible; but John immediately fetching a surgeon, who

took from him a large quantity of blood, he gradually came to himself. As he was, for the time, too weak to

walk, they had no difficulty in persuading him to remain there all night, and got him to bed without loss of a

minute. That done, they gave him cordial and some toast, and presently a pretty strong composingdraught,

under the influence of which he soon fell into a lethargy, and, for a time, forgot his troubles.

The vintner, who was a very hearty old fellow and a worthy man, had no thoughts of going to bed himself,

for he had received several threatening warnings from the rioters, and had indeed gone out that evening to try

and gather from the conversation of the mob whether his house was to be the next attacked. He sat all night in

an easychair in the same roomdozing a little now and thenand received from time to time the reports

of John Grueby and two or three other trustworthy persons in his employ, who went out into the streets as

scouts; and for whose entertainment an ample allowance of good cheer (which the old vintner, despite his

These accounts were of a sufficiently alarming nature from the first; but as the night wore on, they grew so

much worse, and involved such a fearful amount of riot and destruction, that in comparison with these new

The first intelligence that came, was of the taking of Newgate, and the escape of all the prisoners, whose

track, as they made up Holborn and into the adjacent streets, was proclaimed to those citizens who were shut

up in their houses, by the rattling of their chains, which formed a dismal concert, and was heard in every

direction, as though so many forges were at work. The flames too, shone so brightly through the vintner's

skylights, that the rooms and staircases below were nearly as light as in broad day; while the distant shouting

At length they were heard approaching the house, and some minutes of terrible anxiety ensued. They came

close up, and stopped before it; but after giving three loud yells, went on. And although they returned several

times that night, creating new alarms each time, they did nothing there; having their hands full. Shortly after

they had gone away for the first time, one of the scouts came running in with the news that they had stopped

Soon afterwards there came another, and another, and then the first returned again, and so, by little and little,

their tale was this: That the mob gathering round Lord Mansfield's house, had called on those within to

open the door, and receiving no reply (for Lord and Lady Mansfield were at that moment escaping by the

backway), forced an entrance according to their usual custom. That they then began to demolish the house

with great fury, and setting fire to it in several parts, involved in a common ruin the whole of the costly

furniture, the plate and jewels, a beautiful gallery of pictures, the rarest collection of manuscripts ever

possessed by any one private person in the world, and worse than all, because nothing could replace this loss,

the great Law Library, on almost every page of which were notes in the Judge's own hand, of inestimable

value,being the results of the study and experience of his whole life. That while they were howling and

exulting round the fire, a troop of soldiers, with a magistrate among them, came up, and being too late (for

the mischief was by that time done), began to disperse the crowd. That the Riot Act being read, and the crowd

still resisting, the soldiers received orders to fire, and levelling their muskets shot dead at the first discharge

six men and a woman, and wounded many persons; and loading again directly, fired another volley, but over

the people's heads it was supposed, as none were seen to fall. That thereupon, and daunted by the shrieks and

tumult, the crowd began to disperse, and the soldiers went away, leaving the killed and wounded on the

ground: which they had no sooner done than the rioters came back again, and taking up the dead bodies, and

the wounded people, formed into a rude procession, having the bodies in the front. That in this order they

paraded off with a horrible merriment; fixing weapons in the dead men's hands to make them look as if alive;

and preceded by a fellow ringing Lord Mansfield's dinnerbell with all his might.

The scouts reported further, that this party meeting with some others who had been at similar work elsewhere,

they all united into one, and drafting off a few men with the killed and wounded, marched away to Lord

Mansfield's country seat at Caen Wood, between Hampstead and Highgate; bent upon destroying that house

likewise, and lighting up a great fire there, which from that height should be seen all over London. But in

this, they were disappointed, for a party of horse having arrived before them, they retreated faster than they

There being now a great many parties in the streets, each went to work according to its humour, and a dozen

houses were quickly blazing, including those of Sir John Fielding and two other justices, and four in

Holbornone of the greatest thoroughfares in Londonwhich were all burning at the same time, and

burned until they went out of themselves, for the people cut the engine hose, and would not suffer the firemen

to play upon the flames. At one house near Moorfields, they found in one of the rooms some canary birds in

cages, and these they cast into the fire alive. The poor little creatures screamed, it was said, like infants, when

they were flung upon the blaze; and one man was so touched that he tried in vain to save them, which roused

At this same house, one of the fellows who went through the rooms, breaking the furniture and helping to

destroy the building, found a child's dolla poor toywhich he exhibited at the window to the mob below,

as the image of some unholy saint which the late occupants had worshipped. While he was doing this, another

man with an equally tender conscience (they had both been foremost in throwing down the canary birds for

roasting alive), took his seat on the parapet of the house, and harangued the crowd from a pamphlet circulated

by the Association, relative to the true principles of Christianity! Meanwhile the Lord Mayor, with his hands

in his pockets, looked on as an idle man might look at any other show, and seemed mightily satisfied to have

Such were the accounts brought to the old vintner by his servants as he sat at the side of Mr Haredale's bed,

having been unable even to doze, after the first part of the night; too much disturbed by his own fears; by the

cries of the mob, the light of the fires, and the firing of the soldiers. Such, with the addition of the release of

all the prisoners in the New Jail at Clerkenwell, and as many robberies of passengers in the streets, as the

crowd had leisure to indulge in, were the scenes of which Mr Haredale was happily unconscious, and which

When darkness broke away and morning began to dawn, the town wore a strange aspect indeed.

Sleep had hardly been thought of all night. The general alarm was so apparent in the faces of the inhabitants,

and its expression was so aggravated by want of rest (few persons, with any property to lose, having dared go

to bed since Monday), that a stranger coming into the streets would have supposed some mortal pest or

plague to have been raging. In place of the usual cheerfulness and animation of morning, everything was dead

and silent. The shops remained closed, offices and warehouses were shut, the coach and chair stands were

deserted, no carts or waggons rumbled through the slowly waking streets, the early cries were all hushed; a

universal gloom prevailed. Great numbers of people were out, even at daybreak, but they flitted to and fro as

though they shrank from the sound of their own footsteps; the public ways were haunted rather than

frequented; and round the smoking ruins people stood apart from one another and in silence, not venturing to

At the Lord President's in Piccadilly, at Lambeth Palace, at the Lord Chancellor's in Great Ormond Street, in

the Royal Exchange, the Bank, the Guildhall, the Inns of Court, the Courts of Law, and every chamber

fronting the streets near Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament, parties of soldiers were posted

before daylight. A body of Horse Guards paraded Palace Yard; an encampment was formed in the Park,

where fifteen hundred men and five battalions of Militia were under arms; the Tower was fortified, the

drawbridges were raised, the cannon loaded and pointed, and two regiments of artillery busied in

strengthening the fortress and preparing it for defence. A numerous detachment of soldiers were stationed to

keep guard at the New River Head, which the people had threatened to attack, and where, it was said, they

meant to cut off the mainpipes, so that there might be no water for the extinction of the flames. In the

Poultry, and on Cornhill, and at several other leading points, iron chains were drawn across the street; parties

of soldiers were distributed in some of the old city churches while it was yet dark; and in several private

houses (among them, Lord Rockingham's in Grosvenor Square); which were blockaded as though to sustain a

siege, and had guns pointed from the windows. When the sun rose, it shone into handsome apartments filled

with armed men; the furniture hastily heaped away in corners, and made of little or no account, in the terror

of the timeon arms glittering in city chambers, among desks and stools, and dusty booksinto little

smoky churchyards in odd lanes and by ways, with soldiers lying down among the tombs, or lounging under

the shade of the one old tree, and their pile of muskets sparkling in the lighton solitary sentries pacing up

and down in courtyards, silent now, but yesterday resounding with the din and hum of businesseverywhere

As the day crept on, still more unusual sights were witnessed in the streets. The gates of the King's Bench and

Fleet Prisons being opened at the usual hour, were found to have notices affixed to them, announcing that the

rioters would come that night to burn them down. The wardens, too well knowing the likelihood there was of

this promise being fulfilled, were fain to set their prisoners at liberty, and give them leave to move their

goods; so, all day, such of them as had any furniture were occupied in conveying it, some to this place, some

to that, and not a few to the brokers' shops, where they gladly sold it, for any wretched price those gentry

chose to give. There were some broken men among these debtors who had been in jail so long, and were so

miserable and destitute of friends, so dead to the world, and utterly forgotten and uncared for, that they

implored their jailers not to set them free, and to send them, if need were, to some other place of custody. But

they, refusing to comply, lest they should incur the anger of the mob, turned them into the streets, where they

wandered up and down hardly remembering the ways untrodden by their feet so long, and cryingsuch

abject things those rottenhearted jails had made themas they slunk off in their rags, and dragged their

Even of the three hundred prisoners who had escaped from Newgate, there were somea few, but there were

somewho sought their jailers out and delivered themselves up: preferring imprisonment and punishment to

the horrors of such another night as the last. Many of the convicts, drawn back to their old place of captivity

by some indescribable attraction, or by a desire to exult over it in its downfall and glut their revenge by

seeing it in ashes, actually went back in broad noon, and loitered about the cells. Fifty were retaken at one

time on this next day, within the prison walls; but their fate did not deter others, for there they went in spite of

everything, and there they were taken in twos and threes, twice or thrice a day, all through the week. Of the

fifty just mentioned, some were occupied in endeavouring to rekindle the fire; but in general they seemed to

have no object in view but to prowl and lounge about the old place: being often found asleep in the ruins, or

Besides the notices on the gates of the Fleet and the King's Bench, many similar announcements were left,

before one o'clock at noon, at the houses of private individuals; and further, the mob proclaimed their

intention of seizing on the Bank, the Mint, the Arsenal at Woolwich, and the Royal Palaces. The notices were

seldom delivered by more than one man, who, if it were at a shop, went in, and laid it, with a bloody threat

perhaps, upon the counter; or if it were at a private house, knocked at the door, and thrust it in the servant's

hand. Notwithstanding the presence of the military in every quarter of the town, and the great force in the

Park, these messengers did their errands with impunity all through the day. So did two boys who went down

Holborn alone, armed with bars taken from the railings of Lord Mansfield's house, and demanded money for

the rioters. So did a tall man on horseback who made a collection for the same purpose in Fleet Street, and

A rumour had now got into circulation, too, which diffused a greater dread all through London, even than

these publicly announced intentions of the rioters, though all men knew that if they were successfully

effected, there must ensue a national bankruptcy and general ruin. It was said that they meant to throw the

gates of Bedlam open, and let all the madmen loose. This suggested such dreadful images to the people's

minds, and was indeed an act so fraught with new and unimaginable horrors in the contemplation, that it

beset them more than any loss or cruelty of which they could foresee the worst, and drove many sane men

So the day passed on: the prisoners moving their goods; people running to and fro in the streets, carrying

away their property; groups standing in silence round the ruins; all business suspended; and the soldiers

disposed as has been already mentioned, remaining quite inactive. So the day passed on, and dreaded night

At last, at seven o'clock in the evening, the Privy Council issued a solemn proclamation that it was now

necessary to employ the military, and that the officers had most direct and effectual orders, by an immediate

exertion of their utmost force, to repress the disturbances; and warning all good subjects of the King to keep

themselves, their servants, and apprentices, within doors that night. There was then delivered out to every

soldier on duty, thirtysix rounds of powder and ball; the drums beat; and the whole force was under arms at

The City authorities, stimulated by these vigorous measures, held a Common Council; passed a vote thanking

the military associations who had tendered their aid to the civil authorities; accepted it; and placed them

under the direction of the two sheriffs. At the Queen's palace, a double guard, the yeomen on duty, the

groom porters, and all other attendants, were stationed in the passages and on the staircases at seven o'clock,

with strict instructions to be watchful on their posts all night; and all the doors were locked. The gentlemen of

the Temple, and the other Inns, mounted guard within their gates, and strengthened them with the great stones

of the pavement, which they took up for the purpose. In Lincoln's Inn, they gave up the hall and commons to

the Northumberland Militia, under the command of Lord Algernon Percy; in some few of the city wards, the

burgesses turned out, and without making a very fierce show, looked brave enough. Some hundreds of stout

gentlemen threw themselves, armed to the teeth, into the halls of the different companies, doublelocked and

bolted all the gates, and dared the rioters (among themselves) to come on at their peril. These arrangements

being all made simultaneously, or nearly so, were completed by the time it got dark; and then the streets were

comparatively clear, and were guarded at all the great corners and chief avenues by the troops: while parties

of the officers rode up and down in all directions, ordering chance stragglers home, and admonishing the

residents to keep within their houses, and, if any firing ensued, not to approach the windows. More chains

were drawn across such of the thoroughfares as were of a nature to favour the approach of a great crowd, and

at each of these points a considerable force was stationed. All these precautions having been taken, and it

being now quite dark, those in command awaited the result in some anxiety: and not without a hope that such

vigilant demonstrations might of themselves dishearten the populace, and prevent any new outrages.

But in this reckoning they were cruelly mistaken, for in half an hour, or less, as though the setting in of night

had been their preconcerted signal, the rioters having previously, in small parties, prevented the lighting of

the street lamps, rose like a great sea; and that in so many places at once, and with such inconceivable fury,

that those who had the direction of the troops knew not, at first, where to turn or what to do. One after

another, new fires blazed up in every quarter of the town, as though it were the intention of the insurgents to

wrap the city in a circle of flames, which, contracting by degrees, should burn the whole to ashes; the crowd

swarmed and roared in every street; and none but rioters and soldiers being out of doors, it seemed to the

latter as if all London were arrayed against them, and they stood alone against the town.

In two hours, sixandthirty fires were ragingsixandthirty great conflagrations: among them the

Borough Clink in Tooley Street, the King's Bench, the Fleet, and the New Bridewell. In almost every street,

there was a battle; and in every quarter the muskets of the troops were heard above the shouts and tumult of

the mob. The firing began in the Poultry, where the chain was drawn across the road, where nearly a score of

people were killed on the first discharge. Their bodies having been hastily carried into St Mildred's Church by

the soldiers, the latter fired again, and following fast upon the crowd, who began to give way when they saw

the execution that was done, formed across Cheapside, and charged them at the point of the bayonet.

The streets were now a dreadful spectacle. The shouts of the rabble, the shrieks of women, the cries of the

wounded, and the constant firing, formed a deafening and an awful accompaniment to the sights which every

corner presented. Wherever the road was obstructed by the chains, there the fighting and the loss of life were

greatest; but there was hot work and bloodshed in almost every leading thoroughfare.

At Holborn Bridge, and on Holborn Hill, the confusion was greater than in any other part; for the crowd that

poured out of the city in two great streams, one by Ludgate Hill, and one by Newgate Street, united at that

spot, and formed a mass so dense, that at every volley the people seemed to fall in heaps. At this place a large

detachment of soldiery were posted, who fired, now up Fleet Market, now up Holborn, now up Snow

Hillconstantly raking the streets in each direction. At this place too, several large fires were burning, so

that all the terrors of that terrible night seemed to be concentrated in one spot.

Full twenty times, the rioters, headed by one man who wielded an axe in his right hand, and bestrode a

brewer's horse of great size and strength, caparisoned with fetters taken out of Newgate, which clanked and

jingled as he went, made an attempt to force a passage at this point, and fire the vintner's house. Full twenty

times they were repulsed with loss of life, and still came back again; and though the fellow at their head was

marked and singled out by all, and was a conspicuous object as the only rioter on horseback, not a man could

hit him. So surely as the smoke cleared away, so surely there was he; calling hoarsely to his companions,

brandishing his axe above his head, and dashing on as though he bore a charmed life, and was proof against

This man was Hugh; and in every part of the riot, he was seen. He headed two attacks upon the Bank, helped

to break open the Toll houses on Blackfriars Bridge, and cast the money into the street: fired two of the

prisons with his own hand: was here, and there, and everywherealways foremostalways

activestriking at the soldiers, cheering on the crowd, making his horse's iron music heard through all the

yell and uproar: but never hurt or stopped. Turn him at one place, and he made a new struggle in anotlter;

force him to retreat at this point, and he advanced on that, directly. Driven from Holborn for the twentieth

time, he rode at the head of a great crowd straight upon Saint Paul's, attacked a guard of soldiers who kept

watch over a body of prisoners within the iron railings, forced them to retreat, rescued the men they had in

custody, and with this accession to his party, came back again, mad with liquor and excitement, and hallooing

It would have been no easy task for the most careful rider to sit a horse in the midst of such a throng and

tumult; but though this madman rolled upon his back (he had no saddle) like a boat upon the sea, he never for

an instant lost his seat, or failed to guide him where he would. Through the very thickest of the press, over

dead bodies and burning fragments, now on the pavement, now in the road, now riding up a flight of steps to

make himself the more conspicuous to his party, and now forcing a passage through a mass of human beings,

so closely squeezed together that it seemed as if the edge of a knife would scarcely part them,on he went,

as though he could surmount all obstacles by the mere exercise of his will. And perhaps his not being shot

was in some degree attributable to this very circumstance; for his extreme audacity, and the conviction that he

must be one of those to whom the proclamation referred, inspired the soldiers with a desire to take him alive,

The vintner and Mr Haredale, unable to sit quietly listening to the noise without seeing what went on, had

climbed to the roof of the house, and hiding behind a stack of chimneys, were looking cautiously down into

the street, almost hoping that after so many repulses the rioters would be foiled, when a great shout

proclaimed that a parry were coming round the other way; and the dismal jingling of those accursed fetters

warned them next moment that they too were led by Hugh. The soldiers had advanced into Fleet Market and

were dispersing the people there; so that they came on with hardly any check, and were soon before the

'All's over now,' said the vintner. 'Fifty thousand pounds will be scattered in a minute. We must save

ourselves. We can do no more, and shall have reason to be thankful if we do as much.'

Their first impulse was, to clamber along the roofs of the houses, and, knocking at some garret window for

admission, pass down that way into the street, and so escape. But another fierce cry from below, and a

general upturning of the faces of the crowd, apprised them that they were discovered, and even that Mr

Haredale was recognised; for Hugh, seeing him plainly in the bright glare of the fire, which in that part made

'Leave me here,' said Mr Haredale, 'and in Heaven's name, my good friend, save yourself! Come on!' he

muttered, as he turned towards Hugh and faced him without any further effort at concealment: 'This roof is

'Madness,' said the honest vintner, pulling him back, 'sheer madness. Hear reason, sir. My good sir, hear

reason. I could never make myself heard by knocking at a window now; and even if I could, no one would be

bold enough to connive at my escape. Through the cellars, there's a kind of passage into the back street by

which we roll casks in and out. We shall have time to get down there before they can force an entry. Do not

As he spoke, and drew Mr Haredale back, they had both a glimpse of the street. It was but a glimpse, but it

showed them the crowd, gathering and clustering round the house: some of the armed men pressing to the

front to break down the doors and windows, some bringing brands from the nearest fire, some with lifted

faces following their course upon the roof and pointing them out to their companions: all raging and roaring

like the flames they lighted up. They saw some men thirsting for the treasures of strong liquor which they

knew were stored within; they saw others, who had been wounded, sinking down into the opposite doorways

and dying, solitary wretches, in the midst of all the vast assemblage; here a frightened woman trying to

escape; and there a lost child; and there a drunken ruffian, unconscious of the deathwound on his head,

raving and fighting to the last. All these things, and even such trivial incidents as a man with his hat off, or

turning round, or stooping down, or shaking hands with another, they marked distinctly; yet in a glance so

brief, that, in the act of stepping back, they lost the whole, and saw but the pale faces of each other, and the

Mr Haredale yielded to the entreaties of his companionmore because he was resolved to defend him, than

for any thought he had of his own life, or any care he entertained for his own safetyand quickly

reentering the house, they descended the stairs together. Loud blows were thundering on the shutters,

crowbars were already thrust beneath the door, the glass fell from the sashes, a deep light shone through

every crevice, and they heard the voices of the foremost in the crowd so close to every chink and keyhole,

that they seemed to be hoarsely whispering their threats into their very ears. They had but a moment reached

the bottom of the cellarsteps and shut the door behind them, when the mob broke in.

The vaults were profoundly dark, and having no torch or candlefor they had been afraid to carry one, lest it

should betray their place of refugethey were obliged to grope with their hands. But they were not long

without light, for they had not gone far when they heard the crowd forcing the door; and, looking back among

the lowarched passages, could see them in the distance, hurrying to and fro with flashing links, broaching

the casks, staving the great vats, turning off upon the right hand and the left, into the different cellars, and

lying down to drink at the channels of strong spirits which were already flowing on the ground.

They hurried on, not the less quickly for this; and had reached the only vault which lay between them and the

passage out, when suddenly, from the direction in which they were going, a strong light gleamed upon their

faces; and before they could slip aside, or turn back, or hide themselves, two men (one bearing a torch) came

At the same instant they pulled off what they wore upon their heads. Mr Haredale saw before him Edward

Ay, the same Joe, though with an arm the less, who used to make the quarterly journey on the grey mare to

pay the bill to the purple faced vintner; and that very same purplefaced vintner, formerly of Thames Street,

'Give me your hand,' said Joe softly, taking it whether the astonished vintner would or no. 'Don't fear to shake

it; it's a friendly one and a hearty one, though it has no fellow. Why, how well you look and how bluff you

are! And youGod bless you, sir. Take heart, take heart. We'll find them. Be of good cheer; we have not

There was something so honest and frank in Joe's speech, that Mr Haredale put his hand in his involuntarily,

though their meeting was suspicious enough. But his glance at Edward Chester, and that gentleman's keeping

aloof, were not lost upon Joe, who said bluntly, glancing at Edward while he spoke:

'Times are changed, Mr Haredale, and times have come when we ought to know friends from enemies, and

make no confusion of names. Let me tell you that but for this gentleman, you would most likely have been

'I say,' said Joe, 'first, that it was a bold thing to be in the crowd at all disguised as one of them; though I

won't say much about that, on second thoughts, for that's my case too. Secondly, that it was a brave and

glorious actionthat's what I call itto strike that fellow off his horse before their eyes!'

'What fellow, sir!' cried Joe: 'a fellow who has no goodwill to you, and who has the daring and devilry in him

of twenty fellows. I know him of old. Once in the house, HE would have found you, here or anywhere. The

rest owe you no particular grudge, and, unless they see you, will only think of drinking themselves dead. But

'Quite,' said Edward. 'Put out the torch, Joe, and go on. And be silent, there's a good fellow.'

'Silent or not silent,' murmured Joe, as he dropped the flaring link upon the ground, crushed it with his foot,

and gave his hand to Mr Haredale, 'it was a brave and glorious action;no man can alter that.'

Both Mr Haredale and the worthy vintner were too amazed and too much hurried to ask any further questions,

so followed their conductors in silence. It seemed, from a short whispering which presently ensued between

them and the vintner relative to the best way of escape, that they had entered by the backdoor, with the

connivance of John Grueby, who watched outside with the key in his pocket, and whom they had taken into

their confidence. A party of the crowd coming up that way, just as they entered, John had doublelocked the

door again, and made off for the soldiers, so that means of retreat was cut off from under them.

However, as the frontdoor had been forced, and this minor crowd, being anxious to get at the liquor, had no

fancy for losing time in breaking down another, but had gone round and got in from Holborn with the rest,

the narrow lane in the rear was quite free of people. So, when they had crawled through the passage indicated

by the vintner (which was a mere shelvingtrap for the admission of casks), and had managed with some

difficulty to unchain and raise the door at the upper end, they emerged into the street without being observed

or interrupted. Joe still holding Mr Haredale tight, and Edward taking the same care of the vintner, they

hurried through the streets at a rapid pace; occasionally standing aside to let some fugitives go by, or to keep

out of the way of the soldiers who followed them, and whose questions, when they halted to put any, were

While Newgate was burning on the previous night, Barnaby and his father, having been passed among the

crowd from hand to hand, stood in Smithfield, on the outskirts of the mob, gazing at the flames like men who

had been suddenly roused from sleep. Some moments elapsed before they could distinctly remember where

they were, or how they got there; or recollected that while they were standing idle and listless spectators of

the fire, they had tools in their hands which had been hurriedly given them that they might free themselves

Barnaby, heavily ironed as he was, if he had obeyed his first impulse, or if he had been alone, would have

made his way back to the side of Hugh, who to his clouded intellect now shone forth with the new lustre of

being his preserver and truest friend. But his father's terror of remaining in the streets, communicated itself to

him when he comprehended the full extent of his fears, and impressed him with the same eagerness to fly to a

In a corner of the market among the pens for cattle, Barnaby knelt down, and pausing every now and then to

pass his hand over his father's face, or look up to him with a smile, knocked off his irons. When he had seen

him spring, a free man, to his feet, and had given vent to the transport of delight which the sight awakened, he

went to work upon his own, which soon fell rattling down upon the ground, and left his limbs unfettered.

Gliding away together when this task was accomplished, and passing several groups of men, each gathered

round a stooping figure to hide him from those who passed, but unable to repress the clanking sound of

hammers, which told that they too were busy at the same work,the two fugitives made towards

Clerkenwell, and passing thence to Islington, as the nearest point of egress, were quickly in the fields. After

wandering about for a long time, they found in a pasture near Finchley a poor shed, with walls of mud, and

roof of grass and brambles, built for some cowherd, but now deserted. Here, they lay down for the rest of the

They wandered to and fro when it was day, and once Barnaby went off alone to a cluster of little cottages two

or three miles away, to purchase some bread and milk. But finding no better shelter, they returned to the same

Heaven alone can tell, with what vague hopes of duty, and affection; with what strange promptings of nature,

intelligible to him as to a man of radiant mind and most enlarged capacity; with what dim memories of

children he had played with when a child himself, who had prattled of their fathers, and of loving them, and

being loved; with how many halfremembered, dreamy associations of his mother's grief and tears and

widowhood; he watched and tended this man. But that a vague and shadowy crowd of such ideas came

slowly on him; that they taught him to be sorry when he looked upon his haggard face, that they overflowed

his eyes when he stooped to kiss him, that they kept him waking in a tearful gladness, shading him from the

sun, fanning him with leaves, soothing him when he started in his sleepah! what a troubled sleep it

wasand wondering when SHE would come to join them and be happy, is the truth. He sat beside him all

that day; listening for her footsteps in every breath of air, looking for her shadow on the gentlywaving grass,

twining the hedge flowers for her pleasure when she came, and his when he awoke; and stooping down from

time to time to listen to his mutterings, and wonder why he was so restless in that quiet place. The sun went

down, and night came on, and he was still quite tranquil; busied with these thoughts, as if there were no other

people in the world, and the dull cloud of smoke hanging on the immense city in the distance, hid no vices,

But the hour had now come when he must go alone to find out the blind man (a task that filled him with

delight) and bring him to that place; taking especial care that he was not watched or followed on his way

back. He listened to the directions he must observe, repeated them again and again, and after twice or thrice

returning to surprise his father with a lighthearted laugh, went forth, at last, upon his errand: leaving Grip,

Fleet of foot, and anxious to return, he sped swiftly on towards the city, but could not reach it before the fires

began, and made the night angry with their dismal lustre. When he entered the townit might be that he was

changed by going there without his late companions, and on no violent errand; or by the beautiful solitude in

which he had passed the day, or by the thoughts that had come upon him,but it seemed peopled by a legion

of devils. This flight and pursuit, this cruel burning and destroying, these dreadful cries and stunning noises,

Though almost stupefied by the bewildering scene, still be found the blind man's house. It was shut up and

He waited for a long while, but no one came. At last he withdrew; and as he knew by this time that the

soldiers were firing, and many people must have been killed, he went down into Holborn, where he heard the

great crowd was, to try if he could find Hugh, and persuade him to avoid the danger, and return with him.

If he had been stunned and shocked before, his horror was increased a thousandfold when he got into this

vortex of the riot, and not being an actor in the terrible spectacle, had it all before his eyes. But there, in the

midst, towering above them all, close before the house they were attacking now, was Hugh on horseback,

Sickened by the sights surrounding him on every side, and by the heat and roar, and crash, he forced his way

among the crowd (where many recognised him, and with shouts pressed back to let him pass), and in time

was nearly up with Hugh, who was savagely threatening some one, but whom or what he said, he could not,

in the great confusion, understand. At that moment the crowd forced their way into the house, and Hughit

Barnaby was beside him when he staggered to his feet. It was well he made him hear his voice, or Hugh, with

'Whose!I say, whose!' he cried, reeling back, and looking wildly round. 'What are you doing? Where is he?

'You are hurt,' said Barnabyas indeed he was, in the head, both by the blow he had received, and by his

As he spoke, he took the horse's bridle in his hand, turned him, and dragged Hugh several paces. This brought

them out of the crowd, which was pouring from the street into the vintner's cellars.

'Where'swhere's Dennis?' said Hugh, coming to a stop, and checking Barnaby with his strong arm. 'Where

has he been all day? What did he mean by leaving me as he did, in the jail, last night? Tell me, youd'ye

With a flourish of his dangerous weapon, he fell down upon the ground like a log. After a minute, though

already frantic with drinking and with the wound in his head, he crawled to a stream of burning spirit which

was pouring down the kennel, and began to drink at it as if it were a brook of water.

Barnaby drew him away, and forced him to rise. Though he could neither stand nor walk, he involuntarily

staggered to his horse, climbed upon his back, and clung there. After vainly attempting to divest the animal of

his clanking trappings, Barnaby sprung up behind him, snatched the bridle, turned into Leather Lane, which

He looked back, once, before he left the street; and looked upon a sight not easily to be erased, even from his

The vintner's house with a halfadozen others near at hand, was one great, glowing blaze. All night, no one

had essayed to quench the flames, or stop their progress; but now a body of soldiers were actively engaged in

pulling down two old wooden houses, which were every moment in danger of taking fire, and which could

scarcely fail, if they were left to burn, to extend the conflagration immensely. The tumbling down of nodding

walls and heavy blocks of wood, the hooting and the execrations of the crowd, the distant firing of other

military detachments, the distracted looks and cries of those whose habitations were in danger, the hurrying

to and fro of frightened people with their goods; the reflections in every quarter of the sky, of deep, red,

soaring flames, as though the last day had come and the whole universe were burning; the dust, and smoke,

and drift of fiery particles, scorching and kindling all it fell upon; the hot unwholesome vapour, the blight on

everything; the stars, and moon, and very sky, obliterated;made up such a sum of dreariness and ruin, that

it seemed as if the face of Heaven were blotted out, and night, in its rest and quiet, and softened light, never

But there was a worse spectacle than thisworse by far than fire and smoke, or even the rabble's

unappeasable and maniac rage. The gutters of the street, and every crack and fissure in the stones, ran with

scorching spirit, which being dammed up by busy hands, overflowed the road and pavement, and formed a

great pool, into which the people dropped down dead by dozens. They lay in heaps all round this fearful

pond, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, women with children in their arms and

babies at their breasts, and drank until they died. While some stooped with their lips to the brink and never

raised their heads again, others sprang up from their fiery draught, and danced, half in a mad triumph, and

half in the agony of suffocation, until they fell, and steeped their corpses in the liquor that had killed them.

Nor was even this the worst or most appalling kind of death that happened on this fatal night. From the

burning cellars, where they drank out of hats, pails, buckets, tubs, and shoes, some men were drawn, alive,

but all alight from head to foot; who, in their unendurable anguish and suffering, making for anything that

had the look of water, rolled, hissing, in this hideous lake, and splashed up liquid fire which lapped in all it

met with as it ran along the surface, and neither spared the living nor the dead. On this last night of the great

riotsfor the last night it wasthe wretched victims of a senseless outcry, became themselves the dust and

With all he saw in this last glance fixed indelibly upon his mind, Barnaby hurried from the city which

enclosed such horrors; and holding down his head that he might not even see the glare of the fires upon the

He stopped at about halfamile from the shed where his father lay, and with some difficulty making Hugh

sensible that he must dismount, sunk the horse's furniture in a pool of stagnant water, and turned the animal

loose. That done, he supported his companion as well as he could, and led him slowly forward.

It was the dead of night, and very dark, when Barnaby, with his stumbling comrade, approached the place

where he had left his father; but he could see him stealing away into the gloom, distrustful even of him, and

rapidly retreating. After calling to him twice or thrice that there was nothing to fear, but without effect, he

He continued to creep away, until Barnaby was close upon him; then turned, and said in a terrible, though

'Let me go. Do not lay hands upon me. You have told her; and you and she together have betrayed me!'

'No,' cried Barnaby, eagerly. 'Not for a long timelonger than I can tell. A whole year, I think. Is she here?'

His father looked upon him steadfastly for a few moments, and then saiddrawing nearer to him as he

spoke, for, seeing his face, and hearing his words, it was impossible to doubt his truth:

'HughHugh. Only Hugh. You know him. HE will not harm you. Why, you're afraid of Hugh! Ha ha ha!

'What man is he, I ask you,' he rejoined so fiercely, that Barnaby stopped in his laugh, and shrinking back,

'Why, how stern you are! You make me fear you, though you are my father. Why do you speak to me so?'

'I want,' he answered, putting away the hand which his son, with a timid desire to propitiate him, laid upon

his sleeve,'I want an answer, and you give me only jeers and questions. Who have you brought with you to

'I don't know where. His house was close shut. I waited, but no person came; that was no fault of mine. This

is Hughbrave Hugh, who broke into that ugly jail, and set us free. Aha! You like him now, do you? You

'He has had a fall, and has been drinking. The fields and trees go round, and round, and round with him, and

They had by this time returned to where he lay, and both stooped over him to look into his face.

'Because he would have been killed if I had left him over yonder. They were firing guns and shedding blood.

Does the sight of blood turn you sick, father? I see it does, by your face. That's like meWhat are you

'At nothing!' said the murderer softly, as he started back a pace or two, and gazed with sunken jaw and staring

He remained in the same attitude and with the same expression on his face for a minute or more; then glanced

slowly round as if he had lost something; and went shivering back, towards the shed.

He only answered with a suppressed groan, and lying down upon the ground, wrapped his cloak about his

Finding that nothing would rouse Hugh now, or make him sensible for a moment, Barnaby dragged him

along the grass, and laid him on a little heap of refuse hay and straw which had been his own bed; first having

brought some water from a running stream hard by, and washed his wound, and laved his hands and face.

Then he lay down himself, between the two, to pass the night; and looking at the stars, fell fast asleep.

Awakened early in the morning, by the sunshine and the songs of birds, and hum of insects, he left them

sleeping in the hut, and walked into the sweet and pleasant air. But he felt that on his jaded senses, oppressed

and burdened with the dreadful scenes of last night, and many nights before, all the beauties of opening day,

which he had so often tasted, and in which he had had such deep delight, fell heavily. He thought of the blithe

mornings when he and the dogs went bounding on together through the woods and fields; and the recollection

filled his eyes with tears. He had no consciousness, God help him, of having done wrong, nor had he any new

perception of the merits of the cause in which he had been engaged, or those of the men who advocated it; but

he was full of cares now, and regrets, and dismal recollections, and wishes (quite unknown to him before)

that this or that event had never happened, and that the sorrow and suffering of so many people had been

spared. And now he began to think how happy they would behis father, mother, he, and Hughif they

rambled away together, and lived in some lonely place, where there were none of these troubles; and that

perhaps the blind man, who had talked so wisely about gold, and told him of the great secrets he knew, could

teach them how to live without being pinched by want. As this occurred to him, he was the more sorry that he

had not seen him last night; and he was still brooding over this regret, when his father came, and touched him

'I almost thought,' he answered, 'it was the blind man. I must have some talk with him, father.'

'And so must I, for without seeing him, I don't know where to fly or what to do, and lingering here, is death.

'Must I!' cried Barnaby, delighted; 'that's brave, father. That's what I want to do.'

'But you must bring only him, and none other. And though you wait at his door a whole day and night, still

'Trim off these gewgaws,' said his father, plucking the scraps of ribbon and the feathers from his hat, 'and

over your own dress wear my cloak. Take heed how you go, and they will be too busy in the streets to notice

you. Of your coming back you need take no account, for he'll manage that, safely.'

'To be sure!' said Barnaby. 'To be sure he will! A wise man, father, and one who can teach us to be rich. Oh! I

He was speedily dressed, and as well disguised as he could be. With a lighter heart he then set off upon his

second journey, leaving Hugh, who was still in a drunken stupor, stretched upon the ground within the shed,

The murderer, full of anxious thoughts, looked after him, and paced up and down, disquieted by every breath

of air that whispered among the boughs, and by every light shadow thrown by the passing clouds upon the

daisied ground. He was anxious for his safe return, and yet, though his own life and safety hung upon it, felt a

relief while he was gone. In the intense selfishness which the constant presence before him of his great

crimes, and their consequences here and hereafter, engendered, every thought of Barnaby, as his son, was

swallowed up and lost. Still, his presence was a torture and reproach; in his wild eyes, there were terrible

images of that guilty night; with his unearthly aspect, and his halfformed mind, he seemed to the murderer a

creature who had sprung into existence from his victim's blood. He could not bear his look, his voice, his

touch; and yet he was forced, by his own desperate condition and his only hope of cheating the gibbet, to

have him by his side, and to know that he was inseparable from his single chance of escape.

He walked to and fro, with little rest, all day, revolving these things in his mind; and still Hugh lay,

unconscious, in the shed. At length, when the sun was setting, Barnaby returned, leading the blind man, and

The murderer advanced to meet them, and bidding his son go on and speak to Hugh, who had just then

staggered to his feet, took his place at the blind man's elbow, and slowly followed, towards the shed.

'Why did you send HIM?' said Stagg. 'Don't you know it was the way to have him lost, as soon as found?'

'Humph! Perhaps not. I was before the jail on Tuesday night, but missed you in the crowd. I was out last

night, too. There was good work last nightgay workprofitable work'he added, rattling the money in

'I'll tell you all,' returned the blind man, with a laugh. 'Excuse mebut I love to see you so impatient. There's

'No,' returned the blind man emphatically, as he turned his face towards him. 'No. Thus it is. She has been at

death's door since she lost her darlinghas been insensible, and I know not what. I tracked her to a hospital,

and presented myself (with your leave) at her bedside. Our talk was not a long one, for she was weak, and

there being people near I was not quite easy. But I told her all that you and I agreed upon, and pointed out the

young gentleman's position, in strong terms. She tried to soften me, but that, of course (as I told her), was lost

time. She cried and moaned, you may be sure; all women do. Then, of a sudden, she found her voice and

strength, and said that Heaven would help her and her innocent son; and that to Heaven she appealed against

uswhich she did; in really very pretty language, I assure you. I advised her, as a friend, not to count too

much on assistance from any such distant quarterrecommended her to think of ittold her where I

lived said I knew she would send to me before noon, next dayand left her, either in a faint or

When he had concluded this narration, during which he had made several pauses, for the convenience of

cracking and eating nuts, of which he seemed to have a pocketful, the blind man pulled a flask from his

'You won't, won't you?' he said, feeling that he pushed it from him. 'Well! Then the gallant gentleman who's

'Do! Nothing easier. Make a moonlight flitting in two hours' time with the young gentleman (he's quite ready

to go; I have been giving him good advice as we came along), and get as far from London as you can. Let me

know where you are, and leave the rest to me. She MUST come round; she can't hold out long; and as to the

chances of your being retaken in the meanwhile, why it wasn't one man who got out of Newgate, but three

'How!' repeated the blind man. 'By eating and drinking. And how get meat and drink, but by paying for it!

Money!' he cried, slapping his pocket. 'Is money the word? Why, the streets have been running money. Devil

send that the sport's not over yet, for these are jolly times; golden, rare, roaring, scrambling times. Hallo,

With such vociferations, and with a boisterous manner which bespoke his perfect abandonment to the general

licence and disorder, he groped his way towards the shed, where Hugh and Barnaby were sitting on the

'Put it about!' he cried, handing his flask to Hugh. 'The kennels run with wine and gold. Guineas and strong

Exhausted, unwashed, unshorn, begrimed with smoke and dust, his hair clotted with blood, his voice quite

gone, so that he spoke in whispers; his skin parched up by fever, his whole body bruised and cut, and beaten

about, Hugh still took the flask, and raised it to his lips. He was in the act of drinking, when the front of the

'No offence, no offence,' said that personage in a conciliatory tone, as Hugh stopped in his draught, and eyed

him, with no pleasant look, from head to foot. 'No offence, brother. Barnaby here too, eh? How are you,

Barnaby? And two other gentlemen! Your humble servant, gentlemen. No offence to YOU either, I hope. Eh,

Notwithstanding that he spoke in this very friendly and confident manner, he seemed to have considerable

hesitation about entering, and remained outside the roof. He was rather better dressed than usual: wearing the

same suit of threadbare black, it is true, but having round his neck an unwholesomelooking cravat of a

yellowish white; and, on his hands, great leather gloves, such as a gardener might wear in following his trade.

His shoes were newly greased, and ornamented with a pair of rusty iron buckles; the packthread at his knees

had been renewed; and where he wanted buttons, he wore pins. Altogether, he had something the look of a

tipstaff, or a bailiff's follower, desperately faded, but who had a notion of keeping up the appearance of a

'You're very snug here,' said Mr Dennis, pulling out a mouldy pockethandkerchief, which looked like a

'Why I'll tell you what, brother,' said Dennis, with a friendly smile, 'when you don't want me to know which

way you're riding, you must wear another sort of bells on your horse. Ah! I know the sound of them you wore

last night, and have got quick ears for 'em; that's the truth. Well, but how are you, brother?'

'How am I?' answered Hugh. 'Where were you yesterday? Where did you go when you left me in the jail?

Why did you leave me? And what did you mean by rolling your eyes and shaking your fist at me, eh?'

'I shake my fist!at you, brother!' said Dennis, gently checking Hugh's uplifted hand, which looked

'Lord love you, brother, I meant nothing. You don't understand me by half. I shouldn't wonder now,' he

added, in the tone of a desponding and an injured man, 'but you thought, because I wanted them chaps left in

'Well!' said Mr Dennis, mournfully, 'if you an't enough to make a man mistrust his fellercreeturs, I don't

know what is. Desert the banners! Me! Ned Dennis, as was so christened by his own father!Is this axe

Yes, it's mine,' said Hugh, in the same sullen manner as before; 'it might have hurt you, if you had come in its

'Might have hurt me!' said Mr Dennis, still keeping it in his hand, and feeling the edge with an air of

abstraction. 'Might have hurt me! and me exerting myself all the time to the wery best advantage. Here's a

world! And you're not agoing to ask me to take a sup out of that 'ere bottle, eh?'

Hugh passed it towards him. As he raised it to his lips, Barnaby jumped up, and motioning them to be silent,

'What's the matter, Barnaby?' said Dennis, glancing at Hugh and dropping the flask, but still holding the axe

'What!' cried the hangman, raising his voice to its highest pitch, and laying hold of him and Hugh. 'Not

That moment, the shed was filled with armed men; and a body of horse, galloping into the field, drew up

'There!' said Dennis, who remained untouched among them when they had seized their prisoners; 'it's them

two young ones, gentlemen, that the proclamation puts a price on. This other's an escaped felon.I'm sorry

for it, brother,' he added, in a tone of resignation, addressing himself to Hugh; 'but you've brought it on

yourself; you forced me to do it; you wouldn't respect the soundest constitootional principles, you know; you

went and wiolated the wery framework of society. I had sooner have given away a trifle in charity than done

this, I would upon my soul.If you'll keep fast hold on 'em, gentlemen, I think I can make a shift to tie 'em

But this operation was postponed for a few moments by a new occurrence. The blind man, whose ears were

quicker than most people's sight, had been alarmed, before Barnaby, by a rustling in the bushes, under cover

of which the soldiers had advanced. He retreated instantlyhad hidden somewhere for a minuteand

probably in his confusion mistaking the point at which he had emerged, was now seen running across the

An officer cried directly that he had helped to plunder a house last night. He was loudly called on, to

surrender. He ran the harder, and in a few seconds would have been out of gunshot. The word was given, and

There was a breathless pause and a profound silence, during which all eyes were fixed upon him. He had

been seen to start at the discharge, as if the report had frightened him. But he neither stopped nor slackened

his pace in the least, and ran on full forty yards further. Then, without one reel or stagger, or sign of faintness,

Some of them hurried up to where he lay;the hangman with them. Everything had passed so quickly, that

the smoke had not yet scattered, but curled slowly off in a little cloud, which seemed like the dead man's

spirit moving solemnly away. There were a few drops of blood upon the grassmore, when they turned him

'Look here! Look here!' said the hangman, stooping one knee beside the body, and gazing up with a

'Stand out of the way,' replied the officer. 'Serjeant! see what he had about him.'

The man turned his pockets out upon the grass, and counted, besides some foreign coins and two rings,

fiveandforty guineas in gold. These were bundled up in a handkerchief and carried away; the body

remained there for the present, but six men and the serjeant were left to take it to the nearest publichouse.

'Now then, if you're going,' said the serjeant, clapping Dennis on the back, and pointing after the officer who

To which Mr Dennis only replied, 'Don't talk to me!' and then repeated what he had said before, namely,

'It's not one that you care for much, I should think,' observed the serjeant coolly.

'Tenderhearted!' echoed Dennis. 'Tenderhearted! Look at this man. Do you call THIS constitootional? Do

you see him shot through and through instead of being worked off like a Briton? Damme, if I know which

party to side with. You're as bad as the other. What's to become of the country if the military power's to go a

superseding the ciwilians in this way? Where's this poor fellercreetur's rights as a citizen, that he didn't have

ME in his last moments! I was here. I was willing. I was ready. These are nice times, brother, to have the

dead crying out against us in this way, and sleep comfortably in our beds arterwards; wery nice!'

Whether he derived any material consolation from binding the prisoners, is uncertain; most probably he did.

At all events his being summoned to that work, diverted him, for the time, from these painful reflections, and

They were not all three carried off together, but in two parties; Barnaby and his father, going by one road in

the centre of a body of foot; and Hugh, fast bound upon a horse, and strongly guarded by a troop of cavalry,

They had no opportunity for the least communication, in the short interval which preceded their departure;

being kept strictly apart. Hugh only observed that Barnaby walked with a drooping head among his guard,

and, without raising his eyes, that he tried to wave his fettered hand when he passed. For himself, he buoyed

up his courage as he rode along, with the assurance that the mob would force his jail wherever it might be,

and set him at liberty. But when they got into London, and more especially into Fleet Market, lately the

stronghold of the rioters, where the military were rooting out the last remnant of the crowd, he saw that this

Mr Dennis having despatched this piece of business without any personal hurt or inconvenience, and having

now retired into the tranquil respectability of private life, resolved to solace himself with half an hour or so of

female society. With this amiable purpose in his mind, he bent his steps towards the house where Dolly and

Miss Haredale were still confined, and whither Miss Miggs had also been removed by order of Mr Simon

As he walked along the streets with his leather gloves clasped behind him, and his face indicative of cheerful

thought and pleasant calculation, Mr Dennis might have been likened unto a farmer ruminating among his

crops, and enjoying by anticipation the bountiful gifts of Providence. Look where he would, some heap of

ruins afforded him rich promise of a working off; the whole town appeared to have been ploughed and sown,

Having taken up arms and resorted to deeds of violence, with the great main object of preserving the Old

Bailey in all its purity, and the gallows in all its pristine usefulness and moral grandeur, it would perhaps be

going too far to assert that Mr Dennis had ever distinctly contemplated and foreseen this happy state of

things. He rather looked upon it as one of those beautiful dispensations which are inscrutably brought about

for the behoof and advantage of good men. He felt, as it were, personally referred to, in this prosperous

ripening for the gibbet; and had never considered himself so much the pet and favourite child of Destiny, or

loved that lady so well or with such a calm and virtuous reliance, in all his life.

As to being taken up, himself, for a rioter, and punished with the rest, Mr Dennis dismissed that possibility

from his thoughts as an idle chimera; arguing that the line of conduct he had adopted at Newgate, and the

service he had rendered that day, would be more than a setoff against any evidence which might identify

him as a member of the crowd. That any charge of companionship which might be made against him by those

who were themselves in danger, would certainly go for nought. And that if any trivial indiscretion on his part

should unluckily come out, the uncommon usefulness of his office, at present, and the great demand for the

exercise of its functions, would certainly cause it to be winked at, and passed over. In a word, he had played

his cards throughout, with great care; had changed sides at the very nick of time; had delivered up two of the

most notorious rioters, and a distinguished felon to boot; and was quite at his ease.

Savingfor there is a reservation; and even Mr Dennis was not perfectly happysaving for one

circumstance; to wit, the forcible detention of Dolly and Miss Haredale, in a house almost adjoining his own.

This was a stumblingblock; for if they were discovered and released, they could, by the testimony they had

it in their power to give, place him in a situation of great jeopardy; and to set them at liberty, first extorting

from them an oath of secrecy and silence, was a thing not to be thought of. It was more, perhaps, with an eye

to the danger which lurked in this quarter, than from his abstract love of conversation with the sex, that the

hangman, quickening his steps, now hastened into their society, cursing the amorous natures of Hugh and Mr

When be entered the miserable room in which they were confined, Dolly and Miss Haredale withdrew in

silence to the remotest corner. But Miss Miggs, who was particularly tender of her reputation, immediately

fell upon her knees and began to scream very loud, crying, 'What will become of me!''Where is my

Simmuns!''Have mercy, good gentlemen, on my sex's weaknesses!'with other doleful lamentations of

'Miss, miss,' whispered Dennis, beckoning to her with his forefinger, 'come hereI won't hurt you. Come

On hearing this tender epithet, Miss Miggs, who had left off screaming when he opened his lips, and had

listened to him attentively, began again, crying: 'Oh I'm his lamb! He says I'm his lamb! Oh gracious, why

wasn't I born old and ugly! Why was I ever made to be the youngest of six, and all of 'em dead and in their

blessed graves, excepting one married sister, which is settled in Golden Lion Court, number twentysivin,

'Don't I say I an't agoing to hurt you?' said Dennis, pointing to a chair. 'Why miss, what's the matter?'

'I don't know what mayn't be the matter!' cried Miss Miggs, clasping her hands distractedly. 'Anything may

'But nothing is, I tell you,' said the hangman. 'First stop that noise and come and sit down here, will you,

The coaxing tone in which he said these latter words might have failed in its object, if he had not

accompanied them with sundry sharp jerks of his thumb over one shoulder, and with divers winks and

thrustings of his tongue into his cheek, from which signals the damsel gathered that he sought to speak to her

apart, concerning Miss Haredale and Dolly. Her curiosity being very powerful, and her jealousy by no means

inactive, she arose, and with a great deal of shivering and starting back, and much muscular action among all

Suiting the action to the word, he thrust her rather suddenly and prematurely into a chair, and designing to

reassure her by a little harmless jocularity, such as is adapted to please and fascinate the sex, converted his

right forefinger into an ideal bradawl or gimlet, and made as though he would screw the same into her side

'Lovey, my dear,' whispered Dennis, drawing his chair close to hers. 'When was your young man here last,

'Mine indeed!' cried Miggs, with a burst of bitternessand as she said it, she glanced towards Dolly. 'MINE,

'Ah!' he said, looking so soothingly, not to say amorously on Miggs, that she sat, as she afterwards remarked,

on pins and needles of the sharpest Whitechapel kind, not knowing what intentions might be suggesting that

expression to his features: 'I was afraid of that. I saw as much myself. It's her fault. She WILL entice 'em.'

'I wouldn't,' cried Miggs, folding her hands and looking upwards with a kind of devout blankness, 'I wouldn't

lay myself out as she does; I wouldn't be as bold as her; I wouldn't seem to say to all male creeturs "Come

and kiss me"'and here a shudder quite convulsed her frame'for any earthly crowns as might be offered.

'No, I am not, good gentleman,' answered Miggs, shaking her head with an air of selfdenial which seemed to

imply that she might be if she chose, but she hoped she knew better. 'No, I am not, good gentleman. Don't

Up to this time she had turned round, every now and then, to where Dolly and Miss Haredale had retired and

uttered a scream, or groan, or laid her hand upon her heart and trembled excessively, with a view of keeping

up appearances, and giving them to understand that she conversed with the visitor, under protest and on

compulsion, and at a great personal sacrifice, for their common good. But at this point, Mr Dennis looked so

very full of meaning, and gave such a singularly expressive twitch to his face as a request to her to come still

nearer to him, that she abandoned these little arts, and gave him her whole and undivided attention.

'Not since yesterday morning; and then only for a few minutes. Not all day, the day before.'

'You know he meant all along to carry off that one!' said Dennis, indicating Dolly by the slightest possible

Miss Miggs, who had fallen into a terrible state of grief when the first part of this sentence was spoken,

recovered a little at the second, and seemed by the sudden check she put upon her tears, to intimate that

possibly this arrangement might meet her views; and that it might, perhaps, remain an open question.

'But unfort'nately,' pursued Dennis, who observed this: 'somebody else was fond of her too, you see; and

even if he wasn't, somebody else is took for a rioter, and it's all over with him.'

'Now I want,' said Dennis, 'to clear this house, and to see you righted. What if I was to get her off, out of the

Miss Miggs, brightening again, rejoined, with many breaks and pauses from excess of feeling, that

temptations had been Simmuns's bane. That it was not his faults, but hers (meaning Dolly's). That men did

not see through these dreadful arts as women did, and therefore was caged and trapped, as Simmun had been.

That she had no personal motives to servefar from iton the contrary, her intentions was good towards all

parties. But forasmuch as she knowed that Simmun, if united to any designing and artful minxes (she would

name no names, for that was not her dispositions)to ANY designing and artful minxesmust be made

miserable and unhappy for life, she DID incline towards prewentions. Such, she added, was her free

confessions. But as this was private feelings, and might perhaps be looked upon as wengeance, she begged

the gentleman would say no more. Whatever he said, wishing to do her duty by all mankind, even by them as

had ever been her bitterest enemies, she would not listen to him. With that she stopped her ears, and shook

her head from side to side, to intimate to Mr Dennis that though he talked until he had no breath left, she was

'Lookee here, my sugarstick,' said Mr Dennis, 'if your view's the same as mine, and you'll only be quiet and

slip away at the right time, I can have the house clear tomorrow, and be out of this trouble.Stop though!

'Which other, sir?' asked Miggsstill with her fingers in her ears and her head shaking obstinately.

'Why, the tallest one, yonder,' said Dennis, as he stroked his chin, and added, in an undertone to himself,

Miss Miggs replied (still being profoundly deaf) that if Miss Haredale stood in the way at all, he might make

himself quite easy on that score; as she had gathered, from what passed between Hugh and Mr Tappertit

when they were last there, that she was to be removed alone (not by them, but by somebody else), tomorrow

Mr Dennis opened his eyes very wide at this piece of information, whistled once, considered once, and finally

slapped his head once and nodded once, as if he had got the clue to this mysterious removal, and so dismissed

it. Then he imparted his design concerning Dolly to Miss Miggs, who was taken more deaf than before, when

The notable scheme was this. Mr Dennis was immediately to seek out from among the rioters, some daring

young fellow (and he had one in his eye, he said), who, terrified by the threats he could hold out to him, and

alarmed by the capture of so many who were no better and no worse than he, would gladly avail himself of

any help to get abroad, and out of harm's way, with his plunder, even though his journey were incumbered by

an unwilling companion; indeed, the unwilling companion being a beautiful girl, would probably be an

additional inducement and temptation. Such a person found, he proposed to bring him there on the ensuing

night, when the tall one was taken off, and Miss Miggs had purposely retired; and then that Dolly should be

gagged, muffled in a cloak, and carried in any handy conveyance down to the river's side; where there were

abundant means of getting her smuggled snugly off in any small craft of doubtful character, and no questions

asked. With regard to the expense of this removal, he would say, at a rough calculation, that two or three

silver tea or coffeepots, with something additional for drink (such as a muffineer, or toast rack), would

more than cover it. Articles of plate of every kind having been buried by the rioters in several lonely parts of

London, and particularly, as he knew, in St James's Square, which, though easy of access, was little

frequented after dark, and had a convenient piece of water in the midst, the needful funds were close at hand,

and could be had upon the shortest notice. With regard to Dolly, the gentleman would exercise his own

discretion. He would be bound to do nothing but to take her away, and keep her away. All other arrangements

If Miss Miggs had had her hearing, no doubt she would have been greatly shocked by the indelicacy of a

young female's going away with a stranger by night (for her moral feelings, as we have said, were of the

tenderest kind); but directly Mr Dennis ceased to speak, she reminded him that he had only wasted breath.

She then went on to say (still with her fingers in her ears) that nothing less than a severe practical lesson

would save the locksmith's daughter from utter ruin; and that she felt it, as it were, a moral obligation and a

sacred duty to the family, to wish that some one would devise one for her reformation. Miss Miggs remarked,

and very justly, as an abstract sentiment which happened to occur to her at the moment, that she dared to say

the locksmith and his wife would murmur, and repine, if they were ever, by forcible abduction, or otherwise,

to lose their child; but that we seldom knew, in this world, what was best for us: such being our sinful and

Having brought their conversation to this satisfactory end, they parted: Dennis, to pursue his design, and take

another walk about his farm; Miss Miggs, to launch, when he left her, into such a burst of mental anguish

(which she gave them to understand was occasioned by certain tender things he had had the presumption and

audacity to say), that little Dolly's heart was quite melted. Indeed, she said and did so much to soothe the

outraged feelings of Miss Miggs, and looked so beautiful while doing so, that if that young maid had not had

ample vent for her surpassing spite, in a knowledge of the mischief that was brewing, she must have

All next day, Emma Haredale, Dolly, and Miggs, remained cooped up together in what had now been their

prison for so many days, without seeing any person, or hearing any sound but the murmured conversation, in

an outer room, of the men who kept watch over them. There appeared to be more of these fellows than there

had been hitherto; and they could no longer hear the voices of women, which they had before plainly

distinguished. Some new excitement, too, seemed to prevail among them; for there was much stealthy going

in and out, and a constant questioning of those who were newly arrived. They had previously been quite

reckless in their behaviour; often making a great uproar; quarrelling among themselves, fighting, dancing,

and singing. They were now very subdued and silent, conversing almost in whispers, and stealing in and out

with a soft and stealthy tread, very different from the boisterous trampling in which their arrivals and

Whether this change was occasioned by the presence among them of some person of authority in their ranks,

or by any other cause, they were unable to decide. Sometimes they thought it was in part attributable to there

being a sick man in the chamber, for last night there had been a shuffling of feet, as though a burden were

brought in, and afterwards a moaning noise. But they had no means of ascertaining the truth: for any question

or entreaty on their parts only provoked a storm of execrations, or something worse; and they were too happy

to be left alone, unassailed by threats or admiration, to risk even that comfort, by any voluntary

It was sufficiently evident, both to Emma and to the locksmith's poor little daughter herself, that she, Dolly,

was the great object of attraction; and that so soon as they should have leisure to indulge in the softer passion,

Hugh and Mr Tappertit would certainly fall to blows for her sake; in which latter case, it was not very

difficult to see whose prize she would become. With all her old horror of that man revived, and deepened into

a degree of aversion and abhorrence which no language can describe; with a thousand old recollections and

regrets, and causes of distress, anxiety, and fear, besetting her on all sides; poor Dolly Varden sweet,

blooming, buxom Dollybegan to hang her head, and fade, and droop, like a beautiful flower. The colour

fled from her cheeks, her courage forsook her, her gentle heart failed. Unmindful of all her provoking

caprices, forgetful of all her conquests and inconstancy, with all her winning little vanities quite gone, she

nestled all the livelong day in Emma Haredale's bosom; and, sometimes calling on her dear old greyhaired

father, sometimes on her mother, and sometimes even on her old home, pined slowly away, like a poor bird in

Light hearts, light hearts, that float so gaily on a smooth stream, that are so sparkling and buoyant in the

sunshinedown upon fruit, bloom upon flowers, blush in summer air, life of the winged insect, whose whole

existence is a dayhow soon ye sink in troubled water! Poor Dolly's hearta little, gentle, idle, fickle thing;

giddy, restless, fluttering; constant to nothing but bright looks, and smiles and laughterDolly's heart was

Emma had known grief, and could bear it better. She had little comfort to impart, but she could soothe and

tend her, and she did so; and Dolly clung to her like a child to its nurse. In endeavouring to inspire her with

some fortitude, she increased her own; and though the nights were long, and the days dismal, and she felt the

wasting influence of watching and fatigue, and had perhaps a more defined and clear perception of their

destitute condition and its worst dangers, she uttered no complaint. Before the ruffians, in whose power they

were, she bore herself so calmly, and with such an appearance, in the midst of all her terror, of a secret

conviction that they dared not harm her, that there was not a man among them but held her in some degree of

dread; and more than one believed she had a weapon hidden in her dress, and was prepared to use it.

Such was their condition when they were joined by Miss Miggs, who gave them to understand that she too

had been taken prisoner because of her charms, and detailed such feats of resistance she had performed (her

virtue having given her supernatural strength), that they felt it quite a happiness to have her for a champion.

Nor was this the only comfort they derived at first from Miggs's presence and society: for that young lady

displayed such resignation and longsuffering, and so much meek endurance, under her trials, and breathed

in all her chaste discourse a spirit of such holy confidence and resignation, and devout belief that all would

happen for the best, that Emma felt her courage strengthened by the bright example; never doubting but that

everything she said was true, and that she, like them, was torn from all she loved, and agonised by doubt and

apprehension. As to poor Dolly, she was roused, at first, by seeing one who came from home; but when she

heard under what circumstances she had left it, and into whose hands her father had fallen, she wept more

Miss Miggs was at some trouble to reprove her for this state of mind, and to entreat her to take example by

herself, who, she said, was now receiving back, with interest, tenfold the amount of her subscriptions to the

redbrick dwellinghouse, in the articles of peace of mind and a quiet conscience. And, while on serious

topics, Miss Miggs considered it her duty to try her hand at the conversion of Miss Haredale; for whose

improvement she launched into a polemical address of some length, in the course whereof, she likened

herself unto a chosen missionary, and that young lady to a cannibal in darkness. Indeed, she returned so often

to these sublects, and so frequently called upon them to take a lesson from her,at the same time vaunting

and, as it were, rioting in, her huge unworthiness, and abundant excess of sin,that, in the course of a short

time, she became, in that small chamber, rather a nuisance than a comfort, and rendered them, if possible,

The night had now come; and for the first time (for their jailers had been regular in bringing food and

candles), they were left in darkness. Any change in their condition in such a place inspired new fears; and

when some hours had passed, and the gloom was still unbroken, Emma could no longer repress her alarm.

They listened attentively. There was the same murmuring in the outer room, and now and then a moan which

seemed to be wrung from a person in great pain, who made an effort to subdue it, but could not. Even these

men seemed to be in darkness too; for no light shone through the chinks in the door, nor were they moving,

as their custom was, but quite still: the silence being unbroken by so much as the creaking of a board.

At first, Miss Miggs wondered greatly in her own mind who this sick person might be; but arriving, on

second thoughts, at the conclusion that he was a part of the schemes on foot, and an artful device soon to be

employed with great success, she opined, for Miss Haredale's comfort, that it must be some misguided Papist

who had been wounded: and this happy supposition encouraged her to say, under her breath, 'Ally Looyer!'

'Is it possible,' said Emma, with some indignation, 'that you who have seen these men committing the

outrages you have told us of, and who have fallen into their hands, like us, can exult in their cruelties!'

'Personal considerations, miss,' rejoined Miggs, 'sinks into nothing, afore a noble cause. Ally Looyer! Ally

It seemed from the shrill pertinacity with which Miss Miggs repeated this form of acclamation, that she was

calling the same through the keyhole of the door; but in the profound darkness she could not be seen.

'If the time has comeHeaven knows it may come at any momentwhen they are bent on prosecuting the

designs, whatever they may be, with which they have brought us here, can you still encourage, and take part

'I thank my goodnessgraciousblessedstars I can, miss,' returned Miggs, with increased energy.'Ally

Even Dolly, cast down and disappointed as she was, revived at this, and bade Miggs hold her tongue directly.

'WHICH, was you pleased to observe, Miss Varden?' said Miggs, with a strong emphasis on the irrelative

'Ho, gracious me!' cried Miggs, with hysterical derision. 'Ho, gracious me! Yes, to be sure I will. Ho yes! I

am a abject slave, and a toiling, moiling, constantworking, alwaysbeing foundfaultwith,

nevergivingsatisfactions, norhavingno timetocleanoneself, potter's wesselan't I, miss! Ho yes!

My situations is lowly, and my capacities is limited, and my duties is to humble myself afore the base

degenerating daughters of their blessed mothers as isfit to keep companies with holy saints but is born to

persecutions from wicked relationsand to demean myself before them as is no better than Infidelsan't it,

miss! Ho yes! My only becoming occupations is to help young flaunting pagins to brush and comb and

titiwate theirselves into whitening and suppulchres, and leave the young men to think that there an't a bit of

padding in it nor no pinching ins nor fillings out nor pomatums nor deceits nor earthly wanitiesan't it,

Having delivered these ironical passages with a most wonderful volubility, and with a shrillness perfectly

deafening (especially when she jerked out the interjections), Miss Miggs, from mere habit, and not because

weeping was at all appropriate to the occasion, which was one of triumph, concluded by bursting into a flood

What Emma Haredale and Dolly would have done, or how long Miss Miggs, now that she had hoisted her

true colours, would have gone on waving them before their astonished senses, it is impossible to tell. Nor is it

necessary to speculate on these matters, for a startling interruption occurred at that moment, which took their

This was a violent knocking at the door of the house, and then its sudden bursting open; which was

immediately succeeded by a scuffle in the room without, and the clash of weapons. Transported with the hope

that rescue had at length arrived, Emma and Dolly shrieked aloud for help; nor were their shrieks

unanswered; for after a hurried interval, a man, bearing in one hand a drawn sword, and in the other a taper,

It was some check upon their transport to find in this person an entire stranger, but they appealed to him,

nevertheless, and besought him, in impassioned language, to restore them to their friends.

'For what other purpose am I here?' he answered, closing the door, and standing with his back against it.

'With what object have I made my way to this place, through difficulty and danger, but to preserve you?'

With a joy for which it was impossible to find adequate expression, they embraced each other, and thanked

Heaven for this most timely aid. Their deliverer stepped forward for a moment to put the light upon the table,

and immediately returning to his former position against the door, bared his head, and looked on smilingly.

'I did not say close at hand,' he answered smoothly; 'they are at no great distance. YOUR friends, sweet one,'

he added, addressing Dolly, 'are within a few hours' journey. You will be restored to them, I hope, tonight.'

'Your uncle, dear Miss Haredale, happilyI say happily, because he has succeeded where many of our creed

'You say well. You have reason to be thankful: greater reason than it is possible for you, who have seen but

'Do you ask if he desires it?' cried the stranger in surprise. 'IF he desires it! But you do not know the danger

of remaining in England, the difficulty of escape, or the price hundreds would pay to secure the means, when

you make that inquiry. Pardon me. I had forgotten that you could not, being prisoner here.'

'I gather, sir,' said Emma, after a moment's pause, 'from what you hint at, but fear to tell me, that I have

witnessed but the beginning, and the least, of the violence to which we are exposed, and that it has not yet

He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, lifted up his hands; and with the same smooth smile, which was

'You may venture, sir, to speak plain,' said Emma, 'and to tell me the worst. We have undergone some

But here Dolly interposed, and entreated her not to hear the worst, but the best; and besought the gentleman

to tell them the best, and to keep the remainder of his news until they were safe among their friends again.

'It is told in three words,' he said, glancing at the locksmith's daughter with a look of some displeasure. 'The

people have risen, to a man, against us; the streets are filled with soldiers, who support them and do their

bidding. We have no protection but from above, and no safety but in flight; and that is a poor resource; for we

are watched on every hand, and detained here, both by force and fraud. Miss Haredale, I cannot

bearbelieve me, that I cannot bearby speaking of myself, or what I have done, or am prepared to do, to

seem to vaunt my services before you. But, having powerful Protestant connections, and having my whole

wealth embarked with theirs in shipping and commerce, I happily possessed the means of saving your uncle. I

have the means of saving you; and in redemption of my sacred promise, made to him, I am here; pledged not

to leave you until I have placed you in his arms. The treachery or penitence of one of the men about you, led

to the discovery of your place of confinement; and that I have forced my way here, sword in hand, you see.'

'No, he doesn't,' cried Dolly, pointing at him earnestly; 'now I am sure he doesn't. Don't go with him for the

'Hush, pretty foolbe silent,' he replied, frowning angrily upon her. 'No, Miss Haredale, I have no letter, nor

any token of any kind; for while I sympathise with you, and such as you, on whom misfortune so heavy and

so undeserved has fallen, I value my life. I carry, therefore, no writing which, found upon me, would lead to

its certain loss. I never thought of bringing any other token, nor did Mr Haredale think of entrusting me with

onepossibly because he had good experience of my faith and honesty, and owed his life to me.'

There was a reproof conveyed in these words, which to a nature like Emma Haredale's, was well addressed.

But Dolly, who was differently constituted, was by no means touched by it, and still conjured her, in all the

'Time presses,' said their visitor, who, although he sought to express the deepest interest, had something cold

and even in his speech, that grated on the ear; 'and danger surrounds us. If I have exposed myself to it, in

vain, let it be so; but if you and he should ever meet again, do me justice. If you decide to remain (as I think

you do), remember, Miss Haredale, that I left you with a solemn caution, and acquitting myself of all the

'Stay, sir!' cried Emmaone moment, I beg you. Cannot weand she drew Dolly closer to her'cannot we

'The task of conveying one female in safety through such scenes as we must encounter, to say nothing of

attracting the attention of those who crowd the streets,' he answered, 'is enough. I have said that she will be

restored to her friends tonight. If you accept the service I tender, Miss Haredale, she shall be instantly

placed in safe conduct, and that promise redeemed. Do you decide to remain? People of all ranks and creeds

are flying from the town, which is sacked from end to end. Let me be of use in some quarter. Do you stay, or

'Dolly,' said Emma, in a hurried manner, 'my dear girl, this is our last hope. If we part now, it is only that we

'You hear,' said Emma, 'that tonightonly tonightwithin a few hoursthink of that!you will be

among those who would die of grief to lose you, and who are now plunged in the deepest misery for your

sake. Pray for me, dear girl, as I will for you; and never forget the many quiet hours we have passed together.

But Dolly could say nothing; no, not when Emma kissed her cheek a hundred times, and covered it with tears,

could she do more than hang upon her neck, and sob, and clasp, and hold her tight.

'We have time for no more of this,' cried the man, unclenching her hands, and pushing her roughly off, as he

drew Emma Haredale towards the door: 'Now! Quick, outside there! are you ready?'

'Ay!' cried a loud voice, which made him start. 'Quite ready! Stand back here, for your lives!'

And in an instant he was felled like an ox in the butcher's shamblesstruck down as though a block of

marble had fallen from the roof and crushed himand cheerful light, and beaming faces came pouring

inand Emma was clasped in her uncle's embrace, and Dolly, with a shriek that pierced the air, fell into the

What fainting there was, what laughing, what crying, what sobbing, what smiling, how much questioning, no

answering, all talking together, all beside themselves with joy; what kissing, congratulating, embracing,

shaking of hands, and falling into all these raptures, over and over and over again; no language can describe.

At length, and after a long time, the old locksmith went up and fairly hugged two strangers, who had stood

apart and left them to themselves; and then they sawwhom? Yes, Edward Chester and Joseph Willet.

'See here!' cried the locksmith. 'See here! where would any of us have been without these two? Oh, Mr

Edward, Mr Edwardoh, Joe, Joe, how light, and yet how full, you have made my old heart to night!'

'It was Mr Edward that knocked him down, sir,' said Joe: 'I longed to do it, but I gave it up to him. Come, you

brave and honest gentleman! Get your senses together, for you haven't long to lie here.'

He had his foot upon the breast of their sham deliverer, in the absence of a spare arm; and gave him a gentle

roll as he spoke. Gashford, for it was no other, crouching yet malignant, raised his scowling face, like sin

'I have access to all my lord's papers, Mr Haredale,' he said, in a submissive voice: Mr Haredale keeping his

back towards him, and not once looking round: 'there are very important documents among them. There are a

great many in secret drawers, and distributed in various places, known only to my lord and me. I can give

some very valuable information, and render important assistance to any inquiry. You will have to answer it, if

'Pah!' cried Joe, in deep disgust. 'Get up, man; you're waited for, outside. Get up, do you hear?'

Gashford slowly rose; and picking up his hat, and looking with a baffled malevolence, yet with an air of

'And now, gentlemen,' said Joe, who seemed to be the spokesman of the party, for all the rest were silent; 'the

Mr Haredale nodded assent, and drawing his niece's arm through his, and taking one of her hands between his

own, passed out straightway; followed by the locksmith, Mrs Varden, and Dollywho would scarcely have

presented a sufficient surface for all the hugs and caresses they bestowed upon her though she had been a

And did Dolly never once look behindnot once? Was there not one little fleeting glimpse of the dark

eyelash, almost resting on her flushed cheek, and of the downcast sparkling eye it shaded? Joe thought there

wasand he is not likely to have been mistaken; for there were not many eyes like Dolly's, that's the truth.

The outer room through which they had to pass, was full of men; among them, Mr Dennis in safe keeping;

and there, had been since yesterday, lying in hiding behind a wooden screen which was now thrown down,

Simon Tappertit, the recreant 'prentice, burnt and bruised, and with a gunshot wound in his body; and his

legshis perfect legs, the pride and glory of his life, the comfort of his existencecrushed into shapeless

ugliness. Wondering no longer at the moans they had heard, Dolly kept closer to her father, and shuddered at

the sight; but neither bruises, burns, nor gunshot wound, nor all the torture of his shattered limbs, sent half

so keen a pang to Simon's breast, as Dolly passing out, with Joe for her preserver.

A coach was ready at the door, and Dolly found herself safe and whole inside, between her father and mother,

with Emma Haredale and her uncle, quite real, sitting opposite. But there was no Joe, no Edward; and they

had said nothing. They had only bowed once, and kept at a distance. Dear heart! what a long way it was to the

The Black Lion was so far off, and occupied such a length of time in the getting at, that notwithstanding the

strong presumptive evidence she had about her of the late events being real and of actual occurrence, Dolly

could not divest herself of the belief that she must be in a dream which was lasting all night. Nor was she

quite certain that she saw and heard with her own proper senses, even when the coach, in the fulness of time,

stopped at the Black Lion, and the host of that tavern approached in a gush of cheerful light to help them to

There too, at the coach door, one on one side, one upon the other, were already Edward Chester and Joe

Willet, who must have followed in another coach: and this was such a strange and unaccountable proceeding,

that Dolly was the more inclined to favour the idea of her being fast asleep. But when Mr Willet

appearedold John himselfso heavyheaded and obstinate, and with such a double chin as the liveliest

imagination could never in its boldest flights have conjured up in all its vast proportionsthen she stood

And Joe had lost an armhethat wellmade, handsome, gallant fellow! As Dolly glanced towards him,

and thought of the pain he must have suffered, and the faroff places in which he had been wandering, and

wondered who had been his nurse, and hoped that whoever it was, she had been as kind and gentle and

considerate as she would have been, the tears came rising to her bright eyes, one by one, little by little, until

'We are all safe now, Dolly,' said her father, kindly. 'We shall not be separated any more. Cheer up, my love,

The locksmith's wife knew better perhaps, than he, what ailed her daughter. But Mrs Varden being quite an

altered womanfor the riots had done that goodadded her word to his, and comforted her with similar

'Mayhap,' said Mr Willet, senior, looking round upon the company, 'she's hungry. That's what it is, depend

The Black Lion, who, like old John, had been waiting supper past all reasonable and conscionable hours,

hailed this as a philosophical discovery of the profoundest and most penetrating kind; and the table being

The conversation was not of the liveliest nature, nor were the appetites of some among them very keen. But,

in both these respects, old John more than atoned for any deficiency on the part of the rest, and very much

It was not in point of actual conversation that Mr Willet shone so brilliantly, for he had none of his old

cronies to 'tackle,' and was rather timorous of venturing on Joe; having certain vague misgivings within him,

that he was ready on the shortest notice, and on receipt of the slightest offence, to fell the Black Lion to the

floor of his own parlour, and immediately to withdraw to China or some other remote and unknown region,

there to dwell for evermore, or at least until he had got rid of his remaining arm and both legs, and perhaps an

eye or so, into the bargain. It was with a peculiar kind of pantomime that Mr Willet filled up every pause; and

in this he was considered by the Black Lion, who had been his familiar for some years, quite to surpass and

The subject that worked in Mr Willet's mind, and occasioned these demonstrations, was no other than his

son's bodily disfigurement, which he had never yet got himself thoroughly to believe, or comprehend. Shortly

after their first meeting, he had been observed to wander, in a state of great perplexity, to the kitchen, and to

direct his gaze towards the fire, as if in search of his usual adviser in all matters of doubt and difficulty. But

there being no boiler at the Black Lion, and the rioters having so beaten and battered his own that it was quite

unfit for further service, he wandered out again, in a perfect bog of uncertainty and mental confusion, and in

that state took the strangest means of resolving his doubts: such as feeling the sleeve of his son's greatcoat as

deeming it possible that his arm might be there; looking at his own arms and those of everybody else, as if to

assure himself that two and not one was the usual allowance; sitting by the hour together in a brown study, as

if he were endeavouring to recall Joe's image in his younger days, and to remember whether he really had in

those times one arm or a pair; and employing himself in many other speculations of the same kind.

Finding himself at this supper, surrounded by faces with which he had been so well acquainted in old times,

Mr Willet recurred to the subject with uncommon vigour; apparently resolved to understand it now or never.

Sometimes, after every two or three mouthfuls, he laid down his knife and fork, and stared at his son with all

his mightparticularly at his maimed side; then, he looked slowly round the table until he caught some

person's eye, when he shook his head with great solemnity, patted his shoulder, winked, or as one may

sayfor winking was a very slow process with himwent to sleep with one eye for a minute or two; and so,

with another solemn shaking of his head, took up his knife and fork again, and went on eating. Sometimes, he

put his food into his mouth abstractedly, and, with all his faculties concentrated on Joe, gazed at him in a fit

of stupefaction as he cut his meat with one hand, until he was recalled to himself by symptoms of choking on

his own part, and was by that means restored to consciousness. At other times he resorted to such small

devices as asking him for the salt, the pepper, the vinegar, the mustardanything that was on his maimed

sideand watching him as he handed it. By dint of these experiments, he did at last so satisfy and convince

himself, that, after a longer silence than he had yet maintained, he laid down his knife and fork on either side

his plate, drank a long draught from a tankard beside him (still keeping his eyes on Joe), and leaning

backward in his chair and fetching a long breath, said, as he looked all round the board:

'By George!' said the Black Lion, striking the table with his hand, 'he's got it!'

'Yes, sir,' said Mr Willet, with the look of a man who felt that he had earned a compliment, and deserved it.

'At the defence of the Salwanners,' repeated Mr Willet, softly; again looking round the table.

'In America, where the war is,' repeated Mr Willet. 'It was took off in the defence of the Salwanners in

America where the war is.' Continuing to repeat these words to himself in a low tone of voice (the same

information had been conveyed to him in the same terms, at least fifty times before), Mr Willet arose from

table, walked round to Joe, felt his empty sleeve all the way up, from the cuff, to where the stump of his arm

remained; shook his hand; lighted his pipe at the fire, took a long whiff, walked to the door, turned round

once when he had reached it, wiped his left eye with the back of his forefinger, and said, in a faltering voice:

'My son's arm was took offat the defence of theSalwannersin Americawhere the war is'with

Indeed, on various pretences, they all withdrew one after another, save Dolly, who was left sitting there

alone. It was a great relief to be alone, and she was crying to her heart's content, when she heard Joe's voice at

Good night! Then he was going elsewhereto some distance, perhaps. To what kind of home COULD he be

She heard him walk along the passage, and pass the door. But there was a hesitation in his footsteps. He

'Good night!'he didn't say Dolly, but there was comfort in his not saying Miss Varden.

'I am sorry you take on so much, for what is past and gone,' said Joe kindly. 'Don't. I can't bear to see you do

'You must have suffered very much within these few daysand yet you're not changed, unless it's for the

better. They said you were, but I don't see it. You wereyou were always very beautiful,' said Joe, 'but you

are more beautiful than ever, now. You are indeed. There can be no harm in my saying so, for you must know

As a general principle, Dolly DID know it, and WAS told so, very often. But the coachmaker had turned out,

years ago, to be a special donkey; and whether she had been afraid of making similar discoveries in others, or

had grown by dint of long custom to be careless of compliments generally, certain it is that although she cried

so much, she was better pleased to be told so now, than ever she had been in all her life.

'I shall bless your name,' sobbed the locksmith's little daughter, 'as long as I live. I shall never hear it spoken

without feeling as if my heart would burst. I shall remember it in my prayers, every night and morning till I

'Will you?' said Joe, eagerly. 'Will you indeed? It makes me well, it makes me very glad and proud to hear

Dolly still sobbed, and held her handkerchief to her eyes. Joe still stood, looking at her.

'Your voice,' said Joe, 'brings up old times so pleasantly, that, for the moment, I feel as if that nightthere

can be no harm in talking of that night nowhad come back, and nothing had happened in the mean time. I

feel as if I hadn't suffered any hardships, but had knocked down poor Tom Cobb only yesterday, and had

come to see you with my bundle on my shoulder before running away.You remember?'

Remember! But she said nothing. She raised her eyes for an instant. It was but a glance; a little, tearful, timid

'Well!' he said stoutly, 'it was to be otherwise, and was. I have been abroad, fighting all the summer and

frozen up all the winter, ever since. I have come back as poor in purse as I went, and crippled for life besides.

But, Dolly, I would rather have lost this other armay, I would rather have lost my headthan have come

back to find you dead, or anything but what I always pictured you to myself, and what I always hoped and

Oh how much, and how keenly, the little coquette of five years ago, felt now! She had found her heart at last.

Never having known its worth till now, she had never known the worth of his. How priceless it appeared!

'I did hope once,' said Joe, in his homely way, 'that I might come back a rich man, and marry you. But I was a

boy then, and have long known better than that. I am a poor, maimed, discharged soldier, and must be content

to rub through life as I can. I can't say, even now, that I shall be glad to see you married, Dolly; but I AM

gladyes, I am, and glad to think I can say soto know that you are admired and courted, and can pick and

choose for a happy life. It's a comfort to me to know that you'll talk to your husband about me; and I hope the

time will come when I may be able to like him, and to shake hands with him, and to come and see you as a

By this Friday nightfor it was on Friday in the riot week, that Emma and Dolly were rescued, by the timely

aid of Joe and Edward Chesterthe disturbances were entirely quelled, and peace and order were restored to

the affrighted city. True, after what had happened, it was impossible for any man to say how long this better

state of things might last, or how suddenly new outrages, exceeding even those so lately witnessed, might

burst forth and fill its streets with ruin and bloodshed; for this reason, those who had fled from the recent

tumults still kept at a distance, and many families, hitherto unable to procure the means of flight, now availed

themselves of the calm, and withdrew into the country. The shops, too, from Tyburn to Whitechapel, were

still shut; and very little business was transacted in any of the places of great commercial resort. But,

notwithstanding, and in spite of the melancholy forebodings of that numerous class of society who see with

the greatest clearness into the darkest perspectives, the town remained profoundly quiet. The strong military

force disposed in every advantageous quarter, and stationed at every commanding point, held the scattered

fragments of the mob in check; the search after rioters was prosecuted with unrelenting vigour; and if there

were any among them so desperate and reckless as to be inclined, after the terrible scenes they had beheld, to

venture forth again, they were so daunted by these resolute measures, that they quickly shrunk into their

In a word, the crowd was utterly routed. Upwards of two hundred had been shot dead in the streets. Two

hundred and fifty more were lying, badly wounded, in the hospitals; of whom seventy or eighty died within a

short time afterwards. A hundred were already in custody, and more were taken every hour. How many

perished in the conflagrations, or by their own excesses, is unknown; but that numbers found a terrible grave

in the hot ashes of the flames they had kindled, or crept into vaults and cellars to drink in secret or to nurse

their sores, and never saw the light again, is certain. When the embers of the fires had been black and cold for

Seventytwo private houses and four strong jails were destroyed in the four great days of these riots. The

total loss of property, as estimated by the sufferers, was one hundred and fiftyfive thousand pounds; at the

lowest and least partial estimate of disinterested persons, it exceeded one hundred and twentyfive thousand

pounds. For this immense loss, compensation was soon afterwards made out of the public purse, in pursuance

of a vote of the House of Commons; the sum being levied on the various wards in the city, on the county, and

the borough of Southwark. Both Lord Mansfield and Lord Saville, however, who had been great sufferers,

The House of Commons, sitting on Tuesday with locked and guarded doors, had passed a resolution to the

effect that, as soon as the tumults subsided, it would immediately proceed to consider the petitions presented

from many of his Majesty's Protestant subjects, and would take the same into its serious consideration. While

this question was under debate, Mr Herbert, one of the members present, indignantly rose and called upon the

House to observe that Lord George Gordon was then sitting under the gallery with the blue cockade, the

signal of rebellion, in his hat. He was not only obliged, by those who sat near, to take it out; but offering to go

into the street to pacify the mob with the somewhat indefinite assurance that the House was prepared to give

them 'the satisfaction they sought,' was actually held down in his seat by the combined force of several

members. In short, the disorder and violence which reigned triumphant out of doors, penetrated into the

senate, and there, as elsewhere, terror and alarm prevailed, and ordinary forms were for the time forgotten.

On the Thursday, both Houses had adjourned until the following Monday se'nnight, declaring it impossible to

pursue their deliberations with the necessary gravity and freedom, while they were surrounded by armed

troops. And now that the rioters were dispersed, the citizens were beset with a new fear; for, finding the

public thoroughfares and all their usual places of resort filled with soldiers entrusted with the free use of fire

and sword, they began to lend a greedy ear to the rumours which were afloat of martial law being declared,

and to dismal stories of prisoners having been seen hanging on lampposts in Cheapside and Fleet Street.

These terrors being promptly dispelled by a Proclamation declaring that all the rioters in custody would be

tried by a special commission in due course of law, a fresh alarm was engendered by its being whispered

abroad that French money had been found on some of the rioters, and that the disturbances had been

fomented by foreign powers who sought to compass the overthrow and ruin of England. This report, which

was strengthened by the diffusion of anonymous handbills, but which, if it had any foundation at all, probably

owed its origin to the circumstance of some few coins which were not English money having been swept into

the pockets of the insurgents with other miscellaneous booty, and afterwards discovered on the prisoners or

the dead bodies,caused a great sensation; and men's minds being in that excited state when they are most

apt to catch at any shadow of apprehension, was bruited about with much industry.

All remaining quiet, however, during the whole of this Friday, and on this Friday night, and no new

discoveries being made, confidence began to be restored, and the most timid and desponding breathed again.

In Southwark, no fewer than three thousand of the inhabitants formed themselves into a watch, and patrolled

the streets every hour. Nor were the citizens slow to follow so good an example: and it being the manner of

peaceful men to be very bold when the danger is over, they were abundantly fierce and daring; not scrupling

to question the stoutest passenger with great severity, and carrying it with a very high hand over all errand

As day deepened into evening, and darkness crept into the nooks and corners of the town as if it were

mustering in secret and gathering strength to venture into the open ways, Barnaby sat in his dungeon,

wondering at the silence, and listening in vain for the noise and outcry which had ushered in the night of late.

Beside him, with his hand in hers, sat one in whose companionship he felt at peace. She was worn, and

'Mother,' he said, after a long silence: 'how long,how many days and nights,shall I be kept here?'

'You hope! Ay, but your hoping will not undo these chains. I hope, but they don't mind that. Grip hopes, but

The raven gave a short, dull, melancholy croak. It said 'Nobody,' as plainly as a croak could speak.

'Who cares for Grip, except you and me?' said Barnaby, smoothing the bird's rumpled feathers with his hand.

'He never speaks in this place; he never says a word in jail; he sits and mopes all day in his dark corner,

dozing sometimes, and sometimes looking at the light that creeps in through the bars, and shines in his bright

eye as if a spark from those great fires had fallen into the room and was burning yet. But who cares for Grip?'

'And by the way,' said Barnaby, withdrawing his hand from the bird, and laying it upon his mother's arm, as

he looked eagerly in her face; 'if they kill methey may: I heard it said they wouldwhat will become of

The sound of the word, or the current of his own thoughts, suggested to Grip his old phrase 'Never say die!'

But he stopped short in the middle of it, drew a dismal cork, and subsided into a faint croak, as if he lacked

'Will they take HIS life as well as mine?' said Barnaby. 'I wish they would. If you and I and he could die

together, there would be none to feel sorry, or to grieve for us. But do what they will, I don't fear them,

'They will not harm you,' she said, her tears choking her utterance. 'They never will harm you, when they

'Oh! Don't be too sure of that,' cried Barnaby, with a strange pleasure in the belief that she was selfdeceived,

and in his own sagacity. 'They have marked me from the first. I heard them say so to each other when they

brought me to this place last night; and I believe them. Don't you cry for me. They said that I was bold, and

so I am, and so I will be. You may think that I am silly, but I can die as well as another.I have done no

'Why then,' said Barnaby, 'let them do their worst. You told me onceyouwhen I asked you what death

meant, that it was nothing to be feared, if we did no harmAha! mother, you thought I had forgotten that!'

His merry laugh and playful manner smote her to the heart. She drew him closer to her, and besought him to

talk to her in whispers and to be very quiet, for it was getting dark, and their time was short, and she would

He joyfully replied that this was well, and what he wished, and what he had felt quite certain she would tell

him; and then he asked her where she had been so long, and why she had not come to see him when he had

been a great soldier, and ran through the wild schemes he had had for their being rich and living

prosperously, and with some faint notion in his mind that she was sad and he had made her so, tried to

console and comfort her, and talked of their former life and his old sports and freedom: little dreaming that

every word he uttered only increased her sorrow, and that her tears fell faster at the freshened recollection of

'Mother,' said Barnaby, as they heard the man approaching to close the cells for the night,' when I spoke to

you just now about my father you cried "Hush!" and turned away your head. Why did you do so? Tell me

why, in a word. You thought HE was dead. You are not sorry that he is alive and has come back to us. Where

'Why not?' said Barnaby. 'Because he is a stern man, and talks roughly? Well! I don't like him, or want to be

'Because I am sorry that he is alive; sorry that he has come back; and sorry that he and you have ever met.

Because, dear Barnaby, the endeavour of my life has been to keep you two asunder.'

'He has,' she whispered in his ear, 'he has shed blood. The time has come when you must know it. He has

shed the blood of one who loved him well, and trusted him, and never did him wrong in word or deed.'

Barnaby recoiled in horror, and glancing at his stained wrist for an instant, wrapped it, shuddering, in his

'But,' she added hastily as the key turned in the lock, 'although we shun him, he is your father, dearest, and I

am his wretched wife. They seek his life, and he will lose it. It must not be by our means; nay, if we could

win him back to penitence, we should be bound to love him yet. Do not seem to know him, except as one

who fled with you from the jail, and if they question you about him, do not answer them. God be with you

She tore herself away, and in a few seconds Barnaby was alone. He stood for a long time rooted to the spot,

with his face hidden in his hands; then flung himself, sobbing, on his miserable bed.

But the moon came slowly up in all her gentle glory, and the stars looked out, and through the small compass

of the grated window, as through the narrow crevice of one good deed in a murky life of guilt, the face of

Heaven shone bright and merciful. He raised his head; gazed upward at the quiet sky, which seemed to smile

upon the earth in sadness, as if the night, more thoughtful than the day, looked down in sorrow on the

sufferings and evil deeds of men; and felt its peace sink deep into his heart. He, a poor idiot, caged in his

narrow cell, was as much lifted up to God, while gazing on the mild light, as the freest and most favoured

man in all the spacious city; and in his illremembered prayer, and in the fragment of the childish hymn, with

which he sung and crooned himself asleep, there breathed as true a spirit as ever studied homily expressed, or

As his mother crossed a yard on her way out, she saw, through a grated door which separated it from another

court, her husband, walking round and round, with his hands folded on his breast, and his head hung down.

She asked the man who conducted her, if she might speak a word with this prisoner. Yes, but she must be

quick for he was locking up for the night, and there was but a minute or so to spare. Saying this, he unlocked

It grated harshly as it turned upon its hinges, but he was deaf to the noise, and still walked round and round

the little court, without raising his head or changing his attitude in the least. She spoke to him, but her voice

was weak, and failed her. At length she put herself in his track, and when he came near, stretched out her

He started backward, trembling from head to foot; but seeing who it was, demanded why she came there.

'What is that to me?' he cried, stamping impatiently on the stone pavement. 'I know it. He can no more aid me

As he spoke he resumed his walk, and hurried round the court as before. When he came again to where she

'Oh!do YOU?' she answered. 'Will you, while time remains? Do not believe that I could save you, if I

'Say if you would,' he answered with an oath, as he tried to disengage himself and pass on. 'Say if you would.'

'Listen to me for one moment,' she returned; 'for but a moment. I am but newly risen from a sickbed, from

which I never hoped to rise again. The best among us think, at such a time, of good intentions halfperformed

and duties left undone. If I have ever, since that fatal night, omitted to pray for your repentance before

deathif I omitted, even then, anything which might tend to urge it on you when the horror of your crime

was freshif, in our later meeting, I yielded to the dread that was upon me, and forgot to fall upon my knees

and solemnly adjure you, in the name of him you sent to his account with Heaven, to prepare for the

retribution which must come, and which is stealing on you nowI humbly before you, and in the agony of

'What is the meaning of your canting words?' he answered roughly. 'Speak so that I may understand you.'

'I will,' she answered, 'I desire to. Bear with me for a moment more. The hand of Him who set His curse on

murder, is heavy on us now. You cannot doubt it. Our son, our innocent boy, on whom His anger fell before

his birth, is in this place in peril of his life brought here by your guilt; yes, by that alone, as Heaven sees

and knows, for he has been led astray in the darkness of his intellect, and that is the terrible consequence of

'If you come, womanlike, to load me with reproaches' he muttered, again endeavouring to break away.

'I do not. I have a different purpose. You must hear it. If not tonight, tomorrow; if not tomorrow, at

'You tell me so, do you?' he said, raising his manacled hand, and shaking it. 'You!'

'To make me easy in this jail. To make the time 'twixt this and death, pass pleasantly. For my goodyes, for

my good, of course,' he said, grinding his teeth, and smiling at her with a livid face.

'Not to load you with reproaches,' she replied; 'not to aggravate the tortures and miseries of your condition,

not to give you one hard word, but to restore you to peace and hope. Husband, dear husband, if you will but

confess this dreadful crime; if you will but implore forgiveness of Heaven and of those whom you have

wronged on earth; if you will dismiss these vain uneasy thoughts, which never can be realised, and will rely

on Penitence and on the Truth, I promise you, in the great name of the Creator, whose image you have

defaced, that He will comfort and console you. And for myself,' she cried, clasping her hands, and looking

upward, 'I swear before Him, as He knows my heart and reads it now, that from that hour I will love and

cherish you as I did of old, and watch you night and day in the short interval that will remain to us, and

soothe you with my truest love and duty, and pray with you, that one threatening judgment may be arrested,

and that our boy may be spared to bless God, in his poor way, in the free air and light!'

He fell back and gazed at her while she poured out these words, as though he were for a moment awed by her

manner, and knew not what to do. But anger and fear soon got the mastery of him, and he spurned her from

'Begone!' he cried. 'Leave me! You plot, do you! You plot to get speech with me, and let them know I am the

'Let it fall heavier. Let it fall on one and all. I hate you both. The worst has come to me. The only comfort that

'I say goI say it for the last time. The gallows has me in its grasp, and it is a black phantom that may urge

me on to something more. Begone! I curse the hour that I was born, the man I slew, and all the living world!'

In a paroxysm of wrath, and terror, and the fear of death, he broke from her, and rushed into the darkness of

his cell, where he cast himself jangling down upon the stone floor, and smote it with his ironed hands. The

On that warm, balmy night in June, there were glad faces and light hearts in all quarters of the town, and

sleep, banished by the late horrors, was doubly welcomed. On that night, families made merry in their houses,

and greeted each other on the common danger they had escaped; and those who had been denounced,

ventured into the streets; and they who had been plundered, got good shelter. Even the timorous Lord Mayor,

who was summoned that night before the Privy Council to answer for his conduct, came back contented;

observing to all his friends that he had got off very well with a reprimand, and repeating with huge

satisfaction his memorable defence before the Council, 'that such was his temerity, he thought death would

On that night, too, more of the scattered remnants of the mob were traced to their lurkingplaces, and taken;

and in the hospitals, and deep among the ruins they had made, and in the ditches, and fields, many

unshrouded wretches lay dead: envied by those who had been active in the disturbances, and who pillowed

And in the Tower, in a dreary room whose thick stone walls shut out the hum of life, and made a stillness

which the records left by former prisoners with those silent witnesses seemed to deepen and intensify;

remorseful for every act that had been done by every man among the cruel crowd; feeling for the time their

guilt his own, and their lives put in peril by himself; and finding, amidst such reflections, little comfort in

fanaticism, or in his fancied call; sat the unhappy author of allLord George Gordon.

He had been made prisoner that evening. 'If you are sure it's me you want,' he said to the officers, who waited

outside with the warrant for his arrest on a charge of High Treason, 'I am ready to accompany you' which

he did without resistance. He was conducted first before the Privy Council, and afterwards to the Horse

Guards, and then was taken by way of Westminster Bridge, and back over London Bridge (for the purpose of

avoiding the main streets), to the Tower, under the strongest guard ever known to enter its gates with a single

Of all his forty thousand men, not one remained to bear him company. Friends, dependents, followers,none

were there. His fawning secretary had played the traitor; and he whose weakness had been goaded and urged

Me Dennis, having been made prisoner late in the evening, was removed to a neighbouring roundhouse for

that night, and carried before a justice for examination on the next day, Saturday. The charges against him

being numerous and weighty, and it being in particular proved, by the testimony of Gabriel Varden, that he

had shown a special desire to take his life, he was committed for trial. Moreover he was honoured with the

distinction of being considered a chief among the insurgents, and received from the magistrate's lips the

complimentary assurance that he was in a position of imminent danger, and would do well to prepare himself

To say that Mr Dennis's modesty was not somewhat startled by these honours, or that he was altogether

prepared for so flattering a reception, would be to claim for him a greater amount of stoical philosophy than

even he possessed. Indeed this gentleman's stoicism was of that not uncommon kind, which enables a man to

bear with exemplary fortitude the afflictions of his friends, but renders him, by way of counterpoise, rather

selfish and sensitive in respect of any that happen to befall himself. It is therefore no disparagement to the

great officer in question to state, without disguise or concealment, that he was at first very much alarmed, and

that he betrayed divers emotions of fear, until his reasoning powers came to his relief, and set before him a

In proportion as Mr Dennis exercised these intellectual qualities with which he was gifted, in reviewing his

best chances of coming off handsomely and with small personal inconvenience, his spirits rose, and his

confidence increased. When he remembered the great estimation in which his office was held, and the

constant demand for his services; when he bethought himself, how the Statute Book regarded him as a kind of

Universal Medicine applicable to men, women, and children, of every age and variety of criminal

constitution; and how high he stood, in his official capacity, in the favour of the Crown, and both Houses of

Parliament, the Mint, the Bank of England, and the Judges of the land; when he recollected that whatever

Ministry was in or out, he remained their peculiar pet and panacea, and that for his sake England stood single

and conspicuous among the civilised nations of the earth: when he called these things to mind and dwelt upon

them, he felt certain that the national gratitude MUST relieve him from the consequences of his late

proceedings, and would certainly restore him to his old place in the happy social system.

With these crumbs, or as one may say, with these whole loaves of comfort to regale upon, Mr Dennis took his

place among the escort that awaited him, and repaired to jail with a manly indifference. Arriving at Newgate,

where some of the ruined cells had been hastily fitted up for the safe keeping of rioters, he was warmly

received by the turnkeys, as an unusual and interesting case, which agreeably relieved their monotonous

duties. In this spirit, he was fettered with great care, and conveyed into the interior of the prison.

'Brother,' cried the hangman, as, following an officer, he traversed under these novel circumstances the

remains of passages with which he was well acquainted, 'am I going to be along with anybody?'

'If you'd have left more walls standing, you'd have been alone,' was the reply. 'As it is, we're cramped for

'Well,' returned Dennis, 'I don't object to company, brother. I rather like company. I was formed for society, I

'No,' answered Dennis, 'I'm not aware that it is. Why should it be a pity, brother?'

'Oh! I don't know,' said the man carelessly. 'I thought that was what you meant. Being formed for society, and

'I say,' interposed the other quickly, 'what are you talking of? Don't. Who's agoing to be cut off in their

Mr Dennis wiped his face, which had suddenly grown very hot, and remarking in a tremulous voice to his

conductor that he had always been fond of his joke, followed him in silence until he stopped at a door.

He was walking in, but not with the best possible grace, when he suddenly stopped, and started back.

'But I can't go in there,' whispered Dennis. 'I can't be shut up with that man. Do you want me to be throttled,

The officer seemed to entertain no particular desire on the subject one way or other, but briefly remarking

that he had his orders, and intended to obey them, pushed him in, turned the key, and retired.

Dennis stood trembling with his back against the door, and involuntarily raising his arm to defend himself,

stared at a man, the only other tenant of the cell, who lay, stretched at his fall length, upon a stone bench, and

who paused in his deep breathing as if he were about to wake. But he rolled over on one side, let his arm fall

negligently down, drew a long sigh, and murmuring indistinctly, fell fast asleep again.

Relieved in some degree by this, the hangman took his eyes for an instant from the slumbering figure, and

glanced round the cell in search of some 'vantageground or weapon of defence. There was nothing

moveable within it, but a clumsy table which could not be displaced without noise, and a heavy chair.

Stealing on tiptoe towards this latter piece of furniture, he retired with it into the remotest corner, and

intrenching himself behind it, watched the enemy with the utmost vigilance and caution.

The sleeping man was Hugh; and perhaps it was not unnatural for Dennis to feel in a state of very

uncomfortable suspense, and to wish with his whole soul that he might never wake again. Tired of standing,

he crouched down in his corner after some time, and rested on the cold pavement; but although Hugh's

breathing still proclaimed that he was sleeping soundly, he could not trust him out of his sight for an instant.

He was so afraid of him, and of some sudden onslaught, that he was not content to see his closed eyes

through the chairback, but every now and then, rose stealthily to his feet, and peered at him with

outstretched neck, to assure himself that he really was still asleep, and was not about to spring upon him

He slept so long and so soundly, that Mr Dennis began to think he might sleep on until the turnkey visited

them. He was congratulating himself upon these promising appearances, and blessing his stars with much

fervour, when one or two unpleasant symptoms manifested themselves: such as another motion of the arm,

another sigh, a restless tossing of the head. Then, just as it seemed that he was about to fall heavily to the

It happened that his face was turned directly towards his unexpected visitor. He looked lazily at him for some

halfdozen seconds without any aspect of surprise or recognition; then suddenly jumped up, and with a great

'Keep off, brother, keep off!' cried Dennis, dodging behind the chair. 'Don't do me a mischief. I'm a prisoner

like you. I haven't the free use of my limbs. I'm quite an old man. Don't hurt me!'

He whined out the last three words in such piteous accents, that Hugh, who had dragged away the chair, and

'I'll get up certainly, brother,' cried Dennis, anxious to propitiate him by any means in his power. 'I'll comply

with any request of yours, I'm sure. ThereI'm up now. What can I do for you? Only say the word, and I'll

'What can you do for me!' cried Hugh, clutching him by the collar with both hands, and shaking him as

though he were bent on stopping his breath by that means. 'What have you done for me?'

Hugh made him no answer, but shaking him in his strong grip until his teeth chattered in his head, cast him

'If it wasn't for the comfort it is to me, to see you here,' he muttered, 'I'd have crushed your head against it; I

It was some time before Dennis had breath enough to speak, but as soon as he could resume his propitiatory

'I did the best that could be done, brother,' he whined; 'I did indeed. I was forced with two bayonets and I

don't know how many bullets on each side of me, to point you out. If you hadn't been taken, you'd have been

'Will it be a better sight now?' asked Hugh, raising his head, with such a fierce expression, that the other durst

'A deal better,' said Dennis meekly, after a pause. 'First, there's all the chances of the law, and they're five

hundred strong. We may get off scotfree. Unlikelier things than that have come to pass. Even if we

shouldn't, and the chances fail, we can but be worked off once: and when it's well done, it's so neat, so skilful,

so captiwating, if that don't seem too strong a word, that you'd hardly believe it could be brought to sich

perfection. Kill one's fellowcreeturs off, with muskets!Pah!' and his nature so revolted at the bare idea,

His warming on this topic, which to one unacquainted with his pursuits and tastes appeared like courage;

together with his artful suppression of his own secret hopes, and mention of himself as being in the same

condition with Hugh; did more to soothe that ruffian than the most elaborate arguments could have done, or

the most abject submission. He rested his arms upon his knees, and stooping forward, looked from beneath

'The fact is, brother,' said the hangman, in a tone of greater confidence, 'that you got into bad company. The

man that was with you was looked after more than you, and it was him I wanted. As to me, what have I got

'Lookee, rascal,' said Hugh, contracting his brows, 'I'm not altogether such a shallow blade but I know you

expected to get something by it, or you wouldn't have done it. But it's done, and you're here, and it will soon

be all over with you and me; and I'd as soon die as live, or live as die. Why should I trouble myself to have

revenge on you? To eat, and drink, and go to sleep, as long as I stay here, is all I care for. If there was but a

little more sun to bask in, than can find its way into this cursed place, I'd lie in it all day, and not trouble

myself to sit or stand up once. That's all the care I have for myself. Why should I care for YOU?'

Finishing this speech with a growl like the yawn of a wild beast, he stretched himself upon the bench again,

After looking at him in silence for some moments, Dennis, who was greatly relieved to find him in this mood,

drew the chair towards his rough couch and sat down near himtaking the precaution, however, to keep out

'Well said, brother; nothing could be better said,' he ventured to observe. 'We'll eat and drink of the best, and

sleep our best, and make the best of it every way. Anything can be got for money. Let's spend it merrily.'

'Why, they took mine from me at the lodge,' said Mr Dennis; 'but mine's a peculiar case.'

'Why then, I tell you what, brother,' Dennis began. 'You must look up your friends'

'My friends!' cried Hugh, starting up and resting on his hands. 'Where are my friends?'

'Ha ha ha!' laughed Hugh, waving one arm above his head. 'He talks of friends to metalks of relations to a

man whose mother died the death in store for her son, and left him, a hungry brat, without a face he knew in

'Brother,' cried the hangman, whose features underwent a sudden change, 'you don't mean to say'

'I mean to say,' Hugh interposed, 'that they hung her up at Tyburn. What was good enough for her, is good

enough for me. Let them do the like by me as soon as they pleasethe sooner the better. Say no more to me.

'But I want to speak to you; I want to hear more about that,' said Dennis, changing colour.

'If you're a wise man,' growled Hugh, raising his head to look at him with a frown, 'you'll hold your tongue. I

Dennis venturing to say something more in spite of this caution, the desperate fellow struck at him with all

his force, and missing him, lay down again with many muttered oaths and imprecations, and turned his face

towards the wall. After two or three ineffectual twitches at his dress, which he was hardy enough to venture

upon, notwithstanding his dangerous humour, Mr Dennis, who burnt, for reasons of his own, to pursue the

conversation, had no alternative but to sit as patiently as he could: waiting his further pleasure.

A month has elapsed,and we stand in the bedchamber of Sir John Chester. Through the halfopened

window, the Temple Garden looks green and pleasant; the placid river, gay with boat and barge, and dimpled

with the plash of many an oar, sparkles in the distance; the sky is blue and clear; and the summer air steals

gently in, filling the room with perfume. The very town, the smoky town, is radiant. High roofs and

steepletops, wont to look black and sullen, smile a cheerful grey; every old gilded vane, and ball, and cross,

glitters anew in the bright morning sun; and, high among them all, St Paul's towers up, showing its lofty crest

Sir John was breakfasting in bed. His chocolate and toast stood upon a little table at his elbow; books and

newspapers lay ready to his hand, upon the coverlet; and, sometimes pausing to glance with an air of tranquil

satisfaction round the wellordered room, and sometimes to gaze indolently at the summer sky, he ate, and

The cheerful influence of the morning seemed to have some effect, even upon his equable temper. His

manner was unusually gay; his smile more placid and agreeable than usual; his voice more clear and pleasant.

He laid down the newspaper he had been reading; leaned back upon his pillow with the air of one who

resigned himself to a train of charming recollections; and after a pause, soliloquised as follows:

'And my friend the centaur, goes the way of his mamma! I am not surprised. And his mysterious friend Mr

Dennis, likewise! I am not surprised. And my old postman, the exceedingly freeandeasy young madman of

Chigwell! I am quite rejoiced. It's the very best thing that could possibly happen to him.'

After delivering himself of these remarks, he fell again into his smiling train of reflection; from which he

roused himself at length to finish his chocolate, which was getting cold, and ring the bell for more.

The new supply arriving, he took the cup from his servant's hand; and saying, with a charming affability, 'I

'It is a remarkable circumstance,' he mused, dallying lazily with the teaspoon, 'that my friend the madman

should have been within an ace of escaping, on his trial; and it was a good stroke of chance (or, as the world

would say, a providential occurrence) that the brother of my Lord Mayor should have been in court, with

other country justices, into whose very dense heads curiosity had penetrated. For though the brother of my

Lord Mayor was decidedly wrong; and established his near relationship to that amusing person beyond all

doubt, in stating that my friend was sane, and had, to his knowledge, wandered about the country with a

vagabond parent, avowing revolutionary and rebellious sentiments; I am not the less obliged to him for

volunteering that evidence. These insane creatures make such very odd and embarrassing remarks, that they

The country justice had indeed turned the wavering scale against poor Barnaby, and solved the doubt that

'They will be a singular party,' said Sir John, leaning his head upon his hand, and sipping his chocolate; 'a

very curious party. The hangman himself; the centaur; and the madman. The centaur would make a very

handsome preparation in Surgeons' Hall, and would benefit science extremely. I hope they have taken care to

This reminder to his servant was called forth by a knock at the door, which the man hastened to open. After a

prolonged murmur of question and answer, he returned; and as he cautiously closed the roomdoor behind

'Now, it is of no use, Peak,' said Sir John, raising his hand in deprecation of his delivering any message; 'I am

not at home. I cannot possibly hear you. I told you I was not at home, and my word is sacred. Will you never

Having nothing to oppose to this reproof, the man was about to withdraw, when the visitor who had given

occasion to it, probably rendered impatient by delay, knocked with his knuckles at the chamberdoor, and

called out that he had urgent business with Sir John Chester, which admitted of no delay.

'Let him in,' said Sir John. 'My good fellow,' he added, when the door was opened, 'how come you to intrude

yourself in this extraordinary manner upon the privacy of a gentleman? How can you be so wholly destitute

'My business, Sir John, is not of a common kind, I do assure you,' returned the person he addressed. 'If I have

taken any uncommon course to get admission to you, I hope I shall be pardoned on that account.'

'Well! we shall see; we shall see,' returned Sir John, whose face cleared up when he saw who it was, and

whose prepossessing smile was now restored. 'I am sure we have met before,' he added in his winning tone,

'Varden, of course, Varden,' returned Sir John, tapping his forehead. 'Dear me, how very defective my

memory becomes! Varden to be sureMr Varden the locksmith. You have a charming wife, Mr Varden, and

'I rejoice to hear it,' said Sir John. 'Commend me to them when you return, and say that I wished I were

fortunate enough to convey, myself, the salute which I entrust you to deliver. And what,' he asked very

'I thank you, Sir John,' said Gabriel, with some pride in his manner, 'but I have come to ask no favour of you,

though I come on business.Private,' he added, with a glance at the man who stood looking on, 'and very

'I cannot say you are the more welcome for being independent, and having nothing to ask of me,' returned Sir

John, graciously, 'for I should have been happy to render you a service; still, you are welcome on any terms.

'Sir John,' said Gabriel, 'I am a workingman, and have been so, all my life. If I don't prepare you enough for

what I have to tell; if I come to the point too abruptly; and give you a shock, which a gentleman could have

spared you, or at all events lessened very much; I hope you will give me credit for meaning well. I wish to be

careful and considerate, and I trust that in a straightforward person like me, you'll take the will for the deed.'

'Mr Varden,' returned the other, perfectly composed under this exordium; 'I beg you'll take a chair. Chocolate,

'Sir John,' said Gabriel, who had acknowledged with a bow the invitation to be seated, but had not availed

himself of it. 'Sir John'he dropped his voice and drew nearer to the bed'I am just now come from

'Good Gad!' cried Sir John, hastily sitting up in bed; 'from Newgate, Mr Varden! How could you be so very

imprudent as to come from Newgate! Newgate, where there are jailfevers, and ragged people, and

barefooted men and women, and a thousand horrors! Peak, bring the camphor, quick! Heaven and earth, Mr

Gabriel returned no answer, but looked on in silence while Peak (who had entered with the hot chocolate) ran

to a drawer, and returning with a bottle, sprinkled his master's dressinggown and the bedding; and besides

moistening the locksmith himself, plentifully, described a circle round about him on the carpet. When he had

done this, he again retired; and Sir John, reclining in an easy attitude upon his pillow, once more turned a

'You will forgive me, Mr Varden, I am sure, for being at first a little sensitive both on your account and my

own. I confess I was startled, notwithstanding your delicate exordium. Might I ask you to do me the favour

'Indeed! And now, Mr Varden, all exaggeration and embellishment apart,' said Sir John Chester,

'A strange place, Sir John,' returned the locksmith, 'of a sad and doleful kind. A strange place, where many

strange things are heard and seen; but few more strange than that I come to tell you of. The case is urgent. I

'And my good, credulous, openhearted friend,' said Sir John, setting down his cup, and laughing,'by

'By a man called Dennisfor many years the hangman, and tomorrow morning the hanged,' returned the

Sir John had expectedhad been quite certain from the firstthat he would say he had come from Hugh,

and was prepared to meet him on that point. But this answer occasioned him a degree of astonishment, which,

for the moment, he could not, with all his command of feature, prevent his face from expressing. He quickly

'And what does the gentleman require of me? My memory may be at fault again, but I don't recollect that I

ever had the pleasure of an introduction to him, or that I ever numbered him among my personal friends, I do

'Sir John,' returned the locksmith, gravely, 'I will tell you, as nearly as I can, in the words he used to me, what

he desires that you should know, and what you ought to know without a moment's loss of time.'

Sir John Chester settled himself in a position of greater repose, and looked at his visitor with an expression of

'You may have seen in the newspapers, sir,' said Gabriel, pointing to the one which lay by his side, 'that I was

a witness against this man upon his trial some days since; and that it was not his fault I was alive, and able to

'MAY have seen!' cried Sir John. 'My dear Mr Varden, you are quite a public character, and live in all men's

thoughts most deservedly. Nothing can exceed the interest with which I read your testimony, and

remembered that I had the pleasure of a slight acquaintance with you.I hope we shall have your portrait

'This morning, sir,' said the locksmith, taking no notice of these compliments, 'early this morning, a message

was brought to me from Newgate, at this man's request, desiring that I would go and see him, for he had

something particular to communicate. I needn't tell you that he is no friend of mine, and that I had never seen

'I knew, however, from the general report,' resumed Gabriel, 'that the order for his execution tomorrow,

went down to the prison last night; and looking upon him as a dying man, I complied with his request.'

'You are quite a Christian, Mr Varden,' said Sir John; 'and in that amiable capacity, you increase my desire

'He said,' continued Gabriel, looking steadily at the knight, 'that he had sent to me, because he had no friend

or companion in the whole world (being the common hangman), and because he believed, from the way in

which I had given my evidence, that I was an honest man, and would act truly by him. He said that, being

shunned by every one who knew his calling, even by people of the lowest and most wretched grade, and

finding, when he joined the rioters, that the men he acted with had no suspicion of it (which I believe is true

enough, for a poor fool of an old 'prentice of mine was one of them), he had kept his own counsel, up to the

'Very discreet of Mr Dennis,' observed Sir John with a slight yawn, though still with the utmost affability,

'butexcept for your admirable and lucid manner of telling it, which is perfectnot very interesting to me.'

'When,' pursued the locksmith, quite unabashed and wholly regardless of these interruptions, 'when he was

taken to the jail, he found that his fellowprisoner, in the same room, was a young man, Hugh by name, a

leader in the riots, who had been betrayed and given up by himself. From something which fell from this

unhappy creature in the course of the angry words they had at meeting, he discovered that his mother had

suffered the death to which they both are now condemned.The time is very short, Sir John.'

The knight laid down his paper fan, replaced his cup upon the table at his side, and, saving for the smile that

lurked about his mouth, looked at the locksmith with as much steadiness as the locksmith looked at him.

'They have been in prison now, a month. One conversation led to many more; and the hangman soon found,

from a comparison of time, and place, and dates, that he had executed the sentence of the law upon this

woman, himself. She had been tempted by wantas so many people areinto the easy crime of passing

forged notes. She was young and handsome; and the traders who employ men, women, and children in this

traffic, looked upon her as one who was well adapted for their business, and who would probably go on

without suspicion for a long time. But they were mistaken; for she was stopped in the commission of her very

It might have been the effect of a passing cloud which obscured the sun, and cast a shadow on his face; but

'She was of gipsy blood, Sir John,' repeated Gabriel, 'and had a high, free spirit. This, and her good looks, and

her lofty manner, interested some gentlemen who were easily moved by dark eyes; and efforts were made to

save her. They might have been successful, if she would have given them any clue to her history. But she

never would, or did. There was reason to suspect that she would make an attempt upon her life. A watch was

Sir John stretched out his hand towards his cup. The locksmith going on, arrested it halfway.

'Until she had but a minute to live. Then she broke silence, and said, in a low firm voice which no one

heard but this executioner, for all other living creatures had retired and left her to her fate, "If I had a dagger

within these fingers and he was within my reach, I would strike him dead before me, even now!" The man

Sir John drew back his outstretched hand, and seeing that the locksmith paused, signed to him with easy

'It was the first word she had ever spoken, from which it could be understood that she had any relative on

earth. "Was the child alive?" he asked. "Yes." He asked her where it was, its name, and whether she had any

wish respecting it. She had but one, she said. It was that the boy might live and grow, in utter ignorance of his

father, so that no arts might teach him to be gentle and forgiving. When he became a man, she trusted to the

God of their tribe to bring the father and the son together, and revenge her through her child. He asked her

other questions, but she spoke no more. Indeed, he says, she scarcely said this much, to him, but stood with

Sir John took a pinch of snuff; glanced approvingly at an elegant little sketch, entitled 'Nature,' on the wall;

and raising his eyes to the locksmith's face again, said, with an air of courtesy and patronage, 'You were

'That she never,' returned the locksmith, who was not to be diverted by any artifice from his firm manner, and

his steady gaze, 'that she never looked towards him once, Sir John; and so she died, and he forgot her. But,

some years afterwards, a man was sentenced to die the same death, who was a gipsy too; a sunburnt, swarthy

fellow, almost a wild man; and while he lay in prison, under sentence, he, who had seen the hangman more

than once while he was free, cut an image of him on his stick, by way of braving death, and showing those

who attended on him, how little he cared or thought about it. He gave this stick into his hands at Tyburn, and

told him then, that the woman I have spoken of had left her own people to join a fine gentleman, and that,

being deserted by him, and cast off by her old friends, she had sworn within her own proud breast, that

whatever her misery might be, she would ask no help of any human being. He told him that she had kept her

word to the last; and that, meeting even him in the streetshe had been fond of her once, it seemsshe had

slipped from him by a trick, and he never saw her again, until, being in one of the frequent crowds at Tyburn,

with some of his rough companions, he had been driven almost mad by seeing, in the criminal under another

name, whose death he had come to witness, herself. Standing in the same place in which she had stood, he

told the hangman this, and told him, too, her real name, which only her own people and the gentleman for

whose sake she had left them, knew. That name he will tell again, Sir John, to none but you.'

'To none but me!' exclaimed the knight, pausing in the act of raising his cup to his lips with a perfectly steady

hand, and curling up his little finger for the better display of a brilliant ring with which it was ornamented:

'but me!My dear Mr Varden, how very preposterous, to select me for his confidence! With you at his

'Sir John, Sir John,' returned the locksmith, 'at twelve tomorrow, these men die. Hear the few words I have to

add, and do not hope to deceive me; for though I am a plain man of humble station, and you are a gentleman

of rank and learning, the truth raises me to your level, and I KNOW that you anticipate the disclosure with

which I am about to end, and that you believe this doomed man, Hugh, to be your son.'

'Nay,' said Sir John, bantering him with a gay air; 'the wild gentleman, who died so suddenly, scarcely went

'He did not,' returned the locksmith, 'for she had bound him by some pledge, known only to these people, and

which the worst among them respect, not to tell your name: but, in a fantastic pattern on the stick, he had

carved some letters, and when the hangman asked it, he bade him, especially if he should ever meet with her

The knight finished his cup of chocolate with an appearance of infinite relish, and carefully wiped his lips

'Sir John,' said the locksmith, 'this is all that has been told to me; but since these two men have been left for

death, they have conferred together closely. See them, and hear what they can add. See this Dennis, and learn

from him what he has not trusted to me. If you, who hold the clue to all, want corroboration (which you do

'And to what,' said Sir John Chester, rising on his elbow, after smoothing the pillow for its reception; 'my

dear, goodnatured, estimable Mr Vardenwith whom I cannot be angry if I wouldto what does all this

'I take you for a man, Sir John, and I suppose it tends to some pleading of natural affection in your breast,'

returned the locksmith. 'I suppose to the straining of every nerve, and the exertion of all the influence you

have, or can make, in behalf of your miserable son, and the man who has disclosed his existence to you. At

the worst, I suppose to your seeing your son, and awakening him to a sense of his crime and danger. He has

no such sense now. Think what his life must have been, when he said in my hearing, that if I moved you to

anything, it would be to hastening his death, and ensuring his silence, if you had it in your power!'

'And have you, my good Mr Varden,' said Sir John in a tone of mild reproof, 'have you really lived to your

present age, and remained so very simple and credulous, as to approach a gentleman of established character

with such credentials as these, from desperate men in their last extremity, catching at any straw? Oh dear! Oh

'On any other subject, Mr Varden, I shall be delightedI shall be charmedto converse with you, but I owe

'Think better of it, sir, when I am gone,' returned the locksmith; 'think better of it, sir. Although you have,

thrice within as many weeks, turned your lawful son, Mr Edward, from your door, you may have time, you

may have years to make your peace with HIM, Sir John: but that twelve o'clock will soon be here, and soon

'I thank you very much,' returned the knight, kissing his delicate hand to the locksmith, 'for your guileless

advice; and I only wish, my good soul, although your simplicity is quite captivating, that you had a little more

worldly wisdom. I never so much regretted the arrival of my hairdresser as I do at this moment. God bless

you! Good morning! You'll not forget my message to the ladies, Mr Varden? Peak, show Mr Varden to the

Gabriel said no more, but gave the knight a parting look, and left him. As he quitted the room, Sir John's face

changed; and the smile gave place to a haggard and anxious expression, like that of a weary actor jaded by

the performance of a difficult part. He rose from his bed with a heavy sigh, and wrapped himself in his

'So she kept her word,' he said, 'and was constant to her threat! I would I had never seen that dark face of

hers,I might have read these consequences in it, from the first. This affair would make a noise abroad, if it

rested on better evidence; but, as it is, and by not joining the scattered links of the chain, I can afford to slight

it.Extremely distressing to be the parent of such an uncouth creature! Still, I gave him very good advice. I

told him he would certainly be hanged. I could have done no more if I had known of our relationship; and

there are a great many fathers who have never done as much for THEIR natural children.The hairdresser

The hairdresser came in; and saw in Sir John Chester (whose accommodating conscience was soon quieted

by the numerous precedents that occurred to him in support of his last observation), the same imperturbable,

fascinating, elegant gentleman he had seen yesterday, and many yesterdays before.

As the locksmith walked slowly away from Sir John Chester's chambers, he lingered under the trees which

shaded the path, almost hoping that he might be summoned to return. He had turned back thrice, and still

It was a solemn sound, and not merely for its reference to to morrow; for he knew that in that chime the

murderer's knell was rung. He had seen him pass along the crowded street, amidst the execration of the

throng; and marked his quivering lip, and trembling limbs; the ashy hue upon his face, his clammy brow, the

wild distraction of his eyethe fear of death that swallowed up all other thoughts, and gnawed without

cessation at his heart and brain. He had marked the wandering look, seeking for hope, and finding, turn where

it would, despair. He had seen the remorseful, pitiful, desolate creature, riding, with his coffin by his side, to

the gibbet. He knew that, to the last, he had been an unyielding, obdurate man; that in the savage terror of his

condition he had hardened, rather than relented, to his wife and child; and that the last words which had

Mr Haredale had determined to be there, and see it done. Nothing but the evidence of his own senses could

satisfy that gloomy thirst for retribution which had been gathering upon him for so many years. The

locksmith knew this, and when the chimes had ceased to vibrate, hurried away to meet him.

'For these two men,' he said, as he went, 'I can do no more. Heaven have mercy on them!Alas! I say I can

do no more for them, but whom can I help? Mary Rudge will have a home, and a firm friend when she most

wants one; but Barnabypoor Barnabywilling Barnabywhat aid can I render him? There are many,

many men of sense, God forgive me,' cried the honest locksmith, stopping in a narrow count to pass his hand

across his eyes, 'I could better afford to lose than Barnaby. We have always been good friends, but I never

There were not many in the great city who thought of Barnaby that day, otherwise than as an actor in a show

which was to take place tomorrow. But if the whole population had had him in their minds, and had wished

his life to be spared, not one among them could have done so with a purer zeal or greater singleness of heart

Barnaby was to die. There was no hope. It is not the least evil attendant upon the frequent exhibition of this

last dread punishment, of Death, that it hardens the minds of those who deal it out, and makes them, though

they be amiable men in other respects, indifferent to, or unconscious of, their great responsibility. The word

had gone forth that Barnaby was to die. It went forth, every month, for lighter crimes. It was a thing so

common, that very few were startled by the awful sentence, or cared to question its propriety. Just then, too,

when the law had been so flagrantly outraged, its dignity must be asserted. The symbol of its

dignity,stamped upon every page of the criminal statutebook,was the gallows; and Barnaby was to die.

They had tried to save him. The locksmith had carried petitions and memorials to the fountainhead, with his

From the first his mother had never left him, save at night; and with her beside him, he was as usual

contented. On this last day, he was more elated and more proud than he had been yet; and when she dropped

the book she had been reading to him aloud, and fell upon his neck, he stopped in his busy task of folding a

piece of crape about his hat, and wondered at her anguish. Grip uttered a feeble croak, half in encouragement,

it seemed, and half in remonstrance, but he wanted heart to sustain it, and lapsed abruptly into silence.

With them who stood upon the brink of the great gulf which none can see beyond, Time, so soon to lose itself

in vast Eternity, rolled on like a mighty river, swollen and rapid as it nears the sea. It was morning but now;

they had sat and talked together in a dream; and here was evening. The dreadful hour of separation, which

They walked out into the courtyard, clinging to each other, but not speaking. Barnaby knew that the jail was a

dull, sad, miserable place, and looked forward to tomorrow, as to a passage from it to something bright and

beautiful. He had a vague impression too, that he was expected to be bravethat he was a man of great

consequence, and that the prison people would be glad to make him weep. He trod the ground more firmly as

he thought of this, and bade her take heart and cry no more, and feel how steady his hand was. 'They call me

Dennis and Hugh were in the courtyard. Hugh came forth from his cell as they did, stretching himself as

though he had been sleeping. Dennis sat upon a bench in a corner, with his knees and chin huddled together,

The mother and son remained on one side of the court, and these two men upon the other. Hugh strode up and

down, glancing fiercely every now and then at the bright summer sky, and looking round, when he had done

'No reprieve, no reprieve! Nobody comes near us. There's only the night left now!' moaned Dennis faintly, as

he wrung his hands. 'Do you think they'll reprieve me in the night, brother? I've known reprieves come in the

night, afore now. I've known 'em come as late as five, six, and seven o'clock in the morning. Don't you think

there's a good chance yet,don't you? Say you do. Say you do, young man,' whined the miserable creature,

'But tell me what you think. Somebody tell me what he thinks!' cried the wretched object,so mean, and

wretched, and despicable, that even Pity's self might have turned away, at sight of such a being in the likeness

of a man'isn't there a chance for me, isn't there a good chance for me? Isn't it likely they may be doing

this to frighten me? Don't you think it is? Oh!' he almost shrieked, as he wrung his hands, 'won't anybody

'You ought to be the best, instead of the worst,' said Hugh, stopping before him. 'Ha, ha, ha! See the

'You don't know what it is,' cried Dennis, actually writhing as he spoke: 'I do. That I should come to be

'And why not?' said Hugh, as he thrust back his matted hair to get a better view of his late associate. 'How

often, before I knew your trade, did I hear you talking of this as if it was a treat?'

'I an't unconsistent,' screamed the miserable creature; 'I'd talk so again, if I was hangman. Some other man

has got my old opinions at this minute. That makes it worse. Somebody's longing to work me off. I know by

'He'll soon have his longing,' said Hugh, resuming his walk. 'Think of that, and be quiet.'

Although one of these men displayed, in his speech and bearing, the most reckless hardihood; and the other,

in his every word and action, testified such an extreme of abject cowardice that it was humiliating to see him;

it would be difficult to say which of them would most have repelled and shocked an observer. Hugh's was the

dogged desperation of a savage at the stake; the hangman was reduced to a condition little better, if any, than

that of a hound with the halter round his neck. Yet, as Mr Dennis knew and could have told them, these were

the two commonest states of mind in persons brought to their pass. Such was the wholesome growth of the

seed sown by the law, that this kind of harvest was usually looked for, as a matter of course.

In one respect they all agreed. The wandering and uncontrollable train of thought, suggesting sudden

recollections of things distant and long forgotten and remote from each otherthe vague restless craving for

something undefined, which nothing could satisfythe swift flight of the minutes, fusing themselves into

hours, as if by enchantmentthe rapid coming of the solemn nightthe shadow of death always upon them,

and yet so dim and faint, that objects the meanest and most trivial started from the gloom beyond, and forced

themselves upon the viewthe impossibility of holding the mind, even if they had been so disposed, to

penitence and preparation, or of keeping it to any point while one hideous fascination tempted it awaythese

'Fetch me the book I left withinupon your bed,' she said to Barnaby, as the clock struck. 'Kiss me first.'

He looked in her face, and saw there, that the time was come. After a long embrace, he tore himself away,

and ran to bring it to her; bidding her not stir till he came back. He soon returned, for a shriek recalled

He ran to the yardgate, and looked through. They were carrying her away. She had said her heart would

'Don't you think,' whimpered Dennis, creeping up to him, as he stood with his feet rooted to the ground,

gazing at the blank walls'don't you think there's still a chance? It's a dreadful end; it's a terrible end for a

man like me. Don't you think there's a chance? I don't mean for you, I mean for me. Don't let HIM hear us

Now then,' said the officer, who had been lounging in and out with his hands in his pockets, and yawning as

if he were in the last extremity for some subject of interest: 'it's time to turn in, boys.'

'I say,your watch goes different from what it used to,' returned the man. 'Once upon a time it was always

'My friend,' cried the wretched creature, falling on his knees, 'my dear friendyou always were my dear

friendthere's some mistake. Some letter has been mislaid, or some messenger has been stopped upon the

way. He may have fallen dead. I saw a man once, fall down dead in the street, myself, and he had papers in

his pocket. Send to inquire. Let somebody go to inquire. They never will hang me. They never can.Yes,

they will,' he cried, starting to his feet with a terrible scream. 'They'll hang me by a trick, and keep the pardon

back. It's a plot against me. I shall lose my life!' And uttering another yell, he fell in a fit upon the ground.

'See the hangman when it comes home to him!' cried Hugh again, as they bore him away'Ha ha ha!

Courage, bold Barnaby, what care we? Your hand! They do well to put us out of the world, for if we got

loose a second time, we wouldn't let them off so easy, eh? Another shake! A man can die but once. If you

Barnaby glanced once more through the grate into the empty yard; and then watched Hugh as he strode to the

steps leading to his sleepingcell. He heard him shout, and burst into a roar of laughter, and saw him flourish

his hat. Then he turned away himself, like one who walked in his sleep; and, without any sense of fear or

The time wore on. The noises in the streets became less frequent by degrees, until silence was scarcely

broken save by the bells in church towers, marking the progresssofter and more stealthy while the city

slumberedof that Great Watcher with the hoary head, who never sleeps or rests. In the brief interval of

darkness and repose which feverish towns enjoy, all busy sounds were hushed; and those who awoke from

dreams lay listening in their beds, and longed for dawn, and wished the dead of the night were past.

Into the street outside the jail's main wall, workmen came straggling at this solemn hour, in groups of two or

three, and meeting in the centre, cast their tools upon the ground and spoke in whispers. Others soon issued

from the jail itself, bearing on their shoulders planks and beams: these materials being all brought forth, the

rest bestirred themselves, and the dull sound of hammers began to echo through the stillness.

Here and there among this knot of labourers, one, with a lantern or a smoky link, stood by to light his fellows

at their work; and by its doubtful aid, some might be dimly seen taking up the pavement of the road, while

others held great upright posts, or fixed them in the holes thus made for their reception. Some dragged slowly

on, towards the rest, an empty cart, which they brought rumbling from the prisonyard; while others erected

strong barriers across the street. All were busily engaged. Their dusky figures moving to and fro, at that

unusual hour, so active and so silent, might have been taken for those of shadowy creatures toiling at

midnight on some ghostly unsubstantial work, which, like themselves, would vanish with the first gleam of

While it was yet dark, a few lookerson collected, who had plainly come there for the purpose and intended

to remain: even those who had to pass the spot on their way to some other place, lingered, and lingered yet, as

though the attraction of that were irresistible. Meanwhile the noise of saw and mallet went on briskly,

mingled with the clattering of boards on the stone pavement of the road, and sometimes with the workmen's

voices as they called to one another. Whenever the chimes of the neighbouring church were heardand that

was every quarter of an houra strange sensation, instantaneous and indescribable, but perfectly obvious,

Gradually, a faint brightness appeared in the east, and the air, which had been very warm all through the

night, felt cool and chilly. Though there was no daylight yet, the darkness was diminished, and the stars

looked pale. The prison, which had been a mere black mass with little shape or form, put on its usual aspect;

and ever and anon a solitary watchman could be seen upon its roof, stopping to look down upon the

preparations in the street. This man, from forming, as it were, a part of the jail, and knowing or being

supposed to know all that was passing within, became an object of as much interest, and was as eagerly

By and by, the feeble light grew stronger, and the houses with their signboards and inscriptions, stood plainly

out, in the dull grey morning. Heavy stage waggons crawled from the innyard opposite; and travellers

peeped out; and as they rolled sluggishly away, cast many a backward look towards the jail. And now, the

sun's first beams came glancing into the street; and the night's work, which, in its various stages and in the

varied fancies of the lookerson had taken a hundred shapes, wore its own proper forma scaffold, and a

As the warmth of the cheerful day began to shed itself upon the scanty crowd, the murmur of tongues was

heard, shutters were thrown open, and blinds drawn up, and those who had slept in rooms over against the

prison, where places to see the execution were let at high prices, rose hastily from their beds. In some of the

houses, people were busy taking out the windowsashes for the better accommodation of spectators; in

others, the spectators were already seated, and beguiling the time with cards, or drink, or jokes among

themselves. Some had purchased seats upon the housetops, and were already crawling to their stations from

parapet and garret window. Some were yet bargaining for good places, and stood in them in a state of

indecision: gazing at the slowlyswelling crowd, and at the workmen as they rested listlessly against the

scaffold affecting to listen with indifference to the proprietor's eulogy of the commanding view his house

A fairer morning never shone. From the roofs and upper stories of these buildings, the spires of city churches

and the great cathedral dome were visible, rising up beyond the prison, into the blue sky, and clad in the

colour of light summer clouds, and showing in the clear atmosphere their every scrap of tracery and fretwork,

and every niche and loophole. All was brightness and promise, excepting in the street below, into which (for

it yet lay in shadow) the eye looked down as into a dark trench, where, in the midst of so much life, and hope,

and renewal of existence, stood the terrible instrument of death. It seemed as if the very sun forbore to look

But it was better, grim and sombre in the shade, than when, the day being more advanced, it stood confessed

in the full glare and glory of the sun, with its black paint blistering, and its nooses dangling in the light like

loathsome garlands. It was better in the solitude and gloom of midnight with a few forms clustering about it,

than in the freshness and the stir of morning: the centre of an eager crowd. It was better haunting the street

like a spectre, when men were in their beds, and influencing perchance the city's dreams, than braving the

Five o'clock had strucksixsevenand eight. Along the two main streets at either end of the crossway,

a living stream had now set in, rolling towards the marts of gain and business. Carts, coaches, waggons,

trucks, and barrows, forced a passage through the outskirts of the throng, and clattered onward in the same

direction. Some of these which were public conveyances and had come from a short distance in the country,

stopped; and the driver pointed to the gibbet with his whip, though he might have spared himself the pains,

for the heads of all the passengers were turned that way without his help, and the coachwindows were stuck

full of staring eyes. In some of the carts and waggons, women might be seen, glancing fearfully at the same

unsightly thing; and even little children were held up above the people's heads to see what kind of a toy a

Two rioters were to die before the prison, who had been concerned in the attack upon it; and one directly

afterwards in Bloomsbury Square. At nine o'clock, a strong body of military marched into the street, and

formed and lined a narrow passage into Holborn, which had been indifferently kept all night by constables.

Through this, another cart was brought (the one already mentioned had been employed in the construction of

the scaffold), and wheeled up to the prisongate. These preparations made, the soldiers stood at ease; the

officers lounged to and fro, in the alley they had made, or talked together at the scaffold's foot; and the

concourse, which had been rapidly augmenting for some hours, and still received additions every minute,

waited with an impatience which increased with every chime of St Sepulchre's clock, for twelve at noon.

Up to this time they had been very quiet, comparatively silent, save when the arrival of some new party at a

window, hitherto unoccupied, gave them something new to look at or to talk of. But, as the hour approached,

a buzz and hum arose, which, deepening every moment, soon swelled into a roar, and seemed to fill the air.

No words or even voices could be distinguished in this clamour, nor did they speak much to each other;

though such as were better informed upon the topic than the rest, would tell their neighbours, perhaps, that

they might know the hangman when he came out, by his being the shorter one: and that the man who was to

suffer with him was named Hugh: and that it was Barnaby Rudge who would be hanged in Bloomsbury

The hum grew, as the time drew near, so loud, that those who were at the windows could not hear the

churchclock strike, though it was close at hand. Nor had they any need to hear it, either, for they could see it

in the people's faces. So surely as another quarter chimed, there was a movement in the crowdas if

something had passed over itas if the light upon them had been changedin which the fact was readable

Three quarters past eleven! The murmur now was deafening, yet every man seemed mute. Look where you

would among the crowd, you saw strained eyes and lips compressed; it would have been difficult for the most

vigilant observer to point this way or that, and say that yonder man had cried out. It were as easy to detect the

Three quarters past eleven! Many spectators who had retired from the windows, came back refreshed, as

though their watch had just begun. Those who had fallen asleep, roused themselves; and every person in the

crowd made one last effort to better his position which caused a press against the sturdy barriers that made

them bend and yield like twigs. The officers, who until now had kept together, fell into their several

positions, and gave the words of command. Swords were drawn, muskets shouldered, and the bright steel

winding its way among the crowd, gleamed and glittered in the sun like a river. Along this shining path, two

men came hurrying on, leading a horse, which was speedily harnessed to the cart at the prisondoor. Then, a

profound silence replaced the tumult that had so long been gathering, and a breathless pause ensued. Every

window was now choked up with heads; the housetops teemed with peopleclinging to chimneys, peering

over gableends, and holding on where the sudden loosening of any brick or stone would dash them down

into the street. The church tower, the church roof, the church yard, the prison leads, the very waterspouts

At the first stroke of twelve the prisonbell began to toll. Then the roarmingled now with cries of 'Hats

off!' and 'Poor fellows!' and, from some specks in the great concourse, with a shriek or groanburst forth

again. It was terrible to seeif any one in that distraction of excitement could have seenthe world of eager

The hollow murmuring was heard within the jail as plainly as without. The three were brought forth into the

'D'ye hear?' cried Hugh, undaunted by the sound. 'They expect us! I heard them gathering when I woke in the

night, and turned over on t'other side and fell asleep again. We shall see how they welcome the hangman,

The Ordinary coming up at this moment, reproved him for his indecent mirth, and advised him to alter his

'And why, master?' said Hugh. 'Can I do better than bear it easily? YOU bear it easily enough. Oh! never tell

me,' he cried, as the other would have spoken, 'for all your sad look and your solemn air, you think little

enough of it! They say you're the best maker of lobster salads in London. Ha, ha! I've heard that, you see,

before now. Is it a good one, this morningis your hand in? How does the breakfast look? I hope there's

enough, and to spare, for all this hungry company that'll sit down to it, when the sight's over.'

'I fear,' observed the clergyman, shaking his head, 'that you are incorrigible.'

'You're right. I am,' rejoined Hugh sternly. 'Be no hypocrite, master! You make a merrymaking of this,

every month; let me be merry, too. If you want a frightened fellow there's one that'll suit you. Try your hand

He pointed, as he spoke, to Dennis, who, with his legs trailing on the ground, was held between two men; and

who trembled so, that all his joints and limbs seemed racked by spasms. Turning from this wretched

'Bless you,' cried Barnaby, stepping lightly towards him, 'I'm not frightened, Hugh. I'm quite happy. I

wouldn't desire to live now, if they'd let me. Look at me! Am I afraid to die? Will they see ME tremble?'

Hugh gazed for a moment at his face, on which there was a strange, unearthly smile; and at his eye, which

sparkled brightly; and interposing between him and the Ordinary, gruffly whispered to the latter:

'I wouldn't say much to him, master, if I was you. He may spoil your appetite for breakfast, though you ARE

He was the only one of the three who had washed or trimmed himself that morning. Neither of the others had

done so, since their doom was pronounced. He still wore the broken peacock's feathers in his hat; and all his

usual scraps of finery were carefully disposed about his person. His kindling eye, his firm step, his proud and

resolute bearing, might have graced some lofty act of heroism; some voluntary sacrifice, born of a noble

But all these things increased his guilt. They were mere assumptions. The law had declared it so, and so it

must be. The good minister had been greatly shocked, not a quarter of an hour before, at his parting with

Grip. For one in his condition, to fondle a bird!The yard was filled with people; bluff civic functionaries,

officers of justice, soldiers, the curious in such matters, and guests who had been bidden as to a wedding.

Hugh looked about him, nodded gloomily to some person in authority, who indicated with his hand in what

direction he was to proceed; and clapping Barnaby on the shoulder, passed out with the gait of a lion.

They entered a large room, so near to the scaffold that the voices of those who stood about it, could be plainly

heard: some beseeching the javelinmen to take them out of the crowd: others crying to those behind, to

In the middle of this chamber, two smiths, with hammers, stood beside an anvil. Hugh walked straight up to

them, and set his foot upon it with a sound as though it had been struck by a heavy weapon. Then, with

folded arms, he stood to have his irons knocked off: scowling haughtily round, as those who were present

It took so much time to drag Dennis in, that this ceremony was over with Hugh, and nearly over with

Barnaby, before he appeared. He no sooner came into the place he knew so well, however, and among faces

with which he was so familiar, than he recovered strength and sense enough to clasp his hands and make a

'Gentlemen, good gentlemen,' cried the abject creature, grovelling down upon his knees, and actually

prostrating himself upon the stone floor: 'Governor, dear governorhonourable sheriffsworthy

gentlemenhave mercy upon a wretched man that has served His Majesty, and the Law, and Parliament, for

'Dennis,' said the governor of the jail, 'you know what the course is, and that the order came with the rest.

'All I ask, sir,all I want and beg, is time, to make it sure,' cried the trembling wretch, looking wildly round

for sympathy. 'The King and Government can't know it's me; I'm sure they can't know it's me; or they never

would bring me to this dreadful slaughterhouse. They know my name, but they don't know it's the same man.

Stop my executionfor charity's sake stop my execution, gentlementill they can be told that I've been

hangman here, nigh thirty year. Will no one go and tell them?' he implored, clenching his hands and glaring

'Mr Akerman,' said a gentleman who stood by, after a moment's pause, 'since it may possibly produce in this

unhappy man a better frame of mind, even at this last minute, let me assure him that he was well known to

'But perhaps they think on that account that the punishment's not so great,' cried the criminal, shuffling

towards this speaker on his knees, and holding up his folded hands; 'whereas it's worse, it's worse a hundred

times, to me than any man. Let them know that, sir. Let them know that. They've made it worse to me by

The governor beckoned with his hand, and the two men, who had supported him before, approached. He

'Wait! Wait. Only a momentonly one moment more! Give me a last chance of reprieve. One of us three is

to go to Bloomsbury Square. Let me be the one. It may come in that time; it's sure to come. In the Lord's

They took him to the anvil: but even then he could he heard above the clinking of the smiths' hammers, and

the hoarse raging of the crowd, crying that he knew of Hugh's birththat his father was living, and was a

gentleman of influence and rankthat he had family secrets in his possessionthat he could tell nothing

unless they gave him time, but must die with them on his mind; and he continued to rave in this sort until his

voice failed him, and he sank down a mere heap of clothes between the two attendants.

It was at this moment that the clock struck the first stroke of twelve, and the bell began to toll. The various

officers, with the two sheriffs at their head, moved towards the door. All was ready when the last chime came

'To say!' he cried. 'Not I. I'm ready.Yes,' he added, as his eye fell upon Barnaby, 'I have a word to say, too.

There was, for the moment, something kind, and even tender, struggling in his fierce aspect, as he wrung his

'I'll say this,' he cried, looking firmly round, 'that if I had ten lives to lose, and the loss of each would give me

ten times the agony of the hardest death, I'd lay them all downay, I would, though you gentlemen may not

believe itto save this one. This one,' he added, wringing his hand again, 'that will be lost through me.'

'Not through you,' said the idiot, mildly. 'Don't say that. You were not to blame. You have always been very

'I took him from her in a reckless mood, and didn't think what harm would come of it,' said Hugh, laying his

hand upon his head, and speaking in a lower voice. 'I ask her pardon; and his.Look here,' he added

'That gentleman yonder' pointing to the clergyman'has often in the last few days spoken to me of faith,

and strong belief. You see what I ammore brute than man, as I have been often toldbut I had faith

enough to believe, and did believe as strongly as any of you gentlemen can believe anything, that this one life

'If this was not faith, and strong belief!' cried Hugh, raising his right arm aloft, and looking upward like a

savage prophet whom the near approach of Death had filled with inspiration, 'where are they! What else

should teach meme, born as I was born, and reared as I have been rearedto hope for any mercy in this

hardened, cruel, unrelenting place! Upon these human shambles, I, who never raised this hand in prayer till

now, call down the wrath of God! On that black tree, of which I am the ripened fruit, I do invoke the curse of

all its victims, past, and present, and to come. On the head of that man, who, in his conscience, owns me for

his son, I leave the wish that he may never sicken on his bed of down, but die a violent death as I do now, and

His arm fell downward by his side; he turned; and moved towards them with a steady step, the man he had

Hugh motioned Barnaby not to come near him (though without looking in the direction where he stood) and

'Unless,' said Hugh, glancing hurriedly back,'unless any person here has a fancy for a dog; and not then,

unless he means to use him well. There's one, belongs to me, at the house I came from, and it wouldn't be

easy to find a better. He'll whine at first, but he'll soon get over that.You wonder that I think about a dog

just now, he added, with a kind of laugh. 'If any man deserved it of me half as well, I'd think of HIM.'

He spoke no more, but moved onward in his place, with a careless air, though listening at the same time to

the Service for the Dead, with something between sullen attention, and quickened curiosity. As soon as he

had passed the door, his miserable associate was carried out; and the crowd beheld the rest.

Barnaby would have mounted the steps at the same timeindeed he would have gone before them, but in

both attempts he was restrained, as he was to undergo the sentence elsewhere. In a few minutes the sheriffs

reappeared, the same procession was again formed, and they passed through various rooms and passages to

another doorthat at which the cart was waiting. He held down his head to avoid seeing what he knew his

eyes must otherwise encounter, and took his seat sorrowfully,and yet with something of a childish pride

and pleasure,in the vehicle. The officers fell into their places at the sides, in front and in the rear; the

sheriffs' carriages rolled on; a guard of soldiers surrounded the whole; and they moved slowly forward

It was a sad sightall the show, and strength, and glitter, assembled round one helpless creatureand

sadder yet to note, as he rode along, how his wandering thoughts found strange encouragement in the

crowded windows and the concourse in the streets; and how, even then, he felt the influence of the bright sky,

and looked up, smiling, into its deep unfathomable blue. But there had been many such sights since the riots

were oversome so moving in their nature, and so repulsive too, that they were far more calculated to

awaken pity for the sufferers, than respect for that law whose strong arm seemed in more than one case to be

as wantonly stretched forth now that all was safe, as it had been basely paralysed in time of danger.

Two cripplesboth mere boysone with a leg of wood, one who dragged his twisted limbs along by the

help of a crutch, were hanged in this same Bloomsbury Square. As the cart was about to glide from under

them, it was observed that they stood with their faces from, not to, the house they had assisted to despoil; and

their misery was protracted that this omission might be remedied. Another boy was hanged in Bow Street;

other young lads in various quarters of the town. Four wretched women, too, were put to death. In a word,

those who suffered as rioters were, for the most part, the weakest, meanest, and most miserable among them.

It was a most exquisite satire upon the false religious cry which had led to so much misery, that some of these

people owned themselves to be Catholics, and begged to be attended by their own priests.

One young man was hanged in Bishopsgate Street, whose aged grey headed father waited for him at the

gallows, kissed him at its foot when he arrived, and sat there, on the ground, till they took him down. They

would have given him the body of his child; but he had no hearse, no coffin, nothing to remove it in, being

too poorand walked meekly away beside the cart that took it back to prison, trying, as he went, to touch its

But the crowd had forgotten these matters, or cared little about them if they lived in their memory: and while

one great multitude fought and hustled to get near the gibbet before Newgate, for a parting look, another

followed in the train of poor lost Barnaby, to swell the throng that waited for him on the spot.

On this same day, and about this very hour, Mr Willet the elder sat smoking his pipe in a chamber at the

Black Lion. Although it was hot summer weather, Mr Willet sat close to the fire. He was in a state of

profound cogitation, with his own thoughts, and it was his custom at such times to stew himself slowly, under

the impression that that process of cookery was favourable to the melting out of his ideas, which, when he

began to simmer, sometimes oozed forth so copiously as to astonish even himself.

Mr Willet had been several thousand times comforted by his friends and acquaintance, with the assurance that

for the loss he had sustained in the damage done to the Maypole, he could 'come upon the county.' But as this

phrase happened to bear an unfortunate resemblance to the popular expression of 'coming on the parish,' it

suggested to Mr Willet's mind no more consolatory visions than pauperism on an extensive scale, and ruin in

a capacious aspect. Consequently, he had never failed to receive the intelligence with a rueful shake of the

head, or a dreary stare, and had been always observed to appear much more melancholy after a visit of

It chanced, however, that sitting over the fire on this particular occasionperhaps because he was, as it were,

done to a turn; perhaps because he was in an unusually bright state of mind; perhaps because he had

considered the subject so long; perhaps because of all these favouring circumstances, taken togetherit

chanced that, sitting over the fire on this particular occasion, Mr Willet did, afar off and in the remotest

depths of his intellect, perceive a kind of lurking hint or faint suggestion, that out of the public purse there

might issue funds for the restoration of the Maypole to its former high place among the taverns of the earth.

And this dim ray of light did so diffuse itself within him, and did so kindle up and shine, that at last he had it

as plainly and visibly before him as the blaze by which he sat; and, fully persuaded that he was the first to

make the discovery, and that he had started, hunted down, fallen upon, and knocked on the head, a perfectly

original idea which had never presented itself to any other man, alive or dead, he laid down his pipe, rubbed

'It's nothing partickler,' said Mr Willet, chuckling again. 'It's nothing at all partickler, Joseph. Tell me

something about the Salwanners.' Having preferred this request, Mr Willet chuckled a third time, and after

'What shall I tell you, father?' asked Joe, laying his hand upon his sire's shoulder, and looking down into his

face. 'That I have come back, poorer than a church mouse? You know that. That I have come back, maimed

'It was took off,' muttered Mr Willet,with his eyes upon the fire, 'at the defence of the Salwanners, in

'Quite right,' returned Joe, smiling, and leaning with his remaining elbow on the back of his father's chair; 'the

very subject I came to speak to you about. A man with one arm, father, is not of much use in the busy world.'

This was one of those vast propositions which Mr Willet had never considered for an instant, and required

'At all events,' said Joe, 'he can't pick and choose his means of earning a livelihood, as another man may. He

can't say "I will turn my hand to this," or "I won't turn my hand to that," but must take what he can do, and be

Mr Willet had been softly repeating to himself, in a musing tone, the words 'defence of the Salwanners:' but

'Now look here, father.Mr Edward has come to England from the West Indies. When he was lost sight of (I

ran away on the same day, father), he made a voyage to one of the islands, where a schoolfriend of his had

settled; and, finding him, wasn't too proud to be employed on his estate, andand in short, got on well, and

is prospering, and has come over here on business of his own, and is going back again speedily. Our returning

nearly at the same time, and meeting in the course of the late troubles, has been a good thing every way; for it

has not only enabled us to do old friends some service, but has opened a path in life for me which I may tread

without being a burden upon you. To be plain, father, he can employ me; I have satisfied myself that I can be

of real use to him; and I am going to carry my one arm away with him, and to make the most of it.

In the mind's eye of Mr Willet, the West Indies, and indeed all foreign countries, were inhabited by savage

nations, who were perpetually burying pipes of peace, flourishing tomahawks, and puncturing strange

patterns in their bodies. He no sooner heard this announcement, therefore, than he leaned back in his chair,

took his pipe from his lips, and stared at his son with as much dismay as if he already beheld him tied to a

stake, and tortured for the entertainment of a lively population. In what form of expression his feelings would

have found a vent, it is impossible to say. Nor is it necessary: for, before a syllable occurred to him, Dolly

Varden came running into the room, in tears, threw herself on Joe's breast without a word of explanation, and

'Ay, call me that; call me that always,' exclaimed the locksmith's little daughter; 'never speak coldly to me,

never be distant, never again reprove me for the follies I have long repented, or I shall die, Joe.'

'Yesfor every kind and honest word you uttered, went to my heart. For you, who have borne so much from

mefor you, who owe your sufferings and pain to my capricefor you to be so kindso noble to me,

He could say nothing to her. Not a syllable. There was an odd sort of eloquence in his one arm, which had

'If you had reminded me by a wordonly by one short word,' sobbed Dolly, clinging yet closer to him, 'how

little I deserved that you should treat me with so much forbearance; if you had exulted only for one moment

'Triumph!' repeated Joe, with a smile which seemed to say, 'I am a pretty figure for that.'

'Yes, triumph,' she cried, with her whole heart and soul in her earnest voice, and gushing tears; 'for it is one. I

am glad to think and know it is. I wouldn't be less humbled, dearI wouldn't be without the recollection of

that last time we spoke together in this placeno, not if I could recall the past, and make our parting,

'Dear Joe,' said Dolly, 'I always loved youin my own heart I always did, although I was so vain and giddy.

I hoped you would come back that night. I made quite sure you would. I prayed for it on my knees. Through

all these long, long years, I have never once forgotten you, or left off hoping that this happy time might

The eloquence of Joe's arm surpassed the most impassioned language; and so did that of his lipsyet he said

'And now, at last,' cried Dolly, trembling with the fervour of her speech, 'if you were sick, and shattered in

your every limb; if you were ailing, weak, and sorrowful; if, instead of being what you are, you were in

everybody's eyes but mine the wreck and ruin of a man; I would be your wife, dear love, with greater pride

'You have taught me,' said Dolly, raising her pretty face to his, 'to know myself, and your worth; to be

something better than I was; to be more deserving of your true and manly nature. In years to come, dear Joe,

you shall find that you have done so; for I will be, not only now, when we are young and full of hope, but

when we have grown old and weary, your patient, gentle, nevertiring wife. I will never know a wish or care

beyond our home and you, and I will always study how to please you with my best affection and my most

'They know of this, at home,' said Dolly. 'For your sake, I would leave even them; but they know it, and are

glad of it, and are as proud of you as I am, and as full of gratitude.You'll not come and see me as a poor

Well, well! It don't matter what Joe said in answer, but he said a great deal; and Dolly said a great deal too:

and he folded Dolly in his one arm pretty tight, considering that it was but one; and Dolly made no resistance:

and if ever two people were happy in this worldwhich is not an utterly miserable one, with all its faults

To say that during these proceedings Mr Willet the elder underwent the greatest emotions of astonishment of

which our common nature is susceptibleto say that he was in a perfect paralysis of surprise, and that he

wandered into the most stupendous and theretofore unattainable heights of complicated amazementwould

be to shadow forth his state of mind in the feeblest and lamest terms. If a roc, an eagle, a griffin, a flying

elephant, a winged seahorse, had suddenly appeared, and, taking him on its back, carried him bodily into the

heart of the 'Salwanners,' it would have been to him as an everyday occurrence, in comparison with what he

now beheld. To be sitting quietly by, seeing and hearing these things; to be completely overlooked,

unnoticed, and disregarded, while his son and a young lady were talking to each other in the most

impassioned manner, kissing each other, and making themselves in all respects perfectly at home; was a

position so tremendous, so inexplicable, so utterly beyond the widest range of his capacity of comprehension,

that he fell into a lethargy of wonder, and could no more rouse himself than an enchanted sleeper in the first

Mr Willet looked first at her, then at his son, then back again at Dolly, and then made an ineffectual effort to

'Ah!' replied his father. 'Why not?' and with this remark, which he uttered in a low voice as though he were

discussing some grave question with himself, he used the little fingerif any of his fingers can be said to

have come under that denominationof his right hand as a tobaccostopper, and was silent again.

And so he sat for half an hour at least, although Dolly, in the most endearing of manners, hoped, a dozen

times, that he was not angry with her. So he sat for half an hour, quite motionless, and looking all the while

like nothing so much as a great Dutch Pin or Skittle. At the expiration of that period, he suddenly, and

without the least notice, burst (to the great consternation of the young people) into a very loud and very short

laugh; and repeating, 'Certainly, Joseph. Oh yes! Why not?' went out for a walk.

Old John did not walk near the Golden Key, for between the Golden Key and the Black Lion there lay a

wilderness of streetsas everybody knows who is acquainted with the relative bearings of Clerkenwell and

Whitechapeland he was by no means famous for pedestrian exercises. But the Golden Key lies in our way,

The Golden Key itself, fair emblem of the locksmith's trade, had been pulled down by the rioters, and roughly

trampled under foot. But, now, it was hoisted up again in all the glory of a new coat of paint, and shewed

more bravely even than in days of yore. Indeed the whole housefront was spruce and trim, and so freshened

up throughout, that if there yet remained at large any of the rioters who had been concerned in the attack upon

it, the sight of the old, goodly, prosperous dwelling, so revived, must have been to them as gall and

The shutters of the shop were closed, however, and the window blinds above were all pulled down, and in

place of its usual cheerful appearance, the house had a look of sadness and an air of mourning; which the

neighbours, who in old days had often seen poor Barnaby go in and out, were at no loss to understand. The

door stood partly open; but the locksmith's hammer was unheard; the cat sat moping on the ashy forge; all

On the threshold of this door, Mr Haredale and Edward Chester met. The younger man gave place; and both

passing in with a familiar air, which seemed to denote that they were tarrying there, or were wellaccustomed

Entering the old backparlour, and ascending the flight of stairs, abrupt and steep, and quaintly fashioned as

of old, they turned into the best room; the pride of Mrs Varden's heart, and erst the scene of Miggs's

'She is abovestairs nowin the room over here,' Edward rejoined. 'Her grief, they say, is past all telling. I

needn't addfor that you know beforehand, sirthat the care, humanity, and sympathy of these good people

'I am sure of that. Heaven repay them for it, and for much more! Varden is out?'

'He returned with your messenger, who arrived almost at the moment of his coming home himself. He was

out the whole nightbut that of course you know. He was with you the greater part of it?'

'He was. Without him, I should have lacked my right hand. He is an older man than I; but nothing can

'He has a right to be. He has a right to he. A better creature never lived. He reaps what he has sownno

'It is not all men,' said Edward, after a moment's hesitation, 'who have the happiness to do that.'

'More than you imagine,' returned Mr Haredale. 'We note the harvest more than the seedtime. You do so in

In truth his pale and haggard face, and gloomy bearing, had so far influenced the remark, that Edward was,

'Tut, tut,' said Mr Haredale, ''twas not very difficult to read a thought so natural. But you are mistaken

nevertheless. I have had my share of sorrowsmore than the common lot, perhaps, but I have borne them ill.

I have broken where I should have bent; and have mused and brooded, when my spirit should have mixed

with all God's great creation. The men who learn endurance, are they who call the whole world, brother. I

'It is too late to evade it now. I sometimes think, that if I had to live my life once more, I might amend this

faultnot so much, I discover when I search my mind, for the love of what is right, as for my own sake. But

even when I make these better resolutions, I instinctively recoil from the idea of suffering again what I have

undergone; and in this circumstance I find the unwelcome assurance that I should still be the same man,

though I could cancel the past, and begin anew, with its experience to guide me.'

'You think so,' Mr Haredale answered, 'and I am glad you do. I know myself better, and therefore distrust

myself more. Let us leave this subject for anothernot so far removed from it as it might, at first sight, seem

'I have that assurance from her own lips,' said Edward, 'and you knowI am sure you knowthat I would

'You are frank, honourable, and disinterested,' said Mr Haredale; 'you have forced the conviction that you are

so, even on my once jaundiced mind, and I believe you. Wait here till I come back.'

He left the room as he spoke; but soon returned with his niece. 'On that first and only time,' he said, looking

from the one to the other, 'when we three stood together under her father's roof, I told you to quit it, and

'It is the only circumstance arising out of our love,' observed Edward, 'that I have forgotten.'

'You own a name,' said Mr Haredale, 'I had deep reason to remember. I was moved and goaded by

recollections of personal wrong and injury, I know, but, even now I cannot charge myself with having, then,

or ever, lost sight of a heartfelt desire for her true happiness; or with having actedhowever much I was

mistakenwith any other impulse than the one pure, single, earnest wish to be to her, as far as in my inferior

'Dear uncle,' cried Emma, 'I have known no parent but you. I have loved the memory of others, but I have

loved you all my life. Never was father kinder to his child than you have been to me, without the interval of

'You speak too fondly,' he answered, 'and yet I cannot wish you were less partial; for I have a pleasure in

hearing those words, and shall have in calling them to mind when we are far asunder, which nothing else

could give me. Bear with me for a moment longer, Edward, for she and I have been together many years; and

although I believe that in resigning her to you I put the seal upon her future happiness, I find it needs an

'I have done you wrong, sir, and I ask your forgivenessin no common phrase, or show of sorrow; but with

earnestness and sincerity. In the same spirit, I acknowledge to you both that the time has been when I

connived at treachery and falsehoodwhich if I did not perpetrate myself, I still permittedto rend you two

'They rise in judgment against me when I look back, and not now for the first time,' he answered. 'I cannot

part from you without your full forgiveness; for busy life and I have little left in common now, and I have

'You bear a blessing from us both,' said Emma. 'Never mingle thoughts of meof me who owe you so much

love and dutywith anything but undying affection and gratitude for the past, and bright hopes for the

'The future,' returned her uncle, with a melancholy smile, 'is a bright word for you, and its image should be

wreathed with cheerful hopes. Mine is of another kind, but it will be one of peace, and free, I trust, from care

or passion. When you quit England I shall leave it too. There are cloisters abroad; and now that the two great

objects of my life are set at rest, I know no better home. You droop at that, forgetting that I am growing old,

and that my course is nearly run. Well, we will speak of it again not once or twice, but many times; and

'I'll listen to it,' he answered, with a kiss, 'and it will have its weight, be certain. What have I left to say? You

have, of late, been much together. It is better and more fitting that the circumstances attendant on the past,

which wrought your separation, and sowed between you suspicion and distrust, should not be entered on by

'I avow my share in them,' said Mr Haredale, 'though I held it, at the time, in detestation. Let no man turn

aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the

goodness of his end. All good ends can he worked out by good means. Those that cannot, are bad; and may

'In goods and fortune you are now nearly equal. I have been her faithful steward, and to that remnant of a

richer property which my brother left her, I desire to add, in token of my love, a poor pittance, scarcely worth

the mention, for which I have no longer any need. I am glad you go abroad. Let our illfated house remain

the ruin it is. When you return, after a few thriving years, you will command a better, and a more fortunate

'You are neither slow nor cold in your response,' said Mr Haredale, doing the like by him, 'and when I look

upon you now, and know you, I feel that I would choose you for her husband. Her father had a generous

nature, and you would have pleased him well. I give her to you in his name, and with his blessing. If the

world and I part in this act, we part on happier terms than we have lived for many a day.'

He placed her in his arms, and would have left the room, but that he was stopped in his passage to the door by

It was a loud shouting, mingled with boisterous acclamations, that rent the very air. It drew nearer and nearer

every moment, and approached so rapidly, that, even while they listened, it burst into a deafening confusion

'This must be stoppedquieted,' said Mr Haredale, hastily. 'We should have foreseen this, and provided

But, before he could reach the door, and before Edward could catch up his hat and follow him, they were

again arrested by a loud shriek from abovestairs: and the locksmith's wife, bursting in, and fairly running

'She knows it all, dear sir!she knows it all! We broke it out to her by degrees, and she is quite prepared.'

Having made this communication, and furthermore thanked Heaven with great fervour and heartiness, the

good lady, according to the custom of matrons, on all occasions of excitement, fainted away directly.

They ran to the window, drew up the sash, and looked into the crowded street. Among a dense mob of

persons, of whom not one was for an instant still, the locksmith's ruddy face and burly form could be

descried, beating about as though he was struggling with a rough sea. Now, he was carried back a score of

yards, now onward nearly to the door, now back again, now forced against the opposite houses, now against

those adjoining his own: now carried up a flight of steps, and greeted by the outstretched hands of half a

hundred men, while the whole tumultuous concourse stretched their throats, and cheered with all their might.

Though he was really in a fair way to be torn to pieces in the general enthusiasm, the locksmith, nothing

discomposed, echoed their shouts till he was as hoarse as they, and in a glow of joy and right goodhumour,

But in all the bandyings from hand to hand, and strivings to and fro, and sweepings here and there,

whichsaving that he looked more jolly and more radiant after every struggletroubled his peace of mind

no more than if he had been a straw upon the water's surface, he never once released his firm grasp of an arm,

drawn tight through his. He sometimes turned to clap this friend upon the back, or whisper in his ear a word

of staunch encouragement, or cheer him with a smile; but his great care was to shield him from the pressure,

and force a passage for him to the Golden Key. Passive and timid, scared, pale, and wondering, and gazing at

the throng as if he were newly risen from the dead, and felt himself a ghost among the living, Barnabynot

Barnaby in the spirit, but in flesh and blood, with pulses, sinews, nerves, and beating heart, and strong

And thus, in course of time, they reached the door, held ready for their entrance by no unwilling hands. Then

slipping in, and shutting out the crowd by main force, Gabriel stood between Mr Haredale and Edward

Chester, and Barnaby, rushing up the stairs, fell upon his knees beside his mother's bed.

'Such is the blessed end, sir,' cried the panting locksmith, to Mr Haredale, 'of the best day's work we ever did.

The rogues! it's been hard fighting to get away from 'em. I almost thought, once or twice, they'd have been

They had striven, all the previous day, to rescue Barnaby from his impending fate. Failing in their attempts,

in the first quarter to which they addressed themselves, they renewed them in another. Failing there, likewise,

they began afresh at midnight; and made their way, not only to the judge and jury who had tried him, but to

men of influence at court, to the young Prince of Wales, and even to the antechamber of the King himself.

Successful, at last, in awakening an interest in his favour, and an inclination to inquire more dispassionately

into his case, they had had an interview with the minister, in his bed, so late as eight o'clock that morning.

The result of a searching inquiry (in which they, who had known the poor fellow from his childhood, did

other good service, besides bringing it about) was, that between eleven and twelve o'clock, a free pardon to

Barnaby Rudge was made out and signed, and entrusted to a horsesoldier for instant conveyance to the place

of execution. This courier reached the spot just as the cart appeared in sight; and Barnaby being carried back

to jail, Mr Haredale, assured that all was safe, had gone straight from Bloomsbury Square to the Golden Key,

'I needn't say,' observed the locksmith, when he had shaken hands with all the males in the house, and hugged

all the females, five andforty times, at least, 'that, except among ourselves, I didn't want to make a triumph

of it. But, directly we got into the street we were known, and this hubbub began. Of the two,' he added, as he

wiped his crimson face, 'and after experience of both, I think I'd rather be taken out of my house by a crowd

It was plain enough, however, that this was mere talk on Gabriel's part, and that the whole proceeding

afforded him the keenest delight; for the people continuing to make a great noise without, and to cheer as if

their voices were in the freshest order, and good for a fortnight, he sent upstairs for Grip (who had come

home at his master's back, and had acknowledged the favours of the multitude by drawing blood from every

finger that came within his reach), and with the bird upon his arm presented himself at the firstfloor

window, and waved his hat again until it dangled by a shred, between his finger and thumb. This

demonstration having been received with appropriate shouts, and silence being in some degree restored, he

thanked them for their sympathy; and taking the liberty to inform them that there was a sick person in the

house, proposed that they should give three cheers for King George, three more for Old England, and three

more for nothing particular, as a closing ceremony. The crowd assenting, substituted Gabriel Varden for the

nothing particular; and giving him one over, for good measure, dispersed in high goodhumour.

What congratulations were exchanged among the inmates at the Golden Key, when they were left alone; what

an overflowing of joy and happiness there was among them; how incapable it was of expression in Barnaby's

own person; and how he went wildly from one to another, until he became so far tranquillised, as to stretch

himself on the ground beside his mother's couch and fall into a deep sleep; are matters that need not be told.

And it is well they happened to be of this class, for they would be very hard to tell, were their narration ever

Before leaving this bright picture, it may be well to glance at a dark and very different one which was

The scene was a churchyard; the time, midnight; the persons, Edward Chester, a clergyman, a gravedigger,

and the four bearers of a homely coffin. They stood about a grave which had been newly dug, and one of the

bearers held up a dim lantern,the only light therewhich shed its feeble ray upon the book of prayer. He

placed it for a moment on the coffin, when he and his companions were about to lower it down. There was no

The mould fell solemnly upon the last house of this nameless man; and the rattling dust left a dismal echo

even in the accustomed ears of those who had borne it to its restingplace. The grave was filled in to the top,

'Never. Yesterday, he steadily refused to see me. It was urged upon him, many times, at my desire.'

'You are right. We hear the world wonder, every day, at monsters of ingratitude. Did it never occur to you

that it often looks for monsters of affection, as though they were things of course?'

They had reached the gate by this time, and bidding each other good night, departed on their separate ways.

That afternoon, when he had slept off his fatigue; had shaved, and washed, and dressed, and freshened

himself from top to toe; when he had dined, comforted himself with a pipe, an extra Toby, a nap in the great

armchair, and a quiet chat with Mrs Varden on everything that had happened, was happening, or about to

happen, within the sphere of their domestic concern; the locksmith sat himself down at the teatable in the

little backparlour: the rosiest, cosiest, merriest, heartiest, bestcontented old buck, in Great Britain or out of

There he sat, with his beaming eye on Mrs V., and his shining face suffused with gladness, and his capacious

waistcoat smiling in every wrinkle, and his jovial humour peeping from under the table in the very plumpness

of his legs; a sight to turn the vinegar of misanthropy into purest milk of human kindness. There he sat,

watching his wife as she decorated the room with flowers for the greater honour of Dolly and Joseph Willet,

who had gone out walking, and for whom the teakettle had been singing gaily on the hob full twenty

minutes, chirping as never kettle chirped before; for whom the best service of real undoubted china, patterned

with divers roundfaced mandarins holding up broad umbrellas, was now displayed in all its glory; to tempt

whose appetites a clear, transparent, juicy ham, garnished with cool green lettuceleaves and fragrant

cucumber, reposed upon a shady table, covered with a snowwhite cloth; for whose delight, preserves and

jams, crisp cakes and other pastry, short to eat, with cunning twists, and cottage loaves, and rolls of bread

both white and brown, were all set forth in rich profusion; in whose youth Mrs V. herself had grown quite

young, and stood there in a gown of red and white: symmetrical in figure, buxom in bodice, ruddy in cheek

and lip, faultless in ankle, laughing in face and mood, in all respects delicious to beholdthere sat the

locksmith among all and every these delights, the sun that shone upon them all: the centre of the system: the

And when had Dolly ever been the Dolly of that afternoon? To see how she came in, arminarm with Joe;

and how she made an effort not to blush or seem at all confused; and how she made believe she didn't care to

sit on his side of the table; and how she coaxed the locksmith in a whisper not to joke; and how her colour

came and went in a little restless flutter of happiness, which made her do everything wrong, and yet so

charmingly wrong that it was better than right!why, the locksmith could have looked on at this (as he

mentioned to Mrs Varden when they retired for the night) for four andtwenty hours at a stretch, and never

The recollections, too, with which they made merry over that long protracted tea! The glee with which the

locksmith asked Joe if he remembered that stormy night at the Maypole when he first asked after Dollythe

laugh they all had, about that night when she was going out to the party in the sedanchairthe unmerciful

manner in which they rallied Mrs Varden about putting those flowers outside that very windowthe

difficulty Mrs Varden found in joining the laugh against herself, at first, and the extraordinary perception she

had of the joke when she overcame itthe confidential statements of Joe concerning the precise day and

hour when he was first conscious of being fond of Dolly, and Dolly's blushing admissions, half volunteered

and half extorted, as to the time from which she dated the discovery that she 'didn't mind' Joehere was an

Then, there was a great deal to be said regarding Mrs Varden's doubts, and motherly alarms, and shrewd

suspicions; and it appeared that from Mrs Varden's penetration and extreme sagacity nothing had ever been

hidden. She had known it all along. She had seen it from the first. She had always predicted it. She had been

aware of it before the principals. She had said within herself (for she remembered the exact words) 'that

young Willet is certainly looking after our Dolly, and I must look after HIM.' Accordingly, she had looked

after him, and had observed many little circumstances (all of which she named) so exceedingly minute that

nobody else could make anything out of them even now; and had, it seemed from first to last, displayed the

Of course the night when Joe WOULD ride homeward by the side of the chaise, and when Mrs Varden

WOULD insist upon his going back again, was not forgottennor the night when Dolly fainted on his name

being mentionednor the times upon times when Mrs Varden, ever watchful and prudent, had found her

pining in her own chamber. In short, nothing was forgotten; and everything by some means or other brought

them back to the conclusion, that that was the happiest hour in all their lives; consequently, that everything

must have occurred for the best, and nothing could be suggested which would have made it better.

While they were in the full glow of such discourse as this, there came a startling knock at the door, opening

from the street into the workshop, which had been kept closed all day that the house might be more quiet. Joe,

as in duty bound, would hear of nobody but himself going to open it; and accordingly left the room for that

It would have been odd enough, certainly, if Joe had forgotten the way to this door; and even if he had, as it

was a pretty large one and stood straight before him, he could not easily have missed it. But Dolly, perhaps

because she was in the flutter of spirits before mentioned, or perhaps because she thought he would not be

able to open it with his one armshe could have had no other reason hurried out after him; and they

stopped so long in the passageno doubt owing to Joe's entreaties that she would not expose herself to the

draught of July air which must infallibly come rushing in on this same door being openedthat the knock

Upon that, Dolly went running back into the parlour, all dimples and blushes; and Joe opened it with a

'Well,' said the locksmith, when he reappeared: 'what is it? eh Joe? what are you laughing at?'

'Who's coming in? what's coming in?' Mrs Varden, as much at a loss as her husband, could only shake her

head in answer to his inquiring look: so, the locksmith wheeled his chair round to command a better view of

the roomdoor, and stared at it with his eyes wide open, and a mingled expression of curiosity and wonder

Instead of some person or persons straightway appearing, divers remarkable sounds were heard, first in the

workshop and afterwards in the little dark passage between it and the parlour, as though some unwieldy chest

or heavy piece of furniture were being brought in, by an amount of human strength inadequate to the task. At

length after much struggling and humping, and bruising of the wall on both sides, the door was forced open

as by a batteringram; and the locksmith, steadily regarding what appeared beyond, smote his thigh, elevated

his eyebrows, opened his mouth, and cried in a loud voice expressive of the utmost consternation:

The young damsel whom he named no sooner heard these words, than deserting a small boy and a very large

box by which she was accompanied, and advancing with such precipitation that her bonnet flew off her head,

burst into the room, clasped her hands (in which she held a pair of pattens, one in each), raised her eyes

'The old story!' cried the locksmith, looking at her in inexpressible desperation. 'She was born to be a damper,

'Ho master, ho mim!' cried Miggs, 'can I constrain my feelings in these here once agin united moments! Ho

Mr Warsen, here's blessedness among relations, sir! Here's forgivenesses of injuries, here's amicablenesses!'

The locksmith looked from his wife to Dolly, and from Dolly to Joe, and from Joe to Miggs, with his

eyebrows still elevated and his mouth still open. When his eyes got back to Miggs, they rested on her;

'To think,' cried Miggs with hysterical joy, 'that Mr Joe, and dear Miss Dolly, has raly come together after all

as has been said and done contrairy! To see them two asettin' along with him and her, so pleasant and in all

respects so affable and mild; and me not knowing of it, and not being in the ways to make no preparations for

their teas. Ho what a cutting thing it is, and yet what sweet sensations is awoke within me!'

Either in clasping her hands again, or in an ecstasy of pious joy, Miss Miggs clinked her pattens after the

manner of a pair of cymbals, at this juncture; and then resumed, in the softest accents:

'And did my missis thinkho goodness, did she thinkas her own Miggs, which supported her under so

many trials, and understood her natur' when them as intended well but acted rough, went so deep into her

feelingsdid she think as her own Miggs would ever leave her? Did she think as Miggs, though she was but

a servant, and knowed that servitudes was no inheritances, would forgit that she was the humble instruments

as always made it comfortable between them two when they fell out, and always told master of the meekness

and forgiveness of her blessed dispositions! Did she think as Miggs had no attachments! Did she think that

To none of these interrogatories, whereof every one was more pathetically delivered than the last, did Mrs

Varden answer one word: but Miggs, not at all abashed by this circumstance, turned to the small boy in

attendanceher eldest nephewson of her own married sisterborn in Golden Lion Court, number

twentysivin, and bred in the very shadow of the second bellhandle on the right hand doorpostand

with a plentiful use of her pocket handkerchief, addressed herself to him: requesting that on his return home

he would console his parents for the loss of her, his aunt, by delivering to them a faithful statement of his

having left her in the bosom of that family, with which, as his aforesaid parents well knew, her best affections

were incorporated; that he would remind them that nothing less than her imperious sense of duty, and devoted

attachment to her old master and missis, likewise Miss Dolly and young Mr Joe, should ever have induced

her to decline that pressing invitation which they, his parents, had, as he could testify, given her, to lodge and

board with them, free of all cost and charge, for evermore; lastly, that he would help her with her box

upstairs, and then repair straight home, bearing her blessing and her strong injunctions to mingle in his

prayers a supplication that he might in course of time grow up a locksmith, or a Mr Joe, and have Mrs

Having brought this admonition to an endupon which, to say the truth, the young gentleman for whose

benefit it was designed, bestowed little or no heed, having to all appearance his faculties absorbed in the

contemplation of the sweetmeats,Miss Miggs signified to the company in general that they were not to be

uneasy, for she would soon return; and, with her nephew's aid, prepared to bear her wardrobe up the staircase.

'I desire it!' she answered. 'I am astonishedI am amazedat her audacity. Let her leave the house this

Miggs, hearing this, let her end of the box fall heavily to the floor, gave a very loud sniff, crossed her arms,

screwed down the corners of her mouth, and cried, in an ascending scale, 'Ho, good gracious!' three distinct

'You hear what your mistress says, my love,' remarked the locksmith. 'You had better go, I think. Stay; take

Miss Miggs clutched the banknote he took from his pocketbook and held out to her; deposited it in a small,

red leather purse; put the purse in her pocket (displaying, as she did so, a considerable portion of some

undergarment, made of flannel, and more black cotton stocking than is commonly seen in public); and,

'Times is changed, is they, mim!' cried Miggs, bridling; 'you can spare me now, can you? You can keep 'em

down without me? You're not in wants of any one to scold, or throw the blame upon, no longer, an't you,

With that she dropped a curtsey, and keeping her head erect, her ear towards Mrs Varden, and her eye on the

'I'm quite delighted, I'm sure, to find sich independency, feeling sorry though, at the same time, mim, that you

should have been forced into submissions when you couldn't help yourselfhe he he! It must be great

vexations, 'specially considering how ill you always spoke of Mr Joeto have him for a soninlaw at last;

and I wonder Miss Dolly can put up with him, either, after being off and on for so many years with a

coachmaker. But I HAVE heerd say, that the coachmaker thought twice about ithe he he!and that he

told a young man as was a frind of his, that he hoped he knowed better than to be drawed into that; though

'I HAVE heerd say, mim, that the illnesses of some ladies was all pretensions, and that they could faint away,

stone dead, whenever they had the inclinations so to do. Of course I never see sich cases with my own

eyesho no! He he he! Nor master neitherho no! He he he! I HAVE heerd the neighbours make remark

as some one as they was acquainted with, was a poor goodnatur'd meanspirited creetur, as went out fishing

for a wife one day, and caught a Tartar. Of course I never to my knowledge see the poor person himself. Nor

did you neither, mimho no. I wonder who it can bedon't you, mim? No doubt you do, mim. Ho yes. He

Again Miggs paused for a reply; and none being offered, was so oppressed with teeming spite and spleen,

'I'm glad Miss Dolly can laugh,' cried Miggs with a feeble titter. 'I like to see folks alaughingso do you,

mim, don't you? You was always glad to see people in spirits, wasn't you, mim? And you always did your

best to keep 'em cheerful, didn't you, mim? Though there an't such a great deal to laugh at now either; is

there, mim? It an't so much of a catch, after looking out so sharp ever since she was a little chit, and costing

such a deal in dress and show, to get a poor, common soldier, with one arm, is it, mim? He he! I wouldn't

have a husband with one arm, anyways. I would have two arms. I would have two arms, if it was me, though

Miss Miggs was about to add, and had, indeed, begun to add, that, taking them in the abstract, dustmen were

far more eligible matches than soldiers, though, to be sure, when people were past choosing they must take

the best they could get, and think themselves well off too; but her vexation and chagrin being of that

internally bitter sort which finds no relief in words, and is aggravated to madness by want of contradiction,

In this extremity she fell on the unlucky nephew, tooth and nail, and plucking a handful of hair from his head,

demanded to know how long she was to stand there to be insulted, and whether or no he meant to help her to

carry out the box again, and if he took a pleasure in hearing his family reviled: with other inquiries of that

nature; at which disgrace and provocation, the small boy, who had been all this time gradually lashed into

rebellion by the sight of unattainable pastry, walked off indignant, leaving his aunt and the box to follow at

their leisure. Somehow or other, by dint of pushing and pulling, they did attain the street at last; where Miss

Miggs, all blowzed with the exertion of getting there, and with her sobs and tears, sat down upon her property

'It's a thing to laugh at, Martha, not to care for,' whispered the locksmith, as he followed his wife to the

window, and good humouredly dried her eyes. 'What does it matter? You had seen your fault before. Come!

Bring up Toby again, my dear; Dolly shall sing us a song; and we'll be all the merrier for this interruption!'

Another month had passed, and the end of August had nearly come, when Mr Haredale stood alone in the

mailcoach office at Bristol. Although but a few weeks had intervened since his conversation with Edward

Chester and his niece, in the locksmith's house, and he had made no change, in the mean time, in his

accustomed style of dress, his appearance was greatly altered. He looked much older, and more careworn.

Agitation and anxiety of mind scatter wrinkles and grey hairs with no unsparing hand; but deeper traces

follow on the silent uprooting of old habits, and severing of dear, familiar ties. The affections may not be so

easily wounded as the passions, but their hurts are deeper, and more lasting. He was now a solitary man, and

He was not the less alone for having spent so many years in seclusion and retirement. This was no better

preparation than a round of social cheerfulness: perhaps it even increased the keenness of his sensibility. He

had been so dependent upon her for companionship and love; she had come to be so much a part and parcel

of his existence; they had had so many cares and thoughts in common, which no one else had shared; that

losing her was beginning life anew, and being required to summon up the hope and elasticity of youth, amid

The effort he had made to part from her with seeming cheerfulness and hopeand they had parted only

yesterdayleft him the more depressed. With these feelings, he was about to revisit London for the last time,

and look once more upon the walls of their old home, before turning his back upon it, for ever.

The journey was a very different one, in those days, from what the present generation find it; but it came to

an end, as the longest journey will, and he stood again in the streets of the metropolis. He lay at the inn where

the coach stopped, and resolved, before he went to bed, that he would make his arrival known to no one;

would spend but another night in London; and would spare himself the pang of parting, even with the honest

Such conditions of the mind as that to which he was a prey when he lay down to rest, are favourable to the

growth of disordered fancies, and uneasy visions. He knew this, even in the horror with which he started from

his first sleep, and threw up the window to dispel it by the presence of some object, beyond the room, which

had not been, as it were, the witness of his dream. But it was not a new terror of the night; it had been present

to him before, in many shapes; it had haunted him in bygone times, and visited his pillow again and again. If

it had been but an ugly object, a childish spectre, haunting his sleep, its return, in its old form, might have

awakened a momentary sensation of fear, which, almost in the act of waking, would have passed away. This

disquiet, however, lingered about him, and would yield to nothing. When he closed his eyes again, he felt it

hovering near; as he slowly sunk into a slumber, he was conscious of its gathering strength and purpose, and

gradually assuming its recent shape; when he sprang up from his bed, the same phantom vanished from his

heated brain, and left him filled with a dread against which reason and waking thought were powerless.

The sun was up, before he could shake it off. He rose late, but not refreshed, and remained within doors all

that day. He had a fancy for paying his last visit to the old spot in the evening, for he had been accustomed to

walk there at that season, and desired to see it under the aspect that was most familiar to him. At such an hour

as would afford him time to reach it a little before sunset, he left the inn, and turned into the busy street.

He had not gone far, and was thoughtfully making his way among the noisy crowd, when he felt a hand upon

his shoulder, and, turning, recognised one of the waiters from the inn, who begged his pardon, but he had left

'Why have you brought it to me?' he asked, stretching out his hand, and yet not taking it from the man, but

The man was sorry to have disobliged him, and would carry it back again. The gentleman had said that he

was going a little way into the country, and that he might not return until late. The roads were not very safe

for single travellers after dark; and, since the riots, gentlemen had been more careful than ever, not to trust

themselves unarmed in lonely places. 'We thought you were a stranger, sir,' he added, 'and that you might

believe our roads to be better than they are; but perhaps you know them well, and carry firearms'

He took the sword, and putting it up at his side, thanked the man, and resumed his walk.

It was long remembered that he did this in a manner so strange, and with such a trembling hand, that the

messenger stood looking after his retreating figure, doubtful whether he ought not to follow, and watch him.

It was long remembered that he had been heard pacing his bedroom in the dead of the night; that the

attendants had mentioned to each other in the morning, how fevered and how pale he looked; and that when

this man went back to the inn, he told a fellowservant that what he had observed in this short interview lay

very heavy on his mind, and that he feared the gentleman intended to destroy himself, and would never come

With a halfconsciousness that his manner had attracted the man's attention (remembering the expression of

his face when they parted), Mr Haredale quickened his steps; and arriving at a stand of coaches, bargained

with the driver of the best to carry him so far on his road as the point where the footway struck across the

fields, and to await his return at a house of entertainment which was within a stone'sthrow of that place.

He passed so near the Maypole, that he could see its smoke rising from among the trees, while a flock of

pigeonssome of its old inhabitants, doubtlesssailed gaily home to roost, between him and the unclouded

sky. 'The old house will brighten up now,' he said, as he looked towards it, 'and there will be a merry fireside

beneath its ivied roof. It is some comfort to know that everything will not be blighted hereabouts. I shall be

He resumed his walk, and bent his steps towards the Warren. It was a clear, calm, silent evening, with hardly

a breath of wind to stir the leaves, or any sound to break the stillness of the time, but drowsy sheepbells

tinkling in the distance, and, at intervals, the faroff lowing of cattle, or bark of village dogs. The sky was

radiant with the softened glory of sunset; and on the earth, and in the air, a deep repose prevailed. At such an

hour, he arrived at the deserted mansion which had been his home so long, and looked for the last time upon

The ashes of the commonest fire are melancholy things, for in them there is an image of death and ruin,of

something that has been bright, and is but dull, cold, dreary dust,with which our nature forces us to

sympathise. How much more sad the crumbled embers of a home: the casting down of that great altar, where

the worst among us sometimes perform the worship of the heart; and where the best have offered up such

sacrifices, and done such deeds of heroism, as, chronicled, would put the proudest temples of old Time, with

He roused himself from a long train of meditation, and walked slowly round the house. It was by this time

He had nearly made the circuit of the building, when he uttered a halfsuppressed exclamation, started, and

stood still. Reclining, in an easy attitude, with his back against a tree, and contemplating the ruin with an

expression of pleasure,a pleasure so keen that it overcame his habitual indolence and command of feature,

and displayed itself utterly free from all restraint or reserve,before him, on his own ground, and triumphing

then, as he had triumphed in every misfortune and disappointment of his life, stood the man whose presence,

of all mankind, in any place, and least of all in that, he could the least endure.

Although his blood so rose against this man, and his wrath so stirred within him, that he could have struck

him dead, he put such fierce constraint upon himself that he passed him without a word or look. Yes, and he

would have gone on, and not turned, though to resist the Devil who poured such hot temptation in his brain,

required an effort scarcely to be achieved, if this man had not himself summoned him to stop: and that, with

an assumed compassion in his voice which drove him wellnigh mad, and in an instant routed all the

All consideration, reflection, mercy, forbearance; everything by which a goaded man can curb his rage and

passion; fled from him as he turned back. And yet he said, slowly and quite calmlyfar more calmly than he

'To remark,' said Sir John Chester with his wonted composure, 'what an odd chance it is, that we should meet

'Strange? The most remarkable and singular thing in the world. I never ride in the evening; I have not done so

for years. The whim seized me, quite unaccountably, in the middle of last night.How very picturesque this

is!'He pointed, as he spoke, to the dismantled house, and raised his glass to his eye.

Sir John let fall his glass; inclined his face towards him with an air of the most courteous inquiry; and slightly

shook his head as though he were remarking to himself, 'I fear this animal is going mad!'

'Work!' echoed Sir John, looking smilingly round. 'Mine!I beg your pardon, I really beg your pardon'

'Why, you see,' said Mr Haredale, 'those walls. You see those tottering gables. You see on every side where

fire and smoke have raged. You see the destruction that has been wanton here. Do you not?'

'My good friend,' returned the knight, gently checking his impatience with his hand, 'of course I do. I see

everything you speak of, when you stand aside, and do not interpose yourself between the view and me. I am

very sorry for you. If I had not had the pleasure to meet you here, I think I should have written to tell you so.

He pulled out his snuffbox, and addressing him with the superior air of a man who, by reason of his higher

'For you are a philosopher, you knowone of that stern and rigid school who are far above the weaknesses

of mankind in general. You are removed, a long way, from the frailties of the crowd. You contemplate them

from a height, and rail at them with a most impressive bitterness. I have heard you.'

'Thank you,' returned the other. 'Shall we walk as we talk? The damp falls rather heavily. Well,as you

'I would,' said Mr Haredale, 'you had spared me none. I would, with all my soul, you had been in Paradise (if

'Nay,' returned the other'reallyyou do yourself injustice. You are a rough companion, but I would not go

'While I deliver your infamy. You urged and stimulated to do your work a fit agent, but one who in his

naturein the very essence of his beingis a traitor, and who has been false to you (despite the sympathy

you two should have together) as he has been to all others. With hints, and looks, and crafty words, which

told again are nothing, you set on Gashford to this workthis work before us now. With these same hints,

and looks, and crafty words, which told again are nothing, you urged him on to gratify the deadly hate he

owes meI have earned it, I thank Heavenby the abduction and dishonour of my niece. You did. I see

denial in your looks,' he cried, abruptly pointing in his face, and stepping back, 'and denial is a lie!'

He had his hand upon his sword; but the knight, with a contemptuous smile, replied to him as coldly as

'You will take notice, sirif you can discriminate sufficiently that I have taken the trouble to deny

nothing. Your discernment is hardly fine enough for the perusal of faces, not of a kind as coarse as your

speech; nor has it ever been, that I remember; or, in one face that I could name, you would have read

indifference, not to say disgust, somewhat sooner than you did. I speak of a long time ago,but you

'Disguise it as you will, you mean denial. Denial explicit or reserved, expressed or left to be inferred, is still a

'You yourself,' returned Sir John, suffering the current of his speech to flow as smoothly as if it had been

stemmed by no one word of interruption, 'publicly proclaimed the character of the gentleman in question (I

think it was in Westminster Hall) in terms which relieve me from the necessity of making any further allusion

to him. You may have been warranted; you may not have been; I can't say. Assuming the gentleman to be

what you described, and to have made to you or any other person any statements that may have happened to

suggest themselves to him, for the sake of his own security, or for the sake of money, or for his own

amusement, or for any other consideration,I have nothing to say of him, except that his extremely

degrading situation appears to me to be shared with his employers. You are so very plain yourself, that you

'Attend to me again, Sir John but once,' cried Mr Haredale; 'in your every look, and word, and gesture, you

tell me this was not your act. I tell you that it was, and that you tampered with the man I speak of, and with

your wretched son (whom God forgive!) to do this deed. You talk of degradation and character. You told me

once that you had purchased the absence of the poor idiot and his mother, when (as I have discovered since,

and then suspected) you had gone to tempt them, and had found them flown. To you I traced the insinuation

that I alone reaped any harvest from my brother's death; and all the foul attacks and whispered calumnies that

followed in its train. In every action of my life, from that first hope which you converted into grief and

desolation, you have stood, like an adverse fate, between me and peace. In all, you have ever been the same

coldblooded, hollow, false, unworthy villain. For the second time, and for the last, I cast these charges in

With that he raised his arm, and struck him on the breast so that he staggered. Sir John, the instant he

recovered, drew his sword, threw away the scabbard and his hat, and running on his adversary made a

desperate lunge at his heart, which, but that his guard was quick and true, would have stretched him dead

In the act of striking him, the torrent of his opponent's rage had reached a stop. He parried his rapid thrusts,

without returning them, and called to him, with a frantic kind of terror in his face, to keep back.

Seeing that he lowered his weapon, and that he would not thrust in turn, Sir John lowered his.

'You told meit must have been in a sort of inspiration' said Sir John, quite deliberately, though now he

dropped his mask, and showed his hatred in his face, 'that this was the last time. Be assured it is! Did you

believe our last meeting was forgotten? Did you believe that your every word and look was not to be

accounted for, and was not well remembered? Do you believe that I have waited your time, or you mine?

What kind of man is he who entered, with all his sickening cant of honesty and truth, into a bond with me to

prevent a marriage he affected to dislike, and when I had redeemed my part to the spirit and the letter,

skulked from his, and brought the match about in his own time, to rid himself of a burden he had grown tired

'I have acted,' cried Mr Haredale, 'with honour and in good faith. I do so now. Do not force me to renew this

'You said my "wretched" son, I think?' said Sir John, with a smile. 'Poor fool! The dupe of such a shallow

knavetrapped into marriage by such an uncle and by such a niecehe well deserves your pity. But he is

no longer a son of mine: you are welcome to the prize your craft has made, sir.'

'Once more,' cried his opponent, wildly stamping on the ground, 'although you tear me from my better angel,

I implore you not to come within the reach of my sword tonight. Oh! why were you here at all! Why have

'That being the case,' returned Sir John, without the least emotion, 'it is very fortunate we have met tonight.

Haredale, I have always despised you, as you know, but I have given you credit for a species of brute

courage. For the honour of my judgment, which I had thought a good one, I am sorry to find you a coward.'

Not another word was spoken on either side. They crossed swords, though it was now quite dusk, and

attacked each other fiercely. They were well matched, and each was thoroughly skilled in the management of

After a few seconds they grew hotter and more furious, and pressing on each other inflicted and received

several slight wounds. It was directly after receiving one of these in his arm, that Mr Haredale, making a

keener thrust as he felt the warm blood spirting out, plunged his sword through his opponent's body to the

Their eyes met, and were on each other as he drew it out. He put his arm about the dying man, who repulsed

him, feebly, and dropped upon the turf. Raising himself upon his hands, he gazed at him for an instant, with

scorn and hatred in his look; but, seeming to remember, even then, that this expression would distort his

features after death, he tried to smile, and, faintly moving his right hand, as if to hide his bloody linen in his

A parting glance at such of the actors in this little history as it has not, in the course of its events, dismissed,

Mr Haredale fled that night. Before pursuit could be begun, indeed before Sir John was traced or missed, he

had left the kingdom. Repairing straight to a religious establishment, known throughout Europe for the rigour

and severity of its discipline, and for the merciless penitence it exacted from those who sought its shelter as a

refuge from the world, he took the vows which thenceforth shut him out from nature and his kind, and after a

Two days elapsed before the body of Sir John was found. As soon as it was recognised and carried home, the

faithful valet, true to his master's creed, eloped with all the cash and movables he could lay his hands on, and

started as a finished gentleman upon his own account. In this career he met with great success, and would

certainly have married an heiress in the end, but for an unlucky check which led to his premature decease. He

sank under a contagious disorder, very prevalent at that time, and vulgarly termed the jail fever.

Lord George Gordon, remaining in his prison in the Tower until Monday the fifth of February in the

following year, was on that day solemnly tried at Westminster for High Treason. Of this crime he was, after a

patient investigation, declared Not Guilty; upon the ground that there was no proof of his having called the

multitude together with any traitorous or unlawful intentions. Yet so many people were there, still, to whom

those riots taught no lesson of reproof or moderation, that a public subscription was set on foot in Scotland to

For seven years afterwards he remained, at the strong intercession of his friends, comparatively quiet; saving

that he, every now and then, took occasion to display his zeal for the Protestant faith in some extravagant

proceeding which was the delight of its enemies; and saving, besides, that he was formally excommunicated

by the Archbishop of Canterbury, for refusing to appear as a witness in the Ecclesiastical Court when cited

for that purpose. In the year 1788 he was stimulated by some new insanity to write and publish an injurious

pamphlet, reflecting on the Queen of France, in very violent terms. Being indicted for the libel, and (after

various strange demonstrations in court) found guilty, he fled into Holland in place of appearing to receive

sentence: from whence, as the quiet burgomasters of Amsterdam had no relish for his company, he was sent

home again with all speed. Arriving in the month of July at Harwich, and going thence to Birmingham, he

made in the latter place, in August, a public profession of the Jewish religion; and figured there as a Jew until

he was arrested, and brought back to London to receive the sentence he had evaded. By virtue of this sentence

he was, in the month of December, cast into Newgate for five years and ten months, and required besides to

pay a large fine, and to furnish heavy securities for his future good behaviour.

After addressing, in the midsummer of the following year, an appeal to the commiseration of the National

Assembly of France, which the English minister refused to sanction, he composed himself to undergo his full

term of punishment; and suffering his beard to grow nearly to his waist, and conforming in all respects to the

ceremonies of his new religion, he applied himself to the study of history, and occasionally to the art of

painting, in which, in his younger days, he had shown some skill. Deserted by his former friends, and treated

in all respects like the worst criminal in the jail, he lingered on, quite cheerful and resigned, until the 1st of

November 1793, when he died in his cell, being then only three andforty years of age.

Many men with fewer sympathies for the distressed and needy, with less abilities and harder hearts, have

made a shining figure and left a brilliant fame. He had his mourners. The prisoners bemoaned his loss, and

missed him; for though his means were not large, his charity was great, and in bestowing alms among them

he considered the necessities of all alike, and knew no distinction of sect or creed. There are wise men in the

highways of the world who may learn something, even from this poor crazy lord who died in Newgate.

To the last, he was truly served by bluff John Grueby. John was at his side before he had been

fourandtwenty hours in the Tower, and never left him until he died. He had one other constant attendant, in

the person of a beautiful Jewish girl; who attached herself to him from feelings half religious, half romantic,

but whose virtuous and disinterested character appears to have been beyond the censure even of the most

Gashford deserted him, of course. He subsisted for a time upon his traffic in his master's secrets; and, this

trade failing when the stock was quite exhausted, procured an appointment in the honourable corps of spies

and eavesdroppers employed by the government. As one of these wretched underlings, he did his drudgery,

sometimes abroad, sometimes at home, and long endured the various miseries of such a station. Ten or a

dozen years agonot morea meagre, wan old man, diseased and miserably poor, was found dead in his

bed at an obscure inn in the Borough, where he was quite unknown. He had taken poison. There was no clue

to his name; but it was discovered from certain entries in a pocketbook he carried, that he had been secretary

Many months after the reestablishment of peace and order, and even when it had ceased to be the towntalk,

that every military officer, kept at free quarters by the City during the late alarms, had cost for his board and

lodging four pounds four per day, and every private soldier two and twopence halfpenny; many months after

even this engrossing topic was forgotten, and the United Bulldogs were to a man all killed, imprisoned, or

transported, Mr Simon Tappertit, being removed from a hospital to prison, and thence to his place of trial,

was discharged by proclamation, on two wooden legs. Shorn of his graceful limbs, and brought down from

his high estate to circumstances of utter destitution, and the deepest misery, he made shift to stump back to

his old master, and beg for some relief. By the locksmith's advice and aid, he was established in business as a

shoeblack, and opened shop under an archway near the Horse Guards. This being a central quarter, he quickly

made a very large connection; and on levee days, was sometimes known to have as many as twenty halfpay

officers waiting their turn for polishing. Indeed his trade increased to that extent, that in course of time he

entertained no less than two apprentices, besides taking for his wife the widow of an eminent bone and rag

collector, formerly of MilIbank. With this lady (who assisted in the business) he lived in great domestic

happiness, only chequered by those little storms which serve to clear the atmosphere of wedlock, and

brighten its horizon. In some of these gusts of bad weather, Mr Tappertit would, in the assertion of his

prerogative, so far forget himself, as to correct his lady with a brush, or boot, or shoe; while she (but only in

extreme cases) would retaliate by taking off his legs, and leaving him exposed to the derision of those urchins

Miss Miggs, baffled in all her schemes, matrimonial and otherwise, and cast upon a thankless, undeserving

world, turned very sharp and sour; and did at length become so acid, and did so pinch and slap and tweak the

hair and noses of the youth of Golden Lion Court, that she was by one consent expelled that sanctuary, and

desired to bless some other spot of earth, in preference. It chanced at that moment, that the justices of the

peace for Middlesex proclaimed by public placard that they stood in need of a female turnkey for the County

Bridewell, and appointed a day and hour for the inspection of candidates. Miss Miggs attending at the time

appointed, was instantly chosen and selected from one hundred and twentyfour competitors, and at once

promoted to the office; which she held until her decease, more than thirty years afterwards, remaining single

all that time. It was observed of this lady that while she was inflexible and grim to all her female flock, she

was particularly so to those who could establish any claim to beauty: and it was often remarked as a proof of

her indomitable virtue and severe chastity, that to such as had been frail she showed no mercy; always falling

upon them on the slightest occasion, or on no occasion at all, with the fullest measure of her wrath. Among

other useful inventions which she practised upon this class of offenders and bequeathed to posterity, was the

art of inflicting an exquisitely vicious poke or dig with the wards of a key in the small of the back, near the

spine. She likewise originated a mode of treading by accident (in pattens) on such as had small feet; also very

It was not very long, you may be sure, before Joe Willet and Dolly Varden were made husband and wife, and

with a handsome sum in bank (for the locksmith could afford to give his daughter a good dowry), reopened

the Maypole. It was not very long, you may be sure, before a redfaced little boy was seen staggering about

the Maypole passage, and kicking up his heels on the green before the door. It was not very long, counting by

years, before there was a redfaced little girl, another redfaced little boy, and a whole troop of girls and

boys: so that, go to Chigwell when you would, there would surely be seen, either in the village street, or on

the green, or frolicking in the farmyardfor it was a farm now, as well as a tavernmore small Joes and

small Dollys than could be easily counted. It was not a very long time before these appearances ensued; but it

WAS a VERY long time before Joe looked five years older, or Dolly either, or the locksmith either, or his

wife either: for cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers, and are famous preservers of youthful looks,

It was a long time, too, before there was such a country inn as the Maypole, in all England: indeed it is a great

question whether there has ever been such another to this hour, or ever will be. It was a long time toofor

Never, as the proverb says, is a long day before they forgot to have an interest in wounded soldiers at the

Maypole, or before Joe omitted to refresh them, for the sake of his old campaign; or before the serjeant left

off looking in there, now and then; or before they fatigued themselves, or each other, by talking on these

occasions of battles and sieges, and hard weather and hard service, and a thousand things belonging to a

soldier's life. As to the great silver snuffbox which the King sent Joe with his own hand, because of his

conduct in the Riots, what guest ever went to the Maypole without putting finger and thumb into that box,

and taking a great pinch, though he had never taken a pinch of snuff before, and almost sneezed himself into

convulsions even then? As to the purplefaced vintner, where is the man who lived in those times and never

saw HIM at the Maypole: to all appearance as much at home in the best room, as if he lived there? And as to

the feastings and christenings, and revellings at Christmas, and celebrations of birthdays, weddingdays, and

all manner of days, both at the Maypole and the Golden Key,if they are not notorious, what facts are?

Mr Willet the elder, having been by some extraordinary means possessed with the idea that Joe wanted to be

married, and that it would be well for him, his father, to retire into private life, and enable him to live in

comfort, took up his abode in a small cottage at Chigwell; where they widened and enlarged the fireplace for

him, hung up the boiler, and furthermore planted in the little garden outside the frontdoor, a fictitious

Maypole; so that he was quite at home directly. To this, his new habitation, Tom Cobb, Phil Parkes, and

Solomon Daisy went regularly every night: and in the chimneycorner, they all four quaffed, and smoked,

and prosed, and dozed, as they had done of old. It being accidentally discovered after a short time that Mr

Willet still appeared to consider himself a landlord by profession, Joe provided him with a slate, upon which

the old man regularly scored up vast accounts for meat, drink, and tobacco. As he grew older this passion

increased upon him; and it became his delight to chalk against the name of each of his cronies a sum of

enormous magnitude, and impossible to be paid: and such was his secret joy in these entries, that he would be

perpetually seen going behind the door to look at them, and coming forth again, suffused with the liveliest

He never recovered the surprise the Rioters had given him, and remained in the same mental condition down

to the last moment of his life. It was like to have been brought to a speedy termination by the first sight of his

first grandchild, which appeared to fill him with the belief that some alarming miracle had happened to Joe.

Being promptly blooded, however, by a skilful surgeon, he rallied; and although the doctors all agreed, on his

being attacked with symptoms of apoplexy six months afterwards, that he ought to die, and took it very ill

that he did not, he remained alivepossibly on account of his constitutional slowness for nearly seven

years more, when he was one morning found speechless in his bed. He lay in this state, free from all tokens of

uneasiness, for a whole week, when he was suddenly restored to consciousness by hearing the nurse whisper

in his son's ear that he was going. 'I'm agoing, Joseph,' said Mr Willet, turning round upon the instant, 'to the

He left a large sum of money behind him; even more than he was supposed to have been worth, although the

neighbours, according to the custom of mankind in calculating the wealth that other people ought to have

saved, had estimated his property in good round numbers. Joe inherited the whole; so that he became a man

Some time elapsed before Barnaby got the better of the shock he had sustained, or regained his old health and

gaiety. But he recovered by degrees: and although he could never separate his condemnation and escape from

the idea of a terrific dream, he became, in other respects, more rational. Dating from the time of his recovery,

he had a better memory and greater steadiness of purpose; but a dark cloud overhung his whole previous

He was not the less happy for this, for his love of freedom and interest in all that moved or grew, or had its

being in the elements, remained to him unimpaired. He lived with his mother on the Maypole farm, tending

the poultry and the cattle, working in a garden of his own, and helping everywhere. He was known to every

bird and beast about the place, and had a name for every one. Never was there a lighterhearted husbandman,

a creature more popular with young and old, a blither or more happy soul than Barnaby; and though he was

free to ramble where he would, he never quitted Her, but was for evermore her stay and comfort.

It was remarkable that although he had that dim sense of the past, he sought out Hugh's dog, and took him

under his care; and that he never could be tempted into London. When the Riots were many years old, and

Edward and his wife came back to England with a family almost as numerous as Dolly's, and one day

appeared at the Maypole porch, he knew them instantly, and wept and leaped for joy. But neither to visit

them, nor on any other pretence, no matter how full of promise and enjoyment, could he be persuaded to set

foot in the streets: nor did he ever conquer this repugnance or look upon the town again.

Grip soon recovered his looks, and became as glossy and sleek as ever. But he was profoundly silent.

Whether he had forgotten the art of Polite Conversation in Newgate, or had made a vow in those troubled

times to forego, for a period, the display of his accomplishments, is matter of uncertainty; but certain it is that

for a whole year he never indulged in any other sound than a grave, decorous croak. At the expiration of that

term, the morning being very bright and sunny, he was heard to address himself to the horses in the stable,

upon the subject of the Kettle, so often mentioned in these pages; and before the witness who overheard him

could run into the house with the intelligence, and add to it upon his solemn affirmation the statement that he

had heard him laugh, the bird himself advanced with fantastic steps to the very door of the bar, and there

From that period (although he was supposed to be much affected by the death of Mr Willet senior), he

constantly practised and improved himself in the vulgar tongue; and, as he was a mere infant for a raven

when Barnaby was grey, he has very probably gone on talking to the present time.