"Certainly, Mr. Runnington," said Aubrey, "I can undertake to say that my sister never gave him any encouragement."

"Encouragement?--Horrid man!" exclaimed Miss Aubrey, with great vivacity. "I could never bear him--you know it, Charles--so do you, Agnes!" Mr. Runnington made no further observations on the subject, though his thoughts were very busy; he was satisfied that he was beginning to discover a clew to much of Gammon's conduct--for that that gentleman was acting with profound duplicity, Mr. Runnington entertained no doubt whatever; and he resolved to watch his every motion connected with Mr. Aubrey closely.

"What will be the earliest period;" inquired Mr. Aubrey, "at which Mr.

t.i.tmouse, if so disposed, can put in suit my bond given to the late Lady Stratton?"

"As soon as he has obtained the grant of letters of administration, which cannot take place till the end of fourteen days from her Ladyship's death--that being one difference, as you are aware, between the powers of an executor and an administrator." Mr. Aubrey sighed; and made no reply; while Mr. Runnington looked at him for some moments in silence, as if doubting whether to mention something which had occurred to him. At length--"Of course, Mr. Aubrey," he commenced, "one does not like to raise groundless hopes or fears; but, do you know, I am by no means free from doubts as to the reality of Lady Stratton's intestacy--whether the draft of her proposed will, brought to her by Mr.

Parkinson, could not be admitted to probate. Very--very nice questions, as you must be aware, often arise out of cases like these! Since seeing you this morning, I have written off to Mr. Parkinson for full and accurate information on the point; and if I get a satisfactory answer, with your consent I will certainly lodge a _caveat_ against the grant of t.i.tles of administration. That would indeed checkmate them! But I have very slight hopes indeed of receiving such an answer as one could wish,"

added Mr. Runnington, fearful of exciting fruitless expectations.

Shortly afterwards, Miss Aubrey, who had appeared for some little time laboring under considerable excitement, addressing her brother, said with evident embarra.s.sment--"Charles, I am very anxious to mention something that has occurred to me of a very singular nature--if you think I am at liberty to do so; and I shall first ask you and Mr.

Runnington, whether, under the circ.u.mstances, you consider me ent.i.tled to disclose what I allude to."

"Kate, Kate!--what is this?--What do you mean? You quite alarm me!"

inquired her brother, with an amazed air.

"Suppose Mr. Gammon, on the occasion of his calling upon me, which has been recently mentioned, volunteered a statement of a very, very extraordinary description--one that has ever since quite _haunted_ me, day and night. Mind, Charles--I say that, in the first instance, he _volunteered_ it, only expressing an earnest wish that I should mention it to no one; on which I said I should make no promise, but act as I might think proper; and after my saying this, he made the communication I allude to. _Should_ I be at liberty," continued Miss Aubrey, eagerly and anxiously, "now to disclose what he told me? I am dying to do it, if I may, honorably."

"My dear Kate, I really fear you are wandering--that you are overcome with the sufferings you have gone through to-day," said her brother, tenderly, and with infinite concern.

"Indeed, Charles, I am not," she answered with great earnestness.

"Then I am of opinion that you may most certainly mention anything so communicated to you--I have no doubt, Kate."

"Nor I, Miss Aubrey," added Mr. Runnington, eagerly; "nay, I go farther--with a man like him, I think it is your _duty_ to disclose anything he may have said to you."

Miss Aubrey paused for a few moments, and then mentioned the singular circ.u.mstance with which the reader is already acquainted; namely, Mr.

Gammon's distinct and solemn a.s.surance to her, that he possessed the power of restoring her brother to the possession of Yatton; and that, too, by legal and honorable means; and that, if she would but promise to receive him as her suitor, he would pledge himself to replace them all at Yatton before claiming the performance of that promise.

Mr. Aubrey, Mrs. Aubrey, and Mr. Runnington, all listened to this strange story in silence, and gazed in astonishment at the beautiful and excited speaker.

"Forgive me, dear madam," said Mr. Runnington, at length, exchanging an incredulous glance with her brother, "if I--I--express a doubt whether you may not be laboring under a complete misconception"----

"'T is impossible, Kate!" added her brother; but he knew, at the same time, his sister's strong sense; and all doubt vanished both from his mind and that of Mr. Runnington on her calmly and distinctly repeating what she had just said--giving even the very expressions made use of by Mr. Gammon, and which, she said, they might easily believe had made a very deep impression on her mind.

"It's inconceivable!" exclaimed her brother, after a long pause.

"It's an audacious and cruel falsehood, in my opinion," said Mr.

Runnington: and all again were silent. Then he hastily ran his mind's eye over the main points in the late proceedings by which Mr. Aubrey had been ejected from Yatton. "Either," he continued after a pause, "he is a gross liar, or is laboring under insanity--or there has been shocking, atrocious villany practised against you. If he be in his senses, and be speaking the truth--gracious Heaven! he must have brought forward a series of perjured witnesses at the trial."

"Did he drop any hint, Kate, as to the _means_ by which he could bring about such a result?" inquired her brother, after a long pause, during which he too had been, like Mr. Runnington, reflecting on the course of proof by which the case of t.i.tmouse had been supported.

"No--not the remotest; of that I am certain. I observed that particularly; though shortly afterwards, I was so overcome by what he had said, and also by the manner in which he said it, that I fainted.

Mr. Gammon must have carried me to the sofa; for when I revived, I was lying there--though, when I felt myself losing my consciousness, I was standing near the window, which I had risen to open."

"It's the most amazing thing I ever heard in my life, I protest!"

exclaimed Mr. Runnington, thoughtfully; while Mr. Aubrey rose from his chair, and walked a few steps to and fro, obviously laboring under much excitement.

"Kate, Kate!" said he, rather vehemently, "you should have told me this the instant that you next saw me!"

"For Heaven's sake, be calm, dearest Charles!" cried Mrs. Aubrey, herself not a little agitated by the extraordinary intelligence just communicated by Kate, for the first time, even to _her_. Poor Kate, on seeing the way in which her communication had been received, heartily regretted having mentioned the matter.

"This will require very great consideration, Mr. Aubrey, to know how to deal with it, and with Gammon," said Mr. Runnington. "I am inclined to think, at present, that he would hardly have ventured upon so outrageous a piece of folly, as making such a representation as this, had there been no foundation for it in fact; and yet, I am quite astonished that a man so acute, so signally self-possessed, should have so committed himself--he must have been under some great excitement at the moment."

"He certainly was, or at least seemed, a good deal agitated while he was with me," quoth Kate, coloring a little.

"That is highly probable, Miss Aubrey," replied Mr. Runnington, with a faint smile. "It must have appeared to him as one of the most likely occurrences, that Miss Aubrey should mention to you, Mr. Aubrey, so extraordinary a circ.u.mstance! It is very, very difficult to imagine Mr.

Gammon thrown off his guard on any occasion." Then ensued an anxious and prolonged conversation on the subject, in which many conjectures were made, but without leading to any satisfactory issue. Quite a new light, however, seemed now thrown upon all his past acts, and the whole tenor of his conduct. They read over his last two notes with new and deep interest, on the supposition that while writing them, he was conscious of possessing the power which he had represented. All was mystery. Then was discussed the question, as to the propriety of either Mr. Runnington or Mr. Aubrey applying to Mr. Gammon upon the subject--a step which was, however, postponed for future and more mature consideration. Another thing suggested itself to Mr. Aubrey, but he kept it to himself:--should he forthwith apprise Mr. Gammon of the fact that Kate was absolutely engaged to Mr. Delamere, and so at once and forever extinguish all hope on the part of Mr. Gammon?

The evening, however, was now advancing, and Mr. Runnington pressed upon Mr. Aubrey the object which he had chiefly had in view in calling--viz.

to prevail on Mrs. Aubrey and himself to accompany him immediately to his country house, which lay in the direction of Richmond, at about six miles' distance from town; and where, for a brief interval, they might enjoy a respite from the frightful suspense and danger to which they were at present exposed in Vivian Street. Mrs. Aubrey and Kate most earnestly seconded the kind importunities of Mr. Runnington; and after considerable hesitation Mr. Aubrey consented. It was accordingly arranged that, Mr. Runnington's carriage not being in town, he should return, within an hour, with a gla.s.s-coach; and that, during the ensuing day, Mrs. Runnington should drive to town for the purpose of bringing back with her Miss Aubrey, and little Charles and Agnes. This having been determined upon, Mr. Runnington quitted them, promising to return within an hour, when he hoped to find them ready to start, and equipped for a several days' sojourn. As soon as he had left the house, Mr.

Aubrey's scruples began to revive; it appeared to him, that though it might be for a short time only, still it was, in effect, an absconding from his creditors: and there is no knowing but that his fastidious misgivings, his delicate sense of rect.i.tude, might have led him after all to send off Mrs. Aubrey alone, when, poor soul! he was spared the trial by an incident which occurred about half an hour after Mr.

Runnington's departure. Mrs. Aubrey was sitting in the parlor in travelling dress, fondling little Agnes, and talking earnestly to Kate about the management of the two children, and other matters; while Mr.

Aubrey, also ready to start, was in the study selecting a book or two to take with him, when a heavy single knock at the door, unaccompanied by the sound of coach-wheels, nearly paralyzed all three of them.

Suffice it to say, that within a few minutes' time the wretched and almost heart-broken Aubrey was a second time in custody, and at the suit of t.i.ttlebat t.i.tmouse, Esq., M. P., for the princ.i.p.al sum of ten thousand pounds, and interest for twelve months, at the rate of five pounds _per centum per annum_. The agonizing scene which ensued I shall leave entirely to the reader's imagination--observing only, that the two minions of the law into whose hands Aubrey had now fallen, seemed totally indifferent to the anguish they witnessed. The chief was a well-known sheriff's officer--one VICE; short, fat, bloated; deeply pitted with the small-pox; close-cut black hair, almost as coa.r.s.e as that of a hog; while the expression of his features was at once callous and insolent. Aubrey perceived at a glance that he had no consideration or mercy to expect at the hands of such a man as this; and the follower very much resembled his master.

"You're my prisoner, sir," said Vice, walking up to Aubrey, and with an air of matter-of-fact brutality taking hold of his collar with one hand, while in the other he held out his warrant. "If you like to clap a great-coat on, as it's getting late, you may; but the sooner you're off out of the way of all this here noise, the better--I should say."

"For G.o.d's sake wait for a few minutes--I have a friend coming," said Aubrey, his wife clinging to his arm.

"D----d if I wait a moment, that's flat!" quoth Vice, glancing at the two boxes in the pa.s.sage, and guessing from them, and the travelling dress of Mrs. Aubrey, that he had arrived just in the very nick of time to prevent an escape.

"For the love of Heaven, stay only five minutes!" cried Kate, pa.s.sionately wringing her hands--but she might as well have addressed a blacksmith's anvil as either of the men who were now masters of her doomed brother's person.

"'Tis useless, Kate--'tis in vain, my love!" said he, with a melancholy air; and turning to Vice, who, with his companion, stood at only a few inches' distance from him--"perhaps you will allow me to write down the address of the place you are taking me to?" he inquired somewhat sternly.

"Write away then, and make haste; for, write or not write, you're off in two minutes' time!"

Mr. Aubrey hastily wrote down in pencil, for Mr. Runnington, "Vice--Squeezum Court, Carey Street, Lincoln's-Inn Fields;" and then, having hastily drawn on his great-coat, without taking with him even a change of linen, (for Vice would seem to have got the idea of a rescue into his head, and was, besides, anxious to run not the least risk with a _ten thousand pounds' debtor_), tore himself from the frenzied embrace of his wife and sister, and quitted the house. Vice had refused even to let his man go in quest of a hackney-coach, or to wait while f.a.n.n.y ran for one; and the moment they had got into the street, the cries of Mrs.

Aubrey and Kate yet ringing in Mr. Aubrey's ears, Vice put his arm with rough familiarity into that of Mr. Aubrey, directing his follower to do the same; and in this style they hurried Mr. Aubrey along the whole of the distance between Vivian Street and Squeezum Court; he uttering not one single word--but his heart almost bursting. Vice had received his instructions from Mr. Spitfire, who was a very dashing pract.i.tioner; and perfectly well knowing the value of every day towards the close of term, had got his affidavit of debt prepared and ready sworn, and everything in readiness, even before the rule had been made absolute against Mr.

Gammon. As the two captors and their prize--a gentleman between two ruffians--pa.s.sed at a smart pace along the streets, they attracted considerable attention; now and then, even a little crowd would follow them for half the length of the street. Once Mr. Aubrey caught the words--"Poor fellow! Forgery, no doubt--he's a dead man in a month!"[11]

Vice's lock-up was, though similar in its general appearance, yet of a much inferior description to that of Grab. It was smaller and meaner.

They reached it a little after eight o'clock.

"Are you for the parlor, or the common room?" inquired Vice, as soon as they had entered the house.

"Which you please," replied Aubrey, quickly and gloomily.

"P'r'aps you 'd better show the gemman up-stairs," said the follower, hesitatingly, to his master.

"You pay extra up-stairs," quoth Vice; "which shall it be?"

"I have no money, sir, to spare--I know the extortionating practices which "----

"Oh, come along then!" replied Vice, insolently; and in a minute or two Mr. Aubrey found himself in a tolerably large, but low room, at the back of the house, lit by three or four candles. There were some ten or twelve persons in it, who were smoking, drinking, reading the newspapers, playing at cards, dice, pitchfarthing, and so forth. All seemed in good spirits, and suspended for a moment their various occupations to scrutinize the newcomer--on whom the door was in a twinkling closed and locked.

"Now, sir, just in time to cut in," said a thin pale man--his breath redolent of the stench of gin--stepping briskly up to him from a table at which he and two others had just begun to play a rubber. "Now, sir,"

he continued in a confident tone, running the edges of the cards rapidly through his fingers with the air of an adept, and then proffering the pack to Mr. Aubrey.