CHAPTER XXX.
THE VISIT OF FLORA TO THE VAMPYRE.--THE OFFER.--THE SOLEMN ASSEVERATION.
Admiral Bell had, of course, nothing particular to communicate to Florain the walk he induced her to take with him in the gardens ofBannerworth Hall, but he could talk to her upon a subject which was sureto be a welcome one, namely, of Charles Holland.
And not only could he talk to her of Charles, but he was willing to talkof him in the style of enthusiastic commendation which assimilated bestwith her own feelings. No one but the honest old admiral, who was asviolent in his likes and his dislikes as any one could possibly be,could just then have conversed with Flora Bannerworth to hersatisfaction of Charles Holland.
He expressed no doubts whatever concerning Charles's faith, and to hismind, now that he had got that opinion firmly fixed in his mind,everybody that held a contrary one he at once denounced as a fool or arogue.
"Never you mind, Miss Flora," he said; "you will find, I dare say, thatall will come right eventually. D--n me! the only thing that provokes mein the whole business is, that I should have been such an old fool asfor a moment to doubt Charles."
"You should have known him better, sir."
"I should, my dear, but I was taken by surprise, you see, and that waswrong, too, for a man who has held a responsible command."
"But the circumstances, dear sir, were of a nature to take every one bysurprise."
"They were, they were. But now, candidly speaking, and I know I canspeak candidly to you; do you really think this Varney is the vampyre?"
"I do."
"You do? Well, then, somebody must tackle him, that's quite clear; wecan't put up with his fancies always."
"What can be done?"
"Ah, that I don't know, but something must be done, you know. He wantsthis place; Heaven only knows why or wherefore he has taken such a fancyto it; but he has done so, that is quite clear. If it had a good seaview, I should not be so much surprised; but there's nothing of thesort, so it's no way at all better than any other shore-going stupidsort of house, that you can see nothing but land from."
"Oh, if my brother would but make some compromise with him to restoreCharles to us and take the house, we might yet be happy."
"D--n it! then you still think that he has a hand in spiriting awayCharles?"
"Who else could do so?"
"I'll be hanged if I know. I do feel tolerably sure, and I have gooddeal of reliance upon your opinion, my dear; I say, I do feel tolerablysure: but, if I was d----d sure, now, I'd soon have it out of him."
"For my sake, Admiral Bell, I wish now to extract one promise from you."
"Say your say, my dear, and I'll promise you."
"You will not then expose yourself to the danger of any personalconflict with that most dreadful man, whose powers of mischief we do notknow, and therefore cannot well meet or appreciate."
"Whew! is that what you mean?"
"Yes; you will, I am sure, promise me so much."
"Why, my dear, you see the case is this. In affairs of fighting, theless ladies interfere the better."
"Nay, why so?"
"Because--because, you see, a lady has no reputation for courage to keepup. Indeed, it's rather the other way, for we dislike a bold woman asmuch as we hold in contempt a cowardly man."
"But if you grant to us females that in consequence of our affections,we are not courageous, you must likewise grant how much we are doomed tosuffer from the dangers of those whom we esteem."
"You would be the last person in the world to esteem a coward."
"Certainly. But there is more true courage often in not fighting than inentering into a contest."
"You are right enough there, my dear."
"Under ordinary circumstances, I should not oppose your carrying out thedictates of your honour, but now, let me entreat you not to meet thisdreadful man, if man he can be called, when you know not how unfair thecontest may be."
"Unfair?"
"Yes. May he not have some means of preventing you from injuring him,and of overcoming you, which no mortal possesses?"
"He may."
"Then the supposition of such a case ought to be sufficient ground forat once inducing you to abandon all idea of meeting with him."
"My dear, I'll consider of this matter."
"Do so."
"There is another thing, however, which now you will permit me to ask ofyou as a favour."
"It is granted ere it is spoken."
"Very good. Now you must not be offended with what I am going to say,because, however it may touch that very proper pride which you, and suchas you, are always sure to possess, you are fortunately at all timesable to call sufficient judgment to your aid to enable you to see whatis really offensive and what is not."
"You alarm me by such a preface."
"Do I? then here goes at once. Your brother Henry, poor fellow, hasenough to do, has he not, to make all ends meet."
A flush of excitement came over Flora's cheek as the old admiral thusbluntly broached a subject of which she already knew the bitterness tosuch a spirit as her brother's.
"You are silent," continued the old man; "by that I guess I am not wrongin my I supposition; indeed it is hardly a supposition at all, forMaster Charles told me as much, and no doubt he had it from a correctquarter."
"I cannot deny it, sir."
"Then don't. It ain't worth denying, my dear. Poverty is no crime, but,like being born a Frenchman, it's a d----d misfortune."
Flora could scarcely refuse a smile, as the nationality of the oldadmiral peeped out even in the midst of his most liberal and bestfeelings.
"Well," he continued, "I don't intend that he shall have so much troubleas he has had. The enemies of his king and his country shall free himfrom his embarrassments."
"The enemies?"
"Yes; who else?"
"You speak in riddles, sir."
"Do I? Then I'll soon make the riddles plain. When I went to sea I wasworth nothing--as poor as a ship's cat after the crew had been paid offfor a month. Well, I began fighting away as hard and fast as I could,and the more I fought, and the more hard knocks I gave and took, themore money I got."
"Indeed."
"Yes; prize after prize we hauled into port, and at last the Frenchvessels wouldn't come out of their harbours."
"What did you do then?"
"What did we do then? Why what was the most natural thing in the wholeworld for us to do, we did."
"I cannot guess."
"Well, I am surprised at that. Try again."
"Oh, yes; I can guess now. How could I have been so dull? You went andtook them out."
"To be sure we did--to be sure we did, my dear; that's how we managedthem. And, do you see, at the end of the war I found myself with lots ofprize money, all wrung from old England's enemies, and I intend thatsome of it shall find it's way to your brother's pocket; and you seethat will bear out just what I said, that the enemies of his king andhis country shall free him from his difficulties--don't you see?"
"I see your noble generosity, admiral."
"Noble fiddlestick! Now I have mentioned this matter to you, my dear,and I don't so much mind talking to you about such matters as I shouldto your brother, I want you to do me the favour of managing it all forme."
"How, sir?"
"Why, just this way. You must find out how much money will free yourbrother just now from a parcel of botherations that beset him, and thenI will give it to you, and you can hand it to him, you see, so I neednot say anything about it; and if he speaks to me on the subject at all,I can put him down at once by saying, 'avast there, it's no business ofmine.'"
"And can you, dear admiral, imagine that I could conceal the generoussource from where so much assistance came?"
"Of course; it will come from you. I take a fancy to make you a presentof a sum of money; you do with it what you please--it's yours, and Ihave no right and no inclination to ask you what use you put it to."
Tears gushed
from the eyes of Flora as she tried to utter some word, butcould not. The admiral swore rather fearfully, and pretended to wondermuch what on earth she could be crying for. At length, after the firstgush of feeling was over, she said,--
"I cannot accept of so much generosity, sir--I dare not"
"Dare not!"
"No; I should think meanly of myself were I to take advantage of theboundless munificence of your nature."
"Take advantage! I should like to see anybody take advantage of me,that's all."
"I ought not to take the money of you. I will speak to my brother, andwell I know how much he will appreciate the noble, generous offer, mydear sir."
"Well, settle it your own way, only remember I have a right to do what Ilike with my own money."
"Undoubtedly."
"Very good. Then as that is undoubted, whatever I lend to him, mind Igive to you, so it's as broad as it's long, as the Dutchman said, whenhe looked at the new ship that was built for him, and you may as welltake it yourself you see, and make no more fuss about it."
"I will consider," said Flora, with much emotion--"between this time andthe same hour to-morrow I will consider, sir, and if you can find anywords more expressive of heartfelt gratitude than others, pray imaginethat I have used them with reference to my own feelings towards you forsuch an unexampled offer of friendship."
"Oh, bother--stuff."
The admiral now at once changed the subject, and began to talk ofCharles--a most grateful theme to Flora, as may well be supposed. Herelated to her many little particulars connected with him which alltended to place his character in a most amiable light, and as her earsdrank in the words of commendation of him she loved, what sweeter musiccould there be to her than the voice of that old weather-beatenrough-spoken man.
"The idea," he added, to a warm eulogium he had uttered concerningCharles--"the idea that he could write those letters my dear, is quiteabsurd."
"It is, indeed. Oh, that we could know what had become of him!"
"We shall know. I don't think but what he's alive. Something seems toassure me that we shall some of these days look upon his face again."
"I am rejoiced to hear you say so."
"We will stir heaven and earth to find him. If he were killed, do yousee, there would have been some traces of him now at hand; besides, hewould have been left lying where the rascals attacked him."
Flora shuddered.
"But don't you fret yourself. You may depend that the sweet littlecherub that sits up aloft has looked after him."
"I will hope so."
"And now, my dear, Master Henry will soon be home, I am thinking, and ashe has quite enough disagreeables on his own mind to be able to spare afew of them, you will take the earliest opportunity, I am sure, ofacquainting him with the little matter we have been talking about, andlet me know what he says."
"I will--I will."
"That's right. Now, go in doors, for there's a cold air blowing here,and you are a delicate plant rather just now--go in and make yourselfcomfortable and easy. The worst storm must blow over at last."