Chapter 27

"Thou hast stepped in between me and my hopes, And ravished from me all my soul held dear." ROWE.

De Guy returned to the library at Jaspar's summons. The shrewd attorney at once perceived the conflict which agitated the mind of his patron. He had come to Bellevue with a purpose, and, as Jaspar's disturbed mind seemed to favor that purpose, he hailed it as an omen of success. But what had so agitated him? Jaspar was not a man to be depressed by any trivial circumstance.

The attorney did not have to wait long in suspense, for Jaspar related the particulars of his interview with Dalhousie, and mentioned the price he had named to insure his silence. It was now De Guy's turn to be disturbed. The purpose for which he had come was likely to be thwarted by this new aspirant for a share in the Dumont estates.

"What is to be done?" said Jaspar, in a tone which betrayed his deep anxiety.

"Get rid of him! His story is a fabrication," returned De Guy.

"Not entirely. He knows too much for our safety."

"So much the worse for him!"

"Why? What would you do?"

"Shut his mouth! It matters not how. You do not want to--" and the attorney drew his under lip beneath his upper teeth, and produced an explosive sound, very much like the crack of a pistol, or a champagne-cork, but which Jaspar did not mistake for the latter. "You do not want to--_f-h-t_--him, if you can help it."

"It would be the safest way," returned the other, not at all embarrassed by the attorney's ambiguous method of expressing himself.

"Perhaps not; though 'dead men tell no tales,' it is also true that 'murder will out.' Besides, I have conscientious scruples."

Jaspar sneered at this last remark; but the attorney was too useful an adviser at that moment to be lightly provoked, and he suppressed the angry exclamation which rose to his lips.

"How would the slave jail do?" said he, with a fiendish smile.

"Too public. Our object is to save the man's life,--an act of humanity; but we must not endanger our own safety."

"No mortal man can ever know that he is confined there. The jail was built under my own direction, and, owing to its peculiar construction, not even the hands on the estate will know that it is occupied. I always keep the keys myself."

"If you are satisfied, it is enough. But how can you get him in?"

"I can manage that, with your assistance," said Jaspar, who had already arranged every particular. "But his wife?"

"His wife! Has he a wife?"

"Ay; and one who, if I mistake not, will give us more trouble than the fellow himself."

"She must be caged with him."

"You say well, Mr. De Guy. But can you reconcile this advice with your dainty humanity?" said Jaspar, with a sneer.

"Certainly, I can! It were cruelty to separate man and wife, even in death. If I had a wife, I should be sorry to part with her under any circumstances."

Jaspar grinned a sickly smile.

"But the plan!" continued the attorney. "This loving couple will not willingly occupy your fancy apartment."

"Leave that to me. Go to the jail. Here are the keys. I will send them to you. When they are in, lock the doors!"

De Guy smiled.

"You do not understand me?"

The attorney confessed that he did not.

"Nevertheless, go to the jail, and wait their coming. Unlock the doors, and get out of sight. They will enter, like lambs."

Jaspar explained a little further, and the attorney took his departure to obey his instructions.

* * * * *

At the time appointed, Dalhousie returned to receive Jaspar's reply.

"You are punctual," said the latter.

"I am," replied Dalhousie, cavalierly. "This business admits of no delay. Are you prepared to give me an answer?"

"Yes," returned Jaspar, endeavoring to assume a crestfallen air.

"Well, sir, do you accept my terms?"

"I do, on one condition."

"Name it."

"It is, that you sign this bond never again to land in America, and to preserve entire silence in regard to the information you have obtained;" and Jaspar read an instrument he had drawn up, to blind the eyes of the overseer.

"I agree to it."

"It is well. But a further difficulty presents itself. I have not so much money in the world. The estate, perhaps you know, consists mostly of real estate, stocks, negroes, &c. I have not five thousand dollars by me."

The overseer looked at Jaspar with a keen, contemptuous glance, as if to read any attempt on his part to dupe him; but the wily planter moved not a muscle.

"Then you cannot, if you would, consummate the bargain?" said he.

"I said not so," returned Jaspar. "I only remarked that a difficulty had presented itself."

"Pray explain yourself."

"The difficulty can be removed."

"Well, how? What new risk must I run?"

"No risk. To tell you all in a few words, I have the money in gold buried on the estate."

"That will suit me better. I prefer gold."

"It is buried three feet under ground, in the slave jail. I selected that place to bury it, because I could dig without attracting attention."

"It can easily be brought to light. An hour's work with the spade will unearth it."

"True; but I have not the strength to dig. Besides, I am engaged with a friend in the nest room."

Dalhousie accepted the excuse, for he had seen De Guy, as he was walking in the garden, half an hour before.

"I can dig it up myself. Show me the spot."

"Very well; but sign the bond first."

"Of course, if you keep not your faith with me, the bond is nothing," said Dalhousie, as he affixed his signature to the paper, which Jaspar folded carefully, and put in his pocket.

"Here are directions which will enable you to find it without the necessity of my attending you;" and he handed him a slip of paper, upon which were written minute directions to the supposed locality of the treasure.

"But, suppose," said Dalhousie, after he had read the directions, "while I am digging, you should close the doors upon me?"

"Honor!" said Jaspar, laying his hand upon the place where the heart belonged, with an amusing contortion of the facial muscles.

"I have not the highest confidence in _your_ honor."

"Perhaps not; but I can suggest a better protection. Have you any person at hand upon whose faith you can rely?"

"None but my wife," replied Dalhousie, carelessly, for the mortifying fact seemed laden with nothing of bitterness.

"So much the better. She will be true. Station her at the door, and, if she sees me approach, you can be sure to be on the outside when I close the door."

Jaspar's air of sincerity did as much to assure him as the fitness of the plan suggested, and the overseer determined to adopt it.

Briefly he narrated to his wife--though with some variations and concealments, for he knew she would not endorse all his operations--the history of the affair, and the good fortune that awaited him; and requested her attendance at the jail, to stand sentry over the gloomy den, while he dug up the treasure.

De Guy's patience was nearly exhausted when the overseer and his wife made their appearance. He had only time to conceal himself in a cane-field, when the doomed couple reached the jail. Dalhousie walked twice round it, before he ventured to enter the building. Stationing his wife at the door, he proceeded to measure out the locality of the supposed treasure.

De Guy watched them. For half an hour he remained quiet, when the vigilance of the lady-sentinel began to abate, and, by the exercise of extreme caution, he succeeded in reaching, undiscovered, the rear of the jail. Cat-like, he crept to the corner, and listened. He could hear their conversation. Carefully he stole round to the corner nearest to the door. For an instant the wife had left her station, to observe the progress of her husband's labor. The time had come, and the attorney was not the man to let the favorable moment pass unimproved. With a rapidity which seemed utterly incompatible with his rotund corporation, he flew to the door, and sprung the trap upon the hapless pair, in the midst of their vision of wealth and happiness.

Carefully locking the doors of the dungeon, he walked back to the mansion as coolly as though he had only impounded his neighbor's cow. Entering the library, he found Jaspar impatiently waiting his return.

"Are they safe?" said he.

"As safe as your jail-walls can make them. Your plan was a clumsy one, but I _forced_ it to succeed."

"Did they not enter without scruple?"

"Yes, but the sentinel."

"Pshaw! did you not know she would desert her post? If she saw not danger, she would fear none in the day-time,--it is woman-like."

"Not always; but it matters not; they are safe. Now to business."

"Business!" exclaimed Jaspar, with a start, and a wild stare at the attorney. "The business is done."

"Not all of it. There are other enemies in the field."

"What mean you?" said Jaspar, alarmed. "Are we not safe yet?"

"Not quite," replied the smooth attorney, with a quiet smile. "The game you played was a deep one, and you must needs persevere to the end."

"Explain yourself, man; don't trifle with me," said Jaspar, roused by the smooth smile of the attorney; for that smile seemed to him full of meaning.

"All in good time, my dear sir. Let me beg of you not to be discomposed by anything I may say to you."

Jaspar sneered, but ventured no reply.

"I have served you faithfully, you must acknowledge."

"I will acknowledge nothing," said Jaspar, testily.

"The steamer exploded, you remember," returned De Guy, with an expression of sly humor, which Jaspar did not appreciate.

"I do remember it, by Heaven! But this villanous Dalhousie says my niece was not known to have been killed."

"Exactly so."

"Sir! Do you mean to say that you _know_ she was not lost?"

"Precisely so."

"By ----! Sir, you have been making a merit of this very thing."

"True, but policy, policy! You will recollect you were not in a particularly amiable mood when I had the honor to introduce myself this morning. It was necessary to conciliate you, and my plan succeeded admirably. Besides, I blowed up the steamer with the intention of serving you, and I ought to have the credit of my good intentions!"

"And a pretty mess you have made of it!"

"Did the best that could be done, under the circumstances."

"The game is up! I may as well hang myself, at once."

"The very worst thing you could possibly do. A long life of happiness and usefulness is yet before you, provided you follow my advice."

"Your advice!" sneered Jaspar.

"I shall have the pleasure of convincing you that my advice will be the best that could possibly be given to a man in your condition."

"The girl is alive, is she?" muttered Jaspar, heedless of the smooth words of his companion.

"Alive and well; and, moreover, is close at hand."

"The devil, she is! And you have been dallying around me all day without opening your mouth."

"But remember, sir, you had another affair on your hands."

"What avail to get that miserable overseer out of the way, when the girl herself is at hand?"

"One thing at a time. That excellent old man, Dr. Franklin, always advised this method. The overseer is safe; now turn we to other matters."

"Well, what shall be done?" said Jaspar, rising suddenly and paying his devoir to the brandy-bottle.

"I will tell you," replied the attorney, rising from his chair and coolly imitating Jaspar's example at the bottle. Then throwing himself lazily upon the sofa--"I will tell you. The case is not desperate yet. How much is the amount of the old colonel's property?"

"How, sir! What mean you?"

"Favor me with an answer," replied the attorney, with admirable _sang-froid_, as he drew from his pocket a cigar-case, and, taking therefrom a cigar, proceeded to light it with a patent vesuvian. Politely tendering the case to Jaspar, who rudely declined the courtesy, he continued, "It is necessary to our further progress that I have this information."

"Well, perhaps he was worth four or five hundred thousand. What then?" replied Jaspar, doggedly.

"No more? Surely, you forget. His city property was worth more than double that sum."

"No more, by Heavens!" said Jaspar.

"Then, my dear sir, I fear you are a ruined man."

"Sir!" and Jaspar started bolt upright.

"See if you cannot think of something more," said De Guy, calmly.

"He might possibly have left more."

"Haven't you the schedule? Pray allow me to look at it;" and the attorney rose and approached the secretary. With the ease of one perfectly at home, and acquainted with every locality, he opened the drawer which contained the business papers of the estate.

"What are you about, sir? You are impudent!"

"Not at all, sir. I wish to satisfy myself that the property is worth more,"--and he commenced fumbling over the contents of the drawer.

"Take your hands out of that drawer, or I will blow your brains out!" said Jaspar, fiercely, as he seized a pistol from the table.

"Very well," replied the attorney, closing the drawer; "you shall have it as you will. I shall bid you a good-day,"--and he prepared to depart.

"Stay!" said Jaspar, replacing the pistol; "perhaps I can satisfy you, though I cannot see what bearing it has upon the subject."

"A very decided bearing, I should say," replied the attorney, not at all disconcerted by what had happened.

"Perhaps if I had said a million, it were nearer the truth."

"Not a bit. You are still half a million out of the way, at least. Is it not a million and a half?"

"It may be," said Jaspar, hesitating.

"Perhaps two millions."

"No," said Jaspar, decidedly.

"I suspected two was about the figure, but we will call it a million and a half."

"Well, what then?" said Jaspar, impatiently.

"One-half of it would be a very pretty fortune," soliloquized De Guy, loud enough to be heard by his companion.

"No doubt of it," replied Jaspar, with a ghastly smile, which betrayed but little of the terrible agitation that racked him, as he heard these words.

"But, Mr. Dumont, you are not a married man, you know, and one-third of it would be very handsome for you."

"Very comfortable, indeed; and, no doubt, I ought to be very grateful to you for allowing me so much."

"Exactly so. Gratitude is a sentiment worthy of cherishing. The fact is, Mr. Dumont, I intend to marry; and, for a man of my expensive habits, one-half is hardly an adequate share. You are a single man, and not likely to change your condition at present, so that you can have no possible use, either for yourself or for your heirs, for any more than one-third."

"Your calculations are excellent!" said Jaspar, with a withering sneer. "But suppose I should grumble at your taking the lion's share?"

"O, but, my dear sir, you will not grumble! Your sense of justice will enable you to perceive the equity of this division."

"Enough of this! I am in no humor for jesting," said Jaspar, with a frown.

"Jesting!" exclaimed the attorney, with a well-made gesture of astonishment; "I was never more in earnest in my life."

"May I be allowed to inquire the name of your intended bride?" sneered Jaspar.

"A very proper question; and, considering our intimate friendship, a very natural one. Although my intention is a profound secret, and one I should not like to have go abroad at present, especially as her nearest of kin might possibly object, still I shall venture to inform _you_, since you are to have the honor of providing the means of carrying my matrimonial designs into effect."

"I am certainly under obligations for your favorable consideration. But the lady's name?"

"Miss Emily Dumont! a beautiful creature--high-spirited--every way worthy--"

"Damnation! this is too much," growled Jaspar, fiercely, as he seized the pistol which lay near him, and levelled it at De Guy. "You cursed villain! You and I must cry quits!"

"Do not miss your aim!" coolly returned the attorney, drawing from his pocket a revolver. "Miss not your aim, or the fortune is _all_ mine."

Jaspar was overcome by the coolness of De Guy, and, throwing down the pistol, he sank back into his chair, overpowered by the violence of his emotions.

"De Guy!" said he; "fiend! devil! you were born to torment me. There is no hotter hell than thine! Do thy work. I must bear all,"--and Jaspar felt that he was sold to the fiend before him.

"My dear sir, do not distress yourself," replied the attorney, resuming his supercilious manner, which he had laid aside in the moment of peril. "I offer you the means of safety. You will escape all the dangers that lower over you by my plan, which, I am glad to see, you perfectly understand."

"And lose the price for which I sold my soul? Even Judas had his forty pieces of silver--the more fool he, to throw them away! I could not do this thing, if I would. My soul is bound to my money."

"Pshaw! do not let avarice be your besetting sin. It is a vice too mean for your noble nature."

Jaspar tried to sneer again, but the muscles refused to perform their office. He stood like a convicted demon before his sulphurous master.

"It must be done," said De Guy; "there is no other way."

Jaspar heard the words, and struggled to avoid the conclusion towards which they pointed. The demon bade him yield, and the command was imperative. He could not resist--his will was gone.

"What are the details of your plan?" gasped he, faintly.

"Marry the lady, and take up my abode in this mansion," replied the attorney, promptly.

"And turn me out of doors! Well, be it so. I must do as you will."

"Nay, nay, my dear sir; you wrong me. You shall still be the honored inmate of our dwelling,--the affectionate uncle of your Emily, as of old," said the attorney, with infinite good humor.

Jaspar had well-nigh recovered his self-possession under the stroke of this, to him, severe satire; but De Guy gave him no time.

"We must proceed in some haste," continued the attorney, seizing a pen, and writing as he spoke. "My time is short, and I have already been somewhat lavish of it. Here, sign this paper; it is your consent to my union with your niece. Call some one to witness it."

Jaspar signed the certificate, without reading it. A witness was called, and the paper in due form was deposited in De Guy's pocket.

"Now, sir, the lady is not altogether willing to consent to this arrangement; but you must persuade her, and, if need be, compel her, to consent. She will be here in a few days. After the marriage, it will only remain for me to make over to you one-third of the property, which, as her husband, I can then legally do. Be firm, and behave like a man, and your troubles are ended. Everything will be hushed up, and you can spend the evening of your days in peace and quiet. I bid you good-day."

The attorney formally and politely ushered himself out of the library, and took his departure for New Orleans.