CHAPTER LXXXVIII.

SCENES AT THE BLACKAMOOR'S HOUSE.

When the Black returned to the parlour where he had received from the lips of Jeffreys revelations which had produced a strange effect upon his mind, he threw himself upon the sofa, and gave way to his reflections.

Although he had been up all night, yet he experienced no sensation of weariness: he possessed a soul of such indomitable energy that by a natural kind of sympathy between mind and matter, it sustained even the physical powers to a wondrous degree.

We must follow him in the train of meditations into which he was plunged; for the affairs in which he suddenly found himself interested, through the confessions of John Jeffreys, were of so complicated and so difficult a nature,—involving, too, so many delicate points,—that to a mind endowed with one whit less of courage, or with one gleam less of clearness, those affairs would have appeared to be entangled beyond all possibility of a safe and prudent unravelling.

Let the reader bear in mind that there were two distinct affairs in question; although they might at a first glance be confounded, because certain persons who were connected with one were also involved in the other.

The first of these affairs was the scheme of Old Death to avenge himself on the Earl of Ellingham,—a scheme involving many frightful details, such as the exhumation of a coffin, the capture of Esther de Medina and Lady Hatfield, and the atrocity of blinding those fair and interesting creatures.

The other affair was the accusation of Mr. Torrens of a crime which he had not committed, and the necessity of proving his innocence.

"If those miscreants Tim the Snammer and Josh Pedler be informed against," reasoned the Black within himself, "they will be certain that either Benjamin Bones or John Jeffreys has betrayed them, and they will accordingly give a full and complete explanation, the result of which would be that the whole four would swing together. But I am bound to save Jeffreys from that terrible fate; and God forbid that that I should be the means, direct or indirect, of sending Benjamin Bones to the scaffold! And yet, on the other hand, knowing all that I have elicited from Jeffreys, and acting in the true spirit of that mission which I have voluntarily undertaken, I dare not allow this innocent man Torrens to be condemned by a frightful combination of circumstantial evidence, when the utterance of a single word will prove him guiltless and fix the crime on those who really perpetrated it. How stands the matter, then? Torrens must be saved on the one hand; but the real murderers must be allowed to escape on the other! Oh! this is a fatal necessity—a dreadful alternative; and yet it is imperious!"

The Black rose and paced the room with slow and measured steps. He reflected profoundly. He separated all the details of the two complicated matters which occupied his thoughts, and examined them one by one.

"In respect to the vengeance of Benjamin Bones,"—it was thus that his musings were continued after a time,—"_that scheme_ must be completely strangled at once—annihilated at its very commencement. Not for worlds must aught scandalous or degrading occur to Arthur, Earl of Ellingham!—not for worlds must the relationship subsisting between him and Thomas Rainford be published and proclaimed! Yes—Benjamin Bones must be rendered powerless for the future;—and yet how can this be accomplished without permitting a legal tribunal to seize upon him?"

The Black continued to pace the room, his sable countenance denoting by its workings the searching keenness with which his mind seized upon and examined each successive project that suggested itself as a means to accomplish all his objects and carry out all his aims in a manner certain to produce the results which he was anxious and resolved to bring about.

At length one particular scheme flashed to his mind; and the smile which appeared on his countenance, as his imagination seized on that project, was an augury of its subsequent adoption. He weighed it well in all its details—he calculated its consequences—he minutely examined all its certain results,—and he arrived at the conviction that, though a large and even a dangerous measure, it was the only one whereby all his designs could be effected.

Having resolved to carry it into execution, the Black felt his mind relieved of a considerable load;—and, seating himself at the table, he wrote the following letter:—

"The account which Rosamond Torrens received from her father relative to the assassination of Sir Henry Courtenay, and which that unfortunate girl recited to you, is strictly and substantially correct. Accident has enabled me to discover the real perpetrators of the crime; _and Mr. Torrens shall be saved!_ You will know in what terms to convey this assurance to that poor, suffering creature whom you have taken under your protection."

The Black sealed this note, and addressed it to "_Miss Esther de Medina, Manor House, Finchley_." He then repaired to the room where he had left Jeffreys and Cæsar together, and found that the former, having partaken of some refreshments, had thrown himself on the bed and fallen into a profound sleep.

"Cæsar," said the Black, "you must hasten to Finchley with this letter. Take your horse and delay not. On your return, come back by way of Grafton Street, and tell Dr. Lascelles that I desire to see him as soon as he can possibly visit me."

Cæsar immediately departed to execute these commissions; and the Black seated himself by the side of the bed on which Jeffreys was sleeping.

Nearly an hour passed, and the man did not awake. The Black rang the bell, and a domestic in plain clothes answered the summons.

"Wilton," said his master, "remain here, and keep watch upon this person,"—pointing to the sleeper. "When he awakes, ring the bell."

The servant bowed obedience to these instructions; and the Black left the room.

* * * * *

Several hours had passed away, and it was three o'clock in the afternoon.

Cæsar had returned with letters for his master, who had scarcely made an end of their perusal when Dr. Lascelles was announced.

"Well, my dear friend," said the physician, "what new scheme have you now in view? in what new project do you require my assistance?"

"Sit down, Doctor, and listen to me attentively," observed the Black; "for many and strange incidents have occurred since I saw you last. But perhaps you have been to Finchley; and in that case, one of those circumstances to which I allude will have been made known to you."

"No, my dear friend," replied Dr. Lascelles, depositing his hat and gloves on one chair and himself in another: "I have not had time to call upon the Medinas since they removed to their country residence. I have been experimentalising on a most splendid brain which the surgeon of St. Bartholomew's Hospital was kind enough to send me as a present. But of what nature is the circumstance of which I should have heard at Finchley, had I called? Nothing disagreeable, I hope?"

"I will explain it to you in as few words as possible," answered the Black, seating himself opposite to the physician. "The day before yesterday—at about five o'clock in the evening—Mr. de Medina and Esther were walking along the high road in the immediate vicinity of the Manor, to which they had removed, as you are well aware, in the morning, when they saw a beautiful young creature sitting on the step of a stile, and evidently a prey to the most heart-rending anguish. They accosted her—spoke kindly to her—and at length induced her to tell just so much of her sorrowful tale as to enlist their warmest sympathies in her behalf. They took her to the Manor; but on their arrival, the poor girl was so overcome by illness, fatigue, and distress of mind, that Esther insisted on her retiring to rest. Yesterday morning she was so far recovered as to render it unnecessary to send for you in your medical capacity; and Esther assured her that she might not only look upon the Manor as her home, but that she should be treated with all the kindness, attention, and respect, due to her misfortunes. It then appears that the poor creature made a confidant of Esther, and revealed her entire story, which shows how deeply she is to be pitied, and how cruel were the circumstances that had driven her from her home, and made her resolve to fly from London as from a city of pestilence. The entire details of that story I will give you presently. Yesterday afternoon I repaired to the Manor, and the particulars connected with the young lady were confidentially narrated to me by Mr. de Medina. Last night the metropolis rang with the rumours of a dreadful murder having been discovered——"

"The assassination of Sir Henry Courtenay," remarked the physician; "and the murderer, a gentleman named Torrens, is in Newgate."

"The _alleged_ murderer, you mean, doctor," said the Black, emphatically. "And now prepare yourself to hear an amazing revelation—for the young creature who found an asylum at Finchley Manor, is the daughter of that _alleged murderer_, and her name is Rosamond."

"But surely she could not have been in any way implicated——"

"Patience, doctor—patience," said the Black. "On hearing last night of the arrest of Mr. Torrens, I immediately dispatched Cæsar to Finchley with a note to Mr. de Medina, containing the sad intelligence; and I find by letters which I have just received," he added, glancing towards the documents which lay open on the table, "that the news were broken as delicately as possible to the unhappy girl: nevertheless, she is, as you may suppose, a prey to the most lively grief; and it has been with the greatest difficulty that Mr. de Medina and Esther have restrained her from flying to Newgate to console her father. Let me now relate her history to you."

The Black then detailed those incidents in connexion with Rosamond, which are already known to the reader—save and except the dreadful fact that Mr. Torrens had sold his daughter's virtue to Sir Henry Courtenay; for though the unhappy girl had confessed the outrage which had been perpetrated on her, she knew not—as the reader will remember—that her own father had been an accomplice in the fearful deed.

"I have now some further explanations to give you, doctor," continued the Black; "and then I shall have completed my long, long preface to the business which induced me to request your presence here now. In pursuance of that grand and difficult project, the nature of which is so well known to you, I resolved to enlist one of Old Death's confederates, or rather instruments, in my own service. Accordingly, last night, as soon as I had dispatched Cæsar to Finchley with the note containing the intelligence of Mr. Torrens' arrest, I went into the Borough, and watched in the neighbourhood of Old Death's lodgings: for I informed you a few days ago, if you recollect, that Cæsar had succeeded in discovering the abode of that terrible man. Well, I kept not my watch uselessly; for I soon beheld three men enter the house in Horsemonger Lane, individually and at short intervals. Two of them were unknown to me—although I have since found that their names were by no means unfamiliar; but the third was a fellow of whom I knew something. This was John Jeffreys—once a servant in the employ of Sir Christopher Blunt. Now it immediately struck me that this was the very man who would suit my purposes; for he is crafty—intelligent—and always ready to serve the best paymaster. I accordingly resolved to enlist him in my employ; and to this determination I was the more readily brought, because I felt convinced that mischief was brewing under the auspices of Old Death. The fact of the three men arriving so mysteriously—singly and at short intervals, on the same evening, evidently by appointment—and the length of time they remained in the place, were sufficient arguments to prove to a far less experienced person than myself, that a council of desperate men was being held for no good purposes. It was not until past three this morning, that the villains separated. I had already made up my mind how to act, and a hackney-coach was ordered by me to wait beneath the wall of Horsemonger Lane. I fancied that Old Death's visitors would depart singly as they had arrived; and my expectations were so far realised that Jeffreys went off by himself. I resolved to follow him home first—for I suspected that he lived at no great distance; because, I thought that if I could not succeed in inducing him to accompany me, I should at least know where to find him on another occasion. At his own door I accosted him; and, by working on his fears by means of my mysterious behaviour, as well as by holding out to him vague threats that I was prepared to carry him off by force, if he should resist me, I succeeded in bringing him blindfold to this house."

"Well done!" exclaimed the physician. "And so I presume you have regularly enlisted the respectable Mr. Jeffreys into your service—thereby securing the aid of a spy in the enemy's camp."

"The very object aimed at—the very point gained!," cried the Black, "Jeffreys, under the joint influence of bribery and menaces, is completely mine: and he gave me proofs of his fidelity by revealing to me many interesting matters. Indeed, it was providentially fortunate that I got him into my power and service just at this particular time; as you shall judge for yourself."

He then related the details of the damnable conspiracy planned by Old Death, and to be executed by his myrmidons, against the peace of the Earl of Ellingham and the happiness of Lady Hatfield and Esther de Medina.

"This man is a perfect monster!" ejaculated Dr. Lascelles indignantly. "How is it possible that you can have any forbearance, my dear friend? Set your retainers to watch for him—have him captured—and lock him up for life in one of the dungeons which he himself doubtless rendered serviceable to his own purposes on more than one occasion."

"Patience, doctor," said the Black: "nothing must be done rashly nor without due consideration. Besides, you are well aware that my object is to endeavour to reform that bad man——"

"Reform the devil!" cried the physician impatiently. "You know very well that I ridiculed the idea when you first started it."

"And I intend to try the experiment, doctor," observed the Black, calmly but firmly. "In the meantime, pray listen to me. In the course of the conversation which I had with Jeffreys this morning, he mentioned the name of Torrens; and to my surprise I found that he had lately been in that gentleman's service. When Rosamond told her story to Esther, the poor girl alluded several times to her father's man-servant, as I stated to you just now; but as she did not happen to mention his name—or if she did, it was not mentioned to me—I was unaware of the identity of that domestic and Jeffreys till the latter himself suffered the fact to transpire. Then was it that I also received a corroboration of the truth of the version which Mr. Torrens had given his daughter of those circumstances that led to the death of Sir Henry Courtenay; for Jeffreys instigated the robbery at Torrens Cottage—Benjamin Bones appointed two men to execute it—and those men assassinated the baronet."

"You have thus become the depositor of a very agreeable secret, my dear friend," said the doctor, somewhat ironically. "How do you intend to act? For my part, I consider the position to be embarrassing; for if those two men are arrested, they will perhaps inform against Jeffreys and Old Death,—and, in this case, you lose not only your new dependant, but also the opportunity of trying your great moral theory—which I call great moral nonsense—upon the respectable Mr. Benjamin Bones."

"Doctor—doctor," exclaimed the Black, in a reproachful tone: "is this your friendship for me? is this the way in which you fulfil your promise of assistance?"

"Pardon me, my dear fellow," cried the good-hearted physician, wringing his companion's hand violently. "If I talk to you in that fashion, it is simply because I am deeply anxious for your welfare, and that—in consequence of certain circumstances which we need not specify—I look upon you just as if you were my own son. You know that I am ready to serve you by day and by night—that you may command me at all times, and my purse to its fullest extent——"

"A thousand thanks, doctor, for these proofs of generous friendship," interrupted the Black. "Your assistance I indeed require: on your purse, thanks to the liberality of Mr. de Medina and the Earl of Ellingham, I shall not be compelled to make any inroad."

"Then in what way can I assist you?" demanded the physician.

"I will explain myself," continued the Black. "But first I must tell you that the very two men who murdered Sir Henry Courtenay, are of the gang employed by Old Death to persecute the Earl and the two ladies in whom we all feel an interest—I mean Georgiana Hatfield and Esther de Medina."

"This makes the business more complicated," said the doctor: "because if those two men are arrested on the charge of murder, they may perhaps confess not only that Old Death urged them to the robbery and that Jeffreys was an accomplice in it; but they may also state the services which Benjamin Bones hired them to perform respecting the Earl and the two ladies,—thereby at once publishing to the world that Thomas Rainford was indeed the elder brother of the Earl, and propagating the infamous scandal relative to Esther de Medina having been the said Thomas Rainford's mistress."

"You embrace the whole difficulty—or rather the greater portion of it at once, my dear doctor," exclaimed the Black, delighted to find that his friend entered so minutely and with such keen perception into the affair. "The business presses in every way. In the first place, it is necessary that an innocent man should be relieved as speedily as possible from the dreadful charge hanging over his head; and secondly, the exhumation of the coffin in Saint Luke's churchyard must be prevented this night."

"Certainly it must;" observed Dr. Lascelles. "For if once Old Death knew that the coffin contained not the remains of Thomas Rainford, the discovery might engender certain suspicions in the mind of such an astute old scoundrel as he."

"In a word, doctor, Torrens must be saved; and yet the two men, who rejoice in the names of Joshua Pedler and Timothy Splint, must not be handed over to justice," observed the Black.

"Such ought to be the policy adopted," said the physician: "and, remember, that though these two men are not to be rendered up to justice, they must be taken such care of for the future as to commit no more murders and accept no more employ in the service of such miscreants as Old Death."

"Of that I shall indeed take good care," said the Black.

"But how will it be possible to save Torrens without handing Splint and Pedler over to justice in his place?" demanded the physician. "You will be a clever fellow if you accomplish that difficulty."

"I am prepared to encounter it, doctor," returned the Black; "and you must aid me in the business. Are you so intimately acquainted with any magistrate or justice of the peace, that you could invite him to dinner?"

"What an extraordinary question!" cried Dr. Lascelles, laughing. "How will my asking a magistrate to dinner serve your purposes?"

"Only thus far," responded the Black: "that you would have the kindness to walk a little way with him on his return home in the evening, and that I should have you both very quietly kidnapped, blindfolded, and carried off to some place where you would both have to receive and witness the statements made by two men named Joshua Pedler and Timothy Splint, whom I shall have safe in my own custody within a few hours."

"I understand," said the physician, laughing heartily. "Capital! capital! But, by the bye,—when I think of it—your old friend Sir Christopher Blunt was gazetted two days ago to be one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex. Would he not serve your purpose? or do you think——"

The physician paused and looked the Black steadfastly and significantly in the face.

"He will answer admirably!" exclaimed the latter, after a few moments' reflection. "Yes—better than any other, all things considered! I will undertake to get him into my power without giving you the trouble to ask him to dinner. But I must request, doctor, that to-morrow night at eleven o'clock you will take a lonely walk in some very retired spot, and at a good distance off too, so that you may lose all trace of the path pursued by your kidnappers."

"You do not require two persons, surely?" said Lascelles.

"Yes—it will be better," responded the Black; "a Justice of the Peace, and a competent and credible witness. Do you happen to have any patient in the neighbourhood of Bethlem, for instance?"

"Let me see," said the doctor, in a musing manner. "Yes," he cried: "an old lady whom I have not visited for some time."

"Very good," observed the Black. "Then you can call on her to-morrow evening; and between ten and eleven, as you are returning on foot—on foot, remember—you will be set upon by half a dozen ruffians," he continued, laughing, "who will blindfold you, shove you into a chaise, and carry you off—you never will be able to say whither."

"I understand you, my dear friend," said the physician, laughing heartily also. "Your scheme is admirable and certain of success."

"Thus far, then, the business is settled," observed the Black.

At that moment Cæsar entered the room, and informed his master that the man Jeffreys had just awoke, having slept uninterruptedly for many hours.

"But you have not left him alone, Cæsar?" exclaimed the Black.

"No, sir—Wilton is with him," was the answer given by the youth.

"Good!" observed his master: then, turning towards the doctor, he added, "If that fellow were to open the shutters and look out into the street, he might recognise the locality; and I intend to allow him no opportunity of playing me false."

"You act wisely," said the physician, who then took his departure, while the Black repaired to the chamber where Jeffreys was remaining.

The man rose and bowed respectfully on the entrance of his master, who, having dismissed Wilton, seated himself and proceeded to address his new dependant in the following manner:—

"I have resolved how to act in the emergencies which have arisen, and to which I have devoted my best consideration. You will not only be saved from the consequences of your connivance with the robbery which took place at Torrens Cottage, and which ended in so tragic a manner; but you will likewise be rendered secure from the possibility of being in any way implicated hereafter. My promises will be faithfully kept, if you prove faithful. But if, on the other hand, you deceive me, I will find you out wheresoever you may hide yourself; and you shall assuredly perish on the scaffold! For you cannot conceive the extent of my power to reward, nor of my ability to punish."

"I have seen enough, sir, to be convinced that you are some great person," said Jeffreys, "and I assure you that you will find me faithful and devoted."

"Act according to your words, and you will bless the day when you first encountered me," observed the Black. "And now listen to my instructions. Soon after it is dark you will be conveyed away from this house; and, at the proper hour, you will keep your appointment to-night with Pedler and Splint. You say that you are to meet them behind St. Luke's church. Do you mean in the road which separates the two burying-grounds from each other?"

"That is the place of meeting, sir," was the answer.

"Very well," continued the Black. "Is there any chance of Old Death forming one of the party?"

"Not the slightest, sir. He loves to plan and plot; but he usually pays agents to execute."

"I could have wished it had been otherwise. However, you will meet your two friends according to agreement; and you will endeavour to keep them in conversation for a few minutes in the road between the two burial-grounds. This will give my people time to surround them, as it were: for it is my intention to arrest those two men this very night."

Jeffreys looked alarmed and said, "They will be sure to think that I have betrayed them, sir."

"Leave all that to me," returned the Black. "I will take care that they shall never have the opportunity of injuring you. Wilton—the servant who has just left this chamber—will conduct the expedition to night; and he will allow you to escape. You will then proceed as quickly as possible to Seven Dials, where Old Death, according to what you told me this morning, must have already taken up his abode;—and you will tell him that when it came to the last moment, Tim the Snammer and Josh Pedler were afraid to undertake the business of digging up the coffin, and resolved to have nothing more to do with him or his affairs. But you will assure him that you remain faithful to him, and that you can recommend two friends of your own who will be delighted to do all he requires for a quarter of the sum he agreed to pay Pedler and Splint. If he accepts the service of your pretended friends, you will make an appointment to meet him in some, low neighbourhood the day after to-morrow, in the evening. Let the time named be a late hour; and should he wish you and your friends to call on him in Earl Street, raise objections, as it does not suit my purpose that the appointment should be there. It must be a place of meeting _from which he has to walk home afterwards_."

"I understand all your commands, sir," said Jeffreys; "and you may depend upon them being faithfully executed."

"I rely upon you," observed the Black; and, after a few moments' consideration, he added, "To-morrow evening at nine o'clock, punctually, you must be in Wilderness Row, beneath the wall of the Charter House gardens; and I shall send some one to receive an account of your proceedings with Old Death, and give you further instructions. But once more I say, be faithful—be prudent—and avoid any vain or foolish display of your money."

"I wish you would have more confidence in me, sir," exclaimed Jeffreys: then, after a brief pause, he said, as an idea struck him, "I have a great deal of money about me, sir—and I wish you would take care of it for me."

"Now I am convinced of your honest intentions, my good fellow," said his master, in a kinder tone than he had yet adopted towards the man. "If you propose to leave your money with me as a guarantee of your good faith, I do not now require any such security: but if your object be to place it in safety, I will accept the trust."

"Well, sir—let it be in the way you have just mentioned," returned Jeffreys.

"Here is a drawer—lock up any thing you choose therein, and take the key with you," said the Black.

Jeffreys did as he was desired: Wilton was again summoned—an excellent dinner was supplied the new dependant and the servant who was appointed to remain with him;—and the Black retired to his own apartment.

Soon after it was dark, Jeffreys was blindfolded and conducted to a private carriage, which was waiting. Wilton accompanied him in the vehicle, which, after driving about for nearly an hour, stopped at last; and Jeffreys, on removing the bandage from his eyes, and alighting, found himself in an obscure street in the immediate vicinity of Shoreditch Church.