The White Gauntlet Part 8

"Well! there are many such to be met with among these Chiltern Hills.

No doubt, Master Wade, you know some; and perhaps you have one in particular before your mind's eye at this very moment? Ha! ha! ha!"

The colour came to Walter's cheeks as he stammered out a reply, which only partially repudiated the insinuation.

"Your pardon!" cried the cavalier, suddenly checking his laughter. "I don't wish to confess you. I have no right to do so. I have given you reason to think me unmannerly."

"Oh! not at all," said Walter, himself too free of speech to be offended by that quality in another.

"Perhaps you will excuse the curiosity of a stranger," continued the black horseman. "I have been only a short time resident in this part of the country; and one is naturally curious to know something of one's neighbours. If you promise not to be offended, I shall make bold to ask you another question."

"I shall not be offended at any question one gentleman may ask of another. You are a gentleman, sir?"

"I have been brought up as one; and, though I have parted with, or rather been deprived of, the fortune that attaches to such a t.i.tle, I hope I have not forfeited the character. The question I am about to put, may appear rather trivial after so elaborate an introduction. I merely wished to ask, whether you are the only member of your father's family?"

"Oh! dear no," frankly responded the youth; "I have a sister--sister Marion."

"Grown up, like yourself?"

"She should be by this. She wasn't quite grown, when I saw her last; but that will be three years come Christmas. She's older than I; and, i'faith I shouldn't wonder if she be taller too. I've heard say she's a great, big girl--nearly the head taller than Lora."

"Lora?"

"Lora Lovelace--my cousin, sir."

"'Tis his sister--'tis Marion. I thought as much. Marion Wade! A n.o.ble name. It has a bold clarion sound--in keeping with the character of her who bears it. Marion! Now know I the name of her who for weeks I have been worshipping! Who for weeks--"

"My cousin," continued the candid young courtier, interrupting the silent reflections of his travelling companion, "is also a member of my father's family. She has been staying at Bulstrode Park now for many years; and will remain, I suppose, until--"

The heir of Bulstrode hesitated--as if not very certain of the time at which the stay of his cousin was to terminate.

"Until," interrogated the cavalier, with a significant smile, "until when?"

"Really, sir," said Walter, speaking rather confusedly, "I can't say how long our cousin may choose to remain with us. When she comes to be of age, I dare say, her guardian will claim her. Papa is _not_ her guardian."

"Ah! Master Walter Wade, I'd lay a wager, that before Mistress Lora Lovelace be of age, she'll choose her own guardian--one who will not object to her staying at Bulstrode for the remainder of her life. Ha!

ha! ha!"

Instead of feeling indignant, the cousin of Lora Lovelace joined in the laugh. There was something in the insinuation that soothed and gratified him.

Conversing in this jocular vein, the two travellers reached the summit of the sloping declivity; and, continuing onward, entered upon a wild tract of country known as _Jarret's Heath_.

Volume One, Chapter IX.

Jarret's Heath--now Gerrard's Cross Common--was at the time of which we write, a tract of considerable extent--occupying an elevated _plateau_ of the Chiltern Hills, and one of the largest. Commencing at the brow of Red Hill, it extended westward for a distance of many miles--flanked right and left by the romantic valleys of Chalfont and Fulmere.

At that time only the adjoining valleys showed signs of habitation. In the former stood the n.o.ble mansion of Chalfont House, with its synonymous village; while on the other side, quaintly embowered amid ancient trees, was the manorial residence of Fulmere. About two miles farther to the westward, where the plateau is broken by a series of rounded indications, stood the magnificent mansion of Temple Bulstrode, the residence of Sir Marmaduke Wade.

The elevated plain, lying between the above-named lordships, bore scarce a trace of human occupancy. It's name, Jarret's Heath, would indicate the condition of its culture. It was a waste--upon which the plough had never broken ground--thickly covered with high gorse and heather. Here and there appeared straggling groves and copses, composed chiefly of black and white birch trees, interspersed with juniper and holly; while on each side towards the valleys, it was flanked by a dense forest of the indigenous beech.

Lengthwise through this waste trended the King's highway--the London and Oxford road--beyond it impinging upon the Park of Bulstrode, and running alongside the latter towards the town of Beaconsfield.

In the traverse of Jarret's Heath the main road was intersected by two others--one pa.s.sing from the manor house of Fulmere to the village of Chalfont Saint Peter's: the other forming the communication between Chalfont and the country towards Stoke and Windsor. These were but bridle or _packhorse_ paths, tracked out irregularly among the trees, and meandering through the gorse wherever it grew thinnest. That running from Stoke to Chalfont was the most frequented; and an old inn-- the _Packhorse_--standing upon the Chalfont side of the waste, betokened traffic and travel. There was not much of either; and the hostelry bore only a questionable character.

Such as it was, however, it was the only sign of habitation upon Jarret's Heath--if we except the remains of a rude hovel, standing by the side of the London road, just at the point where going westward from Red Hill, it debouched upon the waste.

This hovel had been long untenanted. Part of the roof had fallen in: it was a ruin. An open s.p.a.ce in front, through which ran the road, might once have been a garden; but it was now overgrown with gorse, and other indigenous shrubbery--only distinguishable from the surrounding thicket by its scantier growth.

It was a singular spot to have been selected as a residence: since it stood more than a mile from any other habitation--the nearest being the suspected hostelry of the Packhorse. Perhaps it was this very remoteness from companionship that had influenced its original owner in the choice of a site for his dwelling.

Whether or no, it had been at best but a miserable tenement. Even with smoke issuing out of its clay chimney, it would have looked cheerless.

But in ruins, with its roof falling piecemeal upon the floor, tall weeds standing close by its walls, gorse overgrowing its garden, and black birches cl.u.s.tering thickly around, it presented an aspect of wild and gloomy desolation: the very spot where one might expect to be robbed, or even murdered.

Conversing as we have described them, the two travellers had arrived near the edge of the opening in which stood this ruined hut. The moon was still shining brightly; and through the break in the brushwood, formed by the cleared causeway of the road, they could distinguish-- though still at the distance of a mile or more--the tops of the magnificent trees, oaks, elms, and chestnuts, that crowned the undulating ridges of Bulstrode Park. They could even see a portion of the n.o.ble mansion of Norman architecture, gleaming red and white under the silvery sheen of the moonlight.

In ten minutes more Walter Wade would be at home.

It was a pleasant antic.i.p.ation for the young courtier to indulge in.

Home so near, after such a long protracted absence--home, that promised the sweet interchange of natural affection, and--something more.

The cavalier--whose journey extended farther up the road--was about congratulating his companion on the delightful prospect; when a rustling noise, heard to the right of the path suddenly stopped their conversation. At the same instant a harsh voice, sounded in their ears, p.r.o.nouncing the significant summons:--"stand and deliver!"

The two travellers had already ridden into the open ground, in front of the ruined hut, out of which the voice appeared to proceed. But they had no time to speculate as to whence it came: for on the instant of its utterance, a man was seen rushing forward into the middle of the road, and placing himself in a position to intercept their advance.

His threatening att.i.tude, combined with the mode in which he manipulated a long-handled pike--the point of which he held close to the heads of their horses--left no doubt upon the minds of the travellers that to stop them was his determination.

Before either could make reply to his challenge, it was rep.r.o.nounced in the same loud tone, and with a fresh gesture of menace--in which the pike played an important part.

"Stand and deliver?" interrogated the cavalier, slowly repeating the stereotyped phrase. "That's your wish, is it, my worthy fellow?"

"It is!" growled the challenger, "an' be quickish, if ye've any consarn for yer skins."

"Well," continued the cavalier, preserving the most perfect _sang froid_, "you can't say but that we've been quick enough in obeying your first command? You see we have both come to a stand _instanter_? As for your second, it requires consideration. Before _delivering_, we must know the why, and the wherefore--above all, to whom we are to unburthen ourselves. You won't object, to obliging us with your name-- as also your reason for making such a modest request?"

"Curse your palaver?" vociferated the man, with an impatient flourish of the pike. "There be no names given on the road, nor reasons neyther.

Yer money, or yer blood! It be no use yer tryin' to get out o' it.

Look thear! Ye see there be a dozen o' us! What's the good o'

resistin'? Ye're surrounded."

And as he said this, the robber with a sweep of his formidable weapon indicated the circle of shrubbery--near the centre of which the scene was being enacted.

The eyes of the two travellers involuntarily followed the pointing of the pike.

Sure enough they _were_ surrounded. Six or seven fierce-looking men, all apparently armed with the same sort of weapon as that in the hands of their leader, stood at equal distances from each other around the opening--their forms half concealed by the trees and gorse. They were all standing perfectly motionless. Not even their weapons seemed to stir; and not one of them had as yet spoken, or stepped forward; though it might have been expected they would have done so--if only to strengthen the demand made by their spokesman.

"Keep your places, comrades!" commanded the latter. "There's no need for any o' ye to stir. These are civilish gentlemen. We don't want to hurt them. They bean't a-goin' to resist."

"But they _be_" interrupted the cavalier, in a mocking but determined tone, at the same time whipping a pistol from its holster--"_I am_ to the death; and so too will the gallant youth by my side."

Walter had drawn his slender rapier--the only weapon he possessed.