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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bcd649 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65144 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65144) diff --git a/old/65144-0.txt b/old/65144-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 17bf7fc..0000000 --- a/old/65144-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4344 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Derval Hampton, Volume 2 (of 2), by James -Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Derval Hampton, Volume 2 (of 2) - A Story of the Sea - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: April 22, 2021 [eBook #65144] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DERVAL HAMPTON, VOLUME 2 (OF -2) *** - - - - - DERVAL HAMPTON - - A Story of the Sea. - - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT, - - AUTHOR OF "ROMANCE OF WAR," ETC., ETC. - - - - VOL. II. - - - - LONDON: - W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, - PALL MALL, S.W. - - 1881. - - (_All rights reserved._) - - - - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -CHAPTER I.--"A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea" - -CHAPTER II.--Turtle Island - -CHAPTER III.--H.M.S. _Holyrood_ - -CHAPTER IV.--"The Desire of the Moth for the Star" - -CHAPTER V.--"Deeper than e'en Plummet sounded" - -CHAPTER VI.--A Crushed Heart - -CHAPTER VII.--Nemesis - - - - -DERVAL HAMPTON - -(A STORY OF THE SEA.) - - - -CHAPTER I. - -"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." - -Another long spell of the sea, including several voyages and some -stirring adventures, was before Derval now, with a protracted absence -from Britain. The ship was not getting ready for sea, so Captain -Talbot was on shore, when a hansom cab deposited Derval and his -belongings close by the gangway that led on board, where he was -warmly welcomed by Joe Grummet and Harry Bowline. - -"So Girtline has left us, Hal?" - -"Yes, in bad health." - -"And what sort of fellow is his successor?" asked Derval as they -descended to the cabin. - -"He is simply horrid--a cad, a brute!" exclaimed Bowline. "He is in -the hold just now, and if a cask fell out of the slings on his head, -it would be a good thing for all on board. He is so different from -poor Girtline; he looks like an old pirate, and has stopped our -promotion; but you see, Hampton, the owners think us rather young for -further advancement yet. Steward, a couple of grogs; the sun is over -the fore-yard!" - -"When do we sail?" - -"I don't exactly know, but I wish we saw Blue Peter up!" - -"This Rudderhead--" began Derval, thinking of the mysterious letter. - -"You'll have enough of him in time, I doubt not. He has already -caused much ill-blood on board." - -"How?" - -"He plays the tyrant in the Captain's absence; he has stopped the -men's grog for next to nothing, though he is seldom quite sober -himself; he sent two of the apprentices aloft, and had them lashed to -the topgallant shrouds, in sight of all the people; and, like a beast -as he is, had the lashings wetted that they might shrink, a trick he -must have picked up in the Canton river! He refused Joe Grummet -leave, and me too, though there was no duty to do but the -anchor-watch," said Bowline, referring to the two or three men -appointed to look after a ship while at anchor or in port. "But -hush! here he comes lumbering down the companion-ladder--screwed, I -have no doubt." - -Step by step he came down, his large splay feet, thick legs, the -broader part of his person, his great back, short neck, and -bullet-like head all appearing in succession. He looked full and -scrutinisingly at the new-comer, while Hal, taking off his cap, bowed -to each, and said mockingly: - -"Mr. Derval Hampton--Mr. Reeve Rudderhead; Mr. Reeve Rudderhead--Mr. -Derval Hampton." - -The first mate eyed both viciously, particularly Bowline, who -finished his grog, and eyeing him defiantly in turn, went slowly on -deck, singing as he went a grotesque song: - - "We bore away to the Greenland seas till we saw a - mighty whale, - The tremendous length of which, 'tis said, did reach - from the head to the tail, brave boys! - The captain on the bowsprit stood, with the mainmast - in his hand: - 'Overhaul, overhaul! let the main-deck fall, and belay - her to the land, brave boys!'" - - -Mr. Rudderhead meanwhile seated himself on a locker and leisurely -proceeded to fill a clay pipe, while quite as leisurely surveying -Derval. He was a piratical, bull-dog looking fellow, about forty -years of age, with a broad swollen visage, which, where it was not -red by grog blossoms and blotches, was covered by cuts and scars, won -in fisticuff battles in the vicinity of Wapping or the docks. His -figure was powerful and suggestive of enormous brutal strength. His -appearance was repugnant and dirty; he wore the kind of uniform -prescribed by Curry & Co. for the officers of their ships, but it was -evidently a second-hand suit, and was already greasy, foul, and -frayed. - -As his eyes met those of Derval, the latter felt, "by instinct swift -as light," that he was face to face with an enemy--a worse one than -Paul Bitts--who was, moreover, the cousin of his hostile step-mother, -and no doubt in frequent communication with her. - -"Oho!" said he, scraping a match and lighting his pipe; "so you are -Derval Hampton, eh?" - -"I am, as yet, Mr. Derval Hampton to you, sir," said our hero sharply. - -"I beg your pardon, _Mister_ Hampton," said he, lifting his cap -impertinently. - -"Yes; and I am third mate of this ship." - -"I am the _first_, which you'll find out in time, so let us know each -other at once. I am a sharp hand at my duty, and stand no -nonsense--so keep a bright look-out, I say!" he added, adopting a -bullying tone, as he had evidently been drinking; and he interlarded -his conversation with many "strange oaths," which we cannot commit to -paper. - -"You are, I understand, a cousin of my step-mother?" said Derval, not -unwilling to try and conciliate this truculent fellow, with whom his -lot would be unluckily cast for some time. - -"Yes, first cousin; and she told me to look very particularly after -you." - -"Indeed--very kind of her! But I can look pretty well after myself, -and others too." - -"I believe you are apt to cut up rough on occasions, and lay out to -windward if you can." - -"Indeed!" said Derval, his choler rising. - -"And I was to see that you did your duty well, to ship and owners." - -"I can do my duty without need of your supervision," said Derval, -annoyed still more by the peculiar tone this obnoxious personage -adopted. - -"And so can I, though I don't belong to the Royal Naval Reserve," -said he with a sneer. - -"Nor are ever likely to do so, unless you mend your manners and your -morals, too." - -"What the--what do you know about me or my morals?" demanded -Rudderhead, with a black look; "you lubberly haymaker!" - -"I can guess much--we guess much about ships that go down, though we -may not be certain about them." - -"_Down_--what do you mean by or about down--any particular ship?" -asked the other hoarsely, and with a terrible oath, while his face -grew pale, all save the pimples and blotches, and his eyes glared -like those of a rattlesnake. - -"I mean precisely what my words infer," replied Derval disdainfully, -as he quitted the cabin and went on deck, convinced that he had, by a -random speech, probed some dark secret in this man's life, and stung -him in some way; and in the time to come he gained a clue to it. - -How a woman so refined and lady-like as Mrs. Hampton--for she was -both in appearance, unquestionably--came to have such a remarkable -kinsman it was difficult to say; but from that hour there was a -declared feud between him and Derval, and both were prepared to carry -it out to the bitter end. - -Derval's indignation was very keen. Through all the years he had -been away from home, the tender home-love had never died in his -honest and passionate heart. To Finglecombe he had sent all he could -give--letters, presents, and many a token of regard; but all in vain; -and now she, who had driven him from that home--a luxurious one -now--had found him an enemy, and a dangerous one, in the truculent -savage, Reeve Rudderhead. - -Derval hailed the return of the Captain on board with right good -welcome. He was warmly welcomed by the latter, who said: - -"I saw by the _London Gazette_, and other papers, that Her Majesty -had, at the request of Lord Oakhampton, given you the Albert Medal -for saving his girl's life! Long may you live to wear it, Derval; -but now you must, like me, join the Reserve; you'll just be able to -manage your training before we sail." - -This was exactly suited to the young man's tastes and ambition; so -Derval was duly commissioned as a midshipman on board H.M. training -ship _President_, appeared in his uniform as such, with the Albert -Medal on his right breast, and performed twenty-eight days drill, -under the Gunnery Lieutenant, messing with the officers in the ward -room. - -This brief sojourn on board Her Majesty's ship, while so much active -and even dirty work (which Derval luckily escaped) was being done in -the _Amethyst_, roused the ready wrath and jealousy of Mr. Reeve -Rudderhead to boiling heat against him; and consequently, when Derval -again appeared on her deck, he was greeted by that personage in this -manner:-- - -"Now, then, Mister Derval Hampton, as you have done us the honour of -coming aboard again, you'll perhaps take off that dandy gold ring of -yours, with the three crows--or are they three mudlarks?--on it; and -go aloft and see to greasing down the foretop-mast, and setting up -the maintopmast backstay." - -"Very good, sir," said Derval, passing on. - -"A gold ring!" muttered the bully, aside; "I'll warrant him as -perfect a cock-pit beau as ever foundered in the lee-scuppers." - -"What is the difference between foundering and going down?" asked -Derval, as a Parthian shot, remembering how curiously the word had -stung his enemy before, and a terrible scowl darkened the face of the -latter, as he turned away grumbling one of his deep maledictions. - -The cargo was complete now, and the ship was ready for sea; all the -running rigging had been examined, and that which was unfit for -service removed, and new rigging rove in its place, together with the -studding gear, and "the chaffing gear," which consists of roundings -or mats, battens, put upon the rigging and spars to prevent their -being frayed, was all arranged under the eyes of Joe Grummet, as the -ship dropped down the river, and was again taken into the Channel by -old Toggle the Deal pilot. - -After the two lights on the Lizard Point--the last they saw of -England--melted out in distance and the obscurity of a February -night, and the _Amethyst_ was altogether clear of the English -Channel, the weather became delightful, the water smooth, the skies -clear, and as the wind was fair, she ran before it merrily, without -tack or sheet being lifted, till the latitudes of balmy breezes and -sunny days in long succession were reached. - -Every other day vessels were passed, but after a time the seas became -more lonely, and for many a day no sail would be in sight; and then a -succession of foul winds took the _Amethyst_ considerably out of her -course, and to the westward. - -The crew of a vessel while at sea is generally divided in two -portions, called the starboard and port watches. The former, in a -merchant ship, is the captain's watch, but is frequently commanded by -the second mate; the other, the larboard or port watch, falls to the -chief mate; and the periods of time occupied by each part of the crew -alternately, while thus on duty, are also termed watches. - -One night, after Fogo--one of the Cape de Vere Islands--had been -passed, with its volcano 9,000 feet above the sea, all aflame as it -now generally is, after fifty years of silence, Mr. Rudderhead was so -long of coming on deck to relieve Captain Talbot, who had the -starboard watch from 8 to 12, that he sent Derval below to rouse him -up. - -Under all circumstances Derval disliked coming in contact with this -man, who was a dark and repellent fellow, haunted in his sleep by -nightmares and dreams, amid which ever and anon--as sometimes when he -was irritated by day--he would mutter horribly of some ship going -down with all hands on board. - -As Derval entered the cabin, it was lighted only by a swinging lamp -in the skylight, where, with the tell-tale compass, it vibrated to -and fro with every roll of the ship, and as he made his way towards -the berth, where the first mate lay fast asleep with his clothes on, -all ready to turn out, he became aware that Rudderhead was in one of -his drunken slumbers, for he had a store of spirits in his own -baggage, and often imbibed so much as to endanger the ship when in -his care. - -He lay on his back, his repulsive visage half seen and half sunk in -shadow by the partial light of the cabin lamp, and was evidently -haunted by one of his peculiar dreams just then, and was muttering -about a ship called the _North Star_. - -At first he was actually smiling, and then an expression of intense -cunning and gratification stole over his face as he muttered-- - -"Good, good; I understand ... the Marine Insurance must stump up ... -all the boats gone save one, save one," he said, in a husky whisper; -"all but mine--mine! ... alongside. Where's the auger? ... here ... -now, now, through outer and inner sheathing ... there is one!" and -his clenched hands revolved over each other as in fancy he grasped -the cross handle of an auger, and in fancy--could Derval doubt -it?--was piercing a ship's side. "Three, four, five ... off, off ... -now she begins to settle in the water ... they find she is going down -... now to scull for the shore ... four miles ... How they shriek, -and cry, and howl ... How pale their faces look in the moonlight ... -they threaten, rave, and implore me to return ... no help for them -... down they go ... down, down, down, and now they all come up with -their dead faces and white hands out of the green sea. They glare at -me on every side ... they grasp the gunwale of my boat--they clutch -me ... Merciful Heaven!" - -His mutterings terminated in a wail of horror, then came prayers, -with maledictions on himself and others, as he writhed on his bed; -and in the agony produced by his dream, which seemed to reach a -climax of unutterable horror, while a cold and clammy sweat distilled -upon his brow, and his muscular limbs shivered like aspen twigs, he -awoke and half sprang out of his berth; but the effect of his vision -overcame him, and for a moment he sank back on the pillow, panting -rather than breathing. - -On seeing that Derval was regarding him, and conscious that he must -have been muttering though knowing not what he might have said, a -sudden expression of alarm, mingled with defiance and malevolence, -came into his face, and he staggered up. - -"I have been dreaming," said he. - -"So I see," observed Derval. - -"See--what did you _hear_? I mutter odd things in my sleep, I am -told. Those who hear them are not lucky. The last fellow who did so -was lost _overboard_ in the night," he added, with a diabolical grin. - -Derval was silent. - -"Speak, I tell you," bullied the other. - -"Captain's orders are that you are instantly to relieve the deck; -eight bells in the first watch have struck," said Derval, sharply, -and went on deck, merely reporting that Mr. Rudderhead was coming, -and the new watch was already on deck. - -Derval acted with judicious care in not telling the first mate all he -had heard; but the latter knew what was too often his use and wont, -to mutter in his sleep, and thus a species of dread of Derval was -added to his ill-concealed hatred of him. - -The latter confided to Harry Bowline and to the boatswain the strange -revelations Rudderhead had made in his sleep. - -"The _North Star_, the _North Star_!" exclaimed Grummet, as he -slapped his thigh, and with a gulp of astonishment, by which he -nearly swallowed his quid; "why that's the very ship as was said to -have foundered four miles off the Scilly Isles, after losing all her -boats save one, in which Rudderhead, her second mate, reached St. -Mary's, and I don't think the Mercantile Marine Insurance would have -'stumped up,' as he calls it, without a fight for it. I have heard -him muttering in his dreams. I wish he was well out of the ship, -that I do; good can't come to us with such a thief on board. My -eyes! how many a better man has swung in Execution dock, and had his -poor bones chained to those stumps, as we may see any day by the -Essex marshes. I never liked the cut of his jib." - -To Derval it was evident that what he had overheard was no dream or -nightmare, simple and pure, but the recollection of a real event--the -scuttling of the _North Star_, and leaving her to sink with all hands -on board, the result of some foul scheme between himself and someone -else; and now there took possession of him a great horror of this -man, with whom he had to sit at table, and to converse and confer -incidentally while conducting mutually the duty of the ship. - -That the untoward incident of Derval coming upon him in his dream -dwelt in the mate's memory, was evident, as the former frequently -caught the latter regarding him with a stern and lowering eye when he -thought his attention was turned another way; and once, when the mate -was partially intoxicated, and had crept into the long-boat amidships -to keep out of the captain's sight, Derval, who was busy near the -mainmast, heard him muttering-- - -"Dreams--a curse upon them! Why will they haunt me? Well, well, let -him suspect what he likes, but he can prove nothing, and no one can -prove anything, and dead men tell no tales, as _he_ may find out one -day. She wrote me to serve him out in any fashion to suit her; but -(here he uttered a terrible oath) I'll serve him out to suit myself." - -_She_ was, Derval never for a moment doubted, Mrs. Hampton. Thus he -found that to avoid scrapes, to avoid tyranny, and to escape positive -peril, would require all his care, all his caution and perseverance -now. - -Reeve Rudderhead was, we have said, a man of enormous strength, bulk, -and stature; every muscle and fibre in his form had been developed -and turned, as it were, to iron and wire. He was decidedly a fellow -to fear physically, and to shun morally. He was quite capable of -working anyone a fatal mischief whom he disliked, or who crossed him -in the least way, and the contingencies of a seafaring life afford -such a character many easy chances for doing so with impunity; thus -Derval did not forget his hint and threat about the listener who was -lost overboard. - -But there were other risks to run on which he did not calculate. - -Thus, one day, a top-maul, or large iron hammer kept up aloft for -driving in or out the fid of the topmasts, came whizzing down from -the mizen-top, where Rudderhead was supposed to be busy on something -or other. It crashed upon the quarter-deck, close by where Derval -was standing, and _then_ followed the cry which always precedes -anything being thrown from aloft:-- - -"Stand from under," sang out Rudderhead. - -Derval felt himself grow pale, while a fierce gust of wrath rose in -his breast, for this could not have been a chance occurrence, but a -deliberate attempt to destroy him accidentally, as it were, in open -daylight, and in the face of the crew; and there was an unconcealed -grin on the visage of Rudderhead when rebuked by Captain Talbot for -carelessness, and while making his sham excuses to Derval. - -The latter thought deeply over the correspondence between Mrs. -Hampton and her amiable cousin, and recalled the fragments of the -letter he traced on the blotting pad, and he now could but construe -or connect them thus: that they were to the effect that as he, -Derval, was in the way (of whom, Rookleigh?), Rudderhead, for the old -love he bore her, and for a good round sum, would rid her of him in -any mode he chose, so that they might see him no more. - -It was impossible to doubt now that such had been the tenor of that -atrocious epistle. It might be, Derval thought in his calmer -moments, that she did not mean a deadly crime to be committed to -remove him from jarring with her son's interests, and that the affair -of the maul was dictated by Reeve Rudderhead's own spirit of -malevolence and revenge. - -But what could she mean? unless it were that Rudderhead was to -contrive to leave him ashore in some place where he might perish or -never more be heard of; or if, when some such contingency as a tumble -overboard befel him, to be in no hurry to throw him a line or cut -away the life-buoy. Anyway, Derval was now completely on his guard. - -He remembered how his predecessor, Paul Bitts--an enemy from the hour -he joined the ship--by his cruelty, tyranny, and terror, had blotted -out the short life of poor little Tom Titford on that terrible night -at Fernando Noronha; and he wondered if some such untoward fate might -befal himself at the hands of this unscrupulous wretch. But then Tom -Tit, as they called him, was but a child compared with what Derval -was now, and he resolved, as he said to Harry Bowline, "to keep his -weather-eye remarkably wide open." - -As for his growing inheritance, sailor like, he set no store on it -then, and actually cared little, if he always had a ship, whether -every shilling of it went to Rookleigh, the failings in whose -disposition and character seemed to soften by time and distance, and -often in lone watches of the night did Derval think he would try to -love him, when the selfish little Rook of the nursery became, like -himself, a man. Was he not his brother, and, moreover, the nearest -kinsman he had on earth? They had the same father, though different -mothers--oh, so different! Yes, yes, a day would come when Rook -would cease to be under his mother's influence, and the bonds of -fraternal affection would naturally strengthen between them as years -rolled on. - -Alas! Could Derval have foreseen the future! - -About the time when the _Amethyst_ began to feel the main equatorial -current, one evening the sea, which had been as smooth as the -Serpentine in Hyde Park on a summer day, suddenly became torn up by a -hurricane, which a rapid fall in the barometer indicated, but -scarcely in time for preparations to meet it. - -The wind seemed to come from all quarters at once, as if contending -for mastery, and the spray flew over the ship in blinding clouds. -The weightiest blast struck her on the lee bow, and, as the yards -were braced that way, she was nearly thrown on her beam ends. - -"Hold on!" was the shout that went from stem to stern, and every man -grasped something to prevent himself being swept overboard. - -For nearly a minute the ship lay in the same position, when she -righted a little, and then payed off before the blast, when Joe -Grummet joined the man at the wheel. - -Darkness came on with more than tropical rapidity. Luckily the -royals had not been set, and topsails, close-reefed, were lowered -upon the caps, while the vessel drove before her courses and -fore-staysail. - -"We are in for a rough night," said Mr. Rudderhead grimly, as he tied -the strings of a yellow south-wester under his chin. "A night as may -make some beggar lose the number of his mess, if it don't send us all -to Davy Jones's locker before morning." - -Twice during this short speech his eye wandered, perhaps -unconsciously, to Derval; but, as the event proved, the night was to -have more terror for himself than any man on board. - -The sea which, from the commencement of the hurricane, had been -roused into boiling surge, dashed over the ship without a moment's -cessation, though she must have been going at the rate of twelve -knots an hour, but as the light in the binnacle was extinguished by -the tempest, no one could tell for some time which way her head lay; -and for a time such was the black fury of the hurricane, that the -look-out ahead could not see half the vessel's length from her, so -thick were the clouds of spray raised by the force of the wind, and -meanwhile the whole deck was flooded, and everything loose went -washing away to leeward. - -From time to time Derval thought of Rudderhead, and while doing his -duty kept on his guard. Amid the hubbub and obscurity of such time -there was more than one opportunity of working mischief. - -Thunder, lightning, and rain were all in full chorus together for -more than an hour, during which very little was said by one man to -another, save brief orders, or hurried remarks. - -"I think there is a little lull, sir," said Rudderhead to the -Captain; "shall we keep our wind?' - -"I think you are right--she is a weatherly craft, and makes little -leeway. Luff her to, then!" shouted Talbot, through his trumpet. - -The words were scarcely out of his mouth when a great black sea came -thundering like a mountain over the weather gangway, nearly tearing -the long-boat from its chocks, straining and starting the lashing of -the weather guns, beating open two of the lee ports, and nearly -sweeping away everything movable. The hurricane now abated a little; -but the _Amethyst_ had scarcely a stitch of canvas set, yet the yards -being braced up sharply, kept her steady, while ever and anon -brilliant flashes of green lightning cast a ghastly glare upon the -seething water, and appalling booms of thunder hurtled through the -sky, to die away in distance. - -About three bells, in the middle watch, there came a cry from the -look-out man ahead-- - -"Sail on the weather bow!" - -She had been revealed by a flash of lightning, and was, Harry Bowline -reported, about half a mile off. - -In such a tempest it might be necessary to give her as wide a berth -as possible, and several night-glasses were in requisition, scanning -the quarter indicated; and, among others, Derval, with his left arm -round one of the fore-shrouds, kept his binocular intently to his -eyes, on the look-out. - -Flash after flash came in rapid succession, vivid, green, and -ghastly, and with each they could all see the stranger, whom they -neared fast, and made out to be a brig with her topmasts gone, her -canvas split to ribbons. Bobbing up and down, she was visible only -for an instant at a time, and chill fell on all who saw her, for she -was evidently an old wreck, with no living being on board of her, -though a dead man was seen lashed in the starboard main-shrouds, and -three other corpses were dangling from lashings in the foretop. - -No sound or cry came from that ghostly craft as the _Amethyst_ swept -past her within a few yards of her stern, just as one more than -usually vivid flash showed her distinctly, with her torn rigging all -hanging in bights and loops, the dead-lights shipped in her cabin -windows, and her name painted in white letters underneath them. - -"Could any of you make out her name?" asked Captain Talbot, as the -flash passed away, and the wreck seemed to vanish, when the thunder -burst fearfully overhead. - -"I did, sir," replied Derval. - -"You are very clever, Hampton. Did anyone else make it out? I -should like to be sure, for the log-book." - -There was no reply from anyone else, and Derval was silent, for he -had a choking sensation in his throat. - -"I should like to have some other warrant for her name, ere I put it -in the log, than Mr. Derval Hampton's," sneered Rudderhead. - -"And what did you make out her name to be?" asked Talbot. - -"_The North Star_," replied Derval, for such was indeed the name he -had seen. - -"_What?_" roared Rudderhead, in a voice that startled all. "It is a -lie--a horrid lie! He could not have made it out in this obscurity." - -"How dare you say so?" asked Captain Talbot. - -"I am sure of what I assert, sir," said Derval, careless of how his -words affected his enemy; "she is _The North Star, of Whitchurch_." - -Something between a groan and a curse escaped the lips of Rudderhead, -whose perplexity Derval really shared, but with much of awe, while -the former felt much of rage and hatred, believing, almost hoping, -that the name was Derval's invention, and suggested, perhaps, by some -remark overheard in the dream, on the night he was too late to -relieve the deck. - -"_The North Star_," and "of Whitchurch" too! Was it a reality, or a -phantom ship sent to blast the eye-sight and terrify the heart of -Reeve Rudderhead? - -Any way, it was a strange and startling coincidence, the whole -episode; and the perfect similitude of the name with that of the -vessel of his dreams, or his crime. This, together with the terrible -circumstances under which she had been seen, had, for a time, a -calming effect upon the brutal temper and spirit of the first mate, -whose entry of the circumstances in the log, together with the -details of how the _Amethyst_ was handled in the hurricane, proved -nearly illegible, so tremulous and uncertain was the handwriting. - -As daylight broke the hurricane passed away, and the clouds cleared; -but not a vestige of the wreck was to be seen, so those who swept the -horizon with their glasses for her could but conclude that she had -gone down, with her dead, in the night. - -The sea was still running very high, and the _Amethyst_, having no -canvas set, rolled very heavily. The morning watch, whose duty -extends from 4 to 8 A.M., was now on deck. - -"Away aloft and cast loose the topsails," was now the Captain's -order; "hoist away, lads--up to the cross-trees with them." The -courses were then let fall, and pleasantly and steadily the ship bore -on, rolling away before the wind. - -Derval, who had never mentioned the matter of the first mate's dreams -and nocturnal visits to the Captain, had much difficulty in assuring -Hal Bowline and Joe Grummet that the name he had given was that which -he had really seen; for the boatswain was especially unbelieving. He -laughed loudly again and again, slapped his thigh vigorously, and -Derval's back too, supposing that the name was all an invention for -the purpose of "giving that piratical beggar a dig--hitting him on -the raw," and so forth; but the episode elicited, as usual at sea, a -number of anything but enlivening or hilarious anecdotes, concerning -wrecks and marvels of the deep. - -"The last time I saw any dead bodies adrift upon the sea," said Joe, -"was just before I shipped aboard this here craft. We had left -Sidney in June, bound for Shanghai, and had fair winds till we -reached latitude 6, south, when the glass fell low, the sea rose and -the wind too, for we lost our fore-topmast, which snapped off at the -cap like a clay-pipe. The gale increased, so we hauled to the wind -on the port tack, under a close-reefed foresail, main-topsail, and -fore-stay sail, and plenty of cormorants were flying about us and -perching on the yard-arms. When the gale abated, and all but the -watch were thankfully about to turn in, there was a cry of 'Wreck to -leeward!' and there came drifting past us a raft made of planks, -poles, and spars, on which was a poor wretch, almost naked as he came -into the world, famished, starving, and well-nigh raving mad, the -last survivor of only four unfortunate fellows who had escaped from a -sinking ship. On the second day the ship sank, one of the men fell -off the raft into the water, and was devoured by sharks under the -eyes of the three survivors, around whom the sea-lawyers began to -gather on every side. A second man died from exhaustion, and the -other two threw him into the sea, hoping that then the sharks would -go and leave them in peace. But the taste of human flesh seemed to -increase their longings, and their numbers also, and still more when -the third man fell dead on the raft and his mess-mate was too weak to -throw him into the sea. They seemed to swarm up out of the deep now -on every side; they crowded round the frail raft, which was level -with the water, so that every wave rolled over it. Eagerly the -sharks watched its only occupant on every hand, their dorsal fins -quivering with hungry longings, their rows of awful teeth glittering -head over head, side by side, in close ranks. Look which way he -might, he saw nothing but eyes and teeth--eyes and teeth--and for -well-nigh a week this lasted. He could neither sleep nor lie down, -for dread of falling into the sea and being rent piece-meal. The hot -sun of these scorching latitudes beat all day long upon his -defenceless head; he was without food or water at last, and when we -got him aboard was well-nigh a raving lunatic, and he had terrible -dreams at night, like our friend in the cabin--dreams of sharp teeth -and eyes, sharp teeth and glistening eyes, for long after. Another -day of such work and we might have found him like his mess-mate, as -the newspapers say, 'with the wital spark extinct.'" - -Greatly to the disgust and annoyance of Mr. Rudderhead, Captain -Talbot, having as we have said, a proportion of Royal Naval Reserve -men on board, when the weather was fine, was fond of training the -crew to the guns and small arms, making and shortening sail, reefing -topsails, and otherwise manoeuvring the ship; and when she was about -the latitude of St. Helena, it would seem as if the skill and mettle -of her crew were on the point of being tangibly proved. - -Foul winds, as stated, had driven the _Amethyst_ considerably to the -westward of her course. One day, in the early part of the morning -watch, Derval was regarding with pleasure, as he often did, the -strange beauty of the early day-break on the vast and wide expanse of -ocean. The first streaks of grey and then yellow light stretched for -miles and miles along the horizon eastward, indicating the line where -sky and ocean met; throwing a broadening sheet of radiance upon the -face of the undulating deep, imparting a weird beauty to it, which, -as a writer says, combined with the boundlessness and unknown depth -of the sea around you, "gives one a feeling of loneliness, of dread, -and of melancholy foreboding, which nothing else in nature can give." - -Day broke and brightened fast, and the _Amethyst_ was on a wind, with -topsails, courses, jib, and spanker set, when suddenly the cry, which -always attracts attention on board ship, "Sail ho!" was given by one -of the watch. - -"Where?" demanded Derval. - -"Right astern, sir." - -Derval took the glass from the cleats, where it hung in the -companion, and saw a vessel, equal in tonnage evidently to the -_Amethyst_, heading directly after her, with every stitch of canvas -spread. She was a great clipper-built brigantine. - -"She is following us, certainly," said one of the men. - -"What can she want with us?" asked another. - -"Has lost her reckoning--or is out of water or something else," -suggested the first speaker. - -"Are you going to shorten sail, and let her come up with us?" asked -Harry Bowline. - -"Certainly not without orders," said Derval; "go below and report -this to the Captain." - -In a few minutes Captain Talbot came on deck, and took the glass from -Derval's hand. After a time, he said: - -"I make her out to be a sharp-bowed or clipper-built barque or -brigantine, with a small mast rigged aft, with an enormous fore and -aft mainsail; she is about 600 tons or more, and full of men--very -full of men, for a merchant vessel." - -"How far is she astern, sir?" - -"About eight miles--I can see the water curling white under her -fore-foot." - -"She shows no colours or signal." - -"Which she would be sure to do if she wished to speak to us; any way, -we'll show her ours. Run up the ensign." - -No response was made to this, and the blue flag of the Naval Reserve -floated out in vain from the gaff; and the silent craft, with its -crowded deck, came steadily on, and was overhauling the _Amethyst_ so -fast that ere long, as the distance between them lessened, many -coloured and even black faces could be seen among her crew. - -"She does not require to speak with us, sir," said Joe Grummet; "she -would show her colours else." - -"Then what the devil does she mean by keeping in our wake in this -fashion?" said Captain Talbot testily. - -"Her crew crowd her deck as thick as bees," observed Joe, when the -whole flush line of the stranger's deck could be seen, as her head -went down into the trough of the sea and her stern rose alternately. -The whole of the _Amethyst's_ company were on deck now, and the -strange craft was an object of undivided attention. - -"In these days of steam," said Captain Talbot, with a smile that was -not quite a smile, "one may well think that a pirate is as much a -thing of the past as a slaver in these seas; but the bearing of this -craft is very suspicious, and we must risk nothing with a cargo so -valuable." - -Joe Grummet, who had been looking at her from the mizen-rigging, now -reported that she had portlids partly triced up, and that right -amidships she had something covered by a tarpaulin that was certainly -not a boat, and, if not a boat, was very probably a long-range gun, -and that she had a Chilian or Brazilian look about her, "that with -the coloured lot on her deck certainly suggested that it would be as -well to give her as wide a berth as possible." - -"Cast loose the royal," ordered Captain Talbot, "and set the fore and -main studding sails, and the topgallant studding sails." - -This was all speedily done, and the ship began to tear through the -water, on which the brigantine set her square main topsail, but still -did not show her colours. - -"It is clearly a case of chase, and had she not such a crowd of -men--by Jove! I would lie to and try conclusions with her," said -Captain Talbot, whose cheek flushed, and whose eyes sparkled with -excitement. - -To make the sails draw better, he now ordered water to be thrown on -them, and to wet them down by buckets whipped up to the masthead. He -then ordered the vessel's course to be changed more than once, but -the craft in pursuit changed hers in the same manner, and by noon was -drawing nearer and nearer. - -Matters were becoming serious now, and the excitement on the -_Amethyst_ was increasing. Captain Talbot next ordered the guns to -be cast loose, the powder and small arms to be brought on deck, with -the cutlasses and revolvers, and a grim expression of something very -like satisfaction mingled with defiance became visible on the faces -of the men, as they buckled on their waist-belts and filled their -cartridge-boxes. - -"Hurrah!" cried Joe Grummet, applying the edge of a cutlass to his -hard, brown palm; "we'll tip them a twist of the Royal Naval Reserve." - -"I hope it won't come to that, Grummet," said the Captain seriously; -"she has ten men for each of us evidently." - -In the tasks of setting more canvas and wetting it all down from -aloft, none had been more active than Mr. Reeve Rudderhead, but his -bearing became very nervous and restless when he saw the lines of the -guns laid across the deck, the rammers and sponges laid by their -sides, the port tackles triced to the lids, and expected every moment -to hear Captain Talbot issue an order to throw the ship in the wind. - -The latter, however, had no such intention if it could be avoided. -He continued dead before the wind with all his yards squared, knowing -well that a square-rigged vessel always sailed better so, while fore -and aft vessels have most speed on a wind; moreover, as the breeze -was light, he spread more canvas than the chase could do, having -royals, fourteen studding-sails, and sky-sails fore and aft. - -The entire day all hands remained on deck, and what food they had was -all taken there. The wind varied a good deal and fell light -sometimes on board the _Amethyst_, while, as if by ill-luck, the -chase seemed to have it steadily, and was provokingly enabled to -preserve her distance--about two miles. - -"Look out!" cried Rudderhead, ducking below the gunnel, as a white -puff spirted out from the black bow of the stranger, and a shot, -which came ricochetting along the wave-tops, dropped into the water -far astern of the _Amethyst_. - -"A hint of what is in store for us," said Captain Talbot; and by -sunset she was still coming on, bringing the freshing breeze with -her, and the snow-white foam seemed to curl higher and higher round -the bright copper that flashed upon her bows. - -It was with an emotion of considerable relief that, after a day of -such excitement, Captain Talbot saw the sun of the tropics shedding -his light like a long level ray of fire from the verge of the -horizon, and going down beyond the world of waters which were -overspread by a darkness sudden and complete, for luckily there was -no moon, and the night was a very gloomy one for those latitudes. - -All lights on board were extinguished, the studding-sails and -sky-sails were all taken off the ship, the course of which was -altered four points; the port-tacks were brought aft, the starboard -yard-heads trimmed accordingly, and the _Amethyst_ passed away into -the darkness, leaving astern, floating in the water, a ship's lighted -lantern attached to a barrel as a decoy--a suggestion of Derval's, -and greatly did the Captain compliment him thereon. - -This light, which was visible from the deck, continued to bob about -on the waves for some time, and no doubt the stranger would continue -to steer directly for it, and very probably ran it down, as about an -hour after it was set afloat, it suddenly vanished, and by that time -the _Amethyst_ was considered safe, all the more so that the wind -came more aft for the direction she had taken, and again her yards -were squared, but no light was placed in the binnacle; the second -mate, Tom Tyeblock, steered her by the light of the stars, and -perfect silence was maintained during the night. - -When day broke not a vestige of the chase was visible, even from the -masthead; the guns were made fast, and the portlids also, the arms -and ammunition were all sent below, and the vessel was kept off to -her course. - -Ere long she reached the 40th degree of southern latitude, and then -her prow was pointed to the wide and stormy ocean which divides -Africa from Australia; and now gigantic albatrosses--the "man-o'-war -bird," as the sailors name them--were seen around the ship, with -those graceful little birds which resemble swallows in shape and mode -of flying, though smaller--Mother Carey's chickens. "And all the -world knows, or ought to know," as a sailor told Derval, "that Mother -Carey was an aunt of St. Patrick." - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -TURTLE ISLAND. - -"He didn't like seeing the guns cast loose, and the powder and small -arms brought on deck, this precious first mate of ours," said Joe -Grummet one day to Derval, when they were up aloft; "cos why? he is a -coward, and cowards are always cruel. He was once a captain, but his -certificate is suspended--though I don't know for how long, but -suspended it is--cos why? He caught a poor stowaway lad on board, -half dead with confinement and want of food, and how do you think he -treated him? He lashed a ring-bolt with spunyarn athwart his open -jaws to prevent his shrieks being heard when he ropes-ended him, and -trained a dog to bite him; he headed him up in a cask and rolled him -round the deck; and this work went on for days. He made a timber -hitch on a line, and hoisted him by the neck three feet from the deck -at a time, till his eyes started from their sockets, and blood and -froth oozed from his mouth, flogging him day after day, till one -came, when the poor boy was found dead under the lee of the -long-boat; and then his body, without service or prayer, was chucked -overboard.* Now he sails as chief mate, but I wonder our owners took -him aboard at all." - - -* A fact. - - -This anecdote served to increase Derval's disgust for Rudderhead, who -seemed almost to divine that he was the subject of conversation, as -he stood on the quarter-deck, with his eyes steadily regarding them -in the foretop. - -Amid fine weather, and accompanied by steady and pleasant breezes, -the _Amethyst_ made the Island of Desolation, or Kerguelen's Land, -the abode alone of petrels, albatrosses, gulls, and sea-swallows, on -the rifted rocks of which, washed by incessant rains, nothing grows -but saxifrage--a lonely and most melancholy place. - -After passing it, the ship's log shows that she encountered a gale, -and that the watch had to take in the main topgallant-sail and -mainsail, with the fourth reef of the topsails; and set the -mainstay-sail. In the evening she was under close-reefed topsails, a -reefed foresail, and was shipping heavy seas. - -Fine weather came again, and one fine forenoon, a week or so after, -when Derval had the watch, the cry "Land ahead!" from the look-out -men caused every glass to be levelled at a dark-blue streak, that -rose like a cloud from the shining sea, upon the lee bow; and a -reference to the chart showed that it was one of those sequestered -and seldom visited isles in the South Sea, in latitude 60 south, and -110 west longitude, and is known as Turtle Island. - -It was rocky, hilly, and seemed to rise fast from the sea, and to -loom large, through a kind of white haze, exhaled from the latter by -the heat of the sun; thus, by the bearings given, the reader will see -that it was a considerable distance south of the regular line from -Britain to Australia. - -As Captain Talbot was anxious to procure some turtle, he gave orders -to stand towards it, and about nightfall came to anchor in seven -fathoms water, in a fine sandy bay where the waves rippled on the -beach as quietly as those of an island lake, and where groves of -trees grow close to the water's edge. - -The volcanic rocks at the mouth of the bay were literally covered -with sea-hens, gigantic albatrosses, and other feathered tribes; wild -boars and wild goats could be seen by the glass ere the sun set, but -luckily no sign of inhabitants, on which Talbot rather congratulated -himself, as he knew well the isle possessed them, and that, like all -other South Sea savages, they were vindictive, cruel, and hostile to -all strangers. - -By daybreak next morning two boats' crews, under Rudderhead and -Derval, taking with them handspikes or capstan bars, pulled in shore -to search for turtle. They beached the boats at a place where a -number of large turtle were seen, well up on the shore, near some -dense brushwood, out of which black cocks flew from time to time, and -near which some great seals lay basking in the sun. - -In high spirits the boats' crews sprang ashore, and intercepting the -retreat of the turtle, some of which were of such a size as to be two -or three hundred-weight, they proceeded with the handspikes to turn -them on their backs and leave them thus till several were captured, -and then tumbled into the boats. - -Full of natural interest at treading on new soil, and looking on that -which he had never seen before, Derval, penetrating through the -brushwood, advanced some hundred yards upward and inshore, and heard -with pleasure the tender rustling of the leaves in the morning -sea-breeze, while inhaling the perfume of the aromatic plants and -myrtle-trees. The brilliant green of the woods that crept up the -sides of the hills, which in one place were so lofty that the haze -shrouded their summits, were all novel and delightful, after the -monotony of the sea and sky during a long voyage. - -While observing the brilliant tints and peculiar shadows given by the -morning sun to some volcanic rocks rising from the nearest grove of -trees, he became suddenly aware that they were swarming with black -savages, whose weapons, whatever they were, glittered in the sun, and -who from their eyrie were evidently watching the ship in the bay, if -not the party in quest of turtle on the beach. - -He had scarcely made this discovery, when he became aware that Reeve -Rudderhead was by his side, with what intent he could not divine. -Curiosity had no doubt prompted him to follow Derval, simply to see -what was to be seen, and opportunity made him suddenly avail himself -of the time to do the fell crime he subsequently committed. - -Enemies though they were, who never spoke but on inevitable matters -connected with ship duty, Derval could not refrain from drawing his -ungracious messmate's attention to the watching savages and their -hostile aspect, adding: - -"Don't you think, sir, that we had better retire?" - -They were already in motion and leaping down the rocks, with yells, -brandishing their spears and clubs. - -"Retire?" growled Rudderhead with an oath, "I think so, unless we -mean to share the fate of Captain Cook; so here goes for one. As for -you," he added, with one of his ferocious maledictions, "they may -pick your bones, and welcome!" Then whirling the heavy hand-spike he -carried, circularly in the air, he struck Derval a blow on the back -of the head that felled him bleeding, stunned, and senseless, among -the brushwood! - -The moment he had accomplished this terrible and atrocious act, he -went plunging down to the beach, shouting-- - -"The savages--the natives are upon us; into the boats with you for -your lives, and shove off to the ship!" - -Alarmed by this cry, and being unarmed, the party were forced to be -content with what turtle they had got--some seven or eight--and -leaping into their two boats, pushed off at once from the shore, and -shipping their oars pulled away with a will, just as a naked horde of -dark-skinned savages, perfectly nude, save in the matter of the bead -ornaments that hung about their persons, shrieking, whooping, -yelling, and dancing like mad things, came rushing with war-clubs, -spears, powerful bows and arrows, close to the edge of the water, and -even rushing into it up to their waists. - -The boats' crews could see their dark, copper-coloured skins, their -hair which was longer and straighter than the wool of the negro, -their gleaming eyes and white glistening teeth. An arrow or two -whistled past, but wide of the mark, and with laughing shouts of -defiance the party brought their boats sheering alongside the ship, -when the turtles had ropes hitched round them, and were quickly -conveyed on board. - -"Hoist in the boats," was now the order of Rudderhead, in his guilty -haste anticipating the authority of the captain for doing so. - -In the haste and confusion with which they had embarked, the crew of -each boat probably thought--if they thought on the subject at -all--that Derval was on board the other; nor was it till the boats -were being actually hoisted in on each quarter, that he was missed, -and Joe Grummet asked, with some asperity and much alarm: - -"Where is the third mate--where is Mr. Hampton?" - -Then the boats' crews looked inquiringly and blankly into each -other's faces. - -"Left on shore!" said Captain Talbot. "Good heaven! what a fate he -must have met by this time!" - -"We had not a moment to lose, sir, as you must have seen, if you had -been watching us," said Rudderhead sullenly and with averted eyes; -"his safety was his own look-out--not mine; and I think the third -mate could take jolly good care of himself." - -The Captain was silent; the beach was now covered by a dingy horde of -savages, yelling and brandishing their weapons in defiance at the -ship, and he could not for a moment doubt that Derval Hampton must -have perished at their hands. - -As for Mr. Reeve Rudderhead, he had not the smallest doubt about it -either, believing that the little life he had left, if any, in -Derval, would speedily be beaten out of him by the knob-sticks or -war-clubs of the islanders. - -All on board--save Reeve Rudderhead--sorrowed for Derval, and were -loud in their praises and vehement in their regret (for, as an -officer, he was active, vigilant, and, if distant, yet most kind), -and none, perhaps, more than Captain Talbot, who valued him highly -for his gentlemanly bearing, good appearance, skill, and -conscientious interest in his duty; and in all this the Captain was -joined by old Joe Grummet, who would miss the listener to many a yarn -of the sea, and who sighed heavily, Like a head wind through a -hawse-hole, slapped his thigh, viciously chewed his quid, and -clenched his hard first many times, menacingly, while swearing -"strange oaths," and objurgating the eyes, limbs, and blood of some -individual unnamed, but who was shrewdly supposed to be the first -mate. - -Closely did the Captain and his officers question the boats' crews, -but nothing could be elicited from them, save the facts that the -first and third mates had gone a little way inland together, and the -former would seem to have come back _alone_; but yet that Derval was -not specially missed till the boats were hoisted in; so Grummet and -Hal Bowline felt sure there must have been some treachery at work, -and that the most artful savage on Turtle Island had been Reeve -Rudderhead, and the brutal indifference of the latter greatly -exasperated them. - -"What better could you expect of a fellow who was neither man nor -boy, sojer nor sailor?" growled Rudderhead. "A lubber he was--always -reading when he should have been knotting, splicing, and learning to -box the compass." - -Reading was not to the speaker's taste, though grog was, and he drank -it at night to keep out the cold, by day to cure the heat, never -sipping it, "but shipping it in bulk, at a mouthful," so Joe Grummet -said. - -But now, regrets for Derval apart, active work was cut out for the -crew of the _Amethyst_. - -Thick as bees the dark natives seemed to be swarming around the -shores of the bay; the alarm and muster of them seemed to be general, -and more than a score of pretty large canoes, full of armed warriors, -paddling the water into foam, howling like madmen, and all in a -frantic state of activity, shot out of mangrove creeks and other -places where they would seem to have been concealed, and very soon -the ship was nearly environed with them. - -The small arms were all distributed by this time, the guns cast loose -and shotted with grape, the ports triced up, and the watch on deck -were ordered to prepare for sea. The courses were let fall, the -topsails half-hoisted, and the ship was sheered to her anchor, _i.e._ -steered towards it while weighing, so as to keep the wind and current -ahead, and thus lessen the friction on the hawse-pipe. - -If the intentions of these people were hostile, which Captain Talbot -and his crew never doubted, they were not immediately aggressive, but -continued to paddle round and round the ship, coming as near as they -dared, as they had probably been fired upon by other vessels and knew -the effect of cannon and musketry. - -The windlass bars were all shipped, but there was a great and -altogether unexpected delay in getting the anchor a-trip or even -roused. The flukes seemed to hold on to something, and for a time -the bars were vainly strained in the grasp of the seamen, but "the -main piece," or beam of the windlass, remained immovable on its iron -spindles, and the oaths and execrations of Mr. Rudderhead, who, in -his anxiety, began to think of slipping the cable, were loud and -bitter. The mouth of the bay was becoming well-nigh blocked up by -canoes, and the minds of all on board the _Amethyst_ were full of -those stories which ever and anon the public prints give, of the -wholesale massacre of ships' crews by savages in the isles of the -South Sea. - -To intimidate them Captain Talbot ordered a 9-pounder, loaded with a -blank cartridge, to be fired; but like blank firing on a mob at home, -this precisely made matters worse, for even while the echoes of the -gun pealed over the water, seeing no effect followed, the savages -uttered screams of defiance and pulled closer, with the evident -intention of boarding, and arrows began to whizz over the ship, or -stick quivering into her sides and deck every instant. - -At that instant the clanking of the windlass pawls was heard, a -welcome sound; the anchor was roused, "up-torn, reluctant from its -oozy bed," and was seen dripping a-cockbill at the cat-head. The -topsails were fully hoisted and the courses sheeted home, but there -was very little wind, so the ship's progress was slow, and the arrows -were flying faster than ever. Captain Talbot had his cheek laid open -by one, and three of the crew were more or less wounded, one by a -barbed reed, which cost Dr. Strang the greatest trouble to extract, -and perceiving that the strangers were taking to flight emboldened -the pursuers who came so close that they were endeavouring to reach -the side plates and chains. - -"Depress the guns to port and starboard, fire wherever these devils -are thickest, and blaze away the small-arm men," cried Captain -Talbot, whose face was streaming with blood. - -The savages, their canoes huddled close together, jostling and -crashing side by side, were now nearly all within pistol-range: thus -the effect of the double broadside, together with a sputtering fire -from the breechloading rifles over the gunnel, had a terrific effect -upon them. The simultaneous roar of the 9-pounders burst like -thunder over the waters of the bay; for a brief space the vessel was -shrouded in smoke, and amid it the crew could hear that the defiant -war-yells had given place to those of terror, rage, and agony. - -As the light smoke curled up through the rigging, or went ahead with -the wind, and the guns were drawn in for reloading, a scene of -terrible devastation became visible. Many of the canoes were dashed -to pieces and floated in fragments on the water, clutched desperately -by hands that had relinquished the bow, the spear, or the war-club. -Other canoes were riddled and sinking with all on board. Scores of -black heads were bobbing about like fishermen's floats, and all -around the _Amethyst_ the clear blue water of the bay was streaked -with blood. - -The groans and gurglings of the wounded and dying who floated about -were somewhat heart-sickening. - -"Cease firing the guns," cried the Captain, "but pick off any -scoundrel within range of the small arms." - -Thus from the waist and quarter on both sides a desultory fire was -maintained; most deliberate were the aims taken at any black head -that appeared, for the crew had been thoroughly alarmed and -exasperated. Just as the ship got clear of the bight or little bay, -and the wind began to freshen, a most singular act of retribution -took place. - -As the guns and ports were being made fast, Reeve Rudderhead -chanced--for what reason or by what impulse he knew not--to look over -the side, when he perceived just beneath him a savage crouching in -the main chains dripping with blood from a wound in his throat, and -while hopeless of mercy, fearing to trust himself to the water while -the deadly rifles were in activity over his head. Finding himself -discovered, quick as thought, with deadly and unerring hand, he -launched a spear at the first mate's head, and leaping into the water -was seen no more. - -The lance, which had a small barbed head, went right through the two -cheeks of Mr. Rudderhead, who uttered a howl of rage and anguish, as -he rushed back fairly "spritsail-yarded," as the sailor's said, and -with his mouth so full of blood that he was soon speechless and -well-nigh choked, for a labial artery had been cut, and when Dr. -Strang removed the lance, by first sawing off its head, the -hæmorrhage was so great that the crew began to think--if they did not -precisely hope--that the wounded man would "slip his cable." - -The wounds were dressed, a good horn of grog was next given him, and -he was tucked into his berth, where, doubtless, his reflections would -be of a somewhat mingled character. His visage had received a double -wound, which, though he had not much beauty to mar, would render him -unpleasant to look upon for the remainder of his life. He had no -compunction for his treacherous conduct to Derval, even in the least -degree, and he was chiefly occupied in surmising whether he had -killed him outright, or if the savages were--like most of the South -Sea islanders--cannibals, what they might do if they found him dead -or alive; and, lastly, whether Mrs. Hampton would "come down -handsomely" on learning that she was--as her letter had it--rid of -him; then he savagely cursed his present plight, and lay growling on -his pillow, while the breeze freshened and sail was made on the ship, -and ere night fell upon the sea Turtle Island was out of sight. - -And now to record the retribution referred to! - -The arrow-wounds of Captain Talbot and others progressed most -favourably under Dr. Strang's skilful treatment; but whether it was -that the blood of Rudderhead was in an unhealthy state, or that the -spearhead had been poisoned, it was difficult to discover, as the -hurts he had received, so far from healing, grew daily worse and -worse. His agony increased till it drove him to madness; he could -neither eat nor drink. His face swelled up and became discoloured -until he was something frightful to look upon, and times there were -when his groans, prayers, and imprecations rang through the whole -ship, and chilled the very souls of the men in the watches of the -night. - -To Dr. Strang it was soon evident that he was dying; but he had much -vitality in him, and died hard, in his latter hours raving of the -scuttled ship or the stowaway, of Derval Hampton, and many other -persons and events. The wind was blowing a heavy and increasing -gale, and the _Amethyst_ was scudding under close-reefed topsails, in -a perilous and chopping sea, when Rudderhead passed away, clutching -the Captain's hands, as if he could retain him in this world, and -passed from it, impenitent for the past, yet hopeless of the future; -and the fiat of the doctor was that the ship could not be too soon -rid of his remains. - -At that crisis the brevity of even a funeral at sea was dispensed -with, and he was thrown overboard to leeward, into the trough of an -angry midnight sea, with four 9-pound shot at his heels--buried -precisely as he had buried the poor stowaway boy, without a prayer, -finding a grave "unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown." - -As if his departure had been awaited for by the spirit of the storm, -the latter lulled rapidly, and, when day broke, the cheerful cry of -"Land ahead!" announced that the bold and rocky south-west cape of -Tasmania was only ten miles distant, and bearing north-east, with the -mountains, snow-capped ate that season, in the back-ground. - -Next day saw the _Amethyst_ working through D'Encastreaux's Channel, -sixteen miles eastward of it, to her safe anchorage off Hobart Town, -from whence the mail took home the intelligence of Derval Hampton's -fate on Turtle Island. The fight with the natives there formed a -passing newspaper paragraph, and, so far as he was concerned, there -was an end of it. - -When Greville Hampton--that sorely-changed man, whose god had become -gold--heard of his eldest son's miserable fate, "some natural tears -he shed," as memory went back to the little golden-haired boy that -was wont to nestle at Mary's knee, in the little cottage which was as -much a thing of the past as herself. Master Rookleigh Hampton heard -of it with perfect philosophy, as became, he thought, a lad of his -years; and Mrs. Hampton, as in duty bound, put on, for as brief a -period as decency required, a most becoming suit of mourning. But -there was one who, when he read of the event while glancing over the -newspaper, really sorrowed for Derval--Lord Oakhampton, who, when he -looked at his happy little daughter in her budding beauty, and -thought of what might have been, and how nearly he lost her, could -not but regret the untimely fate of the brave young sailor to whom he -owed her life and safety, and said much to her on the subject that -made the gentle girl feel deeply. - -Four more years passed on, and the name and existence of Derval -Hampton became almost forgotten in his father's house, or was, -perhaps, remembered chiefly by his nurse, old Patty Fripp. - -By that time Rookleigh, strangely precocious, had become--in his -sixteenth year--almost a man ere boyhood was past, and during that -part of his career, he showed indeed how "the child is the father of -the man." Greedy, avaricious, like Mr. Ralph Nickleby (in _his_ -youth) he was wont to lend to his companions and schoolfellows -halfpence to be repaid by pence, and so forth; and his disposition -was further largely leavened with cruelty, which seemed born in him, -and bade defiance to all remonstrance. Servants, horses, dogs, and -even insects felt its virulence, and when Mr. Asperges Laud spoke -reprehensively on the subject, his mother would merely urge that "he -was just like other boys," and that all boys are cruel. And already -in his sixteenth year, by the influence of companions, though selfish -and avaricious to a degree, he, through the medium of billiards, -cards, and a betting-book, was utterly wasting the time during which -he was waiting for the rent-roll which his mother assured him must -one day be his. He was tall, well-made and well-featured, for both -his parents were handsome, but the expression of his face, -particularly of his shifty green eyes--for they were less -golden-hazel in tint than those of his mother--proved unpleasant to -all who knew him, and indicated a great latent spirit of evil and -malevolence. - -In the succession of his tutors, in the society with which he -mingled, and in all his surroundings, Rookleigh Hampton had a -thousand advantages that the unfortunate Derval had never known, yet -with them all he did not eventually make a particular figure amid the -circle in which he moved. - -Though lavish enough in his expenditure upon himself, and even on -those who flattered him, ministered unto him, and made life lively -and pleasant by pandering to his weaknesses, the leading features of -his character were gross selfishness and avarice or acquisitiveness, -all of which he seemed to have inherited from his mother, or through -the force of his father's latter thoughts, and were thus, to the -manner, born in him. - -As when poor Derval sailed on his fatal voyage, Greville Hampton -might be found daily in his luxurious library, settling mortgages, -signing contracts, adjusting ground-rents, buying up land and old -manor-houses to remodel or remove for new ones--up to the eyes among -deeds and papers, with old Mr. Stephen De Murrer, the family -solicitor, a denizen of Gray's Inn, who about this time began to -exert himself anew in the peerage claim of his lucrative employer, -and eventually visited Lord Oakhampton, at his house in Tyburnia, on -the subject. - -Proud and haughty by nature, though a scrupulously well-bred and most -aristocratic-like man, his lordship could be very cold and repellent -to those he disliked; thus his reception of the stout and deliberate -old lawyer, when the latter was ushered into the stately drawing-room -overlooking the park, was neither soothing nor encouraging. - -"You are a bold fellow, Mr.--oh--Mr.----" - -"De Murrer," said the lawyer, bowing. - -"Yes--a bold fellow, sir, to come to me personally on this subject, -of which I admit having heard before--a claim to my hereditary -peerage by this whilom spendthrift--obscure beggar, and latterly -successful speculative builder! Absurd, sir! The matter has no face -upon it--won't hold water," continued Lord Oakhampton, scornfully; -"and anyway, I beg to refer you to my solicitors at Gray's Inn." - -"If, my Lord--if the assumption that your great ancestor was summoned -by mistake to the House of Peers, in the reign of Queen Anne, is -proved--and it is also proved that the real heir was then in -existence--the heir from whom my client is descended--what then, my -Lord?" - -Mortification, exasperation, and pride made the haughty heart of Lord -Oakhampton thrill painfully, and he listened to this, and much more -that the little lawyer had to advance, as one in a dream. The flies -buzzed about the flowers in a magnificent jardiniere; a French clock -ticked monotonously on the mantelpiece; and the busy life of London -outside, went on as a ceaseless stream; but he felt as if all this -evil were about to happen, not to himself, but to someone else, in -the confusion and irritation of his mind. - -"We shall suppose this peculiar claim made good and clear in law, -Mr.--Mr.----" - -"De Murrer," suggested the lawyer, blandly. - -"What would be the result?" - -"Can you ask me?" said Mr. De Murrer; "most calamitous to your -Lordship, I assure you." - -"In what way, sir?" - -"What way?" - -"Don't repeat my words, sir!" - -"With the title would go lands and estate, plate, -pictures--everything, even to your household effects!" - -Lord Oakhampton grew pale--very pale, yet less at the thought of -himself than of his daughter, for the world was all before her yet. -Rallying a little, he said:-- - -"You cannot think, Mr. De Murrer, that I will yield without a -struggle--and a desperate one too!" - -"Unquestionably not, my Lord; only----" - -"Only what?" he asked, impatiently. - -"With the solid and simple proofs we----" - -"Proofs that must be submitted to the legal acumen and most searching -analysis of my law advisers!" - -"Indubitably, my Lord; yet the dates are, fortunately for us, not -remote ones." - -"Indeed!" - -"Your Lordship's great-grandfather Derval, to whom a great mass of -the estate came by marriage with the Mohuns, was called to the Upper -House in the year of the Union with Scotland, 1707, and sat in the -first British House of Lords, as the direct heir of Derval, Lord -Oakhampton, who was forfeited under Edward IV., but was restored by -Henry VII. for his service against the King of Scotland; yet your -great-grandsire was so summoned in ignorance that his eldest brother, -who had quarrelled with his family, was not dead, but was married, -and settled in Bermuda, where he became ancestor, in the third -degree, of Greville Hampton, now of Finglecombe." - -"Intolerable dry-as-dust stuff this!" exclaimed Lord Oakhampton, his -pride and passion rising again. "Do you imagine that I am an entire -committee of privileges, to listen to all this twaddle, and that the -title that has come to me, through a long line of stainless -ancestors, is to be disturbed by the outrageous pretensions of an -obscure colonist's grandson. Moreover, sir, do you think that I am -also unaware how men of your trade make it their business to rake up -such claims if they can, and assume to guide the destinies of the -rich and noble, as the means of bringing money to their own coffers?" - -To this somewhat injurious speech, the little lawyer only shrugged -his shoulders, and smiled deprecatingly, as he replied: - -"I can easily understand, and well pardon, your Lordship's natural -irritation at the prospect all this action-at-law involves; the loss -of rank and position--wealth and political influence; your daughter, -at her very entry into life and society, reduced, like yourself, to -the condition of a commoner; the newspaper comments--the nine days' -wonder of London; the sneers of the once servile, and the mockery of -the malevolent, and of all who take a cruel delight in strange -reverses of fortune; but I would beg of you to think over the matter -to be contended; for the mere announcement that not only was your -title about to be contested, but your property litigated, would bring -any creditors you have, like a swarm of hornets on you." - -Mr. De Murrer now took his hat and departed, certain that this -Parthian shot was the heaviest and sharpest he had fired; and sooth -to say, my Lord Oakhampton felt and knew it to be so! - -His alarm, however, and infinite anxiety, rather died away when -delays ensued consequent to the disappearance or alleged death of -Derval, and still more by the sudden demise of Greville Hampton, who -was found lifeless at his desk one afternoon, when at his usual task -of calculating and speculating. - -The bulk of all his fortune he left by will to Rookleigh, while Mrs. -Hampton was handsomely provided for during her life. The sum of £500 -per annum was set apart for Derval, in case he was ever heard of; if -not within a given time, it reverted to Rookleigh. - -So Greville Hampton was dead, and Rookleigh stood at the head of his -grave as chief mourner; but he was not laid by Mary's side in the -pretty little churchyard where for ages, yea since Saxon times, "the -rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." No, no; Mrs. Hampton took -care of that; so he was deposited in the new and pretentious -mausoleum of Cornish granite, in the fashionable cemetery of "the new -and rising watering-place of Finglecombe," where a special spot was -reserved for herself. - -In the matter of the peerage claim, Mrs. Hampton would have left -nothing undone, of course, to urge Mr. De Murrer in advancing the -interests of her well-beloved son Rookleigh; but just about the time -of her husband's death, something occurred which led to a change in -her mind, or to indifference on the subject, and this "something" -proved to be tidings of--Derval! - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -H.M.S. "HOLYROOD." - -After being struck down by Reeve Rudderhead, in the merciless way we -have described, Derval lay long insensible, and when his thoughts -began to turn again to earth, he was haunted by a dream of home--of -wild grass where the brindled cattle stood knee-deep, of fields -studded with the white stars of the dog-daisies, the golden -buttercups, and scarlet poppies, of rose-tangled hedges and -meadow-sweet; then came the face and figure of Rudderhead--and -starting, he staggered up on his hands and knees, weak and giddy with -loss of blood, dim of sight, and his head racked with pain by the -force of the blow. - -What sounds were these? Cannon and musketry and yells in the air, as -if the fiends of the lower world had broken loose. He remembered the -savages from which the boats' crews were escaping, and with a heart -filled by terrible emotions of anxiety and rage--anxiety for himself, -and rage to find that he was the victim of a plot between Reeve -Rudderhead and Mrs. Hampton--he crept cautiously through the -brushwood among which he had been lying, and where a pool of his -blood yet lay, till he reached the brow of a little eminence which -overlooked the bay, and arrived in time only to see the last of the -conflict between the _Amethyst_ and the savages. - -The bay was strewed with the floating ruins of many canoes, and the -dead bodies of their whilom occupants; others were being paddled away -in hot haste; the ship was under weigh, with her topsails sheeted -home and her head-sails filled;--under weigh, and he--unable to join -her, or make any sign or signal--was left behind! - -With all that conviction implied, a great stupor--the stupor of utter -horror--fell upon him, and he could have wept tears of rage and -despair. - -Defenceless, helpless, powerless, almost petrified by the whole -situation, he gazed after the ship, on which sail after sail was -spread to catch the land breeze, as she already began to lessen in -distance upon the blue and shining sea; then sight seemed to pass -from him--a blindness to descend upon his eyes; he became faint, and, -falling on the earth, with the last effort of sense, crept under some -of the gigantic ferns, with which the island abounds, and for a time -remembered no more. - -When sense again came, and he looked about him, the shadows were -falling eastward; the ship had become diminished to a speck upon the -ocean, then reddened by the setting sun. He gazed after her as if -his soul followed her, and when he could see even the spectrum of her -no longer, a groan escaped him, and he burst into tears. - -On one hand spread the boundless sea; on the other, a succession of -knolls and hills and bluffs, with pine-covered summits, and little -grassy vales between them, all glowing under the gleaming west. - -What was to be his fate? - -He dared not speculate upon it, though whatever was in store for him -must be close indeed now! - -Dipping his handkerchief in a runnel he bathed the back of his head, -thus removing the clotted and extravasated blood, and then bandaged -up the wound with his necktie. A deep draught taken in the hollow of -his hands from the same pool revived him, and a few wild peaches, -figs, and grapes afforded him food; after which hermit-like repast he -seated himself against a rock and strove to think--to think, of what? -While the lower portion of the western sky assumed a vermilion hue, -and the upper was violet braced with gold; sunk in shadow now, the -waves rose with a silvery sheen upon the yellow sand, their ripple -alone breaking the stillness of the place and time; but the moment -the sun, with its tropical rapidity, sank beyond the sea, all these -varied and wonderful tints passed away at once. - -Derval remembered the picturesque elements of the scene afterwards; -at the time, he was certainly not in the mood to appreciate them. - -The parrots, pigeons, and straw-necked ibises had all gone to their -nests; some kangaroo-rats (about the size of rabbits) and squirrels -were flitting about; Derval's first fear was of snakes, but he saw -none. - -The multitude of savages that in the morning had been swarming on the -shore, had all disappeared, and gone inland to their kraals and -villages; but how long would he be able to elude them; and as for -their habits and nature, he could not doubt that they were in any way -less terrible and revolting than those of other South Sea islanders, -most of whom are cannibals. - -As he thought of the home he had quitted years ago, of his father's -changed nature and indifference, his brother's selfishness, his -stepmother's unrelenting malevolence, and Reeve Rudderhead's cruel -treachery, all culminating in the present catastrophe, leaving him to -perish helpless and unavenged, excitement made his wound burst out -afresh, and he staunched it again with difficulty. - -The southern constellations came out in all their wonderful -brilliance, and under their silvery light, he sat lost in thoughts -that wrung his heart. How long--even if he found food and -concealment--might it be ere a ship passed that way; and if one did, -how was he to attract the attention of those on board--how signal to -them unseen by the savage inhabitants of the isle? - -The memory of much that he had read, of men wrecked or marooned in -lonely and desolate places, together with the fancies of a quick and -fertile imagination, added greatly to the poignancy of his mental -sufferings. For in its desperation his situation was a maddening -one, and calculated to blind him with horror and despair. - -Was he to perish of starvation and exposure in the groves of the -island, or to find a death of torture at the hands of its -inhabitants, without obtaining even a grave? for there was a detail -in the future after death, that made his blood run cold to think of. - -And was this unthought-of fate to be the end of all his once bright -day-dreams, his hopes and aspirations! And were all his bright -ambitions and little vanities--the vanities and ambitions of ardent -youth--to end in less and worse than utter nothingness? - -He feared to move about even in search of food, lest the track of his -footsteps might be found, for he knew that the aboriginals of such -places can follow as blood-hounds do--but by sight, not scent, and in -a manner that seems incredible to the European--any track they find, -and follow it, too, over grass and rock, even up a tree; thus he knew -that were his traces found, he would inevitably be tracked and -discovered, wherever he went. - -So the long hours of the night went slowly past, and he longed, as a -change or relief, for morning. "Poor fools that we are!" says a -writer; "our hours are in time so few, and yet we forever wish them -shorter, and fling them, scarcely used, behind us roughly, as a child -flings his broken toys." - -At last exhaustion of the mind and body brought blessed sleep, and on -the dewy earth, under the shelter of some black and silver mimosa -trees, he slumbered heavily till the noon of the next day was well -advanced, and the sun shone in the unclouded sky. - -He had a dream of the now defunct cottage at Finglecombe, as it -existed when he was wont to play by his mother's knee, or watch with -childish wonder his silent father, a moody and discontented man. He -started and awoke, recalling an old Devonshire superstition, that to -have a dream of one's childhood, when in maturity, was a sure sign -that something was about to happen. - -"Oh, what may that something be!" was his first despairing, rather -than hopeful, mental thought, and with it came a terror of what the -long and solitary hunger-stricken day might bring forth. - -But he was not left long in doubt. There came distinctly to his ear -the familiar sound of an anchor being let go, and the rush of a -chain-cable through a hawse-hole, followed by the blowing-off of -steam! - -A sudden revulsion of thought from despair to keenest joy--a gush of -prayer and gratitude to God filled his heart, and a shout escaped his -lips--help, succour, escape, were all at hand, and already--already! - -Forgetful, oblivious of what savages might be near or might see him, -he started to an eminence close by, and saw in the bay, the very -place occupied but yesterday morning--a time that seemed ages upon -ages ago--by the _Amethyst_, a stately steam corvette, riding at -anchor, and all her snow-white canvas being handed with man-o'-war -celerity. - -She had no ensign flying, but to Derval's experienced eye, it was -evident that she was a British ship. If any of the natives saw her, -as there was every reason to suppose they did, the terrible lesson -taught them by the guns and small-arms of the _Amethyst_, made them -conceal themselves, for nothing was seen of them when Derval rushed -to the beach, and, without attempting to make a signal or waiting for -a boat, and heedless or unthinking of whether there might be sharks -in the water, plunged into the waves that rippled on the rocks, and -swam off at once, through the debris of battered canoes and dead -bodies that were still floating about. - -"Man overboard--a rope--a rope--stand by!" he heard voices shouting -as he cleft the water and neared her fast, for he was a powerful and -skilful swimmer, and after a few minutes he found himself, panting, -breathless, and faint with excitement, past anxiety and present joy, -safe upon the deck of the ship-of-war, where he was of course, -supposed by all to be a ship-wrecked man--the last survivor of some -unfortunate crew--and found himself overwhelmed with questions. - -But none of these could he answer with coherence, until he was taken -into the cabin of the captain, who at once ordered him wine and other -refreshments. He then told his story, which elicited considerable -commiseration, and much more indignation at the foul treachery of -which his messmate had been guilty. - -He now found that he was on board H.M. corvette _Holyrood_, of 16 -guns, an iron ship, cased with wood, of 5,000 horse-power, commanded -by Captain ---- who came into these seas with orders to look after -any survivors of wrecks, and who had been last at the Crozet Islands, -that wild and mountainous group which lies in south latitude 47 and -east longitude 46, and the peaks of which, high as Ben Nevis, are -covered with eternal snow. He had visited Turtle Island for the same -purpose, and meant now to haul up for England, _viâ_ the Cape, St. -Helena, and Ascension. - -But for the circumstance of this ship's fortuitous visit, it is not -difficult to speculate upon what must eventually have been the awful -fate of Derval Hampton! - -The latter now found himself recognised by the third lieutenant of -the _Holyrood_, who had belonged to the _President_ training ship, -and astonished the rescued man by accosting him by name, and they -shook hands quite as old friends. - -Finding that Derval was a gentleman by education and bearing, and an -officer of the Royal Naval Reserve, whose name as such was in the -_Navy List_, the officers of the gun-room at once requested that he -would mess with them during the passage home, or till he made some -other arrangement. - -What other arrangement could he make, but rejoin his ship? and that, -as yet, was impossible. - -The homeward voyage was a very protracted one, and for several -reasons the _Holyrood_ was long detained at the Cape by the Commodore -commanding our squadron there. - -It was when lying in Table Bay that Derval read in an old number of -the _Times_, that Lord Oakhampton, his meeting with whom he had -well-nigh forgotten amid more exciting events, had returned home from -Bermuda. Then he thought of Clara, and wondered if the little maid, -with the rosebud mouth she had given him so frankly to kiss, -remembered the young sailor to whom she owed her life in the Summer -Isles. - -The paragraph announcing that Lord Oakhampton had resigned his -governorship, concluded by stating that strange rumours were abroad, -to the effect that his Lordship's return was connected with a new and -unexpected claimant to his title and estates, whose pretensions -thereto would soon be a knotty matter for a committee of privileges. - -Derval read all this with singular indifference. So keen was his -disgust of his own family, that he cared little whether his father -succeeded in his claim or not. One fact he felt assured of, that it -would avail him--Derval--nothing to communicate to him the cruel -treachery of which his step-mother, and her kinsman, had made his -eldest son their victim. She would simply deny it, and the breach -made wide enough now by coldness and indifference, would become more -so by solid mistrust and dislike. - -Thus he resolved to go no more near his home, and hence the long -ignorance of all there as to his movements, and even of his existence. - -When the _Amethyst_ returned home, and Derval stepped on board of her -in the London docks, old Joe Grummet, who was smoking his pipe in the -gangway, thought he saw a ghost, and uttered a roar of absolute -terror! Most extravagant was the joy of the worthy old salt on being -assured of Derval's identity. - -"Of all my yarns, this beats them--beats old Boots!" he exclaimed, as -he drew a match across the sole of his shoe and relighted his pipe. - -"Where is the Captain, Joe?" asked Derval. - -"Captain 's in the cabin." - -The unexpected visitor descended at once. - -"Just come on board, sir!" said he, reporting himself with comic -coolness and gravity. - -"Good heavens--can it be--Derval--Derval Hampton!" exclaimed Captain -Talbot, springing up from his writing-desk, and scattering his -letters over the deck, and he took both Derval's hands in his own, -shook them heartily, and mutual explanations at once ensued. - -After rejoining the _Amethyst_, Derval made many voyages with her, -and thus four years and more passed on, till, seeing an account of -his father's death in a paper some weeks old, a great revulsion of -feeling came over him, with much of repentance for the mutual -indifference in which he had indulged; and a species of craving came -over him to see the home of his childhood, or rather the place -thereof, once again, for his father lay there in the great granite -mausoleum, and his mother near the yew of other years, in the old -church-yard--the true "God's acre" of Finglecombe; and he longed, -too, to see old Patty Fripp. - -As for his father, his old face came back to memory, as he remembered -it in the days of his infancy, out of the long dim vista of the -vanished years; and so for a time his whole heart went forth to his -father--the father that loved his mother, and her memory so, before -that other came! - -Derval was now first mate of the _Amethyst_, Tom Tyeblock having got -a ship of his own. He was moreover a sub-lieutenant of the Royal -Naval Reserve, had done his gunnery drill again and again on board -the training-ship, drawing the pay of his rank, and messing in the -gun-room. - -Of course he still connected all that had befallen him on Turtle -Island, with Mrs. Hampton and her letter to the late Mr. Reeve -Rudderhead; thus, after taking the train to Finglecombe, on reaching -that place no power could make him take up his abode underneath the -roof of his half-brother and Mrs. Hampton. So he took rooms at the -hotel, the "Hampton Arms" (the armorial three choughs), where -Rookleigh visited him promptly enough; but the meeting between those -two who shared the same blood, was a strange and unnatural one, after -their long separation, though Derval's heart warmed to Rookleigh, and -was more stirred than vanity would have permitted him to own. - -"What will people think," said Rookleigh, "of your being here at an -hotel, and not at home?" - -"Home!" exclaimed Derval, with a bitter laugh. - -"Yes--it is home." - -"Yours--not mine; and as to 'the people,' they may think precisely -what they please, my dear Rookleigh." - -"And what shall I tell mother is your reason?" asked Rookleigh, who, -to do him justice, was ignorant of much that Derval knew. - -"Say it is my desire that she should forget her dear and amiable -cousin, Reeve Rudderhead, and all connected with him, especially -their _epistolary correspondence_," was the--to -Rookleigh--enigmatical, yet bitter reply of Derval. - -Save the surrounding hills and woods, he found all the once secluded -localities of his childhood so changed by the erection of marine -villas, terraces, and formal promenades, that he would soon--in -disgust--have gone back to London, but for certain influences that -came to bear upon his actions. - -Derval fell in love! - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -"THE DESIRE OF THE MOTH FOR THE STAR." - -"I have never been so far out from the Marine Parade before--so far -out at sea, I mean." - -"But you are not uneasy--alarmed?" asked the young man, with great -tenderness of manner. - -"Oh, no; am I not with _you_?" answered the girl sweetly and simply, -as she drew off a glove and let the water slip through her slender -white fingers, as the boat, urged by the powerful hands and arms of a -handsome and sunburnt young fellow of twenty-two or thereabout, clad -in a white flannel boating costume, with canvas shoes and a straw -hat, shot through the water of the bay in view of Finglecombe. - -It was a summer evening. The sun was setting beyond the Bristol -Channel, and seeming to light its waves with fire. The rocks, the -gardens and orchards along the shore, and all the villas of "the -rising watering-place" were bathed in ruddy light, blended with a -misty golden haze; and the warm glow fell on two bright faces in -particular. When the oarsman looked with wonder at the changes on -the shore, as he sometimes did, the girl looked at him, not in a way -she was wont to do, but with a soft expression in her tender eyes -that he would have given the world to have seen. - -Anon, when at some distance from the shore, he rested on his skulls, -leaving them in the rowlocks, while the boat floated idly on the -sunlit water. - -"Please do not do any more of _that_," said the young lady. - -"Of what?" asked her companion. - -"This tatooing," said she, pointing with her parasol to his handsome -bare arms, on which he had punctured, in sailor fashion, a ship in -full sail, three choughs, and other insignia known to himself alone. - -"Ah! Joe Grummet did all these one evening, when we were standing -off and on under easy sail near Cuba," said Derval, for the speaker -was he, and the beautiful girl who sat opposite to him in the -stern-sheets, and on the dainty cushions of the pleasure-boat, was -Clara, Lord Oakhampton's only daughter. - -And now to explain how all this came about, and that these two were -so intimate. - -Derval was not long in discovering, from the visitors' lists, that -Lord Oakhampton had taken, for the summer months, a villa in Bayview -Terrace, Finglecombe, but had ignored the existence of the widow of -his late namesake. - -This was nothing to Derval, who immediately called at the villa and -sent up his card, and was warmly received by Lord Oakhampton, who, we -have said, was a tall and handsome man, with stately manners. He was -elderly now, with silvery hair, but his fine aquiline features were -unchanged in noble outline and honesty of expression. After a few -mutual remarks and inquiries, - -"I called," said Derval, "to do myself the honour of personally -thanking your Lordship for the medal for which you so kindly -recommended me." - -"A medal most deservedly won by you, and my life-long gratitude went -with it to you!" replied Lord Oakhampton, as did his daughter, who -soon made her appearance, and saw that their visitor was a handsome -and manly-looking young fellow. His brown hair was deeper in colour -than it had been in Bermuda, and a slight moustache shaded a -sensitive mouth. His tall and slender figure had all the strength -and grace of manhood in it, and his manners were unexceptionable. -His early training had made him grave in manner, thoughtful in -expression of eye, courteous to men and deferential to women; in -fact, he was all his mother could have wished him to be. - -"Clara, my dear," said Lord Oakhampton bowing, with much of the -old-fashioned courtesy which certainly did distinguish his manner -when addressing her, or, indeed, any female of his household, "may I -introduce an old friend to you--one to whom, indeed, you owe much!" - -Clara Hampton looked up with something of surprise, and saw only a -young man like a naval officer--but a very handsome one -certainly--who answered her inquiring gaze by a bow and a smile. - -"How unfortunate I am to have been forgotten by you, Miss Hampton," -he said. - -"Forgotten--oh, no, no," she exclaimed as sudden recognition flashed -upon her, and lightened all her features; "I remember you perfectly, -and the sharks' pool and the coral cavern in Bermuda--you are our -namesake, Mr. Derval Hampton?" - -And she frankly put both her hands in his. - -"You are grown quite a woman, Miss Hampton." - -"She will be eighteen on her next birthday," said her father; "but -women are by nature older than men," he added laughingly. - -And so it all came about thus. - -Every detail of a beauty that seemed to have no peer, in his eyes at -least, did Derval take in by one swift glance. In all the bloom of -her age, the girl was radiantly bright and fresh. Her rich brown -hair was darker now, and more luxuriant than ever; but the violet -eyes were softer and more shy than in the girlish time, when she -accorded to Derval that kiss over which he fondly pondered now. But -perhaps she was remembering it too. On her delicate cheeks there was -a soft flush, as of the rose-leaf; her mouth was perfect in shape, -and sweet. Refined, proud, and lovely, and she looked--birth stamped -on every feature--a peer's daughter every inch, and in every way a -picture fair to look upon; and so thought Derval. Never before had -he dreamed that a woman could be so fair. - -He was invited to stay to dinner; the invitation was repeated for a -second occasion and a third. Lord Oakhampton had evidently few -friends in that part of the world, was the modest thought of Derval, -and the Bermuda Isles formed a safe and easy topic for general -conversation when other subjects failed; and the usually haughty peer -thawed fast and easily towards his young friend--little dreaming that -the latter was learning faster to love his daughter, and not the less -that he deemed this love a midsummer madness, and too surely might be -only like the desire of the moth for the star! - -They met on the marine parade, on the shingly beach, and singularly -enough in some of the shady green lanes, that had escaped recent -improvements; but Miss Sampler was always with her, a companion now. -Derval felt his heart leap when he saw her, and it trembled as she -drew near him, and as it had never trembled under human influence -before. He showed her the locket she had given him at Bermuda. She -laughed at first, and then coloured deeply to find that he wore it -attached to his neck by a ribbon. - -Yet after this she neither avoided him, nor made any change in her -demeanour towards him. What could he deduce from that, but that she -favoured him, or received him as a means of passing the time in a -stupid watering-place. It was bitter for him to think that -she--secure in a position so far above him in many respects--might be -doing thus; but from the soft, shy gentleness of her manner, it was -impossible to adopt such a conviction. - -Twice, when escorting her to the dinner-table, he thought that her -hand--how little it was!--leant rather fondly on his arm, and the -idea made his heart thrill. Is it a marvel that his head was turned -and intoxicated by the opportunities offered by propinquity, and that -the secret of his heart was daily trembling on his lips? - -Was she luring him on to his own destruction? Her calm, gentle eye, -and perfect quietude of manner, repelled this idea. Could he but -have looked into the girl's heart! At that very time she was asking -herself, what was this young sailor to her? Why should she feel so -deeply interested in him, for such was indeed the case! Cold reason -replied that he ought to be as nothing to her; yet her heart already -told her that he was something, and more than something to dream -of--to ponder on fondly--to be sorely missed when he departed--as if -his life were already mysteriously linked with her own. - -"His life linked with hers? What folly!" she whispered to herself, -as she thought of her proud father and "society." - -So now they had taken them to boating on the bay; but Miss Sampler -who usually played propriety in their apparently casual walks, -disliked aquatic excursions, and generally sat reading on the beach, -while Derval pulled far enough out to be beyond the ken of anything -but a powerful lorgnette, and of this Clara generally possessed -herself "to see the coast." - -On the evening mentioned, when Clara referred to the tatooing, and -made Derval promise to disfigure his arms no more in that remarkable -way, it may be inferred that their intimacy had made considerable -progress--the result of the somewhat untrammelled life they led at -Finglecombe--and seldom does the evening sun fall upon a pair of more -attractive-looking lovers--for lovers they were undoubtedly--though -no distinct word of love had passed between them. - -It lingered, softly as Derval's own eyes, on Clara's graceful figure, -her creamy dress and soft laces, on her shining hair, and pretty -little feet encased in hose of bright cardinal silk and tiny -_bottines_, the most perfect that Paris could produce--_bottines_ -which the folds of her dress had kindly revealed for a time. - -Seeing that Derval was resting, as we left him--resting dreamily on -his sculls, and letting the boat drift with the current, while his -soul was full of her beauty, and his heart seemed at his lips, she -said: - -"Of what are you thinking?" - -"Of you," he replied, and he saw that she grew pale at the idea of -what might follow, and the conviction that she had drawn it on -herself; "I was thinking that you could be a friend good and true, if -you chose; and heaven knows," he added with a sigh, and timidly -fencing as he thought, "I want one." - -"Have you not Rookleigh, your brother of whom I have heard, but, -oddly, never seen?" - -"To me he is a brother, and no brother!" - -"I will be your friend," said she, coyly. - -"Ever!" - -"Ever and always. Think of all I owe you--that I am here to-day, -alive and in the world, listening to you, and spared to Papa." - -Bright ardour filled his eyes, and stooping he pressed her hand to -his lips; but she snatched it away. - -"I do not mean friendship of that kind!" said she, blushing with -anger at herself for taking, as she thought, the initiative; then he -too reddened, and a pause ensued. - -Clara had not the least idea of flirting; and yet the most consummate -coquette could not have been more fascinating in her charming -frankness of manner. - -"Of what are you thinking now?" he asked, as her white fingers played -with the shining ripples. - -"Of Bermuda," she replied, with a soft smile in her averted face. - -"You were a child then--five years ago--and now----" - -"What am I now?" she asked, laughingly. - -"Look into the water where your face is reflected, and you will see." - -"See--what?" - -"A face, like no other in this world--to me, especially." - -"Now you talk foolishly." - -"God knows, I do--perhaps," said he, sadly; "it is pleasant to dream -for the present, and to forget the coming future, for all this sweet -companionship must end, and when I return to England again, you will -be no longer Clara Hampton." - -"What then--or who then?" she asked in a low voice. - -"The wife of some happy man." - -"Why are you so sure?" - -"Of what?" - -"That he will be happy." - -"Could he be otherwise with you?" - -All this was pointed enough; but both were fencing--he dreading a -repulse, and she thinking of her father's pride. Yet both were very -pale, and their hearts beat violently. - -"And how came you to be so assured of all this?" she asked, looking -down. - -"You are beautiful, rich, noble, Clara!" - -"You must not call me Clara. Rich? You think, then, that no one -would love me for myself alone?" she asked a little bitterly. - -"I have not said so." - -"Did you think so?" - -"Heaven forbid! but judging from my own heart, I wish, -indeed--indeed----" - -"What?" - -"That you were as humble and as poor as the beggar-maid whom King -Cophetua loved." - -"Thank you, a very odd wish!" she said, with a low musical laugh. - -"Oh, do not mock me!" he exclaimed bitterly--for no lover likes his -heroics to be made a jest of; but no mockery was in the girl's heart; -she felt as if dreaming; she only felt and knew that her lover was -beside her, looking more manly and handsome, and more fascinating, -than the first day they met; but she thought of her father and his -lofty pride, and said with apparent firmness, yet with a gasp in her -slender white throat,-- - -"I do not mock you--oh, never, never think that of me; but for pity's -sake, talk no more in this strain; and do pull the boat in shore, for -I see Miss Sampler is making signals of impatience." - -Though her long lashes imparted a dreamy depth to the young girl's -eyes, there were in the low, broad brow, firm lips, and clearly-cut -nostrils, evidence of force of character and strength of resolution. - -Derval understood the situation; he sighed, shipped his sculls, and -pulled in silently, feeling that he had said enough to show that he -loved her, and that she chid him not, he resigned her to her -chaperone, and betook him, full of anxious thoughts, to the solitude -of his room at the hotel; yet each felt that they must meet again, or -that henceforward life would be a blank to them; and eye said this to -eye as they parted on the shore. - -It was rather a source of exasperation to Mrs. Hampton in her stately -villa, that Derval should be so intimate with Lord Oakhampton and his -daughter, while she and her son were not--were ignored, in fact; and -this, with Derval's protracted residence at the hotel, caused no -speculation among her friends and the gossips of the new settlement -or watering-place; and, incited to mischief by his mother, Rookleigh -Hampton began to scheme revenge; nor were Patty Fripp's ample and -exulting expatiations on the rare beauty of Miss Hampton, and the -great glory of Derval's boating expeditions with her, wanting as a -spur on this occasion. - -Lord Oakhampton remarked to himself that neither by word, act, nor -hint, did Derval ever refer to his late father's dreaded claim to the -coronet. This pleased with him with his young friend, yet it was not -without annoyance and alarm that he discovered and viewed the growing -intimacy between him and his daughter, and painfully, indeed, did the -latter blush when he began to remonstrate with her upon the subject; -and her pain was all the deeper by a knowledge that she had brought -it upon herself. - -Seated together with her father in an oriel window overlooking the -bay, her mind, as evening darkened and the moonlight came upon the -water, was full of what had passed between herself and Derval but a -very short time before, and after a silence of some minutes she said, -with the irrepressible desire to talk of what was nearest her heart -and uppermost in her thoughts,-- - -"Have you ever remarked, Papa, what a handsome young man Mr. Hampton -is?" - -Lord Oakhampton started quickly, and looked at her, but Clara's face -was hidden in shadow. - -"Of course I have observed it," he replied; "he is not only handsome, -but distinguished-looking, for a man of his class. He comes of a -good family." - -"Yes--is he not some relation of our own, Papa?" - -"Has he ever said so--does he talk of such a matter?" asked Lord -Oakhampton, in a changed tone. - -"Oh, no, Papa, but he strikes me as so unlike the men I usually meet." - -Lord Oakhampton was silent for a minute; then he said, with some -asperity of manner,-- - -"Since when has this extreme intimacy with Mr. Hampton been in -progress?" - -"Extreme intimacy, Papa!" said Clara, in a tone of dismay, and -colouring deeply in the twilight. - -"Yes; you understand me, I presume?" - -"I have known him since the day he sent up his card, and renewed the -intimacy that began at Bermuda." - -"That was but a casual, but very important episode; but what passed -then, under the circumstances, temporarily, when you were but a -child, cannot be continued or tolerated now. He is but a merchant -seaman!" - -"A mate, Papa, and a commissioned officer in the Naval Reserve." - -"Pshaw!" - -"And heir to a large estate." - -"That is doubtful, Clara; his brother is the heir. I know there is -much common sense in that little head of yours, and I wish you to -bring it to bear upon the present question. This intimacy is -unseemly. Good heaven! what would society say of it?" - -"Society! how I do hate that word, Papa!" - -"Indeed! You are young and inexperienced, and it is for me to -consider that which may become insolence on his part, and folly on -yours." - -Never before had her father spoken with such severity of tone, and -the soft eyes of Clara filled with unseen tears. - -"Ours is a levelling age certainly; but this intimacy carries the -game rather far. It is outrageous!" he continued, nursing his -annoyance, and warming with it. - -"But he bears our name, and why may we not know him? If he is a -kinsman----" - -"Kinsman!" exclaimed her father, with growing anger, as he recalled -the visit of Mr. De Murrer; "the devil! don't speak thus; and as for -the mere matter of a name, one would think you were an old Scotsman -of a hundred years ago, rather than an English girl of the nineteenth -century!" - -"I only think of what I owe him, Papa," urged Clara, greatly -apprehensive that Derval's name would now be struck off the visitor's -list--but prudence forbade such an order as yet. - -"It is possible you may think too much," continued Lord Oakhampton, -greatly ruffled; "but remember, Clara, that this young man is as much -out of your world as one of yonder boatmen in the bay!" - -"Do not suppose, dear Papa, that I will ever do aught unbecoming your -daughter. I have always done my best to please you," she added, as -her graceful figure bent over him, and a white arm stole round his -neck, while her sweet face grew almost softer in expression, as she -caressed him. - -But she now discovered the truth of the German proverb, "Speech is -silver, silence is gold," and knew to her infinite mortification, -that by her first remark on Derval's appearance, and her attempted -defence of their friendship, she had thoroughly awakened the -suspicions of her father, of whose old hostility to the Hamptons of -Finglecombe she knew nothing; and the results were that her liberty -was much more circumscribed than it had been. There was no more -boating on the bay, and Miss Sampler was for ever on duty now. -Forbidden to think of him, she cherished the idea all the more. To -her, Derval, honest, manly, straightforward, and single-hearted, -seemed worth all "the white-handed glittering youth" she had yet met -with; and thus it was in vain that her father urged that he did not -and never would belong to her class in society--even by thought, -culture, and education; but, in some of the latter premises, his -lordship was in error. Yet, too keenly aware of what the claims were -that Derval, or interfering friends for him, might urge to the title -he held, he could neither forbid him his house nor request that he -would cease to address Miss Hampton. - -To Derval the idea of these claims never occurred; he felt that there -was a change now, that he saw Clara more seldom, and never alone. -Whether this was her own desire, or that of her father, he could not -tell; he only knew that the first stirrings of a deeply-absorbing -love were quickening his pulses and thrilling in his veins. He had -heard of the desire of the moth for the star, and felt himself -somewhat akin to that foolish insect indeed. She was the daughter of -a peer, and in the fulness of that thought, and the greatness of his -passion, he forgot that he might yet be a peer himself! - -Time was passing on--day followed day, and he missed the sweet -companionship sorely. Her face was ever before him in all its soft -beauty and variety of expression; her voice seemed ever in his ear, -as he conned over her utterances, and recalled her attractive and -pretty little modes of manner. He was never weary of watching the -roof that covered her, the windows she might be looking from, or the -walks where he might chance to meet, even to see her; and he -resolved, that come what might, he would not go away without -declaring how he loved her, without telling her the old, old story, -that was first told in Eden; and that he would never forget her, and -never love another. - -The time for his departure was drawing near now, and thus he was a -prey to the most terrible anxiety. - -He felt that the relief of words he must have, or his heart would -sink. So much had this strong passion become a part of himself, that -he felt and thought that he would rather be dead and buried with her, -than that she should become the wife of another. And yet such -separations come to pass every day, and no one dies of them, so far -as the world knows. - -He had gathered courage from what he could read in her eyes, more -than once, when he had met her and her chaperone, and they had -lingered together, talking the merest commonplaces, but with their -hearts very full indeed, and Miss Sampler keenly observant of their -words and actions. Thus he had resolved that there should be no -mistake when the opportunity came, and come it did one day, most -unexpectedly, when he met her suddenly, alone too, and then, all the -world seemed to stand still! - -It was in one of the last places where he would have thought to meet -her unattended--at the Nutcracking Rock, an ancient logan-stone, -which rests, as it were, upon a keel, so that a push rolls it from -side to side, at each vibration being arrested by a stone, against -which it knocks. Hence its name, and it stands in a wooded and -solitary place, near the shore of the bay, covered with golden moss -and surrounded by dwarf oak-trees and hawthorns. - -She was seated on a camp-stool, and so intent on her work of -sketching it, that he drew near her unperceived, with his heart -beating almost painfully, and every fibre tingling with love and joy. -His step aroused her, she looked round; a faint exclamation escaped -her, and she dropped her pencil. - -"Mr. Hampton, you here?" - -"Thank heaven that I find you as I do, alone, Clara," said he, -picking up the fallen pencil, and kneeling on one knee by her side -after he did so. They were eye to eye now, and both were greatly -agitated. - -"Alone, Clara," said he, taking her unresisting hand, "how are you -here alone?" - -"Miss Sampler has just left me; did not you meet her?" - -"No, I came by the beach." - -"And what were the wild waves saying?" she asked, smiling honestly -and fondly down on his upturned face. - -"They seemed to sing to me of love and you, Clara," he answered, in -the same joyous manner, and drawing her towards him he kissed her -tenderly, passionately, and there was no need for declaring the love -that filled his heart and trembled on his lips, and yet he did so in -words that filled her heart with mingled joy and fear--joy, for they -were such as no young girl could have heard unmoved when addressed to -herself--and a great fear, as she thought of her father, and all his -words flashed on her memory. She grew pale, and even when Derval's -kisses were pressed upon her cheek in that sequestered place, she -glanced round her fearfully. - -"And you love me in return, Clara, my own Clara?" he murmured, -caressing her tenderly after their first incoherences were over. - -"Yes, oh yes, Derval, I love you!" she replied. - -"It is said to be fortunate for us, that the future is a sealed -book," said he, drawing her head and face caressingly into his neck -and his breast, "yet I should like to have known that the little girl -whose life I saved in Bermuda was to be my wife--my own darling -wife--in the years to come!" - -_His wife!_ - -The sweet assumption made her tears flow fast, and hot and bitter -tears they were. The intensity of his love had touched her, and -delighted her heart; but these words recalled her father's remarks -and injunctions, and even while Derval spoke and she responded, while -joining with him in the delirious joy of the present, she had the -chilling and terrible fear, that this great love and his suit would -prove--all nonsense in the future, and never come to anything! - -I was an awful conviction or fear to have at such a moment, and the -intensity of her agitation, her sobs and tears, attracted the -attention of Derval. - -"My own darling," he asked, inquiringly, "why all those tears?" - -"My father, Derval," - -"You dread his opposition--so do I; but I would not have him ashamed -of me, if you are not--my own love!" - -"Derval--we leave this for Paris to-morrow morning. In the joy of -seeing you, I almost forgot it," she continued, sobbing heavily. - -"To-morrow--oh heavens, Clara! And I! next day for a ship--a few -days whole seas will be between us! We sail for the Cape." - -"It is awful to think, Derval, that we may pass out of each others' -lives, and be as if we never met--never known each other!" - -"Why--how?" he asked regarding her anxiously. - -"What can such a secret and forbidden love as ours, with such a -separation, lead to? a separation without a place or period for -meeting again, and without a means of hearing of each others' lives, -safety, or happiness." - -As she spake her pearly teeth were set, and there came into her face -something of the expression that Derval had seen it wear in the boat -on the last occasion, force of character and strength of resolution, -young though she was. - -As the reader may conjecture, the sketch of the famous Nutcracking -rock was never finished. - -"I shall ever thank heaven for the impulse that sent me to meet you -to-day, darling Clara," said he, as they reached the spot at which -they would be compelled to separate. "We must, and shall, meet again -when I return, for I shall seek you out, wherever you are, and we -must think of each other every day and every hour. Till then--oh, my -love, till then!" - -Much more was said, brokenly and incoherently, and they lingered so -long, that at last she had to leave him, blinded in tears, and with -one long and clinging kiss they parted, as so many lovers have done -before, and will do so again. - -They had exchanged rings and locks of hair in the most orthodox -fashion. It was arranged that Rookleigh should be the medium through -which their correspondence should be conducted, their letters being -mutually, if necessary, sent under cover to him. There could be no -harm in their hearing of each other secretly, they thought, and -deemed such an institution necessary for their happiness--their very -existence, indeed; for both were rash, young, loving, and -enthusiastic, and both, too, were somewhat ignorant of the -conventional ways of the world; and to Rookleigh now they both -mutually looked for succour in the great love that bound their hearts -together. - -Though his heart was weary with the keen sorrow of their separation, -Derval felt full of bright hope for the future--that hope which -furnishes all our Chateaux in Espagne, or in the air--"hope that -lends us alabaster bricks and golden mortar to build these castles -withal; hope that turns the hue of the stalest loaf into the richest -plum-cake, and the smallest of beer into the mellowest of Burgundy." - -As if chance were already beginning to favour him, Derval, who did -not, and never would visit the villa at Finglecombe, on returning to -the hotel found his brother Rookleigh awaiting him there. - -"You asked me the other day if I would do you a favour, Rook," said -he, "and I promised to do it--though I was in a great hurry." - -"Yes--Miss Hampton was waiting for you on the beach. I saw you -meet--well?" - -"You must in turn do a favour for me--and I am sure you will, old -fellow!" added Derval, and he placed a hand affectionately on his -brother's shoulder, feeling at that moment, in the great joy of being -loved by Clara, that he forgave him everything, and could love him -too. - -He then related to Rookleigh much that had passed between himself and -Clara--told of their secret engagement--secret, at least, as yet; -showed her engagement-ring, but failed to see the sneer of -Rookleigh's lip, as he kissed it with what the latter deemed idiotic -ardour; and in the end, begged him to be the medium through whom -their correspondence was to be conducted; and to this Rookleigh, -affecting demurrage, ultimately consented, for which he was -extravagantly thanked and well-nigh embraced by Derval, who said: - -"And now, Rook, dear old boy, what is the favour you wanted of me--in -what can I serve you?" - -An unfathomable expression stole over the face of Rookleigh at that -moment, and his pale green shifty hazel eyes perhaps never looked so -shifty. Skilfully veiled hatred, malice, and anticipated triumph -were mingling there; but Derval, whose heart and thoughts were -utterly strangers to passions such as these, could little have -conceived they were so near him. - -We have said that both Mrs. Hampton and Rookleigh resented Derval's -intimacy with Lord Oakhampton, and the revengeful feeling of the -half-brother eventually took a very remarkable form. - -Seeing that Rookleigh seemed embarrassed, Derval pressed him to say -what favour he required of him. - -"I want a thousand pounds sorely on loan just now," said Rookleigh, -in a very measured voice, while avoiding his brother's eye; "I know -you have more than double that sum lying at your bankers, as you have -scarcely drawn a penny of what our good father left you." - -"He left me so little and you so much, Rook, that I marvel greatly -you can want any more, especially from a poor devil like me; but you -are heartily welcome to the thousand; and as for dear Clara's -letters--" - -"They will be fully attended to. Thank you, dear Derval, I knew you -would assist me if you could. My monetary annoyance is a very -temporary one indeed." - -"There you are--and welcome!" exclaimed Derval, as with a dart of his -pen he filled up a cheque and handed it to his brother, who, after -carefully placing it in his pocketbook, drew forth a document of -somewhat portentous aspect. - -"Why--what is this?" said Derval. - -"Knowing that you would give me the money, and that it would be -necessary to give you some admission or receipt for it, I had this -prepared, as time is short." - -"True, I must be off in twenty-four hours. But what is the meaning -of all this, Rook? The cheque is a crossed one--and I can trust -you--can you not trust yourself?" - -Rookleigh's rather pale face was crossed by a blush as he said-- - -"We never know what may happen, and if you are to marry Clara -Hampton, as I hope you will, all the money you can scrape together -will be necessary." - -"But, man alive! what is all this you have written here?" exclaimed -Derval; "it looks like a title-deed--a marriage settlement--or a bill -in chancery. Surely all this raggabash is not necessary between you -and me!" - -"For legal purposes it is--you, as a sailor, are ignorant of the -ridiculous tautology of legal composition; but if you will affix your -ordinary signature, witnessed by me, in these two places, without -troubling you to read it, we shall post it to old De Murrer for -security in his hands." - -"All right, old fellow, I'll do anything you like but read over all -that rigmarole," replied Derval, who dashed off his signature at the -places indicated, and the document was enclosed in an envelope, -addressed to their mutual agent at Gray's Inn for preservation, and -placed in the usual receptacle at the hotel for letters to be posted. - -There is no doubt that it was extremely culpable and negligent of -Derval to sign that document as he did, without once troubling -himself by an examination of its contents and nature--all the more so -was he culpable, from the past knowledge he had of Rookleigh's -general character; but his correspondence with Clara was uppermost -then in his thoughts; and when the half-brothers parted for the -night, there came into Rookleigh's face a diabolical smile, and he -laughed, as he took his homeward way muttering to himself-- - -"How easily that fool allowed himself to be chiselled out of -everything; but he is a sailor, ignorant of land life, for sailors go -round and round the world but never into it!" - -And again he laughed loudly. - -On the morrow, the pretty villa at Bayview was tenantless; the shrine -was empty, so Derval gladly welcomed the hour that took him from -Finglecombe, and the change of scene and occupation that came with it. - -Lord Oakhampton had seen of late the preoccupation of his daughter's -thoughts, and knew the cause thereof. Hence this sudden Parisian -trip; after which a season in London would, he hoped, find another -whose presence might obliterate what he deemed to be a foolish, a -girlish, and _outré_ fancy for Derval Hampton. - -Ere the _Amethyst_ sailed, the latter wrote to her under cover to -Rookleigh, who was to discover Lord Oakhampton's address, and -contrive some means of having it delivered. - -The letter, full of passionate love and longing, of the tender little -incoherences in which all lovers indulge, and many prayerful hopes -for the future, duly reached the hands of his brother; but it was -fortunate for Derval's peace of mind that he did not see the strange -and horrible smile that crept over the face of Rookleigh as he -_perused_ it, and then tossed it into the fire. - -The latter was the receptacle of most of its successors, and of -Clara's too. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -"DEEPER THAN E'EN PLUMMET SOUNDED." - -Derval was back to his old work on the sea, but now it had lost all -zest, and even the love for and hope of adventure had gone out of -him. His whole soul and existence seemed to centre in the image of -Clara, and his mind was never weary of dwelling upon it, and all the -minutiæ of his late sojourn at Finglecombe, and all that had come of -it. - -She loved him; he had the dearest and sweetest assurance of that, and -they were engaged--solemnly engaged; but how, and when was the end to -be? Their future was painfully vague! He could scarcely hope for -her father's consent, and without it he feared that he would never -win Clara for his wife, as he knew, but too well, that though the -name and blood were the same, their relative positions in life--in -that "society" in which she moved--were different, far apart, and -that--as yet--he had no place therein. - -His imagination was fertile in the art of self-torment; and still -more did it become so, as time and distance increased between him and -their parting hour and parting place; and, after skirting the Bay of -Biscay, that turbulent corner of the seas where, at times, all their -storms seem gathered together, the _Amethyst_ shaped her course -towards Madeira. - -On the lone sea by day and in the silent watches of the starry night -of what could he think but _her_, and the new and hitherto unknown -emotion she had kindled in his heart! - -He hailed with joy and anxiety the Pico Ruivo as it rose from the -sea, and the _Amethyst_ ran into the roads of Funchal, where she -lay-to while Joe Grummet went ashore for any ship letters that might -have come ahead of them by the steam-packet. - -Letters there were for the Captain, Harry Bowline, and others on -board, but not one for him, and his spirit began to fall. He strove -hard to console himself with the doctrine of chances and mischance, -and hoped letters might await him at Ascension or the Cape of Good -Hope. - -Rough old Joe Grummet, a shrewd observer, especially of those for -whom he had a regard, saw how his countenance changed when the -letters were distributed and none appeared for him. - -"I was sorry to see you so disappointed, sir," said Joe, as they -walked the deck together that night, after the Pico Ruivo had sunk -into the sea, "but I think it is often better not to get letters when -in blue water, for we can't amend evil things then, as we might when -ashore; and I had a shipmate, who lost his life through getting -one--and out of the smallest post-office in the whole world." - -"Where is that, Joe?" - -"It is a barrel that swings from the outermost rock of the sheer -mountains that overhang the Straits of Magellan, right opposite to La -Tierra del Fuego. Every ship passing opens it to place in letters or -take them out, and undertakes their transit, if possible. It hangs -there at an iron chain, washed, beaten, and battered by wind and -storm; but no post-office, even in London, is more secure from -robbers. Well, this poor fellow laid well out on the foretopsail -yard, while the ship was thrown in the wind, to see what letters were -in the barrel. There was but one, and it was for himself. It was -from his wife, but was sealed with black. Sitting outside the yard -he read it; then a cry escaped him, and falling into the sea between -the ship and the rocks he was seen no more. The letter fluttered aft -to where I stood near the taffrail. It told poor Bill of his -mother's death, months and months before, and the shock had been too -much for him. But you have come back to the _Amethyst_ sorely -changed, surely Mr. Hampton?" - -"How, Joe?" - -"Why--all the fun and cheeriness are quite gone out of you." - -"They should not, Joe, as there is no reason therefor. But were you -ever in love, Joe?" - -"Bless my heart, many and many times, as long as my pay lasted, and I -had to come aboard again." - -"Ah! Joe," said Derval, laughing, "I fear you don't know what love -is." - -"Don't I, though!" exclaimed old Grummet, as he bit a quid off the -twist of pigtail that was always in his right-hand pocket. "I often -boast myself as one of the not-to-be-done squadron of the Royal Naval -Reserve, Mr. Hampton; yet I am always done brown when I am on shore, -which is the reason I generally stick close to the ship, as one can't -fall in love when in blue water and the anchor's catted." - -"Joe, the love I mean is the merging of your whole existence in that -of another; placing every hope and wish on the will of another; -living a glad, wild, feverish dream, with the strange sense that -without that other all life is worthless." - -"Well, I'm blessed! On that other, as you call her, I have too often -spent every 'tarnal penny, and come to grief in the end, and found -myself toeing a line before the beak. No, no! love ain't for me now; -and for you, perhaps, it as well you didn't get any letters, for -perhaps your girl may have slipped from her moorings and gone foreign -with some other fellow." - -Derval laughed at Joe's phraseology, but said, "This is perhaps my -last trip, Joe, and if I leave the ship I hope to see you a mate of -her." - -"Mate--no, no, Mr. Hampton; I ain't used to the luxuriance of a -cabin, where knives and forks and tea-cups is used; and where the -grog-tot, the bread-barge, and the mess-kid ain't known." - - -The wind was fair, the weather delightful, and the _Amethyst_ in due -time crossed the equator. - -"Let me be patient, let me be patient!" sighed Derval, when the -volcanic peaks of Ascension, the rendezvous of our African squadron, -came in sight; and the _Amethyst_, having sprung one of her topmasts, -ran in to refit. Letters for her came off in a Government boat. -There were some for nearly every man on board save Derval, whose -anxiety was fast becoming painful. - -As at Madeira, he wrote and left a passionate and appealing letter to -Clara, under cover to his brother, and sailed in hope for the Cape. -Hope; he could not abandon that! Was Clara ill? had Rookleigh -mismanaged their correspondence? or had Lord Oakhampton discovered -and intercepted all their letters? Clara could address letters to -the ship--letters which would follow him all over the world; but he -remembered that his movements were somewhat unknown to her, and -gathered a little mental relief from the idea. But from what did the -silence of Rookleigh arise? He might at least write and state that -he had no letters to enclose! - -Why did she never write to him? he was incessantly asking himself. -Where were the fondly promised letters that Rookleigh was to transmit -to him, in exchange for those transmitted to him for her--passionate -letters, expressing all the complete and wild abandonment of his -heart and soul to an earthly love, to which he had given up all that -God had given him. - -Times there were when already he began to have strange and terrible -doubts of her. Yet, why had she been so sweet, so kind, so loving in -her manner to him, if she was but luring him into misery and -disappointment? She could not be so cruel--his very life was in -those little white hands of hers--hands that he had so often covered -with kisses. Then he thrust these aching thoughts aside, and hoped -and trusted that time would unravel and explain all; but as yet a -black cloud, a pall, seemed to have come between him, his past -existence, and Clara! - -In the life he knew she must lead in the gay world, where she -participated in all that fashion, wealth, and rank could surround her -with, was she forgetting him? would be his tormenting thought anon; -and had what he deemed a mutual love been to her but a sea-side -romance, a summer flirtation? Oh! what was _he_, he would mutter, -that she, a peer's daughter, in her beauty and her bloom, should -remember him? - -If true to him, at all risks and hazards, even of her father's anger, -she should have written to him; and passing over Rookleigh, at the -same risks and hazards, he should have written direct to her, and -ended his cruel anxiety if possible; but he knew not her address, or -whether she had returned from Paris to England. - -"I thought that I had too many reasons for being happy," said he, "a -sure sign of grief to come--of sorrow close at hand." - -At last, after a voyage (including her delay at Ascension) of more -than two months, the _Amethyst_ hauled up for Table Bay, came to -anchor, and the boats came off from Cape Town. - -"At last, at last--surely now!" exclaimed Derval as a letter was -given him, and he opened it with trembling hands. It was from -Rookleigh, in answer to one he had written from Madeira, saying that -"Miss Hampton had never sent a single letter for transmission," and -nothing more. - -What had happened? What did this cruel mystery mean? - -He wrote her one cold and brief letter, almost a farewell, under -cover to Rookleigh, and then an illness and fever came upon him while -the ship lay at Cape Town, and through the long days and nights -there, he lay in his little cabin, almost mad with his mental -misery--a misery athwart which there came no gleam of light or hope; -and when next he came on deck, after many weeks of illness, he found -that the _Amethyst_, instead of returning to England, had been -freighted for Batavia under Captain Talbot, and was working out of -Table Bay, and heading eastward for the Indian Ocean! - -Thus it would be long before he should see or hear of Clara again, -and learn the worst that fate had in store for him. - -How little could he imagine, that all _he_ was suffering--the keenest -pangs of doubt, anxiety, sorrow, and disappointment--were suffered by -Clara. Ignorant of his precise address and whereabouts, the poor -girl wrote to him in secrecy again and again--wrote to him lovingly, -then despondently, and anon with surprise and upbraiding, under cover -to Rookleigh, posting her epistles with her own hand, and trusting -none other--posting them with a prayer on her lips; and to the -recipient--the supposed medium of their love affair--the mutual -correspondence proved a source of supreme merriment, and even to his -mother too; and in the end the fire received it all. - -At last Clara knew not what to think; she could but wait and hope, -but ceased to use her pen. The conviction that she had -stooped--actually condescended--in the acceptance of his love, added -to the poignancy of what felt, and filled her, at times, with -indignation at conduct so singular and unwarrantable. - -Fear of Derval's vengeance, if his duplicity ever came to light, the -malevolent Rookleigh had none; but he laughed curiously when he -thought of the folly of which his sailor brother had been guilty in -signing the unread document! And as for the loss of his lady-love, -"Derval," he thought with a chuckle, "will no doubt take to poetry, -and writing sonnets on female inconstancy." - -A somewhat unexpected turn was given to the then state of the affair, -by Lord Oakhampton once more taking up his abode temporarily at -Bayview, in Finglecombe, the saline air of which he rightly or -wrongly--for our story it matters little which--conceived to be -beneficial to his health. This to Clara was most distasteful, as the -entire locality was--for her--full of associations of the past, that -the sooner she forgot the better for her own happiness. - -It was about this time that Derval's last letter from Clara, written -before his illness at the Cape, came to the hands of Rookleigh, and -conceiving, from the animus of that in which it was enclosed, it -might seem to widen the breach between the lovers, he, by the -assistance of little hot water to moisten the envelope, made himself -master of the contents, and adding a bitter postscript in imitation -of Derval's writing, he reclosed it, and, aware that Lord Oakhampton -was absent in London, resolved to deliver it in person, and thus -achieve, perhaps, an introduction to Clara. - -Inspired by a new and very remarkable scheme, he repaired to Bayview -Villa, and sending up his card, was ushered into the drawing-room. - -The apartment was a double one, divided by an archway, in which hung -curtains of blue silk, edged with silver lace, and festooned partly -with white silk cord and tassels. There was a sound, the rustling of -a dress in the inner room; but at first Rookleigh saw only a white -hand and arm--an arm so taper round and marvellously beautiful that -he had never before seen anything like it. A diamond bracelet -clasped the wrist. The hand slightly parted the curtains--for Clara -was there, with his card in her hand, striving to still the painful -beating of her heart. - -Then her whole figure appeared: a girl tall, slender, perfect in -grace and symmetry, her dark violet eyes full of earnest inquiry, the -sweet lips and mignonne face, all expressive of it too. Lovely, -dainty, and refined, Clara Hampton stood before him. - -Would she offer him that lovely hand, permit him to touch it? was his -first thought; but in a second more it was placed confidingly within -his own; while Clara, who blushed deeply at first, now grew pale as -the new-fallen snow. - -Never before had he stood in the presence of a girl so quietly -patrician in bearing and appearance. - -"Mr. Rookleigh Hampton?" said she, glancing at the card, and with -enforced calmness of tone and manner. - -"Derval's brother," replied the traitor, and no other introduction -was necessary, though at the mention of Derval's name, he could see -how anxiety mingled with _hauteur_ in her sensitive lips and eyes. - -"You are, of course, aware of the arrangement my brother made -about--about your letters?" said Rookleigh. - -"You sent him all mine?" asked Clara in a breathless voice. - -"All--and I have one here for you--whether a reply, or not, I cannot -say." - -"Only one!" - -"The first and only one," replied Rookleigh, who, with all his -effrontery and duplicity, felt that he never before stood in such a -presence, and could scarcely remember how he answered her; for his -mind was filling fast with admiration, his heart beat fast, and his -brain seemed to burn. - -"A letter from Derval at last! His first letter too--yet it would -explain!" were her first ideas. "Be seated, Sir, and for a moment or -two, pray do excuse me." - -She retired back beyond the silk hangings, and rapidly made herself, -more than once, mistress of the contents of that letter, one of -coldness, brevity, and farewell--farewell without further -explanation--a letter the strange tenor of which startled and -bewildered her. - -Clara's agitation and confusion were excessive; but sorrow succeeded -to surprise in her heart, and indignation to sorrow. - -"All is over and ended between your brother and myself, Mr. -Rookleigh," said she, with a painful swelling in her slender white -throat. - -"His letter displeases you?" asked Rookleigh, scarcely knowing what -to say, and feeling his heart for a moment fail him. - -"Read it," said she, haughtily. - -He scarcely required to do so, yet he affected to peruse it, and then -knit his narrow brows. - -"How cold this letter is! but in it there lurks some mystery," said -he. - -"What mystery, Sir?" - -"I know not--I only know that above all things the human heart is -deceitful!" - -After a pause, during which both remained silent, and Clara had -nervously, half unconsciously, crushed and crumpled up the odious and -disappointing note--for it was scarcely even a letter--in her small -and tremulous hand, Rookleigh proceeded to make apologies for the -strange conduct of his unworthy brother, and to express his own pain, -shame, sorrow, and so forth, in terms well chosen and uttered. - -"He is peculiar," he added, "always was so; thus his oddity of -disposition caused him to be sent to sea. I can assure you, my dear -Miss Hampton, that he never got on well with the mother or me, or -with anyone else, in fact. Then, sailors will be sailors, Miss -Hampton, and are said to have loves in every port." - -He continued to linger and utter his regrets, till the silence of -Clara indicated that she was weary of his presence and desired to be -left alone--alone to her own reflections and misery--and the young -squire of Finglecombe bowed himself out, well pleased with his -morning's work, and resolved that this should not be his last visit -to Bayview Villa. - -He was well aware that Clara Hampton, though just turned eighteen, -had been the queen of the last season in London, and that though -other queens were there as proud and pure and marvellously fair, yet -there was none who apparently had remained so unspoiled by the homage -offered. Flattery left her untouched; and beautiful and nobly born -though she was, no weekly journal yet dared to make her portrait an -inducement to purchasers, and no photo of her appeared in any London -shop-window to court the comments, admiration, or ribaldry of every -passing "cad" or ruffian. - -It has been said--with what truth we know not--that no idle man can -resist the temptation of seeking to fascinate a handsome girl, while -at the same time eclipsing another man. Thus, could Rookleigh have -any compunction about eclipsing that half-brother of whose proper -position in the family he was so jealous, and whom he had been so -studiously reared by his mother to view with a rancorous and most -unholy hate? - -Certainly not, and to this amiable end, Rookleigh resolved to leave -no means untried to introduce himself to Lord Oakhampton. - -Chance meetings--chance apparently--in the railway train, and -elaborate civilities proffered by Rookleigh, the offers of cigars, -periodicals, and so forth, led to an exchange of words; and though -the peer was unpleasantly struck by the young man's name, and then -knew precisely who he was, for certain cogent legal reasons he deemed -it wise and well to be civil to him, and an invitation to Bayview -followed--an invitation which Rookleigh was not slow to accept; and -soon, by making himself useful in fifty different ways, he became -then a regular sea-side visitor; though, as the brother of Derval, -his welcome was of a somewhat mingled kind by both father and -daughter. - -Mrs. Hampton was intensely gratified by this unexpected intimacy, of -which, however, by failing health, she was, perhaps luckily, unable -to avail herself. - -To Rookleigh the idea did occur at times, as to how he was to account -to Derval for the non-transmission of Clara's letters for him to the -ship, the owners, or their agents abroad? - -Well--that was a matter for future consideration; meantime he had the -signed bond, and that laid Derval at his mercy! - -The lovers were meanwhile beginning to think--nay, to be -assured--that their worst fears were becoming realised; Clara deeming -that Derval, as his brother had alleged, was "a very sailor"; and he, -that Clara was only true to the instincts of her cold-blooded class, -and had already forgotten him, or cast him off, for some new, richer, -and titled object; and Rookleigh rubbed his long lean hands, and -puckered up his green eyes with quaint delight, as the plot seemed to -thicken. - -Clara had never striven even to like him, though the brother of that -Derval she had loved so well--nay, loved in secret still. She saw -the base metal in his composition, and always detected a something in -the tone of his voice, and in the expression of his face, that roused -an undefinable emotion of distrust, as belying in some way the ease -and nonchalance of manner he affected. - -"We are a kind of cousins, you know, Miss Hampton," said he one day, -as he hung over her at the piano. - -"I do not know that we are," she replied coldly. - -"Permit me to explain to you the degree," and he proceeded to do so -with extreme accuracy, as he had just been studying the matter with -Mr. De Murrer, affecting to act in the interest of his absent -brother, but in reality for his own selfish purposes. But she only -laughed aloud, and said: - -"It is rather remote." - -"It would not be thought so, in Scotland." - -She remembered her father's reply on a similar occasion, and merely -shrugged her shoulders. Had Derval claimed the kindred blood, her -view of it might have been different. - -The poor girl's heart was ever beating with "a vague unrest" she -could well understand, but had a difficulty in concealing and acting -a part to those around her, to the watchful eyes of her father -especially, and he began to wonder whether he had acted wisely in -opening his house to Rookleigh Hampton. - -The latter now learned that the _Amethyst_ had sailed for Batavia, -which would ensure, even if she returned direct to England, an -absence of at least eight months on the part of Derval--eight months, -of which Rookleigh made, as we shall show, a terrible use. - -"Sailed for Batavia--sailed for Batavia!" he repeated. Fate was -playing into his hands indeed, for long ere Derval could return, the -game would be his own! - -So "deeper than ever plummet sounded," was the deep villany of -Rookleigh Hampton. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -A CRUSHED HEART. - -In detailing plot and counterplot, cunning and selfishness, doubt, -despair, and no small agony of spirit, we have much to compress in -the latter pages of this our history. - -As the squire of Finglecombe, Rookleigh was, in every way, a more -eligible _parti_ than his sailor brother; thus, confident in having -eventually the countenance of Lord Oakhampton, the former cared very -little about the opposition of Clara, his whole anxiety being to play -his cards well, and have her completely in his power, ere the return -of Derval upset his plans, and this unexpected voyage to Batavia gave -him far more time to do so than he could at first have hoped for. - -Into his nefarious schemes his mother entered _con amore_. Derval -removed or circumvented in any way, _her_ son would marry the heiress -of Lord Oakhampton, and eventually might succeed to the title. Every -scruple died in her heart! - -"Do you make any progress with her, Rookleigh?" that amiable lady -asked one day. - -"None--as yet," he answered sulkily. - -"Why, dear?" - -"She is always brooding over Derval." - -"Though all letters have been intercepted?" - -"Yes; but I have plenty of time, however, before he returns--if he -returns at all." - -"At all! Why not get up a rumour that he is drowned--or married?" - -"Not a bad idea, Mother; anyway I shall be sure to succeed," replied -Rookleigh, laughing, with something of the contemptuous confidence of -youth, and ignorance of the world. - -Unaware of the secret impulses that were working, Clara disliked the -apparent intimacy between her father and young Rookleigh Hampton. -She disliked his constant visits and something in the bearing he was -assuming towards herself. The little toleration she had for him at -first, as Derval's brother, passed away with the hope of ever hearing -of Derval more, and she had--she knew not why--a secret antipathy to -Rookleigh. - -The latter felt this, and all his attempts to gain her confidence, -even to engage her in a pleasant conversation came to nothing. - -Coming upon her one day as she sat on the beach, she seemed so -unconscious of his approach, that he came close to her side quite -unnoticed. - -Then she looked up at him and bowed, but her face scarcely wore the -semblance of a smile as she did so. - -"Of what were you thinking?" he asked, as he lay down on the pebbles -by her feet. - -"Nothing," she replied curtly. - -"How smooth and pleasant the water looks--will you let me row you out -a little way?" - -"No, thanks," she replied almost with asperity. - -"You always seem to--to doubt me, Miss Hampton." - -"You think so?" said she, with her lip curling slightly. - -"I am sorry to say that I feel it instinctively." - -"I do not doubt your honour, at all events." - -"My truth, then?" said he, colouring. - -"Are they not the same thing?" - -"Not always--unless I deceive myself. - -"You may--but not me," replied the girl, almost sharply, for his -manner worried her, and she rose up. - -He grew pale with anger, love, and even hate, curiously mingled, and -thought, as he started to his feet, and walked on by her side, "I'll -crush you yet, my proud damsel!" - -After a little pause, he said: - -"Whatever you think of me, Miss Hampton, I trust you do not deem me a -worshipper of Mammon?" - -Now, as this was precisely what she did think of him, young though he -was, she laughed and replied: - -"The conversation is becoming, to say the least of it, peculiar and -personal. What can it possibly matter to you, how or what I think of -you?" - -Dissembling his rage at this contemptuous question, he said: - -"It matters much, indeed; all would wish to stand well in your -estimation--and I more than all, Miss Hampton." - -"Well--are not most people worshippers of Mammon?" - -"More, I hope, worshippers of beauty." - -His smile became a leer, and while irritation gathered in her heart, -she said: - -"I know nothing of either--I have lived only some eighteen years in -the world, Mr. Hampton. But why do you cross-question me?" she added -impetuously. - -"Pardon me; because to me all your thoughts are of the deepest -interest, and I----" - -"I do not understand all this," interrupted Clara, with increasing -annoyance; "but here is our gate, and I must wish you good morning, -Mr. Hampton." - -"Good morning." He lifted his hat and turned away, with a baffled -and angry emotion in his mind, and an expression in his eyes, that, -had Clara seen it, would certainly have startled her; but so far as -she was concerned, sorrow, annoyance, and evil were fated to come -thick and fast now. - -Rookleigh's law agents were meanwhile perfecting the evidences of his -own and his brother's claims successively to the title held then by -Lord Oakhampton. We have already detailed the angry interview -between his lordship and Mr. De Murrer, and the alarm with which it -inspired him; and this emotion was renewed when, from that gentleman, -acting ostensibly in the interest of the absent Derval, but in -reality under the secret pressure of Rookleigh, came a terrifying -legal missive, to the effect that the whole chain of evidence was now -complete and would shortly be laid before the world! - -"There is but one way of compromising with the absent heir," wrote -Mr. De Murrer, good-naturedly: "your lordship has no direct heir; Mr. -Derval Hampton, and then his brother, are the next in succession; -thus, if you do not marry again, the claim may take its course after -your demise, if the heirs assent thereto." - -"Marry again--and at my years!" thought Lord Oakhampton, bitterly; -"of that there is no danger"; but as he thought of his daughter, the -beads of perspiration started on his brow. He thought of the mutual -regard his daughter and Derval had for each other; he saw a means of -compromise the lawyer did not think of, and wrote him to that effect, -begging him not to move in the matter until the return of Derval; but -kept his own counsel, and said nothing to Clara on what he deemed -their impending ruin; and his natural _hauteur_ made him shrink from -speaking on the matter, as yet, to Rookleigh Hampton. - -The latter continued his visits as usual--the whole impending suit -being supposed to be Derval's; but Clara kept so sedulously out of -his way, that he could not use the opportunities he had, of urging -his regard for her; thus, he left no means untried to win over Lord -Oakhampton to his side. - -Old, far beyond his years, in calculating villany, Rookleigh knew -well, that though he might persuade Clara, by a false newspaper -notice, that Derval was dead, the truth or falsity thereof would soon -be proved; he thought it would be better to assure her in some manner -of his supposed perfidy, and hence make her more open to the -proposals of a new suitor, and the dedication of that time to -revenge, which otherwise might be naturally dedicated to grief; and -at Bideford he was not long in discovering one to be his accomplice -in this deceit--a broken-down actress, or rather a dancing-girl -belonging to a travelling troupe, whose acquaintance he had made with -considerable facility about this time. - -The girl was pretty, clever, and attractive in appearance, while -destitute of nearly every scruple--so far as conscience was concerned. - -"You will do this for me, my dear Sally?" said Rookleigh, as he sat -toying with her over some wine, in one of the inn windows that -overlooked the river and beautiful valley at Bideford. - -"Of course I will--like a bird, old fellow, if you pay me," was the -confident reply. - -"Pay you--that I will, my pet--and well, too! You will have to act -the dear, dear little devoted but deserted wife." - -"To the life, Rook--to the life." - -"Then a hundred pounds shall be yours," said Rookleigh, with -something like a groan, as he deeply loved his money, and the girl -had flatly refused to be his accomplice for less, and received half -the sum in the first instance. - -"Then give me a kiss, you dear old fellow, and I will soon earn the -other instalment," said the young lady airily, as she got a vehicle -and drove off at once to Finglecombe, kissing her hand to Rookleigh -as long as he was in view. - -We shall soon see the result of their compact. - -It was autumn now, the fields were no longer yellow with billows of -golden grain, as the breeze swept over the uplands; the white cups of -the water-lilies had disappeared from pool and pond; the beeches -changed their hue from green to russet, and the oak leaves were -turning red; the evening sun had sunk beyond the waters of the bay, -and Clara, seated alone, in the recess of a window, with an unread -book in her lap, and her eyes fixed dreamily on the deepening shadows -of the land and sea, felt more than usually depressed, when she was -startled by a servant announcing "Mrs. Hampton," and a girl of -somewhat attractive appearance, though rather flippant and nervous in -manner, and somewhat shabbily clad, was ushered in. - -Clara's first thought was of Rookleigh's mother, but the years of the -visitor showed she was mistaken. - -"You gave the name of Hampton?" said Clara, inquiringly, as her -visitor remained silent. - -"Yes, Ma'am--yes, Miss--Mrs. Derval Hampton, I am." - -"You--you?" exclaimed Clara, startled and bewildered; "I do not -understand." - -"But you soon will," replied the girl, affecting to sob; "if I might -take a seat, Miss--I am weary and faint and ill, and very sick at -heart, too." - -Clara trembled very much, though unaware of what all this was to lead -to, but pointed to a chair, on the extreme edge of which the visitor -seated herself, and seemed very far from being at ease. She was a -little awed by her surroundings; then came an emotion of envy and -anger at Clara for her perfect costume and beauty, her superior -position and supreme purity of aspect, manner, and character; but no -emotion of compunction for the pain she was about to inflict, or of -shame for the deliberate falsehood she was about to tell, came to the -soul of Miss Sally Trix. - -"And what may your business be with me?" asked Clara. - -"Only to know, Miss, if you have heard of late from my husband, as he -has ceased to write to me?" - -Clara felt herself grow sick and pale at this degrading question; but -she asked with much apparent calmness: - -"And, pray, who may your husband be, girl, that I should know aught -of him?" - -"Mr. Derval Hampton of the ship _Amethyst_, who, I understand, -engaged himself to you, while knowing well that I--his lawful wife, -whom he left to starve--was living! I don't blame you, Miss," she -continued, weeping to all appearance, for she could act her part well -and professionally, "for you knew no better; but, thank heaven, I -come in time to save you and unmask him!" - -There ensued a pause now--but a pause in which Clara could hear the -beating of her heart, and then she asked: - -"When, and where, were you married?" - -"In London, Miss, and just after his last voyage; Captain Talbot -knows me well, and so does his brother Mr. Rookleigh." - -"And why did he leave you?" asked Clara, with a strange and husky -voice. - -"Because I am poor; he despised me as soon as he knew you, and used -to go off with you in a boat on the bay, and leave me to break my -heart weeping on the shore; for many a time I saw you both. For what -was I but a toy to be played with, and cast aside when he was tired -of me; but I am his wedded wife, as this ring and the register can -testify!" - -The stroller played her part to perfection, with every word planting -a knife in the heart of the shrinking listener; and deeming that now -she had said and done enough by the few details she threw in to -convince the latter that she had been cruelly deceived, Miss Trix -sobbed heavily, bowed herself out, and quitted Bayview Villa with all -speed, considering that the character she had taken in this "cast" -was--in a monetary sense--the best engagement she had ever made. - -Clara sat long in the dusk as if turned to stone, but not a tear -escaped her. This sudden revelation of Derval's supposed perfidy -could not give her now the pain it might have done in time past; his -conduct had partly prepared her for some such catastrophe as this; -and yet how antagonistic--how unlike his open, gentle, candid, and -earnest outward character, did this accumulation of secret perfidy -seem! - -And that tawdrily dressed damsel had declared herself his wife! _His -wife!_ - -She recalled the time when that word, as a term of endearment to -herself, had fallen so sweetly on her startled ear; then a bitter, -bitter sense of having been insulted and degraded, was added to her -still more keen sense of utter disappointment in Derval; and to her -guileless and innocent mind, no doubt, no thought of suspicion that -she might be deluded, ever occurred. - -"You have had an unexpected visitor, Miss Hampton?" said Rookleigh, -eyeing her pale face keenly next day. - -"Yes." - -"Ah--so have I, one who has explained all." - -"All?" - -"My brother's peculiar perfidy, I mean." - -"Yes." - -"A perfidy for which I blush! You see that it has been as I -suggested, sailors have entanglements everywhere; but this is rather -more than that--a legal marriage." - -"Oh, how dared he--how dared he!" she exclaimed, as she clenched her -little white hands, and the look of firm resolve she would assume at -times stole swiftly into her sweet face. - -Some weeks passed on; Rookleigh became impatient for action, and -during these weeks a thoughtful and shadowy expression deepened in -the once bright face of Clara, till it became one of such woeful -fear, that the heart of the father alternately bled with sorrow for -her, and swelled with indignation against Derval. - -Every way Clara was a desirable wife, one of whose beauty, at least, -any man might well be proud. She had inflamed the senses and fired -the vanity of Rookleigh Hampton--not touched his heart, for he had -none, in the way of a lover, to touch; thus, in the pursuit of his -scheme he could think, speak, and act, with consummate coolness of -head and demeanour. - -He was well-pleased to find that--thanks to the hints of his -mother--the gossips of Finglecombe, to whom all his actions and -motives were objects of interest, already coupled his name seriously -with that of Clara Hampton. - -"Self-contained and well-balanced as she deems herself, this -appearance of Derval's wife _has_ knocked her off her perch!" thought -Rookleigh, with a chuckle, when one day his eye fell on her white -hand, as it rested on the arm of a sofa, and he remarked that the -ring, which he knew Derval had given to her, was no longer on her -engaged finger. She had removed it--relinquished it--and Rookleigh -took this as an infallible sign that she now concluded all was over -between the absent one and herself. - -"Good!" thought he, "good; I'll make my innings now!" - -And with a coolness and confidence far beyond his years, he, with the -greatest deliberation, took the earliest opportunity of obtaining -Lord Oakhampton's permission to address his daughter. - -"I should like to repair, if I possibly can do so, the evil my -brother has done her, my lord. I do not understand how it is," said -he, "that I have gone on so far with her without the least -encouragement; but a love for her has grown rapidly upon me, and this -love has become a part of my life--my very existence." - -"You are very young to talk in this fashion," said Lord Oakhampton, -uneasily. - -"If she would but care for me!" sighed Rookleigh, assuming humility -and timidity. - -"It is not my Clara's way to care for any man as he may probably care -for her." - -"Have I, then, your lordship's permission to propose?" - -"Yes," said Lord Oakhampton, huskily, as he thought of his last -communication from Mr. De Murrer of Gray's Inn, and felt himself, for -the first time, the slave of circumstances, and between the horns of -a dilemma. Indeed, life--save for the few monetary troubles that -sent him to Bermuda--had gone so smoothly with his lordship that, -until now, when the claim to his coronet began to take a tangible and -legal form, he had no reason to suspect Fate of having the least -intention of treating him scurvily. - -And with that invincible effrontery and coolness which were a part of -his nature, Rookleigh, feeling that to a certain extent both father -and daughter were in his power, went at once to the latter, whom he -found in the drawing-room alone; and, no longer abashed as he had -been at first by her rare beauty and stately presence--for stately -and patrician was the presence of Clara, even in her girlhood--he -seated himself by her side, and endeavouring to take and retain her -hand, said, with a nervousness which we thoroughly believe was -assumed: - -"Miss Hampton, I have your father's permission to drop the mask I -have worn so long. - -"What do you mean?" she asked, with unfeigned surprise. - -"To learn, if I can, from your own lips, my fate." - -"Your fate, Sir!" - -"The fate of the love I bear you. Miss Hampton--Clara, I love you, -as you must have known ere now--I love you; and in return for mine -will you give me back truth for truth, love for love, trust for -trust, your heart, your life, as fully and freely as I give you mine?" - -How glibly he rattled it all out! He had, probably, learned it out -of some novel, for one might have thought he was in the habit of -proposing every day. - -Clara was, at first, astonished and startled, and a thousand things -that she had taken no heed of, or entirely misunderstood, rushed -clearly on her memory now. Already insulted, mocked, and deluded by -one brother, was she to endure the deliberate and insolent lovemaking -of another? - -She rose and looked at him in silence, and with an expression of eye -not favourable to his suit, at all events; but Rookleigh was by no -means abashed, for he was one of those men to whom the apparently -unattainable has a peculiar fascination. Clara, with difficulty, -restrained her tears. - -"Will you pardon me, if I have been presumptuous?" said he. - -"On one condition." - -"Oh, name it!" - -"That you never dare address me in this manner again, and never -intrude upon me more!" - -She was sweeping away with a queenly grace, when his voice arrested -her: - -"Miss Hampton, you had better think twice over this," said he, -coarsely; "you may not disdain the hand of a man of wealth and -position some day." - -Her only reply was to ring the bell, - -"Show this gentleman out," said she to the servant who appeared; and -Rookleigh, baffled for the time, retired, with his heart swollen by -passion and resentment. - -When next he appeared before Clara, his manner was changed, and her -appearance too. - -Her father had set before the astounded girl the claim these -brothers, Derval and Rookleigh Hampton, could advance to his title, -his estates, and all that he possessed. That with them lay the -power, or alternative, of waiting till his death gave them the means -of quiet accession, or now declaring open war, and sweeping away -wealth, position, rank, influence in Church, in State, and in -society, by degrading him in his old age to the state of the merest -commoner, and having him laughed at as a sham and interloper; and the -gentle heart of Clara died within her, as she beheld her father's -agony, and read some of the communications that had lately come from -Gray's Inn. - -"To save me, darling--oh, my darling, you will consent to marry the -young fellow," urged Lord Oakhampton, piteously. - -"Yes, Papa," she replied in a whisper, as he withdrew, saying, "God -bless you, darling!" and Rookleigh took his place. - -"Your father has placed all this matter plainly before you," said he, -and triumph and passion glittered together in his eyes, as he -surveyed the beauty of the crushed girl, who stood before him now -with downcast face; "there is but one way to escape the evils that -may--nay, must--come upon you and him, and that is a refuge under the -shelter of my name." - -"I do not quite understand you, Sir," she replied, with a dazed look -in her eyes. - -"As my wife, Clara?" - -The words fell distinctly enough upon her ear--distinctly and -deliberately were they uttered. She did not stir, moan, or weep, but -every drop of blood left her face and lips--even the delicate hands -he grasped so daringly in his; and a strange hunted and desperate yet -defiant expression stole into her beautiful face and remained there. - -"Speak, Clara; is your answer that which I venture now to hope and -have a right to expect?" - -Endearment was unnatural to him, and his tone and manner were more -those of authority. - -Still more deathly pale she grew; but her voiceless lips moved, and -she sunk on the sofa insensible; but from that moment the -arrangements for the wedding were carried forward without delay. - -Still more did Fate seem to be playing into the hands of Rookleigh, -when in the shipping intelligence appeared a notice to the effect -that the _Amethyst_ had perished in a storm in the Indian Ocean, and -that a vessel answering her description, with the flag of the Royal -Naval Reserve flying at her gaff-peak, upside down in token of -distress, had been seen to founder; and Rookleigh knew that in the -fulness of time _he_ would be Lord Oakhampton, if he had the grace to -be patient and wait. Of this catastrophe Rookleigh made no mention -to Clara, whose spirit seemed so low now that nothing could depress -it further. - -"Child, child," her father would often say, while caressing her -fondly and with great commiseration, "by your marriage with one or -other of these men I may die in possession of my title -undegraded--undegraded, and at my death, it will go to one or the -other." - -"Oh that Derval had been worthy of me!" wailed the girl in her heart. - -Old Patty Fripp was gone now to God's Acre, and with her ended -another of "the innumerable simple and honest lives of pain and love, -that are swept away like the dead leaves by the winds of autumn," and -there was no one in Finglecombe now, save Mr. Asperges Laud, to -lament for Derval Hampton, and, aware of Rookleigh's hatred of the -latter, he bewailed his sorrowful destiny in strong language. - -"Destiny brings stranger things to pass than ever you dream of," said -Rookleigh, with a grimace of triumph. - -"This bearing of yours is shameful!" exclaimed the old curate; "yea, -it is indecent! What says the gospel of St. John?" - -"Nothing that affects me." - -"Listen, ingrate! 'He that loveth not, abideth in death. Whoso -hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath -eternal life abiding in himself.'" - -But Rookleigh only laughed, and shrugged his shoulders -contemptuously, at St. John and his gospel too. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -NEMESIS. - -During the long voyage of nearly three thousand miles to Batavia, -Derval's health and strength came back, but not his old elasticity of -spirit. He had ever one thought--Clara! and the disappointment and -mortification he endured were keen and bitter. - -Now the once happy time of love and lingering at Finglecombe seemed, -indeed, as an unreal mirage, a vanished oasis in the dull grey desert -of his existence. He ceased now to seek for such explanations of her -silence as his imagination might suggest; though times there were, -when a great terror came over him, that she was dead; yet it was -passing strange, that it was amid the mighty waste of the Indian -ocean he was fated to hear some tidings of her--tidings that were, -certainly, somewhat bewildering. - -In latitude 12° south and longitude 100° west, the _Amethyst_ spoke -with a large steamer, from the Red Sea, bound to Australia, and from -which Captain Talbot obtained some London papers, which proved of -keen interest, when so far from home, though they were a month or two -old. - -In one of these Derval saw, among fashionable gossip, a marriage as -being on the tapis between "the only daughter of Lord Oakhampton and -young Mr. Hampton of Finglecombe, Devonshire." - -Derval could scarcely believe his eyes, as he read this strange -notice again and again. What did the mystery mean--or to what or -whom did it point? Could it be some mistake with regard to himself? -Had Lord Oakhampton given to Clara his consent to their engagement. -If so, whence her mysterious silence? That his half-brother, -Rookleigh, was the person to whom the printed piece of gossip -referred, never once occurred to honest Derval; but whatever it -meant, the date of the paper, some six weeks old; assured him that -she must have been at that period alive and well. This episode gave -him much food for reflection, and his mind was full of it when the -_Amethyst_ encountered that terrible gale, in which she did not -founder, though another vessel did so within sight of her. - -The tornado, for such it was, struck her suddenly, at a time when, -luckily for the ship and all on board, she was running about ten -knots an hour, with all her sails close-reefed, through haze that -thickened fast to warm rain. The rise of the whirlwind was -instantaneous, and the fore and main topsails were blown clean out of -the bolt-ropes, while a sea was shipped that rolled aft leaving all -on deck knee-deep in water. - -The wind was not blowing steadily, but, strange to say, came in a -series of rapid and dreadful gusts, tearing up the sea in such a -fashion that the whole air was a mass of foam as high as the -mainyard. The _Amethyst_ careened heavily over to her port side, -with her gunnel in the water, and her whole deck afloat with -fragments of sail, ropes, spars, and blocks flying about. The masts -bent like willow wands, and overhead all the loose rigging flew -wildly about in loops and bights. - -In addition to the thunder of the sea, and the deep hoarse bellowing -of the gusty wind, was the crackling and crashing of blocks and -ropes, of sails and of all loose objects, dashed hither and thither, -as wave after wave deluged the deck. - -Amid this hurly-burly of the elements, the mysterious paragraph was -ever in Derval's mind, and he thought how hard it would be to perish -now, and never know the meaning of it, or learn whether happiness or -misery were awaiting him at home. - -Home! how mighty was the waste of waters he had to traverse ere he -could see its white cliffs again. - -So violent was the fury of the storm, that to see the hands aloft -endeavouring to furl or secure the fragments of the topsails, was -calculated to strike terror, as momentarily they seemed in danger of -being whirled off into the air. - -Half a mile distant a partly dismasted ship, with the flag of the -Royal Naval Reserve flying reversed at her gaff-peak, could be seen -rising and falling beautifully on the long waves, at one time showing -all her bows and nearly all her side, anon the whole line of her deck -swept of everything from stem to stern, with her drenched crew -clinging to the lower rigging or belaying pins. One moment she -seemed lifted as if on the summit of a green hill, and the next -seemed sunk in the deep dark valley; but it soon became evident to -the eyes of Captain Talbot, and of all on board the _Amethyst_, that -the buoyancy of the stranger was gone--that she must have sprung a -leak and was settling down in the water with terrible rapidity. - -Even if boats could have been hoisted out, it would have been -impossible to have succoured her in such a sea, and ere long, while a -cry came across from her crew, to be echoed by another from that of -the _Amethyst_, she went down by the stern and vanished from sight -with every man on board of her. - -"And this might have been our fate!" was the thought of Derval. - -The tempest passed away to tear up other oceans, but so agitated was -the water, that the _Amethyst_ pitched and lurched heavily, while a -new set of topsails were bent upon her; all damages made so far good, -and with a steady breeze she began to enter the straits of Sunda. By -noon next day the south-east point of the Isle of Lombock, with its -great conical peak, eight thousand feet in height, bore S.S.W. on the -starboard bow, and Captain Talbot steered for the strait of Allas, -passed the isle to the westward and that of Sumbawa to the westward, -which is reckoned the best and safest way to the eastward of Java; -and at the beginning of the end of his pilgrimage, after running -along the shore of Madura--the land of cotton, rice, and edible -nests--Derval heard, with a sigh of satisfaction, the anchor let go -in the roads of Batavia, as the ship swung at her moorings, with -thirty-five fathoms and the small bower out, and the hands went aloft -to furl the sails. - -In his anxiety to return, to be off again as soon as possible, no man -in the ship equalled Derval in his activity, with regard to getting -the cargo out and another in, and daily he counted the hours while -watching from the deck the lovely low green isles that stud the -beautiful bay, the white-walled city, with its two-and-twenty -bastions--"the Queen of the East," with all her palaces, villas, and -trees, for there the Dutch, true to their national taste, have -covered every available spot with verdure, flowers, and the brightest -foliage. - -Finally, the ballast and the last casks of sugar and turmeric were on -board, the hatches battened down, and the boats hoisted in, and after -a month's sojourn, in which he did not spend an idle hour, with a -glow of joy he heard the orders given that were to take the ship out -of the roadstead of Batavia. - -"Mr. Grummet," cried the captain, "weather bit the chain forward, man -the windlass, heave and haul! Mr. Hampton, get the topsails loose--I -see they are furled with reefs." - -"Away aloft, my lads," said Derval, "make sail on her with a will." - -"Sheet home and hoist away--up with the yards to the caps; let fall -the courses." - -Some of the head sails were now roused out of their nettings, the -foretopmast, staysail, and spanker were set, and then she was fully -under weigh. She went through the water "like a thing of life," and -the flat Batavian shore began to sink. - -"Home to England at last--home!" thought Derval as he looked over the -side and saw the waves running under the counter, while he began to -reckon for the thousandth time the probable period the homeward -voyage might consume. - -And now to take another homeward glance while that long voyage is in -progress. - -It was quite natural now, seeing so much as he did of a girl so -beautiful as Clara, that in Rookleigh, though as yet he had never -dared to attempt to caress her, or do more than take her passive or -unwilling hand in his, the admiration of her person and inclination -for her should increase, as a sense of propriety in her grew upon -him; and also, that the opposition and indifference, with which he -knew her heart was filled, should invite him to stronger efforts to -reach, to win, and control it. - -An illness that fell upon her delayed the marriage, which Rookleigh -had duly paragraphed in the papers as forthcoming. He knew now, that -the ship which had perished near the Straits of Sunda was not the -_Amethyst_; and he knew, moreover, from a visit he paid to her -owners, that she was now on her homeward way, and that there was no -time to be lost! - -Yet the season of spring was nearly over before Clara, who had -recovered slowly, at her father's pleasant house in the western -suburbs of London, could face in any way the fate before her,--a fate -that seemed terribly close now, and from which there was no escape -but her own death, or the degradation of her father. - -She saw, as part of a terrible phantasmagoria, her wedding dress, and -other dresses, her nuptial trousseau, strewed all over her room, on -her bed, on the chairs, reflected over and over again in the -pier-glasses; her toilet-table littered with ornaments which, though -rare and beautiful, she loathed to wear. - -Guests were, of course, invited--a few only, however, as her father -wished the sacrifice (for such he deemed it too) completed very -quietly; the bridesmaids were selected--only four, all in the same -costume, with ornaments the gift of the bridegroom; and to Clara, -their flippant gossip, their conversation for ever on one topic--the -marriage--girls whom she only knew as having met them "in society," -or little more,--were a source of perpetual worry and irritation to -her. - -Rookleigh's mother, now in all her glory, came and went at will, -quite _en famille_ at Lord Oakhampton's house; and she too, with her -pale hazel eyes (the golden tint had faded out of them now), was -another source of irritation to Clara, who looked so white, so -wild-eyed and nervous, that her father, poor man, was crushed in -heart and soul at the sight of her. - -She felt like a poor little fly in the toils of some enormous spider. -Never before did she think it was in her gentle nature to loathe any -human being as she loathed this young man, whom she was so shortly to -promise to love, honour, and obey, and with whom she was to go -through the long weary years of the life that lay between to-morrow -and the grave. - -And in these years that would inexorably come, what might not his -conduct become, and his treatment of her be, if, in the first flush -of his own youth and of her beauty, he would be thus so unyieldingly -cruel as to make her hand, freedom, and happiness the price of her -father's title and honour, for the little that remained to him of a -long, blameless, and honourable life--for Rookleigh still had the -trump card of playing to win the coronet for his absent brother. - -Then a wild gust of horror and dismay would come over her, ever and -anon, when she thought of the coming hour when she must inevitably -and irrevocably become the wife of Rookleigh, and there could be no -escape from him but by death--and she felt that she dared and could -not die--or by flight--a flight that "society" would speedily twist -into a terrible scandal! - -The afternoon was drawing into evening--one Clara would never forget, -for Mr. De Murrer was to arrive with the marriage settlements and -contract for signature, and Clara, who had begged to be left for a -little time to herself--her miserable self--was seated in a bay -window lost in bitter thought, looking at the flowers of spring, and -wondering how all would be with her when the time came that they had -faded away and been replaced by those of summer. - -Already soft showers had expanded the buds that but a week ago were -closed, the foliage of the brightest green was hiding the dark -branches of the trees. On all hands she heard the notes of the -birds, and with that tendency which we have to note trifles when in -great tribulation, she found herself watching with curious interest -the bees and the butterflies among the bright parterres of flowers -where the geranium, the heliotrope, the light green leaves of the -echevaria and the cups of the tulips mingled. - -All nature looked sweet; but the spring suggested nothing of hope to -Clara, and she was past weeping now, in the bitter conviction that it -availed her nothing; but a shiver passed over her, when she found -that Rookleigh, claiming a bridegroom's privilege, had come upon her -unannounced, and was bending smilingly over her--could he do -otherwise, for the girl was adorably beautiful, and was so nearly now -his own! - -"To-morrow, Clara, my darling," said he in a voice of more tenderness -than it was quite his nature or his habit to assume, for true -tenderness was not in him, "think of to-morrow, for long ere this -hour we shall be united for life, and far away together!" - -What she replied she never precisely knew, or cared perhaps to -remember, so quickly did certain events come to pass just then. - -The stoppage of a vehicle at the front porch, an important ring at -the door bell, was followed by steps in the entrance-hall, and then a -servant announced that "Mr. De Murrer was in the library, where Lord -Oakhampton awaited Miss Hampton and Mr. Rookleigh." - -"We are to sign the contract, and so forth, so take courage, Clara," -said Rookleigh, taking her by the hand, but she shrank on hearing -voices below. - -"A stranger is there!" said she timidly. - -"Oh, only some fellow he has brought, no doubt, to witness our -signatures; he has delayed unaccountably long, so come, darling." - -Clara entered the half-darkened library, pale as snow, and trembling -very much, and saw her father and Mr. De Murrer mutually shaking -hands, and then with--Derval Hampton! - -On reaching London, the latter was doubtful at first what to do to -obtain information of Lord Oakhampton's movements, of Clara, of his -brother, and how to gain a clue to all that must have transpired -during his protracted absence. As money was necessary for him, in -the first place, he drove from the docks to Gray's Inn in quest of -Mr. De Murrer, and at his chambers found that dapper little gentleman -leisurely tying up with red tape a bundle of very legal-looking -documents, which proved to be the contract and marriage settlements -of "Rookleigh Hampton, Esquire, of Finglecombe, and the Honourable -Clara Hampton," and thereby hung a wondrous tale! - -It was with something of a sigh in his breast that the worthy little -lawyer tied up these documents, for he disliked and mistrusted the -bridegroom, and was astonished and grieved by the bearing of the -luckless and too evidently repugnant bride. In all his legal -experience he had met nothing like this. - -Warmly indeed did he welcome Derval. - -"Just in time, my dear young friend; just in time!" he exclaimed. - -"Time for what?" asked the sunburned and weatherbeaten Derval. - -"The wedding--of course, you know all about it." - -"Wedding--whose?" - -"Your brother." - -"And--and--" stammered Derval, as the newspaper paragraph flashed -upon his memory. - -"Miss Clara Hampton--a good marriage indeed; a strange, but very good -way of compromising the claim to the coronet--a consolidation of -mutual interests, I take it to be; a family compact, quite." - -With his eyes fixed alternately on the speaker's face, and then, as -one in a dream, surveying the great square of the Inn, with its -monotonous brick walls and uniform rows of windows, Derval heard all -this with equal astonishment and dismay. - -"I am just about to take these papers to Lord Oakhampton's; you will -go with me, of course, and sign them as witness." - -"Clara false--so fair, yet so false!" was Derval's bitter thought, as -he threw himself into a chair. - -A very few words served to enlighten him as to the conspiracy of -which they had both been the victims--as to the pressure which must -have been put upon the unhappy Clara to save her father's title, -during his life at least, by the sacrifice of herself; and more -exasperating to him was the knowledge that this pressure had been put -upon her by Rookleigh, while acting nominally in the interests of an -absent brother; and he knew in a moment that Rookleigh--the medium of -their correspondence--must, for his own nefarious ends, have -effectually suppressed it! - -"And now, as we are on this unpleasant subject," said the lawyer, -opening a drawer and taking therefrom a paper, "what was the meaning -of this mysterious document that Rookleigh framed and you signed?" - -"It referred, I understood, to a sum of money I lent him." - -"Of what folly you were guilty! _he_ should have signed an -acknowledgment to _you_. Good heavens! you sailors are strange -fellows." - -"Then what are the contents of the paper?" - -"Merely that you make over to your brother the whole of the £500 per -annum left you by your father, with all your right, title, and -interest therein." - -Derval was astounded and bewildered not at his own folly and -simplicity, but by the systematic baseness of his brother. - -"Oh, wretch!" he exclaimed; "was it not enough to rob me of all, even -my poor patrimony? but to seek to rob me too of Clara, my affianced -wife!" - -For a few moments his emotions were stifling, and he gasped rather -than breathed. - -"I must own," said Mr. De Murrer, "that when the post brought this -singular document, signed by you, and witnessed by Rookleigh, the -_framer_ of it, illegally expressed and on unstamped paper, I was -sorely puzzled; but, luckily, it is every way valueless." - -"Save in so far as revealing the perfidy of which he is capable--the -double villain!" - -"While searching your father's papers for documents in connection -with the peerage affair, I came upon one which completely alters all -your affairs, and that I shall show you in time," said Mr. De Murrer. - -"He need no longer now pretend to act in my interests in pressing on -the peerage case, and not a moment must be lost in freeing my poor -Clara from the trammels--the evil of mental misery--by which he has -surrounded her." - -"Good, good!" said the little lawyer, rubbing his hands. "The -contract and the settlements won't be signed, after all, and may go -with Rookleigh's document into the waste-paper basket. But I was due -with them at Lord Oakhampton's an hour ago--a hansom will take us -there in half that time; and now, my dear Derval, let us be off!" - -To the confusion of Rookleigh, the mystery of the letters was all -unfolded now, and when the cheques he had paid Miss Sally Trix came -to be known, through Mr. De Murrer, a light was thrown upon his -transactions with her, and the use to which he had put her with -Clara; thus link after link was found, and the chain of his cruelty -and duplicity was complete! - -Rookleigh did not wait for the elucidation of all the reader knows. -His brother's sudden appearance in the library was more than enough -for him; he evacuated Lord Oakhampton's house with all speed, and -even quitted London that night, a prey to baffled spite, ambition, -and treachery. - -"Oh, Derval, Derval," said Clara, as she reclined upon his breast, -"may God forgive that man for all he has made me suffer!" - -"And me too, darling!" - -If Derval's blood boiled at his half-brother's perfidy, it boiled -still more when he thought of how a head-wind in the channel or -elsewhere might, by delay, have affected the fortune of all who -figured in the tableau in Lord Oakhampton's library. But the good -ship _Amethyst_ had brought the wind with her, bravely and splendidly -had she run, and scarcely sheet or tack were lifted, "for," as Joe -Grummet said, "the girls at home were tallying on to the tow-rope." - -The document which the lawyer had found among Greville Hampton's -papers proved to be nothing less than a will, dated subsequent to one -on which they had all acted, and which reversed its terms, for £500 -yearly were all that accrued to Rookleigh, while all else he -possessed was bequeathed to Derval; so the hand of Nemesis fell -heavily on the former. - -So the wedding dresses, the wedding cake and breakfast, and the -bridesmaids too were all required eventually; but a different -bridegroom knelt by Clara's side before the altar rails at St. -George's, Hanover Square, while Rookleigh and his amiable mother were -left at Finglecombe "to chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy." - -Captain Talbot was groomsman, and old Joe Grummet, who with -difficulty was restrained from hoisting a flag of the Royal Naval -Reserve out of the drawing-room window, as a prelude to the rice and -slippers, got disreputably tipsy in the butler's pantry, and pulled -all the housemaids about, in the exuberance of his joy, making quite -a riot in the servants' hall. - - - - LONDON - PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. - - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DERVAL HAMPTON, VOLUME 2 (OF 2) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<table style='min-width:0; padding:0; margin-left:0; border-collapse:collapse'> - <tr><td>Title:</td><td>Derval Hampton, Volume 2 (of 2)</td></tr> - <tr><td></td><td>A Story of the Sea</td></tr> -</table> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: James Grant</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 22, 2021 [eBook #65144]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Al Haines</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DERVAL HAMPTON, VOLUME 2 (OF 2) ***</div> - -<h1> -<br /><br /> - DERVAL HAMPTON<br /> -</h1> - -<p class="t3b"> - A Story of the Sea.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - BY<br /> -</p> - -<p class="t2"> - JAMES GRANT,<br /> -</p> - -<p class="t4"> - AUTHOR OF "ROMANCE OF WAR," ETC., ETC.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - VOL. II.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - LONDON:<br /> - W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE,<br /> - PALL MALL, S.W.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> - 1881.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="t4"> - (<i>All rights reserved.</i>)<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t4"> - LONDON:<br /> - PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -CONTENTS. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHAPTER I.—<a href="#chap01">"A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea"</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHAPTER II.—<a href="#chap02">Turtle Island</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHAPTER III.—<a href="#chap03">H.M.S. <i>Holyrood</i></a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHAPTER IV.—<a href="#chap04">The Desire of the Moth for the Star"</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHAPTER V.—<a href="#chap05">"Deeper than e'en Plummet sounded"</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHAPTER VI.—<a href="#chap06">A Crushed Heart</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHAPTER VII.—<a href="#chap07">Nemesis</a> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap01"></a></p> - -<p class="t2"> -DERVAL HAMPTON -</p> - -<p class="t3b"> -(A STORY OF THE SEA.) -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I. -<br /><br /> -"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." -</h3> - -<p> -Another long spell of the sea, including -several voyages and some stirring adventures, -was before Derval now, with a protracted -absence from Britain. The ship was not -getting ready for sea, so Captain Talbot was -on shore, when a hansom cab deposited -Derval and his belongings close by the gangway -that led on board, where he was warmly -welcomed by Joe Grummet and Harry Bowline. -</p> - -<p> -"So Girtline has left us, Hal?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, in bad health." -</p> - -<p> -"And what sort of fellow is his successor?" -asked Derval as they descended to the cabin. -</p> - -<p> -"He is simply horrid—a cad, a brute!" -exclaimed Bowline. "He is in the hold just -now, and if a cask fell out of the slings on -his head, it would be a good thing for all on -board. He is so different from poor Girtline; -he looks like an old pirate, and has stopped -our promotion; but you see, Hampton, the -owners think us rather young for further -advancement yet. Steward, a couple of -grogs; the sun is over the fore-yard!" -</p> - -<p> -"When do we sail?" -</p> - -<p> -"I don't exactly know, but I wish we saw -Blue Peter up!" -</p> - -<p> -"This Rudderhead—" began Derval, thinking -of the mysterious letter. -</p> - -<p> -"You'll have enough of him in time, I -doubt not. He has already caused much -ill-blood on board." -</p> - -<p> -"How?" -</p> - -<p> -"He plays the tyrant in the Captain's -absence; he has stopped the men's grog for -next to nothing, though he is seldom quite -sober himself; he sent two of the apprentices -aloft, and had them lashed to the topgallant -shrouds, in sight of all the people; and, like -a beast as he is, had the lashings wetted that -they might shrink, a trick he must have picked -up in the Canton river! He refused Joe -Grummet leave, and me too, though there -was no duty to do but the anchor-watch," said -Bowline, referring to the two or three men -appointed to look after a ship while at anchor -or in port. "But hush! here he comes -lumbering down the companion-ladder—screwed, -I have no doubt." -</p> - -<p> -Step by step he came down, his large splay -feet, thick legs, the broader part of his person, -his great back, short neck, and bullet-like -head all appearing in succession. He looked -full and scrutinisingly at the new-comer, -while Hal, taking off his cap, bowed to each, -and said mockingly: -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Derval Hampton—Mr. Reeve Rudderhead; -Mr. Reeve Rudderhead—Mr. Derval -Hampton." -</p> - -<p> -The first mate eyed both viciously, -particularly Bowline, who finished his grog, -and eyeing him defiantly in turn, went -slowly on deck, singing as he went a -grotesque song: -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "We bore away to the Greenland seas till we saw a<br /> - mighty whale,<br /> - The tremendous length of which, 'tis said, did reach<br /> - from the head to the tail, brave boys!<br /> - The captain on the bowsprit stood, with the mainmast<br /> - in his hand:<br /> - 'Overhaul, overhaul! let the main-deck fall, and belay<br /> - her to the land, brave boys!'"<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Mr. Rudderhead meanwhile seated himself -on a locker and leisurely proceeded to fill a -clay pipe, while quite as leisurely surveying -Derval. He was a piratical, bull-dog looking -fellow, about forty years of age, with a broad -swollen visage, which, where it was not red -by grog blossoms and blotches, was covered -by cuts and scars, won in fisticuff battles in -the vicinity of Wapping or the docks. His -figure was powerful and suggestive of -enormous brutal strength. His appearance was -repugnant and dirty; he wore the kind of -uniform prescribed by Curry & Co. for the -officers of their ships, but it was evidently a -second-hand suit, and was already greasy, -foul, and frayed. -</p> - -<p> -As his eyes met those of Derval, the latter -felt, "by instinct swift as light," that he was -face to face with an enemy—a worse one -than Paul Bitts—who was, moreover, the -cousin of his hostile step-mother, and no -doubt in frequent communication with her. -</p> - -<p> -"Oho!" said he, scraping a match and -lighting his pipe; "so you are Derval -Hampton, eh?" -</p> - -<p> -"I am, as yet, Mr. Derval Hampton to -you, sir," said our hero sharply. -</p> - -<p> -"I beg your pardon, <i>Mister</i> Hampton," said -he, lifting his cap impertinently. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; and I am third mate of this ship." -</p> - -<p> -"I am the <i>first</i>, which you'll find out in -time, so let us know each other at once. I -am a sharp hand at my duty, and stand no -nonsense—so keep a bright look-out, I say!" -he added, adopting a bullying tone, as he had -evidently been drinking; and he interlarded -his conversation with many "strange oaths," -which we cannot commit to paper. -</p> - -<p> -"You are, I understand, a cousin of my -step-mother?" said Derval, not unwilling to -try and conciliate this truculent fellow, with -whom his lot would be unluckily cast for some -time. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, first cousin; and she told me to -look very particularly after you." -</p> - -<p> -"Indeed—very kind of her! But I can -look pretty well after myself, and others -too." -</p> - -<p> -"I believe you are apt to cut up rough -on occasions, and lay out to windward if you -can." -</p> - -<p> -"Indeed!" said Derval, his choler rising. -</p> - -<p> -"And I was to see that you did your duty -well, to ship and owners." -</p> - -<p> -"I can do my duty without need of your -supervision," said Derval, annoyed still more -by the peculiar tone this obnoxious personage -adopted. -</p> - -<p> -"And so can I, though I don't belong to -the Royal Naval Reserve," said he with a -sneer. -</p> - -<p> -"Nor are ever likely to do so, unless -you mend your manners and your morals, -too." -</p> - -<p> -"What the—what do you know about -me or my morals?" demanded Rudderhead, -with a black look; "you lubberly -haymaker!" -</p> - -<p> -"I can guess much—we guess much about -ships that go down, though we may not be -certain about them." -</p> - -<p> -"<i>Down</i>—what do you mean by or about -down—any particular ship?" asked the other -hoarsely, and with a terrible oath, while -his face grew pale, all save the pimples -and blotches, and his eyes glared like those -of a rattlesnake. -</p> - -<p> -"I mean precisely what my words infer," -replied Derval disdainfully, as he quitted the -cabin and went on deck, convinced that he -had, by a random speech, probed some dark -secret in this man's life, and stung him in -some way; and in the time to come he gained -a clue to it. -</p> - -<p> -How a woman so refined and lady-like as -Mrs. Hampton—for she was both in appearance, -unquestionably—came to have such a -remarkable kinsman it was difficult to say; -but from that hour there was a declared feud -between him and Derval, and both were -prepared to carry it out to the bitter -end. -</p> - -<p> -Derval's indignation was very keen. -Through all the years he had been away -from home, the tender home-love had never -died in his honest and passionate heart. To -Finglecombe he had sent all he could -give—letters, presents, and many a token of regard; -but all in vain; and now she, who had driven -him from that home—a luxurious one now—had -found him an enemy, and a dangerous -one, in the truculent savage, Reeve Rudderhead. -</p> - -<p> -Derval hailed the return of the Captain on -board with right good welcome. He was -warmly welcomed by the latter, who said: -</p> - -<p> -"I saw by the <i>London Gazette</i>, and other -papers, that Her Majesty had, at the request -of Lord Oakhampton, given you the Albert -Medal for saving his girl's life! Long may -you live to wear it, Derval; but now you -must, like me, join the Reserve; you'll just -be able to manage your training before we -sail." -</p> - -<p> -This was exactly suited to the young man's -tastes and ambition; so Derval was duly -commissioned as a midshipman on board -H.M. training ship <i>President</i>, appeared in his -uniform as such, with the Albert Medal on -his right breast, and performed twenty-eight -days drill, under the Gunnery Lieutenant, -messing with the officers in the ward room. -</p> - -<p> -This brief sojourn on board Her Majesty's -ship, while so much active and even dirty -work (which Derval luckily escaped) was -being done in the <i>Amethyst</i>, roused the ready -wrath and jealousy of Mr. Reeve Rudderhead -to boiling heat against him; and consequently, -when Derval again appeared on her -deck, he was greeted by that personage in -this manner:— -</p> - -<p> -"Now, then, Mister Derval Hampton, as -you have done us the honour of coming -aboard again, you'll perhaps take off that -dandy gold ring of yours, with the three -crows—or are they three mudlarks?—on it; -and go aloft and see to greasing down the -foretop-mast, and setting up the maintopmast -backstay." -</p> - -<p> -"Very good, sir," said Derval, passing on. -</p> - -<p> -"A gold ring!" muttered the bully, aside; -"I'll warrant him as perfect a cock-pit beau -as ever foundered in the lee-scuppers." -</p> - -<p> -"What is the difference between foundering -and going down?" asked Derval, as a Parthian -shot, remembering how curiously the word -had stung his enemy before, and a terrible -scowl darkened the face of the latter, as -he turned away grumbling one of his deep -maledictions. -</p> - -<p> -The cargo was complete now, and the ship -was ready for sea; all the running rigging -had been examined, and that which was -unfit for service removed, and new rigging -rove in its place, together with the studding -gear, and "the chaffing gear," which consists -of roundings or mats, battens, put upon the -rigging and spars to prevent their being -frayed, was all arranged under the eyes of Joe -Grummet, as the ship dropped down the river, -and was again taken into the Channel by -old Toggle the Deal pilot. -</p> - -<p> -After the two lights on the Lizard Point—the -last they saw of England—melted out in -distance and the obscurity of a February -night, and the <i>Amethyst</i> was altogether clear -of the English Channel, the weather became -delightful, the water smooth, the skies clear, -and as the wind was fair, she ran before it -merrily, without tack or sheet being lifted, till -the latitudes of balmy breezes and sunny days -in long succession were reached. -</p> - -<p> -Every other day vessels were passed, but -after a time the seas became more lonely, and -for many a day no sail would be in sight; -and then a succession of foul winds took the -<i>Amethyst</i> considerably out of her course, and -to the westward. -</p> - -<p> -The crew of a vessel while at sea is -generally divided in two portions, called -the starboard and port watches. The former, -in a merchant ship, is the captain's watch, -but is frequently commanded by the second -mate; the other, the larboard or port watch, -falls to the chief mate; and the periods of -time occupied by each part of the crew -alternately, while thus on duty, are also termed -watches. -</p> - -<p> -One night, after Fogo—one of the Cape de -Vere Islands—had been passed, with its -volcano 9,000 feet above the sea, all aflame -as it now generally is, after fifty years of -silence, Mr. Rudderhead was so long of -coming on deck to relieve Captain Talbot, -who had the starboard watch from 8 to -12, that he sent Derval below to rouse -him up. -</p> - -<p> -Under all circumstances Derval disliked -coming in contact with this man, who was a -dark and repellent fellow, haunted in his sleep -by nightmares and dreams, amid which ever -and anon—as sometimes when he was irritated -by day—he would mutter horribly of -some ship going down with all hands on -board. -</p> - -<p> -As Derval entered the cabin, it was lighted -only by a swinging lamp in the skylight, -where, with the tell-tale compass, it vibrated -to and fro with every roll of the ship, and as -he made his way towards the berth, where -the first mate lay fast asleep with his clothes -on, all ready to turn out, he became aware -that Rudderhead was in one of his drunken -slumbers, for he had a store of spirits in his -own baggage, and often imbibed so much as -to endanger the ship when in his care. -</p> - -<p> -He lay on his back, his repulsive visage -half seen and half sunk in shadow by the -partial light of the cabin lamp, and was -evidently haunted by one of his peculiar -dreams just then, and was muttering about a -ship called the <i>North Star</i>. -</p> - -<p> -At first he was actually smiling, and then -an expression of intense cunning and gratification -stole over his face as he muttered— -</p> - -<p> -"Good, good; I understand ... the Marine -Insurance must stump up ... all the boats -gone save one, save one," he said, in a husky -whisper; "all but mine—mine! ... alongside. -Where's the auger? ... here ... now, -now, through outer and inner sheathing -... there is one!" and his clenched hands -revolved over each other as in fancy he -grasped the cross handle of an auger, and in -fancy—could Derval doubt it?—was piercing -a ship's side. "Three, four, five ... off, -off ... now she begins to settle in the water -... they find she is going down ... now to -scull for the shore ... four miles ... How -they shriek, and cry, and howl ... How pale -their faces look in the moonlight ... they -threaten, rave, and implore me to return -... no help for them ... down they go -... down, down, down, and now they all come -up with their dead faces and white hands -out of the green sea. They glare at me -on every side ... they grasp the gunwale -of my boat—they clutch me ... Merciful -Heaven!" -</p> - -<p> -His mutterings terminated in a wail of -horror, then came prayers, with maledictions -on himself and others, as he writhed on his -bed; and in the agony produced by his -dream, which seemed to reach a climax of -unutterable horror, while a cold and clammy -sweat distilled upon his brow, and his -muscular limbs shivered like aspen twigs, he -awoke and half sprang out of his berth; but -the effect of his vision overcame him, and -for a moment he sank back on the pillow, -panting rather than breathing. -</p> - -<p> -On seeing that Derval was regarding him, -and conscious that he must have been -muttering though knowing not what he might -have said, a sudden expression of alarm, -mingled with defiance and malevolence, came -into his face, and he staggered up. -</p> - -<p> -"I have been dreaming," said he. -</p> - -<p> -"So I see," observed Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"See—what did you <i>hear</i>? I mutter odd -things in my sleep, I am told. Those who -hear them are not lucky. The last fellow -who did so was lost <i>overboard</i> in the night," he -added, with a diabolical grin. -</p> - -<p> -Derval was silent. -</p> - -<p> -"Speak, I tell you," bullied the other. -</p> - -<p> -"Captain's orders are that you are -instantly to relieve the deck; eight bells in -the first watch have struck," said Derval, -sharply, and went on deck, merely reporting -that Mr. Rudderhead was coming, and the -new watch was already on deck. -</p> - -<p> -Derval acted with judicious care in not -telling the first mate all he had heard; but -the latter knew what was too often his use -and wont, to mutter in his sleep, and thus a -species of dread of Derval was added to his -ill-concealed hatred of him. -</p> - -<p> -The latter confided to Harry Bowline and -to the boatswain the strange revelations -Rudderhead had made in his sleep. -</p> - -<p> -"The <i>North Star</i>, the <i>North Star</i>!" exclaimed -Grummet, as he slapped his thigh, and with -a gulp of astonishment, by which he nearly -swallowed his quid; "why that's the very ship -as was said to have foundered four miles off -the Scilly Isles, after losing all her boats -save one, in which Rudderhead, her second -mate, reached St. Mary's, and I don't think -the Mercantile Marine Insurance would have -'stumped up,' as he calls it, without a fight -for it. I have heard him muttering in his -dreams. I wish he was well out of the ship, -that I do; good can't come to us with such a -thief on board. My eyes! how many a better -man has swung in Execution dock, and had -his poor bones chained to those stumps, as we -may see any day by the Essex marshes. I -never liked the cut of his jib." -</p> - -<p> -To Derval it was evident that what he had -overheard was no dream or nightmare, simple -and pure, but the recollection of a real -event—the scuttling of the <i>North Star</i>, and leaving -her to sink with all hands on board, the result -of some foul scheme between himself and -someone else; and now there took possession -of him a great horror of this man, with whom -he had to sit at table, and to converse and -confer incidentally while conducting mutually -the duty of the ship. -</p> - -<p> -That the untoward incident of Derval -coming upon him in his dream dwelt in the -mate's memory, was evident, as the former -frequently caught the latter regarding him -with a stern and lowering eye when he thought -his attention was turned another way; and -once, when the mate was partially intoxicated, -and had crept into the long-boat amidships to -keep out of the captain's sight, Derval, who -was busy near the mainmast, heard him -muttering— -</p> - -<p> -"Dreams—a curse upon them! Why will -they haunt me? Well, well, let him suspect -what he likes, but he can prove nothing, and -no one can prove anything, and dead men tell -no tales, as <i>he</i> may find out one day. She -wrote me to serve him out in any fashion to -suit her; but (here he uttered a terrible oath) -I'll serve him out to suit myself." -</p> - -<p> -<i>She</i> was, Derval never for a moment doubted, -Mrs. Hampton. Thus he found that to avoid -scrapes, to avoid tyranny, and to escape -positive peril, would require all his care, all -his caution and perseverance now. -</p> - -<p> -Reeve Rudderhead was, we have said, a man -of enormous strength, bulk, and stature; every -muscle and fibre in his form had been developed -and turned, as it were, to iron and wire. He -was decidedly a fellow to fear physically, and -to shun morally. He was quite capable of -working anyone a fatal mischief whom he -disliked, or who crossed him in the least way, -and the contingencies of a seafaring life afford -such a character many easy chances for doing -so with impunity; thus Derval did not forget -his hint and threat about the listener who -was lost overboard. -</p> - -<p> -But there were other risks to run on which -he did not calculate. -</p> - -<p> -Thus, one day, a top-maul, or large iron -hammer kept up aloft for driving in or out -the fid of the topmasts, came whizzing down -from the mizen-top, where Rudderhead was -supposed to be busy on something or other. -It crashed upon the quarter-deck, close by -where Derval was standing, and <i>then</i> followed -the cry which always precedes anything being -thrown from aloft:— -</p> - -<p> -"Stand from under," sang out Rudderhead. -</p> - -<p> -Derval felt himself grow pale, while a fierce -gust of wrath rose in his breast, for this could -not have been a chance occurrence, but a -deliberate attempt to destroy him accidentally, -as it were, in open daylight, and in the face of -the crew; and there was an unconcealed grin -on the visage of Rudderhead when rebuked -by Captain Talbot for carelessness, and while -making his sham excuses to Derval. -</p> - -<p> -The latter thought deeply over the -correspondence between Mrs. Hampton and her -amiable cousin, and recalled the fragments of -the letter he traced on the blotting pad, and -he now could but construe or connect them -thus: that they were to the effect that as he, -Derval, was in the way (of whom, Rookleigh?), -Rudderhead, for the old love he bore her, and -for a good round sum, would rid her of him in -any mode he chose, so that they might see -him no more. -</p> - -<p> -It was impossible to doubt now that such -had been the tenor of that atrocious epistle. -It might be, Derval thought in his calmer -moments, that she did not mean a deadly -crime to be committed to remove him from -jarring with her son's interests, and that the -affair of the maul was dictated by Reeve -Rudderhead's own spirit of malevolence and -revenge. -</p> - -<p> -But what could she mean? unless it were -that Rudderhead was to contrive to leave him -ashore in some place where he might perish or -never more be heard of; or if, when some such -contingency as a tumble overboard befel him, -to be in no hurry to throw him a line or cut -away the life-buoy. Anyway, Derval was now -completely on his guard. -</p> - -<p> -He remembered how his predecessor, Paul -Bitts—an enemy from the hour he joined the -ship—by his cruelty, tyranny, and terror, had -blotted out the short life of poor little Tom -Titford on that terrible night at Fernando -Noronha; and he wondered if some such -untoward fate might befal himself at the hands -of this unscrupulous wretch. But then Tom -Tit, as they called him, was but a child -compared with what Derval was now, and he -resolved, as he said to Harry Bowline, "to -keep his weather-eye remarkably wide open." -</p> - -<p> -As for his growing inheritance, sailor like, -he set no store on it then, and actually cared -little, if he always had a ship, whether every -shilling of it went to Rookleigh, the failings -in whose disposition and character seemed to -soften by time and distance, and often in lone -watches of the night did Derval think he -would try to love him, when the selfish little -Rook of the nursery became, like himself, a -man. Was he not his brother, and, moreover, -the nearest kinsman he had on earth? They -had the same father, though different -mothers—oh, so different! Yes, yes, a day would -come when Rook would cease to be under his -mother's influence, and the bonds of fraternal -affection would naturally strengthen between -them as years rolled on. -</p> - -<p> -Alas! Could Derval have foreseen the future! -</p> - -<p> -About the time when the <i>Amethyst</i> began to -feel the main equatorial current, one evening -the sea, which had been as smooth as the -Serpentine in Hyde Park on a summer day, -suddenly became torn up by a hurricane, -which a rapid fall in the barometer indicated, -but scarcely in time for preparations to -meet it. -</p> - -<p> -The wind seemed to come from all quarters -at once, as if contending for mastery, and the -spray flew over the ship in blinding clouds. -The weightiest blast struck her on the lee -bow, and, as the yards were braced that -way, she was nearly thrown on her beam -ends. -</p> - -<p> -"Hold on!" was the shout that went from -stem to stern, and every man grasped -something to prevent himself being swept -overboard. -</p> - -<p> -For nearly a minute the ship lay in the -same position, when she righted a little, and -then payed off before the blast, when Joe -Grummet joined the man at the wheel. -</p> - -<p> -Darkness came on with more than tropical -rapidity. Luckily the royals had not been -set, and topsails, close-reefed, were lowered -upon the caps, while the vessel drove before -her courses and fore-staysail. -</p> - -<p> -"We are in for a rough night," said -Mr. Rudderhead grimly, as he tied the strings of -a yellow south-wester under his chin. "A -night as may make some beggar lose the -number of his mess, if it don't send us all to -Davy Jones's locker before morning." -</p> - -<p> -Twice during this short speech his eye -wandered, perhaps unconsciously, to Derval; -but, as the event proved, the night was to -have more terror for himself than any man -on board. -</p> - -<p> -The sea which, from the commencement of -the hurricane, had been roused into boiling -surge, dashed over the ship without a -moment's cessation, though she must have -been going at the rate of twelve knots an -hour, but as the light in the binnacle was -extinguished by the tempest, no one could -tell for some time which way her head lay; -and for a time such was the black fury of the -hurricane, that the look-out ahead could not -see half the vessel's length from her, so thick -were the clouds of spray raised by the force of -the wind, and meanwhile the whole deck was -flooded, and everything loose went washing -away to leeward. -</p> - -<p> -From time to time Derval thought of -Rudderhead, and while doing his duty kept on his -guard. Amid the hubbub and obscurity of -such time there was more than one -opportunity of working mischief. -</p> - -<p> -Thunder, lightning, and rain were all in full -chorus together for more than an hour, during -which very little was said by one man to -another, save brief orders, or hurried remarks. -</p> - -<p> -"I think there is a little lull, sir," said -Rudderhead to the Captain; "shall we keep -our wind?' -</p> - -<p> -"I think you are right—she is a weatherly -craft, and makes little leeway. Luff her to, -then!" shouted Talbot, through his trumpet. -</p> - -<p> -The words were scarcely out of his mouth -when a great black sea came thundering like -a mountain over the weather gangway, nearly -tearing the long-boat from its chocks, straining -and starting the lashing of the weather -guns, beating open two of the lee ports, and -nearly sweeping away everything movable. -The hurricane now abated a little; but the -<i>Amethyst</i> had scarcely a stitch of canvas set, -yet the yards being braced up sharply, kept -her steady, while ever and anon brilliant -flashes of green lightning cast a ghastly glare -upon the seething water, and appalling booms -of thunder hurtled through the sky, to die -away in distance. -</p> - -<p> -About three bells, in the middle watch, -there came a cry from the look-out man -ahead— -</p> - -<p> -"Sail on the weather bow!" -</p> - -<p> -She had been revealed by a flash of lightning, -and was, Harry Bowline reported, about -half a mile off. -</p> - -<p> -In such a tempest it might be necessary to -give her as wide a berth as possible, and several -night-glasses were in requisition, scanning the -quarter indicated; and, among others, Derval, -with his left arm round one of the -fore-shrouds, kept his binocular intently to his -eyes, on the look-out. -</p> - -<p> -Flash after flash came in rapid succession, -vivid, green, and ghastly, and with each they -could all see the stranger, whom they neared -fast, and made out to be a brig with her -topmasts gone, her canvas split to ribbons. -Bobbing up and down, she was visible only -for an instant at a time, and chill fell on all -who saw her, for she was evidently an old -wreck, with no living being on board of her, -though a dead man was seen lashed in the -starboard main-shrouds, and three other corpses -were dangling from lashings in the foretop. -</p> - -<p> -No sound or cry came from that ghostly -craft as the <i>Amethyst</i> swept past her within a -few yards of her stern, just as one more than -usually vivid flash showed her distinctly, with -her torn rigging all hanging in bights and -loops, the dead-lights shipped in her cabin -windows, and her name painted in white -letters underneath them. -</p> - -<p> -"Could any of you make out her name?" -asked Captain Talbot, as the flash passed -away, and the wreck seemed to vanish, when -the thunder burst fearfully overhead. -</p> - -<p> -"I did, sir," replied Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"You are very clever, Hampton. Did anyone -else make it out? I should like to be -sure, for the log-book." -</p> - -<p> -There was no reply from anyone else, and -Derval was silent, for he had a choking -sensation in his throat. -</p> - -<p> -"I should like to have some other warrant -for her name, ere I put it in the log, than -Mr. Derval Hampton's," sneered Rudderhead. -</p> - -<p> -"And what did you make out her name to -be?" asked Talbot. -</p> - -<p> -"<i>The North Star</i>," replied Derval, for such -was indeed the name he had seen. -</p> - -<p> -"<i>What?</i>" roared Rudderhead, in a voice -that startled all. "It is a lie—a horrid lie! -He could not have made it out in this -obscurity." -</p> - -<p> -"How dare you say so?" asked Captain -Talbot. -</p> - -<p> -"I am sure of what I assert, sir," said -Derval, careless of how his words affected his -enemy; "she is <i>The North Star, of Whitchurch</i>." -</p> - -<p> -Something between a groan and a curse -escaped the lips of Rudderhead, whose -perplexity Derval really shared, but with much -of awe, while the former felt much of rage and -hatred, believing, almost hoping, that the -name was Derval's invention, and suggested, -perhaps, by some remark overheard in the -dream, on the night he was too late to relieve -the deck. -</p> - -<p> -"<i>The North Star</i>," and "of Whitchurch" -too! Was it a reality, or a phantom ship -sent to blast the eye-sight and terrify the -heart of Reeve Rudderhead? -</p> - -<p> -Any way, it was a strange and startling -coincidence, the whole episode; and the -perfect similitude of the name with that of the -vessel of his dreams, or his crime. This, -together with the terrible circumstances under -which she had been seen, had, for a time, a -calming effect upon the brutal temper and -spirit of the first mate, whose entry of the -circumstances in the log, together with the -details of how the <i>Amethyst</i> was handled in the -hurricane, proved nearly illegible, so tremulous -and uncertain was the handwriting. -</p> - -<p> -As daylight broke the hurricane passed -away, and the clouds cleared; but not a -vestige of the wreck was to be seen, so those -who swept the horizon with their glasses for -her could but conclude that she had gone -down, with her dead, in the night. -</p> - -<p> -The sea was still running very high, and the -<i>Amethyst</i>, having no canvas set, rolled very -heavily. The morning watch, whose duty -extends from 4 to 8 A.M., was now on deck. -</p> - -<p> -"Away aloft and cast loose the topsails," -was now the Captain's order; "hoist away, -lads—up to the cross-trees with them." The -courses were then let fall, and pleasantly -and steadily the ship bore on, rolling away -before the wind. -</p> - -<p> -Derval, who had never mentioned the -matter of the first mate's dreams and -nocturnal visits to the Captain, had much -difficulty in assuring Hal Bowline and Joe -Grummet that the name he had given was -that which he had really seen; for the boatswain -was especially unbelieving. He laughed -loudly again and again, slapped his thigh -vigorously, and Derval's back too, supposing -that the name was all an invention for the -purpose of "giving that piratical beggar a -dig—hitting him on the raw," and so forth; but -the episode elicited, as usual at sea, a number -of anything but enlivening or hilarious -anecdotes, concerning wrecks and marvels of the -deep. -</p> - -<p> -"The last time I saw any dead bodies -adrift upon the sea," said Joe, "was just -before I shipped aboard this here craft. We -had left Sidney in June, bound for Shanghai, -and had fair winds till we reached latitude 6, -south, when the glass fell low, the sea rose -and the wind too, for we lost our fore-topmast, -which snapped off at the cap like a clay-pipe. -The gale increased, so we hauled to the wind -on the port tack, under a close-reefed foresail, -main-topsail, and fore-stay sail, and plenty of -cormorants were flying about us and -perching on the yard-arms. When the gale -abated, and all but the watch were thankfully -about to turn in, there was a cry of 'Wreck -to leeward!' and there came drifting past us -a raft made of planks, poles, and spars, on -which was a poor wretch, almost naked as he -came into the world, famished, starving, and -well-nigh raving mad, the last survivor of only -four unfortunate fellows who had escaped from -a sinking ship. On the second day the ship -sank, one of the men fell off the raft into the -water, and was devoured by sharks under the -eyes of the three survivors, around whom -the sea-lawyers began to gather on every side. -A second man died from exhaustion, and the -other two threw him into the sea, hoping that -then the sharks would go and leave them in -peace. But the taste of human flesh seemed -to increase their longings, and their numbers -also, and still more when the third man fell -dead on the raft and his mess-mate was too -weak to throw him into the sea. They -seemed to swarm up out of the deep now on -every side; they crowded round the frail raft, -which was level with the water, so that every -wave rolled over it. Eagerly the sharks -watched its only occupant on every hand, -their dorsal fins quivering with hungry longings, -their rows of awful teeth glittering head -over head, side by side, in close ranks. Look -which way he might, he saw nothing but eyes -and teeth—eyes and teeth—and for well-nigh -a week this lasted. He could neither sleep -nor lie down, for dread of falling into the sea -and being rent piece-meal. The hot sun of -these scorching latitudes beat all day long -upon his defenceless head; he was without -food or water at last, and when we got him -aboard was well-nigh a raving lunatic, and he -had terrible dreams at night, like our friend in -the cabin—dreams of sharp teeth and eyes, -sharp teeth and glistening eyes, for long after. -Another day of such work and we might have -found him like his mess-mate, as the -newspapers say, 'with the wital spark extinct.'" -</p> - -<p> -Greatly to the disgust and annoyance of -Mr. Rudderhead, Captain Talbot, having as -we have said, a proportion of Royal Naval -Reserve men on board, when the weather was -fine, was fond of training the crew to the guns -and small arms, making and shortening sail, -reefing topsails, and otherwise manoeuvring -the ship; and when she was about the latitude -of St. Helena, it would seem as if the skill -and mettle of her crew were on the point of -being tangibly proved. -</p> - -<p> -Foul winds, as stated, had driven the -<i>Amethyst</i> considerably to the westward of her -course. One day, in the early part of the -morning watch, Derval was regarding with -pleasure, as he often did, the strange beauty -of the early day-break on the vast and wide -expanse of ocean. The first streaks of grey -and then yellow light stretched for miles and -miles along the horizon eastward, indicating -the line where sky and ocean met; throwing -a broadening sheet of radiance upon the face -of the undulating deep, imparting a weird -beauty to it, which, as a writer says, combined -with the boundlessness and unknown depth -of the sea around you, "gives one a feeling -of loneliness, of dread, and of melancholy -foreboding, which nothing else in nature can -give." -</p> - -<p> -Day broke and brightened fast, and the -<i>Amethyst</i> was on a wind, with topsails, courses, -jib, and spanker set, when suddenly the cry, -which always attracts attention on board -ship, "Sail ho!" was given by one of the -watch. -</p> - -<p> -"Where?" demanded Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"Right astern, sir." -</p> - -<p> -Derval took the glass from the cleats, where -it hung in the companion, and saw a vessel, -equal in tonnage evidently to the <i>Amethyst</i>, -heading directly after her, with every stitch -of canvas spread. She was a great -clipper-built brigantine. -</p> - -<p> -"She is following us, certainly," said one -of the men. -</p> - -<p> -"What can she want with us?" asked another. -</p> - -<p> -"Has lost her reckoning—or is out of water -or something else," suggested the first speaker. -</p> - -<p> -"Are you going to shorten sail, and let her -come up with us?" asked Harry Bowline. -</p> - -<p> -"Certainly not without orders," said -Derval; "go below and report this to the -Captain." -</p> - -<p> -In a few minutes Captain Talbot came on -deck, and took the glass from Derval's hand. -After a time, he said: -</p> - -<p> -"I make her out to be a sharp-bowed or -clipper-built barque or brigantine, with a -small mast rigged aft, with an enormous fore -and aft mainsail; she is about 600 tons or -more, and full of men—very full of men, for -a merchant vessel." -</p> - -<p> -"How far is she astern, sir?" -</p> - -<p> -"About eight miles—I can see the water -curling white under her fore-foot." -</p> - -<p> -"She shows no colours or signal." -</p> - -<p> -"Which she would be sure to do if she -wished to speak to us; any way, we'll show -her ours. Run up the ensign." -</p> - -<p> -No response was made to this, and the blue -flag of the Naval Reserve floated out in vain -from the gaff; and the silent craft, with its -crowded deck, came steadily on, and was -overhauling the <i>Amethyst</i> so fast that ere long, -as the distance between them lessened, many -coloured and even black faces could be seen -among her crew. -</p> - -<p> -"She does not require to speak with us, -sir," said Joe Grummet; "she would show -her colours else." -</p> - -<p> -"Then what the devil does she mean by -keeping in our wake in this fashion?" said -Captain Talbot testily. -</p> - -<p> -"Her crew crowd her deck as thick as -bees," observed Joe, when the whole flush line -of the stranger's deck could be seen, as her -head went down into the trough of the sea -and her stern rose alternately. The whole of -the <i>Amethyst's</i> company were on deck now, and -the strange craft was an object of undivided -attention. -</p> - -<p> -"In these days of steam," said Captain -Talbot, with a smile that was not quite a -smile, "one may well think that a pirate is -as much a thing of the past as a slaver in -these seas; but the bearing of this craft is -very suspicious, and we must risk nothing with -a cargo so valuable." -</p> - -<p> -Joe Grummet, who had been looking at her -from the mizen-rigging, now reported that she -had portlids partly triced up, and that right -amidships she had something covered by a -tarpaulin that was certainly not a boat, and, if -not a boat, was very probably a long-range -gun, and that she had a Chilian or Brazilian -look about her, "that with the coloured lot -on her deck certainly suggested that it would -be as well to give her as wide a berth as -possible." -</p> - -<p> -"Cast loose the royal," ordered Captain -Talbot, "and set the fore and main studding -sails, and the topgallant studding sails." -</p> - -<p> -This was all speedily done, and the ship -began to tear through the water, on which the -brigantine set her square main topsail, but -still did not show her colours. -</p> - -<p> -"It is clearly a case of chase, and had she -not such a crowd of men—by Jove! I would -lie to and try conclusions with her," said -Captain Talbot, whose cheek flushed, and whose -eyes sparkled with excitement. -</p> - -<p> -To make the sails draw better, he now -ordered water to be thrown on them, and to -wet them down by buckets whipped up to the -masthead. He then ordered the vessel's -course to be changed more than once, but the -craft in pursuit changed hers in the same -manner, and by noon was drawing nearer and -nearer. -</p> - -<p> -Matters were becoming serious now, and -the excitement on the <i>Amethyst</i> was increasing. -Captain Talbot next ordered the guns to be -cast loose, the powder and small arms to be -brought on deck, with the cutlasses and -revolvers, and a grim expression of something -very like satisfaction mingled with defiance -became visible on the faces of the men, as -they buckled on their waist-belts and filled -their cartridge-boxes. -</p> - -<p> -"Hurrah!" cried Joe Grummet, applying -the edge of a cutlass to his hard, brown palm; -"we'll tip them a twist of the Royal Naval -Reserve." -</p> - -<p> -"I hope it won't come to that, Grummet," -said the Captain seriously; "she has ten men -for each of us evidently." -</p> - -<p> -In the tasks of setting more canvas and -wetting it all down from aloft, none had been -more active than Mr. Reeve Rudderhead, but -his bearing became very nervous and restless -when he saw the lines of the guns laid across -the deck, the rammers and sponges laid by -their sides, the port tackles triced to the lids, -and expected every moment to hear Captain -Talbot issue an order to throw the ship in the -wind. -</p> - -<p> -The latter, however, had no such intention -if it could be avoided. He continued dead -before the wind with all his yards squared, -knowing well that a square-rigged vessel -always sailed better so, while fore and aft -vessels have most speed on a wind; moreover, -as the breeze was light, he spread more canvas -than the chase could do, having royals, -fourteen studding-sails, and sky-sails fore and -aft. -</p> - -<p> -The entire day all hands remained on deck, -and what food they had was all taken there. -The wind varied a good deal and fell light -sometimes on board the <i>Amethyst</i>, while, as -if by ill-luck, the chase seemed to have it -steadily, and was provokingly enabled to -preserve her distance—about two miles. -</p> - -<p> -"Look out!" cried Rudderhead, ducking -below the gunnel, as a white puff spirted out -from the black bow of the stranger, and a -shot, which came ricochetting along the -wave-tops, dropped into the water far astern of -the <i>Amethyst</i>. -</p> - -<p> -"A hint of what is in store for us," said -Captain Talbot; and by sunset she was still -coming on, bringing the freshing breeze with -her, and the snow-white foam seemed to curl -higher and higher round the bright copper -that flashed upon her bows. -</p> - -<p> -It was with an emotion of considerable -relief that, after a day of such excitement, -Captain Talbot saw the sun of the tropics -shedding his light like a long level ray of -fire from the verge of the horizon, and going -down beyond the world of waters which were -overspread by a darkness sudden and -complete, for luckily there was no moon, and -the night was a very gloomy one for those -latitudes. -</p> - -<p> -All lights on board were extinguished, the -studding-sails and sky-sails were all taken off -the ship, the course of which was altered four -points; the port-tacks were brought aft, the -starboard yard-heads trimmed accordingly, -and the <i>Amethyst</i> passed away into the darkness, -leaving astern, floating in the water, a -ship's lighted lantern attached to a barrel as -a decoy—a suggestion of Derval's, and greatly -did the Captain compliment him thereon. -</p> - -<p> -This light, which was visible from the deck, -continued to bob about on the waves for -some time, and no doubt the stranger would -continue to steer directly for it, and very -probably ran it down, as about an hour after -it was set afloat, it suddenly vanished, and by -that time the <i>Amethyst</i> was considered safe, all -the more so that the wind came more aft -for the direction she had taken, and again her -yards were squared, but no light was placed -in the binnacle; the second mate, Tom Tyeblock, -steered her by the light of the stars, -and perfect silence was maintained during the -night. -</p> - -<p> -When day broke not a vestige of the chase -was visible, even from the masthead; the -guns were made fast, and the portlids also, -the arms and ammunition were all sent below, -and the vessel was kept off to her course. -</p> - -<p> -Ere long she reached the 40th degree of -southern latitude, and then her prow was -pointed to the wide and stormy ocean which -divides Africa from Australia; and now -gigantic albatrosses—the "man-o'-war bird," -as the sailors name them—were seen around -the ship, with those graceful little birds which -resemble swallows in shape and mode of flying, -though smaller—Mother Carey's chickens. -"And all the world knows, or ought to know," -as a sailor told Derval, "that Mother Carey -was an aunt of St. Patrick." -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap02"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II. -<br /><br /> -TURTLE ISLAND. -</h3> - -<p> -"He didn't like seeing the guns cast loose, -and the powder and small arms brought on -deck, this precious first mate of ours," said -Joe Grummet one day to Derval, when they -were up aloft; "cos why? he is a coward, -and cowards are always cruel. He was once -a captain, but his certificate is -suspended—though I don't know for how long, but -suspended it is—cos why? He caught a poor -stowaway lad on board, half dead with -confinement and want of food, and how do you -think he treated him? He lashed a ring-bolt -with spunyarn athwart his open jaws to -prevent his shrieks being heard when he -ropes-ended him, and trained a dog to bite -him; he headed him up in a cask and rolled -him round the deck; and this work went on -for days. He made a timber hitch on a line, -and hoisted him by the neck three feet from -the deck at a time, till his eyes started from -their sockets, and blood and froth oozed -from his mouth, flogging him day after day, -till one came, when the poor boy was found -dead under the lee of the long-boat; and then -his body, without service or prayer, was -chucked overboard.* Now he sails as chief -mate, but I wonder our owners took him -aboard at all." -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -* A fact. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -This anecdote served to increase Derval's -disgust for Rudderhead, who seemed almost -to divine that he was the subject of conversation, -as he stood on the quarter-deck, with -his eyes steadily regarding them in the -foretop. -</p> - -<p> -Amid fine weather, and accompanied by -steady and pleasant breezes, the <i>Amethyst</i> made -the Island of Desolation, or Kerguelen's Land, -the abode alone of petrels, albatrosses, gulls, -and sea-swallows, on the rifted rocks of which, -washed by incessant rains, nothing grows but -saxifrage—a lonely and most melancholy -place. -</p> - -<p> -After passing it, the ship's log shows that -she encountered a gale, and that the watch -had to take in the main topgallant-sail and -mainsail, with the fourth reef of the topsails; -and set the mainstay-sail. In the evening -she was under close-reefed topsails, a reefed -foresail, and was shipping heavy seas. -</p> - -<p> -Fine weather came again, and one fine -forenoon, a week or so after, when Derval -had the watch, the cry "Land ahead!" from -the look-out men caused every glass to be -levelled at a dark-blue streak, that rose like a -cloud from the shining sea, upon the lee bow; -and a reference to the chart showed that it -was one of those sequestered and seldom -visited isles in the South Sea, in latitude 60 -south, and 110 west longitude, and is known -as Turtle Island. -</p> - -<p> -It was rocky, hilly, and seemed to rise fast -from the sea, and to loom large, through a kind -of white haze, exhaled from the latter by the -heat of the sun; thus, by the bearings given, -the reader will see that it was a considerable -distance south of the regular line from Britain -to Australia. -</p> - -<p> -As Captain Talbot was anxious to procure -some turtle, he gave orders to stand towards -it, and about nightfall came to anchor in -seven fathoms water, in a fine sandy bay -where the waves rippled on the beach as -quietly as those of an island lake, and where -groves of trees grow close to the water's -edge. -</p> - -<p> -The volcanic rocks at the mouth of the -bay were literally covered with sea-hens, -gigantic albatrosses, and other feathered -tribes; wild boars and wild goats could be -seen by the glass ere the sun set, but luckily -no sign of inhabitants, on which Talbot -rather congratulated himself, as he knew well -the isle possessed them, and that, like all -other South Sea savages, they were vindictive, -cruel, and hostile to all strangers. -</p> - -<p> -By daybreak next morning two boats' crews, -under Rudderhead and Derval, taking with -them handspikes or capstan bars, pulled in -shore to search for turtle. They beached the -boats at a place where a number of large -turtle were seen, well up on the shore, near -some dense brushwood, out of which black -cocks flew from time to time, and near which -some great seals lay basking in the sun. -</p> - -<p> -In high spirits the boats' crews sprang -ashore, and intercepting the retreat of the -turtle, some of which were of such a size as -to be two or three hundred-weight, they -proceeded with the handspikes to turn them -on their backs and leave them thus till several -were captured, and then tumbled into the -boats. -</p> - -<p> -Full of natural interest at treading on new -soil, and looking on that which he had never -seen before, Derval, penetrating through the -brushwood, advanced some hundred yards -upward and inshore, and heard with pleasure -the tender rustling of the leaves in the -morning sea-breeze, while inhaling the perfume of -the aromatic plants and myrtle-trees. The -brilliant green of the woods that crept up the -sides of the hills, which in one place were so -lofty that the haze shrouded their summits, -were all novel and delightful, after the -monotony of the sea and sky during a long -voyage. -</p> - -<p> -While observing the brilliant tints and -peculiar shadows given by the morning sun to -some volcanic rocks rising from the nearest -grove of trees, he became suddenly aware that -they were swarming with black savages, whose -weapons, whatever they were, glittered in the -sun, and who from their eyrie were evidently -watching the ship in the bay, if not the party -in quest of turtle on the beach. -</p> - -<p> -He had scarcely made this discovery, when -he became aware that Reeve Rudderhead was -by his side, with what intent he could not -divine. Curiosity had no doubt prompted -him to follow Derval, simply to see what was -to be seen, and opportunity made him suddenly -avail himself of the time to do the fell crime -he subsequently committed. -</p> - -<p> -Enemies though they were, who never spoke -but on inevitable matters connected with ship -duty, Derval could not refrain from drawing -his ungracious messmate's attention to the -watching savages and their hostile aspect, -adding: -</p> - -<p> -"Don't you think, sir, that we had better -retire?" -</p> - -<p> -They were already in motion and leaping -down the rocks, with yells, brandishing their -spears and clubs. -</p> - -<p> -"Retire?" growled Rudderhead with an -oath, "I think so, unless we mean to share -the fate of Captain Cook; so here goes for -one. As for you," he added, with one of his -ferocious maledictions, "they may pick your -bones, and welcome!" Then whirling the -heavy hand-spike he carried, circularly in the -air, he struck Derval a blow on the back of -the head that felled him bleeding, stunned, -and senseless, among the brushwood! -</p> - -<p> -The moment he had accomplished this -terrible and atrocious act, he went plunging -down to the beach, shouting— -</p> - -<p> -"The savages—the natives are upon us; -into the boats with you for your lives, and -shove off to the ship!" -</p> - -<p> -Alarmed by this cry, and being unarmed, -the party were forced to be content with -what turtle they had got—some seven or eight—and -leaping into their two boats, pushed off -at once from the shore, and shipping their -oars pulled away with a will, just as a naked -horde of dark-skinned savages, perfectly nude, -save in the matter of the bead ornaments that -hung about their persons, shrieking, whooping, -yelling, and dancing like mad things, came -rushing with war-clubs, spears, powerful bows -and arrows, close to the edge of the water, -and even rushing into it up to their waists. -</p> - -<p> -The boats' crews could see their dark, -copper-coloured skins, their hair which was -longer and straighter than the wool of the -negro, their gleaming eyes and white -glistening teeth. An arrow or two whistled past, -but wide of the mark, and with laughing -shouts of defiance the party brought their -boats sheering alongside the ship, when the -turtles had ropes hitched round them, and -were quickly conveyed on board. -</p> - -<p> -"Hoist in the boats," was now the order -of Rudderhead, in his guilty haste anticipating -the authority of the captain for doing so. -</p> - -<p> -In the haste and confusion with which they -had embarked, the crew of each boat probably -thought—if they thought on the subject at -all—that Derval was on board the other; nor -was it till the boats were being actually -hoisted in on each quarter, that he was -missed, and Joe Grummet asked, with some -asperity and much alarm: -</p> - -<p> -"Where is the third mate—where is Mr. Hampton?" -</p> - -<p> -Then the boats' crews looked inquiringly -and blankly into each other's faces. -</p> - -<p> -"Left on shore!" said Captain Talbot. -"Good heaven! what a fate he must have -met by this time!" -</p> - -<p> -"We had not a moment to lose, sir, as you -must have seen, if you had been watching -us," said Rudderhead sullenly and with -averted eyes; "his safety was his own -look-out—not mine; and I think the third mate -could take jolly good care of himself." -</p> - -<p> -The Captain was silent; the beach was -now covered by a dingy horde of savages, -yelling and brandishing their weapons in -defiance at the ship, and he could not for a -moment doubt that Derval Hampton must -have perished at their hands. -</p> - -<p> -As for Mr. Reeve Rudderhead, he had not -the smallest doubt about it either, believing -that the little life he had left, if any, in -Derval, would speedily be beaten out of him -by the knob-sticks or war-clubs of the -islanders. -</p> - -<p> -All on board—save Reeve Rudderhead—sorrowed -for Derval, and were loud in their -praises and vehement in their regret (for, as -an officer, he was active, vigilant, and, if -distant, yet most kind), and none, perhaps, more -than Captain Talbot, who valued him highly -for his gentlemanly bearing, good appearance, -skill, and conscientious interest in his duty; -and in all this the Captain was joined by old -Joe Grummet, who would miss the listener -to many a yarn of the sea, and who sighed -heavily, Like a head wind through a hawse-hole, -slapped his thigh, viciously chewed his -quid, and clenched his hard first many times, -menacingly, while swearing "strange oaths," -and objurgating the eyes, limbs, and blood of -some individual unnamed, but who was -shrewdly supposed to be the first mate. -</p> - -<p> -Closely did the Captain and his officers -question the boats' crews, but nothing could -be elicited from them, save the facts that the -first and third mates had gone a little way -inland together, and the former would seem -to have come back <i>alone</i>; but yet that Derval -was not specially missed till the boats were -hoisted in; so Grummet and Hal Bowline felt -sure there must have been some treachery at -work, and that the most artful savage on -Turtle Island had been Reeve Rudderhead, -and the brutal indifference of the latter -greatly exasperated them. -</p> - -<p> -"What better could you expect of a fellow -who was neither man nor boy, sojer nor -sailor?" growled Rudderhead. "A lubber -he was—always reading when he should have -been knotting, splicing, and learning to box -the compass." -</p> - -<p> -Reading was not to the speaker's taste, -though grog was, and he drank it at night -to keep out the cold, by day to cure the heat, -never sipping it, "but shipping it in bulk, at -a mouthful," so Joe Grummet said. -</p> - -<p> -But now, regrets for Derval apart, active -work was cut out for the crew of the <i>Amethyst</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Thick as bees the dark natives seemed to -be swarming around the shores of the bay; -the alarm and muster of them seemed to be -general, and more than a score of pretty large -canoes, full of armed warriors, paddling the -water into foam, howling like madmen, and -all in a frantic state of activity, shot out of -mangrove creeks and other places where they -would seem to have been concealed, and -very soon the ship was nearly environed with -them. -</p> - -<p> -The small arms were all distributed by this -time, the guns cast loose and shotted with -grape, the ports triced up, and the watch -on deck were ordered to prepare for sea. -The courses were let fall, the topsails -half-hoisted, and the ship was sheered to her -anchor, <i>i.e.</i> steered towards it while weighing, -so as to keep the wind and current ahead, -and thus lessen the friction on the hawse-pipe. -</p> - -<p> -If the intentions of these people were -hostile, which Captain Talbot and his crew never -doubted, they were not immediately aggressive, -but continued to paddle round and -round the ship, coming as near as they dared, -as they had probably been fired upon by other -vessels and knew the effect of cannon and -musketry. -</p> - -<p> -The windlass bars were all shipped, but -there was a great and altogether unexpected -delay in getting the anchor a-trip or even -roused. The flukes seemed to hold on to -something, and for a time the bars were vainly -strained in the grasp of the seamen, but "the -main piece," or beam of the windlass, -remained immovable on its iron spindles, and -the oaths and execrations of Mr. Rudderhead, -who, in his anxiety, began to think of slipping -the cable, were loud and bitter. The mouth -of the bay was becoming well-nigh blocked up -by canoes, and the minds of all on board the -<i>Amethyst</i> were full of those stories which ever -and anon the public prints give, of the wholesale -massacre of ships' crews by savages in the -isles of the South Sea. -</p> - -<p> -To intimidate them Captain Talbot ordered -a 9-pounder, loaded with a blank cartridge, to -be fired; but like blank firing on a mob at -home, this precisely made matters worse, for -even while the echoes of the gun pealed over -the water, seeing no effect followed, the -savages uttered screams of defiance and pulled -closer, with the evident intention of boarding, -and arrows began to whizz over the ship, or -stick quivering into her sides and deck every -instant. -</p> - -<p> -At that instant the clanking of the windlass -pawls was heard, a welcome sound; the -anchor was roused, "up-torn, reluctant from -its oozy bed," and was seen dripping -a-cockbill at the cat-head. The topsails were -fully hoisted and the courses sheeted home, -but there was very little wind, so the ship's -progress was slow, and the arrows were flying -faster than ever. Captain Talbot had his cheek -laid open by one, and three of the crew were -more or less wounded, one by a barbed reed, -which cost Dr. Strang the greatest trouble -to extract, and perceiving that the strangers -were taking to flight emboldened the pursuers -who came so close that they were endeavouring -to reach the side plates and chains. -</p> - -<p> -"Depress the guns to port and starboard, -fire wherever these devils are thickest, and -blaze away the small-arm men," cried Captain -Talbot, whose face was streaming with blood. -</p> - -<p> -The savages, their canoes huddled close -together, jostling and crashing side by side, -were now nearly all within pistol-range: thus -the effect of the double broadside, together -with a sputtering fire from the breechloading -rifles over the gunnel, had a terrific effect -upon them. The simultaneous roar of the -9-pounders burst like thunder over the waters -of the bay; for a brief space the vessel was -shrouded in smoke, and amid it the crew could -hear that the defiant war-yells had given place -to those of terror, rage, and agony. -</p> - -<p> -As the light smoke curled up through the -rigging, or went ahead with the wind, and the -guns were drawn in for reloading, a scene of -terrible devastation became visible. Many of -the canoes were dashed to pieces and floated -in fragments on the water, clutched desperately -by hands that had relinquished the -bow, the spear, or the war-club. Other -canoes were riddled and sinking with all on -board. Scores of black heads were bobbing -about like fishermen's floats, and all around -the <i>Amethyst</i> the clear blue water of the bay -was streaked with blood. -</p> - -<p> -The groans and gurglings of the wounded -and dying who floated about were somewhat -heart-sickening. -</p> - -<p> -"Cease firing the guns," cried the Captain, -"but pick off any scoundrel within range of -the small arms." -</p> - -<p> -Thus from the waist and quarter on both -sides a desultory fire was maintained; most -deliberate were the aims taken at any black -head that appeared, for the crew had been -thoroughly alarmed and exasperated. Just as -the ship got clear of the bight or little bay, -and the wind began to freshen, a most -singular act of retribution took place. -</p> - -<p> -As the guns and ports were being made fast, -Reeve Rudderhead chanced—for what reason -or by what impulse he knew not—to look over -the side, when he perceived just beneath him -a savage crouching in the main chains dripping -with blood from a wound in his throat, and -while hopeless of mercy, fearing to trust -himself to the water while the deadly rifles -were in activity over his head. Finding -himself discovered, quick as thought, with -deadly and unerring hand, he launched a spear -at the first mate's head, and leaping into the -water was seen no more. -</p> - -<p> -The lance, which had a small barbed head, -went right through the two cheeks of -Mr. Rudderhead, who uttered a howl of rage and -anguish, as he rushed back fairly "spritsail-yarded," -as the sailor's said, and with his -mouth so full of blood that he was soon -speechless and well-nigh choked, for a labial -artery had been cut, and when Dr. Strang -removed the lance, by first sawing off its head, -the hæmorrhage was so great that the crew -began to think—if they did not precisely -hope—that the wounded man would "slip his -cable." -</p> - -<p> -The wounds were dressed, a good horn of -grog was next given him, and he was tucked -into his berth, where, doubtless, his reflections -would be of a somewhat mingled character. -His visage had received a double wound, which, -though he had not much beauty to mar, would -render him unpleasant to look upon for the -remainder of his life. He had no compunction -for his treacherous conduct to Derval, even in -the least degree, and he was chiefly occupied -in surmising whether he had killed him -outright, or if the savages were—like most of -the South Sea islanders—cannibals, what they -might do if they found him dead or alive; and, -lastly, whether Mrs. Hampton would "come -down handsomely" on learning that she was—as -her letter had it—rid of him; then he -savagely cursed his present plight, and lay -growling on his pillow, while the breeze -freshened and sail was made on the ship, and -ere night fell upon the sea Turtle Island was -out of sight. -</p> - -<p> -And now to record the retribution referred to! -</p> - -<p> -The arrow-wounds of Captain Talbot and -others progressed most favourably under -Dr. Strang's skilful treatment; but whether it -was that the blood of Rudderhead was in an -unhealthy state, or that the spearhead had -been poisoned, it was difficult to discover, as -the hurts he had received, so far from healing, -grew daily worse and worse. His agony -increased till it drove him to madness; he -could neither eat nor drink. His face swelled -up and became discoloured until he was -something frightful to look upon, and times -there were when his groans, prayers, and -imprecations rang through the whole ship, -and chilled the very souls of the men in the -watches of the night. -</p> - -<p> -To Dr. Strang it was soon evident that he -was dying; but he had much vitality in him, -and died hard, in his latter hours raving of -the scuttled ship or the stowaway, of Derval -Hampton, and many other persons and events. -The wind was blowing a heavy and increasing -gale, and the <i>Amethyst</i> was scudding under -close-reefed topsails, in a perilous and -chopping sea, when Rudderhead passed away, -clutching the Captain's hands, as if he could -retain him in this world, and passed from it, -impenitent for the past, yet hopeless of the -future; and the fiat of the doctor was that -the ship could not be too soon rid of his -remains. -</p> - -<p> -At that crisis the brevity of even a funeral -at sea was dispensed with, and he was thrown -overboard to leeward, into the trough of an -angry midnight sea, with four 9-pound shot -at his heels—buried precisely as he had buried -the poor stowaway boy, without a prayer, -finding a grave "unknelled, uncoffined, and -unknown." -</p> - -<p> -As if his departure had been awaited for -by the spirit of the storm, the latter lulled -rapidly, and, when day broke, the cheerful -cry of "Land ahead!" announced that the -bold and rocky south-west cape of Tasmania -was only ten miles distant, and bearing -north-east, with the mountains, snow-capped ate -that season, in the back-ground. -</p> - -<p> -Next day saw the <i>Amethyst</i> working through -D'Encastreaux's Channel, sixteen miles -eastward of it, to her safe anchorage off Hobart -Town, from whence the mail took home the -intelligence of Derval Hampton's fate on -Turtle Island. The fight with the natives -there formed a passing newspaper paragraph, -and, so far as he was concerned, there was an -end of it. -</p> - -<p> -When Greville Hampton—that sorely-changed -man, whose god had become gold—heard -of his eldest son's miserable fate, "some -natural tears he shed," as memory went back -to the little golden-haired boy that was wont -to nestle at Mary's knee, in the little cottage -which was as much a thing of the past as -herself. Master Rookleigh Hampton heard -of it with perfect philosophy, as became, he -thought, a lad of his years; and Mrs. Hampton, -as in duty bound, put on, for as brief a -period as decency required, a most becoming -suit of mourning. But there was one who, -when he read of the event while glancing -over the newspaper, really sorrowed for -Derval—Lord Oakhampton, who, when he -looked at his happy little daughter in her -budding beauty, and thought of what might -have been, and how nearly he lost her, could -not but regret the untimely fate of the brave -young sailor to whom he owed her life and -safety, and said much to her on the subject -that made the gentle girl feel deeply. -</p> - -<p> -Four more years passed on, and the name -and existence of Derval Hampton became -almost forgotten in his father's house, or was, -perhaps, remembered chiefly by his nurse, old -Patty Fripp. -</p> - -<p> -By that time Rookleigh, strangely precocious, -had become—in his sixteenth year—almost -a man ere boyhood was past, and -during that part of his career, he showed -indeed how "the child is the father of the -man." Greedy, avaricious, like Mr. Ralph -Nickleby (in <i>his</i> youth) he was wont to lend -to his companions and schoolfellows halfpence -to be repaid by pence, and so forth; and his -disposition was further largely leavened with -cruelty, which seemed born in him, and bade -defiance to all remonstrance. Servants, -horses, dogs, and even insects felt its -virulence, and when Mr. Asperges Laud spoke -reprehensively on the subject, his mother -would merely urge that "he was just like -other boys," and that all boys are cruel. And -already in his sixteenth year, by the influence -of companions, though selfish and avaricious -to a degree, he, through the medium of -billiards, cards, and a betting-book, was -utterly wasting the time during which he was -waiting for the rent-roll which his mother -assured him must one day be his. He was -tall, well-made and well-featured, for both his -parents were handsome, but the expression -of his face, particularly of his shifty green -eyes—for they were less golden-hazel in tint -than those of his mother—proved unpleasant -to all who knew him, and indicated a great -latent spirit of evil and malevolence. -</p> - -<p> -In the succession of his tutors, in the -society with which he mingled, and in all -his surroundings, Rookleigh Hampton had a -thousand advantages that the unfortunate -Derval had never known, yet with them all -he did not eventually make a particular figure -amid the circle in which he moved. -</p> - -<p> -Though lavish enough in his expenditure -upon himself, and even on those who -flattered him, ministered unto him, and made -life lively and pleasant by pandering to his -weaknesses, the leading features of his -character were gross selfishness and avarice or -acquisitiveness, all of which he seemed to -have inherited from his mother, or through -the force of his father's latter thoughts, and -were thus, to the manner, born in him. -</p> - -<p> -As when poor Derval sailed on his fatal -voyage, Greville Hampton might be found -daily in his luxurious library, settling -mortgages, signing contracts, adjusting -ground-rents, buying up land and old manor-houses -to remodel or remove for new ones—up to -the eyes among deeds and papers, with old -Mr. Stephen De Murrer, the family solicitor, -a denizen of Gray's Inn, who about this time -began to exert himself anew in the peerage -claim of his lucrative employer, and eventually -visited Lord Oakhampton, at his house in -Tyburnia, on the subject. -</p> - -<p> -Proud and haughty by nature, though a -scrupulously well-bred and most aristocratic-like -man, his lordship could be very cold and -repellent to those he disliked; thus his -reception of the stout and deliberate old lawyer, -when the latter was ushered into the stately -drawing-room overlooking the park, was -neither soothing nor encouraging. -</p> - -<p> -"You are a bold fellow, Mr.—oh—Mr.——" -</p> - -<p> -"De Murrer," said the lawyer, bowing. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes—a bold fellow, sir, to come to me -personally on this subject, of which I admit -having heard before—a claim to my hereditary -peerage by this whilom spendthrift—obscure -beggar, and latterly successful speculative -builder! Absurd, sir! The matter -has no face upon it—won't hold water," -continued Lord Oakhampton, scornfully; "and -anyway, I beg to refer you to my solicitors -at Gray's Inn." -</p> - -<p> -"If, my Lord—if the assumption that your -great ancestor was summoned by mistake to -the House of Peers, in the reign of Queen -Anne, is proved—and it is also proved that -the real heir was then in existence—the heir -from whom my client is descended—what -then, my Lord?" -</p> - -<p> -Mortification, exasperation, and pride made -the haughty heart of Lord Oakhampton thrill -painfully, and he listened to this, and much -more that the little lawyer had to advance, -as one in a dream. The flies buzzed about -the flowers in a magnificent jardiniere; a -French clock ticked monotonously on the -mantelpiece; and the busy life of London -outside, went on as a ceaseless stream; but -he felt as if all this evil were about to happen, -not to himself, but to someone else, in the -confusion and irritation of his mind. -</p> - -<p> -"We shall suppose this peculiar claim -made good and clear in law, Mr.—Mr.——" -</p> - -<p> -"De Murrer," suggested the lawyer, -blandly. -</p> - -<p> -"What would be the result?" -</p> - -<p> -"Can you ask me?" said Mr. De Murrer; -"most calamitous to your Lordship, I assure -you." -</p> - -<p> -"In what way, sir?" -</p> - -<p> -"What way?" -</p> - -<p> -"Don't repeat my words, sir!" -</p> - -<p> -"With the title would go lands and estate, -plate, pictures—everything, even to your -household effects!" -</p> - -<p> -Lord Oakhampton grew pale—very pale, -yet less at the thought of himself than of his -daughter, for the world was all before her -yet. Rallying a little, he said:— -</p> - -<p> -"You cannot think, Mr. De Murrer, that -I will yield without a struggle—and a -desperate one too!" -</p> - -<p> -"Unquestionably not, my Lord; only——" -</p> - -<p> -"Only what?" he asked, impatiently. -</p> - -<p> -"With the solid and simple proofs we——" -</p> - -<p> -"Proofs that must be submitted to the -legal acumen and most searching analysis of -my law advisers!" -</p> - -<p> -"Indubitably, my Lord; yet the dates are, -fortunately for us, not remote ones." -</p> - -<p> -"Indeed!" -</p> - -<p> -"Your Lordship's great-grandfather Derval, -to whom a great mass of the estate came by -marriage with the Mohuns, was called to the -Upper House in the year of the Union with -Scotland, 1707, and sat in the first British -House of Lords, as the direct heir of Derval, -Lord Oakhampton, who was forfeited under -Edward IV., but was restored by Henry VII. for -his service against the King of Scotland; -yet your great-grandsire was so summoned -in ignorance that his eldest brother, -who had quarrelled with his family, was -not dead, but was married, and settled in -Bermuda, where he became ancestor, in the -third degree, of Greville Hampton, now of -Finglecombe." -</p> - -<p> -"Intolerable dry-as-dust stuff this!" -exclaimed Lord Oakhampton, his pride and -passion rising again. "Do you imagine that -I am an entire committee of privileges, to -listen to all this twaddle, and that the title -that has come to me, through a long line of -stainless ancestors, is to be disturbed by the -outrageous pretensions of an obscure colonist's -grandson. Moreover, sir, do you think that -I am also unaware how men of your trade -make it their business to rake up such claims -if they can, and assume to guide the destinies -of the rich and noble, as the means of bringing -money to their own coffers?" -</p> - -<p> -To this somewhat injurious speech, the -little lawyer only shrugged his shoulders, and -smiled deprecatingly, as he replied: -</p> - -<p> -"I can easily understand, and well pardon, -your Lordship's natural irritation at the -prospect all this action-at-law involves; the loss -of rank and position—wealth and political -influence; your daughter, at her very entry -into life and society, reduced, like yourself, -to the condition of a commoner; the newspaper -comments—the nine days' wonder of -London; the sneers of the once servile, and -the mockery of the malevolent, and of all -who take a cruel delight in strange reverses -of fortune; but I would beg of you to think -over the matter to be contended; for the -mere announcement that not only was your -title about to be contested, but your property -litigated, would bring any creditors you have, -like a swarm of hornets on you." -</p> - -<p> -Mr. De Murrer now took his hat and -departed, certain that this Parthian shot was -the heaviest and sharpest he had fired; and -sooth to say, my Lord Oakhampton felt and -knew it to be so! -</p> - -<p> -His alarm, however, and infinite anxiety, -rather died away when delays ensued consequent -to the disappearance or alleged death -of Derval, and still more by the sudden -demise of Greville Hampton, who was found -lifeless at his desk one afternoon, when at -his usual task of calculating and speculating. -</p> - -<p> -The bulk of all his fortune he left by will -to Rookleigh, while Mrs. Hampton was -handsomely provided for during her life. The -sum of £500 per annum was set apart for -Derval, in case he was ever heard of; if not -within a given time, it reverted to Rookleigh. -</p> - -<p> -So Greville Hampton was dead, and Rookleigh -stood at the head of his grave as chief -mourner; but he was not laid by Mary's side -in the pretty little churchyard where for ages, -yea since Saxon times, "the rude forefathers -of the hamlet sleep." No, no; Mrs. Hampton -took care of that; so he was deposited -in the new and pretentious mausoleum of -Cornish granite, in the fashionable cemetery -of "the new and rising watering-place of -Finglecombe," where a special spot was -reserved for herself. -</p> - -<p> -In the matter of the peerage claim, -Mrs. Hampton would have left nothing undone, -of course, to urge Mr. De Murrer in advancing -the interests of her well-beloved son -Rookleigh; but just about the time of her -husband's death, something occurred which -led to a change in her mind, or to indifference -on the subject, and this "something" -proved to be tidings of—Derval! -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap03"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III. -<br /><br /> -H.M.S. "HOLYROOD." -</h3> - -<p> -After being struck down by Reeve Rudderhead, -in the merciless way we have described, -Derval lay long insensible, and when his -thoughts began to turn again to earth, he -was haunted by a dream of home—of wild -grass where the brindled cattle stood knee-deep, -of fields studded with the white stars -of the dog-daisies, the golden buttercups, and -scarlet poppies, of rose-tangled hedges and -meadow-sweet; then came the face and figure -of Rudderhead—and starting, he staggered -up on his hands and knees, weak and giddy -with loss of blood, dim of sight, and his head -racked with pain by the force of the blow. -</p> - -<p> -What sounds were these? Cannon and -musketry and yells in the air, as if the fiends -of the lower world had broken loose. He -remembered the savages from which the -boats' crews were escaping, and with a heart -filled by terrible emotions of anxiety and -rage—anxiety for himself, and rage to find that -he was the victim of a plot between Reeve -Rudderhead and Mrs. Hampton—he crept -cautiously through the brushwood among -which he had been lying, and where a pool -of his blood yet lay, till he reached the brow -of a little eminence which overlooked the -bay, and arrived in time only to see the last -of the conflict between the <i>Amethyst</i> and the -savages. -</p> - -<p> -The bay was strewed with the floating ruins -of many canoes, and the dead bodies of their -whilom occupants; others were being paddled -away in hot haste; the ship was under weigh, -with her topsails sheeted home and her -head-sails filled;—under weigh, and he—unable to -join her, or make any sign or signal—was -left behind! -</p> - -<p> -With all that conviction implied, a great -stupor—the stupor of utter horror—fell upon -him, and he could have wept tears of rage -and despair. -</p> - -<p> -Defenceless, helpless, powerless, almost -petrified by the whole situation, he gazed -after the ship, on which sail after sail was -spread to catch the land breeze, as she -already began to lessen in distance upon the -blue and shining sea; then sight seemed to -pass from him—a blindness to descend upon -his eyes; he became faint, and, falling on the -earth, with the last effort of sense, crept -under some of the gigantic ferns, with which -the island abounds, and for a time remembered -no more. -</p> - -<p> -When sense again came, and he looked -about him, the shadows were falling -eastward; the ship had become diminished to a -speck upon the ocean, then reddened by the -setting sun. He gazed after her as if his -soul followed her, and when he could see -even the spectrum of her no longer, a groan -escaped him, and he burst into tears. -</p> - -<p> -On one hand spread the boundless sea; on -the other, a succession of knolls and hills and -bluffs, with pine-covered summits, and little -grassy vales between them, all glowing under -the gleaming west. -</p> - -<p> -What was to be his fate? -</p> - -<p> -He dared not speculate upon it, though -whatever was in store for him must be close -indeed now! -</p> - -<p> -Dipping his handkerchief in a runnel he -bathed the back of his head, thus removing -the clotted and extravasated blood, and then -bandaged up the wound with his necktie. A -deep draught taken in the hollow of his hands -from the same pool revived him, and a few -wild peaches, figs, and grapes afforded him -food; after which hermit-like repast he seated -himself against a rock and strove to think—to -think, of what? While the lower portion -of the western sky assumed a vermilion hue, -and the upper was violet braced with gold; -sunk in shadow now, the waves rose with a -silvery sheen upon the yellow sand, their -ripple alone breaking the stillness of the -place and time; but the moment the sun, -with its tropical rapidity, sank beyond the -sea, all these varied and wonderful tints -passed away at once. -</p> - -<p> -Derval remembered the picturesque elements -of the scene afterwards; at the time, -he was certainly not in the mood to -appreciate them. -</p> - -<p> -The parrots, pigeons, and straw-necked -ibises had all gone to their nests; some -kangaroo-rats (about the size of rabbits) and -squirrels were flitting about; Derval's first -fear was of snakes, but he saw none. -</p> - -<p> -The multitude of savages that in the -morning had been swarming on the shore, -had all disappeared, and gone inland to their -kraals and villages; but how long would he -be able to elude them; and as for their habits -and nature, he could not doubt that they -were in any way less terrible and revolting -than those of other South Sea islanders, most -of whom are cannibals. -</p> - -<p> -As he thought of the home he had quitted -years ago, of his father's changed nature and -indifference, his brother's selfishness, his -stepmother's unrelenting malevolence, and Reeve -Rudderhead's cruel treachery, all culminating -in the present catastrophe, leaving him to -perish helpless and unavenged, excitement -made his wound burst out afresh, and he -staunched it again with difficulty. -</p> - -<p> -The southern constellations came out in -all their wonderful brilliance, and under their -silvery light, he sat lost in thoughts that -wrung his heart. How long—even if he -found food and concealment—might it be ere -a ship passed that way; and if one did, how -was he to attract the attention of those on -board—how signal to them unseen by the -savage inhabitants of the isle? -</p> - -<p> -The memory of much that he had read, -of men wrecked or marooned in lonely and -desolate places, together with the fancies of -a quick and fertile imagination, added greatly -to the poignancy of his mental sufferings. -For in its desperation his situation was a -maddening one, and calculated to blind him -with horror and despair. -</p> - -<p> -Was he to perish of starvation and exposure -in the groves of the island, or to find a -death of torture at the hands of its inhabitants, -without obtaining even a grave? for -there was a detail in the future after death, -that made his blood run cold to think of. -</p> - -<p> -And was this unthought-of fate to be the -end of all his once bright day-dreams, his -hopes and aspirations! And were all his -bright ambitions and little vanities—the -vanities and ambitions of ardent youth—to -end in less and worse than utter nothingness? -</p> - -<p> -He feared to move about even in search of -food, lest the track of his footsteps might -be found, for he knew that the aboriginals -of such places can follow as blood-hounds -do—but by sight, not scent, and in a manner -that seems incredible to the European—any -track they find, and follow it, too, over grass -and rock, even up a tree; thus he knew -that were his traces found, he would inevitably -be tracked and discovered, wherever he -went. -</p> - -<p> -So the long hours of the night went slowly -past, and he longed, as a change or relief, for -morning. "Poor fools that we are!" says a -writer; "our hours are in time so few, and -yet we forever wish them shorter, and fling -them, scarcely used, behind us roughly, as a -child flings his broken toys." -</p> - -<p> -At last exhaustion of the mind and body -brought blessed sleep, and on the dewy earth, -under the shelter of some black and silver -mimosa trees, he slumbered heavily till the -noon of the next day was well advanced, and -the sun shone in the unclouded sky. -</p> - -<p> -He had a dream of the now defunct cottage -at Finglecombe, as it existed when he was -wont to play by his mother's knee, or watch -with childish wonder his silent father, a -moody and discontented man. He started -and awoke, recalling an old Devonshire -superstition, that to have a dream of one's -childhood, when in maturity, was a sure sign that -something was about to happen. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, what may that something be!" was -his first despairing, rather than hopeful, -mental thought, and with it came a terror -of what the long and solitary hunger-stricken -day might bring forth. -</p> - -<p> -But he was not left long in doubt. There -came distinctly to his ear the familiar sound -of an anchor being let go, and the rush of a -chain-cable through a hawse-hole, followed -by the blowing-off of steam! -</p> - -<p> -A sudden revulsion of thought from despair -to keenest joy—a gush of prayer and gratitude -to God filled his heart, and a shout -escaped his lips—help, succour, escape, were -all at hand, and already—already! -</p> - -<p> -Forgetful, oblivious of what savages might -be near or might see him, he started to an -eminence close by, and saw in the bay, the -very place occupied but yesterday morning—a -time that seemed ages upon ages ago—by -the <i>Amethyst</i>, a stately steam corvette, -riding at anchor, and all her snow-white -canvas being handed with man-o'-war celerity. -</p> - -<p> -She had no ensign flying, but to Derval's -experienced eye, it was evident that she was -a British ship. If any of the natives saw -her, as there was every reason to suppose -they did, the terrible lesson taught them by -the guns and small-arms of the <i>Amethyst</i>, -made them conceal themselves, for nothing -was seen of them when Derval rushed to the -beach, and, without attempting to make a -signal or waiting for a boat, and heedless or -unthinking of whether there might be sharks -in the water, plunged into the waves that -rippled on the rocks, and swam off at once, -through the debris of battered canoes and -dead bodies that were still floating about. -</p> - -<p> -"Man overboard—a rope—a rope—stand -by!" he heard voices shouting as he cleft -the water and neared her fast, for he was -a powerful and skilful swimmer, and after a -few minutes he found himself, panting, -breathless, and faint with excitement, past -anxiety and present joy, safe upon the deck -of the ship-of-war, where he was of course, -supposed by all to be a ship-wrecked man—the -last survivor of some unfortunate crew—and -found himself overwhelmed with questions. -</p> - -<p> -But none of these could he answer with -coherence, until he was taken into the cabin -of the captain, who at once ordered him wine -and other refreshments. He then told his -story, which elicited considerable commiseration, -and much more indignation at the foul -treachery of which his messmate had been -guilty. -</p> - -<p> -He now found that he was on board H.M. corvette -<i>Holyrood</i>, of 16 guns, an iron ship, -cased with wood, of 5,000 horse-power, -commanded by Captain —— who came into these -seas with orders to look after any survivors -of wrecks, and who had been last at the -Crozet Islands, that wild and mountainous -group which lies in south latitude 47 and east -longitude 46, and the peaks of which, high -as Ben Nevis, are covered with eternal snow. -He had visited Turtle Island for the same -purpose, and meant now to haul up for -England, <i>viâ</i> the Cape, St. Helena, and -Ascension. -</p> - -<p> -But for the circumstance of this ship's -fortuitous visit, it is not difficult to speculate -upon what must eventually have been the -awful fate of Derval Hampton! -</p> - -<p> -The latter now found himself recognised -by the third lieutenant of the <i>Holyrood</i>, who -had belonged to the <i>President</i> training ship, -and astonished the rescued man by accosting -him by name, and they shook hands quite -as old friends. -</p> - -<p> -Finding that Derval was a gentleman by -education and bearing, and an officer of the -Royal Naval Reserve, whose name as such -was in the <i>Navy List</i>, the officers of the -gun-room at once requested that he would mess -with them during the passage home, or till -he made some other arrangement. -</p> - -<p> -What other arrangement could he make, -but rejoin his ship? and that, as yet, was -impossible. -</p> - -<p> -The homeward voyage was a very protracted -one, and for several reasons the <i>Holyrood</i> was -long detained at the Cape by the Commodore -commanding our squadron there. -</p> - -<p> -It was when lying in Table Bay that Derval -read in an old number of the <i>Times</i>, that -Lord Oakhampton, his meeting with whom -he had well-nigh forgotten amid more exciting -events, had returned home from Bermuda. -Then he thought of Clara, and wondered if -the little maid, with the rosebud mouth she -had given him so frankly to kiss, remembered -the young sailor to whom she owed her life in -the Summer Isles. -</p> - -<p> -The paragraph announcing that Lord Oakhampton -had resigned his governorship, concluded -by stating that strange rumours were -abroad, to the effect that his Lordship's return -was connected with a new and unexpected -claimant to his title and estates, whose -pretensions thereto would soon be a knotty -matter for a committee of privileges. -</p> - -<p> -Derval read all this with singular indifference. -So keen was his disgust of his own -family, that he cared little whether his father -succeeded in his claim or not. One fact he -felt assured of, that it would avail -him—Derval—nothing to communicate to him the -cruel treachery of which his step-mother, and -her kinsman, had made his eldest son their -victim. She would simply deny it, and the -breach made wide enough now by coldness -and indifference, would become more so by -solid mistrust and dislike. -</p> - -<p> -Thus he resolved to go no more near his -home, and hence the long ignorance of all -there as to his movements, and even of his -existence. -</p> - -<p> -When the <i>Amethyst</i> returned home, and -Derval stepped on board of her in the London -docks, old Joe Grummet, who was smoking -his pipe in the gangway, thought he saw -a ghost, and uttered a roar of absolute -terror! Most extravagant was the joy of the -worthy old salt on being assured of Derval's -identity. -</p> - -<p> -"Of all my yarns, this beats them—beats -old Boots!" he exclaimed, as he drew a -match across the sole of his shoe and -relighted his pipe. -</p> - -<p> -"Where is the Captain, Joe?" asked Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"Captain 's in the cabin." -</p> - -<p> -The unexpected visitor descended at once. -</p> - -<p> -"Just come on board, sir!" said he, -reporting himself with comic coolness and -gravity. -</p> - -<p> -"Good heavens—can it be—Derval—Derval -Hampton!" exclaimed Captain Talbot, -springing up from his writing-desk, and -scattering his letters over the deck, and he -took both Derval's hands in his own, shook -them heartily, and mutual explanations at -once ensued. -</p> - -<p> -After rejoining the <i>Amethyst</i>, Derval made -many voyages with her, and thus four years -and more passed on, till, seeing an account of -his father's death in a paper some weeks old, a -great revulsion of feeling came over him, with -much of repentance for the mutual indifference -in which he had indulged; and a species of -craving came over him to see the home of his -childhood, or rather the place thereof, once -again, for his father lay there in the great -granite mausoleum, and his mother near the -yew of other years, in the old church-yard—the -true "God's acre" of Finglecombe; and -he longed, too, to see old Patty Fripp. -</p> - -<p> -As for his father, his old face came back to -memory, as he remembered it in the days of -his infancy, out of the long dim vista of the -vanished years; and so for a time his whole -heart went forth to his father—the father -that loved his mother, and her memory so, -before that other came! -</p> - -<p> -Derval was now first mate of the <i>Amethyst</i>, -Tom Tyeblock having got a ship of his own. -He was moreover a sub-lieutenant of the -Royal Naval Reserve, had done his gunnery -drill again and again on board the training-ship, -drawing the pay of his rank, and messing -in the gun-room. -</p> - -<p> -Of course he still connected all that had -befallen him on Turtle Island, with Mrs. Hampton -and her letter to the late Mr. Reeve -Rudderhead; thus, after taking the train to -Finglecombe, on reaching that place no power -could make him take up his abode underneath -the roof of his half-brother and Mrs. Hampton. -So he took rooms at the hotel, the "Hampton -Arms" (the armorial three choughs), where -Rookleigh visited him promptly enough; but -the meeting between those two who shared -the same blood, was a strange and unnatural -one, after their long separation, though -Derval's heart warmed to Rookleigh, and was -more stirred than vanity would have -permitted him to own. -</p> - -<p> -"What will people think," said Rookleigh, -"of your being here at an hotel, and not at -home?" -</p> - -<p> -"Home!" exclaimed Derval, with a bitter laugh. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes—it is home." -</p> - -<p> -"Yours—not mine; and as to 'the people,' -they may think precisely what they please, -my dear Rookleigh." -</p> - -<p> -"And what shall I tell mother is your -reason?" asked Rookleigh, who, to do him -justice, was ignorant of much that Derval -knew. -</p> - -<p> -"Say it is my desire that she should forget -her dear and amiable cousin, Reeve Rudderhead, -and all connected with him, especially -their <i>epistolary correspondence</i>," was the—to -Rookleigh—enigmatical, yet bitter reply of -Derval. -</p> - -<p> -Save the surrounding hills and woods, he -found all the once secluded localities of his -childhood so changed by the erection of -marine villas, terraces, and formal promenades, -that he would soon—in disgust—have gone -back to London, but for certain influences -that came to bear upon his actions. -</p> - -<p> -Derval fell in love! -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap04"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IV. -<br /><br /> -"THE DESIRE OF THE MOTH FOR THE STAR." -</h3> - -<p> -"I have never been so far out from the Marine -Parade before—so far out at sea, I mean." -</p> - -<p> -"But you are not uneasy—alarmed?" -asked the young man, with great tenderness -of manner. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, no; am I not with <i>you</i>?" answered -the girl sweetly and simply, as she drew off -a glove and let the water slip through her -slender white fingers, as the boat, urged by -the powerful hands and arms of a handsome -and sunburnt young fellow of twenty-two or -thereabout, clad in a white flannel boating -costume, with canvas shoes and a straw hat, -shot through the water of the bay in view of -Finglecombe. -</p> - -<p> -It was a summer evening. The sun was -setting beyond the Bristol Channel, and seeming -to light its waves with fire. The rocks, -the gardens and orchards along the shore, -and all the villas of "the rising watering-place" -were bathed in ruddy light, blended -with a misty golden haze; and the warm -glow fell on two bright faces in particular. -When the oarsman looked with wonder at the -changes on the shore, as he sometimes did, -the girl looked at him, not in a way she was -wont to do, but with a soft expression in her -tender eyes that he would have given the -world to have seen. -</p> - -<p> -Anon, when at some distance from the -shore, he rested on his skulls, leaving them in -the rowlocks, while the boat floated idly on -the sunlit water. -</p> - -<p> -"Please do not do any more of <i>that</i>," said -the young lady. -</p> - -<p> -"Of what?" asked her companion. -</p> - -<p> -"This tatooing," said she, pointing with -her parasol to his handsome bare arms, on -which he had punctured, in sailor fashion, a -ship in full sail, three choughs, and other -insignia known to himself alone. -</p> - -<p> -"Ah! Joe Grummet did all these one -evening, when we were standing off and on -under easy sail near Cuba," said Derval, for -the speaker was he, and the beautiful girl who -sat opposite to him in the stern-sheets, and -on the dainty cushions of the pleasure-boat, -was Clara, Lord Oakhampton's only daughter. -</p> - -<p> -And now to explain how all this came -about, and that these two were so intimate. -</p> - -<p> -Derval was not long in discovering, from -the visitors' lists, that Lord Oakhampton had -taken, for the summer months, a villa in -Bayview Terrace, Finglecombe, but had -ignored the existence of the widow of his late -namesake. -</p> - -<p> -This was nothing to Derval, who -immediately called at the villa and sent up his -card, and was warmly received by Lord -Oakhampton, who, we have said, was a tall -and handsome man, with stately manners. -He was elderly now, with silvery hair, but -his fine aquiline features were unchanged in -noble outline and honesty of expression. -After a few mutual remarks and inquiries, -</p> - -<p> -"I called," said Derval, "to do myself the -honour of personally thanking your Lordship -for the medal for which you so kindly -recommended me." -</p> - -<p> -"A medal most deservedly won by you, -and my life-long gratitude went with it to -you!" replied Lord Oakhampton, as did -his daughter, who soon made her appearance, -and saw that their visitor was a handsome -and manly-looking young fellow. His brown -hair was deeper in colour than it had been in -Bermuda, and a slight moustache shaded a -sensitive mouth. His tall and slender figure -had all the strength and grace of manhood in -it, and his manners were unexceptionable. -His early training had made him grave in -manner, thoughtful in expression of eye, -courteous to men and deferential to women; -in fact, he was all his mother could have -wished him to be. -</p> - -<p> -"Clara, my dear," said Lord Oakhampton -bowing, with much of the old-fashioned -courtesy which certainly did distinguish his -manner when addressing her, or, indeed, any -female of his household, "may I introduce -an old friend to you—one to whom, indeed, -you owe much!" -</p> - -<p> -Clara Hampton looked up with something -of surprise, and saw only a young man like a -naval officer—but a very handsome one -certainly—who answered her inquiring gaze by -a bow and a smile. -</p> - -<p> -"How unfortunate I am to have been -forgotten by you, Miss Hampton," he said. -</p> - -<p> -"Forgotten—oh, no, no," she exclaimed -as sudden recognition flashed upon her, and -lightened all her features; "I remember you -perfectly, and the sharks' pool and the coral -cavern in Bermuda—you are our namesake, -Mr. Derval Hampton?" -</p> - -<p> -And she frankly put both her hands in his. -</p> - -<p> -"You are grown quite a woman, Miss Hampton." -</p> - -<p> -"She will be eighteen on her next birthday," -said her father; "but women are by -nature older than men," he added laughingly. -</p> - -<p> -And so it all came about thus. -</p> - -<p> -Every detail of a beauty that seemed to -have no peer, in his eyes at least, did Derval -take in by one swift glance. In all the bloom -of her age, the girl was radiantly bright and -fresh. Her rich brown hair was darker now, -and more luxuriant than ever; but the violet -eyes were softer and more shy than in the -girlish time, when she accorded to Derval -that kiss over which he fondly pondered now. -But perhaps she was remembering it too. On -her delicate cheeks there was a soft flush, as -of the rose-leaf; her mouth was perfect in -shape, and sweet. Refined, proud, and lovely, -and she looked—birth stamped on every -feature—a peer's daughter every inch, and in -every way a picture fair to look upon; and -so thought Derval. Never before had he -dreamed that a woman could be so fair. -</p> - -<p> -He was invited to stay to dinner; the -invitation was repeated for a second occasion -and a third. Lord Oakhampton had evidently -few friends in that part of the world, was the -modest thought of Derval, and the Bermuda -Isles formed a safe and easy topic for general -conversation when other subjects failed; and -the usually haughty peer thawed fast and -easily towards his young friend—little dreaming -that the latter was learning faster to love -his daughter, and not the less that he deemed -this love a midsummer madness, and too -surely might be only like the desire of the -moth for the star! -</p> - -<p> -They met on the marine parade, on the -shingly beach, and singularly enough in some -of the shady green lanes, that had escaped -recent improvements; but Miss Sampler was -always with her, a companion now. Derval -felt his heart leap when he saw her, and it -trembled as she drew near him, and as it had -never trembled under human influence before. -He showed her the locket she had given him -at Bermuda. She laughed at first, and then -coloured deeply to find that he wore it -attached to his neck by a ribbon. -</p> - -<p> -Yet after this she neither avoided him, nor -made any change in her demeanour towards -him. What could he deduce from that, but that -she favoured him, or received him as a means -of passing the time in a stupid watering-place. -It was bitter for him to think that -she—secure in a position so far above him in -many respects—might be doing thus; but -from the soft, shy gentleness of her manner, -it was impossible to adopt such a conviction. -</p> - -<p> -Twice, when escorting her to the -dinner-table, he thought that her hand—how little -it was!—leant rather fondly on his arm, and -the idea made his heart thrill. Is it a marvel -that his head was turned and intoxicated by -the opportunities offered by propinquity, and -that the secret of his heart was daily -trembling on his lips? -</p> - -<p> -Was she luring him on to his own -destruction? Her calm, gentle eye, and -perfect quietude of manner, repelled this idea. -Could he but have looked into the girl's -heart! At that very time she was asking -herself, what was this young sailor to her? -Why should she feel so deeply interested in -him, for such was indeed the case! Cold -reason replied that he ought to be as nothing -to her; yet her heart already told her that -he was something, and more than something -to dream of—to ponder on fondly—to be -sorely missed when he departed—as if his life -were already mysteriously linked with her own. -</p> - -<p> -"His life linked with hers? What folly!" -she whispered to herself, as she thought of -her proud father and "society." -</p> - -<p> -So now they had taken them to boating on -the bay; but Miss Sampler who usually -played propriety in their apparently casual -walks, disliked aquatic excursions, and -generally sat reading on the beach, while Derval -pulled far enough out to be beyond the ken -of anything but a powerful lorgnette, and of -this Clara generally possessed herself "to -see the coast." -</p> - -<p> -On the evening mentioned, when Clara -referred to the tatooing, and made Derval -promise to disfigure his arms no more in -that remarkable way, it may be inferred that -their intimacy had made considerable -progress—the result of the somewhat untrammelled -life they led at Finglecombe—and seldom -does the evening sun fall upon a pair of more -attractive-looking lovers—for lovers they -were undoubtedly—though no distinct word -of love had passed between them. -</p> - -<p> -It lingered, softly as Derval's own eyes, on -Clara's graceful figure, her creamy dress and -soft laces, on her shining hair, and pretty little -feet encased in hose of bright cardinal silk and -tiny <i>bottines</i>, the most perfect that Paris could -produce—<i>bottines</i> which the folds of her dress -had kindly revealed for a time. -</p> - -<p> -Seeing that Derval was resting, as we left -him—resting dreamily on his sculls, and -letting the boat drift with the current, while -his soul was full of her beauty, and his heart -seemed at his lips, she said: -</p> - -<p> -"Of what are you thinking?" -</p> - -<p> -"Of you," he replied, and he saw that she -grew pale at the idea of what might follow, -and the conviction that she had drawn it on -herself; "I was thinking that you could be a -friend good and true, if you chose; and heaven -knows," he added with a sigh, and timidly -fencing as he thought, "I want one." -</p> - -<p> -"Have you not Rookleigh, your brother of -whom I have heard, but, oddly, never seen?" -</p> - -<p> -"To me he is a brother, and no brother!" -</p> - -<p> -"I will be your friend," said she, coyly. -</p> - -<p> -"Ever!" -</p> - -<p> -"Ever and always. Think of all I owe -you—that I am here to-day, alive and in the -world, listening to you, and spared to Papa." -</p> - -<p> -Bright ardour filled his eyes, and stooping -he pressed her hand to his lips; but she -snatched it away. -</p> - -<p> -"I do not mean friendship of that kind!" -said she, blushing with anger at herself for -taking, as she thought, the initiative; then he -too reddened, and a pause ensued. -</p> - -<p> -Clara had not the least idea of flirting; and -yet the most consummate coquette could not -have been more fascinating in her charming -frankness of manner. -</p> - -<p> -"Of what are you thinking now?" he -asked, as her white fingers played with the -shining ripples. -</p> - -<p> -"Of Bermuda," she replied, with a soft -smile in her averted face. -</p> - -<p> -"You were a child then—five years -ago—and now——" -</p> - -<p> -"What am I now?" she asked, laughingly. -</p> - -<p> -"Look into the water where your face is -reflected, and you will see." -</p> - -<p> -"See—what?" -</p> - -<p> -"A face, like no other in this world—to -me, especially." -</p> - -<p> -"Now you talk foolishly." -</p> - -<p> -"God knows, I do—perhaps," said he, -sadly; "it is pleasant to dream for the present, -and to forget the coming future, for all this -sweet companionship must end, and when I -return to England again, you will be no longer -Clara Hampton." -</p> - -<p> -"What then—or who then?" she asked in -a low voice. -</p> - -<p> -"The wife of some happy man." -</p> - -<p> -"Why are you so sure?" -</p> - -<p> -"Of what?" -</p> - -<p> -"That he will be happy." -</p> - -<p> -"Could he be otherwise with you?" -</p> - -<p> -All this was pointed enough; but both were -fencing—he dreading a repulse, and she -thinking of her father's pride. Yet both were -very pale, and their hearts beat violently. -</p> - -<p> -"And how came you to be so assured of all -this?" she asked, looking down. -</p> - -<p> -"You are beautiful, rich, noble, Clara!" -</p> - -<p> -"You must not call me Clara. Rich? You -think, then, that no one would love me for -myself alone?" she asked a little bitterly. -</p> - -<p> -"I have not said so." -</p> - -<p> -"Did you think so?" -</p> - -<p> -"Heaven forbid! but judging from my own -heart, I wish, indeed—indeed——" -</p> - -<p> -"What?" -</p> - -<p> -"That you were as humble and as poor -as the beggar-maid whom King Cophetua loved." -</p> - -<p> -"Thank you, a very odd wish!" she said, -with a low musical laugh. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, do not mock me!" he exclaimed -bitterly—for no lover likes his heroics to be -made a jest of; but no mockery was in the -girl's heart; she felt as if dreaming; she only -felt and knew that her lover was beside her, -looking more manly and handsome, and more -fascinating, than the first day they met; but -she thought of her father and his lofty pride, -and said with apparent firmness, yet with a -gasp in her slender white throat,— -</p> - -<p> -"I do not mock you—oh, never, never think -that of me; but for pity's sake, talk no more -in this strain; and do pull the boat in shore, -for I see Miss Sampler is making signals of -impatience." -</p> - -<p> -Though her long lashes imparted a dreamy -depth to the young girl's eyes, there were in -the low, broad brow, firm lips, and clearly-cut -nostrils, evidence of force of character and -strength of resolution. -</p> - -<p> -Derval understood the situation; he sighed, -shipped his sculls, and pulled in silently, -feeling that he had said enough to show that -he loved her, and that she chid him not, he -resigned her to her chaperone, and betook -him, full of anxious thoughts, to the solitude -of his room at the hotel; yet each felt that -they must meet again, or that henceforward -life would be a blank to them; and eye said -this to eye as they parted on the shore. -</p> - -<p> -It was rather a source of exasperation to -Mrs. Hampton in her stately villa, that Derval -should be so intimate with Lord Oakhampton -and his daughter, while she and her son were -not—were ignored, in fact; and this, with -Derval's protracted residence at the hotel, -caused no speculation among her friends and -the gossips of the new settlement or watering-place; -and, incited to mischief by his mother, -Rookleigh Hampton began to scheme revenge; -nor were Patty Fripp's ample and exulting -expatiations on the rare beauty of Miss -Hampton, and the great glory of Derval's -boating expeditions with her, wanting as a -spur on this occasion. -</p> - -<p> -Lord Oakhampton remarked to himself that -neither by word, act, nor hint, did Derval ever -refer to his late father's dreaded claim to the -coronet. This pleased with him with his -young friend, yet it was not without annoyance -and alarm that he discovered and viewed the -growing intimacy between him and his -daughter, and painfully, indeed, did the latter -blush when he began to remonstrate with her -upon the subject; and her pain was all the -deeper by a knowledge that she had brought -it upon herself. -</p> - -<p> -Seated together with her father in an oriel -window overlooking the bay, her mind, as -evening darkened and the moonlight came -upon the water, was full of what had passed -between herself and Derval but a very short -time before, and after a silence of some -minutes she said, with the irrepressible desire -to talk of what was nearest her heart and -uppermost in her thoughts,— -</p> - -<p> -"Have you ever remarked, Papa, what a -handsome young man Mr. Hampton is?" -</p> - -<p> -Lord Oakhampton started quickly, and -looked at her, but Clara's face was hidden in -shadow. -</p> - -<p> -"Of course I have observed it," he replied; -"he is not only handsome, but distinguished-looking, -for a man of his class. He comes of -a good family." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes—is he not some relation of our own, Papa?" -</p> - -<p> -"Has he ever said so—does he talk of such -a matter?" asked Lord Oakhampton, in a -changed tone. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, no, Papa, but he strikes me as so -unlike the men I usually meet." -</p> - -<p> -Lord Oakhampton was silent for a minute; -then he said, with some asperity of manner,— -</p> - -<p> -"Since when has this extreme intimacy -with Mr. Hampton been in progress?" -</p> - -<p> -"Extreme intimacy, Papa!" said Clara, in -a tone of dismay, and colouring deeply in the -twilight. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; you understand me, I presume?" -</p> - -<p> -"I have known him since the day he sent -up his card, and renewed the intimacy that -began at Bermuda." -</p> - -<p> -"That was but a casual, but very important -episode; but what passed then, under the -circumstances, temporarily, when you were -but a child, cannot be continued or tolerated -now. He is but a merchant seaman!" -</p> - -<p> -"A mate, Papa, and a commissioned officer -in the Naval Reserve." -</p> - -<p> -"Pshaw!" -</p> - -<p> -"And heir to a large estate." -</p> - -<p> -"That is doubtful, Clara; his brother is -the heir. I know there is much common -sense in that little head of yours, and I wish -you to bring it to bear upon the present -question. This intimacy is unseemly. Good -heaven! what would society say of it?" -</p> - -<p> -"Society! how I do hate that word, Papa!" -</p> - -<p> -"Indeed! You are young and inexperienced, -and it is for me to consider that -which may become insolence on his part, and -folly on yours." -</p> - -<p> -Never before had her father spoken with -such severity of tone, and the soft eyes of -Clara filled with unseen tears. -</p> - -<p> -"Ours is a levelling age certainly; but -this intimacy carries the game rather far. -It is outrageous!" he continued, nursing his -annoyance, and warming with it. -</p> - -<p> -"But he bears our name, and why may -we not know him? If he is a kinsman——" -</p> - -<p> -"Kinsman!" exclaimed her father, with -growing anger, as he recalled the visit of -Mr. De Murrer; "the devil! don't speak -thus; and as for the mere matter of a -name, one would think you were an old -Scotsman of a hundred years ago, rather -than an English girl of the nineteenth -century!" -</p> - -<p> -"I only think of what I owe him, Papa," -urged Clara, greatly apprehensive that Derval's -name would now be struck off the visitor's -list—but prudence forbade such an order as -yet. -</p> - -<p> -"It is possible you may think too much," -continued Lord Oakhampton, greatly ruffled; -"but remember, Clara, that this young man -is as much out of your world as one of -yonder boatmen in the bay!" -</p> - -<p> -"Do not suppose, dear Papa, that I will -ever do aught unbecoming your daughter. I -have always done my best to please you," -she added, as her graceful figure bent over -him, and a white arm stole round his neck, -while her sweet face grew almost softer in -expression, as she caressed him. -</p> - -<p> -But she now discovered the truth of the -German proverb, "Speech is silver, silence is -gold," and knew to her infinite mortification, -that by her first remark on Derval's -appearance, and her attempted defence of their -friendship, she had thoroughly awakened the -suspicions of her father, of whose old hostility -to the Hamptons of Finglecombe she knew -nothing; and the results were that her -liberty was much more circumscribed than it -had been. There was no more boating on the -bay, and Miss Sampler was for ever on duty -now. Forbidden to think of him, she cherished -the idea all the more. To her, Derval, honest, -manly, straightforward, and single-hearted, -seemed worth all "the white-handed -glittering youth" she had yet met with; and -thus it was in vain that her father urged that -he did not and never would belong to her class -in society—even by thought, culture, and -education; but, in some of the latter premises, -his lordship was in error. Yet, too keenly -aware of what the claims were that Derval, -or interfering friends for him, might urge to -the title he held, he could neither forbid -him his house nor request that he would -cease to address Miss Hampton. -</p> - -<p> -To Derval the idea of these claims never -occurred; he felt that there was a change -now, that he saw Clara more seldom, and -never alone. Whether this was her own -desire, or that of her father, he could not tell; -he only knew that the first stirrings of a -deeply-absorbing love were quickening his -pulses and thrilling in his veins. He had -heard of the desire of the moth for the star, -and felt himself somewhat akin to that foolish -insect indeed. She was the daughter of a -peer, and in the fulness of that thought, and -the greatness of his passion, he forgot that he -might yet be a peer himself! -</p> - -<p> -Time was passing on—day followed day, -and he missed the sweet companionship sorely. -Her face was ever before him in all its soft -beauty and variety of expression; her voice -seemed ever in his ear, as he conned over her -utterances, and recalled her attractive and -pretty little modes of manner. He was never -weary of watching the roof that covered her, -the windows she might be looking from, or -the walks where he might chance to meet, -even to see her; and he resolved, that come -what might, he would not go away without -declaring how he loved her, without telling -her the old, old story, that was first told in -Eden; and that he would never forget her, -and never love another. -</p> - -<p> -The time for his departure was drawing -near now, and thus he was a prey to the most -terrible anxiety. -</p> - -<p> -He felt that the relief of words he must -have, or his heart would sink. So much had -this strong passion become a part of himself, -that he felt and thought that he would rather -be dead and buried with her, than that she -should become the wife of another. And yet -such separations come to pass every day, and -no one dies of them, so far as the world -knows. -</p> - -<p> -He had gathered courage from what he -could read in her eyes, more than once, when -he had met her and her chaperone, and they -had lingered together, talking the merest -commonplaces, but with their hearts very full -indeed, and Miss Sampler keenly observant -of their words and actions. Thus he had -resolved that there should be no mistake when -the opportunity came, and come it did one -day, most unexpectedly, when he met her -suddenly, alone too, and then, all the world -seemed to stand still! -</p> - -<p> -It was in one of the last places where he would -have thought to meet her unattended—at the -Nutcracking Rock, an ancient logan-stone, -which rests, as it were, upon a keel, so that a -push rolls it from side to side, at each -vibration being arrested by a stone, against which -it knocks. Hence its name, and it stands in -a wooded and solitary place, near the shore of -the bay, covered with golden moss and -surrounded by dwarf oak-trees and hawthorns. -</p> - -<p> -She was seated on a camp-stool, and so -intent on her work of sketching it, that he -drew near her unperceived, with his heart -beating almost painfully, and every fibre -tingling with love and joy. His step aroused -her, she looked round; a faint exclamation -escaped her, and she dropped her pencil. -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Hampton, you here?" -</p> - -<p> -"Thank heaven that I find you as I do, -alone, Clara," said he, picking up the fallen -pencil, and kneeling on one knee by her side -after he did so. They were eye to eye now, -and both were greatly agitated. -</p> - -<p> -"Alone, Clara," said he, taking her -unresisting hand, "how are you here alone?" -</p> - -<p> -"Miss Sampler has just left me; did not -you meet her?" -</p> - -<p> -"No, I came by the beach." -</p> - -<p> -"And what were the wild waves saying?" -she asked, smiling honestly and fondly down -on his upturned face. -</p> - -<p> -"They seemed to sing to me of love and -you, Clara," he answered, in the same joyous -manner, and drawing her towards him he -kissed her tenderly, passionately, and there -was no need for declaring the love that filled -his heart and trembled on his lips, and yet -he did so in words that filled her heart with -mingled joy and fear—joy, for they were -such as no young girl could have heard -unmoved when addressed to herself—and a -great fear, as she thought of her father, and -all his words flashed on her memory. She -grew pale, and even when Derval's kisses -were pressed upon her cheek in that sequestered -place, she glanced round her fearfully. -</p> - -<p> -"And you love me in return, Clara, my own -Clara?" he murmured, caressing her tenderly -after their first incoherences were over. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, oh yes, Derval, I love you!" she -replied. -</p> - -<p> -"It is said to be fortunate for us, that the -future is a sealed book," said he, drawing -her head and face caressingly into his neck -and his breast, "yet I should like to have -known that the little girl whose life I saved -in Bermuda was to be my wife—my own -darling wife—in the years to come!" -</p> - -<p> -<i>His wife!</i> -</p> - -<p> -The sweet assumption made her tears flow -fast, and hot and bitter tears they were. -The intensity of his love had touched her, -and delighted her heart; but these words -recalled her father's remarks and injunctions, -and even while Derval spoke and she -responded, while joining with him in the -delirious joy of the present, she had the -chilling and terrible fear, that this great love -and his suit would prove—all nonsense in the -future, and never come to anything! -</p> - -<p> -I was an awful conviction or fear to have -at such a moment, and the intensity of her -agitation, her sobs and tears, attracted the -attention of Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"My own darling," he asked, inquiringly, -"why all those tears?" -</p> - -<p> -"My father, Derval," -</p> - -<p> -"You dread his opposition—so do I; but -I would not have him ashamed of me, if you -are not—my own love!" -</p> - -<p> -"Derval—we leave this for Paris to-morrow -morning. In the joy of seeing you, I almost -forgot it," she continued, sobbing heavily. -</p> - -<p> -"To-morrow—oh heavens, Clara! And I! next -day for a ship—a few days whole seas -will be between us! We sail for the Cape." -</p> - -<p> -"It is awful to think, Derval, that we -may pass out of each others' lives, and be -as if we never met—never known each -other!" -</p> - -<p> -"Why—how?" he asked regarding her -anxiously. -</p> - -<p> -"What can such a secret and forbidden -love as ours, with such a separation, lead -to? a separation without a place or period for -meeting again, and without a means of hearing -of each others' lives, safety, or happiness." -</p> - -<p> -As she spake her pearly teeth were set, and -there came into her face something of the -expression that Derval had seen it wear in -the boat on the last occasion, force of -character and strength of resolution, young -though she was. -</p> - -<p> -As the reader may conjecture, the sketch -of the famous Nutcracking rock was never -finished. -</p> - -<p> -"I shall ever thank heaven for the impulse -that sent me to meet you to-day, darling -Clara," said he, as they reached the spot at -which they would be compelled to separate. -"We must, and shall, meet again when I -return, for I shall seek you out, wherever -you are, and we must think of each other -every day and every hour. Till then—oh, -my love, till then!" -</p> - -<p> -Much more was said, brokenly and incoherently, -and they lingered so long, that at -last she had to leave him, blinded in tears, and -with one long and clinging kiss they parted, -as so many lovers have done before, and will -do so again. -</p> - -<p> -They had exchanged rings and locks of -hair in the most orthodox fashion. It was -arranged that Rookleigh should be the -medium through which their correspondence -should be conducted, their letters being -mutually, if necessary, sent under cover to -him. There could be no harm in their -hearing of each other secretly, they thought, -and deemed such an institution necessary for -their happiness—their very existence, indeed; -for both were rash, young, loving, and -enthusiastic, and both, too, were somewhat -ignorant of the conventional ways of the -world; and to Rookleigh now they both -mutually looked for succour in the great love -that bound their hearts together. -</p> - -<p> -Though his heart was weary with the keen -sorrow of their separation, Derval felt full of -bright hope for the future—that hope which -furnishes all our Chateaux in Espagne, or in -the air—"hope that lends us alabaster bricks -and golden mortar to build these castles -withal; hope that turns the hue of the stalest -loaf into the richest plum-cake, and the -smallest of beer into the mellowest of Burgundy." -</p> - -<p> -As if chance were already beginning to -favour him, Derval, who did not, and never -would visit the villa at Finglecombe, on -returning to the hotel found his brother -Rookleigh awaiting him there. -</p> - -<p> -"You asked me the other day if I would -do you a favour, Rook," said he, "and I -promised to do it—though I was in a great -hurry." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes—Miss Hampton was waiting for you -on the beach. I saw you meet—well?" -</p> - -<p> -"You must in turn do a favour for me—and -I am sure you will, old fellow!" added -Derval, and he placed a hand affectionately -on his brother's shoulder, feeling at that -moment, in the great joy of being loved by -Clara, that he forgave him everything, and -could love him too. -</p> - -<p> -He then related to Rookleigh much that -had passed between himself and Clara—told -of their secret engagement—secret, at least, -as yet; showed her engagement-ring, but -failed to see the sneer of Rookleigh's lip, as -he kissed it with what the latter deemed -idiotic ardour; and in the end, begged him -to be the medium through whom their -correspondence was to be conducted; and to -this Rookleigh, affecting demurrage, -ultimately consented, for which he was -extravagantly thanked and well-nigh embraced by -Derval, who said: -</p> - -<p> -"And now, Rook, dear old boy, what is -the favour you wanted of me—in what can I -serve you?" -</p> - -<p> -An unfathomable expression stole over the -face of Rookleigh at that moment, and his -pale green shifty hazel eyes perhaps never -looked so shifty. Skilfully veiled hatred, -malice, and anticipated triumph were mingling -there; but Derval, whose heart and thoughts -were utterly strangers to passions such as -these, could little have conceived they were -so near him. -</p> - -<p> -We have said that both Mrs. Hampton -and Rookleigh resented Derval's intimacy -with Lord Oakhampton, and the revengeful -feeling of the half-brother eventually took a -very remarkable form. -</p> - -<p> -Seeing that Rookleigh seemed embarrassed, -Derval pressed him to say what favour he -required of him. -</p> - -<p> -"I want a thousand pounds sorely on loan -just now," said Rookleigh, in a very measured -voice, while avoiding his brother's eye; "I know -you have more than double that sum lying at -your bankers, as you have scarcely drawn a -penny of what our good father left you." -</p> - -<p> -"He left me so little and you so much, -Rook, that I marvel greatly you can want -any more, especially from a poor devil like -me; but you are heartily welcome to the -thousand; and as for dear Clara's letters—" -</p> - -<p> -"They will be fully attended to. Thank -you, dear Derval, I knew you would assist me -if you could. My monetary annoyance is a -very temporary one indeed." -</p> - -<p> -"There you are—and welcome!" exclaimed -Derval, as with a dart of his pen he filled up -a cheque and handed it to his brother, who, -after carefully placing it in his pocketbook, -drew forth a document of somewhat -portentous aspect. -</p> - -<p> -"Why—what is this?" said Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"Knowing that you would give me the -money, and that it would be necessary to -give you some admission or receipt for it, I -had this prepared, as time is short." -</p> - -<p> -"True, I must be off in twenty-four hours. -But what is the meaning of all this, Rook? -The cheque is a crossed one—and I can trust -you—can you not trust yourself?" -</p> - -<p> -Rookleigh's rather pale face was crossed by -a blush as he said— -</p> - -<p> -"We never know what may happen, and -if you are to marry Clara Hampton, as I hope -you will, all the money you can scrape -together will be necessary." -</p> - -<p> -"But, man alive! what is all this you have -written here?" exclaimed Derval; "it looks -like a title-deed—a marriage settlement—or -a bill in chancery. Surely all this -raggabash is not necessary between you and -me!" -</p> - -<p> -"For legal purposes it is—you, as a sailor, -are ignorant of the ridiculous tautology of -legal composition; but if you will affix your -ordinary signature, witnessed by me, in these -two places, without troubling you to read it, -we shall post it to old De Murrer for security -in his hands." -</p> - -<p> -"All right, old fellow, I'll do anything you -like but read over all that rigmarole," replied -Derval, who dashed off his signature at the -places indicated, and the document was -enclosed in an envelope, addressed to their -mutual agent at Gray's Inn for preservation, -and placed in the usual receptacle at the -hotel for letters to be posted. -</p> - -<p> -There is no doubt that it was extremely -culpable and negligent of Derval to sign that -document as he did, without once troubling -himself by an examination of its contents and -nature—all the more so was he culpable, from -the past knowledge he had of Rookleigh's -general character; but his correspondence -with Clara was uppermost then in his -thoughts; and when the half-brothers parted -for the night, there came into Rookleigh's -face a diabolical smile, and he laughed, as -he took his homeward way muttering to -himself— -</p> - -<p> -"How easily that fool allowed himself to -be chiselled out of everything; but he is a -sailor, ignorant of land life, for sailors go -round and round the world but never -into it!" -</p> - -<p> -And again he laughed loudly. -</p> - -<p> -On the morrow, the pretty villa at Bayview -was tenantless; the shrine was empty, so -Derval gladly welcomed the hour that took -him from Finglecombe, and the change of -scene and occupation that came with it. -</p> - -<p> -Lord Oakhampton had seen of late the -preoccupation of his daughter's thoughts, and -knew the cause thereof. Hence this sudden -Parisian trip; after which a season in London -would, he hoped, find another whose presence -might obliterate what he deemed to be a -foolish, a girlish, and <i>outré</i> fancy for Derval -Hampton. -</p> - -<p> -Ere the <i>Amethyst</i> sailed, the latter wrote to -her under cover to Rookleigh, who was to -discover Lord Oakhampton's address, and -contrive some means of having it delivered. -</p> - -<p> -The letter, full of passionate love and -longing, of the tender little incoherences in -which all lovers indulge, and many prayerful -hopes for the future, duly reached the hands -of his brother; but it was fortunate for -Derval's peace of mind that he did not see -the strange and horrible smile that crept over -the face of Rookleigh as he <i>perused</i> it, and then -tossed it into the fire. -</p> - -<p> -The latter was the receptacle of most of -its successors, and of Clara's too. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap05"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER V. -<br /><br /> -"DEEPER THAN E'EN PLUMMET SOUNDED." -</h3> - -<p> -Derval was back to his old work on the -sea, but now it had lost all zest, and even the -love for and hope of adventure had gone out -of him. His whole soul and existence seemed -to centre in the image of Clara, and his mind -was never weary of dwelling upon it, and all -the minutiæ of his late sojourn at Finglecombe, -and all that had come of it. -</p> - -<p> -She loved him; he had the dearest -and sweetest assurance of that, and they -were engaged—solemnly engaged; but how, -and when was the end to be? Their future -was painfully vague! He could scarcely hope -for her father's consent, and without it he -feared that he would never win Clara for his -wife, as he knew, but too well, that though -the name and blood were the same, their -relative positions in life—in that "society" -in which she moved—were different, far apart, -and that—as yet—he had no place therein. -</p> - -<p> -His imagination was fertile in the art of -self-torment; and still more did it become so, -as time and distance increased between him -and their parting hour and parting place; -and, after skirting the Bay of Biscay, that -turbulent corner of the seas where, at times, -all their storms seem gathered together, the -<i>Amethyst</i> shaped her course towards Madeira. -</p> - -<p> -On the lone sea by day and in the silent -watches of the starry night of what could he -think but <i>her</i>, and the new and hitherto -unknown emotion she had kindled in his -heart! -</p> - -<p> -He hailed with joy and anxiety the Pico -Ruivo as it rose from the sea, and the <i>Amethyst</i> -ran into the roads of Funchal, where she -lay-to while Joe Grummet went ashore for -any ship letters that might have come ahead -of them by the steam-packet. -</p> - -<p> -Letters there were for the Captain, Harry -Bowline, and others on board, but not one -for him, and his spirit began to fall. He -strove hard to console himself with the -doctrine of chances and mischance, and -hoped letters might await him at Ascension -or the Cape of Good Hope. -</p> - -<p> -Rough old Joe Grummet, a shrewd observer, -especially of those for whom he had a -regard, saw how his countenance changed -when the letters were distributed and none -appeared for him. -</p> - -<p> -"I was sorry to see you so disappointed, -sir," said Joe, as they walked the deck -together that night, after the Pico Ruivo had -sunk into the sea, "but I think it is often -better not to get letters when in blue water, -for we can't amend evil things then, as we -might when ashore; and I had a shipmate, -who lost his life through getting one—and -out of the smallest post-office in the whole -world." -</p> - -<p> -"Where is that, Joe?" -</p> - -<p> -"It is a barrel that swings from the -outermost rock of the sheer mountains that -overhang the Straits of Magellan, right -opposite to La Tierra del Fuego. Every -ship passing opens it to place in letters or -take them out, and undertakes their transit, -if possible. It hangs there at an iron chain, -washed, beaten, and battered by wind and -storm; but no post-office, even in London, -is more secure from robbers. Well, this poor -fellow laid well out on the foretopsail yard, -while the ship was thrown in the wind, to -see what letters were in the barrel. There -was but one, and it was for himself. It was -from his wife, but was sealed with black. -Sitting outside the yard he read it; then a -cry escaped him, and falling into the sea -between the ship and the rocks he was seen -no more. The letter fluttered aft to where -I stood near the taffrail. It told poor Bill of -his mother's death, months and months -before, and the shock had been too much -for him. But you have come back to the -<i>Amethyst</i> sorely changed, surely Mr. Hampton?" -</p> - -<p> -"How, Joe?" -</p> - -<p> -"Why—all the fun and cheeriness are -quite gone out of you." -</p> - -<p> -"They should not, Joe, as there is no reason -therefor. But were you ever in love, Joe?" -</p> - -<p> -"Bless my heart, many and many times, -as long as my pay lasted, and I had to come -aboard again." -</p> - -<p> -"Ah! Joe," said Derval, laughing, "I fear -you don't know what love is." -</p> - -<p> -"Don't I, though!" exclaimed old Grummet, -as he bit a quid off the twist of pigtail -that was always in his right-hand pocket. -"I often boast myself as one of the not-to-be-done -squadron of the Royal Naval Reserve, -Mr. Hampton; yet I am always done brown -when I am on shore, which is the reason I -generally stick close to the ship, as one can't -fall in love when in blue water and the anchor's -catted." -</p> - -<p> -"Joe, the love I mean is the merging of -your whole existence in that of another; -placing every hope and wish on the will of -another; living a glad, wild, feverish dream, -with the strange sense that without that other -all life is worthless." -</p> - -<p> -"Well, I'm blessed! On that other, as you -call her, I have too often spent every 'tarnal -penny, and come to grief in the end, and -found myself toeing a line before the beak. -No, no! love ain't for me now; and for you, -perhaps, it as well you didn't get any letters, -for perhaps your girl may have slipped from -her moorings and gone foreign with some other -fellow." -</p> - -<p> -Derval laughed at Joe's phraseology, but -said, "This is perhaps my last trip, Joe, and -if I leave the ship I hope to see you a mate of -her." -</p> - -<p> -"Mate—no, no, Mr. Hampton; I ain't used -to the luxuriance of a cabin, where knives and -forks and tea-cups is used; and where the -grog-tot, the bread-barge, and the mess-kid ain't -known." -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The wind was fair, the weather delightful, -and the <i>Amethyst</i> in due time crossed the -equator. -</p> - -<p> -"Let me be patient, let me be patient!" -sighed Derval, when the volcanic peaks of -Ascension, the rendezvous of our African -squadron, came in sight; and the <i>Amethyst</i>, -having sprung one of her topmasts, ran in to -refit. Letters for her came off in a Government -boat. There were some for nearly every -man on board save Derval, whose anxiety was -fast becoming painful. -</p> - -<p> -As at Madeira, he wrote and left a passionate -and appealing letter to Clara, under cover to -his brother, and sailed in hope for the Cape. -Hope; he could not abandon that! Was -Clara ill? had Rookleigh mismanaged their -correspondence? or had Lord Oakhampton -discovered and intercepted all their letters? -Clara could address letters to the ship—letters -which would follow him all over the world; -but he remembered that his movements were -somewhat unknown to her, and gathered a -little mental relief from the idea. But from -what did the silence of Rookleigh arise? He -might at least write and state that he had no -letters to enclose! -</p> - -<p> -Why did she never write to him? he was -incessantly asking himself. Where were the -fondly promised letters that Rookleigh was to -transmit to him, in exchange for those -transmitted to him for her—passionate letters, -expressing all the complete and wild abandonment -of his heart and soul to an earthly love, -to which he had given up all that God had -given him. -</p> - -<p> -Times there were when already he began to -have strange and terrible doubts of her. Yet, -why had she been so sweet, so kind, so loving -in her manner to him, if she was but luring -him into misery and disappointment? She -could not be so cruel—his very life was in -those little white hands of hers—hands that he -had so often covered with kisses. Then he -thrust these aching thoughts aside, and hoped -and trusted that time would unravel and -explain all; but as yet a black cloud, a pall, -seemed to have come between him, his past -existence, and Clara! -</p> - -<p> -In the life he knew she must lead in the -gay world, where she participated in all that -fashion, wealth, and rank could surround her -with, was she forgetting him? would be his -tormenting thought anon; and had what he -deemed a mutual love been to her but a -sea-side romance, a summer flirtation? -Oh! what was <i>he</i>, he would mutter, that she, a -peer's daughter, in her beauty and her bloom, -should remember him? -</p> - -<p> -If true to him, at all risks and hazards, even -of her father's anger, she should have written -to him; and passing over Rookleigh, at the -same risks and hazards, he should have written -direct to her, and ended his cruel anxiety if -possible; but he knew not her address, or -whether she had returned from Paris to -England. -</p> - -<p> -"I thought that I had too many reasons -for being happy," said he, "a sure sign -of grief to come—of sorrow close at -hand." -</p> - -<p> -At last, after a voyage (including her delay -at Ascension) of more than two months, the -<i>Amethyst</i> hauled up for Table Bay, came to -anchor, and the boats came off from Cape -Town. -</p> - -<p> -"At last, at last—surely now!" exclaimed -Derval as a letter was given him, and he opened -it with trembling hands. It was from -Rookleigh, in answer to one he had written from -Madeira, saying that "Miss Hampton had -never sent a single letter for transmission," -and nothing more. -</p> - -<p> -What had happened? What did this cruel -mystery mean? -</p> - -<p> -He wrote her one cold and brief letter, -almost a farewell, under cover to Rookleigh, -and then an illness and fever came upon him -while the ship lay at Cape Town, and through -the long days and nights there, he lay in his -little cabin, almost mad with his mental -misery—a misery athwart which there came -no gleam of light or hope; and when next he -came on deck, after many weeks of illness, he -found that the <i>Amethyst</i>, instead of returning -to England, had been freighted for Batavia -under Captain Talbot, and was working out of -Table Bay, and heading eastward for the Indian -Ocean! -</p> - -<p> -Thus it would be long before he should see -or hear of Clara again, and learn the worst -that fate had in store for him. -</p> - -<p> -How little could he imagine, that all <i>he</i> was -suffering—the keenest pangs of doubt, anxiety, -sorrow, and disappointment—were suffered by -Clara. Ignorant of his precise address and -whereabouts, the poor girl wrote to him in -secrecy again and again—wrote to him -lovingly, then despondently, and anon with -surprise and upbraiding, under cover to -Rookleigh, posting her epistles with her own hand, -and trusting none other—posting them with -a prayer on her lips; and to the recipient—the -supposed medium of their love affair—the -mutual correspondence proved a source of -supreme merriment, and even to his mother -too; and in the end the fire received it all. -</p> - -<p> -At last Clara knew not what to think; she -could but wait and hope, but ceased to use -her pen. The conviction that she had -stooped—actually condescended—in the acceptance -of his love, added to the poignancy of what -felt, and filled her, at times, with indignation -at conduct so singular and unwarrantable. -</p> - -<p> -Fear of Derval's vengeance, if his duplicity -ever came to light, the malevolent Rookleigh -had none; but he laughed curiously when he -thought of the folly of which his sailor brother -had been guilty in signing the unread -document! And as for the loss of his lady-love, -"Derval," he thought with a chuckle, "will -no doubt take to poetry, and writing sonnets -on female inconstancy." -</p> - -<p> -A somewhat unexpected turn was given to -the then state of the affair, by Lord -Oakhampton once more taking up his abode -temporarily at Bayview, in Finglecombe, the -saline air of which he rightly or wrongly—for -our story it matters little which—conceived -to be beneficial to his health. This to Clara -was most distasteful, as the entire locality -was—for her—full of associations of the past, -that the sooner she forgot the better for her -own happiness. -</p> - -<p> -It was about this time that Derval's last -letter from Clara, written before his illness at -the Cape, came to the hands of Rookleigh, -and conceiving, from the animus of that in -which it was enclosed, it might seem to widen -the breach between the lovers, he, by the -assistance of little hot water to moisten the -envelope, made himself master of the -contents, and adding a bitter postscript in -imitation of Derval's writing, he reclosed it, -and, aware that Lord Oakhampton was -absent in London, resolved to deliver it in -person, and thus achieve, perhaps, an -introduction to Clara. -</p> - -<p> -Inspired by a new and very remarkable -scheme, he repaired to Bayview Villa, and -sending up his card, was ushered into the -drawing-room. -</p> - -<p> -The apartment was a double one, divided -by an archway, in which hung curtains of blue -silk, edged with silver lace, and festooned -partly with white silk cord and tassels. There -was a sound, the rustling of a dress in the -inner room; but at first Rookleigh saw only a -white hand and arm—an arm so taper round -and marvellously beautiful that he had never -before seen anything like it. A diamond -bracelet clasped the wrist. The hand slightly -parted the curtains—for Clara was there, with -his card in her hand, striving to still the -painful beating of her heart. -</p> - -<p> -Then her whole figure appeared: a girl tall, -slender, perfect in grace and symmetry, her -dark violet eyes full of earnest inquiry, the -sweet lips and mignonne face, all expressive of -it too. Lovely, dainty, and refined, Clara -Hampton stood before him. -</p> - -<p> -Would she offer him that lovely hand, -permit him to touch it? was his first thought; -but in a second more it was placed confidingly -within his own; while Clara, who blushed -deeply at first, now grew pale as the -new-fallen snow. -</p> - -<p> -Never before had he stood in the presence -of a girl so quietly patrician in bearing and -appearance. -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Rookleigh Hampton?" said she, -glancing at the card, and with enforced -calmness of tone and manner. -</p> - -<p> -"Derval's brother," replied the traitor, and -no other introduction was necessary, though -at the mention of Derval's name, he could -see how anxiety mingled with <i>hauteur</i> in her -sensitive lips and eyes. -</p> - -<p> -"You are, of course, aware of the arrangement -my brother made about—about your -letters?" said Rookleigh. -</p> - -<p> -"You sent him all mine?" asked Clara in -a breathless voice. -</p> - -<p> -"All—and I have one here for you—whether -a reply, or not, I cannot say." -</p> - -<p> -"Only one!" -</p> - -<p> -"The first and only one," replied Rookleigh, -who, with all his effrontery and duplicity, -felt that he never before stood in such a -presence, and could scarcely remember how -he answered her; for his mind was filling fast -with admiration, his heart beat fast, and his -brain seemed to burn. -</p> - -<p> -"A letter from Derval at last! His first -letter too—yet it would explain!" were her -first ideas. "Be seated, Sir, and for a moment -or two, pray do excuse me." -</p> - -<p> -She retired back beyond the silk hangings, -and rapidly made herself, more than once, -mistress of the contents of that letter, one -of coldness, brevity, and farewell—farewell -without further explanation—a letter the -strange tenor of which startled and bewildered -her. -</p> - -<p> -Clara's agitation and confusion were excessive; -but sorrow succeeded to surprise in her -heart, and indignation to sorrow. -</p> - -<p> -"All is over and ended between your -brother and myself, Mr. Rookleigh," said -she, with a painful swelling in her slender -white throat. -</p> - -<p> -"His letter displeases you?" asked Rookleigh, -scarcely knowing what to say, and -feeling his heart for a moment fail him. -</p> - -<p> -"Read it," said she, haughtily. -</p> - -<p> -He scarcely required to do so, yet he -affected to peruse it, and then knit his narrow -brows. -</p> - -<p> -"How cold this letter is! but in it there -lurks some mystery," said he. -</p> - -<p> -"What mystery, Sir?" -</p> - -<p> -"I know not—I only know that above all -things the human heart is deceitful!" -</p> - -<p> -After a pause, during which both remained -silent, and Clara had nervously, half -unconsciously, crushed and crumpled up the odious -and disappointing note—for it was scarcely -even a letter—in her small and tremulous -hand, Rookleigh proceeded to make apologies -for the strange conduct of his unworthy -brother, and to express his own pain, shame, -sorrow, and so forth, in terms well chosen and -uttered. -</p> - -<p> -"He is peculiar," he added, "always was -so; thus his oddity of disposition caused him -to be sent to sea. I can assure you, my dear -Miss Hampton, that he never got on well with -the mother or me, or with anyone else, in -fact. Then, sailors will be sailors, Miss -Hampton, and are said to have loves in every -port." -</p> - -<p> -He continued to linger and utter his regrets, -till the silence of Clara indicated that she -was weary of his presence and desired to be -left alone—alone to her own reflections and -misery—and the young squire of Finglecombe -bowed himself out, well pleased -with his morning's work, and resolved that -this should not be his last visit to Bayview -Villa. -</p> - -<p> -He was well aware that Clara Hampton, -though just turned eighteen, had been the -queen of the last season in London, and that -though other queens were there as proud and -pure and marvellously fair, yet there was -none who apparently had remained so -unspoiled by the homage offered. Flattery left -her untouched; and beautiful and nobly born -though she was, no weekly journal yet dared -to make her portrait an inducement to -purchasers, and no photo of her appeared in any -London shop-window to court the comments, -admiration, or ribaldry of every passing -"cad" or ruffian. -</p> - -<p> -It has been said—with what truth we know -not—that no idle man can resist the temptation -of seeking to fascinate a handsome girl, -while at the same time eclipsing another -man. Thus, could Rookleigh have any -compunction about eclipsing that half-brother -of whose proper position in the family he -was so jealous, and whom he had been so -studiously reared by his mother to view with -a rancorous and most unholy hate? -</p> - -<p> -Certainly not, and to this amiable end, -Rookleigh resolved to leave no means -untried to introduce himself to Lord -Oakhampton. -</p> - -<p> -Chance meetings—chance apparently—in -the railway train, and elaborate civilities -proffered by Rookleigh, the offers of cigars, -periodicals, and so forth, led to an exchange -of words; and though the peer was -unpleasantly struck by the young man's name, -and then knew precisely who he was, for -certain cogent legal reasons he deemed it -wise and well to be civil to him, and an -invitation to Bayview followed—an invitation -which Rookleigh was not slow to accept; -and soon, by making himself useful in fifty -different ways, he became then a regular -sea-side visitor; though, as the brother -of Derval, his welcome was of a somewhat -mingled kind by both father and -daughter. -</p> - -<p> -Mrs. Hampton was intensely gratified by -this unexpected intimacy, of which, however, -by failing health, she was, perhaps luckily, -unable to avail herself. -</p> - -<p> -To Rookleigh the idea did occur at times, -as to how he was to account to Derval for -the non-transmission of Clara's letters for -him to the ship, the owners, or their agents -abroad? -</p> - -<p> -Well—that was a matter for future -consideration; meantime he had the signed -bond, and that laid Derval at his mercy! -</p> - -<p> -The lovers were meanwhile beginning to -think—nay, to be assured—that their worst -fears were becoming realised; Clara deeming -that Derval, as his brother had alleged, was -"a very sailor"; and he, that Clara was -only true to the instincts of her cold-blooded -class, and had already forgotten him, or cast -him off, for some new, richer, and titled -object; and Rookleigh rubbed his long lean -hands, and puckered up his green eyes with -quaint delight, as the plot seemed to -thicken. -</p> - -<p> -Clara had never striven even to like him, -though the brother of that Derval she had -loved so well—nay, loved in secret still. -She saw the base metal in his composition, -and always detected a something in the -tone of his voice, and in the expression -of his face, that roused an undefinable -emotion of distrust, as belying in some -way the ease and nonchalance of manner -he affected. -</p> - -<p> -"We are a kind of cousins, you know, -Miss Hampton," said he one day, as he hung -over her at the piano. -</p> - -<p> -"I do not know that we are," she replied -coldly. -</p> - -<p> -"Permit me to explain to you the degree," -and he proceeded to do so with extreme -accuracy, as he had just been studying the -matter with Mr. De Murrer, affecting to act in -the interest of his absent brother, but in -reality for his own selfish purposes. But she -only laughed aloud, and said: -</p> - -<p> -"It is rather remote." -</p> - -<p> -"It would not be thought so, in Scotland." -</p> - -<p> -She remembered her father's reply on a -similar occasion, and merely shrugged her -shoulders. Had Derval claimed the kindred -blood, her view of it might have been -different. -</p> - -<p> -The poor girl's heart was ever beating -with "a vague unrest" she could well -understand, but had a difficulty in concealing -and acting a part to those around her, to -the watchful eyes of her father especially, -and he began to wonder whether he had -acted wisely in opening his house to -Rookleigh Hampton. -</p> - -<p> -The latter now learned that the <i>Amethyst</i> -had sailed for Batavia, which would ensure, -even if she returned direct to England, an -absence of at least eight months on the part -of Derval—eight months, of which Rookleigh -made, as we shall show, a terrible use. -</p> - -<p> -"Sailed for Batavia—sailed for Batavia!" -he repeated. Fate was playing into his -hands indeed, for long ere Derval could -return, the game would be his own! -</p> - -<p> -So "deeper than ever plummet sounded," -was the deep villany of Rookleigh Hampton. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap06"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER VI. -<br /><br /> -A CRUSHED HEART. -</h3> - -<p> -In detailing plot and counterplot, cunning -and selfishness, doubt, despair, and no small -agony of spirit, we have much to compress in -the latter pages of this our history. -</p> - -<p> -As the squire of Finglecombe, Rookleigh -was, in every way, a more eligible <i>parti</i> than -his sailor brother; thus, confident in having -eventually the countenance of Lord Oakhampton, -the former cared very little about -the opposition of Clara, his whole anxiety -being to play his cards well, and have her -completely in his power, ere the return of -Derval upset his plans, and this unexpected -voyage to Batavia gave him far more time to -do so than he could at first have hoped for. -</p> - -<p> -Into his nefarious schemes his mother -entered <i>con amore</i>. Derval removed or -circumvented in any way, <i>her</i> son would marry -the heiress of Lord Oakhampton, and eventually -might succeed to the title. Every -scruple died in her heart! -</p> - -<p> -"Do you make any progress with her, -Rookleigh?" that amiable lady asked one -day. -</p> - -<p> -"None—as yet," he answered sulkily. -</p> - -<p> -"Why, dear?" -</p> - -<p> -"She is always brooding over Derval." -</p> - -<p> -"Though all letters have been intercepted?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes; but I have plenty of time, however, -before he returns—if he returns at all." -</p> - -<p> -"At all! Why not get up a rumour that -he is drowned—or married?" -</p> - -<p> -"Not a bad idea, Mother; anyway I shall -be sure to succeed," replied Rookleigh, -laughing, with something of the contemptuous -confidence of youth, and ignorance of -the world. -</p> - -<p> -Unaware of the secret impulses that were -working, Clara disliked the apparent intimacy -between her father and young Rookleigh -Hampton. She disliked his constant visits -and something in the bearing he was assuming -towards herself. The little toleration -she had for him at first, as Derval's brother, -passed away with the hope of ever hearing -of Derval more, and she had—she knew -not why—a secret antipathy to Rookleigh. -</p> - -<p> -The latter felt this, and all his attempts -to gain her confidence, even to engage her -in a pleasant conversation came to nothing. -</p> - -<p> -Coming upon her one day as she sat on -the beach, she seemed so unconscious of his -approach, that he came close to her side -quite unnoticed. -</p> - -<p> -Then she looked up at him and bowed, -but her face scarcely wore the semblance of -a smile as she did so. -</p> - -<p> -"Of what were you thinking?" he asked, -as he lay down on the pebbles by her -feet. -</p> - -<p> -"Nothing," she replied curtly. -</p> - -<p> -"How smooth and pleasant the water -looks—will you let me row you out a little -way?" -</p> - -<p> -"No, thanks," she replied almost with -asperity. -</p> - -<p> -"You always seem to—to doubt me, Miss -Hampton." -</p> - -<p> -"You think so?" said she, with her lip -curling slightly. -</p> - -<p> -"I am sorry to say that I feel it instinctively." -</p> - -<p> -"I do not doubt your honour, at all events." -</p> - -<p> -"My truth, then?" said he, colouring. -</p> - -<p> -"Are they not the same thing?" -</p> - -<p> -"Not always—unless I deceive myself. -</p> - -<p> -"You may—but not me," replied the girl, -almost sharply, for his manner worried her, -and she rose up. -</p> - -<p> -He grew pale with anger, love, and even -hate, curiously mingled, and thought, as he -started to his feet, and walked on by her -side, "I'll crush you yet, my proud damsel!" -</p> - -<p> -After a little pause, he said: -</p> - -<p> -"Whatever you think of me, Miss Hampton, -I trust you do not deem me a worshipper -of Mammon?" -</p> - -<p> -Now, as this was precisely what she did -think of him, young though he was, she -laughed and replied: -</p> - -<p> -"The conversation is becoming, to say the -least of it, peculiar and personal. What can -it possibly matter to you, how or what I think -of you?" -</p> - -<p> -Dissembling his rage at this contemptuous -question, he said: -</p> - -<p> -"It matters much, indeed; all would wish -to stand well in your estimation—and I more -than all, Miss Hampton." -</p> - -<p> -"Well—are not most people worshippers -of Mammon?" -</p> - -<p> -"More, I hope, worshippers of beauty." -</p> - -<p> -His smile became a leer, and while -irritation gathered in her heart, she said: -</p> - -<p> -"I know nothing of either—I have lived -only some eighteen years in the world, -Mr. Hampton. But why do you cross-question -me?" she added impetuously. -</p> - -<p> -"Pardon me; because to me all your -thoughts are of the deepest interest, and -I——" -</p> - -<p> -"I do not understand all this," interrupted -Clara, with increasing annoyance; "but here -is our gate, and I must wish you good -morning, Mr. Hampton." -</p> - -<p> -"Good morning." He lifted his hat and -turned away, with a baffled and angry emotion -in his mind, and an expression in his eyes, -that, had Clara seen it, would certainly have -startled her; but so far as she was concerned, -sorrow, annoyance, and evil were fated to -come thick and fast now. -</p> - -<p> -Rookleigh's law agents were meanwhile -perfecting the evidences of his own and his -brother's claims successively to the title held -then by Lord Oakhampton. We have already -detailed the angry interview between his -lordship and Mr. De Murrer, and the alarm -with which it inspired him; and this emotion -was renewed when, from that gentleman, -acting ostensibly in the interest of the absent -Derval, but in reality under the secret -pressure of Rookleigh, came a terrifying legal -missive, to the effect that the whole chain of -evidence was now complete and would shortly -be laid before the world! -</p> - -<p> -"There is but one way of compromising with -the absent heir," wrote Mr. De Murrer, -good-naturedly: "your lordship has no direct heir; -Mr. Derval Hampton, and then his brother, -are the next in succession; thus, if you do -not marry again, the claim may take its -course after your demise, if the heirs assent -thereto." -</p> - -<p> -"Marry again—and at my years!" thought -Lord Oakhampton, bitterly; "of that there -is no danger"; but as he thought of his -daughter, the beads of perspiration started on -his brow. He thought of the mutual regard -his daughter and Derval had for each other; -he saw a means of compromise the lawyer -did not think of, and wrote him to that effect, -begging him not to move in the matter until -the return of Derval; but kept his own -counsel, and said nothing to Clara on what -he deemed their impending ruin; and his -natural <i>hauteur</i> made him shrink from -speaking on the matter, as yet, to Rookleigh -Hampton. -</p> - -<p> -The latter continued his visits as usual—the -whole impending suit being supposed to -be Derval's; but Clara kept so sedulously -out of his way, that he could not use -the opportunities he had, of urging his regard -for her; thus, he left no means untried to -win over Lord Oakhampton to his side. -</p> - -<p> -Old, far beyond his years, in calculating -villany, Rookleigh knew well, that though he -might persuade Clara, by a false newspaper -notice, that Derval was dead, the truth or -falsity thereof would soon be proved; he -thought it would be better to assure her in -some manner of his supposed perfidy, and -hence make her more open to the proposals -of a new suitor, and the dedication of that -time to revenge, which otherwise might be -naturally dedicated to grief; and at Bideford -he was not long in discovering one to be his -accomplice in this deceit—a broken-down -actress, or rather a dancing-girl belonging to -a travelling troupe, whose acquaintance he -had made with considerable facility about this -time. -</p> - -<p> -The girl was pretty, clever, and attractive -in appearance, while destitute of nearly every -scruple—so far as conscience was concerned. -</p> - -<p> -"You will do this for me, my dear Sally?" -said Rookleigh, as he sat toying with her over -some wine, in one of the inn windows that -overlooked the river and beautiful valley at -Bideford. -</p> - -<p> -"Of course I will—like a bird, old fellow, -if you pay me," was the confident reply. -</p> - -<p> -"Pay you—that I will, my pet—and well, -too! You will have to act the dear, dear -little devoted but deserted wife." -</p> - -<p> -"To the life, Rook—to the life." -</p> - -<p> -"Then a hundred pounds shall be yours," -said Rookleigh, with something like a groan, -as he deeply loved his money, and the girl -had flatly refused to be his accomplice for less, -and received half the sum in the first instance. -</p> - -<p> -"Then give me a kiss, you dear old fellow, -and I will soon earn the other instalment," -said the young lady airily, as she got a vehicle -and drove off at once to Finglecombe, kissing -her hand to Rookleigh as long as he was in -view. -</p> - -<p> -We shall soon see the result of their -compact. -</p> - -<p> -It was autumn now, the fields were no -longer yellow with billows of golden grain, as -the breeze swept over the uplands; the white -cups of the water-lilies had disappeared from -pool and pond; the beeches changed their -hue from green to russet, and the oak leaves -were turning red; the evening sun had sunk -beyond the waters of the bay, and Clara, -seated alone, in the recess of a window, with -an unread book in her lap, and her eyes fixed -dreamily on the deepening shadows of the -land and sea, felt more than usually depressed, -when she was startled by a servant announcing -"Mrs. Hampton," and a girl of somewhat -attractive appearance, though rather flippant -and nervous in manner, and somewhat shabbily -clad, was ushered in. -</p> - -<p> -Clara's first thought was of Rookleigh's -mother, but the years of the visitor showed -she was mistaken. -</p> - -<p> -"You gave the name of Hampton?" said -Clara, inquiringly, as her visitor remained silent. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, Ma'am—yes, Miss—Mrs. Derval -Hampton, I am." -</p> - -<p> -"You—you?" exclaimed Clara, startled -and bewildered; "I do not understand." -</p> - -<p> -"But you soon will," replied the girl, -affecting to sob; "if I might take a seat, -Miss—I am weary and faint and ill, and very -sick at heart, too." -</p> - -<p> -Clara trembled very much, though unaware -of what all this was to lead to, but pointed to -a chair, on the extreme edge of which the -visitor seated herself, and seemed very far from -being at ease. She was a little awed by her -surroundings; then came an emotion of envy -and anger at Clara for her perfect costume -and beauty, her superior position and supreme -purity of aspect, manner, and character; but -no emotion of compunction for the pain she -was about to inflict, or of shame for the -deliberate falsehood she was about to tell, -came to the soul of Miss Sally Trix. -</p> - -<p> -"And what may your business be with -me?" asked Clara. -</p> - -<p> -"Only to know, Miss, if you have heard of -late from my husband, as he has ceased to -write to me?" -</p> - -<p> -Clara felt herself grow sick and pale at this -degrading question; but she asked with much -apparent calmness: -</p> - -<p> -"And, pray, who may your husband be, -girl, that I should know aught of him?" -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Derval Hampton of the ship <i>Amethyst</i>, -who, I understand, engaged himself to you, -while knowing well that I—his lawful wife, -whom he left to starve—was living! I don't -blame you, Miss," she continued, weeping to -all appearance, for she could act her part well -and professionally, "for you knew no better; -but, thank heaven, I come in time to save -you and unmask him!" -</p> - -<p> -There ensued a pause now—but a pause in -which Clara could hear the beating of her -heart, and then she asked: -</p> - -<p> -"When, and where, were you married?" -</p> - -<p> -"In London, Miss, and just after his last -voyage; Captain Talbot knows me well, and -so does his brother Mr. Rookleigh." -</p> - -<p> -"And why did he leave you?" asked Clara, -with a strange and husky voice. -</p> - -<p> -"Because I am poor; he despised me as -soon as he knew you, and used to go off with -you in a boat on the bay, and leave me to break -my heart weeping on the shore; for many a -time I saw you both. For what was I but a -toy to be played with, and cast aside when -he was tired of me; but I am his wedded -wife, as this ring and the register can -testify!" -</p> - -<p> -The stroller played her part to perfection, -with every word planting a knife in the heart -of the shrinking listener; and deeming that -now she had said and done enough by the few -details she threw in to convince the latter -that she had been cruelly deceived, Miss Trix -sobbed heavily, bowed herself out, and quitted -Bayview Villa with all speed, considering that -the character she had taken in this "cast" -was—in a monetary sense—the best engagement -she had ever made. -</p> - -<p> -Clara sat long in the dusk as if turned to -stone, but not a tear escaped her. This -sudden revelation of Derval's supposed perfidy -could not give her now the pain it might have -done in time past; his conduct had partly -prepared her for some such catastrophe as -this; and yet how antagonistic—how unlike -his open, gentle, candid, and earnest outward -character, did this accumulation of secret -perfidy seem! -</p> - -<p> -And that tawdrily dressed damsel had -declared herself his wife! <i>His wife!</i> -</p> - -<p> -She recalled the time when that word, as a -term of endearment to herself, had fallen so -sweetly on her startled ear; then a bitter, -bitter sense of having been insulted and -degraded, was added to her still more keen -sense of utter disappointment in Derval; and -to her guileless and innocent mind, no doubt, -no thought of suspicion that she might be -deluded, ever occurred. -</p> - -<p> -"You have had an unexpected visitor, Miss -Hampton?" said Rookleigh, eyeing her pale -face keenly next day. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes." -</p> - -<p> -"Ah—so have I, one who has explained all." -</p> - -<p> -"All?" -</p> - -<p> -"My brother's peculiar perfidy, I mean." -</p> - -<p> -"Yes." -</p> - -<p> -"A perfidy for which I blush! You see -that it has been as I suggested, sailors have -entanglements everywhere; but this is rather -more than that—a legal marriage." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, how dared he—how dared he!" she -exclaimed, as she clenched her little white -hands, and the look of firm resolve she would -assume at times stole swiftly into her sweet -face. -</p> - -<p> -Some weeks passed on; Rookleigh became -impatient for action, and during these weeks -a thoughtful and shadowy expression deepened -in the once bright face of Clara, till it became -one of such woeful fear, that the heart of the -father alternately bled with sorrow for her, -and swelled with indignation against Derval. -</p> - -<p> -Every way Clara was a desirable wife, one -of whose beauty, at least, any man might well -be proud. She had inflamed the senses and -fired the vanity of Rookleigh Hampton—not -touched his heart, for he had none, in -the way of a lover, to touch; thus, in the -pursuit of his scheme he could think, speak, -and act, with consummate coolness of head -and demeanour. -</p> - -<p> -He was well-pleased to find that—thanks -to the hints of his mother—the gossips of -Finglecombe, to whom all his actions and -motives were objects of interest, already -coupled his name seriously with that of Clara -Hampton. -</p> - -<p> -"Self-contained and well-balanced as she -deems herself, this appearance of Derval's -wife <i>has</i> knocked her off her perch!" thought -Rookleigh, with a chuckle, when one day his -eye fell on her white hand, as it rested on -the arm of a sofa, and he remarked that the -ring, which he knew Derval had given to her, -was no longer on her engaged finger. She -had removed it—relinquished it—and Rookleigh -took this as an infallible sign that she -now concluded all was over between the -absent one and herself. -</p> - -<p> -"Good!" thought he, "good; I'll make -my innings now!" -</p> - -<p> -And with a coolness and confidence far -beyond his years, he, with the greatest -deliberation, took the earliest opportunity of -obtaining Lord Oakhampton's permission to -address his daughter. -</p> - -<p> -"I should like to repair, if I possibly can -do so, the evil my brother has done her, my -lord. I do not understand how it is," said -he, "that I have gone on so far with her -without the least encouragement; but a love -for her has grown rapidly upon me, and this -love has become a part of my life—my very -existence." -</p> - -<p> -"You are very young to talk in this -fashion," said Lord Oakhampton, uneasily. -</p> - -<p> -"If she would but care for me!" sighed -Rookleigh, assuming humility and timidity. -</p> - -<p> -"It is not my Clara's way to care for any -man as he may probably care for her." -</p> - -<p> -"Have I, then, your lordship's permission -to propose?" -</p> - -<p> -"Yes," said Lord Oakhampton, huskily, as -he thought of his last communication from -Mr. De Murrer of Gray's Inn, and felt himself, -for the first time, the slave of circumstances, -and between the horns of a dilemma. -Indeed, life—save for the few monetary -troubles that sent him to Bermuda—had gone -so smoothly with his lordship that, until now, -when the claim to his coronet began to take -a tangible and legal form, he had no reason to -suspect Fate of having the least intention of -treating him scurvily. -</p> - -<p> -And with that invincible effrontery and -coolness which were a part of his nature, -Rookleigh, feeling that to a certain extent -both father and daughter were in his power, -went at once to the latter, whom he found -in the drawing-room alone; and, no longer -abashed as he had been at first by her rare -beauty and stately presence—for stately and -patrician was the presence of Clara, even in -her girlhood—he seated himself by her side, -and endeavouring to take and retain her -hand, said, with a nervousness which we -thoroughly believe was assumed: -</p> - -<p> -"Miss Hampton, I have your father's permission -to drop the mask I have worn so long. -</p> - -<p> -"What do you mean?" she asked, with -unfeigned surprise. -</p> - -<p> -"To learn, if I can, from your own lips, my -fate." -</p> - -<p> -"Your fate, Sir!" -</p> - -<p> -"The fate of the love I bear you. Miss -Hampton—Clara, I love you, as you must -have known ere now—I love you; and in -return for mine will you give me back truth -for truth, love for love, trust for trust, your -heart, your life, as fully and freely as I give -you mine?" -</p> - -<p> -How glibly he rattled it all out! He had, -probably, learned it out of some novel, for -one might have thought he was in the habit -of proposing every day. -</p> - -<p> -Clara was, at first, astonished and startled, -and a thousand things that she had taken no -heed of, or entirely misunderstood, rushed -clearly on her memory now. Already insulted, -mocked, and deluded by one brother, was she -to endure the deliberate and insolent -lovemaking of another? -</p> - -<p> -She rose and looked at him in silence, and -with an expression of eye not favourable to -his suit, at all events; but Rookleigh was by -no means abashed, for he was one of those -men to whom the apparently unattainable has -a peculiar fascination. Clara, with difficulty, -restrained her tears. -</p> - -<p> -"Will you pardon me, if I have been -presumptuous?" said he. -</p> - -<p> -"On one condition." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, name it!" -</p> - -<p> -"That you never dare address me in this -manner again, and never intrude upon me -more!" -</p> - -<p> -She was sweeping away with a queenly -grace, when his voice arrested her: -</p> - -<p> -"Miss Hampton, you had better think -twice over this," said he, coarsely; "you -may not disdain the hand of a man of wealth -and position some day." -</p> - -<p> -Her only reply was to ring the bell, -</p> - -<p> -"Show this gentleman out," said she to -the servant who appeared; and Rookleigh, -baffled for the time, retired, with his heart -swollen by passion and resentment. -</p> - -<p> -When next he appeared before Clara, his -manner was changed, and her appearance too. -</p> - -<p> -Her father had set before the astounded -girl the claim these brothers, Derval and -Rookleigh Hampton, could advance to his -title, his estates, and all that he possessed. -That with them lay the power, or alternative, -of waiting till his death gave them the means -of quiet accession, or now declaring open war, -and sweeping away wealth, position, rank, -influence in Church, in State, and in society, -by degrading him in his old age to the state -of the merest commoner, and having him -laughed at as a sham and interloper; and the -gentle heart of Clara died within her, as she -beheld her father's agony, and read some of -the communications that had lately come -from Gray's Inn. -</p> - -<p> -"To save me, darling—oh, my darling, you -will consent to marry the young fellow," -urged Lord Oakhampton, piteously. -</p> - -<p> -"Yes, Papa," she replied in a whisper, -as he withdrew, saying, "God bless you, -darling!" and Rookleigh took his place. -</p> - -<p> -"Your father has placed all this matter -plainly before you," said he, and triumph and -passion glittered together in his eyes, as he -surveyed the beauty of the crushed girl, who -stood before him now with downcast face; -"there is but one way to escape the evils that -may—nay, must—come upon you and him, -and that is a refuge under the shelter of my -name." -</p> - -<p> -"I do not quite understand you, Sir," she -replied, with a dazed look in her eyes. -</p> - -<p> -"As my wife, Clara?" -</p> - -<p> -The words fell distinctly enough upon her -ear—distinctly and deliberately were they -uttered. She did not stir, moan, or weep, but -every drop of blood left her face and lips—even -the delicate hands he grasped so -daringly in his; and a strange hunted and -desperate yet defiant expression stole into her -beautiful face and remained there. -</p> - -<p> -"Speak, Clara; is your answer that which -I venture now to hope and have a right to -expect?" -</p> - -<p> -Endearment was unnatural to him, and -his tone and manner were more those of -authority. -</p> - -<p> -Still more deathly pale she grew; but her -voiceless lips moved, and she sunk on the -sofa insensible; but from that moment the -arrangements for the wedding were carried -forward without delay. -</p> - -<p> -Still more did Fate seem to be playing into -the hands of Rookleigh, when in the shipping -intelligence appeared a notice to the effect -that the <i>Amethyst</i> had perished in a storm in -the Indian Ocean, and that a vessel answering -her description, with the flag of the Royal -Naval Reserve flying at her gaff-peak, upside -down in token of distress, had been seen to -founder; and Rookleigh knew that in the -fulness of time <i>he</i> would be Lord Oakhampton, -if he had the grace to be patient and wait. -Of this catastrophe Rookleigh made no mention -to Clara, whose spirit seemed so low now -that nothing could depress it further. -</p> - -<p> -"Child, child," her father would often say, -while caressing her fondly and with great -commiseration, "by your marriage with one -or other of these men I may die in possession -of my title undegraded—undegraded, and at -my death, it will go to one or the other." -</p> - -<p> -"Oh that Derval had been worthy of me!" -wailed the girl in her heart. -</p> - -<p> -Old Patty Fripp was gone now to God's -Acre, and with her ended another of "the -innumerable simple and honest lives of pain -and love, that are swept away like the dead -leaves by the winds of autumn," and there -was no one in Finglecombe now, save Mr. Asperges -Laud, to lament for Derval Hampton, -and, aware of Rookleigh's hatred of the -latter, he bewailed his sorrowful destiny in -strong language. -</p> - -<p> -"Destiny brings stranger things to pass -than ever you dream of," said Rookleigh, -with a grimace of triumph. -</p> - -<p> -"This bearing of yours is shameful!" -exclaimed the old curate; "yea, it is -indecent! What says the gospel of St. John?" -</p> - -<p> -"Nothing that affects me." -</p> - -<p> -"Listen, ingrate! 'He that loveth not, -abideth in death. Whoso hateth his brother -is a murderer. And you know that no -murderer hath eternal life abiding in -himself.'" -</p> - -<p> -But Rookleigh only laughed, and shrugged -his shoulders contemptuously, at St. John -and his gospel too. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap07"></a></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER VII. -<br /><br /> -NEMESIS. -</h3> - -<p> -During the long voyage of nearly three -thousand miles to Batavia, Derval's health -and strength came back, but not his old -elasticity of spirit. He had ever one -thought—Clara! and the disappointment and -mortification he endured were keen and bitter. -</p> - -<p> -Now the once happy time of love and -lingering at Finglecombe seemed, indeed, as -an unreal mirage, a vanished oasis in the dull -grey desert of his existence. He ceased now -to seek for such explanations of her silence as -his imagination might suggest; though times -there were, when a great terror came over -him, that she was dead; yet it was passing -strange, that it was amid the mighty waste of -the Indian ocean he was fated to hear some -tidings of her—tidings that were, certainly, -somewhat bewildering. -</p> - -<p> -In latitude 12° south and longitude 100° -west, the <i>Amethyst</i> spoke with a large steamer, -from the Red Sea, bound to Australia, and -from which Captain Talbot obtained some -London papers, which proved of keen interest, -when so far from home, though they were a -month or two old. -</p> - -<p> -In one of these Derval saw, among fashionable -gossip, a marriage as being on the tapis -between "the only daughter of Lord -Oakhampton and young Mr. Hampton of -Finglecombe, Devonshire." -</p> - -<p> -Derval could scarcely believe his eyes, as -he read this strange notice again and again. -What did the mystery mean—or to what or -whom did it point? Could it be some mistake -with regard to himself? Had Lord Oakhampton -given to Clara his consent to their -engagement. If so, whence her mysterious -silence? That his half-brother, Rookleigh, -was the person to whom the printed piece of -gossip referred, never once occurred to honest -Derval; but whatever it meant, the date of -the paper, some six weeks old; assured him -that she must have been at that period alive -and well. This episode gave him much food -for reflection, and his mind was full of it -when the <i>Amethyst</i> encountered that terrible -gale, in which she did not founder, though -another vessel did so within sight of her. -</p> - -<p> -The tornado, for such it was, struck her -suddenly, at a time when, luckily for the ship -and all on board, she was running about ten -knots an hour, with all her sails close-reefed, -through haze that thickened fast to warm -rain. The rise of the whirlwind was -instantaneous, and the fore and main topsails were -blown clean out of the bolt-ropes, while a sea -was shipped that rolled aft leaving all on -deck knee-deep in water. -</p> - -<p> -The wind was not blowing steadily, but, -strange to say, came in a series of rapid and -dreadful gusts, tearing up the sea in such a -fashion that the whole air was a mass of -foam as high as the mainyard. The <i>Amethyst</i> -careened heavily over to her port side, with -her gunnel in the water, and her whole deck -afloat with fragments of sail, ropes, spars, -and blocks flying about. The masts bent like -willow wands, and overhead all the loose -rigging flew wildly about in loops and bights. -</p> - -<p> -In addition to the thunder of the sea, and -the deep hoarse bellowing of the gusty wind, -was the crackling and crashing of blocks and -ropes, of sails and of all loose objects, dashed -hither and thither, as wave after wave -deluged the deck. -</p> - -<p> -Amid this hurly-burly of the elements, the -mysterious paragraph was ever in Derval's -mind, and he thought how hard it would be -to perish now, and never know the meaning -of it, or learn whether happiness or misery -were awaiting him at home. -</p> - -<p> -Home! how mighty was the waste of -waters he had to traverse ere he could see -its white cliffs again. -</p> - -<p> -So violent was the fury of the storm, that -to see the hands aloft endeavouring to furl or -secure the fragments of the topsails, was -calculated to strike terror, as momentarily -they seemed in danger of being whirled off -into the air. -</p> - -<p> -Half a mile distant a partly dismasted ship, -with the flag of the Royal Naval Reserve flying -reversed at her gaff-peak, could be seen rising -and falling beautifully on the long waves, at -one time showing all her bows and nearly all -her side, anon the whole line of her deck -swept of everything from stem to stern, with -her drenched crew clinging to the lower -rigging or belaying pins. One moment she -seemed lifted as if on the summit of a green -hill, and the next seemed sunk in the deep -dark valley; but it soon became evident to the -eyes of Captain Talbot, and of all on board -the <i>Amethyst</i>, that the buoyancy of the stranger -was gone—that she must have sprung a leak -and was settling down in the water with -terrible rapidity. -</p> - -<p> -Even if boats could have been hoisted out, it -would have been impossible to have succoured -her in such a sea, and ere long, while a cry came -across from her crew, to be echoed by another -from that of the <i>Amethyst</i>, she went down by -the stern and vanished from sight with every -man on board of her. -</p> - -<p> -"And this might have been our fate!" was -the thought of Derval. -</p> - -<p> -The tempest passed away to tear up other -oceans, but so agitated was the water, that -the <i>Amethyst</i> pitched and lurched heavily, -while a new set of topsails were bent upon -her; all damages made so far good, and with -a steady breeze she began to enter the straits -of Sunda. By noon next day the south-east -point of the Isle of Lombock, with its great -conical peak, eight thousand feet in height, -bore S.S.W. on the starboard bow, and Captain -Talbot steered for the strait of Allas, -passed the isle to the westward and that of -Sumbawa to the westward, which is reckoned -the best and safest way to the eastward of -Java; and at the beginning of the end of his -pilgrimage, after running along the shore of -Madura—the land of cotton, rice, and edible -nests—Derval heard, with a sigh of satisfaction, -the anchor let go in the roads of Batavia, -as the ship swung at her moorings, with -thirty-five fathoms and the small bower out, and -the hands went aloft to furl the sails. -</p> - -<p> -In his anxiety to return, to be off again as -soon as possible, no man in the ship equalled -Derval in his activity, with regard to getting -the cargo out and another in, and daily he -counted the hours while watching from the -deck the lovely low green isles that stud the -beautiful bay, the white-walled city, with its -two-and-twenty bastions—"the Queen of the -East," with all her palaces, villas, and trees, -for there the Dutch, true to their national -taste, have covered every available spot with -verdure, flowers, and the brightest foliage. -</p> - -<p> -Finally, the ballast and the last casks of -sugar and turmeric were on board, the hatches -battened down, and the boats hoisted in, and -after a month's sojourn, in which he did not -spend an idle hour, with a glow of joy he -heard the orders given that were to take the -ship out of the roadstead of Batavia. -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Grummet," cried the captain, "weather -bit the chain forward, man the windlass, -heave and haul! Mr. Hampton, get the topsails -loose—I see they are furled with reefs." -</p> - -<p> -"Away aloft, my lads," said Derval, "make -sail on her with a will." -</p> - -<p> -"Sheet home and hoist away—up with the -yards to the caps; let fall the courses." -</p> - -<p> -Some of the head sails were now roused out -of their nettings, the foretopmast, staysail, -and spanker were set, and then she was fully -under weigh. She went through the water -"like a thing of life," and the flat Batavian -shore began to sink. -</p> - -<p> -"Home to England at last—home!" -thought Derval as he looked over the side -and saw the waves running under the counter, -while he began to reckon for the thousandth -time the probable period the homeward voyage -might consume. -</p> - -<p> -And now to take another homeward glance -while that long voyage is in progress. -</p> - -<p> -It was quite natural now, seeing so much -as he did of a girl so beautiful as Clara, that in -Rookleigh, though as yet he had never dared -to attempt to caress her, or do more than take -her passive or unwilling hand in his, the -admiration of her person and inclination for -her should increase, as a sense of propriety -in her grew upon him; and also, that the -opposition and indifference, with which he -knew her heart was filled, should invite him -to stronger efforts to reach, to win, and -control it. -</p> - -<p> -An illness that fell upon her delayed the -marriage, which Rookleigh had duly -paragraphed in the papers as forthcoming. He -knew now, that the ship which had perished -near the Straits of Sunda was not the <i>Amethyst</i>; -and he knew, moreover, from a visit he paid -to her owners, that she was now on her -homeward way, and that there was no time to be -lost! -</p> - -<p> -Yet the season of spring was nearly over -before Clara, who had recovered slowly, at -her father's pleasant house in the western -suburbs of London, could face in any way -the fate before her,—a fate that seemed -terribly close now, and from which there was no -escape but her own death, or the degradation -of her father. -</p> - -<p> -She saw, as part of a terrible phantasmagoria, -her wedding dress, and other dresses, -her nuptial trousseau, strewed all over her -room, on her bed, on the chairs, reflected over -and over again in the pier-glasses; her -toilet-table littered with ornaments which, though -rare and beautiful, she loathed to wear. -</p> - -<p> -Guests were, of course, invited—a few only, -however, as her father wished the sacrifice -(for such he deemed it too) completed very -quietly; the bridesmaids were selected—only -four, all in the same costume, with ornaments -the gift of the bridegroom; and to Clara, their -flippant gossip, their conversation for ever on -one topic—the marriage—girls whom she only -knew as having met them "in society," or -little more,—were a source of perpetual worry -and irritation to her. -</p> - -<p> -Rookleigh's mother, now in all her glory, -came and went at will, quite <i>en famille</i> at Lord -Oakhampton's house; and she too, with her -pale hazel eyes (the golden tint had faded out -of them now), was another source of irritation -to Clara, who looked so white, so wild-eyed -and nervous, that her father, poor man, was -crushed in heart and soul at the sight of her. -</p> - -<p> -She felt like a poor little fly in the toils of -some enormous spider. Never before did she -think it was in her gentle nature to loathe any -human being as she loathed this young man, -whom she was so shortly to promise to love, -honour, and obey, and with whom she was to -go through the long weary years of the life -that lay between to-morrow and the grave. -</p> - -<p> -And in these years that would inexorably -come, what might not his conduct become, -and his treatment of her be, if, in the first -flush of his own youth and of her beauty, he -would be thus so unyieldingly cruel as to make -her hand, freedom, and happiness the price of -her father's title and honour, for the little that -remained to him of a long, blameless, and -honourable life—for Rookleigh still had the -trump card of playing to win the coronet for -his absent brother. -</p> - -<p> -Then a wild gust of horror and dismay -would come over her, ever and anon, when she -thought of the coming hour when she must -inevitably and irrevocably become the wife -of Rookleigh, and there could be no escape -from him but by death—and she felt that she -dared and could not die—or by flight—a -flight that "society" would speedily twist into -a terrible scandal! -</p> - -<p> -The afternoon was drawing into evening—one -Clara would never forget, for Mr. De -Murrer was to arrive with the marriage -settlements and contract for signature, and Clara, -who had begged to be left for a little time to -herself—her miserable self—was seated in a -bay window lost in bitter thought, looking at -the flowers of spring, and wondering how all -would be with her when the time came that -they had faded away and been replaced by -those of summer. -</p> - -<p> -Already soft showers had expanded the buds -that but a week ago were closed, the foliage -of the brightest green was hiding the dark -branches of the trees. On all hands she heard -the notes of the birds, and with that tendency -which we have to note trifles when in great -tribulation, she found herself watching with -curious interest the bees and the butterflies -among the bright parterres of flowers where -the geranium, the heliotrope, the light green -leaves of the echevaria and the cups of the -tulips mingled. -</p> - -<p> -All nature looked sweet; but the spring -suggested nothing of hope to Clara, and she -was past weeping now, in the bitter conviction -that it availed her nothing; but a shiver -passed over her, when she found that Rookleigh, -claiming a bridegroom's privilege, had -come upon her unannounced, and was bending -smilingly over her—could he do otherwise, -for the girl was adorably beautiful, and was -so nearly now his own! -</p> - -<p> -"To-morrow, Clara, my darling," said he -in a voice of more tenderness than it was quite -his nature or his habit to assume, for true -tenderness was not in him, "think of -to-morrow, for long ere this hour we shall be -united for life, and far away together!" -</p> - -<p> -What she replied she never precisely knew, -or cared perhaps to remember, so quickly did -certain events come to pass just then. -</p> - -<p> -The stoppage of a vehicle at the front porch, -an important ring at the door bell, was -followed by steps in the entrance-hall, and then -a servant announced that "Mr. De Murrer -was in the library, where Lord Oakhampton -awaited Miss Hampton and Mr. Rookleigh." -</p> - -<p> -"We are to sign the contract, and so forth, -so take courage, Clara," said Rookleigh, taking -her by the hand, but she shrank on hearing -voices below. -</p> - -<p> -"A stranger is there!" said she timidly. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, only some fellow he has brought, -no doubt, to witness our signatures; he -has delayed unaccountably long, so come, -darling." -</p> - -<p> -Clara entered the half-darkened library, -pale as snow, and trembling very much, and -saw her father and Mr. De Murrer mutually -shaking hands, and then with—Derval Hampton! -</p> - -<p> -On reaching London, the latter was doubtful -at first what to do to obtain information -of Lord Oakhampton's movements, of Clara, -of his brother, and how to gain a clue to all -that must have transpired during his -protracted absence. As money was necessary -for him, in the first place, he drove from the -docks to Gray's Inn in quest of Mr. De Murrer, -and at his chambers found that dapper little -gentleman leisurely tying up with red tape a -bundle of very legal-looking documents, which -proved to be the contract and marriage -settlements of "Rookleigh Hampton, Esquire, of -Finglecombe, and the Honourable Clara -Hampton," and thereby hung a wondrous tale! -</p> - -<p> -It was with something of a sigh in his -breast that the worthy little lawyer tied up -these documents, for he disliked and -mistrusted the bridegroom, and was astonished -and grieved by the bearing of the luckless and -too evidently repugnant bride. In all his legal -experience he had met nothing like this. -</p> - -<p> -Warmly indeed did he welcome Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"Just in time, my dear young friend; just -in time!" he exclaimed. -</p> - -<p> -"Time for what?" asked the sunburned -and weatherbeaten Derval. -</p> - -<p> -"The wedding—of course, you know all -about it." -</p> - -<p> -"Wedding—whose?" -</p> - -<p> -"Your brother." -</p> - -<p> -"And—and—" stammered Derval, as -the newspaper paragraph flashed upon his -memory. -</p> - -<p> -"Miss Clara Hampton—a good marriage -indeed; a strange, but very good way of -compromising the claim to the coronet—a -consolidation of mutual interests, I take it to be; -a family compact, quite." -</p> - -<p> -With his eyes fixed alternately on the -speaker's face, and then, as one in a dream, -surveying the great square of the Inn, with -its monotonous brick walls and uniform rows -of windows, Derval heard all this with equal -astonishment and dismay. -</p> - -<p> -"I am just about to take these papers to -Lord Oakhampton's; you will go with me, -of course, and sign them as witness." -</p> - -<p> -"Clara false—so fair, yet so false!" was -Derval's bitter thought, as he threw himself -into a chair. -</p> - -<p> -A very few words served to enlighten him -as to the conspiracy of which they had both -been the victims—as to the pressure which -must have been put upon the unhappy Clara -to save her father's title, during his life at -least, by the sacrifice of herself; and more -exasperating to him was the knowledge that -this pressure had been put upon her by -Rookleigh, while acting nominally in the interests -of an absent brother; and he knew in a -moment that Rookleigh—the medium of their -correspondence—must, for his own nefarious -ends, have effectually suppressed it! -</p> - -<p> -"And now, as we are on this unpleasant -subject," said the lawyer, opening a drawer -and taking therefrom a paper, "what was the -meaning of this mysterious document that -Rookleigh framed and you signed?" -</p> - -<p> -"It referred, I understood, to a sum of -money I lent him." -</p> - -<p> -"Of what folly you were guilty! <i>he</i> should -have signed an acknowledgment to <i>you</i>. Good -heavens! you sailors are strange fellows." -</p> - -<p> -"Then what are the contents of the paper?" -</p> - -<p> -"Merely that you make over to your brother -the whole of the £500 per annum left you by -your father, with all your right, title, and -interest therein." -</p> - -<p> -Derval was astounded and bewildered not -at his own folly and simplicity, but by the -systematic baseness of his brother. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, wretch!" he exclaimed; "was it not -enough to rob me of all, even my poor -patrimony? but to seek to rob me too of Clara, -my affianced wife!" -</p> - -<p> -For a few moments his emotions were -stifling, and he gasped rather than breathed. -</p> - -<p> -"I must own," said Mr. De Murrer, "that -when the post brought this singular document, -signed by you, and witnessed by Rookleigh, -the <i>framer</i> of it, illegally expressed and on -unstamped paper, I was sorely puzzled; but, -luckily, it is every way valueless." -</p> - -<p> -"Save in so far as revealing the perfidy -of which he is capable—the double villain!" -</p> - -<p> -"While searching your father's papers for -documents in connection with the peerage -affair, I came upon one which completely -alters all your affairs, and that I shall show -you in time," said Mr. De Murrer. -</p> - -<p> -"He need no longer now pretend to act in -my interests in pressing on the peerage case, -and not a moment must be lost in freeing my -poor Clara from the trammels—the evil of -mental misery—by which he has surrounded -her." -</p> - -<p> -"Good, good!" said the little lawyer, -rubbing his hands. "The contract and the -settlements won't be signed, after all, and may go -with Rookleigh's document into the waste-paper -basket. But I was due with them at -Lord Oakhampton's an hour ago—a hansom -will take us there in half that time; and now, -my dear Derval, let us be off!" -</p> - -<p> -To the confusion of Rookleigh, the mystery -of the letters was all unfolded now, and when -the cheques he had paid Miss Sally Trix -came to be known, through Mr. De Murrer, a -light was thrown upon his transactions with -her, and the use to which he had put her with -Clara; thus link after link was found, and the -chain of his cruelty and duplicity was complete! -</p> - -<p> -Rookleigh did not wait for the elucidation -of all the reader knows. His brother's sudden -appearance in the library was more than -enough for him; he evacuated Lord Oakhampton's -house with all speed, and even quitted -London that night, a prey to baffled spite, -ambition, and treachery. -</p> - -<p> -"Oh, Derval, Derval," said Clara, as she -reclined upon his breast, "may God forgive -that man for all he has made me suffer!" -</p> - -<p> -"And me too, darling!" -</p> - -<p> -If Derval's blood boiled at his half-brother's -perfidy, it boiled still more when he -thought of how a head-wind in the channel -or elsewhere might, by delay, have affected -the fortune of all who figured in the tableau -in Lord Oakhampton's library. But the good -ship <i>Amethyst</i> had brought the wind with her, -bravely and splendidly had she run, and -scarcely sheet or tack were lifted, "for," as -Joe Grummet said, "the girls at home were -tallying on to the tow-rope." -</p> - -<p> -The document which the lawyer had found -among Greville Hampton's papers proved to -be nothing less than a will, dated subsequent -to one on which they had all acted, and which -reversed its terms, for £500 yearly were all -that accrued to Rookleigh, while all else he -possessed was bequeathed to Derval; so the -hand of Nemesis fell heavily on the former. -</p> - -<p> -So the wedding dresses, the wedding cake -and breakfast, and the bridesmaids too were -all required eventually; but a different -bridegroom knelt by Clara's side before the altar -rails at St. George's, Hanover Square, while -Rookleigh and his amiable mother were left at -Finglecombe "to chew the cud of sweet and -bitter fancy." -</p> - -<p> -Captain Talbot was groomsman, and old Joe -Grummet, who with difficulty was restrained -from hoisting a flag of the Royal Naval Reserve -out of the drawing-room window, as a prelude -to the rice and slippers, got disreputably tipsy -in the butler's pantry, and pulled all the -housemaids about, in the exuberance of his joy, -making quite a riot in the servants' hall. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t4"> - LONDON<br /> - PRINTED BY W. 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