CHAPTER XLII
LANGHETTI"S ATTEMPT.
Two days after Brandon"s visit to Potts, Langhetti reached the village.
A searching examination in London had led him to believe that Beatrice might now be sought for at Brandon Hall. The police could do nothing for him. He had no right to her. If she was of age, she was her own mistress, and must make application herself for her safety and deliverance; if she was under age, then she must show that she was treated with cruelty. None of these things could be done, and Langhetti despaired of accomplishing any thing.
The idea of her being once more in the power of a man like Potts was frightful to him. This idea filled his mind continually, to the exclusion of all other thoughts. His opera was forgotten. One great horror stood before him, and all else became of no account. The only thing for him to do was to try to save her. He could find no way, and therefore determined to go and see Potts himself.
It was a desperate undertaking. From Beatrice"s descriptions he had an idea of the life from which she had fled, and other things had given him a true idea of the character of Potts. He knew that there was scarcely any hope before him. Yet he went, to satisfy himself by making a last effort.
He was hardly the man to deal with one like Potts. Sensitive, high-toned, pa.s.sionate, impetuous in his feelings, he could not command that calmness which was the first essential in such an interview.
Besides, he was broken down by anxiety and want of sleep. His sorrow for Beatrice had disturbed all his thoughts. Food and sleep were alike abominable to him. His fine-strung nerves and delicate organization, in which every feeling had been rendered more acute by his mode of life, were of that kind which could feel intensely wherever the affections were concerned. His material frame was too weak for the presence of such an ardent soul. Whenever any emotion of unusual power appeared he sank rapidly.
So now, feverish, emaciated, excited to an intense degree, he appeared in Brandon to confront a cool, unemotional villain, who scarcely ever lost his presence of mind. Such a contest could scarcely be an equal one. What could he bring forward which could in any way affect such a man? He had some ideas in his own mind which he imagined might be of service, and trusted more to impulse than any thing else. He went up early in the morning to Brandon Hall.
Potts was at home, and did not keep Langhetti long waiting. There was a vast contrast between these two men--the one coa.r.s.e, fat, vulgar, and strong; the other refined, slender, spiritual, and delicate, with his large eyes burning in their deep sockets, and a strange mystery in his face.
"I am Paolo Langhetti," said he, abruptly--"the manager of the Covent Garden Theatre."
"You are, are you?" answered Potts, rudely; "then the sooner you get out of this the better. The devil himself couldn"t be more impudent. I have just saved my daughter from your clutches, and I"m going to pay you off, too, my fine fellow, before long."
"Your daughter!" said Langhetti. "What she is, and who she is, you very well know. If the dead could speak they would tell a different story."
"What the devil do you mean," cried Potts, "by the dead? At any rate you are a fool; for very naturally the dead can"t speak; but what concern that has with my daughter I don"t know. Mind, you are playing a dangerous game in trying to bully me."
Potts spoke fiercely and menacingly. Langhetti"s impetuous goal kindled to a new fervor at this insulting language. He stretched out his long, thin hand toward Potts, and said:
"I hold your life and fortune in my hand. Give up that girl whom you call your daughter."
Potts stood for a moment staring.
"The devil you do!" he cried, at last. "Come, I call that good, rich, racy! Will your sublime Excellency have the kindness to explain yourself? If my life is in your hand it"s in a devilish lean and weak one. It strikes me you"ve got some kink in your brain--some notion or other. Out with it, and let us see what you"re driving at!"
"Do you know a man named Cigole?" said Langhetti.
"Cigole!" replied Potts, after a pause, in which he had stared hard at Langhetti; "well, what if I do? Perhaps I do, and perhaps I don"t."
"He is in my power," said Langhetti, vehemently.
"Much good may he do you then, for I"m sure when he was in my power he never did any good to me."
"He will do good in this case, at any rate," said Langhetti, with an effort at calmness. "He was connected with you in a deed which you must remember, and can tell to the world what he knows."
"Well, what if he does?" said Potts.
"He will tell," cried Langhetti, excitedly, "the true story of the Despard murder."
"Ah!" said Potts, "now the murder"s out. That"s what I thought.
Don"t you suppose I saw through you when you first began to speak so mysteriously? I knew that you had learned some wonderful story, and that you were going to trot it out at the right time. But if you think you"re going to bully me you"ll find it hard work.
"Cigole is in my power," said Langhetti, fiercely.
"And so you think I am, too?" sneered Potts.
"Partly so."
"Why?"
"Because he was an accomplice of yours in the Despard murder."
"So he says, no doubt; but who"ll believe him?"
"He is going to turn Queen"s evidence!" said Langhetti, solemnly.
"Queen"s evidence!" returned Potts, contemptuously, "and what"s his evidence worth--the evidence of a man like that against a gentleman of unblemished character?"
"He will be able to show what the character of that gentleman is,"
rejoined Langhetti.
"Who will believe him?"
"No one can help it."
"You believe him, no doubt. You and he are both Italians--both dear friends--and both enemies of mine; but suppose I prove to the world conclusively that Cigole is such a scoundrel that his testimony is worthless?"
"You can"t," cried Langhetti, furiously.
Potts cast a look of contempt at him--
"Can"t I!" He resumed: "How very simple, how confiding you must be, my dear Langhetti! Let me explain my meaning. You got up a wild charge against a gentleman of character and position about a murder. In the first place, you seem to forget that the real murderer has long since been punished. That miserable devil of a Malay was very properly convicted at Manilla, and hanged there. It was twenty years ago. What English court would consider the case again after a calm and impartial Spanish court has settled it finally, and punished the criminal? They did so at the time when the case was fresh, and I came forth honored and triumphant. You now bring forward a man who, you hint, will make statements against me. Suppose he does? What then? Why, I will show what this man is. And you, my dear Langhetti, will be the first one whom I will bring up against him. I will bring you up under oath, and make you tell how this Cigole--this man who testifies against me--once made a certain testimony in Sicily against a certain Langhetti senior, by which that certain Langhetti senior was betrayed to the Government, and was saved only by the folly of two Englishmen, one of whom was this same Despard. I will show that this Langhetti senior was your father, and that the son, instead of avenging, or at any rate resenting, his father"s wrong, is now a bosom friend of his father"s intended murderer--that he has urged him on against me. I will show, my dear Langhetti, how you have led a roving life, and, when a drum-major at Hong Kong, won the affections of my daughter; how you followed her here, and seduced her away from a kind father; how at infinite risk I regained her; how you came to me with audacious threats; and how only the dread of further scandal, and my own anxious love for my daughter, prevented me from handing you over to the authorities. I will prove you to be a scoundrel of the vilest description, and, after such proof as this, what do you think would be the verdict of an English jury, or of any judge in any land; and what do you think would be your own fate? Answer me that."
Potts spoke with savage vehemence. The frightful truth flashed at once across Langhetti"s mind that Potts had it in his power here to show all this to the world. He was overwhelmed. He had never conceived the possibility of this. Potts watched him silently, with a sneer on his face.
"Don"t you think that you had better go and comfort yourself with your dear friend Cigole, your father"s intended murderer?" said he at length.
"Cigole told me all about this long ago. He told me many things about his life which would be slightly damaging to his character as a witness, but I don"t mind telling you that the worst thing against him in English eyes is his betrayal of your father. But this seems to have been a very slight matter to you. It"s odd too; I"ve always supposed that Italians understood what vengeance means."
Langhetti"s face bore an expression of agony which he could not conceal.
Every word of Potts stung him to the soul. He stood for some time in silence. At last, without a word, he walked out of the room.
His brain reeled. He staggered rather than walked. Potts looked after him with a smile of triumph. He left the Hall and returned to the village.
CHAPTER XLIII.