THE VERDICT AND THE VISITOR.
Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer cloud Without our special wonder?--Shakespeare.
"Pendleton! oh! Heaven, Pendleton! What news?" exclaimed Lyon Berners, starting up to greet him.
"Good heaven! Berners! How is this? Another--a servant taken into your confidence, and trusted with the secret of your retreat!" cried Captain Pendleton in dismay.
"He is trustworthy! I will vouch for his fidelity! But oh! Pendleton!
What news? what news?" exclaimed Lyon Berners in an agony of impatience.
"The worst that you can antic.i.p.ate!" cried Captain Pendleton in a voice full of sorrow.
"Oh! my unhappy wife! The coroner"s jury have found their verdict then?"
groaned Lyon.
Captain Pendleton bowed his head. He was unable to reply in words.
"And that verdict is--Oh! speak I let me hear the worst!--that verdict is--"
"Wilful Murder!" muttered Pendleton in a hoa.r.s.e and choking voice.
"Against--against--whom?" gasped Lyon Berners white as death.
"Oh Heaven! _You know!_ Do not ask me to sully her name with the words!"
cried Captain Pendleton, utterly overcome by his emotions.
"Oh, my unhappy wife! Oh, my lost Sybil!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, reeling under the blow, half-expected though it might have been.
There was silence for a few minutes. Pendleton was the first to recover himself. He went up to his friend, touched him on the shoulder, and said:
"Berners, rouse yourself; the position requires the exertion of your utmost powers of mind and body. Calm yourself, and collect all your faculties. Come now let us sit down here and talk over the situation."
Lyon permitted the captain to draw him away to a little distance, where they both sat down side by side, on a fallen tombstone.
"In the first place, how is your wife, and how does she sustain herself under this overwhelming disaster?" inquired Captain Pendleton, forcing himself to speak composedly.
"I do not think my dear innocent Sybil was able fully to appreciate the danger of her position, even as she stood before the rendering of that false and fatal verdict, she was so strong in her sense of innocence.
She seemed to suffer most from the lesser evils involved in her exile from home."
"Where is she, then?"
"Sleeping heavily in the church there; sleeping very heavily, from the united effects of mental and bodily fatigue and excitement."
"Heaven grant that she may sleep long and well. And now, Berners, to our plans. You must know that I kept a horse saddled and tied in the woods down by the river, and as soon as that lying verdict was rendered, I hurried off, leaped into my saddle and galloped here. I forded the river, and have left my horse just below here, at the entrance of this thicket. I must soon mount and away again on your service."
"Oh, my dear Pendleton, how shall I ever repay you?"
"By keeping up a stout heart until this storm-cloud blows over, as it must, in a few days or weeks. But now to business. How came this man Joe here?"
Mr. Berners explained how Joe had overheard all their conversation while they were making their arrangements, and taken pains to co-operate with them, and had followed them here with some necessary provisions. And he, Mr. Berners, closed with a eulogy on Joe"s fidelity and discretion.
"I am very glad to hear what you tell me, for it relieves my mind of a very great weight. I knew that there had been a listener to our conversation, for I almost ran against him as I went into the house; but as he made his escape before I could identify him, I was very anxious on the subject. So you may judge what a burden is lifted from my mind by the discovery that he was no other than honest Joe, whom Providence sent in the way. But why he ran from me, I cannot imagine.
"He was a little jealous, a little sulky, and somewhat fearful of being blamed, I suppose. But tell me, Pendleton, has our flight been discovered yet?" inquired Mr. Berners, anxiously.
"No, nor even suspected; at least, not up to the time that I left Black Hall. Mrs. Berners was supposed to be in her chamber. I warned all the men, and requested my sister to caution all the women, against knocking at her door."
"And I, who must have been expected to be on the spot?" asked Lyon.
"You were often asked for. Fortunately for you, there is a well-known weakness in human nature to pretend to know all about everything that may be inquired into. And so, every time you chanced to be inquired for by one party, you were accounted for by another. Some said you were with Mrs. Berners; others that you had gone to Blackville on pressing business connected with the tragedy. And these last authorities came to be believed; so that when I slipped away I left the people momentarily expecting your return."
"Whom did you leave there?"
"Everybody--the coroner"s jury and all the guests of the house, who had been detained as witnesses."
"Then all our friends heard the fatal verdict?"
"All."
"Was there--a warrant issued?" gasped Lyon Berners, scarcely able to utter the words.
"Ah, yes; the issue of the warrant was the first intimation I had of the fatal nature of the verdict. It was put in the hands of an officer, with orders to be on the watch and serve it as soon as Mrs. Berners should come out of her chamber, but not to knock at the door, or molest her while she remained in it."
Lyon Berners groaned deeply, and buried his face in his hands.
"Come, come! bear up, that you may sustain _her_!" said Captain Pendleton. "And now listen: Your flight, as I told you, was not suspected up to the time I left Black Hall. It will not be discovered probably until late this evening, when it will be too late for the authorities to take any immediate measures of pursuit. We have, therefore, this afternoon and to-night to perfect our plans. Only you need to bring steady nerves and a clear head to the task."
"What do you suggest, Pendleton?"
"First of all, that during this night, which is ours, all necessary conveniences be brought here to support your life for a few days, for you must not leave this safe refuge immediately--to do so would be to fall into the hands of the law."
"I see that," sighed Mr. Berners.
"I, then, with the help of this faithful Joe, will bring to you here to-night such things as you and Mrs. Berners will actually need, for the few days that you must remain. As to all your affairs at the Hall, I counsel you to give me a written authority to act for you in your absence. I have brought writing materials for the purpose; and when you have written it, I will myself take it and drop it secretly into the post-office at Blackville, so that it may reach me regularly through the mail, and help to mislead everybody to whom I shall show it, into the idea that you have gone away through Blackville. Will you write it now?"
inquired Captain Pendleton, drawing from his pocket a rolled writing-case, containing all that was requisite for the work.
"A thousand thanks, Pendleton. I do not see how in the name of Heaven we could have managed without you," replied Berners, as he took the case, unrolled it on his knee, and proceeded to write the required "power of attorney."
"And now," said the Captain, when he received the doc.u.ment, "now we must be getting back. The sun is quite low, and we have much to do. Come, Joe, are you ready?"
"Yes, Ma.s.sa Capping; ready and waitin" on you too. I ought to be at the mill now, "fore the miller shuts it up."
Captain Pendleton then shook hands with Mr. Berners, and Joe pulled his front lock of wool by way of a deferential adieu, and both left the spot and disappeared in the thicket.
But it was not until the last sound of their retreating steps, crashing through the dried bushes, had died away, that Lyon Berners turned and went into the church.