"Yes. I heard something about it before I left the island,--I overheard that Jerry Swinger and the mulatto boy speaking of it. But I own, Vernon, I was too hasty, to judge you unheard."
"Max, who is this De Guy?"
"De Guy," said Maxwell, with feigned astonishment; "don"t know him."
"Bah, Max! don"t you know that you cannot _wool_ me? By the way, that was a clumsy trick of yours, sending this De Guy after the girl. When he had gone, the captain would have chased him, if I had not come and a.s.sured them that the terrible Maxwell could not possibly be concerned in the affair."
"Indeed! did you do me this essential service?" said Maxwell, forgetting that he had denied his connection with De Guy.
"I did. If you had left the matter with me, I could have done it better."
"Well, Vernon, I see you are all right yet; but the thing worked to a charm. De Guy is the cleverest fellow out. The girl is safe."
"So I suppose," said Vernon, with an a.s.sumption of indifference.
"But all the sport is yet to come."
"Indeed," said Vernon, burning with anxiety, but striving to maintain his accustomed easy and reckless air.
"Yes, Vernon, all the hard work we did up the river shall not be in vain. I shall win the prize!" and Maxwell rubbed his hands at the pleasant antic.i.p.ation.
"Wish you joy, Max! But you don"t mean to marry the girl?"
"Certainly."
"What! a quadroon?"
"Pshaw! that story is all blown through. Her old uncle, up the river, got up that abstraction, so as to finger her property," said Maxwell, forgetting, in his candor, the scruples which his companion had expressed on a former occasion with relation to persecuting a white woman,--scruples which Vernon did not seem disposed to press upon the attorney"s memory.
"You helped him through with his scheme?" answered Vernon, with a bold, careless air.
""Pon honor, I had nothing to do with it. Old Jaspar did it all himself," replied Maxwell, with an oath.
"Looks a little like you, though," said Vernon, with a nonchalance which provoked Maxwell, whose temper was not of the mildest tone.
"Nevertheless, it is none of mine, though the plan was a creditable one.
But it has brought old Jaspar into a wasp"s nest."
"How"s that?"
"I had my eye on the girl, ever since the colonel died. I saw through Jaspar"s plot, and a little bravado made him tell me all about it."
"Good!"
"Just so; and, as they are old clients of mine, why, I could not do less than get them out of the sc.r.a.pe, and remove the stain from the name of the fair heiress."
"How can you do it?"
"That"s the point."
"Looks rather complicated."
"Exactly so; but energy and skill will accomplish wonders."
"Very true," replied Vernon, in his usual quiet manner, well knowing that Maxwell would take the alarm if he appeared in the least inquisitive,--so he contented himself with this simple e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n.
"Can I trust you still?" said Maxwell, in a low tone, and with an anxious look, after a pause of several minutes.
"I care not whether you trust me or not," replied Vernon, with characteristic indifference.
"Are you the man you were two months ago? If you are, I need ask no more questions."
"I am. And now let me tell you, if you have work for me, the pay must be liberal. I have reformed in one respect, and that is from low prices to high ones. I have done too many of your little ch.o.r.es for nothing. Good pay is my motto now."
"Be it so," replied Maxwell, whose suspicions, as Vernon had intended, were diverted by this by-talk. "I will pay you well. If my plan succeeds, three thousand."
"Good! that sounds liberal. But suppose it fail?"
"It cannot fail."
"What is the plan? You mean to help old Jaspar out of the sc.r.a.pe, and save the girl too. How can you do it?"
"There is only one way--marry the girl!"
"Just so," replied Vernon, with an indifference it was hard to a.s.sume.
"Here are the whole details of the plan. I have Jaspar"s consent to my marriage with the girl, but I dare not attempt to consummate the scheme in the city. She is so cursed obstinate, that it is a hard matter to manage her. I saw Jaspar last night, and we concluded to have the ceremony performed at Bellevue, as soon as possible, or that fiery son of Mars and your worthy patriarch will be down upon us, and spoil the whole."
"Never fear them," said Vernon. "You will not proceed for a week or two?"
"A week or so will make no difference. But I am afraid it will take more time than that to induce her to consent. The difficulty which has troubled me more than any other is to get her to Bellevue. She tells Dido that she will not go alive. She fears Jaspar more than she does me, and rightly suspects that if she yields she will have to encounter both. She has not seen me since the row at the wood-yard, and I intend to transact all business with her through De Guy."
"She is a difficult case," suggested Vernon, to fill up a pause in Maxwell"s speech.
"Now, it has occurred to me," continued Maxwell, "that _you_ could manage her like a young lamb."
"I!" exclaimed Vernon.
"Certainly. You stand well with her, do you not?"
"Like a saint."
"You can get up a rescue, or something of that sort, you know."
"To be sure," replied Vernon, thoughtfully.
"Pretend that you are going to effect her escape."