"What"s that?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the ruffian, glancing uneasily towards the window. "Who"s there?--Pshaw! it"s only the wind."
"It"s Jonathan Wild," returned the widow, endeavouring to alarm him. "I told you I was not unprotected."
"_He_ protect _you_," retorted Blueskin, maliciously; "you haven"t a worse enemy on the face of the earth than Jonathan Wild. If you"d read your husband"s dying speech, you"d know that he laid his death at Jonathan"s door,--and with reason too, as I can testify."
"Man!" screamed Mrs. Sheppard, with a vehemence that shook even the hardened wretch beside her, "begone, and tempt me not."
"What should I tempt you to?" asked Blueskin, in surprise.
"To--to--no matter what," returned the widow distractedly. "Go--go!"
"I see what you mean," rejoined Blueskin, tossing a large case-knife, which he took from his pocket, in the air, and catching it dexterously by the haft as it fell; "you owe Jonathan a grudge;--so do I. He hanged your first husband. Just speak the word," he added, drawing the knife significantly across his throat, "and I"ll put it out of his power to do the same by your second. But d--n him! let"s talk o" something more agreeable. Look at this ring;--it"s a diamond, and worth a mint o"
money. It shall be your wedding ring. Look at it, I say. The lady"s name"s engraved inside, but so small I can scarcely read it.
A-L-I-V-A--Aliva--T-R-E-N--Trencher that"s it. Aliva Trencher."
"Aliva Trenchard!" exclaimed Mrs. Sheppard, hastily; "is that the name?"
"Ay, ay, now I look again it _is_ Trenchard. How came you to know it?
Have you heard the name before?"
"I think I have--long, long ago, when I was a child," replied Mrs.
Sheppard, pa.s.sing her hand across her brow; "but my memory is gone--quite gone. Where _can_ I have heard it!"
"Devil knows," rejoined Blueskin. "Let it pa.s.s. The ring"s yours, and you"re mine. Here, put it on your finger."
Mrs. Sheppard s.n.a.t.c.hed back her hand from his grasp, and exerted all her force to repel his advances.
"Set down the kid," roared Blueskin, savagely.
"Mercy!" screamed Mrs. Sheppard, struggling to escape, and holding the infant at arm"s length; "have mercy on this helpless innocent!"
And the child, alarmed by the strife, added its feeble cries to its mother"s shrieks.
"Set it down, I tell you," thundered Blueskin, "or I shall do it a mischief."
"Never!" cried Mrs. Sheppard.
Uttering a terrible imprecation, Blueskin placed the knife between his teeth, and endeavoured to seize the poor woman by the throat. In the struggle her cap fell off. The ruffian caught hold of her hair, and held her fast. The chamber rang with her shrieks. But her cries, instead of moving her a.s.sailant"s compa.s.sion, only added to his fury. Planting his knee against her side, he pulled her towards him with one hand, while with the other he sought his knife. The child was now within reach; and, in another moment, he would have executed his deadly purpose, if an arm from behind had not felled him to the ground.
When Mrs. Sheppard, who had been stricken down by the blow that prostrated her a.s.sailant, looked up, she perceived Jonathan Wild kneeling beside the body of Blueskin. He was holding the ring to the light, and narrowly examining the inscription.
"Trenchard," he muttered; "Aliva Trenchard--they were right, then, as to the name. Well, if she survives the accident--as the blood, who styles himself Sir Cecil, fancies she may do--this ring will make my fortune by leading to the discovery of the chief parties concerned in this strange affair."
"Is the poor lady alive?" asked Mrs. Sheppard, eagerly.
""Sblood!" exclaimed Jonathan, hastily thrusting the ring into his vest, and taking up a heavy horseman"s pistol with which he had felled Blueskin,--"I thought you"d been senseless."
"Is she alive?" repeated the widow.
"What"s that to you?" demanded Jonathan, gruffly.
"Oh, nothing--nothing," returned Mrs. Sheppard. "But pray tell me if her husband has escaped?"
"Her husband!" echoed Jonathan scornfully. "A _husband_ has little to fear from his wife"s kinsfolk. Her _lover_, Darrell, has embarked upon the Thames, where, if he"s not capsized by the squall, (for it"s blowing like the devil,) he stands a good chance of getting his throat cut by his pursuers--ha! ha! I tracked "em to the banks of the river, and should have followed to see it out, if the watermen hadn"t refused to take me. However, as things have turned up, it"s fortunate that I came back."
"It is, indeed," replied Mrs. Sheppard; "most fortunate for me."
"For _you_!" exclaimed Jonathan; "don"t flatter yourself that I"m thinking of you. Blueskin might have butchered you and your brat before I"d have lifted a finger to prevent him, if it hadn"t suited my purposes to do so, and _he_ hadn"t incurred my displeasure. I never forgive an injury. Your husband could have told you that."
"How had he offended you?" inquired the widow.
"I"ll tell you," answered Jonathan, sternly. "He thwarted my schemes twice. The first time, I overlooked the offence; but the second time, when I had planned to break open the house of his master, the fellow who visited you to-night,--Wood, the carpenter of Wych Street,--he betrayed me. I told him I would bring him to the gallows, and I was as good as my word."
"You were so," replied Mrs Sheppard; "and for that wicked deed you will one day be brought to the gallows yourself."
"Not before I have conducted your child thither," retorted Jonathan, with a withering look.
"Ah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mrs. Sheppard, paralysed by the threat.
"If that sickly brat lives to be a man," continued Jonathan, rising, "I"ll hang him upon the same tree as his father."
"Pity!" shrieked the widow.
"I"ll be his evil genius!" vociferated Jonathan, who seemed to enjoy her torture.
"Begone, wretch!" cried the mother, stung beyond endurance by his taunts; "or I will drive you hence with my curses."
"Curse on, and welcome," jeered Wild.
Mrs. Sheppard raised her hand, and the malediction trembled upon her tongue. But ere the words could find utterance, her maternal tenderness overcame her indignation; and, sinking upon her knees, she extended her arms over her child.
"A mother"s prayers--a mother"s blessings," she cried, with the fervour almost of inspiration, "will avail against a fiend"s malice."
"We shall see," rejoined Jonathan, turning carelessly upon his heel.
And, as he quitted the room, the poor widow fell with her face upon the floor.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: At the hospital of Saint Giles for Lazars, the prisoners conveyed from the City of London towards Tyburn, there to be executed for treasons, felonies, or other trespa.s.ses, were presented with a Bowl of Ale, thereof to drink, as their last refreshing in this life.--_Strype"s Stow._ Book. IX. ch. III.]
CHAPTER VI.
The Storm.