If O"Rorke was not convinced by this threat, he was sufficiently staggered by it to become more thoughtful, and at last he said: "And what is it you"d propose to do?"
"I"d rather put that question to _you_," said Ladarelle, softly. "You have the case before you, what"s your remedy?"
"If she was any other girl, I"d say give her a couple of hundred pounds, and get her married and out of the way."
"And why not do so here?"
"Because it would be no use; that"s the why."
"Is she not a peasant? Are not all belonging to her people in the very humblest station; and not blessed with the best possible reputations?"
"They"re poor enough, if that"s what you mean; and they"re the very sort of men that would make mighty short work of you, if you were to harm one belonging to them."
"I promise you faithfully I"ll not go to reside in the neighbourhood,"
said Ladarelle, with a laugh.
"I"ve known them track a man to America before now."
"Come, come, Mr. O"Rorke, your countrymen may be as like Red Indians as you please, but they have no terrors for _me_."
"So much the better; but I"ve seen just as big men as yourself afraid of them."
The quiet coolness of this speech sent a far stronger sense of fear through the other"s heart than any words of menace could have done, and it required a great effort on his part to seem collected.
"You say she cannot be bought over, O"Rorke; now, what other line is open to us?"
O"Rorke made no reply, but seemed lost in thought.
"What if she were to believe that Sir Within wouldn"t receive her letter, or read it, and sent back a cold, unfeeling answer?" Still no answer pa.s.sed his lips. "If," continued Ladarelle, "you were to return and say you had failed, what would she do then? She"d never write to him again, I suppose?"
"Never, that you may depend upon, but it wouldn"t be so easy to make her believe it."
"That might be managed. First of all, tell me how she would take the tidings."
"I don"t know. I could not even guess."
"At all events, she"d not write to him again?"
"For that I"ll answer. I believe I could take my oath on it."
"Now, then, the game is easy enough," said Ladarelle, with a more a.s.sured tone. "You are to have Sir Within"s answer to-morrow. When you get it, set out for Wrexham, where I"ll meet you. We"ll open it and read it. If it be a simple acceptance of her note, and a mere compliance with her request, I"ll re-seal it with his crest, and you shall take it on to her; but if, as I suspect, the old man will make an effort to renew their former relations, and throw out any bait to induce her to come back here----"
"Well, what then?" asked O"Rorke, after waiting a few seconds for the other to continue.
"In that case we must lay our heads together, O"Rorke, and see what"s best to be done."
"And the old man that"s in gaol, and that"s to be tried on the 19th, what"s to be done about him?"
"I"ll think of that."
"He hasn"t a great chance anyway, but if there"s no defence, it"s all up with him."
"I"ll think of that."
"Then there"s myself," said O"Rorke, drawing his figure up to his full height, as though the subject was one that entailed no painful modesty.
"What about _me?_"
"I have thought of that already. Put that in your pocket, for the present"--and he pressed a note into his hand--"and when to-morrow comes you shall name your own conditions. Only stand by me to the end--mind that."
O"Rorke opened the bank-note leisurely, and muttered the word "Twenty;"
and certainly nothing in the accent showed enthusiastic grat.i.tude.
"I can give you an order on my banker to-morrow," said Ladarelle, hurriedly, "but I am rather low in cash here, just now; and I repeat it--your own terms, O"Rorke, your own terms."
"I suppose so," was the dry rejoinder.
"It"s not everybody would make you the same proposal."
"It"s not everybody has so much need of me as you have."
Ladarelle tried to laugh as he wished him good night, but the attempt was a poor one, and all he could say, as they parted, was:
"Wrexham--the Boar"s Head--the inn on the left hand as you enter the town. I"ll be on the look-out for you myself."
O"Rorke nodded and withdrew.
"Vulgar scoundrel! I wish I had never spoken to him!" said Ladarelle, as soon as the door closed. "This is all Grenfell"s doing; he has just shoved me into the hands of a fellow that will only serve me till he finds a higher bidder. What a fool I have been to open myself to him; and he sees it well! And as for the ready-wittedness and expediency, I wonder where they are! Why, the rascal had not a single suggestion to offer; he kept on harping about the difficulties, and never a word did he drop as to how to meet them."
And, with a hearty malediction on him, Ladarelle concluded his meditation, and went off to sleep.
CHAPTER LI. THE BOAR"S HEAD
Ladarelle stood at a window of the Boar"s Head which commanded a view of the road into the town, and waited, watch in hand, for O"Rorke"s coming.
The morning pa.s.sed, and noon, and it was late in the day when a wearied horse, over-driven and steaming, drew up at the door, and the long looked-for traveller alighted.
Though burning with impatience to learn his news, Ladarelle saw the necessity of concealing his anxiety, and, opening his writing-desk, he affected to be deeply engaged writing when, conducted by a waiter, O"Rorke appeared.
A single glance as he pa.s.sed the threshold told Ladarelle that his tidings were important. Already the fellow"s swagger declared it, and in the easy confidence with which he sat down, and in the careless way he rather threw than laid his hat on the table, might be seen that he felt himself "master of the situation."
"You are later than I expected," said Ladarelle, carelessly.
"I didn"t leave the place till after twelve. He made me go over the gardens and the forcing-houses, and after that the stables, till at one time I thought I"d not get away till to-morrow."
"And what do you think of it all?"