"You"ll not be hard upon him, sir, I hope?"
"I must do my duty," replied Mr. Donkin, a little sternly, "without any question of hardness."
Philip, discomfited, left the room; an instant of thought and Mr Donkin had jumped up, and hastening to the door he opened it and called after Philip.
"Hepburn--Hepburn--I say, he"ll be taken to York as soon as may be to-morrow morning; if any one wants to see him before then, they"d better look sharp about it."
Philip went quickly along the streets towards Mr. Dawson"s, pondering upon the meaning of all that he had heard, and what he had better do. He had made his plans pretty clearly out by the time he arrived at Mr. Dawson"s smart door in one of the new streets on the other side of the river. A clerk as smart as the door answered Philip"s hesitating knock, and replied to his inquiry as to whether Mr. Dawson was at home, in the negative, adding, after a moment"s pause--
"He"ll be at home in less than an hour; he"s only gone to make Mrs Dawson"s will--Mrs. Dawson, of Collyton--she"s not expected to get better."
Probably the clerk of an older-established attorney would not have given so many particulars as to the nature of his master"s employment; but, as it happened it was of no consequence, the unnecessary information made no impression on Philip"s mind; he thought the matter over and then said--
"I"ll be back in an hour, then. It"s gone a quarter to four; I"ll be back before five, tell Mr. Dawson."
He turned on his heel and went back to the High Street as fast as he could, with a far more prompt and decided step than before. He hastened through the streets, emptied by the bad weather, to the princ.i.p.al inn of the town, the George--the sign of which was fastened to a piece of wood stretched across the narrow street; and going up to the bar with some timidity (for the inn was frequented by the gentry of Monkshaven and the neighbourhood, and was considered as a touch above such customers as Philip), he asked if he could have a tax-cart made ready in a quarter of an hour, and sent up to the door of his shop.
"To be sure he could; how far was it to go?"
Philip hesitated before he replied--
"Up the Knotting Lane, to the stile leading down to Haytersbank Farm; they"ll have to wait there for some as are coming."
"They must not wait long such an evening as this; standing in such rain and wind as there"ll be up there, is enough to kill a horse."
"They shan"t wait long," said Philip, decisively: "in a quarter of an hour, mind."
He now went back to the shop, beating against the storm, which was increasing as the tide came in and the night hours approached.
Coulson had no word for him, but he looked reproachfully at his partner for his long, unexplained absence. Hester was putting away the ribbons and handkerchiefs, and bright-coloured things which had been used to deck the window; for no more customers were likely to come this night through the bl.u.s.tering weather to a shop dimly lighted by two tallow candles and an inefficient oil-lamp. Philip came up to her, and stood looking at her with unseeing eyes; but the strange consciousness of his fixed stare made her uncomfortable, and called the faint flush to her pale cheeks, and at length compelled her, as it were, to speak, and break the spell of the silence. So, curiously enough, all three spoke at once. Hester asked (without looking at Philip)--
"Yo"re sadly wet, I"m feared?"
Coulson said--
"Thou might have a bit o" news to tell one after being on the gad all afternoon."
Philip whispered to Hester--
"Wilt come into t" parlour? I want a word wi" thee by oursel"s."
Hester quietly finished rolling up the ribbon she had in her hands when he spoke, and then followed him into the room behind the shop before spoken of.
Philip set down on the table the candle which he had brought out of the shop, and turning round to Hester, took her trembling hand into both of his, and gripping it nervously, said--
"Oh! Hester, thou must help me--thou will, will not thou?"
Hester gulped down something that seemed to rise in her throat and choke her, before she answered.
"Anything, thou knows, Philip."
"Yes, yes, I know. Thou sees the matter is this: Daniel Robson--he who married my aunt--is taken up for yon riot on Sat.u.r.day night at t" Mariners" Arms----"
"They spoke on it this afternoon; they said the warrant was out,"
said Hester, filling up the sentence as Philip hesitated, lost for an instant in his own thoughts.
"Ay! the warrant is out, and he"s in t" lock-up, and will be carried to York Castle to-morrow morn; and I"m afeared it will go bad with him; and they at Haytersbank is not prepared, and they must see him again before he goes. Now, Hester, will thou go in a tax-cart as will be here in less than ten minutes from t" George, and bring them back here, and they must stay all night for to be ready to see him to-morrow before he goes? It"s dree weather for them, but they"ll not mind that."
He had used words as if he was making a request to Hester; but he did not seem to await her answer, so sure was he that she would go.
She noticed this, and noticed also that the rain was spoken of in reference to them, not to her. A cold shadow pa.s.sed over her heart, though it was nothing more than she already knew--that Sylvia was the one centre of his thoughts and his love.
"I"ll go put on my things at once," said she, gently.
Philip pressed her hand tenderly, a glow of grat.i.tude overspread him.
"Thou"s a real good one, G.o.d bless thee!" said he. "Thou must take care of thyself, too," continued he; "there"s wraps and plenty i"
th" house, and if there are not, there"s those i" the shop as "ll be none the worse for once wearing at such a time as this; and wrap thee well up, and take shawls and cloaks for them, and mind as they put "em on. Thou"ll have to get out at a stile, I"ll tell t" driver where; and thou must get over t" stile and follow t" path down two fields, and th" house is right before ye, and bid "em make haste and lock up th" house, for they mun stay all night here. Kester "ll look after things."
All this time Hester was hastily putting on her hat and cloak, which she had fetched from the closet where they usually hung through the day; now she stood listening, as it were, for final directions.
"But suppose they will not come," said she; "they dunnot know me, and mayn"t believe my words."
"They must," said he, impatiently. "They don"t know what awaits "em," he continued. "I"ll tell thee, because thou "ll not let out, and it seems as if I mun tell some one--it were such a shock--he"s to be tried for "s life. They know not it"s so serious; and, Hester," said he, going on in his search after sympathy, "she"s like as if she was bound up in her father."
His lips quivered as he looked wistfully into Hester"s face at these words. No need to tell her who was _she_. No need to put into words the fact, told plainer than words could have spoken it, that his heart was bound up in Sylvia.
Hester"s face, instead of responding to his look, contracted a little, and, for the life of her, she could not have helped saying,--
"Why don"t yo" go yourself, Philip?"
"I can"t, I can"t," said he, impatiently. "I"d give the world to go, for I might be able to comfort her; but there"s lawyers to see, and iver so much to do, and they"ve niver a man friend but me to do it all. You"ll tell her," said Philip, insinuatingly, as if a fresh thought had struck him, "as how I would ha" come. I would fain ha"
come for "em, myself, but I couldn"t, because of th" lawyer,--mind yo" say because of th" lawyer. I"d be loath for her to think I was minding any business of my own at this time; and, whatever yo" do, speak hopeful, and, for t" life of yo", don"t speak of th" hanging, it"s likely it"s a mistake o" Donkin"s; and anyhow--there"s t"
cart--anyhow I should perhaps not ha" telled thee, but it"s a comfort to make a clean breast to a friend at times. G.o.d bless thee, Hester. I don"t know what I should ha" done without thee," said he, as he wrapped her well up in the cart, and placed the bundles of cloaks and things by her side.
Along the street, in the jolting cart, as long as Hester could see the misty light streaming out of the shop door, so long was Philip standing bareheaded in the rain looking after her. But she knew that it was not her own poor self that attracted his lingering gaze. It was the thought of the person she was bound to.
CHAPTER XXVI
A DREARY VIGIL
Through the dark rain, against the cold wind, shaken over the rough stones, went Hester in the little tax-cart. Her heart kept rising against her fate; the hot tears came unbidden to her eyes. But rebellious heart was soothed, and hot tears were sent back to their source before the time came for her alighting.
The driver turned his horse in the narrow lane, and shouted after her an injunction to make haste as, with her head bent low, she struggled down to the path to Haytersbank Farm. She saw the light in the window from the top of the brow, and involuntarily she slackened her pace. She had never seen Bell Robson, and would Sylvia recollect her? If she did not how awkward it would be to give the explanation of who she was, and what her errand was, and why she was sent.
Nevertheless, it must be done; so on she went, and standing within the little porch, she knocked faintly at the door; but in the bl.u.s.ter of the elements the sound was lost. Again she knocked, and now the murmur of women"s voices inside was hushed, and some one came quickly to the door, and opened it sharply.