"That same night," resumed Captain Rudstone, "when I was on guard at the camp, I slipped away into the storm. I reached Port Beaver the next day, read the cryptogram, and found the papers; with them were the receipt for the trunk at Fort Garry and the key. I was now in possession of proofs which I believed would secure for me the t.i.tle and estates of the Earl of Heathermere. But I need say no more--you know the rest. I have failed in the hour of triumph, and I accept my defeat with the philosophy that has ever been a part of my nature. If I felt any scruples, Carew, they were on your account. You are a good fellow, and I am glad you have come into your own. As for me I suppose I must pay the penalty of my misdeeds."
With that the captain finished his story and stood regarding us with an impa.s.sive, cynical look on his handsome face. I confess that I pitied him from my heart, as I thought of hia wasted talents, of the months of comradeship we had spent together. Indeed, I had never liked him more than I did at that moment, and yet he would have robbed me without compunction of my birthright.
"This is a serious matter, Captain Rudstone," Macdonald said sternly.
"You have confessed to a great crime. I will decide to-morrow what is to be done with you. For the present I must keep you in safe custody."
"Quite right, sir," the captain a.s.sented, and a moment later he left the room, walking erect between the factor and Lieutenant Boyd.
"Now for your story," I said, turning to Flora. "I have not the least idea how--"
"Let me see that ring, Denzil," she interrupted--"the one you showed me once before."
I took it from my pocket--the seal ring that had belonged to my father--and the moment he saw it Christopher Burley cried out:
"The Heathermere crest!"
"Yes, the same that was on the letters Captain Rudstone took from the trunk!" exclaimed Flora. "It was this discovery, made at the time, that roused my suspicions. Instead of saying anything about the matter, I determined to watch Captain Rudstone. I crept last night to an empty room adjoining his and observed him through a hole in the wall. He had the papers out, and was talking to himself; but he could not make up his mind to destroy them. To-night, when I heard him pa.s.s my door, I slipped to the room again. I was just in time, for he had made a fire in the stove. I knew he was going to burn the papers. I dashed into his room, s.n.a.t.c.hed them from him, and held him at bay with a pistol. I think I fired at him in my excitement, but I fortunately missed. And then--then you came to my a.s.sistance."
"My darling, can you ever forgive me?" I said to her, in a low voice.
"You have given me riches and a t.i.tle, and how basely I repaid your efforts in my behalf! To think that I could have suspected you for a single moment!"
"Hush! it is all forgotten and forgiven," she replied. "But we had better give each other up, Denzil. You don"t want me for your wife--you, a peer of England, with a long line of n.o.ble ancestors!"
My answer satisfied her scruples--the others had meanwhile left the room, and as she lay trembling in my arms, I felt how unworthy I was of all the gifts Heaven had bestowed upon me.
It is time to write Finis. A few more words and the curtain will drop on the story of my life. That night, to my secret delight and to the factor"s great relief, Captain Rudstone effected his escape. He dropped from the window of the room in which he was confined, scaled the stockade and vanished in the wilderness. No search was made for him, and I have heard nothing of him from that day to this. I often think of him, and I would give much to see him once again. He is probably dead, for if he were living now he would be more than eighty years of age.
But to return to Fort Garry. Within a week Flora and I were married, and a fortnight later we started for Quebec, accompanied by Christopher Burley. We reached England toward the close of the summer, and my case was so clear that in a comparatively short time
I was in full possession of my father"s birthright--the t.i.tle and estates of the Earl of Heathermere. The years rolled on, rich in happiness for my wife and myself, until now three decades separate us from the early life of the Canadas--of that life which we recall so well and love dearly to talk of.
In conclusion, I may say a word or two about the rival companies. In June of 1816 a sharp conflict was fought at Fort Douglas, near Fort Garry, Governor Semple, of the Hudson Bay Company, and twenty-two of his men were killed by the Northwest Company"s force, who themselves suffered little loss. The next year Lord Selkirk came to Canada, raised a force, and arrested most of the leading officials of the Northwest Company, sending them to Quebec for trial. And how the Hudson Bay Company held its own against rivalry and intrigue, how it protected its rights, the reader will find set down in the records of history.
THE END.