"Welcome, my child! Welcome, Sybil! Welcome home! I thank Heaven that I have lived to see this day. Well may I exclaim with one of old, "Now, Lord, let thy servant depart in peace, for I have seen the desire of my eyes!"" fervently exclaimed old Dr. Hart, as he clasped and shook Sybil"s hands, while the tears of joy filled his eyes.
But Sybil threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, for she could not speak.
Then he shook hands with Mr. Berners, and warmly welcomed him home.
When the congratulations were all over, and the friends were seated around the fire, Mr. Closeby drew a parchment packet from his pocket, and said:
"I told you, Sir, and Madam, that you had arrived in time to prevent my sending for you. I hold the cause of my words in my hand."
"The confession of Horace Blondelle?" said Mr. Berners, while Sybil listened eagerly.
"Yes; the confession of Horace Blondelle, _alias_ Captain Inconnu, _alias_ Satan. This confession must first be read to you, then sent up to the Governor of Virginia, and finally published to the whole world; for it fully vindicates your honor, Mrs. Berners."
"At last! thank Heaven!" exclaimed Sybil, while her husband took one of her hands and pressed it, and her daughter took the other one and kissed it.
"The writing down of this confession from the lips of the dying man occupied an hour and a quarter; the reading of it will take perhaps fifteen minutes. Can you hear it now, or are you too much fatigued with your journey, and would you prefer to put off the reading until to-morrow morning?" inquired the lawyer, looking from Sybil to Lyon.
"Put off the reading of that doc.u.ment until to-morrow? By no means! Read it at once, if you please," replied Mr. Berners, with a glance at his wife, which she at once understood and acted upon by hastening to say:
"Oh, yes! yes! read it at once! I could not sleep now without first hearing it."
"Very well, then," said the lawyer, as he unfolded the paper and prepared to peruse it.
The confession of Horace Blondelle need not be given in full here. A synopsis of it will serve our purpose.
As the son of a wicked old n.o.bleman and a worthless young ballet dancer, he had been brought up in the very worst school of morality.
His mother closed her career in a hospital. His father died at an advanced age, leaving him a large legacy.
His beauty, his wit, and his money enabled him to insinuate himself into the rather lax society of fashionable watering places and other public resorts.
He had married three times. First he married a certain Lady Riordon, the wealthy widow of an Irish knight, and the mother of Raphael, who became his step-son. He soon squandered this lady"s fortune, and broke her heart.
After her death he joined himself to a band of smugglers trading between the French and English coast, and consorted with them until he had made money for a fashionable campaign among the watering places. He went to Scarborough, where he met and married the fair young Scotch widow Rosa Dougla.s.s.
He lived with her until he had spent all her money, and swindled her infant out of his inheritance, and then he had robbed her of her jewels and deserted her.
About the same time a smuggling craft, unsuspected as such by the authorities, had entered the port of Norfolk, sailing under the British flag.
Mr. Horace Blondelle, going to take pa.s.sage in her, recognized the captain and the crew as his own old confederates.
As he was quite ready for new adventures, he joined them then and there.
The ship sailed the next day. And the next week it was wrecked on the coast of Virginia.
The lives of the captain and crew, and also the money and jewels, the silks and spirits they had on board, were all saved. They reached the land in safety.
There a new scheme was formed in the busy brain of Mr. Blondelle.
Accident had revealed to him the fact that the little Gentiliska, the orphan daughter of a dead comrade, was the heiress of a great Virginian manor, long unclaimed. He made up his mind to go and look up the estate, marry the heiress, and claim her rights.
Without revealing his whole plan to his companions, he persuaded them to accompany him to the neighborhood.
There is a freemasonry among thieves that enables them to recognize each other even at a first meeting.
Blondelle and his band no sooner reached the neighborhood of the Black Mountain, than they strengthened their forces by the addition of all the local outlaws who were at large.
They made their head-quarters first at the old deserted "Haunted Chapel." They penetrated into the vault beneath it, and there discovered the clue to the labyrinth of caverns under the mountain that henceforth became their stronghold.
Thence they sallied out at night upon their predatory errands.
On the night of the mask ball, two members of the band determined to attend it in disguise, for the double purpose of espionage and robbery.
Mr. Blondelle had learned to his chagrin that his deserted wife was in the neighborhood, at Black Hall, where her presence of course would defeat his plan of marrying the little Dubarry heiress.
He arrived as an ordinary traveller at the Blackville Inn, where he a.s.sumed the ghastly and fantastic character of "Death," and went to the ball.
His companion, known in the band as "Belial," took the character of Satan, and met him there.
With great dexterity, they had lightened several ladies and gentlemen of valuable jewels before supper was announced. And then they went and concealed themselves in the heavy folds of the bed-curtains in Mrs.
Blondelle"s room, intending to rob the house that night.
An accident revealed the presence of Belial to Mrs. Blondelle, who, on catching sight of him, screamed loudly for help. The robber was at her throat in an instant; in another instant his dagger was buried in her bosom; and then, as Sybil"s steps were heard hurrying to the help of her guest, he jumped out of the low window, followed instantly by Blondelle.
They clapped the shutter to, and fled.
Subsequently, when Mr. Blondelle discovered that the beautiful Sybil Berners was accused of the murder, he sought to save her in every manner but the only sure one--confession. He could not confess, for two reasons. He was bound by the mutual compact of the band, never to betray a comrade; and also he was resolved now that he was free, to marry the Dubarry heiress and claim the manor, which he could never do, if once he were known as an outlaw.
The death of Belial and the disbanding of the robbers released him from his compact; but still self-preservation kept him silent until the hour of his death, when he made this confession as an act of tardy justice to Sybil Berners. His violent death had been the direct result of his lawless life. A brutal ex-confederate in crime had long successfully black-mailed him, and at length waylaid, robbed, and murdered him. The criminal subsequently fled the neighborhood, but no doubt somewhere, sooner or later, met his deserts.
The confession was ended. At the same time Miss Tabby knocked at the door and announced supper.
And after this refreshment the friends separated, and retired to rest.
There is but little more to tell.
The next day news of the tragedy was taken to the Dubarry Springs.
Raphael Riordon and his step-mother, Mrs. Blondelle, came over to view the corpse and see to its removal.
Gentiliska, now a very handsome matron, gazed at the dead body with a strangely mingled expression of pity, dislike, sorrow, and relief. She had not been happy with the outlaw, whom, in her ignorance and friendlessness, she had been induced to marry; and she was not now unhappy in his death.
Raphael, now a grave and handsome man, met Mrs. Berners with a sad composure. He worshipped her as constantly and as purely as ever. He had known no second faith.
Mr. Blondelle was buried at Dubarry.
His confession was duly laid before the Governor of Virginia, who, in granting Sybil a pardon for the crime she had never committed, also wrote her a vindicatory letter, in which he expressed his respect for her many virtues, and his sorrow that the blundering of the law should have caused her so much of suffering.
The criminal"s confession and the Governor"s letter were both published through the length and breadth of the land. And Sybil Berners became as much loved and lionized as ever she had been hated and persecuted.
In the spring other exiles returned to the neighborhood: Captain Pendleton and his wife, once Miss Minnie Sheridan; and Mr. Sheridan, with his wife, once Miss Beatrix Pendleton.
Both these couples had long been married, and had been blessed with large families of sons and daughters.