The Castle Inn

Chapter 17

MR. FISHWICK, THE ARBITER

Mr. Fishwick, who had stepped forward with a vague notion of detaining

him, fell back. Sir George's stern aspect, which bore witness to the

passions that raged in a heart at that moment cruelly divided, did not

encourage interference; and though one or two muttered, no one moved.

There is little doubt that he would have passed out without delay,

mounted, and gone in pursuit--with what result in the direction of

altering the issue, it is impossible to state--if an obstacle had not

been cast in his way by an unexpected hand.

In every crowd, the old proverb has it, there are a knave and a fool.

Between Sir George bursting with passion, and the door by which he had

entered and to which he turned, stood Lady Dunborough. Her ladyship had

been one of the first to hear the news and to take the alarm; it is safe

to say, also, that for obvious reasons--and setting aside the lawyer and

Sir George--she was of all present the person most powerfully affected

by the news of the outrage. But she had succeeded in concealing alike

her fears and her interest; she had exclaimed with others--neither more

nor less; and had hinted, in common with three-fourths of the ladies

present, that the minx's cries were forced, and her _bonne fortune_

sufficiently to her mind. In a word she had comported herself so fitly

that if there was one person in the hall whose opinion was likely to

carry weight, as being coolly and impartially formed, it was

her ladyship.

When she stepped forward therefore, and threw herself between Sir George

and the door--still more when, with an intrepid gesture, she cried

'Stay, sir; we have not done with you yet,' there was a sensation. As

the crowd pressed up to see and hear what passed, her accusing finger

pointed steadily to Sir George's breast. 'What is that you have there?'

she continued. 'That which peeps from your breast pocket, sir?'

Sir George, who, furious as he was, could go no farther without coming

in contact with her ladyship, smothered an oath. 'Madam,' he said,

'let me pass.'

'Not until you explain how you came by that fan,' she answered sturdily;

and held her ground.

'Fan?' he cried savagely. 'What fan?'

Unfortunately the passions that had swept through his mind during the

last few minutes, the discovery he had made, and the flood of pity that

would let him think of nothing but the girl--the girl carried away

screaming and helpless, a prey to he knew not whom--left in his mind

scant room for trifles. He had clean forgotten the fan. But the crowd

gave him no credit for this; and some murmured, and some exchanged

glances, when he asked 'What fan?' Still more when my lady rejoined,

'The fan in your breast,' and drew it out and all saw it, was there a

plain and general feeling against him.

Unheeding, he stared at the fan with grief-stricken eyes. 'I picked it

up in the road,' he muttered, as much to himself as to them.

'It is hers?'

'Yes,' he said, holding it reverently. 'She must have dropped it--in the

struggle!' And then 'My God!' he continued fiercely, the sight of the

fan bringing the truth more vividly before him, 'Let me pass! Or I

shall be doing some one a mischief! Madam, let me pass, I say!'

His tone was such that an ordinary woman must have given way to him; but

the viscountess had her reasons for being staunch. 'No,' she said

stoutly, 'not until these gentlemen have heard more. You have her fan,

which she took out an hour ago. She went to meet you--that we know from

this person'--she indicated Mr. Fishwick; 'and to meet you at your

request. The time, at sunset, the place, the corner of Manton Lane. And

what is the upshot? At that corner, at sunset, persons and a carriage

were waiting to carry her off. Who besides you knew that she would be

there?' Lady Dunborough continued, driving home the point with her

finger. 'Who besides you knew the time? And that being so, as soon as

they are safely away with her, you walk in here with an innocent face

and her fan in your pocket, and know naught about it! For shame! for

shame! Sir George! You will have us think we see the c**k Lane Ghost

next. For my part,' her ladyship continued ironically, 'I would as soon

believe in the rabbit-woman.'

'Let me pass, madam,' Sir George cried between his teeth. 'If you were

not a woman--'

'You would do something dreadful,' Lady Dunborough answered mockingly.

'Nevertheless, I shall be much mistaken, sir, if some of these gentlemen

have not a word to say in the matter.'

Her ladyship's glance fell, as she spoke, on the stout red-faced

gentleman in the splashed boots and Ramillies, who had asked two

questions of the servant; and who, to judge by the attention with which

he followed my lady's words, was not proof against the charm which

invests a viscountess. If she looked at him with intention, she reckoned

well; for, as neatly as if the matter had been concerted between them,

he stepped forward and took up the ball.

'Sir George,' he said, puffing out his cheeks, 'her ladyship is quite

right. I--I am sorry to interfere, but you know me, and what my position

is on the Rota. And I do not think I can stand by any longer--which

might be _adaerere culpae_. This is a serious case, and I doubt I shall

not be justified in allowing you to depart without some more definite

explanation. Abduction, you know, is not bailable. You are a Justice

yourself, Sir George, and must know that. If this person therefore--who

I understand is an attorney--desires to lay a sworn information, I

must take it.'

'In heaven's name, sir,' Soane cried desperately, 'take it! Take what

you please, but let me take the road.'

'Ah, but that is what I doubt, sir, I cannot do,' the Justice answered.

'Mark you, there is motive, Sir George, and _praesentia in loco_,' he

continued, swelling with his own learning. 'And you have a _partem

delicti_ on you. And, moreover, abduction is a special kind of case,

seeing that if the _participes criminis_ are free the _femme sole_,

sometimes called the _femina capta_, is in greater danger. In fact, it

is a continuing crime. An information being sworn therefore--'

'It has not been sworn yet!' Sir George retorted fiercely. 'And I warn

you that any one who lays a hand on me shall rue it. God, man!' he

continued, horror in his voice, 'cannot you understand that while you

prate here they are carrying her off, and that time is everything?'

'Some persons have gone in pursuit,' the landlord answered with intent

to soothe.

'Just so; some persons have gone in pursuit,' the Justice echoed with

dull satisfaction. 'And you, if you went, could do no more than they can

do. Besides, Sir George, the law must be obeyed. The sole point is'--he

turned to Mr. Fishwick, who through all had stood by, his face distorted

by grief and perplexity--'do you wish, sir, to swear the information?'

Mrs. Masterson had fainted at the first alarm and been carried to her

room. Apart from her, it is probable that only Sir George and Mr.

Fishwick really entered into the horror of the girl's position, realised

the possible value of minutes, or felt genuine and poignant grief at

what had occurred. On the decision of one of these two the freedom of

the other now depended, and the conclusion seemed foregone. Ten minutes

earlier Mr. Fishwick, carried away by the first sight of Sir George, and

by the rage of an honest man who saw a helpless woman ruined, had been

violent enough; Soane's possession of the fan--not then known to

him--was calculated to corroborate his suspicions. The Justice in

appealing to him felt sure of support; and was much astonished when Mr.

Fishwick, in place of assenting, passed his hand across his brow, and

stared at the speaker as if he had suddenly lost the power of speech.

In truth, the lawyer, harried by the expectant gaze of the room, and the

Justice's impatience, was divided between a natural generosity, which

was one of his oddities, and a suspicion born of his profession. He

liked Sir George; his smaller manhood went out in admiration to the

other's splendid personality. On the other hand, he had viewed Soane's

approaches to his client with misgiving. He had scented a trap here and

a bait there, and a dozen times, while dwelling on Dr. Addington's

postponements and delays, he had accused the two of collusion and of

some deep-laid chicanery. Between these feelings he had now to decide,

and to decide in such a tumult of anxiety and dismay as almost deprived

him of the power to think.

On the one hand, the evidence and inferences against Sir George pressed

him strongly. On the other, he had seen enough of the futile haste of

the ostlers and stable-helps, who had gone in pursuit, to hope little

from them; while from Sir George, were he honest, everything was to be

expected. In his final decision we may believe what he said afterwards,

that he was determined by neither of these considerations, but by his

old dislike of Lady Dunborough! For after a long silence, during which

he seemed to be a dozen times on the point of speaking and as often

disappointed his audience, he announced his determination in that sense.

'No, sir; I--I will not!' he stammered, 'or rather I will not--on a

condition.'

'Condition!' the Justice growled, in disgust.

'Yes,' the lawyer answered staunchly; 'that Sir George, if he be going

in pursuit of them, permit me to go with him. I--I can ride, or at least

I can sit on a horse,' Mr. Fishwick continued bravely; 'and I am

ready to go.'

'Oh, la!' said Lady Dunborough, spitting on the floor--for there were

ladies who did such things in those days--'I think they are all in it

together. And the fair cousin too! Cousin be hanged!' she added with a

shrill ill-natured laugh; 'I have heard that before.'

But Sir George took no notice of her words. 'Come, if you choose,' he

cried, addressing the lawyer. 'But I do not wait for you. And now,

madam, if your interference is at an end--'

'And what if it is not?' she cried, insolently grimacing in his face.

She had gained half an hour, and it might save her son. To persist

farther might betray him, yet she was loth to give way. 'What if it is

not?' she repeated.

'I go out by the other door,' Sir George answered promptly, and, suiting

the action to the word, he turned on his heel, strode through the crowd,

which subserviently made way for him, and in a twinkling he had passed

through the garden door, with Mr. Fishwick, hat in hand, hurrying at

his heels.

The moment they were gone, the babel, suppressed while the altercation

lasted, rose again, loud as before. It is not every day that the busiest

inn or the most experienced traveller has to do with an elopement, to

say nothing of an abduction. While a large section of the ladies, seated

together in a corner, tee-hee'd and tossed their heads, sneered at Miss

and her screams, and warranted she knew all about it, and had her jacket

and night-rail in her pocket, another party laid all to Sir George,

swore by the viscountess, and quoted the masked uncle who made away with

his nephew to get his estate. One or two indeed--and, if the chronicler

is to be candid, one or two only, out of as many scores--proved that

they possessed both imagination and charity. These sat apart, scared and

affrighted by their thoughts; or stared with set eyes and flushed faces

on the picture they would fain have avoided. But they were young and had

seen little of the world.

On their part the men talked fast and loud, at one time laughed, and at

another dropped a curse--their form of pity; quoted the route and the

inns, and weighed the chances of Devizes or Bath, Bristol or Salisbury;

vaguely suggested highwaymen, an old lover, Mrs. Cornelys' ballet; and

finally trooped out to stand in the road and listen, question the

passers-by, and hear what the parish constable had to say of it. All

except one very old man, who kept his seat and from time to time

muttered, 'Lord, what a shape she had! What a shape she had!' until he

dissolved in maudlin tears.

Meanwhile a woman lay upstairs, tossing in passionate grief and tended

by servants; who, more pitiful than their mistresses, stole to her to

comfort her. And three men rode steadily along the western road.