CHAPTER XVIIThe Seducer Resisted.
We left our heroine in a calm slumber, into which she had sunk after the fatigue of thinking and the anguish of her mind. She continued in it until a storm arose, which awoke her, and jumping up in the bed, she scarcely knew where she was. Confused thoughts darted across her perturbed imagination, and she had in an instant a foreboding, a presentiment, that something particular was about to occur to her. She heard no one but the old woman moving below, and recollecting that she had seen Blodget quit the house at an early hour in the morning, she thought it was probable that he had not yet returned, and she became rather more composed. Then, however, she remembered some dark hints which the hateful old woman had thrown out to her in the morning, and again were her utmost apprehensions of some fresh misery excited. Sometime she continued in this manner, when she heard a confusion of voices from below, among which she distinguished that of a female and Blodget’s, but she could not understand a single word that they gave utterance to.
She now endeavored to calm her feelings, and prepare for the meeting which she had no doubt would take place between her and Blodget; who she resolved to meet with all the fortitude she could possibly muster. She knelt down, and supplicated the aid of the Almighty; and implored that He would frustrate the designs of the wicked, and not suffer her to fall a victim to the diabolical stratagems of the miscreant who at present held her in his power.
As it ever is the case, when the sincere heart breathes its prayers to Heaven, our heroine felt almost immediately more tranquil and prepared to meet her oppressor, and she arose from her knees with a determination to support herself with an air of fortitude, which should abash rather than encourage the villain’s nefarious hopes.
She had not long come to this resolution, when she heard a footstep ascending the stairs, and shortly afterwards the door of her apartment was unbolted, and the door was opened, and the object of her hatred and her fears presented himself before her. She met his looks firmly, and with an air of becoming dignity, and it was evident, although he endeavored to disguise it, that something of more importance than usual occupied his thoughts.
He stood for a second or two in the doorway, and seemed anxious to address her, yet at a loss how to begin. Then he seemed abashed at the calm dignity of Inez’s manner, and at the same time lost in admiration of her extreme beauty, which, although much impaired by the ravages of care, was still most superlative.
Notwithstanding the firmness which she assumed, Inez felt a trembling apprehension of the interview; and had much difficulty in conquering her feelings.
At length Blodget advanced nearer to our heroine, closing the door after him, and after several ineffectual attempts to speak, he observed, in as insinuating tone as he could assume—
‘Beauteous Inez, after a temporary absence from your presence, which has appeared an age to me, I again come to bask in the sunshine of your beauty—again to solicit a return of that passion which I so ardently feel for you.’
‘Villain!’ ejaculated Inez, ‘receive my answer in the utter contempt, disgust, abhorrence I feel for you; and rest assured that no other feeling can ever inhabit my breast towards a wretch who has proved himself destitute of every feeling of humanity.’
‘This violence is useless,’ returned Blodget; ‘I have given you plenty of time to consider: this day I come hither to decide: I have waited patiently long enough.’
‘Monster!’ cried the distracted lady, and her eyes at the same time beamed an expression which seemed as if it would penetrate to his soul; ‘where is my poor father, from whom you have so mercilessly torn me? Can you recollect the unparalleled act of cruelty you have been guilty of, and yet stand there and talk to me, the affianced bride of another, about love?’
‘To all these passionate expressions I pay little or no attention; for they affect me not,’ returned the hardened villain. ‘It is enough that I have fixed my mind on you; I have labored hard, and risked much, to get possession of you—you are now in my power, and mine, in spite of all entreaties and tears, shall be!’
‘Oh, heartless miscreant.’
‘Nay, think not that I would willingly resort to violence,’ observed Blodget, in a milder tone of voice; ‘no, I would win you by my actions; by my love;—I would be to you the most ardent and affectionate companion that woman desire; I—’
‘Cease!’ interrupted Inez, in a commanding tone of voice, which seemed to enforce immediate obedience; ‘I will not listen to your guilty language, it disgusts me. Your presence makes me feel as if a fiend, instead of a human being, were standing before me; begone! and leave me again to the solitude of my unjust confinement.’
‘Not yet, fair Inez,’ returned Blodget, with a supercilious smile; ‘you and I must not part until we understand each other.’
‘I perfectly understand you, sir,’ said Inez, ‘and depend upon it, all that you can say will but add to the utter abhorrence which I bear towards you.’
‘But you must yield!’
‘Never!’
‘How can you save yourself? Are you not in my power?’
‘True; but I have a friend in Providence who will not suffer me to fall a victim to the nefarious designs of a diabolical villain like you.’
‘Upon my word you are very liberal with your compliments;’ said Blodget, with a half-sneering laugh, although it was very plain to be seen that he was very much chagrined at the manner in which our heroine addressed him.
‘Is there any epithet strong enough that I can apply to a man like you?’ demanded Inez. ‘Has not your conduct proved you to be a miscreant, too—’
‘Come, come,’ interrupted Blodget, and a slight scowl passed over his brows, ‘I do not mind a little flattery, but when it proceeds to extremes, I must acknowledge that I have not a stomach to take it. Any epithet that you may apply to me, you must be aware cannot have any other effect than that of exasperating me to that which I might afterwards be sorry for. But how can you be so foolish as to remain thus obstinately opposed to the wishes of a man who would make it his unceasing study to render you happy?’
‘Happy!’ exclaimed Inez, ‘and dare you talk to me of happiness, when I am torn from all that renders life desirable? Wretch, unnatural monster you must think me, to be capable of listening to the licentious vows of a man who has been the author of all my miseries! Talk to me of happiness, and keep me confined in this awful house, surrounded only by the votaries of guilt, who would not hesitate to dye their hands in my blood.’
‘They dare not; they act alone by my orders,’ answered Blodget. ‘But why thus delay the time in conversing on matters of no immediate interest? Again, Inez, I solicit your love. Say that you will be mine, all but that which the idle ceremony of wedlock can make you, and there is not a pleasure which gold can purchase, or this world supply, which you shall not have at your command. We will hasten far from hence, and in a place where we are unknown, forget that there are others than ourselves in existence.’
Inez shuddered with horror at the coolness and effrontery with which the libertine uttered these expressions, and she could scarcely believe that she was standing in the presence of a human being.
‘Oh, no,’ replied Blodget, ‘think not that I can be induced to leave you so soon this day, at any rate. Upon your determined answer your fate depends.’
‘You have already had my answer,’ returned Inez.
‘Will nothing persuade you to alter it?’
‘Nothing, by Heaven!’
‘Beware! take not an oath!’
‘I can with safety, for nothing would induce me to swerve from it.’
‘You had better bethink yourself.’
‘I have thought sufficiently, and I am decided.’
‘Recollect that, if you refuse, I shall be compelled to resort to force.’
‘I will die first.’
‘You will not have the means.’
‘Almighty God surely, will never suffer so black a deed.’
‘Bah!—that is all idle cant. Think, too, that if you refuse, you will still be kept here a prisoner, deprived of every comfort, and yet subservient to my wishes.’
‘Oh, horror! You cannot surely be the monster!’
‘I would not willingly, but you would drive me to it.’
‘Oh, repent, repent!’
‘Pshaw! Will that gratify my desires?’
‘It will afford me a far greater gratification.’
‘I shall not try it.’
‘Alas! you are indeed a guilty miscreant.’
‘Thank you, again, for your compliment; I have pointed out to you the horrors that will attend your refusal; say, shall I point out to you the happiness that will attend you, if you comply with my request?’
‘I want not to hear them, they cannot make any alteration in my determination,’ answered our heroine, covering her face with her handkerchief, and sobbing aloud with her disgusted and wounded feelings.
‘Still must I think that you will change your mind;’ returned Blodget with the same guilty expression of countenance in which his features were almost constantly clad—‘remember the sweets of liberty will then be yours.’
‘And of what use would liberty be to me, when it would be purchased by a life of infamy?’ demanded Inez; ‘could anything ever reconcile it to my conscience, to become the base paramour of a guilty being like you? The bare thought fills me with a sensation of the utmost dread, and death in its most horrible form would be preferable to such a course of life.’
‘But is there nothing that could prevail upon you?’
‘Nothing;’ answered Inez, with a look of the greatest disgust and horror.
‘Think again!’
‘I have nothing more to say upon the detested subject.’
‘If, by so doing, you could purchase the life of Monteagle—’
‘Ah!’ grasped forth Inez, turning deadly pale, and clutching the arm of Blodget, and with distended eye-lids;—‘what mean you? Speak! speak!—I know you have something of a particular nature to impart to me! Reveal it! I beseech you, and keep me not in suspense!—Oh, Blodget if you have indeed any regard for my feelings, tell me, what of Monteagle?’
‘Calm your feelings!’
‘You rack me!’
‘Compose yourself!’
‘Talk not to me of composure!’ shrieked Inez.
‘He is in my power.’
Poor Inez tried hard to speak, but she could not; she was transfixed to the spot, and gazed upon Blodget with a look in which the greatest astonishment and horror were depicted. The announcement of Blodget came like a thunderbolt upon her, and her faculties seemed to be all bound up in the suddenness and unexpectedness of the circumstance.
‘If you are not a monster of the blackest dye,’ exclaimed Inez at length, ‘you will not delight in thus harrowing my feelings! but tell me have you spoken the truth? Do not keep me in suspense! Oh, do not! Have you indeed said that which is true?’
‘I have,’ answered Blodget;—‘Monteagle is now in my power.’
‘Are you bent to drive me mad?’ exclaimed the frenzied Inez, as, with clasped hands, she gazed vehemently and supplicatingly in the countenance of her oppressor.
‘No, no! I would restore you to happiness,’ replied Blodget.
‘Happiness!’ groaned Inez; ‘oh, cruel mockery to talk to me thus; and to continue to keep me in this state of agony and suspense.’
‘Compose yourself,’ again remonstrated Blodget, in a gentler tone, than he had before spoken, and at the same time venturing to approach her closer; ‘compose yourself. Consent to my wishes, and Monteagle shall at once be free.—Refuse he dies!’
‘Never, miscreant!’ cried Inez, and fell powerless to the floor.
Blodget was alarmed,—so still and marble-like did the fair girl lie. No motion of her white bosom gave the slightest evidence that she breathed.
The villain trembled, and for an instant remorse touched his heart. But no sooner did a slight convulsive shudder show that she still lived, than he turned and left the apartment.
Blodget sent the old woman to Inez, who succeeded in restoring her to consciousness.
The next morning Jenkins returned. He seemed in haste.
Sending for several members of his gang he was soon engaged in earnest conversation.
‘Gordon, say not a word to Blodget,’ said Jenkins.
‘Should he try to escape?’ said Gordon.
‘Shoot him, as you would a mad coyote,’ said Jenkins.
‘Had we not best confine him?’
‘No,—wait my return. He will probably send for Kay, Maretzo, and others of his old cronies. If he tries to bribe one of you to take a message for him to them affect to be won over by his gold, carry the message for him, and then hasten to me at the Mission.’
‘But where are you to be found, captain?’
‘Joaquin will inform you of my whereabouts.’
‘But, captain, why do you wish Kay and the rest of them to be engaged in this affair?’
‘In order that they may be captured in the actual commission of a daring crime—as they will doubtless hasten to assist Blodget to carry off the lady.’
Jenkins then visited Blodget.
To the great surprise of Blodget, Jenkins instead of greeting him with friendly warmth, rejected his proffered hand, and addressing him sternly, said: ‘I am about to leave this place for a few days, if during my absence you insult Miss Inez by word or look, or ever approach the rooms she occupies, you shall as surely die as my name is Jenkins!’ Then turning to a young girl, who had accompanied him to the house, the robber-captain addressed her thus: ‘Alice, you will I know do all you can to make this poor young lady as happy as possible while I am away. I do not promise you any reward, for I know your own goodness of heart has induced you to volunteer to be her friend and companion.’
Jenkins then gave the old woman instructions to obey Alice on every point, and whispering a few words to Gordon, Jenkins left the apartment, and soon after the house.
Blodget was astounded at this change in the behavior of Jenkins, and concluded that he had informed upon him, and thus made his own peace with the authorities. He was confirmed in this, when he went to step from the house, for Gordon stepped up to him, and placing a revolver at his breast, threatened to shoot him if he crossed the threshold. Finding an attempt to escape would only lead to his instant death, Blodget determined during Jenkins’ absence to consummate his intentions on Inez, and then devise some mode of gaining Gordon to allow him to escape.
The girl whom Jenkins had addressed as Alice, had seen some seventeen springs, the apple-blossoms of which were not more beautifully tinted than her fair cheeks; nor their skies a deeper blue than her love-lit eyes. Her form was perfect—her step light and springy as an antelope’s. Her name was Alice Hewlett, and she was known in the neighborhood as ‘the Squatter’s Daughter.’ She had heard of a lady’s being confined in Gordon’s house, and readily availed herself of the request of Jenkins to be the fair captive’s companion, until she could be restored to her friends.
Alice immediately went to Inez.
‘My dear young lady, I come to stay with you.’
Inez gazed inquiringly upon her fair, ingenuous face.
‘You may safely trust me, Miss.’
‘I do—I do—dear girl. Vice never wore so fair a front.’
‘Lady, I will not leave you, but at your request.’
‘Oh, thanks, thanks. You know not what a load you’ve taken from my sad heart.’
Jenkins went to the old crone, and gave her some directions, adding sternly, ‘Mind and do as I have told you!’
The old woman muttered an obedience to his orders, and he immediately quitted the room.
He had not been gone many minutes, when she retired to her own little closet, where she always had a bottle or two of ‘the best,’ and was soon in a fair way to enjoy herself, and to become entirely unconscious of all that was taking place; and Blodget hailing the so long-looked for opportunity with pleasure, he ascended the stairs on tiptoe, and having reached the rooms appropriated to the use of Inez, he knocked.
Alice, probably thinking it was the woman, quickly opened the door, but started back with no little amazement, when she beheld the villain Blodget.—He instantly stepped into the room, and Inez hearing the exclamation which Alice had given utterance to came from her room, but on seeing Blodget, she turned very pale, and trembled so violently that she could scarcely prevent herself from sinking on the floor.
The forbidding features of Blodget relaxed into a smile, which he meant to be one of kindness, but he could not conceal his exultation, and the guilty passions that raged like a tempest within his bosom, and turning to Alice, he said, in an authoritative tone—
‘Leave the room.’
Alice hesitated, and looked at our heroine.
‘Do you hear?’ demanded Blodget, in a louder tone;—‘begone, I’ve something to say to this lady, which must not meet your ear.’
‘You should have nothing to say to me, sir, which should be kept a secret from a second person. Alice, I desire you to remain where you are; Mr. Blodget can have no authority for obtruding his hateful presence upon one whom he has already so deeply, so irreparably injured. Do not depart, Alice!—I desire you!’
‘These mandates are of no avail,’ cried Blodget; ‘I have long sought this interview, and I will not now be foiled. Begone, I say!’
‘I’ll remain where I am, sir, while it is the wish of the lady,’ returned Alice, in a firm tone.
‘Ah!’ exclaimed Blodget; his eyes expressive of fierce anger, ‘dare you?—Then you must go by force.’
Immediately seizing Alice, as he spoke, by the shoulders, he pushed her violently from the room, and closing the door, locked it, preventing her return. He advanced towards Inez, who, upon the impulse of the moment, was in the act of retreating to her chamber, and fastening herself in, when the villain sprang quickly forward, and seizing her vehemently by the arm, he drew her back.
‘Unmanly ruffian!’ cried Inez, ‘unhand me, or my cries shall reach the ears of those who will punish you for your boldness and cruelty! What is the meaning of this savage outrage?’
‘It means, fair Inez,’ replied Blodget, forcibly throwing his arm around her waist, and drawing her towards him, ‘that, finding I have too long been a forbearing fool, when I had you in my power, I am determined that I will no longer wait for the gratification of my wishes. I have condescended to sue to you, where I might long since have enforced your compliance; I have made you every reasonable proposal, and have submitted patiently to your scorn, and contemptuous rejection of my suit, but I am now roused to a full sense of my folly, and am determined at all hazards, that you shall be mine!’
‘Brutal monster!’ exclaimed Inez, violently struggling; for the expressions of Blodget, and his determined demeanor, filled her with the utmost terror—‘are you not satisfied with probably having murdered my unfortunate father, and inflicted upon me a series of miseries almost unparalleled in the annals of inhumanity, but that you would now add to your barbarity by so atrocious a crime as you threaten? Oh, help! help!—Holy Virgin, I call upon thee for thy protection!—Oh, save me! save me!’
As the distracted and terrified lady thus screamed, she struggled violently to extricate herself from the embraces of the ruffian Blodget, but her efforts were for some time entirely ineffectual, and with every endeavor she made, the passions of Blodget increased, and his cheeks glowed and his eyes flashed with the guilty desires that raged within his breast. He sought, however, to stifle her cries, but in vain.
‘Nay,’ he cried, ‘you scream for help in vain; there is no one at hand to interpose to save you! The triumph so long protracted, now is mine! This hour; this very moment gives you to my arms!’
‘Almighty God! protect me! save me!’ again shrieked our heroine, in the most frantic accents, and, with a desperate effort she released herself from Blodget’s hold, and retreated to the farther end of the apartment, where, on a table, was a knife. Scarcely knowing what she did, she snatched it up, and, as Blodget approached towards her, she flourished it menacingly, and exclaimed:
‘Villain! advance but an inch towards me, and this knife shall stretch me a bleeding corpse at your feet!’
Blodget was completely staggered by the determined air which Inez assumed, and he was transfixed to the spot whereon he stood, not knowing what course to pursue.
Our heroine still flourished the knife menacingly, and kept the villain at bay.
‘You see I am resolute,’ she cried; ‘and, by Heaven, sooner than I will be dishonored, I will put my threat into execution! Death is preferable to the dreadful, the disgusting fate which you have threatened me. Nay, nothing can move me from my purpose! Quit the room, miscreant; unless you would have my death to answer for, in addition to your other numerous crimes!’
‘Inez,’ ejaculated Blodget, offering to approach her; ‘hear me!’
‘Not a word,’ firmly replied Inez; ‘nothing whatever can shake my resolution; begone!’
At that moment a loud noise was heard at the chamber door, and immediately afterwards the voices of several persons.
Blodget turned pale and trembled.
‘Ah!’ he ejaculated.
‘Open the door, or it will be worse for you,’ now demanded the voice of Gordon.
‘Never!’ cried Blodget, desperately, and placing his back against it as he spoke.
‘Then we must use force,’ returned Gordon; ‘now, lads, your aid.’
In an instant the door was burst open, and Gordon, followed by three rough-looking men, entered the room.
‘Seize him, my lads; and bear him hence!’ cried Gordon, and in a moment the men rushed upon Blodget, who made a desperate resistance, but was quickly overpowered, and was conveyed, struggling, swearing, and foaming at the mouth, from the room, and being dragged to one of the dark vaults underground, was, by the orders of Gordon, locked in, and left to his own reflections, the nature of which may be readily conjectured, but cannot be properly described.
Alice, immediately on being thrust out of the room by Blodget, had hastened below, where, ascertaining that Gordon was from home, although it was very reluctantly that the old woman furnished her with the information, she made the best of her way to the cabaret, where she fortunately found him, in company with the men before mentioned, and having informed him of the perilous situation of our heroine, he left the place, and, as has been shown, arrived just at the critical juncture, to save her from destruction.
Blodget had no sooner been forced away from the room, than our heroine, overpowered by her feelings, and the unusual excitement she had undergone, fainted, and Alice Hewlett was once more left alone with her, and immediately set about the means of restoring her sensibility.
It would be impossible to portray correctly the disappointment and ungovernable rage of Blodget, when he found himself not only foiled in his diabolical attempt, but made a prisoner in that gloomy vault. He raved; he stormed; he cursed and swore, and breathed the most fearful maledictions against Alice, Gordon, and Jenkins. Then he made the place re-echo again with his cries to be released, but the hollow reverberations of that subterranean place, were the only answers he received, and he traversed the limited space in which he was confined, in a state bordering upon madness. He now at once saw that he was caught, trepanned, defeated, and all his well laid schemes rendered abortive, and himself left entirely at the mercy of Jenkins and his associates, and when he recollected the threats which the former had held out to him, if he should make any attempt against the peace of Inez, during his absence, he felt that he had every reason to apprehend the most terrible consequences through his mad impetuosity. All the horrors of an ignominious death rushed upon his mind, and his anguish was so great, that he completely sunk under it. He crouched down in one corner of his cell, and became the image of despair. It appeared as though his career of guilt was fast drawing to a close, and, that fate had destined, that every attempt he should in future make should be frustrated.
In this state he remained for more than two hours, without any one appearing to interrupt him, when he heard some one unbolting the door of his cell, and immediately afterwards it was thrown back on its hinges, and Gordon, accompanied by one of the men who had been his companions in the seizure, entered.
He brought with him a stone pitcher, containing water and a loaf, which he placed on the ground, and then eyed Blodget with a look of the most malignant exultation.
Blodget sprang to his feet; fury gleaming in his eyes, and advancing towards Gordon, he cried, in a hoarse voice:—
‘Dastard!—why am I thus seized and made a prisoner in this dismal place?’
‘Recollect your recent conduct,’ said Gordon coolly, ‘and you are answered.’
‘And what authority has either he or you for detaining me?’ demanded Blodget.
‘Upon that point I dare say you will be satisfied at a future time,’ returned Gordon, in the same deliberate and careless tones.
‘But you will not dare detain me?’
‘That has to be proved.’
‘Villain! you will have to answer dearly for this,’ said Blodget.
‘Previous to which,’ retorted Gordon, ironically, ‘you will probably be called to a slight account for the abduction and unlawful detention of the lady, also for a certain crime since, and—’
‘Confusion!’ interrupted Blodget;—‘am I then placed in the power of every wretch? Oh, Jenkins! Jenkins! for this, my heaviest malediction light upon your head.’
‘Trusting that you may soon feel at home in your new apartment,’ said Gordon, with a most provoking grin, ‘I will now leave you to the enjoyment of it. Come on.’
And thus saying, before Blodget could give utterance to another syllable, although his looks evinced the torturing feelings of chagrin, disappointment, and resentment he was undergoing, Gordon and his companion quitted the cell, and slammed and bolted the door after them, leaving Blodget involved in utter darkness, for they had not supplied him with a lamp.
Blodget threw himself on the hard ground, and he groaned aloud with the agony of his feelings, but his present suffering was nothing compared with the horrors of anticipation, and he dreaded the return of Jenkins, fearing that the terrible result would be that which he promised him.
Three days and nights passed away in this manner, and Blodget was still kept a prisoner in the subterranean vault, and was daily visited by Gordon, who came to bring him his scanty allowance of provisions, and to taunt him with his degraded and altered situation. The unhappy wretch was at length completely subdued in spirit, and was incapable of answering the ruffian, and he was at last so humbled as to entreat Gordon’s mercy, and to pray that he would release him from his present place of confinement to one less dismal. This request, however, Gordon only treated with scorn and derision; so true it is that none feel greater pleasure than the guilty in torturing one another. Although Blodget had never given the ruffian the least cause for offence, but, on the contrary, according to his own admission, had liberally rewarded him for the nefarious actions in which he had employed him, he now felt the most savage delight in adding to his misery as much as possible; and the more he saw him suffer, and the more humbled he was, the greater did he exult. He had no doubt he should receive great praise, and something far more substantial from Jenkins for the manner in which he had acted, and he anticipated his return with much impatience. He was not made thoroughly acquainted with Jenkins’ intention as regarded Inez, but he had not the least doubt it was to restore her to her friends, and he imagined he would ensure from them a rich reward, in which he also expected to become a sharer to no small amount for the services he had rendered. How far his expectations were realized, will be seen anon.
When our heroine had quite recovered from the shock which she received from the behavior of the villain Blodget, she returned her most heartfelt thanks to the Almighty for her preservation, and for the fortitude with which she had been imbued to resist him. She then expressed her warmest acknowledgments to Alice, to whose presence of mind in hastening for the aid of Gordon, she might, in a great measure, attribute her preservation. The conduct of Gordon, who, there could not be the least doubt, acted entirely by the orders of Jenkins, left her no longer any room to doubt but that the latter was really the friend and protector he had told her was, and now that Blodget was thrust into confinement, from which they were assured he would not be released until the return of the captain, our heroine felt that she was safe.
‘What ready means guilt often unthinkingly takes to defeat its own designs:’ observed Alice; ‘Blodget thrusting me out of the room, was the very cause of bringing about his own confusion, and frustrating his evil intentions; for, had he placed me in another room, and confined me therein, he might easily have silenced the old woman, had she been inclined to oppose him, and thus he would have been almost certain to have obtained his object.’
‘Oh, no,’ returned Inez, ‘my mind was made up; never did I feel more determined, and he perceived it; I would have plunged the knife to my heart, sooner than he would have triumphed in his disgusting and diabolical purpose!’
‘Oh, Miss,’ said Alice, ‘the idea of that makes me shudder with horror! Heaven be praised, that preserved you from such a dreadful and untimely end. But the wretch will no doubt be amply punished for his crimes, and for all the sufferings that he has inflicted upon you.’
‘And how think you that Jenkins will dispose of him?’ interrogated Inez.
‘Deliver him up to the Vigilance Committee,’ replied Alice.
‘How can he do so without getting himself into trouble?’
‘Oh, there is no doubt but that he will readily hit upon a plan,’ said Alice; ‘I dare say that he has already arranged that, without knowing anything of the late circumstance. Clear up, Miss, for depend upon it, your troubles are fast drawing to a close, and not many days will elapse ere you will be again restored to your friends.’
‘Alas,’ ejaculated Inez, tears gushing to her eyes, ‘perhaps I have no dear friends to receive me! Oh, how my poor heart chills at the thought.’
‘Pray, Miss,’ said Alice, ‘do not encourage fears which, after all, may prove unfounded. Great, no doubt, as has been the sufferings of Monteagle and your father, I firmly believe that they are still living, or Jenkins and the others would have heard of it.’
‘My unhappy lover may have been able to withstand the severity of his accumulated and unparalleled calamities,’ observed Inez, ‘but, my poor father; oh, well am I convinced that his mind must have now become a wreck, in which case, it would be a mercy if the Almighty should be pleased to take him to Himself. Poor grey-haired old man, fondest of parents, best of human beings, shall I ever again be enfolded to thy paternal bosom, with the conviction that thou art conscious it is thy poor persecuted daughter thou dost embrace?—Alas! I fear never!’
‘Oh, yes, Miss, you will,’ ejaculated Alice, energetically, ‘Heaven in its infinite mercy will not deny you such a blessing after the many afflictions you have so undeservedly undergone. Have you not every reason to place the firmest reliance upon its goodness, after the manner in which you have ever been preserved in the moment of the most imminent danger?’
‘Yes, my good girl,’ replied our heroine, drying her tears, ‘indeed I have, and it is ungrateful in me thus to give way to despair. But my mind is so continually tormented, that I scarcely know what I am saying.’
‘At any rate,’ observed her companion, ‘now that Blodget is made a prisoner you may rest yourself secure, and Jenkins, I dare say, will not be long before he returns; when you will speedily be made acquainted with intentions, which, as I have all along predicted, depend upon it, will be all in your favor.’
The ideas of Alice were too reasonable to be rejected by Inez, and she looked forward to the return of Jenkins with the greatest anxiety.
A fortnight had now waned away, and still Jenkins and his companions did not return, and Gordon, who did not expect that they would be gone so long, was fearful lest some accident should have befallen them. He still kept the wretched Blodget confined in the same place, and he now became the complete victim of despair. His form had wasted away, and his countenance betrayed the deep, the intense agony which perpetually tortured his mind. How dreary were the days and nights passed in that dark cell, where he had nothing to commune but his own dreadful thoughts, and where the horrors of his own guilty conscience constantly brought to his imagination the many crimes he had committed. Conjecture cannot form but a weak picture of the mental sufferings of that man of crime. Oh, who would be guilty, did they but think upon the horrors that must sooner or later overtake them?—For the gratification of some moment of sensual pleasure; for the transitory indulgence of some ambitious wish, the unhappy wretch falls into crime, to pay for it by years of mental suffering, and ignominious death, and an eternity of torment!—Oh, how fearful the price, would but erring mortals pause and think!
It was on a stormy midnight, when nearly three weeks had elapsed since Jenkins had left, when a party who were in company with Gordon in the little back room, smoking, were suddenly aroused by hearing a shrill whistle. The cigars were removed from their lips in an instant, and they jumped hastily to their feet.
‘Jenkins’s signal, by all that’s fortunate;’ exclaimed Gordon, advancing towards the door, ‘they have come back at last, and all safe, I hope!’
‘This has, indeed, been a long trip captain,’ said Gordon, ‘and I had began to fear that you were never going to return.’
‘Better late than never,’ answered Jenkins; ‘but how is all at the house?’
‘Quite safe, captain,’ replied Gordon, with a peculiar grin, ‘the lady is in her own apartments with her companion, Alice, and that arrant scoundrel Blodget, confined in one of the vaults underneath, where he has been since two or three days after your departure.’
‘Ah!’ exclaimed Jenkins, ‘has he then dared to scorn the warning that I gave him?’
Gordon briefly related what had taken place between Blodget and our heroine.
‘Why, the damned villain!’ cried Jenkins, passionately; ‘after the strict injunctions which I laid upon him, and knowing that he was placed entirely at my mercy. But he shall pay dearly for it; his doom is sealed.’
‘I did not know whether you would approve of the lodging I had given the fellow,’ answered Gordon.
‘You have acted perfectly right,’ said Jenkins; ‘and I commend you for what you have done. Blodget shall quickly have another berth, and his career he may reckon at an end. And is the lady quite well?’
Gordon answered in the affirmative.
‘I am happy to hear that,’ said Jenkins; ‘she shall not much longer remain in the position she is now placed in.—Poor lady, I shall for ever regret having been instrumental in any way towards her unhappiness; but I knew not who she was, or the villain Blodget should not have retained possession of her. However, his time of shame is fast approaching, and bitterly will he have to pay for all.’
‘It is, then, your intention to restore the lady to liberty?’ asked Gordon.
‘Certainly,’ answered Jenkins, ‘and to her friends.’
‘But you will run a great risk in so doing, will you not?’
‘No; leave me alone for that; I have arranged everything in my own mind,’ said Jenkins.
‘But how do you propose to dispose of Blodget?’ inquired Gordon.
‘I have not exactly made up my mind, although I did threaten him with death,’ answered Jenkins. ‘To-morrow night, or the next, I shall convey the scoundrel far away from hence.’
‘You would not deprive him of life?’
‘No,’ replied Jenkins, ‘not by my own hands; besides it would be a pity to deprive the hangman of a job.’
Gordon did not return any answer to this, for when he recollected the crimes of which he had himself been guilty, he thought that it was not all unlikely that he should himself afford employment for that functionary, sooner or later.
In the morning early, the robber captain was traversing his way along the vaulted passages, and at length stopped at the door of the vault in which Blodget was confined. There he paused and listened, for he could not help feeling that he was only justly punished for the part he had played towards the unfortunate Inez and her friends.
At length he withdrew the bolts, and entered the cell. The dim light which was emitted by the lamp which Jenkins carried, could but faintly penetrate the gloom of the miserable place, so that Blodget did not at first perceive who it was that had entered, and no doubt, did not think that it was any one else than Gordon; and the robber stood contemplating him for a minute or two in silence, but resentment was strongly portrayed in his countenance.
‘So, villain,’ he at length said, ‘you have dared to brave my threats, to disobey my injunctions, and have again offered to—’
He was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Blodget, who, upon recognizing his voice, sprang forward, and in the most abject manner knelt at Jenkins’s feet, and looked up in his face with the most earnest supplication.
‘Oh, Jenkins,’ he cried, in the most impressive tones; ‘spare me;—pity me;—pardon me!—I will own my guilt;—I will acknowledge I was wrong; but let the agony I have for the last fortnight endured in this place satisfy you, and do not, oh, do not proceed to extremities.’
Jenkins fixed upon him a look of the utmost contempt, as he replied:
‘And have you, then, the effrontery to crave pardon, after setting all my injunctions at defiance? I gave you sufficient warning of what the consequences would be, did you not obey me; you have scorned it, and those consequences you must abide by.’
‘No, no;’ groaned the poor terrified wretch, still remaining on his knees, and looking the very picture of death, with the excess of his fears; ‘you will not surely do as you say?—You will not deliver me up to justice?—Consign me to an ignominious and violent death! Pause ere you do so!—My death will avail you nothing. Suffer me therefore to live to repent, and I promise you that neither Inez or her friends shall receive any further annoyance from me!’
‘I will take especial care that they do not;’ returned Jenkins with a sarcastic grin.’
‘My life will at any time be in your hands,’ added the poor, trembling coward; ‘should I again break my word, Jenkins, I beg of you, I supplicate to you, in the most humble manner do not doom me yet to death!’
‘Despicable scoundrel!’ ejaculated Jenkins; ‘so dead to the sufferings of others; and yet so fearful of suffering himself. Wretch! you deserve to die the death of a dog, and you will do so.’
Blodget groaned and covered his face with his hands.
‘Prepare yourself to depart from here in my custody to-morrow night,’ said Jenkins, as he moved towards the door of the cell.
‘Whither, Jenkins, and for what purpose? Oh, tell me! tell me!’ entreated Blodget, his whole frame violently convulsed with the power of his emotions. Jenkins looked at him for a moment in silence, and then replied,—
‘You will know soon; at present I shall leave you to form your own conjectures, and to ask your conscience what ought to be your destiny.’
‘Stay, Jenkins, I beseech you!’ cried the unfortunate prisoner, in delirious accents; but Jenkins had immediately quitted the cell, and securing the door was quickly far out of hearing.
‘inquire whether Miss Inez will do me the favor to grant me an interview,’ said Jenkins, addressing himself to Gordon, soon after he had entered the parlor, after he quitted the place in which Blodget was confined.
Gordon, without offering any observation, hastened to do as he was bid, and quickly returned with an answer in the affirmative. Jenkins then hurried up stairs, and knocking at the door, was ushered into the presence of Inez.
He paused at the door, and bowed to our heroine with an air of the utmost respect, and he was altogether lost in the admiration of Inez’s beauty. Her cheeks had become flushed immediately on her hearing the message from Jenkins, and her heart palpitated violently against her side with rekindled hopes.
‘Miss,’ at last observed Jenkins, in a respectful tone of voice; ‘I have no doubt suffered much in your opinion, from the part which I at first unfortunately enacted in the plot against you by your enemy, Blodget.’
Our heroine attempted to reply, but she was too much confused to do so, and Jenkins continued,
‘I am now, however, anxious to make all the reparation in my power, by restoring you to liberty and your friends!’
Inez uttered an exclamation of mingled delight and gratitude, and instantly sunk at the feet of Jenkins, and while the tears gushed from her eyes, she sobbed:
‘Oh, thanks! thanks! kind sir, for this—’
Jenkins interrupted her, and gently raised her from her knees.
‘Nay, my dear lady,’ he said, ‘I merit not your thanks; for, probably, had it not been for a certain discovery I by accident made, I might still have taken no interest in your fate.’
‘A discovery!’ repeated Inez, with a look of astonishment.
‘Ay,’ answered the captain; ‘that you are the daughter of one who once befriended me.’
‘Know you then my dear father?’
‘Lady,’ answered Jenkins, in peculiar accents, ‘I have reason to know him, to be unceasing in my gratitude towards him.’
‘Oh, say, does he still live?’
‘He does!’
‘Heaven receive my thanks!’ cried our heroine, fervently, clasping her hands, and raising her eyes.
‘Miss de Castro, I will at once inform you the nature of the kindness your father did me, and you will then see why from being the accomplice and abetter of Blodget, I have become his enemy and your friend. Some three years since, I crossed the plains from Missouri. By the time we had crossed the mountains our teams had given out—our provisions were exhausted—and many of our people dead. It was at this time that your father, with a party, met with us, and not only aided us with mules and provisions, but remained several days attending my children who were prostrated by fever. It was only during my last visit to the Mission that I met your father and learned that his name was de Castro, and that you were his child. I managed to have word conveyed to him that his daughter was safe, and would soon be restored to his arms. I have now hastened here to carry you back, and devise means to give Blodget up to Justice. This cannot be done so speedily or easily as I could wish, for the villain is master of too many secrets involving perhaps the lives of members of my band, for me to proceed rashly in the matter. Meanwhile be cheerful, Alice will remain with you, and in a few days you will be with your father.’
Inez fervently thanked Jenkins, and throwing herself on her knees poured out her fervent thanks to that power that had shielded her from outrage worse than death.