DANESBURY HOUSE.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 156, 6 July 1877, Page 3

DANESBURY HOUSE.

-By Mrs Henry Wood.

Chapter XIV.

A MAD ACT. An all-important dinner was this ■dinner at the Star and Garter at Hichmond, its anticipation having •kept the rpattakers of it in town 'longer than they would otherwise have 'remained. It was the settlement of a bet which Lord Sandlin had lost to Sir Robert Payn. Of tbe twelve to assemble, one had been kept away by a death, and Lord Temple was invited to •supply his place. They were all of rhe species denominated 'fast,' and not one but was a tolerably hard drinker. Had Lord Temple been solicited to join 'these -men in a midnight revel, he might now possibly have declined, from 'fear of contagion, but to refuse, on that score, the dining with them in open •daylight, never entered his mind. Tt "was a plentiful feast, both as to wines and viands, and they all ate and drank "well, save one, and that one was —not Lord Temple.

ItwasSir Robert Payn. He was suffering from illness, and took scarcely anything. The rest drank deeply ; deeply 'even for them. After dinner (because 'they had not taken enough,) they began -upon cigars and punch and brandy, in short, anything that their hot throats fancied, and when they started for Lon--don they were gloriously uproarious, •and terrified quiet dwellings as they passed, by their noisy shouting.

Lord Temple had some very slight "sense left in him, and told Earl Sandlin's groom, who then had the reins, to drive to his house. The Earl whispered a contrary direction, and the man of course obeyed his master. Lord

Temple subsided into sleep ; and, when he awoke, he was stumbling np some stah'S. He soon saw, though imperfectly, where he was : at the gaming bouse in St. James's street. Some half dozen of the diners had agreed to -resort thither : Lord Sandlia was one, and he had carried his friend with him. * I must go home, Sandlin,' hiccuped Lord Temple. 'My wife is alone. I "told you she'd be home early.' ( She is not alone,' returned the earl. 4 1 sent to ask, and they said she was -stopping for the night where she went -to dinner? 1 No !' uttered Lord Temple. ' Fact,' stuttered the earl. ' She ••stopped because she did not expect you back? Of course this was an impromptu invention of the earl's ; but Lord Temple, -perfectly truthful himself and most, imperfectly in his faculties, took it in. Down he sat on a sofa. Somebody T mised him a glass of brandy and water. He drank it mechanically, simply be- * cause it was put into his hands, and in Tfive minutes was asleep again. The •others were helping themselves to -brandy and water.

It was not very clear how lons* he "remained there. Two or three hours. The room was in an uproar the whole •of the time : laughing*, talking, drink~ing, gambling, stupifying, and sleeping*. Some went in, some went out; : and Lord Temple slept through it.

He was aroused by some one roughly awaking him. He got his eyes open, r after a struggle, his senses partially so, •and looked up. It was Major Anketel. Lord Temple rose into a standing posture, cast aside the major's help with unmistakable scorn, and steadied himself on the arm of the sofa. * S — S — Sandlin, is the ca — cab "waiting ? I'm going.' c Sit down again,' said Lord Sandlin, ' and don't bother.' 1 1 — I — l'm going, I tell you, Sandlin. I can't sit down with blacklegs. There's one in the room? His lordship would probably have said * two,' but -his eye had not yet caught sight of Swallowtail. A consternation. All turned round "to gaze. ' You are dreaming,' said Lord SandTin. * Come along,' said Major Anketel, ■In a coxking tone, as he laid hold of Lord Temple. ' I'll give you a hand at -' 4 Off, -sir !' shouted Lord Temple, livid with scorn and rage, in the midst •of his brain's confusion, ' how dare you touch me ? Gentlemen,' he stuttered, '~ c this man, whom we have suffered so long to associate with us, is a' cheat and a swindler, a man to herd with rouges and felons. He gets his living by his tricks, and we suffer. Off, I say, fellow ! Do not presume to touch me : I am. a peer of the realm.' Poor Lord Temple ! had he been sober, he would have contented himself with walking out of the room as Major Anketel walked into it. Certainly he •never would have said the half or 'quarter of what he did say, but for the -demon he had imbibed into him : that ■spoke;, he did not. What followed none of them could have told distinctly afterwards : Anketel gave Lord Temple the lie,'and the room was as a Bedlam ; shouts,;, oaths, questions. Some espoused Lord Temple's part, one or two Major AnketeFs. Lord Sandlin thinking, as he said afterwards, that the vis*count"had v got a sudden attack of brain fever, dashed over his head a large de--canter of .--water. As -if feeling that water 'was what he wanted, Lord Temple \ seized another decanter, and 'drank g]|iss after glass of it. And this partially jabbered him.

What was to be done ? He must either make good his charges, or go out with Major Anketel. fro, he would not. He, Lord Temple, go out with a blackleg ! . ' Will you go out with me V cried Colonel Groves. ' T espouse Anketel's quarrel. lam no blackleg.' As he spoke, he struck Lord Temple on the cheek , his fist was keen, and the blood trickled down. The Colonel was a close and intimate friend of Anketel's. ■ Birds of a feather flock together.' IN'ot very long after this affair the two were caught in a very disreputable transaction — and then people remembered the words of Viscount Temple. *

A hostile meeting was hastily arranged : they would go out with the lirst glimmer of the dawn, and fight it out. Sir Robert Payn was the only one cool enough to raise his remonstrance against it. Duels were no longer ' in,' he said ; they had been put down by public opinion. Let them stop till to-morrow, when they should be calm, and no doubt Temple's words woull b* explained away. He was drunk, and not responsible for what he said. Would they go out like niad-

men, and shoot each other to blazes 1 Nobody did it now, but French student.-: at St. Cyr, or Austrian gamblers. Sir "Robert Bayn's words were wasted, his advice unheeded. All around were little better than what he said, madmen : their hlood was fired. Earl Sandlin proposed to second Lord Temple; and the Honourable George Eden, Colonel Groves.

It was carried out. With the grey break of early morning* they started : Lord Sandlin driving his friend, and somebody else driving Colonel Groves. Others followed in the rear* not many. Eager, frantic, as they had all been in urging it on, they were too wary to expose themselves to consequences, even as spectators.

Earl Sandlin had, first of all, proceeded to his home, Lord Temple with him. There the former got his pistols, and each drank a cup of coffee, black with strength. The French call it cafe noir. As they were starting off in a dog-cart, Lord Sandlin exclaimed that they must take a surgeon.

' We shan't find one at this hour,' cried Lord Temple, who was now three parts sobered. ' Don't wait ; let's get it over !' It is probable that he would be glad to escape it now, for his wife's sake ; but no possibility of escape presented itself ; no alternative. ' I know a man that will do,' returned the earl, ( and we shall pass his rooms. He used to be attached to the regiment.' A little further, the earl pulled up. It was the place he spoke of. A loud alarm was sounded on the night bell, which brought forth a face in a ni<>-ht- * 1 cap at tne second floor window. ' There he is. I could swear to him by his grey whiskers. Halloa, Moore ! put thar window up? Accordingly the window was put up, and the grey whiskers and the nightcap looked out. ' What's the matter, my lord V was the demand, in a strong Irish accent. ' Dress yourself in a brace of shakes and come down and see. A five-guinea job. Now don't be an hour. He'd sell his mother for half-a-crown,' added the earl to Lord Temple, ' so he won't wait to shave. He's often hard-up for a sixpence ; clever in his profession, but drinks like a fish. I say, Temple ! shaking ?'

' 1 am as cold as charity,' explained Lord Temple. 'The dawn is keen.'

No more was said ; at least by Lord Temple. The surgeon came out, took his seat by the side of the servant, and kept up a running fire of conversation with Lord Sandlin, as they sat back to back. The earl appeared to feel no more the awful nature of the errand they were bent on, than he would the going to a wedding : he was not of the feeling sort. What Lord Temple's reflections were we cannot tell : but certainly not pleasant ones.

When the party had discussed the place of meeting, some proposed one place, some another. One suggested Scotland ; another, France ; another, Chalk Farm. Finally, Battersea Fields was decided on, Georgy Eden indicating a spot there ' snug* and safe.' To Battersea Fields, therefore, Lord Sandlin drove, and found the others were there before him. They had brought another surgeon. No time was lost; the ground was chosen and measured ; and while Lord Sandlin and Mr Eden were conferring together, Viscount Temple looked round at the assembled faces. His eye rested on Sir Robert Pavn's — on its severe expression, betraying discontent at the

whole proceedings. He went up to him, and drew him aside.

' Payn, if I fall, will you undertake to break it to my wife. You will render me that service V

1 Yes. I hope it will not be necessary. This has no business to take place, Temple. It was in my mind, on the way down, to look out for a policeman, and have you all taken into custody. You were a fool to get into this, for that beggar Anketel. But you had no right to say what you did? ' I do not remember what I did say ; I was half asleep and half stupid ; but I was enraged at the fellow's presuming to touch me. Whatever I did say, let it be as bad as it will, he deserves it. Mind, Payn, I reiterate it, though they maybe nearly the last words I utter ;

he is a gambler in the worst sense of the term, and a blackleg, and Swallowtail is his confederate ; and I have, unfortunately, good cause ior the assertion? ' This may be so,' returned Sir Robert ; ' but life is life, and yours ought not to be risked for them. There was no call whatever for your coming out : the age for duelling is over. It is not demanded, now, that a man should stand to bo shot at. Anketel might have brought an action against you?

' I should not havo come out with Anketel. Groves is different. And he struck me.'

' You might have struck. I should ; and pummelled him till his chivalrywas out of him. What need had he to take up other men's quarrels f Groves has the character of being a crack shot.' * Well — it 1 fall, you will soften the news, in the telling to Lady Temple. Do not let her know tho worst at once, Payn. It will break her heart, I fear, when she does know it.'

'And if it turns out the other way, and you despatch Grores, shall you make yourself scarce for a time ? Or, you may both fall.'

*' Both cannot fall.' said Lord Temple ' 1 shall fire in the air.' 'What!'

■ I shall. I have no quarrel with him ; and if I am to be sent out of the world myself, 1 will not go with murder on mv hand?

' If there were time, I'd fetch a policeman,' muttered Sir Robert to himself.

But there was no time. 'The antajromsts were immediately placed, and the pistols fired. Colonel Groves's as surely as ii' he had taken aim — Lord Temple's in the air. Lord Temple fell.

The ball had entered his chest. The blood was welling out, and he la}- as one dead. Colonel Groves, his second, and one or two more, disappeared. They probably deemed he was dead, and hastened to secure their own safety. But Lord Temple was not gone, and the pulling him about by the surgeons awoke him to consciousness. They were both skilful men, and extracted the ball on the spot. The lovely morning sun was looking on them from the horizon, as they dressed the wound.

'Now. there are only two things to fear,' cried Moore, when it was over :

' one is internal hemorrhage * the other, is the shock to the system. 1 don't think we shall have to look out for either. I believe he'll do well. Where's he to be moved to V Lord Temple opened his eyes. ' Home.' ' Too far, my lord? * Home, home,' he repeated ; and the words, though faint, were eagv-rly uttered. •' I. may be done with care,' interrupted the other surgeon. His mind seems bent on it? Lord Temple made a movement as if he would have raised his head, and his eyes sought Sir Robert Payn's. The latter read their anxious expression. He leaned over him.

' I understand,' he said. ' I'll be off at once. Keep your mind easy ; by the time you arrive at home, she will be expecting you. This will he all right, 1 can see ; only keep tranquil.' Sir Robert Payn drove leisurely to Lady Temple's * he did not hurry, for he thought she would not be up, and did not care to disturb her earlier than was needful.

Lady Temple had not beeu in bed. Full of consternation, then of alarm, she had waited hour after hour for her husband's return. Now, pacing the room with uneven steps; now, leaning from the window, looking out for him in vain ; now, giving way to all the terrors of imaginative fear. With the grey dawn, just as they were starting on their sinful expedition, she dropped into a sleep in her bed-room, kneeling on the ground, her head resting on the sofa. The entrance of the maid aroused her, and she started up, alive with painful recollection.

' A gentleman is below, my lady, and wishes particularly to see you. He bade me give you his card.'

Sir Robert Payn's. On ifc was written in pencil, ' I am deeply sorry to disturb Lady Temple at this hour, but have brought a message to her from Lord Temple.'

Isabel glanced at the glass. To smooth her hair and her cap was the work of an instant ; and she shook out the flounces of her black silk dress, and went down with quivering lips and a sinking heart. She had never seen Sir Robert Payn, and Sir Robert had never seen her ; but ceremony, in these sterner hours of life, is forgotten.

She went up to him : she clasped his arm in her agony of suspense ; her eager eyes were strained imploringly upon him, her pale lips drawn back. Sir Robert was grieved to see her — to witness her emotion ; and ho also saw that it was especially necessary he should be cautious not to alarm her more than was possible.

' What have you to tell me V she murmured ; l what is it that has happened V

Dear Lady Temple,' he said, feelingly leading her to an arm-chair and placing her in it, ' it is not so bad as you are fearing. Compose yourself. A slight accident has happened to Lord Temple, but you need not fear.'

' I have never been in bed all night,' she returned ; ' T have passed it watching, in the agony of suspense. Let me know the worst. Indeed, I can bear

it ; it will be less painful than the fears which have haunted me.' He hardly knew how to tell her * yet told she must be, for her wounded husband was oven then on his road home. Ho got through his task pretty well* making light of it. A mere flesh wound, he said.

She sat back in the chair, her head resting on it, her hands clasped on her chest, as if to still its hoavings, and her face the hue of the grave.

' To fight a duel ! to go out to fight a duel !' she wailed, in a low tone.

* Mow could he be guilty of it ? How could he be so led away ?'

' I will go and watch for them, and come in with him,' said Sir Hobert ; • perhaps I may be of use. You will calm yourself before him, Lady Temple : it is absolutely necessary. Were you to excite him, I cannot answer for the consequences.' 'Yes I will* Twill control myself* can you doubt it ? But it is hard to bear? ' Can Ido anything for you 1 Summon any of your friends V A sudden thought struck her : she looked up. 'It my brother could be got here, it would be a comfort to me, and I know it would be to my husband. The telegraph would apprize him?

.' Give me the address,' said Sir Robert. ' 1 will despatch a message instantly.'

The Danesbury family were at breakfast that same morning, when Mrs Danesbury happened to raise her head. 'Who is this, coming to the house?' she exclaimed. ' A man in a blue-and-red cap. Ho has got on a sort of uniform.'

Arthur leaned forward and looked out. 'Icis a porter from the telegraph office,' he observed, 'Ho must bo bringing a' message? ' About that iron, no doubt,' cried Mr Danesbury. ' But why do they send it here, instead of to the factory V The servant entered with a despatch in his hand, and handed it according to its address — ' Arthur Danesbury, Esq., Danesbury House, Eastborough.' ' Now, I wonder what this is ?' thought Arthur, as he rose. He signed the paper, and then went to the window to open the despatch, his back turned to the breakfast-table. An unpleasant fear had crossed his mind that something was amiss with Robert, From fears of some kind or other, relating to Robert, he was rarely free. London, 8 o'clock a.m. Sir Hubert Payn to Arthur Danesbury, Esq. An accident hsis happened to Lord Temple. Lady Tetnplo -wishes for you here. Lose no time. ' Wnac in the world is it, Arthur?' called out William. ' You are a longwhile studying it.' Arthur turned round, as if in amaze, keeping the despatch in his closed hand. Mr Danesbury looked at him. 'It is unpleasant news, sir. Something is ' ' Unpleasant news !' shrieked out Mrs Danesbury. ' Robert is ill ! I know he is ! or else the regiment is ordered abroad !' ' It is nothing about Robert,' answered Arthur to Mrs Danesbury, again turning to address his lather. 'Something is amiss with Lord Temple. They want me to go up/ ' Does he telegraph V asked Mr Danesbury. ' lie does not. Sir Robert Payn sends. There it is,' he added, handing the ominous words to his father, now that he had, in a degree, prepared him. ' What can it be .' uttered Mr Danesbury, in concern. ' You will lose no time, of course, Arthur?

' 1 shall start immediately, by the express train.'

When Arthur reached town, he made the very best speed to Lord Temple's that a London cab could make. Sir Robert Payn waa leaving the house, when he saw a cab stop there, and a remarkably noble-looking man, with fine fair features, and blue eyes that quite fixed attention by their intelligent beauty, alight from it. Sir Robert guessed who it was, and met him.

' I have the pleasure,' he said, ' of receiving Mr Arthur Danesbury. You have lost no time in obeying my telegraphic summons. This is a shocking business.'

' What is it V inquired Arthur, knowing then that he addressed Sir Robert Payn ; ' what has happened to Lord Temple ?'

' He has been wounded in a duel. I trust we may not have to say, killed. But symptoms, I hear, are less favourable than they were earlier in the day.' 4 A duel V uttered Arthur : doubting whether he had heard aright. ' A duel, did you say V

' With Colonel Groves,' returned Sir Robert. c A dispute occurred in the night, in a house were they were, and they went out at daybreak, and fought.' * A duel !' Arthur could not help repeating, unable to realise the extraordinary tidings. ' Could Lord Temple have been in his senses V

< Only partially so. He had taken too much wine. They ali had, and there was a ' regular drunken brawl. Groves was cool aud sober : he had not been of the drinking party.'

' How is my sister ? Do you know how she bears it ?'

' Poor lady? my heart aches for her. She told me, this morning, she would be calm before her husband?

Arthur went in, and in a few minutes was standing over the. bed. Lord Temple lay on it panting, his sad, re-

pentant eyes gazing upwards. His wife's hand was in his, but he loosed it for a minute to grasp Arthur's. ' Perfect quiet/ whispered Isabel, as a caution to her brother, ' perfect quiet. The medical man says it is his only chance.'

* That I had heen like you. Arthur !' he breathed, ' that I had been like you, a water drinker.'

Lady Temple leaned over him, the tears falling. • Reginald, you know you must be quiet? ' Had I not been full of wine this would never havo occurred,' he continued, unheeding the injunction. ' Arthur, if I get well, I will 'forswear drink ior ever?

vße silent, now,' whispered Arthur, ' that you may get well?

* Ay, ay ; and, by God's help, redeem the past?

Then he lay without speaking, and they sat by him in silence. In a little while the medical men came in, two of the most eminent surgeons in London. Arthur followed them from the room when they went out agaiu.

' Is there any chance of his life V he inquired. • I beg you to tell me. I am the brother of Lady Temple.' ; The chances are slight,' was the answer. 'We fear internal hemorhrage.' The day went on to the evening, and the ebbing of Viscount Temple's life went on with it. The doctors were in and out at intervals, but they could do nothing. Isabel had been reading to him out of St. John's Gospel, and he had listened with closed eyes and folded hands. When it grew dark, one of the attendants entered with the light, placed it on a table, and went out again.

' No— no,' faintly cried Lord Temple. His wife thought he meant to object to the light, as no doubt he did, 'and she took it herself from the room. In that moment he put out his hand : Arthur understood the movement, and bent over him.

'I — am — going, Arthur. I feel it. Oh, my ivasted life! Thus to be cut off in its midrt ! Arthur, you will take care of her, and of her child. I leave them to you. If it be a boy, tell him his father's fate — that it may be a warnin 0 ' ' ---t->"

Arthur Danesbury did not answer, save by a deep pressure of his hand. It said all. His sister returned, and he moved lower, to give her her place by her husband. Lord Temple drew her face down that it might rest on his.

' Isabel — my darling ! — it is nearly over.'

She would no 6 scream • she did not faint: but her heart beat wildly with the sickness of despair, and a cold perspiration broke out over her head and face. ' May we meet again !' he continued, but so low that she could scarcely catch the words. ' All day long have I been inwardly praying that time here might be prolonged to me. But it will not be. May my sins be forgiven me ! My wasted life ! Christ died for sinners? 'Ay, for all; for. you and for me,' she murmured forth from her aching heart. ' Reginald, how shall I live without you ? Can I live V ' For our child — live for our child. And — Isabel — let it be a water drinker. It is my last charge to you? She turned her face aside, to hide its walling tears, but her husband drew it again to his, and kept it there. Oh ! that last embrace between two young, loving hearts ! Reader, may you never have cause to give, or receive it ! When the doctors next came in, a light was brought. ' Good heavens !' exclaimed one of them, under his breath.

' Take her away, sir,' he whispered to Arthur. ' Her face is resting on the dead?

Isabel heard — raised her head — saw • — comprehended. And, with a wild cry, she let it fall again on the pillow beside him. 'Oh Reginald ! Reginald !'

All around Lord Temple's bed believed he had gone. Lady Temple was taken irom the room m the belief, Arthur quitted it in the belief, the surgeons remained for some minutes in the belief; and it was only when the nurse came forward to commence what was necessary to be done, that a doubt arose. So prostrated was his state, so deathlike his condition, that they held a looking-glass to his lips, and by that means alone found that he still breathed. Thus he lav for some time; but, whether the inward hemorrhage had stopped, or that his constitution rallied, certain it is, a slight improvement began to be visible. From that time his progress, though very slow, was gradual. And Lord Tempie did not die.

(To be continued.)