Denounced. John Bloundelle-Burton

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СКАЧАТЬ orders which I received from London," replied Captain Morris, in a clear, refined voice that corresponded perfectly with his appearance, "made it imperative that I should call on you to-night. As your lordship may be aware, in this locality I have certain duties to perform which can be entrusted to no one else."

      "I am aware of it," Fordingbridge replied. Then he said, "Before we commence our conversation, let me offer you a glass of wine or brandy. The night is raw, and you have doubtless ridden long."

      Captain Morris bowed, said he would drink a glass of wine, and, when he had poured it out of the decanter, let it stand by his side untouched for the moment. After which he remarked:

      "I understand, my lord, that I am to receive from your lips to-night some information of considerable importance to his Majesty, touching those who have been engaged in plotting against his security. May I ask you to proceed at once with what you have to tell me? I have still some distance to ride to-night, and also other work to do."

      "Yes," answered Fordingbridge, "you have been exactly informed. Yet-how to tell-how to begin, I scarcely know. My object is to put in the King's hands-without, of course, letting it be known that the information comes from me-some facts relating to several notorious Jacobites now sheltering in London. Men who are," he continued, speaking rapidly, "inimical to his Majesty's peace and security, hostile to his rule, and, if I mistake not, bent at the present moment in endeavouring in some way to effect a rescue of the Scotch lords now in confinement at the Tower."

      A slight smile rose upon his visitor's face as he uttered these last words; then Captain Morris said quietly:

      "That is hardly likely to come to pass, I should imagine. The Tower does not disgorge its victims freely, certainly not by force. As for the Scotch lords, I am afraid they will only quit the place for their trials and afterwards for Tower Hill."

      "Yet," remarked Lord Fordingbridge, "the attempt may be made. Of the men I speak of, two are desperate, and both fought at Culloden and the battles that took place during the Pretender's march into England. They will stop at nothing if," with a quick glance at the other, "they are not themselves first stopped."

      "Give me their names, if you please," said Morris, with military precision, as he produced from his pocket a notebook, "and where they are to be found."

      "Their names are Bertie Elphinston and Douglas Sholto-the former a kinsman of the Lord Balmarino. Both have lived in exile in France, serving in the French King's army, one in the Garde du Roi at first, and then in the Regiment of Picardy. The other, Sholto, has served in the Mousquetaires."

      "Their names," said Captain Morris, "are not in the list," and he turned over the leaves of his notebook carefully as he spoke. "But for you, my lord, these men might have escaped justice. 'Tis strange nothing was known of them."

      "They crossed from France with Charles Edward. Many names of those who accompanied him are probably not known. You may rely on my information. I myself returned but from France some weeks ago. I know them well."

      "Indeed!" exclaimed Captain Morris. "Indeed! Your lordship doubtless came to support his Majesty shortly after so many of his enemies crossed over."

      "Precisely. But I will be frank. I should tell you I am myself a converted-perverted, some would say-Jacobite. My father, the late lord, died one, I do not espouse his political faith."

      Captain Morris bowed gravely; then he said:

      "And you know, therefore, these gentlemen-these Scotch rebels."

      "I know them very well. Shall I furnish you with a description of their persons?"

      "If you please;" and as the captain replied to the question, he-perhaps unwittingly-pushed the untasted glass of wine farther away from him into the middle of the large table, where it remained undrunk.

      After the appearance of Elphinston and Sholto had been fully given and noted in the captain's book, he asked:

      "And where are these men to be found, Lord Fordingbridge?"

      "They shelter themselves in the village of Wandsworth, near London, in an old house on the Waterside, as the strand there is called. It is the first reached from the village."

      Again this was written down, after which Captain Morris rose to take his departure, but my lord's tale was not yet told. Pointing to the chair the other had risen from, he said:

      "I beg you to be seated a moment longer. There is still another-the worst rebel of all-of whom I wish to apprise you. A priest."

      "A priest! You speak truly; they are, indeed, his Majesty's worst enemies. A Jesuit, of course?"

      "Of course. With him it will be necessary to use the most astute means in the Government's power to first entrap him, and then to deal with him afterwards. He should, indeed, be confined in total solitude, forbidden, above all things else, to hold any communication with other rebels."

      "You may depend, Lord Fordingbridge, on all being done that is necessary, short of execution."

      "Short of execution!" interrupted the other. "Short of execution! Why do not the scheming Jesuits-the mainspring of all, the cause of the very rebellion but now crushed out-merit execution as well as those who routed Cope's forces and hewed down Cumberland's men? Grand Dieu! I should have thought they would have been the first to taste the halter."

      "Possibly," replied the captain in passionless tones, and with an almost imperceptible shrug of his shoulders, "but at present no Jesuit priests have been executed. I doubt if any will be. The Government have other punishments for them-exile to the American colonies, and so forth. Now, my lord, this priest's name and abode."

      "He is brother to Douglas Sholto, an elder brother by another mother, yet they have ever gone hand in hand together. Named Archibald, of from thirty-eight to forty years of age. Crafty, dissimulating, and-"

      "That is of course," said Captain Morris. "Now, tell me, if you please, where this man is to be found. Is he also in hiding at Wandsworth?"

      "Nay," replied the other-and for the first time the informer seemed to hesitate in his answer. Yet for a moment only, since again he proceeded with his story. "He is disguised, of course; passes as a Scotch merchant having business between London and Paris, and is known as Mr. Archibald." He paused again, and Captain Morris's clear eyes rested on him as, interrogatively, he said:

      "Yes? And his abode?"

      "Is my own house. In Kensington-square."

      This time the officer started perceptibly, and fixed an even more penetrating glance upon the other than before. Indeed, so apparent were both the start and look of surprise on his face that the traitor before him deemed it necessary to offer some excuse for his strange revelation.

      "Yes," he said, "in my own house. It has been necessary for me to let him hide there awhile the better to-to entrap-to deliver him to justice."

      "Your lordship is indeed an ardent partisan," coldly replied Captain Morris; "the King is much to be congratulated on so good a convert."

      "The King will, I trust, reward my devotion. The Stuarts have never shown any gratitude for all that has been done for them-by my family as much as any. Now, Captain Morris," he went on, "I have told you all that I have to tell. I have simply to ask that in no way shall it be divulged-as, indeed, I have the promise of his Majesty's Ministers that nothing shall be divulged-as to the source whence this information is derived. It is absolutely necessary that I appear not at all in the matter."

      "That СКАЧАТЬ