A Dangerous Conspirator, etc

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A DANGEROUS CONSPIRATOR A THE " FLEUR DE LYS " SERIES Of Illustrated 6s. Novels. Uniform with " A Dangerous Conspirator." Crown Svo, Cloth elegant. THE LORD OF LOWEDALE. By R. D. Chetwode, Author of "The Marble City," "The Fortune of the Quittentuns." Illustrated by G. Gkenville Manton. WHEN THE CENTURY WAS YOUNG. By M. JM. Blake, Author of "The Siege of Norwich Castle," " Toddleben's Hero," "Courtship by Command/' etc., with numerous Illustrations by the Authoress. A DANGEROUS CONSPIRATOR. By G. Norway, Author of " A Prisoner of War," "A True Cornish Maid," " The Loss of John Humble." Illustrated by Paul Hardy. NEW 5s. BOOKS. Crown Svo, Cloth, Illustrated. BY THE NORTH SEA: or, The Protector's Grand-daughter. By Mrs. Emma. Marshall, Author us "In the East Country," etc. Illustrated by W. Miller-Smith.

THE TWO ALTHEAS. By Edith E. Horsman, Author of " Severn-Side," etc. Illustrated by G. Demain Hammond. BY THE DEEP SEA. A Popular Introduction to the Wild Life of British Shores. By Edward Step, Author of" Wayside and Woodland Blossoms," " By Vocal Woods and Waters," etc., with 122 Illustrations by P. H. Gosse, W. A. Pearce, and Mabel Stei-. London : Jarrold & Sons, io & n, Warwick Lane, E.C. And of all Booksellers. "The plate was collected, with deeds, letters, and other valuables, and stored in the secret apartment."—/. 137. A Dangerous Conspirator BY G. NORWAY Author of '" A Prisoner of War," "A True Cornish Maid" " The Loss of John Humble," etc. ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL HARDY LONDON JARROLD & SONS, 10 & n, WARWICK LANE, E.C. [All Rights Reserved] CONTENTS. -HA.TER PASI I. The Varleys ... ... ... ... ... 7 II.

Wreck Ashore ... ... ... ... ... 19 III. Henrietta takes Affront ... ... ... 32 IV. Tea at the Farm ... ... ... ... ... 43 V. Philip's Footsteps ... ... ... ... 55 VI. The Lady's Walk ... ... ... ... ... 67 VII. Mrs. Lacey's Party ... ... ... ... 76 VIII. The Brothers ... ... ... ... ... 87 IX. About This and That... ... ... ... 97 X. Juna ... ... ... ... ... ... no XL The Arrival at Halsall ... ... ... 124 XII. Richard Varley's Plate ... ... ... ... 134 XIII. A Little Rift at Halsall ... ... ... 142 XIV. Euphemia and Henrietta Quarrel ... ... 153 XV. In the Kitchen Garden ... ... ... 166 XVI. Rain on the Moss... ... ... ... ■■• 178 XVII. The Burglar at the Hall ... ... ... 190 XVIII. A Better Understanding Between the Cousins ... 200 XIX. Apparitions ... ... ... ••• ••• 212 XX. Mr. Tarleton Exorcises the Demon ... ...

Chapter I. The Varleys

ABOUT the middle of the eighteenth century, perhaps a hundred and fifty years ago, a gentleman called Captain Varley lived in a very secluded village, situated in the southern part of Lancashire, near the sea. Varleys had been the squires of this place time out of mind, and were much respected, though not rich. Their land was good, but the difficulties of taking the produce to any suitable market hampered its sale. The roads were little more than wide grassy tracks, bordered by dykes and ditches, which overflowed after heavy rain, and rendered them nearly impassable, particularly for carriages or carts. A wide district of waste, marshy land, once the bed of a great lake, cut them off from their neighbours on one side, and the sea bounded the estate upon another. Both " the moss," as the marshy waste was called, and the shore, from which the sea was retreating surely and steadily, leaving a long stretch of sandy dunes behind it, might have added considerably to the value of Captain Varley's property, had he possessed money to expend upon draining the one, or cultivating the other ; but this he had not got.

His father, the old squire, had gone out in 17 15, being a very strong Jacobite ; and though he had escaped the execution for high treason, which befell so many of his friends, he had been subjected to such heavy fines, as made him a poor man for the rest of his life. His eldest son, taught prudence by his father's mis fortunes, entered the navy ; but the loss of an arm, and other accidents, in the course of an engagement, obliged him to retire from his profession at an early age, before his fortunes were assured by it. He had married some years previously, and had several children ; so, when his father died, he was glad to collect such remnants of his property as could be gathered together, and go to dwell quietly upon his ancestral estate, farming his land, and living chiefly upon its produce.

His only brother, Mr. Richard Varley, had become a West Indian merchant, and lived in Liverpool, some ten or twelve miles distant. He had married a Scotch lady, called Fraser, con nected with the celebrated Lord Lovat, though not very nearly so, and they had one daughter, Euphemia. There was a strong attachment between these two brothers, but they seldom met, for their wives had nothing in common. Mrs. Richard Varley was very proud of her aristocratic family, and believed that she had shown her husband great condescension in marrying him, which she had done chiefly because he was rich and she very poor. She was a beauty, which she knew well enough, and she loved all the luxuries only to be attained through wealth ; but, when she had secured these, through her marriage, she was mean enough to despise the good worthy man who loved her well, in spite of all her faults, because he was, what she called, " only a merchant."

Mrs. Varley, the captain's wife, was a very different woman. The daughter of a country gentleman, and bring ing a small fortune with her, she was content to live with great simplicity in the country — devoted to her husband and children ; good to the poor ; an excellent manager ; a kind-hearted, quiet, homely woman. It was not to be wondered at that the sisters-in-law did not care much for each other. Captain Varley's family were assembled for tea one blustering March evening. We should rather say were assembling, for the captain himself had not yet appeared, and the elder young people, who had been taking a long ramble, had returned in such a condition that a thorough toilet was indispensable. Henrietta appeared first : a pretty sight as she came through the dark doorway of the oak panelled-parlour, in her blue dress ; the profusion of her fair curls falling upon the soft white kerchief folded over her bodice ; and in her hands, a great china bowl of golden marsh marigolds.

The setting sun streamed through the long, low window, and lighted up her dainty figure as she came smiling in, holding up her flowers for her mother to admire. "See, mother, what a quantity of big buttercups we have gathered ! Is it not a beautiful beaupot ? But we were nearly stogged in the moss getting them, and Laldo put his leaping-pole into such a soft place once that it sank in, and he fell flat down into the water." " My dear child ! You should be more careful with the boy. Suppose he catches one of his bad croupy colds from the wet ! " " I hope he won't. He is changing all his things. Kezia is seeing to that ; but I will make him a treacle posset when he goes to bed, to put him quite safe ; and when he fell, he frightened a plover from its nest. It fluttered up quite close to his face, and we took such a nice lot of eggs.

The bird startled him completely ; you should have seen him sitting up in the slush, staring at it. Mary and I laughed till we ached to see him, and when he came to his wits, he laughed as heartily as we did." "What is Dame Partlet telling you, mother ?" asked Captain Varley's cheerful voice at the door. " Trust her to laugh, she never needs much excuse for cackling." Dame Partlet was Henrietta's nickname, derived no less from the original abbreviation of her christened name to Henny, than from the motherly fashion in which she took care of the younger children. Mrs. Varley said she was like her right hand. " Father ! " she cried, turning towards him in merry resentment, which told its own tale of the good under standing between them, " if you are so saucy to me, I won't give you one of our plover's eggs, though they are beauties, fresh as fresh can be, and now boiling over the kitchen fire."

" I will be discreet with such a bribe in view," said the captain. " What a stormy sunset we are having ! It will be a wild night at sea with all those lambs'-wool clouds and filly's tails driving across the sky." " But how beautiful it is ! " said Mary, coming up to the window by her father's side. " See, father, the sky there is as yellow as the daffodils, and quite green among those low dark clouds." " Yes, very beautiful," replied the captain, putting his arm round his daughter, to draw her nearer to his side. " Very beautiful, but it means stormy weather." It was generally conceded in the family that Mary was father's favourite. When so small a child as to scarcely speak plainly, she had been heard to announce that " I am daddy's apple eye ; " and though every one laughed over this, the apple of the captain's eye she still certainly was ; and all her brothers and sisters were content that she should be so ; they said, " How could father help it ?

" Mary was quite as tall as her sister, though fourteen months younger ; but she was much more slender, her hair was darker, her cheeks paler, and her beautiful dark grey eyes wore a dreamy expression, very different from the abundant life and energy apparent in every feature and movement of Henrietta. Both girls were dressed alike, in what are now called "bedgowns" of printed linen, worn over dark purple striped linsey-woolsey skirts. These bedgowns had the corners of their short skirts pinned over at the girls' backs to keep them from stain ; they had been fresh put on, and were daintily clean, though washed so often that the colour had become quite pale and the texture soft. Perhaps they were more becoming on that very account, but these young people cared little for that. Henrietta was cutting huge slices from an immense loaf of brown bread, the younger children trooped in, and hungry appetites were in course of being satisfied.

Meantime the wind rose rapidly, and, before the evening was over, blew " great guns." Captain Varley went out in the evening to look around his home buildings, and see that all his cattle, etc., were safely housed. The wind tore round the stables and out-houses with fury, and he could hardly stand. " We are going to have a very dirty night," said he, when he returned. "These north-west gales bring up so much fog with them. They are very dangerous on this shore, but our fishermen are all in, thank goodness." " How it howls ! " said Mrs. Varley. " I could have thought that window would have been blown in." " Laldo is croupy, mother," said Henrietta, appearing at the door. " Will you come up and see him ? I took a posset to him, and it made him sick, but he is still crowing on his breath." This was a note of alarm not unfrequent in the family, for Laldo's throat was very tender.

Mrs. Varley hurried up to the boy's room. Kezia, the nurse, had lit a great fire of peat upon the hearth, and hung a pan of water to heat over it. She was scolding the young people all round, according to her usual custom. "There! 'tis all your fault, Miss Henny. You should ha' known better than to take your brother trapesing all over the moss a' that'n, like as you did this afternoon, and half drowning him in the ditches. What' could you expect but to make him ill ? You'll be the death of him one of these days, that you will." A great puff of smoke blew down the chimney and filled the room with its reek. Laldo broke out into a fresh access of roupy choking. "There now!" the old woman began again. "Isn't there ne'er a one among you as can build up the peats so as they'll burn clear, and not smother like that ?

And you young ladies in clean bedgowns, though 'tis Saturday at e'en. You'll be all over blacks, and who's to do all the washing there'll be come Monday?" The two younger boys, who also slept in this room, sat up in bed, to look on, round eyed, at the disturbance which roused them up. " You lie down and lap yoursen up warm, this minute," ordered nurse. " Do 'ee mean to be ill, too ? Don't let me see you stir again. What have you to do with it if your brother is bad ? Lie down and keep quiet ; we don't want you bad, too." Mrs. Varley wrapped Reginald in blankets and sat down upon a low stool close by the fire, with him in her lap, while she rubbed unguents over his throat and chest. " Go down to your father, my dears," said she to the girls. " Kezia and I can manage Laldo now. Go and see that father has his supper comfortably."

They went, but the captain was not in the parlour. "Master have gone down to shore," said old Michael Rimmer, the captain's factotum, who had been at sea with him and followed him all the days of his life. " Master have gone down to shore. There be a wreck off shore, and nowt would keep him from going to see fair play ; but he hadn't ought to have gone such weather, and he a maimed man as can't take care of hisself just like another." "You should have gone with him, Mick," said Henrietta, severely. " So I would ha' done, miss, but the captain, he spoke out just as if he was on quarter-deck, and gived his orders straight, so as I was fain to obey him. There must be discipline, miss, thou know'st. But he've given thee no command, Miss Henny. Thee might go, and have a care over him, if thee would."

" Fetch me my cloak and pattens, Mick, and I'll go, of course," said Henrietta. "And mine," added Mary. "I never saw a wreck till all was over." Not a doubt as to the fitness of the young ladies going where his master refused to let him venture, occurred to the old serving-man ; the safety of his one-armed chief was paramount in his mind, and no less in that of the daughter. The girls quickly donned cloaks and hoods, and, linking arms together, started from the back door, for the wind blew so fiercely upon the front of the house that they would have had difficulty in closing the front one behind them. Though perceiving this for themselves instinctively, they yet did not realize the full fury of the elements until they had made their way across the linhay and down the grassy lane, whose ragged hedge, of turf bank and willows, somewhat protected them.

Great hills of sand arose at the end of this lane on either hand, affording yet better shelter ; but a sudden turn in the track, at a short distance, brought them directly out upon the long reach of level, sandy beach, stretching for miles and miles to right and left. Upon this the storm had lashed the sea into breakers, mountain high, that roared and howled, contending for mastery over the land, like demons fighting for their prey. Great balls of snowy foam were blown from their crests, and driven up against the rampart of sand-hills which guarded the land ; the girls could not at first move forward a step in the teeth of the powerful gale ; they were forced to stand quite still, and cling together. A dark group of men was visible against the line of white waves. They had succeeded, in spite of the bluster ing storm, in lighting a huge bonfire of wreckage, with which that dangerous coast was always strewn.

It blazed fiercely, forked flames tossing long red arms up into the air, and crimsoning a broad pathway of reflection upon the boiling sea. By its lurid light ; by the fitful light of the moon, now shining forth on high, now obscured among long, torn, ragged lines of ink-black clouds ; by the ever-shifting light of torches, carried by men, restlessly moving hither and thither, might be seen the piteous sight of a schooner, broken-backed upon a sand bank ; waves triumphantly tossing over her ; a great tangle of splintered masts and yards, and tackle and sails, beating about over her bulwarks ; one sturdy fragment still standing erect out of her, like an arm raised to implore aid from an angry heaven ; and upon it What were those tiny figures ? Not men ! Not human creatures, abandoned, helpless in the midst of those seething floods, to the mercy of the heartless sea and cruel winds ?

Ah, yes ! Even so. Men with mothers and wives and little children ; men with daughters to love them, with sons to tend them, and — none to help them. Bound to that shattered pole, ever and anon the salt sea rising up behind them into a dull, green wall, far above their heads, to dash down its weight of thundering tons of ice-cold water, beating the lives out of them, there were fifteen specks, each still holding a living soul in imprison ment ! How long ? O God ! how long must their torture last? The girls did not, at first, understand the position. Unaccustomed to use their eyes by night, their hearts full of their father, their imaginations seized by the wild beauty of the scene, they looked upon those dark specks, and considered them merely mysterious portions of the rigging. But when, having regained their breaths, they had made their way, hand in hand, to where their father was super intending the efforts of the hardy fishermen to save the poor fellows, they suddenly became aware of the terrible interest which prevented him from taking the smallest notice of them.

"Oh, that I were not maimed! Oh, that I could but swim out with a rope to them ! " moaned the strong man's voice, bewailing his infirmity. " Lord sakes, measter, don't take on like that'n," said one of the roughest old salts around him. " Gin' thee were a soond mon, we'd see thee droon yoursel' wi' pleasure ; but, as it be, 'twould only be a casting away thy life for nowt. Thee couldn't win nigh to 'em." "Are we to see fifteen brave fellows die before our eyes, and do nothing to help them ? " cried the captain, in despair. "Thee shanna say that," said the fellow. "I'll go mysen, as thee takes it so hard. The tide is going down fast, so it beant so fur off now, and tide will carry me out to them, mcbbe. Here, mates, lend a hand, and splice the rope round my middle. Pay it out even. I'll do my best."

" God in heaven reward you ! " said the captain. Some minutes were spent in arranging the rope around the man. The tide was running out fast, and the distance to the wreck perceptibly less. The group moved down to the edge of the water, Mary and Henrietta following, behind their father, over the slushy sands. They were panting with excitement as the fellow put himself to his task, waded out as far as he could, and then began to swim. With what vigorous strength did he cut his way ! His powerful arms swept out like oars, and propelled him B forwards ; but, long before the schooner was reached, before any help came within the grasp of the poor drown ing wretches, his movements slackened, ceased ; the rope became taut ; he had gone as far as its length permitted — it was too short. A groan broke from the captain.

Chapter II. Wreck Ashore

SILENTLY the men on shore drew in the rope, hand over hand. Coil after coil dropped upon the round pile at their feet, until finally they hauled up their comrade, all but exhausted. " Give me a sup of rum," said he, faintly. " The life in me is all but beat out, and what good was it ? I knowed from the first as I couldn't reach 'em. Be thee content, measter, noo ? " Captain Varley assented sadly ; he was nearly as much done up as if he himself had been battling in the sea. This man had faced storm and danger, battle and bloodshed, wounds and death, with the time-honoured, cool bravery of the British hero, many and many a time ; but then he was sharing in the peril equally with all around him ; now he stood safely on dry land and witnessed the agony of others, without the power to help or succour them.

This is the keenest of pangs to a gallant heart. Effort after effort did he make, scheme after scheme did he devise — but all were hopeless. No fisherman's boat could have lived for a moment in such a sea ; none but a man of all but superhuman strength could have reached the schooner, even at lowest ebb. Lifeboat there was none ; no rocket apparatus, no means whatever of saving the men. Through the hours of darkness little or nothing could be known of their condition. Dawn broke, and nine of the fifteen were gone. Captain Varley had remained all night upon the shore, pacing up and down in agitation, hoping against hope. The girls had returned to the house, by his desire, and had sent down Mick with supper and wine for him ; but no persuasion availed to induce him to return to the house. By the earliest break of day his daughters were again by his side.

They brought for him hot coffee and bread, coaxing him to partake of the refreshment which he must need. Few people had slept in the Hall that night. Laldo had been very ill, and both mother and nurse needed to attend to him. The servants, terrified by the storm, and excited by the wreck, had gathered in the big kitchen, trembling over the fire, and frightening each other more and more each moment by stories of fearful catastrophes at sea, and ghostly warnings, previous to deaths, at home. The wind began to lull when the tide turned ; and the boy, instead of dying at that hour, as predicted, became somewhat easier. The remedies were taking effect ; the death-angel was about to lift the wings which had brooded over the house for hours, and seek his prey elsewhere. He had victims enough without its doors for the nonce.

WRECK ASHORE. 21 The tide had been flowing for half an hour or more ; all things were growing dimly visible in the grey light, and sullen rain was driving down, when Mary and Henrietta reached their father. "Girls, you should not be here," said he. "Neither should you, father. Drink some coffee, and then come back with us — do, father. Mother wants you ; Laldo has been so ill all night." " How is he now ? I had forgotten him, poor little chap." " Better — the spasms are easier. A little more now, father, just a little more, while it is hot. You must be starved with cold. Just this little drop more." " It is comforting and good, my dears ; but oh, those poor fellows there ! " " Are they still alive, father ? Is there any hope for them left ? " "Yes, still alive, after all these hours. My God ! what a death it is for them.

Hope ? No, child, there is not a scrap of hope." Captain Varley sighed deeply. " Father, who is that wild-looking man ? He is a stranger here." Mary pointed out a man in shirt and drawers, ragged, bedrabbled, stained, dripping with sea-water, which ran off his long, unkempt hair and beard, and from every fluttering shred of his garments — a tall, lean, haggard creature, whose clothes, such as they were, yet betrayed their wearer to be above the class of ordinary seamen. His shirt was of fine linen, frilled and laced ; his nether garments of woollen, such as no working man could afford ; but his limbs below the knee were bare, the lace ruffles hanging in streamers and rags ; one sleeve fastened at the wrist with a jewelled button, the other loose, torn from its clasp as was the shirt at the throat, betraying a great expanse of hairy chest.

" It must be one of the poor sufferers ! " cried Captain Varley, hastening to address him. " Have you some coffee there, girls ? " Henrietta ran after her father, pitcher in hand ; but Mary was frightened, and hung back. The man was slowly and heavily plodding along, looking intently at the sea lapping up upon the shore. He started as the captain greeted him, and raised his large, strange eyes to his face, bowing at the same time in a style which proved high breeding. " Have you seen him, sir ? " asked he, in perfect English, despite his weird looks, though he spoke with an accent. "Seen whom, my friend?" retorted the captain. " My brother, my young brother, my little Guy," said the man. " No, sir," said Varley, believing the fellow to be mad. " I do not know your brother." " He leapt into the sea when I did ; he is a better swimmer than I. Search for him, sir, if you are a Christian man.

Save my bonny Guy, our mother's youngest. Ah ! there, there, see him ; save him ! I am coming, Guido ; I am coming!" And he set off running into the shallow water with all his remaining strength. The captain's shout hurried up the village men who had hung back in awe of this strange figure ; several dashed Save my bonny Guy, our mother's youngest.'" — /. 22. into the shore water after him, and helped him to drag to land the long, slender form, rising and falling upon the heaving waves, arms extended, white face upturned, dead eyes staring upwards at the grey heavens above, and long black hair washing around it, giving it a strange air of life. "Go home, girls; go at once; 'tis no sight for you," commanded their father, sternly, as Mary broke out into piteous sobbing, and Henrietta turned nearly as white as the drowned boy himself.

" Tell your mother to have fires, hot blankets, hot water ready. Go ! " The girls fled over the sands, shuddering with horror. When they reached the turning into the lane, Henrietta glanced back over her shoulder ; she saw the tall scare crow of a man toss his long, lean arms up into the air, and sink helplessly to the ground. " Oh ! don't look back, don't look ! " cried Mary. " Oh, I wish we had not gone down ! Oh, what a fearsome thing a wreck is ! Run quickly, Henny ; run faster, faster ! " They were met at the door by Kezia. " Wherever have ye been, young ladies ? Ye're all drookit with rain, and just fixing yoursels to be ill." " We took some coffee down to father," said Henrietta. "And, oh, Kezia! the sufferers from the wreck are be ginning to come ashore with the morning tide, and some are alive, though dreadfully beaten about.

Father wants good fires, and blankets made hot, and plenty of water put on." "Ay, ay, I'll be bound as he does; and all for a parcel of loons as might as lief be drowned as not. Any a one of 'em would have murdered him for the worth of the silver timepiece in his pouch, if it were he instead of they." " Don't talk like that, Kezia," reproved Mary. " They have souls such as we have, and God has cast them up at our doors. We know no harm of them." " Nor no good nother," grumbled the old woman. " But I do just know that you young ladies is catching your deaths in those wet things, and Miss Mary shaking from head to foot. Drowned men is no sight for such lambs as ye. Coom into houseplace this minute ; the wenches have kept up the fire all night instead of sleeping in their beds. 'Tis rare and warm there.

Dolly, run up for dry skirts for the young ladies, and all as they'll need, while I spice a sup of elder wine for them. Sit ye down theer, on the settle, and pull off your shoon and stockings. Th' measter must tak' his own way ; I'll see to have all he orders, but men can drown without the help of children like ye be. Ye're best out of the way. Theer noo, sup your wine while 'tis hot, drop your skirts on the hearthstone, and run up to your bed till I coom and see to you. Ye're just starved with cold." The girls obeyed, and lay down in bed, clasping each other closely, as they listened to the sounds downstairs, trembling at their meaning. They heard the heavy tramp of men carrying something weighty ; they heard strange voices. " Lay him down there, before the fire ; rub his temples. Brandy, Kezia, fetch brandy !