Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 227: what you’re looking at

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| | 214 JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. the humpback. “Forgive me all this vehe- >? mence “Tt is tolerably clear,’ interrupted the officer, “that this Joseph Wilmot merely regards yourself personally, and has nothing to do with us But, ah! when I bethink me, answer me one question, Mr. Lanover. Have you confided to a single soul the nature of the treaty you have been negotiating with us ?—have you suffered it to transpire? For in that case—if you have been so imprudent, and if it should have oozed out to Wilmot’s knowledge for what purpose we are on this coast,—then might we indeed account for his visit to our ship—our opinion would be altered —and we should really take him for a spy. Come, Mr, Lanover—do not deceive me! If you have unguardedly compromised us, deal candidly with me at once—and there will be an end of the entire matter. We should decline the execution of the treaty; and you would have to look out for some other means of executing your purpose:—but candour musé characterize all your dealings with us otherwise it were dan- gerous ——” “ Most positively and sacredly do I assure you,” answered Lanover, “that I have neither done nor said anything to compromise you. You know not how cautious Tam. I have not even as yet deve- loped my intentions to the agent Dorchester whom I am employing: in aword, I have breathed a syl- lable to no man in respect to my compact with you. No—it is impossible that Wilmot can suspect aught of all this!—and if I just now denounced him as a spy in respect to the Athene, it was in the heat of passion. Some inkling he may have obtained of my proceedings in a certain quarter: but that he ean for an instant form a conjecture as to what they are to lead, it is absolutely impossible !” “In this case,” observed the officer, “I must leave him entirely to your management: it forms no part of our compact that we are to interfere with him.” “Yes, yes—leave him to me!” said Lanover, in all the bitterness which the malignity of his dispo- sition was but too capable of throwing into the tones of his harsh jarring voice. “ But tell me—do you know where he resides ?” * Yes,” answered the officer: and he named the hotel at which I was living. “But now I think we have little more to say to each other. You have to pay me two hundred and fifty pounds at once; and to-morrow night, at ten o’clock, you will be at the landing-place in readiness for the boat to take you on board.” Immediately afterwards the chinking of gold upon the table in the adjoining room met the ears of Cosmo and myself; and ‘some few minutes elapsed while Lanover was telling down the money and the officer was counting it afterwards. “I will now bid you farewell,” said the latter. “Stay! I will go out with you,” responded the humpback: “my way lies partly the same as your’s—for I must go and reconnoitre the hotel where that young marplot lives.” “No,” said the lieutenant; “it will not do for us to be seen together. Let me depart first: you can issue forth in ten minutes—and whatsoever scheme you may resolve upon in respect to this enemy of your’s, will perhaps be all the better executed for a little serious meditation. Once more farewell.” * ET TR eee ——$ The second lieutenant of the Athene then took his departure; and a few minutes after he had gone, Lanover rang the bell, which summons was answered by the landlady. He inquired whether Mr. Dorchester had taken his departure ?—and she replied in the affirmative, adding that he had been gone about a quarter of an hour. “Enough!” said Lanover. “I myself have to go out again. See that between nine and ten o’clock you have a good hot supper for me.” The landlady withdrew; and for the next ten rainutes Lanover was heard pacing to and fro in the adjoining room, like a wild beast chafing in his cage. Then he abruptly issued forth, and de- scended the stairs with his great heayy foot- steps. I now hastily translated to Cosmo everything that I had overheard between Dorchester and Lanover in the first instance: for, as the reader is aware, the police-spy himself had listened as well as Ito the discourse between the humpback and the lieutenant. “What is to be done?” Iinquired when I had finished speaking. “Shall we have Lanover arrested P” , “That is not for me alone to decide,” answered Cosmo: “we must do nothing inconsiderately. It is now time to take Signor Portici’s advice. There is no longer any reason why you should abstain from visiting him. MHasten you therefore to the villa—I will speed to the hotel—I shall get there before Lanover—and if he makes any inquiries concerning you, I will take care that they be an- swered in a sense to throw him utterly off his guard—so that in the meanwhile we may take the Judge’s advice and act accordingly.” “But Sir Matthew—and Mrs. Lanover—and Annabel!” I exclaimed; “ought I not at once to fly to Leghorn P “Patience and calmness!” interrupted Cosmo: “there is plenty of time. I will bring a post- chaise with me to the villa, so that you can speed off so soon as we have conferred with Signor Portici. And now hasten you thither !” With these words Cosmo hurried precipitately from the room; and by the time I was in the back yard again, he had scaled the wall and had disap- peared through the tailor’s house. I retreated by the same route; and proceeding rapidly, bent my way through the streets in the direction of the villa, But though I walked onward with the utmost celerity, I did not outstrip my thoughts; and these were of a varied and conflicting charac- ter. How many things had I heard within the last two hours! Dorchester had insinuated him- self into the society of Sir Matthew Heseltine and the ladies at the hotel at Leghorn—he was Lanover’s agent in a deep and devilish plot—-he was evi- dently conducting it with all the consummate skill of a thorough intriguer—and he was now on his way back to prosecute the task entrusted to him. And what was the object of these ramified machi- nations? Could I doubt that it was to inveigle Sir Matthew, my beloved Annabel, aud her mother, into the power of the pirates—so that Lanover might be enabled to dictate those terms into which the contents of his pocket-book had afforded me such an insight at PistojaP But there was one thing which I had learnt that at the time sent a thrill of wildest delight through my entire frame, Neen ee ee eee EE IEEE ERCn DOOLK (CO)