The Young Apprentice; or, The Watch-Words of Old London — page 369: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

S aon yO. 348 THE YOUNG APPRENTICE; OR, pF: was 8 body—the body of an old man, ‘with a knife driven up to the hilt into its breast, _ Very calm and still and awful it looked there in the sunlight with ita white bair daubed with red and the blossoms too dyed with gore. Not for long, however, did Ben Firebrace gaze upon it, He had just made up his mind to return to the place where he had left his horse, and ride off quickly for help, when he received a terrific blow on his head—the earth seemed to swim round him—confused noises came all around him, and then—all was blank, Just as this happened there was a rush of men from another part of the plantation and some troopers of the Ironsides came through upon the opposite side of the garden. As they did so they caught sight of the dead man, and Lord Leicester, pale and guilty, near the gate of the house. ‘There stands the murderer,” cried one of the men, pointing towards him. _“ You lie!” exclaimed Lord Leicester, “ you lie. This man is murdered truly, but I am not his murderer; follow me, and I will show you where his murderer lies,” So saying, the villain led them towards the spot where Ben Firebrace lay still senseless with hia head among the oozy undergrowth, _No sooner had the men cast their eyes upon him when they drew back in alarm, and cast a look of flerce defiance upon Leicester. “You are a false-hearted traitor,” cried Hal Greatorex, the sergeant of the Ironsides, “ this is our brave and faithful Captain Firebrace. He’ is no murderer; he lies there—assassinated , may be, by your coward hand.” “* Have a care,” cried Leicester, endeavouring to put a bold front upon the matter; ‘have a care, you will have to answer for your words, perhaps, when you least expect it. I have witnesses to prove that Ben Firebrace aimed the blow which strack down yonder man—one whom I was anxiously awaiting. “You are welcome to your ‘witnesses,"’ answered Hal Greatorex, “but we can prove that we found the body with you standing over it. That is enough for us, and we will run the risk of arresting you,” Leicester cast one longing glance at the house, _ The men knew well what he desired, but they little knew what other feelings were awakened within the pad man’s breast. ‘*it will be at your peril, then,” said he; “at the trial you will discover how your noble Cap- tain has deceived you. This pattern of virtue will be proved to be a false traitor and assassin,” Hal Greatorex smiled, “Well, well,” he said, “ if you prove that, 80 much the better for you. Until then we doubt it. Come, let us hasten away.” ‘You will permit me, surely, to obtain m hat and take a last adieu of my wife,” said Lord Leicester. “ Yes, we will enter with you, however ; such &prizé a8 you are, caught in the very act of murder, we would not willingly lose.” So saying, Hal and four of his men accom- panied Lord Leicester into his house, while the others, having tenderly raised Ben'Firebrace and administered some spirits to him, bore him towards the inn which stood not far distant along the London Road. Lady Grace Cowley, or rather Lady Leicester, as we must now term her, had heard the inter- view from a window, and met her newly-made husband at the door as he entered. Unprepared for his sudden arrest, she yet knew well the cause of it. The old man who had been murdered thus suddenly and ruthleasly, was one by whose death she hoped to obtain a large property, The murder had been agreed upon, but it had failed to be carried out as had been wished. It had been the intention of Leicester to kill the old man and then to drag him into the plantation, leave him there till night, and then carry the body out into the high road, that it might be imagined he had been set upon by footpads and left to die, This plan the old man himself had defeated. When Leicester set upon him he was in the dense plantation, but he had contrived to crawl out and fall upon the turf with the dagger still sticking in his breast, just before Ben Firebrace caught sight of him. * Our plan has failed, Grace,’’ said Leicester, as he drew her closely to him ; that, while pre- tending to embrace her fervently, he might whisper his instructions, “J know it,” returned Lady Grace, “ yet through no fault of yours. And you are arrested f”” “T am ; but let us hope that I may escape this time as I have escaped so often before, Procure witnesses if you can to prove they saw Ben Firebrace do this deed, and all may yet be well.” ‘Depend on my doing all I can,” said Lady Grace. “ Gentlemen,” she added, turnin g to the troopers, “must my husband go at once?’ “Yes, madam : we caught him almost in the act of murder, and we have taken upon ourselves the task of arresting the one whom we regard as the assarsin,”’ Lady Grace leaned towards Leicester and their eyes met. Something, they knew not what, seemed to tell them that they were parting for the last time; and in both their hearts, black dyed as they were, there was a pang of sincere regret, They had been but just married, their honey- moon was scarcely over, and now they were to be thus rudely torn from each other's arms. We will linger no longer on this parting. It will suffice to say that after a long and ardent embrace, Leicester at length quitted the house, and seeing the uselessness of resistance, passed away with the troopers towards London. Military rule was now the order of the day, and the soldiers knew well that they had acted quite rightly in what they had done. Leicester, in fact, was in the list of proscribed persons, and even if they had not found him near the dead body of the old man, his arrest was perfectly consonant with the avowed feelings of Cromwell and his advisers, On reaching London, therefore, he was placed at once, by the order of the Lord;Protector, within the gloomy walls of the Tower; while Ben Firebrace, at his urgent demand, was brought up in easy stages, and put under guard, “Under guard,” in two ways. In the first place, as he was denounced as an GOVE OOO eS C ar 4 CO VO