The Count of the Saxon Shore; or The Villa in Vectis.<br />A Tale of the Departure of the Romans fro by Church and Putnam (the ebook reader txt) 📕

people at home understand that something has happened to her, then I can help her to some purpose.” This was his conclusion, anyhow. How he arrived at it only He knows who makes all things great and small, and “divideth to all severally as He will.” He turned back, ran with breathless [pg 138]speed to the villa, and did all that could be done, short of speaking, to show that his dear mistress was in trouble.

Meanwhile, however, much time had been lost, and the day was already far advanced. Anxious as was the Count to set out, he could not but perceive that haste might defeat the object of his journey. To start when the light was failing would probably be to miss important signs of what had happened, and, very possibly, to risk success. All preparations, however, were made. The men who were to form the pursuing party were chosen. As it may be supposed, there was no lack of volunteers. There was not a single being at the villa or its dependencies that would not have given a great deal and borne a great deal to see Carna again in safety. But it would be possible to take only a small number, if the pursuit was to be rapid and effective. Some of the most active of the crews of the war-ships accordingly were chosen, sailors having then as now a cheerful activity that makes them particularly valuable members of a land expedition. The Count added others from his own establishment, and he determined to conduct the party himself. It was arranged that it should start the following day, as soon as it should be sufficiently light.

One of the slaves who was early astir on the following morning found fixed to an outside gate of [pg 139]the villa a document, rudely written and roughly folded, which bore the Count’s address. It was found, when opened, to contain the following message, expressed in ungrammatical Latin, mingled with one or two British words:

“She whom you seek is not far off, and may be recovered by you if you are wise. If you attempt to regain her by force, she will be lost to you altogether. But if you wish to have her again with you safely and without trouble, send one whom you can trust with a hundred gold pieces at midnight three days after the receiving of this letter to the place to which she was yesterday fetched. Let your messenger go alone, and ask no questions then or afterwards.”

“So she is held to ransom by a set of brigands,” cried the Count, when he had read this document. “I should not have thought that such a thing had been possible in Britain. But the times have been getting worse and worse. We have long been weakening our hold upon the province, and we had better clear out altogether, if we cannot do better than this. But I suppose we have no choice. We must not endanger the dear girl’s life. But now the question is about the money. I do not think that I have so much in gold in the house; but we can borrow somewhere what is wanted.”

[pg 140]

“Perhaps,” said the Count’s secretary, whom he had summoned to consult with him, “the peddler can help you. He has the reputation of being richer than he looks.”

“Well,” replied the Count, “that would be a simple way out of the difficulty, if it can be managed. Meanwhile, let me see what I have got of my own at hand.”

It was found that eighty gold pieces were forthcoming, and the peddler was summoned and asked whether he could make up the balance.

“My Lord,” said the man when he was brought into the Count’s presence and had heard the story, “I will make no idle pretence of poverty. I have what you want, and it is entirely at your lordship’s service. But will you let me see the letter in which this demand for ransom is made?”

The Count handed him the document, and he examined it long and carefully.

“My lord,” he said, “the more I look at this, the more I am confirmed in certain suspicions which have been growing up in my mind. I have been thinking of this matter, and of other matters which seem to me to be connected with it all the night. It will take long to explain, and, of course, after all I may be wrong; still, I think you would do well to hear what I have got to say.”

The Count, who had previously had reasons for [pg 141]thinking well of the peddler’s intelligence, bade him proceed.

“In the first place,” continued the man, “I think this letter is a blind. It is made to look like the work of some very rude and ignorant person. But the pretence is not well kept up. You will see, if you look at the handwriting a little more closely, that it is feigned. The writer was perfectly able to make it a great deal better than it is, if he had so chosen, and he has sometimes forgotten his part. Some of the letters, some even of the words, particularly of the small words, about which he would naturally be less careful, are quite well-formed. Now a really bad writer, I mean one who writes badly because he does not know how to write well, is always bad; every letter he forms is misshapen.”

The Count examined the document and acknowledged that this comment upon it was just. And he began to see too what was naturally more apparent to him, as an educated man, than it was to the peddler, that the style was hardly what would have been expected from an ignorant scribe.

“What, then, is your conclusion?” he asked.

“About that,” returned the other, “I am not so certain. That this is a blind, as I said, I am sure; and this talk about the ransom consequently is a deception.