Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales Read online

hear them one by one. Not a word ofinformation, however, was elicited of any value. They had seen littleHugh in the servants' hall, and on one occasion he had darted forwardand run in and out among the mummers; but they thought that he had goneback again among the servants. Hopes had been entertained that he, fora freak, had run off with the mummers or singers; but they allpositively asserted that he was not with them when they left the Hall.Inquiries were made whether any suspicious characters had been seen inthe neighbourhood. The people talked for some time among themselves.Then John Hodson, the village blacksmith, stepped forward, and said thattwo days before a stranger had spoken to him as he was working in hissmithy, and asked a number of questions about the place; but he didn'tmind them at the time, and thought that it was only for curiosity'ssake. The cobbler, Ebenezer Patch, also recollected that a stranger hadspoken to him, but he didn't heed much at the time what questions wereasked or what were answered.

  "What was he like, Patch?" asked Sir Hugh, in a hoarse voice, whichsounded strange to my ears.

  "Why, Sir Hugh, he had, I marked, a very white, long face, and he had anodd bend in his back, which made him look somewhat short. He spokegently, I mind, just like a gentleman, and I made no doubt that he wasone," answered the cobbler.

  The blacksmith gave the same account of the stranger. It seemed toagitate our uncle strangely; so it did Cousin Peter. They talked asidefor some time.

  "Can that wretched man have had anything to do with it?" I heard SirHugh say.

  "Too probably, indeed, should he really have been in the neighbourhood.I fear so," remarked Cousin Peter. "At all events, we must endeavour todiscover where he has gone. He is capable of any daring deed ofwickedness. My only hope is that we are mistaken in supposing that theperson seen was he."

  "The description suits him too closely to leave any doubt on my mind."

  I did not hear more, and I had no idea who the person was of whom theywere speaking, except that he was the stranger seen in the village; norcould I tell why they should fancy he had had anything to do with thedisappearance of little Hugh.

  After a further consultation, Cousin Peter and two other gentlemen wentto their rooms, and returned booted and spurred, and, putting on theirgreat-coats, accompanied by Sam Barnby, rode off in two parties indifferent directions. Notwithstanding this, another search, intended tobe still more rigid than the first, was instituted, both inside andoutside the house. Meantime, Sir Hugh had ordered lights into thelibrary, and spent the night writing letters to magistrates and others,and papers of all sorts for printing, offering rewards for the recoveryof the lost child. Lady Worsley was for most of the time in thedrawing-room with Julia and several other Indies, who were in vainattempting to comfort her. No one went to bed that night at FoxholmePark. We boys were called in by Sir Hugh, and highly proud at beingemployed by him in copying notices to be sent out in the morning,offering a reward for the discovery of little Hugh. We were all verysorry for the loss of our small cousin; but we liked the excitementamazingly. For my part, I must own that I could not, however,altogether forget the games Cousin Peter had prepared for us, and theamusement we had anticipated, and regret for the fun and frolic weshould miss, mingled somewhat with the sorrow I really felt for the lossof little Hugh, and the trouble which had come on our uncle and aunt andall the family.

  STORY ONE, CHAPTER FOUR.

  Morning came at last, and as the family assembled in the breakfast-roomwith pale anxious faces, the question again and again was asked if anytrace had been found of little Hugh, Cousin Peter and the othergentlemen, and Sam Barnby, came back; but they did not appear to haveanything satisfactory to communicate. Poor Cousin Peter, I never sawhis face look so long and miserable. I thought the anxiety would killhim. He deemed to feel the event even more than Sir Hugh, who severaltimes murmured, "God's will be done, whatever has happened to thechild." It must be a great thing to be able to say that under all thetrials of life. With daylight the search through the park and groundswas recommenced. I know that I cried outright when I saw men with netsdragging the ponds. I had not realised the possibility that the dearlittle fellow might actually be dead, as this proceeding suggested. Iwas very thankful each time that I saw the drags come up empty. As Iremarked, the ground had become so hard early in the evening, that nofootprints could have been left on it. This circumstance made itimpossible to discover the direction little Hugh could have taken, hadhe gone off by himself, which it was utterly improbable he should havedone, or that of anybody else.

  Several gentlemen, county magistrates, and lawyers, and constables, cameduring the day to see Sir Hugh, some to offer him advice and assistance,others to receive his directions. He and Cousin Peter seemed at last tohave made up their minds that little Hugh had been carried off by themysterious individual who had been seen by the blacksmith and cobbler;but how he had contrived to get into the house, no one could tell. Themummers indignantly denied that any stranger could have come in withthem, while the servants as positively asserted that no one whom theydid not know had entered the house that evening. Another guest had beenexpected in the afternoon, a Mr Strafford. I had remarked thatwhenever his name was mentioned, Cousin Julia had looked veryinterested, and once or twice I saw a blush rising on her cheek. He hadbeen there before, and Sir Hugh spoke highly of him. Julia had met himat a house where she had been staying in the summer. Cousin Peter, onthe contrary, looked sad and pained, I fancied, whenever he was spokenof; and putting that and other things together, I had little doubt thatMr Strafford was a suitor for Cousin Julia's hand. I was, therefore,curious to know what sort of a person Mr Strafford was. Both Sir Hughand Julia expressed themselves anxious for his arrival, under the beliefthat he would materially assist in discovering what had become of littleHugh. Why, I could not tell, except that he was a barrister, and thatbarristers were supposed to be very clever fellows, who can always findout everything. It was late in the afternoon, growing dusk, when apost-chaise drove up to the door, and a slight, active, very intelligentand good-looking young man got out of it. I was in a low window in theante-room reading, hidden by the back of a large arm-chair. I lookedout of the window and saw the new arrival, who the next instant was inthe room, when Julia went out to meet him. From the way they greetedeach other, I had no longer any doubt of the true state of the case.They of course did not see me, or they might not have been sodemonstrative. Mr Strafford listened with knitted brow to the accountJulia gave him of little Hugh's disappearance, or rather I may say ofhis abduction, for she had no doubt of his having been carried off bythe mysterious stranger.

  "It is a sad alternative, for the sake of the family; but I see no othercourse to pursue," said Mr Strafford. "The unhappy man must becaptured at all hazards. If we attempt to make any private compromise,he will escape, and too probably never allow us to hear more of yourbrother. For his own sake, I do not think that he will have ventured tobe guilty of violence."

  "Oh! the disgrace, the disgrace to the family!" dried Julia. "Yet hecannot be so cruel, so ungrateful, so wicked, as to venture to hurt poordear little Hugh."

  "On that score set your mind at rest," answered Mr Strafford. "He willtry to escape with him, I suspect, to the coast of France, and his planwill be to take him to some distant place where he thinks we shall notdiscover him. I have no doubt that your father and cousin have alreadytaken measures to stop him. At all events we will see about it at once,as there is no time to lose." Mr Strafford now went on into thedrawing-room, where Sir Hugh and Lady Worsley were waiting to see him.From what I had heard, I now began to suspect who the mysteriousstranger was. I hurried off to consult with Jack on the subject. Heagreed with me that he must be a cousin of Sir Hugh's, who, being hisnearest kinsman of the male branch of the family, would succeed to thetitle and estates, should he die without a son. This man, EverardWorsley, was always a wild profligate character, and was at presentoutlawed, so that he could not venture to show his face openly inEngland. Of course it would be a great th
ing for him to get the heirout of the way, as should no other son be born to Sir Hugh, he wouldprobably be able to have the statute of outlawry removed (I think thatis the proper term), and come and take possession, and turn Lady Worsleyand Cousin Julia out of the house, and send all the old servants abouttheir business, and fill the place with his own abandoned, reprobatecompanions, and hangers on. This was a possibility, I had heard itwhispered, might occur. It was the skeleton in the family cupboard; itwas the not improbable event of all others to be dreaded and deplored.I had heard, too, that this disreputable kinsman was nearly related toCousin Peter, and that Cousin Peter had an unbounded abhorrence for him,that is to say, as much as he could have for any human being. I fanciedthat Cousin Peter himself was in the line of succession, though I didnot know exactly where; but I was very certain