“Enough,” said Henry; “we’ll say no more of that, Mr. Chillingworth.  What is done cannot be undone, and we had better spend our time in reflection of how to make the best of what is, than in useless lamentation over its causes.  What is to be done?”

“Nay, I know not.  Have you fought the duel?”

“Yes; and, as you perceive, harmlessly.”

“Thank Heaven for that.”

“Nay, I had my fire, which Sir Francis Varney refused to return; so the affair had just ended, when the sound of approaching tumult came upon our ears.”

[Illustration]

“What a strange mixture,” exclaimed Marchdale, “of feelings and passions this Varney appears to be.  At one moment acting with the apparent greatest malignity; and another, seeming to have awakened in his mind a romantic generosity which knows no bounds.  I cannot understand him.”

“Nor I, indeed,” said Henry; “but yet I somehow tremble for his fate, and I seem to feel that something ought to be done to save him from the fearful consequences of popular feeling.  Let us hasten to the town, and procure what assistance we may:  but a few persons, well organised and properly armed, will achieve wonders against a desultory and ill-appointed multitude.  There may be a chance of saving him, yet, from the imminent danger which surrounds him.”

“That’s proper,” cried the admiral.  “I don’t like to see anybody run down.  A fair fight’s another thing.  Yard arm and yard arm—­stink pots and pipkins—­broadside to broadside—­and throw in your bodies, if you like, on the lee quarter; but don’t do anything shabby.  What do you think of it, Jack?”

“Why, I means to say as how if Varney only keeps on sail as he’s been doing, that the devil himself wouldn’t catch him in a gale.”

“And yet,” said Henry, “it is our duty to do the best we can.  Let us at once to the town, and summons all the assistance in our power.  Come on—­come on!”

His friends needed no further urging, but, at a brisk pace, they all proceeded by the nearest footpaths towards the town.

It puzzled his pursuers to think in what possible direction Sir Francis Varney expected to find sustenance or succour, when they saw how curiously he took his flight across the meadows.  Instead of endeavouring, by any circuitous path, to seek the shelter of his own house, or to throw himself upon the care of the authorities of the town, who must, to the extent of their power, have protected him, he struck across the fields, apparently without aim or purpose, seemingly intent upon nothing but to distance his pursuers in a long chase, which might possibly tire them, or it might not, according to their or his powers of endurance.

We say this seemed to be the case, but it was not so in reality.  Sir Francis Varney had a deeper purpose, and it was scarcely to be supposed that a man of his subtle genius, and, apparently, far-seeing and reflecting intellect, could have so far overlooked the many dangers of his position as not to be fully prepared for some such contingency as that which had just now occurred.