d seen the peasantry forsaking their work in the fields and the
gardens, and apparently intent upon some object of absorbing interest;
but she feared to leave the house, for she had promised Henry that she
would not do so, lest the former pacific conduct of the vampyre should
have been but a new snare, for the purpose of drawing her so far from
her home as to lead her into some danger when she should be far from
assistance.

And yet more than once was she tempted to forget her promise, and to
seek the open country, for fear that those she loved should be
encountering some danger for her sake, which she would willingly either
share with them or spare them.

The solicitation, however, of her brother kept her comparatively quiet;
and, moreover, since her last interview with Varney, in which, at all
events, he had shown some feeling for the melancholy situation to which,
he had reduced her, she had been more able to reason calmly, and to meet
the suggestions of passion and of impulse with a sober judgment.

About midday, then, she saw the domestic party returning--that party,
which now consisted of her two brothers, the admiral, Jack Pringle, and
Mr. Chillingworth. As for Mr. Marchdale, he had given them a polite
adieu on the confines of the grounds of Bannerworth Hall, stating, that
although he had felt it to be his duty to come forward and second Henry
Bannerworth in the duel with the vampyre, yet that circumstance by no
means obliterated from his memory the insults he had received from
Admiral Bell, and, therefore, he declined going to Bannerworth Hall, and
bade them a very good morning.

To all this, Admiral Bell replied that he might go and be d----d, if he
liked, and that he considered him a swab and a humbug, and appealed to
Jack Pringle whether he, Jack, ever saw such a sanctified looking prig
in his life.

"Ay, ay," says Jack.

This answer, of course, produced the usual contention, which lasted them
until they got fairly in the house, where they swore at each other to an
extent that was enough to make any one's hair stand on end, until Henry
and Mr. Chillingworth interfered, and really begged that they would
postpone the discussion until some more fitting opportunity.

The whole of the circumstances were then related to Flora; who, while
she blamed her brother much for fighting the duel with the vampyre,
found in the conduct of that mysterious individual, as regarded the
encounter, yet another reason for be