hem all, at the injury which had been inflicted
on the unhappy lady, showed that they were anything but feelingless
or hardened.
One rapid glance over the scene before his eyes had shown Wilton
this; and he now stood beside Lord Sherbrooke, gazing with painful
interest on a picture, the full horror of which he divined better
than the others who surrounded them.
Almost as Lord Sherbrooke spoke, however, and before Wilton could
reply, the lady made a slight movement of her hand, and raised her
head. Her eyes were open, and she turned to Lord Sherbrooke, gazing
on his face for a moment, as if to be certain who he was.
"Oh, Sherbrooke," she said at length, in a faint voice, "fly, fly!--I
was very foolish to faint.--I am better now. The men will be upon
you in a minute--Oh Heaven, they are all round us! Oh how weak it was
to faint and keep you here till they have taken you.--I am better
now," she said, in answer to a whispered inquiry of Lord Sherbrooke,
as he pressed her to his heart. "But I must have hurt my shoulder in
falling, for it pains me very much." And putting her hand towards it,
she drew it suddenly away, exclaiming, "Good Heaven, it is blood!"
"Yes, dearest--yes, beloved," replied Lord Sherbrooke--"it is
blood--blood shed by your husband's hand; but oh, inadvertently,
clear girl. I rashly fired amongst the men that were pursuing me, and
have killed the only woman that I ever loved!" And he struck his hand
vehemently against his forehead, with a gesture of despair that could
not be mistaken.
"Come, come, young gentleman," said a man who seemed the leader of
the bluff sailors around him, "don't take on so. Some one has gone
for a surgeon. There's a clever one at Halstow, I know, and mayhap
the young lady is not so much hurt. At all events, you did not do it
to hurt her, that's clear enough; and I rather fancy we've all been
in a mistake together. For if you were flying from people looking out
to take you, you were not the goods we were after--for we were
looking for people that were coming to take us.
"They came down and said that a gentleman had come down with a
Messenger to look after our little traffic, and have some of us up
for it. Now we intended to plant the Messenger in the bog till we had
got all things ready and the ship off, and it was him and his people
we were after. But come along--bring down the lady to Master
Plessis's. She will be taken good care of there, I warrant you. Here,
Jack Vanoorst!--you're a bit of a surgeon yourself,