saying,--
"My lord, it is probable I owe my life to your inter-position; and
to you the circumstances in which I am placed will be explained in a
moment. In your honour and integrity, I have confidence; but the
murderous purpose which you have just disappointed shows how well I
was justified in doubting the intentions of the men by whom I was but
now surrounded."
"Had you given them no offence, sir?" demanded the Duke of Berwick.
"I can scarcely suppose that so dark and sanguinary an act would have
been attempted had you not given some cause. I saw the pistol
levelled over Sir George Barkley's shoulder, while he seemed speaking
to you. That I considered a most unfair act, and stopped it. But you
must surely have done something to provoke such deeds.--Good
heavens! the Lady Helen Oswald!" he continued, as the elder lady
advanced, with Laura clinging to her. "Madam, I fully thought you
were at St. Germain.--Can you tell us anything of this strange
affair?"
"But too much, my lord," replied the lady, speaking eagerly, "but too
much for the honour of these men, who have thought fit to violate
every principle of justice and humanity. This young lady beside me
has been dragged from her father's house by the orders of some of
these gentlemen here present, beyond all doubt. This young gentleman
has traced her hither, legally authorized to carry her back to her
father; and although he plighted his honour, and I pledged my word
for him, that he would do nothing and say nothing to compromise any
of the persons here present, they not only refused to let him depart,
but have, as you saw yourself, most treacherously attempted to take
his life while they were affecting to parley with him."
"Madam," said the Duke of Berwick, in a sorrowful tone, "I am deeply
grieved and pained by all that has occurred. I confess I never felt
despondency till I discovered that persons, pretending to be my
father's friends, have made his cause the pretext for committing
crimes and acts like these. I have already heard this young lady's
story. All London is ringing with it; and the Earl of Aylesbury gave
me this morning, what is probably the real explanation of the whole
business. We will not enter upon it now, for there is no time to be
spared. I feel and know--and I say it with bitter regret--that the
deeds which these gentlemen have done, and the schemes which they
have formed, will do more to injure the cause of their legitimate
sovereign than the loss of twenty pitched battles. Si