Auriol | Page 2

with a forest of poles, fifteen or sixteen feet high,
garnished with human heads. To his surprise, the doctor perceived that
two of these poles had just been overthrown by a tall man, who was in
the act of stripping them of their grisly burdens.
Having accomplished his object, the mysterious plunderer thrust his
spoil into a leathern bag with which he was provided, tied its mouth,
and was about to take his departure by means of a rope-ladder attached
to the battlements, when his retreat was suddenly cut off by the

gatekeeper, armed with a halberd, and bearing a lantern, who issued
from a door opening upon the leads.
The baffled marauder looked round, and remarking the open window at
which Doctor Lamb was stationed, hurled the sack and its contents
through it. He then tried to gain the ladder, but was intercepted by the
gatekeeper, who dealt him a severe blow on the head with his halberd.
The plunderer uttered a loud cry, and attempted to draw his sword; but
before he could do so, he received a thrust in the side from his
opponent. He then fell, and the gatekeeper would have repeated the
blow, if the doctor had not called to him to desist.
"Do not kill him, good Baldred," he cried. "The attempt may not be so
criminal as it appears. Doubtless, the mutilated remains which the poor
wretch has attempted to carry off, are those of his kindred, and horror at
their exposure must have led him to commit the offence."
"It may be, doctor," replied Baldred; "and if so I shall be sorry I have
hurt him. But I am responsible for the safe custody of these traitorous
relics, and it is as much as my own head is worth to permit their
removal."
"I know it," replied Doctor Lamb; "and you are fully justified in what
you have done. It may throw some light upon the matter, to know
whose miserable remains have been disturbed."
"They were the heads of two rank, papists," replied Baldred, "who were
decapitated on Tower Hill, on Saint Nicholas's day, three weeks ago,
for conspiring against the queen."
"But their names?" demanded the doctor. "How were they called?"
"They were father and son," replied Baldred; -- "Sir Simon Darcy and
Master Reginald Darcy. Perchance they were known to your worship?"
"Too well -- too well!" replied Doctor Lamb, in a voice of emotion, that
startled his hearer. "They were near kinsmen mine own. What is he like
who has made this strange attempt?"

"Of a verity, a fair youth," replied Baldred, holding down the lantern.
"Heaven grant I have not wounded him to the death! No, his heart still
beats. Ha! here are his tablets," he added, taking a small book from his
doublet; "these may give the information you seek. You were right in
your conjecture, doctor. The name herein inscribed is the same as that
borne by the others -- Auriol Darcy."
"I see it all," cried Lamb. "It was a pious and praiseworthy deed. Bring
the unfortunate youth to my dwelling, Baldred, and you shall be well
rewarded. Use despatch, I pray you."
As the gatekeeper essayed to comply, the wounded man groaned deeply,
as if in great pain.
"Ring me the weapon with which you smote him," cried Doctor Lamb,
in accents of commiseration, "and I will anoint it with the powder of
sympathy. His anguish will be speedily abated."
"I know your worship can accomplish wonders," cried Baldred,
throwing the halberd into the balcony. "I will do my part as gently as I
can."
And as the alchemist took up the weapon, and disappeared through the
window, the gatekeeper lifted the wounded man by the shoulders, and
conveyed him down a narrow winding staircase to a lower chamber.
Though he proceeded carefully, the sufferer was put to excruciating
pain; and when Baldred placed him on a wooden bench, and held a
lamp towards him, he perceived that his features were darkened and
distorted.
"I fear it's all over with him," murmured the gatekeeper; "I shall have a
dead body to take to Doctor Lamb. It would be a charity to knock him
on the head, rather than let him suffer thus. The doctor passes for a
cunning man, but if he can cure this poor youth without seeing him, by
the help of his sympathetic ointment, I shall begin to believe, what
some folks avouch, that he has relations with the devil."
While Baldred was ruminating in this manner, a sudden and

extraordinary change took place in the sufferer. As if by magic, the
contraction of the muscles subsided; the features assumed a wholesome
hue, and the respiration was no longer laborious. Baldred stared as if a
miracle had been wrought.
Now that the countenance