Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 431 | Page 5

drop such an article--just now, especially--I might as well be hung
out to dry at once.'
I glanced over the paper. 'Place, date, hour correct, and thoroughly to
be depended upon you say, eh?'
'Correct as Cocker, I'll answer for it. It would be a spicy run for them, if
there were no man-traps in the way.'
I placed the paper in my waistcoat-pocket, and then handed the doctor
his preliminary fee. The touch of gold had not its usual electrical effect
upon him. His nervous fit was coming on again. 'I wish,' he puffed
out--'I wish I was safe out of this part of the country, or else that a
certain person I know was transported; then indeed'--
'And who may that certain person be, doctor?' demanded a
grim-looking rascal, as he softly opened the door. 'Not me, I hope?'
I instantly recognised the fellow, and so did the doctor, who had again
bounded from his chair, and was shaking all over as if with ague, whilst
his very carbuncles became pallid with affright. 'You--u--u,' he
stammered--'You--u--u, Wyatt: God forbid!'
Wyatt was, I saw, muddled with liquor. This was lucky for poor Lee.
'Well, never mind if it was me, old brick,' rejoined the fellow; 'or at
least you have been a brick, though I'm misdoubting you'll die a pantile
after all. But here's luck; all's one for that.' He held a pewter-pot in one
hand, and a pipe in the other, and as he drank, his somewhat confused
but baleful look continued levelled savagely along the pewter at the
terrified doctor. There was, I saw, mischief in the man.
'I'd drink yours,' continued the reckless scamp, as he paused for breath,
drew the back of his pipe-hand across his mouth, and stared as steadily
as he could in my face--'I'd drink your health, if I only knew your

name.'
'You'll hear it plainly enough, my fine fellow, when you're in the dock
one of these days, just before the judge sends you to the hulks, or,
which is perhaps the likelier, to the gallows. And this scamp, too,' I
added, with a gesture towards Lee, whom I hardly dared venture to
look at, 'who has been pitching me such a pretty rigmarole, is, I see, a
fellow-rogue to yourself. This house appears to be little better than a
thieves' rendezvous, upon my word.'
'Wyatt regarded me with a deadly scowl as he answered: 'Ay, ay, you're
a brave cock, Master Warneford, upon your own dunghill. It may be
my turn some day. Here, doctor, a word with you outside.' They both
left the room, and I rang the bell, discharged the score, and was just
going when Lee returned. He was still pale and shaky, though
considerably recovered from the panic-terror excited by the sudden
entrance of Wyatt.
'Thank Heaven, he's gone!' said the doctor; 'and less sour and
suspicious than I feared him to be. But tell me, sir, do you intend
walking from here to Hythe?'
'I so purpose. Why do you ask?'
'Because the young girl you saw in the bar went off ten minutes ago by
the same road. She was too late for a farmer's cart which she expected
to return by. Wyatt, too, is off in the same direction.'
'She will have company then.'
'Evil company, I fear. Her father and he have lately quarrelled; and her,
I know, he bears a grudge against, for refusing, as the talk goes, to have
anything to say to him.'
'Very well; don't alarm yourself. I shall soon overtake them, and you
may depend the big drunken bully shall neither insult nor molest her.
Good-night.'

It was a lonely walk for a girl to take on a winter evening, although the
weather was brilliantly light and clear, and it was not yet much past
seven o'clock. Except, perchance, a deer-keeper, or a deer-stealer, it
was not likely she would meet a human being for two or three miles
together, and farm and other houses near the track were very sparsely
scattered here and there. I walked swiftly on, and soon came within
sight of Wyatt; but so eagerly was his attention directed ahead, that he
did not observe me till we were close abreast of each other.
'You here!' he exclaimed, fairly gnashing his teeth with rage. 'I only
wish'--
'That you had one or two friends within hail, eh? Well, it's better for
your own health that you have not, depend upon it. I have four barrels
with me, and each of them, as you well know, carries a life, one of
which should be yours, as sure as that black head is on your shoulders.'
He answered only by a snarl and a malediction, and we proceeded on
pretty nearly together. He appeared to be