CHAPTER XXIII.
THE ADMIRAL'S ADVICE TO CHARLES HOLLAND.--THE CHALLENGE TO THE VAMPYRE.
When Charles Holland got his uncle into a room by themselves, he said,--
"Uncle, you are a seaman, and accustomed to decide upon matters ofhonour. I look upon myself as having been most grievously insulted bythis Sir Francis Varney. All accounts agree in representing him as agentleman. He goes openly by a title, which, if it were not his, couldeasily be contradicted; therefore, on the score of position in life,there is no fault to find with him. What would you do if you wereinsulted by a gentleman?"
The old admiral's eyes sparkled, and he looked comically in the face ofCharles, as he said,--
"I know now where you are steering."
"What would you do, uncle?"
"Fight him!"
"I knew you would say so, and that's just what I want to do as regardsSir Francis Varney."
"Well, my boy, I don't know that you can do better. He must be athundering rascal, whether he is a vampyre or not; so if you feel thathe has insulted you, fight him by all means, Charles."
"I am much pleased, uncle, to find that you take my view of thesubject," said Charles. "I knew that if I mentioned such a thing to theBannerworths, they would endeavour all in their power to pursuade meagainst it."
"Yes, no doubt; because they are all impressed with a strange fear ofthis fellow's vampyre powers. Besides, if a man is going to fight, thefewer people he mentions it to most decidedly the better, Charles."
"I believe that is the fact, uncle. Should I overcome Varney, there willmost likely be at once an end to the numerous and uncomfortableperplexities of the Bannerworths as regards him; and if he overcome me,why, then, at all events, I shall have made an effort to rescue Florafrom the dread of this man."
"And then he shall fight me," added the admiral, "so he shall have twochances, at all events, Charles."
"Nay, uncle, that would, you know, scarcely be fair. Besides, if Ishould fall, I solemnly bequeath Flora Bannerworth to your good offices.I much fear that the pecuniary affairs of poor Henry,--from no fault ofhis, Heaven knows,--are in a very bad state, and that Flora may yet liveto want some kind and able friend."
"Never fear, Charles. The young creature shall never want while the oldadmiral has got a shot in the locker."
"Thank you, uncle, thank you. I have ample cause to know, and to be ableto rely upon your kind and generous nature. And now about thechallenge?"
"You write it, boy, and I'll take it."
"Will you second me, uncle?"
"To be sure I will. I wouldn't trust anybody else to do so on anyaccount. You leave all the arrangements with me, and I'll second you asyou ought to be seconded."
"Then I will write it at once, for I have received injuries at the handsof that man, or devil, be he what he may, that I cannot put up with. Hisvisit to the chamber of her whom I love would alone constitute ampleground of action."
"I should say it rather would, my boy."
"And after this corroborative story of the wound, I cannot for a momentdoubt that Sir Francis Varney is the vampyre, or the personifier of thevampyre."
"That's clear enough, Charles. Come, just you write your challenge, myboy, at once, and let me have it."
"I will, uncle."
Charles was a little astonished, although pleased, at his uncle's readyacquiescence in his fighting a vampyre, but that circumstance heascribed to the old man's habits of life, which made him so familiarwith strife and personal contentions of all sorts, that he did notascribe to it that amount of importance which more peaceable people did.Had he, while he was writing the note to Sir Francis Varney, seen theold admiral's face, and the exceedingly cunning look it wore, he mighthave suspected that the acquiescence in the duel was but a seemingacquiescence. This, however, escaped him, and in a few moments he readto his uncle the following note:--
"To SIR FRANCIS VARNEY.
"Sir,--The expressions made use of towards me by you, as well as general circumstances, which I need not further allude to here, induce me to demand of you that satisfaction due from one gentleman to another. My uncle, Admiral Bell, is the bearer of this note, and will arrange preliminaries with any friend you may choose to appoint to act in your behalf. I am, sir, yours, &c.
"CHARLES HOLLAND."
"Will that do?" said Charles.
"Capital!" said the admiral.
"I am glad you like it."
"Oh, I could not help liking it. The least said and the most to thepurpose, always pleases me best; and this explains nothing, and demandsall you want--which is a fight; so it's all right, you see, and nothingcan be possibly better."
Charles did glance in his uncle's face, for he suspected, from themanner in which these words were uttered, that the old man was amusinghimself a little at his expense. The admiral, however, looked sosupernaturally serious that Charles was foiled.
"I repeat, it's a capital letter," he said.
"Yes, you said so."
"Well, what are you staring at?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Do you doubt my word?"
"Not at all, uncle; only I thought there was a degree of irony in themanner in which you spoke."
"None at all, my boy. I never was more serious in all my life."
"Very good. Then you will remember that I leave my honour in this affaircompletely in your hands."
"Depend upon me, my boy."
"I will, and do."
"I'll be off and see the fellow at once."
The admiral bustled out of the room, and in a few moments Charles heardhim calling loudly,--
"Jack--Jack Pringle, you lubber, where are you?--Jack Pringle, I say."
"Ay, ay, sir," said Jack, emerging from the kitchen, where he had beenmaking himself generally useful in assisting Mrs. Bannerworth, therebeing no servant in the house, to cook some dinner for the family.
"Come on, you rascal, we are going for a walk."
"The rations will be served out soon," growled Jack.
"We shall be back in time, you cormorant, never fear. You are alwaysthinking of eating and drinking, you are, Jack; and I'll be hanged if Ithink you ever think of anything else. Come on, will you; I'm going onrather a particular cruise just now, so mind what you are about."
"Aye, aye, sir," said the tar, and these two originals, who so perfectlyunderstood each other, walked away, conversing as they went, and theirdifferent voices coming upon the ear of Charles, until distanceobliterated all impression of the sound.
Charles paced to and fro in the room where he had held this brief andconclusive conversation with his uncle. He was thoughtful, as any onemight well be who knew not but that the next four-and-twenty hours wouldbe the limit of his sojourn in this world.
"Oh, Flora--Flora!" he at length said, "how happy we might to have beentogether--how happy we might have been! but all is past now, and thereseems nothing left us but to endure. There it but one chance, and thatis in my killing this fearful man who is invested with so dreadful anexistence. And if I do kill him in fair and in open fight, I will takecare that his mortal frame has no power again to revisit the glimpses ofthe moon."
It was strange to imagine that such was the force of many concurrentcircumstances, that a young man like Charles Holland, of first-rateabilities and education, should find it necessary to give in so far to abelief which was repugnant to all his best feelings and habits ofthought, as to be reasoning with himself upon the best means ofpreventing the resuscitation of the corpse of a vampyre. But so it was.His imagination had yielded to a succession of events which very fewpersons indeed could have held out against.
"I have heard and read," he said, as he continued his agitated anduneasy walk, "of how these dreadful beings are to be in their graves. Ihave heard of stakes being driven through the body so as to pin it tothe earth until the gradual progress of decay has rendered itsrevivification a thing of utter and total impossibility. Then, again,"he added, after a slight
pause, "I have heard of their being burned, andthe ashes gathered to the winds of Heaven to prevent them from everagain uniting or assuming human form."
These were disagreeable and strange fancies, and he shuddered while heindulged in them. He felt a kind of trembling horror come over him evenat the thought of engaging in conflict with a being, who perhaps, hadlived more than a hundred years.
"That portrait," he thought, "on the panel, is the portrait of a man inthe prime of life. If it be the portrait of Sir Francis Varney, by thedate which the family ascribe to it he must be nearly one hundred andfifty years of age now."
This was a supposition which carried the imagination to a vast amount ofstrange conjectures.
"What changes he must have witnessed about him in that time," thoughtCharles. "How he must have seen kingdoms totter and fall, and how manychanges of habits, of manners, and of customs must he have become aspectator of. Renewing too, ever and anon, his fearful existence by suchfearful means."
This was a wide field of conjecture for a fertile imagination, and nowthat he was on the eve of engaging with such a being in mortal combat,on behalf of her he loved, the thoughts it gave rise to came morestrongly and thickly upon him than ever they had done before.
"But I will fight him," he suddenly said, "for Flora's sake, were he ahundred times more hideous a being than so many evidences tend to provehim. I will fight with him, and it may be my fate to rid the world ofsuch a monster in human form."
Charles worked himself up to a kind of enthusiasm by which he almostsucceeded in convincing himself that, in attempting the destruction ofSir Francis Varney, he was the champion of human nature.
It would be aside from the object of these pages, which is to recordfacts as they occurred, to enter into the metaphysical course ofreasoning which came across Charles's mind; suffice it to say that hefelt nothing shaken as regarded his resolve to meet Varney the Vampyre,and that he made up his mind the conflict should be one of life ordeath.
"It must be so," he said. "It must be so. Either he or I must fall inthe fight which shall surely be."
He now sought Flora, for how soon might he now be torn from her for everby the irresistible hand of death. He felt that, during the few briefhours which now would only elapse previous to his meeting with SirFrancis Varney, he could not enjoy too much of the society of her whoreigned supreme in his heart, and held in her own keeping his bestaffections.
But while Charles is thus employed, let us follow his uncle and JackPringle to the residence of Varney, which, as the reader is aware, wasso near at hand that it required not many minutes' sharp walking toreach it.
The admiral knew well he could trust Jack with any secret, for longhabits of discipline and deference to the orders of superiors takes offthe propensity to blabbing which, among civilians who are not accustomedto discipline, is so very prevalent. The old man therefore explained toJack what he meant to do, and it received Jack's full approval; but asin the enforced detail of other matters it must come out, we will nothere prematurely enter into the admiral's plans.
When they reached the residence of Sir Francis Varney, they werereceived courteously enough, and the admiral desired Jack to wait forhim in the handsome hall of the house, while he was shewn up stairs tothe private room of the vampyre.
"Confound the fellow!" muttered the old admiral, "he is well lodged atall events. I should say he was not one of those sort of vampyres whohave nowhere to go to but their own coffins when the evening comes."
The room into which the admiral was shewn had green blinds to it, andthey were all drawn down. It is true that the sun was shining brightlyoutside, although transiently, but still a strange green tinge wasthrown over everything in the room, and more particularly did it appearto fall upon the face of Varney, converting his usually sallowcountenance into a still more hideous and strange colour. He was sittingupon a couch, and, when the admiral came in, he rose, and said, in adeep-toned voice, extremely different to that he usually spoke in,--
"My humble home is much honoured, sir, by your presence in it."
"Good morning," said the admiral. "I have come to speak to you, sir,rather seriously."
"However abrupt this announcement may sound to me," said Varney, "I amquite sure I shall always hear, with the most profound respect, whateverAdmiral Bell may have to say."
"There is no respect required," said the admiral, "but only a littleattention."
Sir Francis bowed in a stately manner, saying,--
"I shall be quite unhappy if you will not be seated, Admiral Bell."
"Oh, never mind that, Sir Francis Varney, if you be Sir Francis Varney;for you may be the devil himself, for all I know. My nephew, CharlesHolland, considers that, one way and another, he has a very tolerablequarrel with you."
"I much grieve to hear it."
"Do you?"
"Believe me, I do. I am most scrupulous in what I say; and an assertionthat I am grieved, you may thoroughly and entirely depend upon."
"Well, well, never mind that; Charles Holland is a young man justentering into life. He loves a girl who is, I think, every way worthy ofhim."
"Oh, what a felicitous prospect!"
"Just hear me out, if you please."
"With pleasure, sir--with pleasure."
"Well, then, when a young, hot-headed fellow thinks he has a good groundof quarrel with anybody, you will not be surprised at his wanting tofight it out."
"Not at all."
"Well, then, to come to the point, my nephew, Charles Holland, has afancy for fighting with you."
"Ah!"
"You take it d----d easy."
"My dear sir, why should I be uneasy? He is not my nephew, you know. Ishall have no particular cause, beyond those feelings of commoncompassion which I hope inhabit my breast as well as every one else's."
"What do you mean?"
"Why, he is a young man just, as you say, entering into life, and Icannot help thinking it would be a pity to cut him off like a flower inthe bud, so very soon."
"Oh, you make quite sure, then, of settling him, do you?"
"My dear sir, only consider; he might be very troublesome, indeed; youknow young men are hot-headed and troublesome. Even if I were only tomaim him, he might be a continual and never-ceasing annoyance to me. Ithink I should be absolutely, in a manner of speaking, compelled to cuthim off."
"The devil you do!"
"As you say, sir."
"D--n your assurance, Mr. Vampyre, or whatever odd fish you may be."
"Admiral Bell, I never called upon you and received a courteousreception, and then insulted you."
"Then why do you talk of cutting off a better man than yourself? D--nit, what would you say to him cutting you off?"
"Oh, as for me, my good sir, that's quite another thing. Cutting me offis very doubtful."
Sir Francis Varney gave a strange smile as he spoke, and shook his head,as if some most extraordinary and extravagant proposition had beenmooted, which it was scarcely worth the while of anybody possessed ofcommon sense to set about expecting.
Admiral Bell felt strongly inclined to get into a rage, but he repressedthe idea as much as he could, although, but for the curious faint greenlight that came through the blinds, his heightened colour would havesufficiently proclaimed what state of mind he was in.
"Mr. Varney," he said, "all this is quite beside the question; but, atall events, if it have any weight at all, it ought to have aconsiderable influence in deciding you to accept of what terms Ipropose."
"What are they, sir?"
"Why, that you permit me to espouse my nephew Charles's quarrel, andmeet you instead of him."
"You meet me?"
"Yes; I've met a better man more than once before. It can make nodifference to you."
"I don't know that, Admiral Bell. One generally likes, in a duel, toface him with whom one has had the misunderstanding, be it on whatgrounds it may."
"There's some reason, I know, in what you say; but, surely, if I amwilling,
you need not object."
"And is your nephew willing thus to shift the danger and the job ofresenting his own quarrels on to your shoulders?"
"No; he knows nothing about it. He has written you a challenge, of whichI am the bearer, but I voluntarily, and of my own accord, wish to meetyou instead."
"This is a strange mode of proceeding."
"If you will not accede to it, and fight him first, and any harm comesto him, you shall fight me afterwards."
"Indeed."
"Yes, indeed you shall, however surprised you may look."
"As this appears to be quite a family affair, then," said Sir FrancisVarney, "it certainly does appear immaterial which of you I fight withfirst."
"Quite so; now you take a sensible view of the question. Will you meetme?"
"I have no particular objection. Have you settled all your affairs, andmade your will?"
"What's that to you?"
"Oh, I only asked, because there is generally so much food forlitigation if a man dies intestate, and is worth any money."
"You make devilish sure," said the admiral, "of being the victor. Haveyou made your will?"
"Oh, my will," smiled Sir Francis; "that, my good sir, is quite anindifferent affair."
"Well, make it or not, as you like. I am old, I know, but I can pull atrigger as well as any one."
"Do what?"
"Pull a trigger."
"Why, you don't suppose I resort to any such barbarous modes offighting?"
"Barbarous! Why, how do you fight then?"
"As a gentleman, with my sword."
"Swords! Oh, nonsense! nobody fights with swords now-a-days. That's allexploded."
"I cling to the customs and the fashions of my youth," said Varney. "Ihave been, years ago, accustomed always to wear a sword, and to bewithout one now vexes me."
"Pray, how many years ago?"
"I am older than I look, but that is not the question. I am willing tomeet you with swords if you like. You are no doubt aware that, as thechallenged party, I am entitled to the choice of weapons."
"I am."
"Then you cannot object to my availing myself of the one in the use ofwhich I am perfectly unequalled."
"Indeed."
"Yes, I am, I think, the first swordsman in Europe; I have had immensepractice."
"Well, sir, you have certainly made a most unexpected choice of weapons.I can use a sword still, but am by no means a master of fencing.However, it shall not be said that I went back from my word, and let thechances be as desperate as they may, I will meet you."
"Very good."
"With swords?"
"Ay, with swords; but I must have everything properly arranged, so thatno blame can rest on me, you know. As you will be killed, you are safefrom all consequences, but I shall be in a very different position; so,if you please, I must have this meeting got up in such a manner as shallenable me to prove, to whoever may question me on the subject, that youhad fair play."
"Oh, never fear that."
"But I do fear it. The world, my good sir, is censorious, and you cannotstop people from saying extremely ill-natured things."
"What do you require, then?"
"I require you to send me a friend with a formal challenge."
"Well?"
"Then I shall refer him to a friend of mine, and they two must settleeverything between them."
"Is that all?"
"Not quite. I will have a surgeon on the ground, in case, when I pinkyou, there should be a chance of saving your life. It always lookshumane."
"When you pink me?"
"Precisely."
"Upon my word, you take these affairs easy. I suppose you have had a fewof them?"
"Oh, a good number. People like yourself worry me into them, I don'tlike the trouble, I assure you; it is no amusement to me. I wouldrather, by a great deal, make some concession than fight, because I willfight with swords, and the result is then so certain that there is nodanger in the matter to me."
"Hark you, Sir Francis Varney. You are either a very clever actor, or aman, as you say, of such skill with your sword, that you can make sureof the result of a duel. You know, therefore, that it is not fair playon your part to fight a duel with that weapon."
"Oh, I beg your pardon there. I never challenge anybody, and whenfoolish people will call me out, contrary to my inclination, I think Iam bound to take what care of myself I can."
"D--n me, there's some reason in that, too," said the admiral; "but whydo you insult people?"
"People insult me first."
"Oh, nonsense!"
"How should you like to be called a vampyre, and stared at as if youwere some hideous natural phenomenon?"
"Well, but--"
"I say, Admiral Bell, how should you like it? I am a harmless countrygentleman, and because, in the heated imaginations of some member of acrack-brained family, some housebreaker has been converted into avampyre, I am to be pitched upon as the man, and insulted and persecutedaccordingly."
"But you forget the proofs."
"What proofs?"
"The portrait, for one."
"What! Because there is an accidental likeness between me and an oldpicture, am I to be set down as a vampyre? Why, when I was in Austrialast, I saw an old portrait of a celebrated court fool, and you sostrongly resemble it, that I was quite struck when I first saw you withthe likeness; but I was not so unpolite as to tell you that I consideredyou were the court fool turned vampyre."
"D--n your assurance!"
"And d--n yours, if you come to that."
The admiral was fairly beaten. Sir Francis Varney was by far toolong-headed and witty for him. After now in vain endeavouring to findsomething to say, the old man buttoned up his coat in a great passion,and looking fiercely at Varney, he said,--"I don't pretend to a gift ofthe gab. D--n me, it ain't one of my peculiarities; but though you maytalk me down, you sha'n't keep me down."
"Very good, sir."
"It is not very good. You shall hear from me."
"I am willing."
"I don't care whether you are willing or not. You shall find that whenonce I begin to tackle an enemy, I don't so easily leave him. One orboth of us, sir, is sure to sink."
"Agreed."
"So say I. You shall find that I'm a tar for all weathers, and if youwere a hundred and fifty vampires all rolled into one, I'd tackle yousomehow."
The admiral walked to the door in high dudgeon; when he was near to it,Varney said, in some of his most winning and gentle accents,--
"Will you not take some refreshment, sir before you go from my humblehouse?"
"No!" roared the admiral.
"Something cooling?"
"No!"
"Very good, sir. A hospitable host can do no more than offer toentertain his guests."
Admiral Bell turned at the door, and said, with some degree of intensebitterness,
"You look rather poorly. I suppose, to-night, you will go and sucksomebody's blood, you shark--you confounded vampyre! You ought to bemade to swallow a red-hot brick, and then let dance about till itdigests."
Varney smiled as he rang the bell, and said to a servant,--
"Show my very excellent friend Admiral Bell out. He will not take anyrefreshments."
The servant bowed, and preceded the admiral down the staircase; but, tohis great surprise, instead of a compliment in the shape of a shillingor half-a-crown for his pains, he received a tremendous kick behind,with a request to go and take it to his master, with his compliments.
The fume that the old admiral was in beggars all description. He walkedto Bannerworth Hall at such a rapid pace, that Jack Pringle had thegreatest difficulty in the world to keep up with him, so as to be at allwithin speaking distance.
"Hilloa, Jack," cried the old man, when they were close to the Hall."Did you see me kick that fellow?"
"Ay, ay, sir."
"Well, that's some consolation, at any rate, if somebody saw it. Itought to have been his master, that'
s all I can say to it, and I wish ithad."
"How have you settled it, sir?"
"Settled what?"
"The fight, sir."
"D--n me, Jack, I haven't settled it at all."
"That's bad, sir."
"I know it is; but it shall be settled for all that, I can tell him, lethim vapour as much as he may about pinking me, and one thing andanother."
"Pinking you, sir?"
"Yes. He wants to fight with cutlasses, or toasting-forks, d--n me, Idon't know exactly which, and then he must have a surgeon on the ground,for fear when he pinks me I shouldn't slip my cable in a regular way,and he should be blamed."
Jack gave a long whistle, as he replied,--
"Going to do it, sir?"
"I don't know now what I'm going to do. Mind, Jack, mum is the word."
"Ay, ay, sir."
"I'll turn the matter over in my mind, and then decide upon what hadbest be done. If he pinks me, I'll take d----d good care he don't pinkCharles."
"No, sir, don't let him do that. A _wamphigher_, sir, ain't no goodopponent to anybody. I never seed one afore, but it strikes me as thebest way to settle him, would be to shut him up in some little bit of acabin, and then smoke him with brimstone, sir."
"Well, well, I'll consider, Jack, I'll consider. Something must be done,and that quickly too. Zounds, here's Charles--what the deuce shall I sayto him, by way of an excuse, I wonder, for not arranging his affair withVarney? Hang me, if I ain't taken aback now, and don't know where toplace a hand."
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