The dreadful
suspicions that hovered round him with respect to what he was, appeared
to gather confirmation from every act of his existence. Whether or not this man, to whom he felt bound to pay annually so large
a sum, was in the secret, and knew him to be something more than
earthly, we cannot at present declare; but it would seem from the tenor
of their conversation as if such were the fact. Perchance he had saved him from the corruption of the tomb, by placing
out, on some sylvan spot, where the cold moonbeams fell, the apparently
lifeless form, and now claimed so large a reward for such a service, and
the necessary secrecy contingent upon it. We say this may be so, and yet again some more natural and rational
explanation may unexpectedly present itself; and there may be yet a dark
page in Sir Francis Varney's life's volume, which will place him in a
light of superadded terrors to our readers. Time, and the now rapidly accumulating incidents of our tale, will soon
tear aside the veil of mystery that now envelopes some of our _dramatis
personae_. And let us hope that in the development of those incidents we shall be
enabled to rescue the beautiful Flora Bannerworth from the despairing
gloom that is around her. Let us hope and even anticipate that we shall
see her smile again; that the roseate hue of health will again revisit
her cheeks, the light buoyancy of her step return, and that as before
she may be the joy of all around her, dispensing and receiving
happiness. And, he too, that gallant fearless lover, he whom no chance of time or
tide could sever from the object of his fond affections, he who listened
to nothing but the dictates of his heart's best feelings, let us indulge
a hope that he will have a bright reward, and that the sunshine of a
permanent felicity will only seem the brighter for the shadows that for
a time have obscured its glory. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE STRANGE INTERVIEW.--THE CHASE THROUGH THE HALL. [Illustration]

It was with the most melancholy aspect that anything human could well
bear, that Sir Francis Varney took his lonely walk, although perhaps in
saying so much, probably we are instituting a comparison which
circumstances scarcely empower us to do; for who shall say that that
singular man, around whom a very atmosphere of mystery seemed to be
perpetually increasing, was human? Averse as we are to believe in the supernatural, or even to invest
humanity with any preternatural powers, the more than singular facts and
circumstances surrounding the existence and the acts of that man bring
to the mind a kind of shuddering conviction, that if he be indeed really
mortal he still must possess some powers beyond ordinary mortality, and
be walking the earth for some unhallowed purposes, such as ordinary men
with the ordinary attributes of human nature can scarcely guess at. Silently and alone he took his way through that beautiful tract of
country, comprehending such picturesque charms of hill and dale which
lay between his home and Bannerworth Hall. He was evidently intent upon
reaching the latter place by the shortest possible route, and in the
darkness of that night, for the moon had not yet risen, he showed no
slight acquaintance with the intricacies of that locality, that he was
at all enabled to pursue so undeviatingly a tract as that which he took. He muttered frequently to himself low, indistinct words as he went, and
chiefly did they seem to have reference to that strange interview he had
so recently had with one who, from some combination of circumstances
scarcely to be guessed at, evidently exercised a powerful control over
him, and was enabled to make a demand upon his pecuniary resources of
rather startling magnitude. And yet, from a stray word or two, which were pronounced more
distinctly, he did not seem to be thinking in anger over that interview;
but it would appear that it rather had recalled to his remembrance
circumstances of a painful and a degrading nature, which time had not
been able entirely to obliterate from his recollection. "Yes, yes," he said, as he paused upon the margin of the wood, to the
confines of which he, or what seemed to be he, had once been chased by
Marchdale and the Bannerworths--"yes, the very sight of that man recalls
all the frightful pageantry of a horrible tragedy, which I can
never--never forget. Never can it escape my memory, as a horrible, a
terrific fact; but it is the sight of this man alone that can recall all
its fearful minutiae to my mind, and paint to my imagination, in the
most vivid colours, every, the least particular connected with that time
of agony. These periodical visits much affect me. For months I dread
them, and for months I am but slowly recovering from the shocks they
give me. 'But once more,' he says--'but once more,' and then we shall
not meet again. Well, well; perchance before that time arrives, I may be
able to possess myself of those resources which will enable me to
forestall his visit, and so at least free myself from the pang of
expecting him." He paused at the margin of the wood, and glanced in the direction of
Bannerworth Hall. By the dim light which yet showed from out the light
sky, he could discern the ancient gable ends, and turret-like windows;
he could see the well laid out gardens, and the grove of stately firs
that shaded it from the northern blasts, and, as he gazed, a strong
emotion seemed to come over him, such as no one could have supposed
would for one moment have possessed the frame of one so apparently
unconnected with all human sympathies. "I know this spot well," he said, "and my appearance here on that
eventful occasion, when the dread of my approach induced a crime only
second to murder itself, was on such a night as this, when all was so
still and calm around, and when he who, at the merest shadow of my
presence, rather chose to rush on death than be assured it was myself. Curses on the circumstances that so foiled me! I should have been most
wealthy. I should have possessed the means of commanding the adulation
of those who now hold me but cheaply; but still the time may come. I
have a hope yet, and that greatness which I have ever panted for, that
magician-like power over my kind, which the possession of ample means
alone can give, may yet be mine." Wrapping his cloak more closely around him, he strode forward with that
long, noiseless step which was peculiar to him. Mechanically he appeared
to avoid those obstacles of hedge and ditch which impeded his pathway. Surely he had come that road often, or he would not so easily have
pursued his way. And now he stood by the edge of a plantation which in
some measure protected from trespassers the more private gardens of the
Hall, and there he paused, as if a feeling of irresolution had come over
him, or it might be, as indeed it seemed from his subsequent conduct,
that he had come without any fixed intention, or if with a fixed
intention, without any regular plan of carrying it into effect.