"You are right, Charles," said Flora; "let him go, and let him go with a
feeling that he has acquired the contempt of those whose best opinions
might have been his for a far less amount of trouble than he has taken
to acquire their worst." Excitement had kept up Charles to this point, but now, when he arose and
expressed his intention of going to the ruins, for the purpose of
releasing Marchdale, he exhibited such unequivocal symptoms of
exhaustion and fatigue that neither his uncle nor Flora would permit him
to go, so, in deference to them, he gave up the point, and commissioned
the admiral and Jack, with Henry, to proceed to the place, and give the
villain his freedom; little suspecting what had occurred since he had
himself left the neighbourhood of those ruins. Of course Charles Holland couldn't be at all accountable for the work of
the elements, and it was not for him to imagine that when he left
Marchdale in the dungeon that so awful a catastrophe as that we have
recorded to the reader was to ensue. The distance to the ruins was not so great from this cottage even as it
was from Bannerworth Hall, provided those who went knew the most direct
and best road to take; so that the admiral was not gone above a couple
of hours, and when he returned he sat down and looked at Charles with
such a peculiar expression, that the latter could not for the life of
him tell what to make of it. [Illustration]

"Something has happened, uncle," he said, "I am certain; tell me at once
what it is." "Oh! nothing, nothing," said the admiral, "of any importance." "Is that what you call your feelings?" said Jack Pringle. "Can't you
tell him as there came on a squall last night, and the ruins have come
in with a dab upon old Marchdale, crushing his guts, so that we smelt
him as soon as we got nigh at hand?" "Good God!" said Charles, "has such a catastrophe occurred?" "Yes, Charles, that's just about the catastrophe that has occurred. He's
dead; and rum enough it is that it should happen on the very night that
you escaped." "Rum!" said Jack, suddenly; "my eye, who mentions rum? What a singular
sort of liquor rum must be. I heard of a chap as used to be fond of it
once on board a ship; I wonder if there's any in the house." "No!" said the admiral; "but there's a fine pump of spring water outside
if you feel a little thirsty, Jack; and I'll engage it shall do you more
good than all the rum in the world." "Uncle," said Charles, "I'm glad to hear you make that observation." "What for?" "Why, to deal candidly with you, uncle, Jack informed me that you had
lately taken quite a predilection for drinking." "Me!" cried the admiral; "why the infernal rascal, I've had to threaten
him with his discharge a dozen times, at least, on that very ground, and
no other." "There's somebody calling me," said Jack. "I'm a coming! I'm a coming!" and, so he bolted out of the room, just in time to escape an inkstand,
which the admiral caught up and flung after him. "I'll strike that rascal off the ship's books this very day," muttered
Admiral Bell. "The drunken vagabond, to pretend that I take anything,
when all the while it's himself!" "Well, well, I ought certainly to have suspected the quarter from whence
the intelligence came; but he told it to me so circumstantially, and
with such an apparent feeling of regret for the weakness into which he
said you had fallen, that I really thought there might be some truth in
it." "The rascal! I've done with him from this moment; I have put up with too
much from him for years past." "I think now that you have given him a great deal of liberty, and that,
with a great deal more he has taken, makes up an amount which you find
it difficult to endure." "And I won't endure it." "Let me talk to him, and I dare say I shall be able to convince him that
he goes too far, and when he finds that such is the case he will mend." "Speak to him, if you like, but I have done with such a mutinous rascal,
I have. You can take him into your service, if you like, till you get
tired of him; and that won't be very long." "Well, well, we shall see. Jack will apologise to you I have no doubt;
and then I shall intercede for him, and advise you to give him another
trial." "If you get him into the apology, then there's no doubt about me giving
him another trial. But I know him too well for that; he's as obstinate
as a mule, he is, and you won't get a civil word out of him; but never
mind that, now. I tell you what, Master Charley, it will take a good lot
of roast beef to get up your good looks again." "It will, indeed, uncle; and I require, now, rest, for I am thoroughly
exhausted. The great privations I have undergone, and the amount of
mental excitement which I have experienced, in consequence of the sudden
and unexpected release from a fearful confinement, have greatly weakened
all my energies. A few hours' sleep will make quite a different being of
me." "Well, my boy, you know best," returned the admiral; "and I'll take
care, if you sleep till to-morrow, that you sha'n't be disturbed. So now
be off to bed at once." The young man shook his uncle's hand in a cordial manner, and then
repaired to the apartment which had been provided for him. Charles Holland did, indeed, stand in need of repose; and for the first
time now for many days he laid down with serenity at his heart, and
slept for many hours. And was there not now a great and a happy change
in Flora Bannerworth! As if by magic, in a few short hours, much of the
bloom of her before-fading beauty returned to her. Her step again
recovered its springy lightness; again she smiled upon her mother, and
suffered herself to talk of a happy future; for the dread even of the
vampyre's visitations had faded into comparative insignificance against
the heart's deep dejection which had come over her at the thought that
Charles Holland must surely be murdered, or he would have contrived to
come to her. And what a glorious recompense she had now for the trusting confidence
with which she had clung to a conviction of his truth! Was it not great,
now, to feel that when he was condemned by others, and when strong and
unimpeachable evidence seemed to be against him, she had clung to him
and declared her faith in his honour, and wept for him instead of
condemning? Yes, Flora; you were of that order of noble minds that, where once
confidence is given, give it fully and completely, and will not harbour
a suspicion of the faith of the loved one, a happy disposition when
verified, as in this instance, by an answering truthfulness. But when such a heart trusts not with judgment--when that pure, exalted,
and noble confidence is given to an object unworthy of it--then comes,
indeed, the most fearful of all mental struggles; and if the fond heart,
that has hugged to its inmost core so worthless a treasure, do not break
in the effort to discard it, we may well be surprised at the amount of
fortitude that has endured so much.