"Excepting one," said Flora, "and he is an admiral who is natural but no
curiosity, unless it be that you, can call him such because he is so
just and generous, and, as for ships, who can help admiring them; and if
Admiral Bell proposes that we live in some pleasant, marine villa by the
sea-coast, he shall have my vote and interest for the proceeding." "Bravo! Huzza!" cried the admiral. "I tell you what it is, Master
Charley--you horse marine,--I have a great mind to cut you out, and have
Miss Flora myself." "Don't, uncle," said Charles; "that would be so very cruel, after she
has promised me so faithfully. How do you suppose I should like it; come
now, be merciful." At this moment, and before any one could make another remark, there came
rather a sharp ring at the garden-gate bell, and Henry exclaimed,--

"That's Mr. Chillingworth, and I am glad he has come in time to join our
conference. His advice is always valuable; and, moreover, I rather think
he will bring us some news worth the hearing." The one servant who they had to wait upon them looked into the room, and
said,--"If you please, here is Mrs. Chillingworth." "Mistress? you mean Mr."

"No; it is Mrs. Chillingworth and her baby." "The devil!" said the admiral; "what can she want?" "I'll come and let you know," said Mrs. Chillingworth, "what I want;"
and she darted into the room past the servant. "I'll soon let you know,
you great sea crab. I want my husband; and what with your vampyre, and
one thing and another, I haven't had him at home an hour for the past
three weeks. What am I to do? There is all his patients getting well as
fast as they can without him; and, when they find that out, do you think
they will take any more filthy physic? No, to be sure not; people ain't
such fools as to do anything of the sort." "I'll tell you what we will do, ma'am," said the admiral; "we'll all get
ill at once, on purpose to oblige ye; and I'll begin by having the
measles." "You are an old porpoise, and I believe it all owing to you that my
husband neglects his wife and family. What's vampyres to him, I should
like to know, that he should go troubling about them? I never heard of
vampyres taking draughts and pills." "No, nor any body else that had the sense of a goose," said the admiral;
"but if it's your husband you want, ma'am, it's no use your looking for
him here, for here he is not." "Then where is he? He is running after some of your beastly vampyres
somewhere, I'll be bound, and you know where to send for him." "Then you are mistaken; for, indeed, we don't. We want him ourselves,
ma'am, and can't find him--that's the fact." "It's all very well talking, sir, but if you were a married woman, with
a family about you, and the last at the breast, you'd feel very
different from what you do now." "I'm d----d if I don't suppose I should," said the admiral; "but as for
the last, ma'am, I'd soon settle that. I'd wring its neck, and shove it
overboard." "You would, you brute? It's quite clear to me you never had a child of
your own." "Mrs. Chillingworth," said Henry, "I think you have no right to complain
to us of your domestic affairs. Where your husband goes, and what he
does, is at his own will and pleasure, and, really, I don't see that we
are to be made answerable as to whether he is at home or abroad; to say
nothing of the bad taste--and bad taste it most certainly is, of talking
of your private affairs to other people." "Oh, dear!" said Mrs. Chillingworth; "that's your idea, is it, you
no-whiskered puppy?" "Really, madam, I cannot see what my being destitute of whiskers has to
do with the affair; and I am inclined to think my opinion is quite as
good without them as with them." "I will speak," said Flora, "to the doctor, when I see him." "Will you, Miss Doll's-eyes? Oh, dear me! you'll speak to the doctor,
will you?" "What on earth do you want?" said Henry. "For your husband's sake, whom
we all respect, we wish to treat you with every imaginable civility; but
we tell you, candidly, that he is not here, and, therefore, we cannot
conceive what more you can require of us." "Oh, it's a row," said the admiral; "that's what she wants--woman like. D----d a bit do they care what it's about as long as there's a
disturbance. And now, ma'am, will you sit down and have a glass of
grog?" "No, I will not sit down; and all I can say is, that I look upon this
place as a den full of snakes and reptiles. That's my opinion; so I'll
not stay any longer; but, wishing that great judgments may some day come
home to you all, and that you may know what it is to be a mother, with
five babies, and one at the breast, I despise you all and leave you." So saying, Mrs. Chillingworth walked from the place, feeling herself
highly hurt and offended at what had ensued; and they were compelled to
let her go just as she was, without giving her any information, for they
had a vivid recollection of the serious disturbance she had created on a
former occasion, when she had actually headed a mob, for the purpose of
hunting out Varney, the vampyre, from Bannerworth Hall, and putting an
end consequently, as she considered, to that set of circumstances which
kept the doctor so much from his house, to the great detriment of a not
very extensive practice. "After all," said Flora, "Mrs. Chillingworth, although she is not the
most refined person in the world, is to be pitied." "What!" cried the admiral; "Miss Doll's-eyes, are you taking her part?" "Oh, that's nothing. She may call me what she likes." "I believe she is a good wife to the doctor," said Henry,
"notwithstanding his little eccentricities; but suppose we now at once
make the proposal we were thinking of to Sir Francis Varney, and so get
him to leave England as quickly as possible and put an end to the
possibility of his being any more trouble to anybody." "Agreed--agreed. It's the best thing that can be done, and it will be
something gained to get his consent at once." "I'll run up stairs to him," said Charles, "and call him down at once. I
scarcely doubt for a moment his acquiescence in the proposal." Charles Holland rose, and ran up the little staircase of the cottage to
the room which, by the kindness of the Bannerworth family, had been
devoted to the use of Varney. He had not been gone above two minutes,
when he returned, hastily, with a small scrap of paper in his hand,
which he laid before Henry, saying,--

"There, what think you of that?" Henry, upon taking up the paper, saw written upon it the words,--

"_The Farewell of Varney the Vampyre_." "He is gone," said Charles Holland. "The room is vacant. I saw at a
glance that he had removed his hat, and cloak, and all that belonged to
him. He's off, and at so short a warning, and in so abrupt a manner,
that I fear the worst." "What can you fear?"