It was the night following the day after the return of Gerard
to Mowbray. Morley, who had lent to him and Sybil his cottage
in the dale, was at the office of his newspaper, the Mowbray
Phalanx, where he now resided. He was alone in his room
writing, occasionally rising from his seat and pacing the
chamber, when some one knocked at his door. Receiving a
permission to come in, there entered Hatton.
"I fear I am disturbing an article," said the guest.
"By no means: the day of labour is not at hand. I am very
pleased to see you."
"My quarters are not very inviting," continued Hatton. "It is
remarkable what bad accommodation you find in these great
trading towns. I should have thought that the mercantile
traveller had been a comfortable animal—not to say a
luxurious; but I find everything mean and third-rate. The
wine execrable. So I thought I would come and bestow my
tediousness on you. 'Tis hardly fair."
"You could not have pleased me better. I was, rather from
distraction than from exigency, throwing some thoughts on
paper. But the voice of yesterday still lingers in my ear."
"What a spectacle!"
"Yes; you see what a multitude presents who have recognised
the predominance of Moral Power," said Morley. "The spectacle
was august; but the results to which such a public mind must
lead are sublime."
"It must have been deeply gratifying to our friend," said
Hatton.
"It will support him in his career," said Morley.
"And console him in his prison," added Hatton.
"You think that it will come to that?" said Morley
inquiringly.
"It has that aspect; but appearances change."
"What should change them?"
"Time and accident, which change everything."
"Time will bring the York Assizes," said Morley musingly; "and
as for accident I confess the future seems to me dreary. What
can happen for Gerard?"
"He might win his writ of right," said Hatton demurely, stretching out his legs and leaning back in his chair. "That also may be tried at the York Assizes"
"His writ of right! I thought that was a feint—a mere affair
of tactics to keep the chance of the field."
"I believe the field may be won," said Hatton very composedly.
"Won!"
"Ay! the castle and manor of Mowbray and half the lordships
round, to say nothing of this good town. The people are
prepared to be his subjects; he must give up equality and be
content with being a popular sovereign."
"You jest my friend."
"Then I speak truth in jest; sometimes, you know, the case."
"What mean you?" said Morley rising and approaching Hatton; "for though I have often observed you like a biting phrase, you never speak idly. Tell me what you mean."
"I mean," said Hatton, looking Morley earnestly in the face
and speaking with great gravity, "that the documents are in
existence which prove the title of Walter Gerard to the
proprietorship of this great district; that I know where the
documents are to be found; and that it requires nothing but a
resolution equal to the occasion to secure them."
"Should that be wanting?" said Morley.
"I should think not," said Hatton. "It would belie our nature
to believe so."
"And where are these documents?"
"In the muniment room of Mowbray castle."
"Hah!" exclaimed Morley in a prolonged tone.
"Kept closely by one who knows their value, for they are the
title deeds not of his right but of his confusion."
"And how can we obtain them?"
"By means more honest than those they were acquired by."
"They are not obvious."