The Buccaneer - A Tale

The next chamber was occupied by her father: it was lofty, but not

spacious. The inside of the door was guarded by many bolts; and at the

moment his daughter was seeking commune with, and counsel from, the

Almighty, he was employed in examining and securing them with evident

anxiety. First one, and then another, was pushed to its rest; then he

turned the key in the lock--once, twice. Having shaken, or rather

attempted to shake, the massive door, to determine if it were really

secure, Sir Robert Cecil proceeded to inspect the window fastenings; and

being convinced they were in their places, he turned to the table where

the light burnt brightly, examined a brace of pistols, which he placed

under his pillow, and then, took down a huge heavy sword from a shelf

where it lay concealed, pulled it forth from its scabbard, and applied

his thumb along the edge, to be satisfied of its sharpness. Having laid

the weapon by his bed-side, he commenced, unaided, to undress. This did

not occupy him long, though he stopped occasionally, his eye glancing

round the apartment, his ear bent, as if some unhallowed noise had

struck upon it suddenly. As he moved to his lonely couch, he passed

before an immense glass, in a heavy oaken frame: his own reflection met

his eye; he started as if a spectre had crossed his path--his cheek

blanched--his knees smote one against the other--his respiration was

impeded. At last, waving his hand, as if to dispel the phantom his

imagination had conjured up, he sprang into the bed, and buried his head

under its pillows.

At the end of the corridor which led to the sleeping-chambers, was the

apartment appropriated to Burrell of Burrell, whenever he was a guest at

Cecil Place; his visits, however, were not so frequent, or of such long

duration, as might have been expected in the lover of Lady Constance

Cecil. He was fast approaching the meridian of life, and his youth had

been spent chiefly at court:--at both courts, in fact, for he had been a

partisan of the unhappy Charles, and afterwards, at heart, as complete

a regicide as any who took a more active part in the terrible

transactions of the times. He joined the army of the Parliament,

nevertheless, but for a short time, pleading, as an excuse, the

necessity there was for remaining amongst his own tenants and thralls to

keep them in subjection. Sir Willmott Burrell may well be designated a

man of two characters--one for public, one for private life. His manners

to his superiors, and generally to his equals, were bland and

insinuating; to his inferiors he was overbearing, haughty, and severe,

except when he had some particular point to carry, and then he could

cringe to and fawn upon the vilest. He had a peculiar method of entering

into men's hearts, and worming from each whatever best suited his

purpose; but the principle upon which he invariably acted, was, to

extract the honey from the rose, and then scatter its leaves to the

whirlwind and the blast. Devoid of every thing like moral or religious

feeling, he used Puritanism as a cloak for selfishness and sin; and

though he had often cursed his good character when it stood in the way

of his pleasures, yet it was too needful to be cast off as a worthless

garment. A plotting mind united to a graceful exterior, is as dangerous

to the interests of society as a secret mine to a besieged city,

inasmuch as it is impossible to calculate upon the evils that may

suddenly arise either from the one or the other.