ruffian you captured last night, has been much with him. He has again
written to the Earl something which has made him furious--so your father
told me, who had been there, the good old man, trying to make him forego
his pursuit of poor Horace. There will be something terrible, I am sure.
God help us, and avert it.'

'Say rather, let his righteous judgments fall upon that base man and his
infamous house,' said the mariner sternly. 'You need tell me no more. I
can picture my sweet child, pining, grieving over the lost character of
him she loved--two families of victims. But shall not vengeance take its
course? It shall--terrible and full. But a short space of time shall
elapse ere he shall be stripped of rank and title, and then--'

'Walter, you rave.'

'I speak in earnest. I never threaten in vain. But I must act now. I
must find Hunter. How to do that--'

'I will take you to him,' said the boy, 'to-morrow evening.'

'Good. I must have some talk with you, but now I must rest. To-morrow
night I shall have none.'

So saying, the burly seaman, preceded by the landlady, retired to his
chamber. The house was soon in quiet, but the boy sat long by the
decaying embers of the fire, musing over the words "he shall be stripped
of his rank and titles"--then took from his vest a small gold locket. It
contained a lock of hair--two persons' hair entwined together, dark and
fair--but it bore the impress of a coronet, and the proud motto, "Nulli
Secundi."