Unmindful of the nipping air, the ladies flew to the windows and
raised them, while the gentlemen, in a body, rushed out upon the
porch, many to the lawn--the scene of the disturbance.
"They have caught him!"
"There are several of them--a gang of thieves, no doubt!"
"No! I see but one! They are bringing him to the house!" were
morsels of information passed over the shoulders of the foremost
rank of inquisitive fair ones to the rear, but none were able to
answer the returning inquiries.
"Who is it?"
"What does he look like like?"
"Does he offer any resistance?"
"Do you suppose he is a burglar, or only a common vagrant?"
"I thought the Ridgeley grounds were never infested by prowling
beggars, or other vagabonds," said a lady to Mrs. Aylett, who
prudently remained near the fire, even then shivering with the cold,
and casting uneasy looks at the windows.
"Mr. Aylett is a model to his brother magistrates in his treatment
of such nuisances," remarked another "His name is a terror to
strollers, whether they be organ-grinders, pedlers, or
incendiaries."
Mrs. Aylett, excessively pale, applied her vinaigrette to her nose,
and trembled yet more violently.
"I believe he is very strict," she assented. "But I am really afraid
those ladies will take cold! The snow-air is piercing. And they
are--most of them--heated with dancing. Cannot we prevail upon them
to close the windows, now that the mysterious prowler is secured? We
shall hear all about him when the gentlemen return, and they will
not stay out of doors longer than is necessary."
They began to pour back into the room, while she was speaking,
laughing, and talking, all together shaking the snow-powder from
their hair and hands, and anathematizing the cold and their thin
boots. The particulars of the midnight disturbance were quickly
disseminated. The ebon sentinels had, directed by the barking of
their canine associates, discovered, under a holly hedge on one side
of the yard, a man lying upon the earth, and almost buried in the
snow he seemed not to have strength to throw off. He was either
drunk or so nearly frozen as to be incapable of answering coherently
their demands as to what was his name and what his business upon the
premises. The interrogations of the gentlemen and the ungentle
shakings administered by his captors elicited nothing but groans and
muttered oaths. He could not, or would not, walk without support,
and to leave him where he was, or to turn him adrift into the public
road, would be certain death. Therefore Mr. Aylett had ordered him
to be confined for the night in a garret room. In the morning he
might be examined to more purpose.