y his presence; and Henry, probably,
as well as the admiral, would have burst out into some sudden
exclamation, had they not been restrained by Dr. Chillingworth, who,
suspecting that they might in some way give an alarm, hastened to speak
first, saying in a whisper,--

"For Heaven's sake, be still, fortune, you see, favours us most
strangely. Leave Varney alone. You have no other mode whatever of
discovering what he really wants at Bannerworth Hall."

"I am glad you have spoken," said Henry, as he drew a long breath. "If
you had not, I feel convinced that in another moment I should have
rushed forward and confronted this man who has been the very bane of my
life."

"And so should I," said the admiral; "although I protest against any
harm being done to him, on account of some sort of good feeling that he
has displayed, after all, in releasing Charles from that dungeon in
which Marchdale has perished."

"At the moment," said Henry, "I had forgotten that; but I will own that
his conduct has been tinctured by a strange and wild kind of generosity
at times, which would seem to bespeak, at the bottom of his heart, some
good feelings, the impulses of which were only quenched by
circumstances."

"That is my firm impression of him, I can assure you," said Dr.
Chillingworth.

They watched Varney now from the leafy covert in which they were
situated, and, indeed, had they been less effectually concealed, it did
not seem likely that the much dreaded vampyre would have perceived them;
for not only did he make no effort at concealment himself, but he took
no pains to see if any one was watching him in his progress to the
house.

His footsteps were more rapid than they usually were, and there was
altogether an air and manner about him, as if he were moved to some
purpose which of itself was sufficiently important to submerge in its
consequences all ordinary risks and all ordinary cautions.

He tried several windows of the house along that terrace of which we
have more than once had occasion to speak, before he found one that
opened; but at length he did succeed, and stepped at once into the Hall,
leaving those, who now for some moments in silence had regarded his
movements, to lose themselves in a fearful sea of conjecture as to what
could possibly be his object.

"At all events," said the admiral, "I'm glad we are here. If the vampyre
should have a fight with that other fellow, that we heard doing such a
lot of carpente