Paul Clifford, Volume VI

Paul Clifford, Volume VI by Edward Bulwer-lytton

Captain Lovett, alias Clifford, and his fellow highwaymen Long Ned Pepper and Augustus Tomlinson return to their cavern hideout with a rich haul taken from Lord Mauleverer, dividing jewels, a repeater watch, a diamond ring, a jewelled snuffbox, and banknotes while their servant-cook Peter MacGrawler, the disgraced former editor of "The Asinaeum" whom Clifford once saved from a Ranelagh mob after he was caught picking a pocket, prepares supper and endures their mockery. Alone with Tomlinson that night, Clifford reveals he has finally raised enough money to quit the gang and take service abroad in Prussia; Tomlinson refuses to reform with him, insisting habit has made him incurably a rogue, though he agrees to consider joining Clifford later. Clifford says he must first go to London for one final purpose before sailing, avoiding a visit to Mother Lobkins for fear of being recognized. Unknown to the gang, MacGrawler has secretly betrayed them to Bow Street officer Nabbem, and at dawn armed men storm the cavern. Long Ned and Tomlinson are seized, but Clifford fights free through the secret door and escapes into the woods. The narrative turns to Lucy Brandon, now living with her uncle Sir William Brandon after her father's death, still secretly cherishing letters and keepsakes from Clifford despite her growing suspicion that he has committed some serious wrong. Lord Mauleverer, recovered from his robbery, dines at Brandon's house and, charmed by Lucy's singing, proposes marriage; she firmly refuses him, to Mauleverer's mortification and Brandon's private irritation, though Brandon continues pressing the match. Soon after, Clifford comes secretly to Lucy. In an anguished interview he confesses his love again, and Lucy, moved beyond prudence, offers to share whatever fate is his, guilty or not. Clifford refuses to drag her down, declaring he means to leave England forever for a soldier's life abroad, and will return to claim her only if he can win back an honorable name; he departs once more, leaving Lucy in despair. Clifford then sets about rescuing his captured comrades, who are being carried under guard toward trial in a distant town where a grazier and other witnesses can identify them. He consults an accomplice, visits the smuggler Janseen to confirm passage on the vessel the "Black Molly" under Captain Mellon, and collects his horse Robin before riding out disguised as a farmer; an old hostler ominously predicts that "Captain Lovett" will not survive his seventh year on the road. Meanwhile Tomlinson, handcuffed beside Ned Pepper in Nabbem's chaise, amuses himself by drawing an elaborate satirical parallel between highwaymen and government ministers. On the road, Clifford and confederates ambush the chaise, overpower the officers, and free Tomlinson and Ned, who escape in a waiting cart. As Clifford flees the scene he is shot by an officer; mortally weakening, he shoots his own horse Robin dead rather than let the animal be taken, then collapses. Lucy's health and spirits continue to decline under her unresolved grief and suspicion, even as Sir William Brandon works to draw her into confiding affection while still promoting Mauleverer's suit. Newspapers soon report the capture and wounding of the notorious "Lovett," and stolen articles matching those taken from Mauleverer are found in the robbers' cave. Mauleverer, visiting the delirious prisoner, recognizes him as the same Clifford who had courted Lucy, and other witnesses, including farmers and the grazier, are prepared to swear to his identity as the highwayman. Mauleverer and Brandon agree to conceal from Lucy that her former suitor and the doomed felon are the same man, plotting to keep newspapers from her and to caution the servants, so that Mauleverer's courtship may proceed undisturbed; Brandon further notes that he himself may be the judge who tries Clifford. Left alone, Brandon pores over old love letters and is drawn into recollection of his own hidden history. Years before, under the name Welford, he had lived obscurely as a struggling solicitor with his young wife, Julia, their marriage strained by poverty and mutual resentment. When a young nobleman, injured near their house, was nursed there and grew infatuated with Julia, Welford secretly encouraged the intrigue, scorning his wife's shallow nature and resolving to use the affair to escape his degrading circumstances; he arranged for the marriage to appear false so he could, in effect, sell her to his rival while secretly preserving proof of its legitimacy for his son's sake. Julia eloped with the nobleman, later discovering with horror that she had been deliberately bartered and deceived, and left her lover in shame. Welford resumed his true name, William Brandon, and rose swiftly at the Bar and in public life with the unwitting patronage of the same nobleman, all the while secretly and tenderly raising the son of that marriage as a supposed orphan ward. Years later Brandon encountered the ruined, dying Julia by chance in the streets at night; days afterward, disguised intruders broke into his house, and Julia, in a scene of fierce vengeance, cursed him with lifelong childlessness and despair before vanishing with his stolen son, who was never afterward found despite Brandon's most determined efforts—until, the narrative notes, certain of the stolen articles later resurfaced, an event fate had long held in store for the fulfillment of Brandon's most ardent wish.

By Edward Bulwer-lytton · First published 1830 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Crime · 6 chapters · 38,442 words

First lines

God bless our King and Parliament, And send he may make such knaves repent! Loyal Songs against the Rump Parliament.

Ho, treachery! my guards, my cimeter! BYRON.

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Adventure · Fiction · Romance · Mystery · Crime · Thriller · Suspense · Historical Fiction · 19th Century · English Literature · Victorian Era · Gothic Romance

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