Passive and timid, scared, pale, and wondering, and gazing
at the throng as if he were newly risen from the dead, and felt himself
a ghost among the living, Barnaby--not Barnaby in the spirit, but in
flesh and blood, with pulses, sinews, nerves, and beating heart, and
strong affections--clung to his stout old friend, and followed where he
led.
And thus, in course of time, they reached the door, held ready for their
entrance by no unwilling hands. Then slipping in, and shutting out
the crowd by main force, Gabriel stood between Mr Haredale and Edward
Chester, and Barnaby, rushing up the stairs, fell upon his knees beside
his mother's bed.
'Such is the blessed end, sir,' cried the panting locksmith, to Mr
Haredale, 'of the best day's work we ever did. The rogues! it's been
hard fighting to get away from 'em. I almost thought, once or twice,
they'd have been too much for us with their kindness!'
They had striven, all the previous day, to rescue Barnaby from his
impending fate. Failing in their attempts, in the first quarter to which
they addressed themselves, they renewed them in another. Failing there,
likewise, they began afresh at midnight; and made their way, not only to
the judge and jury who had tried him, but to men of influence at court,
to the young Prince of Wales, and even to the ante-chamber of the King
himself.
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