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diff --git a/23789.txt b/23789.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..011ab29 --- /dev/null +++ b/23789.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14148 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Cruel As The Grave, by Mrs. Emma D. E. N. Southworth + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cruel As The Grave + +Author: Mrs. Emma D. E. N. Southworth + +Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23789] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRUEL AS THE GRAVE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + CRUEL AS THE GRAVE + + A NOVEL. + + BY MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. + AUTHOR OF "SELF-MADE," "ISHMAEL," "SELF-RAISED," "FAIR PLAY," "VIVIA," + "MISSING BRIDE," "A BEAUTIFUL FIEND," "CHANGED BRIDES," "RETRIBUTION," + "HOW HE WON HER," "A NOBLE LORD," "BRIDE'S FATE," "FALLEN PRIDE," + "LADY OF THE ISLE," "THE MAIDEN WIDOW," "ALLWORTH ABBEY," + "GYPSY'S PROPHECY," "LOST HEIRESS," "WIDOW'S SON," "INDIA," + "THREE BEAUTIES," "BRIDE OF LLEWELLYN," "BRIDAL EVE," + "DISCARDED DAUGHTER," "FATAL SECRET," "TWO SISTERS," + "CURSE OF CLIFTON," "TRIED FOR HER LIFE," + "PHANTOM WEDDING," "LOVE'S LABOR WON," + "FORTUNE SEEKER," "FATAL MARRIAGE," + "MOTHER-IN-LAW," "CHRISTMAS GUEST," + "FAMILY DOOM," "WIFE'S VICTORY." + + + "He to whom + I gave my heart, with all its wealth of love, + Forsakes me for another."--MEDEA. + + "And we saw Medea burning + At her nature's-planted stake."--BROWNING. + + + NEW YORK: + THE F. M. LUPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY, + Nos. 72-76 Walker Street. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Copyright, 1888, + By T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS. + Cruel as the Grave. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + CONTENTS. + + Chapter Page + + I.--THE BERNERS OF THE BURNING HEARTS 21 + + II.--JOHN LYON HOWE 26 + + III.--SYBIL BERNERS 32 + + IV.--THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER 45 + + V.--THE LANDLORD'S STORY 48 + + VI.--ROSA BLONDELLE 59 + + VII.--DOWN IN THE DARK VALE 71 + + VIII.--BLACK HALL 76 + + IX.--THE GUEST-CHAMBERS 84 + + X.--THE JEALOUS BRIDE 91 + + XI.--LOVE AND JEALOUSY 104 + + XII.--"CRUEL AS THE GRAVE" 112 + + XIII.--MORE THAN THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH 126 + + XIV.--THE FIRST FATAL HALLOW EVE 132 + + XV.--THE MASQUERADE BALL 142 + + XVI.--ON THE WATCH 147 + + XVII.--DRIVEN TO DESPERATION 154 + + XVIII.--LYING IN WAIT 175 + + XIX.--SWOOPING DOWN 188 + + XX.--THE SEARCH 191 + + XXI.--SYBIL'S FLIGHT 198 + + XXII.--THE HAUNTED CHAPEL 207 + + XXIII.--THE SOLITUDE IS INVADED 218 + + XXIV.--THE VERDICT AND THE VISITOR 225 + + XXV.--THE FALL OF THE DUBARRYS 238 + + XXVI.--THE SPECTRE 250 + + XXVII.--FEARFUL WAITING 264 + + XXVIII.--A GHASTLY PROCESSION 273 + + XXIX.--GHOSTLY AND MYSTERIOUS 292 + + XXX.--FLIGHT AND PURSUIT 306 + + XXXI.--THE ARREST 324 + + XXXII.--A DESPERATE VENTURE 334 + + XXXIII.--A FATAL CRISIS 344 + + XXXIV.--THE PURSUIT 354 + + XXXV.--THE FUGITIVES 363 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + CRUEL AS THE GRAVE + + CHAPTER I. + + THE BERNERS OF THE BURNING HEARTS. + + + "Their love was like the lava flood + That burns in Etna's breast of flame." + + +Near the end of a dark autumn-day, not many years ago, a young couple, +returning from their bridal tour arrived by steamer at the old city of +Norfolk; and, taking a hack, drove directly to the best inn. + +They were attended by the gentleman's valet and the lady's maid, and +encumbered besides with a great amount of baggage, so that altogether +their appearance was so promising that the landlord of the "Anchor" came +forward in person to receive them and bow them into the best parlor. + +The gentleman registered himself and his party as Mr. and Mrs. Lyon +Berners, of Black Hall, Virginia, and two servants. + +"We shall need a private parlor and chamber communicating for our own +use, and a couple of bedrooms for our servants," said Mr. Berners, as he +handed his hat and cane to the bowing waiter. + +"They shall be prepared immediately," answered the polite landlord. + +"We shall remain here only for the night, and go on in the morning, and +should like to have two inside and two outside places secured in the +Staunton stage-coach for to-morrow." + +"I will send and take them at once, sir." + +"Thanks. We should also like tea got ready as soon as possible in our +private parlor." + +"Certainly, sir. What would you like for tea?" + +"Oh, anything you please, so that it is nice and neatly served," said +Mr. Berners, with a slightly impatient wave of his hand as if he would +have been rid of his obsequious host. + +"Ah-ha! anything I please! It is easy to see what ails him. He lives +upon love just now; but he'll care more about his bill of fare a few +weeks hence," chuckled the landlord, as he left the public parlor to +execute his guest's orders. + +The bridegroom was no sooner left alone with his bride than he seated +her in the easiest arm-chair, and began with affectionate zeal to untie +her bonnet-strings and unclasp her mantle. + +"You make my maid a useless appendage, dear Lyon," said the little lady, +smiling up in his eyes. + +"Because I like to do everything for you myself, sweet Sybil; because I +am jealous of every hand that touches your dear person, except my own," +he murmured tenderly as he removed her bonnet, and with all his +worshipping soul glowing through his eyes, gazed upon her beautiful and +beaming face. + +"You love me so much, dear Lyon! You love me so much! Yet not too much +either! for oh! if you should ever cease to love me, or even if you were +ever to love me _less_,--I--I dare not think what I should do!" she +muttered in a long, deep, shuddering tone. + +"Sweet Sybil," he breathed, drawing her to his bosom and pressing warm +kisses on her crimson lips--"sweetest Sybil, it is not possible for the +human heart to love _more_ than I do, but I can never love you less!" + +"I do believe you, dearest Lyon! With all my heart I do!--Yet--yet--" + +"Yet what, sweet love?" + +She lifted her face from his bosom and gazing intently in his eyes, +said: + +"Yet, Lyon, if you knew the prayer that I never fail to put up, day and +night! What do you think it is for, dear Lyon?" + +"I know; it is for Heaven's blessing to rest upon our wedded lives." + +"Yes, my prayer is for that always, of course! but that is not what I +mean now! That is not the stronger, stronger prayer which I offer up +from the deeps of my spirit in almost an agony of supplication!" + +"And what is that prayer, so awful in its earnestness, dear love?" + +"Oh, Lyon! it is _that you may never love me less than now, or if you +should, that I may never live to know it_," she breathed with an +intensity of suppressed emotion that drew all the glowing color from her +crimson cheeks and lips and left them pale as marble. + +"Why, you beautiful mad creature! You are a true daughter of your house! +A Berners of the burning heart! A Berners of the boiling blood! A +Berners of whom it has been said, that it is almost as fatal to be +loved, as to be hated, by one of them! Dear Sybil! never doubt my love; +never be jealous of me, if you would not destroy us both," he earnestly +implored. + +"I do not doubt you, dearest Lyon; I am not jealous of you! What cause, +indeed, have I to be so? But--but----" + +"But what, my darling?" + +"--Ever since I have been in this house, a darkness and coldness and +weight has fallen upon my spirits, that I cannot shake off--a burden, as +of some impending calamity! And as there is no calamity that can +possibly affect me so much as the lessening of your love, I naturally +think most of that," she answered, with a heavy sigh. + +"Dear love! this depression is only reaction! fatigue! the effect of +this damp, dull, dreary room! We will change all this!" said Lyon +Berners, cheerfully, as he pulled the bell-cord and rang a peal that +presently brought the waiter to his presence. + +"Are our rooms ready?" shortly demanded Mr. Berners. + +"Just this moment ready, sir," answered the man, with a bow. + +"Gather up these articles, then, and show us to our rooms," said Mr. +Berners, pointing to a collection of outer garments and travelling bags +that occupied a centre-table. + +With another bow the man loaded himself with the personal effects of the +guests and led the way up-stairs. + +Mr. Berners, drawing his wife's arm through his own, followed the waiter +to a cheerful little private parlor, where the bright red carpet on the +floor, the bright red curtains at the windows, the bright red covers of +the chairs and sofas, the glowing coal fire in the grate, and above all +the neatly spread tea table, with its snowy damask table-cloth, and its +service of pure French china, invited the hungry and weary travellers to +refreshment and repose. + +Through a pair of partly drawn sliding doors a vista was opened to a +clean and quiet chamber, furnished to match the parlor, with the same +bright-red carpet, window curtains, and chair covers, but also with a +white-draperied tent-bedstead, with bed-pillows and coverings white and +soft as swan's down. In the glow of the coal fire in the inner room sat +and waited a pretty mulatto girl, Delia, or Dilly, the dressing maid of +Mrs. Berners. + +On seeing her mistress enter the parlor, Dilly quickly arose and met +her, and handed a chair and relieved the waiter of his burden of +portable personal property, which she hastened to carry into the chamber +to put away. + +"Bring in the tea immediately and send my own man Hannibal here to +attend us," said the guest to the waiter, who promptly left the room to +execute the orders. + +"Come, my darling! Take this easy-chair in the corner and make yourself +comfortable! Here is a scene to inspire the saddest heart with +cheerfulness," said the bridegroom cordially, as he drew forward the +easy arm-chair and led his bride to it. + +She sank into the soft seat and smiled her satisfaction. + +In a few moments the waiters of the inn entered and arranged a delicious +little repast upon the table and then withdrew, leaving Hannibal, the +faithful servant of the bridegroom, to attend his master and mistress at +their tea. + +The young pair sat down to the table. And in that quiet and cheerful +scene of enjoyment, the young bride recovered her spirits. The transient +shadow that had for a moment darkened the splendor of her joy, even as a +passing cloud for an instant obscures the glory of the sun, had +vanished, leaving her all smiles and gayety. + +To say that these wedded lovers were very happy, would scarcely express +the delirium of pure joy in which they had dreamed away their days and +nights for the last few weeks--joy that both were too young and untried +to know could not last for ever, could not indeed even last long--joy so +elevated in its insanity as almost to tempt some thunderbolt of +malignant fate to fall upon it with destroying force, even as the highly +rarefied air sometimes draws on the whirlwind and the storm. + +But then the story of their loves was rare and strange, and almost +justified the intensity of their mutual devotion, and that story is +briefly this: + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + JOHN LYON HOWE. + + + "A brow half martial and half diplomatic, + An eye upsoaring like an eagle's wing." + + +John Lyon Howe was the younger son of a planter, residing in one of the +wildest mountain regions in central Virginia. The elder Howe was blessed +with a large family, and cursed with a heavily mortgaged estate--a +combination of circumstances not unusual among the warm-hearted, +generous and extravagant people of the Old Dominion. + +John Lyon Howe had been educated in the Law School of the University of +Virginia, where, at the age of twenty-three, he graduated with the +highest honors. + +Then, instead of commencing his professional life in one of the great +Eastern cities, or striking out for the broad fields of enterprise +opened in the Far West, young Howe, to the astonishment of all who were +acquainted with the talents and ambition of the new lawyer, returned to +his native county and opened his law office in Blackville, a small +hamlet lying at the foot of the Black Valley, and enjoying the honor and +profit of being the county-seat. + +But the young lawyer had strong motives for his actions. He had great +talent, an intense passion for politics, and quite as much State pride +as personal ambition. He wished to distinguish himself; yes, but not in +Massachusetts or Minnesota, nor in any other place except in his native +State, his dear old Virginia. + +Sometime to represent her in the National Congress, and to do her +service and credit there, was the highest goal of his youthful +aspirations. + +For this cause, he settled in the obscure hamlet of Blackville, and +opened his law office in one of the basement rooms of the county +court-house. + +While the courts were in session he attended them regularly, and did a +good deal of business in the way of gratuitous counselling and pleading; +advocating and defending with great ability and success the cause of the +poor and oppressed, and winning much honor and praise, but very little +money, not enough, indeed, to pay his office rent, or renew his napless +hat and thread-bare coat. + +Besides his unprofitable professional labors, he engaged in equally +unprofitable political contests. + +He took the liberal view of State craft, and sought to open the minds of +his fellow-citizen to a just and wise policy, or what he, in his young +enthusiasm, conceived to be such. He wrote stirring leaders for the +local papers, and made rousing speeches at the political meetings. + +He was everywhere spoken of as a rising young man, who was sure to reach +a high position some day. Yes! some day; but that desired day seemed +very far distant to the desponding young lawyer. + +And to make his probation still more painful, he was in love! not as men +are who are taken with a new face every year of their lives, but as the +heroes of old used to be--for once and forever! profoundly, +passionately, desperately in love, almost despairingly in love, since +she whom he loved was at once the richest heiress, the greatest beauty, +and the proudest lady in the whole community--Sybil Berners! Miss +Berners, of Black Hall!--in social position as far above the briefless +young lawyer as the sun above the earth; at least so said those who +observed this presumptuous passion, and predicted for the young lover, +should he ever really aspire to her hand, the fate of Phaeton, to be +consumed in the splendor of her sphere, and cast down blackened to his +native earth. + +Had they who cavilled at his high-placed love but known the truth; how +she whom he so worshipped, on her part, adored him? But this he himself +did not know, or even suspect. Had he possessed much less of a fine, +high-toned sense of honor, he might, by wooing the lady, have found this +out for himself; but he, an almost penniless young man, was much too +proud to ask the hand of the wealthy heiress. Or had he possessed a +little more personal vanity, he might have suspected the truth; for +certainly there was not a handsomer man in the whole county than was +this briefless young lawyer with the napless hat and thread-bare coat. +His person was of that medium height and just proportions necessary to +give perfect elegance of form and grace of motion. His features were +classic, with the straight forehead, hooked nose, short upper lip, and +pointed chin of the strong old Roman type. His complexion was fair, his +eyes blue, and his hair and beard a golden auburn. Added to these +attractions, there was an intense magnetic power in the gaze of his dark +eyes, and in the tone of his deep voice, a power that few could resist, +and certainly not Sybil Berners. + +But who and what besides heiress and beauty was Sybil Berners? To tell +you all she was. I must first tell you something about her family, the +"Berners of Black Hall." + +Theirs was an old family, and a historical name interwoven with the +destinies of the two hemispheres. Their house was older than the history +of the new world, and almost as ancient as the fables of the old world. + +They were among the first lords of the manor in Colonial Virginia, and +they claimed descent from a ducal house whose patent of nobility dated +back to the first months of the Norman Conquest of England. + +They had been great in history and in story; great in the field and the +forum; great in the old country and in the new. They had been a brave, +fierce, cruel, and despotic race, equally feared and hated at home and +abroad, equally loved and trusted as well; for never were such dangerous +foes or such devoted friends as were these Berners; no one ever loved +as these Berners loved, or hated as they hated. In the intensity of +their love or their hate they were capable of suffering or inflicting +death; these Berners, whose friendship was almost as fatal as their +enmity; these Berners, who "never spared man in their hate or woman in +their love;" these Berners of the burning heart; these Berners of the +boiling blood; these Berners of Black Hall; and whose sole +representative now was Sybil, the last daughter of their line, who +concentrated in her own ardent, intense nature all the most beautiful, +all the most terrible attributes of her strong and fiery race. + +I said that she was the richest heiress as well as the most beautiful +girl of the country. + +She was the inheritor of the famous Black Valley manor, holding besides +its own home plantation, several of the most productive and valuable +farms in the neighborhood. + +There is not in all the mountain region of Virginia a wilder, darker, +gloomier glade than that forming the home manor of the Berners family, +and known as the Black Valley. It is a long, deep, narrow vale, lying +between high, steep ridges of iron-gray rock, half covered with a growth +of deep-green stunted cedars. + +At the head or northern extremity of the vale springs a cascade, called, +for the darkness of its color, the Black Torrent. It rushes, roaring, +down the side of the precipice, now hiding under a heavy growth of +evergreen, now bursting into light as it foams over the face of some +rock, until at length it tumbles down to the foot of the mountain and +flows along through the bottom of the Valley, until about half way down +its length, it widens into a little lake, called, from its hue, the +Black Water, or the Black Pond; then narrowing again, it flows on down +past the little hamlet of Blackville, situated at the foot or southern +extremity of the Black Valley. + +The ancient manor house, known as the Black Hall, stands on a rising +ground on the west side of the Black Water with its old pleasure gardens +running down to the very edge of the lake. + +It is a large, rambling, irregularly-formed old house, built of the iron +gray rocks dug from the home quarries; and it is scarcely to be +distinguished from the iron-gray precipices that tower all around it. + +The manor had been in the possession of the same family from the time of +King James the First, who made a grant of the land to Reginald Berners, +the first Lord of the Manor. + +Bertram Berners was the seventh in descent from Reginald. He married +first a lady of high rank, the daughter of the colonial governor of +Virginia. This union, which was neither fruitful nor happy, lasted more +than thirty years, after which the high-born wife died. + +Finding himself at the age of sixty a childless widower and the last of +his name, he resolved to marry again in the hope of having heirs. He +chose for his second wife a young lady of good but impoverished family, +the orphan niece of a neighboring planter. + +But the new wife only half fulfilled her husband's hopes, when, a year +after their marriage, she presented him with one fair daughter, the +Sybil of our story. + +Even this gift cost the delicate mother her life; for although she did +not die immediately, yet from the day of Sybil's birth, she fell into a +long and lingering decline which finally terminated in death. + +Old Bertram Berners was nearly seventy years of age, when he laid his +young wife in her early grave. Although he had been grievously +disappointed in his hopes of a male heir, yet he was not mad enough, at +his advanced period of life, to try matrimony again. He wisely +determined to devote the few remaining days of his life to the rearing +of his little daughter, then a child seven years of age. + +Old Bertram loved and spoiled the infant as none but an old man can +love or spoil his only child, who is besides the offspring of his age. +He would not part with her to send her to school; but he himself became +her instructor until she was more than ten years old. + +After that, as she began to approach womanhood, he engaged a succession +of governesses, each one of whom excessively annoyed him by persistently +trying to marry him for his money, and who consequently got herself +politely dismissed. + +Next he tried a succession of tutors, but this second plan worked even +worse than the first; for each one of the tutors in his turn tried to +marry the heiress for the fortune, and, naturally enough, got himself +kicked out of the house. + +So the plan of home education prospered badly. Perhaps old Bertram had +been singularly unfortunate in his selection of teachers. It must have +been so indeed, since he had been accustomed to say that "they all were +as bad as they could be; and each one was worse than all the rest." + +Thus the literary training of the heiress had been carried on in the +most capricious, fitful and irregular manner, the worst suited to her, +who more than most girls required the discipline of a firm and steady +rule. + +The educational result to her was a very superficial knowledge of +literature, arts, and sciences, and a very imperfect acquaintance with +ancient and modern languages. + +She was in the habit of saying sarcastically, that "she had an utter +confusion of ideas on the subjects of algebra, astronomy, and all the +other branches of a polite education;" that, for instance, she never +could remember whether the "Pons Asinorum" were a plant or a problem, or +if it was Napoleon Bonaparte that discovered America and Christopher +Columbus who lost the battle of Waterloo, or _vice versa_. + +And after all, this was but a trifling exaggeration of the neglected +condition of her mind. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + SYBIL BERNERS. + + + "All that's best of dark and bright + Meet in her aspect and her eye." + + +Sybil Berners was at this time about eighteen years of age--a beautiful, +black-haired, bright-eyed little brunette, full of fire, spirit, +strength, and self-will. She was a law to herself. No one, not even her +aged father, had the slightest control over her except through her +affections, when they could be gained, or her passions, when they could +be aroused; but this last means was seldom tried, for no one cared to +raise the storm that none could quell. + +Her father was now nearly eighty years old. And fondly, jealously, +selfishly as he loved this darling daughter of his age, he wished to see +her safely married before he should be called from the earth. + +And certainly the beautiful heiress had suitors enough to select +from--suitors drawn no less by her personal charms than by her great +fortune. But one and all were politely refused by the fastidious maiden, +who every one said was so very hard to please. + +But even if Sybil Berners had accepted any one among the numerous +suitors for her hand, the conditions of her father's consent would have +been made rather difficult. The husband of the heiress would have been +required to assume the name and arms of Berners in order to perpetuate +the family patronymic, and to live with his wife at the old manor house +in order not to separate the only child from her aged father. And it was +not every proud young Virginian who would have given up his own family +name either for a fortune or a beauty. But none of her suitors were put +to the test, for Sybil promptly and unconditionally refused all offers +of marriage. + +And the reason of all this was, that Miss Berners of Black Hall loved a +poor, briefless young lawyer, who had nothing but his handsome person, +his brilliant mind, and his noble heart to recommend him. When, or +where, or how her love for him began, she herself could never have told. +Since his return from the university she had seen him every Sunday at +church, and had grown to look and to long for his appearance there, +until it came to this pass with her soul, that the very house of God +seemed empty until _his_ place was filled. And besides this, she often +saw him and heard him speak at political and other public meetings, +which she always attended only to beam in the sunshine of his presence, +only to drink in the music of his voice. She took in all the local +papers only to read his leaders and dream over his thoughts. + +Moreover, she felt by a sure instinct that he passionately adored her, +even while ignorant of her love for him, and silent upon the subject of +his own passion. + +This state of affairs exasperated the fiery and self-willed little +beauty almost to phrensy. She had never in her life been contradicted or +opposed. No desire of her heart had ever been left for a moment +unsatisfied. She never knew until now the meaning of suspense or +disappointment. And now here was a man whom she wildly loved, and who +worshipped her, but who, from some delicate pride in his poverty, +_would_ not speak, while she, of course, _could_ not. + +Yet Sybil Berners was no weak "Viola," who would + + "Let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, + Feed on her damask cheek, and pine in thought." + +She was rather a strong "Helena," who would dare all and bear all to +gain her lover. + +Sybil did all that a young lady of her rank could do in the premises. +She made her doting father give dinner parties and invite her lover to +them. But the briefless young lawyer in the napless hat and thread-bare +coat never accepted one of these invitations, for the very simple +reason that he had no evening dress in which to appear. + +Under these circumstances, where any other young girl might have grown +languid and sorrowful, Sybil became excitable and violent. She had +always had the fiery temper of her race, but it had very seldom been +kindled by a breath of provocation. Now, however, it frequently broke +out without the slightest apparent cause. No one in the house could +account for this accession of ill-temper--not her anxious father, nor +Miss Tabitha Winterose, the housekeeper, not Joseph Joy, the house +steward, nor any of the maids or men-servants under them. + +"She's possessed of the devil," said Miss Winterose, to her confidant, +the house steward. + +"That's nothing new. All the Berners is possessed of _that_ possession. +It's entailed family property, and can't be got rid of," grimly +responded Joe. + +"Something has crossed her; something has crossed her very much," +muttered her old father to himself, as he sat alone in his arm-chair in +the warm chimney-corner of his favorite sitting-room. + +Yes, indeed, everything crossed her. She was unhappy for the first time +in her life, and she thought it was clearly the duty of her father or +some other one of her slaves to make her happy. She was kept waiting, +and it was everybody's fault, and everybody should be made to suffer for +it. It was no use to reason with Sybil Berners. One might as well have +reasoned with a conflagration. + +It was about this time, too, that her aged father began to feel symptoms +that warned him of the approach of that sudden death by congestion of +the brain, which had terminated the existence of so many of his +ancestors. + +More than ever he desired to see his motherless daughter well married +before he should be called away from her. So, one evening, he sent for +Sybil to come into his sitting-room, and when she obeyed his summons, +and came and sat down on a low ottoman beside his arm-chair, he said, +laying his hand lovingly on her black, curly head: + +"My darling, I am very old, and may be taken from you any day, any hour, +and I would like to see you well married before I go." + +"Dear father, don't talk so. You may live twenty years yet," answered +the daughter, with a blending of affectionate solicitude and angry +impatience in her tones and looks, for Sybil was very fond of the old +man, and also very intolerant of unpleasant subjects. + +"Well, well, my dear, since you prefer it, I will live twenty years +longer to please you--_if I can_. But whether I live or die, my +daughter, I wish to see you well married." + +"Ah, father, why can you not leave me free?" + +"Because, my darling, if anything should happen to me, you would be left +utterly without protection; your hand would become the aim of every +adventurer in the county; you would become the prey of some one among +them who would squander your fortune, abuse your person, and break your +heart." + +"You know very well, father, that I should break such a villain's head +first. _I_ a victim--_I_ the prey of a fortune-hunter, or the slave of a +brute! I look as if I was likely to be--do I not? Father, you insult +your daughter by the thought," exclaimed Sybil, with flushing cheeks and +flashing eyes. + +"There, there, my dear! don't flame up!" said the old man, laying his +hand upon the fiery creature's head; "be quiet as you can, Sybil--I +cannot bear excitement now, child." + +"Forgive me, dear father, and forbear, if you love me, from such talk as +this. I never could become an ill-used, suffering, snivelling wife. I +_detest_ the picture as I utterly despise all weak and whimpering women. +I have no sympathy whatever for your abused wives--even for your +dethroned or beheaded queens. Why should a wife permit herself to be +abused, or a queen suffer herself to be dethroned or beheaded, without +first having done something to redeem herself from the contemptible role +of a victim, even if it was to change it for the awful one of +criminal--" + +"--Hush, Sybil, hush! You know not what you say. The Saviour of the +world--" + +"----Was a divine martyr, father," said Sybil, reverently bowing her +head--"was a divine martyr, not a victim. All who suffer and die in a +great cause are martyrs; but those who suffer and die for nothing but of +their own weakness are victims, with whom I have no sympathy. I never +could be a _victim_, father." + +"Heaven help you, Sybil!" + +"You need not fear for me, father. I can take care of myself as well as +if I were a son, instead of a daughter of the House of Berners," said +Sybil, haughtily. + +"You may be able to protect yourself from all others, but can you always +protect yourself _from yourself_?" sighed the old man. + +Sybil did not answer. + +"But, to come back to the point from which you started, like the fiery +young filly that you are--Sybil, I greatly desire to see you married to +some worthy young gentleman whom you can love and I approve." + +"Where can you find such an one, father?" murmured Sybil, with a quick, +strange, wild hope springing up in her heart. + +What if he should speak of the young lawyer? But that was not likely. He +spoke of some one else. + +"There is Ernest Godfree. No better match for you in the county. And I'm +sure he worships the very ground you walk on." + +Sybil made an angry gesture, exclaiming: + +"Then I wish he would have respect enough for the ground he worships to +keep himself off it altogether! I hate that man!" + +"Well, well, hate is a poor return for love! But we'll say no more of +him. But there's Captain Pendleton, a brave young officer." + +"I wish his bravery were better employed in fighting the Indians on the +frontier instead of besieging our house. I cannot endure that man!" + +"Let him pass then! Next there is Charles Hanbury--" + +"Ugh! the ugly little wretch." + +"But he is so good, so wise, for so young a man. And he is your devoted +slave." + +"Then I wish my slave would obey his owner's orders, and keep out of her +sight." + +"Sybil, you are incorrigible," sighed the old man, but he did not yield +his main point. + +One after another he proposed for her consideration all the eligible +young bachelors of the neighborhood, who, he knew, were ready upon the +slightest encouragement to renew their once rejected suits for the hand +of the beauty and heiress. + +But one after another Sybil, with some sarcastic word, dismissed. + +"Sybil, you are a strange, wayward girl! It seems to me that for any man +to love you is to take a sure road to your hatred! And yet, oh, my dear! +I wish to see you safely married. Is there not one among those whom you +might prefer to all the rest?" + +"No, my father, not one whom I could endure for an instant as a lover." + +"And oh! when I feel this fatal rising of the heart and fulness of the +head--this Wave of Death that is sure to bear me off sooner or later to +the Ocean of Eternity--Oh, then, my Sybil, how my soul travails for +you!" groaned the old man. + +"Father! do you so much wish to see me married?" + +"I wish it more than anything else in the world, my child." + +"Father, you have named every young man in the neighborhood whom you +would like as a son-in-law?" + +"Every one, my daughter." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Quite sure, my love. Why do you ask?" + +She slid down from her low ottoman to the floor, and laid her arms upon +his knees and her beautiful black ringleted head upon her folded hands, +and whispered: + +"Because, dear father, there is one whom you have forgotten to name: one +who loves me, and is altogether well worthy to be called your son." + +"Ah!" cried the old man fiercely, under his breath--"a fortune-hunter, +on my life! the danger is nearer than I had even apprehended!" + +"No, father, no! He is as far as possible from being what you say!" +fervently exclaimed Sybil. + +"He is wealthy, then?" + +"No, no, no! he is poor in everything but in goodness and wisdom!" + +"Oh, no doubt you think him rich in these! But who is he, unhappy child? +What is his name?" + +Very subdued came the answer. Old Bertram was obliged to bend his gray +head to his daughter's lips, and put his shrivelled hand behind his ear +to catch the sound of her low voice. + +"He is the young lawyer newly settled in Blackville, whose praise is on +everybody's lips." + +"JOHN LYON HOWE!" exclaimed the old man, throwing up his head in +astonishment. + +"Yes, father," breathed the girl. + +"And he loves you?" + +She nodded. + +"And you love him?" + +She nodded again. + +"A briefless young lawyer, with a long list of impoverished brothers and +sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins! Bad enough; but not as it might +have been. She can gain nothing by that connection! But then she need +not lose anything either," murmured the old man to himself. After +reflecting for a few moments, with his head upon his breast, he suddenly +raised his eyes and exclaimed: + +"But I have never seen the young man at this house!" + +"No, father!" + +"Nor at any other house where we visit." + +"No, father; for although he receives many invitations to visit his +friends, he accepts none. Father, I think he cannot afford to do so." + +"Cannot afford to visit! Why?" + +"Visiting requires dress, and dress money. And he does so much +gratuitous work now in the beginning of his career that he has but +little money; and his father will not help him at all, because they +differ in politics." + +"Yes, I know they do; but the young man is quite right. I agree with his +views perfectly. He will make his mark in the world some of these days, +and then his father will be proud of him." + +Sybil blushed with delight to hear her lover so praised by one in whose +hands their happiness rested. + +"But, my child, he was wrong and you were wrong to have entered into any +engagement without my sanction," said the old man very gravely. + +"There is no engagement, father," gently answered Sybil. + +"Ah! no engagement? that is well! By my soul, though, it was not right +for him even to have wooed you without my consent! Nor can I conceive +what opportunity he has ever had to do so. He never comes here." + +"He has never wooed me, dear father." + +"EH!" + +"He has never sought my hand." + +"But I thought you gave me to understand that you love each other!" + +"So we do, father." + +"Then, if he loves you, why don't he come and tell me so like an +honorable man?" + +"Father, he has never even told _me_ so." + +"EH!" + +"He has never breathed a word of love to me." + +"Then how the deuce do you know that he loves you, girl?" + +"Oh, by every glance of his eyes, by every tone of his voice, and by my +own heart! Oh, father, do you think I would bear to tell you this, if I +were not sure of it." + +"Umph, umph! But why don't he speak?--that's what I want to know! Why +don't he speak?" + +"Dear father, can you not comprehend that he is too proud to do so?" + +"Too proud! By my word! It is a new hearing that a Howe should be too +proud to seek an alliance with a Berners!" exclaimed old Bertram hotly, +rising from his chair. + + "Old age ne'er cooled the Douglas blood," + +and it had not cooled his. + +Sybil smiled to see how utterly he had misunderstood her, and making him +sit down again, she said, + +"You dear old darling, it is not that! It is the very opposite to that. +It is because he is poor and we are rich, and he is too proud to be +called a fortune-hunter." + +"Oh, I understand! I understand! + + 'Among the rest young Edwin bowed, + But never told his love. + Wisdom, and worth were all he had.'" + +"Yes, dear father, that is just the truth. You wish me to marry; but, +dear, dear father, I can never bring myself to marry any one but _him_; +and he loves me truly, but does not seek me?" she breathed in a low and +tremulous tone, half smothered also by the hands with which she covered +her blushing face. + +"Now what am I to do in this case? I have nothing against the young man +whatever, except his poverty and big long line of poor relations, that +will be sure to be a burden to him!" grumbled old Bertram to himself. + +"But, father, we are so rich! We have enough for so many people," +pleaded Sybil. + +"Not enough to enrich all the Howes, my dear! But I like the young man, +I really do like him, and if he had more money, and less relations, I +should prefer him to any young man in the neighborhood for a +son-in-law." + +"O father, dear father, thank you, thank you for saying that," exclaimed +Sybil, fervently kissing his hands. + +"And now that you have told me your mind, what do you want me to do, my +darling?" he inquired, returning her caresses. + +"Oh, dear father! an old man like you must know! I do want you to give +Lyon help and encouragement as you know best how to do it, without +wounding his pride. You sympathize with his political principles; let +him know that you do. You admire his character; let him feel that you +do." + +"What else?" + +"This. Since old Mr. Godwin died you have had no agent for your large +estate, and its accounts must be falling into disorder, Lyon is a +lawyer, you know. Offer him the agency of your estate, with a liberal +salary." + +"Upon my word, I never thought of that before. Here for three months I +have been thinking whom I could get as an agent, and much as I esteemed +that young man I never once thought of applying to him! But the fact is, +I never looked upon him in the light of a business man, but only as a +brilliant barrister, and eloquent pleader." + +"Yet, father, you know he _must_ be a good business man to have +collected such great stores of statistics as he has always at command." + +"Well, my love, I will go to-day and offer him the agency. Now what +next?" + +"He was too poor and too proud to come before, but as your agent, father, +you must bring him often to the house on business." + +"And then?" + +"You must leave the rest to me." + +Thus it was that the young lawyer became the agent for the great Black +Valley Manor. This agency included not only the management of the +revenues from several rich farms, but also those from the stone +quarries, iron mines, and the water mill at the head of the valley, and +also from the real estate in the village at the foot, all of which was +included in the Black Valley Manor. + +The new agent was frequently called to Black Hall, where he was always +received with the utmost courtesy. And as the acquaintance between the +proprietor and the agent ripened into intimacy, a deep and strong +attachment grew between them. + +"Youth never showed itself wiser or better than in this young man," +murmured Mr. Berners to himself. + +"Age was never so venerable and beautiful as in this old man," thought +John Lyon Howe to himself. + +The old man loaded the young one with many marks of his esteem and +affection. The young man returned these with the warmest gratitude and +highest reverence. + +When John Lyon Howe, with his heart filled with love for Sybil Berners, +first entered Black Hall, it was without the slightest suspicion of her +responsive love for him. But when they were thrown so much together, he +was not very long in making the discovery so delightful to his soul, +and yet--so trying too! for, as a man of good principles, there seemed +to be but one course left open to him--the course of self-denial! He +loved the great heiress, and had unintentionally won her love! Therefore +he must fly from her presence, trying to forget her, hoping that she +might forget him. + +He summoned up courage for the sacrifice, and went into the study of his +employer and in a few words told him that he had come to say good-bye. + +The astonished old man looked up for an explanation. + +John Lyon Howe gave it to him. + +"And so you wish to leave me, never to return to the Hall, because you +love my daughter." + +The young man bowed in silence; but could not conceal the misery it +caused him to make this acknowledgment. + +"But why should that oblige you to leave the house?" inquired Mr. +Berners. + +"Oh, sir! can you ask?" exclaimed Mr. Howe. + +"Oh, I see! the little witch has refused you!" exclaimed old Bertram +with a twinkle in his eye. "Come, is it not so?" + +"Sir, I have never abused your confidence so far as to seek her hand! I +could not make so base a return for your kindness to me." + +"Oh, you have never asked her to marry you! How in the world, then, can +you know whether she will accept you or not? or, consequently, whether +it will be necessary for you to leave or not?" + +"Oh, sir! what is it that you would say?" exclaimed the young man, in +quick, broken tones, while his face turned pale with agitation. + +"Nonsense, my boy! When I was young a youth didn't require so much +encouragement to woo a maiden. Before you make up your mind to leave me, +go and ask Sybil's consent to the step." + +"Oh, sir! oh, Mr. Berners! do you mean this?" gasped the young man, +catching at the back of the chair for support. He was inured to sorrow, +but not to joy. And this joy was so sudden and overwhelming that he +reeled under it. + +"I mean what I say, Mr. Howe. I esteem and respect you. I sanction your +addresses to my daughter," said old Bertram, speaking with more gravity +and dignity than he had before displayed. + +John Lyon fervently kissed his old friend's hand, and went immediately +in search of Sybil. And that same night, old Bertram had the pleasure of +joining their hands together in solemn betrothal. + +"And now I can die happy," said the old man, earnestly; "for it was not +another great fortune, but a good husband that I coveted for my darling +child." + +Ten days from this night, old Bertram Berners dropped into his last +sleep. He was well and happy up to the last hour of his life. The "Wave +of Death," found him in his arm-chair, and bore him off without a +struggle to the "Ocean of Eternity." So old Bertram Berners was gathered +to his fathers. + +The year of mourning was permitted to pass, and then John Lyon Howe, +having, according to the conditions of the marriage contract, assumed +the name and arms of Berners, was united in marriage to the beautiful +Sybil. And they set out on their bridal tour as Mr. and Mrs. Lyon +Berners. + +And now we will again look in upon them as they linger over their +tea-table in the old inn at Norfolk, where we first introduced them to +our readers. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER. + + + "From the glance of her eye + Shun danger and fly, + for fatal's the glance." + + +Very happy were the married lovers as they sat over their tea, even +though the scene of their domestic joy was just now but an inn-parlor. +Both the young people had good appetites: gratified love had not +deprived them of that. + +They talked of their homeward journey and how pleasant it would be in +this glorious autumn weather, and of their home and how glad they would +be to reach it--yes, how glad! For, paradoxical as it may seem to say +so, there is no happiness so perfect as that which looks forward to +something still more perfect, if such could be possible in the future. +They talked of the Black Valley, and how beautiful even that would look +in its gorgeous October livery. + +Suddenly in the midst of their sweet converse they heard the sound of +weeping--low, deep, heart-broken weeping. + +Both paused, looked at each other and listened. + +The sound seemed to come from a room on the opposite side of the passage +to their own apartment. + +"What is that?" inquired Sybil, looking up to her husband's face. + +"It seems to be some woman in distress," answered Lyon. + +"Oh! see what it is, dear, will you?" entreated Sybil. + +She was herself so happy, that it was really dreadful to be reminded +just then that sorrow should exist in this world; at all. + +"Oh, go and see what is the matter. Do, dear," she insisted, seeing that +he hesitated. + +"I would do so, dear, in a moment, but it might be indiscreet on my +part. The lady may be a party to some little domestic misunderstanding, +with which it would be impertinent in any stranger to interfere," +answered the more thoughtful husband. + +"A domestic misunderstanding! O, dear Lyon, that such things should be! +Fancy you and I having a misunderstanding!" exclaimed Sybil, with a +shiver. + +"I cannot fancy anything of the sort, my darling; Heaven forbid that I +could!" said Lyon, fervently. + +"Amen to that! But listen! Ah! how she weeps and wails! Oh, Lyon, how I +pity her! Oh, how I wish I could do something for her! Oh, Lyon, are you +sure it would be improper for me to go and see if I can relieve her in +any way?" pleaded Sybil. + +"Quite sure, my darling; I am quite sure that you must not interfere, at +least at this stage. If this should be a case in which we can be of +service, we shall be likely to know it when the waiter answers the bell +that I rung some five minutes since," said Lyon, soothingly. + +But Sybil could not rest with the sound of that weeping and wailing in +her ears. She left her chair and began to walk up and down the floor, +and to pause occasionally at her door to listen. + +Suddenly a door on the opposite side of the passage opened, and the +voice of the landlord was heard, apparently speaking to the weeping +woman. + +"I beg you won't distress yourself, ma'am; I am sure I wouldn't do +anything to distress you for the world. Keep up your spirits, ma'am. +Something may turn up yet, you know," he said as he closed the opposite +door again; and then crossing the passage, he knocked at the door of the +Berners' apartments. + +"Come in," said Lyon Berners eagerly, while Sybil paused in her restless +walk and gazed breathlessly at the door. + +Both were so interested, they could not have told why, in that weeping +woman. + +The landlord entered and closed the door behind him, and advanced with a +bow and an apology. + +"I am afraid that you and your good lady have been disturbed by the +noise in the other room; but really I could not help it. I have done all +I could to comfort the poor creature; but really you know, 'Rachel +weeping for her children' was nothing to this woman. She's been going on +in this way for the last three days, sir. I did hope she would be quiet +this evening. I told her that I had guests in these rooms. But, Lord, +sir! I might just as well try to reason with a thunderstorm as with her. +I wish I had quieter rooms to put you in, sir." + +"Pray do not think of us. It is not the disturbance we mind on our own +account; it is to hear a fellow creature in so much distress. A guest of +the house?" inquired Mr. Berners. + +"Yes, sir; worse luck." + +"She has lost friends or--fortune?" continued Berners delicately +investigating the case, while Sybil looked and listened with the deepest +interest. + +"Both, sir! Both, sir! All, sir! Everything, sir! It is really a case of +atrocious villainy, sir! And I may say, a case of extreme difficulty as +well! A case in which I need counsel myself, sir," said the landlord, +with every appearance of being as willing to give information as to take +advice. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE LANDLORD'S STORY. + + + "What wit so sharp is found in youth or age + That can distinguish truth from treachery? + Falsehood puts on the face of simple truth, + And masks i' th' habit of plain honesty, + When she in heart intends most villany." + + +"Sit down, Mr. Judson; sit down, and tell us all about this matter; and +if we can aid either you or your distressed lodger in any way, we shall +be glad to do so," said Mr. Berners, earnestly. + +"Yes, indeed," added Sybil, throwing herself down in her easy-chair, +with a deep breath of relief and anticipation. + +"Well, sir, and madam," commenced the landlord, frankly accepting the +offered seat, "the case is this: About ten days ago there arrived in +this city, by the ship Banshee, from Cork, a lady, gentleman, and child, +with two servants, who came directly to this house. The gentleman +registered his party as Mr. and Mrs. Horace Blondelle, child, nurse, and +valet, and he engaged the very best rooms in the house--the rooms +corresponding to these on the opposite side of the passage, you know, +madam." + +"Yes," assented Mrs. Berners. + +"Well, sir, and Mr. Horace Blondelle ordered, besides the best rooms, +everything else that was best in the house, and, indeed, better than the +house contained; for, for his supper that very night, I had to send by +his directions, and procure Johanesberg, Moselle, and other rare and +costly wines, such as are seldom or never called for here. But then you +know, sir, he was a foreign gentleman." + +"Certainly," agreed Lyon, with a smile. + +"Next day, the finest horses and carriages from the livery stables. And +so on in the highest scale of expense, until his week's bill ran up to +seven hundred dollars. As a good deal of this was money paid out of my +pocket for costly wines and costly horses, I sent in my account on the +Saturday night. It is the usual thing, however, madam." + +"I know," answered Mrs. Berners. + +"Well, Mr. Horace Blondelle very promptly settled it by handing me a +check on the local bank for the amount. It was too late then to cash my +check, as the bank had been for some hours closed. But I resolved to +take it to the bank the first thing on Monday morning to get the money; +and I left Mr. Horace Blondelle's apartments with a secret feeling of +commendation for his prudence in putting his ready money in the local +bank, instead of keeping it about him in a crowded hotel like this. For, +you know, sir, that the recent daring robbery at the Monroe House has +proved to us that even the office safe is not _always_ 'safe.'" + +"Not always," echoed Mr. Berners. + +"Well, sir, and madam, I was so well pleased with my guest's promptitude +in settling his bill, that I redoubled my attentions to his comfort and +that of his party. On the Sunday he commenced the week's account by +giving a large dinner-party, for he had made acquaintances in the town. +And again the most expensive delicacies and the mostly costly wines were +ordered, with the most lavish extravagance. And they kept up the +festivities in rather a noisy manner through the whole night, which was +painful to me, I being a Churchman. But then, you know, madam, a +landlord can not interfere with his guests to that extent." + +"Certainly not," admitted Mrs. Berners. + +"Well, sir, the next morning after such a carousal, I naturally expected +my guests to sleep late, so I was not surprised that the stillness of +their rooms remained unbroken by any sound even up to ten o'clock. At +that hour however, the bank opened, and I went myself to get my check +cashed. There, sir, I got another check. Judge of my astonishment when +the cashier, after examining Mr. Horace Blondelle's paper, declared that +he knew no such person, and that there was no money deposited in that +bank to the credit of that name." + +"It was a swindle!" exclaimed Mr. Berners, impulsively. + +"It was a swindle," admitted the landlord. "Yes, sir, a swindle of the +basest sort, though I did not know it even then. I was inclined to be +angry with the cashier, but I reflected that there was probably a +mistake of some sort; so I hurried back home and inquired if Mr. Horace +Blondelle had shown himself yet. I was told that he had not yet even +rung his bell. Then I went to his private parlor, which had been the +scene of last night's dinner giving and Sabbath breaking. The servants +of the house had removed all signs of the carousal, and were moving +noiselessly about the room while restoring it to order, so as not to +disturb the rest of Mr. and Mrs. Horace Blondelle in the bedroom +adjoining. I told my people that, as soon as Mr. Blondelle should awake, +they must tell him that I begged leave to wait on him on a matter of +business. It is as well to say, that while I lingered in the room, the +nurse came in with the child, a pretty, fair-haired boy of five years +old. They occupied a little chamber at the end of the passage, in easy +reach of the child's mother. The nurse came in, hushing and cautioning +the child not to make a noise, lest he should wake up poor mamma and +papa, who were so tired. I mention this little domestic incident +because, in some strange way that I cannot begin to understand, it +quieted my misgivings, so that I went below and waited patiently for the +rising of Mr. Horace Blondelle. Madam, I might have waited till this +time!" said the landlord, pausing solemnly. + +"Why? go on and tell me!" impulsively exclaimed Mrs. Berners. + +"Why? I will soon let you know. I waited until long after noon. And +still no sound from the bedroom. I walked in and out of the +sitting-room, where the table was set for breakfast, and still no sound +from the bedroom. And in the sitting-room no sound of occupation but +the waiting breakfast-table in the middle of the floor, and the nurse +seated at one of the windows with the impatient child at her knee. + +"'Your master and mistress sleep late,' I said. + +"'Yes, sir, they were up late last night,' she replied while twisting +the child's golden ringlets around her fingers, in pure idleness, for +they did not need curling. + +"I went away and staid away for about an hour, and then returned to the +sitting-room. No sound from the bedroom yet. No change in the +sitting-room, except that the nurse had taken a seat at the corner of +the table with the child on her lap, and was feeding him from a bowl of +milk and bread. + +"'Your master and mistress not up yet?' I ventured to say. + +"'No, sir, and no sign of them; I am giving little Crowy his supper, and +am going to put him to bed. And if the bell don't ring by that time, I +shall make bold to knock at the door and wake them up. Because, sir, I'm +getting uneasy. Something might be the matter, though I don't know +what,' said the girl, anxiously. + +"'So am I, I wish you would. And when your master has breakfasted, tell +him I wish to be permitted to wait on him,' I said to the girl, and I +left the room for the tenth time, I do suppose, that day." + +"Well!" eagerly exclaimed Sybil. + +"Well, madam, in less than an hour from that time, one of the waiters +came to me with looks of alarm, and said that something must have +happened in number 90, for that the lady's maid had been knocking and +calling loudly at the door for the last ten minutes without being able +to make herself heard within." + +"Oh!" breathed Sybil, clasping her hands. + +"Madam, I hurried to the spot. I joined my efforts to those of the +terrified maid to arouse the sleepers within the chamber, but with no +effect. The maid was almost crazy by this time, ma'am." + +"'Oh, sir, are they murdered in their bed?' she cried to me. + +"'Murdered? No, but something has happened, and we must force open the +door, my good girl,' I said by way of calming her. You may well judge, +sir, that I did not send for a locksmith; but with a crowbar, hastily +procured from below, I hoisted the door from its hangings and effected +an entrance." + +"And then? And then?" breathlessly inquired Sybil, perceiving that the +landlord paused for a moment. + +"We found the room in the utmost confusion. Chests of drawers, +clothes-presses, boxes, and so forth, stood wide open, with their +contents scattered over the floor. We glanced at the bed, and the maid +uttered a wild scream, and even I felt my blood run cold; for there lay +the form of the lady, still, cold, pallid, livid, like that of a corpse +many hours dead. No sign of Blondelle was to be seen about the chamber." + +"Oh! had he murdered her and fled?" gasped Sybil, with a half-suppressed +hysterical sob. + +Mr. Berners passed his arm around her shoulders and drew her head down +upon his breast, and signed for the landlord to proceed with his story. + +"Sir," continued Mr. Judson, "I went up to that bedside in the worst +panic I ever felt in all my life. My heart was hammering at my ribs like +a trip-hammer. First I took up the white hand that was hanging +helplessly down by the side of the bed; and I was glad to find that it +was limber, though cold as ice. Life might not be extinct. I ran down +and dispatched several servants in different directions for physicians, +being determined to insure the attendance of one, even at the risk of +bringing a dozen, and having all their fees to pay." + +"You never thought of fees, I'll guarantee," said Mr. Berners. + +"Indeed I did not. I thought only of the lady. I sent my old mother to +her bedside, with a request that she would keep everybody else out of +the room until the arrival of a physician, and to let nothing be +touched; for you see, sir, I did not know but what the attendance of a +coroner would be called for as well." + +"Oh, how terrible!" murmured Sybil, from her shelter on her husband's +breast. + +"Yes, madam, but not so terrible as we feared. Not to tire you with too +long an account of this bad business, I will tell you at once the result +of the physician's examination. It was, that this death-like sleep or +coma of the lady was produced by some powerful narcotic, but by what or +for what purpose administered, he could not discover. The maid was +questioned as to whether her mistress was in the habit of using any form +of opium, and answered that she certainly was not. Well, madam, the +doctor left the lady under the care of my mother, with directions to +watch her pulse, and on any indication of its failure, to summon him +immediately." + +"She was in danger, then?" + +"Apparently. My mother watched beside her bed all that night; the lady +did not awake until the next morning--that was the Tuesday; and the poor +soul thought it was Monday! You see twenty-four hours had been lost to +her consciousness." + +"And her infamous husband?" inquired Mr. Berners. + +"Neither he nor his valet were to be found. I had the police upon his +track, you may be sure; though I did not, at the time of the lady's +awakening, know the full extent of his atrocious villainy. I knew he +had swindled me, but I did not know that he had robbed and forsaken his +lovely young wife." + +"Robbed and forsaken his wife?" echoed Sybil, piteously. + +"Yes, madam, incredible as it seems. But I did not know this until the +lady came to her senses. When she first awoke and found my mother seated +by her bed, she expressed much surprise, at _her_ presence and at her +own husband's absence. My mother, a plain spoken old lady, blurted out +the truth--how Mr. Horace Blondelle, after imposing a worthless check +upon me, in payment of my bill, had absconded with his valet, and been +missing ever since the night of the dinner-party, and that she, Mrs. +Blondelle, had slept profoundly through all these events. + +"Oh, what a dreadful tale for the poor young wife to hear!" sighed +Sybil. + +"It was worse than anything I ever saw in my life, madam--her grief and +shame and despair! She arose from her bed and began to examine her +effects, to see what she might have left, and how far they would go +towards settling my bill. She possessed some invaluable jewelry in +diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. I know she did, for I had seen her wear +them. She alluded to these, and said that they were worth many thousand +dollars, and that she would sell some of them to satisfy my claims. She +began to look for them, and then it was only by her broken exclamations +of dismay that I came to know that he had robbed her." + +"The unnatural monster!" indignantly exclaimed Mr. Berners, while Sybil +gazed in almost incredulous consternation. + +"Yes, sir, and madam, the truth was now apparent, even to the poor lady; +and it was this--that on the night of the dinner-party he had heavily +drugged her wine, so that when she retired to bed she fell into that +deep, death-like sleep. Then he took advantage of her state to get +possession of her keys, and to rifle her boxes and caskets, and make off +with her money and jewels." + +"Poor, poor woman!" sighed Sybil. + +"This, madam," continued the landlord, turning to Mrs. Burners, +"occurred four days ago. Since that time her base husband has been +traced to New York, and there lost sight of." + +"And she?" inquired Sybil. + +"She, madam, has given herself up to the wildest grief and despair. She +is as simple and as helpless as her own child. She has not the faintest +notion of self-reliance. And here is where the trouble is with me. I +have already lost several hundred dollars through this swindling +villain. The wife and child he has left behind him are still occupying +my best suite of apartments, for which, during their stay here, I shall +not receive one penny of remuneration: therefore you see I cannot afford +to keep this lady and her suite here, and neither can I find it in my +heart to tell her to leave the house. For where, indeed, can she go? She +has no friends or acquaintances in this country, no money, and no +property that she can effectually turn into money." + +"Has she no one to pity her among the ladies in the house?" inquired +Sybil. + +"There are no ladies staying in the house at present, madam. Our patrons +are usually travellers, who seldom remain over one night." + +"But--the women of your family?" suggested Sybil. + +"There are no women in this family, except my old mother, who keeps +house for me, and the female servants under her. I am a widower, madam, +with half a dozen sons, but no daughters," returned the landlord. + +Sybil lifted her head from her husband's shoulder, where it had rested +so long, and looked wistfully in her husband's eyes. He smiled, and +nodded assent to what seemed to have been a silent interrogation. Then +she took from her pocket a little gold-enamelled card-case, drew from it +a card and a pencil, and wrote a few lines and handed it to the +landlord, saying: + +"Mr. Judson, will you do me the favor to take this in to the unhappy +lady at once, and see if she will receive me this evening? I feel as if +I would like to try to comfort and serve her," + +"I will with pleasure, madam; and I have no doubt that the mere +expression of sympathy from another lady will be to her like a drop of +water to a feverish palate," said the landlord, as he left the room. + +"Dear Lyon, I have a favor to ask of you," said Sybil, as soon as she +was alone with her husband. + +"A favor! a right, my beloved! There is nothing that you can ask of me +that is not your right to receive!" + +"No, no; a favor. I like to ask and receive favors from you, dear Lyon." + +"Call my service what you will, dear love! a right or a favor, it is +always yours! What, then, is this favor, sweet Sybil?" + +"That you will give me a perfect _carte blanche_ in my manner of dealing +with this poor little lady, even though my manner should seem foolish or +extravagant." + +At these words from his ardent, generous, romantic wife, Lyon Berners +looked very grave. What, indeed might Sybil, with her magnanimity and +munificence _not_ think proper to do for this utter stranger--this +possible adventuress? Lyon looked very solemn over this proposal from +his wife. He hesitated for a moment; but her large, clear, honest eyes +were fixed full upon him, waiting for his reply. Could he refuse her +request? Did _he_ not owe everything to her, and to that very high-flown +spirit of generosity which was not only a fault (if it were a fault) of +Sybil, but a trait common to all her race. + +"As you will, my darling wife! I should be a cur, and worse than a +cur--a thankless wretch--to wish to restrain you in anything!" he +answered, sealing his agreement on her velvet lips. + +In another minute the landlord re-entered the room. + +"Mrs. Blondelle's thanks and compliments, and she will be very grateful +for Mrs. Berners' visit, as soon as Mrs. Berners pleases to come," was +the message that Mr. Judson brought. + +Sybil arose with a smile, kissed her hand playfully to her husband, and +passed out of the room. + +The landlord went before her, rapped at the opposite door, then opened +it, announced the visitor, and closed it behind her. + +Sybil advanced a step into the stranger's apartment, and then paused in +involuntary admiration. + +She had heard and read of celebrated beauties, whose charms had +conquered the wisest statesmen and the bravest warriors, who had +governed monarchs and ministers, and raised or ruined kingdoms and +empires. And often in poetic fancy she had tried to figure to herself +one of these fairy forms and faces. But never, in her most romantic +moods, had she imagined a creature so perfectly beautiful as this one +that she saw before her. + +The stranger had a form of the just medium size, and of the most perfect +proportions; a head of stately grace; features small, delicate, and +clearly cut; a complexion at once fair and rosy, like the inside of an +apple blossom; lips like opening rose-buds; eyes of dark azure blue, +fringed with long dark eye-lashes, and over-arched by slender, dark +eyebrows; and hair of a pale, glistening, golden hue that fell in soft, +bright ringlets, like a halo around her angelic face. She wore a robe of +soft, pale, blue silk, that opened over a white silk skirt. + +She arose with an exquisite grace to welcome her visitor. + +"It is very good of you, madam, to come to see me in my misery," she +murmured, in a sweet, pathetic tone that went to her visitor's heart, as +she sat a chair, and, by a graceful gesture invited her to be seated. + +Sybil was herself impulsive and confiding, as well as romantic and +generous. She immediately drew her chair up to the side of the strange +lady, took her hand affectionately, and tried to look up in her eyes, as +she said: + +"We are personal strangers to each other; but we are the children of one +Father, and sisters who should care for each other." + +"Ah! who would care to claim sisterhood with such a wretch as I am?" +sighed the unhappy young creature. + +"_I_ would; but you must not call yourself ill-names. Misfortunes are +not sins. I came here to comfort and help you--to comfort and help you +not in words merely, but in deeds; and I have both the power and the +will to do it, if you will please to let me try," said Sybil, gently. + +The young creature looked up, her lovely, tearful, blue eyes expanded +with astonishment. + +"You offer to comfort and help me! _Me_--a perfect stranger, with a +cloud of dishonor hanging over me! Oh, madam, if you knew _all_, you +would certainly withdraw your kind offer," she said. + +"I will not withdraw it in any event. I _do_ know all that your landlord +could tell me, and that awakens my deepest sympathy for you. But I do +not know all that _you_ could tell me. Now, dear, I want you to confide +in me as you could not confide either in your landlord, or even in his +mother." + +"Oh, no, no! I could not tell either of them. They were kind; but--oh, +so hard!" + +"Now, dear, then, look in my face, look well, and tell me whether you +can confide in me," said Sybil, gently. + +"If I had never seen your heavenly countenance--if I had only heard +your heavenly voice, I could confide in you, as in the holy mother of +Christ," said the stranger fervently. + +"Tell me then, dear; tell me all you wish to tell; relieve your heart; +lay all your burdens on my bosom; and then you shall feel how well I can +comfort and help you," said Sybil, putting her hand around the fair neck +and drawing the little golden-haired head upon her breast. + +Then and there the friendless young stranger--friendless now, no +more--told her piteous story. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + ROSA BLONDELLE. + + + Her form had all the softness of her sex, + Her face had all the sweetness of the devil + When he put on the cherub to perplex + Eve, and to pave, Heaven knows how, the road to evil.--BYRON. + + +She had been the penniless orphan daughter of a noble, but impoverished +Scotch family. She had been left, by the death of her parents, dependent +upon harsh and cruel relatives. She had been given in marriage, at the +age of fifteen, to a wealthy old gentleman, whose years quadrupled hers. +But he had used her very kindly, and she had performed her simple duty +of love and obedience as well as she knew how to do it. After two years +of tranquil domestic happiness, the old man died, leaving her a young +widow seventeen years of age, sole guardian to their infant son, between +whom and herself he had divided his whole estate. + +After the death of her old husband, the youthful widow lived in strict +seclusion for nearly two years, devoting herself exclusively to the care +of her child. + +But in the third year the health of the little Cromartie required a +change, and his mother, by her physician's advice, took the boy to +Scarborough. That fashionable watering place was then at the height of +its season, and filled with visitors. + +Thus it was impossible but that the wealthy young widow should attract +much attention. She was inevitably drawn into the maelstrom of society, +into which she rushed with all the impetuosity of a novice or an +inexperienced recluse, to which all the scenes of the gay world were as +delightful as they were novel. + +She had many suitors for her hand; but none found favor in her eyes but +Mr. Horace Blondelle, a very handsome and attractive young gentleman, +whose principal passport into good society seemed to be his distant +relationship to the Duke of Marchmonte. _How_ he lived no one knew. +_Where_ he lived everyone might see, for he always occupied the best +suits of apartments in the best hotel of any town or city in which he +might be for the time sojourning. + +We, every one of us know, or know _of_, Mr. Horace Blondelle. There are +scores of him scattered about the great hotels of all the large cities +in Europe and America. But the simplest maiden or the silliest widow in +society, is seldom taken in by him. + +There, however, at Scarborough, was an inexperienced poor little +creature from the Highlands, who had never in her life seen any one more +attractive than the red-headed heroes of her native hills, and who, +having aurific tresses of her own, was particularly prejudiced against +that splendid hue, and fatally ensnared by the raven ringlets and dark +eyes of this professional lady-killer. + +And thus it followed of course, that this beast of prey devoured the +pretty little widow and all her substance with less hesitation or +remorse than a cobra might have felt in swallowing a canary bird. + +So complete was her hallucination, so perfect her trust in him, that +she took no precaution of having any part of her property settled upon +herself; and, in marrying this man she gave him an absolute control over +her own fortune, and a dangerous, if limited, influence over that of her +infant son. + +This very imprudent marriage was followed by a few months of delusive +happiness on the part of the bride; for the little fair beauty adored +her dark-haired Apollo, who graciously accepted her adoration. + +But then came satiety and weariness and inconstancy on the part of the +husband, who soon commenced the pleasing pastime of breaking the wife's +heart. + +Yet still, for some little time longer, she, with a deplorable fatuity, +believed in and loved him. After he had squandered her own fortune on +gaming-tables and race-courses, he wished to get possession of the +fortune of her son. To do this he persuaded her to sell out certain +stock and entrust him with the proceeds, to be invested, as he convinced +her, in railway shares in America, that would pay at least two hundred +per cent. dividends, and in a few months double that money. + +Acting as her son's guardian and trustee, acting also, as she thought, +in his best interests, the deluded mother did as her husband directed. +She sold out the stocks, and confided the proceeds to him. + +Then it was that they made the voyage to America, ostensibly to purchase +the railway shares in question. His real motive in bringing her to this +country was, doubtless, to take her as far as possible from her native +place and her old acquaintances, so as to prosecute the more safely and +effectually his fraudulent designs. + +How they had arrived at Norfolk and taken rooms at the Anchor, and how +he had robbed and deserted her there, has already been told. + +Sybil Berners listened to this sad and revolting story of woman's +weakness and man's criminality with mingled emotions of pity and +indignation. + +"Believe me," she said, tenderly taking the hand of the injured wife, "I +feel the deepest sympathy with your misfortunes. I will do everything in +my power to comfort and help you--not in words only, but in deeds; and I +only grieve, dear, that I cannot give you back your husband in his honor +and integrity as you once regarded him," added this loving and confiding +wife, to whom no misery seemed so great as that caused by the default +and desertion of a husband. + +"Oh, do not name him to me!" burst forth in pain from the lips of Rosa +Blondelle; "oh, I hope, as long as I may live in this world, never to be +wounded by the sound of his base name, or blasted with the sight of his +false face again." + +Sybil Berners shrank in dismay from the excited woman, who continued, +vehemently: + +"Do you wonder at this? I tell you, madam, it is possible for love to +die a sudden and violent death, for mine has done so within the last +three days." + +"I am deeply grieved to hear you say so, for it proves how much you must +have suffered--how much more than even I had imagined. But try to take a +little comfort. I and my own dear husband will be your friends, will be +a sister and a brother to you," said Sybil earnestly, with all the +impulsive, unlimited generosity of her youth and her race, awakened by +her sympathy with the sorrows of this young stranger. + +"Oh, madam, you--" began Rosa, but her voice broke down in sobs. + +"Take comfort," continued Sybil, laying her little brown hand on that +fair golden head, "take comfort. Think, you have not lost all. You have +your child left." + +"Ah, my child!" cried Rosa, in a tone like a shriek of anguish, "my +child, my wronged and ruined babe! The sight of him is a sword through +my bosom! my child that _he_ robbed and made _me_ an accomplice in +robbing--it is maddening to think of it." + +"Then do not think of it," said Sybil, gently, and still caressing the +bowed head; "think of anything else--think of what I am going to say to +you. Listen. While you remain in this crowded and noisy hotel, you can +never recover calmness enough to act with any good effect. So I wish you +to come home with me and my dear husband to our quiet country house, and +be our cherished guest until you can communicate with your friends, or +come to some satisfactory decision concerning your future course." + +While Sybil spoke these words, the young stranger raised her head and +looked up with gradually dilating eyes. + +"Come, now; what say you? Will you be our dear and welcome guest this +autumn?" smiled Sybil. + +"Oh, _do_ you mean this? _can_ you mean it?" exclaimed Rosa, in +something like an ecstasy of surprise and gratitude. + +"In our secluded country house, with sympathizing friends around you," +continued Sybil, still caressing Rosa's little golden-haired head, and +speaking all the more calmly because of Rosa's excitement, "you will +have repose and leisure to collect your thoughts and to write to your +friends in the old country, and to wait without hurry or anxiety to hear +from them." + +"Oh, angels in Heaven, do you hear what this angel on earth is saying to +me! Oh, was ever such divine goodness seen under the sun before! Oh, +dear lady, you amaze, you confound me with your heavenly goodness!" +exclaimed the young stranger, in strong emotion. + +Sybil took her hand, and still all the more gently for the increasing +agitation of Rosa, she continued: + +"We are daughters of the Divine Father, sisters in one suffering +humanity, and so we should care for each other. At present you are +suffering, and I have some power to comfort you. In the future our +positions may be reversed, and _I_ may be the sufferer and you the +comforter. Who can tell?" + +"O, dear lady, Heaven forbid that great heart of yours should ever be +called to suffer, or that you should ever need such poor help as mine. +But this I know: so penetrated am I by your goodness, that, if ever you +should lose your present happiness and my death would restore it, I +would die to give it back to you," fervently exclaimed the stranger. + +And for the moment she felt as she had spoken, for she was most +profoundly moved by a magnanimity she had never seen equalled. + +Sybil blushed like a child, and found nothing to say in reply to this +excessive praise. She only left her hand in the clasp of the stranger, +who covered it with kisses, and then continued: + +"When I first saw your little white card and the delicate tracery of +your name and your kind words, I seemed to know it was a friend's +writing. And when I first saw your sweet face and heard your tender +tones, both so full of heavenly pity, I felt that the good Lord had not +forsaken me, for He had sent one of his holy angels to visit me. Ah, +lady, if you had only come and looked at me so and spoken to me so, and +then passed out and away forever, still, still, that look and that tone +would have remained with me, a comfort and a blessing for all time. But +now--but now to hold out your hands to lead me to a place in your own +home, by your own side--oh, it is too much! too much!" + +And tears of many mingled emotions flowed down the speaker's cheeks. + +"There, there!" said Sybil, utterly confused by this excessive, but most +sincere adulation, yet still caressing the stranger's fair head, "there, +dear, dry your eyes, and tell me if you can be ready to leave this place +with us to-morrow morning." + +Again the foreign lady seized and kissed the hands of her new friend, +exclaiming fervently: + +"Yes dear lady, yes! I am too deeply touched by your heavenly goodness +not to be anxious to profit by it as soon as possible." + +"Then I will leave you to your preparations for the journey," said +Sybil, rising. + +Rosa also stood up. + +"There will be much to be done in a short time. Will you let me send my +maid to help yours?" inquired Sybil, with a hesitating smile. + +"Thanks, dear madam. I shall be much obliged," replied Rosa, with a bow. + +"And there is yet another request I have to make," added Mrs. Berners, +pausing with her hand upon the latch of the door--"Will you kindly meet +us at breakfast at eight o'clock to-morrow morning in our private +sitting-room, so that I may make you acquainted with my husband before +we all start on our journey together?" + +"With pleasure, dear lady! It is your will to load me with benefits, and +you must be gratified," replied Rosa, with a faint smile. + +"Then I will come myself and fetch you, a little before the hour," added +Sybil, playfully throwing a kiss as she darted through the door. + +When she re-entered her own apartment, she found her husband impatiently +pacing up and down the floor. + +"How very long you have been, my darling Sybil," he said, with all the +fondness of a newly-wedded lover, as he went to meet her. + +"Oh, I am so glad you thought it long!" she answered mischievously, as +she took his hand and pulled him to the big easy-chair and pushed him +down into it. + +"Sit down there, and listen to me," she said, with a pretty little air +of authority. Then she drew an ottoman to his side and sunk down upon +it, and leaned her arms upon his knees, and lifted her beautiful dark +face, now all aglow with the delight of benevolence, and told him all +that had passed in the interview between herself and Mrs. Blondelle. + +And Lyon Berners, with his arm over her graceful shoulders, his fingers +stringing her silken black ringlets, and his eyes gazing with infinite +tenderness and admiration down on her eloquent face, listened with +attentive interest to the story. But at its close, great was his +astonishment. + +"My dear, impulsive Sybil, what have you done!" he exclaimed. + +"What!" echoed Sybil, her crimson lips breathlessly apart--her dark eyes +dilated. + +"Love, you have invited a perfect stranger, casually met at a hotel--a +gambler's wife, even by her own showing, an adventuress by all other +appearances, to come and take up her abode with us for an indefinite +length of time!" + +Sybil's mouth opened, and her eyes dilated with an almost comical +expression of dismay. She had not a word to say in self-defence! + +"Do not think I blame you, dear, warm, imprudent heart! I only wonder at +you, and--adore you!" he said, earnestly pressing her to his bosom. + +"Oh, but you would have done as I did, if you had seen her distress!" +pleaded Sybil, recovering her powers of speech. + +"But could you not have helped her without inviting her home with us?" + +"But how?" inquired Sybil. + +"Could you not have paid her board? or lent her money?" + +"Oh, Lyon! Lyon!" said Sybil, slowly shaking her head and looking up in +his face with a heavenly benevolence beaming through her own. "Oh, Lyon! +it was not a boarding-house she wanted, it was a _refuge_, a home with +friends! But I am very sorry if this displeases you." + +"Dear, impetuous, self-forgetting child! I am not so impious as to find +fault with you." + +"But you do not like the lady's coming." + +"I should not like any visitor coming to stay with us and prevent our +_tete-a-tete_," said Lyon, gravely. + +"I thought of that too, dear, and with a pang of selfish regret; for of +course I would much rather that you and I should have our dear old home +to ourselves, than that any stranger should share it with us. But then, +oh, dearest Lyon, I reflected that we are so rich and happy in our home +and our love, and she is so poor and sorrowful in her exile and +desertion, that we might afford to comfort her from the abundance of our +blessings," said Sybil, earnestly. + +"My angel wife! you are worthier than I, and your will shall be done," +he gravely replied. + +"Not so, dear Lyon! But when you see this lady in her beauty and her +sorrow, you also will admire and pity her, and you will be glad that she +is coming to the refuge of our home." + +"I may be so," replied Mr. Berners with an arch smile, "but how will +your proud neighbors receive this questionable stranger?" + +The stately little head was lifted in an instant, and-- + +"My 'proud neighbors' well know that whom Sybil Berners protects with +her friendship is peer with the proudest among them!" she said, with a +hauteur not to be surpassed by the haughtiest in the Old Dominion. + +"Well said, my little wife! And now, as this matter is decided, I must +see about taking additional places in the stage-coach. How many will be +wanted? What retinue has this foreign princess in distress," inquired +Lyon, rather sarcastically. + +"There will be three places required, for the lady, child and nurse." + +"Whe-ew! My dear Sybil, we are collecting a ready made family! Does the +child squall? or the nurse drink?" inquired Lyon, with a laugh, as +without waiting for a reply he rang the bell, and gave the order for +three more places to be taken inside the Staunton coach for the morning. + +And soon after this the young pair retired to rest. + +Very early the next morning Sybil Berners came out of her chamber, +looking fresh and bright as the new day itself. She wore a close-fitting +travelling dress of crimson merino, that well became her elegant little +figure and rich, dark complexion. + +She glanced around the room to see that everything was in order. Yes; +the fire was bright, the hearth clean, the breakfast-table neatly set, +and the morning sun shining through the red-curtained windows and +glancing upon the silver tea-service. + +With a smile of satisfaction, she tossed back her raven-black ringlets, +and passed from the room and through the hall, and rapped at the door of +her new acquaintance. + +Mrs. Blondelle herself opened it, and stood there quite ready to +accompany her friend to breakfast. + +Radiantly beautiful looked the fair young stranger this morning, in the +dark, bright-blue cloth habit that so highly enhanced the dazzling +splendor of her blooming complexion and the golden glory of her hair. + +An instant Sybil paused in involuntary admiration, and then recovered +herself and greeted the lady with affectionate warmth. + +"It is nearly eight o'clock, dear, and breakfast is quite ready. Will +you come now?" inquired Sybil, when these salutations were passed. + +Rosa assented with a sweet smile, and Sybil led the way into her own +sitting-room. + +Mr. Berners had come in during his wife's short absence, and he now +stood before the fire with the morning paper in his hand. He put it down +on the table, and came forward to meet his wife, and to welcome her +guest. + +"Mrs. Blondelle, Mr. Berners," said Sybil, introducing the parties to +each other by the simplest formula. + +And while they were bowing together, Sybil was watching mischievously to +see what effect the dazzling beauty of Rosa Blondelle would have upon +Lyon Berners. + +She saw it! + +After bowing, they lifted their heads and looked at each other--he, at +first, with the courtesy of a host--but she with a radiant and +enchanting smile. + +Sybil was prepared to see Lyon's surprise at the first view of this +peerless creature; but she was by no means prepared to witness the +involuntary gaze of intense and breathless admiration and wonder that he +fixed for a moment on her beautiful face. That gaze said as eloquently +as words could have spoken: + +"This is the most wondrous, perfect creature that the world ever saw! +This is the master-piece of nature." + +With the sunlight of her smile still shining on him, Rosa held out her +hand, and said in the sweetest tones: + +"Sir, I have no words good enough to tell you how deeply I feel your +kindness and that of your dear wife to me." + +"Dear lady, Mrs. Berners and myself do but gratify our own tastes in +_trying_ to serve you; for it will be a great happiness to us if we +succeed in doing so," replied Lyon Berners, with a look and tone that +proved his perfect sincerity and earnestness. + +As thus they smiled and glanced, and spoke to each other, Sybil also +glanced from the one to the other; a sudden pang shot through her heart, +exciting a nameless dread in her mind. _"Even so quickly may one catch +the plague!"_ + +"Let me lead you to the table," said Mr. Berners, offering his arm to +Mrs. Blondelle, and conducting her to her place. + +Above all, Sybil was a lady; for she was a Berners. So, with this +strange wound in her heart, this vague warning in her mind, she took her +seat at the head of her table and did its honors with her usual courtesy +and grace. + +Mr. Berners seconded his wife in all hospitable attentions to their +beautiful young guest. + +While they were all still seated at the table, a groom rapped at the +door and reported the stage-coach ready. + +They all arose in a hurry, and began to make the last hasty preparations +for departure. + +Mrs. Blondelle hurried into her own room, to have her luggage taken down +stairs to be put on the coach, and also to summon her nurse with the +child. + +When Sybil Berners found herself for a moment alone with her husband, +she laid her hand upon his coat sleeve to stay him, in his haste, and +she inquired: + +"What do you think of her now?" + +"I think, my darling Sybil, that you were right in your judgment of this +lady. And I agree with you perfectly. I think, my only love, that in +what you have done for this stranger, you have acted not only with the +goodness, but with the wisdom of an angel," replied Lyon Berners, +snatching her suddenly to his heart, and holding her closely there while +he pressed kiss after kiss upon her crimson lip; and murmured: + +"I must steal a kiss from these sweet lips when and wherever I can, my +own one, since we are not to be much alone together now." + +And then he released her, and hurried off to put on his overcoat. + +Sybil stood for a minute, smiling, where he had left her, and so happy +that she forgot she had to get ready to go. The pain was gone from her +heart, and the cloud from her brain. + +And as yet, so little did she know of herself or others, that she could +not have told why the pain and the cloud ever came, or why they ever +went away. + +As yet she did not know that her husband's admiring smiles given to a +rival beauty had really caused her nameless suffering; or that it was +his loving caresses, bestowed upon herself, that had soothed it. + +In a word, Sybil Berners, the young bride, did not dream that the +bitter, bitter seed of JEALOUSY was germinating in her heart, to grow +and spread perhaps into a deadly upas of the soul, destroying all moral +life around it. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + DOWN IN THE DARK VALE. + + + Where rose the mountains, there for her were friends, + Where fell the valley, therein was her home; + Where the steep rock and dizzy peak ascends, + She had the passion and the power to roam. + The crag, the forest, cavern, torrent's foam, + Were unto her companions, and they spake + A natural language clearer than the tone + Of her best books, which she would oft forsake + For Nature's pages, lit by moonbeams on the lake.--BYRON. + + +Jealousy, once called to life in any human heart, is not easily to be +destroyed. Sybil Berners' almost unconscious jealousy suddenly called +into existence, and as suddenly soothed to sleep, was awakened again by +something that occurred just as the travellers were about to start. + +It was the merest trifle, yet one of those trifles which turn the course +of fate just as surely as the little switch of the railroad controls the +direction of the train. + +The travellers were just entering the stage-coach. Mr. Berners handed +in first Mrs. Blondelle, then Mrs. Berners, and then he himself entered. + +"You sit down here in this right-hand corner, Lyon, dear, and I will sit +in the middle next to you, and Mrs. Blondelle shall sit in the left-hand +corner next to me," said Sybil, still standing while she pointed out +their several places on the back seat; and she spoke perhaps under the +influence of a latent jealousy, that instigated her to place herself +between her husband and her guest, for that long journey. + +"No, no, my dear, not so; but if you will change places with me and take +the right-hand corner-seat, while our fair friend occupies the left-hand +one, I will sit between you two ladies, the proverbial 'thorn between +two roses,'" replied Lyon Berners, gayly and gallantly, with perhaps on +his side a latent desire to sit next the beautiful blonde, but also +quite unconscious of how these words had disappointed and wounded her +whom he would not have willingly wronged for the world. + +Sybil silently took her seat, leaving the others to follow her example. +Mr. Berners politely put Mrs. Blondelle in the left-hand corner, and +then seated himself in the middle seat, between his wife and her guest. + +In front of them, on the movable central seat, sat Mrs. Blondelle's +child and nurse. Facing them on the front seat, with their backs to the +horses, were the two negro servants, Mr. Berners' valet and Mrs. +Berners' maid. + +Though the morning was a very fine one for travelling, there were no +other passengers inside, or out. Mr. Berners and his party had the whole +coach to themselves, at least, at starting. + +Sybil thought she had never seen her husband in gayer spirits. As the +horses started and the coach rattled along over the stony streets of the +city, Mr. Berners turned smilingly to Mrs. Blondelle, and said: + +"I know of few pleasanter things in this pleasant world than a journey +through our native State of Virginia, taken at this delightful season of +the year; and of all routes I know of none affording such a variety of +beautiful and sublime scenery as this we are now starting upon." + +"How long will it take you to reach your beautiful home?" sweetly +inquired Rosa Blondelle. + +"We might reach it in two days, if we were to travel day and night; but +we shall be four days on the road, as we propose to put up at some +roadside inn or village each night," answered Lyon Berners. + +Meanwhile the coach rattled out of the city and into the open country, +where the landscape was fair, well-wooded, well-watered, but not +striking. + +"You must not judge the scenery of our State by this flat country around +our seaport," said Mr. Berners to his guest, with the air of a man +making an apology. + +"Yet this is very pleasant to look upon," answered Rosa, sincerely. + +"Yes, very pleasant, as you say; but you will use stronger language when +you see our vast forests, our high mountains, and deep valleys," +answered Lyon Berners with a smile. + +Sybil did not join in the conversation. She had not spoken since she had +unwillingly taken that corner seat. And worse than all, to her +apprehension, neither her husband nor her guest had noticed her silence. +They were apparently quite absorbed in each other. + +Some hours of jolting over bad turnpike roads brought the coach to the +interior of an old forest, where, at a wayside inn, the horses were +changed, and the travellers dined. Here, on resuming their seats in the +coach, they were joined by two other travellers, elderly country +gentlemen, who took the two vacant places inside, and who would have +made themselves very confidential with Mr. Berners on any subject +within their knowledge, from crops to Congress, if he had not been too +engaged with his fair guest to pay them much attention. Sybil continued +silent, except when occasionally her husband would ask her if she was +comfortable, or if he could do anything for her, when she would thank +him and answer that she was quite comfortable; and that he could do +nothing. And as far as bodily ease went, she spoke the truth. For the +rest, Sybil could not then and there ask him to leave off devoting +himself to their guest, and show _her_ more attention. + +A few more hours of more jolting over worse turnpike roads brought the +coach to the foot of the Blue Ridge, and to the picturesque village of +Underhill, where our party passed the night. Here, in the village inn, +Sybil Berners, feeling that Rosa Blondelle, as her guest, was entitled +to her courtesy, made an effort to forget the pain in her heart, the +shadow on her mind, and to do the honors of the table with her usual +affability and grace. + +After supper, which was pleasantly prolonged, the travellers separated, +and were shown to their several bed-chambers. + +And now, after twelve hours, Sybil found herself once more alone with +her husband. He had not perceived her silence and dejection during the +journey, or if he had, he certainly had not ascribed it to the right +cause. He was equally unconscious of having done a wrong, or inflicted a +wound. And now his manner to his wife was as tender, loving, and devoted +as it had ever been since their marriage. His very first words showed +this. On entering the room and closing the door, he suddenly threw his +arms around her, and clasped her to his bosom as a recovered treasure, +exclaiming: + +"Now, my darling, we are alone together once more, with no one to divide +us." + +"Thank Heaven!" breathed Sybil with all her heart; and her jealousy was +lulled to rest again by the kisses that he pressed on her lips. She said +to herself that all his devotion to Rosa Blondelle in the stage-coach +was but the proper courtesy of a gentleman to a lady guest, who was, +besides, a stranger in the country; and that she, his wife, ought to +admire, rather than to blame him for it--ought to be pleased, rather +than pained by it. + +Very early the next morning the travellers arose, in order to take the +earliest coach, which, having left Norfolk at sunset, would reach +Underhill at sunrise. + +Poor, ardent, impulsive Sybil! She had passed a very happy night; and +this morning she met her guest with a gush of genuine affection, +embracing and kissing her and her child, making them even more welcome +than she had done before, and feeling that to-day she could not deal too +kindly by Rosa, to atone for having yesterday thought so hardly of her. + +Under these pleasant auspices the travellers sat down to an excellent +breakfast. + +But the warning horn blew, and they prepared to resume their journey. + +On entering the coach, they found the other passengers, three in number, +already on the back seat. But they were gentlemen, who voluntarily and +promptly gave up their seats to the two ladies and their escort. The +coach started. + +Their route now lay through some of the wildest passes of the Blue +Ridge. And here the enthusiasm of Rosa Blondelle burst forth. She said +that she had seen grand mountains in Scotland, but nothing--no, nothing +to equal these in grandeur and beauty! + +And Lyon Berners smiled to hear her speak so, as one might smile at the +extravagant delight of a child, for as a child this lovely stranger +often seemed to him and to others. And she, with her sweet, blue eyes, +smiled back to him. + +And Sybil looked and listened, and felt again that strange wound +deepening in her heart--that strange cloud darkening over her mind. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + BLACK HALL. + + + Seest thou our home? 'tis where the woods are waving + In their dark richness to the autumn air; + Where yon blue stream its rocky banks are laving, + Leads down the hills a vein of light--'tis there.--HEMANS. + + +At the close of that second day, they stopped at a hamlet on the summit +of the Blue Ridge, from which they could view five counties. At the +little hotel they were entertained very much in the same manner as at +the inn of Underhill. Again Sybil's unspoken and unsuspected jealousy +was soothed by the caresses of her husband. + +In the morning they resumed their journey in the early coach, that took +them across the beautiful valley that lies between the Blue Ridge and +the Allegheny Mountains. And again Lyon Berners' devotion to Rosa +Blondelle deeply distressed Sybil. At nightfall they reached Staunton, +where they slept. + +On the morning of the fourth and last day of their journey, they took +the cross-country coach and changed their route, which now led them +towards the wildest, dreariest, and loneliest passes of the Alleghenies. + +About mid-day the coach entered the dark defile known as the "Devils' +Descent." And, in fact, it needed all the noon sunshine to light up the +gloom of that fearful pass. Here the delight of the impressible young +foreigner deepened into awe. + +"I have never seen anything like this in the old country," she breathed, +in a low, hushed tone. + +And again Lyon Berners smiled most kindly and indulgently on her, and +again Sybil Berners sickened at heart. Every time Lyon so smiled on +Rosa, Sybil so sickened. She strove against this feeling, but she could +not overcome it. + +As the day declined and the coach went on, wilder, drearier, and +lonelier became the road, until, at nightfall, it entered a pass so +gloomy, so savage, so terrific in its aspect, that the young stranger +involuntarily caught her breath and clung for protection to the arm of +Lyon Berners. + +"I have never _dreamed_ of a place like this," she gasped. + +"You think," he said indulgently, "that if the other pass was called the +'Devil's Descent,' this should be the 'Gates of Hell.' Yet to us, it is +the 'Gates of Heaven;' since it is the entrance to our Valley Home." + +And this affectionate mention of their mutual home almost consoled the +wife for the smile he bestowed on their beautiful guest while speaking. + +Then all the women except Sybil held their breath in awe. + +It was indeed an awful pass! a road roughly hewn through the bottom of a +deep, narrow, tortuous cleft in the mountains where, at some remote +period, by some tremendous convulsions of nature, the solid rocks had +been rent apart, leaving the ragged edges of the wound hanging at a +dizzy height between heaven and earth! The dark iron-gray precipices +that towered on each side were clothed in every cleft, from base to +summit, with clumps of dark stunted evergreens as sombre as themselves. +So tortuous, besides, was the pass, that the travellers could see but a +few yards before them at any time. There was but one cheering sight in +earth or sky, and that was the young crescent moon straight before them +in the west, and shining down in tender light upon the rudest precipice +of all. + +"It does remind one of Dante's descriptions of the 'Entrance into the +Infernal Regions,' does it not?" inquired Lyon Berners. + +"All except the little moon! Without that, its gloom would be perfectly +horrible! and it is horrible enough now," answered Rosa with a shudder. + +"But I love it! Even its gloom and horror have a weird fascination for +me. It is my abode. I only seem to live my own life in my own Black +Valley," said Sybil, in a low, deep voice that thrilled with emotion. + +They were suddenly silenced, for they were at the sharpest, steepest, +most difficult and dangerous turn in that most dangerous pass; and to go +down with any chance of safety required the utmost care and skill on the +part of the coachman, whose anxiety was shared by all within the coach. +Each passenger clung for support to what was nearest at hand, and might +reasonably have expected every instant to be dashed to pieces on the +rocks by the coach pitching over the horses' heads, as it tossed and +tumbled and thundered down the falling road, more like a descending +avalanche than a well-conducted four-wheeled vehicle. + +Our travellers only let go their holdings and loosed their tongues again +at the foot of the precipice. + +"That was--that was--Oh, there is no word to express what it was. It was +more than terrible! more than awful! And it is just a miracle that we +have escaped with our lives!" gasped Rosa Blondelle, aghast with horror. + +"There has never yet been an accident on this road," observed Lyon +Berners, soothingly. + +"Then there is a miracle performed every time a vehicle passes down it," +replied Rosa, with a shudder. + +"But look now, there is a very fine scene," said Mr. Berners, pointing +through the window as the coach rolled on. Sybil was already gazing +through the right-hand window, and so Rosa stretched her fair neck to +look from the left-hand one. + +Yes, it was a fine scene. The young crescent moon with its tender beam +had gone down; but the great stars were out in all their glory, and by +their shining the travellers saw before them a beautiful little river, +whose rippling surface reflected in fitful glimmers the cheerful lights +of a village on its opposite bank. + +"This is the Black River. It rises in those distant mountains, which are +called the Black Rocks, and which shut in our Black Valley. The village +here is called Blackville," explained Lyon Berners. + +"What a deal of blackness!" replied Rosa Blondelle. + +"If you think so, I must tell you in the first place that we are not +responsible for having named these places; and in the second, that the +names are really appropriate. The stupendous height and dark iron-gray +hue of the rocks that overshadow and darken the valley and the river, +and also the situation of the village at the entrance of the dark +valley, justify these names. And even if they did not, still we are not +so irreverent as to interfere with the arrangements of those who have +gone before us," laughed Lyon Berners. + +And as he spoke the stage-coach reached the banks of the river, and drew +up before the little ferry-house. Here the travellers alighted, and had +their baggage taken off. And the coach, waiting only long enough to +change horses and to pick up passengers, all of whom, both man and +beast, had been brought over from the village by the ferry-boat, went on +its way, which lay along the east bank of the river. + +Mr. Berners had his luggage and that of his party put upon the +ferry-boat, and then he led the ladies on board. He saw them comfortably +seated, and the nurse and child in a safe place, and then he turned to +the aged ferry-man with hearty good will, and inquired: + +"Well, old Charon! all right with you?" + +"Yes, sir, thank Heaven!" replied the old man, whose occupation, +combined with his great age and flowing gray locks, yet stalworth form +and unbroken strength, had conferred upon him the name of his infernal +predecessor--the navigator of the River Styx. + +"All right in the village, and in the valley?" further inquired Mr. +Berners. + +"All right in the willage, sir. And Joe, who has just arrove at the +tavern, do report all right in the walley," was the satisfactory answer +of the ferry-man. + +"Oh! then our carriage is waiting for us there?" + +"Yes, sir, which it arrove just about twenty minutes ago, punk-too-well +to time!" replied the old man. + +The passage across the Black River is very short, and just as the +ferry-man spoke, the boat touched the wharf immediately under the +lighted windows of the hotel, before the doors of which they saw the +Black Hall carriage and horses standing. + +Mr. Berners assisted the ladies of his party to land, and proposed that +they should stop at the hotel and take supper before going on to Black +Hall. + +"Oh, no! please don't, on any account! I feel sure that Miss Tabby has +laid out all her talent on the supper that is awaiting us at home. And +she would weep with disappointment and mortification if we should stop +to supper here," eagerly objected Sybil. + +"Miss Tabby is our housekeeper; the best creature, but the greatest +whimperer in existence. She is, in turn, Sybil's tyrant and Sybil's +slave; for she is both despotic and devoted, and scolds and pets her +alternately and unreasonably as a foolish mother does an only child," +explained Mr. Berners, turning to Mrs. Blondelle. + +"And her lady?" inquired Rosa, with an admiring glance toward Mrs. +Berners. + +"Oh! Sybil turns the tables, you may be sure, and indulges or rebukes +her housekeeper as the occasion may demand," laughed Lyon. + +"Come here, Joe!" called Mrs. Berners to her coachman, who was seen +coming out of the tap-room. + +"Bress my two eyes, Miss Sybil! how glad dey is to see you, and you too, +Marse Lyon!" exclaimed a very black, short, squarely built, good-humored +looking negro coachman, as he came and bowed to his master and mistress. + +"Joe! you have been at your old tricks again. Joe! why can't you let +bar-rooms alone? Joe! where _do_ you expect to go when you die?" +solemnly inquired Sybil, shaking her finger at the delinquent. + +"I do 'spect to go straight to de debbil, miss, for sure! Dat's de +reason why I wants to take a drap of comfort in dis worl', 'cause I +nebber shall get none dere. But bress my two eyes, miss, how glad dey is +to look on your putty face again." + +"My 'putty' face? I want to know if _that's_ a compliment? But, Joe, +what has Miss Tabby got for supper?" + +"Lor bress your putty little mouf, Miss Sybil; it's easier to tell you +what she hasn't got," exclaimed Joe, stretching his eyes. "Why, Miss +Sybil, there an't a man nor a maid about the house, what ha'n't been on +their feet all dis day a getting up of that there supper," he added. + +"There! I told you so!" said Sybil, turning to her husband. + +"Then let's go on and eat it, my love. We can leave our two servants +here to follow in the wagon with the baggage," said Lyon Berners, +leading his wife and his guest to the carriage, and placing them inside, +with the child and nurse, while he himself mounted to the box beside the +coachman. + +"Oh! I am very sorry Mr. Berners has been crowded out," regretfully +exclaimed Rosa Blondelle, looking after him in surprise as he climbed to +his roost. + +"Oh, he has not been crowded out! He has gone up there to drive; for the +road is not very safe at night, and our coachman is rather too much +exhilarated to be trusted," answered Sybil, touching very tenderly upon +the weakness of her old servant. + +Their road lay along the bank of the river up the valley, between the +two high mountain ridges; but it was so dark that nothing but these +grander features of the landscape could be discerned. + +As the carriage rolled slowly and carefully along this rough road, the +music of distant waters fell upon the listening ear, and from the +faintest hum that could hardly be heard, it gradually swelled into a +deafening roar that filled the valley. + +"What is that?" fearfully inquired Rosa. + +"What is what?" echoed Sybil. + +"That horrid noise!" + +"Oh! that is the Black Torrent, the head of our Black River," answered +Sybil in a low, pleased tone; for the sound of her native waters, +however dreadful it might be to strange ears, was delightful to hers. + +"Oh! more blackness!" shivered Rosa. + +"But it is a beautiful cascade! All beautiful things are not necessarily +light, you know." + +"No, indeed," answered Rosa, "for the most beautiful woman I have ever +seen in my life is very dark." And she raised and pressed the hand of +her hostess, to give point to her words. + +Sybil did not like the implied flattery, delicately as it was conveyed. +She drew her hand away; and then, to heal the little hurt she might have +made in doing so, she opened the window and said, pleasantly: + +"Look, Mrs. Blondelle! You see the lights of our home now." + +Rosa leaned across Sybil to look in the direction indicated, and she saw +scattered lights that seemed to be set in the side of the mountain. She +saw no house, and she said so. + +"That is because the house is built of the very same dark iron-gray +rocks that form the mountain; and being immediately at the foot of the +mountain, and closely surrounded with trees, can not at night be +distinguished from the mountain itself." + +Here the carriage road curved around an expansion of the river that +might have been taken either for a very small lake, or a very large +pond. And about midway of this curve, or semi-circle, the carriage drew +up. + +On the left-hand was dimly seen the lake; on the right-hand the gate +letting into the elm-tree avenue that led straight up to the house. + +"That is the Black Pond, and there is Black Hall. More 'blackness,' Mrs. +Blondelle," smiled Sybil, who was so delighted to get home that she +forgot her jealousy. + +The carriage waited only until the gates could be opened by the slow old +porter, whom Sybil laughingly greeted as "Cerberus," although the name +given him in baptism was that of the keeper of the keys of heaven, and +not that of the guardian of the entrance to the other place. + +"Cerberus," or rather Peter, warmly welcomed his young mistress back, +and widely stretched the gates for her carriage to pass. + +As the carriage rolled easily along the avenue, now thickly carpeted +with forest leaves, and as it approached the house, the fine old +building, with its many gable ends and curiously twisted chimneys, its +steep roofs and latticed windows--all monuments of the old colonial +days--came more and more distinctly into view from its background of +mountains. Lights were gleaming from upper and lower and all sorts of +windows, and the whole aspect of the grand old hospitable mansion +proclaimed, "WELCOME." + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE GUEST-CHAMBERS. + + + Deserted rooms of luxury and state, + Which old magnificence had rudely furnished + With pictures, cabinets of ancient date, + And carvings, gilt and burnished,--HOOD. + + +The carriage drew up at the foot of a flight of stone steps, leading to +the front entrance of the house. The double oak doors stood wide open, +showing the lighted hall and a group of people waiting. + +Sybil looked eagerly from the carriage window. + +"I do declare," she exclaimed, "if there is not, not only Miss Tabby, +but Miss Libby and Mrs. Winterose besides; Mrs. Winterose," she +explained, turning to her guest, "is the widow of our late land steward. +She is also my foster-mother, and the mother of the two maiden ladies, +Miss Tabby, who is our housekeeper, and Miss Libby, who lives with the +widowed parent at home. They have come to welcome us back. Heaven bless +them!" + +As Sybil spoke, Mr. Berners dropped down from his perch on the +coachman's box, and opened the carriage door. + +He assisted first his wife, and then their guest, to alight. And then he +took the sleeping child from the nurse's arms, while she herself got +out. + +"You know the way, dearest Sybil! Run on before, and I will take charge +of our fair friend," said Mr. Berners, as he gave his arm to Mrs. +Blondelle to lead her up the steps. + +But Sybil had not waited for this permission. Too eager to meet the dear +old friends of her childhood to care for any one else just then, or even +to feel a twinge of jealousy at the words and actions of her husband, +she flew past him up the stairs and into the arms of her foster-mother, +who folded the beautiful, impetuous creature to her bosom, and welcomed +her home with heartfelt emotion. + +Miss Tabby and Miss Libby next took their turns to be embraced and +kissed. + +And then the old servants crowded around to welcome their beloved young +mistress; to every one of them she gave a cordial grasp of her hand, and +loving words. + +"It is very delightful," she said, with tears of joy in her eyes, "it is +very, very delightful to be so warmly welcomed home." + +"Everything as well as everybody welcomes you home, Miss Sybil! Even the +Black Torrent! I never heard the cascade sing so loud and merry as it +does to-night!" said Old Abe, or Father Abraham, as he was called, for +being a full centenarian, and the oldest negro, by twenty years, of any +on the estate. + +"Thank you, dear old Uncle Abe! I _know_ you all welcome me home! And I +love to think that my torrent does too! And now, Miss Tabby, you got the +letter I wrote from Underhill, asking you to have the spare rooms +prepared for the visitors we were to bring with us?" inquired Sybil, +turning to her housekeeper. + +"Yes, ma'am, and your orders is obeyed, and the rooms is all ready, as +well as yourn and Mr. Berners', even to the kindling of the fires, which +has been burning in the chimneys to air them rooms all this blessed +day," answered Miss Tabby. + +"That is right, and I thank you; and now here comes our visitor," said +Sybil, as her guest approached leaning on her husband's arm. They had +certainly lingered a little on the way; but Sybil was too happy to +notice that circumstance now. The jealous wife was for the time subdued +within her, and all the hospitable hostess was in the ascendant. + +"You are welcome to Black Hall, my dear Mrs. Blondelle," she said, +advancing to receive her guest. "And now, will you walk into our sitting +parlor and rest awhile before taking off your wraps; or shall I show +you at once to your rooms, which are quite ready for you?" + +"At once to my rooms, if you please, Mrs. Berners; for, you see, my poor +little Cromartie is already fast asleep." + +"Come, then; you will not have far to go. It is on this floor," said +Sybil, with a smile, as she led the way down the wide hall, past the +great staircase, and then turned to the right and went down a long +passage, until she came to a door, which she opened. + +"Here is your bed-chamber," said Sybil, inviting her guest to enter a +large and richly furnished room; "and beyond this, and connected with +it, is another and a smaller apartment, which is properly the +dressing-room, but which I have had fitted up as a nursery for your +child and his nurse." + +"Many thanks," replied Rosa Blondelle, as she followed her hostess into +the room, and glanced around with the natural curiosity we all feel in +entering a strange place. + +The room was very spacious, and had many doors and windows. Its +furniture was all green, which would have seemed rather gloomy, but for +the bright wood fire on the hearth, that lighted up all the scene with +cheerfulness. + +Sybil drew an easy-chair to the chimney corner, and invited her guest to +sit down. + +But Rosa was too curious about her surroundings to yield herself +immediately to rest. + +"What an interesting old place!" she said, walking about the chamber and +examining every thing. + +Meanwhile the nurse-maid, more practical than her mistress, had found +the door of the adjoining nursery and passed into it to put her infant +charge to bed. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Rosa, who had drawn aside one of the green moreen window +curtains and was looking out--"Oh! what a wild, beautiful place! But +these windows open right upon the grounds, and there are no outside +shutters! Is there no danger?" + +"No danger whatever, my dear Mrs. Blondelle. These windows open at the +back of the house, upon the grounds, which run quite back to the foot of +the mountain. These grounds are _very_ private, being quite +inaccessible, except through the front grounds of the house," said +Sybil, soothingly. + +"But oh!" whispered Mrs. Blondelle, nowise tranquilized by the answer of +her hostess--"Oh! what are those white things that I see standing among +the bushes at the foot of the mountain? They look like--tombstones!" she +added, with a shudder. + +"They _are_ tombstones," replied Sybil in a low, grave voice; "that is +our family burial-ground, and all the Berners, for seven generations, +lie buried there." + +"Oh, good gracious!" gasped Rosa Blondelle, dropping the curtain and +turning away. + +"Don't be alarmed," smiled Sybil. "The place is much farther off than it +seems. And now, my dear Mrs. Blondelle, let me make you acquainted with +the bearings of this green bedroom, and then you will like it better. +You see it is in the right wing of the house, and that accounts for its +having windows on three sides, back, front, and end, and doors that +connect with the house and doors that lead to the grounds. _This_ door," +she said, opening one on the left-hand side of the fireplace--"this door +leads up this little narrow staircase directly into my chamber, which +is immediately above this, as my dressing-room is immediately above your +nursery. So, my dear, if ever you should feel nervous or alarmed, all +you have to do is to open this little door, and run up these stairs and +knock loudly at the upper door, which is near the head of my bed. I +shall hear you, and fly to your assistance." + +"Yes," laughed Rosa. "But suppose some robber were to get into these +windows, and be right upon me before I could run, what should I do +then?" + +"Call for assistance, and Mr. Berners and myself will run down to your +rescue. But in order to make that practicable, you must always leave +that lower stair door unfastened; and you may do it with perfect safety, +as it leads nowhere but into my bedroom." + +"I will remember always to leave it unfastened," replied Rosa. + +"But, my dear, I assure you there is not the least shadow of a shade of +danger. Our faithful negroes are all around us on the outside, and our +faithful dumb guardians sleep on the mats in the large hall and the +smaller passages. However, if you still feel nervous, I will have one of +the maids sleep in your room, and one of the men sleep in the passage +outside," said Sybil. + +"Oh, no, not for the world would I disturb the arrangements of the +family. I am not at all nervous _now_," said Rosa Blondelle. + +"Then, dear, get ready for supper; for it has been ready for us for an +hour past, and I am sure you must need it. I will, with your permission, +go up to my own room by these stairs; and when I have changed my dress, +I will come down the same way and take you in to supper," said Sybil, +as, with a smile and a bow, she opened the door and slipped away up to +her own room. + +Rosa Blondelle passed into the little adjoining nursery, to see after +her child. + +The room, small as it was, had two windows, one west and one south, and +a little fireplace north. The east side was only broken by the door +that communicated with the bedroom. There were green curtains to the two +windows, green carpet on the floor, and green covers to the +rocking-chair and the child's chairs, which were the only ones in the +room. There was a cot-bed for the nurse and a crib for the child. A +well-supplied wash-stand completed the furniture. The child lay sleeping +soundly in his crib, and the nurse sat by him, occupying herself with +some white embroidery that she habitually carried in her pocket, to fill +up spare moments profitably. + +"Crow is quite well, Janet?" inquired the young mother, approaching and +looking at her rosy boy. + +"Yes, me leddy, and sleeping like an angel," answered the woman. + +"Those are very comfortable quarters, Janet." + +"Yes, me leddy, though the roaring of yon Black Torrent, as they ca' it, +gars me grew. I wonder does it always roar sae loud." + +"Oh no, Janet. Mr. Berners says that it only sounds so when very much +swollen by the rains. And Mr. Berners should know." + +"Aye, ma'am, and sae he suld! And a very fine gentleman is the laird!" + +"He is not a laird, Janet! There are no lairds in America." + +"And what will he be then, ma'am?" + +"Simply a gentleman--Mr. Berners." + +"It is a pity he is na a laird, ma'am, and a duke to the back of that! a +princely gentleman he is, me leddy." + +"I quite agree with you, Janet. Well, leave your charge for a moment, +and come and arrange my hair for me. Unluckily I can not change my +dress, for my luggage was left behind at Blackville, and I don't suppose +it has arrived here yet," said Rosa Blondelle, as she returned to her +room attended by her maid. But there an agreeable surprise met her. She +found her trunks set in order, ready for her. + +"I declare, there they are! And I suppose the servants who brought them, +finding the door wide open and no one in the room, just put them in here +and retired. Janet, open that trunk and get out my black velvet, and +point lace set. I must not wear anything very light and gay on this +first evening, after a fatiguing journey, when we all feel so tired as +to be fit for nothing but bed," said Rosa Blondelle, throwing herself +languidly into the green-covered easy-chair before the dressing-table. + +"And, 'deed, me leddy, there's nae dress ye look sae weell in as that +bonny black velvet," said the maid. + +Rosa knew this well, and for this reason, perhaps, selected the dress. + +The maid quickly and skilfully arranged her mistress's hair in its +natural golden ringlets, that needed no ornament whatever. And when her +toilet was complete, Rosa Blondelle's fair beauty was even more +resplendent than usual, from its contrast with the rich blackness of her +dress. + +"'A star upon the brow of night!'" quoted Sybil, as she entered the room +and stood for a moment in involuntary admiration. Then, with a smile, +she drew the arm of her guest within her own and led her off to the +supper-table, where they were joined by Mr. Berners. + +It was a warm wainscotted little room, with crimson carpet and crimson +curtains, a good open fire of hickory wood, and a small, but luxuriously +spread supper-table. + +Mr. Berners led their guest to her place at the board, and left his wife +to follow. These courtesies were no doubt due the visitor, yet they made +the wife's heart ache. She hated to miss the attentions her husband had +always hitherto bestowed on her alone; and she hated more to see them +lavished on another, and that other a beautiful, fascinating, and, as +she half suspected, most dangerous woman. It was in vain she said to +herself that these attentions were no more than any gentleman should +show to the invited visitor of his wife. She could not argue away her +heartache. She could not endure to see her husband touch the beauty's +hand. It drove her almost out of her self-possession to see their eyes +meet in that provoking mutual smile. Oh! how she repented ever having +invited this fatal beauty to her house! And yet she pitied the +friendless stranger too, and she struggled bravely against those +feelings of jealousy and hatred that were creeping into her heart. And, +in fact, from this time the whole inner life of Sybil Berners became one +hard struggle between her passions and her reason. And this struggle +soon manifested itself in a series of inconsistencies of conduct that +were perfectly incomprehensible to both Lyon Berners and Rosa Blondelle. + +For instance, on this first night at home, while they sat at the +supper-table. Sybil was silent, abstracted, and depressed. Her +companions mentally ascribed her condition to fatigue; but Sybil then +scarcely knew what fatigue meant. After supper she aroused herself by an +effort, and offered to attend Mrs. Blondelle back again to that lady's +chamber; and when they got there, even lingered a little while, and very +kindly repeated her request that if Rosa should be frightened in the +night, she should run up the communicating stairs and rap at Sybil's +bedroom door for assistance. And then Sybil bade her visitor +good-night, and vanished up the stairs. + +The travellers were all very tired, and so, notwithstanding Rosa's fears +and Sybil's jealousy, they were all soon fast asleep. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + THE JEALOUS BRIDE. + + + Yea, she was jealous, though she did not show it, + For jealousy dislikes the world to know it.--BYRON. + + +Rosa was the last to wake up in the morning. The nurse had already +dressed the child and taken him from the room; so Rosa rang her bell to +bring the truants back. + +Janet came alone. + +"Where is little Crow?" inquired Crow's mamma. + +"In the breakfast-room, me leddy, on the laird's knee," answered the +girl. + +"I tell you there are no lairds in America, Janet!" said the lady, +impatiently. + +"Well, on the gentleman's knee, ma'am." + +"Very well, now come help me to dress." + +Janet hastened to obey, and in half an hour Rosa Blondelle issued from +her chamber, looking if possible even more beautiful than she had looked +on the previous evening; for she wore an elegant morning robe of white +cashmere, embroidered down the front and around the bodice, sleeves, +and skirt with a border of blue bells, and she had her splendid hair +dressed in the simple natural ringlets that were the most becoming to +her. + +Janet walked before her mistress, to show the way. Far up the great +hall, she opened a door on the left-hand side, admitting the lady to a +delightful front room, whose front windows looked out upon the lake, the +valley, and the opposite range of mountains. + +It was a golden October morning, and from a cloudless deep-blue sky the +sun shone down in dazzling splendor upon the valley, kindling up into a +conflagration of living light all the variegated foliage of the trees, +upon the mountain sides and the river's banks, where the glowing crimson +of the oak and the flaming orange of the elm mingled with the royal +purple of the dogwood and the deep green of the cedar. And all this +gorgeousness of coloring was reflected in the lake, whose waters seemed +dyed with all the prismatic hues of the rainbow. + +"'Black Valley,' indeed!" said Rosa Blondelle, with a smile, as she +entered the breakfast-room and glanced through the windows upon the +magnificent scene; "'Black Valley,' call you this? I should rather call +it 'Bright Valley.' Oh, what a glorious day and oh, what a glorious +scene! Good-morning, Mrs. Berners. Good-morning, Mr. Berners. Little +Crow, this kind gentleman is spoiling you," she said, as she advanced +with smiling eyes and outstretched hands to greet her host and hostess, +who had risen from their chairs to meet her. + +They both received her very kindly, even affectionately, and as they had +waited only for her presence to have breakfast, Sybil now rang and +ordered it to be brought in. + +Sybil's own little "high chair" had been rummaged out from its corner in +the lumber-room and dusted, and brought in for the use of the baby-boy; +who, in honor of his mother, was permitted to sit up to the table with +the grown people. + +"But why, I repeat, should you call this glorious vale the 'Black +Valley'?" inquired Rosa, as they all gathered around the board. + +"It was black enough last night, was it not?" asked Mr. Berners, with a +smile. + +"Oh, it was black everywhere last night; but no blacker here than +elsewhere, so I don't see the justice of calling this the Black Valley. +I should call it rather the 'Valley of the Sun.'" + +"Would not the 'Valley of the Pyrotechnics' do as well?" inquired Lyon +Berners, with dry humor. + +"I think it would," replied Rosa, quite seriously, "for certainly this +morning, with this glorious sunshine and these glowing, sparkling woods +and waters, the place is a perfect spectacle of fire-works!" + +"You view the scenery at its best and brightest. It is never so +beautiful and brilliant as on a clear sunny autumn noon-day. At all +other seasons, and at all other hours, it is gloomy enough. In a very +few hours from this, when the sun gets behind the mountain, it will be +quite black enough to justify its name," said Mr. Berners very gravely. + +The conversation had been carried on between Mr Berners and Mrs. +Blondelle exclusively. Sybil had not volunteered a word; and it happened +also that neither of her companions had addressed a word to her. She +felt as if she were dropped out of their talk, and though bodily +present, dropped out of their company as well. She felt that this was +very hard; and once more she experienced the wild and vain regret that +she had ever invited this too-alluring stranger to become an inmate of +her house. + +Before now, when they had been together, Lyon Berners had been +accustomed to think of, smile on, talk to, only her, his wife! Now his +thoughts, smiles, conversation were all divided with another!--Oh no! Oh +no! _not divided_, but almost entirely absorbed by that other! At least +so suspected the jealous wife. + +"Is it possible, oh! is it possible that he loves me less than formerly? +that he loves me not at all? that he loves this stranger?" thought +Sybil, as she watched her husband and her friend, entirely taken up with +each other, and entirely oblivious of her! And at this thought a +sensation of sickness and faintness came over her, and she saved herself +from falling, only by a great effort of self-command. They, talking to +each other, smiling at each other, enjoying each other's exclusive +attention, did not observe her emotion, although almost any casual +spectator must have seen it in the deadly pallor of her face. + +In all this there was little to arouse her jealousy; and perhaps there +was nothing at all. Her heart pang may have come of a false fear, or a +true one; who could then tell? + +For my own part, looking towards this situation of affairs through the +light of after knowledge, I think that her fears were, even then, +well-founded; that even then it was a true instinct which warned her +that her adored husband, he to whom her whole heart, soul, and spirit +were entirely given, he for whom only she "lived and moved and had her +being," he was becoming fascinated, for the time being at least, by +this beautiful stranger, who was evidently also flattered by his +attentions. And this in the very honeymoon of the bride to whom he owed +so much! + +And yet indeed, I say, still speaking in the light of after knowledge, +that at this time he was equally unconscious of his wife's jealousy, or +of any wrong-doing on his own part, calculated to arouse it. Had Lyon +Berners suspected that his attentions to their fair guest gave such deep +pain to his high-spirited wife, he would at least have modified them to +retain her confidence. But he suspected nothing. Sybil revealed nothing; +her pride was even greater than her jealousy; for this last daughter of +the House of Berners inherited all the pride of all her line. At this +time, this pride quite enabled her to keep her pain to herself. + +At length the severe ordeal was, for the moment, over. She perceived +that her companions had finished breakfast, and so she arose from the +table, leaving her example to be followed by them. + +"Let me lead you to our pleasant morning parlor. It is just across the +hall, and commands the same view of the lake and mountains that this +room does--from the front windows I mean; but from the end windows you +get a view _up_ the valley, and may catch glimpses of the Black Torrent +as it rushes roaring down the side of the mountain," said Mr. Berners, +as he offered his hand to Mrs. Blondelle and led her from the breakfast +parlor. + +Sybil looked after them with pallid cheeks and darkening brows; then she +rushed up into her own chamber, locked her door, threw herself upon her +bed and gave way to a storm of sobs and tears. While she was still +weeping vehemently, there came a knock at the door. She lifted up her +head and listened; controlling her voice as well as she could, she +inquired: + +"Who is there, and what is wanted?" + +"It is I, my dear, and I want to come in," answered the voice of her +husband. + +"I have not even the privilege of shutting myself up to weep alone! for +I belong to one who can invade my privacy or command my presence at his +pleasure!" exclaimed Sybil in bitterness of spirit; and yet bitterness +that was mingled with a strange, deep sweetness too! for she loved to +feel that _she did_ belong to Lyon Berners; that _he had_ the privilege +of invading her privacy, or commanding her presence at his pleasure. And +ah! _that_ was a happiness Rosa Blondelle would not share! + +"Well, well, my darling! are you going to let me in?" inquired Mr. +Berners, after a moment of patient waiting. + +"Yes, in an instant dear!" exclaimed Sybil, hastily wiping her eyes and +trying to efface all signs of weeping from her countenance. + +Then she opened the door. + +Her husband entered, closed the door, and then turned around with some +light, gay word; but at the sight of his wife's pale and agitated face, +he started in surprise and distress, exclaiming: + +"Why, Sybil! Why, my darling! What on earth is the matter? What has +happened?" + +At the sound of his anxious voice, at the sight of his troubled face, +Sybil turned aside, sank upon the corner of the sofa, dropped her head +upon its cushions, and yielded to a tempest of sobs and tears. + +He hurried to her side, sat down and drew her head upon his bosom, and +in much alarm exclaimed again: + +"In the name of Heaven, Sybil! what is all this about? What has happened +to distress you so deeply? Have you heard any bad news?" he inquired as +he caressed and tried to soothe her. + +She did not repel his caresses; for, jealous as she was, she felt no +anger towards him then. She laid her head upon his bosom, and sobbed +aloud. + +"What bad news have you heard, dear Sybil?" repeated Mr. Berners. + +"Oh, none at all! What bad news _could_ I hear to make _me_ weep? I do +not care as much as that for anything on earth, or anybody except you!" +she answered, lifting her head from his bosom as she spoke, and then +dropping it again when she had finished. + +"Then what is it that troubles you, my own dear wife? What cause can you +have for weeping?" he inquired, tenderly caressing the beautiful, +wayward creature. + +She lifted her head, and smiled through her tears as she answered: + +"None at all, I believe. What does Kotzebue say? 'To laugh or cry +without a reason, is one of the few privileges women have.' I have no +good reason to weep, dear Lyon! I know that I have not. But I am nervous +and hysterical, I believe," she added; for, as before, his tender +caresses dispelled her jealousy and restored her trust. With her head +resting on his bosom; with his arms around her; with his eyes smiling +down upon hers, she could not look in his face and retain her jealous +doubts. + +"I have no reason in the world for weeping. I am just a nervous, +hysterical woman--_like the rest_! It is no wonder men, who see the +weakness of our sex, refuse to trust us with any power," she added, with +a light laugh. + +"But I utterly deny this alleged 'weakness of your sex.' You bewray +yourself and sex by repeating the slander, though even in jest, as I see +you are. _You_ are not weak, my Sybil. Nor do you weep without a cause. +You have some good and sufficient reason for your tears." + +"Indeed, no; I have none. I am only nervous and hysterical, and +thoroughly ashamed of myself for being so," she answered, very +sincerely, for she _was_ really thoroughly ashamed of her late jealousy, +and anxious to conceal it from her husband. + +He looked at her so inquisitively, not to say so incredulously, that +she hastened to add; + +"This is really nothing but nervous irritability, dear Lyon. Do not +distress yourself about my moods." + +"But I must, my darling. Whether their cause is mental or physical, real +or imaginary, I must trouble myself about your tears," answered Lyon +Berners, with grave tenderness. + +"Then let it be about my _next_ ones; not these that are past and gone. +And now to a pleasant topic. The ball that we are expected to give." + +"Yes, dear, that is _your_ affair. But I am ready to give you any +assistance in my power. Your cards, I believe, are all printed?" + +"Yes; that was a happy idea to get the cards printed while we stopped in +New York." + +"Now they only need filling up with names and dates." + +"And the addition of one little word, Lyon." + +"Well, and what is that?" + +"_Masks._" + +"MASKS!" echoed Mr. Berners, in surprise. + +"MASKS," reiterated Mrs. Berners, with a smile. + +"Why, my dear Sybil, what on earth do you mean?" + +"Why, that our party shall be a masked, fancy-dress ball. That will be +something new in this old-fashioned neighborhood." + +"Yes, and something startling to our old-fashioned neighbors," said Mr. +Berners, with a dubious shake of his head. + +"So much the better. They need startling, and I intend to startle them." + +"As you please, my dear, wayward Sybil. But when do you propose this +affair to come off?" + +"On All-Hallow Eve." + +"Good. All-Hallow Eve is the proper sort of an eldritch night for such +a piece of diablerie as a mask ball to be held," laughed Mr. Berners. + +"But now, seriously, Lyon; do you really dislike or disapprove this +plan? If you do I will willingly modify it according to your judgment; +or even, if you wish it, I will willingly drop it altogether," she said, +very earnestly. + +"My dear impetuous Sybil, you should make no such sacrifices, even if I +_did_ dislike or disapprove your plan; but I do neither. I dare say I +shall enjoy the masquerade as much as any one; and that it will be very +popular and quite a success. But now, dear Sybil, let me hear what +fantastic shape you will assume at this witches' dance?" + +"I will tell _you_, Lyon; but mind, you must keep the secret." + +"Oh! inviolably," said Mr. Berners, with a laugh. + +"Oh! I mean only that you must not speak of it outside the family, +because, you see, it is such a perfectly original character that if it +was known it would be taken by half a dozen people at least." + +"I will never breathe its name," laughed Lyon. + +"Then the character I shall take is--" + +"What?" + +"Fire!" + +"Fire?" + +"Fire." + +"Ha! ha! ha! it will suit you admirably, my little Berners of the +Burning Heart. But how on earth will you contrive to costume and +impersonate the consuming element?" + +"It would take me a week to tell you, and then you would not understand. +But you shall see." + +"I hope you will not set all your company in a flame; that is all, my +dear." + +"But I shall _try_ to do so. And now, dear Lyon, if you wish to help me, +sit down at my writing-table there, and fill out and direct the +invitations, you will find the visiting list, printed cards, and blank +envelopes all in a parcel in the desk." + +"But is it not early to send them?" inquired Mr. Berners, as he seated +himself at the table. + +"No; not for a mask ball. This is the tenth. The ball is to come off on +the thirty-first. If the cards are sent to-day, our friends will have +just three weeks to get ready, which will not be too long to select +their characters and contrive their costumes." + +"I suppose you know best, my dear," said Mr. Berners, as he referred to +the visiting list and began to prepare for his task. + +Sybil went to her dressing-glass and began to arrange her somewhat +disordered hair. While she stood there, she suddenly inquired: + +"Where did you leave Mrs. Blondelle?" + +"I did not leave her anywhere. She left me. She excused herself, and +went--to her room, I suppose." + +"Ah!" sighed Sybil. She did not like this answer. She was sorry to know +that her husband had remained with the beauty until the beauty had left +him. She tortured herself with the thought that, if Mrs. Blondelle had +remained in the morning room, Mr. Berners would have been there at her +side. + +So morbid was now the condition of Sybil that a word was enough to +arouse her jealousy, a caress sufficient to allay it. _She_ would not +leave Lyon to himself, she thought. He should know the difference +between his wife and his guest in that particular. So the guest, being +now in her own room, where her hostess heartily wished she might spend +the greater portion of the day, Sybil felt free from the pressing duties +of hospitality, at least for the time being; and so she drew a chair to +the corner of the same table occupied by her husband, and she began to +help him in his task by directing the envelopes, while he filled out +the cards. Thus sitting together, working in unison, and conversing +occasionally, they passed the morning--a happier morning than Sybil had +seen for several days. + +But of course they met their guest again at dinner, where Rosa Blondelle +was as fascinating and Lyon Berners as much fascinated as before, and +where Sybil's mental malady returned in full force. + +Oh, these transient fascinations, what eternal miseries they sometimes +bring! + +But a greater trial awaited the jealous wife in the evening, when they +were all gathered in the drawing-room, and Rosa Blondelle, beautifully +dressed, seated herself at the grand piano, and began to sing and play +some of the impassioned songs from the Italian operas; and Lyon Berners, +a very great enthusiast in music, hung over the siren, doubly entranced +by her beauty and her voice. Sybil, too, stood with the little group at +the piano; but she stood back in the shade, where the expression of her +agonized face could not be seen by the other two, even if they had been +at leisure to observe her. She was suffering the fiercest tortures of +jealousy. + +Sybil's education had been neglected, as I have told you. She had a fine +contralto voice and a perfect ear, but these were both uncultivated; and +so she could only sing and play the simplest ballads in the language. +She had often regretted her want of power to please the fastidious +musical taste of her husband; but never so bitterly as now, when she saw +that power in the possession of another, and that other a beauty, a +rival, and an inmate of her house. Oh, how deeply she now deplored her +short-sightedness in bringing this siren to her home! + +At the most impassioned, most expressive passages of the music, Rosa +Blondelle would lift her eloquent blue eyes to those of Lyon Berners, +who responded to their language. + +And Sybil stood in the shadow near them, with pallid cheeks, compressed +lips, and glittering eyes--mute, still, full of repressed anguish and +restrained fury. + +Ah, Rosa Blondelle, take heed! Better that you should come between the +lioness and her young than between Sybil Berners and her love! + +Yet again, on this evening, this jealous wife, this strange young +creature, so full of contradictions and inconsistencies; so strong, yet +so weak; so confiding, yet so suspicious; so magnanimous, yet so +vindictive; once again, I say, successfully exerted her wonderful powers +of self-control, and endured the ordeal of that evening in silence, and +at its close bade her guest good-night without betraying the anguish of +her heart. + +When she found herself alone with her husband in their chamber, her +fortitude nearly forsook her, especially as he himself immediately +opened the subject of their beautiful guest. + +"She is perfectly charming," said Mr. Berners. "Every day develops some +new gift or grace of hers! My dear Sybil, you never did a better deed +than in asking this lovely lady to our house. She will be an invaluable +acquisition to our lonely fireside this winter." + +"You did not use to think our fireside was lonely! You used to be very +jealous of our domestic privacy!" Sybil _thought_ to herself; but she +gave no expression to this thought. On the contrary, controlling +herself, and steadying her voice with an effort, she said smilingly: + +"If you had met this 'lovely lady' before you married me, and had found +her also free, you would have made her your wife." + +"I! No, indeed!" impulsively and most sincerely answered Lyon Berners, +as he raised his eyes in astonishment to the face of Sybil. But he could +see nothing there. Her face was in deep shadow, where she purposely kept +it to conceal its pallor and its tremor. + +"But why, if you had met her before you married me, and found her free, +why should you not have made her your wife?" persisted Sybil. + +"'Why?'--what a question! Because, in the first place dear Sybil, I +loved _you, you only_, long before I ever married you!" said Lyon +Berners in increasing surprise. + +"But--if you had met her before you had ever seen me, you would have +loved and married her." + +"No! On my honor, Sybil!" + +"Yet you admire her so much!" + +"Dear Sybil! I admire all things beautiful in nature and art, but I +don't want to marry all!" + +"And are you sure that this beautiful Rosa Blondelle would not make you +a more suitable companion than I do?" she inquired. + +His whole manner now changed. Turning towards her, he took both her +hands in his own, and looking gravely and sweetly in her face, he +answered: + +"My wife! such questions between you and me ought never to arise, even +in jest. I hold the marriage relation always too sacred for such +trifling! And _our_ relations towards each other seem to me dearer, +sweeter, more sacred even, than those of most other married couples! No, +my own Sybil! Soul of my soul! there is no woman that I ever did, or +ever could prefer to you!" And he drew her to his bosom, and pressed her +there in all good faith and true love. And his grave and tender rebuke +did even more to tranquilize her jealousy than all his caresses had +done. + +"I know it! I know it, my dear husband! But it is only when I feel how +imperfect, how unworthy of you, I am, that I ever have doubts!" she +murmured with a sigh of infinite relief. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + LOVE AND JEALOUSY. + + There was a time when bliss + Shone o'er her heart from every look of his; + When but to see him, hear him, breathe the air + In which he dwelt, was her soul's fondest prayer; + When round him hung such a perpetual spell, + Whate'er he did none ever did so well; + Yet now he comes, brighter than ever, far, + He beamed before; but ah! not bright for her.--MOORE. + + +Fortunately for the fascinated husband and the jealous wife, the Circuit +Court was now sitting at Blackville, and the lawyer's professional +duties demanded all Mr. Berner's time. + +Only one year before this, when the struggling young lawyer depended +upon his work for his bread, he could hardly get a paying client; now +that he was entirely independent of his profession, he was overwhelmed +with business. As the wealthy master of the Black Valley manor, with its +rich dependencies of farms, quarries, mills, and hamlets, he might have +led the easy life of a country gentleman. But in Lyon Berners' +apprehension, work was duty; and so to work he went, as if he had had to +get his living by it. + +Every day he left home at nine o'clock in the morning, in order to be +present at the opening of the court at ten. He reached home again at +four in the afternoon, and dined with Sybil and Rosa. After dinner he +retired to his study, and spent the evening in working up his briefs and +preparing for the next day's business. + +Thus he was entirely separated from his guest, who never saw him except +at the table, with the breadth of the board between them, and almost +entirely from his wife, who only had his company to herself at night. + +Yet Sybil was content. Her love, if, in some of its phases, it was a +jealous and exacting passion, in others was a noble and generous +principle. She would not spare a glance, a smile, a caress of his, to +any other woman; yet she would give him wholly up to his duty, his +profession, his country, or to any grand _impersonal_ object. And the +few hours out of the twenty-four when she could enjoy his society apart +from her dreaded rival, compensated her for the many when he was absent +or engaged upon his professional duties. + +But ah! this could not last! + +It happened, very naturally, that while Mr. Lyon Berners spent his +mornings in the court-house, Mrs. Lyon Berners spent hers in receiving +the calls and congratulations of her friends, to whom she always +presented her permanent visitor, Mrs. Blondelle. + +At length two unconnected events happened at the same time. The court +adjourned, and the last visit of ceremony was paid. + +Sybil, at the instance of Mr. Berners, gave a dinner-party, and they +entertained the judges and barristers of the court. And upon that +occasion, Mrs. Blondelle of course was introduced, and equally of +course, her beauty made a very great sensation. And Sybil was well +pleased. She was perfectly willing that her protege should outshine her +in every company, if only she did not outrival her in her husband's +admiration. + +But ah! whether it was that the long interruption of his conversations +with the beautiful blonde had given a new zest to the pleasure he +enjoyed in her society, or whether his admiration for her had been ever, +under all circumstances, on the increase, or whether both these causes +combined to influence his conduct, is not known; but it is certain that +from this time, Lyon Berners became more and more blindly devoted to +Rosa Blondelle. And yet, under and over and through all this, the +husband loved his wife as he never did or could love any other woman. +But Rosa Blondelle was one of those vain and shallow women who must and +will have a sentimental flirtation or a platonic friendship with some +man or boy, always on hand. She, like those of her mischievous class, +really meant no harm, while doing a great deal of wrong. Such a woman +will engage a husband's affections and break a wife's heart from mere +vanity, and for mere pastime, without the slightest regard for either of +her victims. And yet, because, they have not been grossly guilty, as +well as deeply sinful, they retain their positions in society. + +Rosa Blondelle's whole life lay in these sentimental flirtations and +platonic friendships. Without a lover, she did not care to live at all. +Yet hers was a sham love, though her victims were not often sham lovers. +With her fair and most innocent face, Rosa Blondelle was false and +shallow. And Lyon Berners knew this; and even while yielding himself to +the fascination of her smiles, he could not help comparing her, to her +great disadvantage, with his own true, earnest, deep-hearted wife. + +But every morning, while Sybil was engaged in her domestic duties, which +were now greatly increased by the preparations that were going on for +the masquerade ball, Lyon Berners would be walking with Rosa Blondelle, +exploring the romantic glens of the Black Valley, or wandering along the +picturesque banks of the Black River. Or if the weather happened to be +inclement, Mr. Berners and Mrs. Blondelle would sit in the library +together, deep in German mysticism or French sentiment. + +Every evening Rosa sat at the grand piano, singing for him the most +impassioned songs from the German and Italian operas; and Lyon hung over +her chair turning her music, and enraptured with her beauty. + +Ah! Rosa Blondelle! vain and selfish and shallow coquette! Trifle, if +you must, with any other man's love, with any other woman's peace; but +you had better invade the lair of the lioness, and seize her cubs--you +had better walk blindfold upon the abyss of Hades, than come between +Sybil Berners and her husband! + +For Sybil saw it all! and not only as any other woman might have seen +it, just as it was, but as the jealous wife did--with vast exaggerations +and awful forebodings. + +They did not suspect how much she knew, or how much more she imagined. +Before them the refined instincts of the lady still kept down the angry +passions of the woman. + +Whenever her emotions were about to overcome her, she slipped away, not +to her own room, where she was liable to interruption, but far up into +the empty attics of the old house, where, in some corresponding chamber +of desolation, she gave way to such storms of anguish and despair as +leave the deepest + + "Traces on heart and brain." + +And after an hour or two she would return to the drawing-room, whence +she had never been missed by the pair of sentimentalists, who had been +too much absorbed in each other, and in Mozart or Beethoven, to notice +her absence. + +And while all unconscious of her, they continued their musical +flirtation, she would sit with her back to the light, toying with her +crochet-work and listening to Rosa's songs. + +She was still as a volcano before it bursts forth to bury cities under +its burning lava flood! + +Why did she not, in the sacred privacy of their mutual apartment appeal +to the better nature of her husband by telling him how much his +flirtation with their guest pained her, his wife? Or else, why had she +not spoken plainly with her guest? + +Why? Because Sybil Berners had too much pride and too little faith to do +the one or the other. She could not stoop to plead with her husband for +the love that she thought he had withdrawn from her; still less could +she bend to tell her guest how much his defection troubled her. Nor did +she believe her interference would do any good. For, to Sybil Berners +earnest nature, all things seemed earnest, and this vain and shallow +flirtation wore the aspect of a deep, impassioned attachment. And in her +forbearance she acted from instinct rather than from reason, for she +never even thought of interfering between these platonists. So, +outwardly at least, she was calm. But this calmness could not last. Her +heart was bleeding, burning, breaking! and its prisoned flood of fire +and blood must burst forth at length. The volcano seems quiet; but the +pent up lava in its bosom must at last give forth mutterings of its +impending irruption, and swiftly upon these mutterings must follow +flames and ruin! + +It happened thus with Sybil. + +One morning, when the weather was too threatening to permit any one to +indulge in an outdoor walk, it chanced that Lyon and Sybil Berners were +sitting together at a centre-table in the parlor--Lyon reading the +morning paper; Sybil _trying_ to read a new magazine--when Rosa +Blondelle, with her flowing, azure-hued robes and her floating golden +locks, and her beaming smiles, entered the room and seated herself at +the table, saying sweetly: + +"My dear Mrs. Berners, is it to-morrow that you and I have arranged to +drive out and return the calls that were made upon us?" + +"Yes, madam," politely replied Sybil. + +"Then, dear Mr. Berners, I shall have to ask you to write a few +visiting-cards for me. I have not an engraved one in the world. But you +write such a beautiful hand, that your writing will look like +copper-plate. You will oblige me?" she inquired, smiling, and placing a +pack of blank cards before him. + +"With the greatest pleasure," answered Lyon Berners, promptly putting +aside his paper. + +Rosa turned to leave the room. + +"Will you not remain with us?" courteously inquired Sybil. + +"No, dear; much as I should like to do so," replied Rosa. + +"But why?" inquired Lyon Berners, looking disappointed. + +"Oh! because I have my dress to see about. We are far from all +fashionable modistes here; but I must try to do honor to madam's +masquerade for all that," laughed Rosa, as she passed gracefully out of +the room. + +With a sigh that seemed to his sorrowing wife to betray his regret for +the beauty's departure, Lyon Berners drew the packet of blank cards +before him, scattered them in a loose heap on his left hand, and then +selecting one at a time, began to write. As he carefully wrote upon and +finished each card, he as carefully laid it on his right hand, until a +little heap grew there. + +Sybil, who gloried in all her husband's accomplishments, from the +greatest to the least, admired very much his skill in ornamental +chirography. She drew her chair closer to the table, and took up the +topmost card, and began to decipher, rather than to read, the name in +the beautiful old English characters, so tangled in a thicket of +rose-buds and forget-me-nots as to be scarcely legible. She looked +closely and more closely at the name on the card. + +What was there in it to drive all the color from her cheeks? + +She snatched up and scrutinized a second card, a third, a fourth; then, +springing to her feet, she seized the whole mass, hurled them into the +fire, and turned, and confronted her husband. + +Her teeth were clenched upon her bloodless lips, her face seemed marble, +her eyes lambent flames. + +He rose to his feet in surprise and dismay. + +"SYBIL! what is all this? Why have you destroyed the cards?" + +"Why?" she gasped, pressing both hands upon her heart, as if to keep +down its horrible throbbings. "Why? Because they are lies! _lies!_ +LIES!" + +"SYBIL! have you gone suddenly mad?" he cried, gazing at the "embodied +storm" before him with increasing astonishment and consternation. + +"No! I have suddenly come to my senses!" she gasped between the catches +of her breath, for she could scarcely speak. + +"You must calm yourself, and tell me what this means, my wife," said +Lyon Berners, exerting a great control over himself, and pushing aside +the last card he had written. + +But she snatched up that card, glanced at it fiercely, tore it in two, +and threw the fragments far apart, exclaiming in bitter triumph: + +"Not yet! oh! not yet! I am not dead yet! Nor have the halls and acres +of my fathers passed quite away from their daughter to the possession of +a traitor and an ingrate." + +He gazed upon her now in amazement and alarm. _Had_ she gone suddenly +mad? + +She stood there before him the incarnation of the fiercest and intensest +passion he had ever seen or imagined. + +He went and took her in his arms, saying more gently than before: + +"Sybil, what is it?" + +She tried, harshly and cruelly, to break from him. But he held her in a +fast, loving embrace, murmuring still: + +"Sybil, you must tell me what troubles you?" + +"What troubles me!" she furiously exclaimed. "Let me go, man! Your touch +is a dishonor to me! Let me go!" + +"But, dearest Sybil." + +"Let me go, I say! What! will you use your _brute strength to hold me_?" + +He dropped his arms, and left her free. + +"No; I beg your pardon, Sybil. I thought you were my loving wife," he +said. + +"You were mistaken. I am not Rosa Blondelle!" she cried. + +"Hush! hush! my dearest Sybil!" he muttered earnestly, as he went and +closed and locked the parlor door, to save her from being seen by the +servants in her present insane passion. + +But she swept past him like a storm, and laid her hand on the lock. She +found it fast. + +"Open, and let me pass," she cried. + +"No, no, my dear Sybil. Remain here until you are calmer, and then tell +me--" + +"Let me out, I say!" + +"But, dearest Sybil." + +"What! would you _keep me a prisoner--by force_?" she cried, with a +cruel sneer. + +He unlocked the door and set it wide open. + +"No, even though you are a lunatic, as I do believe. Go, and expose your +condition, if you must. I cannot restrain you by fair means, and I will +not by foul." + +And Sybil swept from the room, but she did not expose herself. She fled +away to that "chamber of desolation" where she had passed so many +agonizing hours, and threw herself, face downwards, upon the floor, and +lay there in the collapse of utter despair. + +Meanwhile Lyon Berners paced up and down the parlor floor. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + "CRUEL AS THE GRAVE." + + + Go, when the hunter's hand hath wrung + From forest cave her shrieking young, + And calm the raging lioness; + But soothe not--mock not my distress.--BYRON. + + +Lyon Berners was utterly perplexed and troubled. He could not in any way +explain to himself the sudden and furious passion of his wife. + +Suddenly it occurred to him that it was in some way connected with the +cards she had thrown into the fire. They were not all burned up. Some +few had fallen scorched upon the hearth. These he gathered up and +examined; and as he looked at one after another, his face expressed, in +turn, surprise, dismay, and amusement. Then he burst out laughing. He +really could not help doing so, serious as the subject was; for upon +every single card, instead of Rosa Blondelle, he had written: + + Mrs. ROSA BERNERS. + +"Was there ever such a mischief of a mistake?" he exclaimed, as he +ceased laughing and sat down by his table to consider what was to be +done next. + +"Poor Sybil! poor, dear, fiery-hearted child, it is no wonder! And yet, +Heaven truly knows it was because I was thinking of _you_, and not of +the owner of the cards, that I wrote that name upon them unconsciously," +he said to himself, as he sat with his fine head bowed upon his hand, +gravely reviewing the history of the last few days. + +His eyes were opened now--not only to his wife's jealousy, but to his +own thoughtless conduct in doing anything to arouse it. + +In the innermost of his own soul he was so sure of the perfect integrity +of his love for his wife, that it had never before occurred to him that +_she_ could doubt it--that any unconscious act or thoughtless gallantry +on his part could cause her to doubt it. + +Now, however, he remembered with remorse that, of late, since the rising +of the court, all his mornings and evenings had been spent exclusively +in the company of the beautiful blonde. Any wife under such +circumstances might have been jealous; but few could have suffered such +agonies of wounded love as wrung the bosom of Sybil Berners,--of Sybil +Berners, the last of a race in whose nature more of the divine and more +of the infernal met than in almost any other race that ever lived on +earth. + +Her husband thought of all this now. He remembered what lovers and what +haters the men and women of her house had been. + +He recalled how, in one generation, a certain Reginald Berners, who was +engaged to be married to a very lovely young lady, on one occasion found +his betrothed and an imaginary rival sitting side by side, amusing +themselves with what they might have considered a very harmless +flirtation, when, transported with jealous fury, he slew the man before +the very eyes of the girl. For this crime Reginald was tried, but for +some inexplicable reason, acquitted; and he lived to marry the girl for +whose sake he had imbrued his hands in a fellow-man's blood. + +He recalled how, in another generation, one Agatha Berners, in a frenzy +of jealousy, had stabbed her rival, and then thrown herself into the +Black Lake. Fortunately neither of the attempted crimes had been +consummated, for the wounded woman recovered, and the would-be suicide +lived to wear out her days in a convent. + +Reflecting upon these terrible outbursts of the family passion, Lyon +Berners became very much alarmed for Sybil. + +He started up and went in search of her. He looked successively through +the drawing-room, the dining-room, and library. Not finding her in any +of these rooms, he ascended to the second floor and sought her in their +own apartment. Still not finding her, his alarm became agony. + +"I will search every square yard within these walls," he said, as he +hurried through all the empty chambers of that floor, and then went up +into the attic. + +There, in the lumber-room--the chamber of desolation--he found his wife, +lying with her face downwards on the floor. He hastened towards her, +fearing that she was in a swoon. But no; she was only exhausted by the +violence of her emotions. + +Without saying a word, he lifted her in his arms as if she had been a +child. She was too faint now to resist him. He carried her down stairs +to her own chamber and laid her on the sofa, and while he gently +smoothed the damp dark hair from her pale brow, he whispered softly: + +"My wife, I know now what has troubled you. It was a great error, my own +dear Sybil. You have no cause to doubt me, or to distress yourself." + +She did not reply, but with a tearless sob, turned her face to the wall. + +"It was of _you_ that I was thinking, my beloved, when I wrote that name +on the cards," he continued, as he still smoothed her hair with his +light mesmeric touch. She did not repel his caresses, but neither did +she reply to his words. And he saw, by the heaving of her bosom and the +quivering of her lips, that the storm had not yet subsided. + +He essayed once more to reassure her. + +"Dear wife," he earnestly commenced, "you believe that my affections are +inconstant, and that they have wandered from you?" + +She answered by a nod and another tearless sob, but she did not look +around or speak to him. + +"Yet withal you believe me to be a man of truthful words?" + +Again she nodded acquiescence. + +"Then, dear Sybil, you must believe my words when I assure you, on my +sacred truth and honor, that your suspicions of me are utterly +erroneous." + +Now she turned her head, opened her large dark eyes in astonishment, and +gazed into his earnest face. + +"As Heaven hears me, my own dear wife, I love no other woman in the +world but you." + +"But--you are almost always with _her_!" at length replied Sybil, with +another dry sob. + +"I confess that, dear; but it was because you were almost always absent +on your domestic affairs." + +"You hang enraptured over her, when she sings and plays!" + +"Enraptured with her music, darling, not with her. To me she is a prima +donna, whose performances I must admire and applaud--nothing more." + +"Then I wish I was a prima donna too," said Sybil, bitterly. + +"My wife!" he exclaimed. + +"Yes, I do! I would be all in all to you, Lyon, as you are everything to +me," she cried, her face quivering, her bosom heaving with emotion. + +"My own dear Sybil, you _are_ all in all to me. Do you not know, dear, +that you are unique? that there is not another like you in the world; +and that I value you and love you accordingly? What is this +shallow-hearted blonde beauty to me? This woman, who, in a week, could +forget the man who had robbed and deserted her, and give herself up to +amusement! No, dear wife. I may be pleased with her good-natured efforts +to please me; I may admire her beauty and delight in her music; but I +care so little for herself, that were she to die to-day, I should only +say, 'Poor thing,' and immediately forget her! While, if _you_ were to +die, dear wife, life would be a living death, and the world a sepulchre +to me!" + +"Is this true? Oh! is this indeed true?" exclaimed Sybil, in deep +emotion. + +"As I am a man of truth, it is, as true as Heaven!" answered Lyon +Berners, earnestly. + +And Sybil turned and threw herself in his arms, weeping for joy. + +"You shall have no more cause for distress, dear, warm-hearted wife. This +lady must find other audience for her music. For, as to me, I shall not +indulge in her society at such a cost to your feelings," said Lyon +Berners earnestly, as he returned her warm caress. + +"No, no, no, no," exclaimed Sybil, generously. "You shall deny yourself +no pleasure, for my sake, dear, dear Lyon! I am not such a churl as to +require such a sacrifice. Only let me feel sure of your love, and then +you may read with her all the morning, and play and sing with her all +the evening, and I shall not care. I shall even be pleased, because you +are so. But only let me feel sure of your love. For, oh! dear Lyon! I +live only in your heart, and if any woman were to thrust me thence, I +should die!" + +"Nor man, nor woman, nor angel, nor devil, shall ever do that, dear +Sybil," he earnestly answered. + +The reconciliation between the husband and the wife was perfect. And +Sybil was so happy that, in the lightness of her heart, she became +kinder to Mrs. Blondelle than she had been for many days past. + +But as for Mr. Berners, from this time he carefully avoided Mrs. +Blondelle. He was as courteous to her as ever, even more courteous than +ever when his wife was present, but as soon as Sybil would leave the +room, Lyon would make some excuse and follow her. This went on for some +days, during which Mrs. Blondelle, being cut short in her platonic +flirtation, first wondered and then moped, and then resolved to win back +her fancied slave. So she whitened her face with bismuth, to make it +look pale and interesting, and she arranged her golden locks and flowing +robes with the most studied air of graceful neglect, and she affected +silence, pensiveness, and abstraction; and thus she utterly imposed on +Lyon Berners, whose sympathies were awakened by her. + +"Is it possible, that this pretty little fool can really be pleased with +me, and pained by my neglect?" he inquired of himself. And then, human +being like, he flattered himself and pitied her. + +When this course of conduct had been kept up for a week, it happened one +day that Sybil went alone to Blackville to purchase some articles for +her approaching mask ball. + +Lyon Berners was reclining on the sofa in the drawing-room, with the +last number of the "North American Review" in his hands. + +Suddenly a soft hand stole into his, and a soft voice murmured in his +ear: + +"Mr. Berners, how have I been so unhappy as to offend you?" + +He looked up in surprise to see Rosa Blondelle standing by him. Her +lovely face was very pale, her beautiful hair in disorder, her blue eyes +full of tears, her tender voice tremulous with emotion. + +As Lyon Berners met her appealing gaze, his heart smote him for his late +coldness to her. + +"In what manner have I been so unhappy as to offend you, Mr. Berners?" +she repeated, tearfully. + +"In no manner at all, dear. How could one so gentle as yourself offend +any one?" exclaimed Lyon Berners, rising, and taking both her +unresisting hands in his own; and feeling for the first time a sentiment +of _tenderness_, as well as of admiration, for her. + +"But I thought I had offended you. You have been so changed to me of +late," murmured Rosa, with her blue eyes full of tears. + +"No, no, dear, not really changed, indeed. Only--absorbed by other +engagements," answered Lyon Berners, evasively. + +"You are the only friend I have in the whole world. And if _you_ should +desert me, I should perish," murmured Rosa, pathetically. + +"But I will never desert you, dear. Nor am I the only friend you have in +the world. My wife is surely your friend," said Lyon Berners, earnestly. + +Slowly and sorrowfully Rosa Blondelle shook her head, murmuring sadly: + +"No woman ever was my friend. I know not why." + +"_I_ can easily imagine why. But in regard to my dear wife, you are +mistaken. Surely she has proved herself your friend." + +"She is a noble lady, and I honor her. She is my benefactress, and I +thank her. But she is not my friend, and so I do not love her." + +"I am sorry to hear you say so, dear." + +"And I am sorry to be obliged to say so. But it is true. _You_ are my +only friend, Mr. Berners. The only friend I have in the wide, wide +world." + +"And do you love me?" inquired Lyon Berners, taking the siren's hand, +and utterly yielding to her allurements; "say, fair one, do you love +me?" + +"Hush! hush!" breathed Rosa, drawing away her hand and covering her +face--"hush! that is a question you must not ask, nor I answer." + +"But--as a _brother_, I mean?" whispered Lyon. + +"Oh! yes, yes, yes! as a dear brother, I love you dearly," fervently +exclaimed Rosa. + +"And as a dear sister you shall share my love and care always," +earnestly answered Mr. Berners. + +"And you will not be cold to me any longer?" + +"No, dear." + +"And you will come and listen to my poor little songs this evening, and +let me do my best to amuse you?" + +"Yes, dear, I will throw over all other engagements, and delight myself +in your heavenly strains to-night," answered Lyon Berners. + +"Oh! I am so happy to hear you promise that! Of late I have had no heart +to open the piano. But to-night I will awaken for you its most glorious +chords!" + +He raised her hand to his lips, and thanked her warmly. + +And just at that very instant Miss Tabitha Winterose appeared in the +doorway, her tall, thin form drawn up to its utmost height, her pale, +pinched face lengthened, and her dim blue eyes and skinny hands lifted +up in surprise and disapprobation. + +"Well!" simultaneously exclaimed Mr. Berners and Mrs. Blondelle, as they +instinctively drew away from each other. + +But Miss Tabitha could not easily recover her composure. She was shocked +and scandalized to see a gentleman and lady, who were not related to +each other, sitting so close together, while the gentleman kissed the +lady's hand! + +"Did you want anything?" inquired Mr. Berners, rather impatiently. + +"No, I didn't. Yes, I did," answered Miss Winterose, crossly and +confusedly. "I came after that lady there to tell her that I think her +child is going to be very sick, and I want her to come and look after +him. That is, if she an't more pleasanter engaged!" added Miss Tabitha, +scornfully. + +"Please excuse me, Mr. Berners," murmured Rosa, sweetly, as she got up +to go out with the housekeeper "_Old Cat!_" she muttered, under her +breath, as soon as she was out of Lyon's hearing. + +When Mr Berners was left alone, he did not resume the reading of his +review. His heart became the prey of bitter-sweet reflections, made up +of gratified self-love and of severe self-reproach. + +"That beautiful creature _does_ care for me, and is pained by my +coldness! Ah! but I hope and trust she loves me _only_ as a sister loves +a brother! She has no brother, poor child! And her heart must have some +one to lean on! I must be that one, for she has chosen me, and I will +not be so recreant to humanity as to reject her trust." + +Then his conscience smote him. And he felt that he had shown more +tenderness for this lady than the occasion called for, or than his duty +warranted. He had called her "dear;" he had kissed her hand; he had +asked her if she loved him! And this in the face of all his late +protestations to his wife! + +Lyon Berners was an honorable man and devotedly attached to his wife, +and he was shocked now at the recollection of how far he had been drawn +away from the strict line of duty by this lovely blonde! + +But then he said to himself that he had only caressed and soothed Rosa +in a brotherly way; and that it was a great pity Sybil should be of such +a jealous and exacting nature, as to wish to prevent him from showing a +little brotherly love to this lovely and lonely lady. + +And worried by these opposing thoughts and feelings, Lyon Berners left +his sofa and began to pace up and down the length of the drawing-room +floor. + +In truth now, for the first time, the mischief was done! The siren had +at last ensnared him, in her distress and dishabille, with her tears and +tenderness, as she never had done in the full blaze of her adorned +beauty, or by the most entrancing strains of divine melody. + +While Lyon Berners paced up and down the drawing-room floor, he seemed +to see again the tender, tearful gaze of her soft blue eyes upon him; +seemed to hear again the melting tones of her melodious voice pleading +with him: "How have I been so unhappy as to offend you, Mr. Berners?" +What a contrast this sweet humility of friendship with the fiery pride +of Sybil's love! + +While he was almost involuntarily drawing this comparison, he heard the +wheels of the carriage that brought Sybil home roll up to the door and +stop. + +From her morning drive through the bright and frosty air, Sybil entered +the drawing-room blooming, and glowing with health and happiness. For +since that full explanation with her husband, she had been very happy. + +Lyon Berners hastened to meet her. And perhaps it was his secret and +painful consciousness of that little episode with Rosa, that caused him +to throw into his manner even more than his usual show of affection, as +he drew her to his bosom and kissed her fondly. + +"Why!" exclaimed Sybil, laughing and pleased, "you meet me as if I had +been gone a month, instead of a morning!" + +"Your absence always seems long to me, dear wife, however short it may +really be," he answered earnestly. And he spoke the truth; for +notwithstanding his admiration of Rosa, and the invidious comparison he +had just drawn between her and Sybil, in his heart of hearts he still +loved his wife truly. + +She threw off her bonnet and shawl, and sat down beside him and began to +rattle away like a happy girl, telling him all the little incidents of +her morning's drive--whom she had seen, what she had purchased, and how +excited everybody was on the subject of her approaching fancy ball. + +"The first one ever given in this neighborhood, you know. Lyon," she +added. + +And having told him all the news, she snatched up her bonnet and shawl +and ran up-stairs to her own room, where she found her thin housekeeper +engaged in sorting out laces and snivelling. + +"Why, what's the matter now, Miss Tabby?" cheerfully inquired Sybil. + +"Well, then, to tell you the truth, ma'am, I am dreadfully exercised +into my own mind," answered Miss Winterose, wiping a tear from the tip +of her nose. + +"What about, now?" gayly demanded Sybil, who felt not the slightest +degree of alarm on account of Miss Tabby, knowing that lady to be a +constitutional and habitual whimperer. + +"Then, it's all along of the wickedness and artfulness and deceitfulness +of this here world." + +"Well, never mind, Miss Tabby; you'll not have to answer for it all. But +what particular instance of wickedness frets your soul now?" laughed +Sybil. + +"Why, now, there's where it is! I don't know whether I ought to tell, or +whether I ought'n to; nor whether, if I was to tell, I would be looked +upon into the light of a mischief-maker, or into the light of a true +friend!" whimpered Miss Winterose. + +"I can soon settle that question of ethics for you," laughed Sybil, all +unsuspicious of what was coming. + +"Do just as your conscience directs you, Miss Tabby, no matter how +people may look upon you." + +"Very well, then, ma'am; for my conscience do order me to speak! Oh, +Miss Sybil! I have knowed you ever since you was a baby in my arms, and +I can't bear to have you so deceived and imposed upon by that there +treacherous, ungrateful White Cat!" + +"White Cat?" echoed Sybil, in perplexity. + +"Yes, Miss Sybil, that red-headed, false-hearted White Cat, as you took +into your house and home, for to beguile and corrupt your own true +husband!" + +With a gasp and a suppressed cry, Sybil sank into her seat. + +Miss Tabby, too full of her subject to notice Sybil's agitation, +continued: + +"No sooner had your carriage left the door this morning, Miss Sybil, +than that there White Cat comes tipping on her tiptoes out of her room, +in a long loose dressing-gown, with her hair all down, in a way as no +real lady would ever be seen out of her own chamber, and she tips, tips, +tips into the drawing-room, where she knows Mr. Berners is alone, and +laying on the sofa!" + +With a powerful effort Sybil controlled her violent emotion, held +herself still, and listened. + +"And that was bad enough, Miss Sybil! but that was nothing to what +followed!" sighed Miss Tabby, wiping another tear from the end of her +nose. + +"What followed?" echoed Sybil, in an expiring voice. + +"What followed, ma'am, was this: but to make you understand, I must tell +you what I ought to a told you at the start, which is how it happened as +I seen her tip, tip, tip, on her tiptoes to the drawing-room, just for +all the world like a cat after cream. Well, I was up here, in this very +room where I am now, a sorting out of your fine things as come up from +the wash, and I found one o' _her_ lace handkerchers among yourn, fotch +up by mistake. So I jes took it and went down them back stairs as leads +from this room down to hern, to give her back her handkercher; when jes +as I got into her room, I seen her slip outen the other door leading +into the hall. So after her I goes, to give her her handkercher--which I +thought it was best to give it intor her own hands, than to put it +anywhere in her room, because I didn't know nothing about this forring +nuss o' hern; and you know yourself, ma'am, as we ought to be cautious +in dealing with strangers." + +"Yes, yes! Go on! go on!" gasped Sybil. + +"Well, ma'am, she flitted through them passages too fast for me, jes as +if she was afraid o' being caught afore she got out o' sight! I jes seen +her slip into the drawing-room, where I knowed as Mr. Berners was a +lying onto the sofa, and then I turns back and runs away." + +"Oh, why didn't you follow her in?" groaned Sybil. + +"Yes, why didn't I, ma'am; which I wish I had, and would a done if it +hadn't a been for that forring nuss a coming outen _her_ room, and a +screeching after me: + +"'Missus Winterblossom! Missus Winterblossom!' which I allus told that +huzzy as I wasn't a 'missus,' but a 'miss,' nor likewise a 'blossom,' +but a 'rose.' Howsever, there she was, a yelling at the top of her +voice, 'Missus Winterblossom! Missus Winterblossom!' until I had to run +to her, only to stop her mouth!" + +"Ah! the wretch! she was the accomplice of her mistress, and wished to +bring you away," breathed Sybil more to herself than to her housekeeper, +and in a tone too low to reach the ears of Miss Tabby, who continued: + +"It was the baby, as had been eating of new chestnuts, and got the +cramp. So the forring nuss, as wasn't worth her salt, comes screaming +after me to come and do something for the baby. Of course I went and did +what was right and proper for the poor little suffering creetur; and +when I had put him to sleep, I thinks about his neglectful mother, and +so I ups and goes after her. And when I opens the drawing-room door, +ma'am--well, I sees a sight as strikes me intor a statty o' stone, or a +pillar o' salt, like Lot's wife." + +"What? what?" panted Sybil. + +"I seen 'em both, him and her, a sitting close together and a going on +jes like two lovyers as was going to be married to-morrow, or a bride +and groom as was married yesterday." + +"How? how?" + +"Well, ma'am, if her head wasn't a leaning on his shoulder, it was so +nigh it as it made no difference! And her hand was squeezed inter +hizzen, and her eyes was rolled up inter hizzen in the most be-devilling +way as ever I see in my life--for all the world as if she was a loving +of him, and a worshipping of him, and a praising of him, and a praying +to him, all in one gaze!" + +"And he!--and he!" + +"Oh, my dear honey! what can you expect of a poor, weak, _he-man_? He +looks down on her as if he enjoyed being loved and worshipped and +praised and prayed to, and he squeezes of her hand up to his mouth as if +he'd like to have eaten it!" + +"_Oh, my heart! my heart!_" moaned Sybil, turning deadly pale. + +Still, Miss Tabby, full of her own subject, scarcely noticed the pain +she was inflicting, so she continued: + +"And jes that minute they happened either to see or to hear me, I don't +know which. Anyways, they looks up, and--whew! they jumps apart as if a +fire-cracker had gone off between 'em! Well, I tells my lady as her +child is sick, and she jumps up, impatient like, to go and look after +him. And I comes away too. And that was just about ten minutes before +you got home yourself." + +"Deceived! Betrayed! Scorned! Laughed at!" bitterly exclaimed Sybil. + +"And that's all. And now look here, honey! Don't you go to taking on +about this here piece o' business! And don't you get mad long o' your +husband on any woman's account, whatever you do! Come down on the woman! +That's what you do. It is all _her_ fault, not hizzen! _He_ couldn't +help himself, poor innocent creetur! Lor! honey, I don't know much about +married life, bein' of a single woman myself; but I have heard my mother +say as men are mons'rous weak-minded poor creeturs, and need to be +guided by their wives; and if they an't ruled by their wives, they are +sure to be by some other woman! And it stands to reason it is more +respectable to be ruled by their wives! And so, honey, my advice to you +is, to send that bad woman about her business, and take that innocent +man firmly in hand." + +And so Miss Tabby babbled on, no longer heeded by Sybil, who soon +slipped away and hid herself in one of the empty spare rooms. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + MORE THAN THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. + + + He to whom + I gave my heart with all its wealth of love, + Forsakes me for another.--MEDEA. + + +"Oh my heart! my heart!" moaned Sybil, as she sank down upon the floor +of that spare-room, the door of which she had bolted, to secure herself +from intrusion. + +"Oh, my heart! my heart!" she wailed, pressing her hand to her side like +one who had just received a mortal wound. + +"Oh, my heart! my heart!" she groaned, as one who complains of an +insupportable agony. And for some moments she could do no more than +this. Then at length the stream of utterance flowed forth, and-- + +"He loves me no longer! my husband loves me no longer!" she cried in +more than the bitterness of death. "He loves that false siren in place +of me, his true wife. He gives her all the tender words, all the warm +caresses he used to lavish on me. His heart is won from me. I am +desolate! I am desolate, and I shall die! I shall die! But oh, how much +I must suffer before I can die, for I am so strong to suffer! Ah, how I +wish I might die at once, or that suicide were no sin!" + +But suddenly, out of this deep abasement of grief, blazed up a fierce +and fiery anger. She started from her recumbent position, and began to +walk wildly up and down the floor, beating her hands together, and +exclaiming distractedly: + +"But why should I die in my youth, and go down to the dark grave, to +make room for _her_, the traitress! to make room in the heart of my +husband and the home of my fathers for her, the--! Oh! there is no word +bad enough to express what she is! And shall _she_ live to bloom and +smile and brighten in the sunshine of his love, while I moulder away in +the earth? Oh!" she cried, striking her hands violently together, "there +is madness and more than madness in the thought! I will not die alone; +no, no, no, no, so help me, just Heaven! I will not die alone. Oh, +Samson was a brave man as well as a strong one when he lifted the +pillars of the temple, and willingly fell beneath its crumbling ruins, +crushing all his foes. I will be another sort of Samson; and when I +fall, I too will pull down destruction upon the heads of all who have +wronged me!" + +These and many more wild and wicked words she uttered as she walked +fiercely up and down the room, her eyes blazing, her cheeks burning, her +whole aspect full of frenzy. + +At length, again her mood changed; the fire died out of her eyes, the +color faded from her cheeks; her frenzy subsided, and gave place to a +stillness more awful than any excitement could possibly be. She sank +down upon a low ottoman, and rested her elbows upon her knees and her +chin upon the palms of her hands, and gazed straight before her into +vacancy. Her face was deadly pale; her lips bloodless and compressed; +her eyes contracted and glittering with a cold, black, baleful light; +her hair unloosed in her agitation, streamed down each side, and fell +upon her bosom like the ends of a long black scarf. At times she +muttered to herself like any maniac: + +"And oh, how deeply deceitful they have both been with me, affecting a +mutual indifference while I was by; falling to caressing each other just +as soon as my back was turned! She--she only acted out her false and +treacherous nature. But he--oh, he! in whose pure truth I had such +pride. Ah, Heaven! how low she must have drawn him before he could have +gained his own consent to deceive me so! before he could come fresh from +her side and her caresses, and meet and embrace me! What stupendous +duplicity! Well, well!" she continued, nodding grimly; "well, well, +since deceit is the fashion of the day, I too will be in the fashion; I +too will wear a mask of smiles! But behind that mask I will watch!--Oh, +how I will watch! Not at my fancy-ball alone will I play a part, but +before it, and perhaps, _after it_! None shall ever know how I watch, +what I see, until I descend with the fell swoop of the eagle. And +henceforth let me remember that I am a daughter of the house of Berners, +who never failed a friend or spared a foe. And oh, let the spirit of my +fathers support me, for I must ENDURE until I can AVENGE!" she said, as +she got up with a grim calmness and paced up and down the floor to +recover full self-command. + +At length, when she felt sufficiently composed, she went to her own +chamber, where she made a more elaborate and beautiful toilet than +usual, preparatory to joining her husband and their guest at the +dinner-table. + +"Now smile, eyes! smile, lips! flatter, tongue! Be a siren among the +sirens, Sybil! Be a serpent among the serpents!" she hissed, as she +glided down the stairs and entered the dining-room. + +_They_ were there! They were standing close together, in the recess of +the west window, gazing out at the sun, which was just setting behind +the mountain. They started, and turned towards her as she advanced. But +Sybil, true to her tactics, spoke pleasantly, saying: + +"You get a beautiful view of the sunset from that window, Mrs. +Blondelle." + +"Yes, dear," answered Rosa, sweetly. "I was just drawing Mr. Berners' +attention to it, and telling him that I really believe use has blinded +him to its beauty." + +"Possession is a great disenchanter," answered Sybil. + +Both the others looked up to see if she had any hidden meaning under her +words. But apparently she had not. She was smiling very gayly as she +took her place at the head of the table and invited her companions to +take their seats. + +Throughout the dinner-hour Sybil seemed in very high spirits; she was +full of anecdote and wit; she talked and laughed freely. Her companions +noticed her unusual gayety; but they ascribed it to the exhilarating +effects of her morning drive, and to the anticipations of her mask ball, +which now formed the principal subject of conversation at the table. + +After dinner, they went into the drawing-room, where Sybil soon left her +husband and her guest alone together; or rather, she pretended to leave +them so; but really, with that insanity of jealousy which made her +forget her womanhood, she merely went out and around the hall into the +library, and placed herself behind the folding doors communicating with +the drawing room, where she could hear and see all that might be going +on between her husband and her rival. + +It is proverbial that "listeners never hear any good of themselves." + +Sybil's case was no exception to this rule. This is what she heard of +_herself_. + +"What ever could have ailed Mrs. Berners," inquired Mrs. Blondelle, with +a pretty lisp. + +"What could have ailed Sybil? Why, nothing, that I noticed. What +_should_ have ailed her?" on his side inquired Mr. Berners. + +"She was very much excited!" exclaimed Mrs. Blondelle, with a +significant shrug of her shoulders. + +"Oh! that was from her exhilarating morning ride, which raised her +spirits." + +"Which excited her excessively, I should say, if it really _was_ the +ride." + +"Of course it was the ride. And I admit that she was very gay," laughed +Mr. Berners. + +"Gay?" echoed Rosa, raising her eyebrows--"Gay? Why, she was almost +delirious, my friend." + +"Oh! well; Sybil gives full vent to her feelings; always did, always +will. My little wife is in many respects a mere child, you know," said +Mr. Berners, tenderly. + +"Ah! what a happy child, to have her faults so kindly indulged! I wish I +were that child!" sighed Rosa. + +"But why should you wish to be anything else but yourself, being so +charming as you are?" he softly inquired. + +"Do you really like me, just as I am, Mr. Berners?" she meekly inquired, +dropping her eyes. + +"I really do. I have told you so, Rosa," he answered, approaching her, +and taking her hand. + +She sighed and turned away her head; but she left her hand in his clasp. + +"Dear Rosa! dear child!" he murmured. "You are not happy." + +"No, not happy," she echoed, in a broken voice. + +"Dear Rosa! what can I do to make you happy?" he tenderly inquired. + +"You? What can you do? Oh!--But I forget myself! I know not what I say! +I must leave you, Mr. Berners!" she exclaimed, in well-acted alarm, as +she snatched her hand from his grasp and fled from the room. + +Mr. Berners looked after her, sighed heavily, and then began to walk +thoughtfully up and down the room. + +Sybil, from her covert, watched him, and grimly nodded her head. Then +she also slipped away. + +An hour later than this, the three, Mr. and Mrs. Berners and Mrs. +Blondelle, were in the drawing-room together. + +"You promised me some music," whispered Lyon to Rosa. + +"Oh yes; and I will give you some. I am so glad you like my poor songs. +I am so happy when I can do anything at all to please you," she murmured +in reply, lifting her humid blue eyes to his face. + +"Everything you do pleases me," he answered, in a very low voice. + +Sybil was not standing very near them, yet, with ears sharpened by +jealousy, she overheard the whole of that short colloquy, and--treasured +it up. + +Lyon Berners led Rosa Blondelle to the piano, arranged her music-stool, +and placed the music sheets before her. She turned to one of Byron's +impassioned songs, and while he hung enraptured over her, she sang the +words, and ever she raised her eyes to his, to give eloquent expression +and point to the sentiment. And then _his_ eyes answered, if his voice +and his heart did not. + +That song was finished, and many more songs were sung, each more +impassioned than the other, until at last, Rosa, growing weary and +becoming slightly hoarse, arose from the piano, and with a +half-suppressed sigh sank into an easy-chair. + +Then Sybil--who had watched them through the evening, and noted every +look and word and smile and sigh that passed between them, and who now +found her powers of self-command waning--Sybil, I say, rang for the +bedroom candles. And when they were brought, the little party separated +and retired for the night. + +From this time forth, in the insanity of her jealousy, and with a +secretiveness only possible to the morally insane, Sybil completely +concealed her suspicions and her sufferings from her husband and her +guest. She was affectionate with Lyon, pleasant with Rosa, and confiding +in her manners towards both. + +And they were completely deceived, and never more fatally so than when +they imagined themselves alone together. + +_They were never alone._ + +There was never a tender glance, a fluttering sigh, a soft smile, a +low-toned, thrilling word passed between the false flirt and the +fascinated husband, that was not seen and heard by the heart-broken, +brain-crazed young wife! + +And oh! could these triflers with sacred love--these wanderers on the +brink of a fearful abyss--have seen the look of her face then, they +would have fled from each other for ever, rather than to have dared the +desperation of her roused soul. + +But they saw nothing, knew nothing, suspected nothing! They were, like +children playing with deadly poisons, with edge tools, or with fire, +ignorant of the fatal toys they handled. + +And, moreover they meant nothing. Theirs was the shallowest pretence of +love that ever went by the name of a flirtation. On the woman's side, it +was but a love of admiration and an affectation of sentiment. On the +man's side, it was pity and gratified self-love. So little did Rosa +Blondelle really care for Lyon Berners, and so truly did she estimate +the value of her very luxurious home at Black Hall, that had she known +the state of Sybil's mind, she would very quickly have put an end to her +flirtation with the husband, and done all that she could to recover the +confidence of the wife, and then--looked out among the attractive young +men of the neighborhood for another party to that sentimental, +meaningless love-making, which was yet a necessity to her shallow life. + +And as for Mr. Berners, had he dreamed of the real depth of anguish this +trifling with the blonde beauty caused his true-hearted wife, he would +have been the first to propose the immediate departure of their guest. + +Had Sybil been frank with either or both the offenders, much misery +might have been saved. But the young wife, wounded to the quick in her +pride and in her love, hid her sufferings and kept her secret. + +And thus the three drifted towards the awful brink of ruin. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE FIRST FATAL HALLOW EVE. + + + AMBROSE--Where be these maskers, fool? + COLLIN--Everywhere, sage! But chiefly there + Where least they seem to mask! + JONSON--THE CARNIVAL. + +It was All-Hallow Eve, a night long anticipated with delight by the +whole neighborhood, and much longer still remembered with horror by the +whole country. + +It was the occasion of Sybil Berners' mask ball; and Black Hall, the +Black Valley, and the town of Blackville were all in a state of +unprecedented excitement; for this was the first entertainment of the +kind that had ever been given in the locality, and the gentry of three +contiguous counties had been invited to assist at it. + +Far distant from large cities and professional costumers as the rural +belles and beaux of the neighborhood were, you will wonder what they did +for fancy dresses. + +They did very well. They ransacked the old cedar chests of their +great-grandparents, and exhumed the rich brocades, cloths of gold and +silvers, lutestrings, lamas, fardingdales, hair-cushions, and all the +gorgeous paraphernalia and regalia of the ante-revolutionary queens of +fashion. And they referred to old family portraits, and to pictures in +old plays and novels, and upon the whole they got up their dresses with +more fidelity to fact than most costumers do. + +Some also went to the trouble and expense of a journey to New York to +procure outfits, and these were commissioned to buy masks for all their +friends and acquaintances who were invited to the ball. + +These preparations had occupied nearly the whole month of October. And +now the eventful day had come, and the whole community was on tiptoe +with expectation. + +First, at Black Hall all was in readiness, not only for the ball and the +supper, but for the accommodation of those lady friends of the hostess +who, coming from a great distance, would expect to take a bed there. + +And all was in readiness at the village hotel at Blackville, where +gentlemen, coming from a distance to attend the ball, had engaged rooms +in advance. + +Nevertheless the landlord of the hotel was in a "stew," for there were +more people already arrived, on horseback and in carriages of every +description, from the heavy family coach crammed with young ladies and +gentlemen, to the one-horse gig with a pair of college chums. And the +distracted landlord had neither beds for the human beings nor stalls for +the horses. But he sent out among his neighbors, and tried to get +"accommodations for man and beast" in private houses and stables. + +"And the coach be come in, sir, and what be we to do with the +passengers?" inquired the head waiter. + +"Blast the coach! I wish it had tumbled down the 'Devil's Descent' into +the bottomless pit!" exclaimed the frantic host, seizing his gray locks +with both hands, and running away from before the face of his +tormentor--and jumping from the frying-pan into the fire, when he came +full upon his daughter Bessie, who stopped him with: + +"Pop, you must come right into the parlor. There's a gentleman there as +come by the coach, and says he _must_ have a bed here to-night, no +matter how full you may be, or how much it may cost." + +"Impossible, Bessie! Clean impossible! Don't drive me stark mad!" cried +the landlord, jerking at his gray hair. + +"Well, but, Pop, you must come and tell the gentleman so, or he'll sit +there all night," remonstrated the girl. + +"Blow the fellow to blazes! Where is he?" + +"In the parlor, Pop." + +The landlord trotted into the parlor and gave a little start, for, at +first sight, he thought the gentleman's head was on fire! But a second +glance showed him that the gentleman only had the reddest hair he had +ever seen in his life, and that the level rays of the setting sun, +shining through the western window, and falling fall upon this head, set +this red hair in a harmless blaze of light. + +Recovering from his little shock, he advanced to the gentleman, bowed, +and said: + +"Well, sir, I am the landlord, and I understand you wish to see me." + +"Yes; I wish to engage a room here to-night." + +"Very sorry, sir; but it is out of the question. Every room in the house +is engaged; even my room and my daughter's room, and the servants' +rooms. And not only that, sir, but every sofa is engaged, and every rug; +so you see it is clean impossible." + +"Impossible is it?" inquired the stranger. + +"Clean impossible, sir! utterly impossible!" returned the host. + +"All right; then it shall be done." + +"Sir!" + +"I say, because it is impossible, it shall be done." + +"Eh!" + +"Here is a hundred dollars," said the stranger, laying down two +bank-notes of fifty dollars each. "I will give you this money if you can +induce any of your guests to give up a room for me to-night." + +"Why, really, sir, I should be delighted to accommodate such a very +liberal gentleman, but--" + +"You must decide at once. Now, or never," said the stranger, firmly, for +he saw the game was now in his own hands. + +"Well, yes, sir; I will find you a room. The two young college gents +who took a room between them may be induced to give it up." + +"_Must_ give it up, you mean," amended the stranger. + +"Well, yes, sir; just as you say, sir." + +"And I must have it in fifteen minutes." + +"Yes, sir." + +"And supper served there in half an hour." + +"Yes, sir." + +"And your company at supper, as I want to have a little talk with you." + +"All right, sir." + +"And now, you can go and see about the room." + +"Just so, sir," said the landlord, gathering up the two fifty-dollar +bills that had bought him, body and soul, and then bowing himself out of +the room. + +"'Money makes the mare go,' and the horse too. I wonder what he'll think +when he finds out his bank bills are not worth the paper they are +printed on," mused the stranger, as he paced thoughtfully up and down +the room. + +Fortunately for the landlord's speculation, bad as it ultimately proved, +the two collegians who had engaged his best front bedroom had not yet +arrived to take possession of it. Therefore the business of turning it +over to a more profitable party was the more immediately practicable. +All the landlord had to do was to see that a fire was kindled in the +fireplace, and the table was set for supper. + +Then he returned to the parlor, to conduct, in person, such a wealthy +and munificent patron to his apartment. + +"Ah! this is cosy!" said the stranger, sinking into an arm-chair, and +spreading his hands over the blazing fire, whose beams were caught and +reflected by his red hair, until it shone like a rival conflagration. + +"Glad you like your quarters, sir," said the landlord, putting his hand +upon the pocket that contained the purse with the two fifty-dollar bills +to see that they were safe. + +"Ah! here comes the supper. Now, landlord, I want you to join me, that +we may have that little chat I spoke of," said the stranger, wheeling +his arm-chair around to the table, while the waiter arranged the dishes, +and stared at the flaming red head of the guest. + +"What name might I have the honor of entering on my books, sir, if you +please?" inquired the host, as he obligingly took his seat opposite his +guest. + +"What name might you have the honor of entering on your books?" repeated +the stranger, helping himself to a huge slice of ham. "Well, you _might_ +have the honor of entering quite a variety of names on your books, as I +dare say you do; but for the sake of brevity, which is the soul of wit, +you may put down Smith--John Smith of New York city. Common name, eh, +landlord, and from a big city? Can't help that--fault of my forefathers +and godfathers. Whenever I have to sign a check the bankers make me +write myself down as 'John Smith of John.' Can't do any better than that +if it were to avert a financial crisis. All my ancestors have been John +Smiths, from the days of William Rufus, when his chief armorer John, +surnamed the 'Smiter,' for his lusty blows, founded the family. So you +may set me down as 'John Smith of John, New York city.' And now send the +waiter away, and fall to and tell me some of your neighborhood news." + +Nothing but the consciousness of the possession of those two big bills +would have given the landlord courage to have left his business below +stairs to take care of itself even for the half hour to which he +mentally resolved to limit his interview with the stranger. However, he +dismissed the waiter with some extra charges, and then placed himself at +the service of his guest, and even took the initiative of the +_tete-a-tete_ by asking: + +"You are quite a stranger in this neighborhood, sir?" + +"Quite." + +"Travelling on business, or for pleasure?" + +"Pleasure." + +"A delightful season this, to travel in, sir; neither too warm, nor too +cold. And the country never looks so rich and beautiful as in its autumn +foliage." + +"True," answered the stranger, briefly, and then he added, "I didn't ask +you to come here to catechize me, my good friend; but to submit to be +catechized yourself, and to amuse me with the gossip of the +neighborhood." + +Again nothing but the consciousness of a heavy fee would have induced +the host of the "Antlers" to put up with this traveller's "nonsense," as +he termed his general assumption of superiority. + +"What would you like to hear about, then, sir?" growled the landlord. + +"First, what important families have you in this part of the country?" + +"Well, sir, the most principlest is the Bernerses of Black Hall, which +have returned from their bridal tour about a month ago and taken up +their abode there in the old ancestral home." + +"The Berners! Who are they?" inquired the traveller, carelessly trifling +with the wing of a pheasant. + +"You must be a stranger indeed, sir, not to know the Bernerses of Black +Hall," said the landlord, with an expression of strong disapprobation. + +"Well, as I don't know them, and as they seem to be persons of the +highest distinction, perhaps you will tell me all about them," said the +traveller. + +And the landlord not unwillingly gave the guest the full history of the +Berners of Black Hall, down to the marriage of the last heiress, at +which the bridegroom took the name of the bride's family. And then he +described the situation of the Hall and the way in which it might be +reached, and ended by saying: + +"And if you think of making any stay in this neighborhood, sir, and +will send your card to Mr. and Mrs. Berners, they will be sure to call +on you and show you every attention in their power, sir; invite you to +their house, introduce you to the neighbors, make parties for you, and +make you generally welcome among us." + +"They are very hospitable, then?" + +"Hospitable! Why, sir, even when they were on their bridal tour, they +fell in with a lovely lady in distress, and what do they do but pay her +bills at the hotel, and fetch her and her child and her servant, all, +bag and baggage, home with themselves, to stay at Black Hall as long as +ever she likes?" + +"Indeed! That was a very unusual stretch of hospitality. And this lady +is still with them?" inquired the stranger. + +"She is that, sir; although the word do go around that it would be well +if she was to go away." + +"Ah! why so?" + +"Well, sir--but, lord, it is all servants' gossip, and there may be +nothing in it; but they do say that the master of the house is too fond +of the visitor, and likewise she of him; and that this do make the +mistress of the house very unhappy." + +"Ah!" exclaimed the stranger, in a half-suppressed voice. + +"They do say, sir, that whenever the mistress turns her back, they +two--the master and the guest--do go on like any pair of sweethearts, +which is a great scandal, if it's true." + +"Ah ha!" muttered the stranger, clenching and grinding his teeth. + +"Howsever, sir, if the master is in love with the visitor, and the +mistress is made unhappy thereby, that is no reason why they should put +off their mask ball and disappoint the whole community, I suppose they +think; so they have not done so; but they have their ball this evening, +just as if they were the happiest household in the country." + +"Oh, a mask ball have they, this evening! And what sort of an affair is +it to be?" + +"Well, sir, the ball is to be like other balls, I believe, only that the +guests are to appear in fancy dresses, or in loose gowns called +dominoes, and to wear false faces until supper-time, when they unmask +and reveal themselves to each other." + +"Yes, that is just like other mask balls," said the stranger, and then +he seemed to fall into thought for a few minutes; and then, rousing +himself, he said: + +"Landlord, you told me that your house is very full to-night, and so you +must have a great deal of business on your hands." + +"I just have, sir," replied the impatient host. + +"Then I will not detain you any longer from your other guests. Pray send +the waiter to remove this service immediately. And then, I think, as I +am very much fatigued by my stage-coach journey over your beastly roads, +I will retire to bed," said the stranger. + +And the landlord, glad to be relieved, got up and bowed himself out. + +His exit was soon followed by the entrance of the waiter who quickly +cleared the table and also retired. + +The next proceedings of the stranger were rather singular. + +As soon as he found himself quite alone, he locked his door, to secure +himself from any possibility of interruption, and hung a towel over the +key-hole, to guard his movements from observation, and then he unlocked +his portmanteau, and took from it a strange and horrible disguise, that +I will try to describe, so as to make it plain to the reader. + +It was a tight-fitting suit, the pantaloons and jacket being made all +in one piece, and of such elastic material as to fit close to the form. +The ground of this dress was black; but upon it was painted, in strong +relief of white, the blanched bones of a skeleton--thus: down the legs +of the pantaloons were traced the long bare leg bones, with the large +joints of the hips, knees, and ankles; across the body was traced the +white ribs, breast-bone, and collar-bone; and down the sleeves were +traced the long bones of the arms, with the large shoulder-blades, +elbow-joints, and wrists; the bones of the hands were traced in white +upon tight-fitting black gloves, and those of the feet upon +tight-fitting black socks: a round scull-cap was to be drawn over the +head; this was all white, to represent the skull, and had its skeleton +features marked out with black. + +The stranger having divested himself of his upper garments then put on +this horrible dress. When he had finished his revolting toilet, even to +the drawing on of the skull-cap, he surveyed himself in the mirror that +reflected as ghastly a figure of "Death," as Milton, Dante, or even +Gustav Dore, ever conceived. + +He laughed sardonically, as he exclaimed: + +"Ah ha! they will not expect 'Death' to be a guest at their ball!" + +Then over this grim costume he threw a large travelling cloak, and upon +his head he placed a broad-brimmed black felt hat. And now, being all +ready, he prepared to leave the room. + +First he put out the light, and then he cautiously unlocked the door, +and, secure from observation himself, he looked out to see if the coast +was clear. + +The passage was dark, but soon he saw a door on the opposite side open, +and two young men come out in masquerade dresses, and hasten, laughing +and talking, down the stairs. They were evidently on their way to the +mask ball. + +The next instant, the door on the same side with his own opened, and a +lady and gentleman, both in black dominoes and masks, came out and +passed down stairs. + +"Good!" said the stranger to himself. "If I am met at all, I shall be +mistaken for one of the invited guests of the ball, and pass out without +being recognized." And so saying, he softly drew the key from the inside +of the lock, and closed and locked the door, and taking the key with +him, glided down the stairs and out of the house, and took the road to +Black Hall. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE MASQUERADE BALL. + + + Light up the mansion, spread the festive board; + Welcome the gay, the noble, and the fair! + Through the bright hall in joyous concert poured, + Let mirth and music sound the dirge of care! + But ask thou not if happiness be there, + If the loud laugh disguise convulsive throe, + Or if the brow the heart's true livery wear; + Lift not the festal mask!--enough to know + No scene of mortal life but teems with mortal woe! + --WALTER SCOTT. + + +The whole front of Black Hall blazed with festive lights; and these +lights were all reflected in the dark waters of the lake, and by the +glowing foliage of the trees that clothed the mountains, and by the +sparkling spray of the cascades that sprung from the rocks on the other +side. + +The space immediately before the house was crowded with carriages of +every description, from the splendid open barouche to the comfortable +family coach and the plain gig. + +The portico and passages in front of the house were thronged with +arriving guests and waiting attendants ready to show them to the +dressing-rooms, which were lighted and warmed, and supplied with every +convenience for the completion of the toilets. + +The drawing-room and dancing saloon brilliantly lighted by chandeliers, +and beautifully decorated with festoons of dark bright evergreens and +wreaths of gorgeous autumn leaves and bouquets of splendid autumn +flowers, stood ready with wide open doors to welcome the company. + +At the hall door, at the head of the servants, stood Mr. Joseph Joy the +house steward, and Miss Tabitha Winterose the housekeeper, both +disgusted with the heathenish costumes, distracted with the confusion, +disapproving of the whole proceedings, yet determined to do their duty. + +Their duty was to see that the men and maids did _theirs_, in showing +the gentlemen and ladies to their dressing-rooms. They had both in turn +been astonished, scandalized, and appalled by the grotesque figures that +had passed them. But their manner of expressing their sentiments was +quite different. + +Joseph Joy stared, wondered, and shook his head. + +Miss Tabby sighed, whimpered, and moralized. + +"I feel as if I had been drinking for a week, and had a lively sort of a +nightmare! Here comes another ghoul, in a false face and black gown and +hood! Now, how is anybody to tell what it is? Whether it is a tall woman +or a short man? Gentleman, or lady, if your honor pleases?" said Joseph +Joy, addressing himself to a black domino that just then came up. + +"Gentleman," answered the unknown. + +"Pass to the right, then, if you please, sir! Here Alick, show this +gentleman in the black shroud to the gentlemen's dressing-room." + +A trembling darky came forward and took charge of this terrific +personage. + +"Ah, my goodness! no good will ever come of this!" sighed Miss Tabby. + +"No good? Yes there will too!" answered Joseph Joy, who was fond of +contradiction. "All these bare-necked, bare-armed, and bare-legged +people will get the pleurisy and be laid on the flat of their backs for +three months, when they will have the opportunity of meditating on the +iniquity of their ways! And won't that be good?" + +"Yes, it will; and I hope it will be sanctified to their souls," sighed +Miss Tabitha. + +"And now here comes another bogie! Gentleman, or lady, please?" politely +inquired the usher, as a red domino approached. + +"Lady," softly murmured the domino. + +"Pass the lady on to your maids, Miss Winterose! And here's another that +certainly belongs to your department too! And another, and another, and +a whole dozen of them!" exclaimed Mr. Joy, as a troupe of bayaderes, +gipsies, peasants, court ladies, et caetera, filed up. + +All these Miss Winterose passed on to Delia, with directions to show +them to the ladies' dressing-rooms. And then she turned to Mr. Joy with +a deep sigh, whimpering: + +"Ah! Joseph, where do all these people expect to die when they go to? +I--I mean, to go to when they die?" + +"They don't trouble themselves about that, I reckon," said contradictory +Joe. + +"Ah! but it is written that we shall not make to ourselves the likeness +of anything that is in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in +the waters under the earth. And here are all these people making of +themselves--" Miss Tabby stopped and snivelled, and then stopped again +to wipe a tear from the tip of her nose. + +"Well, what?" demanded antagonistic Joe. "What are these people making +of themselves? Nothing that breaks the first commandment, for surely you +don't mean to say that they make of themselves the image of anything in +the heavens above, the earth below, or the waters under the earth, do +you?" + +"No, Joseph; but I was mistrusting as they had made themselves up into +images of something in t' other place." + +"With the Evil One for a pattern, eh? And here he comes, sure enough. +Talk of the d---- and you know what happens," muttered Joe Joy, as a +most appalling apparition approached. It was a tall, thin figure, clad +in a tight-fitting black suit, that clung close to the skin from the +crown of the head to the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands; +skull-cap, mask, jacket, sleeves, trousers, shoes and gloves seeming to +be knit all of one piece, or else very artistically joined together. +Crowning the black brows were two tall white horns; tipping the black +fingers were long white talons; terminating the black feet were cloven +white hoofs. Crimson glass goggles over the eyes gave the look of +burning coals; and by some "devilish cantrap strange," some trick in +chemistry, at least, little jets of flame appeared to issue from the +mouth and nostrils of the mask. + +"Heaven save us! There's no mistaking his sex, or identity either," +gasped Mr. Joe, backing himself away from this diabolical figure until +he was stopped by the wall, from which he cried out, "Here, Jerry, show +the--Enemy--into the gentleman's dressing-room." + +The shuddering boy, shaking in every limb, shrank away and merely +pointed out the door of the dressing-room. + +Miss Tabby had merely time to raise her hands and eyes in mute appeal to +heaven, before a shoal of new arrivals--"flower girls," "strawberry +girls," "match girls," "morning stars," "evening stars," "springs," +"summers," "nuns," "bacchantes," etc., claimed her attention; while a +troupe of "brigands," "monks," "troubadours," "clowns," "harlequin," +"kings," "crusaders," et caetera, demanded the guidance of Mr. Joy. + +And after this thicker and faster they came, crowding one group behind +another, until the ushers were nearly demented. When drove after drove +had divided and passed to the right or the left, that is, to the ladies' +or gentlemen's dressing-rooms, and the stream began to slacken a little, +so that they could distinguish individuals, Mr. Joy in turn received +and passed a "puritan preacher," a "cavalier soldier," a "Highlander," a +"knight," a "minstrel," the "vailed prophet," a "Switzer," a "Chinese +mandarin," a "Russian serf," and black, white, and gray, red, yellow, +and blue dominoes, he suddenly exclaimed: + +"Good Lord deliver us! What's _that_?" + +Miss Tabby, who, to her infinite disgust, had been receiving and passing +any number of "fairies," "fisher girls," "soubrettes," "sultanas," +et caetera, turned around, and in a quavering voice, inquired: + +"What's _what_?" + +"Why, _that_!" shuddered Joe, pointing to a ghastly figure that was +standing quite still, a few paces from where they stood, trembling. + +"It's a skeleton! Oh, my goodness! how did ever IT get here?" + +"Yes, it _is_ a skeleton! Oh, this is too horrible!" gasped Joe, +shrinking up against the wall. And his female companion clung close to +him. + +Meanwhile the "skeleton" stalked towards them. + +We, reader, have seen the figure before. But so distinctly was the +skeleton of the human body painted in white upon that tight-fitting +black suit, that the illusion was perfect; and the wonder was not great +that the two poor ignorant servants trembled and gasped, and shrank +back. + +"Why, if you were not afraid of the Devil, why should you shrink from +Death?" demanded the stranger: + + "Grinning horribly a ghastly smile." + +"I--was not--afraid; only it gives one such a turn!" replied Joe, with +chattering teeth. + +"Then direct me to a dressing-room," ordered the stranger. + +"But--are you--a gentleman's skeleton, or a lady's?" gasped Joe. + +"I am neither. I am Death," curtly replied the stranger. + +"Lord save us!" ejaculated Miss Tabby. + +"Are you going to direct me to a dressing-room?" + +"Yes, sure, as soon as I know what sort of a one you want. Are you a +gentleman's death, or a lady's?" faltered Joe, who could by no means +command his nerves. + +"I am a lady's death!" replied the stranger, in a tone so grim that Miss +Tabby ejaculated: + +"Heaven have mercy on us!" + +Joe was about to direct the stranger to the ladies' dressing-rooms, when +his attention was suddenly diverted by the arrival of a crowd of +"knights," "Indians," "Welsh bards," "grisettes," "Greek slaves," +et caetera, who demanded immediate service. The usher divided them according +to their sexes, and then noticed that the ghastly figure of "Death" +joined the gentlemen's party and accompanied them to their +dressing-room. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + ON THE WATCH. + + + False--from the head's crown to the foot's sole--false! + To think I never knew it until now, + Nor saw thro' him e'en when I saw him smile; + Saw that he meant this when he wed me, + When he caressed me! Yes, when he kissed my lips!--BROWNING + + +While this busy scene was being enacted below stairs, equally important, +if quieter dramas were being performed in the dressing-rooms up-stairs, +where the maskers were putting the last finishing touches to their +toilets. + +In Mrs. Berners' dressing-room, Sybil, the queen of the festival, was +alone. Mr. Berners, who had assumed the character of "Harold, the last +of the Saxon Kings," had already completed his toilet and gone below +stairs, as he said, to take his place near the door to welcome his +guests as they should enter the drawing-room. + +So Sybil was alone in her apartment. She also had just completed her +toilet, and now she stood before the large cheval mirror, surveying the +reflection of her figure from its clear surface, where it looked like a +framed picture. + +Ah! far the most beautiful, far the most terrible figure in the +pageantry of the evening would be that of Sybil Berners! She had chosen +for her character the unprecedented part of the impersonation of the +Spirit of Fire. It suited well with her whole nature. She was a true +child of the sun--a fervent Fire Worshipper, if ever there lived one in +a Christian community. And now her costume was but the outward sign of +the inward fervor. Let me try to describe it. + +She wore a robe of chameleon-hued satin, so artfully woven, with a warp +of golden thread and woof of crimson silk, that, as with every change of +light and shade, it glowed in ruby coals or blazed in amber flames; and +as with every motion of her graceful form it flashed around her, she +seemed to be clothed in living fire. + +She wore a burning garnet, like a live coal on her bosom; and on her +brow a golden circle set with garnets, and having golden points set with +amber and topaz, and tipped with diamonds, and flashing like little +tongues of flame from a circle of fire. + +Her mask was of golden gauze, perfectly moulded to her beautiful +features. + +Never had Sybil Berners worn a dress so perfectly expressive of herself +as this, for she herself was Fire! + +She had confided the secret of her costume to no one but to her husband, +not even to her guest--courtesy did not oblige her to do that; and in +order to preserve the secret inviolate, she had on this occasion dressed +herself without the assistance of her maid. + +Being now ready to join the maskers, she slipped a large dark cloak +over her dress, opened the chamber door cautiously to see that the hall +was clear, found it to be so at that moment, and slipped out, glided +down the front stairs, elbowing crowds that were pushing up, and so +passed down to the lower hall, and stole through the multitude that +filled it up, back to the rear door. She passed around the outside of +the house to the front door, and entered with the swarm of new arrivals. +Would the ushers, Joe Joy and Miss Tabby, recognize their lady? That was +the question, and that was the test. She passed up with the rest, +letting her black cloak slip down to reveal her robe and crown of fire. + +"Heaven save us! who comes here? It must be a mermaid from the 'lake +that burneth with fire and brimstone for ever and ever.' It's a she, +anyhow, and belongs to your department, thanks be to goodness!" +whispered Joseph Joy, to his companion in duty. + +"This way, ma'am, if you please. Delia, pass this lady on to the ladies' +dressing-room," said unconscious Miss Tabby, courtesying and pointing. + +And Sybil passed on, smiling to herself to perceive that not even her +old family domestics had recognized her face or form. So, keeping up her +stratagem of being one of the masked guests of the ball, she entered the +large chamber that had been chosen for the ladies' dressing-room and +fitted up with a dozen small dressing-tables and mirrors. Her entrance +created a sensation even among that fantastic crowd, each individual of +which was a wonder in him or herself. + +"Oh! look there!" simultaneously whispered twenty masks to forty others, +as they caught sight of her. + +"What a marvellous dress! What a splendid creature!" + +"What a dazzling costume!" + +"She throws us all in the shade." + +These were a few of the impulsive ejaculations of admiration that were +passed from one to another, as Sybil flashed through the throng and +stopped before a dressing-table, where she made a pretence of putting a +few finishing touches to her dress. + +Then, certain of not having been recognized, and wishing to escape such +close scrutiny in such confined quarters, she joined a group of ladies +who, having completed their own toilets, were just then passing out of +the chamber door into the upper hall, where they were met by their +gentleman escorts. + +There was no one to meet Sybil; a circumstance that was not of much +importance, since there were one or two other ladies of the same party, +who, having no escort of their own, had to follow in the wake of others. +Nor would Sybil have minded this at all, had she not looked over the +balustrades and seen issuing from the little passage leading from Mrs. +Blondelle's room, two figures--a gentleman and a lady. The gentleman she +instantly recognized as her husband, by his dress as "Harold, the last +of the Saxon Kings." The lady she felt certain must be Rosa Blondelle, +as she wore the dress of "Edith the Fair," the favorite of the King. + +For an instant Sybil reeled under this shock; and then she recovered +herself, re-gathered all her strength, and sternly crushing down all +this weakness, passed on as a guest among her guests to the door of the +drawing-room. + +There they were received by a very venerable mask with a long and +flowing white beard, and dressed in a gold 'broidered black velvet +tunic, white hose, white gauntlets, and red buskins, and holding a long +brazen wand. This was no other than "Father Abe," the oldest man on the +manor, personating my "Lord Polonius," that prince of gentlemen ushers +and gold sticks in waiting. + +While Sybil stood behind the group, she saw her husband and her rival +precede every one to the door. + +"Names, if you please, sir?" inquired the usher with a bow. + +"Harold the Saxon and Edith the Fair," answered Mr. Berners in a low +voice. + +"Mr. Harry Claxton and Miss Esther Clair!" shouted poor old Abe at the +top of his voice as he opened wider the door to admit his unknown master +and the lady. + +"Name, sir, please?" he continued, addressing the next party. + +"Rob Roy Macgregor." + +"Mr. Robert McCracker!" shouted the usher, passing in this mask, and +passing immediately to the next with, "Name, missus, please?" + +"Fenella the dumb girl," murmured a very shy little maiden, whom the +usher immediately announced as "An Ell of a dumb girl!" And so on, he +went, making the most absurd as well as the most awful blunders with +ladies' and gentlemen's names, as announcing the "Grand Turk" as Miss +Ann Burke; for which last mistake the poor old man was not much to +blame, as the subject was but a little fellow in a turban and long gown, +whom Polonius naturally took to be a woman in a rather fantastic female +dress. But when he thundered forth a "Musketeer" as a "mosquito," and a +"Crusader" as a "curiosity," and "Joan of Arc" as "Master Johnny Dark," +he was quite unpardonable. + +Meanwhile Sybil had entered the room, which was blazing with light and +resounding with music. As the guests were now nearly all assembled, the +gentlemen selected partners and opened the ball with a grand promenade +to the music of the grand march in "Faust." + +Introductions are of course unnecessary at private masquerades, as well +as impracticable at all such festivals; so when the ghastly mask "Death" +came up and offered his skeleton arm to Sybil for the promenade, she +unhesitatingly accepted it, supposing him all the while to be one of her +invited guests. + +But in joining the promenaders, he entered the circle at a point +immediately in the rear of Harold the Saxon, and Edith the Fair. Death +kept his eye on the two, and speaking in a low voice, inquired of his +companion; + +"Beautiful mask! though we may not yet discover ourselves to each other, +yet we are at liberty to form a guess of the identity of our friends +here?" + +"Yes," answered Sybil, in a low voice. She scarcely understood what she +had been asked, or what she had answered; for her whole attention was +absorbed in watching her husband and her rival, who were walking +immediately before her--so close, yet so unconscious of her presence; so +near in person, yet so far in spirit! + +"--As, for instance, lovely mask," continued Death, "I think I know this +'Fair Edith' as the beautiful blonde who is staying here with our +hostess. Am I not right?" + +"Yes," answered Sybil, in the same absent and unconscious manner; for +she really had not the slightest idea of what he had been talking about, +but only a half-conscious instinct that the best and shortest, as well +as the most courteous, way, in which to be rid of him was to agree with +all he said. Her whole attention was still painfully absorbed by the +pair before her. + +"But as for the gentleman, Saxon Harold, I do not recognize him at all! +However, he seems to be quite devoted to his fair Edith, as is most +natural! Fair Edith was his best beloved! best beloved? Yes, beloved far +beyond his queen!" + +Sybil knew what he was saying now! She was listening to him with her +ears, while she was watching the pair before her with her eyes. + +"When Harold's dead body was found on the battle-field, it was not the +queen, but Fair Edith, who was sent for to identify it, and to her it +was given," continued the stranger. + +A half-suppressed cry broke from Sybil's lips. + +"What is the matter? Are they treading on your feet?" inquired the mask. + +"_Some_ one is treading on me," murmured Sybil, with a sad double +meaning. + +"Do not press on us so, if you please, sir!" said Death, turning and +staring angrily at the unoffending little Grand Turk, and Fenella the +dumb girl, who happened to be immediately in the rear. Having thus +brow-beaten the imaginary enemy, Death turned to his companion and said: + +"King Harold and Fair Edith were lovers, and these who assume their +parts are also lovers, and they take their related parts from a +sentimental motive! You are tired! let me lead you to a seat!" suddenly +exclaimed the stranger, feeling his partner's form drooping heavily from +his side. + +She was almost fainting, she was almost sinking into a swoon. She +permitted her escort to take her to a chair, and to fetch her a glass of +water. And then she thanked him and requested him to select another +partner, as she was too much fatigued to go upon the floor again for an +hour, and that she preferred to sit where she was, and to watch the +masquerade march on before her. + +But Death politely declared that he preferred to stand there by her and +share her pastime, if she would permit him to do so. + +She bowed assent, and Death took up his position at her side. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + DRIVEN TO DESPERATION. + + For only this night, as they whispered, I brought + My own eyes to bear on her so, that I thought, + Could I keep them one half-minute fixed--she would fall + Shrivelled!--She fell not; yes, this does it all.--BROWNING + + +As the circle revolved before them, Sybil saw no one but Lyon Berners +and Rosa Blondelle, and these she saw always--with her eyes, when they +were before them; with her spirit, when they had revolved away from +them. She saw him hold close to his heart the arm that leaned on his +arm; she saw him press her hand, and play with her fingers, and look +love in the glances of his eyes, and speak love in the tones of his +voice, although no _word_ of love had been uttered as yet. + +At last--oh! deliverance from torture!--the music ceased, the +promenaders dispersed to their seats. + +The relief was but short! The band soon struck up a popular quadrille, +and the gentlemen again selected their partners and formed sets. Lyon +Berners, who had conducted his fair companion to a distant seat, now led +her forth again, and stood with her at the head of one of the sets. + +"There! you see! they _are_ lovers! I wonder who _he_ is?" whispered +Death, leaning to Sybil's ear. + +Sybil bit her lip and answered nothing. + +"Ah! you do not know, or will not tell! Well, will you honor me with +your hand in this quadrille?" requested the stranger, with a bow. + +Scarcely knowing what she did, for her eyes and thoughts were still +following her husband and her rival, Sybil bowed assent, and arose from +her seat. + +Death took her hand and led her up to the same quadrille, at the head +of which Harold the Saxon and Edith the Fair stood, and he placed +himself and his partner exactly opposite to, and facing them. + +Thus Lyon Berners for the first time in the evening was obliged to see +his wife, for of course he knew her by her dress, as she knew him by his +dress. She saw him stoop and whisper to his partner, and she surmised +that he gave her a hint as to who was their _vis-a-vis_, and gave it as +a warning. She fancied here that her confidence had been betrayed in +small matters as well as in great, and even in this very small item of +divulging the secret of her costume to her rival. And at that moment she +took a resolution, which later in the evening she carried out. Now, +however, from behind her golden mask she continued to watch her husband +and her rival. She noticed, that from the instant her husband had +observed his wife's presence, he modified his manner towards his +partner, until there seemed nothing but indifference in it. + +But this change, instead of being satisfactory to Sybil, was simply +disgusting to her, who saw in it only the effect of her own presence, +inducing hypocrisy and deception in them. And the resolution that she +had formed was strengthened. + +Meanwhile the only couple that was wanted to complete the quadrille now +came up, and the dance began. + +Sybil noticed, in an absent-minded sort of a way, how very gracefully +her grim partner danced. And the thought passed carelessly through her +mind, that if in that most ghastly disguise his manner and address were +so elegant and polished, how very refined, how perfect they must be in +his plain dress. And she wondered and conjectured who, among her +numerous friends and acquaintances, this gentleman could be; and she +admired and marvelled at the tact and skill with which he so completely +and successfully concealed his identity. + +She noticed too, in the superficial sort of manner in which she noticed +everything except the objects of her agonizing jealousy, that her +strange partner watched Rosa as closely as she herself watched Lyon--and +she even asked herself: + +"Does he know Rosa, and is he jealous?" + +Meanwhile the mazy dance went merrily on, heying and setting, whirling +and twisting to the inspiring sound of music. And Sybil acted her part, +scarcely conscious that she did it, until the set was ended, and she was +led back to her seat by her partner, who, as he placed her in it, bowed +gracefully, thanked her for the honor she had done him, and inquired if +he could have the pleasure of bringing her a glass of water, lemonade, +or anything else. + +But she politely declined all refreshment. + +He then expressed a hope of having the honor of dancing with her again +during the evening, and with a final bow he withdrew. + +But he did but make way for a succession of suitors, who, in low and +pleading tones, besought the honor of her hand in the waltz that was +about to begin. But to each of these in turn she excused herself, upon +the plea that she never waltzed. + +Next she was besieged by candidates for the delight of dancing with her +in the quadrille that was immediately to follow the waltz. And she +mechanically bowed assent to the first applicant, and excused herself to +all others, upon the plea of her previous engagement. + +That Sybil consented to dance at all, under the painful circumstances of +her position, was due to the instinctive courtesy of her nature, which +taught her, that on such an occasion as this, the hostess must not +indulge her private feelings, however importunate they might be, but +that she must mingle in the amusements of her guests; for she forgot +that a masquerade ball was different from all other entertainments in +this, that her masquerade dress put her on an equality with all her +guests, and emancipated her from all the duties of a hostess as long as +she should wear her mask. + +Meanwhile she was looking for her husband and her rival, who had both +disappeared. And presently her vigilance was rewarded. They reappeared, +locked in each other's arms, and whirling around in the bewildering +waltz. And she watched them, all unconscious that she herself was the +"observed of all observers," the "cynosure of eyes," the star of that +"goodlie company." All who were not waltzing, and many who were +waltzing, were talking of Sybil. + +"Who is she? What is she? Where did she come from? Does any one know +her?" were some of the questions that were asked on all sides. + +"She outshines every one in the room," whispered a "Crusader" to a +"Quaker." + +"I have heard of 'making sunshine in a shady place,' but _she_ 'makes +sunshine' even in a lighted place!" observed Tecumseh. + +"Who, then, is she?" inquired William Penn. + +"No one knows," answered Richard Coeur de Lion. + +"But what character does she take?" asked Lucretia Borgia. + +"I should think it was a 'Priestess of the sun,'" surmised Rebecca the +Jewess. + +"No! I should think she has taken the character of the 'Princess +Creusa,' the daughter of Creon, King of Corinth, and the victim of Medea +the Sorceress. Creusa perished, you know, in the robe of magic presented +to her as a wedding gift from Medea, and designed to burn the wearer to +ashes! Yes, decidedly it is Creusa, in her death robe of fire!" +persisted the 'gentle Desdemona,' who had just joined the motley group. + +"You are every one of you mistaken. I heard her announced when she +entered--the 'Spirit of Fire,'" said Pocahontas, with an air of +authority. + +"That is her assumed character! Now to find out her real one." + +"Shall I whisper my opinion? Mind, it is _only_ an opinion, with no data +for a foundation," put in Charlemagne. + +"Yes; do tell us who you take her to be," was the unanimous request of +the circle. + +"Then I think she is our fair hostess!" + +"Oh-h-h!" exclaimed all the ladies. + +"Why do you think so?" inquired several of the gentlemen. + +"Because the _correspondence_ is so perfect that it strikes me at once, +as it ought to strike everybody." + +"How? how?" + +"The correspondence between her nature and her costume, I mean! The +outward glow expresses the inward heat. Believe me, Sybil Berners has +been masquerading all her life, and now for the first time appears in +her true character--a 'Fire Queen!'" + +Such gossip as this was going on all over the room, but only in this +circle was the secret of Sybil's character discovered. But soon this +discovery found its way through the crowd, and in half an hour after the +secret was first revealed, every one in the room knew of it, except the +person most concerned. Sybil was surrounded by a circle of admirers, +each one of whom, even by the slightest change of tone or manner, +revealed their knowledge, for it would have been as much against the +laws of etiquette and courtesy to recognize her before she was willing +to be recognized, as it would have been to have unmasked her before she +was ready to unmask. So they were very guarded in their manners--even +more guarded than they needed to be, for Sybil was not critical, she was +indeed scarcely observant of them. She was too deeply absorbed in +watching her adored husband and her abhorred rival, as, twined in each +other's embrace, they swam around and around in the dizzy waltz, +appearing, disappearing, and reappearing as they made the grand circle +of the saloon. + +At first they did not see Sybil, entrenched as she was behind her group +of admirers; but the moment that they did see her--and Sybil knew that +very moment--they modified their manners towards each other. And again +Sybil was more disgusted than pleased at what she thought confirmed her +worst suspicions of them. + +At length the waltz was over. Lyon Berners led his fair partner to a +seat, left her there and came to speak to his wife. But it was not until +her group of admirers had separated to go in search of partners for the +ensuing quadrille, that he had an opportunity of speaking to her +privately. + +"How are you enjoying yourself?" he inquired, on general principles. + +"I am looking on. I am really interested in all these fooleries," +answered Sybil evasively, but truly. + +"Why were you not waltzing?" + +"Why? Because I did not choose and could not have borne to have had my +waist encircled by any other man's arm than yours, Lyon," answered his +wife, very gravely. + +"My darling Sybil, that comes of your old-fashioned notions and country +training; and it deprives you of giving and receiving much pleasure," +answered Mr. Berners. + +And before Sybil could reply to that, the Black Prince came up to claim +her promised hand in the quadrilles that were then forming. + +Again, as she flashed like fire through and through the mazes of the +dance, her elegant figure, her graceful motions, and her dazzling, +flame-like dress was the general subject of enthusiastic admiration. + +It was impossible but that some of this praise should reach the ears of +its object. And equally impossible that her own name should not be +coupled with it. So Sybil at length discovered that her identity was +known, to some persons certainly--to how many she could not even +conjecture. + +Suddenly she resolved to try an experiment. She turned to her partner +and inquired: + +"Do you know me?" + +"Not until you permit me to do so, Madam," answered the Black Prince, +very courteously. + +"Your reply was worthy of a knight and prince! So I permit you to +recognize me," said Sybil. + +"Then you are our beautiful hostess; and I am happy to greet you by your +real name, Mrs. Berners," said the Black Prince. + +"Thanks," answered Sybil. "I saw that many persons knew me, and I wished +to ascertain whether you were among their number, and how you and others +found me out." + +"Some diviner of spirits," laughed the Black Prince, "divined you, not +only _through_ but _by_ your costume, in its correspondence with your +character. And as soon as he made this discovery he hastened to +promulgate it. Then I, for one, perceived at once that the splendid +'Fire Queen' could be no other than a daughter of 'Berners of the +Burning Heart.' And now, Madam! am I permitted to introduce myself by +the name I bear in this humdrum world of reality, or has your +penetration already rendered such an introduction unnecessary?" + +"It is unnecessary. I have just recognized--Captain Pendleton," replied +Sybil. + +The captain bowed low. And then, to the "forward two" of the leader of +the band, he led his partner up to meet their _vis-a-vis_, to "balance," +"pass," "change," and go through all the figures of the dance. + +And so the dances succeeded each other to the end of the set. And then +Captain Pendleton led his beautiful partner back to her seat, and stood +talking with her until the music for the waltz commenced. + +Then, having solicited her hand for that dance, and having ascertained +that she never waltzed, he bowed and withdrew to find a partner +elsewhere. + +Very soon Sybil saw him whirling around the room with some one of the +many unknown flower girls that constituted so large a portion of the +company. + +Soon after this she saw both her husband and her rival among the +waltzers; but they were not waltzing together. Edith the Fair was +whirling around and around the room in the arms of a hermit, while +Harold the Saxon was engaged with a pretty nun. + +"They know me! they are cautious!" muttered Sybil, biting her lips with +suppressed fury; for their forbearance, which she called duplicity, +enraged her more than all their flirting had done. + +And now she immediately put in execution the resolution that she had +formed in the earlier part of the evening. Seeing her new acquaintance +Death standing unemployed, she beckoned him to approach. + +He came promptly. + +"King of Terrors!" she said with assumed levity, "I do not waltz, but I +am tired of sitting here. Give me your arm to the other end of the room, +and even all around the room, perhaps." + +"Spirit of Fire! it will not be the first time that I have had the honor +of waiting on you or following in your track," said Death, gallantly. + +"True; Fire has often preceded Death as his agent," assented Sybil. + +"Say rather, that Death has often followed Fire as her servant." + +"Enough of this. We seem to be well paired, at least. Let us get up and +walk." + +Death bowed and offered his arm, and Fire arose and took it. And they +walked around the room, keeping outside the circle of the waltzers and +near the seats by the walls. But as they walked, many exclamations of +admiration, wonder, and awe struck their ears. + +"Splendid creature! She moves like a spirit or a flame," exclaimed one. + +"What a contrast to her companion! She all life and light, he all +darkness and death." + +"It looks, as they walk side by side, as if she had burned him up and +consumed him to a skeleton of charred bones," said another. + +"Horrible! Hush!" imperatively commanded a young lady, whose will, if it +did not enforce silence, modified expression. + +Meanwhile Fire and Death went three times around the room. Then Fire +paused near a little corner _tete-a-tete_ sofa, on which a young girl, +dressed as Janet Foster the little Puritan, was seated quite alone; and +turning to her escort, she said: + +"I am tired and thirsty. I will take this vacant seat for a while and +trouble you to go and fetch me a glass of lemonade." + +"With pleasure!" gallantly assented Death, starting off promptly and +zealously to execute her commands. + +Sybil seated herself beside the young girl on the sofa, and laying her +hand upon her shoulder, whispered: + +"Trix." + +"There!" exclaimed the girl, starting. "Every one knows me, even you." + +"Well, everybody knows me also, even you," said Sybil. + +"It is very provoking." + +"Very." + +"When I had taken so much pains to disguise myself too." + +"Yes, and I also." + +"_You?_ Why you took the very means to reveal your self, wearing a dress +so perfectly adapted to your nature. Anybody might have known you," +pouted Trix. + +"Yes, anybody _might_ have known me; but I do not think that anybody +_would_ have done so, if it had not been for a certain 'expert' who, +detecting the 'correspondences,' as he calls them, divulged the secret +to the whole room," explained Sybil. + +"Well, somebody found you out, and did it by the fitness of your costume +too. But as for me, nothing could be more opposite in character than +Janet Foster the Puritan maiden, and Beatrix Pendleton the wild +huntress. We are about as much alike as sage tea and sparkling hock. +Why, see here, Sybil; in order to throw every one off the track of me, I +took a character as unlike mine as it was possible to find, and yet I +have not succeeded in concealing my identity. And this has provoked me +to such an extent that I have left the dance." + +"And so I find you sulking here. Well, Trix, I will tell you how they +found you out. You and I are known to be the two smallest women in the +whole neighborhood. After having found me out, through the divination of +a magician, it was easy to see that the other small woman must be you." + +"Oh, I see; but it is perfectly exasperating!" + +"So it is; but you may get some fun out of it yet, Trix, by turning the +tables upon them all." + +"How? Tell me! I'll do anything to get the better of them." + +"I cannot tell you now, for here comes my escort with my lemonade, and +this matter must remain a secret between you and me. But listen: in +fifteen minutes from this time slip away and go to my bedroom. You know +the way, and you will find it empty. I will join you there, and tell you +my plan," said Sybil, in a very low tone. + +At that moment her escort arrived with the glass of lemonade. + +Sybil received it from him with many thanks, and having offered it first +to her companion, who politely declined it, she drank it, sat the empty +glass upon the corner of the mantle-piece and then said: + +"I will trouble you now, if you please, to take me back to my former +seat." + +Death bowed and offered his arm. Fire arose, nodded to the little +Puritan on the sofa, took the arm of her escort, and walked away. + +When she reached her old seat she dismissed her escort, and in a few +minutes, finding herself for the instant unobserved, she quietly slipped +away to her bed-chamber, where she found Beatrix Pendleton already +awaiting her. + +First of all Sybil locked the door, to insure herself and her companion +from interruption. Then she went to the glass and took off her crown of +flame and her mask of gold gauze, and drew a long breath of relief as +she turned towards her companion, who started violently, exclaiming: + +"Good Heaven, Sybil! how ghastly pale you look! You are ill!" + +"Oh, no; only very weary," sighed Sybil, adding then, in explanation, +"You know these affairs are very fatiguing." + +"Yes, I know, but not to that extent, when you have a house full of +trained servants to do everything. Why Sybil, you look as if your fiery +dress had burned you to a form of ashes, leaving only a shape that might +be blown away with a breath." + +"Like another Creusa," answered Sybil, coldly. Then changing her tone, +she said, with assumed lightness, "Come, Trix, you want to see some fun, +and you shall see it. You and I are of about one size. We will therefore +exchange dresses. You shall be the Fire Queen and I will be the Puritan +maid. You can sustain the part you will take admirably, and upon +occasion can disguise your own voice or imitate mine. I shall do my best +to enact the little Puritan. But with all we can do to support the +characters, we shall puzzle people to the end of their wits. They will +not feel quite so sure now as they were an hour ago that I am the Fire +Queen, or you the Puritan maid. But they will not know who we are. Come, +what have you to say to this?" + +"Why, that it is enchanting. I agree to your plan at once." + +"All right, then. We have no time to lose. It is half-past ten o'clock +now. At twelve supper will be served, when all the guests will lay aside +their masks. So you see that we have but an hour and a half to effect +our change of dress and hoax our wise companions. Just before supper we +must slip up here again and change back, so that we may unmask at supper +in our proper disguises." + +"All right!" exclaimed Trix, delighted with the plan. + +"And there is one more caution I must give you. Keep out of the way of +my husband. He knows my character of Fire Queen, and if he should see +you near him in that dress, he would be sure to speak to you for me; and +if you should attempt to reply, no matter how well you might imitate my +voice, your speech would certainly betray you." + +"All right! I will keep away from your husband, if I can; but how shall +I know him?" + +"He is dressed as Harold the last of the Saxon Kings!" + +"Oh! is _that_ Mr. Berners? And I never suspected it! I thought _that_ +was some single man, desperately smitten with the charms of Edith the +Fair," continued Beatrix. + +"Oh, yes, I dare say you thought, but you were mistaken. Edith the Fair +is our guest, Mrs. Blondelle. And she took the character of Edith to +support Mr. Berners in Harold, and to be true to these characters they +must act as they do; for Harold and Edith were lovers in history," +explained Sybil, speaking calmly, though every word uttered by her +companion had seemed like a separate stab to her already deeply wounded +bosom. + +"'Lovers in history' were they? I should take them to be lovers in +mystery now, if I did not know them to be Mr. Berners and Mrs. +Blondelle," persisted Beatrix, all unconscious of the blows she was +raining upon Sybil's overburdened heart. "However," she added, "I shall +keep out of the way of both, for if _he_ knew your disguise, be sure +that _she_ knew it also; and of course both, in daily intercourse with +you, know your voice equally well. And if either of them should take me +for you and speak to me for you, and I should attempt to reply, I should +be sure to betray myself. So I will keep away from both, if I can. If +not, if they should come suddenly upon me and speak to me, I shall not +answer, but shall turn around and walk silently away as if I were +offended with them." + +"Yes, do that; that will be excellent," assented Sybil. + +"And now, how are you going to support my character, or rather my +disguise?" inquired Beatrix. + +"By being very silent and demure as Janet Foster; or, if need should be, +by carrying on your mood of sullenness as Beatrix Pendleton, masked." + +"That will do," agreed Beatrix, with a smile. + +All the while they had been speaking, they had also been taking off +their fancy dresses. No time was lost, and the exchange of costume was +quickly effected. + +"Now," said Sybil, "another favor." + +"Name it." + +"Let me go down first. Then do you wait ten minutes here before you +follow me. And when you enter the room keep away from me, as well as +from my husband and my guest." + +"Very well. I will do so. Anything else?" + +"Nothing now, thank you," said Sybil, kissing her hand as she left the +room. + +And Sybil, dressed now in the plain, close-fitting camlet gown and prim +white linen cap, cuffs, and collar of the Puritan maid, and with a pale, +young looking mask on her face, reentered the saloon to try her +experiment. + +She looked around, and soon saw her husband and her rival sitting +side-by-side, on the little retired sofa in the corner. They were +absorbed in each other's attractions, and did not see her. She glided +cautiously into a seat near them. + +They were sitting very close together, talking in a very low tone. Her +hand rested in his. At length, Sybil heard her inquire: + +"Where is your wife? I have not seen her for some time." + +"She has left the room, I believe," answered Mr. Berners. + +"Oh, that is such a relief! Do you know that I am really afraid of her?" + +"Afraid of her! why? With me you are always perfectly safe. Safe!" he +repeated, with a light laugh--"why, of course you are! Besides, what +could harm you? Of whom are you afraid? Your friend, my wife, Sybil? She +is your friend, and would do you only good." + +Rosa Blondelle slowly shook her head, murmuring: + +"No, Lyon, your wife is not my friend--she is my deadly enemy. She is +fiercely jealous of your affection for me, though it is the only +happiness of my unhappy life. And she will make you throw me off yet." + +"Never! no one, not even my wife, shall ever do that! I swear it by all +my hopes of--" + +"Hush! do not swear, for she will make you break your oath. She is your +wife. She will make you forsake me, or--she will do me a fatal mischief. +Oh, I shiver whenever she comes near me. Ah, if you had seen her eyes +as I saw them through her mask to-night. They were lambent flames! How +they glared on me, those terrible eyes!" + +"It was your fancy, dear Rosa; no more than that. Come, shake off all +this gloom and terror from your spirit, and be your lovely and sprightly +self!" + +"But I cannot! oh, I cannot! I feel the burning of her terrible eyes +upon me now." + +"But she is not even in the room." + +(Here Sybil slipped away to a short distance, and joined a group of +masks as if she belonged to them.) + +"But I shiver as if she were near me now." + +Lyon Berners suddenly looked around and then laughed, saying: + +"But there is no one near you, dear Rosa, except Death." + +"Death!" she echoed with a start and a shudder. + +"Why, how excessively nervous you are, dear Rosa," said Lyon Berners +laying his hand soothingly upon her shoulder. + +"Oh, but just reflect what you have just said to me. 'No one near me but +Death!' Death near me!" she repeated, trembling. + +"Poor child, are you superstitious as well as nervous? It was the mask I +meant. The mask that was Sybil's partner in the quadrille which we +danced with them," laughed Lyon Berners. + +"Oh, yes, I know. And they stood opposite to us. So that we danced with +them more than with any one else! And my own hand turned cold every time +it had to touch his. What a ghastly mask!" + +"Yes, indeed. I wonder any man should choose such a one," added Lyon. + +"Who is he? Who is that mask?" + +"Indeed I do not know. Some one among our invited guests, of course. +But he maintains his incognito so successfully, that even I, who have +discovered most people in the room, have not been able to detect his +identity. However, at supper all will unmask, and we shall see who he +is." + +"Look, is he still near me?" inquired Rosa, shaking as if with an ague. + +Mr. Berners turned his head, and then answered: + +"Yes, just to your left." + +"Oh! please ask him to go away! I freeze and burn, all in one minute, +while he is near!" + +That was enough for Lyon Berners. He arose and went to Death, and said: + +"Excuse me, friend. No offence is meant; but your rather ghastly costume +is too much for the nerves of the lady who is with me. I do not ask you +to withdraw to some other part of the room; but I ask you whether you +will do so, or whether I shall take the lady away from her +resting-place?" + +"Oh! I will withdraw! I know that my presence is not ever welcome, +though I am not always so easily got rid of!" answered Death as, with a +low inclination of his head, he went away. + +"Oh! I breathe again! I live again!" murmured Rosa, with a sigh of +relief. + +"And now you are sufficiently rested, the music is striking up for a +lively quadrille, and so, if you please, we will join the dancers and +dance away dull care!" said Lyon Berners, rising and offering his arm to +Rosa Blondelle. + +She arose and took his arm. + +(Sybil, in her little Puritan's dress moved after them.) + +He led her to the head of a set that was about to be formed. + +"Oh! there she is!" suddenly exclaimed Rosa. + +"Who?" + +"Sybil." + +"Where?" + +"There!" + +And Rosa pointed to one of the doors, at which Beatrix Pendleton, in +Sybil's disguise, was just entering the room. + +"No matter! See! she has taken another direction from this, and will not +be near you, dear child; so be at rest," said Lyon Berners soothingly. + +"Oh! I am so glad! You don't know how I fear that woman," replied Rosa. + +"But you did not use to do so!" + +"No! not until to-night! To-night when I met her terrible eyes," said +Rosa. + +"Come, come, dear! Cheer up," smiled Mr. Berners, encouragingly, as he +took her hand and led her to the order--"Forward four!" + +The dance began, and Sybil heard no more; but she had heard enough to +convince her, if she had not been convinced before, of her guest's +treachery and her husband's enthrallment. + +She went and sat down quietly in a remote corner, and "bided her time." +And waltz succeeded quadrille, and quadrille waltz. At the beginning of +every new dance, some one would come up and ask for the honor of her +hand, which she always politely refused--taking good care to speak in a +low tone, and disguised voice. At length Captain Pendleton came up, and +mistaking her for his sister, said: + +"Sulking still, Trix?" + +Not venturing to speak to him, lest he should discover his mistake, she +shrugged her shoulders and turned away. + +"All right! sulk as long as you please. It hurts no one but yourself, my +dear," exclaimed the Captain, sauntering off. + +She saw Beatrix Pendleton, in her dress, moving merrily through the +quadrille, or floating around in the waltz. She heard a gentleman near +her say: + +"I thought that lady never waltzed. I know she refused me and several +others upon the plea that she never did." + +And she heard the other lightly answer: + +"Oh, well, ladies are privileged to change their minds." + +The waltz of which they were speaking came now to an end. Sybil saw +Beatrix led to a seat near her own. She also saw her partner bow and +leave her. She seized the opportunity and glided up to Beatrix, and +whispered: + +"There will be but one more quadrille, and then supper will be served. I +am going to my room. Do not dance in the next quadrille, but follow me, +that we may change our dresses again. We have to be ready to unmask at +supper, you know." + +"Very well! I will be punctual. I really have enjoyed myself in your +dress. And you?" + +"As much as I expected to. I am satisfied." + +At this moment the music for the quadrille struck up, and gentlemen +began to select their partners. Two or three were coming towards Sybil +and Beatrix. So with a parting caution to Beatrix to be careful, Sybil +left the saloon. + +She glided up to her chamber, where she was soon joined by Beatrix. + +They began rapidly to take off their dresses, to exchange them. + +"Oh, I have had so much amusement!" exclaimed Beatrix, laughing. +"Everybody took me for you. And oh, I have received so many flattering +compliments intended for you; and I have heard so much wholesome abuse +of myself! That I was fast; that I was eccentric; that I was more than +half-crazy; that I had a dreadful temper. And you?" + +"I also received some sweet flattery intended for the pretty little +Puritan maiden, and learned some bitter truths about myself," answered +Sybil. + +"How hollow your voice is, Sybil! Bosh! who cares for such +double-dealing wretches, who flatter us before our faces and abuse us +behind our backs?" exclaimed Beatrix, as she quickly finished her +Puritan toilet, and announced herself ready. + +Sybil was also dressed, and they went down stairs and entered the +drawing-room together. + +The last quadrille before supper was over, the supper-rooms were thrown +open, and the company were marching in. + +Captain Pendleton hastened to meet Sybil, and another gentleman offered +his arm to Beatrix, and thus escorted, they fell in the line of march +with others. + +As each couple passed into the supper-room, they took off their masks, +and handed them to attendants, placed for that purpose, to the right and +left of the door. Thus, when the company filled the rooms, every face +was shown. + +There were the usual surprises, the usual gay recognitions. + +Among the rest, "Harold the Saxon" and "Edith the Fair" stood confessed +as Mr. Berners and Mrs. Blondelle, and much silent surprise as well as +much whispered suspicion was the result. + +"Is it possible?" muttered one. "I took them for a pair of lovers, they +were so much together." + +"I thought they were a newly married pair, who took advantage of their +masks to be more together than etiquette allows," murmured a second. + +"I think it was very improper; don't you?" inquired a third. + +"Improper! It was disgraceful," indignantly answered a fourth, who was +no other than Beatrix Pendleton, who now completely understood why it +was that Sybil Berners wished to change dresses with her, and also how +it was that Sybil's voice was so hollow, as she spoke in the +bed-chamber. "She wished to put on my dress that she might watch them +unsuspected, and she was right. She detected them in their sinful +trifling, and she was wretched," said Beatrix to herself. And she looked +around to catch a glimpse of Sybil's face. Sybil was sitting too near +her to be seen. Sybil was on the same side with herself, and only two or +three seats off. But Beatrix saw Mr. Berners and Mrs. Blondelle sitting +immediately opposite to herself, and with a recklessness that savored of +fatuity, still carrying on their sentimental flirtation. + +Yes! Rosa was still throwing up her eyes to his eyes, and cooing "soft +nonsense" in his ears; and Lyon was still dwelling on her glances and +her tones with lover-like devotion. Suddenly assuming a gay tone, she +asked him: + +"Where is our ghastly friend, Death! I do not see him anywhere in the +room, and I was _so_ anxious to see him unmasked, that I might find out +who he is. Where is he? Do you see him anywhere?" + +"No; he is not here yet; but doubtless he will make his appearance +presently," answered Mr. Berners. + +"Do you really not know who he is?" + +"Not in the least; nor does any one else here know," replied Mr. +Berners. + +Suddenly Rosa looked up, started, and with a suppressed cry, muttered: + +"Good heavens! Look at Sybil!" + +Mr. Berners followed the direction of her gaze across the table, and +even he started at the sight of Sybil's face. + +That face wore a look of anguish, despair, and desperation that seemed +fixed there forever; for in all its agony of passion that tortured and +writhen face was as still, cold, hard, and lifeless as marble, except +that from its eyes streamed glances as from orbs of fire. + +Mr. Berners suddenly turned his eyes from her, and looked up and down +the table. Fortunately now every one was too busily engaged in eating, +drinking, laughing, talking, flirting, and gossiping to attend to the +looks of their hostess. + +"I must go and speak to her," said Lyon Berners in extreme anxiety and +displeasure, as he left Rosa's side, and made his way around the table, +until he stood immediately behind his wife. He touched her on her +shoulder to attract her attention. She started as if an adder had stung +her, but she never looked around. + +"Sybil, my dearest, you are ill. What is the matter?" he whispered, +trying to avoid being overheard by others. + +"Do NOT touch me! _Do not_ speak to me, unless you wish to see me drop +dead or go mad before you!" she answered in tones so full of suppressed +energy, that he impulsively drew back. + +He waited for a moment in dire dread lest the assembled company should +see the state of his wife, and then he ventured to renew his efforts. + +"Sybil, my darling, you are really not well. Let me lead you out of this +crowded room," he whispered, very gently, laying his hand upon her +shoulder. + +She dashed it off as if it had been some venomous reptile, and turned +upon him a look flaming with fiery wrath. + +"Sybil you will certainly draw the attention of our guests," he +persisted, with much less gentleness than he had before spoken. + +"If you touch me, or speak to me but once more--if you do not leave me +on the instant, I _will_ draw the attention of our guests, and draw it +with a vengeance too!" she fiercely retorted, never once removing from +him her flaming eyes. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + LYING IN WAIT. + + + "He is with her; and they know that I know + Where they are, and what they do; they believe my tears flow + While they laugh, laugh at me, at me left in the drear + Empty hall to lament in, for them!--I am here."--BROWNING. + + +"You are a lunatic, and fit only for a lunatic asylum!" was the angry +comment of Lyon Berners, as he turned upon his heel and left his wife. + +It was the first time in his life that he had ever spoken angrily to +Sybil, or even felt angry with her. + +Hitherto he had borne her fierce outbursts of jealousy with "a great +patience," feeling, perhaps, that they flamed up from the depths of her +burning love for him; feeling, also, that his own thoughtless conduct +had caused them. + +Now, however, he was thoroughly incensed by the deportment of his wife, +and deeply mortified at the effect it might have upon their company. + +He went around to the opposite side of the table. He did not again join +Rosa, for he dreaded a scene, and even a catastrophe; but he mingled +with the crowd, and stood where he could see Sybil, without being seen +by her. + +Her face remained the same--awful in the marble-like stillness of her +agonized features; terrible in the fierceness of her flaming eyes! + +This was at length observed by some of the guests, who whispered their +comments or enquiries to others. And the hum of voices and the burden of +their low-toned talk at length reached the ears or excited the +suspicions of Lyon Berners. The ordeal of the supper-table was a +frightful trial to him. He longed for it to be over. + +At length the longing was gratified--the torture was over. The guests, +by twos and by fours, by small groups and large parties, left the +supper-room for the saloon, where the musicians struck up a grand march, +and the greater portion of the company formed into a leisurely promenade +as a gentle exercise after eating, and a prudent prelude to more +dancing. + +Some among the guests, however, preferred to seat themselves on the +sofas that lined the walls, and to rest. + +Among these last was Rosa Blondelle, who sat on a corner sofa, and +sulked and looked sad and sentimental because Lyon Berners had not +spoken to her, or even approached her since he had seen that look on +Sybil's face. To the vain and shallow coquette, it was gall and +bitterness to perceive that Sybil had still the power, of whatever sort, +to keep her own husband and _her_ admirer from her side. So Rosa sat and +sorrowed, or seemed to sorrow, on the corner sofa, from which nobody +invited her to rise, for there was a very general feeling of +disapprobation against the beautiful blonde. + +Sybil also sank upon a side seat, where she sat with that same look of +agony turned to marble, on her face. Some one came up and invited her to +join in the promenade. Scarcely recognizing the speaker, or +comprehending what he said, she arose, more like an automaton than a +living woman, and let herself be led away to join the march. + +But her looks had now attracted very general attention, and occasioned +much comment. More than one indiscreet friend or acquaintance had +remarked to Mr. Berners: + +"Mrs. Berners looks quite ill. I fear the fatigue of this masquerade has +been too much for her," or words to that effect. + +"Yes," Lyon Berners invariably replied, "she is quite indisposed this +evening, suffering indeed; and I have begged her to retire, but I cannot +induce her to do so." + +"She is too unselfish; she exerts herself too much for the entertainment +of her guests," suggested another. + +And so the rumor went around the room that Mrs. Berners was suffering +from severe illness. And this explanation of her appearance was very +generally received; for the outward and silent manifestations of mental +anguish are not unlike those of physical agony. + +And so, after another quadrille and another waltz, and the final +Virginia reel, the company, in consideration of their hostess, began to +break up and depart. Some few intimate friends of the family, who had +come from a distance to the ball, were to stay all night at Black Hall. +These upon their first arrival had been shown to the chambers they were +to occupy, and now they knew where to find them. And so, when the last +of the departing guests had taken leave of their hostess, and had gone +away, these also bade her good-night and retired. + +And Sybil remained alone in the deserted drawing-room. + +It is sometimes interesting and curious to consider the relative +position of the parties concerned, just before the enactment of some +terrible tragedy. + +The situation at Black Hall was this: The guests were in their chambers, +preparing to retire to bed. The servants were engaged in fastening up +the house and putting out the lights, only they refrained from +interfering with three rooms, where three members of the family still +lingered. + +In the first of these was the mistress of the house, who, as I said, +remained alone in the deserted drawing-room. Sybil stood as if turned to +stone, and fixed to the spot--motionless in form and face, except that +her lips moved and a hollow monotone issued from them, more like the +moan of a lost soul, than the voice of a living woman. + +"So all is lost, and nothing left but these--REVENGE and DEATH!" she +muttered. + +The awful spirit of her race overshadowed her and possessed her. She +felt that, to destroy the destroyer of her peace, she would be willing +to meet and suffer all that man could inflict upon her body, or devil +do to her soul! And so she brooded, until suddenly out of this +trance-like state she started, as if a serpent had stung her. + +"I linger here," she cried, "while they--Where are they, the traitor and +his temptress? I will seek them through the house; I will tear them +asunder, and confront them in their treachery." + +Meanwhile where were they, the false friend and the fascinated husband? + +Lyon Berners, much relieved from anxiety by the departure of the last +guests, but still deeply displeased with his wife, had retired to the +little morning parlor to collect himself. He stood now upon the rug, +with his back to the smouldering fire, absorbed in sombre thought. He +loved his wife, bitterly angry as he had been with her this evening, and +prone as he was to fall under the spell of the fair siren who was now +his temptress. He loved his wife, and he wished to insure her peace. He +resolved to break off, at once and forever, the foolish flirtation with +a shallow coquette which his deep-hearted Sybil had taken so earnestly. +How to do this, occupied his thoughts now. He knew that it would be +difficult, or impossible to do it, as long as Rosa Blondelle remained in +the same house with himself. He felt that he could not ask her to go and +find another home; for to do so would be rude, inhospitable, and even +cruel to the homeless and friendless young stranger. + +What should he do, then? + +It occurred to him that he might make some fair excuse to take Sybil to +the city, and spend the ensuing winter there with her, leaving Rosa +Blondelle in full possession of Black Hall until she should choose to +make arrangements to return to her own country. This or something else +must be done, for the flirtation with Rosa must never be resumed. In the +midst of these good resolutions he was interrupted. + +Meanwhile, Rosa Blondelle had been as deeply mortified and enraged by +the sudden desertion and continued coolness of Lyon Berners, as it was +in her shallow nature to be. She went to her own room, but she could not +remain there. She came out into the long narrow passage leading to the +front hall, and she paced up and down with the angry restlessness of a +ruffled cat, muttering to herself: + +"She shall not take him from me, even if he is her husband! I _will_ not +be outrivalled by another woman, even if she is his wife!" + +Over and over again she ground these words through her teeth, or other +words of the same sort. Suddenly she passed out of the narrow passage +into the broad ball, where she noticed that the parlor door was ajar, a +light burning within the room, and the shadow of a man thrown across the +carpet. She stole to the door, peeped in, and saw Lyon Berners still +standing on the rug with his back to the smouldering fire, absorbed in +sombre thought. + +She slipped in, and dropped her head upon his shoulder and sobbed. + +Startled and very much annoyed, he gently tried to raise her head and +put her away. + +But she only clung the closer, and sobbed the more. + +"Rosa! don't! don't, child! Let us have no more of this! It is sinful +and dangerous! For your own sake, Rosa, retire to your room!" he gently +expostulated. + +"Oh! you love me no longer! You love me no longer!" vehemently exclaimed +the siren. "That cruel woman has compelled you to forsake me! I told you +she would do it, and now she has done it." + +"'That woman,' Rosa, is my beloved wife, entitled to my whole faith; yet +not even for her will I forsake you; but I will continue to care for +you, as a brother for a sister. But, Rosa, this must cease," he gravely +added. + +"Oh, do not say that! do not! do not fling off the poor lonely heart +that you have once gathered to your own!" and she clung to him as +closely and wept as wildly as if she had been in earnest. + +"Rosa! Rosa!" he whispered eagerly, and in great embarrassment, "my +child! be reasonable! Reflect! you have a husband!" + +"Ah! name him not! He robbed and left me, and I hate him," she cried. + +"And I have a dear and honored wife whose happiness I must guard. Thus +you see we can be nothing to each other but brother and sister. A +brother's love and care is all that I can offer you, or that you should +be willing to accept from me," he continued, as he gently smoothed her +fair hair. + +"Then give me a brother's kiss," she sighed. "That is not much to ask, +and I have no one to kiss me now! So give me a brother's kiss, and let +me go!" she pleaded, plaintively. + +He hesitated for a moment, and then bending over her, he said: + +"It is the _first_, and for your own sake it must be the _last_, Rosa!" +he pressed his lips to hers. + +It _was_ the last as well as the first; for at the meeting of their +lips, they were stricken asunder as by the fall of a thunderbolt! + +And Sybil, blazing with wrath, like a spirit from the Lake of Fire, +stood between them! + +Yes! for she looked not human--with her ashen cheeks, and darkened brow, +and flaming eyes--with her whole face and form heaving, palpitating, +flashing forth the lightnings of anger! + +"SYBIL!" exclaimed her husband, thunderstruck, appalled. + +She waved her hand towards him, as if to implore or command silence. + +"I have nothing to say to you," she muttered, in low and husky tones, +as if ashes were in her throat. "But to YOU!" she said, and her voice +rose clear and strong as she turned and stretched out her arm towards +Rosa, who was leaning in a fainting condition against the wall--"TO YOU, +viper, who has stung to death the bosom that warmed you to life--TO YOU, +traitress, who has come between the true husband and his wife--TO YOU, +thief! who has stolen from your benefactress the sole treasure of her +life--TO YOU I have this to say: I will not drive you forth in dishonor +from my door this night, nor will I publish your infamy to the world +to-morrow, though you have deserved nothing less than these from my +hands; but in the morning you must leave the house you have desecrated! +for if you do not, or if ever I find your false face here again, I will +tread down and crush out your life with less remorse than ever I set +heel upon a spider! I will, as I am a Berners! And now, begone, and +never let me see your form again!" + +Rosa Blondelle, who had stood spell-bound by the terrible gaze and +overwhelming words of Sybil, the wronged wife, now suddenly threw up her +hands, and with a low cry, fled from the room. + +And Sybil dropped her arm and her voice at the same instant, and stood +dumb and motionless. + +And now, at length, Lyon Berners spoke again. + +"Sybil! you have uttered words that nothing on the part of that poor +lady should have provoked from you--words that I fear may never be +forgotten or forgiven! But--I know that she has a gentle and easy +nature. When you are cooler and more rational, I wish you to go to her +and be reconciled with her." + +"With _her_! I am a Berners!" answered Sybil, haughtily. + +"But you bitterly wrong that lady in your thoughts!" + +"Bah! I caught her in your arms! on your breast! her lips clinging to +yours!" + +"The first and last kiss! I swear it by all my hopes of Heaven, +Sybil--a brother's kiss!" + +Sybil made a gesture of scorn and disgust. + +"If I were not past laughing, I should have to laugh now," she said. + +"And you will not believe this?" + +She shook her head. + +"And you will not be reconciled to this injured young stranger?" + +"I! I am a lady--'or long have dreamed so,'" answered Sybil, haughtily. +"At least the daughter of an honest mother. And I will not even permit +such a woman as that to live under the same roof with me another day. +She leaves in the morning." + +"The house is yours! You must do as you please! But this I tell you: +that in the same hour which sees that poor and friendless young creature +driven from the shelter of this roof, I leave it too, and leave it for +ever." + +If Lyon Berners really meant this, or thought to bring his fiery-hearted +wife to terms by the threat, he was mistaken in her character. + +"Oh, go!" she answered bitterly--"go! I _will_ not harbor _her_. And why +should I seek to detain you? Your heart has left me already; why should +I wish to retain its empty case? Go as soon as you like, Lyon Berners. +Good-night, and--good-bye," she said, and with a wave of her hand she +passed from the room. + +He was mad to have spoken as he did; madder still to let her leave him +so! how mad, he was soon to learn. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + SWOOPING DOWN. + + Twice it called, so loudly called + With horrid strength beyond the pitch of nature; + And murder! murder! was the dreadful cry. + A third time it returned with feeble strength, + But o' the sudden ceased; as though the words + Were smothered rudely in the grappled throat. + And all was still again, save the wild blast + Which at a distance growled-- + Oh, it will never from the heart depart! + That dreadful cry all in the instant stilled.--BAILLIE. + + +Lyon Berners remained walking up and down the room some time longer. The +lights were all out, and the servants gone to bed. Yet still he +continued to pace up and down the parlor floor, until suddenly piercing +shrieks smote his ear. + +In great terror he started forward and instinctively rushed towards +Rosa's room, when the door was suddenly thrown open by Rosa herself, +pale, bleeding from a wound in her breast. + +"Great Heaven! What is this?" he cried, as, aghast with amazement and +sorrow, he supported the ghastly and dying form, and laid it on the +sofa, and then sunk on his knees beside it. + +"Who, who has done this?" he wildly demanded, as, almost paralyzed with +horror, he knelt beside her, and tried to stanch the gushing wound from +which her life-blood was fast welling. + +"Who, who has done this fiendish deed?" he reiterated in anguish, as he +gazed upon her. + +She raised her beautiful violet eyes, now fading in death; she opened +her bloodless lips, now paling in death, and she gasped forth the words: + +"She--Sybil--your wife. I told you she would do it, and she has done it. +Sybil Berners has murdered me," she whispered. Then raising herself +with a last dying effort, she cried aloud, "Hear, all! Sybil Berners has +murdered me." And with this charge upon her lips, she fell back DEAD. + +Even in that supreme moment Lyon Berners' first thought, almost his only +thought, was for his wife. He looked up to see who was there--who had +heard this awful, this fatal charge. + +_All_ were there! guests and servants, men and women, drawn there by the +dreadful shrieks. All had heard the horrible accusation. + +And all stood panic-stricken, as they shrank away from one who stood in +their midst. + +It was she, Sybil, the accused, whose very aspect accused her more +loudly than the dying woman had done; for she stood there, still in her +fiery masquerade dress, her face pallid, her eyes blazing, her wild +black hair loose and streaming, her crimsoned hand raised and grasping a +bloodstained dagger. + +"Oh, wretched woman! most wretched woman! What is this that you have +done?" groaned Lyon Berners, in unutterable agony--agony not for the +dead beauty before him, but for the living wife, whom he felt that he +had driven to this deed of desperation. "Oh, Sybil! Sybil! what have you +done?" he cried, grinding his hands together. + +"I? I have done nothing!" faltered his wife, with pale and tremulous +lips. + +"Oh, Sybil! Sybil! would to Heaven you had died before this night! Or +that I could now give my life for this life that you have madly taken!" +moaned Lyon. + +"I have taken no life! What do you mean? This is horrible!" exclaimed +Sybil, dropping the dagger, and looking around upon her husband and +friends, who all shrank from her. "I have taken no life! I am no +assassin! Who dares to accuse me?" she demanded, standing up pale and +haughty among them. + +And then she saw that every lowered eye, every compressed lip, every +shuddering and shrinking form, silently accused her. + +Mr. Berners had turned again to the dead woman. His hand was eagerly +searching for some pulsation at the heart. Soon he ceased his efforts, +and arose. + +"Vain! vain!" he said, "all is still and lifeless, and growing cold and +stiff in death. Oh! my wretched wife!" + +"The lady may not be dead! This may be a swoon from loss of blood. In +such a swoon she would be pulseless and breathless, or seem so! let me +try! I have seen many a swoon from loss of blood, as well as many a +death from the same cause, in my military experience," said Captain +Pendleton, pushing forward and kneeling by the sofa, and beginning his +tests, guided by experience. + +His words and actions unbound the spell of horror that had till then +held the assembled company still and mute, and now all pressed forward +towards the sofa, and bent over the little group there. + +"Air! air! friends, if you please! Stand farther off. And some one open +a window!" exclaimed Captain Pendleton, peremptorily. + +And he was immediately obeyed by the falling off of the crowd, one of +whom threw open a window. + +"Some one should fetch a physician!" suggested Beatrix Pendleton, whose +palsied tongue was now at length unloosed. + +And half a dozen gentlemen immediately started for the stables to +dispatch a messenger for the village doctor from Blackville. + +"And while they are fetching the physician, they should summon the +coroner also," suggested a voice from the crowd. + +"No! no! not until we have ascertained that life is actually extinct," +exclaimed Captain Pendleton, hastily; at the same time seeking and +meeting the eyes of Mr. Berners, with a meaning gaze said: + +"If we cannot restore the dead woman to life, we must at least try to +save the living woman from unspeakable horrors!" + +Mr. Berners turned away his head, with a deep groan. + +And Captain Pendleton continued his seeming efforts to restore +consciousness to the prostrate form before him, until he heard the +galloping of the horse that took the messenger away for the doctor, and +felt sure that the man could not now receive orders to fetch the coroner +also. + +Then Captain Pendleton arose and beckoned Miss Tabby Winterose to come +towards him. That lady came forward, whimpering as usual, but with an +immeasurably greater cause than she had ever possessed before. + +"Close her eyes, straighten her limbs, arrange her dress. She is quite +dead," said the Captain. + +Miss Tabby's voice was lifted up in weeping. + +But wilder yet arose the sound of wailing, as the Scotch girl, with the +child in her arms, broke through the crowd and cast herself down beside +her dead mistress, crying: + +"Oh! and is it gone ye are, my bonny leddy? Dead and gone fra us, a' sae +suddenly! Oh, bairnie! look down on your puir mither, wham they have +murthered--the born deevils." + +The poor child, frightened as much by the wild wailing of the nurse as +by the sight of his mother's ghastly form, began to scream and to hide +his head on Janet's bosom. + +"Woman, this is barbarous. Take the boy away from this sight," exclaimed +Captain Pendleton, imperatively. + +But Janet kept her ground, and continued to weep and wail and +apostrophize the dead mother, or appeal to the orphan child. And all the +women in the crowd whose tongues had hitherto been paralyzed with +horror, now broke forth in tears and sobs, and cries of sympathy and +compassion, and-- + +"Oh, poor murdered young mother! Oh, poor orphaned babe!" or +lamentations to the same effect, broke forth on all sides. + +"Mr. Berners, you are master of the house. I earnestly exhort you to +clear the room of all here, except Miss Winterose and ourselves," said +Captain Pendleton in an almost commanding tone. + +"Friends and neighbors," cried Lyon Berners, lifting up his voice, so +that it could be heard all over the room, "I implore you to withdraw to +your own apartments. Your presence here only serves to distress +yourselves and embarrass us. And we have a duty to do to the dead." + +The crowd began to disperse and move toward the doors when suddenly +Sybil Berners lifted her hand on high and called, in a commanding tone: + +"STOP!" + +And all stopped and turned their eyes on her. + +She was still very pale, but now also very calm; the most self-collected +one in that room of death. + +"I have somewhat to say to you," she continued. "You all heard the dying +words of that poor dead woman, in which she accused me of having +murdered her; and your own averted eyes accuse me quite as strongly, and +my own aspect, perhaps, more strongly than either." + +She paused and glanced at her crimsoned hand, and then looked around and +saw that her nearest neighbors and oldest friends, who had known her +longest and loved her best, now turned away their heads, or dropped +their eyes. She resumed: + +"The dead woman was mistaken; you are misled; and my very appearance is +deceptive. I will not deny that the woman was my enemy. Driven to +desperation, and in boiling blood, I might have been capable of doing +her a deadly mischief, but bravely and openly, as the sons and daughters +of my fiery race have done such things before this. But to go to her +chamber in the dead of night, and in darkness and secrecy--! No! I could +not have done that, if she had been ten times the enemy she was. Is +there one here who believes that the daughter of Bertram Berners could +be guilty of that or any other base deed?" she demanded, as her proud +glance swept around upon the faces of her assembled friends and +neighbors. + +But their averted eyes too sorrowfully answered her question. + +Then she turned to her husband and lowered her voice to an almost +imploring tone as she inquired: + +"Lyon Berners, do YOU believe me guilty?" + +He looked up, and their eyes met. If he had really believed her guilty +he did not now. He answered briefly and firmly: + +"No, Sybil! Heaven knows that I do not. But oh! my dear wife! explain, +if you can, how that dagger came into your possession, how that blood +came upon your hands; and, above all, why this most unhappy lady should +have charged you with having murdered her." + +"At your desire, and for the satisfaction of the few dear old friends +whom I see among this unbelieving crowd, the friends who would deeply +grieve if I should either do or suffer wrong, _I will_ speak. But if it +were not for you and for them, I would die before I would deign to +defend myself from a charge that is at once so atrocious and so +preposterous--so monstrous," said Sybil, turning a gaze full of haughty +defiance upon those who stood there before her face, and dared to +believe her guilty. + +A stern voice spoke up from that crowd. + +"Mr. Lyon Berners, attend to this. A lady lies murdered in your house. +By whom she has been so murdered we do not know. But I tell you that +every moment in which you delay in sending for the officers of justice +to investigate this affair, compromises you and me and all who stand by +and silently submit to this delay, as accessories, after the fact." + +Lyon Berners turned towards the speaker, a grave and stern old man of +nearly eighty years, a retired judge, who had come to the mask ball +escorting his grand-daughters. + +"An instant, Judge Basham. Pardon us, if in this dismay some things are +forgotten. The coroner shall be summoned immediately. Captain Pendleton, +will you oblige me by despatching a messenger to Coroner Taylor at +Blackville?" he then inquired, turning to the only friend upon whose +discretion he felt he could rely. + +Captain Pendleton nodded acquiescence and intelligence, and left the +room, as if for the purpose specified. + +"Now, dear Sybil, with Judge Basham's permission, give our friends the +explanation that you have promised them," said Lyon Berners +affectionately, and confidingly taking her hand and placing himself +beside her. + +For all his anger as well as all her jealousy had been swept away in the +terrible tornado of this evening's events. + +"The explanation that I promised _you_, and those who wish me well," she +said emphatically. And then her voice arose clear, firm, and distinct, +as she continued: + +"I was in my chamber, which is immediately above that occupied by Mrs. +Blondelle. My chamber is approached by two ways, first by the front +passage and stairs, and secondly by a narrow staircase running up from +Mrs. Blondelle's room. And the door leading from her room up this +staircase and into mine, she has been in the habit of leaving open. +To-night, as I said, I was sitting in my chamber; from causes not +necessary to explain now and here, I was too much disturbed in mind to +think of retiring to rest, or even of undressing. I do not know how long +I had sat there, when I heard a piercing shriek from some one in the +room below. Instinctively I rushed down the communicating stairs and +into Mrs. Blondelle's room, and up to her bed, where I saw by the light +of the taper she was lying. Her eyes were closed, and I thought at first +that she had fainted from some fright until, almost at the same instant, +I saw this dagger--" here Sybil stooped and picked up the dagger that +she had dropped a few minutes before--"driven to its haft in her chest. +I drew it out. Instantly the blood from the opened wound spirted up, +covering my hand and sleeve with the accusing stains you see! With the +flowing of the blood her eyes flew wildly open! She gazed affrightedly +at me for an instant, and then with the last effort of her life, for +which terror lent her strength, she started up and fled shrieking to +this room. I, still holding the dagger that I had drawn from her bosom, +followed her here. And--you know the rest," said Sybil; and overcome +with excitement, she sank upon the nearest chair to rest. + +Lyon Berners still held her hand. + +Her story had evidently made a very great impression upon the company +present. But Lyon Berners suddenly exclaimed: + +"Good Heavens! that lady's mistaken charge has put us all off the scent, +and allowed the murderer to escape. But it may not yet be too late! Some +clue may be left in her room by which we may trace the criminal! Come, +neighbors, and let us search the premises." + +And Lyon Berners, leaving the shuddering women of the party in the room +with Sybil and the dead, and followed by all the men, went to search the +house and ground for traces of the assassin. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + THE SEARCH. + + My friends, I care not, (so much I am happy + Above a number,) if my actions + Were tried by every tongue, every eye saw them, + Envy and base opinion set against them, + To know my life so even.--SHAKSPEARE. + + +And first they went to Mrs. Blondelle's room, and carefully examined +every part of it, especially the fastenings of the doors and windows. +They all seemed to be right. + +"I have a theory of this murder now!" said Mr. Berners, standing in the +middle of the room and speaking to the men who were with him. + +"Humph! what is it?" coldly inquired old Judge Basham. + +"It is this; that as Mrs. Blondelle was known to have possessed jewels +of great value, some miscreant came here with the intention to rob her +of them." + +"Well, and what then?" asked the Judge. + +"That this miscreant entered either by the outer door, or by one of +these windows, approached the bed of his victim, who, being awake and +seeing him, shrieked, either before or at the moment of receiving the +death wound, and then fainted." + +"Humph! what next?" grunted the Judge. + +"That first shriek brought my wife running to the rescue. At the sound +of her approach, of course the murderer turned and fled, escaping +through the outer door or window." + +"An ingenious story, and a plausible explanation, Mr. Berners; but one, +I fear, that will never convince a jury, or satisfy the public," +remarked Judge Basham. + +"Nay, and it will na satisfy mysel' neither! It'll na do, gentlemen! The +murderer didna come through the outer door, nor the windows either! For +mysel' fastened them a' before I went to my bed! And yesel's found them +fastened when ye cam!" said the Scotch girl Janet, who had now entered +the room with the child in her arms. + +"But he may have come through the door, my good girl," suggested Mr. +Berners, whose very blood seemed to freeze at this testimony of the +maid. + +"Nay, nay, laird! that will na do either. The murderer could na hae come +by the outer door, for mysel' bolted it before I went to bed! And it was +still bolted when my puir leddy--Oh, my puir bonny leddy! oh! my puir +dear murdered mistress!" broke forth from the girl in sudden and violent +lamentations. + +"Compose yourself, and tell us all about the bolted door," said Judge +Basham. + +"Aweel, sir, the door was bolted by mysel', and bolted it stayed until +that puir leddy started out of her bed and tore the bolt back, and fled +away from before the face of her murderer! too late! oh, too late! for +she carried her death wound with her." + +"So you see, Mr. Berners, your theory of the murder falls to pieces. +This girl's testimony proves that the murderer could not have entered +the room, from this floor," said Judge Basham. + +"Then he _must_ have been concealed in the room," exclaimed Lyon, +desperately. + +"Nay, nay! that will na do either, laird. Na mon was hid in the room. +Mysel' looked into all the closets, and under the bed, and up the +chimney, as I always do before I go to sleep. I could na sleep else. +Nay, nay, laird! The murderer came in neither by outer door nor window, +nor yet lay hidden in the room; for mysel' had fastened the outer door +and window, and searched the room before I slept. Nay, nay, laird! The +murderer cam by the only way left open--left open because we thought it +was safe--the way leading from Mistress Berners' room down to the +little stairs, and through this door which was not bolted," persisted +the Scotch girl. + +Lyon Berners' heart seemed turned to ice by these last words. +Nevertheless he summoned fortitude to say: + +"We must examine and see if there has been a robbery committed. If there +_has_ been one, then, of course, in the face of all this woman's +evidence, it will prove that the robber has done this foul deed." + +"I do not see clearly that it will," objected Judge Basham. "However, we +will make the examination." + +"Your honors need na tak the trouble. Mysel' saw to that too. See, the +bureau drawers and wardrobes are all fast locked as me leddy saw me lock +them hersel'. And the keys are safe in the pocket of my gown. Nay, nay, +lairds, naething is stolen," said Janet. + +Nevertheless, Mr. Berners insisted on making the examination. So Janet +produced the keys and opened all the bureau drawers, boxes, wardrobes, +etc. All things were found in order. In the upper bureau drawer, caskets +of jewels, boxes of laces, rolls of bank-notes and other valuables were +found untouched. Nothing was missing. + +In a word, no clue was found to the supposed murderer and robber; but, +on the other hand, every circumstance combined to fix the deed on Sybil. + +Lyon Berners felt a faintness like death coming over him, and subduing +all his manhood. Unblenchingly, in his own person, he would have braved +any fate. But that his wife--his pure, high-toned, magnanimous Sybil, +should be caught up and ground to pieces by this horrible machinery of +circumstance and destiny! Was this a nightmare? His brain was reeling. +He felt that he might go mad. Like the drowning man, he caught at +straws. Turning to the Scotch girl, he demanded somewhat sternly: + +"And where were you when your mistress was being murdered? where were +you, that you did not hasten to her assistance? You could not have been +far off--you must in fact have been in that little adjoining nursery." + +"And sae I was, laird; and her first screech waked me up and garred me +grew sae till I couldna move, and didna move till I heard her screech +again and again, and saw her rin acrass the floor, and tear back the +bolt and flecht fra the room, followed close behind by Mistress Berners. +And thin mysel' sprang up wi' the bairn in me arms and rin after them, +thinking the de'il was behind me. Oh, me puir leddy! oh, me puir, bonny +leddy! oh! oh! oh!" wept and wailed the girl, dropping down on the floor +and throwing her apron over her head. + +But the cries of the child from the adjoining nursery caused her to +start up, and run in there to comfort him. + +The searchers left that room, and pursued their investigations +elsewhere. They went all through the house without finding any clue to +the mystery. They attempted to search the grounds, but the night was +pitch-dark, and the rain was falling fast. Finally, they returned to the +room of death. + +All the ladies and all the servants had gone away. No one remained in it +but Sybil and Miss Tabby, watching the dead. + +Sybil sat near the head of the body, and Miss Tabby near the feet. + +At the sight of his doomed young wife, Lyon Berners senses reeled again. + +"She is so inexperienced in all the ways of the world, so ignorant of +the ways of the law! Oh, does she know--does she even dream of the awful +position, the deadly danger in which she stands? No; she is unconscious +of all peril. She evidently believes that the explanation she gave us +here, and which satisfies her friends, will convince all others. Oh, +Sybil! Sybil! an hour ago so safe in your domestic sanctity, and +now--now momentarily exposed to--Heaven! I cannot bear it!" he groaned, +as he struggled for self-command and went towards her. + +She was sitting with her hands clasped, as in prayer, and her eyes, full +of the deepest regret and pity, fixed upon the face of the dead. There +was sorrow, sympathy, awe--anything but fear or distrust in her +countenance. At the approach of her husband, she turned and whispered +gravely: + +"She was my rival where I could least bear rivalry; and I thought she +had been a successful one. I do not think so now; and now I have no +feeling towards her but one of the deepest compassion. Oh, Lyon, we must +adopt her poor child, and rear it for our own. Oh! who has done this +deed? Some one whose aim was robbery, no doubt. Has any trace been +discovered of the murderer?" she inquired. + +"None, Sybil," he answered, with difficulty. + +"Oh, Lyon, such awful thoughts have visited me since I have sat here and +forced myself to look upon this sight! For I see in it that which I +might have done, had my madness become frenzy; but even then, not as +this was done. Oh, no, no, no! May God forgive me and change my heart, +for I have been standing on the edge of an abyss!" + +Mr. Berners could not speak. He was suffocating with the feeling that +she now stood upon the brink of ruin yawning to receive her. + +"Heaven help you, Sybil!" was the silent prayer of his spirit as he +gazed on his unconscious wife. + +Miss Tabby, who sat whimpering at the feet of the dead, now spoke up: + +"I think," she said, wiping the tear-drop from the end of her nose, "I +_do_ think as we ought not to leave it a-lying here, cramped up onto +this sofy, where we can't stretch it straight. We ought to have it taken +to her room and laid out on her bed, decent and in order." + +"It is true; but oh, in a shock like this, how much is forgotten!" said +Mr. Berners. Then turning to old Judge Basham, who had sank into an +easy-chair to rest, but seemed to consider himself still on the bench, +since he assumed so much authority, Lyon inquired, "Do you see any +objection to the body being removed to a bedroom before the coroner's +arrival?" + +"Certainly not. This is not the scene of the murder. You had best take +it back to the bed on which she received her death," answered the old +Judge. + +"Friends," said Mr. Berners, turning to the gentlemen, who had all +solemnly and silently seated themselves as at a funeral, "will one of +you assist me in this?" + +Captain Pendleton, who had just reentered the room, came promptly up. + +"By the way, did you send for the coroner, sir?" demanded the old Judge, +intercepting him. + +"Yes, sir, I did," curtly answered the Captain. + +"Then I shall sit here until his arrival," observed the Judge settling +himself for a nap in his easy-chair. + +"That old fellow is in his dotage!" growled Captain Pendleton to +himself, as he tenderly lifted the head and shoulders of all that +remained of poor Rosa Blondelle. But at the touch of her cold form, the +sight of her still face, tears of pity sprang into the young soldier's +eyes. Rosa had been a fine woman, and her body was now no light weight. +It took the united strength of Captain Pendleton and Mr. Berners to bear +it properly from the parlor to the chamber, where they laid it on the +bed, and left it to the care of Sybil and Miss Tabby, who had followed +them. + +Mr. Berners then pulled the Captain into an empty room and whispered +hoarsely: + +"Did I understand you to tell the Judge that you had sent a messenger +for the coroner?" + +"Yes; but mind, I sent an old man on an old mule. It will be many hours +before he reaches Blackville; many more before the coroner gets here. +Good Heaven! Berners, I _had_ to do that! Don't you see the awful danger +of your innocent wife?" exclaimed Captain Pendleton, in an agitated +voice. + +"_Don't_ I see it? I am not mad, or blind. But you, in the face of this +overwhelming evidence--you believe her to be innocent?" demanded Lyon +Berners, in a tone of agonized entreaty. + +"I _know_ her to be innocent! I have known her from her infancy. She +might have flown at a rival, and torn her to pieces, in a frenzy of +passion; but she could never have struck a secret blow," answered +Captain Pendleton, emphatically. + +"Thanks! Oh, thanks for your faith in her!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, +earnestly. + +"But now! _Do_ you not see what is to be done? She must be got out of +the house before the coroner or any officer of justice arrives," said +Captain Pendleton, earnestly. + +"Oh, this is so sudden and terrible! It is an avalanche--an earthquake! +It crushes me. It deprives me of reason!" groaned Lyon Berners, sinking +into a chair, and covering his face with his hands. + +"Lyon, my friend, arouse yourself! Rise above this agony of despair, if +you would save your imperilled wife! She must fly from this house within +an hour, and you must accompany her," urged Captain Pendleton. + +"I know it! I know it! But oh, Heaven! the anguish of my heart! the +chaos of my thoughts! Pendleton, think for me; act for me; tell me what +to do!" cried the strong man, utterly overwhelmed and powerless. + +Captain Pendleton hurried into the supper-room, the scene of the late +revels, and brought from there a glass of brandy, which he forced his +friend to swallow. + +"Now listen to me, Berners. Go and call your wife, take her to your +mutual room, tell her the necessity of instant flight. She is strong, +and will be equal to the occasion. Then, quickly as you can collect all +your money and jewels, and conceal them about your person. Dress +yourself, and tell her to dress in plain stout weather-proof +riding-habits. Do this at once. Meanwhile, I will go myself to the +stables, and saddle two of the swiftest horses, and bring them around to +the back door, so that no servant need to be taken into our confidence +to-night. When I meet you with the horses, I will direct you to a +temporary retreat where you will be perfectly safe for the present; +afterwards we can think of a permanent place of security. Now, then, +courage, and hurry!" + +"My friend in need!" fervently exclaimed Lyon Berners, as they parted. + +"I have further suggestions to make when we meet again. I have thought +of everything," Captain Pendleton called after him. + +Lyon Berners went in search of Sybil, to the chamber of death, which was +now restored to order, and dimly lighted. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + SYBIL'S FLIGHT. + + 'Tis well--my soul shakes off its load of care; + 'Tis only the obscure is terrible; + Imagination frames events unknown, + In wild, fantastic shapes of hideous ruin, + And what its fears creates.--HANNAH MORE. + + +Upon the snow-white bed the form of Rosa Blondelle, wrapped in pure +white raiment, was laid out. Very peaceful and beautiful she looked, her +fair face, framed in its pale gold hair, wearing no sign of the violent +death by which she died. + +At her head sat Sybil, looking very pale, and shedding silent tears. + +At her feet sat Miss Tabby, whimpering and muttering. + +Within the little nursery, beyond the chamber, the Scotch girl sat, +crying and sobbing. + +Lyon Berners softly approached the bed, and whispered to Sybil. + +"Dearest, come out, I wish to speak to you." + +She silently arose and followed him. He was silent until they had +reached their own room. + +"Sit down, Sybil," he then said, as calmly as he could force himself to +speak. + +She sank into a seat and looked at him inquiringly, but fearlessly. + +He stood before her unable to proceed. It was terrible to him to witness +her utter unconsciousness of her own position--more terrible still to be +obliged to arouse her from it. + +She continued to regard him with curiosity, but without anxiety, waiting +silently for what he should say to her. + +"Sybil," he said at length, as soon as he was able to speak--"Sybil, you +are a brave and strong spirit! You can meet a sudden calamity without +sinking under it." + +"What is it?" inquired his wife, in a low tone. + +"Sybil, dearest Sybil! there is no time to break the bad news to you; +brace yourself to hear it abruptly." + +"Yes! tell me." + +"Sybil, listen, and comprehend. The circumstances that surround this +mysterious murder are of a character to compromise you so seriously, +that you may only find safety in immediate flight." + +"Me!--flight!" exclaimed Mrs. Berners, dilating her dark eyes in +amazement. + +Mr. Berners groaned in the spirit, as he replied: + +"Yes, Sybil, yes! Oh! my dearest, attend and understand, and be strong! +Sybil, hear. The quarrel you were known to have had with this poor +woman; the threats you used on that occasion; the dagger in your hand; +the blood oh your wrist, and above all the words of the dying woman +charging you with her death. All these form a chain of circumstantial +and even direct evidence that will drag you down--I cannot say it!" +burst forth Lyon in an accession of agony. + +Sybil's dark eyes opened wider and wider in amazement, but still without +the least alarm. + +"It is enough, oh, Sybil, to repeat to you that your only safety is in +instant flight," he exclaimed, dropping his face upon his hands. + +"Flight!" echoed Sybil, staring at him. "Why should I take refuge in +flight? I have done nothing criminal, nor will I do anything so +ignominious as to fly from my home, Lyon," she added, proudly. + +"But, Sybil--Oh, Sybil! the circumstantial evidence--." + +"Why, I explained all that!" replied Mrs. Berners naively. "I told you +all how it was: that when I heard her scream, I ran to see what was the +matter and I drew the dagger from her bosom, and then the blood spirted +up and sprinkled me! It was terrible enough to see and bear that, +without having to hear and endure such a preposterous suspicion! And it +is all easy enough for any honest mind to understand my explanation." + +"Oh, Sybil! Sybil! that indeed--I mean your presence at her death, with +all its concurrent circumstances might be explained away! But the dying +woman's last solemn declaration, charging you as her murderess, that was +the most direct testimony! Oh, Heaven, Sybil! Sybil! prepare for your +flight; for in that is your only hope of safety! Prepare at once, for +there is not an instant to be lost!" + +"Stop!" said Sybil, suddenly and solemnly--"Lyon Berners, do _you_ +believe that dying declaration to have been true?" + +"No! as the Lord hears me, I do not, Sybil! I know you were incapable +of doing the deed she charged upon you! No! I am sure she spoke in the +delirium of sudden death and terror," said Lyon Berners earnestly. + +"Nor will any one else who knows me, believe it! So be tranquil. I am +not guilty, nor will I run away like a guilty one. I will stay here and +tell the truth," said Sybil composedly. + +"But, oh, good Heavens! telling the truth will not help you! The law +deals with _facts_, not _truths_! and judges of facts as if they were +truths. And oh! my dear Sybil! the lying facts of this case involve you +in such a net of circumstantial evidence and direct testimony as renders +you liable to arrest--nay, certain to be arrested and imprisoned upon +the charge of murder! Oh, my dear, most innocent wife! my free, wild, +high-spirited Sybil! even the sense of innocence could not save you from +imprisonment, or support you during its degrading tortures! _You_ could +not bear--_I_ could not bear for you, such loss of liberty and honor for +one hour--even if nothing worse should follow! But, Sybil, worse may, +worse _must_ follow! Yes, the _very worst_! Your only safety is in +flight--instant flight! And oh! Heaven! how the time is speeding away!" +exclaimed the husband, beside himself with distress. + +During the latter part of his speech the wife had started to her feet, +and now she stood staring at him, amazed, incredulous, yet firm and +brave. + +"Rouse yourself to the occasion, Sybil! Oh! for my sake, for Heaven's +sake, collect your faculties and prepare for flight," he passionately +urged. + +"I am innocent, and yet I must fly like the guilty! Lyon, for your sake, +and only for yours, I will do it," she answered gravely, and sadly. + +"We must not call assistance, nor stop to compliment each other. Pack +quickly up what you will most need for yourself, in a travelling bag, +and I will do the same for myself," explained Lyon Berners, suiting the +action to the word by shoving into his valise some valuable papers, +money, razors, a few articles of clothing, etc. + +Sybil showed more promptitude and presence of mind than might have been +expected of her. She quickly collected her costly jewels and ready +money, a change of under clothing, combs, and brushes, and packed them +in a small travelling bag. + +"We go on horseback," quickly explained Lyon Berners, as he locked his +valise. + +Swiftly and silently Sybil threw off her masquerading dress, that she +had unconsciously worn until now, and dropped it on the floor, where it +lay glowing like a smouldering bonfire. She then put on a water-proof +riding habit, and announced herself ready. + +"Come, then," said Lyon Berners, taking up both bags, and beckoning her +to follow him silently. + +They slipped down the dark stairs and through the deserted halls, and +reached the back door, where, under the shelter of a large hemlock-tree, +Captain Pendleton held the horses. It was dark as pitch, and drizzling +rain. They could see nothing, they could only know the whereabouts of +their "friend in need," and their horses, by hearing Captain Pendleton's +voice speaking through the mist in cautious tones, and whispering: + +"Lock the door after you, Berners, so as to secure us from intrusion +from within. And then stop there under the porch until I come and talk +to you." + +Mr. Berners did as he was requested to do, and then stood waiting for +his friend, who soon came up. + +"You have got all you will need on your journey, have you not?" inquired +the Captain. + +Mr. Berners replied by telling his friend exactly what he had brought. + +"All that is very well, but people require to eat and drink once in a +while. So I have put some sandwiches, and a bottle of wine from the +supper-table, into your saddle-bags. And now, in the hurry, have you +decided upon your route?" + +"Yes; we shall endeavor to reach the nearest seaport, Norfolk probably, +and embark for some foreign country, no matter what, for in no place but +in a foreign country can my unhappy wife hope for safety," mournfully +replied Lyon Berners. + +"Endeavor to reach Norfolk! That will never succeed. You will be sure to +be overtaken and brought back before you go a score of miles on that +road," declared Captain Pendleton, shaking his head. + +"Then, in the name of Heaven, what _will_ do?" demanded Mr. Berners, in +a tone of desperation. + +"You must find a place of concealment, and then take time to disguise +yourself and your wife, so that neither of you can be recognized, before +you venture upon the road to Norfolk. You see, Lyon, you are the better +lawyer, but I am the better strategist! I graduated among the warpaths +and the ambushes of the Redskins on the frontier." + +"But where shall I find such a place of concealment?" + +"I have thought of that." + +"You think of everything." + +"Ah! it is easy to show presence of mind in other people's confusion! +Almost as easy at it is to bear other people's troubles!" said the +Captain, attempting a jest, only to raise his friend's drooping spirits. +"But now to the point, for we must be quick. You know the 'Haunted +Chapel?'" + +"The old ruined church in the cleft on the other side of the Black +Mountain?" + +"Yes; that is the place. Its deep solitude and total abandonment, with +its ghostly reputation, will be sure to secure your safety. Go there; +conceal yourselves and your horses as well as you can. In the course of +to-morrow, or to-morrow night, I will come to you with such news and +such help as I may be able to bring." + +"Thank you. Oh, thank you. But what are words? You are a man of deeds. +Your presence of mind has saved us both!" said Lyon Berners earnestly. + +"And now to horse," said Captain Pendleton, taking Mrs. Berners under +his guidance, while Mr. Berners brought on the valise and travelling +bag. + +Captain Pendleton placed Sybil in her saddle, whispering encouragingly, + +"Be strong and hopeful. This necessary flight is a temporary evil, +intended to save you from a permanent, and even perhaps a fatal wrong. +Be patient, and time shall vindicate you and bring you back." + +"But oh! to leave my home, and the home of my fathers! to leave it like +a criminal, when I am innocent! to leave it in haste, and not to know if +I may ever return," cried Sybil, in a voice of anguish. + +"It is a fearful trial. I will not mock you by denying that it is. Yes, +it is a terrible ordeal! but one, Mrs. Berners, that you have heroism +enough to bear," replied Captain Pendleton, as he bowed over her +extended hand and gave her the reins. + +Lyon Berners was also mounted. They were ready to start. With a mutual +"God bless you," the friends parted. + +Lyon and Sybil took the dark road. + +Captain Pendleton unlocked the door that had been locked by Mr. Berners, +but as he pushed to open it he felt an obstruction, and instantly +afterwards heard some one run away. + +"A listener," he thought, in dismay as he pursued the fugitive. But he +only caught a glimpse of a figure disappearing through the front door +and into the darkness without, in which it was lost. + +"An eavesdropper!" he exclaimed, in despair. "An eavesdropper! Who now +can be assured of her safety? Oh, Sybil! you rejected my hand, and very +nearly ruined my life. But this night I would die to save you," he +sighed, as he went and joined the gentlemen who were sitting up +watching, or rather dozing, in the parlor, while waiting for the +physician's or the coroner's arrival. + +"Where is Mrs. Berners?" inquired the old Judge, rousing himself up. + +"She retired to her chamber about an hour ago," answered Captain +Pendleton, telling the truth, but not the whole truth, as you will +perceive. + +"Hum, ha, yes; well, and where is her husband?" + +"He followed her there," answered the Captain, shortly. + +"Ha, hum, yes, well. The coroner is long in coming," grumbled the Judge. + +"It is some distance to Blackville, sir, and the roads are rough and the +night is dark," observed the Captain. + +"Well, yes, true," agreed the old man, subsiding into his chair and into +his doze. + +Captain Pendleton threw himself into a seat, but had not sat long before +the parlor door opened, and his sister appeared at it and called to him +in a low voice. + +He arose, and went to her. + +"Come out into the hall here; I want to speak to you, Clement," said +Miss Pendleton. + +He went out. + +Then his sister inquired, in a voice full of anxious entreaty: + +"Clement, _where_ is Sybil?" + +"She went to her room a little more than an hour ago," answered the +brother, giving his sister the same answer that he had given the Judge. + +"Clement, I must go to her, and throw my arms around her neck and kiss +her. I must not tell her in so many words that I know she is innocent, +for to do that would be to affront her almost as much as if I should +accuse her of being guilty; for she will rightly enough think that her +innocence should not be called into question, but should be taken for +granted. So I must not say a word on that subject, but I _must_ find her +and embrace her, and make her feel that I know she is innocent. Who is +with her?" + +"Her husband is with her, Beatrix, and so you can not of course go to +her now." + +"Oh, but I am so anxious to do so. Look here, Clement. I stood there +among the crowd this evening, gazing upon that bleeding and dying woman, +until the sight of her ghastly form and face seemed to affect me as the +Medusa's head was said to have affected the beholder, and turn me into +stone. Clement, I was so petrified that I could not move or speak, even +when she appealed to us all to know whether any among us could believe +her to be capable of such an act. I could not speak; I could not move. +She must have thought that I too condemned her, and I cannot bear to +rest under that suspicion of hers. I must go to her now, Clement." + +"Indeed you must not, Trix. Wait till she makes her appearance: that +will be time enough," answered her brother. + +"Oh, this is a horrible night; I wish it were over. I cannot go to bed; +nobody can. The ladies are all sitting huddled together in the +dressing-room, although the fire has gone out; and the servants are all +gathered in the kitchen, too panic-stricken to do anything. Oh, an awful +night! I wish it were morning." + +"It will soon be daylight now, dear Beatrix. You had better go and +rejoin your companions." + +And so the brother and sister separated for the night; Beatrix going to +sit and shudder with the other ladies in the dressing-room, and Clement +returning to the parlor to lounge and doze among the gentlemen. + +Only his anxiety for Sybil's safety so much disturbed his repose, that +if he did but drop into an instant's slumber he started from it in a +vague fright. So the small hours of the morning wore on and brought the +dull, drizzly, wintry daylight. + +Meanwhile Lyon and Sybil Berners rode on through mist and rain. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + THE HAUNTED CHAPEL. + + + "The chapel was a ruin old, + That stood so low, in lonely glen. + The gothic windows high and dark + Were hung with ivy, brier, and yew." + + +The Haunted Chapel to which Mr. and Mrs. Berners were going was in a +dark and lonely gorge on the other side of the mountain across Black +River, but near its rise in the Black Torrent. To reach the chapel, they +would have to ride three miles up the shore and ford the river, and then +pass over the opposite mountain. The road was as difficult and dangerous +as it was lonely and unfrequented. + +Lyon and Sybil rode on together in silence, bending their heads before +the driving mist, and keeping close to the banks of the river until they +should reach the fording place. + +At length Sybil's anguish broke forth in words. + +"Oh! Lyon, is this nightmare? Or is it true that I am so suddenly cast +down from my secure place, as to become in one hour a fugitive from my +home, a fugitive from justice! Oh! Lyon, speak to me. Break the spell +that binds my senses. Wake me up. Wake me up," she wildly exclaimed. + +"Dear Sybil, be patient, calm, and firm. This is a terrible calamity. +But to meet calamity bravely, is the test of a true high soul. You are +compelled to seek safety in flight, to conceal yourself for the present, +to avoid a train of unmerited humiliations that even the consciousness +of innocence would not enable you to bear. But you have only to be +patient, and a few days or weeks must bring the truth to light, and +restore you to your home." + +"But flight itself looks like guilt; will be taken as additional +evidence of guilt," groaned Sybil. + +"Not so. Not when it is understood that the overwhelming weight of +deceptive circumstantial evidence and deceptive direct testimony had so +compromised you as to render flight your only means of salvation. Be +brave, my own Sybil. And now, here we are at the ford. Take care of +yourself. Let me lead your horse." + +"No, no; that would embarrass you, without helping me. Go on before, and +I will follow." + +Lyon Berners plunged into the stream. Sybil drew up her long skirts and +dashed in after him. And they were both soon splashing through the Black +River, blacker now than ever with the double darkness of night and mist. +A few minutes of brave effort on the part of horses and riders brought +them all in safety to the opposite bank, up which they successfully +struggled, and found themselves upon firm ground. + +"The worst part of the journey is over, dear Sybil. Now I will ride in +advance and find the pass, and do you keep close behind me," said Lyon +Berners, riding slowly along the foot of the mountain until he came to a +dark opening, which he entered, calling Sybil to follow him. + +It was one of those fearful passes so frequently to be found in the +Allegheny Mountains, and which I have described so often that I may be +excused from describing this. They went in, cautiously picking their way +through this deeper darkness, and trusting much to the instinct of their +mountain-trained steeds to take them safely through. An hour's slow, +careful, breathless riding brought them out upon the other side of the +mountain. + +As they emerged from the dark labyrinth, Lyon Berners pulled up his +horse to breathe, and to look about him. Sybil followed his example. + +Day was now dawning over the broken and precipitous country. + +"Where is that chapel of which you speak? I have heard of it all my +life, but I have never seen it; and beyond the fact that it is on this +side of the mountain, and not far from the Black Torrent, I know nothing +about it," said Sybil. + +"It is near the Black Torrent; almost under the bed of the cascade, in +fact. And we shall have to turn our horses' heads up stream again to +reach it," answered Lyon Berners. + +"You know exactly where it is; you have been there, perhaps?" inquired +Sybil. + +"I have seen it but once in my life. But I can easily find it. It is not +a frequented place of resort, dear Sybil. But that makes it all the +safer as a place of concealment for you," said Lyon Berners, as he +started his horse and rode on. + +Sybil followed him closely. + +Day was broadening over the mountains, and bringing out a thousand +prismatic colors from the autumn foliage of the trees, gemmed now with +the rain drops that had fallen during the night. + +"It will be quite clear when the sun rises," said Lyon, encouragingly to +Sybil, as they went on. + +He was right. Sunrise in the mountains is sometimes almost as sudden in +its effects as sunrise at sea. The eastern horizon had been ruddy for +sometime, but when the sun suddenly came up from behind the mountain, +the mist lifted itself, rolled into soft white wreaths and crowned the +summits, while all the land below broke out into an effulgence of light, +color, and glory. + +But people who are flying for life do not pause to enjoy scenery, even +of the finest. Lyon and Sybil rode on towards the upper banks of the +Black River, hearing at every step the thunder of the Black Torrent, as +it leaped from rock to rock in its passionate descent to the valley. + +At length they came to a narrow opening in the side of the mountain. + +"Here is a path I know," said Mr. Berners, "though its entrance is so +concealed by undergrowth as to be almost impossible to discover." + +Lyon Berners dismounted, and began to grope for the entrance in a +thicket of wild-rose bushes, that were now closely covered with scarlet +seed-pods that glowed, and raindrops that sparkled, in the rays of the +morning sun. + +At length he found the path, and then he returned to his wife, and said: + +"We cannot take our horses through the thicket, dear Sybil. You will +have to dismount and remain concealed in here until I lead them back +across the river, where I will turn them loose. There will be a great +advantage gained by that move. Our horses being found on the other side, +will mislead our pursuers on a false scent." + +While Lyon Berners spoke, he assisted his wife to alight from her +saddle, and guided her to the entrance of the thicket. + +"This path has not been trodden for a score of years, I can well +believe. Just go far enough to be out of sight of any chance spy, and +there remain until I return. I shall not be absent over half an hour," +said Mr. Berners, as he took leave of Sybil. + +She sank wearily down upon a fragment of a rock, and prepared to await +his return. + +He mounted his own horse, and led hers, and so went his way down the +stream to the fording place. + +He successfully accomplished the difficult task of taking both horses +over the river to the opposite bank, where he turned them loose. + +Next with a strong pocket jack-knife he cut a leaping pole from a +sapling near, and went still farther up the stream to the rapids, where, +by a skilful use of his pole and dexterous leaping from rock to rock, he +was enabled to recross the river almost dry-shod. + +He rejoined Sybil, whom he found just where he had left her. + +She was sitting on a piece of rock, with her head bowed upon her hands. + +"Have I been gone long? Were you anxious or lonely, dearest?" he +inquired, as he gave her his hand to assist her in rising. + +"Oh, no! I take no note of time! But oh! Lyon, _when shall I wake?_" she +exclaimed in wild despair. + +"What is it you say, dear Sybil?" he gently asked. + +"When shall I wake--wake from this ghastly nightmare, in which I seem to +myself to be a fugitive from justice! an exile from my home! a +houseless, hunted stranger in the land! It _is_ a nightmare! It can +_not_ be real, you know! Oh, that I could wake!" + +"Dear Sybil, collect your faculties. Do not let despair drive you to +distraction. Be mistress of yourself in this trying situation," said +Lyon Berners, gravely. + +"But oh, Heaven! the crushing weight and stunning suddenness of this +blow! It is like death! like perdition!" exclaimed Sybil, pressing her +hands to her head. + +Lyon Berners could only gaze on her with infinite compassion, expressed +in every lineament of his eloquent countenance. + +She observed this, and quickly, with a great effort, from a strong +resolution, throwing her hands apart like one who disperses a cloud, and +casts off a weight, she said: + +"It is over! I will not be nervous or hysterical again. I have brought +trouble on you as well as on myself, dear Lyon; but I will show you that +I can bear it. I will look this calamity firmly in the face, and come +what may, I will not drag you down by sinking under it." + +And so saying, she gave him her hand, and arose and followed him as he +pushed on before, breaking down or bearing aside the branches that +overhung and obstructed the path. + +Half an hour of this difficult and tedious travelling brought them down +into a deep dark dell, in the midst of which stood the "Haunted Chapel." + +It was an old colonial church, a monument of the earliest settlement in +the valley. It was now a wild and beautiful ruin, with its surroundings +all glowing with color and sparkling with light. In itself it was a +small Gothic edifice, built of the dark iron-grey rock dug from the +mountain quarries. Its walls, window-frames, and roof were all still +standing, and were almost entirely covered by creepers, among which the +wild rose vine, now full of scarlet berries, was conspicuous. + +A broken stonewall overgrown with brambles enclosed the old church-yard, +where a few fallen and mouldering gravestones, half sunk among the dead +leaves, still remained. + +All around the church, on the bottom of the dell, and up the sides of +the steeps, were thickly clustered forest-trees, now glowing refulgent +in their gorgeous autumn livery of crimson and gold, scarlet and purple. + +A little rill, an offspring of the Black Torrent, tumbled down the side +of the mountain behind the church, and ran frolicking irreverently +through the old graveyard. The great cascade was out of sight, though +very near for its thunder filled the air. + +"See," said Sybil, pointing to the little singing rill; "Nature is +unsympathetic. She can laugh and frolic over the dead, and, besides, the +suffering." + +"It would seem, then, that Nature is wiser as well as gladder than we +are; since she, who is transitory, rejoices while we, who are immortal, +pine," answered Lyon Berners, pleased that any thought should win her +from the contemplation of her misfortune. + +He then led the way into the old ruined church through the door frames, +from which the doors had long been lost. The stone floor, and the stone +altar still remained; all else within the building was gone. + +Lyon Berners looked all around, up and down the interior, from the +arched ceiling to the side-walls with their window spaces and the +flagstone floor with its mouldy seams. The wild creeping vines nearly +filled the window spaces, and shaded the interior more beautifully than +carved shutters, velvet curtains, or even stained glass could have done. +The flagstone floor was strewn with fallen leaves that had drifted in. +Up and down, in every nook and corner of the roof and windows, last +year's empty birds nests perched. And here and there along the walls, +the humble "mason's" little clay house stuck. + +But there seemed no resting place for the weary travellers, until Sybil, +with a serious smile, went up to the altar and sank upon the lowest +step, and beckoned Lyon to join her, saying: + +"At the foot of the altar, dear Lyon, there was sanctuary in the olden +times. We seem to realize the idea now." + +"You are cold. Your clothes are all damp. Stop! I must try to raise a +fire. But you, in the meantime, must walk briskly up and down, to keep +from being chilled to death," answered Lyon Berners very practically, as +he proceeded to gather dry leaves and twigs that had drifted into the +interior of the old church. + +He piled them up in the centre of the floor, just under the break in +the roof, and then he went out and gathered sticks and brushwood, and +built up a little mound. Lastly he took a box of matches from his pocket +and struck a light, and kindled the fire. + +The dried leaves and twigs crackled and blazed, and the smoke ascended +in a straight column to the hole in the roof through which it escaped. + +"Come, dear Sybil, and walk around the fire until your clothes are dry, +and then sit down by it. This fire, with its smoke ascending and +escaping through that aperture, is just such a fire as our forefathers +in the old, old times enjoyed, as the best thing of the kind they knew +anything about. Kings had no better," said Lyon Berners, cheerfully. + +Sybil approached the fire, but instead of walking around it, she sat +down on the flagstones before it. She looked very weary, thoroughly +prostrated in body, soul, and spirit. + +"What are we waiting for, in this horrible pause?" she inquired at +length. + +"We are waiting for Pendleton. He is to bring us news, as soon as he can +slip away and steal to us without fear of detection," answered Lyon +Berners. + +"Oh, Heaven! what words have crept into our conversation about ourselves +and friends too! 'Steal,' 'fear,' 'detection!' Oh, Lyon!--But there, I +will say no more. I will _not_ revert to the horror and degradation of +this position again, if I can help it," groaned Sybil. + +"My wife, you are very faint. Try to take some nourishment," urged Lyon, +as he began to open the small parcel of refreshments thoughtfully +provided by Captain Pendleton. + +"No, no, I cannot swallow a morsel. My throat is parched and +constricted," she answered. + +"If I only had a little coffee for you," said Lyon. + +"If we only had liberty to go home again," sighed Sybil, "then we +should have all things. But there; indeed I will not backslide into weak +complaints again," she added, compunctuously. + +"Modify your grief, dear Sybil, but do not attempt entirely to suppress +it. Nature is not to be so restrained," said Lyon Berners, kindly. + +There was silence between them for a little while, during which Sybil +still sat down upon the flagstones, with her elbows resting on her +knees, and her head bowed upon the palms of her hands; and Lyon stood up +near her with an attitude and expression of grave and sad reflection and +self-control. + +At length Sybil spoke: + +"Oh, Lyon! who could have murdered that poor woman, and brought us into +such a horrible position?" + +"My theory of the tragedy is this, dear Sybil: that some robber, during +the confusion of the fancy ball, found an opportunity of entering and +concealing himself in Mrs. Blondelle's room; that his first purpose +might have been simple robbery, but that, being discovered by Mrs. +Blondelle, and being alarmed lest her shrieks should bring the house +upon him and occasion his capture, he impulsively sought to stop her +cries by death; and then that, hearing your swift approach down the +stairs leading into her room, he made his escape through the window." + +"But then the windows were all found, as they had been left, fastened," +objected Sybil. + +"But, dearest, you must remember that these windows, having spring +bolts, may be fastened by being pushed to from the outside. It is quite +possible for a robber, escaping through them, to close them in this +manner to conceal his flight." + +"That must have been the case in this instance. Everybody must see now +that that was the manner in which the miscreant escaped. Oh, Lyon! I +think we were wrong to have left home." + +"No, dear Sybil, we were not. Our only hope is in the discovery of the +real murderer, and that may be a work of time; meanwhile we wish to be +free, even at the price of being called fugitives from justice." + +"Lyon, that poor child! If we ever go home again, we must adopt and +educate him." + +"We will do so, Sybil." + +"For, oh! Lyon, although I am entirely innocent of that most heinous +crime, and entirely incapable of it, yet, when I remember how my rage +burned against that poor woman only an hour before her death, I feel--I +feel as if I were half guilty of it! as if--Heaven pardon me!--I might, +in some moment of madness, have been wholly guilty of it! Lyon, I +shudder at myself!" cried Sybil, growing very pale. + +"You should thank Heaven that you have been saved from such mortal sin, +dear wife, and also pray Heaven always to save you from your own fierce +passions," said Mr. Berners, very gravely. + +"I have breathed that thanksgiving and that prayer with every breath I +have drawn. And I will continue to do so. But, oh! Lyon, all my +passions, all my sufferings grew out of my great love for you." + +"I can well believe it, dear wife. And I myself have not been free from +blame; though in reality your jealousy was very causeless, Sybil." + +"I know that now," said Sybil, sadly. + +"And now, dearest, I would like to make 'a clean breast of it,' as the +sinners say, and tell you all--the whole 'head and front of my +offending' with that poor dead woman," said Mr. Berners, seating himself +on the floor beside his wife. + +Sybil did not repel his offered confidence, for though her jealousy had +died a violent death, she was still very much interested in hearing his +confession. + +Then Lyon Berners told her everything, up to the very last moment when +she had surprised them in the first and last kiss that had ever passed +between them. + +"But in all, and through all, my heart, dear wife, was loyal in its love +to you," he concluded. + +"I know that, dearest Lyon--I know that well," replied Sybil. + +And with that tenderness towards the faults of the dead, which all +magnanimous natures share, she forbore to say, or even to think, how +utterly unprincipled had been the course of Rosa Blondelle from the +first to the last of their acquaintance with that vain and frivolous +coquette. + +Sybil was now almost sinking with weariness. Lyon perceived her +condition, and said: + +"Remain here, dear Sybil, while I go and try to collect some boughs and +leaves to make you a couch. The sun must have dried up the moisture by +this time." + +And he went out and soon returned with his arms full of boughs, which he +spread upon the flagstones. Then he took off his own overcoat and +covered them with it. + +"Now, dear Sybil," he said, "if you will divest yourself of your long +riding skirt, you may turn that into a blanket to cover with, and so +sleep quite comfortably." + +With a grave smile Sybil followed his advice, and then she laid herself +down on the rude couch he had spread for her. No sooner had her head +touched it, than she sank into that deep sleep of prostration which is +more like a swoon than a slumber. + +Lyon Berners covered her carefully with the long riding skirt, and stood +watching her for some minutes. But she neither spoke nor stirred; +indeed, she scarcely breathed. + +Then, after still more carefully tucking the covering around her, he +left her, and walked out to explore the surroundings of the chapel. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + THE SOLITUDE IS INVADED. + + + Oh, might we here + In solitude live savage, in some glade + Obscured, where highest woods impenetrable + To star, or sunlight, spread their umbrage broad + And brown as evening; cover us, ye pines + Ye cedars with innumerable boughs + Hide us where we may ne'er be seen again.--BYRON. + + +Nothing could be more lonely and desolate than this place. It was +abandoned to Nature and Nature's wild children. Of the birds that +perched so near his hand; of the squirrels that peeped at him from their +holes under the gravestones, he might have said with Alexander Selkirk +on Juan Fernandez, + +"Their tameness is shocking to me." + +There was a great consolation to be derived from these circumstances, +however; for they proved how completely deserted by human beings, and +how perfectly safe for the refugees, was this old "Haunted Chapel." + +Too deeply troubled in mind to take any repose of body; Lyon Berners +continued to ramble about among the gravestones, which were now so worn +with age that no vestige of their original inscriptions remained to +gratify the curiosity of a chance inspector. + +Above him was the glorious autumn sky, now hazy with the golden mist of +Indian summer. Around him lay a vast wilderness of hill and dell covered +with luxuriant forests, now gorgeous with the glowing autumn colors of +their foliage. + +But his thoughts were not with this magnificent landscape. They +wandered to the past days of peace and joy before the coming of the +coquette had "made confusion" with the wedded pair. They wandered to the +future, trying to penetrate the gloom and horror of its shadows. They +flew to Black Hall, picturing the people, prevising the possibilities +there. + +How he longed for, yet dreaded the arrival of Captain Pendleton! Would +there be danger in his coming through the open daylight? What news would +he bring? + +The verdict of the coroners jury? Against whom must this verdict be +given? Lyon Berners shuddered away from answering this question. But it +was also possible that before this the murderer might have been +discovered and arrested. Should this surmise prove to be a fact, oh, +what relief from anguish, what a happy return home for Sybil! If not--if +the verdict should be rendered against _her_,--nothing but flight and +exile remained to them. + +While Lyon Berners wandered up and down like a restless ghost among the +gravestones, his attention was suddenly arrested by the sound of a +crackling tread breaking through the bushes. He turned quickly, +expecting to see Captain Pendleton, but he saw his own servant instead. + +"Joe!" he exclaimed, in a tone of surprise. + +"Marser!" responded the man, in a voice of grief. + +"You come from Captain Pendleton? What message does he send? How is it +at the house? Has the coroner come? And oh! has any clue been found to +the murderer?" anxiously inquired Mr. Berners. + +"No, marser, no clue an't been found to no murderer. But the house up +there is full of crowners and constables, as if it was the county court +house, and Cappin Pendulum managing everything." + +"He sent you to me?" + +"No, marser, nor likewise knowed I come." + +"Joe! _who_ has sent you here?" inquired Mr. Berners. + +"No one hasn't, marser," answered Joe, dashing the tears from his eyes, +and then proceeding to unstrap a large hamper that he carried upon his +shoulders. + +"No one! Then how came you here?" demanded Mr. Berners, uneasily. + +Now, instead of answering his master's question, Joe sat down upon his +hamper, and wept aloud. + +"What is the matter with you?" inquired Mr. Berners. + +"You axed me how I comed here," sobbed Joe, "just as if I could keep +away when she and you was here in trouble, and a-wanting some one to +look arter you." + +"But how did you know we were here?" anxiously questioned Mr. Berners. + +"I wa'n't a listening at key-holes, nor likewise a-eaves-dropping, which +I considers beneath a gentleman to do; but I was a-looking to the back +shutters, to see as they was all safe arter the fright we got, and I +hearn somebody a-talking, which I was sure was more bugglers; so I made +free to wait and hear what they said." + +"It was Captain Pendleton and myself, I suppose," said Mr. Berners, much +annoyed. + +"Jes so, sir; it wer Capping Pendulum and yourself, which it hurt me to +the heart as you should have trusted into Capping Pendulum and not into +me--a old and valleyed servant of the family." + +"And so, Joe, you overheard the whole matter?" + +"Which I did, sir, and shocked I was to think as any false charges +should cause my dear young missus to run away from home in the +night-time, like a fusible slave. And hurt I was to think you didn't +trust into me instead of into he." + +"Well, Joe, it appears to me that you were resolved to take our trust, +if we did not give it to you. What brought you here this morning?" + +"Coffee, sir," gravely answered Joe, getting up off the hamper and +beginning to untie its fastenings. + +"_What?_" demanded Mr. Berners, gathering his brows into a frown. + +"COFFEE!" reiterated Joe, as he took from the hamper a small silver +coffee-pot, a pair of cups and saucers, spoons, plates, and knives and +forks, a bottle of cream, and several small packets containing all that +was needful for breakfast. + +"Joe! this was very kind and thoughtful of you; but was it quite safe +for you to come here with a hamper on your back in open day?" inquired +Mr. Berners. + +"Lord bless you, sir! safe as safe! I took by-paths, and didn't see a +creetur, not one! Why, lord, sir, you had better a-trusted into me from +the beginning, than into Capping Pendulum. Bress your soul, marser, +there an't that white man going, nor yet that red injun, that can aiqual +a colored gentleman into hiding and seeking!" + +"I can well believe that." + +"Why, marser!--but you don't 'member that time I got mad long o' old +Marse Bertram Berners, 'bout blaming of me for the sorrell horse falling +lame; and I run away?" + +"No." + +"Well, I was gone three months, and not five miles from home all that +time! And all the constables looking arter me for law and order; and all +the poor white trash, hunting of me for the reward; and not one of 'em +all ever struck upon my trail, and me so nigh home all the while!" + +"Well, but you were found at last," suggested Mr. Berners. + +"Who, _me_? No, _sir_! And I don't think as I should a-been found yet; +'cause it was a funny kind of life, that run-a-way life, a dodging of +the man-hunters; but you see, marser, I sort o' pined arter the +child--meaning Miss Sybil, who was then about four years old. And, +moreover, it was fotch to me by a secret friend o' mine, as the child +was likewise a pining arter me. So I up and went straight home, and +walked right up before old marse, and took off my hat and told him as +how _I_ was willin' to forgive and forget, and let by-gones be by-gones +like a Christian gentleman, if he would do the same." + +"And of course your master at once accepted such magnanimous terms." + +"Who, _he_? Why, Marse Lyon! he looked jes as if he'd a-knocked me down! +Only, you see, the child--meaning Miss Sybil--was a sitting on his knee, +which, soon as ever she saw me, she ran to me, and clasped me round one +leg, and tried to climb up in my arms; which I took her up at once; and +old marster, he couldn't knock me down then, if it had been to have +saved his life." + +"So peace was ratified." + +"Yes, Marse Lyon! which I telled you all this here nonsense jes to let +you know how good I was at hiding and seeking. And, Marse! the horses +come home all right." + +"They did! I am glad of that." + +"This was the way of it being all right, sir! You see I knowed, when I +heard you were going to ride to this old church, as you couldn't get the +horses through this thicket, but would have to turn them loose, to find +their way home. And I knowed how if any other eyes 'cept mine saw them, +it would set people to axing questions. So I goes out to the road, and +watches till I sees 'em coming; when I takes charge of 'em, and gets 'em +into the stable quiet, and no one the wiser." + +"Well done, Joe! But tell me, my good man, are we missed yet? Has any +one inquired for us?" + +"Plenty has axed arter you both, Marse! But as no one but me and Capping +Pendulum knowed where you was gone, and as I locked your door, and took +the key, most of the folks still think as how Miss Sybil has gone to +bed, overcome by the ewents of the night, and as how you is a watching +by her, and a taking care of her." + +"That also is well." + +"But, Marse, how is Miss Sybil, and where is she?" inquired the faithful +servant, looking about himself. + +"She is very much prostrated by fatigue and excitement, and is now +sleeping in the church." + +"Thanks be to the Divine Marster as she _can_ sleep," said Joe, +reverently. + +"And now," he continued, as he replaced it on his head, "I will kindle a +fire and make the coffee, and may be she may wake up by the time it is +ready." + +"Kindle a fire out here, Joe! Will not the smoke be seen, and lead to +our discovery?" inquired Lyon Berners, glancing at the slender column of +smoke from the fire in the church, that he himself had kindled, and now +for the first time struck with the sense of the danger of discovery to +which it might have exposed Sybil. + +"Lord, Marse!" replied Joe, showing his teeth, "we are too far off from +any human being for any eye to see our smoke. And even if it wasn't so, +bless you, there are so many mists rising from the valley this morning, +that one smoke more or less wouldn't be noticed." + +"That is true," admitted Mr. Berners. + +Meanwhile Joe busied himself with lighting a fire. When it was burning +freely, he took the kettle and filled it from the little stream that +flowed through the church-yard. + +"Now, Marse Lyon, in about ten minutes I will set you down to as good a +breakfast, almost, as you could have got at home," said Joe, as he +raised three cross-sticks over the fire, and hung the kettle over the +blaze, gipsy fashion. + +While Joe was at work, Mr. Berners went into the church to look after +Sybil. + +She was still sleeping the heavy sleep of utter mental and bodily +prostration. For a few minutes he stood contemplating her with an +expression of countenance full of love and pity, and then after +adjusting the covering over her, and collecting together the brands of +the expiring fire to light up again, he left the church. + +On going outside, he found that Joe had spread a cloth and arranged a +rude sort of picnic breakfast upon the ground. + +"The coffee is ready, Marse Lyon; but how about the Missis?" inquired +the man, as he stirred down the grounds from the top of the pot. + +"She is still sleeping, and must not be disturbed," answered Mr. +Berners. + +"Well, Marse Lyon, I reckon as how you can relish a cup of coffee as +well as she; so please to let me wait on you, sir." + +Mr. Berners thanked Joe, and threw himself down upon the ground, and +made such a breakfast as a hungry man _can_ make, even under the most +deplorable circumstances. + +"Now you know, sir, when the Missus wakes up, be it longer or shorter, I +can make fresh coffee for her in ten minutes," said Joe, cheerfully. + +"But you cannot stay here very long. You'll be missed from the house," +objected Mr. Berners. + +"Please, sir, I have so well provided for all that, that I can stay till +night. Bless you, sir, I told my fellow-servants as I was going to take +some corn to the mill to be ground, and was agoin' to wait all day to +fetch it home; and so I really did take the corn, and told the miller I +should come arter it this evening, and so I shall, and take it home all +right, accordin' to my word." + +"That was a very politic proceeding, Joe; but how could you account to +them for the hamper you brought away, and which must have excited +suspicion, if not inquiry?" + +"Bless you, sir, I wasn't fool enough to let them see the hamper. All +they saw was the two bags of corn as I rode out of the gate with. I had +filled the hamper on the sly, and hid it in the bushes by the road, +until I went by and picked it up." + +"Still better, Joe! But your horse? what horse did you ride, and what +have you done with him?" + +"I rode Dick, which I have tied him fast in the deep woods on the other +side of the river. I crossed over the rapids with the help of a pole," +explained Joe. + +While they were speaking, a step was heard crushing through the dried +brushwood, and in another moment Captain Pendleton, pale, sad, and +weary, stood before them. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + THE VERDICT AND THE VISITOR. + + + Can such things be, + And overcome us like a summer cloud + Without our special wonder?--Shakespeare. + + +"Pendleton! oh! Heaven, Pendleton! What news?" exclaimed Lyon Berners, +starting up to greet him. + +"Good heaven! Berners! How is this? Another--a servant taken into your +confidence, and trusted with the secret of your retreat!" cried Captain +Pendleton in dismay. + +"He is trustworthy! I will vouch for his fidelity! But oh! Pendleton! +What news? what news?" exclaimed Lyon Berners in an agony of impatience. + +"The worst that you can anticipate!" cried Captain Pendleton in a voice +full of sorrow. + +"Oh! my unhappy wife! The coroner's jury have found their verdict then?" +groaned Lyon. + +Captain Pendleton bowed his head. He was unable to reply in words. + +"And that verdict is--Oh! speak I let me hear the worst!--that verdict +is--" + +"Wilful Murder!" muttered Pendleton in a hoarse and choking voice. + +"Against--against--whom?" gasped Lyon Berners white as death. + +"Oh Heaven! _You know!_ Do not ask me to sully her name with the words!" +cried Captain Pendleton, utterly overcome by his emotions. + +"Oh, my unhappy wife! Oh, my lost Sybil!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, +reeling under the blow, half-expected though it might have been. + +There was silence for a few minutes. Pendleton was the first to recover +himself. He went up to his friend, touched him on the shoulder, and +said: + +"Berners, rouse yourself; the position requires the exertion of your +utmost powers of mind and body. Calm yourself, and collect all your +faculties. Come now let us sit down here and talk over the situation." + +Lyon permitted the captain to draw him away to a little distance, where +they both sat down side by side, on a fallen tombstone. + +"In the first place, how is your wife, and how does she sustain herself +under this overwhelming disaster?" inquired Captain Pendleton, forcing +himself to speak composedly. + +"I do not think my dear innocent Sybil was able fully to appreciate the +danger of her position, even as she stood before the rendering of that +false and fatal verdict, she was so strong in her sense of innocence. +She seemed to suffer most from the lesser evils involved in her exile +from home." + +"Where is she, then?" + +"Sleeping heavily in the church there; sleeping very heavily, from the +united effects of mental and bodily fatigue and excitement." + +"Heaven grant that she may sleep long and well. And now, Berners, to our +plans. You must know that I kept a horse saddled and tied in the woods +down by the river, and as soon as that lying verdict was rendered, I +hurried off, leaped into my saddle and galloped here. I forded the +river, and have left my horse just below here, at the entrance of this +thicket. I must soon mount and away again on your service." + +"Oh, my dear Pendleton, how shall I ever repay you?" + +"By keeping up a stout heart until this storm-cloud blows over, as it +must, in a few days or weeks. But now to business. How came this man Joe +here?" + +Mr. Berners explained how Joe had overheard all their conversation while +they were making their arrangements, and taken pains to co-operate with +them, and had followed them here with some necessary provisions. And he, +Mr. Berners, closed with a eulogy on Joe's fidelity and discretion. + +"I am very glad to hear what you tell me, for it relieves my mind of a +very great weight. I knew that there had been a listener to our +conversation, for I almost ran against him as I went into the house; but +as he made his escape before I could identify him, I was very anxious on +the subject. So you may judge what a burden is lifted from my mind by +the discovery that he was no other than honest Joe, whom Providence sent +in the way. But why he ran from me, I cannot imagine. + +"He was a little jealous, a little sulky, and somewhat fearful of being +blamed, I suppose. But tell me, Pendleton, has our flight been +discovered yet?" inquired Mr. Berners, anxiously. + +"No, nor even suspected; at least, not up to the time that I left Black +Hall. Mrs. Berners was supposed to be in her chamber. I warned all the +men, and requested my sister to caution all the women, against knocking +at her door." + +"And I, who must have been expected to be on the spot?" asked Lyon. + +"You were often asked for. Fortunately for you, there is a well-known +weakness in human nature to pretend to know all about everything that +may be inquired into. And so, every time you chanced to be inquired for +by one party, you were accounted for by another. Some said you were with +Mrs. Berners; others that you had gone to Blackville on pressing +business connected with the tragedy. And these last authorities came to +be believed; so that when I slipped away I left the people momentarily +expecting your return." + +"Whom did you leave there?" + +"Everybody--the coroner's jury and all the guests of the house, who had +been detained as witnesses." + +"Then all our friends heard the fatal verdict?" + +"All." + +"Was there--a warrant issued?" gasped Lyon Berners, scarcely able to +utter the words. + +"Ah, yes; the issue of the warrant was the first intimation I had of the +fatal nature of the verdict. It was put in the hands of an officer, with +orders to be on the watch and serve it as soon as Mrs. Berners should +come out of her chamber, but not to knock at the door, or molest her +while she remained in it." + +Lyon Berners groaned deeply, and buried his face in his hands. + +"Come, come! bear up, that you may sustain _her_!" said Captain +Pendleton. "And now listen: Your flight, as I told you, was not +suspected up to the time I left Black Hall. It will not be discovered +probably until late this evening, when it will be too late for the +authorities to take any immediate measures of pursuit. We have, +therefore, this afternoon and to-night to perfect our plans. Only you +need to bring steady nerves and a clear head to the task." + +"What do you suggest, Pendleton?" + +"First of all, that during this night, which is ours, all necessary +conveniences be brought here to support your life for a few days, for +you must not leave this safe refuge immediately--to do so would be to +fall into the hands of the law." + +"I see that," sighed Mr. Berners. + +"I, then, with the help of this faithful Joe, will bring to you here +to-night such things as you and Mrs. Berners will actually need, for the +few days that you must remain. As to all your affairs at the Hall, I +counsel you to give me a written authority to act for you in your +absence. I have brought writing materials for the purpose; and when you +have written it, I will myself take it and drop it secretly into the +post-office at Blackville, so that it may reach me regularly through the +mail, and help to mislead everybody to whom I shall show it, into the +idea that you have gone away through Blackville. Will you write it now?" +inquired Captain Pendleton, drawing from his pocket a rolled +writing-case, containing all that was requisite for the work. + +"A thousand thanks, Pendleton. I do not see how in the name of Heaven we +could have managed without you," replied Berners, as he took the case, +unrolled it on his knee, and proceeded to write the required "power of +attorney." + +"And now," said the Captain, when he received the document, "now we must +be getting back. The sun is quite low, and we have much to do. Come, +Joe, are you ready?" + +"Yes, Massa Capping; ready and waitin' on you too. I ought to be at the +mill now, 'fore the miller shuts it up." + +Captain Pendleton then shook hands with Mr. Berners, and Joe pulled his +front lock of wool by way of a deferential adieu, and both left the spot +and disappeared in the thicket. + +But it was not until the last sound of their retreating steps, crashing +through the dried bushes, had died away, that Lyon Berners turned and +went into the church. + +As he entered, a singular phenomenon, almost enough to confirm the +reputation of the place as "haunted ground," met his view. + +All in one instant his eyes took in these things: First, Sybil covered +over with the dark riding skirt, and still sleeping by the smouldering +fire; but sleeping uneasily, and muttering in her sleep. Secondly, the +four prints of the western windows laid in sunshine on the floor. +Thirdly, a _shadow_ that slipped swiftly athwart this sunshine, and +disappeared as if it had sunk into the floor on the right of the altar. +And in the same moment Sybil, with a half-suppressed shriek, started up, +and stared wildly around, exclaiming: + +"Oh! what is this? Where am I? Who was she?" Lyon Berners hastened to +his wife, saying soothingly: + +"Sybil, wake up, darling; you have been dreaming." + +"But what does all this mean? Where are we? What strange place is this?" +she cried, throwing back her long dark hair, and shading her eyes with +her hands, as she gazed around. + +"Dearest wife, take time to compose yourself, and you will remember all. +A sudden and terrible catastrophe has driven us from our home. You have +had a heavy sleep since that, and you find it difficult to awake to the +truth," said Lyon Berners tenderly, as he sat down by her side, and +sought to soothe her. + +"Oh! I know now! I remember all now! my fatal fancy ball! Rosa +Blondelle's mysterious murder! Our sudden flight! All! O! Heavens, all!" +cried Sybil, dropping her face upon her hands. + +Lyon Berners put his arm around her, and drew her to his bosom. But he +did not speak; he thought it better to leave her to collect herself in +silence. + +After a few moments, she looked up again, and looked all around the +church, and then gazed into her husband's eyes, and inquired: + +"But Lyon, who was _she_? and where has she gone?" + +"Who was who, dear Sybil? I don't understand," answered Mr. Berners, in +surprise. + +"That gipsy-like girl in the red cloak; who was bending over me, and +staring into my face, just as you came in?" + +"There was no such girl near you, or even in the church, my dear," said +Mr. Berners. + +"But indeed there was; she started away just as I woke up." + +"My dearest Sybil, you have been dreaming." + +"Indeed no; I saw her as plainly as I see you now: a girl in a red +cloak, with such an elfin face I shall never forget it; such small +piercing black eyes; such black eyebrows, depressed towards the nose, +and raised high towards the temples, giving such an eldritch, +mischievous, even dangerous expression to the whole dark countenance; +and such wild black hair streaming around her shoulders." + +"A very vivid dream you have had, dear wife, and that is all." + +"I tell you no! she was bending over me; looking at me; and she fled +away just as I woke up." + +"My darling, I will convince you out of your own mouth. She ran away, +you say, just as you woke up; therefore you did not see her after you +were awake, but only while you slept, in your dreams. Besides, dear, I +was here when you woke up, and I saw no one near you, or even in the +building," persisted Lyon Berners--though at that moment he did recall +to mind _the shadow_ that he had seen slip past all the sunshine on the +floor, and disappear as if it had sunk under the slabs on the right side +of the altar. + +"Lyon," said Sybil, solemnly, "I do not like to contradict you, but as I +hope to be saved, I saw that girl, not in a dream, but in reality; and +since you do not know anything about her, I begin to think the +apparition mysterious and alarming. Let me tell you all about it." + +"Well, tell me, dear, if to do so will do you any good," said Mr. +Berners indulgently, but incredulously. + +"Listen, then. I was in a _dead sleep_, oh, such a deep dead sleep, +that I seemed to be away down in the bottom of some deep cave, when I +felt a heavy breathing or panting over my face, and was conscious of +somebody leaning over me, and looking at me. I tried to wake, but could +not, I could not lift myself up out of that deep dark cave of sleep. But +at last I felt a hand near my throat, trying to unfasten this golden +locket that contains your miniature. Then I struggled, and succeeded in +throwing off the spell and waking up. As soon as I opened my eyes I saw +the wild eldritch face, with its keen bright black eyes and queer +eyebrows, and snake-like black locks, running down over the red cloak. +The instant I saw this, I cried out, and the girl fled, and you hurried +up. Now call that a dream if you can, for I tell you I saw that figure +start up and run away from me as plainly as I saw you come up. One event +was as real as the other," concluded Sybil. + +Lyon Berners did not at once reply, for he thought again of the flitting +_shadow_ he had seen cross the sunshine, and disappear as if it had sunk +into the flagstones on the right side of the altar. And he mentally +admitted the bare possibility that some intruder had entered the church +and looked upon Sybil in her sleep, and fled at her awakening. But fled +whither? The windows were very high, the wall was smooth beneath them; +no one could have climbed to them, for there was no foothold or handhold +to assist one in the ascent, and there was but the one door by which he +himself had entered, at the same moment the strange visitor was said to +have fled, and he was quite sure that no one had passed him. Besides, +the shadow that he had seen vanished beside the altar, at the upper end +of the church. Lyon Berners knew not what to think of all that he had +seen and heard within the last quarter of an hour. But one thing was +quite certain, that it was absolutely necessary to Sybil's safety to +ascertain whether any stranger had really entered the church, or even +come upon the premises. + +"Well," inquired Sybil, seeing that he still remained silent, "what do +you think now, Lyon?" + +"I think," he answered promptly, "that I will search the church." + +"There is not a hiding-place for anything bigger than a rat or a bird," +said his wife, glancing around upon the bare walls, floor, and ceiling. + +Nevertheless Lyon Berners walked up to the side of the altar where he +had seen the shadow disappear. Sybil followed close behind him. He +examined the altar all around. It was built of stonework like the +church; that was the reason it had stood so long. But he experienced a +great surprise when he looked at the side where the shadow had vanished; +for there he found a small iron-grated door, through which he dimly +discerned the head of a flight of stone steps, the continuation of which +was lost in the darkness below. Glancing over the top of the door, he +read, in iron letters, the inscription: + +"DUBARRY. 1650." + +"What is it, dear Lyon?" inquired Sybil, anxiously looking over his +shoulder. + +"Good Heaven! It is the family vault of the wicked old Dubarrys, who +once owned all the land hereabouts, except the Black Valley Manor, and +who built this chapel for their sins; for of them it might not be said +with truth, that 'all their sons were true, and all their daughters +pure,' but just exactly the reverse. However, they are well forgotten +now!" + +"And this is their family vault?" + +"Yes; but I had almost forgotten its existence here." + +"Lyon, can my mysterious visitor have hidden herself in that vault?" + +"I can search it, at any rate," answered Mr. Berners, wrenching away at +the grated door. + +But it resisted all his efforts, as if its iron bars had been bedded in +the solid masonry. + +"No," he answered; "your visitor, if you had one, could not possibly +have entered here. See how fast the door is." + +"Lyon," whispered Sybil, in a deep and solemn voice, "Lyon, could she +possibly have come out from there?" + +"Nonsense, dear! Are you thinking of ghosts?" + +"This is the 'Haunted Chapel,' you know," whispered Sybil. + +"Bosh, my dear; you are not silly enough to believe that!" + +"But my strange visitor?" + +"You had no visitor, dear Sybil; you had a dream, and your dream had +every feature of nightmare in it--the deep, death-like, yet +half-conscious and much disturbed sleep; the sense of heavy oppression; +the apparition hanging over you; the inability to awake; even the +grappling at your throat, and the swift disappearance of the vision +immediately upon your full awakening--all well-known features of +incubus," replied Mr. Berners. But again he thought of the shadow he had +seen; now, however, only to dismiss the subject as an optical illusion. + +Sybil sighed deeply. + +"It is hard," she said, "that you won't trust to my senses in this +affair." + +"Sweet wife, I would rather convince you how completely your senses have +deceived you. Your imagination has been excited while your nerves were +depressed. You have heard the legend of the Haunted Chapel, and while +sleeping within it you conjured up the heroine of the story in your +dream where she immediately took the form of incubus." + +"I!--the legend! What are you talking of, Lyon? I have heard the church +called the Haunted Chapel indeed, but I never even knew that there was +any story connected with it," exclaimed Sybil, in surprise. + +"Really? Never heard the legend of 'Dubarry's Fall'?" inquired Mr. +Berners, with equal surprise. + +"Never, upon my word." + +"Well, it is an old tradition; forgotten like the family with whom it +was connected. I heard it in my childhood; but it had slipped my memory +until your graphic description of the gipsy girl in the red cloak +recalled it to my mind, and led me to believe that your knowledge of the +legend had so impressed your imagination as to make it conjure up the +heroine of the legend." + +"What is the legend? Do tell me, Lyon." + +"Not now, dearest. You must first have some coffee, which a faithful +friend has provided for us." + +"Captain Pendleton?" eagerly inquired Sybil. + +"No, dear, our servant Joe. I do not expect to see Captain Pendleton +until nightfall," added Lyon Berners, for he tried to anticipate and +prevent any troublesome questions that Sybil might ask, as he wished to +save her from needless additional pain as long as he possibly could. + +"And Joe is here with us?" inquired Sybil, cheerfully. + +"No, dear; he has returned home; but will come again to-night." + +"But what news did he bring?" + +"None. We will hear from Captain Pendleton to-night. Now you must have +some coffee; and then I will tell you the 'Legend of the Haunted +Chapel'; for that legend, Sybil, may well account for your vision, +whether we look on it from my point of view or from yours--as illusion +or reality," said Lyon Berners. + +"Or, stay," he added, reflectively; "it is too cold for you to sup in +the open air. I will bring the things in here." + +"Well, let me go with you, to help to bring them in, at least," pleaded +Sybil. + +"What! are you really afraid to stay here alone?" inquired Lyon, +smiling, with an attempt at pleasantry. + +"No, indeed; but all smells mouldy inside this old church. At least it +does since the sun set, and I would like to go out and get a breath of +fresh air," replied Sybil, quite seriously. + +"Come, then," said Lyon. + +They went out together. + +The fire that had been built by Joe was now burnt down to embers; but +the coffee-pot sat upon these embers, and the coffee was hot. + +Lyon Berners took it up, while Sybil loaded herself with crockery ware +and cutlery. + +They had turned to go back to the church, when Sybil uttered a +half-suppressed cry, and nearly dropped her burden. + +"What's the matter?" cried Mr. Berners. + +"Look!" exclaimed Sybil. + +"Where?" + +"At the east window." + +Mr. Berners raised his eyes just in time to see a weird young face, with +wild black hair, and a bright red mantle, flash downward from the +window, as if it had dropped to the floor. + +There was no dream now; not even an optical illusion. The reality of the +vision was unquestionable. + +"This is most strange," exclaimed Mr. Berners. + +"It is the same face that bent over me, and woke me up," answered Sybil, +with a shudder. + +"It is some one who is concealed in the church, and whom we shall be +sure to discover, for there is but one exit, by the front door; and if +she comes out of that, we shall see her; or if she remains in the +building, we shall be sure to find her there. Since I saw the face drop +from the window, I have carefully watched the door. Do you also watch +it, my dear Sybil; so that the creature, whatever it is, may not pass +us," said Mr. Berners, as he strode on rapidly towards the church, +followed by his wife. + +They entered together, and looked eagerly around. + +Though the sun had set some ten minutes before, yet the "after glow" +shone in through the six tall gothic window spaces, and revealed clearly +every nook and corner of the interior. Their strange inmate or visitor, +whichever she might be, was nowhere to be seen. + +With an impatient gesture, Mr. Berners set down the coffee-pot, and +hurried towards the door of the vault, and looked through the iron +grating. But he could see nothing but the top of those stairs, the +bottom of which disappeared in the darkness. + +He then shook the door; but it firmly resisted all his strength. The +bars appeared to be built into the solid masonry. + +"This is really confounding to all one's intelligence," exclaimed Lyon +Berners, gazing around in perplexity. + +"It is, indeed. But it is well that you have seen this mystery with your +own eyes, for if you had not done so, you never would have believed in +it," said Sybil, gravely shaking her head. + +"Nor do I believe in it, now that I have seen it." + +"Then you will not trust the united evidence of your own eyes and mine." + +"No, Sybil; not for a prodigy so out of nature as that would be," +replied Lyon Berners, firmly. + +"Well, then, tell me the legend of the Haunted Chapel, for you hinted +that that legend must have some connection with this apparition." + +"A seeming connection, at the very least; but I cannot tell it to you +now--not until you take something to eat and drink, for you have not +broken your fast since morning." + +"Nor have I hungered since morning," replied Sybil, with a sigh. + +Mr. Berners went up to the smouldering embers of the fire that he had +lighted in the morning on the stone floor of the church; and he drew +together the dying brands, put fresh fuel on them, and soon rekindled +the flame. + +And the husband and wife sat down beside it; and while Sybil ate and +drank with what appetite she could bring to the repast, Lyon Berners, to +pass off the heavy time, related to her the legend of the Haunted +Chapel. + + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + THE FALL OF THE DUBARRYS. + + + But, soft! behold, lo, where it comes again! + I'll cross it, though it blast me.--Stay, illusion! + If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, + Speak to me!--SHAKESPEARE. + + +"The Dubarrys," he began, "were a French Roman Catholic family of +distinction. A cadet of that family came over to Virginia among the +earliest English settlers of the colony. + +"As in the case of the more important among his anglican comrades, he +obtained a very large tract of land by Royal patent. He built his hut +and fixed his abode here, not a hundred yards from the spot where this +church now stands. + +"He took an Indian girl for a wife, and continued to live a wild +huntsman sort of life in the wilderness; only breaking it sometimes by +going down to Jamestown, twice a year, to buy such necessaries of +civilized life as the wilderness could not furnish, and to hear news +from any ship that might have come in from the old country; and above +all, to take a holiday among civilized pleasure-seekers--for such +existed even in the primitive settlement of Jamestown. + +"In due course of time, a family of half-breed sons and daughters grew +up around him, and the little primitive hut gave place to a substantial +stone lodge. + +"And the country around was becoming settled. The Berners had got a +grant of the Black Valley, and had built the first part of Black Hall, +which has since been added to in every generation, until it has grown to +its present dimensions. + +"About this time also, Charles Dubarry was inspired with a certain +ambition for his eldest son, a densely ignorant, half-Indian youth of +nineteen; and hearing that the two young sons of Richard Berners of +Black Hall were to be sent to England to be educated, he proposed that +his own 'black boy,' as he called his handsome dark-eyed heir, should go +with them. And as the three lads had been forest companions for some +years, the proposal of old Dubarry was gladly accepted, and the three +young men sailed in company for England. + +"They spent ten years in the old world, and returned, as as they had set +out, together. It was after their return that the close friendship of a +young lifetime was turned to the deadliest enmity. It happened in this +manner: + +"The country, during their absence, had grown a great deal in +population. Every rich valley among these mountains had its white +proprietor. In the Valley of the Roses--so named, because at the time it +was taken possession of by its first proprietor, it was fairly carpeted +and festooned all around and about with the wild-rose vine--dwelt one +Gabriel Mayo, a gentleman of fortune, taste, and culture. He had a +family of fair daughters, of whom old Charles Dubarry, with his national +gallantry and proneness to exaggeration, had said, that 'they were all +the most beautiful girls in the world, and each one more beautiful than +all the others.' + +"Be that as it may, it is certain that there were five lovely maidens, +ranging from fifteen years to twenty-one, to choose from. Yet who can +account for human caprice, especially in such matters? The three young +men--Louis Dubarry, and John and William Berners--all fixed their +affections upon Florette Mayo, the youngest beauty. + +"Fierce and bitter was the rivalry between the lovers. But the young +girl returned the love of John Berners, and married him, and became your +ancestress, as you know, Sybil. + +"And from that time to the time of the extinction of the American branch +of the Dubarry family, a feud, as fierce and bitter, if not as warlike, +as any that ever raged between rival barons of the middle ages, +prevailed between the Berners and the Dubarrys. + +"I come now to the period just before the breaking out of the Old French +War, when the first rude stone lodges in these valleys had given place +to handsome and spacious manor houses, and when the then proprietor of +the Dubarry estate had erected a magnificent dwelling on the site of his +first rough cottage. He called the mansion the Chateau Dubarry, a name +which the country people quickly changed into Shut-up Dubarry. + +"The last name was not inappropriate, for a more morose, solitary, and +misanthropical man never lived than Henry Dubarry, the builder of that +house. He neither visited nor received visits, but remained selfishly +'shut-up' in the paradise of art and letters that he had created within +his dwelling. + +"He had a wife, a son, and two daughters, all of whom suffered more or +less from this isolation from their fellow-beings. So it was a great +relief to the son when he was sent, first to the William and Mary +College of Williamsburg for five years, and afterwards to Oxford for +five more. + +"After the departure of the son and brother, the mother and sisters +suffered more and more seriously from the gloom and horror of their +isolation, and in the course of years utterly succumbed to it. First the +mother died, then the elder sister; and then the younger sister, left +alone with her recluse father in that awful house, became a maniac. + +"Under these circumstances, the father wrote to his son to come home. +But selfishness, not love, ruled that young man, as it had ruled his +fathers. He had graduated with honors, and won a 'fellowship' at the +University, and he was about to start for the fashionable European tour. +He wrote home to this effect, and went on his farther way. + +"He remained abroad until summoned home by two events--the deaths of his +father and sister, and the necessity of raising money for himself. + +"He came home, but not alone. He brought with him a gipsy girl of +singular beauty, who seemed to be passionately attached to him, and whom +he loved as much as it was in his selfish nature to love anything. + +"He placed her at the head of his household, and his simple servants +obeyed her as their mistress; and his sociable neighbors, willing to +forgive old rebuffs, called upon the young pair. + +"But their visits were not kindly received, and not in any case +returned. And the report went around the neighborhood, that Philip +Dubarry was as morose and selfish as his father had been before him. And +so the house was abandoned, as it had been in the days of the old man +and the idiot girl. + +"But by and by other rumors, darker and more dishonorable to the master +and mistress of Shut-up Dubarry, crept out among the people. These +rumors were started by the Dubarry servants, in their gossipping with +other family servants in the chance meeting in church or village. They +were to the effect that Philip Dubarry often quarrelled fiercely with +his gipsy wife, and even threatened to send her back to her native +county, and that Gentiliska, or Iska, as she was more commonly called, +wept and raved and tore her black hair by turns. + +"It is the old sad tale, dear Sybil. At length the cultivated scholar +and unprincipled villain grew tired of his beautiful but ignorant gipsy +wife, who was a wife only in justice and not in law. He frequently left +home for long absences. He spent his winters in the cities, and his +summers in a round of visits to hospitable country houses, leaving her +at all seasons to pine and weep, or rage and tear her hair in the gloomy +solitude of Shut-up Dubarry. But for all this, whenever he did +condescend to visit his home, she received him with an eagerness of +welcome--a perfect self-abandonment to joy, that knew no bounds. And +when he left her again, her despair was but the deeper, her anguish the +fiercer. And all this was duly reported by that indefatigable corps of +reporters, the domestics of the house. + +"At last came the crisis. Philip Dubarry sent down an agent who opened +the doors of Shut-up Dubarry, and brought into it an army of workmen, to +repair, refurnish and decorate the mansion-house. In vain Gentiliska +asked questions; the workmen either could not or would not give her any +satisfaction. 'It was the master's orders,' they said, and nothing more. +To no one in the world were 'the master's' orders more sacred than to +his loyal gipsy wife. She bowed in submission, and let the workmen do +their will. All the summer season was occupied with the work. But by the +first of October the house was thoroughly renewed, within and without, +so that it seemed like a palace in the midst of Paradise; and the gipsy +wife wandered through the house and grounds in a delight that was only +damped by the long-continued absence of her husband. + +"At length, near the middle of the month, at the height of the hunting +season, Philip Dubarry arrived. But the eager welcome of his wife was +met with coldness and petulance, that wounded and enraged her. She gave +way to a storm of grief and fury. She wept and raved and tore her hair, +as was her way when fiercely excited. But now he had not the least +patience with her, or the least mercy on her. He had ceased to love her +and to want her, and so, in acting out his selfish and demoniac nature, +he did not hesitate to treat her with cruel scorn and ignominy. He told +her that she was not his wife, and never had been so. He called her ill +names, and bade her pack up and go, he cared not where, so it was out of +his sight, for he hated her; and out of his house also, for she +dishonored it; and that, after being repaired and refurnished, it must +also be purified of _her_ presence, before he could bring into it the +fair maiden whom he was about to make his wife. + +"Then all her fury suddenly subsided, and she became calm and resolute +unto death. She assured him that she never would leave the house; that +she was his wife, and the house's mistress; and she had the right to +remain, and would remain. Whereupon he broke out into furious oaths, +swearing that if she did not go, he would put her out by force. Then she +answered, in these memorable words, that have come down to us in +tradition: + +"'My body you may thrust forth from my home, but my spirit never! Living +or dead, in the flesh or the spirit, I will stay in this house as long +as its walls shall stand! Nay, though you were to pull this house down +to eject me, in the flesh or the spirit, I would enter in and possess +the next house you should build! And should you venture to bring here, +or there, a bride to supplant me, in the flesh or the spirit I will +blast and destroy her. So help me the gods of my people.' + +"For a moment the ruthless and dauntless man stood appalled by the awful +spirit he had raised in that slight form. But when he did recover +himself it was to fall into a transport of fury, in which he seized the +girl and hurled her violently through the open window. Fortunately they +were on the ground floor, so the fall was not great, and she was, +besides, light in form and agile as a cat. She fell on her hands and +feet upon a thick carpet of the dead leaves that strewed the lawn. + +"For a moment she lay where she had fallen, breathless from the shock; +then she lifted herself slowly up. One arm hung useless by her side; it +was dislocated at the shoulder joint; but the other was raised to +heaven, and she muttered some words in her native tongue, and then +turned and walked away until she disappeared in the woods. + +"'I hope she'll drown herself according to rule, and there will be an +end,' the fiendish wretch was heard to mutter. No one was allowed to +follow her. She probably _did_ drown herself, but that was by no means +the end. Well, the gipsy girl is said to have kept her word. + +"The third day thereafter, as a boy in search of eagle's eggs was +climbing the highest fastnesses of the Black Mountain, his eyes were +attracted by the glow of something scarlet lying on a ledge of rocks +about half way down the course of the Black Torrent. Agile as any +chamois hunter of the Alps, the boy let himself down, from point to +point, until he reached the ledge, upon which the dead body of the gipsy +girl was found. It was crushed by the fall, and sodden by the white foam +of the cascade that continually rolled over it. + +"The boy hastened away to spread the news. With the greatest difficulty +the body was recovered, and conveyed to Shut-up Dubarry. The inquest +that sat upon it rendered the simple verdict, 'Found Dead'; for whether +the death were accidental or suicidal, or whether it resulted from the +fall upon the rocks, or from the waters of the cascade, the Dogberries +of that jury could not decide. + +"The gipsy girl was buried; and her brutal protector coarsely professed +himself to be greatly relieved by her death. And he assembled all his +servants before him, and forbade them, under the penalty of his heaviest +displeasure, ever to mention the name of Gentiliska to the lady he was +about to bring home as his wife. These slaves knew their master, and in +great fear and trembling they each and all solemnly promised to obey +him. Then he left home for the eastern part of the State from which he +was to bring his bride. On this occasion he was gone a month. + +"It was in the middle of the month of November that he returned to +Shut-up Dubarry, bringing with him his fair young bride. She was a +Fairfax, from the county that was named after her family. She was +unquestionably a lady of the highest and purest order, and the +neighboring gentry, ever pleased to welcome such an one among them, +called on her, invited her to their houses, and gave dinner or supper +parties in her honor. + +"Philip Dubarry, who had recently fretted at the galling 'ban' under +which, for the transient love of the gipsy girl, he had voluntarily +placed himself, now rejoiced at being delivered from it, and entered +with all the zest of novelty into the social pleasures of the place. He +loved his beautiful and high-born wife with both passion and pride, and +she loved some imaginary hero in his form, and was happy in the +illusion. Thus all went merry as a marriage bell until one dark and +dismal day in December, when the rain fell in floods and the wind raved +around the house, and the state of the weather kept the newly married +couple closely confined within doors, his bride turned to him, and +inquired quietly: + +"'Who is that little dark-haired girl with the piercing black eyes, and +in the short red cloak, that I see so often around the house?' + +"'What did you say?' inquired Philip Dubarry, in a quavering voice. + +"'Who is that little girl in the red cloak, who seems so much at home in +the house? Is she deaf and dumb? I speak to her, but she never answers +me; generally indeed, she goes away as soon as she perceives that I +notice her. Who is she, Phil?' and the young wife looked at her husband +for an answer. But his face was that of a corpse, and his form was +shaking with an ague fit, for the guilty are ever cowardly. + +"But his wife mistook the cause of his agitation. Forgotten in an +instant was the question she had asked, and upon which, she had placed +no sort of importance; and she went to her husband and took his hand, +and gazed into his face, and asked him, for Heaven's sake, to tell her +what was the matter. + +"He told her a lie. He faltered out between his chattering teeth, that +he feared he was struck with a congestive chill; that the sudden and +severe change in the weather had affected him;--and more to the same +effect. + +"She hurried out and prepared a hot drink of brandy, boiling water, and +spices, and she brought it to him and made him drink it. + +"Under this powerful stimulant he revived. But she had, in the fear and +excitement of the hour, utterly forgotten the inquiry she had put to +him, and no more would have been said of it, had not he, in fearful +interest, resumed the subject. + +"'You were asking me about--one of the servants, were you not?' he +inquired. + +"'Oh, yes. But never mind! sit still, and keep your feet to the fire +until you get warm. Never mind about gratifying my foolish curiosity +now,' she answered, thoughtfully. + +"'My chill is already gone, thanks to your skilful nursing! What chill +could resist your warm draughts? But now about your question. What was +it?' + +"'Oh, nothing much! I only asked you who was the little girl with the +red cloak, who is so silent and shy that she never answers me when I +speak to her, and always shrinks away whenever she finds herself +observed.' + +"The trembling wretch was ready with his falsehood. He answered: + +"'Oh! she is the child of a poor couple on the mountain, and comes to +the house for cold victuals; but she is as you have observed, very shy; +so I think you had better leave her to herself.' + +"'Yes, but are you sure she is to be trusted? For shy as she is in +other matters, she is bold enough to intrude into the most private parts +of the house, and at the most untimely hours of the night,' remarked the +lady. + +"'Indeed!' muttered the guilty man, in a sepulchral tone. + +"'Indeed and indeed! Why, only last night, when we came home at +midnight, from Mrs. Judge Mayo's ball, when you lingered below stairs to +speak to the butler, and I ran up into my own room alone, I saw this +strange looking little creature, with the streaming black hair and the +red cloak, standing before my dressing-glass! Now what do you think of +that?' + +"'She--she--she has been a sort of a pet of the family, and has had the +run of the house, coming in and out of all the rooms at all hours, like +any little dog,' answered the conscious criminal, in a quavering voice. + +"'_That_ must be reformed at once!' said the Fairfax bride, drawing +herself up with much dignity, and also perhaps with some jealous +suspicion. + +"'It shall, by my soul! I will give orders to that effect,' quavered +Philip Dubarry. + +"'Nay, do not take that trouble. It is _my_ prerogative to order my +household, and I shall do it,' proudly answered the lady. + +"And here the matter might have ended, but for that interest Philip +Dubarry felt in the subject. He remembered the most awful threat of his +betrayed gipsy wife: 'In the flesh or in the spirit, to dwell in the +house as long as its walls should stand! In the flesh or in the spirit, +to blast and destroy the bride he should bring there to take her place.' +Up to this time he had never had any reason to suppose that the gipsy +girl had kept her word. He had never seen nor heard of anything unusual +about the house. But now when his wife spoke of this silent inmate in +the red cloak, he recognized the portrait all but too well, and his +guilty soul quaked with fear. And yet he was not superstitious. He was a +son of the eighteenth century, which was much more incredulous of the +supernatural than the nineteenth, with all its mysterious spiritual +manifestations, can be. He was a scientific and practical man. Yet he +shuddered with awe as he listened to the description given by his +unconscious wife of this strange visitant. And he could not forbear to +question her. + +"'Did you speak to the girl when you found her in your room at +midnight?' he inquired. + +"'Yes, certainly; I asked her how she came to be there so late. But +instead of answering my question, she glided silently away.' + +"'Have you spoken to any of the servants of this girl's intrusion into +parts of the house where she has no business to come?' + +"'No, not until this morning; for I never really felt interest enough in +the little creature that I only casually met in the passages of the +house, until I found her in my bedroom at midnight. So this morning I +described her to the housekeeper, and asked who she was, and who gave +her liberty to intrude into my bedroom so late. And what do you think +old Monica answered?' + +"'I'm sure I don't know.' + +"'She crossed herself, and cried out, 'Lord have mercy on all our souls! +You have seen her!' I inquired, 'Seen who?' But she answered, 'Nothing. +Nobody. I don't know what I'm talking about. My head's wool-gathering, +I believe.' Nor could any further questioning of mine draw from her any +more satisfactory answer. And so I came to you for an explanation. And +you tell me that she is Milly Jones, the child of poor parents, living +on the mountain, and that she comes here for broken victuals and old +clothes. Very well. In future I shall pension the poor family on the +mountain, for I would not have any fellow-creature in my reach to suffer +want; but I shall do it on condition that Miss Milly Jones stays home, +and helps her mother with the family cooking and washing, instead of +losing her time by day and her sleep by night in wandering through all +the rooms of a gentleman's house, and taking possession of a lady's +bed-chamber.' + +"You see this bride never imagined a ghost, but strongly suspected a +sweetheart, and so she was a little surprised when her husband answered: + +"'Do so, my dear; and may Heaven grant that you may get rid of this +unpleasant visitor at once and forever.' + +"And as he said this, Philip Dubarry arose and went into his library and +rung the bell, and to the servant who answered it, he said: + +"'Send Monica the housekeeper here.' + +"In a few minutes Monica entered the room. + +"'Did I not order you, on pain of my heaviest displeasure, never to +annoy Mrs. Dubarry by so much as the mention of the gipsy girl's name to +her?' sternly demanded Philip Dubarry. + +"The old woman fell down upon her knees, and lifted up both her hands, +and exclaimed: + +"'And no more I haven't, master, not once! But that don't do no good, +for _she walks_!' + +"'Who walks, you old fool?' + +"'_She_, the gipsy girl, master. _She walks_, and the missis sees her as +well as we do!' + +"'We? Whom do you call "we," you insupportable idiot?' + +"'Me and Ben the man-servant, and Betty the chambermaid, and Peggy the +parlormaid. All sees her, master. We never, none of us, see her before +the missis was brought home; but ever since that, we sees her every day; +we sees just as much of her as we used to see when she was alive!' +answered the woman, grovelling and weeping. + +"'_Where_ do you see her, or fancy you see her, lunatic?' fiercely +demanded Philip Dubarry. + +"'Everywhere, master! We meets her on the stairs; we sees her sitting at +the head of the table, as soon as the meal is ready, and before the +mistress comes to take the place; and we sees her lying in the unmade +beds of a morning; but always, as soon as we screams, as scream we must, +at such an object, master, she vanishes away!' answered the housekeeper. + +"Philip Dubarry was awed and almost silenced,--_almost_, but not quite, +for he was the very sort of hero to browbeat others the most fiercely +when he was himself the most frightened. He rallied himself. + +"'Look you here!' he furiously exclaimed; 'all this that you have just +told me is the most wicked and abominable falsehood and absurdity! And +now take notice! IF EVER I hear of one more word being uttered on this +subject in this house, or out of it, by any one of you, under any +circumstances whatever, by my blood, I will make you all wish that you +had never been born! Repeat this to your fellow-servants', and order +them from me to govern their tongues accordingly. Now go!' he thundered +at the poor old woman, who hastily picked herself up, and hurried out of +the room." + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + THE SPECTRE. + + + It was about to speak + And then it started like a guilty thing. + Upon a fearful summons.--SHAKESPEARE. + + +"Philip Dubarry remained walking up and down the door, foaming with +impotent rage, as well as trembling with a vague and awful terror. He +had a practical and scientific mind, and could understand everything +that might be governed by known laws. But he could not understand this +unwelcome visitant, that had appeared to every one else in the house but +himself. He was an arbitrary and despotic man who enforced his will upon +all connected with him, and ruled all flesh with a rod of iron. But he +could not rule the spirit, and he knew it. He could not lay this ghost +of his guilt. + +"There was one grain of truth in the ton of falsehood that he had told +to his unconscious wife, to account for the apparition seen by her. +There really was a Milly Jones, the daughter of a poor family on the +mountains, and she really did come occasionally to the house to ask for +broken victuals and old clothes; but instead of being a beautiful +black-eyed and black-haired little gipsy, in the picturesque red cloak, +she was a pale-faced, light-haired, poor-spirited looking creature, in a +faded calico frock, and an old plaid shawl; and instead of being the +family pet, with the run of the house, she was the family nuisance, +strictly prohibited from passing the bounds of the servants' hall. + +"So when that day, being a rainy day, and therefore highly favorable for +attention to domestic matters, Mistress Alicia Dubarry called the +house-steward to her presence, and ordered him to send a small pension +of two dollars a week to the Jones family, with an intimation that Miss +Milly need not come to collect it, the order was promptly executed, to +the satisfaction of all the domestics; and poor Milly, glad to be +relieved from her fatiguing journey and degrading mendicity, was seen no +more at Shut-up Dubarry. + +"But Mrs. Dubarry did not therefore get rid of her visitor. Not more +than three days had elapsed since the issuing of her order, when, one +evening between the lights, she entered her own bedroom, and saw the +girl in the red cloak sitting quietly in the easy-chair beside the fire. + +"'How dare you come here, after the message I sent you? Get up and +begone, and let me never catch you here again,' angrily demanded the +lady. + +"The apparition melted into air; but as it disappeared, the words came, +like a sigh borne upon the breeze: + +"'_I wait._' + +"The lady was about to dress for an evening party, and so she paid no +attention to any chance sound. + +"But the next morning she met the girl in the hall, and the next evening +in the parlor; again she passed the figure on the stairs, or encountered +it in the drawing-room. The lady lost patience, and sent for the +house-steward in her presence. + +"'Did I not command that that girl should not come here again?' she +sternly demanded. + +"'Yes, my lady,' respectfully answered the man. + +"'Then how is it that she comes here as much as ever?' + +"'My dear lady, she have never entered the house since your ladyship +gave the order that she was not so to do.' + +"'But she has. I have seen her here at least a half a dozen times.' + +"'Dear lady, I dare not contradict you; but poor Milly Jones has been +down with the pleurisy for these two weeks past, and could not have got +out of her bed, even if your ladyship had ordered her to come.' + +"'Isaac, is this true?' + +"'True as truth, your ladyship, which you can find it out for yourself +by riding up to the hut and seeing the poor girl, which it would be a +charity so to do.' + +"'And you say she has not been here for a fortnight?' + +"'No, madam.' + +"'Then, in the name of Heaven, _who_ is it that I meet so often?' slowly +and sternly demanded Mrs. Dubarry. + +"Old Isaac solemnly shook his gray head, and answered never a word. + +"'What do you mean by that? Speak! I will have an answer. Who is this +silent girl in the red cloak, I ask?' repeated the lady. + +"'Madam, I don't know. And that is what I meant when I shook my head,' +replied the old man, trembling. + +"'You don't know! do you dare to mock me?' + +"'Far from it, my lady; but goodness knows I don't know.' + +"'But you have seen her?' + +"'Dear, my lady, I don't know who she is, nor dare I speak of her; the +master has forbidden us so to do. Dear madam, ask the master; but oh, +for pity sake, do not ask me further,' pleaded the old man, very humbly. + +"The lady turned white with jealousy. There was but one interpretation +she could put upon this mystery. + +"'Go and say to your master that I would feel much obliged if he would +come to me here,' she said, grimly seating herself. + +"The trembling old man went to the kennels, where Mr. Dubarry was busy +doctoring a favorite setter, and delivered his message. Dubarry was +still enough in love with his three months wife to come quickly at her +call. + +"'Philip!' exclaimed the lady, as soon as she saw him enter the room, +'once for all, I wish to know who is this girl in the red cloak; and why +I am daily insulted with her presence in this house?' + +"Dubarry went pale, as usual at the mention of the apparition; but he +faltered out with what composure he could command: + +"'I--I told you who she is--Milly Jones.' + +"'No; begging your pardon, she is _not_ Milly Jones. Milly Jones has +been ill with pleurisy, at home on the mountain, for the last two weeks; +and I have sent her a pension of two dollars a week. No; this is no +Milly Jones, and I insist on knowing who she is!' + +"'Then, if she is not Milly Jones, she is a creature of your own +imagination, for no other living girl comes to the house,' answered +Dubarry doggedly. + +"'You will not tell me who she is? Very well. When next I see her, _she_ +shall tell me, silent as she is,' said the lady grimly setting her +teeth. + +"Dubarry arose with a sigh, and went back to his ailing setter; but his +thoughts brooded over the subject of the apparition. + +"The lady kept her word at a fearful cost. For the remainder of the day, +her conduct towards her husband was so cold and repelling as to wound +and offend him. So it happened that when the hour for retiring came that +night, she went up to her chamber alone. She had but time to reach the +room, when all the household was startled by a piercing shriek and a +heavy fall. + +"Mr. Dubarry, soon followed by all the servants, rushed up stairs to +Mrs. Dubarry's bedroom. They found the lady extended on the floor, in a +deep swoon. She was raised and laid upon the bed, and proper means taken +to revive her. When at length she opened her eyes, and recognized her +husband, she signed for every one else to leave the room; and when they +had done so, she turned and took his hand and kissed it, and fixed her +wild and frightened eyes upon him and whispered in an awe-struck tone: + +"'Phil, dear, I wronged you. I took that creature in the red cloak to be +a sweetheart of yours, Phil, but it was not; it was--_a spectre_!' + +"There was silence between them for a minute, during which she never +took her scared eyes from his pale face. He was the first to speak. +Summoning up as much resolution as he could muster, he affected a light +laugh, and answered: + +"'Spectre! My sweet wife, there is no such thing.' + +"'Ah, but--but--if you could have seen what I saw, _felt what I felt_!' + +"'Nonsense, dear one. You were the subject of an optical illusion.' + +"'No, I was not. Hush! Let me tell you what happened. I came up into +this room. It was warm and ruddy with the fire light and the lamp light; +and in the glow I saw the girl standing between the hearth and the bed. +I spoke to her, asking her how she dared intrude into my most sacred +privacy; and then she silently glided from the spot. But I told her she +should not leave the room until she had given some account of herself. +And I put forth my hand to stop her, but the moment I did so I received +a shock as from some powerful galvanic battery! a tremendous shock that +threw me down upon my face. I knew no more until I came to my senses and +found myself here, with you watching over me. Now, Philip, tell me that +was an optical illusion, if you dare,' said the lady, solemnly. + +"'Yes, love, I dare. I tell you that what you saw _was_ an optical +illusion.' + +"'--But what I felt?' + +"'--Was a slight--a very slight attack of catalepsy. Both the vision and +the fit, dear, took their rise in some abnormal state of the nervous +system,' said Philip Dubarry; and feeling almost pleased with his own +explanation of the mystery, he tried to persuade himself that it was the +true one." + +"But his wife turned her face to the wall, saying, however. + +"'Well, at any rate, I am glad that the girl in the red cloak is not +flesh and blood, Phil. I would rather she should be an 'optical +illusion' or a fit of 'catalepsy,' or even a 'spectre,' than a +sweetheart of yours, as I first took, her to be. + +"'Be not afraid. You have no living rival, Alicia,' answered her husband. + +"And the reconciliation between the husband and the wife was complete +from that time forth. + +"But somehow the condition of the lady was worse than before. + +"_She was haunted_. + +"She knew herself to be haunted; but whether by a spectral illusion or a +real spectre, she could not know. In the glow of the fire light, in the +shadow of the bed-curtains in the illuminated drawing-room, on the dark +staircase, wherever and whenever she found herself alone, the vision of +the girl in the red cloak crossed her path. She did not speak to it, or +try to stop it again. She did not wish to risk another such an electric +shock as should 'cast her shuddering on her face.' But her health wasted +under the trial. Her nerves failed. She grew fearful of being left alone +for an instant; nothing would induce her to go into any room in the +house without an attendant. She contracted a habit of looking fearfully +over her shoulder, and sometimes suddenly screaming. + +"Nor was the mistress of the house the only sufferer from this 'abnormal +state of the nervous system,' as the master of the house preferred to +call the mystery. The servants grew so much afraid to move about the +building alone, that their usefulness was much impaired. And at length +one after another ran away, and took to the woods and mountain caves, +preferring to starve or beg rather than live in luxury in the haunted +house. New servants were procured to supply the places of the old ones, +until the latter could be brought back; but none of them stayed long; +nothing could induce them to remain in the 'haunted house.' The story of +the gipsy girl's ghost got around in the neighborhood. Not all the +despotic power of Mr. Dubarry could prevent this. The house came to be +pointed out and avoided by the ignorant and superstitious, as a haunted +and accursed spot. Even the more intelligent and enlightened portion of +the community gradually forsook it; for it was not very agreeable to +visit a family where the mistress was so full of 'flaws and starts' +that, even at the head of her own table, she would often startle the +whole company by suddenly looking over her right shoulder and uttering a +piercing scream. + +"And so the house was abandoned by high and low, rich and poor alike. +And the worthy gossips of the neighborhood wisely nodded over their +tea-cups, and declared that the deserted condition of the house was but +a just retribution for the sins of its master. + +"And in the meantime the health of the mistress grew worse and worse. +The most serious fears were entertained for her life and reason, death +or insanity seeming to be the most probable issue of her malady. Medical +advice was called in. The doctor, either in complaisance or sincerity, +agreed with Mr. Dubarry's theory of the patient's condition, ascribing +her illness to an 'abnormal state of the nervous system,' and he advised +change of air and scene, and he held forth good hopes that within a very +few months, when the young wife should become a mother, her health might +be perfectly reestablished. + +"Under these circumstances, early in the new year, Mr. Dubarry took his +wife to Williamsburg, to spend the winter among the gayeties of the +colonial Governor's court. + +"The haunted house was shut up, and left to itself. Not a man or woman +could be found to live in it, for love or money. + +"In the glories of the colonial capital, Mrs. Dubarry completely +recovered from her nervous malady. She was visited by no more 'optical +illusions' or 'cataleptic' fits. She even grew to regard her former +visitations in the same way in which her husband pretended to view +them--as mere nervous phenomena. And as the fashionable season at +Williamsburg closed, and as the spring opened, Mrs. Dubarry expressed an +ardent desire to return to 'Shut-up Dubarry' for her confinement. 'The +heir of the manor should be born on the manor,' she said. + +"Mr. Dubarry had great doubts about the safety of this measure, and +attempted to dissuade his wife from it; but she was firm in her purpose, +and so she carried it. + +"It was early in the royal month of June that the young wife was taken +back to her country home. Shut-up Dubarry looked as little like a +'haunted house' as any house could look: waving woods, sparkling waters, +blossoming trees, blooming flowers, singing birds--all the richness, +beauty and splendor of summer turned it into a paradise. Besides, Mrs. +Dubarry brought down half a dozen young cousins of both sexes with her, +and they filled the house with youthful life. Under these circumstances, +the old servants were tempted back. And all went on very well until one +day one of the young girls suddenly spoke out at the full +breakfast-table, and asked: + +"'Alicia, who is that strange, silent girl, in the red cloak, that is +always following you about?' + +"Mrs. Dubarry grew deadly pale, sat down the cup that she had held in +her hand, but she did not attempt to speak. + +"'Have I said anything wrong? I did not mean to do so. I am sure I beg +pardon, if I have,' faltered the young cousin, looking from the pale +face of Mrs. Dubarry to the troubled countenance of Mr. Dubarry. + +"'I am very sorry if I have said anything wrong,' repeated the little +cousin, in dismay. + +"'No, no, you have said nothing amiss; but it is a very painful subject; +let us drop it,' replied Mr. Dubarry rather inconsistently. And every +one around the table silently wondered what the matter could be. + +"When breakfast was over, and the husband and wife found themselves +alone together, Mrs. Dubarry seized his arm, and whispered: + +"'Oh, Philip! the spectre has not gone!' + +"'My dearest Alicia! you have not fancied that you have seen it +lately?' + +"'No, no; but _she_ has seen it! Kitty has seen it _always following +me_! She took it for a real girl, as I did at first!' + +"What could Philip Dubarry say to all this? Only one thing: + +"'My darling, I cannot have your nerves shaken in this manner. You had +no such visitations as these while we stayed at Williamsburg. And so to +Williamsburg we will return immediately. Tell your maid to pack up this +afternoon, and we will set out to-morrow. No objections, Alicia! for I +tell you we must go.' + +"She saw that his resolution was fixed, and she made no opposition to +it. She rang for her maid, and gave the necessary directions. And then, +feeling very unwell, she sent down an excuse to her company, and retired +to bed. + +"At twelve o'clock that night, while the young people were enjoying +themselves in some round game in the drawing-room, and Mr. Dubarry was +doing all that he could to promote their entertainment, the whole party +was startled by a terrific cry coming from Mrs. Dubarry's chamber. All +paused for a breathless instant, and then rushed tumultuously up the +stairs. At the door of the bed-chamber, Mr. Dubarry turned around and +waved them all back. Then he entered the chamber alone. All seemed quiet +there then. The moonlight came flickering through the vine leaves on the +outside of the open window, and fell fitfully upon the face and form of +Alicia Dubarry, who was sitting up in bed, staring straight before her. + +"Mr. Dubarry locked the door before he approached the bed. + +"'Alicia,' he said, 'my dear Alicia, what is the matter?' + +"'It is doom! It is doom!' she answered in an awful voice, without +removing her eyes from some object between the foot of the bed and the +moonlit window. + +"'Compose yourself, dear wife, and tell me what has happened.' + +"'Look! Look! for yourself!' she cried, her finger extended, and +following the direction of her eyes. + +"'My sweet Alicia, there is nothing there but the tremulous shadow of +the vine leaves cast by the moonlight,' said Mr. Dubarry, persuasively, +as he went and drew the curtain before the window, and then struck a +match and lighted a lamp. + +"But her eyes were never removed from the spot where she had gazed. + +"'It is there yet!' she cried. + +"'What is there, good Alicia? there is nothing there, indeed!' + +"'Yes, the dead woman and dead child! Do you not see them?' + +"'See! no! you are in one of your nervous attacks; but to-morrow we will +leave this place, and you will have no more of them.' + +"'Hush! No! I shall never leave this place again.' + +"'You shall start by sunrise to-morrow.' + +"'Hush! listen! I will tell you what happened. I was sleeping well, very +well, when suddenly I was awakened with a tremendous shock. I started up +in bed and saw _her_--the terrible girl! She was standing at the foot of +the bed looking at me, and pointing to something that lay upon the +floor. I looked and saw--there it is yet!--the dead woman, with the dead +babe on her bosom! I shrieked aloud, for I knew the woman was myself, +and the babe was my own! And as I shrieked, she vanished, as she always +does; but the dead woman and child remained! And there they are yet! Oh! +cover them over, Philip! cover them over! Cover them from my sight, for +I have no power to withdraw my eyes from them,' she exclaimed in wild +excitement. + +"Almost beside himself with distress, Philip Dubarry seized a large +table cover and threw it down over the spot upon which her eyes were +fixed. + +"'Ah! it is of no use! it is of no use! I see them still! they rise +above the covering! they lie upon it!' she cried, in terrific emotion, +shaking as if with an ague fit. + +"'Lie down,' said Philip Dubarry, compelling himself to be calm, for the +sake of trying to calm her. And he took her and laid her back upon the +pillow. But still she raved, like one in high fever and delirium. + +"'I have received my sentence! I am doomed! I am doomed! I have seen my +own corpse, and the corpse of my child!' she cried. And then a violent +convulsion seized her. + +"Nearly maddened by terror and despair, Philip Dubarry rushed from the +room and loudly called for assistance. The chamber was soon filled with +the members of the household, not one of whom knew what to do, until the +entrance of the old housekeeper, who sent everybody out, and requested +Mr. Dubarry to dispatch a carriage for the family physician. + +"Before morning the doctor arrived. But the convulsions and the delirium +of the lady increased in violence until just at the dawn of day, when +she gave birth to an infant boy, who breathed and died. + +"Then, just before her own death, she recovered her senses and grew very +calm. She asked to see her child. When the nurse brought it, she kissed +its cold face, and bade her lay it by her side. Then the lady called her +husband, and whispered so faintly that he had to lean his ear to her +lips to hear her words. She said: + +"'The vision is realized in the dead mother and the dead babe! But, +Philip! _for whose sin do we die?_' + +"Before he could make a reply, if any reply had been possible, she was +gone. + +"The mother and babe were buried together. The company at Shut-up +Dubarry broke up in the greatest consternation. The story of the vision, +real or imaginary, that had caused the lady's death, got out. All the +neighborhood talked of it, and connected it with the fate of the hardly +used gipsy girl, whose spirit was said to haunt the house. + +"Mr. Dubarry became a prey to the most poignant grief and remorse. He +shut himself up in his desolate house, where he was abandoned by all his +neighbors, and by all his servants, with the exception of the old +housekeeper and house-steward, whose devotion to the family they had +served so long, retained them still in the service of its last and most +unhappy representative. + +"But awful stories crept out from that house of gloom. 'Twas said that +the master was always followed by the spectre of the gipsy girl--that he +could be heard in the dead of night walking up and down the hall outside +of his chamber door, raving in frenzy, or expostulating with some +unknown and unseen being, who was said to be the spectre that haunted +the house. + +"At length, unable to endure the misery of solitude and superstitious +terrors, Mr. Dubarry took an aged Catholic priest to share his home. +Under the influence of Father Ingleman, Philip Dubarry became a penitent +and a devotee. At that time this church was but a rude chapel, erected +over the old family vault. But now, by the advice of the old priest, Mr. +Dubarry rebuilt and enlarged the chapel, for the accommodation of all +the Catholics in the neighborhood. He also added a priest's house. And +Father Ingleman said mass every Sunday, while waiting for another priest +to be appointed to the charge. + +"This rebuilding and remodelling amused the miserable master of the +manor, during the latter part of the summer and the autumn following his +wife's death. But with the coming of the winter, returned all his gloom +and horror. And the good old priest, so far from being able to help his +patron, was himself so much affected in health and spirits by this +condition of the house, that he begged and obtained leave to retire to +the little dwelling beside the church. + +"The awful winter passed away. + +"But on one stormy night in March, the mansion house took fire. It was +said that the haunted master of the house, in a fit of desperation, +actually set it on fire, with the purpose of burning out the ghost. At +all events, it seems certain that he would permit nothing to be done to +stop the flames. + +"The house was burned to the ground. The houseless master took refuge +with Father Ingleman, in the priest's dwelling by the church. But there +also the spectre followed him, nor could all the exorcisms of Father +Ingleman with 'candle, bell, and book,' avail to lay the disturbed +spirit. + +"Philip Dubarry, half a maniac by this time, sent away the priest, +pulled down the priest's house, and took up his abode in the body of the +church itself, which was thenceforward deserted by all others. But here +also the spectre was supposed to have followed him. At length he +disappeared. No one knew whither he went. Some said that he had gathered +together his money and departed for a foreign country; others, that he +had drowned himself in the Black River, though his body never was found. +Some said that he had cast himself down headlong from some mountain +crest, and his bones were bleaching in some inaccessible ravine; while +others, again, did not hesitate to say that the devil had flown away +with him bodily. + +"The fate of the last of the Dubarrys is unknown. The estate, unclaimed, +is held in abeyance. The house, burned to the ground, has never been +restored. The church, thereafter known as the Haunted Chapel, has +crumbled into the ruin that you see. And such, dear Sybil, is the story +of the 'Fall of the Dubarrys.'" + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + FEARFUL WAITING. + + + Still the wood is dim and lonely, + Still the plashing fountains play, + But the past with all its beauty, + Whither has it fled away? + Hark! the mournful echoes say, + Fled away!--A.A. PROCTOR. + + +"And the apparition that we both saw was like that of the gipsy girl in +the ghostly legend," said Sybil, musingly. + +"Yes; in the matter of the red cloak--a very common garment, dear Sybil. +Such a resemblance reminds us of Paganini's portrait which the child +said was like him, 'about the fiddle,'" replied Lyon Berners, with an +effort towards pleasantry, which was very far indeed from his heart; for +he was oppressed with grief and dread. He was anxiously looking forward +to the arrival of Captain Pendleton; and fearing for the effect his +disclosures must have upon his beloved Sybil, who seemed still so +utterly unable to realize her position. She seemed almost satisfied now, +so that Lyon was near her, and she was the only object of his care. So +disengaged was her mind, at this hour, from all real appreciation of her +situation, that she had leisure to feel interested in the tale that Lyon +had told her. She again reverted to it. + +"But the likeness was not only in the red cloak, it was in the whole +gipsy style. I spoke of that, even before you had told me anything about +the gipsy girl," persisted Sybil. + +Before Lyon could answer her, steps were heard approaching. + +"There is Pendleton," exclaimed Mr. Berners, and he arose and hurried +forward to meet the visitor. + +"Hush! come out here a moment," he whispered, drawing Captain Pendleton +outside the chapel. "Sybil knows nothing of that verdict as yet. I wish +to keep it from her knowledge as long as possible--for ever, if +possible. So if you have any more bad news to tell, tell it now, and +here, to me," he added. + +"Berners," began the Captain--but then he paused in pity. + +"Go on," said Lyon. + +"My friend, the flight of your wife and yourself if not absolutely +ascertained, is strongly suspected. An officer watches your closed +chamber door. Two others have been dispatched to Blackville, to watch +the ferry. By to-morrow morning the flight, so strongly suspected now, +will be fully discovered. This is all I have to say in private. And now, +perhaps we had better not linger any longer here, lest Mrs. Berners may +suspect something, if possible, even more alarming than the truth," said +Captain Pendleton. + +"You are quite right," admitted Lyon Berners, and they entered the +chapel together. + +Sybil sprang up to meet them. + +"What news, Captain? Is the murderer discovered? May we return home?" +she eagerly inquired. + +"No, madam; the murderer has not yet been discovered, nor do I think it +would be prudent in you yet to return home," replied the Captain, +feeling relieved that her questions had taken forms that enabled him to +reply truly to them without divulging the alarming intelligence of the +verdict of the coroner's jury. + +He unstrapped a portmanteau from his shoulders and threw it down near +the fire, and seated himself upon it. Then turning to Mr. Berners, he +said: + +"I have made arrangements with your faithful Joe to bring certain +necessaries to this place to-night. They cannot, you know, be brought to +this spot by the same direct route that we took in coming here. But as +soon as the moon goes down, which will be about one o'clock, Joe will +launch a boat just below Black Hall and come across the river with all +that is most needed. There he will find a cart and horse waiting for +him. He will load the cart and drive it up here to the entrance of the +thicket." + +"But that cart, Pendleton?" + +"Yes! you will wonder how I got it there without exciting suspicion. It +was done in this way. I ordered Joe to bring it boldly up in front of +the house, and to put in it the boxes containing my own and my sister's +masquerade dresses, and to take them over to our place. Joe understood +and obeyed me, and drove the cart to Blackville, and crossed the river +at the ferry, under the very eyes of the constable stationed there to +watch. He brought the cart down this bank, and left it concealed in a +clearing of the wood. He will watch his opportunity, as soon as it is +dark enough to swim across the river, and launch the boat and fill it +with the necessaries that he will secretly obtain from Black Hall. It is +a business that will require considerable tact and discretion; or at +least, great secretiveness and cautiousness," added Captain Pendleton. + +"And these, Joe, like all his race, possesses in excess," observed Lyon +Berners. + +"Are the guests all gone away from the house?" inquired Sybil. + +"Nearly all. My sister remains there for the present to watch your +interests, Mrs. Berners. The old Judge also, to superintend legal +processes; but even he will go away in the morning, I think." + +While they spoke, a loud sneeze and then a cough was heard outside, and +then Joe walked in, with a doubled up mattress on his head. + +"This here is moving under difficulties, Master," he panted, as he laid +the mattress down on the stone floor. + +"How ever did you get that along the narrow path through the thicket, +Joe?" inquired Sybil. + +"You may well ax that, Missis. I had to lay it down endways, and drag +it. Howsever, I has got all the things through the worst part of the way +now, and they's all out in the church-yard," answered Joe, recovering +his breath, and starting for the remaining goods. + +He soon returned, bringing in a small assortment of bedding, clothing, +and so forth. And in another trip he brought in a small supply of food +and a few cooking utensils. + +"That's all. And now, Miss Sybil, if you would only let me live here +along o' you and Marse Lyon, and wait on to you bofe, I could make +myself very much satisfied into my own mind," he said, as he laid down +the last articles, and stood to rest himself. + +"But you know, Joe, that you can serve us better by remaining at Black +Hall," said Sybil, kindly. + +"Now, Marser Capping Pendulum, I hope them there fineries in the boxes, +as you told me to bring away, for a blind from our place, won't take no +harm along of being left out in the woods all night, for it was there +underneaf of a pile of leaves and bushes as I was obligated for to leave +them." + +"They'll not take cold, at all events, Joe," said Captain Pendleton, +good-naturedly. + +By this time, the fire on the stone floor had become so low that it was +quite dark in the chapel. But among the little necessities of life +brought by Joe, was a small silver candlestick and a few slim wax +candles. One of these was lighted, and gleamed faintly around, striking +strangely upon the faces of the group gathered near the smouldering +fire. + +The friends sat and talked together, and arranged as far as they could +their plans for future movements. It was not until near day that Captain +Pendleton arose to depart, saying: + +"Well, Berners, I do dislike to leave you and Mrs. Berners here alone +again, especially as I fear that you will not go to sleep, as you ought +to do. I see that Mrs. Berners' eyes are still wide open--" + +"I slept so long in the afternoon," put in Sybil. + +"But, at all events, I am forced to leave you before light. It is not +quite safe now to be seen in open daylight, travelling this road so +often. To-night I will come again, and bring you further news, and +perhaps more comfort. Come, Joe." + +Joe, who had fallen asleep over the fire, now slowly woke up and lifted +himself from the floor. + +The Captain shook hands with his friends, and followed by Joe, left the +Chapel. + +Sybil then went and spread out the mattress, and put the pillows and +covering upon it, and persuaded Lyon to lie down and try to sleep, as he +had not slept for two nights past. She said that she herself could not +sleep, but that she would sit close by him, so as to be ready to arouse +him, on the slightest indication of danger. + +Very reluctantly he yielded to her pleadings, and stretched himself upon +the mattress. She went and gathered the smouldering coals and brands +together, so that the fire might not go entirely out, and then she +returned and sat down beside her husband. + +He took her hand in his, and clasping it protectingly, he closed his +eyes and fell asleep. + +She sat watching the little fire, and brooding almost to insanity over +the strange revolution that a few hours had made in her life, driving +her so suddenly from her own hereditary manor-house, her home of wealth +and honor and safety, out into the perilous wilderness, a fugitive from +the law. + +Yet not once did Sybil's imagination take in the extreme horror of her +position. She thought that she had been brought away by her husband to +be saved from the affront of an arrest, and the humiliation of a few +days imprisonment. That anything worse than this could happen to her, +she never even dreamed. But even this to the pure, proud Sybil would +have been almost insupportable mortification and misery. To escape all +this she was almost willing to incur the charge of having fled from +justice, and to endure the hardships of a fugitive's life. + +And oh! through all there was one consolation so great, that it was +enough to compensate for all the wretchedness of her position. She was +assured of her husband's love, beyond all possibility of future doubt. +He was by her side, never to leave her more! + +This was enough! She closed her hand around the beloved hand that held +hers, and felt a strange peace and joy, even in the midst of her exile +and danger. + +Perhaps in this stillness she slumbered a while, for when she lifted her +head, the chapel, that had been dark before, but for the gleaming of the +little fire, was now dimly filled with the gray light of dawn. + +She saw the shapes of the pointed windows against the background of +heavy shadows and pale lights, and she knew that day was coming. She did +not stir from the spot, lest she should wake her husband, whose hand +held hers. All was still in the chapel, so still that even the faint +sweet sounds of wakening nature could be heard--the stirring of the +partridge in her cover, the creeping of the squirrel from her hole, the +murmur of the little brook, the rustle of the leaves, and, farther off, +the deep thunder of the cascade, and the detonating echoes of the +mountains. + +Sybil sat motionless, and almost breathless, lest she should disturb her +beloved sleeper. But the next moment she could scarcely forbear +screaming aloud; for there passed along the wall before her a figure +that, even in the dim light, she recognized as the strange visitant of +the preceding day. It came from the direction of the altar, and glided +past each of the four windows and vanished through the door. When Sybil +had repressed her first impulse to scream, self-control was easy, so she +sat quietly holding her husband's hand, though much amazed by what she +had again seen. + +Day broadened, and soon the rays of the rising sun, striking through the +east windows, and lighting on the face of the sleeper, awoke him. + +He looked into the face of his wife, and then along the walls of the +chapel, with a bewildered expression of countenance. This had been his +first sleep for two nights, and it had been so deep that he had utterly +forgotten the terrible drama of the two last preceding days, and could +not at once remember what had happened, or where he was. But as he again +turned and looked into Sybil's face, full memory of all flashed back +upon him. But he did not allude to the past; he merely said to Sybil: + +"You have not slept, love." + +"I have not wished to do so," she answered. + +"This is a very primitive sort of life we are living, love," he said, +with a smile, as he arose from the mattress. + +"But it is not at all an unhappy one," answered Sybil; "for, oh, since +you are with me, I do not care much about anything else. Destiny may do +what she pleases, so that she does not part us. I can bear exile, +hunger, cold, fatigue, pain--anything but parting, Lyon!" + +"Do not fear that, love; we will never part for a single day, if I can +help it." + +"Then let anything else come. I can bear it cheerfully," smiled Sybil. +While they talked they were working also. Sybil was folding up the +bedclothes, and Lyon was looking about for a bucket, to fetch water from +the fountain. He soon found one, and went upon his errand. + +Sybil followed him with two towels. They washed their hands and faces +in the stream, and dried them on the towels. And then they went higher +up the glen, and caught a bucketful of delightful water from the crystal +spring that issued from the rocks. + +They returned to the chapel, and together they made the fire and +prepared the breakfast. + +It was not until they were seated at their primitively arranged +breakfast, which was laid upon the flagstones of the chapel floor--it +was not, in fact, until they had nearly finished their simple meal, that +Sybil told Lyon of the apparition she had seen in the early dawn, to +come up as if from the floor to the right of the altar, and glide along +the east wall of the chapel, past the four gothic windows, and disappear +through the door. + +"It was a morning dream, dear Sybil; nothing more," said Lyon, +sententiously; for in the broad daylight he believed in nothing +supernatural, even upon the evidence of his own senses. + +"If that were a morning dream, then the sight that we saw together +yesterday was but a dream, and you are but a dream, and life itself is +but a dream," replied Sybil, earnestly. + +"Well, at all events, what we have both, either separately or together, +seen and experienced, must be something perfectly natural and +commonplace, although we may not either of us be able to understand or +explain it. My private opinion and worse misgiving is, that there is +some woman concealed about the place. If ever I find myself in arm's +length of that little gipsy, I shall intercept her, even at the risk of +receiving such a spiritual-shock as that which struck Mrs. Alicia +Dubarry to the ground," said Lyon, facetiously; for he might well make a +jest of this lighter affair of the chapel mystery to veil the deep +anxiety he felt in the heavy matter of their affliction. + +The husband and wife passed this second day of hiding tediously enough. +She made the little housekeeping corner of the chapel tidy, by folding +up and putting aside all their bedclothes and garments, and by washing +and arranging their few cooking utensils. He brought in wood and brush, +which he broke up and piled in another corner, to have it near at hand +to replenish the fire. Also, he brought water from the spring; and then +with no other instrument than his pocket-knife, he made a trap and set +it to catch rabbits. + +Then they rambled together through the wilderness around the chapel, and +the better they grew acquainted with the wild neighborhood, the surer +they felt of their safety in its profound solitude. + +Their only anxiety connected with their security in this place, was upon +the subject of the mysterious visitant. It was incomprehensible by any +known law of nature. + +They talked of this mystery. They reverted to all the so-called +"authenticated ghost stories" that they had ever read or heard, and that +they had hitherto set down to be either impostures or delusions. + +But now here was a fact in their own experience that utterly confounded +their judgment, and the end of their discussion on the subject left them +just where they had been at its commencement. They resolved, however, to +divulge the whole matter to Captain Pendleton, to whom they had not yet +even hinted it, and to ask his counsel; and they looked forward with +impatience to the evening visit of this devoted friend. + +As it was growing cold towards the setting of the sun they turned their +steps again towards the chapel. It was quite dark when they reached it. +Their fire had nearly gone out, but he replenished it, and she began to +prepare the evening meal. + +While she was still engaged in this work, the sound of approaching +footsteps warned them that Captain Pendleton was near. Lyon Berners went +out to meet him. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + A GHASTLY PROCESSION. + + + If charnel-houses and our graves must send + Those that we bury back, our monuments + Shall be the maws of kites.--SHAKESPEARE. + + +"Well?" exclaimed Mr. Berners, eagerly. + +"Well, the flight is now discovered beyond all doubt. Search-warrants +have been issued. My house is to be searched among the rest," replied +Captain Pendleton. + +"What else?" + +"Arrangements are being made for the funeral of the dead woman. They +will bury her the day after to-morrow in the church-yard at Blackville." + +"And what else?" + +"Nothing, but that I would not permit Joe to accompany me to-night. More +precaution is now necessary to insure your safety." + +"And that is all?" + +"Yes." + +"Then come in and see Sybil." + +They went in together, where Mrs. Berners greeted Captain Pendleton with +her usual courtesy, and then immediately repeated her anxious questions. + +"Has the murderer been discovered? May we go home?" + +"Not yet, dear Madam!" answered Pendleton to both questions, as he sat +down by the fire. + +"I have something to tell you, Pendleton, and to ask your advice about," +began Lyon Berners. And he related the mysterious vision that had thrice +crossed their path. + +"Oh! it is a form of flesh and blood! We don't believe in apparitions at +this age of the world! But this indeed must be looked to! If you have +seen her here three times, of course she has seen you," said Captain +Pendleton in much anxiety. + +"Most certainly she knows of our presence here, if she knows nothing +else about us," replied Mr. Berners. + +"Then it is useless to attempt to conceal yourselves from her. She must +be laid hold of, talked with, and won or bribed to keep our secret--to +help us if possible. We must find out whether she will serve our +purpose. If she will, it will be all quite right, and you may remain +here until it is safe to depart; but if she will not, it will be all +entirely wrong, and you must leave this place at all hazards," concluded +Captain Pendleton. + +"Yes, it is very well for you to talk of intercepting her, but you had +just as well try to intercept a shadow as it glides past you," put in +Sybil, with a wise nod. + +"The attempt shall be made, at all events," determined Mr. Berners. + +Sybil was in the act of putting the supper--not on the table, for table +there was none in the chapel--but on the cloth spread upon the +flagstones, when Captain Pendleton, to give a lighter turn to their +talk, said: + +"You may put a plate for me also, Mrs. Berners! I have not yet supped, +and I'm glad I have got here in time to join you." + +"I am glad too! We are getting quite comfortably to housekeeping here, +Captain. And Lyon has set his traps, and we shall soon have game to +offer you when you come to visit us," replied Sybil quickly, responding +to his gayety. + +"If I had only a gun, and could venture to use it, it would be a great +relief, and we should be very well supplied," smiled Lyon. + +"Yes! if you had a gun, and should venture to use it, you would soon +bring a _posse comitatus_ down upon you; We will have no reverberations +of that sort, if you please, Lyon," recommended the Captain. + +And then they all sat down around the table-cloth, and Sybil poured out +and served the coffee. + +Now, whether they were very thirsty, or whether the coffee was unusually +good, or whether both these causes combined to tempt them to excess, is +not known; but it is certain that the two gentlemen were intemperate in +their abuse of this fragrant beverage; which proves that people can be +intemperate in other drinks, as well as in alcoholic liquors. This +coffee also got into their heads. Their spirits rose; they grew gay, +talkative, inspired, brilliant. Even Sybil, who took but one cup of +coffee, caught the infection, and laughed and talked and enjoyed herself +as if she were at a picnic, instead of being in hiding for her life or +liberty. + +In a word, some strange exhilaration, some wonderful intoxication +pervaded the little party; but the most marvellous symptom of their case +was, that they talked no nonsense--that while, under their adverse and +perilous circumstances, such gayety was unnatural and irrational, yet +their minds were clear and their utterances brilliant. And this abnormal +exaltation of intellect and elevation of spirit continued for several +hours, long into the night. + +Then the great reaction came. First Sybil grew very quiet, though not in +the least degree sad; then Lyon Berners evinced a disposition rather to +listen than to talk; and finally Captain Pendleton arose, and saying +that this had been one of the strangest and pleasantest evenings he had +ever passed in his, life, took leave of his friends and departed. + +Sybil was very sleepy, and as soon as their guest was gone she asked +Lyon to help her with the mattress: that she was so drowsy she could +scarcely move. He begged her to sit still, for that he himself would do +all that was necessary. And with much good-will, but also much +awkwardness, he spread the couch, and then went to tell Sybil it was +ready. But he found her with her head upon her knees, apparently fast +asleep. He lifted her gently in his arms, and carried her and laid her +on the mattress. And then, feeling overcome with drowsiness, he threw +himself down beside her, and fell into a profound sleep. + +But Sybil, as she afterwards told, did not sleep so deeply. It seemed, +indeed, less sleep than stupor that overcame her. She was conscious when +her husband raised her up in his arms and laid her on the bed; but she +was too utterly oppressed with stupor and weariness to lift her eyes to +look, or open her lips to speak, or, even after he had laid her down, to +move a limb from the position into which it fell. + +So she lay like one dead, except in being clearly conscious of all that +was going on around her. She knew when Lyon laid down, and when he went +to sleep. And still she lay in that heavy state, which was at once a +profound repose and a clear consciousness, for perhaps an hour longer, +when suddenly the stillness of the scene was stirred by a sound so +slight that it could only have been heard by one whose senses were, like +hers at that time, preternaturally acute. The sound was of the slow, +cautious turning of a door upon its hinges! + +Without moving hand or foot, she just languidly lifted her eyelids, and +looked around upon the dim darkness. + +There was a faint glow from the smouldering fire on the flagstone floor, +and there was a faint light from the starlit night coming through the +windows. By the aid of these she saw, as in a dream, the door of the +vault wide open! + +In her profound state of conscious repose there was no fear of danger, +and no wish to move. So, still as in a dream, she witnessed what +followed. + +First a dark, shrouded figure issued from the vault, and turned around +and bent down towards it, as if speaking to some one within. But no word +was heard. Then the figure backed a pace, drawing up from the steps of +the vault what seemed to be a long narrow box. As this box came up, it +was followed by another dark, shrouded figure, who supported its other +end. And as the two mysterious apparitions now stood beside the altar, +Sybil saw that the box that they held between them was a coffin! + +Nor was that all. While they moved a little down the side wall, they +were followed by two other strange figures, issuing from the vault in +the same order, and bearing between them, in the same manner, a second +coffin; and as they, in their turn, filed down the side wall, they also +were followed by still two others coming up out of the vault, and +bringing with them a third coffin! + +And then a ghastly procession formed against the side wall. Three long +shadowy coffins borne by six dark shrouded figures, filed past the +gothic windows, and disappeared through the open chapel door. + +Sybil clearly saw all this, as in a nightmare from which she could not +escape; she still lay motionless, speechless, and helpless, until she +quite lost consciousness in a profound and dreamless sleep. So deep and +heavy was this sleep, that she had no sense of existence for many hours. +When at length she did awake, it seemed almost to a new life, so +utterly, for a time, was all that had recently past forgotten. But as +she arose and looked around, and collected her faculties, and remembered +her position, she was astonished to see by the shining of the sun into +the western windows, that it was late in the afternoon, and that they +had slept nearly all day, for her husband was still sleeping heavily. + +Then she remembered the horrible vision of the night, and she looked +anxiously towards the door of the vault. It seemed fast as ever. She got +up and went to look at it. It _was_ fast, the bars firmly bedded in the +solid masonry, as they had been before. + +What then had been the vision? She shuddered to think of it. Her first +impulse was now to arouse her husband and tell him what had happened. +But her tenderness for him pleaded with her to forbear. + +"He sleeps well, poor Lyon! let him sleep," she said, and she threw a +shawl around her shoulders, and went out of the chapel to get a breath +of the fresh morning air. + +She had to pass among the gray old gravestones lying deep in the +bright-colored dew-spangled brushwood. As she picked her way past them, +she suddenly stopped and screamed. + +Captain Pendleton was lying prostrate, like a dead man at the foot of an +old tree! + +With a strong effort of the will, she controlled herself sufficiently to +enable her to approach and examine him. He was not dead, as she had at +first supposed; but he was in a very death-like sleep. + +She arose to her feet, and clasped her forehead with both hands while +she tried to think. What could these things mean? The unnatural +exhilaration of their little party on the previous evening; the powerful +reaction that prostrated them all in heavy stupor or dreamless sleep, +that had lasted some fifteen hours; the ghastly procession she had seen +issue from the open door of the old vault, and march slowly down the +east wall of the church, past all the gothic windows, and disappear +through the front door; the spell that had so deeply bound her own +faculties, that she had neither the power nor the will to call out; +their visitor overtaken by sleep while on his way to mount his horse, +and now lying prostrate among the gravestones? What could all these +things mean? + +She could not imagine. + +However much she might have wished to spare her husband's rest up to +this moment, she felt that she must arouse him now. She hurried back +into the church, and went up to the little couch and looked at Lyon. + +He was moving restlessly, and muttering sadly in his sleep. And now she +felt less reluctance to wake him from his troubled dream. She shook him +gently, and called him. + +He opened his eyes, gazed at her, arose up in a sitting posture, and +stared around for a moment, and then seeing his wife, exclaimed: + +"Oh! is it you, Sybil? What is this? the chapel seems to be turned +around." And he gazed again at the western windows, where the sun was +shining, and which he mistook for the eastern, supposing the time to be +morning. + +"The chapel has not turned around, Lyon; but the sun has. It is late in +the afternoon, and that is the declining and not the rising sun that you +see." + +"Good gracious, Sybil! Have I slept so late as this? Why did you let +me?" + +"Because I slept myself; we all slept; even to Captain Pendleton, who +must have been overpowered by sleep on his way to his horse; for I have +just found him lying among the gravestones." + +"What? Who? Pendleton asleep among the gravestones? Say that again. I +don't understand." + +Sybil briefly repeated her statement. + +Lyon started up, shook himself as if to arouse all his faculties, and +then went and douched his head and face with cold water, and finally, as +he dried them, he turned to Sybil and said: + +"What is all this that you tell me? Where is Pendleton? Come and show +me." + +Sybil led the way to the spot where their friend lay in his heavy sleep. + +"Good Heaven! He must have fallen down, or sunk down here, within three +minutes of leaving the church!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, gazing on the +sleeper. + +"Something must have happened to us all, dear Lyon. Do you remember how +unreasonably gay we all were at supper last evening? We, too, who had +every reason to be very grave and even sad? And do you remember the +reaction? When we all grew so drowsy that we could hardly keep our eyes +open? And then there was something else, which I will tell you of by and +by. And now we have all slept fifteen or sixteen hours. Something +strange has happened to us, Lyon," said Sybil, slowly. + +"Something has, indeed. But now we must arouse Pendleton. Good Heaven! +he may have caught his death by sleeping out all night," exclaimed Mr. +Berners, as he stooped down and shook the sleeper. + +But it was not without difficulty that Lyon succeeded in arousing +Captain Pendleton, who, when he was fairly upon his feet, reeled like a +drunken man. + +"Pendleton, Pendleton, wake up! What, man! what has happened to you?" +exclaimed Lyon, trying to steady the other upon his feet. + +"Too late for roll-call. Bad example to the rank and file," murmured the +Captain, with some remnant of a camp-dream lingering in his mind. + +Mr. Berners shook him roughly, while Sybil dipped up a double handful of +water from a little spring at their feet, and threw it up into his face. + +This fairly aroused him. + +"Whew-ew! Phiz! What's that for? What the demon's all this? What's the +matter?" he exclaimed, sneezing, coughing, and sputtering through the +water that Sybil had flung into his face. + +"What's all this?" exclaimed Lyon Berners, echoing his question. "It is +that we are all robbed and murdered, and carried into captivity, for all +I know," he added, smiling, as he could not fail to do, at the droll +figure cut by his friend. + +"How the deuce came I here?" demanded Pendleton, glaring around with his +mouth and eyes wide open. "Is this enchantment?" + +"Something very like it, Pendleton. But come, man, this is no laughing +matter. It is very serious. Therefore rouse yourself and collect your +faculties. You will need them all, I assure you," gravely replied Lyon +Berners. + +"But--how in thunder, came I here?" again demanded the Captain, +shivering and staring around him. + +"We can not tell. My wife found you here about half an hour ago. You are +supposed to have been overcome by drowsiness, while on your way to your +horse, and to have sunk down here and slept from that time to this--some +sixteen hours." + +"Good--! I remember taking leave of you both, after our lively supper of +last evening, and starting for the thicket, and giving way just here to +an irresistible feeling of drowsiness, and sinking down with the dreamy +idea that I would not go to sleep, but would soon arise and pursue my +journey. And I have lain here all night!" he exclaimed in astonishment. + +"Yes, and all day!" added Lyon, solemnly. + +"How is it that I was not awakened before?" demanded the Captain, with +an injured look. + +"Because we ourselves were in the same condition. It is not more than +fifteen minutes since my wife awakened me." + +"In the name of heaven, then, what has befallen us all?" demanded the +Captain in amazement. + +"That is what we must try to find out. You must help us. I have been +thinking rapidly while standing here, and the result is, that I judge we +have all been drugged with opium; but whether by accident or with +design, or if with design, by whom, or with what purpose, I cannot even +imagine; though I do vaguely connect the fact with the mysterious +visitant of the chapel," replied Mr. Berners. + +While he spoke they all turned their steps towards the chapel. And with +his concluding words, they entered it in company. + +The "housekeeping corner" of the chapel was in a state of confusion very +much at variance with the young housekeeper's fastidiously tidy habits. + +The supper dishes lay upon the table-cloth on the floor, where they had +been uncared for by the drugged and drowsy pair. And the little bed +remained unmade, as it had been left by them when they ran out to look +after Captain Pendleton. + +Sybil saw all this at a glance, and with a flush; and forgetting for a +moment everything else, she bade her husband and his guest stop where +they were until she had put her "house" in order. + +In this limited manner of domestic economy, it took Sybil but ten +minutes to make the bed and wash the dishes. And, meanwhile, Lyon +Berners made up the fire, and Clement Pendleton brought a pail of fresh +water from the fountain. + +Sybil began to prepare the breakfast, but none of the party felt like +eating it. + +"And that is another sign of opium! We have no appetite," observed Lyon +Berners, as they sat down around the table-cloth; and instead of +discussing the viands before them, they discussed the events of the +preceding day and night. + +Lyon Berners remembered that Sybil and himself had spent nearly the +whole of the preceding afternoon in rambling through the woods; and he +suggested as the only solution of the mystery that, during their absence +some one had entered the chapel, and put opium in their food and drink. + +"'Some one;' but whom?" inquired Captain Pendleton, incredulously. + +"Most probably the girl whom we have seen here," answered Mr. Berners. + +"But for what purpose do you think she drugged your drink?" + +"To throw us into a deep sleep for many hours, which would enable her to +come and go, to and from the chapel, undiscovered and unmolested." + +"But why should she wish to come back and forth to such a dreary, empty +old place as this?" + +"Ah! that I cannot tell; at that point conjecture is utterly baffled," +answered Lyon. + +"Yes; because conjecture has been pursuing a phantom--a phantom that +vanishes upon being nearly approached. I cannot accept your theory of +the mystery, Berners; and what is worse, I cannot substitute one of my +own," said Captain Pendleton, shaking his head. + +"And now I have something to reveal," said Sybil, solemnly. + +"Another morning dream?" inquired Lyon, while Pendleton looked up with +interest. + +"No; a reality--a ghastly, horrible reality," she answered. + +And while both looked at her with strange, deep interest and curiosity, +she related her sepulchral experiences of the night. When with pale +cheeks and shuddering frame she described the six dark, shrouded forms +that had come up out of the vault, bearing long shadowy coffins, which +they carried in a slow procession down along the east wall, past the +Gothic windows and out at the front door, her two listeners looked at +her, and then at each other, in amazement and incredulity. + +"It was an opium dream," said Mr. Berners, in a positive manner. + +"It would be useless, dear Lyon, for me to tell you that I was rather +wider awake then than I am now, yet I really was," said Sybil, with +equal assurance. + +"And yet you did not lift hand or voice to call my attention to what was +going on." + +"I did not wish to do it; my will seemed palsied. I could only gaze at +the awful procession and think how ghastly it was, and thinking so, I +sank into a dreamless sleep, and knew no more until I woke up this +afternoon." + +"Meanwhile let us go and look at the door of the vault. You say the +door was wide open?" inquired Captain Pendleton. + +"Of course it was wide open: that is, wide open last night when those +horrible forms came up out of the vault; but this morning it was fast +enough," answered Sybil. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Berners. + +"I know what that 'oh!' means, Lyon. But I hope before we leave this +chapel that you will find out that I can distinguish a dream from a +dreadful reality," observed his wife. + +Meanwhile they had reached the iron door of the vault. It was fast. +Pendleton took hold of the iron bars and tried to shake it; but the bars +were bedded in solid stone, and the door was immovable. Then he looked +through the grating down into the depths below, but he only saw the top +of the staircase, the bottom of which disappeared in the darkness. + +"My dear Mrs. Berners," he then said, turning to Sybil, "I do not like +to differ with a lady in a matter of her 'own experience'; but as we are +in search of the truth, and the truth happens to be of the most vital +importance to our safety, I feel constrained to assure you that this +door, from its very appearance, assures us that it can not have been +opened within half a century, and that consequently your 'own +experience' of the last night cannot have been a reality, but must have +been a dream." + +"I wish you could dream such a one, and then you would know something +about it," answered Sybil. + +"I think you will have to come to my theory about the opium," put in Mr. +Berners, "especially as I have pursued my 'phantom' one stage farther in +her flight, and am able to assign a possible motive for her secret +visits to the chapel." + +"Ah! do that, and we will think about agreeing with your views. Now then +the motive," exclaimed Pendleton. + +"A lover." + +"Oh!" + +"Yes, a lover. She comes here to meet him; and not liking eye-witnesses +to the courtship, she drugged us," said Mr. Berners, triumphantly. + +"That is the most violent and far-fetched theory of the mystery. Nothing +but our desperate need of an elucidation could excuse its being put +forward," said Captain Pendleton, drily. Then he spoke more earnestly: +"Berners, whatever may be the true explanation of all that we have +experienced here, one thing seems certain: that your retreat here is +known to at least one person, who may or may not be inimical to your +interests. Now my advice to you is still the same. Stop this girl the +first time you see her again, and compel her to give an account of +herself. Conceal your names and stations from her, if possible, and in +any case bribe her to silence upon the subject of your abode here. If it +were prudent, I should counsel you to leave this chapel for some other +place of concealment; but really there seems now more danger in moving +than in keeping still. So I reiterate my advice, that you shall enlist +this strange girl in your interests." + +"But before cooking your hare, you must catch it," said Sybil. "We may +see this visitant a dozen times more, but we will never be able to stop +her. She appears and vanishes! Is seen and gone in an instant! But, +Captain Pendleton, I will tell you what I wish you to do for me." + +"I will do anything in the world that you wish, except believe in +ghosts." + +"Then you will bring me a crowbar, or whatever the tool or tools may be +with which strong doors may be forced. I want that grated iron door +forced open, that we may go down into that vault and see what it holds." + +"Good Heavens Mrs. Berners!" he exclaimed, striking a theatrical +attitude. + + "'Would'st bid me burst + The loathsome charnel-house, and + Spread a pestilence?'" + +"I want to see what is in it; and I _will_," persisted Sybil. + +"Bring the tools when you come again, Pendleton, and we will open the +door, and examine the vault," added Mr. Berners. + +"Ugh! you will find it full of coffins and skeletons-- + + "'And mair o' horrible and awfu' + Whilk e'en to name wad be unlawfu'.'" + +"You are in a poetical mood, Pendleton." + +"And you are in a sepulchral one. Both effects of the opium, I suppose." + +While they talked the sun went down. + +Captain Pendleton remained with his friends until the twilight deepened +into darkness; and then, promising to return the next night, and +wondering where he should find his horse, or how he should get home, he +took leave and departed. + +The strange life of the refugees in the Haunted Chapel seriously +interfered with their hitherto regular and healthful habits. They had +slept nearly all day, when they should have been awake. And now they +intended to watch all night, partly because it was impossible for them +to sleep any more then, and partly because they wished to stop their +mysterious visitant, in the event of her reappearance. + +But the girl in the red cloak came not that night, no, nor even the next +day; nor did any other mysterious visitor or unusual event disturb their +repose, or excite their curiosity. + +Late that night their faithful friend returned, according to his +promise. He told them that he had found his poor horse still in the +thicket where he had left him, with water and grass in his reach. That +he had got home in safety, where his absence had not excited any +anxiety, because his sister had supposed him to be at Black Hall. + +He then described the funeral of Rosa Blondelle, which had taken place +that day, and which had been attended not only by all the county gentry, +who had gathered to show their respect and sympathy for the dead, but +also by crowds of all sorts of people, who came in curiosity to the +scene. + +And then, taking advantage of a few minutes during which Sybil was +engaged in her housekeeping corner of the chapel, he told Mr. Berners +that the search-warrants having failed to find the fugitives, a rumor +had been spread that they had certainly left the neighborhood on the +morning of the murder, and that they had been seen at Alexandria, by a +gentleman who had just come from that city. + +"This story," added Captain Pendleton, "is so confidently reported and +believed, that an officer with a warrant has been this day dispatched to +Annapolis." + +"Oh! good Heaven! How zealously her old neighbors do hunt my poor +guiltless Sybil," groaned Mr. Berners. + +"Take courage! This rumor, together with the journey of the officer to +Annapolis, opens a way for your immediate escape. So I propose that you +prepare to leave this place to-morrow night, and take a bee line to +Norfolk. There you must take the first outward bound ship for Europe, +and remain abroad until you can with safety return home." + +At this moment Sybil came up. + +Without mentioning to her the existence of the warrants which were out +against her, and which was the only part of Captain Pendleton's +communication that it was expedient to conceal from her, Lyon Berners, +with a smile of encouragement, told her that they were to leave the +Haunted Chapel the next night, to go to Norfolk. + +"And we cannot even yet go home?" sighed Sybil. + +"No, dear wife; it would scarcely yet be prudent to do so. But we can go +to Europe, and travel over the Continent, and see the wonders of the +Old World, leaving our friend here with a power of attorney to manage +our estate and collect our revenues, and remit us money as we require +it. We can stay abroad and enjoy ourselves until such time as justice +shall be done, and we can return to our home, not only with safety, but +in triumph," replied Lyon Berners, cheerfully. + +Sybil too caught the infection of his cheerful manner, whether that were +real or assumed, and she too brightened up. + +The friends then discussed the details of the projected flight. + +"In the first place," began Captain Pendleton, "you must both be so well +disguised as to seem the opposite of yourself in rank, age, and personal +appearance. You, Lyon, must shave off your auburn beard, and cut close +your auburn hair, and you must put on a gray wig and a gray beard--those +worn by your old Peter, in his character of Polonius at your mask ball, +will, with a little trimming, serve your purpose. Then you must wear a +pair of spectacles and a broad-brimmed hat and an old man's loose +fitting, shabby travelling suit. I can procure both the spectacles and +the clothes from the wardrobe of my deceased father. Mrs. Berners, too, +should cut her hair short, and wear a red wig and a plain dress. The wig +you wore as Harold the Saxon will suit very well, with a little +arrangement. Then I can procure the dress from my sister. You must +travel as a poor old farmer, and your wife must go as your red-headed +illiterate daughter. You are both excellent actors, and can sustain your +parts very well." + +"Dear me!" said Sybil, half crying, half smiling; "I have been warned +that it is never well to begin any enterprise of which one does not know +the end. And I'm sure when I undertook to give a mask ball and take a +character in it, I had not the slightest idea that the masquerade would +last longer than a night, or that I should have to continue to act a +character." + +"Never mind, darling; it is but for a season. Go on, Pendleton. You seem +to have settled everything in your own mind for us. Let us hear the rest +of your plan," said Mr. Berners. + +"It is this," continued the Captain. "I will bring these disguises to +you to-morrow night. I will also have a covered cart, loaded with +turnips, potatoes, apples, and so forth; I will have this cart driven by +your faithful Joe down to the Blackville ferry-boat, in which of course +he can cross the river with his load of produce unsuspected and +unquestioned." + +"Or even if some inquisitive gossip should ask him where he might be +going, Joe would be ready with his safe answer. He can beat us in +baffling inquiry," put in Sybil. + +"Like all his race," laughed Lyon. + +"The chance you have mentioned is provided for. Joe is instructed to +answer any haphazard questioner, that he is bringing the load to me, +which will be the truth." + +"But proceed, dear Pendleton. Develop your whole plan," urged Mr. +Berners. + +"Well, then, once safe on this side of the river, Joe will drive the +cart to some convenient spot, to which I myself will guide you." + +"Ah, how much trouble you take for us, Pendleton!" sighed Lyon. + +"Not at all. As far as I am concerned, it is a piquant adventure. Try to +look at it in that light. Well, to our subject. When you reach the cart +you can put your wife inside, and then mount the driver's seat, and +start upon your journey like a plain old farmer going to market to sell +his produce. As you will have but the one pair of horses for the whole +journey, you will see the necessity of making very short stages, in +order to enable them to complete it." + +"Certainly." + +"And now listen! Because you must make these short stages and frequent +stoppages, and because you must avoid the most travelled roads, it will +be necessary for you to take a map of the State, and follow the most +direct route to Norfolk." + +"Which is not the turnpike road used by the mail stagecoaches, for that +diverges frequently five or ten miles to the right or left of the line, +to take in the populous villages," put in Lyon Berners. + +"Yes; I see you comprehended me! Well, I should farther advise you, when +you reach Norfolk, to put up at some obscure inn near the wharves, and +to embark in the very first ship that sails for Europe, even if it +should set sail within an hour after your arrival." + +"You may rest assured that we shall not loiter in Norfolk," said Mr. +Berners. + +"As for the draught horses and cart, if you have time, you can sell +them. If not, you can leave them at the livery stable, and on the day of +sailing post me a letter containing an order to receive them." + +"You think of everything, dear Pendleton." + +"I can't think of anything else just now," replied Captain Pendleton. + +"Well, then, we will have some supper," said Sybil rising to prepare it. + +"I declare, I never in all my life supped out so frequently as I have +done since you two have been housekeeping in this old Haunted Chapel! +And by the way, talking of that, have you seen any more apparitions? any +more spectral gipsy girls? or shrouded forms? or shadowy coffins? or +open vaults? eh, Mrs. Berners?" laughingly inquired Captain Pendleton. + +"No, nothing unusual has disturbed us, either last night or to-day. But +now, talking of open vaults, have you brought the crowbar to force the +door, sir?" said Sybil, turning sharply to the Captain. + +"Yes, dear Mrs. Berners; since I promised to bring it, I felt bound to +do so; though I hope you will not really have it put to use." + +"Just as soon as supper is over, I will have that door forced open. I +will see what that mysterious vault holds," said Sybil, firmly. + +And she almost kept her word. + +As soon as they had finished the evening meal, she arose and called upon +the gentlemen to go with her and force the door of the vault. + +And they went and inserted the crowbar between the grating and the +stonework, and wrenched with all their united strength; but their +efforts availed nothing, even to move the door. + +They gave over their exertions to recover their breath, and when they +had got it they began again with renewed vigor; but with no better +success. Again they stopped to breathe, and again they re-commenced the +task with all their might; but after working as hard as they could for +fifteen minutes longer, they again ceased from sheer exhaustion, leaving +the door as fast as they had found it. + +"It is of no use to try longer, Sybil. We cannot force it," said Mr. +Berners. + +"I see that you cannot. The vault keeps its secrets well," she answered, +solemnly. + +And then they returned to their seats near the fire, and sat and talked +over the projected journey until it was time for Captain Pendleton to +go. + +When the husband and wife were left alone, they felt themselves tired +enough to go to rest, with a prospect of getting a good night's sleep. + +"This is the last night that we shall spend in this place, dear Sybil," +said Lyon Berners, as he put the smouldering brands together to keep the +fire up till morning. + +Sybil replied with a deep yawn. + +And in a few minutes they laid down to rest, and in a very few more they +fell asleep. + +How long they had slept Sybil had no means of knowing, when she was +awakened by an impression that some cold damp creature had laid down on +the front of the mattress close beside her. She opened her eyes and +strained them around in a vague dread, but the inside of the chapel was +dark as pitch. The fire had gone entirely out; she could not even see +the outlines of the Gothic windows; all was black as Tartarus. But +still--oh, horror!--she felt the cold damp form pressing close beside +her. + +A speechless, breathless awe possessed her. She could not scream, but +she cautiously put out her hand to make sure whether she was dreaming, +when--horror upon horror!--it touched a clammy face! + +Still she did not cry out, for some potent spell seemed to bind her +which at once tied her tongue and moved her hand; for that hand passed +down over the slender form and straight limbs, and then up again, until +it reached the still bosom, when--climax of horror!--it was caught and +clasped in the clay-cold hand of the--WHAT? + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + GHOSTLY AND MYSTERIOUS + + + On horror's head Horrors accumulate.--Thompson. + + +An icy sweat of terror bathed Sybil's form. She tried to cry out, and +did utter a low half-stifled scream. But the cold fingers of the ghastly +creature closed tightly upon hers, and a thin, hollow voice murmured: + +"Hush; don't you make a noise; don't be frightened. I can't hurt you. +I'm chilled almost to death. And you were so warm. I crept to your side +to tell you something. You are in hiding here, and so--_Ah-h-h_!" + +The reed-like murmur ended in a terrific shriek. There was a silent +movement, and Sybil felt the clammy form snatched up from her side and +borne away in the darkness. + +And then the spell that had bound her faculties was unloosed, and she +uttered scream after scream as she shook and awakened her husband. + +"In the name of Heaven, Sybil, what now?" he exclaimed, as he started up +into a sitting posture. + +"Oh, Lyon! for the love of mercy, get up! Get a light! I shall go mad in +this horrible place!" she cried in a perfect frenzy of terror. + +"Calm yourself, Sybil. There is nothing to fear. I am here with you. I +will strike a light," answered Lyon Berners quietly, as he got up and +groped about in the darkness for the tinder-box. + +Striking a light in those days was not the quick and easy matter that it +is now. When the tinder-box was at length found, the flint and steel had +to be struck together until a spark was elicited to set fire to the +tinder. So it was full five minutes from the time Lyon was awakened, to +the moment that he lit the candle and looked upon the pale and +horror-stricken face of his wife. + +"Now then, Sybil, what is it?" he inquired. + +"Oh, what is it! This place is full of devils!" she cried, shaking as +with an ague fit. + +"My dear wife!" he said, in surprise and concern to see her shudder so +fearfully, to hear her speak so wildly. + +"It _is_, I tell you, full of devils, Lyon!" she repeated with +chattering teeth. + +There chanced to be a little wine in their stores. He went and poured +some into a glass and brought it to her, made her drink it. + +"Now then, tell me what has thrown you into this state? What has +happened to terrify you so much? another dream, vision, apparition? +what?" he inquired, as he took from her hand the empty glass. + +"Oh, no, no, no! no dream, no vision, nothing of that sort. It was too +dark to see anything, you know; but oh! it was something so ghastly and +horrible that I shall never, never get over it!" she exclaimed, while +shudder after shudder shook her frame. + +"Tell me," he said soothingly. + +"Oh, it was a damp girl!" she cried. + +"A damp girl!" he echoed in amazement and alarm; for he almost feared +his dear wife was going crazy. + +"Oh yes, a damp girl! A clay-cold, clammy, corpse-like form of a girl!" + +"Where? when? what about her?" + +"Oh, I woke up and felt her lying by my side! so close that she chilled +and oppressed me! I put out my hand, and she caught it in her deathly +fingers! I screamed, but she spoke to me! She was about to tell me +something, when she was suddenly snatched up and torn away!" + +"My dear Sybil, this was nightmare again!" + +"Oh, no, no, no! I have had nightmare, and know what it is! It is not +like this! All this was real, as real as you and I! This place is full +of devils!" + +"My darling wife, have you lost your senses?" + +"Oh, no; but I shall lose them if I stay in this demon-haunted place a +day longer!" + +"Thank Heaven! we will not have to stay here a day longer. We leave, +this coming evening. And see! the morning is dawning, Sybil; and with +the coming of the light, all these shadows of darkness and phantoms of +fear will flee away," said Lyon with a smile. + +"Oh, you don't believe me. You never do believe me. But oh! let me tell +you all about this ghastly thing, and then perhaps you will see that it +is real," said Sybil. + +And still in much agitation of spirits, she told him all the +particulars of her strange visitation. + +He still believed in his soul that she had been the victim of incubus, +but he would not vex her by persisting in saying so. He only repeated +that the morning was at hand, when all the terrors of the night would be +dispersed; and added that they would not have to pass another night in +the "demon-peopled place," as this would be the very last day of their +stay. + +As soon as it was light enough, they dressed themselves, and set about +their simple daily work. He made the fire, and brought the water; and +she cleared up their housekeeping corner, and prepared the breakfast. + +When the sun arose and streamed in at the east windows, lighting up +every nook about the interior of the old chapel, they saw that +everything remained in the same condition in which they had left it when +they had gone to rest on the evening previous. + +Lyon Berners felt more than ever convinced that his dear Sybil had been +the victim of repeated nightmares; that all the seemingly supernatural +phenomena of the Haunted Chapel had been only the creation of her own +morbid imagination; that nothing connected with the mystery had been +real, with the exception of the appearance of the girl in the red cloak, +whom Mr. Berners decided to be an ordinary human habitue of the place. + +But the idea of this visitor made him only the more anxious for Sybil's +sake, to get away. + +This last day of their sojourn in the Haunted Chapel was passed by the +refugees in great impatience, but without any event worth recording. + +With the night came their untiring friend Captain Pendleton, attended by +Joe, who bore upon his broad back a large pack containing the disguises. + +After the usual greetings, and while Sybil, with a woman's curiosity, +was examining the contents of the pack which Joe opened and displayed +before her, Pendleton found an opportunity of whispering to Lyon +Berners: + +"The false rumor is as rife as false rumors usually are. Every one +reports with confidence, and every one else believes with assurance, +that you are both in Annapolis, and will certainly be found by the +officers within a few days. This is good, as it will lead off all +pursuit from your road to Norfolk." + +Lyon Berners nodded in reply. And Sybil came up to make some +preparations for supper. + +"Well, Mrs. Berners," spoke the Captain, gayly, "any more supernatural +phenomena?" + +"Oh, I wish you had not asked that question!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, +while Sybil grew deadly pale, and shivered from head to foot. + +"Why, what's the matter now?" demanded the Captain, lifting his eyebrows +in surprise. + +"Oh, the damp girl!" exclaimed Sybil, shuddering. + +"The damp girl!" echoed the Captain, in growing wonder. + +Lyon Berners shrugged his shoulders, while Sybil, in agitated tones, +recounted her strange visitation of the night before. + +"As clearly defined a case of incubus as ever I heard in my life," was +the prompt decision of Captain Pendleton. + +Sybil grew angry. + +"I only wish," she sharply answered, "that you would once experience the +like, for then you could know that it could not be nightmare." + +"Then, my dear Mrs. Berners, if this was not incubus, what do you +suppose it to have been?" + +"A _real_ visitation; but whether a natural or supernatural one, of +course I can not tell," she answered. + +Sybil got the supper ready, and they all sat down to partake of that +meal together, for the last time in the Haunted Chapel. + +After supper the final preparations for their departure were made. + +Sybil felt all the reluctance of a beauty to part with her splendid +black hair. But on trying the experiment, she found that she could +effectually conceal it, without cutting it off. She combed it straight +back from her forehead, and let it hang down her shoulders under her +sack. Then she covered her head and neck with the flowing red locks of +Harold's wig. + +Lyon cut close his auburn hair, shaved off his moustache, and donned a +gray wig and a gray beard, without the slightest remorse. + +A very few minutes sufficed to complete their disguise, and they stood +forth--Lyon and Sybil transformed into a gray old farmer and a +shock-headed country girl. + +"And now, about these housekeeping articles that we must leave here? +They are of very little value in themselves; but they _may_ be found, +and if so, may lead to our discovery," suggested Mr. Berners, uneasily. + +"Never you mind _them_, Master. I'll ondertake to get them away, +onbeknowst to any body, sar," promised Joe. + +"And I will see that this is done," added Captain Pendleton in a low +voice, for he did not wish to wound poor Joe's sensitive self-love. + +"And now, my dear Sybil, are you sure you have got all that you need in +your bag?" inquired Mr. Berners. + +"All that I shall need until we get to Norfolk, Lyon. There, indeed, we +must get a supply of necessary clothing," she answered. + +"That of course. And by the way, have you the money and jewels safe?" + +"All secure." + +"Oh Lyon! I brought this for you, and I had better give it to you at +once, lest I should forget it," put in Captain Pendleton, passing over +to Mr. Berners a large roll of gold coins. + +"But my dear Pendleton--" + +"Oh, nonsense! take them. I can reimburse myself from the revenues of +Black Hall. Am I not to have the freedom of that fine estate?" + +"Very true," answered Mr. Berners, pocketing the money. + +"And now, are we ready?" inquired the Captain. + +"Quite," answered Mr. and Mrs. Berners at once. + +"Then let us start at once," advised the Captain, setting the example by +taking up Sybil's large travelling bag. + +Lyon Berners carried his portmanteau on one arm, while he gave his other +to his wife. + +Joe loaded himself with a great basket filled with provisions for the +journey. + +And together they all set forth from the Haunted Chapel. It was a clear, +cold, starlight night. The gravestones in the old church-yard glimmered +gray among the brushwood, as the fugitives picked their way through it. + +When they reached the narrow path leading through the thicket, they had +to walk in single file until they emerged from the wood and found +themselves upon the old road running along the river bank. Here the +wagon with a pair of draught horses was waiting them. + +Their luggage was put in on top of bags of potatoes, turnips, etc., with +which the back part of the wagon was loaded. Then Captain Pendleton +assisted Sybil to mount to a seat made by a low-backed chair with a +woolen counterpane thrown over it. Lyon Berners got up into the driver's +place. All being now ready for the start, Captain Pendleton and Joe come +up to the side of the wagon to bid farewell to the travellers. + +"Heaven bless you, Pendleton, for your faithful friendship and zealous +labors in our behalf," said Mr. Berners, warmly shaking the Captain's +hand. + +"Amen, and Amen! We shall never forget, and never cease to thank and +bless you, dear friend," added Sybil, with tears in her eyes, as she +gave him her hand. + +"May the Lord grant you a safe journey and a quick return," said Clement +Pendleton, as he pressed the lady's hand and relinquished it. + +"And I sez Amen to that! Oh, Marser! Oh, Missus! come back to your poor +old Joe soon! His heart will snap into ten thousand flinders, if you +don't!" sobbed the poor negro, as he shook hands with his young master +and mistress. + +Then with a mutual "God be with you," the four friends parted. + +Captain Pendleton, sighing, and Joe, weeping, bent their steps up the +banks of the river towards the fording place, where they would have to +cross to find their horses on the other side. + +Lyon Berners cracked his long wagoner's whip, and started on the road +leading away from the river towards the east. + +It was yet early in the autumn night, and but for the cause of the +journey, the young pair would have enjoyed it very much. + +"It is a very pleasant evening for the season," said Lyon, cheerfully +looking up at the clear, blue-black, star-spangled sky. + +"Yes, indeed," answered Sybil briskly. + +"Are you quite comfortable, darling?" + +"Very! Captain Pendleton, dear Captain Pendleton, arranged my seat so +nicely. It is so soft and easy. I could go to sleep here, if I were +sleepy." + +"You may have to sleep there, dear. We must travel all night, in order +to get a good distance from this neighborhood before morning." + +"I can bear that very well, as comfortably as I am placed. But you, +dear Lyon, you who are driving, you will be tired to death." + +"Not at all. My work to-night will not be more than many men frequently +undertake for mere amusement." + +"And the horses?" + +"Strong draught horses like these can work eight or ten hours at a +stretch, if they are well fed and rested between times." + +"Oh! I'm so glad I have got away from the Haunted Chapel and the +ghosts!" suddenly exclaimed Sybil. + +"And especially from the 'damp girl,'" laughed Lyon Berners. + +"Oh, don't mention her!" shuddered Sybil. + +They were now entering one of those frequent mountain passes that +diversified their road, and the care of driving required all Lyon's +attention. + +They travelled all night as nearly in a direct line towards the far +distant city as the nature of the ground would permit. At daylight they +found themselves in the midst of a deep forest, some twenty miles east +of Blackville. Here, as the road was naturally broad and the trees tall +and sparse, and especially as a clear stream of water ran along on one +side, the travellers decided to stop and rest, and refresh themselves +and their horses until noon. + +Lyon Berners got out and, followed by Sybil, went a little way into the +woods, where they found a small opening and a spring of clear water. + +Here Lyon gathered brushwood and made a fire, while Sybil returned to +the wagon and brought back a basket of provisions. Among them was a +bottle of coffee already made, and which she turned into a small tin +coffee-pot, and set on the fire to be warmed. + +And while Lyon went back to the wagon to attend to the wants of his +horses, Sybil spread a very good breakfast of coffee, bread, and ham, +upon the ground near the fire. + +When they had given their horses time enough to rest they resumed their +journey, still travelling towards the east. + +Lyon consulted his map and his pocket compass, and found that directly +in their line lay the small village of Oakville, nestled in an +unfrequented pass of the mountains. + +"We can reach the place at about ten o'clock this evening, and there we +can get a regular supper and good sleep," he said to his wife. + +And they travelled all the remainder of that day, and at about half-past +nine they arrived at Oakville. The village was off the public road, and +consisted only of a sleepy old tavern, to which the neighboring farmers +came to drink, smoke, and gossip; a post-office, to which the mail was +brought once a week by a boy on horseback; and a blacksmith shop, +patronized by the sparse population of the immediate neighborhood. + +Up before the stable of this old tavern Lyon Berners drove his wagon; +and here he alighted, handed out Sybil, and led her over to the house +and into the public parlor. + +A fat and lazy-looking hostess came to look at them. + +"I want accommodations for myself, my girl here, and my horses and +wagon, which I left in the stable yard," said Mr. Berners, speaking +coarsely, with two lumps of liquorice in his mouth, which he had taken +to disguise his voice. + +"And what might your name be, farmer?" inquired the landlady. + +"My name's Howe," answered Lyon, truly, giving his own patronymic, now +his middle name. + +"Well, farmer, I reckon we can accommodate you. Going to market?" + +"Yes, we're on our way to market." + +"You come from far?" + +"From the other side of the mountain." + +"Well, I reckon we can accommodate you. You must excuse me asking you +so many questions; but the truth is you're a perfect stranger to me, and +it is very late for you to come here, you know; which I wouldn't think +so much of that nyther, only since that horrid murder at Black Hall I +have mistrusted every stranger I see." + +Sybil's heart gave a bound, and then sank like lead in her bosom, at +hearing this allusion. Lyon also felt an increased uneasiness. Luckily +they were sitting with their backs to the light, so that the gossiping +landlady could not read the expression of their faces, which indeed she +was too much absorbed in her subject to attempt to do. So she went +straight on without stopping to take breath: + +"Not that I mistrust you now, sir, which I see exactly what you are; and +which likewise your having of your darter with you is a rickymindation; +for men don't go about a taking of their darters with them when they are +up to robbery and murder, do they now, sir?" + +"I should judge not, though I am not familiar enough with the habits of +such gentry to give a decided opinion," said farmer Howe. + +"You'll excuse me, sir; but I'm a lone widow living here, and not used +to seeing much of anybody but my old neighbors, which come occasionally +to enjoy of themselves; and I do mistrust most strangers--though not +you, sir, with your darter, as I said before--but most other strangers, +because they _do_ say hereabouts that it was a stranger to the place, a +red-headed man, as put up at the inn at Blackville that night, and never +was seen afterwards, as did that murder at Black Hall." + +"Ah! do they say that? I thought they laid it on a lady," observed +farmer Howe. + +"La, sir! the idee of a lady doing such a thing! and a rale high-born +lady of quality like Mrs. Burns, or whatever her name was, and doing of +it to one she had took in for charity too; 'tan't likely, sir." + +"But you know, I suppose, that they did accuse a lady?" + +"Oh, yes; I know they did, and that the poor lady had to ran away and go +to Annapolis. But that was that Blackville set, that an't got no sense; +but as for us, over this side, _we_ believe it was that red-headed +stranger as did it." + +"There's no doubt of it in the world," said farmer Howe, recklessly, +feeling that he was expected to say something. + +And at this moment he looked towards Sybil, and saw that she could not +endure the subject of discussion for one moment longer, so he turned to +the landlady, and said: + +"We have travelled some distance, and feel very tired and hungry. Would +you oblige us with supper as soon as possible? We do not need much, only +let it be nice and warm." + +"Surely, sir, it is late; but we will do the best we can for you," said +the landlady, hurrying away. + +Mr. Berners stooped to whisper to his wife. + +"Sybil, darling, I hail this woman's faith as a good omen. Keep up your +courage, and--remain in that shady corner until I come back. I am going +out to the stable to see that our horses are properly attended to." + +And then Lyon left the room. + +By the time he returned a table was set in that parlor, and a good +supper spread for the travellers. + +When it was over, the landlady showed them to a couple of communicating +rooms up stairs, where they passed a very comfortable night. + +At daybreak the next morning they arose and breakfasted, and resumed +their journey. + +Lyon Berners again consulted his map of the State and his pocket +compass, and laid out his road. It lay for all that day up and down, in +and out, among the wildest passes of the Allegheny Mountains. At noon +they stopped for an hour, to rest and refresh themselves and their +horses, and then again went forward. At night they reached another +hamlet at the foot of the mountain range. They put up at this hamlet, +which was called Dunville, and which boasted one tavern kept by an old +Revolutionary pensioner called Purley. + +Here also Lyon Berners gave his name as Howe, and here again he and his +wife were destined to be told all about the murder. + +"You see, sir, a little below us there, on the other side of the +mountain, they do say as the murder was done by the woman's husband, as +she had run away from; but they are a set of poor ignorant folks out +there! Now it stand to reason, sir, it couldn't have been done by him, +and it must have been done by some member of that band of burglars that +they say is lurking somewhere there-a-way by Black Hall." + +"Band of burglars!" echoed Farmer Howe, in astonishment. And he was +almost about to betray himself by saying that there could be no such +band there, when he recollected his position, and held his tongue. + +Farmer Howe and his daughter spent a refreshing night at old Purley's +tavern at Dunville, and at daybreak next morning, after a very early +breakfast, they resumed their journey. + +And again, as usual, Lyon Berners consulted his map and his compass. He +now found that his most direct route lay through a thick forest, between +two mountain ridges. + +They travelled all the morning, and as usual stopped at noon for rest +and food for themselves and their four-footed friends. In the afternoon +they set forth again, and travelled until they reached Iceville, a +considerable village situated high upon one of the table-lands of the +Blue Ridge. In this town there were three taverns. Farmer Howe and his +daughter put up at the most humble of the trio. And here too the talk of +the hour was the homicide at Black Hall. + +"They say about here that it was one of the lady's admirers who killed +her in a fit of desperation from love and jealousy; for the lady was +well beknown to be a great coquette," said one village authority to +another, in the presence of Farmer Howe. + +When our travellers found themselves alone that night, in one of the two +small adjoining rooms that had been assigned to them, Lyon Berners +turned to Sybil, and said; + +"You see, my dear Sybil, how it is: 'A prophet hath honor except in his +own city.' No one out of the Black Valley thinks of accusing you." + +"All the world might accuse me, so that my own old friends and neighbors +would justify me," said Sybil, sadly. + +They passed another night in peace, and the next morning, at daybreak as +usual, they breakfasted, and then set out on their fourth and last day's +journey. + +Again the map and the pocket compass was called into requisition, and +Mr. Berners laid out their route for the day. + +Their way lay all that forenoon through the beautifully undulating, +heavily wooded, and well-watered country lying east of the Blue Ridge. + +As before, they broke their journey by an hour's repose at noon, and +then re-commenced it. And at twelve, midnight, they arrived safely at +Norfolk. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX + + FLIGHT AND PURSUIT. + + + Oh, death were welcome!--COLERIDGE. + + +On reaching Norfolk, Lyon Berners drove at once to an obscure tavern +down by the wharves, and near the market. Here he found good stabling +for his horses and wagon, and decent accommodation for himself and wife. + +"Come to market, I reckon, father?" suggested the landlord, taking the +stump of an old pipe from his mouth for the purpose. + +"Yes," answered Lyon Berners, as "farmer Howe," taking off his +broad-brimmed hat, handing it to Sybil, and then sinking slowly and +heavily into a chair, like a very weary old man. + +"Your daughter, I reckon, farmer?" continued the landlord, pointing to +Sybil with the stem of his pipe. + +"My only girl," answered Lyon Berners, evasively. + +"And no boys?" inquired the landlord. + +"No boys," replied Lyon. + +"That's a pity; on a farm too. But you must try to get a good husband +for the girl, and that will be all one as a boy of your own! Never had +any children but this, farmer, or did you have the misfortune to lose +'em?" + +"I never had but this one girl," answered Lyon Berners still evasively. + +"Then you must be very fond of that girl, I reckon." + +"She is all the world to me," said Lyon, truly. + +"Then he ought to be all the world to you, honey." + +"And so I am," said Lyon, answering for Sybil, whom he could not yet +trust to act a part; though he saw, the instant he glanced at her, that +he might have done so; for Sybil, as soon as she saw attention drawn to +herself, began to turn her head down upon one shoulder and simper shyly +like an awkward rustic. + +"You must excuse _me_ for asking so many questions, farmer; but when I +see a father and daughter together, like you and your girl, I think of +myself, for I have an only daughter of my own. All the rest of my +children--and I had a whole passel of boys and girls--are with their +dear mother in heaven. So you see, farmer, I am a widower, with one gal +like yourself--for I reckon, from what you said, you are a widower?" + +"My girl's mother has been dead many years," answered Lyon, with a drawl +and a sigh. + +"Pappy, I'm so hungry and so sleepy I don't know what to do," said +Sybil, in a low, fretful tone, frowning and pouting. + +"Yes, yes, honey; I reckon you are sure enough. So landlord, if you have +got a couple of little rooms joining onto each other, I wish you'd let +us have 'em. And we'd like a bit of supper besides," said Lyon Berners, +with a sigh and a grunt. + +"To be sure. I'll go and call my girl directly, and she'll walk up to +your rooms while I have the supper got ready. Where would you like to +have it? down here, or in your room?" inquired the landlord. + +"In your room, Pappy. I hate a place like this a-smellin' of liquor and +inyuns and things, and men coming in and out," said Sybil, digging her +elbow into her "Pappy's" ribs, and turning up her nose at the little +tavern sitting-room. + +"Well, then, honey, we'll have it up there. Up there, landlord, if it +won't be putting of you to too much trouble." + +"Oh, not at all, farmer; it's all one to me. Now I'll go and call +Rachel." + +And the inquisitive and communicative host went out, and soon returned +with a young woman of about Sybil's own age. + +"This is my daughter, my Rachel, as I was telling you about, farmer. +Rachel, honey, you just go long of the farmer and his daughter and show +them where they've got to sleep, that's a good girl. Put 'em in the two +little rooms over the bar, you know." + +"Yes, father. Come, sir; come, miss," said the landlord's daughter, +leading the way from the smoky parlor. + +Lyon and Sybil followed her. Lyon walking slowly like a weary old man, +and pausing at the head of the stairs, as if to recover his wind. + +"Pappy, you look tired to death," said Sybil, in a rough sympathetic +voice. + +"Ay, ay; it is weary work for an old man to get up-stairs," grunted Lyon. + +"The stairs are very steep, but here you are," said the landlord's +daughter, opening the door leading into two little communicating rooms. + +She entered, followed by Sybil and Lyon. She set the candle down on the +top of the old chest of drawers, and turned around. And then the +travellers noticed, for the first time, how beautiful the daughter of +their host was. + +Rachel's face was of the purest type of beauty, combining the physical, +intellectual, and spiritual. Her form was of medium height and perfect +grace; her head was finely shaped, and covered with dark brown hair, +parted in the middle and carried over the temples, and arranged in a +knot behind; her forehead broad and full; her eyebrows were gently +arched, her eyes dark luminous gray, with drooping lids and long +fringes; her nose small and straight, her lips full, small, and plump, +and her chin was round and well set. There were some flaws in this +otherwise perfect beauty and grace of form and face; for her complexion +was very pale, her expression pensive, and her walk slightly limping. + +While Sybil was observing her with both admiration and pity, and +wondering whether she did not suffer from some hereditary malady that +had carried off her mother and all her sisters and brothers, Rachel +spoke: + +"I think you have everything here that you require; but if you should +need anything else, please call, and I will come and attend to your +wants." + +"Thanks!" answered Sybil, sweetly, forgetting her assumed character, and +beginning to speak in her natural voice, for it seemed so difficult to +act a part in the presence of this girl. + +But Lyon set his coarse boot upon Sybil's foot, and pressed it as a +warning, and then answered for both, saying: + +"Thank y', honey, but I don't reckon we'll want anything but our supper, +and the old man said how he'd send that up here himself." + +"Then I will leave you. Good night. I hope you will have a good sleep," +answered Rachel, bending her head. + +"What a fine face that girl has," said Lyon Berners, as she withdrew. + +"Yes; and what a sweet voice!" answered Sybil. + +"But she is very pale, and she limps as she walks; did you notice?" + +"Yes; I suppose she has ill health--probably the same malady that +carried off her mother, and all her sisters and brothers." + +"Very likely." + +"Consumption?" suggested Sybil. + +"Scrofula," sententiously replied Lyon. + +"Oh, what a pity!" said Sybil, when their conversation was cut short by +the entrance of the landlord, bringing a waiter with the plain supper +service and a folded table-cloth, and followed by a young man bearing +another waiter piled up with materials for a supper more substantial +than delicate. + +The little table was quickly set, and the meal arranged and then the +landlord, after asking if anything more was wanted, and being told there +was not, left the room, followed by his attendant. + +Lyon and Sybil made a good supper, and then, as there were no bells in +that primitive house of entertainment, he put his head out of the door +and called for some one to come and take away the service. + +When the waiter had cleared the table, and the travellers were again +left alone, Lyon said to Sybil: + +"I must leave you here, dear, while I go down to the water-side and +inquire what ships are about to sail for Europe. You will not be afraid +to stay here by yourself?" + +"Oh, no indeed! this is not the Haunted Chapel, thank Heaven!" answered +his wife. + +"Nor Rachel, the damp girl," added Lyon. + +"No, poor child; but she may very soon become one," sighed Sybil. + +And Lyon put on his broad-brimmed hat and went out. + +Sybil locked the door, took off her red wig, and her coarse outer +garment, and took from her travelling bag a soft woolen wrapper and a +pair of slippers and put them on, and sat down before the fire to make +herself comfortable. At first the sense of relief and rest and warmth +was enough to satisfy her; but after an hour's waiting in idleness, the +time hung heavily on her hands, and she grew homesick and lonesome. She +thought of the well-stocked library of Black Hall; of her bright +drawing-room, her birds, her flowers, her piano, her easel, her +embroidery frame, her Skie terrier, her tortoise shell cat and kittens, +her fond and faithful servant, the many grand rooms in the old hall; the +negroes' cabins, the ancient trees, the river, the cascade, the +mountains--the thousand means of occupation, amusement, and interest, +within and around her patrimonial home, the ten thousand ties of +association and affection that bound her to her old place, and she +realized her exile as she had never done before. Her spirit grew very +desolate, and her heart very heavy. + +But Sybil really was not a woman to give way to any weakness without an +effort. She got up and tried to engage herself by examining the two +little rooms that were to be her dwelling place for a day or a week, as +chance might direct. + +There was not much to interest her. The furniture was poor and old, but +neat and clean, as anything under the care of pale Rachel was sure to +be. Then Sybil looked about to try to find some stray pamphlet or book, +that she might read. But she found nothing but a treatise on tanning and +an old almanac until, happening to look behind the glass on the chest of +drawers in the inner room, she discovered a small volume which she took +to be the New Testament. She drew it from its hiding-place and sat down +to read it. But when she opened the book, she found it to +be--"Celebrated Criminal Trials." + +At once it seemed to have a fearful interest for her, and this interest +was terribly augmented when, on further examination, she discovered that +a portion of the work was devoted to the "Fatal Errors of Circumstantial +Evidence." + +To this part of the book she turned at once, and her attention soon +became absorbed in its subject. Here she read the cases of Jonathan +Bradford, Henry Jennings, and many others tried for murder, convicted +under an overwhelming weight of circumstantial evidence, executed, and +long afterwards discovered to be entirely innocent of the crimes for +which they had been put to death. Sybil read on hour after hour. And as +this evening, while sitting in solitude and idleness and thinking of her +home and all its charms, she had first realized the bitterness of her +exile, so now, in reading these instances of the fatal effects of +circumstantial evidence upon guiltless parties, she also first realized +the horrors of her own position. + +She closed the book and fell upon her knees, and weeping, prayed for +pardon of those fierce outbursts of hereditary passion, that had so +often tempted her to deeds of violence, and that now subjected her to +the dread charge of crime. Yes, she prayed for forgiveness of this sin +and deliverance from this sinfulness, even before she ventured to pray +for a safe issue out of all her troubles. + +Relieved, as every one feels who approaches our Father in simplicity and +faith, she arose from her knees, and sat down again before the fire to +wait for the return of her husband. + +He came at length, looking really tired now, but speaking cheerfully as +he entered the room. + +"I have been gone from you a long time, dear Sybil, but I could not help +it. I had to go to Portsmouth in search of our ship," he said, as he put +his hat on the floor, and sat down at the fire. + +"Then you found a ship?" she inquired, with so much more than usual +anxiety in her expression, that he looked up in painful surprise as he +replied to her question. + +"Yes, dear; I have found a ship that will suit us. It is the +'Enterprise,' Captain Wright, bound for Liverpool within a few days." + +"Oh! I wish it were to-morrow," sighed Sybil. + +"Why, love, what is the matter?" tenderly inquired her husband, taking +her hand, and looking into her face. + +"_That_ is the matter," replied Sybil, with a shudder, as she took the +volume she had been reading from the chimney piece and put it in his +hands. + +It was a work with which Lyon Berners, as a law student, had been very +familiar. + +"Why, where did you get this?" he inquired in a tone of annoyance, for +he felt at once what its effect upon Sybil's mind must be. + +"Oh, I found it behind the looking-glass in the other room." + +"Left by some traveller, I suppose. I am sorry, Sybil, that you have +chanced upon this work; but you must not let its subject influence you +to despondency." + +"Oh, Lyon! how can I help it? I was so strong and cheerful in my sense +of innocence, I had no idea how guiltless people could be convicted and +executed as criminals." + +"My darling Sybil, all these cases that you have read were tried in the +last century, a period of judicial barbarism. Courts of justice are more +enlightened and humane now, in our times. They do not sacrifice sacred +life upon slight grounds. Come, take courage! be cheerful! trust in God, +and all will be well." + +"I do trust in the Lord, and I know all will be well; but oh! I wish it +were to-morrow that ship is to sail?" answered Sybil. + +"It will sail very soon, dear. And now we had better go to rest, and try +to get some sleep. In my character of market farmer, I have to be up +very early in the morning to attend to my business, you know," said Lyon +with a smile. + +Sybil acquiesced, and the fugitive couple retired for the night. + +Bodily fatigue so much overcame mental anxiety, that they slept +profoundly, and continued to sleep until near daylight, when they were +both aroused by a loud knocking at the door. + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake, who is that?" gasped Sybil, starting up in +affright, for every knock now, scared her with the thought of sheriff's +officers armed with a warrant for her arrest, and excited a whole train +of prospective horrors. + +"Hush, darling, hush; it is only one of the men about the place waking +me up, according to orders, to be in time for the market. We must keep +up our assumed characters, my dear Sybil," said Mr. Berners, as the +knocking was repeated, accompanied by the calls of, + +"Farmer! farmer!" + +"Aye, aye! I hear you. You needn't batter down the doors. I'm a-going to +get up, though it's very early, and I an't as young as I used to be +twenty years ago, nyther," grumbled the "farmer," as with many a grunt +and sigh, as of an old and weary man, he got up and began to dress +himself. + +"Sybil," he whispered to his wife before leaving the room, "I shall have +to take my breakfast at a stall in the market-house, and I shall not be +back until the market is out, which will be about twelve o'clock. You +can have your breakfast brought up here. And mind, my darling, don't +forget to put on your wig, and keep up your character." + +"I shall be very careful, dear Lyon," she answered, as he kissed and +left her. + +Lyon Berners went down stairs, where he found the landlord, who was an +"early bird," waiting for him. + +"Morning, farmer. What is it that you've brought to market, anyways?" +he said, greeting his guest. + +"Mostly garden truck," answered Lyon. + +"No poultry, eggs, nor butter?" + +"No." + +"'Cause, if you had, I might deal with you myself." + +"Well, you see, landlord, them kind of produce is ill convenient to +bring a long ways in a wagon. And I came from a good ways down the +country," explained Lyon, as he took his long leathern whip from the +corner where he had left it, and went out to look after his team. + +He found it all right, and he mounted the seat and drove to the market +space, and took a stand, and began to offer his produce as zealously as +any farmer on the ground--taking care, in the mean time, to wear his +spectacles and broad-brimmed hat, and to keep up his character in voice +and manner; and, as the morning advanced, he began to drive a brisk +business. + +Meantime Sybil, left alone in her poor room at the little inn, arose +and locked the door after Lyon, to prevent intrusion before she should +effect her disguise, and when she had thus insured her privacy, she +began to dress. + +As soon as she had transformed herself, she opened the door and called +for Rachel. + +The landlord's daughter entered, giving her guest good-morning, and +kindly inquiring how she had slept. + +"I slept like a top! But I'm not well this morning neither. So I'd just +like to have my victuals sent up here," answered Sybil. + +"Very well; what would you like?" + +"Fried fish, and pork-steaks, and bri'led chickings, and grilled bacon, +and--let me see! Have you any oysters?" + +"Yes, very fine ones." + +"Well, then, I'll take some stewed oysters too, and some poached eggs, +and preserved quinces, and fried potatoes, and corn pone, and hot rolls, +and buckwheat cakes, and cold bread and butter, and some coffee, and +buttermilk and sweet milk. And that's all, I believe; for, you see, I +an't well, and I haven't come to my stomach yet; but if I can think of +anything else, I will let you know. + +"Is your father going to eat his breakfast with you?" + +"Who? pappy? No; he's gone to market, and will get his victuals at the +eating stall. Wouldn't it be good fun to keep a eating stall in a +market?" + +"I don't think so." + +"Well, never mind whether you do, or not. Hurry up with my victuals." + +"Yes; but I'm afraid we haven't got all the things you want; but I will +bring you up what we have," said the girl, who had opened her eyes +widely at the bill of fare ordered by her sickly guest. + +"Well, go do it then, and don't stop to talk," said Sybil, shortly. + +Rachel went out, and in due time returned with a waiter containing +Sybil's breakfast. + +"Why, there an't half--no, not a quarter of the things I told you to +fetch me," said Sybil, turning up her nose at the waiter that Rachel +placed upon the table. + +"I have brought you some of everything that we have cooked. I should be +glad if I could bring you all you wish," replied Rachel. + +"Then I s'pose I must be half-starved in this poor place. And me so +weakly, too! I'll tell pappy as soon as ever he comes. I want to go +home--I do. We've got as much as ever we can eat at home," grumbled +Sybil, doing her best to act her part, and perhaps overdoing it. + +But Rachel was not suspicious. She again apologized for not being able +to fill her guest's order in its utmost extent, and she remained in the +room and waited on Sybil until the breakfast was finished, and then she +took away the service, wondering how little her guest had eaten, after +having ordered such a vast amount of food. + +Again Rachel came back to the room, and made everything tidy in each +chamber, and then finally left her guest alone. + +Sybil walked about and took up and put down every small object that lay +about her humble apartments, and then looked out of each window upon the +narrow crowded and noisy street below; and finally, she took the volume +of "Celebrated Criminal Trials" that had a terrible attraction for her, +in her present circumstances, and she sat down and read until her +husband's return. + +Lyon Berners drove his empty wagon into the stable yard, at noon. He had +sold out all his produce, and pretended to be in great glee at his +success. The landlord congratulated him, and some chance loungers in the +bar-room suggested that, under such circumstances, it would be the right +thing for him to treat the company. Lyon thought so too; and in his +character of farmer, he ordered pipes and glasses all around. And then +he made his escape, and went up stairs to see Sybil. + +"Still moping over that depressing book. Put it away, Sybil, and get on +your bonnet, and throw a thick veil over it, and come out with me for a +walk; we have to buy something for our voyage, you know," said Lyon, +cheerfully. + +Sybil with a sigh given to her fears, did as he requested her to do; and +the two went down stairs together. + +"Going out for a walk, I reckon, farmer?" inquired the landlord, who +stood at the bar-room door with a pipe in his mouth. + +"Aye, aye. You know these girls--when they find out that their pappies +have made a little bit of money, there is no peace till it's spent. My +girl is taking me out shopping, to buy gimcracks and things! I'll be +glad when I get her home again," grumbled Lyon. + +"Well, well, she's your onliest one, and you mustn't be hard on her. My +Rachel gets all she wants, and deserves it too. Dinner at two o'clock, +sharp, farmer." + +"Aye, aye! I know. Men o' my age never forget their dinners," said Lyon, +as he drew Sybil's arm within his own and led her out into the streets. + +They went only into the back streets, and the poor shops, and they +bought only what was strictly necessary for their voyage; and having +concluded their purchases, they returned to the inn in time for dinner. + +Sybil was very much depressed. She could not rally from the effect the +reading of that book had had upon her mind. She frequently repeated her +fervent aspiration: + +"Oh! that the ship would sail to-day!" + +Lyon encouraged her as much as he possibly could, but he had his own +private subject of anxiety. He had not of course told any one of his +intention to go abroad. Every one believed that, having sold out his +load, he would return home; but he was obliged to stay in the city +until the sailing of the ship, and he wanted a fair excuse to do so. + +That evening the weather changed, and the sky clouded over, and the next +morning it rained, and it continued to rain for three days. + +"This here will make them there roads so bad that we shan't be able to +travel for a week, even if it does clear up soon," grumbled and growled +the self-styled farmer, feeling glad all the while of an excuse to stay +until the ship should sail. + +"No, that you won't," echoed his friend the landlord, glad to retain a +guest with whom he was pleased. + +On the third day of the rain, the sky showing signs of clearing, Lyon +Berners went over to Portsmouth to hear at what precise time the +Enterprise would sail for Liverpool. When he returned he had good news +for Sybil. + +"The Ship will sail on Saturday! That is the day after to-morrow, dear +Sybil. And we may go on board to-morrow night." + +"Oh! I am so glad!" exclaimed Sybil, clapping her hands for joy. And she +began to pack up immediately. + +"Moreover, I have sold my wagon and horses to a party at Portsmouth. And +so we can put our luggage into it and drive off as if we were going +home; but we can go down to the river instead, and take it across in the +ferry-boat. Then I can have our effects put upon shipboard, and then +deliver the team to its purchaser and receive the price," added Lyon. + +"Oh, but I am so delighted with the bare fact of our getting away so +soon, that all things else seem of no account to me!" joyously exclaimed +Sybil, going on with her packing. + +The next morning Lyon went out alone to make a few more purchases for +their voyage. While he was going around, he also bought all the daily +papers that he could get hold of. He returned to Sybil at an early hour +of the forenoon. He found her sitting down in idleness. + +"Got entirely through packing, my darling?" he inquired cheerfully. + +"Oh, yes, and I have nothing on earth to do now. How long this last day +will seem! At what hour may we go on board, this evening?" + +"At sundown." + +"Oh, that it were now sundown! How shall we contrive to pass the time +until then?" + +"This will help us to pass the day, dear wife," he answered, laying the +pile of newspapers on the table between them. + +Each took up a paper and began to look over it. + +Lyon was deep in a political article, when a cry from Sybil startled +him. + +"What is the matter?" he inquired, in alarm. + +She did not answer. Her face was pale as ashes, and her eyes were +strained upon the paper. + +"What do you see there?" again inquired her husband. + +"Oh, Lyon! Lyon! we are lost! we are lost!" she cried in a voice of +agony. + +In great anxiety he took the paper from her hand, and read the paragraph +to which she pointed. It ran thus: + +"It is now certain that Sybil Berners, accused of the murder of Rosa +Blondelle, is not in Annapolis, as was falsely reported; but that she +has escaped in disguise, accompanied by her husband, who is also in +disguise; and that both are in the city of Norfolk." + +Now it was Lyon's turn to grow pallid with fear, not for himself, but +for one dearer to him than his own life. Still he tried to control his +emotions, or at least to conceal them from her. He compelled himself to +answer calmly: + +"Take courage, my darling! We are before them. In a few more hours we +shall be on board the ship." + +Her hands were clasped tightly together; her eyes were fixed steadily +upon his face; her own face was white as marble. + +"Oh, Lyon! save me! Oh, my husband, save me! You _know_ that I am +guiltless!" she prayed. + +"Dearest wife, I will lay down my life for you, if necessary! Be +comforted! See! it is now two o'clock! In two more hours we may be on +shipboard!" he said. + +"Let us go now! Let us go now!" she prayed, clasping her hands closely, +gazing in his eyes beseechingly. + +"Very well, we will go at once," he answered; and he took up his hat and +hurried down stairs. + +He told the landlord that, as the weather was now good, he thought he +would risk the roads, and try to make a half-day's journey that +afternoon, at least. And then, without waiting to hear the host's +expostulations, he just told him to make out the bill, and then he went +to the stables to put the horses to the wagon. + +In half an hour all was ready for their departure--the bill paid, the +wagon at the door, and the luggage piled into it. And Sybil and Lyon +took leave of their temporary acquaintances; and Lyon handed Sybil up +into her seat, climbed up after her, and started the horses at a brisk +trot for the ferry-boat. + +They reached Portsmouth in safety. Lyon drove down at once to the wharf, +engaged a rowboat, put Sybil and all their effects into it, and rowed +her across the water to where the Enterprise lay at anchor. + +"Now I'm safe!" exclaimed Sybil, with a sigh of infinite relief, as she +stepped upon the deck. + +The captain did not expect his passengers so soon, and he was busy; but +he came forward and welcomed them, and showed them into the cabin, +apologizing for its unready condition, consequent upon the bustle of +their preparations for sailing. + +Lyon left his wife in the Captain's care, and went back to the shore to +complete the sale of his wagon and horses. + +He was gone for nearly two hours, and when he returned he explained his +long absence by saying that, after all, the hoped-for purchaser had +refused to purchase, and that he had to leave his wagon and horses at a +stable in Portsmouth, and to retire to a restaurant and write a letter +to Captain Pendleton, and enclose an order for him to receive the +property on paying the livery. + +Sybil was satisfied--nay, she was delighted. In company with Lyon she +walked up and down the deck, looking so joyous that the men about the +place could but remark upon it as they gossipped with each other. + +The new voyagers took supper in the Captain's cabin, and afterwards +returned to the deck and remained on it until the sun set and the stars +came out. + +"Oh, this sense of release from danger! Oh, this delightful sense of +freedom! And the heavenly starlit sky, and the beautiful water, and the +delicious breeze. Oh, the world is so lovely! Oh, life and liberty is so +sweet, so sweet! Oh, dear Lyon, I am so happy! And I love you so much!" +she exclaimed, almost delirious with joy at her great deliverance. + +It was very late before Lyon could persuade her to leave the deck. + +"I am too happy to sleep," she continually answered. + +At length, however, he coaxed her to let him lead her to their +state-room. + +There, in the darkness and silence, she grew more composed, though not +less happy. And in a few minutes after she had laid down, she fell +asleep. + +She slept very soundly until morning, when she was awakened by the +cheerful chants of the sailors getting ready to make sail. + +She lay a little while enjoying the joyous sounds that spoke to her so +happily of liberty, and then she arose and dressed herself, and went up +on deck, leaving Lyon still asleep. + +The sun was just rising, and the harbor was beautiful. She walked about, +talking now to the captain, and now to one of the men, and exciting +wonder among them all, at her happiness. + +At length she was joined by her husband, who had waked up the moment she +had left him, and got up immediately, and dressed and followed her. + +"Oh, Lyon! is not this a beautiful morning? And the Captain says the +wind is fair, and we shall sail in half an hour!" was her greeting. + +And Lyon pressed her hand in silence. A great weight of anxiety lay upon +his heart; _he_ knew, if she did not, that she was not safe, even on +shipboard, until the ship should really sail. And now his eyes were +fixed upon a large rowboat that was rapidly crossing the water from the +shore to the ship. + +"Do you expect any more passengers?" he inquired of the Captain. + +"Oh, lots!" answered the latter. + +"Are those some of your passengers coming in the boat?" + +The Captain threw a hasty glance at the approaching object and answered +carelessly: + +"Of course they are! Don't you see they are making right for the ship?" + +The boat was very near. It was at the side of the ship. The oars were +drawn in. The passengers were climbing up to the deck. + +"They look like nice people! I am sure they will make it still +pleasanter for us on the voyage," said Sybil, who in her happy mood was +inclined to be delighted with every event. + +The Captain went to meet the new-comers. + +Two gentlemen of the party spoke for a moment with him, and then +advanced towards the spot where the husband and wife were standing. + +"They _are_ nice people," repeated Sybil, positively; but Lyon said +nothing; he was pale as ashes. The two gentlemen came up and stood +before Lyon and Sybil. The elder of the two took off his hat, and bowing +gravely, said to Sybil: + +"You are Mrs. Sybil Berners of Black Hall?" + +Then all at once an agony of terror took possession of her; her heart +sank, her brain reeled, her limbs tottered. + +"You are Mrs. Sybil Berners of Black Hall?" repeated the stranger, +drawing from his pocket a folded paper. + +"Yes," faltered Sybil, in a dying voice. + +"Then, Madam, I have a most painful duty to perform. Sybil Berners, you +are my prisoner," he said, and he laid his hand upon her shoulder. + +With an agonizing shriek she sprang from under his hand, and threw +herself into the arms of her husband, wildly crying: + +"Save me, Lyon! Oh! don't let them force me away! Save me, my husband! +Save me!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI. + + THE ARREST. + + + Had it pleased Heaven + To try me with affliction; had He rained + All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head; + Steeped me in poverty to the very lips; + I could have found in some part of my soul + A drop of patience; but alas, to make me + A fixed figure for the time of scorn + To point his slow, unmoving finger at!--SHAKESPEARE. + + +"Save me! Oh, save me!" she continued to cry, clinging wildly to her +husband's bosom. "Save me from this deep degradation! This degradation +worse than death!" + +And it is certain that if the immediate sacrifice of his own life could +have saved her, Lyon Berners would have willingly died for Sybil; or +even if the drowning of that law officer could have delivered her, he +would have incontinently pitched the man overboard; but as neither of +these violent-means could possibly have served her, he could only clasp +her closer to his heart, and consider what was to be done. + +At length he looked up at the sheriff's officer, and said: + +"I wish to have a word alone with my wife, if you will permit me." + +The man hesitated. + +"You can do it with perfect safety. We cannot possibly escape from this +ship, you know; and besides, you can keep us in sight," he added. + +Still the man hesitated, and at length inquired: + +"Why do you wish to speak with her alone?" + +"To try to soothe her spirits. I know it would be quite useless to tell +you how entirely innocent this lady is of the heinous crime imputed to +her; for even if you should believe her to be so, you would have to do +your duty all the same." + +"Yes, certainly; and a most distressing duty," put in the officer. + +"This arrest has come upon her so suddenly, and when she is so utterly +unprepared to meet it, that it has quite overcome her, as you see; but +leave her alone with me for a few minutes, and I will try to calm her +mind, and induce her to yield quietly to this necessity," added Lyon. + +"Well, sir, I am indeed very willing to do all in my power to make this +sad affair as little distressing to the lady as possible," answered the +officer as he touched his companion on the shoulder, and they both +walked off to some little distance. + +As their retreating steps sounded upon the deck, Sybil raised her head +from Lyon's breast and looked around with an expression half-frightened, +half-relieved, and murmured: + +"They are gone! They are gone!" + +Then clasping her husband suddenly around the neck, and gazing wildly +into his eyes, she exclaimed: + +"You can save me, Lyon, you can save me from this deep dishonor that no +Berners ever suffered before! There is but one way, Lyon, and there is +but one moment. You have a small penknife; but it is enough. Open it, +and strike it _here_, Lyon. One blow will be enough, if it is firmly +struck! Here--Lyon! here, strike here!" And she placed her hand on her +throat, under her ear, and gazed wildly, prayerfully in his face. + +"_Oh, Sybil!_" he groaned, in an agony of despairing love. + +"Quick! quick! Lyon! We have but this moment! Strike here now--now, this +instant! Strike first, and then kiss me! kiss me as I die!" + +"Sybil! Sybil, darling you wring my heart." + +"I am not afraid of death, Lyon; I am only afraid of shame. Kill me, to +save me, Lyon! Be a Roman husband. Slay your wife, to save her from +shame!" she cried, gazing on him with great bright dilated eyes, where +the fires of frenzy, if not of insanity, blazed. + +"My best beloved! my only beloved! there can be no shame where there is +no sin. I will save you, Sybil; I swear it by all my hopes of Heaven! I +do not yet see clearly how; but I will do it," he said, solemnly, and +pressing her again to his heart. + +"Do it this way! do it this way!" she wildly entreated, never removing +her frenzied eyes from his face. + +"No, not that way, Sybil. But listen: there are safe means--sinless +means that we may use for your deliverance. The journey back will be a +long one, broken up by many stoppages at small hamlets and roadside +inns. Escape from these will be comparatively easy. I have also about +me, in money and notes, some five thousand dollars. With those I can +purchase connivance or assistance. Besides, to farther our views, I +shall offer our wagon and horses, which luckily were not sold, but +remain at the livery-stable at Portsmouth--I shall offer them, I say, to +the officer for his use, and try to persuade him to take us down to +Blackville by that conveyance, which will be easier even for him, than +by the public stage coach. Take courage, dear Sybil, and take patience; +and above all, do not think of using any desperate means to escape this +trouble. But trust in Divine Providence. And now, dear Sybil, we must +not try the temper of these officers longer, especially as we have got +to leave the ship before it sails." + +And so saying, Lyon Berners beckoned the bailiffs to approach. + +"I hope the lady feels better," said the elder one. + +"She is more composed, and will go quietly," answered Mr. Berners. + +"Then the captain says we must be in a hurry. So if there is anything +you wish to have removed, you had better attend to it at once," said the +man. + +"I do not wish to leave the side of my wife for an instant; so if you +would be so kind as to speak to the captain and ask him to have our +luggage removed from our state-room and put upon the boat, I should feel +much obliged." + +Leaving his companion in charge of the prisoner, the senior officer went +forward and gave his message. And the captain, with a seaman-like +promptness, immediately executed the order. + +Then Sybil's hat and cloak were brought her from the cabin, and she put +them on and suffered herself to be led by her husband, and helped down +to the boat. The Sheriff's officers followed, and when all were seated, +the two boatmen laid to their oars, and the boat was rowed swiftly +towards shore. + +The husband and the wife sat side by side in the stern of the boat. His +arm was wound around her waist, and her head was resting on his +shoulder. No word was spoken between them in the presence of these +strangers; but he was silently giving her all the support in his power, +and she was really needing it all, for she was utterly overcome; not by +the terrors of imprisonment or death, but by something infinitely worse, +the horror of degradation. + +All this time too Lyon Berners was maturing in his own mind a plan for +her deliverance, which he was determined to begin to carry out as soon +as they should reach the shore. + +In a few minutes more the boat touched the wharf, and the party landed. + +"I must trouble you to take my arm, Mrs. Berners," said the Sheriff's +officer, drawing Sybil's hand under his elbow. + +She would have shrunk back, but Lyon looked at her significantly, and +she submitted. + +"Where do you mean to take us first?" inquired Mr. Berners, in a low +tone. + +"I wish to make this matter as little painful to this lady as the +circumstances will permit. So I shall take her for the present to a +hotel, where she must of course be carefully guarded. To-night we shall +start by the night coach for Staunton, en route for Blackville," +answered the elder officer, as with Sybil on his arm he led the way into +the town. Mr. Berners walked on the other side of his wife, and the +second officer followed close behind. + +"We thank you for your consideration, Mr.--Mr.--" began Lyon. + +"Purley," continued the elder officer. "My name is Purley." + +"I do not remember you among the officers of the Sheriff's staff, +however." + +"No; I am a new appointment. I must tell you, sir, that so strong was +the feeling of sympathy for this lady, that not one of the bailiffs +could be induced to serve the warrant; they resigned one after another." + +"They all knew Sybil from her childhood up. I thank them, and will take +care that they shall lose nothing in resigning their positions for her +sake," said Lyon Berners with much warmth, while Sybil's heavy heart +swelled with gratitude. + +"And to tell the whole truth, had I known this lady, I should have felt +the same reluctance to serving this warrant that was experienced by my +predecessors in office." + +"I can well believe you," answered Mr. Berners, gravely. + +"Now, however, having undertaken the painful duty, I must discharge it +faithfully," added the officer. + +"Yes, Mr. Purley, but gently and considerately, I know. You will inflict +as little of unmerited mortification as may be consistent with your +duty." + +"Heaven knows I will." + +"Then I have a plan to propose, and a favor to ask of you." + +"If I can gratify you with safety to the custody of my charge, I will do +so; but here we are at the hotel now, and you had better wait until we +get into a private sitting-room. The people of the place need not know +that we are officers in charge of an accused party; but may be left to +suppose that we are ordinary travellers." + +"Oh, I thank you for that!" exclaimed Mr. Berners, warmly. + +They entered the hotel, a second-class house in a cross street, where +the elder officer asked for a private sitting-room, to which they were +immediately shown. + +As soon as the four were seated, Mr. Berners turned to the elder officer +and broached his plan. + +"You spoke of taking the night coach for Staunton. Now, if another +conveyance could be found--a private conveyance that would be more +comfortable for all parties, and would also be entirely under your own +control--would you not be willing that we should travel by it?" + +"Oh! if you are able and willing to furnish a private conveyance for the +journey, and place it as you say at my own exclusive orders, I shall be +happy to take the lady down that way, rather than expose her in a public +stage coach." + +"Thanks. I have a wagon and horses here at livery. They can be put to +use at a few minutes' notice. So, if you prefer, you can start at once +upon this journey, and make some twenty-five or thirty miles before +night." + +"Let us see the team first, and then we shall be able to judge," said +the officer. + +And after a few minutes' conversation it was arranged that Sybil should +be left in charge of the second officer, and that Mr. Purley should go +with Mr. Berners to the livery stable to look at the horses and wagon. +These two went out together, and Purley took the precaution to lock the +door and put the key in his pocket. + +"Why have you done that?" inquired Lyon, reproachfully. + +"Because women are irrational and impulsive. I have always found them +so! She might suddenly cut and run; and although it wouldn't be a bit +of use, you know, because she would be sure to be retaken in an hour or +less time; yet, you see, it would cause a fuss, and be very unpleasant +to me and you and her and everybody." + +"I see," said Mr. Berners, with a sigh, acknowledging the truth of the +position. + +Meanwhile Sybil sat, absorbed in despair, and guarded by the second +officer. Suddenly she heard her name softly murmured, and she looked up. +The young bailiff stood before her. He was a sturdy looking young +fellow, swarthy skinned, black haired, and black bearded. + +"Miss Sybil, don't you know me? I beg your pardon! Mrs. Berners, don't +you know me?" he inquired in a low tone, as if fearful of being heard. + +Sybil looked at him in surprise, and answered hesitatingly: + +"N-no. + +"You forget people that you have been good to; but they don't forget +you. Try to recollect me, Miss Sybil--Mrs. Berners." + +"Your face seems familiar; but--" + +"But you don't recollect it? Well, may be you may remember names better +than faces. Have you any memory of a poor boy you used to help, named +Bob Munson?" + +"Bob Munson--oh, is it you? I know you now. But it has been so long +since I saw you!" eagerly exclaimed Sybil. + +"Eight years, Mrs. Berners; and I have been fighting the Indians on the +frontier all that time. But I got my discharge, and came back with +Captain Pendleton. You know it was him as I went out with, when he was a +third lieutenant in the infantry. I 'listed out of liking for him, and +we was together from one fort to another all these years, until Captain +Pendleton got a long leave, and come home. I couldn't get leave, but the +Captain got my discharge. And when he goes back to his regiment, I mean +to enlist again and go with him." + +"But how came you to be a sheriff's officer? and oh, above all, how +_could_ you come to take _me?_" reproachfully inquired Sybil. + +"Oh, Miss--I mean, Madam,--can't you guess in your heart? When all the +bailiffs throwed up their places rather than serve a warrant on you, and +Mr. Purley, who was a stranger, got an appointment and kept it, they +wanted another man. And then my captain said to me, 'Munson, apply for +the place; I will back you. And then if you get it, you will have an +opportunity of serving, and perhaps freeing, Mrs. Berners.' And a great +deal more he said, to the same purpose, Ma'am; and so I did apply for +the situation, and got it. And now, Madam, I am here to help you with my +life, if necessary," added the young man, ardently. + +"Give me your hand. God bless you, Bob! Help me all you can. I _ought_ +to be helped, for I am innocent," said Sybil, earnestly. + +"Don't I know it? Don't everybody with any sense know it? Don't even old +Purley know it, ever since he first clapped eyes on your face?" + +"Heaven grant that all may soon!" prayed Sybil. + +"They will be sure to, Miss--I mean Madam." + +"Bob tell me: how was it that we were found out?" + +"Well, you see, Miss--Ma'am--when you were at Dunville, where you was +said to have staid all night, there was a fellow there who had a habit +for which he ought to be hung--of looking through the key-holes and +watching ladies when they thought themselves unseen. And this fellow saw +you take off your red wig." + +"And so discovered and denounced me?" + +"No, he didn't, Ma'am; he didn't even suspect who you was. He took you +for a circus woman. And as for reporting what he had seen to anybody in +that house, it would have been as much as his life was worth. Old +Colonel Purley--he's a uncle of our bailiff--old Colonel Purley would +have peeled the skin offen his body, if he had a-known he had done such +a mean thing in his tavern." + +"Then how--" + +"I'll tell you, Ma'am. It was this way. That fellow which, his name was +Batkin, was on his way to Blackville. And all along the road he kept +telling the yarn about the beautiful black-haired young lady he had +seen, and who had disfigured herself by wearing of a red wig; and of +course he raised suspicions there. And when he was questioned farther, +he described the wagon and horses, and the man and the woman, so +accurately that the authorities thought it worth while to take the +description down; and old Purley has it in his pocket along with the +warrant. And then, as I told you, the bailiffs all resigned rather than +go after you; and old Purley had to be appointed. And I applied, and got +appointed too, only to help you!" + +"Heaven reward you for the kind thought! But, Bob, there were some of +the old set found who were willing to take me; for they went to +Annapolis after me, armed with warrant for my arrest." + +"Yes; them two: Smith and Jones! Sink 'em! I've swore a oath to thrash +'em both within an inch of their lives the first time I set eyes on +them! Well, they didn't find you, Satan burn 'em! that's one comfort." + +"How was it that you found us?" + +"Oh, Miss Sybil--Mrs. Berners, I should say--we did it easy when we once +had got the clue. We went first to Dunville to inquire after the +gray-bearded man and his red-headed daughter, and we learned the road +you had taken, and followed you from stage to stage until we got to +Norfolk. There we inquired in the neighborhood of the market, and found +where you had put up. Then, at the 'Farmers' Hotel,' we were told, you +had left for home that afternoon. Of course we knew _that_ was a ruse. +We knew that if you had left, it was for the deck of some outward bound +ship. So we inquired, and found out that the Enterprise was to sail in +the morning. And we staid at this house all night, and boarded the ship +this morning as you saw." + +"Oh, Bob! if you could have delayed for a half hour, the ship would have +sailed, and I should have been free!" sighed Sybil. + +"I did all I could to make a delay. I put laudanum in his coffee last +night. I was afraid to put in too much for fear of killing him, so I +suppose I didn't put in enough, for he laid wide awake all night." + +"Ah, yes! that would be the effect of an under-dose of laudanum." + +"Well then, Ma'am, I put back our watches a whole hour. But, bless you, +he didn't go by the watches, he went by the sun; and as soon as it was +light he was up, and he sent me down to order an early breakfast. And +then I got a chance to put laudanum in his coffee again, and this time I +overdid it and put in too much, for he tasted something wrong, and he +said it was vile stuff, and he wouldn't drink it! No, Miss--Ma'am, I +didn't neglect no means to let you get clean off. But you see it was no +go this time; and I had to help old Purley to arrest you. I'm glad you +didn't know me, hows'ever. And I would advise you not to know me at all +whenever old Purley is about. Keep dark, Miss Sybil, and I'll find a way +to get you off. I haven't been hiding and seeking and hunting among the +red-skins these eight years for nothing. Hish-sh! Here they come," +whispered Bob Munson, creeping away to the other end of the room, and +putting himself on guard. + +The elder officer unlocked the door, and entered, followed by Mr. +Berners. He announced that the wagon was at the door, and that they +were ready to start on the return journey. And then Purley gave his arm +to Sybil, and led her to the wagon, and placed her on the back seat, +while Mr. Berners and Bob Munson lingered behind, the former to gather +up Sybil's little personal effects, and the latter to settle the hotel +bill. But there was no opportunity, among the crowd of guests and +servants, for Munson to make his friendly intentions known to Mr. +Berners by any other means than a significant look and a pressure of the +hand, which Lyon Berners could not more than half understand. He felt, +however, that in his younger officer he and his unhappy wife had a +friend. They went out together, followed closely by the hostler, who +wanted his own fee; but both Mr. Berners and Bob Munson were too much +annoyed by his presence to feel like rewarding his attendance. + +Lyon Berners mounted to the seat beside his wife, and Bob Munson to that +beside Purley, who held the reins. And in this manner they set out on +their return journey. + +They crossed the ferry without attracting particular attention. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII. + + A DESPERATE VENTURE + + + I have set my life upon a cast. + And I will stand the hazard of the die.--SHAKESPEARE. + + +It was yet so early in the morning that they drove ten miles out to a +small village on the road before they thought of breakfast. There Mr. +Berners reminded the officer in charge that Sybil had not yet broken her +fast. Whereupon Purley drew up before the one little tavern of the +place, alighted, and assisted his charge to alight, and then keeping +fast hold of her arm, led her into the house, and ordered breakfast. + +While the meal was being got ready he kept his party of four well +together in the sitting-room where they waited. And as soon as breakfast +was over, they all reentered the wagon and resumed their journey. They +travelled twenty miles before stopping to dine at a lonely roadside +tavern, where again Purley watched his charge with such vigilance that +she had no opportunity to speak privately either to her husband or their +friend. Still she hoped this opportunity would be afforded when they +should stop for the night. After an hour's rest they went on again, +travelling with moderate haste all the afternoon. They made fifteen more +miles before sunset, and then, having driven forty-five miles that day, +and finding their horses very tired, they determined to put up for the +night at a small hamlet, whose comfortable little hotel promised rest +and refreshment. + +Still Purley kept close to his charge. They all had supper in a private +sitting-room. And when that meal was over and the hour for retirement +arrived, Purley himself accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Berners to their +bedroom to see that it was secure. It was a front chamber, on the upper +floor, with two front windows overlooking the village street, and but +one door, which opened upon the passage. + +"That is all safe," said Purley, casting a glance around. "So I may +leave you two alone here together, where no doubt, you are glad enough +to be. But I'm sorry to say I must turn the key on you; not that I have +any right to lock you up, sir, without your consent; but of course you +_will_ consent to that, for the sake of staying with your wife." + +"Of course I will; and thank you for the privilege," answered Mr. +Berners. + +"All right then. Good-night to you both," said Purley, closing and +locking the door, and withdrawing the key. + +And then he took a farther precaution for the security of his charge, by +ordering a mattress to be brought and laid down before that chamber +door. And there he and his companion stretched themselves to rest like a +pair of watch dogs. + +As soon as Sybil found herself alone with her husband, she beckoned him +to that end of the room which was farthest from the door, and when he +was close beside her she whispered in the lowest tone: + +"Did you observe anything peculiar in the manner of that younger +bailiff?" + +"I observed that he tried to attract my particular attention whenever we +happened to be unnoticed for a moment. But as we were so very closely +watched I had no opportunity of asking, or he of telling, what he +meant," said Lyon Berners. + +"Then I will tell you all about it. When Mr. Purley went away with you, +and left that young man guarding me, the first thing he did was to make +himself known to me, and to place himself at my service even to the +death!" + +"Who was he?" + +"Robert Munson; a boy that I was so fortunate as to be kind to in his +childhood and mine. Afterwards he was a private soldier in Captain +Pendleton's company, and served under him for eight years, fighting the +Indians on the frontier. At Captain Pendleton's suggestion, and with his +own hearty free will, he volunteered for this service of pursuing me, +only that he might more effectually try to free me." + +"Sybil, what are you saying? Have we a friend in one of our captors?" +exclaimed Lyon, in astonishment. + +"Yes; a friend who will serve us to the death! Listen, dear Lyon, and I +will tell you all about it," answered Sybil. + +And she commenced, and related all the circumstances of her acquaintance +with Robert Munson; of his motives for entering upon his present +avocation, and of his discovery of himself to her in the hotel at +Portsmouth. + +"Now may heaven grant that some day I may have an opportunity of +rewarding that good fellow for his willing service, whether it ever +avail us or not," said Lyon Berners, earnestly. + +"But dear Lyon, we must be very careful not to betray by any word or +look that we have any acquaintance, much less understanding, with +Munson, for to do so would be to ruin our only chance of escape," said +Sybil. + +"Of course! of course! I understand that perfectly well!" + +"But watch your opportunity, and when you feel it to be perfectly safe, +communicate with Robert Munson. + +"I understand, dear Sybil, and I shall be very prudent and very +vigilant," answered Mr. Berners. + +And then they retired to rest. + +Very early the next morning they were aroused by their keeper who never +left his post at their door until he saw them come out of their room. +And then he drew Mrs. Berner's arm within his own and led her down to +breakfast. + +After breakfast they resumed their journey. + +This first day and night on the road was a type of all that followed. +The bailiff Purley never lost sight of his charge except at night, and +then he first assured himself that her room was a secure prison, from +which it would be impossible for her to escape; and then, to make +assurance doubly sure, he always locked the door on the outside, put the +key into his pocket, and stretched himself on a mattress across the +threshold. + +There was no opportunity afforded to Sybil, Lyon and their new friend to +speak together in private; and as day followed day and night succeeded +night in this hopeless manner, their spirits fell from despondency even +to despair. + +But as it is said to be darkest just before dawn, and that when things +are at their worst they are sure to mend, so it proved in their case. + +On the evening of the fourth day of their tedious journey, they stopped +to sup and sleep at a lonely farm-house, where for "a consideration," +the poor farmer consented, whenever he got the chance, to entertain +travellers. + +Here their wagon and horses were comfortably stabled, and themselves +were lodged and feasted. + +Here, as usual after supper, Mr. Purley accompanied his charge to her +bedroom, which, to his perplexity, he found to have two doors; the one +opening upon the upper hall, and the other communicating with an +adjoining vacant chamber. + +After some consideration, he solved the difficulty of guarding his +prisoner by saying to his assistant: + +"Well, Munson, all that can be done is this: one of us will have to +sleep across one door, and the other across the other. And as I hav'n't +slept in a room for three nights, I reckon I'll take the vacant room, +and you may take the hall. But mind, don't forget to draw the key out of +the door when you lock it, and put it into your pocket. And mind also, +to be sure to pull your mattress quite up to the door and lay directly +across it, so that if the lock should be picked, no one can pass without +going right over your own body; and, last of all, mind to sleep only +with one eye open, or all the other precautions will be of no use at +all." + +"I will be very careful, sir," answered young Bailiff Munson, touching +his hat to his superior officer in military style. + +"And now, as your legs are younger than mine, I wish you would run down +stairs and ask the farmer to send me up a mug of that home-brewed bitter +beer he was talking about." + +"Yes, sir," answered the young bailiff starting off with alacrity, while +the elder remained on guard at the door of his charge. + +In five minutes or less time, Munson returned with a quart measure of +the "home-brewed," which he handed to Purley. + +"Souls and bodies! but it is bitter, sure enough! I have heard of bitter +beer, but this beats all for bitterness that ever I tasted! However, the +bitterer the better, I suppose; and this is really refreshing," said +Purley, as he drained the mug, and handed it empty to a negro boy, who +had just brought in and laid down the mattress upon which Munson was to +sleep. + +Munson smiled to himself. + +Then Purley reiterated all his cautions for the careful guarding of his +charge, and at length bade his comrade good-night, and retired to the +vacant chamber, to guard the door on that side. + +Munson drew his mattress across the hall-door as he had been directed to +do, and laid himself down in all his clothes--not to sleep, but to +listen and watch until the house should grow quiet; for on this night he +was resolved to effect the deliverance of Sybil, or perish in the +attempt. + +Meanwhile Mr. and Mrs. Berners had retired to their chamber--not to +rest, but to wait for events; for on this night a sure presentiment +informed them that Robert Munson, on guard there at their outer door, +would be sure to use his opportunities for attempting a rescue. So they +quietly cooeperated with what they divined to be his intentions. + +First Sybil went and hung a towel over the knob of the lock, so as to +darken the key-hole of the door guarded by Purley. Then she slipped the +bolt, saying: + +"He may guard us if he must, but he shall neither look in upon us, nor +intrude upon us, if I can help it." + +And then, instead of undressing for bed, they did the opposite thing, +and quietly dressed for an escape. And lastly, they concealed their +money and jewels about their persons, and threw a few of the most +necessary articles for their journey into one travelling bag, and then +sat down to listen and watch on the inside, as their friend was +listening and watching on the outside. + +Then they heard Purley arranging and re-arranging his bed against his +door, and tumbling down upon it, like a man utterly overcome by fatigue +and drowsiness; after which all was silent, until the stertorous +breathing of the bailiff assured them of the depth of his sleep. After +that, not a sound was heard in the house. Lyon looked at his watch. It +was but nine o'clock, though the whole house was at rest. In these +remote country places, people go to roost with the fowls, or very soon +after. + +Still for another hour of silent, breathless suspense they waited; and +then they heard a faint tapping on the door that was guarded by Munson. + +Mr. Berners went up, and tapped gently in response. + +"Hist!" breathed the voice from without, through the key-hole. + +"Well!" murmured Lyon, through the same channel. + +"Take some of the melted tallow on the top of your candle, and grease +the key-hole as well as you can, and then I will come in and talk to +you, if you will let me." + +"Thanks; yes." + +And Mr. Berners did as he was requested to do, and Munson slipped his +key into the lubricated key-hole, and silently unlocked the door. + +"Oh, our deliverer!" fervently exclaimed Sybil, as he softly entered the +room and closed the door behind him, holding up his finger in warning to +them to be silent. + +"And now sit close for a few minutes, while I tell you what I have done +and am going to do," said Munson, drawing a stool and sitting himself +upon it, before Mr. and Mrs. Berners. + +"Go on," muttered Lyon, fervently pressing the hand of his friend. + +"Oh, yes, go on, dear Bob!" eagerly whispered Sybil. + +"First I put nearly half an ounce of laudanum in old Purley's bitter +beer, which made him think it so uncommon prime and bitter, that he +drank the whole quart." + +"Good heaven! Munson, you have killed the man!" said Lyon, in dismay. + +"No, I have only doubled the dose I gave him before, which took no +effect on him, so this will only put him to sleep for twelve hours or +so. Lord, listen how he snores! A thunderstorm wouldn't wake him." + +"Well?" + +"Next, as soon as he was asleep, I went into his room in my +stocking-feet, and closed all the solid wooden shutters, to make him +believe it is still night when he does awake and feel drowsy, as he will +be sure to feel, so that he shall go to sleep again, and sleep until +evening, and that will give you nearly twenty-four hours start of him." + +"Right! Quite right," said Mr. Berners. + +"Well, well; but go on, dear Bob," impatiently murmured Sybil. + +"I locked his door on the outside, and took away the key, to make the +farmer or any of the family, if they should go into his room to see why +he slept so long, think that he had locked himself in. For the rest I +shall stay here and pretend to sleep very late myself. In fact I shall +sleep until they wake me up, and then I shall be very angry, and tell +them they had better not play that game on Mr. Purley, as he would be in +a fury if his rest should be broken. And so I will guard these two rooms +from intrusion, and your escape from being discovered, as long as I +possibly can." + +"But when it shall be discovered, my poor fellow, will you not get +yourself into trouble?" inquired Lyon. + +"Even if I should, what will my trouble be to this lady's? But at worst +I shall only be cussed by old Purley, and turned out of my place by the +sheriff; and as I'm used to being cussed, and don't like my place, it +don't matter." + +"And in any case, you shall be well rewarded, dear Bob. Not that such a +service as you are about to render us _can_ ever be adequately rewarded; +but, as far as--" + +"Oh, dear Madam, don't speak of reward! I owe you a debt of gratitude, +which I am glad to pay. I have told you what I _have_ done, and what I +shall do, to relieve you of anxiety; and now we had better quietly leave +the house. Are you ready?" inquired Munson. + +"We have been quite ready for these two hours, in anticipation of your +help." + +"Come, then; but come very silently, though there is not the slightest +danger, either, of our being heard. The farmer is a beer swiller, and +sleeps heavily, and his women folks all sleep up in the garret. I saw +them all go up myself; they passed with their candle, as I lay on the +pallet," whispered Munson, as he quietly led the way out into the hall +and softly closed and locked the door, and withdrew the key. + +"It is just as well to do this, to guard against the chance of any one +opening the door while I am gone," he added, as he softly preceded the +party down the stairs. + +He silently opened the front door, and they passed out into the free +air. + +A watch-dog that lay upon the mat outside got up and wagged his tail, +and laid down again, as if to express his willingness that any inmate +might leave the house who wished to do so, though no stranger should +enter it except over his dead body. + +"Sensible dog!" said Munson, as with more precaution he closed and +locked the outer door, and took that key also with him. + +"You must not attempt to escape with your wagon; but must ride your +horses, which will be much more efficacious both for swiftness and for +their ability to go through places where you could not take a wagon," +said Munson, as they walked across the farm-yard. + +But when they drew near the stable, they were set upon by a couple of +watch-dogs, who, barking furiously, barred their farther progress. + +"There is no other way!" exclaimed Munson, and drawing a double +barrelled pistol from his pocket, he shot one dog dead, while the other +ran howling away. + +Then with some difficulty they forced the door, and while Lyon remained +on the outside with Sybil, young Munson entered the stable and led out +their two horses. + +"Here are several bridles, and here is one side-saddle, which will suit +Mrs. Berners, if you have no scruple about borrowing them," suggested +Munson. + +"I should have no scruple about borrowing anything from anybody to aid +my wife's escape. Besides, there is my wagon more than double the value +of the things that we require; I will leave that in pledge," said Mr. +Berners. + +"Just so," assented Munson. + +And all this time he had been arranging the side-saddle and bridle upon +Sybil's horse. As soon as it was ready Mr. Berners came around to lift +his wife into her seat. + +"One moment, dear Lyon," said Sybil, pausing to adjust her dress. + +While she did so, Munson again spoke to Mr. Berners. + +"You have your pocket compass?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I advise you to use it as soon as it is light, to direct your +course. And do not go toward the east, for old Purley will pursue you in +that direction, under the impression that you will try to reach another +seaport town, and get off in a ship. But make for the interior, for the +West, and get away as fast and as far as you can. Be careful to keep as +much as possible in the woods, even though your progress should be +slower through them than it would be in the open country. And now excuse +my presuming to give you so much counsel; but you know I have been upon +the war path, out among the red-skins, and am up to hunting and +flying." + +"I thank you--we both thank you from the depths of our souls. And we +pray that the day may come when we shall be able to prove our +gratitude," said Lyon, earnestly. + +"Never mind that! But put madam into her seat. She is ready now; and, +indeed, the sooner you are off the better," answered Munson. + +Mr. Berners advanced towards Sybil, when the whole party was stopped by +a terrible event. + +"No you don't, you infernal villain! I have caught you, have I? Stand!" +exclaimed a voice of thunder, and the stout farmer stood before them, at +the head of all his negroes, and with a loaded musket in his hand! + +Like lightning young Munson threw himself before Sybil, drew a pistol +from his breast, and levelled it straight at the heart of their +opponent, exclaiming: + +"Out of the way, you devil! and let her pass. Out of the way this +instant, or, by my life, I will kill you! I will! I will kill you, and +hang for her sake!" + +The man raised his musket, and aimed it at the head of him whose hand +pointed the pistol to his own heart. And thus, like two duellists, they +stood fatally eyeing each other! + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII. + + A FATAL CRISIS. + + + Each at the life + Levelled his deadly aim; their fatal hands + No second stroke intended.--MILTON. + + +"Hold! on your lives!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, rushing between the +opponents, and with swift hands striking up the pistol of Robert Munson, +and turning aside the musket of Farmer Nye. "Would you shed each +other's blood so recklessly? Here is some mistake. Farmer, whom did you +take us for?" + +"Who did I take you for, is it? For that cornsarned band of robbers as +have been mislesting the country for miles round this month past." + +"Robbers?" + +"Yes, robbers! as has been tarryfying the whole country side ever since +Hollow Eve!" + +"I never heard of them." + +"May be you didn't, but I took you for them all the same." + +"And aimed your musket at that lady! And might have shot her dead, had +not this brave man thrown himself before her, with a loaded pistol in +his hand, levelled at your heart." + +"How did I know it was a lady? How could I see in this dim light? I took +her for one of you, and I took you all for robbers," said the farmer, +sulkily. + +"Well, you see who we are now?" + +"Yes; I see as you are my new lodgers. Though why you should be out here +at the stables after your beasts at this hour of the night, and wake me +up with a row; or should take my darter's side-saddle, and kill my +watch-dog, blame you, I _don't_ see!" growled the farmer. + +"Come, walk aside with me for a few minutes, and I will show you why," +said Mr. Berners, soothingly laying his hand on the farmer's shoulder. + +"Hands off, if you please! No! I don't think as I _will_ walk aside with +you. You might do me a mischief." + +"Bosh! you are armed, and I am unarmed. How can I harm you? Come, and I +will tell you something to your advantage," coaxed Mr. Berners. + +Partly urged by curiosity and partly by interest, Farmer Nye reluctantly +consented to follow where Mr. Berners led him. When they had passed out +of hearing of the negroes Mr. Berners stopped, and turned to his host, +and said: + +"You know who we are?" + +"I know you are my new lodgers--that's all I know about you." + +"Yet you must have observed something out of the common about our +party?" + +"Yes; I took notice as you and your wife must have been dreadful 'fraid +of being robbed and murdered on your journey, when you kept two men to +travel with you, and guard you all day long, and sleep outside of your +doors like watch-dogs all night long. Which me and my darter made it out +between us as you must have lots of money with you to make you so +cautious. And which, if we had known you was going to be so mistrustful +of _us_, we'd have seen you farther before we'd have took you in." + +"And so that is the way in which _you_ accounted for matters and things +that you couldn't understand?" + +"To be sure it was; and very natural too." + +"Shall I tell him the whole truth?" inquired Lyon Berners of himself. "I +will sound him first," he concluded. Then speaking up, he said: + +"Well, you cannot blame people for being cautious, after that horrible +murder at Black Hall." + +"That's so too," admitted the farmer. + +"And yet," added Mr. Berners, "they _do_ say that it was no robber that +did that murder, but the lady of the house who did it." + +"The lady of the house!" indignantly echoed the farmer, to Lyon's great +astonishment. "Don't you go to say that; for if you do, devil burn me if +I don't knock you down with the butt end of my gun!" + +"I do not say it. I only tell you what other people say." + +"They lie! the hounds! And I wish I could meet any of them venomous +backbiters face to face. Satan fly away with me if I wouldn't tear +their false tongues out of their throats, and throw them to the dogs! +_You_ don't mean to say you believe she did it?" fiercely demanded +Sybil's rough champion. + +"No; Heaven knows I do not! I believe her to be as guiltless as an +angel." + +"I'm glad to hear you say that! I don't want to pitch into an unarmed +man, but I should a' been strongly tempted to 'a done it if you'd said +anything else." + +"You know this injured lady, then?" + +"Yes; I have knowed her ever since she was a little gal. Not as ever I +met her face to face in my life, but I know her as every poor man and +poor child and poor brute in the whole country knows her: as the +kindest, gentlest, tenderest-hearted lady in the whole world--she who +has been known to take the fur cloak off her own back, and lay it over +the form of a sick beggar, while she went home in the cold to send her +warm blankets. Yes, and known to have done scores of deeds as good and +self-sacrificing as that. _She_ do the thing they accuse her of! Why, +sir, she no more did it than I, or you, or your own sweet wife did it! +And Satan burn _me_! when I hear of any man accusing her of it, if I +don't feel just like knocking his dull brains out, and taking the +consequences--that I do!" swore the farmer. + +"I will trust him," said Lyon Berners to himself. + +--"And to think that men who call themselves law officers, not to say +Christians, should hunt that lovely lady through the country as if she +was some wild beast or highway robber! I wish one of them hunters was to +come my way. I'm blowed to flinders if I wouldn't set my whole pack of +dogs on 'em till they would be torn to pieces. I'd give 'em hunting! But +excuse _me_, Mr.--Mr.--What's-your-name; I've gone away from the pint, +which I always do fly off at a tangent and lose my bearings whenever I +hear that lady accused. Now, sir, what had you to tell me to my +advantage?" inquired the farmer, drawing a handkerchief from his pocket +and wiping his heated face. + +"I will tell him all," said Lyon Berners to himself; and then he spoke +up: + +"First, good friend, let me assure you that you have not wandered a +hair's breadth from the point at issue between us." + +"Oh yes, I have; for I have been raving about Mrs. Berners; but I +couldn't help it." + +"Mrs. Berners is the lady who is with me," said Mr. Berners. + +Farmer Nye jumped three feet from the ground and came down again like a +man that was shot, and then stood with open mouth and eyes staring at +the speaker. + +"I am her husband, and the men who are guarding us are the officers who +have her in custody." + +"WHAT? Say that again!" uttered the farmer, panting for breath. + +Mr. Berners repeated all that he had said, adding: + +"I had got her away from this neighborhood, and on shipboard. And she +was rejoicing in her supposed safety and freedom, for the ship was +within a half hour of sailing, when these officers came on board with a +warrant and arrested her." + +"THEY DID! Wait till I get my niggers together. The boys will want no +better fun than to tar and feather them devils, and set them afire and +turn 'em loose. And blame me if I don't give the best feather-bed in my +house to the service. Come along," exclaimed the farmer, starting off to +commence the work. + +"Stop!" said Lyon Berners, laying his hand soothingly upon the shoulder +of the excited man. "Above all, you wish to serve my unhappy wife, do you +not!" + +"Yes! with my 'life, and fortune, and sacred honor' as the Declaration +of Independence says." + +"Then you can not serve her by any violence done to the officers, who +are only doing their duty." + +"Doing their duty! Duty! That's a matter of opinion! I consider I should +be doing of _my_ duty if I was to order my niggers to take 'em out and +tar and feather 'em. Yes, and set 'em afire afterwards--burn 'em!" + +"Yes; but that would be doing a great injustice to them, and also a +great injury to Mrs. Berners. If you really wish to serve my dear wife, +you can do so by helping her to escape." + +"I'll help her to escape, with all my heart and soul! And with all my +heart and soul I'll shoot down anybody that dares to start from here in +pursuit of her!" emphatically declared the farmer. + +"That is not necessary. You can cover our retreat by more peaceable +means. And now I must advise you that both these officers have used us +with the greatest kindness and consideration, concealing our identity +and shielding us from the curiosity and intrusion of strangers, whenever +they could do so, as is proved by your own experience, for you had no +suspicion as to who we might be." + +"No, that I hadn't! And a good thing I hadn't too! for if I'd a known +that lady had a been kept a prisoner here in my house, I'd a pitched her +jailers neck and heels out o' the windows, and then set the dogs on +'em!" + +"But that would have been very unjust to them, and injurious to the lady +you wish to befriend. And especially it would have been the very +greatest injustice to the younger officer, who has been our partisan +from the first." + +"Eh! what? One of them jailers your partisan?" + +"Yes; let me explain," said Mr. Berners. And he commenced and detailed +all the circumstances of their acquaintance and relations with Robert +Munson. + +"And so, out of gratitude for the kindness this lady showed him in his +childhood, he got himself put on this service o' purpose to watch his +opportunity of reskying her." + +"Just so." + +"Well, he's an honest fellow, that he is!" said the farmer, approvingly. + +"Now, Mr. Nye, all you have to do, if you wish to help us, is just to +let us go free. When we are gone, keep the house quiet, and let the +elder officer sleep as long as possible, for the longer he sleeps the +farther we shall get away from pursuit." + +"I'll lock him up and keep him prisoner for a month, if necessary." + +"But it is not necessary. A day's start is all that we shall need, and +that, I think, you can secure to us, by simply letting the man sleep as +long as he will. And furthermore, I may ask you to be cautious and not +to betray our friend Robert Munson's agency in our escape." + +"I'll protect Robert Munson with my life." + +"A thousand thanks! And now, as we understand each other, let us go on +to my wife, who is anxiously waiting the issue of this interview," said +Lyon Berners, turning and leading the way towards the stables. + +"Now, squire, you may rely upon me, and rest easy in your mind. You +sha'n't be followed in less than twenty-four hours," said the farmer, as +they went along. + +"Again I thank you from my heart. And now I have something else to say +to you," began Lyon Berners + +Then he paused, as finding a real difficulty in saying what he wished; +for the truth is, that when Mr. Berners had called Mr. Nye aside for a +private interview, he had intended to offer him a heavy bribe to connive +at the escape of Sybil. + +Now, however, he found the farmer not exactly the sort of man to affront +with the proffer of a bribe, or even scarcely of a reward; and yet he +was a poor man who evidently needed money, and would probably always +need it; for Farmer Nye, as has been shown in his championship of Sybil, +was a man of impetuous emotions, hasty judgments, and reckless actions, +and was always sure to be in troubles, social, domestic, and pecuniary. + +So Mr. Berners, while wishing to reward his services, felt a difficulty +as to the manner of doing so. + +At length, however, he continued: + +"Mr. Nye, I said at the beginning of our talk, that I could tell you +something to your advantage." + +"Well, and, bless my soul alive, haven't you done it? I wonder if I +could hear of anything more to my advantage than the chance of helping +to resky that lady as I have felt for so much?" warmly inquired the +farmer. + +"You have a generous and noble nature to look upon it in that light." + +"No, I haven't; but I'm a man, I reckon, and not a beast nor a devil, +and that's all about it." + +"Well, farmer, I confess that when I first spoke to you, I thought of +offering you a heavy bribe to allow us to go free, and that was what I +meant when I said I had something to propose to your advantage." + +"Then I'm glad you didn't do it--that's all." + +"I am glad too, for now I know your magnanimous heart would have led you +to serve us without reward, and even at great loss." + +"Yes, that it would," naively assented the farmer. + +"And even so we accept and shall ever be grateful for your services," +added Lyon Berners, gravely. And all the while he was slily examining +the contents of his pocketbook. At length he drew a five hundred dollar +note from the compartment in which he knew he kept notes of that +denomination, and he slipped it into a blank envelope, and held it ready +in his hand. + +In another moment they were at the stable door, before which Sybil +stood, leaning on the bowed neck of her own horse, while Robert Munson +held the other horse. + +Before Lyon Berners could speak, Farmer Nye impetuously pushed past him, +and rushed up to Sybil, pulled off his hat and put out his hand, +exclaiming: + +"Give me your hand, lady. I beg your pardon ten thousand times over for +all I said and did to affront you, not knowing who you was. But now, +lady, here is a man who don't _believe_ you to be innocent, because he +_knows_ that you are so, and who will fight for you as long as he has +got a whole bone left in his body, and shed his blood for you as long as +he has got a drop left in his veins." + +Overcome by this ardent testimonial to her innocence, Sybil burst into +tears, and took the rough hand that had been held out to her, and wept +over it, and pressed it warmly to her lips, and then to her heart. + +"Yes, that I will. I'll die before a hair of your head shall be hurt," +exclaimed the farmer, utterly overwhelmed and blubbering. + +Meanwhile Lyon Berners was explaining to Robert Munson that they had +found a friend and helper in Farmer Nye; but advising Munson to try to +infuse enough of discretion into the impetuous mind of Nye to modify his +reckless actions. + +"And now, dear boy," added Mr. Berners, "I will not speak to you of +reward for this great service; but this I _will_ say, that henceforth +you shall be to me as a younger brother, and I shall take charge of your +future fortunes even as though you were the son of my mother." + +"You are too generous, sir; and indeed I want no recompense whatever," +answered Robert Munson, sincerely. + +Then Mr. Berners went over to his wife and lifted her into her saddle; +and when he had settled her comfortably in her seat, he mounted his own +horse, and once more called Robert Munson to him. + +"Good-bye, and God bless you, Robert," he said, warmly shaking hands +with the young man. + +"And you too, sir! and you too, sir!" feelingly responded Munson. + +And then Sybil called him. + +"Good-bye, dear Bob. I will remember you and love you as long as I live +for this," she said. + +"And so will I you, ma'am," he answered, and turned away to hide his +tears. + +Lastly Lyon Berners rode up to where Farmer Nye stood apart. + +"Farewell, Farmer Nye! And may you indeed fare as well as your great +heart deserves all your life," said Lyon. + +"The same to you and your dear wife, sir, with all my soul in the +prayer!" responded the farmer. + +"And here, Mr. Nye, is a testimonial--I mean a memorandum--that is to +say, something I wish you to take for my sake." + +"A keepsake, sir?" + +"If you choose to consider it so, yes." + +"What might it be sir?" inquired the farmer, receiving from Mr. Berners +the small envelope containing the large note. + +"It _might_ be a lock of my wife's hair, or it might be my miniature; +but whatever it is, hold it tight, and do not look at it until you get +back to the house." + +"All right, sir; but you have raised my curiosity," replied the farmer, +as he carefully deposited his unsuspected little fortune into the pocket +of his waistcoat. + +"Now direct me as to how I shall find the best and most private road +westward," said Lyon, gathering the reins in his hands. + +"You are facing east now. Ride straight on for about a hundred yards, +till you come to the cross-roads, then take the road to your left, and +follow it for about an eighth of a mile until you come to another road +still on your left; take that and follow it as far as you please, for it +leads straight west." + +"Thank you again and again! We shall do very well now. Good-bye, all; +and God bless you forever!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, waiving his hat in +adieus to the friends he was leaving behind. + +Then, the husband and wife rode forth in the night together. + +Before we follow them, we will see how it fared with the faithful +friends who had risked so much in their service. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV. + + THE PURSUIT. + + + Horse! horse! * * * * and chase!--MARNION. + + +Farmer Nye and Robert Munson remained standing with their heads +uncovered, looking after the fugitives until the sound of their horses' +hoofs died away in the distance, and then they turned towards each other +and impulsively grasped each the other's hand, and shook hands as +comrades. + +Next Farmer Nye turned to the negroes who were squatting about the +stable-yard, wondering, no doubt, at all they had seen and heard; and he +told them to disperse to their quarters, and keep still tongues in their +heads, if they wished to keep their heads on their shoulders. + +"And now we'll go back to the house and get a drop of home-brewed, and +go to bed," said the farmer, starting off at a brisk trot, and beckoning +his young companion to follow him. + +"I mean to manage so as Old Purley shall be made to believe as the +prisoner escaped through _his_ door," said Munson, as he came up. + +"That'll be bully!" said the farmer. + +They went back to the house, consulted the tall old-fashioned clock in +the corner of the hall, found it was just eleven, and they took their +drop of "home-brewed," and went to rest. + +Robert Munson, with design, threw himself down upon the mattress outside +the carefully locked door of the chamber, from which he had helped his +prisoners to escape. And being very much fatigued, he fell asleep, and +slept long and late. + +The first persons up in the house were the farmer's daughter Kitty, and +her old maiden aunt Molly. + +They came down from their attic chambers and walked on tiptoes past the +sleeping Munson, so as not to wake him. They went down stairs and had +breakfast got ready, but had to wait very long before either the farmer +or the young man appeared. When they did come down, however, and +apologized for their tardiness, the women inquired for the other guests, +and were told that they must not be disturbed. + +The day passed slowly. + +It was late in the afternoon before old Purley awoke and finding the +room quite dark, and feeling himself still very drowsy, he merely turned +over and went to sleep again. And still overpowered by the combined +action of the laudanum and the beer-opium and hops, he slept on until a +very late hour of the night, when at length he awoke; but perceiving +that all was quite dark and still, he lay quietly in bed, thinking this +was about the longest night he had ever spent in his life. At last he +got up, and opened the blinds to see if it was near day. And perceiving +by a faint light streak along the horizon that the morning was at hand, +he opened the other blinds, and began to dress himself as well as he +could in the semi-darkness. + +By the time he had got on all his clothes, the day was a little lighter, +and he went into the passage to see after the safety of his prisoner. + +He found young Munson stretched upon the mattress immediately before +the door. + +"Quite correct," he thought; but he resolved to go up to the door to +make a closer examination. First he saw that the key had been taken out +of the lock. + +"All right," he said to himself. "Munson has obeyed orders, and put the +key in his pocket." + +And then still farther to assure himself of the safety of his charge, he +bent over the sleeping form of Munson and tried the lock, and found it +fast. + +"Quite correct! Nothing has been neglected. He is a careful officer, and +shall be well reported at head-quarters," he muttered, with much +satisfaction. + +But to reach the lock at all, he had been obliged to bend so far over +the sleeping body, that now, in trying to recover his perpendicular, he +lost his balance, and fell heavily, nearly crushing and quite waking +Munson, who, in struggling to throw off the burden, recognized old +Purley, but pretending to mistake him for Mr. Berners, grappled him by +the throat, exclaiming: + +"No you don't you villain! You don't get her out of this room except +over my dead body!" And he shook him furiously. + +"It's me--me--me, Bob! Do-do-don't choke me to death!" gasped old +Purley, as he struggled and freed his throat for an instant from the +grasp of Robert's hands. + +But Munson throttled and shook him more furiously than before, singing +out: + +"Help! murder! arson! Here's this man reskying of my prisoner!" And he +shook him until his teeth rattled in his head. + +"Oh, my good lord! I shall be strangled with the best of intention," +sputtered the terrified and half-suffocated victim, as for an another +instant he freed his throat from his assailant's clasp, and breathed +again. + +"Help! murder! fire!" yelled Munson, renewing the attack. + +"Bob! Bob! It's me, I tell you!--Purley! Wake up and look at me! You're +asleep yet! And oh, my lord! the man will murder me by mistake before I +can make him know," panted the poor wretch, desperately striving to keep +off the strangling hands of his assailant, and growing weak in the +struggle. + +And meanwhile the household, aroused by the outcry, had hurried on their +clothes, and now came pouring into the passage--the women down the +garret stairs, and the men up the lower back stairs. + +"Now I've got you!" exclaimed Munson, triumphantly, as he knocked the +feet from under Purley, and threw him down upon the floor. Then stooping +to gaze at the fallen foe, he condescended at length to recognize him. + +"Oh! is it you, Mr. Purley? I really thought it was Mr. Berner, reskying +of his wife!" said Munson, with provoking coolness. + +"Then I wish you would make surer another time, you stupid donkey! +You've all but killed me!" panted the victim, wiping the perspiration +from his face. + +"What is the matter?" + +"What's all this?" + +"Is anybody hurt?" + +Such were the hasty questions put by old Farmer Nye and his family, as +they gathered around the scene of action. + +"Yes! I'm choked and shaken nearly to death!" gasped old Purley, in a +fury. + +"It was done for the best," said Munson, soothingly. + +"Oh, for the best, indeed! Set fire to you, would you murder an innocent +man out of kindness?" fiercely demanded Parley. + +"You see, he fell upon me, and woke me up. It was so dark here, with +the window shutters closed, that I could not see well, so I mistook him +for Mr. Berners broke loose and trying to carry off his wife," explained +Robert Munson. + +"Oh! well, I reckon you're not hurt much; only startled and shaken a +bit! Come and take a glass of morning bitters. That will set you up +again, and give you an appetite for your breakfast besides," said the +farmer, kindly. + +"Thank you. I'll take the bitters, if you will send them up here! I +mustn't leave this floor until I see my charge out. And it's time for +them to get up too!" replied Purley, rising and knocking loudly at the +chamber door. + +Of course there was no response. + +He knocked again and again, more loudly than before, and he called to +them in a high tone. + +But still there was no answer. + +"Good Lord, how sound they sleep! I will go around to the other door and +rap there. It is near the head of their bed, and they will be sure to +hear me." + +And so saying, old Purley went to the adjoining chamber, where he had +slept, dragged his mattress away from the door, and drew the key from +his pocket, when, to his astonishment and terror, he found the door +unlocked! + +Without waiting an instant, from any scruples of politeness, he rushed +into the room. + +To his horror and amazement, he found it empty! + +"They've gone! they've fled!" frantically exclaimed Purley, rushing back +into the passage, where he found the other bailiff still on guard before +the fast door, and the farmer waiting with the glass of bitters in his +hand. + +"Fled!" echoed Munson. "How can that be? This door as fast as it is?" + +"Blast 'em! they've had the impudence to escape right through my door! +and right over my body!" panted Purley. + +"Then you can't blame _me_!" naively put in Munson. + +"Who says I can?" angrily demanded Purley. "I can't blame anybody! And +how the demon they managed to pick the lock and open the door, and climb +over me, _I_ don't know! Nor have we time to inquire!" + +"Take your bitters, Mr. Purley," said the host, offering the glass. + +The bailiff quaffed the offered restorative at a draught, and then said: + +"Farmer, saddle a couple of horses for us, directly! We must pursue them +without loss of time! They can not have got very far ahead of us in +these few hours!" he added, being totally unconscious of the length of +time he had slept, and the whole day he had lost. + +"My--my horses will be busy all day hauling wood," replied the farmer. + +"Don't care! I order you in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to +saddle those horses, and place them at our disposal to pursue our +prisoner," said Purley, in a peremptory tone. + +The farmer was quite uncertain whether or not that was an order he was +bound to obey; and besides, he was very unwilling that his horses should +be taken off their work at all, and especially for the purpose of +pursuing Sybil Berners. But still he felt that it would be safer for +her, if not for himself, if he should yield to the demand of the +sheriff's officer; he could put him on the wrong track, by counselling +him to ride towards the east, while he knew that Sybil was far on her +route to the west. + +So without further demur, he went out to execute the order. + +"And, farmer, when you have seen to that matter, I want you to gather +all your men and maids into the breakfast room, that I may question them +while I eat my breakfast, so as not now to lose a moment," he called +after his retreating host. + +All this was done as he directed. And when the family and the house +servants were assembled in the breakfast room, and Purley examined and +cross-examined them as to whether they had seen or heard anything of the +prisoner or her husband during the night, they could all answer with +perfect truth, that they had not. So old Purley got no satisfaction from +them. + +The bailiff hastily dispatched his breakfast, and the horses being +ready, he called to his young assistant to follow him, and he went out +and got into his saddle. + +"Where the deuce am I to go after them, when there are so many roads to +choose from?" groaned old Purley, in sore perplexity of spirit. + +"Would they not be likely to make straight for the east and a seaport?" +inquired farmer Nye suggestively. + +"To be sure they would," exclaimed Mr. Purley. "So now, Munson, we will +go right back upon the road we came last night," he added, being still +in ignorance as to the lost day. + +"And as the stable boy told me, they had taken the wagon horses to ride, +and those horses were then fairly knocked up with fatigue, while ours +are now quite fresh, we may very soon overtake them," put in Munson, +artfully. + +And waving their hats in adieux to the farmer and his family, they rode +off at full speed in pursuit of the fugitives. But they had not ridden +more than a hundred yards, and had but just reached the four +cross-roads, when they were both startled by a shrill-- + +"Whist!" + +They drew their reins, and looked around just as the head of a negro boy +emerged from the bushes, exclaiming + +"Hallo, Marster!" + +"Who are you? What do you want?" demanded Purley. + +"I'm Bill, and I don't want nothing. But I know what _you_ want!" + +"What do I want?" + +"To know which way the run-a-way lady and gemplan went." + +"I do know, they went this way," said Purley, pointing straight before +him. + +"No, they didn't neyther! they was too sharp for that, they said how you +would be sure to search for 'em on that road, just as you are a doing of +now; so they would take another road." + +"That was likely too! Boy, do you know which road they took?" + +"Yes, sir_ree_." + +"Then tell me." + +"I will if you'll give me a quarter," was the moderate conditions of +this treaty. + +"Here, take it!" exclaimed Mr. Parley, pitching the boy the silver coin +in question. + +"Thanky, Marster," grinned the lad, picking up the treasure. + +"Now tell me." + +"Well, Marster, they went along that left han' road till they got to the +next turning, and then they turned to the left ag'in and kept on that +tact towards that gap in the mountain where you see the sun set in the +arternoon." + +"How did you know all this, boy?" + +"I was out coon-hunting when I heerd them talking, and I listened and +heerd all about it. And as I couldn't find any coons, I follyed arter +them; and their horses was _tired_, as they kept on complainin' to each +other. And so they went slow and I could keep up long of 'em." + +"How far did you follow them?" + +"Well, Marster! I couldn't help it! I follyed of 'em all night." + +"And they never discovered you?" + +"No, sar, they never did. I was barefooted and didn't make no noise, +and keeped nigh the bushes on the roadside, and so they never found me +out." + +"And where did you part from them?" + +"Well, Marster, I didn't part from 'em till I seed whar they stopped. +And if you'll take me up behind you, I'll show you the way to the place +where they are hiding. It an't fur from here, not so very fur, I mean." + +"Oh! ho! that is good! So, so, my run-a-ways! I shall nab you, shall I?" +exclaimed Purley in triumph, as he beckoned the negro imp to jump up +behind him. + +"But stop!" said Robert Munson, in an agony of terror for the safety of +Sybil Berners. "Stop! What are you about to do? You are about to abduct +Farmer Nye's slave!" + +"Do you belong to Farmer Nye, boy? Though it don't matter a bit who you +belong to. I'll take anybody I can lay hold of to guide me to the +hiding-place of my prisoner--in the name of the Commonwealth of +Virginia," said this new bailiff, who seemed to think that formula of +words, like an absolute monarch's signet ring, was warranty for every +sort of proceeding. + +"But I don't belong to nobody. I's fee, and so's mammy. We an't got no +master, and I an't got no daddy to lord it over me!" put in the boy. + +"That's right, jump up behind," said the elder bailiff. And as soon as +little Bill was safely perched up in the rear of his patron, the latter +put spurs to his horse and gallopped off at full speed. + +They went down the left hand, or south fork of the cross-roads, and +gallopped on until they reached the branch road leading west. They +turned into that road and pursued it mile after mile, through field and +forest, mountain pass and valley plain, until, late in the afternoon, +they reached another mountain range, and heard the roaring of a great +torrent. They entered the black gap, and slowly and cautiously made +their way through it. By the time they had emerged from the pass, the +night was pitch dark. + +"How shall we ever find our way?" inquired Purley who, fatigued and half +famished, was ready to sink with exhaustion. + +"Do you see that then gabble ind stickin' up through the trees?" +inquired the boy. + +"Yes, I see it!" + +"Well, him and her is in there?" + +"Are you sure?" inquired Purley, anxiously. + +"Here I is, Marster! If him and her ar'n't in there, here I is in your +power, and you may skin me alive!" + +"All right!" exclaimed Purley, and dismounting from his horse, he +advanced towards the thicket, followed by Munson and the negro boy. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + + THE FUGITIVES. + + + They may not set a foot within their fields, + They may not pull a sapling from their hills, + They may not enter their fair mansion house.--HOWITT. + + +Lyon and Sybil had ridden on through the darkness, over that wild +country road. Their horses had had a very hard day's work in the wagon +harness, and had not recovered from their fatigue. They were still very +tired, and all unaccustomed to the saddle. The road was also very rough, +and the night very dark. Their progress was therefore difficult and +slow. + +Unconscious of being followed and overheard, they talked freely of their +plans. Their prospects of final escape were not now nearly so hopeful as +they had been on their two former attempts. They were now undisguised, +and unprovided for the journey, except with money and a change of +clothing. For necessary food they would have to stop at houses, and thus +incur some degree of danger. All this they discussed as their horses +slowly toiled along the rugged road up hill and down, through woods and +fields, until they came near that mountain pass that they had been dimly +seeing before them all night long and that looked like a grey cleft in a +black wall. + +"It must be near morning now. But I have not a very clear idea where we +are. I shall be glad when it is light if it is only to consult my map +and compass," said Lyon, uneasily. + +"I never was on this side of the mountain before, but it does seem to me +that that must be a spur of the Black Ridge which we see before us," +suggested Sybil. + +"I was thinking the very same thing," added Lyon. "But if that is so, we +must have wandered far out of our way." + +"And hush! Don't you hear something?" inquired Sybil, when they had +ridden a little farther on. + +"No; what is it?" + +"Listen! I want to know if you recognize it," she said. + +"I hear a faint, distant roaring, as of a water-fall," he answered, +stopping his horse to hear the better. + +"It is our Black Torrent!" exclaimed Sybil. + +"Good Heaven! Then we have wandered out of our way with a vengeance. +However, there is no help for it now! We must go on, or stop here until +it is light enough to consult the compass." + +"And at any rate, Lyon, no one will think of looking for us so near +home," she added. + +"That is true," he admitted. + +And they rode on slowly, looking about as well as they could through +the darkness, for a convenient place on which to dismount from the jaded +steeds. + +Their path now lay through that deep mountain pass. Steep precipices +arose on either side. They picked their way slowly and carefully through +it, until they entered a crooked path leading down the side of a thickly +wooded hill. Here they rode on, a little more at their ease, until they +reached the bottom of the hill and the edge of the wood, and came out +upon an old forsaken road, running along the shores of a deep and rapid +river, with another mountain range behind. + +"Well, Heaven bless us! here we are!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, reining up +his horse and looking around himself in a ludicrous state of mind, made +up of surprise, dismay, and resignation. + +"Yes; on the shores of the Black River, at the head of our own Black +Valley," chimed in Sybil, in a tone of voice in which there was more of +satisfaction than of disappointment. Poor Sybil was sentimental and +illogical, like all her sex. + +"But at a point at which, I may venture to say, that even you, its +owner, never reached before," added Lyon, as he touched up his horse and +led the way up the road, still looking about as well as he could through +the darkness, for a place in which to stop and rest their horses. + +Suddenly, as they rode slowly onward, they heard approaching them from +the opposite direction the sound of a wagon and horse, accompanied by a +human voice, singing: + + "Brothers and sisters there will meet, + Brothers and sisters there will meet, + Brothers and sisters there will meet-- + Will meet, to part no more!" + +"Yes, bress de Lord! so dey will. And all departed friends will meet, +and meet to part no more! GLORY!" rang out the voice of the singer, who +seemed to be working himself up into enthusiasm. + +"It is only some negro with his team," said Lyon Berners, to soothe the +spirits of Sybil, which always took the alarm at the approach of any +stranger. + +"Yes; but what an hour for a negro, or for any one else but fugitives +like ourselves, to be out," said Sybil, doubtingly. + +"Oh, he is making an early start for market perhaps. It _must_ be near +morning." + + "Oh, there will be glory-- + Glory! glory! glory!-- + Oh, there will be glory + Around the throne of God!" + +sang the unseen singer, making the mountain caves and glens ring with +his melody. + +"Yes; bress Marster! there _will_ be Glories and Hallelujahs all through +heaven," he added; "for-- + + "Saints and angels there will meet, + Saints and angels there will meet, + Saints and angels there will meet-- + Will meet, to part no more." + +"And me and my young missis there will meet! And meet to part no more! +GLORY!" added the singer, with a sudden shout. + +"Lyon, that's our Joe!" exclaimed Sybil, in joyful surprise. + +The cart and horses now loomed dimly through the darkness, being almost +upon them. + +"Joe!" called out Sybil, in a gleeful voice--"Joe!" + +"Who dar?" answered the man, in affright. + +"It is I! Sybil, Joe!" + +"Oh, my good gracious Lord in heaven! it's her spirit as is calling me, +and she must be dead!" gasped the man, in a quavering voice. + +By this time the two horses were beside the cart, upon the seat of +which the driver sat in an extremity of terror. + +"Joe, don't be alarmed! It is Mrs. Berners herself who speaks to you, +and I am with her," said Mr. Berners, soothingly. + +"Oh, Marse Lyon! Is it ralely and truly her herself and you yourself?" +inquired the man, very doubtingly. + +"Really and truly Sybil and myself, Joe." + +"Oh! Lord! how you did scare me!" + +"Compose yourself, Joe, and tell me what you are doing here at this time +of the morning." + +"Oh, Marse Lyon, sir, I came arter the housekeeping truck as you left +here, which I couldn't get a chance to fetch it before, 'cause I was +afraid o' 'citin' 'spicion." + +"And have you the things in that cart?" + +"Yes, Marse." + +"Then hold on for a moment, and spread the mattress on the bottom of the +cart for your young mistress to lie down upon and rest, while you and I +have a little talk." + +Joe promptly obeyed this order; and when the rude bed was ready, Lyon +lifted Sybil from her seat and laid her upon it. The tired horses were +then relieved from their saddles and turned loose for a while. And then +Mr. Berners and Joe sat down by the roadside to consult. + +"And first I want you to tell me, Joe, whether our sojourn at the +Haunted Chapel ever was found out," said Mr. Berners. + +"Lor, no, sir! it never were even suspicioned! quite contrary wise, +indeed." + +"How so?" + +"Why, it was 'ported 'round as you was bofe at Marster Capping +Pendulum's all the time, which when himself was taxed with it, he never +let on as you wasn't there; quite contrary wise, as I said afore." + +"But how now?" + +"Well, he up and 'fied 'em all, and said his house was his cassil, +which he would shelter any one he pleased, and specially a noble and +injured lady." + +"High heart! I thank him!" exclaimed Mr. Berners. + +"Which 'fiance you see, sir, confarmed everybody in the faith that you +was bofe hid in his house, so artfully as even the sarch-warranters as +went there couldn't find you. And so, sir, nobody, from first to last, +has once said 'Haunted Chapel.'" + +"Joe, how far are we from the Haunted Chapel?" + +"Not more 'n a mile, sir, from the little path that leads up to it." + +"Well, I think we had better go there again and rest to-day, and resume +our journey to-night. There can be no safer place." + +"No whar in all the world, sir." + +"Then we will go at once. Throw the saddles into the cart, at your +mistress' feet, so as not to crowd her. I will then drive the cart, and +you may lead the two riding horses after us," said Mr. Berners, going at +once to the side of the rude vehicle where Sybil lay in so deep a sleep +that she did not wake, even when he mounted the seat and started the +springless cart jolting along the rough road. + +Joe led the saddle horses close behind, and so they went on. + +"Joe," said Mr. Berners, "I hope that all things go on well at home." + +"As well as can be, sir, marser and missus being away. Capping Pendulum, +he shows his powerful 'torney, and tends to the 'state. And Missus +Winterose and her darters minds the house. Only they's in constant +terrors all along o' that band o' bugglers." + +"Band of burglars, Joe?" + +"Yes, sir, and highway robbers as well." + +"Indeed! Joe, I have twice lately heard this band spoken of. Does such +a one really exist?" + +"Well, sir, it _do_. The neighborhood never was so mislested with +robbers since a neighborhood it has been. Why, sir, Mr. Morgan's new +store, at Blackville was broke open and robbed of about twelve hundred +dollars' worth of goods in one night." + +"And none of it recovered!" + +"No, sir. And, sir, Capping Pendulum's own house was entered and robbed +of jewelry and plate to the tune of about two thousand dollars." + +"I am very sorry for that! And no clue to the robbers?" + +"Not the leastest in the world, sir! And no later'n last night, Judge +Beresford was riding home from the village, where he had been at the +tavern, playing cards with a lot of gentlemen, and had won a deal of +money, which he had about him, when, in the middle of the long woods +below his own house, he was stopped by two men; one who seized his +bridle, and one who pinted a pistol at his head, and gave him his choice +of his money or his life. The Judge he choose his life, and handed over +his winnins." + +"I'm not sorry for him! A man who gains money in that way deserves to +lose it. But I _am_ astounded at all that you have told me." + +"Yes, sir! and the old ladies in charge of Black Hall is more 'stounded +than you are, sir; being 'stounded to that degree that they sleep with +the dogs in the room; long of 'em." + +"This should be seen to. There should be a vigilance committee. But here +we are at the path, Joe, and my wife is still in a deep sleep; and I do +not wish to wake her; nor can we drive the cart through the thicket. +Hold! I'll tell you what we can do. We can take the mattress by its four +corners, and carry her on it to the chapel. If we are careful, we need +not even wake her," said Mr. Berners, as he stopped the cart and got +down from his seat. + +Joe tied the two saddle horses to one of the trees, and came around to +the cart to help his master. + +Between them they cautiously lifted the mattress, and bore it along +towards the opening of the path. + +On first being moved, Sybil sighed once and turned over and then she +fell into a still deeper sleep, from which she did not again awake even +when they bore her into the dreadful Haunted Chapel, and laid her down, +still on the mattress, in the old place, to the right of the altar. + +"Poor child! She was so tired, so worn out in body and mind, that she +could scarcely sit her horse. Yet she never once complained, nor should +I have even surmised the extent of her prostration, were it not for this +coma-like sleep. She will not wake now. We may safely leave her alone +while we go back and bring our saddle horses here, for we must bring +them in order to hide them to-day and use them to-night. And you, Joe, +after you have helped me to bring the horses through the thicket, must +go to Blackville and buy food and bring it to us to-night before we +resume our journey." + +"Yes, sir; and meantimes, there is some crackers and cheese and +sweetmeats, and likewise a bottle of port wine, in the cart, as you left +in the chapel when you went away." + +"Oh, indeed! that will be a godsend, Joe! We must bring that back to the +chapel with us when we come," said Mr. Berners, as with his servant he +bent his steps back to the thicket path. + +Sybil, left alone in the interior of the haunted chapel, slept on +soundly for some little time. She had not really been quite unconscious +of her removal thither. She had half waked on being taken from the cart, +but had immediately fallen asleep again; though she was still vaguely +conscious of being borne along to some place of safety and repose, and +that her devoted husband and her faithful servant were her +bearers--vaguely conscious also of being laid down upon some level place +of perfect rest, with a roof above her head; but beyond this she knew +nothing, cared nothing, being too utterly prostrated in mind and body to +rouse herself to any utterances, or even to save herself from sinking to +sleep. + +How long she had slept she never could tell, when at length she was +suddenly and fearfully aroused--aroused to a degree of wakefulness that +neither the noisy jolting over the rocky road, nor the painful dragging +through the thorny thicket had been able to effect. + +And yet it was but by a touch--the touch of an ice-cold little hand +passing lightly over her face. + +She started up in a panic and glared around. All seemed black as pitch, +and at first she could see nothing; but as she strained her eyes, she +dimly discerned the shapes of the gothic windows, with the dark night +sky and the ghostly trees beyond; and she recognized the Haunted Chapel! + +They had brought her here while she was sleeping; and now, "in the dead +waste and middle of the night," she had waked up, alone in this +demon-peopled place. + +She tried to cry out in her fear; but her voice died in her throat, and +she sank back upon her mattress and closed her eyes, lest some shape of +horror should blast them. + +Then again she felt hands at work about her person. They were creeping +under her shoulders and under her limbs; they were lifting her from her +mattress. Her eyes flared open in wild affright, and she saw two black +shrouded forms, the one at her head the other at her feet. + +She tried to cry out in her agony of terror; but again her voice died +away in her bosom, and all her powers seemed palsied. They raised her up +and bore her on--great heaven! whither? + +To the open door of the vault, from whose haunted depths a spectral +light gleamed! + +They bore her down the dreadful steps, and laid her on the deadly floor! + +The iron door clanged loudly to, resounding through the dismal arches. + +"We have her now!" muttered a hoarse voice. A hollow laugh responded. + +And Sybil swooned with horror! + +Sybil's further adventures will be related in the sequel to this work, +to be immediately published, under the title of "Tried for Her Life." + + The End. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cruel As The Grave, by +Mrs. Emma D. E. N. 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