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diff --git a/old/mdnqn10.txt b/old/mdnqn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dbb298 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mdnqn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11140 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext The Midnight Queen, by May Agnes Fleming + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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The Dwarf and the Ruin + +VI. La Masque + +VII. The Earl's Barge. + +VIII. The Midnight Queen. + +IX. Leoline. + +X. The Page, the Fires, and the Fall + +XI. The Execution + +XII. The Doom + +XIII. Escaped + +XIV. In the Dungeon + +XV. Leoline's Visitors + +XVI. The Third Vision + +XVII. The Hidden Face + +XVIII. The Interview. + +XIX. Hubert's Whisper + +XX. At the Plague-pit + +XXI. What was Behind the Mask + +XXII. Day-dawn + +XXIII. Finis + + + + +THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN, + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SORCERESS. + + +The plague raged in the city of London. The destroying angel had +gone forth, and kindled with its fiery breath the awful +pestilence, until all London became one mighty lazar-house. +Thousands were swept away daily; grass grew in the streets, and +the living were scarce able to bury the dead. Business of all +kinds was at an end, except that of the coffin-makers and drivers +of the pest-carte. Whole streets were shut up, and almost every +other house in the city bore the fatal red cross, and the ominous +inscription. "Lord have mercy on us." Few people, save the +watchmen, armed with halberts, keeping guard over the stricken +houses, appeared in the streets; and those who ventured there, +shrank from each other, and passed rapidly on with averted faces. +Many even fell dead on the sidewalk, and lay with their ghastly, +discolored faces, upturned to the mocking sunlight, until the +dead-cart came rattling along, and the drivers hoisted the body +with their pitchforks on the top of their dreadful load. Few +other vehicles besides those same dead-carts appeared in the city +now; and they plied their trade busily, day and night; and the +cry of the drivers echoed dismally through the deserted streets: +"Bring out your dead! bring out your dead!" All who could do so +had long ago fled from the devoted city; and London lay under the +burning heat of the June sunshine, stricken for its sins by the +hand of God. The pest-houses were full, so were the plague-pits, +where the dead were hurled in cartfuls; and no one knew who rose +up in health in the morning but that they might be lying stark +and dead in a few hours. The very churches were forsaken; their +pastors fled or lying in the plague-pits; and it was even +resolved to convert the great cathedral of St. Paul into a vast +plague-hospital. Cries and lamentations echoed from one end of +the city to the other, and Death and Charles reigned over London +together. + +Yet in the midst of all this, many scenes of wild orgies and +debauchery still went on within its gates - as, in our own day, +when the cholera ravaged Paris, the inhabitants of that facetious +city made it a carnival, so now, in London, they were many who, +feeling they had but a few days to live at the most, resolved to +defy death, and indulge in the revelry while they yet existed. +"Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow you die!" was their +motto; and if in the midst of the frantic dance or debauched +revel one of them dropped dead, the others only shrieked with +laughter, hurled the livid body out to the street, and the +demoniac mirth grew twice as fast and furious as before. Robbers +and cut-purses paraded the streets at noonday, entered boldly +closed and deserted houses, and bore off with impunity, whatever +they pleased. Highwaymen infested Hounslow Heath, and all the +roads leading from the city, levying a toll on all who passed, +and plundering fearlessly the flying citizens. In fact, +far-famed London town, in the year of grace 1665, would have +given one a good idea of Pandemonium broke loose. + +It was drawing to the close of an almost tropical June day, that +the crowd who had thronged the precincts of St. Paul's since +early morning, began to disperse. The sun, that had throbbed the +livelong day like a great heart of fire in a sea of brass, was +sinking from sight in clouds of crimson, purple and gold, yet +Paul's Walk was crowded. There were court-gallants in ruffles +and plumes; ballad-singers chanting the not over-delicate ditties +of the Earl of Rochester; usurers exchanging gold for bonds worth +three times what they gave for them; quack-doctors reading in +dolorous tones the bills of mortality of the preceding day, and +selling plague-waters and anti-pestilential abominations, whose +merit they loudly extolled; ladies too, richly dressed, and many +of them masked; and booksellers who always made St. Paul's a +favorite haunt, and even to this day patronize its precincts, and +flourish in the regions of Paternoster Row and Ave Maria Lane; +court pages in rich liveries, pert and flippant; serving-men out +of place, and pickpockets with a keen eye to business; all +clashed and jostled together, raising a din to which the Plain of +Shinar, with its confusion of tongues and Babylonish workmen, +were as nothing. + +Moving serenely through this discordant sea of his fellow- +creatures came a young man booted and spurred, whose rich doublet +of cherry colored velvet, edged and spangled with gold, and +jaunty hat set slightly on one side of his head, with its long +black plume and diamond clasp, proclaimed him to be somebody. A +profusion of snowy shirt-frill rushed impetuously out of his +doublet; a black-velvet cloak, lined with amber-satin, fell +picturesquely from his shoulders; a sword with a jeweled hilt +clanked on the pavement as he walked. One hand was covered with +a gauntlet of canary-colored kid, perfumed to a degree that would +shame any belle of to-day, the other, which rested lightly on his +sword-hilt, flashed with a splendid opal, splendidly set. He was +a handsome fellow too, with fair waving hair (for he had the good +taste to discard the ugly wigs then in vogue), dark, bright, +handsome eyes, a thick blonde moustache, a tall and remarkably +graceful figure, and an expression of countenance wherein easy +good-nature and fiery impetuosity had a hard struggle for +mastery. That he was a courtier of rank, was apparent from his +rich attire and rather aristocratic bearing and a crowd of +hangers-on followed him as he went, loudly demanding spur-money. +A group of timbril-girls, singing shrilly the songs of the day, +called boldly to him as he passed; and one of them, more free and +easy than the rest, danced up to him striking her timbrel, and +shouting rather than singing the chorus of the then popular ditty + + "What care I for pest or plague? + We can die but once, God wot, + Kiss me darling - stay with me: + Love me - love me, leave me not!" + +The darling in question turned his bright blue eyes on that +dashing street-singer with a cool glance of recognition. + +"Very sorry, Nell," he said, in a nonchalant tone, "but I'm +afraid I must. How long have you been here, may I ask?" + +"A full hour by St. Paul's; and where has Sir Norman Kingsley +been, may I ask? I thought you were dead of the plague." + +"Not exactly. Have you seen - ah! there he is. The very man I +want." + +With which Sir Norman Kingsley dropped a gold piece into the +girl's extended palm, and pushed on through the crowd up Paul's +Walk. A tall, dark figure was leaning moodily with folded arms, +looking fixedly at the ground, and taking no notice of the busy +scene around him until Sir Norman laid his ungloved and jeweled +hand lightly on his shoulder. + +"Good morning, Ormiston. I had an idea I would find you here, +and - but what's the matter with you, man? Have you got the +plague? or has your mysterious inamorata jilted you? or what +other annoyance has happened to make you look as woebegone as old +King Lear, sent adrift by his tender daughters to take care of +himself?" + +The individual addressed lifted his head, disclosing a dark and +rather handsome face, settled now into a look of gloomy +discontent. He slightly raised his hat as he saw who his +questioner was. + +"Ah! it's you, Sir Norman! I had given up all notion of your +coming, and was about to quit this confounded babel - this +tumultuous den of thieves. What has detained you?" + +"I was on duty at Whitehall. Are we not in time to keep our +appointment?" + +"Oh, certainly! La Masque is at home to visitors at all hours, +day and night. I believe in my soul she doesn't know what sleep +means." + +"And you are still as much in love with her as ever, I dare +swear! I have no doubt, now, it was of her you were thinking +when I came up. Nothing else could ever have made you look so +dismally woebegone as you did, when Providence sent me to your +relief." + +"I was thinking of her," said the young man moodily, and with a +darkening brow. + +Sir Norman favored him with a half-amused, half-contemptuous +stare for a moment; then stopped at a huckster's stall to +purchase some cigarettes; lit one, and after smoking for a few +minutes, pleasantly remarked, as if the fact had just struck him: + +"Ormiston, you're a fool!" + +"I know it!" said Ormiston, sententiously. + +"The idea," said Sir Norman, knocking the ashes daintily off the +end of his cigar with the tip of his little finger - "the idea of +falling in love with a woman whose face you have never seen! I +can understand a man a going to any absurd extreme when he falls +in love in proper Christian fashion, with a proper Christian +face; but to go stark, staring mad, as you have done, my dear +fellow, about a black loo mask, why - I consider that a little +too much of a good thing! Come, let us go." + +Nodding easily to his numerous acquaintances as he went, Sir +Norman Kingsley sauntered leisurely down Paul's Walk, and out +through the great door of the cathedral, followed by his +melancholy friend. Pausing for a moment to gaze at the gorgeous +sunset with a look of languid admiration, Sir Norman passed his +arm through that of his friend, and they walked on at rather a +rapid pace, in the direction of old London Bridge. There were +few people abroad, except the watchmen walking slowly up and down +before the plague-stricken houses; but in every street they +passed through they noticed huge piles of wood and coal heaped +down the centre. Smoking zealously they had walked on for a +season in silence, when Ormiston ceased puffing for a moment, to +inquire: + +"What are all these for? This is a strange time, I should +imagine, for bonfires." + +"They're not bonfires," said Sir Norman; "at least they are not +intended for that; and if your head was not fuller of that masked +Witch of Endor than common sense (for I believe she is nothing +better than a witch), you could not have helped knowing. The +Lord Mayor of London has been inspired suddenly, with a notion, +that if several thousand fires are kindled at once in the +streets, it will purify the air, and check the pestilence; so +when St. Paul's tolls the hour of midnight, all these piles are +to be fired. It will be a glorious illumination, no doubt; but +as to its stopping the progress of the plague, I am afraid that +it is altogether too good to be true." + +"Why should you doubt it? The plague cannot last forever." + +"No. But Lilly, the astrologer, who predicted its coming, also +foretold that it would last for many months yet; and since one +prophecy has come true, I see no reason why the other should +not." + +"Except the simple one that there would be nobody left alive to +take it. All London will be lying in the plague-pits by that +time." + +"A pleasant prospect; but a true one, I have no doubt. And, as I +have no ambition to be hurled headlong into one of those horrible +holes, I shall leave town altogether in a few days. And, +Ormiston, I would strongly recommend you to follow my example." + +"Not I!" said Ormiston, in a tone of gloomy resolution. "While +La Masque stays, so will I." + +"And perhaps die of the plague in a week." + +"So be it! I don't fear the plague half as much as I do the +thought of losing her!" + +Again Sir Norman stared. + +"Oh, I see! It's a hopeless case! Faith, I begin to feel +curious to see this enchantress, who has managed so effectually +to turn your brain. When did you see her last?" + +"Yesterday," said Ormiston, with a deep sigh. "And if she were +made of granite, she could not be harder to me than she is!" + +"So she doesn't care about you, then?" + +"Not she! She has a little Blenheim lapdog, that she loves a +thousand times more than she ever will me!" + +"Then what an idiot you are, to keep haunting her like her +shadow! Why don't you be a man, and tear out from your heart +such a goddess?" + +"Ah! that's easily said; but if you were in my place, you'd act +exactly as I do." + +"I don't believe it. It's not in me to go mad about anything +with a masked face and a marble heart. If I loved any woman - +which, thank Fortune! at this present time I do not - and she had +the bad taste not to return it, I should take my hat, make her a +bow, and go directly and love somebody else made of flesh and +blood, instead of cast iron! You know the old song, Ormiston: + + 'If she be not fair for me + What care I how fair she be!'" + +"Kingsley, you know nothing about it!" said Ormiston, +impatiently. "So stop talking nonsense. If you are cold-blooded, +I am not; and - I love her!" + +Sir Norman slightly shrugged his shoulders, and flung his +smoked-out weed into a heap of fire-wood. + +"Are we near her house?" he asked. "Yonder is the bridge." + +"And yonder is the house," replied Ormiston, pointing to a large +ancient building - ancient even for those times - with three +stories, each projecting over the other. "See! while the houses +on either side are marked as pest-stricken, hers alone bears no +cross. So it is: those who cling to life are stricken with +death: and those who, like me, are desperate, even death shuns." + +"Why, my dear Ormiston, you surely are not so far gone as that? +Upon my honor, I had no idea you were in such a bad way." + +"I am nothing but a miserable wretch! and I wish to Heaven I was +in yonder dead-cart, with the rest of them - and she, too, if she +never intends to love me!" + +Ormiston spoke with such fierce earnestness, that there was no +doubting his sincerity; and Sir Norman became profoundly shocked +- so much so, that he did not speak again until they were almost +at the door. Then he opened his lips to ask, in a subdued tone: + +"She has predicted the future for you - what did she foretell?" + +"Nothing good; no fear of there being anything in store for such +an unlucky dog as I am." + +"Where did she learn this wonderful black art of hers?" + +"In the East, I believe. She has been there and all over the +world; and now visits England for the first time." + +"She has chosen a sprightly season for her visit. Is she not +afraid of the plague, I wonder?" + +"No; she fears nothing," said Ormiston, as he knocked loudly at +the door. "I begin to believe she is made of adamant instead of +what other women are made of." + +"Which is a rib, I believe," observed Sir Norman, thoughtfully. +"And that accounts, I dare say, for their being of such a crooked +and cantankerous nature. They're a wonderful race women are; and +for what Inscrutable reason it has pleased Providence to create +them - " + +The opening of the door brought to a sudden end this little touch +of moralizing, and a wrinkled old porter thrust out a very +withered and unlovely face. + +"La Masque at home?" inquired Ormiston, stepping in, without +ceremony. + +The old man nodded, and pointed up stairs; and with a "This way, +Kingsley," Ormiston sprang lightly up, three at a time, followed +in the same style by Sir Norman. + +"You seem pretty well acquainted with the latitude and longitude +of this place," observed that young gentleman, as they passed +into a room at the head of the stairs. + +"I ought to be; I've been here often enough," said Ormiston. +"This is the common waiting-room for all who wish to consult La +Masque. That old bag of bones who let us in has gone to announce +us." + +Sir Norman took a seat, and glanced curiously round the room. It +was a common-place apartment enough, with a floor of polished +black oak, slippery as ice, and shining like glass; a few old +Flemish paintings on the walls; a large, round table in the +centre of the floor, on which lay a pair of the old musical +instruments called "virginals." Two large, curtainless windows, +with minute diamond-shaped panes, set in leaden casements, +admitted the golden and crimson light. + +"For the reception-room of a sorceress," remarked Sir Norman, +with an air of disappointed criticism, "there is nothing very +wonderful about all this. How is it she spaes fortunes any way? +As Lilly does by maps and charts; or as these old Eastern mufti +do it by magic mirrors and all each fooleries?" + +"Neither," said Ormiston, "her style in more like that of the +Indian almechs, who show you your destiny in a well. She has a +sort of magic lake in her room, and - but you will see it all for +yourself presently." + +"I have always heard," said Sir Norman, in the same meditative +way, "that truth lies at the bottom of a well, and I am glad some +one has turned up at last who is able to fish it out. Ah! Here +comes our ancient Mercury to show us to the presence of your +goddess." + +The door opened, and the "old bag of bones," as Ormiston +irreverently styled his lady-love's ancient domestic, made a sign +for them to follow him. Leading the way down along a corridor, +he flung open a pair of shining folding-doors at the end, and +ushered them at once into the majestic presence of the sorceress +and her magic room. Both gentlemen doffed their plumed hats. +Ormiston stepped forward at once; but Sir Norman discreetly +paused in the doorway to contemplate the scene of action. As he +slowly did so, a look of deep displeasure settled on his +features, on finding it not half so awful as he had supposed. + +In some ways it was very like the room they had left, being low, +large, and square, and having floors, walls and ceiling paneled +with glossy black oak. But it had no windows - a large bronze +lamp, suspended from the centre of the ceiling, shed a +flickering, ghostly light. There were no paintings - some grim +carvings of skulls, skeletons, and serpents, pleasantly wreathed +the room - neither were there seats nor tables - nothing but a +huge ebony caldron at the upper end of the apartment, over which +a grinning skeleton on wires, with a scythe in one hand of bone, +and an hour-glass in the other, kept watch and ward. Opposite +this cheerful-looking guardian, was a tall figure in black, +standing an motionless as if it, too, was carved in ebony. It +was a female figure, very tall and slight, but as beautifully +symmetrical as a Venus Celestis. Her dress was of black velvet, +that swept the polished floor, spangled all over with stars of +gold and rich rubies. A profusion of shining black hair fell in +waves and curls almost to her feet; but her face, from forehead +to chin, was completely hidden by a black velvet mask. In one +hand, exquisitely small and white, she held a gold casket, +blazing (like her dress) with rubies, and with the other she +toyed with a tame viper, that had twined itself round her wrist. +This was doubtless La Masque, and becoming conscious of that fact +Sir Norman made her a low and courtly bow. She returned it by a +slight bend of the head, and turning toward his companion, spoke + +"You here, again, Mr. Ormiston! To what am I indebted for the +honor of two visits in two days?" + +Her voice, Sir Norman thought, was the sweetest he had ever +heard, musical as a chime of silver bells, soft as the tones of +an aeolian harp through which the west wind plays. + +"Madam, I am aware my visits are undesired," said Ormiston, with +a flushing cheek and, slightly tremulous voice; "but I have +merely come with my friend, Sir Norman Kingsley, who wishes to +know what the future has in store for him." + +Thus invoked, Sir Norman Kingsley stepped forward with another +low bow to the masked lady. + +"Yes, madam, I have long heard that those fair fingers can +withdraw the curtain of the future, and I have come to see what +Dame Destiny is going to do for me." + +"Sir Norman Kingsley is welcome," said the sweet voice, "and +shall see what he desires. There is but one condition, that he +will keep perfectly silent; for if he speaks, the scene he +beholds will vanish. Come forward!" + +Sir Norman compressed his lips as closely am if they were forever +hermetically sealed, and came forward accordingly. Leaning over +the edge of the ebony caldron, he found that it contained nothing +more dreadful than water, for he labored under a vague and +unpleasant idea that, like the witches' caldron in Macbeth, it +might be filled with serpents' blood and children's' brains. La +Masque opened her golden casket, and took from it a portion of +red powder, with which it was filled. Casting it into the +caldron, she murmured an invocation in Sanscrit, or Coptic, or +some other unknown tongue, and slowly there arose a dense cloud +of dark-red smoke, that nearly filled the room. Had Sir Norman +ever read the story of Aladdin, he would probably have thought of +it then; but the young courtier did not greatly affect literature +of any kind, and thought of nothing now but of seeing something +when the smoke cleared away. It was rather long in doing so, and +when it did, he saw nothing at first but his own handsome, half- +serious, +half-incredulous face; but gradually a picture, distinct and +clear, formed itself at the bottom, and Sir Norman gazed with +bewildered eyes. He saw a large room filled with a sparkling +crowd, many of them ladies, splendidly arrayed and flashing in +jewels, and foremost among them stood one whose beauty surpassed +anything he had ever before dreamed of. She wore the robes of a +queen, purple and ermine - diamonds blazed on the beautiful neck, +arms, and fingers, and a tiara of the same brilliants crowned her +regal head. In one hand she held a sceptre; what seemed to be a +throne was behind her, but something that surprised Sir Norton +most of all was, to find himself standing beside her, the +cynosure of all eyes. While he yet gazed in mingled astonishment +and incredulity, the scene faded away, and another took its +place. This time a dungeon-cell, damp and dismal; walls, and +floor, and ceiling covered with green and hideous slime. A small +lamp stood on the floor, and by its sickly, watery gleam, he saw +himself again standing, pale and dejected, near the wall. But he +was not alone; the same glittering vision in purple and diamonds +stood before him, and suddenly he drew his sword and plunged it +up to the hilt in her heart! The beautiful vision fell like a +stone at his feet, and the sword was drawn out reeking with her +life-blood. This was a little too much for the real Sir Norman, +and with an expression of indignant consternation, he sprang +upright. Instantly it all faded away and the reflection of his +own excited face looked up at him from the caldron. + +"I told you not to speak," said La Masque, quietly, "but you must +look on still another scene." + +Again she threw a portion of the contents of the casket into the +caldron, and "spake aloud the words of power." Another cloud of +smoke arose and filled the room, and when it cleared away, Sir +Norman beheld a third and less startling sight. The scene and +place he could not discover, but it seemed to him like night and +a storm. Two men were lying on the ground, and bound fast +together, it appeared to him. As he looked, it faded away, and +once more his own face seemed to mock him in the clear water. + +"Do you know those two last figures!" asked the lady. + +"I do," said Sir Norman, promptly; "it was Ormiston and myself." + +"Right! and one of them was dead." + +"Dead!" exclaimed Sir Norman, with a perceptible start. "Which +one, madam?" + +"If you cannot tell that, neither can I. If there is anything +further you wish to see, I am quite willing to show it to you." + +"I'm obliged to you," said Sir Norman, stepping back; "but no +more at present, thank you. Do you mean to say, madam, that I'm +some day to murder a lady, especially one so beautiful as she I +just now saw?" + +"I have said nothing - all you've seen will come to pass, and +whether your destiny be for good or evil, I have nothing to do +with it, except," said the sweet voice, earnestly, "that if La +Masque could strew Sir Norman Kingsley's pathway with roses, she +would most assuredly do so." + +"Madam, you are too kind," said that young gentleman, laying his +hand on his heart, while Ormiston scowled darkly - "more +especially as I've the misfortune to be a perfect stranger to +you." + +"Not so, Sir Norman. I have known you this many a day; and +before long we shall be better acquainted. Permit me to wish you +good evening!" + +At this gentle hint, both gentlemen bowed themselves out, and +soon found themselves in the street, with very different +expressions of countenance. Sir Norman looking considerably +pleased and decidedly puzzled, and Mr. Ormiston looking savagely +and uncompromisingly jealous. The animated skeleton who had +admitted them closed the door after them; and the two friends +stood in the twilight on London Bridge. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE DEAD BRIDE + + +"Well," said Ormiston, drawing a long bath, "what do you think of +that?" + +"Think? Don't ask me yet." said Sir Norman, looking rather +bewildered. "I'm in such a state of mystification that I don't +rightly know whether I'm standing on my head or feet. For one +thing, I have come to the conclusion that your masked ladylove +must be enchantingly beautiful." + +"Have I not told you that a thousand times, O thou of little +faith? But why have you come to such a conclusion?" + +"Because no woman with such a figure, such a voice and such hands +could be otherwise." + +"I knew you would own it some day. Do you wonder now that I love +her?" + +"Oh! as to loving her," said Sir Norman, coolly, "that's quite +another thing. I could no more love her or her hands, voice, and +shape, than I could a figure in wood or wax; but I admire her +vastly, and think her extremely clever. I will never forget that +face in the caldron. It was the most exquisitely beautiful I +ever saw." + +"In love with the shadow of a face! Why, you are a thousand-fold +more absurd than I." + +"No," said Sir Norman, thoughtfully, "I don't know as I'm in love +with it; but if ever I see a living face like it, I certainly +shall be. How did La Masque do it, I wonder?" + +"You had better ask her," said Ormiston, bitterly. "She seems to +have taken an unusual interest in you at first sight. She would +strew your path with roses, forsooth! Nothing earthly, I +believe, would make her say anything half so tender to me." + +Sir Norman laughed, and stroked his moustache complacently. + +"All a matter of taste, my dear fellow: and these women are noted +for their perfection in that line. I begin to admire La Masque +more and more, and I think you had better give up the chase, and +let me take your place. I don't believe you have the ghost of a +chance, Ormiston." + +"I don't believe it myself," said Ormiston, with a desperate face +"but until the plague carries me off I cannot give her up; and +the sooner that happens, the better. Ha! what is this?" + +It was a piercing shriek - no unusual sound; and as he spoke, the +door of an adjoining house was flung open, a woman rushed wildly +out, fled down an adjoining street, and disappeared. + +Sir Norman and his companion looked at each other, and then at +the house. + +"What's all this about?" demanded Ormiston. + +"That's a question I can't take it upon myself to answer," said +Sir Norman; "and the only way to solve the mystery, is to go in +and see." + +"It may be the plague," said Ormiston, hesitating. "Yet the +house is not marked. There is a watchman. I will ask him." + +The man with the halberd in his hand was walking up and down +before an adjoining house, bearing the ominous red cross and +piteous inscription: "Lord have mercy on us!" + +"I don't know, sir," was his answer to Ormiston. "If any one +there has the plague, they must have taken it lately; for I heard +this morning there was to be a wedding there to-night." + +"I never heard of any one screaming in that fashion about a +wedding," said Ormiston, doubtfully. "Do you know who lives +there?" + +"No, sir. I only came here, myself, yesterday, but two or three +times to-day I have seen a very beautiful young lady looking out +of the window." + +Ormiston thanked the man, and went back to report to his friend. + +"A beautiful young lady!" said Sir Norman, with energy. "Then I +mean to go directly up and see about it, and you can follow or +not, just as you please." + +So saying, Sir Norman entered the open doorway, and found himself +in a long hall, flanked by a couple of doors on each side. These +he opened in rapid succession, finding nothing but silence and +solitude; and Ormiston - who, upon reflection, chose to follow - +ran up a wide and sweeping staircase at the end of the hall. Sir +Norman followed him, and they came to a hall similar to the one +below. A door to the right lay open; and both entered without +ceremony, and looked around. + +The room was spacious, and richly furnished. Just enough light +stole through the oriel window at the further end, draped with +crimson satin embroidered with gold, to show it. The floor was +of veined wood of many colors, arranged in fanciful mosaics, and +strewn with Turkish rugs and Persian mats of gorgeous colors. +The walls were carved, the ceiling corniced, and all fretted with +gold network and gilded mouldings. On a couch covered with +crimson satin, like the window drapery, lay a cithren and some +loose sheets of music. Near it was a small marble table, covered +with books and drawings, with a decanter of wine and an exquisite +little goblet of Bohemian glass. The marble mantel was strewn +with ornaments of porcelain and alabaster, and a +beautifully-carved vase of Parian marble stood in the centre, +filled with brilliant flowers. A great mirror reflected back the +room, and beneath it stood a toilet-table, strewn with jewels, +laces, perfume-bottles, and an array of costly little feminine +trifles such as ladies were as fond of two centuries ago as they +are to-day. Evidently it was a lady's chamber; for in a recess +near the window stood a great quaint carved bedstead, with +curtains and snowy lace, looped back with golden arrows and +scarlet ribbons. Some one lay on it, too - at least, Ormiston +thought so; and he went cautiously forward, drew the curtain, and +looked down. + +"Great Heaven! what a beautiful face!" was his cry, as he bent +still further down. + +"What the plague is the matter?" asked Sir Norman, coming +forward. + +"You have said it," said Ormiston, recoiling. "The plague is the +matter. There lies one dead of it!" + +Curiosity proving stronger than fear, Sir Norman stepped forward +to look at the corpse. It was a young girl with a face as lovely +as a poet's vision. That face was like snow, now; and, in its +calm, cold majesty, looked as exquisitely perfect as some ancient +Grecian statue. The low, pearly brow, the sweet, beautiful lips, +the delicate oval outline of countenance, were perfect. The eyes +were closed, and the long dark lashes rested on the ivory cheeks. +A profusion of shining dark hair fell in elaborate curls over her +neck and shoulders. Her dress was that of a bride; a robe of +white satin brocaded with silver, fairly dazzling in its shining +radiance, and as brief in the article of sleeves and neck as that +of any modern belle. A circlet of pearls were clasped round her +snow-white throat, and bracelets of the same jewels encircled the +snowy taper arms. On her head she wore a bridal wreath and veil +- the former of jewels, the latter falling round her like a cloud +of mist. Everything was perfect, from the wreath and veil to the +tiny sandaled feet and lying there in her mute repose she looked +more like some exquisite piece of sculpture than anything that +had ever lived and moved in this groveling world of ours. But +from one shoulder the dress had been pulled down, and there lay a +great livid purple plague-spot! + +"Come away!" said Ormiston, catching his companion by the arm. +"It is death to remain here!" + +Sir Norman had been standing like one in a trance, from which +this address roused him, and he grasped Ormiston's shoulder +almost frantically. + +"Look there, Ormiston! There lies the very face that sorceress +showed me, fifteen minutes ago, in her infernal caldron! I would +know it at the other end of the world!"; + +"Are you sure?" said Ormiston, glancing again with new curiosity +at the marble face. "I never saw anything half so beautiful in +all my life; but you see she is dead of the plague." + +"Dead? she cannot be! Nothing so perfect could die!" + +"Look there," said Ormiston pointing to the plague-spot. "There +is the fatal token! For Heaven's sake let us get out of this, or +we will share the same fate before morning!" + +But Sir Norman did not move - could not move; he stood there +rooted to the spot by the spell of that lovely, lifeless face. + +Usually the plague left its victims hideous, ghastly, discolored, +and covered with blotches; but in this case then was nothing to +mar the perfect beauty of the satin-smooth skin, but that one +dreadful mark. + +There Sir Norman stood in his trance, as motionless as if some +genii out of the "Arabian Nights" had suddenly turned him into +stone (a trick they were much addicted to), and destined him to +remain there an ornamental fixture for ever. Ormiston looked at +him distractedly, uncertain whether to try moral suasion or to +take him by the collar and drag him headlong down the stairs, +when a providential but rather dismal circumstance came to his +relief. A cart came rattling along the street, a bell was loudly +rang, and a hoarse voice arose with it: "Bring out your dead! +Bring out your dead!" + +Ormiston rushed down stair to intercept the dead-cart, already +almost full on it way to the plague-pit. The driver stopped at +his call, and instantly followed him up stairs, and into the +room. Glancing at the body with the utmost sang-froid, he +touched the dress, and indifferently remarked: + +"A bride, I should say; and an uncommonly handsome one too. +We'll just take her along as she is, and strip these nice things +off the body when we get it to the plague-pit." + +So saying, he wrapped her in the sheet, and directing Ormiston to +take hold of the two lower ends, took the upper corners himself, +with the air of a man quite used to that sort of thing. Ormiston +recoiled from touching it; and Sir Norman seeing what they were +about to do, and knowing there was no help for it, made up his +mind, like a sensible young man as he was, to conceal his +feelings, and caught hold of the sheet himself. In this fashion +the dead bride was carried down stairs, and laid upon a shutter +on the top of a pile of bodies in the dead-cart. + +It was now almost dark, and as the cart started, the great clock +of St. Paul's struck eight. St. Michael's, St Alban's, and the +others took up the sound; and the two young men paused to listen. +For many weeks the sky had been clear, brilliant, and blue; but +on this night dark clouds were scudding in wild unrest across it, +and the air was oppressingly close and sultry. + +"Where are you going now?" said Ormiston. "Are you for +Whitehall's to night?" + +"No!" said Sir Norman, rather dejectedly, turning to follow the +pest-cart. "I am for the plague-pit in Finsbury fields!" + +"Nonsense, man!" exclaimed Ormiston, energetically, "what will +take you there? You surely are not mad enough to follow the body +of that dead girl?" + +"I shall follow it! You can come or not, just as you please." + +"Oh! if you are determined, I will go with you, of course; but it +is the craziest freak I ever heard of. After this, you need +never laugh at me." + +"I never will," said Sir Norman, moodily; "for if you love a face +you have never seen, I love one I have only looked on when dead. +Does it not seem sacrilege to throw any one so like an angel into +that horrible plague-pit?" + +"I never saw an angel," said Ormiston, as he and his friend +started to go after the dead-cart. "And I dare say there have +been scores as beautiful as that poor girl thrown into the +plague-pit before now. I wonder why the house has been deserted, +and if she was really a bride. The bridegroom could not have +loved her much, I fancy, or not even the pestilence could have +scared him away." + +"But, Ormiston, what an extraordinary thing it is that it should +be precisely the same face that the fortune-teller showed me. +There she was alive, and here she is dead; so I've lost all faith +in La Masque for ever." + +Ormiston looked doubtful. + +"Are you quite sure it is the same, Kingsley?" + +"Quite sure?" said Sir Norman, indignantly. "Of course I am! Do +you think I could be mistaken is such a case? I tell you I would +know that face at Kamschatka or, the North Pole; for I don't +believe there ever was such another created." + +"So be it, then! Your object, of course, in following that cart +is, to take a last look at her?" + +"Precisely so. Don't talk; I feel in no mood for it just at +present." + +Ormiston smiled to himself, and did not talk, accordingly; and in +silence the two friends followed the gloomy dead-cart. A faint +young moon, pale and sickly, was struggling dimly through drifts +of dark clouds, and lighted the lonesome, dreary streets with a +wan, watery glimmer. For weeks, the weather had been brilliantly +fine - the days all sunshine, the nights all moonlight; but now +Ormiston, looking up at the troubled face of the sky, concluded +mentally that the Lord Mayor had selected an unpropitious night +for the grand illumination. Sir Norman, with his eyes on the +pest-cart, and the long white figure therein, took no heed of +anything in the heaven above or in the earth beneath, and strode +along in dismal silence till they reached, at last, their +journey's end. + +As the cart stopped the two young men approached the edge of the +plague-pit, and looked in with a shudder. Truly it was a +horrible sight, that heaving, putrid sea of corruption; for the +bodies of the miserable victims were thrown in in cartfuls, and +only covered with a handful of earth and quicklime. Here and +there, through the cracking and sinking surface, could be seen +protruding a fair white arm, or a baby face, mingled with the +long, dark tresses of maidens, the golden curls of children, and +the white hairs of old age. The pestilential effluvia arising +from the dreadful mass was so overpowering that both shrank back, +faint and sick, after a moment's survey. It was indeed as Sir +Norman had, said, a horrible grave wherein to lie. + +Meantime the driver, with an eye to business, and no time for +such nonsense as melancholy moralizing, had laid the body of the +young girl on the ground, and briskly turned his cart and dumped +the remainder of his load into the pit. Then, having flung a few +handfuls of clay over it, he unwound the sheet, and kneeling +beside the body, prepared to remove the jewels. The rays of the +moon and his dark lantern fell on the lovely, snow-white face +together, and Sir Norman groaned despairingly as he saw its +death-cold rigidity. The man had stripped the rings off the +fingers, the bracelets off the arms; but as he was about to +perform the same operation toward the necklace, he was stopped by +a startling interruption enough. In his haste, the clasp entered +the beautiful neck, inflicting a deep scratch, from which the +blood spouted; and at the same instant the dead girl opened her +eyes with a shrill cry. Uttering a yell of terror, as well he +might, the man sprang back and gazed at her with horror, +believing that his sacrilegious robbery had brought the dead to +life. Even the two young men-albeit, neither of them given to +nervousness nor cowardice - recoiled for an instant, and stared +aghast. Then, as the whole truth struck them, that the girl had +been in a deep swoon and not dead, both simultaneously darted +forward, and forgetting all fear of infection, knelt by her side. +A pair of great, lustrous black eyes were staring wildly around, +and fixed themselves first on one face and then on the other. + +"Where am I?" she exclaimed, with a terrified look, as she strove +to raise herself on her elbow, and fell instantaneously back with +a cry of agony, as she felt for the first time the throbbing +anguish of the wound. + +"You are with friends, dear lady!" said Sir Norman, in a voice +quite tremulous between astonishment and delight. "Fear nothing, +for you shall be saved." + +The great black eyes turned wildly upon him, while a fierce spasm +convulsed the beautiful face. + +"O, my God, I remember! I have the plague!" And, with a +prolonged shriek of anguish, that thrilled even to the hardened +heart of the dead-cart driver, the girl fell back senseless +again. Sir Norman Kingsley sprang to his feet, and with more the +air of a frantic lunatic than a responsible young English knight, +caught the cold form in his arms, laid it in the dead-cart, and +was about springing into the driver's seat, when that individual +indignantly interposed. + +"Come, now; none of that! If you were the king himself, you +shouldn't run away with my cart in that fashion; so you just get +out of my place as fast as you can!" + +"My dear Kingsley, what are you about to do?" asked Ormiston, +catching his excited friend by the arm. + +"Do!" exclaimed Sir Norman, in a high key. "Can't you see that +for yourself! And I'm going to have that girl cured of the +plague, if there is such a thing as a doctor to be had for love +or money in London." + +"You had better have her taken to the pest house at once, then; +there are chirurgeons and nurses enough there." + +"To the pest-house! Why man, I might as well have her thrown +into the plague-pit there, at once! Not I! I shall have her +taken to my own house, and there properly cared for, and this +good fellow will drive her there instantly." + +Sir Norman backed this insinuation by putting a broad gold-piece +into the driver's hand, which instantly produced a magical effect +on his rather surly countenance. + +"Certainly, sir," he began, springing into his seat with +alacrity. "Where shall I drive the young lady to?" + +"Follow me," said Sir Norman. "Come along, Ormiston." And +seizing his friend by the arm, he hurried along with a velocity +rather uncomfortable, considering they both wore cloaks, and the +night was excessively sultry. The gloomy vehicle and its +fainting burden followed close behind. + +"What do you mean to do with her?" asked Ormiston, as soon as he +found breath enough to speak. + +"Haven't I told you?" said Sir Norman, impatiently. Take her +home, of course." + +"And after that?" + +"Go for a doctor." + +"And after that?" + +"Take care of her till she gets well." + +"And after that?" + +"Why - find out her history, and all about her." + +"And after that?" + +"After that! After that! How do I know what after that!" +exclaimed Sir Norman, rather fiercely. "Ormiston, what do you +mean?" + +Ormiston laughed. + +"And after that you'll marry her, I suppose!" + +"Perhaps I may, if she will have me. And what if I do?" + +"Oh, nothing! Only it struck me you may be saving another man's +wife." + +"That's true!" said Sir Norman, in a subdued tone, "and if such +should unhappily be the case, nothing will remain but to live in +hopes that he may be carried off by the plague." + +"Pray Heaven that we may not be carried off by it ourselves!" +said Ormiston, with a slight shudder. "I shall dream of nothing +but that horrible plague-pit for a week. If it were not for La +Masque, I would not stay another hour in this pest-stricken +city." + +"Here we are," was Sir Norman's rather inapposite answer, as they +entered Piccadilly, and stopped before a large and handsome +house, whose gloomy portal was faintly illuminated by a large +lamp. "Here, my man just carry the lady in." + +He unlocked the door as he spoke, and led the way across a long +hall to a sleeping chamber, elegantly fitter up. The man placed +the body on the bed and departed while Sir Norman, seizing a +handbell, rang a peal that brought a staid-looking housekeeper to +the scene directly. Seeing a lady, young and beautiful, in bride +robes, lying apparently dead on her young master's bed at that +hour of the night, the discreet matron, over whose virtuous head +fifty years and a snow-white cap had passed, started back with a +slight scream. + +"Gracious me, Sir Norman! What on earth is the meaning of this?" + +"My dear Mrs. Preston," began Sir Norman blandly, "this young lady +is ill of the plague, and - " + +But all further explanation was cut short by a horrified shriek +from the old lady, and a precipitate rush from the room. Down +stairs she flew, informing the other servants as she went, +between her screams, and when Sir Norman, in a violent rage, went +in search of her five minutes after, he found not only the +kitchen, but the whole house deserted. + +"Well," said Ormiston, as Sir Norman strode back, looking fiery +hot and savagely angry. + +"Well, they have all fled, every man and woman of them, the - " +Sir Norman ground out something not quite proper, behind his +moustache. "I shall have to go for the doctor, myself. Doctor +Forbes is a friend of mine, and lives near; and you," looking at +him rather doubtfully, "would you mind staying here, lest she +should recover consciousness before I return?" + +"To tell you the truth," said Ormiston, with charming frankness, +"I should! The lady is extremely beautiful, I must own; but she +looks uncomfortably corpse-like at this present moment. I do not +wish to die of the plague, either, until I see La Masque once +more; and so if it is all the same to you, my dear friend, I will +have the greatest pleasure in stepping round with you to the +doctor's." + +Sir Norman, though he did not much approve of this, could not +very well object, and the two sallied forth together. Walking a +short distance up Piccadilly, they struck off into a bye street, +and soon reached the house they were in search of. Sir Norman +knocked loudly at the door, which was opened by the doctor +himself. Briefly and rapidly Sir Norman informed him how and +where his services were required; and the doctor being always +provided with everything necessary for such cases, set out with +him immediately. Fifteen minutes after leaving his own house, +Sir Norman was back there again, and standing in his own chamber. +But a simultaneous exclamation of amazement and consternation +broke from him and Ormiston, as on entering the room they found +the bed empty, and the lady gone! + +A dead pause followed, during which the three looked blankly at +the bed, and then at each other. The scene, no doubt, would have +been ludicrous enough to a third party; but neither of our trio +could saw anything whatever to laugh at. Ormiston was the first +to speak. + +"What in Heaven's name has happened!" he wonderingly exclaimed. + +"Some one has been here," said Sir Norman, turning very pale, +"and carried her off while we were gone." + +"Let us search the house," said the doctor; "you should have +locked your door, Sir Norman; but it may not be too late yet." + +Acting on the hint, Sir Norman seized the lamp burning on the +table, and started on the search. His two friends followed him, +and + + "The highest, the lowest, the loveliest spot, + They searched for the lady, and found her not." + +No, though there was not the slightest trace of robbers or +intruders, neither was there the slightest trace of the beautiful +plague-patient. Everything in the house was precisely as it +always was, but the silver shining vision was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE COURT PAGE + + +The search was given over at last in despair, and the doctor took +his hat and disappeared. Sir Norman and Ormiston stopped in the +lower hall and looked at each other in mute amaze. + +"What can it all mean?" asked Ormiston, appealing more to society +at large than to his bewildered companion. + +"I haven't the faintest idea," said Sir Norman, distractedly; +"only I am pretty certain, if I don't find her, I shall do +something so desperate that the plague will be a trifle compared +to it!" + +"It seems almost impossible that she can have been carried off - +doesn't it?" + +"If she has!" exclaimed Sir Norman, "and I find out the abductor, +he won't have a whole bone in his body two minutes after!" + +"And yet more impossible that she can have gone off herself," +pursued Ormiston with the air of one entering upon an abstruse +subject, and taking no heed whatever of his companion's marginal +notes. + +"Gone off herself! Is the man crazy?" inquired Sir Norman, with +a stare. "Fifteen minutes before we left her dead, or in a dead +swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her +getting up and going off herself!" + +"In fact, the only way to get at the bottom of the mystery," said +Ormiston, "is to go in search of her. Sleeping, I suppose, is +out of the question." + +"Of course it is! I shall never sleep again till I find her!" + +They passed out, and Sir Norman this time took the precaution of +turning the key, thereby fulfilling the adage of locking the +stable-door when the steed was stolen. The night had grown +darker and hotter; and as they walked along, the clock of St. +Paul's tolled nine. + +"And now, where shall we go?" inquired Sir Norman, as they +rapidly hurried on. + +"I should recommend visiting the house we found her first; if not +there, then we can try the pest-house." + +Sir Norman shuddered. + +"Heaven forefend she should be there! It is the most mysterious +thing ever I heard of!" + +"What do you think now of La Masque's prediction - dare you doubt +still?" + +"Ormiston, I don't know what to think. It is the same face I +saw, and yet - " + +"Well - and yet - " + +"I can't tell you - I am fairly bewildered. If we don't find the +lady st her own house, I have half a mind to apply to your +friend, La Masque, again." + +"The wisest thing you could do, my dear fellow. If any one knows +your unfortunate beloved's whereabouts, it is La Masque, depend +upon it." + +"That's settled then; and now, don't talk, for conversation at +this smart pace I don't admire." + +Ormiston, like the amiable, obedient young man that he was, +instantly held his tongue, and they strode along at a breathless +pace. There was an unusual concourse of men abroad that night, +watching the gloomy face of the sky, and waiting the hour of +midnight to kindle the myriad of fires; and as the two tall, dark +figures went rapidly by, all supposed it to be a case of life or +death. In the eyes of one of the party, perhaps it was; and +neither halted till they came once more in sight of the house, +whence a short time previously they had carried the death-cold +bride. A row of lamps over the door-portals shed a yellow, +uncertain light around, while the lights of barges and wherries +were sown like stars along the river. + +"There is the house," cried Ormiston, and both paused to take +breath; "and I am about at the last gasp. I wonder if your +pretty mistress would feel grateful if she knew what I have come +through to-night for her sweet sake?" + +"There are no lights," mad Sir Norman, glancing anxiously up at +the darkened front of the house; "even the link before the door +is unlit. Surely she cannot be there." + +"That remains to be seen, though I'm very doubtful about it +myself. Ah I who have we here?" + +The door of the house in question opened, as he spoke, and a +figure - a man's figure, wearing a slouched hat and long, dark +cloak, came slowly out. He stopped before the house and looked +at it long and earnestly; and, by the twinkling light of the +lamps, the friends saw enough of him to know he was young and +distinguished looking. + +"I should not wonder in the least it that were the bridegroom," +whispered Ormiston, maliciously. + +Sir Norman turned pale with jealousy, and laid his hand on his +sword, with a quick and natural impulse to make the bride a widow +forthwith. But he checked the desire for an instant as the +brigandish-looking gentleman, after a prolonged stare at the +premises, stepped up to the watchman, who had given them their +information an hour or two before, and who was still at his post. +The friends could not be seen, but they could hear, and they did +so very earnestly indeed. + +"Can you tell me, my friend," began the cloaked unknown, "what +has become of the people residing in yonder house?" + +The watchman, held his lamp up to the face of the interlocutor - +a handsome face by the way, what could be seen of it - and +indulged himself in a prolonged survey. + +"Well!" said the gentleman, impatiently, "have you no tongue, +fellow? Where are they, I say?" + +"Blessed if I know," said the watchman. "I, wasn't set here to +keep guard over them was I? It looks like it, though," said the +man in parenthesis; "for this makes twice to-night I've been +asked questions about it." + +"Ah!" said the gentleman, with a slight start. "Who asked you +before, pray?" + +"Two young gentlemen; lords, I expect, by their dress. Somebody +ran screaming out of the house, and they wanted to know what was +wrong." + +"Well?" said the stranger, breathlessly, "and then?" + +"And then, as I couldn't tell them they went in to see for +themselves, and shortly after came out with a body wrapped in a +sheet, which they put in a pest-cart going by, and had it buried, +I suppose, with the rest in the plague-pit." + +The stranger fairly staggered back, and caught at a pillar near +for support. For nearly ten minutes, he stood perfectly +motionless, and then, without a word, started up and walked +rapidly away. The friends looked after him curiously till he was +out of eight. + +"So she is not there," said Ormiston; "and our mysterious friend +in the cloak is as much at a loss as we are ourselves. Where +shall we go next - to La Masque or the peat-house?" + +"To La Masque - I hate the idea of the pest-house!" + +"She may be there, nevertheless; and under present circumstances, +it is the beat place for her." + +"Don't talk of it!" said Sir Norman, impatiently. "I do not and +will not believe she is there! If the sorceress shows her to me +in the caldron again, I verily believe I shall jump in head +foremost." + +"And I verily believe we will not find La Masque at home. She +wanders through the streets at all hours, but particularly +affects the night." + +"We shall try, however. Come along!" + +The house of the sorceress was but a short distance from that of +Sir Norman's plague-stricken lady-love's; and shod with a sort of +seven-league boots, they soon reached it. Like the other, it was +all dark and deserted. + +"This is the home," said Ormiston, looking at it doubtfully, "but +where is La Masque?" + +"Here!" said a silvery voice at his elbow; and turning round, +they saw a tall, slender figure, cloaked, hooded, and masked. +"Surely, you two do not want me again to-night?" + +Both gentlemen doffed their plumed hats, and simultaneously +bowed. + +"Fortune favors us," said Sir Norman. "Yes, madam, it is even +so; once again to-night we would tax your skill." + +"Well, what do you wish to know?" + +"Madam, we are in the street." + +"Sir, I'm aware of that. Pray proceed," + +"Will you not have the goodness to permit us to enter?" said Sir +Norman, inclined to feel offended. "How can you tell us what we +wish to know, here?" + +"That is my secret," said the sweet voice. "Probably Sir Norman +Kingsley wishes to know something of the fair lady I showed him +some time ago?" + +"Madam, you've guessed it. It is for that purpose I have sought +you now." + +"Then you have seen her already?" + +"I have." + +"And love her?" + +"With all my heart!" + +"A rapid flame," said the musical voice, in a tone that had just +a thought of sarcasm; "for one of whose very existence you did +not dream two hours ago." + +"Madame La Masque," said Norman, flushed sad haughty, "love is +not a question of time." + +"Sir Norman Kingsley," said the lady, somewhat sadly, "I am aware +of that. Tell me what you wish to know, and if it be in my +power, you shall know it." + +"A thousand thanks! Tell me, then, is she whom I seek living or +dead?" + +"She is alive." + +"She has the plague?" said Sir Norman. + +"I know it." + +"Will she recover?" + +"She will." + +"Where is she now?" + +La Masque hesitated and seemed uncertain whether or not to reply, +Sir Norman passionately broke in: + +"Tell me, madam, for I must know!" + +"Then you shall; but, remember, if you get into danger, you must +not blame me." + +"Blame you! No, I think I would hardly do that. Where am I to +seek for her?" + +"Two miles from London beyond Newgate," said the mask. "There +stand the ruins of what was long ago a hunting-lodge, now a +crumbling skeleton, roofless and windowless, and said, by rumor, +to be haunted. Perhaps you have seen or heard of it?" + +"I have seen it a hundred times," broke in Sir Norman. "Surely, +you do not mean to say she is there?" + +"Go there, and you will see. Go there to-night, and lose no time +- that is, supposing you can procure a license." + +"I have one already. I have a pass from the Lord Mayor to come +and go from the city when I please." + +"Good! Then you'll go to-night." + +"I will go. I might as well do that as anything else, I suppose; +but it is quite impossible," said Sir Norman, firmly, not to say +obstinately, "that she can be there." + +"Very well you'll see. You had better go on horseback, if you +desire to be back in time to witness the illumination." + +"I don't particularly desire to see the illumination, as I know +of; but I will ride, nevertheless. What am I to do when I get +there?" + +"You will enter the ruins, and go on till you discover a spiral +staircase leading to what was once the vaults. The flags of +these vaults are loose from age, and if you should desire to +remove any of them, you will probably not find it an +impossibility." + +"Why should I desire to remove them?" asked Sir Norman, who felt +dubious, and disappointed, and inclined to be dogmatical. + +"Why, you may see a glimmering of light - hear strange noises; +and if you remove the stones, may possibly see strange sights. +As I told you before, it is rumored to be haunted, which is true +enough, though not in the way they suspect; and so the fools and +the common herd stay away." + +"And if I am discovered peeping like a rascally valet, what will +be the consequences?" + +"Very unpleasant ones to you; but you need not be discovered if +you take care. Ah! Look there!" + +She pointed to the river, and both her companions looked. A +barge gayly painted and gilded, with a light in prow and stern, +came gliding up among less pretentious craft, and stopped at the +foot of a flight of stairs leading to the bridge. It contained +four persons - the oarsman, two cavaliers sitting in the stern, +and a lad in the rich livery of a court-page in the act of +springing out. Nothing very wonderful in all this; and Sir +Norman and Ormiston looked at her for an explanation. + +"Do you know those two gentlemen?" she asked. + +"Certainly," replied Sir Norman, promptly; "one is the Duke of +York, the other the Earl of Rochester." + +"And that page, to which of them does he belong?" + +"The page!" said Sir Norman, with a stare, as he leaned forward +to look; "pray, madam, what has the page to do with it?" + +"Look and see!" + +The two peers has ascended the stairs, and were already on the +bridge. The page loitered behind, talking, as it seemed, to the +waterman. + +"He wears the livery of the Earl of Rochester," said Ormiston, +speaking for the first time, "but I cannot see his face." + +"He will follow presently, and be sure you see it then! Possibly +you may not find it entirely new to you." + +She drew back into the shadow as she spoke; and the two nobles, +as they advanced, talking earnestly, beheld Sir Norman and +Ormiston. Both raised their hats with a look of recognition, and +the salute was courteously returned by the others. + +"Good-night, gentlemen," said Lord Rochester; "a hot evening, is +it not? Have you come here to witness the illumination?" + +"Hardly," said Sir Norman; "we have come for a very different +purpose, my lord." + +"The fires will have one good effect," said Ormiston laughing; +"if they clear the air and drive away this stifling atmosphere." + +"Pray God they drive away the plague!" said the Duke of York, as +he and his companion passed from view. + +The page sprang up the stairs after them, humming as he came, one +of his master's love ditties - songs, saith tradition, savoring +anything but the odor of sanctity. With the warning of La Masque +fresh in their mind, both looked at him earnestly. His gay +livery was that of Lord Rochester, and became his graceful figure +well, as he marched along with a jaunty swagger, one hand on his +aide, and the other toying with a beautiful little spaniel, that +frisked in open violation of the Lord Mayor's orders, commanding +all dogs, great and small, to be put to death as propagators of +the pestilence. In passing, the lad turned his face toward them +for a moment - a bright, saucy, handsome face it was - and the +next instant he went round an angle and disappeared. Ormiston +suppressed an oath. Sir Norman stifled a cry of amazement - for +both recognized that beautiful colorless face, those perfect +features, and great, black, lustrous eyes. It was the face of +the lady they had saved from the plague-pit!" + +"Am I sane or mad?" inquired Sir Norman, looking helplessly about +him for information. Surely that is she we are in search of." + +"It certainly is!" said Ormiston. "Where are the wonders of this +night to end?" + +"Satan and La Masque only know; for they both seem to have united +to drive me mad. Where is she?" + +"Where, indeed?" said Ormiston; "where is last year's snow?" And +Sir Norman, looking round at the spot where she had stood a +moment before, found that she, too, had disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE STRANGER. + + +The two friends looked at each other in impressive silence for a +moment, and spake never a word. Not that they were astonished - +they were long past the power of that emotion: and if a cloud +had dropped from the sky at their feet, they would probably have +looked at it passively, and vaguely wonder if the rest would +follow. Sir Norman, especially, had sank into a state of mind +that words are faint and feeble to describe. Ormiston, not being +quite so far gone, was the first to open his lips. + +"Upon my honor, Sir Norman, this is the most astonishing thing +ever I heard of. That certainly was the face of our half-dead +bride! What, in the name ad all the gods, can it mean, I wonder?" + +"I have given up wondering," said Sir Norman, in the same +helpless tone. "And if the earth was to open and swallow London +up, I should not be the least surprised. One thing is certain: +the lady we are seeking and that page are one and the same." + +"And yet La Masque told you she was two miles from the city, in +the haunted ruin; and La Masque most assuredly knows." + +"I have no doubt she is there. I shall not be the least +astonished if I find her in every street between this and +Newgate." + +"Really, it is a most singular affair! First you see her in the +magic caldron; then we find her dead; then, when within an ace of +being buried, she comes to life; then we leave her lifeless as a +marble statue, shut up in your room, and fifteen minutes after, +she vanishes as mysteriously as a fairy in a nursery legend. +And, lastly, she turns up in the shape of a court-page, and +swaggers along London Bridge at this hour of the night, chanting +a love song. Faith! it would puzzle the sphinx herself to read +this riddle, I've a notion!" + +"I, for one, shall never try to read it," said Sir Norman. "I am +about tired of this labyrinth of mysteries, and shall save time +and La Masque to unravel them at their leisure." + +"Then you mean to give up the pursuit?" + +"Not exactly. I love this mysterious beauty too well to do that; +and when next I find her, be it where it may, I shall take care +she does not slip so easily through my fingers." + +"I cannot forget that page," said Ormiston, musingly. "It is +singular, since, he wears the Earl of Rochester's livery, that we +have never seen him before among his followers. Are you quite +sure, Sir Norman, that you have not?" + +"Seen him? Don't be absurd, Ormiston! Do you think I could ever +forget such a face as that?" + +"It would not be easy, I confess. One does not see such every +day. And yet - and yet - it is most extraordinary!" + +"I shall ask Rochester about him the first thing to-morrow; and +unless he is an optical illusion - which I vow I half believe is +the case - I will come at the truth in spite of your demoniac +friend, La Masque!" + +"Then you do not mean to look for him to-night?" + +"Look for him? I might as well look for a needle in a haystack. +No! I have promised La Masque to visit the old ruins, and there +I shall go forthwith. Will you accompany me?" + +"I think not. I have a word to say to La, Masque, and you and +she kept talking so busily, I had no chance to put it in." + +Sir Norman laughed. + +"Besides, I have no doubt it is a word you would not like to +utter in the presence of a third party, even though that third +party be your friend and Pythias, Kingsley. Do you mean to stay +here like a plague-sentinel until she returns?" + +"Possibly; or if I get tired I may set out in search of her. +When do you return?" + +"The Fates, that seem to make a foot-ball of my best affections, +and kick them as they please, only know. If nothing happens - +which, being interpreted, means, if I am still in the land of the +living - I shall surely be back by daybreak." + +"And I shall be anxious about that time to hear the result of +your night's adventure; so where shall we meet?" + +"Why not here? it is as good a place an any." + +"With all my heart. Where do you propose getting a horse?" + +"At the King's Arms - but a stones throw from here. Farewell." + +"Good-night, and God speed you!" said Ormiston. And wrapping his +cloak close about him, he leaned against the doorway, and, +watching the dancing lights on the river, prepared to await the +return of La Masque. + +With his head full of the adventures and misadventures of the +night, Sir Norman walked thoughtfully on until he reached the +King's Arms - a low inn on the bank of the river. To his dismay +he found the house shut up, and bearing the dismal mark and +inscription of the pestilence. While he stood contemplating it +in perplexity, a watchman, on guard before another plague- +stricken house, advanced and informed him that the whole family +had perished of the disease, and that the landlord himself, the +last survivor, had been carried off not twenty minutes before to +the plague-pit. + +"But," added the man, seeing Sir Norman's look of annoyance, and +being informed what he wanted, "there are two or three horses +around there in the stable, and you may as well help yourself, +for if you don't take them, somebody else will." + +This philosophic logic struck Sir Norman as being so extremely +reasonable, that without more ado he stepped round to the stables +and selected the best it contained. Before proceeding on his +journey, it occurred to him that, having been handling a plague- +patient, it would be a good thing to get his clothes fumigated; +so he stepped into an apothecary's store for that purpose, and +provided himself also with a bottle of aromatic vinegar. Thus +prepared for the worst, Sir Norman sprang on his horse like a +second Don Quixote striding his good steed Rozinante, and sallied +forth in quest of adventures. These, for a short time, were of +rather a dismal character; for, hearing the noise of a horse's +hoofs in the silent streets at that hour of the night, the people +opened their doors as he passed by, thinking it the pest-cart, +and brought forth many a miserable victim of the pestilence. +Averting his head from the revolting spectacles, Sir Norman held +the bottle of vinegar to his nostrils, and rode rapidly till he +reached Newgate. There he was stopped until his bill of health +was examined, and that small manuscript being found all right, he +was permitted to pass on in peace. Everywhere he went, the trail +of the serpent was visible over all. Death and Desolation went +hand in hand. Outside as well as inside the gates, great piles +of wood and coal were arranged, waiting only the midnight hour to +be fired. Here, however, no one seemed to be stirring; and no +sound broke the silence but the distant rumble of the death-cart, +and the ringing of the driver's bell. There were lights in some +of the houses, but many of them were dark and deserted, and +nearly every one bore the red cross of the plague. + +It was a gloomy scene and hour, and Sir Norman's heart turned +sick within him as he noticed tho ruin and devastation the +pestilence had everywhere wrought. And he remembered, with a +shudder, the prediction of Lilly, the astrologer, that the paved +streets of London would be like green fields, and the living be +no longer able to bury the dead. Long before this, he had grown +hardened and accustomed to death from its very frequence; but +now, as he looked round him, he almost resolved to ride on and +return no more to London till the plague should have left it. +But then came the thought of his unknown lady-love, and with it +the reflection that he was on his way to find her; and, rousing +himself from his melancholy reverie, he rode on at a brisker +pace, heroically resolved to brave the plague or any other +emergency, for her sake. Full of this laudable and lover-like +resolution, he had got on about half a mile further, when he was +suddenly checked in his rapid career by an exciting, but in no +way surprising, little incident. + +During the last few yards, Sir Norman had come within sight of +another horseman, riding on at rather a leisurely pace, +considering the place and the hour. Suddenly three other +horsemen came galloping down upon him, and the leader presenting +a pistol at his head, requested him in a stentorial voice for his +money or his life. By way of reply, the stranger instantly +produced a pistol of his own, and before the astonished +highwayman could comprehend the possibility of such an act, +discharged it full in his face. With a loud yell the robber +reeled and fell from his saddle, and in a twinkling both his +companions fired their pistols at the traveler, and bore, with a +simultaneous cry of rage, down upon him. Neither of the shots +had taken effect, but the two enraged highwaymen would have made +short work of their victim had not Sir Norman, like a true +knight, ridden to the rescue. Drawing his sword, with one +vigorous blow he placed another of the assassins hors de combat; +and, delighted with the idea of a fight to stir his stagnant +blood, was turning (like a second St. George at the Dragon), upon +the other, when that individual, thinking discretion the better +part of valor, instantaneously turned tail and fled. The whole +brisk little episode had not occupied five minutes, and Sir +Norman was scarcely aware the fight had began before it had +triumphantly ended. + +"Short, sharp, and decisive!" was the stranger's cool criticism, +as he deliberately wiped his blood=stained sword, and placed it +in a velvet scabbard. "Our friends, there, got more than they +bargained for, I fancy. Though, but for you, Sir," he said, +politely raising him hat and bowing, "I should probably have been +ere this in heaven, or - the other place." + +Sir Norman, deeply edified by the easy sang-froid of the speaker, +turned to take a second look at him. There was very little +light; for the night had grown darker as it wore on, and the few +stars that had glimmered faintly had hid their diminished heads +behind the piles of inky clouds. Still, there was a sort of +faint phosphorescent light whitening the gloom, and by it Sir +Norman's keen bright eyes discovered that he wore a long dark +cloak and slouched hat. He discovered something else, too - that +he had seen that hat and cloak, and the man inside of them on +London Bridge, not an hour before. It struck Sir Norman there +was a sort of fatality in their meeting; and his pulses quickened +a trifle, as he thought that he might be speaking to the husband +of the lady for whom he had so suddenly conceived such a rash and +inordinate attachment. That personage meantime having reloaded +his pistol, with a self-possession refreshing to witness, +replaced it in his doublet, gathered up the reins, and, glancing +slightly at his companion, spoke again + +"I should thank you for saving my life, I suppose, but thanking +people is so little in my line, that I scarcely know how to set +about it. Perhaps, my dear sir, you will take the will for the +deed." + +"An original, this," thought Sir Norman, "whoever he is." Then +aloud: "Pray don't trouble yourself about thanks, sir, I should +have dome precisely the same for the highwaymen, had you been +three to one over them." + +"I don't doubt it in the least; nevertheless I feel grateful, for +you have saved my life all the same, and you have never seen me +before." + +"There you are mistaken," said Sir Norman, quietly "I had the +pleasure of seeing you scarce an hour ago." + +"Ah!" said the stranger, in an altered tone, "and where?" + +"On London Bridge." + +"I did not see you." + +"Very likely, but I was there none the less." + +"Do you know me?" said the stranger; and Sir Norman could see he +was gazing at him sharply from under the shadow of his slouched +hat. + +"I have not that honor, but I hope to do so before we part." + +"It was quite dark when you saw me on the bridge - how comes it, +then, that you recollect me so well?" + +"I have always been blessed with an excellent memory," said Sir +Norman carelessly, "and I knew your dress, face, and voice +instantly." + +"My voice! Then you heard me speak, probably to the watchman +guarding a plague-stricken house?" + +"Exactly! and the subject being a very interesting one, I +listened to all you said." + +"Indeed I and what possible interest could; the subject have for +you, may I ask?" + +"A deeper one than you think!" said Sir Norman, with a slight +tremor in his voice as he thought of the lady, "the watchman told +you the lady you sought for had been carried away dead, and +thrown into the plague-pit!" + +"Well," cried the stranger starting violently, "and was it not +true?" + +"Only partly. She was carried away in the pest-cart sure enough, +but she was not thrown into the plague-pit!" + +"And why?" + +"Because, when on reaching that horrible spot, she was found to +be alive!" + +"Good Heaven! And what then?" + +"Then," exclaimed Sir Norman, in a tone almost as excited as his +own, "she was brought to the house of a friend, and left alone +for a few minutes, while that friend went in search of a doctor. +On returning they found her - where do you think?" + +"Where?" + +"Gone!" said Sir Norman emphatically, "spirited away by some +mysterious agency; for she was dying of the plague, and could not +possibly stir hand or foot herself." + +"Dying of the plague, O Leoline!" said the stranger, in a voice +full of pity and horror, while for a moment he covered his face +with his hands. + +"So her name is Leoline?" said Sir Norman to himself. "I have +found that out, and also that this gentleman, whatever he may be +to her, is as ignorant of her whereabouts as I am myself. He +seems in trouble, too. I wonder if he really happens to be her +husband?" + +The stranger suddenly lifted his head and favored Sir Norman with +a long and searching look. + +"How come you to know all this, Sir Norman Kingsley," he asked +abruptly. + +"And how come you to know my name?" demanded Sir Norman, very +much amazed, notwithstanding his assertion that nothing would +astonish him more. + +"That is of no consequence! Tell me how you've learned all +this?" repeated the stranger, in a tone of almost stern +authority. + +Sir Norman started and stared. That voice I have had heard it a +thousand times! It had evidently been disguised before; but now, +in the excitement of the moment, the stranger was thrown off his +guard, and it became perfectly familiar. But where had he heard +it? For the life of him, Sir Norman could not tell, yet it was +as well known to him as his own. It had the tone, too, of one +far more used to command than entreaty; and Sir Norman, instead +of getting angry, us he felt he ought to have done, mechanically +answered: + +"The watchman told you of the two young men who brought her out +and laid her in the dead-cart - I was one of the two." + +"And who was the other?" + +"A friend of mine - one Malcolm Ormiston." + +"Ah! I know him! Pardon my abruptness, Sir Norman," said the +stranger, once more speaking in his assumed suave tone, "but I +feel deeply on this subject, and was excited at the moment. You +spoke of her being brought to the house of a friend - now, who +may that friend be, for I was not aware that she had any?" + +"So I judged," said Sir Norman, rather bitterly, "or she would not +have been left to die alone of the plague. She was brought to my +house, sir, and I am the friend who would have stood by her to +the last!" + +Sir Norman sat up very straight and haughty on his horse; and had +it been daylight, he would have seen a slight derisive smile pass +over the lips of his companion. + +"I have always heard that Sir Norman Kingsley was a chivalrous +knight," he said; "but I scarcely dreamed his gallantry would +have carried him go far as to brave death by the pestilence for +the sake of an unknown lady - however beautiful. I wonder you, +did not carry her to the pest-house." + +"No doubt! Those who could desert her at such a time would +probably be capable of that or any other baseness!" + +"My good friend," said the stranger, calmly, "your insinuation is +not over-courteous, but I can forgive it, more for the sake of +what you've done for her to-night than for myself." + +Sir Norman's lip curled. + +"I'm obliged to you! And now, sir, as you have seen fit to +question me in this free and easy manner, will you pardon me if I +take the liberty of returning the compliment, and ask you a few +in return?" + +"Certainly; pray proceed, Sir Norman," said the stranger, +blandly; "you are at liberty to ask as many questions as you +please - so am I to answer them." + +"I answered all yours unhesitatingly, and you owe it to me to do +the same," said Sir Norman, somewhat haughtily. "In the first +place, you have an advantage of me which I neither understand, +nor relish; so, to place us on equal terms, will you have the +goodness to tell me your name?" + +"Most assuredly! My name," said the stranger, with glib +airiness, "is Count L'Estrange." + +"A name unknown to me," said Sir Norman, with a piercing look, +"and equally unknown, I believe, at Whitehall. There is a Lord +L'Estrange in London; or you and he are certainly not one and the +same." + +"My friend does not believe me," said the count, almost gayly - +"a circumstance I regret, but cannot help. Is there anything +else Sir Norman wishes to know?" + +"If you do not answer my questions truthfully, there to little +use in my asking them," said Sir Norman, bluntly. "Do you mean +to say you are a foreigner?" + +"Sir Norman Kingsley is at perfect liberty to answer that +question as he pleases," replied the stranger, with most +provoking indifference. + +Sir Norman's eye flashed, and his hand fell on his sword; but, +reflecting that the count might find it inconvenient to answer +any more questions if he ran him through, he restrained himself +and went on. + +"Sir, you are impertinent, but that is of no consequence, just +now. Who was that lady - what was her name?" + +"Leoline." + +"Was she your wife?" + +The stranger paused for a moment, as if reflecting whether she +was or not, and then said, meditatively + +"No - I don't know as she was. On the whole, I am pretty sure +she was not." + +Sir Norman felt as if a ton weight had been suddenly hoisted from +the region of his heart. + +"Was she anybody else's wife?" + +"I think not. I'm inclined to think that, except myself, she did +not know another man in London." + +"Then why was she dressed as a bride?" inquired Sir Norman, +rather mystified. + +"Was she? My poor Leoline!" said the stranger, sadly. "Because-" +he hesitated, "because - in short, Sir Norman," said the stranger, +decidedly, "I decline answering any more questions!" + +"I shall find out, for all that," said Sir Norman, "and here I +shall bid you good-night, for this by-path leads to my +destination." + +"Good-night," said the stranger, "and be careful, Sir +Norman-remember, the plague is abroad." + +"And so are highwaymen!" called Sir Norman after him, a little +maliciously; but a careless laugh from the stranger was the only +reply as he galloped away. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DWARF AND THE RUIN. + +The by-path down which Sir Norman rode, led to an inn, "The +Golden Crown," about a quarter of a mile from the ruin. Not +wishing to take his horse, lest it should lead to discovery, he +proposed leaving it here till his return; and, with this +intention, and the strong desire for a glass of wine - for the +heat and his ride made him extremely thirsty - he dismounted at +the door, and consigning the animal to the care of a hostler, he +entered the bar-room. It was not the most inviting place in the +world, this same bar-room - being illy-lighted, dim with +tobacco-smoke, and pervaded by a strong spirituous essence of +stronger drinks than malt or cold water. A number of men were +loitering about, smoking, drinking, and discussing the +all-absorbing topic of the plague, and the fires that might be +kindled. There was a moment's pause, as Sir Norman entered, took +a seat, and called for a glass of sack, and then the conversation +went on as before. The landlord hastened to supply his wants by +placing a glass and a bottle of wine before him, and Sir Norman +fell to helping himself, and to ruminating deeply on the events +of the night. Rather melancholy these ruminations were, though +to do the young gentleman justice, sentimental melancholy was not +at all in his line; but then you will please to recollect he was +in love, and when people come to that state, they are no longer +to be held responsible either for their thoughts or actions. It +is true his attack had been a rapid one, but it was no less +severe for that; and if any evil-minded critic is disposed to +sneer at the suddenness of his disorder, I have only to say, that +I know from observation, not to speak of experience, that love at +first sight is a lamentable fact, and no myth. + +Love is not a plant that requires time to flourish, but is quite +capable of springing up like the gourd of Jonah full grown in a +moment. Our young friend, Sir Norman, had not been aware of the +existence of the object of his affections for a much longer space +than two hours and a half, yet he had already got to such a +pitch, that if he did not speedily find her, he felt he would do +something so desperate as to shake society to its utmost +foundations. The very mystery of the affair spurred him on, and +the romantic way in which she had been found, saved, and +disappeared, threw such a halo of interest round her, that he was +inclined to think sometimes she was nothing but a shining vision +from another world. Those dark, splendid eyes; that lovely +marblelike face; those wavy ebon tresses; that exquisitely +exquisite figure; yes, he felt they were all a great deal too +perfect for this imperfect and wicked world. Six Norman was in a +very bad way, beyond doubt, but no worse than millions of young +men before and after him; and he heaved a great many profound +sighs, and drank a great many glasses of sack, and came to the +sorrowful conclusion that Dame Fortune was a malicious jade, +inclined to poke fun at his best affections, and make a +shuttlecock of his heart for the rest of his life. He thought, +too, of Count L'Estrange; and the longer he thought, the more he +became convinced that he knew him well, and had met him often. +But where? He racked his brain until, between love, Leoline, and +the count, he got that delicate organ into such a maze of +bewilderment and distraction, that he felt he would be a case of +congestion, shortly, if he did not give it up. That the count's +voice was not the only thing about him assumed, he was positive; +and he mentally called over the muster-roll of his past friends, +who spent half their time at Whitehall, and the other half going +through the streets, making love to the honest citizens' pretty +wives and daughters; but none of them answered to Count +L'Estrange. He could scarcely be a foreigner - he spoke English +with too perfect an accent to be that; and then he knew him, Sir +Norman, as if he had been his brother. In short, there was no +use driving himself insane trying to read so unreadable a riddle; +and inwardly consigning the mysterious count to Old Nick, he +swallowed another glass of sack, and quit thinking about him. + +So absorbed had Sir Norman been in his own mournful musings, that +he paid no attention whatever to those around him, and had nearly +forgotten their very presence, when one of them, with aloud cry, +sprang to his feet, and then fell writhing to the floor. The +others, in dismay, gathered abut him, but the ne=t instant fell +back with a cry of, "He has the plague!" At that dreaded +announcement, half of them scampered off incontinently; and the +other half with the landlord at their head, lifted the sufferer +whose groans and cries were heart-rendering, and carried him out +of the house. Sir Norman, rather dismayed himself, had risen to +his feet, fully aroused from his reverie, and found himself and +another individual sole possessors of the premises. His +companion he could not very well make out; for he was sitting, or +rather crouching, in a remote and shadowy corner, where nothing +was clearly visible but the glare of a pair of fiery eyes. There +was a great redundancy of hair, too, about his head and face, +indeed considerable more about the latter than there seemed any +real necessity for, and even with the imperfect glimpse he caught +of him the young man set him down in his own mind as about as +hard-looking a customer as he had ever seen. The fiery eyes were +glaring upon him like those of a tiger, through a jungle of bushy +hair, but their owner spoke never a word, though the other stared +back with compound interest. There they sat, beaming upon each +other - one fiercely, the other curiously, until the +re-appearance of the landlord with a very lugubrious and +woebegone countenance. It struck Sir Norman that it was about +time to start for the ruin; and, with an eye to business, he +turned to cross-examine mine host a trifle. + +"What have they done with that man?" he asked by way of preface. + +"Sent him to the pest-house," replied the landlord, resting his +elbows on the counter and his chin in his hands, and staring +dismally at the opposite wall. "Ah! Lord 'a' mercy on us I +these be dreadful times!" + +"Dreadful enough!" said Sir Norman, sighing deeply, as he thought +of his beautiful Leoline, a victim of the merciless pestilence. +"Have there been many deaths here of the distemper?" + +"Twenty-five to-day!" groaned the man. "Lord! what will become of +us?" + +"You seem rather disheartened," said Sir Norman, pouring out a +glass of wine and handing it to him. "Just drink this, and don't +borrow trouble. They say sack is a sure specific against the +plague." + +Mine host drained the bumper, and wiped his mouth, with another +hollow groan. + +"If I thought that, sir, I'd not be sober from one week's end to +t'other; but I know well enough I will be in a plague-pit in less +than a week. O Lord! have mercy on us!" + +"Amen!" said Sir Norman, impatiently. "If fear has not taken +away your wits, my good sir, will you tell me what old ruin that +is I saw a little above here as I rode up?" + +The man started from his trance of terror, and glanced, first at +the fiery eyes in the corner, and then at Sir Norman, in evident +trepidation of the question. + +"That ruin, sir? You must be a stranger in this place, surely, +or you would not need to ask that question." + +"Well, suppose I am a stranger? What then?" + +"Nothing, sir; only I thought everybody knew everything about +that ruin." + +"But I do not, you see? So fill your glass again, and while you +are drinking it, just tell me what that everything comprises." + +Again the landlord glanced fearfully st the fiery eyes in the +corner, and again hesitated. + +"Well!" exclaimed Sir Norman, at once surprised and impatient at +his taciturnity, "Can't you speak man? I want you to tell me all +about it." + +"There is nothing to tell, sir," replied the host, goaded to +desperation. "It is an old, deserted ruin that's been here ever +since I remember; and that's all I know about it." + +While, he spoke, the crouching shape in the corner reared itself +upright, and keeping his fiery eyes still glaring upon Sir +Norman, advanced into the light. Our young knight was in the act +of raising his glass to his lips; but as the apparition +approached, he laid it down again, untasted, and stared at it in +the wildest surprise and intensest curiosity. Truly, it was a +singular-looking creature, not to say a rather startling one. A +dwarf of some four feet high, and at least five feet broad +across the shoulders, with immense arms and head - a giant in +everything but height. His immense skull was set on such a +trifle of a neck as to be scarcely worth mentioning, and was +garnished by a violent mat of coarse, black hair, which also +overran the territory of his cheeks and chin, leaving no neutral +ground but his two fiery eyes and a broken nose all twisted awry. +On a pair of short, stout legs he wore immense jack-boots, his +Herculean shoulders and chest were adorned with a leathern +doublet, and in the belt round his waist were conspicuously stuck +a pair of pistols and a dagger. Altogether, a more ugly or +sinister gentleman of his inches it would have been hard to find +in all broad England. Stopping deliberately before Sir Norman, +he placed a hand on each hip, and in a deep, guttural voice, +addressed him: + +"So, sir knight - for such I perceive you are - you are anxious +to know something of that old ruin yonder?" + +"Well," said Sir Norman, so far recovering from his surprise as +to be able to speak, "suppose I am? Have you anything to say +against it, my little friend?" + +"Oh, not in the least!" said the dwarf, with a hoarse chuckle. +"Only, instead of wasting your breath asking this good man, who +professes such utter ignorance, you had better apply to me for +information." + +Again Sir Norman surveyed the little Hercules from head to foot +for a moment, in silence, as one, nowadays, would an intelligent +gorilla. + +"You think so - do you? And what may you happen to know about +it, my pretty little friend?" + +"O Lord!" exclaimed the landlord, to himself, with a frightened +face, while the dwarf "grinned horribly a ghastly smile" from ear +to ear. + +"So much, my good sir, that I would strongly advise you not to go +near it, unless you wish to catch something worse than the +plague. There have been others - our worthy host, there, whose +teeth, you may perceive, are chattering in his head, can tell you +about those that have tried the trick, and - " + +"Well?" said Sir Norman, curiously. + +"And have never returned to tell what they found!" concluded the +little monster, with a diabolical leer. And as the landlord +fell, gray and gasping, back in his seat, he broke out into a +loud and hyena-like laugh. + +"My dear little friend," said Sir Norman, staring at him in +displeased wonder, "don't laugh, if you can help it. You are +unprepossessing enough at best, but when you laugh, you look like +the very (a downward gesture) himself!" + +Unheeding this advice, the dwarf broke again into an unearthly +cachinnation, that frightened the landlord nearly into fits, and +seriously discomposed the nervous system even of Sir Norman +himself. Then, grinning like a baboon, and still transfixing our +puissant young knight with the same tiger-like and unpleasant +glare, he nodded a farewell; and in this fashion, grinning, and +nodding, and backing, he got to the door, and concluding the +interesting performance with a third hoarse and hideous laugh, +disappeared in the darkness. + +For fully ten minutes after he was gone, the young man kept his +eyes blankly fixed on the door, with a vague impression that he +was suffering from an attack of nightmare; for it seemed +impossible that anything so preposterously ugly as that dwarf +could exist out of one. A deep groan from the landlord, however, +convinced him that it was no disagreeable midnight vision, but a +brawny reality; and turning to that individual, he found him +gasping, in the last degree of terror, behind the counter. + +"Now, who in the name of all the demons oat of Hades may that +ugly abortion be?" inquired Sir Norman. + +"O Lord I be merciful! sir, it's Caliban; and the only wonder is, +he did not leave you a bleeding corpse at his feet!" + +"I should like to see him try it. Perhaps he would have found +that is a game two can play at! Where does he come from and who +is he!" + +The landlord leaned over the counter, and placed a very pale and +startled face close to Sir Norman's. + +"That's just what I wanted to tell you, sir, but I was afraid to +speak before him. I think he lives up in that same old ruin you +were inquiring about - at least, he is often seen hanging around +there; but people are too much afraid of him to ask him any +questions. Ah, sir, it's a strange place, that ruin, and there +be strange stories afloat about it," said the man, with a +portentious shake of the head. + +"What are they?" inquired Sir Norman. "I should particularly +like to know." + +"Well, sir, for one thing, some folks say it is haunted, on +account of the queer lights and noises abort it, sometimes; but, +again, there be other folks, sir, that say the ghosts are alive, +and that he" - nodding toward the door - "is a sort of ringleader +among them." + +"And who are they that out up such cantrips in the old place, +pray?" + +"Lord only knows, sir. I'm sure I don't. I never go near it +myself; but there are others who have, and some of them tell of +the most beautiful lady, all in white, with long, black hair, who +walks on the battlements moonlight nights." + +"A beautiful lady, all in white, with long, black hair! Why, +that description applies to Leoline exactly." + +And Sir Norman gave a violent start, and arose to proceed to the +place directly. + +"Don't you go near it, sir!" said the host, warningly. "Others +have gone, as he told you, and never come back; for these be +dreadful times, and men do as they please. Between the plague +and their wickedness, the Lord only known what will become of +us!" + +"If I should return here for my horse in an hour or two, I +suppose I can get him?" sad Sir Norman, as he turned toward the +door. + +"It's likely you can, sir, if I'm not dead by that time," said +the landlord, as he sank down again, groaning dismally, with his +chin between his hands. + +The night was now profoundly dark; but Sir Norman knew the road +and ruin well, and, drawing his sword, walked resolutely on. The +distance between it and the ruin was trifling, and in less than +ten minutes it loomed up before him, a mass of deeper black in +the blackness. No white vision floated on the broken battlements +this night, as Sir Norman looked wistfully up at them; but +neither was there any ungainly dwarf, with two-edged sword, +guarding the ruined entrance; and Sir Norman passed unmolested +in. He sought the spiral staircase which La Masque had spoken +of, and, passing carefully from one ancient chamber to another, +stumbling over piles of rubbish and stones as he went, he reached +it at last. Descending gingerly its tortuous steepness, he found +himself in the mouldering vaults, and, as he trod them, his ear +was greeted by the sound of faint and far-off music. Proceeding +farther, he heard distinctly, mingled with it, a murmur of voices +and laughter, and, through the chinks in the broken flags, he +perceived a few faint rays of light. Remembering the directions +of La Masque, and feeling intensely curious, he cautiously knelt +down, and examined the loose flagstones until he found one he +could raise; he pushed it partly aside, and, lying flat on the +stones, with his face to the aperture, Sir Norman beheld a most +wonderful sight. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +"Love is like a dizziness," says the old song. Love is something +else - it is the most selfish feeling in existence. Of course, I +don't allude to the fraternal or the friendly, or any other such +nonsensical old-fashioned trash that artless people still believe +in, but to the real genuine article that Adam felt for Eve when +he first saw her, and which all who read this - above the +innocent and unsusceptible age of twelve - have experienced. And +the fancy and the reality are so much alike, that they amount to +about the same thing. The former perhaps, may be a little +short-lived; but it is just as disagreeable a sensation while it +lasts as its more enduring sister. Love is said to be blind, and +it also has a very injurious effect on the eyesight of its +victims - an effect that neither spectacles nor oculists can aid +in the slightest degree, making them see whether sleeping or +waking, but one object, and that alone. + +I don't know whether these were Mr. Malcolm or Ormiston's +thoughts, as he leaned against the door-way, and folded his arms +across his chest to await the shining of his day-star. In fact, +I am pretty sure they were not: young gentlemen, as a general +thing, not being any more given to profound moralizing in the +reign of His Most Gracious Majesty, Charles II., than they are at +the present day; but I do know, that no sooner was his bosom +friend and crony, Sir Norman Kingsley, out of eight, than he +forgot him as teetotally an if he had never known that +distinguished individual. His many and deep afflictions, his +love, his anguish, and his provocations; his beautiful, +tantalizing, and mysterious lady-love; his errand and its +probable consequences, all were forgotten; and Ormiston thought +of nothing or nobody in the world but himself and La Masque. La +Masque! La Masque! that was the theme on which his thoughts +rang, with wild variations of alternate hope and fear, like every +other lover since the world began, and love was first an +institution. "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall +be," truly, truly it is an odd and wonderful thing. And you and +I may thank our stars, dear readers, that we are a great deal too +sensible to wear our hearts in our sleeves for such a +bloodthirsty dew to peck at. Ormiston's flame was longer-lived +than Sir Norman's; he had been in love a whole month, and had it +badly, and was now at the very crisis of a malady. Why did she +conceal her face - would she ever disclose it - would she listen +to him - would she ever love him? feverishly asked Passion; and +Common Sense (or what little of that useful commodity he had +left) answered - probably because she was eccentric - possibly +she would disclose it for the same reason; that he had only to +try and make her listen; and as to her loving him, why, Common +Sense owned he had her there. + +I can't say whether the adage! "Faint heart never won fair lady!" +was extant in his time; but the spirit of it certainly was, and +Ormiston determined to prove it. He wanted to see La Masque, and +try his fate once again; and see her he would, if he had to stay +there as a sort of ornamental prop to the house for a week. He +knew he might as well look for a needle in a haystack as his +whimsical beloved through the streets of London - dismal and dark +now as the streets of Luxor and Tadmor in Egypt; and he wisely +resolved to spare himself and his Spanish leathers boots the +trial of a one-handed game of "hide-and-go-to-seek." Wisdom, +like Virtue, is its own reward; and scarcely had he come to this +laudable conclusion, when, by the feeble glimmer of the +house-lamps, he saw a figure that made his heart bound, flitting +through the night-gloom toward him. He would have known that +figure on the sands of Sahara, in an Indian jungle, or an +American forest - a tall, slight, supple figure, bending and +springing like a bow of steel, queenly and regal as that of a +young empress. It was draped in a long cloak reaching to the +ground, in color as black as the night, and clasped by a jewel +whose glittering flash, he saw even there; a velvet hood of the +same color covered the stately head; and the mask - the tiresome, +inevitable mask covered the beautiful - he was positive it was +beautiful - face. He had seen her a score of times in that very +dress, flitting like a dark, graceful ghost through the city +streets, and the sight sent his heart plunging against his side +like an inward sledge-hammer. Would one pulse in her heart stir +ever so faintly at sight of him? Just as he asked himself the +question, and was stepping forward to moot her, feeling very like +the country swain in love - "hot and dry like, with a pain in his +side like" - he suddenly stopped. Another figure came forth from +the shadow of an opposite house, and softly pronounced her name. +It was a short figure - a woman's figure. He could not see the +face, and that was an immense relief to him, and prevented his +having jealousy added to his other pains sad tribulations. La +Masque paused as well as he, and her soft voice softly asked: + +"Who calls?" + +"It is I, madame - Prudence." + +"Ah! I am glad to meet you. I have been searching the city +through for you. Where have you been?" + +"Madame, I was so frightened that I don't know where I fled to, +and I could scarcely make up my mind to come back at all. I did +feel dreadfully sorry for her, poor thing! but you know, Madame +Masque, I could do nothing for her, and I should not have come +back, only I was afraid of you." + +"You did wrong, Prudence," said La Masque, sternly, or at least +as sternly as so sweet a voice could speak; "you did very wrong +to leave her in such a way. You should have come to me at once, +and told me all." + +"But, madame, I was so frightened!" + +"Bah! You are nothing but a coward. Come into this doorway, and +tell me all about it." + +Ormiston drew back as the twain approached, and entered the deep +portals of La Masque's own doorway. He could see them both by +the aforesaid faint lamplight, and he noticed that La Masque's +companion was a wrinkled old woman, that would not trouble the +peace of mind of the most jealous lover in Christendom. Perhaps +it was not just the thing to hover aloof and listen; but he could +not for the life of him help it; and stand and listen he +accordingly did. Who knew but this nocturnal conversation might +throw some light on the dark mystery he was anxious to see +through, and, could his ears have run into needle-points to hear +the better, he would have had the operation then and there +performed. There was a moment's silence after the two entered +the portal, during which La Masque stood, tall, dark, and +commanding, motionless as a marble column; and the little +withered old specimen of humanity beside her stood gazing up at +her with something between fear and fascination. + +"Do you know what has become of your charge, Prudence?" asked the +low, vibrating voice of La Masque, at last. + +"How could I, madame? You know I fled from the house, and I +dared not go back. Perhaps she is there still." + +"Perhaps she is not? Do you suppose that sharp shriek of yours +was unheard? No; she was found; and what do you suppose has +become of her?" + +The old woman looked up, and seemed to read in the dark, stern +figure, and the deep solemn voice, the fatal truth. She wrong +her hands with a sort of cry. + +"Oh! I know, I know; they have put her in the dead-cart, and +buried her in the plague-pit. O my dear, sweet young mistress." + +"If you had stayed by your dear, sweet young mistress, instead of +running screaming away as you did, it might not have happened," +said La Masque, in a tone between derision and contempt. + +"Madame," sobbed the old woman, who was crying, "she was dying of +the plague, and how could I help it? They would have buried her +in spite of me." + +"She was not dead; there was your mistake. She was as much alive +as you or I at this moment." + +"Madame, I left her dead!" said the old woman positively. + +"Prudence, you did no such thing; you left her fainting, and in +that state she was found and carried to the plague-pit." + +The old woman stood silent for a moment, with a face of intense +horror, and then she clasped both hands with a wild cry. + +"O my God! And they buried her alive - buried her alive in that +dreadful plague-pit!" + +La Masque, leaning against a pillar, stood unmoved; and her +voice, when she spoke, was as coldly sweet as modern ice-cream. + +"Not exactly. She was not buried at all, as I happen to know. +But when did you discover that she had the plague, and how could +she possibly have caught it?" + +"That I do not know, madam. She seemed well enough all day, +though not in such high spirits as a bride should be. Toward +evening die complained of a headache and a feeling of faintness; +but I thought nothing of it, and helped her to dress for the +bridal. Before it was over, the headache and faintness grew +worse, and I gave her wine, and still suspected nothing. The +last time I came in, she had grown so much worse, that +notwithstanding her wedding dress, she had lain down on her bed, +looking for all the world like a ghost, and told me she had the +most dreadful burning pain in her chest. Then, madame, the +horrid truth struck me - I tore down her dress, and there, sure +enough, was the awful mark of the distemper. `You have the +plague!' I shrieked; and then I fled down stairs and out of the +house, like one crazy. O madame, madame! I shall never forget +it - it was terrible! I shall never forget it! Poor, poor child; +and the count does not know a word of it!" + +La Masque laughed - a sweet, clear, deriding laugh, "So the count +does not know it, Prudence? Poor man! he will be in despair when +he finds it out, won't he? Such an ardent and devoted lover as +he was you know!" + +Prudence looked up a little puzzled. + +"Yes, madame, I think so. He seemed very fond of her; a great +deal fonder than she ever was of him. The fact is, madame," said +Prudence, lowering her voice to a confidential stage whisper, +"she never seemed fond of him at all, and wouldn't have been +married, I think, if she could have helped it." + +"Could have helped it? What do you mean, Prudence? Nobody made +her, did they?" + +Prudence fidgeted, and looked rather uneasy. + +"Why, madame, she was not exactly forced, perhaps; but you know - +you know you told me - " + +"Well?" said La Masque, coldly. + +"To do what I could," cried Prudence, in a sort of desperation; +"and I did it, madame, and harassed her about it night and day. +And then the count was there, too, coaxing and entreating; and he +was handsome and had such ways with him that no woman could +resist, much less one so little used to gentlemen as Leoline. +And so, Madame Masque, we kept at her till we got her to consent +to it at last; but in her secret heart, I know she did not want +to be married - at least to the count," said Prudence, on serious +afterthought. + +"Well, well; that has nothing to do with it. The question is, +where it she to be found?" + +"Found!" echoed Prudence; "has she then been lost?" + +"Of coarse she has, you old simpleton! How could she help it, +and she dead, with no one to look after her?" said La Masque, +with something like a half laugh. "She was carried to the +plague-pit in her bridal-robes, jewels and lace; and, when about +to be thrown in, was discovered, like Moses is the bulrushes, to +be all alive." + +"Well," whispered Prudence, breathlessly. + +"Well, O most courageous of guardians! she was carried to a +certain house, and left to her own devices, while her gallant +rescuer went for a doctor; and when they returned she was +missing. Our pretty Leoline seems to have a strong fancy for +getting lost!" + +There was a pause, during which Prudence looked at her with a +face fall of mingled fear and curiosity. At last: + +"Madame, how do you know all this? Were you there?" + +"No. Not I, indeed! What would take me there?" + +"Then how do you happen to know everything about it?" + +La Masque laughed. + +"A little bird told me, Prudence! Have you returned to resume +your old duties?" + +"Madame, I dare not go into that house again. I am afraid of +taking the plague." + +"Prudence, you are a perfect idiot! Are you not liable to take +the plague in the remotest quarter of this plague-infested city? +And even if you do take it, what odds? You have only a few years +to live, at the most, and what matter whether you die now or at +the end of a year or two?" + +"What matter?" repeated Prudence, in a high key of indignant +amazement. "It may make no matter to you, Madame Masque, but it +makes a great deal to me; I can tell you; and into that infected +house I'll not put one foot." + +"Just as you please, only in that case there is no need for +further talk, so allow me to bid you good-night!" + +"But, madame, what of Leoline? Do stop one moment and tell me of +her." + +"What have I to tell? I have told you all I know. If you want +to find her, you must search in the city or in the pest-house!" + +Prudence shuddered, and covered her face with her hands. + +"O, my poor darling! so good and so beautiful. Heaven might +surely have spared her! Are you going to do nothing farther +about it?" + +"What can I do? I have searched for her and have not found her, +and what else remains?" + +"Madame, you know everything - surely, surely you know where my +poor little nursling is, among the rest." + +Again La Masque laughed - another of her low, sweet, derisive +laughs. + +"No such thing, Prudence. If I did, I should have her here in a +twinkling, depend upon - it. However, it all comes to the same +thing in the end. She is probably dead by this time, and would +have to be buried in the plague-pit, anyhow. If you have nothing +further to say, Prudence, you had better bid me good-night, and +let me go." + +"Good-night, madame!" said Prudence, with a sort of groan, as she +wrapped her cloak closely around her, and turned to go. + +La Masque stood for a moment looking after her, and then placed a +key in the lock of the door. But there is many a slip - she was +not fated to enter as soon as she thought; for just at that +moment a new step sounded beside her, a new voice pronounced her +name, and looking around, she beheld Ormiston. With what +feelings that young person had listened to the neat and +appropriate dialogue I have just had the pleasure of +immortalizing, may be - to use a phrase you may have heard +before, once or twice - better imagined than described. He knew +very well who Leoline was, and how she had been saved from the +plague-pit; but where in the world had La Masque found it out. +Lost in a maze of wonder, and inclined to doubt the evidence of +his own ears, he had stood perfectly still, until his ladylove +had so coolly dismissed her company, and then rousing himself +just in time, he had come forward and accosted her. La Masque +turned round, regarded him in silence for a moment, and when she +spoke, her voice had an accent of mingled surprise and +displeasure. + +"You, Mr. Ormiston! How many more times am I to have the +pleasure of seeing you again to-night?" + +"Pardon, madame; it is the last time. But you must hear me now." + +"Must I? Very well, then; if I must, you had better begin at +once, for the night-air is said to be unhealthy, and as good +people are scarce, I want to take care of myself." + +"In that case, perhaps you had better let me enter, too. I hate +to talk on the street, for every wall has ears." + +"I am aware of that. When I was talking to my old friend, +Prudence, two minutes ago, I saw a tall shape that I have reason +to know, since it haunts me, like my own shadow, standing there +and paying deed attention. I hope you found our conversation +improving, Mr. Ormiston!" + +"Madame!" began Ormiston, turning crimson. + +"Oh, don't blush; there is quite light enough from yonder lamp to +show that. Besides," added the lady, easily, "I don't know as I +had any objection; you are interested in Leoline, and must feel +curious to know something about her." + +"Madame, what must you think of me? I have acted unpardonably." + +"Oh, I know all that. There is no need to apologize, and I don't +think any the worse of you for it. Will you come to business, +Mr. Ormiston? I think I told you I wanted to go in. What may +you want of me at this dismal hour?" + +"O madame, need you ask! Does not your own heart tell you?" + +"I am not aware that it does! And to tell you the truth, Mr. +Ormiston, I don't know that I even have a heart! I am afraid I +mast trouble you to put it in words." + +"Then, madame, I love you!" + +"Is that all? If my memory serves me, you have told me that +little fact several times before. Is there anything else +tormenting you, or may I go in?" + +Ormiston groaned out an oath between his teeth, and La Masque +raised one jeweled, snowy taper finger, reprovingly. + +"Don't Mr. Ormiston - it's naughty, you know! May I go in?" + +"Madame, you are enough to drive a man mad. Is the love I bear +you worthy of nothing but mockery!" + +"No, Mr. Ormiston, it is not; that is, supposing you really love +me, which you don't." + +"Madame!" + +"Oh, you needn't flash and look indignant; it is quite true! +Don't be absurd, Mr. Ormiston. How is it possible for you to +love one you have never seen?" + +"I have seen you. Do you think I am blind?" he demanded, +indignantly. + +"My face, I mean. I don't consider that you can see a person +without looking in her face. Now you have never looked in mine, +and how do you know I have any face at all?" + +"Madame, you mock me." + +"Not at all. How are you to know what is behind this mask?" + +"I feel it, and that is better; and I love you all the same." + +"Mr. Ormiston, how do you know but I am ugly." + +"Madame, I do not believe you are; you are all too perfect not to +have a perfect face; and even were it otherwise, I still love +you!" + +She broke into a laugh -one of her low, short, deriding laughs. + +"You do! O man, how wise thou art! I tell you, if I took off +this mask, the sight would curdle the very blood in your veins +with horror - would freeze the lifeblood in your heart. I tell +you!" she passionately cried, "there are sights too horrible for +human beings to look on and live, and this -this is one of +them!" + +He started back, and stared at her aghast. + +"You think me mad," she said, in a less fierce tone, "but I am +not; and I repeat it, Mr. Ormiston, the sight of what this mask +conceals would blast you. Go now, for Heaven's sake, and leave +me in peace, to drag out the rest of my miserable life; and if +ever you think of me, let it be to pray that it might speedily +end. You have forced me to say this: so now be content. Be +merciful, and go!" + +She made a desperate gesture, and turned to leave him, but he +caught her hand and held her fast. + +"Never!" he cried, fiercely. "Say what you will! let that mask +hide what it may! I will never leave you till life leaves me!" + +"Man, you are mad! Release my hand and let me go!" + +"Madame, hear me. There is but one way to prove my love, and my +sanity, and that is - " + +"Well?" she said, almost touched by his earnestness. + +"Raise your mask and try me! Show me your face and see if I do +not love you still!" + +"Truly I know how much love you will have for me when it is +revealed. Do you know that no one has looked in my face for the +last eight years." + +He stood and gazed at her in wonder. + +"It is so, Mr. Ormiston; and in my heart I have vowed a vow to +plunge headlong into the most loathsome plague-pit in London, +rather than ever raise it again. My friend, be satisfied. Go +and leave me; go and forget me." + +"I can do neither until I have ceased to forget every thing +earthly. Madame, I implore you, hear me!" + +"Mr. Ormiston, I tell you, you but court your own doom. No one +can look on me and live!" + +"I will risk it," he said with an incredulous smile. "Only +promise to show me your face." + +"Be it so then!" she cried almost fiercely. "I promise, and be +the consequences on your own head." + +His whole face flushed with joy. + +"I accept them. And when is that happy time to come?" + +"Who knows! What must be done, had best be done quickly; but I +tell thee it were safer to play with the lightning's chain than +tamper with what thou art about to do." + +"I take the risk! Will you raise your mask now?" + +"No, no - I cannot! But yet, I may before the sun rises. My +face" - with bitter scorn - "shows better by darkness than by +daylight. Will you be out to see, the grand illumination." + +"Most certainly." + +"Then meet me here an hour after midnight, and the face so long +hidden shall be revealed. But, once again, on the threshold of +doom, I entreat you to pause." + +"There is no such word for me!" he fiercely and exultingly cried. +"I have your promise, and I shall hold you to it! And, madame, +if, at last, you discover my love is changeless as fate itself, +then - then may I not dare to hope for a return?" + +"Yes; then you may hope," she said, with cold mockery. "If your +love survives the sight, it will be mighty, indeed, and well +worthy a return," + +"And you will return it?" + +"I will." + +"You will be my wife?" + +"With all my heart!" + +"My darling!" he cried, rapturously - "for you are mine already - +how can I ever thank you for this? If a whole lifetime devoted +and consecrated to your happiness can repay you, it shall be +yours!" + +During this rhapsody, her hand had been on the handle of the +door. Now she turned it. + +"Good-night, Mr. Ormiston," she said, and vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE EARL'S BARGE. + + +Shocks of joy, they tell me, seldom kill. Of my own knowledge I +cannot say, for I have had precious little experience of such +shocks in my lifetime, Heaven knows; but in the present instance, +I can safely aver, they had no such dismal effect on Ormiston. +Nothing earthly could have given that young gentleman a greater +shock of joy than the knowledge he was to behold the long hidden +face of his idol. That that face was ugly, he did not for an +instant believe, or, at least, it never world be ugly to him. +With a form so perfect - a form a sylph might have envied - a +voice sweeter than the Singing Fountain of Arabia, hands and feet +the most perfectly beautiful the sun ever shone on, it was simply +a moral and physical impossibility, then, they could be joined to +a repulsive face. There was a remote possibility that it was a +little less exquisite than those ravishing items, and that her +morbid fancy made her imagine it homely, compared with them, but +he knew he never would share in that opinion. It was the +reasoning of lover, rather, the logic; for when love glides +smiling in at the door, reason stalks gravely, not to say +sulkily, out of the window, and, standing afar off, eyes +disdainfully the didos and antics of her late tenement. There +was very little reason, therefore, in Ormiston's head and heart, +but a great deal of something sweeter, joy - joy that thrilled +and vibrated through every nerve within him. Leaning against the +portal, in an absurd delirium of delight - for it takes but a +trifle to jerk those lovers from the slimiest depths of the +Slough of Despond to the topmost peak of the mountain of ecstasy +- he uncovered his head that the night-air might cool its +feverish throbbings. But the night-air was as hot as his heart; +and, almost suffocated by the sultry closeness, he was about to +start for a plunge in the river, when the sound of coming +footsteps and voices arrested him. He had met with so many odd +ad ventures to-night that he stopped now to see who was coming; +for on every hand all was silent and forsaken, + +Footsteps and voices came closer; two figures took shape in the +gloom, and emerged from the darkness into the glimmering lamp +light. He recognised them both. One was the Earl of Rochester; +the other, his dark-eyed, handsome page - that strange page with +the face of the lost lady! The earl was chatting familiarly, and +laughing obstreperously at something or other, while the boy +merely wore a languid smile, as if anything further in that line +were quite beneath his dignity. + +"Silence and solitude," said the earl, with a careless glance +around, "I protest, Hubert, this night seems endless. How long +is it till midnight?" + +"An hour and a half at least, I should fancy," answered the boy, +with a strong foreign accent. "I know it struck ten as we passed +St. Paul's." + +"This grand bonfire of our most worshipful Lord Mayor will be a +sight worth seeing," remarked the earl. "When all these piles +are lighted, the city will be one sea of fire." + +"A slight foretaste of what most of its inhabitants will behold +in another world," said the page, with a French shrug. "I have +heard Lilly's prediction that London is to be purified by fire, +like a second Sodom; perhaps it is to be verified to-night." + +"Not unlikely; the dome of St. Paul's would be an excellent place +to view the conflagration." + +"The river will do almost as well, my lord." + +"We will have a chance of knowing that presently," said the earl, +as he and his page descended to the river, where the little +gilded barge lay moored, and the boatman waiting. + +As they passed from sight Ormiston came forth, and watched +thoughtfully after them. The face and figure were that of the +lady, but the voice was different; both were clear and musical +enough, but she spoke English with the purest accent, while his +was the voice of a foreigner. It most have been one of those +strange, unaccountable likenesses we sometimes see among perfect +strangers, but the resemblance in this ease was something +wonderful. It brought his thoughts back from himself sad his own +fortunate love, to his violently-smitten friend, Sir Norman, and +his plague-stricken beloved; and he began speculating what he +could possibly be about just then, or what he had discovered in +the old ruin. Suddenly he was aroused; a moment before, the +silence had been almost oppressive but now on the wings of the +night, there came a shout. A tumult of voices and footsteps were +approaching. + +"Stop her! Stop her!" was cried by many voices; and the next +instant a fleet figure went flying past him with a rush, and +plunged head foremost into she river. + +A slight female figure, with floating robes of white, waving hair +of deepest, blackness, with a sparkle of jewels on neck and arms. +Only for an instant did he see it; but he knew it well, and his +very heart stood still. "Stop her! stop her! she is ill of the +plague!" shouted the crowd, preying panting on; but they came too +late; the white vision had gone down into the black, sluggish +river, and disappeared. + +"Who is it? What is it? Where is it?" cried two or three +watchmen, brandishing their halberds, and rushing up; and the +crowd-a small mob of a dozen or so-answered all at once: "She is +delirious with the plague; she was running through the streets; +we gave chase, but she out-stepped us, and is now at the bottom +of the Thames." + +Ormiston, waited to hear no more, but rushed precipitately down +to the waters edge. The alarm has now reached the boats on the +river, and many eyes within them were turned in the direction +whence she had gone down. Soon she reappeared on the dark +surface - something whiter than snow, whiter than death; shining +like silver, shone the glittering dress and marble face of the +bride. A small batteau lay close to where Ormiston stood; in two +seconds he had sprang in, shoved it off, and was rowing +vigorously toward that snow wreath in the inky river. But he was +forestalled, two hands white and jeweled as her own, reached over +the edge of a gilded barge, and, with the help of the boatmen, +lifted her in. Before she could be properly established on the +cushioned seats, the batteau was alongside, and Ormiston turned a +very white and excited face toward the Earl of Rochester. + +"I know that lady, my lord! She is a friend of mine, and you +must give her to me!" + +"Is it you, Ormiston? Why what brings you here alone on the +river, at this hour?" + +"I have come for her," said Ormiston, pressing over to lift the +lady. "May I beg you to assist me, my lord, in transferring her +to my boat?" + +"You must wait till I see her first," said Rochester, partly +raising her head, and holding a lamp close to her face, "as I +have picked her out, I think I deserve it. Heavens! what an +extraordinary likeness!" + +The earl had glanced at the lady, then at his page, again at the +lady, and lastly at Ormiston, his handsome countenance fall of +the most unmitigated wonder. "To whom?" asked Ormiston, who had +very little need to inquire. + +"To Hubert, yonder. Why, don't you see it yourself? She might +be his twin-sister!" + +"She might be, but as she is not, you will have the goodness to +let me take charge of her. She has escaped from her friends, and +I meet bring her back to them." + +He half lifted her as he spoke; and the boatman, glad enough to +get rid of one sick of the plague, helped her into the batteau. +The lady was not insensible, as might be supposed, after her cold +bath, but extremely wide-awake, and gazing around her with her great, +black, shining eyes. But she made no resistance; either she was +too faint or frightened for that, and suffered herself to be +hoisted about, "passive to all changes." Ormiston spread his +cloak in the stern of the boat, and laid her tenderly upon it, +and though the beautiful, wistful eyes were solemnly and +unwinkingly fixed on his face, the pale, sweet lips parted not - +uttered never a word. The wet bridal robes were drenched and +dripping about her, the long dark hair hung in saturated masses +over her neck and arms, and contrasted vividly with a face, +Ormiston thought at once, the whitest, most beautiful, and most +stonelike he had ever seen. + +"Thank you, my man; thank you, my lord," said Ormiston, preparing +to push off. + +Rochester, who had been leaning from the barge, gazing in mingled +curiosity, wonder, and admiration at the lovely face, turned now +to her champion. + +"Who is she, Ormiston?" he said, persuasively. + +But Ormiston only laughed, and rowed energetically for the shore. +The crowd was still lingering; and half a dozen hands were +extended to draw the boat up to the landing. He lifted the light +form in his arms and bore it from the boat; but before he could +proceed farther with his armful of beauty, a faint but imperious +voice spoke: "Please put me down. I am not a baby, and can walk +myself." + +Ormiston was so surprised, or rather dismayed, by this unexpected +address, that he complied at once, and placed her on her own +pretty feet. But the young lady's sense of propriety was a good +deal stronger than her physical powers; and she swayed and +tottered, and had to cling to her unknown friend for support. + +"You are scarcely strong enough, I am afraid, dear lady," he +said, kindly. "You had better let me carry you. I assure you I +am quite equal to it, or even a more weighty burden, if necessity +required." + +"Thank you, sir," said the faint voice, faintly; "but I would +rather walk. Where are you taking me to?" + +"To your own house, if you wish - it is quite close at hand," + +"Yes. Yes. Let us go there! Prudence in there, and she will +take care of me.". + +"Will she?" said Ormiston, doubtfully. "I hope you do not suffer +much pain!" + +"I do not suffer at all," she said, wearily; "only I am so tired. +Oh, I wish I were home!" + +Ormiston half led, half lifted her up the stairs. + +"You are almost there, dear lady - see, it is close st hand!" + +She half lifted her languid eyes, but did not speak. Leaning +panting on his arm, he drew her gently on until they reached her +door. It was still unfastened. Prudence had kept her word, and +not gone near it; and he opened it, and helped her in. + +"Where now?" he asked. + +"Up stairs," she said, feebly. "I want to go to my own room." + +Ormiston knew where that was, and assisted her there as tenderly +as he could have done La Masque herself. He paused on the +threshold; for the room was dark. + +"There is a lamp and a tinder-box on the mantel," said the faint, +sweet voice, "if you will only please to find them." + +Ormiston crowed the room - fortunately he knew the latitude of +the place -and moving his hand with gingerly precaution along +the mantel-shelf, lest he should upset any of the gimcracks +thereon, soon obtained the articles named, and struck a light. +The lady was leaning wearily against the door-post, but now she +came forward, and dropped exhausted into the downy pillows of a +lounge. + +"Is there anything I can do for you, madame?" began Ormiston, +with as solicitous an air as though he had been her father. "A +glass of wine would be of use to you, I think, and then, if you +wish, I will go for a doctor." + +"You are very kind. You will find wine and glasses in the room +opposite this, and I feel so faint that I think you had better +bring me some." + +Ormiston moved across the passage, like the good, obedient young +man that he was, filled a glass of Burgundy, and as he was +returning with it, was startled by a cry from the lady that +nearly made him drop and shiver it on the floor. + +"What under heaven has come to her now?" he thought, hastening +in, wondering how she could possibly have come to grief since he +left her. + +She was sitting upright on the sofa, her dress palled down off +her shoulder where the plague-spot had been, and which, to his +amazement, he saw now pure and stainless, and free from every +loathsome trace. + +"You are cured of the plague!" was all he could say. + +"Thank God!" she exclaimed, fervently clasping her hands. "But +oh! how can it have happened? It mast be a miracle!" + +"No, it was your plunge into the river; I have heard of one or +two such cases before, and if ever I take it," said Ormiston, +half laughing, half shuddering, "my first rush shall be for old +Father Thames. Here, drink this, I am certain it will complete +the cure." + +The girl - she was nothing but a girl - drank it off and sat +upright like one inspired with new life. As she set down the +glass, she lifted her dark, solemn, beautiful eyes to his face +with a long, searching gaze. + +"What is your name?" she simply asked. + +"Ormiston, madame," he said, bowing low. + +"You have saved my life, have you not?" + +"It was the Earl of Rochester who reserved you from the river; +but I would have done it a moment later." + +"I do not mean that. I mean" - with a slight shudder - "are you +not one of those I saw at the plague-pit? Oh! that dreadful, +dreadful plague-pit!" she cried, covering her face with her +hands. + +"Yes. I am one of those." + +"And who was the other?" + +"My friend, Sir Norman Kingsley. + +"Sir Norman Kingsley?" she softly repeated, with a sort of +recognition in her voice and eyes, while a faint roseate glow +rose softly over her face and neck. Ah! I thought - was it to +his house or yours I was brought?" + +"To his," replied Ormiston, looking at her curiously; for he had +seen that rosy glow, and was extremely puzzled thereby; "from +whence, allow me to add, you took your departure rather +unceremoniously." + +"Did I?" she said, in a bewildered sort of way. "It is all like +a dream to me. I remember Prudence screaming, and telling me I +had the plague, and the unutterable horror that filled me when I +heard it; and then the next thing I recollect is, being at the +plague-pit, and seeing your face and his bending over me. All +the horror came back with that awakening, and between it and +anguish of the plague-sore I think I fainted again." (Ormiston +nodded sagaciously), "and when I next recovered I was alone in a +strange room, and in bed. I noticed that, though I think I must +have been delirious. And then, half-mad with agony, I got out to +the street, somehow and ran, and ran, and ran, until the people +saw and followed me here. I suppose I had some idea of reaching +home when I came here; but the crowd pressed so close behind, and +I felt though all my delirium, that they would bring me to the +pest-house if they caught me, and drowning seemed to me +preferable to that. So I was in the river before I knew it - and +you know the rest as well as I do. But I owe you my life, Mr. +Ormiston - owe it to you and another; and I thank you both with +all my heart." + +"Madame, you are too grateful; and I don't know as we have done +anything much to deserve it." + +"You have saved my life; and though you may think that a +valueless trifle, not worth speaking of, I assure you I view it +in a very different light," she said, with a half smile. + +"Lady, your life is invaluable; but as to our saving it, why, you +would not have us throw you alive into the plague-pit, would +you?" + +"It would have been rather barbarous, I confess, but there are +few who would risk infection for the sake of a mere stranger. +Instead of doing as you did, you might have sent me to the pest- +house, you know." + +"Oh, as to that, all your gratitude is due to Sir Norman. He +managed the whole affair, and what is more, fell - but I will +leave that for himself to disclose. Meantime, may I ask the name +of the lady I have been so fortunate as to serve!" + +"Undoubtedly, sir - my name is Leoline." + +"Leoline is only half a name." + +"Then I am so unfortunate an only to possess half a name, for I +never had any other." + +Ormiston opened his eyes very wide indeed. + +"No other! you must have had a father some time in your life; +most people have," said the young gentleman, reflectively. + +She shook her head a little sadly. + +"I never had, that I know of, either father or mother, or any one +but Prudence. And by the way," she said, half starting up, "the +first thing to be done is, to see about this same Prudence. She +must be somewhere in the house." + +"Prudence is nowhere in the house," said Ormiston, quietly; "and +will not be, she says, far a month to come. She is afraid of the +plague." + +"Is she?" said Leoline, fixing her eyes on him with a powerful +glance. "How do you know that?" + +"I heard her say so not half an hour ago, to a lady a few doors +distant. Perhaps you know her - La Masque." + +"That singular being! I don't know her; but I have seen her +often. Why was Prudence talking of me to her, I wonder?" + +"That I do not know; but talking of you the was, and she said she +was coming back here no more. Perhaps you will be afraid to stay +here alone?" + +"Oh no, I am used to being alone," she said, with a little sigh, +"but where" - hesitating and blushing vividly, "where is - I +mean, I should like to thank sir Norman Kingsley." + +Ormiston saw the blush and the eyes that dropped, and it puzzled +him again beyond measure. + +"Do you know Sir Norman Kingsley?" he suspiciously asked. + +"By sight I know many of the nobles of the court," she answered +evasively, and without looking up: "they pass here often, and +Prudence knows them all; and so I have learned to distinguish +them by name and sight, your friend among the rest." + +"And you would like to see my friend?" he said, with malicious +emphasis. + +"I would like to thank him," retorted the lady, with some +asperity: "you have told me how much I owe him, and it strikes me +the desire is somewhat natural." + +"Without doubt it is, and it will save Sir Norman much fruitless +labor; for even now he is in search at you, and will neither rest +nor sleep until he finds you." + +"In search of me!" she said softly, and with that rosy glow again +illumining her beautiful face; "he is indeed kind, and I am most +anxious to thank him." + +"I will bring him here in two hours, then," said Ormiston, with +energy; "and though the hour may be a little unseasonable, I hope +you will not object to it; for if you do, he will certainly not +survive until morning." + +She gayly laughed, but her cheek was scarlet. + +"Rather than that, Mr. Ormiston, I will even see him tonight. +You will find me here when you come." + +"You will not run away again, will you?" said Ormiston, looking +at her doubtfully. "Excuse me; but you have a trick of doing +that, you know." + +Again she laughed merrily. + +"I think you may safely trust me this time. Are you going?" + +By way of reply, Ormiston took his hat and started for the door. +There he paused, with his hand upon it. + +"How long have you known Sir Norman Kingsley?" was his careless, +artful question. + +But Leoline, tapping one little foot on the floor, and looking +down at it with hot cheeks and humid ayes, answered not a word. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN. + + +When Sir Norman Kingsley entered the ancient ruin, his head was +fall of Leoline - when he knelt down to look through the aperture +in the flagged floor, head and heart were full of her still. But +the moment his eyes fell on the scene beneath, everything fled +far from his thoughts, Leoline among the rest; and nothing +remained but a profound and absorbing feeling of intensest amaze. + +Right below him he beheld an immense room, of which the flag he +had raised seemed to form part of the ceiling, in a remote +corner. Evidently it was one of a range of lower vaults, and as +he was at least fourteen feet above it, and his corner somewhat +in shadow, there was little danger of his being seen. So, +leaning far down to look at his leisure, he took the goods the +gods provided him, and stared to his heart's content. + +Sir Norman had seen some queer sights daring the four-and-twenty +years he had spent in this queer world, but never anything quite +equal to this. The apartment below, though so exceedingly large, +was lighted with the brilliance of noon-day; and every object it +contained; from one end to the other, was distinctly revealed. +The floor, from glimpses he had of it in obscure corners, was of +stone; but from end to end it was covered with richest rugs and +mats, and squares of velvet of as many colors as Joseph's coat. +The walls were hung with splendid tapestry, gorgeous in silk and +coloring, representing the wars of Troy, the exploits of Coeur de +Lion among the Saracens, the death of Hercules, all on one side; +and on the other, a more modern representation, the Field of the +Cloth of Gold. The illumination proceeded from a range of wax +tapers in silver candelabra, that encircled the whole room. The +air was redolent of perfumes, and filled with strains of softest +and sweetest music from unseen hands. At one extremity of the +room was a huge door of glass and gilding; and opposite it, at +the other extremity, was a glittering throne. It stood on a +raised dais, covered with crimson velvet, reached by two or three +steps carpeted with the same; the throne was as magnificent as +gold, and satin, and ornamentation could make it. A great velvet +canopy of the same deep, rich color, cut in antique points, and +heavily hang with gold fringe, was above the seat of honor. +Beside it, to the right, but a little lower down, was a similar +throne, somewhat lees superb, and minus a canopy. From the door +to the throne was a long strip of crimson velvet, edged and +embroidered with gold, and arranged in a sweeping semi-circle, on +either side, were a row of great carved, gilded, and cushioned +chairs, brilliant, too, with crimson and gold, and each for +every-day Christians, a throne in itself. Between the blaze of +illumination, the flashing of gilding and gold, the tropical +flush of crimson velvet, the rainbow dyes on floor and walls, the +intoxicating gushes of perfume, and the delicious strains of +unseen music, it is no wonder Sir Norman Kingsley's head was +spinning like a bewildered teetotum. + +Was he sane - was he sleeping? Had he drank too much wine at the +Golden Crown, and had it all gone to his head? Was it a scene of +earnest enchantment, or were fairy-tales true? Like Abou Hasson +when he awoke in the palace of the facetious Caliph of Bagdad, he +had no notion of believing his own eyes and ears, and quietly +concluded it was all an optical illusion, as ghosts are said to +be; but he quietly resolved to stay there, nevertheless, and see +how the dazzling phantasmagoria would end. The music was +certainly ravishing, and it seemed to him, as he listened with +enchanted ears, that he never wanted to wake up from so heavenly +a dream. + +One thing struck him as rather odd; strange and bewildered as +everything was, it did not seem at all strange to him, on the +contrary, a vague idea was floating mistily through his mind that +he had beheld precisely the same thing somewhere before. +Probably at some past period of his life he had beheld a similar +vision, or had seen a picture somewhere like it in a tale of +magic, and satisfying himself with this conclusion, he began +wondering if the genii of the place were going to make their +appearance at all, or if the knowledge that human eyes were upon +them had scared them back to Erebus. + +While still ruminating on this important question, a portion of +the tapestry, almost beneath him, shriveled up and up, and out +flocked a glittering throng, with a musical mingling of laughter +and voices. Still they came, more and more, until the great room +was almost filled, and a dazzling throng they were. Sir Norman +had mingled in many a brilliant scene at Whitehall, where the +gorgeous court of Charles shown in all its splendor, with the +"merry monarch" at their head, but all he had ever witnessed at +the king's court fell far short of this pageant. Half the +brilliant flock were ladies, superb in satins, silks, velvets and +jewels. And such jewels! every gem that ever flashed back the +sunlight sparkled and blazed in blending array on those beautiful +bosoms and arms - diamonds, pearls, opals, emeralds, rubies, +garnets, sapphires, amethysts - every jewel that ever shone. But +neither dresses nor gems were half so superb as the peerless +forms they adorned; and such an army of perfectly beautiful +faces, from purest blonde to brightest brunette, had never met +and mingled together before. + +Each lovely face was unmasked, but Sir Norman's dazzled eyes in +vain sought among them for one he knew. All that "rosebud garden +of girls" were perfect strangers to him, but not so the gallants, +who fluttered among them like moths around meteors. They, too, +were in gorgeous array, in purple and fine linen, which being +interpreted, signifieth in silken hose of every color under the +sun, spangled and embroidered slippers radiant with diamond +buckles, doublets of as many different shades as their tights, +slashed with satin and embroidered with gold. Most of them wore +huge powdered wigs, according to the hideous fashion then in +vogue, and under those same ugly scalps, laughed many a handsome +face Sir Norman well knew. The majority of those richly-robed +gallants were strangers to him as well as the ladies, but whoever +they were, whether mortal men or "spirits from the vasty deep," +they were in the tallest sort of clover just then. Evidently +they knew it, too, and seemed to be on the best of terms with +themselves and all the world, and laughed, and flirted, and +flattered, with as mach perfection as so many ball-room Apollos +of the present day. + +Still no one ascended the golden and crimson throne, though many +of the ladies and gentlemen fluttering about it were arrayed as +royally as any common king or queen need wish to be. They +promenaded up and down, arm in arm; they seated themselves in the +carved and gilded chairs; they gathered in little groups to talk +and laugh, did everything, in short, but ascend the throne; and +the solitary spectator up above began to grow intensely curious +to know who it was for. Their conversation he could plainly +hear, and to say that it amazed him, would be to use a feeble +expression, altogether inadequate to his feelings. Not that it +was the remarks they made that gave his system each a shook, but +the names by which they addressed each other. One answered to +the aspiring cognomen of the Duke of Northumberland; another was +the Earl of Leicester; another, the Duke of Devonshire; another, +the Earl of Clarendon; another, the Duke of Buckingham; and so +on, ad infinitum, dukes and earls alternately, like bricks and +mortar in the wall of a house. There were other dignitaries +besides, some that Sir Norman had a faint recollection of hearing +were dead for some years - Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, the +Earl of Bothwell, King Henry Darnley, Sir Walter Raleigh, the +Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Southampton, the Duke of York, and +no end of others with equally sonorous titles. As for mere lords +and baronets, and such small deer, there was nothing so plebeian +present, and they were evidently looked upon by the distinguished +assembly, like small beer in thunder, with pity and contempt. +The ladies, too, were all duchesses, marchionesses, countesses, +and looked fit for princesses, Sir Norman thought, though he +heard none of them styled quite so high as that. The tone of +conversation was light and easy, but at the same time extremely +ceremonious and courtly, and all seemed to be enjoying themselves +in the moat delightful sort of a way, which people of, such +distinguished rank, I am told, seldom do. All went merry as a +marriage-bell, and sweetly over the gay jingle of voices rose the +sweet, faint strains of the unseen music. + +Suddenly all was changed. The great door of glass and gilding +opposite the throne was flung wide, and a grand usher in a grand +court livery flourished a mighty grand wand, and shouted, in a +stentorian voice + +"Back: back, ye lieges, and make way for Her Majesty, Queen +Miranda!" + +Instantly the unseen band thundered forth the national anthem. +The splendid throng fell back on either hand in profoundest +silence and expectation. The grand usher mysteriously +disappeared, and in his place there stalked forward a score of +soldiers, with clanking swords and fierce moustaches, in the +gorgeous uniform of the king's body-guard. These showy warriors +arranged themselves silently on either side of the crimson +throne, and were followed by half a dozen dazzling personages, +the foremost crowned with mitre, armed with crozier, and robed in +the ecclesiastical glory of an archbishop, but the face +underneath, to the deep surprise and scandal of Sir Norman, was +that of the fastest young roue of Charles court, after him came +another pompous dignitary, in such unheard of magnificence that +the unseen looker-on set him down for a prime minister, or a lord +high chancellor, at the very least. The somewhat gaudy-looking +gentlemen who stepped after the pious prelate and peer wore the +stars and garters of foreign courts, and were evidently +embassadors extraordinary to that of her midnight majesty. After +them came a snowy flock of fair young girls, angels all but the +wings, slender as sylphs, and robed in purest white. Each bore +on her arm a basket of flowers, roses and rosebuds of every tint, +from snowy white to darkest crimson, and as they floated in they +scattered them lightly as they went. And then after all came +another vision, "the last, the brightest, the best - the +Midnight Queen" herself. One other figure followed her, and as +they entered, a shout arose from the whole assemblage, "Long live +Queen Miranda!" And bowing gracefully and easily to the right +end left, the queen with a queenly step, trod the long crimson +carpet and mounted the regal throne. + +From the first moment of his looking down, Sir Norman had been +staring with all the eyes in his head, undergoing one shock of +surprise after another with the equanimity of a man quite need to +it; but now a cry arose to his lips, and died there in voiceless +consternation. For he recognized the queen - well he might! - he +had seen her before, and her face was the face of Leoline! + +As she mounted the stairs, she stood there for a moment crowned +and sceptred, before sitting down, and in that moment he +recognized the whole scene. That gorgeous room and its gorgeous +inmates; that regal throne and its regal owner, all became +palpable as the sun at noonday; that slender, exquisite figure, +robed in royal purple and ermine; the uncovered neck and arms, +snowy and perfect, ablaze with jewels; that lovely face, like +snow, like marble, in its whiteness end calm, with the great, +dark, earnest eyes looking out, and the waving wealth of hair +falling around it. It was the very scene, and room, and vision, +that La Masque had shown him in the caldron, and that face was +the face of Leoline, and the earl's page. + +Could he be dreaming? Was he sane or mad, or were the three +really one? + +While he looked, the beautiful queen bowed low, and amid the +profoundest and most respectful silence, took her seat. In her +robes of purple, wearing the glittering crown, sceptre in hand, +throned and canopied, royally beautiful she looked indeed, and a +most vivid contrast to the gentleman near her, seated very much +at his ease, on the lower throne. The contrast was not of dress +- for his outward man was resplendent to look at; but in figure +and face, or grace and dignity, he was a very mean specimen of +the lords of creation, indeed. In stature, he scarcely reached +to the queen's royal shoulder, but made up sideways what he +wanted in length - being the breadth of two common men; his head +was in proportion to his width, and was decorated with a wig of +long, flowing, flaxen hair, that scarcely harmonized with a +profusion of the article whiskers, in hue most unmitigated black; +his eyes were small, keen, bright, and piercing, and glared on +the assembled company as they had done half an hour before on Sir +Norman Kingsley, in the bar-room of the Golden Crown; for the +royal little man was no other than Caliban, the dwarf. Behind +the thrones the flock of floral angels grouped themselves; +archbishop, prime minister, and embassadors, took their stand +within the lines of the soldiery, and the music softly and +impressively died sway in the distance; dead silence reigned. + +"My lord Duke," began the queen, in the very voice he had heard +at the plague-pit, as she turned to the stylish individual next +the archbishop, "come forward and read us the roll of mortality +since our last meeting." + +His grace, the duke, instantly stepped forward, bowing so low +that nothing was seen of him for a brief space, but the small of +his back, and when he reared himself up, after this convulsion of +nature, Sir Norman beheld a face not entirely new to him. At +first, he could not imagine where he had seen it, but speedily +she recollected it was the identical face of the highwayman who +had beaten an inglorious retreat from him and Count L'Estrange, +that very night. This ducat robber drew forth a roll of +parchment, and began reading, in lachrymose tones, a select +litany of defunct gentlemen, with hifalutin titles who had +departed this life during the present week. Most of them had +gone with the plague, but a few had died from natural causes, and +among these were the Earls of Craven and Ashley. + +"My lords Craven and Ashley dead!" exclaimed the queen, in tones +of some surprise, but very little anguish; "that is singular, for +we saw them not two hours ago, in excellent health and spirits." + +"True, poor majesty," said the duke, dolefully, "and it is not an +hour since they quitted this vale of tears. They and myself rode +forth at nightfall, according to Custom, to lay your majesty's +tax on all travelers, and soon chanced to encounter one who gave +vigorous battle; still, it would have done him little service, +had not another person come suddenly to his aid, and between them +they clove the skulls of Ashley and Craven; and I," said the +duke, modestly, "I left." + +"Were either of the travelers young, and tall, and of courtly +bearing?" exclaimed the dwarf with sharp rudeness. + +"Both were, your highness," replied the duke, bowing to the small +speaker, "and uncommonly handy with their weapons." + +"I saw one of them down at the Golden Crown, not long ago," said +the dwarf; "a forward young popinjay, and mighty inquisitive +about this, our royal palace. I promised him, if he came here, a +warm reception - a promise I will have the greatest pleasure in +fulfilling" + +"You may stand aside, my lord duke," said the queen, with a +graceful wave of her hand, "and if any new subjects have been +added to our court since our last weekly meeting, let them come +forward, and be sworn." + +A dozen or mare courtiers immediately stepped forward, and +kneeling before the queen, announced their name and rank, which +were both ambitiously high. A few silvery-toned questions were +put by that royal lady and satisfactorily answered, and then the +archbishop, armed with a huge tome, administered a severe and +searching oath, which the candidates took with a great deal of +sang frond, and were then permitted to kiss the hand of the queen +- a privilege worth any amount of swearing - and retire. + +"Let any one who has any reports to make, make them immediately," +again commanded her majesty. + +A number of gentlemen of high rank, presented themselves at this +summons, and began relating, as a certain sect of Christians do +in church, their experience! Many of these consisted, to the +deep disapproval of Sir Norman, of accounts of daring highway +robberies, one of them perpetrated on the king himself, which +distinguished personage the duplicate of Leoline styled "our +brother Charles," and of the sums thereby attained. The +treasurer of state was then ordered to show himself, and give an +account of the said moneys, which he promptly did; and after him +came a number of petitioners, praying for one thing and another, +some of which the queen promised to grant, and some she didn't. +These little affairs of state being over, Miranda turned to the +little gentleman beside her, with the observation + +"I believe, your highness, it a on this night the Earl of +Gloucester is to be tried on a charge of high treason, in it +not?" + +His highness growled a respectful assent. + +"Then let him be brought before us," said the queen. "Go, +guards, and fetch him." + +Two of the soldiers bowed low, and backed from the royal +presence, amid dead and ominous silence. At this interesting +stage of the proceedings, as Sir Norman was leaning forward, +breathless and excited, a footstep sounded on the flagged floor +beside him, and some one suddenly grasped his shoulder with no +gentle hand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LEOLINE. + + +In one instant Sir Norman was on his feet and his hand on his +sword. In the tarry darkness, neither the face nor figure of the +intruder could be made out, but he merely saw a darker shadow +beside him standing in the sea of darkness. Perhaps he might +have thought it a ghost, but that the hand which grasped his +shoulder was unmistakably of flesh, and blood, and muscle, and +the breathing of its owner was distinctly audible by his ads. + +"Who are you?" demanded Sir Norman, drawing out his sword, and +wrenching himself free from his unseen companion. + +"Ah! it is you, is it? I thought so," said a not unknown voice. +"I have been calling you till I am hoarse, and at last gave it +up, and started after you in despair. What are you doing here?" + +"You, Ormiston!" exclaimed Sir Norman, in the last degree +astonished. "How - when - what are you doing here?" + +"What are you doing here? that's more to the purpose. Down flat +on your face, with your head stuck through that hole. What is +below there, anyway?" + +"Never mind," said Sir Norman, hastily, who, for some reason +quite unaccountable to himself, did not wish Ormiston to see. +"There's nothing therein particular, but a lower range of vaults. +Do you intend telling me what has brought you here?" + +"Certainly; the very fleetest horse I could find in the city." + +"Pshaw! You don't say so?" exclaimed Sir Norman, incredulously. +"But I presume you had some object in taking such a gallop? May +I ask what? Your anxious solicitude on my account, very likely?" + +"Not precisely. But, I say, Kingsley, what light is that shining +through there? I mean to see." + +"No, you won't," said Sir Norman, rapidly and noiselessly +replacing the flag. "It's nothing, I tell you, but a number of +will-o-'wisps having a ball. Finally, and for the last time, Mr. +Ormiston, will you have the goodness to tell me what has sent you +here?" + +"Come out to the air, then. I have no fancy for talking in this +place; it smells like a tomb." + +"There is nothing wrong, I hope?" inquired Sir Norman, following +his friend, and threading his way gingerly through the piles of +rubbish in the profound darkness. + +"Nothing wrong, but everything extremely right. Confound this +place! It would be easier walking on live eels than through +these winding and lumbered passages. Thank the fates, we are +through them, at last! for there is the daylight, or, rather the +nightlight, and we have escaped without any bones broken." + +They had reached the mouldering and crumbling doorway, shown by a +square of lighter darkness, and exchanged the damp, chill +atmosphere of the vaults for the stagnant, sultry open air. Sir +Norman, with a notion in his head that his dwarfish highness +might have placed sentinels around his royal residence, +endeavored to pierce the gloom in search of them. Though he +could discover none, he still thought discretion the better part +of valor, and stepped out into the road. + +"Now, then, where are you going?" inquired Ormiston for, +following him. + +"I don't wish to talk here; there is no telling who may be +listening. Come along." + +Ormiston glanced back at the gloomy rain looming up like a black +spectre in the blackness. + +"Well, they most have a strong fancy for eavesdropping, I must +say, who world go to that haunted heap to listen. What have you +seen there, and where have you left your horse?" + +"I told you before," said Sir Norman, rather impatiently, "I that +I have seen nothing - at least, nothing you would care about; and +my horse is waiting me at the Golden Crown." + +"Very well, we have no time to lose; so get there as fast as you +can, and mount him and ride as if the demon were after you back +to London." + +"Back to London? Is the man crazy? I shall do no such thing, +let me tell you, to-night." + +"Oh, just as you please," said Ormiston, with a great deal of +indifference, considering the urgent nature of his former +request. "You can do as you like, you know, and so can I - which +translated, means, I will go and tell her you have declined to +come." + +"Tell her? Tell whom? What are you talking about? Hang it, +man!" exclaimed Sir Norman, getting somewhat excited and profane, +"what are you driving at? Can't you speak out and tell me at +once?" + +"I have told you!" said Ormiston, testily: "and I tell you again, +she sent me in search of you, and if you don't choose to come, +that's your own affair, and not mine." + +This was a little too mach for Sir Norman's overwrought feelings, +and in the last degree of exasperation, he laid violent hands on +the collar of Ormiston's doublet let, and shook him as if be +would have shaken the name out with a jerk. + +"I tell you what it is, Ormiston, you had better not aggravate +me! I can stand a good deal, but I'm not exactly Moses or Job, +and you had better mind what you're at. If you don't come to the +point at once, and tell me who I she is, I'll throttle you where +you stand; and so give you warning." + +Half-indignant, and wholly laughing, Ormiston stepped back out of +the way of his excited friend. + +"I cry you mercy! In one word, then, I have been dispatched by a +lady in search of you, and that lady is - Leoline." + +It has always been one of the inscrutable mysteries in natural +philosophy that I never could fathom, why men do not faint. +Certain it is, I never yet heard of a man swooning from excess of +surprise or joy, and perhaps that may account for Sir Norman's +not doing so on the present occasion. But he came to an abrupt +stand-still in their rapid career; and if it had not been quite +so excessively dark, his friend would have beheld a countenance +wonderful to look on, in its mixture of utter astonishment and +sublime consternation. + +"Leoline!" he faintly gasped. "Just atop a moment, Ormiston, and +say that again - will you?" + +"No," said Ormiston, hurrying unconcernedly on; "I shall do no +such thing, for there is no time to lose, and if there were I +have no fancy for standing in this dismal road. Come on, man, +and I'll tell you as we go." + +Thus abjured, and seeing there was no help for it, Sir Norman, in +a dazed and bewildered state, complied; and Ormiston promptly and +briskly relaxed into business. + +"You see, my dear fellow, to begin at the beginning, after you +left, I stood at ease at La Masque's door, awaiting that lady's +return, and was presently rewarded by seeing her come up with an +old woman called Prudence. Do you recollect the woman who rushed +screaming out of the home of the dead bride?" + +"Yes, yes!" + +"Well, that was Prudence. She and La Masque were talking so +earnestly they did not perceive me, and I - well, the fast is, +Kingsley, I stayed and listened. Not a very handsome thing, +perhaps, but I couldn't resist it. They were talking of some one +they called Leoline, and I, in a moment, knew that it was your +flame, and that neither of them knew any more of her whereabouts +than we did." + +"And yet La Masque told me to come here in search of her," +interrupted Sir Norman. + +"Very true! That was odd - wasn't it? This Prudence, it +appears, was Leoline's nurse, and La Masque, too, seemed to have +a certain authority over her; and between them, I learned she was +to have been married this very night, and died - or, at least, +Prudence thought so - an hour or two before the time." + +"Then she was not married?" cried Sir Norman, in an ecstasy of +delight. + +"Not a bit of it; and what is more, didn't want to be; and +judging from the remarks of Prudence, I should say, of the two, +rather preferred the plague." + +"Then why was she going to do it? You don't mean to say she was +forced?" + +"Ah, but I do, though! Prudence owned it with the most charming +candor in the world." + +"Did you hear the name of the person she was to have married?" +asked Sir Norman, with kindling eyes. + +"I think not; they called him the count, if my memory serves me, +and Prudence intimated that he knew nothing of the melancholy +fate of Mistress Leoline. Moat likely it was the person in the +cloak and slouched hat we caw talking to the watchman." + +Sir Norman said nothing, but he thought a good deal, and the +burden of his thoughts was an ardent and heartfelt wish that the +Court L'Estrange was once more under the swords of the three +robbers, and waiting for him to ride to the rescue - that was +all! + +"La Masque urged Prudence to go back," continued Ormiston; "but +Prudence respectfully declined, and went her way bemoaning the +fate of her darling. When she was gone, I stepped up to Madame +Masque, and that lady's first words of greeting were an earnest +hope that I had been edified and improved by what I had +overheard." + +"She saw you, then?" said Sir Norman. + +"See me? I believe you! She has more eyes than ever Argus had, +and each one is as sharp as a cambric needle. Of course I +apologized, and so on, and she forgave me handsomely, and then we +fell to discoursing - need I tell you on what subject?" + +"Love, of course," said Sir Norman. + +"Yes, mingled with entreaties to take off her mask that would +have moved a heart of atone. It moved what was better - the +heart of La Masque; and, Kingsley, she has consented to do it; +and she says that if, after seeing her face, I still love her, +she will be my wife." + +"Is it possible? My dear Ormiston, I congratulate you with all +my heart!" + +"Thank you! After that she left me, and I walked away in such a +frenzy of delight that I couldn't have told whether I was +treading this earth or the shining shares of the seventh heaven, +when suddenly there flew past me a figure all in white - the +figure of a bride, Kingsley, pursued by an excited mob. We were +both near the river, and the first thing I knew, she was plump +into it, with the crowd behind, yelling to stop her, that she was +ill of the plague." + +"Great Heaven! and was she drowned?" + +"No, though it was not her fault. The Earl of Rochester and his +page - you remember that page, I fancy - were out in their barge, +and the earl picked her up. Then I got a boat, set out after +her, claimed her - for I recognized her, of course - brought her +ashore, and deposited her safe and sound in her own house. What +do you think of that?" + +"Ormiston," said Norman, catching him by the shoulder, with a +very excited face, "is this true?" + +"True as preaching, Kingsley, every word of it! And the most +extraordinary part of the business is, that her dip in cold water +has effectually cured her of the plague; not a trace of it +remains." + +Sir Norman dropped his hand, and walked on, staring straight +before him, perfectly speechless. In fact, no known language in +the world could have done justice to his feelings at that precise +period; for three times that night, in three different shapes, +had he seen this same Leoline, and at the same moment he was +watching her decked out in royal state in the rain, Ormiston had +probably been assisting her from her cold bath in the river +Thames. + +Astonishment and consternation are words altogether too feeble to +express his state of mind; but one idea remained clear and bright +amid all his mental chaos, and that was, that the Leoline he had +fallen in love with dead, was awaiting him, alive and well, in +London. + +"Well," said Ormiston, "you don't speak! What do you think of +all this?" + +"Think! I can't think - I've got past that long ago!" replied +his friend, hopelessly. "Did you really say Leoline was alive +and well?" + +"And waiting for you - yes, I did, and I repeat it; and the +sooner you get back to town, the sooner you will see her; so +don't loiter - " + +"Ormiston, what do you mean! Is it possible I can see her +to-night?" + +"Yes, it is; the dear creature is waiting for you even now. You +see, after we got to the house, and she had consented to become a +little rational, mutual explanations ensued, by which it appeared +she had ran away from Sir Norman Kingsley's in a state of frenzy, +had jumped into the river in a similarly excited state of mind, +and was most anxious to go down on her pretty knees and thank the +aforesaid Sir Norman for saving her life. What could any one as +gallant as myself do under these circumstances, but offer to set +forth in quest of that gentleman? And she promptly consented to +sit up and wait his coming, and dismissed me with her blessing. +And, Kingsley, I've a private notion she is as deeply affected by +you as you are by her; for, when I mentioned your name, she +blushed, yea, verily to the roots of her hair; and when she spoke +of you, couldn't so much as look me in the face - which is, yea +must own, a very bad symptom." + +"Nonsense!" said Sir Norman, energetically. And had it been +daylight, his friend would have seen that he blushed almost as +extensively as the lady. "She doesn't know me." + +"Ah, doesn't she, though? That shows all you know about it! She +has seen you go past the window many and many a time; and to see +you," said Ormiston, making a grimace undercover of the darkness, +"is to love! She told me so herself." + +"What! That she loved me!" exclaimed Sir Norman, his notions of +propriety to the last degree shocked by such a revelation. + +"Not altogether, she only looked that; but she said she knew you +well by sight, and by heart, too, as I inferred from her +countenance when she said it. There now, don't make me talk any +more, for I have told you everything I know, and am about hoarse +with my exertions." + +"One thing only - did she tell you who she was?" + +"No, except that her name was Leoline, and nothing else - which +struck me as being slightly improbable. Doubtless, she will tell +you everything, and one piece of advice I may venture to give +you, which is, you may propose as soon as you like without fear +of rejection. Here we are at the Golden Crown, so go in and get +your horse, and let us be off." + +All this time Ormiston had been leading his own horse by the +bridle, and as Sir Norman silently complied with this suggestion, +in five minutes more they were in their saddles, and galloping at +breakneck speed toward the city. To tell the truth, one was not +more inclined for silence than the other, and the profoundest and +thoughtfulest silence was maintained till they reached it. One +was thinking of Leoline, the other of La Masque, and both were +badly in love, and just at that particular moment very happy. Of +course the happiness of people in that state never lasts longer +than half an hour at a stretch, and then they are plunged back +again into misery and distraction; but while it does last, it in, +very intense and delightful indeed. + +Our two friends having drained the bitten, had got to the bottom +of the cup, and neither knew that no sooner were the sweets +swallowed, than it was to be replenished with a doubly-bitter +dose. Neither of them dismounted till they reached the house of +Leoline, and there Sir Norman secured his horse, and looked up at +it with a beating heart. Not that it was very unusual for his +heart to beat, seeing it never did anything else; but on that +occasion its motion was so mush accelerated, that any doctor +feeling his pulse might have justly set him down as a bad case of +heart-disease. A small, bright ray of light streamed like a +beacon of hope from an upper window, and the lover looked at it +as a clouded mariner might at the shining of the North Star. + +"Are you coming in, Ormiston?" he inquired, feeling, for the +first time in his life, almost bashful. "It seems to me it would +only be right, you know." + +"I don't mind going in and introducing` you," said Ormiston; "but +after you have been delivered over, you may fight poor own +battles, and take care of yourself. Come on." + +The door was unfastened, and Ormiston sprang upstairs with the +air of a man-quite at home, followed more decorously by Sir +Norman. The door of the lady's room stood ajar, as he had left +it, and in answer to his "tapping at the chamber-door," a sweet +feminine voice called "come in." + +Ormiston promptly obeyed, and the next instant they were in the +room, and in the presence of the dead bride. Certainly she did +not look dead, but very much alive, just then, as she sat in an +easy-chair, drawn up before the dressing-table, on which stood +the solitary lamp that illumed the chamber. In one hand she held +a small mirror, or, as it was then called, a "sprunking-glass," +in which she was contemplating her own beauty, with as much +satisfaction as any other pretty girl might justly do. She had +changed her drenched dress during Ormiston's absence, and now sat +arrayed in a swelling amplitude of rose-colored satin, her dark +hair clasped and bound by a circle of milk-white pearls, and her +pale, beautiful face looking ten degrees more beautiful than +ever, in contrast with the bright rose-silk, shining dark hair, +and rich white jewels. She rose up as they entered, and came +forward with the same glow on her face and the same light in her +eyes that one of them had seen before, and stood with drooping +eyelashes, lovely as a vision in the centre of the room. + +"You see I have lost no time in obeying your ladyship's +commands," began Ormiston, bowing low. "Mistress Leoline, allow +me to present Sir Norman Kingsley." + +Sir Norman Kingsley bent almost as profoundly before the lady as +the lord high chancellor had done before Queen Miranda; and the +lady courtesied, in return, until her pink-satin skirt ballooned +out all over the floor. It was quite an affecting tableau. And +so Ormiston felt, as he stood eyeing it with preternatural +gravity. + +"I owe my life to Sir Norman Kingsley," murmured the faint, sweet +voice of the lady, "and could not rest until I had thanked him. +I have no words to say how deeply thankful and grateful I am." + +"Fairest Leoline! one word from such lips would be enough to +repay me, had I done a thousandfold more," responded Norman, +laying his hand on his heart, with another deep genuflection. + +"Very pretty indeed!" remarked Ormiston to himself, with a little +approving nod; "but I'm afraid they won't be able to keep it up, +and go on talking on stilts like that, till they have finished. +Perhaps they may get on all the better if I take myself off, +there being always one too many in a case like this." Then +aloud: "Madame, I regret that I am obliged to depart, having a +most particular appointment; but, doubtless, my friend will be +able to express himself without my assistance. I have the honor +to wish you both good-night." + +With which neat and appropriate speech, Ormiston bowed himself +out, and was gone before Leoline could detain him, even if she +wished to do so. Probably, however, she thought the care of one +gentleman sufficient responsibility at once; and she did not look +very seriously distressed by his departure; and, the moment he +disappeared, Sir Norman brightened up wonderfully. + +It is very discomposing to the feelings to make love in the +presence of a third party; and Sir Norman had no intention of +wasting his time on anything, and went at it immediately. Taking +her hand, with a grace that would have beaten Sir Charles +Grandison or Lord Chesterfield all to nothing, he led her to a +couch, and took a seat as near her as was at all polite or +proper, considering the brief nature of their acquaintance. The +curtains were drawn; the lamp shed a faint light; the house was +still, and there was no intrusive papa to pounce down upon them; +the lady was looking down, and seemed in no way haughty or +discouraging, and Sir Norman's spirits went up with a jump to +boiling-point. + +Yet the lady, with all her pretty bashfulness, was the first to +speak. + +"I'm afraid, Sir Norman, you must think this a singular hour to +come here; but, in these dreadful times, we cannot tell if we may +live from one moment to another; and I should not like to die, or +have you die, without my telling, and you hearing, all my +gratitude. For I do assure you, Sir Norman," said the lady, +lifting her dark eyes with the prettiest and moat bewitching +earnestness, "that I am grateful, though I cannot find words to +express it." + +"Madame, I would not listen to you it you would; for I have done +nothing to deserve thanks. I wish I could tell you what I felt +when Ormiston told me you were alive and safe." + +"You are very kind, but pray do not call me madame. Say +Leoline!" + +"A thousand thanks, dear Leoline!" exclaimed Sir Norman, raising +her hand to his lips, and quite beside himself with ecstasy. + +"Ah, I did not tell you to say that!" she cried, with a gay laugh +and vivid blush. "I never said you were to call me dear." + +"It arose from my heart to my lips," said Sir Norman, with +thrilling earnestness and fervid glance; "for you are dear to me +- dearer than all the world beside!" + +The flush grew a deeper glow on the lady's face; but, singular to +relate, she did not look the least surprised or displeased; and +the hand he had feloniously purloined lay passive and quite +contented in his. + +"Sir Norman Kingsley is pleased to jest," said the lady, in a +subdued tone, and with her eyes fixed pertinaciously on her +shining dress; "for he has never spoken to me before in his +life!" + +"That has nothing to do with it, Leoline. I love you as +devotedly as if I had known you from your birthday; and, strange +to say, I feel as if we had been friends for years instead of +minutes. I cannot realize at all that you are a stranger to me!" + +Leoline laughed: + +"Nor I; though, for that matter, you are not a stranger to me, +Sir Norman!" + +"Am I not? How is that!" + +"I have seen you go past so often, you know; and Prudence told me +who you were; and so I need - I used - " hesitating and glowing +to a degree before which her dress paled. + +"Well, dearest," said Sir Norman, getting from the positive to +the superlative at a jump, and diminishing the distance between +them, "you need to - what?" + +"To watch for you!" said Leoline, in a sly whisper. "And so I +have got to know you very well!" + +"My own darling! And, O Leoline! may I hope - dare I hope - that +you do not altogether hate me?" + +Leoline looked reflective; though her bleak eyes were sparkling +under their sweeping lashes. + +"Why, no," she said, demurely, "I don't know as I do. It's very +sinful and improper to hate one's fellow-creatures, you know, Sir +Norman, and therefore I don't indulge in it." + +"Ah! you are given to piety, I see. In that case, perhaps you +are aware of a precept commanding us to love our neighbors. Now, +I'm your nearest neighbor at present; so, to keep up a consistent +Christian spirit, just be good enough to say you love me!" + +Again Leoline laughed; and this time the bright, dancing eyes +beamed in their sparkling darkness fall upon him. + +"I am afraid your theology is not very sound, my friend, and I +have a dislike to extremes. There is a middle course, between +hating and loving. Suppose I take that?" + +"I will have no middle courses - either hating or loving it must +be! Leoline! Leoline!" (bending over her, and imprisoning both +hands this time) "do say you love me!" + +"I am captive in your hands, so I must, I suppose. Yes, Sir +Norman, I do love you!" + +Every man hearing that for the first time from a pair of loved +lips is privileged to go mad for a brief season, and to go +through certain manoeuvers much more delectable to the enjoyers +than to society at large. For fully ten minutes after Leoline's +last speech, there was profound silence. But actions sometimes +speak louder than words; and Leoline was perfectly convinced that +her declaration had not fallen on insensible ears. At the end of +that period, the space between them on the couch had so greatly +diminished, that the ghost of a zephyr would have been crushed to +death trying to get between them; and Sir Norman's face was +fairly radiant. Leoline herself looked rather beaming; and she +suddenly, and without provocation, burst into a merry little peal +of laughter. + +"Well, for two people who were perfect strangers to each other +half an hour ago, I think we have gone on remarkably well. What +will Mr. Ormiston and Prudence say, I wonder, when they hear +this?" + +"They will say what is the truth - that I am the luckiest man in +England. O Leoline! I never thought it was in me to love any +one as I do you."' + +"I am very glad to hear it; but I knew that it was in me long +before I ever dreamed of knowing you. Are you not anxious to +know something about the future Lady Kingsley's past history?" + +"It will all come in good time; it is not well to have a surfeit +of joy in one night. + +"I do not know that this will add to your joy; but it had better +be told and be done with, at once and forever. In the first +place, I presume I am an orphan, for I have never known father or +mother, and I have never had any other name but Leoline." + +"So Ormiston told me." + +"My first recollection is of Prudence; she was my nurse and +governess, both in one; and we lived in a cottage by the sea - I +don't know where, but a long way from this. When I was about ten +years old, we left it, and came to London, and lived in a house +in Cheapside, for five or six years; and then we moved here. And +all this time, Sir Norman you will think it strange - but I never +made any friends or acquaintances, and knew no one but Prudence +and an old Italian professor, who came to our lodgings in +Cheapside, every week, to give me lessons. It was not because I +disliked society, you must know; but Prudence, with all her +kindness and goodness - and I believe she truly loves me - has +been nothing more or less all my life than my jailer." + +She paused to clasp a belt of silver brocade, fastened by a pearl +buckle, close around her little waist, and Sir Norman fixed his +eyes upon her beautiful face, with a powerful glance. + +"Knew no one - that is strange, Leoline! Not even the Count +L'Estrange?" + +"Ah! you know him?" she cried eagerly, lifting her eyes with a +bright look; "do - do tell me who he is?" + +"Upon my honor, my dear," said Sir Norman, considerably taken +aback, "it strikes me you are the person to answer that question. +If I don't greatly mistake, somebody told me you were going to +marry him." + +"Oh, so I was," said Leoline, with the utmost simplicity. "But I +don't know him, for all that; and more than that, Sir Norman, I +do not believe his name is Count L'Estrange, any more than mine +in!" + +"Precisely my opinion; but why, in the name of - no, I'll not +swear; but why were you going to marry him, Leoline?" + +Leoline half pouted, and shrugged her pretty pink satin +shoulders. + +"Because I couldn't help it - that's why. He coaxed, and coaxed; +and I said no, and no, and no, until I got tired of it. +Prudence, too, was as bad as he was, until between them I got +about distracted, and at last consented to marry him to get rid +of him." + +"My poor, persecuted little darling! Oh," cried Sir Norman, with +a burst of enthusiasm, "how I should admire to have Count +L'Estrange here for about tea minutes, just now! I world spoil +his next wooing for him, or I am mistaken!" + +"No, no!" said Leoline, looking rather alarmed; "you must not +fight, you know. I shouldn't at all like either of you to get +killed. Besides, he has not married me; and so there's no harm +done." + +Sir Norman seemed rather struck by that view of the case, and +after a few moments reflection on it, came to the conclusion that +she knew best, and settled down peaceably again. + +"Why do you suppose his name is not Count L'Estrange?" he asked. + +"For many reasons. First - he is disguised; wears false +whiskers, moustache, and wig, and even the voice he uses appears +assumed. Then Prudence seems in the greatest awe of him, and she +is not one to be easily awed. I never knew her to be in the +slightest degree intimidated by any human being but himself and +that mysterious woman, La Masque. + +"Ah! you know La Masque, then?" + +"Not personally; but I have seen her as I did you, you remember," +with an arch glance; "and, like you, being once seen, is not to +be forgotten." + +Sir Norman promptly paid her for the compliment in Cupid's own +coin: + +"Little flatterer! I can almost forgive Count L'Estrange for +wanting to marry you; for I presume he it only a man, and not +quite equal to impossibilities. How long is it since you knew +him first?" + +"Not two months. My courtships," said Leoline, with a gay laugh, +"seem destined to be of the shortest. He saw me one evening in +the window, and immediately insisted on being admitted; and after +that, he continued coming until I had to promise, as I have told +you, to be Countess L'Estrange." + +"He cannot be mach of a gentleman, or he would not attempt to +force a lady against her will. And so, when you were dressed for +your bridal, you found you had the plague?" + +"Yes, Sir Norman; and horrible as that was I do assure you I +almost preferred it to marrying him." + +"Leoline, tell me how long it is since you've known me?" + +"Nearly three months," said Leoline, blushing again celestial +rosy red. + +"And how long have you loved me?" + +"Nonsense. What a question! I shall not tell you." + +"You shall - you must - I insist upon it. Did you love me before +you met the count? Out with it." + +"Well, then - yes!" cried Leoline desperately. + +Sir Norman raised the hand he held, is rapture to his lips: + +"My darling! But I will reserve my raptures, for it is growing +late, and I know you mast want to go to rest. I have a thousand +things to tell you, but they must wait for daylight; only I will +promise, before parting, that this is the last night you mast +spend here." + +Leoline opened her bright eyes very wide. + +"To-morrow morning," went on Sir Norman, impressively, and with +dignity, "you will be up and dressed by sunrise, and shortly +after that radiant period, I will make my appearance with two +horses - one of which I shall ride, and the other I shall lead: +the one I lead you shall mount, and we will ride to the nearest +church, and be married without any pomp or pageant; and then Sir +Norman and Lady Kingsley will immediately leave London, and in +Kingsley Castle, Devonshire, will enjoy the honeymoon and +blissful repose till the plague is over. Do you understand +that?" + +"Perfectly," she answered, with a radiant face. + +"And agree to it?" + +"You know I do, Sir Norman; only - " + +"Well, my pet, only what?" + +"Sir Norman, I should like to see Prudence. I want Prudence. +How can I leave her behind?" + +"My dear child, she made nothing of leaving you when she thought +you were dying; so never mind Prudence, but say, will you be +ready?" + +"I will." + +"That is my good little Leoline. Now give me a kiss, Lady +Kingsley, and good-night." + +Lady Kingsley dutifully obeyed; and Sir Norman went out with a +glow at his heart, like a halo round a full moon. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE PAGE, THE FIRES, AND THE FALL. + + +The night was intensely dark when Sir Norman got into it once +more; and to any one else would have been intensely dismal, but +to Sir Norman all was bright as the fair hills of Beulah. When +all is bright within, we see no darkness without; and just at +that moment our young knight had got into one of those green and +golden glimpses of sunshine that here and there checker life's +rather dark pathway, and with Leoline beside him would have +thought the dreary whores of the Dead Sea itself a very paradise. + +It was now near midnight, and there was an unusual concourse of +people in the sheets, waiting for St. Paul's to give the signal +to light the fires. He looked around for Ormiston; but Ormiston +was nowhere to be seen - horse and rider had disappeared. His +own horse stood tethered where he had left him. Anxious as he +was to ride back to the ruin, and see the play played out, he +could not resist the temptation of lingering a brief period in +the city, to behold the grand spectacle of the myriad fires. +Many persons were hurrying toward St. Paul's to witness it from +the dome; and consigning his horse to the care of the sentinel on +guard at the house opposite, he joined them, and was soon +striding along, at a tremendous pace, toward the great cathedral. +Ere he reached it, its long-tongued clock tolled twelve, and all +the other churches, one after another, took up the sound, and the +witching hour of midnight rang and rerang from end to end of +London town. As if by magic, a thousand forked tongues of fire +shot up at once into the blind, black night, turning almost in an +instant the darkened face of the heavens to an inflamed, glowing +red. Great fires were blazing around the cathedral when they +reached it, but no one stopped to notice them, but only hurried +on the faster to gain their point of observation. + +Sir Norman just glanced at the magnificent pile - for the old St. +Paul's was even more magnificent than the new, - and then +followed after the rest, through many a gallery, tower, and +spiral staircase till the dome was reached. And there a grand +and mighty spectacle was before him - the whole of London swaying +and heaving in one great sea of fire. From one end to the other, +the city seemed wrapped in sheets of flame, and every street, and +alley, and lane within it shone in a lurid radiance far brighter +than noonday. All along the river fires were gleaming, too; and +the whole sky had turned from black to blood-red crimson. The +streets were alive and swarming - it could scarcely be believed +that the plague-infested city contained half so many people, and +all were unusually hopeful and animated; for it was popularly +believed that these fires would effectually check the pestilence. +But the angry fiat of a Mighty Judge had gone forth, and the +tremendous arm of the destroying angel was not to be stopped by +the puny hand of man. + +It has been said the weather for weeks was unusually brilliant, +days of cloudless sunshine, nights of cloudless moonlight, and +the air was warm and sultry enough for the month of August in the +tropics. But now, while they looked, a vivid flash of lightning, +from what quarter of the heavens no man knew, shot athwart the +sky, followed by another and another, quick, sharp, and blinding. +Then one great drop of rain fell like molten lead on the +pavement, then a second and a third quicker, faster, and thicker, +until down it crashed in a perfect deluge. It did not wait to +rain; it fell in floods - in great, slanting sheets of water, an +if the very floodgates of heaven had opened for a second deluge. +No one ever remembered to have seen such torrents fall, and the +populace fled before it in wildest dismay. In five minutes, +every fire, from one extremity of London to the other, was +quenched in the very blackness of darkness, and on that night the +deepest gloom and terror reigned throughout the city. It was +clear the hand of an avenging Deity was in this, and He who had +rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah had not lost His might. +In fifteen minutes the terrific flood was over; the dismal clouds +cleared away, a pale, fair, silver moon shone serenely out, and +looked down on the black, charred heaps of ashes strewn through +the streets of London. One by one, the stars that all night had +been obscured, glanced and sparkled over the sky, and lit up with +their soft, pale light the doomed and stricken town. Everybody +had quitted the dome in terror and consternation; and now Sir +Norman, who had been lost in awe, suddenly bethought him of his +ride to the ruin, and hastened to follow their example. Walking +rapidly, not to say recklessly, along, he abruptly knocked +against some one sauntering leisurely before him, and nearly +pitched headlong on the pavement. Recovering his centre of +gravity by a violent effort, he turned to see the cause of the +collision, and found himself accosted by a musical and +foreign-accented voice. + +"Pardon," paid the sweet, and rather feminine tones; "it was +quite an accident, I assure you, monsieur. I had no idea I was +in anybody's way." + +Sir Norman looked at the voice, or rather in the direction whence +it came, and found it proceeded from a lad in gay livery, whose +clear, colorless face, dark eyes, end exquisite features were by +no means unknown. The boy seemed to recognize him at the same +moment, and slightly touched his gay cap. + +"Ah! it is Sir Norman Kingsley! Just the very person, but one, +in the world that I wanted most to see." + +"Indeed! And, pray, whom have I the honor of addressing?" +inquired Sir Norman, deeply edified by the cool familiarity of +the accoster. + +"They call me Hubert - for want of a better name, I suppose," +said the lad, easily. "And may I ask, Sir Norman, if you are +shod with seven-leagued boots, or if your errand is one of life +and death, that you stride along at such a terrific rate?" + +"And what is that to you?" asked Sir Norman, indignant at his +free-and-easy impudence. + +"Nothing; only I should like to keep up with you, if my legs were +long enough; and as they're not, and as company is not easily to +be had in these forlorn streets, I should feel obliged to you if +you would just slacken your pace a trifle, and take me in tow." + +The boy's face in the moonlight, in everything but expression, +was exactly that of Leoline, to which softening circumstance may +be attributed Sir Norman's yielding to the request, and allowing +the page to keep along side. + +"I've met you once before to-night?" inquired Sir Norman, after a +prolonged and wondering stare at him. + +"Yes; I have a faint recollection of seeing you and Mr. Ormiston +on London Bridge, a few hours ago, and, by the way, perhaps I may +mention I am now in search of that same Mr. Ormiston." + +"You are! And what may you want of him, pray?" + +"Just a little information of a private character - perhaps you +can direct me to his whereabouts." + +"Should be happy to oblige you, my dear boy, but, unfortunately, +I cannot. I want to see him myself, if I could find any one good +enough to direct me to him. Is your business pressing?" + +"Very - there is a lady in the case; and such business, you are +aware, is always pressing. Probably you have heard of her - a +youthful angel, in virgin white, who took a notion to jump into +the Thames, not a great while ago." + +"Ah!" said Sir Norman, with a start that did not escape the quick +eyes of the boy. "And what do you want of her?" + +The page glanced at him. + +"Perhaps you know her yourself, sir Norman? If so, you will +answer quite as well as your friend, as I only want to know where +she lives." + +"I have been out of town to-night," said Sir Norman, evasively, +"and there may have been more ladies than one jumped into the +Thames, daring my absence. Pray, describe your angel in white." + +"I did not notice her particularly myself," said the boy, with +easy indifference, "as I am not in the habit of paying much +attention to young ladies who run wild about the streets at night +and jump promiscuously into rivers. However, this one was rather +remarkable, for being dressed as a bride, having long black hair, +and a great quantity of jewelry about her, and looking very much +like me. Having said she looks like me, I need not add she is +handsome." + +"Vanity of vanities, all in vanity !" murmured Sir Norman, +meditatively. "Perhaps she is a relative of yours, Master +Hubert, since you take such an interest in her, and she looks so +much like you." + +"Not that I know of," said Hubert, in his careless way. "I +believe I was born minus those common domestic afflictions, +relatives; and I don't take the slightest interest in her, +either; don't think it!" + +"Then why are you in search of her?" + +"For a very good reason - because I've been ordered to do so." + +"By whom - your master?" + +"My Lord Rochester," said that nobleman's page, waving off the +insinuation by a motion of his hand and a little displeased +frown; "he picked her up adrift, and being composed of highly +inflammable materials, took a hot and vehement fancy for her, +which fact he did not discover until your friend, Mr. Ormiston, +had carried her off." + +Sir Norman scowled. + +"And so he sent you in search of her, has he?" + +"Exactly so; and now you perceive the reason why it is quite +important that I find Mr. Ormiston. We do not know where he has +taken her to, but fancy it must be somewhere near the river." + +"You do? I tell you what it is, my boy," exclaimed Sir Norman, +suddenly and in an elevated key, "the best thing you can do is, +to go home and go to bed, and never mind young ladies. You'll +catch the plague before you'll catch this particular young lady - +I can tell you that!" + +"Monsieur is excited," lisped the lad raining his hat end running +his taper fingers through his glossy, dark curls. "Is she as +handsome as they say she is, I wonder?" + +"Handsome!" cried Sir Norman, lighting up with quite a new +sensation at the recollection. "I tell you handsome doesn't +begin to describe her! She is beautiful, lovely, angelic, divine - " +Here Sir Norman's litany of adjectives beginning to give out, +he came to a sudden halt, with a face as radiant as the sky +at sunrise. + +"Ah! I did not believe them, when they told me she was so much +like me; but if she in as near perfection as you describe, I +shall begin to credit it. Strange, is it not, that nature should +make a duplicate of her greatest earthly chef d'oeuvre?" + +"You conceited young jackanapes!" growled Sir Norman, in deep +displeasure. "It is far stranger how such a bundle of vanity can +contrive to live in this work-a-day world. You are a foreigner, +I perceive?" + +"Yes, Sir Norman, I am happy to say I am." + +"You don't like England, then?" + +"I'd be sorry to like it; a dirty, beggarly, sickly place as I +ever saw!" + +Sir Norman eyed the slender specimen of foreign manhood, uttering +this sentiment is the sincerest of tones, and let his hand fall +heavily on his shoulder. + +"My good youth, be careful! I happen to be a native, and not +altogether used to this sort of talk. How long have you been +here? Not long, I know myself - at least, not in the Earl of +Rochester's service, or I would have seen you." + +"Right! I have not been here a month; but that month hag seemed +longer than a year elsewhere. Do you know, I imagine when the +world was created, this island of yours must have been made late +on Saturday night, and then merely thrown in from the refuse to +fill up a dent in the ocean." + +Sir Norman paused in his walk, and contemplated the speaker a +moment in severest silence. But Master Hubert only lifted up his +saucy face and laughing black eyes, in dauntless sang froid. + +"Master Hubert," began Master Hubert's companion, in his deepest +and sternest base, "I don't know your other name, and it would be +of no consequence if I did - just listen to me a moment. If you +don't want to get run through (you perceive I carry a sword), and +have an untimely end put to your career, just keep a civil tongue +in your head, and don't slander England. Now come on!" + +Hubert laughed and shrugged his shoulders: + +"Thought is free, however, so I can have my own opinion in spite +of everything. Will you tell me, monsieur, where I can find the +lady?" + +"You will have it, will you?" exclaimed Sir Norman, half drawing +his sword. "Don't ask questions, but answer them. Are you +French?" + +"Monsieur has guessed it." + +"How long have you been with your present master?" + +"Monsieur, I object to that term," said Hubert, with calm +dignity. "Master is a vulgarism that I dislike; so, in alluding +to his lordship, take the trouble to say, patron." + +Sir Norman laughed. + +"With all my heart! How long, then, have you been with your +present patron?" + +"Not quite two weeks." + +"I do not like to be impertinently inquisitive in addressing so +dignified a gentleman, but perhaps you would not consider it too +great a liberty, if I inquired how you became his page?" + +"Monsieur shall ask as many questions as he pleases, and it shall +not be considered the slightest liberty," said the young +gentleman, politely. "I had been roaming at large about the city +and the palace of his majesty - whom may Heaven preserve, and +grant a little more wisdom! - in search of a situation; and among +that of all nobles of the court, the Earl of Rochester's livery +struck me as being the moat becoming, and so I concluded to +patronize him." + +"What an honor for his lordship! Since you dislike England so +much, however, you will probably soon throw up the situation and, +patronize the first foreign ambassador - " + +"Perhaps! I rather like Whitehall, however. Old Rowlie has +taken rather a fancy to me," said the boy speaking with the same +easy familiarity of his majesty as he would of a lap-dog. "And +what is better, so has Mistress Stewart - so much so, that Heaven +forefend the king should become jealous. This, however, is +strictly entra nous, and not to be spoken of on any terms." + +"Your secret shall be preserved at the risk of my life," said Sir +Norman, laying his hand on the left side of his doublet; "and in +return, may I ask if you have any relatives living - any sisters +for instance?" + +"I see I you have a suspicion that the lady in white may be a +sister of mine. Well, you may set your mind at rest on that +point - for if she is, it is news to me, as I never saw her in my +life before tonight. Is she a particular friend of yours, Sir +Norman?" + +"Never you mind that, my dear boy; but take my advice, and don't +trouble yourself looking for her; for, most assuredly, if you +find her, I shall break your head!" + +"Much obliged," said Hubert, touching his cap, "but nevertheless, +I shall risk it. She had the plague, though, when she jumped +into the river, and perhaps the beat place to find her world be +the pest-house. I shall try." + +"Go, and Heaven speed you! Yonder is the way to it, and my road +lies here. Good night, master Hubert." + +"Good night, Sir Norman," responded the page, bowing airily; "and +if I do not find the lady to-night, most assuredly I shall do so +to-morrow." + +Turning along a road leading to the pest-house, and laughing as +he went, the boy disappeared. Fearing lest the page should +follow him, and thereby discover a clue to Leoline's abode, Sir +Norman turned into a street some distance from the house, and +waited in the shadow until he was out of sight. Then he came +forth, and, full of impatience to get back to the ruin, hurried +on to where he had left his horse. He was still in the care of +the watchman, whom he repaid for his trouble; and as he sprang on +his back, he glanced up at the windows of Leoline's house. It +was all buried in profound darkness but that one window from +which that faint light streamed, and he knew that she had not yet +gone to rest. For a moment he lingered and looked at it in the +absurd way lovers will look, and was presently rewarded by seeing +what he watched for - a shadow flit between him and the light. +The sight was a strong temptation to him to dismount and enter, and, +under pretence of warning her against the Earl of Rochester and his +"pretty page," see her once again. But reflection, stepping +rebukingly up to him, whispered indignantly, that his ladylove was +probably by this time in her night robe, and not at home to lovers; +and Sir Norman respectfully bowed to reflection's superior wisdom. +He thought of Hubert's words, "If I do not find her tonight, I shall +most assuredly to-morrow," and a chill presentiment of coming evil +fell upon him. + +"To-morrow," he said, as he turned to go. "Who knows what +to-morrow may bring forth! Fairest and dearest Leoline, +goodnight!" + +He rode away in the moonlight, with the stars shining peacefully +down upon him. His heart at the moment was a divided one - one +half being given to Leoline, and the other to the Midnight Queen +and her mysterious court. The farther he went away from Leoline, +the dimmer her star became in the horizon of his thoughts; and +the nearer he came to Miranda, the brighter and more eagerly she +loomed up, until he spurred his horse to a most furious gallop, +lest he should find the castle and the queen lost in the regions +of space when he got there. Once the plague-stricken city lay +behind him, his journey was short; and soon, to his great +delight, he turned into the silent deserted by-path leading to +the ruin. + +Tying his horse to a stake in the crumbling wall, he paused for a +moment to look at it in the pale, wan light of the midnight moon. +He had looked at it many a time before, but never with the same +interest as now; and the ruined battlements, the fallen roof, the +broken windows, and mouldering sides, had all a new and weird +interest for him. No one was visible far or near; and feeling +that his horse was secure in the shadow of the wall, he entered, +and walked lightly and rapidly along in the direction of the +spiral staircase. With more haste, but the same precaution, he +descended, and passed through the vaults to where he knew the +loose flag-stone was. It was well he did know; for there was +neither strain of music nor ray of light to guide him now; and +his heart sank to zero as he thought he might raise the stone and +discover nothing. His hand positively trembled with eagerness as +he lifted it; and with unbounded delight, not to be described, +looked down on the same titled assembly he had watched before. +But there had been a change since - half the lights were +extinguished, and the great vaulted room was comparatively in +shadow - the music had entirely died away and all was solemnly +silent. But what puzzled Sir Norman most of all was, the fact +that there seemed to be a trial of acme sort going on. + +A long table, covered with green velvet, and looking not unlike a +modern billiard table, stood at the right of the queen's crimson +throne; and behind it, perched in a high chair, and wearing a +long, solemn, black robe, sat a small, thick personage, whose +skin Sir Norman would have known on a bush. He glanced at the +lower throne and found it as he expected, empty; and he saw at +once that his little highness was not only prince consort, but +also supreme judge in the kingdom. Two or three similar +black-robed gentry, among whom was recognizable the noble duke +who so narrowly escaped with his life under the swords of Sir +Norman and Count L'Estrange. Before this solemn conclave stood a +man who was evidently the prisoner under trial, and who wore the +whitest and most frightened face Sir Norman thought he had ever +beheld. The queen was lounging negligently back on her throne, +paying very little attention to the solemn rites, occasionally +gossiping with some of the snow-white sylphs beside her, and +often yawning behind her pretty finger-tips, and evidently very +much bored by it all. + +The rest of the company were decorously seated in the crimson and +gilded arm-chairs, some listening with interest to what was going +on, others holding whispered tete-a-tetes, and all very still and +respectful. + +Sir Norman's interest was aroused to the highest pitch; he +imprudently leaned forward too far, in order to bear and see, and +lost his balance. He felt he was going, and tried to stop +himself, but in vain; and seeing there was no help for it, he +made a sudden spring, and landed right in the midst of the +assembly. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE EXECUTION. + + +In an instant all was confusion. Everybody sprang to their feet +- ladies shrieked in chorus, gentlemen swore and drew their +swords, and looked to see if they might not expect a whole army +to drop from the sky upon them, as they stood. No other +battalion, however, followed this forlorn hope; and seeing it, +the gentlemen took heart of grace and closed around the +unceremonious intruder. The queen had sprung from her royal +seat, and stood with her bright lips parted, and her brighter +eyes dilating in speechless wonder. The bench, with the judge at +their head, had followed her example, and stood staring with all +their might, looking, truth to tell, as much startled by the +sudden apparition as the fair sex. The said fair sex were still +firing off little volleys of screams in chorus, and clinging +desperately to their cavaliers; and everything, in a word, was in +most admired disorder. + +Tam O'Shanter's cry, "Weel done, Cutty sark!" could not have +produced half such a commotion among his "hellish legion" as the +emphatic debut of Sir Norman Kingsley among these human revelers. +The only one who seemed rather to enjoy it than otherwise was the +prisoner, who was quietly and quickly making off, when the +malevolent and irrepressible dwarf espied him, and the one shock +acting as a counter-irritant to the other, he bounced fleetly +over the table, and grabbed him in his crab-like claws. + +This brisk and laudable instance of self-command had a wonderful +and inspiriting effect on the rest; and as he replaced the pale +and palsied prisoner in his former position, giving him a +vindictive shake and vicious kick with his royal boots as he did +so, everybody began to feel themselves again. The ladies stopped +screaming, the gentlemen ceased swearing, and more than one +exclamation of astonishment followed the cries of terror. + +"Sir Norman Kingsley! Sir Norman Kingsley!" rang from lip to lip +of those who recognized him; and all drew closer, and looked at +him as if they really could not make up their mind to believe +their eyes. As for Sir Norman himself, that gentleman was +destined literally, if not metaphorically, to fall on his legs +that night, and had alighted on the crimson velvet-carpet, +cat-like, on his feet. In reference to his feelings - his first +was one of frantic disapproval of going down; his second, one of +intense astonishment of finding himself there with unbroken +bones; his third, a disagreeable conviction that he had about put +his foot in it, and was in an excessively bad fix; and last, but +not least, a firm and rooted determination to make the beet of a +bad bargain, and never say die. + +His first act was to take off his plumed hat, and make a profound +obeisance to her majesty the queen, who was altogether too much +surprised to make the return politeness demanded, and merely +stared at him with her great, beautiful, brilliant eyes, as if +she would never have done. + +"Ladies and gentlemen!" said Sir Norman, turning gracefully to +the company; "I beg ten thousand pardons for this unwarrantable +intrusion, and promise you, upon my honor, never to do it again. +I beg to assure you that my coming here was altogether +involuntary on my part, and forced by circumstances over which I +had no control; and I entreat you will not mind me in the least, +but go on with the proceeding, just as you did before. Should +you feel my presence here any restraint, I am quite ready and +willing to take my departure at any moment; and as I before +insinuated, will promise, on the honor of a gentleman and a +knight, never again to take the liberty of tumbling through the +ceiling down on your heads." + +This reference to the ceiling seemed to explain the whole +mystery; and everybody looked up at the corner whence he came +from, and saw the flag that had been removed. As to his speech, +everybody had listened to it with the greatest of attention; and +sundry of the ladies, convinced by this time that he was flesh +and blood, and no ghost, favored the handsome young knight with +divers glances, not at all displeased or unadmiring. The queen +sank back into her seat, keeping him still transfixed with her +darkly-splendid eyes; and whether she admired or otherwise, no +one could tell from her still, calm face. The prince consort's +feelings - for such there could be no doubt he was - were +involved in no such mystery; and he broke out into a hyena-like +scream of laughter, as he recognized, upon a second look, his +young friend of the Golden Crown. + +"So you have come, have you?" he cried, thrusting his unlovely +visage over the table, till it almost touched sir Norman's. "You +have come, have you, after all I said?" + +"Yes, sir I have come!" said Sir Norman, with a polite bow. + +"Perhaps you don't know me, my dear young sir - your little +friend, you know, of the Golden Crown." + +"Oh, I perfectly recognize you! My little friend," said Sir +Norman, with bland suavity, and unconsciously quoting Leoline, +"once seen in not easy to be-forgotten." + +Upon this, his highness net up such another screech of mirth that +it quite woke an echo through the room; and all Sir Norman's +friends looked grave; for when his highness laughed, it was a +very bad sign. + +"My little friend will hurt himself," remarked Sir Norman, with +an air of solicitude, "if he indulges in his exuberant and +gleeful spirits to such an extent. Let me recommend you, as a +well-wisher, to sit down and compose yourself." + +Instead of complying, however, the prince, who seemed blessed +with a lively sense of the ludicrous, wan so struck with the +extreme funniness of the young man's speech, that he relaxed into +another paroxysm of levity, shriller and more unearthly, if +possible, than any preceding one, and which left him so +exhausted, that he was forced to sink into his chair and into +silence through sheer fatigue. Seizing this, the first +opportunity, Miranda, with a glance of displeased dignity st +Caliban, immediately struck in: + +"Who are you, sir, and by what right do you dare to come here?" + +Her tone was neither very sweet nor suave; but it was much +pleasanter to be cross-examined by the owner of such a pretty +face than by the ugly little monster, for the moment gasping and +extinguished; and Sir Norman turned to her with alacrity, and a +bow. + +"Madame, I am Sir Norman Kingsley, very much at your service; and +I beg to assure you I did not come here, but fell here, through +that hole, if you perceive, and very much against my will." + +"Equivocation will not serve you in this case, sir," said the +queen, with an austere dignity. "And, allow me to observe, it is +just probable you would not have fallen through that hole in our +royal ceiling if you had kept away from it. You raised that flag +yourself - did you not?" + +"Madam, I fear I must say yes!" + +"And why did you do so?" demanded her majesty, with far more +sharp asperity than Sir Norman dreamed could ever come from such +beautiful lips. + +"The rumor of Queen Miranda's charms has gone forth; and I fear I +must own that rumor drew me hither," responded Sir Norman, +inventing a polite little work of fiction for the occasion; "and, +let me add, that I came to find that rumor had under-rated +instead of exaggerated her majesty's said charms." + +Here Sir Norman, whose spine seemed in danger of becoming the +shape of a rainbow, in excess of good breeding, made another +genuflection before the queen, with his hand over the region of +his heart. Miranda tried to look grave, and wear that expression +of severe solemnity I am told queens and rich people always do; +but, in spite of herself, a little pleased smile rippled over her +face; and, noticing it, and the bow and speech, the prince +suddenly and sharply set up such another screech of laughter as +no steamboat or locomotive, in the present age of steam, could +begin to equal in ghastliness. + +"Will your highness have the goodness to hold your tongue?" +inquired the queen, with much the air and look of Mrs. Caudle, +"and allow me to ask this stranger a few questions uninterrupted? +Sir Norman Kingsley, how long have you been above there, +listening and looking on?" + +"Madame, I was not there five minutes when I suddenly, and to my +great surprise, found myself here." + +"A lie! - a lie!" exclaimed the dwarf, furiously. "It is over +two hours since I met you at the bar of the Golden Crown." + +"My dear little friend," said Sir Norman, drawing his sword, and +flourishing it within an inch of the royal nose, "just make that +remark again, and my sword will cleave your pretty head, as the +cimetar of Saladin clove the cushion of down! I earnestly assure +you, madame, that I had but just knelt down to look, when I +discovered to my dismay, that I was no longer there, but in your +charming presence." + +"In that case, my lords and gentlemen," said the queen, glancing +blandly round the apartment, "he has witnessed nothing, and, +therefore, merits but slight punishment." + +"Permit me, your majesty," said the duke, who had read the roll +of death, and who had been eyeing Sir Norman sharply for some +time, "permit me one moment! This is the very individual who +slew the Earl of Ashley, while his companion was doing for my +Lord Craven. Sir Norman Kingsley," said his grace, turning, with +awful impressiveness to that young person, "do you know me?" + +"Quite as well as I wish to," answered Sir Norman, with a cool +and rather contemptuous glance in his direction. "You look +extremely like a certain highwayman, with a most villainous +countenance, I encountered a few hours back, and whom I would +have made mince most of if he lead not been coward enough to fly. +Probably you may be the name; you look fit for that, or anything +else." + +"Cut him down!" "Dash his brains out!" "Run him through!" "Shoot +him!" were a few of the mild and pleasant insinuations that went +off on every side of him, like a fierce volley of pop-guns; and a +score of bright blades flashed blue and threatening on every +side; while the prince broke out into another shriek of laughter, +that rang high over all. + +Sir Norman drew his own sword, and stood on the defence, breathed +one thought to Leoline, gave himself up for lost; but before +quite doing so - to use a phrase not altogether as original as it +might be - "determined to sell his life as dearly as possible." +Angry eyes and fierce faces were on every hand, and his dreams of +matrimony and Leoline seemed about to terminate then and there, +when luck came to his side, in the shape of her most gracious +majesty the queen. Springing to her feet, she waved her sceptre, +while her black eyes flashed as fiercely as the best of them, and +her voice rang out like a trumpet-tone. + +"Sheathe your swords, my lords, and back every man of you! Not +one hair of his head shall fall without my permission; and the +first who lays hands on him until that consent is given, shall +die, if I have to shoot him myself! Sir Norman Kingsley, stand +near, and fear not. At his peril, let one of them touch you!" + +Sir Norman bent on one knee, and raised the gracious hand to his +lips. At the fierce, ringing, imperious tone, all involuntarily +fell back, as if they were accustomed to obey it; and the prince, +who seemed to-night in an uncommonly facetious mood, laughed +again, long and shrill. + +"What are your majesty's commands?" asked the discomfited duke, +rather sulkily. "Is this insulting interloper to go free?" + +"That is no affair of yours, my lord duke!" answered the spirited +voice of the queen. "Be good enough to finish Lord Gloucester's +trial; and until then I will be responsible for the safekeeping +of Sir Norman Kingsley." + +"And after that, he is to go free eh, your majesty?" said the +dwarf, laughing to that extent that he ran the risk of rupturing +an artery. + +"After that, it shall be precisely as I please!" replied the +ringing voice; while the black eyes flashed anything but loving +glances upon him. "While I am queen here, I shall be obeyed; +when I am queen no longer, you may do as you please! My lords" +(turning her passionate, beautiful face to the hushed audience), +am I or am I not sovereign here!" + +"Madame, you alone are our sovereign lady and queen!" + +"Then, when I condescend to command, you shall obey! Do you, +your highness, and you, lord duke, go on with the Earl of +Gloucester's trial, and I will be the stranger's jailer." + +"She is right," said the dwarf, his fierce little eyes gleaming +with a malignant light; "let us do one thing before another; and +after we have settled Gloucester here, we will attend to this +man's case. Guards keep a sharp eye on your new prisoner. +Ladies and gentlemen, be good enough to resume your seats. Now, +your grace, continue the trial." + +"Where did we leave off?" inquired his grace, looking rather at a +loss, and scowling vengeance dire at the handsome queen and her +handsome protege, as he sank back in his chair of state. + +"The earl was confessing his guilt, or about to do so. Pray, my +lord," said the dwarf, glaring upon the pallid prisoner, "were +you not saying you had betrayed us to the king?" + +A breathless silence followed the question - everybody seemed to +hold his very breath to listen. Even the queen leaned forward +and awaited the answer eagerly, and the many eyes that had been +riveted on Sir Norman since his entrance, left him now for the +first time and settled on the prisoner. A piteous spectacle that +prisoner was - his face whiter than the snowy nymphs behind the +throne, and so distorted with fear, fury, and guilt, that it +looked scarcely human. Twice he opened his eyes to reply, and +twice all sounds died away in a choking gasp. + +"Do you hear his highness?" sharply inquired the lord high +chancellor, reaching over the great seal, and giving the unhappy +Earl of Gloucester a rap on the head with it, "Why do you not +answer?" + +"Pardon! Pardon!" exclaimed the earl, in a husky whisper. "Do +not believe the tales they tell you of me. For Heaven's sake, +spare my life!" + +"Confess!" thundered the dwarf, striking the table with his +clinched fist, until all the papers thereon jumped spasmodically +into the air-"confess at once, or I shall run you through where +you stand!" + +The earl, with a perfect screech of terror, flung himself flat +upon his face and hands before the queen, with such force, that +Sir Norman expected to see his countenance make a hole in the +floor. + +"O madame! spare me! spare me! spare me! Have mercy on me as you +hope for mercy yourself!" + +She recoiled, and drew back her very garments from his touch, as +if that touch was pollution, eyeing him the while with a glance +frigid and pitiless as death. + +"There is no mercy for traitors!" she coldly said. "Confess your +guilt, and expect no pardon from me!" + +"Lift him up!" shouted the dwarf, clawing the air with his hands, +as if he could have clawed the heart out of his victim's body; +"back with him to his place, guards, and see that he does not +leave it again!" + +Squirming, and writhing, and twisting himself in their grasp, in +very uncomfortable and eel-like fashion, the earl was dragged +back to his place, and forcibly held there by two of the guards, +while his face grew so ghastly and convulsed that Sir Norman +turned away his head, and could not bear to look at it. + +"Confess!" once more yelled the dwarf in a terrible voice, while +his still more terrible eyes flashed sparks of fire - "confess, +or by all that's sacred it shall be tortured out of you. Guards, +bring me the thumb-screws, and let us see if they will not +exercise the dumb devil by which our ghastly friend is +possessed!" + +"No, no, no!" shrieked the earl, while the foam flew from his +lips. "I confess! I confess! I confess!" + +"Good! And what do you confess?" said the duke blandly, leaning +forward, while the dwarf fell back with a yell of laughter at the +success of his ruse. + +"I confess all - everything - anything! only spare my life!" + +"Do you confess to having told Charles, King of England, the +secrets of our kingdom and this place?" said the duke, sternly +rapping down the petition with a roll of parchment. + +The earl grew, if possible, a more ghastly white. "I do - I +must! but oh! for the love of - " + +"Never mind love," cut in the inexorable duke, "it is a subject +that has nothing whatever to do with the present case. Did you +or did you not receive for the aforesaid information a large sum +of money?" + +"I did; but my lord, my lord, spare - " + +"Which sum of money you have concealed," continued the duke, with +another frown and a sharp rap. "Now the question is, where have +you concealed it?" + +"I will tell you, with all my heart, only spare my life!" + +"Tell us first, and we will think about your life afterward. Let +me advise you as a friend, my lord, to tell at once, and +truthfully," said the duke, toying negligently with the +thumb-screws. + +"It is buried at the north corner of the old wall at the head of +Bradshaw's grave. You shall have that and a thousandfold more if +you'll only pardon - " + +"Enough!" broke in the dwarf, with the look and tone of an +exultant demon. "That is all we want! My lord duke, give me the +death-warrant, and while her majesty signs it, I will pronounce +his doom!" + +The duke handed him a roll of parchment, which he glanced +critically over, and handed to the queen for her autograph. That +royal lady spread the vellum on her knee, took the pen and +affixed her signature as coolly as if she were inditing a sonnet +in an album. Then his highness, with a face that fairly +scintillated with demoniac delight, stood up and fixed his eyes +on the ghastly prisoner, and spoke in a voice that reverberated +like the tolling of a death-bell through the room. + +"My Lord of Gloucester, you have been tried by a council of your +fellow-peers, presided over by her royal self, and found guilty +of high treason. Your sentence is that you be taken hence, +immediately, to the block, and there be beheaded, in punishment +of your crime." + +His highness wound up this somewhat solemn speech, rather +inconsistently, bursting out into one of his shrillest peals of +laughter; and the miserable Earl of Gloucester, with a gasping, +unearthly cry, fell back in the arms of the attendants. Dead and +oppressive silence reigned; and Sir Norman, who half believed all +along the whole thing was a farce, began to feel an uncomfortable +sense of chill creeping over him, and to think that, though +practical jokes were excellent things in their way, there was yet +a possibility of carrying them a little too far. The +disagreeable silence was first broken by the dwarf, who, after +gloating for a moment over his victim's convulsive spasms, sprang +nimbly from his chair of dignity and held out his arm for the +queen. The queen arose, which seemed to be a sign for everybody +else to do the same, and all began forming themselves in a sort +of line of march. + +"Whist is to be done with this other prisoner, your highness?" +inquired the duke, making a poke with his forefinger at Sir +Norman. "Is he to stay here, or is he to accompany us?" + +His highness turned round, and putting his face close up to Sir +Norman's favored him with a malignant grin. + +"You'd like to come, wouldn't you, my dear young friend?" + +"Really," said Sir Norman, drawing back and returning the dwarf's +stare with compound interest, "that depends altogether on the +nature of the entertainment; but, at the same time, I'm much +obliged to you for consulting my inclinations." + +This reply nearly overset his highness's gravity once more, but +he checked his mirth after the first irresistible squeal; and +finding the company were all arranged in the order of going, and +awaiting his sovereign pleasure, he turned. + +"Let him come," he said, with his countenance still distorted by +inward merriment; "It will do him good to see how we punish +offenders here, and teach him what he is to expect himself. Is +your majesty ready?" + +"My majesty has been ready and waiting for the last five +minutes," replied the lady, over-looking his proffered hand with +grand disdain, and stepping lightly down from her throne. + +Her rising was the signal for the unseen band to strike up a +grand triumphant "Io paean," though, had the "Rogue's March" been +a popular melody in those times, it would have suited the +procession much more admirably. The queen and the dwarf went +first, and a vivid contrast they were - she so young, so +beautiful, so proud, so disdainfully cold; he so ugly, so +stunted, so deformed, so fiendish. After them went the band of +sylphs in white, then the chancellor, archbishop, and +embassadors; next the whole court of ladies and gentlemen; and +after them Sir Norman, in the custody of two of the soldiers. +The condemned earl came last, or rather allowed himself to be +dragged by his four guards; for he seemed to have become +perfectly palsied and dumb with fear. Keeping time to the +triumphant march, and preserving dismal silence, the procession +wound its way along the room and through a great archway +heretofore hidden by the tapestry now lifted lightly by the +nymphs. A long stone passage, carpeted with crimson and gold, +and brilliantly illuminated like the grand saloon they had left, +was thus revealed, and three similar archways appeared at the +extremity, one to the right and left, and one directly before +them. The procession passed through the one to the left, and Sir +Norman started in dismay to find himself in the most gloomy +apartment he had ever beheld in his life. It was all covered +with black - walls, ceiling, and floor were draped in black, and +reminded him forcibly of La Masque's chamber of horrors, only +this was more repellant. It was lighted, or rather the gloom was +troubled, by a few spectral tapers of black wax in ebony +candlesticks, that seemed absolutely to turn black, and make the +horrible place more horrible. There was no furniture - neither +couch, chair, nor table nothing but a sort of stage at the upper +end of the room, with something that looked like a seat upon it, +and both were shrouded with the same dismal drapery. But it was +no seat; for everybody stood, arranging themselves silently and +noiselessly around the walls, with the queen and the dwarf at +their head, and near this elevation stood a tall, black statue, +wearing a mask, and leaning on a bright, dreadful, glittering +axe. The music changed to an unearthly dirge, so weird and +blood-curdling, that Sir Norman could have put his hands over his +ear-drums to shut out the ghastly sound. The dismal room, the +voiceless spectators, tho black spectre with the glittering axe, +the fearful music, struck a chill to his inmost heart. + +Could it be possible they were really going to murder the unhappy +wretch? and could all those beautiful ladies--could that +surpassingly beautiful queen, stand there serenely unmoved, to +witness such a crime? While he yet looked round in horror, the +doomed man, already apparently almost dead with fear, was dragged +forward by his guards. Paralyzed as he was, at sight of the +stage which he knew to be the scaffold, he uttered shriek after +shriek of frenzied despair, and struggled like a madman to get +free. But as well might Laocoon have struggled in the folds of +the serpent; they pulled him on, bound him hand and foot, and +held his head forcibly down on the block. + +The black spectre moved - the dwarf made a signal - the +glittering axe was raised - fell - a scream was cut in two - a +bright jet of blood spouted up in the soldiers faces, blinding +them; the axe fell again, and the Earl of Gloucester was minus +that useful and ornamental appendage, a head. + +It was all over so quickly, that Sir Norman could scarcely +believe his horrified senses, until the deed was done. The +executioner threw a black cloth over the bleeding trunk, and held +up the grizzly head by the hair; and Sir Norman could have sworn +the features moved, and the dead eyes rolled round the room. + +"Behold!" cried the executioner, striking the convulsed face with +the palm of his open hand, "the fate of all traitors!" + +"And of all spies!" exclaimed the dwarf, glaring with his +fiendish eyes upon the appalled Sir Norman. "Keep your axe sharp +and bright, Mr. Executioner, for before morning dawns there is +another gentleman here to be made shorter by a head." + + +CHAPTER XII. + +DOOM. + + +"Let us go," said the queen, glancing at the revolting sight, and +turning away with a shudder of repulsion. "Faugh! The sight of +blood has made me sick." + +"And taken away my appetite for supper," added a youthful and +elegant beauty beside her. "My Lord Gloucester was hideous +enough when living, but, mon Dieu!, he is ten times more so when +dead!" + +"Your ladyship will not have the same story to tell of yonder +stranger, when he shares the same fate in are hour or two!" said +the dwarf, with a malicious grin; "for I heard you remarking upon +his extreme beauty when he first appeared." + +The lady laughed and bowed, and turned her bright eyes upon Sir +Norman. + +"True! It is almost a pity to cut such a handsome head off - is +it not? I wish I had a voice in your highness's council, and I +know what I should do." + +"What, Lady Mountjoy?" + +"Entreat him to swear fealty, and become one of as; and - " + +"And a bridegroom for your ladyship?" suggested the queen, with a +curling lip. "I think if Sir Norman Kingsley knew Lady Mountjoy +as well as I do, he would even prefer the block to such a fate!" + +Lady Mountjoy's brilliant eyes shone like two angry meteors; but +she merely bowed and laughed; and the laugh was echoed by the +dwarf in his shrillest falsetto. + +"Does your highness intend remaining here all night?" demanded +the queen, rather fiercely. "If not, the sooner we leave this +ghastly place the better. The play is over, and supper is +waiting." + +With which the royal virago made an imperious motion for her +attendant sprites in gossamer white to precede her, and turned +with her accustomed stately step to follow. The music +immediately changed from its doleful dirge to a spirited measure, +and the whole company flocked after her, back to the great room +of state. There they all paused, hovering in uncertainty around +the room, while the queen, holding her purple train up lightly in +one hand, stood at the foot of the throne, glancing at them with +her cold, haughty and beautiful eyes. In their wandering, those +same darkly-splendid eyes glanced and lighted on Sir Norman, who, +in a state of seeming stupor at the horrible scene he had just +witnessed, stood near the green table, and they sent a thrill +through him with their wonderful resemblance to Leoline's. So +vividly alike were they, that he half doubted for a moment +whether she and Leoline were not really one; but no - Leoline +never could have had the cold, cruel heart to stand and witness +such a horrible eight. Miranda's dark, piercing glance fell as +haughtily and disdainfully on him as it had on the rest; and his +heart sank as he thought that whatever sympathy she had felt for +him was entirely gone. It might have been a whim, a woman's +caprice, a spirit of contradiction, that had induced her to +defend him at first. Whatever it was, and it mattered not now, +it had completely vanished. No face of marble could have been +colder, of stonier, or harder, than hers, as she looked at him +out of the depths of her great dark eyes; and with that look, his +last lingering hope of life vanished. + +"And now for the next trial!" exclaimed the dwarf, briskly +breaking in upon his drab-colored meditations, and bustling past. +"We will get it over at once, and have done with it!" + +"You will do no such thing!" said the imperious voice of the +queenly shrew. "We will have neither trials nor anything else +until after supper, which has already been delayed four full +minutes. My lord chamberlain, have the goodness to step in and +see that all is in order." + +One of the gilded and decorated gentlemen whom sir Norman had +mistaken for ambassadors stepped off, in obedience, through +another opening in the tapestry - which seemed to be as +extensively undermined with such apertures as a cabman's coat +with capes - and, while he was gone, the queen stood drawn up to +her full height, with her scornful face looking down on the +dwarf. That small man knit up his very plain face into a bristle +of the sourest kinks, and frowned sulky disapproval at an order +which he either would not, or dared not, countermand. Probably +the latter had most to do with it, as everybody looked hungry and +mutinous, and a great deal more eager for their supper than the +life of Sir Norman Kingsley. + +"Your majesty, the royal banquet is waiting," insinuated the lord +high chamberlain, returning, and bending over until his face and +his shoe buckles almost touched. + +"And what is to be done with this prisoner, while we are eating +it?" growled the dwarf, looking drawn swords at his liege lady. + +"He can remain here under care of the guards, can he not?" she +retorted sharply. "Or, if you are afraid they are not equal to +taking care of him, you had better stay and watch him yourself." + +With which answer, her majesty sailed majestically away, leaving +the gentleman addressed to follow or not, as he pleased. It +pleased him to do so, on the whole; and he went after her, +growling anathemas between his royal teeth, and evidently in the +same state of mind that induces gentlemen in private life to take +sticks to their aggravating spouses, under similar circumstances. +However, it might not be just the thing, perhaps, for kings and +queens to take broom-sticks to settle their little differences of +opinion, like common Christians; and so the prince peaceably +followed her, and entered the salle a manger with the rest, and +Sir Norman and his keepers were left in the hall of state, +monarchs of all they surveyed. Notwithstanding he knew his hours +were numbered, the young knight could not avoid feeling curious, +and the tapestry having been drawn aside, he looked through the +arch with a good deal of interest. + +The apartment was smaller than the one in which he stood - though +still very large, and instead of being all crimson and gold, was +glancing and glittering with blue and silver. These azure +hangings were of satin, instead of velvet, and looked quite light +and cool, compared to the hot, glowing place where he was. The +ceiling was spangled over with silver stars, with the royal arms +quartered in the middle, and the chairs were of white, polished +wood, gleaming like ivory, and cushioned with blue satin. The +table was of immense length, as it had need to be, and flashed +and sparkled in the wax lights with heaps of gold and silver +plate, cut-glass, and precious porcelain. Golden and crimson +wines shone in the carved decanters; great silver baskets of +fruit were strewn about, with piles of cakes and confectionery - +not to speak of more solid substantials, wherein the heart of +every true Englishman delighteth. The queen sat in a great, +raised chair at the head, and helped herself without paying much +attention to anybody, and the remainder were ranged down its +length, according to their rank - which, as they were all pretty +much dukes and duchesses, was about equal. + +The spirits of the company - depressed for a moment by the +unpleasant little circumstance of seeing one of their number +beheaded - seemed to revive under the spirituous influence of +sherry, sack, and burgundy; and soon they were laughing, and +chatting, and hobnobbing, as animatedly as any dinner-party Sir +Norman had ever seen. The musicians, too, appeared to be in high +feather, and the merriest music of the day assisted the noble +banqueters' digestion. + +Under ordinary circumstances, it war rather a tantalizing scene +to stand aloof and contemplate; and so the guards very likely +felt; but Sir Norman's thoughts were of that room in black, the +headsman's axe, and Leoline. He felt he would never see her +again - never see the sun rise that was to shine on their bridal; +and he wondered what she would think of him, and if she was +destined to fall into the hands of Lord Rochester or Count +L'Estrange. As a general thing, our young friend was not given +to melancholy moralizing, but in the present case, with the +headsman's axe poised like the sword of Damocles above him by a +single hair, he may be pardoned for reflecting that this world is +all a fleeting show, and that he had got himself into a scrape, +to which the plague was a trifle. And yet, with nervous +impatience, he wished the dinner and his trial were over, his +fate sealed, and his life ended at once, since it was to be ended +soon. For the fulfillment of the first wish, he had not long to +wait; the feast, though gay and grand, was of the briefest, and +they could have scarcely been half an hour gone when they were +all back. + +Everybody seemed in better humor, too, after the refection, but +the queen and the dwarf - the former looked colder, and harder, +and more like a Labrador iceberg tricked out in purple velvet, +than ever, and his highness was grinning from ear to ear - which +was the very worst possible sign. Not even her majesty could +make the slightest excuse for delaying the trial now; and, +indeed, that eccentric lady seemed to have no wish to do so, had +she the power, but seated herself in silent disdain of them all, +and dropping her long lashes over her dark eyes, seemed to forget +there was anybody in existence but herself. + +His highness and his nobles took their stations of authority +behind the green table, and summoned the guards to lead the +prisoner up before them, which was done; while the rest of the +company were fluttering down into their seats, and evidently +about to pay the greatest attention. The cases in this midnight +court seemed to be conducted on a decidedly original plan, and +with an easy rapidity that would have electrified any other +court, ancient or modern. Sir Norman took his stand, and eyed +his judges with a look half contemptuous, half defiant; and the +proceedings commenced by the dwarf a leaning forward and breaking +into a roar of laughter, right in his face. + +"My little friend I warned you before not to be so facetious," +said Sir Norman, regarding him quietly; "a rush of mirth to the +brain will certainly be the death of you one of these day." + +"No levity, young man!" interposed the lord chancellor, +rebukingly; "remember, you are addressing His Royal Highness +Prince Caliban, Spouse, and Consort of Her Most Gracious Majesty, +Miranda!" + +"Indeed! Then all I have to say, is, that her majesty has very +bad taste in the selection of a husband, unless, indeed, her wish +was to marry the ugliest man in the world, as she herself is the +most beautiful of women!" + +Her majesty took not the slightest notice of this compliment, not +so much as a flatter of her drooping eye-lashes betrayed that she +even heard it, but his highness laughed until he was perfectly +hoarse. + +"Silence!" shouted the duke, shocked and indignant at this +glaring disrespect, "and answer truthfully the questions put to +you. Your name, you say, is Sir Norman Kingsley?" + +"Yes. Has your grace any objection to it?" + +His grace waved down the interruption with a dignified wave of +the hand, and went on with were judicial dignity. + +"You are the same who shot Lord Ashley between this and the city, +some hours ago?" + +"I had the pleasure of shooting a highwayman there, and my only +regret is, I did not perform the same good office by his +companion, in the person of your noble self, before you turned +and fled." + +A slight titter ran round the room, and the duke turned crimson. + +"These remarks are impertinent, and not to the purpose. You are +the murderer of Lord Ashley, let that suffice. Probably you were +on your way hither when you did the deed?" + +"He was," said the dwarf, vindictively. "I met him at the Golden +Crown but a short time after." + +"Very well, that is another point settled, and either of them is +strong enough to seal his death warrant. You came here as a spy, +to see and hear and report - probably you were sent by King +Charles?" + +"Probably - just think as you please about it!" said Sir Norman, +who knew his case was as desperate as it could be, and was quite +reckless what he answered. + +"You admit that you are a spy, then?" + +"No such thing. I have owned nothing. As I told you before, you +are welcome to put what construction you please on my actions." + +"Sir Norman Kingsley, this is nonsensical equivocation! You own +you came to hear and see?" + +"Well!" + +"Well, hearing and seeing constitute spying, do they not? +Therefore, you are a spy." + +"I confess it looks like it. What next?" + +"Need you ask What is the fate of all spies?" + +"No matter what they are in other places, I am pretty certain +what they are here!" + +"And that is?" + +"A room in black, and a chop with an axe -the Earl of +Gloucester's fate, in a word!" + +"You have said it! Have you any reason why such a sentence +should not be pronounced on you?" + +"None; pronounce it as soon as you like." + +"With the greatest pleasure!" said the duke, who had been +scrawling on another ominous roll of vellum, and now passed it to +the dwarf. "I never knew anyone it gave me more delight to +condemn. Will your highness pass that to her majesty for +signature, and pronounce his sentence." + +His highness, with a grin of most exquisite delight, did as +directed; and Sir Norman looked steadfastly at the queen as she +received it. One of the gauzy nymphs presented it to her, +kneeling, and she took it with a look half bored, half impatient, +and lightly scrawled her autograph. The long, dark lashes did +not lift; no change passed over the calm, cold face, as icily +placid as a frozen lake in the moonlight - evidently the life or +death of the stranger was less than nothing to her. To him she, +too, was as nothing, or nearly so; but yet there was a sharp +jarring pain at his heart, as he saw that fair hand, that had +saved him once, so coolly sign his death warrant now. But there +was little time left for to watch her; for, as she pushed it +impatiently away, and relapsed into her former proud +listlessness, the dwarf got up with one of his death's-head +grins, and began: + +"Sir Norman Kingsley, you have been tried and convicted as a spy, +and the paid-hireling of the vindictive and narrow-minded +Charles; and the sentence of this court, over which I have the +honor to preside, is, that you be taken hence immediately to the +place of execution, and there lose your head by the axe!" + +"And a mighty small loss it will be!" remarked the duke to +himself, in a sort of parenthesis, as the dwarf concluded his +pleasant observation by thrusting himself forward across the +table, after his rather discomposing fashion, and breaking out +into one of has diabolical laughter-chips. + +The queen, who had been sitting passive, and looking as if she +were in spirit a thousand miles away, now started up with sharp +suddenness, and favored his highness with one of her fieriest +fiery glances. + +"Will your highness just permit somebody else to have a voice in +that matter? How many more trials are to come on tonight?" + +"Only one," replied the duke, glancing over a little roll which +he held; "Lady Castlemaine's, for poisoning the Duchess of +Sutherland." + +"And what is my Lady Castlemaine's fate to be?" + +"The same as our friend's here, in all probability," nodding +easily, not to say playfully, at Sir Norman. + +"And how long will her trial last?" + +"Half an hour, or thereabouts. There are some secrets in the +matter that have to be investigated, and which will require some +time." + +"Then let all the trials be over first, and all the beheadings +take place together. We don't choose to take the trouble of +traveling to the Black Chamber just to see his head chopped off, +and then have the same journey to undergo half an hour after, for +a similar purpose. Call Lady Castlemaine, and let this prisoner +be taken to one of the dungeons, and there remain until the time +for execution. Guards, do you hear? Take him away!" + +The dwarf's face grew black as a thunder-cloud, and he jumped to +his feet and confronted the queen with a look so intensely ugly +that no other earthly face could have assumed it. But that lady +merely met it with one of cold disdain and aversion, and, keeping +her dark bright eyes fixed chillingly upon him, waved her white +hand, in her imperious way, to the guards. Those warlike +gentlemen knew better than to disobey her most gracious majesty +when she happened to be, like Mrs. Joe Gargary, on the "rampage," +which, if her flashing eye and a certain expression about her +handsome mouth spoke the truth, must have been twenty hours out +of the twenty-four. As the soldiers approached to lead him away, +Sir Norman tried to catch her eye; but in vain, for she kept +those brilliant optics most unwinkingly fixed on the dwarf's +face. + +"Call Lady Castlemaine," commanded the duke, as Sir Norman with +his guards passed through the doorway leading to the Black +Chamber. "Your highness, I presume, is ready to attend to her +case." + +"Before I attend to hers or any one else's case," said the dwarf, +hopping over the table like an overgrown toad, "I will first see +that this guest of ours is properly taken care, of, and does not +leave us without the ceremony of saying good-bye." + +With which, he seized one of the wax candles, and trotted, with +rather unprincely haste, after Sir Norman and his conductors. +The young knight had been led down the same long passage he had +walked through before; but instead of entering the chamber of +horrors, they passed through the centre arch, and found +themselves in another long, vaulted corridor, dimly lit by the +glow of the outer one. It was as cold and dismal a place, Sir +Norman thought, as he had ever seen; and it had an odor damp and +earthy, and of the grave. It had two or three great, ponderous +doors on either aide, fastened with huge iron bolts; and before +one of these his conductors paused. Just as they did so, the +glimmer of the dwarf's taper pierced the gloom, and the next +moment, smiling from ear to ear, he was by their side. + +"Down with the bars!" he cried. "This is the one for him - the +strongest and safest of them all. Now, my dashing courtier, you +will see how tenderly your little friend provides for his +favorites!" + +If Sir Norman made any reply, it was drowned id the rattle and +clank of the massive bars, and is hopelessly lost to posterity. +The huge door swung back; but nothing was visible but a sort of +black velvet pall, and effluvia much stronger than sweet. +Involuntarily he recoiled as one of the guards made a motion for +him to enter. + +"I Shove him in! shove him in!" shrieked the dwarf, who was +getting so excited with glee that he was dancing about in a sort +of jig of delight. "In with him - in with him! If he won't go +peaceably, kick him in head-foremost!" + +"I would strongly advise them not to try it," said Sir Norman, as +he stepped into the blackness, "if they have any regard for their +health! It does not make much difference after all, my little +friend, whether I spend the next half-hour in the inky blackness +of this place or the blood-red grandeur of your royal court. My +little friend, until we meet again, permit me to say, au revoir." + +The dwarf laughed in his pleasant way, and pushed the candle +cautiously inside the door. + +"Good-by for a little while, my dear young sir, and while the +headsmen is sharpening his axe, I'll leave you to think about +your little friend. Lest you should lack amusement, I'll leave +you a light to contemplate your apartment; and for fear you may +get lonesome, these two gentlemen will stand outside your door, +with their swords drawn, till I come back. Good-by, my dear +young sir - good-bye!" + +The dungeon-door swung to with a tremendous bang Sir Norman was +barred in his prison to await his doom and the dwarf was skipping +along the passage with sprightliness, laughing as he went. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ESCAPED. + + +Probably not one of you; my dear friends, who glance graciously +over this, was ever shut up in a dungeon under expectation of +bearing the unpleasant operation of decapitation within half an +hour. It never happened to myself, either, that I can recollect; +so, of course, you or I personally can form no idea what the +sensation may be like; but in this particular case, tradition +saith Sir Norman Kingsley's state of mind was decidedly +depressed. As the door shut violently, he leaned against it, and +listened to his jailers place the great bars into their sockets, +and felt he was shut in, in the dreariest, darkest, dismalest, +disagreeablest place that it had ever been his misfortune to +enter. He thought of Leoline, and reflected that in all +probability she was sleeping the sleep of the just - perhaps +dreaming of him, and little knowing that his head was to be cut +off in half an hour. + +In course of time morning would come - it was not likely the +ordinary course of nature would be cut off because he was; and +Leoline would get up and dress herself, and looking a thousand +times prettier than ever, stand at the window and wait for him. +Ah! she might wait - much good would it do her; about that time +he would probably be - where? It was a rather uncomfortable +question, but easily answered, and depressed him to a very +desponding degree indeed. + +He thought of Ormiston and La Masque - no doubt they were billing +and cooing in most approved fashion just then, and never thinking +of him; though, but for La Masque and his own folly, he might +have been half married by this time. He thought of Count +L'Estrange and Master Hubert, and become firmly convinced, if one +did not find Leoline the other would; and each being equally bad, +it was about a toss up in agony which got her. + +He thought of Queen Miranda, and of the adage, "put no trust in +princes," and sighed deeply as he reflected what a bad sign of +human nature it was - more particularly such handsome human +nature - that she could, figuratively speaking, pat him on the +back one moment, and kick him to the scaffold the next. He +thought, dejectedly, what a fool he was ever to have come back; +or even having come back, not to have taken greater pains to stay +up aloft, instead of pitching abruptly head-foremost into such a +select company without an invitation. He thought, too, what a +cold, damp, unwholesome chamber they had lodged him in, and how +apt he would be to have a bad attack of ague and miasmatic fever, +if they would only let him live long enough to enjoy those +blessings. And this having brought him to the end of his +melancholy meditation, he began to reflect how he could best +amuse himself in the interim, before quitting this vale of tears. +The candle was still blinking feebly on the floor, shedding tears +of wax in its feeble prostration, and it suddenly reminded him of +the dwarf's advice to examine his dark bower of repose. So be +picked it up and snuffed it with his fingers, and held it aloof, +much as Robinson Crusoe held the brand in the dark cavern with +the dead goat. + +In the velvet pall of blackness before alluded to, its small, wan +ray pierced but a few inches, and only made the darkness visible. +But Sir Norman groped his way to the wall, which he found to be +all over green and noisome slime, and broken out into a cold, +clammy perspiration, as though it were at its last gasp. By the +aid of his friendly light, for which he was really much obliged - +a fact which, had his little friend known, he would not have left +it - he managed to make the circuit of his prison, which he found +rather spacious, and by no means uninhabited; for the walls and +floor were covered with fat, black beetles, whole families of +which interesting specimens of the insect-world he crunched +remorselessly under foot, and massacred at every step; and great, +depraved-looking rats, with flashing eyes and sinister-teeth, who +made frantic dives and rushes at him, and bit at his jack-boots +with fierce, fury. These small quadrupeds reminded him forcibly +of the dwarf, especially in the region of the eyes and the +general expression of countenance; and he began to reflect that +if the dwarf's soul (supposing him to possess such an article as +that, which seemed open to debate) passed after death into the +body of any other animal, it would certainly be into that of a +rat. + +He had just come to this conclusion, and was applying the flame +of the candle to the nose of an inquisitive beetle, when it +struck him he heard voices in altercation outside his door. One, +clear, ringing, and imperious, yet withal feminine, was certainly +not heard for the first time; and the subdued and respectful +voices that answered, were those of his guards. + +After a moment, he heard the sound of the withdrawing bolts, and +his heart beat fast. Surely, his half-hour had not already +expired; and if it had, would she be the person to conduct him to +death? The door opened; a puff of wind extinguished his candle, +but not until he had caught the glimmer of jewels, the shining of +gold, and the flutter of long, black hair; and then some one came +in. The door was closed; the bolts shot back! - and he was alone +with Miranda, the queen. + +There was no trouble about recognising her, for she carried in +her hand a small lamp, which she held up between them, that its +rays might fall directly on both faces. Each was rather white, +perhaps, and one heart was going faster than it had ever gone +before, and that one was decidedly not the queen's. She was +dressed exactly as he had seen her, in purple and ermine, in +jewels and gold; and strangely out of place she looked there, in +her splendid dress and splendid beauty, among the black beetles +and rats. Her face might have been a dead, blank wall, or cut +out of cold, white stone, for all it expressed; and as she +lightly held up her rich robes in one hand, and in the other bore +the light, the dark, shining eyes were fixed on his face, and +were as barren of interest, eagerness, compassion, tenderness, or +any other feeling, as the shining, black glass ones of a wax +doll. So they stood looking at each other for some ten seconds +or so, and then, still looking full at him, Miranda spoke, and +her voice was as clear and emotionless as her eyes + +"Well, Sir Norman Kingsley, I have come to see you before you +die." + +"Madame," he stammered, scarcely knowing what he said, "you are +kind." + +"Am I? Perhaps you forget I signed your death-warrant." + +"Probably it would have been at the risk of your own life to +refuse?" + +"Nothing of the kind! Not one of them would hurt a hair of my +head if I refused to sign fifty death-warrants! Now, am I kind?" + +"Very likely it would have amounted to the same thing in the end +- they would kill me whether you signed it or not; so what does +it matter?" + +"You are mistaken! They would not kill you; at least, not +tonight, if I had not signed it. They would have let you live +until their next meeting, which will be this night week; and I +would have incurred neither risk nor danger by refusing." + +Sir Norman glanced round the dungeon and shrugged his shoulders. + +"I do not know that that prospect is much more inviting than the +present one. Even death is preferable to a week's imprisonment +in a place like this." + +"But in the meantime you might have escaped." + +"Madame, look at this stone floor, that stone roof, these solid +walls, that barred and massive door; reflect that I am some forty +feet under ground - cannot perform impossibilities, and then ask +yourself how?" + +"Sir Norman, have you ever heard of good fairies visiting brave +knights and setting them free?" + +Sir Norman smiled. + +"I am afraid the good fairies and brave knights went the way of +all flesh with King Arthur's round table; and even if they were +in existence, none of them would take the trouble to limp down so +far to save such an unlucky dog as I." + +"Then you forgive me for what I have done?" + +"Your majesty, I have nothing to forgive." + +"Bah!" she said, scornfully. "Do not mock me here. My majesty, +forsooth! you have but fifteen minutes to live in this world, Sir +Norman; and if you have no better way of spending them, I will +tell you a strange story - my own, and all about this place." + +"Madame, there is nothing in the world I would like so much to +hear." + +"You shall hear it, then, and it may beguile the last slow +moments of time before you go out into eternity." + +She set her lamp down on the floor among the rats and beetles, +and stood watching the small, red flame a moment with a gloomy, +downcast eye; and Sir Norman, gazing on the beautiful darkening +face, so like and yet so unlike Leoline, stood eagerly awaiting +what was to come. + + ________________ + + +Meantime, the half-hour sped. In the crimson court the last +trial was over, and Lady Castlemaine, a slender little beauty of +eighteen stood condemned to die. + +"Now for our other prisoner!" exclaimed the dwarf with sprightly +animation; "and while I go to the cell, you, fair ladies, and you +my lord, will seek the black chamber and await our coming there." + +Ordering one of his attendants to precede him with a light, the +dwarf skipped jauntily away, to gloat over his victim. He +reached the dungeon door, which the guards, with some trepidation +in their countenance, as they thought of what his highness would +say when he found her majesty locked in with the prisoner, threw +open. + +"Come forth, Sir Norman Kingsley!" shouted the dwarf, rushing in. +"Come forth and meet your doom!" + +But no Sir Norman Kingsley obeyed the pleasant invitation, and a +dull echo from the darkness alone answered him. There was a lamp +burning on the floor, and near it lay a form, shining and specked +with white in the gloom. He made for it between fear and fury, +but there was something red and slippery on the ground, in which +his foot slipped, and he fell. Simultaneously there was a wild +cry from the two guards and the attendant, that was echoed by a +perfect screech of rage from the dwarf, as on looking down he +beheld Queen Miranda lying on the floor in the pool of blood, and +apparently quite dead, and Sir Norman Kingsley gone. + + + + +CHAPTER, XIV. + +IN THE DUNGEON. + + +The interim between Miranda setting down her lamp on the dungeon +floor among the rats and the beetles, and the dwarf's finding her +bleeding and senseless, was not more than twenty minutes, but a +great deal may be done in twenty minutes judiciously expended, +and most decidedly it was so in the present case. Both rats and +beetles paused to contemplate the flickering lamp, and Miranda +paused to contemplate them, and Sir Norman paused to contemplate +her, for an instant or so in silence. Her marvelous resemblance +to Leoline, in all but one thing, struck him more and more - +there was the same beautiful transparent colorless complexion, +the same light, straight, graceful figure, the same small oval +delicate features; the same profuse waves of shining dark hair, +the same large, dark, brilliant eyes; the same, little, rosy +pretty mouth, like one of Correggio's smiling angels. The one +thing wanting was expression - in Leoline's face there was a kind +of childlike simplicity; a look half shy, half fearless, half +solemn in her wonderful eyes; but in this, her prototype, there +was nothing shy or solemn; all was cold, hard, and glittering, +and the brooding eyes were full of a dull, dusky fire. She +looked as hard and cold and bitter, as she was beautiful; and Sir +Norman began to perplex himself inwardly as to what had brought +her here. Surely not sympathy, for nothing wearing that face of +stone, could even know the meaning of such a word. While he +looked at her, half wonderingly, half pityingly, half tenderly - +a queer word that last, but the feeling was caused by her +resemblance to Leoline - she had been moodily watching an old +gray rat, the patriarch of his tribe, who was making toward her +in short runs, stopping between each one to stare at her, out of +his unpleasantly bright eyes. Suddenly, Miranda shut her teeth, +clenched her hands, and with a sort of fierce suppressed +ejaculation, lifted her shining foot and planted it full on the +rat's head. So sudden, so fierce, and so strong, was the stamp, +that the rat was crushed flat, and uttered a sharp and indignant +squeal of expostulation, while Sir Norman looked at her, thinking +she had lost her wits. Still she ground it down with a fiercer +and stronger force every second; and with her eyes still fixed +upon it, and blazing with reddish black flame, she said, in a +sort of fiery hiss: + +"Look at it! The ugly, loathsome thing! Did you ever see +anything look more like him?" + +There must have been some mysterious rapport between them, for he +understood at once to whom the solitary personal pronoun +referred. + +"Certainly, in the general expression of countenance there is +rather a marked resemblance, especially in the region of the +teeth and eyes." + +"Except that the rat's eyes are a thousand times handsomer," she +broke in, with a derisive laugh. + +"But as to shape," resumed Sir Norman, eyeing the excited and +astonished little animal, still shrilly squealing, with the +glance of a connoisseur, "I confess I do not see it! The rat is +straight and shapely - which his highness, with all reverence be +it said - is not, but rather the reverse, if you will not be +offended at me for saying so." + +She broke into a short laugh that had a hard, metallic ring, and +then her face darkened, blackened, and she ground the foot that +crushed the rat fiercer, and with a sort of passionate +vindictiveness, as if she had the head of the dwarf under her +heel. + +"I hate him! I hate him!" she said, through her clenched teeth and +though her tone was scarcely above a whisper, it was so terrible in +its fiery earnestness that Sir Norman thrilled with repulsion. "Yes, +I hate him with all my heart and soul, and I wish to heaven I had +him here, like this rat, to trample to death under my feet!" + +Not knowing very well what reply to make to this strong and +heartfelt speech, which rather shocked his notions of female +propriety, Sir Norman stood silent, and looked reflectively after +the rat, which, when she permitted it at last to go free, limped +away with an ineffably sneaking and crest-fallen expression on +his hitherto animated features. She watched it, too, with a +gloomy eye, and when it crawled into the darkness and was gone, +she looked up with a face so dark and moody that it was almost +sullen. + +"Yes, I hate him!" she repeated, with a fierce moodiness that was +quite dreadful, "yes, I hate him! and I would kill him, like +that rat, if I could! He has been the curse of my whole life; he +has made life cursed to me; and his heart's blood shall be shed +for it some day yet, I swear!" + +With all her beauty there was something so horrible in the look +she wore, that Sir Norman involuntarily recoiled from her. Her +sharp eyes noticed it, and both grew red and fiery as two +devouring flames. + +"Ah! you, too, shrink from me, would you? You, too, recoil in +horror! Ingrate! And I have come to save your life!" + +"Madame, I recoil not from you, but from that which is tempting +you to utter words like these. I have no reason to love him of +whom you speak - you, perhaps, have even less; but I would not +have his blood, shed in murder, on my head, for ten thousand +worlds! Pardon me, but you do not mean what you say." + +"Do I not? That remains to be seen! I would not call it murder +plunging a knife into the heart of a demon incarnate like that, +and I would have done it long ago and he knows it, too, if I had +the chance!" + +"What has he done to you to make you do bitter against him?" + +"Bitter! Oh, that word is poor and pitiful to express what I +feel when his name is mentioned. Loathing and hatred come a +little nearer the mark, but even they are weak to express the +utter - the - " She stopped in a sort of white passion that +choked her very words. + +"They told me he was your husband," insinuated Sir Norman, +unutterably repelled. + +"Did they?" she said, with a cold sneer, "he is, too - at least +as far as church and state can make him; but I am no more his +wife at heart than I am Satan's. Truly of the two I should +prefer the latter, for then I should be wedded to something grand +- a fallen angel; as it is, I have the honor to be wife to a +devil who never was an angel?" + +At this shocking statement Sir Norman looked helplessly round, as +if for relief; and Miranda, after a moment's silence, broke into +another mirthless laugh. + +"Of all the pictures of ugliness you ever saw or heard of, Sir +Norman Kingsley, do tell me if there ever was one of them half so +repulsive or disgusting as that thing?" + +"Really," said Sir Norman, in a subdued tone, "he is not the most +prepossessing little man in the world; but, madame, you do look +and speak in a manner quite dreadful. Do let me prevail on you +to calm yourself, and tell me your story, as you promised." + +"Calm myself!" repeated the gentle lady, in a tone half snappish, +half harsh, "do you think I am made of iron, to tell you my story +and be calm? I hate him! I hate him! I would kill him if I +could: and if you, Sir Norman, are half the man I take you to be, +you will rid the world of the horrible monster before morning +dawns!" + +"My dear lady, you seem to forget that the case is reversed, and +that he is going to rid the world of me,", said Sir Norman, with +a sigh. + +"No, not if you do as I tell you; and when I have told you how +much cause I have to abhor him, you will agree with me that +killing him will be no murder! Oh, if there is One above who +rules this world, and will judge us all, why, why does He permit +such monsters to live?" + +"Because He is more merciful than his creatures," replied Sir +Norman, with calm reverence, - though His avenging hand is heavy +on this doomed city. But, madame, time is on the wing, and the +headsman will be here before your story is told." + +"Ah, that story! How am I to tell it, I wonder, two words will +comprise it all - sin and misery - misery and sin! For, buried +alive here, as I am - buried alive, as I've always been - I know +what both words mean; they have been branded on heart and brain +in letters of fire. And that horrible monstrosity is the cause +of all - that loathsome, misshapen, hideous abortion has banned +and cursed my whole life! He is my first recollection. As far +back as I can look through the dim eye of childhood's years, that +horrible face, that gnarled and twisted trunk, those devilish +eyes glare at me like the eyes and face of a wild beast. As +memory grows stronger and more vivid, I can see that same face +still - the dwarf! the dwarf! the dwarf! - Satan's true +representative on earth, darkening and blighting ever passing +year. I do not know where we lived, but I imagine it to have +been one of the vilest and lowest dens in London, though the +rooms I occupied were, for that matter, decent and orderly +enough. Those rooms the daylight never entered, the windows were +boarded up within, and fastened by shutters without, so that of +the world beyond I was as ignorant as a child of two hours old. +I saw but two human faces, his" - she seemed to hate him too much +even to pronounce his name - "and his housekeeper's, a creature +almost as vile as himself, and who is now a servant here; and +with this precious pair to guard me I grew up to be fifteen years +old. My outer life consisted of eating, sleeping, reading - for +the wretch taught me to read - playing with my dogs and birds, +and listening to old Margery's stories. But there was an inward +life, fierce and strong, as it was rank and morbid, lived and +brooded over alone, when Margery and her master fancied me +sleeping in idiotic content. How were they to know that the +creature they had reared and made ever had a thought of her own - +ever wondered who she was, where she came from, what she was +destined to be, and what lay in the great world beyond? The +crooked little monster made a great mistake in teaching me to +read, he should have known that books sow seed that grow up and +flourish tall and green, till they become giants in strength. I +knew enough to be certain there was a bright and glad world +without, from which they shut me in and debarred me; and I knew +enough to hate them both for it, with a strong and heartfelt +hatred, only second to what I feel now." + +She stopped for a moment, and fixed her dark, gloomy eyes on the +swarming floor, and shook off, with out a shudder, the hideous +things that crawled over her rich dress. She had scarcely looked +at Sir Norman since she began to speak, but he had done enough +looking for them both, never once taking his eyes from the +handsome darkening face. He thought how strangely like her story +was to Leoline's - both shut in and isolated from the outer +world. Verily, destiny seemed to have woven the woof and warp of +their fates wonderfully together, for their lives were as much +the same as their faces. Miranda, having shook off her crawling +acquaintances, watched them glancing along the foul floor in the +darkness, and went moodily on. + +"It was three years ago when I was fifteen years old, as I told +you, that a change took place in my life. Up to that time, that +miserable dwarf was what people would call my guardian, and did +not trouble me much with his heavenly company. He was a great +deal from our house, sometimes absent for weeks together; and I +remember I used to envy the freedom with which he came and went, +far more than I ever wondered where he spent his precious time. +I did not know then that he belonged to the honorable profession +of highwaymen, with variations of coining when travelers were few +and money scarce. He was then, and is still, at the head of a +formidable gang, over whom he wields most desperate authority - +as perhaps you have noticed during the brief and pleasant period +of your acquaintance." + +"Really, madam, it struck me that your authority over them was +much more despotic than his," said Sir Norman, in all sincerity, +feeling called upon to give the - well, I'd rather not repeat the +word, which is generally spelled with a d and a dash - his due. + +"No thanks to him for that! He would make me a slave now, as he +did then, if he dared, but he has found that, poor, trodden worm +as I was, I had life enough left to turn and sting." + +"Which you do with a vengeance! Oh I you're a Tartar!" remarked +Sir Norman to himself. "The saints forefend that Leoline should +be like you in temper, as she is in history and face; for if she +is, my life promises to be a pleasant one." + +"This rascally crew of cut-throats, whom his villainous highness +headed," said Miranda, "were an almost immense number then, being +divided in three bodies - London cut-purses, Hounslow Heath +highwaymen, and assistant-coiners, but all owning him for their +lord and master. He told me all this himself, one day when, in +an after-dinner and most gracious mood, he made a boasting +display of his wealth and greatness; told me I was growing up +very pretty indeed, and that I was shortly to be raised to the +honor and dignity, and bliss of being his wife. + +"I fancy I must have had a very vague idea of what that one small +word meant, and was besides in an unusually contented and +peaceful state of mind, or I should, undoubtedly, have raised one +of his cut-glass decanters and smashed in his head with it. I +know how I should receive such an assertion from him now, but I +think I took it then with a resignation, he must have found +mighty edifying; and when he went on to tell me that all this +richness and greatness were to be shared by me when that +celestial time came, I think I rather liked the idea than +otherwise. The horrible creature seemed to have woke up that +day, for the first time, and all of a sudden, to a conviction +that I was in a fair way to become a woman, and rather a handsome +one, and that he had better make sure of me before any accident +interfered to take me from him. Full of this laudable notion, he +became a daily visitor of mine from thenceforth, and made the +discovery, simultaneously with myself, that the oftener he came +the less favor he found in my sight. I had, before, tacitly +disliked him, and shrank with a natural repulsion from his +dreadful ugliness ness; but now, from negative dislike, I grew to +positive hate. The utter loathing and abhorrence I have had for +him ever since, began then - I grew dimly and intuitively +conscious of what he would make me, and shrank from my fate with +a vague horror not to be told in words. I became strong in my +fearful dread of it. I told him I detested, abhorred, loathed, +hated him; that he might keep his riches, greatness, and ungainly +self for those who wanted him; they were temptations too weak to +move me. + +"Of course, there was raving, and storming, threatening, terrible +looks and denunciations, and I quailed and shrank like a coward, +but was obstinate still. Then as a dernier resort, he tried +another bribe - the glorious one of liberty, the one he knew +would conquer me, and it did. He promised me freedom - if I +married him, I might go out into the great unknown world, +fetterless and free; and I, O! fool that I was! consented. Not +that my object was to stay with him one instant longer her my +prison doors were opened; no, I was not quite so besotted as that +- once out, and the little demon might look for me with last +year's partridges. Of course, those demoniac eyes read my heart +like an open book; and when I pronounced the fatal 'yes,' he +laughed in that delightful way of his own, which will probably be +the last thing you will hear when you lay your head under the +axe. + +"I don't know who the clergyman who married us was; but he was a +clergyman: there can be no doubt about that. It was three days +after, and for the first time in my fifteen years of life, I +stood in sunshine, and daylight, and open air. We drove to the +cathedral - for it was in St. Paul's the sacrilege was committed. +I never could have walked there, I was so stunned, and giddy, and +bewildered. I never thought of the marriage - I could think of +nothing but the bright, crashing, sun-shiny world without, till I +was led up before the clergyman, with much the air, I suppose, of +one walking in her sleep. He was a very young man, I remember, +and looked from the dwarf to me, and from me to the dwarf, in a +great state of fear and uncertainty, but evidently not daring to +refuse. Margery and one of his gang were our only attendants, +and there, in God's temple, the deed was done, and I was made the +miserable thing I am to-day." + +The suppressed passion, rising and throbbing like a white flame +in her face and eyes, made her stop for a moment, breathing hard. +Looking up she met Sir Norman's gaze, and as if there was +something in its quiet, pitying tenderness that mesmerized her +into calm, she steadily and rapidly went on. + +"I awoke to a new life, after that; but not to one of freedom and +happiness. I was as closely, even more closely, guarded than +ever; and I found, when too late, that I had bartered myself, +soul and body, for an empty promise. The only difference was, +that I saw more new faces; for the dwarf began to bring his +confederates and subordinates to the house, and would have me +dressed up and displayed to them, with a demoniac pride that +revolted me beyond everything else, if I were a painted puppet or +an overgrown wax doll. Most of the precious crew of scoundrels +had wives of their own and these began to be brought with them of +an evening; and then, what with dancing, and music, and cards, +and feasting, we had quite a carnival of it till morning. + +"I liked this part of the business excessively well at first, and +I was flattered and fooled to the top of my bent, and made from +the first, the reigning belle and queen. There was more policy +in that than admiration, I fancy; for the dwarf was all-powerful +among them and dreaded accordingly, and I was the dwarf's pet and +plaything, and all-powerful with him. The hideous creature had a +most hideous passion for me then, and I could wind him round my +finger as easily as Delilah and Samson; and by his command and +their universal consent, the mimicry of royalty was begun, and I +was made mistress and sovereign head, even over the dwarf +himself. It was a queer whim; but that crooked slug was always +taking such odd notions into his head, which nobody there dared +laugh at. The band were bound together by a terrible oath, women +and all; but they had to take another oath then, that of +allegiance to me. + +"It quite turned my brain at first; and my eyes were so dazzled +by the pitiful glistening of the pageant, the sham splendor of +the sham court, and the half-mocking, half-serious homage paid +me, that I could see nothing beyond the shining surface, and the +blackness, and corruption, and horror within, were altogether +lost upon me. This feeling increased when, as months and months +went by, they were added to the mock peers of the Midnight Court, +real nobles from that of St. Charles. I did not know then that +they were ruined gamesters, vicious profligates, and desperate +broken-down roues, who would have gone to pandemonium itself, +nightly, for the mad license and lawless excesses they could +indulge in here to their heart's content. But I got tired of it +all, after a time: my eyes began slowly to open, and my heart - +at least, what little of that article I ever had - turned sick +with horror within me at what I had done. The awful things I +saw, the fearful deeds that were perpetrated, would curdle your +very blood with horror, were I to relate them. You have seen a +specimen yourself, in the cold-blooded murder of that wretch half +an hour ago; and his is not the only life crying for vengeance on +these men. The slightest violation of their oath was punished, +and the doom of traitors and informers was instant death, whether +male or female. The sham trials and executions always took place +in presence of the whole court, to strike a salutary terror into +them, and never occurred but once a week, when the whole band +regularly met. My power continued undiminished; for they knew +either the dwarf or I must be supreme; and though the queen was +bad, the prince was worse. The said prince would willingly have +pulled me down from my eminence, and have mounted it himself; but +that he was probably restrained by a feeling that law-makers +should not be law-breakers, and that, if he set the example, +there would be no end to the insubordination and rebellion that +would follow." + +"Were you living here or in London then?" inquired Sir Norman, +taking an advantage of a pause, employed by Miranda in shaking +off the crawling beetles. + +"Oh, in London! We did not come here until the outbreak of the +plague - that frightened them, especially the female portion, and +they held a scared meeting, and resolved that we should take up +our quarters somewhere else. This place being old and ruined, +and deserted and with all sorts of evil rumors hanging about it, +was hit upon; and secretly, by night, these mouldering old vaults +were fitted up, and the goods and chattels of the royal court +removed. And here I, too, was brought by night under the dwarf's +own eye; for he well knew I would have risked a thousand plagues +to escape from him. And here I have been ever since, and here +the weekly revels are still held, and may for years to come, +unless something is done to-night to prevent it. + +"The night before these weekly anniversaries they all gather; but +during the rest of the time I am alone with Margery and the +dwarf, and have learned more secrets about this place than they +dream of. For the rest, there is little need of explanation - +the dwarf and his crew have industriously circulated the rumor +that it is haunted; and some of those white figures you saw with +me, and who, by the way, are the daughters of these robbers, have +been shown on the broken battlements, as if to put the fact +beyond doubt. + +"Now, Sir Norman, that is all - you have heard my whole history +as far as I know it; and nothing remains but to tell you what you +must see yourself, that I am mad for revenge, and must have it, +and you must help me!" + +Her eyes were shining with the fierce red fire he had seen in +them before, and the white face wore a look so deadly and +diabolical that, with all its beauty, it was absolutely +repulsive. He took a step from her-for in each of those gleaming +eyes sat a devil. + +"You must help me!" she persisted. " You - you, Sir Norman! For +many a day I have been waiting for a chance like this, and until +now I have waited in vain. Alone, I want physical strength to +kill him, and I dare not trust any one else. No one was ever +cast among us before as you have been; and now, condemned to die, +you must be desperate, and desperate men will do desperate +things. Fate, Destiny, Providence - whatever you like - has +thrown you in my way, and help me you must and shall!" + +"Madame, madame I what are you saying? How can I help you?" + +"There is but one way - this!" + +She held up in the pale ray of the lamp, something she drew from +the folds of her dress, that glistened blue, and bright, and +steelly in the gloom. + +"A dagger!" he exclaimed, with a shudder, and a recoil. "Madame, +are you talking of murder?" + +"I told you!" she said, through her closed teeth, and with her +eyes flaming like fire, "that ridding the earth of that fiend +incarnate would be a good deed, and no murder! I would do it +myself if I could take him off his guard; but he never is that +with me; and then my arm is not strong enough to reach his black +heart through all that mass of brawn, and blood, and muscle. No, +Sir Norman, Doom has allotted it to you - obey, and I swear to +you, you shall go free; refuse - and in ten minutes your head +will roll under the executioner's axe!" + +"Better that than the freedom you offer! Madame, I cannot +murder!" + +"Coward!" she passionately cried; "you fear to do it, and yet you +have but a life to lose, and that is lost to you now!" + +Sir Norman raised his head; and even in the darkness she saw the +haughty flush that crimsoned his face. + +"I fear no man living; but, madame, I fear One who is higher than +man!" + +"But you will die if you refuse; and I repeat, again and again, +there is no risk. These guards will not let you out; but there +are more ways of leaving a room than through the door, and I can +lead you up behind the tapestry to where he is standing, and you +can stab him through the back, and escape with me! Quick, quick, +there is no time to lose!" + +"I cannot do it !" he said, resolutely, drawing back and folding +his arms. "In short, I will not do it!" + +There was such a terrible look in the beautiful eyes, that he +half expected to see her spring at him like a wild cat, and bury +the dagger in his own breast. But the rule of life works by +contraries: expect a blow and you will get a kiss, look for an +embrace, and you will be startled by a kick. When the virago +spoke, her voice was calm, compared with what it had been before, +even mild. + +"You refuse! Well, a willful man must have him way; and since +you are so qualmish about a little bloodletting, we must try +another plan. If I release you - for short as the time is, I can +do it - will you promise me to go direct to the king this very +night, and inform him of all you've seen and heard here?" + +She looked at him with an eagerness that was almost fierce; and +in spite of her steady voice, there was something throbbing and +quivering, deadly and terrible, in her upturned face. The form +she looked at was erect and immovable, the eyes were quietly +resolved, the mouth half-pityingly, half-sadly smiling. + +"Are you aware, dear lady, what the result of such a step would +be?" + +"Death!" she said, coldly. + +"Death, transportation, or life-long imprisonment to them all - +misery and disgrace to many a noble house; for some I saw there +were once friends of mine, with families I honor and respect. +Could I bring the dwarf and his attendant imps to Tyburn, and +treat them to a hempen cravat, I would do it without remorse - +though the notion of being informer, even then, would not be very +pleasant; but as it is, I cannot be the death of one without +ruining all, and as I told you, some of those were once my +friends. No, madame, I cannot do it. I have but once to die and +I prefer death here, to purchasing life at such a price." + + _____________ + + +There was a short silence, during which they gazed into each +other's eyes ominously, and one was about as colorless as the +other. + +"You refuse?" she coldly said. + +"I must! But if you can save my life, as you say, why not do it, +and fly with me? You will find me the truest and most grateful +of friends, while life remains." + +"You are very kind; but I want no friendship, Sir Norman - +nothing but revenge! As to escaping, I could have done that any +time since we came here, for I have found out a secret means of +exit from each of these vaults, that they know nothing of. But I +have staid to see him dead at my feet - if not by my hand, at +least by my command; and since you will not do it, I will make +the attempt myself. Farewell, Sir Norman Kingsley; before many +minutes you will be a corpse, and your blood be upon yourself!" + +She gave him a glance as coldly fierce as her dagger's glance, +and turned to go, when he stepped hastily forward, and +interposed: + +"Miranda - Miranda - you are crazed! Stop and tell me what you +intend to do." + +"What you feared to attempt," she haughtily replied; "Sheathe +this dagger in his demon heart!" + +"Miranda, give me the dagger. You must not, you shall not, +commit such a crime!" + +"Shall not?" she uttered scornfully. "And who are you that dares +to speak to me like this? Stand aside, coward, and let me pass!" + +"Pardon me, but I cannot, while you hold that dagger. Give it to +me, and you shall go free; but while you hold it with this +intention, for your own sake, I will detain you till some one +comes." + +She uttered a low, fierce cry, and struck at him with it, but he +caught her hand, and with sudden force snatched it from her. In +doing so he was obliged to hold it with its point toward her, and +struggling for it in a sort of frenzy, as he raised the hand that +held it, she slipped forward and it was driven half-way to the +hilt in her side. There was a low, grasping cry - a sudden +clasping of both hands over her heart, a sway, a reel, and she +fell headlong prostrate on the loathsome floor. + +Sir Norman stood paralyzed. She half raised herself on her +elbow, drew the dagger from the wound, and a great jet of blood +shot up and crimsoned her hands. She did not faint - there +seemed to be a deathless energy within her that chained life +strongly in its place - she only pressed both hands hard over the +wound, and looked mournfully and reproachfully up in his face. +Those beautiful, sad, solemn dyes, void of everything savage and +fierce, were truly Leoline's eyes now. + +Through all his first shock of horror, another thing dawned on +his mind; he had looked on this scene before. It was the second +view in La Masque's caldron, and but one remained to be verified + +The next instant, he was down on his knees in a paroxysm of grief +and despair. + +"What have I done? what have I done?" was his cry. + +"Listen!" she said, faintly raising one finger. "Do you hear +that?" + +Distant steps were echoing along the passage. Yes; he heard +them, and knew what they were. + +"They are coming to lead you to death!" she said, with some of +her old fire; "but I will baffle them yet. Take that lamp - go +to the wall yonder, and in that corner, near the floor, you will +see a small iron ring. Pull it - it does not require much force +- and you will find an opening leading through another vault; at +the end there is a broken flight of stairs, mount them, and you +will find yourself in the same place from which you fell. Fly, +fly! There is not a second to lose!" + +"How can I fly? how can I leave you dying here?" + +"I am not dying!" she wildly cried, lifting both hands from the +wound to push him away, while the blood flowed over the floor. +"But we will both die if you stay. Go-go-go!" + +The footsteps had paused st his door. The bolts were beginning +to be withdrawn. He lifted the lamp, flew across his prison, +found the ring, and took a pull at it with desperate strength. +Part of what appeared to be the solid wall drew out, disclosing +an aperture through which he could just squeeze sideways. Quick +as thought he was through, forgetting the lamp in his haste. The +portion of the wall slid noiselessly back, just as the prison +door was thrown open, and the dwarfs voice was heard, socially +inviting him, like Mrs. Bond's ducks, to come and be killed. + +Some people talk of darkness so palpable that it may be felt, and +if ever any one was qualified to tell from experience what it +felt like, Sir Norman was in that precise condition at that +precise period. He groped his way through the blind blackness +along what seemed an interminable distance, and stumbled, at +last, over the broken stairs at the end. With some difficult, +and at the serious risk of his jugular, he mounted them, and +found himself, as Miranda had stated, in a place he knew very +well. Once here he allowed no grass to grow under him feet; and, +in five minutes after, to his great delight, he found himself +where he had never hoped to be again - in the serene moonlight +and the open air, fetterless and free. + +His horse was still where he had left him, and in a twinkling he +was on his back, and dashing away to the city, to love - to +Leoline! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LEOLINE'S VISITORS. + + +If things were done right - but they are not and, never will be, +while this whirligig world of mistakes spins round, and all +Adam's children, to the end of the chapter, will continue sinning +to-day and repenting tomorrow, falling the next and bewailing it +the day after. If Leoline had gone to bed directly, like a good, +dutiful little girl, as Sir Norman ordered her, she would have +saved herself a good deal of trouble and tears; but Leoline and +sleep were destined to shake hands and turn their backs on each +other that night. It was time for all honest folks to be in bed, +and the dark-eyed beauty knew it too, but she had no notion of +going, nevertheless. She stood in the centre of the room, where +he had left her, with a spot like a scarlet roseberry on either +cheek; a soft half-smile on the perfect mouth, and a light +unexpressibly tender and dreamy, in those artesian wells of +beauty - her eyes. Most young girls of green and tender years, +suffering from "Love's young dream," and that sort of thing, have +just that soft, shy, brooding look, whenever their thoughts +happen to turn to their particular beloved; and there are few +eyes so ugly that it does not beautify, even should they be as +cross as two sticks. You should have seen Leoline standing in +the centre of her pretty room, with her bright rose-satin +glancing and glittering, and flowing over rug and mat; with her +black waving hair clustering and curling like shining floss silk; +with a rich white shimmer of pearls on the pale smooth forehead +and large beautiful arms. She did look irresistibly bewitching +beyond doubt; and it was just as well for Sir Norman's peace of +mind that he did not see her, for he was bad enough without that. +So she stood thinking tenderly of him for a half-hour or so, +quite undisturbed by the storm; and how strange it was that she +had risen up that very morning expecting to be one man's bride, +and that she should rise up the next, expecting to be another's. +She could not realize it at all; and with a little sigh-half +pleasure, half presentiment - she walked to the window, drew the +curtain, and looked out at the night. All was peaceful and +serene; the moon was fall to overflowing, and a great deal of +extra light ran over the brim; quite a quantity of stars were +out, and were winking pleasantly down at the dark little planet +below, that went round, and round, with grim stoicism, and paid +no attention to anybody's business but its own. She saw the +heaps of black, charred ashes that the rush of rain had quenched; +she saw the still and empty street; the frowning row of gloomy +houses opposite, and the man on guard before one of them. She +had watched that man all day, thinking, with a sick shudder, of +the plague-stricken prisoners he guarded, and reading its piteous +inscription, "Lord have mercy on us!" till the words seemed +branded on her brain. While she looked now, an upper window was +opened, a night-cap was thrust out and a voice from its cavernous +depths hailed the guard. + +"Robert! I say, Robert!" + +"Well!" said Robert, looking up. + +"Master and missus be gone at last, and the rest won't live till +morning." + +"Won't they?" said Robert, phlegmatically; "what a pity! Got 'em +ready, and I'll stop the dead-cart when it comes round." + +Just as he spoke, the well-known rattle of wheels, the loud +ringing of the bell, and the monotonous cry of the driver, "Bring +out your dead! bring out your dead!" echoed on the pale night's +silence; and the pest-cart came rumbling and jolting along with +its load of death. The watchman hailed the driver, according to +promise, and they entered the house together, brought out one +long, white figure, and then another, and threw them on top of +the ghastly heap. + +"We'll have three more for you in on hour of so - don't forget to +come round," suggested the watchman. + +"All right!" said the driver, as he took his place, whipped his +horse, rang his bell, and jogged along nonchalantly to the +plague-pit. + +Sick at heart, Leoline dropped the curtain, and turned round to +see somebody else standing at her elbow. She had been quite +alone when she looked out; she was alone no longer; there had +been no noise, yet soma one had entered, and was standing beside +her. A tall figure, all in black, with its sweeping velvet robes +spangled with stars of golden rubies, a perfect figure of +incomparable grace and beauty. It had worn a cloak that had +dropped lightly from its shoulders, and lay on the floor and the +long hair streamed in darkness over shoulder and waist. The +face was masked, the form stood erect and perfectly motionless, +and the scream of surprise and consternation that arose to +Leoline's lips died out in wordless terror. Her noiseless +visitor perceived it, and touching her arm lightly with one +little white hand, said in her sweetest and most exquisite of +tones: + +"My child, do not tremble so, and do not look so deathly white. +You know me, do you not?" + +"You are La Masque!" said Leoline trembling with nervous dread. + +"I am, and no stranger to you; though perhaps you think so. Is +it your habit every night to look out of your window in full +dress until morning?" + +"How did you enter?" asked Leoline, her curiosity overcoming for +a moment even her fear. + +"Through the door. Not a difficult thing, either, if you leave +it wide open every night, as it is this." + +"Was it open?" said Leoline, in dismay. "I never knew it." + +"Ah! then it was not you who went out last. Who was it?" + +"It was - was - " Leoline's cheeks were scarlet; "it was a +friend!" + +"A somewhat late hour for one's friends to visit," said La +Masque, sarcastically; "and you should learn the precaution of +seeing them to the door and fastening it after them." + +"Rest assured, I shall do so for the future," said Leoline, with +a look that would have reminded Sir Nor man of Miranda had he +seen it. "I scarcely expected the honor of any more visits, +particularly from strangers to-night." + +"Civil, that! Will you ask me to sit down, or am I to consider +myself an unseasonable intruder, and depart?" + +"Madame, will you do me the honor to be seated. The hour, as you +say, is somewhat unseasonable, and you will oblige me by letting +me know to what I am indebted for the pleasure of this visit, as +quickly as possible." + +There was something quite dignified about Mistress Leoline as she +swept rustling past La Masque, sank into the pillowy depths of +her lounge, and motioned her visitor to a seat with a slight and +graceful wave of her hand. Not but that in her secret heart she +was a good deal frightened, for something under her pink satin +corsage was going pit-a-pat at a wonderful rate; but she thought +that betraying such a feeling would not be the thing. Perhaps +the tall, dark figure saw it, and smiled behind her mask; but +outwardly she only leaned lightly against the back of the chair, +and glanced discreetly at the door. + +"Are you sure we are quite alone?" + +"Quite:" + +"Because," said La Masque, in her low, silvery tones, "what I +have come to say is not for the ears of any third person living:" + +"We are entirely alone, madame," replied Leoline, opening her +black eyes very wide. "Prudence is gone, and I do not know when +she will be back." + +"Prudence will never come back," said La Masque, quietly. + +"Madame!" + +"My dear, do not look so shocked - it is not her fault. You know +she deserted you for fear of the plague." + +"Yes, yes!" + +"Well, that did not save her; nay, it even brought on what she +dreaded so much. Your nurse is plague-stricken, my dear, and +lies ill unto death in the pesthouse in Finsbury Fields." + +"Oh, dreadful!" exclaimed Leoline, while every drop of blood fled +from her face. "My poor, poor old nurse!" + +"Your poor, poor old nurse left you without much tenderness when +she thought you dying of the same disease," said La Masque, +quietly. + +"Oh, that is nothing. The suddenness, the shock drove her to it. +My poor, dear Prudence." + +"Well, you can do nothing for her now," said La Masque, in a tone +of slight impatience. "Prudence is beyond all human aid, and so +- let her rest in peace. You were carried to the plague-pit +yourself, for dead, were you not?" + +"Yes," answered the pale lips, while she shivered all over at the +recollection. + +"And was saved by - by whom were you saved, my dear?" + +"By two gentlemen." + +"Oh, I know that; what were their names?" + +"One was Mr. Ormiston, the other was," hesitating and blushing +vividly, "Sir Norman Kingsley." + +La Masque leaned across her chair, and laid one dainty finger +lightly on the girl's hot cheek. + +"And for which is that blush, Leoline?" + +"Madame, was it only to ask me questions you came here?" said +Leoline, drawing proudly back, though the hot red spot grew +hotter and redder; "if so, you will excuse my declining to answer +any more." + +"Child, child!" said La Masque, in a tone so strangely sad that +it touched Leoline, "do not be angry with me. It is no idle +curiosity that sent me here at this hour to ask impertinent +questions, but a claim that I have upon you, stronger than that +of any one else in the world." + +Leoline's beautiful eyes opened wider yet. + +"A claim upon me! How? Why? I do not understand." + +"All in good time. Will you tell me something of your past +history, Leoline?" + +"Madame Masque, I have no history to tell. All my life I have +lived alone with Prudence; that in the whole of it in nine +words." + +La Masque half laughed. + +"Short, sharp, and decisive. Had you never father or mother?" + +"There is a slight probability I may have had at some past +period," said Leoline, sighing; "but none that I ever knew." + +"Why does not Prudence tell you?" + +"Prudence is only my nurse, and says she has nothing to tell. My +parents died when I was an infant, and left me in her care - that +is her story." + +"A likely one enough, and yet I see by your face that you doubt +it." + +"I do doubt it! There are a thousand little outward things that +make me fancy it is false, and an inward voice that assures me it +is so." + +"Then let me tell you that inward voice tells falsehoods, for I +know that your father and mother are both dead these fourteen +years!" + +Leoline's great black eyes were fixed on her face with a look so +wild and eager, that La Masque laid her hand lightly and +soothingly on her shoulder. + +"Don't look at me with such a spectral face! What is there so +extraordinary in all I have said?" + +"You said you knew my father and mother." + +"No such thing! I said I knew they were dead, but the other fact +is true also; I did know them when living!" + +"Madame, who are you? Who were they?" + +"I? Oh, I am La Masque, the sorceress, and they - they were +Leoline's father and mother!" and again La Masque slightly +laughed. + +"You mock me, madame!" cried Leoline, passionately. "You are +cruel - you are heartless! If you know anything, in Heaven's +name tell me - if not, go and leave me in peace!" + +"Thank you! I shall do that presently; and as to the other - of +course I shall tell you; what else do you suppose I have come for +to-night? Look here! Do you see this?" + +She drew out from some hidden pocket in her dress a small and +beautifully-wrought casket of ivory and silver, with straps and +clasps of silver, and a tiny key of the same. + +"Well!" asked Leoline, looking from it to her, with the blank air +of one utterly bewildered + +"In this casket, my dear, there is a roll of papers, closely +written, which you are to read as soon as I leave you. Those +papers contain your whole history - do you understand?" + +She was looking so white, and staring so hard and so hopelessly, +that there was need of the question. She took the casket and +gazed at it with a perplexed air. + +"My child, have your thoughts gone wool-gathering? Do you not +comprehend what I have said to you! Your whole history is hid in +that box?" + +"I know!" said Leoline, slowly, and with her eyes again riveted +to the black mask. "But; madame, who are you?" + +"Have I not told you? What a pretty inquisitor it is! I am La +Masque - your friend, now; something more soon, as you will see +when you read what I have spoken of. Do not ask me how I have +come by it - you will read all about it there. I did not know +that I would give it to you to-night, but I have a strange +foreboding that it is destined to be my last on earth. And, +Leoline my child, before I leave you, let me hear you say you +will not hate me when you read what is there." + +"What have you done to me? Why should I hate you?" + +"Ah! you will find that all out soon enough. Do content me, +Leoline - let me hear you say; `La Masque, whatever you've done +to me, however you have wronged me, I will forgive you!' Can you +say that?" + +Leoline repeated it simply, like a little child. La Masque took +her hand, held it between both her own, leaned over and looked +earnestly in her face. + +"My little Leoline! my beautiful rosebud! May Heaven bless you +and grant you a long and happy life with - shall I say it, +Leoline?" + +"Please - no!" whispered Leoline, shyly. + +La Masque softly patted the little tremulous hand. + +"We are both saying the name now in our hearts, my dear, so it is +little matter whether our lips repeat it or not. He is worthy, +of you, Leoline, and your life will be a happy one by his side; +but there is another." She paused and lowered her voice. "When +have you seen Count L'Estrange?" + +"Not since yesterday, madame." + +"Beware of him! Do you know who he is, Leoline?" + +"I know nothing of him but his name." + +"Then do not seek to know," said La Masque, emphatically. "For +it is a secret you would tremble to hear. And now I must leave +you. Come with me to the door, and fasten it as soon as I go +out, lest you should forget it altogether." + +Leoline, with a dazed expression, thrust the precious little +casket into the bosom of her dress, and taking up the lamp, +preceded her visitor down stairs. At the door they paused, and +La Masque, with her hand on her arm, repeated, in a low, earnest +voice + +"Leoline, beware of Count L'Estrange, and become Lady Kingsley as +soon as you can." + +"I will bear that name to-morrow!" thought Leoline, with a glad +little thrill at her heart, as La Masque flitted out into the +moonlight. + +Leoline closed and locked the door, driving the bolts into their +sockets, and making all secure. "I defy any one to get in again +tonight!" she said, smiling at her own dexterity; and lamp in +hand, she ran lightly up stairs to read the long unsolved riddle. + +So eager was she, that she had crossed the room, laid the lamp on +the table, and sat down before it, ere she became aware that she +was not alone. Some one was leaning against the mantel, his arm +on it, and his eyes do her, gazing with an air of incomparable +coolness and ease. It was a man this time - something more than +a man,- a count, and Count L'Estrange, at that! + +Leoline sprang to her feet with a wild scream, a cry full of +terror, amaze, and superstitious dread; and the count raised his +band with a self-possessed smile. + +"Pardon, fair Leoline, if I intrude! But have I not a right to +come at all hours and visit my bride?" + +"Leoline is no bride of yours!" retorted that young lady, +passionately, her indignation overpowering both fear and +surprise. "And, what is more, never will be! Now, sir!" + +"So my little bird of paradise can fire up, I see! As to your +being my bride, that remains to be seen. You promised to be +tonight, you know!" + +"Then I'll recall that promise. I have changed my mind." + +"Well, that's not very astonishing; it is but the privilege of +your sex! Nevertheless, I'm afraid I must insist on your +becoming Countess L'Estrange, and that immediately!" + +"Never, sir! I will die first!" + +"Oh, no! We could not spare such a bright little beauty out of +this ugly world! You will live, and live for me!" + +"Sir!" cried Leoline, white with passion, and her black eyes +blazing with a fire that would have killed him, could fiery +glances slay! I do not know how you have entered here; but I do +know, if you are a gentleman, you will leave me instantly! Go +sir! I never wish to see you again!" + +"But when I wish to see you so much, my darling Leoline," said +the count, with provoking indifference, "what does a little +reluctance on your part signify? Get your hood and mantle, my +love - my horse awaits us without - and let us fly where neither +plague nor mortal man will interrupt our nuptials!" + +"Will no one take this man away?" she cried, looking helplessly +round, and wringing her hands. + +"Certainly not, my dear - not even Sir Norman Kingsley! George, +I am afraid this pretty little vixen will not go peaceably; you +had better come in!" + +With a smile on his face, he took a step toward her. Shrieking +wildly, she darted across the room, and made for the door, just +as somebody else was entering it. The next instant, a shawl was +thrown over her head, her cries smothered in it, and she was +lifted in a pair of strong arms, carried down stairs, and out +into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE THIRD VISION. + + +Presentments are strange things. From the first moment Sir +Norman entered the city, and his thoughts had been able to leave +Miranda and find themselves wholly on Leoline, a heavy foreboding +of evil to her had oppressed him. Some danger, he was sure, had +befallen her during his absence - how could it be otherwise with +the Earl of Rochester and Count L'Estrange both on her track? +Perhaps, by this time, one or other had found her, and alone and +unaided she had been an easy victim, and was now borne beyond his +reach forever. The thought goaded him and his horse almost to +distraction; for the moment it struck him, he struck spurs into +his horse, making that unoffending animal jump spasmodically, +like one of those prancing steeds Miss Bonheur is fond of +depicting. Through the streets he flew at a frantic rate, growing +more excited and full of apprehension the nearer he came to old +London Bridge; and calling himself a select litany of hard names +inwardly, for having left the dear little thing at all. + +"If I find her safe and well," thought Sir Norman, emphatically, +"nothing short of an earthquake or dying of the plague will ever +induce me to leave her again, until she is Lady Kingsley, and in +the old manor of Devonshire. What a fool, idiot, and ninny I +must have been, to have left her as I did, knowing those two +sleuth-hounds were in full chase! What are all the Mirandas and +midnight queens to me, if Leoline is lost?" + +That last question was addressed to the elements in general; and +as they disdained reply, he cantered on furiously, till the old +house by the river was reached. It was the third time that night +he had paused to contemplate it, and each time with very +different feelings; first, from simple curiosity; second, in an +ecstasy of delight, and third and last, in an agony of +apprehension. All around was peaceful and still; moon and stars +sailed serenely through a sky of silver and snow; a faint cool +breeze floated up from the river and fanned his hot and fevered +forehead; the whole city lay wrapped in stillness as profound and +deathlike as the fabled one of the marble prince in the Eastern +tale-nothing living moved abroad, but the lonely night-guard +keeping their dreary vigils before the plague-stricken houses, +and the ever-present, ever-busy pest-cart, with its mournful bell +and dreadful cry. + +As far as Sir Norman could see, no other human being but himself +and the solitary watchman, so often mentioned, were visible. +Even he could scarcely be said to be present; for, though leaning +against the house with his halberd on his shoulder, he was sound +asleep at his post, and far away in the land of dreams. It was +the second night of his watch; and with a good conscience and a +sound digestion, there is no earthly anguish short of the +toothache, strong enough to keep a man awake two nights in +succession. So sound were his balmy slumbers in his airy +chamber, that not even the loud clatter of Sir Norman's horse's +hoofs proved strong enough to arouse him; and that young +gentleman, after glancing at him, made ap his mind to try to find +out for himself before arousing him to seek information. + +Securing his home, he looked up at the house with wistful eyes, +and saw that the solitary light still burned in her chamber. It +struck him now how very imprudent it was to keep that lamp +burning; for if Count L'Estrange saw it, it was all up with +Leoline - and there was even more to be dreaded from him than +from the earl. How was he to find out whether that illuminated +chamber had a tenant or not? Certainly, standing there staring +till doomsday would not do it; and there seemed but two ways, +that of entering the house at once or arousing the man. But the +man was sleeping so soundly that it seemed a pity to awake him +for a trifle; and, after all, there could be no great harm or +indiscretion in his entering to see if his bride was safe. +Probably Leoline was asleep, and would know nothing about it; or, +even were she wide awake, and watchful, she was altogether too +sensible a girl to be displeased at his anxiety about her. If +she were still awake, and waiting for day-dawn, he resolved to +remain with her and keep her from feeling lonesome until that +time came - if she were asleep, he would steal out softly again, +and keep guard at her door until morning. + +Full of these praiseworthy resolutions, he tried the handle of +the door, half expecting to find it locked, and himself obliged +to effect an entrance through the window; but no, it yielded to +his touch, and he went in. Hall and staircase were intensely +dark, but he knew his way without a pilot this time, and steered +clear of all shoals and quicksands, through the hall and up the +stairs. + +The door of the lighted room - Leoline's room - lay wide open, +and he paused on the threshold to reconnoitre. He had gone +softly for fear of startling her, and now, with the same tender +caution, he glanced round the room. The lamp burned on the +dainty dressing table, where undisturbed lay jewels, perfume +bottles and other knickknacks. The cithern lay unmolested on the +couch, the rich curtains were drawn; everything was as he had +left it last - everything, but the pretty pink figure, with +drooping eyes, and pearls in the waves of her rich, black hair. +He looked round for the things she had worn, hoping she had taken +them off and retired to rest, but they were not to be seen; and +with a cold sinking of the heart, he went noiselessly across the +room, and to the bed. It was empty, and showed no trace of +having been otherwise since he and the pest-cart driver had borne +from it the apparently lifeless form of Leoline. + +Yes, she was gone; and Sir Norman turned for a moment so sick +with utter dread, that he leaned against one of the tall carved +posts, and hated himself for having left her with a heartlessness +that his worst enemy could not have surpassed. Then aroused into +new and spasmodic energy by the exigency of the case, he seized +the lamp, and going out to the hall, made the house ring from +basement to attic with her name. No reply, but that hollow, +melancholy echo that sounds so lugubriously through empty houses, +was returned; and he jumped down stairs with an impetuous rush, +flinging back every door in the hall below with a crash, and +flying wildly from room to room. In solemn grim repose they lay; +but none of them held the bright figure in rose-satin he sought. +And he left them in despair, and went back to her chamber again. + +"Leoline! Leoline! Leoline!" he called, while he rushed +impetuously ap stairs, and down stairs, and in my lady's chamber; +but Leoline answered not - perhaps never would answer more! Even +"hoping against hope," he had to give up the chase at last - no +Leoline did that house hold; and with this conviction +despairingly impressed on leis mind, Sir Norman Kingsley covered +his face with his hands, and uttered a dismal groan. + +Yet, forlorn as was the case, he groaned but once, "only that and +nothing more;" there was no time for such small luxuries as +groaning and tearing his hair, and boiling over with wrath and +vengeance against the human race generally, and those two +diabolical specimens of it, the Earl of Rochester and Count +L'Estrange, particularly. He plunged head foremost down stairs, +and out of the door. There he was impetuously brought up all +standing; for somebody stood before it, gazing up at the gloomy +front with as much earnestness as he had done himself, and +against this individual he rushed recklessly with a shock that +nearly sent the pair of them over into the street. + +"Sacr-r-re!" cried a shrill voice, in tones of indignant +remonstrance. "What do you mean, monsieur? Are you drunk, or +crazy, that you come running head foremost into peaceable +citizens, and throwing them heels uppermost on the king's +highway! Stand off, sir! And think yourself lucky that I don't +run you through with my dirk for such an insult!" + +At the first sound of the outraged treble tones, Sir Norman had +started back and glared upon the speaker with much the same +expression of countenance as an incensed tiger. The orator of +the spirited address had stooped to pick up his plumed cap, and +recover his centre of gravity, which was considerably knocked out +of place by the unexpected collision, and held forth with very +flashing eyes, and altogether too angry to recognize his auditor. +Sir Norman waited until he had done, and then springing at him, +grabbed him by the collar. + +"You young hound!" he exclaimed, fairly lifting him off his feet +with one hand, and shaking him as if he would have wriggled him +out of hose and doublet. "You infernal young jackanapes! I'll +run you through in less than two minutes, if you don't tell me +where you have taken her." + +The astonishment, not to say consternation, of Master Hubert for +that small young gentleman and no other it was - on thus having +his ideas thus shaken out of him, was unbounded, and held him +perfectly speechless, while Sir Norman glared at him and shook +him in a way that would have instantaneously killed him if his +looks were lightning. The boy had recognized his aggressor, and +after his first galvanic shock, struggled like a little hero to +free himself, and at last succeeded by an artful spring. + +"Sir Norman Kingsley," he cried, keeping a safe yard or two of +pavement between him and that infuriated young knight, "have you +gone mad, or what, is Heaven's name, is the moaning of all this?" + +"It means," exclaimed Sir Norman, drawing his sword, and +flourishing it within an inch of the boy's curly head, - that +you'll be a dead page in lees than half a minute, unless you tell +me immediately where she has been taken to." + +"Where who has been taken to?" inquired Hubert, opening his +bright and indignant black eyes in a way that reminded Sir Norman +forcibly of Leoline. "Pardon, monsieur, I don't understand at +all." + +"You young villain! Do you mean to stand up there and tell me to +my face that you have not searched for her, and found her, and +have carried her off?" + +"Why, do you mean the lady we were talking of, that was saved +from the river?" asked Hubert, a new light dawning upon him. + +"Do I mean the lady we were talking of?" repeated Sir Norman, +with another furious flourish of his sword. "Yes, I do mean the +lady we were talking of; and what's more - I mean to pin you +where you stand, against that wall, unless you tell me, +instantly, where she has been taken." + +"Monsieur!" exclaimed the boy, raising his hands with an +earnestness there was no mistaking, "I do assure you, upon my +honor, that I know nothing of the lady whatever; that I have not +found her; that I have never set eyes on her since the earl saved +her from the river." + +The earnest tone of truth would, in itself, almost have convinced +Sir Norman, but it was not that, that made him drop his sword so +suddenly. The pale, startled face; the dark, solemn eyes, were +so exactly like Leoline's, that they thrilled him through and +through, and almost made him believe, for a moment, he was +talking to Leoline herself. + +"Are you - are you sure you are not Leoline?" he inquired, almost +convinced, for an instant, by the marvelous resemblance, that it +was really so. + +"I? Positively, Sir Norman, I cannot understand this at all, +unless you wish to enjoy yourself at my expense." + +"Look here, Master Hubert!" said Sir Norman with a sudden change +of look and tone. "If you do not understand, I shall just tell +you in a word or two how matters are, and then let me hear you +clear yourself. You know the lady we were talking about, that +Lord Rochester picked up afloat, and sent you in search of?" + +"Yes - yes." + +"Well," went on Sir Norman, with a sort of grim stoicism. "After +leaving you, I started on a little expedition of my own, two +miles from the city, from which expedition I returned ten minutes +ago. When I left, the lady was secure and safe in this house; +when I came back, she was gone. You were in search of her - had +told me yourself you were determined on finding her, and having +her carried off; and now, my youthful friend, put this and that +together," with a momentary returning glare, "and see what it +amounts to!" + +"It amounts to this:" retorted his youthful friend, stoutly, +"that I know nothing whatever about it. You may make out a case +of strong circumstantial evidence against me; but if the lady has +been carried off, I have had no hand in it." + +Again Sir Norman was staggered by the frank, bold gaze and +truthful voice, but still the string was in a tangle somewhere. + +"And where have you been ever since?" he began severely, and with +the air of a lawyer about to go into a rigid cross-examination. + +"Searching for her," was the prompt reply. + +"Where?" + +"Through the streets; in the pest-houses, and at the plague-pit." + +"How did you find out she lived here?" + +"I did not find it out. When I became convinced she was in none +of the places I have mentioned, I gave up the search in despair, +for to-night, and was returning to his lordship to report my ill +success." + +"Why, then, were you standing in front of her house, gaping at it +with all the eyes in your head, as if it were the eighth wonder +of the world?" + +"Monsieur has not the most courteous way of asking questions, +that I ever heard of; but I have no particular objection to +answer him. It struck me that, as Mr. Ormiston brought the lady +up this way, and as I saw you and he haunting this place so much +to-night, I thought her residence was somewhere here, and I +paused to look at the house as I went along. In fact, I intended +to ask old sleepy-head, over there, for further particulars, +before I left the neighborhood, had not you, Sir Norman, run bolt +into me, and knocked every idea clean out of my head." + +"And you are sure you are not Leoline?" said Sir Norman, +suspiciously. + +"To the best of my belief, Sir Norman, I am not," replied Hubert, +reflectively. + +"Well, it is all very strange, and very aggravating," said Sir +Norman, sighing, and sheathing his sword. "She is gone, at all +events; no doubt about that - and if you have not carried her +off, somebody else has." + +"Perhaps she has gone herself," insinuated Hubert. + +"Bah! Gone herself!" said Sir Norman, scornfully. "The idea is +beneath contempt: I tell you, Master Fine-feathers, the lady and +I were to be married bright and early to-morrow morning, and +leave this disgusting city for Devonshire. Do you suppose, then, +she would run out in the small hours of the morning, and go +prancing about the streets, or eloping with herself?" + +"Why, of course, Sir Norman, I can't take it upon myself to +answer positively; but, to use the mildest phrase, I must say the +lady seems decidedly eccentric, and capable of doing very queer +things. I hope, however, you believe me; for I earnestly assure +you, I never laid eyes on her but that once." + +"I believe you," said Sir Norman, with another profound and +broken-hearted sigh, "and I'm only too sure she has been abducted +by that consummate scoundrel and treacherous villain, Count +L'Estrange." + +"Count who?" said Hubert, with a quick start, and a look of +intense curiosity. "What was the name?" + +"L'Estrange - a scoundrel of the deepest dye! Perhaps you know +him?" + +"No," replied Hubert, with a queer, half musing smile, "no; but I +have a notion I have heard the name. Was he a rival of yours?" + +"I should think so! He was to have been married to the lady this +very night!" + +"He was, eh! And what prevented the ceremony?" + +"She took the plague!" said Sir Norman, strange to say, not at +all offended at the boy's familiarity. "And would have been +thrown into the plague-pit but for me. And when she recovered +she accepted me and cast him off!" + +"A quick exchange! The lady's heart must be most flexible, or +unusually large, to be able to hold so many at once." + +"It never held him!" said Sir Norman, frowning; "she was forced +into the marriage by her mercenary friends. Oh! if I had him +here, wouldn't I make him wish the highwaymen had shot him +through the head, and done for him, before I would let him go!" + +"What is he like - this Count L'Estrange?" said Hubert, +carelessly. + +"Like the black-hearted traitor and villain he is!" replied Sir +Norman, with more energy than truth; for he had caught but +passing glimpses of the count's features, and those showed him +they were decidedly prepossessing; "and he slinks along like a +coward and an abductor as he is, in a slouched hat and shadowy +cloak. Oh! if I had him here!" repeated Sir Norman, with +vivacity; "wouldn't I - " + +"Yes, of course you would," interposed Hubert, "and serve him +right, too! Have you made any inquiries about the matter - for +instance, of our friend sleeping the sleep of the just, across +there?" + +"No - why?" + +"Why, it seems to me, if she's been carried off before he fell +asleep, he has probably heard or seen something of it; and I +think it would not be a bad plan to step over and inquire." + +"Well, we can try," said Sir Norman, with a despairing face; "but +I know it will end in disappointment and vexation of spirit, like +all the rest!" + +With which dismal view of things, he crossed the street side by +side with his jaunty young friend. The watchman was still +enjoying the balmy, and snoring in short, sharp snorts, when +Master Hubert remorselessly caught him by the shoulder, and began +a series of shakes and pokes, and digs, and "hallos!" while Sir +Norman stood near and contemplated the scene with a pensive eye. +At last while undergoing a severe course of this treatment the +watchman was induced to open his eyes on this mortal life, and +transfix the two beholders with, an intensely vacant and blank +share. + +"Hey?" he inquired, helplessly. "What was you a saying of, +gentlemen? What is it?" + +"We weren't a saying of anything as yet," returned Hubert; "but +we mean to, shortly. Are you quite sure you are wide awake?" + +"What do you want?" was the cross question, given by way of +answer. "What do you come bothering me for at such a rate, all +night, I want to know?" + +"Keep civil, friend, we wear swords," said Hubert, touching, with +dignity, the hilt of the little dagger he carried; "we only want +to ask you a few questions. First, do you see that house over +yonder?" + +"Oh! I see it!" said the man gruffly; "I am not blind!" + +"Well who was the last person you saw come out of that house?" + +"I don't know who they was!" still more gruffly. "I ain't got +the pleasure of their acquaintance!" + +"Did you see a young lady come out of it lately?" + +"Did I see a young lady?" burst out the watchman, in a high key +of aggrieved expostulation. "How many more times this blessed +night am I to be asked about that young lady. First and +foremost, there comes two young men, which this here is one of +them, and they bring out the young lady and have her hauled away +in the dead-cart; then comes along another and wants to know all +the particulars, and by the time he gets properly away, somebody +else comes and brings her back like a drowned rat. Then all +sorts of people goes in and out, and I get tired looking at them, +and then fall asleep, and before I've been in that condition +about a minute, you two come punching me and waken me up to ask +questions about her! I wish that young lady was in Jerico - I +do!" said the watchman, with a smothered growl. + +"Come, come, my man!" said Hubert, slapping him soothingly on the +shoulder. "Don't be savage, if you can help it! This gentleman +has a gold coin in some of his pockets, I believe, and it will +fall to you if you keep quiet and answer decently. Tell me how +many have been in that house since the young lady was brought +back like a drowned rat?" + +"How many?" said the man, meditating, with his eyes fixed on Sir +Norman's garments, and he, perceiving that, immediately gave him +the promised coin to refresh his memory, which it did with +amazing quickness. "How many - oh - let me see; there was the +young man that brought her in, and left her there, and came out +again, and went away. By-and-by, he came back with another, +which I think this as gave me the money is him. After a little, +they came out, first the other one, then this one, and went off; +and the next that went in was a tall woman in black, with a mask +on, and right behind her there came two men; the woman in the +mask came out after a while; and about ten minutes after, the two +men followed, and one of them carried something in his arms, that +didn't look unlike a lady with her head in a shawl. Anything +wrong, sir?" as Sir Norman gave a violent start and caught Hubert +by the arm. + +"Nothing! Where did they carry her to? What did they do with +her? Go on! go on!" + +"Well," said the watchman, eyeing the speaker curiously, "I'm +going to. They went along, down to the river, both of them, and +I saw a boat shove off, shortly after, and that something, with +its head in a shawl, lying as peaceable as a lamb, with one of +the two beside it. That's all - I went asleep about then, till +you two were shaking me and waking me up." + +Sir Norman and Hubert looked at each other, one between despair +and rage, the other with a thoughtful, half-inquiring air, as if +he had some secret to tell, and was mentally questioning whether +it was safe to do so. On the whole, he seemed to come to the +conclusion, that a silent tongue maketh a wise head, and nodding +and saying "Thank you!" to the watchman, he passed his arm +through Sir Norman's, and drew him back to the door of Leoline's +house. + +"There is a light within," he said, looking up at it; "how comes +that?" + +"I found the lamp burning, when I returned, and everything +undisturbed. They must have entered noiselessly, and carried her +off without a straggle," replied Sir Norman, with a sort of +groan, + +"Have you searched the house - searched it well?" + +"Thoroughly - from top to bottom!" + +"It seems to me there ought to be some trace. Will you come back +with me and look again?" + +"It is no use; but there in nothing else I can do; so come +along!" + +They entered the house, and Sir Norman led the page direct to +Leoline's room, where the light was. + +"I left her here when I went away, and here the lamp was burning +when I came back: so it must have been from this room she was +taken." + +Hubert was gazing slowly and critically round, taking note of +everything. Something glistened and flashed on the floor, under +the mantel, and he went over and picked it up. + +"What have you there?" asked Sir Norman in surprise; for the boy +had started so suddenly, and flushed so violently, that it might +have astonished any one. + +"Only a shoe-buckle - a gentleman's - do you recognize it?" + +Though he spoke in his usual careless way, and half-hummed the +air of one of Lord Rochester's love songs, he watched him keenly +as he examined it. It was a diamond buckle, exquisitely set, and +of great beauty and value; but Sir Norman knew nothing of it. + +"There are initials upon it -see there!" said Hubert, pointing, +and still watching him with the same powerful glance. "The +letters C. S. That can't stand for Count L'Estrange." + +"Who then can it stand for?" inquired Sir Norman, looking at him +fixedly, and with far more penetration than the court page had +given him credit for. "I am certain you know." + +"I suspect!" said the boy, emphatically, "nothing more; and if it +is as I believe, I will bring you news of Leoline before you are +two hours older." + +"How am I to know you are not deceiving me, and will not betray +her into the power of the Earl of Rochester - if, indeed, she be +not in his power already." + +"She is not in it, and never will be through me! I feel an odd +interest in this matter, and I will be true to you, Sir Norman - +though why I should be, I really don't know. I give you my word +of honor that I will do what I can to find Leoline and restore +her to you; and I have never yet broken my word of honor to any +man," said Hubert, drawing himself up. + +"Well, I will trust you, because I cannot do anything better," +said Sir Norman, rather dolefully; "but why not let me go with +you?" + +"No, no! that would never do! I must go alone, and you must +trust me implicitly. Give me your hand upon it." + +They shook hands silently, went down stairs, and stood for a +moment at the door. + +"You'll find me here at any hour between this and morning," said +Sir Norman. "Farewell now, and Heaven speed you!" + +The boy waved his hand in adieu, and started off at a sharp pace. +Sir Norman turned in the opposite direction for a short walk, to +cool the fever in his blood, and think over all that had +happened. As be went slowly along, in the shadow of the houses, +he suddenly tripped up over something lying in his path, and was +nearly precipitated over it. + +Stooping down to examine the stumbling-block, it proved to be the +rigid body of a man, and that man was Ormiston, stark and dead, +with his face upturned to the calm night-sky. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE HIDDEN FACE + + +When Mr. Malcolm Ormiston, with his usual good sense and +penetration, took himself off, and left Leoline and Sir Norman +tete-a-tete, his steps turned as mechanically as the needle to +the North Pole toward La Masque's house. Before it he wandered, +around it he wandered, like an uneasy ghost, lost in speculation +about the hidden face, and fearfully impatient about the flight +of time. If La Masque saw him hovering aloof and unable to tear +himself away, perhaps it might touch her obdurate heart, and +cause her to shorten the dreary interval, and summon him to her +presence at once. Just then some one opened the door, and his +heart began to beat with anticipation; some one pronounced his +name, and, going over, he saw the animated bag of bones - +otherwise his lady-love's vassal and porter. + +"La Masque says," began the attenuated lackey, and Ormiston's +heart nearly jumped out of his mouth, "that she can't have +anybody hanging about her house like its shadow; and she wants +you to go away, and keep away, till the time comes she has +mentioned." + +So saying the skeleton shut the door, and Ormiston's heart went +down to zero. There being nothing for it but obedience, however, +he slowly and reluctantly turned away, feeling in his bones, that +if ever he came to the bliss and ecstasy of calling La Masque +Mrs. Ormiston, the gray mare in his stable would be by long odds +the better horse. Unintentionally his steps turned to the +water-side, and he descended the flight of stairs, determined to +get into a boat and watch the illumination from the river. + +Late as was the hour, the Thames seemed alive with wherries and +barges, and their numerous lights danced along the surface like +fire-flies over a marsh. A gay barge, gilded and cushioned, was +going slowly past; and as he stood directly under the lamp, he +was recognized by a gentleman within it, who leaned over and +hailed him + +"Ormiston! I say, Ormiston!" + +"Well, my lord," said Ormiston, recognizing the handsome face and +animated voice of the Earl of Rochester. + +"Have you any engagement for the next half-hour? If not, do me +the favor to take a seat here, and watch London in flames from +the river." + +"With all my heart," said Ormiston, running down to the water's +edge, and leaping into the boat. "With all this bustle of life +around here, one would think it were noonday instead of +midnight." + +"The whole city is astir about these fires. Have you any idea +they will be successful?" + +"Not the least. You know, my lord, the prediction runs, that the +plague will rage till the living are no longer able to bury the +dead." + +"It will soon come to that," said the earl shuddering slightly, +"if it continues increasing much longer as it does now daily. +How do the bills of mortality ran to-day?" + +"I have not heard. Hark! There goes St. Paul's tolling twelve." + +"And there goes a flash of fire - the first among many. Look, +look! How they spring up into the black darkness." + +"They will not do it long. Look at the sky, my lord." + +The earl glanced up at the midnight sky, of a dull and dingy red +color, except where black and heavy clouds were heaving like +angry billows, all dingy with smoke and streaked with bars of +fiery red. + +"I see! There is a storm coming, and a heavy one! Our worthy +burghers and most worshipful Lord Mayor will see their fires +extinguished shortly, and themselves sent home with wet jackets." + +"And for weeks, almost month, there has not fallen a drop of +rain," remarked Ormiston, gravely. + +"A remarkable coincidence, truly. There seems to be a fatality +hanging over this devoted city." + +"I wonder your lordship remains?" + +The earl shrugged his shoulders significantly. + +"It is not so easy leaving it as you think, Mr. Ormiston; but I +am to turn my back to it to-morrow for a brief period. You are +aware, I suppose, that the court leaves before daybreak for +Oxford." + + +"I believe I have heard something of it - how long to remain?" + +"Till Charles takes it into his head to come back again," said +the earl, familiarly, "which will probably be in a week or two. +Look at that sky, all black and scarlet; and look at those people +- I scarcely thought there were half the number left alive in +London." + +"Even the sick have come out to-night," said Ormiston. "Half the +pest-stricken in the city have left their beds, full of newborn +hope. One would think it were a carnival." + +"So it is - a carnival of death! I hope, Ormiston," said the +earl, looking at him with a light laugh, "the pretty little white +fairy we rescued from the river is not one of the sick parading +the streets." + +Ormiston looked grave. + +"No, my lord, I think she is not. I left her safe and secure." + +"Who is she, Ormiston?" coaxed the earl, laughingly. "Pshaw, +man! don't make a mountain out of a mole-hill! Tell me her +name!" + +"Her name is Leoline." + +"What else?" + +"That is just what I would like to have some one tell me. I give +you my honor, my lord, I do not know." + +The earl's face, half indignant, half incredulous, wholly +curious, made Ormiston smile. + +"It is a fact, my lord. I asked her her name, and she told me +Leoline - a pretty title enough, but rather unsatisfactory." + +"How long have you known her?" + +"To the best of my belief," said Ormiston, musingly, "about four +hours." + +"Nonsense!" cried the earl, energetically. "What are you telling +me, Ormiston? You said she was an old friend." + +"I beg your pardon, my lord, I said no such thing. I told you +she had escaped from her friends, which was strictly true." + +"Then how the demon had you the impudence to come up and carry +her off in that style? I certainly had a better right to her +than you - the right of discovery; and I shall call upon you to +deliver her up!" + +"If she belonged to me I should only be too happy to oblige your +lordship," laughed Ormiston; "but she is at present the property +of Sir Norman Kingsley, and to him you must apply." + +"Ah! His inamorata, in she? Well, I must say his taste is +excellent; but I should think you ought to know her name, since +you and he are noted for being a modern Damon and Pythias." + +"Probably I should, my lord, only Sir Norman, unfortunately, does +not know himself." + +The earl's countenance looked so utterly blank at this +announcement, that Ormiston was forced to throw in a word of +explanation. + +"I mean to say, my lord, that he has fallen in love with her; +and, judging from appearances, I should say his flame is not +altogether hopeless, although they have met to-night for the +first time." + +"A rapid passion. Where have you left her, Ormiston?" + +"In her own house, my lord," Ormiston replied, smiling quietly to +himself. + +"Where is that?" + +"About a dozen yards from where I stood when you called me." + +"Who are her family?" continued the earl, who seemed possessed of +a devouring curiosity. + +"She has none that I know of. I imagine Mistress Leoline is an +orphan. I know there was not a living soul but ourselves in the +house I brought her to." + +"And you left her there alone?" exclaimed the earl, half starting +up, an if about to order the boatman to row back to the landing. + +Ormiston looked at his excited face with a glance full of quiet +malice. + +"No, my lord, not quits; Sir Norman Kingsley was with her!" + +"Oh!" said the earl, smiling back with a look of chagrin. "Then +he will probably find out her name before he comes away. I +wonder you could give her up so easily to him, after all your +trouble!" + +"Smitten, my lord?" inquired Ormiston, maliciously. + +"Hopelessly!" replied the earl, with a deep sigh. "She was a +perfect little beauty; and if I can find her, I warn Sir Norman +Kingsley to take care! I have already sent Hubert out in search +of her; and, by the way," said the earl, with a sudden increase +of animation, "what a wonderful resemblance she bears to Hubert - +I could almost swear they were one and the same!" + +"The likeness is marvelous; but I should hate to take such an +oath. I confess I am somewhat curious myself; but I stand no +chance of having it gratified before to-morrow, I suppose." + +"How those fires blaze! It is much brighter than at noon-day. +Show me the house in which Leoline lies?". + +Ormiston easily pointed it out, and showed the earl the light +still burning in her window. + +"It was in that room we found her first, dead of the plague!" + +"Dead of the what?" cried the earl, aghast. + +"Dead of the plague! I'll tell your lordship how it was," said +Ormiston, who forthwith commend and related the story of their +finding Leoline; of the resuscitation at the plague-pit; of the +flight from Sir Norman's house, and of the delirious plunge into +the river, and miraculous cure. + +"A marvelous story," commented the earl, much interested. "And +Leoline seems to have as many lives as a cat! Who can she be - a +princess in disguise - eh, Ormiston?" + +"She looks fit to be a princess, or anything else; but your +lordship knows as much about her, now, as I do." + +"You say she was dressed as a bride - how came that?" + +"Simply enough. She was to be married to-night, had she not +taken the plague instead." + +"Married? Why, I thought you told me a few minutes ago she was +in love with Kingsley. It seems to me, Mr. Ormiston, your +remarks are a trifle inconsistent," said the earl, in a tone of +astonished displeasure. + +"Nevertheless, they are all perfectly true. Mistress Leoline was +to be married, as I told you; but she was to marry to please her +friends, and not herself. She had been in the habit of watching +Kingsley go past her window; and the way she blushed, and went +through the other little motions, convinces me that his course of +true love will ran as smooth as this glassy river runs at +present." + +"Kingsley is a lucky fellow. Will the discarded suitor have no +voice in the matter; or is he such a simpleton as to give her up +at a word?" + +Ormiston laughed. + +"Ah! to be sure; what will the count say? And, judging from some +things I've heard, I should say he is violently in love with +her." + +"Count who?" asked Rochester. "Or has he, like his ladylove, no +other name?" + +"Oh, no! The name of the gentleman who was so nearly blessed for +life, and missed it, is Count L'Estrange!" + +The earl had been lying listlessly back, only half intent upon +his answer, as he watched the fire; but now he sprang sharply up, +and stared Ormiston full in the face. + +"Count what did you say?" was his eager question, while his eyes, +more eager than his voice, strove to read the reply before it was +repeated. + +"Count L'Estrange. You know him, my lord?" said Ormiston, +quietly. + +"Ah!" said the earl. And then such a strange meaning smile went +wandering about his face. "I have not said that! So his name is +Count L'Estrange? Well, I don't wonder now at the girl's +beauty." + +The earl sank back to his former nonchalant position and fell for +a moment or two into deep musing; and then, as if the whole thing +struck him in a new and ludicrous light, he broke out into an +immoderate fit of laughter. Ormiston looked at him curiously. + +"It is my turn to ask questions, now, my lord. Who is Count +L'Estrange?" + +"I know of no such person, Ormiston. I was thinking of something +else! Was it Leoline who told you that was her lover's name?" + +No; I heard it by mere accident from another person. I am sure, +if Leoline is not a personage in disguise, he is." + +"And why do you think so?" + +"An inward conviction, my lord. So you will not tell me who he +is?" + +"Have I not told you I know of no such person as Count +L'Estrange? You ought to believe me. Oh, here it comes." + +This last was addressed to a great drop of rain, which splashed +heavily on his upturned face, followed by another and another in +quick succession. + +"The storm is upon us," said the earl, sitting up and wrapping +his cloak closer around him, "and I am for Whitehall. Shall we +land you, Ormiston, or take you there, too?" + +"I must land," said Ormiston. "I have a pressing engagement for +the next half-hour. Here it is, in a perfect deluge; the fires +will be out in five minutes." + +The barge touched the stairs, and Ormiston sprang out, with +"Good-night" to the earl. The rain was rushing along, now, in +torrents, and he ran upstairs and darted into an archway of the +bridge, to seek the shelter. Some one else had come there before +him, in search of the same thing; for he saw two dark figures +standing within it as he entered. + +"A sudden storm," was Ormiston's salutation, "and a furious one. +There go the fires - hiss and splutter. I knew how it would be." + +"Then Saul and Mr. Ormiston are among the prophets?" + +Ormiston had heard that voice before; it was associated in his +mind with a slouched hat and shadowy cloak; and by the fast- +fading flicker of the firelight, he saw that both were here. The +speaker wan Count L'Estrange; the figure beside him, slender and +boyish, was unknown. + +"You have the advantage of me, sir," he said affecting ignorance. +"May I ask who you are?" + +"Certainly. A gentlemen, by courtesy and the grace of God." + +"And your name?" + +"Count L'Estrange, at your service." + +Ormiston lifted his cap and bowed, with a feeling somehow, that +the count was a man in authority. + +"Mr. Ormiston assisted in doing a good deed, tonight, for a +friend of mine," said the count. + +"Will he add to that obligation by telling me if he has not +discovered her again, and brought her back?" + +"Do you refer to the fair lady in yonder house?" + +"So she is there? I thought so, George," said the count, +addressing himself to his companion. "Yes, I refer to her, the +lady you saved from the river. You brought her there?" + +"I brought her there," replied Ormiston. + +"She is there still?" + +"I presume so. I have heard nothing to the contrary." + +"And alone?" + +"She may be, now. Sir Norman Kingsley was with her when I left +her," said Ormiston, administering the fact with infinite relish. + +There was a moment's silence. Ormiston could not see the count's +face; but, judging from his own feelings, he fancied its +expression must be sweet. The wild rush of the storm alone broke +the silence, until the spirit again moved the count to speak. + +"By what right does Sir Norman Kingsley visit her?" he inquired, +in a voice betokening not the least particle of emotion. + +"By the best of rights - that of her preserver, hoping soon to be +her lover." + +There was an other brief silence, broken again by the count, in +the same composed tone: + +"Since the lady holds her levee so late, I, too, must have a word +with her, when this deluge permits one to go abroad without +danger of drowning." + +"It shown symptoms of clearing off, already," said Ormiston, who, +in his secret heart, thought it would be an excellent joke to +bring the rivals face to face in the lady's presence; "so you +will not have long to wait." + +To which observation the count replied not; and the three stood +in silence, watching the fury of the storm. + +Gradually it cleared away; and as the moon began to straggle out +between the rifts in the clouds, the count saw something by her +pale light that Ormiston saw not. That latter gentleman, +standing with his back to the house of Leoline, and his face +toward that of La Masque, did not observe the return of Sir +Norman from St. Paul's, nor look after him as he rode away. But +the count did both; and ten minutes after, when the rain had +entirely ceased, and the moon and stars got the better of the +clouds in their struggle for supremacy, he beheld La Masque +flitting like a dark shadow in the same direction, and vanishing +in at Leoline's door. The same instant, Ormiston started to go. + +"The storm has entirely ceased," he said, stepping out, and with +the profound air of one making a new discovery, "and we are +likely to have fine weather for the remainder of the night - or +rather, morning. Good night, count." + +"Farewell," said the count, as he and, his companion came out +from the shadow of the archway, and turned to follow La Masque. + +Ormiston, thinking the hour of waiting had elapsed, and feeling +much more interested in the coming meeting than in Leoline or her +visitors, paid very little attention to his two acquaintances. +He saw them, it is true, enter Leoline's house, but at the same +instant, he took up his post at La Masque's doorway, and +concentrated his whole attention on that piece of architecture. +Every moment seemed like a week now; and before he had stood at +his post five minutes, he had worked himself up into a perfect +fever of impatience. Sometimes he was inclined to knock and seek +La Masque in her own home; but as often the fear of a chilling +rebuke paralyzed his hand when he raised it. He was so sure she +was within the house, that he never thought of looking for her +elsewhere; and when, at the expiration of what seemed to him a +century or two, but which in reality was about a quarter of an +hour, there was a soft rustling of drapery behind him, and the +sweetest of voices sounded in his ear, it fairly made him bound. + +"Here again, Mr. Ormiston? Is this the fifth or sixth time I've +found you in this place to-night?" + +"La Masque!" he cried, between joy and surprise. "But surely, I +was not totally unexpected this time?" + +"Perhaps not. You are waiting here for me to redeem my promise, +I suppose?" + +"Can you doubt it? Since I knew you first, I have desired this +hour as the blind desire sight." + +"Ah! And you will find it as sweet to look back upon as you have +to look forward to," said La Masque, derisively. "If you are +wise for yourself, Mr. Ormiston, you will pause here, and give me +back that fatal word." + +"Never, madame! And surely you will not be so pitilessly cruel +as to draw back, now?" + +"No, I have promised, and I shall perform; and let the +consequences be what they may, they will rest upon your own head. +You have been warned, and you still insist." + +"I still insist!" + +"Then let us move farther over here into the shadow of the houses; +this moonlight is so dreadfully bright!" + +They moved on into the deep shadow, and there was a pulse +throbbing in Ormiston's head and heart like the beating of a +muffed drum. They paused and faced each other silently. + +"Quick, madame!" cried Ormiston, hoarsely, his whole face flushed +wildly. + +His strange companion lifted her hand as if to remove the mask, +and he saw that it shook like an aspen. She made one motion as +though about to lift it, and then recoiled, as if from herself, +in a sort of horror. + +"My God! What is this man urging me to do? How can I ever +fulfill that fatal promise?" + +"Madame, you torture me!" said Ormiston, whose face showed what +he felt. "You must keep your promise; so do not drive me wild +waiting. Let me - " + +He took a step toward her, as if to lift the mask himself, but +she held out both arms to keep him off. + +"No, no, no! Come not near me, Malcolm Ormiston! Fated man, +since you will rush on your doom, Look! and let the sight blast +you, if it will!" + +She unfastened her mask, raised it, and with it the profusion of +long, sweeping black hair. + +Ormiston did look - in much the same way, perhaps, that Zulinka +looked at the Veiled Prophet. The next moment there was a +terrible cry, and he fell headlong with a crash, as if a bullet +had whined through his hart. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE INTERVIEW. + + +I am not aware whether fainting was as much the fashion among the +fair sex, in the days (or rather the nights) of which I have the +honor to hold forth, as at the present time; but I am inclined to +think not, from the simple fact that Leoline, though like John +Bunyan, "grievously troubled and tossed about in her mind," did +nothing of the kind. For the first few moments, she was +altogether too stunned by the suddenness of the shock to cry out +or make the least resistance, and was conscious of nothing but of +being rapidly borne along in somebody's arms. When this hazy +view of things passed away, her new sensation was, the intensely +uncomfortable one of being on the verge of suffocation. She made +one frantic but futile effort to free herself and scream for +help, but the strong arms held her with most loving tightness, +and her cry was drowned in the hot atmosphere within the shawl, +and never passed beyond it. Most assuredly Leoline would have +been smothered then and there, had their journey been much +longer; but, fortunately for her, it was only the few yards +between her house and the river. She knew she was then carried +down some steps, and she heard the dip of the oars in the water, +and then her bearer paused, and went through a short dialogue +with somebody else - with Count L'Estrange, she rather felt than +knew, for nothing was audible but a low murmur. The only word +she could make out was a low, emphatic "Remember!" in the count's +voice, and then she knew she was in a boat, and that it was +shoved off, and moving down the rapid river. The feeling of heat +and suffocation was dreadful and as her abductor placed her on +some cushions, she made another desperate but feeble effort to +free herself from the smothering shawl, but a hand was laid +lightly on hers, and a voice interposed. + +"Lady, it is quite useless for you to struggle, as you are +irrevocably in my power, but if you will promise faithfully not +to make any outcry, and will submit to be blindfolded, I shall +remove this oppressive muffling from your head. Tell me if you +will promise." + +He had partly raised the shawl, and a gush of free air came +revivingly in, and enabled Leoline to gasp out a faint "I +promise!" As she spoke, it was lifted off altogether, and she +caught one bright fleeting glimpse of the river, sparkling and +silvery in the moonlight; of the bright blue sky, gemmed with +countless stars, and of some one by her side in the dress of a +court-page, whose face was perfectly unknown to her. The next +instant, a bandage was bound tightly over her eyes, excluding +every ray of light, while the strange voice again spoke +apologetically + +"Pardon, lady, but it is my orders! I am commanded to treat you +with every respect, but not to let you see where you are borne +to." + +"By what right does Count L'Estrange commit this outrage!" began +Leoline, almost as imperiously as Miranda herself, and making use +of her tongue, like a true woman, the very first moment it was at +her disposal. "How dare he carry me off in this atrocious way? +Whoever you are, sir, if you have the spirit of a man, you will +bring me directly back to my own house + +"I am very sorry, lady, but I have received orders that must be +obeyed! You must come with me, but you need fear nothing; you +will be an safe and secure as in your own home." + +"Secure enough, no doubt!" paid Leoline, bitterly. "I never did +like Count L'Estrange, but I never knew he was a coward and a +villain till now!" + +Her companion made no reply to this forcible address, and there +was a moment's indignant silence on Leoline's part, broken only +by the dip of the oars, and the rippling of the water. Then + +"Will you not tell me, at least, where you are taking me to?" +haughtily demanded Leoline. + +"Lady, I cannot! It was to prevent you knowing, that you have +been blindfolded." + +"Oh! your master has a faithful servant, I see! How long am I to +be kept a prisoner?" + +"I do not know." + +"Where is Count L'Estrange?" + +"I cannot tell." + +"Where am I to see him?" + +"I cannot say." + +"Ha!" said Leoline, with infinite contempt, and turning her back +upon him she relapsed into gloomy silence. It had all been so +sudden, and had taken her so much by surprise, that she had not +had time to think of the consequences until now. But now they +came upon her with a rush, and with dismal distinctness; and most +distinct among all was, what would Sir Norman say! Of course, +with all a lover's impatience, he would be at his post by +sunrise, would come to look for his bride, and find himself sold! +By that time she would be far enough away, perhaps a melancholy +corpse (and at this dreary passage in her meditations, Leoline +sighed profoundly), and he would never know what had become of +her, or how much and how long she had loved him. And this +hateful Count L'Estrange, what did he intend to do with her? +Perhaps go so far as to make her marry him, and imprison her with +the rest of his wives; for Leoline was prepared to think the very +worst of the count, and had not the slightest doubt that he +already had a harem full of abducted wives, somewhere. But no - +he never could do that, he might do what he liked with weaker +minds, but she never would be a bride of his while the plague or +poison was to be had in London. And with this invincible +determination rooted fixedly, not to say obstinately, in her +mind, she was nearly pitched overboard by the boat suddenly +landing at some unexpected place. A little natural scream of +terror was repressed on her lips by a hand being placed over +them, and the determined but perfectly respectful tones of the +person beside her speaking. + +"Remember your promise, lady, and do not make a noise. We have +arrived at our journey's end, and if you will take my arm, I will +lead you along, instead of carrying you." + +Leoline was rather surprised to find the journey so short, but +she arose directly, with silence and dignity - at least with as +much of the latter commodity as could be reasonably expected, +considering that boats on water are rather unsteady things to be +dignified in - and was led gently and with care out of the +swaying vessel, and up another flight of stairs. Then, in a few +moments, she was conscious of passing from the free night air +into the closer atmosphere of a house; and in going through an +endless labyrinth of corridors, and passages, and suites of +rooms, and flights of stairs, until she became so extremely +tired, that she stopped with spirited abruptness, and in the +plainest possible English, gave her conductor to understand that +they had gone about far enough for all practical purposes. To +which that patient and respectful individual replied that he was +glad to inform her they had but a few more steps to go, which the +next moment proved to be true, for he stopped and announced that +their promenade was over for the night. + +"And I suppose I may have the use of my eyes at last?" inquired +Leoline, with more haughtiness than Sir Norman could have +believed possible so gentle a voice could have expressed. + +For reply, her companion rapidly untied the bandage, and withdrew +it with a flourish. The dazzling brightness that burst upon her, +so blinded her, that for a moment she could distinguish nothing; +and when she looked round to contemplate her companion, she found +him hurriedly making his exit, and securely locking the door. + +The sound of the key turning in the lock gave her a most peculiar +sensation, which none but those who have experienced it can +properly understand. It is not the most comfortable feeling in +the world to know you are a prisoner, even if you have no key +turned upon you but the weather, and your jailer be a high east +wind and lashing rain. Leoline's prison and jailer were +something worse; and, for the first time, a chill of fear and +dismay crept icily to the core of her heart. But Leoline had +something of Miranda's courage, as well as her looks and temper; +so she tried to feel as brave as possible, and not think of her +unpleasant predicament while there remained anything else to +think about. Perhaps she might escape, too; and, as this notion +struck her, she looked with eager anxiety, not unmixed with +curiosity, at the place where she was. By this time, her eyes +had been accustomed to the light, which proceeded from a great +antique lamp of bronze, pendent by a brass chain from the +ceiling; and she saw she was in a moderately sized and by no +means splendid room. But what struck her most was, that +everything had a look of age about it, from the glittering oak +beams of the floor to the faded ghostly hangings on the wall. +There was a bed at one end - a great spectral ark of a thing, +like a mausoleum, with drapery as old and spectral as that on the +walls, and in which she could no more have lain than in a moth- +eaten shroud. The seats and the one table the room held were of +the same ancient and weird pattern, and the sight of them gave +her a shivering sensation not unlike an ague chill. There was +but one door - a huge structure, with shining panels, securely +locked; and escape from that quarter was utterly out of the +question. There was one window, hung with dark curtains of +tarnished embroidery, but in pushing them aside, she met only a +dull blank of unlighted glass, for the shutters were firmly +secured without. Altogether, she could not form the slightest +idea where she was; and, with a feeling of utter despair, she sat +down on one of the queer old chairs, with much the same feeling +as if she were sitting in a tomb. + +What would Sir Norman say? What would he ever think of her, when +he found her gone. And what was destined to be her fate in this +dreadful out-of-the-way place? She would have cried, as most of +her sex would be tempted to do in such a situation, but that her +dislike and horror of Count L'Estrange was a good deal stronger +than her grief, and turned her tears to sparks of indignant fire. +Never, never, never! would she be his wife! He might kill her a +thousand times, if he liked, and she wouldn't yield an inch. She +did not mind dying in a good cause; she could do it but once. +And with Sir Norman despising her, as she felt he must do, when +he found her run away, she rather liked the idea than otherwise. +Mentally, she bade adieu to all her friends before beginning to +prepare for her melancholy fate - to her handsome lover, to his +gallant friend Ormiston, to her poor nurse, Prudence, and to her +mysterious visitor, La Masque. + +La Masque! Ah! that name awoke a new chord of recollection - the +casket, she had it with her yet. Instantly, everything was +forgotten but it and its contents; and she placed a chair +directly under the lamp, drew it out, and looked at it. It was a +pretty little bijou itself, with its polished ivory surface, and +shining clasps of silver. But the inside had far more interest +for her than the outside, and she fitted the key and unlocked it +with a trembling hand. It was lined with azure velvet, wrought +with silver thread, in dainty wreathe of water lilies; and in the +bottom, neatly folded, lay a sheet of foolscap. She opened it +with nervous haste; it was a common sheet enough, stamped with +fool's cap and bells, that showed it belonged to Cromwell's time. +It was closely written, in a light, fair hand, and bore the title +"Leoline's History." + +Leoline's hand trembled so with eagerness, she could scarcely +hold the paper; but her eye rapidly ran from line to line, and +she stopped not till she reached the end. While she read, her +face alternately flushed and paled, her eyes dilated, her lips +parted; and before she finished it, there came over all a look of +the most unutterable horror. It dropped from her powerless +fingers as she finished; and she sank back in her chair with such +a ghastly paleness, that it seemed absolutely like the lividness +of death. + +A sudden and startling noise awoke her from her trance of horror +- some one trying to get in at the window! The chill of terror +it sent through every vein acted as a sort of counter-irritant to +the other feeling, and she sprang from her chair and turned her +face fearfully toward the sounds. But in all her terror she did +not forget the mysterious sheet of foolscap, which lay, looking +up at her, on the floor; and she snatched it up, and thrust it +and the casket out of sight. Still the sounds went on, but +softly and cautiously; and at intervals, as if the worker were +afraid of being heard. Leoline went back, step by step, to the +other extremity of the room, with her eyes still fixed on the +window, and on her face a white terror, that left her perfectly +colorless. + +Who could it be? Not Count L'Estrange, for he would surely not +need to enter his own house like a burglar - not Sir Norman +Kingsley, for he could certainly not find out her abduction and +her prison so soon, and she had no other friends in the whole +wide world to trouble themselves about her. There was one, but +the idea of ever seeing her again was so unspeakably dreadful, +that she would rather have seen the most horrible spectre her +imagination could conjure up, than that tall, graceful, +rich-robed form. + +Still the noises perseveringly continued; there was the sound of +withdrawing bolts, and then a pale ray of moonlight shot between +the parted curtains, shoving the shutters had been opened. +Whiter and whiter Leoline grew, and she felt herself growing cold +and rigid with mortal fear. Softly the window was raised, a hand +stole in and parted the curtains, and a pale face and two great +dark eyes wandered slowly round the room, and rested at last on +her, standing, like a galvanized corpse, as far from the window +as the wall would permit. The hand was lifted in a warning +gesture, as if to enforce silence; the window was raised still +higher, a figure, lithe and agile as a cat, sprang lightly into +the room, and standing with his back to her, re-closed the +shutters, re-shut the window, and re-drew the curtains, before +taking the trouble to turn round. + +This discreet little manoeuvre, which showed her visitor was +human, and gifted with human prudence, re-assured Leoline a +little; and, to judge by the reverse of the medal, the nocturnal +intruder was nothing very formidable after all. But the stranger +did not keep her long in suspense; while she stood gazing at him, +as if fascinated, he turned round, stepped forward, took off his +cap, made her a courtly bow, and then straightening himself up, +prepared, with great coolness, to scrutinize and be scrutinized. + +Well might they look at each other; for the two faces were +perfectly the same, and each one saw himself and herself as +others saw them. There was the same coal-black, curling hair; +the same lustrous dark eyes; the same clear, colorless +complexion, the same delicate, perfect features; nothing was +different but the costume and the expression. That latter was +essentially different, for the young lady's betrayed amazement, +terror, doubt, and delight all at once; while the young +gentleman's was a grand, careless surprise, mixed with just a +dash of curiosity. + +He was the first to speak; and after they had stared at each +other for the space of five minutes, he described a graceful +sweep with his hand, and held forth in the following strain + +"I greatly fear, fair Leoline, that I have startled you by my +sudden and surprising entrance; and if I have been the cause of a +moment's alarm to one so perfectly beautiful, I shall hate myself +for ever after. If I could have got in any other way, rest +assured I would not have risked my neck and your peace of mind by +such a suspicious means of ingress as the window; but if you will +take the trouble to notice, the door is thick, and I am composed +of too solid flesh to whisk through the keyhole; so I had to make +my appearance the best way I could." + +"Who are you?" faintly asked Leoline. + +"Your friend, fair lady, and Sir Norman Kingsley's." + +Hubert looked to see Leoline start and blush, and was deeply +gratified to see her do both; and her whole pretty countenance +became alive with new-born hope, as if that name were a magic +talisman of freedom and joy. + +"What is your name, and who are you?" she inquired, in a +breathless sort of way, that made Hubert look at her a moment in +calm astonishment. + +"I have told you your friend; christened at some remote period, +Hubert. For further particulars, apply to the Earl of Rochester, +whose page I am." + +"The Earl of Rochester's page!" she repeated, in the same quick, +excited way, that surprised and rather lowered her in that good +youth's opinion, for giving way to any feelings so plebeian. "It +is - it must be the same!" + +"I have no doubt of it," said Hubert. "The same what?" + +"Did you not come from France - from Dijon, recently?" went on +Leoline, rather inappositely, as it struck her hearer. + +"Certainly I came from Dijon. Had I the honor of being known to +you there?" + +"How strange! How wonderful!" said Leoline, with a paling cheek +and quickened breathing. "How mysterious those things turn out I +Thank Heaven that I have found some one to love at last!" + +This speech, which was Greek, algebra, high Dutch, or +thereabouts, to Master Hubert, caused him to stare to such an +extent, that when he came to think of it afterward, positively +shocked him. The two great, wondering dark eyes transfixing her +with so much amazement, brought Leoline to a sense of her talking +unfathomable mysteries, quite incomprehensible to her handsome +auditor. She looked at him with a smile, held out her hand; and +Hubert received a strange little electric thrill, to see that her +eyes were full of tears. He took the hand and raised it to his +lips, wondering if the young lady, struck by his good looks, had +conceived a rash and inordinate attack of love at first sight, +and was about to offer herself to him and discard Sir Norman for +ever. From this speculation, the sweet voice aroused him. + +"You have told me who you are. Now, do you know who I am?" + +"I hope so, fairest Leoline. I know you are the most beautiful +lady in England, and to-morrow will be called Lady Kingsley!" + +"I am something more," said Leoline, holding his hand between +both hers, and bending near him; "I am your sister!" + +The Earl of Rochester's page must have had good blood in his +veins; for never was there duke, grandee, or peer of the realm, +more radically and unaffectedly nonchalant than he. To this +unexpected announcement he listened with most dignified and +well-bred composure, and in his secret heart, or rather vanity, +more disappointed than otherwise, to find his first solution of +her tenderness a great mistake. Leoline held his hand tight in +hers, and looked with loving and tearful eyes in his face. + +"Dear Hubert, you are my brother - my long-unknown brother, and I +love you with my whole heart!" + +"Am I?" said Hubert. "I dare say I am, for they all say we look +as much alike as two peas. I am excessively delighted to hear +it, and to know that you love me. Permit me to embrace my new +relative." + +With which the court page kissed Leoline with emphasis, while she +scarcely knew whether to laugh, cry, or be provoked at his +composure. On the whole, she did a little of all three, and +pushed him away with a halt pout. + +"You insensible mortal! How can you stand there and hear that +you have found a sister with so much indifference?" + +"Indifferent? Not I! You have no idea how wildly excited I am!" +said Hubert, in a voice not betokening the slightest emotion. +"How did you find it out, Leoline?" + +"Never mind! I shall tell you that again. You don't doubt it, I +hope?" + +"Of course not! I knew from the first moment I set eyes on you, +that if you were not my sister, you ought to be! I wish you'd +tell me all the particulars, Leoline." + +"I shall do so as soon as I am out of this; but how can I tell +you anything here?" + +"That's true!" said Hubert, reflectively. "Well, I'll wait. +Now, don't you wonder how I found you out, and came here?" + +"Indeed I do. How was it, Hubert?" + +"Oh, well, I don't know as I can altogether tell you; but you +see, Sir Norman Kingsley being possessed of an inspiration that +something was happening to you, came to your house a short time +ago, and, as he suspected, discovered that you were missing. I +met him there, rather depressed in his mind about it, and he told +me - beginning the conversation, I must say, in a very excited +manner," said Hubert, parenthetically, as memory recalled the +furious shaking he had undergone - "and he told me he fancied you +were abducted, and by one Count L'Estrange. Now I had a hazy +idea who Count L'Estrange was, and where he would be most apt to +take you to; and so I came here, and after some searching, more +inquiring, and a few unmitigated falsehoods (you'll regret to +hear), discovered you were locked up in this place, and succeeded +in getting in through the window. Sir Norman is waiting for me +in a state of distraction so now, having found you, I will go and +relieve his mind by reporting accordingly." + +"And leave me here?" cried Leoline, in affright, "and in the +power of Count L'Estrange? Oh! no, no! You must take me with +you, Hubert!" + +"My dear Leoline, it is quite impossible to do it without help, +and without a ladder. I will return to Sir Norman; and when the +darkness comes that precedes day-dawn, we will raise the ladder +to your window, and try to get you out. Be patient - only wait +an hour or two, and then you will be free." + +"But, O Hubert, where am I? What dreadful place it this?" + +"Why, I do not know that this is a very dreadful place; and most +people consider it a sufficiently respectable house; but, still, +I would rather see my sister anywhere else than in it, and will +take the trouble of kidnapping her out of it as quickly as +possible." + +"But, Hubert, tell me - do tell me, who is Count L'Estrange?" +Hubert laughed. + +"Cannot, really, Leoline! at least, not until to-morrow, and you +are Lady Kingsley." + +"But, what if he should come here to-night?" + +"I do not think there is much danger of that, but whether he does +or not, rest assured you shall be free to-morrow! At all events, +it is quite impossible for you to escape with me now; and even as +it is, I run the risk of being detected, and made a prisoner, +myself. You must be patient and wait, Leoline, and trust to +Providence and your brother Hubert!" + +"I must, I suppose!" said Leoline, sighing, "and you cannot take +me away until day-dawn." + +"Quite impossible; and then all this drapery of yours will be +ever so much in the way. Would you object to garments like +these?" pointing to his doublet and hose. "If you would not, I +think I could procure you a fit-out." + +"But I should, though!" said Leoline, with spirit "and most +decidedly, too! I shall wear nothing of the kind, Sir Page!" + +"Every one to her fancy!" said Hubert, with a French shrug, "and +my pretty sister shall have hers in spite of earth, air, fire, +and water! And now, fair Leoline, for a brief time, adieu, and +au revoir !" + +"You will not fail me!" exclaimed Leoline, earnestly, clasping +her hands. + +"If I do, it shall be the last thing I will fail in on earth; for +if I am alive by to-morrow morning, Leoline shall be free!" + +"And you will be careful - you will both be careful!" + +"Excessively careful! Now then." + +The last two words were addressed to the window which he +noiselessly opened as he spoke. Leoline caught a glimpse of the +bright free moonlight, and watched him with desperate envy; but +the next moment the shutters were closed, and Hubert and the +moonlight were both gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HUBERT'S WHISPER. + + +Sir Norman Kingsley's consternation and horror on discovering the +dead body of his friend, was only equalled by his amazement as to +how he got there, or how he came to be dead at all. The livid +face, up turned to the moonlight, was unmistakably the face of a +dead man - it was no swoon, no deception, like Leoline's; for the +blue, ghastly paleness that marks the flight of the soul from the +body was stamped on every rigid feature. Yet, Sir Norman could +not realize it. We all know how hard it is to realize the death +of a friend from whom we have but lately parted in full health +and life, and Ormiston's death was so sudden. Why, it was not +quite two hours since they had parted in Leoline's house, and +even the plague could not carry off a victim as quickly as this. + +"Ormiston! Ormiston!" he called, between grief and dismay, as he +raised him in his arms, with his hand over the stilled heart; but +Ormiston answered not, and the heart gave no pulsation beneath +his fingers. He tore open his doublet, as the thought of the +plague flashed through his mind, but no plague-spot was to be +seen, and it was quite evident, from the appearance of the face, +that he had not died of the distemper, neither was there any +wound or mark to show that he had met his end violently. Yet the +cold, white face was convulsed, as if he had died in throes of +agony, the hands were clenched, till the nails sank into the +flesh; and that was the only outward sign or token that he had +suffered in expiring. + +Sir Norman was completely at a lose, and half beside himself, +with a thousand conflicting feelings of sorrow, astonishment, and +mystification. The rapid and exciting events of the night had +turned his head into a mental chaos, as they very well might, but +he still had commonsense enough left to know that something must +be done about this immediately. He knew the best place to take +Ormiston was to the nearest apothecary's shop, which +establishments were generally open, and filled, the whole +livelong night, by the sick and their friends. As he was +meditating whether or not to call the surly watchman to help him +carry the body, a pest-cart came, providentially, along, and the +driver-seeing a young man bending over a prostrate form-guessed +at once what was the matter, and came to a halt. + +"Another one!" he said, coming leisurely up, and glancing at the +lifeless form with a very professional eye. "Well, I think there +is room for another one in the cart; so bear a hand, friend, and +let us have him out of this." + +"You are mistaken!" said Sir Norman sharply, "he has not died of +the plague. I am not even certain whether he is dead at all." + +The driver looked at Sir Norman, then stooped down and touched +Ormiston's icy face, and listened to hear him breathe. He stood +up after a moment, with some thing like a small laugh. + +"If he's alive," he said, turning to go, "then I never saw any +one dead! Good night, sir, I wish you joy when you bring him +to." + +"Stay!" exclaimed the young man, "I wish you to assist me in +bringing him to yonder apothecary's shop, and you may have this +for your pains." + +"This" proved to be a talisman of alacrity; for the man pocketed +it, and briskly laid hold of Ormiston by the feet, while Sir +Norman wrapped his cloak reverently about him and took him by the +shoulders. In this style his body was conveyed to the +apothecary's shop which they found half full of applicants for +medicine, among whom their entrance with the corpse produced no +greater sensation than a momentary stare. The attire and bearing +of Sir Norman proving him to be something different from their +usual class of visitors, bringing one of the drowsy apprentices +immediately to his side, inquiring what were his orders. + +"A private room, and your master's attendance directly," was the +authoritative reply. + +Both were to be had; the former, a hole in the wall behind the +shop; the latter, a pallid, cadaverous-looking person, with the +air of one who had been dead a week, thought better of it and +rose again. There was a long table in the aforesaid hole in the +wall, bearing a strong family likeness to a dissecting-table; +upon which the stark figure was laid, and the pest-cart driver +disappeared. The apothecary held a mirror close to the, face; +applied his ear to the pulse and heart; held a pocket-mirror over +his mouth, looked at it; shook his head; and set down the candle +with decision. + +"The man is dead, sir!" was his criticism, "dead as a door nail! +All the medicine in the shop wouldn't kindle one spark of life in +such ashes!" + +"At least, try! Try something - bleeding for instance," +suggested Sir Norman. + +Again the apothecary examined the body, and again he shook his +head dolefully. + +"It's no use, sir: but, if it will please, you can try." + +The right arm was bared; the lancet inserted, one or two black +drops sluggishly followed and nothing more. + +"It's all a waste of time, you see," remarked the apothecary, +wiping his dreadful little weapon, "he's as dead as ever I saw +anybody in my life! How did he come to his end, sir - not by the +plague?" + +"I don't know," said Sir Norman, gloomily. "I wish you would +tell me that." + +"Can't do it, sir; my skill doesn't extend that far. There is no +plague-spot or visible wound or bruise on the person; so he must +have died of some internal complaint - probably disease of the +heart." + +"Never knew him to have such a thing," said Sir Norman, sighing. +"It is very mysterious and very dreadful, and notwithstanding all +you have said, I cannot believe him dead. Can he not remain here +until morning, at least?" + +The starved apothecary looked at him out of a pair of hollow, +melancholy eyes. + +"Gold can do anything," was his plaintive reply. + +"I understand. You shall have it. Are you sure you can do +nothing more for him?" + +"Nothing whatever, sir; and excuse me, but there are customers in +the shop, and I must leave, sir." + +Which he did, accordingly; and Sir Norman was left alone with all +that remained of him who, two hours before, was his warm friend. +He could scarcely believe that it was the calm majesty of death +that so changed the expression of that white face, and yet, the +longer he looked, the more deeply an inward conviction assured +him that it was so. He chafed the chilling hands and face, he +applied hartshorn and burnt feathers to the nostrils, but all +these applications, though excellent in their way, could not +exactly raise the dead to life, and, in this case, proved a +signal, failure. He gave up his doctoring, at last, in despair, +and folding his arms, looked down at what lay on the table, and +tried to convince himself that it was Ormiston. So absorbed was +he in the endeavor, that he heeded not the passing moments, until +it struck him with a shock that Hubert might even now be waiting +for him at the trysting-place, with news of Leoline. Love is +stronger than friendship, stronger than grief, stronger than +death, stronger than every other feeling in the world; so he +suddenly seized his bat, turned his back on Ormiston and the +apothecary's shop, and strode oft to the place he had quitted. + +No Hubert was there, but two figures were passing slowly along in +the moonlight, and one of them he recognized, with an impulse to +spring at him like a tiger and strangle him. But he had been so +shocked and subdued by his recent discovery, that the impulse +which, half an hour before, would have been unhesitatingly +obeyed, went for nothing, now; and there was more of reproach, +even, than anger in his voice, as he went over and laid his hand +on the shoulder of one of them. + +"Stay!" he said. "One word with you, Count L'Estrange. What +have you done with Leoline!" + +"Ah! Sir Norman, as I live!" cried the count wheeling round and +lifting his hat. "Give me good even - or rather, good morning - +Kingsley, for St. Paul's has long gone the midnight hour." + +Sir Norman, with his hand still on his shoulder, returned not the +courtesy, and regarding the gallant count with a stern eye. + +"Where is Leoline?" he frigidly repeated. + +"Really," said the count, with some embarrassment, "you attack me +so unexpectedly, and so like a ghost or a highwayman - by the way +I have a word to say to you about highwaymen, and was seeking you +to say it." + +"Where is Leoline?" shouted the exasperated young knight, +releasing his shoulder, and clutching him by the throat. "Tell +me or, by Heaven! I'll pitch you neck and heels into the Thames!" + +Instantly the sword of the count's companion flashed in the +moonlight, and, in two seconds more, its blue blade would have +ended the earthly career of Sir Norman Kingsley, had not the +count quickly sprang back, and made a motion for his companion to +hold. + +"Wait!" he cried, commandingly, with his arm outstretched to +each. "Keep off! George, sheathe your sword and stand aside. +Sir Norman Kingsley, one word with you, and be it in peace." + +"There can be no peace between us," replied that aggravated young +gentleman, fiercely "until you tell me what has become of +Leoline." + +"All in good time. We have a listener, and does it mot strike +you our conference should be private!" + +"Public or private, it matters not a jot, so that you tell me +what you've done with Leoline," replied Sir Norman, with whom it +was evident getting beyond this question was a moral and physical +impossibility. "And if you do not give an account of yourself, +I'll run you through as sure as your name is Count L'Estrange!" + +A strange sort of smile came over the face of the count at this +direful threat, as if he fancied in that case, he was safe +enough; but Sir Norman, luckily, did not see it, and heard only +the suave reply: + +"Certainly, Sir Norman; I shall be delighted to do so. Let us +stand over there in the shadow of that arch; and, George, do you +remain here within call." + +The count blandly waved Sir Norman to follow, which Sir Norman +did, with much the mein of a sulky lion; and, a moment after, +both were facing each other within the archway. + +"Well!" cried the young knight, impatiently; "I am waiting. Go +on!" + +"My dear Kingsley," responded the count, in his easy way, "I +think you are laboring under a little mistake. I have nothing to +go on about; it is you who are to begin the controversy." + +"Do you dare to play with me?" exclaimed Sir Norman, furiously. +"I tell you to take care how you speak! What have you done with +Leoline?" + +"That is the fourth or fifth time that you've asked me that +question," said the count, with provoking indifference. "What do +you imagine I have done with her?" + +Sir Norman's feelings, which had been rising ever since their +meeting, got up to such a height at this aggravating question, +that he gave vent to an oath, and laid his hand on him sword; but +the count's hand lightly interposed before it came out. + +"Not yet, Sir Norman. Be calm; talk rationally. What do you +accuse me of doing with Leoline?" + +"Do you dare deny having carried her off?" + +"Deny it? No; I am never afraid to father my own deeds." + +"Ah!" said Sir Norman grinding his teeth. "Then you acknowledge +it?" + +"I acknowledge it - yes. What next?" + +The perfect composure of his tone fell like a cool, damp towel on +the fire of Sir Norman's wrath. It did not quite extinguish the +flame, however - only quenched it a little - and it still hissed +hotly underneath. + +"And you dare to stand before me and acknowledge such an act?" +exclaimed Sir Norman, perfectly astounded at the cool assurance +of the man. + +"Verily, yea," said the count, laughing. "I seldom take the +trouble to deny my acts. What next?" + +"There is nothing next," said Sir Norman, severely, "until we +have come to a proper understanding about this. Are you aware, +sir, that that lady is my promised bride?" + +"No, I do not know that I am. On the contrary, I have an idea +she is mine." + +"She was, you mean. You know she was forced into consenting by +yourself and her nurse!" + +"Still she consented; and a bond is a bond, and a promise a +promise, all the world over." + +"Not with a woman," said Sir Norman, with stern dogmatism. "It +is their privilege to break their promise and change their mind +sixty times an hour, if they choose. Leoline has seen fit to do +both, and has accepted me in your stead; therefore I command you +instantly to give her up!" + +"Softly, my friend - softly. How was I to know all this?" + +"You ought to have known it!" returned Sir Norman, in the same +dogmatical way; "or if you didn't, you do now; so say no more +about it. Where is she, I tell you?" repeated the young man, in +a frenzy. + +"Your patience one moment longer, until we see which of us has +the best right to the lady. I have a prior claim." + +"A forced one. Leoline does not care a snap far you - and she +loves me." + +"What extraordinary bad taste!" raid the count, thoughtfully. +"Did she tell you that?" + +"Yes; she did tell me this, and a great deal more. Come - have +done talking, and tell me where she is, or I'll - " + +"Oh, no, you wouldn't!" said the count, teasingly. "Since +matters stand in this light I'll tell you what I'll do. I +acknowledge that I carried off Leoline, viewing her as my +promised bride, and have sent her to my own home in the care of a +trusty messenger, where I give you my word of honor, I have not +been since. She is as safe there, and much safer than in her own +house, until morning, and it would be a pity to disturb her at +this unseasonable hour. When the morning comes, we will both go +to her together - state our rival claims - and whichever one she +decides on accepting, can have her, and end the matter at once." + +The count paused and meditated. This proposal was all very +plausible and nice on the surface, but Sir Norman with his usual +penetration and acuteness, looked farther than the surface, and +found a flaw. + +"And how am I to know," he asked, doubtingly, "that you will not +go to her to-night and spirit her off where I will never hear of +either of you again?" + +"In the very best way in the world: we will not part company +until morning comes, are we at peace?" inquired the count, +smiling and holding out but hand. + +"Until then, we will have to be, I suppose," replied Sir Norman, +rather ungraciously taking the hand as if it were red-hot, and +dropping it again. "And we are to stand here and rail at each +other, in the meantime?" + +"By no means! Even the most sublime prospect tires when surveyed +too long. There is a little excursion which I would like you to +accompany me on, if you have no objection." + +"Where to?" + +"To the ruin, where you have already been twice to-night." + +Sir Norman stared. + +"And who told you this fact, Sir Count?" + +"Never mind; I have heard it. Would you object to a third +excursion there before morning?" + +Again Sir Norman paused and meditated. There was no use in +staying where he was, that would bring him no nearer to Leoline, +and nothing was to be gained by killing the count beyond the mere +transitory pleasure of the thing. On the other hand, he had an +intense and ardent desire to re-visit the ruin, and learn what +had become of Miranda -the only draw-back being that, if they +were found they would both be most assuredly beheaded. Then, +again, there was Hubert. + +"Well," inquired the count, as Sir Norman looked up. + +"I have no objection to go with you to the ruin," was the reply, +"only this; if we are seen there, we will be dead men two minutes +after; and I have no desire to depart this life until I have had +that promised interview with Leoline." + +"I have thought of that," said the count, "and have provided for +it. We may venture in the lion's den without the slightest +danger: all that is required being your promise to guide us +thither. Do you give it?" + +"I do; but I expect a friend here shortly, and cannot start until +he comes." + +"If you mean me by that, I am here," said a voice at his elbow; +and, looking round, he saw Hubert himself, standing there, a +quiet listener and spectator of the scene. + +Count L'Estrange looked at him with interest, and Hubert, +affecting not to notice the survey, watched Sir Norman. + +"Well," was that individual's eager address, "were you +successful?" + +The count was still watching the boy so intently, that that most +discreet youth was suddenly seized with a violent fit of +coughing, which precluded all possibility of reply for at least +five minutes; and Sir Norman, at the same moment, felt his arm +receive a sharp and warning pinch. + +"Is this your friend?" asked the count. "He is a very small one, +and seems in a bad state of health." + +Sir Norman, still under the influence of the pinch, replied by an +inaudible murmur, and looked with a deeply mystified expression, +at Hubert. + +"He bears a strong resemblance to the lady we were talking of a +moment ago," continued the count - "is sufficiently like her, in +fact, to be her brother; and, I see wears the livery of the Earl +of Rochester." + +"God spare you your eye-sight!" said Sir Norman, impatiently. +"Can you not see, among the rest, that I have a few words to say +to him in private? Permit us to leave you for a moment." + +"There is no need to do so. I will leave you, as I have a few +words to say to the person who is with me." + +So saying the count walked away, and Hubert followed him with a +most curious look. + +"Now," cried Sir Norman, eagerly, "what news?" + +"Good!" said the boy. "Leoline is safe!" + +"And where?" + +"Not far from here. Didn't he tell you?" + +"The count? No - yes; he said she was at his house." + +"Exactly. That is where she is," said Hubert, looking much +relieved. "And, at present, perfectly safe." + +"And did you see her?" + +"Of course; and heard her too. She was dreadfully anxious to +come with me; but that was out of the question." + +"And how is she to be got away?" + +"That I do not clearly see. We will have to bring a ladder, and +there will be so much danger, and so little chance of success, +that, to me it seems an almost hopeless task. Where did you meet +Count L'Estrange?" + +"Here; and he told me that he bad abducted her, and held her a +prisoner in his own house." + +"He owned that did he? I wonder you were not fit to kill him?" + +"So I was, at first, but he talked the matter over somehow." + +And hereupon Sir Norman briefly and quickly rehearsed the +substance of their conversation. Hubert listened to it +attentively, and laughed as he concluded. + +"Well, I do not see that you can do otherwise, Sir Norman, and I +think it would be wise to obey the count for to-night, at least. +Then to-morrow - if things do not go on well, we can take the law +in our own hands." + +"Can we?" said Sir Norman, doubtfully, "I do wish you would tell +me who this infernal count is, Hubert, for I am certain you +know." + +"Not until to-morrow - you shall know him then." + +"To-morrow! to-morrow!" exclaimed Sir Norman, disconsolately. +"Everything is postponed until to-morrow! Oh, here comes the +count back again. Are we going to start now, I wonder?" + +"Is your friend to accompany us on our expedition?" inquired the +count, standing before them. "It shall be quite as you say, Mr. +Kingsley." + +"My friend can do as he pleases. What do you say, Hubert?" + +"I should like to go, of all things, if neither of you have any +objections." + +"Come on, then," said the count, "we will find horses in +readiness a short distance from this." + +The three started together, and walked on in silence through +several streets, until they reached a retired inn, where the +count's recent companion stood, with the horses. Count +L'Estrange whispered a few words to him, upon which he bowed and +retired; and in an instant they were all in the saddle, and +galloping away. + +The journey was rather a silent one, and what conversation there +was, was principally sustained by the count. Hubert's usual flow +of pertinent chat seemed to have forsaken him, and Sir Norman had +so many other things to think of - Leoline, Ormiston, Miranda, +and the mysterious count himself - that he felt in no mood for +talking. Soon, they left the city behind them; the succeeding +two miles were quickly passed over, and the "Golden Crown," all +dark and forsaken, now hove in sight. As they reached this, and +cantered up the road leading to the ruin, Sir Norman drew rein, +and said: + +"I think our best plan would be, to dismount, and lead our horses +the rest of the way, and not incur any unnecessary danger by +making a noise. We can fasten them to these trees, where they +will be at hand when we come out." + +"Wait one moment," said the count, lifting his finger with a +listening look. "Listen to that!" + +It was a regular tramp of horses' hoofs, sounding in the silence +like a charge of cavalry. While they looked, a troop of horsemen +came galloping up, and came to a halt when they saw the count. + +No words can depict the look of amazement Sir Norman's face wore; +but Hubert betrayed not the least surprise. The count glanced at +his companions with a significant smile, and riding back, held a +brief colloquy with him who seemed the leader of the horsemen. +He rode up to them, smiling still, and saying, as he passed + +"Now then, Kingsley; lead on, and we will follow!" + +"I go not one step further," said Sir Norman, firmly, "until I +know who I am leading. Who are you, Count L'Estrange?" + +The count looked at him, but did not answer. A warning hand - +that of Hubert - grasped Sir Norman's arm; and Hubert's voice +whispered hurriedly in his ear: + +"Hush, for God's sake! It is the king!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +AT THE PLAGUE-PIT. + + +The effect of the whisper was magical. Everything that had been +dark before, became clear as noonday; and Sir Norman sat +absolutely astounded at his own stupidity in not having found it +out for himself before. Every feature, notwithstanding the +disguise of wig and beard, became perfectly familiar; and even +through the well-assumed voice, he recognized the royal tones. +It struck him all at once, and with it the fact of Leoline's +increased danger. Count L'Estrange was a formidable rival, but +King Charles of England was even more formidable. + +Thought is quick - quicker than the electric telegraph or balloon +traveling; and in two seconds the whole stated things, with all +the attendant surprises and dangers, danced before his mind's eye +like a panorama; and he comprehended the past, the present, and +the future, before Hubert had uttered the last word of his +whisper. He turned his eyes, with a very new and singular +sensation, upon the quondam count, and found that gentlemen +looking very hard at him, with, a preternaturally grave +expression of countenance. Sir Norman knew well as anybody the +varying moods of his royal countship, and, notwithstanding his +general good nature, it was not safe to trifle with him at all +times; so he repressed every outward sign of emotion whatever, +and resolved to treat him as Count L'Estrange until he should +choose to sail under his own proper colors. + +"Well," said the count, with unruffled eagerness, "and so you +decline to go any further Sir Norman?" + +Hubert's eye was fixed with a warning glance upon him, and Sir +Norman composedly answered + +"No, count; I do not absolutely decline; but before I do go any +further, I should like to know by what right do you bring all +these men here, and what are your intentions in so doing." + +"And if I refuse to answer?" + +"Then I refuse to move a step further in the business!" said Sir +Norman, with decision. + +"And why, my good friend? You surely can have no objection to +anything that can be done against highwaymen and cut-throats." + +"Right! I have no objections, but others may." + +"Whom do you mean by others?" + +"The king, for instance. His gracious majesty is whimsical at +times; and who knows that he may take it into his royal head to +involve us somehow with them. I know the adage, 'put not your +trust in princes.'" + +"Very good," said the count, with a slight and irrepressible +smile; "your prudence is beyond all praise! But I think, in this +matter I may safely promise to stand between you and the king's +wrath. Look at those horsemen beyond you, and see if they do not +wear the uniform of his majesty's own body-guard." + +Sir Norman looked, and saw the dazzling of their splendid +equipments glancing and glistening in the moonbeams. + +"I see. Then you have the royal permission for all this?" + +"You have said it. Now, most scrupulous of men, proceed!" + +"Look there!" exclaimed Hubert, suddenly pointing to a corner of +the rain. "Someone has seen us, and is going now to give the +alarm." + +"He shall miss it, though!" said Sir Norman, detecting, at the +same instant, a dark figure getting through the broken doorway; +and striking spurs into his horse, he was instantaneously beside +it, out of the saddle, and had grasped the retreater by the +shoulder. + +"By your leave!" exclaimed Sir Norman. "Not quite so fast! +Stand out here in the moonlight, until I see who you are." + +"Let me go!" cried the man, grappling with his opponent. "I know +who you are, and I swear you'll never see moonlight or sunlight +again, if you do not instantly let me go." + +Sir Norman recognized the voice with a perfect shout of delight. + +"The duke, by all that's lucky! O, I'll let you go: but not until +the hangman gets hold of you. Villain and robber, you shall pay +for your misdeeds now!" + +"Hold!" shouted the commanding voice of Count L'Estrange. +"Cease, Sir Norman Kingsley! there is no time, and this is no +person for you to scoff with. He is our prisoner, and shall show +us the nearest way into this den of thieves. Give me your sword, +fellow, and be thankful I do not make you shorter by a head with +it." + +"You do not know him!" cried Sir Norman; in vivid excitement. "I +tell you this is the identical scoundrel who attempted to rob and +murder you a few hours ago." + +"So much the better! He shall pay for that and all his other +shortcomings, before long! But, in the meantime, I order him to +bring us before the rest of this outlawed crew." + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," said the duke, sullenly. + +"Just as you please. Here, my men, two of you take hold of this +scoundrel, and dispatch him at once." + +The guard had all dismounted; and two of them came forward with +edifying obedience, to do as they were told. + +The effect upon the duke was miraculous. Instantly he started +up, with an energy perfectly amazing: + +"No, no, no! I'll do it! Come this way, gentlemen, and I'll +bring you direct into their midst. O good Lord! whatever will +become of us?" + +This last frantic question was addressed to society in general, +but Sir Norman felt called upon to answer: + +"That's very easily told, my man. If you and the rest of your +titled associates receive your deserts (as there is no doubt you +will) from the gracious hand of our sovereign lord, the king, the +strongest rope and highest gallows at Tyburn will be your +elevated destiny." + +The duke groaned dismally, and would have come to a halt to beg +mercy on the spot, had not Hubert given him a probe in, the ribs +with the point of his dagger, that sent him on again, with a +distracted howl. + +"Why, this is a perfect Hades!" said the count, as he stumbled +after, in the darkness. "Are you sure we are going right, +Kingsley" + +The inquiry was not unnatural, for the blackness was perfectly +Tartarian, and the soldiers behind were knocking their tall shins +against all sorts of obstacles as they groped blindly along, +invoking from them countless curses, not loud, but deep. + +"I don't know whether we are or not," said Sir Norman +significantly; "only, God help him if we're not! Where are you +taking us to, you black-looking bandit?" + +"I give you my word of honor, gentlemen," said an imploring voice +in the darkness, "that I'm leading you, by the nearest way, to +the Midnight Court. All I ask of you in return is, that you +will let me enter before you; for if they find that I lead you +in, my life will not be worth a moment's purchase." + +"As if it ever was worth it," said Sir Norman, contemptuously. +"On with you, and be thankful I don't save your companions the +trouble, by making an end of you where you stand." + +"Rush along, old fellow," suggested Hubert, giving him another +poke with his dagger, that drew forth a second doleful howl. + +Notwithstanding the darkness, Sir Norman discovered that they +were being led in a direction exactly opposite that by which he +had previously effected an entrance. They were in the vault, he +knew, by the darkness, though they had descended no stair-case, +and he was just wondering if their guide was not meditating some +treachery by such a circuitous route, when suddenly a tumult of +voices, and uproar, and confusion, met his ear. At the same +instant, their guide opened a door, revealing a dark passage, +illuminated by a few rays of light, and which Sir Norman +instantly recognized as that leading to the Black Chamber. +Here again the duke paused, and turned round to them with a +wildly-imploring face. + +"Gentlemen, I do conjure you to let me enter before you do! I +tell you they will murder me the very instant they discover I +have led you here!" + +"That would be a great pity!" said the count; "and the gallows +will be cheated of one of its brightest ornaments! That is your +den of thieves, I suppose, from which all this uproar comes?" + +"It is. And as I have guided you safely to it, surely I deserve +this trifling boon." + +"Trifling, do you call it," interposed Sir Norman, "to let you +make your escape, as you most assuredly will do the moment you +are out of our sight! No, no; we are too old birds to be caught +with such chaff; and though the informer always gets off +scot-free, your services deserve no such boon; for we could have +found our way without your help! On with you, Sir Robber; and if +your companions do kill you, console yourself with the thought +that they have only anticipated the executioner by a few days!" + +With a perfectly heart-rending groan, the unfortunate duke walked +on; but when they reached the archway directly before the room, +he came to an obstinate halt, and positively refused to go a step +farther. It was death, anyway, and he resisted with the courage +of desperation, feeling he might as well die there as go in and +be assassinated by his confederates, and not even the persuasive +influence of Hubert's dagger could prevail on him to budge an +inch farther. + +"Stay, then!" said the count, with perfect indifference. "And, +soldiers, see that he does not escape! Now, Kingsley, let us +just have a glimpse of what is going on within." + +Though the party had made considerable noise in advancing, and +had spoken quite loudly in their little animated discussion with +the duke, so great was the turmoil and confusion within, that it +was not heeded, or even heard. With very different feelings from +those with which he had stood there last, Sir Norman stepped +forward and stood beside the count, looking at the scene within. + +The crimson court was in a state of "most admired disorder," and +the confusion of tongues was equal to Babel. No longer were they +languidly promenading, or lolling in the cushioned chairs; but +all seemed running to and fro in the wildest excitement, which +the grandest duke among them seemed to share equally with the +terrified white sylphs. Everybody appeared to be talking +together, and paying no attention whatever to the sentiments of +their neighbors. One universal centre of union alone seemed to +exist, and that was the green, judicial table near the throne, +upon which, while all tongues ran, all eyes turned. For some +minutes, neither of the beholders could make out why, owing to +the crowd (principally of the ladies) pressing around it; but Sir +Norman guessed, and thrilled through with a vague sensation of +terror, lest it should prove to be the dead body of Miranda. +Skipping in and out among the females he saw the dwarf, +performing a sort of war dance of rage and frenzy; twining both +hands in his wig, as if he would have torn it out by the roots, +and anon tearing at somebody else's wig, so that everybody backed +off when he came near them. + +"Who is that little fiend?" inquired the count; "and what have +they got there at the and of the room, pray?" + +"That little fiend is the ringleader here, and is entitled Prince +Caliban. Regarding your other question," said Sir Norman, with a +faint thrill, "there was a table there when I saw it last, but I +am afraid there is something worse now." + +"Could ever any mortal conceive of such a scene," observed the +count to himself; "look at that little picture of ugliness; how +he hops about like a dropsical bull-frog. Some of those women +are very pretty, too, and outshine more than one court-beauty +that I have seen. Upon my word, it is the most extraordinary +spectacle I ever heard of. I wonder what they've got that's so +attractive down there?" + +At the same moment, a loud voice within the circle abruptly +exclaimed + +"She revives, she revives! Back, back, and give her air!" + +Instantly, the throng swayed and fell back; and the dwarf, with a +sort of yell (whether of rage or relief, nobody knew), swept them +from side to side with a wave of his long arms, and cleared a +wide vacancy for his own especial benefit. The action gave the +count an opportunity of gratifying his curiosity. The object of +attraction was now plainly visible. Sir Norman's surmises had +been correct. The green table of the parliament-house of the +midnight court had been converted, by the aid of cushions and +pillows, into an extempore couch.; and half-buried in their downy +depths lay Miranda, the queen. The sweeping robe of royal +purple, trimmed with ermine, the circlets of jewels on arms, +bosom, and head, she still wore, and the beautiful face was +white: than fallen snow. Yet she was not dead, as Sir Norman had +dreaded; for the dark eyes were open, and were fixed with an +unutterable depth of melancholy on vacancy. Her arms lay +helplessly by her side, and someone, the court physician +probably, was bending over her and feeling her pulse. + +As the count's eyes fell upon her, he started back, and grasped +Sir Norman's arm with consternation. + +"Good heavens, Kingsley!" he cried; "it is Leoline, herself!" + +In his excitement he had spoken so loud, that in the momentary +silence that followed the physician's direction, his voice had +rung through the room, and drew every eye upon them. + +"We are seen, we are seen!" shouted Hubert, and as he spoke, a +terrible cry idled the room. In an instant every sword leaped +from its scabbard, and the shriek of the startled women rang +appallingly out on the air. Sir Norman drew his sword, too; but +the count, with his eyes yet fixed on Miranda, still held him by +the arm, and excitedly exclaimed + +"Tell me, tell me, is it Leoline?" + +"Leoline! No - how could it be Leoline? They look alike, that's +all. Draw your sword, count, and defend yourself; we are +discovered, and they are upon us!" + +"We are upon them, you mean, and it is they who are discovered," +said the count, doing as directed, and stepping boldly in. "A +pretty hornet's next is this we have lit upon, if ever there was +one." + +Side by side with the count, with a dauntless step and eye, Sir +Norman entered, too; and, at sight of him a burst of surprise and +fury rang from lip to lip. There was a yell of "Betrayed, +betrayed!" and the dwarf, with a face so distorted by fiendish +fury that it was scarcely human, made a frenzied rush at him, +when the clear, commanding voice of the count rang like a bugle +blast through the assembly + +"Sheathe your swords, the whole of you, and yield yourselves +prisoners. In the king's name, I command you to surrender." + +"There is no king here but I!" screamed the dwarf, gnashing his +teeth, and fairly foaming with rage. "Die; traitor and spy! You +have escaped me once, but your hour is come now." + +"Allow me to differ from you," said Sir Norman, politely, as he +evaded the blindly-frantic lunge of the dwarf's sword, and +inserted an inch or two of the point of his own in that enraged +little prince's anatomy. "So far from my hour having come - if +you will take the trouble to reflect upon it - you will find it +is the reverse, and that my little friend's brief and brilliant +career in rapidly drawing to a close." + +At these bland remarks, and at the sharp thrust that accompanied +them, the dwarfs previous war-dance of anxiety was nothing to the +horn-pipe of exasperation he went through when Sir Norman ceased. +The blood was raining from his side, and from the point of his +adversary's sword, as he withdrew it; and, maddened like a wild +beast at the sight of his own blood, he screeched, and foamed, +and kicked about his stout little legs, and gnashed his teeth, +and made grabs at his wig, and lashed the air with his sword, and +made such desperate pokes with it, at Sir Norman and everybody +else who came in his way, that, for the public good, the young +knight run him through the sword-arm, and, in spite of all his +distracted didos, captured him by the help of Hubert, and passed +him over to the soldiers to cheer and keep company with the duke. + +This brisk little affair being over, Sir Norman had time to look +about him. It had all passed in so short a space, and the dwarf +had been so desperately frantic, that the rest had paused +involuntarily, and were still looking on. Missing the count, he +glanced around the room, and discovered him standing on Miranda's +throne, looking over the company with the cool air of a +conqueror. Miranda, aroused, as she very well might be by all +this screaming and fighting, had partly raised herself upon her +elbow, and was looking wildly about her. As her eye fell on Sir +Norman, she sat fairly erect, with a cry of exultation and joy. + +"You have come, you have come, as I knew you would," she +excitedly cried, "and the hour of retribution is at hand!" + +At the words of one who, a few moments before, they had supposed +to be dead, an awestruck silence fell; and the count, taking +advantage of it, waved his hand, and cried + +"Yield yourselves prisoners, I command you! The royal guards are +without; and the first of you who offers the slightest resistance +will die like a dog! Ho, guards I enter, and seize your +prisoners!" + +Quick as thought the room was full of soldiers! but the rest of +the order was easier said than obeyed. The robbers, knowing +their doom was death, fought with the fury of desperation, and a +snort, wild, and terrible conflict ensued. Foremost in the melee +was Sir Norman and the count; while Hubert, who had taken +possession of the dwarf's sword, fought like a young lion. The +shrieks of the women were heart-rending, as they all fled, +precipitately, into the blue dining-room; and, crouching in +corners, or flying distractedly about - true to their sex - made +the air resound with the most lamentable cries. Some five or +six, braver than the rest, alone remained; and more than one of +these actually mixed in the affray, with a heroism worthy a +better cause. Miranda, still sitting erect, and supported in the +arms of a kneeling and trembling sylph in white, watched the +conflict with terribly-exultant eyes, that blazed brighter and +brighter with the lurid fire of vengeful joy st every robber that +fell. + +"Oh, that I were strong enough to wield a sword!" was her fierce +aspiration every instant; "if I could only mix in that battle for +five minutes, I could die with a happy heart!" + +Had she been able to wield a sword for five minutes, according to +her wish, she would probably have wielded it from beginning to +end of the battle; for it did not last much longer than that. +The robbers fought with fury and ferocity; but they had been +taken by surprise, and were overpowered by numbers, and obliged +to yield. + +The crimson court was indeed crimson now; for the velvet +carpeting was dyed a more terrible red, and was slippery with a +rain of blood! A score of dead and dying lay groaning on the +ground; and the rest, beaten and bloody, gave up their swords and +surrendered. + +"You should have done this at first!" said the count, coolly +wiping his blood-stained weapon, end replacing it in its sheath; +"and, by so doing, saved some time and more bloodshed. Where are +all the fair ladies, Kingsley, I saw here when we entered first?" + +"They fled like a flock of frightened deer," said Hubert, taking +it upon himself to answer, "through yonder archway when the fight +commenced. I will go in search of them if you like." + +"I am rather at a loss what to do with them," said the count, +half-laughing. "It would be a pity to bring such a cavalcade of +pretty women into the city to die of the plague. Can you suggest +nothing, Sir Norman?" + +"Nothing, but to leave then here to take care of themselves, or +let them go free." + +"They would be a great addition to the court at Whitehall," +suggested Hubert, in his prettiest tone, "and a thousand times +handsomer than half the damsels therein. There, for instance, is +one a dozen timer more beautiful than Mistress Stuart herself!" + +Leaning, in his nonchalant way, on the hilt of his sword, he +pointed to Miranda, whose fiercely-joyful eyes were fixed w with +a glance that made the three of them shudder, on the bloody floor +and the heap of slain. + +"Who is that?" asked the count, curiously. "Why is she perched +up there, and why does she bear such an extraordinary resemblance +to Leoline? Do you know anything about her, Kingsley?" + +"I know she is the wife of that unlovely little man, whose howls +in yonder passage you can hear, if you listen, and that she was +the queen of this midnight court, and is wounded, if not dying, +now!" + +"I never saw such fierce eyes before in a female head! One would +think she fairly exulted in this wholesale slaughter of her +subjects." + +"So she does; and she hates both her husband and her subjects, +with an intensity you cannot conceive." + +"How very like royalty!" observed Hubert, in parenthesis. "If +she were a real queen, she could not act more naturally." + +Sir Norman smiled, and the count glanced at the audacious page, +suspiciously; but Hubert's face was touching to witness, in its +innocent unconsciousness. Miranda, looking up at the same time, +caught the young knight's eye, and made a motion for him to +approach. She held out both her hands to him as he came near, +with the same look of dreadful delight. + +"Sir Norman Kingsley, I am dying, and my last words are in +thanksgiving to you for having thus avenged me!" + +"Let me hope you have many days to live yet, fair lady," said Sir +Norman, with the same feeling of repulsion he had experienced in +the dungeon. "I am sorry you have been obliged to witness this +terrible scene." + +"Sorry!" she cried, fiercely. "Why, since the first hour I +remember at all, I remember nothing that has given me such joy as +what has passed now; my only regret is that I did not see them +all die before my eyes! Sorry! I tell you I would not have +missed it for ten thousand worlds!" + +"Madame, you must not talk like this!" said Sir Norman, almost +sternly. "Heaven forbid there should exist a woman who could +rejoice in bloodshed and death. You do not, I know. You wrong +yourself and your own nature in saying so. Be calm, now; do not +excite yourself. You shall come with us, and be properly cared +for; and I feel certain you have a long and happy life before you +yet." + +"Who are those men?" she said, not heeding him, "and who - ah, +great Heaven! What is that?" + +In looking round, she had met Hubert face to face. She knew that +that face was her own; and, with a horror stamped on every +feature that no words can depict, she fell back, with a terrible +scream and was dead! + +Sir Norman was so shocked by the suddenness of the last +catastrophe, that, for some time, he could not realize that she +had actually expired, until he bent over her, and placed his ear +to her lips. No breath was there; no pulse stirred in that +fierce heart - the Midnight Queen was indeed dead! + +"Oh, this is fearful!" exclaimed Sir Norman, pale and horrified. + +"The sight of Hubert, and his wonderful resemblance to her, has +completed what her wound and this excitement began. Her last is +breathed on earth!" + +"Peace be with her!" said the count, removing his hat, which, up +to the present, he had worn. "And now, Sir Norman, if we are to +keep our engagement at sunrise, we had better be on the move; +for, unless I am greatly mistaken, the sky is already grey with +day-dawn." + +"What are your commands?" asked Sir Norman, turning away, with a +sigh, from the beautiful form already stiffening in death. + +"That you come with me to seek out those frightened fair ones, +who are a great deal too lovely to share the fate of their male +companions. I shall give them their liberty to go where they +please, on condition that they do not enter the city. We have +enough vile of their class there already." + +Sir Norman silently followed him into the azure and silver +saloon, where the crowd of duchesses and countesses were "weeping +and wringing their hands," and as white as so many pretty ghosts. +In a somewhat brief and forcible manner, considering his +characteristic gallantry, the count made his proposal, which, +with feelings of pleasure and relief, was at once acceded to; and +the two gentlemen bowed themselves out, and left the startled +ladies. + +On returning to the crimson court, he commanded a number of his +soldiers to remain and bury the dead, and assist the wounded; and +then, followed by the remainder and the prisoners under their +charge, passed out, and were soon from the heated atmosphere in +the cool morning air. The moon was still serenely shining, but +the stars that kept the earliest hours were setting, and the +eastern sky was growing light with the hazy gray of coming morn. + +"I told you day-dawn was at hand," said the count, as he sprang +into his saddle; "and, lo! in the sky it is gray already." + +"It is time for it!" said Sir Norman, as he, too, got into his +seat; "this has been the longest night I have ever known, and the +most eventful one of my life." + +"And the end is not yet! Leoline waits to decide between us!" + +Sir Norman shrugged his shoulders. + +"True! But I have little doubt what that decision will be! I +presume you will have to deliver up your prisoners before you can +visit her, and I will avail myself of the opportunity to snatch a +few moments to fulfill a melancholy duty of my own." + +"As you please. I have no objection; but in that case you will +need some one to guide you to the place of rendezvous; so I will +order my private attendant, yonder, to keep you in sight, and +guide you to me when your business is ended." + +The count had given the order to start, the moment they had left +the ruin, and the conversation had been carried on while riding +at a break-neck gallop. Sir Norman thanked him for his offer, +and they rode in silence until they reached the city, and their +paths diverged; Sir Norman's leading to the apothecary's shop +where be had left Ormiston, and the count's leading - he best +knew where. George - the attendant referred to - joined the +knight, and leaving his horse in his care, Sir Norman entered the +shop, and encountered the spectral proprietor at the door. + +"What of my friend?" was his eager inquiry. "Has he yet shown +signs of returning consciousness?" + +"Alas, no!" replied the apothecary, with a groan, that came +wailing up like a whistle; "he was so excessively dead, that +there was no use keeping him; and as the room was wanted for +other purposes, I - pray, my dear sir, don't look so violent - I +put him in the pest-cart and had him buried." + +"In the plague-pit!" shouted Sir Norman, making a spring at him; +but the man darted off like a ghostly flash into the inner room, +and closed and bolted the door in a twinkling. + +Sir Norman kicked at it spitefully, but it resisted his every +effort; and, overcoming a strong temptation to smash every bottle +in the shop, he sprang once more into the saddle, and rode off to +the plague-pit. It was the second time within the last twelve +hours he had stood there; and, on the previous occasion, he who +now lay in it, had stood by his side. He looked down, sickened +and horror-struck. Perhaps, before another morning, he, too, +might be there; and, feeling his blood run cold at the thought, +he was turning away, when some one came rapidly up, and sank down +with a moaning gasping cry on its very edge. That shape - tall +and slender, and graceful - he well knew; and, leaning over her, +ho laid his hand on her shoulder, and exclaimed: + +"La Masque!" + + + + +CHAPTER, XXI. + +WHAT WAS BEHIND TWO MASK. + + +The cowering form rose up; but, seeing who it was, sank down +again, with its face groveling in the dust, and with another +prolonged, moaning cry. + +"Madame Masque!" he said, wonderingly; "what is this?" + +He bent to raise her; but, with a sort of scream she held out her +arms to keep him back. + +"No, no, no I Touch me not! Hate me - kill me! I have murdered +your friend!" + +Sir Norman recoiled as if from a deadly tent. + +"Murdered him! Madame, in Heaven's name, what have you said?" + +"Oh, I have not stabbed him, or poisoned him, or shot him; but I +am his murderer, nevertheless!" she wailed, writhing in a sort of +gnawing inward torture. + +"Madame, I do not understand you at all! Surely you are raving +when you talk like this." + +Still moaning on the edge of the plague-pit, she half rose up, +with both hands clasped tightly over her heart, as if she would +have held back from all human ken the anguish that was destroying +her + +"NO - no! I am not mad - pray Heaven I were! Oh, that they had +strangled me in the first hour of my birth, as they would a +viper, rather than I should have lived through all this life of +misery and guilt, to end it by this last, worst crime of all!" + +Sir Norman stood and looked at her still with a dazed expression. +He knew well enough whose murderer she called herself; but why +she did so, or how she could possibly bring about his death, was +a mystery altogether too deep for him to solve. + +"Madame, compose yourself, I beseech you, and tell me what you +mean. It is to my friend, Ormiston, you allude - is it not?" + +"Yes - yes! surely you need not ask." + +"I know that he is dead, and buried in this horrible place; but +why you should accuse yourself of murdering him, I confess I do +not know." + +"Then you shall!" she cried, passionately. "And you will wonder +at it no longer! You are the last one to whom the revelation can +ever be made on earth; and, now that my hours are numbered, it +matters little whether it is told or not! Was it not you who +first found him dead?" + +"It was I - yes. And how he came to his end, I have been +puzzling myself in vain to discover ever since." + +She rose up, drew herself to her full majestic height, and looked +at him with a terrible glance + +"Shall I tell you?" + +"You have had no hand in it," he answered, with a cold chill at +the tone and look, "for he loved you!" + +"I have had a hand in it - I alone have been the cause of it. +But for me he would be living still!" + +"Madame," exclaimed Sir Norman, in horror. + +"You need not look as if you thought me mad, for I tell you it is +Heaven's truth! You say right - he loved me; but for that love +he would be living now!" + +"You speak in riddles which I cannot read. How could that love +have caused his death, since his dearest wishes were to be +granted to-night?" + +"He told you that, did he?" + +"He did. He told me you were to remove your mask; and if, on +seeing you, he still loved you, you were to be his wife." + +"Then woe to him for ever having extorted such a promise from me! +Oh, I warned him again, and again, and again. I told him how it +would be - I begged him to desist; but no, he was blind, he was +mad; he would rush on his own doom! I fulfilled my promise, and +behold the result!" + +She pointed with a frantic gesture to the plague-pit, and wrung +her beautiful hands with the same moaning of anguish. + +"Do I hear aright?" said Sir Norman, looking at her, and really +doubting if his ears had not deceived him. "Do you mean to say +that, in keeping your word and showing him your face, you have +caused his death?" + +"I do. I had warned him of it before. I told him there were +sights too horrible to look on and live, but nothing would +convince him! Oh, why was the curse of life ever bestowed upon +such a hideous thing as I!" + +Sir Norman gazed at her in a state of hopeless bewilderment. He +had thought, from the moment he saw her first, that there was +something wrong with her brain, to make her act in such a +mysterious, eccentric sort of way; but he had never positively +thought her so far gone as this. In his own mind, he set her +down, now, as being mad as a March hare, and accordingly answered +in that soothing tone people use to imbeciles + +"My dear Madame Masque, pray do not excite yourself, or say such +dreadful things. I am sure you would not willfully cause the +death of any one, much less that of one who loved you as he did." + +La Masque broke into a wild laugh, almost worse to hear than her +former despairing moans. + +"The man thinks me mad! He will not believe, unless he sees and +knows for himself! Perhaps you, too, Sir Norman Kingsley," she +cried, changing into sudden fierceness, "would like to see the +face behind this mask? - would like to see what has slain your +friend, and share his fate?" + +"Certainly," said Sir Norman. "I should like to see it; and I +think I may safely promise not to die from the effects. But +surely, madame, you deceive yourself; no face, however ugly - +even supposing you to possess such a one - could produce such +dismay as to cause death." + +"You shall see." + +She was looking down into the plague-pit, standing so close to +its cracking edge, that Sir Norman's blood ran cold, in the +momentary expectation to see her slip and fall headlong in. Her +voice was less fierce and less wild, but her hands were still +clasped tightly over her heart, as if to ease the unutterable +pain there. Suddenly, she looked up, and said, in an altered +tone: + +"You have lost Leoline?" + +"And found her again. She is in the power of one Count +L'Estrange." + +"And if in his power, pray, how have you found her?" + +"Because we are both to meet in her presence within this very +hour, and she is to decide between us," + +"Has Count L'Estrange promised you this?" + +"He has." + +"And you have no doubt what her decision will be?" + +"Not the slightest." + +"How came you to know she was carried off by this count?" + +"He confessed it himself." + +"Voluntarily?" + +"No; I taxed him with it, and he owned to the deed; but he +voluntarily promised to take me to her and abide by her +decision." + +"Extraordinary!" said La Masque, as if to herself. "Whimsical as +he is, I scarcely expected he would give her up no easily as +this." + +"Then you know him, madame?" said Sir Norman, pointedly. + +"There are few things I do not know, and rare are the disguises I +cannot penetrate. So you have discovered it, too?" + +"No, madame, my eyes were not sharp enough, nor had I sufficient +cleverness, even, for that. It was Hubert, the Earl of +Rochester's page, who told me who he was." + +"Ah, the page!" said La Masque, quickly. "You have then been +speaking to him? What do you think of his resemblance to +Leoline?" + +"I think it is the most astonishing resemblance I ever saw. But +he is not the only one who bears Leoline's face." + +"And the other is?" + +The other is she whom you sent me to see in the old ruins. +Madame, I wish you would tell me the secret of this wonderful +likeness; for I am certain you know, and I am equally certain it +is not accidental." + +"You are right. Leoline knows already; for, with the +presentiment that my end was near, I visited her when you left, +and gave her her whole history, in writing. The explanation is +simple enough. Leoline, Miranda, and Hubert, are sisters and +brother." + +Some misty idea that such was the case had been struggling +through Sir Norman's slow mind, unformed and without shape, ever +since he had seen the trio, therefore he was not the least +astonished when he heard the fact announced. Only in one thing +he was a little disappointed. + +"Then Hubert is really a boy?" he said, half dejectedly. + +"Certainly he is. What did you take him to be?" + +"Why, I thought - that is, I do not know," said Sir Norman, quite +blushing at being guilty of so much romance, "but that he was a +woman in disguise. You see he is so handsome, and looks so much +like Leoline, that I could not help thinking so." + +"He is Leoline's twin brother - that accounts for it. When does +she become your wife?" + +"This very morning, God willing!" raid Sir Norman, fervently. + +"Amen! And may her life and yours be long and happy. What +becomes of the rest?" + +"Since Hubert is her brother, he shall come with us, if he will. +As for the other, she, alas! is dead." + +"Dead!" cried La Masque. "How? When? She was living, tonight!" + +"True! She died of a wound." + +"A wound? Surely not given by the dwarfs hand?" + +"No, no; it was quite accidental. But since you know so much of +the dwarf, perhaps you also know he is now the king's prisoner?" + +"I did not know it; but I surmised as much when I discovered that +you and Count L'Estrange, followed by such a body of men, visited +the ruin. Well, his career has been long and dark enough, and +even the plague seemed to spare him for the executioner. And so +the poor mock-queen is dead? Well, her sister will not long +survive her." + +"Good Heavens, madame!" cried Sir Norman, aghast. "You do not +mean to say that Leoline is going to die?" + +"Oh, no! I hope Leoline has a long and happy life before her. +But the wretched, guilty sister I mean is, myself; for I, too, +Sir Norman, am her sister." + +At this new disclosure, Sir Norman stood perfectly petrified; and +La Masque, looking down at the dreadful place at her feet, went +rapidly on: + +"Alas and alas! that it should be so; but it is the direful +truth. We bear the same name, we had the same father; and yet I +have been the curse and bane of their lives." + +"And Leoline knows this?" + +"She never knew it until this night, or any one else alive; and +no one should know it now, were not my ghastly life ending. I +prayed her to forgive me for the wrong I have done her; and she +may, for she is gentle and good - but when, when shall I be able +to forgive myself?" + +The sharp pain in her voice jarred on Sir Norman's ear and heart; +and, to get rid of its dreary echo, he hurriedly asked: + +"You say you bear the same name. May I ask what name that is?" + +"It is one, Sir Norman Kingsley, before which your own ancient +title pales. We are Montmorencis, and in our veins runs the +proudest blood in France." + +"Then Leoline is French and of noble birth?" said Sir Norman, +with a thrill of pleasure. "I loved her for herself alone, and +would have wedded her had she been the child of a beggar; but I +rejoice to hear this nevertheless. Her father, then, bore a +title?" + +"Her father was the Marquis de Montmorenci. but Leoline's mother +and mine were not the same - had they been, the lives of all four +might have been very different; but it is too late to lament that +now. My mother had no gentle blood in her veins, as Leoline's +had, for she was but a fisherman's daughter, torn from her home, +and married by force. Neither did she love my father +notwithstanding his youth, rank, and passionate love for her, for +she was betrothed to another bourgeois, like herself. For his +sake she refused even the title of marchioness, offered her in +the moment of youthful and ardent passion, and clung, with +deathless truth, to her fisher-lover. The blood of the +Montmorencis is fierce and hot, and brooks no opposition" (Sir +Norman thought of Miranda, and inwardly owned that that was a +fact); "and the marquis, in his jealous wrath, both hated and +loved her at the same time, and vowed deadly vengeance against +her bourgeois lover. That vow he kept. The young fisherman was +found one morning at his lady-love's door without a head, and the +bleeding trunk told no tales. + +"Of course, for a while, she was distracted and so on; but when +the first shock of her grief was over, my father carried her off, +and forcibly made her his wife. Fierce hatred, I told you, was +mingled with his fierce love, and before the honeymoon was over +it began to break out. One night, in a fit of jealous passion, +to which he was addicted, he led her into a room she had never +before been permitted to enter; showed her a grinning human +skull, and told her it was her lover's! In his cruel exultation, +he confessed all; how he had caused him to be murdered; his head +severed from the body; and brought here to punish her, some day, +for her obstinate refusal to love him. + +"Up to this time she had been quiet and passive, bearing her fate +with a sort of dumb resignation; but now a spirit of vengeance, +fiercer and more terrible than his own, began to kindle within +her; and, kneeling down before the ghastly thing, she breathed a +wish - a prayer - to the avenging Jehovah, so unutterably +horrible, that even her husband had to fly with curdling blood +from the room. That dreadful prayer was heard - that wish +fulfilled in me; but long before I looked on the light of day +that frantic woman had repented of the awful deed she had done. +Repentance came too late the sin of the father was visited on the +child, and on the mother, too, for the moment her eyes fell upon +me, she became a raving maniac, and died before the first day of +my life had ended. + +"Nurse and physician fled at the sight of me; but my father, +though thrilling with horror, bore the shock, and bowed to the +retributive justice of the angry Deity she had invoked. His +whole life, his whole nature, changed from that hour; and, +kneeling beside my dead mother, as he afterward told me, he vowed +before high Heaven to cherish and love me, even as though I had +not been the ghastly creature I was. The physician he bound by a +terrible oath to silence; the nurse he forced back, and, in spite +of her disgust and abhorrence, compelled her to nurse and care +for me. The dead was buried out of sight; and we had rooms in a +distant part of the house, which no one ever entered but my +father and the nurse. Though set apart from my birth as +something accursed, I had the intellect and capacity of - yes, +far greater intellect and capacity than, most children; and, as +years passed by, my father, true to his vow, became himself my +tutor and companion. He did not love me - that was an utter +impossibility; but time so blunts the edge of all things, that +even the nurse became reconciled to me, and my father could +scarcely do less than a stranger. So I was cared for, and +instructed, and educated; and, knowing not what a monstrosity I +was, I loved them both ardently, and lived on happily enough, in +my splendid prison, for my first ten years in this world. + +"Then came a change. My nurse died; and it became clear that I +must quit my solitary life, and see the sort of world I lived in. +So my father, seeing all this, sat down in the twilight one night +beside me, and told me the story of my own hideousness. I was +but a child then, and it is many and many years ago; but this +gray summer morning, I feel what I felt then, as vividly as I did +at the time. I had not learned the great lesson of life then - +endurance, I have scarcely learned it yet, or I should bear +life's burden longer; but that first night's despair has darkened +my whole after-life. For weeks I would not listen to my father's +proposal, to hide what would send all the world from me in +loathing behind a mask; but I came to my senses at last, and from +that day to the present - more days than either you or I would +care to count - it has not been one hour altogether off my face." + +"I was the wonder and talk of Paris, when I did appear; and most +of the surmises were wild and wide of the mark - some even going +so far as to say it was all owing to my wonderful unheard-of +beauty that I was thus mysteriously concealed from view. I had a +soft voice, and a tolerable shape; and upon this, I presume, they +founded the affirmation. But my father and I kept our own +council, and let them say what they listed. I had never been +named, as other children are; but they called me La Masque now. +I had masters and professors without end, and studied astronomy +and astrology, and the mystic lore of the old Egyptians, and +became noted as a prodigy and a wonder, and a miracle of +learning, far and near. + +"The arts used to discover the mystery and make me unmask were +innumerable and almost incredible; but I baffled them all, and +began, after a time, rather to enjoy the sensation I created than +otherwise. + +"There was one, in particular, possessed of even more devouring +curiosity than the rest, a certain young countess of miraculous +beauty, whom I need not describe, since you have her very image +in Leoline. The Marquis de Montmorenci, of a somewhat +inflammable nature, loved her almost as much as he had done my +mother, and she accepted him, and they were married. She may +have loved him (I see no reason why she should not), but still to +this day I think it was more to discover the secret of La Masque +than from any other cause. I loved my beautiful new mother too +well to let her find it out; although from the day she entered +our house as a bride, until that on which she lay on her +deathbed, her whole aim, day and night, was its discovery. There +seemed to be a fatality about my father's wives; for the +beautiful Honorine lived scarcely longer than her predecessor, +and she died, leaving three children - all born at one time - you +know them well, and one of them you love. To my care she +intrusted them on her deathbed, and she could have scarcely +intrusted them to worse; for, though I liked her, I most +decidedly disliked them. They were lovely children - their +lovely mother's image; and they were named Hubert, Leoline, and +Honorine, or, as you knew her, Miranda. Even my father did not +seem to care for them much, not even as much as he cared for me; +and when he lay on his deathbed, one year later, I was left, +young as I was, their sole guardian, and trustee of all his +wealth. That wealth was not fairly divided - one-half being left +to me and the other half to be shared equally between them; but, +in my wicked ambition, I was not satisfied even with that. Some +of my father's fierce and cruel nature I inherited; and I +resolved to be clear of these three stumbling-blocks, and +recompense myself for my other misfortunes by every indulgence +boundless riches could bestow. So, secretly, and in the night, I +left my home, with an old and trusty servant, known to you as +Prudence, and my unfortunate, little brother and sisters. +Strange to say, Prudence was attached to one of them, and to +neither of the rest - that one was Leoline, whom she resolved to +keep and care for, and neither she nor I minded what became of +the other two." + +"From Paris we went to Dijon, where we dropped Hubert into the +turn at the convent door, with his name attached, and left him +where he would be well taken care of, and no questions asked. +With the other two we started for Calais, en route for England; +and there Prudence got rid of Honorine in a singular manner. A +packet was about starting for the island of our destination, and +she saw a strange-looking little man carrying his luggage from +the wharf into a boat. She had the infant in her arms, having +carried it out for the identical purpose of getting rid of it; +and, without more ado, she laid it down, unseen, among boxes and +bundles, and, like Hagar, stood afar off to see what became of +it. That ugly little man was the dwarf; and his amazement on +finding it among his goods and chattels you may imagine; but he +kept it, notwithstanding, though why, is best known to himself. +A few weeks after that we, too, came over, and Prudence took up +her residence in a quiet village a long way from London. Thus +you see, Sir Norman, how it comes about that we are so related, +and the wrong I have done them all." + +"You have, indeed!" said Sir Norman, gravely, having listened, +much shocked and displeased, at this open confession; "and to one +of them it is beyond our power to atone. Do you know the life of +misery to which she has been assigned?" + +"I know it all, and have repented for it in my own heart, in dust +and ashes! Even I - unlike all other earthly creatures as I am - +have a conscience, and it has given me no rest night or day +since. From that hour I have never lost sight of them; every +sorrow they have undergone has been known to me, and added to my +own; and yet I could not, or would not, undo what I had done. +Leoline knows all now; and she will tell Hubert, since destiny +has brought them together; and whether they will forgive me I +know not. But yet they might; for they have long and happy lives +before them, and we can forgive everything to the dead." + +"But you are not dead," said Sir Norman; "and there is repentance +and pardon for all. Much as you have wronged them, they will +forgive you; and Heaven is not less merciful than they!" + +"They may; for I have striven to atone. In my house there are +proofs and papers that will put them in possession of all, and +more than all, they have lost. But life is a burden of torture +I will bear no longer. The death of him who died for me this +night is the crowning tragedy of my miserable life; and if my +hour were not at hand, I should not have told you this." + +"But you have not told me the fearful cause of no much guilt and +suffering. What is behind that mask?" + +"Would you, too, see?" she asked, in a terrible voice, "and die?" + +"I have told you it is not in my nature to die easily, and it is +something far stronger than mere curiosity makes me ask." + +"Be it so! The sky is growing red with day-dawn, and I shall +never see the sun rise more, for I am already plague-struck!" + +That sweetest of all voices ceased. The white hands removed the +mask, and the floating coils of hair, and revealed, to Sir +Norman's horror-struck gaze, the grisly face and head, and the +hollow eye-sockets, the grinning mouth, and fleshless cheeks of a +skeleton! + +He saw it but for one fearful instant - the next, she had thrown +up both arms, and leaped headlong into the loathly plague-pit. +He saw her for a second or two, heaving and writhing in the +putrid heap; and then the strong man reeled and fell with his +face on the ground, not feigning, but sick unto death. Of all +the dreadful things he had witnessed that night, there was +nothing so dreadful as this; of all the horror he had felt +before, there was none to equal what he felt now. In his +momentary delirium, it seemed to him she was reaching her arms of +bone up to drag him in, and that the skeleton-face was grinning +at him on the edge of the awful pit. And, covering his eyes with +his hands, he sprang up, and fled away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +DAY-DAWN. + + +All this time, the attendant, George, had been sitting, very much +at his ease, on horseback, looking after Sir Norman's charger and +admiring the beauties of sunrise. He had seen Sir Norman in +conversation with a strange female, and not much liking his near +proximity to the plague-pit, was rather impatient for it to come +to an end; but when he saw the tragic manner in which it did end, +his consternation was beyond all bounds. Sir Norman, in his +horrified flight, would have fairly passed him unnoticed, had not +George arrested him by a loud shout. + +"I beg your pardon, Sir Norman," he exclaimed, as that gentleman +turned his distracted face; "but, it seems to me, you are running +away. Here is your horse; and allow me to say, unless we hurry +we will scarcely reach the count by sunrise." + +Sir Norman leaned against his horse, and shaded his eyes with his +hand, shuddering like one in an ague. + +"Why did that woman leap into the plague-pit?" inquired George, +looking at him curiously. "Was it not the sorceress, La Masque?" + +"Yes, yes. Do not ask me any questions now," replied Sir Norman, +in a smothered voice, and with an impatient wave of his hand. + +"Whatever you please, sir," said George, with the flippancy of +his class; "but still I must repeat, if you do not mount +instantly, we will be late; and my master, the count, is not one +who brooks delay." + +The young knight vaulted into the saddle without a word, and +started off at a break-neck pace into the city. George, almost +unable to keep up with him, followed instead of leading, rather +skeptical in his own mind whether he were not riding after a +moon-struck lunatic. Once or twice he shouted out a sharp-toned +inquiry as to whether he knew where he was going, and that they +were taking the wrong way altogether; to all of which Sir Norman +deigned not the slightest reply, but rode more and more +recklessly on. There were but few people abroad at that hour; +indeed, for that matter, the streets of London, in the dismal +summer of 1665, were, comparatively speaking, always deserted; +and the few now wending their way homeward were tired physicians +and plague-nurses from the hospitals, and several hardy country +folks, with more love of lucre than fear of death bending their +steps with produce to the market-place. These people, sleepy and +pallid in the gray haze of daylight, stared in astonishment after +the two furious riders; and windows were thrown open, and heads +thrust out to see what the unusual thunder of horses' hoofs at +that early hour meant. George followed dauntlessly on, +determined to do it or die in the attempt; and if he had ever +heard of the Flying Dutchman, would undoubtedly have come to the +conclusion that he was just then following his track on dry land. +But, unlike the hapless Vanderdecken, Sir Norman came to a halt +at last, and that so suddenly that his horse stood on his beam +ends, and flourished his two fore limbs in the atmosphere. It +was before La Masque's door; and Sir Norman was out of the saddle +in a flash, and knocking like a postman with the handle of his +whip on the door. The thundering reveille rang through the +house, making it shake to its centre, and hurriedly brought to +the door, the anatomy who acted as guardian-angel of the +establishment. + +"La Masque is not at home, and I cannot admit you," was his sharp +salute. + +"Then I shall just take the trouble of admitting myself," said +Sir Norman, shortly. + +And without further ceremony, he pushed aside the skeleton and +entered. But that outraged servitor sprang in his path, +indignant and amazed. + +"No, sir; I cannot permit it. I do not know you; and it is +against all orders to admit strangers in La Masque's absence." + +"Bah! you old simpleton!" remarked Sir Norman, losing his +customary respect for old age in his impatience, "I have La +Masque's order for what I am about to do. Get along with you +directly, will you? Show me to her private room, and no +nonsense!" + +He tapped his sword-hilt significantly as he spoke, and that +argument proved irresistible. Grumbling, in low tones, the +anatomy stalked up-stairs; and the other followed, with very +different feelings from those with which he had mounted that +staircase last. His guide paused in the hall above, with his +hand on the latch of a door. + +"This is her private room, is it!" demanded Sir Norman. + +"Yes." + +"Just stand aside, then, and let me pass." + +The room he entered was small, simply furnished, and seemed to +answer as bed-chamber and study, all in one. There was a +writing-table under a window, covered with books, and he glanced +at them with some curiosity. They were classics, Greek and +Latin, and other little known tongues - perhaps Sanscrit and +Chaldaic, French belles lettres, novels, and poetry, and a few +rare old English books. There were no papers, however, and those +were what he was in search of; so spying a drawer in the table, +he pulled it hastily open. The eight that met his eyes fairly +dazzled him. It was full of jewels of incomparable beauty and +value, strewn as carelessly about as if they were valueless. The +blaze of gems at the midnight court seemed to him as nothing +compared with the Golconda, the Valley of Diamonds shooting forth +sparks of rainbow-fire before him now. Around one magnificent +diamond necklace was entwined a scrap of paper, on which was +written: + +"The family jewels of the Montmorencis. To be given to my +sisters when I am dead." + +That settled their destiny. All this blaze of diamonds, rubies, +and opals were Leoline's; and with the energetic rapidity +characteristic of our young friend that morning, he swept them +out on the table, and resumed his search for papers. No document +was there to reward his search, but the brief one twined round +the necklace; and he was about giving up in despair, when a small +brass slide in one corner caught his eye. Instantly he was at +it, trying it every way, shoving it out and in, and up and down, +until at last it yielded to his touch, disclosing an inner +drawer, full of papers and parchments. One glance showed them to +be what he was in search of - proofs of Leoline and Hubert's +identity, with the will of the marquis, their father, and +numerous other documents relative to his wealth and estates. +These precious manuscripts he rolled together in a bundle, and +placed carefully in his doublet, and then seizing a +beautifully-wrought brass casket, that stood beneath the table, +he swept the jewels in, secured it, and strapped it to his belt. +This brisk and important little affair being over, he arose to +go, and in turning, saw the skeleton porter standing in the +door-way, looking on in speechless dismay. + +"It's all right my ancient friend!" observed Sir Norman, gravely. +"These papers must go before the king, and these jewels to their +proper owner." + +"Their proper owner!" repeated the old man, shrilly; "that is La +Masque. Thief-robber-housebreaker - stop!" + +"My good old friend, you will do yourself a mischief if you bawl +like that. Undoubtedly these things were La Masque's, but they +are so no longer, since La Masque herself is among the things +that were!" + +"You shall not go!" yelled the old man, trembling with rage and +anger. "Help! help! help!" + +"You noisy old idiot!" cried Sir Norman, losing all patience, "I +will throw you out of the window if you keep up such a clamor as +this. I tell you La Masque is dead!" + +At this ominous announcement, the ghastly porter fell back, and +became, if possible, a shade more ghastly than was his wont. + +"Dead and buried!" repeated Sir Norman, with gloomy +sternness, "and there will be somebody else coming to take +possession shortly. How many more servants are there here beside +yourself?" + +"Only one, sir - my wife Joanna. In mercy's name, sir, do not +turn us out in the streets at this dreadful time!" + +"Not I! You and your wife Joanna may stagnate here till you +blue-mold, for me. But keep the door fast, my good old friend, +and admit no strangers, but those who can tell you La Masque is +dead!" + +With which parting piece of advice Sir Norman left the house, and +joined George, who sat like an effigy before the door, in a state +of great mental wrath, and who accosted him rather suddenly the +moment be made his appearance. + +"I tell you what, Sir Norman Kingsley, if you have many more +morning calls to make, I shall beg leave to take my departure. +As it is, I know we are behind time, and his ma - the count, I +mean, is not one who it accustomed or inclined to be kept +waiting." + +"I am quite at your service now," said Sir Norman, springing on +horseback; "so away with you, quick as you like." + +George wanted no second order. Before the words were well out of +his companion's mouth, he was dashing away like a bolt from a +bow, as furiously as if on a steeple-chase, with Sir Norman close +at his heels; and they rode, flushed and breathless, with their +steeds all a foaming, into the court-yard of the royal palace at +Whitehall, just as the early rising sun was showing his florid +and burning visage above the horizon. + + _______________ + + +The court-yard, unlike the city streets, swarmed with busy life. +Pages, and attendants, and soldiers, moving hither and thither, +or lounging about, preparing for the morning's journey to Oxford. +Among the rest Sir Norman observed Hubert, lying very much at his +ease wrapped in his cloak, on the ground, and chatting languidly +with a pert and pretty attendant of the fair Mistress Stuart. He +cut short his flirtation, however, abruptly enough, and sprang to +his feet as he saw Sir Norman, while George immediately darted +off and disappeared from the palace. + +"Am I late Hubert?" said his hurried questioner, as he drew the +lad's arm within his own, and led him off out of hearing. + +"I think not. The count," said Hubert, with laughing emphasis, +"has not been visible since he entered yonder doorway, and there +has been no message that I have heard of. Doubtless, now that +George has arrived, the message will soon be here, for the royal +procession starts within half an hour." + +"Are you sure there is no trick, Hubert? Even now he may be with +Leoline!" + +Hubert shrugged his shoulders. + +"He maybe; we must take our chance for that; but we have his +royal word to the contrary. Not that I have much faith in that!" +said Hubert. + +"If he were king of the world instead of only England," cried Sir +Norman, with flashing eyes, "he shall not have Leoline while I +wear a sword to defend her!" + +"Regicide!" exclaimed Hubert, holding up both hands in affected +horror. "Do my ears deceive me Is this the loyal and +chivalrous Sir Norman Kingsley, ready to die for king and country - " + +"Stuff and nonsense!" interrupted Sir Norman, impatiently. "I +tell you any one, be he whom he may, that attempts to take +Leoline from me, must reach her over my dead body!" + +"Bravo! You ought to be a Frenchman, Sir Norman! And what if +the lady herself, finding her dazzling suitor drop his barnyard +feathers, and soar over her head in his own eagle plumes, may not +give you your dismissal, and usurp the place of pretty Madame +Stuart." + +"You cold-blooded young villain! if you insinuate such a thing +again, I'll throttle you! Leoline loves me, and me alone!" + +"Doubtless she thinks so; but she has yet to learn she has a king +for a suitor!" + +"Bah! You are nothing but a heartless cynic," said Sir Norman, +yet with an anxious and irritated flush on his face, too: "What +do you know of love?" + +"More than you think, as pretty Mariette yonder could depose, if +put upon oath. But seriously, Sir Norman, I am afraid your case +is of the most desperate; royal rivals are dangerous things!" + +"Yet Charles has kind impulses, and has been known to do generous +acts." + +"Has he? You expect him, beyond doubt, to do precisely as he +said; and if Leoline, different from all the rest of her sex, +prefers the knight to the king, he will yield her unresistingly +to you." + +"I have nothing but his word for it!" said Sir Norman, in a +distracted tone, "and, at present, can do nothing but bide my +time." + +"I have been thinking of that, too! I promised, you know, when I +left her, last night, that we would return before day-dawn, and +rescue her. The unhappy little beauty will doubtless think I +have fallen into the tiger's jaws myself, and has half wept her +bright eyes out by this time!" + +"My poor Leoline! And O Hubert, if you only knew what she is to +you!" + +"I do know! She told me she was my sister!" + +Sir Norman looked at him in amazement. + +"She told you, and you take it like this?" + +"Certainly, I take it like this. How would you have me take it? +It is nothing to go into hysterics about, after all!" + +"Of all the cold-blooded young reptiles I ever saw," exclaimed +Sir Norman, with infinite disgust, "you are the worst! If you +were told you were to receive the crown of France to-morrow, you +would probably open your eyes a trifle, and take it as you would +a new cap!" + +"Of course I would. I haven't lived in courts half my life to +get up a scene for a small matter! Besides, I had an idea from +the first moment I saw Leoline that she must be my sister, or +something of that sort." + +"And so you felt no emotion whatever on hearing it?" + +"I don't know as I properly understand what you mean by emotion," +said Herbert, reflectively. "But ye-e-s, I did feel somewhat +pleased - she is so like me, and so uncommonly handsome!" + +"Humph! there's a reason! Did she tell you how she discovered it +herself?" + +"Let me see -no - I think not - she simply mentioned the fact." + +"She did not tell you either, I suppose, that you had more +sisters than herself?" + +"More than herself! No. That would be a little too much of a +good thing! One sister is quite enough for any reasonable +mortal." + +"But there were two more, my good young friend!" + +"Is it possible?" said Hubert, in a tone that betrayed not the +slightest symptom of emotion. "Who are they?" + +Sir Norman paused one instant, combating a strong temptation to +seize the phlegmatic page by the collar, and give him such +another shaking as he would not get over for a week to come; but +suddenly recollecting he was Leoline's brother, and by the same +token a marquis or thereabouts, he merely paused to cast a +withering look upon him, and walked on. + +"Well," said Hubert, "I am waiting to be told." + +"You may wait, then!" said Sir Norman, with a smothered growl; +"and I give you joy when I tell you. Such extra +communicativeness to one so stolid could do no good!" + +"But I am not stolid! I am in a perfect agony of anxiety," said +Hubert. + +"You young jackanapes!" said Sir Norman, half-laughing, half- +incensed. "It were a wise deed and a godly one to take you by +the hind-leg and nape of the neck, and pitch you over yonder +wall; but for your mister's sake I will desist." + +"Which of them?" inquired Hubert, with provoking gravity. + +"It would be more to the point if you asked me who the others +were, I think." + +"So I have, and you merely abused me for it. But I think I know +one of them without being told. It is that other fac-simile of +Leoline and myself who died in the robber's ruin!" + +"Exactly. You and she, and Leoline, were triplets!" + +"And who is the other?" + +"Her name is La Masque. Have you ever heard it?" + +"La Masque! Nonsense!" exclaimed Hubert, with some energy in his +voice at last. "You but jest, Sir Norman Kingsley!" + +"No such thing! It is a positive fact! She told me the whole +story herself!" + +"And what is the whole story; and why did she not tell it to me +instead of you." + +"She told it to Leoline, thinking, probably, she had the most +sense; and she told it to me, as Leoline's future husband. It is +somewhat long to relate, but it will help to beguile the time +while we are waiting for the royal summons." + +And hereupon Sir Norman, without farther preface, launched into a +rapid resume of La Masque's story, feeling the cold chill with +which he had witnessed it creep over him as he narrated her +fearful end. + +"It struck me," concluded Sir Norman, "that it would be better to +procure any papers she might possess at once, lest, by accident, +they should fall into other hands; so I rode there directly, and, +in spite of the cantankerous old porter, searched diligently, +until I found them. Here they are," said Sir Norman, drawing +forth the roll. + +"And what do you intend doing with them?" inquired Hubert, +glancing at the papers with an unmoved countenance. + +"Show them to the king, and, though his mediation with Louis, +obtain for you the restoration of your rights." + +"And do you think his majesty will give himself so much trouble +for the Earl of Rochester's page?" + +"I think he will take the trouble to see justice done, or at +least he ought to. If he declines, we will take the matter in +our own hands, my Hubert; and you and I will seek Louis +ourselves. Please God, the Earl of Rochester's page will yet +wear the coronet of the De Montmorencis!" + +"And the sister of a marquis will be no unworthy mate even for a +Kingsley," said Hubert. "Has La Masque left nothing for her?" + +"Do you see this casket?" tapping the one of cared brass dangling +from his belt; "well, it is full of jewels worth a king's ransom. +I found them in a drawer of La Masque's house, with directions +that they were to be given to her sisters at her death. Miranda +being dead, I presume they are all Leoline's now." + +"This is a queer business altogether!" said Hubert, musingly; +"and I am greatly mistaken if King Louie will not regard it as a +very pretty little work of fiction." + +"But I have proofs, lad! The authenticity of these papers cannot +be doubted." + +"With all my heart. I have no objections to be made a marquis +of, and go back to la belle France, out of this land of plague +and fog. Won't some of my friends here be astonished when they +hear it, particularly the Earl of Rochester, when he finds out +that he has had a marquis for a page? Ah, here comes George, and +bearing a summons from Count L'Estrange at last." + +George approached, and intimated that Sir Norman was to follow +him to the presence of his master. + +"Au revoir, then," said Hubert. "You will find me here when you +come back." + +Sir Norman, with a slight tremor of the nerves at what was to +come, followed the king's page through halls and anterooms, full +of loiterers, courtiers, and their attendants. Once a hand was +laid on his shoulder, a laughing voice met his ear, and the Earl +of Rochester stood beside him! + +"Good-morning, Sir Norman; you are abroad betimes. How have you +left your friend, the Count L'Estrange?" + +"Your lordship has probably seen him since I have, and should be +able to answer that question best." + +"And how does his suit progress with the pretty Leoline?" went on +the gay earl. "In faith, Kingsley, I never saw such a charming +little beauty; and I shall do combat with you yet - with both the +count and yourself, and outwit the pair of you!" + +"Permit me to differ from your lordship. Leoline would not touch +you with a pair of tongs!" + +"Ah! she has better taste than you give her credit for; but if I +should fail, I know what to do to console myself." + +"May I ask what?" + +"Yes! there is Hubert, as like her an two peas in a pod. I shall +dress him up in lace and silks, and gewgaws, and have a Leoline +of my own already made its order." + +"Permit me to doubt that, too! Hubert is as much lost to you as +Leoline!" + +Leaving the volatile earl to put what construction pleased him +best on this last sententious remark, he resumed his march after +George, and was ushered, at last, into an ante-room near the +audience-chamber. Count L'Estrange, still attired as Count +L'Estrange, stood near a window overlooking the court-yard, and +as the page salaamed and withdrew, he turned round, and greeted +Sir Norman with his suavest air. + +"The appointed hour is passed, Sir Norman Kingsley, but that is +partly your own fault. Your guide hither tells me that you +stopped for some time at the house of a fortune-teller, known as +La Masque. Why was this!" + +"I was forced to stop on most important business," answered the +knight, still resolved to treat him as the count, until it should +please him to doff his incognito, "of which you shall hear anon. +Just now, our business is with Leoline." + +"True! And as in a short time I start with yonder cavalcade, +there is but little time to lose. Apropos, Kingsley, who is that +mysterious woman, La Masque?" + +"She is, or was (for she is dead sow) a French lady, of noble +birth, and the sister of Leoline!" + +"Her sister! And have you discovered Leoline's history?" + +"I have." + +"And her name!" + +"And her name. She is Leoline De Montmorenci! And with the +proudest blood of France in her veins, living obscure and unknown +- a stranger in a strange land since childhood; but, with God's +grace and your help, I hope to see her restored to all she has +lost, before long." + +"You know me, then?" said his companion, half-smiling. + +"Yes, your majesty," answered Sir Norman, bowing low before the +king. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +FINIS + + +As the last glimpse of moonlight and of Hubert's bright face +vanished, Leoline took to pacing up and down the room in a most +conflicting and excited state of mind. So many things had +happened during the past night; so rapid and unprecedented had +been the course of events; so changed had her whole life become +within the last twelve hours, that when she came to think it all +over, it fairly made her giddy. Dressing for her bridal; the +terrible announcement of Prudence; the death-like swoon; the +awakening at the plague-pit; the maniac flight through the +streets; the cold plunge in the river; her rescue; her interview +with Sir Norman, and her promise; the visit of La Masque; the +appearance of the count; her abduction; her journey here; the +coming of Hubert, and their suddenly-discovered relationship. It +was enough to stun any one; and the end was not yet. Would +Hubert effect his escape? Would they be able to free her? What +place was this, and who was Count L'Estrange? It was a great +deal easier to propound this catechism to herself than to find +answers to her own questions; and so she walked up and down, +worrying her pretty little head with all sorts of anxieties, +until it was a perfect miracle that softening of the brain did +not ensue. + +Her feet gave out sooner than her brain, though; and she got so +tired before long, that she dropped into a seat, with a +long-drawn, anxious sigh; and, worn out with fatigue and +watching, she, at last, fell asleep. + +And sleeping, she dreamed. It seemed to her that the count and +Sir Norman were before her, in her chamber in the old house on +London Bridge, tossing her heart between them like a sort of +shuttlecock. By-and-by, with two things like two drumsticks, +they began hammering away at the poor, little, fluttering heart, +as if it were an anvil and they were a pair of blacksmiths, while +the loud knocks upon it resounded through the room. For a time, +she was so bewildered that she could not comprehend what it +meant; but, at last, she became conscious that some one was +rapping at the door. Pressing one hand over her startled heart, +she called "Come in!" and the door opened and George entered. + +"Count L'Estrange commands me to inform you, fair lady, that he +will do himself the pleasure of visiting you immediately, with +Sir Norman Kingsley, if you are prepared to receive them." + +"With Sir Norman Kingsley!" repeated Leoline, faintly. "I-I am +afraid I do not quite understand." + +"Then you will not be much longer in that deplorable state," said +George, backing out, "for here they are." + +"Pardon this intrusion, fairest Leoline," began the count, "but +Sir Norman and I are about to start on a journey, and before we +go, there is a little difference of opinion between us that you +are to settle." + +Leoline looked first at one, and then at the other, utterly +bewildered. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"A simple matter enough. Last evening, if you recollect, you +were my promised bride." + +"It was against my will," said Leoline, boldly, though her voice +shook, "You and Prudence made me." + +"Nay, Leoline, you wrong me. I, at least, need no compulsion." + +"You know better. You haunted me continually; you gave me no +peace at all; and I world just have married you to get rid of +you." + +"And you never loved me?" + +"I never did." + +"A frank confession! Did you, then, love any one else?" + +The dark eyes fell, and the roseate glow again tinged the pearly +face. + +"Mute!" said the count, with an almost imperceptible smile. +"Look up, Leoline, and speak." + +But Leoline would do neither. With all her momentary daring +gone, she stood startled as a wild gazelle. + +"Shall I answer for her, Sir Count?" exclaimed Sir Norman, his +own cheek dashed. "Leoline! Leoline! you love me!" + +Leoline was silent; + +"You are to decide between us, Leoline. Though the count +forcibly brought you here, he has been generous enough to grant +this. Say, then, which of as you love best." + +"I do not love him at all," said Leoline, with a little disdain, +"and he knows it." + +"Then it is I!" said Sir Norman, him whole lace beaming with +delight. + +"It is you!" + +Leoline held out both hands to the loved one, and nestled close +to his side, like a child would to its protector. + +"Fairly rejected!" said the count, with a pacing shade of +mortification on his brow; "and, my word being pledged, I most +submit. But, beautiful Leoline, you have yet to learn whom you +have discarded." + +Clinging to her lover's arm, the girl grew white with undefined +apprehension. Leisurely, the count removed false wig, false +eyebrows, false heard; and a face well known to Leoline, from +pictures and description, turned full upon her. + +"Sire!" she cried, in terror, calling on her knees with clasped +hands. + +"Nay; rise, fair Leoline," said the king, holding out his hand to +assist her. "It is my place to kneel to one so lovely instead of +having her kneel to me. Think again. Will you reject the king +as you did the count?" + +"Pardon, your majesty!", said Leoline, scarcely daring to look +up; "but I must!" + +"So be it! You are a perfect miracle of troth and constancy, and +I think I can afford to be generous for once. In fifteen +minutes, we start for Oxford, and you must accompany us as Lady +Kingsley. A tiring woman will wait upon you to robe you for your +bridal. We will leave you now, and let me enjoin expedition." + +And while she still stood too much astonished by the sudden +proposal to answer, both were gone, and in their place stood a +smiling lady's maid, with a cloud of gossamer white in her arms. + +"Are those for me?" inquired Leoline, looking at them, and trying +to comprehend that it was all real. + +"They are for you - sent by Mistress Stuart, herself. Please sit +down, and all will be ready in a trice." + +And in a trice all was ready. The shining, jetty curls were +smoothed, and fell in a glossy shower, trained with jewels - the +pearls Leoline herself still wore. The rose satin was discarded +for another of bridal white, perfect of fit, and splendid of +feature. A great gossamer veil like a cloud of silver mist over +all, from head to foot; and Leoline was shown herself in a +mirror, and in the sudden transformation, could have exclaimed, +with the unfortunate lady in bother Goose, shorn of her tresses +when in balmy slumber: "As sure as I'm a little woman, this is +none of it!" But she it was, nevertheless, who stood listening +like one in a trance, to the enthusiastic praises of her +waiting-maid. + +Again there was a tap at the door. This time the attendant +opened it, and George reappeared. Even he stood for a moment +looking at the silver-shining vision, and so lost in admiration, +that he almost forgot his message. But when Leoline turned the +light of her beautiful eyes inquiringly upon him, he managed to +remember it, and announced that he had been sent by the king to +usher her to the royal presence. + +With a feet-throbbing heart, flushed cheeks, and brilliant eyes, +the dazzling bride followed him, unconscious that she had never +looked so incomparably before in her life. It was but a few +hours since she had dressed for another bridal; and what +wonderful things had occurred since then - her whole destiny had +changed in a night. Not quite sure yet but that she was still +dreaming, she followed on - saw George throw open the great doors +of the audience-chamber, and found herself suddenly in what +seemed to her a vast concourse of people. At the upper end of +the apartment was a brilliant group of ladies, with the king's +beautiful favorite in their midst, gossiping with knots of +gentlemen. The king himself stood in the recess of a window, +with his brother, the Duke of York, the Earl of Rochester, and +Sir Norman Kingsley, and was laughing and relating animatedly to +the two peers the whole story. Leoline noticed this, and +noticed, too, that all wore traveling dresses - most of the +ladies, indeed, being attired in riding-habits. + +The king himself advanced to her rescue, and drawing her arm +within his, he led her up and presented her to the fair Mistress +Stuart, who received her with smiling graciousness though +Leoline, all unused to court ways, and aware of the lovely lady's +questionable position, returned it almost with cold hauteur. +Charles being in an unusually gracious mood, only smiled as he +noticed it, and introduced her next to his brother of York, and +her former short acquaintance, Rochester. + +"There's no need, I presume, to make you acquainted with this +other gentleman," said Charles, with a laughing glance at Sir +Norman. "Kingsley, stand forward and receive your bride. My +Lord of Canterbury, we await your good offices." + +The bland bishop, in surplice and stole, and book in hand, +stepped from a distant group, and advanced. Sir Norman, with a +flush on his cheek, and an exultant light in his eyes, took the +hand of his beautiful bride who stood lovely, and blushing, and +downcast, the envy and admiration of all. And + + "Before the bishop now they stand, + The bridegroom and the bride; + And who shall paint what lovers feel + In this, their hour of pride?" + +Who indeed? Like many other pleasant things is this world, it +requires to be felt to be appreciated; and, for that reason, it +is a subject on which the unworthy chronicler is altogether +incompetent to speak. The first words of the ceremony dropped +from the prelate's urbane lips, and Sir Norman's heart danced a +tarantella within him. "Wilt thou?" inquired the bishop, +blandly, and slipped a plain gold ring on one pretty finger of +Leoline's hand and all heard the old, old formula: "What God +hath joined together, let no man put asunder!" And the whole +mystic rite was over. + +Leoline gave one earnest glance at the ring on her finger. Long +ago, slaves wore rings as the sign of their bondage - is it for +the same reason married women wear them now? While she yet +looked half-doubtfully at it, she was surrounded, congratulated, +and stunned with a sadden clamor of voices; and then, through it +all, she heard the well-remembered voice of Count L'Estrange, +saying: + +"My lords and ladies, time is on the wing, and the sun is already +half an hour high! Off with you all to the courtyard, and mount, +while Lady Kingsley changes her wedding-gear for robes more +befitting travel, and joins us there." + +With a low obeisance to the king, the lovely bride hastened away +after one of the favorite's attendants, to do as he directed, and +don a riding-suit. In ten minutes after, when the royal +cavalcade started, she turned from the pest-stricken city, too +and fairest, where all was fair, by Sir Norman's side rode +Leoline. + + ________________ + + +Sitting one winter night by a glorious winter fire, while the +snow and hail lashed the windows, and the wind without roared +like Bottom, the weaver, a pleasant voice whispered the foregoing +tale. Here, as it paused abruptly, and seemed to have done with +the whole thing, I naturally began to ask questions. What +happened the dwarf and his companions? What became of Hubert? +Did Sir Norman and Lady Kingsley go to Devonshire, and did either +of them die of the plague? I felt, myself, when I said it, that +the last suggestion was beneath contempt, and so a withering look +from the face opposite proved; but the voice was obliging enough +to answer the rest of my queries. The dwarf and his cronies +being put into his majesty's jail of Newgate, where the plague +was raging fearfully, they all died in a week, and so managed to +cheat the executioner. Hubert went to France, and laid his +claims before the royal Louis, who, not being able to do +otherwise, was graciously pleased to acknowledge them; and Hubert +became the Marquis de Montmorenci, and in the fullness of time +took unto himself a wife, even of the daughters of the land, and +lived happy for ever after. + +And Sir Norman and Lady Kingsley did go to the old manor in +Devonshire, where - with tradition and my informant - there is to +be seen to this day, an old family-picture, painted some twelve +years after, representing the knight and his lady sitting +serenely in their "ain ingle nook" with their family around them. +Sir Norman,- a little portlier, a little graver, in the serious +dignity of pater familias; and Leoline, with the dark, beautiful +eyes, the falling, shining hair, the sweet smiling lips, and +lovely, placid face of old. Between them, on three hassocks, sit +three little boys; while the fourth, and youngest, a miniature +little Sir Norman, leans against his mother's shoulder, and looks +thoughtfully in her sweet, calm face. Of the fate of those four, +the same ancient lore affirms: "That the eldest afterward bore +the title of Earl of Kingsley; that the second became a lord high +admiral, or chancellor, or something equally highfalutin; and +that the third became an archbishop. But the highest honor of +all was reserved for the fourth, and youngest," continued the +narrating voice, "who, after many days, sailed for America, and, +in the course of time, became President of the United States ." + +Determined to be fully satisfied on this point, at least, the +author invested all her spare change in a catalogue of all the +said Presidents, from George Washington to Chester A. Arthur, +and, after a diligent and absorbing perusal of that piece of +literature, could find no such name as Kingsley whatever; and has +been forced to come to the conclusion that he most have applied +to Congress to change his name on arriving in the New World, or +else that her informant was laboring reader a falsehood when she +told her so. As for the rest, + + "I know not how the truth may be; + I say it as 'twas said to me." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The Midnight Queen, by May Agnes Fleming + |