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diff --git a/old/66875-0.txt b/old/66875-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 86293c8..0000000 --- a/old/66875-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6367 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Cameronians, Volume 3 (of 3), by James -Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Cameronians, Volume 3 (of 3) - A Novel - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: December 3, 2021 [eBook #66875] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMERONIANS, VOLUME 3 (OF -3) *** - - - - - - - THE CAMERONIANS. - - A Novel. - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT, - - AUTHOR OF - 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR,' 'OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH, ETC. - - - - IN THREE VOLUMES. - VOL. III. - - - - LONDON: - RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, - Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen. - - 1881. - - [_All Rights Reserved._] - - - - - CONTENTS OF VOL. III. - - - - CHAPTER - - I. NEWS AT LAST! - II. THE COINCIDENCE - III. EAGLESCRAIG ONCE MORE - IV. THE DIVIDED PAIR - V. A STRANGE ACCUSATION - VI. A FATAL PROOF FOUND - VII. CECIL'S VISITOR - VIII. BAFFLED! - IX. CROSS PURPOSES - X. THE TELEGRAM - XI. A DARK PREDICTION - XII. THE RECONNAISSANCE - XIII. THE WAYSIDE CHAPEL - XIV. THE BATTLE OF ZAITCHAR - XV. A RIDE FOR LIFE OR DEATH! - XVI. WHAT THE 'TIMES' TOLD - XVII. MARY'S LETTER - XVIII. THE HEIGHTS OF DJUNIS - XIX. WOUNDED - XX. SAVED! - XXI. 'THE END CROWNS ALL' - - - - -THE CAMERONIANS. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -NEWS AT LAST! - -From such terrible episodes and scenes as those that close our last -chapter, and from such a land of wild barbarity, we gladly turn -homewards for a time. - -It was summer; and the season had scattered its roses and their -leaves lavishly over the old Scoto-French garden of Eaglescraig, for -such it was, with its closely-clipped privet hedges, its long grass -walks, balustraded terraces, mossy sundials, and parterres, where -deep box-edging was alternated by flower borders running along the -paths, and where wall-flowers, sweet-williams, and tiger lilies, with -moss and Provence roses, were varied by espaliers that in the coming -time would be laden with fruit. - -The summer was in its glory, but there was not much brightness within -the house of Eaglescraig. So Cecil, who had latterly met with such -scanty kindness from Sir Piers, was actually his grandson, and the -honours of the old line were perhaps neither to die out, or pass to a -far-away branch, after all! - -John Balderstone had proved all this, and great were the content and -glee thereat among the old visitors of the mansion; there being no -regrets for Hew being 'scratched,' as he called it, 'and out of the -running now,' for his general bearing had rendered him obnoxious to -every one. - -'So the whirligig of time brings about its revenge,' said old Tunley, -the butler; 'pride always goes before a fall.' - -'Yes!' coincided John Balderstone, with an angry smirk on his face; -'now, Master Hew may go to Hecklebirnie!' - -'Where is that?' - -'Three miles beyond--well, a very warm place, as our Scots proverb -has it,' added the factor, as he drained a stiff jorum in Mr. -Tunley's pantry. - -Mrs. Garth rejoiced openly at the change that had come to pass. - -'It would have been unnatural indeed,' she said, 'that a girl so -sweet and sensitive as Mary should have been mated to Hew, whose -actions, nature, and habits would have jarred on her softer nature -perpetually.' - -And Sir Piers heard her, ever and anon, making such remarks as this, -without according the angry response they would once infallibly have -elicited; while to Mary the relief was inexpressible! But meantime, -where was Cecil now? This question was ever in her mind, causing an -aching, gnawing anxiety there, amounting to positive physical pain; -and she heard it daily on the lips of all around her, Hew excepted; -and once in his cups the latter expressed to John Balderstone a -fierce hope that the absent heir might be----' - -'Stop, sir!' cried John; 'where?' - -'Oh, anywhere,' replied Hew, with an angry gloom in his -bilious-looking eyes; 'I am not particular as to climate, or -locality.' - -So far as Mary was concerned, his occupation was gone, like his hopes -of everything now; and, gentle and tender though she was, Mary, -remembering all the past, could feel no pity for him. - -'Dear old Snarley!' she once exclaimed, catching up her pet terrier, -and then talking at Hew; 'you, at least, have always loved me for -myself alone--no thought have you of fortunes or acres, of rent-rolls -and bank-notes; you would rather have a marrow-bone, than -all--wouldn't you, my darling doggie?' - -And Hew eyed her, and the dog too, viciously. He could no longer, as -before, coarsely and vulgarly, taunt Mary with the obscurity of -Cecil's birth, now that it was proved beyond all doubt to be superior -to his own; neither could he avail himself now, as before, of the -general's countenance and support, since his rival was the real heir -of line and entail; while he was but a penniless dependent. - -How bitterly and unwillingly, again and again, he anathematised the -hour, in which that--to him--fatal packet was so inopportunely -discovered by John Balderstone, and its blighting contents brought to -light! - -Had it only, by fate, been left forgotten, unknown in its place of -concealment, for a year or so more, all might have gone well with -him; but now--now--he could only curse heavily and grind his teeth in -the impotency of his wrath and the deep bitterness of his -disappointment. - -'All the world's a stage, and the men and women only players;' but he -who had played the deliberate villain in the drama of Cecil's life as -yet, was still unmasked, and Hew grinned with malicious triumph as he -thought of that. - -The generous Sir Piers felt that he owed Hew some reparation for the -loss of his Indian appointment, and the heavy blight that had fallen -on all the prospects once before him; and he hoped that if Hew would -only settle down to work and study, that something--he knew not -precisely what--might be done for him yet; but Hew, exasperated by -the trick fortune had played him, and the humiliating change in his -position, had taken heavily to the bottle of late, and his naturally -savage nature became at times inflamed to the verge of madness. - -Mary was inevitably lost to him now; and that which he deemed much -more important--her money! But if Cecil could be -removed--crushed--destroyed--thrust out of his path and of this life -too--he, Hew, would again be the heir of entail--heir to Eaglescraig -and the baronetcy. - -But where was Cecil now? - -Could he but discover him--could he but cross his path, he would not -be over particular about how he got rid of him; and at such times -dark and terrible thoughts possessed him. - -To drown care, and as a source of excitement, he had plunged deeper -into his dissipations; he had become a more frequent visitor at -race-courses, where a very little of his own money went into the -pockets of others, while a good deal of the money of others accrued -to him, by some mysterious process. He also stuck to his card -playing--écarté being, as of old, his favourite game; and unless each -rubber thereat represented a sum larger than he deemed sufficient to -give zest to the game, even écarté had no charms for him. - -Some of his escapades drew upon him the indignation of the general, -and feeling himself all but discarded, his absences from Eaglescraig -became longer and more frequent; so that none there knew precisely of -his haunts or whereabouts, till the portly Mr. Tunley brought the -startling intelligence one day that 'after a terrible bout of -delirious trimmins, Master Hew was--or believed himself to be--dying, -at the Montgomerie Arms Inn,' where he prayed the general in pity to -come and see him once again. - -Accompanied by a medical adviser and old John Balderstone, Sir Piers -at once rode to the old posting-house indicated; and there, pale, -wan, hollow cheeked, and with eyes unnaturally sunk and bloodshot, he -found his once favoured protégé in a state that shocked him. - -Hew was far from dying yet, as the doctor averred; and Sir Piers -too--he 'had seen too much of that sort of thing up country, not to -know all about it;' but, in his lowness and perturbation of spirit, -Hew firmly believed that the hour of his demise was close indeed; and -clinging to the hand of Sir Piers, while moaning and sobbing, he -confessed how he had cheated and swindled often, and how he had -maligned Cecil in many ways, and more than all, the cruel trick he -had played him, on the night of the ball, by drugging his wine. - -He uttered a veritable howl of dismay, and fell back in his bed, when -he saw the sudden expression of horror, rage, and shame, that mingled -in the face of the honourable old soldier, in whose heart there -swelled up a great emotion of pity for Cecil. - -He fiercely withdrew his hand from Hew's despairing and tenacious -clutch, and started back a pace from the bed whereon the culprit lay. - -'It is well that we have all heard this confession of a crime, as -black as assassination--a confession which I request you both to -commit to memory, and you, John Balderstone, most carefully to -writing. As for you, sir,' he added, with a withering glance at Hew, -'I shall never look upon your face again, and now leave you with the -doctor and your own conscience, if you have such a thing about you! -Order my horse,' he concluded, as he rang the bell, and quitted the -room without glancing again at Hew, whose wasted face was buried in -the pillows, among which he was groaning heavily. - -Buried in deep, anxious, and angry thoughts--angry with himself -too--the general rode slowly home. - -So--so--this was the secret and true character of Hew Montgomerie--a -blackleg--a cheat--the perpetrator of a great villany, on an innocent -man! 'When anything in which we have most believed, grows shadowy -and unreal, we are apt to grow unreal to ourselves;' and the general, -who had once believed greatly in Hew, now knew not what to think. - -'Jealousy and avarice are the meanest of passions,' he thought, and -terribly had Hew given full swing to both. 'Jealousy, I know, has -driven people to incredible acts of deceit; but this act of Hew's has -been, beyond all calculations, infamous!' - -'It has been just as my heart foreboded!' said Mary to Mrs. Garth, -when the revelation reached them, and the measure of her horror of -Hew was now full. She then thanked Heaven for her wealth, that she -might share it with the bruised and the fallen; but whither was he -gone? - -Alas! no one could find the smallest clue to it. - -After the revelation, which fear of death had wrung from him, Hew -recovered rapidly, and made many a solemn promise 'to eschew -horseflesh and bits of painted pasteboard;' but it was only a case of -'the devil was sick,' etc., for when well he plunged into his old bad -courses, far exceeding the allowance the general so generously made -to him, and then he disappeared for a time. - - -Autumn had come now; the crops had been gathered, and the gleaners -were busy on the upland slopes and fertile braes of Cunninghame and -Kyle; the last of the high-piled wains had gone homeward over the -furrowed fields and through the leafy grass lanes that led to the -picturesque rickyard; the fern and heath-covered wastes were in all -their beauty, the great gorse-bushes in all their golden bloom, and -the woodlands wore many a varied hue, from dark-green to russet-brown -and pallid yellow. - -Since the discovery made by John Balderstone, and the revelations of -Hew, the general had been rather a changed and broken-down man; but -he now clung to Mary Montgomerie more than ever, and daily she drove -him in her pony-carriage--the same in which Cecil was wont to -accompany her, wrapped cosily up in the skins of animals he had shot -in India--handling the ribbons so prettily with her gauntleted little -hands, and always comporting herself so sweetly and tenderly to him, -and just as a favourite daughter would have done. - -He felt that a great crime had been committed against one who was his -own flesh and blood; and that, in ignorance, he had condoned that -crime; and, more than all, in society had visited it with all the -acrimony he deemed due and proper to the occasion. - -'I have again been guilty of rash judgment--of indiscretion and of -cruelty!' he said again and again to himself in secret; and his mind -drew painful pictures of the ruined Cecil, a wanderer or outcast, -perhaps in penury, misery, and despair, driven, it might be, to -suicide; and, remembering the real or fancied vision he had seen in -time past, had a nervous and childish fear of perhaps beholding -another. - -Already had the father been wronged; and now, how much more deeply -the son! Was a curse coming upon his race--a curse like that which -blighted the Campbells of Glenlyon, and more than one other family, -for some crime committed in ages past? It almost seemed so; and he -had no language wherewith to express his loathing of Hew, and the -cunning and cowardice of the latter. - -Tidings of Cecil or how to trace him, were the daily thought of all -at Eaglescraig, and the general wrote again and again, but vainly, to -Leslie Fotheringhame, to Dick Freeport, Acharn, and other members of -the corps on the subject; but none could afford the slightest clue to -the mystery that enveloped his disappearance. - -The presence of friends, if not avoided, was certainly not courted at -Eaglescraig now; even the general forgot his reminiscences of India -and the Cameronians in this new anxiety, and the days passed slowly, -gloomily, and monotonously on, till Mary bethought her of Annabelle -Erroll, who she knew had a sorrow of her own, and pressed her to -visit them again. - -The curiously and mysteriously worded advertisements inserted by John -Balderstone in the second column of the _Times_, concerning Cecil, -and seeking some knowledge of his whereabouts, never reached him by -the banks of the Morava, or beyond the slopes of the Balkan -mountains; and fears began to gather in the hearts of those who loved -him, that if not gone to the Antipodes, he must be dead! - -'I am breaking up, John,' he would say querulously to his old friend, -'and am about as much use now as a Scotch M.P. or a third wheel to a -field-piece!' - -Yet, as we are all creatures of habit, he adhered to his old ways -mechanically. As an Indian veteran, accustomed to be up at gun-fire -and when the cantonment ghurries clanged, he was always wont to be -abroad early; and there was one morning, which he never forgot, when -he was up and about earlier than usual. - -He had been through the stables with Pate Pastern, the groom, and -seen the carriage-horses, his own roadster, Mary's pad and her -ponies; he had been with old Dibble, the gardener, about potting the -flowers, though he scarcely knew a daffodil from a rhododendron; had -seen the shepherd off to look after the cattle, and now came the -postman with the letters and papers; but he tossed them all aside and -muttered: - -'What can interest me now?' - -But Mary always had the power of rousing and interesting him, and, -breakfast over, she began to read the morning paper aloud, as she -often did, for he loved to hear her silvery voice. She turned, as -was her wont with him, to the Indian news, though many a hearty laugh -he had at her haphazard pronunciation of Hindostanee names and words; -and, after giving him all the news from Simla, Calcutta, and so -forth, her eyes fell on those from the Danubian provinces and the -East; and she was in the act of reading, when her voice broke; as a -swelling came into her throat she stopped, and, while tightly -clutching her paper, fell back in her chair, with her face deadly -pale. - -'Mary, my darling, you are ill; what is the matter?' exclaimed Sir -Piers, starting from his easy-chair and ringing the bell furiously. - -'News of Cecil!' she replied, faintly. - -'News of Cecil--when--how?' - -'See, see! oh, heavens!' she exclaimed, smoothing out the paper and -then pushing back her hair from her temples. - -It was the special correspondent's detailed account of the battle by -the Morava, and the singular gallantry of 'the British volunteer, Mr. -Cecil Falconer,' in rescuing and remounting General Tchernaieff, -after a brigade of Cossacks had given way; of his promotion and -decoration with the Takova cross, and all that the reader already -knows. - -Tremulously the general read the notice again and again, with a glow -of pride and joy in his old face--joy in which Mary did not fully -share, for dread of the perils surrounding the absent one was her -immediate second thought; but all suspense--all uncertainty were -ended now. The absent, the wronged, and the lost one was discovered, -but oh how far away! - -'My boy's boy! my boy's boy!' muttered Sir Piers, wiping his -spectacles, which had become covered with moisture. 'Tunley, call -Mrs. Garth--the chief of my household staff--she must hear of this at -once. Quick, she is in the compound!' he added, referring to the -garden, as an Anglo-Indian never rids himself of his old -associations. And motherly old Mrs. Garth, who was looking just as -we saw her last, with her grey hair thick and soft, and with keen -bright eyes under a pair of shrewd Scotch eyebrows, heard with -genuine joy the sudden tidings of Cecil, for whom she had always had -the strongest regard. - -The day was passed in surmises and plans for the future, and Mary -hurried away to her own room, to find perfect seclusion at last--away -from all! She locked her door; threw off her dress as if it stifled -her; donned her robe de toilette; let down the masses of her hair for -coolness, threw them over her shoulders, and sat down with her -dimpled chin resting in the pinky palm of her left hand, to -think--think--think it all out. - -What should she do! Write! - -She threw open her desk and blotting-pad; but her brain was too -excited--her poor heart beat too fast and too painfully to permit her -to steady her thoughts, and she paced to and fro, so wearily. - -'Thank heaven, dear Annabelle is coming!' she exclaimed more than -once. - -This battle by the Morava had been fought, by the date given, more -than a month ago. A whole month! What might not have happened since -then? In what fresh perils might not Cecil have been plunged? And -much had happened, such as the gentle mind of Mary could not have -conceived, or deemed possible, in this age of the world. - -Now the news of the Servian war--a war to her hitherto unknown or -devoid of interest--became suddenly invested with a new and terrible -importance. - -The regiment, of course, heard betimes of Cecil's exploit and the -honours awarded him; and, as may readily be supposed, the mess had -quite an ovation in consequence. - -For certain cogent reasons of his own, Hew Montgomerie heard the -tidings with unmixed satisfaction. - -'In Servia--fighting in Servia, of all places in the world!' he -muttered; 'if he only gets knocked on the head, I may find my old -place at Eaglescraig again! But he may escape and come safely home. -Why should I not go to Servia, and mar his future in some fashion?' -he added, as a dark and cruel expression stole into his shifty eyes; -'but how to get there--and where the devil is Servia?' - -Hew's ideas on geography were decidedly vague, and even Bradshaw -failed to show how he could get there; but, intent on his diabolical -thoughts nevertheless, he continued to think and to mutter: - -'Fighting, is he! A bullet may rid me of him--rid me all the sooner -that, no doubt, he sets little store upon his life now. Anyway, I -should like it soon to be settled whether I am to have Eaglescraig -after all!' - -And he began to consider intently how he could reach Servia before -Cecil could hear of his changed fortune; in what capacity he could -act when there; what was the language spoken; where was the money to -come from with which he was to travel? And for some days he resolved -himself into a species of committee of ways and means, combined with -many dark, cruel and malignant thoughts. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE COINCIDENCE. - -On her way to Eaglescraig, Annabelle Erroll proceeded by way of -Glasgow, and had barely taken her seat in the compartment of a -first-class railway carriage, when a gentleman entered, and took his -place at an opposite corner. Then the train glided out of the -station; smoky Tradeston on the right, and the dense masses of the -ancient Gorbals on the left, were quickly far behind, and the view on -either side became more open, as it sped on its way; and ere long -Annabelle forgot all about her companion, in watching the estuary of -the Clyde, the rock of Dumbarton, the mighty blue mass of Ben Lomond, -and the glorious panorama of the hills of Argyle. - -Her companion had leisurely opened a courier bag, and taken therefrom -various serials, without offering one to her, as she sat with averted -face, intent on the scenery. He seemed one of those composed -travellers who can hear unmoved the scream and whistle of any number -of engines; the startling shout of 'Change here!' as the train pulled -up at some confusing junction, from where travellers branched off in -all directions--some the right, but many the wrong; and where -leisurely and indolent porters spent the stirring yet monotonous day -in cramming passengers and portmanteaus into carriages, to get rid of -them as fast as possible for the next batch of portmanteaus and -passengers, without caring whither they went or what became of them. - -He could see, by furtive glances over the top of his paper, that his -companion was a tall and elegant girl, faultlessly attired in a rich -sealskin, with gold ornaments; with feet and hands which--when the -latter left her tiny muff--were well-shaped and small. There was a -haughty grace in the carriage of her handsome head; she wore a smart -hat, and a thick black veil tied over her face effectually concealed -her features. He took in all this at a glance as he settled himself -to his newspaper, while she scarcely dared to breathe, as in him she -had now recognised Leslie Fotheringhame! - -Where was he going--what was he doing here, in 'mufti' too? The -calm, high-bred face, to which the dark eyebrows and thick, black, -heavy moustache imparted so much character--the face that was ever -dwelling in her memory was before her again. In repose, she thought -it seemed older than it should have been, or was wont to be; and when -eventually he did venture to address her, when he smiled, it grew -young and bright again, like the face she remembered in the pleasant -time beside the Tay, and the last season at Edinburgh. - -She saw that he had still at his watch-chain a tiny gold locket, -which she remembered well; for it had been her gift to him, and -contained a microscopic likeness of herself on one side, and a lock -of her golden hair on the other--or _had_ done so, when she saw it -last. - -Did it contain them now, or had they given place to memorials of--of -that other woman--a hateful and humiliating thought! - -How she longed for an excuse or opportunity to get into another -carriage, or for other passengers to come in, ere he recognised her; -but the train was an express one, and no addition could be made to -their number for some time to come. - -Secure, as yet, behind the mask of her veil, she watched him, while -her heart beat with lightning-speed, and swelled with unavailing -regret. Intent, apparently, on his paper, he had not recognised her. -He had, of course, ceased to care for her, she thought, when he had -learned to love that other one; and so now, her coming, and her -going, her joy and her sorrow, were nothing to him--were less than -the snow of last winter! - -Yet she was woman enough to love him now, when breathing the same -atmosphere with him--seated within a yard of him--to love him, in -these the days of his biting indifference, even as she had done in -those when a smile of hers could bring him so winningly to her side. - -'What a fool I am!' she thought; 'oh, I hate myself! Would that I -were a man--they can so easily forget!' - -At that moment one of her bracelets became unclasped and fell at his -feet. - -He picked it up, and not sorry, perhaps, for an excuse to address -her, said simply: 'Permit me?' and clasped it round her white and -shapely wrist. - -'Thanks,' she replied as briefly; but her voice, though low, -instantly stirred a chord in his heart; the memory of her figure -rushed upon him; he gazed keenly at the fair face half hidden by its -veil of lace. - -'Annabelle--Miss Erroll!' said he, in a strange voice, while lifting -his hat, and half offering a hand: a motion which she ignored, and -felt herself grow pallid in being discovered at last--pallid with -something of anger too, for, with all her natural sweetness, -Annabelle had a heart of pride. - -'We are old friends,' said he, with some confusion or emotion of -manner; 'at least we can be that?' - -'Not even that, I fear,' said she, with affected firmness; and then -added a little irrelevantly: 'would that I had never come here; an -express train, too--how provoking!' - -'Is my company so hateful--or are we to be enemies now?' - -'As you please,' she replied, with growing irritation, for, her -secret sentiments apart, the sudden situation exasperated her, after -all that had occurred. 'To meet you here was, at least, the last -thing I could have expected.' - -'Or wished?' - -'I have no reason for not replying in the affirmative--yes.' - -He sighed, and for a moment looked out of the window at the -past-flying landscape, across which the white cloud of the engine -smoke was whirling. After a pause, he asked in a tone of assumed -indifference: - -'Are you going far by this train?' - -'Far or near cannot possibly interest you, Captain Fotheringhame; but -I may mention that I am going to Eaglescraig in Cunninghame.' - -'Eaglescraig!' he exclaimed, forgetting his pretended calmness of -manner. - -'And you?' she inquired, for she had a tender interest in him, in -spite of herself. - -'I am going there too,' he replied, with the slightest twinkle of -mischief in his handsome eyes. - -'By invitation?' asked Annabelle, aghast, conceiving that her friend -Mary had formed some scheme concerning them. - -'No; I have volunteered a visit to the general, out of my friendship -for Cecil Falconer--or Montgomerie, we must call him now. I have -seen several notices concerning him in the public prints; I know all -about his changed fortunes, and I want to be of service, if I can, to -him and the old general. Thus I took this train, by a singular -coincidence.' - -'One I would have avoided, could I have known, foreseen, what was -thereby involved.' - -'Do not say so, I implore you,' said he. - -She made no response to this; but sat with her face resolutely turned -to the carriage window, while biting her cherry nether lip, and with -difficulty restraining tears of vexation behind her veil; while -Fotheringhame, as he looked at her, thought just then that no woman -could compare with her--not even Mary Montgomerie--in his eyes; and -he longed to see her face unveiled, but dared not, in her present -mood, venture to hint of such a wish. - -As his presence seemed to give her such extreme annoyance, he felt -half inclined to relinquish his plan of visiting Sir Piers; but then -he had written to the latter, announcing his intention of coming, and -had obtained two or three days' leave for that special purpose. - -The recent tidings of Cecil in the public prints--the brilliant -exploit he had performed in the war in Servia--'in Servia, of all -places in the world,' as Fotheringhame said--fortunately gave this -luckless pair of travellers a kind of neutral ground on which to -meet--a neutral subject on which to converse, apart from themselves; -but in no instance can a man and a woman who have ever been _more_ to -each other than friends meet, after parting under any circumstances, -without having emotion of a deeper kind--be it love, or be it -hate--than ordinary individuals. Thus, ever and anon the -conversation of these two manifested a decided tendency to take a -personal and explanatory turn; yet they sat rigidly apart, each in -their own corner of the carriage. - -'Poor Cecil!' said Fotheringhame; 'he may have tired of treading -life's dull road ere the report of his good fortune reaches him--the -heir of an old baronetcy and an estate.' - -'With the affection of a dear girl like Mary Montgomerie too!' - -'True,' added Fotheringhame, with much sadness of tone; 'she does not -forget, as some so readily can, what Motherwell calls "the love of -life's young day." - -Thinking that, if not acting, this remark conveyed a taunt, Annabelle -said: - -'You seem somewhat changed in way and manner since we saw each other -last.' - -'If so, I have had good reason therefor.' - -'You were once gay enough, and happy too.' - -'Happy when you made me so; but Heaven knows, Annabelle,' he -exclaimed, with sudden emotion, 'that gaiety and pleasure have long -been strangers to me.' - -'So duplicity brings about its own punishment,' she replied, -pointedly and pitilessly. - -'Duplicity?' said he, looking up with a surprise that seemed at least -genuine; 'I do not understand--you slighted my visits--returned my -letters----' - -'Good reason had I to do so. I had hoped we might avoid this -subject----' - -'Reason?' he queried, as her voice broke. - -'Remember your mysterious friend,' said Annabelle, bitterly; 'she was -_not_ Blanche Gordon; so who was she--what was she? But I despise -myself for asking!' - -'She was then what she is no longer now--an unhappy creature,' was -the enigmatical reply, from which Annabelle, whose pride revolted -from making further inquiries, drew all kinds of singular deductions. - -And now, at this crisis in their conversation, the train stopped, and -as an influx took place of those fresh passengers so longed for by -Annabelle a short time before, it could not be resumed in any form, -and the rest of the journey was performed by them in silence, or -nearly so. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -EAGLESCRAIG ONCE MORE. - -Mary, in the general's snug and well-appointed old family carriage, -with a stately hammer-cloth and heraldically bedecked panels, awaited -Annabelle at the railway station; and though expecting Leslie -Fotheringhame at the same time, and quite prepared to welcome him -warmly as Cecil's friend and whilom brother officer, and though not -surprised to see him arrive, she was certainly surprised to find that -he and Annabelle had come _together_, and clapped her little ungloved -hands merrily, as she received them, in a childlike way that almost -provoked the latter, who was a proud and rather reserved girl. - -She coloured deeply and with positive vexation, even under the eye of -her dearest friend, for thus arriving at the same time, by the same -train, and in the same carriage, with Leslie Fotheringhame; and this -emotion made her more shy, more resentful to him apparently, and more -resolved to keep as much as possible aloof from him. - -And he, piqued by this, of which he was speedily conscious, conceived -a vague and direful jealousy of some person as yet unknown, and it -coloured his manner accordingly. - -For the first time, on this occasion, he saw fully the soft fair face -of Annabelle, as she raised her veil, and her velvet-like lips met -those of Mary. Would they ever touch his again? - -The weather was duly discussed, and the advent of Snarley gave them -something to talk of, as that much-petted cur was nestling cosily -under the skin of a man-eater that would have gobbled him up at a -mouthful; and he now welcomed both with much yelping and effusiveness. - -Mary felt the situation of her friends to be an awkward one, and -exerted herself to make both feel at ease, as they drove under the -evening sunshine to Eaglescraig, where both were welcomed by Sir -Piers in the grand old dining-hall, the oak panels of which were -nearly hidden by ancestral portraits, and from the tall windows of -which there was a noble view of mountain and coppice, of rocky cliffs -and the far-stretching Firth of the dark blue Clyde; and at the elbow -of the host stood old Tunley, with a silver salver of decanters and -glasses. - -'Too late for tiffin and too early for dinner, Fotheringhame,' said -the general; 'just a nip to keep the cold out, and then the -dressing-bell will ring, and Tunley will see that you are attended -to.' - -Tunley, like most of the old servants, many of whom had been born on -the estate, had but one creed--the welfare of the family of -Eaglescraig. Their sorrow had been sincere when 'Master Piers come -to evil,' with his father; and it had been renewed now by the strange -story of Cecil, which had, of course, taken a powerful hold of their -fancies; thus he and they all viewed the advent of Fotheringhame with -the deepest interest, believing that he was in some mysterious way to -restore the wanderer to his home, and was, indeed, but the forerunner -of that event. - -One word more about Tunley. The poor man felt ashamed of one feature -in his past blameless life, and daily intercourse with the general -and Mrs. Garth made him feel it keenly; for this most respectable of -British butlers had never served, even for an hour, in the -Cameronians, and this he deemed somewhat of a blot upon his scutcheon. - -'Mrs. Captain Garth, of course, you remember,' said the general to -Fotheringhame (who was imbibing a liqueur glass of mountain-dew), -indicating the old lady, who was seated in an easy-chair, holding a -hand-screen to shield her face from the glow of the fire; 'widow of -my old friend Garth of Ours--and now, I think, we all know each -other.' - -Sir Piers had some vague idea that there had been a flirtation--a -lovers' quarrel, or some such folly--between Leslie Fotheringhame and -Annabelle Errol; but that was nothing to the old man--they would -square it, no doubt, if they were so disposed. And he thought only -of making welcome his guest--a Cameronian too!--friend of his -grandson, who had been so horribly used; and as for Annabelle, Mary -would look after her. - -Dinner duly came, and passed with the usual commonplace conversation; -the presence of the servants precluding all from talking freely, and -conversing on the matter nearest their hearts--the volunteer in -Servia. But Fotheringhame, from his place by Mary's side, had but -one thought--how surpassing fair looked Annabelle! Her dress was a -plain and simple muslin one; a blue flower of some kind was amid the -masses of her golden hair, and the brother of it nestled amid the -soft lace in the swell of her bosom. - -After the ladies had returned to the drawing-room, the object which -had brought him to Eaglescraig seemed half forgotten for a time, and -his thoughts had followed her; but now the hospitable general was -pushing the decanters to and fro; Tunley had withdrawn; and anon -Fotheringhame roused himself, for he was full of joyous enthusiasm at -distinction won by his friend in a foreign service, though he -cordially wished that he had never been driven to seek it there--a -service in which he had been driven by desperation to seek a new -home; and Fotheringhame quite won the heart of the general, who -now--in all that Cecil had done and achieved--was assured that he saw -but the reflection and reproduction of his own character, vaguely -known as 'a chip of the old block,' and that it was from him that -Cecil inherited all this fire and spirit. He became quite jovial, -and ere the evening was over began to sing, in a very quavering -treble, snatches of 'the old Subadahr.' - -'At the mess, we knew not what to think of his disappearance,' said -Fotheringhame, playing with his walnuts; 'some hinted of California -and the Rocky Mountains, others of Ballarat, the Diamond Fields of -Natal, the Cape war and the Zulus, and everywhere else that the -desperate and the broken----' - -'The desperate and the broken!' sighed the general, setting down an -untasted glass. - -'Yes, Sir Piers--go to mend their fortunes, to seek excitement, -oblivion, and too often to end their lives; but certainly no man -among us ever thought of Servia!' - -'It was most kind of you to volunteer this visit, Fotheringhame, to -assist me with your advice and knowledge of a European world that is -somewhat new to me now,' said Sir Piers, grasping his hand. - -'Not at all, Sir Piers; I would do anything to serve Cecil. I -thought two heads might be better than one; I am younger and more -active than you-- - -'But, egad, I have seen the day!' - -'And so, I thought, we must talk the matter over at leisure, yet -without delay.' - -'All right--the decanters stand with you. And now, Fotheringhame, -you are aware of how he was a victim of a vile scheme--how his wine -was drugged by a scoundrel whose attested confession I possess?' - -Aware of how deep had once been the general's interest in Mr. Hew -Caddish Montgomerie, Fotheringhame merely bowed an assent; and, after -a few minutes' silence, inquired where he was now? - -'None know, and none care,' replied the general, hotly; 'he has -disappeared altogether--let us hope for ever. But if life lasts me, -by the Heaven that hears me, I shall set the honour of my boy right -and clear before the regiment, the Horse Guards, and the world, or -lay my commission at the foot of the throne!' - -'In an affair of jealousy----' - -'Jealousy!' exclaimed the general, with a fierce grimace; 'we settled -these, and other affairs, differently in my time, before the service -went to the dogs. Egad! I knew a fellow, when I was a sub at -Vellore, who was shot for declining to dine at a certain mess-table. -Did you ever hear the story?' - -'No, general!' - -'Well, you see, it happened in this way,' began Sir Piers, who, -having obtained an audience, fell back at once into his old Indian -train of thought. 'We were cantonned at Nussirabad, in the wild -black province of Ajmir, with the 76th Bengal Native Infantry, when -there came from England, to join that corps, a Captain Evelyn, a -quiet and gentlemanly young fellow, whom all liked, save some of the -76th, who, sooth to say, were nearly all fiery rackety Irishmen, and -by no means good examples of the Emerald Isle; for cards, -brandy-pawnee, and incessant uproar were the order of the day, and of -the night too, in every bungalow in their lines, generally finishing -at a very late hour by breaking each other's heads with the -billiard-cues, and shying the balls out of the windows; while they -were born-devils at pig-sticking, horse-racing, and not a pretty ayah -was safe within ten coss of them. Such were the officers of the -_Moriartie-ka-Pultan_, for the corps had been raised by an Irishman, -and bore his name. - -'Evelyn declined to join their mess, not on that account, but because -he wished to live economically, being engaged to a young lady who was -coming up country, chaperoned by Mrs. Erroll, the mother of Mary's -friend, then a young and lovely matron--a mere girl in fact, and -travelling _dawk_, as we all did in those days; and with the utmost -politeness he explained all this to the president of the mess -committee. That personage, a certain Captain Darby O'Dowd, swore -that this was a distinct affront to the whole corps, and that Evelyn -must be paraded about gunfire. The mess consisted of sixteen, and as -he could not fight them all, they leisurely cast lots, and the task -fell to O'Dowd, who challenged Evelyn, with the intimation that if -he--the valiant Darby--fell, the next in seniority would take his -place. - -'Evelyn was too high-spirited to decline this outrageous challenge, -and they met at gunfire, in the open plain, while the sun was as yet -below the hills of Ajmir. I remember it all as if it were yesterday, -for I had the mainguard. - -'Evelyn, thinking, no doubt, of the girl who was far away, and whom -he might never see again, standing with his second, worthy John Garth -of Ours, pale and sad, yet resolute in aspect, on one hand; on the -other, O'Dowd, with his second, a Captain O'Spudd, and all the mess -of the 76th, anxious to have their turn in the shooting, grouped -close by, and pale and bloated enough they looked in the cold, half -light of the unrisen sun as it stole across the plain, and all shaky -enough with their over-night potations. - -'"Having no personal injury to redress, gentlemen, I decline to -fire," exclaimed Evelyn, in a loud, firm voice. - -'"Plaze yourself, me boy," replied the relentless O'Dowd as he fired; -and, shot through the heart, poor Evelyn fell dead on his face! - -'Even in those days there was a devil of a row about this remarkable -duel, and it was a close shave with O'Dowd escaping being hung for -it; but a verdict of "Not guilty" was returned, and he was killed -soon after in action by a grape-shot; and O'Spudd died of a sunstroke -in the jungle, and was buried there in his blanket.' - -The general followed up this by many other stories, all more or less -bloodthirsty, till his guest became somewhat silent--bored by them, -no doubt; and then he said: - -'Fotheringhame, the sherry stands with you--just "a white washer," -and then we shall join the ladies.' - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE DIVIDED PAIR. - -Mrs. Garth was dozing dreamily before the fire, and the two girls -were at the piano, when the general and Fotheringhame entered the -drawing-room. - -They were idling over the instrument, before which Annabelle was -seated, and over the keys of which Mary was occasionally running her -fingers, as if apparently to conceal a little confidential -conversation that was in progress between them. - -'You'll have a turn with the guns to-morrow, Fotheringhame,' said the -general, 'but you must excuse my absence; my day is past for that -sort of thing. The rocketers I once could bring down, pass over my -head contemptuously now; and bullfinches seem much bigger in the -hunting-field than they used to be, so I funk them entirely, and seek -a quiet gate, as I don't like to come a spread eagle into the field; -and, by Jove! the doctor has already hinted about a respirator. -D--n! fancy a fellow at the head of a brigade with a respirator! I -was nearly drowned the other day, and would have been but for Mary, -when landing a twenty-pound pike from Eaglescraig Loch; so it is time -I gave over these little vanities, and left them to my juniors and -successors; though, Heaven knows, that if I was anxious about my -estate in this world just when it is time to be thinking of the -other, it was not for myself, but for those who are to come after -me,' added the general in a softened tone, for now much of the -peppery nature of the old stock-comedy guardian had left him. 'Fond -of music, Fotheringhame?' he asked, after a pause. - -'Very.' - -'Ah; dare say we shall find you something in that way. Mary is no -bad performer.' - -'Pray excuse me--to-night,' urged Mary. - -'Then I won't excuse Annabelle,' said the general, patting the -shoulder of the latter, while Fotheringhame drew near; 'do favour us -with the little song I have so often heard you sing with such extreme -sweetness and pathos.' - -'Which, Sir Piers?' - -'What is it? oh yes--"Love me always, love me ever," or something of -that kind. There must be some tender association connected with it, -I am sure,' continued Sir Piers, in utter ignorance of how his -remarks cut two ways, like a double-edged sword. - -'I have not the music--and--and I have quite forgotten the words,' -replied Annabelle, growing painfully pale, and wishing that the floor -would open and swallow her up, conscious that Leslie Fotheringhame -was standing at her back. The latter saw the ill-concealed emotion -that pervaded her whole frame, and he felt keenly for her. - -'Is this girl to be, for good or for evil, my destiny after all?' he -thought, as he regarded with his old admiration the beauty of her -refined face and her brilliant complexion--that dazzling and -wonderful fairness which almost invariably accompanies the possession -of golden and auburn hair. - -Annabelle did not leave the piano; it afforded her a pretext for -keeping her face turned from those around her, and, impelled by some -new emotion, she sang in succession some of her gayest and most -effective songs, while Fotheringhame hovered near, leaving to Mary -the task of turning the music, and steadily and keenly he regarded -the singer. Was this gaiety real, or was she acting a part? he -thought; and seeing that he came nearer, Mary withdrew. - -'You regard me with surprise,' said Annabelle, finding his eyes fixed -on her, and feeling a desperate necessity for saying something. -Indeed, they had scarcely spoken since leaving the railway carriage. - -'Certainly, I am surprised,' said he; 'I did not expect to be -standing by your side thus, and hearing your voice again.' - -Full fell the light of the chandelier on the lovely upturned eyes -that did not soften in the least, as he hoped they would do, at his -slight allusion to the past. - -'Captain Fotheringhame,' said Annabelle, quite calmly, and in an -ordinary tone, 'you look at me as though I were somehow changed.' - -'Oh, you are not in the least changed, he replied, in a low voice, -and with a bitter smile; 'you are volatile and--cruel as ever.' - -'Cruel!' she repeated, under cover of a musical crash, while the -colour rushed to her cheeks and delicate neck; but she disdained to -say more, and thus, to one or two half-broken utterances of his, -finding that she made no response, Fotheringhame drew back and -rejoined the general. - -How long was all this to go on? was Annabelle's bitter thought. In -the old time, by the silver birches on the Tay-side, they had met, -loved, quarrelled, and parted, she thought, for ever; but to meet and -quarrel again with just cause on one side, with the prayer in her -heart that they might never look in each other's faces again, and -here they were now, by an unexpected coincidence, a strange freak of -destiny, under the same roof, and in the same room, compelled to meet -at least as mutual friends! - -Thus, when they parted for the night, his voice was as calm and his -smile and bow as coldly polite as her own. Then he and the general -withdrew to the smoking-room, to talk over Cecil's affairs, and -scheme out some plan for his future, and the girls gladly sought -their rooms, which adjoined each other, and plunged at once into -gossip and hair-dressing. - -For weeks and weeks past Mary's life had been one of dull routine; -she had fed her pet birds, her pigeons, watched her flowers, and -watered her ferns, as usual; it was such a relief to do, or be doing, -anything: but now that Annabelle Erroll had come, she felt almost -happy in her companionship--for both had enough to talk about. - -'Have you met as acquaintances merely?' asked Mary, with eagerness. - -'Yes; but acquaintances of a peculiar kind, certainly. How could it -be otherwise, after all that has passed between us? I must -studiously ignore the past,' continued Annabelle; 'nor shall his -strange and sharp allusion to it move me, save in the way of -annoyance and surprise.' - -To her it seemed very strange and unaccountable that Leslie -Fotheringhame should adopt an indignant tone with her, as if _he_ -were the wronged party, and that she had nothing to complain of in -reference to his conduct with the unknown lady. - -'Why did he so studiously, so cruelly deceive me?' she exclaimed, on -the verge of tears; 'but that I inherit the spirit of my father, the -old colonel, he would have broken my heart--I loved him so!' - -'Poor Annabelle!' said Mary, caressing her; 'twice engaged, and twice -separated--you are a curious pair. Let us hope that the third time -may prove successful and irrevocable!' - -'Never!' exclaimed Annabelle. 'Did he not openly tell me that -she--that woman--is happy now? What did he mean by that?--for there -was something of mournful exultation in his tone!' - -'It is all very strange,' said Mary, in perplexity; 'can there have -been some simple, yet perhaps inexplicable, mistake at the bottom of -this unhappy business?' - -'No, Mary--I tell you no!' replied Annabelle, with angry energy; 'the -woman in the matter was a fact palpable enough. And what can the -unexplained mystery of his interest in her be? and is it not to him -degradation, and to me insult?' - -'Unexplained; it might not have been.' - -'How?' - -'You forget the rejected correspondence--the last unopened letter.' - -'Anyway,' replied Annabelle, with a forced laugh, 'unlike the Grande -Duchesse, I shall no longer dote upon the military. I'll look out -for an easy-going parson, or plain country gentleman, and, as Hawley -Smart says, "more weddings take place from pique than the world -wotteth of," and Hawley is right.' Then, dropping this tone, she -twined her white arms round her friend, and, gazing into her soft -face, said, 'Dear Mary, how poorly you are looking!' - -'Well, have I not had much cause for anxiety, and tears too, think -you?' - -'No man, I believe now, is worth the grief that robs a woman of her -peace and rest.' - -'Oh, Annabelle, the thought of Leslie Fotheringhame embitters you; -but I sorrow for Cecil--and there are men and men, remember. How -strange it seems that now I must think and speak of him not as -Falconer (his mother's name), but as Cecil Montgomerie!' she added, -with a soft smile, gazing on vacancy. - -'I thought,' said Annabelle, after a pause, 'that I should have died -when dear old Sir Piers so awkwardly asked me to sing that stupid -song to-night--died of shame and mortification! Surely no woman has -ever been more thoroughly humbled than I! How unfortunate all this -is!' she added, almost weeping with vexation; 'mamma knew of our -engagement, and that he is my cousin. She knows how shamefully he -treated me after the night of that most unlucky ball; and all about -that--that person--the woman with the golden-hazel eyes; and how -shall I be able to convince her, proud, resentful, and -justly-suspicious as she is, that our meeting here is a miserable -coincidence--a circumstance beyond my control?' - -'It looks like Fate, my dear Belle.' - -'Fate? How can you romance so after all that has happened?' - -'What happened may be a mistake--a coincidence, too--explainable -perhaps, though I have not much hope of that. If dear Cecil were but -home, he might clear it all up for us. Home! when will that be? -Soon, I hope--oh, so soon!' she added, as she kissed her friend and -sought her pillow. - -Annabelle lay far into the night awake, revolving endless schemes and -conversations in her busy little head. She naturally longed to be -gone from Eaglescraig, and nothing but a sure knowledge that -Fotheringhame's leave was for a very brief period, pacified her at -all. That they should be in the same house, and meeting perpetually -at the same table, was intensely awkward under the circumstances of -their changed position. - -Annabelle felt this keenly, and thus she sedulously avoided Leslie -Fotheringhame, who felt conscious that she did so, and misconstrued -it either into an aversion for himself, or a regard for some other -man--a regard inspired, perhaps, by pique, or wounded self-esteem. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -A STRANGE ACCUSATION. - -Meanwhile how fared it with Cecil, and what was now his fate? - -He had permitted the cold, damp earth to be heaped upon him, only -moving sufficiently--unseen in the gloom of the night and of the hole -wherein he lay--to keep his body, though partially buried, from being -so entirely; fortunately, the would-be assassins were satisfied that -they had effectually concealed him from the troops, who were -certainly in motion close by, and then retired for a time, intending, -as they stated, to return shortly, and make sure of their prey. - -The moment they were gone, though scarcely daring to breathe, and -oblivious of many a sore and bruise, of which he became conscious -hours after, Cecil rose, clambered out of the hollow, shook his -clothes as free as possible of the soil that had covered him, secured -his pistols in his belt anew, and on looking to his sword, thanked -heaven that, in his fall, the steel scabbard had saved the blade from -injury. - -Drawing a long breath, a sigh of relief, he prepared for immediate -flight, though giddy, bruised, and weak. Lights were flitting to and -fro in the farmhouse close by, and he could actually hear the voices -of Guebhard and his Montenegrins, so not a moment was to be lost in -retiring. Even the farmer and his people were to be sedulously -avoided, and though Cecil did think of his horse, it was chiefly with -reference to the impossibility of recovering it. - -A sound made him shrink behind a bush, and then he saw one of his -late assailants creeping towards the hole, softly, slowly, -stealthily, on his hands and knees, with a yataghan in his teeth, and -his eyes turned more than once towards the house from which he had -stolen on deadly intent, to anticipate his leader and companions, by -finishing off their victim if any life remained in him, and obtaining -the valuable diamond ring of Palenka, the despatches and other -plunder. - -A moment he paused in his progress, irresolutely, for the voice of a -cuckoo, roused by the recent noise, was now heard in a tree close by; -and the Black Mountaineer, affrighted by an idea of the _vila_, which -often assumes, as the Servians also believe, the form of that bird, -let the yataghan fall from his mouth. - -Ere he could pick it up, Cecil, whose blood was now at fever-heat, -passed his sword twice furiously through the body of the wretch, with -his foot spurned it head-long into the hole (where, to the -bewilderment of Guebhard and his ruffians, it was found some time -after), and then, animated by a species of despairing energy, he -hurried, breathless and panting, stumbling heavily at every step, -into the thick wood that lay near, intent only on immediate escape -and concealment for a time--at least till day broke, and he could -look about him; nor did he pause in his flight until he felt assured -that some miles lay between him and his enemies. - -A great weariness, the result of long and over exertion of mind and -body, came over him; and on finding a dry and sheltered place, under -the branches of a great laurel bush or tree, he fell fast asleep, -fearless of the wild hogs, of which vast numbers feed in the woods. - -When he awoke, stiff and benumbed, a silvery mist was rising from the -dark green foliage of the forest, and above the mist was the blue sky -and the clear bright morning sunshine, as he began to search for a -path, which he hoped might lead him to a highway, though such he -knew, in Servia, were only to be found in the neighbourhood of towns. - -The sound of a cavalry trumpet at no great distance caught his ear. -It gave him a species of electric shock, and he remembered, that to -the fears expressed by Guebhard of troops being in the vicinity, he -no doubt owed his life. He pressed eagerly, anxiously forward in the -direction whence the sound had come, the rabbits scuttling briskly -out of his way, as he hurried along a narrow track; and at length he -was rewarded by reaching a regular beaten road, on which was a long -string of horses and mules laden with provisions, forage, and stores, -proceeding under an escort of Russian Lancers from Belgrade to the -front--direct to Tchernaieff's headquarters, as the officer in -command--a _capitan_--informed him. - -The latter, a handsome man, kid-gloved and glazed booted, wore a very -dashing uniform; a green tunic, piped with scarlet, faced with black -velvet and laced with gold, and on his breast glittered the medals he -had won in the expeditions to Khiva and elsewhere, with the orders of -St. Andrew and St. Vladimir. - -Cecil made his position, his wants, and his recent troubles known in -French, which the Ruski spoke fluently. The latter summoned a -sergeant, who procured a horse and some food--_i.e._, biscuits and -brandy--for Cecil; and now his heart grew lighter as he rode on and -felt himself in perfect safety, but not the less intent on having -public or private vengeance upon Captain Mattei Guebhard. - -He saw once more the Morava, and after a few hours' riding, was -thankful when the escort passed the outposts of the Russo-Servian -army at Deligrad, and he could proceed without delay to the quarters -of General Tchernaieff. - -Inspired more than he had ever been since he came to Servia by the -sights and sounds around him--the tents, the huts, the batteries of -artillery with their limbers all drawn up wheel to wheel; the -cavalry, their horses picketed in close ranks or at exercise upon the -plateau; the strains of a magnificent Russian band playing the 'Blue -Danube,' and then the 'Manolo'--he ceased to think or question -himself, like Mr. Mallock, 'Is life worth living?' He was too young -yet to find that there was nothing in it. Since that bright summer -day when Warren Hastings, 'then just seven years of age,' as we are -told, 'lay on the bank of a rivulet, which flows through the old -domain of his house to join the Isis,' and registered a vow that he -would, one day, be lord of Daylesford, how many vows of anticipated -honours, wealth and greatness have been registered, that may never -have been fulfilled! - -But some such emotion--some such hope of a brilliant future, swelled -up in the heart of Cecil, as he dismounted from his horse at the door -of an edifice, two sentinels before which, and the Russian flag -flying thereon, indicating it to be the headquarters of General -Tchernaieff. - -Officers and orderlies belonging to every arm of the service, horse, -foot, artillery, engineers, hospitals and ambulances, were passing in -and out, when Cecil sent in his name to the general, who had just -come from vespers in the little iron church, which had been sent to -him by the ladies of Moscow, and in which he had been depositing two -or three standards recently taken from the Turks, prior to their -transmission to the Emperor at St. Petersburg. - -Cecil's jaded aspect, his tattered uniform, soiled, sodden, and of no -particular colour now, for the brown of the tunic and the scarlet of -the facings and braid were all of one dingy hue, attracted some -attention among the gorgeous, and almost fantastic, costumes of the -Russian staff and cavalry officers in the ante-room, through which he -was quickly ushered into the presence of Tchernaieff. - -The latter, who wore a short, brown shell-jacket, with a rolling -collar laced with gold, and crimson overalls, was smoking a huge pipe -and seated at a table littered with papers and printed journals, from -which he started up as Cecil entered, and, drawing himself up to the -full height of his short pudgy figure, while all his short, stubbly -hair seemed to bristle, and his wiry moustaches to stick out like -those of a cat, he eyed him with considerable sternness, indignation, -and surprise, mingled in a face that was never at any time a very -handsome one. - -Count Palenka, who was writing at the table, laid down his pen and -eyed Cecil with cold hauteur, even hostility, and did not accord him -the vestige of a recognition. - -'What on earth can be in the wind now?' thought the latter, as his -late bright hopes vanished into thin smoke. Mechanically he took the -despatches from his sabretache, and said respectfully: - -'I have the honour to deliver to your excellency these documents, -entrusted to me by his Majesty the King.' - -'His Majesty the King does not owe you many thanks for the haste you -have made!' replied Tchernaieff, as he somewhat rudely snatched the -papers from Cecil's hand, while his eyes literally glared at him. - -'I do not understand this bearing of yours, general,' said he, -haughtily. - -'You may understand, however, Herr Lieutenant, that you loitered for -many days idly at Palenka.' - -'A dislocated arm--dislocated when fording the Morava--detained me -there.' - -'A likely story, truly,' said Tchernaieff, with growing indignation; -'why ford a river that has bridges, and why the devil ford it at all, -before coming to the town of Tjuprija?' - -'I lost the direct road and fell into the river in the night. The -family of the Count----' - -'Knew not that they were harbouring a traitor,' said Palenka, grimly. - -'A traitor, Herr Count!' exclaimed Cecil. - -'I have said it; so don't repeat my words.' - -'There must be some strange misconception in all this,' replied -Cecil, more bewildered than indignant, perhaps; 'the way was -beset----' - -'By Captain Mattei Guebhard,' interrupted Tchernaieff. - -'You know it!' - -'From his own lips. He is now in camp, and very properly and duly -reported to me that he had done so; but that you escaped him, he -knows not how, after killing one of his men, and causing, by -misadventure, the death of another.' - -Cecil was more and more bewildered by the strange candour of Guebhard -in acknowledging the outrageous conduct of which he had been guilty; -but the injurious treatment now so unexpectedly accorded him, after -all he had undergone, filled him with just anger and indignation. - -'Who dares to accuse me of wrong, or even of error?' he demanded. - -'That you will discover in time.' - -'Of what am I accused?' he continued. - -'That also you will learn in time; and in time you may see the mines -of Siberia, if you escape death! Meanwhile you will withdraw, and -remain under close arrest. Count Palenka, take his sword.' - -'The officer of the nearest guard can do that. Your excellency must -hold me excused,' was the haughty and contemptuous reply of Palenka; -and a few minutes afterwards Cecil found himself disarmed and a -prisoner under close arrest, with special sentries guarding the door -of the house, in an apartment of which he was left to his own bitter -and confused thoughts. - -That he was the victim of some strange and malevolent report made by -Guebhard to the general and Count Palenka, he could not doubt; but of -what nature could that slander be? Palenka had called him a -'traitor.' He could only be so to King Milano Obrenovitch, and he -felt certain that no act of his own could draw such an epithet upon -him, so to Guebhard now did the whole tide of his fury turn. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -A FATAL PROOF FOUND. - -Food and wine were placed before him; he recoiled from the former, -but drank the latter like one who had been long athirst. - -After all he had undergone, and all he had done, to preserve and -deliver in safety these unlucky despatches, this, then, was the grim -and degrading welcome that awaited him in the camp of the allied -Servian and Russian armies? - -What did it all mean? Some dreadful mistake, or a false and -malicious accusation, which time must soon unravel. Meanwhile, how -difficult it was to be patient or calm under the circumstances; and -he asked himself again and again, would Fortune never be tired of -persecuting him? - -Would he ever forget, he had thought, that _mauvais quart d'heure_ in -the place that so nearly became his grave? and now he was in peril as -great again. - -'A traitor,' had been the epithet applied by Count Palenka towards -him. In what way could he ever be so? Was he to be made the -victim--the scapegoat of some dark political game, between the -Servian prince he served, and the general of the Russian army? 'You -may see Siberia yet, if you escape death,' had been the menace of the -latter, who actually owed his life at his--Cecil's--hands. He -recalled the words, and knowing all of which these men were capable, -and all they had the power to do, with all his natural courage, could -not but feel appalled. - -The room to which he had been consigned was on the upper floor of a -house in the little town of Deligrad. It had little other furniture -than a wooden divan, that ran round it, and whereon were spread the -bear and wolf skins on which he could seat himself, or repose at -night. - -Its windows were little more than narrow slits, and through them he -could see the camp, spreading over the low-lying eminences which -bound, on the east, the Valley of the Morava--the long streets of -tents and huts, and little _tentes-d'abri_, the smoke of the fires at -which the soldiers cooked their food; and the Servian tricolour -flying on a huge earthen redoubt, formed on the summit of the most -commanding height, and armed with heavy guns, pointed grimly towards -the point from which the Turks might be expected to approach. - -Amid these streets of tents, drums were beaten and bugles sounded all -day long; orderlies spurred their horses to and fro, and Servian -peasants drove waggons drawn by white bullocks, or led long lines of -laden ponies, and itinerant sutlers and vendors of grapes and apples, -sardines, tomatoes and tobacco, etc., went incessantly about, -together with itinerant fiddlers and bagpipers. - -Beyond all this, he could see the road winding away to Belgrade, near -two long, low, whitewashed edifices, the abodes of suffering and -death. On each a white flag with a red cross was displayed to -indicate that they were hospitals, on which no shot or shell must -fall, even if the infidels succeeded in storming the heights of -Djunis, which overhang the other side of the Morava. - -Daily Cecil watched all this from his windows, till his soul sickened -at it all and of inaction, after the fierce excitement of recent -events; but after a week had elapsed, the clash of arms, as the two -sentinels at the door accorded a salute to some visitors, followed by -the clatter of spurs and steel scabbards on the wooden staircase of -the house, preceded the entrance into Cecil's room of an officer in -the uniform of the Servian staff, the provost-marshal and a gentleman -in civilian costume, who announced himself as the deputy minister of -police from Belgrade, and who was attended by a subordinate in a kind -of uniform. - -'Police?' replied Cecil, in an inquiring tone; 'it is, then, some -civil--error that I am accused of?' - -'No error at all, Herr Lieutenant; but of a crime against the State,' -replied the civilian--a black-bearded man, with the ribbon of the -Takova cross at his lapelle--in a somewhat gruff manner. -'Information has been lodged with the authorities that you have, or -have borne about you, papers of a treasonable nature.' - -'Lodged, by whom?' - -'Captain Mattei Guebhard.' - -Cecil laughed, but angrily, nevertheless. - -'Herr Lieutenant,' said the provost-marshal, a grim-looking old -sabreur, 'you may find this a hanging, and not a laughing, matter!' - -'Thus,' continued the deputy minister of police, 'we have orders to -examine your person for secret papers, if, by the delay foolishly -accorded to you, they have not been destroyed.' - -'Papers--what papers?' - -'That, as yet, can only be known to yourself.' - -On this his attendant made a pace towards Cecil, who haughtily -motioned him by his hand to pause, ere he laid a hand upon him. - -'You delivered the despatches of General Tchernaieff to the King at -Belgrade?' resumed the police official. - -'To the King--yes.' - -'Don't repeat my words, please!' - -'Mein Herr?' - -'I say, don't repeat my words!' exclaimed the other, who manifested -rather a disposition to bully. 'You tarried unnecessarily at the -castle of Palenka?' - -'I met with an accident, of which the general is, I presume, fully -aware, though the count seems somewhat dissatisfied,' said Cecil, in -whom this questioning excited surprise and indignation, rather than -alarm. - -'There you met Captain Guebhard?' - -'To my sorrow, and no small disgust, I did.' - -'And though unable, as you averred, to proceed, you refused to give -him the documents; but conveyed them in a contrary direction from the -camp, with what purpose is best known to yourself; and but for the -circumstance of your meeting an escort of Servian troops, the general -would never have received them at all?' - -'This statement is false in its tenor,' replied Cecil, haughtily; -'and I am utterly in the dark as to your inferences.' - -'Ah--indeed! Permit me to examine your sabretache.' - -'It is empty.' - -'We shall see,' replied the official, as he unbuckled the -accoutrement so named, and which was suspended by three slings from -the waistbelt. 'What have we here?' he added, as he drew from an -inner pocket, which Cecil never knew it possessed, a small parchment -document, and uttered a genuine cry of astonishment; 'here is enough -to hang a battalion!' he added. 'Herr Lieutenant, here we find you -in open communication with the Pretender, Kara Georgevitch!' - -'Who the deuce is he?' asked Cecil, with equally genuine surprise. - -'Do not pretend ignorance, and thus add to the crime for which you -will be so severely punished, that I am actually sorry for you,' -replied the deputy minister of police, regarding Cecil with great -sternness nevertheless. 'Here is your commission as colonel--bearing -your own name--to raise a regiment of Montenegrin deserters, for the -service of Kara Georgevitch--the exile--the outlaw--the Pretender to -the Servian throne, to whom, no doubt, you intended to convey alike -the King's despatches and the general's plan of the campaign!' - -'Impossible--you are under some delusion,' said Cecil, with anger now. - -'I need scarcely ask you to look upon what you know already exists,' -replied the other, with some indignation, and then holding the -document before the eyes of Cecil, who saw plainly and undoubtedly -that it was all he stated it to be, and his name written there as -'Cecil Falconer,' and that, among other signatures, that of Kara -Georgevitch was appended to it. - -So completely was he bewildered by this strange circumstance, that he -permitted the document to be taken away before he had farther -examined it; and while a drawn sword was placed against his heart, -the pockets of his uniform, and even the lining thereof, were roughly -examined for other treasonable papers, after which his visitors -retired, and he was left--astounded--to his own reflections. - -He was the victim of a deep-laid scheme by Guebhard. He saw it all, -and in his suppressed passion could scarcely breathe--yes, he saw it -all now; but how to prove it? Failing to abstract or obtain by fair -means the despatches at Palenka, for the information of this Kara -Georgevitch, with whom the fact of having this--probably -blank--commission proved him to be in communication--he had beset the -way, and finding that Cecil baffled him, had now brought this false -accusation against him. - -He remembered the warning of Margarita, and that he had detected -Guebhard meddling with his sabretache. Could he doubt, now, that he -had intended to abstract the despatches on one hand, while concealing -in it this perilous and already prepared document on the other? - -It was not until a day or two more had elapsed that Cecil understood -his peril fully or what the involvement meant, and that there were -two claimants to the Servian throne--Milano Obrenovitch the -successful one, now reigning, and Kara Georgevitch, a pretender. It -was a position exactly the same as if some one in Scotland, in the -days of 'the Forty-Five,' had been found with a commission to raise a -regiment of Highlanders for 'King James VIII.;' and thus Cecil found -himself, as yet, in a predicament of no ordinary magnitude, in which -those for the prosecution would have it all their own way, and the -defence, conducted by himself, must seem weak indeed. - -Again and again, Pelham, Stanley, and one or two other kind-hearted -Englishmen, who, in search of a 'new sensation,' were taking a turn -of service against the Turks, endeavoured to visit him, and to take -some measures for his safety; but all were bluntly refused access to -the prison in which he lay, for so closely was the house guarded, -that it became a prison in reality now. - -He lost heart--his spirits began to sink under the rigid confinement -to which he was subject, and his doubt and anxiety as to the future -issue of the whole affair. He had about him a confused and dazed -feeling, such as he had not possessed since he had been in the castle -of Edinburgh, and the time of the fatal ball; and as the hours passed -by him in solitude, and the detested details of his room--the pattern -of the paper on its walls, the divan that bordered them, the skins -that lay thereon, the cracks in the ceiling and the bare planking of -the floor--seemed to become photographed on his brain, and the -senseless jingle of silly airs, the words of absurd rhymes, recurred -to him again and again with that provoking but persistent reiteration -so common to all--at least to many--when their minds are tortured by -doubt or calamity. - -Seated there in that prison-room, hearing the sounds of the adjacent -camp by day, and by night only the measured tread of the Russian -sentinels without, as they trod silently and monotonously to and fro -on their posts, Cecil--looking back through the receding vista of the -past, and the latter and most bitter portion of his career in which -Mary Montgomerie bore a part, was often on the point of asking -himself whether it was not a dream rather than a reality, that brief -and happy reminiscence of their love; and whether it did not pertain -to a life in past ages and under some different phase of existence. -In short, his thoughts, under the high-pressure put upon him, became -rather wild and incoherent at times. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -CECIL'S VISITOR. - -From the monotony of his moody and irritating reflections he was -roused one day by the entrance of a visitor, and he started on -finding himself face to face with Margarita Palenka, who had come to -the camp on horseback, escorted by old Theodore, the veteran of -Sadowa. Her eyes were full of unshed tears, as she gave Cecil her -hand, and it was impossible for him to behold this beautiful girl's -sympathy unmoved. - -'How can I ever thank you,' said he, 'for all this deep and kindly -interest in me--almost a stranger?' - -'I fear the worst, from what my brother says,' she replied in a low -and husky voice. - -'The worst--death?' - -'Better that than--Siberia!' - -'So say I,' was Cecil's grim response; and then he added hotly: 'I am -a British subject; how dare they menace me with such a fate?' - -'A British subject once--a Servian soldier now,' said she, gravely. - -Cecil thought of the old Cameronians, and his heart seemed to swell -painfully, while he eyed with some contempt the brown sleeve of his -Servian tunic. - -Margarita had come to Deligrad, we have said, on horseback; thus a -brown riding-habit--almost claret-coloured in tint, out of compliment -to the Servian uniform, and like it faced with scarlet and laced with -gold--set off her magnificent bust and figure generally. A smart hat -encircled by a white ostrich feather, with white riding gauntlets, -made up a costume that was altogether very effective, and became the -brilliant and striking character of her beauty. - -At her left breast she wore the bright ribbon of St. Catherine of -Russia, procured for her by Tchernaieff, and given to ladies of rank -alone. - -'Think not ill of me for this visit,' said she after a pause, and -when he led her to a seat on the divan; 'I have come to comfort you, -when none other dare attempt it--to save you if I can, and none other -dare attempt that either, or is perhaps inclined to do so.' - -She felt the peculiarity, the delicacy of her position; and Cecil -felt it too, with a rush of gratitude in his heart--all the greater, -no doubt, that she was so beautiful in person, and winning in manner. - -Intensely interested as she had found herself to be in the fortunes -and safety of a young stranger; knowing the wiles and the vengeance -of which he was assuredly the victim, and all that he had to -apprehend in the present and in the future, sleep had almost deserted -the eyes of Margarita for some nights past, and thus their lids were -inflamed and her face looked wan. For hours, without retiring to -bed, she had been wont to sit musing by the windows of her room, -watching the stars as they shone above the dark woods of Palenka, and -listening to the distant roar of the Morava, till inaction became -torture, and she made up her mind to ride to Deligrad, to discover -the truth of all the alarming stories that had reached her and the -old countess, and also what she could do to serve--if possible to -save him. - -Hence her most unexpected visit to Cecil. - -'When you warned me to beware of Mattei Guebhard,' said he, 'I could -little imagine, or anticipate, all he can be capable of.' - -'And I little thought, when we parted at Palenka, to see you again,' -said she, with something pathetic in her voice; 'and less than all, -under such circumstances as the present.' - -'But you do not believe--you cannot believe----' - -'About the commission? No--of course not: the idea of your being -colonel of a regiment of such wretches as the Black Mountaineers is -too absurd! Savages whose tastes for strong waters, the property of -their neighbours, and the noses, ears, and even the skulls of their -enemies, are proverbial,' she added with a shudder. 'Besides, I -understand that you never even heard of Kara Georgevitch?' - -'Never before. I knew not there was such a person in existence.' - -'How singular! I have met him often at Vienna; danced with him at -the palace on the west side of Innerstadt, and know that he--admired -me very much,' she added, with a little smile. - -'His commission had my name in it, my accusers assert.' - -'I do not yet understand the mystery of that--though how it came into -your possession is plain enough to me.' - -'And to be accused of killing a couple of Montenegrins----' - -'Who would have killed you if they could! The concealed paper was a -_dernier ressort_, in case you escaped them. Oh, it is all so like -the subtle and elaborate villany of Mattei!' - -'And how absurd is the accusation that I meant to carry away the -King's despatches for the service of Kara Georgevitch or the Turks, -when I risked life to defend them!' - -'Time will unravel all this--meantime, I shall watch over you, if I -can,' said she, almost tenderly, holding out her hand to him -ungloved, with a pretty yet imperious air, as if to show its -whiteness and beauty, for she was a coquette to the tips of her -fingers. - -He touched it very lightly, but instead of retaining it, as she -doubtless expected, drew back--as if to avoid temptation, she seemed -to think, for she said haughtily: - -'You forget yourself, sir, or me!' - -'Would that I could do so!' said Cecil. - -The gentleness of his tone, the sadness and bewilderment of his air, -touched her; she took his hand deliberately in both hers, and kissing -him on the forehead with warm and throbbing lips, said: - -'My brother's preserver and my brother's friend! I repeat that I -have come to serve you and save you, if I may--to see you and comfort -you at least, in a land where you are so utterly friendless.' - -Her voice broke a little. - -'By whose permission did you reach me?' asked Cecil hastily, and -apparently oblivious of her emotion. - -'That of Tchernaieff--he could not refuse me.' - -'Who that looked upon your face could refuse you anything!' he -exclaimed, more in a spirit of gallantry than anything else. - -'I detest compliments; so seek not to flatter me.' - -'Nay, flattery exists not in paying praise due to beauty or merit, -but in praise misplaced.' - -After a pause, Cecil said with a smile: - -'Surely you never, at any time, loved this man Mattei Guebhard?' - -'I never did so,' said she, emphatically; 'but, I once said before, I -could not help him loving me. I have never loved anyone; and -moreover I shall never--marry!' - -Now Cecil had known and seen enough of the world to be aware that -when a handsome young woman declares her intention of never marrying, -it becomes one of the broadest hints a man can receive; and, under -all the circumstances, he heard her now with a perplexity that -bordered on irritation. - -At such a time cold reason might suggest that Mary Montgomerie, and -his country too, were lost to him for ever! In Servia was his new -home; Margarita was beautiful, anxious to serve him and to win his -gratitude--too evidently his love, if she could. Just rage at -Guebhard invited him to meet her half-way; but the image of Mary came -before Cecil, and he thought: - -'Montrose was right in his song--"Love one, and love no more!"' - -He was perfectly conscious that some time or other, at Palenka, he -_had_ spoken of love to Margarita; but was then referring to his love -of Mary Montgomerie; while she had believed that he was in some -curious way pleading his own cause with herself. - -There was even now a struggle going on in the heart of Margarita, -between her mind and her affections; and though eventually it seemed -as if the latter would conquer, some sense of propriety, of what -society and training inculcated, and the moral force of her own -spirit, did battle against them; and then, moreover, she was not -without some dread of her brother the Count of Palenka. - -Despite all this, and her recent coquettish announcement that she -could never love, and would never marry any man, Cecil found her -coming to the point with him and taking the initiative, piqued -perhaps that he was the only man she had never yet subdued; and so, -before he knew very well how it had all come to pass, or by what she -had prefaced it, he was startled by her saying in her most dulcet -Servian: - -'So you think, dear Cecil, I could make your life a happy one?' - -She asked this softly, yet a little imperiously, while flicking the -skirt of her riding-habit impatiently with her switch, and with -downcast looks, as Cecil paused in perplexity, thinking, 'What had he -said to draw this forth?' - -'Surely I am not so uncivilised; I don't ever paint and powder, like -all the English girls I saw at Vienna!' she added. - -'But,' said poor Cecil, who thought he had perils enough to -encounter, without thus being 'run to earth,' and having this -perplexity added to them, by an impulsive girl, who probably had -something Hungarian and Italian in her blood, inherited from the old -heyduc; 'but they don't all wear paint and powder--and one girl I -knew at home certainly did not do so.' - -This was, to say the least of it, an unfortunate speech. - -'One,' said Margarita, with a flash in her eyes; 'who was she?' - -'One of whom you remind me--at times,' he replied, thinking to -compliment her by saying that which was simply untrue. - -'_Who_ was she--who _is_ she--one you cared for?' - -'Not as I care for you,' replied Cecil unwisely, yet truthfully -enough; 'but long ago--ah, how long ago it seems--she passed out of -my life, and I out of hers.' - -'She is dead, then?' - -'Yes--to me.' - -'To the world, you mean--so she is in a convent, then?' said -Margarita, readily adopting the idea suggested by herself. - -'You have no need to be jealous of her,' said Cecil. - -'Nor am I,' replied Margarita proudly, and still switching her -riding-skirt. - -'Was she like me, as you say?' - -'Handsome, with perfect features--_mignonne_ face, and----' - -'Enough--let us talk of ourselves now,' said Margarita softly, and -then Cecil found himself adopted and placed--he feared--on the -footing of an accepted lover, without having attempted to play the -character, in any way. - -What might be the result, if this too evident regard for him turned -to hatred under his coolness? He remembered the well-known couplet -in Congreve's 'Mourning Bride,' and became filled with positive -apprehension, if it be true that there is 'no fury like a woman -scorned.' - -Platonism was evidently a _rôle_ she did not understand; and when any -suspicion of his doubts or hesitation occurred to her, her full proud -lips curled, her dark eyes flashed, and a flush crossed her cheek. -But how was he to indulge in love-making--and still more in affecting -such, environed by perils as he was then. - -It was but too evident that Margarita, like most coquettes, had -fallen a victim to herself at last, and was actually pining for a man -who had never spoken to her more than words of the merest friendship -and thanks; and but for the memory of Mary, and a sentiment of -chivalry that mingled with his love for her, Cecil, under all the -circumstances of his position, might have yielded to the temptation -that beset him, and at all hazards have become the lover of this -Servian girl, whose wild impulses came to her with the mixed blood of -more than one fiery race; and who, hence, could not be judged of by -the same standard as an English girl of the same position. - -At last she rose to retire. - -'I cannot conceal from you, that, from all I hear, your peril is very -great,' said she, nervously attempting to button her riding -gauntlets, a task which Cecil hastened to perform for her. - -'I shall demand a court-martial!' he exclaimed. - -'Palenka tells me that such will not be accorded to you.' - -'What then?' - -'By the fiat of the King, through the minister of police, you may -be--will be--I cannot speak it,' she continued in a broken voice, as -her tears fell fast, and her head drooped for a moment on his -shoulder; 'rather let me aid you to escape, and fly this place for -ever. Have you money?' - -'None.' - -'That shall be my care--and horses too, by which to reach the -frontier of Bulgaria, about fifty miles from this, where you will be -comparatively safe. But how to get you out of this place--and how to -elude these Russian sentinels at the door, are the difficulties that -appal and bewilder me!' - -'Margarita, the idea of flight is most repugnant to me--it looks so -like timidity and confession of guilt.' - -'They are determined to deem you guilty, I fear, under any -circumstances. You have but yourself to consider, and--me.' - -'But without a guide----' - -'Fear not for that--I shall provide you with a guide too,' she -replied with a bright and tender smile; and so ended this strange -interview, which, for a little time at least, had served to lure him -from his troubles, yet had added to his perplexity; for he felt that -if Margarita saved him from impending peril--and that she would do so -at all hazard he never doubted--that circumstance would load him with -a debt of gratitude which the devotion of his future life could--in -her estimation--alone repay! - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -BAFFLED! - -There could be no doubt that Cecil had interested Margarita tenderly -and deeply. She had studied him closely; she was acute, and had -gathered, from much he had mentioned incidentally at Palenka, that he -had been unfortunate already in life, young though he was, and that -he had 'a history,' as Mary Montgomerie and Annabelle Erroll had -surmised before. - -She guessed that his boyhood and youth had not been quite happy, and -this, more from his reserve concerning them than from confessions -made. She gathered, too, that over his early years no father's love -or protection had been thrown; that he had no brother or sister, but -had possessed a mother on whose memory he doted, and at the mention -of whose name she saw the expression of his eyes soften, and heard at -times his voice grow tremulous; and she loved him all the more for -the little halo of mystery that seemed to surround him. - -And she had remarked, with pain, how the rich gloss had left his dark -brown hair, and that there were haggard lines about his eyes and -mouth; and that much of the soldierly _débonnaire_ frankness and -manner in his bearing was gone now. - -Empowered by the possession of Tchernaieff's signed permission 'for -the bearer to visit the prisoner,' and encouraged by the absence of -her brother Palenka at the headquarters of General Dochtouroff, she -came again at noon to make final arrangements for his escape and -flight. - -'But how to get out of Deligrad?' said he, after their first -greetings were over; and here we may mention that, literally, _grad_ -means a fortress in that part of the world. - -'That will be my task,' replied Margarita. - -'But to fly, like a coward, or a criminal!' - -'I wish you could fly like a bird,' said she, playfully. 'Heed not -scruples--what scruples have these people with you? There is no -shame in such a flight. Believe me, Cecil, I do not speak -unadvisedly. If you would be a living man--at the least an -unfettered prisoner, being taken you know not whither,' she -continued, in a voice that suddenly broke, 'you must be out of -Deligrad to-morrow night. Let us not waste time. Listen, and obey -me; I will find the occasion, the means, the guide, a sure means of -escape, if you will but avail yourself of them.' - -Did she mean to accompany him in his flight? He half feared so, not -knowing how far the wild impulses of this fair continental might -carry her; but he was not left long in doubt. - -'Once clear of Deligrad and the advanced posts,' said she, 'you will -proceed by Banga and Nissa, but that town must be avoided, as it is -fortified with ramparts, palisades, and closely-watched gates; then -by Mustapha-pacha or Glana; but that being a fortress, must be -avoided too; and once beyond Stolo, oh, Cecil, we shall be safe!' - -'_We?_' - -'I must accompany you to ensure your safety; it is only some fifty -miles; and if my share in your flight is discovered, as it is sure to -be, what will be my fate? Then Bulgaria or cold Britain must be my -abiding-place, after all.' - -'_Nous verrons_,' was the dubious response of Cecil, as he took her -hand in his, and her eyes drooped. 'And your plan?' he asked, with -an ill-repressed smile. - -'Ottilie--you remember Ottilie; she is a tall girl; and will come -hither about dusk, armed with a pass, and wearing the cap and capote -of a Russian officer. Clad in this costume, you take her place and -pass out; she will give you the parole, when I get it.' - -'Leaving her here?' - -'Yes.' - -'And what will be her punishment?' - -'Palenka will save her, I have not the slightest doubt.' - -'Could he not, then, save you? Is there no other plan?' - -'Listen to me,' she continued, impetuously. 'To give each of the -sentinels a cup of drugged vodka would be easy enough, and doubtless -they would drink them to the last drop. I have seen such things done -on the stage at the theatre in Vienna, and read of such things again -and again in romances; but they would be discovered asleep on their -post, ere you were clear of this--so the disguise is the most perfect -plan, and the darkness will favour it.' - -As they spoke their hands were fondly linked for a time--his, in a -spirit of purest gratitude; hers, passionately--there was no -concealing that! - -'You will give the parole,' she continued, in a low voice, 'and pass -on to the group of cottages lying yonder in the hollow on the right -of the camp, and there old Theodore will be waiting with horses when -the evening gun is fired. No more; you know all, and now I must be -gone.' - -'Farewell, Margarita; to me you are a protecting angel--yet, ere you -go----' he bent down and kissed her, as her face fell on his neck. - -'Regard me as a sister,' she faltered: and in a moment more he was -alone, with a confused sense of not having exhibited sufficient -gratitude or regard for one who was risking so much for him. - -After she was gone the hours passed slowly, while Cecil remained sunk -in thoughts that were far from being pleasant. - -Times there were when he felt sullenly and doggedly resigned to the -inevitable, whatever it might be--to await what fate had in store for -him. His essay in a new country, a new service and field, for -laudable ambition, had proved a miserable and total failure, and life -seemed to have no prize for him now that was worth consideration. - -Other times there were when a fierce gust of impatience and -indignation possessed him, and he paced his room like a caged -lion--impatience of coercion and just indignation at the severe -treatment to which he was subjected, the unjust suspicion under which -he lay, and the dangers which menaced him at the hands of the -ignorant, prejudiced, and uninquiring officials at whose mercy he -found himself. - -Thus he fell the more readily into Margarita's scheme of seeking -safety in flight, and so ending all connection between himself and -the Servian army. - -'Death or Siberia--death or Siberia! What manner of death?' he would -ask of himself; 'a soldier's, surely?' - -He felt sometimes, in his over-tension of thought, that peculiar -emotion which many must have experienced--as though he was not -himself, but had two separate identities; and that the old self was -far away from that prison room, before the windows of which the two -Russian sentinels seemed to tread for ever to and fro, with their -bayonets glittering within arm's length of him. - -Were misfortune and he to go for ever hand in hand? He deemed that -already he had offered up hostages, bitterly, to evil destiny, when -he was thrust out of his beloved regiment, when he lost Mary, and was -cast, nameless, on the world; and lo! the hand of fate was on him -again, and more heavily than ever. - -And ever and anon a gust of rage at Guebhard shook his breast, with a -longing for just vengeance upon him. Guebhard was evidently one of -those strange and pernicious creatures who crop up at rare times in -all phases of society, and have existed in all ages of mankind--one -of a miserable band of men who, according to an essayist, resemble -the lowest animals of creation, and are far more pitiless when their -hate or hunger are raised. 'They are as crafty as they are cruel; -they watch, wait, and see whom they can destroy, and outrage every -feeling dear to the majority of mankind; and to call such men brutes -is to throw scorn upon creatures who may be considered superior to -them in every way.' - -Such a man was Mattei Guebhard! - -Cecil could punish him, certainly, by carrying off Margarita, and -taking her for ever beyond his reach; but how was he--Cecil--a -fugitive in Bulgaria, without a ducat in his pocket, to subsist -there, and with a beautiful girl on his hands, unless he offered his -sword and his services to Osman Pasha, whose army was ere long to -advance upon Plevna? - -Anything--any risk--he thought, was better than utter inaction. The -suspense of his position was intolerable; and it would be easier, he -imagined, when the worst had come, whatever it was, when it was -faced, and all was over for ever! - -So the day passed slowly on towards evening; the sounds in the busy -and crowded camp began to lessen and nearly die away; sunset drew -near, and the in-lying pickets were beginning to fall in with -greatcoats and knapsacks, and Cecil looked from time to time towards -the group of white walled cottages, shadowed by dark cypresses, in -the hollow near the camp, where even now, perhaps, old Theodore -awaited him with the horses, and his heart leaped when suddenly the -evening-gun boomed from the earthen rampart on the summit of the -position, and the Servian tricolour came fluttering down the staff as -it was struck for the night. - -Steps sounded on the wooden stairs, and a personage entered, clad in -Russian uniform, ushered by the serjeant of the guard. The moment -the latter withdrew, Ottilie, for it was she, divested herself of a -false beard and moustache of grizzled hair, and it seemed strange to -see suddenly the smooth and handsome face, the dark laughing eyes and -pouting lips of the pretty Servian girl. - -She wore the deep peak of a flat Russian forage-cap well down over -her face, which was also further hidden by the high fur-collar of a -long regimental grey capote, which reached nearly to the ground, and -in them she proceeded at once to invest Cecil, saying that Theodore -awaited him at the appointed place. - -Obedient to the will of her mistress, Ottilie, poor girl, seemed to -have none of her own, and had no fear for herself save in disobeying -the orders of Margarita. - -Cecil, even now, lingered in adopting the costume she brought -him--lingered with mingled repugnance and rage at having to adopt -such a _rôle_. Then came an emotion of disgust at a service which -forced such a _rôle_ upon him, mingled with a longing for the freedom -proffered, and so close at hand. Already, in fancy, he seemed to be -in the open air--the free breezy atmosphere, at liberty, and in the -saddle, galloping on and on towards the Bulgarian frontier; already -he seemed to feel the horse under him; to be inhaling the perfume of -night, the fragrance of the pine-forests by the broad-flowing Morava; -but then he thought of the girl whom he was to leave in his place, -and his heart died within him! - -She covered her face with her hands, and, while she wept bitterly, -exclaimed, in broken accents: - -'Oh, Herr Lieutenant, I have destroyed you! I have forgotten the -pass-word!' - -'Perhaps it is as well,' said he, with stern composure; 'but don't -weep, my brave girl, and, hush! cloak yourself again, some one is -coming.' - -Steps, voices, and lights were all on the creaking stairs without, -and the guard on the house were now under arms in front of it. Who -were coming? What had caused an alarm? Had the plot of Margarita -been discovered. - -'Quick, disguise yourself and begone--you have not a moment to lose,' -exclaimed Cecil, compelling Ottilie to resume her costume and prepare -to withdraw; and it seemed to him that while life lasted, if for -thirty years, as it might do now only for thirty minutes, he would -never forget the memory of those voices and steps on the staircase, -or the glare of light that streamed under the door across the bare -floor of his room. - -The idea of resistance, mad and desperate, of shooting down the first -man who entered (for Ottilie had given him pistols), occurred to -Cecil; but only to be relinquished, as he thought of the poor girl -whom he might involve in ruin if he shed blood; and, throwing the -weapons to the other end of the apartment, he drew himself proudly up -to await whatever fate had in store for him now; and he did not doubt -that it was terribly close and finally arranged, when, among the -group who entered, he recognised his former grim visitors, the deputy -minister of police, and the provost-marshal of the camp! - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -CROSS PURPOSES. - -'Good morning, Fotheringhame,' said Sir Piers, as his guest entered -the breakfast-room betimes, in shooting-costume, and ready for the -preserves; 'I trust that Eaglescraig air and Eaglescraig claret and -whisky brought you pleasant dreams.' - -'There are other and better adjuncts here to suggest pleasant -dreams,' replied Fotheringhame, as his eye rested for a moment on the -two young ladies, and he gave his hand to Mrs. Garth, after which an -animated discussion about sport ensued between him and the general, -while Mary and Annabelle idled over their letters. - -Leslie Fotheringhame was one of those kind of men of whom little is -usually seen when staying in a country house; thus, short though his -visit was to be, and important the object which brought it about, all -the day subsequent to his arrival he was beating the covers, and -after the partridges, with old Sandy Swanshot the keeper. - -Was Annabelle disappointed in this? we are forced to admit that she -was piqued by it, however. - -Like many social monomaniacs, Mrs. Garth considered herself an able -tactician, and thought to set matters right between these sundered -twain; but in this instance she failed signally, especially with -Annabelle; there seemed something mysterious in the quarrel, their -relation to each other, and their mutual sentiments, which the old -lady could not fathom. - -Annabelle was very bitter on the subject. - -'His presence here is an insult to me, Mary,' said she, after -watching him cross the lawn, and disappear with the keeper and the -dogs; 'and every time his eyes meet mine, they seem to be examining -me, as if to learn how I bear his defection.' - -'If I can read eyes aright, they wear a very different expression, -Annabelle,' said Mary; 'but his presence here with you is indeed a -singular coincidence.' - -'After what happened in Perthshire, Mary, I made myself too cheap in -Edinburgh, when we met again; and truth to tell you, darling, though -I cannot hate--but love him still,' she continued, with her eyes -flashing through unshed tears; 'I must hate myself for doing so--and -despise myself for my infatuation. That my regard should be too -lightly, too easily won, and re-won, by one who valued it not! But, -if his majesty thinks he has but to throw the handkerchief, he is -mightily mistaken,' she added haughtily. - -'To me it seemed as if his eyes wore almost an imploring look as he -bade his adieu to you and left the breakfast table,' urged Mary, in -her gentle manner; but though the idea was pleasant and soothing to -Annabelle's angry pride, she replied that she felt only astonishment -and indignation at his _hardiesse_ in looking at, or addressing her -at all. - -'Am I to be a fool like the fair Elaine, who wasted all her life in -caring for one man? But then there are no Sir Launcelots of the Lake -now.' - -Yet Annabelle, while sedulously schooling her heart to be -indifferent, felt to the full, as far as Leslie Fotheringhame was -concerned, how, mind and manner apart, 'one human being is felt to be -more attractive for mere bodily reasons than all the rest of the -world besides.' - -Though a little provoked that he had gone forth to shoot, and waste, -as she deemed it, a precious day in the coverts, Mary was grateful to -Fotheringhame for the object which brought him to Eaglescraig---his -interest in Cecil Falconer--or Montgomerie, as she had taught herself -to call him now. - -In her mind he was every way associated with the days when life -became to her an Eden--when loverlike she discovered that secresy and -silence were sweet to cultivate; when the garden, the woods and -fields, the moon, the stars, the sky, had all new charms, beauty, and -brightness they had never possessed before, and her intercourse with -Cecil became a system of emblems, metaphors, parables, whispers, and -pressures of the hand. - -How far away that delicious period of her life seemed now; and -he--where was he? In a land to her less than half known, wholly -barbarous, and where he was hourly menaced by a violent death. - -'How large your ring seems for you now!' said Annabelle, as she toyed -with Mary's hand. - -'How much smaller my finger has become since Cecil placed it there!' -replied Mary, turning the diamond engagement hoop wistfully; 'I am so -afraid of losing it, that I wear mamma's wedding-ring as a -guard--many have done that.' - -Fotheringhame returned late from the coverts, and long after the -keeper had brought in his bag. - -'Did you lose your way?' asked Mary. - -'No, Miss Montgomerie; but I lost a locket from my chain--a locket -that I would not lose for any sum of money.' - -'And you found it, I hope?' - -'Yes--here it is--but after a long hunt among the gorse and brake.' - -'Is it so valuable, then?' - -'To me it is.' - -'May I ask what it contains?' asked Mary, laughingly, as she saw it -dangling from his watch-chain. - -'Well--a lock of hair--and----' - -'What more?' she continued, archly. - -'If you insist on knowing, the likeness of my--future wife,' said he -in a whisper, yet not so low but that it reached the ears of the -startled Annabelle; and Mary was so shocked, so pained and full of -pity for her, that she grew very pale indeed, and questioned him no -more, and he laughingly retired to dress for dinner. - -'So--so,' thought Annabelle; 'the locket I gave him actually contains -the portrait of a woman--doubtless, she of the hazel eyes!' - -Fotheringhame felt that he loved, or had loved, this proud girl -earnestly and deeply; and that she with equal earnestness and depth -resented something on his part which had, perhaps, driven her to -loving some one else; thus the new emotion of jealousy was infused in -his mind, imparting a constraint to his manner, while Annabelle felt -that she had been merely the plaything of his idle hours. Thus each -shut up their real feelings; and to a greater extent than either -knew, they were at cross purposes. - -Annabelle thought that she had overheard and discovered enough to -cure her even of regret, and to steel her heart and make her seem -what she wished to be, studiedly calm and indifferent to all -appearance; but this resolution was rather severely tested when after -dinner, instead of joining Sir Piers in the smoking-room, -Fotheringhame came lounging deliberately out to the terrace before -the house, where she was lingering alone, with a Shetland shawl -thrown over her head, and when he joined her, and--as she thought -with singular coolness and effrontery--made some commonplace remarks -upon the warmth and beauty of the autumnal evening, to which she -assented coldly and briefly. - -'Chance has thrown us together again--a chance for which I had ceased -to hope,' said he, in a low and earnest voice; 'and, Annabelle--if -you will once more permit me to call you so--I would wish to talk -with you calmly and dispassionately over that estrangement which has -been a source of great bewilderment and the keenest sorrow to me.' - -She was amazed at his hardihood; but said, quietly and gently, while -keeping her face averted, as he continued to walk by her side: - -'If you are disposed to take a philosophical view of what has -certainly crushed my pride--if I ever had any--and sorely wounded my -self-esteem--nay more, has caused, I am willing to own, a great pang -to my heart--so am I, Captain Fotheringhame. Our acquaintance, to -call it by its least name, has been a most unfortunate one; so, if we -talk at all, perhaps we may find another subject.' - -And she continued to look straight before her, with her face half -averted, and thankful that she had a veil--at least the Shetland -screen--to conceal the proud and passionate tears that welled up in -her blue and handsome eyes. - -Meanwhile Mary, remembering Fotheringhame's awkward revelation so -recently, was watching the pair with more anxiety than hope or -exultation, and was perhaps a little surprised to see them gradually -quit the terrace and descend to the shrubbery walk in the garden -below. - -'When will our consultation about Cecil begin!' she thought, a little -petulantly and impatiently. 'If a separation from one we love, -though short, is hard to bear, what must such as mine from Cecil be?' - -He might die in that distant land--how dreadful to consider such a -contingency!--and in dying, never know of the good fortune that -awaited him at home, of who his family were, and the bright hope that -now smiled upon his love for her! - -Meanwhile those she had been watching were now in a sequestered walk. - -'You have suffered, Annabelle,' said Fotheringhame, in an agitated -voice, as he turned and confronted her; 'I can read it in your face.' - -'If I have suffered, sir, it has been through you.' - -'Oh, say not so,' he exclaimed in a prayerful way. - -'Sir--your manner--your mode of conduct, bewilder me!' she exclaimed, -as she was about to sweep away, when he strove to take her hand, but -she withdrew, it sharply and defiantly. - -'Annabelle!' he said reproachfully. - -'How dare you--how can you be so persistently cruel?' she cried -haughtily, while cresting up her head. There were no tears in her -eyes or voice now. - -'Cruel, Annabelle?' - -There was the old charm in his voice, and she could not resist it. - -'Why was that letter--my last to you--returned to me unopened?' - -'Because, Captain Fotheringhame, I thought it right to do so.' - -She was gazing at him now steadily and defiantly. - -'Had you read that letter it would have explained all.' - -'Who the mysterious "F.F." is, or was.' - -'Yes,' said he sadly, with a peculiar inflection of voice. - -'Enough of this,' said Annabelle, haughtily; 'I leave you and all -your interests to the--the lady whose likeness is in your valued -locket.' - -'You do? If I have been guilty of aught, in your eyes, you will -certainly forgive me when you look upon her face.' - -'Your intended! permit me to pass, Captain Fotheringhame--surely I -have been subjected to mockery and insult enough to satisfy even you!' - -With tender and observant eyes, Leslie Fotheringhame was watching her -soft features, and saw them all quiver over, as if with a sudden -pang, and his heart was moved, for a lovely face was hers. With much -of reverential tenderness he detached the locket from his chain, -opened it, and then Annabelle beheld a likeness of herself--simply a -finely coloured photo, forgotten by her, but evidently treasured by -him. - -Annabelle was startled on seeing this, but not disconcerted. - -'And so, sir,' said she, 'while loving another woman, you have in -mockery, and perhaps for the amusement of your mess-room friends, -dared to carry my likeness about with you!' - -She spoke firmly, and with difficulty restrained a passionate fit of -tears--of wild weeping, in fact. - -'I never loved another woman--or any one but you, and you alone, -Annabelle, as I can swear to you with truth,' said he, earnestly and -tenderly. - -'And who, then, was the woman whose initials were the same as your -own, or nearly so, with whom you had mysterious -meetings--correspondence, and all that appeared to be part and parcel -of a deep and concerted intrigue! But it is beneath me now to -inquire!' she added bitterly. - -'Annabelle, the returned letter would have told you all--my sister.' - -'Your sister!' repeated Annabelle, in a breathless voice, and with -some incredulity of manner. - -'My only sister Fanny--the runaway wife of a husband who is now in -India, and to pay whose debts I sold my troop in the Lancers. You -have surely heard of your cousin Fanny Fleming. She had no friend in -the world but me. I thought to conceal her existence from you and -others; but you have wrung the secret from me. A false wife--a -helpless, hopeless creature; but her sorrows, her repentances and all -are ended now, and she is in her grave. God rest her!' - -There was a silent pause, during which, he could see how the bosom of -Annabelle heaved with every respiration. - -'And this was all your mystery?' said she, looking up with her eyes -full of tears, and her lips quivering. - -'All! and more than enough. It was to me a source of great horror, -shame, and sorrow, to find my beloved sister--one whom many women -loved, and all men admired; whose breast was the mansion of goodness -and purity once--she, my gentle and loving sister, the child of the -same father, nurtured by the same mother! and could I forsake her -because she was in adversity, in sorrow, and repentant, and from whom -all else in the world turned?' - -'Oh, Leslie!' she exclaimed, as she frankly placed both her hands in -his, and he drew her towards him, saying tenderly: - -'Annabelle, let me prove my faith to you--forgive me----' - -'I have nothing to forgive.' - -'Then let us forget the miserable past.' - -She felt his breath upon her half-averted cheeks, and his low and -earnest whisper in her little white ear; and then, while weeping -heavily, she fell on his breast. - -'My darling,' she said in a broken voice, 'if I had only known of -this--how different all would have been--how much spared us! Why did -you not tell me--your sister----' - -'I was not aware how much appearances were against me; and with you, -I became jealous of some imaginary person. I shrunk from the task at -first, and you--you returned, unread, the letter which would have -explained all. But you are glad now, dearest?' - -'Glad! O Leslie, to any other than you, I might refrain from -admitting that I have never--since the day we parted--ceased to love -you; and have now learned to love you more than ever.' - -'And I love you, Annabelle, with the passion that comes only once in -a man's life-time!' - -And so, for a time, it may be inferred that this pair were pretty -oblivious of the absent Cecil in Servia, and his interests at home. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE TELEGRAM. - -In her joy and impulsiveness, Mary actually embraced Leslie -Fotheringhame, and kissed him when she heard from Annabelle of the -reconciliation, and explanation of all that seemed so unpleasant and -mysterious. - -'Had she not loved you--yes, loved you dearly--do you think she would -have felt all this so much--so keenly and so bitterly!' said Mary to -Fotheringhame. - -And hearty were the congratulations of the general, who was pleased -that Eaglescraig should be the scene of such an event, though love -and lovers' quarrels were somewhat beyond his sympathies now; but he -liked Fotheringhame, as a friend of the absent Cecil, and he had a -strong regard for Annabelle, the only daughter of an old and valued -Indian comrade; so the episode immediately brought to memory one of -his inevitable 'up-country' reminiscences. - -'Talking of lovers' quarrels,' said he, as they idled over the -dessert; 'egad! I remember one which was not without some strange -features. When we were in Lucknow, under Inglis--just about the time -of the first outbreak of the mutiny--a pair of lovers met, who had -quarrelled in some jealous pique at a ball in Chowringhee. Olive -Vane was a pretty brunette, daughter of an old Sudder judge, and her -Romeo was Bob Acharn--cousin of Acharn of Ours, a lieutenant of the -Bengal Native Infantry. There was not a better fellow at -pig-sticking, or shooting, in all India than Bob; and I remember -that, at Jodpore, he watched and waited for days and nights to pot a -man-eater that had made a whole village desolate. - -'As people don't lose time in love affairs in India, it was fully -arranged that--the quarrel made sweetly up--the lovers should be -married on the 31st of May, though many there were who said that the -time was not one for marrying or giving in marriage, for the rising -of the Pandies at Meerut, some time before, had sent a thrill of -terror through every European breast in India, and at Lucknow, as -elsewhere, it was uncertain when the secret hate of the natives might -burst into a flame. - -'The bridal party gathered, and at the very moment the clergyman was -asking the bride if she was ready, a musket-shot entered the room, -and she fell, mortally wounded. It had entered her chest, and then -ensued a scene which I cannot describe. - -'A company of Acharn's regiment--the 71st Bengal Native Infantry--had -been brought in from the Muchee Bawn for disaffection some days -before. They refused all obedience, and in vain were the black silk -colours they had borne at Sobraon displayed to them. It was deemed -imprudent to coerce them; and the result was that on that eventful -evening--the 31st of May, the _budmashes_, or armed mob of Lucknow, -rose, six thousand strong, crossed the Goomtee in wild tumult by a -ford--a dark mass amid which there were thousands of glittering -steel-points, rushing to join the mutineers. From one of the latter -came the shot that struck down Olive Vane. We turned the great guns -of the Residency upon them, and, after an hour's heavy firing, the -insurrection was suppressed for a time; but a time only. - -'During the attack and repulse, poor little Olive Vane lay motionless -on a sofa, with young Acharn bending over her, weeping like a boy, -and striving to staunch the blood that welled from the terrible wound -in her bosom--a wound which the doctors declared she could not -survive above an hour. When she recovered consciousness and learned -the truth, her courage never quailed, but she said: - -'"Bob--dearest, kiss me once again. If I am to die, I shall die -worthy of you." - -'"And I shall not survive you long, my darling; but there is yet time -for us to be united. Come, sir, we are ready," said he to the -clergyman, who, like all the rest of us, looked on with strange and -haggard eyes. - -'The girl's pale cheek flushed, but she was almost too weak to speak, -for mental joy seemed to struggle for mastery with physical pain. -What a strange sight she presented, lying there, her white bridal -dress all stained with her blood, her beautiful dark brown hair all -dishevelled, and looking so wan, so helpless, yet so resigned to die! - -'Bob Acharn took her hand, and the chaplain proceeded with the -ceremony. Thrice the quivering lips of Olive parted ere she could -articulate "yes," and when she did so, it was the last word she -uttered; and then a little foam came over her lips, for she was in -her parting agony. And as he concluded the ceremony the sobs of the -chaplain, who hid his face in his surplice, were echoed by those of -Acharn, and the old judge her father.' - -'A terrible story!' exclaimed Annabelle. - -'And Acharn--what became of him?' asked Mary. - -'He fought against the mutineers, with what animus you may imagine. -Seeking death daily, he seemed to have a charmed life, till the 5th -of September, when the enemy made their last serious and desperate -assault, and he was blown to pieces when they exploded a mine near -Apthorp's post, and strewed the garden around it with corpses.' - -Anxious that Fotheringhame should confer with the general about -Cecil, Mary had listened to this Indian story, though she heard it -for the first time, with some impatience. - -'I do believe,' she said, laughingly, to Annabelle, 'that when the -dear old man can't get an audience he tells some of his Indian -stories to himself!' - -'And now, Sir Piers,' said Fotheringhame, influenced by a glance from -Mary, the import of which he read aright, 'about the matter which -brought me here, and the subject of your many letters to Dick -Freeport and myself--what is to be done about my friend Cecil? We -can't leave him to risk life and limb in a wretched affair like the -Servian war.' - -'Of course not--of course not, my dear fellow,' replied Sir Piers: -'this self-imposed exile must be ended; he shall be restored to his -regiment and to us all. I must see him again--my boy's boy--once -again before I die!' he added, with sudden emotion. - -'Do not speak thus,' implored Mary, caressing him. - -'I have a great reparation to make, Mary--great reparation, to the -dead as well as the living. I have been a vain, selfish, -hard-hearted man; but I see my errors now, and shall make reparation, -I say. Why should not I go to Servia in search of him?' exclaimed -the old baronet, as his eye sparkled, and then he added sorrowfully: -'but I am stricken in years, and am almost as much use in the world -now as a gun without a lock, or a Scotch M.P. But we can set the -wires to work, and write to the Secretary of State for Foreign -Affairs.' - -'The world is a small place, after all, now; people are always -rubbing up against each other,' said Fotheringhame, cheerfully; 'then -there are the railways.' - -'Not in Servia,' said Mary. - -'Well, the international post; and it will go hard with us if we -don't trace the wanderer out. Besides, if the colonel gives me -leave, I may start for Servia myself.' - -'You!' exclaimed Mary and Annabelle simultaneously, but in tones so -different that Fotheringhame laughed; for the voice of the first was -expressive of joy and gratitude, and of the second, ill-concealed -alarm and dismay. - -We have elsewhere shown how the sister of Count Palenka was scheming -out the journey of Cecil to the frontier; so, pretty much about the -same time, another journey with reference to him was schemed out by -poor little Mary at Eaglescraig. - -Nothing as yet was defined as to the movements of Fotheringhame, if -he did adopt the idea of setting out in quest of his friend; for he -had his commanding officer to study, and Annabelle, who was of more -importance to him now than the F.M. commanding at the Horse Guards. - -But Mary, assisted by John Balderstone, chalked out his route, as she -conceived it must be, from London to Vienna and Buda-Pesth; from -thence to Belgrade by steamer, as she supposed. Oh! it seemed all -very plain and easy, seated over the map, which she could span with -her tiny hand. - -How she longed to go thither herself! So great was her impatience -that not even the enchanted carpet of the Arabian tale, which -transported its proprietor through the air to wherever he wished to -be, in an instant, or the enchanted bridle of the famous Ayrshire -'Deil of Ardrossan,' the possessor of which could make his steed -perform such wondrous feats of speed, would have sufficed her. - -She was full of schemes now for communicating with Cecil, for -discovering his exact whereabouts, and more than all, for bringing -him safely and quickly home; while the general thought chiefly of his -restoration to his former rank and position in the regiment. - -Mary had seen in Robertson's charming little drama of 'Ours,' how the -heroine made her way to the Crimea, amid the winter tempests, and -found the wretched hut of her lover, Hugh Chalcot. Why should she -not go to Servia and bring home the wanderer! Mrs. Garth would go, -of course; and might not Fotheringhame and Annabelle, with whom -matters were progressing so far now, make their wedding trip, if -solicitors and guardians would only look sharp about contracts and -settlements! - -It would be quite a joyous journey if the general would only consent, -for were not she and Cecil as solemnly engaged as a man and woman -could be, and with the full consent and sanction of him, her only -guardian! And the girl's heart seemed to go out to him, the absent -and the suffering, with a futile and passionate longing. - -Oh yes--yes; she saw it all, and had thought it and planned it so -cleverly, with dear old John Balderstone! So they would go, by -London, Vienna, and Belgrade, to--she continued, as he bent over the -map--to where Cecil was, for they would never--never come home -without him; and in anticipation, she imagined the joy, the wonder, -and the whole excitement of their sudden meeting. - -But one thing did provoke her a little! - -It seemed as if, in the presence of Annabelle and the new phase of -their love affair, the primary object of Fotheringhame's visit took -somewhat of a secondary place, till the latter, like the whole -household, was terribly startled one morning, when the wishes of all -were frustrated and their hopes crushed by an appalling and -bewildering Reuter's telegram, which Fotheringhame strove, but in -vain, to conceal from Mary, and which ran thus: - - -'The ex-British officer who is now a prisoner in the camp at -Deligrad, and under sentence, it is believed, of death for treason to -King Milano (as the Prince of Servia names himself) and treachery to -General Tchernaieff, is now known to be the same who so lately and so -gallantly saved the life of the latter in the battle on the banks of -the Morava, when Guebhard's troop of Lancers gave way and fled.' - - -'Now what on earth does all this mean?' exclaimed Fotheringhame, in -blank dismay, as he read this over for the third time to Mrs. Garth, -while Annabelle, who thought only of Mary, clung to his arm with her -eyes full of tears. - -'It is a sad--sad tragedy this of ours,' said the old lady, folding -Mary to her breast; 'but, my darling pet--it may be some mistake; let -us pray that it is so, and that light may come out of the darkness -yet.' - -'This is torture upon torture. O my God--is life worth living?' -wailed Mary in her heart, asking unconsciously the question of a -brilliant essayist. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -A DARK PREDICTION. - -It is perhaps impossible to describe adequately all that passed with -the speed of thought through Cecil's mind when the group of Servian -officials approached the room in which he was confined. - -He had heard the drums beaten at sunset, and somehow deemed the -falling in of the pickets--though a usual circumstance--a prelude, -perhaps, to his own execution, or a hopeless and degrading -transmission to some fortress, he knew not where; and where, too -probably, he would never be heard of again, but pass through life -chained to a heavy shot, with a number painted on his canvas caftan. - -Well, death, however sudden, was better than such a fate! - -For a moment or two his blood had stood still as the comers drew -near, and the noise of their swords and spurs was heard on the stair. -The unlocking of the door found an echo in his heart. - -He nerved himself, with a prayer on his lips, to hear the worst they -had to tell him--desperation and resignation curiously mingling in -his mind. - -'Oh why,' he muttered, 'are we born--why do we live only to endure, -to suffer, and to die?' - -Then he thought of the poor girl who shrunk close to him in her -disguise, and a great fear for her was added to his own agony of soul. - -Thus, he was rather surprised to find himself politely saluted by the -minister of police, by Count Palenka, and the provost-marshal, both -of whom had been so severe and sharp with him when last he saw them. - -'Herr Lieutenant,' said the deputy minister of police, 'we have the -pleasure of announcing to you that you are a free man--free without a -stain upon your honour, and may, when you choose, return to your -post.' - -'His Excellency General Tchernaieff has commissioned me personally to -restore to you your sword, which I do with profound pleasure,' said -Count Palenka, advancing in turn, and handing to the bewildered Cecil -his sword and waist-belt. - -'To what do I owe this change in my affairs?' he asked in an unsteady -voice, as if unable to realise the situation. - -'The discovery of the true character of that villain, Mattei -Guebhard!' replied Palenka. - -'Guebhard--who has now deserted to the Turks, and for whose head the -King now offers a reward of a thousand ducats,' added the police -official. - -'And when was this discovery made?' - -'At noon to-day, Herr Lieutenant.' - -'By whom?' - -'By my sister, Margarita, who has more legal acumen than all of us -put together,' replied Count Palenka; 'she asked to see the -commission found upon your person, and old Tchernaieff bluntly -refused to show it even to her. But you know how lovely she is, and -the spell of her power and presence--her polished _insouciance_ and -cultured as well as natural fascination, and how she unites the -witchery of a girl to that of a woman of the world. All this proved -too much for our old Cossack,' continued the count, laughing; 'he -yielded--put the document in her hand, and almost immediately her -quick eye detected the forgery.' - -'Forgery?' - -'Yes, the partial--for it was only partial--erasure of his name and -substitution of yours. A touch of some chemical acid, applied by the -Herr Deputy of Police, proved the truth beyond a doubt; and a rumour -of this reaching Guebhard in his tent, he fled, and is now safe in -the Turkish lines. So Margarita has saved you!' - -'Margarita?' repeated Cecil, almost mechanically. Why, after all -this discovery and removal of all suspicion of his honour, did she -still mean to carry out the intended scheme of flight--even to the -last moment, sending him the disguise by her maid Ottilie? To secure -him to herself--could he doubt it? It was a strange and wayward -idea; but any way, as matters stood now, she had loaded him with a -debt of gratitude which he never could repay. - -'You saved my life, as well as the life of Tchernaieff, Herr -Lieutenant,' said the count, taking his hand; 'I must never forget -that, and henceforward you may command me as you will.' - -Cecil could not help remembering that the count's mind had been a -little oblivious of the circumstance at their last interview; but, to -do him and Tchernaieff justice, they were both generous and profuse -in their apologies. - -The minister of police was not long in detecting the sex of the -terrified Ottilie as she attempted to leave the apartment, wherein -her presence and disguise led to the immediate suggestion of an -intrigue--which was so natural with a girl so pretty--and after some -laughter and quizzing, she was glad to let them all adopt the idea -and make her escape. - -So ended this somewhat melodramatic situation, of which, like -Margarita, Cecil had seen many with lime-light and orchestral -accompaniments, but he never thought to undergo the horror and -bitterness of heart consequent to being an actor therein on the stage -of real life. - -So, with an emotion of gladness all the greater and more keen from -the revulsion that took place in his mind, he buckled on his sword -and once more went forth a soldier and a free man; his gratitude to -Margarita mingling with a fierce and most unholy longing to be once -again face to face with Guebhard, a chance not unlikely to be soon -afforded to him by the fortunes of war. - - -'Welcome again, my dear fellow! glad indeed to see you!' - -'By Jove! we feared it was all up with you in that cursed affair!' - -Such were the greetings, with a warm shake of the hand, which Cecil -received from Pelham and Stanley when he visited them in the infantry -camp, which was chiefly in a wood near Deligrad, and where he found -them with some other officers seated near a fire, whereat a suddenly -improvised meal was in process of being cooked by their Servian -servants, and which consisted simply of a turkey, coated with clay -and roasted in a hole covered with hot ashes; which, together with -potatoes and tomatoes, was to be washed down with German beer. - -'Life here is not exactly the life of flies in amber, or that of -lotus-eaters,' said Pelham, laughing, after he heard the story of -Cecil's misadventure; 'but even here, where we have Montenegrins and -Bashi Bazouks in plenty, we don't often come across so accomplished a -scoundrel as this Mattei Guebhard.' - -'But, Falconer, old fellow, though a genuine Scot, brave as a lion -and obstinate as a mule, he nearly proved too much for you,' said -Stanley, proffering his cigar-case, 'and would have done so in the -end, but for your fair auxiliary. By Jove! that girl must be a -regular brick!' - -'You gave the Turks an _alerte_ at Alexinatz after I left the camp?' -said Cecil, to change the subject. - -'Your branch of the service, the cavalry, did,' replied Pelham; 'we -came on with the infantry supports, and, as we had to keep our faces -quite as often to our men, in leading them on, as to the enemy (you -know what cowardly beggars the Servians are!), I nearly had my dorsal -fin carried away by a carbine bullet. But here comes our turkey, -done to time; and now to dinner with what appetite we may.' - -'We have had no fighting since Alexinatz,' said Stanley, 'and our -camp-life seems tame after what has gone before it.' - -'Like claret on the top of champagne.' - -'Man alive! for days we have had nothing better to drink than German -beer, and Pelham consoles himself by expatiating on Moselle as if he -had been weaned on it.' - -It was as music to Cecil, hearing once again the pleasantly modulated -and frank English voices of Pelham and Stanley, who made him so -welcome to share their humble repast--humble in its mode of -production and appurtenances--but both declared themselves sick of -Servia and its army, and after another battle or two, as the novelty -had worn off, they had resolved to resign and return home. - -Cecil thought that he would gladly do the same; but he had no home -that he knew of to return to. - -He knew nothing of the round sum so kindly offered and paid by -Stanley and Pelham for accounts of his safety, and the generous -fellows, of course, never mentioned it to him; but neither of them -knew that it eventually led to Guebhard--acting on the information of -the wood-cutters--tracking him as he did to Palenka, and from thence -through the forest. - -It was the evening of an autumn day, late in the year. A golden -light lingered on the mountain-slopes, and a soft, silvery mist rose -from the oak and pine forests that clothed them. The salmon were -leaping from rock to rock in a tributary of the Morava, that flowed -through the camp, and cattle were herding peacefully in the valleys -under the shadow of Mount Mezlanie; and the fields of Indian corn, -rice and maze were being reaped in places where the wild Turkish -Timariots had many a time in the days of old swept in furious bands -from Thrace to Belgrade, slaying the stalwart and young, the aged and -helpless; sparing the lovely alone as their spoil; and where, in -later times, the standard of Black George had led so often to -victory, but never to defeat. - -It was a glorious autumnal evening, and, seated there by the camp -fire with pleasant English comrades, and enjoying what had long been -a rarity to him, a good cigar, Cecil felt all the joyous impulses of -the time--a change or relaxation of mind, after all he had so lately -undergone. - -'Here,' said Pelham, as he lounged on the grass at full length, a -tawny beard of imposing aspect flowing over the breast of his brown -infantry tunic, and smoking his briar-root with the marked laziness -that follows a day of hard work and excitement, for he had been -foraging in the vicinity of the enemy--'here we have to do without -the thousand and one trifles that seem so necessary to one's -existence in the atmosphere of Tyburnia and Belgravia; and yet, -somehow, we don't seem to miss them.' - -'Your rescue of Tchernaieff and Palenka in the cavalry charge, and -your decoration with the Takova cross, and so forth, have all been -duly chronicled in the London papers,' said the dapper little -correspondent (before mentioned) to Cecil; 'and doubtless they have -been the means of sending a thrill through the breasts of the -listless, _nil admirari_ and languid snobs of society.' - -Has she heard of all this? was Cecil's only thought; and the dear old -Cameronians, too? - -As these heedless spirits had got hold of Margarita's name, and -knew--but not how far, exactly--she had been woven up in the network -of Cecil's late adventures, he had to undergo some raillery on the -subject, and somewhat to his annoyance. - -'It is an established fact in fiction and in real life--in history -and in poesy,' said Stanley, twirling his long moustache and adopting -a sententious tone, 'that a fellow must inevitably fall in love with -the pretty girl who nurses him after a spill in the hunting-field, -after a wound received in action, and more especially if she actually -saves his life; and this girl did yours, and she is downright lovely! -I saw her in the iron church, on the day that Tchernaieff distributed -so many crosses and medals to the troops. And you know, as Sancho -Panza says, "as days go and come, and straw makes medlars ripe," in -the fulness of time we may expect to see----' - -'Stanley, how your idle tongue wags!' - -'If it wags, it cannot be idle, Cecil; and if you are destined to -marry this fair Servian, and found a race of heyducs, or whatever the -deuce they are called, I suppose it is no use attempting to run away -from her.' - -Cecil, who knew more of what had passed between himself and Margarita -than the heedless speaker had the least idea of, felt his secret -annoyance increased by this banter. Owing her the most profound -gratitude, as he did, and painfully aware of her rash, wild, and -ill-concealed but ill-considered regard for himself--a regard by -which he felt himself imperilled, rather than charmed or -flattered--he could not, with patience, hear her name mentioned in -this way by these thoughtless fellows--blasé waifs from the society -of 'the West End.' - -'By Jove, how pink he grows!' exclaimed Pelham; 'but no doubt she -hopes to finish her maidenly career with you, Cecil.' - -'Hush!' said the latter, with open irritation, yet laughing to -conceal it if possible; 'here comes her brother.' - -Wearing a very handsome Russian uniform--a green tunic faced with -black velvet and laced with gold, and with several decorations -glittering on his breast, the count, on foot, with his sword under -his arm, approached the camp fire, and touched his flat round forage -cap in salute. - -'Herr Lieutenant,' said he to Cecil, 'I knew that I should find you -here. I have a message to you from the general, which I know you -will receive with pleasure.' - -Cecil started to his feet and bowed. - -'To reward you for all you have undergone, his excellency means to -give you a new opportunity for distinguishing yourself,' continued -Palenka, smiling. 'You are to reconnoitre, about dawn, the country -between Mount Mezlanie and the Timok river, about twenty miles from -this; observe its features, what you may see, and report thereon. -The picked men of your troop--your own, as yet without a captain--to -the number of twenty sabres, will parade at midnight, in front of the -general's quarters.' - -Cecil was still on the staff, but he accepted the duty assigned with -pleasure, and felt the hint conveyed, that his troop was as yet -without a captain, as the latter had been killed at Alexinatz. - -'I can stay with you but a few minutes, gentlemen,' said the count; -'and meantime will join you in a glass of some wine my servants have -brought, in honour of the Herr Lieutenant and his victory over the -jade Fortune.' - -'Tokay!' exclaimed Stanley, in a low voice, as he saw with interest a -Cossack extracting the tiny cobwebbed bottles: 'Tokay, by all the -gods!--such wine as can't be got for money, I have no doubt.' - -'You are right, Herr,' said the count, who overheard him; 'they are -the last of a present the Emperor gave my father--and I have just -begged Tchernaieff to accept, from me, a dozen--they are all of the -first brand, and from the grapes of Hegyallya.' - -Other officers now came to share the count's Hungarian wine--Russian -Hussars in sky-blue dolmans, Servian dragoons with queer forage caps, -like Scotch glengarries, and baggy red breeches; and a picturesque -group the whole made, Palenka being the most striking figure there. -He was very handsome, and would have formed a fine study for a -painter. He had a visage naturally pale, but embrowned by exposure, -a dark, martial, eagle-eye, and black moustache, with a general -daring, undaunted and fiery air about him--in aspect, curiously -between a man of fashion and a reckless Free Lance; a man who in -thought and habit had much of the old heyduc in him, and was perhaps -a little behind this unromantic, unmoved, and unheroic age. - -Beside him sat Pelham, a brave and reckless fellow, but of a very -different mould--under the middle size, yet a winning and -aristocratic-looking Englishman, about thirty years of age, with blue -eyes, and a general and genial sunshiny smile in his face. - -'And where, now, is she to whom I owe so much--Mademoiselle Palenka?' -asked Cecil in a low voice, when occasion served, and feeling the -necessity, in common politeness at least, to remember the fact of her -existence. - -'She has left the camp,' was the curt response of the count, over -whose face a shade fell for a moment; for some rumours--some -suspicions of his sister's interest in the questioner--must have -reached him, and he knew that the impulsive Margarita was difficult -to control; so Cecil said no more on the subject, and, changing his -place to another part of the noisy and laughing group, became -somewhat silent. - -He had ample food for reflection, certainly. - -It was impossible for him not to think with positive wonder on all -the strange complications that must have arisen had the count, and -those who accompanied him, been but a very little later in coming to -announce that he--Cecil--was free; and that if he had availed himself -of the disguise brought by Ottilie, and reached the appointed spot -where Theodore awaited him with the horses, and too probably -Margarita too (indeed he could not doubt she was there), and had he -taken, with her, that flight which the detection of the deserter's -forgery rendered unnecessary, the whole future of both their lives -must have been changed from that hour; for it was evident that she -had meant to cast her lot with him, and for all she knew or could -foresee, her one life against a censorious world. - -'We must never meet again--I must see her no more!' was his thought -again and again, and he was conscious that the count was looking at -him scrutinisingly from time to time. The usually heedless and -unobservant Pelham detected this, and said to Palenka inquiringly: - -'Why do you look so gravely--so sadly at our friend, with whom you -were laughing but a few minutes ago?' - -'Sadly--do I? Well, sooth to say, I feel somewhat sorry for him.' - -'Why--what the deuce is up now?' - -'I am rather an acute physiognomist,' replied the count, looking down -and affecting to select and manipulate a cigar, 'and think I can -see--can read in his face, by a certain gravity of expression there, -that he will--after all he has escaped--die a violent death.' - -'_A violent death!_' repeated Pelham, with an expression of surprise -in his face; 'from what do you gather this?' - -'I cannot say--a kind of prescience--an intuition of destiny--that I -have no control over; but I have rarely been mistaken.' - -'Well,' replied Pelham, 'I might predict as much about many of us; we -may perhaps be engaged to-morrow, and some that are above the turf -just now, may be under it soon enough.' - -The count gave an inscrutable smile, and began to smoke; and Pelham -was glad only that Cecil--going, as he was so soon to do, on a duty -of some peril--had not overheard a prediction so strange and gloomy -concerning himself. - -'Destiny--prescience--bosh!' thought Pelham; but the count's face and -manner impressed the volatile Englishman, who had only come to fight -in Servia as the means to a 'new sensation.' He became perplexed, -silent, and when Cecil spoke, his voice seemed somehow to stir a -painful chord in the breast of Pelham. - -'A violent death!' - -This strange prophecy gave him some cause to think. Did the count -refer to the chances of war, or that Cecil was fore-doomed -prematurely, and had his destiny--his kismet, like an -Osmanlie--written on his brow? Or was it that he resented, with all -his apparent candour and generosity, some love-passages between his -sister and the late prisoner, and meant to have the latter cut -off?--a matter easily achieved in that lawless land. - -Pelham was restlessly uneasy on the subject, and sat reflectively -sucking at his briar-root in silence, till the bugles sounded for -lights and fires out--for silence in camp, and all retired to their -tents or huts. - -At midnight, punctually, Cecil, cloaked and armed, rode to the -headquarters of Tchernaieff, in front of which he found his troop -mounted, and a sergeant calling the roll by lantern-light, the rays -of which fell feebly on the dark faces and darker uniforms of the -Servian troopers, who were all in light marching order, without -valises or other encumbrance, save forage-nets, sponge-bags and spare -shoes. By lantern-light he opened the ranks and inspected them; the -pistols and carbines were loaded. From Palenka he got a written -memorandum of the path or route he was to pursue, though much was -left to his own discretion. - -The party, consisting of twenty sabres, broke into sections of fours. - -'_Shagoum-marche!_' (walk-march) was the first command, and they got -into motion. - -'_Rishu!_' (trot) cried Cecil, and away they went, and quickly left -the camp behind them, looking somewhat ghost-like amid the starless -gloom, as they glided noiselessly over the soft turf, on which, as -yet, the hoofs of their horses made no sound. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE RECONNAISSANCE. - -Young soldier though he was in some respects, Cecil knew well the -importance of the duty assigned to him, and the great circumspection -requisite in the mode of executing it; all the more as Circassian and -Egyptian cavalry had been but recently heard of in the vicinity of -Rajouz, a village about five miles from Deligrad. - -Whatever Cecil did, he usually gave his heart to; and he was doubly -anxious to prove himself worthy of the renewed trust and faith -reposed in him by Tchernaieff, and to stifle the qualms of disgust he -had begun to feel for the Servian service, and which usually rise, -sooner or later, in the heart of every Briton at any foreign service, -and which was the more likely to influence Cecil by the memory of -late events. - -As his party rode on at a leisurely walk, after quitting the vicinity -of the camp, the hoofs tramping out the rich odours of the fallen -leaves and aromatic plants, he gave strict orders that there was to -be no smoking (lest lights, even so small, were seen), and that there -must be no talking or singing--that utter silence must pervade every -movement. - -His party had food for three days; thus he halted and fed the horses -at every two leagues, so that they should always be fresh and fit for -duty, taking care to halt in thickets, or at a distance from all -roads, and using every precaution to preclude surprise while the -feeding was in process, and the horses consequently unbitted. - -He was furnished with a guide, whom, however, he kept ignorant of the -route indicated to him by Tchernaieff--the line of country towards -the Timok river. - -He knew, too, that an officer, be his rank what it may, can never, -with honour, decline the perilous duty of a reconnaissance, as the -honour is amply made up by the importance of the expedition, which -frequently proves of the utmost consequence in the operations of the -future. - -Thus, when day began to dawn, and he found himself traversing the -fields and forest lands on the eastern slopes of Mount Mezlanie, -while moving with the utmost care and circumspection, with two -advanced troopers some distance in front, riding each with loaded -carbine on thigh, he began his notes and task of surveying, by -minutely examining the face of the country, the hollows and vales, -whether stony or swampy; the grass and the watercourses; the line of -the principal roads, their turnings, breadth, and capability for the -passage of artillery; the situation of farmhouses or villages, and -their capabilities for defence; the bridges, etc.--and all the -memoranda thereon he extended and corrected during the halts for -refreshing the men and horses. - -Particularly had he to note where grass, hay, and corn could be -procured, in case of an advance in that direction; with the proper -ground for camps, with fuel and water in the vicinity, and so forth, -omitting nothing that might prove of value to his leaders. And in -this new species of employment the first day passed without event, -and the approach of evening found his party preparing to halt for the -night in a thicket of oaks and pines, under the shadow of some lofty -and impending precipices, the fronts of which glared redly in the -western light, above the deep green of the forest trees. - -A line of silvery haze, exhaled by the evening sun, winding among -them, indicated the course of the Timok river, which descends from -the south side of Mount Haiduchki, of the Balkan chain in Servia, and -flows along the confines of Bulgaria till it reaches the Danube. So -the river was almost in sight, and as yet neither Cecil nor his -troopers had 'felt' the Circassian or Egyptian cavalry; and -everywhere the country seemed quiet, the peasantry attending in peace -to their agricultural avocations. - -Near the halting-place lay a deep pool surrounded by cedars and -pines; rich boughs drooped into its water, on which the snow-white -lilies floated, and there the horses were unbitted, and they and -their riders drank thirstily. - -By dawn next day all were in their saddles again, and the -reconnaissance was resumed. - -Sharply observant, though naturally unsuspicious, Cecil had, ere -this, begun to remark that an armed peasant, with a large black -beard--but all men were armed there, and then especially--who had -questioned the advanced file of men and obtained from them a light -for his pipe--appeared to dodge or watch his party, which rode at an -easy pace, and from time to time he saw this peasant appearing on the -crest of one slope, as they began to descend another. - -Disliking this, he sent a corporal back at a trot to question this -fellow and demand his object or purpose; but the latter eluded this -by disappearing in a thicket, only, as it eventually proved, to -follow still, but unseen and more warily. - -As the road traversed one of those warm valleys where, in Servia, the -cotton-plant is raised in great quantities, and where the plantations -present so pleasing an appearance, the glossy dark green leaves -contrasting so finely with the white globular flowers scattered over -the tree, Cecil's party overtook three mounted persons--a man and two -females--who, after a consultation among themselves apparently, -checked their horses to let his troopers come up with them. - -As they drew near them, Cecil felt his pulse quicken. There was no -mistaking the brown habit faced with scarlet, the smart hat and white -ostrich feather, and the graceful figure of the wearer, or the -old-dragoon seat of her male attendant. For here was Margarita, -accompanied by old Theodore, and the third mounted personage was the -pretty Ottilie. - -'Margarita again--and here! By Jove! there _is_ some fatality in all -this!' thought Cecil; and he spurred in advance of his party, and -joined the trio, two of whom at once reined their horses back; and -one of them, Ottilie, coloured very deeply, for she was not ignorant -of the grotesque rumours that had been current concerning the -disguise in which she had been found. - -'You here, Herr Lieutenant!' exclaimed Margarita, with genuine -surprise, while placing her whip in her bridle-hand, she presented -the other to Cecil; 'here northward of Mount Mezlanie?' - -'I am reconnoitring--and you?' - -'Am _en route_ for Palenka; then via Belgrade for Vienna.' - -If she thought to interest him by this intelligence she failed, for -he said: - -'I am glad to hear that you are leaving this district, for we know -not which way the tide of war may roll: and the fact of your being -here without an escort is most rash, as patrols of Circassian and -Egyptian horse have been seen between the Timok and the Morava!' - -'We are now within ten miles of Palenka, and have seen nothing as yet -to alarm us,' she replied. - -Palenka was in a safe district; but who could count on what might lie -between? Why should he not escort her so far, when he was free to do -so, as his command was a roving one? and Palenka lay on the west side -of the Timok, and in the district he was to examine. - -Her eyes sparkled and her colour heightened as he announced his -intention; and they rode slowly on together, he the while, with all -the interest that he could not help feeling in her, wishing in his -heart that she was safe in Belgrade, Vienna, or anywhere else than by -his side. - -She thanked him for the proffered escort. - -'Say nothing of that,' said he; 'I owe you so much more than I can -ever repay.' - -'You owe me a debt, I know; yet it might be best adjusted by our -forgetting--as if we had never known--each other.' - -'Margarita, who that has seen and known you will ever forget you?' he -asked, with truth in his voice and eye. - -'Many, I have no doubt.' - -Her manner was somewhat bitter and weary, and from under her long -dark eyelashes she looked at him, from time to time, with a kind of -passionate pain. - -'One fact I shall never forget, at least--that you saved me from -great and deadly peril, by your acumen and superior intelligence.' - -'By my suspicion of Guebhard and general knowledge of his character, -and of what he is capable--say, rather.' - -'And thus you rendered my flight from Deligrad unnecessary.' - -'Yes,' she replied curtly. - -On that point he said no more. She coloured for a moment at his -reference to it, and then became pale again; but paleness was the -normal condition of her face. - -This brilliant woman loved him, and had not cared much to conceal -that she did so. What was he to say to her--what to tell--how to -explain all? It was impossible for him to put in clear, cold words -before her the mortifying fear that he could not--should not love her -in return, because he was affianced--so hopelessly, as he -supposed--to another. - -Could he ask her to take back a heart he certainly had never sought? -It was in every way a perplexing and grotesque situation. - -'You have become very silent,' said she, in a tone of pique, while -switching, and then checking her horse. 'Of what are you thinking?' - -'That if some of those wild Circassians, of whom I have been told, -were only to appear now----' - -'Heaven forbid! why?' - -'That I might empty a saddle or two, and risk in your service the -life you saved, and thus make an atonement----' - -'I want no such risk run; and what,' she asked a little sharply, 'do -you mean by atonement?' - -'Only this, that you saved my life, Margarita, and may claim its -whole future, if you will,' said he, while Mary's face came -reproachfully to memory, for the speech was disloyalty to her, -however gallantly meant to Margarita, whom the peculiarity of its -tenor irritated rather than flattered. - -'This is an idle speech, and I know its value. I thank you for your -escort, but we shall part at Palenka, and as another day will see me -on the road for Vienna, we shall never meet again; and you may become -to me, what I shall never be to you--a dream, without pain perhaps.' - -This was one of her many strange and passionate speeches, his general -or vague replies to which always piqued her. - -'Youth and pleasure are a dream,' said he. - -'And life itself, say some.' - -'But these metaphysicians do not tell us where or how we shall wake -to find it so--unless in death.' - -'Enough of a subject so gloomy and abstruse,' said she sharply, for -Cecil's strange indifference galled and piqued her keenly. - -Though a fashionably-bred woman, and as a girl accustomed to the best -society in Vienna, in wild Servia she was certainly rather -untrammelled by the bonds of conventionality. Her life from young -girlhood had been full of gaiety, variety, vivid colour, and very -rational pleasure. She had been the object of much adulation, -admiration, and love, too; she had been amused or bored by all, but -won by none till now, when Cecil, the wanderer, the soldier of -fortune, with no inheritance but his sword, had won her regard -without seeking it. - -She was assured now--bitterly so--that he would never kneel to her as -a lover; yet she was loth that he should ever free himself from the -power of her fascinations, if she could make him feel it. Fain would -she have won that heart which seemed so fresh and guileless, so -unlike any she had yet met--so unworn and prone to have good faith in -all men. - -There was a certain languor and then occasional fiery carelessness in -Margarita that must have come to her with the blood of the old heyduc -of Palenka, and his bride--some odalisque, perhaps, won by the edge -of his sabre amid the plunder of a pasha's household, and hers was -the disposition, the passion and the situation, that so often lead to -blind and bitter hatred, ending in crime and sorrow. - -She knew the power of her beauty over all men, and she knew also the -claim for special gratitude over this loyal, dauntless, and grateful -heart, and hoped that she knew how to use both; thus many a time she -looked at him with her bright, languid eyes, the colour of which was -often difficult to define, with an expression which seemed to say: - -'I saved your life and honour--therefore you ought to belong to me, -and to no one else!' - -And Cecil found it impossible to deny, even to himself, the knowledge -and certainty that this woman, so dazzlingly fair that few women ever -saw her without jealousy, and fewer men without admiration or -passion, had been ready--and was now ready--to risk shame, suffering -or danger, and fly with him, seeking obscurity and exile in Bulgaria -or anywhere else. - -'Was ever man more tempted!' thought he, as he saw--with -satisfaction--the gilded vanes and cupolas of Palenka glittering in -the sunshine above the green-wooded bank of the Morava, and he reined -up his horse to bid her farewell. - -'You will surely ride up to Palenka, and bid mamma adieu?' she said, -her eyes dilating with reproach. - -'To visit Palenka, or anywhere else, is inconsistent with my duty; -and the count your brother viewed my sojourn there with unconcealed -displeasure.' - -'As you please,' said she, coldly. Then, after a pause, she added, -'We have resolved to leave Servia, mamma and I, for a time--my -brother wishes us to do so.' - -'I would fain see you once again,' said he, with an access of -tenderness, suited, however, to the occasion; 'but it may not be. -To-night I shall halt in the wood near Tjuprija, and to-morrow go -back on the spur to Deligrad.' - -'The wood near Tjuprija--that is close at hand; so if we who have -been so strangely thrown together are parted to meet no more in the -future, and you would care to see me once again--just once--at noon -to-morrow be by the wayside chapel on the rocks above the ruin--the -chapel of Lazar--and--' she paused, as a spasm of pain made her proud -and beautiful face quiver, 'and I shall be there.' - -'At noon, then, to-morrow,' said he, bending over her gauntleted hand -and kissing it, after which she rode off at a quick pace, followed by -her two attendants, while Cecil fell back and rejoined his troopers, -who made all haste to put out and hide the pipes in which they -had--in defiance of orders--been indulging during his recent -preoccupation in front of them. - -At the same time a man--the bearded peasant before-mentioned--who had -been concealed among some laurel-bushes, and had overheard the -parting, crept stealthily away, with an expression on his face that -would have startled Cecil had he seen it. - -'To what end, or to what useful or wise purpose, under all the -circumstances, can this assignation be? and in such a lonely place?' -he thought. 'But what could I say--how decline the last request of -one to whom I owe so much?' - -Yet he wished it all well over, and anticipated, with genuine British -dismay, something of a painful scene. - - -The night was passed by his troopers peacefully in the solitude of -the wood referred to, under the stars. Morning came in bright with -ruddy sunshine, and after such a humble repast as soldiers prepare -under such circumstances, Cecil ordered them to unbit and unsaddle -their horses, groom them, and re-examine all their ammunition--not -all at once, but by fours at a time--and after patrolling the woods -in the vicinity, and finding all quiet, he halted them again in the -wood, and set forth to keep his appointment at the chapel, which was -on a rocky steep about a mile from it. - -He crossed the Morava by an ancient bridge, supposed to be the work -of Roman hands, and began to ascend the steep and rocky bank that -overhung it, till he overlooked the windings of the river and the -woods that half-concealed them, and attained the summit of a species -of pass in which stood the wayside chapel--merely a rough species of -altar, whereon was painted a rude and half-defaced effigy, surmounted -by a projecting pediment or roof of red tiles. - -Masses of wild vines flourished in luxuriance all around it, with -other creepers, and from amid these there peered grotesquely -forth--with its metal halo sorely faded--the effigy, which was -supposed to represent the Servian _Krall_, Lazar, who was taken -prisoner in the last great battle on the plains of Kossava (which -ended in the subjugation of Servia), and whose relics, after his -murder in the camp of the Sultan Amurath, have wrought so many -miracles, according to the superstition of his country, and now lie -in the monastery of Ravenitza, which he founded; but Cecil thought -nothing of all this, and probably knew nothing about it, as he looked -about him anxiously and in haste for Margarita. - -It was past the time of noon now; but she was not there. A sheer -cliff of vast height, the base of which could not be seen, descended -on one side; on the other was the narrow walk by which he had mounted -to the wayside chapel. - -He heard no sound but the voices of the birds, and he looked in vain -for her figure--her drapery floating between the stems of the trees. - -Why had she failed to keep her tryst? a kind of keen disappointment -occurred to him now; he looked at his watch again. Time was long -past now, and he thought of his troopers and the homeward march to -Deligrad! - -Then, as he looked about him, his eye fell on two objects that gave -him a shock, a bracelet and a handkerchief. The former lay imbedded -in the turf, as if trod upon; the other fluttered on the stem of a -wild vine. - -He took up the former, a Turkish rose-pearl bracelet, which he -remembered to have seen Margarita wear; so she must have come to the -meeting-place and lost it. But why had she come and gone so soon? - -The handkerchief, a white silk one, he examined, and on a corner -thereof saw the name of 'Mattei Guebhard.' - -Guebhard--then he too had been there; had in some way anticipated -him! And now he saw that all the turf about the narrow path bore the -indentations of feet, as if a struggle had taken place, and a great -horror of--he knew not what--fell upon the heart of Cecil. - -He thought of the Circassian and Egyptian patrols, who were said to -be scouting between the Morava and the Timok, but he thought not of -the peasant who had dogged his party yesterday. - -Had Guebhard succeeded in carrying her off--in abducting her beyond -the Turkish lines? If so, in these days of Bulgarian atrocities, -Cecil could but fear the worst, and his heart died within him as he -returned, slowly and reluctantly, and with many a backward glance, to -the road, where his troopers awaited him. - -There was no time given him for inquiry, no time for further delay, -and at a rapid trot the homeward march began. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -THE WAYSIDE CHAPEL. - -On the morning of the same day, Margarita was surprised to receive a -note, purporting to be from Cecil, whose handwriting she had never -seen, requesting her to be at the wayside chapel of Krall Lazar two -hours before noon, as the exigencies of the service required his -presence elsewhere at the time formerly appointed. - -This note had been give to Theodore by a man attired like a peasant, -who promptly disappeared. - -'Sooner than noon!' thought Margarita; 'perhaps he is impatient to -see me. He does love me--he must love me. But perhaps some dread of -Palenka fetters his tongue; or can it be--but let me not think -_that_!' - -Never had Ottilie found her mistress more difficult to please in the -mode of dressing her beautiful hair, than on the morning of this day, -in the selection of a costume and the choice of colours; but at last -she was attired to her own satisfaction, and when the time came, left -Palenka by a garden-gate, and took the path that led to the wayside -chapel, or altar, for, though named the former, it had rather the -character of being the latter only. - -Like Cecil, she, with all her hopes and wishes, had more than once -questioned herself as to the end or utility of this meeting which it -had been--she felt it--so unwomanly in her to invite. - -She could not yet bear the idea that he should pass out of her life, -or he out of hers. She dreaded an unknown rival, as she had never -been baffled before; and over that rival, if such existed, she hoped -in the end to triumph by the power of her beauty and fascination of -manner, and to win him, without pity, to herself; and, full of such -thoughts, she trod lightly the steep and winding way that led to the -shrine of Krall Lazar, and softly sang to herself the little Servian -song of 'The Wishes,' which elsewhere she had sung to Cecil. - -The morning was a glorious one, and in the poetry of her nature -Margarita felt all the softening and exhilarating influences of it. -The heavy fragrance of the great fir forest, on which the night-dew -lingered, loaded the air, and the rays of the sun fell aslant them -here and there, through the flat and fan-like boughs, from which the -great, over-ripe cones, brown and full of seed, were dropping ever -and anon. - -A sea of pines, dark-green and sombre, seemed to spread in spiky -conical peaks up the steep mountain-slopes, as she proceeded by the -narrow pathway to the appointed place, her heart beating hopefully -and happily in anticipation. - -At last she reached the vine-covered shrine; it stood alone; no one -was there. - -'Cecil!' she said softly, and listened. - -Then came a sound as of branches crackling, and a man clad like a -Servian peasant started from behind the edifice and stood before her; -but through the disguise, now minus the beard, and with close-shaven -chin and well-trimmed black moustache, she knew the pale face -of--Mattei Guebhard! - -'You here?' exclaimed Margarita, shrinking back. - -'Yes, I,' said he, grimly; 'you got a note----' - -'From--from the Herr Lieutenant.' - -'No; from _me_.' - -'You?' - -'In his name,' said Guebhard, laughing softly; 'could I have lured -you here, else?' - -'Decidedly not,' she replied, with perplexity and anger. 'But how -knew you that I was to be here?' - -'Every movement of yours is known to me.' - -'And your purpose?' asked Margarita. - -'I scarcely know--punishment--revenge!' he replied, incoherently and -a a little wildly. - -As he surveyed her now he saw not a vestige of her soft, persuasive, -and caressing manner, or the witchery of her sovereign smile. Her -face expressed only deep anger, profound disdain, and utter -indifference by turns; yet he attempted to take her hand, but she -wrenched it away and waved him back, with a grandeur of gesture that -compelled him to obey, while her eyes flashed with unspoken -indignation. - -It was at this moment that the rose-pearl bracelet fell from her -wrist, but both were too preoccupied to observe it. - -'You visited the English cur in his prison?' said he, after a pause. - -'Who told you so?' - -'Heed not who told me so--suffice it that I know you did.' - -'What then? Am I accountable to you for my actions?' - -'This morning you are.' - -'Fool--you forget yourself!' - -Guebhard looked into her cool and defiant face, and read but too -plainly an expression of hatred in her beautiful eyes. He saw the -curl of careless scorn on her sweet red lips, and a sigh of rage -escaped him, though for a moment--but a moment only--his eyes sought -hers with an anguish of entreaty. - -'Perjurer and deserter!' said she defiantly and bitterly; 'the -soldier who is false to his colours--the man who is false to his -country--is beneath rebuke; but not beneath vengeance.' - -'You saved the man's life on one hand,' said he, hoarsely; 'on the -other, you exposed me, compelling me to anticipate an old intention -of joining the Turkish standard, which must prevail here and -elsewhere. You saved his life and won his gratitude and love; but -neither will avail, for by the God who hears us, you shall never see -him more!' - -'Who will separate us?' - -'I shall!' - -'Stand aside, Captain Guebhard!' said she haughtily, and now dreading -every moment to hear the step of Cecil ascending the path; 'stand -aside--from this day you and I must be to each other as the dead.' - -'As the dead--yes--be it so. I know you hate me now--though once you -did not do so.' - -'I never even valued you as a friend, though you flattered yourself -that you stood even higher than a friend in my estimation; and now as -a deserter from the Servian cause----' - -'I am more Bulgarian than Servian in my blood, perhaps more Italian -than either,' said he, hotly. 'Milano omitted to give me the cross, -though I had won it in our first battle, so I have assumed the -crescent in its place; that is all--and the crescent will prevail in -the end.' - -'Never! we shall live to see the crescent thrust into Asia or the -sea; but as I did not come here to talk politics, I have the honour -to wish you good-morning, Captain Guebhard, and trust that our -comedietta is over.' - -'It is a tragedy, as you may find,' was the grim and menacing -response. - -'What do you mean, sir?' - -'Simply what I say.' - -'Insolent! But I fear you will never make your fortune as a Romeo.' - -Oaths never rose to the lips of Guebhard; he was--though a finished -villain--too polished a man to indulge in such: but terrible was the -hatred that baffled passion was now raising in his lawless breast. A -dark and angry red shot for a moment across his usually pallid face, -and his eyes gleamed with a vindictiveness of expression that made -the heart of Margarita throb wildly, and with sudden apprehension; -but she could not pass him. - -Behind her was a precipice, and before her--barred by him--lay the -path which she must descend to elude him. - -Like a heroine, who is described in a recent novel, 'she knew well -enough that forgetfulness was a treasure for evermore beyond the -reach of those who once loved her.' Guebhard had loved her, she -knew, and this love had well-nigh maddened him--and now Guebhard, in -his tiger-like nature, was beginning to hate her--nay, hated her -already! - -He grasped her delicate wrist with a force she could not withstand. - -'Listen to me,' said he, with calm yet sad ferocity in his tone and -eyes; 'I am not the first, among many, whom your beauty and your -wiles have fooled and beguiled--for few women have had such -Circe-like power as you--but I shall be the last on whose face you -will look.' - -'What do you mean?' she asked, in a low and agitated voice. - -'That you will soon learn--come here,' he continued, hoarsely; -'here--and look down,' he added, dragging her to the giddy verge of -the beetling cliff, at the base of which, spread out like a map, was -the woody landscape stretching away towards Katadar, with the Morava -winding through it like a silver snake. - -'Have pity, Guebhard!' exclaimed Margarita, shrinking back, while a -mortal terror seized her now, for the expression of his eyes froze -her heart. - -'Pity--it is too late--too late!' he replied, yet with something like -a sob in his throat. - -'Forgiveness is saint-like, Guebhard,' she urged piteously. - -'But I am no saint, Margarita--I am only a humble mortal.' - -'Mortal or not--man or devil--why have I to seek forgiveness of -_you_?' she exclaimed, as a gust of indignation and pride came to her -aid, and she strove to break away from him; but finding that all her -efforts were vain, and that he was too strong for her, she shrieked -out wildly, 'Cecil! Cecil!' - -The name seemed to madden him. Stung to frenzy, he drew a pistol -from his belt; but replaced it, and grasped his yataghan; that, too, -he declined to use, lest it might elicit a shriek again and bring -succour, for with all his frenzy, there was a method in his madness, -and his next thought was--strangulation! - -The proud and lovely neck she would not have permitted him to kiss -was now to feel the tiger-like clutch of his long, lean and felon -fingers, as they closed round her snow-white throat. - -'Mercy, Guebhard--mercy!' she gasped; 'I am too young--too -young--perhaps too wicked--to die!' - -Fate was upon her, and Guebhard was no longer a reasoning being. -There were tears in her starting and bloodshot eyes, and clamorous -fury gathered in Guebhard's heart, while his infernal gripe grew -closer; her arms fell powerless by her side--he felt the tumultuous -heavings of her bosom against his own. Sense had not left her; she -could not doubt the desperate character of his attack, and though she -ceased to struggle, her eyes spoke, and with such a language that -Guebhard dared not look on them again--they seemed so mournfully to -implore his mercy--but his heart, blazing with the insensate hate -that springs from baffled love, knew none! - -In vain; his gripe grew tighter upon her delicate throat, that was -all symmetry and whiteness: a terrible spasm convulsed her frame; -then he knew that all was over, that she was dead in his hands, and -daring no more to look upon her, he flung her over the awful cliff -close by; and that he might not hear the sound, if any, that came -from below, he sank on his knees, and covered his ears with his hot -tremulous hands. So perished Margarita! - -Her death was not the first that lay on Guebhard's soul, no doubt; -but, for a minute, he scarcely seemed to breathe, and his wild -glaring eyes seemed to wander stealthily in the air, in the woods, -and on the ground beneath him, as if to avoid the last glance of -appealing despair, that seemed to confront him everywhere now. - -The leaves of the trees seemed to become eyes--then tongues that -whispered, he knew not what. - -'Margarita!' said he involuntarily, and, to his overstrained fancy, a -thousand echoes seemed to give back the name of the dead--the dead -girl that, though mangled and lying far down below, was not yet cold. - -'Margarita!' he said again, but in a lower voice, the name breaking -from him in the instinct of the awful time, rather than in conscious -utterance. - -Suddenly the sound of approaching footsteps met his ear. A man was -ascending the pathway to the shrine, and Guebhard, who, in the agony -and frenzy of the time, had forgotten all about Cecil--for it was he -who was coming--dashed into the copse-wood and fled from the spot -like a hunted hare, seeking the gloomiest spots with that loathing of -the light which it has been averred some murderers feel. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE BATTLE OF ZAITCHAR. - -'How misfortune seems to dog me, and all in whom I have ever had a -passing interest or regard!' thought Cecil, as he rode on in rear of -his returning party, and recalled the words of Antonio: - - 'I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; - A stage, where every man must play a part, - And mine a _sad one_.' - - -His thoughts went backward over the few but ever-varying years of his -own life; his wanderings with his mother in Italy and elsewhere; his -service in India, so full of adventure, change, peril and vivid -colour; marches over dusty and arid plains, and through desert -jungles, where luxuriant vegetation had run riot for ages; the -pleasures of cities; the careless times in camp and barrack, with -Leslie Fotheringhame, Dick Freeport, Acharn and others; pig-sticking -and fighting wild hill tribes; of long balmy nights on the starlit -Indian or Arabian seas, while the crowded transport ploughed on with -her living freight; the good fellowship of the splendid mess; the -love of his men, and though remembered last, perhaps, not least, -honest Tommy Atkins, with the proffer of his savings; of all that had -been, and never could be again; of gay nights and balls; and, last of -all, the ball that ruined him; of Mary Montgomerie, and all the loss -of her meant to him; and again his thoughts would revert to -Margarita, and to what had been--what could be now, her fate! - -Into that fate--if, as it seemed too probable, some tragedy or -catastrophe had happened--he had neither time nor opportunity given -him to inquire. - -What could have come over her? was his ever-recurring thought. -Surely--even in that land of atrocities--Heaven would be too merciful -to let a hair of her head be injured, she was so good and pure, so -proud and true to herself and all. - -Betimes he rode into Deligrad, where the tricolour waved on the armed -rampart, and the busy camp, with its streets of tents and huts, still -covered all the ground beside the Morava. - -He proceeded straight to the winter quarters of the staff, circular -huts formed of logs, planked and plastered with mud externally, and -thatched with straw and reeds, and in one of these miserable abodes, -before which two sentinels paced, he found Tchernaieff and a couple -of officers, in rich Russian uniforms, smoking cigars, and making -themselves as comfortable as they could under the circumstances. - -He presented his papers, sketches and memoranda, and made his report -as to finding all the country quiet, and seeing nothing of the -enemy's scouting or patrol parties; and was warmly complimented by -the grim old Muscovite, who shook him by the hand and presented him -with an acceptable bumper of wine, saying the while, 'Deo Gratios!' -and signing the cross in the Russian fashion, with three fingers from -right to left. - -'I sent you again on a perilous and important duty into a strange -country,' said Tchernaieff, 'and you accepted the hazard as readily -as you have performed that duty.' - -'I am not used to weigh hazards or danger, excellency,' replied -Cecil; 'I am the native of a country that never nurtured fools or -cowards, and now have my home here.' - -'In every land brave men find a home; and for these memoranda I thank -you, for I have to send troops through that very district towards -Zaitchar. But you have run greater risks than you are aware of, for -Circassian troops were concealed in some of the woods through which -you passed.' - -Cecil thought of the disappearance of Margarita, and the evidence of -the deserter Guebhard's presence at the Krall Lazar; but he only -replied: - -'I have not set much store on my life, since I came to Servia, at -least. Besides, general--of what need was thought--I had your orders -to obey--the King to serve.' - -'Right; and now, good-morning, Captain Falconer.' - -It was so; Cecil found that he had been made captain of his troop, -and was warmly congratulated on this unexpected promotion by his -English comrades Pelham and Stanley, whose society he preferred to -all others in camp, and the former said laughingly to the latter, -whom he had taken into his confidence: - -'Either the count is--as I hope--a false prophet, or Falconer's fated -time is not come yet; he has returned scatheless from this duty, at -all events.' - -The field was soon to be taken by a portion, if not by all the army; -more fighting was to be seen, and Cecil, in the overcharged state of -his mind, welcomed the chance of new excitement with a strange -species of grim joy. - -But now came tidings that, when returning for the headquarters of -General Dochtouroff, Count Palenka had fallen into the hands of a -Circassian patrol, been made prisoner, and carried, whether to death -or captivity, none knew; so that he, anyway, was ignorant of the -crime, or catastrophe, that had darkened his home. - -At this time, some twelve battalions of Turks occupied the town of -Zaitchar, which lies seventy miles north-eastward of Deligrad, on the -river Timok, and in the attack on which, on the 18th of the preceding -July, Colonel Kireef, one of the bravest officers of the Russian -army, fell, after receiving four wounds in succession. - -This position was now watched by only a brigade of Servians, under -Colonel Medvidovski, a young officer concerning whose movements and -rashness Tchernaieff became apprehensive; thus he desired General -Dochtouroff to repair to that place for the purpose of aiding the -colonel with his advice and experience, and soon after he reinforced -him by a few Servians, among whom was Cecil's troop of cavalry, which -was ordered to proceed by the Bovan Pass, up which his troopers -toiled slowly in an autumn evening, and from the summit of which a -vast expanse of woody country could be seen, wearing all the varied -tints of the season. A twelve miles march brought him to Banja, -where he halted for a time, and then resumed his route over the -mountains, by a path sometimes so narrow that he had to reduce his -sections of fours to files, but all pushed on unwearyingly and full -of enthusiasm, as a battle in the vicinity of Zaitchar was -confidently anticipated. - -In the ranks of the army against which they were marching now was, no -doubt, his bitter enemy, Mattei Guebhard, commissioned and with rank, -probably, because of his defection, and Cecil knew that in close -quarters the rascal, if possible, would be sure to seek him out. - -'Well,' thought he, 'he is right welcome to do so;' aware that if -once he got Mattei Guebhard covered by his pistol or within reach of -his sword it would go hard with him if one red fez was not struck to -the dust. - -The smoke of burning hamlets, which had fallen a prey to bands of -Bashi Bazouks, curled up here and there through the russet, green and -yellow of the woods, on either side of the line of march, indicating -the close approach to the vicinity of the enemy, whose troops were -mustering near the Timok, after crossing which, by a wooden bridge, -Cecil could see the white-walled houses of Zaitchar shining in the -sun; but from thence he had to proceed, by marching in the night, -into the valley of Krivovirski Timok, where he overtook the troops -under General Dochtouroff, to whom he instantly reported himself, and -Colonel Medvidovski, pushing on for the great business of the day. - -The cavalry cloaks were rolled up and buckled to the saddles, girths -and bridle reins carefully inspected, the edges of the swords tested, -and the loading of all revolvers and carbines looked to. - -A drizzling rain had fallen overnight, and a dim, silvery haze was -floating up from the dark woodlands and the deep valley through which -the Timok was rolling away to meet the Danube, and the occasional -boom of a heavy gun pealing through the murky morning air, followed -now and then by a sharp rattle of rifle-muskets, indicated that the -column of Count Keller, who was acting in concert with Dochtouroff, -and had already got into action, had been partially repulsed, and was -retiring. - -'Push on!' was the cry on every hand. - -'_Rishu_ (trot), _galloppe!_ (gallop)' were the orders for the -cavalry, and in sections of fours that arm of the service went -quickly to the front, and with loud cheers, though to the infantry -was assigned most of the grim work to be done that day. - -Cecil, in India, and more recently in Servia, had been too often -under fire to feel any novelty in the situation now. Rather -reckless, he had no particular anxiety so far as concerned his own -safety or ultimate escape. He had but one distinct idea: that rather -than be disabled by a wound, and thus rendered helpless, homeless, -and penniless, he would prefer death outright! - -He felt for a time a little tightening of the chest as the hollow -boom of the cannon on the left front became louder and louder; but -even that sensation passed away, and he rode on with much of -indifference, varied at times by that emotion which a true -soldier--especially a soldier of fortune--can never be without--a -desire for distinction and honour. - -The whole scene around him was inspiriting and full of the highest -excitement. Heavily laboured the horses of the artillery to get the -guns and ponderous waggons up the steep ascents that overhung the -river. At each recurring rise the drivers flogged and spurred, and -the gunners pushed behind, or with sinewy hands urged round the -spokes of the wheels; horses stumbled, and traces strained to the -verge of breaking, till the hill crests were won, and the downward -progress began. - -Fifteen thousand Servians and Russians were forming in columns for -the attack, and the bright sheen of bayonets and swords flashing in -the morning sun came out of their sombre masses of brown, grey, and -dark screen. Over the former waved the tricolours of Milano -Obrenovitch; but the black eagle and tricolour of the 'Monarch of the -Snows' were displayed by the latter. - -Zaitchar was to be the centre of the operations, and to maintain that -position were sixteen thousand Turks or more, who had covered it with -earthworks and batteries for three miles in front of the town, -defending it in the form of an arc. - -Many of the Servian regiments were armed with old muzzle-loaders and -smooth-bores, while the blue-clad Turks, whose fezzes in long scarlet -lines dotted out the position, had breechloading Snider rifles and -Krupp cannon; so the two armies were far from being equally matched, -either in appointments or valour. - -Count Keller's column, descending from the mountains on the south -coast, was to co-operate with Dochtouroff against Zaitchar; -Medvidovski's column formed the centre, and other brigades and -columns, led by leaders who have no connection with our story, and -whose barbarous names would only puzzle the reader, made up the force -which menaced the little town of Zaitchar in the form of a -semicircle, at an average radius of seven miles. - -The cracking of rifles and the white spurts of smoke starting up from -fields, green hedges, and other enclosures, indicated the -commencement of the attack, as some companies in skirmishing order -were thrown out on right and left, and then came the thunder of the -Krupp guns from Veliki Izvor, the chief point of the Turkish position. - -In their brown tunics and blue, glengarry-like caps, the Servian -columns were closing steadily up, with loud hoarse cheers and cries; -but louder and higher above them rang the 'Allah-Allah Hu!' of the -more confident and resolute Turkish infantry. - -From a five gun-battery on the right, Herzberg, a skilful officer, -was throwing shells with great precision among the latter, and Cecil -viewed with growing interest a column of Servian infantry deploying -from that point with greater skill and order than he had seen in -Servia before, as it was led by two brave and well-trained British -officers, Pelham and Stanley. Down the hill this column came at a -rush under the fire of the Turkish gunners, who from amid the dim -smoke on Veliki Izvor threw shells thick and fast among them; but the -column was under the shelter of a wood, amid the russet and yellow -foliage of which it disappeared, until it emerged again to open fire -upon the enemy's lines, now almost completely enveloped in smoke, -while the roar of rifle-musketry made the welkin ring. But the -column which had deployed and advanced so well was repulsed by the -Turks, and fell back, disputing every inch of ground; nor could any -effort on the part of Pelham, Stanley, and other officers induce the -soldiers of it to reform and advance again: for the Servians are but -timid men at best. - -Over dead and wounded men and horses, over ground torn, furrowed, and -cut up by bursting shells and artillery wheels, over gouts of blood -and pools of water, the Servians were now falling confusedly back, -after terrible losses, when Dochtouroff gave the order for the -reserve to advance. - -'Up they jumped, without waiting for any second order,' says a -British officer in his narrative, 'and ran with great speed, firing -off their guns and cheering loudly. There was only one fault to be -found with them, and that was that they unfortunately ran and fired -in the wrong direction! In vain Dochtouroff shouted; in vain he -swore, but they only ran the faster. I asked him to allow me to try -and compel them, with the aid of my sword and revolver, to halt, -front, and charge the enemy. "No, no," said he; "they are not worth -wasting powder on. Nothing can stop them, and the day is lost."' - -On all sides now were heard the shrieks and half-stifled groans of -the wounded, the last sobs of the dying, and piteous entreaties for -water or for aid. Faces paled by death and smeared with blood were -everywhere; the green grass, the purple violets of autumn that grew -wild, like the white cups of the arum lilies, were all splashed and -empurpled with the same ghastly tint. The bodies in some places lay -across each other in piles, the swarthy, brown-clad Servian soldier -and the more swarthy Turk, with his red fez and his shining military -buttons, the badge worn by all ranks, from the Sultan to the -drummer-boy. - -By some mistake the Servian artillery were prematurely ordered to -retire, and thus, as the supports had failed, the retreat became -general, and by three in the afternoon the action was over; but ere -this Cecil had been in one or two cavalry charges to check pursuit, -and to do him justice, General Dochtouroff left nothing undone by -personal example and by brief harangues in Servian and Russian to -prevent the retreat from becoming a headlong rout along the Lukova -road. - -Outstripping the _Assakiri Mansurei Mohamediges_, as the regular -infantry of the Turkish army boast themselves to be, some of their -cavalry came on with wonderful _élan_. At one point Cecil got his -squadron to form a front by going threes about, as a corps of Turkish -lancers came on, with swords jangling, accoutrements rattling, and -their green pennons--the holy colour--streaming straight out over -their scarlet fezzes. A sharp, short word of command in Turkish, a -sharper note from a trumpet, the lance-points flashed in the air as -they came down to the charge, and the horses from a rapid trot rushed -on in a wild gallop, and in a moment there was a shock, a crash, and -a wild and terrible _mêlée_. - -Saddles were emptied, and steeds and riders went down on every side; -but Cecil's Servians, despite his fiery example, could make no -impression on the Turks. Resolute in aspect, beetle-browed, -keen-eyed, and hawk-nosed, they come on with heads stooped in full -career, their cries of 'Allah, Allah!' rending the air; and whenever -a Servian, sword in hand, attempted to close, their couched lances -bristled against his arm or his horse's breast; so the former pressed -on, in an invulnerable line, till Cecil's troopers fairly gave way, -and quitted the field on the spur with bridles loose, sweeping him -away with them, for Servian courage and Servian honour were sorely -tarnished on that day in front of Zaitchar; nor did the cavalry and -other fugitives fairly stop till they reached a place called -Balgivac, some thirteen miles from the field of battle, where -Medvidovski and his staff had halted. - -Dispirited and disgusted with the result of the day--not that he had -any vital interest in it--but, wet, cold, weary and exhausted, Cecil -flung himself on the bare earth, like nearly all around him, without -food or rations of any kind; and thus he was found by Stanley, Pelham -and another English volunteer, who shared his brandy-flask with them -all, and they spent the remainder of the night in comparing notes of -the past day's heartless work, reviling the Servians, their want of -mettle and discipline, and drawing comparisons between them and 'our -own fellows,' that were far from flattering to the troops of His -Majesty King Milano Obrenovitch. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -A RIDE FOR LIFE OR DEATH! - -Cecil's troop, which had lost heavily in the encounter with the -Turkish lancers, escorted some of the wounded and sick to the camp at -Deligrad, passing through a beautiful valley, and skirting the slopes -of Mount Urtanj, one of the greatest hills in Servia. The way was of -the roughest and steepest kind; his progress was slow, with a convoy -of blood-stained, tattered and dying creatures. It was a march he -never forgot, and from one circumstance, perhaps, more than all. He -met _en route_ the old village pope (or priest) of Palenka, mounted -on one of the shaggy, hardy little ponies, and from him--amid many an -exclamation of lamentation, sorrow and anathema--he learned distinct -tidings of the fate of Margarita, and that her remains had been found -by some woodcutters at the base of the cliff below the Krall Lazar -chapel, and a storm of terrible emotion swelled up in Cecil's heart, -as he listened to the broken accents of the priest. Great was his -horror and great his pity! He forgot all the vengeance he personally -owed Guebhard in this new, unthought-of and more terrible debt, and -sadly and touchingly the rare beauty of the dead girl and her -devotion to himself came back to memory now! - -Full of thought that could take no coherent form in words, he rode on -as one in a dream, and almost oblivious now of all around him; of the -sufferings of those who formed his miserable convoy; of the dark -blood dripping through the straw, from half-dressed wounds, that -burst out afresh; of the groans and cries elicited by every jolt of -the clumsy ambulance waggons; of the monotonous rumbling of the -wheels that shook and jarred against ruts and stones; even of the -deaths that were occurring from time to time, leaving the dead and -the living side by side, while the forest birds of prey hovered over -his sorrowful line of march, and followed it, in anticipation of a -banquet. - -He thought of Margarita, who, he felt assured, had perished thus -awfully through her love for himself, and through the assignation -made at the way-side chapel--an assignation of which Guebhard -must--by some unaccountable means--have become cognisant; and then he -thought of Guebhard, the half Bulgarian, and sighed in fury through -his clenched teeth--'Oh, to be near Guebhard, but for a minute!' - -But the latter was nearer him then he could well have imagined. - -For food and rest, and to have his wounded attended to, and the dead -taken from amid the living to a place of interment, he halted at a -village which was indicated in his 'route,' on the slope of Mount -Mezlani, just as darkness was closing in, and through the net work of -the forest branches the western sky glowed vivid with lurid light, -though darkness had fallen on the valleys far below the mountain -slopes, and a busy time he had of it, with a couple of surgeons, a -staff of soldier-nurses and orderlies, going from waggon to waggon, -and hearing but one reiterated story of suffering, one repeated -chorus of cries, moans and often curses. - -Seeking the only _cafane_ in the place, he dismounted at the door, -had a dish of hot _poprikash_ and black coffee, dashed well with -brandy--of which, as his duty was not yet over, he partook standing, -and was in the act of lighting a cigarette, when a man, dressed like -a Servian peasant, but marvellously well mounted for such, approached -the door, and without quitting his saddle, asked in a low and timid, -or somewhat uncertain voice, for some refreshment. - -The voice of the stranger gave Cecil a species of electric shock, for -'there is no instinct so rapid and so unerring as the instinct of a -foe;' and despite the voluminous dark beard and peasant garb, he -recognised the clearly cut features, the hawk-like nose with delicate -nostrils, and the black beady eyes of Guebhard! - -The voice, the sight, the presence of this man after the awful -narrative of the village pope so recently told, and now acting -suspiciously as a spy in the interests of the enemy, roused Cecil's -blood to fever heat. As a deserter, spy and assassin, this man's -life was trebly forfeited, and Cecil left his seat, slowly and -deliberately to avoid giving alarm, and feeling in his heart a grim -sweetness in the idea that the destroyer of Margarita was to perish -by _his_ hand! - -But, as he moved towards the door of the _cafane_, the light of a -lamp fell upon him, and he was instantly recognised by the renegade, -who remained in his saddle outside an open window. - -Guebhard started violently; a ferocious vindictiveness sparkled in -his eyes; his face grew paler with rage and alarm that were evidently -mingled with a panther-like desire to rush at Cecil. He ground his -teeth; he quivered in every limb; and then, suddenly seized by a -panic of fear, fired three shots from a revolver at Cecil, wheeled -round his horse and galloped away. - -Every shot went wide of its mark, and another moment saw Cecil in his -saddle, in hot pursuit, guided for a time only by the sound of the -flying hoofs. Careless of whither he rode, even if right into the -Turkish lines, he dashed on, goring his horse with sharp rowels at -every bound. - -'Halt, dog and scoundrel!--halt, or die!' he cried again and again. - -Guebhard was now about a hundred yards ahead, but that distance -lessened fast as Cecil tore after him, his pistol levelled twenty -times ere he would risk a shot, as there was no time for reloading, -and the night-clouds were deepening fast. - -They were in full race--pursuer and pursued. Cecil fired two -chambers; but both must have missed, as Guebhard neither winced nor -fell, but fired at random in return. - -'The fiend take him!' was the latter's thought; 'he baulked my -night's work once, and slew my Montenegrin comrade, and I have -already missed him, shot after shot!' - -Without other thought than flight, Guebhard, aware that he was unable -to defend himself now that his pistols were empty, and knowing that -his personal strength and skill with the sword were inferior to those -of Cecil's, spurred wildly on and on, with every respiration tasting -all the bitterness of anticipated death in his coward heart, -expecting every instant to feel a shot pierce his back like a red-hot -bolt and stretch him there to feed the wolves and carrion crows. - -Guebhard, perhaps, was not quite a coward by nature; but somehow the -panic of an utter poltroon possessed him now. Was it the terrible -deed he had done at the chapel of Krall Lazar that unnerved his heart -and unstrung his sinews? It must have been so. The last glance he -had seen in the eyes of Margarita haunted him; and he thought of that -delicate and faultless form lying mangled at the foot of the cliff to -become the prey of vultures and wild animals now, when his own end -seemed so terribly close and nigh, at the hands of her avenger--the -man he had so often wantonly wronged, and who, he knew, would be -pitiless as a famished tiger. - -If he had remorse, it was curiously mingled with an emotion of -jealous triumph, that to this man Margarita was lost for -ever--wrested from him by his hands, as we have said, and that Death -alone was her possessor now! - -'Coward, rein up!--your sword--your sword to mine!' cried Cecil, more -than once; but neither taunt, sneer, nor threat availed him then. - -At this time he felt in his heart much of that emotion which a writer -calls 'the religion of revenge, which had been sacred to his -forefathers, in the age when murderers were proven by bier-right, and -for wrong, the Fiery Cross of war was borne alight over moor and -mountain.' - -Fiercely, high and tumultuously, coursed the blood through his veins. -Every muscle was strained, like those of a race-horse in the field, -for he had an awful penalty to exact, and Guebhard knew well that he -had a terrible debt to pay--one for which not even his life and the -last drop of his blood would atone. - -Yet Guebhard, perhaps, could not have told whether he most loved or -hated the memory of the girl he had destroyed. - -He knew that too probably, if steel and lead failed, if once in the -grasp of Cecil, the latter would trample him to death, choke him like -a viper with a heel upon his throat; and, sooth to say, such was the -terrible idea that occurred to the pursuer at times while, with fiery -exultation, he found himself gaining upon his prey. - -The sweat of a great mortal agony gathered on the temples of -Guebhard; his mouth was parched; his breath came short and fast; and, -half-turning in his saddle, he could see, in the starlight, the white -set face of his pursuer almost within arm's length of him, and the -outstretched head of his horse more than once actually in a line with -his crupper. - -The black beard had fallen off now. - -'How,' thought Cecil; 'how came it to pass that this man, so full of -the common vulgar terror of mere physical peril, ever turned -soldier--even in name!' - -He next thought it was fortunate that, owing to the slowness of the -past day's march, and the short length of it, his horse was tolerably -fresh; but that of Guebhard seemed to be in the same condition. - -He recalled the assassin-like attempts on his own life; his being -tracked in the forest; wellnigh done to death and buried alive; he -recalled the forged document which brought, for a time, dishonour on -him and destruction close indeed; but more than all did he think of -Margarita, done to death so terribly; and Guebhard thought of all -these things as he rode wildly on, and the other as wildly and madly -pursued him. - -He had wrested her from his enemy, and what he had done he would not -have undone even had he the power. Since she would not, and could -not, be his, she was lost to the other--dead!--taken by his hand, and -yet he feared to die! - -Whatever the wretch Guebhard felt when alone was given way to there, -in the darkness, to the full. No spectator or chance visitor--none -of those with whom he had mingled in the Turkish camp--ever saw a -change in the pale, delicate, and immutable face of the destroyer, or -could have detected the dread secret his calm, soft smile concealed. - -He had always feared, however, that sooner or later retribution would -come; that his desertion, if not his other crimes, would find him -out, and strike him down in the hour of fancied security, and -now--now it seemed that the time of fate had come! - -Cecil's last shot had been expended; but as revolver-firing is always -dubious, and in certainty every way inferior to the old single or -double-barrelled pistol, that shot had only grazed the shoulder of -Guebhard, who was next aware that Cecil had drawn his sword, the -steel blade of which glittered blue and grim in the starry light! - -Where were their horses taking them--towards the Morava, or the -valley of the Timok? - -Cecil gave no thought to this, nor cared; down steep pathways, jagged -with rocks; through orchards, more than once; past fields of flax and -Indian corn; past walls laden with vines; past houses and farmsteads, -sunk in darkness and silence; past villages, where pariah dogs barked -and howled at them; through woods, where the interwoven foliage was -dense above, and the late violets grew thick and fragrant below, and -the wild acanthus spread its beautiful leaves. - -Anon, down narrow gorges where the arbutus and laurel overhung the -way; then thundering along the worn pavement of some old Roman road; -now so close that they could hear each other breathing; and anon, a -horse's length asunder, as some obstruction--a laurel root or a vine -tendril--gave momentary hopes to the fugitive. - -Of the way he went in this night ride for death and life--for -retribution and punishment--Cecil had no knowledge and took no heed; -he seemed to follow it, as we follow paths in dreams; yet he did so -unvaryingly, and unswervingly. - -At last the darkness became so intense by the thickness of the -foliage overhead, in a deep and narrow way, that Cecil failed to make -out the figure of the fugitive for a time. - -The sound of their own breathing and that of their horses, with the -crash of the hoofs, alone broke the stillness of the night--of the -world it almost seemed--where all things slept amid the utter -tranquillity that had fallen everywhere. - -They rushed down steeps, where the loose and perilous stones emitted -showers of sparks when struck by the iron hoofs; the necks of their -horses were outstretched like those of racers; their flanks heaved, -and their bridles and breasts were covered with white foam flecks. - -In the gloomy way, under the forest trees, Cecil--we have -said--failed to see the figure of him he pursued--but he could hear -his horse's hoofs crashing on before him, and he followed the sound. -He neared the animal, a grey, closer and closer, as now its speed -seemed to slacken; with a low fierce exclamation, he came abreast of -it, only to find the saddle empty, and the rider--gone! - -But whether the latter had taken his feet out of the stirrups, caught -the branch of a tree and swung himself up into it, or threw himself -off amid some thick underwood and crept quietly and safely away, -Cecil could not determine. But one fact remained; he saw no more of -Guebhard for that night! - -His mortification and disappointment at being suddenly baffled thus, -were extreme; and his disgust was enhanced in no small degree by the -humiliating conviction, that the sooner he was clear of that -identical wooded way the better for himself, as he knew not from what -tree, or clump of underwood he might, at any moment, be covered by -the pistol of Guebhard, lurking in security and unseen. - -Where was he now, and how to find his way back to where he had left -his convoy of ambulance waggons? - -He had noted no land marks--taken no heed of the way he had come. He -had seen before him Guebhard, and Guebhard only! He must have ridden -many miles--how many he knew not, and now his horse was weary and -blown. - -Fortunately for him, his orders were to halt at the village he had -left for the night, and to begin the next day's march at noon, or as -soon after as the wants of the wounded and sick had been attended to; -and steering his way chiefly by the stars, he rode slowly on his -return, with an irritating sense of annoyance, humiliation, and -disquietude, as, for all he knew, he might be close in the vicinity -of the enemy and fall into their hands. - -He rode slowly and warily, and fortune favoured him; about dawn he -found himself near the little town of Kragojeratz, on the right bank -of the river Lepenitza, a tributary of the Morava, and there his -Servian uniform at once procured him a mounted guide to the village -he had left, and from which he was then about twenty miles distant. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -WHAT THE 'TIMES' TOLD. - -Jaded and weary, Cecil began the homeward march, and strange to say, -the effect of the long and revengeful pursuit of Guebhard on his mind -was this: that he felt--if not less resentment and hatred against -that personage--a desire that when condign punishment befell him, it -might come from some other hand than his. - -He felt somewhat soothed by a conviction of the abject terror and -deep humiliation to which he had subjected Guebhard; yet, ever and -anon, the narrative of the village pope gave his heart a pang of -positive pain. - -Again in Deligrad, to him the scene of so much suffering and -unmerited degradation. - -'What am I to do now with the remainder of this life that is left to -me?' he thought, wearily, as he dismounted from his horse, and tossed -the bridle reins to his orderly, leaving his painful convoy now to -the care of the doctors and nurses, though many were there who were -beyond all human care, and would only answer now to the reveille that -would be heard in the unknown land. - -He gladly sought out the log hut shared by Stanley and Pelham, whose -regiment, with many more of the troops lately engaged in the assault -on the Turkish lines at Zaitchar, had now come into cantonments. As -an abode, the hut was nearly as wretched as any of ours in the Crimea. - -The soil of the floor was banked up in the centre and at the sides; -the former acting as the site of a fireplace, the latter for two -beds. Four upright posts driven into the earth and boarded all -round, formed the chimney, and thereon hung swords, revolver cases, -field glasses, flasks, pannikins, etc. - -A few boxes, bullock trunks and bottles full or empty, formed the -furniture, and upon a species of couch improvised from the former and -covered by a bear's skin lay Stanley, in half undress, with a cigar -in his mouth. His figure was tall and slight, and it set off the -dingy brown uniform, more than the latter set off him. He had the -upright military carriage he had won in the Household Brigade; he had -still the suppleness of youth, and eyes that had lost none of their -fine, clear and honest fire of expression. - -He sprang to his feet as Cecil entered and gave him a cheery shout of -welcome. Pelham was on duty, but Stanley duly did the honours of -their mutual abode, and produced from some mysterious receptacle -dishes, glasses, knives, cold ration beef with tomato salad (tomatoes -were plentiful in the camp at Deligrad), bread, wine and a box of -havannas. He bustled about like a frank jolly Englishman as he was -now, and all unlike the _blasé_ frequenter of Belgravian ball-rooms -he had been, and would yet become again; but while listening to -Cecil's exciting account of his race over night, it was evident to -the narrator that he had in his face a preoccupied and perplexed -expression, though rather a bright one. - -'What is up, old fellow?' asked Cecil, who had been observing him -narrowly; 'you seem as if you had something on your mind--something -cheery too. Are you about to quit this work as not very -remunerative?' - -'That I shall no doubt do in time, if some Turkish bullet does not -knock me on the head,' replied Pelham, as he carefully selected a -fresh cigar; 'but I have something in my mind--whether cheery or not, -I cannot say; but finish your meal--fill your glass again, and then -we'll have a talk about it.' - -While Cecil satisfied an appetite the result of much recent exposure -and exercise, Stanley produced a worn, frayed and very tattered copy -of the Times--a copy that was now a month or two old. - -'By Jove! when I look upon this paper, "how the old time comes o'er -me," as Claud Melnotte says,' exclaimed Stanley; 'and Regent Street, -the Row, the clubs with their bow-windows, the parks, the coaching -meet, the collar days at Buckingham Palace--the bank guard, pocketing -the guinea and punishing the port, the West End--how London, one and -all, with its beauties, comforts and luxuries appear in mental -procession, making one long to leave Servia and Servian affairs to -the care of the devil; for the lark is over--the game played out; I -for one have had enough of it, and home is now the place for me!' - -Cecil sighed. - -He had no--_home_! - -'To what is all this the preface?' he asked. - -'To nothing; it is only the expression of my own thoughts; but there -is a notice in the _War Office Gazette_ here--where the deuce--oh, -here it is. I have heard you speak, more than once, quite -incidentally, of the Cameronians.' - -'Likely enough--I knew some of them--once.' - -Cecil winced as he spoke, for Stanley was eyeing him keenly, and then -said: - -'Look here, old fellow, do you know anything of this--this -name--Pelham and I have been puzzling our brains over the -announcement.' - -Cecil took the paper and gave a violent start, with a half suppressed -exclamation, as he read: - - -'CAMERONIANS--The name of the officer, the proceedings of the -court-martial on whom were cancelled, and who was re-gazetted to this -regiment in last week's _Gazette_, is Captain Cecil Falconer -Montgomerie--not Captain Cecil Falconer, as formerly.' - - -'Montgomerie--what can this mean!' said Cecil almost involuntarily, -and feeling intensely perplexed. He was, beyond all description, -startled too, while a great rush of joy and hope mingled in his -heart, with the surprise that possessed him. The notice--the -cancelled proceedings of the court-martial, and the name evidently -referred to himself, but whence came this addition--the surname of -Montgomerie? - -Stanley was watching him silently. Was all this the clue to much -apparent mental suffering, that Pelham and himself had suspected and -seen? Was this the explanation of much in his manner that seemed -reserved and curt, when 'the service' was spoken of, though they both -suspected shrewdly that he had been in it--was 'an army man?' - -'You colour painfully, Cecil, old fellow,' said he, patting him -kindly on the shoulder; 'but, if this gazette refers to you----' - -'It does--it must--but why am I named Montgomerie?' exclaimed Cecil, -impetuously. 'I have the name of Falconer.' - -'You have been in some scrape perhaps--who among us has lived a life -without pain, or who among us has been without reproach?' - -'I have lived a life--latterly at least--that has had much of pain in -it; and if there was any reproach, it was unmerited--all!' - -'I can well believe it, and congratulate you heartily,' exclaimed -Stanley, clasping his passive hand, while Cecil, still as one in a -dream, muttered about the name of 'Montgomerie?' - -'By Jove,' said Stanley, as a sudden light broke upon him; 'I -remember your affair now, and the noise it made at mess-tables. -Well, well--court-martials are not infallible--neither are the Horse -Guards authorities, for the matter of that. I remember when we were -lying in the Wellington Barracks, how a fellow in the -Coldstreams--but have another glass of wine!' - -'Oh, Stanley,' said Cecil, in a broken voice, 'you do not know--and -never, never may you know--what it is, and has been, to live on day -after day, under the cloud that cast a gloom on my life! To bear, -with a dull aching of the heart--to exist under a cloud and -unexplainable shadow, trying by some brilliant act, hoping by -well-done service, to redeem my name in this----' - -'Well--in this devil of a country, to which Pelham and I came, for a -new sensation, in search of a spree, in fact. I know the world, -Cecil--it is a cruel world, even to the strong; and the best of us -get into scrapes with it.' - -'But I got into none--at least, none that I can understand or -explain,' replied Cecil, a little incoherently. - -'Yet you were--were----' - -'Dismissed!' - -'Poor fellow--I remember well; and this notice?' - -'Refers to me--it must--the sentence of dismissal has been cancelled; -though I cannot understand how, or through whom. I thought I had not -a friend in the world--save one,' he added, as he thought of Mary. - -'How did all this cursed evil come about?' - -And Cecil told him all--at least so far as he knew. - -'I see it all, as plain as a pikestaff!' exclaimed Stanley, when the -latter concluded; 'something has turned up--something new come to -light, and they've reinstated you. You were dismissed generally, not -specifically, and so rendered incapable of serving Her Majesty again; -it makes all the difference in the world! Another bumper of wine, to -re-wet the old commission!' - -Cecil drained the glass like one who was sore athirst, for he was -then under considerable mental excitement. - -Restored to his rank and to the old Cameronians--the cloud under -which he had left the service, and which so nearly broke his heart, -dispelled! The proceedings of that most fatal court-martial, which -in his dreams had so often haunted him as a nightmare--cancelled, as -if they had never been; how had all this come to pass, and who was -the guardian angel that had brought it about? - -A fever of impatience possessed him. But he could not yet, with -honour, quit the Servian army, though he had the power of resigning -at any moment. He had no official letter; perhaps the Horse Guards -knew not where he was--and letters, if any, for him, might be at the -bottom of the Morava, as a mishap had befallen the mail; and more -than all, a general action--a great battle, a decisive one for -Servia, was confidently believed to be upon the tapis. - -Then he would think, if it should be all some mysterious mistake, and -this notice referred, by a blunder, to some one else--a mistake, -after all--after all! for he had been so long accustomed to the -frowns of Fortune, that he feared she would never smile upon him -permanently again. - -'By the way, old fellow,' said Stanley, suddenly, 'there is a letter -for you, in the care of Pelham; it may throw some light on all this.' - -'A letter--official?' - -'No.' - -'A letter--from whom?' - -'How should I know?' said Stanley, laughing; 'it is all over -postmarks, anyway. The dragoon bringing the mails from Belgrade was -shot by some Circassians, and fell into the Morava. Some woodman -saved a bag or two, but the letters were nearly destroyed; and here -comes Pelham with yours. We only got duns from London tradesmen, and -laughed as we lit our pipes with them here.' - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -MARY'S LETTER. - -Whether he thanked Pelham for what he brought him; how he bade the -former and Stanley adieu, and in what terms he did so, Cecil never -gave thought to, nor did he remember; he was only aware of one fact, -that the letter placed in his hand, crumpled, sodden, spotted with -blood of the Servian dragoon, and partly defaced by the water of the -Morava, was from Mary--from Mary Montgomerie; and oblivious of all -else the world contained, he rushed away, breathlessly, to the -solitude of his own tent, to peruse it. - -Amid all it had undergone in transmission, the tinted paper on which -it was written retained a subtle, but faint perfume. It was dated -from Eaglescraig, and nearly a month back, and was sorely defaced and -in some parts quite illegible. - -A letter from Mary! he had opened it, hastily yet tenderly, with -tremulous fingers--for his hands, that never shook when holding sword -or pistol, shook now like aspen twigs, and as he held the paper -before him a mist crept over his sight; for he knew that her hand had -touched the paper and had written the lines that were there. - -'My own little Mary!' he murmured; 'on earth I have nothing whereby -to be worthy of you--and I have won and retained your love!' - -He read on quickly and nervously, only to return to the beginning, -and read over and over again; but in some places whole lines had been -obliterated. - -'My darling, oh my darling!' he read in one place, 'we have traced -you at last, and learned from the newspapers that you have escaped -some awful peril, the details of which have not yet been made public. -Write to us soon, and that you are coming home--write to the general, -if you will. Oh, how happy he would be.' - -_He_--what mystery--what change was here? - -'And oh! my own Cecil, you ...... and how can I tell it to you, -although I do so with joy, that now we know all--all about the -giddiness that seized you at the ball, when talking with me, and how -it was caused by Hew---Hew--the infamous and cruel, who, as he has -since confessed in writing, when it was supposed he was dying, that -he drugged your wine--unseen by all!' - -Cecil paused and started to his feet, and passed a hand across his -throbbing forehead. - -'Drugged--oh, villain!--villain--vile trickster!' he exclaimed, while -tears, hot and salt, came unbidden to his eyes. - -'Sir Piers,' continued the letter, 'the general, as he will always -have himself called--the dear old thing!--went straight to the Horse -Guards about it, and saw the commander-in-chief personally. You know -his position, services, and influence; and so, dearest Cecil, you are -again ..... - -'In the old corps,' said Cecil, as the letter here was again -illegible, 'as the _Gazette_ shows--Falconer--Montgomerie--why, and -under which name is the remainder of my life to be passed?' - -A whole paragraph followed, so sorely defaced that, with all his -intense anxiety, Cecil could make nothing of it; and yet his future -life might hinge on all that paragraph contained or detailed. But he -failed to decipher it, save a word or two here and there--among them -the names of 'father--mother--cousin--my own cousin,' and old John -Balderstone was again and again referred to, in connection with some -mysterious letters and documents he had found in some mysterious way -to all appearance, and the whole bewildering passage concluded thus: - -'Sir Piers deplores in his inmost heart his harsh treatment of you -and your poor parents.' (My parents!) 'And craves earnestly that you -will return to your home--to Eaglescraig, and to _me_, dearest Cecil. -He is telling me a long story about India, and letters going by -_dawk_ (whatever that may be) as I write, thus I scarcely know what I -am putting upon paper .... Oh, how we all miss you, Cecil--I more -than all; but you will soon be coming back to us now, thank God! -Long and drearily pass the days--the mornings and evenings now at -Eaglescraig; and I can but think of you, so blighted apparently in -life, so lost to your own world, so ruined and so far away from me, -in a land of peril. I write this to you on the merest chance, and in -the prayerful hope that it may reach you; as we only learned your -present terrible whereabouts from a newspaper paragraph. - -'In Servia! oh, my love! what took you to such an unheard-of place as -Servia? .... I never open the piano now; I dare not trust myself to -sing.' - -The sight of her writing sent ever and anon a thrill to his heart, -even as a touch of her gentle and delicate hand would have done. - -'You will be delighted to learn that the quarrel or estrangement -between your friend Leslie Fotheringhame and my dear Annabelle has -all been explained away, and they are to be married in two months; -but in the meantime Leslie has resolved .... and to please me .... in -Servia. Ah, dearest Cecil, I thought such strange things only -occurred in novels and melo-dramas as are occurring now to us! Only -think of ....' - -'Such strange things; to what does she refer? More obliteration!' -sighed Cecil. - -And now the letter ended, as such documents usually do, with many of -the sweet, if childish, endearing terms so appreciated by lovers, and -of which they never weary, as they are meant for their eyes alone. - -How often Cecil read it, kissed it, and strove to fill up and draw -deductions from the fragmentary passages, we shall not pretend to -say; but great food was given to him for speculation and marvel. - -What was this miraculous discovery of John Balderstone? What event -had produced such a beneficial effect upon everyone, on the general -and himself in particular? How had it turned the heart of the -general to him, and to 'his parents,' the ill-treatment of whom he -deplored? - -That the general, a soldier and man of the highest honour, smarting -under a sense of Hew Montgomerie's treachery to an innocent man, had -done as he had, by putting himself instantly in communication with -the military authorities, and procuring his restoration, as the -victim of a conspirator, Cecil could readily understand and be -profoundly grateful for; but beyond that, all Mary's letter was to -him--chaos! - -Mental questions occurred to him in tiresome iteration. - -In the fever of his impatience and doubts of all he wished -elucidated, he drank some wine, but it seemed destitute of strength -and coolness; he tasted some grapes, and they failed to moisten his -tongue; he lighted a choice cigar, but its soothing influence was -gone. - -Mary's letter, delicious though it was to receive, meant much more -than he could extract from it. What was all this new mystery of -which he had so suddenly become the centre? Would she write -again--and when? - -He must write to her; but where might she be at that precise time? -At Eaglescraig, without doubt. Their love was one that had made them -cleave unto each other in the teeth of all adverse circumstances, and -hope naturally began to brighten anew in Cecil's heart, as he turned -alternately from the puzzling notice in the _Gazette_ to Mary's -equally puzzling letter. - -'Patience,' he would mutter; 'patience, and in a little time all will -be made clear.' - -But nevertheless he grew more impatient than ever. - -How much of caressing tenderness, as well as information of -importance, had been obliterated in Mary's letter by the envious -water of the Morava! When would he obtain a key, a clue to it all? - -The soft, bright dreams that are so frequent in our earlier years, -and form a part of our existence then, and which as time goes on -become greyer, duller, and farther apart, and less tinted with -sunshine, were coming back to Cecil's heart again, as he sat in his -tent alone, and striving to think it all out--the new mystery that -enveloped him. - -He lost no time in writing to her in reply, a long and passionate -letter; all the longer and more passionate that he had heard nothing -of her for such a length of time, and had all the pent-up emotion of -his heart to pour forth. Though he knew not what was meant by the -discoveries to which she referred, he tendered through her all his -thanks to the general for his kindness, and, in the exuberance of his -joy, felt that he could even forgive Hew for the malice he had -displayed and the terrible wrong he had done him. Home! he would -start for home the moment he could hear from her again, or get some -details, some official letter of instructions, on the subject that -perplexed him; and he deplored that as matters stood he could not -just then, with honour, quit the army of the Morava. _Why_, he did -not tell her--that the thunderclouds of a great battle were soon to -darken the air around Deligrad! - -The rumour spread rapidly, with many exaggerations, that the 'Herr -Capitan' in Tchernaieff's own Dragoons was an officer in the British -army, and it greatly enhanced the importance with which Cecil was -viewed in the Servian camp. - -If, ere he could leave that arena with honour, he was doomed to fall -in battle now, it seemed to him hard to have to quit life so -suddenly, when it became full of new value, and seemed more worth -living! - -Often had he reflected that he had not yet seen his thirtieth year, -and that all the maturity of life spread out before him, and he felt -that he had the spirit, energy, and courage to carve out name and -fame for himself; but were either to be won in the heartless struggle -between Servia and Turkey? He had always feared not; and now, with a -bright, glorious, and triumphant revulsion of feeling, he felt it -mattered not. He had now a name and career elsewhere! - -'I like this young fellow Falconer immensely,' said Stanley to -Pelham, as they talked over his affairs after he left them; 'but I -wish him well out of this camp and country too, especially if he has -new and brighter prospects at home.' - -'Well,' replied Pelham, who, like Stanley, was a handsome fellow, -with much of that easy but indescribable air and manner of a man who -has seen all the world of life has to show, 'he has been down on his -luck--got court-martialled, it seems, in some row, and is now -reinstated in his regiment and rank--squared it with the F.M. at the -Horse Guards and all that.' - -'With a girl he loved also--an heiress I expect; and yet he is going -in for the last of this campaign.' - -'What of that--why shouldn't he see the end of the fun?' - -'What of it? This much! won't it be strange--very strange--if Count -Palenka's weird prediction comes true, and the poor fellow gets -bowled out after all?' - -'By Jove! I never thought of that. What a fellow you are! But I -don't believe in predictions of gipsies, jugglers, and things, don't -you know.' - -But there was much in the memory and the time--the memory of the -count's dark grave face, his manner and expression--that impressed -even the thoughtless Stanley; so he dropped the subject, and smoked -on in silence. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -THE HEIGHTS OF DJUNIS. - -It was the morning of the 20th of October, and the bells of St. -Nestor's Monastery were just tolling for matins, when the deep hoarse -boom of the Turkish Krupp guns announced their attack upon Djunis, -the key of the Servian position, some almost impregnable heights -overlooking Deligrad and the valley of the Morava. - -It was a wild and gusty morning. The chill breeze was sweeping -fiercely through the groves and woodlands, casting their dark and -fitful shadows in the morning sunshine on the ground beneath. There -the dead leaves were whirled in clouds to and fro, and the green -blades of the dewy and yet untrodden grass shone like steel or silver -in the sheen of the level sun. - -Long ere this, the Servian and Russian troops--three thousand of the -latter had joined only two months before--were under arms, and all -moving into the various positions assigned to them; and the sombre -columns, in the brown uniforms of Milano, or the dusky grey capotes -of the Emperor, were marching in masses up the steeps and along the -slopes, with their bayonets and accoutrements flashing incessantly in -the sun, deploying, deepening, and extending, anon reducing their -front as some natural obstruction came in the way, to deploy in front -formation again, the tri-colours waving in the wind, while -occasionally the clear blast of a bugle was borne past on it. - -Cecil's regiment, formed by squadrons of which he commanded the -leading one, had all the cloaks rolled and strapped to the pommel of -the saddles. Baggage, valises, and all that might impede the men in -action, were left in camp, and the edge and point of the sword alone -were looked to for the work of the day, which was chiefly to support -a battery of guns and go wherever they were wanted. - -'My God, I thank Thee!' thought Cecil, with high and pure enthusiasm -in his heart, as he leaped on his horse that morning; 'to-day, -whatever may happen--whatever fate may befall me--I am again a -Cameronian, a Queen's officer, one of the true old Cameronians who in -every fight, from the days of Dunkeld to the fall of Magdala, have -carried their colours with honour, and given place to none!' - -And so he felt that it was as much in the character of a British -officer, as one in the service of Milano Obrenovitch, he drew his -sword in what was eventually to prove the last battle of the Servian -war. - -The cavalry brigade to which he belonged moved off by fours from the -right of squadrons. - -'_Shagaum-marche!_ trot--_à levo!_--nà préte!' (left wheel--forward!) -followed, and the column began to descend the Krusevac road, moving -to the left across a valley. - -Here he passed the infantry corps of Pelham and Stanley, halted -temporarily. - -'A cigar, Falconer,' said the former, holding out his case. - -'Thanks--acceptable indeed in this chill atmosphere.' - -'If I get knocked on the head to-day--' began Pelham, who was rather -a reckless fellow. - -'A cheerful beginning!' said Stanley, sharply; 'I wish you would shut -up, old man. But well, suppose you were so?' - -'My tragic fate would be mourned sincerely, at least by many a -sorrowful West-end trader, in whose books my later annals have been -noted. But, ta, ta, Falconer--there goes our bugle. Advance!' - -Shot dead by a Snider bullet in his heart, poor Pelham, within an -hour after this, lay cold and stiff on the slope of the Djunis, while -his regiment took up its position in front of the fast-advancing -Turkish lines. - -With the three days' fighting that now ensued we shall not trouble -the reader, further than with that portion which cannot be -omitted--the part that Cecil saw, and that he bore in it, with what -befell him there. - -Though Tchernaieff, on this day, placed the management of the troops -chiefly in the hands of General Dochtouroff, he seemed to be -ubiquitous, and was seen everywhere in rapid succession all over the -Servian position, assisting in the placing of brigades here and -there, on the most advantageous ground, and, as an officer who was -present has recorded, 'he placed the troops exactly where they were -most needed, for the Turks made their attack upon the very positions -he had fixed upon.' - -'Good-morning, Herr Capitan,' said he, as he passed Cecil's squadron, -which had halted near some glassy steeps most difficult of ascent, in -rear of the Servian position; 'but it seems to me that the enemy has -got very correct information about all the points of our ground.' - -'They have evidently been furnished with a plan, excellency,' -remarked a Russian aide-de-camp, whose breast was covered with -Crimean and Khivan medals. - -'A plan!' exclaimed Cecil; 'how can they have got it?' - -'How, but through the agency of that scoundrel Guebhard, the -renegade!' replied Tchernaieff, with a dark frown, and a Tartar-like -gleam in his eyes; 'but the seven gates of hell are always open, and -if he is here under fire, he may reach one of them to-night!' - -'If not?' - -'And if he ever falls into my hands, it will be an eye for an eye--a -tooth for a tooth--his wretched life against the many lives lost -to-day!' - -He galloped on; the battle had begun in earnest now; fire and smoke -enveloped the whole position that towered skyward; the booming of the -heavy Krupp guns and the roar of rifle-musketry loaded the air, and -amid it all the Grim Sergeant was calling fast his ghastly roll, -while Cecil sat inactive, impatient in his saddle, and longing to see -some work cut out for the cavalry. - -Wounded Servians and Russians came pouring past from the heights, -smeared with blood and dust--the bronzed and battle-hardened veterans -of old wars and the lad newly enrolled but a week before; some were -binding up their wounds as they limped past, and some fell on the -way, and lay there prone, dead or in a swoon, unheeded and -untended--a painful spectacle to look upon in cold blood. - -So closely was the attack of the position pressed, and so mixed up -did the batteries of artillery and the brigades seem, that amid the -sulphureous cloud that enveloped them it was difficult to know, -sometimes, which were Servian and which were Turkish. - -All day long around the steeps of the Djunis the cannon boomed and -the rattle of musketry continued, and great was the slaughter -everywhere. Whatever might have been the shortcomings of the -Servians in previous battles, all fought well and nobly then, and the -din of battle all the livelong day rang between the peaks of the -wooded mountains, with a thousand hollow reverberations, drowning -every sound elicited by human enthusiasm, valour, suffering, or the -heavy hand of coming death. - -The smoke seemed to mingle with the clouds, especially towards -sunset, where westward, beyond the mountain-tops, a red and -tempestuous sun was setting, filling all the vast expanse with -intense ruddy light, that threw up intervening objects in opaque and -distinct outline. - -On many a face that had been bright with youth and health in the -morning the sunset fell now, and left it cold, white, and lifeless; -the dusk drew on, and still the terrible work of slaughter went -forward without ceasing. - -As it deepened into utter gloom, the red, streaky, and incessant -flashes from hundreds of cannon burst forth incessantly; the infantry -sought each other's where-abouts by their mutual firing, pouring it -in almost at random, while on one side ever and anon burst forth the -deep, hoarse 'Hurrah!' of the Muscovite and Slav, on the other the -incessant and shrill high shout of 'Allah, Allah, hu!' till, as if by -mutual consent, the contest ceased, and both armies lay down, weary -and worn, to endure hunger, thirst, and cold, on the ground where -they had fought, and surrounded by all the agony and horrors of their -mutual carnage. - -Many lay down on that night on the slopes of the Djunis who never -rose again. - -Cecil passed it rolled in his cloak beside his charger, with a stone -for a pillow; but sleep was a stranger to his eyes, and amid the -incessant cries and moans of the wounded, who streamed past rearward -by twos, threes, or even scores at a time, he strove to think of -Mary's letter and all it suggested, to render him oblivious, for a -time, of all his terrible surroundings. - -A sergeant of his troop shared with him the contents of a flask of -raki, fiery stuff, but very acceptable under the circumstances, for -Cecil was as great a favourite with his Servian troopers as he had -been with the Cameronians; and the act of the sergeant--whilom a poor -copper-miner in the mountains--recalled to his memory the faith and -generosity of his old Cameronian servant, Tommy Atkins, on the last -night he was under the same roof with the dear old regiment. - -Cecil knew not how the fight had gone on the summit of the position, -but when morning dawned, among those who were still straggling, -crawling, and limping down from it came a man in a scarlet tunic. -Scarlet! The sight of the familiar colour made Cecil's heart leap. -The wearer, who was severely wounded, proved to be a new aide-de-camp -of Tchernaieff's, a lieutenant of the 1st Hussars of the Russian -Imperial Guard, whose uniform is like the British. - -He informed Cecil that a portion of the position, named the Crevet -Plateau, which Dochtouroff had retaken from the Turks, had afterwards -fallen again into the hands of the enemy; but he had sworn to retake -it or die there, and after a terrible conflict, in which men perished -by companies around him, he had failed to do so, though his troops -had got into that state of rage or frenzy which the French term -_acharnement_. - -With dawn the work of death began again, and Cecil's troop, with some -other cavalry, began, by a circuitous route, to ascend the position. -Ere long shot began to fall and shells to burst among them, -scattering wounds, suffering, and death; but so much were the whole -heights involved in smoke that he could see little of what was going -on, and knew less of the great game that was being played, though the -hill on which he was ordered to halt commanded a view of the valleys -on both sides. - -A regiment of Russian infantry, far away on the right, held with -resolute bravery a post assigned it by Dochtouroff, and the Turkish -masses with their scarlet fezzes and green standards, and their -incessant shout of 'Allah!' seemed to hurl their fury against it -again and again in vain. On the left the smoke from three villages, -set on fire by them, rolled along the valley and veiled everything. -In one part of the field a Russian regiment, which had expended the -last of its cartridges, deliberately 'stood at ease' under the -Turkish fire, perishing where it was posted, rather than lose honour -by falling back! - -Thick lay the dead and thicker the wounded on every hand, and the -medley of sounds that went up from the Crevet Plateau and the -eminences around it was appalling; and the evening of the second day -was drawing on. - -Suddenly General Dochtouroff, pale and excited, but with flashing -eyes, dashed up to where Cecil was at the head of his squadron, and -sharply reining in his horse on the curb, said: - -'A brigade of guns is getting into position to attack the flank of -yonder Turkish column on the left. At the hazard of your life you -will support the guns!' - -Dochtouroff then galloped away, and, as it proved eventually, Cecil -never saw him again. - -'Here come the artillery!' cried a voice, as the guns came thundering -to the front--all Russian, painted green, guns and carriages alike. -Along the slope of the Djunis heights the brigade came in column at -full speed, withdrawn from some other position to act with effect at -the point indicated. Crushing many a dead body, and splashing -through pools of blood, they went in wild career, the drivers using -whip and spur with a will; the fence of a flax-field was swept away -like a gossamer web, as the guns rushed to the front--six horses to -each gun and limber, three riders to each gun. - -Over vineyard walls, fallen trees, through laurel bushes, every horse -straining at the gallop, every driver lashing his team and goring -with the spurs, while yelling, 'Dobro! dobro! hurrah! hurrah!' they -made a wonderfully impressive sight. - -Sometimes the guns bounded up eighteen inches or more, as the -iron-bound wheels went over some rock or obstruction, but no man lost -his seat, and no horse failed in its pace--eight guns, eight -tumbrils, eighty horses, and a hundred men, all rushing on for life -and death to obey Dochtouroff, and get into position, the cavalry -galloping in their rear, and from a column of march right in front, -as they wheeled up into line, they formed to the left. - -The guns were slewed round with their muzzles to the enemy's line, -the limbers were cast off, drawn rearward, and in hoarse Russian the -word was given to fire. 'Boom, boom, boom!' rang along the front, -shrouding all in smoke, and making terrible havoc in the ranks of the -Turkish brigade; but still went up the cry of 'Allah, Allah, hu!' the -concluding word of the Muezzin's call to prayer. - -The guns were not charged with shot, but short-fuse shell, and the -roar of each explosion veiled for a moment all the other sounds of -battle. The explosions were awful, and fast fell the fezzes to -earth, the corpses so mangled as to be scarcely recognised as human; -yet the brave Turks, incited by their officers, full of military and -religious ardour, seeing, perhaps, the glories of Paradise opening -before them and the dark-eyed girls waving their scarfs of green, -closed nobly in, and were making a forward movement as if to charge -the guns, still shouting, 'Allah, Allah, hu!' And now came the time -for Cecil to go to work, to get clear of the brigade of cannon, and -form in front to charge, while the latter were reloaded; and even -after all he had undergone there now boiled up in his heart the -'rapture of the strife,' as Attila is said to have termed the fierce -excitement of battle. - -'By half troops to the right turn--left wheel--forward--trot!' were -his orders. - -'By half troops left wheel--form squadron!' he cried, raising himself -in his stirrups and brandishing his sword; -'forward--_gallop_--CHARGE!' - -By this time, the Turkish infantry were confusedly endeavouring to -form square over the piles of dead and dying who had fallen before -the cannon. - -Ere the final word had left his lips, Cecil had seen that his -squadron had advanced at a brisk trot to within fifty yards of the -enemy's front--that there were no closing and crowding of his files -to impede the free action of man and horse, and that the former kept -the latter well in hand, pressing forward by leg and spur when -necessary; and in splendid order, ere the square was formed, with the -force of a locomotive, the troopers were sword in hand among them, -hewing them down on right and left, the hurrahs of the Servians -mingling with the yells of the Turks. - -'Fours about!' sounded the shrill trumpet, and away wheeling off to -the right and left, while the Turks were still struggling to form -square, he left the guns uncovered, and once more the plunging -fire--grape and canister this time--went with serpent-like hiss -through the swaying mass--tearing off legs, arms, and heads, laying -the dead and the dying in swathes above each other. - -As he again formed his squadron, breathless now, in rear of the guns, -Cecil could see through the whirling and eddying smoke that it was no -longer a line, but a mob of men who were in front--a mob whose -shrieks, screams, and shouts rent the evening air, while the muskets -and bayonets seemed to sway helplessly to and fro. - -Another round of these terrible guns from right to left, given with -such force and rapidity that the hot guns almost leaped from the -ground with the concussion, and the Turks in that quarter gave way en -masse, just as the fiery sun went down beyond the dark mountain -ranges. - -Again Cecil led on his troopers, who had been straining like -greyhounds in the leash--on over the ground an acre and more of which -was covered by men mutilated in every way--corpses struck by four, -five, six bullets--yea, in some instances by a whole charge of -canister--and where every blade of grass was dyed red--on to the -charge once more, and, as there was no time to take prisoners, a -terrible havoc was made--a havoc at which his heart, even in the -thrill of what he thought was victory, began to sicken; but he had -received his orders to support the guns, and nobly had he done so. - -At that point the strife was nearly over, when a cry of agony escaped -the lips of Cecil, as a bullet--the last shot of some wounded -man--pierced his chest like a red-hot sword-blade, and he fell -forward on the neck of his horse, clutching wildly at the reins the -while; at the same moment another Turk who lay wounded--an officer -apparently--by one slash of his sharp Damascus sabre, all but -disembowelled the animal, which uttered a snorting cry, and wheeling -round, quitted the field at a mad and infuriated gallop, with his -helpless rider clinging to the pommel of the saddle. No one could -stop or intercept its headlong career, and in less than a minute the -luckless commander vanished from the eyes of his squadron! - -Was Palenka's prediction about to come true after all? - -Cecil had thought the field was won, yet it was not entirely so. Had -the winning thereof depended on the fiery valour of one man, -Dochtouroff had been victor. At the head of two hundred Russians he -charged with the bayonet right into the centre of the Turkish main -attack, with such fury that ere the rifles crossed the enemy wheeled -about and fled, and he saved the principal position--that of Djunis; -'but Krupp guns, Snider rifles, and better trained troops, in far -superior numbers, had done their work, and Servia was beaten!' - -During the three days' fighting, the latter lost not less than nine -thousand soldiers, in killed, wounded, and missing; and of three -thousand Russians who were in the field, only seven hundred remained -untouched at sunset on the third day. - -The losses of the Turks were never precisely known, but they must -have been terrible, as they were the attacking force, and had -assailed well-chosen positions that were deemed impregnable. - -In Russia and abroad, bluff old Tchernaieff was blamed for -recklessness in his tactics, and doubtless he made mistakes which -ended in failures. 'And then,' says Captain Salusbury, in his work -on those wars, 'it must not be forgotten that he always expected -reinforcements which never came. And again it is to be noted that he -had to operate with eighty thousand of not the very best troops in a -country that required, to command success, two hundred thousand -well-trained and thoroughly disciplined soldiers. There is no doubt -that the men I saw under fire were a far inferior lot to those who -fought in the early part of the war.' - -When the battle--the last of the strife--was fairly over, a requiem -for the dead was solemnly held, according to the Russian ritual, in a -tent upon the field, where numbers of ladies, the wives--and in too -many sorrowful instances the widows--of Russian officers were gliding -about like angels of mercy, ministering to the wants of the wounded. -While leaving Dochtouroff to hold the position, Tchernaieff withdrew -to the camp at Deligrad. - - -Meanwhile where was Cecil Falconer, or Montgomerie as he had been -learning to call himself now? - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -WOUNDED. - -Away rearward from the field, out of all range of musketry and -cannon, Cecil's maddened horse--maddened by the agony of a mighty -wound--swept at a furious rate, while he--blinded with equal agony -and unable to guide or control it--clung to his holsters or the -pommel of the saddle, as it bore him on he knew not whither; but it -rushed in its wild career down a wooded valley, actually treading on -its own entrails by the way, till it fell heavily with its rider in -the depth of a coppice, and there both lay, to all appearance, dying, -unseen by mortal eyes. - -Down sank the sun beyond those mountains which are spurs of the -Balkans, a globe of fiery flame in an angry and cloudy sky; the day -was done, and with it many a human life! - -Cecil fainted soon after being thrown from his horse, but ere he did -so there came over him a strange dreamy wonder of how the battle was -progressing, or rather how the tide of war was going, for in the -distance he could still hear the cannon on the heights of Djunis. - -Anon the din of the battle passed away, and on his partially -recovering consciousness the stillness of death surrounded the place -where Cecil lay helpless beside his dead horse--a stillness broken -only by the voice of the vila, or when the damp dewy wings of the -night-birds brushed his cheek when whirring past him. - -The snow-clad summits of the lofty hills that overlook the valley of -the Morava on one side, and that of the Timok on the other, shone -pale and white in the light of the uprisen moon. - -At times, not far from him, he could hear the snort of a wild boar or -the cry of a wolf, scared by the recent din of battle perhaps; and -now he became conscious of the rush of a mountain runnel that ran -near him, but which, sorely athirst though he was, loss of blood had -rendered him too feeble to reach. - -Close by him, with holsters, housing and gilded martingale, lay the -dead body of his caparisoned horse, the blood of which was freely -mingled with his own. - -The hours of the night passed slowly on. The moon waned; but the -stars grew brighter. Tender thoughts of Mary and all their mutual -past, and of the future which now too probably would never be, came -to him at times; and in imagination he more than once thought that -her voice--but curiously mingled with that of Margarita--came to his -almost death-drowsy ear. - -Cold and clammy fell the dew of night on his white and upturned face; -his breathing was long, deep, and laboured, for the ball that so -nearly finished him had deeply pierced his breast. He lay well-nigh -lifeless. Would he ever be found--on the farthest skirts of the -field as he was--till too late; till death had come first and claimed -his own, ere the birds of the air, the wolves and wild dogs made a -banquet of him? - -The moaning of the night-wind in the giant pines was heard at times; -but it brought no sound, save the snarling voices of the beasts of -prey, busy perhaps elsewhere. The flow from his wound had stopped; -he must have perished otherwise; a species of bloody paste had sealed -up the wound for a time; but Cecil's mind had become a chaos now, and -he could remember nothing but the agony in his chest and the -intensity of his thirst--an intensity to which the murmur of the cool -runnel close by added tantalisation. - -Would a cooling draught ever moisten his lips again? Even the -heavily falling dew had failed to do so. - -At last he became alive to all the dire realities of the -situation--that he was lying in a lonely and untrodden spot, done -nigh unto death; far from aid or succour, unable even to drive away -the insects that, when morning came, would be battening in his blood, -and when his sole watcher would be the greedy and expectant carrion -crow. It would be so. He would die in solitude, and never find a -grave until even that might be found when too late! - -Around him, at times, the solitude was awful. - -He must have slept or been senseless, for after a certain space he -found the sun shining above the tree-tops, and some of the ravenous -kites, that were croaking and wheeling above him in circles, had -already begun to settle on the body of his horse, and dig their sharp -beaks into it--something of life and volition in his face alone -preventing them from assailing him, though they eyed him greedily, -viciously, and askance from time to time. - -A cry of great horror escaped him. Then his wound burst forth -afresh, and he became completely senseless and oblivious of all -around him. - -After all--after all he had undergone, was he at last to find an -unknown grave under the eternal shadow of this vast Servian forest! - - -As the third day of the battle was drawing to a close, an -enterprising Briton, well mounted and armed with holster-pistols at -his saddle, was galloping with headlong speed along the road that led -from the north towards the camp at Deligrad; but evening fell ere he -reached the scene of operations, and only in time to see the last red -flashes of the loud artillery pale out in the darkness on the lofty -heights of Djunis. - -The heavy odour of gunpowder pervaded all the air, and every yard of -the way now was encumbered by wounded men. - -'I thought to have seen some of the sport,' muttered the horseman, -who was a well-built soldier-like fellow, with a heavy moustache, and -though clad in a coarse and warm tweed suit, wore a handsome Indian -helmet secured by a gilt chain under his firm and resolute-looking -chin; 'and now I have only arrived in time to be in at the death--the -death of thousands, no doubt!' he added with a sigh; 'I wonder which -way the day has gone, and who has won--Slav or Turk--not that it -matters very much to me. A three-days' battle! Pray God that _he_ -may have escaped in them!' - -In the moonlight he reached the entrance to the camp at Deligrad; but -there, and over all the ground that lay between it and the two -wayside hospitals above which the white flags with red crosses were -always flying, there were crowds of wounded and dying men, whose -moans, cries, and supplications loaded the air, and made the heart of -the stranger sicken. - -At the entrance to the camp the word _Stoe!_ (halt!) was shouted in -his ear, and he was stopped by the guard which was under arms, and -allowing only ambulance waggons and men in uniform to pass--and the -stranger had neither the parole nor counter-sign. - -'Are you in the service of Prince Milano?' asked the officer -commanding, in French. - -'No.' - -'You are a traveller, then?' - -'Yes--monsieur--every man travels, nowadays,' replied the other, -tossing away his cigar. He then inquired anxiously for the -head-quarters or where-abouts of General Tchernaieff and his staff; -but no one could say whether the gallant old Muscovite had, or had -not yet left the heights of Djunis. - -'Have you come from Belgrade?' asked the Servian officer, raising his -voice, for the number and cries of the wounded were increasing every -moment. - -'Yes--monsieur--on the spur.' - -'Then, perhaps you have despatches from the King.' - -'What king?' - -'The devil! here is a fellow who never heard of the King of -Servia--Milano Obrenovitch!' - -'A spy!' said several voices, in Servian and German. - -'Spy, be hanged!' exclaimed the stranger. - -'We have taken one already, and hanged he shall be on the -morrow---the rascal Guebhard!' said the Servian captain, exultingly. - -'I know nothing about all this--I have my passports, which show that -I am an officer in her Britannic Majesty's service.' - -'Bravo! can I serve you?' asked a wounded officer, who was limping -past, supported by a soldier. - -'Thank God, here is a fellow who speaks English!' exclaimed the -stranger to Stanley, for the wounded man was the latter, come down -from the heights with a ball in his leg. - -'And you wish to see the general?' - -'I wish rather to see one who is, or was, on his staff--Cecil -Falconer, a brother officer of mine. Allow me to introduce -myself--Captain Fotheringhame, of the 26th Foot!' - -For he it was--brave, honest, and friendly Leslie Fotheringhame, who -had obtained leave, and come all the way to Servia in search of his -absent comrade. - -'Ah--the old Cameronians!' said the other, as they shook hands. 'I -am Captain Stanley, late Foot Guards, and now, for my sins, Major of -the 5th Servians. I know Falconer well. He was with the cavalry -that went forward to support a brigade of guns. Since noon, I have -seen and heard nothing of him--sorry to say so. I am enduring agony -with my wound. We have had a terrible day of it. I came here in -search of a new sensation; and, by Jove, I have got it--this ball in -my leg! The carnage has been great--and I doubt if poor Falconer has -escaped--all the more that--that----' - -Stanley paused, and hesitated. - -'What?' - -'His death was curiously predicted.' - -'Predicted!' repeated Fotheringhame in a tone of incredulous -surprise; 'by whom?' - -'A brother aide-de-camp--an officer of rank.' - -'The deuce--do you, an Englishman, think such things possible?' - -'When you have been a few months in Servia you will think any devilry -possible,' replied Stanley, with a grimace as his wound stung him; 'I -wish you every success in your inquiries for Falconer, and I shall be -glad to hear of them from yourself at my hut in the lines. Make your -inquiries where the cavalry charged on the right front of the -position, and--till we meet again--good-bye.' - -And with his head reclining on the shoulder of the Servian soldier -who supported him, Stanley, who was evidently in great pain, limped -away, while Fotheringhame, knowing not exactly what to think of all -this--for, though he might have scouted any predictions at another -time, he could not fail to be impressed with doubt and dread, from -the terrible sights and sounds on every hand--took his way towards -the part of the field indicated by Stanley, walking his horse onward, -and upward, from the camp at haphazard in the darkness of a now -moonless night. - -We need neither refer to fully, nor attempt to describe, the endless -scenes of horror that met the eye of Leslie Fotheringhame, as he -stumbled on vaguely over the starlit field of battle--the arena of -the three-days' conflict round the fatal heights of Djunis--scenes -which redoubled in their harrowing intensity as the cold grey dawn -stole in over the faces of the dead and the dying. - -By industriously prosecuting his inquiries among the wounded and the -men of the ambulance corps who were conveying them, he discovered the -exact ground where the brigade of guns had gone into action, and -Cecil's squadron had charged. The brown uniforms of 'Tchernaieff's -Own' were lying there thick, but thicker lay the awful heaps of the -Osmanlies, whom the fuse-shells, grape, and canister had mowed down -as a scythe mows the grass. - -From a sergeant of Cecil's regiment--a sergeant who spoke German, and -was the same good fellow who had shared with him the flask of raki on -the night before the battle--he learned how his friend had been -wounded, as well as his horse, and how the latter had borne him out -of the field, and been lost to sight in the ravine that opened away -deep down on the rear of the right flank. - -The prediction spoken of by Stanley seemed terribly near verification -now, as Fotheringhame searched all the woody ravine, with his heart -heavy as lead, for he remembered the farewell messages of Mary -Montgomerie, and how, when he left her, the kisses of intense -gratitude she bestowed on his cheeks were scarcely less tender than -those of his own Annabelle. - -He searched all the valley, but beneath the deep shadow of the pines, -and amid all the wild undergrowth of years, he could see no sign of -man or horse--only some croaking kites wheeling lazily in -circles--and he turned away, thinking that it was among the -blood-splashed wards of the hospitals and ambulance tents, or by the -pits where the dead were to be interred, his sorrowful search could -only be prosecuted now. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -SAVED! - -We have said that when the kites began to assail his dead horse close -by him, a cry of great horror escaped the lips of Cecil. Feeble -though it was, it reached the ears of Leslie Fotheringhame, just as -the latter was in the act of turning, sadly, to leave the wooded -hollow. - -Moving his horse round a clump of wild laurel bushes, he saw a -caparisoned charger lying dead, and near it a man in uniform, to all -appearance dead also--he lay so motionless and still. - -Fotheringhame drew near. In the strange brown Servian uniform, with -his face pale as death could have made it, and obscured by blood and -mud, Leslie Fotheringhame had some difficulty in recognising the -young friend he had come so far to find--in knowing again the once -happy and merry face that, in times past, had been so often opposite -his own at the jovial mess-table; but when he did so, a -half-smothered ejaculation escaped him, and a great joy, mingled with -greater pity, gushed up in his breast, as he leaped from his horse -and knelt beside him. - -Cecil's eyes were sightless now, and, though half-closed, fixed -glassily on vacancy. - -'Cecil--Cecil Falconer!' exclaimed Fotheringhame, as he took in his -the cold and passive hand; but the sufferer heard him not. 'Life -yet, thank God!' he added, as he felt Cecil's pulse, and then his -heart, but withdrew his fingers covered with blood. - -Folding the broad leaf of an acanthus into the form of a cup, he -brought therein some cool water from the adjacent runnel, and Cecil -drank thirstily again, and again; and then his head sank back, with -the eyes still unclosed, yet sightless--seeing nothing and -recognising nothing. - -Fotheringhame took a flask of brandy from one of his holsters, and -poured some, with water, between the lips of Cecil, whose head he -pillowed on his arm. - -Partially restored by this, after a time the sufferer attempted to -speak; but his utterances were unintelligible, and his head sank -lower: his eyes closed now, and his thoughts were -wandering--wandering away to Mary, and to the old regiment in -feverish dreams--dreams, perhaps, suggested by the voice of -Fotheringhame. - -The latter found that the wound in the chest was deep, for there the -ball had lodged, and not a moment was to be lost in having it -attended to. Galloping up to the plateau, he soon procured some of -the ambulance corps; a stretcher was improvised by a blanket and a -couple of muskets, and Cecil was speedily placed in one of the -waggons for conveyance to the camp at Deligrad; but so great was his -agony, that the vehicle had to be stopped from time to time, and the -contents of Fotheringhame's flask, by giving him artificial strength, -alone prevented him from fainting. - -Yet strange visions haunted him. Out of the gathering mists of -death, as he deemed them, he thought he saw the face and heard the -voice of his old friend and comrade; and with them the voice of -Margarita, singing the sweet soft song of 'The Wishes.' - -Once he seemed to see distinctly the face of Fotheringhame, and his -eyes dilated with something of wonder and alarm in them. Then he -closed them, muttering, 'Another dream,' believing it was an -unreality. - -And now, as the ambulance waggon reached the road that led from the -camp to Deligrad, in the open ground Fotheringhame saw some thousand -troops, horse, foot, and artillery, massed in columns, forming three -sides of a hollow square, and his soldier-eye examined critically the -brown ranks of the Servians, and then those in Russian green, as the -bayonets were fixed, and flashed in the morning sun as the arms were -shouldered. - -The fourth or open side of the square was occupied by preparations -for an execution, for there stood a man tied to a post, and before -him a firing-party, composed of twelve Bulgarian volunteers. Deadly -pale looked the culprit, who was stripped to his shirt and baggy red -breeches--Mattei Guebhard, for it was he--taken prisoner in the late -action, by Stanley's regiment--baffled, checkmated, standing there in -dishonour, the centre of thousands of stern and unpitying eyes. - -To this end had his life come! - -Discipline alone kept the troops silent; but the crowds of Servian -peasantry and the camp-followers hooted and yelled at him, loading -the air with opprobrious cries. No braggart was he then. - -He made the sign of the cross repeatedly in the Greek manner, -mechanically, or in a spirit of latent superstition, for religion he -had none. - -Fotheringhame heard only that he was a deserter and spy, yet, -checking his horse, he looked on the scene with breathless interest, -little knowing how prominent a part the culprit had recently played -in the life of his friend Cecil. - -In attendance upon him was the old village pope of Palenka in his -bell-shaped black felt hat with long tabs floating behind, and a -venerable beard spread over the breast of his glittering vestments. -Guebhard smoked a cigar, and for a time preserved a bearing of -indifference, till the priest withdrew and the words of command were -given to the Bulgarians, who cocked their rifles, and his eyes were -bound. Then, unable to stand erect from emotion or craven fear, his -knees gave way under him and his head fell forward, the lashings -which bound him to the post alone supporting him partially. - -The death-volley rang sharply in the morning air; soon all was over, -and the troops were defiling past where the shattered corpse hung at -the post, their colours flying and drums beating merrily, and from -thence into their lines. - -By this time Fotheringhame had conveyed Cecil to the hospital, and -with difficulty secured the attendance of a surgeon, for all the -medical men had their hands full. - -The sights and sounds in the wards were more appalling than anything -he had seen on the field; and the surgeons, with their coats off, -shirt-sleeves rolled up, and red to the elbows in blood, looked like -veritable butchers. - -'Horrible work this, doctor,' said he to a fat, fussy little German; -'cutting off legs and arms with knife and saw, quietly and in cold -blood.' - -'_Ach Himmel!_ you think it is better done with a sabre, while -yelling like a devil broke loose!' - -'In a charge--yes; but please look to my friend.' - -Cecil was now stretched on a pallet, his tunic unbuttoned, and with -his breast a mass of blood, a piteous sight he looked. A second -doctor now came, and while they conferred in German, Fotheringhame -felt his heart stand still. - -'_Mein Herr_,' whispered one, looking up, 'there will be a crisis -soon.' - -'When?' - -'When we have the bullet out.' - -'I trust you have hope?' - -'There is always hope while there is life,' replied the doctor, -turning aside while he carefully wiped a probe; 'but he has lost so -much blood, and is so low, that if he rallies it will be little short -of a miracle.' - -The other doctor deemed the case a hopeless one, and a cry nearly -escaped Fotheringhame when he saw Cecil's form convulsed by a spasm, -as the bullet was extracted, and a swoon came over him. - -'If he should die in my hands--poor Cecil!' thought the kind-hearted -fellow, in great misery of mind; 'or if I am only taking him home to -die! That prediction about a violent death, what did it mean? Who -the devil made it? Looks too deuced likely to happen!' - -And so, while the soft and tender hands of the Sisters of Charity did -all those little offices about Cecil that no wife, mother, or sister -in blood could have done more ably or kindly, Fotheringhame smoked a -cigar close by, full of thought and anxiety, while a long and deep -sleep fell upon the patient, a sleep that was worth a hundred -nostrums. - -'Poor fellow! he is down in his luck, certainly,' thought -Fotheringhame; ''gad, I shall rejoice to hear when the doctors think -him safe round the corner, and we may start for home.' - - -When sense came completely back to Cecil, he knew not where he was, -nor for some hours thereafter did he exactly comprehend all that had -lately happened to him and passed around him; he had lost so much -blood, and been thereby so giddy, weak, drowsy, and insensible. - -His first recollections were of the battle--of supporting the -field-battery, and the charges he had led ere he fell; then the night -in the woody hollow--his thirst and the kites hovering over him! - -Now he was in a handsome, lofty, and airy room, and on a pretty -French couch; a soft flower-scented breeze came through an open -window, the hangings of which were partly drawn; and he had also a -sense of a woman flitting noiselessly about him, and by her plain -black dress and the white band with the red cross on the left arm, -her crimped cap and spotless white apron, he recognised in her one of -the German nurses or Sisters of Charity, who, the moment she caught -his eye and saw him move, gave him a cooling and refreshing drink, -glad to find symptoms of recovery in a poor sufferer whose mutterings -alone had given her a clue to his wants, while she had felt her heart -touched by the utterance of the ever-recurring name of 'Mary'; but -her work was nearly done now, as she had nursed him back to health -and something like strength. - -'Where am I?' he asked, with a husky voice. - -'In Belgrade, _mein Herr_.' - -'Belgrade! with whom?' - -'Friends; kind friends, who will take care of you now that the -horrible war is all over.' - -In a well-hung carriage procured by Fotheringhame from General -Tchernaieff, Cecil, all unknown to himself, had been conveyed more -than a hundred miles from the field of battle and from the crowded -and pestilential hospitals thereby, and was now comfortably quartered -in the Krone or La Couronne Hotel at Belgrade. - -Cecil was greatly bewildered by hearing that he was in the capital of -Servia, and was disposed to ask more questions; but his nurse told -him that he must be patient, adding, while the tender light of a -sweet and womanly soul lit up her eyes: - -'And you must not talk, it is bad for your chest, Herr Captain; drink -more of this--you cannot! Then I must feed you with a spoon.' - -'You?' - -'Yes,' and tenderly the blooming little fräulein raised his head on -her soft arm, and made him partake of the medicated food the doctor -had ordered. - -'Now go to sleep,' said she; 'sleep and feed--feed and sleep, you -naughty boy, and we soon shall have you in your saddle once more.' - -He dozed off again, but tossed restlessly on his pillow, as dreams -came to him now more distinctly than before. - -'He has youth and strength, and pure good blood--at least, what is -left of it,' said the doctor, smilingly, to honest Fotheringhame, who -was always hovering near; 'I believe in these--and such nurses as -you, Sister Gretchen, with plenty of jellies and -beef-tea--_ja_--_ja_!' - - -'Bravo, old fellow! you've turned the corner at last!' was the -exclamation of Fotheringhame to Cecil, some days after this. - -'You think so, dear Leslie,' replied Cecil, in a weak voice, as he -held out a wasted hand to his friend; 'but I only fear that I am -getting near the end now--the end of a sad and broken life!' - -'Now don't talk this way, or I'll be off like a bird and leave you!' -said Fotheringhame. - -'How shall I ever be able to thank you for coming all the distance -you have done, to look after a poor waif like me? And but for your -so miraculously finding me, I must have perished--inevitably -perished!' - -'There was nothing very miraculous in it. I traced out the position, -and by chance lighted upon an old sergeant, who showed me the way -your horse had gone; I followed the track, and, thank God, heard your -cry.' - -'Another moment, that odious kite would have torn out my eyes. Oh, -Heavens! I shall never forget, my dear Leslie, the horror of that -helpless time! After leading my fellows to the last charge in -support of the guns, I have no recollection of anything--I must have -gone down like a shot!' - -Fotheringhame thought that now the time was come when he could safely -enlighten Cecil as to the change in his fortune, and elucidate the -mysterious portions of Mary's half-obliterated letter--that he was -Sir Piers's heir--her cousin, and that the obnoxious Hew had -disappeared from the family group; and, as may easily be supposed, -great was Cecil's bewilderment and wonder to hear of a discovery--a -_dénouement_ so singular. - -Mary's cousin--the general's heir--heir to Eaglescraig and his -baronetcy! Could such things be? - -He had much to inquire about again and again, and much to think of -deeply now; and sedulously as his mother, in her widowhood and in her -pride of heart, had kept all knowledge of his family, and even of his -name, from him, innumerable things that occurred in their wandering -life took a tangible form now, and the cause of many an emotion and -occurrence, that had puzzled him in the past time became apparent -enough; and in his grateful heart a great pity mingled with the -yearning memory of his mother. - -'And now about yourself and Annabelle Erroll,' asked Cecil on one -occasion. - -'Only that we are to be married as soon as we get back, so make haste -and get well, old fellow!' was the laughing reply of Fotheringhame. - -The war in Servia was virtually over now; and even had it not been -so, Cecil could have resigned now with honour, as Stanley did, who -was also _en route_ for England, with several other volunteers. - -An armistice had been signed on the day after the last battle, and -the sword was sheathed in the valley of the Morava, and Milano IV. -remains still prince, but not king, of Servia and Bosnia. - -With the struggle between Russia and Turkey, on the soil of Servia, -Cecil had done. Of what the former for ages has looked forward -to--the destruction of the latter--a prophecy of extreme antiquity -foretells the accomplishment--a prophecy uttered when, or by whom, no -man knows; but eight centuries ago it was read on the brazen horse of -an equestrian statue, then ages old, when brought to Constantinople -from Antioch. - -Though weak from the effects of his terrible wound, Cecil was -recovering fast; while love and fortune seemed to smile alike upon -him; and to him and Fotheringhame pleasant indeed was their journey -from Semlin, on the famous Danube, to Monaco, so famous in the -Hungarian annals for its terrible battle, and from thence homeward by -Vienna and the Netherlands. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -'THE END CROWNS ALL.' - -A yellow autumn moon in a deep blue sky was pouring a flood of light -over the old 'Queen of the North,' throwing the giant shadows of her -rock-built fortress far athwart the dark valley below, and of the -ridgy masses of the old city of mediæval times, towering high above -the long white terraces of the New Town, when Leslie Fotheringhame -thankfully deposited his charge--the poor waif whom he had found -dying on the bank of the Morava--in one of the many stately hotels in -the vicinity of Princes Street; we say thankfully, for though Cecil -was recovering, he was still weak enough to render the prediction of -Count Palenka something unpleasant to remember. - -'Now, Cecil, a bumper of Moselle, as a refresher after our long day's -journey, and then I go to meet those at the railway, whom, I suppose, -you will be right glad to see!' said Fotheringhame, ere he laughingly -took his departure in a cab. - -Cecil drained the wine, and looked around him, half fearing that he -might be dreaming--and that the spacious room, the brilliant -gaselier, the Turkey carpet, the tiger-skin before the stately white -marble mantelpiece, the great mirror in which his own pallid face and -eyes unnaturally bright with long suffering were reflected, might -pass away. How much had he seen of misery, how much bitterness of -thought, and how much peril had he undergone since last he had -surroundings such as these! - -Could it all be real, that within an hour, perhaps, Mary's hands -would be in his? - -He approached one of the tall windows and looked out upon the night, -and on the well-known scene, with all its familiar sights and sounds, -with the moonlight streaming over steeple, tower, and dome--St. -Giles's crown--the castle on its rock, so high in air that its lights -seemed to mingle with the stars, and from it came the sound of the -Cameronian drums, awaking the echoes of turret and battery--the drums -he would soon be following again; but the heavy sigh of supreme -gratitude that escaped him reminded him by a pang of the wound in his -chest, and he reeled giddily. - -'I would that they were come,' he muttered. 'I knew not till now -that I was still so weak,' he added, as he looked at his wasted hands. - -The shadow or outline of a man's figure standing in the broad iron -balcony without the window now fell suddenly on a window-blind. -Cecil drew it up--threw open the sash abruptly, and found himself -face to face with--Hew--Hew watching him! - -He seemed shabby in dress and dissipated--his hair and moustache -untrimmed; his eyes were bleary, his nose pimply, and his whole air -and aspect were those of a sorely broken-down tippler. - -Cecil, in utter repugnance, recoiled a pace, and an ugly expression -flashed in the shifty and bilious-like eyes of Hew. - -'You, here!' exclaimed Cecil. - -'Yes--and I saw your arrival.' - -'Are you living in this hotel, Hew?' - -'Well--I am, in a manner of way,' he replied, sulkily: 'I am the -billiard-marker!' - -'The billiard-marker? Have you fallen so far?' - -'Yes,' he replied, with a fierce grimace. - -'You did me an infamous and awful injury, Hew, as your own confession -has shown; but,' added Cecil, in the generosity of his nature and -under the impulses of the time, 'I forgive it all now.' - -'Thank you--how good!' sneered the other. - -'Let us forget our feud--your feud, rather; but never let me look -upon your face again.' - -'Only children and fools, they say, forget.' - -'And what have you to remember, pray?' - -'All that you have come between, and me.' - -'I have only come to my own.' - -'Curse you!' exclaimed Hew, hoarsely and bitterly. - -'You are a rancorous fellow--begone instantly!' replied Cecil, as he -closed the window; and, feeling somewhat exhausted by the emotions -this most unexpected interview stirred within him, he threw himself -upon a sofa to await the return of Fotheringhame with those who were -to accompany him, and after a time he forgot all about Hew and his -close vicinity. - -Weary and weak, a drowsiness encouraged by the warmth of the room -stole over him, and, in spite of his efforts to keep awake, he fell -into a drowsy state between sleeping and waking; but his mind was -full of Mary, who would soon be with him--the real and imaginary so -blended in his vision, but indistinctly, with that vacuity which -makes the dreamer sigh when his fancies have become a memory. - -Hew was still watching without, and unnoticed by the crowds that -passed and repassed in the lighted street below. His heart was full -of the bitterest rancour, envy, and rage. His mind was full of a -species of madness--but a madness with a great deal of method and -cunning in it. - -He peeped in from time to time at the sleeper, with a gleam of -intense malice in his stealthy eyes. Cecil was alone and unattended, -and he lay there apart from all, and quite unheeded amid the bustle -of the great hotel. - -'There is not much life left in the fellow,' muttered Hew; 'a good -shake--a squeeze of the windpipe, or a few more drops in his drink -than I gave him at the ball, and Eaglescraig is mine!' - -The door of the apartment was shut--if he would act, it must be done -promptly. He would enter and leave the room by the French window, -and after all was over, leave the balcony by another apartment, and -repair at once to his usual scene of work, the billiard-room. - -A blindness and giddiness, with a great terror, came over him for a -moment; as one in a dream, he looked at the crowds passing below--the -stars above; gave a last glance to assure himself that his avenue of -escape was clear, and then with a heart beating wildly, fired as it -was by envy, avarice, malice, and all uncharitableness, he again drew -near the window of Cecil's room and laid his stealthy hand upon it; -but, as he did so, a deep hoarse malediction escaped in a kind of -whisper, and shrinking back he stole softly away with all speed, and -quitted the balcony--for he had seen a tableau that baffled his -vengeance, and no doubt saved his soul from the perpetration of a -terrible crime! - -A little delay might have changed the fate of more than one person -connected with our story; a great tragedy might have taken place -almost without discovery, for had aught occurred to Cecil, it might -have been attributed to his wounded and weak condition--so near was -the prediction of Palenka being verified, not on the field of battle -or in the carnage of charging squadrons, but in the quietude and -seclusion, of a fashionable hotel! - -From the latter, the amiable Hew took his departure on the instant, -and it is very unlikely that he will ever cross the path of Cecil -again. - -Dreams are usually independent of all details and coherency; but -Cecil, as he dozed on, seemed to become gradually aware of the dear -and familiar face, of one who smiled gently upon him, as she bent -over him--her very life--her treasure, and delicious was the thrill -the dream gave him. - -The sense of a beloved presence became more vivid and defined. He -heard his name called, and started to find Mary stooping over him, -her veil thrown back, and her eyes--soft and loving at all -times--softer now with an infinite yearning, as she saw how weak he -was, and how hard had been the struggle between youth and Death! - -'Mary, Mary, let me hear your voice again!' he said, as he folded her -in his arms, yet with that expression of doubt in his haggard eye, as -of one who feared the joy around him might be a dream and pass away. - -'Take her to your heart, my boy--the same blood runs in your veins!' -said old Sir Piers, all unused to act 'the heavy parent,' but his -keen bright eyes were as humid and moist as an old man's can well be, -as he took Cecil's face between his withered hands, and gazed into -his features as if he thought he could never look at them -sufficiently; 'my own boy's eyes!' he exclaimed, with a kind of sob -in his throat; 'my own boy's brow and lips--my poor Piers--you are -his son--his son!' - -A soft kiss was now laid upon his cheek--the kiss of Annabelle -Erroll, and then the latter retired into the recess of a window, with -her tall, dark lover Fotheringhame, who had no doubt a vast deal to -tell her, and seemed to do so, very quietly and very softly, under -the shadow of the curtains. - -'My darling, my darling!' Cecil could but whisper again and again. - -'Oh, Cecil--Cecil, whom I thought I was never--never to see again! -How have I ever lived through all this!' she kept repeating; 'why did -you go to Servia?' - -'What mattered it where I went _then_--at the time, I mean!' - -He gave a short sigh, as even her beloved cheek on his wounded chest -made him wince. - -'Egad, what a home-coming we'll have!' said the general; 'Rungeet -entering Lahore will be nothing to it! Old John Balderstone, and -Mrs. Garth, widow of Garth, of Ours--you remember her, Cecil? will be -mustering the tenants and everybody--old Tunley too--what a Christmas -we'll have! And there will be a bonfire on the old tower-head at -Eaglescraig, that will light up the whole Firth of Clyde!' - -But the lovers thought only of the future, which seemed so close and -certain now. - -Pillowed on Mary's breast--surrounded by friends and all the perfect -safety of home and assured position, there was--to Cecil--a calm and -delicious joy in existence now, after all the fierce whirl, the -aching disappointment, and the wild excitement of his life recently. - - - -THE END. - - - -BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS AND ELECROTYPERS, GUILDFORD. - -_J. 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