MRS JAY MATTl(Jl3^o-
Library of the University of Toronto
i
i
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN
BY
Mrs. may AGNES FLEMING
AUTHOR OF "THE DARK SECRET," "THE QUEEN OF THE ISLE," "THE HEIRESS OF CASTLE CLIFF," *' MAGDALEN'S VOW," "THE GYPSY queen's vow," "THE RIVAL BROTHERS," ETC.
NEW YORK THE FEDERAL BOOK COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1876, By BEADLE Sc ADAMS.
The Midnight Queen.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Sorceress 5
II. The Dead Bride 20
III. The Court Page 32
IV. The Stranger 40
V. The Dwarf and the Ruin 50
VI. La Masque 58
VII. The Earl's Barge 70
VIII. The Midnight Queen ; 80
IX. Leoline 89
X. The Page, The Fires and the Fall 105
XI. The Execution 115
XII. The Doom 125
XIII. Escaped 137
XIV. In the Dungeon .' 142
XV. Decline's Visitors 157
XVI. The Third Vision 166
XVII. The Hidden Face 179
XVIII. The Interview 190
XIX. Hubert's Whisper , . . 202
XX. At the Plague-Pit 213
XXI. What was Behind the Mask 227
XXII. Day-Dawn 238
XXIII. Finis 249
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
CHAPTER I.
THE SORCERESS.
The plague raged in the city of London. The destroy- ing angel had gone forth, and kindled with its fiery breath the awful pestilence, until all London became one mighty lazar-house. Thousands were swept away daily grass grew in the streets, and the living were scarce able to bury the dead. Business of all kinds was at an end, except that of the coffin-makers and drivers of the pest- carts. Whole streets were shut up, and almost every other house in the city bore the fatal red cross, and the ominous inscription : " Lord have mercy on us." Few people save the watchmen, armed with halberts, keeping guard over the stricken houses, appeared in the streets ; and those who ventured there, shrunk from each other, and passed rapidly on with averted faces. Many even fell dead on the sidewalk, and lay with their ghastly, discolored faces upturned to the mocking sunlight, until the dead cart came rattling along, and the drivers hoisted the body with their pitchforks on the top of their dreads ful load. Few other vehicles besides those same dead- carts appeared in the city now; and they plied their trade busily, day and night ; and the cry of the drivers^ echoed dismally through the deserted streets : " Bring out your dead ! bring out your dead ! " All who could do so had long ago fled from the devoted city ; and London lay under the burning heat of the June sunshine, stricken for its sins by the hand of God. The pest-houses were full, so were the plague- pits, where the dead were hurled in cartfuls ; and no one knew who rose up in health in the
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEEK
morning but that they might be lying stark and dead in a few hours. The very churches were forsaken ; their pastors fled or lying in the plague-pits ; and it was even resolved to convert the great cathedral of St. Paul into a vast plague-hospital. Cries and lamentations echoed from one end of the city to the other, and Death and Charles reigned over London together.
Yet, in the midst of all this, many scenes of wild orgies and debauchery still went on within its gates — as, in our own day, when the cholera ravaged Paris, the inhabitants of that facetious city made it a carnival, so now, in Lon- don, there were many who, feeling they had but a few days to live at the most, resolved to defy death, and in- dulge in the revelry while they yet existed. " Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow you die ! " was their motto ; and if in the midst of the frantic dance or debauched revel one of them dropped dead, the others only shrieked with laughter, hurled the livid body out to the street, and the demoniac mirth grew twice as fast and furious as before. Robbers and cut-purses paraded the streets at noonday, entered boldly closed and deserted houses, and bore off, with impunity, whatever they pleased. Highwaymen in- fested Hounslow Heath, and all the roads leading from the city, levying a toll on all who passed, and plundering fearlessly the flying citizens. In fact, far-famed London town, in the year of grace 1665, would have given one a good idea of^Pandemonium broke loose.
It was drawing to the close of an almost tropical June day, that the crowd who had thronged the precincts of St. Paul's since early morning, began to disperse. Tlie sun, that had throbbed the live-long day like a great heart of fire in a sea of brass, was sinking from sight in clouds of crimson, purple and gold, yet Paul's walk was crowded. There Avere court-gallants in ruffles and plumes; ballad-singers chanting the not-over delicate ditties of the Earl of Rochester; usurers exchanging gold for bonds worth tliree times Avhat tli(\y gave for them ; quack-doctors reading in dolorous tones the bills of mor- tality of the pre(j(Hliiig day, and selling plague-waters and anti-pestilential abominations, whose merit they loudly extolled ; ladies, too, richly dressed, and many of them
THE SORCERESS..
7
masked ; and booksellers who always made St. Paul's a favorite haunt, and even to this day patronize its precincts, and flourish in the regions of Paternoster Row and Ave Maria Lane ; court pages in rich liveries, pert and flippant ; §erving-men out of place, and pickpockets with a keen eye to business ; all clashed and jostled together, raising a din to which the Plain of Shinar, with its confusion of tongues and Babylonish workmen, were as nothing.
Moving serenely through this discordant sea of his fellow- creatures came a young man booted and spurred, whose rich doublet of cherry-colored velvet, edged and spangled with gold, and jaunty hat set slightly on one side of his head, with its long black plume and diamond clasp, proclaimed him to be somebody. A profusion of snowy shirt- frill rushed impetuously out of his doublet ; a black- velvet cloak, lined with amber- satin, fell pictur- esquely from his shoulders ; a sword with a jeweled hilt clanked on the pavement as he walked. One hand was covered with a gauntlet of canary-colored kid, perfumed to a degree that would shame any belle of to-day ; the other, which rested lightly on his sword-hilt, flashed with a splendid opal, splendidly set. He was a handsome fellow too, with fair, waving hair (for he had the good taste to discard the ugly wigs then in vogue), dark, bright, handsome eyes, a thick blonde mustache, a tall and re- markably graceful figure, and an expression of counte- nance wherein easy good-nature and fiery impetuosity had a hard struggle for mastery. That he was a courtier of rank, was apparent from his rich attire and rather aristocratic bearing, and a crowd of hangers-on followed him as he went, loudly demanding spur-money. A group of timbrel girls, singing shrilly the songs of the day, call boldly to him as he passed ; and one of them, more free and easy than the rest, danced up to him, striking her timbrel, and shouting rather than singing the chorus of the then popular ditty :
" What care I for pest or plague ? We can die but once, God wot, Kiss me, darling — stay with me ; Love me — love me, leave me not I "
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEElsr.
The darling in question turned his bright blue eyes on that dashing street-singer with a cool glance of rec- ognition.
" Yery sorry, Nell," he said, in a nonchalant tone, " but I'm afraid I must. How long have you been here, may I ask?"
" A full hour by St. Paul's ; and where has Sir Norman Kingsley been, may 1 ask ? I thought you were dead of the plague."
" Not exactly. Have you seen — ah ! there he is. The very man I want."
With which Sir Norman Kingsley dropped a gold piece into the girl's extended palm, and pushed on through the crowd up Paul's Walk. A tall, and dark figure was lean- ing moodily with folded arms, looking fixedly at the ground, and taking no notice of the busy scene around him, until Sir Norman laid his ungloved and jeweled hand lightly on his shoulder.
" Good- morning, Ormiston! I had an idea I would find you here, and— but what's the matter with you, man ? Have you got the plague? or has your mysterious in- amorata jilted you or what other annoyance has happened to make you look as woebegone as old King Lear, sent adrift by his tender daughters to take care of him- self ? "
The individual addressed lifted his head, disclosing a dark and rather handsome face, settled now into a look of gloomy discontent. He slightly raised his hat as he saw who his questioner was.
" Ah ! it's you. Sir Norman I I had given up all notion of your coming, and was about to quit this confounded babel — this tumultuous den of thieves. What has de- tained you ? "
" I was on duty at Whitehall. Are Ave not in time to keep our appointment ? "
" Oh, certainly. La Mascpie is at home to visitors at all lionrs, day and niglit. I believe in my soul she doesn't know what sleep means."
" And you jire still as mu(;h in love with her as ever, I dare swear ! I have no doubt, now, it was of her you were thinking when T came up. Nothing else could ever
THE SORCERESS.
9
have made you look so dismally woebegone as you did when Providence sent me to your relief."
" I was thinking of her," said the young man, moodily, and with a darkening brow.
Sir Norman favored him with a half-amused, half-con- temptuous stare for a moment ; then stopped at a huck- ster's stall to purchase some cigarettes ; lit one, and, after fimoking for a few minutes, pleasantly remarked, as if the fact had just struck him :
" Ormiston, you're a fool ! "
" I know it ! " said Ormiston, sententiously.
" The idea," said Norman, knocking the ashes daintily off the end of his cigar with the tip of his little finger — ■ " the idea of falling in love with a woman whose face you have never seen ! I can understand a man's going to any absurd extreme when he falls in love in proper Christian fashion, with a proper Christian face ; but to go stark, staring mad, as you have done, my dear fellow, about a black loo mask, why — I consider that a little too much of a good thing ! Come, let u.s go."
Nodding easily to his numerous acquaintances as he went, Sir Norman Kingsley sauntered leisurely down Paul's Walk, and out through the great door of the cathedral, followed by his melancholy friend. Pausing for a moment to gaze at the gorgeous sunset with a look of languid admiration, Sir Norman passed his arm through that of his friend, and they walked on at rather a rapid pace, in the direction of old London Bridge. There were few people abroad except the watchmen walking slowly up and down before the plague-stricken houses ; but in every street they passed through they noticed huge piles of wood and coal heaped down the center. Smoking zealously, they had walked on for a season in silence, when Ormiston ceased puffing for a moment, to inquire :
" What are all these for ? This is a strange time, I should imagine, for bonfires."
"They're not bonfires," said Sir Norman; "at least, they are not intended for that ; and if your head was not fuller of that masked Witch of Endor than common sense (for I believe she is nothing better than a witch), you could not have helped knowing. The Lord Mayor of
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
London has been inspired, suddenly, with a notion, that if several thousand fires are kindled at once in the streets, it will purify the air, and check the pestilence ; so when St. Paul's tolls the hour of midnight, all these piles are to be j&red. It will be a glorious illumination, no doubt ; but as to its stopping the progress of the plague, I am afraid that it is altogether too good to be true."
" Why should you doubt it. The plague cannot last forever."
"No. But Lilly, the astrologer, who predicted its coming, also foretold that it would last for many months yet ; and since one prophecy has come true, I see no reason why the other should not."
" Except the simple one that there would be nobody left alive to take it. All London will be lying in the plague-pits by that time."
" A pleasant prospect ; but a true one, I have no doubt. And, as I have no ambition to be hurled headlong into one of those horrible holes, I shall leave town altogether in a few days. And, Ormiston, I would strongly recom- mend you to follow my example."
" Not I ! " said Ormiston, in a tone of gloomy resolu- tion. " While La Masque stays, so will 1."
" And perhaps die of the plague in a week."
" So be it ! I don't fear the plague half as much as I do the thought of losing her ! "
Again Sir Norman stared.
" Oh, I see ! It's a hopeless case ! Faith, I begin to feel curious to see this enchantress, who has managed so effectually to turn your brain. When did you see her last?"
" Yesterday," said Ormiston, with a deep sigh. " And if she were made of granite, she could not be harder tc^ me than she is ! "
" So she doesn't care about you, then ? "
" Not she ! She has a little Blenheim lap-dog, that she loves a thousand times more than she ever will me ! "
"Then what an idiot you are, to keep haunting her like her shadow I Why don't you be a man and tear out from your heart sucli a goddess I "
THE SORCERESS.
11
« Ah ! that's easily said ; but if you were in my place, you'd act exactly as I do."
" I don't believe it. It's not in me to go mad about anything with a masked face and marble heart. If I loved any woman — which, thank Fortune, at this present time I do not — and she had the bad taste not to return it, I should take m.y hat, make her a bow, and go directly and love somebody else made of flesh and blood, instead of cast-iron ! You know the old song, Ormiston :
" If she be not fair for me What care I how fair she be ! ' "
" Kingsley, you know nothing about it ! " said Ormiston, impatiently. " So stop talking nonsense. If you are cold- blooded, I am not ; and — I love her ! "
Sir Norman slightly shrugged his shoulders, and flung his smoked-out weed into a heap of firewood.
" Are we near her house ? " he asked. " Yonder is the bridge."
" Ormiston, you're a fool ! "
" I know it ! " said Ormiston, sententiously.
" The idea," said Sir ISTorman, knocking the ashes dainti- ly off the end of his cigar with the tip of his little finger — " the idea of falling in love with a woman Avhose face you have never seen ! I can understand a man's going to any absurd extreme when he falls in love in proper Christian fashion, with a proper Christian face ; but to go stark, staring mad, as you have done, my dear fellow, about a black loo mask, why — I consider that a little too much of a good thing ! Come, let us go."
Nodding easily to his numerous acquaintances as he went. Sir ISTorman Kingsley sauntered leisurely down Paul's Walk, and out through the great door of the cathe- dral, followed by his melancholy friend. Pausing for a moment to gaze at the gorgeous sunset with a look of languid admiration, Sir Norman passed his arm through that of his friend, and they walked on at rather a rapid pace, in the direction of old London Bridge. There were few people abroad except the watchmen walking slowly up and down before the plague-stricken houses ; but in every street they passed through they noticed huge piles of
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
wood and coal heaped down the center. Smoking zeal- ously, they had walked on for a season in silence, when Ormiston ceased puffing for a moment, to inquire :
" What are all these for ? This is a strange time, I should imagine, for bonfires."
" They're not bonfires," said Sir Norman ; " at least, they are not intended for that ; and if your head was not fuller of that masked Witch of Endor than common sense (for I believe she is nothing better than a witch), you could not have helped knowing. The Lord Mayor of London has been inspired, suddenly, with a notion, that if several thousand fires are kindled at once in the streets, it will purify the air, and check the pestilence ; so when St. Paul's tolls the hour of midnight, all these piles are to be fired. It will be a glorious illumination, no doubt ; but as to its stopping the progress of the plague, I am afraid that it is altogether too good to be true."
" Why should you doubt it ? The plague cannot last forever."
" No. But Lilly, the astrologer, who predicted its com- ing, also foretold that it would last for many months yet ; and since one prophecy has come true, I see no reason why the other should not."
" Except the simple one that there would be nobody left alive to take it. All London will be lying in the plague-pits by that time."
" A pleasant prospect ; but a true one, I have no doubt. And, as I have no ambition to be hurled headlong into one of those horrible holes, I shall leave town altogether in a few days. And, Ormiston, I would strongly recommend you to follow my example."
" Not 1 1 " said Ormiston, in a tone of gloomy resolution. " While La Masque stays, so will I."
" And perhaps die of the plague in a week."
" So be it! I don't fear the plague half as much as I do tlie thought of losing her ! "
Again Sir Noriruui stared.-
" Oil, T s(H5 ! It's a hopeless case ! Faith, I began to feel (Uirious to s(;e this enchantress, who has managed so effectually to turn your brain. When did you see her last?"
THE SORCERESS.
13
" Yesterday," said Ormiston, with a deep sigh. " And if she were made of granite, she could not be harder to me than she is ! "
" So she doesn't care about you, then ? "
" Not she ! She has a little Blenheim lap-dog, that she loves a thousand times more than she ever will me ! "
" Then what an idiot you are, to keep haunting her like her shadow ! Why don't you be a man, and tear out from your heart such a goddess ? "
" Ah ! that's easily said ; but if you were in my place, you'd act exactly as I do."
" I don't believe it. It's not in me to go mad about any- thing with a masked face and a marble heart. If I loved any woman — which, thank Fortune, at this present time I do not— and she had the bad taste not to return it, I should take my hat, make her a bow, and go directly and love somebody else made of flesh and blood, instead of cast-iron ! You know the old song, Ormiston :
* If she be not fair for me What care I how fair she be ! ' "
« Kingsley, you know nothing about it ! " said Ormis- ton, impatiently. " So stop talking nonsense. If you are cold-blooded, I am not ; and — I love her I "
Sir Norman slightly shrugged his shoulders, and flung his smoked-out weed into a heap of firewood.
" Are we near her house ? " he asked. " Yonder is the bridge,"
"And yonder is the house," replied Ormiston, pointing to a large, ancient building — ancient even for those times — with three stories, each projecting over the other. " See ! while the houses on either side are marked as pest- stricken, hers alone bears no cross. So it is : those who cling to life are stricken with death ; and those who, like me, are desperate, even death shuns."
"Why, my dear Ormiston, you surely are not so far gone as that ! Upon my honor, I had no idea you were in such a bad way."
" I am nothing but a miserable wretch ! and I wish to Heaven I was in yonder dead- cart, with the rest of them —and she, too, if she never intends to love me ! "
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THE MIDlSriGHT QUEEN.
Ormiston spoke with such fierce earnestness, that there was no doubting his sincerity ; and Sir Norman became profoundly shocked — so much so, that he did not speak again until they were almost at the door. Then he opened his lips to ask, in a subdued tone :
" She has predicted the future for you — what did she foreteU?"
" Nothing good ; no fear of there being anything in store for such an unlucky dog as I am."
"Where did she learn this wonderful black art of hers ? "
" In the East, I believe. She has been there and all over the world, and now visits England for the first time."
" She has chosen a sprightly season for the visit. Is she not afraid of the plague, I wonder ? "
" No ; she fears nothing," said Ormiston, as he knocked loudly at the door. " I begin to believe she is made of adamant instead of what other woman are made of."
"Which is a rib, I believe," observed Sir Norman, thoughtfully. " And that accounts, I dare say, for their being of such a crooked and cantankerous nature. They're a wonderful race, women are ; and for what inscrutable reason it has pleased Providence to create them — "
The opening of the door brought to a sudden end this little touch of moralizing, and a wrinkled old porter thrust out very withered and unlovely face.
" Is La Masque at home ? " inquired Ormiston, stepping in, without ceremony.
The old man nodded, and pointed up-stairs ; and witli a " This way, Kingsley," Ormiston sprung lightly up, three at a time followed in the same style by Sir Nor- man.
" You seem pretty well acquainted with the latitude of this place," observed that young gentleman, as they passed into a room at the head of the stairs.
" I ought to be ; I've been here often enough," said Or- miston. " This is the common waiting-room for all wlio wish to consult La Masque. The old ])ag of bones who let us in has gone to announce us."
Sir Norman took a seat, and glanced curiously round
THE SORCERESS.
15
the room. It was a commonplace apartment enough, with a floor of polished black oak, slippery as ice, and shining like glass ; a few old Flemish paintings on the walls ; a large, round table in the center of the floor, on which lay a pair of the old musical instruments called " virginals." Two large, curtainless windows, with minute diamond- shaped panes, set in leaden casements, admitted the golden and crimson light.
" For the reception-room of a sorceress," remarked Sir Norman, with an air of disappointed criticism, " there is nothing very wonderful about all this. How is it she spaes fortunes, anyway. As Lilly does by maps and charts or as these old Eastern mufti do it by magic mirrors and all such fooleries ? " .
" Neither," said Ormiston ; " her style is more like that of the Indian almechs, who show you your destiny in a well. She has a sort of magic lake in her room, and — but fovL will see it all for yourself presently."
" I have always heard," said Sir Norman, in the same meditative way, "that truth lies at the bottom of a well, and I am glad some one has turned up at last who is able to find it out. Ah ! Here comes our ancient Mercury to show us to the presence of your goddess."
The door opened, and the " old bag of bones," as Ormis- ton irreverently styled his lady-love's ancient domestic made a sign for them to follow him. Leading the way down a long corridor, he flung open a pair of shining fold- ing-doors at the end, and ushered them at once into the majestic presence of the sorceress and her magic room. Both gentlemen doffed their plumed hats. Ormiston stepped forward at once ; Sir Norman discreetly paused in the doorway to contemplate the scene of action. As he slowly did so, a look of deep displeasure settled on his fea^tures, on finding it not half so awful as he had sup- posed.
In some ways it was very like the room they had left being low, large and square, and having floors, walls and ceiling paneled with glossy black oak. But it had no windows — a large bronze lamp, suspended from the center of the ceiling, shed a flickering, ghostly light. There were no paintings — some grim carvings of skulls, skele-
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
tons, and serpents, pleasantly wreathed the room- neither were there seats nor tables — nothing but a huge ebony caldron at the upper end of the apart- ment, over which a grinning skeleton on wires, with a scythe in one hand of bone, and an hour-glass in the other, kept watch and ward. Opposite this cheerful-looking guardian was a tall figure in black, standing as motionless as if it, too, was carved in ebony. It was a female figure, very tall and slight, but as beautifully symmetrical as a Yenus Celestis. Her dress was of black velvet, that swept the polished floor, spangled all over with stars of gold and rich rubies. A profusion of shining black hair fell in waves and curls almost to her feet ; but her face, from forehead to chin, was completely hidden by a black velvet mask. In one hand, exquisitely small and white, she held a gold casket, blazing (like her dress) with rubies and with the other she toyed with a tame viper, that had twined itself round her wrist. This was doubtless La Masque, and becoming conscious of that fact, Sir Norman made her a low and courtly bow. She returned it by a slight bend of the head, and turning toward his companion, spoke :
" You here again, Mr. Ormiston ! To what am I in- debted for the honor of two visits in two days ? "
Her voice, Sir Norman thought, was the sweetest he had ever heard, musical as a chime of silver bells, soft as the tones of an ^olian harp through which the west wind plays.
"Madam, I am aware my visits are undesired," said Ormiston, with a flushing check and slightly tremulous voice ; " but I have merely come with my friend. Sir Nor- man Kingsley, who wishes to know what the future has in store for him."
Thus invoked, Sh- Norman Kingsley stepped forward, with anotlier low bow, to the masked lady.
"Yes, madam, I have long heard that those fair fingers can withdraw the curtain of tlie future, and I have come to see what Dame Destiny is going to do for me."
"Sir Norman Kingsley is welcome," said the sweet voice, " and shall see what he desires. There is but one condition, tliat he will keep perfectly silent ; for if lie
THE SORCERESS.
IT
speaks, the scene he beholds will vanish. Come for- ward ! "
Sir Norman compressed his lips as closely as if they were forever hermetically sealed, and came forward ac- cordingly. Leaning over the edge of the ebony caldron, he found that it contained nothing more dreadful than water, for he labored under a vague and unpleasant idea that, like the witches' caldron in Macbeth, it might be filled with serpents' blood and children's brains. La Masque opened her golden casket, and took from it a por- tion of red powder, with which it was filled. Casting it into the caldron, she murmured an invocation in Sanscrit, or Coptic, or some other unknown tongue, and slowly there arose a dense cloud of dark-red smoke, that nearly filled the room. Had Sir Norman ever read the storj^ of Alad- din, he would probably have thought of it then ; but the young courtier did not greatly affect literature of any kind, and thought of nothing now but of seeing something when the smoke cleared away. It was rather long in do- ing so, and when it did, he saw nothing at last but his own handsome, half-serious, half-incredulous face ; but gradually a picture, disthict and clear, formed itself at the bottom, and Sir Norman gazed with bewildered eyes. He saw a large room filled with a sparkling crowd, many of them ladies, splendidly arrayed and flashing in jewels, and foremost among them stood one whose beauty sur- passed anything he.had ever before dreamed of. She wore the robes of a queen, purple and ermine — diamonds blazed on the beautiful neck, arms and fingers, and a tiara of the same brilliants crowned her reg^l head. In one hand she held a scepter ; what seemed to be a throne was behind her, but something that surprised Sir Norman most of all was, to find himself standing beside her, the cynosure of all eyes. While he yet gazed in mingled astonishment and incredulity, the scene faded away, and another took its place. This time a dungeon-cell, damp and dismal ; walls, and floor, and ceiling covered with green and hideous slime. A small lamp stood on the floor, and by its sickly, watery gleam he saw himself again standing, pale and dejected, near the wall. But he was not alone ; the same glittering vision in purple and diamonds stood before him, and sud-
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEEK
denly he drew his sword and plunged it up to the hilt in her heart ! The beautiful vision fell like a stone at his feet, and the sword was drawn ont reeking with her life- blood. This was a little too much for the real Sir Norman, and with an expression of indignant consternation, he sprung upright. Instantly it all faded away, and the reflection of his own excited face looked up at him from the caldron.
" I told you not to speak," said La Masque quietly ; " but you must look on still another scene.
Again she threw a portion of the contents of the casket into the caldron, and " spake aloud the words of power." Another cloud of smoke arose and filled the room, and when it cleared away, Sir Norman beheld a third and less startling sight. The scene and place he could not dis- cover, but it seemed to him like night and a storm. Two men were lying on the ground, and bound fast together, it appeared to him. As he looked it faded away, and once more his own face seemed to mock him in the clear water.
" Do you know those two last figures ? asked the lady.
" I do," said Sir Norman, promptly ; " it was Ormiston and myself."
" Right ! and one of them was dead."
" Dead ! " exclaimed Sir Norman, with a perceptible start. " Which one, madam."
" If you cannot tell that, neither can I. If there is any- thing further you wish to see, I am quite willing to show it to you."
" I'm obliged to you," said Sir Norman, stepping back ; " but no more at present, thank you. Do you mean to say, madam, that I'm some day to murder a lady, especial- ly one so beautiful as she I just now saw ? "
" I have said nothing — all you've seen will come to pass, and whether your destiny be for good or evil, I have nothing to do with it, except," said the sweet voice, earnest- ly, " that if La Masque could strew Sir Norman Kingsley's pathway witli roses, she would most assuredly do so."
" Madam, you ani too kind," said that young gentleman, laying his liand on his heart, while Ormiston scowled darkly — " more especially as I've the misfortune to be a perfect stranger to you."
THE SORCERESS.
19
" N'ot so, Sir Norman. I have known you this many a day ; and before long we shall be better acquainted. Per- mit me to wish you good-evening."
At this gentle hint, both gentlemen bowed themselves out, and soon found themselves out in the street, with very different expressions of countenance — Sir Norman looking considerably pleased and decidedly puzzled, and Mr. Ormiston looking savagely and uncompromisingly jealous. The animated skeleton who had admitted them closed the door after them ; and the two friends stood in the twilight on London Bridge.
20 THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
CHAPTER II.
THE DEAD BKIDE.
Well," said Ormiston, drawing a long breath, " what do you think of that ? "
« Think ? Don't ask me yet," said Sir Norman, look- ing rather bewildered. " I'm in such a state of mystifica- tion that I don't rightly know whether I'm standing on my head or feet. For one thing, I have come to the con- clusion that your masked lady-love must be enchantingly beautiful."
" Have I not told you that a thousand times, oh, thou of little faith ? But why have you come to such a con- clusion ? "
" Because no woman with such a figure, such a voice, and such hands could be otherwise."
" I knew you would own it some day. Do you wonder now that I love her ? "
" Oh ! as to loving her," said Sir Norman, coolly, " that's quite another thing. I could no more love her for her hands, voice and shape, than I could a figure in Avood or wax ; but I admire her vastly, and think her extremely clever. I will never forgot that face in the caldron. It was the most exquisitely-beautiful T ever saw."
" In love with the shadow of a face ? Why, you are a thousandfold more absurd than I."
" No," said Sir Norman, thoughtfully. " T don't know as I'm in love with it ; but if ev(U' I see a living face like it, I certainly shall be. How- did I.a Masque do it, I won- der ? "
" You liad better ask lior," said Ormiston, bitterly. "Slio seems to liave tak(Mi an unusual inton^st in you at first sigbt. Sh(i would strew your path with roses, for-
THE DEAD BRIDE.
21
800th ! Nothing earthly, I believe, would make her say anything half so tender to rae."
Sir Norman laughed, and stroked his mustache compla- cently.
"All a matter of taste, my dear fellow; and these wo- men are noted for their perfection in that line. I begin to admire La Masque more and more, and I think you had better give up the chase, and let me take your place. I don't believe you have the ghost of a chance, Or- miston."
" I don't believe it myself," said Ormiston, with a des- perate face ; " but until the plague carries me off, I can- not give her up ; and the sooner that happens the better. Ha! what is this?"
It was a piercing shriek — no unusual sound ; and, as he spoke, the door of an adjoining house was flung open, a Avoman rushed wildly out, fled down an adjoining street, and disappeared.
Sir Norman and his companion looked at each other, and then at the house.
" What's all this about ? " demanded Ormiston.
" That's a question I can't take it upon myself to an- swer," said Sir Norman ; " and the only way to solve the mystery is to go in and see."
" It may be the plague," said Ormiston, hesitating, *' Yet the house is not marked. There is a watchman. I will ask him." . \
The man with the halberd in his hand was walking up and down before an adjoining house, bearing the ominous red cross and piteous inscription : " Lord have mercy on us !"
" I don't know, sir," was his answer to Ormiston. " If any one there has the plague, they must have taken it lately ; for I heard this morning there was to be a wedding there to-night."
" I never heard of any one screaming in that fashion about a wedding," said Ormiston, doubtfully. " Do you know who lives there ? "
" No, sir. I only came here, myself, yesterday, but two or three times to-day I have seen a very beautiful young lady looking out of the window."
22
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
Ormiston thanked the man, and went back to report to his friend.
"A beautiful young lady ! " said Sir Norman, with energy. " Then I mean to go directly up and see about it, and you can follow or not, just as you please."
So saying, Sir Norman entered the open doorway, and found himself in a long hall, flanked by a couple of doors on each side. These he opened in rapid succession, find- ing nothing but silence and solitude ; and Ormiston — who, upon reflection, chose to follow — ran up a wide and sweep- ing staircase at the end of the hall. Sir Norman followed him, and they came to a hall similar to the one below. A door to the right lay open ; and both entered without ceremony, and looked around.
The room was spacious, and richly furnished. Just enough light stole through the oriel window at the further end, draped with crimson satin, embroidered with gold, to show it. The floor was of stained wood of many colors, ar- ranged in fanciful mosaics, and strewn with Turkish rugs and Persian mats of gorgeous colors. The walls were carved, the ceiling corniced, and all fretted with gold net- work and gilded moldings. On a couch covered with crimson satin, like the window drapery, laj^ a cithern and some loose sheets of music. Near it was a small marble table, covered with books and drawings, with a decanter of wine and an exquisite little goblet of Bohemian glass. The marble mantel was strewn with ornaments of porce- lain and alabaster, and a beautifully carved vase of Parian marble stood in the center, filled with brilliant flowers. A great mirror reflected back the room, and be- neath it stood a toilet table, strewn with jewels, laces, per- fume-bottles, and an array of costly little feminine trifles such as ladies were as fond of two centuries ago as they are to-day. Evidently it was a lady's chamber ; for in a recess near the window stood a great quaint-carved bed- stead witli curtains and snowy lace, looped back with golden arrows and scarlet ribbons. Some one lay on it, too — at least, Ormiston thought so ; and he went cau- tiously forward, drew the curtain and looked down.
" Great Heaven 1 what a beautiful face I " was his cry, as he bent still further down.
THE DEAD BRIDE.
23
" What the plague is the matter ? " asked Sir Norman, coming forward.
" You have said it," said Ormiston, recoiling. " The plague is the matter. There lies one dead of it ! "
Curiosity proving stronger than fear, Sir Norman stepped forward to look at the corpse. It was a young girl with a face as lovely as a poet's vision. That face was like snow, now ; and, in its calm, cold majesty, looked as exquisitely perfect as some ancient Grecian statue. The low, pearly brow, the sweet, beautiful lips, the delicate oval outline of countenance, were perfect. The eyes were closed, and the long dark lashes rested on the ivory cheeks. A profusion of shining dark hair fell in elaborate curls over her neck and shoulders. Her dress was that of a bride ; a robe of white satin brocaded with silver, fairly dazzling in its shining radiance, and as brief in the article of sleeves and neck as that of any modern belle. A circlet of pearls Avere clasped round the snow-white throat, and bracelets of the same jewels encircled the snowy tajoer arms. On her head, she wore a bridal wreath and vail — the former of jewels, the latter falling round her like a cloud of mist. Everything was perfect, from the wreath and veil to the tiny sandaled feet ; and lying there in her mute repose she looked more like some exquisite piece of sculpture than anything that had ever lived and moved in this groveling world of ours. But from one shoulder the dress had been pulled down, and there lay a great livid, purple plague-spot !
" Come away ! " said Ormiston, catching his companion by the arm. " It is death to remain here ! "
Sir Norman had been standing like one in a trance, from which this address roused him, and he grasped Ormiston's shoulder almost frantically.
" Look there, Ormiston ! There lies the very face that sorceress showed me, fifteen minutes ago, in her in- fernal caldron ! I would know it at the other end of the world !"
" Are you sure ? " said Ormiston, glancing again with new curiosity at the marble face. " I never saw anything half so beautiful in all my life; but you see she is dead of the plague."
24 THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
" Dead ? Oh, she cannot be ! Nothing so perfect could die ! "
" Look there," said Ormiston, pointing to the plague- spot! " There is the fatal token ! For Heaven's sake let us go out of this, or we will share the same fate before morning ! "
But Sir Norman did not move — could not move ; he stood there rooted to the spot by the spell of that lovely, lifeless face.
Usually the plague left its victims hideous, ghastly, discolored, and covered with blotches; but in this case there was nothing to mar the perfect beauty of the satin- smooth skin, but that one dreadful mark.
There Sir Norman stood in his trance, as motionless as if some genii out of the " Arabian Nights " had suddenly turned him into stone (a trick they were much addicted to), and destined him to remain there an ornamental fix- ture forever. Ormiston looked at him distractedly, un- certain whether to try moral suasion or to take him by the collar and drag him headlong down the stairs, when a providential but rather dismal circumstance came to his relief. A cart came rattling along the street, a bell was loudly rung, and a hoarse voice arose with it :
" Bring out your dead ! bring out your dead ! "
Ormiston rushed down-stairs to intercept the dead- cart, already almost full, on its way to the plague-pit. The driver stopped at his call, and instantly followed him up- stairs, and into the room. Glancing at the body with the utmost sang froid^ he touched the dress, and indiffer- ently remarked :
" A bride, I should say, and an uncommonly handsome one, too. We'll just take her along as she is, and strip these nice things off the body when we get it to the plague- pit."
So saying, he wrapped her in the sheet, and directing Ormiston to take liold of the two lower ends, took the upper corners hiiiis(!lf, with tlie air of a man quite used to that sort of tiling. Ormiston recoiled from tou(!hing it, and Sir Norman, seeing what they were about to do, and knowing tlu^re was no help for it, made up his mind, like a 8en8il)le young man as he was, to conceal his feelings,
THE DEAD BRIDE.
25
and caught hold of the sheet himself. In this fashion the dead bride was carried down stairs, and laid upon a shut- ter on the top of a pile of bodies in the dead- cart.
It was now almost dark, and as the cart started, the great clock of St. Paul's struck eight. St. Michael's, St. Alban's, and others took up the sound ; and the two young men paused to listen. For many weeks the sky had been clear, brilliant, and blue ; but on this night dark clouds were scudding in wild unrest across it, and the air was oppressingly close and sultry.
" Where are you going now ? " said Ormiston. " Are you for Whitehall to-night ? "
" N"o," said Sir Norman, rather dejectedly, turning to follow the pest-cart. " I am for the plague- pit in Fins- bury fields ! "
" Nonsense, man ! " exclaimed Ormiston, energetically, <'what will take you there? You surely are not m.ad enough to fellow the body of that dead girl ? "
" I shall follow it. You can come or not, just as you please."
" Oh ! if you are determined, I will go with you, of course ; but it is the craziest freak I ever heard of. After this, you need never laugh at me."
" I never will," said Sir Norman, moodily ; " for if you love a face you have never seen, I love one I have only looked on when dead. Does it not seem sacrilege to throw any one so like an angel into that horrible plague- pit."
" I never saw an angel," said Ormiston, as he and his friend started to go after the dead- cart. " And I dare say there have been scores as beautiful as that poor girl thrown mto the plague-pit before now. I wonder why the house has been deserted, and if she was really a bride. The iDridegroom could not have loved her much, I fancy, or not ■even the pestilence could have scared him away."
" But, Ormiston, what an extraordinary thing it is, that it should be precisely the same face that the fortune- teller showed me ! There she was alive, and here she is dead ; so I've lost all faith in La Masque forever. *
Ormiston looked doubtful.
" Are you quite sure it is the same, Kingsley ? "
26
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
« Quite sure ? " said Sir Norman, indignantly. " Of course I am ! Do you think I could be mistaken in such a case ? I tell you I would know the face in Kamschatka or the North Pole ; for I don't believe there ever was such another created."
" So be it, then ! Your object, of course, in following that cart is to take a last look at her ? "
" Precisely so. Don't talk ; I feel in no mood for it just at present."
Ormiston smiled to himself, and did not talk, accord- ingly ; and in silence the two friends followed the gloomy dead- cart. A faint young moon, pale and sickly, was struggling dimly through drifts of dark clouds, and lighted the lonesome, dreary streets with a wan, watery glimmer. For weeks the weather had been brilliantly fine — the days all sunshine, the nights all moonlight ; but now Ormiston, looking up at the troubled face ofthe sky, concluded men- tally that the Lord Mayor had selected an unpropitious night for the grand illumination. Sir Norman, with his eyes on the pest-cart and the long white figure therein^ took no heed of anything in the heaven above or earth beneath, and strode along in dismal silence till they reached, at last, their journey's end.
As the cart stopped, the two young men approached the edge of the plague-pit, and looked in with a shudder. Truly it was a horrible sight, that heaving, putrid sea of corruption ; for the bodies of the miserable victims were thrown in cartful s, and only covered with a handful of earth and quicklime. Here and there, through the crack- ing and sinking surface, could be seen protruding a fair white arm, or a baby face mingled with the long, dark tresses of maidens, the golden curls of children, and the white hairs of old age. The pestilential eliluvia arising from the dreadful mass was so overpowering that botli shrunk l)ack, faint and sick, after a moment's survey. It was indeed, as Sir Norman had said, a horrible grave wlierein to lie.
Meantime the driver, with an eye to business, and no time for su(;]i nonsense as melancholy moralizing, had laid tlie l)o(ly of Uie young gii-1 on tlie groiuid, and briskly turned his cart and dumped the remainder of his load into
THE DEAD BRIDE.
27
the pit. Then, having flung a few handfuls of clay over it, he unwound the sheet, and kneeling beside the body, prepared to remove the jewels. The rays of the moon and his dark-lantern fell on the lovely, snow-white face together, and Sir Norman groaned despairingly as he saw its death-cold rigidity. The man had stripped the rings off the fingers, the bracelets off the arms ; but as he was about to perform the same operation towards the necklace, he was stopped by a startling interruption enough. In his haste, the clasp entered the beautiful neck, inflicting a deep scratch from which the blood spouted ; and at the same instant the dead girl opened her eyes, with a shrill cry. Uttering a yell of terror, as well he might, the man sprung back and gazed at her with horror, believing that his sacrilegious robbery had brought the dead to life. Even the two young men — albeit neither of them given to nervousness or cowardice — recoiled for an instant and stared aghast. Then, as the whole truth struck them, that the girl had been in a deep swoon and not dead, both simultaneously darted forward, and, forgetting all fear of infection, knelt by her side. A pair of great lustrous black were staring wildly around, and fixed themselves first on one face and then on the other.
" Where am I ? " she exclaimed, with a terrified look, as she strove to raise herself on her elbow, and fell in- stantaneously back with a cry of agony, as she felt for the first time the throbbing anguish of the wound.
" You are with friends, dear lady ! " said Sir Xorman, in a voice quite tremulous between astonishment and delight. " Fear nothing, for you shall be saved."
The great black eyes turned wildly upon him, while a fierce spasm convulsed the beautiful face.
" Oh, my God, I remember ! I have the plague ! " And, with a prolonged shriek of anguish, that thrilled even to the hardened heart of the dead-cart driver, the girl fell back senseless again.
Sir ^^orman Kingsley sprung to his feet, and with more the air of a frantic lunatic than a responsible young Eng- lish knight, caught the cold form in his arms, laid it in the dead-cart, and was about springing into the driver's seat, when that individual indignantly interposed.
28
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
" Come, now ; none of that ! If you were the king him- self, you shouldn't run away with my cart in that fashion ; so you just get out of my place as fast as you can ! "
" My dear Kingsley, what are you about to do ? " asked Ormiston, catching his excited friend by the arm.
" Do ! " exclaimed Sir Norman, in a high key. " Can't you see that for yourself ? And I'm going to have that girl cured of the plague, if there is such a thing as a doctor to be had for love or money, in London."
" You had better have her taken to the pest-house at once, then; there are chirurgeons and nurses enough there."
" To the pest-house ? Why, man, I might as well have her thrown into the plague-pit there, at once ! Not I ! I shall have her taken to my own house, and there properly cared for, and this good fellow will drive her there in- stantly."
Sir Norman backed this insinuation by putting a broad gold- piece into the driver's hand, which instantly produced a magical effect on his rather surly countenance.
" Certainly, sir," he began, springing into his seat with alacrity. "Where shall I drive the young lady to?"
" Follow me," said Sir Norman. " Come along, Ormis- ton." And seizing his friend by the arm, he hurried him along with a velocity rather uncomfortable, considering they both w^ore cloaks, and the night was excessively sul- try. The gloomy vehicle and its fainting burden followed close behind.
" What do you mean to do with her ? " asked Ormiston, as soon as he found breath enough to speak.
"Haven't T told you?" said Sir Norman, impatiently "Take her liomc, of course."
" And after tlifit?"
" (io for a doctor."
"y\iHl after tlnit?"
" Tak(; (;are of li(;r till she gets well."
"And i\.n,v,Y tliiitV"
" Wiry, find out lier history and all about lier." "And after that?"
" After that! y\fter that ! How do I know what after
THE DEAD BRIDE. ^ 29
that ? " exclaimed Sir Norman, rather fiercely, " Ormis- ton, what do you mean ? " Ormiston laughed.
" And after that you'll marry her, I suppose ? " " Perhaps I may, if she will have me. And what if I do ? "
" Oh, nothing ! Only it struck me you may be saving another man's wife."
" That's true ! " said Sir Norman, in a subdued tone, " and if such should unhappily be the case, nothing vv^ill remain but to live in hopes that he may be carried off by the plague."
" Pray Heaven that we may not be carried off by it our- selves ! " said Ormiston, with a slight shudder. " I shall dream of nothing but that horrible plague-pit for a week. If it were not for La Masque, I would not stay another hour in this pest-stricken city.'*
" Here we are," was Sir Norman's rather inapposite an- swer, as they entered Piccadilly, and stopped before'a large and handsome house, whose gloomy portal was faintly illuminated by a large lamp. " Here, my man, just carry the lady in."
He unlocked the door as he spoke, and led the way across a long hall to a sleeping chamber, elegantly fitted up. The man placed the body on the bed and departed, while Sir Norman, seizing a hand-bell, rung a peal that brought a staid-looking housekeeper to the scene directly. Seeing a lady, young and beautiful, in bridal robes, lying apparently dead on her young master's bed at that hour of the night, the discreet matron, over whose virtuous head fifty years and a snow-white cap had passed, started back with a slight scream.
"Gracious me. Sir Norman! What on earth is the meaning of this ? "
" My dear Mrs. Preston," began Sir Norman, blandly, this young lady is ill of the plague, and — " But all further explanation was cut short by a horrified shriek from the old lady, and a precipitate rush from the room. Down-stairs she flew informing the other servants as she went, between her screams, and when Sir Norman, in a violent rage, went in search of her five minutes after,
30
THE MIDlSriGHT QUEEN.
he found not only the kitchen, but the whole house de- serted.
" Well ? " said Ormiston, as Sir Norman strode back, looking fiery hot and savagely angry.
"Well, they have all fled, every man and woman of them, the — " Sir Norman ground out something not quite proper, behind his mustache. " I shall have to go for the doctor myself. Doctor Forbes is a friend of mine, and lives near ; and you," looking at him rather doubtfully, " would you mind staying here, lest she should recover consciousness before I return ? "
" To tell you the truth," said Ormiston, with charming frankness, " I should ! The lady is extremely beautiful, I must own ; but she looks uncomfortably corpse-like at this present moment. I do not wish to die of the plague, either, until I see La Masque once more ; and so, if it is all the same to you, my dear friend, I will have the greatest pleasure in stepping round with you to the doctor's."
Sir Norman, though he did not much approve of this, could not very well object, and the two sallied forth together. Walking a short distance up Piccadilly, they struck off into a by street, and soon reached the house they were in search of. Sir Norman knocked loudly at the door, which was opened by the doctor himself. Briefly and rapidly Sir Norman informed him how and where his services were required ; and the doctor being always pro- vided with everything necessary for such cases, set out with him immediately. Fifteen minutes after leaving his own house Sir Norman was back there again, and stand- ing in his own chamber. But a simultaneous exclamation of amazement and consternation broke from him and Or- miston, as on entering the room they found the bed empty, and the lady gone !
A dead pause followed, during which the three looked blankly at the bed, and then at each other. The scene, no doul)t, would have been ludicrous enough to a third i)arty ; l>ut neither of our trio could see any- thing whatever to laugh at. Ormiston was the first to «peak.
" What in Heaven's name has happened ? " he wonder- ingly exclaimed.
THE DEAD BRIDE.
81
" Some one has been here," said Sir Norman, turning very pale, "and carried her off while we were gone."
" Let us search the house," said the doctor, " you should have locked your door, Sir Norman ; but it may not be too late yet."
Acting on the hint. Sir Norman seized the lamp burn- ing on the table, and started on the search. His two friends followed him, and,
The highest, the lowest, the loveliest spot, They searched for the lady, and found her not."
No, though, there was not the slightest trace of robbers or intruders neither was there the slightest trace of the beautiful plague-patient. Everything in the house was precisely as it always was, but the silver shining vision was gone.
32
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
CHAPTER III.
THE COUET PAGE.
The search was given over at last in despair, and the doctor took his hat and disappeared. Sir Norman and Ormiston stopped in the lower hall and looked at each other in mute amaze.
" What can it all mean ? " asked Ormiston, appealing more to society at large than to his bewildered companion.
" I haven't the faintest idea," said Sir Norman, distract- edly ; " only I am pretty certain, if I don't find her, I shall do something so desperate that the plague will be a trifle compared to it ! "
" It seems almost impossible that she can have been carried off — doesn't it ? "
" If she has ! " exclaimed Sir Norman, " and I find out the abductor, he won't have a whole bone in his body two minutes after ! "
" And yet more impossible that she can have gone of herself," pursued Ormiston, with the air of one entering- upon an abstruse subject, and taking no heed whatever of his companion's marginal notes.
" Gone of herself ! Is the man crazy ? " inquired Sir Norman, with a stare. " Fifteen minutes before, we left her dead, or in a dead swoon, which is all the same in Greek, and yet he talks of her getting up and going off Iierself I"
" In fact, the only way to get at the bottom of the mys- iery," said Ormiston, " is to go in search of her. Sleeping, \ suppose, is out of the question."
" Of course it is ! I shall never sleep again till I find ]ierl"
They passed out, and Sir Norman this time took the })ve- caution of turning the key, thereby fulfilling the adag(M)f locking tlio stal)lo door when the steed was stolen. Tht>
THE COURT PAGE.
83
night had grown darker and hotter ; and as they walked along the clock of St. Paul's tolled nine.
" And now, where shall we go ? " inquired Sir Norman, as they rapidly hurried on.
"I should recommend visiting the house where we found her first ; if not there, then we can try the pest- house."
Sir N^orman shuddered.
" Heaven forefend she should be there ! It is the most mysterious thing ever I heard of ! "
" What do you think now of La Masque's prediction — dare you doubt still ? "
" Ormiston, I don't know what to think. It is the samo face I saw and yet — "
u Well— and yet ? "
" I can't tell you — I am fairly bewildered. If we don't find the lady at her own house, I have half a mind to apply to your friend, La Masque^ again."
"The wisest thing you could do, my dear fellow. If any one knows your unfortunate beloved's whereabouts, it is La Masque, depend upon it."
" That's settled, then ; and now, don't talk, for conver- sation at this smart pace I don't admire."
Ormiston, like the amiable, obedient young man that he was, instantly held his tongue, and they strode along at a breathless pace. There was an unusual concourse of men abroad that night, watching the gloomy face of the sky, and waiting the hour of midnight to kindle the myriad of fires ; and as the two tall, dark figures went rapidly by, all supposed it to be a case of life or death. In the eyes of one of the party, perhaps it was ; and neither halted till they came once more in sight of the house, whence a short time previously they had carried the death-cold bride. A row of lamps over the door-portals shed a yellow, uncer- tain light around, while the lights of barges and wherries were sown like stars along the river.
" There is the house," cried Ormiston, and both paused to take breath ; " and I am about at the last gasp. I won- der if your pretty mistress would feel grateful if she knew what I have come through to-night for her sweet sake ? "
" There are no lights," said Sir Norman, glancing anx-
34
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEJ^.
iously up at the darkened front of the house ; " even the link before the door is unlit. Surely she cannot be there."
" That remains to be seen, though I'm very doubtful about it, myself. Ah ! who have we here ? "
The cloor of the house in question opened, as he spoke, and a figure — a man's figure, wearing a slouched hat and long, dark cloak, came slowly out. He stopped before the house and looked at it long and earnestly ; and, by the twinkling light of the lamps, the friends saw enough of him to know he was young and distinguished-looking.
" I should not wonder in the least if that were the bride- groom," whispered Ormiston, maliciously.
Sir Norman turned pale with jealousy, and laid his hand on his sword, with a quick and natural impulse to make the bride a widow forthwith, But he checked the desire for an instant, as the brigandish-looking gentleman, after a prolonged stare at the premises, stepped up to the watch- man, who had given tiiem their information an hour or two before, and who was still at his post. The friends could not be seen, but they could hear, and they did so, very earnestly indeed.
" Can you tell me, my friend," began the cloaked un- known, " what has become of the people residing in yonder house ? "
The watchman held his lamp up to the face of the in- terlocutor— a handsome face by the Avay, what could be seen of it — and indulged himself in a prolonged survey.
" Well ! " said the gentleman, impatiently, " have you no tongue, fellow ? Where are they, I say ? "
" Blessed if I know," said the watchman. " I Avasn't set here to keep guard over them, was I ? It looks like it, though," said the man, in parenthesis ; " for this makes twice to-night I've been asked questions about it."
" Ah ! " said the gentleman, with a slight start. " Who asked you before, pray ? "
" Two young gentlemen ; lords, I expect, by their dress. Someljody ran screaming out of the house, and they wanted to know what was wrong."
" Well ? " said the stranger breathlessly, " and then ? "
" And then, as I couldn't tell them, they went in to see for themselves, and sliortly after came out with a body
THE COURT PAGE.
35
wrapped in a sheet, which they put in a pest-cart going by, and had it buried, I suppose, with the rest in the plague-pit."
The stranger fairly staggered back, and caught at a pil- lar near for support. For nearly ten minutes he stood perfectly motionless, and then, without a word, started up and walked rapidly away. The friends looked after him curiously till he was out of sight.
" So she is not there," said Ormiston ; " and our mysteri- ous friend in the cloak is as much at a loss as we are our- selves. Where shall we go next — to La Masque or the pest-house ? "
" To La Masque — I hate the idea of the pest-house ! "
" She may be there, nevertheless ; and, under present circumstances, it is the best place for her."
" Don't talk of it ! " said Sir Norman, impatiently. " I do not and will not believe she is there. If the sorceress shows her to me in the caldron again I verily believe I shall jump in headforemost."
" And I verily believe we will not find La Masque at home. She wanders through the streets at all hours, but particularly affects the night."
" We shall try, however. Come along ! "
The house of the sorceress was but a short distance from that of Sir Norman's plague- stricken lady-love's; and shod with a sort of seven-league boots, they soon reached it. Like the other, it was all dark and de-
" This is the house," said Ormiston, looking at it doubt- fully, " but where is La Masque ? "
" Here ! " said a silvery voice at his elbow ; and, turn- serted.
ing round, they saw a tall, slender figure, cloaked, hooded and masked. " Surely, you two do not want me again to- night?"
Both gentlemen doffed their plumed hats, and simul- taneously bowed.
" Fortune favors us," said Sir Norman. " Yes, madam, it is even so ; once again to-night we would tax your skill."
" Well, what do you wish to know ? " " Madame, we are in the street."
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
" Sir, I'm aware of that. Pray proceed."
" Will you not have the goodness to permit us to enter ? '* said Sir Norman, inclined to feel offended. " How can you tell us what we wish to know, here ? "
" That is my secret," said the sweet voice. " Probably Sir Norman Kingsley wishes to know something of the fair lady I showed him some time ago ? "
" Madam, you've guessed it. It is for that purpose I have sought you now ! "
"Then you have seen her already ? "
" I have."
" And love her ? "
" With all my heart."
" A rapid flame," said the musical voice, in a tone that had just a thought of sarcasm, " for one of whose very ex- istence you did not dream two hours ago."
" Madam La Masque," said Norman, flushed and haughty, " Love is not a question of time."
" Sir Norman Kingsley," said the lady, somewhat sadly, I am aware of that. Tell me what you wish to know, and if it be in my power, you shall know it."
" A thousand thanks ! Tell me, then, is she whom I seek living or dead ? "
" She is alive."
" She has the plague ? " said Sir Norman:
" I know it."
" Will she recover ? "
"She will."
" Where is she now ? "
La Masque hesitated and seemed uncertain whether or not to reply. Sir Norman passionately broke in :
" Tell nic, madam, for I must know ! "
"Tlicii yoii sliall ; but remember, if you get into danger you mil si not blame me."
" IJlaine you ! No, I think I would hardly do that. Whore am I to seek ifor her V "
"Two miles from London beyond Newgate," said the mask, " tbere stands the ruins of what was long ago a hunting-lodge, now a crumbling skeleton, roofless and windowlc^ss, and said, by rumor, to be haunted. Perhaps you hav(^ seen or lioard of it?"
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I have seen it a hundred times," broke in Sir Norman. « Surely, you do not mean to say she is there ! "
" Go there and you will see. Go there to-night, and lose no time — that is, supposing you can procure a license."
" I have one already. I have a pass from the lord mayor to come and go from the city when I please."
" Good ! Then you'll go to-night ? "
" I will go. I might as well do that as anything else, I suppose ; but it is quite impossible," said Sir Norman,, firmly, not to say obstinately, " that she can be there."
Very well — you'll see. You had better go on horse- back, if you desire to be back in time to witness the illu- mination."
" I don't particularly desire to see the illumination, as I know of ; but I will ride, nevertheless. What am I to do when I get there ? "
" You will enter the ruins, and go on till you discover a spiral staircase leading to what was once the vaults. The flags of these vaults are loose from age, and if you should desire to remove any of them you will probably not hnd it an impossibility."
" Why should I desire to remove them ? " asked Sir Korman, who felt dubious, and disappointed, and inclined to be dogmatical.
"Why, you may see a glimmering of light — hear strange noises ; and, if you remove the stones, may pos- sibly see strange sights. As I told you before, it is rumored to be haunted, which is true enough, though not in the way they suspect ; and so the fools and the com- mon herd stay away."
" And if I am discovered peeping like a rascally valet, what will be the consequences ? "
" Very unpleasant ones to you ; but you need not be discovered if you take care. Ah ! Look there ! "
She pointed to the river, and both her companions looked. A barge gayly painted and decorated, with a light in prow and stern, came gliding up among less pre- tentious craft, and stopped at the foot of a flight of stairs leading to the bridge. It contained four persons — the oarsman, two cavaliers sitting in the stern, and a lad in the rich liA^ery of a court-page in the act of springing out.
88
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
Nothing very wonderful in all this ; and Sir Norman and Ormiston looked at her for an explanation.
" Do you know those two gentlemen ? " she asked.
" Certainly," replied Sir Norman, promptly ; " one is the Duke of York, the other the Earl of Rochester."
" And that page, to which of them does he belong ? "
" The page ! " said Sir Norman, with a stare, as he leaned forward to look • " pray madam, what has the page to do with it ? "
" Look and see ! "
The two peers had ascended the stairs, and were already on the bridge. The page loitered behind, talking, as it seemed, to the waterman.
" He wears the livery of the Earl of Rochester," said Ormiston, speaking for the first time, " but I cannot see his face."
"He will follow presently, and be sure you see it then I Possibly you may not find it entirely new to you."
She drew back into the shadow as she spoke ; and the two nobles, as they advanced, talking earnestly, beheld Sir Norman and Ormiston. Both raised their hats with a look of recognition, and the salute was courteously re- turned.
"Good-night, gentlemen," said Lord Rochester; "a hot evening, is it not ? Have you come here to witness the illumination ? "
" Hardly," said Sir Norman ; " we have come for a very different purpose, my lord."
" The fires will have one good effect," said Ormiston, laughing; "if they clear the air and drive away this stifling atmosphere."
" Pray God they drive away the plague ! " said the Duke of York, as he and his companion passed from view.
The page sprung up the stairs after them, liumming as he came, one of his master's love-ditties — songs, saith tradition, savoring anytliing but the odor of sanctity. With the warning of La Masque fresh in tlieir minds, both looked at him earnestly. His gay livery was that of Lord Rochester, and l)ccame his graceful figure well, as he marched along with a jaunty swagger, one hand on his
THE COURT PAGE.
39
side, and the other toying with a beautiful little spaniel that frisked in open violation of the lord mayor's orders, commanding all dogs, great and small, to be put to death as propagators of the pestilence. In passing, the lad turned his face toward them for a moment — a bright, saucy, handsome face it was — and the next instant he went round an angle and disappeared, Ormiston sup- pressed an oath. Sir Norman stifled a cry of amazement — for both recognized that beautiful, colorless face, those perfect features, and great, black, lustrous eyes. It was the face of the lady they had saved from the plague-pit.
" Am I sane or mad ? " inquired Sir Nprman, looking helplessly about him for informations. " Surely that is 'she we are in search of."
" It certainly is ! " said Ormiston. " Where are the wonders of this night to end ? "
" Satan and La Masque only know ; for they both seem to have united to drive me mad. Where is she ? "
" Where, indeed ? " said Ormiston ; " where is last year's snow ? " And Sir ISTorman, looking round at the the spot where she had stood a moment before, found that she, too, had disappeared.
40
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
CHAPTER IV.
THE STRAXGEE.
The two friends looked at each other in impressive silence for a moment, and spake never a word. Not that they were astonished — they were long past the power of that emotion ; and if a cloud had dropped from the sky at their feet, they would probably have looked at it pas- sively, and vaguely wondered if the rest would follow. Sir Norman, especially, had sunk into a state of mind that words are faint and feeble to describe. Oimiston, not being quite so far gone, was the first to open his lips.
" Upon my honor, Sir Norman, this is the most astonish- ing thing I ever heard of. That certainly was the face of our half-dead bride ! What, in the name of all the gods, can it mean, I wonder ? "
" I have given up wondering," said Sir Norman, in the same helpless tone. " And if the earth was to open and swallow London up, I should not be the least surprised. One thing is certain : the lady we are seeking and that page are one and the same."
" And yet La Masque told you that she was two miles from the city in the haunted ruin , and La Masque most assuredly knows."
" I have no doubt she is there. I shall not be the least astonished if I find her in every street between this and Newgate."
" Really, it is a most singular affair ! First you see her in the magic caldron ; then we find her dead ; then, Avhen within an ace of being buried, she comes to life ; then we leave her lifeless as a marble statue, shut up in your room, and, fifteen minutes after, she vanishes as mysteri- ously as a fairy in a nursery legend. And, lastly, she turns up in the shape of a c()urt-j);ige, and swaggers along London Bridge at tliis hour of the night, chanting a love-song.
THE STRANGER.
41
Faith ! it would puzzle the sphinx herself to read this riddle, I've a notion ! "
" I, for one, shall never try to read it," said Sir Norman. *' I am about tired of this labyrinth of mysteries, and shall leave time and La Masque to unravel them at their leisure."
" Then you mean to give up the pursuit ? "
" Not exactly. I love this mysterious beauty too well to do that ; and when next I find her, be it where it may, I shall take care she does not slip so easilj^ through my fingers."
" I can not forget that page," said Ormiston, musingly. *' It is singular, since he wears the Earl of Rochester's livery, that we have never seen him before among his "followers. Are you quite sure, Sir Norman, that you have not?"
"Seen him? Don't be absurd, Ormiston! Do you think I could ever forget such a face as that ? "
" It would not be easy, I confess. One does not see 4such every day. And yet — and yet — it is most extraor- dinary ! "
" I shall ask Rochester about him the first thing to- morrow ; and unless he is an optical illusion — which I vow I half-believe is the case — I will come at the truth in spite of your demoniac friend, La Masque ! "
" Then you do not mean to look for him to-night ? "
" Look for him ? I might as well look for a needle in a haystack. Not I ! I have promised La Masque to visit the old ruins, and there I shall go forthwith. Will you accompany me ? "
" I think not. I have a word to say to La Masque ; and you and she kept talking so busily, I had no chance to put it in."
Sir Norman laughed.
" Besides, I have no doubt it is a word you would not like to utter in the presence of a third party even though that third party be your friend and Pythias, Kingsley. Do you mean to stay here like a plague- sentinel until she returns?"
" Possibly ; or if I get tired I may set out in search of her. When do you return?"
42
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
" The Fates, that seem to make a foot-ball of my best affections, and kick them as they please, only know. If nothing happens — which, being interpreted, means, if I am still in the land of the living — I shall surely be back by daybreak."
"And I shall be anxious about that time to hear the re- sult of your night's adventure ; so where shall we meet ? "
" Why not here ? it is as good a place as any."
« With all my heart. Where do you propose getting a horse ? "
" At the King's Arms — not a stone's throw from here. Farewell."
" Good-night, and God speed you ! " said Ormiston. And wrapping his cloak close about him, he leaned against the doorway, and watching the dancing lights on the river, prepared to await the return of La Masque.
With his head full of the adventures and misadventures of the night, Sir Norman walked thoughtfully on until he reached the King's Arms — a low inn on the bank of the ■V river. To his dismay he found the house shut up, and bearing the dismal mark and inscription of the pestilence. WJiile he stood contemplating it in perplexity, a watch- man, on guard before another plague-stricken house, ad- vanced and informed him that the whole family had per- ished of the disease, and that the landlord himself, the last survivor, had been carried off not twenty minutes be- fore to the plague-pit.
" But," added the man, seeing Sir Norman's look of annoyance, and being informed what he wanted, " there are two or three horses around there in the stable, and you may as well help yourself ; for if you don't take them, somebody else will."
This philosophic logic struck Sir Norman as being so extremely reasonable, that without more ado he stepped round to tlie stables and selected the best it contained. Before proceeding on his journey, it occurred to him that, having be(;n handling a plague-stricken patient, it would be a good thing to get his clothes fumigated ; so lie stepped into a n(jig}il)oring apothecary's shop for that pur- pose, and provided himself also with a bottle of aromatic vinegar. Thus prepared for the worst, Sir Norman
THE STRANGER.
43
sprung on his horse like a second Don Quixote striding his good steed Rozinante, and sallied forth in quest of ad- ventures. These, for a short time, were of rather a dis- mal character ; for, hearing the noise of horse's hoofs in the silent streets at that hour of the night, the people opened their doors as he passed by, thinking it the pest- cart, and brought forth many a miserable victim of the pestilence. Averting his head from the revolting spec- tacles. Sir Norman held the bottle of vinegar to his nos- trils, and rode rapidly till he reached Newgate. There he was stopped until his bill of health was examined, and that small manuscript being found all right, he was permitted to pass on in peace. Everywhere he went, the trail of the serpent was visible over all. Death and Deso- lation went hand in hand. Outside as well as inside the gates great piles of wood and coal were arranged, waiting only the midnight hour to be fired. Here, hoAvever, no one seemed to be stirring ; and no sound broke the silence but the distant rumble of the death-cart, and the ringing of the driver's bell. There were lights in some of the houses, but many of them were dark and deserted, and nearly every one bore the red cross of the plague.
It was a gloomy scene and hour, and Sir Norman's heart turned sick within him as he noticed the ruin and devastation the pestilence had everywhere wrought. And he remembered, with a shudder, the prediction of Lilly, the astrologer, that the paved streets of London would be like green fields, and the living be no longer able to bury the dead. Long before this, he had grown hardened and accustomed to death from its very frequence ; but now, as he looked round him he almost resolved to ride on, and return no more to London till the plague should have left it. But then came the thought of his unknovm lady-love, and with it the reflection that he was on his way to find her ; and rousing himself from his melancholy reverie, he rode on at a brisker pace, heroically resolved to brave the plague or any other emergency, for her sake. Full of this laudable and lover-like resolution, he had got on about a mile further, when he was suddenly checked in his rapid career by an exciting, but in no way surprising little incident.
'44
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
During the last few yards, Sir Norman had come with- in sight of another horseman, riding on at rather a leisurely pace, considering the place and the hour. Suddenly, three other horsemen came galloping down upon him, and the leader, presenting a pistol at his head, requested him in a stentorian voice for his money or his life. By way of re- ply, the stranger instantly produced a pistol of his own, and before the astonished highwayman could comprehend the possibility of such an act, discharged it full in his face. With a loud yell the robber reeled and fell from his sad- dle, and in a twinkling both his companions fired their pistols at the traveler, and bore, with a simultaneous cry of rage, down upon him. Neither of the shots had taken effect, but the two enraged highwaymen would have made short work of their victim had not Sir Norman, like a true knight, ridden to the rescue. Drawing his sword with one vigorous blow he placed another of the assassins hors de combat', and, delighted with the idea of a fight to stir his stagnant blood, was turning (like a second St. George at the Dragon) upon the other, when that indi- vidual, thinking discretion the better part of valor, in- stantaneously turned tail and fled. The whole brisk little episode had not occupied five minutes, and Sir Norman was scarcely aware the fight had begun before it had trium- phantly ended.
" Short, sharp and decisive ! " was the stranger's cool criticism, as he deliberately wiped his blood-stained sword and placed it in a velvet scabbard. " Our friends, there, got more than they bargained for, I fancy. Though, but for you, sir," he said, politely raising his hat and bowing, " I should probably have been ere this in heaven, or — the other place."
Sir Norman, deeply edified by the easy sang froid of the speaker, turned to t;ik(^ a. second look at him. There was very lil.Uc lii^Iil; Tor tlu^ iiig-lit luid ^Town darker as it wore on, and tlu^ few stars tliat liad glinnnered faintly liad hid th(n"r dimiiiislied heads behind the })iles of inky clouds. Still, there was a sort of faint })h()sphores(!ent light whit(^ning the gloom, and by it Sir Norman's kc^en bright eyes discovered that he wore a long dark (iloak and slouched hat. He discovered something else, too —
THE STRANGER.
45
that he had seen that hat and cloak, and the man inside of them, on London Bridge not an hour before. It struck Sir Norman there was a sort of fatality in their meeting ; and his pulses quickened a trifle, as he thought that he might be speaking to the husband of the lady for whom he had so suddenly conceived such a rash and inordinate iittachment. That personage meantime having reloaded his pistol, with a self-possession refreshing to witness, re- placed it in his doublet, gathered up the reins, and glan- cing slightly at his companion, spoke again :
" I should thank you for saving my life, I suppose, but thanking people is so little in my line that I scarcely know how to set about it. Perhaps, my dear sir, you will take the will for the deed."
" An original, this," thought Sir Norman, " whoever he is." Then aloud : " Pray don't trouble yourself about thanks, sir. I should have done precisely the same for the highwaymen, had you been three to one over them."
" I don't doubt it in the least ; nevertheless, I feel grate- ful, for you have saved my life all the same, and you have never seen me before."
" There 3^ou are mistaken," said Sir Norman, quietly, I had the pleasure of seeing you scarce an hour ago."
"Ah!" said the stranger, in an altered tone, "and ^vhere ? "
" On London Bridge."
" I did not see you. "
" Very likely, but I was there none the less."
" Do you know me ? " said the stranger ; and Sir Nor- man could see he was gazing at him sharply from under the shadov/ of the slouched hat.
" I have not that honor, but I hope to do so before we part."
" It was quite dark when you saw me on the bridge — how comes it, then, that you recollect me so well ? "
" I have always been blessed with an excellent memory," said Sir Norman, carelessly, "and I knew your dress, face and voice instantly."
" My voice ! Then you heard me speak — probably to the watchman guarding a plague-stricken house ? "
46 THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
"Exactly ! and the subject being a very interesting one, I listened to all you said."
" Indeed ! and what possible interest could the subject have for you, may I ask ? *^
" A deeper one than you think ! " said Sir Norman, with a slight tremor in his voice as he thought of the lady, "the watchman told you the lady you sought for been carried away dead, thrown into the plague- pit!*
" Well," cried the stranger, starting violently, " and was it not true?"
" Only partly. She was carried away in the pest- cart sure enough, but she was not thrown into the plague- pit ! "
" And why ? "
" Because, when on reaching that horrible spot, she was found to be alive ! "
" Good Heaven ! And what then ? "
" Then ! " exclaimed Sir Norman, in a tone almost as ex- cited as his own, " she was brought to the house of a friend, and left alone for a few minutes, while that friend went in search of a doctor. On returning they found her — where do you think ? "
"Where?"
" Gone ! " said Sir Norman, emphatically, " spirited away by some mysterious agency ; for she was dying of the plague, and could not possibly stir hand or foot her- self."
" Dying of the plague, oh, Leoline ! " said the stranger, in a voice full of pity and horror, while for a moment he covered his face with his hg^nds.
" So her name is Leoline ? " said Sir Norman to himself, " I have found that out, and also that this gentleman, wliatever he may be to her, is as ignorant of her where- abouts as I am myself. He seems in trouble, too. I wonder if he really happens to be her husband ?"
The stranger suddenly lifted his head and favored Sir Norman with a long and searcliing look.
" How come you to know all this, Sir Norman Kings- ley ? " he asked, al)ruptly.
" And how come you to know my name ? " dtiiuanded
THE STRANGER.
47
Sir Norman, very much amazed, notwithstanding his assertion that nothing would astonish him more.
"That is of no consequence! Tell me how you've learned all this ? " repeated the stranger, in a tone of al- most stern authority.
Sir Norman started and stared. That voice ! he had heard it a thousand times ! It had evidently been dis- guised before ; but now, in the excitement of the moment, the stranger was thrown off his guard, and it became per- fectly familiar. But where had he heard it ? For the life of him. Sir Norman could not tell, yet it was as well known to him as his own. It had the tone, too, of one far more used to command than entreaty ; and Sir Norman, instead of getting angry, as he felt he ought to have done, mechanically answered :
" The watchman told you of two young men who brought her out and laid her in the dead- cart — I was one of the two."
" And who was the other ? "
" A friend of mine — one Malcolm Ormiston."
" Ah ! I know him ! Pardon my abruptness, Sir Nor- man," said the stranger, once more speaking in his as- sumed suave tone, " but I feel deeply on this subject, and was excited at the moment. You spoke of her being brought to the house of a friend — now, who may that friend be, for I was not aware that she had any ? "
" So I judged," said Sir Norman, rather bitterly, " or she \vould not have been left to die alone of the plague. She was brought to my house, sir, and I am the friend who would have stood by her to the last ! "
Sir Norman sat up very straight and haughty on his horse ; and had it been daylight he would have seen a slight derisive smile pass over the lips of his companion.
" I have always heard that Sir Norman Kingsley was a chivalrous knight," he said ; " but I scarcely dreamed his gallantry would have carried him so far as to brave death by the pestilence for the sake of an unknown lady — however beautiful. I wonder you did not carry her to the pest-house."
" No doubt ! Those who could desert her at such a time would probably be capable of that or any other baseness ! "
48
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
" My good friend," said the stranger, calmly, " your in- sinuation is not over-courteous, but I can forgive it, more for the sake of what you've done for her to-night than for myself."
Sir Norman's lip curled.
" I'm obliged to you ! And now, sir, as you have seen fit to question me in this free and easy manner, will you pardon me if I take the liberty of returning the compli- ment, and ask you a few in return ? "
" Certainly ; pray proceed. Sir Norman," said the stran- ger, blandly ; " you are at liberty to ask as many ques- tions as you please, and — so am I to answer them ! "
" I answered all yours unhesitatingly, and you owe it to me to do the same," said Sir Norman, somewhat haughtily. " In the first place, you have an advantage of me which I neither understand nor relish ; so, to place us on equal terms, will you have the goodness to tell me your name ? "
" Most assuredly ! My name," said the stranger, with glib airiness, " is Count L'Estrange."
" A name unknown to me," said Sir Norman, with a piercing look, " and equally unknown, I believe, at White- hall. There is a Lord L'Estrange in London ; but you and he are certainly not one and the same."
" My friend does not believe me," said the count, almost gayly — " a circumstance I regret, but cannot help. Is there anything else Sir Norman wishes to know ? "
" If you do not answer my questions truthfully, there is little use in my asking them," said Sir Norman, bluntly. " Do you mean to say you are a foreigner ? "
" Sir Norman Kingsley is at perfect liberty to answer that (question as he pleases," replied the stranger, with most provoking indifference.
Sir Norman's eye Hashed, and his liand fell on his sword ; but, reflecting that the count miglit find it in- convenient to answer any more (juestions if lie ran him tlirough, he restrained himself and went on :
" Sir, you are iin])(M'tinent, but that is of no consccjuenxie, just now. Who was that lady — what was her name?"
" L(M)line."
" Was she your wife':'"
THE STRANGER.
49
The stranger paused for a moment, as if reflecting whether she was or not, and then said, meditatively :
" No — I don't knov.r as she was. On the whole, I am pretty sure she was not."
Sir Norman felt as if a ton weight had been suddenly hoisted from the region of his heart.
" Was she anybody else's wife ? "
" I think not. I'm inclined to think that, except my^ self, she did not know another man in London."
" Then why was she dressed as a bride ? " inquired Sir Norman, rather mystified.
" Was she ? My poor Leoline ! " said the stranger, sad- ly. " Because — " he hesitated, " because — in short. Sir Norman," said the stranger, decidedly, "I decline an- swering any more questions ! "
" I shall find out for all that," said Sir Norman ; " and here I shall bid you good-night, for this by-path leads to my destination."
" Good-night," said the stranger, " and be careful, Sir Norman — remember, the plague is abroad."
" And so are highwaymen ! " called Sir Norman after him, a little maliciously ; but a careless laugh from the stranger was the only reply as he galloped away.
60 THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
CHAPTER V.
THE DWARF AND THE RUIN.
The by-path down which Sir Norman rode, led to an inn, " The Golden Crown," about a quarter of a mile from the ruin. Not wishing to take his horse lest it should lead to discovery, he proposed leaving it here till his re- turn ; and, with this intention, and the strong desire for a glass of wine — for the heat and his ride made him ex- tremely thirsty — he dismounted at the door, and consign- ing the animal to the care of a hostler, he entered the bar- room. It was not the most inviting place in the world, this same bar-room — being illy-lighted, dim with tobacco- smoke, and pervaded by a strong spirituous essence, of stronger drinks than malt or cold water. A number of men were loitering about smoking, drinking and discuss- ing the all-absorbing topic of the plague, and the fires that might be kindled. There was a moment's pause as Sir Norman entered, took a seat and called for a glass of sack, and then the conversation went on as before. The landlord hastened to supply his wants by placing a glass and a bottle of wine before him, and Sir Norman fell to helping himself, and to ruminating deeply on the events of the night. Rather melancholy these ruminations were, though to do the young gentleman justice sentimental melancholy was not at all in his line.; but then you will please to recollect he was in love, and when people come to that state they are no longer to be held responsible either for their tlioughts or actions. It is true his attack had been a rapid one, but it was no less severe for that ; and if any evil-minded critic is disposed to sneer at the suddenness of the disorder, I have only to say, that I know from observation, not to speak of exixu'ionce, that love at first siglit is a lamentable fact, and no myth.
THE DWARF AND THE RUIN. 51
Love is not a plant that requires time to flourish, but is quite capable of springing up like the gourd of Jonah, full grown in a moment. Our young friend, Sir Norman, had not been awat:e of the existence of the object of his affections for a much longer space than two hours and a half, yet he had already got to such a pitch, that if he did not speedily find her, he felt he would do something so desperate as to shake society to its utmost foundations. The very mystery of the affair spurred him on, and the romantic way in which she had been found, saved and disappeared, threw such a halo of interest round her, that he was inclined to think sometimes she was nothing but a shining vision from another world. Those dark, splen- did eyes ; that lovely, marble-like face ; those wavy ebon tresses ; that exquisitely exquisite figure ; yes, he felt they were all a great deal too perfect for this imperfect and wicked world. Sir Norman was in a very bad way, beyond doubt, but no worse than millions of young men before and after him ; and he heaved a great many pro- found sighs, and drank a great many glasses of sack, and came to the sorrowful conclusion that Dame Fortune was a malicious jade, inclined to poke fun at his best affec- tions, and make a shuttlecock of his heart for the rest of • his life. He thought, too, of Count L'Estrange ; and the longer he thought, the more he became convinced that he knew him well, and had met him often. But where ? He racked his brain until, between love, Leoline and the count, he got that delicate organ into such a maze of be- wilderment and distraction, that he felt he would be a case of congestion, shortly, if he did not give it up. That the count's voice was not the only thing about him as- sumed he was positive ; and he mentally called over the muster-roU of his past friends, who spent half their time at Whitehall, and the other half going through the streets, making love to the honest citizens' pretty wives and daughters ; but none of them answered to Count L'Es- trange. He could scarcely be a foreigner — he spoke English with too perfect an accent to be that ; and then he knew him, Sir Norman, as if he had been his brother. In short, there was no use driving himself insane trying to read so unreadable riddle ; and, inwardly consigning
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
the mysterious count to Old Nick, he swallowed another glass of sack, and quit thinking about him.
So absorbed had Sir Norman been in his own mournful musings, that he paid no attention whatever to those around him, and had nearly forgotten their very presence, when one of them, with a loud cry, sprung to his feet, and then fell writhing to the floor. The others, in dismay, gathered about him, but the next instant fell back with a cry of, " He has the plague ! " At that dreaded announce- ment, half of them scampered off incontinently ; and the other half with the landlord at their head, lifted the suf- ferer, whose groans and cries were heart-rending, and carried him out of the house. Sir Norman, rather dis- mayed himself, had risen to his feet, fully aroused from his reverie, and found himself and another individual sole possessors of the premises. His companion he could not very well make out ; for he was sitting, or rather crouch- ing, in a remote and shadowy corner, where nothing was clearly visible but the glare of a pair of fiery eyes. There was a great redundancy of hair, too, about his head and face, indeed, considerable more about the latter than there seemed any real necessity for, and even with the imper- fect glimpse he caught of him, the young man set him down in bis own mind as about as hard-looking a customer as he had ever seen. The fiery eyes were glaring upon him like those of a tiger, through a jungle of bushy hair, but their owner spoke never a word, though the other stared back with compound interest. There they sat, beaming upon each other — one fiercely, the other cu- riously, until the reappearance of the landlord with a very lugubrious and woebegone countenance. It struck Sir Norman that it was about time to start for the ruins and, with an eye to business, he turned to cross-examine mine host a trifle.
" What have they done with that man ? " he asked by way of preface.
" Sent him to the pest-house," replied the landlord, resting his elbows on the counter and his chin in his hands and staring dismally at the opposite wall. " Ah ! Lord 'ji' mercy on us ! these be dn^adful times ! "
" Dreadful enougli ! " said Sir Norman, sighing deeply,
THE DWARF AND THE RUIN. 53^
as he thought of his beautiful Leoline, a victim of the merciless pestilence. " Have there been many deaths here of the distemper ? "
" Twenty-five to-day," groaned the man. " Oh, Lord ! what will become of us ? "
"You seem rather disheartened," said Sir Norman pouring out a glass of wine and handing it to him. " Just drink this, and don't borrow trouble. They say sack is a sure specific against the plague."
Mine host drained the bumper, and wiped his mouthy, with another hollow groan.
" If I thought that, sir, I'd not be sober from one week's end to t'other ; but I know well enough I will be in a plague-pit in less than a week. Oh, Lord, have mercy on us ! "
" Amen ! " said Sir Norman, impatiently. " If fear has not taken away your wits, my good sir, will you tell me what old ruin that is I saw a little above here as I rode up?"
The man started from his trance of terror, had glanced first at the fiery eyes in the corner, and then at Sir Nor- man, in evident trepidation of the question.
"That ruin, sir? You must be a stranger in this place, surely, or you would not need to ask that ques- tion."
" Well, suppose I am a stranger ? What then ? "
" Nothing, sir ; only I thought everybody knew every- thing about that ruin."
" But I do not, you see ? So fill your glass again, and while you are drinking it, just tell me what that every- thing comprises."
Again the landlord glanced fearfully at the fiery eyes in the corner, and again hesitated.
" Well," exclaimed Sir Norman, at once surprised and impatient at his taciturnity. " Can't you speak, man ? I want you to tell me all about it."
" There is nothing to tell, sir," replied the host, goaded to desperation. " It's an old, deserted ruin that's been here ever since I remember ; and that's all I know about it."
While he spoke, the crouching shape in the corner
54
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEK
reared itself upright, and keeping his fiery eyes still glar- ing upon Sir Norman, advanced into the light. Our young knight was in the act of raising his glass to his lips ; but as the apparition approached, he laid it down again, untasted, and stared at it in wildest surprise and intensest curiosity. Truly, it was a singular- looking crea- ture, not to say a rather startling one. A dwarf of some four feet high, and at least five feet broad across the shoulders, with immense arms and head — a giant in every thing but height. His immense skull was set on such a trifle of a neck as to be scarcely worth mentioning and was garnished by a violent mat of coarse, black hair, which also overrun the territory of his cheeks and chin, leaving no neutral ground but his two fiery eyes and a broken nose all twisted awry. On a pair of short, stout legs he wore immense jack-koots, his Herculean shoulders and chest were adorned with a leathern doublet, and in the belt round his waist were conspicuously struck a pair of pistols and a dagger. Altogether, a more ugly or sinister gentleman of his inches it would have been hard to find in all broad England. Stopping deliberately be- fore Sir Norman, he placed a hand on each hip, and in a deep, guttural voice, addressed him :
" So, Sir Knight — for such I perceive you are — you are anxious to know something of that old ruin yonder ? "
" Well," said Sir Norman, so far recovering from his surprise as to be able to speak, " suppose I am ? Have you anything to say against it, my little friend ? "
" Oh, not in the least ! " said the dwarf, with a hoarse chuckle. " Only, instead of wasting your breath asking this good man, wlio professes sucli utter ignorance, you had better api)ly to me for information."
Again Sir Norman surveyed the little Hercules from head to foot, for a moment, in silence as one, now-a-days, would an int(iHig(3nt gorilla.
" Yow think so -do yon? And what may you happen to know about it, my pr(;lty liltU^ fri(Mid ? "
" Oh, liord !" (ixciiiiined th(^ landlord, to liimsi^lf, with a fri^ht(in(;d fa(;(^, whih; the dwarf, "griniUMl horribly a ghastly sniih;" from ear to ear. " So much, my good sir, that I would strongly advise you
THE DWARF AND THE RUIN.
55
not to go near it, unless you wish to catch something worse than the plague. There have been others — our worthy- host, there, whose, teeth, you perceive, are chattering in his head, can tell you about those that have tried the trick, and — "
" Well ? " said Norman, curiously.
" And have never returned to tell what they found ! " concluded the little monster, Avith a diabolical leer. And as the landlord fell, gray and gasping, back into his seat, he broke out a loud, hyena-like laugh.
" My dear little friend," said Sir Norman, staring at him in displeased wonder, " don't laugh, if you can help it. You are unprepossessing enough, at best, but when you laugh, you look like the very " (a downward gesture) « himself ! "
Unheeding this advice, the dwarf broke again into an an unearthly cachinnation, that frightened the landlord nearly into fits, and seriously discomposed the nervous system even of Sir Norman himself. Then, grinning like a baboon and still transfixing our puissant young knight with the same tiger-like and unpleasant glare, he nodded a farewell ; and in this fashion, grinning, and nodding and backing, he got to the door, and concluding the interest- ing performance with a third hoarse and hideous laugh, disappeared in the darkness.
For fully ten minutes after he was gone, the young man kept his eyes blankly fixed on the door, with a vague impression that he was suffering from an attack of nightmare : for it seemed impossible that anything so preposterously ugly as that dwarf could exist out of one. A deep groan from the landlord, however, convinced him that it was no disagreeable midnight vision, but a braw- ny reality ; and turning to that individual, he found him gasping, in the last degree of terror, behind the counter.
" Now, who in the name of all the demons out of Hades may that ugly abortion be?" inquired Sir Norman.
" Oh, Lord ! be merciful ! sir, it's Caliban ; and the only wonder is, he did not leave you a bleeding corpse at his feet!"
" I should like to see him try it. Perhaps he would
m
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEK
have found that is a game two can play at ! Where does he come from and who is he ? "
The landlord leaned over the counter, and placed a very pale and startled face close to Sir Norman's,
" That's just what I wanted to tell you, sir, but I was afraid to speak before him. I think he lives up in that same old ruin you were inquiring about — at least he is often seen hanging around there ; but people are too much afraid of him to ask him any questions. Ah, sir, it's a strange place, that ruin, and there be strange stories afloat about it," said the man, with a portentous shake of the head.
" What are they ? " inquired Sir Norman. " I should particularly like to know."
" Well, sir, for one thing, some folks say it is haunted, on account of the queer lights and noises about it, some- times ; but again, there be other folks, sir, that say the ghosts are alive, and that he " — nodding toward the door — " is a sort of ringleader among them."
" And who are they that cut up such cantrips in the old place, pray ? "
" Lord only knows, sir. I'm sure I don't. I never go near it myself ; but there are others who have, and some of them tell of the most beautiful lady, all in white, with long, black hair, wlio walks on the battlement moon- light nights."
" A beautiful lady, all in white, with long, black hair ! Why, that description applies to Leoline exactly."
And Sir Norman gave a violent start, and arose to pro- €eed to the place directly.
" Don't you go near it, sir ! " said the host, warningly. " Others have gone, as lie told you, and never come back ; for tliese be dreadful times, and men do as they please. Between the plague and their wickedness, the Lord only knows wliat will become of us !
"If I should return hero for my horse in an hour or two I sui)p()s(; I can get Iiim? said Sir Norman, as he turned toward tlie door.
" rt's likely you can, sir, if I'm not dead by that time," said the laiullord as lie sunk down again, groaning dis- mally, with his chin between his hands.
THE DWARF AND THE WUm.
57
The night was now profoundly dark ; but Sir Norman l^new the road and ruin well, and drawing his sword, walk- ed resolutely on. The distance between it and the ruin was trifling, and in less than ten minutes it loomed up before him, a mass of deeper black in the blackness ISlo white vision floated on the broken battlements this night, as Sir Norman looked wistfully up at them ; but neither was there any ungainly dwarf, with two-edged sword, guard- ing the ruined entrance ; and Sir Norman passed unmo- lested in. He sought the spiral staircase which La Masque had spoken of, and, passing carefully from one an- cient chamber to another, stumbling over piles of rubbish and stones as he went, he reached it at last. Descending gingerly its tortuous steepness he found himself in the moldering vaults, and, as he trod them, his ear was greet- ed by the sound of faint and far-off music. Proceeding further, he heard distinctly, mingled with it, a murmur of voices and laughter, and, through the chinks in the broken flags, he perceived a few faint rays of light. Hemembering the directions of La Masque, and feeling intensely curious, he cautiously knelt down, and examined the loose flagstones until he found one he could raise ; lie pushed it partly aside, and, lying flat on the stones, with his face to the aperture, Sir Norman beheld a most wonderful sight.
58 THE MIDNIGHT QUEENo
CHAPTER VI.
LA MASQUE.
Love is like a dizziness," says the old song. Love is something else — it is the most selfish feeling in existence. Of course, I don't allude to the fraternal or the friendly, or any other such nonsensical, old-fashioned trash that artless people still believe m, but to the real genuine article that Adam felt for Eve when he first saw her, and which all who read this — above the innocent and unsus- ceptible age of twelve — have experienced. And the fancy and the reality are so much alike, that they amount to about the same thing. The former, perhaps, may be a little short-lived ; but it is just as disagreeable a sensation while it lasts as its more enduring sister. Love is said to be blind, and it also has a very injurious effect on the eyesight of its victims— an effect that neither spectacles nor oculists can aid in the slightest degree, making them see, whether sleeping or waking, but one object, and that alone.
I don't know whether these were Mr. Malcolm Orm- iston's thoughts, as he leaned against the doorway, and folded his arms across his chest, to await the shining of his day-star. In fact, I am pretty sure they were not : young gentlemen, as a general thing, not being any more given to profound moralizing in the reign of His Most Gracious Majesty, Charles II., than they are at the pres- ent day ; but I do know, that no sooner was his bosom- friend and crony. Sir Norman Kingsley, out of sight, than he forgot him as teetotally as if he had never known that distinguisli(;d individual. His many and deep afflictions, his 1<)V(!, his anguish, and his provocations, his beautiful, tantalizing, and mysterious lady-love ; his errand and its
LA MASQUE.
59
probable consequences ; all were forgotten ; and Ormiston thought of nothing or nobody ui the world but himself and La Masque. La Masque ! La Masque ! that was the theme on which his thoughts rang, with wild variations of alternate hope and fear, like every other lover since the world began, and love was first an institution. "As it was in the iDeginning, is now, and ever shall be," truly, truly, it is an odd and wonderful thing. And you and I may thank our stars, dear readers, that we are a great deal too sensible to wear our hearts on our sleeves for such a bloodthirsty daw to peck at. Ormiston's flame was longer-lived than Sir Norman's ; he had been in love a whole month, and had it badly, and was now at the very crisis of a malady. Why did she conceal her face — would she ever disclose it — would she listen to him — would she ever love him ? feverishly asked Passion ; and Common Sense (or what little of that useful commodity he had left) answered — probably because she was eccentric — possibly she would disclose it for the same reason ; that he had only to try and make her listen ; and as to her loving him, why, Common Sense owned he had her there. I can't say whether the adage " Faint heart never won fair lady ! " was extant in his time ; but the spirit of it certainly was, and Ormiston determined to prove it. He wanted to see La Masque, and try his fate once again ; and see her he would, if he had to stay there as a sort of ornamental prop to the house for a week. He knew he might as well look for a needle in a haystack as his whim- sical beloved through the streets of London — dismal and dark now as the streets of Luxor and Tadmor in Egypt ; and he wisely resolved to spare himself and his Spanish leathern boots the trial of a one-handed game of " hide- and-go-seek." Wisdom like Virtue, is its own reward ; and scarcely had he come to this laudable conclusion, when, by the feeble glimmer of the house-lamps, he saw a figure, that made his heart bound, flitting through the night gloom towards him. He would have known that figure on the sands of Sahara, in an Indian jungle, or an American forest — a tall, slight, supple figure, bending and springing like a bow of steel, queenly and regal as that of a young empress. It was draped in a long cloak
60
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
reaching to the ground, in color as black as the night,, and clasped by a jewel whose glittering flash he saw even there ; a velvet hood of the same color covered the stately head ; and the mask — the tiresome, inevitable mask covered the beautiful — he was positive it was beautiful — face. He had seen her a score of times in that very dress, flitting like a dark, graceful ghost through the city streets, and the sight sent his heart plunging against his side like an inward sledge-hammer. Would one pulse in her heart stir ever so faintly at sight of him ? Just as he asked himself the question, and was stepping forward to meet her, feeling very like the country swain in love — " hot and dry like, with a pain in his side like " — he sud- denly stopped. Another figure came forth from the shadow of an opposite house, and softly pronounced her name. It was a short figure — a woman's figure. He could not see the face, and that was an immense relief to him, and prevented his having jealousy added to his other pains and tribulations. La Masque paused as well as lie, and her soft voice softly asked : " Who calls ? "
"It is I, madame — Prudence."
" Ah ! I am glad to meet you. I have been searching the city through for you. Where have you been ? "
" Madame, I was so frightened that I don't know where I fled to, and I could scarcely make up my mind to come back at all. I did feel dreadfully sorry for her, poor thing ! but you know Madame Masque, I could do noth- ing for her, and I should have come back, only I was- iifraid of you."
" You did wrong. Prudence," said La Masque, sternly, or at least as sternly as so sweet a voice could speak ; " you did very wrong to leave her in such a way. You should have come to me at once, and told me all."
" J>ut, madame, I was so frightened ! "
" J5ali ! You are notliing but a coward. Come into til is doorway {iiid tell me all about it."
Orniiston drew back jis the twain approached, and ciit(ired tlu; ])()rtals of La Ma,s(iue's own doorway. He could see them both by tlie afon^said faint lamp-light, and he noticed that La Masque's companion was a
LA MASQUE.
61
crinkled old woman, that would not trouble the peace of mind of the most jealous lover in Christendom. Per- Jiaps it was not just the thing to hover aloof and listen ; but he could not for the life of him help it ; and stand and listen he accordingly did. Who knew but this noc- turnal conversation might throw some light on the dark mystery he was anxious to see through, and could his ears have run into needle-points to hear the better, he would have had the operation then and there performed. There was a moment's silence after the two entered the portal, during which La Masque stood, tall, dark, and commanding, motionless as a marble column ; and the little withered old specimen of humanity beside her stood gazing up at her with something between fear and fasci- nation.
" Do you know what has become of your charge, Pru- dence ? " asked the low, vibrating voice of La Masque, at last.
" How could I, madame. You know I fled from the house, and I dare not go back. Perhaps she is there still."
"Perhaps she is not! Do you suppose that sharp shriek of yours was unheard ! No ; she was found ; and what do you suppose has become of her ? "
The old woman looked up, and seemed to read in the dark, stern figure, and deep, solemn voice, the fatal truth. She wrung her hands with a sort of cry.
" Oh ! I know, I know ; they have put her in the dead- cart, and buried her in the plague-pit. Oh, my dear, sweet young mistress."
" If you had stayed by your dear, sweet young mistress, instead of running screaming away as you did, it might not have hapi)ened," said La Masque, in a tone between derision and contempt.
" Madame," sobbed the old woman, who was crying ; " she was dying of the plague, and how could I help it ? They would have buried her in spite of me."
" She was not dead ; there was your mistake. She was as much alive as you or I at this moment."
" Madame, I left her dead ! " said the old woman, positively.
" Prudence, you did no such thing ; you left her faint-
62
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
ing, and in that state she was found and carried to the plague-pit."
The old woman stood silent for a moment, with a face of intense horror, and then she clasped both hands with a wild cry.
" Oh, my God ! and they buried her alive — buried her alive—buried her alive in that dreadful plague-pit ? "
La Masque, leaning against a pillar, stood unmoved; her voice, when she spoke, was as coldly sweet as modern ice-cream.
" Not exactly. She was not buried at all, as I happen to know. But when did you discover that she had the plague, and how could she possibly have caught it ? "
"That I do not know, madame. She seemed well enough all day, though not in such high spirits as a bride should be. Towards evening she complained of a head- ache and a feeling of faintness ; but I thought nothing of it, and helped her to dress for the bridal. Before it was over, the headache and faintness grew worse, and I gave her wine, and still suspected nothing. The last time I came in, she had grown so much worse, that notwith- standing her wedding dress, she had lain down on her bed, looking for all the world like a ghost, and told me she had the most dreadful burning pain in her chest. Then, madame, the horrid truth struck me — I tore down had dress, and there, sure enough, was the awful mark of the distemper. * You have the plague ! ' I shrieked ; and then I fled down-stairs and out of the house, like one crazy. Oh, madame, madame ! I shall never forget it — It was terrible ! I shall never forget it ! Poor, poor child ; and the count does not know a word of it ! "
La Masque laughed — a sweet, clear, deriding laugh.
" So the count does not know it, Prudence ? Poor man ! he will be in aespair when he finds it out, won't he? Such an ardent and devoted lover as he was, you know 1 "
Prudence looked up, a little puzzled.
" Yes, madame, T til ink so. He seemed very fond of her ; a great deal fonder than she ever was of him. The fact is, madauH^," said Prud(5nc(^, lowering her voice to a confidential stage whisper, " she never seemed fond of him
LA MASQUE.
63
at all, and wouldn't have been married, I think, if she could have helped it."
" Could have helped it ? What do you mean. Pru- dence ? Nobody made her, did they ? "
Prudence fidgeted, and looked rather uneasy.
" Why, madame, she Avas not exactly forced, perhaps ; but you know — you know you told me "
" Well ? " said La Masque coldly.
" To do what I could," cried Prudence, in a sort of des- peration ; " and I did it, madame, and harassed her about it night and day. And then the count was there, too, coaxing and entreating ; and he was handsome and had such ways with him that no woman could resist, much less one so little used to gentlemen as Leoline. And so, Madame Masque, we kept at her till we got her to consent to it at last ; but in her secret heart, I know she did not want to be married — at least to the count," said Prudence, on serious after- thought.
" Well, well, that's nothing to do with it. The question is, where is she to be found ? "
" Found ! " echoed Prudence ; " has she, then, been lost?"
" Of course she has, you old simpleton ! How could she help it, and she dead, with no one to look after her ? " said La Masque, with something like a half laugh " She was carried off to the plague-pit in her bridal robes, jewels, and lace ; and when about to be thrown in, was discovered, like Moses in the bulrushes, to be all alive."
" Well," whispered Prudence, breathlessly.
"Well, oh, most courageous of guardians! she was carried to a certain house, and left to her own devices, while her gallant rescuer went for a doctor ; and when they returned she was found missing. Our pretty Leoline seems to have a strong fancy for getting lost!"
There was a pause, during which Prudence looked at her with a face full of mingled fear and curiosity. At last:
"Madame, how did you know all this? Were you there ? "
" No ! Not I, indeed ! What would take me there ? "
64
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
" Then how do you happen to know everything about it?"
La Masque laughed.
" A little bird told me, Prudence ! Have you returned to resume your old duties ? "
" Madame, I dare not go into that house again. I am afraid of taking the plague."
" Prudence, you are a perfect idiot ! Are you not liable to take the plague in the remotest quarter of this plague-infested city ? And even if you do take it, what odds ? You have only a few years to live, at the most,^ and what matter whether you die now or at the end of a year or two ? "
" What matter ? " repeated Prudence, in a high key of indignant amazement. " It may make no matter to you, Madame Masque, but it makes a great deal to me, I can tell you ; and into that infected house I'll not put one foot."
" Just as you please, only in that case there is no use for further talk, so allow me to bid you good-night ! "
" But, madame, what of Leoline ? Do stop one moment and tell me of her."
" What have I to tell ? I have told you all I know. If you want to find her, you must search in the city or in the pest-house ! "
Prudence shuddered, and covered her face with a groan.
" Oh, my poor darling ! so good and so beautiful. Heaven might surely have spared her ! Are you going to do no tiling further about it ? "
" What can I do ? I have searched for her and have ]iot found her, and what else remains? "
" Madame, you know everytliing — surely, surely you know where my poor little nursling is, among the rest."
Again Jia jVrasque laughed — another of her low, sweet derisive lauglis.
"Nf) such thing. Prudence. If T did I should have lier here in a twinkling, depend upon it. However, it all comes to the same tiling in the end. She is probably dead by this time, and would liave to be buried in the plague-pit anyhow. If you have notliing furtlKU' to say.
LA MASQUE.
65
Prudence, you liad better bid me good-night and let me go."
" Good -night, madame ! " said Prudence, with a sort of groan, as she Avrapped her cloak closely around her, and turned to go.
La Masque stood for a moment looking after her, and then placed a key in the lock of the door. But there is many a slip — she was not fated to enter as soon as she thought ; for just at that moment a new step sounded behind her, a new voice pronounced her name, and, look- ing around, she beheld Ormiston. With what feelings that young person had listened to the neat and appro- priate dialogue I have just had the pleasure of immortal- izing, may be — to use a phrase you may have heard before, once or twice — better imagined than described. He knew very well who Leoline was, and how she had been saved from the plague-pit ; but where in the world had La Masque found it out. Lost in a maze of wonder, and in- clined to doubt the evidence of his own tympanums, he had stood perfectly still until his lady-love had so coolly dismissed her company, and then rousing himself just in time, he had come forward and accosted her. La Masque turned round, regarded him in silence for a mo- ment, and when she spoke, her voice had an accent of mingled surprise and displeasure.
" You, Mr. Ormiston ; how many more times am I to have the pleasure of seeing you again to-night ? "
" Pardon, madame ; it is the last time. But you must hear me now."
" Must I ? Yery well, then ; if I must, you had better begin at once, for the night- air is said to be unhealthy, and as good people are scarce, I want to take care of my- self."
" In that case, perhaps you had better let me enter, too. I hate to talk on the street, for every wall has ears."
" I am aware of that. When I was talking to my old friend. Prudence, two minutes ago, I saw a tall shape that I have reason to know, since it haunts me, like my own shadow, standing there and paying deep attention. I hope vou found our conversation improving, Mr. Ormis- ton ! "
66
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN".
" Madame ! " began Or mis ton, turning crimson.
" Oh, don't blush ; there is quite light enough from yonder lamp to show that. Besides," added the lady, easily, " I don't know as I had any objection ; you are interested in Leoline, and must feel curious to know some- thing about her."
" Madame, what must you think of me ? I have acted so unpardonably."
" Oh, I know all that. There is no need to apologize, and I don't think any the worse of you for it. Will you come to business, Mr. Ormiston? I think I told you I wanted to go in. What may you want of me at this dis- mal hour ? "
"Oh, madame, need you ask? Does not your own heart tell you ? "
" I am not aware that it does ! And to tell you the truth, Mr. Ormiston, I don't know that I even have a heart ! I am afraid I must trouble you to put it in words.'*
" Then, madame, I love you ! "
" Is that all ? If my memory serves me, you have told me that little fact several times before. Is there anything else tormenting you, or may I go in ? "
Ormiston groaned out an oath between his teeth, and La Masque raised one jeweled, snowy, taper finger, re- provingly.
" Don't, Mr. Ormiston — it's naughty, you know ! May I go in ? "
" Madame, you are enough to drive a man mad. Is the love I bear you worthy of nothing but mockery ? "
" No, Mr. Ormiston, it is not ; that is, supposing you really love me, which you don't."
" Madame ! "
" Oh, you needn't flush and look indignant ; it is quite true ! Don't be absurd, Mr. Ormiston. How is it pos- si])le for you to love one you have never seen?"
"I have seen you. Do you think I am blind ? " lie de- manded indignantly.
" My face, I mean. T don't consider that you can see a persoii without looking in their face. Now you have never lookcul in mine, and how do you know I have any face at all?"
LA MASQUE.
67
« Madame, you mock me." IS'ot at all. How are you to know what is behind this mask?"
" I feel it, and that is better ; and I love you all the same."
" Mr. Ormiston, how do you know but I am ugly ? "
"Madame, I do not believe you are; you are all too perfect not to have a perfect face ; and even were it other- wise, I still love you ! "
She broke into a laugh — one of her low, short, derid- ing laughs.
" You do ! Oh, man, how wise thou art I I tell you, if I took off this mask, the sight would curdle the very blood in your veins with horror — would freeze the life- blood in your heart. I tell you ! " she passionately cried, " There are sights too horrible for human beings to look on and live, and this — this is one of them ! "
He started back, and stared at her aghast.
" You think me mad," she said, in a less fierce tone, " but I am not ; and I repeat it, Mr. Ormiston^ the sight of what this mask conceals would blast you. Go now, for Heaven's sake, and leave me in peace, to drag out the rest of my miseral)le life ; and if ever you think of me, let it be to pray that it may speedily end. You have forced me to say this ; so now be content. Be merciful, and go!"
She made a desperate gesture, and turned to leave him, but he caught her hand and held her fast.
" JS^ever ! " he cried, fiercely. " Say what you will ! let that mask hide what it may ! I will never leave you till life leaves me ! "
" Man, you are mad ! Release my hand and let me go I "
" Madame, hear me : There is but one way to prove my love, and my sanity, and that is "
" Well ? " she said, almost touched by his earnestness.
" Raise your mask and try me ! Show me your face and see if I do not love you still ! "
" Truly, I know how much love you will have for me when it is revealed. Do you know that no one has looked in my face for the last eight years."
He stood and gazed at her in wonder.
68
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
" It is so, Mr. Ormistoii ; and in my heart I have vowed a vow to plunge headlong into the most loathsome plague- pit in London, rather than ever raise it again. My friend, be satisfied. Go and leave me ; go and forget me."
"I can do neither until I have ceased to forget every- thing earthly. Madame, I implore you, hear me ! "
"Mr. Ormiston, I tell you, you but court your own doom. No one can look on me and live ! "
"I will risk it," he said, with an incredulous smile. " Only promise to show me your face."
" Be it so, then ! " she cried, almost fiercely. " I prom- ise, and be the consequences on your own head."
His whole face flushed with joy.
" I accept them. And when is that happy time to come ? "
" Who knows ? What must be done, had best be done quickly ; but I tell thee it were safer to play with the lightning's chain than tamper with what thou art about to do."
" I take the risk ! Will you raise your mask now ? "
" No, no — I cannot ! But yet, I may before the sun rises. My face " — with bitter scorn — " shows better by darkness than by daylight. Will you be out to see the grand illumination ? "
" Most certainly."
" Then meet me here an hour after midnight, and the face so long hidden shall be revealed. But, once again, on the threshold of doom, I entreat you to ])ause."
" There is no such word for me ! " he fiercely and ex- ultingly cried. "I have your promise, and I shall liold you to it I And, madame, if, at Inst, you (Iiscomm- my love is changeless as fate itself, then — then may I not dare to ho])e foi' a return ? "
" Yes ; tluiii you m;iy li<)i)e," slu^said, with cold inocki^ry. " If your love sui'vivcs that siglil, it will bo mighty, in- (IfUid, and well worthy a retui-n."
" And you will return it V "
" 1 will.'^
" YoM will my wihi V " " With all my liiiart! "
"My dailin^!" he ciied, rapturously — "For you aro
LA MASQUE. 69
mine already — how can I ever thank you for this ? If a whole lifetime devoted and consecrated to your happiness can repay you, it shall be yours."
During this rhapsody, her hand had been on the handle of the door. Now she turned it.
" Good night, Mr. Ormiston," and vanished.
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CHAPTER VII.
Shocks of joy, they tell me, seldom kill. Of my own knowledge I cannot say, for I have had precious little ex- perience of such shocks in my lifetime, Heaven knows ; but in the present instance, I can safely aver, they had no such dismal effect on Ormiston. Nothing earthly could have given that young gentleman a greater shock of joy than the knowledge he was to behold the long- hidden face^of his idol. That that face was ugly, he did not for an instant believe, or, at least, it never would be ugly to him. With a form so perfect — a form a sylph might have envied — a voice sweeter than the Singing Fountain of Arabia, hands and feet the most perfectly beautiful the sun ever shone on, it was simply a moral and physical impossibility, then, they could be joined to a repulsive face. There was a remote possibility that it was a little less exquisite than those ravishing items, and that her morbid fancy made her imagine it homely, com- pared with them, but he knew he never would share in that opinion. It was the reasoning of love — or, rather, the logic, for when love glides smiling and dipping in at tlie door, reason stalks gravely, not to say sulkily, out of the window, and, standing afar off, eyes disdainfully the didoes and antics of her late tenement. There Avas very little reason, therefore, in Ormiston's head and heart, but a great deal of something sweeter, joy — joy that thrilled and vil)rat(Hl through every nerve within him. Leaning against the poi'tal, in an absurd delirium of delight — for it Uikes hut a trifle to jerk those lovers from the slimiest depths of the Slough of Despond to the topmost peak of the mountain of ecstasy — he uncovered his head, tliat the
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night-air might cool its feverish throbbings. But the night-air was as hot as his heart ; and, almost suffocated by the sultry closeness, he was about to start for a plunge in the river, when the sound of coming footsteps and voices arrested him. He had met with so many odd ad- ventures to-night that he stopped now to see who was coming, for on every hand all was silent and forsaken. Footsteps and voices came closer ; two figures took shape in the gloom, and emerged from the darkness into the glimmering lamp-light. He recognized them both. One was the Earl of Rochester ; the other, his dark-eyed, handsome page — that strange page with the face of the lost lady ! The earl was chatting familiarly, and laugh- ing obstreperously at something or other, while the boy merely wore a languid smile, as if anything further in that line were quite beneath his dignity.
" Silence and solitude," said the earl, with a careless glance around. "I protest, Hubert, this night seems endless. How long is it until midnight ? "
"An hour and a half at the least, I should fancy," answered the boy, with a strong foreign accent. " I know it struck ten as we passed St. Paul's."
" This grand bonfire of our most worshipful lord mayor will be a sight worth seeing," remarked the earl. " When all these piles are lighted, the city will be one sea of fire."
" A slight foretaste of what most of its inhabitants will behold in another world," said the page, with a French shrug. " I have heard Lilly's prediction that London is to be purified by fire, like a second Sodom ; perhaps it is to be verified to night."
" Not unlikely ; the dome of St. Paul's would be an ex- cellent place to view the conflagration."
" The river will do almost as well, my lord."
" We will have a chance of knowing that presently," said the earl, as he and his page descended to the river, where the little gilded barge lay moored and the boat- man waiting.
As they passed from sight, Ormiston came forth, and watched thoughtfully after tliein. The face and figure were that of the lady, but the voice was different ; both were clear and musical enough, but she spoke English
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with the purest accent, while his was the voice of a foreigner. It must have been one of those strange, unaccountable likenesses we sometimes see among per- fect strangers, but the resemblance in this case was some- thing wonderful. It brought his thoughts back from himself and his own fortunate love, to his violently-smit- ten friend, Sir Norman, and his plague- stricken beloved ; and he began speculating what he could possibly be about just then, or what he had discovered in the old ruin. Sud- denly he was aroused ; a moment before, the silence had been almost oppressive, but now, on the wings of the night, there came borne a shout. A tumult of voices and footsteps were approaching. " Stop her ! stop her ! " was cried by many voices ; and the next instant a fleet figure went flying past him with a rush, and plunged head- foremost into the river. A slight female figure, with flowing robes of white, waving hair of deepest blackness, and with a sparkle of jewels on neck and arms. Only for one instant did he see it ; but he knew it well, and his very heart stood still. " Stop her ! stop her ! she is ill of the plague ! " shouted the crowd, pressing, panting on ; but they came too late ; the white vision had went down into the black, sluggish river, and disappeared.
"Who is it? What is it? Where is it?" cried two or three watchmen, brandishing their halberts, and rush- ing up ; and the crowd — a small mob of a dozen or so — • answered all at once : " She is delirious with the plague ; she was running through the streets ; we gave chase, but she outstepped us, and is now at the bottom of the Thames ! "
Ormiston waited to hear no more, but rushed pre- cipitately down to the water's edge. The alarm had now reached the boats on the river, and many eyes within them were turned in the direction whence she had gone down. Soon she reappeared on the dark surface — some- thing whiter tlian snow, whiter than death, shining like silver, shone the glittering dress and marble face of the ])ride. A small l)atteau lay close to where Ormiston stood ; in two seconds he had shoved it ofl', sprung in, and was rowing vigorously toward tliat snow-wreath iu the inky riv(ir. J3ut lie was forestalled ; two hands, whito
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and jeweled as her own, reached over the edge of a gilded barge, and with the help of the boatman, lifted her in. Before she could be properly established on the cushioned seats, the batteau was alongside, and Ormiston turned a very white and excited face toward the Earl of Rochester.
" I know that lady, my lord ! She is a friend of mine, and you must give her to me ! "
" Is it you, Ormiston ? Why, what brings you here alone on the river at this hour ? "
" I have come for her," said Ormiston, pressing over to lift the lady : " may I beg you to assist me, my lord, in transferring her to my boat ? "
" You must wait till I see her first," said Rochester, partly raising her head, and holding a lamp close to her face ; " as I have picked her out, I think I deserve it. Heavens ! what an extraordinary likeness ! "
The earl had glanced at the lady, then at his page, again at the lady, and lastly at Ormiston, his handsome countenance full of the most unmitigated wonder.
" To whom ? " asked Ormiston, Avho had very little need to inquire.
" To Hubert, yonder. Why, don't you see it yourself ? She might be his twin sister ! "
" She might be, but, as she is not, you will have the goodness to let me take charge of her. She has escaped from her friends, and I must bring her back to them." He half-lifted her as he spoke ; and the boatman, glad enough to get rid of one sick of the plague, helped her into the batteau. The lady was not insensible, as might be supposed, after her cold bath, but extremely wide- awake, and gazing around her with her great, black, shin- ing eyes. But she made no resistance ; either she was too faint or frightened for that, and suffered herself to be hoisted about, "passive to all changes." Ormiston spread his cloak in the stern of the boat, and laid her tenderly upon it, and though the beautiful, wistful eyes were solemnly and unwinkingly fixed on his face, the pale, sweet lips parted not — uttered never a word. The wet bridal robes were drenched and dripping about her, the long dark hair hung in saturated masses over her neck and arms, and contrasted vividly with a face, Ormis-
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ton thought, at once the whitest, most beautiful, and most stone-like he had ever seen.
" Thank you, my man, thank you, my lord," said Ormis- ton, preparing to push oif.
Rochester, who had been leaning from the barge, gaz- ing in mingled curiosity, wonder and admiration at the lovely face, turned now to his champion. ■
" Who is she, Ormiston ? " he said, persuasively.
But Ormiston only laughed, and rowed energetically for the shore. The crowd was still lingering ; and half a dozen hands were extended to draw the boat up to the landing. He lifted the light form in his arms and bore it from the boat ; but before he could proceed further with his armful of beauty, a faint but imperious voice spoke. " Please put me down. I am not a baby, and can walk myself."
Ormiston was so surprised, or rather dismayed, by this unexpected address, that he complied at once, and placed her on her own pretty feet. But the young lady's sense of propriety was a great deal stronger than her physical powers ; and she swayed and tottered, and had to cling to her unknown friend for support.
"You are scarcely strong enough, I am afraid, dear lady," he said, kindly. " You had better let me carry you. I assure you I am quite equal to it, or even a more mighty burden, if necessity required."
" Thank you, sir," said the faint voice, faintly, " but I would rather walk. Where are you taking me to? "
" To your own house, if you wish — it is quite close at hand."
" Yes. Yes. Let us go there ! Prudence is there, and she will take care of me."
" Will she ? " said Ormiston, doubtfully. " I hope you do not suffer much pain ? "
"I do net suffer at all," she said, wearily ; "only I am so tired. Oh, I wish I was liome ! "
Ormiston half led, lialf lifted her up the stairs.
" Y^ou are almost there, dear lady — see, it is close at hand ! "
She lialf lifted her languid eyes, but did not speak. Leaning panting on his arm, he drew her gently on until
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he reached her door. It was still unfastened, Prudence had kept her word, and not gone near it ; and he opened it, and helped her in.
" Where now ? " he asked.
" Up-stairs," she said, feebly. " I want to go to my own room."
Ormiston knew where that was, and assisted her there as tenderly as he could have done La Masque herself. He paused on the threshold ; for the room was as dark as Hades.
" There is a lamp and a tinder-box on the mantel," said the faint, sweet voice, " if you will only please to find them."
Ormiston crossed the room — fortunately he knew the latitude of the place — and moving his hand with gingerly precaution along the mantel- shelf, lest he should upset any of the gimcracks thereon, soon obtained the articles named, and struck a light. The lady was leaning wearily against the door-post, but now she came forward, and dropped exhausted into the downy pillows of a lounge.
" Is there anything I can do for you, madam ? " began Ormiston, with as solicitous an air as though he had been her father. " A glass of wine would be of use to you, I think ; and then, if you wish, I will go for a doctor."
" You are very kind. You will find wine and glasses in the room opposite this, and I feel so faint that I think you had better bring me some."
Ormiston moved across the passage, like the good, obedient young man that he was, filled a glass of Bur- gundy, and as he was returning with it, was startled by / a cry from the lady that nearly made him drop and shiver it on the floor.
"What under heaven has come to her now?" he thought, hastening in, wondering how she could possibly have come to grief since he left her.
She was sitting upright on the sofa, her dress pulled down ofl her shoulder where the plague-spot had been j and which, to his amazement, he saw now pure and stain- less, and free from every loathsome trace.
" You are cured of the plague ! " was all he could cry.
" ThanJi God ? " she exclaimed, fervently clasping her
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hands. " But oh ! how can it have happened ? It must be a miracle ! "
" No, it was your plunge into the river ; I have heard of one or two such cases before, and if ever I take it," said Ormiston, half laughing, half shuddering, " my first rush shall be for old Father Thames. Here, drink this ; I am certain it will complete the cure."
The girl — she was nothing but a girl — drank it off and sat upright like one inspired with new life. As she set down the glass, she lifted her dark, solemn, beautiful eyea to his face, with a long, searching gaze.
" What is your name ? " she simply asked.
" Ormiston, madam," he said bowing low.
" You have saved my life, have you not ? "
" It was the Earl of Rochester who rescued you from the river ; but I would have done it a moment later."
" I do not mean that. I mean " — with a slight shud- der— " are you not one of those I saw at the plague-pit ? Oh ! that dreadful, dreadful plague-pit ! " she cried, cover- ing her face with her hands.
" Yes, I am one of those."
" And who was the other ? "
" My friend. Sir Norman Kingsley."
" Sir Norman Kingsley ? " she softly repeated, with a sort of recognition in her voice and eyes, while a faint roseate glow rose softly over her face and neck. Ah ! I thought — was it to his house or yours I was brought ?
" To his," replied Ormiston, looking at her curiously ; for he had seen that rosy glow, and was extremely puz- zled thereby ; "from whence, allow me to add, you took your departure rather unceremoniously."
" Did I? " she said, in a bewildered sort of way. " It's all like a dream to me. I remember Prudence screaming, and telling me I had the ])lague, and the unutterable hor- ror that filled me when I heard it ; and then the next thing I re('()]l(^ct is being at tlu^ ])lague-pit, and seeing your face and his Ix'nding over me. ^Vll tlie horror came back witli that awakening, and between it and the anguish of the plague-sorc I think I fainted again " (Oi niiston nodded sagaciously), and wluiii I lu^xt recovered I wms alone in a strange room, and in bed. 1 noticed that, tliougli
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I think I must have been delirious. And then, half-mad with agony, I got out to the street, somehow, and ran, and ran, and ran, until the people saw and followed me here. I suppose I had some idea of reaching home when I came here ; but the crowd pressed so close behind, and I felt, through all my delirium, that they would bring me to the pest-house if they caught me, and drowning seemed to me preferable to that. So I was in the river before I knew it — and you know the rest as well as I do. But I owe you my life, Mr. Ormiston — owe it to you and another ; and I thank you both with all my heart."
" Madam, you are too grateful ; and I don't know as we have done anything much to deserve it."
" You have saved my life ; and though you may think that a valueless trifle, not worth speaking of, I assure you I view it in a very different light," she said, with a half smile.
" Lady, your life is invaluable ; but as to our saving it, why, you would not have us throw you alive into the plague-pit, would you ? "
" It would have been rather barbarous, I confess ; but there are few who would risk infection for the sake of a mere stranger. Instead of doing as you did, you might have sent me to the pest-house, you know."
" Oh, as to that, all your gratitude is due to Sir l^or- man. He managed the whole affair, and what is more, fell — but I will leave that for himself to disclose. Mean- time, may I ask the name of the lady I have been so for- tunate as to serve ? "
" Undoubtedly, sir — my name is Leoline."
" Leoline is only half a name."
" Then I am so unfortunate as only to possess half a name, for I have never had any other."
Ormiston opened his eyes very wide, indeed.
" Xo other ! You must have had a father some time in your life ; most people have," said the young gentle- man, reflectively.
She shook her head a little sadly.
" I never had, that I know of, either father or mother, or any one but Prudence. And by the way," sHe said, half starting up, " the first thing to be done is to see about
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this same Prudence. She must be somewhere in the house."
" Prudence is nowhere in the house," said Ormiston, quietly ; " and will not be, she says, for a month to come. She is afraid of the plague."
" Is she '? " said Leoline, fixing her eyes on him with a powerful glance. " How do you know that ? "
" I heard her say so not half an hour ago, to a lady a few doors distant. Perhaps you know her — La Masque."
" That singular being ! I don't know her ; but I have seen her often. Why was Prudence talking of me to her, I wonder ? "
" That I do not know ; but talking of you she was, and she said she was coming back here no more. Perhaps you will be afraid to stay here alone ? "
" Oh no, I am used to being alone," she said, with a little sigh ; " but where," hesitating and blushing vividly, " where is — I mean I should like to thank Sir Norman Kingsley."
Ormiston saw the blush and the eyes that drooped, and it puzzled him again beyond measure.
" Do you know Sir Norman Kingsley ? " he suspiciously asked.
" By sight I know many of the nobles of the court," she answered evasivelj^, and without looking up ; " they pass here often, and Prudence knows them all, and so I have learned to distinguish them by name and sight, your friend among the rest."
" And you would like to see my friend ? " he said, with a malicious emphasis.
" I would like to thank him," retorted the lady, with some asperity ; " you have told me how much I owe him, and it strikes me the desire is somewhat natural."
" Without doubt it is, and it will save Sir Norman much fruitless labor ; for even now he is in search of you, and will neither rest nor sleep until he finds you."
" In search of me?" slie said, softly, and with that rosy glow again illuminating her beautiful face; "he is indeed kind, and I am most anxious to thank him."
" I will l)ring liim here in two liours, then," said Ormis- ton, with energy; "and though the hour may bo a little
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unseasonable, I hope you will not object to it ; for if you do, he will certainly not survive until morning."
She gaily laughed, but her cheek was scarlet.
" Rather than that, Mr. Ormiston, I will even see him to-night. You will find me here when you come."
" You will not run away again, will you ? " said Ormis- ton looking at her doubtfully. " Excuse me ; but you have a trick of doing that, you know."
Again she laughed merrily.
" I think you may safely trust me this time. Are you going ? "
By way of reply, Ormiston took his hat and started for the door. There he paused, with his hand upon it.
" How long have you known Sir ISTorman Kingsley ? " was his careless artful question.
But Leoline, tapping one little foot on the floor, and looking down at it with hot cheeks and humid eyes, an- swered not a word.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
When Sir Norman Kingsley entered the ancient ruin, his head was full of Leoline — when he knelt down to look through the aperture in the flagged floor, head and heart Avere full of her still. But the moment his eyes fell on the scene beneath, everything fled far from his thoughts, Leoline among the rest; and nothing remained but a profound and absorbing feeling of intensest amaze.
Right below him he beheld an immense room, of which the flag he had raised seemed to form part of the ceiling, in a remote corner. Evidently it was one of a range of lower vaults, and as he was a.t least fourteen feet above it, and his corner somewhat in shadow, there was little danger of his being seen. So, leaning far down to look at his leisure, he took the goods the gods provided him, and stared to his heart's content.
Sir Norman had seen some queer sights during the four-and-twent.y years he had spent in this queer world, but never anything quite equal to this. The apartment l)elow, though so exceedingly large, was lighted with tlie brilliance of noonday ; and every object it contained, from one end to the other, was distinctly revealed. The floor, from glimpses he had of it in obscure corners, was of stone : but from end to end it was covered with richest j'ugs and mats, and s(iuares of velvet of as many colors as Joseph's coat. Tlie walls were lunig Avith splendid tai)(!stvy, gorgeous in silk and coloring, r(^[)resentiiig the wars of Troy, the exploits of Cavaiv de Lion among the iSaracens, tlie death of TTertiules, all on one side ; and on the other, a more mo(l(U'n rc^presentation, the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Tlu; illumination ])roceede(l from a range
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of wax tapers in silver candelabra, that encircled the whole room. The air was redolent of perfumes, and filled with strains of softest and sweetest music from an unseen hand. At one extremity of the room was a huge door of glass and gilding ; and opposite it, at the other extremity, was a glittering throne. It stood on a raised dais, covered with crimson velvet, reached by two or three steps car- peted with the same ; the throne was as magnificent as gold, and satin, and ornamentation could make it. A great velvet canopy of the same deep rich color, cut in antique points, and heavily hung with gold fringe, was above the seat of honor. Beside it, to the right, but a little lower down, was a similar throne, somewhat less superb, and minus a canopy. From the door to the throne was a long strip of crimson velvet, edged and embroidered with gold, and arranged in a sweeping semicircle; on either side, were a row of great carved, gilded, and cush- ioned chairs, brilliant, too, with crimson and gold, and each, for everyday Christians, a throne in itself. What between the blaze of illumination, the flashing of gilding and gold, the tropical flush of crimson velvet, the rain- bows dyes on floor and walls, the intoxicating gushes of perfume, and the delicious strains of unseen music, it is no wonder Sir Norman Kingsley's head was spinning like a bewildered teetotum.
Was he sane — was he sleeping? Had he drank too much wine at the Golden Crown, and had it all gone to his head? Was it a scene of eastern enchantment, or were fairy-tales true, and no myth ? Like Abou Hassan, when he awoke in the palace of the facetious Caliph of Bagdad, he had no notion of believing his own eyes and ears, and quietly concluded it was all an optical illusion, as ghosts are said to be ; but he quietly resolved to stay there, nevertheless, and see how the dazzling phantas- magoria would end; The music was certainly ravishing^ and it seemed to him, as he listened with enchanted ears, that he never wanted to wake up from so heavenly a dream. One thing struck him as rather odd ; strange and bewildering as everything was, it did not seem at all strange to him, on the contrary, a vague idea was floating mistily through his mind that he had beheld precisely the
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same thing somewhere before. Probably at some past period of his life he had underwent a similar vision, or had seen a picture somewhere like it in a tale of magic, and satisfying himself with this conclusion, he began wondering if the genii of the place were going to make their appearance at all, or if the knowledge that human eyes were upon them had scared them back to Erebus. While still ruminating on this important question, a por- tion of the ta]3estry, almost beneath him, shriveled up and up, and out flocked a glittering throng, with a musi- cal mingling of laughter and voices. Still they came, more and more, until the great room was almost filled, and a dazzling throng they were. Sir Norman had min- gled in many a brilliant scene at Whitehall, where the gorgeous court of Charles shone in all its splendor, with the " merry monarch " at their head, but all he had ever witnessed at the king's court fell far short of this pageant. Half the brilliant flock were ladies, superb in satins, silks, velvets and jewels. And such jewels ! every gem that ever flashed back the sunlight sparkled and blazed in blending array on those beautiful bosoms and arms — diamonds, pearls, opals, emeralds, rubies, garnets, sap- phires, amethysts — every jewel that ever shone. But neither dresses nor gems were half so superb as the peer- less forms they adorned ; and such an array of perfectly beautiful faces, from purest blond to brightest brunette, had never met and mingled together before, Each lovely face was unmasked, but Sir Norman's dazzled eyes in vain sought among them for one he knew. " All that rosebud garden of girls " were perfect strangers to him, but not to the gallants who fluttered among them like moths around meteors. They, too, were in gorgeous array, in purple and fine linen, which being interpreted, signifieth in silken hose of every color under the sun, spangled and embroidered slippers radiant with diamond buckles, doub- lets of as many (illfcircnt shades as their tights, slashed with satin and cMubroidcu'od with gold. Most of them wore huge jjowdcred Avigs, according to the hideous fasliion then iu vogue, and under those same ugly scalps, lauglied many a liandsome face Sir Norman well knew. ''J'he majority of tliose richly-robed gallants were strangers
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to him as well as the ladies, but whoever they were, whether mortal men or " spirits from the vasty deep," they were in the tallest sort of clover just then. Evi- dently, they knew it, too, and seemed to be on the best of terms with themselves and all the world, and laughed, and flirted, and flattered, with as much perfection as so many ball-room Apollos of the present day. Still no one ascended the golden and crimson throne, though many of the ladies and gentlemen fluttering about it were arrayed as royally as any common king or queen need wish to be. They promenaded up and down, arm in arm ; they seated themselves in the carved and gilded chairs ; they gathered in little groups to talk and laugh; did everything in short, but ascend the throne ; and the solitary spectator up above began to grow intensely curious to know who it was for. Their conversation he could plainly hear, and to say that it amazed him would be to use a feeble expression, altogether inadequate to his feelings. Not that it was the remarks they made that gave his system such a shock, but the names by which they addressed each other. One answered to the aspiring cognomen of the Duke of Northumberland ; another was the Earl of Leicester ; another, the Duke of Devonshire ; another, the Earl of Clarendon; another, the Duke of Buckingham ; and so on, ad infi^iitum^ dukes and earls alternately, like bricks and mortar in the wall of a house. There were other dignitaries besides, some that Sir Nor- man had a faint recollection of hearing were dead for some years — Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, the Earl of Both well. King Henry Darnley, Sir Walter Raleigh, the Duke of Norfork, the Earl of Southampton, the Duke of York, and no end of others with equally sonorous titles. As for mere lords, and baronets, and such small deer, there was nothing so plebeian present, and were evidently looked upon by the distinguished assembly, like small beer in thunder, with pity and contempt. The ladies, too, were all duchesses, marchionesses, countesses, and looked fit for princesses. Sir Norman thought, though he heard none of them styled quite so high as that. The tone of conversation was light and easy, but at the same time extremely ceremonious and courtly, and everybody
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THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
seemed to be enjoying themselves in the most delightful sort of way, which people of such distinguished rank, I am told, seldom do. All went merry as a marriage-bell, and sweetly over the gay jingle of voices rose the sweet, faint strains of the unseen music.
Suddenly all was changed. The great door of glass and gilding opposite the throne was flung wide, and a grand usher in a grand court livery flourished a mighty grand wand, and shouted, in a stentorian voice :
" Back ; back, ye lieges, and make way for Her Majesty, Queen Miranda ! "
Instantly the unseen band thundered forth the national anthem. The splendid throng fell back on either hand in profoundest silence and expectation. The grand usher mysteriously disappeared, and in his place there stalked forward a score of soldiers, with clanking swords and fierce mustaches, in the gorgeous uniform of the king's body-guard. These showy warriors arranged themselves silently on either side of the crimson thrones, and were followed by half a dozen dazzling personages, the fore- most crowned with a miter, armed with crozier, and robed in the ecclesiastical glory of an arch-bishop, but the face underneath, to the deep surprise and scandal of Sir Nor- man, was that of the fastest young roue of Charles' court ; after him came another pompous dignitary in such un- heard-of magnificence that the unseen looker-on set him down for a prime minister, or a lord high chancellor at the very least. The somewhat gaudy-looking gentlemen who stepped after the pious prelate and peer, wore the stars and garters of foreign courts, and were evidently ambassadors extraordinary to that of her midnight ma- jesty. After them came a snowy fiock of fair young girls, angels but the wings, slender as sylphs, and robed in purest white. Each bore on her arm a basket of flowers, I'oses and rosebuds of every tint, from snowy Avliitc to darkest crimson, and as they floated in tlu^y scnMcred thorn lightly as they went. And ihvn allrr all camo another vision, " tlie last, the brightest, tlu^ best" — the Midnight Queen herself. One otluu- figure followed her, and as they enter(;(l, a shout arose from the wliolo as- semblage : " Long live Queen Miranda I " And bowing
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gracefully and easily to the right and left, the queen, with a queenly step trod the long crimson carpet and mounted the regal throne.
From the first moment of his looking down. Sir Nor- man had been staring with all the eyes in his head, under- going one shock of surprise after another with the equa- nimity of a man quite used to it ; but now a cry arose to his lips and died there in voiceless consternation. For he recognized the queen — well he might I — he had seen her before, and her face was the face of Leoline ! A& she mounted the stairs, she stood there for a moment crowned and sceptered, before sitting down, and in that moment he recognized the whole scene. That gorgeous room, and its gorgeous inmates ; that regal throne and its regal owner, all became palpable as the sun at noon- day ; that slender, exquisite figure robed in royal purple and ermine ; the uncovered neck and arms, snowy and perfect, ablaze with jewels ; that lovely face, like snow, like marble in its whiteness and calm, with the great, dark, earnest eyes looking out, and the waving wealth of hair falling around it. It was the very scene, and room, and vision, that La Masque had shown him in the cal- dron and that face was the face of Leoline, and the earl's page. Could he be dreaming ? was he sane or mad, or were the three really one ? While he looked, the beautiful queen bowed low, and amid the profoundest and most respectful silence, took her seat. In her robes of purple, wearing the glittering crown, scepter in hand, throned and canopied, royally beautiful she looked indeed, and a most vivid contrast to the gentleman near her, seated very much at his ease, on the lower throne. The contrast was - not of dress — for his outward man was resplendent to look at ; but in figure and face, in grace and dignity, he was a very mean specimen of the lords of creation, indeed. In stature, he scarcely reached to the queen's royal shoulder, but made up sideways what he wanted in length — being^ the breadth of two common men ; his head was in pro- portion to his width, and was decorated with a wig of long, flowing, flaxen hair, that scarcely harmonized with a profusion of the article, whiskers, in hue most unmiti- gated black ; his eyes were small, keen, bright and pierc-
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ing, and glared on the assembled company as they had done half an hour before on Sir Norman Kingsley, in the bar-room of the Golden Crown ; for the royal little man was no other than Caliban, the dwarf. Behind the thrones the flock of floral angels grouped themselves ; archbishop, prime minister, and ambassadors, took their stand within the lines of the soldiery, and the music softly and impres- sively died away in the distance ; dead silence reigned.
" My lord duke," began the queen, in the very voice he had heard at the plague-pit, as she turned to the stylish individual next the archbishop, " come forward and read us the roll of mortality since our last meeting."
His grace, the duke, instantly stepped forward, bowing so low that nothing was seen of him for a brief space, but the small of his back, and when he reared himself up, after this convulsion of nature, Sir Norman beheld a face not entirely new to him. At first, he could not imagine where he had seen it but speedily he recollected it was the identical face of the highwayman who had beaten an inglorious retreat from him and Count L'Estrange that very night. This ducal robber drew forth a roll of parch- ment, and began reading, in lachrymose tones, a select litany of defunct gentlemen, with hifalutin titles, who had departed this life during the present week. Most of them had gone with the plague, but a few had died from natural causes, and among these were the Earls of Craven and Ashley.
" My lords Craven and Ashley dead ! " exclaimed the queen, in tones of some surprise, but very little anguish ; " that is singular, for we saw them not two hours ago, in excellent health and spirits."
"True, your majesty," said the duke, dolefully, "and it is not an hour since , they quitted this vale of tears. They and myself rode forth at nightfall, according to custom, to lay your majesty's tax on all travelers, and soon clianced to encounter one Avho gave vigorous battle ; still, it would have done liim little service, had not another person come suddenly to his aid, and between them they clove the skulls of Ashley and Craven; and I, said the duke, modestly, " I left."
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" Were either of the travelers young, tall, and of courtly bearing ? " exclaimed the dwarf, with sharp rudeness.
" Both were, your highness," replied the duke, bowing to the small speaker, " and uncommonly handy with their weapons."
" I saw one of them down at the Golden Crown not long ago," said the dwarf ; " a forward young popinjay, and mighty inquisitive about this, our royal palace. I promised him if he came here a warm reception — a promise I will have the greatest pleasure in fulfilling."
" You may stand aside, my lord duke," said the queen, with a graceful wave of her hand, " and if any new sub- jects have been added to our court since our last weekly meeting, let them come forward and be sworn."
A dozen or more courtiers immediately stepped forward, and kneeling before the queen, announced their name and rank, which were both ambitiously high. A few silvery- toned questions were put by that royal lady, and satis- factorily answered, and then the archbishop, armed with a huge tome, administered a severe and searching oath, which the candidates took with a great deal of sang froid^ and were then permitted to kiss the hand of the queen — a privilege worth any amount of swearing — and retire.
" Let any one who has any reports to make, make them immediately," again commanded her majesty.
A number of gentlemen of high rank, presented them- selves at this summons, and began relating, as a certain sect of Christians do in church, their experience ! Many of these consisted, to the deep disapproval of Sir Norman, of accounts of daring highway robberies, one of them per- petrated on the king himself, which distinguished per- sonage the duplicate of Leoline styled "our brother Charles," and of the sums thereby attained. The treas- urer of state was then ordered to show himself, and give an account of the said moneys, which he promptly did ; and after him came a number of petitioners, praying for one thing and the other, some of which the queen promised to grant, and some she didn't. These little affairs of state being over, Miranda turned to the little gentleman beside her, with the observation :
" I believe, your highness, it is on this night the Earl
SS THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
of Gloucester is to be tried on a charge of high treason, is it not?"
His highness growled a respectful assent.
" Then let him be brought before us," said the queen. " Go, guards, and fetch him."
Two of the soldiers bowed low, and backed from the royal presence, amid dead and ominous silence. At this interesting stage of the proceedings, as Sir Norman was leaning forward, breathless and excited, a footstep sounded on the flagged floor beside him, and some one suddenly grasped his shoulder with no gentle hand.
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CHAPTER IX.
LEOLINE.
In one instant Sir Norman was on his feet, and his hand on his sword. In the tarry darkness, neither the face nor figure of the intruder could be made out, but he merely saw a darker shadow beside him standing in the sea of darkness. Perhaps he might have thought it a ghost, but that the hand which grasped his shoulder was immistakably of flesh, and blood, and muscle, and the breathing of its owner was distinctly audible by his side.
" Who are you ? " demanded Sir Norman, drawing out his sword, and wrenching himself free from his unseen companion.
" Ah ! it is you, is it ? I thought so," said a not un- known voice. " I have been calling you till I am hoarse, and at last gave it up, and started after you in despair. What are you doing here ? "
" You, Ormiston ! " exclaimed Sir Norman, in the last degree astonished. " How — when — what are you doing here?"
" What are you doing here ? that's more to the purpose. Down flat on your face, with your head stuck through that hole. What is below there, anyway ? "
"Never mind," said Sir Norman, hastily, who, for some reason quite unaccountable to himself, did not wish Ormiston to see. " There's nothing there in particular, but a lower range of vaults. Do you intend telling me what has brought you here ? "
" Certainly ; the very fleetest horse I could find in the city."
" Pshaw ! You don't say so ? " exclaimed Sir Norman, incredulously. " But I presume you had some object in
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taking such a gallop ? May I ask what ? Your anxious solicitude on my account, very likely ? "
"Not precisely. But I say, Kingsley, what light is that shining through there ? I mean to see."
" No, you won't," said Sir Norman, rapidly and noise- lessly replacing the flag. " It's nothing, I tell you, but a number of will- o'- wisps having a ball. Finally, and for the last time, Mr. Ormiston, will you have the goodness to tell me what has sent you here ? "
" Come out to the air, then. I have no fancy for talk- ing in this place ; it smells like a tomb."
" There is nothing wrong, I hope ? " inquired Sir Nor- man, following his friend, and threading his way gingerly through the piles of rubbish in the profound darkness.
" Nothing wrong, but everything extremely right. Con- found this place ! It would be easier walking on live eels than through these winding and lumbered passages. Thank the fates, we are through them, at last, for there is the daylight, or, rather the night-light, and we have escaped without any bones broken."
They had reached the moldering and crumbling door- way, shown by a square of lighter darkness, and ex- changed the damp, chill atmosphere of the vaults for the stagnant, sultry open air. Sir Norman, with a notion in his head that his dwarfish highness might have placed sentinels around his royal residence, endeavored to pierce the gloom in search of them. Though he could discover none, he still thought discretion the better part of valor, and stepped out into the road.
" Now, then, where are you going ? " inquired Ormiston, following him.
" I don't wisli to talk here ; there is no telling who may be listcniing. Cbme along."
Ormiston glaiK^ed l);ick at the gloomy ruin looming up like i\, bla(;k si)(u;t(U' in the bincknc'ss.
" Well, tli(;y must have a strong fiuu^y for eavesdro})- j)i)ig, I must say, who would go to tliat h;united lieap to liKt(^n. What ]iav(^ you seen there, and where luvve you left your horse V "
" I told you h( roic," said Sii* NoiMunn, r;ither impatiently, "that I have seen nothing -at least nodiiug you would
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care about ; and my horse is waiting me at the Golden Crown."
" Very well, we have no time to lose ; so get there as fast as you can, and mount him and ride as if the demon was after you back to London."
" Back to London ? Is the man crazy ? I shall do no such thing, let me tell you, to-night."
" Oh, just as you please," said Ormiston, with a great deal of indifference, considering the urgent nature of his former request. " You can do as you like, you know, and so can I — which, translated, means, I will go and tell her you have declined to come."
" Tell her ? Tell who ? What are you talking about ? Hang it, man ! " exclaimed Sir Norman, getting somewhat excited and profane. " What are you driving at ? Can't you speak out and tell me at once ? "
" I have told you ! " said Ormiston, testily ; " and I tell you again, she sent me in search of you, and if you don't choose to come, that's your own affair, and not mine."
This was a little too much for Sir ISTorman's over- wrought feelings, and in the last degree of exasperation, he laid violent hands on the collar of Ormiston's doublet, and shook him as if he would have shaken the name out with a jerk.
" I tell you what it is, Ormiston, you had better not aggravate me ! I can stand a good deal, but I'm not ex- actly Moses or Job, and you had better mind what you're at. If you don't come to the point at once, and tell me who 'her ' is, I'll throttle you where you staud ; and so give you warning."
Half-indignant, and wholly laughing, Ormiston stepped back out of the way of his excited friend.
" I cry you mercy ! In one word, then, I have been dispatched by a lady in search of you, and that lady is — Leoline."
It has always been one of the inscrutable mysteries in natural philosophy that I never could fathom, why men do not faint. Certain it is, I never yet heard of a man swooning from excess of surprise or joy, and perhaps that may account for Sir Norman's not doing so on the present occasion. But he came to an abrupt stand-still in their
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rapid career ; and if it had not been quite so excessively dark, his friend would have beheld a countenance won- derful to look on, in its mixtui'e of utter astonishment and sublime consternation.
" Leoline ! " he faintly gasped. " Just stop a moment, Ormiston, and say that again — will you ? "
" No," said Ormiston, hurrying unconcernedly on ; "I shall do no such thing, for there is no time to lose, and if there was, I have no fancy for standing in this dismal road. Come on, man, and I'll tell you as we go."
Thus adjured, and seeing there was no help for it. Sir Norman, in a dazed and bewildered state, complied ; and Ormiston promptly and briskly relaxed into business.
" You see, my dear fellow, to begin at the beginning, after you left, I stood at ease at La Masque's door await- ing that lady's return, and was presently rewarded by seeing her come up with an old woman called Prudence. Do you recollect the woman who rushed screaming out of the house of the dead bride ? "
" Yes, yes ! "
" Well, that was Prudence. She and La Masque were talking so earnestly they did not perceive me, and I — well, the fact is, Kingsley, I stayed and listened. Not a very handsome thing, perhaps, but I couldn't resist it. They were talking of some one they called Leoline, and I, in a moment, knew that it was your flame, and that neither of them knew any more of her whereabouts than we did."
" And yet La Masque told me to come hei'e in search of her," interi'uptiHl Sir Norman.
"Vei-y IriK^! That was odd — wasn't it? This Pru- dence, it a|>|H ars, was L(M)lino's nurse, and La Masque, too, seemed (o liav(^ a (Hiitain authority over her; and b(5tvv(;(;n tliciii, I h'ai-ncd slie Avas (o Ikivo boi^u married this V(!ry niglit, iiiid died — or, at least., Priidciux^ thought so - an liour or two Ix^fore ihi) time."
" 'IMuin sh(; was not niai ricul ? " cried Sir Norman, in an (M'st^asy of delight..
" Not, a hit of it,; and whaX is mor(^, didift. want, to ln\ ; and judging from t,h(^ I'emarks of ri'ud(Mice, I slionhl say, rath(;r iMcfciri'ed the ])lagn(i of iho two."
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" Then why was she going to do it ? You don't mean to say she was forced ? "
" Ah, but I do, though ! Prudence owned it Avith the most charming candor in the world."
" Did you hear the name of the person she was to have married ? " asked Sir Norman, with kindling eyes. : " I think not ; they called him the count, if my memory serves me, and Prudence intimated that he knew nothing of the melancholy fate of Mistress Leoline. Most likely it was the person in the cloak and slouched hat we saw talking to the watchman."
Sir Norman said nothing, but he thought a good deal, and the burden of his thoughts was an ardent and heart- felt wish that the Count L'Estrange was once more under the swords of the three robbers, and waiting for him to ride to the rescue — that was all !
" La Masque urged Prudence to go back," continued Ormiston ; " but Prudence respectfully declined, and went her way bemoaning the fate of her darling. When she was gone, I stepped up to Madame Masque, and that lady's first words of greeting were an earnest hope that I had been edified and improved by what I had over- heard."
" She saw you, then ? " said Sir Norman.
" Saw me ? I believe you ! She has more eyes than ever Argus had, and each one is as shar*p as a cambric needle. Of course I apologized, and so on, and she for- gave me handsomely, and then we fell to discoursing — need I tell you on what subject ? "
" Love, of course," said Sir Norman.
" Yes, mingled with entreaties to take off her mask that would have moved a heart of stone. It moved what was better — the heart of La Masque ; and, Kingsley, she has consented to do it ; and she says that if, after seeing her face, I still love her, she will be my wife."
" Is it possible ? My dear Ormiston, I congratulate you ' with all my heart ! "
" Thank you ! After that she left me, and I Avalked away in such a frenzy of delight that I couldn't have told whether I was treading this earth or the shining shores of the seventh heaven, when suddenly there flew past me
94 THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
a figure all in white — the figure of a bride, Kingsley, pur- sued by an excited mob. We were both near the river, and the first thing I knew, she was plump into it, with the crowd behind, yelling to stop her, that she was ill of the plague."
" Great Heaven ! and was she drowned ? "
" No ; though that was not her fault. The Earl of Rochester and his page — you remember that page, I fancy — were out in their barge, and the earl picked her up. Then I got a boat, set out after her, claimed her — for I recognized her, of course — brought her ashore, and de- posited her safe and sound in her own house. What do you think of that ? "
" Ormiston," said Sir Norman, catching him by the shoulder, with a very excited face, " is this true ? "
" True as preaching, Kingsley, every word of it ! And the most extraordinary part of the business is, that her dip in cold water has effectually cured her of the plague ; not a trace of it remains."
Sir Norman dropped his hand, and walked on, staring straight before him, perfectly speechless. In fact, no known language in the world could have done justice to his feelings at that precise period ; for three times that night, in three different shapes, had he seen this same Leoline, and at the same moment he was watching her decked out in royal state in the ruin, Ormiston had prob- ably been assisting her from her cold bath in the river Thames. Astonishment and consternation are words alto- gether too feeble to express his state of mind ; but one idea rem.ained clear and bright amid all his mental chaos, and that was, that the Leoline lie had fallcMi in Ionc Avith dead, was awaiting liiiii, alive and avc^II, in London.
" W(ill," said Ormiston, " you don't sjx^ilv ! >\'liat do you think of all this?"
" 'Iliink ! T can't think — I've got i^ast that long ago 1 " r('[)li('(l his fri(Mid, h()])elessly. " Did you really say Leo- liiK! was alivc! and well V "
" And waiting for yon yes, T did, and I reju^at it; and tlui H()on(ir yon get l>a,ck to town, the sooner you will see her ; so don't loiter."
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" Ormiston, what do you mean ? Is it possible I can see her to-night ? "
" Yes, it is ; the dear creature is waiting for you even now. You see, after we got to the house, and she had consented to come to a trifle, mutual .explanations ensued, by which it appeared she had run away from Sir Norman Kingsley's in a state of frenzy, had jumped into the river in a similar excited state of mind, and was most anxious to go down on her pretty knees and thank the aforesaid Sir Norman for saving her life. What could any one as gallant as myself do under these circumstances, but offer to set forth in quest of that gentleman ? And she promptly consented to sit up and wait his coming, and dismissed me with her blessing, And, Kingsley, I've a private notion she is as deeply affected by you as you are by her ; for, when I mentioned your name, she blushed, yea, verily to the roots of her hair ; and when she spoke of you, couldn't so much as look me in the face — which is, you must own, a very bad symptom."
" Nonsense ! " said Sir Norman, energetically. • And had it been daylight, his friend would have seen that he blushed almost as extensively as the lady. " She doesn't know me."
" Ah, doesn't she, though ? That shows all you know about it ! She has seen you go past the window many and many a time ; and to see you," said Ormiston, mak- ing a grimace under cover of the darkness, " is to love ! She told me so herself."
" What ? That she loved me ? " exclaimed Sir Norman, his notions of propriety to the last degree shocked by such a revelation.
"Not altogether, she only looked that; but she said she knew you well by sight, and by heart, too, as I in- ferred from her countenance when she said it. There, now, don't make me talk any more, for I have told you everything I know, and am about hoarse with my exer- tions."
" One thing only — did she tell you who she was ? "
" No, except that her name was Leoline, and nothing else — which struck me as being slightly impossible. Doubtless she will tell you everything, and one piece of
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advice I may venture to give you, which is, you may propose as soon as you like, without fear of rejection. Here we are at the Golden Crown, so go in and get your horse, and let us be off."
All this time Ormiston had been leading his own horse by the bridle, and as Sir Norman silently complied with his suggestion, in five minutes they were in their saddles, and galloping at break-neck speed toward the city. To tell the truth, one was not more inclined for silence than the other, and the profoundest and thoughtfulest silence was maintained till they reached it. One was thinking of Leoline, the other of La Masque, and both were very badly in love, and just at that particular moment, very happy. Of course, the happiness of people in that state never lasts longer than half an hour at a stretch, and then they are plunged back again into misery and dis- traction ; but while it does last, it is very intense and delightful indeed.
Our two friends, having drained the bitters, had got to the sugar at the bottom of the cup, and neither knew that no sooner were the sweets swallowed, than it was to be replenished with a doubly-bitter dose. Neither o# them dismounted till they reached the house of Leoline, and there Sir Norman secured his horse, and looked up at it with a beating heart. Not that it was very unusual for his heart to beat, seeing it never did anything else ; but on that occasion its motion was so much accelerated, that any doctor feeling his pulse might have justly set him down as a bad case of heart-disease. A small, bright ray of light streamed like a beacon of hope from aii upp(^r window, and the lover looked at it as a clouded mariner might at tlie sliining of the North Star.
"Are you coining in, Ormiston V" lie iiujuircd, feeling, for the lirst tinu^ in his life, iihnost bashful. "II seems lo nu; it would only he right, you know."
" I don't mind going in and introducing you," said Orinisl-on ; "but alter you have Ixhmi delivered o\c'r, you may light youi- own haitl(\s, and taki^ care of yourself. ( 'onui on."
The dooi- was unfastened, and Ormiston sprung up- .stairs with the air of a man (juite at home, followed more
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decorously by Sir Norman. The door of the lady's room stood ajar, as he had left it, and in answer to his " tapping at the chamber-door," a sweet female voice called, " Come in."
Ormiston promptly obeyed, and the next instant they were in the room, and in the presence of the dead bride. Certainly she did not look dead, but very much alive, just then, as she sat in an easy-chair, drawn up before the dressing-table, on which stood the solitary lamp that illumed the chamber. In one hand she held a small mirror, or, as it was then called, a " sprunking-glass," in which she was contemplating her own beauty, with as much satisfaction as any other pretty girl might justly do. She had changed her drenched dress during Ormis- ton's absence, and now sat arrayed in a swelling ampli- tude of rose-colored satin, her dark hair clasped and bound by a circle of milk-white pearls, and her pale, beautiful face looking ten degrees more beautiful than ever, in con- trast Avitli the bright rose- silk, shining dark hair, and rich white jew^els. She rose up as they entered, and came forw^ard wdth the same glow in her face and the same light in her eyes that one of them had seen before, and stood with drooping eyelashes, lovely as a vision, in the center of the room.
" You see I have lost no time in obeying your lady- ship's commands," began Ormiston, boAving low. "Mis- tress Leoline, allow me to present Sir Norman Kingsley."
Sir Norman Kingsley bent almost as iDrofoundly before the lady as the lord high chancellor had done before Queen Miranda ; and the lady courtesied, in return, until her pink satin skirt ballooned out all over the floor. It w^as quite an affecting tableau. And so Ormiston felt as he stood eying it with preternatural gravity.
"I owe my life to Sir Norman Kingsley," murmured the faint, sweet voice of the lady, " and could not rest until I had thanked him. I have no words to say how deeply thankful and grateful I am."
" Fairest Leoline ! one word from such lips would be enough to repay me, had I done a thousand-fold more," responded Sir Norman, laying his hand on his heart, with another deep genuflection.
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" Very pretty, indeed ! " remarked Ormiston to himself with a little approving nod ; " but I'm afraid they won't be able to keep it up, and go on talking on stilts like that, till they have finished. Perhaps they may get on all the the better if I take myself off, three being always one too many in a case like this." Then, aloud : " Madam, I regret that I am obliged to depart, having a most par- ticular appointment ; but, doubtless, my friend will be able to express himself without my assistance. I have the honor to wish you both good night."
With which neat and appropriate speech, Ormiston bowed himself out, and was gone before Leoline could detain him, even if she wished to do so ! Probably, how- ever, she thought the care of one gentleman sufiicient responsibility at once ; for she did not look very seriously distressed by his departure ; and, the moment he disap- peared, Sir Norman brightened up wonderfully. It is very discomposing to the feelings to make love in the presence of a third party ; and Sir Norman had no intention of wasting his time on anything, and went at it immediately. Taking her hand, with a grace that would have beaten Sir Charles Grandison or Lord Ches- terfield all to nothing, he led her to a couch, and took a seat as near her as was at all polite or proper, consider- ing the brief nature of their acquaintance. The curtains were drawn ; the lamp shed a faint light ; the house was still, and there was no intrusive papa to pounce down upon them ; the lady was looking down, and seemed in no way haughty or discouraging, and Sir Norman's spirits went up with a jump to boiling-point. Yet the lady, with all her pretty bashf ulness, was the first to speak.
"I am afraid, Sir Norman, you must think this a singular hour to come liere ; but, in these dreadful times, we cannot tell if we may live from one moment to another, and I should not like to die, or have you die, without my telling, and you hearing, all my gratitude. For I do assure you. Sir Norman," lifting her dark eyes with the prettiest and most bewitching earnestness, " that I am grateful, though I cannot find words to express it."
"Madam, I would not listen to you if you would, for I have done nothing to deserve thanks. I wish I could
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tell you what I felt when Ormiston told me you were alive and safe."
" You are very kind ; but pray do not call me madam. Say Leoline."
« A thousand thanks, dear Leoline ! " exclaimed Sir Norman, raising her hand to his lips, and quite beside himself with ecstasy.
« Ah, I did not tell you to say that ! " she cried, with a gay laugh and vivid blush. " I never said you were to call me dear."
" It arose from my heart to my lips," said Sir ISTor- man, with thrilling earnestness and a fervid glance ; " for you are dear to me — dearer than all the world be- side ! "
The flush took a deeper glow on the lady's face ; but singular to relate, she did not look the least surprised or displeased ; and the hand he had feloniously purloined lay passive and quite contented in his.
" Sir Norman Kingsley is pleased to jest," said the lady, in a subdued tone, and with her eyes fixed pertinaciously on her shining dress ; " for he has never spoken to me be- fore in his life."
" That has nothing to do with it, Leoline. I love you as devotedly as if I had known you from your birth-day ; and, strange to say, I feel as if we had been friends for years instead of minutes. I cannot realize at all that you are a stranger to me ! "
Leoline laughed
" Nor I ; though, for that matter, you are not a stranger to me. Sir Norman ! "
" Am I not ? How is that ? "
" I have seen you go past so often, you know, and Pru- dence told me who you were ; and so I used — I used — " hesitating and glowing to a degree before which her dress paled.
" Well, dearest," said Sir Norman, getting from the positive to the superlative at a jump, and diminishing the distance between them, " you used to what ? "
" To watch for you ! " said Leoline, in a sly whisper. *' And so I have got to know you very well."
100 THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN".
" My own darling ! And, oh, Leoline ! may I hope — dare I hope — that you do not altogether hate me ? "
Leoline looked reflective ; though her black eyes were flashing under their sweeping lashes.
" Why, no," she said, demurely, " I don't know as I do. It's very sinful and improper to hate one's fellow- creatures, you know, Sir Norman, and therefore I don't indulge in it."
" Ah, you are given to piety, I see. In that case, per- haps you are aware of a precept commanding us to love our neighbors. Now, I'm your nearest neighbor at pres- ent ; so, to keep up a consistent Christian spirit, just be good enough to say you love me ! "
Again Leoline laughed, and this time the bright, danc- ing eyes beamed in their sparkling darkness full upon him.
"I am afraid your theology is not very sound, my friend, and I have a dislike to extremes. There is a middle course between hating and loving. Suppose I take that?"
" I will have no middle courses — either hating or loving it must be. Leoline ! Leoline ! " bending over her and imprisoning both hands this time, " do say you love me ! "
"I am captive in your hands, and must, I suppose. Yes, Sir Norman, I do love you ! "
Every man hearing that for the first time from a pair of loved lips is privileged to go mad for a brief season, and to go through certain maneuvers much more delect- able to the enjoy ers thereof than to society at large. For fully ten minutes after Leoline's last speech, there was profound silence. But actions sometimes speak louder than words, and Leoline was perfectly convinced that her doclii lilt ion had not fallen on insensible ears. At the end of tliat period, the space between them on the couch had so greatly diminislied, tliat the ghost of a zephyr Avould have boencrusluHl to death tiyino- to get between them, and Sir Noriiiau's face Avas fairly radiant. Leoline herself looked ratlier beaming, and she suddenly, and witliout provocation, burst into a, merry peal of laughter.
" Well, for two people who were })erfect strangers to each other half an hour ago, I think we have gone on
LEOLINE.
101
remarkably well. What will Mr. Ormistoii and Prudence say, I wonder, Avlien they hear this ? "
They will say what is the truth — that I am the luckiest man in England. Oh, Leoline ! I never thought it was in me to love any one as I do you,"
" I am very glad to hear it ; but I know that it was in me long before I ever dreamed of knowing you. Are you not anxious to know something about the future Lady Kingsley's past history ? "
" It will all come in good time ; it is not well to have a surfeit of joy in one night."
" I do not know that this will add to your joy ; but it had better be told and be done with, at once and forever. In the first place, I presume I am an orphan, for I have never known father or mother, and I have never had any other name but Leoline."
" So Ormiston told me."
" My first recollection is of Prudence ; she was my nurse and governess, both in one ; and we lived in a cottage by the sea — I don't know where, but a long way from this. When I was about ten years old, we left it, and came to London, and lived in a house in Cheapside, for five or six years ; and then we moved here. And all this time. Sir Norman — you will think it strange — but I never made any friends or acquaintances, and knew no one but Prudence and an old Italian proft^ssor, who came to our lodgings in Cheapside, every week, to give me lessons. It was not because I disliked society, you must know ; but Prudence, with all her kindness and goodness — and I believe she truly loves me — has been nothing more or less all my life than my jailer."
She ]3aused to clasp a belt of silver brocade, fastened by a pearl buckle, close around her little waist, and Sir Nor- man fixed his eyes upon her beautiful face with a power- ful glance :
" Knew no one — that is strange, Leoline ! Not even the Count L'Estrange ? "
" Ah ! you know him ? " she cried, eagerly, lifting her eyes mth a bright look ; " do — do tell me who he is ? "
" Upon my honor, my dear," said Sir Norman, consid- erably taken aback, "it strikes me you are the person to
102 THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN.
answer that question. If I don't greatly mistake, some- body told me you were going to marry him."
" Oh, so I was," said Leoline, with the utmost sim- plicity. " But I don't know him, for all that ; and more than that, Sir Norman, I do not believe his name is Count L'Estrange any more than mine is."
" Precisely my opinion ; but why, in the name of ,
no, I'll not swear ; but why were you going to marry him, Leoline ? "
Leoline half-pouted, and shrugged her pretty pink- satin shoulders.
" Because I couldn't help it — that's why. He coaxed, and coaxed ; and I said no, and no, and no, until I got tired of it. Prudence, too, was as bad as he was, until between them I got about distracted, and at last con- sented to marry him to get rid of him."
" My poor, persecuted little darling ! Oh," cried Sir Norman, with a burst of enthusiasm, "how I should ad- mire to have Count L'Estrange here for about ten min- utes, just now ! I would spoil his next wooing for him, or I am mistaken ! "
" No, no ! " said Leoline, looking rather alarmed ; " you must not fight, you know. I shouldn't at all like either of you to get killed. Besides, he has not married me ; and so there's no harm done."
* Sir Norman seemed rather struck by that view of the case, and after a few moments' reflection on it, came to the conclusion that she knew best, and settled down peaceably again.
" Why do you suppose his name is not Count L'Estrange?" he asked.
" For many reasons. First — he is disguised ; wears false whiskers, mustache and wig, and even the voice he uses ax)pears assumed. Then Prudence seems in the greatest awe of