Books: The Midnight Queen
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May Agnes Fleming >> The Midnight Queen
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Could it be possible they were really going to murder the unhappy
wretch? and could all those beautiful ladies--could that
surpassingly beautiful queen, stand there serenely unmoved, to
witness such a crime? While he yet looked round in horror, the
doomed man, already apparently almost dead with fear, was dragged
forward by his guards. Paralyzed as he was, at sight of the
stage which he knew to be the scaffold, he uttered shriek after
shriek of frenzied despair, and struggled like a madman to get
free. But as well might Laocoon have struggled in the folds of
the serpent; they pulled him on, bound him hand and foot, and
held his head forcibly down on the block.
The black spectre moved - the dwarf made a signal - the
glittering axe was raised - fell - a scream was cut in two - a
bright jet of blood spouted up in the soldiers faces, blinding
them; the axe fell again, and the Earl of Gloucester was minus
that useful and ornamental appendage, a head.
It was all over so quickly, that Sir Norman could scarcely
believe his horrified senses, until the deed was done. The
executioner threw a black cloth over the bleeding trunk, and held
up the grizzly head by the hair; and Sir Norman could have sworn
the features moved, and the dead eyes rolled round the room.
"Behold!" cried the executioner, striking the convulsed face with
the palm of his open hand, "the fate of all traitors!"
"And of all spies!" exclaimed the dwarf, glaring with his
fiendish eyes upon the appalled Sir Norman. "Keep your axe sharp
and bright, Mr. Executioner, for before morning dawns there is
another gentleman here to be made shorter by a head."
CHAPTER XII.
DOOM.
"Let us go," said the queen, glancing at the revolting sight, and
turning away with a shudder of repulsion. "Faugh! The sight of
blood has made me sick."
"And taken away my appetite for supper," added a youthful and
elegant beauty beside her. "My Lord Gloucester was hideous
enough when living, but, mon Dieu!, he is ten times more so when
dead!"
"Your ladyship will not have the same story to tell of yonder
stranger, when he shares the same fate in are hour or two!" said
the dwarf, with a malicious grin; "for I heard you remarking upon
his extreme beauty when he first appeared."
The lady laughed and bowed, and turned her bright eyes upon Sir
Norman.
"True! It is almost a pity to cut such a handsome head off - is
it not? I wish I had a voice in your highness's council, and I
know what I should do."
"What, Lady Mountjoy?"
"Entreat him to swear fealty, and become one of as; and - "
"And a bridegroom for your ladyship?" suggested the queen, with a
curling lip. "I think if Sir Norman Kingsley knew Lady Mountjoy
as well as I do, he would even prefer the block to such a fate!"
Lady Mountjoy's brilliant eyes shone like two angry meteors; but
she merely bowed and laughed; and the laugh was echoed by the
dwarf in his shrillest falsetto.
"Does your highness intend remaining here all night?" demanded
the queen, rather fiercely. "If not, the sooner we leave this
ghastly place the better. The play is over, and supper is
waiting."
With which the royal virago made an imperious motion for her
attendant sprites in gossamer white to precede her, and turned
with her accustomed stately step to follow. The music
immediately changed from its doleful dirge to a spirited measure,
and the whole company flocked after her, back to the great room
of state. There they all paused, hovering in uncertainty around
the room, while the queen, holding her purple train up lightly in
one hand, stood at the foot of the throne, glancing at them with
her cold, haughty and beautiful eyes. In their wandering, those
same darkly-splendid eyes glanced and lighted on Sir Norman, who,
in a state of seeming stupor at the horrible scene he had just
witnessed, stood near the green table, and they sent a thrill
through him with their wonderful resemblance to Leoline's. So
vividly alike were they, that he half doubted for a moment
whether she and Leoline were not really one; but no - Leoline
never could have had the cold, cruel heart to stand and witness
such a horrible eight. Miranda's dark, piercing glance fell as
haughtily and disdainfully on him as it had on the rest; and his
heart sank as he thought that whatever sympathy she had felt for
him was entirely gone. It might have been a whim, a woman's
caprice, a spirit of contradiction, that had induced her to
defend him at first. Whatever it was, and it mattered not now,
it had completely vanished. No face of marble could have been
colder, of stonier, or harder, than hers, as she looked at him
out of the depths of her great dark eyes; and with that look, his
last lingering hope of life vanished.
"And now for the next trial!" exclaimed the dwarf, briskly
breaking in upon his drab-colored meditations, and bustling past.
"We will get it over at once, and have done with it!"
"You will do no such thing!" said the imperious voice of the
queenly shrew. "We will have neither trials nor anything else
until after supper, which has already been delayed four full
minutes. My lord chamberlain, have the goodness to step in and
see that all is in order."
One of the gilded and decorated gentlemen whom sir Norman had
mistaken for ambassadors stepped off, in obedience, through
another opening in the tapestry - which seemed to be as
extensively undermined with such apertures as a cabman's coat
with capes - and, while he was gone, the queen stood drawn up to
her full height, with her scornful face looking down on the
dwarf. That small man knit up his very plain face into a bristle
of the sourest kinks, and frowned sulky disapproval at an order
which he either would not, or dared not, countermand. Probably
the latter had most to do with it, as everybody looked hungry and
mutinous, and a great deal more eager for their supper than the
life of Sir Norman Kingsley.
"Your majesty, the royal banquet is waiting," insinuated the lord
high chamberlain, returning, and bending over until his face and
his shoe buckles almost touched.
"And what is to be done with this prisoner, while we are eating
it?" growled the dwarf, looking drawn swords at his liege lady.
"He can remain here under care of the guards, can he not?" she
retorted sharply. "Or, if you are afraid they are not equal to
taking care of him, you had better stay and watch him yourself."
With which answer, her majesty sailed majestically away, leaving
the gentleman addressed to follow or not, as he pleased. It
pleased him to do so, on the whole; and he went after her,
growling anathemas between his royal teeth, and evidently in the
same state of mind that induces gentlemen in private life to take
sticks to their aggravating spouses, under similar circumstances.
However, it might not be just the thing, perhaps, for kings and
queens to take broom-sticks to settle their little differences of
opinion, like common Christians; and so the prince peaceably
followed her, and entered the salle a manger with the rest, and
Sir Norman and his keepers were left in the hall of state,
monarchs of all they surveyed. Notwithstanding he knew his hours
were numbered, the young knight could not avoid feeling curious,
and the tapestry having been drawn aside, he looked through the
arch with a good deal of interest.
The apartment was smaller than the one in which he stood - though
still very large, and instead of being all crimson and gold, was
glancing and glittering with blue and silver. These azure
hangings were of satin, instead of velvet, and looked quite light
and cool, compared to the hot, glowing place where he was. The
ceiling was spangled over with silver stars, with the royal arms
quartered in the middle, and the chairs were of white, polished
wood, gleaming like ivory, and cushioned with blue satin. The
table was of immense length, as it had need to be, and flashed
and sparkled in the wax lights with heaps of gold and silver
plate, cut-glass, and precious porcelain. Golden and crimson
wines shone in the carved decanters; great silver baskets of
fruit were strewn about, with piles of cakes and confectionery -
not to speak of more solid substantials, wherein the heart of
every true Englishman delighteth. The queen sat in a great,
raised chair at the head, and helped herself without paying much
attention to anybody, and the remainder were ranged down its
length, according to their rank - which, as they were all pretty
much dukes and duchesses, was about equal.
The spirits of the company - depressed for a moment by the
unpleasant little circumstance of seeing one of their number
beheaded - seemed to revive under the spirituous influence of
sherry, sack, and burgundy; and soon they were laughing, and
chatting, and hobnobbing, as animatedly as any dinner-party Sir
Norman had ever seen. The musicians, too, appeared to be in high
feather, and the merriest music of the day assisted the noble
banqueters' digestion.
Under ordinary circumstances, it war rather a tantalizing scene
to stand aloof and contemplate; and so the guards very likely
felt; but Sir Norman's thoughts were of that room in black, the
headsman's axe, and Leoline. He felt he would never see her
again - never see the sun rise that was to shine on their bridal;
and he wondered what she would think of him, and if she was
destined to fall into the hands of Lord Rochester or Count
L'Estrange. As a general thing, our young friend was not given
to melancholy moralizing, but in the present case, with the
headsman's axe poised like the sword of Damocles above him by a
single hair, he may be pardoned for reflecting that this world is
all a fleeting show, and that he had got himself into a scrape,
to which the plague was a trifle. And yet, with nervous
impatience, he wished the dinner and his trial were over, his
fate sealed, and his life ended at once, since it was to be ended
soon. For the fulfillment of the first wish, he had not long to
wait; the feast, though gay and grand, was of the briefest, and
they could have scarcely been half an hour gone when they were
all back.
Everybody seemed in better humor, too, after the refection, but
the queen and the dwarf - the former looked colder, and harder,
and more like a Labrador iceberg tricked out in purple velvet,
than ever, and his highness was grinning from ear to ear - which
was the very worst possible sign. Not even her majesty could
make the slightest excuse for delaying the trial now; and,
indeed, that eccentric lady seemed to have no wish to do so, had
she the power, but seated herself in silent disdain of them all,
and dropping her long lashes over her dark eyes, seemed to forget
there was anybody in existence but herself.
His highness and his nobles took their stations of authority
behind the green table, and summoned the guards to lead the
prisoner up before them, which was done; while the rest of the
company were fluttering down into their seats, and evidently
about to pay the greatest attention. The cases in this midnight
court seemed to be conducted on a decidedly original plan, and
with an easy rapidity that would have electrified any other
court, ancient or modern. Sir Norman took his stand, and eyed
his judges with a look half contemptuous, half defiant; and the
proceedings commenced by the dwarf a leaning forward and breaking
into a roar of laughter, right in his face.
"My little friend I warned you before not to be so facetious,"
said Sir Norman, regarding him quietly; "a rush of mirth to the
brain will certainly be the death of you one of these day."
"No levity, young man!" interposed the lord chancellor,
rebukingly; "remember, you are addressing His Royal Highness
Prince Caliban, Spouse, and Consort of Her Most Gracious Majesty,
Miranda!"
"Indeed! Then all I have to say, is, that her majesty has very
bad taste in the selection of a husband, unless, indeed, her wish
was to marry the ugliest man in the world, as she herself is the
most beautiful of women!"
Her majesty took not the slightest notice of this compliment, not
so much as a flatter of her drooping eye-lashes betrayed that she
even heard it, but his highness laughed until he was perfectly
hoarse.
"Silence!" shouted the duke, shocked and indignant at this
glaring disrespect, "and answer truthfully the questions put to
you. Your name, you say, is Sir Norman Kingsley?"
"Yes. Has your grace any objection to it?"
His grace waved down the interruption with a dignified wave of
the hand, and went on with were judicial dignity.
"You are the same who shot Lord Ashley between this and the city,
some hours ago?"
"I had the pleasure of shooting a highwayman there, and my only
regret is, I did not perform the same good office by his
companion, in the person of your noble self, before you turned
and fled."
A slight titter ran round the room, and the duke turned crimson.
"These remarks are impertinent, and not to the purpose. You are
the murderer of Lord Ashley, let that suffice. Probably you were
on your way hither when you did the deed?"
"He was," said the dwarf, vindictively. "I met him at the Golden
Crown but a short time after."
"Very well, that is another point settled, and either of them is
strong enough to seal his death warrant. You came here as a spy,
to see and hear and report - probably you were sent by King
Charles?"
"Probably - just think as you please about it!" said Sir Norman,
who knew his case was as desperate as it could be, and was quite
reckless what he answered.
"You admit that you are a spy, then?"
"No such thing. I have owned nothing. As I told you before, you
are welcome to put what construction you please on my actions."
"Sir Norman Kingsley, this is nonsensical equivocation! You own
you came to hear and see?"
"Well!"
"Well, hearing and seeing constitute spying, do they not?
Therefore, you are a spy."
"I confess it looks like it. What next?"
"Need you ask What is the fate of all spies?"
"No matter what they are in other places, I am pretty certain
what they are here!"
"And that is?"
"A room in black, and a chop with an axe -the Earl of
Gloucester's fate, in a word!"
"You have said it! Have you any reason why such a sentence
should not be pronounced on you?"
"None; pronounce it as soon as you like."
"With the greatest pleasure!" said the duke, who had been
scrawling on another ominous roll of vellum, and now passed it to
the dwarf. "I never knew anyone it gave me more delight to
condemn. Will your highness pass that to her majesty for
signature, and pronounce his sentence."
His highness, with a grin of most exquisite delight, did as
directed; and Sir Norman looked steadfastly at the queen as she
received it. One of the gauzy nymphs presented it to her,
kneeling, and she took it with a look half bored, half impatient,
and lightly scrawled her autograph. The long, dark lashes did
not lift; no change passed over the calm, cold face, as icily
placid as a frozen lake in the moonlight - evidently the life or
death of the stranger was less than nothing to her. To him she,
too, was as nothing, or nearly so; but yet there was a sharp
jarring pain at his heart, as he saw that fair hand, that had
saved him once, so coolly sign his death warrant now. But there
was little time left for to watch her; for, as she pushed it
impatiently away, and relapsed into her former proud
listlessness, the dwarf got up with one of his death's-head
grins, and began:
"Sir Norman Kingsley, you have been tried and convicted as a spy,
and the paid-hireling of the vindictive and narrow-minded
Charles; and the sentence of this court, over which I have the
honor to preside, is, that you be taken hence immediately to the
place of execution, and there lose your head by the axe!"
"And a mighty small loss it will be!" remarked the duke to
himself, in a sort of parenthesis, as the dwarf concluded his
pleasant observation by thrusting himself forward across the
table, after his rather discomposing fashion, and breaking out
into one of has diabolical laughter-chips.
The queen, who had been sitting passive, and looking as if she
were in spirit a thousand miles away, now started up with sharp
suddenness, and favored his highness with one of her fieriest
fiery glances.
"Will your highness just permit somebody else to have a voice in
that matter? How many more trials are to come on tonight?"
"Only one," replied the duke, glancing over a little roll which
he held; "Lady Castlemaine's, for poisoning the Duchess of
Sutherland."
"And what is my Lady Castlemaine's fate to be?"
"The same as our friend's here, in all probability," nodding
easily, not to say playfully, at Sir Norman.
"And how long will her trial last?"
"Half an hour, or thereabouts. There are some secrets in the
matter that have to be investigated, and which will require some
time."
"Then let all the trials be over first, and all the beheadings
take place together. We don't choose to take the trouble of
traveling to the Black Chamber just to see his head chopped off,
and then have the same journey to undergo half an hour after, for
a similar purpose. Call Lady Castlemaine, and let this prisoner
be taken to one of the dungeons, and there remain until the time
for execution. Guards, do you hear? Take him away!"
The dwarf's face grew black as a thunder-cloud, and he jumped to
his feet and confronted the queen with a look so intensely ugly
that no other earthly face could have assumed it. But that lady
merely met it with one of cold disdain and aversion, and, keeping
her dark bright eyes fixed chillingly upon him, waved her white
hand, in her imperious way, to the guards. Those warlike
gentlemen knew better than to disobey her most gracious majesty
when she happened to be, like Mrs. Joe Gargary, on the "rampage,"
which, if her flashing eye and a certain expression about her
handsome mouth spoke the truth, must have been twenty hours out
of the twenty-four. As the soldiers approached to lead him away,
Sir Norman tried to catch her eye; but in vain, for she kept
those brilliant optics most unwinkingly fixed on the dwarf's
face.
"Call Lady Castlemaine," commanded the duke, as Sir Norman with
his guards passed through the doorway leading to the Black
Chamber. "Your highness, I presume, is ready to attend to her
case."
"Before I attend to hers or any one else's case," said the dwarf,
hopping over the table like an overgrown toad, "I will first see
that this guest of ours is properly taken care, of, and does not
leave us without the ceremony of saying good-bye."
With which, he seized one of the wax candles, and trotted, with
rather unprincely haste, after Sir Norman and his conductors.
The young knight had been led down the same long passage he had
walked through before; but instead of entering the chamber of
horrors, they passed through the centre arch, and found
themselves in another long, vaulted corridor, dimly lit by the
glow of the outer one. It was as cold and dismal a place, Sir
Norman thought, as he had ever seen; and it had an odor damp and
earthy, and of the grave. It had two or three great, ponderous
doors on either aide, fastened with huge iron bolts; and before
one of these his conductors paused. Just as they did so, the
glimmer of the dwarf's taper pierced the gloom, and the next
moment, smiling from ear to ear, he was by their side.
"Down with the bars!" he cried. "This is the one for him - the
strongest and safest of them all. Now, my dashing courtier, you
will see how tenderly your little friend provides for his
favorites!"
If Sir Norman made any reply, it was drowned id the rattle and
clank of the massive bars, and is hopelessly lost to posterity.
The huge door swung back; but nothing was visible but a sort of
black velvet pall, and effluvia much stronger than sweet.
Involuntarily he recoiled as one of the guards made a motion for
him to enter.
"I Shove him in! shove him in!" shrieked the dwarf, who was
getting so excited with glee that he was dancing about in a sort
of jig of delight. "In with him - in with him! If he won't go
peaceably, kick him in head-foremost!"
"I would strongly advise them not to try it," said Sir Norman, as
he stepped into the blackness, "if they have any regard for their
health! It does not make much difference after all, my little
friend, whether I spend the next half-hour in the inky blackness
of this place or the blood-red grandeur of your royal court. My
little friend, until we meet again, permit me to say, au revoir."
The dwarf laughed in his pleasant way, and pushed the candle
cautiously inside the door.
"Good-by for a little while, my dear young sir, and while the
headsmen is sharpening his axe, I'll leave you to think about
your little friend. Lest you should lack amusement, I'll leave
you a light to contemplate your apartment; and for fear you may
get lonesome, these two gentlemen will stand outside your door,
with their swords drawn, till I come back. Good-by, my dear
young sir - good-bye!"
The dungeon-door swung to with a tremendous bang Sir Norman was
barred in his prison to await his doom and the dwarf was skipping
along the passage with sprightliness, laughing as he went.
CHAPTER XIII.
ESCAPED.
Probably not one of you; my dear friends, who glance graciously
over this, was ever shut up in a dungeon under expectation of
bearing the unpleasant operation of decapitation within half an
hour. It never happened to myself, either, that I can recollect;
so, of course, you or I personally can form no idea what the
sensation may be like; but in this particular case, tradition
saith Sir Norman Kingsley's state of mind was decidedly
depressed. As the door shut violently, he leaned against it, and
listened to his jailers place the great bars into their sockets,
and felt he was shut in, in the dreariest, darkest, dismalest,
disagreeablest place that it had ever been his misfortune to
enter. He thought of Leoline, and reflected that in all
probability she was sleeping the sleep of the just - perhaps
dreaming of him, and little knowing that his head was to be cut
off in half an hour.
In course of time morning would come - it was not likely the
ordinary course of nature would be cut off because he was; and
Leoline would get up and dress herself, and looking a thousand
times prettier than ever, stand at the window and wait for him.
Ah! she might wait - much good would it do her; about that time
he would probably be - where? It was a rather uncomfortable
question, but easily answered, and depressed him to a very
desponding degree indeed.
He thought of Ormiston and La Masque - no doubt they were billing
and cooing in most approved fashion just then, and never thinking
of him; though, but for La Masque and his own folly, he might
have been half married by this time. He thought of Count
L'Estrange and Master Hubert, and become firmly convinced, if one
did not find Leoline the other would; and each being equally bad,
it was about a toss up in agony which got her.
He thought of Queen Miranda, and of the adage, "put no trust in
princes," and sighed deeply as he reflected what a bad sign of
human nature it was - more particularly such handsome human
nature - that she could, figuratively speaking, pat him on the
back one moment, and kick him to the scaffold the next. He
thought, dejectedly, what a fool he was ever to have come back;
or even having come back, not to have taken greater pains to stay
up aloft, instead of pitching abruptly head-foremost into such a
select company without an invitation. He thought, too, what a
cold, damp, unwholesome chamber they had lodged him in, and how
apt he would be to have a bad attack of ague and miasmatic fever,
if they would only let him live long enough to enjoy those
blessings. And this having brought him to the end of his
melancholy meditation, he began to reflect how he could best
amuse himself in the interim, before quitting this vale of tears.
The candle was still blinking feebly on the floor, shedding tears
of wax in its feeble prostration, and it suddenly reminded him of
the dwarf's advice to examine his dark bower of repose. So be
picked it up and snuffed it with his fingers, and held it aloof,
much as Robinson Crusoe held the brand in the dark cavern with
the dead goat.
In the velvet pall of blackness before alluded to, its small, wan
ray pierced but a few inches, and only made the darkness visible.
But Sir Norman groped his way to the wall, which he found to be
all over green and noisome slime, and broken out into a cold,
clammy perspiration, as though it were at its last gasp. By the
aid of his friendly light, for which he was really much obliged -
a fact which, had his little friend known, he would not have left
it - he managed to make the circuit of his prison, which he found
rather spacious, and by no means uninhabited; for the walls and
floor were covered with fat, black beetles, whole families of
which interesting specimens of the insect-world he crunched
remorselessly under foot, and massacred at every step; and great,
depraved-looking rats, with flashing eyes and sinister-teeth, who
made frantic dives and rushes at him, and bit at his jack-boots
with fierce, fury. These small quadrupeds reminded him forcibly
of the dwarf, especially in the region of the eyes and the
general expression of countenance; and he began to reflect that
if the dwarf's soul (supposing him to possess such an article as
that, which seemed open to debate) passed after death into the
body of any other animal, it would certainly be into that of a
rat.
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