Books: The Midnight Queen
M >>
May Agnes Fleming >> The Midnight Queen
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 | 7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20
"Both were, your highness," replied the duke, bowing to the small
speaker, "and uncommonly handy with their weapons."
"I saw one of them down at the Golden Crown, not long ago," said
the dwarf; "a forward young popinjay, and mighty inquisitive
about this, our royal palace. I promised him, if he came here, a
warm reception - a promise I will have the greatest pleasure in
fulfilling"
"You may stand aside, my lord duke," said the queen, with a
graceful wave of her hand, "and if any new subjects have been
added to our court since our last weekly meeting, let them come
forward, and be sworn."
A dozen or mare courtiers immediately stepped forward, and
kneeling before the queen, announced their name and rank, which
were both ambitiously high. A few silvery-toned questions were
put by that royal lady and satisfactorily answered, and then the
archbishop, armed with a huge tome, administered a severe and
searching oath, which the candidates took with a great deal of
sang frond, and were then permitted to kiss the hand of the queen
- a privilege worth any amount of swearing - and retire.
"Let any one who has any reports to make, make them immediately,"
again commanded her majesty.
A number of gentlemen of high rank, presented themselves at this
summons, and began relating, as a certain sect of Christians do
in church, their experience! Many of these consisted, to the
deep disapproval of Sir Norman, of accounts of daring highway
robberies, one of them perpetrated on the king himself, which
distinguished personage the duplicate of Leoline styled "our
brother Charles," and of the sums thereby attained. The
treasurer of state was then ordered to show himself, and give an
account of the said moneys, which he promptly did; and after him
came a number of petitioners, praying for one thing and another,
some of which the queen promised to grant, and some she didn't.
These little affairs of state being over, Miranda turned to the
little gentleman beside her, with the observation
"I believe, your highness, it a on this night the Earl of
Gloucester is to be tried on a charge of high treason, in it
not?"
His highness growled a respectful assent.
"Then let him be brought before us," said the queen. "Go,
guards, and fetch him."
Two of the soldiers bowed low, and backed from the royal
presence, amid dead and ominous silence. At this interesting
stage of the proceedings, as Sir Norman was leaning forward,
breathless and excited, a footstep sounded on the flagged floor
beside him, and some one suddenly grasped his shoulder with no
gentle hand.
CHAPTER IX.
LEOLINE.
In one instant Sir Norman was on his feet and his hand on his
sword. In the tarry darkness, neither the face nor figure of the
intruder could be made out, but he merely saw a darker shadow
beside him standing in the sea of darkness. Perhaps he might
have thought it a ghost, but that the hand which grasped his
shoulder was unmistakably of flesh, and blood, and muscle, and
the breathing of its owner was distinctly audible by his ads.
"Who are you?" demanded Sir Norman, drawing out his sword, and
wrenching himself free from his unseen companion.
"Ah! it is you, is it? I thought so," said a not unknown voice.
"I have been calling you till I am hoarse, and at last gave it
up, and started after you in despair. What are you doing here?"
"You, Ormiston!" exclaimed Sir Norman, in the last degree
astonished. "How - when - what are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here? that's more to the purpose. Down flat
on your face, with your head stuck through that hole. What is
below there, anyway?"
"Never mind," said Sir Norman, hastily, who, for some reason
quite unaccountable to himself, did not wish Ormiston to see.
"There's nothing therein particular, but a lower range of vaults.
Do you intend telling me what has brought you here?"
"Certainly; the very fleetest horse I could find in the city."
"Pshaw! You don't say so?" exclaimed Sir Norman, incredulously.
"But I presume you had some object in taking such a gallop? May
I ask what? Your anxious solicitude on my account, very likely?"
"Not precisely. But, I say, Kingsley, what light is that shining
through there? I mean to see."
"No, you won't," said Sir Norman, rapidly and noiselessly
replacing the flag. "It's nothing, I tell you, but a number of
will-o-'wisps having a ball. Finally, and for the last time, Mr.
Ormiston, will you have the goodness to tell me what has sent you
here?"
"Come out to the air, then. I have no fancy for talking in this
place; it smells like a tomb."
"There is nothing wrong, I hope?" inquired Sir Norman, following
his friend, and threading his way gingerly through the piles of
rubbish in the profound darkness.
"Nothing wrong, but everything extremely right. Confound this
place! It would be easier walking on live eels than through
these winding and lumbered passages. Thank the fates, we are
through them, at last! for there is the daylight, or, rather the
nightlight, and we have escaped without any bones broken."
They had reached the mouldering and crumbling doorway, shown by a
square of lighter darkness, and exchanged the damp, chill
atmosphere of the vaults for the stagnant, sultry open air. Sir
Norman, with a notion in his head that his dwarfish highness
might have placed sentinels around his royal residence,
endeavored to pierce the gloom in search of them. Though he
could discover none, he still thought discretion the better part
of valor, and stepped out into the road.
"Now, then, where are you going?" inquired Ormiston for,
following him.
"I don't wish to talk here; there is no telling who may be
listening. Come along."
Ormiston glanced back at the gloomy rain looming up like a black
spectre in the blackness.
"Well, they most have a strong fancy for eavesdropping, I must
say, who world go to that haunted heap to listen. What have you
seen there, and where have you left your horse?"
"I told you before," said Sir Norman, rather impatiently, "I that
I have seen nothing - at least, nothing you would care about; and
my horse is waiting me at the Golden Crown."
"Very well, we have no time to lose; so get there as fast as you
can, and mount him and ride as if the demon were after you back
to London."
"Back to London? Is the man crazy? I shall do no such thing,
let me tell you, to-night."
"Oh, just as you please," said Ormiston, with a great deal of
indifference, considering the urgent nature of his former
request. "You can do as you like, you know, and so can I - which
translated, means, I will go and tell her you have declined to
come."
"Tell her? Tell whom? What are you talking about? Hang it,
man!" exclaimed Sir Norman, getting somewhat excited and profane,
"what are you driving at? Can't you speak out and tell me at
once?"
"I have told you!" said Ormiston, testily: "and I tell you again,
she sent me in search of you, and if you don't choose to come,
that's your own affair, and not mine."
This was a little too mach for Sir Norman's overwrought feelings,
and in the last degree of exasperation, he laid violent hands on
the collar of Ormiston's doublet let, and shook him as if be
would have shaken the name out with a jerk.
"I tell you what it is, Ormiston, you had better not aggravate
me! I can stand a good deal, but I'm not exactly Moses or Job,
and you had better mind what you're at. If you don't come to the
point at once, and tell me who I she is, I'll throttle you where
you stand; and so give you warning."
Half-indignant, and wholly laughing, Ormiston stepped back out of
the way of his excited friend.
"I cry you mercy! In one word, then, I have been dispatched by a
lady in search of you, and that lady is - Leoline."
It has always been one of the inscrutable mysteries in natural
philosophy that I never could fathom, why men do not faint.
Certain it is, I never yet heard of a man swooning from excess of
surprise or joy, and perhaps that may account for Sir Norman's
not doing so on the present occasion. But he came to an abrupt
stand-still in their rapid career; and if it had not been quite
so excessively dark, his friend would have beheld a countenance
wonderful to look on, in its mixture of utter astonishment and
sublime consternation.
"Leoline!" he faintly gasped. "Just atop a moment, Ormiston, and
say that again - will you?"
"No," said Ormiston, hurrying unconcernedly on; "I shall do no
such thing, for there is no time to lose, and if there were I
have no fancy for standing in this dismal road. Come on, man,
and I'll tell you as we go."
Thus abjured, and seeing there was no help for it, Sir Norman, in
a dazed and bewildered state, complied; and Ormiston promptly and
briskly relaxed into business.
"You see, my dear fellow, to begin at the beginning, after you
left, I stood at ease at La Masque's door, awaiting that lady's
return, and was presently rewarded by seeing her come up with an
old woman called Prudence. Do you recollect the woman who rushed
screaming out of the home of the dead bride?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Well, that was Prudence. She and La Masque were talking so
earnestly they did not perceive me, and I - well, the fast is,
Kingsley, I stayed and listened. Not a very handsome thing,
perhaps, but I couldn't resist it. They were talking of some one
they called Leoline, and I, in a moment, knew that it was your
flame, and that neither of them knew any more of her whereabouts
than we did."
"And yet La Masque told me to come here in search of her,"
interrupted Sir Norman.
"Very true! That was odd - wasn't it? This Prudence, it
appears, was Leoline's nurse, and La Masque, too, seemed to have
a certain authority over her; and between them, I learned she was
to have been married this very night, and died - or, at least,
Prudence thought so - an hour or two before the time."
"Then she was not married?" cried Sir Norman, in an ecstasy of
delight.
"Not a bit of it; and what is more, didn't want to be; and
judging from the remarks of Prudence, I should say, of the two,
rather preferred the plague."
"Then why was she going to do it? You don't mean to say she was
forced?"
"Ah, but I do, though! Prudence owned it with the most charming
candor in the world."
"Did you hear the name of the person she was to have married?"
asked Sir Norman, with kindling eyes.
"I think not; they called him the count, if my memory serves me,
and Prudence intimated that he knew nothing of the melancholy
fate of Mistress Leoline. Moat likely it was the person in the
cloak and slouched hat we caw talking to the watchman."
Sir Norman said nothing, but he thought a good deal, and the
burden of his thoughts was an ardent and heartfelt wish that the
Court L'Estrange was once more under the swords of the three
robbers, and waiting for him to ride to the rescue - that was
all!
"La Masque urged Prudence to go back," continued Ormiston; "but
Prudence respectfully declined, and went her way bemoaning the
fate of her darling. When she was gone, I stepped up to Madame
Masque, and that lady's first words of greeting were an earnest
hope that I had been edified and improved by what I had
overheard."
"She saw you, then?" said Sir Norman.
"See me? I believe you! She has more eyes than ever Argus had,
and each one is as sharp as a cambric needle. Of course I
apologized, and so on, and she forgave me handsomely, and then we
fell to discoursing - need I tell you on what subject?"
"Love, of course," said Sir Norman.
"Yes, mingled with entreaties to take off her mask that would
have moved a heart of atone. It moved what was better - the
heart of La Masque; and, Kingsley, she has consented to do it;
and she says that if, after seeing her face, I still love her,
she will be my wife."
"Is it possible? My dear Ormiston, I congratulate you with all
my heart!"
"Thank you! After that she left me, and I walked away in such a
frenzy of delight that I couldn't have told whether I was
treading this earth or the shining shares of the seventh heaven,
when suddenly there flew past me a figure all in white - the
figure of a bride, Kingsley, pursued by an excited mob. We were
both near the river, and the first thing I knew, she was plump
into it, with the crowd behind, yelling to stop her, that she was
ill of the plague."
"Great Heaven! and was she drowned?"
"No, though it was not her fault. The Earl of Rochester and his
page - you remember that page, I fancy - were out in their barge,
and the earl picked her up. Then I got a boat, set out after
her, claimed her - for I recognized her, of course - brought her
ashore, and deposited her safe and sound in her own house. What
do you think of that?"
"Ormiston," said Norman, catching him by the shoulder, with a
very excited face, "is this true?"
"True as preaching, Kingsley, every word of it! And the most
extraordinary part of the business is, that her dip in cold water
has effectually cured her of the plague; not a trace of it
remains."
Sir Norman dropped his hand, and walked on, staring straight
before him, perfectly speechless. In fact, no known language in
the world could have done justice to his feelings at that precise
period; for three times that night, in three different shapes,
had he seen this same Leoline, and at the same moment he was
watching her decked out in royal state in the rain, Ormiston had
probably been assisting her from her cold bath in the river
Thames.
Astonishment and consternation are words altogether too feeble to
express his state of mind; but one idea remained clear and bright
amid all his mental chaos, and that was, that the Leoline he had
fallen in love with dead, was awaiting him, alive and well, in
London.
"Well," said Ormiston, "you don't speak! What do you think of
all this?"
"Think! I can't think - I've got past that long ago!" replied
his friend, hopelessly. "Did you really say Leoline was alive
and well?"
"And waiting for you - yes, I did, and I repeat it; and the
sooner you get back to town, the sooner you will see her; so
don't loiter - "
"Ormiston, what do you mean! Is it possible I can see her
to-night?"
"Yes, it is; the dear creature is waiting for you even now. You
see, after we got to the house, and she had consented to become a
little rational, mutual explanations ensued, by which it appeared
she had ran away from Sir Norman Kingsley's in a state of frenzy,
had jumped into the river in a similarly excited state of mind,
and was most anxious to go down on her pretty knees and thank the
aforesaid Sir Norman for saving her life. What could any one as
gallant as myself do under these circumstances, but offer to set
forth in quest of that gentleman? And she promptly consented to
sit up and wait his coming, and dismissed me with her blessing.
And, Kingsley, I've a private notion she is as deeply affected by
you as you are by her; for, when I mentioned your name, she
blushed, yea, verily to the roots of her hair; and when she spoke
of you, couldn't so much as look me in the face - which is, yea
must own, a very bad symptom."
"Nonsense!" said Sir Norman, energetically. And had it been
daylight, his friend would have seen that he blushed almost as
extensively as the lady. "She doesn't know me."
"Ah, doesn't she, though? That shows all you know about it! She
has seen you go past the window many and many a time; and to see
you," said Ormiston, making a grimace undercover of the darkness,
"is to love! She told me so herself."
"What! That she loved me!" exclaimed Sir Norman, his notions of
propriety to the last degree shocked by such a revelation.
"Not altogether, she only looked that; but she said she knew you
well by sight, and by heart, too, as I inferred from her
countenance when she said it. There now, don't make me talk any
more, for I have told you everything I know, and am about hoarse
with my exertions."
"One thing only - did she tell you who she was?"
"No, except that her name was Leoline, and nothing else - which
struck me as being slightly improbable. Doubtless, she will tell
you everything, and one piece of advice I may venture to give
you, which is, you may propose as soon as you like without fear
of rejection. Here we are at the Golden Crown, so go in and get
your horse, and let us be off."
All this time Ormiston had been leading his own horse by the
bridle, and as Sir Norman silently complied with this suggestion,
in five minutes more they were in their saddles, and galloping at
breakneck speed toward the city. To tell the truth, one was not
more inclined for silence than the other, and the profoundest and
thoughtfulest silence was maintained till they reached it. One
was thinking of Leoline, the other of La Masque, and both were
badly in love, and just at that particular moment very happy. Of
course the happiness of people in that state never lasts longer
than half an hour at a stretch, and then they are plunged back
again into misery and distraction; but while it does last, it in,
very intense and delightful indeed.
Our two friends having drained the bitten, had got to the bottom
of the cup, and neither knew that no sooner were the sweets
swallowed, than it was to be replenished with a doubly-bitter
dose. Neither of them dismounted till they reached the house of
Leoline, and there Sir Norman secured his horse, and looked up at
it with a beating heart. Not that it was very unusual for his
heart to beat, seeing it never did anything else; but on that
occasion its motion was so mush accelerated, that any doctor
feeling his pulse might have justly set him down as a bad case of
heart-disease. A small, bright ray of light streamed like a
beacon of hope from an upper window, and the lover looked at it
as a clouded mariner might at the shining of the North Star.
"Are you coming in, Ormiston?" he inquired, feeling, for the
first time in his life, almost bashful. "It seems to me it would
only be right, you know."
"I don't mind going in and introducing` you," said Ormiston; "but
after you have been delivered over, you may fight poor own
battles, and take care of yourself. Come on."
The door was unfastened, and Ormiston sprang upstairs with the
air of a man-quite at home, followed more decorously by Sir
Norman. The door of the lady's room stood ajar, as he had left
it, and in answer to his "tapping at the chamber-door," a sweet
feminine voice called "come in."
Ormiston promptly obeyed, and the next instant they were in the
room, and in the presence of the dead bride. Certainly she did
not look dead, but very much alive, just then, as she sat in an
easy-chair, drawn up before the dressing-table, on which stood
the solitary lamp that illumed the chamber. In one hand she held
a small mirror, or, as it was then called, a "sprunking-glass,"
in which she was contemplating her own beauty, with as much
satisfaction as any other pretty girl might justly do. She had
changed her drenched dress during Ormiston's absence, and now sat
arrayed in a swelling amplitude of rose-colored satin, her dark
hair clasped and bound by a circle of milk-white pearls, and her
pale, beautiful face looking ten degrees more beautiful than
ever, in contrast with the bright rose-silk, shining dark hair,
and rich white jewels. She rose up as they entered, and came
forward with the same glow on her face and the same light in her
eyes that one of them had seen before, and stood with drooping
eyelashes, lovely as a vision in the centre of the room.
"You see I have lost no time in obeying your ladyship's
commands," began Ormiston, bowing low. "Mistress Leoline, allow
me to present Sir Norman Kingsley."
Sir Norman Kingsley bent almost as profoundly before the lady as
the lord high chancellor had done before Queen Miranda; and the
lady courtesied, in return, until her pink-satin skirt ballooned
out all over the floor. It was quite an affecting tableau. And
so Ormiston felt, as he stood eyeing it with preternatural
gravity.
"I owe my life to Sir Norman Kingsley," murmured the faint, sweet
voice of the lady, "and could not rest until I had thanked him.
I have no words to say how deeply thankful and grateful I am."
"Fairest Leoline! one word from such lips would be enough to
repay me, had I done a thousandfold more," responded Norman,
laying his hand on his heart, with another deep genuflection.
"Very pretty indeed!" remarked Ormiston to himself, with a little
approving nod; "but I'm afraid they won't be able to keep it up,
and go on talking on stilts like that, till they have finished.
Perhaps they may get on all the better if I take myself off,
there being always one too many in a case like this." Then
aloud: "Madame, I regret that I am obliged to depart, having a
most particular appointment; but, doubtless, my friend will be
able to express himself without my assistance. I have the honor
to wish you both good-night."
With which neat and appropriate speech, Ormiston bowed himself
out, and was gone before Leoline could detain him, even if she
wished to do so. Probably, however, she thought the care of one
gentleman sufficient responsibility at once; and she did not look
very seriously distressed by his departure; and, the moment he
disappeared, Sir Norman brightened up wonderfully.
It is very discomposing to the feelings to make love in the
presence of a third party; and Sir Norman had no intention of
wasting his time on anything, and went at it immediately. Taking
her hand, with a grace that would have beaten Sir Charles
Grandison or Lord Chesterfield all to nothing, he led her to a
couch, and took a seat as near her as was at all polite or
proper, considering the brief nature of their acquaintance. The
curtains were drawn; the lamp shed a faint light; the house was
still, and there was no intrusive papa to pounce down upon them;
the lady was looking down, and seemed in no way haughty or
discouraging, and Sir Norman's spirits went up with a jump to
boiling-point.
Yet the lady, with all her pretty bashfulness, was the first to
speak.
"I'm afraid, Sir Norman, you must think this a singular hour to
come here; but, in these dreadful times, we cannot tell if we may
live from one moment to another; and I should not like to die, or
have you die, without my telling, and you hearing, all my
gratitude. For I do assure you, Sir Norman," said the lady,
lifting her dark eyes with the prettiest and moat bewitching
earnestness, "that I am grateful, though I cannot find words to
express it."
"Madame, I would not listen to you it you would; for I have done
nothing to deserve thanks. I wish I could tell you what I felt
when Ormiston told me you were alive and safe."
"You are very kind, but pray do not call me madame. Say
Leoline!"
"A thousand thanks, dear Leoline!" exclaimed Sir Norman, raising
her hand to his lips, and quite beside himself with ecstasy.
"Ah, I did not tell you to say that!" she cried, with a gay laugh
and vivid blush. "I never said you were to call me dear."
"It arose from my heart to my lips," said Sir Norman, with
thrilling earnestness and fervid glance; "for you are dear to me
- dearer than all the world beside!"
The flush grew a deeper glow on the lady's face; but, singular to
relate, she did not look the least surprised or displeased; and
the hand he had feloniously purloined lay passive and quite
contented in his.
"Sir Norman Kingsley is pleased to jest," said the lady, in a
subdued tone, and with her eyes fixed pertinaciously on her
shining dress; "for he has never spoken to me before in his
life!"
"That has nothing to do with it, Leoline. I love you as
devotedly as if I had known you from your birthday; and, strange
to say, I feel as if we had been friends for years instead of
minutes. I cannot realize at all that you are a stranger to me!"
Leoline laughed:
"Nor I; though, for that matter, you are not a stranger to me,
Sir Norman!"
"Am I not? How is that!"
"I have seen you go past so often, you know; and Prudence told me
who you were; and so I need - I used - " hesitating and glowing
to a degree before which her dress paled.
"Well, dearest," said Sir Norman, getting from the positive to
the superlative at a jump, and diminishing the distance between
them, "you need to - what?"
"To watch for you!" said Leoline, in a sly whisper. "And so I
have got to know you very well!"
"My own darling! And, O Leoline! may I hope - dare I hope - that
you do not altogether hate me?"
Leoline looked reflective; though her bleak eyes were sparkling
under their sweeping lashes.
"Why, no," she said, demurely, "I don't know as I do. It's very
sinful and improper to hate one's fellow-creatures, you know, Sir
Norman, and therefore I don't indulge in it."
"Ah! you are given to piety, I see. In that case, perhaps you
are aware of a precept commanding us to love our neighbors. Now,
I'm your nearest neighbor at present; so, to keep up a consistent
Christian spirit, just be good enough to say you love me!"
Again Leoline laughed; and this time the bright, dancing eyes
beamed in their sparkling darkness fall upon him.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 | 7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20