"Yes, of course--why not?" said Katie.
"The infernal cad!" cried Harry.
"Oh, what naughty language!" said Katie. "Oh!"
"D--n him!" cried Harry, furiously. "What does the fellow mean?"
"I declare I won"t listen to such shocking language," said Katie.
"Now stop!"
"Well--but what does the scoundrel mean?" repeated Harry, in jealous wrath.
"Well, he means to try--to marry me."
"Marry!--you!"
"Oh yes; and he says he"ll make me Queen of Spain--and he says he has a claim to the crown of France also, which he promises to share with me."
"Good heavens!" said Harry, in utter consternation; for Harry had not yet done more than vaguely suspect that "His Majesty" might be any other than what he claimed to be, and this design of his upon Katie seemed now a peril of no common magnitude.
"Why, Katie," he added, after a pause, "a royal personage can"t marry a private person like you. It"s illegal, you know."
"Oh, but the fun of it is he"s only a common Irishman, and he drinks whiskey, and has an awful brogue. Oh, it"s such fun to listen to him!
But the greatest fun of all is, auntie believes in him. She thinks he is really Don Carlos; and, best of all, she thinks he is making love to her, and proposing to her."
"To her! Why, she has a husband already."
"Oh, but she thinks he has been killed."
"Killed? Good heavens! Is that really so? Poor old Russell! Oh, heavens! The villains! They"d do it, too."
And Harry thought of the bonds and the search after them. It seemed to him not at all unlikely that they had killed Russell so as to get at these, or perhaps to punish him for not giving them up. Horror now quite overwhelmed him. He felt even shocked at Katie"s levity.
"But Mrs. Russell," he said; "how does she bear this horrible, calamity?"
"Bear it?" said Katie; "why, she wants to be Queen of Spain, and France too!"
"What, when her husband lies murdered close by? Oh, heavens!--oh, good heavens!"
"Well, do you know, it does seem very odd indeed."
"But you, Katie--how can you talk of such horrors in such a way? What will be the fate of the rest of us, after this?"
"Why, you poor foolish boy, you needn"t scold and go on so. I don"t believe he"s dead any more than you are. I believe that "His Majesty"
only said it in fun. In fact, he never did actually say so."
Harry sighed a sigh of perplexity.
"But, you know," continued Katie, "Mrs. Russell went and got it into her poor old head. Oh, she"s very, very imaginative, poor dear old auntie, and she would have it so. And she thinks that all the speeches which "His Majesty" makes at me are intended for her."
"The wretched creature!" said Harry; "to speculate upon her husband"s death, and think of such a thing as marriage."
"Oh, but she says that it is not love that makes her think of it, but State policy."
"State fiddlesticks!"
"She says that Mary Queen of Scots married Bothwell after her husband"s murder, from motives of State policy."
"Oh, good heavens!" said Harry, whose sense of honor and loyalty and affection, and even of common decency, was utterly outraged at such a revelation; "and she always seemed such a quiet, good, well-meaning sort of a person."
"But she means well now," said Katie. "She says her marriage is to be for the good of Spain and the world generally."
At this Harry was silent. He could find no more words to express his feelings. Besides, although all the words, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, and exclamations above reported were uttered with as much caution and in as low a tone as were consistent with his excited feelings, still, they made more noise than was wise under the circ.u.mstances, and there were signs that some of the sleepers were restless. These, at last, attracted the attention of the two and interrupted their conversation.
Several heavy sighs from a remote corner of the room showed that some one was awake, or waking, and this warning forced them to keep silence for some time. At length all was still, and Harry ventured to speak again.
"Oh, Katie," said he, "can"t you do something with that wretched woman?"
"No," said Katie. "I"m sure all I say only makes her worse. She wants me now to address her as "Your Majesty!""
"She"s mad," said Harry; "the woman"s utterly mad!"
"Well, she"s got some great secret now which she won"t tell. As "His Majesty" was leaving, the last time, he kept up some very mysterious whisperings with her. I"ve been teasing her all day to tell me what they were, but in vain. She"s as close as the grave. A great crisis is approaching. And the fun of it is she doesn"t know that it"s me, and not her, that "His Majesty" means."
"You! Oh, Katie, don"t talk in that indifferent way."
"Why?"
"Oh, don"t you see? You are here so much in his power. Oh, we must fly. I"ll hunt along the pa.s.sage to-night, and I"m sure I"ll find something. I"m sure there must be a way out."
"But I don"t want to go," said Katie; "that is, not just yet."
"Not want to go?"
"No, not till I have some more fun, and see how this is going to end; but--"
Here Katie stopped abruptly and clutched Harry"s arm convulsively.
Harry, too, at the same instant started, and both stood peering into the dark, and listening attentively.
For there had come a sudden noise.
It was a very peculiar and a very startling noise. It was a low, shuffling sound, as of some one moving stealthily, and it arose from the direction of the fireplace--the very place where Harry"s retreat would lie in case of discovery. But now that retreat seemed cut off; and there seemed to be some one there who, perhaps, had come on his track. Harry"s only thought was that his room had been entered and his absence discovered, upon which his guards had at once come through in search of him. How many there were he could not tell. He could do nothing, however. He could only stand still and watch. Soon, he thought, others would come; lights would be produced, and he would be discovered.
"Leave me!" said Harry, in a faint whisper. "It"s one of the guards.
I"m lost!"
Katie"s answer thrilled through every nerve of the listener.
"Then if you are lost, I will be lost with you!"