Saying this, she twined both her arms round his arm, and held it pressed tight to her throbbing heart.
Harry stood erect, vigilant, staring.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
HOW SEVERAL OF OUR FRIENDS FIND THEMSELVES IN A MOST EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION.
So Harry stood, with his retreat cut off, staring into the darkness, while Katie, clinging to him, awaited the result. Harry expected every minute that lights would be produced and everything revealed.
But the lights did not come, and the discovery was delayed. There occurred a pause, during which Harry waited, after which the sliding, shuffling sounds recommenced.
They now came nearer. Then came the sound of a stealthy footfall--very slow, too, and very cautious. The new-comer, the supposed pursuer, whoever he was, seemed now to be in the room, and cautiously advancing. As yet he was under the shadow, and was, therefore, invisible in the gloom; but he was approaching the place where the moonbeams fell--where he might be seen. Harry noted this, and wondered how many more of them there might be. Katie also looked up now, and stood listening. Both of these were waiting for a chance to separate, if possible--Katie to go back to her own place, and Harry to fly back to his room.
At length the advancing figure reached the place where the moonbeams fell, and here he entered the moonlight, so that it was possible to see his outline, though not to distinguish features. It was a man--he was unarmed, and all his gestures and motions indicated excessive caution and watchfulness. Harry and Katie both saw him, as he groped about and peered through the gloom.
"It"s "His Majesty,"" said Katie.
"H-s-s-s-h!" said Harry.
The slight, whispered sounds seemed to catch the ears of the visitor.
He stood and listened. But the sounds were not repeated, and he resumed his progress.
"I know who it is," said Harry, in the faintest possible whisper.
"Who?"
"It"s Ashby," said Harry.
Katie said not a word in reply, but the effect of that name upon her was none the less manifest. The hands which had been clasping Harry"s arm relaxed their hold; she moved away from him. Harry caught her hand and tried to detain her, but Katie s.n.a.t.c.hed it away, and Harry was afraid to insist. It was evident that she was offended; and at what? Was it at the mention of Ashby"s name? And but a moment before she had said that she would share his fate--"Then if you are lost, I will be lost with you!" Those were her words. And now she was offended!
Harry could not believe it. He took a step after her and found her again. He sought again to take her hand. It was not now refused.
Katie seemed to have overcome her irritation. The quarrel was over.
So overjoyed was he that he put his arms round her slender form, and unconsciously pressed her close to his heart, while her head sank down on his breast. And there, all the time, only a few paces off, was Ashby himself!
But the beauty of it was that Ashby just then was not thinking of Katie at all. He had come here to see Dolores. For her he was making this venture, having stolen in through the pa.s.sage-way which she had shown him. He had promised, it is true, not to visit her except in cases of extreme necessity; but as he had felt very lonely, he concluded that this was the necessity in question, and had come to this place.
The room seemed to him very silent. He had come down the chimney with very little noise, and had surveyed the scene from the dark recesses of the fireplace. The corners of the room were all in darkness, but the floor was illuminated here and there by the moonbeams. Having thus taken a general view, Ashby could do nothing else but go forward; and this he did, thinking that every one was asleep, and that by some happy luck he would find Dolores.
As for Dolores, she was not asleep at that time, nor had she been asleep at all.
Katie had taken for granted that the beautiful Spaniard was in the land of forgetfulness; but Katie had never in her life been more entirely mistaken. Dolores was wide awake, and had been engaged in thoughts and speculations which made sleep impossible. It was nothing less than a plan of escape, over which her busy brain was occupied, and there were certain difficulties about it, through which she could not see her way clearly. It was over these that she was puzzling her brain when her attention was roused by certain strange movements in the room.
These were, first, the movements of Katie as she stole to the fireplace and waited there.
Secondly, the movements of Harry as he shuffled down to Katie"s side.
Thirdly, the preliminary whisperings of Harry and Katie.
Fourthly, the movements of these two out of the fireplace into the corner of the room.
Fifthly, their continuous whisperings, which sometimes were so animated that they might have wakened any sleeper.
Over all this Dolores was deeply agitated. Who, she asked herself, was this visitor to Katie? It could be one, and one only. That one was Ashby? She had shown him the way. He alone knew it. He had promised her not to come, but he had broken his word and had come.
And why? Not for her, but for his English maiden! There were these two now plotting and whispering in her presence, and that, too, after Ashby had disowned with scorn this English maiden, and had spoken such words to her! What could she do now? For such outraged love, such treachery, and such intolerable insult, what revenge could suffice?
Revenge! Yes, nothing less than revenge! For Dolores was not one of those tender and sensitive creatures who could lie down and die under a cruel wrong. Her ardent Southern nature was roused to fury, and she remained there motionless, but--like some wild beast ready to start from its lair when the prey is at hand. Away now went all thoughts of flight with Ashby. Vengeance alone remained for her to think of--vengeance full and complete, which should involve both Ashby and the English maiden. What this vengeance was to be, however, she could not think of as yet; but she knew that in order to make it as full and complete as possible, it would be necessary to think it all over from every point of view.
In this amiable frame of mind Dolores was thus waiting and listening--stung to madness by every new whisper, and nourishing her own rage all the more every moment--until at length she became gradually aware of a sound proceeding from another quarter, and not coming from the two whisperers in the corner at all. There was some one in the fireplace--some newcomer who had approached by that way.
What did this mean? Who could this be? Did others know of the secret pa.s.sage-way? If so, then her surroundings were very different from what she had supposed, and her whole course of action would have to be changed.
Dolores watched, and at length saw the figure of the new-comer quite distinct in the moonlight, yet not so distinct as to enable her to ascertain who it was. The idea was so firmly fixed in her mind that the first comer was Ashby, that she could only suppose this new visitor to be one of the Carlists, perhaps "His Majesty" himself.
Meanwhile this new-comer had been stealthily moving along, and Dolores watched and listened. Now was the time which she might seize, if she chose, as the time for vengeance. If this were really one of the Carlists, above all, if this were "His Majesty," she might have sweet revenge by denouncing the false traitor Ashby on the spot, before he could escape. It would be sweet to see the dismay of the traitor when thus discovered under her own eyes. Still, even in that hour of her madness and her fury, she felt that before taking the irrevocable step and denouncing Ashby it would be necessary to be perfectly sure. So Dolores waited.
Meanwhile Ashby in his progress had pa.s.sed beyond the place where Dolores was, and had traversed more than half the apartment. At this moment he was at fault, and felt anxious to know where to direct his way. He thought the best way would be to try first if Dolores was awake. And so, in a thin, low, but very distinct whisper, he said:
"Do-lo-res!"
Dolores heard it. Well she knew that in the castle there was no one who called her by that name--save one. Instantly a wild revulsion of feeling took place. She had mistaken--the first visitor was not Ashby. Ashby was not false. He was true. He had come, but he had come for her--herself. It was her name that he called. In that sudden revulsion of feeling she almost shouted for joy. She started up, and, regardless of everything but her own heart, was about to steal toward Ashby, when suddenly she was arrested in her attempt.
There arose another sound from some one near the door.
"Here, here," said a whisper--"here I am. How long you"ve been!"
Ashby heard this voice, and thinking it was Dolores, hurried there.
Dolores heard it, understood Ashby"s action, and sank down in consternation and despair. Katie and Harry heard it, and thought it was "His Majesty" on his way to Mrs. Russell. And they thought that others of "His Majesty"s" followers were in the chimney.
Ashby saw a figure dimly defined in the gloom. It was indistinguishable. He took it for Dolores. So he folded that figure fondly in his arms, and the "figure" reciprocated to the fullest extent.
"Oh, my own love and darling!" sighed Ashby, in Spanish.
Mrs. Russell understood not a word of Spanish. She thought, however, that if "His Majesty" could express himself more freely in that language it was certainly quite natural for him to use it; yet it did seem rather unfair to her to come here and talk love and use endearing expressions in an unknown tongue. "His Majesty" seemed very eloquent and strongly agitated, yet Mrs. Russell could not make out what he said, nor had she a chance to explain.
For in the midst of all this there occurred a new interruption. This was the sound of a key turning in the door. The door opened immediately behind Mrs. Russell, and a soft voice, said in familiar tones and in a husky whisper:
"Whis-s-s-s-sht, darlin"--are ye awake, thin! Sure I hope the gyerruls are aslape."
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
IN WHICH THE WHOLE PARTY FIND THEMSELVES IS A HAUNTED CASTLE.