They know the _allee_ well; have traversed it scores of times within the last few days and nights, and could go through it blindfold. And they also know the enclosure wall, with its exact height, just that of the cloister window beyond, and a little less than their ladder, which has been selected with an eye to dimensions.
While its bearer is easing it off his shoulder, and planting it firmly in place, a short whispered dialogue occurs between the other two, the Major saying,--
"We won"t all three be needed for the work inside. One of us may remain here--nay, must! Those _sergens de ville_ might be prowling about, or some of the convent people themselves: in which case we"ll need warning before we dare venture back over the wall. If caught on the top of it, the petticoats obstructing--ay, or without them--"twould go ill with us."
"Quite true," a.s.sents the Captain. "Which of us do you propose staying here? Jack?"
"Yes, certainly. And for more reasons than one. Excited as he is now, once getting his old flame into his arms, he"d be all on fire--perhaps with noise enough to awake the whole sleeping sisterhood, and bring them clamouring around us, like crows about an owl that had intruded into the rookery. Besides, there"s a staff of male servants--for they have such--half a score of stout fellows, who"d show fight. A big bell, too, by ringing which they can rouse the town. Therefore, Master Jack _must_ remain here. You tell him he must."
Jack is told, with reasons given, though not exactly the real ones.
Endorsing them, the Major says,--
"Don"t be so impatient, my good fellow! It will make but a few seconds"
difference; and then you"ll have your girl by your side, sure. Whereas, acting inconsiderately, you may never set eyes on her. The fight in the front will be easy. Our greatest danger"s from behind; and you can do better in every way, as for yourself, by keeping the rear-guard."
He thus counselled is convinced: and, though much disliking it, yields prompt obedience. How could he otherwise? He is in the hands of men his superiors in rank as experience. And is it not for him they are there; risking liberty--it may be life?
Having promised to keep his impulsiveness in check, he is instructed what to do: simply to lie concealed under the shadow of the wall, and should any one be outside when he hears a low whistle, he is _not_ to reply to it.
The signal so arranged, Mahon and Ryecroft mount over the wall, taking the ladder along with them, and leaving the waterman to reflect, in nervous anxiety, how near his Mary is, and yet how far off she still may be!
Once inside the garden, the other two strike off along a walk leading in the direction of the spot which is their objective point. They go as if every grain of sand pressed by their feet had a friend"s life in it. The very cats of the convent could not traverse its grounds more silently.
Their caution is rewarded; for they arrive at the cloister sought, without interruption, to see its cas.e.m.e.nt open, with a pale face in it--a picture of Madonna on a background of black, through the white film looking as if it were veiled.
But though dense the fog, it does not hinder them from perceiving that the expression of that face is one of expectancy; nor her from recognising them as the friends who were to be under the window. With that voice from the Wyeside still echoing in her ears, she sees her deliverers at hand! They have indeed come.
A woman of weak nerves would, under the circ.u.mstances, be excited--possibly cry out. But Soeur Marie is not such; and without uttering a word, even the slightest e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, she stands still, and patiently waits while a wrench is applied to the rotten bar of iron, soon snapping it from its support, as though it were but a stick of maccaroni.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A WRENCH IS APPLIED TO THE ROTTEN BAR OF IRON, SOON SNAPPING.]
It is Ryecroft who performs this burglarious feat, and into his arms she delivers herself, to be conducted down the ladder; which is done without as yet a word having been exchanged between them.
Only after reaching the ground, and there is some feeling of safety, he whispers to her,--
"Keep up your courage, Mary! Your Jack is waiting for you outside the wall. Here, take my hand----"
"Mary! My Jack! And you--you----" Her voice becomes inaudible, and she totters back against the wall!
"She"s swooning--has fainted!" mutters the Major; which Ryecroft already knows, having stretched out his arms, and caught her as she is sinking to the earth.
"It"s the sudden change into the open air," he says. "We must carry her, Major. You go ahead with the ladder; I can manage the girl myself."
While speaking, he lifts the unconscious form, and bears it away. No light weight either, but to strength as his, only a feather.
The Major, going in advance with the ladder, guides him through the mist; and in a few seconds they reach the outer wall, Mahon giving a low whistle as he approaches. It is almost instantly answered by another from the outside, telling them the coast is clear.
And in three minutes after they are also on the outside, the girl still resting in Ryecroft"s arms. The waterman wishes to relieve him, agonized by the thought that his sweetheart, who had pa.s.sed unscathed, as it were, through the very gates of death, may, after all, be dead!
He urges it; but Mahon, knowing the danger of delay, forbids any sentimental interference, commanding Jack to re-shoulder the ladder, and follow as before.
Then striking off in Indian file, the Major first, the Captain with his burden in the centre, the boatman bringing up behind, they retrace their steps towards the Rue Tintelleries.
If Ryecroft but knew whom he is carrying, he would bear her, if not more tenderly, with far different emotions, and keener solicitude about her recovery from that swoon.
It is only after she is out of his arms, and lying upon a couch in Major Mahon"s house--the hood drawn back, and the light shining on her face--that he experiences a thrill, strange and wild as ever felt by mortal man! No wonder--seeing it is Gwendoline Wynn!
"Gwen!" he exclaims, in a very ecstasy of joy, as her pulsing breast and opened eyes tell of returned consciousness.
"Vivian!" is the murmured rejoinder, their lips meeting in delirious contact.
Poor Jack Wingate!
CHAPTER LXXI.
STARTING ON A CONTINENTAL TOUR.
Lewin Murdock is dead, and buried--has been for days. Not in the family vault of the Wynns, though he had the right of having his body there laid. But his widow, who had control of the interment, willed it otherwise. She has repugnance to opening that receptacle of the dead, holding a secret she may well dread disclosure of.
There was no very searching inquiry into the cause of the man"s death--none such seeming needed. A coroner"s inquest, true; but of the most perfunctory kind. Several _habitues_ of the Welsh Harp, with its staff of waiters, testified to having seen him at that hostelry till a late hour of the night on which he was drowned, and far gone in drink.
The landlord advanced the narrative a stage, by telling how he conveyed him to the boat, and delivered him to his boatman, Richard Dempsey--all true enough; while Coracle capped the story by a statement of circ.u.mstances, in part facts, but the major part fict.i.tious: how the inebriate gentleman, after lying awhile quiet at the bottom of the skiff, suddenly sprung upon his feet, and, staggering excitedly about, capsized the craft, spilling both into the water.
Some corroboration of this, in the boat having been found floating keel upwards, and the boatman arriving home at Llangorren soaking wet. To his having been in this condition, several of the Court domestics, at the time called out of their beds, with purpose _prepense_, were able to bear witness. But Dempsey"s testimony is further strengthened, even to confirmation, by himself having since taken to bed, where he now lies dangerously ill of a fever, the result of a cold caught from that chilling _douche_.
In this latest inquest the finding of the jury is set forth in two simple words, "Drowned accidentally." No suspicion attaches to any one; and his widow, now wearing the weeds of sombre hue, sorrows profoundly.
But her grief is great only in the eyes of the outside world, and the presence of the Llangorren domestics. Alone within her chamber she shows little signs of sorrow; and, if possible, less when Gregoire Rogier is her companion; which he almost constantly is. If more than half his time at the Court while Lewin Murdock was alive, he is now there nearly the whole of it--no longer as a guest, but as much its master as she is its mistress! For that matter, indeed, more; if inference may be drawn from a dialogue occurring between them some time after her husband"s death.
They are in the library, where there is a strong chest, devoted to the safe keeping of legal doc.u.ments, wills, leases, and the like--all the paraphernalia of papers relating to the administration of the estate.
Rogier is at a table upon which many of these lie, with writing materials besides. A sheet of foolscap is before him, on which he has just scribbled the rough copy of an advertis.e.m.e.nt intended to be sent to several newspapers.
"I think this will do," he says to the widow, who, in an easy chair drawn up in front of the fire, is sipping Chartreuse, and smoking paper cigarettes. "Shall I read it to you?"
"No. I don"t want to be bothered with the thing in detail. Enough, if you let me hear its general purport."
He gives her this in briefest epitome:--
"_The Llangorren estates to be sold by public auction, with all the appurtenances, mansion, park, ornamental grounds, home and out farms, manorial rights, presentation to church living, etc., etc._"
"_Tres-bien!_ Have you put down the date? It should be soon."
"You"re right, _cherie_. Should, and must be. So soon, I fear we won"t realize three-fourths of the value. But there"s no help for it, with the ugly thing threatening--hanging over our necks like a very sword of Damocles."
"You mean the tongue of _le braconnier_?"