All night long the bulbuls sang, and at daybreak Beebee and I were awakened from our slumbers by the murmuring music of little bronze-winged pigeons that sat on our turret balcony. And at any hour of the day if Beebee went out upon the balcony and waved a dainty handkerchief towards the woods, birds of all kinds came flocking around her, sat on the balcony rail, alighted on her head, on her shapely white arms, and even fed from her open palm.
Yes, I confess that my instinct did at times whisper to me that I should seize upon one of these lovely birds and bear it away into some quiet corner and munch it and eat it, feathers and all.
But the very heinousness of such a crime used to make me shudder and draw further back into the turret chamber. Kill Beebee"s birds! How terrible! As dreadful as if Tabby yonder were to slay poor droll d.i.c.k, of whom we are each and all so fond.
But even birds of prey used to hover high above the turret at times, and wait until Beebee threw pieces of bread towards them. Then down they would swoop as swift as arrows, and the t.i.t-bits had not time to reach the ground before they were seized and borne away to the woods.
The woods, and the birds, and the wild flowers, these alone would have rendered our turret life an ideal one. But there was the sky also, a never-ending, ever-changing source of delight to Beebee.
We were up here in the clouds almost, for so high was the turret that often we could see little fleecy cloudlets resting over the trees in the valley far beneath. The sunrises in the east, where mountain rose o"er mountain, and hills on hills, till they hid their snowy heads in the heavens, were indescribably grand and gorgeous. Long, long before the sun itself uprose, and while the shadows of night still rested in valleys and glens, those snow-covered peaks, all jagged and toothed, were lighted up with the most delicate shades of pink and crimson, with ethereal shadows of pearly blue. Downwards and downwards the light and colour would creep, till the forests seemed to swim in a purple haze; then bars and fleeces of cloud grew before our eyes from grey to bronze, and from bronze to lake and gold, and presently the sun"s red disc shimmered over the horizon and it was day; and the whole woods awakened at once into a burst of joyous bird-music and melody.
The sunsets used to be equally lovely.
Beebee would watch the sea all day long almost. It never was lacking in charm for her, whether grey under clouds of pearl, or bright blue under a cloudless sky, or dark with trailing thunderstorms, it was always the sea; and when a ship appeared, she would clap her tiny hands for very joy, and run to procure her lorgnettes, that she might even see the sailors as they walked to and fro across the decks, or leant listlessly over the bulwarks.
"Some day, some day," she would cry, "some day, dear Shireen, you and I will be on the ocean, and then, oh! then, at last, I shall be free. I have been by its banks, Shireen, and have heard the music of its waters.
But it has a secret, a secret that it tells only to those who brave its dangers.
""Wouldst thou, the helmsman answered, Learn the secrets of the sea?
Only those who brave its dangers, Comprehend its mystery."
"But," she added, still quoting the American bard:--
""Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends, All my dreams come back to me.
""Sails of silk and ropes of sendal, Such as gleam in ancient lore; And the singing of the sailors, And the answers from the sh.o.r.e.
""Till my soul is filled with longing For the secret of the sea; And the heart of that great ocean Sends a thrilling pulse through me.""
Yet beautiful though the sunsets used to be they seemed ever to throw a shadow of melancholy over Beebee"s heart, and whether Miss Morgan was in the room or not, she would sit at the balcony cas.e.m.e.nt in dreamy silence long after the glory of the clouds had left them, and the shades of night were falling over sea and land.
Then the stars would glimmer out, and their light appeared always to make her happy once more. The evening star was her especial favourite, not because it is the star of love, but because she called it and thought it her mother"s eye.
She would make her governess repeat to her, often over and over again, Longfellow"s beautiful lines to this star:--
"Just above yon sandy bar, As the day grows fainter and dimmer, Lonely and lovely a single star Lights the air with a dusty glimmer.
"Into the ocean faint and far, Falls the trail of its golden splendour; And the gleam of that single star, Is ever refulgent, soft, and tender."
Yes, I think Beebee loved that star better even than she loved the moon that in silver radiance used to shine softly, dreamily down on the woods and wilds.
My children, continued Shireen after a pause, I dwell longer on these pleasant scenes than perhaps I ought to; for, ah! me, this was the happiest part of my existence, and now that I am old and know I must soon sleep beneath the daisies, the thought of my ideal life then cheers my heart and banishes sadness far away.
But a change came. You must know then, Warlock, that Beebee did not neglect the advice the good physician had given her, and that every day she rode out into the woods and into the forests, always with a retinue of armed servants.
Why such a retinue, did you ask, Warlock? Well, I think there were two reasons. One was that the eunuch, who was Beebee"s special guardian, had received from her father strict injunctions never to let her beyond his ken; another was that the country some distance from the palace was infested by roving banditti, and that these robbers were sometimes in the pay of dissolute n.o.bles, and would think but little of attacking a cavalcade, if they thought themselves strong enough to overpower it, and bearing away with them a young lady as prisoner.
But Beebee had not the slightest fear for herself. Her father was bold and brave to a fault. The daughter was brave without being bold. She bore but little good-will now, however, to that fierce-eyed black guardian of hers, and when out in the forest she was mischievous enough to give him many a fright. Beebee, you must know, was a great favourite with all her father"s retainers, and she used to bribe the chief groom sometimes to saddle for her a very fleet horse, and to let Jazr the black eunuch have but a sorry one. Then she would touch her horse with her spurs of gold when far away in the forest, and laughingly calling to Jazr to follow, soon out-distance all her pursuers.
She would hide from them, and then ride home another way, and it would be eventide before Jazr abandoned the search and came back disconsolate, to be told that Beebee had been home hours and hours before.
It was during one of these wild rides that Beebee had the strange adventure I am now going to describe to you.
I myself was with her that day, and so was Miss Morgan. This lady did not love Jazr a whit more than did Beebee.
Miss Morgan had an exceedingly fleet horse that day, but somehow Jazr"s nag had gone lame, and Beebee rode on ahead, quickly followed by Miss Morgan, and both were soon far beyond the fear of any pursuit.
Instead, however, of riding homewards to-day as usual, it pleased Beebee"s fancy to turn her horse"s head towards the hills.
The poor child seemed to exult in her newly-acquired freedom. Why should she be watched and guarded as if she were a prisoner and a thief?
she asked Miss Morgan.
"Why indeed?" answered that lady.
"Daughters are not so treated in Merrie England, are they, dear teacher?"
"Oh, no, Beebee, my pupil. There they have much freedom, and are looked upon as in every way the equals of man!"
"How I long to see England," said Beebee.
Then she bent down to me and patted my head.
"Some day, Shireen," she said, "some day. Ah! I know my freedom will come! Perhaps my prince may come. In all pretty stories and fairy-tales a prince always comes."
She laughed lightly as she spurred on her horse, Miss Morgan following close to her heels.
But little did Beebee know that her prince had already come, and that he was at the present moment in this very forest.
"Is it not time we returned?" said Miss Morgan, after they had ridden some distance farther. "The priest"s house in the wood that we pa.s.sed nearly half-an-hour ago is the last in the forest. The mountains come soon now. Behold, Beebee, the pathway is already winding upwards.
Farther on we may come upon the den of a wild beast, or even worse, the haunts of some evil men!"
Beebee was accustomed to be guided by her governess in everything, so she now reined up her steed, and both stopped short, and permitted the horses to help themselves to a few mouthfuls of the long tender gra.s.s that grew abundantly all around them.
The silence in this part of the dark wild forest was a silence that the heart could feel. Except for the occasional throbbing notes of a bulbul in the distance, no sound of any kind fell upon their ears for a time.
Suddenly, however, from an adjoining thicket came a sound that caused the hearts of both young ladies to beat faster as they listened breathlessly.
Twice or thrice it was repeated.
"What can it be, Miss Morgan?" said Beebee, turning a shade paler. "It sounds like someone moaning in pain or dying agony."
"Nay, nay, dear pupil," answered Miss Morgan, "we must not think that.
It is in all probability but the mournful croodling of some wood pigeon.
Hark, there it is again."
Once more they listened.