"Of course there is something behind. Did I not tell you that I had a confession to make concerning a wicked dream? Listen, Lord Arondelle. At the time you stood under my window and saw the light turned off, and supposing that I had gone to rest, you turned away and left the grounds, at that time I had _not_ gone to rest, but had gone to my father"s room, in returning from which I experienced that strange optical illusion. My nerves must have been strangely disordered, for when I reached my own chamber again, and finding it quite dark, opened the window and sat down to look out upon the moonlit lake, I immediately fell asleep, and had a terrible, and a terribly real and distinct dream--a dream, dear, that nearly overturned my reason, I do believe."
"What was it, love?" he inquired.
She told him without the least reserve.
He listened to her with interest, and then laughed aloud.
"The idea of your having such a dream about me as that! I do not wonder it weighed upon your mind. Yes, it was very wicked of you, my sinful child--very. But since you sincerely repent, I freely absolve you.
_Benedicite!_"
Salome looked and listened to him with surprise; for as she spoke of dreaming that he called Rose Cameron his wife, he not only laughed at that idea, but really appeared as if the very existence of the girl was unknown to him.
Then Salome ventured another question:
"Do you know any one of the name of Rose Cameron?"
"No, not personally. I believe one of our shepherds, up at Ben Lone, has a very handsome daughter of that name, but I have never seen her," said the young marquis, with an open sincerity that carried conviction with it.
Salome was amazed, but convinced. What could have started the false reports concerning the young marquis and the handsome shepherdess?
Clearly Rose"s own hallucination. She had seen the marquis somewhere, without having been seen by him; she had fallen in love with him, and had partly lost her reason and imagined all the rest, she thought.
"And so you have never even looked upon the beauty of that dream?" she said, with a smile.
"Never even looked upon her," a.s.sented the marquis.
"Then I do, in downright earnest, beg your pardon for my dream," said Salome, gravely.
"But I have already given you absolution, my erring daughter?
_Benedicite! Benedicite!_" replied the marquis still laughing.
At that moment there was a light rap at the library door, followed by the entrance of a footman who placed a small, twisted note in the hands of Miss Levison. She opened it and read:
"MY DEAR CHILD: It is after ten o"clock. We go to church at eleven. Sir Lemuel has not yet rung his bell. His valet having received his orders last night not to call him this morning, has declined to do so. What is to be done under these circ.u.mstances? Send me a verbal message by the bearer. Your loving Aunt,
"SOPHIE BELGRADE."
"My father not yet risen!" exclaimed Salome in surprise. "He must have overslept himself with fatigue. Tell Lady Belgrade, with my thanks, that I will go to my father"s room and waken him," she added, turning to the footman, who bowed and went to deliver his message.
"I hope Sir Lemuel is quite well?" said the young marquis, earnestly.
"He is quite well. My father regulates his habits so well as to live in perfect harmony with the laws of life and health. If he fatigues himself over night, he always takes a compensating rest in the morning. That is what he is doing now. But I think he is sleeping even longer than he intended to do, so I really must arouse him now, if we are to keep our appointment with the minister. Good-by, until we meet at the church, Lord Arondelle," she said, as she floated from the room in her bridal robe, and vail.
"Who says that she is not beautiful, belies her? She is lovely in person and in spirit," murmured the young marquis, as he took up his hat to leave the house.
CHAPTER VIII.
A HORRIBLE DISCOVERY.
In order not to attract the attention of the crowds of people who swarmed in the village, on the bridge, and on the island, Lord Arondelle had driven over to the castle in a closed cab that now waited at the gates to take him back again.
He left the library and went out into the great hall.
The hall porter, an elderly, stout, and important-looking functionary, slowly arose from his chair to honor the young marquis by opening the doors with his own official hands instead of leaving that duty to the footman.
And Lord Arondelle was just in the act of pa.s.sing out when his steps were suddenly arrested.
A WILD AND PIERCING SHRIEK RANG THROUGH THE HOUSE, STARTLING ALL ITS ECHOES!
It was followed by a dead silence, and then by the sound of many hurrying feet and terrified exclamations.
"Salome! my bride! Oh, what has happened!" thought the startled young marquis, rushing back into the hall and up the stairs.
In the upper hall he found a crowd of terrified people, all hurrying in one direction--toward the bedroom of the banker.
"The dear old gentleman has got a fit, I fear, and his daughter has discovered him in it," was the next thought that flashed upon the mind of the marquis as, without waiting to ask questions, he rushed through and distanced the crowd, and reached the door of the banker"s bedroom, which was blocked up by men and women, wedding guests, and servants, some questioning and exclaiming, some weeping and wailing, some standing in panic-stricken silence.
"What has happened?" cried the young marquis pushing his way with more violence than ceremony through all that impeded his entrance into the chamber.
No one answered him. No one dared to do so.
"It is Lord Arondelle--let his lordship pa.s.s," said one of the wedding guests, recognizing the expectant bridegroom as he entered the room.
An awe-struck group of persons was gathered around some object on the floor; they made way in silence for the approach of the marquis.
He pa.s.sed in and looked down.
HORROR UPON HORRORS! There lay the dead body of the banker, full-dressed as on the evening before, but with his head crushed in and surrounded by a pool of coagulated blood! The face was marble white; the eyes were open and stony, the jaws had dropped and stiffened into death.
Across the body lay the swooning form of his daughter, with her bridal vail and robes all dabbled in her father"s blood.
"HEAVEN OF HEAVENS! Who has done this?" cried the marquis, a cold sweat of horror bursting from his pallid brow as he stared upon this ghastly sight!
A dozen voices answered him at once, to the effect that no one yet knew.
"Run! run! and fetch a doctor instantly! Some of you! any of you who can go the quickest!" he cried, as he stooped and lifted the insensible form of his bride and laid her on the bed--the bed that had not been occupied during the night. Evidently from these appearances, the banker had been murdered before his usual hour of retiring.
"Who has gone for a doctor?" inquired Lord Arondelle, in an agony of anxiety, as he bent over the unconscious form of his beloved one.
"I have despatched Gilbert, yer lairdship. He will mak" unco guid haste,"
answered the steward, who stood overcome with grief as he gazed upon the ghastly corpse of his unfortunate master.
"My lord," said Lady Belgrade, who stood by too deeply awed for tears, and up to this moment for action either--"my lord, you had better go out of the room for the present, and take all these men with you, and leave Miss Levison to the care of myself and the women. This is all unspeakably horrible! But our first care should be for her. We must loosen her dress, and take other measures for her recovery."
"Yes, yes! Great Heaven! yes! Do all you can for her! This is maddening!"
groaned the marquis, smiting his forehead as he left the bedside, yielding his place to the dowager.