The very opposite of the handsome shepherdess of Ben Lone.
And yet when she looked up or smiled, her face was transfigured into a wondrous beauty; such intellectual and spiritual beauty as that perfect piece of flesh and blood never could have expressed. And she was a "sealed book." Yet the hour was at hand when the "sealed book" was to be opened--when her dreaming soul, like the sleeping princess in the wood, was to be awakened by the touch of holy love to make the beauty of her person and the glory of her life.
CHAPTER II.
AN IDEAL LOVE.
A few weeks after their settlement at Lone, Sir Lemuel Levison returned to London on affairs connected with his final retirement from active business.
Salome was left at the castle, with the numerous servants of the establishment, but otherwise quite alone. She had neither governess, companion, nor confidential maid. She suffered from this enforced solitude. She had seen all the splendors of the interior of Lone, and there was nothing new to discover--except--yes, there was Malcom"s Tower, which tradition said was the most ancient portion of the castle, whose foundations had been dug from the solid rock, hundreds of feet below the surface of the lake.
The tower had been restored with the rest of the castle, but had never been fitted up for occupation.
Salome determined to spend one morning in exploring the old tower from foundation to top.
She summoned the housekeeper to her presence, and made known her purpose.
"Macolm"s Watch Tower, Miss! Weel, then, it"s naething to see within, forbye a few auld family portraits and sic like, left there by the auld duke; but there"ll be an unco" foine view frae the top on a braw day like this," said Dame Ross, as she detached a bunch of keys from her belt, and signified her readiness to attend her young mistress.
I need not detail the explorations of the young lady from the horrible dungeon of the foundation--up the narrow, winding steps, cut in the thickness of the outer wall, which was perforated on the inner side by doorways on each landing, leading into the strong, round stone rooms or cells on each floor, lighted only by long narrow slits in the solid masonry. All the lower cells were empty.
But when they reached the top of the winding steps and opened the door of the upper cell, the housekeeper said:
"Here are deposited some o" the relics left by the auld duke until such time as he shall be ready to tak" them awa"."
Salome followed her into the room and suddenly drew back in surprise.
She saw standing out from the gloom, the form of a young man of majestic beauty and grace.
A second look showed her that this was only a full-length life-sized portrait--but of whom?
Her gaze became riveted on the glorious presence.
The portrait represented a young man of about twenty-five years of age, tall, finely formed, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, with a well-turned, stately head, a Grecian profile, a fair, open brow, dark, deep blue eyes, and very rich auburn hair and beard. He wore the picturesque highland dress--the tartan of the Clan Scott.
But it was not the dress, the form, the face that fascinated the gaze of the girl. It was the air, the look, the SOUL that shone through it all!
A sun ray, glancing through the narrow slit in the solid wall, fell directly upon the fine face, lighting it up as with a halo of glory!
"It is the face of the young St. John! Nay, it is more divine! It is the face of Gabriel who standeth in the presence of the Lord! But it expresses more of power! It is the face of Michael rather, when he put the hosts of h.e.l.l to flight! Oh! a wondrously glorious face!" said the rapt young enthusiast to herself, as she gazed in awe-struck silence on the portrait.
"Ye are looking at that picture, young leddy? Ay it weel deserves your regards! It is a grand one!" said Dame Ross, proudly.
"_Who is it? One of the young princes?_" inquired Salome, in a low tone, full of reverential admiration.
"Ane o" the young princes? Gude guide us! Nae, young leddy; I hae seen the young princes ance, on an unco" ill day for Lone! And I dinna care if I never see ane mair. But they dinna look like that," said the housekeeper, with a deep sigh.
"Who is it, then?" whispered Salome, still gazing on the portrait with somewhat of the rapt devotion with which she had been wont to gaze on pictured saint, or angel, on her convent walls. "Who is it, Mrs. Ross?"
"Wha is it? Wha suld it be, but our ain young laird? Our ain bonny laddie? Our young Markis o" Arondelle? Oh, waes the day he ever left Lone!" exclaimed Dame Girzie, lifting her ap.r.o.n to her eyes.
"The Marquis of Arondelle!" echoed Salome, catching her breath, and gazing with even more interest upon the glorious picture.
Even while she gazed, the ray that had lighted it for a moment was withdrawn by the setting sun, and the picture was swallowed up in sudden darkness.
"The Marquis of Arondelle," repeated Salome in a low reverent tone, as if speaking to herself.
"Ay, the young Markis o" Arondelle; wae worth the day he went awa"!" said the housekeeper, wiping her eyes.
Salome turned suddenly to the weeping woman.
"I have heard--I have heard--" she began in a low, hesitating voice, and then she suddenly stopped and looked at the dame.
"Ay, young leddy, nae doubt ye hae heard unco mony a fule tale anent our young laird; but if ye would care to hear the verra truth, ye suld do so frae mysel. But come noo, leddy. It is too dark to see onything mair in this room. We"ll gae out on the battlements gin ye like, and tak" a luke at the landscape while the twilight lasts," said Dame Girzie.
Salome a.s.sented with a nod, and they climbed the last steep flight of stairs, cut in the solid wall, and leading from this upper room to the top of the watch-tower.
They came out upon a magnificent view.
The bright, long twilight of these Northern lat.i.tudes still hung luminously over island, lake and mountain.
While Salome gazed upon it Dame Girzie said:
"All this frae the tower to the horizon, far as our eyes can reach, and far"er, was for eight centuries the land of the Lairds of Lone. And noo!
a" hae gane frae them, and they hae gane frae us, and na mon kens where they bide or how they fare. Wae"s me!"
"It was indeed a household wreck," said Salome, with sigh of sincere sympathy.
"Ye may say that, leddy, and mak" na mistake."
"What is that lofty mountain-top that I see on the edge of the horizon away to the north, just fading in the twilight?" inquired Salome, partly to divert the dame from her gloomy thoughts.
"Yon? Ay. Yon will be, Ben Lone. It will be twenty miles awa", gin it be a furlong. Our young laird had a braw hunting lodge there, where in the season he was wont to spend weeks thegither wi" his kinsman, Johnnie Scott, for the young laird was unco" fond of deer stalking, and sic like sport. I dinna ken wha owns the lodge now, or whether it went wi" the lave of the estate," said Dame Girzie, with a deep sigh.
"It is growing quite chilly up here," said Salome, shivering, and drawing her little red shawl more closely around her slight frame. "I think we will go down now, Mrs. Ross. And if you will be so good as to come to me after tea, this evening, I shall like to hear the story of this sorrowful family wreck," she added, as she turned to leave the place.
That evening, as the heiress sat in the small drawing room appropriated to her own use, the housekeeper rapped and was admitted.
And after seating herself at the bidding of her young mistress, Girzie Ross opened her mouth and told the true story of the fall of Lone, as I have already told to my readers.
"And this devoted son actually sacrificed all the prospects of his whole future life, in order to give peace and prosperity to his father"s declining days," murmured Salome, with her eyes full of tears and her usually pale cheeks, flushed with emotion.
"He did, young leddy, like the n.o.ble soul, he was," said Dame Girzie.