"Go to the devil!" exclaimed the stranger, trying to shake her off.
"But I an"t prepared to go, sir, indeed I an"t," persisted Miss Tabby, holding on.
"Go ahead, Raphael--I"m coming! And, confound you, so is the water! It will be too late in another minute!" savagely exclaimed the man, succeeding now in shaking himself free.
"Oh, sir! for pity"s sake, sir, don"t leave me here to drown! How can you resky the mother and child, and leave a poor lone "oman like me to die? How can you, sir? Resky me, for your own blessed mother"s sake! Oh!
young gentleman, beg for me! don"t leave me!" prayed Miss Tabby, turning from the elder to the younger man.
"Go on, Raphael!" shouted the man.
But the youth hesitated.
"Father," he said, "that old woman was kind to me. Save her! there is room enough in the boat."
"Oh! you darling sweet Master Raphael! Is it yourself that is there?"
exclaimed Miss Tabby, delightedly. "Is it yourself indeed? Oh, tell the gentleman what a faithful servant I have been, and how my young lady loved me! and how she"d fret herself to death if I was to be drownded, all through coming to her help in her trouble to-night!" pleaded the poor creature, clasping her hands.
"Father, bring her off, for our sakes, if not for her own," said the boy, diplomatically; "for if we leave her here, and she should be saved by others, she may betray our secret."
"That is true," admitted the elder man. "So we will save the poor old wretch, but only upon conditions. Here, you old devil!" he called, turning to the woman.
"Yes, sir," said Miss Tabby, opening and clasping her hands.
"If I take you off in the boat to-night, and drop you down safe somewhere on dry land, will you promise never to tell any living soul who rescued you?"
"Yes, sir! yes, sir! and swear to it on the Bible! which there is one on the table handy, sir!" eagerly a.s.sented Miss Tabby.
"And will you also promise never to speak of our visit to this cell to-night?"
"Yes, sir! yes, sir! and swear to it!"
"And never to mention how Mrs. Berners and her child were saved?"
"Oh yes, sir!"
"Nor even that she was saved at all?"
"Oh yes, sir! and swear to it!"
"And you will never betray the secret, by word or sign?"
"No, sir!"
"But keep it to the day of your death?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Get the book, then, and take the oath. Raphael, take the child to the boat and lay it on the blankets there, and then come back and help the woman off. And, good Heaven! make haste! We must get away from here immediately. I hear footsteps along the corridor! Some one is coming!
Haste! We must not allow Sybil Berners to be rescued through the door.
That would be worse than being left to drown! Haste, I say!" exclaimed the man, speaking rapidly and excitedly as he caught up another quilt and cast it over Sybil"s form, and hurried with her towards the open window.
There was indeed the most pressing need of haste, for more reasons than one: the rising waters were now oozing through the stone walls and covering the floor inside, while outside the flood was almost up to the window sill. In a very few moments it would overflow the place.
Raphael laid the child down where he had been told to put her, and then ran back into the cell to help Miss Tabby, who had faithfully taken the oath required of her.
The elder man laid his insensible burden in the boat, and then climbed in after her.
The last was a difficult feat, for the water was br.i.m.m.i.n.g to the window sill, and the boat was above it.
As the man stepped into the boat, his weight caused it to tip so much that it cast a shower into the cell.
Miss Tabby shrieked out that she was going to be drowned, although not a drop of water had touched her.
Raphael soothed her and helped her into the boat, and put her in a seat near the elder man.
"That"s the thing! Now do you support this lady"s head on your lap, for I shall have to row," said the man, as he transferred Sybil Berners from his own arms to Miss Tabby"s, and then took up the oar.
Raphael took up the other oar, and they were rowing away from the prison walls when their attention was attracted by the sound of a dog"s whining in the cell. They looked up and saw Sybil"s little Skye terrier on the window sill, with her fore-paws in the water. And at the same instant little Nelly struck out, swam towards them, jumped into the boat, and nestled at her mistress" feet.
The rain had ceased, and the clouds were breaking away from the eastern horizon, where the first crimson streak heralded the rising sun.
They rowed swiftly towards the heights, which now appeared not so much like the boundaries of a valley as the hilly sh.o.r.es of an inland sea.
Yes, the Black Valley seemed indeed transformed into a black lake, surrounded with wooded hills, and dotted with wooded isles; but these seeming hills were really mountains, and these seeming isles were the tops of submerged trees.
They rowed to the nearest point of land and stopped the boat, where a little path led up the steep ascent.
"Do you see that path?" inquired the elder man of the old woman.
"Yes, my dear gentleman, I do," said Miss Tabby.
"Do you know where it leads?"
"Yes, my dear gentleman; it leads to a cl.u.s.ter of quarrymen"s cottages."
"Then get out of the boat and go up there; there you will find shelter."
"But, my good sir, my sick lady?" inquired Miss Tabby, hesitating.
"Never mind her. She will be a blamed sight better taken care of by us, than she has been lately by any of you! Come, get out with you!"
"But, sir, I daren"t desert my sick lady."
"I"m blest, if you don"t get out of this boat in double quick time, if I don"t pitch your head foremost into the water, and drown you. We have no time to stop here fooling with you till it is broad daylight," said the man, starting to his feet as if about to put his threat into instant execution.
Miss Tabby jumped up and scuttled out of the boat as fast as she could go, without even having stopped to kiss her lady "good-bye."
And this was the last Miss Tabby saw or heard of Sybil Berners for many long years.