Her hand was in his; her head sank upon his breast. Suddenly she clung to him with a strong grasp. "Violet! my own, my dearest; you are overcome. I have been rash, I have been imprudent. Speak, speak, my beloved! say, you are not ill!"
She spoke not, but clung to him with a fearful strength, her head still upon his breast, her full eyes closed. Alarmed, he raised her off the ground, and bore her to the river-side. Water might revive her. But when he tried to lay her a moment on the bank, she clung to him gasping, as a sinking person clings to a stout swimmer. He leant over her; he did not attempt to disengage her arms; and, by degrees, by very slow degrees, her grasp loosened. At last her arms gave way and fell by his side, and her eyes partly opened.
"Thank G.o.d! Violet, my own, my beloved, say you are better!"
She answered not, evidently she did not know him, evidently she did not see him. A film was on her sight, and her eye was gla.s.sy. He rushed to the water-side, and in a moment he had sprinkled her temples, now covered with a cold dew. Her pulse beat not, her circulation seemed suspended. He rubbed the palms of her hands, he covered her delicate feet with his coat; and then rushing up the bank into the road, he shouted with frantic cries on all sides. No one came, no one was near.
Again, with a cry of fearful anguish, he shouted as if an hyaena were feeding on his vitals. No sound; no answer. The nearest cottage was above a mile off. He dared not leave her. Again he rushed down to the water-side. Her eyes were still open, still fixed. Her mouth also was no longer closed. Her hand was stiff, her heart had ceased to beat. He tried with the warmth of his own body to revive her. He shouted, he wept, he prayed. All, all in vain. Again he was in the road, again shouting like an insane being. There was a sound. Hark! It was but the screech of an owl!
Once more at the river-side, once more bending over her with starting eyes, once more the attentive ear listening for the soundless breath. No sound! not even a sigh! Oh! what would he have given for her shriek of anguish! No change had occurred in her position, but the lower part of her face had fallen; and there was a general appearance which struck him with awe. Her body was quite cold, her limbs stiffened. He gazed, and gazed, and gazed. He bent over her with stupor rather than grief stamped on his features. It was very slowly that the dark thought came over his mind, very slowly that the horrible truth seized upon his soul. He gave a loud shriek, and fell on the lifeless body of VIOLET FANE!
[Ill.u.s.tration: dark thought]
BOOK VI
CHAPTER I
The green and bowery summer had pa.s.sed away. It was midnight when two hors.e.m.e.n pulled up their steeds beneath a wide oak; which, with other lofty trees, skirted the side of a winding road in an extensive forest in the south of Germany.
"By heavens!" said one, who apparently was the master, "we must even lay our cloaks, I think, under this oak; for the road winds again, and a.s.suredly cannot lead now to our village."
"A starlit sky in autumn can scarcely be the fittest curtain for one so weak as you, sir; I should recommend travelling on, if we keep on our horses" backs till dawn."
"But if we are travelling in a directly contrary way to our voiturier, honest as we may suppose him to be, if he find in the morning no paymaster for his job, he may with justice make free with our baggage.
And I shall be unusually mistaken if the road we are now pursuing does not lead back to the city."
"City, town, or village, you must sleep under no forest tree, sir. Let us ride on. It will be hard if we do not find some huntsman"s or ranger"s cottage; and for aught we know a neat snug village, or some comfortable old manor-house, which has been in the family for two centuries; and where, with G.o.d"s blessing, they may chance to have wine as old as the bricks. I know not how you may feel, sir, but a ten hours"
ride when I was only prepared for half the time, and that, too, in an autumn night, makes me somewhat desirous of renewing my acquaintance with the kitchen-fire."
"I could join you in a gla.s.s of hock and a slice of venison, I confess, my good fellow; but in a nocturnal ride I am no longer your match.
However, if you think it best, we will p.r.i.c.k on our steeds for another hour. If it be only for them, I am sure we must soon stop."
"Ay! do, sir; and put your cloak well round you; all is for the best.
You are not, I guess, a Sabbath-born child?"
"That am I not, but how would that make our plight worse than it is?
Should we be farther off supper?"
"Nearer, perhaps, than you imagine; for we should then have a chance of sharing the spoils of the Spirit Hunter."
"Ah! Essper, is it so?"
"Truly yes, sir; and were either of us a Sabbath-born child, by holy cross! I would not give much for our chance of a down bed this night."
Here a great horned owl flew across the road.
"Were I in the north," said Essper, "I would sing an Ave Mary against the STUT OZEL."
"What call you that?" asked Vivian.
"Tis the great bird, sir; the great horned owl, that always flies before the Wild Hunter. And truly, sir, I have pa.s.sed through many forests in my time, but never yet saw I one where I should sooner expect to hear a midnight bugle. If you will allow me, sir, I will ride by your side.
Thank G.o.d, at least, it is not the Walpurgis night!"
"I wish to Heaven it were!" said Vivian, "and that we were on the Brocken. It must be highly amusing!"
"Hush! hush! it is lucky we are not in the Hartz; but we know not where we are, nor who at this moment may be behind us."
And here Essper began pouring forth a liturgy of his own, half Catholic and half Calvinistic, quite in character with the creed of the country through which they were travelling.
"My horse has stumbled," continued Essper, "and yours, sir, is he not shying? There is a confounded cloud over the moon, but I have no sight in the dark if that ma.s.s before you be not a devil"s-stone. The Lord have mercy upon our sinful souls!"
"Peace! Essper," said Vivian, who was surprised to find him really alarmed; "I see nothing but a block of granite, no uncommon sight in a German forest."
"It is a devil-stone, I tell you, sir; there has been some church here, which he has knocked down in the night. Look! is it the moss-people that I see! As sure as I am a hungry sinner, the Wild One is out a-hunting to-night."
"More luck for us, if we meet him. His dogs, as you say, may gain us a supper. I think our wisest course will be to join the cry."
"Hush! hush! you would not talk so if you knew what your share of the spoils might be. Ay! if you did, sir, your cheek would be paler, and your very teeth would chatter. I knew one man who was travelling in the forest, just as we are now; it was about this time; and he believed in the Wild Huntsman about as much as you, that is, he liked to talk of the Spirit, merely to have the opportunity of denying that he believed in him; which showed, as I used to say, that his mind was often thinking of it. He was a merry knave, and as firm a hand for a boar-spear as ever I met with, and I have met many. We used to call him, before the accident, Left-handed Hans, but they call him now, sir, the Child-Hunter. Oh! it is a very awful tale, and I would sooner tell it in blazing hall than in free forest. You did not hear any sound to the left, did you?"
"Nothing but the wind, Essper; on with your tale, my man."
"It is a very awful tale, sir, but I will make short work of it. You see, sir, it was a night just like this; the moon was generally hid, but the stars prevented it from ever being pitch dark. And so, sir, he was travelling alone; he had been up to the castle of the baron, his master; you see, sir, he was head-ranger to his lordship, and he always returned home through the forest. What he was thinking of, I cannot say, but most likely of no good; when all on a sudden he heard the baying of hounds in the distance. Now directly he heard it; I have heard him tell the story a thousand times; directly he heard it, it struck him that it must be the Spirit Huntsman; and though there were many ways to account for the hounds, still he never for a moment doubted that they were the h.e.l.l-dogs. The sounds came nearer and nearer. Now I tell you this, because if ever, which the Holy Virgin forbid! if ever you meet the Wild Huntsman, you will know how to act: conduct yourself always with propriety, make no noise, but behave like a gentleman, and don"t put the dogs off the scent; stand aside, and let him pa.s.s. Don"t talk; he has no time to lose; for if he hunt after daybreak, a night"s sport is forfeited for every star left in the morning sky. So, sir, you see nothing puts him in a greater pa.s.sion than to lose his time in answering impertinent questions. Well, sir, Left-handed Hans stood by the road-side. The baying of the dogs was so distinct, that he felt that in a moment the Wild One would be up: his horse shivered like a sallow in a storm. He heard the tramp of the Spirit-steed: they came in sight. As the tall figure of the Huntsman pa.s.sed; I cannot tell you what it was; it might have been; Lord, forgive me for thinking what it might have been! but a voice from behind Hans, a voice so like his own, that for a moment he fancied that he had himself spoken, although he was conscious that his lips had been firmly closed the whole time; a voice from the road-side, just behind poor Hans, mind, said, "Good sport, Sir Huntsman, "tis an odd light to track a stag!" The poor man, sir, was all of an ague; but how much greater was his horror when the tall huntsman stopped! He thought that he was going to be eaten up on the spot, at least: not at all. "My friend!" said the Wild One, in the kindest voice imaginable; "my friend, would you like to give your horse a breathing with us?" Poor Hans was so alarmed that it never entered into his head for a single moment to refuse the invitation, and instantly he was galloping by the side of the Wild Huntsman. Away they flew! away! away!
away! over bog, and over mere; over ditch, and over hedge; away! away!
away! and the Ranger"s horse never failed, but kept by the side of the Wild Spirit without the least distress; and yet it is very singular that Hans was about to sell this very beast only a day before, for a matter of five crowns: you see, he only kept it just to pick his way at night from the castle to his own cottage. Well, it is very odd, but Hans soon lost all fear, for the sport was so fine and he had such a keen relish for the work, that, far from being alarmed, he thought himself one of the luckiest knaves alive. But the oddest thing all this time was, that Hans never caught sight for one moment of either buck or boar, although he saw by the dogs" noses that there was something keen in the wind, and although he felt that if the hunted beast were like any that he had himself ever followed before, it must have been run down with such dogs, quicker than a priest could say a paternoster. At last, for he had grown quite bold, says Hans to the Wild Huntsman, "The beasts run quick o"
nights, sir, I think; it has been a long time, I ween, ere I scampered so far, and saw so little!" Do you know that the old gentleman was not the least affronted, but said, in the pleasantest voice imaginable, "A true huntsman should be patient, Hans; you will see the game quick enough; look forward, man! what see you?" And sure enough, your Highness, he did look forward. It was near the skirts of the forest, there was a green glade before them, and very few trees, and therefore he could see far a-head. The moon was shining very bright, and sure enough, what did he see? Running as fleet over the turf as a rabbit, was a child. The little figure was quite black in the moonlight, and Hans could not catch its face: in a moment the h.e.l.l-dogs were on it. Hans quivered like a windy reed, and the Wild One laughed till the very woods echoed. "How like you hunting moss-men?" asked the Spirit. Now when Hans found it was only a moss-man, he took heart again, and said in a shaking voice, that "It is rare good sport in good company;" and then the Spirit jumped off his horse, and said, "Now, Hans, you must watch me well, for I am little used to bag game." He said this with a proudish air, as much as to hint, that had he not expected Hans he would not have rode out this evening without his groom. So the Wild One jumped on his horse again, and put the bag before him. It was nearly morning when Hans found himself at the door of his own cottage; and, bowing very respectfully to the Spirit Hunter, he thanked him for the sport, and begged his share of the night"s spoil. This was all in joke, but Hans had heard that "talk to the devil, and fear the last word;" and so he was determined, now that they were about to part, not to appear to tremble, but to carry it off with a jest. "Truly, Hans," said the Huntsman, "thou art a bold lad, and to encourage thee to speak to wild huntsmen again, I have a mind to give thee for thy pains the whole spoil. Take the bag, knave, a moss-man is good eating; had I time I would give thee a receipt for sauce;" and, so saying, the Spirit rode off, laughing very heartily. Well, sir, Hans was so anxious to examine the contents of the bag, and see what kind of thing a moss-man really was, for he had only caught a glimpse of him in the chase, that instead of going to bed immediately, and saying his prayers, as he should have done, he lighted a lamp and undid the string; and what think you he took out of the bag? As sure as I am a born sinner, his own child!"
""Tis a wonderful tale," said Vivian; "and did the unfortunate man tell you this himself?"
"Often and often. I knew Left-handed Hans well. He was ranger, as I said, to a great lord; and was quite a favourite, you see. For some reason or other he got out of favour. Some said that the Baron had found him out a-poaching; and that he used to ride his master"s horses a-night. Whether this be true or not, who can say? But, howsoever, Hans went to ruin; and instead of being a flourishing active lad, he was turned out, and went a-begging all through Saxony; and he always told this story as the real history of his misfortunes. Some say he is not as strong in his head as he used to be. However, why should we say it is not a true tale? What is that?" almost shrieked Essper.
Vivian listened, and heard distinctly the distant baying of hounds.
""Tis he!" said Essper; "now don"t speak, sir, don"t speak! and if the devil make me join him, as may be the case, for I am but a c.o.c.k-brained thing, particularly at midnight, don"t be running after me from any foolish feeling, but take care of yourself, and don"t be chattering. To think you should come to this, my precious young master!"
"Cease your blubbering! Do you think that I am to be frightened by the idiot tales of a parcel of old women, and the lies of a gang of detected poachers? Come, sir, ride on. We are, most probably, near some huntsman"s cottage. That distant baying is the sweetest music I have heard a long while."
"Don"t be rash, sir; don"t be rash. If you were to give me fifty crowns now, I could not remember a single line of a single prayer. Ave Maria!
it always is so when I most want it. Paternoster! and whenever I have need to remember a song, sure enough I am always thinking of a prayer.
"Unser vater, der du bist im himmel, sanctificado se el tu nombra; il tuo regno venga."" Here Essper George was proceeding with a sc.r.a.p of modern Greek, when the hors.e.m.e.n suddenly came upon one of those broad green vistas which we often see in forests, and which are generally cut, either for the convenience of hunting, or carting wood. It opened on the left side of the road; and at the bottom of it, though apparently at a great distance, a light was visible.
"So much for your Wild Huntsman, friend Essper! I shall be much disappointed if here are not quarters for the night. And see! the moon comes out, a good omen!"
After ten minutes" canter over the noiseless turf, the travellers found themselves before a large and many-windowed mansion. The building formed the farthest side of a quadrangle, which you entered through an ancient and ma.s.sy gate; on each side of which was a small building, of course the lodges. Essper soon found that the gate was closely fastened; and though he knocked often and loudly, it was with no effect. That the inhabitants of the mansion had not yet retired was certain, for lights were moving in the great house; and one of the lodges was not only very brilliantly illuminated, but full, as Vivian was soon convinced, of clamorous if not jovial guests.
"Now, by the soul of my unknown father!" said the enraged Essper, "I will make these saucy porters learn their duty--What ho! there; what ho!