CHAPTER XXXV
"FROM OUT LIFE'S THUNDERS TO A STRANGE, SWEET WORLD"
She was dead, and, after all, her end had been crowned with peace.She did not hear the door thrown roughly open, the swelling of angryvoices, or the fast-approaching tramp of many feet. Nor did Paul heedany of these signs of coming danger; he had folded his strong armsaround her, and his lips, pressed close to her, seemed to draw thelast quivering breath from her frail body. It was only when her headsunk back, and he knew that she was dead, that he laid her reverentlydown and turned around.
The room was full of strange flashes of light and grotesque shadowsfalling upon the white faces of half a dozen monks. Standing in frontof them was Father Andrew, and by his side was an old man, tall andstraight, with snow-white beard and hair. He stood in full glare ofa torch held by one of the monks behind him, and his face seemed likethe face of a corpse, save for the steady, malignant light in hisjet-black eyes. As Paul turned round, with his features suddenlyvisible in a stream of lurid light, he raised his arm and pointed along, skinny finger steadily towards him.
"The son of the devil!" he cried, his deep, tremulous voice awakeningstrange echoes in the high vaulted chamber. "Welcome! Welcome! Thricewelcome!"
Paul straightened himself, and reverently laid the little white handwhich he had been clasping across the coverlet. "She is dead!" he saidsolemnly. "What I came here to learn from you, I have learnt from her.Let me go!"
He moved a step forward, but the old man remained there in the way,motionless, and around the door were gathered a solid phalanx ofmonks. Paul halted, conscious at once of his danger. The white facesof the monks were all bent upon him, full of savage, animal ferocity,and a gleam of something still worse lit up the dark eyes of that oldman. Their very silence was unnatural and oppressive. Paul bore it,looking round amongst them with questioning eyes, until he could bearit no longer.
"Am I a prisoner?" he cried. "What do you want with me? Speak! some ofyou! Count of Cruta, answer me!"
A dull, hollow laugh echoed through the chamber. Paul turned away,sick with horror. It was like being in the power of a hoard of madmen.The air of the place, too, seemed suddenly to have become stifling.The perspiration was standing out upon his forehead in great beads. Itwas a relief when the Count spoke.
"You have done well, Paul de Vaux, to find your way here--hereinto the very presence of a dying woman, and force from her lips aconfession that has made you glad. You think that you will go back nowto your country, and cheat me of my well-planned vengeance. You willhold up your head once more; you will mock at the Church's rights. Youwill go your way through the world rich and honoured; you will callyourself by an old name. You will pluck all the roses of life. Worthyson of a worthy father! Look at me! Who was it who blasted my life, myhappiness, my honour, my name? A name grander and older than his, asthe oak is older and grander than the currant bush. When he took mydaughter into his arms, he wrote the funeral of his race! I playedwith him, as a tiger plays with a miserable Hindoo! When life wassweetest to him, I struck. He came here for mercy; I laughed, and Iwas merciful. I stabbed him to the heart. The knife hangs side by sidewith the arms of the Crusaders of Cruta. You are his son! You are thenext to die! You will not leave these walls alive! These monks knowyou! It is you who hold the lands of De Vaux, which by right belong totheir Holy Church. You would go back to resist their just claims! Thegood of the Church demands that you should not go back! You shall notgo back! The Count of Cruta demands that you shall not go back. Youshall not go back! You shall be slain, even where your father wasslain, but you shall not creep back to your hole to die! Your bonesshall whiten and shrivel upon the rocks. Your blood shall be anhonoured stain upon my floor. Monks of Cruta! there he stands! He whoalone can resist your just possession of the broad lands and abbeyof De Vaux. The despoiled Church cries to you to strike. The end isgreat! Haul him away!"
They were around him like a pack of wolves, their lean faces hungryand fierce, and their long, skinny fingers clutching at his throat andat his clothing. One silently drew a knife and brandished it over him.Paul wrenched himself free with a tremendous effort, but they wereupon him again. They forced him slowly backwards, backwards evenacross the bed where that dead woman lay with her eyes as yetunclosed. The great heat, as much as their numbers, was overpoweringhim. His eyes were bloodshot, and there was a choking in his throat.Again the long knife was lifted; other hands held him motionless,ready for the blow. He was too weak to struggle now. He saw the bluesteel quivering in the air. Then he closed his eyes.
What was that? There was a shrill cry from one of the monks, and Paul,finding their grasp relaxed, started up. They were cowering down likea flock of frightened animals. The room seemed full of red fire. Theglass in the windows cracked; it flew into pieces, and a column ofsmoke curled in. The door was thrown open; Guiseppe stood for a momenton the threshold.
"Fly!" he cried. "Fly! The castle is on fire. The flames are near!"
They rushed for the door like panic-stricken cattle before a greatprairie fire, biting and trampling upon one another in their haste.Paul followed, but the old Count stood in his way, trembling, not withfear, but with anger.
"Cowards! beasts!" he cried after the flying monks. "But you shall notescape me!"
He wound his long arms around his enemy, but the strength of hismanhood was gone, and without effort Paul threw him on one side. Then,through the smoke, he found himself face to face with Guiseppe.
"This way, Signor!" he said coolly. "Follow me closely!"
The old Count was up again, and seemed about to attack them. Suddenlyhe changed his mind, and with a hoarse cry, ran down an emptycorridor. Guiseppe and Paul turned in the opposite direction.
"We must fly, Signor!" the man cried. "He goes to the cellars! He is adevil! He will blow up the castle! Cover up your nose and your mouth!"
They hurried along wide, deserted corridors, down stone stairs, andfinally reached what seemed to be a circular underground passage.Round and round they went, until Paul's head swam; but the air wascooler, and every moment brought relief. Suddenly there was a coldbreeze. They turned one more corner, and Guiseppe stopped. They werein an open aperture facing the sea, barely twenty feet below. A smallboat with a single man in it was there waiting.
"Dive!" cried Guiseppe. "We must not wait for the rope!"
Over they went almost simultaneously. The shock of the cold watersent the blood dancing once more through Paul's veins. He came to thesurface just after his guide, cool and refreshed. They scrambled intothe boat, and Paul gave a little cry of wonder. They were drifting ona sea of ruddy gold, and the space all around them was brilliant withthe reflection. High above, the flames were leaping up towards thesky, and the dull sing-song of their roar set the very air vibrating.Guiseppe, still dripping, seized an oar.
"Pull, for your lives! pull!" he cried anxiously.
His companion shrugged his shoulders. "But why?"
"Ask no questions! You will see!"
They did see. They were barely half-way to the yacht, when there camethe sound of a low rumbling from the castle. Suddenly it broke into aroar. Belching sheets of flame burst out on every side. Huge cracks inthat brilliant light were suddenly visible in the walls, creeping in ajagged line from the foundation to the turret. Fragments of thestone work flew outwards and upwards. It seemed as though some mightyinternal force were splitting the place up. The men in the boat satbreathless and transfixed. Only Guiseppe whispered: "It is the oldCount! He is the devil! He has blown the place up!"
There was another, and then a series of explosions. Fragments of therock and stone fell hissing into the water scarcely a hundred feetaway. Great waves rolled towards them. It seemed as though the earthunderneath were shaking. Then it all died away, and there was silence.Only the blackened walls of the castle remained, with the dying flamesstill curling fitfully around them. The air grew darker, and thecolour faded from the sea.
"It is the last of the Count of Cruta, and his castle of h
orrors!"cried Guiseppe. "God be thanked!"
CHAPTER XXXVI
"LOVE THAN DEATH ITSELF MORE STRONG"
I had no thought of writing in you again, my silent friend. Only alittle while ago I said to myself, the time has gone by when solitudeand heart hunger could drive me to your pages for consolation. Only alittle while ago, it is true; and yet between the past and future isfixed a mighty gulf. As I write these words I stand upon the thresholdof death! What death may mean, I know not! I have no religion to throwbright gleams of hope upon its dark mysteries. I have no hope of anyother life, save the one I am quitting! If I am resigned and calm, itis because the lamp of my life has burnt out, and I am in darkness. Iwait for death as a maiden waits for the first gleams of dawn on hermarriage day.
Who said that love was everlasting? They lied! Love is a dream, afloating shadow full of golden lights, quenched by the first breath ofmorning! Who should know, if I do not know? Who has done more for lovethan I--I whose hands are red with blood, I who this night must die?It was for his sake, I struck--for his sake! and now that the hour ofmy punishment must come, I sit here alone and forsaken, waiting forthe signal which must end my life! It was for his sake! A death-whiteface rises up before me, and a hoarse, dying cry sobs ever in my ears!I pass on my way through the Valley of the Shadow of Death with nohope to cheer me, forsaken, friendless, and shaken with dim fears!Am I alone! He for whom I struck has turned from me. Oh, the bittercruelty of it! It was he who taught me what love was, and yet of lovehe knows nothing, else I would not be here to meet my doom alone!Oh! Paul, Paul! Oh, for one touch of your hand, for one kind look! Myheart is sick and faint with longing! Am I indeed so low and vile athing that you should turn away with never a single word of farewell?O! my love, you are hard indeed! If my hands are stained withblood--for whose sake was it? It was only a word I craved for, Paul!Only a word--a look, even! Was it too great a boon to grant?
* * * * *
Oh, memory! help me, help me to keep sane just a few more hours--untilthe end comes. It is a last luxury! I will think of those golden dayswe spent together ere the blow fell. Ah! how happy we were! Everybreath of life was sweet; every moment seemed charged with thedelicious happiness! The past, with its haunting shadows, and thememory of that grim, deathly figure huddled up amongst the fernsin the bare pine wood had perished. Background and foreground hadvanished in the bewildering joys of the present. Oh! Paul, that washappiness, indeed. All measures of outside things seemed lost! Attimes I found it hard to recollect in what country we were! Oh! theworld, such as ours was, is a sweet, sweet world!
At last the blow fell. He came to me one morning, as white as a sheet,with an old, soiled copy of the Times in his hand.
"Read, Adrea," he cried, thrusting it into my hand. "A horrible thinghas happened!"
I let the paper fall through my fingers. An agony of fear was upon me."I know! I know! Do not ask me to read it."
"You knew, and you did not tell me!"
"No! I--no!"
There was a deadly swimming before my eyes, and a throbbing in myears. I sank back, grateful for the unconsciousness which gave merespite, however short. When recovered, I was on the verge of a fever;and Paul, seeing my condition, did not refer to the news which hadbeen such a shock to him. But for an hour the next day he was awayfrom me, writing letters home. When he returned there was a restraintbetween us. He was kind as ever, but restless and unsettled. As yet hehad no suspicion, but I could see that he was longing to get back toEngland.... The thought was like madness to me.
Then came the beginning of the end. We were staying in a villa whichwe had rented for a month near Florence, and one day we drove into thecity together to do some shopping. Paul was at the post-office, and Iwas crossing the square to go to him, when of a sudden I felt a handupon my dress, and a hoarse whisper in my ear. I started round interror. A man, pale and hollow-eyed, stood by my side. It was Gomez!
"Listen quickly!" he said. "I must not stay by your side! You are indanger! The English police are upon your track!"
I caught hold of the railing to prevent myself from falling. Above myhead, a little flock of pigeons lazily flapped their wings against thedeep blue sky. All around, the sunlit air was full of laughing voices,and gaily dressed crowds of people were passing backwards and forwardsonly a few yards away. Already, one or two were glancing inmy direction curiously. In a moment Paul would come out of thepost-office, looking for me. I made a great effort, and steadiedmyself.
"Tell me! What can I do?"
He answered me quickly, keeping his back turned to the stream ofpeople. "You must fly! It may be already too late, but in twenty-fourhours you will certainly be arrested if you are in Florence. I havetravelled night and day to find you. The holy saints grant that it maynot be too late. Call yourself by a strange name; and if Paul de Vauxbe with you, see that he alters his also. There are already two of thedetectives in Florence searching for you. A third, with a warrant,may be here at any time. Get to the furthest corner of the world, foreverything is known. Farewell!"
He left me abruptly; and although I felt that my doom had been spoken,I walked firmly across the square to meet Paul. I would tell himeverything. He should be my judge. My love should plead for me! Itwould triumph; yes! it would triumph! I was convinced of it! As forthe danger I was in, I thought less of that.
On the steps of the postoffice I met Paul. He held in his hand abundle of papers, one of which he had opened, and, as he raised hishead and looked at me, I saw that what I had dreaded had come to pass.He looked like a man stricken down by some sudden and terrible blow.He was white even to the lips, and a strange light burned in his eyes.
He laid his hand upon my arm. Was it my fancy, or did he really recoila little as he touched me? "Let us go home!" he said hoarsely. "Ihave--something to say to you!"
We entered the carriage, which was waiting near, and drove off. Wecame together into this room. It was barely two hours ago. He closedthe door and turned towards me. I did not wait for his question. Itold him everything!
Ah me! I had thought that love was a different thing. I had sinned,it is true, but he was not my judge. So I commenced, humbled andsorrowful indeed, but with no fear of what was before me. Butgradually, as I watched his face, a cold, ghastly dread crept in uponme. What did it mean--that blank look of horror, his quiet withdrawalfrom the only caress I attempted? I finished--abruptly--and called outto him piteously,--
"Paul! Paul! Why do you turn away? Oh! kiss me, Paul! It was horrible,but it was to save you!"
He did not answer; he did not hold out his arms, or make any movementtowards me. I touched his arm; and oh! horrible! he shuddered. I creptaway into a corner of the room, with a strange, burning pain in myheart.
"How long is it, since you saw Gomez?" he asked, and his voice,strained, yet low, seemed to come from a far distance.
"An hour!--perhaps more--I cannot tell!"
He stood before the door like a ghost. "I must go and try to find him!Forgive me, Adrea! I cannot talk now! I will come back!"
So he left me. I have not seen him since! God only knows whether Ishall see him again! My heart is torn with the agony of it! I cannotbear it any longer! If he is not here in half an hour I shall end it!
* * * * *
He has not come! Ten minutes more!
Five minutes!
* * * * *
It is done; I have taken poison! In half an hour I shall be dead! Oh!Paul, my love, my love, come to me! If I could only die in yourarms, if I could only feel once more your kisses upon my lips! It ishorrible to die alone! Already I feel weaker! Oh! if there be a Godin heaven, send me Paul just for one last moment! I do not ask forforgiveness or pardon, only send me Paul! I am afraid to die alone!Never to see him again! Oh! I shall cry out! Paul! Paul! come to me! Ido not ask for heaven, only to die in his arms, to----
* * * * *
There
were sounds upon the stairs, and in the hall; the sounds of aman's quick entrance and approach. Adrea, with that passionateprayer still quivering upon her lips, dragged herself to the door andlistened. A moment's agonised apprehension, and then she staggeredback, faint with joy. The door was opened, and quickly closed; Paulstood before her.
"Oh! my love! my love," she murmured. "Take me in your arms! It is forthe last time!"
He moved to her side, and supported her. "Adrea," he said quietly, "Iwant you to change your things quickly, and come with me. There isa carriage at the door, and I have chartered a steamer to take us toGenoa. From there we can sail to-morrow for New York. Gomez was right;you are in danger here! Be brave, little woman, and all will be well!"
She clung to him passionately, with her arms locked around his neck,and her wet face close to his. Only a confused sense of his wordsreached her. His tone and his embrace were sufficient.
"And you?"
"I go with you, of course! We shall begin a new life in a new world!Come! We have no time to lose!"
"A new life in a new world." She repeated the words dreamily, stillholding him to her. Then a sudden dizziness came. It passed away, butit reminded her that the end could not be far off.
"Adrea, do you not understand? How cold your lips are! Try and bearup, love! We have a long journey before us!"
She shook her head slowly. He began to notice that she was like a deadweight in his arms.
"It is a long journey, love, but I go alone. You cannot come, Paul!Yet I am not afraid, now that you are here!"
"Adrea! what do you mean? I will not leave you! Have courage! Adrea!Soon we shall leave all dangers behind us!"
"Paul! do you not understand? I am dying!"
Dying! He looked at her face, calm and even smiling, but terriblyblanched and white, and he saw the empty phial upon the table. Thewhole truth swept in upon him. He staggered and almost fell with her.
"It is best so," she whispered. "I only minded when--I thought thatyou might not be back in time. I am quite--content now!"
"A doctor!" he cried hoarsely. "I must fetch a doctor! Adrea----"
"Please don't!" she interrupted. "Long before he could come--I shouldbe dead. It is so much better! Did you think, Paul, that I could haveyou--tied for life--to a poor, hunted woman--forced to live alwaysin a foreign country? Oh! no, no! I have had this poison by me eversince--in case--anything happened. Paul, carry me--to the sofa! Thereis--no pain--but I am getting weaker--very weak. My eyes are a littledim, too--but I can see you--Paul!"
He obeyed her, and sank on his knees, with his arms still around her.It seemed to him that she had never been so lovely as in those lastfew minutes of her life. It was wonderful to see her resigned as shewas.
There was a brief silence, broken only by a sharp, convulsed sob fromthe kneeling man. Adrea, who heard it, stretched out her hand, andpassed it caressingly along the side of his face. He caught it andcovered it with kisses.
"Paul, we have been happy together, have we not?"
"My darling, you know it!"
She raised herself a little, and spoke earnestly. "For me--it has beenlike heaven--and yet I am not sure--that it would have lasted.You would have wearied soon! My nature is too light a one to havesatisfied you always. I have felt it! I--I know it!"
She paused, struggling for breath. He did not answer her. He onlyheld her tighter, and whispered her name lovingly. In a moment shere-opened her eyes.
"So--it is best--" she continued, with a little more effort. "Paul,things seem all so clear--to me now! I think of you in the future--itmust be a happy future, Paul--I know it will! I see you the master ofthat grand old home of yours, up amongst the moors you love so much.I can see you there in the future, living your quiet, countrylife--always the same, honourable and just. I like to think of youthere--it is so natural. I want you--to forget--these days then!Remember that it was--I--who--came to you, Paul! You had no--choice.I would come. If there has been--any sin--it has been--mine only. Youwere far above--poor me! I have dragged you down--a little way--butyou will go back again! You will marry--some one good and worthy ofyou. It is my--last wish! God bless you, Paul, dear--dear, Paul. Ithink that I am--going now--kiss me!"
"My love! My love! Oh! that you could live to be happy with me oncemore!"
"There are steps upon the stairs--I think--but they come--too late!The book on the table--take it! It will--tell you--what you do notknow--of my life! Farewell! Sister Elise! Is that you? Ah! backonce more--in the old convent garden! How sweet--and gentle--the airis--and what perfumes! You here, Paul! You too! How dim your faceseems--and yet--how happy it makes me--to see it. Dear Paul! we havebeen--so happy! Farewell!"
* * * * *
There were strangers in the room, but they came too late. They foundonly the corpse of a woman, whose dead lips were parted in a strangelysweet smile, and a strong man who had swooned by her side in the utterabandonment of his grief. The hand of human justice had been stayed byGod's mercy!
THE END.
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