The Midnight Queen

  CHAPTER XXII. DAY-DAWN.

  All this time, the attendant, George, had been sitting, very much at hisease, on horseback, looking after Sir Norman's charger and admiringthe beauties of sunrise. He had seen Sir Norman in conversation witha strange female, and not much liking his near proximity to theplague-pit, was rather impatient for it to come to an end; but when hesaw the tragic manner in which it did end, his consternation was beyondall bounds. Sir Norman, in his horrified flight, would have fairlypassed him unnoticed, had not George arrested him by a loud shout.

  "I beg your pardon, Sir Norman," he exclaimed, as that gentleman turnedhis distracted face; "but, it seems to me, you are running away. Here isyour horse; and allow me to say, unless we hurry we will scarcely reachthe count by sunrise."

  Sir Norman leaned against his horse, and shaded his eyes with his hand,shuddering like one in an ague.

  "Why did that woman leap into the plague-pit?" inquired George, lookingat him curiously. "Was it not the sorceress, La Masque?"

  "Yes, yes. Do not ask me any questions now," replied Sir Norman, in asmothered voice, and with an impatient wave of his hand.

  "Whatever you please, sir," said George, with the flippancy of hisclass; "but still I must repeat, if you do not mount instantly, we willbe late; and my master, the count, is not one who brooks delay."

  The young knight vaulted into the saddle without a word, and startedoff at a break-neck pace into the city. George, almost unable to keep upwith him, followed instead of leading, rather skeptical in his own mindwhether he were not riding after a moon-struck lunatic. Once or twicehe shouted out a sharp-toned inquiry as to whether he knew where he wasgoing, and that they were taking the wrong way altogether; to all ofwhich Sir Norman deigned not the slightest reply, but rode more and morerecklessly on. There were but few people abroad at that hour; indeed,for that matter, the streets of London, in the dismal summer of 1665,were, comparatively speaking, always deserted; and the few now wendingtheir way homeward were tired physicians and plague-nurses from thehospitals, and several hardy country folks, with more love of lucrethan fear of death bending their steps with produce to the market-place.These people, sleepy and pallid in the gray haze of daylight, stared inastonishment after the two furious riders; and windows were thrown open,and heads thrust out to see what the unusual thunder of horses' hoofs atthat early hour meant. George followed dauntlessly on, determined todo it or die in the attempt; and if he had ever heard of the FlyingDutchman, would undoubtedly have come to the conclusion that he wasjust then following his track on dry land. But, unlike the haplessVanderdecken, Sir Norman came to a halt at last, and that so suddenlythat his horse stood on his beam ends, and flourished his two fore limbsin the atmosphere. It was before La Masque's door; and Sir Norman wasout of the saddle in a flash, and knocking like a postman with thehandle of his whip on the door. The thundering reveille rang through thehouse, making it shake to its centre, and hurriedly brought to the door,the anatomy who acted as guardian-angel of the establishment.

  "La Masque is not at home, and I cannot admit you," was his sharpsalute.

  "Then I shall just take the trouble of admitting myself," said SirNorman, shortly.

  And without further ceremony, he pushed aside the skeleton and entered.But that outraged servitor sprang in his path, indignant and amazed.

  "No, sir; I cannot permit it. I do not know you; and it is against allorders to admit strangers in La Masque's absence."

  "Bah! you old simpleton!" remarked Sir Norman, losing his customaryrespect for old age in his impatience, "I have La Masque's order forwhat I am about to do. Get along with you directly, will you? Show me toher private room, and no nonsense!"

  He tapped his sword-hilt significantly as he spoke, and that argumentproved irresistible. Grumbling, in low tones, the anatomy stalkedup-stairs; and the other followed, with very different feelings fromthose with which he had mounted that staircase last. His guide paused inthe hall above, with his hand on the latch of a door.

  "This is her private room, is it!" demanded Sir Norman.

  "Yes."

  "Just stand aside, then, and let me pass."

  The room he entered was small, simply furnished, and seemed to answeras bed-chamber and study, all in one. There was a writing-table under awindow, covered with books, and he glanced at them with somecuriosity. They were classics, Greek and Latin, and other little knowntongues--perhaps Sanscrit and Chaldaic, French belles lettres, novels,and poetry, and a few rare old English books. There were no papers,however, and those were what he was in search of; so spying a drawer inthe table, he pulled it hastily open. The sight that met his eyes fairlydazzled him. It was full of jewels of incomparable beauty and value,strewn as carelessly about as if they were valueless. The blaze ofgems at the midnight court seemed to him as nothing compared with theGolconda, the Valley of Diamonds shooting forth sparks of rainbow-firebefore him now. Around one magnificent diamond necklace was entwined ascrap of paper, on which was written:

  "The family jewels of the Montmorencis. To be given to my sisters when Iam dead."

  That settled their destiny. All this blaze of diamonds, rubies, andopals were Leoline's; and with the energetic rapidity characteristicof our young friend that morning, he swept them out on the table, andresumed his search for papers. No document was there to reward hissearch, but the brief one twined round the necklace; and he was aboutgiving up in despair, when a small brass slide in one corner caught hiseye. Instantly he was at it, trying it every way, shoving it out and in,and up and down, until at last it yielded to his touch, disclosing aninner drawer, full of papers and parchments. One glance showed them tobe what he was in search of--proofs of Leoline and Hubert's identity,with the will of the marquis, their father, and numerous other documentsrelative to his wealth and estates. These precious manuscripts he rolledtogether in a bundle, and placed carefully in his doublet, and thenseizing a beautifully-wrought brass casket, that stood beneath thetable, he swept the jewels in, secured it, and strapped it to his belt.This brisk and important little affair being over, he arose to go, andin turning, saw the skeleton porter standing in the door-way, looking onin speechless dismay.

  "It's all right my ancient friend!" observed Sir Norman, gravely. "Thesepapers must go before the king, and these jewels to their proper owner."

  "Their proper owner!" repeated the old man, shrilly; "that is La Masque.Thief-robber-housebreaker--stop!"

  "My good old friend, you will do yourself a mischief if you bawl likethat. Undoubtedly these things were La Masque's, but they are so nolonger, since La Masque herself is among the things that were!"

  "You shall not go!" yelled the old man, trembling with rage and anger."Help! help! help!"

  "You noisy old idiot!" cried Sir Norman, losing all patience, "I willthrow you out of the window if you keep up such a clamor as this. I tellyou La Masque is dead!"

  At this ominous announcement, the ghastly porter fell back, and became,if possible, a shade more ghastly than was his wont.

  "Dead and buried!" repeated Sir Norman, with gloomy sternness, "andthere will be somebody else coming to take possession shortly. How manymore servants are there here beside yourself?"

  "Only one, sir--my wife Joanna. In mercy's name, sir, do not turn us outin the streets at this dreadful time!"

  "Not I! You and your wife Joanna may stagnate here till you blue-mold,for me. But keep the door fast, my good old friend, and admit nostrangers, but those who can tell you La Masque is dead!"

  With which parting piece of advice Sir Norman left the house, and joinedGeorge, who sat like an effigy before the door, in a state of greatmental wrath, and who accosted him rather suddenly the moment he madehis appearance.

  "I tell you what, Sir Norman Kingsley, if you have many more morningcalls to make, I shall beg leave to take my departure. As it is, I knowwe are behind time, and his ma--the count, I mean, is not one who itaccustomed or inclined to be kept waiting."

  "I am quite at your service now," said Sir Norman, spri
nging onhorseback; "so away with you, quick as you like."

  George wanted no second order. Before the words were well out of hiscompanion's mouth, he was dashing away like a bolt from a bow, asfuriously as if on a steeple-chase, with Sir Norman close at his heels;and they rode, flushed and breathless, with their steeds all a foaming,into the court-yard of the royal palace at Whitehall, just as the earlyrising sun was showing his florid and burning visage above the horizon.

  The court-yard, unlike the city streets, swarmed with busy life. Pages,and attendants, and soldiers, moving hither and thither, or loungingabout, preparing for the morning's journey to Oxford. Among the restSir Norman observed Hubert, lying very much at his ease wrapped in hiscloak, on the ground, and chatting languidly with a pert and prettyattendant of the fair Mistress Stuart. He cut short his flirtation,however, abruptly enough, and sprang to his feet as he saw Sir Norman,while George immediately darted off and disappeared from the palace.

  "Am I late Hubert?" said his hurried questioner, as he drew the lad'sarm within his own, and led him off out of hearing.

  "I think not. The count," said Hubert, with laughing emphasis, "hasnot been visible since he entered yonder doorway, and there has been nomessage that I have heard of. Doubtless, now that George has arrived,the message will soon be here, for the royal procession starts withinhalf an hour."

  "Are you sure there is no trick, Hubert? Even now he may be withLeoline!"

  Hubert shrugged his shoulders.

  "He maybe; we must take our chance for that; but we have his royal wordto the contrary. Not that I have much faith in that!" said Hubert.

  "If he were king of the world instead of only England," cried SirNorman, with flashing eyes, "he shall not have Leoline while I wear asword to defend her!"

  "Regicide!" exclaimed Hubert, holding up both hands in affected horror."Do my ears deceive me? Is this the loyal and chivalrous Sir NormanKingsley, ready to die for king and country--"

  "Stuff and nonsense!" interrupted Sir Norman, impatiently. "I tell youany one, be he whom he may, that attempts to take Leoline from me, mustreach her over my dead body!"

  "Bravo! You ought to be a Frenchman, Sir Norman! And what if the ladyherself, finding her dazzling suitor drop his barnyard feathers, andsoar over her head in his own eagle plumes, may not give you yourdismissal, and usurp the place of pretty Madame Stuart."

  "You cold-blooded young villain! if you insinuate such a thing again,I'll throttle you! Leoline loves me, and me alone!"

  "Doubtless she thinks so; but she has yet to learn she has a king for asuitor!"

  "Bah! You are nothing but a heartless cynic," said Sir Norman, yet withan anxious and irritated flush on his face, too: "What do you know oflove?"

  "More than you think, as pretty Mariette yonder could depose, if putupon oath. But seriously, Sir Norman, I am afraid your case is of themost desperate; royal rivals are dangerous things!"

  "Yet Charles has kind impulses, and has been known to do generous acts."

  "Has he? You expect him, beyond doubt, to do precisely as he said; andif Leoline, different from all the rest of her sex, prefers the knightto the king, he will yield her unresistingly to you."

  "I have nothing but his word for it!" said Sir Norman, in a distractedtone, "and, at present, can do nothing but bide my time."

  "I have been thinking of that, too! I promised, you know, when I lefther, last night, that we would return before day-dawn, and rescue her.The unhappy little beauty will doubtless think I have fallen into thetiger's jaws myself, and has half wept her bright eyes out by thistime!"

  "My poor Leoline! And O Hubert, if you only knew what she is to you!"

  "I do know! She told me she was my sister!"

  Sir Norman looked at him in amazement.

  "She told you, and you take it like this?"

  "Certainly, I take it like this. How would you have me take it? It isnothing to go into hysterics about, after all!"

  "Of all the cold-blooded young reptiles I ever saw," exclaimed SirNorman, with infinite disgust, "you are the worst! If you were told youwere to receive the crown of France to-morrow, you would probably openyour eyes a trifle, and take it as you would a new cap!"

  "Of course I would. I haven't lived in courts half my life to get up ascene for a small matter! Besides, I had an idea from the first moment Isaw Leoline that she must be my sister, or something of that sort."

  "And so you felt no emotion whatever on hearing it?"

  "I don't know as I properly understand what you mean by emotion," saidHerbert, reflectively. "But ye-e-s, I did feel somewhat pleased--she isso like me, and so uncommonly handsome!"

  "Humph! there's a reason! Did she tell you how she discovered itherself?"

  "Let me see--no--I think not--she simply mentioned the fact."

  "She did not tell you either, I suppose, that you had more sisters thanherself?"

  "More than herself! No. That would be a little too much of a good thing!One sister is quite enough for any reasonable mortal."

  "But there were two more, my good young friend!"

  "Is it possible?" said Hubert, in a tone that betrayed not the slightestsymptom of emotion. "Who are they?"

  Sir Norman paused one instant, combating a strong temptation to seizethe phlegmatic page by the collar, and give him such another shaking ashe would not get over for a week to come; but suddenly recollecting hewas Leoline's brother, and by the same token a marquis or thereabouts,he merely paused to cast a withering look upon him, and walked on.

  "Well," said Hubert, "I am waiting to be told."

  "You may wait, then!" said Sir Norman, with a smothered growl; "and Igive you joy when I tell you. Such extra communicativeness to one sostolid could do no good!"

  "But I am not stolid! I am in a perfect agony of anxiety," said Hubert.

  "You young jackanapes!" said Sir Norman, half-laughing, half-incensed."It were a wise deed and a godly one to take you by the hind-leg andnape of the neck, and pitch you over yonder wall; but for your master'ssake I will desist."

  "Which of them?" inquired Hubert, with provoking gravity.

  "It would be more to the point if you asked me who the others were, Ithink."

  "So I have, and you merely abused me for it. But I think I know oneof them without being told. It is that other fac-simile of Leoline andmyself who died in the robber's ruin!"

  "Exactly. You and she, and Leoline, were triplets!"

  "And who is the other?"

  "Her name is La Masque. Have you ever heard it?"

  "La Masque! Nonsense!" exclaimed Hubert, with some energy in his voiceat last. "You but jest, Sir Norman Kingsley!"

  "No such thing! It is a positive fact! She told me the whole storyherself!"

  "And what is the whole story; and why did she not tell it to me insteadof you."

  "She told it to Leoline, thinking, probably, she had the most sense; andshe told it to me, as Leoline's future husband. It is somewhat long torelate, but it will help to beguile the time while we are waiting forthe royal summons."

  And hereupon Sir Norman, without farther preface, launched into a rapidresume of La Masque's story, feeling the cold chill with which he hadwitnessed it creep over him as he narrated her fearful end.

  "It struck me," concluded Sir Norman, "that it would be better toprocure any papers she might possess at once, lest, by accident, theyshould fall into other hands; so I rode there directly, and, in spiteof the cantankerous old porter, searched diligently, until I found them.Here they are," said Sir Norman, drawing forth the roll.

  "And what do you intend doing with them?" inquired Hubert, glancing atthe papers with an unmoved countenance.

  "Show them to the king, and, though his mediation with Louis, obtain foryou the restoration of your rights."

  "And do you think his majesty will give himself so much trouble for theEarl of Rochester's page?"

  "I think he will take the trouble to see justice done, or at least heought to. If he declines, we will take the matter
in our own hands, myHubert; and you and I will seek Louis ourselves. Please God, the Earl ofRochester's page will yet wear the coronet of the De Montmorencis!"

  "And the sister of a marquis will be no unworthy mate even for aKingsley," said Hubert. "Has La Masque left nothing for her?"

  "Do you see this casket?" tapping the one of cared brass dangling fromhis belt; "well, it is full of jewels worth a king's ransom. I foundthem in a drawer of La Masque's house, with directions that they were tobe given to her sisters at her death. Miranda being dead, I presume theyare all Leoline's now."

  "This is a queer business altogether!" said Hubert, musingly; "and Iam greatly mistaken if King Louis will not regard it as a very prettylittle work of fiction."

  "But I have proofs, lad! The authenticity of these papers cannot bedoubted."

  "With all my heart. I have no objections to be made a marquis of, and goback to la belle France, out of this land of plague and fog. Won't someof my friends here be astonished when they hear it, particularly theEarl of Rochester, when he finds out that he has had a marquis for apage? Ah, here comes George, and bearing a summons from Count L'Estrangeat last."

  George approached, and intimated that Sir Norman was to follow him tothe presence of his master.

  "Au revoir, then," said Hubert. "You will find me here when you comeback."

  Sir Norman, with a slight tremor of the nerves at what was to come,followed the king's page through halls and anterooms, full of loiterers,courtiers, and their attendants. Once a hand was laid on his shoulder, alaughing voice met his ear, and the Earl of Rochester stood beside him!

  "Good-morning, Sir Norman; you are abroad betimes. How have you leftyour friend, the Count L'Estrange?"

  "Your lordship has probably seen him since I have, and should be able toanswer that question best."

  "And how does his suit progress with the pretty Leoline?" went onthe gay earl. "In faith, Kingsley, I never saw such a charming littlebeauty; and I shall do combat with you yet--with both the count andyourself, and outwit the pair of you!"

  "Permit me to differ from your lordship. Leoline would not touch youwith a pair of tongs!"

  "Ah! she has better taste than you give her credit for; but if I shouldfail, I know what to do to console myself."

  "May I ask what?"

  "Yes! there is Hubert, as like her an two peas in a pod. I shall dresshim up in lace and silks, and gewgaws, and have a Leoline of my ownalready made its order."

  "Permit me to doubt that, too! Hubert is as much lost to you asLeoline!"

  Leaving the volatile earl to put what construction pleased him best onthis last sententious remark, he resumed his march after George, andwas ushered, at last, into an ante-room near the audience-chamber.Count L'Estrange, still attired as Count L'Estrange, stood near a windowoverlooking the court-yard, and as the page salaamed and withdrew, heturned round, and greeted Sir Norman with his suavest air.

  "The appointed hour is passed, Sir Norman Kingsley, but that is partlyyour own fault. Your guide hither tells me that you stopped for sometime at the house of a fortune-teller, known as La Masque. Why wasthis!"

  "I was forced to stop on most important business," answered the knight,still resolved to treat him as the count, until it should please himto doff his incognito, "of which you shall hear anon. Just now, ourbusiness is with Leoline."

  "True! And as in a short time I start with yonder cavalcade, thereis but little time to lose. Apropos, Kingsley, who is that mysteriouswoman, La Masque?"

  "She is, or was (for she is dead now) a French lady, of noble birth, andthe sister of Leoline!"

  "Her sister! And have you discovered Leoline's history?"

  "I have."

  "And her name!"

  "And her name. She is Leoline De Montmorenci! And with the proudestblood of France in her veins, living obscure and unknown--a stranger ina strange land since childhood; but, with God's grace and your help, Ihope to see her restored to all she has lost, before long."

  "You know me, then?" said his companion, half-smiling.

  "Yes, your majesty," answered Sir Norman, bowing low before the king.