The Midnight Queen Part 8

"Sir Norman Kingsley is at perfect liberty to answer that question as he pleases," replied the stranger, with most provoking indifference.

Sir Norman's eye flashed, and his hand fell on his sword; but, reflecting that the count might find it inconvenient to answer any more questions if he ran him through, he restrained himself and went on.

"Sir, you are impertinent, but that is of no consequence, just now. Who was that lady--what was her name?"

"Leoline."

"Was she your wife?"

The stranger paused for a moment, as if reflecting whether she was or not, and then said, meditatively,

"No--I don't know as she was. On the whole, I am pretty sure she was not."

Sir Norman felt as if a ton weight had been suddenly hoisted from the region of his heart.

"Was she anybody else's wife?"

"I think not. I'm inclined to think that, except myself, she did not know another man in London."

"Then why was she dressed as a bride?" inquired Sir Norman, rather mystified.

"Was she? My poor Leoline!" said the stranger, sadly. "Because-"

he hesitated, "because--in short, Sir Norman," said the stranger, decidedly, "I decline answering any more questions!"

"I shall find out, for all that," said Sir Norman, "and here I shall bid you good-night, for this by-path leads to my destination."

"Good-night," said the stranger, "and be careful, Sir Norman-remember, the plague is abroad."

"And so are highwaymen!" called Sir Norman after him, a little maliciously; but a careless laugh from the stranger was the only reply as he galloped away.

CHAPTER V. THE DWARF AND THE RUIN.

The by-path down which Sir Norman rode, led to an inn, "The Golden Crown," about a quarter of a mile from the ruin. Not wis.h.i.+ng to take his horse, lest it should lead to discovery, he proposed leaving it here till his return; and, with this intention, and the strong desire for a gla.s.s of wine--for the heat and his ride made him extremely thirsty--he dismounted at the door, and consigning the animal to the care of a hostler, he entered the bar-room. It was not the most inviting place in the world, this same bar-room--being illy-lighted, dim with tobacco-smoke, and pervaded by a strong spirituous essence of stronger drinks than malt or cold water. A number of men were loitering about, smoking, drinking, and discussing the all-absorbing topic of the plague, and the fires that might be kindled. There was a moment's pause, as Sir Norman entered, took a seat, and called for a gla.s.s of sack, and then the conversation went on as before. The landlord hastened to supply his wants by placing a gla.s.s and a bottle of wine before him, and Sir Norman fell to helping himself, and to ruminating deeply on the events of the night. Rather melancholy these ruminations were, though to do the young gentleman justice, sentimental melancholy was not at all in his line; but then you will please to recollect he was in love, and when people come to that state, they are no longer to be held responsible either for their thoughts or actions. It is true his attack had been a rapid one, but it was no less severe for that; and if any evil-minded critic is disposed to sneer at the suddenness of his disorder, I have only to say, that I know from observation, not to speak of experience, that love at first sight is a lamentable fact, and no myth.

Love is not a plant that requires time to flourish, but is quite capable of springing up like the gourd of Jonah full grown in a moment. Our young friend, Sir Norman, had not been aware of the existence of the object of his affections for a much longer s.p.a.ce than two hours and a half, yet he had already got to such a pitch, that if he did not speedily find her, he felt he would do something so desperate as to shake society to its utmost foundations. The very mystery of the affair spurred him on, and the romantic way in which she had been found, saved, and disappeared, threw such a halo of interest round her, that he was inclined to think sometimes she was nothing but a s.h.i.+ning vision from another world. Those dark, splendid eyes; that lovely marblelike face; those wavy ebon tresses; that exquisitely exquisite figure; yes, he felt they were all a great deal too perfect for this imperfect and wicked world. Sir Norman was in a very bad way, beyond doubt, but no worse than millions of young men before and after him; and he heaved a great many profound sighs, and drank a great many gla.s.ses of sack, and came to the sorrowful conclusion that Dame Fortune was a malicious jade, inclined to poke fun at his best affections, and make a shuttlec.o.c.k of his heart for the rest of his life. He thought, too, of Count L'Estrange; and the longer he thought, the more he became convinced that he knew him well, and had met him often. But where? He racked his brain until, between love, Leoline, and the count, he got that delicate organ into such a maze of bewilderment and distraction, that he felt he would be a case of congestion, shortly, if he did not give it up. That the count's voice was not the only thing about him a.s.sumed, he was positive; and he mentally called over the muster-roll of his past friends, who spent half their time at Whitehall, and the other half going through the streets, making love to the honest citizens' pretty wives and daughters; but none of them answered to Count L'Estrange. He could scarcely be a foreigner--he spoke English with too perfect an accent to be that; and then he knew him, Sir Norman, as if he had been his brother. In short, there was no use driving himself insane trying to read so unreadable a riddle; and inwardly consigning the mysterious count to Old Nick, he swallowed another gla.s.s of sack, and quit thinking about him.

So absorbed had Sir Norman been in his own mournful musings, that he paid no attention whatever to those around him, and had nearly forgotten their very presence, when one of them, with a loud cry, sprang to his feet, and then fell writhing to the floor. The others, in dismay, gathered abut him, but the next instant fell back with a cry of, "He has the plague!" At that dreaded announcement, half of them scampered off incontinently; and the other half with the landlord at their head, lifted the sufferer whose groans and cries were heart-rendering, and carried him out of the house. Sir Norman, rather dismayed himself, had risen to his feet, fully aroused from his reverie, and found himself and another individual sole possessors of the premises. His companion he could not very well make out; for he was sitting, or rather crouching, in a remote and shadowy corner, where nothing was clearly visible but the glare of a pair of fiery eyes. There was a great redundancy of hair, too, about his head and face, indeed considerable more about the latter than there seemed any real necessity for, and even with the imperfect glimpse he caught of him the young man set him down in his own mind as about as hard-looking a customer as he had ever seen. The fiery eyes were glaring upon him like those of a tiger, through a jungle of bushy hair, but their owner spoke never a word, though the other stared back with compound interest. There they sat, beaming upon each other--one fiercely, the other curiously, until the re-appearance of the landlord with a very lugubrious and woebegone countenance. It struck Sir Norman that it was about time to start for the ruin; and, with an eye to business, he turned to cross-examine mine host a trifle.

"What have they done with that man?" he asked by way of preface.

"Sent him to the pest-house," replied the landlord, resting his elbows on the counter and his chin in his hands, and staring dismally at the opposite wall. "Ah! Lord 'a' mercy on us! These be dreadful times!"

"Dreadful enough!" said Sir Norman, sighing deeply, as he thought of his beautiful Leoline, a victim of the merciless pestilence. "Have there been many deaths here of the distemper?"

"Twenty-five to-day!" groaned the man. "Lord! what will become of us?"

"You seem rather disheartened," said Sir Norman, pouring out a gla.s.s of wine and handing it to him. "Just drink this, and don't borrow trouble.

They say sack is a sure specific against the plague."

Mine host drained the b.u.mper, and wiped his mouth, with another hollow groan.

"If I thought that, sir, I'd not be sober from one week's end to t'other; but I know well enough I will be in a plague-pit in less than a week. O Lord! have mercy on us!"

"Amen!" said Sir Norman, impatiently. "If fear has not taken away your wits, my good sir, will you tell me what old ruin that is I saw a little above here as I rode up?"

The man started from his trance of terror, and glanced, first at the fiery eyes in the corner, and then at Sir Norman, in evident trepidation of the question.

"That ruin, sir? You must be a stranger in this place, surely, or you would not need to ask that question."

"Well, suppose I am a stranger? What then?"

"Nothing, sir; only I thought everybody knew everything about that ruin."

"But I do not, you see? So fill your gla.s.s again, and while you are drinking it, just tell me what that everything comprises."

Again the landlord glanced fearfully at the fiery eyes in the corner, and again hesitated.

"Well!" exclaimed Sir Norman, at once surprised and impatient at his taciturnity, "Can't you speak man? I want you to tell me all about it."

"There is nothing to tell, sir," replied the host, goaded to desperation. "It is an old, deserted ruin that's been here ever since I remember; and that's all I know about it."

While, he spoke, the crouching shape in the corner reared itself upright, and keeping his fiery eyes still glaring upon Sir Norman, advanced into the light. Our young knight was in the act of raising his gla.s.s to his lips; but as the apparition approached, he laid it down again, untasted, and stared at it in the wildest surprise and intensest curiosity. Truly, it was a singular-looking creature, not to say a rather startling one. A dwarf of some four feet high, and at least five feet broad across the shoulders, with immense arms and head--a giant in everything but height. His immense skull was set on such a trifle of a neck as to be scarcely worth mentioning, and was garnished by a violent mat of coa.r.s.e, black hair, which also overran the territory of his cheeks and chin, leaving no neutral ground but his two fiery eyes and a broken nose all twisted awry. On a pair of short, stout legs he wore immense jack-boots, his Herculean shoulders and chest were adorned with a leathern doublet, and in the belt round his waist were conspicuously stuck a pair of pistols and a dagger. Altogether, a more ugly or sinister gentleman of his inches it would have been hard to find in all broad England. Stopping deliberately before Sir Norman, he placed a hand on each hip, and in a deep, guttural voice, addressed him:

"So, sir knight--for such I perceive you are--you are anxious to know something of that old ruin yonder?"

"Well," said Sir Norman, so far recovering from his surprise as to be able to speak, "suppose I am? Have you anything to say against it, my little friend?"

"Oh, not in the least!" said the dwarf, with a hoa.r.s.e chuckle. "Only, instead of wasting your breath asking this good man, who professes such utter ignorance, you had better apply to me for information."

Again Sir Norman surveyed the little Hercules from head to foot for a moment, in silence, as one, nowadays, would an intelligent gorilla.

"You think so--do you? And what may you happen to know about it, my pretty little friend?"

"O Lord!" exclaimed the landlord, to himself, with a frightened face, while the dwarf "grinned horribly a ghastly smile" from ear to ear.

"So much, my good sir, that I would strongly advise you not to go near it, unless you wish to catch something worse than the plague. There have been others--our worthy host, there, whose teeth, you may perceive, are chattering in his head, can tell you about those that have tried the trick, and--"

"Well?" said Sir Norman, curiously.

"And have never returned to tell what they found!" concluded the little monster, with a diabolical leer. And as the landlord fell, gray and gasping, back in his seat, he broke out into a loud and hyena-like laugh.

"My dear little friend," said Sir Norman, staring at him in displeased wonder, "don't laugh, if you can help it. You are unprepossessing enough at best, but when you laugh, you look like the very (a downward gesture) himself!"

Unheeding this advice, the dwarf broke again into an unearthly cachinnation, that frightened the landlord nearly into fits, and seriously discomposed the nervous system even of Sir Norman himself.