CHAPTER XIX.
“I SHALL GO MAD.”
The sound slumber into which Robert had fallen was broken by the sweetest strains of music. He sat up on his couch and rubbed his eyes, trying to arouse himself; he was bewildered, yet enchanted, for the strains continued, now bursting forth into joyous melody, then dying away into the softest cadences, and finally sweeping on into intense passion and sadness.
They seemed to come from behind his bed, and he vowed to himself that mortal ear never before heard such exquisite music.
It sounded like a voice accompanied by a harp, and the tones so clear, so sweet, were like the chiming of delicate silver bells.
He examined the tapestry hangings and found a place where they could be parted; he pulled aside the heavy folds, and saw a ponderous block of stone upon hinges, and swung open a foot or so into his chamber.
Determined to learn all he could of this strange underground castle, and hoping this might be some secret passage which would lead him to liberty, he swung the block still farther back, and sweeping the heavy curtain aside, he beheld a fairy bower of beauty and elegance.
The room was about the size of the one assigned to him, but hung with elegant white velvet, with gilt and purple trimmings. The carpet, also of white velvet, was strewn with great purple pansies, so perfect with their golden centers, and in their royal beauty, that Robert scarcely dared to step lest he should crush out their brilliant hues.
The furniture, of purple and white, and framed in gilt, was of the most exquisite and graceful pattern. Lovely paintings and statues adorned the walls and niches of the room, and upon a table of some foreign wood inlaid with pearl, were scattered richly bound books, music, and all the delicate little trifles which one so likes to see in a lady’s boudoir.
Over this table, and perched daintily upon one foot in his fancy cage, was a canary of purest gold, ever and anon twittering and chirping an echo to the song of his fair mistress.
For several moments Robert scarcely dared to breathe, lest the lovely scene should melt away before his vision, and he awake and find it all a dream. He stood transfixed and amazed; every step he took in this strange smugglers’ fortress, he discovered new beauties and fresh mysteries.
Upon a divan, dressed in spotless white, sat a golden-haired maiden, lightly fingering a magnificent harp, and pouring forth her soul in song.
Her face was fair and pure as a lily, and round, sweet, and almost babyish in its contour. Her heavily fringed lids drooped over a pair of purple-blue eyes, and almost lay upon her delicately tinted cheeks, while occasionally a bright drop left their wondrous depths and rolled like a sparkling dewdrop down upon the purple pansies at her feet.
All at once her song ceased, and with a deep sigh the bright beauty bowed her lovely head and rested it against the harp before her.
Almost involuntarily the sigh was echoed from our hero’s breast, and the spell was broken.
The young girl started violently, and rising, a low, frightened cry broke from her ripe lips as her glance rested upon Robert.
He recognized her at once.
She was the same beautiful maiden whom he had seen the previous evening, and who had entertained him with her music while he was eating his supper.
He saw that she was startled by his presence, and raising his hand with a reassuring gesture, he said, respectfully:
“I pray you, fair lady, do not be alarmed. I mean you no harm. Some kind fate, or Providence, has opened a secret passage between your room and mine, and impelled partly by curiosity, partly by your beautiful song, I ventured to seek its source. Is my apology accepted?”
She raised her liquid orbs to his, while a bright blush suffused her face, and bowed her graceful little head in token of assent, but spoke no word in reply.
“I am a captive,” Robert went on to explain, “put here by some bitter enemy, and I must needs believe you are in a like situation, for no one so fair and lovely would voluntarily remain in these vaults, gloomy despite their oriental magnificence.”
“I am a prisoner, and yet I am not a prisoner. There are circumstances which would compel me to remain here were every secret door and passage thrown open to give me liberty,” replied the lovely being, in tones so sweet, yet so sad, that the tears involuntarily started to our hero’s eyes.
“Can such a thing be possible?” he asked in surprise.
“Yes, for I have no other home in all the wide, wide world, and while I mourn, I am still glad, for it is in my power to protect and minister to others, who, like yourself, are held in captivity here.”
“Will you forgive my curiosity, and explain yourself more fully? Or do I intrude? If so I will retire at once?”
Robert’s eyes pleaded hard to be allowed to remain, though he made a motion as if about to retreat.
“Nay, be seated,” the girl replied, waving him to a seat, and at the same time sinking back upon the divan from which she had risen.
Robert took the seat indicated, and anxiously waited for his fair hostess to resume the conversation.
At length she said, with a strain of sympathy in her sweet voice:
“I know something of your history, and partly the reason why you are confined here, and I sorrow every day I live that I cannot in some way be the means of liberating the unfortunate ones who are so often brought here. But I am only a weak woman, and can do but very little against so many wicked men.”
Robert thought that she was a very, very beautiful woman, if she was weak; almost as lovely as Dora.
“I told you,” she continued, “that I have no other home. My mother is dead. My father I never saw, as he deserted his wife before I was born. My uncles, who were once rich and prosperous, have spent all their wealth in trying to hunt down the man who so deeply wronged their sister; and when she died they took me, a poor little orphan, brought me up and educated me, suffering every privation that I might not be denied any dainty or luxury.
“Finally their last dollar was spent, and in their desperation they joined this band of smugglers, and while on some business for the gang in the United States they discovered my father.
“They watched and dogged his every step until he came to this country, and are now waiting for a favorable opportunity to wreak their vengeance upon him, and claim my rights, after which they have promised me they will forever renounce this wicked business.”
“You say the man, who is your father, is now in this country,” said Robert, as he paused for a moment.
“Yes, in the country and in this very village, though why he is here, I do not know, unless a righteous Providence has driven him here to compel him to do justice to the wronged.”
A shade of sadness clouded her fair brow, and a deep sigh broke from her lips.
“Will you tell me this unnatural father’s name?” asked Robert.
“Ralph Moulton.”
“Ralph Moulton!” exclaimed Robert, wildly. “Which—who—what—pardon me, I am so taken by surprise. But will you please tell me in what part of the United States your uncles found him?”
Our hero leaned breathlessly forward, awaiting her reply.
“In S——, Massachusetts,” she answered, glancing up in gentle surprise.
“The same—the very same. How exceedingly strange!” he replied, starting to his feet and pacing back and forth.
“Do you know this man, who, I am told, is my father?”
“Know him?” replied Robert, bitterly. “I know him as an enemy—as my father’s bitterest enemy; and I begin to feel convinced that he is concerned in that plot against me. Yes, yes; I see it all now—fool that I have been, not to think of it before!”
He struck his hand violently against his brow as he recalled what the chief had told him—about his father’s unlawful marriage, and his being an illegitimate son.
Then his mind went far back to the day when he and Dora went to the squire to be married; his questions and emotion concerning his mother; and he realized at once that there was a deep and vile plot on foot to destroy him.
He remembered that the squire had a nephew, and was convinced that it was he who had seen Dora, become attached to her, and was resolved to marry her, taking this way to get rid of him in order to make his own way clear.
He was deeply agitated, and wondered what his father thought had become of him. And Dora—would she think he had willfully deserted her? He feared so, feeling that his enemy would urge this view of the case, and eventually win her for himself.
He was nearly frantic with the thought, and forgot where he was—forgot everything but that he would wreak the bitterest vengeance upon the vile plotters, could he but lay his hands upon them; and wrung his hands in his agony, utterly regardless of the two beautiful eyes that were wistfully following his every movement.
“Yes, yes; it is as I fear, without doubt. Oh, why does Heaven permit such wickedness to go unpunished? Is there no way that I can escape, that I may thwart them? Oh, Heaven, give me strength to bear this, or I shall go mad!”
He threw himself, exhausted, into a chair, and groaned aloud.
The lovely girl opposite him arose, and gliding softly to his side, laid one of her small white hands upon his arm, and said:
“My friend, I begin to believe that a kind Providence has indeed led you to me to-day; and that our lives and destinies are in some mysterious way connected, and the same person has done us both a foul wrong. I pray that you will have confidence in me. Tell me your story, and perhaps I may be able to help you, or rather we may be able to help each other.”
He looked at her with a sad, yet admiring glance, and taking her little hand, pressed it reverently to his lips; then said:
“My dear young lady, you do me honor to put so much faith and trust in me; while at the same time you shame me with your courage and calmness. I thank you sincerely for your sympathy, for your gentle eyes tell me I have that. But I am selfish to be so bound up in my own sorrows and troubles, besides being rude to interrupt so abruptly your story. Please pardon me, and continue your narrative, after which I shall, in return, tell you my own history.”
He led her gently to a sofa, and taking a seat beside her signified his readiness to listen to her tale.