"Thank God!" he muttered; "the dog at least is not there. It must have met its end: perhaps 'tis from that end and my previous visit, added to the death of its companion, that they take this double caution. Yet, had they taken five hundred times as much, I must go on. I have embarked; I must see the voyage through."
He knew-had known all along-none could have failed to know! – the risk he was running, the door of Death at which he stood. One slip now, a cough alone, and he would be face to face with those doubly-armed men. Yet the knowledge of his danger did but one thing-it made him all the more determined, while resolving at the same time to exert his utmost caution.
Removing his eyes from the men below, he let them roam swiftly round the floor on which he was, though, up here, all was in so much darkness that he could distinguish nothing. Yet he knew that there was at least one room upon it used and inhabited; a room which faced, as he calculated, to the front, and looked out over the great courtyard.
A room from under the door of which, as he peered through the darkness, there stole now a gleam of light.
CHAPTER XXII
MARION WYATT
As calmly as he had ever gone into battle, or-as he had told Laurent-had fought his way through the Duke of Holstein-Pleon's men at Entzheim, he prepared to find out who was the occupant of the room from under the door of which that ray of light emerged.
He began by doing what he had before thought of in the garret above, and would have done but for the fear of rusty nails or other things which might wound his feet. He took off his boots. Then, carrying them in his hands, creeping as softly as a mouse in spite of his great size, and holding the scabbard of his sword tightly, so that no clank of it should arouse the sleepers below, he made his way towards where the light streamed forth from under the door. Yet, as he went, he cast ever an eye over the balustrade towards those sleepers, and observed that none stirred.
Soon he was close by that light; it shone upon his stocking feet-the moment had come for him to discover, if possible, what was beyond that door. Whether the inhabitant was the woman he sought-or-? Was it De Bois-Vallée himself?
That supposition had already arisen in his mind. It might be-probably it was! – he. What then? What next to do? He thought he knew-nay, he did know! His determination was already taken. His soul revolted against the necessity for creeping as he had done into another man's house, although that man was his enemy and a scoundrel: if it was De Bois-Vallée, another five moments should see him on the inside of that door, or the owner of the house outside it, and their swords crossed. And then-and then! Well then the servitors below might rush up to their master's assistance, plunge their daggers and knives into his body-only, first, he would make sure of the man who had broken Philip's life and sent him to his grave. He would make sure of him! Ere the men could mount those stairs the last owner of this gruesome fortress should be dead. But was it he behind the door? He must know that! Possibly his task was not yet near its accomplishment.
He bent down to the keyhole, as he had done three nights before when outside the great main door, but this one offered him no opportunity of seeing through it. The key stood in the hole and blocked all chance of his peering into the room-he must find some other way.
So, next, still as soft as a mouse, he brought his great form level with the floor and endeavoured to see under the door; but again he was foiled. The gap was not large enough; he could observe nothing. Then, suddenly, as he pondered what to do next, there arose voices from below. Had they discovered his presence above? In a moment he was able to give himself the answer. Not yet. Though it seemed likely that ere long they must do so. They were going to their beds-would they mount to where he was?
"He will not come to-night," he heard Beaujos say, recognizing at once the voice that had roared at the sleeping servitors three nights back; "no need to watch longer. Get you all to bed, all, that is, except Brach. As for you," doubtless he was now addressing the one so called, "sleep you here, yet sleep light. If he comes, best be wide awake on the instant, or beware the Vicomte's anger."
Were they speaking, Andrew wondered, of their master, for whose return they might be waiting, or of him-the man who had disturbed them so before; the slayer of the hound. Yet, no matter which it was, he must not be caught here should they mount the stairs. He must hide himself till they had retired for the night, and, thinking this, he stole softly back to the garret above.
Half an hour later, and all in the house was again as still as death. The men who had been ordered off to bed were gone and Beaujos with them, and, fortunately for Andrew, and for them also-since he had resolved to slay the first who should discover his presence above-they had not mounted the stairs. Instead, they must have betaken themselves to some room leading out of the hall: must have done so since, to the watcher above, no sound of a footfall on the stairs had come. All were gone except the one addressed as Brach, and he, Andrew could see by once more stealthily glancing over the balustrade, was already asleep again, this time in Beaujos' great chair.
Through the silent house he made his way a second time to the door from under which the light streamed; again he reached it and sought for some means whereby he might discover who was in that room. Not De Bois-Vallée, he felt sure now, since, almost for certain, had he been there the servitors-Beaujos, at least-would have come to him for their last final orders for the night and the next morning. Therefore it must be she-and guarded, perhaps, by the woman of whom the peasant had spoken-the woman who had loved the Vicomte's father.
As he mused thus, wondering also how it could happen that anyone within that room should remain so quiet for the time he had been in the neighbourhood of it-since, with the exception of once hearing the logs of a fire within fall together with a dull crash, no sound had issued from that chamber-another ray of light caught his eye. A ray so tiny that, at first, he thought he was subject to some illusion produced by the excitement of his mind. For it was close to him as he stood outside the heavy, rude, oak door; so close that it seemed to shine straight into his eye-a ray no bigger than a pin's point! He looked at it again, and steadily put up his hand in front of his face, when, lo! it was gone; put next his finger out towards it and touched the spot whence it proceeded, and found that, set in the door at about the height of an ordinary man, was a little wicket an inch or two square, with a sliding cover running in an upper and lower groove. A spy-hole for those outside to gaze through upon the inmate of the room, which, by accident, had been left unclosed the smallest fraction.
His finger moved it still another fraction, and the interior of the room was visible at last!
It was a large apartment hung with tapestry and handsomely furnished; a great table in the middle of it; upon that table a lamp giving a bright light, also a vase containing some brightly-coloured autumn leaves and flowers. In the far corner of the room, a bed with the clothes turned down for the night; by the table, a great lounge on which a woman lay sleeping-a woman whose face was so pale and white that, in truth, she might have been dead and yet no paler.
Her hair, of a golden hue, was all undone, and, being thick and long, hung over the head of the couch so that it reached almost to the thickly-carpeted floor; one hand as white as marble hung over the side of the couch, also: her dress, a robe de chambre, was likewise white, and added to the general ghastliness of her appearance. And Andrew, peering in at her, wondered if he had come too late; if he was gazing into a death chamber instead of the apartment of a living being!
Yet, in a moment he knew such could not be the case-the woman lying there turned the slightest degree possible in her sleep, and sighed once. Then slept again-if she had, indeed, awakened.
But, now, he was face to face with a difficulty which, although he had considered it more than once before, presented itself more forcibly than ever to him. That difficulty was how to open communication with her; how to arouse her and make his presence known without causing her so much alarm that she should shriek or call out, and, by doing so, spoil all. How? How?
At last he decided. Poor plan though it was, it was the only one-it might answer. Especially might it answer since he had made sure she was alone, and that the other woman of whom he had heard was of a certainty not in that room also. His eyes had taken in everything in the chamber; whoever her custodian was, at least she was not there to-night.
He went back swiftly, therefore, to the garret above, recognizing that no time must be lost, since, at any moment, that pale ghastly figure might arise from the couch and prepare for bed-and, when there, he lit once more his lanthorn. Next, he took hastily from his breast a small set of tablets which he carried-they had been Philip's once, and bore upon the case his name and their family crest-and hastily wrote: -
"Make no noise. Philip Vause's brother is here. To save you if need be. It is the truth, I swear. If you believe and wish to escape, open the door. To-night the chance is yours. Perhaps to-night only! – ANDREW VAUSE."
As quickly as he had come he went back to the door of the room, peered in once more through the slit of the little lattice, and, seeing that still the woman slept upon her couch, bent down towards the space where the light streamed out.
Then, his nerves tingling, for on the next few moments, and the woman's actions during them, depended all-his life, perhaps hers! – he pushed the tablets under the door, gave them a fillip with his hand which sent them a couple of feet into the room, and struck once upon the oak. Struck a sharp, quick blow, loud enough to awaken her, he thought, yet not loud enough to startle any others asleep in the dark and silent house.
He waited now for what should happen.
Nor had he long to do so ere he knew that the rap he had given had had its effect. He had re-closed the lattice tightly after he had come back from the garret, fearing to alarm her either by looking through it or by letting her find it open; he relied, therefore, upon his hearing. That hearing told him now that the woman had awakened-he heard a rustle of her garments, heard her feet touch the floor as she rose from the couch; heard, too, that she came swiftly towards where the tablets lay, the whiteness of the ivory catching, doubtless, her eyes as she arose.
In the silence that reigned in the house he could hear those tablets being picked up by her, almost hear the grating of the hard leaves against each other; did, without doubt, hear a gasp as his message was perused. Then silence-or a silence broken only by rapid, quickly-caught breathing. But no noise, no word from the woman on the other side of the door!
At last, however-when he himself could scarce restrain the breath from coming in great gusts from his lungs, so terrible was the suspense-he knew that she had moved again, was close against the door. Then a soft, low voice said-
"As you are a man and I a helpless, unhappy woman, is this true?"
"Before God and as a soldier, it is true."
"You swear you are Philip Vause's brother?"
"I swear it."
The key turned in the lock; then, a moment later, the voice within spoke again.
"I am a prisoner here. The door is fast on your side also. There is a bolt above."
He raised his hand as she spoke, thrust back the bolt quietly-it making no noise as it left the staple-and when this was done the door opened from within, and Andrew entered the room.
Seeing the great form before her, regarding with amazement-perhaps alarm-the bronzed face and long black hair of Andrew; observing also that the clothes he wore were torn and smirched by the efforts he had made in crossing the chasm and reaching the roof above; noticing, too, his unbooted feet-the woman raised her hand involuntarily to her breast and exclaimed, though in a whisper-
"You! You Philip's brother!"
"In truth, lady, I am. And you? There can be no mistake. You are Marion Wyatt."
"Unhappily." Then she said, still gazing up at him, "I have waited long for this release to come. Prayed night and day for it-feared at last that he would never follow nor seek me out. And now, even now, he comes not himself, but sends you. Oh, sir! why has Philip not come-or-or" – and she paused, but continued a moment later. "It cannot be that he thinks-"
"Madame," said Andrew, regarding her steadfastly-it had never dawned on him until now that she could not possibly know that Philip was in his grave-"Madame, this is no time for explanations. They will suffice when we are outside this house." And because, even as he spoke, he wondered if he knew all there was to know in connection with this woman, he added, "It is your desire to quit it, I imagine? You have no-no wish to remain?"
"To remain! Here! My God!" and now she lifted her eyes and looked him straight in the face, he seeing as she did so that they were large, grey, truthful-looking eyes. "To remain here! In this villain's house Oh! have I not tried to escape more than once-almost succeeded; should have done so, but that they found me by aid of the dogs-"
"The dogs!" Andrew exclaimed. "The dogs! They set them on you. Ha! Since that is so I regret no longer they are dead."
"Dead!" she exclaimed in her turn. "Dead! Was it you, then, who slew the first one?"
"It was I. You know of that?"
"I know it. They thought it was some braconnier stealing about the place, or some enemy of his. And it was you!"
"I came here to find a way to you-to save you, if might be," Andrew replied. "To find some entrance to this house. I have found it. Madame," and his voice was very grave and serious as he continued, "being here we must not tarry. This is our chance-to-night. By dawn it may be gone. It is not well to lose time."
"How to go?" she asked. "How escape?"
He told her of the rope and of Laurent watching on the other side of the chasm; made light of any danger there might be-which he assured her was but imaginary-told her that when across and safely on the slope her liberty was assured.
"For," he said, "once there, none dare to harm you or me. Nor to attack us. I beseech you, delay not; I beseech you come."
At first she shivered with fear, said she knew of the distance between the house and the slope; that she would rather live there a prisoner for life than venture on so terrible an escape. Yet, also, at last she yielded to his persuasions, nay, his threats almost, that, if she came not now he must leave her and seek his own safety. She would go, she decided.
"So be it," Andrew replied. "It is best. There can be no other chance. I will go prepare the peasant. Be ready, I pray you, when I return." And, pointing out of the window of the room, to which he had stepped, he said, "See, madame, the mist and fog are gone, the stars shine forth-it will not be so dark and terrible. And, as I have said, it is nothing. From the roof you will glide swiftly across the gap-'tis not far-a moment later you will be drawn up. Courage! Courage! I go to prepare Laurent," and he turned towards the door.
"I must be muffled, blindfolded," she whispered, "then I shall be brave. But, if I saw what is below, my courage would fail-I should draw back at the last moment."
"It shall be so," Andrew said, removing the last objection she was likely to make. "I will muffle you." Then a thought struck him suddenly, and he said, "there is a woman attends to you. Where is she?"
"In heaven's mercy away for the night. Her father, an old man, is ill at Gerardmer hard by; she has gone to him. She will return at daybreak. Oh!" she added, "you do not know how I am watched. When I tell Philip all he will weep for me."
"'Tis well she is away," Andrew replied, ignoring the latter part of her remarks. "To-morrow she may return, and welcome. The bird will be flown. Again I say, courage, madame. Courage, and be ready at my return. 'Twill be immediate."
Swiftly he passed to the garret and, from it, to the roof, lighting his lanthorn for an instant, so as to avoid the shaft beneath the ladder that mounted to the leads; then, having drawn on his boots once more, he climbed up and stood again upon the roof. As he had said, the fog and mist were gone now, the wind had changed and blown them both away, the stars were shining brightly above; across the chasm he could see dimly the trunk of the tree round which the further end of the rope had been wound by him and Laurent.
The night, too, was very still, nothing broke the silence-or only one thing. Far off as yet, though drawing nearer every moment, it seemed to his trained ears as though there was the sound of a horse's hoofs beating with regularity upon some road. Yet, he remembered, there was but one road near of which he knew; the road from Remiremont to Bois-le-Vaux. He must be mistaken! It was some other sound which, in the stillness of the night, resembled that made by a swift oncoming horse.
He whistled once, gently, yet loud and clear enough to reach the watcher on the other side; but no reply came. And again he whistled soft and low, but still the result was the same.
"Heavens!" he muttered, under his breath. "To sleep at such a time!" And, having arrived by now at the great chimney to which he had attached his end of the rope, he grasped at and jerked it violently so as either to arouse Laurent-if he was in truth asleep-or to attract his attention if awake.
As he did so, his hair seemed to stand on his head in horror!
For, in the moment when he tugged at the rope, he felt that the other end was loose-was no longer attached to the tree across the brink. Loose and hanging down over the side of the house on the roof of which he stood.
CHAPTER XXIII
L'ESPÉE CARNACIERE
"God knows what has happened," he said to Marion Wyatt when he had returned to her. "Yet one thing is sure. There is no escape now. We are snared."
"Is it treachery?" she whispered, shaking and white to the lips with terror, so that she looked more like a spectre than before. "Treachery on the part of the man in whom you confided?"
It was not strange the girl should be so startled, so overcome. For more than a year she had been incarcerated in this house (as yet Andrew knew not how she had been brought here, scarce knew, indeed, whether, after all, Debrasques had not been mistaken, and that, originally, at least, she might have come here of her own free will, even though made a prisoner of afterwards), had been incarcerated here with no hope of escape. Then, as she reflected hurriedly, the chance had come, unlooked for-as chances come always to us in this life-and, as unexpectedly, had been snatched away a moment afterwards. Snatched away, while leaving behind it a horror greater than before! For now, this man, the brother of that other who was her affianced husband, had placed himself also in deadly, hideous peril. A peril that must surely engulf him, since there was no loophole left for escape. He would be found here, must be found ere many hours had passed-and then! What would happen then? She dared not even think, could not think; could do nothing but stand trembling before him, white to the lips.
"Scarcely treachery on Laurent's part, madame," Andrew replied, and, as he spoke, Marion still gazing at him as she had done since his return from the garret, wondered if this cool, determined man could, indeed, be gentle Philip's brother! This man who, here, shut up in a hostile house, with death threatening him as the reward for his intrusion when once he should be discovered, spoke as calmly as though he stood on his own brother's hearth.
"Scarcely treachery, I think. The rope was not-unwound from the tree as, doubtless, it would have been by him, had he resolved to play me false. Instead, when I drew it up to make examination, it was cut cleanly through. Also, somewhat shorter than before. Whereby I found it had been severed hastily."
"By whom, think you?"
"How can I say? How tell? The following of the man, in whose house we are, are all asleep. Not by them, therefore. As for him, De Bois-Vallée. Where Is he?"
For answer, she started as one starts who is suddenly reminded of that which it would be well they had not forgotten.
"My God!" she exclaimed, "to-day is Friday. He was expected back to-night."
"From where?"
"From Nancy. He had gone to seek the Duke-"
"To seek the Duke!" Andrew echoed. "To seek the Duke! Perhaps to make his peace with him," he continued with a bitter laugh. "To be well with the side that seems the winning one now!" Then he continued, "Nancy is north of this. Between it and Remiremont the mountains run. He might pass them, would pass them, doubtless, to gain his home. Yet, why descend to the slope? There could be naught to arouse his suspicions."
"Who else could have done this?" she asked, shaking still.
"I cannot say. Yet be sure of one thing, we shall know very soon. If it is he, he must be here ere long, and then-then we shall meet again."
"Again You have met before? And you do not fear him?"
"Fear him," said Andrew, looking down at her and touching her arm with one finger as he spoke. "Fear him! Mistress Wyatt, I came from England to-" Then he paused, knowing that he must not say too much as to why he was there instead of Philip. Contented himself, consequently, with saying, "No, madame, I do not fear him," and he laughed beneath his breath, remembering that, unless he wished to precipitate matters, he must not wake the sleepers below.
"Wake the sleepers below," he repeated to himself, musing, "wake the sleepers below!"
Even as the thought of doing so ran through his mind, there sprang new born into that mind another idea-the recollection that all was not yet lost.
"What is it?" she whispered, knowing intuitively by his changed countenance that some fresh plan had suddenly dawned on him. "What? Tell me. I will be brave."
"Listen," he said, catching her by the arm in his excitement; bending so low to murmur in her ear that his long moustache brushed her neck. "There is one last hope. But-to avail ourselves of it you must be bold. Very bold. You promise that you will?"
"Yes. Yes. I am brave now. What shall I do?"
"Come," he replied. "Come. Follow me," and he unlocked the door in which he had turned the key on re-entering the room.
"Hold up your dress so that it makes no noise if you can do without them, put off your shoes. I will carry you when we near the sleeping quarters. Come."
She obeyed him, lifting up the end of her long robe with one hand, then-because she was now, in truth, brave and nerved to face all-she took off her shoes and carried them in her other hand. And, stepping gently, she followed him out without question into the darkness of the corridor.
Looking below, he could see by the flickering light of the still burning logs that the man called Brach was fast asleep; indeed, could very well hear that such was the case by the noise he made. But, beyond the faint light which those logs emitted as they now smouldered to an end, the whole house was enveloped in black gloom. Surely, he thought, they should be able to steal to the great door, to turn the key and emerge into the night without anyone being aroused. And, if they were aroused-why! he had his sword and his pistols.
Feeling their way by the balustrades, her hand following his, they crept down stair by stair until they had reached the floor below, and could look over the wooden parapet that ran all around the square hall here, seeing plainly the features of the slumbering man, on which, occasionally, the light cast by little flecks of flame from the logs would glance. Could see that he was plunged in a profound sleep-could hear also the noise of the others snoring somewhere near.
He tapped now the hand that followed his down the stair-rail; once he looked back and his lips muttered, "We shall succeed"; then they went on. Stood at last in the stone-flagged hall with, between them and Brach, a huge pillar that served as one of the supports to the floor they had just left.
And still the sleeper never moved, but, instead, snored loudly, the noise reverberating through the house.
Turning, he put his arm around Marion Wyatt's waist and lifted her off the ground so that her body was on his shoulder-he seeming to her to do this as easily as she, herself, could have lifted a velvet cushion-then, on tiptoe, and keeping always in the deepest blackness of the hall's extremity, he advanced to the great door and felt for the lock. But the key was not in it! Had it been, another moment would have seen them outside, since there was but one transverse bar to push up, and one turn to be given to that key.
"The bunch is on the table," he whispered. "I see it glittering in the light cast by the logs. Stay here while I go back for it and-if you can-push up the bar that is athwart the panels. But, in the name of heaven, of all our hopes, do it gently, softly. If it creaks or makes any noise so as to awaken the man, I must stab him to the heart for our own protection. Be careful-do it inch by inch-I will stand over him. Begin when I am by his side."
A few moments more and he did stand over the other, his hand upon his dagger ready to plunge it into Brach's heart should he awaken. Once, too, that hand half drew the knife from its sheath-for the great transverse bar creaked slightly as the girl removed it from its wooden socket and pushed it upwards!
In his other hand he held the great bunch of keys!
And now the time had come; they were saved! The bar was up. Brach still slept. All in the house was quiet as death. There was no more to do but to fit in the key, turn it, and so go forth into the night. They were saved!
* * * * * *
Across the hall he made his way, Marion Wyatt standing by the great portal, her back to it, waiting for him to reach her. Then-suddenly-on the vast place without, they heard the rapid clatter of a horse's hoofs, heard the iron of its shoes ring smartly out upon the stones as it struck them; heard a man's voice call harshly, "Ho! within. Open quickly," and, with a smothered shriek, Marion fell on her knees, her hands clasped and wrung together.
"'Tis he," she wailed. "He! De Bois-Vallée. God help us We are lost."
"'Tis he for sure," Andrew replied. "As for being lost, we will see for that. Put back the bolt. He is not in his house yet. Later, we will open to him. At present the work is here," and, wasting no further time, he rushed at the man, Brach, who, even though he had not been already awakened, would have been so by the loud reverberation of the bar as the distracted woman flung it back across the door into its socket.
But he was awake now-as, Andrew knew, were the others. From the room whence their snoring had proceeded, Beaujos was shouting, "the master! the master!" – evidently he was not yet aware what else was happening! – also the men clattering and stamping about, as they pulled on their garments, were plainly to be heard. It was, however, with Brach that Andrew had first to deal; Brach, who had by now staggered from his chair to his feet and, although dazed with astonishment, hurled himself with bulldog-like ferocity at the intruder. He was, however, no match for him, who, added to other advantages, had no drowsy slumbers to shake off, and who, as Brach rushed at him, struck full at his head with the bunch of great keys and knocked him senseless to the floor. Then, since it was no part of his intention to allow De Bois-Vallée to enter his own house yet-in spite of the infernal din which he was making on the door, accompanied by oaths, threats of terrible punishments and other exclamations-he flung the bunch on to the ashes of the now almost extinct fire.
He had but time to stride over to Marion Wyatt, who, a mass of shivering fear, crouched against the door; to whisper a word to her and bid her take heart-"they were not," he said, "undone yet" – when into the hall rushed all the others, Beaujos at their head, while two of those behind him carried lamps.
"Who in the devil's name are you?" exclaimed the steward, starting back appalled at the sight of the man before him. "Who? Who? And how come you here?"
That he should be appalled was not strange!
Andrew had by now unsheathed his sword-it shining ominously in the light of the lamps carried by the men-in his left hand he held a pistol. Also, his size and aspect, as he stood before Marion Wyatt, covering her with his great form, were enough to affright a bolder man than Beaujos.
"Your master's enemy to the death," he replied. "One also who has vowed to save this woman from him. Hark, how that master clamours at the door! Well, I will not have it opened. Therefore, stand back."
"Stand back!" exclaimed the other. "Stand back at your command! Ay! thus," and with that he rushed at Andrew, wielding a large, dangerous-looking blade as he did so.
"You are a fool," exclaimed the latter, "a fool! Best go and lock yourself up in some room, I warn you. Otherwise it will go hard with you."
For answer, the steward attacked him vigorously enough, and not without some skill in the use of his weapon, yet jumped back quickly at a sudden pass which Andrew made. A wicked pass he did not understand, since, to his astonishment, the other's blade ran along his until the hilts met with a clash, and, with a quick turn from its owner's wrist, forced his own weapon from his hand.
"Away!" said Andrew, "you are useless at this play! Find another weapon."
"I will," yelled Beaujos, and, as he stepped back, he seized a pistol from the hand of one of the men and discharged it at Andrew. Then the fellow thought his doom was sealed! For, in a moment, he knew that he had missed him, and that the pistol which Andrew now lifted in his left hand would be used with better aim. And, with a harsh cry, he jumped behind one of the pillars, calling to the men to shoot Andrew down; to throw themselves upon him and drag him to the ground.