Delphi Complete Works of the Brontes Charlotte, Emily, Anne Brontë (Illustrated) (271 page)

THIRD VOLUME OF TALES OF THE ISLANDERS

CHAPTER ONE

One evening”the duke of Wellington was writing in his room at Downing Street. Eldon reposed at his ease in an ample easy chair smoking a homely tobacco pipe (for he disdained all the modern frippery of cigars &c &c) beside a blazing fire whose flames Left had just been feeding by a fresh supply of Londonderry’s black diamonds. One armed Hardinge stood at his desk awarkdly scrawling an army estimate on a gilt-eged sheet of Bath post, coxcomical Roslyn lounged against the polished green marble mantlepeice eyeing with ineffable contempt the quizzical old pekin who sat opposite & occasionly casting a sidelong glance at his own dandy figure reflected in a magnificent mirror suspended against the wall which was hung with purple figured velvet; Castlereagh seated on a turkish Ottoman whined & yawned incessantly while Mr Secretary Peel perched upon a treasury tripod close beside his Grace kept whispering & wheedling in the Dukes ear until at length happening to interupt him in the midst of an abstruse calculation he saw his masters eye suddenly flash on him & without further warning was at the other end of the room in a twinkling. At this tragical catastrophe, Roslyn slank back to his desk which he had quitted without leave from head quaters. Hardinge just gave a keck over his shoulder at the prostrate civillian. Eldon ceased puffing holding up his withered hands half in fear & half in wonder Castlereagh crawled of the cushion under the table where he lay quietly down & the Duke of Wellington without noticing the general consternation relapsed into his former occupation of unraveling a confused mass of exchequer-like figures left by poor Vesey in a sad state of disorder when he was seized with the sickness which superanuated him.

while they were thus employed a heavy footstep was heard without, the door opened & a little shrunk old woman wrapped up & wholly concealed except her face entered, her appearance excited no surprise for this was one of the famous little queens, she advanced up to the duke & presented him a letter writen with blood & sealed with a seal on which was the motto “le message d’un revenant”. he took it respectfully & read it, while he was doing this he changed colour several times evincing an uncontrolable emotion. when he had finished he rose & walked about as if trying to calm his mind. suddenly he stopped & commanded all present to depart they imediately obeyed, then after a pause he demanded of the fairy if that letter was true or a forgery. She made a sign with her hand & imediately the king & the 2 other queens appearedf. they all knelt down. each drew out a wand wreathed with ivory ; they kissed them & said “ it is by virtue of these wands we rule the hearts of mortals, we will forfeit them & our spiritual power if what we say is false, that letter is true,” when they had uttered these words they vanished.

his Grace imediately rang a bell & ordered the attendant who answered the sumons to get ready the swiftest horse in his stables, his mandates were presently obeyed & the Duke clad in a Georgian mantle with a broad milliatry belt, brass helmet & high black plumes, mounted the spirited animal spurred him to full gallop & in a short time left London & its subburbs far behind, he rode with such speed that when the sun rose he beheld the towers of Strathfeildsay rearing their proud heads ruddy with the first beams of morning from the ancient oak forests which surrounded them, all his wide domains were stretched before his eyes, the peaceful village nestling among venerable woods, the wide fruitful feilds extending to the verge of the horizon, the stately trees darkning the scene with their shadow the white cottages looking out from the bowery retreat of their orchards & the great river refreshing everything as it passed, all were his own won by his invincible sword, the monuments of England’s gratitude to her glorious preserver.

he passed quickly on & in a short time arrived aft the dark gate, the old soldiers cottages removed a little way from the narrow path could hardly be distinguished by reason of the large trees on each side whose thick drooping branches now in full verdure had shot out & increased to such a degree as wholly to surround them with a fresh verdant barrier & their situation was only marked by the tall round grey chimnies one of which Qthat on the right hand) belonging to Seringapatan was just breathing a light dun smoke on the stainless ether. The other stood in motionless silence for the inhabitants thereof to wit Jack of all trades, Orderly-man & Gamekeeper where for the present tarrying at the more noisy and to their dispositions (unlike that of their bookish neighbour) more congenial Horse- gaurds.

his grace was just in the act of raising a huge bough which guarded the righthand doorway for the purpose of entring, when he heard a light buyoant step & a sweet voice at a distance carrolling the following words:

O Where has Arthur been this night Why did he not come home For long the suns fair orb of light hath shone in heavens dome Beneath the greenwood tree he’s slept his tester was the sky O’er him the midnight stars have wept bright dewdrops from on high And when the first faint streak of day did in the east appear His eyes touched by the mornings ray Shone out with lustre clear He rose & from his dark brown hair He shook the glit’ring gems Which natures hand had scattered there as on the forest stems The flowers sent up an odour sweet as forth he stately stept The stag sprang past more light & fleet the hare through brushwood crept

here the voice suddenly stoptf. all the trees which bordered the path rustled & Lord Charles Wellesley bounded by with so much buoyancy merriment & elasticity that he hardly seemed to touch the ground, his rosy face was radiant with smiles his large bright sparkling blue eyes seemed the transparent palaces of cheerfulness - his parted ruby lips mantling with mirth displayed a row of teeth whiter than the finest oriental pearl . his forehead fair as ivory was shaded by ringlets of gold which hung in beautiful clusters over his temples & his form was the very emblem of aerial symetry. He passed the Duke without observing him as he was hid by a tall black cypressf. His Grace stepped forward & called him by his name; imediately the light gay being arrested his swift course or rather flight as soon as he heard his father’s voice & turned round.

uGood morning my son where are you going?” Said the Duke “O Dear Dear father” exclaimed he “I’m so glad to see you I’m going to seek Arthur who has never been home since last evening.”

“never been home since last eveningf! it is true then they have not deceived me” replied his Grace & the dark sorrowful cloud which for a moment had been dissipated by the prescence of his cheerful son shadowed his noble brow more gloomily than before. “Charles your brother is in danger of death”2’ he said solemnly.

“In danger of Death!” repeated Charles & imediately all gladness forsook his face & dim tears veiled his lustrous eyes. his face turned pale as ashes & sinking on the ground he exclaimed as well as agonizing greif would permit him “0 Arthur must not die! Little queens can & shall save him. I will find Mystery24 wherever he lives. Where is Arthur father Where is he? Ill die if he dies, for I cannot live without him.”

“Hush Charles hush” said his Grace raising him from the earth “come with me into Seringapatans cottage. I will try to save Arthur. “

by this time Seringapatan hearing the moans & sobs of Lord Welles- ley had come out of his house. When he saw the Duke supporting his son who was weeping incessantly he was somewhat alarmed & exclaimed “poor thing he seems faintish whats the matter my Lord? has a pekin been hurting him? where is the Wretchf? let me scald him in boiling lead but stop Id better fetch a drink of something for hes rather white in the face.”

“No no Seringapatan take him into your house a little while, I whish to speak to you.”

“0 Pray come in My lord” replied the old veteran rearing him

self proudly at the thought of a secret & flinging the door wider open. “ there’s nought new to listen at peoples keyholes for them at lived over the way’s at London. “

When they had entred he put two chairs by the fire wiping them with a dishcloth & spreading a peice of carpet over the hearth . he then pulled a pillow from the bedhead & placed it in one chair saying that if lord Charles felt weakly he might lean on it. When they were in he closed the door bolted & locked it & then sat down on a threelegged stool at his masters feet.

“Seringapatan” said his Grace “I beleive you to be an honourable & upright man, faithful to my interests & grateful for the favours I have done you. therefore I will now trust you with a secret of great importance, last night I received a mysterious letter purporting to be from the spirit of my dead father, it stated that Arthur the eldest of my children and your future Lord having in the course of his melancholy wanderings, been drawn by the power of a secret fascination into the abode of supernatural beings, is at this moment suffering all the torments which they can devise & that if you did not go with me to a particular place which I am acquainted with certain death will befall him & I now require you by your allegiance to me and mine to obey my comands in everything.f here the Duke stopped & Seringapatan, falling on his knees solemnly promised to follow all his orders not only at the present time, but until he should draw his last breath, the Duke then turned to Charles & asked him if he would go also, UI would willingly die to save Arthurs life” replied the young Lord ardently while a beam of hope lighted his glistening eyes.” his father patted his curly head & smiled on him approveinly.

In a few moments they were ready & when Seringapatan had locked his cottage door they set out at a quick pace on their journey, in a little while they had emerged from the forest & after crossing several hay & cornfeilds together with a large belt of meadow land & orchards that surrounded the village they entred a very wide plain on which only a few scattered sheep where visible & even these in a short time ceased to present themselves to the eye. as they went on the towers and woods of Strathfeildsay gradually sank beneath the horizon the high church steeple lessend & receded till it became invisible the enclosed feilds & orchards vanished in the distance & aft length only the flat plain beneath & the arched sky above remained for their sight to rest upon.

On this plain they continued till evening when they arrived at a place where were huge rocks rising perpendicularly to an imense heightf; a vast cataract rolling thunderously down the precipices hollowed for itself a bason in the solid stone beneath & the waters rushing over dashed furiously onwards for some time until aft length smoothning & widening they glided peaceffully along a lovely valley which opened by degrees to the right hand, it was shaded with sycamore trees & young oaks through which the rays of the setting sun now beamed with a rich lustre on the subsiding wavelets of the river imparting to it the beautiful appearance of liquid gold, they proceeded to mount a narrow rugged sheep-path winding up one of the rocks till they came to a kind of plateau covered with herbage above which the rocks rising to a dizzy height appeared wholly inacessable.

here the Duke suddenly stopped & commanded Seringapatan & lord Wellesley to halt as it was not nesessary for them to proceed further, this he said in a tone which both his son & servant understood; it was not angry nor hardly stern, but it had a decisive sound in it which showed that no entreaties would prevail with him to let them go on. they accordingly sat down on the grass without speaking & watched him with earnest eyes for they saw it was impossible for any mortal man unassisted by supernatural power to scale the perpendicular wall of even stone which they beheld, about y yards distant from the plateau was a projecting fragment that hung over the valley beneath. it was however exceedingly narrow and such a tremendous height from the ground that this together with its distance from the little plain where they were made it perfectly improbable that any living being should dare the horrible leap which must be made before they could reach it.

The Duke stood for a moment gazing eagerly around as if searching for some means to atain his end: at length fixing his eyes on the fragment he quickly threw of his dark mantle which till now he had kept closely wrapped about him & advancing to the border of the plateau sprang from it to the ledge in an instant as if the spirit of an Izard or chamois26 had been suddenly granted to him. When lord Wellesley saw his father perform his daring action to which he was prompted & encouraged by the desire to save his eldest son a smothered scream burst from his lips, the Duke looked round not withstanding his perilous situation & looking on him with compassion he said “my dear Charles do not fear for me; in a short time I shall return with Arthur perfectly safe & well.” then turning a corner of the rock he disapeard from their sight.