CHAPTER VIII.
THE CATASTROPHE.
IT happened unfortunately that the mission to------was indispensable.The slender accommodation of the tower forbade Gerald the use of hiscustomary attendants, and the neighbouring villagers were too few innumber, and too ill provided with weapons, to encounter men cradled inthe very lap of danger; moreover, it was requisite, above all things,that no rumour or suspicion of our intended project should obtain wind,and, by reaching Montreuil's ears, give him some safer opportunityof escape. I had no doubt of the sincerity of the Fatalist'scommunications, and if I had, the subsequent conversation I held withhim, when Gerald and Oswald were gone, would have been sufficient toremove it. He was evidently deeply stung by the reflection of his owntreachery, and, singularly enough, with Montreuil seemed to perish allhis worldly hopes and aspirations. Desmarais, I found, was a man of muchhigher ambition than I had imagined; and he had linked himself closelyto Montreuil, because, from the genius and the resolution of the priest,he had drawn the most sanguine auguries of his future power. As thenight advanced, he grew visibly anxious; and, having fully satisfiedmyself that I might count indisputably upon his intelligence, I oncemore left him to his meditations, and, alone in the outer chamber, Icollected myself for the coming event. I had fully hoped that Montreuilwould have repaired to the tower in search of Gerald, and this was thestrongest reason which had induced me to remain behind: but time waned;he came not, and at length it grew so late that I began to tremble lestthe assistance from------should not arrive in time.
It struck the first quarter after eleven: in less than an hour my enemywould be either in my power or beyond its reach; still Gerald and ourallies came not; my suspense grew intolerable, my pulse raged withfever; I could not stay for two seconds in the same spot; a hundredtimes had I drawn my sword, and looked eagerly along its bright blade."Once," thought I, as I looked, "thou didst cross the blade of my mortalfoe, and to my danger rather than victory; years have brought skill tothe hand which then guided thee, and in the red path of battle thou hastnever waved in vain. Be stained but once more with human blood, and Iwill prize every drop of that blood beyond all the triumphs thou hastbrought me!" Yes, it had been with a fiery and intense delight thatI had learned that Montreuil would have companions to his flight inlawless and hardened men, who would never yield him a prisoner withoutstriking for his rescue; and I knew enough of the courageous and proudtemper of my purposed victim to feel assured that, priest as he was, hewould not hesitate to avail himself of the weapons of his confederatesor to aid them with his own. Then would it be lawful to oppose violenceto his resistance, and with my own hand to deal the death-blow ofretribution. Still as these thoughts flashed over me my heart grewharder, and my blood rolled more burningly through my veins. "They comenot; Gerald returns not," I said, as my eye dwelt on the clock, andsaw the minutes creep one after the other: "it matters not; HE at leastshall not escape!--were he girt by a million, I would single him fromthe herd; one stroke of this right hand is all that I ask of life, thenlet them avenge him if they will." Thus resolved, and despairing at lastof the return of Gerald, I left the tower, locked the outer door, as astill further security against my prisoner's escape, and repaired withsilent but swift strides to the beach by the Castle Cave. It wantedabout half an hour to midnight: the night was still and breathless; adim mist spread from sea to sky, through which the stars gleamed forthheavily, and at distant intervals. The moon was abroad, but the vapoursthat surrounded her gave a watery and sicklied dulness to her light, andwhereever in the niches and hollows of the cliff the shadows fell, allwas utterly dark and unbroken by the smallest ray; only along the nearwaves of the sea and the whiter parts of the level sand were objectseasily discernible. I strode to and fro for a few minutes before theCastle Cave; I saw no one, and I seated myself in stern vigilance upona stone, in a worn recess of the rock, and close by the mouth of theCastle Cave. The spot where I sat was wrapped in total darkness, and Ifelt assured that I might wait my own time for disclosing myself. I hadnot been many minutes at my place of watch before I saw the figure of aman approach from the left; he moved with rapid steps, and once when hepassed along a place where the wan light of the skies was less obscuredI saw enough of his form and air to recognize Montreuil. He neared thecave; he paused; he was within a few paces of me; I was about to rise,when another figure suddenly glided from the mouth of the cave itself.
"Ha!" cried the latter, "it is Bertrand Collinot: Fate be lauded!"
Had a voice from the grave struck my ear, it would have scarcely amazedme more than that which I now heard. Could I believe my senses? thevoice was that of Desmarais, whom I had left locked within the innerchamber of the tower! "Fly," he resumed, "fly instantly; you have not amoment to lose: already the stern Morton waits thee; already the houndsof justice are on thy track; tarry not for the pirates, but begone atonce."
"You rave, man! What mean you? the boats will be here immediately. Whileyou yet speak methinks I can descry them on the sea. Something of thisI dreaded when, some hours ago, I caught a glimpse of Gerald on the roadto------. I saw not the face of his companion; but I would not trustmyself in the tower: yet I must await the boats; flight is indeedrequisite, but _they_ make the only means by which flight is safe!"
"Pray, then, thou who believest, pray that they may come soon, or thoudiest and I with thee! Morton is returned,--is reconciled to his weakbrother. Gerald and Oswald are away to------for men to seize and dragthee to a public death. I was arrested,--threatened; but one way toavoid prison and cord was shown me. Curse me, Bertrand, for I embracedit. I told them thou wouldst fly to-night, and with whom. They locked mein the inner chamber of the tower; Morton kept guard without. At lengthI heard him leave the room; I heard him descend the stairs, and lockthe gate of the tower. Ha! ha! little dreamed he of the wit of JeanDesmarais! _Thy_ friend must scorn bolt and bar, Bertrand Collinot. Theyhad not searched me: I used my instruments; thou knowest that with thoseinstruments I could glide through stone walls!--I opened the door; I wasin the outer room; I lifted the trap door which old Sir William hadhad boarded over, and which thou hadst so artfully and imperceptiblyreplaced, when thou wantedst secret intercourse with thy pupils; I spedalong the passage, came to the iron door, touched the spring thou hadstinserted in the plate which the old knight had placed over the key-hole,and have come to repair my coward treachery, to save and to fly withthee. But while I speak we tread on a precipice. Morton has left thehouse, and is even now perhaps in search of thee."
"Ha! I care not if he be," said Montreuil, in a low but haughty tone."Priest though I am, I have not assumed the garb, without assuming alsothe weapon, of the layman. Even now I have my hand upon the same swordwhich shone under the banners of Mar; and which once, but for my foolishmercy, would have rid me forever of this private foe."
"Unsheath it now, Julian Montreuil!" said I, coming from my retreat, andconfronting the pair.
Montreuil recoiled several paces. At that instant a shot boomed alongthe waters.
"Haste, haste!" cried Desmarais, hurrying to the waves, as a boat, nowwinding the cliff, became darkly visible: "haste, Bertrand, here areBonjean and his men; but they are pursued!"
Once did Montreuil turn, as if to fly; but my sword was at his breast,and, stamping fiercely on the ground, he drew his rapier and parried andreturned my assault; but he retreated rapidly towards the water whilehe struck; and wild and loud came the voices from the boat, which nowtouched the shore.
"Come--come--come--the officers are upon us; we can wait not a moment!"and Montreuil, as he heard the cries, mingled with oaths and curses, yetquickened his pace towards the quarter whence they came. His steps weretracked by his blood: twice had my sword passed through his flesh; buttwice had it failed my vengeance, and avoided a mortal part. A secondboat, filled also with the pirates, followed the first; but then anotherand a larger vessel bore black and fast over the water; the rush and cryof men were heard on land; again and nearer a shot broke over the heavyair,--another and anot
her,--a continued fire. The strand was now crowdedwith the officers of justice. The vessel beyond forbade escape to theopposite islet. There was no hope for the pirates but in contest, orin dispersion among the cliffs or woods on the shore. They formed theirresolution at once, and stood prepared and firm, partly on their boats,partly on the beach around them. Though the officers were far morenumerous, the strife--fierce, desperate, and hand to hand seemed equallysustained. Montreuil, as he retreated before me, bore back into thegeneral _melee_, and, as the press thickened, we were for some momentsseparated. It was at this time that I caught a glimpse of Gerald; _he_seemed also then to espy me, and made eagerly towards me. Suddenly hewas snatched from my view. The fray relaxed; the officers, evidentlyworsted, retreated towards the land, and the pirates appeared once moreto entertain the hope of making their escape by water. Probably theythought that the darkness of the night might enable them to baffle thepursuit of the adverse vessel, which now lay expectant and passive onthe wave. However this be, they made simultaneously to their boats, andamong their numbers I descried Montreuil. I set my teeth with a calm andprophetic wrath. But three strokes did my good blade make through thatthrong before I was by his side; he had at that instant his hold uponthe boat's edge, and he stood knee-deep in the dashing waters. I laid mygrasp upon his shoulder, and my cheek touched his own as I hissed inhis ear, "I am with thee yet!" He turned fiercely; he strove in vain toshake off my grasp. The boat pushed away, and his last hope of escapewas over. At this moment the moon broke away from the mist, and wesaw each other plainly, and face to face. There was a ghastly butset despair in Montreuil's lofty and proud countenance, which changedgradually to a fiercer aspect, as he met my gaze. Once more, foot tofoot and hand to hand, we engaged; the increased light of the skiesrendered the contest more that of skill than it had hitherto been,and Montreuil seemed to collect all his energies, and to fight with asteadier and a cooler determination. Nevertheless the combat was short.Once my antagonist had the imprudence to raise his arm and expose hisbody to my thrust: his sword grazed my cheek,--I shall bear the scar tomy grave,--mine passed twice through his breast, and he fell, bathed inhis blood, at my feet.
"Lift him!" I said, to the men who now crowded round. They did so, andhe unclosed his eyes, and glared upon me as the death-pang convulsed hisfeatures, and gathered in foam to his lips. But his thoughts were notupon his destroyer, nor upon the wrongs he had committed, nor upon anysolitary being in the linked society which he had injured.
"Order of Jesus," he muttered, "had I but lived three months longer,I--"
So died Julian Montreuil.
CONCLUSION.
MONTREUIL was not the only victim in the brief combat of that night;several of the pirates and their pursuers perished, and among the bodieswe found Gerald. He had been pierced, by a shot, through the brain,and was perfectly lifeless when his body was discovered. By a sort ofretribution, it seems that my unhappy brother received his death-woundfrom a shot, fired (probably at random) by Desmarais; and thus theinstrument of the fraud he had tacitly subscribed to became the ministerof his death. Nay, the retribution seemed even to extend to the verymethod by which Desmarais had escaped; and, as the reader has perceived,the subterranean communication which had been secretly reopened todeceive my uncle made the path which had guided Gerald's murderer to thescene which afterwards ensued. The delay of the officers had been owingto private intelligence, previously received by the magistrate to whomGerald had applied, of the number and force of the pirates, and hiswaiting in consequence for a military reinforcement to the party to bedespatched against them. Those of the pirates who escaped the conflictescaped also the pursuit of the hostile vessel; they reached the islet,and gained their captain's ship. A few shots between the two vesselswere idly exchanged, and the illicit adventurers reached the Frenchshore in safety. With them escaped Desmarais, and of him, from that hourto this, I have heard nothing: so capriciously plays Time with villains!
Marie Oswald has lately taken unto himself a noted inn on the NorthRoad, a place eminently calculated for the display of his varioustalents; he has also taken unto himself a WIFE, of whose tongue andtemper he has been known already to complain with no Socratic meekness;and we may therefore opine that his misdeeds have not altogether escapedtheir fitting share of condemnation.
Succeeding at once, by the death of my poor brother, to the DEVEREUXestates, I am still employed in rebuilding, on a yet more costly scale,my ancestral mansion. So eager and impatient is my desire for thecompletion of my undertaking that I allow rest neither by night nor day,and half of the work will be done by torchlight. With the success ofthis project terminates my last scheme of Ambition.
Here, then, at the age of thirty-four, I conclude the history of mylife. Whether in the star which, as I now write, shines in upon me, andwhich a romance, still unsubdued, has often dreamed to be the brightprophet of my fate, something of future adventure, suffering, orexcitement is yet predestined to me; or whether life will muse itselfaway in the solitudes which surround the home of my past childhood andthe scene of my present retreat,--creates within me but slight foodfor anticipation or conjecture. I have exhausted the sources of thosefeelings which flow, whether through the channels of anxiety or of hope,towards the future; and the restlessness of my manhood, having attainedits last object, has done the labour of time, and bequeathed to me theindifference of age.
If love exists for me no longer, I know well that the memory of thatwhich has been is to me far more than a living love is to others; andperhaps there is no passion so full of tender, of soft, and of hallowingassociations as the love which is stamped by death. If I have bornemuch, and my spirit has worked out its earthly end in travail and intears, yet I would not forego the lessons which my life has bequeathedme, even though they be deeply blended with sadness and regret. No! wereI asked what best dignifies the present and consecrates the past; whatenables us alone to draw a just moral from the tale of life; what shedsthe purest light upon our reason; what gives the firmest strength toour religion; and, whether our remaining years pass in seclusion or inaction, is best fitted to soften the heart of man, and to elevate thesoul to God,--I would answer, with Lassus, "it is EXPERIENCE!"
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