CHAPTER XVII. THE "MONK"
THIS name revealed everything to the old overman. It was that of thelast "monk" of the Dochart pit.
In former days, before the invention of the safety-lamp, Simon had knownthis fierce man, whose business it was to go daily, at the risk of hislife, to produce partial explosions of fire-damp in the passages. Heused to see this strange solitary being, prowling about the mine, alwaysaccompanied by a monstrous owl, which he called Harfang, who assistedhim in his perilous occupation, by soaring with a lighted match toplaces Silfax was unable to reach.
One day this old man disappeared, and at the same time also, a littleorphan girl born in the mine, who had no relation but himself, hergreat-grandfather. It was perfectly evident now that this child wasNell. During the fifteen years, up to the time when she was saved byHarry, they must have lived in some secret abyss of the mine.
The old overman, full of mingled compassion and anger, made known to theengineer and Harry all that the name of Silfax had revealed to him. Itexplained the whole mystery. Silfax was the mysterious being so longvainly sought for in the depths of New Aberfoyle.
"So you knew him, Simon?" demanded Mr. Starr.
"Yes, that I did," replied the overman. "The Harfang man, we used tocall him. Why, he was old then! He must be fifteen or twenty years olderthan I am. A wild, savage sort of fellow, who held aloof from everyoneand was known to fear nothing--neither fire nor water. It was his ownfancy to follow the trade of 'monk,' which few would have liked.The constant danger of the business had unsettled his brain. He wasprodigiously strong, and he knew the mine as no one else--at any rate,as well as I did. He lived on a small allowance. In faith, I believedhim dead years ago."
"But," resumed James Starr, "what does he mean by those words, 'You haverobbed me of the last vein of our old mine'?"
"Ah! there it is," replied Simon; "for a long time it had been a fancyof his--I told you his mind was deranged--that he had a right to themine of Aberfoyle; so he became more and more savage in temper thedeeper the Dochart pit--his pit!--was worked out. It just seemed as ifit was his own body that suffered from every blow of the pickax. Youmust remember that, Madge?"
"Ay, that I do, Simon," replied she.
"I can recollect all this," resumed Simon, "since I have seen the nameof Silfax on the door. But I tell you, I thought the man was dead, andnever imagined that the spiteful being we have so long sought for couldbe the old fireman of the Dochart pit."
"Well, now, then," said Starr, "it is all quite plain. Chance made knownto Silfax the new vein of coal. With the egotism of madness, he believedhimself the owner of a treasure he must conceal and defend. Living inthe mine, and wandering about day and night, he perceived that you haddiscovered the secret, and had written in all haste to beg me to come.Hence the letter contradicting yours; hence, after my arrival, all theaccidents that occurred, such as the block of stone thrown at Harry, thebroken ladder at the Yarrow shaft, the obstruction of the openings intothe wall of the new cutting; hence, in short, our imprisonment, and thenour deliverance, brought about by the kind assistance of Nell, who actedof course without the knowledge of this man Silfax, and contrary to hisintentions."
"You describe everything exactly as it must have happened, Mr. Starr,"returned old Simon. "The old 'Monk' is mad enough now, at any rate!"
"All the better," quoth Madge.
"I don't know that," said Starr, shaking his head; "it is a terriblesort of madness this."
"Ah! now I understand that the very thought of him must have terrifiedpoor little Nell, and also I see that she could not bear to denounce hergrandfather. What a miserable time she must have had of it with the oldman!"
"Miserable with a vengeance," replied Simon, "between that savage andhis owl, as savage as himself. Depend upon it, that bird isn't dead.That was what put our lamp out, and also so nearly cut the rope by whichHarry and Nell were suspended."
"And then, you see," said Madge, "this news of the marriage of our sonwith his granddaughter added to his rancor and ill-will."
"To be sure," said Simon. "To think that his Nell should marry one ofthe robbers of his own coal mine would just drive him wild altogether."
"He will have to make up his mind to it, however," cried Harry. "Mad ashe is, we shall manage to convince him that Nell is better off with ushere than ever she was in the caverns of the pit. I am sure, Mr. Starr,if we could only catch him, we should be able to make him listen toreason."
"My poor Harry! there is no reasoning with a madman," replied theengineer. "Of course it is better to know your enemy than not; but youmust not fancy all is right because we have found out who he is. We mustbe on our guard, my friends; and to begin with, Harry, you positivelymust question Nell. She will perceive that her silence is no longerreasonable. Even for her grandfather's own interest, she ought to speaknow. For his own sake, as well as for ours, these insane plots must beput a stop to."
"I feel sure, Mr. Starr," answered Harry, "that Nell will of herselfpropose to tell you what she knows. You see it was from a sense of dutythat she has been silent hitherto. My mother was very right to take herto her room just now. She much needed time to recover her spirits; butnow I will go for her."
"You need not do so, Harry," said the maiden in a clear and firm voice,as she entered at that moment the room in which they were. Nell was verypale; traces of tears were in her eyes; but her whole manner showed thatshe had nerved herself to act as her loyal heart dictated as her duty.
"Nell!" cried Harry, springing towards her.
The girl arrested her lover by a gesture, and continued, "Your fatherand mother, and you, Harry, must now know all. And you too, Mr. Starr,must remain ignorant of nothing that concerns the child you havereceived, and whom Harry--unfortunately for him, alas!--drew from theabyss."
"Oh, Nell! what are you saying?" cried Harry.
"Allow her to speak," said James Starr in a decided tone.
"I am the granddaughter of old Silfax," resumed Nell. "I never knew amother till the day I came here," added she, looking at Madge.
"Blessed be that day, my daughter!" said the old woman.
"I knew no father till I saw Simon Ford," continued Nell; "nor friendtill the day when Harry's hand touched mine. Alone with my grandfatherI have lived during fifteen years in the remote and most solitary depthsof the mine. I say WITH my grandfather, but I can scarcely usethe expression, for I seldom saw him. When he disappeared from OldAberfoyle, he concealed himself in caverns known only to himself. In hisway he was kind to me, dreadful as he was; he fed me with whatever hecould procure from outside the mine; but I can dimly recollect that inmy earliest years I was the nursling of a goat, the death of which wasa bitter grief to me. My grandfather, seeing my distress, brought meanother animal--a dog he said it was. But, unluckily, this dog waslively, and barked. Grandfather did not like anything cheerful. He hada horror of noise, and had taught me to be silent; the dog he couldnot teach to be quiet, so the poor animal very soon disappeared. Mygrandfather's companion was a ferocious bird, Harfang, of which, atfirst, I had a perfect horror; but this creature, in spite of my disliketo it, took such a strong affection for me, that I could not helpreturning it. It even obeyed me better than its master, which used tomake me quite uneasy, for my grandfather was jealous. Harfang and Idid not dare to let him see us much together; we both knew it would bedangerous. But I am talking too much about myself: the great thing isabout you."
"No, my child," said James Starr, "tell us everything that comes to yourmind."
"My grandfather," continued Nell, "always regarded your abode in themine with a very evil eye--not that there was any lack of space. Hischosen refuge was far--very far from you. But he could not bear to feelthat you were there. If I asked any questions about the people up aboveus, his face grew dark, he gave no answer, and continued quite silentfor a long time afterwards. But when he perceived that, not content withthe old domain, you seemed to think of encroaching upon his, then indeedhis anger burst forth. He swore t
hat, were you to succeed in reachingthe new mine, you should assuredly perish. Notwithstanding his greatage, his strength is astonishing, and his threats used to make metremble."
"Go on, Nell, my child," said Simon to the girl, who paused as though tocollect her thoughts.
"On the occasion of your first attempt," resumed Nell, "as soon as mygrandfather saw that you were fairly inside the gallery leading to NewAberfoyle, he stopped up the opening, and turned it into a prison foryou. I only knew you as shadows dimly seen in the gloom of the pit, butI could not endure the idea that you would die of hunger in these horridplaces; and so, at the risk of being detected, I succeeded in obtainingbread and water for you during some days. I should have liked to helpyou to escape, but it was so difficult to avoid the vigilance of mygrandfather. You were about to die. Then arrived Jack Ryan and theothers. By the providence of God I met with them, and instantly guidedthem to where you were. When my grandfather discovered what I had done,his rage against me was terrible. I expected death at his hands. Afterthat my life became insupportable to me. My grandfather completely losthis senses. He proclaimed himself King of Darkness and Flame; and whenhe heard your tools at work on coal-beds which he considered entirelyhis own, he became furious and beat me cruelly. I would have fled fromhim, but it was impossible, so narrowly did he watch me. At last, ina fit of ungovernable fury, he threw me down into the abyss where youfound me, and disappeared, vainly calling on Harfang, which faithfullystayed by me, to follow him. I know not how long I remained there, but Ifelt I was at the point of death when you, my Harry, came and saved me.But now you all see that the grandchild of old Silfax can never be thewife of Harry Ford, because it would be certain death to you all!"
"Nell!" cried Harry.
"No," continued the maiden, "my resolution is taken. By one means onlycan your ruin be averted; I must return to my grandfather. He threatensto destroy the whole of New Aberfoyle. His is a soul incapable of mercyor forgiveness, and no mortal can say to what horrid deed the spirit ofrevenge will lead him. My duty is clear; I should be the most despicablecreature on earth did I hesitate to perform it. Farewell! I thank youall heartily. You only have taught me what happiness is. Whatever maybefall, believe that my whole heart remains with you."
At these words, Simon, Madge, and Harry started up in an agony of grief,exclaiming in tones of despair, "What, Nell! is it possible you wouldleave us?"
James Starr put them all aside with an air of authority, and, goingstraight up to Nell, he took both her hands in his, saying quietly,"Very right, my child; you have said exactly what you ought to say;and now listen to what we have to say in reply. We shall not let you goaway; if necessary, we shall keep you by force. Do you think we could beso base as to accept of your generous proposal? These threats of Silfaxare formidable--no doubt about it! But, after all, a man is but a man,and we can take precautions. You will tell us, will you not, even forhis own sake, all you can about his habits and his lurking-places? Allwe want to do is to put it out of his power to do harm, and perhapsbring him to reason."
"You want to do what is quite impossible," said Nell. "My grandfatheris everywhere and nowhere. I have never seen his retreats. I have neverseen him sleep. If he meant to conceal himself, he used to leave mealone, and vanish. When I took my resolution, Mr. Starr, I was aware ofeverything you could say against it. Believe me, there is but one way torender Silfax powerless, and that will be by my return to him. Invisiblehimself, he sees everything that goes on. Just think whether it islikely he could discover your very thoughts and intentions, fromthat time when the letter was written to Mr. Starr, up to now thatmy marriage with Harry has been arranged, if he did not possess theextraordinary faculty of knowing everything. As far as I am able tojudge, my grandfather, in his very insanity, is a man of most powerfulmind. He formerly used to talk to me on very lofty subjects. He taughtme the existence of God, and never deceived me but on one point, whichwas--that he made me believe that all men were base and perfidious,because he wished to inspire me with his own hatred of all the humanrace. When Harry brought me to the cottage, you thought I was simplyignorant of mankind, but, far beyond that, I was in mortal fear of youall. Ah, forgive me! I assure you, for many days I believed myself inthe power of wicked wretches, and I longed to escape. You, Madge, firstled me to perceive the truth, not by anything you said, but by thesight of your daily life, for I saw that your husband and son loved andrespected you! Then all these good and happy workmen, who so revere andtrust Mr. Starr, I used to think they were slaves; and when, for thefirst time, I saw the whole population of Aberfoyle come to church andkneel down to pray to God, and praise Him for His infinite goodness, Isaid to myself, 'My grandfather has deceived me.' But now, enlightenedby all you have taught me, I am inclined to think he himself isdeceived. I mean to return to the secret passages I formerly frequentedwith him. He is certain to be on the watch. I will call to him; he willhear me, and who knows but that, by returning to him, I may be able tobring him to the knowledge of the truth?"
The maiden spoke without interruption, for all felt that it was good forher to open her whole heart to her friends.
But when, exhausted by emotion, and with eyes full of tears, she ceasedspeaking, Harry turned to old Madge and said, "Mother, what should youthink of the man who could forsake the noble girl whose words you havebeen listening to?"
"I should think he was a base coward," said Madge, "and, were he my son,I should renounce and curse him."
"Nell, do you hear what our mother says?" resumed Harry. "Wherever yougo I will follow you. If you persist in leaving us, we will go awaytogether."
"Harry! Harry!" cried Nell.
Overcome by her feelings, the girl's lips blanched, and she sank intothe arms of Madge, who begged she might be left alone with her.