Chapter XIX
THE KEY
I stood now upon the steps, watching and listening. In a minute or two Iheard the crackle of withered sticks trod upon, and, looking in thedirection, I saw a figure approaching among the trees, wrapped in amantle.
I advanced eagerly. It was the Countess. She did not speak, but gave meher hand, and I led her to the scene of our last interview. Sherepressed the ardor of my impassioned greeting with a gentle butperemptory firmness. She removed her hood, shook back her beautifulhair, and, gazing on me with sad and glowing eyes, sighed deeply. Someawful thought seemed to weigh upon her.
"Richard, I must speak plainly. The crisis of my life has come. I amsure you would defend me. I think you pity me; perhaps you even loveme."
At these words I became eloquent, as young madmen in my plight do. Shesilenced me, however, with the same melancholy firmness.
"Listen, dear friend, and then say whether you can aid me. How madly Iam trusting you; and yet my heart tells me how wisely! To meet you hereas I do--what insanity it seems! How poorly you must think of me! Butwhen you know all, you will judge me fairly. Without your aid I cannotaccomplish my purpose. That purpose unaccomplished, I must die. I amchained to a man whom I despise--whom I abhor. I have resolved to fly. Ihave jewels, principally diamonds, for which I am offered thirtythousand pounds of your English money. They are my separate property bymy marriage settlement; I will take them with me. You are a judge, nodoubt, of jewels. I was counting mine when the hour came, and broughtthis in my hand to show you. Look."
"It is magnificent!" I exclaimed, as a collar of diamonds twinkled andflashed in the moonlight, suspended from her pretty fingers. I thought,even at that tragic moment, that she prolonged the show, with a femininedelight in these brilliant toys.
"Yes," she said, "I shall part with them all. I will turn them intomoney and break, forever, the unnatural and wicked bonds that tied me,in the name of a sacrament, to a tyrant. A man young, handsome,generous, brave, as you, can hardly be rich. Richard, you say you loveme; you shall share all this with me. We will fly together toSwitzerland; we will evade pursuit; in powerful friends will interveneand arrange a separation, and shall, at length, be happy and reward myhero."
You may suppose the style, florid and vehement, in which poured forth mygratitude, vowed the devotion of my life, and placed myself absolutelyat her disposal.
"Tomorrow night," she said, "my husband will attend the remains of hiscousin, Monsieur de St. Amand, to Pere la Chaise. The hearse, he says,will leave this at half-past nine. You must be here, where we stand, atnine o'clock."
I promised punctual obedience.
"I will not meet you here; but you see a red light in the window of thetower at that angle of the chateau?"
I assented.
"I placed it there, that, tomorrow night, when it comes, you mayrecognize it. So soon as that rose-colored light appears at that window,it will be a signal to you that the funeral has left the chateau, andthat you may approach safely. Come, then, to that window; I will open itand admit you. Five minutes after a carriage-carriage, with four horses,shall stand ready in the _porte-cochere_. I will place my diamondsin your hands; and so soon as we enter the carriage our flightcommences. We shall have at least five hours' start; and with energy,stratagem, and resource, I fear nothing. Are you ready to undertake allthis for my sake?"
Again I vowed myself her slave.
"My only difficulty," she said, "is how we shall quickly enough convertmy diamonds into money; I dare not remove them while my husband is inthe house."
Here was the opportunity I wished for. I now told her that I had in mybanker's hands no less a sum than thirty thousand pounds, with which, inthe shape of gold and notes, I should come furnished, and thus the riskand loss of disposing of her diamonds in too much haste would beavoided.
"Good Heaven!" she exclaimed, with a kind of disappointment. "You arerich, then? and I have lost the felicity of making my generous friendmore happy. Be it so! since so it must be. Let us contribute, each, inequal shares, to our common fund. Bring you, your money; I, my jewels.There is a happiness to me even in mingling my resources with yours."
On this there followed a romantic colloquy, all poetry and passion, suchas I should in vain endeavor to reproduce. Then came a very specialinstruction.
"I have come provided, too, with a key, the use of which I mustexplain."
It was a double key--a long, slender stem, with a key at each end--oneabout the size which opens an ordinary room door; the other as small,almost, as the key of a dressing-case.
"You cannot employ too much caution tomorrow night. An interruptionwould murder all my hopes. I have learned that you occupy the hauntedroom in the Dragon Volant. It is the very room I would have wished youin. I will tell you why--there is a story of a man who, having shuthimself up in that room one night, disappeared before morning. The truthis, he wanted, I believe, to escape from creditors; and the host of theDragon Volant at that time, being a rogue, aided him in absconding. Myhusband investigated the matter, and discovered how his escape was made.It was by means of this key. Here is a memorandum and a plan describinghow they are to be applied. I have taken them from the Count'sescritoire. And now, once more I must leave to your ingenuity how tomystify the people at the Dragon Volant. Be sure you try the keys first,to see that the locks turn freely. I will have my jewels ready. You,whatever we divide, had better bring your money, because it may be manymonths before you can revisit Paris, or disclose our place of residenceto anyone: and our passports--arrange all that; in what names, andwhither, you please. And now, dear Richard" (she leaned her arm fondlyon my shoulder, and looked with ineffable passion in my eyes, with herother hand clasped in mine), "my very life is in your hands; I havestaked all on your fidelity."
As she spoke the last word, she, on a sudden, grew deadly pale, andgasped, "Good God! who is here?"
At the same moment she receded through the door in the marble screen,close to which she stood, and behind which was a small roofless chamber,as small as the shrine, the window of which was darkened by a clusteringmass of ivy so dense that hardly a gleam of light came through theleaves.
I stood upon the threshold which she had just crossed, looking in thedirection in which she had thrown that one terrified glance. No wondershe was frightened. Quite close upon us, not twenty yards away, andapproaching at a quick step, very distinctly lighted by the moon,Colonel Gaillarde and his companion were coming. The shadow of thecornice and a piece of wall were upon me. Unconscious of this, I wasexpecting the moment when, with one of his frantic yells, he shouldspring forward to assail me.
I made a step backward, drew one of my pistols from my pocket, andcocked it. It was obvious he had not seen me.
I stood, with my finger on the trigger, determined to shoot him dead ifhe should attempt to enter the place where the Countess was. It would,no doubt, have been a murder; but, in my mind, I had no question orqualm about it. When once we engage in secret and guilty practices weare nearer other and greater crimes than we at all suspect.
"There's the statue," said the Colonel, in his brief discordant tones."That's the figure."
"Alluded to in the stanzas?" inquired his companion.
"The very thing. We shall see more next time. Forward, Monsieur; let usmarch." And, much to my relief, the gallant Colonel turned on his heeland marched through the trees, with his back toward the chateau,striding over the grass, as I quickly saw, to the park wall, which theycrossed not far from the gables of the Dragon Volant.
I found the Countess trembling in no affected, but a very real terror.She would not hear of my accompanying her toward the chateau. But I toldher that I would prevent the return of the mad Colonel; and upon thatpoint, at least, that she need fear nothing. She quickly recovered,again bade me a fond and lingering good-night, and left me, gazing afterher, with the key in my hand, and such a phantasmagoria floating in mybrain as amounted very nearly to madness.
There was I, ready to brave all
dangers, all right and reason, plungeinto murder itself, on the first summons, and entangle myself inconsequences inextricable and horrible (what cared I?) for a woman ofwhom I knew nothing, but that she was beautiful and reckless!
I have often thanked heaven for its mercy in conducting me through thelabyrinths in which I had all but lost myself.